Hot Shots! Part Deux. 1993 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke, Miguel Ferrer, Ryan Stiles, Rowan Atkinson, Jerry Haleva, Michael Colyar, Martin Sheen (uncredited)
Director: Jim Abrahams
Available at Amazon: Single DVD. Two-fer with Hot Shots!
When two rescue parties sent to Saddam Hussein's palace are taken hostage, it's up to Topper Harley (Sheen) to come out of retirement to lead the third rescue party to Iraq. Topper has retired from the Navy since the last movie, and has taken residence in a small Buddhist village somewhere in the wilderness. Colonel Walters (Crenna) and Michelle Huddleston (Bakke) from the CIA find Topper in a humorous Muay Thai competition, which he wins in a humorous fashion (duh!) Topper is reluctant to assist the government, but agrees to take part after the second rescue party botches its mission.
On the mission, Topper is joined by Commander Arbin Harbinger (Ferrer) and the incompetent but lovable soldiers Williams and Rabinowitz (Colyar & Stiles). He relies on his patented all-practical Swiss Army bowie knife, and is surprised to find that their contact in the wilderness is Ramada (Golino).
When things seem to go wrong, the President, Tug Benson (Bridges), personally goes to Iraq to take matters in his own hands. Topper and company are all right, though, but there seems to be a traitor in the ranks somewhere. Can the saboteur be overcame, and can our boys be rescued from Saddam once and for all?
Not that bad, but obviously, it isn't as funny as the original. Recommended.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots! 1991 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Bill Irwin, Ryan Stiles
Director: Jim Abrahams
Available at Amazon: Single DVD. Two-fer with Hot Shots! Part Deux.
Jim Abrahams goes solo to bring us this parody that's been described as Top Gun meets Airplane!
Twenty years before the present day, pilot Leland "Buzz" Harley (Irwin) loses control of his plane and bails, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnum (Stiles) to crash land by himself. Mailman survives, but he is killed in a deer hunting accident, thanks to the branches stuck to his helmet.
Buzz's son Topper (Sheen) wakes up from a nightmare he's having about the incident, and is soon asked by Lt. Commander Block (Dunn) to return to duty as a pilot for the U.S. Navy (whose planes are helpfully labelled 'The Navy' in case we didn't recognize them). Topper had retired from the Navy to live with Native Americans. He also becomes romantically involved with his therapist Ramada (Golino), which poses a problem because she's linked to another pilot, Kent Gregory (Elwes), who hates Topper because he lost his dad thanks to Buzz's action, and Kent is convinced that Topper will eventually kill him while in action.
The mission is to destroy a nuclear power plant, which Topper does with a malfunctioning jet. The owner of an aerospace firm is trying to sabotage the mission to make the Navy's current planes look bad so they will replace them with his German made products. Topper also has time to literally drop a bomb on Saddam before returning to base with what's left of his plane.
Hot Shots! is an old favorite from my teenage days. Highly recommended.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Bill Irwin, Ryan Stiles
Director: Jim Abrahams
Available at Amazon: Single DVD. Two-fer with Hot Shots! Part Deux.
Jim Abrahams goes solo to bring us this parody that's been described as Top Gun meets Airplane!
Twenty years before the present day, pilot Leland "Buzz" Harley (Irwin) loses control of his plane and bails, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnum (Stiles) to crash land by himself. Mailman survives, but he is killed in a deer hunting accident, thanks to the branches stuck to his helmet.
Buzz's son Topper (Sheen) wakes up from a nightmare he's having about the incident, and is soon asked by Lt. Commander Block (Dunn) to return to duty as a pilot for the U.S. Navy (whose planes are helpfully labelled 'The Navy' in case we didn't recognize them). Topper had retired from the Navy to live with Native Americans. He also becomes romantically involved with his therapist Ramada (Golino), which poses a problem because she's linked to another pilot, Kent Gregory (Elwes), who hates Topper because he lost his dad thanks to Buzz's action, and Kent is convinced that Topper will eventually kill him while in action.
The mission is to destroy a nuclear power plant, which Topper does with a malfunctioning jet. The owner of an aerospace firm is trying to sabotage the mission to make the Navy's current planes look bad so they will replace them with his German made products. Topper also has time to literally drop a bomb on Saddam before returning to base with what's left of his plane.
Hot Shots! is an old favorite from my teenage days. Highly recommended.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin. 2005 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Judd Apatow
Buy The 40-Year-Old Virgin at Amazon.
Evidentally, there was a void in the film world prior to 2005, and it was a movie about a forty year old virgin. Well, someone had to fill the gap, and it's a good one.
Andy Stitzer (Carell) lives alone in an apartment, and he is a somewhat stereotypical nerd that's highly erotic, and he loves action figures and playing video games. His social life is almost exclusively watching Survivor with his elderly neighbors. He also works at an electronics store called SmartTech with coworkers like David (Rudd) who can't get over an old girlfriend named Amy; Cal (Rogen) an aspiring and stoned novelist, and the self styled ladies' man Jay (Malco). Taking part in a poker game one night after another friend can't make it, Andy proves to be a decent player, but when the conversation turns to past sexual exploits, he finds himself goaded into admitted that he's a virgin, and the other guys vow to help him pop his cherry. Reluctant at first, Andy agrees, only after a heart-to-heart with David.
After several failed attempts, Andy meets Trish Piedmont (Keener), and they hit it off, with the only real issue being Andy trying hard to conceal his virginity. Regardless, his confidence rises, and he starts performing really well at work, and he has a goal to open his own electronics store. Meanwhile, Jay and David have their own problems with love and sex: David has a run-in with Amy at a speed dating service, which crushes him to the point that he takes a vow of celibacy, citing Andy as an inspiration. Meanwhile, Jay breaks up with Jill, but they get back together when she discovers that she's pregnant.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch, Elizabeth Banks
Director: Judd Apatow
Buy The 40-Year-Old Virgin at Amazon.
Evidentally, there was a void in the film world prior to 2005, and it was a movie about a forty year old virgin. Well, someone had to fill the gap, and it's a good one.
Andy Stitzer (Carell) lives alone in an apartment, and he is a somewhat stereotypical nerd that's highly erotic, and he loves action figures and playing video games. His social life is almost exclusively watching Survivor with his elderly neighbors. He also works at an electronics store called SmartTech with coworkers like David (Rudd) who can't get over an old girlfriend named Amy; Cal (Rogen) an aspiring and stoned novelist, and the self styled ladies' man Jay (Malco). Taking part in a poker game one night after another friend can't make it, Andy proves to be a decent player, but when the conversation turns to past sexual exploits, he finds himself goaded into admitted that he's a virgin, and the other guys vow to help him pop his cherry. Reluctant at first, Andy agrees, only after a heart-to-heart with David.
After several failed attempts, Andy meets Trish Piedmont (Keener), and they hit it off, with the only real issue being Andy trying hard to conceal his virginity. Regardless, his confidence rises, and he starts performing really well at work, and he has a goal to open his own electronics store. Meanwhile, Jay and David have their own problems with love and sex: David has a run-in with Amy at a speed dating service, which crushes him to the point that he takes a vow of celibacy, citing Andy as an inspiration. Meanwhile, Jay breaks up with Jill, but they get back together when she discovers that she's pregnant.
Recommended movie.
Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point. 1971 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Charlotte Rampling
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Available at Amazon.
Kowalski (Newman) is a Denver-based car delivery driver working for Argo's Car Delivery Service, and he is assigned to drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. Apparently, he has either lost everything he has ever wanted in his life prior to this job, or he is simply an adrenaline junkie, as he immediately embarks on his journey to California late one Friday night after dropping off another car following a long ride to Denver. Kowalski stops at a biker bar to buy some Bennies, and he tells his drug dealer pal Jake (Lee Weaver) that he needs to get to Frisco by three o'clock the next day, even if the delivery of the Challenger isn't due until Monday. Jake and the driver make a small bet, and Kowalski rockets out of Denver.
As Kowalski speeds through the West, a radio station called KOW based in a tiny Nevada town is monitoring him by listening to the police radio frequency. A blind DJ called "Super Soul" (Little) is on the air, and he encourages Kowalski to keep evading the police. Kowalski is listening to the station the whole time. Super Soul seems to understand the driver, calling him the last American hero, and seems to sense his reactions (writer's conceit). Kowalski starts attracting attention from the counterculture, and the news media. Bikers and hippies flock to the radio station to offer support.
On Saturday afternoon, KOW is raided by a cop and some goons, where Super Soul and his engineer are assaulted. They manipulate the jockey into encouraging Kowalski to drive into a police trap, but he is aided by a hippie biker and his girlfriend in bypassing the roadblock. Kowalski doesn't even enter California until 7:12 PM on Saturday, over four hours past his intended time. He stops to call Jake, who is aware of the chase thanks to newspaper articles, to tell him he's fine and that he plans to deliver the car on Monday. Early on Sunday morning in a small town called Cisco, east of San Francisco, Kowalski's high speed journey comes to a fiery end when he crashes into two bulldozers set up by the California Highway Patrol as a roadblock.
A great movie with lots of beautiful scenery, and action that never really lets up from the beginning to the end. The ending, though, is up to interpretation. Highly recommended.
Starring: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Charlotte Rampling
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Available at Amazon.
Kowalski (Newman) is a Denver-based car delivery driver working for Argo's Car Delivery Service, and he is assigned to drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. Apparently, he has either lost everything he has ever wanted in his life prior to this job, or he is simply an adrenaline junkie, as he immediately embarks on his journey to California late one Friday night after dropping off another car following a long ride to Denver. Kowalski stops at a biker bar to buy some Bennies, and he tells his drug dealer pal Jake (Lee Weaver) that he needs to get to Frisco by three o'clock the next day, even if the delivery of the Challenger isn't due until Monday. Jake and the driver make a small bet, and Kowalski rockets out of Denver.
As Kowalski speeds through the West, a radio station called KOW based in a tiny Nevada town is monitoring him by listening to the police radio frequency. A blind DJ called "Super Soul" (Little) is on the air, and he encourages Kowalski to keep evading the police. Kowalski is listening to the station the whole time. Super Soul seems to understand the driver, calling him the last American hero, and seems to sense his reactions (writer's conceit). Kowalski starts attracting attention from the counterculture, and the news media. Bikers and hippies flock to the radio station to offer support.
On Saturday afternoon, KOW is raided by a cop and some goons, where Super Soul and his engineer are assaulted. They manipulate the jockey into encouraging Kowalski to drive into a police trap, but he is aided by a hippie biker and his girlfriend in bypassing the roadblock. Kowalski doesn't even enter California until 7:12 PM on Saturday, over four hours past his intended time. He stops to call Jake, who is aware of the chase thanks to newspaper articles, to tell him he's fine and that he plans to deliver the car on Monday. Early on Sunday morning in a small town called Cisco, east of San Francisco, Kowalski's high speed journey comes to a fiery end when he crashes into two bulldozers set up by the California Highway Patrol as a roadblock.
A great movie with lots of beautiful scenery, and action that never really lets up from the beginning to the end. The ending, though, is up to interpretation. Highly recommended.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Heaven Can Wait
Heaven Can Wait (Criterion #291). 1943 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Sprung Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Louis Calhern
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Available at Amazon.
This is not to be confused with the 1978 film of the same name starring Warren Beatty, which is a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which was based on a 1938 stage play originally called Heaven Can Wait.
An aged Henry van Cleve (Ameche) enters Hell's extravagant (!) reception area, where he is greeted by "His Excellency" (Creger). Henry asks to be admitted into Hell, but there are some doubts about his qualifications. So, Henry sits down and begins telling his life story, where it seems that every milestone of his apparently wicked life takes place on a birthday. Henry is the spoiled, only child of upper class parents Randolph and Bertha (Calhern & Byington), and he has a free spirit for a grandfather, Hugo van Cleve (Coburn).
On his fifteenth birthday, Henry gets loaded with, and seduced by his family's French maid; six years later, he elopes with Martha Strabel (Tierney), stealing her from a stuffy fiance and his cousin, Albert Van Cleve (Joslyn). Being married doesn't stop Henry from flirting with other women, and Martha goes home to her parents (Pallette & Main) after ten years. Hugo orders Henry to not let her go. Henry wins back Martha, and they stay together for the next twenty years, until Martha's death shortly after their 25th anniversary. Henry lives many more years, and dies under the care of an attractive nurse.
"His Excellency" hears him out, and tells Henry that his story isn't worthy enough to admit him to Hell, and he suggests that Henry try "the other place", where Martha is waiting for him. Hey, there might be a small room vacant in the annex for the two of them.
Another great old movie, beautifully shot and restored by the Criterion Collection. Highly recommended.
Starring: Gene Tierney, Don Ameche, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Laird Cregar, Sprung Byington, Allyn Joslyn, Eugene Pallette, Louis Calhern
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Available at Amazon.
This is not to be confused with the 1978 film of the same name starring Warren Beatty, which is a remake of 1941's Here Comes Mr. Jordan, which was based on a 1938 stage play originally called Heaven Can Wait.
An aged Henry van Cleve (Ameche) enters Hell's extravagant (!) reception area, where he is greeted by "His Excellency" (Creger). Henry asks to be admitted into Hell, but there are some doubts about his qualifications. So, Henry sits down and begins telling his life story, where it seems that every milestone of his apparently wicked life takes place on a birthday. Henry is the spoiled, only child of upper class parents Randolph and Bertha (Calhern & Byington), and he has a free spirit for a grandfather, Hugo van Cleve (Coburn).
On his fifteenth birthday, Henry gets loaded with, and seduced by his family's French maid; six years later, he elopes with Martha Strabel (Tierney), stealing her from a stuffy fiance and his cousin, Albert Van Cleve (Joslyn). Being married doesn't stop Henry from flirting with other women, and Martha goes home to her parents (Pallette & Main) after ten years. Hugo orders Henry to not let her go. Henry wins back Martha, and they stay together for the next twenty years, until Martha's death shortly after their 25th anniversary. Henry lives many more years, and dies under the care of an attractive nurse.
"His Excellency" hears him out, and tells Henry that his story isn't worthy enough to admit him to Hell, and he suggests that Henry try "the other place", where Martha is waiting for him. Hey, there might be a small room vacant in the annex for the two of them.
Another great old movie, beautifully shot and restored by the Criterion Collection. Highly recommended.
Sullivan's Travels
Sullivan's Travels (Criterion #118). 1942 Paramount Pictures, now owned by Universal Pictures.
Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall
Director: Preston Sturges
Buy Sullivan's Travels at Amazon.
Also available in non-Criterion form as part of the Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection box set.
A film director named John L. Sullivan (McCrea) has just come from a string of profitable, but slight film comedies (like Ants in Your Plants of 1939), and he intends to make his next film a serious exploration of the poor, which will be entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Making that one without the Coen brothers? Inconceivable!) Not surprising, the studio boss Mr. Lebrand (Warwick) wants Sullivan to direct another guaranteed money-making comedy, but the director stands his ground. Sullivan dreams up a crazy idea to live life on the road as a tramp so he can use the experiences in his dream project, which probably is a crazy idea.
Sullivan's ambitions never seem to work out, and he always ends up back in Hollywood, thanks to Lebrand insisting that his staff follow him in a double-decker bus.
Later on, Sullivan meets a failed actress (Lake) who becomes his traveling companion, but only after discovering that he's not a genuine hobo. The director finally gets his firsthand experiences of living homeless, but ends up in a world of trouble after being ambushed by a thief who mugs him and puts him aboard an outbound train. The mugger, in possession of Sullivan's shoes, is killed by another train, and everyone assumes that it was the director who died. Finding himself in a labor camp after attacking a railroad worker, Sullivan learns that comedy can do more good for the poor than a serious film like the one he planned to make. Sullivan also gets out of his situation by confessing to being his own killer. He reunites with the Girl at the end of the film.
A wonderful screwball comedy. Highly recommended.
Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall
Director: Preston Sturges
Buy Sullivan's Travels at Amazon.
Also available in non-Criterion form as part of the Preston Sturges: The Filmmaker Collection box set.
A film director named John L. Sullivan (McCrea) has just come from a string of profitable, but slight film comedies (like Ants in Your Plants of 1939), and he intends to make his next film a serious exploration of the poor, which will be entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Making that one without the Coen brothers? Inconceivable!) Not surprising, the studio boss Mr. Lebrand (Warwick) wants Sullivan to direct another guaranteed money-making comedy, but the director stands his ground. Sullivan dreams up a crazy idea to live life on the road as a tramp so he can use the experiences in his dream project, which probably is a crazy idea.
Sullivan's ambitions never seem to work out, and he always ends up back in Hollywood, thanks to Lebrand insisting that his staff follow him in a double-decker bus.
Later on, Sullivan meets a failed actress (Lake) who becomes his traveling companion, but only after discovering that he's not a genuine hobo. The director finally gets his firsthand experiences of living homeless, but ends up in a world of trouble after being ambushed by a thief who mugs him and puts him aboard an outbound train. The mugger, in possession of Sullivan's shoes, is killed by another train, and everyone assumes that it was the director who died. Finding himself in a labor camp after attacking a railroad worker, Sullivan learns that comedy can do more good for the poor than a serious film like the one he planned to make. Sullivan also gets out of his situation by confessing to being his own killer. He reunites with the Girl at the end of the film.
A wonderful screwball comedy. Highly recommended.
George Washington
George Washington (Criterion #152). 2000 Cowboy Pictures & Janus Films.
Starring: Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Paul Schneider, Curtis Cotton III
Director: David Gordon Green
Available at Amazon.
Taking place in a depressed and run down town somewhere in North Carolina, we follow an integrated group of kids who basically do nothing but hang out all day, every day with no real adult supervision aside from the small group of adults who are trapped in this town, and mainly interact with the kids to kill time. It's summertime. There's next to nothing to do.
Nasia (Evanofski) narrates the movie, and she has recently broken up with a boy, Buddy (Cotton III). She is now interested in the introverted George (Holden). George wears a helmet most of the time to protect his skull, since the plates in it never set correctly. He's also not supposed to get his head wet, but that doesn't stop him from saving a drowning boy in a pool one afternoon.
One day, the kids are playing in a zoo washroom, including Buddy and George. The two boys scuffle, and Buddy hits George in the head. George roughly pushes Buddy away, who slips, strikes his head, and dies. Instead of telling the adults what happened, George and the other kids try to hide Buddy's corpse. The kids are now uncomfortably drawn into a world of real, "adult" problems and choices that they have to make, no matter how ill equpped they are to deal with them.
Hell of a movie right here. Highly recommended.
Starring: Candace Evanofski, Donald Holden, Paul Schneider, Curtis Cotton III
Director: David Gordon Green
Available at Amazon.
Taking place in a depressed and run down town somewhere in North Carolina, we follow an integrated group of kids who basically do nothing but hang out all day, every day with no real adult supervision aside from the small group of adults who are trapped in this town, and mainly interact with the kids to kill time. It's summertime. There's next to nothing to do.
Nasia (Evanofski) narrates the movie, and she has recently broken up with a boy, Buddy (Cotton III). She is now interested in the introverted George (Holden). George wears a helmet most of the time to protect his skull, since the plates in it never set correctly. He's also not supposed to get his head wet, but that doesn't stop him from saving a drowning boy in a pool one afternoon.
One day, the kids are playing in a zoo washroom, including Buddy and George. The two boys scuffle, and Buddy hits George in the head. George roughly pushes Buddy away, who slips, strikes his head, and dies. Instead of telling the adults what happened, George and the other kids try to hide Buddy's corpse. The kids are now uncomfortably drawn into a world of real, "adult" problems and choices that they have to make, no matter how ill equpped they are to deal with them.
Hell of a movie right here. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
sex, lies and videotape
sex, lies and videotape. 1989 Outlaw Productions & Miramax Films, released to DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Video.
Starring: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Buy sex, lies and videotape at Amazon.
This movie helped trigger the 1990s indie film boom, and helped turn Andie MacDowell into a star. It also launched director Steven Soderbergh's career.
Ann and John Millaney (MacDowell & Gallagher) live in Louisiana, and they are a seemingly troubled couple. While Ann feels secure in her marriage, she has absolutely no interest in sex, even telling her therapist that she's more worried about refuse disposal. Her husband, on the other hand, is still very interested in sex, and is having an affair with Ann's sister Cynthia (San Giacomo). Cynthia is the complete opposite of Ann in every way; sex is the one area where she knows that she can best Ann, and she relishes her ability to seduce John behind Ann's back. John frequently leaves his job early to have sex with Cynthia, blowing off clients, and justifies this by blaming Ann's sexual repression.
Graham Dalton (Spader), a college friend of John, comes back home after nine years, and he is temporarily staying with the Millaneys until he finds his own apartment. Nine years after the fact, John is visably uncomfortable with Graham's bohemian lifestyle. We later learn that Graham cannot perform sexually in the presence of another human being, so he had developed a hobby where he interviews women about their sexual experiences and fantasies on videotape, and privately uses them to achive gratification. This distresses Ann, who made an impromptu visit to Graham. Cynthia comes by the next day to ask what Ann was so bothered about. After explaining what he does, Graham talks Cynthia into making a videotape, assuring her no one else but him will see it. Cynthia agrees, and reports back to a horrified Ann, and she even tells John.
Later, Ann discovers that John has been cheating with Cynthia in her bedroom, so she goes to see Graham with the intent of making a video of her own. When that's finished, she confronts John and says she wants out of the marriage. John learns that Ann made a video with the help of Graham, so he breaks into the apartment after locking Graham out and watches it. Ann confesses that she thinks John is a terrible lover, and that she's been fantasizing about other men, most recently Graham. The camera is turned on Graham, and Ann eggs him on into confessing that he is haunted by an old love named Elizabeth. The video ends with Ann and Graham moving closer to each other. With the tape watched, John sees Graham and gleefully admits to sleeping with Elizabeth while she was involved with Graham, which causes him to destroy his tapes and video camera. John gets his comeuppance at the end, and he loses his job thanks to his frequent cancellations of meetings in favor of sex with Cynthia. Ann and Cynthia bury the hatchet, and Ann has started seeing Graham, or so it's implied.
A very significant and historic film. Highly, highly recommended.
Starring: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Buy sex, lies and videotape at Amazon.
This movie helped trigger the 1990s indie film boom, and helped turn Andie MacDowell into a star. It also launched director Steven Soderbergh's career.
Ann and John Millaney (MacDowell & Gallagher) live in Louisiana, and they are a seemingly troubled couple. While Ann feels secure in her marriage, she has absolutely no interest in sex, even telling her therapist that she's more worried about refuse disposal. Her husband, on the other hand, is still very interested in sex, and is having an affair with Ann's sister Cynthia (San Giacomo). Cynthia is the complete opposite of Ann in every way; sex is the one area where she knows that she can best Ann, and she relishes her ability to seduce John behind Ann's back. John frequently leaves his job early to have sex with Cynthia, blowing off clients, and justifies this by blaming Ann's sexual repression.
Graham Dalton (Spader), a college friend of John, comes back home after nine years, and he is temporarily staying with the Millaneys until he finds his own apartment. Nine years after the fact, John is visably uncomfortable with Graham's bohemian lifestyle. We later learn that Graham cannot perform sexually in the presence of another human being, so he had developed a hobby where he interviews women about their sexual experiences and fantasies on videotape, and privately uses them to achive gratification. This distresses Ann, who made an impromptu visit to Graham. Cynthia comes by the next day to ask what Ann was so bothered about. After explaining what he does, Graham talks Cynthia into making a videotape, assuring her no one else but him will see it. Cynthia agrees, and reports back to a horrified Ann, and she even tells John.
Later, Ann discovers that John has been cheating with Cynthia in her bedroom, so she goes to see Graham with the intent of making a video of her own. When that's finished, she confronts John and says she wants out of the marriage. John learns that Ann made a video with the help of Graham, so he breaks into the apartment after locking Graham out and watches it. Ann confesses that she thinks John is a terrible lover, and that she's been fantasizing about other men, most recently Graham. The camera is turned on Graham, and Ann eggs him on into confessing that he is haunted by an old love named Elizabeth. The video ends with Ann and Graham moving closer to each other. With the tape watched, John sees Graham and gleefully admits to sleeping with Elizabeth while she was involved with Graham, which causes him to destroy his tapes and video camera. John gets his comeuppance at the end, and he loses his job thanks to his frequent cancellations of meetings in favor of sex with Cynthia. Ann and Cynthia bury the hatchet, and Ann has started seeing Graham, or so it's implied.
A very significant and historic film. Highly, highly recommended.
Harper
Harper. 1966 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould, Roy Jenson
Director: Jack Smight
Buy Harper at Amazon. Also part of the Paul Newman Collection.
Paul Newman is Lew Harper, a hepcat of a private detective who isn't having the best of luck when it comes to business, to the point that he's reusing coffee grounds for his morning cup of brew after spending the night in his office. Harper is hired to look for Mrs. Sampson's (Bacall) missing husband, and he runs into a variety of colorful characters while on the case. While he's busy looking for Mr. Sampson, Harper also desires to reconcile with his estranged wife (Leigh), who is divorcing him because he's never home.
Newman's performance is excellent as always, and it's really the only highlight or redeeming quality for Harper. Recommended, only due to Paul Newman.
Starring: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould, Roy Jenson
Director: Jack Smight
Buy Harper at Amazon. Also part of the Paul Newman Collection.
Paul Newman is Lew Harper, a hepcat of a private detective who isn't having the best of luck when it comes to business, to the point that he's reusing coffee grounds for his morning cup of brew after spending the night in his office. Harper is hired to look for Mrs. Sampson's (Bacall) missing husband, and he runs into a variety of colorful characters while on the case. While he's busy looking for Mr. Sampson, Harper also desires to reconcile with his estranged wife (Leigh), who is divorcing him because he's never home.
Newman's performance is excellent as always, and it's really the only highlight or redeeming quality for Harper. Recommended, only due to Paul Newman.
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. 1981 Paramount Pictures, released to DVD by Rhino Home Video.
Starring: Diane Lane, Laura Dern, Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, Marin Kanter
Also appearing: Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Paul Simonon, Vince Welnick, Fee Waybill
Director: Lou Adler
Available at Amazon.
Visit the official site.
Fifteen-year-old Corrine Burns (Lane) is an orphan living in a dead end town who gains some local notoriety when she quits a job at a fast food joint during a live television newscast. Despite a lack of potential jobs, and allegedly being considered the town's laughing stock, Corrine forms a band called the Stains with sister Tracy (Kanter) and a cousin Jessica (Dern). After all of three band rehearsals, the Stains are hired to open for an act called the Metal Corpses, led by Lou Corpse (Waybill). This only happened after Corrine snuck backstage to ask someone for advice.
The first Stains show is a disaster, but Corrine's onstage image and declaration that the Stains "don't put out" gets the attention of the same reporter who was at the restaurant when she quit her job. The story on the band earns them a cult audience, and the Stains quickly rise from opening act to headliners, but can the girls handle being the newest big thing in rock and roll?
The film never received wide distribution in theaters, but found a second life in art house cinemas, and later, on late night cable TV, namely USA Network's Night Flight, Showtime, and Z Channel. Interesting movie, I thought. Recommended.
Starring: Diane Lane, Laura Dern, Ray Winstone, Christine Lahti, Marin Kanter
Also appearing: Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Paul Simonon, Vince Welnick, Fee Waybill
Director: Lou Adler
Available at Amazon.
Visit the official site.
Fifteen-year-old Corrine Burns (Lane) is an orphan living in a dead end town who gains some local notoriety when she quits a job at a fast food joint during a live television newscast. Despite a lack of potential jobs, and allegedly being considered the town's laughing stock, Corrine forms a band called the Stains with sister Tracy (Kanter) and a cousin Jessica (Dern). After all of three band rehearsals, the Stains are hired to open for an act called the Metal Corpses, led by Lou Corpse (Waybill). This only happened after Corrine snuck backstage to ask someone for advice.
The first Stains show is a disaster, but Corrine's onstage image and declaration that the Stains "don't put out" gets the attention of the same reporter who was at the restaurant when she quit her job. The story on the band earns them a cult audience, and the Stains quickly rise from opening act to headliners, but can the girls handle being the newest big thing in rock and roll?
The film never received wide distribution in theaters, but found a second life in art house cinemas, and later, on late night cable TV, namely USA Network's Night Flight, Showtime, and Z Channel. Interesting movie, I thought. Recommended.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Stalag 17
Stalag 17. 1953 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Sig Ruman, Gil Stratton
Director: Billy Wilder
Buy Stalag 17 at Amazon.
A film adaption of Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski's stage play that started in May of 1951. Both Bevan and Trzcinski were prisoners of war. Stalag 17 also is believed to have inspired the sitcom Hogan's Heroes, although this is not the case.
Narrated by Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook (Stratton), the movie starts on "the longest night of the year" in 1994 at a prisoner-of-war camp somewhere along the Danube. Two soldiers try to escape through a tunnel dug underneath the barbed wire, but are shot down as soon as they emerge from the other end. The prisoners believe there's a spy in their ranks, but the security officer for the barracks, Price (Graves), fails to find out who. Sefton (Holden, who won an Oscar for Best Actor in this one) is considered the main suspect, as the others are suspicious of his constant fraternization with the enemy, bartering for goods and food when he isn't organizing mouse races and other profitable enterprises.
The prisoners' lives are depicted as not as harsh as you might expect for a prisoner-of-war camp, but most of the soldiers still despise their surroundings, and do their best to get the better of the camp's commandant Oberst von Scherbach (Preminger). A radio is used by all of the barracks to tune in the BBC and the war news, until a guard, Sergeant Schulz (Ruman) confiscates it. After Sefton is spotted spending a day in the women's barracks in the Russian section of the camp, the soldiers conclude that he was rewarded for allegedly informing the Germans about the radio, and he is accused of being the spy when he comes back. He is beaten, ostracized, and his belongings are taken and distributed to the rest of the prisoners. Sefton must find out the identity of the real spy to clear his name.
Recommended movie.
Starring: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss, Peter Graves, Neville Brand, Sig Ruman, Gil Stratton
Director: Billy Wilder
Buy Stalag 17 at Amazon.
A film adaption of Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski's stage play that started in May of 1951. Both Bevan and Trzcinski were prisoners of war. Stalag 17 also is believed to have inspired the sitcom Hogan's Heroes, although this is not the case.
Narrated by Clarence Harvey "Cookie" Cook (Stratton), the movie starts on "the longest night of the year" in 1994 at a prisoner-of-war camp somewhere along the Danube. Two soldiers try to escape through a tunnel dug underneath the barbed wire, but are shot down as soon as they emerge from the other end. The prisoners believe there's a spy in their ranks, but the security officer for the barracks, Price (Graves), fails to find out who. Sefton (Holden, who won an Oscar for Best Actor in this one) is considered the main suspect, as the others are suspicious of his constant fraternization with the enemy, bartering for goods and food when he isn't organizing mouse races and other profitable enterprises.
The prisoners' lives are depicted as not as harsh as you might expect for a prisoner-of-war camp, but most of the soldiers still despise their surroundings, and do their best to get the better of the camp's commandant Oberst von Scherbach (Preminger). A radio is used by all of the barracks to tune in the BBC and the war news, until a guard, Sergeant Schulz (Ruman) confiscates it. After Sefton is spotted spending a day in the women's barracks in the Russian section of the camp, the soldiers conclude that he was rewarded for allegedly informing the Germans about the radio, and he is accused of being the spy when he comes back. He is beaten, ostracized, and his belongings are taken and distributed to the rest of the prisoners. Sefton must find out the identity of the real spy to clear his name.
Recommended movie.
Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace. 1944 Warner Bros. Pictures/Turner Entertainment [filmed in 1941].
Starring: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, John Alexander
Director: Frank Capra
Available at Amazon.
Mortimer Brewster is a lifelong bachelor and drama critic who has written several books where he describes marriage as an old fashioned superstition. Despite what he has written, he falls in love and married Elaine Harper (Lane), who grew up next door to his old family home in Brooklyn. After the wedding (on Halloween!), Mort goes to visit his bizarre relatives still living there: two elderly aunts Abby and Martha (Hull & Adair), and his brother Teddy (Alexander), who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt, and yells "Charge!" before running upstairs when he isn't digging "the Panama Canal" in the basement of the house. After Mortimer finds a corpse hidden in a window seat, he tells his aunts that Teddy needs to be institutionalized, since he's killed someone.
Teddy "Roosevelt" isn't the one responsible, and Mortimer's aunts cheerfully explain that it's their doing, calling it a "charity". Mortimer considers their activities of ending the lives of presumed suffering of lonely old bachelors by serving them poisoned elderberry wine spiked with arsenic a "very bad habit". The corpses are buried downstairs by Teddy, who thinks he's digging locks for the Panama Canal and only burying yellow fever victims.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Mortimer's brother Jonathan (Massey) shows up with his alcoholic accomplice, plastic surgeon Dr. Herman Einstein (Lorre). Jonathan is a psychotic gangster trying to get away from the cops and looking for a place to dump his latest victim, whose face was altered by Dr. Einstein while inebriated. After Jonathan finds out what his aunts are doing, he decides to bury his victim in the basement, to their objection, and decides Mort will be his next victim.
Can Mortimer really be related to this group of nutcases?
This is a very funny and dark movie. Even though Cary Grant hated his performance here, it really makes the movie that more enjoyable. Highly recommended.
Starring: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Priscilla Lane, John Alexander
Director: Frank Capra
Available at Amazon.
Mortimer Brewster is a lifelong bachelor and drama critic who has written several books where he describes marriage as an old fashioned superstition. Despite what he has written, he falls in love and married Elaine Harper (Lane), who grew up next door to his old family home in Brooklyn. After the wedding (on Halloween!), Mort goes to visit his bizarre relatives still living there: two elderly aunts Abby and Martha (Hull & Adair), and his brother Teddy (Alexander), who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt, and yells "Charge!" before running upstairs when he isn't digging "the Panama Canal" in the basement of the house. After Mortimer finds a corpse hidden in a window seat, he tells his aunts that Teddy needs to be institutionalized, since he's killed someone.
Teddy "Roosevelt" isn't the one responsible, and Mortimer's aunts cheerfully explain that it's their doing, calling it a "charity". Mortimer considers their activities of ending the lives of presumed suffering of lonely old bachelors by serving them poisoned elderberry wine spiked with arsenic a "very bad habit". The corpses are buried downstairs by Teddy, who thinks he's digging locks for the Panama Canal and only burying yellow fever victims.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Mortimer's brother Jonathan (Massey) shows up with his alcoholic accomplice, plastic surgeon Dr. Herman Einstein (Lorre). Jonathan is a psychotic gangster trying to get away from the cops and looking for a place to dump his latest victim, whose face was altered by Dr. Einstein while inebriated. After Jonathan finds out what his aunts are doing, he decides to bury his victim in the basement, to their objection, and decides Mort will be his next victim.
Can Mortimer really be related to this group of nutcases?
This is a very funny and dark movie. Even though Cary Grant hated his performance here, it really makes the movie that more enjoyable. Highly recommended.
Meet the Parents
Meet the Parents. 2001 Universal Pictures & Dreamworks Pictures.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson
Music: Randy Newman
Director: Jay Roach
Available at Amazon: Widescreen special edition, or in a two-fer with Meet the Fockers.
Chicago male nurse Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Stiller) wants to propose to his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Polo), who is a schoolteacher, and her pupils try to trigger an engagement early in the movie when they see Greg and Pam embrace on a sidewalk outside of the building. He has to postpone his plans after being informed that Pam's sister Debbie (DeHuff) is getting married. Greg and Pam are invited to stay with her family on Long Island, New York, and Greg decides to propose to Pam in front of her family.
At the Byrnes' home, Greg meets Pam's dad Jack (De Niro), her mother Dina (Danner), and their beloved cat Mr. Jinx, who doesn't have a Pixie and Dixie to play with. Jack takes a disliking to Greg, which only increases over time, due to Jack's distaste at Greg's career choice, or anything else that he sees as a difference between Greg and the Byrnes. It also doesn't help that Greg nearly wrecks everything (an urn, Debbie's face, the backyard thanks to an overflowing toliet) in his attempts to win over the family. After Greg loses Mr. Jinx, and tries replacing him with a different cat that kinda sorta looks like him, he is asked to leave. While he's having issues at the airport, Jack is proven wrong about Greg's intentions, which prompts him to change his mind about him marrying Pam. They get engaged, and Jack and Dina decide the only thing left to do is meet Greg's parents, which as everyone knows, is another movie for another time.
Recommended.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Owen Wilson
Music: Randy Newman
Director: Jay Roach
Available at Amazon: Widescreen special edition, or in a two-fer with Meet the Fockers.
Chicago male nurse Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Stiller) wants to propose to his girlfriend Pam Byrnes (Polo), who is a schoolteacher, and her pupils try to trigger an engagement early in the movie when they see Greg and Pam embrace on a sidewalk outside of the building. He has to postpone his plans after being informed that Pam's sister Debbie (DeHuff) is getting married. Greg and Pam are invited to stay with her family on Long Island, New York, and Greg decides to propose to Pam in front of her family.
At the Byrnes' home, Greg meets Pam's dad Jack (De Niro), her mother Dina (Danner), and their beloved cat Mr. Jinx, who doesn't have a Pixie and Dixie to play with. Jack takes a disliking to Greg, which only increases over time, due to Jack's distaste at Greg's career choice, or anything else that he sees as a difference between Greg and the Byrnes. It also doesn't help that Greg nearly wrecks everything (an urn, Debbie's face, the backyard thanks to an overflowing toliet) in his attempts to win over the family. After Greg loses Mr. Jinx, and tries replacing him with a different cat that kinda sorta looks like him, he is asked to leave. While he's having issues at the airport, Jack is proven wrong about Greg's intentions, which prompts him to change his mind about him marrying Pam. They get engaged, and Jack and Dina decide the only thing left to do is meet Greg's parents, which as everyone knows, is another movie for another time.
Recommended.
Monday, February 23, 2009
O Lucky Man!
O Lucky Man! 1973 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren, Graham Crowden, Dandy Nichols
Music: Alan Price
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Available at Amazon (two-disc special edition).
Malcolm McDowell reprises his role as Mick Travis, previously seen in 1968's if...., also directed by Lindsay Anderson. McDowell considers O Lucky Man! his favorite film that he appears in.
Here, Mick Travis progresses from coffee salesman, working for an amoral boss named Mr. Duff (Lowe), to being the personal assistant to the evil industrialist Sir James Burgess (Richardson). As Travis makes his way, we are periodically treated to music by former Animal Alan Price and his band, and their songs serve as a Greek chorus in between Mick's misadventures. Mick finds himself endlessly sidetracked, falling into an upscale swingers' club with live sex shows, finding himself tortured as a spy at a secret military base, stumbling upon an experimental medical compound, and ultimately framed by Burgess and sent to prison for five years for allegedly exporting gold bullion.
A truly bizarre film, with all of the major players playing multiple roles, and some inspired absurdity to keep you guessing about what's going to happen next. It's over three hours long, and curiously split onto two DVDs, so expect to be sitting for a while. Recommended movie, but just don't expect O Lucky Man! to be a true sequel to if....
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Ralph Richardson, Rachel Roberts, Arthur Lowe, Helen Mirren, Graham Crowden, Dandy Nichols
Music: Alan Price
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Available at Amazon (two-disc special edition).
Malcolm McDowell reprises his role as Mick Travis, previously seen in 1968's if...., also directed by Lindsay Anderson. McDowell considers O Lucky Man! his favorite film that he appears in.
Here, Mick Travis progresses from coffee salesman, working for an amoral boss named Mr. Duff (Lowe), to being the personal assistant to the evil industrialist Sir James Burgess (Richardson). As Travis makes his way, we are periodically treated to music by former Animal Alan Price and his band, and their songs serve as a Greek chorus in between Mick's misadventures. Mick finds himself endlessly sidetracked, falling into an upscale swingers' club with live sex shows, finding himself tortured as a spy at a secret military base, stumbling upon an experimental medical compound, and ultimately framed by Burgess and sent to prison for five years for allegedly exporting gold bullion.
A truly bizarre film, with all of the major players playing multiple roles, and some inspired absurdity to keep you guessing about what's going to happen next. It's over three hours long, and curiously split onto two DVDs, so expect to be sitting for a while. Recommended movie, but just don't expect O Lucky Man! to be a true sequel to if....
The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase. 1973 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman
Director: James Bridges
Buy The Paper Chase at Amazon.
James Hart (Bottoms) is a first year student at Harvard Law School, and he gets tested right away on the very first day by the stern Professor Kingsfield (Houseman). Hart comes to simultaneously idolize and dread the professor, who has taught at Harvard for forty years, and is considered an authority on contract law. James joins a study group, and begins dating Susan (Wagner), who is the professor's daughter, although he doesn't know this until attending a party during the semester.
Hart and Kingsfield gradually develop a grudging respect for one another as the year progresses, as the professor views James as a prize student, but he would never acknowledge that in the classroom.
Recommended movie. This was actually John Houseman's film debut at age 71, and it earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He would also reprise his role as Kingsfield in the TV adaptation.
Starring: Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman
Director: James Bridges
Buy The Paper Chase at Amazon.
James Hart (Bottoms) is a first year student at Harvard Law School, and he gets tested right away on the very first day by the stern Professor Kingsfield (Houseman). Hart comes to simultaneously idolize and dread the professor, who has taught at Harvard for forty years, and is considered an authority on contract law. James joins a study group, and begins dating Susan (Wagner), who is the professor's daughter, although he doesn't know this until attending a party during the semester.
Hart and Kingsfield gradually develop a grudging respect for one another as the year progresses, as the professor views James as a prize student, but he would never acknowledge that in the classroom.
Recommended movie. This was actually John Houseman's film debut at age 71, and it earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He would also reprise his role as Kingsfield in the TV adaptation.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
David Copperfield
The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger. 1935 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'Sullivan, Basil Rathbone
Director: George Cukor
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as part of the Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection.
The film adaptation of Dickens' great novel comes across more as a long series of seemingly unrelated sketches connected by the character David Copperfield, played by Freddie Bartholomew as a youth, and Frank Lawton as an adult. David was the apple of his mother's (Elizabeth Allan) eye until Edward Murdstone (Rathbone) came into the picture, marrying her, and imposing his strict ways on the young David. His mother's death during childhood is the first step in a long and difficult journey for David, as he endures various setbacks personally and professionally, but still comes out a stronger person.
W.C. Fields portrayed Wilkins Micawber, who stays close to David as he grows up. Fields also played the character with his normal American accent, despite a clause in his contract requiring him to use a British accent. This is also the only movie that Fields appears in where he doesn't ad lib. He was also loaned from Paramount Pictures to MGM after Charles Laughton, the original actor for Micawber, recommended him.
Recommended movie.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Freddie Bartholomew, Maureen O'Sullivan, Basil Rathbone
Director: George Cukor
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as part of the Motion Picture Masterpieces Collection.
The film adaptation of Dickens' great novel comes across more as a long series of seemingly unrelated sketches connected by the character David Copperfield, played by Freddie Bartholomew as a youth, and Frank Lawton as an adult. David was the apple of his mother's (Elizabeth Allan) eye until Edward Murdstone (Rathbone) came into the picture, marrying her, and imposing his strict ways on the young David. His mother's death during childhood is the first step in a long and difficult journey for David, as he endures various setbacks personally and professionally, but still comes out a stronger person.
W.C. Fields portrayed Wilkins Micawber, who stays close to David as he grows up. Fields also played the character with his normal American accent, despite a clause in his contract requiring him to use a British accent. This is also the only movie that Fields appears in where he doesn't ad lib. He was also loaned from Paramount Pictures to MGM after Charles Laughton, the original actor for Micawber, recommended him.
Recommended movie.
Blackboard Jungle
Blackboard Jungle. 1955 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Sidney Poitier, Jamie Farr (as Jameel Farah), Paul Mazursky, Vic Morrow
Director: Richard Brooks
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.
Richard Dadier (Ford) is a teacher at North Manual High School, an urban school where many of the students are led by two rebellious students, Gregory Miller and Artie West (Poitier & Morrow, both of whom were closer to 30 than their actual teenage years). Most of the students engage in anti-social behavior in and out of class, essentially running the school, and the school staff meekly accept the fact that they've lost control. Dadier challenges both his coworkers and students, which earns him anonymous phone call threats aimed at his family, and rumors spread that he is having an affair with a female student. Can the teacher keep his cool and not stoop to the level of the students who don't care?
Blackboard Jungle also featured Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in the opening credits, helping spark the so-called rock and roll revolution. The song attracted an enormous teenage audience for the film, which occasionally saw violence and vandalism at screenings.
Highly recommended.
Starring: Glenn Ford, Anne Francis, Louis Calhern, Sidney Poitier, Jamie Farr (as Jameel Farah), Paul Mazursky, Vic Morrow
Director: Richard Brooks
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.
Richard Dadier (Ford) is a teacher at North Manual High School, an urban school where many of the students are led by two rebellious students, Gregory Miller and Artie West (Poitier & Morrow, both of whom were closer to 30 than their actual teenage years). Most of the students engage in anti-social behavior in and out of class, essentially running the school, and the school staff meekly accept the fact that they've lost control. Dadier challenges both his coworkers and students, which earns him anonymous phone call threats aimed at his family, and rumors spread that he is having an affair with a female student. Can the teacher keep his cool and not stoop to the level of the students who don't care?
Blackboard Jungle also featured Bill Haley & His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" in the opening credits, helping spark the so-called rock and roll revolution. The song attracted an enormous teenage audience for the film, which occasionally saw violence and vandalism at screenings.
Highly recommended.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sleeper
Sleeper. 1973 United Artists, owned and distributed now by MGM.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Maria Small, Susan Miller, Douglas Rain (voice only)
Director: Woody Allen
Buy Sleeper at Amazon.
Did you ever wake up one morning and realize that you missed the last 200 years?
Miles Monroe (Allen) is a jazz musician and health-food store owner from Manhattan in 1973 who is cryogenically frozen without consent, and revived two hundred years later. The scientists responsible are part of an underground movement, as 22nd century America seems to be a police state ruled by a dictator, who is about to implement a secret plan called the "Aries Project". Miles is revived because since he has no identity or record of being alive in 2173, he could be used to infiltrate the Aries Project. After the authorities learn of the scientists' plans, they are arrested, and Miles escapes by disguising himself as a robot, going to work as a butler in the house of socialite Luna Schlosser (Keaton), who learns one day that her robot servant is a little too human. A frightened Luna threatens to turn Miles in, but he kidnaps her instead, and they go on the run, searching for the Aries Project.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Maria Small, Susan Miller, Douglas Rain (voice only)
Director: Woody Allen
Buy Sleeper at Amazon.
Did you ever wake up one morning and realize that you missed the last 200 years?
Miles Monroe (Allen) is a jazz musician and health-food store owner from Manhattan in 1973 who is cryogenically frozen without consent, and revived two hundred years later. The scientists responsible are part of an underground movement, as 22nd century America seems to be a police state ruled by a dictator, who is about to implement a secret plan called the "Aries Project". Miles is revived because since he has no identity or record of being alive in 2173, he could be used to infiltrate the Aries Project. After the authorities learn of the scientists' plans, they are arrested, and Miles escapes by disguising himself as a robot, going to work as a butler in the house of socialite Luna Schlosser (Keaton), who learns one day that her robot servant is a little too human. A frightened Luna threatens to turn Miles in, but he kidnaps her instead, and they go on the run, searching for the Aries Project.
Recommended movie.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. 2005 HDNet Films & Magnolia Pictures.
Featuring: Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay, Gray Davis
Narrator: Peter Coyote
Written and directed by Alex Gibney
Available at Amazon.
The film documentary based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, it's a compelling and surprising look at the collapse of Enron, and how it also took Arthur Andersen with it. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, this movie will make you mad no matter what your politics are.
The movie portrays Enron not as a good, honest corporation that went bad, but as a billion dollar con game almost right from the start, essentially worthless for many years, and only creating profits out of thin air, thanks to "hypothetical future value", where Enron could basically throw out any number figure, and that was the money that they "made" that day.
We also learn that Enron knowingly created California's energy crisis in 2001, and there never was a shortage of power. Instead, Enron's traders were known to ask power plant managers in "getting a little creative in shutting down plants for "repairs", driving up electricity prices up to nine times higher. There is also audio of the traders bragging about how they'll be "retired by age 30", and rich beyond their wildest dreams thanks to this.
Several years later, billions of dollars lost will remain forever lost, Kenneth Lay is dead, and Jeffrey Skilling sits in prison. And who knows how many lives were directly or indirectly affected by the company's demise, although one executive named Lou Lung Pai who had a taste for strippers cashed out early, and he now lives like a king in Hawaii. This documentary should be mandatory viewing. Highly recommended.
Featuring: Andrew Fastow, Jeffrey Skilling, Kenneth Lay, Gray Davis
Narrator: Peter Coyote
Written and directed by Alex Gibney
Available at Amazon.
The film documentary based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, it's a compelling and surprising look at the collapse of Enron, and how it also took Arthur Andersen with it. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, this movie will make you mad no matter what your politics are.
The movie portrays Enron not as a good, honest corporation that went bad, but as a billion dollar con game almost right from the start, essentially worthless for many years, and only creating profits out of thin air, thanks to "hypothetical future value", where Enron could basically throw out any number figure, and that was the money that they "made" that day.
We also learn that Enron knowingly created California's energy crisis in 2001, and there never was a shortage of power. Instead, Enron's traders were known to ask power plant managers in "getting a little creative in shutting down plants for "repairs", driving up electricity prices up to nine times higher. There is also audio of the traders bragging about how they'll be "retired by age 30", and rich beyond their wildest dreams thanks to this.
Several years later, billions of dollars lost will remain forever lost, Kenneth Lay is dead, and Jeffrey Skilling sits in prison. And who knows how many lives were directly or indirectly affected by the company's demise, although one executive named Lou Lung Pai who had a taste for strippers cashed out early, and he now lives like a king in Hawaii. This documentary should be mandatory viewing. Highly recommended.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. 1963 United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters
Also starring: Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, William Demarest, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Paul Ford
Cameo Appearances: Click here.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Available at Amazon.
An all-star comedy film that truly could be considered an "epic" film.
In the southern California desert, a car driven by bank robber "Smiler" Grogan (Durante, in his last screen appearance) goes off the highway in spectacular fashion. Several witnesses rush to his aid, namely Dingy "Ding" Bell (Rooney), Benjy Benjamin (Hackett), Lennie Pike (Winters), Melville Crump (Caesar), and J. Russell Finch (Berle). As Grogan lays dying, he tells the onlookers about a buried treasure of $350,000 hidden in a city called Santa Rosita, less than a day's drive away, under a mysterious "big W". After arguing over how to divide the money, everyone leaps into their vehicles, sparking a wild race. Many others, including a British army officer named J. Algernon Hawthorne (Terry-Thomas) and con man Otto Meyer (Silvers) join the pursuit as it progresses.
Highly, highly, recommended, and funny as hell, too.
Starring: Edie Adams, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Dorothy Provine, Mickey Rooney, Dick Shawn, Phil Silvers, Terry-Thomas, Spencer Tracy, Jonathan Winters
Also starring: Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, William Demarest, Jimmy Durante, Peter Falk, Paul Ford
Cameo Appearances: Click here.
Director: Stanley Kramer
Available at Amazon.
An all-star comedy film that truly could be considered an "epic" film.
In the southern California desert, a car driven by bank robber "Smiler" Grogan (Durante, in his last screen appearance) goes off the highway in spectacular fashion. Several witnesses rush to his aid, namely Dingy "Ding" Bell (Rooney), Benjy Benjamin (Hackett), Lennie Pike (Winters), Melville Crump (Caesar), and J. Russell Finch (Berle). As Grogan lays dying, he tells the onlookers about a buried treasure of $350,000 hidden in a city called Santa Rosita, less than a day's drive away, under a mysterious "big W". After arguing over how to divide the money, everyone leaps into their vehicles, sparking a wild race. Many others, including a British army officer named J. Algernon Hawthorne (Terry-Thomas) and con man Otto Meyer (Silvers) join the pursuit as it progresses.
Highly, highly, recommended, and funny as hell, too.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Loaded Weapon 1
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1. 1993 New Line Cinema.
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathy Ireland, Frank McRae, Tim Curry, William Shatner, Jon Lovitz, F. Murray Abraham
Cameo appearances: James Doohan, Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Corey Feldman, Paul Gleason, Whoopi Goldberg*, Phil Hartman, Denis Leary, Richard Moll, Denise Richards, Charlie Sheen, J.T. Walsh, Bruce Willis*, Allyce Beasley, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Christopher Lambert*
Director: Gene Quintano
Available at Amazon.
* uncredited cameo
National Lampoon takes this opportunity to spoof Lethal Weapon 2, with references to Basic Instinct, Die Hard, Dirty Harry, Rambo, 48 Hrs., Wayne's World (headbanging in a car to "Bohemian Rhapsody") and The Silence of the Lambs worked into the script. A sequel was planned, but scrapped when this movie flopped at the box office.
A detective named Billie York (Goldberg, uncredited) is murdered by Mr. Jigsaw (Curry, dressed in drag slightly less outrageous than Rocky Horror) after refusing to turn over microfilm with the recipe to turn cocaine into wilderness girls cookies. Her former partner, Wes Luger (Jackson) takes the case to avenge his former partner, but has to take on a psychotic burned-out narcotic agent named Jack Colt (Estevez) as part of the terms.
I have to admit that I have a soft spot for movies like this, even if some of the jokes seemed forced.If you don't buy this movie, we'll kill this dog! Recommended.
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathy Ireland, Frank McRae, Tim Curry, William Shatner, Jon Lovitz, F. Murray Abraham
Cameo appearances: James Doohan, Erik Estrada, Larry Wilcox, Corey Feldman, Paul Gleason, Whoopi Goldberg*, Phil Hartman, Denis Leary, Richard Moll, Denise Richards, Charlie Sheen, J.T. Walsh, Bruce Willis*, Allyce Beasley, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Christopher Lambert*
Director: Gene Quintano
Available at Amazon.
* uncredited cameo
National Lampoon takes this opportunity to spoof Lethal Weapon 2, with references to Basic Instinct, Die Hard, Dirty Harry, Rambo, 48 Hrs., Wayne's World (headbanging in a car to "Bohemian Rhapsody") and The Silence of the Lambs worked into the script. A sequel was planned, but scrapped when this movie flopped at the box office.
A detective named Billie York (Goldberg, uncredited) is murdered by Mr. Jigsaw (Curry, dressed in drag slightly less outrageous than Rocky Horror) after refusing to turn over microfilm with the recipe to turn cocaine into wilderness girls cookies. Her former partner, Wes Luger (Jackson) takes the case to avenge his former partner, but has to take on a psychotic burned-out narcotic agent named Jack Colt (Estevez) as part of the terms.
I have to admit that I have a soft spot for movies like this, even if some of the jokes seemed forced.
Mallrats
Mallrats. 1995 View Askew Productions, Gramercy Pictures & Universal Pictures.
Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Mewes, Renee Humphrey, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee
Director: Kevin Smith
Available at Amazon: Collectors' Edition, 10th Anniversary Extended Edition.
We open with T.S. (London) preparing for a trip to Universal Studios Florida with his girlfriend Brandi (Forlani), where he plans to propose to her. The two have an argument, and break up after Brandi tells him she can't go after she volunteered to fill in for a recently deceased contestant on Truth or Date, produced by her father, who hates T.S. His best friend Brodie Bruce (Lee) has also broken up with Renee (Doherty), and both dudes decide to seek solace at the local mall...where they discover that Truth or Date is filming there. T.S. and Brodie recruit Jay and Silent Bob (Mewes & Smith) to help them destroy the show's stage, which they were going to do anyway. When that fails, Jay and Bob get two of the male contestant stoned enough that they can't participate; T.S. and Brodie take their places intending to woo back Brandi and Renee respectively. At one point, they sought out romantic advice from none other than Stan Lee.
Brodie also discovers that Renee is being pursued by clothing store manager Shannon Hamilton (Affleck), who plans to seduce her, and then have sex "in a very uncomfortable place" with her, and we don't mean in the back of a Volkswagen.
In View Askew continuity, Mallrats takes place one day before the events depicted in Clerks, but that doesn't explain how Jay and Silent Bob got from Eden Prairie, Minnesota (where the movie was filmed and set) to New Jersey to hang out in front of Quick Stop Groceries in less than a day.
Recommended.
Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jeremy London, Jason Lee, Claire Forlani, Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Mewes, Renee Humphrey, Kevin Smith, Stan Lee
Director: Kevin Smith
Available at Amazon: Collectors' Edition, 10th Anniversary Extended Edition.
We open with T.S. (London) preparing for a trip to Universal Studios Florida with his girlfriend Brandi (Forlani), where he plans to propose to her. The two have an argument, and break up after Brandi tells him she can't go after she volunteered to fill in for a recently deceased contestant on Truth or Date, produced by her father, who hates T.S. His best friend Brodie Bruce (Lee) has also broken up with Renee (Doherty), and both dudes decide to seek solace at the local mall...where they discover that Truth or Date is filming there. T.S. and Brodie recruit Jay and Silent Bob (Mewes & Smith) to help them destroy the show's stage, which they were going to do anyway. When that fails, Jay and Bob get two of the male contestant stoned enough that they can't participate; T.S. and Brodie take their places intending to woo back Brandi and Renee respectively. At one point, they sought out romantic advice from none other than Stan Lee.
Brodie also discovers that Renee is being pursued by clothing store manager Shannon Hamilton (Affleck), who plans to seduce her, and then have sex "in a very uncomfortable place" with her, and we don't mean in the back of a Volkswagen.
In View Askew continuity, Mallrats takes place one day before the events depicted in Clerks, but that doesn't explain how Jay and Silent Bob got from Eden Prairie, Minnesota (where the movie was filmed and set) to New Jersey to hang out in front of Quick Stop Groceries in less than a day.
Recommended.
Executive Suite
Executive Suite. 1954 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters
Director: Robert Wise
Buy Executive Suite at Amazon.
Also available as part of the Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection.
Tredway Corporation head Avery Bullard dies at a critical time. His company, which manufactures furniture, has lost ground to competitors, and Bullard never groomed a successor, so the board of directors need to vote for his replacement.
The favorite is Loren Shaw (March), an executive more concerned with profitability and satisfying stockholders than rejuvenating the firm with new ideas. He has the support of the main shareholder, Julia Tredway (Stanwyck), as well as another board member, George Caswell (Louis Calhern).
The other choice is the creative young engineer Don Walling (Holden), who would rather develop new products and more efficient manufacturing methods than become head of the whole company. His wife Mary (June Allyson) is against him taking a new position, unlike company vice president Frederick Alderson (Pidgeon), who is Walling's best friend, and who sees him as the best home for saving the firm, even if Don is five years "too young" for the position.
Interesting film, I felt. Recommended.
Starring: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters
Director: Robert Wise
Buy Executive Suite at Amazon.
Also available as part of the Barbara Stanwyck Signature Collection.
Tredway Corporation head Avery Bullard dies at a critical time. His company, which manufactures furniture, has lost ground to competitors, and Bullard never groomed a successor, so the board of directors need to vote for his replacement.
The favorite is Loren Shaw (March), an executive more concerned with profitability and satisfying stockholders than rejuvenating the firm with new ideas. He has the support of the main shareholder, Julia Tredway (Stanwyck), as well as another board member, George Caswell (Louis Calhern).
The other choice is the creative young engineer Don Walling (Holden), who would rather develop new products and more efficient manufacturing methods than become head of the whole company. His wife Mary (June Allyson) is against him taking a new position, unlike company vice president Frederick Alderson (Pidgeon), who is Walling's best friend, and who sees him as the best home for saving the firm, even if Don is five years "too young" for the position.
Interesting film, I felt. Recommended.
A Day at the Races
A Day at the Races. 1937 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico), Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan, Margaret Dumont
Director: Sam Wood
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or part of the Marx Brothers Collection, with six other movies and a plethora of extras.
The follow-up to A Night at the Opera.
Groucho plays Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who claims to be a regular physician when summoned by a wealthy hyphochondriac named Emily Upjohn (Dumont) to take over the nearly bankrupt Standish Sanitarium. Tony (Chico) also works there, without pay, since he has a soft spot for the facility's owner, Judy Standish (O'Sullivan). Meanwhile, Stuffy (Harpo) is a jockey who rides at the local racetrack, when he isn't being bullied by J.D. Morgan (Douglas Dumbrille), who is eager to take over the sanitarium and its lands if Judy cannot pay her bills.
The fate of the sanitarium depends on the winner of a race involving Hi-Hat, owned by Gil Stuart (Jones).
Pretty funny movie that originated some of the running (recycled!) gags that would appear in the next few films the brothers made for MGM. Recommended.
Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico), Allan Jones, Maureen O'Sullivan, Margaret Dumont
Director: Sam Wood
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or part of the Marx Brothers Collection, with six other movies and a plethora of extras.
The follow-up to A Night at the Opera.
Groucho plays Hugo Z. Hackenbush, a veterinarian who claims to be a regular physician when summoned by a wealthy hyphochondriac named Emily Upjohn (Dumont) to take over the nearly bankrupt Standish Sanitarium. Tony (Chico) also works there, without pay, since he has a soft spot for the facility's owner, Judy Standish (O'Sullivan). Meanwhile, Stuffy (Harpo) is a jockey who rides at the local racetrack, when he isn't being bullied by J.D. Morgan (Douglas Dumbrille), who is eager to take over the sanitarium and its lands if Judy cannot pay her bills.
The fate of the sanitarium depends on the winner of a race involving Hi-Hat, owned by Gil Stuart (Jones).
Pretty funny movie that originated some of the running (recycled!) gags that would appear in the next few films the brothers made for MGM. Recommended.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon. 1975 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, James Broderick, Chris Sarandon
Director: Sidney Lumet
Available at Amazon: Two-disc special edition, or as part of the Controversal Classics, Volume 2 box set with Network and All the President's Men.
First time criminals Sonny Wortzik (Pacino) and his pal Sal (Cazale) rob a Brooklyn bank. They plan to use the cash to fund Sonny's transgendered partner's (Sarandon) male-to-female sex change operation, but they discover the bank has very little money on hand. After their third accomplice chickens out and runs away during the raid, the police make their presense known, holding the bank under siege. Sonny and Sal take shelter in the bank, holding the workers hostage.
Detective Moretti (Durning) calls the bank to tell Sonny that the police have arrived, which prompts the first time criminal to retort that he and Sal have hostages, and will kill them if anyone tries to come inside. Sonny and Sal do release a security guard who has an asthma attack after Moretti asks for a released hostage as a sign of good faith. Moretti also asks Sonny to step outside to see the aggressive police force. Seeing this, Sonny starts his famous "Attica!" chant, which wins over the civilian crowd gathered around. By now, the robbery has turned into a media circus.
Things escalate, and Sonny realizes that he and Sal will not be able to make a simple getaway. He demands a jet to take them out of the country, followed by Sonny throwing money over the police barricade to incite the crowd. Sonny's partner Leon and Sonny's mother also arrive at the scene at separate points of time. Leon later attempts suicide to "get away from Sonny". The ride to the airport shows up late at night, where the feds bust Sonny upon arrival, and Sal gets shot to death.
Dog Day Afternoon was loosely based on the story of John Wojtowicz, who along with Sal Naturile, held up a bank in Brooklyn in 1972 to pay for his transgendered partner's sexual reassignment surgery. Apparently, the two would-be robbers had their hostages and the police quite entertained at their antics. Wojtowicz served fourteen years in prison for the crime, and was paid $7500 for the rights to his story; a third of which was given to his partner for her surgery.
Highly recommended.
Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, James Broderick, Chris Sarandon
Director: Sidney Lumet
Available at Amazon: Two-disc special edition, or as part of the Controversal Classics, Volume 2 box set with Network and All the President's Men.
First time criminals Sonny Wortzik (Pacino) and his pal Sal (Cazale) rob a Brooklyn bank. They plan to use the cash to fund Sonny's transgendered partner's (Sarandon) male-to-female sex change operation, but they discover the bank has very little money on hand. After their third accomplice chickens out and runs away during the raid, the police make their presense known, holding the bank under siege. Sonny and Sal take shelter in the bank, holding the workers hostage.
Detective Moretti (Durning) calls the bank to tell Sonny that the police have arrived, which prompts the first time criminal to retort that he and Sal have hostages, and will kill them if anyone tries to come inside. Sonny and Sal do release a security guard who has an asthma attack after Moretti asks for a released hostage as a sign of good faith. Moretti also asks Sonny to step outside to see the aggressive police force. Seeing this, Sonny starts his famous "Attica!" chant, which wins over the civilian crowd gathered around. By now, the robbery has turned into a media circus.
Things escalate, and Sonny realizes that he and Sal will not be able to make a simple getaway. He demands a jet to take them out of the country, followed by Sonny throwing money over the police barricade to incite the crowd. Sonny's partner Leon and Sonny's mother also arrive at the scene at separate points of time. Leon later attempts suicide to "get away from Sonny". The ride to the airport shows up late at night, where the feds bust Sonny upon arrival, and Sal gets shot to death.
Dog Day Afternoon was loosely based on the story of John Wojtowicz, who along with Sal Naturile, held up a bank in Brooklyn in 1972 to pay for his transgendered partner's sexual reassignment surgery. Apparently, the two would-be robbers had their hostages and the police quite entertained at their antics. Wojtowicz served fourteen years in prison for the crime, and was paid $7500 for the rights to his story; a third of which was given to his partner for her surgery.
Highly recommended.
Eddie and the Cruisers
Eddie and the Cruisers. 1983 Embassy Pictures, released to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Tom Berenger, Michael Paré, Joe Pantoliano, Matthew Laurance, Helen Schneider, David Wilson, Michael "Tunes" Antunes, Ellen Barkin
Music: John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Director: Martin Davidson
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as a two-fer with the 1989 sequel.
Maggie Foley (Barkin) is a television reporter investigating the mysterious death of a musician named Eddie Wilson (Paré), and the disappearance of the tapes of Eddie's band's second album the day after his apparent demise. Eddie's band, The Cruisers, sound remarkably like an early '80s bar band with a lead singer doing his best Springsteen impression. Not bad for a band that was supposed to have existed twenty years earlier!
Eddie and the Cruisers regularly play TonyMart's club in Somers Point, New Jersey. They meet Frank Ridgeway (Berenger) there, and Eddie hires him to play keyboards and contribute lyrics, earning him the nickname "Wordman". Ridgeway's help sees the group shifting from cover songs to all original material, followed up by an album of original material called Tender Years, with the fictional number-one (and real life Billboard #7 in 1984) hit "On the Dark Side". Eddie seriously wants to be "great", which some of his bandmates and manager doesn't understand. They soon record Eddie's artistic vision, a record called Season in Hell (which probably would've been banned everywhere in the early 1960s in real life if only for its album title). Satin Records, which handles Eddie and the Cruisers, rejects the album, considering it "dark and strange". The next day, Eddie's car goes off a bridge. His body is never found, and he's declared dead.
Twenty years later, Satin re-releases Tender Years to even greater commercial success, and a documentary is planned. Foley interviews the surviving Cruisers (much of the story takes place in flashbacks), who have largely moved on with their lives, and only one of them is still involved with music. After Eddie's old girlfriend Joann (Schneider) is interviewed, she takes Frank to the Palace of Depression, where she reveals that she took the tapes after Eddie's crash, and this is where they've been ever since. The tapes are turned over to the band's old manager, who promises to release the album in a deal that will benefit everyone.
Maggie's story about the band airs, and we see a large crowd of people watching it on television screens from behind a store window. The crowd scatters, leaving only the long lost, and older looking Eddie Wilson behind. Happy to know that his music is finally being heard, he smiles and disappears into the night.
And six years later, they made a sequel.
As for the original movie, I have to say it's a recommended one. It was also one I remember well from my childhood, when HBO aired the hell out of it in 1984.
Starring: Tom Berenger, Michael Paré, Joe Pantoliano, Matthew Laurance, Helen Schneider, David Wilson, Michael "Tunes" Antunes, Ellen Barkin
Music: John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Director: Martin Davidson
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or as a two-fer with the 1989 sequel.
Maggie Foley (Barkin) is a television reporter investigating the mysterious death of a musician named Eddie Wilson (Paré), and the disappearance of the tapes of Eddie's band's second album the day after his apparent demise. Eddie's band, The Cruisers, sound remarkably like an early '80s bar band with a lead singer doing his best Springsteen impression. Not bad for a band that was supposed to have existed twenty years earlier!
Eddie and the Cruisers regularly play TonyMart's club in Somers Point, New Jersey. They meet Frank Ridgeway (Berenger) there, and Eddie hires him to play keyboards and contribute lyrics, earning him the nickname "Wordman". Ridgeway's help sees the group shifting from cover songs to all original material, followed up by an album of original material called Tender Years, with the fictional number-one (and real life Billboard #7 in 1984) hit "On the Dark Side". Eddie seriously wants to be "great", which some of his bandmates and manager doesn't understand. They soon record Eddie's artistic vision, a record called Season in Hell (which probably would've been banned everywhere in the early 1960s in real life if only for its album title). Satin Records, which handles Eddie and the Cruisers, rejects the album, considering it "dark and strange". The next day, Eddie's car goes off a bridge. His body is never found, and he's declared dead.
Twenty years later, Satin re-releases Tender Years to even greater commercial success, and a documentary is planned. Foley interviews the surviving Cruisers (much of the story takes place in flashbacks), who have largely moved on with their lives, and only one of them is still involved with music. After Eddie's old girlfriend Joann (Schneider) is interviewed, she takes Frank to the Palace of Depression, where she reveals that she took the tapes after Eddie's crash, and this is where they've been ever since. The tapes are turned over to the band's old manager, who promises to release the album in a deal that will benefit everyone.
Maggie's story about the band airs, and we see a large crowd of people watching it on television screens from behind a store window. The crowd scatters, leaving only the long lost, and older looking Eddie Wilson behind. Happy to know that his music is finally being heard, he smiles and disappears into the night.
And six years later, they made a sequel.
As for the original movie, I have to say it's a recommended one. It was also one I remember well from my childhood, when HBO aired the hell out of it in 1984.
The Magic Christian
The Magic Christian. 1969 Commonwealth United Entertainment, distributed now by Republic Pictures & Artisan Entertainment.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr
Also starring: John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough, Roman Polanski, Laurence Harvey, Spike Milligan, Jeremy Lloyd, Graham Chapman, Yul Brynner
Written by Terry Southern, Joseph McGrath, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Peter Sellers
Music: Badfinger, Ken Thorne, Paul McCartney, Noel Coward, Thunderclap Newman
Director: Joseph McGrath
Buy The Magic Christian at Amazon.
Sir Guy Grand (Sellers), an eccentric billionaire who doesn't mind squandering money on pranks played on other people, adopts a homeless derelict that he dubs Youngman Grand (Starr). The pair embark on a series of misadventures that clearly display father Grand's sincere belief that "everyone has their price". Their practical jokes range from bribing a traffic cop (Milligan) to take back the parking ticket he gave them and eat it, which he eagerly does, to filling a large vat of blood, urine, and animal excrement, dropping large sums of cash in it, and enticing city workers to collect as much as they can (and they do). A conversation reveals that father Grand sees his jokes as "educational".
Recommended movie.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr
Also starring: John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough, Roman Polanski, Laurence Harvey, Spike Milligan, Jeremy Lloyd, Graham Chapman, Yul Brynner
Written by Terry Southern, Joseph McGrath, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Peter Sellers
Music: Badfinger, Ken Thorne, Paul McCartney, Noel Coward, Thunderclap Newman
Director: Joseph McGrath
Buy The Magic Christian at Amazon.
Sir Guy Grand (Sellers), an eccentric billionaire who doesn't mind squandering money on pranks played on other people, adopts a homeless derelict that he dubs Youngman Grand (Starr). The pair embark on a series of misadventures that clearly display father Grand's sincere belief that "everyone has their price". Their practical jokes range from bribing a traffic cop (Milligan) to take back the parking ticket he gave them and eat it, which he eagerly does, to filling a large vat of blood, urine, and animal excrement, dropping large sums of cash in it, and enticing city workers to collect as much as they can (and they do). A conversation reveals that father Grand sees his jokes as "educational".
Recommended movie.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Buck Privates
Buck Privates. 1941 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, The Andrews Sisters, Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Jane Frazee, Shemp Howard
Director: Arthur Lubin
Part of the discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello, Volume 1 set. Also available on the Complete Universal Pictures Collection, which is in print, and considerably more expensive.
Before writing this review, I checked out some of the DVD reviews for the now discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello set, and a lot of them were complaining about defective discs. To counter those, I only saw one explaining that you will need a specific kind of player to play the double-sided discs without a problem. Since I haven't had a problem so far, I'm guessing that I have the appropriate kind of DVD player, and I won't find myself cursing "damned defective discs" like some of the people who've bought this set have.
I digress.
Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers on the run from a police officer. They duck into a movie theater, unaware that it's now an Army Recruitment Center. They both enlist, thinking they're signing up for theater prizes. Two other guys are enlisting: spoiled playboy Randolph Parker (Bowman) and his valet Bob Martin (Curtis). Bob isn't too bothered by enlisting, but Randolph hopes his influential dad will pull enough strings so that he won't have to serve. Tensions between them increase when they're introduced to Judy Gray (Frazee), who Randolph begins pursuing.
Slicker and Herbie are horrified to discover that the cop that had chased them into the recruitment office is now their drill sergeant. Randolph's dad declines to use his influence to keep his son out of the military, thinking a year in the Army would do him well. Life at camp isn't all bad, since the Andrews Sisters regularly show up to sing, and Herbie's incompetence somehow goes largely unnoticed.
Pretty funny movie. During World War II, Japan used this movie as propaganda to demonstrate to its own armies the "incompetence" of the United States military. I'm sure they regretted that move once we showed 'em who was boss! Take that, Hiroshima!! USA! USA! USA!
...sorry. Recommended movie.
Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, The Andrews Sisters, Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Jane Frazee, Shemp Howard
Director: Arthur Lubin
Part of the discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello, Volume 1 set. Also available on the Complete Universal Pictures Collection, which is in print, and considerably more expensive.
Before writing this review, I checked out some of the DVD reviews for the now discontinued Best of Abbott and Costello set, and a lot of them were complaining about defective discs. To counter those, I only saw one explaining that you will need a specific kind of player to play the double-sided discs without a problem. Since I haven't had a problem so far, I'm guessing that I have the appropriate kind of DVD player, and I won't find myself cursing "damned defective discs" like some of the people who've bought this set have.
I digress.
Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers on the run from a police officer. They duck into a movie theater, unaware that it's now an Army Recruitment Center. They both enlist, thinking they're signing up for theater prizes. Two other guys are enlisting: spoiled playboy Randolph Parker (Bowman) and his valet Bob Martin (Curtis). Bob isn't too bothered by enlisting, but Randolph hopes his influential dad will pull enough strings so that he won't have to serve. Tensions between them increase when they're introduced to Judy Gray (Frazee), who Randolph begins pursuing.
Slicker and Herbie are horrified to discover that the cop that had chased them into the recruitment office is now their drill sergeant. Randolph's dad declines to use his influence to keep his son out of the military, thinking a year in the Army would do him well. Life at camp isn't all bad, since the Andrews Sisters regularly show up to sing, and Herbie's incompetence somehow goes largely unnoticed.
Pretty funny movie. During World War II, Japan used this movie as propaganda to demonstrate to its own armies the "incompetence" of the United States military. I'm sure they regretted that move once we showed 'em who was boss! Take that, Hiroshima!! USA! USA! USA!
...sorry. Recommended movie.
It's a Gift
It's a Gift. 1934 Paramount Pictures, now owned and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol, Julian Madison, Baby LeRoy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Currently available only as part of the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection.
This could very well be W.C. Fields' funniest film, so I'll give it a viewing and see for myself...
Harold Bissonette (pronounced "bis-son-ay") inherits some money, and decides to give up his corner grocery store in favor of running an orange grove in California. His family objects, and Harold is even told outright that the land he bought it worthless, which doesn't stop him from taking his family there, only to find a tumbledown shack and one tumbleweed.
Just as Harold is ready to throw in the towel, a neighbor tells him that a developer is desperate to buy his property to build a grandstand for a racetrack. Harold surprises everyone by holding out for a large sum of money, which includes a commission for the neighbor, and a demand that the developer buy him an orange grove. The movie ends with Harold on his new property, squeezing orange juice into a glass (with some booze added) while his happy family goes for a ride in their new car.
During the course of the movie, Harold fails to prevent a blind customer and Baby LeRoy from wrecking his store (in between a customer's irate demands for "ten pounds of KUMQUATS!!"), has a destructive picnic on private property, and is driven out of bed and onto the porch by his nagging wife, where he tries to sleep, but is kept awake all night by neighbors, salesmen, and other noises or calamities.
Very good movie, although it's only 73 minutes long. I'd definitely watch it again. Highly recommended.
Starring: W.C. Fields, Kathleen Howard, Jean Rouverol, Julian Madison, Baby LeRoy
Director: Norman Z. McLeod
Currently available only as part of the W.C. Fields Comedy Collection.
This could very well be W.C. Fields' funniest film, so I'll give it a viewing and see for myself...
Harold Bissonette (pronounced "bis-son-ay") inherits some money, and decides to give up his corner grocery store in favor of running an orange grove in California. His family objects, and Harold is even told outright that the land he bought it worthless, which doesn't stop him from taking his family there, only to find a tumbledown shack and one tumbleweed.
Just as Harold is ready to throw in the towel, a neighbor tells him that a developer is desperate to buy his property to build a grandstand for a racetrack. Harold surprises everyone by holding out for a large sum of money, which includes a commission for the neighbor, and a demand that the developer buy him an orange grove. The movie ends with Harold on his new property, squeezing orange juice into a glass (with some booze added) while his happy family goes for a ride in their new car.
During the course of the movie, Harold fails to prevent a blind customer and Baby LeRoy from wrecking his store (in between a customer's irate demands for "ten pounds of KUMQUATS!!"), has a destructive picnic on private property, and is driven out of bed and onto the porch by his nagging wife, where he tries to sleep, but is kept awake all night by neighbors, salesmen, and other noises or calamities.
Very good movie, although it's only 73 minutes long. I'd definitely watch it again. Highly recommended.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter. 1978 EMI Films & Universal Pictures (formerly an MCA company).
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
Director: Michael Cimino
Available at Amazon.
A winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. For a brief time, Cimino became the hot director in Hollywood who could do whatever he wanted. His followup to this one was Heaven's Gate, a epic western that flopped so spectacularly that it took an entire studio (United Artists) down with it. Don't worry, it didn't stop him from being able to film Footloose a few years later.
I digress.
We open the film by focusing on six Western Pennsylvania steelworkers. Mike (De Niro), Steven (Savage), Nick (Walken), Stanley (Cazale), John (George Dzundza) and Axel (Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service. One of their favorite activities is hunting deer, and Mike is anxious to kill one with just one bullet, comparing that to his inevitable tour of duty in Vietnam.
Before shipping out, Steven and his girlfriend (pregnant by another man, but loved by Steven) get married in a festive Russian Orthodox wedding. Mike finds himself wanting Nick's girlfriend Linda (Streep). Everyone gets loaded, and when it's time to toast the newly married couple, a drop of blood red wine drips on her wedding gown, foreshadowing the coming events. Nick takes the opportunity to propose to Linda, which she accepts. Later that evening, Nick asks Michael not to leave him "over there" if anything bad happens. The next morning, all of the guys except for Steven go hunting (still in their tuxedos!), and after a conflict over Stanely forgetting his boots, Mike gets his deer with one bullet, but the others are more concerned with drinking and goofing off. The sequence ends without dialogue in their favorite tavern, all realizing that life will never be the same once they enlist the next morning.
It isn't. Mike, Nick and Steven are all captured together by the enemy during combat, and tortured. After escaping, Mike gets Steven to friendly territory while the psychologically damaged Nick finds himself stumbling through Saigon, falling in with a gambling den where men play Russian Roulette for money. Michael eventually comes home, wracked with guilt about losing Nick and Steven. To his surprise, Steven is being kept in a local Veterans' hospital, having lost both legs, and refusing to come home. He is also being sent large amounts of money from Nick in Saigon. After taking Steven home, Mike returns to Saigon before it fell to the Communists looking for Nick. He finds Nick, but can't get through to him until they engage in Russian Roulette, and Mike asks him about their hunting trips together. Nick returns from limbo and starts to remember who he was, but sadly, the bullet happens to be in the chamber on that turn, and Nick finally loses the game. Mike still keeps his word, and brings Nick's body home for burial.
Damn good film. Highly recommended.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage, Meryl Streep
Director: Michael Cimino
Available at Amazon.
A winner of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. For a brief time, Cimino became the hot director in Hollywood who could do whatever he wanted. His followup to this one was Heaven's Gate, a epic western that flopped so spectacularly that it took an entire studio (United Artists) down with it. Don't worry, it didn't stop him from being able to film Footloose a few years later.
I digress.
We open the film by focusing on six Western Pennsylvania steelworkers. Mike (De Niro), Steven (Savage), Nick (Walken), Stanley (Cazale), John (George Dzundza) and Axel (Aspegren) are preparing for two rites of passage: marriage and military service. One of their favorite activities is hunting deer, and Mike is anxious to kill one with just one bullet, comparing that to his inevitable tour of duty in Vietnam.
Before shipping out, Steven and his girlfriend (pregnant by another man, but loved by Steven) get married in a festive Russian Orthodox wedding. Mike finds himself wanting Nick's girlfriend Linda (Streep). Everyone gets loaded, and when it's time to toast the newly married couple, a drop of blood red wine drips on her wedding gown, foreshadowing the coming events. Nick takes the opportunity to propose to Linda, which she accepts. Later that evening, Nick asks Michael not to leave him "over there" if anything bad happens. The next morning, all of the guys except for Steven go hunting (still in their tuxedos!), and after a conflict over Stanely forgetting his boots, Mike gets his deer with one bullet, but the others are more concerned with drinking and goofing off. The sequence ends without dialogue in their favorite tavern, all realizing that life will never be the same once they enlist the next morning.
It isn't. Mike, Nick and Steven are all captured together by the enemy during combat, and tortured. After escaping, Mike gets Steven to friendly territory while the psychologically damaged Nick finds himself stumbling through Saigon, falling in with a gambling den where men play Russian Roulette for money. Michael eventually comes home, wracked with guilt about losing Nick and Steven. To his surprise, Steven is being kept in a local Veterans' hospital, having lost both legs, and refusing to come home. He is also being sent large amounts of money from Nick in Saigon. After taking Steven home, Mike returns to Saigon before it fell to the Communists looking for Nick. He finds Nick, but can't get through to him until they engage in Russian Roulette, and Mike asks him about their hunting trips together. Nick returns from limbo and starts to remember who he was, but sadly, the bullet happens to be in the chamber on that turn, and Nick finally loses the game. Mike still keeps his word, and brings Nick's body home for burial.
Damn good film. Highly recommended.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
MST3K #609: The Skydivers
Mystery Science Theater 3000 experiment 609: The Skydivers (with short Why Study Industrial Arts?)
Originally aired August 27, 1994.
Part of the first MST3K Collection, still available at Amazon.
Why Study Industrial Arts? explains why boys, and apparently, only boys should take shop classes even if they think they don't need to. Like Crow said at the end, this was the film the boys watched, while the girls went to the gym "and watched the OTHER film!"
The Skydivers is the typical Coleman Francis pile of incoherency, where husband and wife Harry and Beth run a parachuting school. An old girlfriend of Harry's, Suzy, starts seeing a fired mechanic, Frankie. Beth is secretly having an affair with a new mechanic, Joe. Lots of coffee is consumed, plenty of stock music from scratchy old library records is heard, there are awkward cuts and dialogue, and the movie ends with Suzy and Frankie gunned down by a mob.
Oh yes, we also can't forget another Francis trademark bordering on possible fetish: heavy usage of light aircraft pertaining to the plot.
During the host segments, Crow manages to derail Tom Servo's one-bot planetarium presentation by frequently asking about Uranus. The Mads challenge Mike and the 'bots to a Swing Choir competition, which they win, of course. Crow's day quickly goes to hell as he cuts himself in half vertically while building in Mike's shop class. He then puts himself in a "double jock lock" and refuses help, since he believes he needs to find his way out of it alone. Later on, Crow's new car is strafed by Servo's new plane, and both robots find themselves hung upside down from parachutes while Mike reads a letter.
Good episode.
Originally aired August 27, 1994.
Part of the first MST3K Collection, still available at Amazon.
Why Study Industrial Arts? explains why boys, and apparently, only boys should take shop classes even if they think they don't need to. Like Crow said at the end, this was the film the boys watched, while the girls went to the gym "and watched the OTHER film!"
The Skydivers is the typical Coleman Francis pile of incoherency, where husband and wife Harry and Beth run a parachuting school. An old girlfriend of Harry's, Suzy, starts seeing a fired mechanic, Frankie. Beth is secretly having an affair with a new mechanic, Joe. Lots of coffee is consumed, plenty of stock music from scratchy old library records is heard, there are awkward cuts and dialogue, and the movie ends with Suzy and Frankie gunned down by a mob.
Oh yes, we also can't forget another Francis trademark bordering on possible fetish: heavy usage of light aircraft pertaining to the plot.
During the host segments, Crow manages to derail Tom Servo's one-bot planetarium presentation by frequently asking about Uranus. The Mads challenge Mike and the 'bots to a Swing Choir competition, which they win, of course. Crow's day quickly goes to hell as he cuts himself in half vertically while building in Mike's shop class. He then puts himself in a "double jock lock" and refuses help, since he believes he needs to find his way out of it alone. Later on, Crow's new car is strafed by Servo's new plane, and both robots find themselves hung upside down from parachutes while Mike reads a letter.
Good episode.
Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2 (Disc 2)
Buy from Amazon.
Road Runner and Friends:
Beep, Beep, directed by Chuck Jones, 1952 (Wiki).
Going, Going, Gosh!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1952 (Wiki).
Zipping Along, directed by Chuck Jones, 1953 (Wiki).
Stop! Look! and Hasten!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1954 (Wiki).
Ready...Set...Zoom!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Guided Muscle, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z, directed by Chuck Jones, 1956 (Wiki).
There They Go-Go-Go!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1956 (Wiki).
Scrambled Aches, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki).
Zoom and Bored, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki).
Whoa, Be-Gone!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1958 (Wiki).
Cheese Chasers, directed by Chuck Jones, 1951 (Wiki).
The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals at Roquefort Hall, directed by Chuck Jones, 1942 (Wiki).
Mouse Wreckers, directed by Chuck Jones, 1948.
A Bear for Punishment, directed by Chuck Jones, 1951 (Wiki).
Nothin' but Chuck Jones on this disc. Nothin' wrong with that.
The first eleven cartoons are all Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote shorts, and the premise is simple: Coyote tries desperately to capture roadrunner, and fails each and every time, usually with destructive results. It never ceases to be funny. Wile E. Coyote could also be considered a surprising role model, as he never gives up, he never stops trying, no matter how badly he gets hurt.
Two of the shorts feature Hubie and Bertie dealing with their rival, Claude Cat. While the mice were retired by Jones, Claude went on to briefly be the antagonist for Marc Antony and Pussyfoot in any cartoon where they were featured.
The Dover Boys, Tom, Dick and Larry, only were featured in one short (which almost got Jones fired from Warner Bros.), but their one starring cartoon was voted #49 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons, a significant achievement.
Finally, you might remember the Three Bears from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. They made at least two other appearances, and this cartoon was their last one, where Mama and Junior Bear only make Papa Bear's Father's Day much, much worse.
Recommended.
Road Runner and Friends:
Beep, Beep, directed by Chuck Jones, 1952 (Wiki).
Going, Going, Gosh!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1952 (Wiki).
Zipping Along, directed by Chuck Jones, 1953 (Wiki).
Stop! Look! and Hasten!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1954 (Wiki).
Ready...Set...Zoom!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Guided Muscle, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z, directed by Chuck Jones, 1956 (Wiki).
There They Go-Go-Go!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1956 (Wiki).
Scrambled Aches, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki).
Zoom and Bored, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki).
Whoa, Be-Gone!, directed by Chuck Jones, 1958 (Wiki).
Cheese Chasers, directed by Chuck Jones, 1951 (Wiki).
The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals at Roquefort Hall, directed by Chuck Jones, 1942 (Wiki).
Mouse Wreckers, directed by Chuck Jones, 1948.
A Bear for Punishment, directed by Chuck Jones, 1951 (Wiki).
Nothin' but Chuck Jones on this disc. Nothin' wrong with that.
The first eleven cartoons are all Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote shorts, and the premise is simple: Coyote tries desperately to capture roadrunner, and fails each and every time, usually with destructive results. It never ceases to be funny. Wile E. Coyote could also be considered a surprising role model, as he never gives up, he never stops trying, no matter how badly he gets hurt.
Two of the shorts feature Hubie and Bertie dealing with their rival, Claude Cat. While the mice were retired by Jones, Claude went on to briefly be the antagonist for Marc Antony and Pussyfoot in any cartoon where they were featured.
The Dover Boys, Tom, Dick and Larry, only were featured in one short (which almost got Jones fired from Warner Bros.), but their one starring cartoon was voted #49 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons, a significant achievement.
Finally, you might remember the Three Bears from an old Bugs Bunny cartoon. They made at least two other appearances, and this cartoon was their last one, where Mama and Junior Bear only make Papa Bear's Father's Day much, much worse.
Recommended.
A Charlie Brown Valentine
A Charlie Brown Valentine.
Original airdate: February 14, 2002.
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown.
Original airdate: March 11, 1973.
Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.
Original airdate: October 30, 1981.
Amazon.com listing (discontinued).
A Charlie Brown Valentine was the first Peanuts animated special produced after the death of Charles Schulz, and the first one produced for ABC, after that network obtained the rights to air the "big three" holiday specials and any subsequent new specials. In it, Charlie Brown finds himself again wishing he could gather the courage to ask the Little Red-Haired Girl (who makes a very brief appearance) to a Valentine's Day dance, oblivious to Peppermint Patty's not-so-subtle hints and advances. Another subplot sees Sally Brown trying to gain the attention of Linus, but not doing so hot.
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown sees the gang under pressure from too many tests and homework assignments. The next major assignment is a report about the upcoming field trip to an art museum. Charlie Brown's grades have fallen from As to Cs, and he needs a decent grade to save the entire term. He also needs to fight off the distraction of Peppermint Patty, and the newcomer Marcie, who both have feelings for him. They, Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, and Snoopy end up going to the adjacent supermarket, mistaking it for the museum. After Linus van Pelt shows the Browns the slides of pictures he took at the museum, Charlie Brown feels sunk once he realizes what he has done. Fortunately, he receives a stellar grade on his assignment, which describes the visit through the description of a grocery store.
Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown sees everyone's favorite blockhead so taken by a girl sitting in the stands at a televised football game that he enlists Linus to help find her. Unbeknowst to both of them, Snoopy and Woodstock are tagging along. After stops at the stadium, the box office, an office downtown, and several random stops at houses, they find the object of Charlie Brown's affections (Mary Jo). Surprisingly, she and Linus hit it off so well, that he ends up with the girl at the end, to Charlie Brown's chagrin. It also doesn't hurt that Mary Jo carries around a security blanket, just like Linus.
Recommended DVD.
Original airdate: February 14, 2002.
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown.
Original airdate: March 11, 1973.
Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.
Original airdate: October 30, 1981.
Amazon.com listing (discontinued).
A Charlie Brown Valentine was the first Peanuts animated special produced after the death of Charles Schulz, and the first one produced for ABC, after that network obtained the rights to air the "big three" holiday specials and any subsequent new specials. In it, Charlie Brown finds himself again wishing he could gather the courage to ask the Little Red-Haired Girl (who makes a very brief appearance) to a Valentine's Day dance, oblivious to Peppermint Patty's not-so-subtle hints and advances. Another subplot sees Sally Brown trying to gain the attention of Linus, but not doing so hot.
There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown sees the gang under pressure from too many tests and homework assignments. The next major assignment is a report about the upcoming field trip to an art museum. Charlie Brown's grades have fallen from As to Cs, and he needs a decent grade to save the entire term. He also needs to fight off the distraction of Peppermint Patty, and the newcomer Marcie, who both have feelings for him. They, Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, and Snoopy end up going to the adjacent supermarket, mistaking it for the museum. After Linus van Pelt shows the Browns the slides of pictures he took at the museum, Charlie Brown feels sunk once he realizes what he has done. Fortunately, he receives a stellar grade on his assignment, which describes the visit through the description of a grocery store.
Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown sees everyone's favorite blockhead so taken by a girl sitting in the stands at a televised football game that he enlists Linus to help find her. Unbeknowst to both of them, Snoopy and Woodstock are tagging along. After stops at the stadium, the box office, an office downtown, and several random stops at houses, they find the object of Charlie Brown's affections (Mary Jo). Surprisingly, she and Linus hit it off so well, that he ends up with the girl at the end, to Charlie Brown's chagrin. It also doesn't hurt that Mary Jo carries around a security blanket, just like Linus.
Recommended DVD.
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.
Originally aired: January 1975.
It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown.
Originally aired: October 24, 1977.
You're in Love, Charlie Brown.
Originally aired: June 12, 1967.
Available at Amazon.
In the featured DVD episode, Singles Awareness Day is fast approaching, and the whole gang has high hopes. Charlie Brown is optimistic that he'll receive just one Valentine. Linus van Pelt wants to find something for his favorite teacher, Miss Othmar, and Sally Brown wants Linus to give her something, and not their teacher. Lucy van Pelt just wants Schroeder to stop playing piano long enough to notice her. In true Peanuts fashion, none of these plans work out. The day after, Violet gives Charlie Brown a belated valentine, which infuriates Schroeder to no end.
During It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, it's homecoming week. Charlie Brown and Linus are among the escorts for the Homecoming Queen and her court. Linus informs Charlie Brown that the queen will be none other than the Little Red-Haired Girl (named Heather in this episode), who he has to give a kiss on the cheek to, which causes him to hyperventilate and fall off the float they're riding on. After suffering a humiliating homecoming football game where Lucy tricks him by pulling the football away twice, Charlie Brown does honor his obligation, and comes to the dance. Working up all of his courage, Charlie Brown gives Heather that peck on the cheek, then comes out of his shell for one night, turning into the life of the party, according to Linus the next morning. The trouble is, Charlie Brown remembers nothing between the kiss and waking up in his bed the next day.
You're in Love, Charlie Brown sees the end of another school year, and Charlie Brown is stressing out about everything. Linus hears him out, then as Charlie Brown is distracted by the passing Little Red-Haired Girl, he instantly knows the problem: he's in love. On the penultimate day of school, he does everything he can think of to get her attention, only to find himself in embarrassing situations (getting a love note mixed up with a oral presentation, sharpening his ball point pen). After school, after getting embarrassed by Lucy and Violet, Peppermint Patty tries to help ol' Chuck out, mistakenly assuming that his crush is on Lucy, and not the Little Red-Haired Girl. On the final day, Charlie Brown gets up too early to meet his love at the bus stop, but falls asleep and misses the bus. Trying not to repeat the same mistake at noon, he beats everyone to the bus, but gets caught in the middle of a big crowd. Disappointed at the idea that he failed yet again, Charlie Brown notices a handwritten note in his hand, written and put there by...
...well, that would be telling, right?
Recommended DVD. Yes, she really signed that note "the little red-haired girl".
Originally aired: January 1975.
It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown.
Originally aired: October 24, 1977.
You're in Love, Charlie Brown.
Originally aired: June 12, 1967.
Available at Amazon.
In the featured DVD episode, Singles Awareness Day is fast approaching, and the whole gang has high hopes. Charlie Brown is optimistic that he'll receive just one Valentine. Linus van Pelt wants to find something for his favorite teacher, Miss Othmar, and Sally Brown wants Linus to give her something, and not their teacher. Lucy van Pelt just wants Schroeder to stop playing piano long enough to notice her. In true Peanuts fashion, none of these plans work out. The day after, Violet gives Charlie Brown a belated valentine, which infuriates Schroeder to no end.
During It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, it's homecoming week. Charlie Brown and Linus are among the escorts for the Homecoming Queen and her court. Linus informs Charlie Brown that the queen will be none other than the Little Red-Haired Girl (named Heather in this episode), who he has to give a kiss on the cheek to, which causes him to hyperventilate and fall off the float they're riding on. After suffering a humiliating homecoming football game where Lucy tricks him by pulling the football away twice, Charlie Brown does honor his obligation, and comes to the dance. Working up all of his courage, Charlie Brown gives Heather that peck on the cheek, then comes out of his shell for one night, turning into the life of the party, according to Linus the next morning. The trouble is, Charlie Brown remembers nothing between the kiss and waking up in his bed the next day.
You're in Love, Charlie Brown sees the end of another school year, and Charlie Brown is stressing out about everything. Linus hears him out, then as Charlie Brown is distracted by the passing Little Red-Haired Girl, he instantly knows the problem: he's in love. On the penultimate day of school, he does everything he can think of to get her attention, only to find himself in embarrassing situations (getting a love note mixed up with a oral presentation, sharpening his ball point pen). After school, after getting embarrassed by Lucy and Violet, Peppermint Patty tries to help ol' Chuck out, mistakenly assuming that his crush is on Lucy, and not the Little Red-Haired Girl. On the final day, Charlie Brown gets up too early to meet his love at the bus stop, but falls asleep and misses the bus. Trying not to repeat the same mistake at noon, he beats everyone to the bus, but gets caught in the middle of a big crowd. Disappointed at the idea that he failed yet again, Charlie Brown notices a handwritten note in his hand, written and put there by...
...well, that would be telling, right?
Recommended DVD. Yes, she really signed that note "the little red-haired girl".
Friday, February 13, 2009
Trafic
Trafic (Criterion #439). 1971 Janus Films & StudioCanal.
Starring: Jacques Tati, Tony Knepper, Franco Ressell, Mario Zanuelli, Maria Kimberly
Director: Jacques Tati
Buy Trafic at Amazon. Not to be confused with Traffic starring Michael Douglas.
Monsieur Hulot (Tati) returns for his fourth and final film appearance in this 1971 comedy about the French auto industry. In Trafic, Mr. Hulot is employed as an auto company's director of design, and he personally accompanies his new vehicle, a camper loaded with absurd gadgets, to an auto show in Amsterdam. The car was completed at a very late time, so it doesn't run, so it's loaded into the back of a truck. A series of ill-timed flat tires, breakdowns, traffic jams, and multi-car pileups, as well as M. Hulot's general comic ineptitude, make the simple trip all the more difficult.
I really like this movie. It's beautifully shot, and the many visual gags are hilarious. It also doesn't hurt that there's quite a few scenes filmed near, or on French highways, which appeals to the roadgeek in me. Highly recommended.
(Eventually, I'll review the other M. Hulot movies, just not in chronological order.)
Starring: Jacques Tati, Tony Knepper, Franco Ressell, Mario Zanuelli, Maria Kimberly
Director: Jacques Tati
Buy Trafic at Amazon. Not to be confused with Traffic starring Michael Douglas.
Monsieur Hulot (Tati) returns for his fourth and final film appearance in this 1971 comedy about the French auto industry. In Trafic, Mr. Hulot is employed as an auto company's director of design, and he personally accompanies his new vehicle, a camper loaded with absurd gadgets, to an auto show in Amsterdam. The car was completed at a very late time, so it doesn't run, so it's loaded into the back of a truck. A series of ill-timed flat tires, breakdowns, traffic jams, and multi-car pileups, as well as M. Hulot's general comic ineptitude, make the simple trip all the more difficult.
I really like this movie. It's beautifully shot, and the many visual gags are hilarious. It also doesn't hurt that there's quite a few scenes filmed near, or on French highways, which appeals to the roadgeek in me. Highly recommended.
(Eventually, I'll review the other M. Hulot movies, just not in chronological order.)
A Fish Called Wanda
A Fish Called Wanda. 1988 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Starring: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson
Written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton
Director: Charles Crichton
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or the two-disc collectors' edition.
We start the film with a planned jewel heist masterminded by George Thomason (Georgeson) and stuttering Ken Pile (Palin), a beleaguered animal lover. They bring in two Americans to help, two lovers pretending to be siblings, Wanda Gershwitz (Curtis) and "weapons man" Otto West (Kline). The two Yanks pretend to be brother and sister to lure George and Ken into a false sense of security since they plan to betray them after the heist goes down. George and Ken secretly have the same plan, and they've quickly moved the stolen jewels to a new location. Wanda also intends to betray Otto!
As they planned, Wanda and Otto report George to the police, and discover that the loot is not where they originally planned as a group. Wanda decides to make a move on George's lawyer, the unhappily married lawyer Archie Leach (Cleese), to see if he knows where the jewels are. Ken is assigned by George to silence a key witness, which proves traumatic to him after he accidentally kills the witness' three Yorkshire Terriers. Meanwhile, Otto finds himself in fits of jealousy over Wanda and Archie's affair, while growing more impatient with Ken and Britain in general.
Hilarious film. Highly recommended.
Starring: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Maria Aitken, Tom Georgeson
Written by John Cleese and Charles Crichton
Director: Charles Crichton
Available at Amazon: Single DVD, or the two-disc collectors' edition.
We start the film with a planned jewel heist masterminded by George Thomason (Georgeson) and stuttering Ken Pile (Palin), a beleaguered animal lover. They bring in two Americans to help, two lovers pretending to be siblings, Wanda Gershwitz (Curtis) and "weapons man" Otto West (Kline). The two Yanks pretend to be brother and sister to lure George and Ken into a false sense of security since they plan to betray them after the heist goes down. George and Ken secretly have the same plan, and they've quickly moved the stolen jewels to a new location. Wanda also intends to betray Otto!
As they planned, Wanda and Otto report George to the police, and discover that the loot is not where they originally planned as a group. Wanda decides to make a move on George's lawyer, the unhappily married lawyer Archie Leach (Cleese), to see if he knows where the jewels are. Ken is assigned by George to silence a key witness, which proves traumatic to him after he accidentally kills the witness' three Yorkshire Terriers. Meanwhile, Otto finds himself in fits of jealousy over Wanda and Archie's affair, while growing more impatient with Ken and Britain in general.
Hilarious film. Highly recommended.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Elevator to the Gallows
Elevator to the Gallows [Ascenseur pour l'echafaud] (Criterion #335). 1957 Janus Films & Lux Compagnie Cinematographique de France.
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin
Music: Miles Davis
Director: Louis Malle
Available at Amazon.
Lovers Florence Carala and Julien Tavernier (Moreau & Ronet) are plotting the perfect crime: the murder of Florence's husband, Simon Carala. Tavernier, a former Foreign Legion parachutist, will be responsible for the actual murder. He rappels up the building to kill Carala in his office without being seen, but when exiting the building, he notices that he left the rope in plain sight outside. Julien leaves his car unlocked and with the keys in the ignition, and while returning to remove the rope, he gets stuck in the elevator as the building closes down for the weekend.
While Julien is stuck, his car is stolen by a young couple, Louis and Veronique (Poujouly & Bertin), who have watched him. Florence sees Veronique in the car, and assumes that Julien has run off with her instead. Louis finds Julien's pistol and miniature camera in the glove box, and fantasizes about being a secret agent and war hero. They stay overnight with a German couple who live lives in the fast lane, and Louis makes up war stories that he was allegedly involved in. After Veronique takes pictures of the couples with Julien's camera, Louis attempts to steal the German couple's luxury car. After the owner threatens him with a gun, Louis kills them both. He later considers himself saved after a newspaper headline labels Julien as the murderer, but Florence confronts him and Veronique.
Meanwhile, Julien eventually escapes from the elevator, and while Carala's death is ruled by the police as a suicide, he is nonetheless charged with the murder of the Germans, as his alibi is not believed. The authorities found the pictures of he and Florence together along with the pictures taken by Louis and Veronique.
Good movie. Miles Davis provides the music score, playing some of the saddest trumpet parts you will ever hear in your life. Highly recommended.
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly, Yori Bertin
Music: Miles Davis
Director: Louis Malle
Available at Amazon.
Lovers Florence Carala and Julien Tavernier (Moreau & Ronet) are plotting the perfect crime: the murder of Florence's husband, Simon Carala. Tavernier, a former Foreign Legion parachutist, will be responsible for the actual murder. He rappels up the building to kill Carala in his office without being seen, but when exiting the building, he notices that he left the rope in plain sight outside. Julien leaves his car unlocked and with the keys in the ignition, and while returning to remove the rope, he gets stuck in the elevator as the building closes down for the weekend.
While Julien is stuck, his car is stolen by a young couple, Louis and Veronique (Poujouly & Bertin), who have watched him. Florence sees Veronique in the car, and assumes that Julien has run off with her instead. Louis finds Julien's pistol and miniature camera in the glove box, and fantasizes about being a secret agent and war hero. They stay overnight with a German couple who live lives in the fast lane, and Louis makes up war stories that he was allegedly involved in. After Veronique takes pictures of the couples with Julien's camera, Louis attempts to steal the German couple's luxury car. After the owner threatens him with a gun, Louis kills them both. He later considers himself saved after a newspaper headline labels Julien as the murderer, but Florence confronts him and Veronique.
Meanwhile, Julien eventually escapes from the elevator, and while Carala's death is ruled by the police as a suicide, he is nonetheless charged with the murder of the Germans, as his alibi is not believed. The authorities found the pictures of he and Florence together along with the pictures taken by Louis and Veronique.
Good movie. Miles Davis provides the music score, playing some of the saddest trumpet parts you will ever hear in your life. Highly recommended.
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy. 1969 United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Director: John Schlesinger
Available at Amazon (two-disc special edition).
"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!"
A young Texan named Joe Buck (Voight) quits his job washing dishes in a diner, packs a suitcase, and departs on a bus for New York City dressed as a cowboy, hoping to lead the life of a "kept" man. Upon arrival in the Big Apple, Joe goes broke quickly, and is a hilarious failure in his attempts of being hired as a "stud" for wealthy women. He soon meets Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman), a crippled, third-rate con man who fleeces Joe out of twenty dollars. Ratso briefly drops out of sight while Joe goes totally flat broke, gets thrown out of his hotel room, and finds himself attempting to sleep with another man in hopes of making cash (this fails).
After encountering Ratso, who is suffering from something that gradually worsens over the course of the film, at a diner, Joe shakes him down for every cent, but Ratso offers to help Joe by sharing his "place", an apartment in a condemned building. Ratso refuses medical attention, saying his condition will improve when he finally goes to Florida for good.
We also see flashbacks from Joe's life, starting with a bad experience while being baptized, and growing up with the only two people he ever loved: his grandmother Sally, and a former girlfriend known as "Crazy Annie". After being gangraped by a mob, Annie was sent to a mental institution, and she remains a constant presence in Joe's mind.
After being invited to a party that's very Warhol-esque, Joe gets very stoned, and goes home with a socialite offering him twenty dollars. Ratso falls down a flight of stairs, but insists he's okay, and goes back home. Joe has some performance issues at first, but is eventually able to earn that twenty. After returning home, Joe finds Ratso in bed, sweating and feverish. Ratso again refuses medical attention, preferring to go to Miami instead. Joe goes out to find some money, picking up an older male customer who he ends up beating and robbing after the gentleman suddenly chickens out. With the stolen money, Joe gets two bus tickets for Florida, but sadly, Ratso dies before the final stop.
Highly recommended.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight
Director: John Schlesinger
Available at Amazon (two-disc special edition).
"I'm walkin' here! I'm walkin' here!"
A young Texan named Joe Buck (Voight) quits his job washing dishes in a diner, packs a suitcase, and departs on a bus for New York City dressed as a cowboy, hoping to lead the life of a "kept" man. Upon arrival in the Big Apple, Joe goes broke quickly, and is a hilarious failure in his attempts of being hired as a "stud" for wealthy women. He soon meets Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo (Hoffman), a crippled, third-rate con man who fleeces Joe out of twenty dollars. Ratso briefly drops out of sight while Joe goes totally flat broke, gets thrown out of his hotel room, and finds himself attempting to sleep with another man in hopes of making cash (this fails).
After encountering Ratso, who is suffering from something that gradually worsens over the course of the film, at a diner, Joe shakes him down for every cent, but Ratso offers to help Joe by sharing his "place", an apartment in a condemned building. Ratso refuses medical attention, saying his condition will improve when he finally goes to Florida for good.
We also see flashbacks from Joe's life, starting with a bad experience while being baptized, and growing up with the only two people he ever loved: his grandmother Sally, and a former girlfriend known as "Crazy Annie". After being gangraped by a mob, Annie was sent to a mental institution, and she remains a constant presence in Joe's mind.
After being invited to a party that's very Warhol-esque, Joe gets very stoned, and goes home with a socialite offering him twenty dollars. Ratso falls down a flight of stairs, but insists he's okay, and goes back home. Joe has some performance issues at first, but is eventually able to earn that twenty. After returning home, Joe finds Ratso in bed, sweating and feverish. Ratso again refuses medical attention, preferring to go to Miami instead. Joe goes out to find some money, picking up an older male customer who he ends up beating and robbing after the gentleman suddenly chickens out. With the stolen money, Joe gets two bus tickets for Florida, but sadly, Ratso dies before the final stop.
Highly recommended.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Smiles of a Summer Night
Smiles of a Summer Night [Sommarnattens leende] (Criterion #237). 1955 Svensk Filmindustri & Janus Films.
Starring: Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Margit Carlqvist, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Buy Smiles of a Summer Night at Amazon.
This movie was Ingmar Bergman's international breakthrough. He would follow this one up in 1957 with The Seventh Seal.
Fredrik Egerman (Bjornstrand) is a successful lawyer who is married to a young wife named Anne (Jacobsson), who is nineteen years old, and still a virgin. Egerman has an adult son named Henrik (Bjorn Bjelvenstam) from a previous marriage who is preparing for life as a priest (celibacy). But, Henrik is also attracted to Anne. Fredrik also employs a maid named Petra (Harriet Andersson), whose up front approach to sexuality also causes problems for Henrik.
One night at the theater, Fredrik and Anne go to the theater and see a performance by a former mistress of Fredrik, Desiree Armfeldt (Dahlbeck), who directs much of her performace towards Fredrik, to Anne's chagrin. He visits her in the middle of the night, but when Desiree's current lover arrives shortly after, Fredrik beats a hasty retreat while wearing one of his nightshirts (he had fallen into a puddle upon arrival).
Desiree's mother invites these folks, and several others to spend a weekend in the country at her house, and it would probably lead to all of the right couples pairing up, right? Not quite!
This is a decent romantic comedy from one of the greatest directors of all time. Highly recommended!
Starring: Ulla Jacobsson, Eva Dahlbeck, Harriet Andersson, Margit Carlqvist, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Bibi Andersson
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Buy Smiles of a Summer Night at Amazon.
This movie was Ingmar Bergman's international breakthrough. He would follow this one up in 1957 with The Seventh Seal.
Fredrik Egerman (Bjornstrand) is a successful lawyer who is married to a young wife named Anne (Jacobsson), who is nineteen years old, and still a virgin. Egerman has an adult son named Henrik (Bjorn Bjelvenstam) from a previous marriage who is preparing for life as a priest (celibacy). But, Henrik is also attracted to Anne. Fredrik also employs a maid named Petra (Harriet Andersson), whose up front approach to sexuality also causes problems for Henrik.
One night at the theater, Fredrik and Anne go to the theater and see a performance by a former mistress of Fredrik, Desiree Armfeldt (Dahlbeck), who directs much of her performace towards Fredrik, to Anne's chagrin. He visits her in the middle of the night, but when Desiree's current lover arrives shortly after, Fredrik beats a hasty retreat while wearing one of his nightshirts (he had fallen into a puddle upon arrival).
Desiree's mother invites these folks, and several others to spend a weekend in the country at her house, and it would probably lead to all of the right couples pairing up, right? Not quite!
This is a decent romantic comedy from one of the greatest directors of all time. Highly recommended!
Bonnie and Clyde
Bonnie and Clyde. 1967 Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Pictures.
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Denver Pyle, Gene Wilder
Director: Arthur Penn
Buy Bonnie and Clyde (two-disc special edition) at Amazon.
Another classic American film, heavily influenced by the so-called French New Wave.
During the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Dunaway) meet when she catches him trying to steal her mother's car. Intrigued by Clyde, and bored with her job as a waitress, Bonnie hooks up with him. Their early efforts at holdups are exciting, but not that lucrative. Soon, they expand their gang, adding a dimwitted gas station attendant C.W. Moss (Pollard), as well as Clyde's brother Buck (Hackman) and his wife Blanche (Parsons). Blanche and Bonnie start bickering right off the bat. Bonnie and Clyde start robbing banks, and some of their exploits become more violent, which included capturing and humiliating a Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer (Pyle).
Hamer vows revenge, and sets into motion the events that ultimately lead to the film's climax, the bloody roadside ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.
Highly recommended. To my surprise, some of the more violent scenes had elements of slapstick violence before shifting into genuinely disturbing and gory sequences.
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons, Denver Pyle, Gene Wilder
Director: Arthur Penn
Buy Bonnie and Clyde (two-disc special edition) at Amazon.
Another classic American film, heavily influenced by the so-called French New Wave.
During the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Dunaway) meet when she catches him trying to steal her mother's car. Intrigued by Clyde, and bored with her job as a waitress, Bonnie hooks up with him. Their early efforts at holdups are exciting, but not that lucrative. Soon, they expand their gang, adding a dimwitted gas station attendant C.W. Moss (Pollard), as well as Clyde's brother Buck (Hackman) and his wife Blanche (Parsons). Blanche and Bonnie start bickering right off the bat. Bonnie and Clyde start robbing banks, and some of their exploits become more violent, which included capturing and humiliating a Texas Ranger named Frank Hamer (Pyle).
Hamer vows revenge, and sets into motion the events that ultimately lead to the film's climax, the bloody roadside ambush of Bonnie and Clyde.
Highly recommended. To my surprise, some of the more violent scenes had elements of slapstick violence before shifting into genuinely disturbing and gory sequences.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Solaris
Solaris [Solyaris] (Criterion #164). 1972 Mosfilm & Janus Films.
Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Juri Jarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Anotoly Solonitsyn
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Buy Solaris at Amazon, and skip the 2002 remake.
We go to the former Soviet Union for this Tarkovsky film adaption of a novel by Polish novelist Stanisław Lem.
Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Banionis) opens the film walking around the land surrounding his father's house, one day before he is to depart for a space station orbiting a distant, liquid-covered planet called Solaris. The scientific mission there has made little progress after a few decades studying the planet, and things have reached crisis mode. Kelvin is being sent to evaluate things and ultimately determine the future of the outpost. A former pilot named Burton (Dvorzhetsky) is also visiting, and they both watch televised hearings from years before, where Burton testified he saw an enormous child on the surface of Solaris while looking for two missing scientists. The rescue craft's cameras only recorded clouds and a calm water surface, so Burton's claim was dismissed as a hallucination. Kelvin also doesn't believe it, and an angered Burton leaves, but calls back soon, reporting that he had met the child of one of the scientists, and except for its size, it was the same one he saw on Solaris.
Before leaving, Kelvin burns most of his old papers in a bonfire. While talking to his father, the viewer learns that they both know that Dad won't live to see Kris return from Solaris, which was the son's choice. It still weighs heavily on Kris, along with the other betrayals he apparently has committed.
After arriving at the space station, Kelvin is not met by the remaining scientists, and the station itself is in seriously bad shape. He finds that one scientists, Dr. Gibarian, died mysteriously, and the other two aren't helpful at all. Kelvin is advised by Dr. Snaut (Jarvet) not to overreact if he sees anything unusual, and after that, he begins to catch glimpses of other people on the station, prompting him to launch his investigation.
After a long sleep, Kelvin finds a woman in his quarters, and it's his wife Hari (Bondarchuk), who killed herself a long time ago after a horrible argument that ended with Kris leaving her. Hari, created by Solaris, is unaware of her suicide. Kelvin realizes she isn't real, and lures her into his spacecraft, launching her into space, but burning himself in the rocket blast in the process. Dr. Snaut tends his wounds, and opens up more now that Kelvin is sharing their experiences, explaining that the "visitors" started appearing after the crew attracted the planet's attention with their first surveys.
Kelvin spends most of the rest of the film with another manifestation of Hari, while the other scientists grapple with what they're doing to do about Solaris and its disturbing apparitions. He also must decide on whether to return back to Earth, or stay on Solaris trying to reconnect with everyone he has ever loved and lost.
This is definitely an interesting film, beautifully photographed, and containing a very interesting plot, especially with a seemingly sentient planet wreaking havoc with the emotions of the scientists with its projected hallucinations. Recommended, although a bit slow at times.
Starring: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Juri Jarvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Anotoly Solonitsyn
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Buy Solaris at Amazon, and skip the 2002 remake.
We go to the former Soviet Union for this Tarkovsky film adaption of a novel by Polish novelist Stanisław Lem.
Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Banionis) opens the film walking around the land surrounding his father's house, one day before he is to depart for a space station orbiting a distant, liquid-covered planet called Solaris. The scientific mission there has made little progress after a few decades studying the planet, and things have reached crisis mode. Kelvin is being sent to evaluate things and ultimately determine the future of the outpost. A former pilot named Burton (Dvorzhetsky) is also visiting, and they both watch televised hearings from years before, where Burton testified he saw an enormous child on the surface of Solaris while looking for two missing scientists. The rescue craft's cameras only recorded clouds and a calm water surface, so Burton's claim was dismissed as a hallucination. Kelvin also doesn't believe it, and an angered Burton leaves, but calls back soon, reporting that he had met the child of one of the scientists, and except for its size, it was the same one he saw on Solaris.
Before leaving, Kelvin burns most of his old papers in a bonfire. While talking to his father, the viewer learns that they both know that Dad won't live to see Kris return from Solaris, which was the son's choice. It still weighs heavily on Kris, along with the other betrayals he apparently has committed.
After arriving at the space station, Kelvin is not met by the remaining scientists, and the station itself is in seriously bad shape. He finds that one scientists, Dr. Gibarian, died mysteriously, and the other two aren't helpful at all. Kelvin is advised by Dr. Snaut (Jarvet) not to overreact if he sees anything unusual, and after that, he begins to catch glimpses of other people on the station, prompting him to launch his investigation.
After a long sleep, Kelvin finds a woman in his quarters, and it's his wife Hari (Bondarchuk), who killed herself a long time ago after a horrible argument that ended with Kris leaving her. Hari, created by Solaris, is unaware of her suicide. Kelvin realizes she isn't real, and lures her into his spacecraft, launching her into space, but burning himself in the rocket blast in the process. Dr. Snaut tends his wounds, and opens up more now that Kelvin is sharing their experiences, explaining that the "visitors" started appearing after the crew attracted the planet's attention with their first surveys.
Kelvin spends most of the rest of the film with another manifestation of Hari, while the other scientists grapple with what they're doing to do about Solaris and its disturbing apparitions. He also must decide on whether to return back to Earth, or stay on Solaris trying to reconnect with everyone he has ever loved and lost.
This is definitely an interesting film, beautifully photographed, and containing a very interesting plot, especially with a seemingly sentient planet wreaking havoc with the emotions of the scientists with its projected hallucinations. Recommended, although a bit slow at times.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. 1939 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: James Steward, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Harry Carey
Director: Frank Capra
Available at Amazon.
Another true American classic film.
Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Kibbee) is the governor of an unnamed state (as of 1939, you had 48 to choose from, so pick your favorite), who finds himself having to pick a replacement for the recently deceased Senator Sam Foley. Hopper's corrupt political boss Jim Taylor (Arnold) makes it no secret that he wants Hopper to choose his handpicked candidate, and the popular committees want a reformer. The governor's children want him to select the head of the Boy Rangers, Jefferson Smith (Stewart). An indecisive Hopper flips a coin, and it lands on its side, right next to a newspaper story about Smith, he decides on him, thinking he would be easy to manipulate while pleasing the public at the same time. Smith is taken under the wing by the popular, but secretly crooked Senator Joseph Paine (Rains), a friend of Jeff's father.
When the unforgiving Washington press labels Smith a bumpkin and suggests he has no business being a senator, Paine suggests that Smith propose a bill, which he does, and that's legislation authorizing a government loan to buy land in his home state for a national boys' camp, which would be paid back by kids across America. As the donations immediately flood in, we learn the proposed camp site is already part of a dam-building graft scheme that's part of a Public Works bill endorsed by Taylor's camp and supported by Paine. Paine finds himself unwilling to betray Smith, and tells Taylor he wants out. He is reminded that Paine is only in power largely due to Taylor's influence, so he reluctantly suggests that Smith is trying to profit from his bill by producing fake evidence that Smith owns the land in question. Smith tries to leave, but his secretary Clarissa Saunders (Arthur), who has come to believe in him, suggests that he launch his now famous filibuster to postpone the Works bill and prove his innocence before the Senate votes to expel him.
Smith talks himself into exhaustion, and ultimately faints, even as Taylor manipulates the home town media into turning against him. Finally, a remorseful Paine tells the Senate that he is to blame, and Smith is totally innocent.
Highly, highly recommended.
Starring: James Steward, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Harry Carey
Director: Frank Capra
Available at Amazon.
Another true American classic film.
Hubert "Happy" Hopper (Kibbee) is the governor of an unnamed state (as of 1939, you had 48 to choose from, so pick your favorite), who finds himself having to pick a replacement for the recently deceased Senator Sam Foley. Hopper's corrupt political boss Jim Taylor (Arnold) makes it no secret that he wants Hopper to choose his handpicked candidate, and the popular committees want a reformer. The governor's children want him to select the head of the Boy Rangers, Jefferson Smith (Stewart). An indecisive Hopper flips a coin, and it lands on its side, right next to a newspaper story about Smith, he decides on him, thinking he would be easy to manipulate while pleasing the public at the same time. Smith is taken under the wing by the popular, but secretly crooked Senator Joseph Paine (Rains), a friend of Jeff's father.
When the unforgiving Washington press labels Smith a bumpkin and suggests he has no business being a senator, Paine suggests that Smith propose a bill, which he does, and that's legislation authorizing a government loan to buy land in his home state for a national boys' camp, which would be paid back by kids across America. As the donations immediately flood in, we learn the proposed camp site is already part of a dam-building graft scheme that's part of a Public Works bill endorsed by Taylor's camp and supported by Paine. Paine finds himself unwilling to betray Smith, and tells Taylor he wants out. He is reminded that Paine is only in power largely due to Taylor's influence, so he reluctantly suggests that Smith is trying to profit from his bill by producing fake evidence that Smith owns the land in question. Smith tries to leave, but his secretary Clarissa Saunders (Arthur), who has come to believe in him, suggests that he launch his now famous filibuster to postpone the Works bill and prove his innocence before the Senate votes to expel him.
Smith talks himself into exhaustion, and ultimately faints, even as Taylor manipulates the home town media into turning against him. Finally, a remorseful Paine tells the Senate that he is to blame, and Smith is totally innocent.
Highly, highly recommended.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Rififi
Rififi [Du rififi chez les hommes] (Criterion #115). 1955 Rialto Pictures, Gaumont & Janus Films.
Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin (as Perlo Vita), Magali Noel
Director: Jules Dassin
Available at Amazon.
American filmmaker Jules Dassin found himself blacklisted in Hollywood after he made and released Night and the City. Dassin found work in France where he directed a film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name, writing the screenplay in English, and having a screenwriter named Rene Wheeler translate it into France. Dassin hated the novel, leaving out the racist overtones, and a scene involving necrophilia, and he instead made the heist scene, which only took up ten pages into the book, into the film's centerpiece.
The film was released in America with a dubbed soundtrack, which was included in Criterion's release, and that happens to be the one I'm watching, instead of using subtitles.
Tony le Stephanois (Servais) just got out of prison after a five year sentence, and he is asked by a friend named Jo le Suedois (Mohner) to participate in a theft of diamonds. Tony is godfather to Jo's son, but he declines to take part in the heist, only changing his mind after finding out his former lover Mado (Marie Sabouret) is now seeing another gangster, Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici). Tony only agrees to take part on the condition that they not steal from the store window, but the jeweler's safe. Another gang member named Mario (Manuel) suggests that they recruit a safe cracker named Cesar (Dassin/Vita). After surveying the jewelry store, they break in from an upstairs flat and successfully pull off the theft. Cesar secretly takes a diamond ring as a gift for his mistress Viviane.
Grutter, upset over Tony's treatment of Mado, and discovering that he was part of the heist, he orders Tony and his accomplices killed. After Mario and his wife are murdered, and Cesar dies, Grutter ups the stakes by kidnapping Jo's son Tonio. It's up to Tony to save his godson once Jo finally cracks under pressure, and confronts Grutter himself.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Mohner, Robert Manuel, Jules Dassin (as Perlo Vita), Magali Noel
Director: Jules Dassin
Available at Amazon.
American filmmaker Jules Dassin found himself blacklisted in Hollywood after he made and released Night and the City. Dassin found work in France where he directed a film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name, writing the screenplay in English, and having a screenwriter named Rene Wheeler translate it into France. Dassin hated the novel, leaving out the racist overtones, and a scene involving necrophilia, and he instead made the heist scene, which only took up ten pages into the book, into the film's centerpiece.
The film was released in America with a dubbed soundtrack, which was included in Criterion's release, and that happens to be the one I'm watching, instead of using subtitles.
Tony le Stephanois (Servais) just got out of prison after a five year sentence, and he is asked by a friend named Jo le Suedois (Mohner) to participate in a theft of diamonds. Tony is godfather to Jo's son, but he declines to take part in the heist, only changing his mind after finding out his former lover Mado (Marie Sabouret) is now seeing another gangster, Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici). Tony only agrees to take part on the condition that they not steal from the store window, but the jeweler's safe. Another gang member named Mario (Manuel) suggests that they recruit a safe cracker named Cesar (Dassin/Vita). After surveying the jewelry store, they break in from an upstairs flat and successfully pull off the theft. Cesar secretly takes a diamond ring as a gift for his mistress Viviane.
Grutter, upset over Tony's treatment of Mado, and discovering that he was part of the heist, he orders Tony and his accomplices killed. After Mario and his wife are murdered, and Cesar dies, Grutter ups the stakes by kidnapping Jo's son Tonio. It's up to Tony to save his godson once Jo finally cracks under pressure, and confronts Grutter himself.
Recommended movie.
Atlantic City
Atlantic City. 1980 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Kate Reid
Director: Louis Malle
Buy Atlantic City at Amazon.
This was a blind buy from Wal-Mart a long while ago, for three bucks. I couldn't believe they had a Malle film on sale.
The movie was filmed at a time before Atlantic City really was transformed into a gambling and entertainment mecca, we do get to see old landmarks in really bad shape, and not long before they were torn down.
Sally (Sarandon) comes to New Jersey seeking to become a croupier, and she ultimately wants to go to Monte Carlo. Lou (Lancaster) is a lifelong Atlantic City resident who thinks he used to be a big time mobster. He is married to Grace (Reid), who came to town years ago to enter a beauty contest, but ended up staying after she married Lou. She is in poor health.
Things get quite interesting when Sally's estranged husband Dave (Robert Joy) shows up in Atlantic City, along with her sister Chrissie (Hollis McLaren), who is pregnant with Dave's child. They've both come all the way from Saskatchewan to find Sally. Dave has some stolen drugs to sell, so he talks Lou, who still wants to be a big time mobster, into selling them. Dave gets himself killed, leaving both Sally and Lou being tailed by the criminals who the drugs were stolen from. While they're on the run, Chrissie befriends Grace.
Oh yes, I can't forget the cameo appearance by Robert Goulet, which MAKES THIS MOVIE, man!
Burt Lancaster's performance as Lou, the elderly small-town nobody who desperately wants to be number one no matter what it takes, was fantastic.
Recommended.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Kate Reid
Director: Louis Malle
Buy Atlantic City at Amazon.
This was a blind buy from Wal-Mart a long while ago, for three bucks. I couldn't believe they had a Malle film on sale.
The movie was filmed at a time before Atlantic City really was transformed into a gambling and entertainment mecca, we do get to see old landmarks in really bad shape, and not long before they were torn down.
Sally (Sarandon) comes to New Jersey seeking to become a croupier, and she ultimately wants to go to Monte Carlo. Lou (Lancaster) is a lifelong Atlantic City resident who thinks he used to be a big time mobster. He is married to Grace (Reid), who came to town years ago to enter a beauty contest, but ended up staying after she married Lou. She is in poor health.
Things get quite interesting when Sally's estranged husband Dave (Robert Joy) shows up in Atlantic City, along with her sister Chrissie (Hollis McLaren), who is pregnant with Dave's child. They've both come all the way from Saskatchewan to find Sally. Dave has some stolen drugs to sell, so he talks Lou, who still wants to be a big time mobster, into selling them. Dave gets himself killed, leaving both Sally and Lou being tailed by the criminals who the drugs were stolen from. While they're on the run, Chrissie befriends Grace.
Oh yes, I can't forget the cameo appearance by Robert Goulet, which MAKES THIS MOVIE, man!
Burt Lancaster's performance as Lou, the elderly small-town nobody who desperately wants to be number one no matter what it takes, was fantastic.
Recommended.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
High and Low
This is the first foreign language film that I've reviewed, and it's more to inspect my copy, which was purchased during my vacation to Chicago two weeks ago, but not opened until a couple of days ago, when I found the first disc loose in the DVD case with some visable scratches on the playing surface.
High and Low [Tengoku to jigoku] (Criterion #24). 1963 Toho Company, Ltd. & Janus Films.
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Available at Amazon.
Kurosawa's High and Low features an executive named Kingo Gondo (Mifune) mortgaging everything he has to stage a leveraged buyout of National Shoes, gaining control of the firm, and keeping it out of the hands of its other executives. Gondo disagrees with his fellow executives over the direction of the company, and he intends to placate both sides by manufacturing high quality modern shoes. Then, while the drama in the boardroom plays out, he learns that his son has apparently been kidnapped. Gondo is prepared to make the ransom payment until the truth comes out, and the kidnappers have instead snatched the son of Gondo's chauffeur.
Gondo needs to make a decision: complete the buyout of National Shoes, or pay to get his chauffeur's son returned unharmed, which would leave him vulnerable to being voted out of his directorship. We also learn that the person behind the kidnapping is a man who is jealous of Gondo and his wealth.
Recommended movie, and best of all, my DVD wasn't damaged and played without a problem the whole way through. Looks like I won't have to replace it like I was fearing...
High and Low [Tengoku to jigoku] (Criterion #24). 1963 Toho Company, Ltd. & Janus Films.
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Available at Amazon.
Kurosawa's High and Low features an executive named Kingo Gondo (Mifune) mortgaging everything he has to stage a leveraged buyout of National Shoes, gaining control of the firm, and keeping it out of the hands of its other executives. Gondo disagrees with his fellow executives over the direction of the company, and he intends to placate both sides by manufacturing high quality modern shoes. Then, while the drama in the boardroom plays out, he learns that his son has apparently been kidnapped. Gondo is prepared to make the ransom payment until the truth comes out, and the kidnappers have instead snatched the son of Gondo's chauffeur.
Gondo needs to make a decision: complete the buyout of National Shoes, or pay to get his chauffeur's son returned unharmed, which would leave him vulnerable to being voted out of his directorship. We also learn that the person behind the kidnapping is a man who is jealous of Gondo and his wealth.
Recommended movie, and best of all, my DVD wasn't damaged and played without a problem the whole way through. Looks like I won't have to replace it like I was fearing...
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