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Reviews
Casablanca (1942)
Everybody comes to Rick's
Looking back over seventy-two years of film history, this one is a crown jewel. The only 'special effects' are a man playing a piano, desperate people singing the French national anthem and a simulation of a prop-plane bound for Lisbon. There is no massive body count, foul language or nudity. The super- hero's secret weapon is his conscience.
I'm no prude. I applaud this film because it doesn't insult its audience by assuming that they don't know how to think. There are subtle moments that evoke feelings that are absent in the comic book/'graphic novel' pulp fiction that overwhelms every summer movie season lately. When the young French girl that Rick's jilted realizes that a rebound liaison with a German SS officer is a futile and degrading gesture; when the Bulgarian newlywed is faced with the choice of betraying her husband to gain their freedom and Rick rigs the roulette wheel to save her from living a lie; when the French resistance operative is caught without papers and shot under the motto " Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" (which sets the tone for the story); we are reminded that this type of intelligent screen-writing is very nearly a lost art.
This and two of Chaplin's talkies (The Great Dictator and M. Verdeux) caught the spirit of the world that was in the grips of real evil. But Casablanca hits all the moral/ethical hot topics. Would anyone still care about this film if Rick had run off with Ilsa? There were many films made during WWII that exploited the issues, but this one made it very personal on a lot of levels. The Epstein brothers earned that Oscar. Bogart should have gotten one as well. And it's traveled well.
If you don't have a gut-level reaction when Paul Henreid's character risks his life to urge the house band to play "La Marseillaise", check for a pulse, because you may have a fatal heart condition, mon ami.
Pull up a chair, and let Dooley Wilson (who had a long history in vaudeville and the theater with Orson Welles) take you away--the fundamental things apply...
China Beach (1988)
And that's the way it is...
I just purchased the first two seasons on DVD. While some of the production values are dated, the character development and acting have stood the test of time. I grew up watching the Vietnam War (at least what we were allowed to see) on television. I've worked and been friends with several Vietnam era veterans and the stories they told, when they would talk about it, are similar to the plot lines in this series. The nurses who served there spoke and the writers and actors took their stories to heart.
True to war, the characters are all casualties, emotionally/physically, coming to grips with violence. I cried when Cherry's character spoke out at the sumptuous banquet about how a few hours earlier, the soldiers she visited at a fire camp dined on C rations and had to dig a hole because there were no latrines.
A decade after Saigon was evacuated, this show honored the men and women who lost their innocence 10 thousand miles from home. War is inherently evil, but these teen-aged warriors who were drafted to fight deserve to be honored for their sacrifices. China Beach does that without become preachy.
For a network series to broach subjects such as drug addiction, PTSD &C. at the time this show first aired was remarkable. With the glut of "reality" programming on TV these days, shows like this make me nostalgic for China Beach, Homicide and other programs where character/plot development made for must-see TV. Buy this series on DVD!
The Hollow Crown (2012)
My Kingdom for a director
I have been fascinated with Shakespeare since I first read Midsummer Night's Dream nearly fifty years ago. The direction in this trilogy varies wildly. Richard II seems to have taken a cue from Marlowe's Edward II, with Whitshaw playing it as a barely closeted Michael Jackson figure (including a pet monkey). The supporting players carry the day up to the final installment, where for whatever reasons, the groundling characters were deeply excised.
The huge disappointment here, for me as a lover of the Bard, is Henry V. Perhaps Branaugh's bravura and his supporting cast make it akin to comparing apples and oranges, but this version of Henry is more like a 21st century motivational speaker than a king walking the razor's edge on the road to Agincourt. The conspiracy is deleted, the wonderful groundling characters that appear at Harfleur are nearly all gone. Fluellen is parsed down to almost nothing. All the exposition of the French chevaliers idly bragging about their armor, horses and the ease with which they will destroy Henry and his army--gone.
It reflects poorly on the lead and director, because in Henry IV of the series, Hiddleston does well enough as Hal. Henry IV, part one comes off as the strongest of the four, perhaps because the director knows his subject matter.
What also sticks out is the amount of screen time a relatively minor character is given in Henry V. Watch it and see if you can pick him out.
On the plus side, seeing Alun Armstrong and his son playing Northrumberland and Hotspur was a highlight of the series. Also, watch for James Purefoy, Geraldine Chaplin and several actors who don't usually appear in mainstream cinema. Skip Henry V of the series and watch Branagh's or Olivier's Henry. If you love Shakespeare, watching this version is a bit disappointing.
Performance (1970)
You all work for me
I saw this film about a dozen times at a tiny art-house theater off the Sunset Strip. It's not what you think it might be with the casting of Ms. Pallenberg and Mick. It's an onion of a movie with layers and nuances and subtexts that require repeated viewings. It explores sexuality and power in a way that was very frightening and nihilistic to audiences--so much so that preview audiences were refunded their money.
The actual violence in the beginning of the movie is a misdirect, ala the initial story line in Psycho. Mr. Fox's character screws the pooch by enjoying his work to his own detriment and has to lay low while he figures out how to leave the country and evade his former employers. He stumbles into the counterculture. Turner and his entourage take him in, in every sense of the word. Turner is pan-sexual, a Ziggy Stardust who has lost his daemon and retreated deeper into a drug-induced fugue state where the only rule is misrule.
Turner's guest is an accidental tourist in a land where he doesn't speak the language or respect the culture. They slip him a mushroom omelet to loosen him up, but he sees their world in his own context, which is primal and violent.
In one teaser scene, M. Jagger sits in a bathtub with a pound note as a fig leaf. Sex sells?
Trying to explain this movie to someone who's never seen it is like trying to describe an acid trip to someone who's never been on one. Watch it a couple of times before you make up your mind. You may be repulsed and fascinated simultaneously. You'll love it or hate it. The soundtrack is worth the price of admission.
It pushes the boundaries that were being crossed by movies like If and Clockwork Orange. It's a way- back machine to a time before Rocky Horror, The Last Tango in Paris, Inserts and other Seventies movies that challenged the sexual status quo. Gender-bender, mind-bender--you've been cautioned.
Miracle at Sage Creek (2005)
Where does one begin?
Sad to say that a movie with David Carradine and Wes Studi could be a Xmas turkey. The kids are constantly mugging (as opposed to acting), "Wyoming" in December replete with cacti and sunny, snow-free landscape(?!!)--all the stock characters of a Fifties Western are here, but not even John Wayne could have rescued this movie.
Michael Parks is the only actor who is really trying, the rest are very trying, indeed. If you want to see the principal players (Carradine & Studi) working their full range of ability, rent/buy "Commanche Moon" or "Bound for Glory". You can catch glimpses here of Studi at least trying to inhabit the role of a very amateur effort. Yes, if you want a G-rated movie for young children, this would work. Sadly, Nicholas the dog gets better direction and lines than his fellow actors. The notable exception is the mustachioed stage driver (Buck Taylor), who appeared in a supporting role in a fantastic Western-- "Tombstone" as Turkey Creek Jack Johnson.
If you're looking for something uplifting, get "Little House on The Prairie" or "Dr Quinn", which appear to be the inspiration for this movie-of-the-week knock-off. This was one of a triptych of movies (three movie set for $5), which says it all. Rent this for the kiddies, if you're into faith-based fare, then go out and get a real Western where the actors get to shine, e.g.,any of the Lonseome Dove mini-series, "Tombstone", "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee", or even "Hidalgo", a great family movie which slipped under the radar a few years back.