Paper Moon (1972)

Posted on November 6, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring the father, daughter pair of Ryan O’Neil and Tatum O’Neil, this film is set filmed in stark black and white and set during the Depression.

Addie Loggins is a little girl who has just lost her mother and her closest relation is the shifty Bible salesman Moses Pray. Reluctantly he agrees to take Addie along to some kin in St. Joseph’s Missouri where she can be cared for and he also pockets $200 which is rightfully hers. Sparks fly from the beginning between the perpetually grouchy Addie and the constantly annoyed Moze. However, with the tricks of Moze and the cuteness of Addie, this unlikely pair is able to sell numerous Bibles all over the state to hapless widows.

However, all that is put on hold when they stop at a carnival and Moze becomes infatuated with a high maintenance, exotic dancer named Trixie (Madeleine Kahn). Trixie and her young maid tag along and Addie becomes annoyed with all the attention Trixie now receives. Addies devises a plan with Imogene and it results in a disgusted Moze heading back on the road with Addie.

Their next job includes taking a store of whiskey from a bootlegger so they can sell it back. However, they run into trouble with the local sheriff, who just happens to be the bootleggers brother! They escape thanks to Addie, pawn the car, and get across to Missouri. There everything catches up with Moze and he gets beat up and all their money is stolen. Soon after, he and Addie finally part ways. But in the end this rag tag pair realizes they actually care for each other and they head out to pull more cons all across the country… so Moze can pay Addie her $200.

The strained relationship between the two leads unfortunately reflected the real relationship of father and daughter. In the film however, they were great together adding both humor and drama to this bleak story. As always Bogdanovich loves his nostalgia and there is plenty of it here to be enjoyed.

4/5 Stars

The Best Films of Burt Lancaster (1913-1994)

Posted on November 5, 2014 by 4 Star Films

1. From Here to Eternity
2. Sweet Smell of Success
3. The Leopard
4. Judgment at Nuremberg
5. The Killers
6. Elmer Gantry
7. Local Hero
8. Atlantic City
9. Criss Cross
10. Seven Days in May
11. The Train
12. The Crimson Pirate
13. Brute Force
14. The Professionals
15. Field of Dreams
16. The Flame and The Arrow
17, The Swimmer
18. Separate Tables
19. Birman of Alcatraz
20. Run Silent, Run Deep
21. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

I always try to improve, to find new ways of expressing myself, to keep looking for truth and originality.

The Best Films of Kirk Douglas (1916-)

Posted on November 4, 2014 by 4 Star Films

1. Spartacus
2. Paths of Glory
3. Ace in the Hole
4. The Bad and The Beautiful
5. Champion
6. Out of the Past
7. Seven Days in May
8. Lonely are the Brave
9. A Letter to Three Wives
10. Detective Story
11. Lust for Life
12. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
13. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
14. Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.

A New Leaf (1971)

Posted on November 3, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Elaine May garnered fame in the early 1960s as the female half of the comedy duo alongside Mike Nichols, who later directed such classics as Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate. This was May’s film debut, and she did everything; directing, writing, and of course acting as Henrietta Lowell. Interestingly enough, the film we see is not necessarily the film she wanted, but it is what it is I suppose.

Obviously, Elaine May did a lot for this film, but the story starts with Walter Matthau who gives another memorable turn playing a variation on his prototypical grumpy grouch of a character. This time he’s stuffy Henry Graham who lives beyond his means riding horses, driving a Ferrari, and keeping servants. But he is very bad at what he does…which is nothing. His Ferrari suffers from carbon on the valves, his latest check has bounced, and Mr. Graham is not a happy camper much to the chagrin of his long-suffering lawyer Beckett (William Redfield). His only hope is to get his uncle to bail him out one last time, but it does not come without a price. $50,000 with interest unless Henry can find a wife lickety-split. The prospects seem grim and both men know it. On the urging of his faithful manservant Harold it becomes a mad race against the clock to find a lady with money to spare.

At a social gathering, he finds the perfect object for his mock affection. Clumsy, bespectacled, messy, and filthy rich botany professor Henrietta Lowell (Elaine May). The courtship is quick and as clumsy as ever because Henrietta is present. Henry only has one objective: get the girl and get the money with her. A little glass in the knee and wine on the rug means little. The wedding happens and what ensues is strangely comedic. Henry has outwitted his uncle and Henrietta’s shady lawyer with his own intentions ahead of him. Soon he is running his wife’s home, firing her servants, putting her life in order and generally being condescending. He even dabbles in toxicology over their honeymoon, because a nice simple murder would be nice.

But in a sentimental moment, Henrietta names her new species after her hubby who actually is touched by the honor. On a camping and canoe trip in the Adirondacks, Graham is as miffed as ever as he prepares to get rid of his wifey. Their canoe capsizes and it’s the opportune moment since she cannot swim. In a moment of weakness, he goes to her rescue and resigns himself to be a professor as she has always dreamed. He’s a married man now. He’ll need to leave the pesticides alone at least for awhile.

This is far from your typical comedy and yet Walter Matthau is quite enjoyable as he navigates the upper echelon with an air of snootiness and bother. In some strange sense, I suppose it’s even a love story because in a weird way Henry Graham needs Henrietta. She for one fell in love with him. But as Harold notes, she has caused Henry to be far more competent than he has ever been in his life. By the end, we’re not really sure what to think. In some indirect way, they are a perfect match because they seem oh so wrong.

3.5/5 Stars

Wings of Desire (1988)

Posted on November 3, 2014 by 4 Star Films

Directed by Wim Wenders, this German film has almost a stream of consciousness feel. It opens over the skies of West Berlin where a couple angels watch over the humans as unseen and unheard guardians. They pay attention to the thoughts, desires, joys, and fears of a plethora of folks from all walks of life and act as unobserved comforters. These angels are immortals and although they are familiar with humanity they are not a part of it.

Among others, the angel Cassiel observes an old man named Homer who dreams of a world of peace. Damiel on his part finds himself infatuated with an utterly lonely circus trapeze performer, and he also watches over the actor Peter Falk as he begins shooting his next film. Because of his newfound love, Damiel desires to feel what it is to be human. Aside from affection, he yearns to be able to do the little things that go along with being mortal like drinking a hot cup of coffee. Finally, determined Damiel does indeed shed his angel wings and immortality for a chance to be human. He knows what it is to breathe, to tell colors apart, and he finally does get his cup of coffee.

Quite by chance, he has an encounter with Falk who tells Damiel a secret and encourages him in his new life. Cassiel, still an angel, tries to stop a suicidal youth from jumping, but he is unsuccessful and it hits him hard.

In the final moments of the film, by fate, Damiel meets his girl at a concert, and they embrace as if they had known one another for an eternity and in a way they had. This film is beautifully photographed in a sepia tone that reflects the viewpoint of the angels. It is only the humans who see the world in all its glory, bursting with different colors. This film was quite fascinating, and it is the type of film I would want to make that really gets up close and personal with some many people without actually focusing on them. Furthermore, Peter Falk was a wonderful addition to this film, and he was a pleasure to watch because he gave off the impression that he was simply being himself. And I think he was.

Next on my list to see from Wim Wenders is Paris, Texas, but I would also like to explore more of the New German Cinema from the likes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Werner Herzog.

4.5/5 Stars

Alien (1979)

Posted on November 3, 2014 by 4 Star Films

In the wake of other Sci-Fi smashes like Star Wars (1977) and Close Encounter of the Third Kind (1977), Alien was a radically different film, since it lacked the same sentiment of its precursors. One would wager a guess that this core variance stems from director Ridley Scott who certainly is no George Lucas or Spielberg. His films are generally darker, more world-wearied, and disillusioned. Blade Runner is a perfect illustration of this, but three years earlier came Alien, a Sci-Fi Horror film of immense critical acclaim and impact even to this day.

The film opens as a spacecraft called the Nostromo gets ready for a return trip to earth after a commercial excursion by its 7 member crew. However, a distress signal halts their plans and the captain named Dallas (Tom Skerritt) resolves to go investigate. On the surface of the abandoned planet are the remnants of what seems to be an ancient alien empire. One member of the crew Kane (John Hurt) comes upon a chamber full of what appear to be eggs and as is expected he is attacked. We knew it was building up to this point.

Back on the craft, Kane is still alive but now he has an octopus-like alien clinging to his head. It’s an acidic situation because it appears to be feeding him oxygen and it has no plans of coming off anytime soon. Next, comes the calm before the much-anticipated storm as the tension slowly increases exponentially.

What ensues is a cat and mouse game between the crew and this belligerent alien which has grown increasingly larger. Its evolutionary adaptations make it seemingly immune to extermination, but the crew tries desperately to destroy it with electric prods and flamethrowers. Soon it’s difficult to know who the cat and who the mice are, but it certainly favors the alien.

It doesn’t help that Jones the cat is on the loose and there is even a bit of mutiny aboard the craft. It feels a bit like a tense Agatha Christie novel with person after person slowly getting knocked off. But that sensation does not last long when we actually see what we are dealing with. This creature has no conscience. No humanity. It only cares about survival by killing its prey. To win you must do the same and beat it at the game.

Thus, although I initially thought it a weakness to only have one alien, it turns out that it makes this film all the more tense. Also, very little of the action actually takes place outside of the ship. They are stuck on board in the middle of outer space fighting for their lives. Not much can be more horrific than that, and it is a very unnerving ride with surprisingly good pacing and many graphically shocking moments

The cast is a nice diverse group of actors including Skerritt, Hurt, and Ian Holm, but Sigourney Weaver is undoubtedly the standout as 3rd in command Ellen Ripley. She is the last one to keep her head and her story would set the framework for the entire Alien franchise. Not to mention the role propelling Weaver to stardom and introducing the archetypal model for future female protagonists.

Alien definitely has a lot to offer and I am excited to see the next installment Aliens. That added “s” has me intrigued.

4.5/5 Stars

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Posted on November 2, 2014 by 4 Star Films

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The beauty of The Holy Grail is that it is absurd in every sense, and it is keenly self-aware the entire time. The comic troupe Monty Python found fame from its British T.V. show Monty Python and the Flying Circus. Now Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin transferred their brand of humor to the big screen. What better canvas for their brand of humor than Medieval Europe? It’s got Castles, Trojan Rabbits, French Soldiers, Swords, Knights who say Ni, Headbanging monks, a killer rabbit and so on.

They offer us the weirdest, oddest, and downright hilarious revisionist parody of King Arthur’s legend. I use the term plot loosely because The Holy Grail follows no strict set of parameters or plot points. The quest for the Grail by Arthur and his right-hand man Patsy is purely an excuse for gag upon gag upon gag. Even while he recruits his Round Table, the fun is not in the completion of the quest, but the detours the plot takes for the sake of a laugh. And it goes all over the place. Tangents abound and the story jumps back and forth, oftentimes for no good reason. The film has the oddest of openings (involving llamas) and it ends just us weirdly as it began with the arrival of the police. Don’t question it. Just enjoy.

When is the optimal time to watch The Holy Grail you ask? The real answer is anytime, but it reaches its maximum potential when you watch with others late at night in a giddy delirium. Let the comic absurdity of it all carry you off into the Monty Python world. The first time watching it you might be a little befuddled, but the beauty is that it gets better nearly every time. Anachronisms become your friend, quotability skyrockets, and there is a kind of joy that surfaces from each vignette of comedic madness.

It works so well because the ensemble is so wacky and fun with no one individual completely outshining the others. They are never relegated to a certain role but instead are given free reign to show off their skills in many zany incarnations. Thus, the actor playing a certain character becomes less important and the comedy that is found in this or that role takes precedence.

I never have been too keen about living in the Middle Ages, and after watching The Holy Grail I… definitely would not want to live in the Middle Ages. It’s certainly good for a few laughs, though. Ni! Ni! Ni!

4.5/5 Stars

The Best Films of Clint Eastwood (1930-)

Posted on November 1, 2014 by 4 Star Films

1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
2. Unforgiven
3. Dirty Harry
4. Million Dollar Baby
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
6. Mystic River
7. A Fistful of Dollars
8. The Outlaw Josey Wales
9. For a Few Dollars More
10. High Plains Drifter
11. In the Line of Fire
12. Where Eagles Dare
13. Kelly’s Heroes
14. Escape from Alcatraz
15. Gran Torino
16. Invictus
17. The Bridges of Madison County

*Films as an actor and director

When you’re young, you’re very reckless. Then you get conservative. Then you get reckless again.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Posted on October 31, 2014 by 4 Star Films

I came into Night of the Living Dead expecting a whole lot of zombies and some gore and a few deaths. There was most definitely some of that to be sure, but that was far from the whole picture.

First off, it must be acknowledged that George Romero’s picture is a true low budget B film, and it certainly looks the part with its choppy black and white cinematography. Instead of taking away from the film it adds to the aesthetic because we are even less sure of what we are seeing. The inciting details are also rather blurry as well.

It begins with a prudish girl named Barbra (Judith O’Dea) who goes to visit her father’s grave with her brother. Their little sibling quarrel is soon interrupted by a thing. A zombie for lack of a better term. Johnny is taken down, but Barbra frantically escapes to an abandoned house. Soon she is joined by burly, level-headed Ben (Duane Jones) and a few others. Still little is known about the crisis as the men butt heads about the best plan of action in response to the impending onslaught. Whatever their decision it has no power to impede the ghouls from steadily multiplying and moving closer. The authorities can do very little as the men board of the house and get ready to defend their makeshift fortress.

Plans of escape with a truck go awry and they see all too quickly the ferocity and cannibalistic nature of the undead terrors. Meanwhile, the Press and Big Whigs in Washington try to make heads and tails of what is going on across a third of the country. The only explanation is radiation from Venus, but that does little to help our protagonists in their predicament.

By its conclusion Night of the Living Dead becomes increasingly more suffocating and claustrophobic as the zombies close in and do their worst. Ben somehow pulls through, but fate does not smile fondly on him. After all, the line between undead and living is sometimes difficult to differentiate. So much so that sometimes I felt like I was watching some Vietnam footage or a White Supremacist posse instead of a fictional horror tale. Yet another layer that makes Night of the Living Dead strangely unnerving.

This film ushered in a new era of horror films, and it truly is the seminal zombie flick before it was cool. Although to the modern viewer this film can feel slow, it has a surprising amount of social and political commentary. One thing’s for certain. I never want to be stuck in a house with zombies closing in on me. Not fun. Not fun at all.

3.5/5 Stars

The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

Posted on October 29, 2014 by 4 Star Films

In this precursor to other gritty Boston crime films like The Departed, Eddie “Fingers” Royle (Robert Mitchum) is a middle-aged truck driver who does some gun running on the side for the mob. On one occasion he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and it meant two more years of jail time. He’s seen the clink before.

Three men have been pulling off bank jobs in clear daylight using hostages and new guns each time. Eddie is the guy who has been delivering the guns, and he deals with a young thug (Steven Keats) who acquires the stolen merchandise.

Eddie also gets acquainted with F.B.I. agent Dave Folley (Richard Jordan) who tells Eddie his only way to dodge prison is to become an informer. Unbeknownst to Eddie, Folley has another informant working for him, in fact, it’s the man who set Eddie up. Now Eddie is thinking of himself and so he sets up the gunrunner Jackie because he has everything he needs. Folley closes in and nabs the guy. Eddie wants to be done with it, but Folley wants more. Eddie’s buddies who have been pulling the heists are his next victims, but Folley’s other man gives him the information faster and Royle is left with nothing to bargain with. To top it off, he is suspected to be the stool pigeon, and a hit is secretly planned on him. The middle-aged, hopeless, beat down, world-weary, nobody is knocked off and no one loses any sleep over it. The manipulative stooge reaps the benefit and agent Folley has what he wants. Royle was the one who got the short end of the stick. Some friends he had.

Peter Yates proves again after Bullitt that he can deliver on gritty crime films. He left San Francisco and car chases behind for Boston, Mass. and bank jobs. Murder seems prevalent everywhere and with the killing comes a wide array of tough guy types. The violence is not over the top and neither is the drama, but it is cool, collected and unsentimental.

I cannot help but compare Mitchum’s performance to earlier crime films of his like Out of the Past. He has some of the same grittiness and toughness, but he is decidedly wearier in this film. He has similar moral ambiguity, but his death is far more pitiful. There is no redemption here, and he is a lowlife loser to the end. Despite his rough edges and shady activity, it is difficult not to feel just a little sorry for the man. The film’s title only helps to point out the irony of his situation. We thought he was the rat, but it turned out it was someone else. He needed to find new friends, but then again it takes one to know one. They were a product of their environment and that environment was not the friendliest place to be.

4/5 Stars

“Look, I’m getin’ old, you hear? I spent most of my life hanging around crummy joints with a buncha punks drinkin’ the beer, eatin’ the hash and the hot dogs and watchin’ the other people go off to Florida while I’m sweatin’ out how I’m gonna pay the plumber. I done time and I stood up but I can’t take no more chances. Next time, it’s gonna be me goin’ to Florida.” ~ Eddie Coyle