Welcome to the 90th Edition. As you can see, I am now in rehearsals
for MASH where I play Walt "Painless Pole" Waldowski. Two legendary
foreign directors have died, both Bergman and Antonioni, look for
recommendations from them in the coming weeks. Now for what you all
came here to see.
The Wackiest Ship in the Army (1960): My mom watched this on TCM so I
joined her in this unexpected Jack Lemmon film. Lemmon plays a
lieutenent who is talked into taking charge of the title boat with an
incompetant crew and they are on a secret mission. Ricky Nelson plays
his protege. This movie is actually based on actual events. This is
not my favorite of the risque Jack Lemmon comedies but it is still
entertaining.
The Loves of Carmen (1948): Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford reunite
after "Gilda" in this story where Rita plays a gypsy named Carmen which
is based on an Opera. Glenn Ford plays a soldier in the Spanish army
who meets Carmen which puts him on the run and joining her group which
brings much jealousy to everyone. Hayworth used her own studio to get
this movie off the ground and is a forgotten tragic love story.
Hairspray (1988): With all the publicity with the new version of
this film, I felt it was time to feature this original which wasn't as
much as a musical and more satire. Schlock director John Waters
directed this movie on segregation which stars talk show host Ricki Lake
as a self-positive "pleasantly-plump" teenager named Tracy Turnblad who
wants to be part of the Corny Collins Dance Show, kind of a send-up of
American Bandstand. Tracy begins to see segregation issues and becomes a
champion for integration turning many heads in the process.
Cross-dresser Divine plays a duel role as Tracy's mother and as the
strict principal. Also look for Sunny Bono, Blondie's Deborah Harry,
the Cars' Ric Ocasek, and many others.
Analyze This (1999): I found this Harold Ramis mafia comedy on
On-Demand which stars Billy Crystal as a psychiatrist who after a
rear-ending has his life change forever. Robert De Niro stars as mob
boss Paul Vitti who is having anxiety issues and seeks his help.
Friends alum Lisa Kudrow stars as Crystal's fiance who is becoming
frustrated by his work with the mafia. Also look for Doogie Howser M.D.
alum Max Casella and Chazz Palminteri who reunites with De Niro after A
Bronx Tale. This is a comedy, not a spoof besides the reference to the
Godfather. The idea of a gangster seeing a psychiatrist might have
been taken from the Sopranos but I believe the original idea came from
Frank Costello seeing a psychiatrist.
You Can't Take it With You (1938): This is the first of many
collaberations between James Stewart and Frank Capra. Lionel Barrymore
is the head of a good-natured but eccentric family and his daughter,
played by Jean Arthur, brings home James Stewart who comes from a more
serious home but does not agree with all of his family's ideals and soon
the families must meet and causes some hilarious chaos. Barrymore is
great as the patriarch whose character is absolutely opposite to his
character in the Capra classic It's a Wonderful Life and shares a few of
my own ideals. This could be considered a pre-Meet the Parents.
Li'l Abner (1959): This is a musical that takes place in the small
town of Dogpatch where a senator deems the town "insignificant" and
declares it will be used for A-Bomb testing unless they can find
something significant. Peter Palmer plays the title role of Abner.
Leslie Parrish plays Daisy Mae who hopes to catch Abner on Sadie Hawkins
Day. This is a very good musical in the time of the Golden Age of
Musicals and while none of the actors are really remembered by today's
standards, they still managed to make a great movie that stands though
Batman alum Julie Newmar stars as one of the girls in the town.
Casino Royale (2006): My dad bought this 007 movie for my birthday
and I finally got to it to include it here. This is actually Ian
Fleming's first James Bond novel and at the time it could not be used
because CBS had the rights when they did a 1954 teleplay on the novel
which starred Barry Nelson and Jimmy Bond, now the rights were finally
gotten and this movie was more of a prequal on the rise of James Bond
and could be considered more of a character study than some of the other
Bond films. Daniel Craig recieved this role and was glad that people
like Julian McMahon, Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman and Colin Farrell did not
get the role like considered, I like those actors but just not as 007.
In the opening sequence of this movie to the chase shortly thereafter, I
knew right there that Bond has arrived. Eva Green plays the complex
Vespar Lynd who Bond falls into love with and the movie also shows why
Bond became so cold and emotionally absent. Mads Mikkelson played the
villain Le Chiffre who also had his own issues. Jeffrey Wright plays
the role of Bond's CIA friend Felix Leiter and Judi Dench reprises her
role of M. I am totally satisfied with Daniel Craig and look forward to
the future of this more dark Bond which I liked about Timothy Dalton. I
feel that all the 007 actors had their own unique qualities and Daniel
Craig seemed to have it all.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of the People's Temple (2006): I saw
this movie last week outside at Ball State for the Co-Op film program
ran by my friend Travis. He chose this movie to educate us movie fans
even asking for one-liners for his future shirt-line of cult leader Jim
Jones. This PBS documentary focuses on the rise of cult leader Jim
Jones as a minister who was very big on integration, had some
interesting and seemingly great ideals and even adopted many foreign
children. Many survivors of his Indianapolis, Indiana church including
his son Jim Jones Jr. lend their thoughts to the man who might have once
been considered a good man but then became crazy and seemingly
corrupted by power which are my thoughts of both Julius Caesar and even
Hitler to a point. The documentary leads into the infamous mass suicide
in Guyana. This documentary is very insightful and detailed of a man
from my own state.
The Great White Hope (1970): This movie is based on early
1900s boxer Jack Johnson who is renamed Jack Jefferson in this story
where a young and different looking James Earl Jones reprises his
theater role in this movie. I actually first learned about Johnson when
they released a book and PBS documenatary on him and found his story to
be very fascinating. Johnson was a very flamboyant boxer who was not
only hated by the white race but also by the black race who some felt he
disgraced them with his nice suits, fancy cars and white mistresses and
became the first black champion boxer. Jones played the role very well
and whose life became even more difficult when he won the title in 1908
when they did everything possible to get that belt off of him and he
made them angry for 7 years before finally losing the belt. I guess you
could say that he broke the color barrier in boxing and even in sports
in general and was a pre- Muhammed Ali.
Cousin (1998): I will finish with this short film made by
award-winning filmmaker Adam Elliot who has made some interesting
documentary-like animated shorts. This one was based on his cousin who
had cerebral palsy in a rather tragic story.
Well, that is it for my recommendations this week. Don't forget to
vote in Tournament 31 which will go into tomorrow due to the very close
match-up between The Untouchables and Blazing Saddles.
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