Welcome to the 811th Edition of my series. I hope everyone is having a good July 4th weekend however celebrated. I got through my first week of training with my new job at Innovista. I think I'm going to really like this place I just hope this works out for me. Also a reminder that MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: THE MUSICAL is climbing up on us. The show is on July 22-25 at the Marion Civic Theater, ticket info and times can be found on https://www.marioncivic.org/shows-tickets/miracle-on-34th-street-the-musical/ so come see me play a more villainous character in the show. I will get on with my selections for the week.
The Beat that My Heart Skipped (2005): I start the week off with this French film which was directed by Jacques Audiard. Romain Duris stars as Thomas Seyr who leads a life of crime working for his father Robert, played by Niels Arestrup. He gets reminded of his piano talent and decides to pursue that hoping to get out of his life of crime but finds his dark past is hard to overcome. Jonathan Zaccai, Linh Dan Pham, Melanie Laurent, and many others co-star in this film. This is a remake of the 1978 American film, yes another country is remaking a United States movie, FINGERS so I will likely look into that in the future. This is still a very compelling film with good performances that deserves a look.
Invasion U.S.A. (1985): Joseph Zito directed this action movie which stars action star Chuck Norris. Norris stars as former CIA agent Matt Hunter whose enemy Rostov, played by Richard Lynch, comes after him but is unsuccessful prompting Hunter the one man army of Matt Hunter to go after Rostov and his very large group of terrorists. Alexander Zale, Alex Colon, Eddie Jones, Billy Drago, Jaime Sanchez, Dehl Berti, Martin Shakar, and many others co-star in this action movie. This is what it is, an action movie starring Chuck Norris, the man who was bit in the leg by a cobra and after five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died. That being said, this is not exactly some Oscar or even Golden Globe nominated movie. If not taken too seriously, this could be a fun watch watch and maybe to a little MST3K over. This is available to watch on Pluto tv.
Barbarosa (1982): This is my western for the week which was directed by Fred Schepisi. A young Gary Busey, before he became our modern-day philosopher we know today, stars as the inexperienced and rather naive Karl Westover who runs away from home after unintentionally killing a neighbor. Country legend Willie Nelson co-stars as the legendary gunslinger Barbarosa who has problems of his own and takes in Karl reluctantly showing him the ropes. Isela Vega, Gilbert Roland, Alma Martinez, George Voskovec, Howard Chamberlain, Harry Caesar, Wolf Muser, Kai Wulff, Roberto Contreras, Luis Contreras, Jake Busey, and many others co-star in this western. This has gone a bit overlooked through the years and where can we go wrong with the duo of Nelson and Busey? Each one had a pretty good story where they had to help each other. This is available to watch on HBO Max.
Smile, Darn Ya Smile (1931): This is my animated short for the week from Looney Tunes set to the tune of the title song. This revolves around a streetcar driver named Foxy who is a mouse. He also encounters a few others along the way like a hippo, a cow, some hobos, and even another mouse named Roxy. This is kind of Warner's answer to Disney's infamous Mickey and even Minnie Mouse. The Roxy character was used in the first three animated shorts for Merrie Melodies after finally abandoning the character. Rudolph Ising had left Disney to join Warner Brothers and came up with this short-lived character. This is available to watch on HBO Max on Looney Tunes and is the first short listed on there.
Caught (1949): Max Ophuls directed this film which is based on the novel by Libbie Block. Barbara Bel Geddes stars as Leonora Eames who seems to have everything going in life with a modeling career and marrying the wealthy Smith Ohlrig, played by Robert Ryan. She learns that Smith is very power-hungry and controlling. Not being given a divorce, Leonora runs off from her life of luxury and takes a receptionist position for the struggling Dr. Larry Quinada, played by James Mason. She finds real love with this person but still being married and keeping the secret leads to complications. Frank Ferguson, Curt Bois, Ruth Brady, Natalie Schafer, Art Smith, Barbara Billingsley, and many others co-star in this film-noir. This is Mason's American debut and was going to be cast in the more villainous role but asked to play Quinada to help shed his villainous image from the British films. He makes good to shed that image as the more good-hearted doctor. Ryan is someone that has gone a bit underrated by today's standards but played some good villainous roles in his career, most notably in the film noir genre. It was good to see him get his due a little bit through Criterion Channel which had a category dedicated to him. As mentioned, this is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Love on the Run (1979): This is my French film for the week which was directed by Francois Truffaut. Jean-Pierre Leaud and Claude Jade star as couple Antoine and Christine who a getting divorced. Antoine is able to publish his autobiographical novel and he reunites with his past love Colette, played by Marie-France Pisier, who buys a copy of his book and discusses it as they meet up again years later. Dani, Dorothee, Daniel Mesguich, Julien Bertheau, co-star in this French film. I did not know until writing this summary that this is the fifth and final film from Truffaut that features the character of Antoine. I also learned that some of the flashback scenes were part of first four movies. I was able to follow along pretty well, maybe because I wasn't aware I was watching a sequel, or continuation I don't really know which this is. I had seen THE 400 BLOWS which had Antoine as a youth. Most of these except the movie LOVE AT TWENTY is featured on the Criterion Channel and that is the second of the series so now maybe I'll just go back and find some of these.
Parasite (2019): This is my Korean film which was directed by Bong Jong Ho which is kind of satire of class discrimination. This is centered around the Kim family who are a poor and struggling family doing what they can to make money. They soon start conning the more wealthy Park family managing to get jobs through there. Things are going well but find they have other people competing with them to be part of the Park Family. Kang-Ho Song, Sun-Kyun Lee, Keo-Jeong Cho, Woo-Sik Choi, So-Dam Park, Lee Jeong-eun, and many others co-star in this film. This is a pretty bizarre film that has just about every genre going for itself including comedy, drama, action, and even some horror. This is difficult to really explain beyond what I have but is a great watch. This is available to watch on Hulu.
The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956): Raoul Walsh directed this film which was directed by William Bradford Huie. Jane Russell stars as prostitute Mamie Stover who is run out of San Francisco as WWII begins to intensify. She ends up in Hawaii hoping to start a new life and falls in love with science fiction writer Jim Blair, played by Richard Egan. Things get complicated with Jim's own relationship with Annalee, played by Joan Leslie, and with Mamie falling back into her past lifestyle. Agnes Moorehead, Jorja Curtright, Michael Pate, Alan Reed, Eddie Firestone, Jean Willes, and many others co-star in this complicated love story. This is a pretty decent B-movie love story with Alexander shining well in her starring role. This is available to watch on the Criterion Channel.
Last Tango in Paris (1972): Bernardo Bertolucci directed this Italian film. Maria Schneider stars as Jeanne who is looking for an apartment. She encounters Paul, played by Marlon Brando, who is mourning his wife and they are instantly drawn to each other but Paul does not want much info from her like her name nor does he want to give out his own. Maria Michi, Giovanna Galletti, Catherine Allegret, Catherine Breillat, and many others co-star in this film. This movie is rated NC-17 so this is not a family movie. This is also not a very upbeat movie. This was quite a year for Brando who in the same year had been in the very popular THE GODFATHER and then did this more art house film that has gone down in history in its own right for many reasons. This has some very fascinating behind the scenes stuff if researched but would suggest just watching the movie first if you can get past the NC-17 rating. This is available to watch on Tubi.
The Celebration (1998): As I end this week, I realize I got pretty dark and violent this week with my selections with this not being much different. Thomas Vinterbert directed and co-wrote this Danish film about a very dysfunctional family. Henning Moritzen stars as the family patriarch Helge whose 60th birthday celebration is being celebrated but as his oldest son Christian, played by Ulrich Thompson, makes a very unfavorable speech about his father's past. Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen, Trine Dyrholm, and many others co-star in this film. This is another rather dark but compelling film on a dysfunctional film that does not put the fun in dysfunction like some movies tend to do. This is a very well-shot, well acted and well written film that deserves a look.
Well, that is it for this week. Tell me what you like and dislike and stay tuned for next week which so far includes Julianne Moore, Jane Russell, Gwyneth Paltrow, and many others.
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