Italian Neo-Realist film about an elderly citizen of Rome who lives alone in an apartment building with his small dog, Flike, and who is forced out by his landlord to struggle on the streets of post-war Rome. He desperately sells his remaining belongs and even attempts to beg, and to give his dog away to a little girl, and to children in a playground. Eventually, he decides to end it all but Flike runs away and he survives only to walk off, like Chaplin's little tramp, into the sunset and an uncertain future. Bergman's favorite film. [2288]
One of the bleakest, darkest films on human relationships ever made. Carnal Knowledge follows the love lives of a heel, Jonathan Fuerst, and his sensitive friend Sandy, through their college years beginning in 1946 early 50's, their first courtships, their marriages, to middle-aged angst. These characters are richly realized, rounded, and subtle, so it doesn't seem fair to peg them as anything. At first, they seem most interested in scoring, but the relationship matters to them. They end up dating the same girl, Susan, and when she chooses the "nice" one, Sandy, over the heel, Jonathan becomes bitter and cynical. One of the most heart-rending scenes among many is Susan on the phone admitting to Jonathan-- whom she clearly prefers-- that she can't bear to break Sandy's heart by telling them about their secret relationship. Ann-Margaret is devastating as one of his later conquests, Bobby, who can't figure out what Jonathan wants, really, because he doesn't really know himself. Both Jonathan and Sandy are fundamentally immature and confused and cruel at times, in an endless quest to find sexual fulfillment (Sandy admits that it's hard to be sexually attracted to the woman you love and marry). Some critics savage the film for failing to find that profound comment on male sexual attitudes, but I think they miss the point. "Carnal Knowledge" is simply, bitterly, resolutely honest about both sexes: Susan is sweet and naive but attracted to the bad boy, Jonathan, partly because she can't manipulate him the way she can manipulate Sandy. She is wonderfully attractive character precisely because her attitudes are so obsolete, but real for the period. Bobby is shrewd, and also manipulative, and rather a competitive match for Jonathan, but in the 1950's (she wanted to campaign for John Kennedy), her life options are limited and she hopes for a marriage even though Jonathan is abuse and mean to her. She calls him a "prick". In the end, Sandy hooks up with a teenager half his age and Jonathan pays an escort to enact fantasies that-- sometimes-- restore his ability to get hard. This is the movie that really is about the truth people can't handle. [920]
JACK NICHOLSON, ART GARFUNKEL, CANDACE BERGEN, ANN MARGARET
What is Louis Malle doing here, with Brooke Shields in a movie? Not much else memorable about this flick, about marriage arranged between Shields and Carradine. Is this really about Brooke Shields mother exploiting her own daughter? [492]
Exceptional film dramatizes custody battle after wife (Streep) abandons family to find her self. All around good performances and direction. [471]
Pretty good. Good performances, gripping, yet ultimately predictable. One has the impression that the author has a somewhat blind faith in psycholnalysis. [403]
"Fascinating" does not even begin to do justice to this gritty, bitter portrait of a naive Texan who moves to New York to try to make it big as a hustler. Along the way, he meets various depraved characters into "Ratso Rizzo", crippled bum, who takes him under his wing and tries to manage him. Filled with powerful images, evocative nuance, and grim tragedy. Unforgettable. One of the two or three best American films ever made. 113 minutes. Unusually audacious Oscar awards for Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. Note the appearances of members of Andy Warhol's "Factory" and the Velvet Underground at parties. [299]
Taught thriller about heroin smuggling famously based on real-life reminiscences of New York copy "Popeye" Doyle-- who did not operate by the book and, in fact, got into considerable ethics problems and was dismissed eventually. The film does not soft-peddle his rather asinine techniques. But it does have one of the most thrilling chase scenes ever made. In fact, a good chunk of the movie is chase, and the dialogue, such as it is, is rather lame and was probably improvised at times by the actors. The car chase, incidentally, features what is clearly a real accident as a bystander drove into the movie shoot one day and rammed Hackman's car. Popeye and his partner, Buddy Russo, are on to a big import of heroin by a French crime syndicate. Alain Charnier is smart and cultured and a pretty good match for Doyle and Russo, and succeeds in evading them for a time. One should be grateful for Friedkin giving due respect for the tedium of law enforcement: Doyle and Russo spend a lot of time sitting in a car watching and waiting, and drinking horrible coffee and eating terrible food. But this is a crackling, compelling film that doesn't look anything like the pap and pro-police propaganda normally constructed around these stories (see "Dirty Harry", released shortly after this film.) [281]
Boring. Kidstuff. [277]
The classic Christmas film by Frank Capra about a banker, George Bailey, whose business life collapses around him one Christmas driving him to consider suicide-- a development which, given his character, seems somewhat improbable. An angel, Clarence, is sent to show him what the world would have been like without him. Oddly, it looks a lot like the heartless, commercial, phony world we live in today. The Archetypal villain is Potter, a banker, but then, so is George. Really, it's a paean to dated small-town American virtues-- you could picture "Our Town" squeezing into the background here, except that "Our Town" is really considerably darker. And if the angel is right about what George Bailey has to live for, there is implied a very dark statement about life in America's dreary inner cities and trailer parks. [276]
Splendid realization of book by ... whoever. [270]
I am quite sure I saw this in a theatre somewhere. Visually stunning, sexy retelling of Arthur myths. Impressive production, but, like all Boorman films, unsatisfying in the end, as if he can't see beyond the extraordinary pictures to the heart and soul of the story. [259]
Very moving story about a deaf/dumb black teen accused of murder, defended by socially conscious deaf lawyer played by Sorvino. Based on a true story. [228]
Mildly affecting; vulgar and rude, as the real thing probably was in many ways; still a broadway musical with cheap imitation of rock stylistic tricks. The story is about a young lad from the backwoods who comes to New York for a last fling before joining the military. He meets a group of hippies who befriend him and help him meet the girl who catches his eye at Central Park. Some nice touches by Forman, including the use of very ordinary-looking actors in most of the bit parts. [206]
Very, very well done version. Better than later remake. Millie Perkins is zesty, irrepressible, yet subtle in title role. Supporting cast is superior. Takes too long, sometimes, to get introspective, romantic yearnings across, but suspenseful scenes are genuinely gripping. [197]
Well-made biography of Loretta Lynn. Sissy Spacek and Levon Helm are both effective in the key roles and the music is soundly performed. A slice of Americana. [179]
Tense, brilliant drama about corruption and water rights in early 20th century Los Angeles. [173]
Indistinguished thriller. [163]
Riveting drama, with fine acting performances, though I found Bogart a little stiff as the Captain suffering a nervous breakdown at sea. [158]
Idealistic prison drama with Redford as new warden who tries to reform a southern prison. They don't make these anymore do they. [147]
Likeable, amusing story of four males in Bloomington, Indiana going up against the college crowd in a big bike race. Unpretentious is the word. [139]
Dark, cynical portrait of a school teacher who falls in love with a cabaret singer, and loses his reputation, job, and self-respect. He becomes a clown in the cabaret, humiliated and mocked by the musicians and other actors. Marlene sings her famous "Fall in Love Again", straddling a chair, in her black lace and garters. [128]
MARLENE DIETRICH
A beautifully-filmed dramatization of the classic children's book. Director Carroll Ballard had the good sense and patience to film a boy (photogenic Kelly Reno) being a boy instead of a child with limited range trying to be an actor. Mickey Rooney and Teri Garr are fine in supporting roles. This is not one of my children's favorites, but they liked it, and I hope they learned that it can be worthwhile to stay with a film that is quiet but lyrical and captivating. The recent SECRET GARDEN is produced by the same people. It's also lovely, but my children found it a bit too long-winded. [124]
MICKEY ROONEY, KELLY RENO, TERI GARR
Autobiographical film by dancer/director Bob Fosse-- including shots of his own open-heart surgery-- portraying driven, compulsive director and the women he uses and abuses as he pursues some elusive goal of immortality or perfection. Basically about how a man's work can become an all-consuming passion which may produce those wonderful moments of sublime beauty, but a deep personal and professional cost. Nothing new in that, but Fosse gives it renewed life with a touch of self-mockery and ironic detachment the keeps things from getting maudlin. Reach doesn't always meet grasp here, but the dance sequences are wonderful. Fosse directed Cabaret. [91]
ROY SCHEIDER, JESSICA LANGE
Artsy and rather vague and ultimately pointless. [84]
Lovely but unsatisfying drama based on the Hardy novel. [61]
Great story about Indians, counter-acting cliches, with endearing self-mocking humour. And marred by the weird Hollywood convention, going back to Al Jolson, of having big name American stars portray the central character no matter what race or ethnicity. Eg. Marlon Brando or Shirley Mclaine portraying a Japanese character, Renee Zellweger and Natalie Portman portarying Brits. Hoffman portrays the title character, a native American who participated in many of the historical events involving native peoples in the American West, encounters with excitable missionaries, and so on. [41]
Bizarre, of course, and interesting in a Calvinist sort of way. Actually, not really too memorable, except for the cross being lifted by a helicopter and carried over the roof-tops. [36]
How much can a film owe to its score? Zither music sets tone and atmosphere for this haunting, affecting work. Touches you somewhere deep, cold, and chilling. One of the most haunting scenes of any movie: Lime's funeral, when his girl walks away from everyone, but especially Holly Martins. Holly Martins is an American writer. He creates westerns, slick entertainments designed to sell. When he gets a message from old school chum Harry Lime, to come to Vienna, he does so in a hurry. Unfortunately, he arrives only in time to attend Lime's funeral: he has been killed in a car accident. Martins is beside himself with a grief, though a British military officer tells him that Lime was into the black market. Martins can't believe it. He begins to suspect foul play. He plunges into a foolhardy investigation, but makes a shocking discovery. The real story is Martin's discovery of the unpleasant realities that govern life in post-war Vienna, the conditions that created a black market, and the nature of Lime's relationships. In a real sense, Martins' stands in for naive, well-meaning, but sometimes foolish America, plunging into Europe with black & white notions of good and evil, and in for a reckoning from the complexities of life under Nazi and Soviet rule. Martins resists these revelations until it is almost too late. And even then, he gives in to a foolish romantic impulse that results in disaster. And, of course, there is that famous scene in the ferris wheel: Lime looks down on the people below and compares them to ants-- what are they to you and I, he asks. [17]
The celebrated anti-war epic by Rainer Maria Remarque brought to life by Hallmark Hall of Fame and given prestige treatment. [7]
All Contents Copyright © Bill Van Dyk 1985 All Rights Reserved
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