Based on a true story: woman's father eventually proves that her Green Beret doctor husband murdered her. Above average performances.
KARL MALDEN, GARY COLE
Weird film about a group of emotionally spent individuals trying to survive in L.A. Not as good as Rudolph's later films.
Trashy, vicious, exploitive thriller about mad psychiatrist who stalks women. Follows Hitchcock's formula, but with the intelligence of the better Hitchcock. One's get the uncomfortable sensation of being a voyeur.
I wasn't all that impressed with it first time around. A bit contrived and predictable. About average for a later Jack Lemmon movie: all the trappings of quality with none of the gut-rending, bruising risk-taking of the really brilliant directors. No match, say, for Billy Wilder's stuff.
Megan Follows as girl who wants to join boys team. Reasonably intelligent and interesting.
Low impact drama about Dreyfuss affair, of course. Suffers from self-importance.
Fairly suspenseful horror film. The original strongly suggests allusions to McCarthy era. This one is less politically suggestive, but more technically astute.
Very good, very solid. Surprisingly realistic for material that lends itself to bombast. Frederic March is something to see, as is Tracy; Kelly is cooly sinister and incisive.
Not all that funny or memorable.
Emotionally compelling drama, far, far superior to ABC's contrived epic "The Day After" (was that the name?). Jane Alexander and William Devane are exceptional.
Riveting but harsh biography of Dorothy Stratton, the playboy bunny from Vancouver, whose manipulative boyfriend murdered her in a fit of jealous rage after producer Peter Bogdanovich made the move on her. A much under-rated film, with one of the most disturbing endings in cinema. This film packs a wallop and says a lot about our society's obsessions with sex and materialism. The contrast between Hefner's refined, urbane sensualism, and Paul Schnieder's crass opportunism is provocative. What is the difference?
Tedious, predictable hogwash from Billy Graham associates about a son who goes bad, leaves home, endures trials and humiliations, and ultimately returns to his senses.
Somewhat pretentious and annoying drama about Lillian Hellman's supposedly nobel role in Resistance. Ostensibly about Julia, but obviously intended as a self-serving tribute to self.
Intriguing but unsatisfying film about discovering America, non-conformity, smoking up and wunderlust. I think it's over-rated.
Enjoyable, off-beat tale about a black "alien" who lands in New York City and wanders around touching people's lives in unexpected ways, while being hunted by two inter-galactic bounty hunters. In one hilarious scene, the two hunters walk into a bar and show the alien's picture to the bartender. They explain they are looking for an "illegal alien". It is clear the alien is an escaped slave.
Brilliant, biting satire of business morals and manners. An elevator girl named Fran Kubilek has an on-going affair with a heel of a married business executive, Mr. Sheldrake, frustrating schmuck C. C. Baxter, who genuinely adores her. Other executives at the large insurance firm use Baxter's apartment for tawdry little flings with underlings at the company, while promoting Baxter's employment record in return. When Fran tries to break off the relationship, Sheldrake convinces her that he is serious about leaving his wife-- until Fran discovers that he is not, and, further, that he's used this routine on several other women at the office. When she tries to commit suicide, Baxter rescues her. Beautifully, wonderfully, wittily rendered, perfectly directed by Wilder, and utterly timeless. There is not a careless shot or scene, or false note, except possibly for tone: Baxter can seem slightly obnoxious, singing to himself, insisting on boring Kubilek with gin games, and proposing a night on the town. But this is one of a handful of genuinely great movies in film history.
Fellini's personal nostalgiac exploration of his own childhood in Italy.
Less sanitized than later versions.
Dramatization of the black-listing of radio broadcaster, John Henry Faulk. Honest and absorbing. Devane as Faulk is exceptional, as is Scott as lawyer Louis Nizer.
Woody Allen plays Miles Monroe, who goes into surgery one day in 1973 and wakes up 200 years in the future, into a world of some kind of totalitarian dictatorship. He gets mixed up with a revolutionary movement that wants to take down the leader and install a Marxist government. Along the way, he romances Luna Schlosser, who tries to persuade him to join her in the Orgasmatron. Most of the film consists of various gags some of which work and some are just sophomoric or even juvenile, depending on Allen's own quirky appearance and Chaplinesque movements for humor. Occasionally hilarious. Sustains Allen's schtick at the time of being un-invested in any cause or ideology, though he obviously leans towards a liberal, Democratic outlook (he says he doesn't trust any government, revolutionary or dictatorial). Obvious borrowings from Gogol (the Nose) and Orwell and Huxley.
Brilliant realization of John Steinbeck book, faithful, well-acted and filmed, and passionate. Fonda is lean and mean as Tom Joad. The supporting cast is uniformly compelling and convincing.
Hilarious satire of U.S. politics. The testimony of Miss America at Allen's trial is not to be missed, nor is Cosell's "Wide World of Sports" coverage of the Central American assassination. Or the English to English translator at the airport. Or Allen interrogating himself in court...
Moving anti-war film, the first major work by Stanley Kubrick. The setting is the German front, World War I, where both sides are well dug-in and frontal assaults are pointless. When a poorly planned advance collapses in disaster, the incompetent French officers responsible pick three innocent soldiers to die for cowardice. Kirk Douglas is Colonel Dak, a military lawyer who is oblidged to mount a nominal defence for the men and quickly becomes convinced of the fundamental injustice of the action. He wages a losing battle against the court martial--comprised of the very officers who chose the men to die--and the rest of the film deals with the men's varying responses to their fate. Kubrick got raked somewhat for the conclusion: a pretty German girl is forced to take the stage in a club to sing for a group of drunken, swaggering French soldiers. When she chooses a sentimental folk hymn, their eyes well up with tears.
All Contents Copyright © Bill Van Dyk 1985 All Rights Reserved
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