The other day I listed a bunch of musical plays that had affected me greatly. One I left out, my favorite of all, and left out only as I have never seen a good production of it, is the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein classic, SHOWBOAT. The magnificent musical has been filmed three times, two of note; 1936 (directed by James (FRANKENSTEIN)Whale and 1951 in color, the story cut in half and truly sanitized from the earlier version. Unhappily the '36 version is not available on DVD, but it is magnificent, with many of the stars from the original production (Helen Morgan and the superb Paul Robson) in the cast. I was listening to the complete recording made about twenty years ago (3 discs-EMI) a little while ago and though the music swelled around me as I walked down Second Avenue with my trusty Ipod going full blast, I was caught short by the vernacular used to make the show(circa 1926) authentic. "N-----rs all work on the Mississippi", starts one song while in a bit of dialogue one of the characters says to another, "Where you get that necklace, n------r?" Appalling and chilling listening to it in this day and age when,hopefully, racism in its most virulent form is a thing long gone, but would changing the lyrics to "Darkies all work on the Mississippi", as they did at MGM in 1951 be any better; any less offensive? But what to do as SHOWBOAT (as Huckleberry Finn which had the same problem)is an American classic. Do you throw the baby out with the bathwater? Paul Robson who was a strong defender of human rights and dignity starred in the stage production and the 1936 film and it obviously didn't faze him as he, and I think rightly, saw the word as an offense that would put the audience on the side of the black characters. (Indeed, one of the story lines is between Julie and Steve, a married couple, she part black, he white who have to deal with the crime of miscegenation in the post Civil War South. Famously, he pricks her finger with a knife and takes drops of blood into his mouth making him black, as the law says that even with a drop of black blood in you, you cannot play on a white stage as with the showboat. Also by tasting her blood, they can no longer be accused of miscegenation as they are both technically black. If listeners today could be educated to the story before hearing the offensive lyrics I believe they would, as with Huckleberry Finn, have to be left in no matter how repugnant they are.
Now, mind you, this goes only for classic works of art that have a positive reason for using pejorative terms. The other day, for instance, I was flipping channels and on TCM there was an old Jack Lemmon film playing where a landlady of an apartment house says, "Well there's a married couple on the first floor and next to them a couple of fags." Click. No classic that; no way I would stoop to the level of crap the film offered to go further.As the British say the whole topic is a "sticky wicket" but one that has to be addressed. Not to mention the fact that there is a subtle racism in what could seem to be tame language, i.e the Tea Party chanting, "We want our country back!" I didn't know it was missing. Ohhhhhh, you mean to get that black dude and his family out of the White House. Got it, and shame on you!!!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
FOLLIES and Other Great Musicals
(For Bern)
Musicals! I have been a fan since I was a little kid. Having two aunts with no children of their own I was (happily) dragged along to Saturday matinees at the theater for as long as I can remember. SOUTH PACIFIC. PAINT YOUR WAGON. GUYS AND DOLLS. and many, many more. Once I got old enough to go with friends or, sometimes by myself, with balcony seats being incredibly cheap, I went to see everything. The hits, NEW FACES OF 1952 (yes, I AM that old!), BYE, BYE BIRDIE, BELLS ARE RINGING, and the flops, BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA, KEAN, HERE'S LOVE and THE VAMP. And even the not so great musicals had their pluses. The stars; Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Judy Holliday, Tammy Grimes, Alfred Drake, Dolores Grey. What an amazing world of color and sound there was. (I remember being taken to see MY FAIR LADY just after it opened by a wealthy friend's family for his birthday, and then, because a friend knew the producers, I attended the very last night when, in tribute to its long run, the curtain was not rung down and a single flower was placed on Professor Higgins' chair. How wonderful to be able to bookmark a show like that!) The memories are amazing, but of all those memories a few stand out as the most memorable. Not the greatest, as that is totally subjective, but what I was moved by in a visceral way that no other musical had done. The top four in no particular order are WEST SIDE STORY (with the original cast), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (again, original cast), 110 IN THE SHADE, because of one of the greatest performances I have ever seen by the magnificent Audra MacDonald and the original and most recent staging of FOLLIES. (There are others that come close; LES MISERABLES, SUNSET BOULEVARD, but the aforementioned four totally blew me away.
I saw WEST SIDE STORY at the New Year's day matinee in 1958. I double dated with my close friend and the woman who was to become his first wife and a lovely young woman I had dated all through senior year at Jamaica and into freshman year at New Paltz. I remember that we sat dead center in the small loge area (maybe three rows) and from the moment the music started I knew that I was in a place I had never been in before. I was witnessing greatness. I remember stumbling out of the theater into the cold New Years Day and, and no I'm not being melodramatic, knowing that somehow my life had been changed forever; that I had entered a world where greatness was possible. The problem with that, as I recall, was that the standard had been set so high that no other musicals I saw came close.
Until 1964.
I had wanted to see FIDDLER ON THE ROOF from when I had first read about it in Variety as I had loved Zero Mostel in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and he was now to star as Tevye the milkman in this new production. I remember I was working at a summer camp in Pennsylvania the summer before FIDDLER opened when I read that it was having trouble in its Detroit tryout. That mattered not to me. All it meant was that it would be easier to get good seats without a hassle. And good seats I got. Again, at a matinee, with colleagues and friends Joe Prenoveau, Dorothy White and my Mom, a week after the rapturous reviews came out, the magic happened again. Coincidence that Jerome Robbins had something to do with both WSS and this, not really, but as with Bernstein, Laurents and Sondheim adding their brilliance to the former, Bock and Harnick added so much with their music and lyrics. And Zero! Oh, Zero! From the vaudevillian in FORUM he now became the poor Jewish milkman on a shtetl in Anatevka, and though many of his vaudevillian asides were still visible, they fit the character and made him and the musical memorable. (Later productions, especially those with Topol in the London production and in the film, lost the magic that Mostel brought to the character. Only Jim Landers, in an amateur production I am still very fond of, caught the twinkle and humanity that Mostel had and helped make that production memorable.) The thing that educated me to what great theater could do, was the four of us as we shakily left the theater after being totally wrung out at the end of the show. All of us were crying. Joe a good Catholic from Plattsburgh, Dorothy a beautiful African-American woman who had recently moved to New York, my mother, a Jewish lady (though not practicing, and that's another story for another time) and me, a Deist who had no truck with organized religion; all of us had been moved to tears by the story that transcended ethnicity and religion in its text and the music that leveled the playing field for all races and religions by its majesty and beauty.
Then came the years of felines crawling all over the orchestra of the theater (really disliked that show), chandeliers crashing into the audience and helicopters taking off from the fall of Saigon.
Then came a revival of a show I had seen and not cared for much in the sixties called 110 IN THE SHADE. Other than the fact that Audra MacDonald was its star (and I had loved her in MASTER CLASS and CAROUSEL) I would have given it a pass. Am I glad I didn't! With staging by Lonnie Price (whose track record for me is spotty at best; I paid $100 to see a concert version of CANDIDE that he staged for the New York Philharmonic, sat in the nether regions of the balcony at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, and found the production childish, campy and a tremendous disappointment. But, oh, not 110 IN THE SHADE! With the magnificent Audra playing the lead, everything fell into place and what had been a so-so show in the sixties, was turned into a moving, heartbreaking experience. (I was so taken by Ms. MacDonald that I saw the show four times in as many weeks and actually waited at the stage door to shake her hand. I even have a picture taken with her (on my Facebook page), something I hadn't done since I was ten. It didn't matter; I had to meet this great talent and to tell her how wonderful I thought she was. Had to connect with her brilliance and genius.Still one of the great performances I have ever seen.
And then, FOLLIES. I had seen the original production in 1971 and had loved it because of my love for the theater which it glorified. And the glittering array of stars, Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Gene Nelson and some of the actual vaudevillians like Ethel Shutta and MaryMcCarty who were playing characters based on themselves or others they had known back in the day. Saw it three times over the span of its run. Then I saw it in London, again back in New York in the 90's and now this just closed production that topped them all. With the glorious Jan Maxwell, Bernadette Peters, Ron Raines, Elaine Page and Danny Burstein, the show soared as never before. Fascinating that when I saw it first in 1971 I was too young and removed to get the full power of what age, memory and regret do to people, but boy, did I get it now. Saw it four times again (Thank you Theater Development Fund!) and verklempt and totally moved each time. Had I the money and the opportunity I would have seen it even more.
So why do these musicals move me (and, of course, there have been plays that do it as well, the original production of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? for one magnificent example)? I think it's so many things. The coming together of disperate elements to create a cohesive whole. The moment when you know that everything "works", that there will never be another moment like this again. (That's why I see the productions as often as I can, for, unlike film, once they're gone, they're gone.)
Like the ghosts that haunt the Weissman Theater in FOLLIES, the ghosts of these productions will stay with me in my memory until the day I join them in a dimension where everything beautiful lives and waits. Call it religion if you will, I call it great and visceral art.
Musicals! I have been a fan since I was a little kid. Having two aunts with no children of their own I was (happily) dragged along to Saturday matinees at the theater for as long as I can remember. SOUTH PACIFIC. PAINT YOUR WAGON. GUYS AND DOLLS. and many, many more. Once I got old enough to go with friends or, sometimes by myself, with balcony seats being incredibly cheap, I went to see everything. The hits, NEW FACES OF 1952 (yes, I AM that old!), BYE, BYE BIRDIE, BELLS ARE RINGING, and the flops, BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA, KEAN, HERE'S LOVE and THE VAMP. And even the not so great musicals had their pluses. The stars; Carol Channing, Mary Martin, Judy Holliday, Tammy Grimes, Alfred Drake, Dolores Grey. What an amazing world of color and sound there was. (I remember being taken to see MY FAIR LADY just after it opened by a wealthy friend's family for his birthday, and then, because a friend knew the producers, I attended the very last night when, in tribute to its long run, the curtain was not rung down and a single flower was placed on Professor Higgins' chair. How wonderful to be able to bookmark a show like that!) The memories are amazing, but of all those memories a few stand out as the most memorable. Not the greatest, as that is totally subjective, but what I was moved by in a visceral way that no other musical had done. The top four in no particular order are WEST SIDE STORY (with the original cast), FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (again, original cast), 110 IN THE SHADE, because of one of the greatest performances I have ever seen by the magnificent Audra MacDonald and the original and most recent staging of FOLLIES. (There are others that come close; LES MISERABLES, SUNSET BOULEVARD, but the aforementioned four totally blew me away.
I saw WEST SIDE STORY at the New Year's day matinee in 1958. I double dated with my close friend and the woman who was to become his first wife and a lovely young woman I had dated all through senior year at Jamaica and into freshman year at New Paltz. I remember that we sat dead center in the small loge area (maybe three rows) and from the moment the music started I knew that I was in a place I had never been in before. I was witnessing greatness. I remember stumbling out of the theater into the cold New Years Day and, and no I'm not being melodramatic, knowing that somehow my life had been changed forever; that I had entered a world where greatness was possible. The problem with that, as I recall, was that the standard had been set so high that no other musicals I saw came close.
Until 1964.
I had wanted to see FIDDLER ON THE ROOF from when I had first read about it in Variety as I had loved Zero Mostel in A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and he was now to star as Tevye the milkman in this new production. I remember I was working at a summer camp in Pennsylvania the summer before FIDDLER opened when I read that it was having trouble in its Detroit tryout. That mattered not to me. All it meant was that it would be easier to get good seats without a hassle. And good seats I got. Again, at a matinee, with colleagues and friends Joe Prenoveau, Dorothy White and my Mom, a week after the rapturous reviews came out, the magic happened again. Coincidence that Jerome Robbins had something to do with both WSS and this, not really, but as with Bernstein, Laurents and Sondheim adding their brilliance to the former, Bock and Harnick added so much with their music and lyrics. And Zero! Oh, Zero! From the vaudevillian in FORUM he now became the poor Jewish milkman on a shtetl in Anatevka, and though many of his vaudevillian asides were still visible, they fit the character and made him and the musical memorable. (Later productions, especially those with Topol in the London production and in the film, lost the magic that Mostel brought to the character. Only Jim Landers, in an amateur production I am still very fond of, caught the twinkle and humanity that Mostel had and helped make that production memorable.) The thing that educated me to what great theater could do, was the four of us as we shakily left the theater after being totally wrung out at the end of the show. All of us were crying. Joe a good Catholic from Plattsburgh, Dorothy a beautiful African-American woman who had recently moved to New York, my mother, a Jewish lady (though not practicing, and that's another story for another time) and me, a Deist who had no truck with organized religion; all of us had been moved to tears by the story that transcended ethnicity and religion in its text and the music that leveled the playing field for all races and religions by its majesty and beauty.
Then came the years of felines crawling all over the orchestra of the theater (really disliked that show), chandeliers crashing into the audience and helicopters taking off from the fall of Saigon.
Then came a revival of a show I had seen and not cared for much in the sixties called 110 IN THE SHADE. Other than the fact that Audra MacDonald was its star (and I had loved her in MASTER CLASS and CAROUSEL) I would have given it a pass. Am I glad I didn't! With staging by Lonnie Price (whose track record for me is spotty at best; I paid $100 to see a concert version of CANDIDE that he staged for the New York Philharmonic, sat in the nether regions of the balcony at Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, and found the production childish, campy and a tremendous disappointment. But, oh, not 110 IN THE SHADE! With the magnificent Audra playing the lead, everything fell into place and what had been a so-so show in the sixties, was turned into a moving, heartbreaking experience. (I was so taken by Ms. MacDonald that I saw the show four times in as many weeks and actually waited at the stage door to shake her hand. I even have a picture taken with her (on my Facebook page), something I hadn't done since I was ten. It didn't matter; I had to meet this great talent and to tell her how wonderful I thought she was. Had to connect with her brilliance and genius.Still one of the great performances I have ever seen.
And then, FOLLIES. I had seen the original production in 1971 and had loved it because of my love for the theater which it glorified. And the glittering array of stars, Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Gene Nelson and some of the actual vaudevillians like Ethel Shutta and MaryMcCarty who were playing characters based on themselves or others they had known back in the day. Saw it three times over the span of its run. Then I saw it in London, again back in New York in the 90's and now this just closed production that topped them all. With the glorious Jan Maxwell, Bernadette Peters, Ron Raines, Elaine Page and Danny Burstein, the show soared as never before. Fascinating that when I saw it first in 1971 I was too young and removed to get the full power of what age, memory and regret do to people, but boy, did I get it now. Saw it four times again (Thank you Theater Development Fund!) and verklempt and totally moved each time. Had I the money and the opportunity I would have seen it even more.
So why do these musicals move me (and, of course, there have been plays that do it as well, the original production of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? for one magnificent example)? I think it's so many things. The coming together of disperate elements to create a cohesive whole. The moment when you know that everything "works", that there will never be another moment like this again. (That's why I see the productions as often as I can, for, unlike film, once they're gone, they're gone.)
Like the ghosts that haunt the Weissman Theater in FOLLIES, the ghosts of these productions will stay with me in my memory until the day I join them in a dimension where everything beautiful lives and waits. Call it religion if you will, I call it great and visceral art.
Friday, January 13, 2012
THE DEFINITION OF A CLASSIC
Everyone tosses the word "classic" around in talking of a favorite film. For example, one man's favorite UNFORGIVEN become his definition of a classic, while others can't see the film for dust. So what makes a classic? Did people watching the first screenings of CITIZEN KANE or CASABLANCA or ALL ABOUT EVE, now acknowledged classics, know they were in the presence of greatness. I am asking this as I just watched THE ARTIST again (twice in as many days) and think this is going to be considered a classic down the line...and not just because I related to it.
Everything in this film works, from the brilliant acting of the stars to the magnificent musical score (1:45 of pure music) to the seamless direction and editing to the brilliant screenplay. The more you see the film you can see how clever the writers were in designing it. This is a film for everyone who loves film as the references to other films and the homage paid to them is brilliant. An old limo pulling into the lot where the silent film star is no longer wanted: SUNSET BOULEVARD! The down at his heels hero seeing his shadow on a movie screen; Kathy Seldon to Don Lockwood in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN: "You're not an actor? You're just a shadow. A shadow on a screen." A little terrier running down the street to save his owner; many OUR GANG comedies as well as other silents. And on and on and on. From camera angles to the use of sound, everything clicks into place making this an instant classic. I truly hope it wins the Oscar for best picture this year, but if it doesn't it will just be one more classic to join CITIZEN KANE, any Hitchcock film, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and many other deserving films that did not take home the gold. I'd love to be here in fifty years to see if I was right, but alas, that's not going to happen. So in 2062, try to remember this old blogger and see if he was right on the money!
Everything in this film works, from the brilliant acting of the stars to the magnificent musical score (1:45 of pure music) to the seamless direction and editing to the brilliant screenplay. The more you see the film you can see how clever the writers were in designing it. This is a film for everyone who loves film as the references to other films and the homage paid to them is brilliant. An old limo pulling into the lot where the silent film star is no longer wanted: SUNSET BOULEVARD! The down at his heels hero seeing his shadow on a movie screen; Kathy Seldon to Don Lockwood in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN: "You're not an actor? You're just a shadow. A shadow on a screen." A little terrier running down the street to save his owner; many OUR GANG comedies as well as other silents. And on and on and on. From camera angles to the use of sound, everything clicks into place making this an instant classic. I truly hope it wins the Oscar for best picture this year, but if it doesn't it will just be one more classic to join CITIZEN KANE, any Hitchcock film, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and many other deserving films that did not take home the gold. I'd love to be here in fifty years to see if I was right, but alas, that's not going to happen. So in 2062, try to remember this old blogger and see if he was right on the money!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
THE ARTIST
Okay. Toss out any other film of the year, no matter how fine. THE ARTIST is an instant classic. Taking its cue (homage? ) from some of filmland's greats, (i.e. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, SUNSET BOULEVARD, VERTIGO(!) and especially the 1936 A STAR IS BORN, THE ARTIST finds its own voice in being totally original and ground breaking.
Shot in standard screen (no scope here) in glorious black and white with no words spoken until the end, every moment in THE ARTIST is brilliantly thought out and executed. In a wonderful scene, George, a John Gilbert-like silent screen star finds he is no longer wanted at his studio as sound has come in and he passe, an instant has been. On a wonderful set made of staircases, George talks to an up and coming star, he of course on a lower step, the younger star on the higher, as extras and studio people rush around them. George's day in the sun is over; the world is passing him by. The thought that went into such small moments (and there are many of them) bring this film head and shoulders above all of the other releases of 2011. Though THE HELP and THE DESCENDANTS will have their champions, (I liked the former and not the latter) THE ARTIST is a true work of art on every level. It begins as bubbly as champagne, finds a middle section that will break your heart and ends with the kind of hope that will make you leave the theater (or turning off the DVD) walking on air.
And oh, that cast! Jean Dujardin (of whom I knew nothing before this) is, in a word, magnificent. If I had to give a best actor award this year it would be between him and Joel Edgerton in WARRIOR, and Dujardin would get my vote. Without saying a word this brilliant actor goes from Douglas Fairbanks to Charlie Chaplin to Buster Keaton ending as Fred Astaire in a truly bravura performance. His co star Bernice Bejo (again, unknown to me) is a new (at least in America) actress to be reckoned with. Multi- talented, Ms. Bejo brings a warmth and sensitivity to a part that might have been run of the mill in the hands of a lesser actress. It won't happen, but she deserves an Oscar nomination. The wonderful James Cromwell (the kindly farmer in BABE and Prince Philip in THE QUEEN) is sensational as Dujardin's loyal chauffeur and butler while John Goodman steals every scene he is in as the head of the studio. If the director, Michel Hazanavicius is not up for an Oscar there simply is no justice.
There have been some wonderful films this last year but, in my humble opinion, THE ARTIST is the best of them all. By all means, see it!!!!
Shot in standard screen (no scope here) in glorious black and white with no words spoken until the end, every moment in THE ARTIST is brilliantly thought out and executed. In a wonderful scene, George, a John Gilbert-like silent screen star finds he is no longer wanted at his studio as sound has come in and he passe, an instant has been. On a wonderful set made of staircases, George talks to an up and coming star, he of course on a lower step, the younger star on the higher, as extras and studio people rush around them. George's day in the sun is over; the world is passing him by. The thought that went into such small moments (and there are many of them) bring this film head and shoulders above all of the other releases of 2011. Though THE HELP and THE DESCENDANTS will have their champions, (I liked the former and not the latter) THE ARTIST is a true work of art on every level. It begins as bubbly as champagne, finds a middle section that will break your heart and ends with the kind of hope that will make you leave the theater (or turning off the DVD) walking on air.
And oh, that cast! Jean Dujardin (of whom I knew nothing before this) is, in a word, magnificent. If I had to give a best actor award this year it would be between him and Joel Edgerton in WARRIOR, and Dujardin would get my vote. Without saying a word this brilliant actor goes from Douglas Fairbanks to Charlie Chaplin to Buster Keaton ending as Fred Astaire in a truly bravura performance. His co star Bernice Bejo (again, unknown to me) is a new (at least in America) actress to be reckoned with. Multi- talented, Ms. Bejo brings a warmth and sensitivity to a part that might have been run of the mill in the hands of a lesser actress. It won't happen, but she deserves an Oscar nomination. The wonderful James Cromwell (the kindly farmer in BABE and Prince Philip in THE QUEEN) is sensational as Dujardin's loyal chauffeur and butler while John Goodman steals every scene he is in as the head of the studio. If the director, Michel Hazanavicius is not up for an Oscar there simply is no justice.
There have been some wonderful films this last year but, in my humble opinion, THE ARTIST is the best of them all. By all means, see it!!!!
Monday, January 9, 2012
A GREAT HINDI FILM
Just watched a terrific Hindi film called ZINDGAI NA MILEGI DOBARA, and a more life affirming, sunny delightful film I haven't seen in a long time. Three buddies go on a three week vacation to Spain preceding one's wedding. What they find out about their lives is at the heart of the film, but the joy the actors appear to be having on this sun filled vacation comes across beautifully and we become another of their group as they sky dive, deep sea dive, run with the bulls and drive through the magnificent Spanish countryside. Touching and funny at the same time, with some great music, this film wears its heart on its sleeve in its desire to entertain and entertain it does. What a totally pleasant surprise. Highly recommended.
Shakespeare on Film
Just communicating with old friend and film buff John Higgins who recommended the Kevin Spacey RICHARD III. That led me to thinking (a rarity!) about what my favorite Shakespeare on film is. Here's a brief list, as there aren't all that many.
1) HAMLET: David Tennant's version. Doctor Who shines in this modern dress version of the play done so well that you are amazed at the new things you see; things you may have missed in the 100 odd times you have read or watched the play. Superb on all counts.
2) MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh there has never been, and probably will never be, an adaptation of a Shakespearian play with as much life and joy as this. Besides Branagh the stellar cast includes Denzel, Keanu, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsdale, Robert Sean Leonard and Michael Keaton. Filmed in and around Umbria, this films pulsates with the joy of being young and being alive. Patrick Doyle's score is amazing as well.
3) ROMEO AND JULIET: The Zefferelli version (circa 1968) is the one that most people know (mainly through the beautiful soundtrack music) and beautiful it is, but I have always had a soft place in my heart for the 1955 version starring Laurence Harvey (pre -MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) and the beautiful Susan Shental, of whom I know nothing after this film. It has been out of the public eye for years but now appears on a new DVD. I saw it one time as a kid so I can't be sure if it holds up, but I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
4) MACBETH: Roman Polanski made this one after the Manson Family killed Sharon Tate and his unborn child, and the madness he must have been feeling comes through in every scene. (This is the one I used to show in 11th grade English.) A beautiful job. (Though I saw the Patrick Stewart version on stage and it blew me away, the film version of that production is said to be a knockout. Have that on my Netflix queue as well.
5) JULIUS CAESAR: Never cared for this play very much, but the combination of Brando and the great director Joseph Mankiewicz can't be beat. All star mid fifties MGM cast (Louis Calhern, Deborah Kerr et al, play the supporting roles.)
6) RICHARD III: Ian McKellan is truly evil and scheming in this beautifully filmed version of this Shakespeare classic. (If you want to see just how good he is, watch GODS AND MONSTERS after seeing this one and see this actor's amazing range.)
There are others, of course, i.e. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM with Mickey Rooney and HENRY V (with Kenneth Branagh), but the six above are my picks for the best of the Bard.
1) HAMLET: David Tennant's version. Doctor Who shines in this modern dress version of the play done so well that you are amazed at the new things you see; things you may have missed in the 100 odd times you have read or watched the play. Superb on all counts.
2) MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: Directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh there has never been, and probably will never be, an adaptation of a Shakespearian play with as much life and joy as this. Besides Branagh the stellar cast includes Denzel, Keanu, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsdale, Robert Sean Leonard and Michael Keaton. Filmed in and around Umbria, this films pulsates with the joy of being young and being alive. Patrick Doyle's score is amazing as well.
3) ROMEO AND JULIET: The Zefferelli version (circa 1968) is the one that most people know (mainly through the beautiful soundtrack music) and beautiful it is, but I have always had a soft place in my heart for the 1955 version starring Laurence Harvey (pre -MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) and the beautiful Susan Shental, of whom I know nothing after this film. It has been out of the public eye for years but now appears on a new DVD. I saw it one time as a kid so I can't be sure if it holds up, but I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
4) MACBETH: Roman Polanski made this one after the Manson Family killed Sharon Tate and his unborn child, and the madness he must have been feeling comes through in every scene. (This is the one I used to show in 11th grade English.) A beautiful job. (Though I saw the Patrick Stewart version on stage and it blew me away, the film version of that production is said to be a knockout. Have that on my Netflix queue as well.
5) JULIUS CAESAR: Never cared for this play very much, but the combination of Brando and the great director Joseph Mankiewicz can't be beat. All star mid fifties MGM cast (Louis Calhern, Deborah Kerr et al, play the supporting roles.)
6) RICHARD III: Ian McKellan is truly evil and scheming in this beautifully filmed version of this Shakespeare classic. (If you want to see just how good he is, watch GODS AND MONSTERS after seeing this one and see this actor's amazing range.)
There are others, of course, i.e. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM with Mickey Rooney and HENRY V (with Kenneth Branagh), but the six above are my picks for the best of the Bard.
Friday, January 6, 2012
WARRIOR
Just finished watching WARRIOR and much to my surprise, I find it to be the most satisfying and possibly the best film I have seen so far this year. Everything works. Okay, so the plot is predictable, but once you're pulled in by the acting and direction you are gone for the next two hours and twenty minutes.
First off, the acting is incredible. I have no idea why the awards committees have neglected Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy for best acting honors, and Frank Grillo and Nick Nolte (who hasn't been this good since he starred in RICH MAN, POOR MAN a hundred years ago) for best supporting. These are the male counterparts in quality to Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain in THE HELP. Never over the top, always completely in character, Edgerton and Hardy play two brothers who have been separated by the vicissitudes of their alcoholic and abusive father, Nolte. Though the two brothers love one another their jealousies and slights run deep, only to be settled in the finale of a mixed martial arts contest. (I know it sounds cheesy, but amazingly, everything works.
Directed by Gavin O'Connor who also collaborated on the screenplay, the film never toys with the emotions of the audience. Instead it sets forth the story in a realistic manner so that you almost feel detached from the goings on until the last forty five minutes that rival the last moments in ROCKY for power and honesty. (As with ROCKY, the tears were flowing at the end not because of bathos, but rather because of the honesty of the actors and the director).
That I liked this film comes as a tremendous surprise as everyone had been telling me, "You think THE FIGHTER was good? Wait till you see this one." The problem was, I didn't think THE FIGHTER was good, turning it off after the first half hour. This, to me, was the true successor to ROCKY, one of my favorite films of the seventies.
And, as THE HELP was not a "chick flick" so is WARRIOR not a "guy film". Both movies are infused with honest emotion and, as such, make my best films of the year list. WARRIOR is now available on DVD and blu ray. Watch it. You won't be disappointed.
First off, the acting is incredible. I have no idea why the awards committees have neglected Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy for best acting honors, and Frank Grillo and Nick Nolte (who hasn't been this good since he starred in RICH MAN, POOR MAN a hundred years ago) for best supporting. These are the male counterparts in quality to Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis and Jessica Chastain in THE HELP. Never over the top, always completely in character, Edgerton and Hardy play two brothers who have been separated by the vicissitudes of their alcoholic and abusive father, Nolte. Though the two brothers love one another their jealousies and slights run deep, only to be settled in the finale of a mixed martial arts contest. (I know it sounds cheesy, but amazingly, everything works.
Directed by Gavin O'Connor who also collaborated on the screenplay, the film never toys with the emotions of the audience. Instead it sets forth the story in a realistic manner so that you almost feel detached from the goings on until the last forty five minutes that rival the last moments in ROCKY for power and honesty. (As with ROCKY, the tears were flowing at the end not because of bathos, but rather because of the honesty of the actors and the director).
That I liked this film comes as a tremendous surprise as everyone had been telling me, "You think THE FIGHTER was good? Wait till you see this one." The problem was, I didn't think THE FIGHTER was good, turning it off after the first half hour. This, to me, was the true successor to ROCKY, one of my favorite films of the seventies.
And, as THE HELP was not a "chick flick" so is WARRIOR not a "guy film". Both movies are infused with honest emotion and, as such, make my best films of the year list. WARRIOR is now available on DVD and blu ray. Watch it. You won't be disappointed.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Oops!
In my list of my favorite films I left out NIGHT OF THE HUNTER. A great film and the only one directed by the actor Charles Laughton. He might have done more work but the film was destroyed by the critics and only rediscovered after Laughton's death. Great performances by Robert Mitchum and the venerable Lillian Gish. Don't miss this American classic.
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND
COWBOYS AND ALIENS might just be the worst film of 2011! Starting with an almost incomprehensible storyline adapted from a comic book (Oops! Sorry! Graphic novel.), the film meanders all over the place while it tries to decide if it's a western (watch out for those Apaches!) or Sc-Fi flick (these aliens are pissed!) In it's search for a meaning it includes rip offs of the Spielberg classic (he was a producer so they probably call the rip offs homages!) and wastes the talents of Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford.
(Spoiler alert) The film also tries to find its heart by including a beautiful dog, rapprochement between cowboys and Apaches and a sickeningly sweet subplot about fathers and sons that, it seems, even the actors don't believe. (You want a great film with that theme, go back and watch FIELD OF DREAMS again).
Then there is Olivia Wilde who has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen in a film. Well there has to be something to keep you watching. And, okay, the scenery is beautiful and the explosions in blu ray are pretty awesome, though I think cooler heads should have prevailed as the last shot of the alien's space ship (a large phallic tube) exploding brings to mind the tragedy of the Challenger disaster.
The dog was beautiful, Olivia's eyes were beautiful and the landscape was beautiful. Other than that, COWBOYS AND ALIENS was one of the worst films I have seen since I walked out of DUDDLEY DO-RIGHT years ago. Just awful!
(Spoiler alert) The film also tries to find its heart by including a beautiful dog, rapprochement between cowboys and Apaches and a sickeningly sweet subplot about fathers and sons that, it seems, even the actors don't believe. (You want a great film with that theme, go back and watch FIELD OF DREAMS again).
Then there is Olivia Wilde who has the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen in a film. Well there has to be something to keep you watching. And, okay, the scenery is beautiful and the explosions in blu ray are pretty awesome, though I think cooler heads should have prevailed as the last shot of the alien's space ship (a large phallic tube) exploding brings to mind the tragedy of the Challenger disaster.
The dog was beautiful, Olivia's eyes were beautiful and the landscape was beautiful. Other than that, COWBOYS AND ALIENS was one of the worst films I have seen since I walked out of DUDDLEY DO-RIGHT years ago. Just awful!
Monday, January 2, 2012
DRIVE: Gosling Scores...again!
This has got to be the year of Ryan Gosling! With three major films to his credit, he is the heir apparent to the late Heath Ledger and the grandson (figuratively) of Marlon Brando. In CRAZY, STUPID LOVE he shows his comedy chops, in THE IDES OF MARCH he plays a political animal with the morals of, well, a politician and, in the brilliant DRIVE he tears up the screen with an intensity and quiet resolve that bring to mind the great Steve McQueen.
DRIVE is the story of a brilliant movie stunt driver who, in his spare time, drives a getaway car for assorted robberies. Gosling's character is a stoic (he doesn't utter a word for the first sixteen minutes of the film and after that speaks only when necessary), who falls in love with a neighbor whose husband is in jail. (The neighbor is played by the brilliant Cary Mulligan of AN EDUCATION). She has a child with whom Gosling bonds and the three begin to play house until Mulligan's husband is released from jail. Then the fireworks begin. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave the spoilers out, but just know that the screen soon becomes awash in blood. Pretty it isn't; mesmerizing it is! I'm usually not big on films like this, but this one blew me away! With the "bad guys" played by Albert Brooks (with a terrific face lift. Didn't recognize him at first!) and Ron Perlman, and a poor soul middle man played by the excellent Bryan Cranston, the action never stops. I wasn't crazy about the songs and electronic music that are used haphazardly throughout, spoiling some of the suspense along with it. Other than that, DRIVE is one terrific ride. My suggestion; buckle up, floor it and see it as soon as you can!
DRIVE is the story of a brilliant movie stunt driver who, in his spare time, drives a getaway car for assorted robberies. Gosling's character is a stoic (he doesn't utter a word for the first sixteen minutes of the film and after that speaks only when necessary), who falls in love with a neighbor whose husband is in jail. (The neighbor is played by the brilliant Cary Mulligan of AN EDUCATION). She has a child with whom Gosling bonds and the three begin to play house until Mulligan's husband is released from jail. Then the fireworks begin. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave the spoilers out, but just know that the screen soon becomes awash in blood. Pretty it isn't; mesmerizing it is! I'm usually not big on films like this, but this one blew me away! With the "bad guys" played by Albert Brooks (with a terrific face lift. Didn't recognize him at first!) and Ron Perlman, and a poor soul middle man played by the excellent Bryan Cranston, the action never stops. I wasn't crazy about the songs and electronic music that are used haphazardly throughout, spoiling some of the suspense along with it. Other than that, DRIVE is one terrific ride. My suggestion; buckle up, floor it and see it as soon as you can!
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