Best of the best so far?

It took me three tries, but Lauren and I finally made it through The Godfather, the 1972 winner of the Best Picture, and the #2 movie on AFI’s 100 Movies list.  The first time we started watching, it was well past 9pm and I fell asleep on the couch after 30 minutes.  Eleven days later we tried again, and this time I fell asleep after 22 minutes.  Lauren finished the movie, but I had to watch it on a Saturday morning to avoid drowsing off.

There’s not much one can say about The Godfather that hasn’t already been said hundreds of times before. What I can say is thank you to Wikipedia for providing a detailed plot that kept me tuned in to what was happening, and also thank you for closed captioning so I could understand what was being said!  Because of these two factors, I was able to understand what was going on most of the time.

Obviously, excellent acting by Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, James Caan, and everyone else. I was surprised just how many big names there were in the movie, and even more surprised how many other big name actors auditioned and were turned down.  I hear it was director Coppola who pushed for then-unknown Al Pacino to play the role of Michael Corleone, and was so adamant about it that he nearly walked out on the film until the studio caved.

Like so many of the other Best Picture winners from this era, there were dozens of moments from the movie that had been spoofed by TV shows or movies countless times before.  My favorite such moment was the severed horse head in the bed which was parodied on The Simpsons.  That scene was certainly the most memorable of the entire movie, in my opinion, especially when I found out that was a real horse head obtained from a dog food company.

I can’t say much else about this masterpiece.  Excellent all-around movie.  Lauren and I are skipping over 1973’s The Sting so we can watch 1974’s The Godfather: Part II in succession.  We’re also going to go right into Part III once we’re finished with that, though many say the third movie only tarnished the legacy.  Anyway, I ranked The Godfather third on the list to this point, trailing only The Best Years of Our Lives and The Sound of Music.

France and US connected by drugs

After returning from a New Years weekend trip to South Dakota, Lauren and I spent what was left of our Sunday night by watching the 1971 Best Picture winner, The French Connection.

The movie involves a huge shipment of heroin from Marseilles, France to New York City.  Two detectives, Russo and Cloudy, suspect something is up at a table after a visit to a bar one night after work, and do some investigating.  Turns out they’ve stumbled onto this massive drug deal.  Highlights of the movie include the memorable car chase scene where Russo chases down a hitman on a subway using a civilian’s car.

Gene Hackman was the star of the show and played an excellent hard-nosed detective.  He went with his gut feeling throughout the entire movie, and was almost always right about everything despite little or no evidence to back up his instincts.

As always, I like to do a little background research into the movie before watching it, and learned there was a real French Connection a few years earlier.  A book about this event was written by Ernest Tidyman, and then the fictionalized screenplay was produced.

Something struck me as very odd about the real life French Connection.  The lead detectives on the case were Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso.  They were the ones who broke this huge drug case wide open.  It seems to me the fame they must have encountered as a result of the ensuing book and movie got to their heads.  These guys were actors in the movie (though they didn’t play themselves) and then Grosso wound up becoming a movie producer and minor actor, being involved in 36 projects.  I get the feeling they made one big strike as detectives and got out on top and capitalized on the success of the movie loosely based on them, completely giving up detective work and concentrating on film.  Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s what it seems like.

Overall The French Connection was a really good movie, good for 13 of 40 on my rankings to this point.  I thought the chase scenes were intense and the story was easy to follow (even for me!).  It helped to have the subtitles on.  It didn’t run on for too long (1 hour, 44 minutes) and rarely strayed from the main storyline.

Next up, we dive into the Godfather movies.

All hail George S. Patton!

God, I feel like an idiot trying to write a review on a war movie.  I am as far from a history buff as there is, especially with things concerning war.  My knowledge of US history is pretty much limited to who was president, when each state came into the union, and some important racial moments.  No matter how many World War I or II movies I see, I can never quite recall who was involved, who our allies were, or why the war was going on.   Needless to say, I was less than excited to dive into three hours of Patton.

Patton sells itself as somewhat of a biopic of General George S. Patton, but as Netflix’s description points out, it masquerades as a war movie.  That bode well for me, meaning I’d have to pay more attention to George C. Scott’s portrayal of the hotheaded Patton than the war itself.

The movie begins with Scott in front of a gigantic American flag, giving a big speech to members of the Army.  I seem to remember this scene being spoofed in other movies or TV shows, so I take it this is a famous scene.  The film takes us to northern Africa where US troops are stationed and Patton takes over as commander.  Throughout the movie, the troops move north and fight some epic battles.  The best scene was the end where the US troops made it 100 miles in 48 hours through a blizzard to make an attack.

My wife must be so proud of me.  Throughout the movie, I kept asking her questions, many of which she either ignored or truly didn’t hear me asking.  And during a scene where the Americans were shooting the hell out of the enemies, I remarked how if it were my country getting shot at and everyone was dying, I’d just turn around and run the other way and hide, and then go back to my fallen comrades later.  Obviously I would never, ever, ever make it in the armed forces.

Scott was excellent as Patton.  It was one of the best performances so far by a lead actor in one of the Best Picture movies.  I think I would have hated Patton, especially the way he treats one of the US troops who is mentally broken down and can’t go on.  Patton slaps him and calls him a coward, then sends him to the front line.  Sounds kinda like a certain junior high basketball coach of mine!

The movie doesn’t seem to do anything spectacular production-wise.  No remarkable visual scenes, nothing artsy, very few memorable lines.  I suppose the film as a whole resembled Patton’s personality.

Despite my ignorant lack of knowledge of our country’s history, and my general disdain for war movies, and my hatred for the character Patton, I still didn’t hate this movie and managed to stay relatively entertained throughout its full 2:51 run time.

And with that, I’ll relieve you from reading any more of this pitiful review.

Everybody's talkin...

The 1960s came to a close last night when Lauren and I watched 1969’s Midnight Cowboy, starring very young actors Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.  This was a movie I have been highly anticipating if for no other reason than its interesting title, while Lauren was turned off for that very reason.

Midnight Cowboy is the story of Joe Buck (Voight) as he up and leaves his Texas home for New York City to become a hustler, which I guess is a high-clientele male prostitute.  He thinks he’s gonna get rich satisfying the ladies of New York, but he quickly finds out this isn’t the case. In a very short time Buck is all alone, and turns to his only companion, Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo for a place to stay.

This movie goes to some strange places that we haven’t seen in any Best Picture winners yet.  First of all, it’s the only X-rated film to win Best Picture.  By today’s standards it wouldn’t be rated X, but back then X basically meant adults only.  Oddly enough, this was the year after Oliver! became the only Best Picture winner with a G rating.

There were clearly some “artsy” scenes that involved wild flashbacks and dream sequences, especially during the party where Joe Buck mistakenly smokes marijuana.

This is also one of the first movies to this point in our project to feature actors who are not just currently active, but still at the top of their games.  I figured this was probably Hoffman and Voight’s first big roles, but they are both a little older than I imagined and research showed they had each had prominent roles in movies prior to Midnight Cowboy.  They both received Best Actor nominations for their roles. Supporting actress Sylvia Miles also received high praise for her role in the film.  Despite screen time of less than four total minutes, she was given a Best Actress nomination.

Yet again, I realized while watching the movie how many times it has been spoofed over the years, especially on a particular episode of Seinfeld where Jerry and Kramer end the episode riding on a bus together.  Hoffman’s famous quote “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” has been parodied dozens of times in other shows.

This was one of those movies that I tend to like that doesn’t necessarily have a strong storyline, but is more of a character development type of movie… I thought, anyway.  Lauren didn’t seem nearly as amused! I also really enjoyed the title song “Everybody’s Talkin’” and the rest of the soundtrack.  Overall, I give it an 8/10 and will rank it in the top third, most likely.

Oliver! with an exclamation point

Wednesday night, Lauren and I continued our Best Picture project and came close to wrapping up the British musical-filled decade that was the 1960s with the viewing of Oliver!

This might have been the first movie on the entire list to this point that I’d actually seen before.  I think we had to watch it in grade school at some point.  We also sang a few of the songs in chorus as part of an Oliver! medley.  I distinctly remember riding the bus back from a band trip to the Black Hills in 1998 and everyone singing “Oom-pah-pah” in unison.

The movie starts out with the orphan children waiting in line for their gruel.  Oliver asks for some more and is banished to the streets where he is put up for sale.  After some mischievous behavior, he ends up in London where he goes to work for a grifter picking the pockets of the innocent.

I didn’t remember much of the plot of the movie.  In fact, I sort of remembered the whole thing taking place in the orphanage.  That scene was over and done with after ten minutes.  I also remembered this as being a wholesome children’s movie, probably because it had so many child actors, including Mark Lester, who at 19 quit show business and became a doctor of some sort.  But there were plenty of scenes of drunkenness and even murder.

Ron Moody, center

I’m getting kinda tired of musicals, especially foreign ones, but Oliver! had its moments of glory and the songs were all very catchy.  The acting of Ron Moody was top-notch, and he reminded me lots of what my good friend C. M. Walsh might look like in 40 years if he let himself go!  The sets were fairly realistic but reminded me more of My Fair Lady’s stage-looking set.

Not a lot else to say about this one.  I ranked it #24 on the list to this point.  A very decent movie that was helped along by excellent song and dance routines, but was quite long.

There's a fowl owl on the prowl!

Wednesday evening, Lauren and I sat down to watch the 1967 Best Picture winner, In the Heat of the Night. We’re really cruising through these movies now!  Best to keep watching them one right after the other when we get on a hot streak like this, because when we lose interest the project goes on hiatus for six months.

In the Heat of the Night stars Rod Steiger as Gillespie, the chief of police in the racist town of Sparta, Mississippi.  When a Chicago man is found murdered on the street of Sparta, the police immediately suspect Virgil Tibbs, a black man from Philadelphia who’s passing through town. Turns out Tibbs is actually Philly’s top homicide detective and is released, and after some racist treatment from the Sparta police, he reluctantly sticks around town to help solve the crime.

In the Heat of the Night, Lauren and I agreed, was a pretty good movie. Nothing earth-shattering, certainly not the greatest crime drama ever, but a solid 1 hour, 50 minute watch.  Obviously, this is the most recently produced movie on our list, but it was the first that actually felt contemporary and started to feel something like a modern day setting.  So many of the movies from this list are based in different time periods, especially recently.

Some of the best parts of this movie included the acting of Poitier and Steiger, who won Best Actor for his role.  I read that Steiger is actually the most linkable Hollywood actor ever, not Kevin Bacon.  You can connect him with any other actor in 2.69 moves!

The soundtrack by Quincy Jones was also excellent.  The song at the beginning of the movie by Ray Charles immediately set the mood.  Later, a haunting tune called “Fowl Owl on the Prowl” continued with setting the tone.  Apparently that song was written on the spot by Jones after it was determined the “Little Red Riding Hood” song would cost too much to use in the film.

One of the most famous quotes in Hollywood history, according to AFI’s 100 Years 100 Quotes, is Tibbs’ response to Gillespie questioning what they call him in Philadelphia.  ”They call me mister Tibbs!”  This quote became the title of the sequel in 1971.  The movie also spawned a TV series by the same name starring Carroll O’Connor.

Overall, high accolades to In the Heat of the Night, which I give 8/10.  Next up, the classic musical Oliver!

Especially summer and fall...

Sunday night, Lauren and I settled in to watch the 1966 Best Picture winner, A Man For All Seasons, the 35th movie we’ve seen from the list so far.  Coming off a few very solid movies before it (The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and The Apartment), it would have a lot to live up to in order to continue the success of the 1960s.

This movie is exactly two hours long.  I say it can be divided into two unequal halves: the half that was both boring and confusing, if that’s possible; and the half that kinda started to make sense of everything and was fairly tolerable.  Unfortunately, the tolerable part of the movie was at best 35 minutes.

A Man For All Seasons stars Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More, a 15th century English Chancellor who is loved and admired by all.  One day, the King of England, Henry VIII, decides he wants to have a son, but his wife can’t successfully bear children, so he wants the marriage annulled so he can marry someone who can give him his son.  In order for the Pope to make it official, Thomas More must give his permission, but he refuses.

Why does he refuse?  We don’t really learn the truth until the very end of the movie, which made the rest of the movie difficult to follow.  Why was Sir Thomas More so opposed to agreeing to this that he would risk literally everything—his family, his friends, his position as Chancellor, his life—to keep Henry VIII from having a son?  To me, More just seemed like a stubborn jerk who was merely exploiting his own power.  Later, when we learn his reasons, it begins to make more sense.

What I also didn’t understand was why everyone cared so much that More wouldn’t agree to this annulment.  He was stricken from his role of Chancellor, so who cares what he thinks anymore?  Apparently this is a true story, so I can’t fault the movie, but why is one man imprisoned and sentenced to death for disagreeing with the king on a particular matter?  The whole thing just went way over my head.

I didn’t much care for A Man for All Seasons, despite some great acting performances from Scofield and Wendy Hiller.  It’s not my idea of an entertaining movie.  It kinda reminded me of Doubt, how a whole movie could revolve around something so trivial as one person’s opinion on a particular matter.  Any movie based in the 15th century dealing with foreign royalty sounds terrible to me, so I admittedly did not go in open-minded.

This was originally a play and I feel it would best be suited for the stage, much like My Fair Lady.  Clearly this is one movie that will not stand out to me once this project is over.  If there’s anything positive to take away from it, perhaps it’s the history lesson.  I give it a 4/10, and a ranking in the bottom third.

Next up, 1967’s In the Heat of the Night with Sidney Poitier.

It cracked my top 5!

Friday night, Lauren and I continued our revived Best Picture project with one of the all-time most popular films, The Sound of Music.

Lauren had seen it many times before, but I amazingly (or not amazingly, considering my knack for somehow never seeing famous movies) had never seen it.  I expected long, slow, boring, better for the stage.  Instead, I ended up liking it so much that I debated putting it at #1 in my rankings to this point.  (I settled on #2.)

The first 20 seconds were enough to pull me in.  That first helicopter shot of Julie Andrews running through the Austian Alps was one of the best cinematographic moments of this entire project so far, if not the single best.

As was the case with My Fair Lady, Going My Way, and so many other movies, some of the songs and lines from The Sound of Music have been spoofed or referenced in so many TV shows, and I never realized it because I hadn’t seen the movie.

Early on during our viewing, I started doing some reading up on the movie on Wikipedia and IMDB and discovered that this movie was based on a true story.  That didn’t seem possible.  A movie about a woman coming to watch after seven mischievous kids and teaching them to sing seemed very made up, but shockingly that part was fairly factual.  While a lot of the events and characteristics of certain people in the film were blatant lies and extreme exaggerations, the story really doesn’t deviate that far from the real story.

Julie Andrews was excellent in the lead role, and Christopher Plummer was equally good in his supporting role.  The kids were all decent actors, though very few of them went on to acting careers of any substance.  The songs are mostly all classics.  The cinematography was top-notch, especially compared to My Fair Lady.  The story was engaging and touching and later suspenseful.

I give it a perfect 10/10, and put it behind only 1946’s The Best Years of Our Lives on the rankings to this point.  The three hours went by quickly and left me wanting slightly more.

Next up, 1966’s A Man for All Seasons!

1960 Best Picture, The Apartment

For the next movie in our Best Picture project, Lauren and I backtracked from 1964 to 1960 to watch The Apartment, which apparently just became available on Netflix. I am happy to say I managed to stay awake for the entire movie this time!

The Apartment stars Jack Lemmon as CC Baxter, a regular dude at a huge insurance firm in New York who lets four colleagues from upper management use his apartment for their extra-marital affairs. In exchange, he is given excellent reviews and is quickly promoted to an executive position. All the while, Baxter has his eye on the elevator lady, Miss Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine), who just so happens to be dating Baxter’s new boss, Mr. Sheldrake—who has now taken on the exclusive right to Baxter’s apartment for his mischievous behavior. In The Apartment, we see how Baxter juggles his own romance while dealing with his cheating boss.

At the time, this movie was thought to be very controversial with its adultery theme. Star Fred MacMurray was hit by a woman on the street with a purse for his role in such a filthy production. Despite some negative reviews, it quickly won over the critics on its way to ten Oscar nominations.

I very much enjoyed The Apartment. I thought it was a very unique story with suspense, drama, and comedy. Jack Lemmon, who I know best as one of the Grumpy Old Men, was excellent in his lead role. Shirely MacLaine was also good, and reminded me and Lauren of the waitress from It’s Always Sunny. (See my composite image below!)

Look-a-Likes: Shirley MacLaine and Mary Elizabeth Ellis

I found lead character Baxter to be a sympathetic fellow, trying hard to make a name for himself at his insurance company with 32,000 employees while being bullied by his superiors. Baxter takes the blame for all the commotion in his apartment, and as far as his neighbors are concerned, he’s quite the playboy with different women every night.

An unsung star in this movie is Jack Kruschen, who plays the neighbor, Dr. Dreyfus. I oftentimes find some of these smaller roles to be some of the most authentic displays of acting in a movie, much like I did yesterday with My Fair Lady co-star Stanley Holloway.

One of the stranger moments in this movie is a scene where Baxter gets punched in the face and falls down. I laughed and remarked how fake that punch scene looked, but upon further research discovered that the punch was, in fact, accidentally a real punch that knocked Lemmon out cold. If you’ve got a shot that authentic, might as well leave it in the movie!

I have nothing bad to say about The Apartment. It was one of the best overall movies we’ve seen so far. I’d give it a solid 9/10!

For a much better review of this movie, check out our friends Eitan and Shira who recently watched this as they too attempt to complete the Best Picture project.

About time I see it!

Lauren and I are back to the Best Picture project after taking the summer months (and some fall months) off to concentrate on watching baseball and TV series on DVD like Six Feet Under and House.

But on Monday night, we popped in the next movie from our queue, My Fair Lady, the popular stage musical-turned-movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison.  As is the case with anything we start watching after 9pm, I fell asleep halfway through and had to finish it on my own Tuesday.

My Fair Lady is the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young flower selling girl from the slums of London with a thick Cockney accent.  She becomes the subject of a bet between a pair of phonetics professors.  Henry Higgins bets Hugh Pickering that he can turn her into a presentable lady with a proper English accent.

The movie is packed with catchy memorable musical numbers, many of which I had heard before but didn’t realize where they were from.  Throughout the movie, I kept recognizing scenes that were spoofed or mentioned in other shows, specifically Family Guy and Seinfeld.

I’m not very good at giving in-depth reviews of movies as I don’t particularly watch a great number of movies.  But I can compare it to the other musicals we’ve seen to this point in the project (An American in Paris, Gigi, West Side Story) and say it blew them away!  My Fair Lady very easily transitioned from speaking to singing.  The story flowed well for the most part and I was rarely confused (which itself is rare as I often find myself confused with some older movies).  The costumes were lavish and authentic looking, but the set had a stage-like appearance, as if they had a fixed amount of space to work with.  And the acting was all-around top-notch, especially from Harrison and Stanley Holloway.

This is one of those movies that remains very popular to this day and seems to be referenced all the time in pop culture.  My biggest gripe is the length (just shy of three hours), and some scenes that seemed to drag on.  I think I would have rather seen this as a stage production than watching the movie.

In the end, I’d give My Fair Lady a score around 7 or 8/10.  Next up, we backtrack to 1960 for The Apartment, which just became available on Netflix.