BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI
He was the consummate Italian film guy. He had his finger in lots of cinematic pies. He wrote, directed, produced and even acted. Bernardo Bertolucci has lots of movie credits.
He first crosses the American film radar when Before The Revolution (1964) appears on U.S. screens. He wrote the story on which the film is based, and he wrote the screenplay. It provides a perfect snapshot of the condition of the populace before the uproar of the 60's. Young Italians of both sexes struggle with their hatred of bourgeois life and their desire for change.
He even had a hand, admittedly small, in one of Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns with Henry Fonda acting way against type as the bad guy. Yes, Once Upon A Time In The West (1967) is based on a Bertolucci story, and he is listed in the credits. Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale and Jason Robards are also in the cast. The complicated plot involves revenge for a murder, a fight over a railroad and the land it crosses, and lots of gunplay. Bertolucci’s story is lots simpler and, ok, maybe better.
The Conformist (1970) was written and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, and the screenplay got an Oscar nomination but didn’t win. I think you would have to be familiar with Italian politics in the 60's to follow this, but maybe I’m just thick.
Bertolucci shocked the world with the wildly erotic Last Tango In Paris (1972) featuring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider. You probably have to be over 40 and have a note from your parents to see this one. There’s lots of full frontal nudity and a famous scene involving a dairy product. The story seems incidental to all the coupling, but folks still watch this one nearly 50 years later. Bertolucci wrote the screenplay and directed. His direction garnered an Oscar nomination but he lost to George Roy Hill for The Sting.
Bertolucci wrote the screenplay for the extremely long (317 minutes!), 1900 (1998) a film about the battle for Italy’s soul between the Fascists and Communists. I have to say it really isn’t worth the time you invest in a viewing.
Bernardo Bertolucci hit the jackpot in 1987 when he wrote and directed The Last Emperor. It won Oscars for best picture and best director. It is the really interesting story of the last emperor of China, Puyi. As a toddler, he had the misfortune to become emperor at the time of the Chinese Revolution. After years as a political prisoner, he is allowed to become an ordinary Chinese citizen. John Lone (another “whatever happened to” actor) appears as the emperor as a grown man.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. The last one is okay for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Sunday, January 20, 2019
PENNY MARSHALL
Penny Marshall died recently at 75. Her first big acting break was as Oscar Madison’s secretary Myrna on The Odd Couple (1970). Then she appeared with Cindy Williams as dates for The Fonz and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days (1974). The chemistry between the two girls was so good that fans fell in love with them. So a spin-off was developed, called Laverne And Shirley. Penny was Laverne to Cindy’s Shirley. They were tough no-nonsense working girls who gave as good as they got from bosses and other men. It was a tremendous hit that ran for seven years (1976-83).
She was a legendary sports fan. Who else would have season tickets to the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers?
Penny Marshall developed into one heck of a good director, and she helmed three enormous hits.
The first of these was Big (1988). Tom Hanks stars as a kid who just always wanted to be big, or grown up. He encounters a creepy fortune telling machine in an amusement park, and his wish is granted. So he become as big as a grown man, but still has the personality and mind of a youngster. His encounters with the real world are both funny and trenchant. His famous dance on the giant piano at FAO Schwarz is a highlight of this delightful film. Because of his ideas, his toy company employer prospers greatly and he lands a dream job as a toy tester. Elizabeth Perkins plays Susan Lawrence, a co-worker who becomes his girlfriend. But he misses his childhood self, and his parents. The ending is semi-sweet and you won’t get it here.
Awakenings (1990) was nominated for an Oscar as Best Movie, losing to Dances With Wolves. Robin Williams plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, who discovers the drug L-Dopa can bring catatonic patients back to normalcy. Robert DeNiro is one of the first to break out of his comatose condition, and he slowly begins to develop a normal life. But the drug turns out to be fool’s gold, providing only temporary recoveries. Both Williams and DeNiro are excellent in this heart-breaker.
Penny Marshall’s final big hit was A League Of Their Own (1992) with Tom Hanks as the manager of a team playing in the All-American Girls Baseball League. Among the players are Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell. This is a real feel-good movie for anyone who likes baseball or movies, and it features Tom Hanks’ famous quotation, “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Other Penny Marshall directed films that don’t quite rise to the level of the above include Renaissance Man (1994) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996). And it should certainly be mentioned that she produced the excellent Cinderella Man (2005) with Russell Crowe as heavyweight champion James J. Braddock. His torturous climb from obscurity is well done and Rene Zelwegger is just fine as the wife who never gives up on him.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for 10 and up.
Penny Marshall died recently at 75. Her first big acting break was as Oscar Madison’s secretary Myrna on The Odd Couple (1970). Then she appeared with Cindy Williams as dates for The Fonz and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days (1974). The chemistry between the two girls was so good that fans fell in love with them. So a spin-off was developed, called Laverne And Shirley. Penny was Laverne to Cindy’s Shirley. They were tough no-nonsense working girls who gave as good as they got from bosses and other men. It was a tremendous hit that ran for seven years (1976-83).
She was a legendary sports fan. Who else would have season tickets to the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers?
Penny Marshall developed into one heck of a good director, and she helmed three enormous hits.
The first of these was Big (1988). Tom Hanks stars as a kid who just always wanted to be big, or grown up. He encounters a creepy fortune telling machine in an amusement park, and his wish is granted. So he become as big as a grown man, but still has the personality and mind of a youngster. His encounters with the real world are both funny and trenchant. His famous dance on the giant piano at FAO Schwarz is a highlight of this delightful film. Because of his ideas, his toy company employer prospers greatly and he lands a dream job as a toy tester. Elizabeth Perkins plays Susan Lawrence, a co-worker who becomes his girlfriend. But he misses his childhood self, and his parents. The ending is semi-sweet and you won’t get it here.
Awakenings (1990) was nominated for an Oscar as Best Movie, losing to Dances With Wolves. Robin Williams plays Dr. Malcolm Sayer, who discovers the drug L-Dopa can bring catatonic patients back to normalcy. Robert DeNiro is one of the first to break out of his comatose condition, and he slowly begins to develop a normal life. But the drug turns out to be fool’s gold, providing only temporary recoveries. Both Williams and DeNiro are excellent in this heart-breaker.
Penny Marshall’s final big hit was A League Of Their Own (1992) with Tom Hanks as the manager of a team playing in the All-American Girls Baseball League. Among the players are Geena Davis, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell. This is a real feel-good movie for anyone who likes baseball or movies, and it features Tom Hanks’ famous quotation, “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Other Penny Marshall directed films that don’t quite rise to the level of the above include Renaissance Man (1994) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996). And it should certainly be mentioned that she produced the excellent Cinderella Man (2005) with Russell Crowe as heavyweight champion James J. Braddock. His torturous climb from obscurity is well done and Rene Zelwegger is just fine as the wife who never gives up on him.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for 10 and up.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
WILLIAM GOLDMAN
He wrote the screenplay of Mr. Movie’s all-time favorite and won an Oscar for it. He won another Oscar for perhaps the finest political movie ever made. And that’s not all William Goldman, who died recently, accomplished.
Harper (1966) features Paul Newman as hard-nosed private eye Lew Harper in a convoluted plot about a millionaire who has vanished, either on purpose or not. Janet Leigh is on board as Harper’s ex and Pamela Tiffin, Arthur Hill, Lauren Bacall and Robert Wagner compose a cast that follows the twists and turns better than I did. William Goldman’s noir dialogue is worth the trip.
Yep, Mr. Movie’s favorite movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Chock full of great lines from William Goldman’s pen: “Who are those guys?”, “The fall alone will kill you”, “Think you used enough dynamite, Butch”? “If there aren’t any rules, let’s start the fight,” etc. With two of the handsomest actors ever to grace the silver screen (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) as the principals, a dynamite plot which is by turns funny and suspenseful, this is one fine flick. The scenes about robbing banks in South America where neither speaks Spanish are hysterical.
As current as today’s newspaper, All The President’s Men (1976) features Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who broke open the Watergate story and brought down a president. No, the film doesn’t tell you who Deep Throat was, he’s kept in the shadows. But the gradual development of the story, handled with great skill by screenwriter Goldman, is just really good. Another gold statue for Mr. Goldman!
William Goldman was also a fine novelist, and his creepy novel Magic was made into a creepy thriller in 1978 with a screenplay by himself. Anthony Hopkins plays failing magician Corky Withers. He hits upon a very successful gimmick, a ventriloquist dummy named Fats whose foul language is a hit. It turns out that Withers is really crazy and perhaps kills people. And may it be that Fats is not a dummy?
The Princess Bride (1987) is a charming fairy tale again adapted by Goldman from his own novel. The film is presented as a story being read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his ill grandson (Fred Savage). Robin Wright is the title character, who falls in love with her father’s lowly farmhand Westley (Cary Elwes). He leaves to seek his fortune so they can marry, and the plot thickens, seasoned by encounters with The Dread Pirate Roberts. There are lot of laughs along the way.
And finally, Goldman’s screenplay for Misery (1990) features James Caan as a famous author who slowly recovers from a coma after an accident. He finds himself in a bed in the home of huge fan Kathy Bates. He thinks everything will be fine. It won’t. She is nothing short of a homicidal maniac, willing to keep him forever. He tries various ways to escape and she makes him write the book she wants to read. You will not find the ending here...
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
He wrote the screenplay of Mr. Movie’s all-time favorite and won an Oscar for it. He won another Oscar for perhaps the finest political movie ever made. And that’s not all William Goldman, who died recently, accomplished.
Harper (1966) features Paul Newman as hard-nosed private eye Lew Harper in a convoluted plot about a millionaire who has vanished, either on purpose or not. Janet Leigh is on board as Harper’s ex and Pamela Tiffin, Arthur Hill, Lauren Bacall and Robert Wagner compose a cast that follows the twists and turns better than I did. William Goldman’s noir dialogue is worth the trip.
Yep, Mr. Movie’s favorite movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). Chock full of great lines from William Goldman’s pen: “Who are those guys?”, “The fall alone will kill you”, “Think you used enough dynamite, Butch”? “If there aren’t any rules, let’s start the fight,” etc. With two of the handsomest actors ever to grace the silver screen (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) as the principals, a dynamite plot which is by turns funny and suspenseful, this is one fine flick. The scenes about robbing banks in South America where neither speaks Spanish are hysterical.
As current as today’s newspaper, All The President’s Men (1976) features Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who broke open the Watergate story and brought down a president. No, the film doesn’t tell you who Deep Throat was, he’s kept in the shadows. But the gradual development of the story, handled with great skill by screenwriter Goldman, is just really good. Another gold statue for Mr. Goldman!
William Goldman was also a fine novelist, and his creepy novel Magic was made into a creepy thriller in 1978 with a screenplay by himself. Anthony Hopkins plays failing magician Corky Withers. He hits upon a very successful gimmick, a ventriloquist dummy named Fats whose foul language is a hit. It turns out that Withers is really crazy and perhaps kills people. And may it be that Fats is not a dummy?
The Princess Bride (1987) is a charming fairy tale again adapted by Goldman from his own novel. The film is presented as a story being read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his ill grandson (Fred Savage). Robin Wright is the title character, who falls in love with her father’s lowly farmhand Westley (Cary Elwes). He leaves to seek his fortune so they can marry, and the plot thickens, seasoned by encounters with The Dread Pirate Roberts. There are lot of laughs along the way.
And finally, Goldman’s screenplay for Misery (1990) features James Caan as a famous author who slowly recovers from a coma after an accident. He finds himself in a bed in the home of huge fan Kathy Bates. He thinks everything will be fine. It won’t. She is nothing short of a homicidal maniac, willing to keep him forever. He tries various ways to escape and she makes him write the book she wants to read. You will not find the ending here...
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
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