Sylvia Miles
Sylvia Miles died recently at 94. She had quite a career in TV and movies. She was the consummate character actress. Casting directors loved to plug her into their celluloid spaces. She logged well over 100 TV and movie appearances. She is one of those actors you maybe can’t place but when you see her picture you say, “oh, yeah.” She famously dumped a plate of food on the head of critic John Simon after a particularly nasty review of her acting in a play!
She played Cass, a woman inviting Jon Voight upstairs for sex in Midnight Cowboy (1969). She was on the screen a memorable six minutes, but nonetheless was nominated for an Oscar. But she lost to Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower. Midnight Cowboy is a terrific film which won the Best Movie Oscar. Dustin Hoffman as the wretched Ratso is really good, as is Mr. Voight as Joe Buck. At the time, it became the first x-rated film to win the award. The X rating was changed to NC17 later. Midnight Cowboy is fairly tame nowadays, and is now rated R.
Farewell, My Lovely (1975) is a delicious film noir with the unbeatable Robert Mitchum as Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe. It has the requisite seamy interiors and a complicated plot that begins at the end and has Mitchum explain what happened. It works! Sylvia Miles garnered another Oscar nomination, this time for an 8-minute scene as an alcoholic former dancer. She expertly stumbles through the scene but she has a clue that Marlowe needs to solve the case. She lost to Lee Grant for Shampoo.
92 In The Shade (1975) is a somewhat convoluted film starring Peter Fonda and Burgess Meredith. Fonda plays Tom Skelton, a young man trying to start a fishing guide business in Florida. This is not well received by the existing boat captains and things quickly get really nasty. Sylvia Miles has a frankly bit part as Bella. Don’t blink or you’ll miss her.
Evil Under The Sun (1982) is a British whodunnit with Peter Ustinov as the redoubtable Belgian sleuth, Hercule Poirot. This is one of those Agatha Christie stories with a double handful of suspects which Poirot must sift through to find the killer. Sylvia Miles and James Mason appear as Odell and Myra Gardener, New York theatrical producers. They are among the suspects. That’s all I’ll tell.
There are two Wall Street movies, the original in 1987, and Wall Street:Money Never Sleeps (1992). The first one is pretty good, with Kirk Douglas (“greed is good”) as a sleazy trader and Charlie Sheen as his too apt pupil. These are not nice people! The second one is a pale knock-off not worth your time. Sylvia Miles plays the same shady realtor, Dolores, in both films.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Sunday, June 23, 2019
SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS
Hollywood has made quite a success with movies taken from comic books. Batman, Superman, Iron Man, X-Men. But with movies made from the newspaper comic strips- not so much. Still, there are a few bright spots in a limited category.
The top of the line, for me, is Annie (1982), the movie from the Broadway musical about Little Orphan Annie. Aileen Quinn is the comely orphan, Albert Finney megarich Daddy Warbucks, and Sandy as Sandy. Carol Burnett just about steals the film as Miss Hannigan, the put-upon matron of the orphanage. The songs are quite wonderful.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) is faithful to the beloved comic strip. There are several equally good made-for-TV films about the erstwhile hero, one for Christmas, one for Easter, one for Valentines, etc. There something about the round-headed kid that we all identify with. I love the gimmick that when an adult talks, all you hear is “wack wack wack wack” which is what most kids hear.
Dick Tracy (1990) is Warren Beatty’s baby. He stars as the square-jawed detective and he directed the movie. The Fisher-Price technicolor sets and costumes are eye-popping. Lots of Beatty’s good friends show up: Al Pacino, Madonna, Eliot Gould, Mandy Patinkin, and Charles Durning to name a few. Not much of a plot, but quite a visual treat.
Younger readers won’t even remember the L’il Abner strip, as creator Al Capp has been dead for many years. But the 1959 film is a pretty fair rendering of the denizens of Dogpatch. Peter Palmer (who?) is the title character, with various little-known actors as Daisy Mae, Marryin’ Sam, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, etc.
Over The Hedge (2006) is a faithful rendering of the cute comic strip about woodland creatures learning to live with suburban humans and to love all things Twinky. Dennis the Menace (1993) just doesn’t make it on the screen. The strip is still around, and Dennis is still five years old after a half-century. Walter Matthau soldiers on as the acerbic Mr. Wilson, but Mason Gamble is simply annoying as a way-too-old Dennis. The 1969 version with Jay North as Dennis is no better.
There are two Garfield movies (2004 and 2006) and both are really bad. The wise-cracking cat is merely a mean-spirited pest in these movies.
I’ve saved the worst for last. Popeye (1980) is simply dreadful. Robin Williams as the spinach-loving sailor and Shelly Duvall as his true love Olive Oyl are completely wasted in this dreary slog.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for all ages.
Hollywood has made quite a success with movies taken from comic books. Batman, Superman, Iron Man, X-Men. But with movies made from the newspaper comic strips- not so much. Still, there are a few bright spots in a limited category.
The top of the line, for me, is Annie (1982), the movie from the Broadway musical about Little Orphan Annie. Aileen Quinn is the comely orphan, Albert Finney megarich Daddy Warbucks, and Sandy as Sandy. Carol Burnett just about steals the film as Miss Hannigan, the put-upon matron of the orphanage. The songs are quite wonderful.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) is faithful to the beloved comic strip. There are several equally good made-for-TV films about the erstwhile hero, one for Christmas, one for Easter, one for Valentines, etc. There something about the round-headed kid that we all identify with. I love the gimmick that when an adult talks, all you hear is “wack wack wack wack” which is what most kids hear.
Dick Tracy (1990) is Warren Beatty’s baby. He stars as the square-jawed detective and he directed the movie. The Fisher-Price technicolor sets and costumes are eye-popping. Lots of Beatty’s good friends show up: Al Pacino, Madonna, Eliot Gould, Mandy Patinkin, and Charles Durning to name a few. Not much of a plot, but quite a visual treat.
Younger readers won’t even remember the L’il Abner strip, as creator Al Capp has been dead for many years. But the 1959 film is a pretty fair rendering of the denizens of Dogpatch. Peter Palmer (who?) is the title character, with various little-known actors as Daisy Mae, Marryin’ Sam, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, etc.
Over The Hedge (2006) is a faithful rendering of the cute comic strip about woodland creatures learning to live with suburban humans and to love all things Twinky. Dennis the Menace (1993) just doesn’t make it on the screen. The strip is still around, and Dennis is still five years old after a half-century. Walter Matthau soldiers on as the acerbic Mr. Wilson, but Mason Gamble is simply annoying as a way-too-old Dennis. The 1969 version with Jay North as Dennis is no better.
There are two Garfield movies (2004 and 2006) and both are really bad. The wise-cracking cat is merely a mean-spirited pest in these movies.
I’ve saved the worst for last. Popeye (1980) is simply dreadful. Robin Williams as the spinach-loving sailor and Shelly Duvall as his true love Olive Oyl are completely wasted in this dreary slog.
All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for all ages.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
2018 SLEEPERS
Part 5
A Simple Favor turns out to be anything but. Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) becomes best friends with Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). The women have sons attending the same elementary school. Emily asks Stephanie to care for her son while she attends to some personal business. Two days later, there is no sign of Emily and she isn’t answering texts or phone calls. Eventually Stephanie involves the police, and from there things get really complicated. This film has more twists and turns than Chubby Checker. But it is fun.
Journey’s End was produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. And it does so wonderfully well. Concentrating on British soldiers in the trenches, it chronicles both the boredom and the terror that accompanied them on a daily basis. Okay, it is not a cheerful film but it helps you understand what it was like to be a soldier in this terrible war.
Lean On Pete is the unlikely story of a boy and a horse. Charlie Plummer plays 15-year-old Charlie, living hand to mouth with his single father in Oregon. He goes to work for crusty horse owner Del (Steve Buscemi) and befriends the boss’ rider Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny). They enter races in the lowest rung of horse racing, with most of their mounts ending up in the glue factory. Charlie falls for Lean On Pete, a damaged horse scheduled for slaughter. He runs away with the horse, encountering many people and adventures, in a quixotic search for a caring aunt. Charlie Plummer is so real it’s almost scary. Warning: This is not Black Beauty or Seabiscuit. It is tough going, but worth it.
Leave No Trace is the story of an Iraq veteran suffering from PTSD who is living in a national forest with his teen-age daughter. Will (Ben Foster) and Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) live way off the grid. They only encounter other people when they go to town for supplies. When a jogger discovers them and turns them in, their home in the woods is over. They try various scenarios to make it in society. She does well; he does not. He wants to return to the woods. She tells him “What’s wrong with you isn’t wrong with me.”
Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. Most of us have heard that whimsical murder rhyme. Lizzie tells the story the way it may have happened. Parts of it are true, parts fictional. In any event it makes a dandy movie. Chole Sevigny plays Lizzie and Kristin Stewart plays Bridget, the Irish maid who disrupts the household in many ways. She and Lizzie become an item, and when Lizzie’s father discovers this, tragedy beckons.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.
Part 5
A Simple Favor turns out to be anything but. Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) becomes best friends with Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). The women have sons attending the same elementary school. Emily asks Stephanie to care for her son while she attends to some personal business. Two days later, there is no sign of Emily and she isn’t answering texts or phone calls. Eventually Stephanie involves the police, and from there things get really complicated. This film has more twists and turns than Chubby Checker. But it is fun.
Journey’s End was produced to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. And it does so wonderfully well. Concentrating on British soldiers in the trenches, it chronicles both the boredom and the terror that accompanied them on a daily basis. Okay, it is not a cheerful film but it helps you understand what it was like to be a soldier in this terrible war.
Lean On Pete is the unlikely story of a boy and a horse. Charlie Plummer plays 15-year-old Charlie, living hand to mouth with his single father in Oregon. He goes to work for crusty horse owner Del (Steve Buscemi) and befriends the boss’ rider Bonnie (Chloe Sevigny). They enter races in the lowest rung of horse racing, with most of their mounts ending up in the glue factory. Charlie falls for Lean On Pete, a damaged horse scheduled for slaughter. He runs away with the horse, encountering many people and adventures, in a quixotic search for a caring aunt. Charlie Plummer is so real it’s almost scary. Warning: This is not Black Beauty or Seabiscuit. It is tough going, but worth it.
Leave No Trace is the story of an Iraq veteran suffering from PTSD who is living in a national forest with his teen-age daughter. Will (Ben Foster) and Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) live way off the grid. They only encounter other people when they go to town for supplies. When a jogger discovers them and turns them in, their home in the woods is over. They try various scenarios to make it in society. She does well; he does not. He wants to return to the woods. She tells him “What’s wrong with you isn’t wrong with me.”
Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. Most of us have heard that whimsical murder rhyme. Lizzie tells the story the way it may have happened. Parts of it are true, parts fictional. In any event it makes a dandy movie. Chole Sevigny plays Lizzie and Kristin Stewart plays Bridget, the Irish maid who disrupts the household in many ways. She and Lizzie become an item, and when Lizzie’s father discovers this, tragedy beckons.
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
SCHOOLTEACHERS
While we don’t pay them very well and we tend to make their professional lives pretty miserable, we Americans still have a love affair with the idea of schoolteachers. Hollywood has noticed this and turned out at least 50 films about teachers.
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) pulls us in almost against our will and we cheerfully wallow in this sentimental story about the impact a teacher can have on a school and the students that pass through it. Mr. Holland is a struggling musician when he accepts a teaching job to make ends meet and 30 years later is still at it. Richard Dreyfuss is Mr. Holland, the band director and music teacher who has no idea of the effect he has had on others until he retires. That his family has suffered for his dedication only adds to the mix.
Robin Williams is reined in and quite good for at least the first three-fourths of Dead Poets Society (1989). This interesting film demonstrates how the passion of a committed schoolteacher can bring a subject to life and enrich those fortunate enough to come under his sway. The melodramatic ending is not for all tastes, but on the whole this is a fine film.
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brody (1969) the teacher has more of an impact on the lifestyles of the students than on their learning. This complex and somewhat bittersweet film shows that this is not always a good thing. The girls are Miss Brody’s life and her not-always-gentle guidance molds the characters and outlooks of a
generation of young women. Maggie Smith is superb as Miss Brody, and she won an Oscar for what is perhaps her finest performance.
The fact-based Stand and Deliver (1987) features a virtuoso performance by Edward James Olmos as a no-nonsense teacher in a ghetto school. By sheer force of will he guides the reluctant students to conquer an Advanced Placement Calculus Test. This is an excellent film about the power of scholarship and the ability to communicate it.
Good-Bye, Mr. Chips (1939) is such a well-known film about teachers that Mr. Chips has entered the language. This version with Robert Donat in his Oscar-winning title role is much superior to the 1969 version or any others. Greer Garson and Paul Henreid contribute nicely to this gentle, timeless story. Mr. Chips has taught and inspired boys his entire adult life. His leave-taking is a blow to them all.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for 10 and up.
While we don’t pay them very well and we tend to make their professional lives pretty miserable, we Americans still have a love affair with the idea of schoolteachers. Hollywood has noticed this and turned out at least 50 films about teachers.
Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) pulls us in almost against our will and we cheerfully wallow in this sentimental story about the impact a teacher can have on a school and the students that pass through it. Mr. Holland is a struggling musician when he accepts a teaching job to make ends meet and 30 years later is still at it. Richard Dreyfuss is Mr. Holland, the band director and music teacher who has no idea of the effect he has had on others until he retires. That his family has suffered for his dedication only adds to the mix.
Robin Williams is reined in and quite good for at least the first three-fourths of Dead Poets Society (1989). This interesting film demonstrates how the passion of a committed schoolteacher can bring a subject to life and enrich those fortunate enough to come under his sway. The melodramatic ending is not for all tastes, but on the whole this is a fine film.
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brody (1969) the teacher has more of an impact on the lifestyles of the students than on their learning. This complex and somewhat bittersweet film shows that this is not always a good thing. The girls are Miss Brody’s life and her not-always-gentle guidance molds the characters and outlooks of a
generation of young women. Maggie Smith is superb as Miss Brody, and she won an Oscar for what is perhaps her finest performance.
The fact-based Stand and Deliver (1987) features a virtuoso performance by Edward James Olmos as a no-nonsense teacher in a ghetto school. By sheer force of will he guides the reluctant students to conquer an Advanced Placement Calculus Test. This is an excellent film about the power of scholarship and the ability to communicate it.
Good-Bye, Mr. Chips (1939) is such a well-known film about teachers that Mr. Chips has entered the language. This version with Robert Donat in his Oscar-winning title role is much superior to the 1969 version or any others. Greer Garson and Paul Henreid contribute nicely to this gentle, timeless story. Mr. Chips has taught and inspired boys his entire adult life. His leave-taking is a blow to them all.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for 10 and up.
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