BRIAN DENNEHY

Brian Dennehy left this mortal coil recently at 81. There is a huge gap in his resume’. From 1990 to 2020, although he worked steadily, it was entirely in TV and made-for-TV movies. Since this column deals with big screen flix, I’m going to skip those 30 years. 

The last Dennehy movie was excellent. Driveways (2020) is the story of a young mother and her son moving into her deceased sister’s house to clean it out. Next door is Del (Dennehy), an aging Vietnam veteran, who lives alone. Shy 8-year-old Cody gradually becomes friends with him. The unlikely partnership grows closer with time. 

Brian Dennehy was the go-to guy if you needed a crusty Irishman in the 70's and 80's. He has a bit part as a surgeon in Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977) and another brief appearance as T.J. Lambert in Semi-Tough (1977). 

In Foul Play (1978) Dennehy is a police inspector who is of no help at all to poor Goldie Hawn, caught up in all sorts of spies and devilment. In Never Cry Wolf (1983) Dennehy is bush pilot Rosie, who drops naive scientist Tyler on a frozen lake in the Arctic. Tyler is to study whether wolves are responsible for a decline in caribou. 

Dennehy plays William Kirwill, an American detective searching for his missing brother, in Gorky Park (1983). William Hurt is the lead as Russian cop Arkady Renko, investigating a series of grisly murders. 

Brian Dennehy plays Walter, one of the fortunate oldsters rejuvenated by trespassing in a swimming pool owned by and magically charged by aliens. Cocoon (1985) is a real charmer about the transformation of the aging men and women in a retirement home made young again. There’s quite a cast: Jack Gilford, Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Wilford Brimley and Gwen Verdon are all on board. The plot is a stretch, but just go with it. Oh, and you should probably avoid the pale sequel.

Silverado (1985) is an entirely crooked town in the old west, run by its ruthless Sheriff Cobb, played with evil glee by Brian Dennehy. The plot is complicated, but boils down to an attempt to clean out the town. A fine cast includes Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner and Danny Glover. These are the good guys. A mano a mano showdown on Main Street between the sheriff and Paden (Kline) is a traditional wind-up. The stunts in this oater are really terrific!

In FX (1986) the Department of Justice hires special effects expert Bryan Brown to stage a fake murder. Lt. Leo McCarthy (Dennehy) investigates the murder and can’t understand why the DOJ isn’t co-operating. Then things get very complicated.

Presumed Innocent (1990) is a terrific legal thriller based on the Scott Turow novel. Asst. District Attorney Rusty Tyler (Harrison Ford) works for DA Raymond Horgan (Dennehy). He is ordered to investigate the murder of a female colleague. When his fingerprints are found on a glass in the woman’s apartment, he is charged with the crime by the new DA , who has won an election over Raymond Horgan. The ending of this one is classic. No more from me- watch it yourself!

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. 

                                                   CHADWICK BOSEMAN

At last Black people had a super hero of their own. Chadwick Boseman, who died way too young at 43,  burst into stardom with three appearances as the Black Panther. Beginning with Captain America: Civil War (2016) where he was a trusted ally of the title hero, and continuing into a couple of Avengers outings in 2018 and 2019 Boseman was everything a hero should be.

But his real coming out party was the earlier Black Panther (2018) in which he brought T’Challa to full iconism. This film, though modeled on the super hero flicks about White people, makes its own path. T’Challa becomes ruler of Wakanda on the death of his father and strives to keep to the successful path his forbears forged. He is challenged by cousin N’Jadaka (Michael B. Jordan) who wants Wakanda to expand its outreach and become a world power. They battle to determine who will be king. The film was nominated as Best Picture, and though it lost to The Shape Of Water,  it still garnered three production Oscars. A sequel is in the works but obviously won’t feature Boseman.

But it’s not as if that is the limit of Boseman’s resume`. He had a sterling run-up to the Black Panther films. These began in 2013 when Boseman appeared in 42 as Jackie Robinson, who integrated baseball in 1947. He encountered discrimination and outright hatred, but he was such a great player he endured. And not only is he in the Hall of Fame but his number is worn by every single major league player on April 15 (August 28 this year). It’s not an easy role, but Boseman is superb as Jackie. 

The very next year Chadwick Boseman played The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, in Get On Up. Boseman rose to the challenge of doing his own dancing and singing much to the delight of even hard core James Brown fans.

Boseman’s third portrayal of an African-American hero came in 2017 when he nailed the title role in Marshall. Thurgood Marshall was a terrific lawyer and became the first Black justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The film dwells mostly with Marhsall’s early career as a civil rights attorney and in particular with his defense of Joseph Spell, an African-American accused of rape in Connecticut. Forbidden by the White judge to speak, Marshall has to guide his co-counsel by notes and whispered instructions. 

Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods (2020) features Chadwick Boseman as Stormin’ Norman, leader of an all-Black platoon in Viet Nam. They find a stash of gold bars intended for Vietnamese allies and decide to keep it. They bury it, intending to come back for it later. They do come back later, much later, after they are all over 70.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All but the last one are suitable for mature kids.  

                                                                   Errol Morris 

                                                                       Part 2

As promised, here is the second installment about director Errol Morris, the absolute master of the documentary. Even if docs aren’t your thing, you will not go wrong by checking out some of these. 

In The Unknown Known (2013) Morris changes gears somewhat. This film is exclusively about his interview with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It is definitely not kind to Rumsfeld (nor should it be). His explanations of the Iraq war, the torture of Muslim prisoners in Cuba, and other matters are hardly inspiring. At one point he is asked why he agreed to this interview and responded “I’ll be darned if I know.” 

Standard Operating Procedure (2008) details the intent and result of photos taken at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The pictures were taken not by Morris but by soldiers posted at the prison. The photos are hard to take. They portray torture and deliberate harassment of prisoners by their guards. The pictures caused an uproar in 2004 when they came to light as most Americans were not aware of what went on at the prison. Not a shining moment for our country, but a story that needed to be told. Several critics put this film in their top 10 of 2008.

Tabloid (2010) would never make it as a regular fictional film because it is just way beyond belief. Joyce McKinney was a former Miss Wyoming looking for the perfect husband. She settled on young Kirk Anderson, a Mormon on his way to his obligatory church mission. Miss McKinney followed him to England. Here the stories diverge. She says he voluntarily went with her to a cabin where they shacked up for several days. He says he was kidnaped, raped,  and held against his will. The film is largely narrated by Ms. McKinney. The other side of the story is also presented. Mr. Anderson declined to be interviewed. Ms. McKinney never married, proclaiming that Mr. Anderson was the only man she would ever love. She lives in isolation somewhere in North Carolina with her aged father and five cloned bulldogs. 

The B Side (2016) is one of those films that sounds completely boring but turns out the be completely fascinating. Elsa Dorfman, a very and interesting woman, is the subject of this movie,. She became a photographer in the 90's . She shot Alan Ginsberg, Anais Nin, Andrew Wylie and other famous people But her best work is photos of ordinary people, hence the title. She is on board to narrate most of the film and does so quite winningly. Her use of the large 20x24 Polaroid camera is a good story in itself. 

A serendipitous event occurred when I remembered Errol Morris directed American Dharma (2018). It is about his in depth interview with one Steve Bannon back before he got indicted. It is interlaced with movie clips and Bannon’s take on them and on then-current events for far right  Breitbart news. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. 

                                                       ERROL MORRIS

                Part 1

The best director of documentaries now working is someone you may never have heard of: Errol Morris. His method is simplicity itself. Find an interesting subject, give him a mike, point the camera at him and get out of the way. 

The Thin Blue Line (1988) is a marvel, a landmark film which is generally credited for saving an innocent man from execution. Morris delves into a cop killing in Texas and slowly but surely reveals the truth. This is not to be missed!

Gates of Heaven (1978) is about a pet cemetery in Southern California (where else?). Alternately touching and funny, it presents the pet owners and the cemetery owners, warts and all. This is a genuine slice of Americana. 

There are four stories in Fast, Cheap and Out of Control (1997), all of them way off the beaten path. Presented are a topiary gardener, an expert in blind mole rats, a lion tamer and a robot scientist. All are completely devoted to their particular fields, all are completely fascinating (and terminally weird!) 

And speaking of weird, it would seem from Vernon, Florida (1988) that the town had a strangeness convention and the attendees decided to live there. There is a couple who believes that sand grows, a besotted turkey hunter, and various other bizarre people. Mr. Morris makes this work- he never condescends or interferes.

Former Secretary of State Robert McNamara is the subject of The Fog Of War (2003) in which he discusses his role in the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs crisis, and other foreign entanglements that occurred during his time at Foggy Bottom. And Mr. McNamara (85 when the film was made) does a rather good job holding his own. It sounds boring but decidedly is not. And it won Morris his only Best Director Oscar.

Mr. Death (1999) is Fred Leuchter, an expert in execution devices (gas chambers, electric chairs, gallows and lethal injection machines). As if that weren’t strange enough, he is hired to prove there was no Holocaust, and tries to aid that cause. Not recommended for everyone, but strangely fascinating.

Physicist Steven Hawking, the British genius afflicted with ALS, is the subject of A Brief History Of Time (1991). The film details the subject’s life as well as his explanation of cosmology so that laymen can understand it (more of less). Mr. Hawking’s life is also detailed in the biopic The Theory Of Everything (2014) directed by James Marsh. And Eddie Redmayne deservedly won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking. 

This article contains roughly half of Morris’ films. Next week: the rest of them.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. They are for grown-ups.