RON HOWARD                                 

                                                                 Part 3

Herewith the third and final article about director Ron Howard. At only 66 he still has lots of good movies in him. And actually he just completed Hillbilly Elegy, which will be out soon. And Thirteen Lives is now in pre–production.

Rush (2013) is worth watching for the car race action alone. It is based on the real life duel between Brit James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Austrian Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) rivals who between them practically owned Formula One racing in the 1970's. I do not know of a better car race movie. The racing cinematography is just superb. And the personal stories of the two drivers is engaging. 

Edtv (1999) is a terrific idea with a terrific cast: Matthew McConahaughey, Woody Harrelson, Ellen DeGeneres, Sally Kirkland, Martin Landau, Rob Reiner and Dennis Hopper. True TV is a failing network determined to make a comeback with a show about the daily life of a real person: Ed. For a while he is too boring and the show goes nowhere. Then he meets Shari and sparks fly. Also ratings. The plot meanders a bit but gets back on track toward the finish. 

The Missing (2003) is a pale imitation of John Ford’s The Searchers. Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett do their best in a story of white girls kidnaped by Indians to be sold into slavery in Mexico. The film is about the attempt to rescue the girls. 

Backdraft (1991) is about as close as a movie is going to get to the real life of firefighters. Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert DeNiro, Donald Sutherland and Jennifer Jason Leigh head a stellar cast. The story involves an arsonist and city hall budget cuts, and is fine. But the real reason to watch is the incredible cinematography of the fires. The 2019 sequel is not really worth your time. 

Parenthood (1989) stars Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Rick Moranis and Dianne Wiest in a clever film about a family facing the challenge of an unwed daughter’s pregnancy and a father with too much on his plate. It is funnier than this sounds, and good enough to be made into two tv sitcoms (1990 and 2010).

      Ron Howard has adapted three Dan Brown novels to the silver screen, beginning with The DaVinci Code in 2006. Ir’s the worst of the three, and even Tom Hanks can’t save the murky plot. Angels And Demons is a sequel and slightly better than the first one. Tom Hanks is back chasing a mysterious outfit in the Vatican. Inferno (2016) is a stand-alone with Tom Hanks looking for clues in the work of Dante. None of these three are really bad. Nor are they terribly good.

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

                                                                RON HOWARD

                                                                 Part 2

This is the second of three articles about the incredible directorial career of Ron Howard. Not only was he Andy Griffith’s son Opie, as a teenager he was Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Then he went behind the camera.

Howard’s expertise as a documentary director was evident in last year’s Pavoratti. The film  documents the career of Luciano Pavorotti, perhaps the world’s greatest tenor. Even if you don’t like opera much (me neither!) you will love this film. The singing is just super and he was one heck of a guy. Generous almost to a fault, he spread his talent and money freely. And Lord, what a voice!  Howard does a super job highlighting the personal and the profound about this iconic artist. 

Another really good documentary helmed by Ron Howard is The Beatles: 8 Days A Week (2016). From their beginnings in a smoky Liverpool dive to international stars at the absolute pinnacle of the music world is well chronicled here. Howard again successfully mixes the personal and the public face of the Fab Four. 

Frost/Nixon (2008) isn’t really a documentary but plays like one. It recreates the famous confrontational interviews between disgraced ex-President Richard Nixon and British reporter David Frost. The gloves are off in this one. Actually, Nixon comes across pretty well considering. Younger viewers won’t remember much of this, which is fine. Those near my age will find some deja vu here. Both the movie and Howard were nominated for Oscar, but neither won. 

Perhaps the movie that best captures the newspaper business is The Paper (1994). Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid lead a brilliant cast in this Ron Howard-directed vehicle about the problems on a big-city daily. About midway through the press run a terrible mistake is discovered. This film is way over the top, but somewhat accurate on the newspaper details and fun to watch if you don’t stop to think. As an old newspaper guy, I greatly admire this film.

In Ransom (1996) Ron Howard displays his directing chops in an action-packed thriller. Mel Gibson plays Tom Mullen, a millionaire whose son, Sean, is kidnaped. Mullen turns the tables on the kidnapers by offering the ransom amount of two million dollars as a bounty on the heads of the kidnapers, and that he will withdraw the bounty and drop all charges if the bad guys release Sean unharmed. Then it gets complicated. 

The true story of the U.S. whaler Essex, which was attacked by a sperm whale in 1820, is the subject of In The Heart Of The Sea (2015) a spectacular film about men against the sea and its creatures. As the ship loses all means of locomotion, starvation and sickness sets in and death seems inevitable. It is fairly well established that Herman Melville based Moby Dick on this incident. 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. Coming soon: Part 3 of the films of Ron Howard. 

                                                                      RON HOWARD

                                                             Part One

He was perhaps the most beloved child in America, and it’s pretty obvious that for years many of Hollywood’s heavy hitters couldn’t shake the image of Ron Howard as little Opie Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show. That might account for the fact that he was nominated for a directorial Oscar for the first time for A Beautiful Mind (2001), despite several previous stellar efforts. Well, at least Mr. Howard won that year, and his film won Best Picture.

A Beautiful Mind is one terrific movie! Russell Crowe is just fantastic as John Nash, a brilliant but deeply disturbed mathematician who in fact won the Nobel Prize despite his handicap. Jennifer Connelly grabbed her own Oscar as Nash’s long-suffering wife. This is a director’s movie, and Mr. Howard gets every ounce out of the story. 

Since that triumph, Mr. Howard has directed Russell Crowe and Rene Zellwegger in Cinderella Man (2005), a much underrated film about the incredible comeback of heavyweight boxer James Braddock. 

Ron Howard’s achievement in directing Apollo 13 (1995) is considerable, because everyone in the world knows the ending- Apollo 13 did not crash and burn, but returned safely to earth. And yet, this is one of the most edge-of-your-seat, suspense-filled movies ever made. A stellar cast includes Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris. The special effects are totallly convincing. And this movie will leave you gasping in spite of yourself! Yet the 1995 directing Oscar went to Mel Gibson for Braveheart. Oh, please...

Cocoon (1986) is a real charmer and Ron Howard ably directs a cast of older actors, including Don Ameche (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor), Hume Cronyn, Wilford Brimley, Brian Dennehy and Jack Gilford. Florida senior citizens discover a real fountain of youth, and the results are not always expected but are always funny and entertaining. 

Tom Hanks connects with Ron Howard again in the clever and winning Splash (1984) with Daryl Hannah as a real mermaid who is found in the city by Mr. Hanks. He falls for her, and what to do with and for her becomes his joy and his plague, and great entertainment for us. 

Ron Howard’s first big hit was the underrated Night Shift (1982) with Henry Winkler (The Fonz!) as a quiet introvert working in a morgue because of the stillness, and Michael Keaton as his manic, off-the-wall assistant who hatches a wild plot to use their workplace as a brothel. . 

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for kids 12 and up. This is the first of three planned articles about this great director. Watch this space!

                                                           INGMAR BERGMAN

He was one of the few directors who truly deserves to be called a giant. Ingmar Bergman, the great Swedish master, died at the good old age of 89. He made over 50 films, ( 11 with actress Liv Ullman) most of them good. He was nominated for an Oscar six times, and, incredibly, never won. The Academy will probably give him one of those lifetime work deals now that he’s dead. Some of his films are difficult, but worth the effort. I’ll start with two that are more accessible.

Smiles Of A Summer Night (1955) is a delightfully light comedy about manners, mores and sex as a mixed group of people spend a weekend at a summer home. This film inspired the Broadway play A Little Night Music, as well as Woody Allen’s A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy. It doesn’t really show its age; it’s still a delight.

Fanny And Alexander (1983) is a magical family story mostly seen through the eyes of a young Bergman. It has joy and sorrow and most all of the things that most families share. The Academy gave this one Best Foreign Film, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Set Decoration, but not Best Director.

In Wild Strawberries (1957) an aging professor looks back on the shortcomings and pluses of his life en route to receive an honorary degree. Bergman’s use of flashbacks is still studied in film schools. This movie contains one of the most astonishing scenes of self-recognition ever put on the screen. No, I won’t tell you; see it yourself. 

Scenes From A Marriage (1973) lets you have your cake and eat it too. There is a 6-part mini-series made for Swedish TV and a 2 hour 49 minute movie taken from the same. Both can be seen on DVD. I don’t think the movie misses much, but the TV series has it all. Liv Ullman and Erland Josephson are the subject couple. This is probably the best film ever made about the painful erosion of a romantic union. 

The Virgin Spring (1960) seems to be the straightforward story of the rape and murder of a beautiful young farm girl and its effect on her family, but there’s a lot more going on here. A fable for any time; don’t be scared off by the subject matter. Beautifully made.

The Seventh Seal (1957) is frankly difficult. Max Von Sydow is a disillusioned knight on his way home from the crusades. But this one contains incredible set pieces, such as the knight’s chess game with Death. 

When you realize that many of Bergman’s films began as Swedish television dramas, you can only wish we had something similar.

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are strictly for grown-ups.