UP WITH WOMEN

Whatever your political persuasion may be, Hillary Clinton’s near miss in a run for the presidency signaled another upsurge in the hopes of women everywhere. And on the heels of that, a woman vice-president!  I humbly offer some personal choices that look kindly on such hopes. 

Waitress (2007) is an absolute joy. Keri Russell is unhappily married to Earl, a dreadful jerk played to the hilt by Jeremy Sisto. She works as a waitress for sour Cal, survives with the help of her waitress pals and the advice of Old Joe, delightfully portrayed by our own Andy Griffith. She bakes heavenly pies and hopes to win a baking contest. A new doctor provides more than medical interest and I’ll not say more. See this!

Whale Rider (2002) garnered an Oscar nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes as a brave Maori girl who dares to challenge hundreds of years of New Zealand tradition about the roles of the sexes. She wants to be, yearns to be, deserves to be more than just another female fringe character. She is smart, and brave, and an inspiration to us all, whatever our gender. 

A more poisonous tradition is challenged by women in Moolaade (2004). In many African countries, the practice of female genital mutilation is still practiced. In one village, a group of women decide enough is enough and stand up against the terrible custom. It is most interesting that not all the women agree with the rebels. The results are both dreadful and inspiring. 

Hairspray (2007) has lots of cool songs and is a little darker than you might think. Tracy Turnblad (newcomer Nikki Blonsky) doesn’t go along with the existing pattern of race relations in Baltimore and proceeds to make quite a dent in segregation. John Travolta (yes!) is her gravel-voiced Mom, Christopher Walken her clueless Dad, and Michelle Pfeiffer the bigot from Hell. 

The grandmommy of all up-with-women flicks is still Thelma And Louise (1991). Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon turn every road buddy movie convention on its ear and have some fun in the process. I like this film’s tagline: Someone said get a life, so they did. 

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian girl who just wants to be a real person in the unusual Persepolis (2007). Done in black and white animation, it is a cautionary tale about political changes which aren’t always for the better, and growing up female in a culture that demeans women. This film is very dark, but worth the effort to stick with it. 

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. Only Whale Rider is suitable for children. 

                                      GOOD LITTLE-KNOWN MOVIES

                                                            Part 3

        Here’s another handful of pretty good movies that had their brief moment and then vanished. They are probably strangers to you, but maybe you’ll find one or two to try. 

Let’s begin with a really good, off-beat documentary: 20 Feet From Stardom (2013), which won that year’s Best Documentary Oscar. This one is about singers who do back-up work for big stars. Most of them never quite make the leap to stardom. They are uniformly good singers, much admired in the business, and we get to meet a number of them and listen to some of their music. There’s good stuff about how they get their jobs, and how they perform them.

Though it did get one Oscar nomination (for screenplay), Moonrise Kingdom (2012)  was pretty much under the radar. Twelve-year-olds Sam and Suzy met at summer camp, became pen pals and decided to run away together the next summer. Sam is in a summer camp; Suzy is at home nearby, and they hightail it through the woods to a cove they label Moonrise Kingdom. They’re discovered by the grown-ups, escape again, and both fun and danger ensue. This is a real charmer.

Robert Duvall is the county’s crustiest old hermit and he wants to have a bang-up funeral party BEFORE he dies. Bill Murray is the somewhat sleazy local funeral director, in a slump because people aren’t dying quickly enough. He is all for the big party and so are we in Down Low (2010). Sissy Spacek adds sparkle as Duvall’s old flame.

Goodbye Solo (2009) was shot in Winston-Salem and Hanging Rock State Park. It is the story of the somewhat shaky friendship between a Senegalese immigrant taxi driver and a mysterious passenger. When the passenger engages the driver for a long trip in two weeks, the driver realizes the passenger plans to end his life. His herculean efforts to change his mind will engage you to the very end. Director Rahman Bahrani was born and raised in North Carolina, and Roger Ebert called him the next great American director.  

A foreigner worth a look is South Korea’s Poetry (2011). An elderly woman belatedly enrolls in a poetry class at the local college. Her grandson is involved in a horrible crime with a worse ending, and she must decide what to do. She befriends the mother of the victim, and through her writing and thinking learns to look past the obvious and banal to what is truly beautiful and worthwhile. This film won the screenplay award at Cannes, and it’s easy to see why. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Mature kids might enjoy the first two. The rest are for grown-ups. 

                                                            GEORGE SEGAL

George Segal was a reliable singles hitter who muscled up in 1966 and hit one out of the park. He played Nick in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? And he had plenty of company at the Oscar ceremony that year. Elizabeth Taylor won for Best Actress and Sandy Dennis for Best Supporting Actress. Segal and Richard Burton were nominated but didn’t win. Haskel Wexler won one of his many statues for his cinematography of this black and white classic. 

A young couple are met at a university party and invited to the home of Martha and George (Burton and Taylor) for a drink. The hosts become more and more acrimonious toward each other, to the dismay of the guests. Things spin out of control several times and terrible secrets are revealed. This gritty film takes no prisoners. It is hard to watch and hard not to. 

The year before Virginia Woolf Segal had a nice turn as Corporal King in King Rat. In a German prisoner of war camp during WWII, King is indeed the monarch of all he surveys. He is a cunning, resourceful survivor who manages to keep himself in good health and the guards off his back by his maneuvers. The other prisoners put up with him because they have to though he is not exactly an endearing figure. Segal’s smarmy portrayal is right on. 

In The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) Segal plays dull clerk and aspiring novelist Felix against Barbra Streisand’s actress/prostitute. The film makes good use of the contrast between the two as they somehow navigate various hardships together. This is a comedy that isn’t all that funny, but it grows on you. 

Segal is the title character in Blume In Love (1973). The film begins with Blume alone in Venice, wondering how he managed to lose his true love (Nina, played by Susan Anspach) by his unfaithfulness. Their married lives are revealed in a series of flashbacks, and Blume steps up his efforts to win her back. Blume is right much of a worm but he keeps trying to repair the damage. 

George Segal is Steve and Glenda Jackson is Vickie as an extremely unlikely couple in A Touch Of Class (1973). Their differences make for some very funny scenes and though he was the producer’s third choice for the role ( Cary Grant and Roger Moore turned him down) he does a good job in a fairly difficult part. 

George Segal’s last movie role of note came in 1974 as Bill Denny in California Split . Bill is a sporadic lukewarm gambler who meets and befriends Charlie Waters (Eliot Gould) who gambles for a living. They have various gambling adventures until Bill goes on an incredible hot streak and wins nearly $100,000. The ending is at best equivocal, but Hollywood could not at that time glorify gambling too much.

Though Segal continued to work a lot in TV and movies until his death at the age of 87, there’s not much after this to talk about. 

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

                                                                Larry McMurtry

Larry McMurtry left us recently at age 84.  He was involved in the making of some of the greatest movies of all time. Some were taken from his novels and he wrote the screenplay for others. These are the best of those films.

Hud (1963) is based on McMurtry’s fine novel Horseman Pass By. It is a terrific film featuring Paul Newman as a thoroughly bad guy. He was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Sidney Poitier for Lilies Of The Field, in which Poitier’s character is as nice as Newman’s character was nasty. Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas did win Oscars, as did James Wong Howe for cinematography. On a cattle ranch threatened by bovine disease, patriarch Douglas tries to steer his errant son Hud in the right direction with very doubtful results. 

The Last Picture Show (1971) is an absolutely splendid film about the denizens of a small, dusty Texas town. Their lives and loves range from desperate to hectic. Larry McMurtry co-wrote the screenplay with director Peter Bogdanovich. They were nominated for an Oscar but lost to Ernest Tidyman for The French Connection. Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman won statues for their performances. The film got six more nominations. Well, Airport was nominated for best film but not Last Picture Show. Good grief!

Terms Of Endearment (1983) won just about everything on Oscar night. It was based on Larry McMurtry’s fine novel of the same name. James L. Brooks won an Oscar for his screen adaptation. Other winners included best movie, best director (Brooks), Shirley MacLaine for best actress and Jack Nicholson for best supporting actor. This is a real tear-jerker with MacLaine at the bedside of dying daughter Debra Winger. Nicholson has a fine time as MacLaine’s romantic interest and reluctant family member.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) featured a screenplay which won the Oscar by McMurtry and producer Diana Ossanna. This is a daring, taboo-breaking movie that will either outrage you or break your heart. Maybe both. Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger are hired to protect their employer’s sheep in a cold, lonely locale. Their proximity leads to romance, though both go on to “normal” lives after the job is over. 

And finally, what I think is the best mini-series ever made, the marvelous Lonesome Dove (1989). McMurtry and director Peter Bogdonavich wrote the screenplay about retired Texas rangers hired to drive cattle from Texas to Montana. Gus, played by Robert Duvall, and Call, played by Tommy Lee Jones, are perfectly paired. Gus is the garrulous fun-loving rascal and Call is the silent, brooding don’t-mess-with-me partner. Also appearing along the way are Diane Lane, Robert Urich, Danny Glover, and a host of others. Their adventures include a flood, a stampede, an Indian attack, and a snake encounter. It is Duvall’s constant chatter that carries this four-episode film, though he has plenty of help. This very successful series sired a bunch of follow-ups, including Return To Lonesome Dove, Streets Of Laredo and Dead Man’s Walk. As is usually the case, these “offspring” are just OK. 

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