IVAN REITMAN 

Ivan Retiman was a very interesting guy. He died recently at 75 just after helping produce the latest (last?) film of the Ghostbusters franchise (Afterlife 2019) and even appearing in it as Egon Spendler. He was born in the Czech Republic. His mother was a Holocaust survivor and his father was a resistance fighter during WWII.  

    He is the father of Jason, also a director and producer. Jason has won two Oscars - for Juno (2007) and Up In The Air (2009). Ivan would never be confused with a Martin Scorcese or David Lean, but he had a keen eye for what people wanted to see at the movies. And his films were usually very successful commercially.

    Stripes (1981) features Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as out-of-luck buddies who decide the only thing left is to join the Army. They are wacky slackers who mostly get in trouble until the unlikely happens and they stumble into being heroes. There’s enough funny stuff to carry the somewhat thin plot. 

    Ghostbusters (1984) is so absurd and silly and fun that you can’t help but enjoy it. Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, and Harold Ramis are psychology professors convinced there is a spirit world. They get fired for this and form their own company-Ghostbusters, of course- to rid clients of unwanted spirits. Their business blossoms and winds up inflicting a giant Marshmallow Man on Manhattan. There are lots of laughs along the way. This movie was among the first to use expensive special effects, and it grossed close to three million dollars. It also inspired mediocre sequels. 

    With Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah on hand It ought to be good, and it is. Legal Eagles (1986) is a delightful comedy with a complicated plot. Redford, as an ambitious Asst. DA, and Winger, as a pushy lawyer representing Hannah, who claims she is innocent and that someone stole the paintings her father left to her, keep the action and the laughs rolling. It was supposed to be too expensive, but it made twice as much as it cost. 

    If the president was unable to work, could you find his exact double and fool the world into believing the double was POTUS? In the movies you can, and Dave (1993) makes it happen. Kevin Kline plays Dave Covik, who runs a temp agency in Washington and has a sideline impersonating president Bill Mitchell. When Mitchell has a stroke, his minions talk Dave into acting as president. This works for quite a while.  This film made nearly 100 milliion in receipts. 

    Six Days, Seven Nights (1998) is an action comedy. Robin Monroe (Ann Heche) and Frank Martin (David Schimmer)  are sweethearts on a vacation trip to Makatea, a tropical island. They are flown by Quinn Harris (Harrison Ford). On a working side trip for Robin, Quinn’s plane is struck by lightning and make a crash landing. There are then pirates involved (!)  and the use of a WWII Japanese plane for spare parts before they make it back to Makatea. Everyone decides they’re in love with someone else. This frankly mediocre film made 165 million dollars.

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are OK for 10 and up. 

                                                              RESCUE MOVIES

        Do you maybe remember the saga of the 12 boys and their leader who were stuck in a flooded cave in Thailand? I thought so. Rescues are dramatic and excellent movie material. The Rescue (2021) is a documentary about those boys in the cave. They are isolated by flood waters many kilometers deep in the cave. The only way to get them out is through all that water. It cannot be done. Except it can. Well, you already know that they all made it out pretty much unharmed. But this movie tells in great detail the incredible plan to rescue them. 

You might also remember, though it was further back in time, the 33 miners trapped by a landslide in Chile. With food and oxygen running out, an incredible plan is hatched: Drill a man-sized hole all the way down to their location and hoist them out one at a time. It cannot be done. Except it can. The 33 (2015) is the film about that rescue 69 days after the cave-in. This film is not a documentary but is closely based on the actual events. And after the credits roll many of the actual participants appear on screen. 

Another dramatic recreation of an incredible rescue won the Oscar for Best Movie in 2015. Argo is unbelievable and yet it happened pretty much as the film portrays. This film is Ben Affleck’s baby-he produced and directed it and is the star. After the Iranians storm the US embassy and take the workers hostage the Americans realize that six people are unaccounted for. They are being secreted in a Canadian’s residence and the Iranians don’t know it.  The Americans make a plan to fake the making of a sci fi movie in Iran and use the six sheltered people as actors. This cannot possibly work. But it does.

The Martian (2015) is fictional but nonetheless interesting and gripping. A Mars mission goes bad when a dust storm strikes. The astronauts hustle back to the way out- their rocket- and get back to Earth ok. But one of them is left behind because he was knocked out by the flying debris and is presumed dead. But Mark Watney is alive- and very alone. His survival and eventual rescue are great movie stuff. 

Tom Hanks is utterly convincing as Captain Phillips (2013) skipper of an unarmed cargo ship boarded by Somali pirates. The pirates take the captain hostage and refuse to let him go until millions in ransom are paid. The US Navy is dispatched to the scene but are powerless because Phillips is in the pirate boat with them. Then one of the US sailors has a good idea which works to free the captain. Yep, this is based on a true story. 

Some additional rescue movies worth a look include Apollo 13 (1995), Dunkirk (2017), The Way Back (2010), and Raid On Entebbe (1977). All of he movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.  

                                                  Films of the Irish

        St. Patrick’s day is upon us and time to celebrate all things Irish. Including, of course, movies. There are lots of films by and about the Irish. My picks follow:

        You could not have a better start than the Oscar-nominated Belfast (2021) Kenneth Branagh’s Valentine about his delightful (if somewhat harrowing) childhood in Northern Ireland. Well, it probably won’t win anything but it’s a genuine Irish delight!

        When I think of Irish films I automatically dredge up one of John Wayne’s best parts. He is neither a cowboy nor a soldier in The Quiet Man (1952). Wayne is Sean Thornton, an Irish-born retired boxer from Philadelphia. He returns to the auld sod to purchase the family farm. He falls in love with and marries Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O’Hara) as fiery as her red hair. A dispute with her brother Will ends up in an epic fist fight over Irish traditions. The film was nominated for Best Movie, but lost to The Greatest Show On Earth. However, John Ford won his fourth statute for directing .The cinematography also won Oscar and is quite beautiful. 

        Ondine (2009) brings to the screen an Irish fairy tale about a strange creature  from the sea called a selkie who is perhaps a seal and wants to become a human. Colin Farrell is Circus, a fisherman who pulls up his net to find a partially clad woman who is barely alive but he resuscitates. She becomes involved in his somewhat complicated life, pursuing her wish to help others and to become a real girl. 

        In The Name of the Father (1993) features a dark side of Irish history, the imprisonment of four IRA members falsely accused of bombing a pub killing four British soldiers and a civilian. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and didn’t win a one. The Guildford Four spend years in an English prison while the police ignore evidence of their innocence. Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postelthwaite and Emma Thompson headline a stellar case. 

        Brooklyn (2015) neatly capsules the conflicting desires of Irish immigrants to embrace America or to revert to the Irish homeland. The marvelous Saoirse Ronan is Ellis Lacey, an Irish lass who immigrates to America to find work. She does and she meets, falls in love with and marries Tony. Ellis returns to Ireland to care for her mother and has an affair with an Irish man. She is torn between the two countries, and the two men. Ms. Ronan deservedly won the Oscar as Best Actress. 

    The Guard (2011) is the most commercially successful Irish movie so far. Lackadaisical Irish  cop Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson)  and straight-laced FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle) are the most unlikely of cop buddies. Their activities may interrupt the drug trade. Or maybe not. 

        By the way- your public library has lots of movies and they’re all free!

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

                                                                  Alfred Hitchcock

                                                                 Part 4

        Here are Mr. Movie’s top five Hitchcock films. There could certainly be legitimate arguments about this list and any of the previous ones. Be that as it may, these are really good!

5. Rebecca (1940) is the dead first wife of nobleman Lawrence Olivier, but her ghostly presence looms over all of the characters. Joan Fontaine is superb as the second wife who fears she will never measure up. Dame Judith Anderson is the dour and vaguely threatening housekeeper who constantly reminds Fontaine how wonderful her predecessor was. The ending is a complete shocker. Measures up very well to Daphne du Maurier’s novel.  This was Hitchcock’s first American film and the only one which won the Oscar for best movie.

4. Vertigo (1958) is to heights what Psycho is to showers. James Stewart is a retired cop hired by an old friend to keep an eye on his beautiful wife, Kim Novak. Absolutely riveting suspense holds as scene after scene builds the plot. What exactly is going on is a subject of much discussion among film buffs. Some of Hitchcock’s most famous set pieces, especially the tower scene, are completely fascinating.

3. Dial "M" for Murder (1954) builds suspense to a fever pitch in the first reel, then does it again toward the end. Ray Milland hires a killer to dispatch his wife (Grace Kelly). Then policeman Robert Cummings leads us through the intricate process of figuring out the villain and trying to trap him. Some versions of this film look a little funny because it was shot in 3-D. You get used to it.

2. In North by Northwest (1959) the police think Cary Grant is an assassin and the bad guys think he’s a double agent. Actually, he’s just an advertising man who is neither. He and Eva Marie Saint have one narrow escape after another. Lovely comic touches include Grant having to escape from an art auction full of enemies. The famous scene on Mount Rushmore is still compelling after several viewings, as is the scene with the crop dusting plane. Hitchcock at the top of his game.

1. In Rear Window (1954) photographer James Stewart has broken his leg and is confined to a wheelchair in his apartment. Bored and immobile, he spies on his neighbors across the courtyard and decides he has seen a murder. He tries to convince girlfriend Grace Kelly and nurse Thelma Ritter (and us) that he is right. The suspected villain is Raymond Burr (Perry Mason; Ironside) who started his career as a heavy. Wonderful banter among the three principals and a heart-stopping conclusion. 

By the way, your public library has loads of movies on DVD and it’s free!

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All but Psycho are suitable for children 10 and up.