Ryan O’Neal

        So good looking he was almost pretty, Ryan O’Neal captured the hearts of female film fans everywhere. He had an incredible run of movies in the 1970's and then just kind of flamed out. He always had plenty of work, but personal problems dented his career after initial success. He died recently at 80.

    Love Story (1970) was his first big break. As Oliver, he loved and tended to the slowly dying Jenny (Ali McGraw). This is a four-handkerchief flick that leaves no tears unshed. It also immortalized the catch phrase “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” I think those of us who are married may quibble with this, but it’s famous nonetheless. The 2021 film with the same title is an Indian movie and no relation.

Paper Moon (1973) is a terrific film with Ryan as scam artist Moses Pray and his real daughter Tatum as Addie Loggins. Moses is tasked with getting Addie from Kansas to her relatives in Missouri. His attempt to con her out of her inheritance backfires and he has to take her on as a fellow con artist. Though only a child, Addie is a willing participant as the pair wreaks  flim-flam havoc across the mid-west.  Tatum not only steals the movie but also wins the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. Not bad for a 9-year-old! 

  Ryan O’Neal is the title guy in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon (1975). He is an Irish scamp who fights in the Seven Years War, weds a titled woman, climbs the social ladder and has many adventures. Kubrick was nominated for three Oscars for this film but the only wins were for technical achivements. His cinematography broke new ground and is still praised today. The film is listed in the director’s poll at 12th and the critics’ poll at 45th. But- it is way too long: 3 hours and 23 minutes! In theaters it had an intermission. You can have one at home (if you can find this movie).

Continuing with his appearance in really long movies, Ryan O’Neal plays General James Gavin in A Bridge Too Far (1977). He is certainly not one of the major cast members, an all-star assemblage including Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford,  Michael Caine and Sir Laurence Olivier. This film chronicles the Allies’ landing far behind the front lines in Holland, to capture a vital bridge. Things don’t go well and the attempt fails miserably. Running just one minute short of three hours, one snarky critic labeled it “A film too long.”

The final appearance of Ryan O’Neal in a film of note is as the title character in The Driver (1978). He is a well-known criminal driver and the police want him. They offer three low-level thugs a deal if they can deliver The Driver. They envelope him in a heist and things get complicated. No more revelations here.

All of the movies in this article are for adults only, except Paper Moon which can be enjoyed by most any age. 

                                                                 Frances Sternhagen

    Frances Sternhagen left us recently at 93. What a showbiz career she had! She won two Emmys for Cheers (playing Millicent Carter, Noah Wyle’s mom) and once for Sex and the City. She was nominated seven times for the Tony, and won twice, for The Heiress and The Good Doctor. She has well over 100 listing for movies and TV roles. If you Google her you will be nodding in recognition at her picture.. Her movie resume’ is outstanding.

    In the poignant, often funny, Up The Down Staircase (1967) she has a nice turn as the school librarian. The title comes from students being written up by the assistant principal, for going the wrong way on the stairs! Sandy Dennis is the star, a newly minted teacher in a tough big city school. The administrative quagmire and the disruptive students haven’t improved much in the intervening fifty-plus years! 

Outland (1981) is a good sci-fi film set on Jupiter’s moon Io. A colony of workers mine lithium in this difficult environment. O’Neil (Sean Connery) is one of the few good guys when there is a worker’s deadly revolt. Frances Sternhagen plays Dr. Lazarus, the outpost scientist. She helps O’Neil overcome the attack of the bad guys in ingenious ways. 

Landfall (2001) features Frances as Emily, a courageous indomitable woman who has lived through two of Florida’s worst disasters: The 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. These are, of course, real events. It’s a star turn for Ms. Sternhagen. The recreation of the storms is intermixed with actual footage and is truly scary. Of course, Florida has had hurricanes since 1992 that are just as bad or worse, but that doesn’t detract from this good film. 

Julie and Julia (2009) is a real charmer. Meryl Streep appears as Julia Child, who defied French sexism, went to cooking school, wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking and became a TV personality. The book contains dozens of recipes, most of them quite complicated. Never mind. Julie (Amy Adams) lives in New York City in a tiny apartment with a tiny stove. She decides that she will make every recipe in the Child book during the course of a year. Frances Sternhagen appears (briefly) as Erma Rombauer, the author of another iconic cookbook- The Joy Of Cooking. She sees both Julia and Julie as interlopers into her her domain. Fortunately, both of them ignored her. This delightful film is based on the book of the same name, and yes, this actually happened. If you’ve never seen it, do yourself a favor. And oh, yes, by all means read the book!

All of the movies in this article are for adults. While there’s nothing harmful about the first and last, I don’t think kids would really enjoy them. 

                                                       Good Films You Never Heard Of

                                                                        Part 8

From Mr. Movie’s endless vault (almost) I present another clutch of pretty good films you probably never heard of. Give one or two a look.(If you can find them!)

    Even if you don’t like baseball (shame on you!) I think you would enjoy Fastball (2016), a very good documentary  It explores the science and the myths about baseballs being thrown at incredible speeds. Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron and other notable baseballers join narrator Kevin Costner in this fascinating doc. Many players insist that a fastball rises as it crosses the plate, while scientists say this isn’t possible. The debate rages on- and it is lots of fun to watch it! 

I freely admit a lifelong love of all things Winnie The Pooh. So of course I really liked Christopher Robin (2018), a film about the little boy grown into a man. When trouble comes, Pooh shows up in his back yard. Together they return to the Hundred Acre Wood where all the other little animals are on hand to help. Oh bother! Things get bumpy but smooth out quite well. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) Is based on Lee Israel’s book of the same name. Melissa McCarthy portrays the woman who got really good at forging the signature of authors and creating valuable editions. Richard Grant plays her abetter, often taking their forgeries to dealers for cash. This is a fascinating story well played. Both actors were nominated for Oscars, but lost to Olivia Colman for The Favourite and Mahershala Ali for Green Book.

What They Had (2018)is an excellent portrayal of the family situation so many face. The family’s matriarch is fading into dementia. The kids want her to be in a caring facility.  The father is dead set against it, insisting he can take care of her. Such stubborn insistence has been faced by many children. But she is the love of his life and he just can’t let go. Blythe Danner, Hillary Swank, Michael Shannon and Robert Forster comprise a crackerjack cast. 

The Fault In Our Stars (2014) is a better than average coming of age flick, marked indelibly by the wonderful breakout performance of Shaliene Woodley. Veterans William Dafoe and Laura Dern pump up the supporting cast, but this is Ms. Woodley’s movie, lock stock and barrel. Though she’s only 32, she already has over 50 acting credits. This one is worth seeing just for her performance.

All of the movies in this column are available (somewhere). The first three are fine for all ages. The last two, grown-ups only. 

                                                             Ernest Hemingway movies

                                                                 Part 2

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most popular writers of the twentieth century. Many of his stories were made into movies. He loathed Hollywood and steadfastly refused to write screenplays. However he obviously sold the rights to most of his work to the silver screen moguls. So he was ok with taking the money! Here is another batch of Hemingway-inspired films.

The Sun Also Rises (1957) features Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Mel Ferrer and Errol Flynn. Hemingway hated it; walked out after 25 minutes. Viewers loved it. Inspired by the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. It contains that spectacle, lots of gorgeous scenery and a red hot love story between the main actors. 

The Old Man and the Sea (1958) stars legendary Spencer Tracy as a Cuban fisherman whose has gone 84 days without a catch. On the next day he hooks a gigantic marlin and tries to haul it to shore. He is beset by the distance to the shore  and predatory sharks making his attempt basically impossible. Hemingway saw this as a struggle between man’s courage and the pitiless elements. There is a 1999 animated version that sticks pretty close to the original, but with perhaps a happier ending. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film that year. 

The Gun Runners (1958) has Audie Murphy, as Sam Martin, an honest American charter boat captain who is forced into running guns for the Cuban revolution.  Murphy became a so-so actor after winning the Medal of Honor and lot more medals.He was  the most decorated soldier of World War II. The lobby card for this one says, in big red print: Hemingway-Hot Adventure!  And it does have lots of excitement and a decent plot. This story was earlier made a film in 1950 (The Breaking Point) with John Garfield. It is just as good, but instead of guns the captain is running crooks. The lobby card for this one reads: Screaming Off The Pages Of A Hemingway Story! Wow.

Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man (1962) Ernest got the right to approve everything in this one. After all, they did pay him to use his name. He wrote a bunch of excellent short stories about Nick Adams, and their popularity led to this movie. Richard Beymer plays Nick. He is bored with his Michigan parents, roams the country finding adventures and eventually enlists as an ambulance driver for the Italian army during World War I. He is seriously wounded and finds himself back in Michigan to recover. 

We have to fast forward forty years for the last film in this article. Across The River and Into The Trees (2022) has Liev Schreiber as Colonel Richard Cantwell slowly dying from a heart condition. Flashbacks are used to tell the story of his time as a soldier in World War I, first in the Italian arm and later in the American. The book got bad reviews but became a best seller. The film hews close to the novel of the same name and is pretty good. 

All of these movies are for adults. 

                                                      Ernest Hemingway movies

                                                             Part 1

        A friend was telling me about visiting the Ernest Hemingway home in Key West and my mind turned (of course!) to movies. Could I dig out enough movies based on Hemingway works for a column? Actually, I could find enough for two columns and this is the first.

A Farewell To Arms (1932) starred heavy hitters Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper as star-crossed lovers during World War 1. She is Catherine (Hayes) a nurse who meets Frederick (Cooper) when she cares for the wounded soldier. She becomes pregnant during their affair and in the original version she dies at the end. The film ran afoul not only of people wanting a happy ending but of The Code and was mercilessly chopped up. It’s still pretty good. The 1957 version is also quite good with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones as the lovers. Either film is a three-handkerchief event. 

For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943) is another romantic story , this time during the Spanish Civil War.  Gary Cooper is back as Robert Jordan, an American living in Spain as an English language teacher. Jordan joins the International Brigade, fighting against the Franco led falangists. He is also an expert munitions expert specializing in dynamite. He is assigned to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. En route he meets Maria (Jennifer Jones) and sparks fly. The bridge is blown but the falangists chase the good guys. Jordan is grievously wounded but he mans a machine gun against the bad guys, allowing his companions (and Maria) to escape. This film got nine Oscar nominations, but only won for Supporting Actress (Katina Paxinou). 

The Killers (1946) introduced filmdom to Burt Lancaster (The Swede) who is shot to death early in the film. Jim Reardon (Edmond O’Brien) is an insurance investigator looking for the Swede’s life insurance beneficiary. His search uncovers the story of how the Swede left boxing because of an injured hand and fell into a life of crime. The plot involves a complicated heist and several double-crosses. The 1964 version isn’t quite as good. It features Lee Marvin and a guy named Reagan who might have a future in politics. The first part of the movie including the shooting are taken from a Hemingway story. The rest is not. 

The Macomber Affair (1947) features Robert Preston as Macomber, an American on a Kenyan safari with his wife Margot (Joan Bennett) and their guide Robert Wilson (Gregory Peck). This ill-fated triangle winds up in a murder trial when Margot shoots her husband dead. Or maybe she was aiming a charging water buffalo?

Back to Africa for The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) where Harry Street (Gregory Peck) lays dying at the base of the big mountain, suffering a slow demise from an infected thorn prick. A famous writer, he reminisces about his life and times, and is tended by Helen (Susan Hayward). One fine memory is of his first wife Cynthia (Ava Gardner), a character invented for this film. 

In almost all of the movies the writers played fast and loose with Hemingway’s stories. Since he had sold the rights, there wasn’t much he could do about it. But at least he could spurn the lure of Hollywood as a script writer, because he refused to do that. Oh, and all of these films are for grown-ups. 

                                                                       DANCING

Every society has dancing. OK, maybe not Afghanistan. Many people love to dance and even more love to watch dancing. Hollywood is right there with the wonderful Astaire-Rogers movies, the MGM musicals, and there’s even a whole film about it aptly named That’s Dancing (1985). In these films, the dancers are professionals in the story as well as personally.

What about just your ordinary Joe and Jane who just like to dance? I thought you’d never ask. There are some wonderful movies on just that subject.

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) stars Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as an older couple who discover each other at the Stardust Ballroom. This is a made-for-TV movie, but it is excellent. The actors are good, the dancing is fun, and the story is a good and unusual one demonstrating that even people over 50 can fall in love and be romantic.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) is about the little-known Depression era phenomenon of marathon dancing. Jane Fonda is impossibly young and fresh and Michael Sarazin plays her partner. Gig Young (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor) is wonderfully sinister and seedy as the master of ceremonies. The whole thing works on several levels, as a fascinating look at a long-ago fad and as a metaphor for lives.

Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) is about ballroom dancing contests down under, and it provides a peek at a world most of us didn’t even know existed; it’s almost a parallel universe. Paul Mercurio is the hot-blooded individualist who takes on ugly duckling Tara Morice as a new partner. She blossoms, and they enter the big contest. Loads of fun.

Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) is an absolutely superb movie about a Japanese businessman who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons to brighten up his very dull life. He meets lots of interesting characters, becomes a proficient dancer and also rather poignantly meets himself. This is one of the best films you probably never heard of. 

And by the way, remember all those movies where the kids in town want to (fill in the blank): twist, lambada, Charleston, rock and roll, tango, breakdance, etc, etc, and the blue-nosed grownups want to stop them? Are any of those any good? No.

All of the movies in this column are fine for children 10 and up.

                                                                           Piper Laurie

        Piper Laurie made quite a splash in her first big role, playing opposite superstar Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961). The film, now considered a classic, also featured George C. Scott and the surprising Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats.. Newman is Fast Eddie Felson, a somewhat talented pool hustler. He meets Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), a not-recovering alcoholic. They begin living together and Eddie challenges Fats to a pool shoot-out. Eddie gets way ahead.  Sarah does her best to get Eddie to quit, but he doesn’t listen. Laurie was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Sophia Loren for Two Women. 

Finding no interesting parts for an actress, Piper Laurie took a 15-year break from acting. She decamped to upstate New York and devoted her time to her sculpting and being a Mom. Her comeback role garnered another Oscar nomination. She played the abusive mother of Carrie (1976) in the truly scary adaptation of a Stephen King story. Sissy Spacek was terrifying as Carrie. Laurie lost this time to Beatrice Straight for Network.

    Piper Laurie’s last Oscar nomination, another loss, was for Children of a Lesser God (1986). She plays the mother of Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin). Sarah is a nearly deaf janitor and student at the school for the deaf where James Leeds (William Hurt) is hired as a new teacher. The film features the debate between sign language and lip reading. This time Laurie lost the statue to Diane Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters.

    Piper Laurie died recently at the age of 91. She never lacked for work, but never quite made it back to the pinnacle of her early parts. In Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993) she plays Georgia, the sometimes girlfriend of Frank (Richard Harris). The film also has Robert Duvall as Walter and Shirley Maclaine as Helen.

    Her final good part was in The Grass Harp (1995). She is just really good as the mildly eccentric Dolly Talbo, the best thing in the movie. She is surrounded by a stellar cast including Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Roddy MacDowell, Jack Lemon and Mary Steenburgen. Based on a Truman Capote story, it is a fairly standard small-town-in-the South-with-lots-of-characters film. 

    Piper Laurie also had good TV roles in The Thorn Birds and as George Clooney’s mother, Sarah Ross, on ER.

    All of the movies in this article are for adults. No idea where you might find them. 

                                                          Michael Gambon

        Name not familiar? Well, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, shame on you. Michael Gambon was in every single Potter film as Professor Albus Dumbledore. Google his name and when you see his face the chances are you’ll say something like, “Oh yeah, that guy”.

But the Potter films hardly begin to tell the story of Michael Gambon’s incredibly long and varied film career. He lists over 200 acting credits. Here are Mr. Movie’s opinion of the best.

Victoria and Abdul (2017) is the last big Gambon movie. Queen Victoria (Judi Dench), lonely and tired of her sycophant servants and children, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Abdul (Ali Fazal) an Indian Muslim who is dispatched to England to present the Queen with a medal struck in her honor. Michael Gambon is spot on as Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister and dead set against this relationship. Based on a true story, this is a real charmer. 

    Annette Bening owns Being Julia (2004) lock, stock and barrel, but that’s ok because she is absolutely super as an aging actress who still knows a trick or two. Michael Gambon is her mentor and stalwart defender throughout. She seems always “on stage” to her college-aged son and her producer-husband (Jeremy Irons). She is roughly pushed aside by a director and young ingenue. Then she pushes back! What fun!

    One of the earliest Gambon hits is the entertaining Turtle Diary (1985). Neaera Duncan (Glenda Jackson) happens upon William Snow ( Ben Kingsley) at the Aquarium. They agree the turtles shouldn’t be cooped up this way and hatch a plan to return them to the sea. Incredibly, the zookeeper in charge of the turtles (yep, Michael Gambon) offers to help them do it.

    The aptly named The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) finds Michael Gambon opposite another British icon, Helen Mirren. Gambon plays churlish gangster Albert Spica. He buys an upscale restaurant and quickly drives away most of the customers by his behavior. His wife Georgina (Mirren) is disgusted by his conduct and starts an affair with a customer. Her disgusting husband finds out and plans a terrible revenge. You won’t find out from me!

    Gosford Park (2001) features Michael Gambon as wealthy, stodgy Sir William McCordle, who throws a huge dinner party that contains a wealth of British acting royalty. Stephen Fry, Eileen Atikins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith are just a few of the players. After dinner there is a murder, but this is a dark comedy directed by Robert Altman, so there is plenty of fun viewing things through the eyes of the staff and the guests. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning only Best Original Screenplay.

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere. All are for adults. 

                                                              Carson McCullers

                  Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, GA and died when she was only 50. Some of her novels have been made in to heartbreakingly wonderful movies that will always be around. I’ll start with her first, and one that is permanently situated in my all-time top 10.

    The Member of the Wedding (1952) is just so good. Twelve-year-old Frankie (Julie Harris) is a moody tomboy who is jealous and distraught over her older brother’s impending marriage. She can’t believe the couple isn’t taking her along on their honeymoon! Her caretaker is Berenice (Ethel Waters) and her best friend is little John Henry (Brandon DeWilde) who lives next door. She runs away, is nearly assaulted, and finally comes to a shaky understanding with the help of Berenice. Harris was nominated for Oscar but lost to Shirley Booth for Come Back Little Sheba. I notice that others (a 6 on Rotten Tomatoes!) do not share my affection for this film. I don’t care.

    Reflections in a Golden Eye (1957) is pure Southern Gothic. Major Weldon Pendleton (Marlon Brando) and his beautiful spoiled wife Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) have more problems than the Middle East. There’s also a thing with horses and something about latent homosexuality. Brian Keith and Julie Harris play another dysfunctional couple. The first sentence of the novel sets the tone for this rather frantic jumble: “There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed.”

Alan Arkin knocks it out of the park as deaf mute John Singer in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Singer just tries to help people and is successful more often than not. Sondra Locke is quite good as teen-age Mick, one of Singer’s friends. Singer rents a room in a small Southern town to be near his friend Spiros, who is also deaf. The ending is hard to take- be warned. But this is a good one.

So if you were casting a Southern woman who is a bootlegger, would you select British acting royalty? Well, Vanessa Regrave was the choice to play Amelia, and it maybe works. Her cousin convinces her to open a café, and it is the featured place in The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991). Keith Carradine is on hand to play her divorced husband, recently discharged from prison. Her perhaps cousin Lyman (unknown Cork Huppert) is allowed to move in with her and help run things. 

The last (?) film from a McCullers work is A Tree A Rock A Cloud (2017) a short film based on a short story featuring largely unknown actors. A young boy’s chance encounter with an old man leads to the getting of wisdom from an original source. 

That’s maybe not all, folks. The excellent McCullers novel Clock Without Hands is, as far as I know, available for filming. Somebody should grab it. Stay tuned.

All of the movies in this article are for adults. 

                                                              CAR RACE MOVIES

I recently saw director Ron Howard’s (remember Opie?) bang-up car racing movie, Rush (2013). It is about the Formula One (open wheel) rivalry in the 1970's between handsome, charismatic Brit James Hunt and stolid, matter-of-fact Austrian Riki Lauda. It’s a very good story, with mostly unknown actors, and the racing parts are edge-of-your seat convincing. And, this film put me in mind of other movies about automobile racing. There are dozens; these are my favorites.

While most Americans have never heard of Ayrton Senna, he was Argentina’s Formula One champion in the 1990's and Senna (2010) is an outstanding documentary about his life, on the track and off. It’s hard to fathom what a big deal he was in his home country- think Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle and Richard Petty rolled into one. Tragically, he was killed in a freak racing accident at the height of his powers. 

Days Of Thunder (1990) is about NASCAR racing. Director Tony Scott gets the racing parts on the screen quite well. This film has an excellent storyline, and a dynamite cast featuring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid, and Robert Duvall. There are also cameos by some real life racers, like Rusty Wallace, Harry Gant and Neil Bonnet. 

The world of drag racing will never be the same after the impact Shirley Muldowney made in the late 1970's as the first woman in the sport. Heart Like A Wheel (1983) is her story, and Bonnie Bedelia is superb playing her. There is the usual stuff about girls can’t do this, but this girl absolutely can and proves it by winning three championships.

          Le Mans (1971) and Grand Prix (1966) are both good Formula One movies. The first stars Steve McQueen and so little dialog and so much racing footage from the actual 1970 Le Mans race that American audiences didn’t like it (but car race fans love it!). The latter stars James Garner and was a big hit with US audiences. 

The Last American Hero (1973) features Jeff Bridges as NASCAR legend and fellow Tar Heel Junior Johnson, and is fairly accurate for a Hollywood bio.

Last but not least, Will Ferrell is wonderfully clueless in the hysterically funny Talladega Nights (2006). A movie that makes fun of just about everything NASCAR, it is not well-loved by race fans but everyone else laughs their heads off. It is not in the least accurate, but it is in the most really funny.

All of the films in this column are fine for 10 and over. I must admit that because of the subject matter almost all of them would be better on the big screen. Well, we can’t always have everything we want!

                                                                       Nurse Movies

There are quite a number of good movies featuring nurses. Okay, a lot of them are about bad ones. But not all. 

Perhaps the most famous movie nurse is one of the worst. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the hateful tyrant who makes life even more miserable for the inmates of a psych hospital. She has a ferocious battle of wits with Randle (Jack Nicholson) which ends badly for both. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) won about everything on Oscar night: Best Picture, Best Director, Screenplay, Nicholson for Best Actor,and Fletcher for Best Actress. It deserves all of them. This is an American classic and Fletcher is the worst nurse imaginable. 

Maybe even worse, from the standpoint of results, is The Good Nurse (2022) with Jessica Chastain as the good nurse, Amy Loughren,  and Eddie Redmayne as the bad nurse, Charile Cullen.  In this film he portrays a very nice and competent nurse who is also a  mass murderer who kills patients in a sly, diabolical manner. No, he doesn’t know them. Yes, this is based on a true story. And yes, Redmayne is sensational as the killer and good friend to Amy, a single mom struggling with her obligations. The film is also instructive about bad nurses, and rogue cops, who glide from one job to another, wreaking chaos at each stop, with each new place none the wiser.

     The English Patient (1996) was nominated for an incredible 12 Oscars and won 9 of them, including Best Picture.  Anthony Minghella won for Best Director and Juliette Binoche for Best Supporting Actress. Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas were nominated but didn’t win. Hana (Binoche) is a nurse that tries to care for a blinded soldier who can’t remember anything about his identity but speaks with an English accent. The plot is convoluted, and the movie is very long (2 hours, 42 minutes) but worth the time it takes. 

While Wit (2001) is really Emma Thompson’s (Vivian Bearing) movie, there is a great nurse role. Directed by Mike Nichols, it features Christopher Lloyd and Eileen Atkins as physicians experimenting with a new treatment for Bearing’s advanced ovarian cancer. But it is Audra MacDonald, a dedicated nurse, who seems the only person really concerned about a human connection to the patient. The personal touch of a caring nurse is still extremely important. 

Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now (2013) is a splendid documentary about real nurses in real situations. It was directed by Kathy Douglas, who knows how to take her time and tell each story well. A salute to nurses everywhere, this is a terrific movie. 

Some other good nurse movies are So Proudly We Hail (1943), Prison Nurse (1938), and Florence Nightingale (1985). All of the movies in this article are for grown-ups and kids who are fairly mature. I know they’re on DVD but I no longer have any idea where you can find them. Sorry. 

                                                                Peter Dinklage

He tops out at four feet, four inches. And yet, he has become a giant in the acting field. Peter Dinklage may be small, but his talent is way big!

    His best known role is as Tyrion Lannister in the award winning television series Game Of Thrones (2011-2019). He was nominated for an Emmy an incredible nine times, and he won four of them. He is known in the business for his kindness and humility. Some of his colleagues on the show said they found it hard to play parts where they were mean to his character. He has been married to Erica since 2005 and they have two children. Now only 54, he’s just getting started. 

The Dinklage resume’  includes quite a number of excellent movies. He was already well known for his stage work when he made his movie break-out in Living In Oblivion (1995) playing an actor frustrated by the limitations placed on his career because of his size. 

In Elf (2003) he almost steals the thing as a bad-tempered, thin-skinned children’s book author Miles Finch.  Will Farrell actually plays the title character, who lands at the North Pole and is named Buddy by his colleagues because that’s the trade name on his diaper. Buddy’s total cluelessness  is hilarious. So is Finch’s meanness. 

   In the strangely-named Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Dinklage appears as James, who happens by to put out the burning police station. The plot revolves around Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) renting three billboards to advertise the fact that law enforcement has not caught the man who raped and killed her daughter. Police chief Willoughby (Woody Harrellson) and deputy Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) unsuccessfully try to get Mildred to take the billboards down. Both McDormand and Rockwell won Oscars for this film. 

In Rostand’s novel Cyrano is too shy to court Roxanne because of his outsize nose. In Cyrano (2021) Peter Dinklage plays the character as too shy to court Roxanne because of his diminutive size. This is the musical version. Dinklage isn’t a strong singer but his swaggering but vulnerable Cyrano reveling in words but aching with love is spot on.  It works!

I saved the best for last. One of my all time favorite movies is The Station Agent (2003). Dinklage plays Finbar McBride. Fin quietly works in a model train hobby shop. When the owner dies, he leaves an abandoned train car to Fin. He moves in and makes it his home, hoping for solitude. But neighbor Joe Aramas (Bobby Cannavale) and lonely, grieving Olivia (Patricia Clarkson) befriend him anyway. Clarkson’s performance is spectacular. As is the bar scene when Finbar vents his rage at being demeaned because of his size. 

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere. All are for adults.  

                                                  Good Films You Never Heard Of 

                                                         Part 7

    From Mr. Movie’s apparently bottomless trunk, here are another batch of really good movies most of you have probably never heard of. Give one or more a try!

    Beatriz At Dinner (2017) gives diminutive Salma Hayek a chance to shine. She plays a massage therapist with her own business. When her car breaks down after a session with super rich Kathy, she is invited to stay for dinner. The other guests include Doug Strutt (aptly named and played to the hilt by John Lithgow). When Beatriz enters the room, Doug assumes she is a servant and acts accordingly. Even when he discovers otherwise, he continues to be the quintessential bigot. My daughter and I both loved everything about this film except the ending. What do you think? 

Crown Heights (2017) is one of the best innocent-man-sent-to-prison films I’ve ever seen. It is based on a true, and unbelievable, story. There is no one in it you’ve ever heard of, but that’s to the good. Colin Warner was no Boy Scout. He had a long rap sheet and was up to no good the night Mario Hamilton was shot and killed. But he had nothing to do with the murder although an eye witness says that he did. His best friend loses his job and his family to gather proof of Colin’s innocence. It takes a while. Like 21 years. Spellbinding film!

Remember that incredibly cute couple in Barefoot In The Park (1967)? Okay, maybe you don’t. Anyway, Jane Fonda and Robert Redford are back 50 years later in Our Souls At Night (2017) Based on Kent Haruf’s wonderful book, it is the story of two aging people finding companionship and even romance. Both have survived the death of a spouse, and the story begins when she asks him to come over and sleep with her. Platonically, just for the warmth and comfort of another person. He reluctantly agrees

Five Flights Up (2014) also stars two actors who are consummate pros. Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton are a couple who have been married many years. Their nice apartment is up five flights of stairs. There is no elevator and they’re getting up in years. The plot, such as it is, deals with their search for a new place, their care for their aged dog, and their relationship with their daughter. Just a nice time at the movies!

An Honest Liar (2014) is a riveting documentary about James Randi, a magician by trade. He tells you he is going to fool you, and then he does. There is nothing supernatural about the magic of true magicians. He despises and sets out to destroy charlatans who bilk the public by pretending they have supernatural powers. How they do their tricks, and how he catches and exposes them, is quite good.

All of the films in this article are theoretically available on DVD. A word about availability: With the demise of Netflix DVD discs, it will be hard to find these and other recommended films. I always check with Amazon and if they have the disc, I say it’s available. But it may not be free. Your library has many DVDs that appear in this column, though not by any means all of them. You can share my sadness.

                                                  EVAN HUNTER A/K/A ED MCBAIN

Evan Hunter died  at 78. He wrote under several names and was one of the most prolific authors of our time. As Ed McBain he produced 55 wonderful 87th precinct novels, the best police procedurals ever written. Some were made into a mediocre TV series in the 60's; there is an unmined lode here someone should use. Mr. McBain invented the crime novel using an ensemble cast, copied without apology by Hill Street Blues, CSI, and a host of other crime shows. Reading 87th novels, you get to know Meyer Meyer, Steve Carella, Cotton, Hal, Eileen , Andy and of course Fat Ollie and the Deaf Man. Will somebody please make this into a series? 

In 1955 Mr. Hunter wrote Blackboard Jungle based on his experiences teaching at a vocational school. It became a surprise blockbuster book, and super movie with Glenn Ford. Nearly 70 years later it remains the best movie about what really goes on in high school, and the sometimes dangerous problems teachers face. 

The legendary Alfred Hitchcock knew the writer he wanted for his terrifying The Birds (1963)- it was Evan Hunter, who obliged. The pair produced what is still one of the scariest movies ever made; it makes the teen-age slasher genre seem tame. Ever wonder what would happen if Mother Nature really turned against us?

Mr. Hunter’s strangest credit came in 1962 when he wrote the screenplay for High and Low, a very interesting thriller based on one of his stories. Why strange? Well, it’s a Japanese movie,  in Japanese, shot in Japan, with a Japanese cast and crew. Of course we can get it with subtitles, and it’s really a very good story about a businessman who nobly pays the ransom for his chauffeur’s kidnaped son. 

Fuzz (1972) is based on an 87th precinct story and Mr. Hunter wrote the screenplay. Unfortunately, the movie, with Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch, never makes up its mind what it wants to be, and it is not very good. The book was really good, though. 

On the other hand, Last Summer (1969) is a terrific movie about some kids spending their summer at the beach. It is firmly based on an Evan Hunter story. Frank Perry directed a fine ensemble cast featuring incredibly young Richard Thomas and Barbara Hershey. The film does a fine job evoking the presence of evil even in the most idyllic settings. 

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD.  All are for mature audiences. 

    A word about availability: Now that Netflix is no longer doing discs, it will get harder and harder to find movies you can watch at home. Mr. Movie checks with Amazon to see if there is a DVD out there. But these are not free...

                                                        BLACK AND WHITE FOREVER

Colorization is the bastardization of black and white films into dreadful colors. It has been around for a while. Ted Turner famously tried to colorize Citizen Kane, but he encountered such a firestorm of outraged opposition that he dropped the idea. He, and others, just won’t let it go. And the process produces a dim, washed out look. .Good grief!

Lots of movie fans I know tell me they just won’t watch any movie in black and white. BIG MISTAKE! Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, About Schmidt) decided to film Nebraska (2013) in black and white. Excellent choice! Bruce Dern is an aged alcoholic bordering on dementia who receives one of those “you’ve already won one million dollars” things and believes it. He is determined to venture from Montana to Nebraska to claim his prize. He can’t be convinced it’s a scam. Will Forte, really good as his son, decides to humor him and make it a road trip. And June Squibb is superb as Dern’s long-suffering wife. The film got five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The dreary, barren Midwestern landscape, the dingy small towns and the dysfunctional family members are perfect in black and white. 

And remember while we’re on this topic that a black and white movie, The Artist, won the Best Picture Oscar for 2011 (it’s also silent!). 

Orson Welles perhaps understood how to use the subtle shadings of black and white better than anyone else. His landmark film Citizen Kane (1941) is exhibit A. But an even better use of the medium, though a lesser film, is The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) which is shot almost entirely in the gloomy old Amberson mansion.

In Raging Bull (1980), the brutality and violence of the ring (and the kitchen) are more exquisitely captured in black and white than any color imaginable. The sleazy, smoky nightclubs that become Jake LaMotta's environment seem much more oppressive and atmospheric in black and white.

Casablanca (1942) has dark filmic echoes of the war and the end of a culture, and is one of the most romantic films ever made. I cannot imagine it in color. 

My favorite example of black and white cinematography is How Green Was My Valley (1941), about life in a Welsh mining village and a boy who wants out. Use your freeze button on any frame in this movie and you could hang it on your wall. 

Some other splendid examples of black and white: Schindler’s List (1993), The Hustler (1961), High Noon 1952, On the Waterfront (1954), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Good Night And Good Luck (2005) and Brief Encounter (1945).

If you happen to be one of the “never black and white” people, I ask only that you give any of the films in this column a look. Then ask yourself if it would have been better in color. 

All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. None are really suitable for children under 12, mostly because they wouldn't like them. 

                                                               William Friedkin 

    The genius of director William Friedkin, who died recently at 87, is sometimes overlooked. Car chases are now standard movie fare, but most could learn from this master.

He won the directing Oscar for the totally entertaining The French Connection (1971). The car chases through the New York City streets crowded with people, vehicles and elevated railway braces have never really been topped, and these were real- no computer chicanery involved. Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Cloudy Russo (Roy Scheider) are narcotics cops out to nail drug kingpin Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey). A complicated story ends with mixed results, but there’s a lot of action getting there. A sequel in 1975 isn’t bad, which I guess is damning with faint praise.

Another film showcasing William Friedkin’s skill at directing car chases is the dazzling To Live and Die In LA (1985). The highlight is a long nail-biting chase with the pursued and pursuer driving the wrong way on LA’s crowded freeways. William Petersen and Willem Dafoe portray LA cops working together but often at cross purposes. There’s also lots of gunplay, double-crosses and skulduggery.

Moving from cars to horror, William Friedkin directed the totally scary The Exorcist (1973). I watched this once, but never again! Linda Blair plays the poor possessed child Regan, Ellen Burstyn plays her totally puzzled Mom, and Max Von Sydow is the priest called in to exorcise the demon. The film was banned from many theaters, led to audience members getting ill, and scared the #*^@# out of everyone. Friedkin was actually nomianted for directing, but lost to George Roy Hill for The Sting.

    Fifty years ago there were very few movies that were fair to gay men. The Boys in the Band (1970) changed that. Taken lock stock and barrel from Mart Crowley’s Off-Broadway play, it features a cast of actors you’ve probably never heard of. Okay, maybe Leonard Frey. The plot revolves around a birthday party where one of the games is to draw guys out of the closet. Friedkin’s direction is shaded and kind. This film may have altered many people’s perception of gays. 

The Brink’s Job (1978) is an interesting heist movie based on true events. The robbery itself is rather straightforward and what happens after is what often happens- the gang unravels and people talk. Peter Falk, Paul Sorvino, Peter Boyle and Warren Oates portray unlikely colleagues.

Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party (1968) is dark and puzzling, but got a 78% following on Rotten Tomatoes. Robert Shaw and Patrick Magee play the same characters they played on the London stage. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for grownups. The Exorcist may require a doctor’s note.

                                                               Frederic Forrest films

I doubt if a face pops into your head when you hear his name. In fact, you might have to Google him to remember what he looks like. Frederic Forrest was a go-to guy for lots of casting directors. He had lots of work and always did a solid, professional job. He died recently. He was 86. He was in many good movies. 

    The summit of his movie career was in the frankly awful The Rose (1979). It’s billed has a biopic of Janis Joplin. Okay by me; I didn’t like her or this movie. Anyway, Forrest was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Dyer, The Rose’s romantic interest. And he was, as usual, unspectacular and solid.. I guess the Academy liked him afer seeing Bette Middler and Alan Bates chew the scenery down to the nub. BTW he lost to Melvyn Douglas for Being There.

The Frederic Forrest performance I liked the most isn’t in a movie, but it’s in one of my all-time favorite TV series: Lonesome Dove (1989). If you’ve never seen this, do yourself a favor and check it out. With retired Texas Rangers Gus (Robert Duvall) and Call (Tommy Lee Jones) leading a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, there’s lots of excitement and trouble and fun along the way. Forrest portrays the murderous villain Blue Duck, and he is an Indian that will give you nightmares! There are lots of follow-ups to this series, some quite good. But none AS good.

In Francis Ford Coppola’s monumental Apocalypse Now (1979) Forrest is Chief, one of the crew of a Navy patrol boat navigating up the Nung River to perhaps “terminate with extreme prejudice” Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando). Martin Sheen plays the officer in charge, and is later aided (?) by Col. Kilgore (Robert Duvall). Based on Conrad’s classic Heart Of Darkness, this is one of the best movies ever made.The film’s famous tagline “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” is intoned by the perhaps deranged Kilgore.

In Hammett (1980) Frederic Forrest portrays the title character, a gritty private detective in 20's San Francisco.. Based somewhat on Dashiell Hammett’s detective stories, it is about as noir as you can get. Forrest is good as the PI. 

The Stone Boy (1984) is a little film I liked way better than the critics. A family is torn asunder when the youngest boy  kills his older brother in a horrible accident. The little guy is so stricken he doesn’t speak any more. Really, Wilford Brimley steals this thing as the kid’s grandfather. Forrest is good as a sympathetic friend.

Frederic Forrest can also be seen to good advantage in One From The Heart (1981), Where Are The Children? (1980). and Falling Down (1983).  All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. 

                                                    REMARKABLE REMAKES

                                                            Part 2

Hey, it worked great the first time! Let’s make it again. It happens way too often. And usually does not end well. But- as said in a previous article- there are a few remakes worth your time.

Cape Fear (1962) features an innocent Mom (Polly Bergen) and her daughter fleeing from extremely scary and menacing Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) who is out to kill the entire family to revenge a prior prison sentence. Dad (Gregory Peck) tries to hide the family but Cady finds them. The 1991 version is directed by Hall Of Famer Martin Scorcese and features Robert Deniro as Max, Jessica Lange as Mom and Nick Nolte as Dad. Which one is better? I call it a dead heat. You decide. 

John Steinbeck’s marvelous novel about life on a California farm was made into a superb movie. Of Mice and Men (1939) stars Burgess Meredith as George and Lon Chaney Jr. as his mentally retarded sideckick Lennie. Chaney was known for playing in horror films as a wolfman and vampire. Also playing out of position is the old cowboy Bob Steele, on hand as the villainous Curley, son of the ranch owner .His sexy wife Mae (Betty Field) causes trouble by flirting with the ranch hands.  George and Lennie’s dream of owning their own ranch is doomed when Lennie’s unaware strength kills Mae. BTW, Aaron Copland did the music for this film! The 1992 version is at least as good. Gary Sinise plays George and directed. John Malkovich is just great as the child-like Lennie. Both Chaney and Malkovich are made to appear much larger than they really are by costuming magic. 

Shakespeare’s magnificent Henry V has been filmed at least three times. The 1944 version with Sir Lawrence Olivier as the king is thrilling cinema. Sir Lawrence also directed this stellar version. Kenneth Branagh did double duty in the 1989 version, both directing and appearing in the title role. He won the Oscar for his performance. In both versions, when Henry delivers his stirring speech before the Battle of Agincourt with the French, it made this former colonist want to take to arms for England and St. George! The later movie is a little modernized, but I think no harm done. 

The original Ocean’s Eleven was filmed in 1960 and starred the famous Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra (Danny Ocean), Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin and Joey Bishop. Maybe not the greatest heist movie ever made, it’s still a bunch of fun watching these show biz icons rob a casino. The ending is a hilarious surprise! The 2001 edition is just as much fun and has just as many stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Andy Garcia. In both movies, the gang hews closely to Danny’s three rules: don’t hurt anybody, don’t steal from anyone who doesn’t deserve it, and play the game like you’ve got nothing to lose.

Unfortunately the later production didn’t know when to quit and branched out into Ocean’s 12, 13, 14, etc. Which are ok, but pale sequels. All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.

                                                                     Michael J. Fox

Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991. It usually affects older people. Fox was only 30. Terrified that it would be discovered and end his career, he managed to conceal it for many years. He continued to get work and to flourish as an actor. This, even though he had to hide the uncontrollable tremor in his left hand, which he managed by keeping his hand in his pocket or using that hand to twiddle a pen. He is now 52, still young by most standards. He “came out” in 1998. His incredible story is well told in the documentary Still (2023). 

He is mainly known for two very successful TV sitcoms. In Family Ties (1982-89) he starred as Alex, the conservative straight-laced entrepreneur who is odd man out in a family of hippies. In Spin City (1990-2002) he is Mike Flaherty, NYC Deputy Mayor, who actually runs the city. 

Now for a quick look at his movie career. It really begins with the very successful Back to the Future (1985). Fox plays Marty McFly, who is accidently sent back to 1955 in Doc Brown’s (Christopher Lloyd) DeLorean. He encounters his parents and his teen-age Mom falls in love with him instead of his future Dad. From there it gets complicated. This is a really fun movie and  Fox is just right as Marty. Alas, it became the franchise that would not die, going into versions 2,3,and 4 as well as video games. Stick with the original!

In Casualties Of War (1989) Michael Fox plays Eriksson. His squad captures and rapes a Vietnamese girl. Eriksson is the only one to protest, but to no avail. This horror stays with him forever, making him truly a casualty of the war. His comrades later are tried and sent to prison. 

Fox is spot on as Doc Hollywood (1991). He portrays a newly minted physician who is on his way to California to interview for a job with a famous plastic surgeon, one who works with famous actors. It will be his dream job. On his way, he wrecks his car trying to avoid a cow in a small South Carolina town. While his Porsche is being repaired, his credentials are discovered by the town folk. They want to hire him to replace their only doctor, who is retiring. He decides to go west and take the dream job, only to find he is unhappy in that milieu. There is a wonderful happy ending I will not reveal here. 

When Fox told his high school advisor he was dropping out to pursue an acting career, the teacher told him “you won’t be cute forever”. He replied he hoped to be cute long enough. Well, he was!

Michael J. Fox can also be seen to good advantage in the original Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and he has a nice, if minor, part in The American President (1995).

All of the movies in this article, and the TV shows, are available on DVD. All are for adults. 

                                                                         Alan Arkin

                                                                            Part 3

Herewith the last article about the incredible Alan Arkin. This one contains two more Oscar nominations and his only win. He seemingly could do anything relating to show biz. He wrote the Harry Belafonte hit Banana Boat Song, the Christmas song It’s The Best Time of the Year, and many others. He recorded an album as lead singer. He won two Tony awards. He won a fistful of Emmys. And now, his final big movies:

    Jakob The Liar (1999) is pretty much Robin Williams’ movie. In the Warsaw ghetto, Jakob hears good news over a forbidden radio and spreads the news around. This goes so well he starts making up good news. Alan Arkin has a nice turn as a ghetto resident commenting on Jakob’s efforts and the Nazis’ efforts to stop him.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) is a hoot from start to finish. The Hoover family would make most dysfunctional families seem normal. Alan Arkin, the foul-mouthed grandfather who was kicked out of his retirement home for snorting heroin, almost steals the thing. And he won his only Oscar. Abigail Breslin (Olive) is superb as the kid going to California to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine contest. The whole crowd piles into their aged VW bus and hits the road. The bus stalls repeatedly and the only way to get it started is to push it til it reaches 20 mph, then jump back on. The cast includes Brain Cranston before he was famous, Steve Carrell, Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette. 

Argo (2013) won the Oscar for Best Picture. In 1979 Islamic militants storm the US embassy and take everybody in it hostage. But six personnel have evaded capture and are hiding out in the home of a friendly Canadian. A plot is hatched to convince the Iranians that the evaders are filming a Canadian sci-fi movie. Yeah, it sounds nuts, but just wait and watch. Alan Arkin plays Hollywood agent Lester Siegel. Arkin was nominated for Best Supporting Oscar but lost to Christoph Waitz for Django Unchained. Oh, and this zany story is based on a true event!

And finally, another weird true story on the screen in Million Dollar Arm (2014). Two failing American sports agents realize that Indian cricket players can really throw hard and bring the best to the US, hopefully to make the major leagues. They go from place to place to try out. They really can throw hard, but tend heavily to wildness. Their encounters with American mores are hilarious. Alan Arkin is good, of course,  as a reluctant major league scout. 

Even though Alan Arkin was featured in three Mr. Movie articles, I left out scads of other good films. All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults. 

. 

                                                           Alan Arkin movies

                                                                Part 2

        Here’s another bunch of good movies from the storied career of the late Alan Arkin. 

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) has an A-list cast that includes Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and Alan Arkin. Skillfully adapted from David Mamet’s Tony-winning Broadway play, it is the story of desperate men doing desperate things. They are real estate salesmen who try to make deals from leads they are furnished. They are told that only the top two salesmen will be retained after the current period. Not many gentlemen in sight here.

Alan Arkin is the star of the hilarious The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1996). A Russian sub ventures too close to a tiny New England island and runs aground. Lt. Rozanov (Arkin) is sent with a detail of soldiers into town to try to find a boat to dislodge the sub. Their comedic encounters with the townspeople runs into more and more trouble. They rob a dry cleaner and steal the clothing, trying to “blend in”. And then a small boy’s dilemma unites them all in a peaceful solution. Arkin was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Cliff Robertson for Charly.

Arkin is the baddest of bad guys in the bite-your-nails suspenser Wait Until Dark (1997). Blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is beset in her apartment by three thugs looking for a doll that contains heroin. Roat (Arkin) is the worst of the bunch. He kills the other two and goes after the desperate Susy. A tip: In total darkness, the blind have an edge. This film is on Bravo’s Scarest Movie Moments list. The title is instructive...

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) is an extremely dark comedy with Dan Akroyd (Grocer) and John Cusak (Martin) as competing hit men. Alan Arkin has a good turn as the psychiatrist of the very twisted Martin.  Minnie Driver chips in as the clueless, ever hopeful, high school sweetheart Martin still has a thing for. 

Alan Arkin undergoes yet another complete change of character in the humorous Slums of Beverly Hills (1998). His role is Murray, father of a couple of renegade kids who don’t help his efforts much. He moves them from cheap apartment to cheap apartment in a comical effort to assure they can attend Beverly Hills’ superior public schools. He is an extremely unsuccessful Oldsmobile salesman during an energy crisis. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Only The Russians Are Coming is suitable for all ages. The rest are for grown-ups. Wait Until Dark is only for those with a strong heart. And there’s just enough in the trunk for one more Arkin outing.

                                                                       Alan Arkin

                                                                    Part 1

Alan Arkin died recently at 89. He was a true Renaissance man and his movie credits are long and noteworthy. He was nominated for Oscar four times and won once.

His first important part in a significant film was in the heart-breaking The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (1968). Updated to the 60's from Carson McCullers’ great novel, it is the story of people who are damaged in various ways trying to connect and make a life. Arkin plays Singer, a deaf mute. His only friend is mentally challenged Sprios, who gets committed to an institution. Singer moves into the Kelly household to be near his friend, and tries to make friends with their teen-age daughter Mick. Arkin’s performance is just stunning. He was nominated for Oscar but lost to Cliff Robertson who won for Charly.

Alan Arkin has the starring role as Yossarian in Catch-22 (1970), adapted by Mike Nichols and Buck Henry from Joseph Heller’s dark comedy about World War II. The adaptation was a herculean task because there are so many characters and so many stories. On the whole, I think it succeeds and Arkin is in good company with Bob Balaban, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Bob Newhart and even Orson Welles. Catch-22 has become a modern idiom for can’t win situations. 

Little Murders (1971) is a difficult film from a difficult book by Jules Feiffer. Alan Arkin directed this film and appears in a minor role as Lieutenant Practice. It chronicles life, and death, in NYC where people try to live and seem to get dead for no apparent reason. Elliott Gould is featured as a man who apparently can’t feel pain- or pleasure. This film is not to casually dip into, but worth the trouble if you stay with it. 

Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1972) adapted from Neil Simon’s Broadway hit, stars Alan Arkin as a stumbling middle-aged husband trying in vain to have an affair. It’s not a great play, or movie, but has some laughs and Arkin is good as a guy who just does not get it (pun intended!)

The In-Laws (1979) stars Arkin (as Shelly)  and Peter Falk (as Vince Ricardo). They are fathers of a bride and groom-to-be. The plot is the classic innocent man getting involved in shenanigans as Vince ropes the helpless Shelly into increasingly bizarre, and dangerous situations.  Shelly tries in vain to convince his daughter not to marry into this questionable family. You can find out if he was right!

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are really for grown-ups. And oh yes, there are lots more Arkin movies. Stay tuned.  

                                                                    Frankie Laine

    What? You may be thinking. Frankie Laine was a singer. Was he also in movies? Well, not as an actor. But back in the 50's and 60's if you were making a western you just had to get Frankie Laine to sing the movie’s song. And he sure could!

    One of his best songs isn’t from a movie at all, but a TV show: Rawhide (1959-65). This was a super good series about cowboys on a looooooong cattle drive and the people and problems they encounter along the way. There’s nobody much you’ve ever heard of in the cast. Oh wait, there was a rugged looking young guy named Clint Eastwood. 

    A couple of Frankie’s big western hits had nothing to do with a movie. But these are great songs! Mule Train and Ghost Riders in the Sky are still around today. Ghost Riders was also recorded by Vaughn Monroe, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, and many others. 

Starting with the classic High Noon (1952) Frankie knocked out hit after hit from Western movies.  This one stars Gary Cooper as sheriff Kane and Grace Kelly as his newly wedded bride Amy. Kane put Frank Miller in prison. He’s out now and vowing revenge and he’s coming to Kane’s town with his brothers. Kane says leaving would be cowardly. Amy says she’s a Quaker and she’s not staying. The Frankie Laine song is just perfect: “He made a vow while in state prison; vowed it would be my life or his’n. Look at that big hand move around- nearing high noon”. Oh, and Amy winds up running back to join in the fray and of course you know both Kanes make it out okay.

     Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957) is a good film a little shaky on history.  Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas)  and Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) take on the Clanton gang in this one and the song sums it up nicely. In the cast also are the legendary bad guys Lee Van Cleef, Earl Holliman and Jack Elam. The real gunfight is supposed to have lasted about 3 minutes but that wouldn’t make much of a movie (or song). 

3:10 To Yuma (1957) with Glenn Ford as the good guy and Van Heflin as the heavy is not in the same class, but the song is good. The film was remade in 2007 with Russel Crowe without a lot of improvement. The Hanging Tree (1959) is another so-so film with a really good Frankie Laine title song. 

    OK, this is the funniest movie I have ever seen: Blazing Saddles (1974) is Mel Brooks’ comedy gem. The governor sends a Black railroad worker accused of assault to be the Sheriff of Rock Ridge. He also has a gang of thugs sent to run the residents off, assuming the new Sheriff won’t be up to the job. Wrong. Cleavon Little plays Bart, the Sheriff. Mel Brooks himself plays the dimwitted governor, and Gene Wilder plays the new deputy. One of the many highlights is when thuggish Alex Karras literally knocks out a horse. Brooks advertised for “a Frankie Laine-type singer” and got Frankie himself to do the title song without telling him the film is a comedy. Frankie knocked it out in one take and it became another hit. 

    All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are OK for 12 and up.  

                                                           Glenda Jackson

        What a life! The incredible Glenda Jackson passed on in June. She was 87. She won two Oscars. She served in the British House of Commons several times and was a fierce advocate for women’s rights and other Labour causes. She came up hard and she worked at a pharmacy until she impressed the directors enough to get into the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts at 18. From there she went straight up.

        She was first widely noticed when she played Charlotte Corday in Marat/Sade (1967) with heavyweights Ian Richardson and Patrick Magee. Two years later she stunned the cinema world, winning the Best Actress Oscar as Gudrun, in Women In Love, Ken Russell’s ground-breaking film adapted from D.H. Lawrence’s novel of the same name. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates provide plenty of fireworks and Glenda is just outstanding. 

        Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) was a British film directed by John Schlesinger and one of the first movies showing homosexual men in a favorable light. Glenda Jackson plays Alex Greville, the female side of an unlikely romantic triangle. She was nominated for another Oscar but this time lost to Jane Fonda for Klute.

        Also in 1971, the very busy Glenda Jackson had two turns as Queen Elizabeth 1, first in a quite good made-for-TV drama, and also in Mary, Queen of Scots. Vanessa Redgrave played Mary, tried for treason and beheaded, refusing to apologize to Elizabeth for her part in an assassination plot. Trivia: That's where "Bloody Mary" came from!

        Another Oscar for Best Actress came Ms. Jackson’s way for her performance in A Touch of Class (1973). As a British divorcee having an affair with a married man (George Segal) she is just astonishingly good. Her character is somewhat older than his, and she manages to make that unimportant. 

        In 1978's Stevie, Glenda Jackson shines as British poet Stevie Smith, like many poets unheralded during her lifetime. Her life at her aunt’s home which she shared is the centerpost of the film. “I was drowning, not waving” is one of the poet’s best lines.  She can also be seen to good advantage in Hopscotch (1980) and Turtle Diary (1985). Keep in mind that all those Oscar nominations were for British movies!

        In the 90's and beyond Glenda Jackson turned her career to politics. She was elected to the House of Commons several times, was in the Cabinet occasionally and was one of Labour’s shining stars. 

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