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. 

                                                 WE WILL MISS BRUCE WILLIS

        It's very doubtful we will ever see Bruce Willis in another new movie. He has had to hang it up, being afflicted with the cognitive disorder Aphasia. I’d like to take a fond look back at his roller coaster career. And I would like to point out that he definitely could act up a storm in the right part.

He smirked. He strutted. He fell 100 feet from a crane and sustained only a slight limp, which mysteriously disappeared by the next scene. He could “open” an action movie like nobody else. He made the Die Hard movies a franchise, and appeared in dogs like Hudson Hawk (1991) and The Fifth Element (1997). He made more money from one film than the total budget of many third world countries. And he sometimes seemed to be an unaware victim of Y2K, unerringly picking bad films since the century turned over. But- could Bruce Willis act? Absolutely.

Perhaps the sole exception to the apparently limitless series of losers after 2000 is the dreamy Moonrise Kingdom (2012) with Bruce as a friendly cop. 

Granted, the unexpected success of The Sixth Sense (1999) has a lot to do with the story. But Mr. Willis is absolutely splendid as the psychologist trying desperately to help a small boy in torment because he sees dead people. Bruce Willis gave the film credibility and put people in the theaters. From there, word of mouth took over and made it a blockbuster, surprising everyone including the people who made it.

In Country (1989) is not mentioned in the same breath with the great Vietnam war movies like Apocalypse Now and Platoon, but it deserves to be. Emily Lloyd, yet another British actor with complete mastery of our accent, has lost her father and a big chunk of herself to the war. Bruce Willis is her uncle, a Vietnam vet devastated by what he has seen and heard, unable to cope with the fact that he somehow survived when so many did not. Low key and convincing, this film is a sleeper that deserves more attention. 

With all the hoopla surrounding Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta, people  tend to forget that Bruce Willis appeared in Pulp Fiction (1994), Quentin Tarrantino’s groundbreaking black comedy about Americans a long way down on the food chain. Told from different points of view at the same time, Pulp Fiction has become something of a legend. Mr. Willis is just fine as a crooked boxer trying to escape intact and being foiled at every turn.

Nobody’s Fool (1994) is unquestionably Paul Newman’s movie. Richard Russo’s wonderful novel of the vanishing American individualist is a perfect setting for what was Mr. Newman’s last leading man role. Give Bruce Willis an assist, though, as Newman’s sometimes boss and friend, one of the few characters who understands him. A poker game is a comical high point, as well as the constant one-upmanship between the two. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are for adult audiences. 

                                                           Didn’t Make the Cut

                                                                    Part 1

        You may have (or not) noticed that when a movie personality dies, be it actor, director, writer or producer, his or her life work on the silver screen turns up as a Mr. Movie column. This is absolutely by design. The deceased’s work makes for good columns and is a nice tribute. An admission: when column matter is running low, Mr. Movie just might be wishing for a prominent death! Ouch. Anyway, it may be interesting (I hope) to read about lots of famous movie people that did not make the cut. 

The rule of thumb is that the subject needs to have at least five good movies to his or her credit to make a decent column. A surprising number of famous people do not rise to that level. 

Louise Fletcher had a stunning, Oscar-winning performance as the dreadful Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest (1975). Unfortunately, that was about it for Ms. Fletcher. Though she had steady work for many years, Cukoo’s Nest was her only good movie. 

At one time, Michael Constantine seemed to be everywhere. Many TV appearances and a few movies. He had a wonderful part in My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). He was the father of the bride, famous for recommending Windex for every purpose under the sun. He was in a couple of lame sequels. He had more than  200 TV and movie roles, but the Wedding part was the peak for him. 

Markie Post had a good run as defense attorney Christine Sullivan in the hilarious TV comedy Night Court. Despite her blonde good looks and acting chops that was about the high point for her. She did have an admittedly minor role as Mary’s mother in There’s Something About Mary (1998). That’s about it. 

Arlene Dahl, a gorgeous redhead just couldn’t seem to catch a casting break. . When the high point of your movie career is as Carla in the pretty awfu  Journey To The Center Of The  Earth (1959) that’s just sad. She worked all the time, but not in anything memorable. 

Ed Asner was widely known, and praised, for his TV work. He first impressed as Lou Grant in the long running Mary Tyler Moore Show. He was her curmudgeonly  boss with a heart of gold at the TV station. When Mary moved on he also did, in a show titled by his character. For an actor who won seven Emmys, his movie career is pretty skimpy. He had a great part as Santa Claus in Elf (2003) and was just perfect as the voice of Carl in the wonderful Up (2009). That’s about it movie-wise. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Not so sure about the TV shows. Coming soon: more movie personalities that didn’t make Mr. Movie’s cut.