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.