GARY COOPER

He wasn’t really an actor in the same sense as Dustin Hoffman or Meryl Streep. He didn’t disappear into roles; he always played himself, much like John Wayne or Sylvester Stallone. He was often horribly miscast (see for example Love in the Afternoon (1957) or The Fountainhead (1949). In his prime he still belonged to the studio system and so he did what he was told. But in the right part Gary Cooper was splendid. And at his best, he almost seemed to symbolize the American hero. It’s hard to pick the best from over 50 movies, but here goes.

There is no better place to start than High Noon (1952). Gary Cooper is the retiring sheriff of a small western town. On his wedding day (and last day on the job) he learns a killer he put away is coming for revenge. Nobody will stand with him or even help him (including Grace Kelly, in a somewhat less than heroic turn). He could run; he could hide- but it is his duty to stay and fight. His steely determination coupled with a winning humanity marks his best role. He deserved, and won, the Oscar.

Lou Gehrig was certainly an American hero. Not just anyone could pull off that “today I think I’m the luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech that a dying Gehrig spoke in Yankee stadium, but Gary Cooper does it. The baseball parts of Pride of the Yankees (1942) aren’t really that great, but the people part is unmatched as a sports biography. Teresa Wright is quite good as Eleanor Gehrig, and Babe Ruth is pretty good as himself.

Gary Cooper is the father of a Quaker family in Friendly Persuasion (1956), conflicted by his non-violent faith amid the American Civil War. Dorothy McGuire, Marjorie Main and Anthony Perkins ably assist as members of the family, but it is Cooper’s character that epitomizes the dilemma still being faced by many. 

For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943) is the best Ernest Hemingway film adaptation and Gary Cooper carries it on his back as an American fighting with a bunch of ragtag Spanish rebels in their civil war. That the combatants include Ingrid Bergman is a lucky break, as her love affair with Cooper has enough chemistry to stock a good-size laboratory. 

Some other good Gary Cooper vehicles include Ball of Fire (1941), Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936), and Sergeant York (1941) (an Oscar for Cooper). 

All of the movies in this column are available, some for free, some not.  All are fine for 10 and up.

                                                     MICHAEL CRICHTON

Michael Crichton left us in 2008 at the way-too-young age of 66. He was perhaps the most cinematic writer of our time. Many of his exciting books were made into splendid movies. He also dreamed up, produced and wrote many of the episodes of the hugely popular TV show, ER.

The Andromeda Strain (1971) is about a team of scientists racing against time to thwart a virus from outer space. The book is a real nail-biter; the film a little less so, but still a worthwhile watch. The 2008 remake is definitely NOT a worthwhile watch. It is simply awful. 

The fascinating Westworld (1973) involves a future camp where people can participate in whatever fantasy they choose. Richard Benjamin picks the Old West, and has a ball until it looks like the robotic denizens, led by Yul Brynner, have malfunctioned. It became a huge HBO series hit in 2016, which lasted for six seasons.

George Segal’s brain is wired in a risky experiment to save his life and of course things go terribly wrong in Terminal Man (1974). Not to be confused with the 2004 movie with Tom Hanks trying to figure out how to help a poor man trapped in an airport terminal because of a coup in his home country. 

The Great Train Robbery (1979) is Michael Crichton’s take on the most famous robbery in British history. It looks fantastic (replicating the 1880's) as the stellar cast (Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland) plot how  to rob a moving train carrying gold. The incredibly complicated plan for the heist is cinematic gold. 

The idea of Jurassic Park (1993), the cloning of long-dead dinosaurs from recovered DNA, is just brilliant. The book is great, the film less so. The story is pretty well botched by the movie- but oh, those dinosaurs! What a thrill! And the special effects are about the whole show in The Lost World (1997) involving a second island filled with killer creatures from the past.

There are no special effects or scientific marvels in Rising Sun (1993). It is a good old murder mystery with Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes trying to figure out who did in a visiting Japanese big shot, and how it happened. I did not see the amazing solution coming!

Also worth a look is the medical thriller Coma (1978), ably directed by Mr. Crichton from a Robin Cook novel. In a big city hospital, patients are being stolen for spare parts! Genevieve Bujold suspects the worst, and Richard Widmark knows it. 

All of the films in this column are available somewhere. All are for grown-ups.

                                                           WILLIAM FAULKNER

He won the Pulitzer and the Nobel. He worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter for over 20 years because he needed the money. Of his over 50 script contributions, most died without filming. But he did help on two tremendous classics: To Have and Have Not (1944) and The Big Sleep (1946). His writing was almost as dense as James Joyce’s and he was not the most accessible of authors.

Adapting his pithy novels and stories to the silver screen was not an easy task. Many tried. Many failed. But some succeeded and there are some very fine movies based on Faulkner’s work.

I will start with my personal favorite. The Reivers (1969) is perhaps the most accessible Faulkner film from probably his most accessible story. Ok, reivers are thieves. Steve McQueen stars as Boon Hoggenbeck, a likeable neer-do-well. He is absolutely smitten with a spanking new 1905 Winton Flyer, owned, unfortunately for Boon, by the powerful Boss McCaslin (Will Geer). Boon steals the care (for the second time) and lights out for Memphis with a kid, Lucius, and a stowaway, Ned. There are many adventures on the way, some harrowing, mostly hilarious. 

The Tarnished Angels (1957) is based on the Faulkner novel Pylon. Robert Stack portrays embittered pilot Roger Shumann who grinds out a meager living risking his life as a stunt flyer. Dorothy Malone plays his long-suffering wife Laverne, and Rock Hudson is on board as a reporter writing about them. The stunts are good. The acting not so much, but it is a good story with a less than Hollywoodish ending. 

Intruder In The Dust (1949) has a bunch of actors you’ve never heard of except for the always present Will Geer, who plays the sheriff. It’s a really good story about Lucas Beauchamp, a Black man unjustly accused of killling a white man. He may be saved by the town lawyer, an elderly lady and two teenage boys. Of course he is, this is Hollywood! Really good story, though. The Long Hot Summer (1968) is based on three Faulkner novellas about a drifter wandering into a small Mississippi town and infiltrating a local family. The lobby card says The People, Language and World of Faulkner. Yep. Future married couple Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are the sparks that flame this one up. Newman is Ben Quick, who happens into the small town and the lives of its principal family. 

Barn Burning (1980) has Tommy Lee Jones and not much else to recommend it, but it barely scrapes over the recommended fence. 

The Sound and the Fury (1959) stars Yul Brynner as a Southern stud, and that’s about all you need to know. The 2014 version is even worse.  As I Lay Dying (2013) is a barking dog. 

All of these movies are for grown-ups.