Gene Hackman

                                                            Part 3

    Coming now to the middle part of Gene Hackman’s storied career. Plenty of good ones in this chapter. 

A Bridge Too Far (1977) is, at nearly three hours, really long. One critic said it should have been title “A Film Too Long”. Anyway, it’s based on the true story of the Allies offensive, Operation Market Garden,  in World War II. Allied forces are dropped far into the occupied Netherlands. Their mission is to capture the Arnheim Bridge, the only route for the Germans to get out of Holland. Things go badly from the start and the attack totally fails Gene Hackman portrays the Polish General Sosabowski whose attempt to bail out the surrounded Allies is too late. 

Gene Hackman received lots of boos and hisses for his performance as Lex Luthor, sworn enemy of Superman (1978). This is the one with Christopher Reeve, and probably the best. Luthor plans to drop a missile on the San Andreas fault, blowing the West apart and making his desert property beach front. Really! Anyway his plans are thwarted by Superman, who reverses time by spinning the world the other way and stopping the missiles. Superman II (1980) is even crazier, and more fun. Hackman again is Lex Luthor and this time is out to destroy Superman and America. Superman uses his special powers (!) to stop the bad guys and correct the memories of those who know his secret, Great stuff!  Gene is back in Number 4 but it is a barking dog!

Reds (1981) won a boatload of awards as the almost true story of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath. Warren Beatty directs and plays journalist John Reed, at first a big fan of the Bolsheviks and later not so much. Gene Hackman has a couple of scenes as Pete Van Wherry, Reed’s editor and not much in favor of the Russkis. But he puts up with Reed for a while and nails his two scenes. 

It’s hard to tell the bad guys without a program in Under Fire (1983) as journalists from the West attempt to cover the civil war in Nicaragua. Gene Hackman is on board as Alex Grazier, a famous war correspondent. He gets perhaps too close to the action but, hey, it’s a job. Ed Harris, Nick Nolte and Joanna Cassidy are on hand as his fellow journalists, trying their best to make the best of a cluster&%#@.

You want a great basketball movie, or how about one where the little guy triumphs against impossible odds? Okay, we’ve got Hoosiers (1986). In Indiana, when the high school basketball playoffs start, there are no size divisions- just teams. Gene Hackman is the coach of little Hickory, which most of the time can’t scrimmage because it doesn’t have enough players. But Coach Norman knows what he’s doing and after some flack from the town people, the team begins to rise though the playoffs, against schools 10 times their size. Dennis Hopper is on board as the alcoholic pal of Norman, who really knows basketball. With the score tied in the finals, Norman devises a play with superstar Jimmy as a decoy. But Jimmy just says “I’ll maker it”. And he does!

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

                                                           Gene Hackman

                                                                   Part 2

    More Gene Hackman winners! I’m proceeding chronologically - the only way to keep it straight. 

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) may not be a cinematic classic, but it was fun and it made a lot of money. Disaster movies were big back then and this is one of the best. A tsunami hits a cruse ship broadside and it capsizes, turning upside down. The only possible escape is now to somehow get up to the hull and out. Gene Hackman is Rev. Frank Scott, who leads a group on a perilous trip to get out. Some make it, some don’t. Scott is heroic and finds a way for what’s left of his group to escape. 

Scarecrow (1973) is the most unlikely of buddy movies, pairing Gene Hackman (Max) with Al Pacino (Lion). Both are broke and nearly derelict but dream of traveling to Pittsburgh and owning a car wash. Their misadventure finally result in Lion committed to a mental hospital. Max promises to come back and help him. The interplay between these two giants of the movies is worth the price of admission.

    The Conversation (1974) was nominated for Best Picture but lost to Godfather II. Ths film provides Hackman with a signature acing opportunity and he nails it. He plays Harry Caul, a surveillance expert who tries to separate his work from morality. When he overhears a possible murder plot, he tries to intervene. His employer turns the tables on Harry, who hears his own voice on a surreptitious recording. He literally trashes his apartment looking for the listening device.

Young Frankenstein (1974) is Mel Brooks at his zaniest and that’s good. Gene Wilder is Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the famous monster creator. He inherits the family Transylvania castle and proceeds to copy his grandfather’s experiments. Peter Boyle almost steals the thing as the new monster. But he’s in August company: Cloris Leachmen, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman and Terri Garr are just a few of the participants. Gene Hackman has a good time as the blind man who is a companion to the innocent little girl. Can Hackman creditably act as a blind man? Of course. 

In Night Moves (1975) Gene Hackman portrays Harry Moseby, a retired pro football player who is now a private investigator. He is hired by Arlene Iverson (Janet Ward) to find her missing daughter. Arlene lives off her daughter’s trust fund but can only use it when her daughter lives with her. From there it gets very complicated and involves a sunken seaplane, a Mexican artifact and a washed up actor. 

Bite The Bullet (1975) stars Gene Hackman as Sam Ckayton a crusty participant in a 700-mile cross country horse race. Candace Bergman is on hand as Miss Jones, the pretty and unlikely female entry. A Mexican with a tooth ache supplies the movie’s title. The horse race is fun and based on a true event. 

All of the movies in this article are for adults though mature kids would like Young Frankenstein. All are available somewhere for rental or purchase. 

 

                                                               Gene Hackman

Gene Hackman died mysteriously in his New Mexico home. He was 95. His young wife lay dead in another room for two weeks before Hackman passed. He apparently had dementia so badly he didn’t realize she was gone. I knew writing about his movie career would be a challenge- because there’s an overload of riches. I have a list of over 30 movies that were good enough to include. Alas, some serious culling is in order.

I’ll start with his first Oscar nomination, as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Warren Beatty is Clyde Barrow, Faye Dunaway is Bonnie Parker, and Gene Hackman is Clyde’s older brother, Buck. They form a criminal gang, robbing places and escalating to banks. Then Clyde murders a bank manager and the hunt for the now-famous gang is on. Buck wasn’t much of a moral influence for his younger brother, throwing in with the gang and including his wife Blanche. The realistic shoot-out that ends the movie was not prettied up and shocked many. BTW, Gene lost to George Kennedy for Cool Hand Luke.

In Downhill Racer (1969) Robert Redford is David Chappellet, the hot dogging show-off ski racer whose antics drive his coach, Eugene Claire (Gene Hackman) nuts. David will not listen to Claire and refuses to be a team player. The trouble is, he’s really good and skiing isn’t exactly a team sport. So the egotistical David wins the Olympic Gold Medal and leaves the nay-sayers in the dust (snow?)

Gene Hackman snagged another Oscar nomination as Gene Garrison in I Never Sang For My Father (1970). This time he lost to John Mills for Ryan’s Daughter. Gene has long running troubles with his father (Melvyn Douglas) but as the father’s health declines, they seem to be coming together. No happy ending here as Gene decides to follow his fiancé to California and leave his Dad on his own. It’s a difficult part but Hackman nails it.

The father of all car chase movies is still thrilling. Gene Hackman played narcotics cop Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971). Popeye pursues drug runner Pierre Nicoli and keeps going when the thug jumps a train and comandeers the whole thing. He also kills the conductor. Popeye keeps coming and catches up with Nicoli and kills him. He also kills a Federal colleague by mistake. Alan Charnier (Fernando Rey), the French master criminal in charge of all the drug dealing, manages to escape. The rest or his gang in America is caught and imprisoned. Popeye is distraught that Charnier got away. The third time was the charm for Gene Hackman. This time he won the Oscar for his portrayal of Doyle. 

Never inclined to leave well enough alone, Hollywood made French Connection 2 (1975). Popeye is somehow sent to France to get Charnier. He does poorly as a foreign cop and winds up being captured and shot up with heroin by Charnier’s men. He recovers from the forced addiction and stays after Charnier. And this time he gets him.

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere. All are for adults. Think I’m through with Hackman? Shoot, I’m just getting started!

 

                                                           Tony Roberts column

    Woody Allen was the consummate bumbler, a neurotic nerd stumbling his way through his movies. Tony Roberts was his polar opposite- handsome, suave, self-assured. Woody’s friend who exemplified the old saw that opposites attract. Woody’s films provided Roberts with great parts, but he had quite a good movie CV otherwise.

I’ll start with Tony’s films outside of the Woody Allen sphere. Star Spangled Girl (1971) is a Neil Simon story which was first a play. It has three main characters: Andy Hobart (Tony Roberts) editor and publisher of a struggling radical newspaper, Norman Cornell (Todd Susman) Andy’s friend and roommate and Amy Cooper (Sandy Duncan), a world-class swimmer training for the Olympics. Norman falls for her, she falls for Andy, and there are lots of Neil Simon laughs. 

Al Pacino is Serpico (1973) a straight New York City cop who just can’t abide the corruption swimming around him.  Unable to get any help from elsewhere, he enlists his friend Blair (Tony Roberts) who is a reporter with connections. They get the story run in the NY Times and a real investigation follows. Set up by his crooked colleagues, Serpico gets shot in the face and nearly dies. But the Times story won’t go away and neither will he, so he gets his chance to testify before a grand jury. This is a true story.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) is a nail-biter so good they made it again in 2009. Tony Roberts has a minor part as Deputy Mayor Warren LaSalle. Four robbers board the subway at different stops and commandeer the train. They demand a ransom or they will kill a passenger every minute. The city agrees to pay but the ransom is caught in a wreck. With minutes to spare, the ransom arrives. The crooks set the “dead man’s switch” which keeps the train running without a conductor. The crooks depart and the train barrels on. That’s all I’m telling.

Tony Roberts’ inauguration into the Woody Allen arena began with Play It Again, Sam (1972). Woody is the usually awkward nerd Allan. Roberts is Dick Christie, Allan’s best friend. Diane Keaton, another regular in the Woody stable, is Dick’s wife and Allan has a crush on her. The movie is jazzed up by the ghost of Humphrey Bogart, as this film has many echoes from Casablanca. 

In Annie Hall (1977) Diane Keaton is the title character  and Woody is Alvy, neurotic as always and trying to make a go of it with Annie. Roberts is Rob, who is Alvy’s always faithful best friend and who has a TV show. The movie is mostly about Alvy and Annie’s up and down relationship. Her clothing became more famous than the movie!

In Stardust Memories (1980) Tony Roberts is , well, Tony. He is once again Woody Allen’s best friend. Allen is Sandy Bates, a successful film maker. A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) is definitely lesser Woody. Roberts appears as Dr. Maxwell, one of many sex besotted cast members. In Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Roberts as a very minor part as Norman (he wasn’t even credited). 

Roberts’ final foray into Woody land is in Radio Days,  the nostalgic look back at 40's radio shows, many of which are played out in snippets of plot. Tony Roberts’ voice is his main entree here as he portrays the “Silver Dollar Emcee”. 

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

                                                  ROSEMARY HARRIS

A faithful reader asked me recently: “Have you ever considered doing a column on Rosemary Harris”. He met her at an event in Winston-Salem. My answer: “Well, I have now”.

    She was born in England and began her storied career there, both on the stage and on film. But 97-year-old Rosemary Harris has been a Tar Heel for a while. She lives in Winston-Salem. She married NC author John Ehle in 1967 and they were together until his death in 2018.  Their daughter Jennifer is also an actress. She and her Mom acted together several times. Rosemary was nominated for a Tony seven times and won three. She had one Oscar nomination - in 1994 for Tom And Viv, but she lost to Diane Wiest for Bullets Over Broadway. Digging out her best movies from over 70 is not easy, but Mr. Movie is up for it. 

Let’s start at the place you are most likely to have encountered her. Although there are seemingly unlimited Spider-Man movies, Rosemary Harris is in the three Sam Raimi-directed versions which were the most popular. These appeared in 2002, 2004 and 2007.   In all three she portrays May Parker, wife and widow of Peter’s Uncle Ben. When Ben dies, May is left to raise Peter as best she can. Since he becomes an ace crime-fighter, she seems to have done a very good job of it. At one point in the trilogy, she admits she was something of a rebel as a young person. Her advice to Peter:” With great power comes great responsibility." Okay, not really original but unarguable anyway. 

The one Oscar nomination Rosemary scored sort ot underlines her acting ability. That’s because Tom and Viv (1994) just isn’t very good. Willem Dafore portrays the young T.S. Eliot and Miranda Richardson  plays his first wife,.Vivien.  They married in 1915 and although they separated in 1933 they never divorced. Most of the film is taken up with the early life of the famous poet.   Rosemary plays Viv’s mother, Rose, and does a good enough job to be nominated for Oscar. 

Rosemary Harris’ first film appearance of note was in 1963 as Yelena in Uncle Vanya. Critic Harold Hobson called this filmed version of the stage play “probably the Best Vanya we will ever see”. No argument here. This version was directed and acted by Sir Lawrence Olivier. Sir Michael Redgrave, Joan Plowright and Sybil Thorndike also appear in key roles. 

The Ploughman’s Lunch (1983) is one of those grim British multi-character films without anyone to root for. Rosemary Harris has the part of Ann Barrington, mother of Susan and poacher of her boyfriend James. James is a reporter who drifts from event to event without really connecting with anything, including Susan. But he and Susan and their friend Jeremy go off together and Susan chooses, badly, to be with Jeremy. Rosemary is convincing as the seductive high-end woman who gets dumped along with the story. 

Rosemeary Harris can also be seen to good advantage in Sunshine (1999) and as a minor player in Crossing Delancey (1988) and Being Julia (2004). 

All of the movies in this article are available somewhere. All except the Spider-Man trilogy are for adults. 

                        BASEBALL HAS BEEN VERY, VERY GOOD TO MOVIES

    Pitchers and catchers report! This clarion call from out of the depths of winter brings joy to the nation’s baseball fans. Last season the Dodgers won the World Series in a replay of memorable Series when I was a kid. Hated the Yankees. Loved Dem Bums. All in all, a memorable season with some new faces and some old familiar ones. 

There has never  been a movie that captures the speed and grace of baseball. Football, basketball and track all photograph better. Even soccer.  But Hollywood (and I) love baseball and there are lots of films that have a good feel for baseball's spirit.

These are my favorite baseball movies:

1. Field of Dreams  (1989). I absolutely love this wonderful film. It's the best thing Kevin Costner has ever done. James Earl Jones is splendid as the kidnaped writer and Ray Liotta's debut as Shoeless Joe is top notch. The magic of baseball and something of what it has meant to Americans is here, as well as the ridicule true believers in any magic must endure. When the players materialize out of the cornfield I always get goose bumps.

2. The Natural (1984). Larger than life and meant to be, this is the fable of the Great American Hero. Robert Redford has it down pat. OK, guys, maybe he is a little too pretty, but live with it. Glenn Close is the hero's dream of The Lady. The argument that Roy Hobbs' home runs are impossible is completely beside the point. 

3. Bull Durham (1988). The movie that made Durham Bulls memorabilia famous. As good as it gets in portraying the gritty, quirky world of minor league baseball. Susan Sarandon is just right (isn't she always?) as the ultimate fan, Kevin Costner is fine as Crash Davis, and a pleasantly awkward Tim Robbins is good as The Kid. Funny, touching, and lots of fun.

4. Pride of the Yankees (1942). Gary Cooper is more like Lou Gehrig than Gehrig was. The complete team player with the terminal disease that was named for him won't leave a dry eye in the house when the credits roll. “The luckiest man on the face of the earth”. Okay, he’s dying- but he got to play for the Yankees!

5. Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). Another doomed player; here a none-too-bright but engaging Robert DeNiro. He gets the puzzlement of "why me?" across really well.  The camaraderie of the players, and even their occasional meanness, seem right on the money. 

Close runners-up: Major League (1989) [inept but hilarious Cleveland wins pennant], The Stratton Story (1949) [one-armed Major League pitcher], and A League of Their Own (1992 ) girls playing professional baseball]. The last one gave us this memorable phrase from manager Tom Hanks: “There’s no crying in baseball”.

And a special Honorable Mention to Ken Burns' TV series Baseball, a nine-hour love story done as well as it could be.

All of the films in this column are available somewhere. Only Bull Durham is not suitable for all ages.

                                                                         Bridge Movies

                                                                        Part 2

     I couldn’t get all the good bridge movies into one column. So herewith another handful of movies about bridges. Are there any more? Probably, but these are all I could actually write about.     

    One of the best bridge movies connected to warfare is not about World War II. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954) is set in the Korean war. A rare screen appearance by Princess (okay, later on) Grace Kelly helps a lot. William Holden, Mickey Rooney and Frederick March are also on board. American pilots are asked to undertake a perilous mission to knock out the bridges at Toko-Ri. They are stiffly defended by the communist forces as they connect North Korea and China. Their initial attack is a success but then they try a second target and disaster follows. 

Ice Bridge: The Impossible Journey (2018) is about an entirely different kind of bridge. In this made for TV documentary two archeologists set about to prove that Ice Age people crossed the frozen Atlantic from Europe to North America in a time before the Vikings or Columbus. Their discovery of an artifact on the Maryland Eastern Shore buttesses their somewhat novel claim. You can watch this and decide for yourself- I was sold!

The Bridges of Madison County (2015) provide the backdrop of a romantic encounter between Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood)  and Francesca Johnson (Meryl Streep) He is a photographer on assignment to photograph the covered bridges in Madison County, Iowa. His chance encounter with Francesca provide the sparks in a romantic film that was exremely popular. It also became a Broadway Musical. She is an Iowa housewife just okay in a marriage become almost platonic. Their brief affair almost bursts into flame and they nearly run away together, but she cannot abandon her teen-age children and faithful husband. Her kids discover her romantic story after her death. 

The Cassandra Crossing (1976) is a real nail biter with really big stars. Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner are the eye candy. Richard Harris, Martin Sheen and Burt Lancaster provide the testosterone level. Fearing the passengers on a train are infected with a deadly virus and should be quarantined, their train is changed to a perilous route that must cross the old and doubtful bridge to Poland. There are many conflicts among the scientists and soldiers and the ending is edge of your seat stuff. 

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge (1962) is a French film of an American Civil War story. A southern Confederacy sympathizer and saboteur is captured by the Union forces and sentenced to be hanged from Owl Creek bridge. As he prepares himself for death, he has visions of his home, his wife and his children. When he is pushed off the bridge, the rope breaks, he falls into the river and swims to safety. I will not reveal the ending here. It astounded me!

All of the movies in this article are available for streaming somewhere. All are for grown-ups.