Sunday, May 26, 2024

                                                            Better Than The Book

    This is a very limited category. Because probably 90% or more of the time, the movie is not as good as the book. But Mr. Movie has dug out a few good movies that topped the book on which they were based.

Forest Gump (1994) deservedly won everything in sight at the Oscars. Winston Groom’s novel is ok, but the movie just towers over it. Credit Tom Hanks, as Forest, for a major chunk of credit. And Sally Field (as his Mom) and Gary Sinise (as his best buddy) also deserve praise. Forest is perhaps mildly retarded or, well, maybe just a tad slow. He is a football player, a soldier, a boyfriend, a good son, and much more. Everyone loved Forest Gump! “Life is like a box of chocolates”.

Julie and Julia (2009) is based on Julie Powell’s excellent book of the same name. But put Meryl Streep (as Julia Child) and Amy Adams (as Julie Powell) on the screen and it’s solid gold. Julie Powell is a young New Yorker living in a small apartment who sets out to cook every recipe in Child’s Mastering The Art Of French Cooking on her tiny stove. And do this in one year. This story is masterfully intermingled with Child’s adventures in France and America and her rise to fame (and fortune). 

The Graduate (1967) is based on Charles Webb’s fine novel. Dustin Hoffman (Benjamin Braddock) and Anne Bancroft (as the feral seductress Mrs. Robinson) elevate this story to a whole new level. Ben just graduated from college and is floundering around at his parents’ house, trying to decide what to do with the rest of his life. He runs into the extremely hot (and very available) Mrs. Robinson, but falls in love with her lovely daughter Elaine (Katherine Ross). And from this tangled mess emerges a wedding you won’t soon forget! 

Psycho (1960) is the greatest horror film ever made. Based on Robert Bloch’s novel (just ok), it is absolutely nail-biting terror. Bates Motel is the site of the story. It is run by Norman Bates, who idolizes his mother. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) stops at the Bates Motel to get out of a driving rain storm. She then takes the worst shower in all of movie history. This is Alfred Hitchcock at the absolute top of his game. The ending will knock your socks into next week!

Truman Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) is an excellent novel. However, for my money, the movie is better. Audrey Hepburn just glows as the delightfully named Holly Golightly, a naive ingenue turned loose on an unsuspecting New York. George Peppard is quite good as her baffled boyfriend. An excellent supporting cast is bouoyed by Mickey Rooney, Patricia Neal, Martin Balsam and Buddy Ebsen. The surprise ending is just that. 

Other candidates for the “better than the book” category include Arrival (2016) and The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Perhaps you have some candidates. I would like to know!


Sunday, May 19, 2024

                                                              M. Emmett Walsh


Roger Ebert called him “The Poet of Sleaze”. When Emmett Walsh appeared on the scene, usually something dreadful was about to happen to someone. Not exactly a matinee idol, but that rubbery face could do lots of tricks. He appeared in over 250 movies and TV shows. He never seemed to find a role he didn’t like or couldn’t play. He went to that great casting call in the sky at 88 last March. Mr. Movie now attempts to dig out the best of Mr.Walsh.

    One of my favorite Walsh roles is in the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple (1984). Walsh is wonderfully crooked as private detective Loren Visser. The plot twists and turns around bar owner Marty, his unfaithful wife Abby and his double-crossing bartender Ray. Visser manages to keep everyone at each other’s throats with doctored pictures and the burial alive of poor Marty. His attempt to kill Abby is thwarted by her as she nails him with a knife and them shoots him through a bathroom door. Thinking he is the now dead Marty, she yells to Visser she is not afraid of Marty. Visser responds. “Well, if I see him ma’am, I’ll sure give him the message”.

In Straight Time (1978) Dustin Hoffman plays recently paroled thief Max Dembo. He wants to go straight, start a new life. Unfortunately, his parole officer is the extremely sleazy Earl Frank (Walsh). Frank is determined to send Max back to prison by fair means or foul and eventually forces the issue to the point that Max returns to a life of crime. 

Al Pacino is Serpico (1973), an honest NYPD cop who wants to reveal the corruption in the police force. Foiled by his superiors, including Chief Gallagher (the always dependendably crooked Walsh), he goes to the New York Times. That does the trick, but endangers the career and the life of Serpico. 

Steve Martin plays Navin Johnson, The Jerk (1979). He is the white adopted son of poor black sharecroppers (just go with it!). He can’t understand why he has no rhythm and why everything he tries goes wrong. A madman (Emmett Walsh) picks Navin’s name out a phone book and decides to kill him. Luckily, the movie proceeds apace. The transformed madman later helps Navin. Or maybe not.

Water is the coin of the realm in The Milagro Beanfield War (1980). A crooked developer seeks to build a massive resort colony in New Mexico which will completely deplete the water needed to irrigate the crops in the area. There’s lots of dirty doings and bribery, both open and clandestine. The whole thing is brought to a halt by the Governor (Emmett Walsh), restoring the water to the farmers. Well, he couldn’t always be the bad guy!

Interesting snippets of Walsh can be found in Brubaker (1980), Silkwood (1983), and most recently in Knives Out (2019).

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

Sunday, May 12, 2024

                                                       Louis Gossett, Jr.

                                                             Part 2

    One column was not enough to sum up the stellar career of Louis Gossett, Jr. Here are five more movies that included Gossett as an important cast member. There are well over 200 movies and TV shows not included here. 

The Deep (1977) is based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name. It’s a harrowing adventure story of a lost Spanish galleon, millions of dollars worth of ampules containing morphine, and the effort to recover the treasure. Louis Gossett is on board as Henri Cloche, a despicable drug kingpin. You’ll hate him! Robert Shaw, Yvette Mimeux, Eli Wallach and Nick Nolte complete the cast. There seems to be a World War 1 wreck sitting atop a 16th century Spanish ship. The top one contains the morphine. The Spaniard contains gold and silver. Oh, and Cloche may not make it to the credits.

Swallow your incredulity before attempting Enemy Mine (1985), a sci-fi thriller. Dennis Quaid is a human fighter pilot. Louis Gossett is Jareeba, a Drac reptilian humanoid with about 50 pounds of make-up. They hate each other, then get over it when they both crash on an unhospitable planet. Dracs self-fertilize so Jareeba has a child. I guess you can make this stuff up- somebody did! Anyway, Gossett is quite convincing in a somewhat off the charts role.

In Diggstown (1992) Louis Gossett is Honey Roy Palmer, the only good guy in the film. He is a boxer who is slated to knock out ten men in one day. Yep. James Woods, Bruce Dern and Oliver Platt are perfect villains. Why Palmer would participate in this stupid wager is never quite explained. But Gossett makes a cool boxer! He was, in fact, quite an athlete. He was drafted by the New York Knicks but forewent athletics for acting. 

The 2023 musical version of The Color Purple received glowing critical and audience reviews and deserves them. The same characters that peopled the 1985 version are portrayed by actors who can sing, including Taraji Henson and our own Fantasia Barrino. Loouis Gosset plays Old Mister Johnson, not a major factor. Albert Johnson, also called Mister, is the bad guy whom Celie is forced to marry. His somewhat despicable character is allowed to be redeemed in this outing. 

Gossett has a small but pithy part in The Perfect Game (2009) the “based on a true story” sports movie about a ragtag Little League baseball team from Mexico who somehow wins the LL World Series via a perfectly pitched game. Cool Papa Bell was a legendary player in the Negro Leagues and Gossett does him full justice. No surprise.

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



Sunday, May 5, 2024

                                                             Louis Gossett, Jr.

                                                           Part One

    Louis Gossett, Jr. left us recently at 85. The guy was everywhere. He had over 200 acting credits and had 12 projects going when he died. But like Louise Fletcher or Mary Badham, he had one shining performance that defined his talent. The difference is that he had many other important roles. 

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) is the place of that peak performance. Gossett won the Best Supporting Oscar as Sgt. Emil Foley, the Drill Instructor from Hell. Zack Mayo (Richard Gere)  is the focus of Foley’s determination. Mayo is caught selling contraband goods to other officer candidates and Foley decides he has to go.  His aim is to break Mayo and cure him forever of his arrogance and flippancy. Mayo turns out to be tougher than anyone (including him) thought. He perseveres through this trial and others and winds up thanking Foley for being tough on him and for not giving up on him.

Gossett’s first appearance of note is in Loraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun (1961), He appears as George Murchison, the Younger family’s daughter’s boyfriend. She dumps him because of his views on racism. Don’t blink or you’ll miss him. 

His true break-out role was in Skin Game (1971). Though Jason was born a free man and still is, he and Quincy O’Rourke (James Garner) travel the country as owner and slave. Quincy continuously “sells” Jason to willing bidders. Then he and Jason split the profits and move on. There is, of course, a catch. It’s when a very savvy old slave trader realizes what they’re up to, and buys Jason, intending to take him south and make a profit. 

In Travels With My Aunt (1972) Louis Gossett has a ball playing Zachary Wordsworth, an African fortune teller. The aunt of the title is the legendary Maggie Smith. She may or may not be the legitimate aunt, and her message to her “nephew” that the woman he thinks was his mother is not, is deeply suspicious. This hectic film winds up in a fishing boat off the African coast piloted by none other than Wordsworth. A coin flip to decide the final outcome is freeze-framed as the major players watch after Wordsworth flips it into the air. 

Roots (1977) is not actually a movie. It is a TV mini-series based upon Alex Haley’s historical book about the life of Kunta Kinte, an ancestor of the author. The series was a sensation and at one time garnered the most viewers of any program on TV. Kunta is sold into slavery by African turncoats and lands in Colonial Virginia as a plantation slave. Louis Gossett portrays Fiddler, an elderly slave who mentors Kunta and tries to soften his now-tragic life change. Both are sold to another slave owner, and Fiddler continues to help Kunta until Fiddler’s death of natural causes. This is fairly early in the series, which continues on for many years.

All of the movies in this article are available (perhaps for a price). All are for adults. And I am not done with Mr. Gossett