Zoos

    The biggest natural habitat zoo in the world is right here in my county! So of course Mr. Movie should go on a safari to round up movies about zoos. So he did. With, I’m afraid, very mixed results. Let’s begin by saying there are around 50 movies that fit this category. Over 40 aren’t very good. On with the show!

     We Bought A Zoo (2017) is just so good-natured and fun that you have to like it. It is, strangely, based on a memoir by the guy who actually did buy a zoo. Matt Damon plays a widowed father (Benjamin Mee) of teen-agers, and the whole family is despondent without their wife and mother. Looking for a new residence, they find the perfect house and decide to buy it, even though they also have to buy the zoo that goes with the property. The zoo needs major repairs and money to make them. Stay tuned for a very happy ending!

The next two films fall under the “apologizing for zoos” category. Harambe (2023) is a documentary that’s hard to take. A little boy falls into the gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo. The gorilla never harms the child but seems to most to be taking care of him. The kid is rescued without injury. The gorilla, Harambe, is shot dead. The films opens a who can of worms about wild animals kept in enclosures. An Apology To Elephants (2013) is another documentary. This one details the mistreatment of our largest land animals. I don’t think our zoo’s elephants would fit here at all; they seem to have pretty good lives. 

Zoo (2017) also features an elephant. This one lives in the Belfast zoo and is terrorized by bombing all around the zoo. Several teen-agers decide to rescue the elephant (Buster) and keep it in a back yard. Yep. Really happened! How do you keep an elephant hidden? Well, it ain’t easy!

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) is also based on a true story. During Word War II the keeper of the Warsaw Zoo and his wife use the zoo to hide Jews from the Nazis. The Nazis systematically slaughter all the animals, but the keepers use the empty cages and habitats to hide escaping Jews. The Zabrinskas rescued over 300 Jews, and after Hitler’s surrender they rebuilt the Warsaw Zoo.

This falls in the “not as good as the book” category. Zoo (2015-17) is a tv streamer based on James Patterson’s book of the same name. The book is one of his best, a page-turning thriller. The tv series is just ok. So- what if all the animals in the world, in zoos and wild, suddenly turned into people killers? 

Only We Bought A Zoo and the 2017 Zoo are ok for kids. Most of these are available somewhere. Click around!

                                                             Donald Sutherland

                                                                 Part 3

    Herewith the last column on Donald Sutherland films. No, that isn’t all of his good roles, I just picked 15 I liked.

Max Dugan Returns (1983) is a whimsical tale of separation and love and Jason Robards has the title role, playing the estranged father of Nora McPhee (Marsha Mason).  Nora is a schoolteacher mom just barely getting by. Max shows up on her doorstep, having served a long prison sentence and then disappeared for six more years. He is flush with cash he has stolen from the mob, and proceeds to refurnish Nora’s home and bestow other gifts. She resists for a while but ultimately gives in to his largesse. Donald Sutherland has a fairly minor turn as Brian Costello. Son Kiefer debuts as a school kid.  As always, the Neil Simon screenplay delivers mirth and good feelings. 

Outbreak (1995) is a visionary,  fictional prediction of the ebola virus which scared the *^%# out of us in 2014. In this film the deadly virus is called Motaba and it sounds a lot like ebola. The outbreak spreads by accident and by misadventure and the army is called in. Donald Sutherland plays General McClintock, a totally loathsome character who tries to keep the virus around to use as a chemical weapon. Yikes!

A Time To Kill (1996) is a superb courtroom film based on the John Grisham novel. Carl Lee Hailey’s (Samuel L. Jackson) little daughter is abducted and raped by two white men. Realizing the perpetrators will never be punished in Mississippi, Car Lee guns them down. He is defended by Jake Brigance (Matthew McConahy), aided by his elderly mentor Lucien Wilbanks (Donald Sutherland). Jake tries to get Carl Lee to plead to second degree murder to prevent a death sentence, but Carl Lee refuses and the case goes to the all white jury. 

Pride And Prejudice (2005) has been filmed several times and Jane Austen’s story just gets better. In this one, Donald Sutherland portrays Mr. Bennett, father of five daughters. Their mother schemes and plots to secure “good matches”. Keira Knightley shines as Elizabeth, the main character. Unknown Matthew Mcfadyen is just fine as Mr. Darcy, scorned suitor of Elizabeth, but who won’t give up. There are numerous plot twists before getting to the satisfying finale. 

The Hunger Games became quite a franchise in the 2000's. From the original in 2012 through Catching Fire, Mockingjay 1 and 2 and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2023 these films were very successful, especially with young people. Donald Sutherland is cast as President Snow, who presides over and directs the games. Every year the 12 districts send a boy and a girl as tribute, and they all fight each other until only one survives. Katniss Everdeen is the signature girl character, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence. The first three entries set box office records. The last one is actually a prequel, and Sutherland appears in it only by archival footage. 

    All of these films are for grown-ups. Netflix has The Hunger Games. For the others, Google the title and click on watch movie. 

                                                                  Donald Sutherland

                                                                       Part 2

    Fellini’s Casanova (1976) is helmed by the famous director and stars the very unlikely Donald Sutherland. It is basically faithful to the history of the infamous debaucher. It is Fellini’s first film in English, and is rated a very marginal R. That the anit-hero constantly went from bed to bed is well known. Sutherland seems to have a good time in a slam dunk role. Not for the easily offended! The 2005 version with Heath Ledger is milder and wanders further from the truth.

The Great Train Robbery (1978) is a film that has been made numerous times. In fact, the 1903 is widely considered to be the first feature film. And it is pretty good! The 1978 features Donald Sutherland as Agar, an accomplished pickpocket and thief. He is all in for robbing the gold bars under the tutelage of Edward Pierce (Sean Connery). This is at the top of the heap of heist stories. The screenplay and the direction are by the legendary Michael Crichton. The true story of this robbery has inspired lots of books and movies. This is close to the best.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is still nightmarishly scary. Aliens from a dying planet come to earth in pods which hatch to become exact duplicates of each human. Donald Sutherland plays Matthew Bennell, a health department inspector. He and a colleague, Elizabeth (portrayed by Brooke Adams)  discover the invasion and strive to destroy it. People start noticing their spouses and friends are somehow different. The aliens are recognized by their complete lack of emotion. 

Ordinary People (1980) is a splendid movie, in Mr. Movie’s top 10. Sutherland plays Calvin Jarrett, the father of a family bereaved by the death of one its sons. Timothy Hutton (Oscar, Best Supporting) is the surviving son, Conrad. He is guilt-ridden because he failed to save his brother in the boating accident. He is counseled by Dr. Berger (Judd Hirsch). The mother is portrayed by the surprising Mary Tyler Moore, who is simply splendid. Director Robert Redford won the Oscar. Moore and Hirsch were nominated. The movie itself won Best Picture. Highly recommended. 

In Eye of the Needle (1981) Donald Sutherland portrays Henry Faber, about as loathsome a character as you’ll find. Faber is a German agent sheltering in Britain, called “The Needle” because he kills with a stiletto. He discovers that the allies plan their big invasion at Normandy, not another spot the German high command suspects. He is desperate to get this information to his German masters. He is unable to transmit the information, so he travels to Storm Island off the Scottish coast to meet with a Uboat for transport home. He encounters the only other people on the island and starts a romance with Lucy (Kate Nelligan). She discovers his true identity as he attempts to contact Germany on the island’s radio. That’s all I’m telling here!

All of the movies in this column are for adults. All are available for streaming somewhere. Google the title and click on “Watch Movie” or click around the site. 

                                                                      Donald Sutherland

                                                                         Part 1

Donald Sutherland left us at 88 and also left us over 200 movie and TV appearances, all of them professional and polished. 

    He had minor roles in The Bedford Incident (1965) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). But his first starring role was as Hawkeye Pierce in the darkly hilarious M*A*S*H (1970). He is one of the prankster physicians in a hospital unit in Korea. Also on hand are Elliott Gould as Trapper John and Sally Kellerman as Hot Lips Houlihan. The film is much darker than the popular TV series with Alan Alda. But though the cast is often up to its elbows in blood and gore, they still manage to make us laugh a lot. 

Start The Revolution Without Me (1970) is perhaps an acquired taste. Sutherland and co-star Gene Wilder play two sets of twins somehow switched at birth. One set is haughty and aristocratic and the other is poor and rather stupid. All of them get mixed up in the French Revolution with often comic results. 

In Kelly’s Heroes (1970) Clint Eastwood portrays the title character, a disgraced private who captures a German officer, gets him drunk, and discovers a cache of gold bars in a nearby castle. He hatches a plan to steal the gold. A spaced-out tank commander, affectionally called  Sgt. Oddball (Sutherland) wants to join in, and suggests his tank brigade would make a nice complementary group. When both Oddball’s Sherman tank and the last German Panzer tank both break down, the two sides make a deal to blow open the castle and share the gold. 

Donald Sutherland plays the title character in Klute (1970) He is a private detective hired to find a missing Pennsylvania executive. The hunt leads him to high-end prostitute Bree Daniel (Jane Fonda). He rents an apartment in her building and proceeds to track her and tap her phone. He finally confronts her and their relationship quickly turns romantic. There are lots of twists and turns. The couple appears to stay together but it’s not for sure. The screenplay is nominated for the Oscar, but loses to scripters of The Hospital. However, Jane Fonda wins the Oscar as Best Actress. 

In Don’t Look Now (1973) Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie portray bereaved couple John and Laura Baxter, whose daughter was drowned near their home in England. They journey to Venice, where John has accepted a job to renovate a cathedral. Laura contacts a woman who says she is clairvoyant and in touch with the deceased daughter. She also says that John is in great danger and should leave Venice. He disparages this idea. They are notified that their son has been injured at boarding school in Britain, and Laura departs to be with him. Things keep happening to John and he keeps seeing a mysterious small figure in a red coat. This film is now considered a classic and features very innovative editing. 

All of the films in this article are for grown-ups. I plan two more Sutherland articles.  If you Google any film in this article and click on Watch Movie you will find where you can stream it. Caveat- none are available for free. However, your local library may have some of these.