CELEBRATING AMERICA

While it’s true that some folks still see America as The Great Satan, the fact is that most of them like us individually and we are still the hope of the world. Let’s indulge in some movies that celebrate our country!

Never doubt that America has The Right Stuff (1983). This celebration of the early days of the space program and the heroism of the astronauts and the ground staff justifiably fill our souls with pride in our country. Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Sam Sheppard and Dennis Quaid lead a stellar ensemble cast in the true story of one of mankind’s greatest adventures. 

It’s hard to pick just one war movie, but my choice is The Great Escape (1963) a prison camp film featuring Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner and James Coburn. The ingenious methods concocted to escape and the indomitable will to do so carry this excellent adventure. McQueen topped his career in this one. Also highly recommended is The Big Red One (1980), showing the unique qualities of the American soldier.

It would be hard to find a sunnier, happier, more American story than Oklahoma! (1955), Rogers and Hammersteins love song to our country, brought gloriously to the screen. Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones are in wonderful voice, leading the cast in one of the best scores ever written. What an upper! And in this category, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney as the legendary George M. Cohan, is another winner.

     Somewhat off the beaten track, but a stunning portrait of what’s right with America, is Grand Canyon (1991). Danny Glover, Steve Martin, and Kevin Cline headline a fine cast in Lawrence Kasdan’s entertaining study of some of the problems we have and how we help each other through them. This is a life-affirming anthem to America without overt sentimentality

.America, America (1963) is Elia Kazan’s love song to his adopted land and is a wonderful film about the experience of Greek immigrants to our shores, including an unforgettable trip through Ellis Island. 

Just as good is Barry Levinson’s superb Avalon (1990) about Jewish immigrants to his beloved Baltimore. The importance of family, and the impact of the new land on it, are the core of this fine film. 

One of the greatest things about America is our talent for innovation, our ability to break through patterns and find new ways. In Apollo 13 (1995) those abilities are sorely needed in this gut-wrenching, true account of a lunar mission that almost jumped the tracks. Both the engineers and the astronauts broke the mold and found a way to deal with unprecedented problems. The fact that you know how it turns out doesn’t detract one whit from the suspense. This is a real white-knuckler. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Gary Sinise head a good cast.

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. All are suitable for kids 10 and up.

                                                                NED BEATTY

        He took a big risk and it paid off. He was asked to play Bobby,  the victim of a horrible sexual attack, and he played it for all it was worth. It was worth a career of working constantly and appearing in many movies and tv shows. Ned Beatty died at 83 with more projects still in the can. He said he didn’t mind not being a leading man, didn’t want to. He preferred playing many different characters, not being put in a box. His filmography certainly bears this out. 

Deliverance (1972) provided his big break. A quartet of urban friends decide to canoe down a remote river in northern Georgia before a dam spoils it. Ronny Cox, Jon Voight and Burt Reynolds portray the other three friends. The film is taken from a story by James Dickey, who also plays a sheriff. Two of the friends get separated and are set upon by rednecks, who rape Bobby and tie up his companion. They are rescued by a bow and arrow shot and proceed down the river. Drew (Cox) dies in rapids they encounter. The other three close ranks and vow secrecy. The local sheriff doesn’t believe their made-up story of what happened but can’t prove otherwise. 

In Robert Altman’s magnum opus Nashville (1975) Beatty is Delbert Reese, a good old boy with a failing marriage and a  wandering eye. He is the lawyer for country star Haven Hamlin (Henry Gibson) and the local campaign chairman for presidential candidate Hal Phillip Walker. This film was nominated for four Oscars, but won only for Best Song (I’m Easy, sung by Keith Carradine). The sprawling movie contains 24 major characters, at least an hour of music and numerous plot lines. It runs 2 hours and 41 minutes, but it is worth the time spent viewing it!

Network (1976) was nominated for 10 Oscars and won four ( Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay). Ned Beatty was nominated for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Jason Robards for All The President’s Men. Peter Finch plays Howard Beale, a lunatic news anchor who goes off the deep end and gets a ratings spke (remember “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore”?). Beatty is Arthur Jensen, a smarmy corporate CEO who buys out Beale’s network and pushes it to banality. This film is a cautionary tale that foretold the future of TV. 

Superman (1978) is the film that started all the super hero flicks. Ned Beatty is quite good as Otis, bumbling sidekick of super villain Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). Beatty has the same part in Superman II (1980). Both films are good of their kind.

Ned Beatty plays an undercover FBI agent in Silver Streak (1976), as Rudy’s father in Rudy (1993), and as Sheriff Lester Boyle in Cookie’s Fortune (1999). He can also be seen to advantage in Wise Blood (1979) and The Big Easy (1986). 

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.

                                                           CHARLES GRODIN

He was good enough to get leading man roles, but he rarely did. He was unremarkable looking and he had a convincing deadpan delivery of his lines that landed him lots of work. Charles Grodin was a staple character actor, mostly in the 70's and 80's. 

I think his best role was as Jonathan (The Duke) Mardukas in Midnight Run (1988). The Duke stole money from the mob and is on every criminal’s hit list. Meanwhile, bounty hunter and ex-cop Jack Walsh (Robert DeNiro) is hired to bring The Duke back to Los Angeles. The Duke fakes a panic attack on a plane and the duo is required to travel by train. Lots of funny stuff occurs and the FBI gets involved. Walsh and Mardukas get nearer and nearer to becoming friends and there’s a surprise ending.

In Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Grodin plays Dr. Hill, the only good person in the whole movie outside of Rosemary herself. Dr. Hill is Rosemary’s personal physician and tries to help her as her mysterious pregnancy moves along. Grodin’s plain looks and demeanor play nicely against the other characters. Are the other residents of their apartment house members of a Satanic cult? Did they have something to do with the pregnancy and the resulting baby? Well, most of the world knows the answers already, but it’s still scary as hell. 

Grodin is the main character in a really good heist movie: 11 Harrowhouse (1974). Grodin plays Howard Chesser, a small-time diamond merchant in England. He is unexpectably given the chance to cut a large diamond owned by wealthy Clyde Massey (Trevor Howard). When the diamond is stolen, Chesser has to organize a complicated heist of raw diamonds to pay Massey back. His idea seems nuts but it might work.

The plot of Heaven Can Wait has been used many times using lots of titles. The 1978 version features a rookie guardian angel making the mistake of sending an NFL quarterback to heaven before his time. He has to be given another chance so another body has to be found for him. Joe Pendleton (Warren Beatty) is offered the recently deceased body of millionaire Leo Farnsworth, who has just been killed by his cheating wife (Dyan Cannon) and her sleazy boyfriend (Charles Grodin). Everyone is totally confused by the new Leo, whose body is now occupied by Joe Pendleton. After that it gets complicated. 

Charles Grodin may also be seen to good effect in The Lonely Guy (1984), Dave (1983) and The Woman In Red (1984). The only thing these films have in common is the presence of Mr. Grodin. All of them are pretty good.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.

                                                                                JFK

One of the momentous events in my life, and of most everyone over 50, was the assassination of John F. Kennedy. This November it will have been 58 years (unbelievably, for me) since that terrible event. Hollywood has done very well by JFK and his story. There aren’t many films, but the ones we have are good.

We start with the powerful documentary, John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums (1964), directed by Bruce Herschensohn. There are  extraordinary things about this film. First, it came out only one year after JFK’s death, and has never been improved upon. Second, it was commissioned by a governmental agency (the USIA) which obviously gave the director his head and he came through magnificently. Archival footage of JFK’s childhood and youth, his storybook marriage and meteoric rise to the top, and the crushing blow of his untimely death are all there, and unbelievably moving. I watched this great film again recently and was freshly reminded of just how much our country lost on that awful day in Dallas. The image of three-year-old John Jr. saluting as his father’s casket rolled by is one we will never forget. 

A horse of an entirely different color (and species) is Oliver Stone’s JFK (1991). The movie is hugely entertaining and you don’t have to buy into all his theories to enjoy it. Kevin Costner, Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland are only a few of the outstanding actors featured. The photography and editing of JFK are marvelous.  

Much closer to actuality, and producing incredible tension, is Thirteen Days (2000), the film story of the Cuban missile crisis. There is exactly one actor herein you will ever have heard of (Kevin Costner as presidential adviser Kenny O’Donnell). President Kennedy is played by unknown Bruce Greenwood and Robert Kennedy by equally little-known Steven Culp. This is effective, and although we know World War III did not break out over the crisis, and that the Russians backed down, we’re still on the edge of our seats through the last half hour. 

Finally, there is PT 109 (1963), with Cliff Robertson doing a good job as Navy Commander John F. Kennedy, whose heroics in World War II helped catapult him to political glory. This movie is apparently pretty close to the truth ( in a Hollywood sort of way). JFK’s bravery and coolness under fire are amply demonstrated in a movie that is unashamed to admire a hero.

All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are fine for 10 and up, though JFK will puzzle young viewers.

                                                                 IRANIAN FILMS

It is about the most unlikely place you can think of that would be cranking out excellent movies. And yet, Iran, that backwater of Muslim fundamentalism and nuclear power wannabe, is that place! How these movies got made in that hidebound country is a mystery to ponder. 

A Separation (2011) won the American Oscar as best foreign film. While the plot is quite complicated, it is an astonishingly good look at another culture. It shows how messy domestic squabbles are everywhere, and it kindles a realization that these people are very much like us!

A Time For Drunken Horses (1999) is about the Kurdish people of Iran (and several other countries). The family makes a meager living smuggling goods into Iran. The little boy Madi is afflicted with dwarfism and is constantly ill. His only hope is an operation, far beyond the family’s meager means. But they try. The older children embark on a perilous smuggling trip, fraught with terrible weather and bandits. This is a great film.

In Offside (2006) the Iranian national soccer team is playing for the world cup in Tehran. Girls are fans too, but, girls are not allowed to attend the game, even wearing a burnoose and accompanied by a chaperone. Iranian teen-age girls are just as feisty and inventive as any, and they’re determined to see the game. The various tricks they use to get in, what happens when some of them get caught, and the interaction with the police and soldiers are both humorous and touching. Not surprisingly, you can’t see this one in Iran!

Baran (2001) is a most unusual love story. A goofy Iranian construction worker constantly makes fun of an Afghani refugee. Then he discovers that she is a woman, and a very pretty one at that. The director’s nice light touch serves the actors well. 

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian girl who just wants to be a real person in the unusual Persepolis (2007). Done in black and white animation, it is a cautionary tale about political changes which aren’t always for the better, and growing up female in a culture that demeans women. This film is very dark, but worth the effort to stick with it.

Iran nominated Children of Heaven (1997) for an Oscar as best foreign film, and while it didn’t make the final cut, it is certainly worthy. A little boy’s careless mistake  causes the loss of his sister’s precious pink tennis shoes. He undertakes a seemingly impossible search for them through the crowded city. This is a real crowd-pleaser for all ages.

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. Persepolis and Drunken Horses are for big people. The rest are fine for all ages.

                                                      MEN TAKING CREDIT

The last two posts were about films recognizing bright women. And today’s post completes the category. And Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s no secret that in many cases, famous and otherwise, men have taken credit for the work done by women. Mostly they got away with it. But the movies have taken some of these guys to task, and given credit where it is due. 

A recent example is  Collette (2018). Keira Knightley plays the famous writer, whose popular work was claimed by her husband Willy for many years. While it is true that Willy pushed Collette to write novels about the life of Claudine, it is also true that he took credit for most of them, inserting his own byline. The books were wildly popular in France. They even inspired products, such as perfume, based on the stories. Befriended by Mathilde de Mornay (Denise Gough), a very modern woman of any time, Collette gradually escaped her husband’s dominance and became her own artist.  Dominic West is just right as the controlling husband and Miss Knightley lights up the screen.

Another fairly recent example is the aptly named Big Eyes (2014). Margaret Keane was an outstanding pop artist, the inventor of the paintings in the 60's featuring children with abnormally large eyes. Amy Adams plays the artist and the eternally creepy Christoph Waitz appears as her husband Walter. He convinces her to do the painting and let him do the selling (and taking the credit). But she eventually tires of being the doormat, escapes his dominance, sues to get proper credit and carries the day. 

Hidden Figures (2016) brings to light the untold contribution of a group of mathematicians who were principally responsible for NASA’s early space flights. These incredibly smart and dedicated workers were women and they were black! Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae portray these unsung heroes. Kevin Costner is quite effective as the project head whose epiphany releases the women from ridiculous restrictions. Kirsten Dunst has a nice turn as the highly prejudiced supervisor. The conditions they were originally required to work under, and the work they did, make for fine cinematic drama. The NASA bigwigs blithely took credit for everything that went right until a book by Margot Shetterly in 2010 told the story. A highlight of the film is the installation of a gigantic new computer which none of the men can even start up. The women figure it out!

Another recent entry is The Wife (2017) in which The Husband (Jonathan Pryce) receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Glenn Close is superb in the title role. As the film unwinds it becomes increasingly clear that the wrong spouse got the Nobel. The wife is the actual writer of a slew of outstanding novels, though most people think of her as only the supporter of the genius. 

And guess what? I have not discovered a single film where a woman took credit for the work of a man!

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

                                                       UP WITH WOMEN (2)

Inspired by Hillary Clinton’s near-miss run for president and Kamala Harris’ election to vice-president, I recently wrote an article about films celebrating women. But I ran out of room- hang on- I’ve got more!

In My Brilliant Career (1979) Judy Davis is a headstrong young woman bound to make her way in Australia at the turn of the century. She is also determined to maintain her values of civility and her love of the arts. This is a very tough go in a very rough place, not noted for sophistication or equality for females. 

Michael Caine has seldom been better than as the somewhat shopworn professor in Educating Rita (1983). But Julie Walters, as his working class student trying to move up in the world, steals the movie outright. The film brilliantly shows us her life and why she wants a change. That none of her friends and relatives seem to sympathize or even understand her ambitions only makes her more determined. This is a very good film; a lovely secret no longer kept. 

Another fine film from the same director, Lewis Gilbert,  features the superb Pauline Collins as Shirley Valentine (1989). Shirley is somewhat discontented with her middle class existence and she takes off on a vacation on her own (without husband) and sort of discovers herself. You might remember Miss Collins as the saucy Sarah in the wonderful Masterpiece Theatre series, Upstairs, Downstairs. 

Annette Benning is the other side of wonderful as the title character in Being Julia (2004). She is a middle-aged actress married to producer Jeremy Irons. Both have flings, which doesn’t seem to bother either of them. An ingenue appearing in the same play as Julia does her best to hog the stage. Bad mistake! Find out for yourself the delicious revenge exacted on this whipper-snapper. 

Sally Field is a brand new widow left with a cotton farm and a bevy of variously disabled helpers in Places In The Heart (1984). She must get the cotton crop in to save the farm, and the odds are awfully long. But hey, this is Hollywood! Ms. Field is just wonderful in this part. She won the Oscar and made her famous “You really like me” acceptance speech. Ed Harris, John Malcovich and Danny Glover provide good support. 

And thanks to daughter Nancy, who pointed out one I missed: 9 to 5 (1980) with Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin turning the tables on boss-from-hell Dabney Coleman. 

All of the movies in this article are available on DVD. There’s  nothing to keep kids away except that the stories are really for grown-ups.