Ernest Hemingway movies

                                                             Part 1

        A friend was telling me about visiting the Ernest Hemingway home in Key West and my mind turned (of course!) to movies. Could I dig out enough movies based on Hemingway works for a column? Actually, I could find enough for two columns and this is the first.

A Farewell To Arms (1932) starred heavy hitters Helen Hayes and Gary Cooper as star-crossed lovers during World War 1. She is Catherine (Hayes) a nurse who meets Frederick (Cooper) when she cares for the wounded soldier. She becomes pregnant during their affair and in the original version she dies at the end. The film ran afoul not only of people wanting a happy ending but of The Code and was mercilessly chopped up. It’s still pretty good. The 1957 version is also quite good with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones as the lovers. Either film is a three-handkerchief event. 

For Whom The Bell Tolls (1943) is another romantic story , this time during the Spanish Civil War.  Gary Cooper is back as Robert Jordan, an American living in Spain as an English language teacher. Jordan joins the International Brigade, fighting against the Franco led falangists. He is also an expert munitions expert specializing in dynamite. He is assigned to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. En route he meets Maria (Jennifer Jones) and sparks fly. The bridge is blown but the falangists chase the good guys. Jordan is grievously wounded but he mans a machine gun against the bad guys, allowing his companions (and Maria) to escape. This film got nine Oscar nominations, but only won for Supporting Actress (Katina Paxinou). 

The Killers (1946) introduced filmdom to Burt Lancaster (The Swede) who is shot to death early in the film. Jim Reardon (Edmond O’Brien) is an insurance investigator looking for the Swede’s life insurance beneficiary. His search uncovers the story of how the Swede left boxing because of an injured hand and fell into a life of crime. The plot involves a complicated heist and several double-crosses. The 1964 version isn’t quite as good. It features Lee Marvin and a guy named Reagan who might have a future in politics. The first part of the movie including the shooting are taken from a Hemingway story. The rest is not. 

The Macomber Affair (1947) features Robert Preston as Macomber, an American on a Kenyan safari with his wife Margot (Joan Bennett) and their guide Robert Wilson (Gregory Peck). This ill-fated triangle winds up in a murder trial when Margot shoots her husband dead. Or maybe she was aiming a charging water buffalo?

Back to Africa for The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) where Harry Street (Gregory Peck) lays dying at the base of the big mountain, suffering a slow demise from an infected thorn prick. A famous writer, he reminisces about his life and times, and is tended by Helen (Susan Hayward). One fine memory is of his first wife Cynthia (Ava Gardner), a character invented for this film. 

In almost all of the movies the writers played fast and loose with Hemingway’s stories. Since he had sold the rights, there wasn’t much he could do about it. But at least he could spurn the lure of Hollywood as a script writer, because he refused to do that. Oh, and all of these films are for grown-ups. 

                                                                       DANCING

Every society has dancing. OK, maybe not Afghanistan. Many people love to dance and even more love to watch dancing. Hollywood is right there with the wonderful Astaire-Rogers movies, the MGM musicals, and there’s even a whole film about it aptly named That’s Dancing (1985). In these films, the dancers are professionals in the story as well as personally.

What about just your ordinary Joe and Jane who just like to dance? I thought you’d never ask. There are some wonderful movies on just that subject.

Queen of the Stardust Ballroom (1975) stars Maureen Stapleton and Charles Durning as an older couple who discover each other at the Stardust Ballroom. This is a made-for-TV movie, but it is excellent. The actors are good, the dancing is fun, and the story is a good and unusual one demonstrating that even people over 50 can fall in love and be romantic.

They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) is about the little-known Depression era phenomenon of marathon dancing. Jane Fonda is impossibly young and fresh and Michael Sarazin plays her partner. Gig Young (Oscar, Best Supporting Actor) is wonderfully sinister and seedy as the master of ceremonies. The whole thing works on several levels, as a fascinating look at a long-ago fad and as a metaphor for lives.

Strictly Ballroom (1992, Australia) is about ballroom dancing contests down under, and it provides a peek at a world most of us didn’t even know existed; it’s almost a parallel universe. Paul Mercurio is the hot-blooded individualist who takes on ugly duckling Tara Morice as a new partner. She blossoms, and they enter the big contest. Loads of fun.

Shall We Dance? (1996, Japan) is an absolutely superb movie about a Japanese businessman who secretly takes ballroom dancing lessons to brighten up his very dull life. He meets lots of interesting characters, becomes a proficient dancer and also rather poignantly meets himself. This is one of the best films you probably never heard of. 

And by the way, remember all those movies where the kids in town want to (fill in the blank): twist, lambada, Charleston, rock and roll, tango, breakdance, etc, etc, and the blue-nosed grownups want to stop them? Are any of those any good? No.

All of the movies in this column are fine for children 10 and up.

                                                                           Piper Laurie

        Piper Laurie made quite a splash in her first big role, playing opposite superstar Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961). The film, now considered a classic, also featured George C. Scott and the surprising Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats.. Newman is Fast Eddie Felson, a somewhat talented pool hustler. He meets Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), a not-recovering alcoholic. They begin living together and Eddie challenges Fats to a pool shoot-out. Eddie gets way ahead.  Sarah does her best to get Eddie to quit, but he doesn’t listen. Laurie was nominated for an Oscar, but lost to Sophia Loren for Two Women. 

Finding no interesting parts for an actress, Piper Laurie took a 15-year break from acting. She decamped to upstate New York and devoted her time to her sculpting and being a Mom. Her comeback role garnered another Oscar nomination. She played the abusive mother of Carrie (1976) in the truly scary adaptation of a Stephen King story. Sissy Spacek was terrifying as Carrie. Laurie lost this time to Beatrice Straight for Network.

    Piper Laurie’s last Oscar nomination, another loss, was for Children of a Lesser God (1986). She plays the mother of Sarah Norman (Marlee Matlin). Sarah is a nearly deaf janitor and student at the school for the deaf where James Leeds (William Hurt) is hired as a new teacher. The film features the debate between sign language and lip reading. This time Laurie lost the statue to Diane Wiest for Hannah and Her Sisters.

    Piper Laurie died recently at the age of 91. She never lacked for work, but never quite made it back to the pinnacle of her early parts. In Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993) she plays Georgia, the sometimes girlfriend of Frank (Richard Harris). The film also has Robert Duvall as Walter and Shirley Maclaine as Helen.

    Her final good part was in The Grass Harp (1995). She is just really good as the mildly eccentric Dolly Talbo, the best thing in the movie. She is surrounded by a stellar cast including Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Roddy MacDowell, Jack Lemon and Mary Steenburgen. Based on a Truman Capote story, it is a fairly standard small-town-in-the South-with-lots-of-characters film. 

    Piper Laurie also had good TV roles in The Thorn Birds and as George Clooney’s mother, Sarah Ross, on ER.

    All of the movies in this article are for adults. No idea where you might find them. 

                                                          Michael Gambon

        Name not familiar? Well, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, shame on you. Michael Gambon was in every single Potter film as Professor Albus Dumbledore. Google his name and when you see his face the chances are you’ll say something like, “Oh yeah, that guy”.

But the Potter films hardly begin to tell the story of Michael Gambon’s incredibly long and varied film career. He lists over 200 acting credits. Here are Mr. Movie’s opinion of the best.

Victoria and Abdul (2017) is the last big Gambon movie. Queen Victoria (Judi Dench), lonely and tired of her sycophant servants and children, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Abdul (Ali Fazal) an Indian Muslim who is dispatched to England to present the Queen with a medal struck in her honor. Michael Gambon is spot on as Lord Salisbury, Prime Minister and dead set against this relationship. Based on a true story, this is a real charmer. 

    Annette Bening owns Being Julia (2004) lock, stock and barrel, but that’s ok because she is absolutely super as an aging actress who still knows a trick or two. Michael Gambon is her mentor and stalwart defender throughout. She seems always “on stage” to her college-aged son and her producer-husband (Jeremy Irons). She is roughly pushed aside by a director and young ingenue. Then she pushes back! What fun!

    One of the earliest Gambon hits is the entertaining Turtle Diary (1985). Neaera Duncan (Glenda Jackson) happens upon William Snow ( Ben Kingsley) at the Aquarium. They agree the turtles shouldn’t be cooped up this way and hatch a plan to return them to the sea. Incredibly, the zookeeper in charge of the turtles (yep, Michael Gambon) offers to help them do it.

    The aptly named The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) finds Michael Gambon opposite another British icon, Helen Mirren. Gambon plays churlish gangster Albert Spica. He buys an upscale restaurant and quickly drives away most of the customers by his behavior. His wife Georgina (Mirren) is disgusted by his conduct and starts an affair with a customer. Her disgusting husband finds out and plans a terrible revenge. You won’t find out from me!

    Gosford Park (2001) features Michael Gambon as wealthy, stodgy Sir William McCordle, who throws a huge dinner party that contains a wealth of British acting royalty. Stephen Fry, Eileen Atikins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates, Derek Jacobi, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith are just a few of the players. After dinner there is a murder, but this is a dark comedy directed by Robert Altman, so there is plenty of fun viewing things through the eyes of the staff and the guests. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, winning only Best Original Screenplay.

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

                                                              Carson McCullers

                  Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, GA and died when she was only 50. Some of her novels have been made in to heartbreakingly wonderful movies that will always be around. I’ll start with her first, and one that is permanently situated in my all-time top 10.

    The Member of the Wedding (1952) is just so good. Twelve-year-old Frankie (Julie Harris) is a moody tomboy who is jealous and distraught over her older brother’s impending marriage. She can’t believe the couple isn’t taking her along on their honeymoon! Her caretaker is Berenice (Ethel Waters) and her best friend is little John Henry (Brandon DeWilde) who lives next door. She runs away, is nearly assaulted, and finally comes to a shaky understanding with the help of Berenice. Harris was nominated for Oscar but lost to Shirley Booth for Come Back Little Sheba. I notice that others (a 6 on Rotten Tomatoes!) do not share my affection for this film. I don’t care.

    Reflections in a Golden Eye (1957) is pure Southern Gothic. Major Weldon Pendleton (Marlon Brando) and his beautiful spoiled wife Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) have more problems than the Middle East. There’s also a thing with horses and something about latent homosexuality. Brian Keith and Julie Harris play another dysfunctional couple. The first sentence of the novel sets the tone for this rather frantic jumble: “There is a fort in the South where a few years ago a murder was committed.”

Alan Arkin knocks it out of the park as deaf mute John Singer in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Singer just tries to help people and is successful more often than not. Sondra Locke is quite good as teen-age Mick, one of Singer’s friends. Singer rents a room in a small Southern town to be near his friend Spiros, who is also deaf. The ending is hard to take- be warned. But this is a good one.

So if you were casting a Southern woman who is a bootlegger, would you select British acting royalty? Well, Vanessa Regrave was the choice to play Amelia, and it maybe works. Her cousin convinces her to open a café, and it is the featured place in The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991). Keith Carradine is on hand to play her divorced husband, recently discharged from prison. Her perhaps cousin Lyman (unknown Cork Huppert) is allowed to move in with her and help run things. 

The last (?) film from a McCullers work is A Tree A Rock A Cloud (2017) a short film based on a short story featuring largely unknown actors. A young boy’s chance encounter with an old man leads to the getting of wisdom from an original source. 

That’s maybe not all, folks. The excellent McCullers novel Clock Without Hands is, as far as I know, available for filming. Somebody should grab it. Stay tuned.

All of the movies in this article are for adults. 

                                                              CAR RACE MOVIES

I recently saw director Ron Howard’s (remember Opie?) bang-up car racing movie, Rush (2013). It is about the Formula One (open wheel) rivalry in the 1970's between handsome, charismatic Brit James Hunt and stolid, matter-of-fact Austrian Riki Lauda. It’s a very good story, with mostly unknown actors, and the racing parts are edge-of-your seat convincing. And, this film put me in mind of other movies about automobile racing. There are dozens; these are my favorites.

While most Americans have never heard of Ayrton Senna, he was Argentina’s Formula One champion in the 1990's and Senna (2010) is an outstanding documentary about his life, on the track and off. It’s hard to fathom what a big deal he was in his home country- think Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle and Richard Petty rolled into one. Tragically, he was killed in a freak racing accident at the height of his powers. 

Days Of Thunder (1990) is about NASCAR racing. Director Tony Scott gets the racing parts on the screen quite well. This film has an excellent storyline, and a dynamite cast featuring Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Randy Quaid, and Robert Duvall. There are also cameos by some real life racers, like Rusty Wallace, Harry Gant and Neil Bonnet. 

The world of drag racing will never be the same after the impact Shirley Muldowney made in the late 1970's as the first woman in the sport. Heart Like A Wheel (1983) is her story, and Bonnie Bedelia is superb playing her. There is the usual stuff about girls can’t do this, but this girl absolutely can and proves it by winning three championships.

          Le Mans (1971) and Grand Prix (1966) are both good Formula One movies. The first stars Steve McQueen and so little dialog and so much racing footage from the actual 1970 Le Mans race that American audiences didn’t like it (but car race fans love it!). The latter stars James Garner and was a big hit with US audiences. 

The Last American Hero (1973) features Jeff Bridges as NASCAR legend and fellow Tar Heel Junior Johnson, and is fairly accurate for a Hollywood bio.

Last but not least, Will Ferrell is wonderfully clueless in the hysterically funny Talladega Nights (2006). A movie that makes fun of just about everything NASCAR, it is not well-loved by race fans but everyone else laughs their heads off. It is not in the least accurate, but it is in the most really funny.

All of the films in this column are fine for 10 and over. I must admit that because of the subject matter almost all of them would be better on the big screen. Well, we can’t always have everything we want!

                                                                       Nurse Movies

There are quite a number of good movies featuring nurses. Okay, a lot of them are about bad ones. But not all. 

Perhaps the most famous movie nurse is one of the worst. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher) is the hateful tyrant who makes life even more miserable for the inmates of a psych hospital. She has a ferocious battle of wits with Randle (Jack Nicholson) which ends badly for both. One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) won about everything on Oscar night: Best Picture, Best Director, Screenplay, Nicholson for Best Actor,and Fletcher for Best Actress. It deserves all of them. This is an American classic and Fletcher is the worst nurse imaginable. 

Maybe even worse, from the standpoint of results, is The Good Nurse (2022) with Jessica Chastain as the good nurse, Amy Loughren,  and Eddie Redmayne as the bad nurse, Charile Cullen.  In this film he portrays a very nice and competent nurse who is also a  mass murderer who kills patients in a sly, diabolical manner. No, he doesn’t know them. Yes, this is based on a true story. And yes, Redmayne is sensational as the killer and good friend to Amy, a single mom struggling with her obligations. The film is also instructive about bad nurses, and rogue cops, who glide from one job to another, wreaking chaos at each stop, with each new place none the wiser.

     The English Patient (1996) was nominated for an incredible 12 Oscars and won 9 of them, including Best Picture.  Anthony Minghella won for Best Director and Juliette Binoche for Best Supporting Actress. Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas were nominated but didn’t win. Hana (Binoche) is a nurse that tries to care for a blinded soldier who can’t remember anything about his identity but speaks with an English accent. The plot is convoluted, and the movie is very long (2 hours, 42 minutes) but worth the time it takes. 

While Wit (2001) is really Emma Thompson’s (Vivian Bearing) movie, there is a great nurse role. Directed by Mike Nichols, it features Christopher Lloyd and Eileen Atkins as physicians experimenting with a new treatment for Bearing’s advanced ovarian cancer. But it is Audra MacDonald, a dedicated nurse, who seems the only person really concerned about a human connection to the patient. The personal touch of a caring nurse is still extremely important. 

Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now (2013) is a splendid documentary about real nurses in real situations. It was directed by Kathy Douglas, who knows how to take her time and tell each story well. A salute to nurses everywhere, this is a terrific movie. 

Some other good nurse movies are So Proudly We Hail (1943), Prison Nurse (1938), and Florence Nightingale (1985). All of the movies in this article are for grown-ups and kids who are fairly mature. I know they’re on DVD but I no longer have any idea where you can find them. Sorry.