Alain Delon

    Alain Delon parlayed his smoldering good looks and considerable acting ability into a very good career. Though most of his films were French in origin and language, he made a big dent in American cinema as well. 

    He first appeared on the American film-goer’s radar in Purple Noon (1960). Delon portrays Tom Ripley. He is hired by Phillipe Greenleaf’s father to go to Italy and persuade Phillipe to return home and run the family business. Phillipe isn’t interested. Tom hatches a plot to murder Phillipe and pretend to be him. This works for most of the film, with Delon acting up a storm as he switches personae constantly. Things come apart for Tom at the ending. No more from me. The film is based on Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley. It was made as a movie in America in 1999. I don’t think it is as good as the French film. 

In that same year Alain Delon plays the title character in Rocco and His Brothers. Rocco is one of five brothers in a poor Italian family. They head for Milan to get work and change their circumstances. Each brother has an adventure of a different kind, while Rocco works to hold the family together. Finally Rocco agrees to become a professional boxer to make the much-needed money for the family. This film got a shaky start but as time passed became a much loved Italian classic. 

The Leopard (1963) is considered a great film. OK, a warning: It was released in America with 35 vital minutes cut and with dubbed dialog. Mr. Movie hates cutting and dubbing. So be sure you watch a version of at least 195 minutes and with subtitles. Burt Lancaster is the Prince of Salina who considers himself as a leopard, a dying breed of powerful aristocrats being replaced by  bureaucratic jackals and hyenas. Alain Delon is his headstrong, ambitious and very opportunistic nephew. Italian Claudia Cardianle, is the love interest. With a good bit of authentic Italian history and a good story, this is a winner.

A signature Delon role is as the deadpan contract killer Jef Costello in Les Samourai (1976). Managing to look devastatingly menacing and handsome, Delon carries this thing on his back. The machinations leading up to the grand finale are fun to watch. 

Is Paris Burning? (1966) are the words Hitler famously asked his commanders toward the end of World War II. The film is a faithful recreation of the novel about the liberation of Paris and the saving of most of the city’s iconic buildings. Alain Delon is quite good as a Free French Colonel. Not a great film, but good enough. 

Alain Delon’s appearance in The Swimming Pool (1969), as a somewhat laid back murderer and bon vivant, is strictly for Delon fans. 

All of the films in this article are available somewhere. They are all for adults. 

                                                               Gena Rowlands

    Like so many actors (e.g. Steve Martin, Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones) Gena Rowlands was awarded one of those “lifetime achievement” Oscars instead of for the roles for which she was nominated. This is often the Academy’s way of saying “oops, we should make this up to her”. 

Gena Rowlands died at 94. She had over 200 movie and TV appearances, and she worked until 2017 when ill health finally sidelined her. She famously married maverick director John Cassavetes and acting in his films brought her two Oscar nominations. In all she appeared in 10 of his films. They were together until his death in 1989. In 2004 she got to act in a film directed by her son, Nick. 

Her acting in A Woman Under The Influence (1974), directed by Cassavetes, brought her first Oscar nomination. She lost to Ellen Burstyn for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More. As Mabel, Rowlands runs the emotional gamut from calm and loving to drunk and disorderly. She is institutionalized and returns home different, but not in a good way. She makes you believe this damaged, hurting woman. 

As the title figure Gloria (1980) Ms. Rowlands is the neighbor of a couple in trouble with the mob. She is convinced to take their son, Phil, and try to look after him. She also takes the incriminating ledger the neighbors had given her. Gloria and Phil run and hide from the gangsters and she proves as tough as the pursuers. Cassavetes also directed this one. Though again nominated for Oscar, this time Ms. Rowlands lost to Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter. 

Later Ms. Rowlands got the actor's chance of a lifetime, acting in a film directed by her son, Nick. The Notebook (2004) is a real tear-jerker based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel. Allie, Ms. Rowland’s character, was once in love with Noah, a boy from a wealthy high society family. They part when he goes to fight in World War II, still much in love. He writes to her every day but his hateful mother intercepts all the letters and Allie becomes engaged to another man. But when she sees his picture in a newspaper story, she realizes she still loves him. Allie goes off the deep end and is institutionalized. Her memory comes and goes, but she manages to reunite with Noah. 

In Cassavetes’ far-out Faces (1968) Ms. Rowlands portrays Jeannie, a friend of Maria, whose marriage is dissolving. Another Cassavetes outing with Ms. Rowlands is the frenetic Minnie and Moscovitz (1971). She plays the title character, a museum curator with multiple romantic entanglements. 

Ms. Rowlands’ last appearance of note is as Violet Deveraux in The Skeleton Key (2005). She plays the matron of a decrepit southern mansion (haunted, of course). She does a good job but this one is not my cup of tea. If you like spooky, dig in.

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

                                                      OTHER SPORTS- PART 2

As promised, here is the rest of my list of the best sports movies that are not about baseball. 

6. Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Believe it or not, this is a movie that is based on an original television play.  Both were written by Paddy Chayefsky, one of the best.  Only a cut below Raging Bull, if that.  Anthony Quinn is excellent as the used and abused fighter, and Jackie Gleason is good as his manager, and user. Gleason was about the biggest TV star of them all when I was growing up. It seems almost unfair that he was also a very gifted actor! 

7. The Hustler (1961). This movie made Paul Newman a star and demonstrated that Jackie Gleason was more than a comedian. Loosely based on a true story, it is about a pool player who wants to beat the best and strike it rich.  This film is superbly shot in smoky black and white; color would ruin it. The character Gleason plays, the legendary Minnesota Fats, died at 82 but certainly lived to see the movies based loosely on his life.  The Color Of Money (1986) is a worthy successor, with Paul Newman now a middle-aged Fast Eddie Felson, mentor to Tom Cruise as his cocky student.

8. Heart Like a Wheel (1983) features Bonnie Bedelia as drag racer Shirley Muldowney.  This is as good a film as we have about a woman trying to make it in a man's world.  It is reasonably close to the facts of Muldowney's life. A superb antidote to the “girls can’t do that” crowd. Excellent action footage. Beau Bridges is fine as her husband.

9. White Men Can't Jump (1992). Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes having a big time as basketball hustlers, and throw in Rosie Perez as a Jeopardy hustler.  A funny story without much substance, it is just plain fun. 

10. Rocky (1976). Because Stallone cranked out so many sequels that the whole thing became sort of a national joke, you tend to forget just how good the first one was.  Rocky is the American hero story, about the little guy winning against impossible odds with a little luck and talent and a lot of hard work.  The wonderful theme music lives on. Forget the sequels.

Honorable Mention: Phar Lap (1983) horse racing; Semi-Tough (1977) football; The Harder They Fall (1956) boxing; The Longest Yard (1974) football; Hoosiers (1986) basketball;, Rudy (1993) football, This Sporting Life (1963) soccer, Invictus (2009) rugby.

All of the films in this column are available for streaming.  Google the title and click on “watch movie”. All are really for adult audiences. 

                                                                NOT JUST BASEBALL

Many of the best sports movies are set on the baseball diamond, but there are excellent films about other sports. Most of them are about that particular sport about like Forest Gump is about shrimping, but they make a fine basis for a good story. Here are my top five movies about “other sports.”

1. Chariots of Fire (1981). Deservedly won the Oscar.  Ben Cross and Ian Charleson are superb as Olympic runners.  It is about being the best, and about principles and priorities. It’s hard to imagine the princely Ben Cross, who died at 72,  as an Olympic-quality sprinter, but he was really good in this movie. Charleson portrays a devout Christian who refuses to compete on the sabbath. 

2. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). Please watch this movie. Nobody much did when it came out, and it is a fabulous film about a child prodigy chess player,  what to do with gifted children and how to let them be children.  Lawrence Fishburne is great as a park speed player; Max Pomeranc is wonderful as the kid and Joe Mantegna does a nice turn as his dad. 

3. Breaking Away (1979). Bicycle racing? Why not. The quirky humor and good characterizations make this a fine film.  The underdog against the world story is as old as the movies, but usually works anyway and certainly does here. Dennis Christopher (whatever happened to him?) is good as the young bike racer, smitten by the glamour of the Italian grand prix team. Paul Dooley gives a career performance as his father and Barbara Barrie is very good as his mom.

4. Hoop Dreams (1994). There was quite a controversy when this splendid movie not only wasn't nominated as Best Picture but didn't even get nominated as Best Documentary.  They wuz robbed.  This is about two inner-city kids who dream of making it big in the NBA.  But it's really about dreams and families and making the best of things.  It follows the two main characters from elementary school into college. It is over three hours long but you'll never notice. 

5. Raging Bull (1980). With Martin Scorcese directing and Robert DeNiro acting, this is arguably the best boxing movie ever made.  Not for the faint of heart, as the fight scenes are graphic.  The story is about what men do to women and each other and what happens when you used to be famous.  The movie is shot in black and white, and it’s hard to imagine otherwise. An Oscar for DeNiro, at the absolute top of his game. 

More winners about other sports next time. All of the movies in this column are available  for streaming. Google the title and click on “watch movie”. The first three are fine for all ages; the rest are for mature audiences.

                                                                     Pedro Almodovar

                                                                 Part One

My friend Jim was pretty much a mainstream guy about most things. Like all of us, he had some quirks. Like Cuban music (!). And, he was just enamored with the films of Spanish director and screenwriter Pedro Almodovar. He could have done worse! Almodovar has churned out one strange but good film after another. Let’s look at some of his best.

Almodovar has won dozens of award for his screenplays. He even has an American Academy Award for his screenplay Talk To Her (2003). You can count on him for something out of the envelope and this one is way out. Benigno and Marco have a strange thing in common. Each is in love with a different woman who is hospitalized in a coma. Benigno convinces Marco  that he should constant talk to the unconscious Lydia because people in a coma can hear what is said to them even though they don’t appear to react at all. From there it gets, well, very complicated. Stick with it. You won’t think “that’s just like another movie I’ve seen”. 

One of the all-time great titles is Almodovar’s Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (1989). Antonio Banderas is well-known to American audiences and is the star of this off-kilter film. He portrays Ricky, a recently released mental patient who becomes obsessed with Marina, a star in questionable movies. Ricky breaks into her apartment and takes her captive, assuring her that she will fall in love with him. And guess what? She does! When her sister Lola finds where she is being held, Marina tells her she does not want to escape, that she is in love with her captor. 

Another great Almodovar title is Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (1988). Pepa Marcos is one of these women. She is a television actress whose main work is dubbing Spanish in foreign movies. Her boyfriend Ivan has the same job, dubbing male parts. He tells her to pack his things, he is leaving. She thinks he means forever. Her friend Candela enters the plot, with all sorts of complications. There is spiked gazpacho, and an apparent Arab terrorist plot to hijack a plane. Do not expect me to explain this. Just go with it!

Perhaps the most accessible Almodovar film is the fairly recent Parallel Mothers (2021). Janis (Penelope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit) meet at the hospital where both are delivering babies. Somehow their babies are switched and each departs with the other one’s baby. No one suspects anything until Arturo, who impregnated Janis, comes to see the baby and reacts strangely, saying he doesn’t think the baby is his. Janis conducts a DNA test which reveals she is not this baby’s mother. She runs into Ana who tearfully tells her that her baby is dead- crib death. What should Janis do?

So, if you decide to dive in, should you watch Almodovar films in any particular order. No. They’re all frenetic, weird and stand alone. All of the movies in this article are definitely for mature adults. The standard reaction after seeing one of them is to be puzzled but delighted. All of the films in this article are available for streaming, though few are free. Just Google the title and click on “watch movie”. Good luck!

                                                                      The Olympics In Film

Most everybody I talk to has been watching the Olympics from Paris. Last time, in Tokyo, it was during the pandemic and there were No Fans At All. It has been lots of fun and our American athletes have done so well. So it’s time for Mr. Movie to weigh in with the best movies that involve the Olympics.

I’ll start with the very best. Chariots Of Fire (1981) is a wonderful movie that won every award in sight. It deserved and won four Oscars, including Best Film. Ben Cross portrays Harold Abrahams, a Jewish student at Cambridge. He overcomes intense anti-semitism and is named to the 1924 British Olympics team. Ian Charleson portrays Eric Lidell, a devout Christian who stuns the world when he refuses to run on the Sabbath. The running shots and the celestial music by Vangelis are just great!

Miracle (2004) is about exactly that. The entire United States is transported into ecstacy when an underdog bunch of American college kids unite to take down the juggernaut  Russian squad, winner of four consecutive gold medals.  We hear Al Michaels’ famous call: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes”. Then they go on to win the gold medal by defeating heavily favored Finland. Kurt Russell is very good as Herb Brooks, the legendary American coach. Patricia Clarkson, good as always, plays Herb’s wife.

Munich (2005) goes well beyond the closing ceremony, but is a dramatic film about revenge and redemption. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, 11 Israeli athletes are systematically murdered by Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group. Two are killed at first. After 9 of the Israelis are taken hostage and we hoped against hope, they were all killed. I still remember Jim McKay saying: “They’re all gone. Every one.” The story does not end there, as most of the movie covers the action of Mossad and its cohorts tracking down and killing every known Palestinian participant. 

Icarus (2017) won Best Documentary at the 2014 Academy Awards. Brian Fogel, a talented American cyclist, begins a study of athletic doping. He befriends and works with Grigory Rodchenkov, head of Russian testing. The Russian turns on his bosses and defects to America. He and Fogel disclose the Russians’ total and complete doping of their athletes, revealing how they do it and have been doing it for many years. The Russian goes into Witness Protection and the Russian government denies any knowledge of the scandal. What a surprise!

The Boys In The Boat (2023) is one of the best books I’ve ever read about sports. It details the University of Washington rowing team competing for gold at the 1936 Olympics. The movie, alas, is just so-so. What a waste! The movie isn’t bad, it’s just mediocre and could have been so great. Oh well. Read the book!

I am also recommending Tokyo Olympiad (1965), a Japanese doc about as good as it gets in filming the games. Some might like Hitler’s Olympics (2016) a good doc about how Jesse Owens and others spoiled the 1936 Olympics for The Fuherher.

The first two films herein are fine for all ages. The rest are for adults. All of these films are available for streaming, most at a price.  Google the title and click on “watch movie”. 

                                                                 Shelley Duvall

She was no great beauty. In fact, when someone said “Popeye” you would immediately think “Olive Oyl”. She was reluctant to play that part in the Popeye movie, having been teased with the name in school. And yet, who else would you casr?

Popeye (1980), like so many films made from comic strip characters, is just sort of okay. Robin Williams is fine as the legendary sailor, and those familiar with the comics will recognize Wimpy, Bluto, Sweet Pea and Pappy. Shelley Duvall simply IS Olive Oyl, and she does justice to the skinny heroine. The story meanders around and finally ends on Scab Island, with Popeye being saved by, of course, spinach. 

Shelley Duvall’s first important role was as L.A. Joan in Robert Altman’s Nashville (1977). She went on to become a part of Altman’s stable of quality actors. This film is Altman’s brilliant snapshot of America. It is unlike anything before or since. It’s a crazy quilt of seemingly unrelated incidents, with a great ensemble cast (Keith Carradine, Henry Gibson, Karen Black, Geraldine Chaplin, Lily Tomlin), which somehow coalesce into a picture of how we were and how we are. A combination political rally and country music show is the backdrop.

Ms. Duvall had a minor role in Woody Allen’s Annie Hall (1977). She is Pam, a friend of the couple. Diane Keaton is super as the title character, and Woody, as Alvy Singer,  shambles through the thing playing himself. As usual, Woody is a mess saved by women. The kooky clothing Ms. Keaton wore became a fad for a while. Ms. Keaton won the Best Actress Oscar and the film won three more statues including Best Picture.  Woody was nominated, but alas was bested by Richard Drefuss for The Goodbye Girl.

Shelley Duvall is so very good in Altman’s Three Women (1980). She is Millie, the self-absorbed, talky center of the film. She won the Best Actress award at Cannes for her performance. The story is supposedly derived from a dream Altman had. I believe that. The film also stars Sissy Spacek and Janice Rule as the other two women. They all live in a dusty western town, and their interactions shift and change as the film progresses. It is more than a little strange; not to all tastes but vintage Altman.

The Shining (1980) pretty much belongs to Jack Nicholson, totally scary as Jack Torrance, a sometimes writer hired as caretaker in a spooky mountain hotel. Shelley Duvall portrays Wendy, Jack’s long suffering wife. Jack slides into madness and tries to trap and murder his wife and son. Jack comes after them with an axe, shattering the door and uttering the now-famous line “Here’s Johnny!”. Wendy and her son somehow escape her now murderous and crazy husband, fleeing on a snow mobile and leaving Jack to freeze. 

All of the movies in this article are available to stream somewhere. Google the title and click on “watch movie”. All of these films are for grown-ups.