The Manchurian Candidate

John Frankenheimer, 1962, bw (8.6*)
#81, Top Ranked 1000 Films, 2011 Update, all polls.

This is the film that set the standard for cold-war thrillers, and also put director John Frankenheimer on the map. The film features a thankfully subdued Frank Sinatra in a dramatic role as a Korean War veteran, who returns to America a changed man. He suspects that a hero from his unit, played by Laurence Harvey, may have been brainwashed by the North Koreans. The problem of course is that the entire story could be in his own imagination, he has no evidence.

As the story unfolds, we find out in short flashbacks a little more of what happened in Korea, while the plot moves toward timed conclusion using the countdown technique, which works well here. One of those 'we have three days to save the free world kind of things', because of a plot already in motion which could have world-shaping implications.

Frankenheimer expertly plays into the hands of the paranoid right-wingers who, led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 50’s, began to suspect a red commie hiding inside every industry and business in the U.S. He creates a nighmarish vision of their worst paranoia, that the communists are able to alter the minds of heroic American citizens and then unleash them on an unsuspecting American public – kind of like what Wall St. has done in the new milennium with even greater success than our enemies imagined.

Frankenheimer was a master at a low-key type of thriller that maintained great tension and apprehension throughout, and events seemed to be moving unhampered toward some bone-chilling conclusion. For me, he went on to make even better thrillers after this one. The Train (1964) bw, with Burt Lancaster, was about a Frenchman trying to stop the Nazis from carting off valuable art treasures back to Germany in a trainload of stolen French culture pilfered from the best museums.

Even better was Seven Days in May (1964) bw, in which Lancaster plays a right-wing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who is upset with a left-wing President, expertly played by Fredric March in his last performance, who he feels is weakening the U.S. politically, so he plots a military overthrow of the government, while an officer on his staff, Kirk Douglas, slowly suspects the Chairman. This is eerily similar to the arguments made by the CIA against John Kennedy, who had decimated the branch with massive cutbacks in manpower - Langley was said to resemble a 'ghost town' during his administration.

More recently, Frankenheimer directed the excellent heist film Ronin (1998), featuring Robert De Niro and Jean Reno leading a team to recover a stolen briefcase for a suspected IRA terrorist, Natascha McElhone. This barely noticed film runs rings around the big budget, non-stop car chase films, with an intelligent script that allows for some development of complex characters.

Stick with the original (#81 on the all-time top 1000), the remake with Denzel Washington is ranked 2098th by comparison.

Whoa, is this James Bond or some Korean war vet?

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The Longest Day

1962, bw (8.0*)
Memorial Day WAR-a-thon film #13
Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck (uncredited)
Annakin did the British exteriors, Marton the American exteriors, Wicki the German episodes.

A journalistic, little embellished story of D-Day, beginning with the build up, and the delays caused by weather, the men anxiously rocking with the waves below decks, worried about how much German force will be waiting for them at Normandy. We proceed from waiting troops, to the overnight paratrooper drop that actually began the assault.

This all-star cast is more of a Hollywood who's who than a tight narrative ensemble, but by shooting in black and white the producers tried to give this filmed story of D-Day a documentary look and feel, so in that regard having stars in every part negates the effect, but it's still a rewarding war film overall. From Cornelius Ryan's best-seller, and it has that feel as well.

The cast has some of the biggest names available at the time: John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Peter Lawford, Robert Ryan, Sal Mineo, Eddie Albert, Mel Ferrer, with Curt Jurgens and Gert Frobe in the German scenes. Most have little to do however, other than ask questions about maps, or bark out orders. The film is made by the special effects, as it truly does look like "every ship in the world" off the coast of Normany when the invasion begins, as one German observer radios to Berlin.

won 7 awards, 2 Oscars (cinematography, special effects) out of 13 nominations

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Requiem For a Heavyweight

Ralph Nelson, 1962, bw (9.0*)
[posted on Boxing Day in the Commonwealth, and my birthday, as my dad and I were named for a boxer, William Lawrence Stribling, who lost to Jack Dempsey on a 15th round knockout while leading on all scorecards. Stribling was tragically killed just 3 wks later on his motorcycle before a promised rematch]

One of the best boxing stories ever, from a teleplay by Twilight Zone creator, author Rod Serling. This film was it's second filming, as it was originally a highly acclaimed tv playhouse drama special.

The terrific cast makes this film what it is. Oscar-winner Anthony Quinn plays an aging boxer named Louis Primera (too close to boxer Primo Carnera to be coincidental?) in the twilight of his career, his best days obviously behind him, and he'll never be champ. He's actually knocked out by Muhammed Ali in the beginning, called Cassius Clay at the time.

Jackie Gleason is superb as his manager, Maish, how they kept him from an Oscar is a mystery. Mickey Rooney is his cut man, while social worker Julie Harris optimistically has ideas for other careers.

There are some creative yet realistic plot twists that I won't reveal here, but suffice to say that this film deals with personal honor and dignity perhaps as well as any other sports story. That makes it perhaps my second favorite boxing film after Million Dollar Baby, as there's no performance in any boxing film as superb as Hilary Swank's; you can watch her actually become a boxer on film before your eyes.

This version is better than the teleplay for CBS Playhouse 90, which was actually done live, with Jack Palance in the lead role. For my money, Jackie Gleason, here and in The Hustler, is perhaps the most deserving of those shut out all-time for an Oscar®, he should have one for supporting actor out of these two.

[Other notables shut out include Peter O'Toole, with 8 losses, Richard Burton, Myrna Loy, and Edward G. Robinson, who never even got a nomination]

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What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?

Robert Aldrich, 1962, bw (8.4*)
Anyone who doubted that Bette Davis is the best actress of the 20th century only need see her sadistic domineering role in Baby Jane, where she plays a psychotic "American Sweetheart", a former child star gone mad who looks like a senile Mary Pickford or Shirley Temple with dementia.

Jane Hudson is former child star "Baby Jane", now retired in L.A. with only memories of her stardom. The object of adult Jane's ire is her partially paralyzed sister, Blanche, wheelchair bound and dependent on Jane's care, which includes being tied up and occasionally beaten. Long-time acting rival Joan Crawford is also perfect in this part, and based on the hearsay that they were never friends, one can actually feel Davis' hatred of Crawford, and imagine that she relishes the punishment she dishes out to her on celluloid. In one particularly creepy scene, she dumps Blanche on the floor then kicks her around like dirty laundry.

This is one of the more spine-tingling films ever put onscreen, for unlike a typical Universal horror film, here the violence and terror is all too real. We've all known elderly people who have a screw loose or two, but Jane has come completely unhinged altogether, yet is still in charge of her own life and her sister's. Blanche seeks help from outsiders, but is constantly twarted by Jane, often in the nick of time in true "Hitchkockian fashion".

The beauty of Davis' performance is that she can shift from demented anger to girlish charm as the situation demands, and yet she is especially creepy in either guise. Davis was only 54 when she played this part, but due to garish white makeup and especially baggy eyes, she appears to be in her 70's, yet still wears the dress and hairstyle popular when she was a child star. Only a true actor would allow herself to be filmed while looking worse than death itself.

She was nominated for numerous acting awards for this performance, including all the big ones (Oscar®, BAFTA, Golden Globe) yet won nothing. The film won 2 awards out of 12 nominations, one Oscar® for bw costume design, and was actually a runner-up at Cannes.

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Hara-kiri

aka Seppuku
Masaki Kobayashi, Japan, 1962, bw (8.2*)
Winner of the Jury Special Prize at Cannes, this is not a typical samurai film at all, but actually a critique of authority and a social system that trains and uses great numbers of samurai warriors during wartime, who are then unneeded and out of work in times of peace. In this type of era in the early 17th century this story takes place, and the plot is predicated on a starving samurai who shows up at a clan castle, asking to commit harakiri (ritual suicide) there in a place of honor. What follows is a winding tale told to the new arrival of a similar samurai in the recent past with the same request.

There is some action here, but it is as much about inaction as anything, and a society that discards and ignores those who would protect and sacrifice for it in a time of need, so it speaks to all generations who have dealt with war veterans. This also introduces much of the samurai culture to the world, and explains some of the thought behind the rituals. This is definitely one of the classics of Japan and martial arts films due to a great story, though not as action packed as Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, it is still engrossing and should be seen by all fans of that genre or of Asian films.

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Lawrence of Arabia

David Lean, 1962 (10*)

Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

AFI and Time Mag Top 100

This lengthy and epic biopic of T.E. Lawrence, the man who liberated Arabia, inspired many modern filmmakers to become directors, notably Martin Scorsese, who said "it was the first film in which the hero was not a role model to be emulated." Indeed, it presents a complex and non-judgmental portrait of one of the most important figures in history, largely due to the intense performance of Peter O'Toole in his first starring role, at age 26.

The story and pace may start a little slow, but it expertly reveals a personal side to a major part of 20th century history. The panoramic cinematography and music are among the best in film, the entire project defines the word epic. It's easy to get lost in the vast landscape here, just as the desert swallows up individual lives.

If you want a man's film, this one has not a single woman in it! Some of the film may have some excessive masochistic violence, yet I'm sure it's even toned down relative to real war; much of the combat at that time was hand to hand.

The film deservedly won 7 Oscars® overall, including picture, director, screenplay, cinematography, editing, sound, music. Unfortunately, Peter O'Toole, in the role of a lifetime, lost to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird.

O'toole, who spent two years in the desert making this film, said that he hoped he never saw the desert again in his lifetime. Ironically, after leaving after the war, neither did T.E. Lawrence.

Quote: Thank Allah that when he made you a fool he gave you a fool's face. (Anthony Quinn)
Quote: I have nothing; I am a river to my people. (Anthony Quinn)
Quote: War is for young men of courage and valor; keeping the peace is for old men with nothing else to do. (Alec Guinness)

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How the West Was Won

John Ford, George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, 1962 (7.4*)
This panaromic epic attempts to tell the story of the American western frontier as it advanced historically by using separate family stories connected to one family, the Prescotts, fathered in the beginning by Karl Malden.

Earlier versions had these awful vertical lines from a extreme widescreen process using three cameras and overlapping images, but they finally remastered this digitally and removed the lines, so its now worth watching again. However, the different sections and stories don't really mesh and the film lacks pace, perhaps from having 5 segments by three directors, actually tries to use lots of narration by Spencer Tracy to tie it together, so it seems like a History Channel special at times.

Many major stars are in this: James Stewart as a trapper, Debbie Reynolds as Malden's daughter who heads west, Gregory Peck as a gambler who romances her, Walter Brennan as a river pirate, John Wayne as a union general, Henry Fonda as a buffalo hunter. However, many of these talented actors are basically wasted without much to do; Fonda was the best to me. An ambitious attempt, worth watching for the sound, scope, and color cinematography, and the best buffalo stampede in cinema history.

Quote: I'm a God-fearin' man and I tell the truth as I see it (Malden)
Quote2: I settled down for a year once and it took 10 years off my life (Fonda)

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Ivan's Childhood

Andrei Tarkovsky, Russia, 1962, bw (8.8*)
Russian cinema emerged after Stalin when both restrictions were relaxed and the state doubled the number of movies funded to over 100 per year by the early sixties. Andrei Tarkovsky, son of a poet, was one of the new directors to emerge, and directed some well known films, including Andrei Rublev, Solaris, and Ivan's Childhood, his first big film, actually a stalled project he took over, turning it into a personal statement of his own. Tarkovsky is poetic and lyrical, and mixes dream and fantasy imagery with harsh reality, in this case a bleak war-torn Russian landscape during World War Two. Ivan's reality is scouting the invading German troops for the Russians, often involving wading through swampy forests, and as he's driven by vengance, he knows no other purpose in his young life. We also see Ivan's dreams or perhaps pre-war memories, playing on a beach with other kids, running happily through the surf, riding in a truck full of apples.

This is a powerful anti-war statement, beautifully shot in a misty, expressionistic black and white (the cinematographer was Yusov), deservedly put Tarkovsky on the map. Rublev is also worth seeing, though too long at over three hours, but I found Solaris nearly unwatchable, simply a boring attempt at post-2001 science fiction.

Note: Tarkovsky gets a lot of attention and critical acclaim for his minimalist and abstract films, such as Solaris and The Sacrifice, yet this remains my favorite of his. Of the more experimental films, try The Mirror, it has for more to offer than the 'S' films, which I find less rewarding and slower than watching paint dry.

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To Kill a Mockingbird

Dir: Robert Mulligan, 1962, bw (10*)
Best Drama (GG)
AFI Top 100
This beautifully small and simple story makes one wish that Harper Lee (from Alabama) had written more novels, this one won a Pulitzer Prize. Gregory Peck had his most enduring and universal role, and won an Oscar, as a southern lawyer fighting racial injustice in a small town. Oscar nominee Mary Badham was his daughter, a terrific child actress in a part she was "born to play". Look for Robert Duvall in one of his first, and very small parts, yet a very integral role in the plot. This has a very authentic ring, and one of the few films that fights for social and criminal justice for everyone.
Quote: They always said it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.

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