Adam's Apples

Anders Thomas Jensen, 2005, Denmark (9.1*)

This black comedy has one of the most insane casts since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). A paroled felon, Nazi skinhead Ulrich Thomsen, who’s perfectly cast here (he just looks like an angry criminal), shows up at a clergyman’s church that serves as a halfway house for some released felons that really should be behind bars. Here they supposedly do community service, but they never seem to do any.

The new arrival soon meets a semi-terrorist Pakistani who holds up all Statoil gas stations because of some capitalist crime by the company against his father; apparently they stole their land to get their oil for nothing, which has happened since oil was discovered. This guy not only has weapons but knows how to use them, as some local crows find out the hard way.

The preacher himself (another fine acting job by Mads Mikkelsen who was the bad guy in the Casino Royale remake, but who has done many excellent Danish films) is a utopian anti-realist who admittedly sees the silver lining to nearly everything. After being beaten senseless for this optimism by the Nazi, he shows up at the skinhead’s door and calmly says “we’ll continue this discussion in the kitchen”. The kitchen is run by an over-sized and over-sexed man who seems to be stuck in his teenage years; he’s the most innocent of the entire group, yet his dirty mind goes into overdrive when a woman shows up.

The apples in the title pertain to the Nazi’s name, Adam, and an apple tree in the yard. Adam decides he’s like to bake an apple pie when the apples are ready. In the meantime, since this film is about whether it’s god or the devil that gives one misfortunes, the poor apple tree goes through hell on earth, nothing goes right for it, yet it’s fruit is the metaphor for the entire film.

Much of this questions the nature of the metaphysical, but in a humorous way. For awhile, you’re so taken aback by some events that you’re saying “what the heck is this?”, then after it’s all over you say “ok – I get it now”. There's a hilarious interchange about a portrait of Adolph Hitler that I won't spoil here, but this humor knows no bounds.

It has a magical quality that few films manage to pull off, without really being a fantasy so much like Field of Dreams or It’s a Wonderful Life or Heaven Can Wait. It’s magic is in it’s eccentric characters, none of whom are similar yet all of whom share the world of the preacher, and they all live apart from urban or even modern problems. Their problems are even larger really, as some unseen force seems to be attacking them whenever possible, especially the preacher – his personal history brings to mind the story of Job, just less extreme.

This won the best feature film award in Denmark, beating out one of my favorites, Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding. I’m not sure if I’d go that far, Bier’s film is one of the best acted in history (and also features Mads Mikkelson); all four major actors in that won best acting awards somewhere in the world, six total (the two women won two each). This was a great year for Danish films, to say the least.

This won 18 awards out of 30 nominations, including several audience awards (Sao Paolo, Warsaw, Wisconsin). Ironically, at IMDB, the fans rate this 7.8 (almost in the top 250), while the critics at Metacritic (36 in all), rank it just 51 out of 100. So average filmgoers like this bizarre film more critics, you’ll think it would be just the opposite once you see it.

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Of Gods and Men

Xavier Beauvois, France, 2010 (9.4*)
Grand Jury Prize, Cannes
Beautifully filmed, gripping story of a small group of French Trappist monks who run a local hospital in the mountains of Algeria, who treat hundreds of poor local villagers a week, mostly children. Suddenly, Islamic fundamentalists start executing foreigners in the region, including one Algerian teen not wearing a veil in public.

The government wants to send the military to guard the small monastery, but their leader, Brother Christian, well protrayed by Lambert Wilson, who displays an even temperament and firm resolve fueled by inner faith, refuses to sanction the proximity of weapons to their sanctuary. My favorite actor in the cast is the veteran Michael Lonsdale (the French patriarch who helped the Isaelis find terrorists in Munich), who is the real doctor for the clinic, and who lived much of his life in the secular world, so he can see events unfolding without a clouded perspective.

In the face of increasing threat from extremists, the brothers must decide to follow their calling and service to their faith, or face the reality of the modern world and continue their mission elsewhere, either back in France or a safer country in Africa.

This is a recounting of real events, which adds more weight to all decisions involved, the characters are all real people. Beautifully filmed in a dramatic mountain setting with awe-inspiring vistas; you can understand why they chose to build a monastery at this location. It's rare that a film about faith and religion can also successfully deal with real issues like this film. This one of the best films about faith ever made, and is a work of rare cinematic art.

Winner of five awards out of 11 nominations, including the Grand Jury Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes.

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The Passion of Joan of Arc

Carl Theodor Dreyer, France, 1928, bw-silent (8.0*)
Director Carl Theodor Dreyer of Denmark has given us a gem of a silent film by extracting and properly filming one of the great performances in cinema history by Renee Maria Falconetti as the teenage warrior Jeanne d'Arc, who led French soldiers of Orleans against the British invaders in the early 15th century. Jeanne claims she was spoken to by God, and told to kill British soldiers. For this she was tried by the Catholic Church, who tried to get her to recant her 'visions', and burned as a heretic at the age of nineteen. Later, as often happens, she was then sainted by the church as a martyr for her faith.

This film only covers her trial and death. Dreyer extracts every nuance and ounce of emotion that Falconetti can likely muster, and he gives us many gut-wrenching closeups of her anguish. In all honesty, I was worried about the actress herself after first seeing this, and later found out that she never acted again.

On rare occasions, someone transcends the medium of their art and creates a timeless work that will stand forever, and Falconetti has done that here. If you want the full story of Jeanne, or you like historical war films, you will likely want to watch the modern, violent, special effects driven film from French director Luc Besson, The Messenger, with Milla Jovovich as Joan. Fans of classic cinema will still prefer Dreyer's silent masterpiece, but both offer different views of this historical heroine.

Ranked No. 34 on our compendium of film polls, the #1 film from France (here is our list of the top ranked films from France), and is now No. 211 on the IMDB top 250, so it's a more popular film on the critics polls than the popular ones, yet it's still recognized by all groups of cinephiles.

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The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964, Italy (9.0*)
Pasolini's intention was to film the gospel verbatim, without Hollywood scripting, without blue-eyed, blond Jesus actors - his actor was a Spanish student, Enrique Irazoqui, who'd never made a film - this works much better than using an established actor. Compare this to the U.S. films that used Max Von Sydow and Jeffrey Hunter (both blond and blue-eyed!)

The story is totally unembellished, so it appears fragmented and fast-paced. The extras are all Mediterraneans, so they look authenic for once. The settings are very sparse, primitive, and poor. Roger Ebert said "it looks like a documentarian with a low budget followed Jesus around", and gave it 5*'s, his top rating. It's like NO other religious film I've seen: grainy, gritty, realistic, almost manic and fanatical in places.

Make sure you view the subtitled, black and white original version. There's an awful dubbed version, and even a colorized version out there. The disk I rented had the original, and the colorized/dubbed one both - they managed to ruin it both ways in one version.

#103 on our "Top Ranked 1000" films compiled from internet polls

Pasolini was murdered in Italy in 1975 after making a dozen films, most say by the neo-fascist right wing. He had just completed "Salo", based on the Marquis de Sade.

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Fire

Deepa Mehta, Canada-India, 1996 (8.5*)
(In English, with no subtitles)
This film caused quite a controvery in India, and even some rioting among Hindu fundamentalists on its release, who attacked and vandalized theaters that showed it and ripped down the films posters.

The story is about a family of restauranteurs headed by two brothers, the younger of which takes on a new Hindu wife, played by stunning beauty Nandita Das (Earth) after pressure from his family. He is really in love with a beautiful but independent Chinese immigrant, who rejects his proposal. His new bride Sita is thus shunned by him within the home with no affection and gains some consolation and platonic companionship from her sister-in-law, played by the veteran actress Shabana Azmi, who won one acting award for her performance.

The entire family watches over the grandmother Biji, paralyzed and mute after a stroke, but who bears silent witness to the trangressions of all around her, furiously ringing her bell or banging it on the floor to show her displeasure. Biji is wonderfully played by hotel chain owner Kuzal Rehki, in her first film performance.

The two women eventually become lovers in some very tender, natural, and non-gratuitous scenes. In fact, the Indian censorship board passed this film and allowed female kissing, bare breasts, and even male masturbation, all of which upset Hindu traditionalists. The masturbation was allowed because a character was using typical Bollywood films which treat women as vacuous sex object according to Mehta, so this was allowed as valid criticism of a major genre of popular Indian films.

The entire film shows the double-standard which exists, in which the Hindu wife is supposed to be a cook, a baby factory, and a lover and be totally domesticated, while the husbands are allowed a social life which may even include mistresses, often leaving the wives alone at home feeling lonely and rejected. The violence sparked by the film in India from Hindu traditionists, nearly all male as the women apparently 'were jubilant', caused several citizens groups to force the censorship board to re-consider the film for banning, which has never been done. The board again 'sided with the filmmakers in every scene' and refused to censor any part of the film.

Deepa Mehta (photo rt) emigrated to Canada and started her career in television before making her first feature film Sam and Me. Fire was just her third film, and she since has received death threats and cannot travel in India without armed bodyguards. Yet she still made Earth (1998) and Water (2005, and my favorite of Mehta’s due it’s beauty and grace, and Sarala’s child performance) in India, which though similarly titled are not really connected by stories, characters, or locations. The films do all show the plight of the traditional women’s roles in Indian society however, with each film having at least one character's lived ruined by social or religious injustice. In my opinion, she makes films that are not only beautifully composed, with a still photographers skill in lighting, color, and composition, but also films which expose social injustice in stories of typical everyday lives for millions of people, which feel universal as the same traditional prejudices are present in every society to some degree, especially where there is fervent religious activism. She is one of the few female directors to which the term 'genius' comes to mind.

Shabana Azmi (photo left), who plays the older sister-in-law Rahda, is the most honored actress of India and has won 14 acting awards to date. Her awards page at IMDB

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Water

Deepa Mehta, India-Canada, 2005 (9.5*)
In India during the late 1930's , Young Chuyia is married at just eight, and her husband dies of disease, making her a Hindu widow, who basically have no cultural rights as they are considered "half dead" rather than still alive. They are committed to a small communal ashram which survives by begging. Life within the ashram is harsh for such a young girl, who keeps expecting her mother to come take her home. She's just gone from having a husband and parents to having no one but strange women around her.

She is befriended there by a beautiful prostitute, Kalyani, played by the gorgeous Lisa Ray, who has the grace of a young Audrey Hepburn. On a daily visit to the river, they meet Narayan, a handsome young lawyer, played by matinee idol John Abraham (photo left), who is struck by Kalyani's grace and beauty. Traditions threaten to interfere with their lives however, even though Naraman is modern, a follower of Gandhi, trying to help get beyond the caste system and other societal prejudices and treat all as equals on the eve of India's independence.

The film is stolen by young Serala as Chuyia, in her first film - she is captivating onscreen and you never feel that she is acting at all, just being a little girl overwhelmed by her childhood freedom ending far too soon, and chained to a culture's unbending traditional ties. Mehta frames every shot with a photographer's eye for beauty in lighting and color. Beyond the story, the artistic quality of this film will interest all serious cinephiles; one soon realizes that Mehta is one of the best directors around, certainly one of the best female directors of all time. Features beautiful music by double Oscar®-winner A.R. Rahman, not as pop as his Slumdog compositions and better-suited for the film's action here.

Note: This third film in Mehta's "trilogy", which began with Fire and Earth, caused quite a bit of controversy in India upon release; traditionalist Hindu organizations tried to get the film banned.

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Earth

Deepa Mehta, India-Canada, 1998 (8.8*)

aka 1947: Earth

From the novel Cracking India by Sapsi Sidhwa, this courageous film from director Deepa Mehta on the 50th anniversary of Indian independence and the creation of Pakistan proves that she belongs in the ranks of brilliant worldwide female directors.

A small circle of friends in Lahore (which will become Pakistani) that surround the beautiful Hindu nanny Shanta, perfectly played by Nandita Das, represent all the major religious factions of India, and they are worried how the upcoming splitting of India into two countries will affect the major sub-cultures. Each side accuses the other of being the more violent historically, and you can feel the tensions rise as the event draws closer.

Events eventually culminate that will leave you emotionally shocked, and I'm sure this film generated much discussion. Banned in Pakistan, and with major censorship in India, especially for a sex scene which was still allowed to show a lot for that nation which generally bans onscreen kissing.

Part of a trilogy by Mehta, begun by Fire (96, also banned for its Lesbian theme), followed by the even more artistic Water (review to follow), about Hindu widows. She has a terrific photographer's eye, as well as a sensitivity to the effects of a society and its customs on the daily lives of individuals.

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Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?

Mason Spurlock, 2008 (8.0*)
This is a more comedic than serious documentary that attempts to show that most people in the world are moderates, with a few extremist wackos on both sides stirring the pot of war.. Spurlock, the director of Super Size Me, takes the approach that he just wants the world safer for his almost newborn child, and travels to various nations in the middle east on a mock hunt for Osama to get the 25 million reward money. Along the way we see that most citizens are moderates who just want to work and eat and live comfortably and raise their children (so what else is new?), but that a few extremists on both sides, such as the Saudi faction of Islam and the Orthodox Zionists in Israel, will likely continue to keep the flames of war burning regardless of the rest of the world.

Not a particularly enlightening film, but is fairly entertaining as a lot of this is humorous, especially an animated Bin Laden break dancing to "Can't Touch This".. Here is a link to that excerpt from the beginning of the film at YouTube:
Osama break dancing

This film is more like a tv show than a film, but is an entertaining look at a serious subject, and perhaps will help defuse the anger that most feel about this subject. After all, the politics involved don't really affect many of us, just the few victims of terrorism (less than 10,000 so far) that the media and governments have exploded into numerous wars to benefit the defense contractors and military, who are making billions off this miniscule conflict.

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Angels and Demons

Ron Howard, 2009 (8.1*)
The Dan Brown book for Angels actually preceded the more boring Da Vinci Code, and is what you'd call a "page turner", an engrossing mystery-thriller with literally a ticking time bomb, one in this case made from the first sizable bit of anti-matter generated by the super-colliding particle accelerator at the CERN labs in Switzerland. Using that science fiction as the impetus, the story has the same Robert Langdon symbologist character as Da Vinci, once again played by Tom Hanks (who just plays himself again), and also features the Illuminati battling the Vatican, the scientists who were supressed by the Catholics as "heretics", who were hunted down and killed like rabid dogs.

In this story, the best of the Renaissance art of Rome is highlighted (a great promo for tourism), as well as many famous churches, chapels, statues, and fountains, especially those designed by Bernini. Langdon is brought in to save some kidnapped cardinals, the "Preferenti", those most popular in the upcoming Papal election, as the story begins with the death of the pontiff.

Ewan MacGregor is the better actor here, as the Camerlengo representing the Pope's office until they elect a new one, and veteran Armand Muller-Stahl as the head of the enclave of cardinals. This film is non-stop action with nary a momentary breather, as a different cardinal will be executed each hour along a path of illuminati locations, each with difficult clues for the cognizenti detectives, such as Langdon to decipher, thus giving the heroes a chance as well. Much faster paced than Da Vinci, and with a few changes to made to the book, this should actually please readers of the novel as well as action-mystery fans.

Note: watch the documentary about the "Making Of.." on the dvd, as almost everything you see is special effects; the crew built one of the largest sets ever, two football fields long, in a parking lot in L.A., to recreate Vatican City, always off limits for filming. The scientists at CERN also liked this film, but let the public know that there isn't nearly this much anti-matter in existence, only enough to emulate a firecracker.

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Mr. and Mrs. Iyer

Aparna Sen, 2002, India (9.6*)
(mostly in English with some subtitles)
This small film is one of the most inspiring and heartwarming you can see, so this makes the perfect holiday movie. Directed and co-written by former actress Aparna Sen, who has crafted an understated story about travelers on a bus, from a multitude of backgrounds, and who are able to forget their political, religious, and cultural differences in a time of need and simply become humane people befriending and helping strangers whenever possible.

The story concerns a young married Tamil Hindu mother, Meenakshi Iyer played by Konkona Sensharma, traveling alone with her infant son, Shandaman, beginning a bus trip by saying goodbye to her father. He meets a male photographer, Raja (in a brilliant and subtle performance by Rahul Bose), also traveling alone, so the concerned dad enlists Raja's chivalry in ensuring that his daughter and grandson arrive safely at their train to Calcutta to reunite with her husband. What follows is an often pleasant journey that eventually literally hits a roadblock and traffic jam at a river crossing with much confusion as to the cause.

There are many small stories here (with perfect casting, esp. the baby "Santa", as Raja calls him), interwoven into one tapestry of human kindness and caring in spite of unrest and turmoil in society, as this takes place in a world of warplanes, terrorism, and even community riots, which are sadly commonplace in parts of Asia. India alone has 17 official languages, so most people learn and communicate in English, as in this film. I don't want to give away too much here, as there are several plot surprises that propel and intensify the story and make it engrossing as well as inspiring.

This film won 9 of the 10 award nominations it received internationally, most were best film or screenplay at smaller festivals [Awards page at IMDB]. For me, this is one of the best Indian films I've seen, there are no Bollywood songs, just a couple of poems set to music as part of the terrific film score - even the music itself is inspiring, especially one song that is a 10th century poem from an Indian poet-saint, which also begins the film:

For what shall I wield a dagger, O Lord
What can I pluck it out of, or plunge it into
When You are all the World?
- Devara Dasimayya, 10th century

This film and its story are just as eloquent as this poetry, as director Sen has successfully risen above religion to create the most perfectly spiritual story imaginable about the selfless love arising from friendship.

[Note: for those not familier with Indian regional cultures, this will be a fine introduction into all the different people there, and the still too prevalent idea of the caste system, as you hear bigoted comments like "you don't know what kind of person cooked the food" - while I'm thinking: just be glad you have food at all!]

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A Canterbury Tale

Micheal Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1944, bw (8.4*)
This newly restored high definition version of this British wartime film should remind everyone what a classic film it remains. Absolutely beautiful to look at, the films closing sequence contains some of the most beautiful black and white images in popular films.

The story uses Chaucer's classic Canterbury Tales as inspiration, updating it to wartime England; The three travelers to Canterbury are a local girl whose husband is missing in action, who's come here to work; an American GI sergeant interested in the local scenery; and a British sergeant stationed nearby for pre-invasion training. The three become involved in the "glue bandit" crime when the girl becomes a victim of what has to be the most bizarre crime in cinema mysteries. Along the pilgrim road to Canterbury we see the British countryside around Kent, where Powell was born. We are also shown perhaps the most jubilant and whimsical children's mock battle ever captured on film. It's more than a road film, or a local travelogue, though parts are obviously in "Major Exposition" style, to all Powell to relate the history of the area to the audience, a history of a road that goes back 1000 years.

Powell chose two real soldiers for the army sergeant roles, and this was filmed without any major stars at all. Perhaps the soldiers are a little amateurish as actors, but there's no doubt they are real soldiers. On the dvd from Criterion, they've included scenes added to the American release of the film, a perplexing new opening with Kim Hunter on a rooftop in New York discussing this area of England with Sgt. John Sweet, the American soldier in the film. This was her only scene, yet she shared star-billing with all the film's real actors! This is ranked #537 on our Top Ranked survey, #334 on the critics consensus 1000, and deserves the higher ranking in my opinion. It's a small and unassuming film, yet has the Powell/Pressburger magic working.

The film's page at Criterion

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Black Narcissus

Micheal Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1947 (8.5*)
This is one of the most visually stunning films ever made. At the time, it broke new ground in the use of Technicolor, and won Oscars® for cinematographer Jack Cardiff and art director Alfred Junge. The story is a simple one: a group of nuns, led by new a new Mother Superior played by Deborah Kerr, are sent to a remote Himilayan village in India because a local general has donated a large house to them for use as a school and medical clinic.

The location is a daunting castle-like stone building halfway up some steep mountains, overlooking the valley and road below. It was built by a king to house his wives in an isolated locale where they couldn't run away or otherwise misbehave. The nuns are at first excited by the response of the locals, whom they truly desire to help. Soon however, hardships, the spiritual setting, and other temptations begin to erode the faith of some and raise questions of their ultimate survivability. This film is more about locale affecting people than any other picture in memory.

To make this an even more amazing work of art, the entire picture was shot at Pinewood Studios, England using sets, and matte or background paintings! The restoration to dvd has brought back the brilliant lighting and color, copied by Cardiff, a painter, from the art of Vermeer and Rembrandt; "clean light" was one element he mentioned in an interview on the dvd. Being an early trained Technicolor expert actually got Cardiff this job, as this was Powell's first film in color. Kerr is excellent as usual, but the film acting laurels are stolen by Kathleen Byron, who slowly disintegrates under the strain in an unforgettable performance. Two Oscars®.

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The Fountain

Darren Aronofsky, 2006 (8.8*)
This is yet another mind-bending film from the talented vision of young director Darren Aronofsky, in just his 3rd feature film, following Pi (1998), Requiem for a Dream (2000), and preceding The Wrestler (2008). His films are intensely involved in each subject, usually involving a personal obsession, and The Fountain is no different. This ambitious story takes place in three distinctly different time periods: a 16th century knight’s quest for immortality for his queen, a modern day doctor searching for a cure for brain tumors (or cancer?) to save his wife, and a futuristic space traveler taking the Tree of Life to a dying star, in a mythical quest that is rarely seen in any genre.

In each case, the man on a mission is played by Hugh Jackman, while the lady he lives for is Rachel Weisz. As his present-time wife, Izzi writes the story called The Fountain, which relates the story of the renaissance knight searching for a legendary tree of Mayan mythology, the tree of life that gives immortality to one who drinks its sap. These two stars make the film believable with their acting, but it’s Aronofky’s unrelenting vision that makes the movie both a science fiction-fantasy and a spiritual journey, perhaps the best such combination since 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968.

This unique and artistic film won’t be for all tastes, as no Aronofsky film to date has been, as he never compromises his personal vision for commerciality. I think this will make him one of the few current young directors that will rise above the crowd over time.

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Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.. and Spring

Kim Ki-Duk, Korea, 2003 (8.6*)
The title refers to the stages in a person’s life, as well as those in nature, and the cycles of both. The mandala or “wheel of life” is a common motif in Asian theosophy. Filmed in a national park, this Buddhist-Taoist allegory or parable is a stunningly beautiful and simple tale of an ascetic life as a monk aboard a floating monastery in a lake in the mountains. One couldn’t imagine a more beautiful yet hauntingly lonely setting for a parable on the nature of life, material attachment, and redemption.

The story is about a young boy being raised by the Old Master, lessons he learns in life, particularly when they are visited by a woman’s who brings her sick daughter for healing. There are some very simple truths and what’s often called “perrenial wisdom” here, told in a quiet almost non-action manner that mirrors the spiritual discipline of the monk. The movie was directed, written and edited by Kim Ki-Duk, who also plays the young boy as an adult monk! This is the type of film that could never get made in the west, but one which shows a simple, spiritual life lived without materialism, and without attachment to the sensory world.

[NC-17 for sexual content; as the old Master said “just nature taking its course, do you feel better?”]

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Elmer Gantry

Richard Brooks, 1960 (8.2*)
This terrific expose of organized religion and revivals exploiting the faithful masses was based on Sinclair Lewis’ novel, set in the midwest in the 20’s. Burt Lancaster was never better, winning his only Best Actor Oscar as the title character, a grinning salesman enlisted by a revival preacher, Sister Sharon (well played by Jean Simmons) to help “sell the Lord”. Her minions were in a bar, and heard a sales pitch he was giving and said “this is the kind of man we need”!

I forgot how scathing an attack this was on "the business of religion", arguing over appearance fees, how many people they can add to churches, etc.. One preacher objects, "Is filling churches the aim of religion -there were once only 13 Christians, was it a failure?" - and the greedy materialist totally misses the point, "Kee-rect! today it's a world-class enterprise, successful in every country!" This is an especially appropriate film to see after the Bush-led “Christian right” has led our country to the brink of financial disaster and collapse. It’s a primer on how the masses are duped by the media, business, and government working in collusion to take what little money we have left. Arthur Kennedy is a reporter out to expose the phoniness of the whole industry, and Shirley Jones won a supporting actress Oscar as a prostitute. Down a star for just being so pessimistic. 5 nominations, 3 Oscars (add Screenplay for Brooks to those above)

Quote: "What I great night, I get drunk, then I get saved - drunk and saved!" – a sinner
Quote2: “It’s about time you played ball on God’s team, and that team’s captain is none other than Jesus Christ himself” – Elmer Gantry
Quote3: “but the law allows them to collect money and invest it in real estate, tax-free – and who knows what they do with the money?” – Arthur Kennedy
Quote4: “Can he save people? Boy, I’ll say – standing up, laying down – he’s got a lotta ways to save you!” – Shirley Jones

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The Ruling Class

Peter Medak, 1972, (7.5*)
Offbeat and downright alarming black comedy, featuring one of Peter O'Toole's juiciest roles. An earl, a member of the House of Lords, dies, and his nutty son O'Toole, who currently thinks he's Jesus Christ ("because when I pray, I find that I'm talking to myself"), inherits his estate and position. Everyone from relatives to the church is now working to "cure" him, and occasionally people, including O'Toole, burst into song! There's also murder and mayhem, as the barbs at British aristrocracy and inheritance are witty and wide-ranging. A little long at 2.5 hrs, there's a second half that I can't mention without being a spoiler. This will either surprise and entertain you, or baffle you and make you say "What the H are they doing?"

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Ben-Hur

Dir: William Wyler, 1959 (8.2*)
Best Picture (AA, BAA, GG)

AFI Top 100

I expected more from Wyler, this should have been better than it turned out. Maybe trim a half-hour or more and you have a tighter film, and no less an epic. The sea battle and the chariot race are superb movie-making, but not a lot else is very compelling. Charlton Heston (Oscar) is ok, but overacting as usual. We get a (by then) Hollywood cliché Crucifixion sequence that is anti-climactic by the time it comes. I thought this when I first saw it in the theater the week it premiered; I think I was nine! Still, major "Bigness" on film, it helped define the Hollywood epic. 11 Oscars (a record)

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