Mister Roberts

John Ford, 1955 (8.8*)
Western directing legend Ford breaks the mold in perhaps his most accessible film, with a terrific cast and a perfect comedy play that required little transformation to become a comedy classic film. James Cagney is the skipper of a tiny naval vessal used for training, while the real heroes are off killing our WW2 enemies, so he takes his frustrations out on his crew. Henry Fonda is perfect as Cagney's foil, Mister Roberts, second-in-command, who has the crew's respect and affection as they all hate the skipper. He has the perfect well-mannered demeanor with Cagney, which further drives him batty. William Powell, in his last film role, is the ship's doctor, and a young Jack Lemmon won a supporting actor Oscar as a junior officer, always stymied by, and fearful of Cagney and with whom he's always at silent war.

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Five Easy Pieces

Bob Rafelson, 1970 (8.7*)
This superb and incisive drama put Jack Nicholson on the map as a serious actor to be reckoned with, garnering him his first Best Actor nomination. Director Bob Rafelson came out of nowhere with this terrific script of a washed-up classical pianist now struggling as a blue collar oilfield worker. His 'trailer trash' girlfriend, Karen Black in a career-defining role as the aptly named Rayette DePesto, epitomizes the phrase honky tonk, and serves as a constant reminder that he's now in a culturally-deprived world of beer, country music, and bowling. The heart of the film is a freedom-inspired road trip to his past, where Nicholson faces both relatives and an unfulfilled life. The title refers not to loose women (of which there are some, including a young and randy Sally Struthers, also a very sexy Susan Anspach, a guest at his father's house) but to some easy to play classical piano compositions. Adult drama at its best.
Quote: I think I'll go to Alaska, there's not so much crap there yet.
Quote2: Yes, I want you to hold the chicken - hold it between your knees.

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Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg, 2002 (8.6*)
This amazing true story is also a very entertaining combination of comedy and drama. The story is about one of the most amazing and elusive con artists in our history, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who was able to pose as an airline pilot (not to fly but to get free travel in the cockpits of other airlines), head of the emergency room of an Atlanta hospital, and a master forger of all types of documents. Without giving any spoilers, the story involves the various cons used while Tom Hanks and the FBI gradually gathers a huge list of crimes while trying to identify and find him.

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All the President's Men

Alan J. Pakula, 1972 (9*)
Based on the true story of Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, who broke the story of Nixon's illegal directives, Watergate "Plumbers", and usurping of the Constitution, and which eventually led to his resignation to avoid impeachment. This is a tightly plotted film put together like a mystery-thriller, and stars an excellent cast, led by Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford, supported by Jason Robards as the Post editor Benjamin Bradley, who gave them license to dig into and run the story. Based on the Pulitzer-winning book, this is docudrama at its best, even knowing the eventual outcome doesn't spoil the suspense.

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My Favorite Wife

Garson Kanin, 1938, bw (8.2*)
One of the best of the thirties screwball comedies, this is also the archetype for all the missing spouse stories later made. On the very day that Cary Grant has missing wife Irene Dunne declared dead seven years after a boat disaster in Southeast Asia, and getting married for the second time (on the same day), his wife re-appears, having been rescued from an island by a passing ship. As the sticky plot progresses, we find that she spent those years not alone but with the studly and athletic Randolph Scott, who even lives at an athletic resort. What follows is a very funny game of jealousy and psychology, as Dunne attempts to get her husband and family back.

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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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American Gangster

Ridley Scott, 2007 (7.6*)
American Gangster is an ambitious organized crime 'epic' based on a true story. Denzel Washington, in a non-demanding role, stars as a man who has moved far up from his roots in North Carolina to become a major wholesale drug dealer in the New York area. The film is very professional and well put together, but is perhaps a little too long, and lacks the passion or intensity of Goodfellas, or even other Ridley Scott films like Aliens and Thelma & Louise. Veteran actress Ruby Dee (Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee) stands out as Denzel's mother, Russell Crowe is adequate but generally wasted as a narcotics detective. Still a worthy entry into the organized crime genre.

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Jeremiah Johnson

Sydney Pollack, 1972 (8.1*)
Just a simple story about "a man called Jeremiah Johnson who wanted to be a mountain man". He was told to "go west of the sunset, turn left at the Rockies", and from sparkling dialogue like this, we thankfully have a quiet film about a pioneer played by Robert Redford who attempts to survive alone in the western wilderness. This is a very well-made and unique western, definitely not the standard good vs evil plot; it's more about survival, cooperation, coexistence, independence. The film introduced Redford to the Wasatch Mountains of Utah (not far from Salt Lake City), where he later built Sundance after falling in love with the incredible scenery there. This is the kind of western that you can watch over and over, and it even casts Native Americans in a positive light. Sydney Pollack would later win a directing Oscar for Out of Africa, also with Redford.
Quote: I know who you are - I've been hearing you for 20 days and smelling you for three!

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Captains Courageous

Victor Fleming, 1937, bw (8.1*)
Excellent early film adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling novel of a rich brat who falls overboard on an ocean liner headed for England, and is rescued by fisherman Spencer Tracy (who won an Oscar for Best Actor in spite of his awful Portuguese accent that Tracy later admitted was a Yiddish one he used on the stage). Child acting sensation and box office king Freddie Bartholomew is excellent as the spoiled kid who learns to both work and notice other people in the world while working with the fishermen. Freddie actually gets top billing over Tracy, ship's captain Lionel Barrymore, father Melvyn Douglas, and shipmate Mickey Rooney (thankfully sedated and without much dialogue). Barrymore (who detested child actors) said he could always work with Bartholomew because "he was never cute, he never acted like a child." Fleming later directed Gone With the Wind and Wizard of Oz.

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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

Jim Goddard, 1982, 8 hrs. (8.8*)
Brilliantly conceived and executed, this filming of the eight-hour stage production by the Royal Shakespeare Company covers four DVD's, and remains one of the greatest theatrical productions in history, accurately adapting a Charles Dickens novel for perhaps the first time in the history of dramatic arts. Only 39 actors portray over 250 roles in this massive production, which gave theatre-goers two ways to see the play: over four weekday nights, two hours per night, or in an all-day Saturday performance with a one hour lunch break! Roger Rees has the title role in a star-making breakthrough - I can't imagine the hundreds of pages of dialogue he had to memorize in order to give this performance in a day. All the actors are superb, and director Jim Goddard involves the audience by having some characters appear from within the audience, and some actors leave the stage to run or walk through the audience.

This is the British stage at its best. Forget all the other versions of Nickleby, if you only see one Dickens novel adapted in your lifetime, this is the one!

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