Category Archives: 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Reviews of movies included in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Body Heat (1981)

Posted on May 26, 2013 | 4 comments

Body HeatBody Heat Poster
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
1981/USA
The Ladd Company through Warner Bros
Repeat viewing
#673 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Matty: [to Ned] You aren’t too smart, are you? I like that in a man.[/box]

It’s 1001 Movie Sunday and the Random Number Generator has come through again, this time with a neo-noir gem from the ’80’s.

Ned Racine (William Hurt) is a womanizing lawyer, with few scruples and less brains, in a small Florida town.   During a scorching summer, he meets Mattie (Kathleen Turner), a seductive married lady, and decides he must have her.  So begins a plot a bit reminiscent of Double Indemnity with several differences.  It would be criminal to give anything away.  With Richard Crenna as Mattie’s husband; Ted Danson as Ned’s friend the Assistant D.A.;  J.A. Preston as Ned’s friend the police detective; and Micky Rourke as an arsonist.

Body Heat 3

A modern-day Medusa

This was screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan’s directorial debut and he worked from his own script which perfectly captures the cynicism and irony of classic film noir.  He shows a deep understanding of the noir style and sensibility and updates it seamlessly.  It is as if the film makers for such classics as Out of the Past were suddenly given a budget to shoot in color and the opportunity to make the sexual hold of the femme fatale over the protagonist explicit instead of implied.   Heat permeates the film and a kind of red glow blankets the lovers to replace some of the chiaroscuro lighting of the films noir.

Body Heat 4

The ingenious story works well on its own but is doubly delicious in the context of the older films to which it refers.  The cast is uniformly excellent.  I am particularly fond of Kathleen Turner’s Mattie, who must be one of the most thoroughly ruthless vamps in film history.  The jazz-inflected score by John Barry adds to the atmosphere.

Mickey Rourke’s scene

 

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Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 10 comments

Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the AgesIntolerance Poster
Directed by D. W. Griffith
1916/USA
Triangle Film Corporation/Wark Producing
Repeat viewing
#5 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 7.9; I say 5.0

 

Prince Belshazzar: [to his princess beloved] The fragrant mystery of your body is greater than the mystery of life.

My definition of a movie I’m glad I don’t have to see again before I die:  any 3+ hour D.W. Griffith silent epic.  I already knew that bad things happen to good people, thank you very much.  Why did you have to take so long to make your point, Mr. Griffith?

I will dispense with a plot summary.  It is sufficient to note that there are four stories linked by an image of Lillian Gish as the eternal mother endlessly rocking a cradle.  The stories take place in ancient Babylon; New-Testament Israel; 16th Century France; and modern-day New York.  Most of them end very badly indeed for the protagonists. There is a last-minute rescue in one of the stories so we don’t all go out and commit suicide.

Intolerance 1

To be fair, this film obviously represented an important technical achievement for its time. There are also moments of some beauty.  For me these are overshadowed by the general tedium and Griffith’s infantilization of women.

All Griffith’s women leads have been directed to prance around and pull “cute” faces – that is when they are not weeping.  Even the Mountain Girl, who shows some bravery and initiative, behaves more like an eight-year-old tomboy than a woman warrior. I found Mae Marsh particularly annoying, though she can also be very touching as well.  Griffith was lucky to find Lillian Gish, who always rises above her material.

I admit that I am influenced by my prejudice against epics and spectaculars in general.  It seems to me that the more extras appear in a movie the less I like it, with some rare exceptions.  Your mileage may vary.

Restoration Trailer

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Peter Ibbetson (1935)

Posted on May 18, 2013 | 6 comments

Peter IbbetsonPeter Ibbetson poster
Directed by Henry Hathaway
1935/USA
Paramount Pictures
First viewing
#100 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2013 Edition)

 

 

“The wretcheder one is, the more one smokes; and the more one smokes, the wretcheder one gets—a vicious circle.” ― George du Maurier, Peter Ibbetson

This unusual romantic fantasy features some beautiful expressionistic cinematography by Charles Lang and music by Ernest Toch.  Whether the fantasy quite works is a matter of opinion I suppose.

The story begins with two playmates, the boy Gogo and girl Mimsy, who are English expatriates in Paris.  They bicker as children do.  Then Gogo’s mother dies and Mimsy grieves with him.  Probably the most wrenching scene in the entire film is when Gogo’s uncle comes to take him away to England over the heartrending protests of both children.

Segue to perhaps 20 years later and Gogo, now called Peter (Gary Cooper), is an architect in London.  He suffers from a pervasive sense of emptiness that he cannot pinpoint.  He wants to quit his job but his boss convinces him to take a holiday in Paris instead.  There, he visits the house where he grew up, remembers his time with Mimsy again, and realizes the source of his sadness.

He is recalled to England to design a new stables for a Lord and his Lady in Yorkshire. There he meets Mary, the Duchess of Towers (Ann Harding).  They are strangely drawn to each other and discover they share the same dreams at night.  I will stop the plot summary to avoid spoilers but suffice it to say that nothing can separate these two in their dreams any more in life or after death.   The photographic effects come in particularly during extended dream sequences.

Peter Ibbetson 3

I enjoyed the film but it does require a total suspension of disbelief.  Also, although I like both of them, Cooper and Harding, two very grounded earth-bound actors, were perhaps not the best choices for these roles.  The first part of the film with the children and the development of the feelings between the adults worked better than the fantasy for me.

Clip

 

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Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Posted on May 16, 2013 | 4 comments

Once Upon a Time in the West (“C’era una volta il West”)Once Upon a Time in the West Poster
Directed by Sergio Leone
1968/Italy
Finanzia San Marco/Rafran Cinematografica/Paramount Pictures
Repeat viewing
#479 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Jill: What’s he waiting for out there? What’s he doing?
Cheyenne: He’s whittlin’ on a piece of wood. I’ve got a feeling when he stops whittlin’… Somethin’s gonna happen.

The Random Number Generator came through this week with a really special movie.  I’m not usually a fan of violence and this is plenty violent.  But the images and music are so beautiful and the staging is so stylish that this is a favorite.  I still don’t understand some of the plot points but that doesn’t matter too much to me either.

Once Upon a Time in the West 1

It is the time of the construction of the transcontinental railroad.  A railroad baron has hired Frank (Henry Fonda), a sadistic killer, and his gang of thugs to terrorize landowners so he can acquire land for the railroad cheap.  Frank and his men massacre Brett McBain and his family who own the land where a station will be built.  They don’t know that McBain has married and his wife Jill (Claudia Cardinale) is on the way.

once-upon-at-time-in-the-west 3

Jill meets “Harmonica” (Charles Bronson), a loner with a vendetta against Frank, and Cheyenne (Jason Robards), the leader of a bandit gang.  They protect her and go after Frank and his men.  Of course, there are numerous gun battles and other mayhem along the way.

Once Upon a Time in the West 2

In common with many classic Hollywood westerns, this is really a story about the end of the Old West due to the encroachment of “civilization” via the railroad.  The railroad is represented as corrupt and, in fact, its head is a physical as well as a moral cripple.  The mood is elegiac and almost operatic.  Scenes play out slowly and deliberately but always with a flair that keeps one’s interest.  The camera work is just amazing, with awesome close-ups and awe-inspiring vistas.

At the same time that he plays homage to several different American westerns, Leone is sending them up.  I actually laughed out loud a couple of times during the movie’s opening with Jack Elam and the fly and Woody Strode and the water dropping on his hat.  The dialogue is also vintage Leone and endlessly quotable.

Trailer

 

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Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Posted on May 14, 2013 | 2 comments

Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes BackEmpire Strikes Back Poster
Directed by Irvin Kershner
1980/USA
Lucasfilm
Repeat viewing
#663 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 8.8/10; I say 8.0/10

 

[box] Luke: All right, I’ll give it a try.

Yoda: No. Try not. Do… or do not. There is no try.[/box]

I watched it, I was entertained, and somehow I am stumped for anything else to say. This is kind of a western in space where a hard-pressed but plucky band of rebels fight the might of an evil empire.  I remember very little of the plot of the previous part so am not exactly sure how the crew got where they are.

The rebel forces are hiding out from the Empire on an isolated frozen planet called Hoth where they have various encounters with ice monsters, etc. before being located and attacked by imperial forces.  Luke Skywalker receives a visitation from the spirit of Obi Wan Kanobe telling him to go to Dagobah for Jedi training.  After a battle, Han and Leia escape with imperial fighters in hot pursuit and Luke goes separately to Dagobah.

 

Empire Strikes Back 1

There Luke meets Yoda, a Jedi master, who attempts to discipline the impatient hot-tempered youth to the ways of the Force.  Luke eventually calms down but during his training has a vision that Han and Leia are in danger.  Despite being warned by both Yoda and Obi Wan that he should finish his training, Luke decides to take off for Bespin where Han and Leia have fallen into a trap and where Darth Vader and imperial forces wait to capture Luke.

Empire Strikes Back 2

In the meantime, Han and Leia have gone to the planet of Bespin where Han’s friend Lalo Calrissian runs a mining operation.  Darth Vader and his imperial forces are lieing in wait.    Vader turns Han over to a bounty hunter and imprisons Leia.  His real prey is Luke.  When Luke arrives he engages in a mano-a-mano light saber fight with Vader.  Vader urges Luke to join him on the dark side but Luke refuses.  Will Luke survive?  Will the trio be reunited? If you don’t know, I won’t tell.

Empire Strikes Back 3

I cannot deny that the Star Wars series is a must-see as it launched a new generation of special effects that still inspire film makers today.  Other than that, it is an entertaining action-packed adventure with clear good guys and bad guys and a definite code of morality.  I like the fact that the technology is so fallable and the humans are the bosses of the robots.  However, I don’t connect with it on an emotional level

1979 Theatrical Trailer – No Yoda?

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Ben-Hur (1959)

Posted on May 12, 2013 | 7 comments

Ben-HurBen-Hur Poster
Directed by William Wyler
1959/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing
#349 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

[box] Judah Ben-Hur: [after he is sentenced to the galleys] May God grant me vengeance! I will pray that you live until I return!

Messala: [ironically] Return?[/box]

This big-budget epic delivers in all the blockbuster categories.  It is approximately 27 A.D. Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is a prince and the richest man in Judea.  He was a childhood friend of Messala (Stephen Boyd), a Roman who has now returned to Judea as Tribune of the occupying Romans.  Their friendship is soon severed when Ben-Hur refuses to inform on Jewish rebels. When a tile from Ben-Hur’s roof injures the Governor, he is sentenced as a galley-slave and his mother and sister are imprisoned.

ben-hur 2

Ben-Hur survives three years on the galleys and attracts the notice of Consul Quintus Arrius (Jack Hawkins).  He rescues Arrius from drowning during a sea battle and earns the older man’s eternal gratitude.  He becomes a victorious chariot racer in Rome.  After Arrius formally adopts Hur, he returns to Judea to search for his mother and sister and exact revenge on Messala.  Throughout the story, Ben-Hur encounters Jesus of Nazereth, who inspires him with his mercy.

As I have mentioned before, the epic is my least favorite genre and this film combines the sword-and-sandal variant with the biblical variant.  I am also not a fan of Charlton Heston’s acting. I must obey the commands of the Random Number Generator however or I would never get around to many of the unseen movies on my List!

Ben-Hur 1

While I can’t say that I loved this movie, I must admit that as a pure spectacle it can’t be faulted.  The famous chariot race is particularly thrilling and the settings and costumes are great.  I enjoyed the commentary track on the Blu-Ray DVD I rented even more than the film.  This movie was MGM’s chance at salvation from bankruptcy after the studio had taken a drubbing from television.  It was also interesting to learn about the filming in Rome and the different techniques used to get the effects.

Did any one else not know that movie theaters really didn’t sell candy or popcorn in their lobbies until they started having to compete with at-home TV viewing?  I had always assumed that popcorn was a permanent fixture of movie-going.

Trailer

 

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Triumph of the Will (1935)

Posted on May 9, 2013 | 5 comments

Triumph of the Will (“Triumph des Willens”)Triumph of the Will Poster
Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
1935/Germany
Leni Riefenstahl-Produktion/Reichspropagandaleitung der NSDAP
Repeat viewing
#82 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

 

Rudolf Hess: [addressing Hitler] You were our guarantor of victory. You are our guarantor of peace. Heil Hitler! Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil!

This is a propaganda film documenting the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremburg, Germany. It features many mass demonstrations and parades as well as speeches by Hitler and other Nazi party leaders.

Triumph of the Will 1

It is of course impossible to view this film outside the context of history. I kept thinking throughout of the fates that would befall the people pictured and their victims. From this distance, a lot of the Nazi rituals would have looked comic if they had not been carried out with such deadly seriousness.  Obviously, I could not possibly feel the emotions the film makers intended to evoke in the audience. Only someone viewing around the time of its production could judge whether the film did achieve its intentions.  Hitler was reportedly pleased and the movie played in cinemas almost until the end of the “1000-year” Reich, ten years later.

No one, I think, could deny that the film is very artfully photographed and edited. True, Riefenstahl had an unlimited budget and lot of help from whoever choreographed the ceremonies and the settings provided by Albert Speer.  Nevertheless, many of the shots could only have been achieved by a master. They are especially impressive considering the state of technology at the time.

Clips to a background of “Sonne” by Rammstein

 

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Top Hat (1935)

Posted on May 7, 2013 | 10 comments

Top Hat
Directed by Mark Sandrich
1935/USA
RKO Radio Pictures
Repeat viewing
#93 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

 

[box] Dale Tremont: How could I have ever fallen in love with a man like you! [Dale slaps Jerry, then storms off]

Jerry Travers: She loves me.[/box]

Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) is a famous song and dance man who is scheduled to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton) in London.  Fashion designer Alberto Beddini (Erik Rhodes) has hired lovely Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) as a sort of social mannequin to show off his gowns.  Jerry and Dale meet and Jerry is immediately smitten.  Horace’s wife Madge (Helen Broderick) is in Venice and wants to try her hand at a little matchmaking.  The sparks fly when Dale mistakes Jerry for Madge’s husband and the two arrive in Venice.

“Cheek to Cheek”

The silly comedy of errors is a structure on which to hang some glorious dancing, art deco sets, gorgeous gowns, and snappy dialogue.  Most of the cast of The Gay Divorcee comes back and is funnier than ever.  I particularly like Erik Rhodes’s conceited Beddini, who always refers to himself in the third person.

Fred Astaire was Irving Berlin’s favorite interpreter of his songs and he sings plenty of them here.  “Cheek to Cheek” is the standard coming from this film but I have a huge soft spot for “Isn’t This a Lovely Day”.  The dance to that one, in which Rogers starts out by mimicking Astaire’s movements, is the essence of joy.  In my view, a practically perfect picture.

“Isn’t This a Lovely Day”

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Being John Malkovich (1999)

Posted on May 7, 2013 | 8 comments

Being John Malkovichbeing_john_malkovich poster
Directed by Spike Jonze
1999/USA
Gramercy Pictures/Propaganda Films/Single Cell Pictures
First viewing
#961 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 7.8/10; I say 7.0/10

 

[box] Craig Schwartz (in John Malkovich): You see, Maxine, it isn’t just playing with dolls.

Maxine: You’re right, my darling, it’s so much more. It’s playing with people![/box]

This was a well made picture but it just wasn’t for me.  Puppeteer Craig Schwartz (John Cusak) lives a vaguely eccentric but unexciting life with his wife Lotte (an unrecognizable Cameron Diaz) and a menagerie of animals.  Craig starts work at a strange company owned by Dr. Lester (Orson Bean) and located on the 7 1/2 floor of an office building where the ceilings are about four feet high.

While working there, Craig becomes infatuated with Maxine (Catherine Keener), who is definitely not interested.  Then Craig discovers a portal that will take anyone into the mind of actor John Malkovich for 15 minutes.  Craig and Maxine parlay this into a paying business but the enterprise doesn’t last long after Lotte discovers she can’t get enough of being inside the actor, especially when he is inside of Maxine.  Craig finds a way to win Maxine and fulfill his ambitions, while Lotte bides her time.

Being John Malkovich 2

I must start out by saying that I would pay money not to spend any time in another person’s head, so the concept of the film was not too intriguing to me.  I have to admit the story was very inventive, with oddball characters and situations at every turn, but I kept having the feeling that it was a big joke on the audience.  I hate movies that laugh at me.  After watching the supplements on the Blu-Ray, I feel I may have a better handle on what the film makers were possibly trying to communicate about celebrity and escapism.  The most reassuring point was in the interview with Malkovich in which he said that Generation Xers tend to respond to the movie while baby boomers (me) do not.

I was very impressed by the acting in this film, especially that of John Malkovich, who was required to play several different parts while also playing himself.   Everybody else was also very good.  I like John Cusak in almost everything he is in.  The music was nice.

Trailer

 

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Captain Blood (1935)

Posted on May 6, 2013 | 6 comments

Captain BloodCaptain Blood Poster
Directed by Michael Curtiz
1935/USA
Warner Bros
Repeat viewing
#88 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Dr. Peter Blood: Up that rigging, you monkeys! Aloft! There’s no chains to hold you now. Break out those sails and watch them fill with the wind that’s carrying us all to freedom![/box]

Captain Peter Blood (Errol Flynn) is living peacefully as a physician when he is called on to tend a wounded rebel.  For his trouble, he is convicted of treason and transported to Jamaica as a slave.  Arabella (Olivia de Havilland), the niece of a wealthy landowner (Lionel Atwill), admires Blood’s defiant spirit and buys him.  Blood mightily resents this.  His medical skills make him a favorite of the gouty Governor of the island and allow him to plan his escape and that of his comrades.  The men soon turn pirate but Arabella and her uncle seem part of Blood’s fate.  Also starring Basil Rathbone as the French pirate Levasseur and a host of Warner Brothers character actors.

Captain Blood 1

This movie was the first pairing of Errol Flynn and the 18-year-old Olivia de Havilland and made them both stars.  It drags a bit in spots but basically is an exciting romantic adventure with thrilling sword fights and sea battles and dynamite chemistry between the two leads.  The magnificent score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold adds to the fun.

Trailer

 

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