Monthly Archives: July 2020

M*A*S*H (1970)

Posted on July 31, 2020 | 10 comments

M*A*S*H
Directed by Robert Altman
Written by Ring Lardner Jr. from a novel by Richard Hooker
1970/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

 

Hotlips O’Houlihan: [to Father Mulcahy, referring to Hawkeye] I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!
Father Mulcahy: [looks up from his Bible] He was drafted.

Altman perfects his style complete with overlapping dialogue and organized chaos. I enjoyed my re-watch a lot but the misogyny, sexual objectification, and misanthropy throws kind of a pall on the proceedings.

The story is set near the front lines of the Korean War.   Hawkeye Pierce (Donald Sutherland) arrives at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital to take his turn doing combat surgery under very harsh circumstances.  The irreverant, bad boy Hawkeye gets on the nerves of bible-thumping Maj. Frank Burns (Robert Duvall).  Soon Burns has an ally in by-the-book nurse Maj. Margaret (Hot Lips) Houllihan (Sally Kellerman), chief nurse at the hospital.  When ace surgeon Trapper John McIntyre (Elliot Gould) arrives he is a perfect match for Hawkeye and the two mercilessly rag Burns and Hot Lips.

Time marches on.  When the hospital’s well-hung dentist believes he has turned gay after an episode of impotence, he plans suicide.  Hawkeye and Trapper John plan a resurrection.  The film ends with a crazy football game in which each team brings in its own ringer.  With Roger Bowman as Lt. Col. Henry Blake; Gary Burghoff as Cpl. “Radar” O’Reilly;  Bud Cort as Pvt. Boone; and David Arkin as the voice on the PA system.

This is a cleverly made and written film.  The perfect anti-war film for 1970.  As the years have passed, its cynicism and objectification of women has become more evident (all the nurses are eyed as potential sex partners).  This may have been the first time I’ve seen the movie with subtitles and they definitely added to my understanding of the dialogue.  Despite my little quibble, I would class this as a must-see movie.

The film is much more cynical than the TV series would ever be.

M*A*S*H won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actress (Kellerman); and  Best Film Editing.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1970

The Wild Child (1970)

Posted on July 26, 2020 | 2 comments

The Wild Child (L’enfant sauvage)
Directed by Francois Truffaut
Written by Francois Truffaut and Jean Gruault from a memoir and report by Jean Itard
1970/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Le Dr Jean Itard: Canton of St. Sernin. A boy, 11 or 12 years old, naked and apparently deaf and dumb while searching for acorns and roots to eat was caught in the Caune woods by three hunters as he was about to climb a tree to escape from them. Taken to a nearby hamlet, I could examine him and establish the degree of intelligence and the nature of ideas in an adolescent deprived since childhood of all education because he had lived apart from his species.

It is 1794, villagers find a naked boy in the woods. He cannot communicate or walk. They decide he has been raised by wild animals and turn him over to Dr. Jean Itard (played by Truffaut). The doctor and his housekeeper set about civilizing the boy. They determine that he can make sounds and hear but does not know a language.

Progress is slow. But patience pays off.

I had been wanting to see this and was sort of underwhelmed. It’s not bad just not what I was expecting.

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Posted in 1970

The Ear (1970)

Posted on July 24, 2020 | 4 comments

The Ear (Ucho)
Directed by Karel Kachyna
Written by Karel Kachyna and Jan Prochazka
1970/Czechoslovakia
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

 

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police. — Tony Blair

Harold Pinter meets Kafka in this interesting entry from the tail end of the Czech New Wave.

Ludvik is a Vice Minister.  He has a turbulent relationship with his wife Anna, who looks to be a chronic drunk.  At any rate she is drinking or drunk throughout the film.  The two spar with each other like George and Martha, with the wife possessing the  sharper tongue. They have one child whom we hardly meet.

Ludvik and Anna attend a Party function where Ludvik learns that several of his colleagues have been removed from their posts.  When the couple arrive home they can’t find their keys and discover other suspicious changes such as cuts in power and telephone.  They already know that parts of the apartment are bugged.  Now Ludvik frantically searches the house for additional bugs.  Meanwhile, the marital squabbling doesn’t stop.

Government agents are parked outside throughout.  As dark turns to dawn a bunch of highly inebriated and shady looking men talk the their way into the house.  I will stop here. This movie has a rather neat ending.

This movie possesses all the wry irony of the Czech New Wave that I love so much.  The screenplay is clever and amusing.  I don’t know if its a must-see but I enjoyed it.

No subtitles.  Print on Criterion Channel is far superior

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1970

The Confession (1970)

Posted on July 23, 2020 | Leave a comment

The Confession (L’aveu)
Directed by Costa-Gavras
Written by Jorge Samprus from a book by Lise and Artur London
1970/France/Italy
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Lise: But why should he confess, a man like him?

Well-made and well-acted political thriller.  But did I really want to watch Yves Montand get tortured for two hours?

The film is based on the true story of a Jewish Czechoslovakian  government official who was purged by the Party in 1953.  Gerard (Yves Montand) has great credentials as a Communist having served in the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War and in the French Resistance.  He lives a comfortable life with his wife Lise (Simone Signoret) and children.

But the political climate swiftly changes and Gerard is rounded up with other members of the International Brigade, many of whom happen to be Jewish.  Gerard is taken to a prison where he is ordered repeatedly to confess.  Gerard lives for months in a small stinking cell where he is ordered to walk endlessly and is deprived of food and sleep.  Gerard’s confession is complicated by the fact that he has no idea where he has gone wrong.

The psychological torture is ramped up to include staged false executions and some plain physical brutality.  The torture culminates in a show trial.

I love Yves Montand and he is superb here in a role that requires him to be on screen most of the time.  I didn’t want to watch poor Yves get tortured though.

Clip

 

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Posted in 1970

Patton (1970)

Posted on July 22, 2020 | 10 comments

Patton
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North
1970/USA
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

 

Patton: Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

This excellent biopic rubbed me entirely the wrong way on the wrong day of Lockdown.

The film begins with Patton (George C. Scott) delivering a speech in front of a huge American flag.  The story covers the WWII phase of his career and begins as he takes command of II Corps during the North African Campaign.  He will repeatedly butt heads with British Field Marshall Montgomery both there and as he leads the Corps in the invasion of Sicily.  During this time General Omar Bradley (Karl Malden) becomes his confidant and right hand man.

But Bradley, “the GI’s General” does not really appreciate the way he treats his men and eventually becomes Patton’s boss.  Career-suicide strikes when Patton slaps a soldier hospitalized with shell-shock.  He redeems himself slightly when he takes charge of the Third Army as it presses toward Berlin.  He can’t keep his mouth shut however and is finally forced out of his role as Occupation Commander of Germany.

This is a beautifully made and acted movie with outstanding special effects.  No argument with anything except I would have been fine if it had been trimmed a half hour or more from its three-hour length.  However, Patton is portrayed as a grandiose, egotistical, prima donna whose whole aim is victory no matter the cost.  He views the soldiers’ deaths as glorious.  He reminded me quite a bit of our Dear Leader except that Patton had leadership skills that came in handy in a crisis,

I was in a super bad mood.  My sister-in-law has Covid and I’m waiting for other dominoes to fall.  No worries about us we live several hundred miles away and haven’t seen them in months.

Patton won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; Best Actor (refused); Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Sound; and Best Film Editing. It was nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography; Best Effects, Special Visual Effects; and Best Original Score.

 

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1970

The Boys in the Band (1970)

Posted on July 20, 2020 | Leave a comment

The Boys in the Band
Directed by William Friedkin
Written by Marc Crowly from his play
1970/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing?/Netflix rental

 

Michael: Believe it or not, there was a time in my life when I didn’t go around announcing I was a faggot.
Donald: Well, that must have been before speech replaced sign language!

What starts out as a kind of gay The Women (1939) ends as a melodramatic truth telling session along the lines of Who’s Afraid fo Virginia Woolf? (1966).  The razor-sharp repartee  and excellent acting make this very stage-bound picture good cinema as well.

As the story begins, we follow eight flamoyantly gay men as they pursue a working day in New York City. One of their number, Michael, is hosting a birthday bash for another named Harold.  Before the guests arrive Michael gets a call from an old college friend Alan.  Alan seems desperate and in dire need of friendly conversation. He wants to come over. The guests start arriving and the catty bitchy barbs start flying.  The men start dancing and having a good time.  The cast is completed by a hustler purchased as one of the birthday presents.

Then Alan arrives.  The men let it all hang out in front of him and Alan’s gallant effort to ignore their sexuality fails miserably.

Then birthday boy Harold shows up.  He has offended the host and eventually provokes Michael to initiating a variant game of Get the Guests.  This one involves daring partygoers to call the greatest love of their lives and handing out points.  Much melodrama ensues.

This movie really brought back a special time in my like.  I was very into theater and my best friend was a gay man who quoted from the dialog of this thing constantly.  I’m not sure if I actually saw the movie but I know I read the script of the play.  Anyway. this was a winner for nostalgia and for solid film-making.  A not-so-guilty pleasure for those who love a little trashy camp in their lives – like me.

It’s also a reminder of the world before HIV/AIDS.  Five of the cast members had succumbed to the disease by 1993.

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The Conformist (1970)

Posted on July 17, 2020 | 2 comments

The Conformist
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Written by Bernardo Bertolucci from a novel by Alberto Moravia
1970/Italy
IMDb page
Repeat viewing
One of 1001 Movies You Should See Before You Die

 

Italo: A normal man? For me, a normal man is one who turns his head to see a beautiful woman’s bottom. The point is not just to turn your head. There are five or six reasons. And he is glad to find people who are like him, his equals. That’s why he likes crowded beaches, football, the bar downtown…
Marcello: At Piazza Venice.
Italo: He likes people similar to himself and does not trust those who are different. That’s why a normal man is a true brother, a true citizen, a true patriot…
Marcello: A true fascist.

It took me until the third viewing to really appreciate this film.  The style and imagery are out of this world.

The story begins in 1938 Fascist Rome and in Paris.  Our anti-hero Marcello’s (Jean-Louis Trintignant) core desire is to be “normal”.  To this end he has become a Fascist and is about to marry lovely petit bourgeois airhead Giulia (Stefania Sandrelli).  We learn through flashbacks that his childhood was spent in the decadent household of a drug-addicted mother.  He is haunted by his sexual abuse at the hands of a chauffeur.

Marcello is eager to prove his devotion to the Party and is persuaded to spy on his old professor, an anti-Fascist who fled to Paris.  He marries Giulia and they travel to Paris on their honeymoon.  The professor and his exquisite young wife Anna welcome Marcello and Giulia into their circle with open arms.  Marcello is magnetically drawn to Anna but Anna is more interested in Giulia, and begins a seduction campaign on the flighty, materialistic young women.

Then Marcello gets an order to murder the Professor and things get very dark indeed.  We fast forward to Mussolini’s removal from power by the King.  How will Marcello handle the “new normal”?

I’ve seen this a couple of times before but always in a dubbed version.  This viewing was in Italian with subtitles.  This alone made a big difference in the viewing experience.  The print was also a thing of beauty.

At any rate, I think I finally understand why this film has the reputation it does.  I decided to just sit back and let Vitorio Storaro’s  images and Georges Delerue’s music wash over me.

The lighting and design are cutting edge for the period and changes constantly in mood.  With all that beauty, I no longer care much about the message.  Maybe the point is just that Mussolini’s Italy was a brutal, corrupt place or that conformists are dangerous.

If you have four minutes, this clip wordlessly shows why this film is so brilliant as I never could with words.

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Posted in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, 1970

7 Plus Seven (1970)

Posted on July 16, 2020 | Leave a comment

7 Plus Seven
Directed by Michael Apted
1970/UK
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube

 

Michael Apted – Narrator: Are you happier now than you were then?

What a difference seven years makes!

In 1964, MIchael Apted selected a group of seven-year-olds – 10 boys and 4 girls – that were meant to be representative of a wide spectrum of British society – and made a one-off TV documentary called Seven Up! (1964).  The premise was that this was to be a “glimpse of England in the year 2000,” when the children would be in their prime.

This installment reunites the entire cast of the first film when they are now fourteen-years-old.  They have all aged nicely, save for Suzy who no longer seems to want to look at the camera, and give thoughtful opinions on a whole range of timely issues such as racism, hippies, the importance of having money, the opposite sex, etc., etc.  Several flashbacks to the first film are used to contrast the childrens’ outlooks, behavior, and opinions and make this documentary watchable as a single film.

I absolutely love this series.  It is fascinating to watch these people grow up and age.  They seem like friends after a couple of episodes.  There are those whose path in life seems rooted in the expectations of age seven and those that change in sometimes remarkable ways.  Apted is highly skilled at getting to the heart of the matter.  Most highly recommended.

Clip – These particular kids know exactly where they are going

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Claire’s Knee (1970)

Posted on July 15, 2020 | Leave a comment

Claire’s Knee (Le genou de Claire)
Directed by Eric Rohmer
Written by Eric Rohmer
1970/France
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

 

Jerome: Every woman has her most vulnerable point. For some, it’s the nape of the neck, the waist, the hands. For Claire, in that position, in that light, it was her knee.

Another sun-baked picture about the vagaries of love from director Eric Rohmer.  I love him so.

Jerome (Jean-Claude Brialy), a diplomat, is spending his last summer as a bachelor at an idyllic lakeside resort.  He runs into old friend Aurore, a novelist.  She is content to enjoy a bit of time between her last lover and her next.  Early on Jerome informs Aurore that his fiancee is not his type physically or personality-wise, but their open relationship has worked well for the last six years and he expects that to continue after their marriage.  At any rate, he is no longer very interested in any one but her.

Aurore fancies including Jerome as a character in her next novel.  To that end, she informs him that his landlady’s teenage daughter Laura (Beatrice Romand) is in love with him and dares him to follow through.Jerome is game and spends most of the rest of the picture flirting and playing mind games with the precocious 17-year-old.

All this changes when Laura’s gorgeous 17-year-old half-sister Claire shows up.  Jerome is overcome with desire, specifically the desire to caress Claire’s knee.  First he has to get around Claire’s boyfriend.   I will go no further.

This is a happy, good-looking film.  Some might find it talky, but I find the talking amusing and interesting.  The luminous cinematography is by Nestor Almendros.  I just love the way Rohmer keeps taking the stuffing out of stuffy men. Recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLGpWN1elJ0

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Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Posted on July 13, 2020 | 4 comments

Tora! Tora! Tora!
Directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda
Written by Larry Forrester, Hideo Oguni and Ryuzo Kikushima
1970/Japan/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Netflix rental

“At 1:23pm Zeros were approaching Pearl Harbor where it was 7:53am. At that moment the flight commander radioed Admiral Nagumo “TORA, TORA, TORA” The repeated code word, meaning “tiger,” stood for ‘We have succeeded in surprise attack’.” Two minutes later torpedo bombers began diving on Battleship Row.”
― John Willard Toland, Infamy: Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath

Fans of explosions need look no farther!

This US-Japanese views the attack on Pearl Harbor from the perspective of both sides. The Japanese dialogue is subtitled.  The period encompasses from a couple of weeks before the attack to the attack itself.

The first half of the movie tries to cram in as much history as possible through expository dialogue. So we get some long speeches and not too much excitement or memorable characters to identify with.

But then the bombers come and all hell breaks loose!  With Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten, E. G. Marshall and James Whitmore as bigwigs on the U.S. side and So Yamamura as Admiral Yamamoto.

The special effects are the reason to watch this.  It might not seem like so much now but this was about as good as it got in 1969.

A.D. Abbott and L. P. Flowers won the Academy Award for Best Special Visual Effects.

 

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Posted in 1970