The Thing Directed by John Carpenter Written by Bill Lancaster from a story by John W. Campbell Jr. 1982/US IMDb page
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
First viewing/YouTube rental
Nauls: Maybe we at war with Norway?
John Carpenter’s “The Thing” blends science fiction, horror, and gore into a neat package.
As the movie begins, we see a helicopter chasing a dog over Antarctic wilderness and shooting. American scientists nearby deduce it is a Norwegian chopper and find its actions weird and alarming. Ace helicopter pilot and general bad ass Mac Ready (Kurt Russell) and the base’s doctor Blair (Wilford Brimley) go out and investigate and find that the Norwegians have burned their base and there are apparently no survivors. The two discover a disgusting thing. Of course, they must take it back to their base for an autopsy.
Before long they find out aliens are among them and are slowly assimilating into the bodies of first dogs and then men. The men become paranoid as it is impossible to tell who remains human.
The selling points of the film are the horrifying and gruesome special effects during transformation sequences. They are truly awesome but not awesome enough for me to want a rewatch of all that blood and tissue.
First Contact Directed by Robin Anderson and Bob Connelly 1982/Australia IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube (free)
Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else. – Margaret Mead
“First Contact” is a fascinating look at the White Man’s contact with a million people in the Papua New Guinea highlands who were living in the Stone Age.
Australian gold prospectors penetrated into the interior of Papua New Guinea in 1930. The people were isolated in settlements and their only outside contact was with enemy tribes with whom they fought for territory. They saw their first wheel on the bottom of an airplane. The appearance of white men, with their metal tools, gramophone, guns and plethora of trade goods, was cause for great astonishment. They wondered if they were being visited by the spirits of their ancestors. Soon enough they would learn that these aliens were not so different from themselves.
The film contains historical footage as well as interviews with Australians and Papua New Guineans who were there at first contact. I lived in Papua New Guinea for three years and just had to choose this movie as my first for 1982. We lived a very privileged existence and it was still scary as hell.
I have recovered my site but not my formatting. I will have to attempt to recreate it. Please forgive me for any annoyance. I will however return to posting.
Ragtime Directed by Milos Forman Written by Michael Weller from a novel by E.L. Doctorow 1981/US IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
Younger Brother: What kind of music do you play?
Coalhouse Walker Jr.: Anything they ask me to, and then I play ragtime.
This was even better than I remembered it.
The story takes place in New York City and its environs in the days before WWI. It is intended to give a panoramic view of the time. Mother (Mary Steenbergen), Father (James Olson), and Younger Brother (Brad Dourif) are an upper middle class family living in New Rochelle. Father is very proper and conventional but in the end is not such a bad guy. Mother and her brother march to a different drum.
A maid finds a black baby in the garden and Mother immediately wants to take it in. Finally, the mother (Debbie Allen) is found and Mother insists on taking her in as well. The father of the child, Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Howard E. Rollins, Jr.) soon makes an appearance. His mastery of the piano has secured him steady employment and he is now prepared to marry.
Simultaneously we follow the story of Evelyn Nesbitt (Elizabeth McGovern) and her jealous husband Henry Thaw. Thaw becomes enraged when a nude statue, rumored to have been modeled by his wife, is placed atop Madison Square Garden. Although millionaire Stanford White denies this, Thaw starts following him with murderous intent and finally achieves his aim at a show in the Garden. He comes from a wealthy family who secure him the best defense attorney (Pat O’Brien) and pay off Evelyn to lie on the stand.
Also simultaneously, we meet a Jewish immigrant artist (Mandy Patinkin) who eventually becomes an early movie maker.
Little Brother becomes obsessed with Evelyn but she is a ditzy free spirit who is certainly is not ready for any type of commitment. This leaves him ready to perform any number of rash acts.
Coalhouse is very proud of his brand new Model T. Right before his wedding day, the car stalls in front of a fire department. The firemen resent the idea that a black man could have a new car and dump excrement on the front seat. Coalhouse demands that they clean it. But they don’t and the authorities take their side. The car is badly damaged overnight. Things subsequently spiral out of control as Coalhouse seeks justice. With James Cagney, in his last film, as a police commissioner and Donald O’Connor as Evelyn’s dance instructor.
It is hard to single out a performance from the ensemble cast as they are uniformly excellent. The movie is long but the story is gripping. And it was so much fun to see all the old movie stars. Cagney has a substantial part and is fantastic. Forman never made a bad film and the period detail here is out of this world.
I have a friend who has done extensive research on Nesbit and am wondering what she thinks about her portrayal in this film.
“Ragtime” was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Rollins), Best Supporting Actress (McGovern), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score (Randy Newman), and Best Original Song.
Theme song for another movie but appropriate here.
Amazing Grace Directed by Alan Elliott and Sydney Pollock 2018/US IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental
Rev. Franklin: I went in the cleaners one day in Detroit to pick up some clothes, and Aretha had appeared on a recent television show. And she told me, “I saw your daughter Aretha last night.” I said, “Yes? How did you like it?” She said, “It was all right. But I’ll be glad when she comes back to the church.” I said, “Listen baby, let me tell you something. If you want to know the truth, she has never left the church.”
This concert film captures a two-day session that produced the tracks for Aretha Franklin’s “Amazing Grace” album (1972), which remains the best-selling gospel album of all time as well as the best-selling album of Franklin’s career. It was filmed at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles on Jan. 13 and 14, 1972, with a crew of film and sound engineers and five 16mm cameras, all directed by Sidney Pollack. She was backed by Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir.
Unfortunately, Pollack had never made a concert film and the editing process was beset with technical difficulties. Pollack turned it over to Alan Everett in 2007 when he was dying of cancer.
If you love Aretha Franklin, as I do, you will not want to miss this. She really pulls out all the stops. Recommended.
Quest for Fire (La guerre du feu) Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud Written by Gerard Brach from a book by J.H. Rosny Sr./Anthony Burgess creator of special languages/Desmond Morris creator of body language and gestures 1981/Canada/France IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube (free)
[first lines] Title Card: 80,000 years ago, man’s survival in a vast uncharted land depended on the possession of fire. / For those early humans, fire was an object of great mystery, since no one had mastered its creation. Fire had to be stolen from nature, it had to be kept alive – sheltered from wind and rain, guarded from rival tribes. / Fire was a symbol of power and a means of survival. The tribe who possessed fire, possessed life.
I was mesmerized by this very strange movie.
The film is set in the time of pre-history when Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis co-existed. The population has migrated to a climate with cold winters. Fire is essential to humans for heat, cooking, and to scare away wild animals. We are introduced to a group who disastrously loses its carefully tended fire supply to marauding Neanderthals. Three of its young men are sent out in search of more. They have many harrowing adventures.
The group battles another that has captured women from yet another tribe. One (Rae Dawn Chong) escapes and attaches her self to the men, who eventually accept her. She has a more sophisticated language and leads them back to her little village. In the course of more wandering, fire and romantic love are discovered.
I was a bit nervous going in but I totally loved this. There is no dialogue that we can understand and no subtitles. And way too many things are discovered in a very short period. I’m sure the accuracy could be picked apart in many other ways. But the filmmakers have created a world here and, once one surrenders to it, it is totally engrossing and thought-provoking. Rae Dawn Chong does an amazing job and so do her male counterparts. Recommended.
Quest for Fire won the Academy Award for Best Makeup.
Neil Young: Heart of Gold Directed by Jonathan Demme 2006/US IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental
Neil Young: [singing] I want to live, I want to give, I’ve been a miner, For a heart of gold, It’s these expressions, I never give, That keep me searching, For a heart of gold, And I’m getting old…
Jonathan Demme (Stop Making Sense) gives us another excellent concert film.
This beautiful film was shot during a two-night performance by Neil Young at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. We also get interviews of Young and the members of his band. Emmylou Harris is one of his backup singers.
How much you like this will depend on how well you like Young’s music. I like his old songs, which thankfully he includes, better than his newer material.
Arthur Written and Directed by Steve Gordon 1981/US IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
Susan: A real woman could stop you from drinking.
Arthur: It’d have to be a real BIG woman.
John Gielgud is still the best part of this problematic comedy.
Arthur (Dudley Moore) is worth $750 million. He leads an irresponsible reckless existence fueled by constant alcohol consumption. One of his hobbies is driving race cars, which like his own car, he drives while he is actually drinking. Unlike most drunks, he is funny when he drinks. His butler Mr. Hobson (Gielgud) has raised him, loves him, but barely tolerates his antics.
One day, Arthur runs into Linda (Liza Minnelli) while she is in the process of shoplifting a tie. They hit it off immediately. Unfortunately, Arthur is engaged to the truly horrible Susan, whom he must marry or be cut off by the family.
Arthur falls in love, for the first time, with Linda. Now he has to decide between money and romance. Or does he? We also get some heartwarming moments by the end.
I didn’t care for this on original release and I didn’t like it much now. Regular readers have heard me spout off about my hatred for “comic drunk” characters and this movie is pretty much only that. Moore is funny. I think he would have been funnier had he merely been an eccentric. The humor provided from the Gielgud character is pretty juvenile but so expertly delivered that one doesn’t mind.
The film won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Song. The film was nominated in the categories of Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. It was a box office smash.
Lola Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pia Frohlich and Peter Märthesheimer 1981/West Germany IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
Lola: A whore is something for sale, like that Ming thing there. Except you can touch them, and they’re not so rare.
Fassbinder’s scathing critique of capitalism in the “New Germany” is also a feast for the eyes.
The year is 1957. Lola (Barbara Sukowa) is a singer/prostitute and a favorite at the brothel she works at. She is being kept by a wealthy and thoroughly corrupt building contractor, Schuckert. As the movie begins, Lola is thinking she does not get nearly the respect she deserves. Simultaneously, a new building commissioner is coming to town. Van Bohm (Armin Mueller-Stahl) is a kindly, traditional, strait-laced man with a vision of building apartments for the community.
At first, von Bohm is enthusiastic about Schuckert’s proposal. Schuckert is enthusiastic because he can milk millions out of the community. The community fathers are as corrupt as he is. When Schuckert tells Lola Von Bohm is too good for her, she accepts the challenge. Before too long, Lola figures out how she can play the two men against each other and come out on top.
This film is Fassbinder’s take on The Blue Angel (1930). He adds brilliant color to the story as well as a lot of wit. The acting is fantastic and so is the script and filmmaking. Recommended.
No trailer with subtitles
Too obvious but the only possible missing theme song
Escape from New York Directed by John Carpenter Written by John Carpenter and Nick Castle 1981/US IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel
Bob Hauk: It’s the survival of the human race, Plissken. Something you don’t give a shit about.
I loved the setting for this dystopian action adventure.
It is 1997. Since the late eighties, Manhattan Island has been used as a maximum security prison. The prisoners are allowed to govern themselves. Provisions on the island are scarce and gasoline is precious. Punishment for escape is swift and fatal.
As the story begins, a plane is hijacked and the President (Donald Pleasance) is ejected via an escape pod. He is deposited in the center of Manhattan. He carried a briefcase containing a tape explaining nuclear fusion that he was supposed to reveal at an international summit (a more McGuffinish McGuffin is hard to imagine). Prison warden Bob Hauk (Lee Van Cleef) is tasked with rescuing the President and the tape. His only hope is Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), an ace pilot and bad ass. Snake has 24 hours to complete his assignment. He will die if he does not complete it by the deadline. He will be pardoned for an offense that was about to send him to Manhattan if he succeeds.
Snake lands atop the World Trade Center. The first person he meets is loopy cab driver Cabbie (Ernest Borgnine) who somehow secures enough gas to drive him around town. Next he hits up “friends” Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) and Maggie (Adrienne Barbeau). Brain knows that the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes) and his minions are holding the President as a bargaining chip to escape via the Brooklyn Bridge. Much action follows.
This is the kind of thing I would not have sought out in 1981 but decades of movie watching have made me realize it is something special. The concept is intriguing and the production is out of this world. I particularly liked the black and grey vision of New York. In this case style over substance won me over. If the concept appeals, I can recommend it.
I’ve been a classic movie fan for many years. My original mission was to see as many movies as I could get my hands on for every year from 1929 to 1970. I have completed that mission.
I then carried on with my chronological journey and and stopped midway through 1978. You can find my reviews of 1934-1978 films and “Top 10” lists for the 1929-1936 and 1944-77 films I saw here. For the past several months I have circled back to view the pre-Code films that were never reviewed here.
I’m a retired Foreign Service Officer living in Indio, California. When I’m not watching movies, I’m probably traveling, watching birds, knitting, or reading.
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