Flickers in Time

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) (Angst essen Seele Auf)
Directed by Ranier Werner Fassbinder
Written by Ranier Werner Fassbinder
1974/West Germany
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Emmi Kurowski: But when we’re together, we must be nice to each other. Otheriwse, life’s not worth living.

I love Fassbinder’s melodramatic take on prejudice and racism.

Emmi Kurowski (Brigitte Mira) is a homely middle-aged widow who works as a cleaning lady.  One day she steps into a convenient barroom to get out of the rain.  It turns out the bar caters to foreign workers, mostly Arabs.  Arabs are all called “Ali” by the Germans. One of the girls dares an Ali (El Hedi ben Salem) to dance with Emmi.  He does.  They find they can share their troubles with each other and fall in love.  Emmi invites Ali to move in.

The relationship is condemned and mocked by virtually everyone including: Emmi’s neighbors, her co-workers, her children, local shopkeepers, and Ali’s co-workers.  Emmi is frequently referred to an an “old whore”.  The landlord threatens to evict Emmi for “subletting” her apartment.  So the couple marries.  Emmi’s children disown their mother. Things get so bad that the couple takes an out of town trip.  When they return they find that attitudes have changed.  Can this relationship survive?  With director Fassbinder as Emmi’s son-in-law, Irm Hermann as her daughter, and Barbara Valentin as the bar owner.

This is sort of Fassbinder’s take on Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (1955) with an interracial relationship adding more social condemnation to the intergenerational one in that film.  We even get a scene of the children smashing the TV they bought to help relieve their mother’s loneliness The images are stunning and the story is still very relevant. Fassbinder also takes on Germany’s Nazi past and current German prejudice against its much needed foreign work force, highlighting the stress faced by these workers.   The acting is fantastic, though El Hedi ben Salem is clearly an amateur.  His performance works though.  Recommended.

Chinatown
Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Robert Towne
1974/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime (free to Members)
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Ida Sessions: Are you alone?
Jake Gittes: Isn’t everybody?

This is one of those classics that you can pull out on any occasion, even with non-classic movie fanatics, and be assured that everyone in the room will love it.  That is because it is perfect.

The setting is 1937 Los Angeles.  Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private investigator who seems to specialize in messy divorces.  We will learn that he has the instincts of a crack detective.  A woman pays Jake a visit and tells him she, Evelyn Mulwray, wants Jake to tail her husband Hollis and get a picture of him with his paramour.

Hollis is Chief Engineer for the Los Angeles Water and Power Department, a position that gives him a lot of power over how the scarce city water supply is allocated.  He is under enormous pressure to approve a dam that he opposes.  Jake’s “operatives” follow him around but he appears to have water on the brain 24 hours a day.  Finally, Jake is able to photograph him at a bungalow being affectionate to a young blonde.  He provides his report to Mrs. Mulwray.  The next day the photo is in the paper along with a lurid headline.

Noah Cross: You may think you know what you’re dealing with, but, believe me, you don’t.
[Gittes grins]
Noah Cross: Why is that funny?
Jake Gittes: That’s what the District Attorney used to tell me in Chinatown.

Shortly thereafter a mysterious woman introduces herself as Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway).  She is not at all happy with the publicity and. of course, did not ask for her husband to be followed. She says she will sue.  With John Huston in an incredible performance as Noah Cross, Burt Young as a client, Diane Ladd as Ida Sessions, and Roman Polanski as a hoodlum.

This movie is a murder mystery and has many unforgettable twists and turns and it would be criminal for me to go any further on the off chance one of my readers has not seen it.

This is a movie I can and have watched over and over.  It’s hard to say whether I prefer the direction, the script, the cinematography, the acting or the music.  That is because they are all perfect. Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway were on fire at this exact time.  The plot gives you both an entertaining mystery and something to think about afterwards.  Polanski draws you in and makes the time fly.  This will probably still be a classic 50 years from now.  Unreservedly recommended.

Robert Towne won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.  Chinatown was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score.  I can’t understand how John Huston was not nominated and I would have voted for Jerry Goldsmith’s jazzy score over Nino Rota’s copy of a copy of a copy of his own work, beautiful as that music is.

A Woman Under the Influence
Directed by John Cassavetes
Written by John Cassavetes
1974/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Criterion Channel

Nick Longhetti: Mabel is not crazy, she’s unusual. She’s not crazy, so don’t say she’s crazy.

Almost too intense to bear, this domestic psychodrama is a must-see for its performances.

Nick Longhetti (Peter Falk) holds a blue collar job on a highway maintenance crew.  His wife Mabel (Gena Rowlands) stays home and cares for their three young children.  The couple clearly love each other very much.  The problem is that Mabel keeps kind of slipping and sliding into a world of her own.  She is also painfully socially inept.  Nick is the kind of guy that is never happier than when staging a big party and these are torture for her.

Nick lets her down on a date night and Mabel is not in a good state when she decides to host a little party for her children and their friends.  Her idea of fun includes dancing to imaginary music and playing dress-up and make-up as the kids ransack the house.  The father of one arrives and is appalled by what he sees.

Somehow Mabel’s mother-in-law (Katherine Cassavetes) gets involved. Imagine the worst most insensitive mother-in-law on the planet and multiply by two.  She convinces Nick that Mabel needs to be hospitalized.  Her psychiatrist arrives.  A pitched battle ensues as Mabel resists being taken away with all her strength.

Six months later, Mabel has just been released from the hospital.  Nick’s idea for a homecoming is to invite all of his friends and all of their extended family for a surprise celebration and feast.  This does not work out well either and another donnybrook ensues. Lady Rowlands played Mabel’s mother.

Gena Rowlands gives an absolutely incredible performance as Mabel.  She was so vulnerable it hurt.  And Peter Falk is fantastic as her clueless but faithful spouse.  The entire cast lets everything hang out.  There is a lot of chaotic shouting and even physical violence.   The screenplay is raw and real.  As far as I am concerned this is a must-see, albeit an exhausting one.  I can equally see why some people might hate it.

Gena Rowlands was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.  John Cassavetes was nominated for Best Director.

The Godfather: Part II
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo from Puzo’s novel
1974/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Tom Hagen: It would be like trying to kill the President; there’s no way we can get to him.
Michael Corleone: Tom, you know you surprise me. If anything in this life is certain – if history has taught us anything – it’s that you can kill *anybody*.

I think I prefer the first film’s story line but certainly this second film is at least its equal in beautiful images and music and powerful acting.

The film traces young immigrant Vito Corleone’s (Robert De Niro) journey from grocery clerk to neighborhood bigman in the first decades of the Twentieth century and the gradual descent of the Corleone family after Michael (Al Pacino) takes over as godfather.  The movie kind of toggles back and forth in time.

The story starts in Corleone, Sicily where Vito’s entire family is wiped out in a local feud.  He sets out for America, seemingly alone.  After a few years, he has a growing family.  He loses his job as a grocery clerk because neighborhood boss Fanucci has a nephew who needs it.  Vito soon meets Clemenza and the two become partners in crime.  Eventually, when Fanucci comes around demanding protection money, Vito takes him out of the picture entirely and Vito is soon the respected man about town.  We see his close bond with his wife and children.

The action in Michael’s story takes place in the 1950’s. It begins with an outdoor party on Lake Tahoe honoring Michael’s son’s First Communion which serves a similar purpose to the wedding reception that begins the first film.  The family is big in the casino business as well as it’s more obviously criminal enterprises.  We see Michael’s eyes slowly grow dead as family is replaced by business interests and the death count needed to maintain power mounts.  With Diane Keaton as Michael’s wife Kay, Talia Shire as Connie Corleone and John Casale as his brother Fredo as well as a huge cast of fine character actors including Lee Strasberg as investor Hyman Roth and Michael V. Gazzo as turncoat Frankie Pantangeli.

I enjoy the Robert De Niro parts of this movie more than the Al Pacino parts.  For Vito, family is everything.  But Michael puts business first. Since all the characters, including the establishment ones, are corrupt or criminals or both, it was hard for me to care what happened to anyone.  But make no mistake, the film makes good use of its three hours, the visuals and music are gorgeous, and this cast cannot be beat.  Recommended.

The Godfather: Part II won Academy Awards for Best Picture; Best Director; Best Supporting Actor (De Niro); Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score.  It was nominated in the categories of: Best Actor (Pacino); Best Actor (Michael V. Gazzo); Best Supporting Actor (Strasberg); Best Supporting Actress (Talia Shire); and Best Costume Design.