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Reviews
Last Summer (1969)
Chilling teen story
Not the greatest film I've seen but it stays in your head forever. I saw it when I was almost 17. Barbara Hershey tops as a beautiful but cruel teen, rescuing an injured seagull and killing it later. Like the other readers, I wonder what happened to Catherine Burns, who played the nerdy intruder. In my high-school dramatics class, one girl told about Last Summer in a way that cracked everybody up (it has to do with the end so I won't mention it; one spoiler in this review is enough). This was a timely film that showed the dark side of hedonistic adolescence. It also has some funny moments, though I never got over the bird's fate (I hate cruelty to animals more than most anything in the world). I could see why the filmmaker felt the need to include that, to show how these nice-looking kids are both charming and mean. One good funny scene takes place when they're at the movies and Sandy is sitting between Peter and Dan. Another good scene (I'm trying not to add another spoiler) has Sandy talking with one of the guys and the guy says "I'm just thinking of them now."
Joyeux Noël (2005)
I can't find a single flaw in this wonderful movie
Garth Brooks recorded a song about the impromptu Christmas truce in World War I. Christian Carion brings this tale to life with a cast most Americans have never heard of. With the exception of a hard-nosed man, the commanding officers in the field are sympathetic. It could've fall into the trap of using stock characters or excessive violence, but it never does that. It does have an early battle scene that has an intensity like that of "Saving Private Ryan." It also has some comic relief; Frank Witter plays a great supporting role as a German soldier named Jorg, and a cat from a nearby farm steals the show. Benno Fuermann is fabulous as a German opera singer, as is Diane Kruger as his Danish fiancée. You can't say enough about this one. Stephen Spielberg, eat your heart out!
Romeo and Juliet (1968)
One of the best films I ever saw in my youth
I am glad so many viewers liked Franco Zeffirelli's 1978 version of Romeo and Juliet. I loved the hell out of it and even though I'm a big grown man I still cry when I see it. I first saw it when I was 16 and it was so cool that most kids my age saw it without any teachers taking them on a field trip. I'm trying to get a singing career off the ground and I'm looking all over the place for the theme song -- not the one that came out later, but the version that that minstrel sang during the banquet "What is a youth?/impetuous fire etc." Some people didn't like the omission of Romeo killing Paris but I didn't mind; I could see that Zeffirelli was trying to make Romeo a more sympathetic character for 20th-century moviegoers. Michael York (a fabulous Tybalt) wrote about it in his autobiography, "Accidentally on Purpose," that "It was the first movie in which I entered the scene from the crotch upwards." That was pretty cool. I didn't see other movie versions of Romeo and Juliet -- I heard that updated version with Leonardo DiCaprio was terrible -- but I'll take other people's word for it that Zeffirelli's version was the best.
El Dorado (1966)
Favorite oater of all time
I must have seen it 10 to 20 times as a young teenager when it first came out and saw it again just yesterday on AMC (Christmas Day). I don't like John Wayne and I'm not very big on Westerns but I can honestly say this really is my favorite oater. "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and "Silverado" run a close second/third. This features everything people like to see in a Western with late-1960s campiness thrown into the mix. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously. James Caan in a pre-Sonny Corleone role steals the show as shotgun-toting Mississippi. I know his disguise as a Chinese coolie would make Asians madder as hell today, but we ought to cut that pre-PC scene some slack. Amazing to see a relatively unknown Ed Asner and "Rat Patrol" star Christopher George in supporting roles as bad guys.
Man Without a Star (1955)
Good, lighthearted Hollywood western
I'm not a big western aficionado, but Kirk Douglas is my favorite
living actor. "Man without a Star" is a good first film for his
then-fledgling production company. William Campbell as his
greenhorn sidekick, Richard Boone as a scumbag foreman and
Claire Trevor have great parts. Frankie Laine singing the title song
was good. Amazing seeing Jay C. Flippen in it (he played the
skipper in an old TV sitcom about the Navy but I forget the title of
that), and this is the only other time I've seen that obscure
character actor in anything. Douglas puts life into his free-spirited
cowboy character, especially when he freaks out over barbed wire.
Good scene when he sings "The Moon Grew Brighter and Brighter", reminding me of his Ned Land character in "20,000
Leagues Under the Sea" singing "Whale of a Tale". This western
had a theme similar to "Lonely are the Brave", which Douglas said
was one of his own three favorite movies. But I saw "Lonely" when
I was a kid and it was so sad I'd rather see something like this.
The Vikings (1958)
One of my all-time favorites
Kirk Douglas is my favorite living actor, and despite the fate of his
character in this film, "The Vikings" is one of my all-time favorites.
Like many of the reviewers, I saw it when I was about 11. I see it
has become a cult favorite among baby boomers. I remember a
TV miniseries in the 1990s (though I forget the name) where two
small boys in a house set in the early 1960s decide to re-enact
one of the scenes from "The Vikings" by throwing knives at a wall;
one of the kids mentions the movie by its name. One of the reviewers pointed out one of several historical errors in
the movie: That Britons did not build any castles like the movie
featured until about 500 years later. I didn't know that until I read
some reviews just now, but even if I had I wouldn't have cared. I
understand it was historically accurate otherwise. The last time I
saw it (this past Sunday evening, in fact), I was prepared to see
Viking helmets with wings and horns (I learned from an article on
the Norsemen that they never wore helmets like that). I was
relieved to see the ones in the movie weren't wearing them, either.
It's the ultimate swashbuckler, with over-the-top performances by
Kirk and Ernest Borgnine and strong supporting performances by
James Donald as Egbert and Frank Thring as the nasty Brit king
Aiella. I've seen it about 10 times and each time I see it I discover
something I didn't catch before, such as Donald as Egbert.
Amazing he and Douglas also played Theo and Vincent Van Gogh
just a few years before in "Lust for Life." Another reviewer wanted to know what happened to Egbert. I
figured he got killed in one of the battles, but she says he
disappeared sometime after the Vikings landed. It was fitting to
see Eric shove Aiella into the wolf pit. It couldn't have happened to
a nicer guy. I just loved this flick all around, especially the theme by Mario
Nacimbene. In fact, sometimes when I'm swimming laps I think of
it to give some kind of rhythm to my strokes. He could've improved
on the love theme; it sounds too much like the Fats Domino hit
"Blueberry Hill".
The Way We Were (1973)
Two of my favorite lefties; the movie's good, too
I just saw this famed oldie, on the July 4 weekend. I was so zonked from covering one festival that I passed up the fireworks later that Saurday evening. Celebrated our nation's birthday by seeing a film starring two of the biggest Hollywood liberals that right-wingers love to hate. I just read one of the user comments making all kinds of snotty remarks about Barbra and I don't want to hear any more. In case you haven't guessed, I'm a left-winger and proud of it. My favorite scene is Robert Redford kicking on some loudmouth's ass for calling Babs a commie bitch. I hate missing it when it first came out, but in 1973 I wrote it off as just some chick flick, even though I've always been a fan of Babs and Redford. Their chemistry's fabulous in this love story of two young people in my parents' generation set against the backdrop of late 1930s to early 1950s America. My mother, who also went to college in the late 1930s, said, "Back then, all the best people on campus were communists." Babs has the stronger character. Left-wing Jewish activist Katie is so wrapped up in her political causes she doesn't know how to handle love, or to laugh, as Redford's apolitical Hubbell points out.
Hubbell, as an aspiring screenwriter, gets Katie riled because he and his slightly more conservative friends think everything's a joke. Great scene: Katie goes into a tailspin when one of them cracks a tactless joke about Franklin D. Roosevelt upon hearing of the president's death. The whole story follows the couple as they try to change their ways to make the relationship work. It has its boring moments, but the film works as a whole. Those users who dissed it can say what they please. It was also amazing seeing a young James Woods as one of Katie's activist college friends. But one of the few gripes I have is: What happened to that guy? Also, while you can't beat the theme song by the golden-throated Babs (It's great that it made the AFI's Top 10 list of all-time movie songs), the movie beats it to death by playing it too much and too intrusively. As a naive college student I was wrong about this film. It's not simply just another chick flick: director Sidney Pollock puts together a pretty good combination of romance and socio-political commentary.
The Way We Were (1973)
Two of my favorite lefties; the movie's good, too
I just saw this famed oldie, on the July 4 weekend. I was so zonked from covering one festival that I passed up the fireworks later that Saurday evening. Celebrated our nation's birthday by seeing a film starring two of the biggest Hollywood liberals that right-wingers love to hate. I just read one of the user comments making all kinds of snotty remarks about Barbra and I don't want to hear any more. In case you haven't guessed, I'm a left-winger and proud of it. My favorite scene is Robert Redford kicking on some loudmouth's ass for calling Babs a commie bitch. I hate missing it when it first came out, but in 1973 I wrote it off as just some chick flick, even though I've always been a fan of Babs and Redford. Their chemistry's fabulous in this love story of two young people in my parents' generation set against the backdrop of late 1930s to early 1950s America. My mother, who also went to college in the late 1930s, said, "Back then, all the best people on campus were communists." Babs has the stronger character. Left-wing Jewish activist Katie is so wrapped up in her political causes she doesn't know how to handle love, or to laugh, as Redford's apolitical Hubbell points out.
Hubbell, as an aspiring screenwriter, gets Katie riled because he and his slightly more conservative friends think everything's a joke. Great scene: Katie goes into a tailspin when one of them cracks a tactless joke about Franklin D. Roosevelt upon hearing of the president's death. The whole story follows the couple as they try to change their ways to make the relationship work. It has its boring moments, but the film works as a whole. Those users who dissed it can say what they please. It was also amazing seeing a young James Woods as one of Katie's activist college friends. But one of the few gripes I have is: What happened to that guy? Also, while you can't beat the theme song by the golden-throated Babs (It's great that it made the AFI's Top 10 list of all-time movie songs), the movie beats it to death by playing it too much and too intrusively. As a naive college student I was wrong about this film. It's not simply just another chick flick: director Sidney Pollock puts together a pretty good combination of romance and socio-political commentary.
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Brookster at his laugh-out-loud best
Can't decide which Mel Brooks production I like better, "Blazing
Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein". One has good qualities the
other doesn't. Brooks really found his element when he did this
spoof of Hollywood westerns. I just remembered it's the 30th
anniversary of this film. The legendary scene featuring what
cowboys usually did after a baked-bean supper and they weren't in
mixed company had the audience rolling in the aisles. Some
people thought it was crude, but give Brooks credit for using that
kind of scene only once. Too many filmmakers have used that too
much to get laughs. Brooks did it because nobody who made
Westerns ever included that bit of realism. That's by far not the only laugh-out-loud scene in this film. There's
Madeleine Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp doing her take-off of Marlene
Dietrich in "Destry Rides Again" . Gene Wilder as the Waco Kid.
Brooks in cameos as the dimwitted governor William J. LePetomane and a Yiddish-speaking Indian chief who encounters
the young Cleavon Little and his pioneer family. Harvey Korman
does a nice turn as bad guy railroad man Hedley Lamarr (who has
to keep correcting everybody when they say "Hedy").
The Long Ships (1964)
One of my favorites as a kid
POSSIBLE SPOILER I saw this swashbuckler/howler when I was 11 and would love to
find it on video somewhere. I know it's historically inaccurate and
plenty of scenes are highly implausible, but it's fun to watch and
the people who made it never intended it to be Shakespeare.
Richard Widmark does great, playing a 10th-century Viking with
20th-century wisecracking. My favorite line is when, after the great
golden bell rolls off the cliff and into the sea, taking a few of his
men with it, Richard looks down and says, "Well, that was one way
to get it to the bottom." The Mare of Steel -- 50-foot razor blade shaped like a horse's head
-- prompted a memorable comment from one of my 14-year-old
friends when we saw the movie a few years later: "Boy, I bet his
(expletive deleted) would've hurt!" Only one little gripe: Russ Tamblyn is good, but with that modern
haircut he still looks like an extra in "Beach Blanket Bingo". Another
flaw I've noticed but is more forgivable: There are a lot of battle
scenes where some of Richard's men get killed. He must have
had about 500 replacements waiting in the hold of his one little
ship. I liked "The Vikings", too, but after seeing my main man Kirk
Douglas getting killed "The Long Ships" offered some much-needed comic relief. Until I read some of the user
comments I had no idea so many people around the world
enjoyed "The Long Ships" as much as I did. Reading their
comments, I wouldn't be surprised if Monty Python got some of
their ideas from it.
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
One of the best war films from my high-school years
This 1968 actioner featuring a younger, slenderer but always
sneering and shooting Clint Eastwood, was one of the most
talked-about films during break at my high school. Especially the
hair-raising scene with Richard Burton clinging onto the top of an
ice-caked cable car about 400 feet in the air. A lot of things stretch
its credibility, such as a 44-year-old man (Burton) doing stunts that
would scare the wits out of a 20-year-old extreme sports champ.
Also, how two men who've been freezing their tails off for more
than 24 hours could still kill half the German soldiers in a heavily
fortified compound, and how Major Smith (Burton) could get shot in
the hand and still carry on like Tarzan. Another scene had five
people jumping into a stream in the Alps in the middle of winter.
Then they climb into a bus and not one of them is shivering or
sneezing, and their clothes are even dry. In real life they would've
frozen to death in that water. Its number-one flaw: I couldn't at 16
figure out exactly why Major Smith (Burton) was going after the bad
guys, and I only figured it out when I watched it again at 43. Nevertheless, it's still fun to watch after more than 30 years.
There's a lot of comic relief, such as when Smith pretends to get
fresh with a fellow agent played by the lovely Ingrid Pitt. Brits
Patrick Wymark and Michael Hordern have good supporting roles
as senior British intelligence officers. Plenty to keep your hair
standing on end.
Young Frankenstein (1974)
There wolf, there castle! MMMMMMM!
If somebody asked me which three videos I'd want if I were
marooned on a desert Island, I'd have to say "Monty Python and the
Holy Grail," "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein." Can't
decide which of the two Mel Brooks films I like better because
they're both fantastic. Brooks doesn't hold anything sacred in his
classic spoof of 1930s horror flicks. Marty Feldman steals the
show as "Eye-gor," Starting with the scene where a wolf howls in
the background and somebody says "Werewolf?" "Where?" Marty
points and says "There! There wolf, there castle!" Also, where he
confesses that the brain he took from the lab belonged to "Abby
somebody." Gene Hackman as the blind hermit and the scene
with the monster and the little girl on the seesaw just had me
cracking up. Peter Boyle's fabulous as the monster, and so is Teri
Garr in a supporting role. Wish I could say more about it without
spoiling it.
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Can't find a bad thing to say about it except that I wish everybody in the cast was still alive
Action-adventure for the thinking person. Gregory Peck (the thinking man's John Wayne) gives one of his best performances. His clash with David Niven towards the end was one of the most memorable scenes. This movie shows not only the commandos' physical struggles but also their psychological struggles as circumstances put them at their wits' end. An exception to the rule that the book is better than the movie. I liked James Robertson Justice as Commander Jensen, the higher-up that sends the men on the suicidal mission. That burly, bearded man looks just like one of my old bosses; that mission would be just the sort of thing my boss would make people do. Really chilling. I hated the sequel, Force 10 from Navarone; it stank. They should have let the team go their merry way after the first mission.
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Can't find a bad thing to say about it except that I wish everybody in the cast was still alive
Action-adventure for the thinking person. Gregory Peck (the thinking man's John Wayne) gives one of his best performances. His clash with David Niven towards the end was one of the most memorable scenes. This movie shows not only the commandos' physical struggles but also their psychological struggles as circumstances put them at their wits' end. An exception to the rule that the book is better than the movie. I liked James Robertson Justice as Commander Jensen, the higher-up that sends the men on the suicidal mission. That burly, bearded man looks just like one of my old bosses; that mission would be just the sort of thing my boss would make people do. Really chilling. I hated the sequel, Force 10 from Navarone; it stank. They should have let the team go their merry way after the first mission.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
A flick to make you say "Ni!"
I've watched it about 10 million times since 1976 and I still love it. I can quote the dialogue verbatim. I really think it's the funniest film ever made, with the Mel Brooks flicks running a close second. It does a send-up of a lot of things -- academia, medieval legends, historical events. Amazing how those six guys do all those parts. The two best scenes were the fight between Arthur and the Black Knight ("You yellow b**tard! Come back here and get what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off.") and the clash with the French ("I wave my private parts at your auntie, you cheesy-loving second hand electric donkey-bottom biters."). The other Python flicks (except for the abysmally awful "Jabberwocky") were good, but fell way short of "Holy Grail." Now I've just learned "Holy Grail" is being made into a musical. Oh, man. I'll be a basket case if I can't get to that.
Roman Holiday (1953)
Peck, Hepburn surpassed expectations
I have always been a fan of both Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn, and heard this movie was good, but I didn't think it'd be much more than a lighthearted romantic comedy. The high-jinx Peck, Hepburn and a bearded Eddie Albert get into are great, but the film also carries a message about high-born people wanting to have some of their privacy respected. The scenes where Peck pretends a great stone mouth has bitten off his arm and where Hepburn hits an Italian secret service man over the head with a violin are tops. Classic comedy with a message. You don't see much of that these days. Don't know how different it would be if it were made any later than the rather straight-laced 1950s, but it's suitable for families without being too straight-laced.