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Reviews
Avalon (1990)
Overlooked Saga Of An American Family
What a great film of an immigrant family in America and the changes that take place over generations. This is Levinson's account of his family in his beloved Baltimore. This was a time in America when extended families were the norm and the holidays that unified them. Points up the intrusion of technology (television) in putting distant between people. The film is told in a loving manner and speaks to a time in America that has long disappeared in conjunction with the country's flight from the inner city to the suburbs. Good ensemble cast and Randy Newman's score is great. Don't miss this under-appreciated feel-good movie!
Hud (1963)
Hud
What a great cast: Newman, Paticia Neal and the great under-appreciated Melvyn Douglass. Academy award nominations for all three with awards going to Neal and Douglas. Great story of generational and moral differences between Newman and Douglas (Hud's father). Newman is the personification of the swaggering no account cowboy. He is a cool, reckless individual with no sense of morals. Unfortunately Lonnie is attracted to questioning his uncle and grandfather at the same time. Excellent cinematography by the master James Wong Howe gives a surreal quality to the movie. Mr. Howe captures the quality of the desolation of the West Teaxas landscape that captures a sense of alienation. Yes it is a depressing tale of degradation in the Southwest, but a reality tale of eloquence. Newman, I think took a chance on this film, because his charter has no redeeming qualities for the audience to connect to unlike his role in "Cool Hand Luke" which many point to as his best work as a actor. I think this was his greatest performance since "The Hustler".