#78 Modern Times (1936)

Trying to mechanize lunch for increased efficiency.

#78 Modern Times (1936)

Gamine girl: What's the use of trying?
The Tramp: Buck up -never say die.  We'll get along.

In Modern Times, a mostly silent movie, Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character is suffering through the depression, and getting into mischief.

He works in a factory for the first half hour of the movie, and it's pretty much like watching an episode of Looney Tunes for much of this portion.



The mechanized monotony of the work (and an all-seeing boss who watches everything through cameras and is trying to elliminate breaks) drives him nuts, and he is fired after chasing a lady down the street trying to tighten the bolt-looking buttons on the chest of her dress (kinda kinky, actually).

A series of unfortunate events lands him in jail, which actually turns out to be pretty good, because he gets free food and board, instead of living on the streets, starving and unemployed.  In fact, once he's released, he tries to get put back in jail.  There's no work, so jail seems like a pretty sweet option.



Paulette Goddard (Chaplin's real-life love for a time) plays a penniless orphan girl (they call her a gamine girl) who latches on to Chaplin.  They dream of living in a dream home together, and she finds a shack for them to stay in, and fixes it up as best she can.  He goes through a series of jobs, but is the worst worker ever, and never lasts more than a day because of his shenanigans and general ineptitude.  In the end, Goddard is discouraged when they lose their jobs at a cafe, but Chaplin tells her not to get disheartened, and they walk off together cheerfully.



Tyler described the comedy as like the Marx Brothers but with only Harpo (no Chico or Groucho).  Some of it's very slapstick, but it could be pretty funny.  There's one particular scene that really made me laugh, where he's working with a crew building a ship, and he accidentally removes the wedge keeping it on land, and it slides out to sea and sinks.  The looks on the faces of the workers is pretty priceless as they watch it slip away.

The movie also fared pretty well with the one-year-old demographic, as my youngest daughter seemed to enjoy it.

And you've got to hand it to him, Chaplin is good at coming up with gags, and he is not afraid to look ridiculous for the sake of humor.  He's very talented when it comes to physical comedy, and skilled at exploring social and political issues, with Modern Times exposing the bleak living conditions of working class citizens of the time through a comedic lens.

#79 The Wild Bunch (1969)

#79 The Wild Bunch (1969)



I really didn't like this movie.  It's considered a classic Western, but it was long, boring, and confusing.  I have admitted that I'm not a big fan of Westerns, but I don't think this is my bias talking.  Tyler, who is a big fan of Westerns, disliked it as well.  In fact, I suggested we watch it together knowing his fondness for Westerns.  Big mistake.  Tyler, I apologize.

It's basically about a gang of Old West crooks, stealing and trying to keep ahead of a group of bounty hunters.  The head of the gang is William Holden's character, and he is annoyingly sentimental about the whole thing:

Pike Bishop: We're not gonna get rid of anybody!  We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be!  When you side with a man, you stay with him!  And if you can't do that, you're like some animal, you're finished!  We're finished!  All of us!

Oh, be quiet, Pike.  You're a murderous thief, so get off your high horse.

One of the main problems is that it's really hard to tell the characters apart.  All of them, bounty hunters, bandits and civilians, are dirty, scruffy, and wearing cowboy hats, so I had no idea who was who.

Are these the bandits or the bounty hunters?  I have no idea.

When I mentioned this dilemna to Tyler, he assisted by explaining: "Well, that's Lyle.  He likes drinkin' and whorin'.  That's Tector.  He likes whorin and drinkin'.  That's Angel, and he drinks, but likes whores.  That's Dutch, and he whores, but likes drinking.  That's Pike, and he likes drinkin' AND whorin'."

Very amusing, but l was still completely confused.  Particularly in the end, when everything has gone to hell and people are shooting each other left and right.  We had no idea who was winning and who was getting shot.  But by the time the dramatic shootout has begun, we really didn't care anymore anyway.  We just wanted it to end.  As the credits finally rolled, Tyler wryly observed, "67 hours later the movie limps across the finish line."

I love watching movies with him.  Even bad ones.  Particularly in this case, when he says things like: "This movie is a little wacky, isn't it?"  Yes, yes it is.

Feeling guilty for making Tyler sit through The Wild Bunch, I decided I would watch the next Western by myself.  Wrong again.  Stay tuned for a review of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a movie with a similar plot but 100% better.  THAT'S how you make a Western. 

#97 Blade Runner (1982)

#97 Blade Runner (1982)



Tylrell: But this -all of this is academic.  You were made as well as we could make you.
Roy: But not to last.
Tyrell: The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very very brightly, Roy.  Look at you.  You're the prodigal son.  You're quite a prize!
Roy: I've done questionable things.
Tyrell: Also extraordinary things. Revel in your time!
Roy: Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you in heaven for.

I finally had a chance to see Blade Runner.



It's pretty dark science fiction.  Both figuratively and literally dark.  Much of it takes place at night.  The cityscape is futuristic and eerie, which I liked.  Apparently Earth is no longer the place to be.  Other off-world colonies are more up-scale and Earth is the slums.  People can now engineer all sorts of things, from animals to people.  Creating bio-engineered human "replicants", as human look-alikes with superhuman abilities are called, is illegal, and "Blade Runners", such as Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, track existing replicants down and kill them.  That's just what he's been pulled out of retirement and assigned to do at the start of the movie: track down and kill ("retire") a small group of replicants who have reached Earth and are hiding

There's another replicant named Rachael, who doesn't initially realize that she is a replicant:

Deckard: She's a replicant, isn't she?
Tyrell: I'm impressed. How many questions does it usually take to spot them?
Deckard: I don't get it, Tyrell.
Tyrell: How many questions?
Deckard: Twenty, thirty, cross-referenced.
Tyrell: It took more than a hundred for Rachael, didn't it?
Deckard: She doesn't know.
Tyrell: She's beginning to suspect, I think.
Deckard: Suspect?  How can it not know what it is?

She is the assistant to Tyrell, head of the Tyrell Corporation, and creator of the replicants.  I found this a little confusing.  The beginning titles said that bioengineering humans was now illegal, and that all replicants were to be killed, so why didn't Deckard kill Rachael?  He is only assigned to kill her after she learns that she is a replicant and flees, but shouldn't he have taken her out right when he discovered what she was?  So maybe I misunderstood and only certain replicants are illegal, or replicants that have gone rogue?  She had a cool look, sleek and futuristic (with the exception of the horrible 80s shoulder pads) initially, but then she ends up taking her hair down in all its puffy glory and we are thrust back to the 80s.

Deckard discovers Pris hiding.

Rick Deckard, for all his renown as a great Blade Runner, doesn't really seem all that great at it.  Of course, he's provided no backup, which seems strange considering how powerful and dangerous the replicants are supposed to be and how important it is to kill them.  He does take down a stripper replicant, and eventually the Daryl Hannah relicant, named Pris, but neither kill is very smooth, and he suffers injuries.  Another replicant would have killed him if Rachael hadn't saved him, and he gets his butt handed to him by the lead replicant, Roy (As Roy himself says, "I thought you were supposed to be good.  Aren't you the "good" man?  C'mon, Deckard.  Show me what you're made of.").  Luckily for him, Roy decides not to kill him, and then expires on his on.  The replicants only have 4-year life spans, and Roy sought out his creator, Tyrell, to find out if he can expand his and Pris's lives:

Tyrell: I'm surprised you didn't come here sooner.
Roy: It's not an easy thing to meet your maker.
Tyrell: What could he do for you?
Roy: Can the maker repair what he makes?

Roy then murders the idiot when he insists it can't be done.  I saw that coming a mile a way, so what was Tyrell thinking?  If he had thought to say "Sure, let me see what I can do," he could have escaped and avoided having his head squeezed to smithereens.



I can't say Deckard's character was fleshed out at all.  He was a Blade Runner, now he's been called back to duty.  He has some bossy sex with Rachael after she saves his life and he decides to spare her life in return.  Otherwise, I don't know much about him.  I thought I had heard that he turned out to be a replicant himself, but then there was nothing indicating that when I actually watched the movie.  Perhaps in another version?

The ending was pretty open.  Deckard is taking Rachael somewhere, and he spots a little origami thing indicating (I think) that his fellow law enforcement officer was there and might be suspicious?

The whole movie was pretty vague, and I admit to being a little disappointed, though I was impressed with the sets, the camerawork and the imagination that went into the story.  I guess I was just expecting a little more considering how famous the movie is.

Addendum: Okay, so after doing some reading, it seems that there are different versions of the movie out there, and extended editions seem to clear more things up.  For example, here is a quote that makes the ending more clear from a different version:

Deckard: Gaff had been there, and let her live.  Four years, he figured.  He was wrong.  Tyrell had told me Rachael was special.  No termination date.  I didn't know how long we had together...Who does?

The version I saw was the Final Cut.  The director preferred the vague ending.

Here is an article on Wikipedia about the different versions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versions_of_Blade_Runner

Upcoming post on Napoleon

A happy belated birthday to myself and my birthday buddy, Napoleon Bonaparte.  Stay tuned for an upcoming blog featuring movies about Napoleon.  I am busy watching them -there are a lot, so I don't think I'll be able to make a dent, but I'm trying!



Sudden realization: I really need to get my hands on a bicorne hat.  Maybe for my (sorry, our) next birthday.

#80 The Apartment (1960)

#80 The Apartment (1960)



Already reviewed: http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/10/1960-apartment-love-wins-out-vs-norman.html

#81 Spartacus (1960)

#81 Spartacus (1960)

Antoninus: I'm Spartacus!

Crassus: You can't grieve forever.
Varinia: I'm not grieving.
Crassus: What are you doing?
Varinia: I am remembering.
Crassus: And what do you remember when you think of Spartacus?
Varinia: I remember that he started out all alone.  And yet, on the day he died, thousands and thousands died in his place.

How do you untell something? You can't. You can't put words back in your mouth. What you can do, is spread false gossip... so people think that everything that's been said is untrue. Include that Stanley is having an affair. It's like the end of Spartacus. I have seen that movie half a dozen times and I still don't know who the real Spartacus is. And that is what makes that movie a classic whodunnit.  -Michael Scott, The Office

Tyler describes Spartacus as "Ben-Hur lite," and "Mostly an excuse for Kirk Douglas to take his shirt off."  Oh, my funny husband.



In actuality, I thought Spartacus was as good as Ben-Hur (I admit I didn't need to see Kirk Douglas in such skimpy outfits, but it was period accurate).  Douglas looks so much like his son (Michael Douglas) that it kind of freaked me out to watch him.  It's really uncanny.

But back to the movie: It's a historical movie about a slave, Spartacus (played by Kirk Douglas), who leads other slaves to rise up against their Roman masters and fight for freedom:

Spartacus: I made myself a promise, Crixus.  I swore that if I ever get out of here alive, I'd die before I saw two men fight to the death again.  Draba made that promise too.  He kept it...What's happening to us?  Have we learned nothing?  What are we becoming, Romans?  We hunt wine when we should be looking for bread.
Dionysus: When you got wine, you don't need bread!
Spartacus: You can't just be a gang of drunken raiders.
Dionysus: What else can we be?
Spartacus: Gladiators, an army of gladiators.  There's never been an army like that.  One gladiator is worth any two Roman soldiers that ever lived.



A really great story, diminished only by the horrible ending, where they lose an epic battle and are all crucified.

The thing is, they knew they were going to lose, and decided to take a chance and go down in a blaze of glory anyway: "We've traveled a long ways together.  We've fought many battles and won many victories.  Now, instead of taking ships to our homes across the sea, we must fight again once more.  Maybe there's no peace in this world, for us or for anyone else.  I don't know.  I do know that we're brothers, and as long as we live, we must remain true to ourselves."

After they have been defeated, he discusses it with Antoninus:

Antoninus: Could we have won, Spartacus?  Could we ever have won?
Spartacus: Just by fighting them, we won something.  When just one man says, "No, I won't" Rome begins to fear.  And we were tens of thousands who said no.  That was the wonder of it.  To have seen slaves lift their heads from the dust, to see them rise from their knees stand tall with a song on their lips, to hear them storm through the mountains shouting, to hear them sing along the plains.
Antoninus: And now they're dead.

Exactly, Antoninus.  Spartacus thought it was worth it, but I had a problem with that.  Spartacus may have felt their eventual defeat was inevitable, but I didn't.  The idea that they must fight a last noble battle that they will surely lose felt wrong.  Why not dispense with the whole "Yes, it's a tap, but we're going into it because we want to and not because they want us to" way of thinking?  Instead of allowing all they've built up to be destroyed, why not disperse, go underground, and continue the fight through guerrilla warfare?  Well, I guess the reason is because that's not what happened historically, but it's what I wanted to happen.



The love story is sweet.  Jean Simmons (who was in Desiree) is Varinia, another slave, and she and Spartacus are overjoyed to find each other again after they escape the bonds of slavery.

Tony Curtis plays Antoninus, a singer and academic who becomes like a son to Spartacus.  There is an amusing moment where Crassus, his master, is making a pass at him, and making a big speech about it, and when he turns around he finds Atoninus has fled like Speedy Gonzales, practically leaving a cloud of dust.  Crassus is played well by Laurence Olivier, and makes an interesting villain.

Overall, the movie was quite good.  A little long, and definitely sad, but good.

I would like to know what happened historically after the death of Spartacus, but I will have to do some reading to find out if his death inspired future uprisings.  Spartacus certainly thought it would, and tells Crassus after the death of Antoninus: "Here's your victory.  He'll come back.  He'll come back, and he'll be millions!"

#82 Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans (1927)

#82 Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans (1927)



Already reviewed: http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/09/academy-award-best-picture-winners-1927.html

#83 Titanic (1997)

#83 Titanic (1997)



Already reviewed: http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/12/1997-titanic-vs-amistad.html

#84 Easy Rider (1969)

#84 Easy Rider (1969)



Captain America: It's grass.
George Hanson: You mean marijuana? Lord have mercy, is that what that is?

I knew this was not the movie for me when I read the back of the DVD.  It is described thusly: "Experience the real, uncensored '60s counterculture in this compelling mixture of drugs, sex and armchair politics."

That is the perfect description for the antithesis of my ideal movie.

It was very progressive for the 1960s with its depiction of drugs.  I would say it did for drugs what The Last Picture Show did for sex -made it real, put it out there.  Tyler also pointed out that from an anthropological perspective it's pretty interesting to see how the 1960s were viewed at the time, and what was considered shocking.



The two main characters are Wyatt and Billy.  They are flush with money after a drug deal.  Living life on their on terms, they tour the country on their motorcycles.  For being and looking different, they are judged negatively by society, and eventually killed:

George Hanson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened. Hey, we can't even get into like, a second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or somethin'. They're scared, man.
George Hanson: They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.
Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.
George Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
Billy: Well, it don't make 'em runnin' scared.
George Hanson: No, it makes 'em dangerous.

For some reason Billy and Wyatt really bothered people in the South:

Cat Man: Check that joker with the long hair.
Deputy: I checked him already. Looks like we might have to bring him up to the Hilton before it's all over with.
Cat Man: Ha! I think she's cute.
Deputy: Isn't she, though. I guess we'd put him in the women's cell, don't you reckon?
Cat Man: Oh, I think we ought to put 'em in a cage and charge a little admission to see 'em.
George: Those are what is known as 'country witticisms'.

People really couldn't get over Billy having long hair -it's not the end of the world and no reason to become so hostile, people!



On their travels they meet with George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), a drunken lawyer who joins them and is killed by Louisiana hicks, and with a hippie (Luke Askew) who introduces them to his commune.  The people at the commune kind of looked like a cross between the Manson Family and the angelic versions of the Red Dwarf characters in Red Dwarf: Angels and Demons (they even have spontaneous theater similar to the hippies):

Angelic Lister: Have I told you today how much I love thee, brother?  How much my heart glimmers like a newborn star when I gaze upon thine beauteous countenance?
Angelic Rimmer: Thy love refreshes and cleanses me like a babbling mountain stream, brother.
Rimmer: What a bunch of losers!

Angelic Lister and Angelic Cat.

They also do a lot of drugs.  Much of the movie is scenery, seen as they ride along on their motorcycles.  Tyler wryly observed:  "You know, you could probably watch another movie during this one and not miss anything."

It employs a lot of camerawork that can only be described as psychedelic, presumably so we can feel like we are experiencing their drug-fueled trips with them.

It was not for me.  All I could say at the end was "Well, that was something."

But like I said, this is not my type of movie.  If you are fascinated by hippies, the '60s, "the man" and "keeping it real" then this is the movie for you.  "Buh, neh!  Neh!  Neh!  Neh!"

#85 A Night at the Opera (1935)

#85 A Night at the Opera (1935)



Otis B. Driftwood: You didn't happen to see my suit in there, did you?
Fiorello: Yeah, it was taking up too much room, so we sold it.
Otis B. Driftwood: Did you get anything for it?
Fiorello: Uh...dollar forty.
Otis B. Driftwood: That's my suit all right.

Otis B. Driftwood: And now, on with the opera. Let joy be unconfined. Let there be dancing in the streets, drinking in the saloons, and necking in the parlor.



My first Marx Brothers movie!  Very exciting.  Firstly, because they are so famous.  Secondly, because now I know what the RiffTrax guys mean when they compare Jasper to Harpo.

Harpo Marx and Jasper from Twilight.

These guys (Grouch, Harpo and Chico star in this movie) are extremely talented, almost scarily so.  Watching Harpo play the piano and then the harp so astoundingly well is amazing.



Don't hate me, but this type of humor is not up my alley.  It's too slapstick to me.  Reminds me a little of Charlie Chaplin.  I can appreciate the talent, but it doesn't make me laugh.  That's not to say it's not funny.  Tyler finds these guys hilarious.  Their shticks are well thought out and executed, with a lot of physical comedy.  Groucho is very witty.  My step-dad astutely compared him to Alan Alda in MASH, and I can definitely see the similarities (I prefer Alan Alda, though).  Here are a few Hawkeye Pierce from MASH quotes and a few Otis B. Driftwood from A Night at the Opera quotes:

Hawkeye Pierce: I'd vouch for this man's character, Lieutenant, but he doesn't have any.

Otis B. Driftwood: I saw Mrs. Claypool first.  Of course, her mother really saw her first but there's no point in bringing the Civil War into this.

Frank Burns: Can't you ever be serious?
Hawkeye Pierce: I tried it once, but everybody laughed.

Lassparri: Never in my life have I received such treatment.  They threw an apple at me.
Otis B. Driftwood: Well, watermelons are out of season.

Margaret Houlihan: [having appendix problems] Pulse is rapid, temperature's up.  I can't stand it anymore.
Hawkeye Pierce: I'm ready.  Your tent or my father's Chevy?

Mrs. Claypool: Get off that bed.  What would people say?
Otis B. Driftwood: They'd probably say you're a very lucky woman.



This particular Marx Brothers movie sees Groucho trying to make money off his favorite dowager (Margaret Dumont, also featured in Duck Soup, which will be reviewed later and is the better movie in my opinion).  Meanwhile, Harpo and Chico try to get to America by stowing away in Groucho's trunk along with lovestruck tenor, Ricardo, who wants to join the lovely opera singer, Rosa, in New York.  It all ends with a night of lunacy at the opera house.  You have to suspend disbelief if you want to enjoy it, because none of it makes any sense whatsoever.

Overall, tone of this movie just reminds me a little too much of watching Looney Tunes when I was kid.  I end up furrowing my eyebrows and wondering when the hijinks will end.



Check it out (or Duck Soup), because I think it's good for all film buffs to see one Marx Brothers movie, and now I can proudly say I have.

This post brings to mind a quote from a last year's Oscar winner, Argo:

Lester Siegel: The saying goes, "What starts in farce ends in tragedy."
John Chambers: No, it's the other way around.
Lester Siegel: Who said that exactly?
John Chambers: Marx [Referring to Karl Marx].
Lester Siegel: Groucho said that?

#86 Platoon (1986)

#86 Platoon (1986)


A (very disturbing) Oscar winner, so it is already reviewed here:

http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/11/1986-platoon_12.html

#87 12 Angry Men (1957)

#87 12 Angry Men (1957)

Juror #8 [Davis]: There were two witnesses to the murder.  What if they're wrong?
Juror #12: What do you mean, what if they're wrong?  What's the point of having witnesses at all?
Juror #8: Could they be wrong?
Juror #12: Well no, I don't think so.
Juror #8: Do you KNOW so?
Juror #12: Come on.  Nobody can know something like that.  This isn't an exact science.
Juror #8: That's right, it isn't.

Juror #6: You think he's not guilty, huh?
Juror #8: I don't know.  It's possible.

I like the premise, but the execution of this movie was really bad in my opinion.



The idea is that we are watching a jury deliberate the guilt or innocence of an 18 year old accused of murdering his father.  Almost all of the movie takes place in the jury room as the jurors hash it out.  11 jurors initially think he's guilty, while one, named Davis, disagrees.  Davis doesn't think the young man is innocent necessarily (I think he mostly doesn't want to send an 18 year old from a rough background to his death, which is understandable), but thinks "it's possible" for him to be innocent, and wants to hash it out before handing down a sure death sentence (if they find him guilty, he will get the death sentence).

They methodically go through all the evidence, with things getting very heated, until gradually all the other 11 jurors change their verdicts to not guilty, sometimes for the stupidest reasons, like: "This man has been standing alone against us.  It's not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others.  So he gambled for support -and I gave it to him.  I respect his motives."  Yeah, that makes legal sense.  Don't think for yourself, change your vote because the guy next to you has spunk.



Prejudices and personal experiences are revealed to have an impact on many of the jurors (juror #10 is particularly bad, judging the boy for being Hispanic (I think he was Hispanic, we only got a quick glimpse of him): "You're not gonna tell me that we're supposed to believe this kid, knowing what he is.  Listen, I've lived among them all my life.  You can't believe a word they say. You know that. I mean, they're born liars.").

If I had to hear Davis say "It's possible" one more time I really think I would have jumped into the TV and strangled him.  But then as long as a I got a jury like the one in the movie, I would have gotten off.



Don't hate me, but I still think I would have voted guilty in this case.  I feel bad saying so, because the movie makes it seem that anyone voting guilty is horrible and ignorant, but I can't help it.  I mean, discounting an eyewitness account of the murder because it looked like the witness had indentations on her nose so she might wear glasses, and she might not have been wearing them...it went beyond "reasonable doubt" in my mind:

Juror #8: It's logical to assume that she wasn't wearing them when she was in bed -tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep!
Juror #3: How do you know?
Juror #8: I don't know.  I'm guessing!  I'm also guessing that she probably didn't put her glasses on when she turned to look casually out of the window -and she herself testified the killing took place just as she looked out, the lights went off a split second later.  She couldn't have had time to put them on then!  Here's another guess: maybe she honestly thought she saw the boy kill his father.  I say she only saw a blur!
Juror #3: How do you know what she saw?  How does he know all that?  How do you know what kind of glasses she wore?  Maybe they were sunglasses, maybe she was far-sighted!  What do you know about her?
Juror #8: I only know the woman's eyesight is in question now!
Juror #11: She had to be able to identify a person sixty feet away, at night, without glasses.
Juror #2: You can't send someone off to die on evidence like that!
Juror #3: Oh, don't give me that.
Juror #8: Don't you think the woman might have made a mistake?
Juror #3: No!
Juror #8: It's not possible?
Juror #3: No, it's not possible!
Juror #8: Is it possible?
Juror #12: Not guilty.
Juror #8: You think he's guilty?
Juror #3: I think he's guilty!
Juror #8: How about you?
Juror #4: No... I'm convinced. Not guilty.
Juror #3: What's the matter with ya?
Juror #4: I have a reasonable doubt now.
Juror #9: Eleven to one!

Really?  Really???  Pretty feeble.

But it's possible.  It's possible!  It's possible that, as Davis suggests, the kid bought the knife that day (as a storekeeper testifed), lost it, and an identical one found its way into the victim.  It's possible that 2 witnesses falsely ID'd the son (who had motive and opportunity) as the killer for selfish reasons of their own.  It's possible the son was actually at the movies as he claimed but couldn't remember several hours later any details about what he had seen because he was upset.  It's possible ALIENS came down and stabbed the abusive father.  Sorry, but it just seems to be really stretching the whole reasonable doubt thing.  Also, I don't know the law, but I don't think that jurors are allowed to conduct their own private investigations, as Davis did when locating a similar knife for sale in a store.  Considering this was filmed before DNA evidence was much of a factor, I really don't know how anyone could be convicted if this guy wasn't.  What sort of evidence would convince the jurors, if 2 witnesses, a motive, and the murder weapon don't do it?



Not to mention, the whole thing was tedious and stuffy.

With a better script, I would have loved to see it play out more convincingly.  I wanted to experience the same "Ah ha!" moment the jurors did, but it didn't happen.

As it is, the only way the movie could have been improved is if it had a mysterious twist ending, like Davis was manipulating everyone as part of an experiment or something.  That would have perked my interest.  Or if it turned out that Juror #3 was stuck in an episode of The Twilight Zone.  At times it feels like he is:

Juror #8: There's another thing I'd like to talk about for a minute.  I think we've proven that the old man couldn't have heard the boy say "I'm going to kill you," but supposing-
Juror #10: You didn't prove it at all.  What're you talking about?
Juror #8: But supposing he really did hear it.  This phrase, how many times has each of us used it?  Probably hundreds.  "I could kill you for that, darling."  "If you do that once more, junior, I'm going to kill you."  "Come on, Rocky, get in there and kill him!"  We say it every day.  It doesn't mean we're going to kill someone.
Juror #3: Wait a minute.  What are you trying to give us here?  The phrase was "I'm going to kill you," and he screamed it out at the top of his lungs!  Don't tell me he didn't mean it.  Anybody says a thing like that the way he said it, they mean it.
Juror #2: Well, gee now, I don't know.  I remember I was arguing with the guy I work next to at the bank a couple of weeks ago.  He called me an idiot, so I yelled at him.
Juror #3: Now listen, this guy's tryin' to make you believe things that aren't so!  The kid said he was gonna kill him, and he did kill him!
Juror #8: Let me ask you this: do you really think the kid would shout out a thing like that so the whole neighborhood could hear him?  I don't think so; he's much to bright for that.

"You are traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind.  A journey into a wondrous land of imagination.  Next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

#88 Bringing Up Baby (1938)

#88 Bringing Up Baby (1938)



David Huxley: Now it isn't that I don't like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I'm strangely drawn toward you, but -well, there haven't been any quiet moments.

Susan Vance [After they have landed themselves in jail]: Anyway, David, when they find out who we are they'll let us out.
David Huxley: When they find out who YOU are they'll pad the cell.

I had seen Bringing Up Baby once before, but it had been awhile, so I gave it another go.

It's amusing, and gave me some laughs, but not spectacular.

I am a big Cary Grant fan, and he is great as Dr. David Huxley, a serious paleontologist who gets thrown in with wacky heiress, Susan Vance.

I'd read that Katharine Hepburn (Susan) had a hard time tackling a comedic role, but I thought she did a good job.  She's usually not my favorite actress.  The downside to her performance was that i felt like I could see her trying hard to be funny, and it should at least seem to be effortless, even if it's not.  She was also overly zany for my taste, to the point of annoying.

Susan gets David into all sorts of crazy hijinks involving a dog and a valuable dinosaur bone, aliases, one million dollars, and not one but two loose leopards.

It's cute, but a little too screwball and predictable for me.

Worth watching, but one of the top 100 movies of all time?  Not in my opinion.  Still good, though!  A great script.

Cary Grant following a dog around the yard to help him dig up a lost bone was my favorite moment -he is such a funny actor.

#89 The Sixth Sense (1999)

#89 The Sixth Sense (1999)



Vincent Gray: Do you know why you're afraid when you're alone?  I do.  I do.

Cole Sear: You ever feel the prickly things on the back of your neck?
Malcolm Crowe: Yes.
Cole Sear: And the tiny hairs on your arm, you know when they stand up?  That's them.  When they get mad...it gets cold.

I liked The Sixth Sense for Best Picture of 1999 (the award actually went to American Beauty).

It was terrifying when I first saw it.  Original, unexpected, well-acted.  It was brilliantly written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, whose work has continued to disintegrate ever since, culminating in The Happening, the lowest of the low, but AMAZING RiffTrax material.

The ending was spoiled for me in advance, so I didn't get to experience the movie without that tainting the experience, and I'll never know if I would have figured out the surprises.  It was excellent anyway.  Aside from being scary, it contains a poignant love story and a touching mother-son story, both of which made me cry.

Haley Joel Osment set the bar for child actors with his Oscar-nominated performance as Cole, a young boy haunted (literally) by his unusual ability to -as he tells his psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) -"see dead people."  Malcolm, believing Cole to be mentally ill, is determined to help after losing a patient with similar problems who snapped and attacked Malcolm before killing himself (the scene where the patient is discovered hiding in his house is made even scarier by its plausibility -ghosts can be shrugged off by skeptics, but an intruder in the house is a frighteningly realistic possibility).  Toni Collette is wonderful as Cole's mother, struggling to understand what is going on with her son, as he conceals the truth from her.

Definitely a movie to see more than once.  I still cover my eyes at parts.

#90 Swing Time (1936)

#90 Swing Time (1936)

Swing Time was one of the many Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers collaborations.  I don't know about their other movies, but this one wasn't great.

I always like Ginger Rogers (especially in a really cute movie called Bachelor Mother) -she is spunky and has great presence.  Fred Astaire I had never seen before, but he seemed charismatic, and the two had okay chemistry.  The dancing was beautiful.  They moved so well together, and were so graceful.  I also loved Astaire singing The Way You Look Tonight.  The plot of the movie, however, was very weak and contrived.  They wanted another vehicle for Astaire and Rogers to act and dance together, and wrote out a script accordingly to fit their needs, without really caring if the story was any good, and it's not.



Astaire is Lucky, a dancer who needs to make $25,000 in order to marry his fiancee by order of the girl's father, heads to New York to gamble and earn the money.  His first day there he meets Penny (Rogers), a dance instructor.  After making a bad first impression, he helps save her job (after initially getting her fired), and agrees to become her dancing partner and audition at a club.  He forgets his fiancee so fast it makes your head spin.  After a brief period of trying to fight his love for Penny, he gives in to his feelings, only to almost lose her when she discovers the fiancee comes to town.  Hijinks, hijinks, hijinks, happy ending.

With no time spent explaining Lucky's change in heart, he appears hopelessly fickle.  That makes it really hard to invest in the Lucky/Penny relationship, if I think he will forget her just as easily as the first girl.  The jokes flop badly, and a scene at the end with all of them laughing uproariously at the situation felt awkward.

I would like to check out one of the earlier Rogers/Astaire pairings to see if perhaps it worked more naturally before the studio started churning out their movies to make more money.

#91 Sophie's Choice (1982)

#91 Sophie's Choice (1982)



Stingo: You changed all the furniture around?
Sophie: Yeah, you like it?  I do that when I can't sleep, you know?  It's good, because then you don't have -you don't have to think about anything.
Stingo: Well, then I'll try that.
Sophie: Oh, no. Stingo.  You do not have to move furniture.  You will move mountains.

Nathan [After reading Stingo's manuscript]: On this bridge on which so many great Americans writers stood and reached out for words to give America its voice, looking toward the land that gave them Whitman...from its Eastern edge dreamt his country's future and gave it words...on this span of which Thomas Wolfe and Hart Crane wrote, we welcome Stingo into that pantheon of the Gods, whose words are all we know of immortality.  To Stingo!
Stingo [Narrating]: How could I've failed to have the most helpless crush on such a generous mind and life enlarging mentor?  Nathan was utterly, fatally glamorous.

Sophie's Choice is one of those movies that everyone knows about.  The phrase "Sophie's Choice" has become conversationally synonymous for any impossible decision.

It is known for it's most famous scene, in which Sophie is forced to choose which of her 2 children will be killed at Auschwitz.

It's a horribly tragic movie.  I avoided watching it for a long time, but finally gave in to my desire to see Meryl Streep as Sophie.  It is rightfully considered one of the best performances in cinematic history.  Meryl Streep is amazing in most everything (I wasn't a big fan of her in Mamma Mia!, but most everything), but this was one of her most powerful roles.  Aside from her incredible acting, her accent is impeccable (she always nails the accents), and her appearance alters so drastically from her haggard, post-Auschwitz appearance to her dolled up, healthier (but still haunted) look.  There is an omniprescent fragility about Sophie, and it becomes increasingly apparent as we get to know her throughout the movie:

Stingo: You tried to commit suicide in Auschwitz?
Sophie: No, it was after that.   After that, I was in -after liberation.
Stingo: After you were safe?
Sophie: Yes, safe, yeah.  I was safe, I was in Sweden.  I was in that refugee camp.  I mean, that was good.  They try to help you, you know?  They try, but I knew that Christ had turned his face away from me, and that only a Jesus who no longer cared for me could kill those people that I love, but leave me alive with my shame.

Kevin Kline is also great as Nathan, her schizophrenic lover.  I genuinely found him terrifying.  He could be so sweet, funny, and mild-mannered and suddenly so violent and deranged and dangerous.  He helped to save Sophie when they first met and she was extremely ill, and she is irrevocably intertwined with him, even though he is terribly abusive to her in his rages:

Sophie: Don't go away from me, please!  You know we need each other!  We need each other!
Nathan: Me, need you?  Let me tell you something!   I need you like a goddamn disease I can't name!  I need you like a case of Anthrax, hear me?  Like "triquonosys"!  I need you like a biliary calculus, palegra, encephalitis -"Bright's" disease, for Christ's sake!  "Parsinoma" of the brain!  I need you like death!  Hear me?  Like death!
Sophie: No, Nathan!
Nathan: Go back to Krakow, baby.  Back to Krakow!

My theory is that she is so damaged by the numerous unspeakable losses she experienced during the war that she either cannot lose one more person in her life, or she is punishing herself for the guilt she feels and thinks she deserves his ire, while basking in the distraction of his kinder moments.

Peter MacNichol is Stingo, the narrator and main character who wanders into their world.  He's there to tell us their story, and watches Nathan and Sophie with fascination, getting drawn into their lives and falling in love with Sophie.  But Sophie is too far gone to be reached:

Stingo: Sophie, I want to understand.  I'd love to know the truth.
Sophie: The truth?  It does not make it easier to understand.  And maybe you think that find out the truth about me and you'll understand me and then you'd forgive me for all those...for all my lies.
Stingo: I promise I'll never leave you.
Sophie: You must never promise that.  No one -no one should ever promise that!  The truth?  I don't even know what is the truth.

Her suicide in the end (alongside Nathan) feels sadly inevitable.



While worth seeing once, I doubt many people would want to watch it a second time.  It's too painful.

For a taste of how Sophie's Choice has made its way into today's popular culture, see some humorous TV references below:

The Simpsons

Mayor Quimby [During a flu shot shortage]: Please use your time in line wisely to Sophie's Choice your child.

Apu [Only able to save one Squishee machine]: Whoa, whoa.  Which flavor do I save, the Radical Red or the Blueberry Blast?  Oh, curse this Squishee's choice.

The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon: Now you see what you’ve done?  Because of you, we’re all going to miss Stan Lee.
Leonard: Whoa!  What do you mean all?
Sheldon: Well, you’re my friends.  You’ll be standing by my side, supporting me, feeding me legal precedents, and if you had the upper body strength, carrying me out on your shoulders when I’m victorious.
Leonard: Yeah, okay.  No.
Sheldon: Are you saying that you will not stand beside me as I plead my case?
Leonard: That’s what I’m saying.
Sheldon: Howard?
Howard: Wow.  Uh, Stan Lee, or you in court?  Uh, if this was Sophie’s Choice it would’ve been a much shorter movie.  No.

Leonard: Some guy is auctioning off a miniature time machine prop from the original film and no-one is bidding on it.
Howard: A time machine from the movie The Time Machine?
Leonard: No, a time machine from Sophie’s Choice.
Raj: Boy, Sophie could have used a time machine in that movie.  Did you see it, it’s rough.

Grey's Anatomy

Cristina: It's Sophie's choice.
Meredith: It's Sophie's choice?
Lexie: I've never seen that movie.
Cristina: Well, you should. It's really funny.

Frasier

Roz: Well, don't just stare at her, make a move!
Frasier: I will, Roz.  Tonight's the night.  By the finalé I will have made my overture.  Dad, would you please come with me?
Martin: To the opera?  What do you need me for?
Frasier: Dad, I can't go with a woman because then she'll think I'm on a date, and if I go alone she'll think I couldn't get a date.
Roz: He would look pretty pathetic.
Martin: Oh, geez!
Daphne: Or you could stay home with us and watch sad movies.
Frasier: [reads a title] "Sophie's Choice."
Martin: I'll say it is!

The Closer

Brenda: I will be pressing murder charges today, Mr. Catalina, and I need your help in deciding whether I charge Oscar by himself, or Oscar and his mother.
Mr. Catalina: Excuse me?
Brenda: Oh, come now.  This is hardly "Sophie's Choice."

Friends

[Re: "If you had to give up sex or food, which would you pick?"]
Monica: Sex!
Chandler: Seriously.  Answer faster.
Monica: I'm sorry, sweetie.  When she said "sex" I wasn't thinking of sex with you.
Chandler: It's like a big hug.
Phoebe: Ross, how about you?  Sex or food?
Ross: Sex!
Phoebe: What about sex or dinosaurs?
Ross: My God, it's like Sophie's Choice.
Phoebe: Joey, if you had to give up sex or food, which would you pick?
Joey: I don't know it's too hard.
Rachel: Come on, you have to answer.
Joey: Okay...sex.  No, food.  No, uh...I want both!  I want girls on bread!

Phoebe: My mom's going to be here any minute. I can't do this, I can't give him up.
Rachel: Oh.
Phoebe: Yes, no, I can.  I don't want to.  But I can.  No.
Rachel: Oh, I can't watch this.  It's like "Sophie's Choice."
Monica: You know, I never saw that.
Rachel: Oh, it was only okay.
Phoebe: My mom was right.  If I can't give him up, there's no way I can give up a little baby.  Frank and Alice are going to be so crushed.  What, what else can I give them?  A kidney?

King of Queens

Doug: This is brutal.  Now I either gotta fire my wife, or just let the team fall apart.  It's like...it's like Sophie's Choice.
Deacon: Not really.
Doug: No?  What was Sophie's Choice again?
Spence: She had to decide which of her children to give to the Nazis.
Doug: Ok, yeah, that's harder.

That 70s Show

Jackie (to Kelso): My dad thinks you're a bad influence on me, so I kept our love a secret and now I have to decide between you and money.
Eric (to Donna): Gosh, it's like Sophie's Choice for morons..

Monk

Monk [he needs to put back a can of soup, but suffers from OCD]: It's like Sophie's Choice...except...it's soup

The Office

Michael Scott: I have a very difficult decision to make.  It's like last week I was at the video store.  Do I rent Devil Wares Prada, again, or do I finally get around to seeing Sophie's Choice?  It is what you would call a classic difficult decision.

Just Shoot Me!

I had to pick one outfit right then and there and I realize I'm down to my last eight bucks.  I had to pick one outfit right then and there and leave the rest of the clothes behind.  It was like Sophie's Choice, only with pants.

Modern Family

Cameron: Excuse me.  Meryl Streep could play Batman and be the right choice.  She’s perfection.  Whether she’s divorcing Kramer, whether she’s wearing Prada, don’t even get me started on Sophie’s Choice.  I get emotional thinking about it…She couldn’t forgive herself!

#92 Goodfellas (1990)

#92 Goodfellas (1990)



Already reviewed:

http://kaleenasmith.blogspot.com/2012/11/1990-dances-with-wolves-vs-goodfellas.html