If You Wanna Be a Movie Buff, You Gotta See...

This is the oddity that made Fellini known round the world. It was also as introspective as the world of film can get. If you saw the musical "Nine" then you know the plot, but it was made much more accessible in that form. Here it is bizarrely Fellini all the way. Filled with symbols and images that don't always translate, but none of which should ever bore. It is one of the films that you may not always "Get" but it will always be one you are glad to have as a reference point.

Terry Gilliam gives us 1984, with touches of Metropolis and his own noirest nightmares of being eaten by the Bureaucracy. There are images that will stick with you for a long time. The beautiful flying man, the Home Invaders at Christmas, the family that forever cowers, all off center pictures that will stay with everyone who stumbled in thinking he was just going to watch some Python-esque silliness. He achieves fall down funny and nightmare scary both at the same time, and that, my friends, is something.

It started as a Broadway play. With the exception of Wellman's "Wild Boys of the Road" and Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" no movie ever dealt with the two sides of the depression better. A Hood (Bogart) returns to his old neighborhood before going into hiding. He sees the kids who are coming up the way he did (the first appearance of the Dead End Kids, Bowery Boys, etc.) and the honest people trying to get themselves and the kids out of this place. He also sees the rich people just over the fence. He also sees his old girl who has become a street walker because there was nothing else to be. But the most powerful moment is when he sees his mother (Marjorie Main in what should have been an Oscar performance) and sees how shamed she is to have born such a monster. It is a powerful, uncompromising film. One of the great Hollywood adaptations.

We've talked about Hitchcock's "Everyman" scenario, about a normal guy who get's thrust into an extraordinary situation without it being his choice. This is another version of that story, a woman meets a woman on a train. The woman may be in trouble. Then the woman disappears and no one even recalls she ever existed. Now the young woman who seems to be the only one who ever encounter the missing woman gets the help of a young man. Together they try to find the lady, finding disturbingly complex denials where ever they look. Then they find themselves in trouble for looking. It is a complex, thrilling film, even today. Plus it has all the Hitchcockian flourishes. If you can give it all your attention, you will have a great time with this one.

If you are not familiar with the legend it is the very basis for Frankenstein. In the Polish Ghetto Jewish people are being threatened and killed. A Rabbi fashions a giant clay statue and prays that God will bring him to life to protect the people. When he does, there are unforeseen complications, of course. There is destruction, there is a love interest and there is a moral. Everything you could want from such a tale, but years before Frankenstein could bring his monster to life. This one is one of the first great monster movie hits of the silent age.

This is it. The first (albeit illegal) Dracula on the screen. If you've seen "Shadow of the Vampire" this is the film they were making in that movie. So much of what we think of as the Vampire Mythos was created here. F.W. Murnau, whose name became known as the master of silent terror, took Dracula and morphed him into Count Graf Orlok (played by Max Shreck - which means Terror I'm told) to cast nightmare shadows on the wall with his elongated fingers and cadaverous body. His face has been used in dozens of other vampire make up jobs, not the least of which were "Salem's Lot" & several episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." If you can get over the black and white, and the silence, and if you are a true movie buff that shouldn't be problem, then this movie is a treasure. Just don't expect it not to bother you. That was what it was made to do.

It was a character that, at the time, a Royal Decree brought him around for a play after the playwright had killed him off. Sir John Falstaff. A character that Eddie Izzard called "The most perfect man every written, next to Scooby Doo and Shaggy." He was a beloved rogue and one of Shakespeare's most Unique Creation. And who better to bring him to the screen than Orson Welles. The director takes the greatest speeches and scenes from all his appearances in the history plays and makes them work as one screen tour de force. He is selfish, sensual, boisterous, and living of life completely. He is a celebration of all things human, including the frailties that come along with being a man. His great speech? Falstaff: "Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no.Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is
honour? a word. What is in that word honour? what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. ‘Tis insensible, then. Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism." It is a performance, both as actor and director, to take second seat to none. Listen and you shall be rewarded. If nothing else, the battle scene is one to make even Kurasawa proud.

This was not just an anti-war film. This was not just an anti-Hitler film. It was an anti-Hate film. Chaplin took a chance here, a big one. When Mel Brooks, in "The Producers," sang "Springtime for Hitler" it was a dead issue and easily most folks could see it, when Chaplin did this we were not in the war yet. Some had been denying what Hitler was and was doing (as some, amazingly, still do today) and it was politically a gamble to make this film. But when you look at this film it is about love, not hate. Some of the most powerful moments ever put on screen, and not a chance to make us laugh is wasted. The Irony of the Globe/Balloon dance is still magnificent. If you want to laugh and think in a way that makes you glad you thought, this film is waiting and you deserve to treat yourself. BTW: Three different clips, all worth your time.

If you want to know what Film Noir is, here is a perfect example. Made with almost no money, using craft to make up for budget this tells a gritty story better than a lot of "A" product could hope to do. Charlton Heston was brought in to play a Mexican District attorney (reportedly Ricardo Montolban has just had an injury that would hamper his career the rest of his life) and was asked if he knew someone who could play the sinister sheriff's role. He suggested Orson Welles. Welles got the script and said he would play the role only if a) He could rewrite the script and b) He could also direct. He didn't ask for any more money so they said "Okay." He put together a film that blew all the others out of the water. Unfortunately the producers were morns who cut the film by 45 minutes and changed other things (there are a couple of books about the hatchet job they did) The film was still a huge success. When he died Welles left behind a memo he had written (50 pages or so) about what they needed to do to return the film to its better original form. A USC film student found the memo and went searching and found the original footage and using both re-edited the film to nearly perfect. That is the form you need to see. If nothing else, in these days of the 1/2 second shots in medley, you need to see one of the most impressive continuous uncut shots in film history. Even more than "Kane," to see what a genius Welles was, see "Touch of Evil."

In some movies genres there are bunches of leading names to know. In Kung Fu you need to know Bruce Lee, Jet Li & Jackie Chan. Horror has over a dozen classic actors, Westerns have so many it would fill books. But in Los Luchadores you start and nearly end with El Santo. Sometime you might consider The Blue Demon, but mainly the Giant of the genre is Santo (aka Samson to American Movie Goers) Luchadores are Mexican Masked Wrestlers. So if you plan to see one of their films expect to cut every few minutes to watch some wrestling in the ring. Santo was so popular for so long eventually he handed his mask to his son who carried on in the same name. During his time he fought every kind of monster they could think of, including Martian Invasions. If you can speak Spanish you can watch lots of these films on You Tube. Some of the dubbed versions are available on DVD. You have to see at least one. They even did one of MST3K. But, remember, at the time they were taken very seriously, so do not disrespect Los Luchadores!

A movie that we are lucky still exists. When Hitler came to power he loved it, and ordered every copy destroyed. For nearly every year since film lovers have searched for pieced of this masterpiece to put together the 2 hours and 15 minutes that it debuted with in 1927. It has finally been restored and it is worth your time to see the grandfather of all Science Fiction Film. Sure, the acting is overbearing, and some people have a real problem with silent films, and black and white films and to them I say, Get Over IT! The doors to the mind that this film opened are beyond counting. The Images within are so impressive that they have become Cliche'. But to do that they had to make the mold and then break it. Click through all the pictures and remember, this was 1927, almost 100 years ago.

I won't join in the argument about how good the Jackson remake was (I liked it) but I'll still tell you, if you have missed the original you have missed a film that changed the scope of all film that came after it. Any Science Fiction film, any fantasy or adventure film that came afterward walked in Kong's foot prints. I have said before, this is the first film that actually let me feel transported. I wasn't watching a movie, I was experiencing Skull Island and what came after. It really needs to be watched with the sequel (Son of Kong) so you can see the backlash that happened to Denham (he had to pay for what he had done) since that was the only thing really missing at the end of the first film. But if you are not one of those who say, "Oh, I can't watch Black and White Movies" or "CGI is okay, but Stop Motion just doesn't look real to me," in otherwords, if you are not an joke as a movie fan, you have to take this ride. Remember, this is not just a movie, it is a fable, comparable to the Arabian Nights or Beauty and the Beast. This is the one that made every adventure after it possible.

You may think you know anti-war films, like "M*A*S*H" or "Oh, What a Lovely War," but to make a really funny, really anti-war film in 1933, when America had just started gearing up for war, was a big deal. The backlash was not small. But the film is so funny it is hard to think of anything else. It is the Marx Brothers in their prime, at their peak. If you want to know what they were about, this is the film to see.

Most people who talk Hitchcock tend to start with Psycho. Maybe Rear Window or Vertigo. But if you want to get to the heart of Hitch, this is the film. The story of an average man (if you can ever think of Cary Grant as average) who gets dragged into something dangerous totally by accident or miscue or happenstance. He had done it before in Saboteur (1942) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) not to mention both versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much. It was all about rising to the occasion and by pure will and grit finding your way out of the situation. He would return to that scenario in The Trouble with Harry and The Wrong Man among others. It was an idea close to his heart. We can all understand the man who, while walking through his life, suddenly finds he has been mistaken for someone whose life is perilous. Never will you find Hitchcock better than here. This was his soul.

Gojia! The Subtitled Japanese Version. Sure, I know you don't take the Godzilla movies seriously. They're just wrestling in rubber suits. But even the first Americanized film was pretty cool. Now, go back and see what became a phenomenon around the world. And why. This was nothing if not a powerful indictment of nuclear weapons and those who would use them. Gojira is a destruction machine with no purpose other than to destroy and leave flaming ruins behind. It is not angry, it doesn't hold a grudge. It just levels everything it encounters. Little people who get in its way are killed, period. It is a man made act of God. It is the destruction of the world, before your eyes. I promise, if you see the original film, you will not come away unmoved. This stands with Frankenstein and Dracula among the monsters of the world.

I know more film makers who will point to this film as one of the favorites. It is about a successful creator of comedy movies who wants to make an "Important" film. He decides to go out among "the people" and learn what the real story is. He has funny adventures as his backup team follows him and tries to keep him safe. But once he gets loose a real problem comes about. He is picked up in the south for a small crime and thrown into a chain-gang. He can't get anyone to believe he is who he says he is and now he has to really experience what the world is like. BTW: The film he wants to make is called "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" So even the Coen Brothers gave us all a little shout out and acknowledgement that this is one of their favorites too

F.W. Murnau was famous in the U.S. for one thing mostly, "Nosferatu" (more about which at a later date) He was a master of mood and German expressionism. This one, the first time the story was put on film, has never been surpassed. Mephistopheles is evil incarnate and you can feel it across the screen. He is not some cute cuddly Devil, he is the real deal. Yes, there is stiltedness in the acting, even from the great Emil Jannings, but no one had acted for film yet. It was new and played for the lowest common denominator. Everyone could understand what was going on, without dialog. But, watching these poor people suffer when all they wanted was life and love, that is the essence of tragedy. Give it ten minutes. If you can honestly say you're not getting anything, then maybe you just don't have the stuff to understand and relate to silent movies. But I think you will end up glad you gave it a try.

This is a personal favorite of my family. A Western that is a magical morality play. Tony Randall plays the Doctor and all his identities, but he is supported by a wonderful cast. This was to be a little throw-away and yet there is an honesty that elevates it to the area of great art. It is doubtful that you can see this one and not be changed, for the better.

It was the only Hitchcock film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Daphne Du Maurier's ultimate gothic thriller in the master's hands for his first American feature. This one has so much atmosphere that it's rolling off the screen. Laurence Olivier is good, but Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson are the best. And George Sanders give his slimiest performance ever. If you want to see what it was about Hitchcock that people got excited about you need go no farther. It is all here. Other Hitchcock movies have their points, but this is the best.

John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy. Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy Ford was known as far back as the silents for the westerns. We'll talk about "Stagecoach" and "The Searchers" another day, but this is very important. Ford paid an homage to the cavalry in this trio of films. It's not like most trilogies, hell, they characters don't even always have the same names in all three pictures, but it is a continuation of story. A Cavalry Officer sees a commanding officer go off the rails (ala Custer) and follows him anyway. Then he becomes the wizened officer and then finally sees his retirement edging towards him and wants to get a few things done before hand. It was an institution that would never live again. There were historic wrongs done, but this is the story of the men, trying to do the best they could without support and without information. The native Americans are treated honorably by contrast with so many others. They were, of course, films of their times and that must be taken into account. But these are heroic adventures that stand with Homer and the Arabian Nights. BTW: They were shot out of order, but forgive that too.
Brilliance knows no order.
Fort Apache (1940)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040369/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Rio Grande (1950
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042895/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041866/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

This Oscar winner is the most accessible of all of Frederico Fellini's films. A poor girl's family sells her to a traveling strong man to hawk for his show. The waif is a natural and we come to love Giulietta Masina (Mrs. Fellini) as much as we hate the overbearing Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). She is in awe of him until she meets a Circus character played by Richard Baseheart. She falls for The Fool, and that makes the jealous Zampano hate him even more than he already does. This triangle is at the heart of this earthy, human drama. Masina's Gelsomina will be what keeps you in your seat. Quinn's agent (who was known to have said, "I don't go to the movies to read") Hated it so much that when it opened in New York the agent talked Quinn into giving up his rights in the film for $5,000 because he thought it would never amount to anything. Then it went on to be named Best Foreign Film. And, my friend, it more than deserved it. You will find much of why you can love movies in this one.

This is one of those films everyone has heard about, but not that many have really seen. Yes, it has subtitles, yes it is not glamorous, very few things blow up. But it is so good even people who are not action film buffs come out of a viewing changed. If you've ever seen one of the dozen or so films that could be called "remakes" ("The Magnificent Seven," "Battle Beyond the Stars" or, God help us, "The Seven Magnificent Gladiators") you already know the plot. A small village is being raided out of existence by an army of bandits and they hire a small band of Ronin (Samurai without masters) to take the impossible task of teaching them to fight and then leading them in a campaign for their survival. The Samurai are fighting for more than the pittance they will be paid. They fight for the honor they have lost, they fight for the nobility they would like to taste again, they are fighting because they are very good at what they do. Kurasawa made a classic for the ages, with an incredibly young Toshiro Mifune and faces that will never leave your memory. If you wanna be a Movie Buff, you gotta see this one.

When Max Reinhardt brought Shakespeare to the screen it wasn't jjust a regular release, but a high ticket road show with big name stars and lots of sparkle. Dick Powell, James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Joe E. Brown and a dozen more faces you couldn't dismiss. It was everything to give the Bard to the people in a way that they could understand and enjoy. The visuals alone would keep people watching. And the performances were spot on from top to bottom. If you've never seen it, this is the Shakespeare to initiate people about why Shakespeare is still performed today.