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Old Movies - October 2006

Enemy Mine

October 31st 2006 08:36
Enemy Mine (1985)


This is one of those films that I used to watch over and over when I was a kid. I'm always surprised to find that hardly anyone I talk to these days has even heard of it. It's a good film, dammit!

The always dependable Dennis Quaid plays Davidge, a human starfighter pilot. It's the 21st century and Earth is locked in an intersteller war of colonial acquisition with the Dracs, a reptillian breed of aliens. Davidge manages to get into a dogfight with one of the Dracs (Lou Gossett Jr), and they both crashland on a remote planet. What ensues is a story of survival and prejudice as the two must learn to co-exist in this harsh new environment of brutal storms and giant ant-lion-like monsters.


Unlike a lot of popular sci-fi films, this story is more about the hatred that feeds off difference and a friendship formed against the odds. It's an unusually touching and moving story, but never boring. The harsh climate of the planet and the eventual contact of the survivors with 'civilisation' make for plenty of action-packed sequences.

The story is the kind of story that will remain timeless, even if the special effects are dated or the science-fiction aspects of the story become quaint and objects of curiosity. It's central themes are universal and this film will continue to be relevant to our world and society while any form of prejudice or culture-based hate exists. It's just a shame that this film didn't get wider exposure!


TRIVIA: Apparently the film was originally shot in it's entirety in Iceland, only to be completely scrapped due to that old bugbear - "creative differences". The film was reshot by a new director (Wolfgang Peterson - better known for 'Das Boot' and more recently 'Troy') in a new location in the Canary Islands.

Producers originally wanted to add a subplot involving an actual mine as they were worried that audiences would be confused by the title.

'Enemy Mine' was a book before it was a film, written by Barry B. Longyear in 1980. The book won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards - quite a sweep for a sci-fi book!

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Posted By: Luke - Category: Science Fiction
   


Top 10 Anti-Heroes in Film

October 30th 2006 01:33
Continuing from the recent blogs on Top 10 Villains and Top 10 Heroes, I've decided to venture on into the curious and highly-entertaining middle ground between the two... the Anti-Hero.

Just a quick run down... the way I perceive a character to be an anti-hero is that he (yeah, 'he' - couldn't really think of any decent female ones... Sarah O'Connor comes close but got nudged out by my Top 10) must match these criteria...

1. They must be the protagonist of the film.

That's pretty much it. A villainous character like Tony Montana can be seen as an anti-hero simply due to the fact that the film focuses on him. If a character like this is put up on the screen as a protagonist, and the audience isn't really given an opposing character they can identify with as the 'hero', then it takes away the whole 'hero/villain' duality. The villain becomes an anti-hero. A hero who doesn't actually do anything heroic. Likewise, if the 'hero' of the piece engages in acts that would normally be viewed as villainous, he loses his 'hero' status and goes into the same grey zone. So here are ten of my favourite anti-heroes.


Travis Bickle Robert De Niro, "Taxi Driver" (1976)
Travis is the archetypal anti-hero. We initially sympathise with him, but as his motives remain so unknowable and it becomes clear that he's not all there in the smarts department it becomes kind of hard to accept him as a heroic figure. At one point he tries to assassinate a political candidate for no good reason... he eventually 'redeems' himself by saving a child prostitute from the mafia but by this stage he's so fucked up that you don't really know where he's coming from.


Max Rockatansky Mel Gibson, 'Mad Max' (1979)
Max is probably the protagonist most easily identified with in this list, but the extent of his rage nudges him out of the 'hero' league. Max breaks away from his life and sanity to embark on a furious quest of unchecked revenge against a gang of bikers that murdered his wife and child. By the time of the third 'Mad Max' movie Max seems to have become a near-empty shell, just trying to get by in a post-apocalyptic hell of a future.


Jack Carter Michael Caine, "Get Carter" (1971)
The 70s were the age of the anti-hero. Carter represents a new wave of cinema, with Caine playing one of the coldest and most heartless heroes of British film. Like most anti-heroes, Carter is on a quest of revenge. However, unlike Mad Max and Paul Kersey (Death Wish), Carter was a cruel and harsh man before he set out for vengeance. He threatens and murders his way to the information he wants, at one point even callously letting a woman drown to death.


Ethan Edwards John Wayne, "The Searchers" (1957)
John Wayne was never more interesting than when he broke outside of his usual tough-as-nails old west hero screen persona. Director John Ford would utilise Wayne's charisma to unique affect in 'The Searchers', casting the straight-laced icon in a somewhat less-sympathetic role than what audiences were used to seeing him in. Ethan is very much the hero of the film, dedicating seven years of his life to tracking down his niece (who has been kidnapped by Indians). But he is also a man so twisted by racism that he intends to kill the wayward girl should she have turned native in the time she has been gone. At one point Wayne's character desecrates the graves of dead indians just out of spite, and whilst the film is deliberately enigmatic in regards to Ethan's background it's patently clear that underneath his appearingly heroic actions he is not a very nice individual.


Frank White Christopher Walken, "King of New York" (1990)
Where would this list be without Christopher Walken and his own brand of bad-arsed coolness? Walken's Frank White is an ex-con returning to gangland New York to reassert his place in the criminal underworld. He quickly sets about consolidating his power and gives no quarter to anyone who gets in his way - be they rival ganglord or police. What seperates Frank White from the usual high-flying American gangster is that he intends to re-distribute all his profits of his drug trade to the poor and needy of New York... it doesn't exactly make sense, but Walken has that edge of cheerful insanity and resolution that helps him see it through. A classy and underrated film with a classy and entertaining protagonist.


Blondie/The Man With No Name Clint Eastwood, "A Fistful of Dollars" (1964), "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" (1966).
It's never exactly made clear if Eastwood's character from these three films is the one and the same, but that the films are often collected together as 'The Dollars trilogy' and that Eastwood's character is often credited as 'The Man With No Name', I think it's pretty clear that this is the case. Eastwood's character here is the antithesis of the typical hero usually shown in American westerns... he cares very little for anyone but himself and often acts purely out of self-interest, he is usually motivated solely by money, and he isn't afraid to kill his opposition in cold blood. The comical end scene of 'For a Few Dollars More' sees him counting the stack of dead bodies on his wagon, calculating how much money they will bring him, and it pretty much sums up the modus operandi of the steely-eyed, wry gunslinger. This character is every bit as much an icon as Eastwood himself, and hence I couldn't write this list without mentioning him.


Alex de Large Malcolm McDowell, "A Clockwork Orange" (1971)
Another character it would be impossible to ignore in this list is young Alex from Kubrick's controversial masterpiece 'A Clockwork Orange'. Along with Travis, Alex is pretty much the definitive anti-hero. He rapes, he kills, he listens to classical music, and yet - I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as he struggles against the cruel brainwashing he is subjected to. He'd be the villain of the film if he wasn't so charismaticly brought to life by Malcolm McDowell, and the lack of any other sympathetic characters doesn't exactly negate it either.


Henry Hill Ray Liotta, "Goodfellas" (1990)
Henry Hill is every bit the typical working gangster of modern America. In 'Goodfellas' we get his story via Ray Liotta, writer Nicholas Pileggi and director Martin Scorcese. Nothing is sugarcoated, we get his drug addiction, his philandering, his involvement in murders and heists... he wouldn't be that nice a chap to meet up with on the street. But by the time of the film's end, with all his friends either dead or aiming to kill him, you can't help but feel sorry for the broken hoodlum. Like most protagonists in gangster films, Hill is a man brought down by his own flaws rather than the law itself, and at times he comes across a pretty likeable guy.


Randle Patrick McMurphy Jack Nicholson, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1985)
It would be quite easy to simply view McMurphy as the hero of this film. Like Lucas Jackson in 'Cool Hand Luke', he is an anti-hero in the sense that he stands in defiance of a system that goes unchallenged in the real world. McMurphy is a common criminal who manages to skip gaol by faking mental illness, aiming to rest it up in a mental hospital instead. His nemesis there is Nurse Ratchett, a continuing representation of the authority McMurphy rallies against for the rest of the film. The fact that we cheer for McMurphy as he incites riots and rebellion throughout the hospital is testemant to Nicholson's charismatic performance and society's growing disdain for authoritarian institutions.


Popeye Doyle Gene Hackman, "The French Connection" (1971)
Hackman won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the real-life cop Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle in this story of a rogue cop busting open a heroin-smuggling ring. Previously, in this genre, the cop would be the unquestioned hero of the piece. However, the changing mood of the outside world (see McMurphy vs. the authorities above, as well as fledgling anti-heroes such as Steve McQueen's 'Bullitt' in 1968) brought about a new era in filmmaking that would see a growing ambiguity in it's portrayal of 'heroes' and 'villains'. Doyle is one such ambiguous character. He's single-minded and hellbent on cracking open the drug trade, but has no qualms about beating up innocent people to get there, or driving his car into oncoming traffic! Cop heroes don't come much more racist, arrogant and borderline-criminal than Doyle, he even shoots a crook in the back at one point - something previously unheard of in film back in the 70s. And if the viewer has any remaining doubts regarding how they should be perceiving Doyle in the film, well, the ending will clear that right up!

Well, that's ten. As usual, I'm sure I've left a bunch out. Let me know who I missed!




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Ned Kelly

October 26th 2006 11:57
OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: I know it's not an old film, but it's a good one, so deal with it.

Ned Kelly (2003)


It was only a matter of time before Ned Kelly was given the big-screen treatment. The Australian film industry has been coming along in leaps and strides in the last 15 years, and has finally reached the point where it can accommodate a film of such quality and size that a piece of folklore like this deserves. Forget about the 1970s Mick Jagger version, it's gone - don't worry about it. 'Ned Kelly' is here.

You should know the story by now. Ned Kelly was the most famous of Australian bushrangers, arguably because of his armour, but also because of his much publicised championing of the lower classes in 19th century Australia. He was a bushranger, first and foremost, and the film doesn't deny this. He killed, yes, and he robbed banks, yes. No one has ever disputed that. But the film doesn't take as many liberties as one might think.

Ned Kelly was a hero of his time - his name has gone down in folklore because of the respect he gained from his peers. He was someone to cheer for… stealing from the rich, stirring up the police. To understand how a murderer and a thief can become so loved, you have to understand the hatred many had for the police at the time. The film goes a long way to establish this, but for some viewers it will never be enough. I hate to dwell on the glorification of criminals so much, but it's something that I feel needs to be addressed in the context of this review - because it's a question a lot of people are asking; should Ned Kelly be treated as such a hero? The answer, in my opinion, is that it doesn't really matter. He was a hero of his people, this shouldn't be doubted, but whether you can identify with such people and Kelly's own struggle is what it's going to come down to when you watch this film. But anyway, I digress, and quite badly too...

Gregor Jordan (director of 'Two Hands') has made a great film. Visually, it's stunning, and iconic. I'm not one for patriotism, but there's something to be said for viewer-identification. The vision of rolling hills spotted with gum trees and kookaburras connects with me in a way that an American film never could. The acting is more than adequate too. Heath Ledger isn't a method or character actor by any stretch, but he has a charm about him that goes a long way when carrying a film like this. Likewise, Orlando Bloom and Joel Edgerton are put to good use. Naomi Watts is a little superfluous to the story, but injects a little love for the ladies, and adds another layer to the injustices that pepper this film. Geoffrey Rush, sadly, is underused.

The film isn't afraid to show the era for what it was. It doesn't shy from the less-than-savoury aspects of bushranger life, and it's keen as mustard to show the cons and pros of the era, and in equal proportion. There's a big screen power in this film that's seldom been matched by Australian cinema, and the ultimate showdown doesn't disappoint. I’m just chuffed that Australia finally made a decent ‘epic’.

TRIVIA: Look for cameos and supporting parts from all sorts of Australian actors and personalities. Peter Phelps, Richard Roxborough, Russell Gilbert, Bernard Fanning, Bud Tingwell and Rachel Griffiths all appear.
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Posted By: Luke - Category: Western
   


Breakfast at Tiffanys

October 25th 2006 07:49
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)


It was said that 'Breakfast at Tiffanys', Truman Capote's bestselling novella of a mysteriously lonesome and luminous callgirl who falls in with an unemployed writer, was unfilmable. Capote himself was said to be rather unhappy with the eventual changes that were made to the story in it's transition from book to film. It's sanitization was, however, typical of Hollywood at the time and was no doubt facilitated in part by the film-makers in order to match the film to Audrey Hepburn's screen image. Even with all this in mind, I doubt anyone could argue that both the book and film are classics in their own right. And if it weren't for Hepburn's involvement, the film would probably shine a little less than it has in the many years that have passed since it's conception


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Red River

October 24th 2006 06:49
Red River (1948)


Generally considered as one of the greatest westerns ever made, this cattle-hauling epic sees John Wayne play outside his usual parameters as an ageing father-figure to Montgomery Clift. The film is basically a western remake (sort of) of 'Mutiny on the Bounty', with Clift forced to betray his mentor (Wayne) for the good of the cattle and the team, only for Wayne to swear death upon him and hunt him down


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Nixon

October 23rd 2006 10:25
Nixon (1995)


Following on the dynamic and successful 'Natural Born Killers', and drawing on the historical tapestry that fed 'JFK', Oliver Stone turned his conspiratorial sights on former U.S. President Richard Nixon... with surprising results. Instead of damning a target as easy as Nixon, Stone instead chose to portray the fallen President's eventful story as a tragedy. Keen to remind us of what Nixon did for America (and, as a byproduct, the rest of the world), but equally keen to push our faces right into the controversy and grit of the administration, the film gives us a fairly balanced and moving account of Watergate and the man’s career leading up to it


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Historical
   


Top 10 Heroes in Film

October 22nd 2006 05:50
Well, following up on last Monday's 'Top 10 Villains in Film', here is a list of 10 Great Film Heroes (thanks to Lilla for the suggestion). I had a lot more trouble with this list as I usually find the villain more interesting than the hero, so I didn't really have any favourites (besides one or two) that have always sat in my head (waiting for me to collate them into a list - like the Villains blog!). To help myself out I gave myself some criteria...

1. No characters based on real life figures... I think I did this as the line between fiction and fact tends to become blurred. I was going to include Ron Kovic (Born on the 4th of July), Gandhi (Ganhi), Karen Silkwood (Silkwood) and Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Rwanda) in my list but then I began to question whether I was including them because of the heroic deeds of the real-life figures they are based on or because of the way they were portrayed. Likewise, I think the actors in question already have half their work done for them too (in terms of appearing heroic) if the character happens to be a hero to begin with. So, I thought it was simpler to just disqualify these altogether


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Swimming With Sharks

October 20th 2006 05:34
Swimming With Sharks (1994)


Judging from the cover, you'd think this was some sort of comedy. I was warned of this prior-wise, by the same person who recommended it to me (hello Chris), so I was ready for anything. At the very least, I'm always entertained by Kevin Spacey, so I knew it wouldn't be too shit


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Comedy
   


The Man in the White Suit

October 19th 2006 12:04
The Man in the White Suit (1952)


Waaaaaay back in the 50s, Alec Guinness made a bunch of films for the British studios known as Ealing. Ealing films have lived on beyond many of their similarly-budgeted British contemporaries thanks to their fine writing and performances... of the five or six well-remembered Ealing comedies, the four of these that featured Guinness are often grouped together as classics. 'The Man in the White Suit' is probably Guinness's least remembered of these four films (the others being 'The Ladykillers', 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' and 'The Lavender Hill Mob') and was Guinness's personal favourite


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Science Fiction
   


Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

October 18th 2006 06:50
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967)


'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' was considered to be one of those 'landmark' films in regards to racism and the way that it's embedded in our society. It also has a special place in film history for being Spencer Tracy's last film, his last Academy Award nomination, and for being Katherine Hepburn's second Academy Award win


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Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

October 17th 2006 13:09
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)


Following in the footsteps of Francis Ford Coppola's classy rendition of 'Dracula' comes 'Mary Shelley's Frankenstein', directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh (and also produced by Francis Ford Coppola). And I can't say that it's quite as successful in it's intent as Coppola's film


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Horror
   


Top 10 Villains in Film

October 15th 2006 01:09
Villains are almost always the most interesting thing in a good movie. The good guy, well, he's good - sometimes there's not much you can do with that unless he's flawed in some way. But the villain... well, you've got a whole range of fucked up and evil stuff you can explore. They always say it's more fun to play a villain.

So in no particular order, here are 10 great villains from the movies


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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

October 12th 2006 06:39
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)


Ah, such a classic. Like 'Home Alone', I struggle to think how anyone could not get enjoyment out of a film like this. Okay, so Kevin Costner is a yank, but does it really matter when the film achieves exactly what it sets out to do... entertain through it's combination of thrills, high-adventure and amusing dialogue


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Adventure/Fantasy
   


An Awfully Big Adventure

October 11th 2006 06:28
An Awfully Big Adventure (1995)

A strange film this one. The title is a somewhat ironic one, and it has "from the director of 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'" on it's cover. Ignore the ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ reference, this film is nothing like that aforementioned film, so it's no indication of whether you'll like it or not.

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Posted By: Luke - Category: Drama
   


A Bronx Tale

October 10th 2006 07:29
A Bronx Tale (1993)


You'll probably find 'A Bronx Tale' tucked away in the weekly section of your local video store - a fairly nondescript cover with only one 'big name' actor attached to it. Don't let this fool you - this is a quality film


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Gangster
   


Apache

October 9th 2006 06:46
Apache (1954)


In 1954, former acrobat Burt Lancaster was on the up and up... he was fresh out from the critical and commercial hit 'From Here To Eternity' and was looking to expand his range and build on the kudos he was gaining for his impressive and iconic performances. So, naturally, he decided to play an tragic Indian hero in 'Apache', a revisionist western loosely based on the real-life story of Masai - one of the last Apache warriors, who made a final desperate bid for freedom and escaped from a prison train en-route to a reservation


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Western
   


Serpico

October 8th 2006 11:12
Serpico (1973)


This gritty and realistic indictment of crooked cops is based on the real life tale of Frank Serpico, an undercover hippie cop who refused to be swayed by the corruption that infested the police force around him


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Action/Thriller
   


Benny and Joon

October 6th 2006 05:44
Benny and Joon (1993)


So I was stuck at home, being lazy, so what do I do? I check out the midday movie. It was 'Benny and Joon', I'd heard of it but never really paid attention to it's existence. So I just sat there and let it play, as I couldn't be bothered to get up and put in the video I was going to watch. It turned out to be a good choice


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Quiz Show

October 4th 2006 13:15
Quiz Show (1994)


I was under the impression that this was a film with small scope. I have to admit, I have no idea where this impression came from. 'Quiz Show' is not as 'small' as it seems. It's a story not just about a television scandal, it's a story about television itself, and the way it has affected western society


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Drama
   


This Boy's Life

October 3rd 2006 07:52
This Boy's Life (1993)


Coming-of-age films are often hard to pull off without falling into a rut of cliches. And whilst this certainly aint no 'Stand By Me', it manages to pull itself above the sludge of countless wannabes - owing mainly to it's source material, the award-winning book of the same name


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Posted By: Luke - Category: Drama
   


Films you probably won't be seeing anytime soon.

October 1st 2006 11:04
The following eight films are all real movies that have been made only to become subsequently unavailable. Three of them are films that have never been released, the others are notable films that have been buried after their initial releases. Obviously, I haven’t seen any of these. I’m not sure how many of them I would’ve seen either, had they been made available to me. Just the fact that they’re unavailable makes them more interesting I think. Anyways…


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