Movies, Mom & Me

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  Commentary:  This is one of those "sprawling historical epics" that tends to put me in a dream state. I am a fan of the director, even though his movies are sometimes difficult on the public. I am a fan of the musical scorer and always delight when I notice his name in the credits before watching a movie, including his collaboration on what general movie mavens consider the questionable compilations The Bible Collection and The Bible Series, both to which I remain devoted and continue to watch on a regular basis. I love all the actors in this movie, including the minor ones.
    I can't remember how I learned about this movie, but I checked it out of our library a few years ago, thinking I might enjoy it, despite its length and convolusive structure. I did. Once I watched it, I couldn't get it out of my head. It is a depiction of the struggle between capitalism and communism/socialism (in several guises), but on a very personal level. At the time I first watched it, I was deeply involved in the vagaries of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and Bernie had not yet been discarded by the Democratic Party in favor of Hillary. By the time I ordered it for my movie collection I was no longer smarting from debacle of the actual election. I was, however, deep into a reading campaign of literature disparaging capitalism/neo-liberalism and arguing for socialism. Watching this movie again, owning it, helps me put politics into perspective and calms me down, especially in light of everything that's happened since. If you're really into politics and you enjoy movies, you should watch this one.
  Update 6/2/2022:  This post was originally published on 2/5/2018 but disappeared from public view. I am now reinstating it.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Robert De Niro	Alfredo Berlinghieri	Gérard Depardieu	Olmo Dalcò	Dominique Sanda	Ada Chiostri Polan	Francesca Bertini	Sister Desolata
  Laura Betti	Regina	Donald Sutherland	Attila Mellanchini	Stefania Sandrelli	Anita Foschi	Werner Bruhns	Ottavio Berlinghieri
  Stefania Casini	Neve	Sterling Hayden	Leo Dalcò	Anna Henkel-Grönemeyer	Anita Dalcò	Ellen Schwiers	Amelia
  Alida Valli	Signora Pioppi	Burt Lancaster	Alfredo the Elder	Romolo Valli	Giovanni Berlinghieri	Giacomo Rizzo	Rigoletto

  
    Here's the link to the Wikipedia write-up for this movie.
    Release Date: 1976
    Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Labels: §2, anti-fascist, burt-lancaster, donald-sutherland, dream1, gérard-depardieu, historical2, political2, robert-de-niro

# posted by gail @ 11:08    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This movie came to me (as several in this new list did) when I was scanning the Hastings going-out-of-business shelves for movies I don't own but would like to. What can I say. It's masterful. I've watched it twice since I bought it. Every performance is spot on and, despite its length, there is no fat in this movie.
    Although this movie was released long before my mother died, since it was not in my collection until after she died and I can't recall that we ever ran across it on television, she never saw it. My guess is that she probably would not have enjoyed it and would have snoozed through it. My mother was in the U.S. Navy in WWII. She was a gunnery instructor. She taught soldiers how to shoot. That's how she met my father. He was one of her students. In addition, she outranked him. Her view of WWII does not include detailed musings of what happened to Jewish people and many others during the war. She was certainly aware of this, and, obviously, was on the side of defeating Hitler's forces. But she was single-minded in preparing "our boys" for the front, not in what was going on in the nether regions of the war.
    In sum, we, those of us who were likely not even a gleam in our parents' eyes, during WWII, see this war differently than the participants. Our perspective is valuable. This movie proves that. But, fighting a war is very different than contemplating the war after the fact. This is probably the most valuable lesson this movie has to offer.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published August 14, 2016. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Liam Neeson	Oskar Schindler	Ben Kingsley	Itzhak Stern	Ralph Fiennes	Amon Göth	Caroline Goodall	Emilie Schindler
  Jonathan Sagall	Poldek Pfefferberg	Embeth Davidtz	Helen Hirsch	Andrzej Seweryn	Julian Scherner	Piotr Polk	Leo Rosner

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1993
    Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Labels: anti-fascist, ben-kingsley, docu-drama, historical2, period2, steven-spielberg, war1

# posted by gail @ 03:23    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  I've wanted to own this movie for a long time and finally caught it, used, at our local Hastings, which is in the process of going out of business, unfortunately. It's where I've bought most of my movies, used and cheap. Not sure what I'll do, now. At any rate, I've watched this movie on television more than a few times. It's one of my all time favorite classics. A few months ago, when I was contemplating the current U.S. Presidential election, I suddenly got a hankering to watch this movie because of what I thought I remembered as similarities between the portrayal of the "John Doe Club" movement and what was going on in both political parties. Since I no longer have a TV connection the solution was buying it and, there it was, on the Hastings shelves. And, yes, I think I was right in the connections I made between the political movements then and now. I know I'll be coming back to this movie over and over in the years to come. And, yes, for those of you who notice "shared-favorite" the labels, below, it was a favorite of my mother's as well. She may be dead, but my memories of her live on and are refreshed every time I watch this movie.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published August 14, 2016. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Gary Cooper	John Doe/Long John Willoughby	Barbara Stanwyck	Ann Mitchell	Edward Arnold	D. B. Norton	Walter Brennan	The Colonel
  Spring Byington	Mrs. Mitchell	James Gleason	Henry Connell	Gene Lockhart	Mayor Lovett	Rod La Rocque	Ted Shelton

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1941
    Directed by Frank Capra.

Labels: anti-fascist, barbara-stanwyck, Christmas, drama6, frank-capra, political2, shared-favorite

# posted by gail @ 03:05    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  I just received this movie today so I haven't yet watched it, but I'll be doing that tonight. At any rate, I had to mention, there are no less than three reviews written about this movie at RogerEbert.com. No, Ebert didn't come back from the dead to review the movie, but two regular reviewers and one non-regular reviewer weighed in on the movie. The first review that came up at the site is linked to the title of this post. Here's the second and here's the third. The second, I think, is going to be the most informative, although I'll let you know once I've read it and watched the movie (I plan to do the movie watching first).
    Frankly, I have a troubled relationship with apocalyptic (and post-apocalyptic, I mean, let's face it, if a movie is about an apocalypse, is stands to reason it's also about the post apocalyptic period, although, I can think of one exception to that rule: The Last Wave; and, come to think of it, Dr. Strangelove doesn't cover the post apocalyptic period, either) movies. There are a few that I love and I think I own most of those. The ones I love are subtle and surprising, like The Last Wave and The Rapture. I'm not sure, from what I've read so far about this movie (a few blurbs, including the blurb on the cover of my copy), that this will be one of my favorites. It seems like it's not about apocalypsis, but uses an apocalypse as an excuse for a fight between the haves and the have nots. Thinking about apocalyptic events put me into an apocalyptic mindset and I ordered two other apocalyptic movies along with this one, both of which I'd seen years ago: Threads and On the Beach, both of which qualify for the "subtle and surprising" category. I've rewatched Threads and will be producing a write-up soon. I have yet to rewatch On the Beach. And, of course, I haven't watched this movie yet, although I notice in the Wikipedia article about it, linked in the next paragraph, that it got unusually good reviews, not all around, there were some critics who found the film less than good, but mostly the reviews were well above average.
    Can't wait to see how it hits me. Stay tuned.
  Update 5/18/2022  I watched this movie a couple or three months ago. The end is excellent, true Bong Joon-ho: One assumed lone survivor, leaving the wrecked train into a snow covered world with a polar bear snuffling around. I don't know why, but this scene captured my imagination. The rest of the film? Eh. A lot of have/have-not fighting. Tilda Swinton going crazy with her role and having what looks to be a fun time. Chris Evans as a totally forgettable protagonist. Lots of interesting bit parts by interesting bit players.
    This movie was a hit with the critics, but, I don't know, I think there are lots more credible and interesting apocalyptic films out there. Maybe I'm not in touch with the apocalyptic zeitgeist. And, the one question I had that was never concretely answered, why a train? I mean, why an apocalyptic train?
    Then, there's Ed Harris playing another version of Christof and John Hurt playing another version of, hmmm, oh, I don't know, name your poison. [This comment, by the way, is not to belittle his work. John Hurt was an astonishing actor with a wiiiide range. It is actors of his calibre that make me ever grateful I exist in a time when performances are recorded and readily available. He did, however, get a little typecast in his later years.]
    But, I'll keep it, especially since it is an example of apocalyptic movie-thought in the second decade of the 21st century, a century which appears to finally promise the long awaited "apocalypse". I mean, if humanity doesn't deliver it, the environment will.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Chris Evans	Curtis Everett	Song Kang-ho	Namgoong Minsoo	Ed Harris	Wilford	John Hurt	Gillam
  Tilda Swinton	Minister Mason	Jamie Bell	Edgar	Octavia Spencer	Tanya	Ewen Bremner	Andrew
  Go Ah-sung	Yona	Alison Pill	Teacher	Vlad Ivanov	Franco the Elder	Luke Pasqualino	Grey

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2013
    Directed by Bong Joon-ho.

Labels: anti-fascist, apocalyptic, bong-joon-ho, john-hurt

# posted by gail @ 17:09    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1* *2*
• 
  Commentary:  I think I've said quite a lot about our reactions to this movie throughout the main journal. We both find it entertaining and "feel good" inspirational.
    There are a lot of movies, including many from this film's era, previous, post, and all the way through to now, that focus on populist vs. elitist politics. None of them, though, has yet approached the pointedness, pertinence and perceptiveness of this all time classic. I'll bet it will never, ever, not be a popular classic, because, at least in the United States, its story will always be contemporary.
  Update 11/17/2021:  This post was originally published February 6, 2005. It was one of the accidental deletions that occurred, which is covered in this post.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  James Stewart	Jefferson Smith	Jean Arthur	Clarissa Saunders	Claude Rains	Joseph Harrison Paine	Edward Arnold	Jim Taylor
  Thomas Mitchell	Diz Moore	Beulah Bondi	Ma Smith	Astrid Allwyn	Susan Paine	Ruth Donnelly	Mrs. Hopper

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1939
    Directed by Frank Capra.

Labels: anti-fascist, beulah-bondi, claude-rains, dramedy2, frank-capra, james-stewart, political5, romance4, shared-favorite, thomas-mitchell

# posted by gail @ 15:35    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under Construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Sophia Loren	Antonietta	Marcello Mastroianni	Gabriele	John Vernon	Emanuele	Françoise Berd	Caretaker

  
    Here is the Wikipedia write-up of this movie.
    Release Date: 1977
    Directed by Ettore Scola.

Labels: §2, anti-fascist, Criterion2, period6, political5

# posted by gail @ 18:41    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This is a curious Tracey/Hepburn production, initially badly reviewed but its reputation improved greatly over time; just check out the Reception section of the Wikipedia write-up for it. That section is detailed in its explanation of the film being revived in the view of critics. I think its reassessment has a lot to do with the times we live in right now and the furor over anti-fascism that the recent Trump Presidency brought us.
    When I initially acquired it, I wasn't thinking specifically of its anti-fascist slant. For some months I had been vividly remembering scenes from it without bothering to consider why those scenes continued to reappear in my memory. I'm quite sure, even without a specific memory of my first viewing, that I initially saw the movie before 2008 when my mother was alive and we had a streaming service that featured TCM, and haven't watched it since. I think, this time, my interest was revived by a wayward waltz, over the last few weeks, through all my Tracey/Hepburn and Hepburn movies, which ignited interest in those I either hadn't seen or didn't own. At any rate, a few weeks ago my interest in this movie became so great, and I found a price so low, that I decided to acquire it.
    I'll write more about my reactions to this movie, later. Right now, I'm going to create a post (which will appear immediately above this one) about how it also triggered my interest in anti-fascist movies, of the early 20th century through now, and explore that, a bit.
    More on this specific movie later, I'm sure, including my offense at the ending, where I attempt a stab at why it ended as it did and whether the ending was stupid, or merely inevitable because of the time in which it was made.
  P.S.  This movie is mentioned in the review I wrote for Undercurrent.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Spencer Tracy	Steven O'Malley	Katharine Hepburn	Christine Forrest	Richard Whorf	Clive Kerndon	Margaret Wycherly	Mrs. Forrest
  Forrest Tucker	Geoffrey Midford	Frank Craven	Doctor Fielding	Stephen McNally	Freddie Ridges	Percy Kilbride	Orion Peabody
  Audrey Christie	Jane Harding	Darryl Hickman	Jeb Rickards	Donald Meek	Mr. Arbuthnot	Howard Da Silva	Jason Rickards

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1942
    Directed by George Cukor.

Labels: anti-fascist, dramaD, katharine-hepburn, melodramaA, spencer-tracy, tracy-hepburn

# posted by gail @ 02:55    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  I am surprised there are no mentions of this movie in either journal. Although I think I like it a bit better than Mom (I love the film perspective, I don't think she's crazy about it, but she likes the way the story is told), we watch this movie as a rental or on TCM a couple of times a year. Time to own it.
  
  
  
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Orson Welles	Charles Foster Kane	Joseph Cotten	Jedediah Leland	Agnes Moorehead	Mary Kane	Dorothy Comingore	Susan Alexander Kane

  
    One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1941
    Directed by Orson Welles.

Labels: anti-fascist, dramaB, journalism, melodramaA

# posted by gail @ 15:18    0 comments    email......this post