Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  For years, ever since I've owned The Godfather, I've wanted to own the trilogy. This part, of course, rivals the original. It has a different style, a different mood, a different feel, but it's great. I don't think I need to say anything else. I'm sure you know why I'm the proud owner of this trilogy.
    Once again, no surprise, to me, anyway, Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his Great Movies.
  Update 8/17/2016:  Last night I watched this movie after having watched The Godfather on the previous night. Although I continue to enjoy this one and was thoroughly involved, I realized that, to me, The Godfather is a far superior movie. It's so tight nothing leaks. It is complete in and of itself, while The Godfather II (and The Godfather III, for that matter) demand that you watch the one or two parts previous to get everything. Additionally, they both contain extraneous scenarios that aren't really needed, even though they're interesting. When The Godfather ends you do not wonder what happens to Michael Corleone and everyone else, you "know". You don't wonder about anything at the end of the original, not even individual character biography. Granted, the Vito Corleone biography contained in The Godfather II is interesting and illuminating, but if the trilogy had not become a trilogy parts II and III would not be missed. Neither of the other two is necessary to be overwhelmed by the saga of The Godfather. To be overwhelmed by either Part II or Part III, the original is necessary. This is what makes The Godfather the superior film in the trilogy.
  Update 8/12/2021:  And of course, somebody disagrees with me. Gerardo Valero, one of Ebert's site "far flunger" correspondents, has posted this argument as to why Part II is the best of the trilogy.
  Update 6/2/2022:  This post was originally published on 8/14/16 but disappeared from public view. I am now reinstating it.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Al Pacino	Michael Corleone	Robert Duvall	Tom Hagen	Diane Keaton	Kay Adams-Corleone	Robert De Niro	Vito Corleone
  John Cazale	Fredo Corleone	Talia Shire	Connie Corleone	Lee Strasberg	Hyman Roth	Michael V. Gazzo	Frank Pentangeli
  G. D. Spradlin	Sen. Pat Geary	Richard Bright	Al Neri	Gastone Moschin	Don Fanucci	Bruno Kirby	Peter Clemenza
  Morgana King	Carmela Corleone	Troy Donahue	Merle Johnson	Joe Spinell	Willi Cicci	Abe Vigoda	Salvatore Tessio
  John Aprea	Young Tessio	Harry Dean Stanton	FBI Agent	Danny Aiello	Tony Rosato	Dominic Chianese	Johnny Ola

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1974
    Directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Labels: action1, al-pacino, diane-keaton, drama5, gang-movie, harry-dean-stanton, period2, revenge1, robert-de-niro, robert-duvall, violence2

# posted by gail @ 20:33    0 comments    email......this post

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  Commentary:  This movie was originally listed in the post Movies I've Seen, Do Not Own but Can't Forget. It was the first movie listed. As of today, I own it. Although I'll write more once I've watched the movie as my property (which I expect to do tonight), in the meantime I want to append what I wrote when I was jonesing for this movie:
    I saw this movie, initially, with my mom, probably on TCM, since, during her life, we had a cable TV subscription. It's been over a decade since I've had access to TCM, but it hasn't been that long since I've seen this movie. It initially intrigued me because I have had dental problems all my life. As a non-dependent adult, some of those problems have been exacerbated because dental care is too expensive for me to afford. This is part of the initial reason why Henry Fonda's character in this movie ends up in a position to be mis-identified by the police. Although the rest of the movie is thoroughly engrossing, this minor fact is what drew me into watching this movie more than once. I was, frankly, gob-smacked that inability to afford dental care was a rampant problem in 1956! Everyone, in these days of rallying for Medicare for All, rants about the disgusting inequity of health care in the U.S. Why does no one, anywhere in the world, rant about the long-standing unaffordability of dental care?
    There. That's done. More later.
  Update 5/24/21:  After having watched this movie last night, start to finish, I'm not sure I ever watched it in its entirety before. I discovered that I didn't remember quite a bit of it.
    What a movie! The story is subtly told. Henry Fonda's performance is appropriately understated. For most of the movie he looks like Everyman in a Stupor, and that's not a dis, that's a high compliment, as, how else could one look as someone who is, indeed, "The Wrong Man"?!? Balestrero, as played by Fonda, when being confronted by this absurd accusation, never, ever looks like he finally "gets it". When he is pulled back into his normal life, as he is often throughout the film, he looks and acts and appears to think like a normal working guy with a wife and family. When he becomes The Wrongly Accused, he is perpetually dumbfounded. It is hard not to think that, if he had not had a normal, job-home-family life to consistently fall back into, he would have gone as crazy as his wife. The three main lighting contrasts, sharp-dark for the accusation scenes, brightly lit for the home and personal investigative scenes and a kind of anticipatory light gray for the courtroom and lawyer's office scenes, are revelatory in themselves. The scenes with his lawyer and in the courtroom are especially delicious because he is in a legal situation in which he has no way of helping himself, and this is dramatised beautifully.
    I have to say, after watching it last night I think, if I had watched the movie before, it was likely snippets, during my companionship with my mother, never beginning to end, as I experienced it last night. It's impossible not to feel the jaws of a trap not set for Balestrero closing around Balestrero's soul.
    I have to admit to some disbelief of Rose Balestrero's reaction, although, since it's the telling of a true story, I suppose her reaction and her subsequent predicament happened. Perhaps I was raised in the wrong era. I can not only not imagine myself reacting that way to my husband being wrongly accused and tried, I know no one for whom Rose Balestrero's behavior would emerge in any situation, let alone one like this. I wonder if that's one of the differences of women being raised in an environment that emphasizes domesticity versus my having been raised in an environment that emphasized women's full participation in society (despite the fact that this was only partially achieved).
    Wonderful production, astonishing story (which the epilogue makes clear is, in fact, a true story), well acted, well staged, well directed, well produced, well done! This may not be the scariest movie Hitchcock ever made (although I'm willing to bet that, for people who have been through similar circumstances, it might be, and, as well, it packs the extra punch of being true), but it's way up there. Bravo, Alfred!
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Henry Fonda	Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero	Vera Miles	Rose Balestrero	Anthony Quayle	Frank O'Connor	Harold J. Stone	Det. Lt. Bowers
  Charles Cooper	Det. Matthews	John Hildebrand	Tomasini	Esther Minciotti	Mama Balestrero	Doreen Lang	Ann James
  Laurinda Barrett	Constance Willis	Norma Connolly	Betty Todd	Nehemiah Persoff	Gene Conforti	Lola D'Annunzio	Olga Conforti
  Werner Klemperer	Dr. Bannay	Bonnie Franklin	Young Girl	Tuesday Weld	Giggly Girl	Harry Dean Stanton	Dept. of Corrections Employee

  
    Here's the Wikipedia write-up on the movie.
    Release Date: 1956
    Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Labels: alfred-hitchcock, drama1, film-noir1, harry-dean-stanton, henry-fonda, melodramaC, mystery1, nehemiah-persoff, psychological1, suspense1, thriller1, tuesday-weld

# posted by gail @ 13:17    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I don't know why (although, maybe it's because, on my mother's side, two of my ancestors were preachers, one of whom was a fire-and-brimstone circuit rider; another ancestor was a deaconess; a third was a PhD trained church organist as well as a music professor; I never met any of them, they were long dead when I was close enough in the world to meet them, but, you know, DNA and all ...) but I love "preacher" movies, especially the weird ones (weird preachers, that is) and this one sounds like a delightful doozy.
    This is definitely the first and likely the last movie write-up in which a car is one of the characters. Hazel's car, though, plays an important part in this story and in Hazel's life. Remember, although this story takes place after an unspecified war, car culture was clearly in its prime throughout most of the 20th century, so it should be no surprise that Hazel's car is an extension of himself, his "home", as he casually christens it, and he treats it as such. In a way, Hazel's car narrows the time frame of the story, at least in the movie. Its model speaks to the Vietnam War era, although Motes could have been returning from service in any part of the world within the time frame suggested by the car. It was an old car, remember.
    More later. Under construction.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Brad Dourif	Hazel Motes	John Huston	Grandfather	Dan Shor	Enoch Emory	Mary Nell Santacroce	Landlady
  Harry Dean Stanton	Asa Hawks	Amy Wright	Sabbath Lily Hawks	Ned Beatty	Hoover Shoates	William Hickey	Preacher
  J.L. Parker	Karl	Marvin Sapp	Raymond	Betty Lou Groover	Leora Watts	Hazel Motes' Car	1958 Fairlane 500 Town Sedan

  
    The Wikipedia write-up for this film is here.
    Release Date: 1979
    Directed by John Huston.

Labels: brad-dourif, Criterion1, harry-dean-stanton, ned-beatty, religion2, southern-gothic

# posted by gail @ 12:43    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1* *2* *3*
• 
  Commentary:  I noticed, in the mentions, one of them states that Mom always thinks she wants to see this movie, then she gets bored with it. This is no longer true. It is now one that she asked after the last time we did a "jesus movie" festival, so, this year, I purchased it.
    For me, as well, the more I watch the movie, the more I like it. I tend, now, to ignore the discontinuities, like yet another Nordic Jesus, Harvey Keitel as a red-headed Judas and Barbara Hershey's bee-stung lips. Especially since I've read the book, I tend to appreciate the story more for what it symbolizes rather than what it portrays.
    I think what Mom likes about it is the gritty realism and the startling detail, like how the crosses are made. We watched this movie again, recently, right after I ordered it and just after a couple of other Jesus movies. It seems that each movie has its own version of how crucifixion crosses are constructed, which mom noticed this time around, which led to yet another Jesus movie festival.
    The only disappointing aspect of this movie was that it promised subtitles and they may exist but they aren't listed in any of the menus so I'm not sure if listing this as a feature was an error or if there is an Easter Egg technique to cuing them. I need to check this out. It does not feature Closed Captioning. I was afraid this would be a problem for Mom but the first time we watched it after receiving it, Mom had no problem with it. This is, at any rate, primarily a visual feast for her, so I guess that's why it doesn't matter. As well, the dialogue is not mumbled or distorted by other sound tracks.
    The review linked to the title of this post is an interesting view of the movie from the perspective of how it had been (up to the point of its writing) and may continue to be viewed by the religious community. It seemed to me a relevent discussion to have about it.
    Roger Ebert reviewed the movie twice, once as a "regular" movie and once more as a Great Movie.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Willem Dafoe	Jesus	Harvey Keitel	Judas Iscariot	Barbara Hershey	Mary Magdalene	Harry Dean Stanton	Saul/Paul of Tarsus
  David Bowie	Pontius Pilate	Verna Bloom	Mary, Mother of Jesus	Andre Gregory	John the Baptist	Nehemiah Persoff	Rabbi
  Leo Marks	Voice of Satan	Tomas Arana	Lazarus	Victor Argo	Peter	Martin Scorsese	Isaiah

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1988
    Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Labels: barbara-hershey, bible-movies1, Criterion2, drama8, fantasy3, harry-dean-stanton, harvey-keitel, jesus-dvds, martin-scorsese, nehemiah-persoff, period4, religion1, shared-favorite, spiritual1, willem-dafoe

# posted by gail @ 12:24    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1*
• 
  Commentary:  This is one of my parents' historical favorites. I remember watching it in the theater but discovered, upon rewatching it (I got it for my mother's birthday this year) that I'd misremembered quite a bit of it and apparently mixed it up with another movie that featured the great prairie land grab, which isn't covered in this film. My mother, who has become much more sophisticated about the depictions of Native Americans in movies, although there is actually little in this film but N.A. hearsay, was unsettled enough by what it included to voice her objections. Otherwise, we both enjoyed the sprawl, became surprisingly involved in the stories, loved some of the individual performances (Will Geer's, in particular, as the patriach of a river pirate family and Carroll Baker's surprisingly subtle performance as a pioneer wife). I was intrigued by the Civil War sequence, as well. My mother devoured the entire movie and breathed a satisfied sigh through a satisfied smile when it was over. "Let's start that again," she said. Luckily, we had another movie which she was equally anticipating, Jeremiah Johnson. This movie will be one of those "snowy/rainy day when I'm baking" movies, I'm sure. I don't think I'll become as fascinated with it as I have The Ten Commandments, of which I often find myself needing a fix, but I don't think I'll ignore it when I'm playing it for Mom, as I do some movies.
  P.S.  There are so many stars in this movie that I almost considered only listing one per section. The point of these listings, though, is to highlight actors in whose work I might like to luxuriate on, say, a couple of back-to-back snow or monsoon days. Leaving this movie out would be a travesty to that desire.
    Thus, in order to make the listings a bit less jumbled, I'm setting them up as did Wikipedia, by section in the multiple tables below.
    The movie is narrated by Spencer Tracy.
  
  The Rivers   

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  James Stewart	Linus Rawlings	Carroll Baker	Eve Prescott Rawlings	Debbie Reynolds	Lilith Prescott van Valen	Karl Malden	Zebulon Prescott
  Agnes Moorehead	Rebecca Prescott	Walter Brennan	Col. Jeb Hawkins	Brigid Bazlen	Dora Hawkins	Lee Van Cleef	River Pirate

  
  The Plains   

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Gregory Peck	Cleve Van Valen	Robert Preston	Roger Morgan	Thelma Ritter	Agatha Clegg
  David Brian	Lilith's attorney	John Larch	Gambler Grimes	Clinton Sundberg	Hylan Seabury

  
  The Civil War   

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  George Peppard	Zeb Rawlings	Andy Devine	Cpl Peterson	Harry Morgan	Gen. Ulysses S. Grant	John Wayne	Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
  Russ Tamblyn	Confederate Deserter	Raymond Massey	President Abraham Lincoln	Ken Curtis	Cpl. Ben	Jay C. Flippen	Huggins

  
  The Railroad   

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Henry Fonda	Jethro Stuart	Richard Widmark	Mike King

  
  The Outlaws   

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Lee J. Cobb	Marshal Lou Ramsey	Eli Wallach	Charlie Gant	Carolyn Jones	Julie Rawlings
  Mickey Shaughnessy	Deputy Stover	Harry Dean Stanton	Member of Gant's Gang	Jack Lambert	Member of Gant's Gang

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1962
    Directed by Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall.

Labels: carroll-baker, dad-favorite, debbie-reynolds, eli-wallach, gregory-peck, harry-dean-stanton, henry-fonda, james-stewart, karl-malden, lee-j-cobb, mom-favorite1, spectacle2, spencer-tracy, thelma-ritter, western

# posted by gail @ 13:18    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  *1* *2*
• 
  Commentary:  Another absolute favorite. I discovered this movie playing on one of the independent film channels. The entire movie is perfectly luscious, including the music, and the photography. The acting is superb. It should be a Required Viewing film for anyone who cares for an Ancient One.
    The first time I viewed this film, I bought it lock stock and barrel. The second time, I was a little uneasy with what hit me as mawkishness in the act featuring the pregnant runaway and some of the Twin Brothers episode. On the third viewing, though, I was fine with everything. Ancient Ones are often mawkish. Sometimes thoughtfulness leads to a kind of mawkishness.
    My mother always identifies with the spirit of Alvin Straight, and loves the fact that this man was (and remains in character) an Iowan.
    It's funny, too, because I have an astute movie lover friend who absolutely hates this movie, thinks it's the most boring film he's ever seen. I guess you have to be an Iowan to appreciate it.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Richard Farnsworth	Alvin Straight	Sissy Spacek	Rose Straight	Harry Dean Stanton	Lyle Straight	Jane Galloway Heitz	Dorothy

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1999
    Directed by David Lynch.

Labels: adventure4, biography2, dramaB, harry-dean-stanton, haunting2, popcorn-and-soda5, shared-favorite, sissy-spacek

# posted by gail @ 07:18    0 comments    email......this post