Wednesday, May 24, 2023
Once Upon a Time in the West
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Claudia Cardinale Jill McBain Henry Fonda Frank Jason Robards Manuel "Cheyenne" Gutiérrez Charles Bronson Harmonica Gabriele Ferzetti Mr. Morton Paolo Stoppa Sam the Coachman Marco Zuanelli Wobbles Keenan Wynn Flagstone Sheriff Frank Wolff Brett McBain Lionel Stander The Barman Woody Strode Stony 1st Gunman Jack Elam Snaky 2nd Gunman Al Mulock Knuckles 3rd Gunman Enzo Santaniello Timmy McBain Simonetta Santaniello Maureen McBain Stefano Imparato Patrick McBain
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1968
Directed by Sergio Leone.
Labels: henry-fonda, jason-robards-jr, spaghetti-western
Monday, November 07, 2022
12 Angry Men
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Martin Balsam Juror 1 Foreman John Fiedler Juror 2 Lee J. Cobb Juror 3 E. G. Marshall Juror 4 Henry Fonda Juror 8 Davis Jack Klugman Juror 5 Jack Warden Juror 7 Joseph Sweeney Juror 9 McCardle
Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his Great Movies.
As I write this (November 13, 2022), as I'm attaching a review write-up link to the title of this post, I'm noticing that in 2009 Nikita Mikhalkov released a Russian version of this film, named, simply, 12. I'm noticing, as well, that the digital version of the movie can be rented and bought over at Amazon. A used hard copy is also available for purchase there, at the moment. Roger Ebert not only took note of this remake, but reviewed it, giving it 3 and a half starts, and offered an interesting comparison of the two films. His review is attached to the second link in this paragraph.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the U.S. film. This link is to the Wikipedia write-up of the 2007 Russian production of this story, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
Release Date: 1957
Directed by Sidney Lumet.
Labels: courtroom, Criterion4, henry-fonda, jack-warden, lee-j-cobb, legal
Sunday, June 06, 2021
The Best Man
- Commentary: This movie was originally listed in the post Movies I've Seen, Do Not Own but Can't Forget. Now I own it. First, let me append what I wrote when I was wishing to add this movie to my collection:
Temporarily "Out of Stock" and pricey, as of this writing on 5/8/2021.
Not Available for check out through local library system.
I have this thing for politically realistic stories and this is one of the most politically realistic plays/movies in existence. Bravo to Gore Vidal. Bravo to Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson. The ending is clearly too idealistic to play out in real political life, at this time, anyway, and at almost any previous time, but I think of this movie during every election season (which, unfortunately, is all the time, in the U.S., now) and wonder, does anyone remember this movie? Have any of the hopefuls watched it? Does it, yet and finally, mean anything positive to any one of them? Some day I hope to be able to answer, unequivocally, yes.
There. That's done. More later.
This film included scads of actors playing bit, often named, parts. It is, after all, a film about a presidential convention and reflects the enormity of people and the bedlam of such an event. My Actor/Role table reflects only those actors who are likely to appear in another film in my collection.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Henry Fonda William Russell Cliff Robertson Joe Cantwell Edie Adams Mabel Cantwell Margaret Leighton Alice Russell Shelley Berman Sheldon Bascomb Lee Tracy Art Hockstader Ann Sothern Sue Ellen Gamadge Gene Raymond Don Cantwell Kevin McCarthy Dick Jensen John Henry Faulk Governor T.T. Claypoole Gore Vidal Senator at Convention Mahalia Jackson Herself
Here's The Wikipedia write-up on this movie.
Release Date: 1964
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
Labels: henry-fonda, political5, presidential
Saturday, May 22, 2021
The Wrong Man
- 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
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
How the West Was Won
- 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
