The Iceman Cometh

Dead end drunks waste away their days at a New York saloon/boarding house, talking about their delusionary dreams and begging for free drinks while awaiting a visit from a travelling salesman  and fellow drunkard (Lee Marvin) to lift them out of their stupor. When he arrives however, they find a reformed and unhinged version of their former friend, now preaching to the gang to give up their "pipe dreams", much to their chagrin. John Frankenheimer's American Film Theatre production is a powerful, mournful, and comical adaptation, purportedly faithful to Eugene O'Neill's play, with great performances from old film veterans Robert Ryan, Marvin, and Frederic March surrounded by an excellent supporting cast.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Badlands

An inscrutable, disaffected James Dean modeled young man (Martin Sheen) takes up with a naive fifteen year old girl (Sissy Spacek) and murders her father (Warren Oates) before taking several more lives on a killing spree across the American West. Based on the exploits of spree killer Charles Starkweather and his teenage girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate, Terrence Malik's Badlands is beautifully shot and disconcerting with its juxtaposition of natural imagery and ostensible innocence with the horrific deeds it depicts. A laconic Sheen and an aloof Spacek provide an excellent presence in early performances, and the film is perhaps a little too distant with not enough going on or being said.

*** 1/2 out of ****

The Wicker Man

A upright, conservative police inspector (Edward Woodward) travels to a remote British Island to investigate the disappearance of an adolescent girl. There in addition to the nonchalant and hostile attitudes of the residents, he finds them fully immersed in paganism and led by a charismatic despot (Christopher Lee) as he gradually realizes he is in way over his head. From a screenplay by Anthony Shaffer, The Wicker Man is creepy, unsettling, and thrilling, a horror movie that imprints itself on the memory because it is made with meaning and a deeper purpose. Lee dominates the screen, Woodward is a strong and pitiable presence, and that ending is chilling and unforgettable.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Westworld

For $1,000 a day, the Delos Corporation's Disneyland modeled, adult geared theme park offers state of the art cyborgs, capable of passing the Turing Test, to satisfy your basest desires. Of the three parks, two city slickers (James Brolin and Richard Benjamin) elect to visit Westernworld (forgoing Romanworld and Medievalworld) when a glitch in the system causes the inhabitants to revolt and the men find themselves targeted by a relentless, advanced modeled gunslinger (Yul Brynner). Michael Chrichton's Westworld is shockingly simple, especially when compared to the overplotted, seemingly contradictory, and occasionally fascinating HBO series but benefits from its gritty, low budget look compared to the sleekness of its successor. Brynner is perfectly cast.

** 1/2 out of ****

Live and Let Die

Three MI6 agents are killed simultaneously in New York, New Orleans, and a voodoo island nation putting Bond on the tail of a highly coordinated black market organization seeking to corner the world heroin market and their well mannered leader (Yaphet Kotto) also posing as a Harlem kingpin/pimp while enslaving a high priestess fortune teller (Jane Seymour). Moore's first showing as 007, who is astonishingly even more nonchalant and coy than Sean Connery, is an amusing but totally forgettable and ponderous blaxploitation exercise with villains and set pieces that leave a lot to be desired, Seymour a beautiful Bond girl, and Paul and Linda McCartney's great theme song put to good use.

** 1/2 out of ****

Flying Circus and the Python Films

It is difficult to describe the appeal of Monty Python, the irreverent and game changing British comedic troupe, when their irreverent material is as often inane and borderline unwatchable as it is uproarious. Nevertheless the appeal of the group, which consists of members John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam and began on the stage and continued on through television and film, is undeniable and their influence on comedy is immeasurable. Here is a brief rundown of their work:

Flying Circus ran on the BBC between 1969 and 1974 with a feature film titled with the group's favorite segue And Now for Something Completely Different sandwiched midway in its run which took the odd approach of refilming some of their greatest hits without of the presence of a studio audience, the result of which is strangely compelling. The series has many regrettable sketches and running gags, and I feel I should keep my opinion on Gilliam's animations to myself in fear of being shunned, but it is absolutely worth suffering the dreck to get to their best and most outrageous routines (or you could just watch them on YouTube---my favorite bit is Palin's bumbling Spanish Inquisitor).

The gang followed up the series with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, perhaps the most widely seen of their features and what I'd personally consider the best of the lot. This silly take on the Arthurian legend has many indelibly hysterical moments and only starts to come apart at the seams towards the very end.

The controversy generated by Life of Brian, which tells the tale of the child born a manger over from Christ, catapulted the Pythons to international superstardom, but the film offers easy and obvious satire, with belabored gags, and laughs that are few and far between (though those few present are hearty). Gilliam's direction does achieve great period look (though his influence beyond that is distracting) and Palin's Pontius Pilate is unforgettable. Casting Chapman in the lead serves as a great disappointment considering what is lost in the supporting roles.

Time Bandits is not officially a Python movie but it was directed by Gilliam who cowrote the script with Palin and features cameos from both Palin and Cleese. The fantastical and occasionally creepy children's story deals with a band of dwarves in possession of a time travel map who take a neglected youth on their marauding journey through history. The film again falls apart towards the end but the actors are likable and the proceedings are worthwhile for the hilarious cameos, which also include Ralph Richardson and Sean Connery. 

Next up was Live at the Hollywood Bowl, a live show converted to film and released theatrically which consists of old sketches and new that comes off quite well leaving you pondering if their material isn't best suited for the stage. 

Meaning of Life, which takes a surreal look into each of life's stages, is a sporadically funny feature which is hurt by dark and atypically heavy dosages of cynicism and vulgarity. The short film that opens the movie is a highlight and the "Every Sperm is Sacred" number is priceless.

In 2014, the Pythons returned for a live farewell show of sorts, Monty Python Live (Mostly), which featured an array of live performances, clips old and new, and a musical revue, all with the participation of the remaining and surprisingly capable troupe members, save Graham Chapman who is roundly toasted during the performance.

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

With knowledge of a series of Boston area bank heists and staring down the barrel of an extended prison sentence following another arrest for running guns, low level criminal Eddie Coyle (Robert Mitchum) contemplates turning government witness. From a novel by George V. Higgins, Peter Yates' The Friends of Eddie Coyle is an ostensibly informed, low-key crime thriller about bottom feeders and full-time losers that becomes more engrossing as it moves along leading up to its excellent, shocking finale. Mitchum, looking weary and aged, delivers a pitch perfect performance and is surrounded by a den of finely casted good for nothings.

*** 1/2 out of ****

Sleeper

A beatnik of little or no importance (Woody Allen) is cryogenically frozen, forgotten about, and accidentally discovered 200 years in the future where he becomes involved with a ditzy woman (Diane Keaton) while playing a major role in the resistance to the oppressive police state currently in power. Sleeper is hit or miss slapstick comedy, typical to early Allen films, that still manages to function as satire.

*** out of ****

Amarcord

A series of comic vignettes on life under fascism in a small Italian villa in the 1930s. Among the best include a party parade gone awry, hi-jinx among the local hooligans at school, a mentally disturbed man who refuses to come down from a tree, and an unforgettably filmed convoy of villagers rowing out to catch the massive American bound liner and wish its passengers bon voyage. Federico Fellini's postcard to his youth and hometown is funny, nostalgic, extremely ribald, expertly crafted, and deliberately incohesive.

*** 1/2 out of ****

The Long Goodbye

While returning from the grocery store to purchase cat food, private investigator Philip Marlowe is visited by a friend asking to borrow money. Next thing the police are at his door, the friend implicated in a murder and Marlowe arrested for obstruction. Soon his friend is found murdered south of the border, he is released, and a new case involving a socialite and her alcoholic writer husband will lead him to the bottom of his friend's death and dealings. Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, written by Leigh Brackett (who helped pen The Big Sleep, another Raymond Chandler potboiler, three decades earlier) is a unique and offbeat take on the detective story featuring many asides, most welcomed or amusing, but strays too often. Gould is an appealing Marlowe and Sterling Hayden has a memorable bit as the writer.

*** out of ****

Godspell

Jesus (Victor Garber), John the Baptist (David Haskell), and a nearly complete assemblage of Apostles assume the form of flower children and reinterpret the parables of St. Matthew's Gospel while frolicking around New York City. The film adaptation of Stephen Schwartz's lively and unbounded musical, which was based on a book by John-Michael Tebelak, is about as cheesed out and phony as it gets while carrying very little resonance with only Schwartz's remarkable songs keeping the film afloat. Having recently watched a filmed version of Pippin, another Schwartz scribed musical with a similar structure, it seems like the material is best suited to the stage. Then again, I've seen Godspell put on by a few amateur troupes, and the only thing that has ever stuck is the music. Another film that came to mind while suffering through a lengthy, insufferable nonmusical interlude was Yellow Submarine, where again I found my resisting the urge to reach for the fast forward button to skip the dippy filler material and return to the fantastic songs.

F for Fake/The Hoax

In 1977, author Clifford Irving shocked the world when he announced he had access to Howard Hughes, the eccentric playboy billionaire who had kept himself in seclusion for nearly twenty years. Securing a million dollar book deal with McGraw Hill, he shocked the world once more when, following the book's publishing, he admitted it all was a sham and wound up serving over two years in prison. Before Richard Gere portrayed this ballsy fabulist in Lasse Hallstrom's 2006 film The Hoax, and even before these improbable events took place, Irving appeared cavorting with a lowly art forger who was the subject of Orson Welles' pseudodocumentary F for Fake. Welles' film, the last one the great provocateur completed as director, is a brilliant assemblage, almost too much to follow at times, and is a whole lot of fun (especially a spurious bit involving Welles' mistress seducing Pablo Picasso) to watch the interactions of these well matched charlatans, Welles included. The Hoax mostly tells Irving's wild story well, but the picture lacks air and though Gere is enjoyable to watch and suited to playing a wily character always thinking on his toes, supporting players Alfred Molina and Marcia Gay Hardin hardly add anything to the production.

Clifford Irving in F for Fake

The Last Detail

Two career Navy officers (Jack Nicholson, Otis Young) receive orders to escort a young boatman (Randy Quaid) from Norfolk, Virginia to the brig in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to serve an eight year sentence. His crime: stealing forty dollars from the chapel's poor box. With layovers in New York City and Boston, the two veterans seize the opportunity to show the kid a good time while reflecting on the inhibitions of their own freedoms. Hal Ashby's The Last Detail is a funny and thought provoking road comedy thanks both to an insightful and foulmouthed screenplay by Robert Towne (though it doesn't come off as naturalistic as it intends) and three remarkable performances depicting characters with whom you either emulate or empathize.

Don't Look Now

An architect (Donald Sutherland) accepts a restoration job in Venice and travels with his wife (Julie Christie), mostly to recover emotionally following the drowning death of their daughter. Amidst the presence of a serial killer stalking the ancient city, the couple witnesses several strange occurrences including an encounter with two creepy old psychic women who bear ominous signs of their doom. Based on a story by Daphne du Maurier, whose works inspired several well known Hitchcock films (Rebecca, The Birds), Don't Look Now is a fairly standard horror movie crafted at the highest level by director Nicolas Roeg. His film is impeccably photographed and edited, including a notorious, kinetic sex scene between Christie and Sutherland, who are also both excellent in their roles. I think I was expecting something more from this movie. I had been looking forward to seeing this highly acclaimed film as a hopeful departure from the dreck that passes as horror material in today's cinema, but its story (and I want to reemphasize that that's all I'm referring too) does not really elevate it at all. That being said, I can't imagine the picture being done any better and I suspect I would enjoy it more upon a  subsequent viewing.

Mean Streets

Charlie (Harvey Keitel) is a guilt ridden youth poised to inherit a restaurant from his uncle's protection racket and shamed by his family for his involvement with an epileptic girl he is in love with. He carouses Little Italy with his friends, other low-rent, bottom level gangsters, and fights for the life of Johnny Boy (Robert De Niro), his out of control boyhood pal whose dangerous antics place him more and more beyond redemption. Mean Streets was Martin Scorsese's breakthrough film, a semi-autobiographical sequel of sorts to his debut Who's That Knocking at My Door, and it is every bit as worthy as any of his subsequent masterpieces. Filmed in a world he is intimately familiar with, the film has an independent, impromptu feel although it is clearly the result of careful preparation (watch the extraordinary barroom brawl sequence for a prime example from this). The film, with the simultaneous release of Bang the Drum Slowly also marked the introduction of De Niro, who is memorably volatile here, but the film also features a remarkable lead performance from Keitel, which seems to get surprisingly overlooked during discussions of the movie.

Bang the Drum Slowly

During spring training, while in the middle of a contract dispute, the star pitcher (Michael Moriarty) of the fictitious New York Mammoths (the NY Giants in real life) takes a rookie, childlike catcher (Robert De Niro) under his wing after learning exclusively that he is dying of Hodgkin's Disease. Based on the 1956 novel by Mark Harris, John D. Hancock's "Bang the Drum Slowly" is a funny, deeply felt film, invested with a humanity that so many other disease movies lack. It was also the film that, when released alongside 'Mean Streets", shot De Niro to stardom. In addition to De Niro, who is excellent, he is joined by a fine cast which is highlighted by Vincent Gardenia as the cantankerous coach and Moriarty who is quite good in the leading role.

Papillon

Based on an incredible story whose veracity has been called into question, "Papillon" tells the story of Henri Charriere (Steve McQueen), a French thug convicted of murdering a pimp and sent to Devil's Island. There he befriends a shifty, resourceful inmate (Dustin Hoffman) and begins his dire efforts to become the first escapee of the notorious penal colony. Franklin J. Schaffner's film, with a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, is overlong, but very good in parts, and demonstrates the evident star power of McQueen. Hoffman makes some irritating acting choices as his screen partner.

Touki Bouki

A ranch hand and a college student engage in petty thievery in an attempt to escape their dismal, impoverished lives in Senegal and make for a new beginning in France. Djibril Diop Mambety's film meshes several styles, genres, and forms and creates a sporadically bizarre and definitely unique trip, exploitative exercise in realism. Magaye and Mareme Niang are both excellent in the lead roles and the De Gaulle Memorial parade sequence is a particular standout.

Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain's indefatigably mischievous and timeless hero (played by a well cast Johnny Whitaker) receives musical treatment in this film where he tricks his fellow schoolmates into whitewashing Aunt Polly's (Celeste Holm) picket fence, romances Becky Thatcher (Jodie Foster), saves a kindly drunk (Warren Oates) from the gallows, and traverses the Mississippi and nearby Jackson Island with his good friend, and scourge of the community, Huck Finn (Jeff East). "Tom Sawyer" is a pretty good rendition of Twain's classic children's novel, which isn't faithful so much to the plotting as it is to the spirit of the story. The songs are unmemorable, but the child actors are well cast, and the adults are superb (esp. Oates and Holm) which is the key for these kinds of film. The result is a diverting film which will please Twain fans (though not purists) and which, if nothing else, captures the essence of his tale.

The Spirit of the Beehive

On the Castilian Planes in 1940, a group of children mob the local distribution truck as it delivers the latest film to town: a print of James Whale's "Frankenstein". After the screening, a mesmerized little girl (Ana Torrent), who is also dealing with her emotionally distant parents (Fernando Fernan Gomez and Teresa Gimpera), listens to her sister's (Isabel Telleria) explanations of the movie monster being a spirit, and soon sets off to the nearby mountainside to seek out the beast. "The Spirit of the Beehive" is a sumptuous work detailing a story of childhood longing set in the early day's of Franco's takeover. Victor Erice's film moves at its own pace, features a wonderful performance from young Torrent, and is filmed on one of the most gorgeous color palettes ever presented on the big screen.