The Right Stuff

The walls of a watering hole at a Californian airbase that attracts the nation's best test pilots are adorned with the photos of the men who lost their lives seeking glory in the sky. Visiting the bar are government men seeking airmen to break the sound barrier, although their offers are roundly rejected, being too low for such a hazardous proposition. Taking them up is the stoic war hero Chuck Yeager (Sam Shepard) who sets the record in dazzling fashion but finds himself left in the dust when, in an effort to keep up with the Russians, the U.S. seeks out flyboys with the titular panache to lead the Mercury program as the country's first astronauts. Adapted for the screen by Philip Kaufman from Tom Wolfe's nonfiction novel, The Right Stuff is perhaps one of the funnest (and funniest) epics ever conceived. With the incredible contrast between Shepard's foreboding, almost mystical desert scenes, the jaunty antics of the training and publicity sequences of the Mercury crew, and the harrowing flight scenes, it is a supreme form of storytelling consisting of countless memorable scenes (my favorite being the incredibly moving standoff between LBJ and Mrs. John Glenn). Shepherd stands at the film's center in an assured, unforgettable performance and those comprising the Mercury squad, including Ed Harris as John Glenn, and Dennis Quaid and Fred Ward in particularly funny roles, are also tremendous.

**** out of ****

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978)

Ken McCarthy, star of the original film, cameoing here in the remake

Foreign invaders manifested in plant form begin to duplicate the human body as soon as the host enters a sleep state, eradicating the original frame and forming a race of emotionless drones. In Don Siegel's original 1956 version, which was concocted as an allegory in response to anti-communist fervor, Kevin McCarthy stars as a small town physician who begins to piece together these mysterious ongoings. When the film was remade by Philip Kaufman in 1978, Donald Sutherland took over the lead playing a San Francisco health inspector in a similar predicament. Both films are intense and wonderfully executed and also function well on their own terms. Siegel's original is a silly, sci-fi 50s B movie played straight and containing great photography, some genuine scares, and a memorable final scene. Kaufman's is a skillful update benefitting from his filmmaking acumen, some new twists on the material  and an outstanding performance from Sutherland.

Hemingway & Gellhorn

After a spectacular fishing expedition and the grandiose ceremony following at Sloppy Joe's Bar in Key West, Ernest Hemingway is introduced to the eager journalist Martha Gellhorn. Both are taken by the plight of the loyalists fighting Franco's fascist in the Spanish Civil War, so they both head out for Madrid where they cover the conflict on the front lines and embark on a stormy and passionate love affair. "Hemingway & Gellhorn" is an expansive HBO movie from director Philip Kaufman that plays like a cacophony of his two best works: the epic and often humorous tones found in "The Right Stuff" and the steamy and sensuous masterial found in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" With superb performances from Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, the filmmakers not only capture the larger than life, live it to the fullest essence of Hemingway but also that of the lesser known Gellhorn who determines to blaze her own trail and, as she puts it, refuses to be a footnote in someone else's life. "Hemingway and Gellhorn" is a richly developed, multi-faceted entertainment that greatly captures two lives, and the kind of film that would have until recently been thought of impossible to be made for television.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

During the Prague Spring of 1968 with the communist Russians invading and the Czechoslovakian people asserting their independence, a Czech doctor (Daniel Day-Lewis) seems only concerned with sex. Of all his women, he claims that only one (Lena Olin) truly understands him. While on business he meets a young waitress (Juliette Binoche) and the two marry while he keeps up his affairs although she desires monogomy. Soon however, the two are thrust into political turmoil and forced to flee the country, which is when their love is truly allowed to blossom. Directed by Philip Kaufman from a major novel by Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being is a leisurely paced and extremely erotic movie which Kauffman allows to take its time and flesh out, while getting to the heart of the story which may not appear to be what it is at first. In one of Day-Lewis's first starring roles, he shines as a callow man who soon comes to terms with the woman he loves. Olin and Binoche are wonderful as well in challenging roles. The Unbearable Lightness of Being is not for all film goers, but for those who give it a shot, they will find a beautifully realized love story where they weren't expecting one.