nuntukamen Reviews

Sudden Manhattan (1996)

A female Rob Reiner

[7/10 · 9 December 2012]

This movie was a little slow in getting to used to, very funny, but spaced zany humor, but by the time it got to the last scene with The Bearded Man in his apartment, I was falling on the floor. A serial killer of 28 people and a large Great Dane, not a cute little dog, The Bearded Man scenes are worthy of any young or early Reiner-Allen-Brooks (Mel or Albert) effort I've seen. Never to be confused with an academy award level film, it nonetheless is definitely worth a watch, and Adrienne Shelley as the actress/writer/director hits a home run and not just a triple. One of my favorite exchanges in the film is her boyfriend coming across her in disguise, as she is across the street from where she has witness two murders. "What are you doing here?" he asks. "I'm investigating," she replies. "Shouldn't you leave that to the police?" he responds. "This is New York City, Adam; you know we don't have any real police." A very well written effort by a true comedic talent.

I Led 3 Lives (1953–1956)

One of the great early television comedies (unintentional)

[1/10 · 4 December 2012]

I Led Three Lives was shown in Akron, Ohio, on now defunct WAKR channel 49 as reruns in the late 70's-early 80's, and thank goodness for it. I remember gathering around the television at my father's insistence as a family, as if the news were coming on, during its original broadcasting. Don't believe a word of the nonsense posted here that this was more of a documentary and true story premise. Yes, this kind of paranoia reigned supreme, but Senator Joe McCarthy was and will always be a proved fraud, the HUAC Hearings were a national disgrace, and whatever the KGB spent on agents here, and no matter the intent, it was all absurdly harmless. pc-privconfounder has the only realistic review here, and just as an aside, one I personally remember watching was about the lead character, Herbert Philbrick, noticing what appeared to be single men buying large carts of groceries, reporting this to his FBI connection, and then discovering that commies were actually buying more groceries than they could eat! Why? Because they were deliberately driving the prices up, causing inflation. Common sense would tell anyone the KGB would need millions of shoppers every week buying hundreds of carts full of groceries each (that they threw away into a nearby dumpster in the show) to actually have any noticeable result like claimed, but that didn't stop many millions (some posting here) from truly believing inflation and higher milk and bread costs were a commie plot to disrupt normalcy in the United States. Yeah, right, sure, sure; that's the ticket. Yeah. Well, it was the '50's; what else can one say? Its not about liberal or conservative viewpoints; its about perception and intelligence. This was one of the funniest unintentionally-so shows ever created, and SHOULD be watched by every American just to see what truly was paralyzing intelligent growth in America for several decades. Unfortunately, the newest suspicion involving the show is that it also unintentionally promotes marijuana use. Watch it, and see if you don't light up for a more profound appreciation of its hilarious plot lines.

Justified (2010–2015)

If I have to pull I'll kill you.

[10/10 · 22 June 2011]

Just to justify this review, a few whining sour pusses inspired it. They didn't like the characters, they thought the accents horrible, and Walter Goggins needed to go, in their opinion, not to mention the pace for them was agonizingly slow. Really? I will use that framework to bolster my own thoughts. Slooow pace? Absurd. What they mean is that something isn't blowing up every ten seconds. The pace is a written drawl that is typical of where the setting, Harlan County, is, and serves to enhance the characters in unspoken ways. Wayne Goggins and Tim Olyphant are terrific, and while they lapse out of accent periodically, both actors have replicated the Kentucky slur down to a T. Especially Wayne Goggins has caught a defining core of that Harlan County accent perfectly, and his character, Boyd Crowder, is a living embodiment of legendary Kentucky badmen, right down to the moonshine and "ovah yondah thur" direction. Yes, some things are not in a 100% totally realistic vein. Why should they be? Its television, not a documentary. Tim Olyphant's character, Raylan Givens, could have walked out of any doorway from Whitley County to any high school in Harlan County and be accurately portrayed as the Marshal he becomes. Astounding character development and intricate character accuracy. He and Goggins both deserve Emmy Awards. The plots are tight and taut and the dialogue flavored with humor and common sense. Anyone disliking this series is verifiable blind, deaf, and, yes, the D-word. Television needs this style programming to demonstrate a maturity of creative expression unavailable just a few years ago. Worth watching twice, and even a third time...and that's true entertainment, folks. Highly,highly recommended.

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

Best Aviator Flick Ever Made

[10/10 · 28 July 2007]

How can this film barely have more than a single page of comments? Redford in his youthful heyday, following the success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Susan Sarandon as the female lead, and yet, apparently, so few have ever seen this that less than two pages covers comments. Major urging: see this film.

Extremely well written and directed, even better acting, all stunts by human beings and not computers, and beautifully photographed. The only weakness is that due to audience availability, this film is hard to find on DVD, even at Blockbuster. Similar to The Hill, absolutely the best acting performance by Sean Connery, but try and see it. Major hint to those who have missed Waldo Pepper: never, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, attempt the double loop, especially in a plane. Today, July 28, 2007, we had two crashes at the Wisconsin and Ohio Air Shows. Death isn't just in the movies when doing stunts in a plane.

Places in the Heart (1984)

One of the best American films

[10/10 · 24 July 2007]

POSSIBLE SPOILER This film is extraordinary simply because it is outstandingly written, directed and acted. During the closing scene, which perplexes some, I literally gasped out loud the first time that I saw it in a theater. At the time, I was writing reviews for an art/music magazine, and the experience was totally unexpected. I went five consecutive nights and took a different friend, parent, or family member each night. We discussed those closing images for months.

Every actor excels in accomplishment, even the minor ones, such as Lane Smith as the banker, Jay Patterson as Sheriff Royce Spaulding, and especially Ray Baker as W.E. Simmons, the ever-righteous and arrogant Klan member. These people are as memorable as those we meet and get to know in our own lives, and they stay with us through our lifetimes, just like Charles Foster kane, Elwood P. Dowd, and Scarlett O'Hara, and so many, many important others from the celluloid world. If they handed out Academy Awards for minor roles (why don't they; they give everyone else one?) all three of these actors would have won. Lindsay Crouse was nominated for Best Supporting actress, Sally Fields won Best Actress, and Robert Benton took the prize for Best Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Costume Design, Best Director, and the Best Picture of the Year.

The scene of Edna Spaulding negotiating a price for her cotton with W.E. Simmons, the Klansman, who thinks he will bulldoze the poor widow for some extra profit, is a treasure all in and of itself.

The affair, also perplexing and out of place for many commentators, is essential; it truly cements in the viewers eye (and before the eye of the storm crashes in)how the pressure of small town life is closing in around the throat of Amy Madigan's character, Viola Kelsey, a pressure mostly created by her own choices. Her lover, Wayne Lomax (Ed Harris), husband to Edna Spaulding's (Sally Fields) sister (Lindsay Crouse), is just as frustrated, but far more self-destructing and willing to risk it all for what amounts to nothing, even as he dreams about it being more. The film shows the shedding of values and commitments for a little hankypanky that is just as destructive realistically as the tornado or the Klan. Maybe more so, which I think was the point of Benton's adding it as a subplot. Viola may blame the storm for her obsessive desire to get out of town, but the male characters and the audience know better.

Each character, such as John Malkovich's obsession with his precious records, has a special something they prize and hold onto, but eventually find valueless in the process of surviving with those around them. Danny Glover's Moze, though, is forced by the Klan to give up the most richly given gift in the movie; friendship and the comfort of a home that he loves, because he has been spiritually loved there.

The lethal tornado, outside of themselves and their decisions, is the only real monster in the lives of these good and hardworking Americans. The Depression is just a condition they live with. The bank and the banker (Lane Smith) make life tough while meaning to be helpful, but Edna Spaulding's determination is stronger than a vault of steel. Mother Nature provides the tornado, and the Klan provides the bad guy. Willy, the boy who shoots the sheriff, is actually his friend, or as much of one that a young black person could have been to a white sheriff in 1935 Texas. When he reappears in the communion scene that ends the film, so much is implied by his presence, and that of the deceased husband, that the true value of our lives and the things we share becomes explicit without a single word being said about it. My initial gasp was genuine, audible, and shocking to myself. This film is an artistic achievement rarely matched, and is on a personal list of the top 20 American films ever made. As stated, like any great film, the characters remain with you just like real people you have actually known. There isn't a weak moment of writing or acting in the entire film.

The Postman (1997)

Critics be damned, and they really need to be

[10/10 · 24 July 2007]

The reviews posted here have restored my faith--kind of like the film--in humanity. I found this movie moving, extremely well done, funny and entertaining, but due to the pro reviews I had read, I expected it to be lambasted here. Anyone wanting a great evening watching an intellectually provocative film should take this one in. Many, many other posters have written why, so there is no point in being redundant. I join their ranks, and applaud those wise enough to see it without falling for the critic's review trap. All movie critics are Holnists, plain and simple, and I issue the challenge of Rule Seven for leadership of the clan, ye who write and ye who whine.

Pulaski: The TV Detective (1987)

Best darn TV Detective series ever with the name Pulaski in it!!!!!

[10/10 · 17 August 2006]

It appears that no one caught the U.S. cable network rerun of this fifteen or so years ago. I believe it was on Lifetime, and I wish they would run it again so this time everyone could record it. The basic premise is that an American actor, a womanizing drunk, sort of an updated Nick Charles, minus some of the upper crust class, plays Pulaski, the TV Detective, on British television. The only problem is that the actor is hung over or drunk most of the time when he's needed as Pulaski. David Andrews stars as actor Larry Summers, who plays an ex-priest of the highest character and concern for his fellow man, who has given up the cloth to become a first rate private eye. In the detective show about the detective show, a fan of Pulaski turns up every week with some outrageously difficult case, and Summers explains he is only an actor and wants nothing to do with the problem, and then through twists and circumstance, he nonetheless not only gets knee deep in the case, but, relying on the role he has every week, actually solves the case. This is made possible especially because his greatest fans are the crooks and culprits themselves, who absolutely believe Summers/Pulaski is the greatest and bravest, the smartest and wisest. A few shows into the only season it appeared (1987) they added a recurring British Inspector who played the straight man for Pulaski and his drunken investigations, and the show really gained with this additional character. A running gag was a huge Magnum, just like Dirty Harry's, that criminals were convinced Summers was an expert with, a dead on shot, and he uses this prop from the TV show to extricate himself and Briggsey (his weekly female sidekick and companion) and the Inspector out of several jams. The friends we invited over loved the show, and we all thought we were watching a new cult classic that was right up there with The Avengers. Apparently, we were the only people in America watching, and its a shame this witty British series stalled out somewhere over the Atlantic. Just like Amelia Earhart, no one seems to know what ever happened to Pulaski.

Harvey (1950)

one of our best performances on film

[10/10 · 1 June 2006]

This is truly an American classic, and every actor performs perfectly, but I have noticed many are calling James Stewart our greatest film actor ever over this and several other terrific films he starred in. How about Tom Joad in Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda? And Burt Lancaster's Elmer Gantry was a film ideally suited to celebrate every element of Lancaster's usually over-the-top explosions of acting energy. Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear could give you nightmares for years. There is a wagon load full to discuss. I am not so certain Stewart is such a great actor, a la Olivier, as he is a great performer, doing Jimmy Stewart with the same great manner in which John Wayne entertained us perpetually as John Wayne. Elwood P. Dowd could be George Bailey after a seven year old experience that had altered his world, or George Bailey could be a young man running for Congress under the name of Smith. It is this Jimmy Stewart essence of a good, intelligent, and generally kind man that makes his role of Shep Henderson in Bell, Book, and Candle (another great classic with terrific performances all around) so doggone funny. In Rear Window and Vertigo it is the basis for his predicament in each film. Nothing wrong with that, because genuine entertainment, something we want to talk about to others, is really what its all about. Like Marlon Brando being perpetually pummeled in his films (did his agent demand these scenes? No one gets beaten like Marlon in film after film), Jimmy Stewart's Good Every Man has tragedy and magically mysterious things befall him, sometimes comically, or, like in Friendly Persuasion, tragic intervention crashes into his otherwise peaceful life. But the Jimmy Stewart good guy wins out in the end just because of the reasoning that who he essentially is simply deserves a good ending.

Geographically, this film is pure Ohio, small town America where absolutely everyone has their personal quirks and eccentricities which exceeds that of the person they are attempting to commit to a mental institution. And for all those writing here at IMDb who keep referring to Elwood as an alcoholic: don't you get it? That's what the folks within the film who have misjudged him think. He isn't drunk ever, and only drinks once in the film. Dowd drinks to socialize with Harvey and their friends, and the list of 10 things that demonstrate alcoholism don't get near Dowd's world (missed work, blackouts, arguments with family and friends, drinking causing financial difficulties, etc). Dr. Chumley's the latent drunk. The bar is his office and Harvey's, too, and here, have a card, but don't call him at that number, that's the old one; better to call him at this one.

Z (1969)

stunning political drama

[10/10 · 21 May 2005]

Having seen this at the Art Theatre in Akron, Ohio, upon its first American release, this film was a forcefully stunning, face slapping wake up call to keep a vigilant eye on most politicians because they are controlled only by the constraints we present and confine them with. Grown men left the theater with tears pouring down their cheeks not only because of the great performances and story, but because these were the Nixon years, and the film made us realize we were only a pen stroke away from the horror of losing freedom and democracy here in the United States. No country is safe, and it could be argued in areas of Florida today that, even though we preserved our nation and eliminated Nixon, it was a Pyrhic victory, a temporary victory, and our democracy and how it is supposed to ethically work was left disheveled and browbeaten in the end, anyway. One thing is for certain; the rats are in the cupboard now. And this film hits all the right buttons; great music, acting, an avant garde documentary style of filming that was sensational in its time and still is good today, but so many people have copied it, it seems to lack originality since we are so accepting now of something that was novel at the time...but this is the real thing that started it all. A film that should be in everyone's home and shown to every civic class in America.

De Düva: The Dove (1968)

Best Short Film Ever

[10/10 · 20 May 2005]

This film first smashed its way into film goers mass consciousness in the late Sixties when it was tagged unannounced into art houses all over the country. I caught it at the Art Theatre in Akron, Ohio, as a prelude to the main feature, Putney Swope(also recommended for anyone who liked this). Or maybe it preceded Greetings, same location with direction by Brian De Palma and starring Robert Deniro in their first movie, another highly recommended film of frivolous fun. At any rate, it had to be one of the two back in those Ripple years. The Dove even has a young Madaline Kahn and set the stage for the advent of Mel Brooks and Woody Allen to entertain us with feature length nonsense that makes a sabered point. If you think Bill and Ted's wrestling with Death was original and funny, here, in fact, is where the entire battle gestated from. No point outlining the plot and purpose, others have done so very well here, but I do have to urge anyone and everyone to catch this under whatever opportunities they have. Beyond Classic.

The Entertainer (1960)

some folks should just stick to Disney

[10/10 · 14 May 2005]

One of the best British films of the sixties, The Entertainer was written as an allegory of Britain's fall from grace by the leading fist-shaker of England's band of Angry Young Men who stormed the London stage with revolutionary new ideas and content, John Osborne. While Look Back In Anger is a more decorated play, this film adaption by Osborne and Nigel Kneale carried the flag of teeth-crunching kicks that the gang of young playwrights hoped to startle the daylights out of England with. Reading the other viewer comments, it is obvious most folks were looking for a Disney story with a Shakespearean performance by Lawrence Olivier. A happier ending? Great Britain forgot to supply one, Andy up there in the mountains somewhere, and the seedy digs were meant to be depressingly seedy, as was the dwindling talent of the family, and its reliance in the end on the grand old name and the grand old accomplishments of the past, as Archie Rice gave his best in replacing his revered father, Billy. Note his offkey performance in singing early on and then the eloquent on key final rendition of "Why Should I Care" as the final performance ends not with a curtain call, but with the hook, as the theater management (those other nations running the world today) angrily demand that Archie get off the stage because he is through, finished, washed up, fired, kaputsky, so long and goodbye. From the direction of Tony Richardson to the selection of grand old places along the sea that Britain once ruled with absolute certainty, everything and every moment of this film are topnotch. The aforementioned slandered scene with Roger Livesey as the Grandfather, Billy Rice, and Brenda de Banzie as Phoebe Rice, involving a misunderstanding over a piece of cake, is one of the most moving and depressingly realistic family arguments ever written. It may not be Olivier's greatest performance ever, but for certain it is the best one ever filmed. It also features the film debut of two actors who would establish themselves among the very best performers Great Britain has offered us, Alan Bates and Albert Finney, along with the introduction of Joan Plowright. As for the unkind comment about Olivier marrying Joan Plowright and this somehow having an ironic similarity to the theme of Archie and his young women; they married in 1961 and REMAINED together until Olivier's death in 1989, which is completely the opposite of the point made in the story. Well anyone is allowed to be in error, but this great film has to rank with our own country's Night of the Hunter as one of the most misunderstood films of all time. Don't miss it,ever, and MGM Vintage Classics has issued an excellent DVD edition.

Splendor in the Grass (1961)

Who Was The Real Nut?

[10/10 · 7 May 2005]

The theme of this great film is that life is what happens while we are making other plans (John Lennon quote) and that both characters felt a wish for a happier ending, but so many other incidental elements had built a wall, one that became so high between them, that they were unable to take it over the top together. If you just think about the friends and lovers from high school in nearly all of our lives, where are they now? The characters within our lives come and go, often beyond the control of the individuals, things just happen, and are rarely what we expect. Best friends, profoundly meaningful loves, those who alter who we are and how we think and interact with others; who thinks we will know them forever? Every kid. Who knows better? Everyone who has been out of school for ten years or more. Of course, I would add that anyone letting a beautiful being like Deanie, well, okay, Natalie Wood, slip out of their life has to be the real nut in the story; Bud, you dumb jock, you should be stuck in poverty with some pregnant, slovenly and undeserving woman with kids running around dirty and loud...oops, I guess he was...way to sucker punch the creep, Inge, with that terrifically haunting, unhappy and unfulfilled ending...let's see how THOSE lambs bound as to the tabors sound, ye that pipe and ye that play.

And, oh yeah, always drink plenty of milk.

Ganjasaurus Rex (1987 Video)

greatest worst movie in film history

[10/10 · 31 March 2005]

Several years ago while visiting in Atlanta, GA, I was browsing the BookNook at Clairemont and Buford and in their used VHS movie section I spotted the title Ganjasaurus Rex. It looked really bottom-barrel terrible so I bought it, figuring my friends would have a ball watching this as one of the worst films ever produced. It is so terrific as a bad film that you can get stoned just watching it. The basic concept is that a pot farmer in the remote West Coast stumbles across an ancient marijuana seed the size of a Volkswagon and decides to plant it. The plant is the size of a sequoia tree, and it's aroma awakens the sleeping Ganjasaurus Rex that feeds on it. The monster is an actual toy Godzilla with an always visible hand causing movement, and that should be a key reference to the special effects, the acting, and the plot line. Of course, the poor monster is misunderstood by authorities, who want to kill it before it might cause harm to our modern civilization. The film is right up there with the original Little Shop of Horrors and J-Men Forever as an intentionally horrible movie so bad that it becomes entertaining and hilarious for the late night stoner crowd and/or Ed Wood fans. I have rated this a 10 because it really is the best worst movie ever "filmed" (it is a tape done on a VHS camcorder) that has pot as the subject matter, and I rate it right below the above mentioned films, along with Repo Man and Buckaroo Banzai as a marvelous way to irresponsibly fritter your life away as the world burns (okay, okay, Blue Light Irregulars, I confess to agreeing that Buckaroo is not just a stoner flick, and some day the world will thank the film for exposing the World Crime League and bringing its existence to the public's attention so the Banzai Institute could eliminate it with the help of all of crime fighting humanity). A negative 10 would really be more accurate. I salute all of the unheralded actors and folks responsible for this rare and hard-to-believe-anyone-bothered-to-do-it treasure of marijuana related lore. Incredibly, the original soundtrack is pretty good. Not recommended for non-stoners as watching it might mysteriously and mystically cause them to start. I used to be straight, man, and only watched truly good films, but now look...

Enchanted April (1991)

movies like they used to make them

[10/10 · 12 March 2005]

If anyone is wondering why no one makes movies like they used to, with conversation, character and a simple theme of friendship struggling to evolve into something new, better and different, those folks need to take in this film and see top notch writing, directing, and acting that melds into a wonderful evening of observation on how things used to be in Italy and England. Other days, other times funneled into a terrific comedy of entertainment, made in 1992 with Alfred Molina, Joan Plowright, Polly Walker, Josie Lawrence, Jim Broadbent, Miranda Richardson, and Michael Kitchens in the major roles. Under the brush stroke direction of Mike Newell, these actors accomplish vividly memorable performances that are photographed with a sublimely subtle painter's eye. Reminiscent of the theatrical bedroom farce of the turn of the century, this film might be called a friendship farce that becomes a worthwhile experience in the growth of the romantic nature within each character, and the viewer, too. An artistic telegram on the importance of caring about those around us.

The Object of Beauty (1991)

rare gem overlooked as much as statue

[10/10 · 18 December 2004]

It is difficult for me to comprehend why there is only one viewer comment for this film, or why it is rated under a six. If an excellent film is about entertainment, intelligence, great acting and a terrific story with a treasury of clever humor that expounds the deeper meaning of a good relationship between a man and a woman over wealth and selfishly egotistical success, then this is a standout film that achieves a richness of artistic accomplishment that very few films do. No one truly sees the beauty of the bronze statue except the lowly and weathered housekeeper, a financially struggling mute, unable to express the profound feelings that are moving within her in words, but Rudi Davies sure gets it across with her expression and eyes. I had to drive 30 miles to the Cedar Lee Theater, Cleveland's only real art house, during it's original release, but after the film was over I realized it would have been worthwhile if I would have had to walk...some films are just that special

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

anyone who didn't like this film doesn't understand art

[10/10 · 1 December 2004]

The most amazing element of this film at IMDb.com is the overwhelming international location from viewer comment response, which means on a human level, this film really hits home, and Michael Mann was obviously swinging for the fences. It is the second widely acclaimed film released--not counting musicals, of course--where the score is as important as the actors, cinematic photography, characters or the story (2001: A Space Odyssey is the first). Set in the West of its historical time period (Hawkeye's isolationist view was that his dad, his bro and he were heading to "kan-tucky" to escape the encroaching modern civilization since you couldn't get any bare bones farther west than that in the human knowledge of the day), this is the first real chase story in literature and Mann makes it so on screen, it starts with them running and finishes with them running; everyone is pursuing something, and few reach their destination without death and violence interrupting their personal chase. The photography belongs in a museum, the music is a symphonic magnet, the acting and sparsely spoken words fit like little pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to create an immaculately magnificent picture. This is right up there with Kubrich's Barry Lyndon as the best film ever photographed for popular release. A solid -10- Must See ...if you watch this, Dances With Wolves, then The Unforgiven and The Wild Bunch, you will have seen a staggering panoramic view of western genre that covers the entire period. As a trivial sidelight, Russell Means(as Chingachkook), who is a true American Indian, and was at the last battle with FBI and government agents at Wounded Knee, once was hired in Ohio during the Bicentennial Celebration, along with Native American buddies of his, to play Indians greeting the Mayflower crew as they landed. As the ship drew close they shot arrows at the landing party and refused to let them ashore (now THAT'S a true revolutionary with the courage and the intelligence to make a point with some great humor--although the folks that hired him in Cleveland weren't laughing much then) so its only appropriate that the moving and eloquent closing speech along the North Carolina skyline at sunset is his.

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Citizen Kane Exposed By Gantry

[30 November 2004]

well, after reading the other comments offered on this i have finally realized most of these writers must be students with an assignment to write reviews, instead of being told to take American Literature as a prerequisite...and anyone who thinks Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time should be committed for not having considered this film more fully...the first scene is one of the best openers ever put on the big screen; as superior storytelling, it tells you everything you will come to learn about Gantry and his use of wit and charm, and the true goodness buried somewhere in the depths of his own condemned soul...i saw this in theaters when it was released and was as shocked when The Apartment won Best Picture as i was when Bush won his term thanks to the fix in Florida by his brother and campaign manager, turning the vote over to the Supreme Court (hmmm, wonder who appointed most of those folks--oh, that's right, Bush's dad)...okay, okay, i digress...none of the prior comments have mentioned the incredibly entertaining exchange of intellectual and jovial banter between Arthur Kennedy as the cynical reporter and Burt Lancaster's stunning performance as the sociopathic preacher, which is worth the price of admission all by itself, and runs as a side act through the entire film...as a celluloid excursion along Sinclair Lewis' main street of American small towns its a travel extravaganza supreme; just hearing them talk about getting to Zenith (the BIG city) is like thinking of completing a manned trip to Mars for the folks down on the farm. Chicago? that would be in another galaxy far, far away; but not for Gantry...superior score, script and acting from the first to the last and we even get to hear Lancaster sing--did Orson Welles ever sing? not to keep sucker punching Kane, which is one of the top ten films of all time, let's just say this is as electrically sizzling of an individual acting accomplishment that you'll ever see and is one, two, you pick 'em, with THE HILL in achieving what film and acting is supposed to be all about, which is art.

Remote Control (1987–1990)

the ultimate sizzling cool show

[3 August 2004]

remote control was one of the best and most creatively innovative game shows to ever sparkle on television...its impossible to see a mitsubishi eclipse and not hear kari wuhr's fly girl rap on the top prize...the talent that vested the hip basement stage is a Saturday night live cast knockout...adam sandler was a scream as the juvenile delinquent and its a crime against humanity that mtv doesn't show re-runs of this true classic...colin quinn and ken ober were terrific and filled the show with howls of laughter with the ad-libs that were center of its entertainment...never a weak moment night to night...just fun and hilarity and kari wuhr is hot, hot, hot...c'mon mtv, wake up and smell the coffee; the world will be a better place when this program is aired again

The Night of the Hunter (1955)

lost in a childlike nightmare

[9/10 · 16 July 2004]

Charles Laughton's incredible achievement in the one and only film he ever directed, Night of the Hunter, could not have been completed without an excellent crew of actors and a profoundly talented writer. Here's some background that may help you appreciate this astounding black and white film; the writer, James Agee, a young, wildly alcoholic talent on the verge of his own death, wrote the screenplay with the concept of depicting a child's nightmare, a dream, where the monster is inescapable, seemingly appearing again and again out of no where. No place to run, no place to hide. Yet the river, the current of life, without human manipulation, carries them away to safety and the warmth of what can only be described as a child's interpretation of a rescuing goodness, and its ability to ward off the intruding evil that still pursues the dreamer.

One of the most haunting images in all of film history is the extraordinary underwater shot when Birdie Steptoe's (James Gleason) hook and fishing line snag up on the windshield of Willa Harper's (Shelley Winters) sunken car, her throat cut by Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum), her hair moving eerily in the river's current as fish swim about. This scene alone is worth watching the film to see. And Shelly Winter's at her beautiful best is worth a glance, around the time of her relationship with poet Dylan Thomas.

The ending is intentionally comical and absurd as Harry Powell becomes a cartoon-like image of someone shot in the butt. Its meant to be exactly how it looks, but if you haven't been appraised of, or determined for yourself the dreamlike perspective of the screen and what it is showing us, then many things would seem weak and out of sync. The photographic view offered the audience when we see the images with the children in the background, and the wildlife of the river in the foreground, isn't just a view of the kids moving down river from the distance of the shoreline; its the deliberately unobtrusive view from the eye level of the river's only real inhabitants; of rabbits, frogs and turtles. A remarkable achievement in film at the time of its release, and very attributable to Laughton and his ingenious direction. The Christmas pablum ending was deliberate and meant to have a fairy tale quality, also, to fill our minds with Tiny Tim mistiness and blessings for all of us, each and every one, one and all. It couldn't have been done any better; the childhood viewpoint never waivers. It's cookies and milk and the love of mom, with her unconditional and understanding trust and compassion -- even when it isn't really mom, but a wonderful substitute for Every Child to be comforted by in an otherwise lonely and hungry world filled with evil in waiting -- that is the 12 year old dreamer's imagined finale. And it works. Lillian Gish is awesome as that wonderful adoptive mother-image, Rachel Cooper. The script by James Agee made this a written work of art and poetry on celluloid, and with Laughton's direction inspiring a fine cast, if this was a film anyone was confused or put-off by, they should please watch it again, keeping the analogy of the childhood nightmare in mind, because that is what it is, and what fuels the plot line. It is thought of by most who have seen it as a top of the list classic.