kag2 Reviews

Green Book (2018)

Let's you chuckle about a rough subject and time

[8/10 · 23 February 2019]

I went to the theater thinking this was fiction. Wrong. It's a darn good film with superb acting by Viggo Mortenson (Tony Lip) and Mahershala Ali (Dr. Don Shirley). The interplay between the obnxious Italian bouncer (Tony Lip) and the stuffy black vitruoso brought chuckles, was thought provoking, and didn't just demonize the white guy. It showed both men's humanity and obvious flaws, and if it didn't make racism/segregation seem horrid, it didn't make it look nice. After playing to standing ovations, the good doctor still had to use the outhouse and drive to the colored cafe to eat.

This movie has been lambasted by the PC crowd as too soft on racism (debatable) and too much from the Italian's viewpoint - true, but why is that a crime?. I suspect their real gripe is that Whitey made this film. Well, they can gripe, but most like the movie, and rightfully so.

The Last Detail (1973)

Superb Jack Nicholson Effort

[9/10 · 4 March 2017]

Jack Nicholson steals the show with his superb portrayal of gruff navy lifer Billy "Badass" Budduskey. A profane, bawdy, anti-hero (but with a heart), he dominates every interaction. Playing Budduskey, Nicholson creates one of the most memorable (if not entirely likable) characters in film.

The story is simple, and far from happy. Budduskey and another lifer named "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) are ordered to transport a nerdy recruit from the base in Norfolk, Virginia to the brig in Maine. The recruit/prisoner (Randy Quaid) got an insanely harsh 8-year sentence for petty theft. Taking pity, and with a multi-day schedule, Budduskey and Mulhall show the kid a good time - mostly beer and women - before their inevitable arrival at the brig. Yet for all their attempts at diversion they never erase the clouds of emptiness that hover above all of them.

The movie also carries a message about injustice and risk. These two lifers disdain the injustice they are taking part in. They doubt the kid can survive in a brig with hardened criminals. Still, they don't stick their necks out. If they did, they might jeopardize their "twenty," the retirement pay (at 50% of their salary) they will soon be eligible for once they've served a full 20 years.

Jack Nicholson was already well known when this film came out in 1973, and he quickly followed this effort with two stellar films "Chinatown" and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." So "Last Detail" never got the attention it deserves. But as elsewhere, Jack Nicholson dominates every scene with his personality, antics, and off-beat style. Young and Quaid provide solid support, and the result is a very memorable film.

Save the Tiger (1973)

Superb Acting & Drama

[27 February 2017]

This superb drama offers middle-aged longing, lost dreams, success, despair, and superb acting by Jack Lemmon (won the Oscar) and Jack Gilford (nominated for supporting). BUT: this film is not for everybody. A serious drama about middle-aged loss, struggle, and fading dreams won't grab every one. It's too slow for some viewers, and too realistic for some others.

Harry Stoner (Lemmon) is as an LA businessman who seeks an arsonist to burn him out so he can collect the insurance and rebuild his failing business. His aging partner Phil Greene (Jack Gilford) opposes this, but realizes at his age (close to 65) he may never find another job. Both men are decent but jaded, and troubled by the lost innocence (or false innocence) of their youth in Brooklyn. Harry is also troubled by post-traumatic stress flashbacks from his lost comrades at Anzio in World War II, while Phil is troubled by going along with a crime that means losing his integrity. Both men appear to be Jewish, and may feel added burdens that come with having beaten anti-Semitic discrimination (or worse). There is the also longing for their boyhood in New York, before crime made cities less safe, and before the Dodgers (plus these two men) deserted Brooklyn for Los Angeles - which is not quite the sunny paradise that both probably hoped for. This film also came out in 1973, as Watergate, Vietnam, and the non-success of the Great Society all seemed to evidence a certain national decline.

Save the Tiger is like "Death of Salesman Goes To LA." There is fantasy, failure, and searing struggles for success. The two main characters are not so tragic as Willie Loman; yet they are not all that far removed, either.