...and I think, maybe, just maybe...I might be able to do this.
Hope you have enjoyed the first four installments of this quest. I'm having a hell of a lot of fun doing it.
OK. I have to get something out of the way...by way of bragging. A friend of mine sent me an email about having watched "The General," simply because of my report. Now, this friend is, well, pretty cool in just about every way one can be cool, but I'm always a little astounded when people listen to something I have to say. ANYWAY. Loved it. So there. Have you seen "The General?" Do you think it's time you did?
We're on films 16-20 today, which means these are films I had seen before starting this project. Two of these today...I've seen a LOT. One of the five I don't remember shit about, but MAN was it good. Wait. I'm getting ahead of myself.
I've made an Excel spreadsheet that is sortable by all sorts of factors to try and keep myself a little organized while watching 100 movies. I think I need to write about it, and some of the interesting math I discovered while creating it. It's probably best that I figure out how to put that online and comment on it from there, but be warned. A little of what I discovered will be discussed in film 19. See that kids? That's foreshadowing. Oh, me and my literary devices.
By the way...you do know this blog is stream of consciousness, right? I don't edit this. Unless I find spelling errors. There's one in the last chapter. I'm leaving it. The grammatical errors...fuck it. I like those. I know the proper way to do things. I just prefer letting this spill out and leaving it.
Wait. Films. Great films. Films from the AFI Top 100 (2007 Edition). Let's go.
Films 16-20
16. "Jaws."
"Farewell and adieu to you fine Spanish ladies...farewell and adieu ye ladies of Spain..."
OK. You've seen "Jaws." I've seen "Jaws." Probably dozens of times. It's a brilliant movie, and if you know anything about the legend of the film...you know that most of that brilliance was a happy accident. They couldn't get the damned shark to work, so they wound up not showing it nearly as much as Spielberg wanted to show it. By the way, this is Steven Spielberg's first film I've gotten to on the list. He's got FOUR, count them, FOUR more before we get to the end of this.
I've seen "Jaws" a LOT. What struck me this time through? I was able to hear Chrissie start the Lord's Prayer right as she was dragged off the buoy by the leviathan beneath. Gut wrenching. The jump close up on Brody when Alex Kintner is consumed still gets me. The shooting stars that just happened to get captured by the camera. Wow. The scene that was completely organic between Brody and his son at the dinner table...but mostly...
As I alluded to above (Fooled you! I got to it before I got to number 19!), as I was organizing the films in the top 100, I tried to chart "eras." There was an era in the list that I'm going to say starts with "The Graduate" and ends with "Raging Bull." In this period, there are THIRTY films from the top 100. Why is that? Well, it's when filmmakers had balls of steel. It's when cinematography, and soundtrack, and special effects, and acting, and risk just took gigantic leaps. Think about "Jaws." Here you have a film that starts out as a fairly straightforward horror/thriller...about a town, its police chief and its/his struggles with morality. We are introduced to a lot of characters, some caricature, some fairly well fleshed out. And then, about halfway into it, we suddenly shrink the film into the size of a little boat with three men and a fish. Oh. And the Atlantic Ocean. So we get this little tiny set...floating on this great expanse of water. The men are trapped. The beast they are chasing is free. Or is the beast chasing them? Anyway. There's even a moment that Spielberg gives us, when the Orca is passing through the shark jaws hung in Quint's "shop." We know at that point that we are on to Act II. Amazing. Ballsy. Yet, we as observers, go on this journey, happily. Why? Because it's compelling. It's intelligent. It makes sense that we go. Damn. What a film. And to think, when I was a kid I had the Jaws game. If I knew then...well. I wouldn't have understood. I'm glad I do now.
Other thoughts: Roy Scheider is underappreciated in this. Not only for the "You're gonna need a bigger boat" ad lib, but for the way he so subtly conveys things. His pouring of the wine into the tumbler after Hooper tells him he should "let it breathe." Just phenomenal acting. Look at his cautious joy that spills into jubilation when the tiger shark is caught. Yes, the "You're certifiable, Quint!" is over the top. So what? Know what's funny about this list? You see a lot of actors in more than one film. Scheider is coming up again in "The French Connection." How about that?
I wish I could have been there to watch Robert Shaw deliver the speech about the USS Indianapolis. It gave me goosebumps this time, as it has EVERY time I've watched it.
I'm rambling. I don't need to tell you to see "Jaws." You probably already have. Try it again.
17. "12 Angry Men." I kinda feel like I should recuse myself from discussing the film "12 Angry Men." I have loved this story since I first read the play in junior high school. I think it's a thrilling, intelligent piece of fiction that so captures our imagination that it's hard not to fall in love with it. I knew when I read it, despite the fact that I had exactly NO experience in this field, that I would want to direct it some day. I'm an actor. I've never taken a theatre course in my life. Not a one. "12 Angry Men" was the first play I got to direct, and it is still one of my happiest memories in a lifetime of performing. As such, it is hard for me to talk about this movie without getting personal. I will say one thing. Despite not watching the film for a couple of years before I directed it, I got a lot of the things the same as the film. I used a kris style blade, and our diagram of the apartment was almost exactly the same. Weird. I don't think those things were things I would have drawn from my subconscious, but somehow, they just felt right. I'm rambling again.
Sidney Lumet made his directorial debut with this film. Think about this. We're going to make a film. It's essentially going to be 12 guys sitting around a table in one room. That's the whole thing. Yet, the performances that Mr. Lumet was able to wring from his actors. Wow. Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Eli Wallach and Jack Warden are all incredible as the principal roles of Jurors 8, 3, 10, 4 and 7, respectively. However, then you get the great job by Jack Klugman. Martin Balsam as the foreman. Ed Binns. I'm going to stop there or I may as well just list them all. Their names are on the IMDB link above. This film is a study in acting. It's a study in ensemble acting. It's a study.
So. How did I feel watching this as part of this mission? What struck me this time around, given my life at this time? I love this movie more today than I ever have, and I loved it a lot before. Everything about it is pitch perfect. The sweat, the "measuring." OK. I gotta editorialize. This play/story depends on a certain decidedly male dynamic. Yes, I can be convinced that "12 Angry Women" has a dynamic as well...but "12 Angry Jurors?" False. Forget it. You need the guys laying their manhood on the table and saying "mine's bigger and that makes me more right than you." There's a whole lot of that in this movie. Jack Warden's performance really got to me this time. Of all the characters, I'm not certain that Juror 7 really cares about the innocence or guilt of the kid. I still don't believe Jack Warden did, either. Great performance.
I had also forgotten that we get a brief shot of the accused at the beginning of the film. Powerful stuff.
Look, I'm not going to go on further. "12 Angry Men" is necessary viewing. So go. Make it necessary.
18. "Star Wars."
It's fucking "Star Wars."
19. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." I confess that I believe I have watched this film when I was MUCH younger, but I don't remember anything about it. Except the bicycle sequence and the final shootout. I also confess that I'm not at all familiar with the name George Roy Hill. I am now.
Remember when I said above that the era that started with "The Graduate" was the beginning of some amazing films? Here's another one.
(OK, I gotta confess something else. I hope you laughed out loud at my thoughts on the film above - "Star Wars." Truth be known, a lot of what I'm talking about with this film and "Jaws" apply to "Star Wars" as well. I just didn't want to get bogged down in it, and frankly, I thought what I wrote above was hilarious. It kind of summed it up, dontcha think? Oh yeah, I watched "Star Wars" with my kids, and for my four year old, it was his first time. It was great. OK. Done with "Star Wars." Except that when I watched it I found it to be AWESOME all over again. OK. Now I'm done.)
"Butch Cassidy..." quickly became a favorite film of mine with this one viewing for one reason. The extended chase scene in the middle of the movie. I have shown the film "The Godfather" to a lot of people. When the wedding scene concludes, I stop the film and ask the new viewer..."How long do you think that scene was?" Invariably, the answer is usually around 5-6 minutes, but NEVER more than 10. The wedding scene in "The Godfather" is 25 minutes long. Why am I telling this story? Because, as the chase scene was going on, I suddenly thought, "wait a minute... this has been going on a LONG TIME...and I'm totally mesmerized." I figured I'd just watched a director basically take a one line joke, "Who are those guys?" and extend it to a 10 minute, compelling as hell, scene. Except, I got Godfather Wedding Scened. The chase sequence is 27 minutes long. Yes, there are a couple of brief stops on the way, but the whole time our protagonists are concerned with one thing. Getting the hell away from the posse that never relents. FOR 27 MINUTES. Think about that. Think about "The Avengers" or any other film today. Imagine that the scene with Thor being dropped out of the Helicarrier and separated from Mjolnir took more than 5 minutes to play out. You'd be bored to tears. Yet, here I am, modern man, with modern sensibilities, completely engrossed in a one bit TWENTY SEVEN MINUTE chase. That, my friends, is filmmaking.
Other things of note: name a film with two more handsome leading men. I put the picture above as an illustration of that. Whoo boy, those guys are pretty. The ease with which both Newman and Redford let comedy roll off of them in this movie...the skill. Amazing. Katherine Ross is underutilized in this. Just like "The Graduate." Like "Jaws," there is a definite break between acts in this. The sepia toned montage to get us there...I hate to keep saying "brilliant," but I don't know what more to say. My GOD, this is a great movie. Watch it. Watch it again. I used to laugh at the notion that movies were at their best during the era of the 70's. Bullshit. I was wrong. This wasn't quite the 70's, but it's in that era. Good lord, these guys knew what they were doing. Even George Roy Hill. Good ol' never known to me before George Roy Hill.
This is now one of my favorite films I've ever seen. And I can say I've really only watched it this one time. Takes a powerful something to break me from a rut.
This is a powerful something.
20. "Pulp Fiction." When I wrote about "Forrest Gump," I mentioned that it beat out a couple of other films on the list for Best Picture of 1994. "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Pulp Fiction" were those films. I said I wasn't sure that (despite much criticism on the internet about how either of those were a better choice than "Forrest Gump") any discussion of "Forrest Gump" not deserving the Oscar was of merit.
I just watched "Pulp Fiction" again. It's a great film. I'm still not sure it was a better film than "...Gump." I'm just not. It's certainly revolutionary. It's got some amazing performances. Bruce Willis is great in it. So is Travolta's junkie. Like Jimmy Stewart's drunk in "The Philadelphia Story," Travolta's heroin daze is incredibly well performed, even down to the way he holds his mouth when he leans in to the intercom. He's riding the horse. I'm convinced of it. That takes a lot of skill. Samuel L. Jackson's Jules is full of angst, sentiment, and just enough batshit crazy cold blooded ass killer to make him terrifying. And terrifyingly compelling. The MacGuffin with Marsellus Wallace's briefcase, the immensely quotable dialogue, "Check out the big brain on Brad!" "What ain't no kind of country I ever heard of!" "Now, right now, I'm a fuckin' race car, and you got me in the red." "We're all gonna be like three little Fonzies." Lots and lots of them. The soundtrack is great. I lived with a woman for a couple of years, and we listened to this soundtrack a lot. I always dug it. I confess, I didn't dig the movie the first time I saw it, but it grew on me.
And that, brings me to my thoughts on the film. It's an important, great film. I'm glad I got to revisit it during this. I think Tarantino should be given enormous credit for getting this film made. But...then he appears in it. And he throws the bit with Christopher Walken in it. Seriously. Jimmie's dialogue SUCKS. I'm not even sure a better actor could have saved it. "I'm gonna get a divorce. You can't convince me I don't love my wife." OK. I think I got that last bit wrong, but it's so bad, I don't want to get it right. It's a shit speech, and it doesn't belong. Speaking of shit...do we have to keep hearing about how Butch's dad's watch wound up people's asses? It's not funny. It's not necessary. It doesn't do anything except make me wonder why the hell this piece of crap scene got stuck in an otherwise terrific film.
Now. Harvey Keitel is great. I love the fact that everyone compliments him on how great it is to watch him work...and he doesn't do a fucking thing. Not a fucking thing. I'm cursing a lot in this review. It's fucking Pulp fucking Fiction. It uses the words. I will, too.
One other thing this time through. I really dug Fabienne. She had left me flat before. She's so natural. Of course, I got a thing for European women. That's the subject of another day.
Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer also deserve mention for their work as Ringo and HoneyBunny as the framing pieces of the film. I love Tim Roth. Know why? He's never taken an acting lesson, like me. Somehow, that speaks to me.
So. "Pulp Fiction." It's "Pulp Fiction." It's important. It's great. It's not as bloody as you remember, but it's plenty violent. Watch it. It's required.
Soon I'm going to get to numbers 21-25. They are films I hadn't seen previously. Already watched one.
