The next five...

...are watched and ready for commentary.  This is actually a whole lot of fun.  I hope you've enjoyed the first three installments of this little journey, and I hope you will stay with me throughout the balance of the year.

As you may know, I've watched 50 of the films on the AFI Top 100 (2007 version) prior to the undertaking of this project.  That means, conveniently, that I can do these in chunks of five, starting with five movies I hadn't seen, then going to films I had, and so on.  I may come to a point toward the end where I realize I got my math wrong...but so what?  I'm going to be close.

We are on films 11-15, which means these are films I hadn't seen prior to this time.  I suppose that's all the preliminary information we need.  No sense in beating around the bush.  Oh. One other thing.  I am admitting to not having seen these films previously.  Please don't beat me for it...

Films 11-15


11.  "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington."  Jimmy Stewart, amazing, likeable, everyman actor takes another star turn on this list.  Look.  I'm no film student.  I've watched another Capra/Stewart film a whole bunch of times, and I guess so have a lot of other people.  I'm not going to classify something as "Capraesque" because I cannot speak to that with any authority.  I'm just a guy with a DVR, a Netflix subscription, an Amazon Prime subscription and a collection of DVD's.  Oh, and thank GOD for TCM, or this quest would be EXPENSIVE.  Well, not steakhouse EXPENSIVE, but expensive.

I've gotten off the rails.  I'm not really certain how I feel about "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington."  I can certainly understand its importance, and have enough knowledge of eras to view it with perspective...but...I prefer a little subtlety.  I know, this is Randy Knott saying he prefers subtlety, but I do.  Jimmy Stewart was wonderful in this, as was Jean Arthur, and everyone else.  I could sit and watch Claude Rains do just about anything, I bet.  Yet, this film left me a little flat.  The good guy was impossibly naive and good.  The bad guys...well...they ran kids off the road in one scene.  Come on.  Then we have the corruption, the deals, everything that Congress is STILL guilty of to this day...and I don't know.  It just felt too black and white.  I prefer my villains to be painted with a little grey.  I think the chemistry between Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart was phenomenal.  It is always great to see a really good female character...then...she falls in love with him, and writes it in a note?  Huhwhat?! Come on.  Just...come on.  This is a big, important film.  It belongs in the top 100.  I get it.  And I don't.  Oh.  And the ending sucked.  Just...sucked.

The bit at the Lincoln Memorial was stirring, though.

One other thing.  As Robert Osborne was introducing this on TCM, he said that many think that Jimmy Stewart won his Oscar for "The Philadelphia Story (1940) " for his work on this film (1939). He was nominated for his work in 1939, yet did not win.  I disagree.  I'm not going further than that, but I believe the next year's accomplishment was a greater achievement.

That's me.  I'm glad I watched it, but I'm also glad I don't have to do so again.  I'm also glad this duo made that other film.  I like that one a whole lot better.

You may boo me...

now.



12.  "The General."  I must admit, although painfully, that I am not that versed in the work of Buster Keaton.  Yes, I've seen lots and lots of clips of him doing amazing work in individual gags/stunts...but I hadn't sat and watched a whole film of his before I watched "The General."  Ever.  That will be changing soon, I can assure you.

This is a tremendous film.  I watched it twice, once by myself, and then I showed it to my sons.  They loved it.  It held their attention throughout, and I think they even laughed harder than I did.  That's probably because I couldn't laugh with my mouth agape.  I've seen the clip of Buster Keaton standing as a house collapses on him, with him, conveniently standing in the open window.  That clip has fascinated me for a long time.  This film...well.  There were a lot of those moments.  Keaton jumps from car to car on a moving train, he stands atop it, he uses his own body (briefly) as a connection between two MOVING FUCKING TRAIN CARS.  And the whole time, he never flinches.  No double takes, no wild, bug-eyed looks.  Just that stone face.  Amazing.

There was more about this film that I loved.  The scale of it thrilled me.  The armies of men, all uniformed, marching back and forth across the country...and the final...big moment.  I'm not going to spoil it.  It's spectacular.  I cannot imagine who said...yeah, we can *REDACTED* and I'm sure it will work great.  Especially if we don't tell the extras.  Apparently, the extras were not informed of the *REDACTED.*

This is a great film.  It wasn't on the inaugural Top 100 list, but was slotted on this one in the top 20.  Yup.  That's just about right.  Take an hour and a half and entertain yourself.  Screw that.  Let Buster Keaton entertain you.  I guarantee he will.



13.  "Chinatown."  Hey, Jack Nicholson is back.  A couple of films ago, I mentioned that the ending of a movie sucked.  This one is guilty, too.  I'm going to talk plot, etc. on this one, because it's vital to my case that the ending sucked.

A neo-noir film, "Chinatown" is the twisted story (p'raps a mite too twisted) about a private eye who is hired to spy on a woman's husband whom she is sure is being unfaithful.  Except that's not the wife.  Then, lots of people get involved, and eventually Jake is paired with Faye Dunaway as they try and stop her evil father from...what...controlling the water in Los Angeles?  Oh, and on the way, we learn that the "mistress" of the now dead aforementioned husband is, in fact, Faye Dunaway's sister. And daughter.  This is another film founded on a whisper thin story, that just happens to contain some absolutely brilliant acting, and as such, is worth watching.  It might even be great.  Except the ending SUCKS.

The final line in the film, after Faye Dunaway is killed trying to escape from her father with her sister/daughter, and the daughter is dragged away by the father...is "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."  Chinatown is BARELY PART OF THE MOVIE.  There is no reference to it EXCEPT THAT IT'S THE SETPIECE FOR THE LAST LITTLE BIT OF THE MOVIE. But, incestuous fathers can drag away young women after their other daughter has just been shot through the eye...and the lead character is supposed to somehow chalk that up to some mystical force that Chinatown possesses?  Bullshit.  Just bullshit.  That's a cheap ending.  It's a copout.  It sucks.  Know what?  I wouldn't do this normally, but check out the FAQ page from IMDB about this film and the question about what the last line's significance is.  That is just stupid.

I liked the movie, otherwise.  Although I think the plot is way too convoluted, and takes too many twists on the way, Nicholson is terrific.  As is John Huston.  As is a lot of the cinematography.  It's just that damned ending...

I guess this is an important film.  It's #21 on the list.  I'd rather see "The Exorcist" or "Amadeus" on this list.  I don't know that "Chinatown" belongs.



14.  "The Maltese Falcon."  Yes.  I'd never seen "The Maltese Falcon."  I have now.  Another film noir.  As I look on it, "Chinatown" is everything that "The Maltese Falcon" is...twists and turns, escalation of the original action into a plot that...well...where the hell did that come from?  Lots of people wanting to get at the leading man...and...well.

I like this one better.  I think it's hilarious that I chose to do two films so similar back to back.  P'raps I should watch "Saving Private Ryan" and "Platoon" back to back as well.  No.  I'm not going to do that.  This was an accident.  I'm veering off the rails again...

Bogie is great in this.  His ability to seemingly think on his feet (yes, it's scripted, but that's a hard thing to do) was amazing in this.  He always had the answer, was always ready for the next thing out of anyone's mouth, always ready to get the people off his back he needed of his back.  Great role.  Great acting.  Peter Lorre was his usual creepy self, and Sidney Greenstreet was hilarious...and terrifying...and hilarious.  I'm not certain how good Sidney Greenstreet was as an actor, but he must have been a hell of a fun person.  He plays guys who laugh at themselves, while always...having a smug sense of "I'm smarter than you...", yet, there he is, once again, laughing at himself.  Great character.  He had that character down cold.

The plot, as I said, has a lot of twists.  I'm not sure they made sense.  Sam Spade always made it sound as if they did, and that was the thrill of watching this film, for me.  Mostly, this film was a study in acting.  Yes, there were some great shots, but it's San Francisco...can't we get a few shots of something besides the Golden Gate Bridge?  It's a BEAUTIFUL city...and it has a Chinatown.  Bah.  Never mind.

I'm sure you've probably seen "The Maltese Falcon."  Now I have.  I'm really happy that I did.  Plot twists out of nowhere don't necessarily thrill me, but this movie got me.  It had me from the beginning and held me until the end.  I would have liked it if Mary Astor had at least ONCE looked at Bogie in the initial meeting.  I'm all for letting the world know one is lying...but she could have looked at him ONCE to let us know she was trying to pretend NOT to be lying.

Bah.  Great film.  John Huston and Bogie.  Gosh.  That combination sounds familiar.  Oh yeah.  "THE AFRICAN QUEEN."  Seriously.  Get that film off the list.  The two are better represented all kinds of places.  This is one of them.



15.  "Sunset Boulevard."  Or is it "Sunset Blvd.?"  The title card says "Sunset Blvd.," so I think that is, technically, the title.  Bah.  Semantics.

Quick. Know what the last 4 films have in common?

The leading man is in every scene.  Well.  Almost.  Keaton is not involved in a scene with some spies from the North in "The General."  Bogie is not there when his partner is shot.  And William Holden is not in the scene (but present right outside) when Norma Desmond has her time in the studio with Cecil B. DeMille.  From what I read somewhere, that's a classic noir technique.  Keeping the main character in every scene...as the audience's eyes.

I had watched the beginning of this film several times, but had never made it past about the first half hour, usually because I tend to watch films on DVR entirely too late at night.  I finally did, and I'm exceedingly happy that I did.  This is a terrific movie.  I regret taking so long to get to this one.  I have a connection with William Holden, because...well...this is ridiculous, but I played Paul in "Born Yesterday," a film released the same year as "Sunset Blvd.," and one in which he played...Paul.  When I watched the film version of "Born Yesterday," (after the show I was in had been but a memory) I was astonished by how much I did that he did.  Or maybe I shouldn't be.  It's all on the page, right?  Anyway.  I have a connection with him, and I feel like when I watch him, I'm watching a teacher showing me how I'd do it.  Is that weird?  Yeah.  That's weird.

Gloria Swanson was a marvel in this.  I did a little research and found out that she had been a silent film star, so watching her histrionics in this were somehow more...poignant.  She conveyed a hell of a lot with those eyes.  How she ever lost the Oscar to Judy Holliday and the aforementioned "Born Yesterday" is beyond me.  This was a dynamic, powerhouse performance.  It was even a little playful...as pictured in the photo I've included above.  I'm trying to find photos that I feel sum up a very powerful moment of a movie to me, for whatever reason, when I do these entries.  This scene was one of those.  The self-loathing yet complete surrender that William Holden portrayed...wow.  Just wow.

I should also mention that scene with DeMille.  Heartbreaking and stirring and yet...happy all at once.  The star...shining in her galaxy...just one last time.  Amazing.

Oh.  And Buster Keaton was in this.  And he made me smile a great big smile.  Billy Wilder made a great film with this one.  I enjoyed the hell out of it.



Know what?  If I stop this project right now, I will have seen 10 movies that I'd never seen before, all of which are considered great.  Even though I don't agree with that term being used for all of them, I have expanded my knowledge and my...database(?).  That cannot be a bad thing.

Well.  That's it for this installment.  Films 16-20 are plotted out, and I'm only watching one that is in black and white.  I need a little technicolor for a while.  I may, also (spoiler!), need a bigger boat as I view something that's no moon as raindrops keep falling on my head in a jury room where, well, Zed's dead, baby.