THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 2 of 12)

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (MY PROPOSED ALTERNATE ENDING)

(Bronco Billy, Justus and Frank ride into a clearing and clumsily dismount from their horses. Justus and Frank begin dancing in celebration of their successful gold theft.)

Bronco Billy: HEY! You boys need to simmer down. We got big problems here!

(Justus and Frank stop their dance and stare at him)

Justus: What you mean? We got the gold!

(Justus throws a handful of gold pieces at Bronco Billy)

Bronco Billy: The gold? And what is it you’re planning to do with all that gold?

(Justus and Frank give each other a confused stare.)

Bronco Billy: That’s right. You have no idea! And do you know why?

(Justus and Frank shake their heads)

Bronco Billy: Cause we was s'pose to be killed by a posse and that was gonna be the end! That’s why! Your fellas ain’t even real.

Justus: Ain’t real? You been smokin’ some of that Injun loco weed? And how is it you know so dang much? And whar is this here posse?

Bronco Billy: They was gonna ambush us in our reg'lar hidin’ spot. That’s why I made you fellas come here instead.

Frank: I don’t get it.

Bronco Billy: Think about our reg'lar hiding spot that we was going to. Do you ever remember bein’ thar before?

(Justus and Frank shake their heads)

Bronco Billy: That’s cause we AIN’T never been thar before. It’s just our reg'lar hiding place cause the script says so.

Justus: Cause the what says so?

Bronco Billy: Look. You know when we ride or rob...when you look out to the side? You know, the black space? Don’t you wonder what’s in the black space?

Justus: (Scratching his head) Never thunk about it.

Bronco Billy: That’s cause you’re thinly written. But I thunk about it. And while we was riding a ways back, I slipped my hand into the black space and came up with this.

(Bronco Billy shows his associates a movie script.)

Frank: What’s this? We can’t read!

Bronco Billy: Written here is all that we are. All we’re suppose to do. We did just what it said to the last part when I took us a detour to here.

Justus: This is crazy talk! You’ve been drinking some kinda moonshine!

Bronco Billy: All right smart boys. Tell me what is it you are plannin’ to do with all that gold?

Frank: I don’t reckon I know. What was we gonna do Justus?

Justus: (Thinking for a moment) I got it! Women!

Bronco Billy: And what is it an outlaw is suppose to do with a woman? Tell me.

(Justus and Frank think for a moment.)

Justus: I got it again! Virginia Reel!

(Frank and Justus throw down their guns and begin hooting as they grab each other by the arms spinning as if doing the Virginia Reel.)

Bronco Billy: Stop It! The only thing you know about women is doin’ the Virgina Reel with ‘em cause that’s all that’s in this here script! Us cowboys won’t get fully developed for more until later through the films of Ford, Hawks, Mann and Leone.

(As the outlaws quit dancing they look at Bronco Billy in silent confusion.)

Bronco Billy: Never mind. I’m not sure whar that thought came from myself. Anyway, remember when you shot that guy at the station, how he flailed around like a chicken with his head cut off, grabbed his heart and plopped to the ground?

Justus: Yeah! Got him good.

Bronco Bill: NO! People don’t react that way when they's shot. And there was no blood! Nary a drop. And when you threw that guy off the train. That was no man! It was just a stuffed dummy.

Frank: Come to think about it Justus, He did feel kinda light.

Bronco Billy: And didn’t you notice how the scenery kept changin’ so fast behind us while we was up on the train?

Frank: (Scratching his head) That’s why I got so dizzy!

Bronco Billy: (Slapping the script in his hand) We is in something called a movin’ picture.

Justus: I’ve seen pictures o' course. But how does they move?

Bronco Billy: Don’t rightly know. Guess if you run them together fast enough, they kinda tell a story.

(The other two outlaws look at each other and begin to laugh. When Bronco Billy doesn't return their laughter, they stop. The three outlaws begin to contemplate in uncomfortable silence.)

Justus: So what happens now?

Bronco Billy: I don’t know. I think we have to do things on our own now.

Justus: (rubbing his chin) Hmmm. Interestin'.

(Justus raises his gun and points it at Bronco Billy)

Bronco Billy: What in tarnation do you think you’re doing?

Justus: Seems to me like we was doin’ fine til’ you brought up that big lump of paper. Maybe that thar’ script jus’ needs a new endin’.

(Justus fires at Bronco Billy who grabs at his bloodstained chest and drops to the ground.)

Bronco Billy: (from the ground) You fool! The posse will for sure come for you now.

Justus: You was right Billy. That’s real blood this time.

(Bronco Billy dies. The posse hears the shots and comes riding toward the outlaws. Frank runs to pick up his guns. Before he can reach them, he is dropped to the ground by a rifle shot coming from one of the posse. Justus manages to get to a pistol and fires into the black space before forever disappearing from view.)

A TRIP TO THE MOON (1902, FRANCE)

In the beginning...She Blinded Me With Silents (Post 1 of 12)

A Trip to the Moon

Certainly any list like the one from 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die (as well as any academic history of film class) has to begin with George Melies’ 1902 short film, A Trip to the Moon.

The basics of this fourteen minute landmark film can be summarized as "a group of professors/wizards confer to send an space expedition to the moon. A group of space travelers is organized and proceed to land on the moon where they encounter hostiles who take them to their leader. After finding a method of disposing of the moon men by an umbrella touch that makes them explode, they successfully return to earth."

How many movie firsts are in this film? Science fiction, surrealism, a narrative story line, special effects and other innovations often list A Trip to the Moon as its oldest ancestor. Who could possibly say anything bad about a Trip to the Moon? I’ll bet even curmudgeonly film critic David Thompson can’t think of anything bad to say about Melies. In his Biographical Dictionary of American Film, he says,

“Melies needs to be restored to his role as stage conjurer who designed so many of the illusions available to the filmmaker-no longer regarded as the father figure of cinema of the imagination.”

OK, everyone except David Thompson agrees.

DAVID HOLZMAN'S DIARY (1968)

MOVIES I WATCHED BECAUSE I GOT A SUBSCRIPTION TO NETFLIX AND THEY WERE IN THE 1001 MOVIES YOU MUST SEE BEFORE YOU DIE BOOK MONTH 

 (Post 10 of 10)

David Holzman made a documentary about his life in 1967. Just what is happening everyday in his life. He is obsessed by films and filmmaking as you can tell by the cameras, reels, projectors and movie posters around his apartment. He is also not afraid to tell us what he is feeling even though what he is often feeling involves how he will be feeling as the camera is rolling.

He wants to get insight from his girlfriend, Penny. Penny thinks David is obsessive with his camera and his wanting to film and record anything and everything. When David films her while she is sleeping in the nude, it appears that is the last straw. David loses Penny. He also films a friend who basically thinks David is wasting his time and just from the fact that he is filming someone, the very nature of that leads to the loss of any authenticity. David interviews a woman who may or may not be a drag-queen who likes to talk about very little but sex. David likes to take pictures of the streets and people of New York. He likes to take pictures of his neighbor and tries to determine what her life is about and tries hard to study the routine of her life for meaning. David also takes film of himself from different angles. Is shooting yourself from a different angle going to show you something different about yourself that you wouldn't have otherwise ascertained?

At the end, David goes to a funeral and returns to find all of his camera equipment has been stolen from him. He makes the final entry from his film from a recording booth as he no longer has any equipment. His final reservation:  I wish I could have learned something. I wish I could have figured something. Other ways it could have come out...like Bartleby the Scrivener.

Do we attempting any artistic endeavor or any other type of endeavor for that matter really try to learn something or figure something out? Like David over forty years ago, I too, have been pondering this question. I haven't come up with a satisfying answer yet.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986), AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER (1993), AILEEN WUORNOS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER (2003)

MOVIES I WATCHED BECAUSE I GOT A SUBSCRIPTION TO NETFLIX AND THEY WERE IN THE 1001 MOVIES YOU MUST SEE BEFORE YOU DIE BOOK MONTH 

 (Post 9 of 10)

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER

I decided since Netflix had three films with serial killer in the title that were also in the 1001 book that it was time to tackle a fun, fun triple feature!

After the brightly glowing glee that exuded from the screen from The Young Girls of Rochefort, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer brought me back into the abyss very quickly. Henry is a low budget fictional account of a girl who moves in with her no-account brother and his roommate named Henry, who just happens to be a murder! Though for the record, I disliked the no-account brother much more than Henry.

The fact that it is low budget actually helps with the effectiveness of the film. The characters seem real (which is disturbing in itself.). Some movies I'm glad I saw once and never plan to watch again. I don't plan to watch Henry again and I'm not even sure if I'm glad I saw it at all! But I can't argue that it effected me as a viewer... Even if that effect was to make me feel really depressed...Maybe I'll cue up The Young Girls of Rochefort again before I move on.

Director Nick Broomfield buys information
from Aileen Wuornos's attorney, Steve Glaser
in  AILEEN WUORNOS: THE SELLING OF A SERIAL KILLER 

Well, it looks like The Young Girls of Rochefort isn't on Netflix anymore, so I guess I'll just have to dive into Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer.  Nick Broomfield's documentary is not so much about Aileen Wuoronos as it is about how those around her such as her ambulance chaser lawyer, her born-again friend who wants to "adopt" her and the police department who all use the situation of the seven (known) murders that Wuornos committed to forward their own agendas. Broomfield also puts himself squarely in the middle of the movie, and at times it seems it is a documentary about making a documentary, which is a slant that I did find rather interesting.

I also must admit I did kind of like Wuornos's pot-smoking, guitar playing, TV lawyer, Steve Glaser. Seems like a fun guy to hang out with. Though if I needed actual legal help, I would look elsewhere.

Wuornos comes across as being very self-serving and the contradictory nature of her personality is pretty frightening. Broomfield gets to interview Wuornos at the end of the movie and she actually claims that she killed in self-defense on seven different occasions!

Director Nick Broomfield listens to yet another confession from Wuronos
in AILEEN WUORNOS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A SERIAL KILLER

Aileen Wuornos: The Life and Death of a Serial Killer is Broomfield's follow-up to his first film, where we see the the events leading up to the death sentence carried out on Wuornos in 2003. We learn everything we need to know about the background of Wuornos (frankly, more than we might want to know). Yes, she had a hard life. The way she had to live growing up certainly didn't bode well for her being anything but trouble. The film is quite a forum for her rants and she can't seem to decide if her confessions of self-defense are what she believes or if she wants to die or not. But as we know by the title of the film, she is executed. Bromfield questions her quickly passing a psychiatric test  before being executed as to what one could possibly do to fail such a test if someone so mentally unhinged as Wuornos passed it. Those who see her last rant would have to agree.

Though it was critically acclaimed, I can see why the dramatized film about Wuornos called Monster with Charlize Theron was left off the 1001 list. I mean, just how many movies about this person should you really have to watch before you die?