WALL STREET (1987), BROADCAST NEWS (1987)

Wall Street

Wall Street is the story of a young stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) who gets involved with a Wall Street titan (Michael Douglas). Douglas plays the iconic character of Gordon Gekko, whose ruthlessness is exemplified in his catchphrase "Greed is good." I'm just glad that we've learned to reign in these real life megalomaniacs like Gekko with regulations that would prevent them from blowing up the economy...Unfortunately, I'm not serious about our ability to do the right thing, as the 2008 Global Financial Crisis shows. At least we learned our lesson and didn't bail these jackals out...Wait, we did that too. I'm depressed now-I think I'll move on to a more upbeat topic-TV news!

Broadcast News

Broadcast News is the story of a network news show, led by a dynamic producer (Holly Hunter, the best thing in the film), an ace reporter (Albert Brooks) and a newsman being groomed for the network host chair (William Hurt). There are some things that seem quaintly dated viewing now, including the noted scene where Joan Cusack runs a VHS tape across the studio for them to put it in a second VHS player to add an image to a news story. Oh, 1987 and your ancient technology!

The real life network's main competitor for news in 1987 was CNN (And maybe the MacNeil-Lehrer Report). They have a lot of company these days with many cable news shows that will be happy to skew opinion to the specific biases of their audience. You can also get a lot of news on a strange post-1987 invention called "The Internet.". I get a lot of my news online these days and almost never watch network news. All I can say is no matter what news outlet you use, don't forget to check your sources!

W. R.: MYSTERIES OF THE ORGANISM (1971, YUGOSLAVIA)

Sex in W. R.

"To list "WR" as a great movie will stir outrage from some. "I never, in all my years of moviegoing, booed a film, no matter how bad, boring or insipid the film might have been," wrote David Bienstock in The New York Times. "Sometimes the crime being committed in the name of cinema seemed outrageous enough to justify such a response, but I restrained myself."-Roger Ebert

"W. R. is less a self-conscious film than a rabid examination of consciousness happy to try any method that comes to mind."-David Thomson, Have You Seen?...: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films

"W. R. may be the only avant-garde slapstick Communist documentary sex romp ever made." That alone makes it a must see-Annalee Newitz, 1.001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Violence in W. R.

The way I react to art films is usually one of three ways. 1)I get it. There's a method to this madness. 2)I don't really get it. However, I think with repeated viewings, the meaning of this will become apparent to me. 3) I don't get it.

W. R. Mysteries of the Organism lies somewhere between 2 and 3 of these categories. Is it about sex researcher Willhelm Reich, the W. R. in the title who pretty much disappears from the narrative early on? Or is it about war? Violence? Is it about revolution? An indictment of Stalinism? The juxtaposition of sex and war? Hero worshiping? Censorship? The evils of hero worshiping? Ice skating? Is it a clever homage to the cheapie horror film The Brain that Wouldn't Die? There's obviously a lot of critics that did get it by the testimonials above. Okay, I'll put this one in the number 2 category, though I'm not so sure I'll want to watch it again.

Horror in W. R.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977), THE LAST MOVIE STAR (2017)

Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit

I remember the time Burt Reynolds shaved off his mustache on The Mike Douglas Show. And I remember the time Burt and Johnny Carson sprayed shaving cream down each others pants on The Tonight Show. I even remember the time Burt made cameos on such shows as The Keane Brothers summer replacement Show! What was odd about this at the time was that Burt seemed about the only movie star of his stature to ever appear on television during that time. But then he was a different kind of movie star...

Burt had been around a long time in  television roles and B-movies until he hit it big playing the Alpha Male Louis in Deliverance. He specialized in good ole boy roles after that, including White Lightning and W. W. and the Dixie Dance Kings. The role many identify him most may be as The Bandit from Smokey and the Bandit. In this film we have the freewheelin' Bandit, along with his trucker pal Snowman (Jerry Reed), trying to win a bet on whether they can transport a supply of beer across the state lines in twenty-eight hours. He picks up a tag-along runaway bride (Sally Field) along the way and is pursued by the ultimate redneck sheriff (Smokey, played by Jackie Gleason). It' interesting seeing this now, as I haven't seen it since it first came out. It's mostly an excuse for some fast car chases, some fun banter from Burt and Sally, comedic turns from Gleason and some songs from Reed. It's silly fun, and it's hard to imagine the movie without Burt in the center of it.

The Last Movie Star

I was listening to a podcast recently that had director Adam Rifkin, who was talking about his movie The Last Movie Star. The plot of the film is about an over-the-hill movie star who get invited to a Nashville film festival, only to find out when he gets there that the festival is a pretty low rent affair.

Rifkin said the only person he wanted for this part was Bert Reynolds. That's easy to see, as the character of Vic Edwards is pretty much just Bert Reynolds with a different name. Some reviews have critized this movie as being a bit predictable in many of its plot contrivances, but I think it works just fine as a coda for the career of Reynolds. It also shows that Bert was always willing to laugh at himself and his seemingly effortless ability to not take himself too seriously was part of his charm There is even a scene in The Last Movie Star where he ends up in the passenger seat of himself in Smokey and the Bandit! What goes around really does comes around if you wait (or live) long enough.

Vic Edwards takes a drive with the Bandit
in The Last Movie Star

FAT CITY (1972), TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971)

"Two-Lane Blacktop is another transformation of contemporary America into existential parable. The surface story wager auto race across America is casually denied dramatic tension to emphasize the resonance of character and situation."-David Thomson, A Biographical Dictionary of Film

"The people who love this movie (Two-Lane Blacktop) the most-the ones I know include a critic who taped it off of USA Network's old late-night rock-and-movie showcase Night Flight and held on to her decaying VHS copy for years; and a young woman who, while prepping for a solo cross-country road trip, kept the DVD playing on her laptop like background music for a week-all seem to have encountered it by themselves and treat it as their own personal talisman."-Charles Taylor, Opening Wednesday at a Theater or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema of the 70's

Dennis Wilson and James Taylor

in Two-Lane Blacktop

There's just something special about early 70's movies to me. I was a bit too young to see these type of theatrical films in 1971 and 1972, but I heard about them and knew they were there somewhere! They carried adult or what I perceived as adult themes. They also didn't really have to be about anything plotwise to be interesting.

The "plot" of  Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop is a great example. Two guys challenge another guy to a race. Is it important who wins? No. Do we find out who wins? No. I'm not even sure there really was a race! The fist time I saw it (About ten years ago) I was a bit underwhelmed. This time, I felt a connection with it. The film stars two musicians (James Taylor and Dennis Wilson), an inexperienced leading lady (Laurie Bird) and the always watchable Warren Oates as the guy who wants to race...sort of.

Laurie Bird and Warren Oates

In Two-Lane Blacktop

This one isn't for everybody. For a movie about racing, it moves slowly and doesn't really go anywhere. But I really do like the way it goes nowhere. Definitely in my book.

The DVD commentary with Hellman and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer is certainly worth a listen.

"Fat City shows compassion for both winners and losers, and relates the boxers' fights to the farmworkers' struggle to survive. The vivid details and realistic dialogue of Huston's quietly moving film portray deadbeat characters and drifting characters who fall through the cracks of society."-John Huston: Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyer, 2011.

Stacy Keach and Jeff Bridges

in Fat City

This is my first viewing of John Huston's Fat City. Leonard Gardner wrote the original screenplay and book for this film about an aging fighter named Tully (Stacy Keach) who helps out an up and coming boxer named Munger (Jeff Brdiges). But this is no Rocky-like story of inspiration. It isn't even a Raging Bull-type story of a bigger than life main character. Tully is just a guy who has some problems (unemployment, money and alcohol). I didn't find him particularly unsympathetic or heroic, but did find him real and interesting. His on-again off-again girlfriend Oma (Susan Tyrell) might be the most interesting character in the film.

I really like the final scene in the film that has Tully and Munger drinking coffee and just looking at the people. It doesn't give out any answers and I'm not sure it even asks any questions. It just nicely "is." This one's also in my book.

I suddenly feel like watching Five Easy Pieces again!

Stacy Keach and Susan Tyrell

in Fat City