THE UP SERIES (1964-2019, GREAT BRITAIN)

Given me a child when he is seven and I will give you the man.-Jesuit proverb

The featured players of the Up series

at different life stages

In 1964, Granada television in Britain chose fourteen seven-year-old subjects for a television special about what it was like to be that age. This original film was directed by Paul Diamond and was originally supposed to be a one and off special. The subjects of the film were chosen by a young researcher named Michael Apted, who saw the potential for something really special here. Apted took over as director of the project and filmed the children again at age fourteen in 1970. He then filmed all the subjects in the film every seven years (all that would participate) all the way until 63 Up in 2019.

I had heard about this series over the years, but never watched it. We got the 56 Up! DVD at the library a couple of years ago, but really wanted to see the films from the beginning. In recent weeks, I noticed Britbox had all the episodes and my wife and I decided to plunge in and watch them.

I don't binge watch shows often, but The Up Series is definitely one I'd recommend going that route with. I feel like I just met these seven-year-old kids a couple of weeks ago and watching a show a night, they quickly are all reaching retirement age. It acts like an only slightly less speedy Picture of Dorian Gray with the featured kids.

We see the participants make schooling decisions, marriage decisions, career decisions and family decisions. Through the episodes, the extended family of the participants become players in this drama as well. Other participants keep their family out of it entirely. We also see past shows cleverly edited into each new show to give the viewer perspective.

One of the elements in the choosing of the original subjects is class. You have the prep school boys, seemingly born with silver spoons in their mouth and poorer East End kids that have to struggle for everything. The truth is of course much more complicated than that.

Here are the subjects for the film:

John, Andrew and Charles on the couch

in 14 Up

The Three Prep School Boys on the Couch

John Brisby, one of the upper class kids, was seemingly on the path to being a barrister from age seven. He likes to point out in later episodes that he had to struggle a lot more than what is portrayed in the earlier films.

Andrew Brackfield was one of the funniest of the seven year old kids, going on about he read The Financial Times on a daily basis. He later became a solicitor, but seems to spend a lot of time in his garden as the years go on. He appears to have one of the happier marriages and families in the film.

Charles Furneaux is the third of the Prep School boys. Charles didn't participate in any films after 21 Up, despite later becoming a documentary filmmaker himself!

Jackie, Lynn and Sue on the slide at age seven

The Three Working Class Girls on the Couch

Jackie Bassett is one of the three girls in the film that are usually filmed together. Her life has had her ups and downs with marriages, kids, work and health. She often seems to have a love/hate relationship with director Apted. I find her one of the most interesting subjects in the film.

Lynn Johnson was one of Jackie's friends who definitely had her ups and downs. She married young and had a family early, but kept her marriage together throughout her life. I certainly like the fact that she worked at libraries and a bookmobile for many years. She had many health issues over the years which she talks about in many episodes. She died in 2013 at the age of 57.

Sue Davis is the third of the three girls filmed together in episode one. She had her ups and downs with marriage and divorce over the years. She also had a potential singing career that she points out she was never able to follow through with. In later years, she is seen as being happily engaged to the same man for 21 years!

The Charity Boarding School Classmates

Symon Basterfield was the only participant of mixed race in this film. He worked at various jobs over the years which the viewer gets to experience vicariously (There's Symon on the fork lift again!). He married and had five kids only to divorce. His second wife was a strong presence in 49 Up and 56 Up.

Paul Kliegerman was also one of the funniest of the kids at seven. The clip that they show about his fear of marriage because his wife might serve him greens makes me laugh every time they show it. In actuality, Paul has had the same wife since 21 Up, and we see many of their travels through the outback and raising of their family over the years. One of the most likable participants in the film, we see Paul reunited with his classmate Symon in 49 Up (or was that 42 Up?)

The entire group together at 21 Up

The Academics

Bruce Balden may be the person I identify the most with in the film. Always concerned about social issues and injustice early on, he becomes a teacher in the inner city and in Bangla Desh for awhile. It didn't seem like he would ever get married, but did in 35 Up in a ceremony conducted by fellow Up participant Neil Hughes.

Nick Hitchon started out on a farm and went to boarding school before going to Oxford and eventually becoming a professor specializing in Nuclear Fusion at the University of Wisconsin. Nick's first marriage is documented in 28 Up, but that didn't last and seems happy with his second wife in later episodes. 

I just want to promote me band!

Peter Davies was a Liverpudlian youth who in 21 Up said some negative things about the Thatcher Administration which he got some criticism for and decided not to participate in the series again until 56 Up to promote his folk band!

This is pointless and silly!

Suzy Lusk had a most interesting evolution on the show. She went from being one of the rich kids in the beginning to being from a broken home and deciding the project was "pointless and silly" by the age of 14. At 21, she was an angry chain-smoking young lady who would never want to have kids and was mad at the world. By 28, she married someone who seemed to change her worldview for the better and has appeared to have a happy life (with kids!).

Tony Walker at 7 Up and 56 Up

The breakout stars

Tony Walker-"I want to be a jockey when I grow up. I want to be a jockey when I grow up!" I always quote Tony's seven-year-old aspirations to my wife before we start a new episode. Tony is one of the lower East Side kids who did indeed become a jockey for awhile before becoming a taxi driver among other things. The fast talking Tony seems to be one of those people who can probably get away with a lot just by talking his way out of things. Married at 28, his wife was featured in all the subsequent episodes and they are not afraid to speak openly about the highs and lows of their relationship.

Neil Hughes at 56 Up and 7 Up

Neil Hughes was the Liverpool youth who had aspirations, yet never seemed to find his way. He was often depicted throughout the run of the show as homeless or suffering from a form of mental illness-yet always finding a way to survive. He later became a local councilman and even a preacher (performing the marriage ceremony for Bruce Balden).

I think for the most part the participants haven been shown in a positive light. I mean there aren't any villains in this piece (Maybe Charles, only because he wouldn't participate after 21 Up) and I hope the lives of all of them continue to improve through 63 Up, 70 Up, 77 Up...

CEDDO (1977, SENEGAL), MANILA: IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT (1975, PHILIPPINES)

Ceddo

From the CIA World Factbook
Senegal
Granted independence 1960
Population 15 million
95% Muslim 5% Christian
Official language: French
Interesting export item: Fish, Groundnuts
Imports: Fuels

The only Senegalese movies in any edition of the 1001 book are two movies directed by Osuman Sembene (Moolade, about female genital mutilation and Ceddo). Ceddo is about what goes on in a local village when the coming of the slave trade occurs, as well as attempts to convert the people to Christianity and later Islam. Neither of the outside factors are portrayed sympathetically, which is a good thing. I'm interested in movies that come from a different perspective than I'm used to and Ceddo is a good fit into this category of film.

Manila: In the Claws of Light

From the CIA World Factbook
Philippines
Became a self-governing commonwealth in 1935
Population  105 million
80% Roman Catholic, 8% protestant
Official languages: Filipino, English
Interesting Export Item: Coconut Oil
Interesting Import Item: Plastic

The only film from the Philippines in the 1001 book is Manila: In the Claws of Light. It is about a young villager named Julio who comes to the big city of Manila to find out what happened to his girlfriend, Ligaya. He has to toil in a construction job for almost no pay and later even considers being a male escort to make ends meet. After being in Manila for over a year, he finally encounters Ligaya, who has been caught up in a sexual slavery ring during most of this time. Her life is further complicated by her giving birth and being blackmailed by her pimp into not running away.

Not unlike some other dramas of the type, this one is once again interesting in coming from the point of view of a Filipino filmmaker who is not afraid to show many of the problems inherent in his society, including the exploitation of male construction workers and girls taken into forced prostitution.

You have to admire both of these directors, who have made films that their respective governments could not have been enthusiastic about the citizens of their respective countries seeing.

RED PSALM (1972, HUNGARY), THE ASTHENIC SYNDROME (1989, SOVIET UNION)

Circle of unity in Red Psalm

Well, comrades. I must say Red Psalm depicts a lot of solidarity amongst the peasant workers being put down by the business interests and using the army as an instrument to fight against them. They do this through a lot of singing "Long live the workers! Long live the rights of workers society! Let's dance and celebrate the cannon of the liberator!" The camera is always moving and there are many effective scenes of the people moving one way hand in hand while the camera goes in the opposite direction. The scene where the army opens fire is enhanced by the lack of blood depicted. The people fall down, but fall down as one.You hear me brothers and sisters?

And remember comrades, don't be distracted by our sisters occasionally taking their clothes off!

Random trumpet blowing in The Asthenic Syndrome

Okay, comrades. I wish I got more out of The Asthenic Syndrome. The black and white section of the story shows a woman who has lost her husband and is going through grief. The larger color second half shows a teacher who suffers from the titular affliction of falling asleep at inappropriate times. The story isn't presented in an easy to fathom narrative most of the time. At least it's not too capitalist.

Both of these films might gain from repeated viewings. Red Psalm may bring you to its camp by sucking you into it's rhythm. The Asthenic Syndrome may be more palatable with a context of what to look for established in your mind before diving back in.

JOE (1970), PUTNEY SWOPE (1969)

Peter Boyle as Joe

I've heard about the movie Joe for a long time. I knew it was about a bigot played by Peter Boyle, but the movie turned out to be a much different cinematic experience than I expected. We don't even get to meet Joe until about 30 minutes into the movie!

The plot starts with a young hippie chick named Melissa (Susan Sarandon) trying to get along with her druggie boyfriend. Unfortunately, she has a freak out and gets sent to the hospital. Her affluent father Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick) then goes to their pad when they aren't there to gather her belongs. The boyfriend comes home and provokes Compton who kills the young hippie in a rage.

The clearly upset Compton goes into a bar where we (finally) meet Joe (Peter Boyle), who has plenty to say negatively about blacks and gays. However, Joe has a special animosity towards those young hippie punks (Hey, boomers) who he thinks are destroying the moral fabric of society. The working class Joe and the upper class Compton form an unlikely friendship that leads them to unlikely places.

Joe is a very solid drama. Part of this can be attributed to the script by Haskell Wexler (Read the section of Bob Zmuda's book on Andy Kaufman for a look at how crazy Wexler was.) As I mentioned, the story did not go into predictable places and some may find parts of it dated or the ending a bit too much, but I still give it a thumbs up, especially for those who like films from the period.

Susan Sarandon in Joe

There's a new business model

in Putney Swope

Speaking of films of the period, how about Robert Downey Sr.'s film Putney Swope? Putney has a small cult following, but I had never seen it before today. The movie begins with one black board executive (named Putney Swope) at an advertising company becoming the CEO when the old CEO dies and the rest of the board votes Swope CEO because they all thought no body else would vote for him!

Swope cleans house and now the advertising firm is called Truth and Soul and big changes come about. The story is tongue and cheek and intentionally over-the-top. Some of the jokes don't land quite as solidly perhaps they were intended to, but there are a lot of truths that come out of this film. Truths about advertising, selling out, doing anything for money, pay inequality and getting rid of anyone who doesn't agree with you. We also have a midget president, an executive board that looks like members of The Black Panthers and some commercial ads that are often tasteless and usually pretty funny.

Glad to finally get these off my late 60's early 70's bucket list (Which I guess must be an unwritten supplement to the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die List).

The midget president in Putney Swope

WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954), BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974)

White Christmas

Today's Christmas double feature: White Christmas (1954) and Black Christmas (1974)!

Black Christmas

The plots: White Christmas features Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye as musical performers who romance Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in snowless Vermont.

Black Christmas has a killer going around killing college girls in a sorority house.

Popularity: The lighthearted White Christmas was the biggest movie hit of 1954. It has shown up perennially on TV in subsequent years.

The not-so lighthearted Black Christmas was a minor hit in 1974 and has gained a cult following since.

The Directors: Despite the popularity of White Christmas, it is not considered to be one of director Michael Curtiz's great films. Yankee Doodle Dandy, Mildred Pierce and (especially) Casablanca fill that void.

Black Christmas director Bob Clark is remembered more these days as the director of another Christmas classic, A Christmas Story.

The leading man: White Christmas's leading man Bing Crosby was probably the most popular man in movies during the 40's and into the 50's. He didn't do too badly with records either. He had a laid back and likable style (at least on-screen) that was very appealing. Gary Giddens is writing a biography series on Crosby that has so far stretched to two volumes. I've read the first, A Pocketful of Dreams -The Early Years, 1903-1940 and it is recommended for those who like lots of details about early sound musicals and the record industry during that time.

Black Christmas's leading man Keir Dullea is best know to cinefiles as Dave Bowman in 2001: A Space Odyssey, where he plays the laconic astronaut, Dave Bowman. He shows some surprising versatility in Black Christmas by playing a temperamental artist. He also looks quite different with long hair (A little Marc Singer in The Beastmaster, maybe?).

The leading lady: I suppose you'd call Rosemary Clooney (Betty Haynes) the leading lady of White Christmas, though I find myself more of a Vera-Ellen (Judy Haynes) man.

Lovely Olivia Hussey (Romeo and Juliet) is the leading lady here and I guess you could call her one of the first "lady in distress running from a killer" roles that would be featured in many films during the subsequent decades.

Character actor alert: Ubiquitous character actor Dean Jagger plays the retired general who Bing and the gang are putting on a show for in White Christmas. Dean's hundreds of movies and TV credits include: Bad Day at Black Rock, The Robe and the "Static" episode of The Twilight Zone. He won a supporting actor Oscar for Twelve O'Clock High. He appeared with Bruce Lee in the 1978 film Game of Death.

Ubiquitous character actor John Saxon plays the detective searching for the killer in Black Christmas. He appeared in way too many movies and TV shows to name, but seemed to appear in a lot of horror and science fiction: Blood Beach, Planet Earth, Nightmare on Elm Street, Battle Beyond the Stars, etc. Saxon was also a martial arts expert and co-starred with Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. (Okay, I was not expecting to find a Bruce Lee connection between Dean Jagger and John Saxon, but there you have it!)

Scenes that made me think of the actor's real life: Danny Kaye is featured in a number in White Christmas called The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing. He sing-talks part of the song in a proper English accent which made me think of Laurence Olivier, who Kaye had a long-standing affair with.

In Black Christmas, the kind of wild sorority girl with the fresh mouth is played by a pre-Lois Lane Margot Kidder. It made me think of the party girl Kidder I read about in the book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls.

The mind wanders: The Vermont Inn setting in White Christmas made me think of the show Newhart. The sorority/fraternity setting in Black Christmas made me think of Animal House.

It's interesting that: There is a lot more snow in Black Christmas than White Christmas.

It's interesting that: (musical number). The only Christmas Carol we hear in Black Christmas is performed in the foreground while a murder is going on at the same time. Bing sings a number in White Christmas called What Can You Do With a General? that is the only song I can think of that is about enlisted men singing about how hard generals have it (at least not ironically!).

Tensest moment: At the end of Black Christmas when the killer is chasing Olivia Hussey you ask, "She's going to get away, isn't she?" (She does). At the beginning of the musical number, I'd Rather See a Minstrel Show, you ask "They aren't going to put on blackface, are they?" (They don't).

Telephone issues that we wouldn't have today: Busybody Mary Wickes overhears part of a phone conversation (by getting on the extension) that Bing Crosby is on that leads to a rift between Bing and Rosemary Clooney. The phone issue in Black Christmas is in the constant attempt to get a tracer on the line for the caller that keeps threatening Olivia Hussey.

Questionable plot points: White Christmas has a lot of them, which you are supposed to ignore because this is a lighthearted musical, but when Rosemary Clooney leaves Bing Crosby at the Inn in Vermont for New York and seems to have an elaborate stage show set up there virtually overnight for her to star in only to return with Bing to perform in time for Christmas...it strains credulity even in context...best to not think of it too much.

Black Christmas-When you know there is a series of murders occurring and people keep coming up missing, you might want to search the attic in the sorority house since you're investigating the crime and you're already in the damn house! There might be a dead body or two up there and they've probably been up there almost the whole movie!

Miscellaneous trivia: Black Christmas has been remade twice, including a version released this month! If you're ever at trivia night and you are asked what movie did Bing Crosby first sing White Christmas, the answer is Holiday Inn (1942).

Poster art: I've always really liked the poster for Black Christmas with the tagline, "If this picture doesn't make your skin crawl, it's on to tight!"

The White Christmas poster points out that this film is in VistaVistion, a wide screen experience you can't get on your little black and white 1954 TV!

Merry Christmas!

AN ACTOR'S REVENGE (1963, JAPAN), THEATER OF BLOOD (1973)

The Kabuki actor (Kazuo Hasegawa) onstage in

An Actor's Revenge

An Actor's Revenge is Kom Ichicawa's film about a Kabuki actor named Yukitaro who as a youth had his parents led to suicide by three men. The film depicts his infiltration of these men's lives in later years with the intention of  extracting a little payback on them.  His plan is complicated by his feelings for one of the men's daughters, who in turn has fallen in love with Yukitaro. I tend to like these Japanese films with Kabuki actors: The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums, Ballad of Narayma, Late Spring among others. 

The character of Yamitaro is most interesting. He appears in feminine form onstage...and has the same persona offstage. This persona is what the daughter of one of the revenge targets falls in love with. She is originally just a vehicle for Yamitaro to help with his plan, but he does begin to have real feelings for her. But what exactly are the extent of these feelings? Whatever they are, they do complicate his plan. I do think their relationship is the heart of the film.

The world's a stage for Vincent Price

in Theater of Blood

I tried to think of another actor's revenge themed movie to team An Actor's Revenge with and the obvious choice for me is the 1973 film Theater of Blood featuring Vincent Price as a hammy Shakespearean actor named Edward Lionheart who takes revenge on his critics by killing them one by one by methods adapted directly from his Shakespearean roles.I first saw this on late night telly at my Aunt's house forty years ago! So a revisit was interesting.

There is a lot of good here. Price is appropriately over the top with his Shakespeare soliloquies and also the administering of his murders. For example, he gets one of his critics to kill his wife in a jealous rage like in Othello or tries to gauge out the eyes of another a la King Lear. The film also has the plus of a young Diana Rigg as his complicit daughter.

However, there are problems with the plot. Chief among them is the fact that there is a police investigation into the killings and they figure out that Lionheart is committing the murders and have the targeted critics under police surveillance. However, the police are so casual with watching the critics, they allow several of the critics to be murdered right under their noses! Oh, well. It's still a nice watch for Price fans. 

NO FEAR, NO DIE (1990, FRANCE), COCKFIGHTER (1974)

Jocelyn (Alex Descas) admires his cock

in No Fear, No Die

Dah (Isaach De Bankole)  and Jocelyn (Alex Descas) are two Caribbean men who train and fight roosters for profit (they hope) in France under the guidance of Pierre, who supplies the area where the fighting and wagers take place. It is an interesting though unpleasant character study of a rather seedy business, which ends with the death of the prize rooster (Named No Fear, No Die) as well as one of the men.

The word cock as described as a rooster used to fight with can clearly be seen as an extension of the other common meaning of the word. Pierre says something to the effect of “Once you get the taste of cock, you can never give it up.” He’s talking about fighting roosters, isn’t he?

Musical reference: The title No Fear, No Die keeps making me think of the Bob Marley song No Woman, No Cry. That song is not used in the movie, but the Marley song Buffalo Soldiers is used twice.

Casting notes: Isaach De Bankole and Alex Descas were later re-teamed in one of the sketches in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes.

Solveig Dommartin in No Fear, No Die

The lovely Solveig Dommartin plays the female lead here and previously played the acrobat in Wings of Desire.

Warren Oates strokes his cock

in Cockfighter

In Monte Hellman’s Cockfighter, the cockfighter played by Warren Oates has rendered himself mute (or castrated) until he gets named Cockfighter of the Year. When he finally does win the prize, he can speak, but his girlfriend no longer wants to be with someone who is involved in something so sordid as cockfighting. He then pulls the head off his prize cock (another form of castration) and declares that she still loves him even though it appears she has walked out on him for good.

The I remember reference: I remember this movie as being controversial on release and reading an article in the Atlanta Constitution about it at the time, but have never seen it until now! The movie being filmed in Georgia may be why it got a little extra ink in that paper during the initial theatrical run.

Casting notes: For fans of Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop, we have a scene where hitchhiker Lori Byrd is driving in a car with Warren Oates when she is not driving with The Mechanic and The Driver. The first scene in Cockfighter has Byrd and Oates driving down the road almost as if they were still in the previous movie! This is a nice touch. Hitchhiker Harry Dean Stanton form Two-Lane Blacktop is also along for the ride in Cockfighter.

Also of note: Cockfighter producer Roger Corman states that this film was one of the few of his movies that didn't turn a profit. For more on Corman, you might want to check out the book Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses: Roger Corman, King of the B-Movie.

Cockfighter (the novel) author Charles Willeford has a nice supporting role as one of the guys who runs the fights in Cockfighter (the movie).

Cockfighter was also released under

the title Born to Kill. The scenes depicted

on this poster must have been from some other

movie, because I certainly didn't see them 

in Cockfighter!

Conclusions: Personally, I think two movies back-to-back about cock fighting may be enough for the week... or maybe forever.

TURKISH DELIGHT (1973, THE NETHERLANDS), SOLDIER OF ORANGE (1977, NETHERLANDS), THE FOURTH MAN (1983, NETHERLANDS)

Portrait of the artist

Rutger Hauer and Monique Van De Vem

in Turkish Delight

Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven has a lot of eclectic films on his directorial resume. The director of science fiction classics Robocop and Total Recall also directed the tawdry Showgirls? And the sexy thriller Basic Instinct was also from the director of the battlin' bugs epic Starship Troopers?

Three early films made by Verhoeven in the the Netherlands are all ones I've never seen before

.

Turkish Delight features Rutger Hauer as Eric, a struggling artist (aren't they all) who is more than a bit of a womanizer and has an artist's temperament to say the least. We see him kill someone early on and I thought this one going to be a kind of serial killer film, but luckily this was only a fantasy of the character. We actually meet the artist in the aftermath of his relationship with a woman named Olga who has a complex relationship with Eric to say the least. We see their times together mostly as a flashback. They love together, they fight, they break-up. Olga moves away, marries someone else, she gets divorced from that other guy, Eric and Olga get back together before Olga gets terminally ill. It's a complex relationship for certain.

Okay, that's one for Verhoeven in the Sex Drama category.

Portrait of the soldier

Ruther Hauer in Soldier of Orange

Soldier of Orange also stars Rutger Hauer in a totally different role this time in a totally different kind of film than Turkish Delight. We have a World War II drama (with Hauer as a student who becomes a soldier) featuring the various dramas of the Dutch fighting the Nazis during the war. The drama includes the fighting, romance, strategy, subterfuge and surprising change of allegiances. Like All Quiet on the Western Front, Hauer and his friends eventually go down one by one. A fine drama and I certainly haven't seen many (if any) WWII films from a Dutch perspective.

Okay, that's one for Verhoeven in the War Drama category.

Portrait of the devil in disguise

Renee Soutendijk and Jeroen Krabbe

in The Fourth Man

Finally, we have The Fourth Man (and no, no Rutger Hauer this time.) Jeroen Krabbe plays a novelist (you know he's in trouble just from that) who gets involved with a woman (Renee Soutendijk) who is exciting as anything, but dangerous and deadly as the novelist keeps getting visions of the fourth man (or number of her victim). He'd prefer victim number four isn't him. A creative thriller for sure and one with lots of religious symbolism and a female character who is definitely a forerunner of the Sharon Stone character from Basic Instinct.

Okay, that's one for Verhoeven in the thriller/suspense category.

I do appreciate a director who can do a wide variety of films, even one that directed Showgirls.

Portrait of a stripper

in Showgiirls

THE TIN DRUM (1979, GERMANY), EUROPA, EUROPA (1990, GERMANY)

 Oskar growing up mentally faster than physically

in The Tin Drum

The Tin Drum is a film about a young man named Oskar who avoids the Nazis by just not growing past age three. In his case, it's more than just the Nazis, it's the whole awful grown up world. The Tin Drum is an epic tale of the war, cleverly seen through the eyes of an outsider by his circumstance who is nevertheless right in the middle of many of the atrocities of war.

I've read some of Gunter Grass's original novel on which the movie is based. I got through about a hundred pages before getting just too bogged down and a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing. Maybe I'll try again...

Europa, Europa is a film about a young man named Solomon who avoids the Nazis by posing as one of them. Solomon lives with his Jewish family in Nazi Germany and as you can imagine for the time, he is displaced and many in his family are killed. He winds up in a Soviet orphanage where he is trained to be a good Bolshevik. The orphanage is bombed and he is captured by Nazis who he convinces that he is one of them. He is valuable to them because of his bilingual abilities. His circumcised penis is also something he has to hide at all cost to avoid his discovery of being a Jew. We showed this film several years ago at the library and it was good to watch this one again. Europa, Europa shows we do what we have to to survive and that it pays to be smart...but also pays to be lucky.  

Solomon (Marco Hofschneider) has a very 

practical reason for not going all the way with

his German girlfriend in Europa, Europa

Europa, Europa is based on the real life memoir by Solomon Perel. As of this writing, Solomon is 94 years old and still a survivor!

WHO'S THAT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR (1967), THE LAST WALTZ (1977), KUNDUN (1997), ROLLING THUNDER REVUE: A BOB DYLAN STORY (2019), THE IRISHMAN (2019)

Younger Scorsese

You can't go through the 1001 list or any kind of movie list without running into director Martin Scorsese multiple times. A student of film history, I must have come across fifty DVD's with at least a snippet of an opinion from Scorsese about one movie or another. However, there are a still few of Scorsese's own movies that I have just now added to viewing resume.

Who's That Knocking On My Door 

Who's That Knocking On My Door (1967) is Scorsese's first film and really a prototype for a lot of his later films of the mean streets. It features Harvey Keitel as a young street tough who tries to romance a girl with a secret in her past. It's interesting that Keitel's character is a stand-in for Scorsese and loves to talk on and on about movies. What better way to impress a girl than reciting the entire plotline of The Searchers!  Other familiar elements of the director come into play such as religious symbolism and unexpected twists in a romantic relationship. You also have a lot of the tough guy hanging out banter you come to expect from a Scorsese picture.

The Last Waltz

The Last Waltz (1978) is a film that I can't believe I haven't seen before! It shows the Scorsese who is pretty adept at being a music documentarian and features the last concert for The Band after sixteen years on the road. It helps in watching that I'm a fan of their music (The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The Weight). The Last Waltz also features guest appearances from a Who's Who of musicians I like: Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris and of course frequent Band collaborator Bob Dylan. Of course, never say never as The Last Waltz isn't really the last waltz as The Band is touring with Dylan in 2019!

Kundun

Kundun (1997) may seem like a departure for Scorsese with the emphasis on the spiritual quest for the Dali Lama. But isn't the director of The Last Temptation of Christ often in search of spiritual meaning? The film shows how the spiritual quest can be effected negatively by the political situation going on around you. It also depicts well the spiritual growth of the Dalai Lama as he gets older and accepting of his important place in the world. Scorsese is clearly on the Dalai Lama's team throughout.

The Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story

The Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story (2019) is Scorsese's recent music documentary that shows us what happened during Dylan's 1975 tour and is a most interesting trip for fans. Dylan and friends such as Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg and Joni Mitchell and others were on parts of the tour, in which they performed mostly in small venues. The size of these venues made for some great music and is fascinating to watch now, but at the time was said to have been a financial black hole because of the limited seating capacities of the places they played. There are many interesting characters here including Ratso Sloman and Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. There are some fictional characters thrown also thrown in for better or for worse, including Michael Murphy as politician Jack Tanner The Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story makes an interesting double feature with The Last Waltz.

The Irishman

So now I'm ready to watch what promises to be Scorsese's ultimate gangster epic, The Irishman. At three and a half hours, it's certainly has an epic time frame. The story of Jimmy Hoffa and his associate Frank Sheehan is a story that certainly warrants the length. It's not a conventional bio, in that we are seeing things from the perspective of Sheehan (Robert De Niro) much more than Hoffa (Al Pacino). The storytelling (with lots of narration) should be familiar to fans of Scorsese films such as Goodfellas and Casino. The Irishman has much to recommend it: the story, the setting, the performances and the chilling sudden bursts of violence. The cast is also interesting including Who's That Knocking on My Door star Harvey Keitel in a supporting role, as well as Anna Paquin, Ray Ramono and many others. But the core of the story is the main three players (De Niro, Pacino and Joe Pesci) who despite being in their late 70's, play their characters over the course of several decades. Their performances are enhanced by some high tech CGI make-up, as well as a director that is constantly reminding them of what age they are supposed to be acting like in what scene.

The Irishman is a welcome edition to the already monumental Scorsese canon. We'll see how this does at Academy Awards time.

Older Scorsese

DOLEMITE (1975), DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (2019)

 Rudy May Moore is...Dolemite

I was listening to a podcast recently featuring screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. They were talking about their newest film, Dolemite is My Name starring Eddie Murphy. It made me want to see it, but also realized I had never seen the original Dolemite movie before! How had I missed this classic?

So I knew I had to quickly get acquainted with the original.

Dolemite is both a masterpiece of camp and enjoyable in its on right. Dolemite (played by the one and only Rudy May Moore) gets released from jail and sort of goes undercover searching for bad guys and bad cops. He wears flashy clothes, makes out with a lot of sexy girls who can do Kung Fu and says Motherfucker! a lot! He also shares a lot of his slam/bam poetry with us and provides my favorite moments from the movie.

It's a fun ride and your 70's blaxploitation viewing resume isn't complete without it.

Eddie Murphy is ...Rudy May Moore...in

Dolemite is My Name!

This set me up to watch Dolemite is My Name! with Eddie Murphy playing Rudy May Moore. Rudy is an enthusiastic self promoter. He sings and does comedy in local clubs but never manages to make it big. He's into his forties at this point and that big break in show business is unlikely at this point...or is it? Murphy has a field day in this role as the never say die Rudy May. The screenplay gives us everything we could possibly want to know about the unlikely rise of  Mr. Dolemite. Some of the highlights of the film include Rudy's absorption of old stories from street people to create his Dolemite character and the making of the Dolemite film, which is produced on the cheap to say the least.

Alexander and Karaszewski also wrote the screenplay for Ed Wood, a story of another unlikely movie icon. Ed and Rudy May both had their loyal entourages, who we get to know well in Ed Wood and Dolemite is My Name! 

MURMUR OF THE HEART (1971, FRANCE), AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (1987, FRANCE)

Clara Chevalier (Lea Massari) teaches 

her son  Laurent (Benoit Ferroux)

some questionable lessons in Murmur of the Heart

I have a set of volumes of reviews from the New York Times Film Reviews (Movie Nerd alert!) from 1913-1988. Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart (Le Souffle au Coueur) is the only film I've found indexed within the volumes as having three separate reviews in one year! The reviews range from enthusiastic (Vincent Canby) to not-so-great (Roger Greenspun). The main issue brought up is the scene where this coming of age story of a 15-year-old boy in early 50's France has an incestuous encounter with his mother late in the film.

The protagonist in this film likes Jazz, politics and the idea of his older brothers taking him to a brothel. The movie is well done and I like the fact that our hero is an intellectual, but found it to be lacking in charm or have much in the way of likable characters. It left me a little deflated to tell you the truth. The incest scene certainly didn't help, though it was about as tastefully done as such a scene can be.

Bonnet (Ralphael Fejto) and Julien (Gaspard Manesse)
eye an uncertain futhre in Au Revoir Les Enfants

Just when I was thinking Malle's French films were overrated, I watched Au Revoir Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children) as a follow-up to Murmur of the Heart. This is also a coming of age story set in a French boarding school during World War II. Many of the problems of youth are explored here, but done so within the context of Nazi occupation. Julien, a rather pampered boy and Bonnet, who hides the fact that he is Jewish as long as he can are the two main characters here. I think this film is very moving and gives us what I think is an authentic view of adolescence, even one exacerbated by the cold realities of war.

New York Times critic Vincent Canby also liked this one, saying it "remains utterly specific, which is why it's so moving without being sentimental. Though the action covers only a few weeks, it seems to cover a lifetime."

THE COOL WORLD (1963), KILLER OF SHEEP (1977)

The Cool World

The Cool World, Shirley Clarke's 1963 film about life in a gang on the streets of Harlem comes across so realistically at times that it has the feel of a documentary where we are following around the characters in the film and just observing whatever they do. It makes you feel that this is happening right in front of you and we are just voyeurs peeking into their tragic lives. The dialogue seems real...so real in fact that we miss a lot of it. But that's kind of the point, isn't it? The whole drama comes across as a giant jazz riff to me and due to the setting and portrayals of the film, that is also on point. No need for stylized Hollywood product here. 

Killer of Sheep

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep certainly isn't anything close to stylized Hollywood product either. The main character named Stan (Henry G. Sanders) has a thankless job working at a slaughterhouse in Watts. We see the events of his life unfold with his wife and kids, shady friends, the law and no easy paths to anything that he really wants.The film has no great tragedy to propel the plot. The tragedy is the futility and hopelessness of the lives of many of the characters. This is summed up for me in the scene where Stan and a friend struggle to carry down a motor down a flight of steps to load up in his truck to take it to resell. When he starts the truck, the motor falls off the back, breaking it. Kids playing in makeshift playgrounds where buildings are being put up (or torn down) seem to be the freest and happiest in this somber but moving movie.

AMARCORD (1972, ITALY), 1900 (1976, ITALY), CINEMA PARADISO (1988. ITALY)

 Amarcord's resident tobacconist about to give an

awkward lesson in love

Lovesick Uncle Teo goes up a tree

to declare his needs (Voglio una donna!) to anyone who will listen

in Amarcord

The comical likeness of Mussolini in Amarcord

It has been thirty-four years since I last saw Fellini's Amarcord during a college course in film comedy before watching it today. I don't think of Fellini as a comedy filmmaker, though many of his other films certainly have funny moments. Amarcord is Fellini's nostalgic reminiscence of the Italian village where he grew up. Amarcord has many of Fellini's offbeat characters which he is know for and they are drawn out well. It's a lovely film with many comic highlights as well as some not-so-funny scenes of political oppression. I do have to admit the scene with the teenage boy and the ample-bosomed tobacconist is still my favorite. Crazy Uncle Teo is good for some laughs as well.

 Young Alfredo and Olmo tempt

fate in 1900

The adult Olmo and Alfredo in 1900

Olmo and Alfredo as grumpy old men

in 1900

Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 is an epic story of growing up in twentieth century Italy seen through the eyes of two friends named Alfredo and Olmo, played by Robert De Niro and Gerard Depardieu. De Niro comes from the rich and influential family and Depardieu comes from the poor one. This multi-generational epic is a tale well told that has a lot to say about politics, changing of fortunes and loyalty. The version I watched was about four hours long, but the story was more than big enough to warrant the running time.

 Young Toto with his projectionist mentor Alfredo

 Teenage Toto falls in love with Elena

Older Toto reunited with Elena thirty years later

Cinema Paradiso is simply one of the most charming films ever made. A small boy named Toto in a small Sicilian town spends a lot of  his free time with Alfredo, the projectionist at the local movie theater. We also see Toto during his teen years when he is the Cinema projectionist and falls in love with a local girl named Elena. The final part has the grown up successful filmmaker Toto returning to his village thirty years later for Alfredo's funeral and concludes with his reuniting with Elena all those years later. The film works as nostalgia, a romance and as a film for anyone who has a love of cinema.