THE TITICUT FOLLIES (1967), EX LIBRIS (2017)

Titicut Follies (1967) is the first of a long list of documentaries from director Frederick Wiseman. Wiseman's most recent film*, Ex Libris is from 2017. His most famous film is probably High School from 1969 and is listed as one of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

Titicut Follies is about the goings on at an asylum for the criminally insane. We see the inmates being treated. We see the inmates ranting.  We see the inmates being deloused. We see feeding time. We see them alone in their room staring.We see some of the psychiatrists going over the case records. We also see the inmates singing and performing! We see a lot of things, but what is interesting to me is what we don't see. We don't see any voice-over narration as to what is going on here. We don't see any interviewer asking questions, leading or otherwise. We don't see any graphics identifying who the people are in the film.

By my three film sample of the Wiseman catalog, this seems to be his style. (In other words, he is definitely not Michael Moore). Wiseman's method must not make it easy for the filmmaker to put the film together and certainly doesn't make it easy on the viewer. That isn't meant as a criticism, as this can really get the viewer engaged if what is on the screen is compelling. And it is here. Titicut Follies is often sad and as I assume with many of Wiseman's films it doesn't present the institute it is showing in a particularly favorable light.

A crowd gathers at the Bridgewater State Hospital

in The Titicut Follies

Wiseman's output over the next fifty years, tackle many other institutions, including: hospitals, the police department, the military, the government, among dozens of others. It took him fifty years to finally get to the library.

Ex Libris shows us all about the New York Public library. And as I mentioned before, the viewer is not going to be spoon fed the information presented. It might help if you knew who Richard Dawkins and Elvis Costello were beforehand to really appreciate what they are saying at their respective library programs discussing their new books.

We also see a lot of the outreach that librarians do. (You don't just sit around and read books all day?) Serving the needs of the community as diverse as New York City is certainly a great challenge (As it is for most communities). 

We see managers in the library trying to get a handle on how to best improve things. We see digitizing...and niche workshops...and making rare artwork available...and students going through the library collection of photos to inspire their own art. We see the library being responsive to needs of the community in general, which I know from experience is a constantly changing thing. We see ideas on how to serve the homeless and other struggling groups. The best action scene in the movie is when the staff checks in books using the NYPL's epic library book sorter!

As a librarian myself, I appreciated and enjoyed a lot of what I saw here. I will say at over three hours, it did seem a little long at times...though I certainly don't want to disparage any movie with a library as a central character.

A crowd gathers at the New York Public Library

in Ex Libris

Most of the films of Frederick Wisman can be accessed on the Kanopy streaming service, which is (drumroll, please) probably available from you local library!

*Additional note, Wiseman actually had a new film released in 2018 about farming. At 89 years old, apparently he isn't slowing down any!

EASY RIDER (1969), THE HIRED HAND (1971)

Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider

“Nobody Knows Anything,” is the famous (or at least semi-famous) quote from screenwriter William Goldman on Hollywood’s inability to determine what is going to be a hit and what’s going to be a really big hit.

Peter Bart explores this topic in his book Boffo: How I Learned to Love the Blockbuster and Fear the Bomb.

The idea for the film Easy Rider (explored in Bart’s chapter Kaleidoscope of the 60’s) began with a stoned Peter Fonda wanting to make a motorcycle movie in response to an edict by Jack Valenti, who wanted Hollywood to make more wholesome Sound of Music type films (There is a chapter on The Sound of Music in Bart’s book, but that’s another story). So Fonda got an unproven director (friend and co-star Dennis Hopper) and wrote the film with Hopper and Dr. Strangelove writer Terry Southern. They also brought in a B-movie actor for an important supporting part (some guy named Jack Nicholson). They managed to get it produced and backed by Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson (the folks that brought you the unusual Monkees’ epic Head). Easy Rider got made on a very tight budget, but became one of the biggest hits of the year.

Watching the movie again today, one might be prone to label it as being dated. Possibly, but I don’t see that as necessarily being a bad thing. It is definitely a product of its time. I don’t think it would have worked coming out in 1967 (too soon) or 1971 (too passé). To use an unfortunate cliché, it caught the zeitgeist of its time (I again apologize for using this phrase).Many of the scenes, such as their time at a commune (featuring a memorable full circle camera shot of the communers by cinematographer Laszlo Kovacs), the Mardi Gras acid trip and of course the famous café scene filmed with “real” hateful, redneck non-actors are classic. But my favorite scene is still Jack Nicholson smoking his first joint (Peter Fonda: No man, this is grass. Jack: You mean marijuana?) and rambling on and on about extra-terrestrials that are living among us.

Lets also not forget about the great soundtrack (Dylan, Hendrix, The Byrds,The Band and, of course, the classic “Don’t Bogart That Joint my Friend.” by The Fraternity of Man.)
And if you’re looking for a movie that represents the zeitgeist of 1969 (Damn, there’s that phrase again!), I don’t think you’ll find a more fitting one than this one.

Peter Fonda's 1971 follow-up to Easy Rider was The Hired Hand, a Western. As you see by the poster above, it was promoted as a sort of Western Easy Rider, but that definitely isn't what The Hired Hand is. There are plot similarities between the two films. Harry Collings (Fonda) does travel around with a partner (Arch, played by Warren Oates). There is also a third partner who is killed by locals early in the film. We also have a nice soundtrack, but instead of a Rock and Roll, we have a more mournful but absolutely appropriate score by Bruce Langhorne. But in The Hired Hand, Harry isn't looking for America, he finds that after years of drifting he wants to return home to his wife (Verna Bloom). He wants this despite his partner's desire to explore the wonders of California.

If you want to look at The Hired Hand as a cult Western, it doesn't have the epic grandeur of Once Upon a Time in the West, the style of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the societal implications of Little Big Man or the sheer oddness of El Topo. It also only has one shootout and that's at the end of the film...Okay, that scene did make me think of Easy Rider a little. What it does have is a nice tone of its own and the leisurely pace that works in favor of the story line. I'm glad it was included in the 1001 book and am glad it has found an audience in more recent years.

Peter Fonda and Warren Oates in The Hired Hand

TOKYO OLYMPIAD (1965, JAPAN), MUNICH (2005)

Tokyo Olympiad

Tokyo Olympiad, Kom Inchikawa's documentary of the 1964 Olympic Games, isn't your typical sports highlight reel. What we have here is more of the feeling and atmosphere of the games whether than who won or lost. I suppose that's why some who watch the film aren't that pleased with it. Those of a more artistic bent seem more prone to like it.

We have a Japan that is not yet two decades removed from World War II, but clearly embracing the world and the spirit of competition. It is interesting the sports that are highlighted, as we get more of fencing than we get of basketball (less than 10 seconds for basketball). Perhaps Ichikawa's method is the best frame to see watch this now, as we can appreciate the artistry of as opposed to who won.

The highlight for me was the Marathon (won by Ethiopian Abebe Bikila) which successfully highlights the individual drama of the competition with little or no commentary.

Munich

The 1972 Munich Olympics were the first Olympics that I can remember. Those involved will always be stuck in my memory because they seemed bigger than life to a nine-year-old. Among the athletes:

· Seven gold medal winner Mark Spitz, who used the Olympics as a stepping stone to appear in a Bob Hope special, at least that’s the only other thing I can remember him doing afterwards.

· Frank Shorter, who won the Marathon despite an imposter running in front of him when he entered the stadium for his final laps. (Featuring Jim McKay’s commentary on the imposter. “That man is getting applause that belongs to Shorter!” Or something like that. It’s just not the Olympics without the commentary of Jim McKay.)

· Dave Wottle, Gold medal sprinter (who looked nothing like a sprinter) and his unforgettable golf hat.

· Long distance runner Jim Ryun getting tripped during a race he was favored to win-though I still admire his futile, hopeless attempt to get back in the race.

· Vince Matthews and Wayne Collete, 400m medalists, who talked during the playing of National Anthem at the award presentation. (Not as memorable as the medalists giving the black power salute, but that was a different Olympics, a different time.)

· Olga Korbut, the greatest Olympic gymnast ever until four years later when Nadia Commenci became the greatest Olympic gymnast ever.

· The Men’s basketball final where the U. S. got screwed over

by the refs in the final game against the Russians. (Editorial note: We should still field a team of college players no matter what them other countries do.)

Other names of note: Kip Keino, Lasse Viren, Shane Gould, Steve Prefontaine, Rodney Milburn, Sugar Ray Seales, Duane Bobick, Dan Gable, Dwight Stones, Teofilo Stevenson et al., etc…etc.

Sadly, what the Munich Olympic Games will mostly be remembered for is the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists. I'll never forget Jim McKay's dramatic commentary as the events unfolded ("They are no more").

This clip of Jim McKay is used in the beginning of Stephen Spielberg’s film

Munich. This film is more about the covert operation by the Israeli government to find (and kill) those responsible for the murders than the actual murders.Those murders are just the prelude here, but are smartly interspersed throughout the movie, so the viewer gets a greater understanding of what happened, or at least the films version of what happened.

Though the movie wasn't what I was expecting, it did have a lot to say about the difficulties involved in tracking, identifying, and killing terrorists.I like the way this is summed up by one of the movie’s characters:

The drunk Americans could have been CIA, for all we know Louis is CIA. They work both sides, everyone does. Or Louis is Mossad, now maybe he isn’t, but they’re using him to feed us information. There’s no direct link. Or Mossad’s giving it to the CIA, which is giving it to Louis and Ephraim’s demanding we give him Louis because we expect him to do…

How can you kill evildoers when you can’t even determine who they are?

For more fanatical fans of the Olympic Games, The Criterion Collection offers on Blu-Ray and DVD 100 Years of Olympic Films 1912-2012, which features 53 films from 41 Olympic films. It isn't cheap to purchase, but it looks like a great collection.

KOYAANISQATSI (1983), ARCHANGEL (1990, CANADA)

Koyannsqatsi: the natural world

Today's double feature starts with Godfrey Reggio's Koyannsqatsi. It is a film of images without narration, but with a constant score by Phillip Glass enhancing the images. It's about nothing and yet about everything. We see a lot of natural images...mountains, rivers and such. Then we see man made architecture, skyscrappers, demolition and such. We see a lot of human activity then...much of it speeded up. Director Reggio says the movie has different meanings to each viewer (even if you think it's crap-his words). It was a nice experience...I may want to check it out again...maybe after some fasting....or meditation...or peyote.

Koyannsqatsi:: man made demolition

 Archangel in the air

Just when I was lulled into a zen state with the non-narrative Koyannsqatsi, I was bombarded by more images from Guy Maddin's Archangel, a film about...what was it about again? This one I was supposed to draw something from the narrative...I know it showed some Canadian involvement in the Bolshevik revolution...World War I...bravery....flying...repeated images and a look that is very reminiscent of a silent movie..some pretty graphic gross out scenes. I admit I'm writing about this a few weeks after viewing and I'm having trouble remembering many plot details. I checked Wikipedia for the plot summary and there were apparently a lot of things that happened in Archangel that didn't stick with me. Meditation or fasting probably won't help with this one...maybe straight to the peyote.

Archangel on the ground