Bugsy Malone.

Review #1951: Bugsy Malone.

Cast: 

Scott Baio (Bugsy Malone), Florrie Dugger (Blousey Brown), Jodie Foster (Tallulah), John Cassisi (Fat Sam Staccetto), Martin Lev (Dandy Dan), Paul Murphy (Leroy Smith), Sheridan Earl Russell (Knuckles), Albin 'Humpty' Jenkins (Fizzy), Paul Chirelstein (Smolsky), Andrew Paul (O'Dreary), Jeffrey Stevens (Louis), Donald Waugh (Snake Eyes), Peter Holder (Ritzy), Michael Kirkby (Angelo), and Dexter Fletcher (Baby Face) Directed by Alan Parker.

Review: 

"It was a lunatic idea that one would only attempt at the beginning of a career, infused as it is with such ingenuousness, yet also with almost manic, devotion. Looking back after all this time, it’s easy to see that we must have been crazy even to have attempted it, but curiously, back in 1975, it never occurred to us for a moment that such an absurd creative notion would not work. As for the impossibly difficult logistics of actually filming it, that too eluded us."

Alan Parker was born in Islington, London, England with no aspirations to become a director. His first profession was in advertising, which he entered in 1962 when he was not even twenty years old. By 1968, he had gone from copywriting to directing TV advertisements. One of his numerous employers was Collett Dickenson Pearce, where he met David Puttnam and Alan Marshall, who each proved key in helping to produce this film years later. In fact, it was Puttnam that encouraged him to write what became his first screenplay in Melody (1971). He did a widely appreciated play on television with The Evacuees in 1975. Over time, he had written a handful of scripts, but most were rejected because they were deemed "too parochial" or "too English". Undaunted by this, he thus decided to write a script that seemed "American", despite having little knowledge of the country besides a few trips there to shoot commercials...but he did know American movies. The script that became this film was one inspired by the stories he told to his children to keep them occupied on journeys spent in the car, which involved gangsters and showgirls in New York. It was his eldest son who insisted that the characters were children. Parker did a tour of classrooms all throughout the States to go along with trips around American Air Force bases. Kids were cast from all around to the point where nearly 10,000 kids were seen in a cast that ultimately ended up being around 200 (with respective paperwork needing to be done for licenses, medical approvals, and you get the idea). Most of the filming was done at Pinewood Studios. So, we have a gangster film that is told with children that involves kids being splurged with cream (through the power of illusion, the guns shown shooting doughnut cream is actually done by editing shots of the gun shooting ping-pong balls to go with someone off-camera throwing cream at the actors). Parker described the film thirty years later as one where he has "ambivalent feelings of pride and embarrassment", one that seems quite different from the later films that Parker directed, although the mixed success of the film with audiences (a hit in the United Kingdom and less so in America) probably did not help. At any rate, he wrote a version of the film for use with amateur productions (which he took well), and a handful of stage productions have occurred since Parker's writing of the music book for a West End production in 1983. Over time he felt that as the years went by, the film still looked modern to him without looking dated and therefore was one he was proud of. Over the next three decades, Parker directed fourteen films, which included Midnight Express (1978), Mississippi Burning (1988), and Evita (1996); Parker retired in 2003 and died in 2020 at the age of 76.

It is indeed an odd film, but it is one that achieves the ideal any director would strive for: spontaneity. This is a film where Parker got exactly who he wanted for a palatable modern feel to a 1920s sound with Paul Williams as music composer, which means one hears kid actors having adults dub their voice for the songs in this gangster musical. It is that lives and dies on the effect generated by seeing a familiar story turned into amusement by seeing it with energy and all-around style that means one isn't going to be reminded of a glossier version of The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) or The Little Rascals. It isn't a movie that rides a joke down to the ground and stays there, instead being a film that earnestly has fun with committing to being a celebration of the gangster and musical genre that is pleasant. It is a movie that ends with a quality pie fight, how can one go wrong? Baio wanted to be on television when he was a kid, which resulted in a few commercials, but by the time he was approached to read the script for this film, he threw the script down and left - this show of spirit evidently won him the part, which was his first film role. He clearly is having a good time here with a role that encourages a bit of screwball zip without turning into sappy parody. Dugger was cast originally in a small role, but when the original actress cast for the female lead opposite Baio developed a growth spurt, Dugger became the lead in what became her only feature role (instead opting for a job in the military as a medical administrator and later ophthalmology). She proves fine for a role of mostly cliches, where chemistry isn't really important when the stakes are mostly kid hijinks. Cassisi was cast as a result of Parker's tour of classrooms all throughout the States (specifically a Brooklyn Catholic school) - when Parker asked a classroom who was the most badly behaved kid in the class, they all responded with Cassisi, and he is pretty amusing in a role that is basically the ham, which is generally amusing when paired against the other "kid boss" in Lev. Jodie Foster was Jodie Foster, a name already familiar with show business by the time she was 15. She has a good knowing sense of what to do in a supporting role that has good timing in terms of humor that obviously was destined for bigger things. The rest of the cast is fairly decent, giving credence to the plot not being lazy farce by giving their best to the odd material. The songs work to the level of the film in charm and timing without coming off as gooey or off-putting. As a whole, it may be an odd one to start a film career with, but Parker and company made a solid winner with this film in terms of bizarre charm that will likely be just right for the whole family.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next up, a film from the Czechs.

Inside Man.

Review #1543: Inside Man.

Cast: 
Denzel Washington (Detective Keith Frazier), Clive Owen (Dalton Russell), Jodie Foster (Madeleine White), Christopher Plummer (Arthur Case), Willem Dafoe (Captain John Darius), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Detective Bill Mitchell), Carlos Andrés Gómez (Steve), Kim Director (Stevie), James Ransone (Steve-O), Bernie Rachelle (Chaim), Peter Gerety (Captain Coughlin), Victor Colicchio (Sergeant Collins), and Cassandra Freeman (Sylvia) Directed by Spike Lee (#1255 - Do the Right Thing)

Review: 
"I hope they're doing it because they love it, not because they want to be rich or famous. Not that those things can't happen, but the main reason, the focus is, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I love it." Not to say that you don't want to make money, but the passion should be driven by your love for that particular thing that you're doing. "

It took long enough to get to just one Spike Lee film, so it obviously was going to be a short time before finding another one to cover as a meaningful look upon a director as interesting and progressive as he has proved throughout over 20 films directed in nearly four decades of work. Born in Atlanta, but raised in Brooklyn, Lee attended Morehouse College and New York University Tisch School of the Arts, studying mass communication and film, and he made his first short film with Last Hustle in Brooklyn (1979, inspired by the blackouts in New York City alongside block-parties involving disco that made him want to be a filmmaker) and his first student film in Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbership: We Cut Heads (released in 1983 as his thesis film that won a Student Academy Award). She's Gotta Have It (1986) and Do the Right Thing (1989) would each serve as defining points for Lee (the former as an independent success and the latter as likely one of the best films of the 1980s) in his movement to features that he has also served as writer or producer for a majority for as well doing his own documentaries (with his first being 4 Little Girls (1997) about the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing) all through his own film company in 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks.

The genesis for the film came from a first-time screenwriter in Russell Gerwitz (who studied computer science and law but worked in the retail clothing business) who was inspired by his vacations around Europe to do a film script (with five years of writing and help from Daniel M. Rosenberg), and it eventually found itself with Imagine Entertainment, with Lee being tapped to direct because of desire from Imagine to work with him (along with Ron Howard deciding to direct Cinderella Man instead). Sure, one could believe this as a potential great thriller. It obviously is very sure of itself in its tricks of the camera and plot that builds for that inevitable last turn for its climax and so on and so forth. In terms of its inspirations and attempts at a twist however, it probably ranks just as decent as The Usual Suspects (1995) in actually pulling things together to make it actually work beyond a cat-and-mouse game with misplaced mousetraps present (while also being inspired by Dog Day Afternoon (1975), which goes okay). The performances generally outweigh the way the script wants to weave its tricks and thrills, which means that it is a fine movie, but it certainly could have been a more interesting one. Washington (in his fourth collaboration with Lee) is fairly up to the task of handling his end of the proceedings with reasoned consistency as the anchor that holds everything together in tension and charm one expects from him. Owen does alright, having to balance a role with a good deal of time spent in a mask that nonetheless makes for a conniving counterpart with the goal of merely committing the perfect robbery, handling that with at least enough to make me believe most of that idea. Foster is fine in a vague kind of role that keeps her in relaxed authority fixing things behind the scenes in sequences shared either with Washington or Plummer, who slides by as a creature of privilege. Dafoe and Ejiofor do alright with their moments with Washington in the usual moments required from being on the beat with tension, even if it seems like one wants to see more of them, really. One thing that is generally different is the inclusion of post-break-in testimonials from hostages as interviewed by the police that are inserted from time to time (with their own type of lighting) in the film, which either helps the film in establishing little cues to follow or seems a bit distracting that depends on the viewer and their perception of what needs to be there in 129 minutes. Of course there's also those little moments beside a heist that are alright, such as a scene involving a kid and violent games (think of the children and how violent games affect them, oh the shock), which just inspires a "sure, uh huh" response after making sure it wasn't supposed to be amusing, alongside other things. For me, the whole film verges on how much composure and stakes actually hold up in the long run. For me, it holds itself a little too much in achieving its promises with execution to what I need to care about: I wish I really cared about this heist more than just the usual curiosity, because it tries hard to really move beyond straight thriller stuff but ultimately is just kept in standard gear but with a respectable director behind it instead. If you like what you see in its performances and see past its smokescreen to what really matters, you might find something really worthwhile for a watch, which is all that really matters.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Silence of the Lambs.

Review #1498: The Silence of the Lambs.

Cast:
Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling), Anthony Hopkins (Dr. Hannibal Lecter), Scott Glenn (Jack Crawford), Ted Levine (Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb), Anthony Heald (Dr. Frederick Chilton), Brooke Smith (Catherine Martin), Diane Baker (U.S. Senator Ruth Martin), Kasi Lemmons (Ardelia Mapp), Frankie Faison (Barney Matthews), Tracey Walter (Lamar), Charles Napier (Lt. Boyle), Danny Darst (Sgt. Tate), Alex Coleman (Sgt. Jim Pembry), Dan Butler (Roden), Paul Lazar (Pilcher), Ron Vawter (Paul Krendler), and Roger Corman (FBI Director Hayden Burke) Directed by Jonathan Demme (#1254 - The Manchurian Candidate (2004))

Review:
"I realized the actual bottom line truth of doing Silence of the Lambs, something I felt when I read that book. I thought, this could be the scariest movie ever, and I wanted to make that movie. I wanted to make a Psycho caliber fucking terrifying movie."

As the first (and so far only) horror film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, the inevitability for covering this film was high, particularly since the character of Hannibal Lecter is particularly well-known across film and novels over the years. This is adapted from Thomas Harris' novel of the same name, originally published in 1988 as the follow-up work to Red Dragon, which had been adapted into a film by Michael Mann under the name Manhunter (1986). The follow-up book Hannibal (1999) and the other book would be turned into films with Hopkins as Lecter, while the prequel Hannibal Rising (2006) would be turned to a film with Harris as screenwriter, and a Hannibal series followed a decade after that. Fitting that a horror film like this would come from an acolyte of Roger Corman (who even cameos in the film) with Jonathan Demme. He met Corman while doing publicity for Von Richthofen and Brown, and Corman was interested in Demme to do work for him at New World Pictures. The result was Angels Hard as They Come, which Demme produced and co-wrote with Joe Viola. He then directed his first work with the studio as director with Caged Heat (1974). Over the years he had a steady career of films, such as Melvin and Howard (1980), Something Wild (1986), and Married to the Mob (1988).

Despite the failure with audiences at the time of Manhunter (now regarded as a cult classic), there was still interest in turning the next Harris novel into a film, although the initial plans was apparently going to have Gene Hackman directing/starring in it (various others were considered for both lead roles, such as Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer). Hopkins came about in interest because of his doctor role in The Elephant Man (1980). With a dark sense of gravitas and two killer performances from Hopkins and Foster, it is no wonder why this proves to be a great classic. It finds a balance between suspense and horror that drives through every beat and procedure with relish and entertainment. It is amazing to think about how solid of a performance Hopkins draws from such an unsavory but relentlessly fascinating presence, particularly since he only occupies a certain amount of time in the film that doesn't even run to thirty minutes. And yet here we are, still captivated and engrossed by what we see of him (such as in the numerous close-up shots of his face) as the calmest and most brilliant terrors of the human mind. On the other side of such interesting conversations is Foster, who proves quite dedicated and useful in focus of the drive for curiosity with regards to the dark parts of the human mind. She makes a resourceful presence that never seems lost within the madness. Glenn proves just as sharp in reasoned authority, while Levine rounds out the main group with creeping finesse in his lurking moments, and the others prove worthy in keeping the stakes level. On the whole, while the sequences with Hopkins and Foster are easily the most memorable of the film, the film holds up just as well in driving one in pursuit and skin-crawling with no pretensions whatsoever. The thrills can be quite entertaining like any other movie, but it is in that chase that really gives one a good jolt in their seat, and it is easy to see why this became imitated and well-known. It has a capable director in staging scenes with useful impact to go with a game cast that makes the most of their surroundings for a good time of carefully executed thrills that prove as effective nearly three decades later.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Taxi Driver.

Review #990: Taxi Driver.

Cast: 
Robert De Niro (Travis Bickle), Jodie Foster (Iris "Easy" Steensma), Harvey Keitel (Matthew "Sport" Higgins), Cybill Shepherd (Betsy), Albert Brooks (Tom), Leonard Harris (Senator Charles Palantine), Peter Boyle (Wizard), Harry Northup (Doughboy), and Norman Matlock (Charlie T) Directed by Martin Scorsese.

Review: 
It seems odd that it has taken so much time to cover a Martin Scorsese film, but it seems fitting to cover this one (his fifth overall movie), which has quite the reputation (it was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival while also being nominated for four Academy Awards), and it is easy for me to see why. The way that the film shows a look into the dark elements that make up New York (for the time it was made) along with the lonely world of an alienated (but always compelling to watch) main character played expertly by De Niro. There is just something about the way he speaks and his mannerisms that make him a character one could relate to, or at least be invested in his story, which always manages to be compelling, with numerous highlights (such as the famous "You talkin' to me?" scene, which serves to feed into how lonely this character is that still endures in pop culture to this day). Foster is quite effective in her role that only serves as part of the nightmare kind of world that this film sets itself in. Keitel is also fairly effective, having a brutal nature that makes the skin crawl without relying on over-the-top moments. Shepherd is probably the most normal character in the film, but she certainly has an important place while also being fairly charming, and her scenes with De Niro are fine. Brooks and Harris don't have much screen-time, but they certainly do make for an entertaining impression. The rest of the cast (including a short scene with Scorsese himself) do fairly effective jobs. The use of slow motion in some parts of the film certainly contributes to making this movie stand out amidst the grime and a good musical score by Bernard Herrmann (who had finished the music score the day before his death on December 24, 1975). The climax of the film (and the end scene that follows it) is the pinnacle of an already exceptional movie, with a look and feel that is as rapid as it is effective, with an ending that certainly lends itself to discussion. In any case, this is a capable thriller that certainly still endures even after forty years since its release.

As dedicated readers can tell, we are in the final stages of the countdown to the big pinnacle for Movie Night. Get ready for the rest of the batch to come soon.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Maverick.

Review #619: Maverick.

Cast
Mel Gibson (Bret Maverick), Jodie Foster (Annabelle Bransford), James Garner (Marshal Zane Cooper), Graham Greene (Joseph), Alfred Molina (Angel), James Coburn (Commodore Duvall), Geoffrey Lewis (Matthew Wicker), Paul L. Smith (The Archduke), and Max Perlich (Johnny Hardin) Directed by Richard Donner (#355 - Lethal Weapon, #356 - Lethal Weapon 2, and #547 - Superman)

Review
The movie is based off the classic television show of the same name, which also had the late great James Garner in it. The movie uses a trio of actors that manage to do a great job together, especially Gibson and Garner, they share a really good act with each other and Foster is also excellent, very clever and very intriguing to watch. But what makes the movie just so awesome is how it manages to be not only a fine action movie, but also a good comedy as well, making for a really entertaining film. The supporting cast is delightful to watch, especially Molina and Coburn. They're practically irresistible to watch, even Coburn's beard. The card games are interesting to watch, even the riverboat is great to look at, it just looks so beautiful. This is a Western that just has fun, and it's a pleasure to see Garner and all of his charm in a film like this. It's a fantastic film that manages to not just a other adaptation of a TV show, it's a movie of its own that is just so fun.

On a sadder note, I would like to say rest in peace to James Garner, who died just two days ago. We will all miss James Garner, but we will always have movies (#559 - Grand Prix, The Thrill of It All, The Great Escape, Space Cowboys, etc) and TV shows (The Rockford Files, 8 Simple Rules) to remember him for, with his charm being especially one that will last forever.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.