Redux: Jaws.

Redux #480: Jaws.

Cast: 

Roy Scheider (Chief Martin Brody), Robert Shaw (Quint), Richard Dreyfuss (Matt Hooper), Lorraine Gary (Ellen Brody), Murray Hamilton (Mayor Larry Vaughn), Carl Gottlieb (Meadows), Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Leonard Hendricks), Susan Backlinie (Chrissie Watkins), Lee Fierro (Mrs. Kintner), and Peter Benchley (Interviewer) Directed by Steven Spielberg (#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind, #168 - Raiders of the Lost Ark, #169 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, #170 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, #302 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, #351 - Schindler's List)

Review: 

You might wonder why I'm giving a revised review of a movie I covered before. Well, that review was nearly 12 years ago on November 11, 2013. Enjoy.

Like most great movies, it all started with taking a novel into one's hands. In early 1974, Peter Benchley's debut novel Jaws was published, which had seen him take inspiration from shark attacks and the exploits of Frank Mundus, a fisherman that once caught a shark weighing over 4,000 pounds off the New York shores. Benchley thought the book wasn't going to be a hit, mainly because it was a first novel and that it was "about a fish". The result was a novel that sold over five million copies in its first 18 months. Ironically, both Benchley and Mundus became conservationists in later years, with the former telling people that he could not write the book as it was in good conscience (for Mundus, he later called the movie "the funniest and the stupidest movie I've ever seen because too many stupid things happened in it.").  Benchley was tasked to write the first draft of the screenplay, and it was he would basically do the "mechanics" of the script more so than characterization, which most notably saw him excise the affair between Brody and Hooper (upon suggestion). Others delivered uncredited work such as Howard Sackler, John Milius, Matthew Robbins, and Hal Barwood; Carl Gottlieb, who was tasked to bring in "some levity", was given co-credit with Benchley on the screenplay. The director would be Steven Spielberg, who had two features to his credit at the time with the TV-film-turned movie Duel (1971) and The Sugarland Express (1974). 159 days of production were spent around Massachusetts and the Atlantic Ocean due to overruns that saw script refinement and a bit of cast strife. You probably already know Jaws was a phenomenon, but it still sounds fun to say it: Universal spent a good deal of money marketing the movie in a media blitz and a strategy that was still not as widely used now: releasing the movie on hundreds of theaters at once for opening week, with over 400 theaters seeing the movie on June 20. For two years, Jaws was the highest-grossing movie of all time and the TV premiere of the movie in 1979 saw over half of the total US audience watch it. Years later, Benchley was asked about a deal involving sequels to Jaws, with him stating, "I don't care about sequels; who'll ever want to make a sequel to a movie about a fish?" Jaws 2, with no Spielberg or Dreyfuss, came out in 1978 as directed by Jeannot Szwarc to mixed reviews. Jaws 3-D (1983) and Jaws: The Revenge (1987, with Gary returning because...) came out later to diminishing box office returns and little-to-no creativity. Benchley went on to write seven more novels, with a handful being adapted into films such as The Deep (1977) and The Island (1980); he died in 2006 at the age of 65.

I admit that I've seen Jaws roughly three times: once in 2013, another a few years later, and lastly just a few days ago with my mom. I wanted to re-live the experience of wondering what was so great about a movie like this, and what better time than in the summer and in July? Steven Spielberg is probably the seminal entertainer for direction in the past fifty years, but I really did want to figure out (at least, again) just how he did it. Whether thought of as an action thriller or as a horror movie (let's be honest, there are people who willingly choose to ignore the latter genre because of bias), there is just something so thrilling about how this movie pushes one's buttons so effectively in great adventure. Filmmakers could only dream to make a movie run as well as one can for two hours that has no bloat or demand for more that come across here, and this is for a film that wisely spaces out its tension until it absolutely becomes important to do what it has to do. To borrow from old me, there were plenty of "animals gone bad" movies before and after this movie such as say, Grizzly (1976), Piranha (1978; widely considered among the best of the Jaws ripoffs), Alligator (1980), and so on, but Jaws just has that enthusiasm and commitment to its tension. You have to remember that the movie characters are meant to be more likable than the book characters, which dealt with a subplot involving the Mayor being tied to the Mafia and the aforementioned affair between two characters. The funny thing is that it was easier to cast Brody with a perceived "tough guy" in Scheider than the other two key roles, which apparently were not cast until the last few days of pre-production that resulted in two people being cast with how good they were in other people's movies at the time: actor/writer Robert Shaw, who had worked on the recent Universal Pictures hit in The Sting (1973) for Quint and American Graffiti (1973) star Richard Dreyfuss for Hooper. They all are essentially perfect for what needs to happen for the film. Scheider in particular shines because he fits the everyman type like a glove, one with real worries and quibbles that sells for all who know the plight of being, well, a fish out of water.

Shaw was a man of the stage who happened to write on the side, so of course he can play the ultimate rugged captain (he was a Bond adversary, for heaven's sake, he could do anything). Every line of his has a certain type of timing and cadence that we find listening to intently that is rewarded with that one particular sequence in the "U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue" that he sells in such a soulful way that it almost doesn't matter just who (Shaw, Milius, Sackler, what have you) came up with what in writing it. Apparently, Dreyfuss thought that the movie was going to be a "disaster" because of the general boredom that came in waiting to film. There's the veneer of charm within a part that apparently was molded to be Spielberg's "alter ego" (debate on that), and Dreyfuss draws a few light chuckles even in the great admirer of, well, the routines in science. Bottom line: you care about these folks. It may interest you to know that this was the debut theatrical performance of Gary, who had done a handful of television performances. But it is Hamilton and his steely smarm in the art of evasiveness that probably sticks out the most now more than ever: a person in a position of power that hears of certain facts and doggedly moves forward with his own self-serving needs anyway. Evidently, there is actual footage of real sharks in the film, as Ron and Valerie Taylor shot footage in the waters of South Australia that had an actor in a mini shark cage. The look of the shark isn't what matters in the end, what matters is the fact that it could come when it comes to suspense that came from someone who honed their craft in suspense with Duel (1971) and plays with the audience just enough to where the climax will splatter in harrowing excellence. As a whole, Jaws is the phenomenon for monster movies one would hope to aspire to do. I'm not really sure exactly where it rests on the pantheon of entertaining Spielberg movies when considering his earlier work (and what's to come), but it sure has a hell of an argument for making a good time.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Dillinger (1973).

Review #2382: Dillinger [1973].

Cast: 

Warren Oates (John Dillinger), Ben Johnson (Melvin Purvis), Michelle Phillips (Billie Frechette), Cloris Leachman (Anna Sage), Harry Dean Stanton (Homer Van Meter), Geoffrey Lewis (Harry Pierpont), John Ryan (Charles Mackley), Richard Dreyfuss (Baby Face Nelson), Steve Kanaly (Pretty Boy Floyd), John Martino (Eddie Martin), Roy Jenson (Samuel Cowley), and Read Morgan (Big Jim Wollard) Written and Directed by John Milius (#323 - Conan the Barbarian [1982])

Review: 

"Films are always pretentious. There's nothing more pretentious than a filmmaker. You know, an egotistical filmmaker who thinks that they're doing God's gift to humanity or something – it's just entertainment. It's not really too much different than the carnies."

Sure, let's focus our attention to another writer-turned-director. John Milius loved to read and from a young age, he did his own short stories that he could "write in almost any style" (Hemingway, for example). One of his early loves was surfing (he once called it a religion of his), but he apparently was guided to film when encountering a marathon screening of the films of Akira Kurosawa.  He studied at the USC School of Cinematic Arts (as taught by Irwin Blacker) and persisted studying there even with an attempt at trying to volunteer for the Vietnam War (which did not work out due to asthma); he has stated that his writing style was guided by his favorite works in literature with Moby Dick and On the Road. Milius started writing scripts in 1968, and he soon found a job with commissions and the story department of American International Pictures. He did a few re-writes with The Devil's 8 (1968), for example. 1972 saw the release of two of his scripts into film: The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (he wanted Oates to play the lead instead of Paul Newman) and Jeremiah Johnson. He did uncredited contributions on Dirty Harry (1971) and thus wound up being the first draft writer for the sequel Magnum Force (which was radically changed). By this point, Milius wanted to be a director to have control with his scripts and thus asked AIP if he could direct a film for them, and the result was he chose to do a gangster film over other apparent choices in Blacula or Black Mama, White Mama; the result was Dillinger (1973). Over his career, Milius directed six more movies and wrote a handful of others, whether that was his efforts with the deeply personal Big Wednesday (1978) and Red Dawn (1984).

The real story of Dillinger (once described by Milius as a "pure criminal") goes as such: the Indianapolis native had done a handful of petty thefts before entering and later leaving the United States Navy. He served jailtime for nearly a decade on an assault he did in a botched robbery before becoming a more noted criminal upon his release in 1933 that would include the first of dozens of bank robberies (as done by him and his eleven known co-conspirators in his gang) that saw ten killed and plenty injured; Dillinger was charged with the murder of a cop in that time. The manhunt had agents of the Bureau of Investigation (which soon evolved into the FBI) involved such as Melvin Purvis, since one of Dillinger's crimes was stealing a car and dragging it across state lines. Dillinger was in fact shot and killed on July 22, 1934 after a tip-off. To quibble with the historical accuracy of fact meeting fiction with Dillinger can be researched for oneself (or just look at the "Historical accuracy" page on Wikipedia, I suppose^). Exploits of Dillinger proved an inspiration for various films such as Public Hero #1 (1935), Dillinger (1945; Lawrence Tierney played the title role), Young Dillinger (1965; Nick Adams played the lead), and even later on with Public Enemies (2009; Johnny Depp played the lead)*. Milius was clearly interested in making a folk tale about how people just gravitated to paying attention to a criminal as devastating as Dillinger. In fact, J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the BOI/FBI for over four decades, wrote a statement renouncing gangster films prior to his death (which is read in the credits by Paul Frees): "Dillinger was a rat that the country may consider itself fortunate to be rid of, and I don't sanction any Hollywood glamorization of these vermin. This type of romantic mendacity can only lead young people further astray than they are already, and I want no part of it." In later years, Milius considered the film to be one that is "very crude, but I do find it immensely ambitious", one in which a lack of budget meant being creative with shots and timing.** 

Sure, one might think about Bonnie and Clyde (1967) in terms of sheer audacity, but Dillinger is a movie with quite the punch in crude mayhem that does not wish to sympathize with its main focus but instead just shows the chaos and appeal that could come with a man ready to rob the time he lived in. Oates was a regular in countless Western TV shows and movies and clearly was a pro when given material to actually work with, and this is a pretty neat highlight for his timing here. He has this energy to him that grabs your attention with a certain type of charm that comes with cocksure attitude that knows who to have eating out of the palm of his hand. Johnson actually was quite older than the actual Purvis***, but he is such a pro at this that one wouldn't even think about it because he just has that understated type of charm that might as well be playing in a Western to give it his efforts. It probably works best to see him in the scene where he questions a youth about their perceptions of Dillinger when compared to the government-men chasing him that might as well be a shadow in the eyes of the public that could only have wonder at an outlaw bucking the system (at least, up to a point, this isn't Robin Hood). The rest of the cast make a relatively fine ensemble in the bits and pieces you see them when interacting with, well, the larger-than-life Oates, whether that involves the worthwhile time observing Stanton or even seeing the soon-to-be-prominent Dreyfuss. It is an interesting type of folk tale of mayhem and the nature of idols that come from the meanest and leanest of sources held together by commitment from Milius and Oates to really make it a tale worthy of the drive-in and beyond.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

^Truth vs. Fiction: The Bank-Robbing Style of Warren Oates as Dillinger » BAMF Style. Also, if you like a different insight: Experience of my famous uncle, Melvin Purvis, with Hoover's jealousy and with Nazi Hermann Göring - PMC

*Incidentally, Roger Corman's New World Pictures was behind a semi-related Dillinger film with The Lady in Red (1979). He later produced the 1995 TV "speculative fiction" movie Dillinger and Capone that had Martin Sheen as Dillinger and F. Murray Abraham as Al Capone!

** One year after the release of the film, a television movie was written by Milius (albeit co-written by William F. Nolan) called Melvin Purvis: G-Man. It had Dale Robertson play the title role in the pursuit of Machine Gun Kelly. Dan Curtis directed it along with another TV movie involving Robertson as Purvis with The Kansas City Massacre (1975), although Milius was only involved with the first of the two (and didn't even like making it).

***Purvis was born in 1903, for example. He really did have a strange life when you consider that in the three decades after he left the Bureau, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II and even rose to colonel, bought out a person to solely own a radio station, and, well, dying in 1960 by the gun that his fellow agents gave to him when he left the Bureau. Compared to Hoover, Purvis sounds like a neat person. Also, before I forget, *Academy Award winning actor* Ben Johnson.

Redux: Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Review #126: Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Cast: 

Richard Dreyfuss (Roy Neary), Teri Garr (Ronnie Neary), Melinda Dillon (Jillian Guiler), François Truffaut (Claude Lacombe), Bob Balaban (David Laughlin), J. Patrick McNamara (Project Leader), Warren Kemmerling (Major “Wild Bill” Walsh), Roberts Blossom (Farmer), Philip Dodds (Jean Claude), and Cary Guffey (Barry Guiler) Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Review: 

“People are always looking for – I don’t know what you’d call it – I guess, the cosmic entertainment. More than the meteorological explanation. From the behavioral science point of view, I was just as interested in finding out why people looked to the skies, and want to believe, as I was in looking to the skies myself, to try to understand what’s happening up there, that the Air Force and the Government don’t want to tell us about.”

The 1970s were a hell of a time to make movies. Steven Spielberg became a major director during this time because of numerous features that he made, whether that involved television films such as Duel (1971) or his film debut with The Sugarland Express (1974), or more specifically, the big blockbuster Jaws (1975). Close Encounters of the Third Kind went from a development deal first done in 1973 to release in 1977, one with a script entirely written by himself that was inspired by a variety of factors, at least when it arose from script hell. The original idea was to have a script done by Paul Schrader, but troubles with the script led to re-writes by John Hill (each of which involved a cop as the lead) before Spielberg took over himself. David Giler, Jerry Belson, Hal Barwood, and Matthew Robbins all made suggestions or script doctoring, although only Spielberg is credited on the final script. One inspiration was Spielberg and his father seeing meteor showers, but one also has to consider Spielberg's previous 1964 film Firelight, which he wrote and directed as a 17-year-old living in Phoenix, Arizona. That film (not available to the public) dealt with an investigation of a series of colored lights in the sky that saw people disappear. Lastly, the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" also proved inspiration in the writing. His next film would come out two years later with 1941, the war ensemble comedy flop. There are numerous versions of the film, owing to how post-production was handled between Spielberg and Columbia Pictures. The film was rushed into finishing by the studio for a release on November 16, 1977, while Spielberg would've liked to release it the summer of next year. They made a deal together after its success that would see him re-edit the film how he wanted, provided that he include a sequence that showed the interior of the mothership. Spielberg regretted the sequence, which was first seen in 1980 as a "Special Edition" that apparently added a few sequences involving Dreyfuss and his character in the family time before his close encounter. A third edition labeled the "Collector's Edition" is basically the same re-edit but without the mothership sequence. Incidentally, Devils Tower, which had a couple of scenes filmed on location (minus the airstrip that was filmed on a disused airbase in Alabama), has a showing of the film on a nightly basis. Incidentally, Columbia Pictures tried to force a sequel, and Spielberg did conceive an idea called Night Skies on the off-hand chance they tried to make a film without him, which even saw John Sayles serve as a consultant for what would have been done after Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) that would've been about aliens terrorizing a family. The script did not go too far, save for one thing: an alien being depicted as befriending one of the terrorized people as a benevolent creature to someone living in a broken home eventually spiraled into E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

I wonder what was in my thought process when watching this movie all those years ago, since the only time I remember watching the film was in April of 2012, although being the first film that I wrote a review (brief as it was) after the passing of my dad. Maybe I dug the special effects, for which Douglas Trumbull was the visual effects supervisor while Carlo Rambaldi designed the extraterrestrials. Or maybe it was John Williams and his music score that got to me more than anything. Looking back, the movie is good, but it was not nearly as good as I imagined it was, although one can certainly see the appealing qualities in the 45 years that have passed since its release beyond the visually arresting imagination seen in plenty of Spielberg movies. It is the visual images that come from the movie that create the lasting impression of the film in awe, whether that involves a kid being distraught after seeing a fatherly meltdown involving mashed potatoes or the abduction of a little kid or the very first time that we see the alien lights. The scope of the film is quite involving, with effects that mostly back this vision up (I can see where Spielberg would think that digital effects of now might supercede what is seen here, but hey, effects made by human hands and tenacity work fine when it is executed well).

These are the actors that were presented the chance to play the main role before Dreyfuss and his lobbying paid off: Steve McQueen (said no because he couldn't cry on cue), Dustin Hoffman, and Gene Hackman, and Jack Nicholson. Truffaut, as you probably know, was a famous French director. Spielberg wanted him for this role from the first moment of casting, although he apparently put it off until the last minute (incidentally, he appeared in four feature films as an actor, but this was the only one where he was not the director). Dreyfuss is technically the best part of the film when it comes to the acting, although I would argue that Dillon holds just as much weight despite less than half of the screentime. As much I despise the character in the long run, he does play it with conviction to where one does have the semblance of sympathy of seeing an obsession drive a family man into a curious place where imagination is only half the story. Garr isn't given too much to really do besides being the skeptic (i.e., a level-headed person that has to be shown as a foil because the movie doesn't have an answer) with worry and fears. Dillon is the one to appreciate in panic, one that we are always on the side on in the pained parental fear held most: a missing child. I almost think that the film might have worked better with her on the mount rather than Dreyfuss, but you have to remember that the character is distinctly one that reflects the director in his curiosity more than anything.

It is the ending that doesn't quite bring things together to a great finish. Not to beat a dead horse, but the fact that a character like Roy decides to just galivant across the galaxy is a bit weird when you remember that most of the film saw him try to raise two kids with his wife. Regardless of how the film presents the family, it just comes off as a bit too selfish to really work as an ending in the way that I'm sure Spielberg wanted. In fact, Spielberg has been quoted as saying that he wouldn't have made the film the way it was after he started his own family, as he had a "privilege of youth" when making the original film (Dreyfuss has stated in recent years that any idea of the ending being different if Spielberg was a family man to be "nonsense"). I felt that the story between Dillon's character and the desperation and obsession she has over the alien encounter is far more interesting to consider than deadbeat Roy tearing down his whole life on Earth, unless one is meant to take it as the tragedy that it sounds like. But this is a movie where the way to deal with a massive spaceship is to trade musical notes. As a whole, the movie kind of just ends with parts that seem more like possibilities for further curiosity rather than a complete story such as missing men from long ago brought back to Earth, or the idea of just how one reacts to seeing their son get snatched and get returned to them. As a whole, the movie has endured for the imagination it inspires within the unknown with mostly skillful execution, one that is at least a contender for the first tier of interesting sci-fi movies of the past 50 years and a worthy effort from a soon legendary director. It inspires a curiosity in the exploration of what lies beneath knowing that one is not alone in this world beyond the people inhabiting the Earth, which is crisply presented in a solid enough manner by Spielberg and company.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

On Sunday: Turkey Week III, a collection of "turkey" movies from November 20th until November 26th.

Red (2010).

Review #1824: Red.

Cast: 

Bruce Willis (Frank Moses), Morgan Freeman (Joe Matheson), John Malkovich (Marvin Boggs), Helen Mirren (Victoria Winslow), Karl Urban (William Cooper), Mary-Louise Parker (Sarah Ross), Rebecca Pidgeon (Cynthia Wilkes), Brian Cox (Ivan Simanov), Richard Dreyfuss (Alexander Dunning), Julian McMahon (Vice President Robert Stanton), Ernest Borgnine (Henry, the records keeper), and James Remar (Gabriel Singer) Directed by Robert Schwentke. 

Review: 

Red (standing for Retired: Extremely Dangerous), if you didn't know, was originally a comic miniseries (or as the film credits put it, a graphic novel), done by writer Warren Ellis and artist Cully Hamner that was published from 2003-04 by Homage Comics (a subdivision of comic imprint Wildstorm, which in term was a publishing imprint of DC Comics until its shutdown in 2010). So technically speaking, one is dealing with a comic book movie, although it apparently is lighter in tone (as scripted by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber) than the actual comic, judging by the cursory glance at the plot (Ellis once stated that while the script wasn't exactly the book, he felt it wasn't a bad script, noting the tight casting). This happened to be released in the same year of The Expendables, which also recruited a bunch of familiar names for an action film with a few select quips (which incidentally had Willis in a cameo). This was the fifth feature film for its director in Schwentke, a West German graduate of Columbia College Hollywood.

You get what you pay for when it comes to recognizable names maneuvering their way through an ensemble designed to draw smiles without too many story beats to count on (in other words, smiling at Borgnine is more interesting than the climax reveal). By this point in his career, Willis was 45. In the decade of the 2010s, he would do a variety of action appearances...alongside plenty of direct-to-video work ("on demand", specifically). It probably isn't a surprise that Willis was the prime actor in mind when it came to casting, since his sly charm is suitable for what is needed here in the small parts before the action pastiche moments come around, which turn out fine (modern movies have certain aims and limits, remember). Freeman doesn't exactly have much to really do here, seemingly overshadowed by the eccentrics like Malkovich with calmness that only works to a certain extent, likely because the film pulls a fake-out involving the character being "dead" for a time. Malkovich makes for a paranoid ham for some splendid amusing moments, which work out for the best without turning into a drudge. Urban lumbers through as the foil for most of the film which works out for engaging action moments. Parker seems bemused just to be there, contributing a few chuckles while having a quirky chemistry with Willis that at the very least doesn't become consumed in all the cliches needed. Mirren seems pleased to be there with graceful engagement that works when finally presented as the last piece of the ensemble for useful effect. One could only hope for further time with Dreyfuss, who has exactly two scenes with a bit that seems honed right in with cliches from the 1980s that is lost in the shuffle. Granted, the movie is going for a light touch when it comes to story, but still. One knows Cox is putting on an accent, but he seems firmly game to make the bit count, which works pretty well for those small moments with Mirren. 

The 111-minute run-time is fairly serviceable, in that the film manages to have enough action set-pieces to go along with occasional chuckles without slowing to a halt too many times, although the climax does nearly slug itself out with abrupt set-ups to nearly derail it. Honestly, the movie is fine. Granted, it might not exactly win many favors as an action spectacle, but it is at the least something that proves suitable for enjoyment with fair style and sly charm. Technically speaking, this is a cast that might have been really, really captivating a couple of years ago, if only to note the names that come together to (put it lightly) "kick ass". It moves through the cheesy aspects with an awareness that it is meant to be that way, not trying to take itself too seriously, which results in a decent movie with only a few surprises but a suitable ensemble film. It could have been better with the number of names involved, but the fact that it slugs through the finish line without many stilted bumps in terms of action sequencing and light touches means that it will prove worthy of your time.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Goodbye Girl.

Review #1455: The Goodbye Girl.

Cast: 
Richard Dreyfuss (Elliot Garfield), Marsha Mason (Paula McFadden), Quinn Cummings (Lucy McFadden), Paul Benedict (Mark), Barbara Rhoades (Donna), Theresa Merritt (Mrs. Crosby), Michael Shawn (Ronnie), Patricia Pearcy (Rhonda), and Nicol Williamson (Oliver Fry) Directed by Herbert Ross (#244 - The Sunshine Boys)

Review: 
"I think Herb Ross is the best director I've worked with in films. The others just don't understand my material as well."

"I always knew I was going to be an actor and that was that - no doubts, no uncertainties, no changing my mind. And that was when I was like, nine, ten. And it never changed."

It's good to make a comedy-drama when you've got the hands to make something meaningful. The film was written by Neil Simon and directed by Herbert Ross, who had collaborated with Simon in a group of films and plays that went from The Sunshine Boys (1975) to Max Dugan Returns (1983). Ross was a dancer-turned-choreographer-turned director, while Simon was a playwright and screenwriter that had started his line of work with radio before moving to TV with Your Show of Shows (1950-54), plays with Come Blow Your Horn (1961), and film with After the Fox (1966). Both lead actors had already had their moment in the sun rise in the decade in the year of 1973, starting with Dreyfuss in a quick rise from TV to American Graffiti while Mason made her feature debut in Blume in Love that led to work in theater with Simon (along with marriage after meeting during auditions for The Good Doctor). Simon had originally written a script named "Bogart Slept Here", which would have had Mike Nichols direct and Robert De Niro star in a film about the changes in an struggling actor's life after becoming a star. Production on that lasted just a week before De Niro was found to not being suited for the comedic aspects (with Nichols following later on), and Simon reportedly re-wrote the script in a span of six weeks.

For 110 minutes, one is presented with a fairly neat package of comedy and drama, rolling along with a few neat lines and some quirk-laced characters that interact with some zip to make a romance that paints its corners with fair conviction and enough moments to make it worth it. While it does prove awkward at times, Dreyfuss and Mason do eventually make things worth it in the build to establish interesting chemistry that makes the second half resonate with interest over the establishing half. Dreyfuss grows on you very quickly, having a spark of sensitivity and energy that inspires plenty of curiosity with good timing that drives as a bright charmer, whether that means trying to act in a play to his best or drunkenly reading scathing reviews of said play. Mason does well with what she is given, straight-laced but not too unapproachable for banter with Dreyfus or with Cummings, who makes for a fine family pairing to watch. The supporting cast is fine, with Benedict making for a worthy eccentric to see play out in his moments on screen, since the Richard III production scenes (based on an actual production that Mason had a part in) are generally the most amusing sequences in the film anyway, delivering a bit of perspective to what can go in a vision for something (regardless of how strange or funny it might seem). On the whole, when the film hits its mark in making you care for these characters, it hits with charm without needing to go overboard in one genre over the other to make a worthy watch for the era.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Always (1989).

Review #958: Always.

Cast: 
Richard Dreyfuss (Pete Sandich), Holly Hunter (Dorinda Durston), John Goodman (Al Yackey), Brad Johnson (Ted Baker), Audrey Hepburn (Hap), Roberts Blossom (Dave), Keith David (Powerhouse), Ed Van Nuys (Nails), and Marg Helgenberger (Rachel) Directed by Steven Spielberg (#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind, #168 - Raiders of the Lost Ark, #169 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, #170 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, #302 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, #351 - Schindler's List, #480 - Jaws, #563 - The Sugarland Express, #573 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and #642 - Jurassic Park)

Review: 
It has been said that this is one of Steven Spielberg's weakest films, but it is easy to admit that with regards to his resume prior to (and after) this film's release; it is also easy to see his love for the 1943 film A Guy Named Joe and the passion that he must've had to make a remake of it. Is this a flawed movie? Yes, but it is the kind of movie that can qualify as a guilty pleasure, for better or worse. The main cast is fairly enjoyable together, having good chemistry with each other (particularly in the first half); I liked Hunter the best in part because her hard but consistently believable tone works best against Dreyfuss and his flippish nature, though Goodman is a welcome comic relief. Johnson is fairly decent in his first co-starring role in a major film, though his chemistry with Hunter isn't as entertaining as the case with Dreyfuss. Hepburn (appearing in two scenes) is graceful as ever in her final film appearance. When it comes to showing the action with the planes (through aerial photography, rear projection and models) or when the movie wants to have some laughs, that is when the film is at its best; when it comes down to saying some of the dialogue about love and death, that is when the film nearly drowns itself in sappiness and sentimentality. At 123 minutes, it does feel a bit long with all of those awkward (but not manipulative) kind of lines, but I found the film made up for some of it with its fiery climax, with Dreyfuss and Hunter handling themselves quite convincingly. It's not a bad movie, but it is obviously not on the top of any totem pole of quality for Spielberg. The best things about the movie is what it isn't, needless to say. It's a nice harmless movie that works best for some, but likely not for others.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

Review #409: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz.

Cast
Richard Dreyfuss (Duddy Kravitz), Micheline Lanctôt (Yvette), Jack Warden (Max Kravitz), Randy Quaid (Virgil Roseboro and Lenny Kravitz), Joseph Wiseman (Benjy Kravitz), Denholm Elliott (Peter Friar), Henry Ramer (Dingleman), Joe Silver (Farber), and Zvee Scooler (Grandfather) Directed by Ted Kotcheff (#025 - First Blood)

Review
To close out Canada Day, I decided to review this film from 1974 (have decided that reviewing Prom Night [1980] would be nonsensical), with familiar actor Richard Dreyfuss as the main lead. I already have watched Dreyfuss in American Graffiti and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which were both good. This film is where Dreyfuss gets to shine even more, perfectly acting a character who (at least I hope) is perfectly unlikable (though ironically, he believed his performance was terrible), in someways a parallel to Goin' Down the Road, both films cover the spirit of people trying to succeed in a cold-hearted world, with its small benefits and its disasters. Lanctot is alright, but Randy Quaid (Who I last saw in Independence Day, which wasn't exactly good) is better, he manages to blend well into the film, not going over the top, a subdued but fine performances as two characters. The rest of the cast are good, and it is always nice to see Denholm Elliott, no matter what he does. This is a well-made film that manages to have really good scenery but even better filmmaking, a sad film that has biting comedy at times, but it does not veer from its course, keeping itself in check, and managing to be an excellent film.  

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

And that is the last film for Canada Day, I hope you enjoyed my attempt to give Canadian films some spotlight, because at least I did.

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Movie Night: Stand By Me.

Review #180: Stand By Me.

Cast
Wil Wheaton (Gordie Lachance), River Phoenix (Chris Chambers), Corey Feldman (Teddy Duchamp), Jerry O'Connell (Vern Tessio), Kiefer Sutherland (Ace Merill), and Richard Dreyfuss (Narrator) Directed by Rob Reiner (#108 - This is Spinal Tap, #232 - The Princess Bride)

Review
This film was adapted from the novella The Body by Stephen King, which I haven't read (Actually I haven't read anything from King nor reviewed any movies from them until now) The acting is good, with young talents doing adult like quality, with Wheaton, Phoenix, and Feldman being the main standouts. This is one of those trip movies, where some go on a trip, but their's is different from most trips, and yet the film can be fun and be serious at times that entertains after over 25 years.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: American Graffiti.

Review #141: American Graffiti.

Cast
Richard Dreyfuss (Curt Henderson), Ron Howard (Steve Bolander), Paul Le Mat (John Milner), Charles Martin Smith (Terry "The Toad" Fields), Cindy Williams (Laurie Henderson), Candy Clark (Debbie Dunham), Mackenzie Phillips (Carol Morrison), Wolfman Jack (Himself), Bo Hopkins (Joe Young), Manuel Padilla, Jr (Carlos), Beau Gentry (Ants), and Harrison Ford (Bob Falfa) Directed by George Lucas (#113 - Star Wars)

Review
This film is cool, pure and simple. This film is nostalgic, but not in the way that only people from the 60's can enjoy it. Anyone can feel for these characters and all the fun they do in one night. The acting's good, especially from Dreyfuss. The characters are memorable, the cars are memorable. I must mention Harrison Ford and his performance as this would begin a partnership of roles for him with Lucas. This film may not be perfect in the sense that this could film could easily be forgotten without this cast, but this is still a classic film that takes you back to when you had a load of fun all in one night.

The Countdown to 150 continues...10, 9...

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.