North By Northwest (1959)

North By Northwest (1959) ★★★★★ 4/5

In watching North By Northwest shortly after watching Blazing Saddles the first thing that comes to mind is that it is too bad that Mel Brooks couldn't take a cue from Alfred Hitchcock and make a simple understated cameo, rather then force himself into the film at the expense of the movie. Alfred Hitchcock makes his subtle appearance in North By Northwest as he boards a bus. There is no stage hogging or unnecessary length taken to put spotlight on the director. The focus is instead on the story of Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant).

Thornill is a well do to executive mistakenly taken for George Kaplan - a man who doesn't even exist. He is abducted in the middle of the day and taken to the country side where Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) tries to have him killed by getting him drunk and placing him in a car on a road that teeters over the ocean. Rather then meeting his death, Thornhill meets the police and is arrested. He fully intends on having Vandamm arrested for what he has done, but upon returning to the home where his intoxication was forced, he is treated as a dear friend and guest. Thornhill doesn't give up and wants to learn more about the man they mistook him for and heads back to the hotel where Kaplan was said to be staying. In doing so, he is spotted and again taken as Kaplan. From there on he essentially becomes Kaplan.

The movie slyly takes us across the country as Thornhill searches for Kaplan and Vandamm's men follow to kill Kaplan. Along the way, he meets Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) and the underlying sexual tension predominates every scene they appear in. At times, the scenes between the two slow the movie down a bit. However these scenes are essential in building the relationship between the two.

What makes this movie so great are two particular scenes. The first being the famous scene where Grant is alone in a cornfield. He is alone and vulnerable. Only Hitchcock could take a desolate place and intensify it to the point where the viewer is on the edge of their seat. Thornhill plays a game of cat and mouse with a machine gun equipped crop duster and eventually takes it to the ground. It is a brilliant, well done scene and possibly one of the best in cinema. The second scene of interest is that of the climatic finale on Mt. Rushmore. Hitchcock was well known for taking innocent places and making them the highlight of his films. In this particular film, the United Nations, Grand Central Station and Mt. Rushmore all serve as the stage to this thrilling movie.

In not for the lag created by the romantic storyline, this movie would have easily received stars from me. I do love this movie and am completely captivated by the story. Even though I know the outcome, I still enjoy watching it and following Thornhill as if it was the first time I have seen the film. Performance wise, I think Eva Marie Saint steals the film and is quite possible one of Hitchcock's strongest leading ladies. A must see without any doubt.

Babe (1995)

Babe (1995) ★★★★★ 5/5

It is a simple story. A pig that thinks he's a dog.

Babe (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) is saved from the slaughterhouse to be used in the county fair for people to guess it's weight. A sheepherder (James Cromwell) guesses the weight and wins the pig. When brought to the farm, the dynamics of the animals in the farm are introduced and the animals all have their own unique personalities. Babe is taken in by a sheepdog (voiced by Miriam Margolyes). Babe knows to stay in the barnyard, but when he hears the sheep in danger, he runs to the pasture to see what's wrong. Thieves are stealing sheep and Babe returns to the barnyard to get help. From that point onward, Babe is welcome in the pasture and builds a strong relationship with the sheep. The sheep like Babe and do as he says, which makes him a prized sheepherder. The farmer takes advantage of this and enters Babe in competition where he goes from laughing stock to miracle when Babe successfully completes the competition.

This film is magical in so many ways. The special effects are amazing and you completely forget that animals really don't talk. Everything is done above and beyond expectation. The personalities given to each animal are done to perfection. From the dimwitted duck to the possessive male sheepdog. The moronic innocence of the sheep and the cunning evil of the cat. This movie is a complete opposite of Animal Farm (1954). The animals coexist in harmony. They know their place, yet at the same time, when one of them dreams to go beyond their place, they find help in achieving their goals.

Completely magical, heartwarming and enjoyable. There is noting to not like about this film. It is a film that children can enjoy, yet at the same time there is nothing childish about it. Babe is an ageless film and is sure to entertain and enlighten anyone who watches it.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Blazing Saddles (1974) ★★★★★ 3/5

From a story point of view, this is a great movie with a good twist on the classic Western. However when it is brought to the screen, much of the story is lost in overacted nonsense, particularly when director Mel Brooks appears on screen. His over-exaggerated, forced humor completely takes away from everything and slows the movie down.

The story is that of a Western town that finds itself target of Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman), a statesman who wants to run the townsfolk out town to lay down a railroad. The town, full of residents all with the last name "Johnson" is in need of a Sheriff. Bart (Cleavon Little) is pulled from lynching to serve as Sheriff. To the town's dismay he is Afro-American, which serves as the basis for a slew of racial jokes. Bart befriends town drunk Jim (Gene Wilder) who is known to have once had the quickest hands in the West. This is a clear homage to Gunfight At The OK Corral and the role played by Kirk Douglas. References are also made to High Noon throughout the film. Madeline Kahn appears as Lili von Shtupp, the token brothel dancer often associated with Western films.

The highlight of the film is undeniably the end of the film when a false town is created to divert Lamarr's men. A fight ensues and the action moves off the set of the film and onto the set of another Warner Brother's movie being filmed by Dom DeLuise. From there, the action moves to the Warner Brother's cafeteria.

There are constant sexual innuendos and racial jabs throughout the film. There are also elements from other genres of film scattered through the picture, as well as elements that do not belong in a Western. Among these are operational toll booths, Nazis, Klansmen, references to the Academy Awards, and so much more. This makes the film a great "I Spy" game, but not necessarily a great movie. Korman is quite enjoyable in the film. He is highly likable as an actor in the film. Wilder has several performances in other films that far exceed this role. While enjoyable, it is far more over rated as a comedy. Watching it, I feel like Brooks takes liberties with the placement of himself in film and abuses them. He is not as funny as he thinks he is, but chances are nobody was going to tell the director that his appearance in his own film would completely take away from it. Had Brooks not been in this movie, it probably would have been a lot funnier.

The Jerk (1979)

The Jerk (1979) ★★★★★ 4/5

The plot line of this is really quite simple. Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) leaves home to find success. In the process he invents a piece for glasses which holds the glasses on the nose. The man who he made the invention for (Bill Macy) patents and sells the invention giving Johnson 50% of all his earnings. Johnson takes his earnings and marries Marie (Bernadette Peters). The two live happily as millionaires until a class action lawsuit is initiated by Carl Reiner. The lawsuit results in Johnson losing everything.

The humor in the fill has a lot of random, or WTF moments in them. First of all, Johnson is raised in Mississippi by a black family and has a hard time understanding why his skin has not changed to match that of his family's. He is childlike and innocent and upon his first sexual encounter with a circus performer Patty Bernstein (Catlin Adams) finds out what the "special purpose" of his penis is. He has a dog who he claims as his own and when someone suggests he calls the dog Shithead, he innocently takes the name, completely unaware that he is using a foul and offensive term. He gets a job at a gas station working for Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason) who gives him a place to live - which coincides with his own phone number. The irony of the phone number is that the listing in the phone book makes him target for a lunatic(M. Emmet Walsh) when he picks a random name out of the phone book.

The film is fun and light and Bernadette Peters shines in the film. She counterbalances Martin's wackiness and over the top ignorance. She is soft and charming on the screen. Without her, this film would not be as endearing I don't think. There is one scene in particular where the two serenade each other on the beach singing "You Belong To Me." The scene is beautiful and tender. At the same time it is also a random, WTF moment as she busts out a coronet in the middle of the song. But still, it is well played and enjoyable. In this day and age where comedy consists of over the top, one liners and cheap gags, this film excels as it does all of that while not being so exaggerated or so forced in it's use of humor that it ruins the film. While I did like this film, and would have no problem watching it again, I do have to add that my favorite Steve Martin film is, and will always be Father of the Bride (1991) - which, to my dismay is not included in the list of 1001 movies To See Before You Die.

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952)

The Bad And The Beautiful (1952) ★★★★★ 5/5

This movie reminds me a lot of Sunset Boulevard (1950) in many ways. Mostly because of the narrative style, and in some ways because of the underlying darkness to the film. Much like Sunset Boulevard it is a story of Hollywood. A Hollywood that the public doesn't get to see. The film is essentially three stories tied into one that all revolve around Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), a movie producer paving his way through the top of the industry at the expense of other people's lives.

Shields first comes across a promising director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan) who he takes in and begins to collaborate with. They excel in writing B rate movies and producing them at a low cost. Together the two reach a point where they can take on a big budget film. When they go to get it made, Amiel finds himself excluded from the project. This betrayal ends their relationship.

Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner) is the daughter of an A list movie star who has passed. She herself has ambitions to be a star. Her auditions and screen tests are flops. Nobody wants to hire her with the exception of Shields. He fights to get her a starring role and with his coaching she becomes a huge box office star. Stardom at this point is no longer her real concern. She has fallen in love with Shields and he leads her on to believe he loves her. Little does she know he is just making her feel this way to get a solid performance from her. When the film is released, she leaves the premier to be with Shields only to find he has moved on to the next starlet aspiring for success. From that moment on she refuses to speak to him.

The third story is that of a prominent screen writer James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell). Shields buys his most successful piece of work and brings him and his wife to Hollywood to write for him. Bartlow is often distracted by his wife (Gloria Grahame) and so Shield arranges her to fly to Mexico with sexy actor Victor "Gaucho" Ribera (Gilbert Roland) in order to give Bartlow some time alone. However the plane Gaucho and Bartlow's wife were in crashed and the two killed. In the years to come, Shields is quite about the fact he arranged for the two to be on that fatal plane ride. When Shields slips and reveals it was his ideal, Bartlow walks out.

The film closes with Bartlow, Lorrison and Amiel all listening to Shields on a phone. His career has tanked and he is looking for help from the three people who he used to build his career. All of them are highly successful despite Shield's betrayal. This final scene is fantastic as it recalls an earlier scene in the movie where Shields tries to take his hand at directing and is told that the less dialogue is in a scene the more imagination the viewer has in imagining what is being said. In this final scene, we can not hear what Shields is saying over the phone, but the expressions on the three listening allows the viewer to think about what may have been said. It is a brilliant ending.

Lana Turner was wonderful in this film. To see an actress acting as if she didn't know the first thing about acting is very intriguing. We see her character develop from an insecure, alcoholic girl into a graceful, exquisite movie star. She is graceful and beautiful on the screen. Kirk Douglas is also perfect in his role. While he is completely despicable in his actions, his character still retains a suave likability to him.

I absolutely loved this film. The plot, the story, the narration and the behind the scenes look at Hollywood were all highly enjoyable. This is a movie worth seeing, especially for the final scene where the audience is reminded that sometimes no dialogue does in fact say more then what any actor could. I also liked reminding my self that Kirk Douglas is still alive and that he is one of our last links to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Great movie!

Forrest Gump (1994)

Forrest Gump (1994) ★★★★★ 5/5

Forrest Gump was, and still is for that matter, unlike any movie that has ever been released. Tom Hanks brought Forrest Gump to life and we followed his story from boyhood to manhood. But this movie is more then the story of a man's life. This is an American story. It encompasses the most memorable aspects of the later half of the 20th century. Cleverly, the film breathes life into history. Gump teaches Elvis to dance, inspires Lennon to write "Imagine," breaks Watergate open, becomes a hero in the Vietnam War and an inspiration to the nation.

What I really like about this film is how is says so much, but at the same time leaves the viewer to think. There certainly is a lot to think about with this movie and it is up to the viewer to connect with the film. First of all, there is the feather that drifts in at the beginning of the movie and flies out at the end. There have been several theories as to what the feather represents. I feel that the feather represents man's individual journey. It floats around alone, much like man in his journey. The feather might land in a situation where there is greatness, or it may fall somewhere undesirable. In the case of Forrest Gump it falls in the hands of someone who takes care of it and cherishes it. It is much like the life that Gump lives. He floats about aimlessly on his own. During his journey he falls into the hand of both those who treat him with car, and those who do not. Likewise, Jenny (Robin Wright) floats about aimlessly and wild. Even more like at a feather at the hands of fate. While Gump floats through life hitting moments of greatness, Jenny floats through life on a complete polar opposite. Gump affects and is involved in mainstream America, but Jenny is consumed in counter cultures and the underground of America. From sexual abuse, to drugs, life threatening disease and single parenthood, her storyline gives a completely opposite version of American life in the 20th century. It makes the movie even more amazing in the amount of topics it covers.

Through the film there are several other key characters. Bubba (Mykelti Williamson) takes Gump on as a friend when he is headed to Vietnam. Bubba also guides Gump in the direction to become a multi-millionaire after the war by entering the shrimping industry. Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise) is Gumps commander in the war, whose life Gump saves and brings another aspect of American history to the film when he comes back from the war and is essentially thrown away for what he has done. Gump saves his life once again as the film progresses and he offers Lt. Dan a position in the shipping industry. Of course no character is more touching then that of Forrest's Mother (Sally Field). Field is amazing in this role and it suits her so perfectly. She is an absolute delight in every appearance she makes on the screen. And although briefly in the film, Haley Joel Osment appears as Forrest Gump Jr.

This is one of those films that is expected to be on the list of films to see, and if it wasn't, it would be a disgrace. I can remember seeing this film in the theater. It was one of those films that was so epic and touching. The sight of the historical footage mended into the film made it amazing, and I can still remember walking out of the theater, my head in a daze for hours trying to completely grasp everything I saw. Powerful, beautiful and perfect in every way.

8 1/2 (1963)

8 1/2 (1963) ★★★★★ 5/5

Federico Fellini directs and co-writes this incredible film which seems to be quite autobiographical. The film centers around Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) and his struggle to overcome a creative block in his film making. After awaking from a dream, he is treated by doctors who recommend he go to the springs to drink Holy water and relax in the steam baths. Guido takes the advice and brings his writer along with him. While he is there, he meets up with his friend Mario Mezzabotta (Mario Pisu) and his mistress Gloria Morin (Barbara Steele).

Barbara Steele, although a minor character in this film, is exquisite. Every moment on screen, she is glamorous and exciting. The movie is worth seeing for her performance alone!

Guido soon meets up with his mistress Carla (Sandra Milo). When he returns to his hotel, he finds his entire production crew is there, as well as actors and actresses hired for the film he is writing. Little do they all know, Guido has not written anything. He is conflicted as to what to write and what he should convey. He is pulled in every direction by the cast and crew who all want to know their role in the movie.

Guido calls for his wife Louisa (Anouk Aimée) and she meets up with him. At first she is happy to be there, but soon becomes distant when she learns of his mistress.

Guido dreams and fantasizes about all the women he has loved and how it would be if he were able to live with them all.To have the joys each has brought him through his life consistently. He is haunted by childhood images. Religion questions his direction. A giant spaceship built for his unwritten film pressures his team financially.

All at once everything comes together right after the press has hounded Guido on everything from his writing technique to his political views and his love life. After that incident, Guido makes the film he wants. He creates and brings together images that mean something to him.

The film is artsy and complex, yet understated at the same time. It is dubbed with subtitles which makes it that much more artistic in feeling. The imagery is beautiful and quite ahead of it's time. The black and white production make the imagery even bolder. There is so much going on in this film that it never really dulls at all. The dreams piece together the reality, and the reality is somewhat unreal. A beautiful film and quite a pleasing one to watch.