The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938) ★★★★★ 4/5

Shot in 1938, this film made a dazzling use of technicolor. The costumes are vivid and bright, and outlined with sequins and jewels. The royal court is bright and festive with colored flags and robes. Outdoor scenes are lush with green foliage. It's no wonder this film won an Oscar for Best Art Direction. Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian is ravishing in this early use of color. In addition to impressive art direction, the film aslo won for Best Editing, which is no surprise either. As I watched the film and the chase scenes on horseback, I immediately was impressed by the nature of the scenes. The background, obviously added later, moves in time as the chase progresses, and while it is no match to today's effects, it certainly was quite advanced for 1938.

There is not too much to say about the storyline that isn't known about Robin Hood. Robin Hood (Errol Flynn) looks to find peace and happiness for his village of Saxon against the tyranny of Prince John (Claude Rains), who has declared himself King of England in the absence of King Richard (Ian Hunter). He reigns havoc, raising taxes and torturing the towns people. Robin Hood leads Little John (Alan Hale, Sr.), Friar Tuck (Eugene Pallette) and Will Scarlet (Patric Knowles) in the revolution. They rob from the rich and give to the poor. Robin Hood brings order to the forest, helps King Richard reclaim his throne and wins the love of Maid Marian.

This is a true swashbuckling movie and Flynn's most famous role. It is this film that inspired Robin Hood films for decades. Flynn's charismatic persona and acrobatic stunts demonstrate why he was such a popular matinee idol. Movies like this helped shape and define the action genre. It is a well done movie and lacks much of the over dramatic acting associated with early action films.

Rocky (1976)

Rocky (1976) ★★★★★ 5/5

Until now, the only film of this series I had seen was Rocky IV, which I saw in the theater as a kid at the height of the Cold War. I did love that movie, James Brown's "Living In America" and Dolph Lundgren, but at the same time I didn't feel I ever needed to see any other movies from the film series. I mean really, what more could there possibly be to see after that spectacle of a film. I bring this up to give some insight into my attitude going into this movie. It was merely another one on the list.

I can actually say that I was wrong about that and I do see why this is such a great movie. Rocky is about so many things other then boxing. It is a story about the underdog. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) is a third rate boxer from a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia. Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) is the world champion boxer looking for a competitor in the ring after his scheduled opponent gets injured. He decides to pick a local boy and give him the opportunity of a lifetime. It is a love story about a poor guy trying to win the affection of a lonely woman. Rocky woos Adrian (Talia Shire) and she stands beside him through the end. The film is about a man dealing with his own emotions as he watches his best friend move ahead in life. Paulie (Burt Young) sees Rocky become successful and find love while he himself struggles. There is also the story of a coach (Burgess Meredith) trying to reclaim what he had lost in his youth. There are also political issues. This is an American story which celebrates the 200th year anniversary of the United States. It is a story where black and white are pitted together without any sense of racism.

To my surprise, this was a great movie. I have never been a huge fan of Stallone, and never really took him as a serious actor . . . until now. In this film, Stallone looks good and portrays emotion. He is inexperienced as an actor, which makes his vulnerability even greater and his humanity even stronger. The tie in between the score, the story and the characters is flawless. I was surprised also that more of this film was about the emotional connections between the characters then it was about the boxing. Although the plot revolved around boxing, this is absolutely not a film about boxing.

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!