The Lodger (1944)

It probably has to do with his name but Jack the Ripper has always intrigued me. Yes, the name is catchy. The killer actually signed one of his letters to the police as Jack the Ripper. The Ripper was obviously proud of his handiwork which made a bloody mess of his victims. Jack the Ripper was never caught nor was a suspect ever identified which makes his mystique all the more long lasting. My first encounter with Jack the Ripper was through a scary fictional short story by Robert Bloch (the author of PSYCHO) called Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper.

Although he may not be as popular as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the annals of film, Jack the Ripper has appeared in many movies.  In TIME AFTER TIME (1979), novelist H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) chases Jack the Ripper (David Warner) via Wells' time machine from Victorian England to modern day San Francisco. More recently, FROM HELL (2001), based on the popular graphic novel written by Alan Moore starred Johnny Depp as an opium addicted detective tracking Jack the Ripper in 1888, a trail that leads him to the royal family.

THE LODGER (1944) based on Marie Belloc Lowndes novel has Jack the Ripper as a character. It is not the first film version of her novel. Alfred Hitchcock first filmed THE LODGER in 1927, one of his first films and his only silent film. In Hitchcock's THE LODGER, the killer is known as the Avenger.  In the 1944 version, directed by John Brahm and written by Barre Lyndon (who would write another version of THE LODGER titled THE MAN IN THE ATTIC starring Jack Palance in 1953), the killer is referred to mostly as the Ripper. In my vision of Jack the Ripper, he walks the fog shrouded streets of London in a black cloak and top hat, his knife held tightly against his side. THE LODGER upholds that image somewhat, sometimes for better, sometimes not.

THE LODGER is about a lodger, a person who rents out a room in another person's house. Only in this case, the lodger may or may not be Jack the Ripper. The film opens on a foggy night in 1888 in Whitechapel, a district in the poorer part of London. Another Ripper murder occurs (offscreen). A local actress has been savagely murdered. The police quickly converge on the murder scene by foot and horseback but the killer has vanished. Later that night, in an upper class part of London, a tall heavy set man named Slade (Laird Cregar) carrying a doctor's bag, rents a spare room from Robert Bonting (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) and his wife Ellen (Sara Allgood).  Slade is a bit odd, soft spoken for such a big man with a piercing stare. He says he's a pathologist. He works odd hours, often at night. He comes and goes through the back door. He loathes the portraits of Victorian actresses in his room and flips the frames over. Could Slade be ...? But, he pays his rent in advance, winning over Mrs. Bonting.

Also living with the Bonting's is their niece Kitty Langley (Merle Oberon), a famous singer/dancer who performs to big crowds at the Piccadilly Square Theater. Kitty is introduced to the eccentric lodger Mr. Slade. Slade seems to have a disdain for actresses and singers. Kitty invites him to come to one of her performances. When another actress Annie Rowley (Helena Pickard) is murdered, witnesses tell the police the killer carried a small black bag.  Mrs. Bonting catches Slade burning his medical bag the following morning and becomes suspicious.  Leading the Ripper investigation is Inspector John Warwick (George Sanders). Warwick pays a visit to Kitty who knew the victim Annie. Warwick sees a pattern in the Ripper's murders and warns Kitty to be careful. Mrs. Bonting begins to suspect Slade may be the Ripper but Mr. Bonting scoffs at the notion.

Kitty follows Slade one day to see where the eccentric lodger goes. She discovers Slade does work at a university medical office.  A few days later, after yet another Ripper murder, Kitty catches Slade burning some clothes that seem to be stained with blood. He says the blood was from an experiment at his laboratory. Kitty has her suspicions now. When Inspector Warwick pays Kitty another visit and meets Slade, Warwick tells Slade his theories on the Jack the Ripper killings. Slade nervously listens before excusing himself. Now Warwick suspects Slade but he needs proof.

Warwick and Bonting attempt to match Slade's fingerprints from a water glass with fingerprints found at the crime scenes but the prints are inconclusive. It's the night of Kitty's big show.  Slade sneaks out of the house and arrives at the theater to watch Kitty perform, his murderous impulses building in him as Kitty sings and dances to a packed house. Warwick has the police staked out throughout the theater but Slade manages to slip into Kitty's dressing room. This time, Slade wants to take Kitty away with him but Kitty's screams alert Warwick and the police. A chase ensures throughout the theater as Warwick and the police try to capture Slade/the Ripper before he can kill again.

I would have liked to have seen more of the Ripper stalking the streets, hiding in the shadows, his dark shape silhouetted by the fog and gas lamps but director Brahm seemed deadset on barely showing the Ripper when it's obvious that Slade is the Ripper.  Only at the end of the film does Slade/the Ripper actually pull out a knife. But where the film skimps on the physical presence of the Ripper on the streets of London, THE LODGER makes up for it with a chilling psychological profile of Slade.  His hatred for theater actresses stems from the death of his brother, an artist who killed himself over an actress. Slade tells Kitty it was the "beauty of women that led him to his destruction." Slade sees actresses as seducers of men. "Lovely women drive men down," he tells Kitty. His devotion to his dead brother (he carries a small portrait of his dead brother) and the vengeance he seeks against the type of women who destroyed his brother is creepy.

Slade also talks about his love of the river, how he finds it soothing. The water allows Slade to cleanse his hands of blood, to wash his sins from himself. Ironically, when Slade/the Ripper is cornered by Warwick and the police in the film's finale, Slade jumps through a window into the Thames River where he supposedly dies.  But in the final frames, as Slade's body floats by, it appears as though his leg kicks out in the water. Perhaps the water has resurrected the Ripper.

There is also a sexual tone to the Ripper's killings. The murders seem to be a sexual climax for Slade. Inspector Warwick notes that the killings are cyclical - every 10 to 12 days. That's the amount of time it takes for Slade/Ripper to become aroused for his next slaying. Whereas Slade has hatred for most of the actresses he encounters, his glare seem lustful toward Kitty.  She's different. She's nice to him. When he corners her after her performance, he wants to take her with him, not kill her like his previous victims.

One of appealing aspects of THE LODGER are its three leading actors.  Merle Oberon (who I had never seen in a film before) is stunning as Kitty.  With her beautiful, porcelain face, Oberon looks like she could play Marie Antoinette or Catherine the Great. Her Kitty is a strong character. At one point in THE LODGER, she becomes the detective, following Slade to his university medical pathology lab, trying to learn more about this mysterious behemoth.  She's cool under pressure, even when he surprises her in her dressing room. Oberon also gets to show off her musical talents, performing in two musical numbers.

I've become a huge George Sanders fan since starting this blog and this is my third film I've reviewed that he's in. Sanders plays Inspector Warwick in THE LODGER. Sanders seemed to play either cads in films like REBECCA (1940) or THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947) or charming heroes in FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) or THE SAINT STRIKES BACK (1939).  Even as a man of the law, Warwick has no problem trying to woo Kitty who he is sworn to protect.  In today's world, that would be considered sexual harassment. In 1944, it was romantic.  Kitty and Warwick have a great scene where he invites her to the Scotland Yard Black Museum for a date and some questions about the lodger. Warwick flirts with her as she asks about murder weapons and nooses that killed numerous famous London killers. It's a nice bit of levity in this gripping tale.

The real revelation of THE LODGER is Laird Cregar as Slade/the Ripper.  Like Oberon, I had never seen Cregar before but his portrayal of the famous killer is haunting. He brings a pathos to his role with his soft voice but hulking exterior. The audience sympathizes with him for the loss of his brother. At times, Slade is charming and almost like an overgrown child. But director Brahm along with cinematographer Lucien Ballard (who would shoot many of Sam Peckinpah's films) know how to make Slade menacing too. Slade is often photographed from a low angle to make him look large and menacing. Ballard uses low key lights to highlight Slade's deathly stare. The deranged look that Slade/the Ripper gives the police when they have him trapped and cornered like an animal in the theater's rafters is unforgettable.

There would be pathos in actor Laird Cregar's life.  An up and coming actor who could play comedy or drama in films like HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943) and THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), Cregar would act in director John Brahm's next film HANGOVER SQUARE (1944), also starring George Sanders.  But to play the role, Cregar would go on a drastic diet without medical supervision to try to slim down his husky frame. He died of a heart attack shortly after HANGOVER SQUARE was completed. Cregar was only thirty-one years old. Cregar's performance in THE LODGER hints at great possibilities that will never be.

The real Jack the Ripper murdered prostitutes. Because of Moral Film Codes at the time, the Ripper's victims couldn't be prostitutes so the filmmakers chose stage actresses instead. Besides this trade off and the lack of suspense when the Ripper does carry out his bloody deeds, director Brahm and cameraman Ballard make THE LODGER very atmospheric and moody with foggy cobblestone sets, nice use of shadows and light both indoors and outdoors, and some wonderful low and high angle shots not usually seen in films of the 1940's. Director Brahms had a nice film career as a director and would move on to a longer career directing television series like TWILIGHT ZONE, THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR, and toward the end of his career THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

THE LODGER is a worthy effort to the Jack the Ripper genre.  Thanks to a fantastically sinister portrayal of the murderous fiend by Laird Creger and some fine direction, lighting, and camerawork by the team of Brahm and Ballard, THE LODGER is a nice modern compliment to Hitchcock's first take on the Jack the Ripper character in his 1927 LODGER version.  I have not viewed the earlier version yet but plan on watching it sometime in the future. The modern world has seen many serial killers in the last half century (Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, the Boston Strangler) but the first serial killer that caught the media's attention and later the world was Jack the Ripper.

Star Wars (1977)

Once upon a time, in a galaxy, far far away.

I was twelve years old when STAR WARS was first released. The week before it came out, Time Magazine had a review of the film and tantalizing photos. I still have that Time Magazine. I saw STAR WARS only three times so I wasn't as geeky as some who saw it 15 or 20 times. I remember standing in line with my parents at the Westgate Theater in Beaverton, Oregon in May of 1977. STAR WARS only opened at two theaters in Portland (the Westgate on the west side and the Eastgate on the east side) so the lines were long but worth it. We, the audience, were spellbound as the opening scroll began. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. Enormous spaceships and princesses and robots and aliens and a bad guy with a breathing problem and a giant furry sidekick known as a Wookie.  I asked my Dad recently if he remembered seeing STAR WARS with me and he didn't. But for adults in their mid-forties like me, it was a film that changed the movie going experience forever.

Flash forward twenty one years later and I'm trying to find a hobby or something that my son Chris and I can enjoy together. Writer/Director George Lucas re-releases the STAR WARS trilogy for a new new generation with some added special effects and scenes he couldn't pull off when first released. Bingo! My son and I bond over Luke Skywalker and light sabers. He takes to STAR WARS like a duck to water. Suddenly, he wants STAR WARS toys left and right. We found a connection.

In between the first time I saw STAR WARS and the revisiting the film with my son, I remember catching part of STAR WARS on television when I was in college. I saw a scene when the Empire's Tie fighters were attacking Han Solo's Millennium Falcon cargo ship. Suddenly, the spaceships looked like models. The magic I remembered as a teenager was gone. College and girls and homework had clouded my enchanted memories from 1977.

Before George Lucas made STAR WARS, the science fiction film was hit and miss. PLANET OF THE APES (1968) was a clever film but it didn't have space ships or robots in it. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) is probably the single greatest Sci-Fi film ever made and its influence on STAR WARS is very evident. But STAR WARS is really a space fantasy film.  There's no real science to it. Lucas borrows elements from mythology like King Arthur and Japanese samurais and throws in his own childhood memories of Saturday Matinee cliffhangers, Robin Hood, and Westerns.

From the very first trumpets from composer John Williams score, STAR WARS announces that it is going to be a special film. A giant Imperial Star Cruiser chases a smaller transport ship carrying Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). Leia, who is part of the Rebel Alliance, has stolen the plans to the Death Star, a deadly space station the evil Galactic Empire has built which can destroy entire planets.  Leia's ship is overtaken so she secretly places the plans and a message inside a diminutive robot R2D2 (Kenny Baker). R2D2 along with another droid CP30 (Anthony Daniels) hide in an escape pod and are jettisoned to the nearby planet Tatooine. Leia is captured by the menacing Darth Vader (voice provided by James Earl Jones; acted by David Prowse) and sent back to the Death Star where Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) plots the Empire's next move to destroy the Rebels. Vader orders Imperial Stormtroopers (the Empire's soldiers) to find those blueprints.

On the arid and desolate desert planet Tatooine, R2D2 and C3PO bicker like Laurel and Hardy. They split up to find help only to both be caught by little robed creatues called Jawas, Tatooine's version of used car salesmen. The Jawas sell the two robots to a farmer named Owen (Phil Brown) and his nephew Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).  Luke dreams of being a fighter pilot for the Rebel Alliance. While cleaning R2D2, Luke discovers a holographic message from Leia to Obi-Wan Kenobi seeking his help. Luke knows of an old hermit living in the nearby canyons that goes by Ben Kenobi.  R2D2 sneaks away during the night to find Obi-Wan. Luke and C3PO chase after the small robot the next morning.

While looking for R2D2, Luke and C3PO are attacked by the Sand People. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness) scares the Sand People away and brings Luke and the robots back to his home. After he sees Leia's message asking for help to defeat the Empire, Obi-Wan reveals that he was once a Jedi Knight and knew Luke's father. Obi-Wan asks Luke to join them but Luke's reluctant.  But when the Storm Troopers murder Luke's aunt and uncle, Luke wants to avenge their deaths and his destiny is chosen. They head to the town of Mos Eisley to find a ship that can take them to Alderaan, Leia's home planet.

The group meet up with mercenary and smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his tall furry sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) who will take them to Alderaan...for a price.  Solo's ship the Millennium Falcon gets them out of Tatooine but when they reach Alderaan, it's gone, destroyed by the Empire.  The Falcon then discovers the Death Star and gets captured by it's tractor beam. Luke, Solo, Obi-Wan, and the rest of the group hide within the massive space station and discover that Princess Leia is on board.  After breaking Leia out of her prison cell, the heroes escape the Death Star but only after Obi-Wan disables the tractor beam and sacrifices his life during a light saber duel with his nemesis and former pupil Darth Vader.

Leia takes Luke and Han back to a nearby moon where the Rebels have a base.  She gives the Rebels the Death Star blueprints and the Rebels prepare for an all out attack on the Death Star. Luke joins the X-Wing Squadron while Han collects his reward.  The films ends with Luke and the Rebels in a space dogfight against Darth Vader and the Empire as the Rebels attempt to destroy the Death Star.

A few months ago, I introduced my niece to STAR WARS while at the beach. It was my first time watching the film in quite some time.  Several things jumped out at me afterward. Harrison Ford as Han Solo steals the film. He chews up every scene he's in and brings much humor to the film, something that was sorely missing in Lucas's reboot of the STAR WARS saga recently. The film's opening third is actually quite slow. After the amazing opening shot of the Imperial Cruiser chasing the smaller spacecraft, the film sort of plods along as the robots C3PO and R2D2 stumble around Tatooine. Not until Luke, Obi-Wan, and the robots meet Han and Chewbacca at the Mos Eisley Cantina does the film take off again.

For as much as STAR WARS special effects astound us, the film at times does show its limited budget (STAR WARS was made for a paltry $13 million dollars).  In interviews, Lucas always talks about not having enough time or money (and technology) to do some of the stuff he wanted to do in STAR WARS. The oversized helmets worn by both the Rebels and the Empire's men are pretty goofy. A dramatic escape into a garbage compactor hints at some scary creature amongst the garbage but Lucas never shows it. Even the various alien creatures in the famous Cantina bar scene are kind of a mish mash of rubber masks and styrofoam appendages.

But where he lacked money, Lucas made up for it with ingenuity and inventiveness. He gave his characters cool names. Han Solo. Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader. Obi-Wan Kenobi. He created non-human characters just as memorable. Chewbacca. C3PO. R2D2. He created his own mythology with the Force, an aura and power that can be used for good or evil and Jedi Knights like Obi-Wan who were protectors of the Old Republic. Lucas used his money wisely, investing it in amazing special effects and incredible space ships that are as distinctive and unique as each character. And to give his space fantasy some legitimacy, he cast distinguished actors like Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Peter Cushing as Tarkin. How nice to see Peter Cushing, who starred in countless Hammer horror films and other low budget monster pictures, appear in a film that would become one of the all time biggest grossing films.

Because STAR WARS was such a colossal hit, Lucas would never have to worry as much about having the money to make his vision of his films again.  In fact, Lucas would create a company called Industrial Light and Magic (or ILM) which would become the premier special effects company in Hollywood and has since changed film making altogether with computer generated effects today.

Lucas's casting for STAR WARS is a credit to the film's appeal. Yes, Harrison Ford became a huge star after STAR WARS with his performance as Han Solo and steals the film in my opinion but Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker is really the person that drives the film and who the audience identifies with. Luke is like every teenage boy and girl who first saw the film. He's an innocent, full of dreams and aspirations but stuck doing mundane chores as he helps his uncle and aunt on their farm. Solo and Luke have a fun rivalry going throughout the film whether it be who shot down the most Tie Fighters to who can get more attention from Princess Leia. Solo is big brother to Luke's little brother. Carrie Fischer as Leia is strong and independent and a great role model for girls.  Leia is not a defenseless, cowering princess. She's not afraid to grab a blaster and shoot some Storm Troopers or bark orders to Luke and Solo. I did have a crush on Princess Leia as did many Star Wars geeks after watching STAR WARS.

STAR WARS forever changed Hollywood.  It changed it in both good and bad ways. Every summer now, beginning in May, Hollywood releases its big blockbuster films like THOR or TRANSFORMERS, hoping for another STAR WARS, trying to make as much money as they can with movies that are big on visual and special effects. Sometimes the story and acting gets lost amongst all the action.  The little film, strong on character and situations, got pushed aside when the STAR WARS phenomenon began. That's one of the casualties of STAR WARS.

But George Lucas got it right with his first STAR WARS trilogy.  Yes, he had the big spectacle with unique worlds and space crafts we'd never seen before. But he also told the simple story of a young boy becoming a man and the obstacles he had to overcome and the allies he had to make along the way. When we all saw STAR WARS for the first time or the 20th time, it was the beginning of our journey from adolescence to adulthood. And when we had kids of our own, we took the journey back to adolescence to enjoy STAR WARS all over again with the next generation of geeks.

The Sound of Music (1965)

My name is Bryan and I am a SOUND OF MUSIC snob. You heard me. A snob. For the longest time, I swore I would never watch THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965). When I backpacked through Europe in 1987 and stayed in Salzburg, Austria for a few days, I boycotted THE SOUND OF MUSIC tour. While my fellow travelers went to see the Von Trapp's house or the Mirabell Gardens, I went to a museum. In college, my friends would tease me. "You liked Blue Velvet but you've never seen The Sound of Music ?" they would say. It wasn't that Julie Andrews or the country of Austria had ever done anything to me personally. I was just a film snob. I hadn't discovered my sensitive side yet. I didn't want to succumb to Rogers and Hammerstein's beautiful songs like My Favorite Things or get teary-eyed when Maria (Julie Andrews) falls in love with Captain Von Trapp (Christopher Plummer).

I have mellowed in my forties. I don't need to see just films with explosions or spaceships or car chases anymore. I now appreciate period films and romantic comedies and musicals. I'm even warming up to chick flicks. It was time to overcome my prejudices and finally watch THE SOUND OF MUSIC in its entirety.  I had seen bits and pieces of the film on TV from time to time but it was always the same bit or piece. For once, I would watch it from start to finish.

Based on the Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II about the real Von Trapp family, THE SOUND OF MUSIC's first excellent choice is having Robert Wise as director. Wise had co-directed WEST SIDE STORY (1961) with Jerome Robbins and he clearly understands how to film and stage a musical for film.  Each musical sequence is filmed so economically and beautifully with the perfect composition. There are no fast MTV video edits.  Wise borrows from his opening of WEST SIDE STORY where the camera floated high over New York and moves it to the Austrian Alps as a helicopter shot soars like an eagle through the snow-capped mountains before zooming in on Sister Maria running and twirling in an alpine meadow and singing "The hills are alive with the Sound of Music...", one of the great opening shots in movie history. Wise films many of the musical sequences outdoors, opening up the play, using the beauty of Salzburg and the surrounding Alps to great visual advantage.

I had never heard the opening song The Sound of Music in its entirety before. Why is Maria even singing on that hillside? Set during Austria's last golden days of the 1930's, we learn that Maria is a young nun at the nearby convent in Salzburg who grew up in the country.  She loves nature and animals and singing but she's not much good at following rules, much to the consternation of her fellow sisters. Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) is not sure that Maria is cut out for the convent. When Captain Von Trapp searches for a 12th governess to watch over his seven children, the good Mother recommends Maria.

Maria arrives at the Von Trapp lakeside residence and starts off on the wrong foot with the stern Captain Von Trapp.  She hits it off better with the seven Von Trapp children: Liesl, Louisa, Friedrich, Kurt, Brigitta, Martl, and Greta. The children are a bit unruly but Maria soon tames them. Von Trapp treats his children like an army, beckoning them with whistles and making them march in formation. Von Trapp is a shadow of his former self since his wife died and his children have suffered from his lack of love. Naturally, Von Trapp and Maria will clash as he demands discipline whereas she is a free spirit. Since his wife died, Von Trapp does not appreciate singing or laughter. It reminds him of his deceased wife. Maria will change all that.

Von Trapp is courting the wealthy and widowed Baroness Schrader (Eleanor Parker) from Vienna. He longs for his children to have another mother. The Baroness is fond of Von Trapp but not so much his seven kids. Von Trapp's friend, "Uncle" Max Detweiler (Richard Haydn) marvels at Maria's teaching the children how to sing. He's looking for a singing group for the upcoming Salzburg Folk Festival. Max sees fame and fortune for the Von Trapp family and himself.

Maria begins to have feelings for Von Trapp and the Baroness notices. She makes Maria feel guilty for her feelings, playing on Maria's naivety and persuades Maria to leave the house and return to the convent. The Von Trapp children are despondent without her. Von Trapp realizes that it's Maria he's in love with and not the Baroness. Maria returns from her seclusion to be the children's governess again.  Von Trapp breaks off his engagement with the Baroness and professes his love to Maria. Von Trapp and Maria wed but their happiness is short-lived as the Nazis move into Salzburg. Von Trapp is ordered to report to the German Navy by the local Nazi Herr Zeller (Ben Wright). Von Trapp despises the Nazis and what they've done to his native Austria. The Von Trapps try to sneak out that night but Zeller is waiting for them. With Max's assistance, the Von Trapp family perform at the Salzburg Folk Festival in front of Zeller and the entire town.  As the Festival's music winners are announced, the family flee the festival, hiding out in the abbey from the Nazis before escaping on foot through the mountains to Switzerland where Von Trapp, Maria, and his children will be safe.

The plot may sound very dramatic but throughout the film, it's the songs and music of Rodgers and Hammerstein that propel the story. Director Wise keeps his good luck with musicals going by using his great screenwriter Ernest Lehman  from WEST SIDE STORY to write the screenplay.  Besides Barbara Streisand and Gene Kelly, Julie Andrews is probably one of the greatest musical talents in film history. She takes the role of Maria and puts her eternal stamp on it. Probably the one actor overlooked in THE SOUND OF MUSIC who has the toughest role and makes it unique and unforgettable is Christopher Plummer as Captain Von Trapp. His transformation in one pivotal scene from strict disciplinarian to proud, loving father all in a medium close-up is remarkable.

One of the more interesting sub-plots in the film is the character Rolfe (Daniel Truhitte), a young postal courier who Liesl Von Trapp has a crush on. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, Rolfe will evolve from innocent sweetheart to Nazi brownshirt. Caught up in the fanaticism of Nazism, Rolfe ends up almost capturing the hiding Von Trapp family in the abbey. Screenwriter Lehman uses Rolfe well to show that the golden age in Austria and Europe is about to end. I don't know if the Liesl/Rolfe subplot was in the original musical but Wise and Lehman use it for good dramatic effect in the film.

So who stands out as my favorite Von Trapp sibling in the film? None of them. They're all very good but they're just a little too perfect and Wise never really spends too much time fleshing out any individual characteristics of the children. They are a group, a family, and they're almost always filmed together. Most of the child actors would continue acting careers to some degree after MUSIC. Two in particular worked on some projects far different than this film. Heather Menzies as Louisa would later star in the horror cult film PIRANHA (1978) and Nicholas Hammond who played Friedrich was the first live action Spider-Man on CBS's television series THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN (1977-79).

I had heard many songs from THE SOUND OF MUSIC before but always out of context. I thought My Favorite Things was just a Christmas song.  Do-Re-Mi seemed like a silly school song. Hearing and seeing them in the film, each song tells an important part of the plot. Sixteen Going on Seventeen is Liesl (Charmain Carr) becoming a woman.  I Have Confidence is Maria's venture outside the convent to become a governess. And Edelwiess is Von Trapp's patriotic reminder to his countrymen and women to remain Austrian even when the country is occupied by Nazis. My test for a good musical, Broadway or film, is if the songs are catchy and I hum them weeks later.  THE SOUND OF MUSIC passes that test.

Looking back at my photos from my trip to Salzburg in 1987, I realized that even though I boycotted THE SOUND OF MUSIC tour, I still visited many of the locations as I walked around the city.  I just didn't know it. If I had watched the film before my trip, I might have had a better appreciation of Mirabell Garden or St. Peter's Cemetery. There is nothing wrong with viewing THE SOUND OF MUSIC and I had no reason to be snob about it all these years. Yes, the Von Trapp children may seem a little creepy with their cuteness and vocal perfection but it's a timeless, beautiful film to watch and listen to. (Update: Check out this Vanity Fair story on the 50th Anniversary of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and its two stars -- Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer).

The General (1926)

As a kid, one of my favorite family pleasures was a night out at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Old Town in Portland, Oregon. As we waited to be seated to enjoy a spaghetti dinner, the restaurant would show black and white silent films in the lobby. They were just one-reel shorts starring silent film comedians such as Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy. I enjoyed watching the silent films as much as I did the spaghetti dinner.

One silent film comedian whose films I don't recall seeing at the Old Spaghetti Factory were those starring Buster Keaton.  Keaton may be one of the greatest silent film comedians that today's moviegoer knows little about. It wasn't until I was studying film at Loyola Marymount University that I first heard about Keaton through a college buddy.  And it wasn't until the early 1990's that I finally saw a Buster Keaton film at the great Brattle Theater in Harvard Square in Boston, Massachusetts.  The film was SEVEN CHANCES (1925) and I never laughed so hard in my life.

With his sad hound dog eyes, rubbery face and amazing athleticism, Buster Keaton was in the right place at the right time to be a comedian in silent films.  Not only did Keaton have his own production company but he also directed and co-wrote some of his own films.  He often improvised many of his best comic moments. Keaton was certainly a rival to the other great silent film comedian - Charlie Chaplin.

One of Buster Keaton's best films, based on an actual event during the Civil War known as Andrews Raid or the Great Locomotive Chase is the silent film comedy THE GENERAL (1926). Most Keaton fans rank it as his greatest work but I had never seen it before.  In fact, silent films are usually not high on my list of movies to see. I was born of the age of sound and color.  The only two full length silent films I recall watching are PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) and NOSFERATU (1922). Film makers were just learning their craft in the age of silent films. When Keaton made THE GENERAL in 1926, he was fully at the top of his game.

THE GENERAL begins in the spring of 1861, at the beginning of the Civil War.  Buster Keaton plays Johnny Gray, a train engineer who runs the locomotive known as the General. Johnny has two loves in his life - his engine and a girl named Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). When the North fires upon Fort Sumter, every southern man in Marietta, Georgia goes to enlist including Annabelle's father (Charles Smith) and brother (Frank Barnes). Johnny races to the recruitment office ahead of them but he's turned down. Annabelle's father and brother mistakenly believe Johnnie didn't want to enlist and tell Annabelle. She tells Johnny she doesn't want to see him again until he's in a uniform.

A year later, Johnny is still the engineer for the General.  Unknown to Johnny, Annabelle boards his train to visit her wounded father. As the train stops for dinner in the town of Big Shanty, a group of Union spies led by Colonel Anderson (Glen Cavender) hijack the General. Their plan is to bring it back across northern lines to Chattanooga, Tennessee, destroying bridges and telegraph lines along the way, then hook up with General Parker and his Union army and return to attack the Confederates with trains to supply the attacking soldiers. Annabelle accidentally stumbles upon their plot and so they take her hostage. Johnny sees the General departing without him and gives chase of his beloved locomotive, first with a push car, then a bicycle, and finally, he "borrows" another locomotive.

Believing at first that many men are after them, the Union spies can't believe that it's just Johnny in pursuit.  They leave all kinds of roadblocks to stop Johnny. They throw large beams across the tracks and unhook burning cars as obstacles and even switch train rails on him. Johnny prevails and makes it across enemy lines. Hopelessly lost, hungry, and dripping wet from a terrible rainstorm, Johnny stumbles into a house that night which happens to be the headquarters for General Thatcher (Jim Farley) and the Union spies who stole the General. Hiding under a table, Johnny listens to their plot to attack the south.

Johnny also discovers they have his sweetheart Annabelle hostage.  Once everyone has gone to bed, he sneaks Annabelle out of the house and they hide in the forest. The next day, Johnny puts Annabelle in a burlap bag, hides her in the luggage car, and hijacks the General back. This time, the Union spies chase Johnny and Annabelle all the way back across southern lines. Johnny and Annabelle now have to make roadblocks to slow down their pursuers. Johnny brings the General back into Marietta and warns everyone that the Union army is coming.  Johnny finally gets his chance to be a real Confederate soldier as both North and South armies converge at Rock River Bridge for a final battle.

I came away awestruck at how good THE GENERAL is on so many different levels. On a story level, Keaton and co-writer and co-director Clyde Bruckman mix grand scale cat and mouse train chases and a giant battle scene with lots of extras with intimate scenes of a guy just trying to impress his sweetheart. Keaton sets up little plot lines and threads early in the story and pays them off throughout the film. For example, Johnny wants to join the war to impress Annabelle. The Confederate army doesn't want him. At the end of THE GENERAL, Johnny accidentally captures a Union general and turns him in to the Southern general (Fredrick Vroom) who in turn makes Johnny a lieutenant. Annabelle's dream of Johnny wearing a uniform is realized.

Keaton doesn't take sides or make any political statements with THE GENERAL'S Civil War setting. Because Johnny is the hero, the South might be seen as the good side. The North steals the train and holds Annabelle hostage so they might be seen as the bad guys. But both sides act nobly. The Union men all have dark hair and beards. The Confederate general has the long white beard. In a silent black and white film, the stereotypes need to be clear so we know which side is which. The sad reality is now that Johnny is in the Confederate army, he'll probably get killed. Luckily, the film ends before that possibility ever plays out.

The choreography and logistics involved in filming THE GENERAL'S train sequences are as good as anything being made today.  Watching the film, I kept asking myself how did they do this in 1926? Keaton places the camera in front of moving trains, behind moving trains, and racing alongside moving trains. Keaton's athleticism and agility are put to the test as he constantly leaps around the moving locomotive as well as jumping on and off the train time and time again. Keaton even has a David Lean moment as he stages a spectacular train crash off a collapsing bridge that precedes THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI (1957) by thirty one years.

THE GENERAL is a comedy and Keaton has some funny bits of genius with a cannon, a bag of shoes, and a sword. Most of the supporting cast are excellent for the way they look and gesture (this is a silent film after all) but Marion Mack really stands out as Annabelle. She is Keaton's equal in physical comedy and seems to be a good sport whether she's dumped into a burlap sack or drenched by water. Keaton's directing is as impressive as his comedic talents. In staging the battle, he has some beautiful shots of soldiers silhouetted in the smoke and sunlight.  And his framing of the three southern men who turned down his initial request to enlist him as he brings them a captured Union general is priceless.

For us Oregonians, THE GENERAL holds a special place in Oregon film history as Keaton filmed most of THE GENERAL in Cottage Grove, Oregon and around the McKenzie River.  He even used the Oregon National Guard to play both Union and Rebel soldiers.

THE GENERAL may be a silent film but it speaks loudly that many great films were made during the silent age of movies. Great storytelling, directing, and acting is the key ingredient whether a film is silent or talkie; color or black and white.  Buster Keaton was one of the best of the best in the 1920's but would fall upon hard times creatively and personally during the 1930's. Thankfully, Keaton's genius as a comedic actor and director would be rediscovered later in his life by film fans around the world. Go discover Buster Keaton and see for yourself.

Slap Shot (1977)

I'm a sport fan.  I love playing sports and watching sports. I played basketball in high school. Football, soccer, and golf would rank as my favorite sports to watch. Yet when it comes to watching sports films, movies about football, basketball, or golf usually bore me. The sports film I enjoy are about sports I don't participate in.  BREAKING AWAY (1979) has competitive bicycling in it but it's really a coming-of-age film about four young men in Bloomington, Indiana. RAGING BULL (1980) has some amazing boxing sequences but it's really about boxer Jake LaMotta and his inner demons.  Baseball is the one major sport that has had some decent films made about it such as THE NATURAL (1984), FIELD OF DREAMS (1989), BULL DURHAM (1988) , and EIGHT MEN OUT (1988).

Hockey is the sports subject in director George Roy Hill's film SLAP SHOT (1977). Many times over the years, I've had either a friend or stranger tell me that I need to see SLAP SHOT. They mention the colorful language in it.  Or they bring up the Hanson Brothers (more about them later). Hockey is another sport I rarely watch, usually during the Olympics. SLAP SHOT is an insider's view of minor league hockey. Screenwriter Nancy Dowd wrote the story based on her brother Ned Dowd's experiences and stories playing minor league hockey. In fact, Ned has a bit role as Ogie Ogilthorpe, a hated rival hockey player who's even spent some time in jail.

A great sports film has action scenes of the game or the fight or the race but for me, it's more about what's happening on the periphery that catches my interest. What do the characters do before and after the game? What are they talking about in the dugout or the sidelines away from the action or on the team bus between cities? I tend to like sports films that deal with amateur sports or minor league sports like THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976; Little League baseball) or BULL DURHAM (minor league baseball).  SLAP SHOT takes the audience into the unglamorous world of the Charlestown Chiefs, a minor league hockey team in a fictitious Pennsylvania mill town.

Reggie "Reg" Dunlop (Paul Newman) is the player coach of the lowly Chiefs. Dwelling in the cellar of the Federal Hockey League standings, the Chiefs are playing uninspired hockey. Fans heckle Dunlop whether he's on the ice or answering questions on the radio with Jim Carr (Andrew Duncan), the team's toupee wearing sports announcer. Their best player and leading scorer, Ivy League grad Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean), is constantly fighting with his new wife Lily (Lindsey Crouse) who despises the life of a hockey player's spouse. Joe McGrath (Strother Martin), the Chiefs cheap General Manager, forces the players to model clothes at a fashion show against their will in one of his many public relations schemes.  When McGrath purchases the contracts of three goofy looking brothers who wear thick Coke bottle glasses - the Hanson's, Dunlop is sure the Chiefs have hit rock bottom. Then, it's announced that the town's mill is going to close soon. If the mill closes and people lose their jobs, Dunlop fears the Chiefs will fold as well.

So Dunlop makes up a story that some investors are interested in buying the team and moving them to Florida, planting the lie with local sportswriter Dickie Dunn (M. Emmet Walsh) hoping to inspire the team and its fans.  Dunlop changes tactics and begins to play dirty, taunting opposing players about their ex-wives, using the Hanson Brothers as "goons" to start fights. The Chiefs begin winning. The town begins to support them again. Fans and groupies follow them from city to city. Dunlop is sure their winning will land them a new owner. But not everyone is happy. Ned doesn't like the type of hockey the Chiefs are playing. He's a purist. He won't "goon" it up for Dunlop.

Dunlop benches Ned for not wanting to fight. Dunlop's ex-wife Francine (Jennifer Warren) tells him she's moving out of town. The Hanson Brothers get thrown into jail (temporarily) for almost starting a riot during one game. The team's most laid back player Dave Carlson (Jerry Houser) takes on the nickname "Killer" to impress Dunlop.  The Chiefs make it to the playoffs to play their rivals from Syracuse for the league championship. Dunlop loves his players too much and realizes he can't deceive them anymore. He confesses that the Florida deal is phony, and the team is folding after their last game. He promises no more fighting and a return to "old time hockey."  But the Chiefs' fans don't want to see clean hockey and Syracuse has loaded the team with its own goons like Ogie Ogilthorpe and Tim "Dr. Hook" McCracken (Paul D'Amato).

Director Hill and Screenwriter Dowd capture perfectly the quirkiness of an athlete's life in the minors. The player's wives, ex-wives, the groupies, the road trips, the drinking and poker games, an errant puck striking the organist during a game, the vagabond life in hotel rooms and team buses, the small talk between players before the game starts, SLAP SHOT has it all. Whether intentional or not, SLAP SHOT goes out of its way to be vulgar and outrageous. In one scene, actress Melinda Dillon as Suzanne Hanrahan, a rival player's wife, lays in bed with Newman and plays her whole dialogue scene topless. SLAP SHOT may not have as many four-letter words as SCARFACE (1983) but it has more colorful four-letter words than any other film that comes to mind. Dunlop and the Chiefs talk a blue streak that would make Vince Lombardi blush.  Bad language in most films is as repugnant as senseless violence. But Newman swearing like a construction worker is pure bliss. SLAP SHOT is unabashedly boorish.

Paul Newman's character Reg Dunlop is another aging, over the hill character similar to his Butch Cassidy in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) also directed by George Roy Hill. Newman even looks a little like hockey legend Gordie Howe in SLAP SHOT. Newman's still hustling only this time it's not billiards like in THE HUSTLER (1961) but hustling to get fans into the arena, to get wins for the franchise, and to keep playing and coaching the game he loves. The Chiefs are his family. His players are his sons. Michael Ontkean as Ned Braden is the younger version of Reg Dunlop. Reg was young and married once and hockey wrecked his marriage. Ned is a cynic and a hockey purist. He's a newlywed but bickers with his wife.  He's smart enough to be working on Wall Street but avoids real life by playing hockey. He may end up divorced just like Reg. Reg sees the similarities and tries to make Ned jealous by having Lily stay with him. He doesn't want Ned to become like he has.

The supporting cast for SLAP SHOT is perfect.  In a film about team sports, the supporting players need to be memorable and likable.  Jeff Hanson (Jeff Carlson), Steve Hanson (Steve Carlson), and Jack Hanson (David Hanson) as the Hanson Brothers almost single-handedly steal the film and Newman looks happy to let them do it.  Whether their taping foil to their knuckles before a game or playing with their toy cars in a motel room, the Hanson Brothers child-like exuberance is infectious. I don't want to spoil all their highlights, but SLAP SHOT is worth watching just to see them. But the other actors hold their own. Jerry Houser as Killer Carlson, Allen Nichols as Johnny Upton, and Yvon Barrette as French-Canadian goalie Denis Lemieux have their moments to shine.

SLAP SHOT reunites Newman with one of the greatest character actors of all time - Mr. Strother Martin as the GM Joe McGrath.  Newman and Martin had also worked together in COOL HAND LUKE (1967) and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) but in SLAP SHOT they get to play friends for once. Martin usually played supporting roles in westerns so it's nice to see him in a modern film. SLAP SHOT also introduces some character actors early in their careers that we will see in future films like Paul Dooley (BREAKING AWAY), Swoosie Kurtz (AGAINST ALL ODDS), and M. Emmet Walsh (BLOOD SIMPLE).

Director George Roy Hill has a nice touch with ensemble casts, and I liked the way he stages many of the group scenes in SLAP SHOT with dialogue crisscrossing over one another, very Robert Altman-like with its multiple conversations all happening at once. Hill's THE STING (1973) is another fine example of his work with a big group of actors. SLAP SHOT captures the late 1970's perfectly with players wearing fur coats and patent leather pants and big Afros. Maxine Nightingale's "Right Back Where We Started From" is among the highlights on the soundtrack. Editor Dede Allen gives the film a great pace and rhythm. Except for a couple of clunky pieces in the middle, SLAP SHOT moves along briskly until the final championship game when director Hill seems to have tired of all the fighting and tries something even more outrageous to end the game. I'm not positive he succeeds.

But Hill, Dowd, and Newman do succeed in making SLAP SHOT the Stanley Cup Champion of hockey films. Some film lovers might choose MIRACLE (1984) about the U.S. hockey team's improbable win over Russia in the 1980 Olympics or THE CUTTING EDGE (1992) with its mixture of hockey and ice skating but for the best hockey comedy ever, SLAP SHOT wins it by a couple of pucks.

Gangs of New York (2002)

I love Martin Scorsese films.  Most of his films, that is. Ever since I saw RAGING BULL (1980) Scorsese's biopic about boxer Jake LaMotta, I've been captivated by Scorsese's filmmaking style.  The way he moves the camera in his films.  The editing and pace of his films. The staccato bursts of violence in his films. So you would think a big Martin Scorsese fan like me would have rushed out to see GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002), right?  Wrong. For some reason, I was turned off by the period of the film.  The gangs that I enjoyed Scorsese showing me in GOOD FELLAS (1990) were from the 1950's and 60's. Why did I want to see gangs from the mid-19th century with mutton chop sideburns and handle bar moustaches?  I think I may have had bad dreams of Scorsese's previous period film THE AGE OF INNOCENCE (1993) that was too slow and Victorian for my liking. But I have my son Chris to thank for giving me a second chance on GANGS OF NEW YORK.  He had seen it on TV and liked it and recommended I watch it.  It's funny because I keep trying to get him to watch GOOD FELLAS. He still hasn't.

GANGS OF NEW YORK, although a work of fiction, is also an interesting history lesson about a real place and period of time in New York that may not be well known to most people. It's about the birth of New York City during the turbulent period around the Civil War when various ethnic groups were wrestling for control of the city in a time of lawlessness. GANGS is Scorsese's attempt at a Spielberg type epic with maybe a touch of Sergio Leone. GANGS was a pet project of Scorsese's and who better to make a historical film about New York City than one of its greatest New York born directors.

GANGS OF NEW YORK begins with a bang in 1846 on a cold day in the Five Points section of lower Manhattan. A battle is about to be waged between a gang of Irish immigrants known as the Dead Rabbits led by the noble "Priest" Vallon (Liam Neeson) against another gang known as the Natives led by the charismatic but vicious Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis). Known as the Battle of the Five Points, the fight is savage and brutal and Priest is killed by Bill.  Priest's young son witnesses his father's death and the boy is whisked away to a reform school with the hope he'll forget the events of that day.

The film jumps ahead sixteen years to 1862 as Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), the young boy who witnessed his father's death, is released from Hellgate School of Reform. Amsterdam returns to Five Points just as thousands of Irish and Germans are streaming into New York City ports every day. On a grander scale, the Civil War and its effect on the young United States begins to permeate the city. New York City is run by the corrupt but affable William "Boss" Tweed (Jim Broadbent) and his Tammany political party but the Five Points is controlled by Bill the Butcher and his gang of Natives. Amsterdam Vallon has returned to Five Points with vengeance on his mind, revenge against Bill Cutting, the man who killed his father Priest. Amsterdam hooks up with childhood friend Johnny Sirocco (Henry Thomas) and the two of them begin working for Bill's gang, stealing from burning houses and even selling dead bodies to medical schools with Bill getting a cut of their share. A beautiful Irish pickpocket Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz) also captures the hearts of both young men but she has ties to Bill too.

As young Vallon begins to plot his revenge against Bill, Bill takes Amsterdam under his wing.  Bill doesn't know Amsterdam's true identity. Vallon begins to fall under the spell of his father's killer as Bill becomes a father figure to Amsterdam, showing him how to rule and protect their tribes (people) while still having their hands in every type of vice. Amsterdam even saves Bill's life from a would-be assassin. But when Bill confides to Amsterdam his respect for the dead Priest, young Vallon is refocused to kill the Butcher. Jenny has taken a liking to Vallon over Johnny and in a moment of jealousy, Johnny reveals Amsterdam's true identity to Bill.  When Vallon tries to kill Bill on the anniversary of the Battle of Five Points, Bill and his gang are ready. Bill scars Amsterdam but allows him to live, casting him out of his gang.

Jenny helps Vallon recuperate and one of Priest's former fighting comrades Hank "Monk" McGinn (Brendan Gleeson) gives him a memento from his father - his razor.  Vallon resurrects the Dead Rabbits gang and aligns himself with Boss Tweed who has grown weary of Bill's bloody and unpopular antics.  Meanwhile, the city becomes a dynamite keg ready to explode as the poor and destitute protest the rich living the high life while the poor are drafted to fight in the Civil War.  When Bill commits an outrageous murder, Vallon and the Dead Rabbits challenge Bill and the Natives to another fight.  But this time, the civil unrest in Manhattan boils over into this battle as the Navy fires upon the Five Points and a mob riots for four days in New York.

Scorsese is at his best when he and long time editor and collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker use narration and editing to express lots of expository information quickly to the audience. Whether it be explaining how the mob operations worked in GOOD FELLAS or how Las Vegas casinos do things in CASINO (1995), Scorsese and Schoomaker are the masters of exposition. In GANGS, there is a nice one to two minute sequence where young Vallon describes the various gangs in New York (the Bowery Boys, the Swamp Angels, the Plug Uglies, the Forty Thieves) and the different ways the gangs steal and plunder. In a short amount of time, we know more about the people living and working in Five Points then we did before.

Historical detail is vital to GANGS OF NEW YORK and the hair, costume, and production design are woven seamlessly into the film taking the audience completely to another time. Production Designer Dante Ferretti recreated the Five Points district on the Cinecitta Studios lot in Rome and the buildings and cobblestone streets and even ships are amazingly accurate. The three screenwriters  - Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Longeran weave many historical facts into this rich story. New York City had no city fire department but instead competing fire brigades usually led by rival gangs or political groups who would more often fight each other before trying to save a burning building together. Boss Tweed and Bill Cutting are based on real life people.

GANGS uses the Dead Rabbits/Natives quarrel as a continuation of the Catholic versus Protestant conflict that many Irish thought they were escaping when they came to America.  As Monk McGinn says, "We never expected it to follow us here. It didn't. It was waiting for us when we landed." Bill's Native Americans are the people who fought to establish America and democracy and now they don't like sharing their food or jobs with the onslaught of new immigrants. But it's also a foreshadowing of what still exists today with Bill the Butcher and his gang representing those who want to keep immigrants out and Amsterdam Vallon and his gang symbolizing other voices who seem more compassionate toward different cultures. Even the Civil War subplot with the poor and newly arrived immigrants being conscripted into the Union army to be shipped off and fight while the sons of the wealthy stay home will be revisited during the Vietnam War.

Scorsese builds up so much momentum in the first half of GANGS that the film loses a bit of steam when Amsterdam tries to kill the Butcher (who's trade in the film is that of a meat butcher).  Bill is such an interesting character that we almost don't want Amsterdam to try to kill him and it's anti-climactic when he does.  Like many Scorsese films such as TAXI DRIVER (1976) or THE DEPARTED (2006) , GANGS OF NEW YORK builds to a bloody and violent finale. Surprisingly, the film's opening battle which I expected to be very gory with everyone carrying axes and knives is shot and edited with very little gratuitous blood. But the final confrontation between young Vallon and Bill is less than spectacular as their battle gets caught up in the bigger riot inflaming New York. Vallon and Bill's personal war gets lost in the dust and smoke. Perhaps Scorsese didn't want to repeat the same battle like in the opening but he loses some of the drama in Amsterdam and Bill's final conflict.

Leonardo DiCaprio has become Scorsese's new favorite lion (having made four films now with Scorsese) replacing Robert DeNiro who had made eight films with Scorsese. GANGS was their first collaboration and DiCaprio is strong enough to handle the different emotional levels needed to play the vengeful son Amsterdam. Daniel Day Lewis as Bill gives another powerhouse performance.  Bill the Butcher is almost the devil incarnate and in one scene as Bill headbutts Amsterdam repeatedly in the head, Bill's face covered in blood with his black beard and eyebrows, he looks like the devil effigy hanging outside of his Satan's Garden establishment.

Cameron Diaz gives a nice, low-key performance as Jenny Everdeane. It's nice to see Diaz in a strong dramatic role. Like Sharon Stone in CASINO, Scorsese's casting choice of Diaz who had previously done romantic comedies is inspired and she rewards him with a nice performance.  GANGS supporting cast is exemplary as well. Brendan Gleeson as Walter "Monk" McGinn, John C. Reilly as Happy Jack Mulraney, and Gary Lewis as McGloin are all fantastic as former Dead Rabbit members who have chosen different paths and alliances in those 16 years since the first Five Points Battle. And Jim Broadbent as Boss Tweed wields more power with his tongue and political savvy then any axe or club. "The appearance of law must be upheld, especially when it's being broken," Boss Tweed says. Broadbent's Boss gets many of the best lines in the film.

I was completely swept up in the story GANGS OF NEW YORK had to tell. It's not a typical Martin Scorsese film, more epic in scope than some of his more personal New York stories but it has many of the familiar themes and visual motifs Martin Scorsese fans will recognize.

Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

A Greatest Films book I own (it's title and current location escape me at the moment) had listed director Howard Hawks film ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939) starring Cary Grant and Jean Arthur as one of the 100 top films of all times.  I had tried to watch the film a few years ago and just couldn't get into it but when it came on a few months ago on Turner Movie Classics, this CrazyFilmGuy (shameless plug) had to give it another chance.

ANGELS is about a group of pilots flying dangerous postal routes in South America.  Personally, I am not fond of flying.  One could say I have a slight fear of flying. A friend of mine named Heinz took flying lessons several years ago. He kept asking my wife and I to go flying with him.  For awhile, I kept making up excuses, but I knew to conquer my fear of flying in small planes and to maintain my friendship, we would have to go flying with him.  We did.  And it was a beautiful flight, safe and relaxing.  Heinz did a great job flying.  He's now a commercial airline pilot.  And I have only flown in a small plane one other time since.  I guess I haven't quite gotten over my fear of flying.

ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS takes place in the port city of Barranca, South America.  A boat arrives unloading bananas and passengers including Bonnie Lee (Jean Arthur), an American on her way back to the U.S. She disembarks to stretch her legs and meets up with two ex-patriate pilots Les Peters (Allyn Joslyn) and Joe Souther (Noah Beery, Jr). They take her back to a bar/hotel owned by Dutchy (Sig Rumann), the local postmaster and hotel proprietor, for a drink.  Bonnie is introduced to their boss Geoff Carter (Cary Grant) who runs the small airline Barranca Airways that delivers mail, food, and even nitroglycerin over dangerous mountain passes to desolate mining camps.  The danger these pilots endure becomes apparent very quickly when Carter sends Joe off to make his mail delivery in some bad fog.  Forced to turn around, Joe clips some trees trying to land and dies in a plane crash, bringing a pall over the previously giddy group.

Such is life as a postal pilot in Barranca. They drink, gamble, fight, and chase girls because they never know when their time may be up. Bonnie learns that a pilot's life is but a short memory.  She blames Carter for sending Joe out in dangerous conditions. Carter blames Bonnie for distracting Joe.  Carter and Bonnie are the same double-sided coin that Carter's best friend and pilot Kid Dabb (Thomas Mitchell) carries around. Both have been wounded by the opposite sex.  Naturally, they're going to fall in love. When Bonnie asks the Kid what Carter's like, the Kid says, "He's a good guy for gals to stay away from."  Spoken like a true friend.

But things get complicated when a new pilot named Bat MacPherson (Richard Barthelmess) arrives on the next boat. Bat's a disgraced flyer who once bailed out of a plane that killed Kid's mechanic brother.  Bat's also married to Carter's ex-wife Judy (Rita Hayworth). None of the pilots want anything to do with Bat but when Les breaks his arm and the Kid gets grounded by Carter for poor vision, Bat is the only pilot available to fly some risky missions to help keep the airline from going broke.

Carter keeps pushing the envelope, trying to get the mail out twice a week for six months in order to win a new mail contract for Dutchy and a new subsidy to purchase better planes. Time is running out. Carter and the Kid prepare to make the final flight that will keep their business afloat but Bonnie accidentally shoots Carter in the shoulder during an argument. It's up to Bat to step up again, this time flying with the man who's brother died because of Bat, the man who despises him: the nearly blind Kid Dabb.

Director Howard Hawks may be one of the best directors that people don't know. Like Alfred Hitchcock, the name Howard Hawks just sounds like a movie director. Hawks moved effortlessly between film genres and almost every one he made became a classic.  Whether it be a screwball comedy like BRINGING UP BABY (1938) or a film noir mystery like THE BIG SLEEP (1946) or a western such as RED RIVER (1948) or even a musical like GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (1953), Hawks could do it all. Only Michael Curtiz comes to mind as another director who could make a good film in any genre. ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS is one of Hawks few straight-forward adventure films but it contains many Hawks themes that he would repeat throughout his career.

The first Hawks theme is a group of men who live by a code of honor.  The pilots revere Geoff and the Dutchman for their loyalty to them. Their honest with each other, a brotherhood, and not even a good woman can break them apart. None of the pilots want to be around the disgraced Bat but when Bat's wife Judy wants to know why no one will hire her husband, the pilots stick together and protect Bat's image with his wife. Bat had broken that code by jumping out of a plane he was piloting causing another man's death but through the course of the film, he's given another chance to redeem his honor. Although Cary Grant is the star of the film, the real focus is on Bat's fall and and subsequent redemption.

ONLY ANGELS has the tough, wise-cracking female lead, sometimes known as a "Hawksian woman." She can drink and shoot and talk back and play a mean piano just as good as the men can. In ANGLES, Jean Arthur plays that archetype, but you'll find the strong Hawksian female leads in other Hawks films like Katherine Hepburn in BRINGING UP BABY or Lauren Bacall in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1945). They're almost like one of the boys, only better looking.

 The last Hawks theme that emerges in ANGELS is giving a down on his luck or disgraced character a second chance. In RIO BRAVO (1959), it's the drunken gunslinger Dean Martin overcoming his demons to fight the bad guys. In EL DORADO (1967), it's drunk sheriff Robert Mitchum who John Wayne forces to sober up to defeat some cattle rustlers.  Bat MacPherson is that character in ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS.  Bat can't get a job in the states.  The other pilots treat him like a pariah. But Carter gives him a second chance when no one else would. When Bat and the Kid have to turn back on their flight and the plane's engines are on fire, the Kid tells Bat to jump out.  But this time, Bat stays in the plane and lands back at the airport, saving the Kid and his honor.

One of the strengths of ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS is the supporting cast.  Thomas Mitchell who plays Kid Dabb was great at playing tragic, flawed characters.  Mitchell would have an incredible string of supporting roles in a short period of time including John Ford's STAGECOACH (1939), Frank Capra's MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), Victor Fleming's GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), and Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) to name a few.  And film fans will recognize the accent of German actor Sig Rumann who plays Dutchy in ANGELS. Rumann starred in Billy  Wilder's great war film STALAG 17 (1953) as the friendly German Prison camp guard Sergeant Schulz. In ANGELS, Dutchy is the mother hen to the pilots, worrying about them during each flight.

A film about dangerous flying should have some actual flying scenes and Hawks uses some great aerial footage of these single engine planes flying precariously through and around snowcapped mountains to mix in with some obvious model plane shots.  Bat's hair-raising trip to pick up an injured miner on a cliff or Carter's testing out of a new prototype plane that stalls out provide some excellent suspenseful moments in the film and give ANGELS some needed realism.  Aviation fans will enjoy the film's depiction of the hazards of single and twin engine flying in 1939 with a spotter up in the mountain pass acting as their radar or the Kid bringing oxygen tanks into the plane and sucking on an air tube when his plane gets over sixteen thousand feet.  

Jules Furthman, one of Hawks' favorite screenwriters, provided the screenplay for ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS which was based on a real life couple that Hawks had met while scouting for a film in Mexico.  Furthman's script reminds me a lot of CASABLANCA as little moments in the film come up later to be important plot points and every character no matter how small has some importance. Hawks and Furthman take a chance killing a likable character like Joe early in the film but it sets the somewhat gallows tone that the life of a pilot was dangerous.  The film jumps easily from comedy to romance to suspense which makes it so enjoyable. Hawks and Furthman also add some nice touches like another character named Tex (Don "Red" Berry) who lives in a cabin up in the pass with his burro Napoleon and acts as the pilots radar and weatherman because back in 1939, they didn't have radar and weather satellites.

ONLY ANGELS also has some movie quotes that have worked their way into other mediums and visa versa.  "Calling Barranca, calling Barranca" which the pilots say when calling the control tower would find it's way into several Looney Tune cartoons. The Kid tells Carter that "they have no bananas" which is a quip at the song, "Yes, We Have No Bananas."  

From start to finish, ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS is a wonderful film that is exciting, romantic, and thoughtful.  Whether it makes your Top 100 films of all time remains to be seen but pick a rainy Barranca like afternoon and sit down and see what you think of this underrated treasure.