FilmFanatic.org

Synopsis:
A group of regulars meet at the Alamo bar in Texas on the night before it closes.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Character Studies
• Get Togethers and Reunions
• Masculinity

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this unusual little sleeper is “observant, atmospheric, [and] different.” The Alamo’s pathetic barflies — “inconsequential little men” during the day — “have made the bar their personal [nighttime] domain, where they can strut their false machismo and stroke their fragile egos”. Each male character reveals his own worst side during the final night at the Alamo, with the “legendary” Cowboy (Sonny Davis) especially humbled; as Peary notes, this film is indeed a “swift kick in the rear to men who hang around bars bragging about their success with women” when in fact it is the women who ultimately “realize that these men are inadequate.”

Redeeming Qualities:

• A realistic portrayal of men desperately trying to stroke their own “fragile egos”
  
• Lou Perryman as Claude, a blubbering drunk who’s in perpetual trouble with his wife
  

Must See?
No, but it’s worth seeking out.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A martial arts movie star (Bruce Lee) is targeted for assassination when he refuses to join a corrupt syndicate led by Dean Jagger. He fakes his own death and goes undercover to seek revenge.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Bruce Lee Films
• Dean Jagger Films
• Gig Young Films
• Martial Arts
• Revenge

Response to Peary’s Review:
This ridiculously bad kung fu flick — both “messy and too long” — was Bruce Lee’s final movie, compiled six years after his death. It contains some original fight footage (which, as Peary points out, is “the highlight of the film”), but was mostly made with other actors wearing dark sunglasses and pretending to be Bruce Lee. Indeed, the film’s primary enjoyment (and humor) comes from trying to figure out all the strategies used to incorporate Lee’s doubles — in one particularly hilarious instance, an image of Lee’s face is pasted onto a mirror while his double sits as still as possible. Things finally become interesting towards the end of the film, when Lee himself reappears to triumph in a series of enjoyable fights.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a cameo as a villain
  

Must See?
No, unless you’re a hardcore Bruce Lee fan.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Love HK Film Review

Synopsis:
During the Depression, Max (Bud Cort) accepts a job teaching at a one-room schoolhouse in Saskatchewan, and struggles with loneliness and frustration.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Bud Cort Films
• Canadian Films
• Character Arc
• Depression Era
• Samantha Eggar Films
• Teachers

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this “agreeable, unpretentious” Canadian sleeper “achieves realism by not allowing there to be a solution to any of the problems Cort encounters.” It’s difficult watching Max struggle for acceptance from the town’s impoverished citizens while simultaneously dealing with the bitterly cold prairie winter, unruly students, and lack of pay.

But Cort — always an outsider! — brings an inimitable sense of humor and spirit to his role, and makes the film ultimately about Max’s personal growth and maturation more than anything else.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Bud Cort in yet another “outsider” role
  
• Samantha Eggar as the desperately lonely housewife who Max develops a crush on
  

Must See?
No, but it will be of interest to both fans of Bud Cort and those who enjoy films about teachers.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
A group of macho war veterans (led by Cliff Robertson) are ambushed while hunting in the Canadian hills, and return fire. Suspecting a future retaliation, they gather together more army comrades, stock an arsenal of weapons, and head back to the hills for a final shoot-out.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Canadian Films
• Cliff Robertson Films
• Ernest Borgnine Films
• Hunting
• Revenge
• Veterans

Response to Peary’s Review:
While Peary argues that this unusual Canadian action flick is meant to take a stand against “NRA types” who would open fire on the entire world if given a chance, I disagree. Instead, I see it as a freaky portrayal of war veterans whose “instinct” to engage in combat hasn’t left them. While not entirely successful, the film does make us wonder whether Robertson is correct in assuming there will be another ambush, or if the entire venture is a figment of his overactive imagination. As Peary notes, the “unexpected ending is terrifying”.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Ernest Borgnine as Lou
  
• Henry Silva as Zeke
  
• Incredibly tense and violent shoot-out scenes

Must See?
No, but it’s an interesting revenge flick and worth watching once.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Canuxploitation Review

Synopsis:
Lonely widow Mattie Siles (Dana Preu) falls for sweet-talking Trax (David Peck), who wants her money to build himself a still. When his moonshine operation becomes successful, he starts running around with other women — but when he brings Gal Young ‘Un (J. Smith-Cameron) home to live with them, Mattie plots her revenge.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Bootlegging
• Deep South
• Prohibition
• Revenge
• Widows and Widowers

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this “absorbing low-budget independent film” by Victor Nunez — director of Ruby in Paradise (1993) and Ulee’s Gold (1997) — is “poignant yet unsentimental”. Based on a short story by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the plot builds slowly but surely; by the end, we’re completely invested in what happens to Mattie, and rooting for her all the way. Preu (who only performed in one other film) is wonderfully natural, and Smith-Cameron does a fine job as the meek Gal Young ‘Un, who “has been just as exploited by Peck as Preu has been”, and simply wants Mattie — or somebody — to like her. As Peary notes, it’s “impressive… how so much of what the two women are feeling is conveyed by their eyes and expressions and how they hug Preu’s cat rather than by words (which is essential since these women aren’t the type to gab).”

Redeeming Qualities:

• Dana Preu as Mattie
  
• Smith-Cameron as Gal Young ‘Un
  

Must See?
No, but it’s highly recommended.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Time Out Capsule Review
• Four Word Film Reviews

Synopsis:
A cabbie (Bill Murray) and his buddy Russell (Harold Ramis) join the military and go through basic training under the command of Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates). In the meantime, they have adventures with beautiful MPs Sean Young and PJ Soles, and get sent on a special mission to Europe.

• Bill Murray Films
• Comedy
• Dennis Quaid Films
• Military
• Misfits
• Warren Oates Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this wildly popular Bill Murray vehicle — directed by Ivan Reitman, and following on the box-office success of Meatballs (1979) — is ultimately “just a standard service comedy,” and would probably have made for a much more interesting story if it focused on Murray’s adventures as a cabbie in New York. There are other, better movies about misfits enduring basic training together, and this one brings nothing new or unusual to the genre. Plus, as much as I like and admire Warren Oates, his performance here can’t hold a candle to R. Lee Ermey’s in Full Metal Jacket (1987).

Redeeming Qualities:

• John Candy mud-wrestling in a strip bar
  
• Young and Soles, who bring a breath of fresh air to this otherwise stale movie
  
• The improvised “kitchen utensil” scene between Murray and Soles

Must See?
No; while it has a strong cult following, this one isn’t must-see by all film fanatics.

Links:

• IMDb entry

Synopsis:
When Cole Hardin (Gary Cooper) is falsely accused of stealing a horse, he stands before the bench of the infamous Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan). By convincing Bean that he knows Lily Langtry (Lillian Bond), a singer who Bean has an obsessive crush on, Cole manages to save his life, only to get embroiled in the middle of a nasty feud between the local cattlemen and a group of homesteaders.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Dana Andrews Films
• Falsely Accused
• Gary Cooper Films
• Historical Drama
• Settlers
• Walter Brennan Films
• Westerns
• William Wyler Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
William Wyler’s historically inaccurate yet “agreeable ‘A’-budget western” successfully joins “standard western themes and confrontations with light comedy.” Gary Cooper — who, as Peary notes, has “remarkable presence as a slow-talking, quick-thinking cowpoke” — is at his laconic best, portraying a man whose very life hinges on speaking just the right combination of words, yet who never loses his cool. Brennan (brilliant and scene-stealing as always) plays the infamous Bean “as someone who is part dictator and part spoiled child– [and] who doesn’t see anything wrong with his murderous forays”. It’s disturbingly easy to laugh at Judge Bean, a real-life sociopath whose kangaroo courts caused the deaths of so many innocent men and women.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

• Walter Brennan, who definitely “steals the show” as Judge Bean (and deserved his Oscar)
  
• Gary Cooper as Cole Hardin
  
• Hilarious rapport between Brennan and Cooper
  

Must See?
Yes. All film fanatics should see this humorous, well-written western.

Categories

• Genuine Classic
• Noteworthy Performance(s)
• Oscar Winner or Nominee

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TV Guide Review
• Films Graded Review

Synopsis:
Diamond Lil (Mae West) works in the saloon of her benefactor Gus (Noah Beery, Sr.), who secretly traffics in white slavery and counterfeiting. Meanwhile, an undercover cop posing as a Salvation Army captain (Cary Grant) tries to arrest Gus and his cronies.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Cary Grant Films
• Mae West Films
• Musicals
• Play Adaptations
• Strong Females
• Undercover Cops and Agents

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this classic Mae West vehicle — in which “West struts her way through Gay Nineties New York, encountering all sorts of unsavory characters” who “either die or go to jail” — “is not the comedy masterpiece that many critics contend it to be.” Nonetheless, West “got to showcase her self-assured and uninhibited pre-Legion of Decency brand of sexuality, in which she lets fly with double entendres, which usually relate to her own sexual prowess, and displays a brazen sex-is-fun attitude that only Jean Harlow shared with her.” He adds that it’s “amazing that one moment she can look so overweight and ridiculous strapped into her tight garments”, and “a second later” be “mysteriously seductive as she bats her lashes and raises her eyebrows, grins knowingly, swings out a hip, and says something women are supposedly too shy to say.” West is a pleasure to watch — but be forewarned that while you’ll enjoy the quips, you’ll forget the plot immediately.

Redeeming Qualities:

• Cary Grant in his first major role
  
• Mae drawling one of the most (mis)quoted lines in movie history:
  

  “Why don’t you come up sometime and see me?”

• Plenty of memorable quips:
  

  “I wasn’t always rich. No, there was a time I didn’t know where my next husband was coming from.”

Must See?
Yes. As one of the key movies which prompted the formation of the Hays Production Code, it’s a part of cinematic history film fanatics shouldn’t miss.

Categories

• Historically Relevant

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

• IMDb entry
• Greatest Films Review
• TCM Article

Synopsis:
Radio deejay Alan “Dickey” Bird (Bill Patterson) is dumped by his girlfriend Maddy (Eleanor David) on Christmas. While wandering around Glasgow, he witnesses an ice cream truck being vandalized, and soon becomes the middleman in a feud between two rival ice cream companies.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Comedy
• Feuds
• Radio
• Scottish Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Although Peary refers to this film by famed Scottish director Bill Forsyth as a “charming, relaxing, offbeat comedy”, I wasn’t nearly so taken with it. It’s clever and quirky, but loses steam about halfway through; indeed, the subplots (concerning Alan’s radio job and his ex-girlfriend) are much more interesting than the ice cream imbroglio itself. Forsyth made other, superior films — including Local Hero (1983), Gregory’s Girl (1980), and That Sinking Feeling (1979) — which are better candidates for must-see viewing.

Redeeming Qualities:

• The opening scene, where Alan follows his girlfriend Maddy as she shoplifts in a department store
  
• Maddy casually taking her belongings off the shelves of their apartment as she discusses why she’s moving out
  

Must See?
No. It’s one of Forsyth’s lesser films, and not required viewing unless you’re a fan of his work.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review

Synopsis:
Junior Jackson (Jeff Bridges) learns how to ride fast and hard while delivering moonshine on southern backroads. Soon he’s winning NASCAR races and rising to the top of his field.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Biopics
• Car Racing
• Gary Busey Films
• Jeff Bridges Films
• Ned Beatty Films
• Sports
• Underdogs

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, this enjoyable little sleeper — based on a series of articles by Tom Wolfe — is a fairly standard (albeit factually inaccurate) biopic with an admirably “strong, natural performance” by Jeff Bridges. Director Lamont Johnson “has a feel for [the] racing milieu,” and there’s some genuinely exciting footage from actual NASCAR races which adds to the overall realism of the film. Unfortunately, however, “the material isn’t unusual enough to be really interesting.”

Redeeming Qualities:

• Jeff Bridges as Junior Jackson
  
• Gary Busey as Jackson’s brother
  

Must See?
No, but it’s worth watching just to see Bridges’ performance.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• DVD Savant Review