“Thanks to muggings, malnutrition and disease, we still have a chance to make a buck!”
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Then again, one watches a film like this for the laughs, not the social commentary — and unfortunately, there are far too few to recommend it. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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“Blanche, you aren’t ever going to sell this house — and you aren’t ever going to leave it, either!”
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Response to Peary’s Review: There are countless memorable moments in Baby Jane: Jane taunting Blanche by serving her a dead canary — and later a dead rat — for dinner; Jane coyly asking a young man behind the counter at the newspaper office if he recognizes her; Jane taking delight in building sandcastles on the beach; all of Jane’s interactions with Buono (whose use of subtle facial twitches is truly hilarious). Perhaps most interesting, however, is the fact that while director Robert Aldrich appears to be ridiculing his stars — they’re looking their absolute worst here — he also manages to generate genuine sympathy for their plights. Crawford and Davis may have been the unfortunate inspiration for, as Peary puts it, “a whole slew of fright films in which humor came from looking at grotesquely made-up faces of [once beautiful] old women”; but in this film, they’re the real deal: broken, tragic women whose jealousy and vanity have forced them both onto an inescapably disastrous trajectory. Note: In his review, Peary points out the many similarities between What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard; take note especially of the final scene on the beach. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
“Pity and compassion played little part in the existence of those people– They despised weakness, worshipped strength!”
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“Why do ya always gotta go fuck up your own future, huh?”
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Down By Law clearly bows towards surrealistic impulses, with several moments in the film conveniently defying reality: the three prisoners easily escape from their cell (we’re never shown how); they conveniently happen upon an Italian restaurant — with a friendly, beautiful, single owner — in the middle of nowhere; etc.
These leaps of logic are mildly amusing, and Robby Muller’s gorgeous black-and-white cinematography is a wonder to behold; but ultimately, these elements weren’t enough to keep my interest. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
Must See? (Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die) Links: |
“People who look at me, they see a mask — artificial. But the face behind the mask — it’s mutated, hideous, a horrible nightmare out of which I can never awake!”
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“I don’t like men. They smile too much. You see a lot of teeth.”
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“He ain’t gonna let you set foot on that stage — all he wants is your money, Mrs. Pepperday!”
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“If they want to escape, they will — this is a boarding school, not a prison!”
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“Not all women are raving bloody lesbians, you know.”
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Sensationalism aside, however, Sister George remains a surprisingly humorous tale of grandiosity and insecurity in show biz; we don’t always like or admire George’s actions, but we can’t help feeling compassion for her predicament. Perhaps the best aspect of the movie, however, is the relationship between George and her young lover “Childie”, played by Susannah York.
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“Who is to say that only human beings are persons? Isn’t this gorilla demonstrably a person?”
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Review: But is this such a bad thing? After all, Penny and her associates had a noble goal in mind, one well in tune with the general sensibility of the 1970s — to move beyond human chauvanism, and be open to the possibility that homo sapiens aren’t the only “people” on Earth. Unfortunately, however, such notions were sorely misguided — as Pinker puts it, “Is it really ‘humility’ for us to save species from extinction because we think they are like us?” Ultimately, Penny’s project (which continues to this day) smacks of fanaticism; I’m all for protecting gorillas, but don’t think we need to teach them human language in order to justify this. Ultimately, then, I found watching Koko to be more disturbing than enjoyable — though I’m sure it made for fascinating viewing back in the time of its release, when the project was fresh and we were much more naive about its potential outcome. Children may also relate to watching Koko (whose equivalence in human intelligence, if one forces the issue, is roughly that of a toddler) reading a book with Penny, rejecting a yellow sweater in place of her favorite red one, and selecting her lunch items out of the refrigerator. For my part, however, the only scenes which I can look back on with genuine delight are those in which Koko interacts with her gorilla-friend Michael (see stills below); this is when she finally seems to be in her element, rather than forced to perform according to human expectations. Redeeming Qualities and Moments:
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