Review: 45 Years On, "ALIEN" is Still a Great Film

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 of 2024 (No. 1980) by Leroy Douresseaux

Alien (1979)

Running time:  117 minutes (1 hour, 57 minutes)

MPAA – R

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott

WRITERS: Dan O'Bannon; from a story by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett

PRODUCERS: Gordon Carroll, David Giler, and Walter Hill

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Derek Vanlint (director of photography)

EDITORS:  Terry Rawlings and Peter Weatherley

COMPOSER: Jerry Goldsmith

Academy Award winner

SCI-FI/HORROR/THRILLER

Starring:  Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Bolaji Badejo, and Helen Horton (voice)

Alien is a 1979 American science fiction and horror film directed by Ridley Scott.  It is the first movie in the Alien film series, which has entered its fifth decade and is comprised of prequels and a set of crossover films.  Alien is also a multimedia franchise that includes comic books, novels, video games, and an upcoming television series.  Alien focuses on the crew of a commercial spacecraft that encounters a deadly alien lifeform after landing on a mysterious moon.

Alien opens on the commercial towing vehicle, the Nostromo, which is returning to Earth.  Its cargo is twenty tons of mineral ore that is being refined.  It has a crew of seven in stasis (suspended animation): Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), 3rd Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and engineers, Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton).

The ship's computer, Mother (voice of Helen Horton), detects a mysterious transmission of unknown origin from a nearby moon and awakens the crew.  The company that owns the Nostromo has a policy that the crew must investigate any transmission that indicates intelligent origin.  After landing on the moon, Dallas, Kane, and Lambert head out to investigate the landscape, and they discover a derelict alien spaceship.  What they find onboard that ship leads to a deadly encounter with an alien lifeform.  The problem is that the crew does not know how dangerous the lifeform is, and not everyone on the ship is working towards the same goal.

20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) is set to release Alien: Romulus (2024), the latest entry in the Alien film franchise.  It is set between Alien and its sequel, Aliens (1986).  I have already reviewed Aliens, so I decided to watch Alien for the first time in over three decades and to review it for you, dear readers.

There are generally three reasons that I fondly remember Alien.  First, the Alien creature (now known as a “xenomorph”) was created and designed by the late Swiss artist, H. R. Giger (1940-2014).  Alien was how I discovered Giger, and I became a huge fan of his.  I sometimes paid premium prices for his art books, including those that focused on his work on Alien and his prior work that influenced the film.

The second reason is the film's director Ridley Scott.  I am a fan of Scott's work, especially his 1982 science fiction classic, Blade Runner, and his Alien prequel, Prometheus (2012).

The third reason that I fondly remember Alien is that it is one of the first films that introduced me to the Oscar-nominated actress Sigourney Weaver.  Her most famous films appeared in the 1980s and 1990s, including such personal favorites as Ghostbusters (1984) and Galaxy Quest (1999).

That aside, the film is rather good, although I think that Ridley Scott takes many of his cues for the film's pace, tone, and execution from Stanley Kubrick's space epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).  That is not necessarily a bad thing.  Unlike some of the Alien sequels, Alien is a science fiction film that is also a classic horror film.  It builds its scares not on action and violence, but rather on building a sense of mystery, creating an atmosphere of fear and desperation, and throwing a blanket of suspense over the entire thing.  Of course, the chest-bursting scene is still chilling and mesmerizing.

Alien remains a great film because it demands that we be patient and enjoy our steadily mounting feelings dread and terror.  The film is not perfect, but because it acts as if its audience is smart enough to enjoy a film without fast-paced action scenes and frenzied blood and gore, it is almost perfect.  Alien is as good today as it was when it first debuted in theaters forty-five years ago (specifically May 1979).  I am happy that Alien remains a thrilling film full of imaginative and inventive production design, SFX, and make-up and creature effects.  Not showing any wrinkles, Alien has aged well.

9 of 10

A+

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

NOTES:

1980 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (H.R. Giger, Carlo Rambaldi, Brian Johnson, Nick Allder, and Dennis Ayling) and 1 nomination: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Michael Seymour, Leslie Dilley, Roger Christian, and Ian Whittaker)

1980 BAFTA Awards:  2 wins: “Best Production Design” (Michael Seymour) and “Best Sound Track” (Derrick Leather, Jim Shields, and Bill Rowe); 5 nominations: “Best Costume Design” (John Mollo and Terry Rawlings), “Best Editing” (Terry Rawlings), “Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role” (Sigourney Weaver), “Best Supporting Actor” (John Hurt), and “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Jerry Goldsmith)

Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Jerry Goldsmith)

2002 National Film Preservation Board, USA:  “National Film Registry”

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Review: Miyazaki's "THE CASTLE OF CAGLIOSTRO" is Something Else Entirely

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 34 of 2023 (No. 1923) by Leroy Douresseaux

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro – original Japanese title

Running time:  102 minutes

MPAA – not rated

DIRECTOR:  Hayao Miyazaki

WRITERS:  Hayao Miyazaki and Haruya Yamazaki (based upon the manga by Monkey Punch)

PRODUCER:  Tetsuo Katayama

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Hirokata Takahashi

EDITOR: Masatoshi Tsurubuchi

COMPOSER:  Yuji Ohno

ANIMATION/FANTASY/COMEDY and ACTION/ADVENTURE

Starring:  (English voices – Manga Entertainment dub) David Hayter, Bridget Hoffman, Kirk Thornton, Kevin Seymour, John Snyder, Dorothy Elias-Fahn, Milton James, Michael Gregory, Barry Stigler, and Joe Romersa; (Japanese voices) Yasuo Yamada, Eiko Masuyama, Kiyoshi Kobayashi, Makio Inoue, Goro Naya, Sumi Shimamoto and Taro Ishida

Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro no Shiro or Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 Japanese animated action-adventure and comic-fantasy animated from director Hayao Miyazaki.  An English-language dub of the film was first theatrically released in the U.S. in 1991 under the title, The Castle of Cagliostro, the title that I will use for this review.

The Castle of Cagliostro focuses on a master thief, Lupin III.  The film Lupin is based on the manga character, Lupin the Third, created by late manga artist, Kazuhiko Kato (1937-2019), who is best remembered by his pen name, Monkey Punch.  In the film, a dashing thief struggles to free a princess from an evil count who needs her in order to gain a mysterious treasure.

The Castle of Cagliostro opens in Monaco.  There, Master thief Lupin III (David Hayter) and his partner, Jigen (John Snyder), flee the National Casino with huge quantities of stolen money.  As they will soon learn, however, the stolen bills are actually distinctive, high-quality counterfeits known as “Goat bills.”  Lupin decides to seek out the source of this counterfeit money, the country known as the Duchy of Cagliostro.

Shortly after arriving, Lupin and Jigen see a young woman being chased by armed thugs.  It turns out that she is Lady Clarisse de Cagliostro (Bridget Hoffman), and she is running away from her fiancé, the Count de Cagliostro (Kirk Thornton), the regent of the Duchy of Cagliostro.  The Count has arranged a marriage with Lady Clarisse in order to cement his power. The marriage will also help him recover the fabled ancient treasure of Cagliostro, for which he needs both his and Clarisse's ancestral signet rings.

Lupin is determined to save Clarisse from this arranged marriage.  In addition to his partner Jigen, Lupin calls in the highly-skilled martial artist and swordsman, Goemon (Michael Gregory), and the rival professional thief, Fujiko (Dorothy Elias-Fahn).  Meanwhile, Inspector Zenigata of Interpol (Kevin Seymour) sees Lupin's activities in the Duchy of Cagliostro as a perfect opportunity to catch the thief he has been chasing for so long.  Can Lupin rescue Clarisse? Will Count Cagliostro destroy them both?  And just what is the treasure of Cagliostro?

I have previously reviewed the following Miyazaki-directed films:  My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Monoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001), Howl's Moving Castle (2004), Ponyo (2008), and The Wind Rises (2013).  As Netflix is shutting down its DVD-by-mail division, I am hoping to get to the Miyazaki films that I have not previously watched.

I had heard of The Castle of Cagliostro in connection with Miyazaki, but I had put off seeing it.  I wish I'd seen it earlier, as it is a delightful and maniacal comedy.  The film is not without flaws, as it stretches credulity a bit far, even for a Japanese animated film.  Lupin is not just a master thief; he is also apparently a super-human thief with supernaturally good luck.

Still, I treasure The Castle of Cagliostro's loopiness because Miyazaki and his co-writer Haruya Yamazaki are imaginative when it comes to the comic and action-adventure possibilities of the twists and turns this quasi-mystery takes.  As both designer and storyboard artist, in addition to being director, Miyazaki is inventive in the way he stages the action as a series of chases and fights that are as defined by feats of aerial stunts and gymnastics as they are by martial arts and combat skills.

The characters are quite nice, especially gallant Lupin, who is apparently more ruthless in the original manga, and his partner, Jigen, the amiable, but quite skilled tough guy.  However, the star here is Miyazaki in his first feature-length film.  He makes the action unrestrained by gravity, natural law, or architecture.  Thus, the film is a rollicking adventure with a humorous tone that belies the threat of brutal violence and death that frequently pop up in the story.  I really like The Castle of Cagliostro, and I highly recommend it to fans of Hayao Miyazaki and to those searching for the great animated films.  I also plan on buying my own physical copy.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Thursday, July 27, 2023

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Spielberg's "1941" - Raiders of the Lost Invasion (Countdown to "The Fabelmans")

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 67 of 2022 (No. 1879) by Leroy Douresseaux

1941 (1979)

Running time:  118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPAA – PG

DIRECTOR:  Steven Spielberg

WRITERS:  Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale; from a story by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and John Milius

PRODUCER:  Buzz Feitshans

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  William A. Fraker (D.o.P.)

EDITOR:  Michael Kahn

COMPOSER:  John Williams

Academy Award nominee

COMEDY/HISTORICAL/WAR

Starring:  John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Christopher Lee, Nancy Allen, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Elisha Cook, Jr., Bobby Di Cicco, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Dianne Kay, John Landis, Michael McKean, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Dick Miller, Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, Mickey Rourke, Lionel Stander, Robert Stack, Dub Taylor, Treat Williams, and Frank McRae

1941 is a 1979 comedy, war movie, and period film directed by Steven Spielberg.  Although not as popular or critically acclaimed as Spielberg's earlier films, 1941 began to gain in popularity after an expanded version of the film aired on television.  1941 is set almost a week after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor and finds various California residents in a state of panic about an alleged inevitable Japanese attack on the state.

1941 opens on Saturday, December 13, 1941, at 7:01 a.m. (six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor).  Surfacing off the Northern California coast is a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Fleet, commanded by Akiro Mitamura (Toshiro Mifune).  Also aboard, as an annoying advisor, is Nazi Kriegsmarine officer, Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt (Christopher Lee).  Because he did not participate in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Commander Mitamura wants to destroy something in Los Angeles, in an act or honor.  He has decided to target “Hollywood,” although he and his crew are having trouble finding the place.

Meanwhile, in Santa Monica, servicemen from the U.S. Army and Navy have overrun the town.  Wayward youth, Wally Stephens (Bobby Di Cicco), is trying to hold on to his girlfriend, Betty Douglas (Dianne Kay).  She is the target of the unwanted attentions of Corporal Chuck Sitarski (Treat Williams), a member of a 10th Armored Division tank crew.  The crew, which also consists of Sergeant Frank Tree (Dan Aykroyd) and Private First Class Foley (John Candy), is suddenly dealing with its newest member, Private Ogden Johnson Jones (Frank McRae), a Black serviceman!

In Death Valley, the cigar-chomping Captain Wild Bill Kelso (John Belushi) of the United States Army Air Forces aims his fighter plane towards L.A. where he believes he will help fight off a Japanese attack.  Everything is going crazy around everyone, and there seems to be a hundred melodramas and subplots.  Can Americans stop fighting Americans long enough prevent a real Japanese attack on Los Angeles and the surrounding area?

I recently saw 1941 for the first time in preparation for this review.  Although I am a huge fan of Steven Spielberg, 1941 was one of his films that I was not really interested in seeing.  I found a DVD copy containing a “restored version” of the film that is almost half an hour longer than the original theatrical release.  When I was a kid, 1941 was considered a “box office bomb,” which is apparently not true.  The film reportedly did make a profit, but it was not as financially or as critically well received as Spielberg's previous films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975).

For what it is, 1941 is way too long, even at its original length (1 hour, 58 minutes).  Still, it is funny in many spots, and, in spite of a really large cast, all the individual subplots and comic melodramas do come together so that the film does not feel disjointed.  I like that 1941 gives me a chance to see some of my favorite actors:  Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee, Warren Oates, Ned Beatty, and character actors:  Dick Miller, Dub Taylor and Elisha Cook, Jr., all of whom are now deceased.  Another favorite, Robert Stack, practically steals the film as Major General Joseph W. Stillwell, a character that seems to center the film.  And I'm always happy to see Dan Aykroyd.

One thing that really stuck out to me is that much of 1941 seems like a dry run for the action sequences in my favorite Spielberg film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which would be his next film after 1941.  The action in 1941 is conveyed in a humorous mood, and Raiders, more of an adventure film than an action film, features action scenes that are breath-taking, but are delivered with something like a wink and a nod.

Regardless of where it is positioned in Steven Spielberg's filmography, 1941 shows that, as the guy at the helm, Spielberg's most impressive talent may be his ability to gather a large cast and crew and very talented collaborators in order to make really spectacular films that are epic in scope, even in their quite and funny moments.  1941 is not a great film, but there are moments during this movie when it is obvious that one of the greatest filmmakers of all time is the guiding force and the main man behind it.

5 of 10

B-

★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, November 5, 2022

NOTES:

1980 Academy Awards:  3 nominations: “Best Cinematography” (William A. Fraker), “Best Sound” (Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall, and Gene S. Cantamessa), and “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (William A. Fraker, A.D. Flowers, and Gregory Jein)

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site or blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: Original "Mad Max" Still Motoring

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 35 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

Mad Max (1979)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Australia
Running:  88 minutes (1 hour, 28 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  George Miller
WRITERS:  James McCausland and George Miller
PRODUCER:  Byron Kennedy
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  David Eggby (D.o.P.)
EDITORS:  Cliff Hayes and Tony Paterson
COMPOSER:  Brian May

ACTION/CRIME/THRILLER

Starring:  Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley, Tim Burns, Roger Ward, Geoff Parry, Vince Gil, John Ley, and Brendan Heath

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian near-future action movie and crime thriller from director George Miller and starring a young Mel Gibson.  Mad Max was the first movie in what is, to date, a four-film franchise.  This movie's story was originally conceived by the film's director (George Miller) and producer (Byron Kennedy).  Mad Max focuses on an Australian police officer who must eventually avenge the lives of his wife and toddler son and also the cop who was his partner.

Mad Max opens in a dystopian future that takes place “a few years from now.”  The roads of Australia are plagued by motorcycle gangs and other high-speed drivers.  Trying to keep the roads safe are the police officers of the MFP – Main Force Patrol – who pursue reckless road criminals.  The top pursuit-man is Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson).

Max has an encounter with a gang member known as the “Nightrider” (Vincent Gil), in which Nightrider is killed.  The vicious and cruel Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) leads “The Acolytes,” Nightrider's motorcycle gang, and the gang seeks payback against the MFP.  Their actions against Max's family and colleagues sets Max on a mission of vengeance against Toecutter.  In his supercharged Police Special, Max goes on hot pursuit with killing on his mind.

Mad Max is one of those rare films that has the misfortune living in the shadow of a better-known and more popular sequel.  1981's Mad Max 2 (known in the United States simply as The Road Warrior) was a huge hit when it was originally released in the U.S. in 1982.  The second film had an influence on American pop culture and references from and homages to the film continue to appear decades after its initial release.

Still, the first Mad Max remains both a unique and an exceptional film.  It is also darn-good fun to watch, and I wish that at least one of the Mad Max sequels was more like it.  Max Max seems to blend 1950s Film-Noir crime films (especially those about street cops) and 1970s action-movies about cars and motorcycles with the kind of dystopian science fiction films that defined the 1970s.

The result is a fast and efficient film with power that belies its size.  Mad Max is cool without being slick and pretty.  It is one of the few science fiction films that are entirely plausible or close to it.  Mad Max is also timeless, although its future scenario originally took place only “a few years” from 1979.

Director George Miller has apparently stated that the filming of Mad Max was unpleasant for him.  From his suffering came cinematic art, and a movie star was born.  Yes, Mad Max introduced the world to Mel Gibson, who would go on to be a fine actor, a worldwide movie star, and an award-winning filmmaker before his public behavior and private comments seemed to derail his career (at least as of this writing).  Before that however, the legend of Mad Max carried us deep into the Outback, and we were in the passenger seat with rising star.

8 of 10
A

Tuesday, May 26, 2015


The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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Review: "The Tin Drum" is a Masterpiece (Remembering Maurice Jarre)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 118 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Die Blechtrommel (1979)
The Tin Drum (1980) – U.S. release
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  West Germany
Running time:  142 minutes (2 hours, 22 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR:  Volker Schlöndorff
WRITERS:  Jean-Claude Carrière, Franz Seitz, and Volker Schlöndorff, with Günter Grass providing additional dialogue (based upon the novel by Günter Grass)
PRODUCER:  Franz Seitz
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Igor Luther
EDITOR:  Suzanne Baron
COMPOSER:  Maurice Jarre
Academy Award winner

DRAMA

Starring:  David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach, Daniel Olbrychski, Tina Engel, Berta Drews, Roland Teubner, Tadeusz Kunikowki, and Heinz Bennent

The subject of this movie review is The Tin Drum (original title: Die Blechtrommel), a 1979 West German drama and black comedy from director Volker Schlöndorff.  The film is an adaptation of the 1959 novel, The Tin Drum, written by author, Günter Grass, which is the first book in Grass’ Danzig Trilogy.  The Tin Drum the movie follows a most unusual boy who, on his third birthday, decides not to grow up.

The 1979 West German film Die Blechtrommel won the 1980 Academy Award for “Best Foreign Language Film.”  It is the story of Oskar Matzerath (David Bennent), a young boy in 1930’s Danzig, Germany who decides to stop growing at the age of three.  Oskar carries a small tin drum around his neck that he beats often, much to the chagrin of the adults, and Oskar has the unique physical gift of being able to scream at such a high pitch that he can break glass.

Although Oskar’s body stops growing, mentally and psychologically he keeps aging, and as he grows he witnesses the rise of Nazism and the beginning and the end of World War II.  With everything going on around him, however, Oskar’s world revolves around pleasing himself.  Despite Oskar’s self-centeredness, the film also examines the chaotic and tumultuous lives of the adults around him, especially his mother, Agnes (Angela Winkler), and his mothers two lovers, a German shopkeeper named Alfred (Mario Adorf) and Jan Bronski (Daniel Olbrychski), a handsome Polish man who works at a Polish post office in Danzig, either of whom could be Oskar’s biological father.

Many consider The Tin Drum to be one of the great films to come out of West Germany in the last quarter century.  The film, however, isn’t one of those beautiful and genteel foreign films or one of those French films shot to mimic the immediacy of realism.  The Tin Drum is an unflinching and dense psychological examination of people caught in complicated relationships who also have to navigate the narrow straights of their own interior lives.  It’s also a sweeping cinematic observation of Nazi Germany that unfurls its ideas simultaneously through symbolism and blunt literalism.  Like some glossy, Hollywood eye candy flick, The Tin Drum doesn’t allow the audience to look away; it’s like watching a miraculous apparition unfurl before one’s eyes or like watching a mesmerizing accident.

The focus of the story is, of course, Oskar, who is mostly not likeable.  In fact, there’s something menacing or even evil about him.  He seeks to shut himself off from the world or at least totally funnel existence through his wants, but what’s most fascinating is watching Oskar’s life grow (his personality doesn’t change) with the rise of Nazism.

This is powerful stuff, the kind of thing that stands out amidst all the pedestrian films.  The Tin Drum has had a somewhat controversial existence in the United States because there is both full and partial nudity of children, which some people saw as kiddie porn.  The film is not pornography or pornographic; this film is art.  The nudity and frank sex (including a sex scene between children) is actually handled quite carefully and with imagination by director Volker Schlöndorff, as he handles everything in his masterpiece.

9 of 10
A+

Updated:  Saturday, March 29, 2014


NOTES:
1980 Academy Awards, USA:  1 win: “Best Foreign Language Film” (West Germany)

1979 Cannes Film Festival:  1 win: “Palme d’Or” (Volker Schlöndorff – tied with Apocalypse Now1979)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: "North Dallas Forty" is Proud to Be a Muck-Racking Drama

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 122 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

North Dallas Forty (1979)
Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)
MPAA – R
DIRECTOR: Ted Kotcheff
WRITERS: Peter Gent, Frank Yablans, and Ted Kotcheff (from the novel by Peter Gent)
PRODUCER: Frank Yablans
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Paul Lohmann
EDITOR: Jay Kamen

DRAMA/SPORTS with elements of comedy

Starring: Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Charles Durning, Dayle Haddon, Bo Svenson, John Matuszak, Steve Forrest, G.D. Spradlin, and Dabney Coleman

North Dallas Forty is a 1979 sports movie that is set in the world of 1970s professional football. The film is based on the 1973 novel of the same name by former NFL-player turned novelist, the late Peter Gent.

Phillip “Phil” Elliot (Nick Nolte) is a pro football player – specifically a wide receiver on the Dallas franchise (a thinly veiled version of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys). Elliot smokes marijuana, sleeps around with sports groupies, drinks a lot, but he plays through injuries. His rebellious attitude and his tendency to ask the kind of questions that the team management doesn’t want to answer have him in hot water. His coach, B.A. Strothers (G.D. Spradlin), won’t put him in the starting lineup, and his best friend, Seth Maxwell (Mac Davis), the team’s star quarterback, thinks that Phil should just shut up sometimes. There’s a big game coming up in Chicago that will decide if Dallas gets in the playoffs, and it just may also decide Phil’s future.

North Dallas Forty remains a gritty football flick, a gridiron classic that is timeless in its portrayal of the Machiavellian front office maneuvering, favoritism, and politics of big-time professional football. This film’s unvarnished look and its rough portrayal of football life may not resemble the glitzy pro football that the NFL and its media cohorts sell us, but North Dallas Forty is about the NFL’s brand of football.

The acting isn’t all that great, but works in the context of this movie; the film also gets preachy towards the end. However, the film’s portrayal of how the players strive to win and the gut-wrenching physical pain they endure to keep playing makes North Dallas Forty a riveting sports flick. When you see team owners and management bullying and extorting players to take dangerous drugs and horrid shots of painkillers so that they can play through pain and injury (which actually makes it worse), you’ll know that you’re watching honest-to-goodness, in-your-face, muck-racking cinema.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, June 02, 2006

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Review: "The Muppet Movie" Still Moves Me

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 96 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Muppet Movie (1979)
Running time: 95 minutes (1 hour, 35 minutes)
MPAA – G
DIRECTOR: James Frawley
WRITERS: Jack Burns and Jerry Juhl
PRODUCER: Jim Henson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Isidore Mankofsky
EDITOR: Chris Greenbury
COMPOSER: Paul Williams
SONGS: Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher
Academy Award nominee

FANTASY/COMEDY/ADVENTURE/FAMILY

Starring: The Muppets, (voices) Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz; Charles Durning, Austin Pendleton, Edgar Bergen, Mel Brooks, Dom DeLuise, Elliot Gould, Madeline Kahn, Steve Martin, Cloris Leachman, Richard Pryor, Bob Hope, James Coburn, Milton Berle, and Orson Welles

The Muppet Movie is a 1979 live-action, comic fantasy film and musical. This Oscar-nominated film stars The Muppets, the puppet characters created by the late Jim Henson, specifically the characters that appeared on the television series, “The Muppets” (1976-81). A film-within-in-a-film, The Muppet Movie tells the story of how The Muppets came together, or, as Kermit the Frog says, “It’s sort of approximately how it happened.”

The film begins with Kermit the Frog (Jim Henson) relaxing in a Florida swamp on a sunny afternoon, when a Hollywood agent tells him that he should pursue a career in Hollywood. Inspired by the idea of “making millions of people happy,” Kermit begins a cross-country journey, at first by bicycle. After an accident, Kermit teams up with Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz) and resumes the trip in Fozzie’s Studebaker. Along the way, they pick up fellow travelers like The Great Gonzo (Dave Goelz) and his mate, Camilla the Chicken (Jerry Nelson), and of course, Miss Piggy (Frank Oz).

Meanwhile, the villainous Doc Hopper (Charles Durning) and his assistant, Max (Austin Pendleton), pursue them. The Colonel Sanders-like Hopper is the owner of a “French-fried frog legs” fast food franchise, and he wants Kermit to be the new spokesman for the franchise. After Kermit says no, Hopper chases him, making offers that become increasingly threatening.

Prior to this recent viewing, I had not seen The Muppet Movie since the early 1980s (I think), but I remember liking it. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about it now, but it turns out that I still love the movie. Is the reason nostalgia? No, The Muppet Movie is simply an excellent film. As a film musical, it has terrific songs from Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher, and three of them (“Rainbow Connection,” “Movin’ Right Along,” and “Can You Picture That?”) are great.

As a comedy, it is sharp and smart, surprisingly so for a film that is aimed at children, although “The Muppet Show,” was meant to appeal to both children and adults. There is sly innuendo, clever word play, and snappy dialogue. The film even offers satire, such as its skewering of the desire to be famous for entertaining.

And hell, ya’ll, it’s the Muppets. What could be unlikable about them? I look forward to my next viewing of The Muppet Movie, and I want to encourage you, dear readers, to see it if you haven’t already or to just see it again.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1980 Academy Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Music, Original Song” (Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher for the song "The Rainbow Connection") and “Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score” (Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher)

1980 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher for the song "Rainbow Connection")

2009 National Film Preservation Board, USA: “National Film Registry”

Monday, November 21, 2011

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In "Star Trek The Motion Picture" Old Friends Returned

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 210 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Running time: 132 minutes (2 hours, 12 minutes)
MPAA – PG for sci-fi action and mild language
DIRECTOR: Robert Wise
WRITER: Harold Livingston; from a story by Alan Dean Foster (based on the TV series created by Gene Roddenberry)
PRODUCER: Gene Roddenberry
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Richard H. Kline
EDITOR: Todd Ramsay

SCI-FI/ADVENTURE with elements of drama

Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta, and Stephen Collins

The original cast of the 1960’s sci-fi television series, “Star Trek,” reunites aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise with Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner), now admiral, back in the big chair. Their mission is to intercept a giant alien ship steadily approaching Earth and destroying everything in its path. Kirk must also square off with the man who was the Enterprise’s new captain, Commander Decker (Stephen Collins), until Kirk displaced Decker and made him his assistant.

In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture blasted onto movie screens, much to the delight of Trekkies/Trekkers (Star Trek fanatics) and TV viewers who made the original series, which ran on broadcast TV from 1966-69, a smash hit in syndication during the 1970s.

While not the best of the Star Trek films featuring the cast of the original series, it’s joyous simply because the film marked the return of the original cast. The film has many good moments, some of them awe-inspiring and others deeply emotional (such as the scene in which Kirk sees the Enterprise in dock for the first time in over two years). While at times, it comes across as a Star Trek riff on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Motion Picture hits all the right notes for those of us who are not fanatics, but who have a soft spot for the original Star Trek – warts and all.

7 of 10
B+

NOTES:
1980 Academy Awards: 3 nominations: “Best Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Harold Michelson, Joseph R. Jennings, Leon Harris, John Vallone, and Linda DeScenna), “Best Effects, Visual Effects” (Douglas Trumbull, John Dykstra, Richard Yuricich, Robert Swarthe, David K. Stewart, and Grant McCune), and “Best Music, Original Score” (Jerry Goldsmith)

1980 Golden Globes: 1 nomination: “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Jerry Goldsmith)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006