The Film Junkie

This film based on a play is the story of three generations of an African-American family living together in a tiny two bedroom apartment in Chicago.  The film deals with civil rights, the role of women of colour in modern society and the pride of many black people in a changing society.

Sidney Poitier stars as Walter, a married man living with his wife, son, sister and mother in this small space who is trying to make a name for himself despite the controlling women in his world.  His mother is played magnificently by Claudia McNeil.  She gets all the great speeches of the film, and she represents a generation that was happy not being slaves in a world where black people wanted to be more than ‘free’, they wanted to be ‘equal’.  Walter’s wife, Ruth, is played by the lovely Ruby Dee.  Ruth is coping with an unhappy marriage and an unwanted pregnancy and in her we deal with abortion rights and a woman who is struggling to keep everyone together.  Finally, Diana Sands plays Walter’s sister, Beneatha.  She is studying to be a doctor and thus brings in the new idea that a black woman in America could be whatever she wanted, supposedly.  She meets a man from Nigeria and becomes enthralled by wanting to be African and not an “assimilationist”.  In Beneatha, we see the roots of the African-American people and the quest to embrace that history without forgetting the reality that they have been Americans for several generations.

This is a complex emotional drama that takes place mainly in their one small apartment.  It is filled with strong female characters that are constantly breaking away from the boundaries of cinema at that time.  The script by Lorraine Hansberry, adapted from her play, is a remarkable feat that allows all sides to have their say without taking anyone’s side.  Walter is a strange and wonderful creation of a man, emasculated and grasping for control while completely in over his head.  But this is a film owned by one woman and Claudia McNeil is a powerful image on that screen.  You cannot take your eyes off of her and it is only right she is given the final image of the film.

A classic.

Grade: A

Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Homer Smith, a carpenter, who becomes entangled in the world of five German nuns in the middle of the Arizona desert.  Though it is a somewhat bizarre premise, the film becomes a story about modern-day miracles, and the oppressed people of America joining together to find their own faith.

Poitier’s role here is very different from his work in later films.  His three very famous 1967 films, ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?’, ‘To Sir, With Love’ and ‘In The Heat of the Night’, present a white-friendly version of a black man.  He is well-dressed, well-spoken and often more intelligent than the white people around him; the epitome of everything Will Smith’s character in 1993’s ‘Six Degrees of Separation’ imitated.

In ‘Lilies’, Poitier’s Homer certainly presents a more racially stereotypical version of a black man, but he is also somewhat more realistic of the era.  Homer is a down on his luck fellow, he thinks he has found work doing construction for the nuns, but when he finds that they are even more broke than he, he must decide what his priorities are.  It is great to see Poitier play a character who is flawed and less regal than those he is more famous for playing.  Here he is a Baptist who loves music, who befriends the Latin American workers of the area, who finds a strange bond with these nuns.  He is never violent, though he is petty.  Poitier is amazing in this film, especially when compared with his somewhat stunted later performances.

This is an entertaining and stange little film that works mainly as a piece of history, but also as a comment on immigration and the place of black men in America.

Grade: B+

Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948):A Streetcar Names Desire (1951): Elia Kazan’s brilliant film version of the classic Tennessee Williams play about Blanche Dubois (Vivien Leigh in her best role since 1939’s ‘Gone With The Wind’), a woman on the run from her past but who cannot escape her inner demons.  She comes to New Orleans to stay with her younger sister Stella (Kim Hunter) and Stella’s husband, Stanley (Marlon Brando).  Brando is at his best in this raw, gritty role.  Kazan brings out the best in him, as he proved again in ‘On The Waterfront’ (1954).  This was Brando’s first big role and to see him chew the scenery with someone as equally talented as Leigh is a true delight.

Grade: A

The Awful Truth (1937): Probably the second best screwball comedy ever made (second that is to 1940’s ‘His Girl Friday’) this film follows Cary Grant and Irene Dunne as a married couple who fall apart because their marriage was built on a series of lies.  They go their separate ways but can’t seem to escape one another (much like the plot of ‘Friday’).  Dunne and Grant are a magic teaming, and the quips keep on coming.  It is like watch an Olympic ping-pong match listening to their words.  Brilliant.

Grade: A

Born Yesterday (1950): A great comedy about a woman who knows very little and thus her fiancee hires a man to educate her so that she will fit into the society he is trying to buy his way into.  What he soon discovers is that she is now too smart to be his patsy or his little woman.  A film about the strength of the educated woman that would make Mary Wollstonecraft very proud.  Judy Holliday won the Oscar for this and you can surely see why.

Grade: A-

Bus Stop (1956): A silly sweet movie about a cowboy who has never been off the farm setting out to find his “angel”.  He instead finds a stripper played by Marilyn Monroe.  The film has few redeeming qualities other than Monroe’s bizarre performance as a Southern less-than-classy dame.

Grade: C+

Clerks II (2006): I was very hesitant to watch this sequel to Kevin Smith’s indie comedy classic, as he has sworn to let the characters die with 2001’s ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back’.  Yet here he is after his failed ‘Jersey Girl’ (2004), looking back to his roots.  I worried it would be a sell-out, but instead it is a fitting tribute to the film that re-defined how indies could be made.  The story is all about the Quick-Stop, Mooby’s and Dante’s strange sex appeal, just as it should be.  Luckily all the dude jokes and comparisons between the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies are tempered with a sweet performance by Rosario Dawson, who keeps you caring despite a dude and a donkey…gettin’ together (if you know what I mean).

Grade: B

The General (1927): A good, but not great Buster Keaton film about a train conductor during the Civil War who is trying to save the South.  The plot is thin, but watching Keaton run up and down and over and under the train is an amazing sight.  There was no one like him and I doubt there ever will be again.

Grade: B

How To Marry a Millionaire (1953): The story of three models (Laurent Bacall, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable) who set out to find themselves a wealthy man.  The story is often silly, but Bacall is drag queen-tastic and Monroe steals the show with her sweet nerdy gal afraid to wear her glasses in public.  The ending is silly, but good for a giggle.

Grade: B-

In The Heat of the Night (1967): Classic Poitier.  Det. Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier at his best) finds himself in a small Southern town on the very night that a white man happens to be murdered.  At first the sheriff (Rod Steiger relishing a role he has been waiting for since 1954’s ‘On The Waterfront’) accuses Tibbs, but then learns that he is a homicide detective and thus reluctantly uses Tibbs to solve the murder.  The film is alive with prejudice and hate, exposing the true feelings of many who resented the changing world under the civil rights movement.  Steiger won the Best Actor Oscar and you can see why, but this film belongs to the young Poitier in a role that was so crucial to the times.  One of the best films of the 1960’s.

Grade: A

John Tucker Must Die (2006): A frothy useless film about teen revenge.  Sure it’s fun, but it really just makes me wish that there were more ‘Mean Girls’ (2004) out there and less of this drivel.

Grade: C-

King Kong (1933): Yes I loved the remake too, but when you look back at the original you truly understand what an ambitious idea it was to begin with.  Fay Wray screams and quivers, but she also gives a great performance as a woman with nothing left in her life to hope for until this opportunity comes to her.  The male actors are mainly typical to the age and none can go toe-to-toe with Wray.  Kong itself is a great visual achievement for any age.  A true classic.

Grade: A-

The Misfits (1961): The last film that Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable made before their deaths, this story about cowboys and mixed-up women is as raw as a good John Huston should be, while Marilyn absolutely shines in her last performance.  Montgomery Clift is also great as a younger cowboy to Gable’s weathered one.  Sometimes the story runs flat, but it is worth it to see these three work together.

Grade: B+/A-

Monkey Business (1952): A silly comedy about a scientist (Clark Gable) who thinks he has discovered a chemical fountain of youth which was actually mixed by a monkey.  His wife (Ginger Rogers) and he both accidentally take the formula and find themselves acting young all over again.  Marilyn Monroe plays a sexy young secretary, but her role is little more than a sex object.  The film shows that Gable and Rogers were still agile despite their years getting on, but the plot is thin and hard to watch.

Grade: C

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936): A great Capra film about a man, Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), who inherits millions of dollars and must deal with the big city sharks who want to take it away.  Eventually Deeds realizes that the world is a much more cruel place than he could have ever imagined.  Like all Capra dreamers, Deeds is reinvigorated in the end, but the journey is most certainly worth it.  Cooper’s eyes sparkle through the black and white frames, and you can’t help but falling in love with him.  Jean Arthur is a treat as the reporter who uses him and then regrets her actions.  You can feel the chemistry between them in the remarkable courtroom scene where our hero is finally redeemed.  Capra believed that eventually the system will help us, as he showed in ‘Mr. Smith Goes To Washington’ (1939), and we believe him too in this sweet and charming film. P.S. Forget the Adam Sandler version…PLEASE!

Grade: A-

Nashville (1975): A brilliant sweeping 70’s social epic about the title city amidst country music stars and political elections.  If you like music and great performances you should absolutely see this ambitious and beautiful film.  Robert Altman has left us quite a legacy.  Best scene: “I’m Easy”, trust me…Lily Tomlin will break your heart.

Grade: A

The Palm Beach Story (1942): Claudette Colbert is great as the wife of a financially struggling man.  She decides they must divorce because they cannot live on his paltry earnings anymore and her looks will still save her.  Much of the film rests in Colbert’s very capable hands (see ‘It Happened One Night’ (1934), it should be required for anyone who likes a good romantic comedy).  The plot is predictable, but she makes it worthwhile.

Grade: B/B+

Private Benjamin (1980): Goldie Hawn as a military officer?  Suspend your disbelief, because this film actually has some funny moments.  The early sex scene with Albert Brooks is great, but the film loses itself when Benjamin relocates to Belgium and falls in love.  The standout is Eileen Brennan (known to me always as Mrs. Peacock from ‘Clue’ (1985)) as the crazed and drunk captain who serves as Benjamin’s antagonist.  A silly fun film.

Grade: B-

Short Cuts (1993): The masterpiece of a masterful director, the story follows many Los Angeles residents as they deal with their lives during a disease outbreak and ends in an earthquake, but in between are tragic accidents, horrible decisions and remarkable performances from actors as diverse as Robert Downey Jr, Chris Penn, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Lily Taylor, Madeline Stowe, Julianne Moore, Jack Lemmon, Andie MacDowell, Jennifer Jason Leigh and many many more.

Grade: A+

Steamboat Bill Jr (1928): A Buster Keaton masterpiece.  He challenges gravity and the confines of film in a mind-bending performance for the ages.  A classic that cannot be missed.

Grade: A

What’s Up, Doc? (1972): Peter Bogdanovich’s attempt at a screwball in the 70’s follows Barbra Streisand. Ryan O’Neal, Madeline Kahn and a bunch of plaid suitcases.  Streisand shines as a comedienne and the film is actually pretty fun, if the plot incoherent.  Plus there are some great shots of San Francisco.

Grade: B