"10"

(October 1979, U.S.)

The year was 1979. I was twelve years-old, in the seventh grade, and my heterosexual hormones were beginning to rage! There was a new comedy in theaters by the same guy that made a bunch of those PINK PANTHER movies called "10" and it had this incredible new woman in it named Bo Derek who was supposed to be the hottest sex symbol since Farrah Fawcett-Majors! There were these iconic images of her on the beach dressed in a flimsy flesh-colored swimsuit, with a hairstyle dressed in cornrows, that were becoming all the rage in magazines and the world of entertainment. Images like this were telling me to get my young butt to the movie theater as quickly as possible...

As good luck would have it, "10" was playing at the single screen neighborhood movie theater. As bad luck would have it, my parents were the strict kind who wouldn't allow me to go to a movie featuring extensive nude scenes and sex (my parents, at that moment of my life, were the enemy!). It would be at least two years before I finally got to see "10"...on television. Still, over that past year, I’d become very aware of Bo Derek’s popularity from this film and saw many of those iconic pictures of her in magazines (including Playboy). Watching "10" on TV was the first opportunity to see the film that launched her fame, though it was impossible for me to realize just how much I was missing with the edited-for-television version and all its nudity and strong sexual content toned down or deleted entirely. This was a version that only a kid could get away with watching when raised by parents who’d never let him see the uncut R-rated version on screen. Still, even edited, it was a chance for me to get a glimpse of Bo Derek in all her beautiful glory.

As an adult, one can only sympathize with a middle-aged successful songwriter like George Webber (played by Dudley Moore) in becoming obsessed with meeting a woman like Bo Derek and trying to get her into bed. I mean, if you had to choose between Bo and Julie Andrews, isn’t the choice obvious? George goes through extensive steps to try and find this woman named Jenny Miles, including visiting the priest who married her only a day ago and allowing himself to be operated on by her prominent Beverly Hills dentist father. Still, even for a man in his early forties, George isn't exactly living a dry life. Despite the fact that his girlfriend is Julie Andrews, she seems to be willing enough to keep their sex life as active as possible. What's more, George has a distant neighbor within telescope range who's living the life of a horny bachelor with daily swinging orgies, complete with half or fully naked women.

But obsession knows no limitations. Determined to find Jenny, George impulsively boards a plant to follow her and her new husband to their exclusive resort in Mexico. While trying to figure how to make the right move, George befriends the resort bartender and even attempts sex with a woman who suffers from a lack of sexual self-confidence (played by a pre-E.T. Dee Wallace). Despite having a California home on the beach, George clearly doesn't function well on the beach, as he remains dressed in thick sweats and painfully treks across flaming-hot sand in order to get close enough to Jenny in all of her bathing suit beauty! This is where George's fantasies begin to entertain us, with images of Jenny running to him on the beach and making out with him in the sand...

When George inadvertently saves Jenny's husband from drowning, she can't help but finally show her gratitude toward him while her poor hubby is recovering in the hospital. In her hotel room, George is finally get the woman he's wanted for so long, complete with marijuana and the seductive sounds of Maurice Ravel's Boléro.

I suppose this is where Hollywood's bullshit version of morality in the story takes over. Elated to finally have Jenny right where he wants her (naked!), he's shocked, nonetheless, to see just how casually Jenny treats an unexpected phone call from her recovering husband. Furthermore, he can't understand Jenny's casual attitude toward her new marriage, which she describes as mutually open and honest. For Jenny, George is just a "casual lay", and it would seem that George wants to be more than than, despite having his own relationship back in California. So I suppose our lesson learned here is that all people are hypocrites and men (even comedic ones like Dudley Moore) are just plain stupid when they suddenly get an attack of morality just at the point when they're about to score with the finest piece of ass they've ever tried so damn hard to get!

Blake Edwards, whether trying to drive home pointless points of sexual morality, make us laugh hysterically with Dudley Moore's antics (particularly when he's filled with novocaine and alcohol), or simply trying to turn us on with Bo Derek's kick-ass body, scores well with "10". For myself, however, I could do without the obvious plugs to hear Julie Andrews display her singing talents. These are the musical moments I hit the fast forward button on my DVD player. Then again, there are also the naked moments like this when I hit the pause button on my DVD player...

Yes, it would seem that the raging heterosexual hormones of the twelve year-old, seventh grade boy in 1979 are still alive and well when he thinks of Bo Derek of the past! So thank you, Bo, for all the memories of your steaming, hot youth! Oh, and thank you for this awesome poster that hung on my bedroom wall throughout my teens...

And thank you for giving me the opportunity to shamelessly post numerous vintage pictures of you on my blog!

Favorite line or dialogue:

George Webber: "If you were dancing with your wife, or girlfriend you knew in high school, and you said to her, Darling, they're playing our song, do you know what they'd be playing?"
Don the Bartender: "What?"
George Webber: "Why Don't We Do It In The Road. Fuckin' hell kind of era is that?"

TAXI DRIVER

(February 1976, U.S.)

Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER is one of those visual films that sucks you not only into the world of its lonely and isolated protagonist Travis Bickle (played famously by Robert DeNiro), but also the unsettling world he inhabits. Is it any wonder that author and film historian Nick Clooney chose TAXI DRIVER and its controversial violence as one of his selections for his book, THE MOVIES THAT CHANGED US, and its impact on history when John Hinckley Jr.'s obsession with the film and Jodie Foster drove him to attempt to assassinate President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. Still, this world in question isn't exactly Mars, you know. It's New York City in the heat wave-drenched summer of 1975. But as a visual trip back in time, you can't help but become involved in what the island of Manhattan used to look like back in the days of its filth and scum. The streets are lined with garbage and decay. 42nd Street, in particular, is overrun with hookers, pimps and grindhouse porn theaters. In fact, one can't help but feel that Scorsese is accentuating the point of the many, many movie theaters (porn, or otherwise) that once lined nearly every street and corner that you saw. Concentrate on the scene outside of Travis's taxi cab windshield while listening to Bernard Herrmann's (final) haunting score and you'll see and understand what the city used to look like...

The city is vast and impersonal, and an anonymous man like Travis Bickle is lost within its soul. Suffering from severe insomnia, Travis takes a job as a taxi driver to kill the long hours of the night and get paid for it. He'll drive anywhere, anytime, and will seemingly tolerate any form of scum that enters his cab. Even in his narration to us, he almost nonchalantly points out to us that it's practically part of his nightly routine to clean up the cum and the blood from the back seat of his cab. It would seem that there's no hope of any possible redemption for the city and the human race in Travis's mind, until he becomes infatuated with Betsy (played by Cybill Shepherd), a political campaign volunteer for Senator and Presidential candidate Charles Palantine (played by Leonard Harris). Sadly, Travis has no realistic concept of acceptable social behavior, even with women. On their first date, he naively takes her to a porn film on 42nd Street and has no understanding of why she should choose to be upset about it. That pretty much ends their potential relationship and drives Travis deeper into his isolation from the world and his violent thoughts toward its people. Growing more and more disgusted by the sleaze, dysfunction and prostitution he witnesses throughout the entire city, he seeks to make himself known by contemplating an assassination attempt against Palantine, while also trying to rescue and redeem an adolescent runaway and prostitute named Iris (played by a then twelve year-old Jodie Foster), who would secretly love to escape the world she's in and the pimp that controls her, Sport (played by Harvey Keitel).

Sinking deeper and deeper towards destructive behavior, Travis cuts his hair into a mohawk and attends a public political rally where his attempt against Palantine fails when the Secret Service discover his presence. He escapes capture, but resurfaces to take down Sport and continue on a violent and bloody killing rampage against his brothel's bouncer and one of Iris's mafioso customers. Badly injured in the shootout, he attempts suicide, but has run out of ammunition. As the film proceeds into an epilogue, Travis is not only alive and well, but a redeemed soul who has gained admiration and respect from not only Iris's parents, but from Betsy, as well, who just happens to get into his cab in the final moment of the film.

In a year when ROCKY won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1976, it's clear to see that Scorsese's compelling and hard-hitting masterpiece is what should have truly taken the statue. The world of TAXI DRIVER is hell in a yellow cab driven by a rejected man on the edge of his own insanity. The life of Travis Bickle is a study in deterioration, from his physical appearance down to his own personal confrontations even before they occur on the streets. Even while he's imagining a violent conflict in his own apartment to the tune of his own words, "You talkin' to me?", the stage is set for what will ultimately turn to blood. And yet even despite the film's violent outcome, Hollywood cannot help but offer us a happy ending in which our anti-hero is not only saved from death, but redeemed in his soul, too.

Or is he? There has long been controversy that maybe that so-called happy ending never really happened at all. Did Travis really survive the bloody carnage that took place in that hotel room? The bullet hole in the side of his neck and the additional shots he took to his body would suggest NO. His lifeless body on the floor as the police arrive would also support that suggestion. Did Travis, in fact, die with honor on the floor and simply fantasize about his own "heroism"? Is his reconciliation with Betsy at the film's finale merely his dying thought? Would his agitation after seemingly noticing something in his rear-view mirror as he drives away suggest that his entire story could be looped as one ongoing saga of his inner mind? These are questions that may never be answered, and perhaps it's best for the film's immortal history that they not be answered. Marty may just want it that way.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Travis Bickle (narrating): "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads! Here is a man who would not take it anymore! A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit! Here is a man who stood up!"

TAPS

(December 1981, U.S.)

One of my favorite male screen chemistry, other than Paul Newman and Robert Redford, was Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn, and it's a shame they never worked together again after THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN in 1986. In TAPS, Hutton has the edge over the still unknown Penn, from his significant attention from ORDINARY PEOPLE a year before. There's also the very unknown Tom Cruise who solidifies his own presence in this film. But for it's time, it's George C. Scott's legendary standing as an accomplished veteran actor that's meant to lure one's attention to the film. Surely, the man who mastered the character of George S. Patton is the one meant for a military role such as his.

The story follows the military school students at Bunker Hill Academy who take over their school in order to save it from closing. Cadet Brian Moreland (Hutton) has just been promoted to Cadet Major, the highest ranking student at the Academy. Admired and respected by his peers, he's the one who'll ultimately lead the revolt against the civilian bureaucracies responsible for closing a school with decades of honor and tradition to make way for their condominiums. Upon learning of the closing, the cadets are confident that they, along with their commander, General Harlan Bache (Scott) will be able to save their beloved school in the year that they have to do it. However, an accidental shooting of one of the local bullying teenagers outside the graduation ceremony ball sends Bache into police custody for manslaughter and accelerates the closing of the school by the board of trustees. The trauma of the event also causes Bache to have a heart attack and he's hospitalized in critical condition. Since Bache is ill, Moreland takes matters into his own hands by ordering his student colleagues to steal and hide all of the school's armory before it can be seized by the Dean and the local Sheriff. Demanding to meet with Bache and the trustees in return for the weapons, Moreland is nearly arrested himself when he's suddenly backed by his friends above, each of them with their weapon pointed at the powers-that-be that threaten their school's future. This is the image on the movie poster and it's one that could have you cheering for the underdogs.

Tensions escalate when cadets are forced to shoot their way out of a confrontational situation between themselves and more of the local townspeople. Now the police and the military are involved in what's turned into an armed standoff between Bunker Hill and the rest of the outside world. As the standoff continues to escalate in the days to come, the strength behind its resolve seems to slowly deteriorate as more and more students are caving in and "going over the wall", as it were, no longer believing in the cause they're fighting for. Even Moreland's best friend, Alex Dwyer (Penn) is steadily growing impatient with Moreland's military position over the other boys in an almost "godlike" fashion. Only David Shawn (Cruise) seems willing and ready to take things to their ultimate extreme in order to preserve what is right and just in their otherwise closed-off world, and he does in the end, when Moreland finally declares all of the boys to stand down following the accidental death of a twelve year-old cadet, and Shawn opens fire on the entire regimen of forces outside the school's main gate. There's actually something very "Tom Cruise" about the way he looks at his comrades for the last time while firing his machine gun and proclaims, "It's beautiful, man!", and is then riddled with bullets...

While TAPS may seem nothing more than male bonding drama of young talents that would later go on to bigger and better things, it's impossible not to recognize the similarities between it and LORD OF THE FLIES. Like those stranded British school boys in William Golding's classic novel, the boys of Bunker Hill must look after themselves in a world without grownups that's cut off from the rest of society. But because these boys are not in the position of fighting for their physical survival, their intentions and actions may seems all the more dangerous in that they must pick and choose how far they will go in order to uphold a cause they feel is worth fighting for. Survival brings on the necessity of actions which could almost be condoned, right or wrong. The cause, whatever it may be, requires more thought behind what is morally right and wrong. The boys of Bunker Hill are men of honor who live in a world where students on the outside often vandalize their schools, and this makes them appear all the more righteous. On the other of the coin is a strictly-disciplined education of minds and bodies that the rest of the world may regard as too different and unpopular from the norm. I know nothing of the true nature of real life military academies, so I'm in no position to judge right or wrong. I only know that in the fictional world of TAPS, Timothy Hutton, Sean Pean, Tom Cruise and George C. Scott are men who are talented enough to convince us that following them into battle, any battle, is the right thing to do.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Brian Moreland: "We have a home here! We think it's something worth defending!"

TALK RADIO

(December 1988, U.S.)

In 1988, the films of Oliver Stone were solidified in my brain and in my moviegoing enthusiasm. His last three films, SALVADOR, PLATOON and WALL STREET had left impressions on me that, at the time, could not be equaled to any other active director, except perhaps, Steven Spielberg. Stone could've made a film about the damn phone book and I would've paid good money to see it. TALK RADIO, for me, seemed to represent Stones diversity to cover a variety of subjects, from war to the financial world to the media world I only personally knew of back then through the voice of Howard Stern, whose name is important to note here, because in effect, I would not have equated his name with the spirit of true talk radio. In the 1980s, Stern was political, controversial, and managed to abuse and insult his listeners on an almost daily basis. But it's always been my opinion that Stern was more of an outlet for entertainment and comedy than what serious talk radio is supposed to represent. Admittedly, I know almost nothing of true talk radio because it's not what I listen to. Men like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Mark Levin are not what I chose to occupy my ears and senses when I'm driving in my car or sitting at my computer writing (as I am now). As for Howard Stern, I haven't heard the man's voice since he left KROCK 92.3 FM in New York and began his broadcast on Sirius XM Radio in 2006, the reason being that I refuse to pay a monthly charge for radio that can still be heard for free. Still, the purpose behind this post is to not only interpret Stone's film, but to also cast my reflections on talk radio of the past.

Based on the play of the same name by Eric Bogosian and Tad Savinar, as well as the 1984 assassination of Denver, Colorado talk radio host Alan Berg, as depicted in the book Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg by Stephen Singular, the film TALK RADIO stars Bogosian as a Jewish, Howard Stern-type, Dallas, Texas radio personality who runs his nightly show, Night Talk, with a sarcastic, condescending, controversial and bitter sense of humor that almost always pisses off his audience, who more often than not, disagrees with Barry's liberal political views. When we're introduced to Barry's show, the man is on fire, attacking everything from the current establishment, the legalization of all drugs, and the repeated calls he receives from angry, bigoted white nationalists. The one constant through all of Barry's nightly antics is that no matter how much he insults and tears into his audience, they keep coming back for more. In a world where all of them could simply turn off his show, they choose to listen, night after night, for reasons none of them are ever able to justify when he confronts them with it on the air. At a live appearance at a sporting event (where he's abruptly booed off the platform), he righteously defends himself to a meek woman who hates him, by citing that her attacks and accusations against him have no credibility because she keeps listening to his show. Love Barry or hate him, he makes a very valid point in his defense.

As his show prepares to go nationwide, we see the personal side of Barry's life through vignettes with his much younger girlfriend (who's also his producer) and some rather unnecessary flashbacks to his early life when he started out as just a married suit salesman and manages to (by chance, really) land himself a job on the radio. In fact, when you see what Barry looks like in his younger days with his long hair, you can understand why Howard Stern himself panned the film's release back in 1988, claiming that Bogosian had literally ripped off his life (whether that's true or not is up to your own judgement). Barry is a rebel born out of the 1960s and seems happiest when he's fighting someone, be it his audience, his boss (played by Alec Baldwin), the show's new head honcho (played by John Pankow) or even his alienated ex-wife Ellen (played by Ellen Greene), whom he still has obvious feelings for when he asks her to fly to Dallas to support him during the show's new transition. But even those momentary feelings of love and remembrance Barry displays for Ellen are ultimately shattered when Barry's talk radio persona takes over and he blasts her on the air while the entire radio staff listens in horror. As one of Barry's listeners puts it, he's a pitiful man who doesn't know how to love.

Yet by all accounts, despite everything that can be despised about Barry Champlain, he is loved by all within the sound of his voice, and he's loved by those of us who sit in our seats and cling to every word he says. Stone knows how to grab us by the balls from the very beginning, and refuses to let go (well, during the talk radio sequences, anyway) right up until the very moment that Barry is shot dead by one of his crazed, right wing haters. But even before that ever happens, we're held in Barry's grip when during his second show of the film, he has what appears to be an epiphany on the air and slowly comes to realize just what sort of entity his audience really is. On air, Barry reveals his true self, admitting his hypocrisy of his personal gains and fame rather than the social ills he addresses, while refusing to apologize for them. He bitterly declares his fear of his listeners and berates them as morons who have nothing worth saying, even as they tolerate his abuse and ask for more. In fact, look carefully at Barry's face, and you'll see there's one moment where his expression of disgust is so obvious in his eyes and his mouth, you would think that's he's personally attacking the very microphone that has served as a nightly tool for all of his outrage toward the world and those who populate it. It's an unforgettable moment...

When TALK RADIO is over, we cannot help but feel the loss of a major media figure, as the camera pans over the city of Dallas to the electronic music of the Police's Stewart Copeland. But even more important is the reflection on the role talk radio once played in a world that did not yet know the meaning of the words of social media. Today, when we can all easily and anonymously voice our opinions, vile and disgusting as many of them often are, on outlets like Facebook and Twitter, we must recall a time when such verbal action had to bypass the radio airwaves, as well as the radio host, first. Many of us, even while often repelled by what other human beings stand for, cannot live without them through media channels that can safely keep them at a distance. Radio, besides catering to our own individual musical tastes, was once a powerful tool of human connection that could inflame our thoughts, our passions, and our anger. Radio was social media once, but sadly, is now nothing too much more than optional pay channels, in my opinion. But even today, in a world where angry opinions are like assholes (everybody's gone one!), I still believe in the power of traditional radio. Even as I sit writing this blog post, I'm listening to not only my favorite classic rock songs on Q104.3 FM New York, but I also take comfort in the sound of the DJ's voice accompanying my actions. It reminds me that radio, while still a very valid form of media, may never again be what it once was, for the simple reason that many of would rather express our voice and listen to our music through the channels of the home computer and the hand-held iPhone.

We live in a sad, sad world. Barry Champlain would've hated it more than the one he hated in the '80s. Like the words he first speaks at the beginning of the film..."The worst news of the day!"

Favorite line or dialogue:

Barry Champlain (on the air): "I'm a hypocrite. I ask for sincerity and I lie. I denounce the system as I embrace it. I want money and power and prestige. I want ratings and success. And I don't give a damn about you, or the world. That's the truth. For that I could say I'm sorry, but I won't. Why should I? I mean who the hell are you anyways you...audience! You're on me every night like a pack of wolves because you can't stand facing what you are and what you've made! Yes, the world is a terrible place! Yes, cancer and garbage disposals will get you! Yes, a war is coming! Yes, the world is shot to hell and you're all goners! Everything's screwed up and you like it that way, don't you? You're fascinated by the gory details! You're mesmerized by your own fear! You revel in floods and car accidents, unstoppable diseases! You're happiest when others are in pain! That's where I come in, isn't it? I'm here to lead you by the hands through the dark forest of your own hatred and anger and humiliation! I'm providing a public service! You're so scared! You're like a little child under the covers! You're afraid of the boogeyman, but you can't live without him! Your fear, your own lives have become your entertainment! Next month, millions of people are going to be listening to this show and you'll have nothing to talk about! Marvelous technology is at our disposal, and instead of reaching up to new heights, we're gonna see how far down we can go! How deep into the muck we can immerse ourselves! What do you wanna talk about, hmm? Baseball scores? Your pet? Orgasms? You're pathetic. I despise each and every one of you. You've got nothing, absolutely nothing. No brains, no power, no future, no hope, no God. The only thing you believe in is me! What are you if you don't have me? I'm not afraid, see! I come in here every night, I make my case, I make my point, I say what I believe in! I tell you what you are! I have to! I have no choice! You frighten me! I come in here every night, I tear into you, I abuse you, I insult you, you just keep coming back for more! Whats wrong with you? Why do you keep calling? I don't wanna hear anymore, stop talking! GO AWAY!!!

TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, THE

(December 1999, U.S.)

With the closing of the twentieth century, I noticed the fall films of 1999 becoming more interesting and intriguing, with titles like AMERICAN BEAUTY, THE GREEN MILE and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. Alfred Hitchcock surely would have been proud of the late Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller based on Patricia Highsmith original 1955 novel. Actually, he'd already adapted her novel STRANGERS ON A TRAIN into his own successful 1951 screen adaptation, so there you go.

If ever there was a human definition of the word sociopath, then perhaps the character of Tom Ripley(played by Matt Damon) is it. In 1950s New York City, Tom is struggling to make a living as a piano player. But really, even as he jokingly puts it, his true talents are "telling lies, forging signatures and impersonating people". While working at a party of rich NYC socialites, Tom is approached by wealthy shipbuilder Hereber Greenlead (played by the late James Rebhorn) who, simply because Tom has borrowed a Princeton jacket, believes that he attended Princeton with his son, Dickie Greenlead (played by Jude Law sporting a somewhat convincing American accent). Tom is recruited and paid one thousand dollars to travel to the Italian seaside town of Mongibello, Italy to persuade Dickie to return home to a more stable and responsible lifestyle. While en route, Tom strikes up a friendship with American socialite Meredith Logue (played by Cate Blanchett), pretending to actually be Dickie Greenleaf. Once arrived, Tom easily charms Dickie and his fiancée Marge (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) into accepting him into their lives. It's not long before Tom is completely sucked into the life of wealth and privilege that Dickie lives in Italy, as well as sucked into his own homosexual attraction toward Dickie. But one thousand dollars can't last forever, and it's not long before Dickie tires of Tom and his inability to pay his own way in Italy. These building tensions eventually lead to Dickie's murder at the hands of Tom aboard a rowboat in the middle of nowhere.

Bearing a good resemblance to Dickie, Tom decides to impersonate him and forges a letter to Marge, convincing her that Dickie has left her to live in Rome. He further creates the illusion that Dickie is alive and well by checking into a hotel Rome under his own name and Dickie's as well, creating an exchange of false communication between the two men. Through his continued lies and forgery, Tom becomes Dickie in the eyes of those who don't know him, while remaining Tom in the eyes of Marge and her circle of friends, including Peter Kingsley, who's developed an immediate romantic crush toward Tom. There's also the suspicious Freddie Miles (played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman), who's persistent attacks on Tom and his fraudulent character inevitably get him killed by Tom. As the Italian police slowly close in on Tom as a person of interest, he's eventually able to convince the law that Dickie (remember, he's dead) was responsible for murdering Freddie. Through a forged suicide note, Tom is finally able to dispose of his Dickie persona and even manages, through sheer luck, to bequeath Dickie's trust fund by his father as a reward for Tom's loyalty to Dickie (oh, Tom IS good, isn't he!). Marge, however, is convinced of the evil and deceiving person that Tom is, but can't get anyone to listen to or believe her accusations. Finally free and clear of his horrible crimes, Ripley boards a ship to Greece with Peter, implying that they're now lovers. He's surprised, though, to run into Meredith on the ship, who still knows him as Dickie. Realizing he must now kill Peter to prevent being exposed as the impostor he is, he does so by crushing and strangling him to death. even as he's tearful and remorseful in doing so.

Now, realizing full well that I generally don't condone the making of endless films into a franchise, this is one of those rare situations where I do wish they'd continued Highsmith's RIPLEY novels in order to learn what eventually would become of Tom Ripley in the hands of Matt Damon. This first (and only) installment of the Ripley saga is an intelligent and insidious thriller that grabs our attention and takes us on a journey of who Tom Ripley really is and what he's willing to do to ultimately protect his identities and the lifestyles they've afforded him. While Matt Damon may still remind us that he looks so much like a boy, it's a man's, a diabolical man's mind continuously working the gears toward what's most important to him, and that is, as Tom puts it, "to be a fake somebody instead of a real nobody." The ensemble cast rounds things off perfectly, but it's necessary to recognize that they're job is to constantly feed off of Matt Damon and the identities he's struggling with. The talents belong to Mr. Ripley and it's their job to simply (and successfully) feed off of that talent, regardless of destination and consequences.

Even to this day, I still want to visit the various seaside villages on the Italian islands of Ischia and Procida, where THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY was filmed. Ah, the undeniable power of on-location cinema!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Freddie Miles: "I want this job of yours, Tommy. I was just saying, you live in Italy, sleep in Dickie's house, eat Dickie's food, wear his clothes, and his father picks up the tab. If you get bored, let me know, I'll do it."

SYRIANA

(November 2005, U.S.)

The geopolitical thriller, in general, is often difficult to follow due to confusion created by numerous stories. Stephen Gaghan's film SYRIANA (he also wrote the film TRAFFIC) focuses on politics of petroleum and the global influence of the oil industry, whose political, legal, economic and social consequences are experienced by numerous people around the globe, including American, Middle East-based CIA operative Bob Barnes (played by George Clooney), American energy analyst Bryan Woodman (played by Matt Damon), Washington, D.C. attorney Bennett Holiday (played by Jeffrey Wright) and a young, unemployed migrant worker from Pakistan living in an Arab state in the Persian Gulf. In the background of these multiple character studies, U.S. energy giant Connex Oil is losing control of its key oil fiels in a Persian Gulf kingdom ruled by the powerful Al-Subaai family. The emirate's foreign minister, Prince Nasir (played by Alexander Siddig) has granted the rights to natural gas drilling to a company in China, which upsets our own U.S. oil industry and our government, as well. In order to compensate for its decreasing capacity in production, Connex Oil initiates a corrupt merger with a smaller oil company called Killen, that was recently awarded drilling rights to key petroleum fields in Kazakhstan (a country in Central Asia). Connex and Killen now rank as the world's twenty-third largest economy, which makes antitrust regulators at the the Department of Justice nervous, indeed. In D.C., a law firm headed by Dean Whiting (played by Christopher Plummer) is hired to try and smooth the way for the successful merger. Bennett is assigned to promote the outward impression of due diligence to the Department of Justice, hoping to deflect and allegations of corruption and illegal activity (all the while, dealing with his alcoholic and abusive father who keeps showing up at this door).

In the process of multiple stories all sharing the same theme of danger and intrigue, Bob Barnes is kidnapped and tortured, Bryan Woodman loses one of his children in a horrible swimming pool accident, Prince Nasir will ultimately perish in what seems like a disease of multiple car bombings, and the young, unemployed (and very susceptible) migrant worker will be recruited, brainwashed and trained for an act of post-9/11 terrorism on the Connex-Killen tanker, resembling the suicide bombing attack on the U.S.S Cole in October 2000, which is what ultimately concludes SYRIANA and its message to the world of where we currently stand.

As previously mentioned, all of this can be hard to follow. Hell, J.R. Ewing of DALLAS himself would have been scratching his head at the multiple takes on the oil business he knew so well! Still, if we can keep our minds focused on the general idea of a covert deal taking place between the United States and China involving oil being shipped through Kazakhstan, while operating under the deception of it coming from an alternate source, then perhaps you might just follow along with a problem. In fact, it's these elements of multiple characters and parallel storylines that can serve to make SYRIANA more intriguing as a motion picture, as we jump from locations in D.C., Texas, Spain, Switzerland and the Middle East to describe what can best be called "hyperlink" cinema. George Clooney's (one of the most haunting and hypnotic performances he's ever given) acts of American heroism takes us into his maze of intrigue and danger, and we can't help but keep ourselves focused as we follow along as best we can. In the end, the best we can hope to do, is presume that we're intelligent enough to follow an explosive tour of global politics, that in the end, is thought-provoking, mind-boggling and emotionally engaging. Still, we need to remember that SYRIANA is ultimately based on real global problems, including oil, energy, and the evil it provokes; problems that may never be resolved in our lifetime.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Bryan Woodman (to Prince Nasir): "You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's where you'll be in another hundred years! So, yes, on behalf of my firm, I accept your money!"

SWORDFISH

(June 2001, U.S.)

Every once in a while, I completely go against the norm with movies. Some movies that are tremendous hits with the public (and even best picture Oscar winners) just don't make the grade with me. On the other hand, sometimes movies that have bombed with audiences and critics make the right connection with me for some reason. SWORDFISH, in my opinion, can easily stand on its own due to its actions, its thrills, its intrigue and its main stars John Travolta and Hugh Jackman. Oh, yeah, and you probably already know that Halle Berry treats us all to a great underwear and topless scene (but we'll come to that later)!

I suppose it would be easy to say that any movie that features this a skin show by the hot girl who played Storm in X-MEN just a year before is worth watching, but honestly, SWORDFISH is a lot more than that. Travolta proves that he's a unique villain because he not only personifies merciless evil, but also manages to deliver great dialogue that continues his snappy wit that we loved so much in PULP FICTION. From the moment the movie opens and he's telling us all just how much shit Hollywood produces and how he would have personally improved Al Pacino's masterpiece DOG DAY AFTERNOON, I'm hooked! Then, almost without warning, we realize that what appears to be simple and pleasant conversation in a coffee cafe, has turned into a very intense and violent hostage situation inside a bank.

Backtracking four days, we learn that Stanley Jobson (Jackman) is a former high-tech computer hacker and is also the best there is at it. Out on parole now, he's determined to stay away from computers and try to gain custody of his daughter who's currently being raised by her alcoholic, porn actress mother. Recruited by Ginger (Berry), Jobson proves just how good he is at his computer work to his would-be employer Gabriel Shear (Travolta), even while he's got a gun to his head and receiving a wet and wonderful time from Helga, the blonde blowjob queen of California! Well, if Stanley can crack a secure government server in just over a minute with that kind of pressure on him, then he's definitely the man Gabriel needs to program a multi-headed worm to steal billions from government slush funds.. Oh, and a ten million dollar payoff doesn't hurt Stanley, either. As we watch talented men like Stanley and Gabriel work their magic on screen, even when it involves high speed chases, explosions and killing people, our minds are surely on the clock wondering when and how the events will lead up to the big hostage standoff we already witnessed part of at the beginning of the film.

Hardcore action can be fun when it isn't overly stupid or accompanied with crap acting. SWORDFISH is well acted...well, for an action film, anyway. But it also drives home interesting and thought-provoking themes of our own American patriotism and just how for we're willing to go to protect our precious freedoms we sometimes take for granted. Gabriel makes the strong point that his ultimate goal behind his crimes is to spread fear among terrorist nations that will make them think about ever launching an attack against the United States, knowing full well that a well-connected man like him will strike back ten times as hard. In July of 2001, that notion may have seemed like nothing more than an entertaining fantasy for the big screen. Since 9/11, the notion may take on a whole different meaning. These are debatable issues in our country. Of course, we live in a world where people are supposed to be decent and would never condone the capture and killing of innocent hostage to support the greater good, whatever that may happen to be.

And so, while SWORDFISH may not exactly be John Travolta's SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and PULP FICTION, and the film itself may be regarded as nothing better than a stripped-down James Bond ripoff that's low on plot and big on explosions to the average viewer, let's not forget the most important reason that most people (other than myself) will give the film any time of day...and that is...Halle Berry strips it down and shows us her tits!

Is that a good enough reason for YOU???

Favorite line or dialogue:

Gabriel Shear: "You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic vision."

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS

(June 1957, U.S.)

When I first saw director Barry Levinson's 1982 debut film DINER, there was a very minor, secondary character who wandered around his friends quoting nothing but lines from SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. At that age, I thought it was just about the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. Today, I'm a little more relaxed about it because, let's face it, I'm a movie geek who can probably quote all of STAR WARS from beginning to end.

The black and white film noir tells the story of a powerful Manhattan newspaper columnist named J.J. Hunsecker (played by Burt Lancaster and based on real life American newspaper and radio gossip commentator Walter Winchell) who uses his powerful connections to destroy his timid sister's (Susan) relationship with a jazz guitarist named Dallas that he deems unworthy of her. He's aided by his personal press agent Sidney Falco (played by Tony Curtis), who is frustrated because he's been unable to gain mentions for his client's in Hunsecker's column due to his failure to keep a promise to break up the romance. Given one last chance by his boss, he schemes to plant a false rumor in a rival column that Dallas is a pot-smoking Communist, then encourages his boss to rescue Dallas's fragile reputation, confident that he'll reject Hunsecker's favor and end up looking bad to Susan. Later, when Susan is forced to choose between her boyfriend and her brother, she chooses Hunsecker in order to protect Dallas from him. Still, a man like J.J. Hunsecker doesn't go down or go away easily. He's enraged when Dallas insults him by telling him what he really thinks of him. He decides to ruin the poor boy after all and demands to have marijuana planted on the musician, then have him arrested and roughed up by corrupt police he keeps very tight in his pocket. This, believe it or not, is where Falco suddenly develops a conscience and refuses to go along with it...well, at least for a very brief moment. When Hunsecker promises to take a very long vacation and turn his powerful column over to Falco in his absence, he quickly changes his tune and his position.

But even a man as disgustingly loyal to a pig like Hunsecker is not shielded from his own dangers against such a powerful man. When Susan attempts to kill herself by throwing herself off of the balcony of her brother's penthouse apartment, Falco is (conveniently) there to stop her, but not before he's discovered in a compromising position with her by Hunsecker when as he's rescuing her. Even as Falco realizes he was set up by Susan to be discovered in such a manner, Falco is unable to explain himself. In a climactic confrontation, Falco reveals to Susan that it was her brother who ordered him to destroy Dallas's reputation and their relationship. Hunsecker makes a call to the police to come after Falco, who tries to flee but is caught in Times Square by the brutal cops. Still, a powerful man like Hunsecker is the loser in the end because Susan walks out on him, revealing that she's going right back to Dallas.

SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS vividly and visually recalls a time when the influence of the press and hustling power of New York City were a thriving force to be reckoned with. The on-location black and white photography of Manhattan's exteriors are shot at some of its busiest and noisiest areas, particularly at Times Square during rush hour...

One can just feel the thrive of the city that never sleeps and comes alive most at night when it's jazz nightclubs tell their own powerful stories. J.J. Hunsecker is often seen at these clubs sitting at his own table, making deals and deciding other people's lives. One can just feel this time in history when the McCarthy era and those of the press with their own influential columns like Walter Winchell, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons had the power in business and Hollywood to make or breaks people's career's and lives. Burt Lancaster seems to play part of such a prick with perfect ease. He and Tony Curtis are scheming and disgusting, and perhaps that wasn't easy for movie audiences to embrace at the time, given both men were such idols of integrity. But this is what clearly defines dramatic acting, particularly with its intensity and whiplash dialogue. There is a high-tone edge of the city streets that perhaps only the true New Yorker can fully appreciate and understand. The film as a whole reminds us that while it's important to experience it visually, it's also important to sit back and listen...truly listen to the screen in front of us.

Favorite line or dialogue:

J.J. Hunsecker (to Sidney Falco): "I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic."

SURE THING, THE

(March 1985, U.S.)

To look back at Rob Reiner's second film, THE SURE THING is not only a nostalgic trip back in time to when I was a high school senior in 1985, but also back to the early part of Reiner's film career before hits like A FEW GOOD MEN (1992) and THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (1995), as well as young, unknown actor named John Cusack. But let's begin with what I consider more important than those behind the film, ME!

In March 1985, I was knee-deep in college applications and just starting to reach the point of my senior year where I (and so many other seniors) felt relatively safe in coasting through the remaining months of the school year in anticipation of guaranteed college acceptance. My mind was already focused on the insane social life (away from my parents!) that my new college life would bring. Months before ST. ELMO'S FIRE would give me a taste of the post-college years of youth, THE SURE THING gave me the first taste of college life as it happened. Yes, when I sat there in that New York City movie theater watching scenes of Cusack's life at an unnamed New England college and that half-crazed student placed his huge stereo speaker inside his window and screamed at the top of his lungs to the entire campus, "It's Friday night!!!", I proclaimed inside the theater for all to hear, "I can't wait to get to college!"

Going to see THE SURE THING, my first presumption, despite its PG-13 rating, was that it was just another product of the teen sex comedy craze that had dominated the early part of the 1980s. Not to say the film didn't have its small share of sexual innuendos and enticements. The movie immediately opens with the sights of a sizzling hot California blonde (played by Nicollette Sheridan) as she slowly and systematically prepares her gorgeous body with suntan lotion on a beach while Rod Stewart sings "Infatuation"...

Okay, we've had our momentary taste of the hot piece of ass that we'll come to know as "the sure thing". But now we meet high school senior Walter Gibson (Cusack) and his best friend Lance (played by Anthony Edwards) as they celebrate moving on to college. Gibson is hardly excited, as he's been in a sexual dry spell lately and feels his lost his touch with women (what's he bitching about? I hadn't yet lost my virginity when I was his age!). Even at college, his attempts to get close to Alison Bradbury (played by Daphne Zuniga) repeatedly fail because she's basically a stuck-up, repressed bitch with a serious weed up her ass. Still, Gibson presses on, and eventually convinces her to tutor him in English, but not after he's made a complete and deliberate ass of himself at the campus pool. Actually, it's this scene at the pool and his entire soliloquy of what will happen to his life if she doesn't help him that first made me stand up and take notice of Cusack and say to myself, "Oh man, this guy is gonna be big!" (and big he became, but not until SAY ANYTHING three years later, in my opinion. Even as he persists in trying to woo Alison off of her stubborn feet, he's been set up by Lance in California to meet (and screw) the previously-mentioned hot and beautiful blonde, assured by Lance that she's "a sure thing". All he has to do is drag his ass to California for Christmas break before she leaves for a semester abroad.

Unable to afford to fly to California, Gibson secures a ride share with a real show tune-loving square couple (the guy played by an unknown Tim Robbins). Care to guess who's also in the back seat sharing the same ride with him? Yup! It's Alison, and she's not too happy about the unexpected arrangement. At this point, Gibson has become frustrated with her, as well, even declaring to her face how repressed he feels she is. Well, like any other road movie before or after this one, it's an inevitable cliché that our two protagonists will weaken and fall in love with each other. Trouble is, Alison feels committed to her long-time boyfriend Jason, who's just as square as she is, and Gibson has a destiny with his blonde piece of ass (bless her!). The ride share falls apart and Gibson and Alison are forced to hitchhike across the country to California, enduring poverty, hunger, hard rain, sleazy rednecks, and of course, each other. There's no sex between them, nor is there even the unexpected kiss, but we know time and circumstance is bringing them closer together.

Once in California, Gibson's real intentions are exposed and Alison is pissed off, despite still feeling the attraction toward him. At a college mixer, they argue in front of Jason and "the sure thing", trying to provoke each other's buttons. As you might predict, Gibson can't go through with his arranged sexual encounter (what a wimp!) and Alison feels estranged from Jason. Following the break, Gibson and Alison are brought together in their English class when their professor reads aloud, Gibson's writing assignment in which he describes a fictional account of a young man who could not confess false love to his "sure thing" and in the end, did not sleep with her. Awww! Gibson loves Alison and Alison loves Gibson, they kiss, the movie ends, and all is well with our young college lovers.

So, it's not ANIMAL HOUSE, PORKY'S or FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT NIGHT, but we're meant to understand that Rob Reiner never intends for THE SURE THING to be such a film, though we do get the occasional visual reminder of the hot, blonde hottie Gibson is looking forward to...

(sorry, I couldn't resist one more shot of her!)

It's teenage material told a milder level, much like John Hughes's SIXTEEN CANDLES. It's the traditional romantic comedy for what was the new age, at the time, but even more than than, it was a look at what could possibly happen to a young guy like me when he got to college. Well, all I can say is that if you're interested in knowing what actually did happen to me when I got to college, refer to my post of ST. ELMO'S FIRE (it's all there). In the meantime, THE SURE THING remains a nostalgic trip to the time when my college expectation were high, as well as my expectations for John Cusack (as soon as he got crap like BETTER OFF DEAD and ONE CRAZY SUMMER out of his system).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Walter Gibson (to Alison as she swims): "I flunk English, I'm outta here. Kiss college goodbye. I don't know what I'll do. I'll probably go home. Gee, Dad'll be pissed off. Mom'll be heartbroken. And if I play my cards right, I get maybe a six-month grace period and then I gotta get a job, and you know what that means. That's right. They start me at the drive-up window and I gradually work my way up from shakes to burgers, and then one day my lucky break comes, the french fry guy dies and they offer me the job! But the day I'm supposed to start, some men come by in a black Lincoln Continental and tell me I can make a quick three hundred just for driving a van back from Mexico! When I get out of jail, I'm thirty-six years old, living in a flop house, no job, no home, no upward mobility, very few teeth! And then one day they find me, face down, talking to the gutter, clutching a bottle of paint thinner! And why? Because you wouldn't help me in English, no! You were too busy to help me! Too busy to help a drowning man!"

SUPERMAN RETURNS

(June 2006, U.S.)

By all accounts, SUPERMAN RETURNS is a movie I should never have had any interest in, as it represents everything I despise in the recycling of old material in the movies. And yet, I managed to embrace it like an old friend when it was released in the summer of 2006. Let me start by painting a brief picture of who I was at the time I saw it. It was the beginning of July 4th weekend and I was spending it with my family in the Hamptons. I should clarify that my family was now increased by one, my new baby son, who was only a few months old. My life as I previously knew it, was completely new and different due to the newfound responsibilities and anxieties of fatherhood. One might have considered it a small miracle that I was able to get away for a couple of hours one night to go and see the new Superman movie on my own. Sequel or not, I was, nonetheless, curious to see how the legendary Man of Steel would present itself under the direction of the man who had already done two prior X-MEN films.

In effect, SUPERMAN RETURNS is the true SUPERMAN III, intended to follow the events five years after SUPERMAN II, completely disregarding the events SUPERMAN III (1983) and SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987), two of the worst movies ever made, and director Bryan Singer knows it! When the film began with the familiar sounds of Marlon Brando's voice, shots of the planet Krypton as it once was and that all-too familiar soundtrack music written by John Williams, I have to say my heart was filled with a sense of joy in welcoming back an old friend of the movies, recycled or not, at a time when my life was filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Superman (played by Brandon Routh), it seemed, had disappeared for five years from Earth to investigate what astronomers believed was the surviving remnants of Krypton. In his absence, the world went on without him, and Lois Lane (played by Kate Bosworth) achieved her long-awaited goal of a Pulitzer Prize for her article, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". She also became engaged to Perry White's (played by Frank Langella) nephew Richard (played by James Marsden) and the two already share a five year-old asthmatic son Jason. Meanwhile, Lex Luther (played wonderfully by Kevin Spacey) hasn't gone anywhere and is still scheming his ultimate plot of land acquisition and world destruction by seducing a dying wealthy woman (played by Noel Neill of the original 1950's Superman TV series, no less) out of her fortune.

His journey a failure, Superman returns to Metropolis and the Daily Planet as Clark Kent only to discover how the world and his own life have changed. It's not too long before Superman must reemerge to the world when he's forced to save a speeding jet from crashing following a mysterious power outage (triggered by Lex Luthor, actually, who used stolen Kryptonian crystal technology he stole from the Fortress of Solitude). Of course, Lois is on that saved flight, and just like their first meeting in SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE, she faints at the sight of her returned hero who doesn't fail to repeat that he feels flying is still the safest way to travel, statistically speaking. This is the moment where we have to wonder if Bryan Singer's repeated use of footage and dialogue from the 1978 classic is really an homage or a blatant rip-off? While I have a hard time respecting any filmmaker who spends their time copying the creativity of others, it's impossible to ignore the fact that as I sat there in my theater seat that night in June 2006, I enjoyed hearing what had been familiar territory of my childhood.

Once again, Lex Luther and his mindless moll (not Miss Tessmacher) are behind an evil scheme where stolen Kryptonite will play a part in crippling Superman's powers. When Lois and Jason accidentally stumble upon Luthor's yacht, they're held captive and await rescue. Luthor reveals that he plans to use the Kryptonian crystal technology Superman used to create his Fortress of Solitude to create a massive new continent which would swallow some of the current landmasses bordering the Atlantic. The world would then be forced to use his new land. Placing a crystal inside a shell of refined kryptonite, he triggers the new land growth by launching it into the sea. This is also the moment when we discover who and what little Jason actually is. Think back to the events of SUPERMAN II five years prior when Superman and Lois slept together in the Fortress of Solitude. It would seem that Lois got instantly pregnant and gave birth to the child whom she and Richard believe is theirs. We know different, of course, because ordinary five year-old boys don't possess the strength to push giant pianos across the room to crush the evil thug who's about to hurt his mother. Superman and Richard (via sea plane) eventually rescue them, and Superman must now face down Luthor. Temporarily weakened by the Kryptonite effects of the new land mass, Superman gets the shit kicked out of him and is left for dead when he falls off a cliff into the sea. Not to worry, of course. He's rescued by Lois and flies off toward the sun, the source of his power and nourishment. Back in action, Superman saves the day, Metropolis and our planet when he uses the last of his strength to remove the dangerous land mass and hurl it into space. But complications from the Kryptonite exposure cause him to fall to Earth and end up in a coma. Lois visits him in the hospital and whispers into his ear while glancing at Jason. We can only presume she's told Superman the truth of his fatherhood. No longer feeling alone in the universe, Superman visits his newly revealed son in the boy's room and repeats to Jason the words of his own father Jor-El as he sleeps. All is well with the world again, and we can be assured that Superman is "always around".

Yes, the two and a half hours of that night seemed well spent, and I was left with the feeling of reassurance of an old and familiar friend in Superman. It's just unfortunate that Bryan Singer couldn't come up with a better fate for Lex Luther than being stranded on a deserted island with only a few coconuts and his idiot mistress. This was just a stupid resolution, in my opinion. However, once I get past that piece of stupidity, SUPERMAN RETURNS remains what we generally expect of it, which is a visually complex piece of entertainment of a legendary superhero of the movies. Like the original 1978 film, there's a strong feeling of spiritual mythology, as well as the sensitivity of those impacted by Superman's presence in the world. Sadly, though, the film lacks any hardcore action that was already present in BATMAN and X-MEN films of the previous two decades (that was likely compensated with Zack Snyder's MAN OF STEEL seven years later, which admittedly, moves too fast at times) Kevin Spacey is a perfect follow-up to Gene Hackman, perhaps even more cruel and vicious than his predecessor. On the other hand, Kate Bosworth and Brandon Routh can probably be best described as nothing too special in their roles. They pull them off just fine, but they ultimately lack the charisma and energy of the late Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve. In fact, one can't help but wonder if Routh was cast simply because he bears a very strong resemblance to Reeve, thus further promoting the nostalgia and history of the big screen Superman my generation knew as kids. Well, I can only say that wrong or right, homage or rip-off, it worked well for me that night twelve years ago, and continues to work for me now. What can be wrong with that?

Favorite line or dialogue:

Lex Luthor: "Come on, let me hear you say it, just once."
Lois Lane: "You're insane."
Luthor: "No! Not that. The other thing. Come on, I know it's dangling on the tip of your tongue. Let me hear it just once, please."
Lois: "Superman will never..."
Lex Luthor: "WRONG!!!"

SUPERMAN II

(June 1981, U.S.)

Like SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE, I'd to stay in that zone inside the mind of the child who first saw it on the big screen in June 1981 (I like it there!). During that summer, I did not get to see the movie that was most important to me, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (I finally saw it when it was re-released in 1982). I did, however, manage to see SUPERMAN II twice. Since the first movie, the general knowledge among fans was that a sequel was immediately in the works to further the story of the three villains from Krypton and their ultimate battle with the Man of Steel himself. Having lived as a kid of the late '70s in a world of movies predominantly ruled by sci-fi and space battles, I put any anticipation for SUPERMAN II in the back of my head, for the time being. I guess you could say I was entertaining a level of patience for its release in that it would simply arrive when the time came. No big deal. I could wait.

After re-visiting the trial, conviction, and sentencing of the three Kryptonian criminals to the Phantom Zone (without Jor-El this time), the new Superman movie, instead, provided a montage of the first movie’s best scenes from beginning to end that would lead us up to the new story that began in Paris with terrorism. Though these men who’d seized the Eiffel Tower acted a lot more like the Three Stooges than serious terrorists. Regardless, I was old enough to know what a hydrogen bomb was and the massive destruction it would cause, even before Lois Lane confirmed the fact by declaring it could "blow up all of Paris!" When she held onto the tower’s elevator for dear life as it fell to the bottom at top speed, I got a small knot in the pit of my stomach as if my senses were falling with her; kind of the way you feel as if you’re actually riding a rollercoaster if you concentrate hard enough on film footage taken from an actual coaster. Of course, Superman arrived in the nick of time and saved the day by hurtling the bomb into outer space where it would explode and hurt no one. As it turned out, however, the bad side of that move was that the explosion destroyed the Phantom Zone and the three sentenced criminals from Krypton were now free, and it looked as if Superman didn’t see any of this happen.

Before flying to Earth, General Zod, Ursa and Non (who was mute) decided to stop off at the moon first to cause some trouble with the astronauts who just happened to be there. It was on the moon they realized their natural abilities served as extraordinary superpowers the closer they came to the yellow sun. When they arrived in Idaho, they made themselves well known to the local folks by causing more trouble and destruction. I particularly enjoyed watching Ursa take down a rather hairy and disgusting-looking man in their own little arm wrestling match. That’s what he got (and deserved) after telling her, "Let me know if this tickles." just because she was a woman and presumed the weaker sex. Even with damage done to buildings and a series of explosions, the United States military moved in on them to try and stop them, with no success. This was clearly just a small prelude to the harder action that would take place later in the movie.

Meanwhile, Superman...or rather, Clark Kent and Lois Lane were on a newspaper assignment together in Niagara Falls, posing as a newly-married couple. As they toured the falls, a small boy decided to test his balance on the wrong side of the safety rail. Just before he eventually fell toward the water, I couldn’t help but ask myself, "Just how stupid is this kid?" I also recognized the stupidity that immediately followed Superman’s rescue of the boy in a line spoken by an old woman watching the action when she said, "What a nice man!" (really??). Unfortunately, Superman’s heroic feat would have a bad side to it because now Lois suspected just who Clark Kent really was, as he was never around when Superman showed up. She nearly proved her point when she jumped into the water, fully expecting Superman to save her. It wasn’t until later in their hotel room when Clark accidentally fell into the fireplace (was it really an accident?) that he revealed himself to Lois when his hand wasn’t burned. This was when the movie decided to stop being so light and humorous for a while. Things became serious and dramatic as they two of them realized the truth of Clark’s identity and the love they felt for each other. This shift in the movie’s mood made sense to me, because even at my young age, I understood that love was a deep emotion that wasn’t always funny. After years of Superman keeping his secret from Lois, in comic strips, comic books, cartoons and an old TV show, the cat was finally out of the bag. With any ordinary movie couple, none of this would’ve been such a major event. However, this was Superman and Lois Lane, so it meant something.

Things stayed focused on just the two of them for a while. When he took her to his home at the Fortress of Solitude, they proclaimed their love for each other over dinner. But the true test of this love was whether or not Superman was willing to give up his superpowers to live as an ordinary mortal man, which according to the spirit of his dead mother, was the only way he could be with Lois. This was a shocking decision to contend with as someone who loved Superman, because we had to watch it happen when he stepped into the molecule chamber that took away his powers forever and turned him into just Clark Kent. Now an ordinary man, he could be hurt as one, too. He was hurt, in fact, when he and Lois stopped at a local diner and got into a fight with a bully who wouldn’t give Clark his seat. Clark was practically fascinated by the sight of his own blood, something he’d never seen before. It was ironic him being an ordinary and powerless man now, because it was at this very moment that he finally learned of General Zod’s existence on Earth and that he was now challenging Superman on national TV to come forward and kneel before him. What now? Superman was gone and all the world was left with was the ordinary (and weak) man, Clark Kent. He’d try to get his powers back, but there was no way to know just how he’d do it.

The three Kryptonians, now in a partnership with Lex Luthor, took over the Daily Planet in anticipation that Superman would eventually show up to face them. I wasn’t surprised when Superman finally returned with all of his powers intact. This being a movie where the good guy ultimately wins the battle, it seemed clear enough he’d have to come back somehow. But how did he pull it off? I knew his rediscovering of the green crystal must’ve had something to do with it, but the answers weren’t clear. I’d have to think about that later because a showdown was taking place between Superman and his enemies in the city of Metropolis with all its citizens watching. The battle was quite a spectacular show, with great visual images of good and bad fighting each other in the air and on the ground. I loved the moment when Superman hurled Non into the giant antenna of the Empire State Building and then watching it fall toward the street; Superman, of course, saving the woman and her baby from being crushed by it. The battle raged on for a while before Superman realized the only way he would defeat these villains was to draw them away from Metropolis. It was a shame, though, to think the people thought Superman was a coward for flying away when he did. We in the audience knew better. Kidnapping Lois Lane and taking Lex Luthor along for the ride, the villains followed Superman to the Fortress of Solitude where the fight would continue. For a time, it looked like Superman had his enemies where he wanted them until Ursa and Non grabbed Lois and threatened to kill her. Superman was, for the moment, defeated because he’d never allow Lois to be hurt. The final surprise and climax of the movie came when Superman was forced back into the same molecule chamber in order to be rid of his powers, once again. Just when we thought Zod had won, we learned through the hard cracking of Zod’s bones in his hand, that Superman had switched the effects of the chamber to take away the villain’s powers while he was safely protected inside. The battle was over. Evil was defeated and Superman was, as always, the hero of the hour.

The next morning at the Daily Planet, Clark and Lois still had to resolve the nature of their relationship. They loved each other and the thought of having to keep Clark’s secret and deny her love for him was too painful for her to bare. Clark kissed her and there was something magical about that kiss because when he finished, she couldn’t remember anything that had taken place throughout the movie. It was the “kiss of forgetfulness”, as we’d call it later. Since it was always a pleasure to watch a bully get beaten up, I loved the movie ending with Clark returning to the diner to teach the one who got the best of him earlier a thing or two with his superpowers restored. Superman was back and we, as well as the entire country, were very glad to have him.

SUPERMAN II premiered on the ABC Sunday Night Movie in 1984. Like the first movie, it also featured extra footage originally not shown in theaters. This time, however, the new scenes weren’t nearly as interesting or intriguing as the original movie. Some of this pointless footage included Lex Luthor discovering one of his prison cellmates was a bed wetter and telling Otis to pass it on, as well as a moment where Superman used the heat rays from his eyes to cook a souffle in seconds. Was this the best the network could do in order to hold our attention just a little longer? I realized, of course, this footage was originally shot by the director and it wasn’t the network’s fault, but still, I felt I had to blame somebody.

What I knew about SUPERMAN II back then and what I know about it today are two different matters. As a kid, it was just a sequel released in the United States nearly three years after the original film, the standard wait time. Shortly after the first film, there were rumors and bits of information on TV that the sequel was filmed at the same time as the original and would be released within a year. I dismissed this trivia until 1981 came along and it was finally released. It was in 2006, with the DVD release of SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT that I learned the secrets and the dirt behind the making of the movie and the difficulties between Donner and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind, and Donner’s subsequent firing from production in March 1979. The specific reasons and details behind Donner replacement with Richard Lester remains a debated issue. One point behind this filmmaking controversy that’s always impressed me was the decision among much of the cast and crew to stand behind Donner after he was fired. Creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz, editor Stuart Baird and actor Gene Hackman declined to return to the film, though Hackman had already completed many of his scenes under Donner’s direction. Marlon Brando, who’d also completed scenes with Donner, chose to sue the producers and as a result, all scenes featuring Brando were ultimately cut from Lester’s film and replaced with Susannah York playing Superman’s mother instead. None of this really mattered, though. SUPERMAN II was a huge success at the box office, as well as with critics and fans, including myself.

As a kid, I felt the sequel outsoared the first film simply due to the fact that it had more action, primarily the fight sequences in Metropolis. I have since, changed my position on that opinion due to any cinematic maturity I’ve managed to maintain as an adult. While SUPERMAN II remains a fun and effective sequel, I cannot deny that SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE is a more spiritual film. Still, like so many others, I felt compelled to check out the DONNER cut to see what all the hubbub was about. While I can appreciate the place the original artist holds with the finished product, I am, at heart, a movie purist and strongly feel that a film should stand as it does without interference or changes later on. Regardless of what may or may not have taken place behind the scenes of production, who was right, who was wrong, who got screwed and who didn’t, SUPERMAN II, for me, remains the film it was in 1981 under Lester’s direction.

Finally, despite thirty-seven years having passed since first seeing it as a kid, I still remain unclear about just exactly how Superman got his superpowers back. We know the green crystal had something to do with it, but just how remains a mystery to me. Did Clark re-create the Fortress of Solitude with the crystal just as he had in the original film, thus getting his powers back? It’s possible, I suppose, but there remain too many holes in that theory which require explanation; explanation I’m likely never to get because I’m not one of those comic book geeks who overthinks these things. It’s just a movie...even if it’s a Superman movie.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Superman: "General, would you care to step outside?"
General Zod: "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!"

SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE

(December 1978, U.S.)

For Richard Donner's SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE, I'd like to take you all back into the mind of the child who first saw it on the big screen in December 1978, nearly forty years ago (Happy Anniversary!).

Not since the 1976 remake of KING KONG had I such high anticipations for a new movie. I cannot claim to have had the same anticipations for movies like STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND because they were unfamiliar territory until becoming popular in their own right. The character of Superman, like Kong, was already legendary. While I wasn’t a major fan or reader of Superman comic books, I did watch the 1950’s TV show with George Reeves everyday after school when it aired in reruns. Superman himself was unmistakable and now the first major motion picture for the big screen was on its way. When it played at a neighborhood movie theater only ten minutes from where we lived, my parents knew well enough they’d be responsible for taking their sons to see it (asking them was hardly necessary).

The movie started with an image, or perhaps an homage, to an old aspect ratio of movie theater curtains parting and the sound of an old projector displaying the words June 1938 (the year Superman was created by high school kids Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) and a cover of Action Comics depicting art deco rocket ships and an exploding planet. A child’s voice told us of a decade during the Great Depression when the responsibility of the Daily Planet was to provide the public with truth and clarity. These words then yielded to some very powerful title images accompanied by the opening music of John Williams and inevitably building up into the immortal word that was SUPERMAN! Even at the age of eleven, when I was still too young to recognize or understand just how powerful opening credits could be when done effectively, I sat there in amazement, anticipating more…and more.

I was already somewhat familiar with how Superman came to Earth as a baby, but this was the first time I discovered the specific reasons to how and why. Although I’d understand years later with the sequel, the opening trial of the three Kryptonian criminals was confusing, if not unnecessary, to the story that followed. I was anxious to see what would happen to the planet Krypton following Jor-El’s ignored warning to evacuate all its citizens. When the baby of Kal-El first appeared, I remember my mother making soft, cooing noises at such an adorable infant. To watch a loving mother and father kiss their baby and say goodbye to him for the last time in their lives was, admittedly, sad. But excitement quickly overtook sadness. The rocket ship blasted off and Kal-El was safe for his new journey to Earth to one day become Superman. I kept thinking the planet Krypton would be destroyed and that would be it. Instead, the scene took its time and showed us the slow and gradual destruction of the planet's interior and its doomed people, who attempted to survive, in vain. The planet’s explosion was dramatic and final.

The journey of Kal-El’s ship was intriguing. Rather than just fly through space and eventually land on Earth, the scene, again, took its time and gave us specific details of the journey. First, the ship passed alongside the three Kryptonian criminals who’d been sentenced to the Phantom Zone which appeared as nothing more than a large sheet of glass. Then we saw close-ups of the baby listening to the recorded voice of his father already beginning to teach him the ways of the people of Earth. There were descriptions of the special powers he’d have (powers we in the audience already likely knew about from comic books and TV) and even a warning never to interfere with human history. Had I known at the time what the art of set-up and pay-off were in a professional screenplay, that specific warning might’ve had more meaning for me. When the three year-old Kal-El finally landed on Earth, met his new adoptive parents, and lifted up the truck that almost crushed Jonathan Kent, we knew things were about to get started and it was time for the true Superman to be born. As a child, it wasn’t always easy for me to appreciate or retain specific moments of powerful dialogue. To this day, however, I won’t forget a feeling of sadness and sorrow when, at Jonathan Kent’s funeral, young Clark Kent said to his mother, "All those things I can do…all those powers…and I couldn’t even save him." But as I mentioned before, feelings of sadness in a movie such as this are very quickly replaced by the sheer excitement of story and action. Young Clark Kent was about to journey up north where he’d create the Fortress of Solitude and discover just who he was and why he was sent to Earth. In what’s best described as an "out of body" experience (though I’d never heard such words when I was a kid), Clark was taken by his father, Jor-El, through time and space to not only fully comprehend his role on Earth as a powerful being from another world, but would also return as an older man by twelve years, his manhood and his colorful costume and cape ready for action.

Never forgetting the familiarity of Superman’s story as seen on TV, the arrival of Clark Kent at the Daily Planet in the city of Metropolis (which I could clearly recognize as being filmed in Manhattan), and his introduction to Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson seemed almost routine at this point. Mild suspense and dialogue clearly were leading to something much bigger in which the world would finally recognize the existence of Superman. Such expectations finally paid off during the helicopter disaster sequence at the rooftop of the Daily Planet in which Lois Lane began to fall to her death. Not to worry, though – Superman was on the way. What happened next is important to me because for a brief moment, it changed the way I looked at my mother. For as long as I could remember, I’d never seen my mother get excited, joyous or giddy watching anything fun on the screen that would normally bring out the kid in us (she was just that damn serious!). But when Superman showed up in flight to save the falling Lois Lane, grab hold of the falling helicopter and fly them both up to safety, my mother (along with the rest of the audience), clapped her hands and cheered with genuine laughter and excitement. I’d never seen her exhibit this sort of fun at the movies before and I don’t think I ever saw her do it again after that (I suppose the powers of Superman extend beyond what we’re familiar with, even to someone like my mother). Superman was here, and now we’d watch him live up to his full potential with a series of daring rescues (including the old, silly cliché of the cat stuck in the tree) and chases. By the time the Daily Planet was committed to exploiting Superman’s arrival, Lois Lane was also just as committed to getting as close to Superman as possible. During their interview at her rooftop apartment, it seemed as if they were just killing time with each other when what they really wanted was to get closer. Their flight together through and above the skies of Metropolis was not only visually beautiful, but also touching in the way we could hear Lois’ voice-over recite a poem entitled "Can You Read my Mind?" The story also knew when to be a little silly for the sake of slapstick fun. Meeting Lex Luther, his sidekick Otis and his girlfriend Ms. Teschmacher were meant to make us laugh, and I’m sure we did. But I’ll still never forget the reaction I had when I first saw Ms. Teschmacher wearing the sexy black outfit that revealed a large portion of her breasts. Remember, I’m eleven years-old now and the fantasies of the opposite sex are just starting to build. This was only natural, of course, but a woman like Valerie Perrine in the late ‘70s certainly helped to move it along...

During the second and final sequence of Superman’s daring exploits and rescues, it was thrilling to watch him show up when he was needed during California’s major earthquake orchestrated by Lex Luthor. Never did the strength and power of the man seem more obvious than when he laid down his own body in place of the broken train track and allowed it to safely pass over himself. Even though I never doubted the power of his superhuman abilities, I was still stunned, nonetheless, to watch this man raise the land’s infill to protect and repair the San Andreas Fault Line immediately following the start of the earthquake. Yes, it seemed that there was nothing Superman couldn’t save or fix. For a time, however, that may not have been completely true. When all was finally settled down, it appeared that Lois Lane had died during the course of the quake. Wait a second, could this be possible? Was Lois really dead? Like Rocky Balboa losing the big fight at the end of ROCKY, this just didn’t seem possible or fair, even for a movie. When Superman arrived at the scene seemingly too late, even he couldn’t believe it. He let out a scream of rage and fury that I never thought a righteous man like himself was capable of. What followed next, I couldn’t possibly understand the theoretical physics of at the age of eleven, but it appeared that by flying at an unimaginable speed, Superman could rotate the planet Earth in the opposite direction and physically turn back time. By doing that, the events of the quake and those who suffered from it, including Lois, would be undone and all would be safe, despite the fact that Superman had ignored his father’s previous warning that he was forbidden to interfere with human history. I suppose sometimes even a man like Superman had to disobey his own daddy in order to do the right thing and save the woman he loved.

Just over two hours later, SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE could not have ended better. The world was saved, Lois Lane was saved, Lex Luthor and Otis were going to jail and the human race seemed to have a better understanding of itself and its safety, because as Superman himself put it, "We’re all part of the same team." Yes, Superman was here to stay - on screen, on lunchboxes, on trading cards and in our popular culture. It was a moviegoing phenomenon that could’ve easily rivaled STAR WARS. It was pure fun, magic and something I didn’t want to end. In February 1982, SUPERMAN had its television premiere on the ABC Sunday Night Movie. It featured additional footage over the course of two nights. By the end of the first night’s airing, the movie stopped short when Lois Lane fell from the helicopter, creating a cliffhanger-type of effect for the end of part one. The next evening, there was a brief recap of what took place the night before and the film continued from where it left off. Some of this new footage included a Kryptonian security officer ordered to hunt down and capture Jor-El for excessive energy use, Superman subjected to machine gun fire, a giant blow torch, and frozen ice while walking through Lex Luthor’s underground hideout and a little girl revealed to be Lois Lane aboard a moving train watching a teenage Clark Kent through her binoculars as he’s running at a speed faster than the train. Some scenes which included Lex Luther playing the piano just before he lowered Ms. Teschmacher into a den of lions seemed completely pointless and stupid. By the time I reached my high school teens and finally owned an uncut copy of the movie, it had been restored to its original theatrical version, which was fine by me because by that time, the extra TV footage left very little impression on me. I understood the ineffective waste of time additional footage brought to most motion pictures that were already considered great as they were. Apparently, I was already asking the question of why Hollywood and television couldn’t just leave well enough alone. As the old saying goes, why fix it if it ain’t broke?

How far we’ve come since the original SUPERMAN; three sequels within the original franchise, a 2006 reboot by Bryan Singer and three MAN OF STEEL films. It’s easy to claim that the recent Superman films of the 21st Century are more exciting and offer harder, more fast-paced action than its originators. But the story of Superman, in my opinion, remains a deeply spiritual one of a man from another world trying his best to fit in among people who may or may not fully understand who and what he is. The first MAN OF STEEL film of 2013 does accomplish this in an admirable and effective manner, but there’s a true sensitivity to Christopher Reeve and his performance in the first film that I’ve never let go of all these years. It begins with a strong spirit of family that is most evident in the speech that Marlon Brando's Jor-El makes to his infant son just before taking off on his journey...

"You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you, even in the face of our deaths. The richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I've learned, everything I feel—all this and more I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father and the father the son. This is all I, all I can send you, Kal-El."

That spirit of family continues in 1950’s Smallville in a picture-perfect setting that would’ve made famed artist Norman Rockwell proud. Knowing full well he’s adopted, Clark Kent is, nonetheless, a content boy as seen through the trusting relationship with his Earth father, Jonathan, and the tender relationship with his mother, Martha, at the time he decides he must leave her to pursue his destiny.

There’s also an interesting underlying sexual content to SUPERMAN that I was too young to recognize as a kid. Back then, I didn’t understand Lois Lane’s almost desperate need to know Superman by asking him if he was married as her first interview question, as well as her second question of "How big are you?" when what she really meant to ask was "How tall are you?" I didn’t understand her implications in having him confirm if the rest of his bodily functions were "normal". I didn’t understand that she was basically making sure that Superman did, indeed, like women (and liked pleasing them orally, too, I suppose) by asking him, "Do you like pink?" Well, as movie audiences would’ve fully expected back then, Superman answered, "I like pink very much, Lois." Ah, the hidden sexual and subliminal messages you come to realize as you get older.

Above all, SUPERMAN-THE MOVIE remains a delightful combination of old fashioned ideas like heroes, villains, romance, swashbuckling adventure, and groundbreaking special effects that doesn’t feel old or dated. It’s pure fun and entertainment for a man as myself who’s never considered himself an expert (or even an amateur) of the comic book genre. I don’t take such stories too seriously and seek to only satisfy my cravings for fun, but with also the right touch of intelligence, charm, and wit. Unlike some of the unfortunate sequels that followed, the film does know when to take itself seriously, in particular with gifted and veteran actors like Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman, while still knowing just when to be cute and fun, without being over-the-top campy. It’s a film that still takes me back to that glorious moment back in 1978 when I learned that my mother, if she truly applied herself, could have just as much fun at the movies as her two boys did when the right moment struck her.

Thanks for that brief moment, Mom!

Favorite line or dialogue:

General Zod (to Jor-El): "Join us. You have been known to disagree with the council before. Yours could become an important voice in the new order, second only to my own! I offer you a chance for greatness, Jor-El! Take it! Join us! You will bow down before me, Jor-El! I swear it! No matter if it takes an eternity, YOU WILL BOW DOWN BEFORE ME! BOTH YOU, AND THEN ONE DAY, YOUR HEIRS!!!"