RIGHT STUFF, THE

(October 1983, U.S.)

Is it me or does it feel as if the American space program doesn't even exist anymore? It seems as though ever since we decommissioned out space shuttle program after the last flight on July 8, 2011, the only news of space exploration we ever hear about anymore are cute, little probes that land on Mars and shuffle around. Not exactly too exciting to the average person who's not a scientist, yes?. Ah, but there were times, however, when space exploration meant everything to this country, and I'm not necessarily speaking of only the infamous Space Race and the Apollo 11 moon landing of the 1960s. For my generation, the 1980s were also a defining era when it all began with the launching of the Space Shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, for which I awoke early on that Sunday morning to watch on television. I was in junior high school back then and it was easy to feel how every kid and every adult was gripped by the new technological time period we were entering in our space program (prior to that morning, I'd only seen a space shuttle in the James Bond movie MOONRAKER). Perhaps it was no accident that THE RIGHT STUFF, based on Tom Wolfe's best selling book, was released in movie theaters at a time when each space shuttle launch still had meaning and could truly resonate with many of us who cared.

Even as a kid, which I still felt like in 1983, it was impossible for me to imagine how America's future in space began with just one man, World War II hero Captain Chuck Yeager (played by Sam Shepard) and his test pilot mission of the rocket-powered Bell-X1 aircraft which enabled him to finally break the sound barrier. Were it not for this film, I never actually would have ever heard of Chuck Yeager. Anyway, it was this breakthrough that got things started in our quest toward rocket design and seeing just how far we could take it. That, and our need to compete with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. In 1957, when they launched their satellite Sputnik, America and NASA went apeshit to stay ahead of them in the quest for space. The search for America's first astronauts began with a vengeance. This is when we meet the new heroes of the film, including John Glenn (played by Ed Harris), Alan Shepard (played by Scott Glenn), Gus Grissom (played by Fred Ward), Scott Carpenter (played by Charles Frank), Walter Schirra (played by Lance Henrikson) and Don Slayton (played by Scott Paulin). Again, until this film, I'd only previously heard of John Glenn and Alan Shepard. I was also unaware of the rigorous, if not sometimes silly, training program that these future-men-of-space were required to endure. It's rather comical, and I suppose the film intentionally makes it so, that the men, even after all that training and sacrifice, are substituted for a chimpanzee when it comes time to actually launch some sort of life form into space after many failed tests of our rocket design finally comes to a successful conclusion. Back in the era of the Space Race, enthusiastic Americans only got to see their space heroes in the shining light that the media was able (and willing) to offer them. THE RIGHT STUFF (both film and book) attempts to show these men as they were when they weren't in front of the camera with their wide, positive smiles and their encouraging statements. They appeared to be faulted men of ego, fear, stupidity and even infidelity. Whether it was true or not, John Glenn assumes the role of the honest, wholesome, do-no-wrong American hero who insists on keeping up the healthy, heroic images for the American public, even when it means hiding the fact (whether or not it's deliberate, I'm not sure) that his wife suffers from a stutter.

Alan Shepard is the first American to reach space on a 15-minute sub-orbital flight. Later, Gus Grissom makes a similar flight, but the capsule's hatch mysteriously blows open and quickly fills with water and sinks. Grissom escapes and is criticized by many for potentially panicking and opening the hatch prematurely. John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth completely and receives a ticker-tape parade (I remember reading about that in elementary school). Even while all of this history in space is taking place, the test pilots, all but forgotten back at their base in the desert, cannot escape the reality that they're no longer the fastest men on Earth, even as they seemingly mock the entire space program, using phrases like "Spam in a can". Chuck Yeager recognizes it, and in a final act of bravery and defiance, attempts to set a new altitude record at the edge of space in the new Lockheed NF-104A aircraft and is nearly killed in a high-speed ejection when his engine fails. The aircraft is destroyed, but he survives, proving that he still has the "right stuff" (Chuck Yeager is still alive today).

Getting back to my own generation's experience with space exploration, it's impossible not to mention two other historic moments that took place in the 1980s following the successful inaugural launch of Columbia. The first (and I'm sure this is obvious enough) was the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986. I didn't actually see it happen on television when it did, but I was returning to my freshman dorm at college after a morning class and found nearly every kid on the floor gathered in front of the TV. I barely even had to ask the question of what had happened. Somehow, I just knew they were going to tell me that the shuttle was destroyed and all the astronauts on board were killed. Well, after repeatedly watching the horrible image of the shuttle explosion on the news and listening to (then) President Ronald Reagan make the necessary speech, it was impossible not to feel the overwhelming sorrow and setback of the entire space program. The second moment was the "Return to Flight" mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery on September 29, 1988, the first mission following the Challenger disaster. I must confess, there's a certain wonderful feeling from watching the local New York newspaper go from this...

...to this in less than three years...

As I said before, the American space program, like many other parts of our history, is often dependent on our own generation's memories and experiences. For myself, I never got to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon in 1969. I merely watched space shuttles take off into orbit and land on the ground like a conventional aircraft in the '80s. Today, I hear on the news about silly probes on Mars examining the surface. I hope that's not going to be as good as it gets from now on. I'd like to think that the visions of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke shall one day have its possibilities.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Narrator: "There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier."

RIFIFI

(June 1956, U.S.)

The heist film, or I should more accurately say, the heist-gone-wrong film, is practically a genre all its own. From Stanley Kubrick (THE KILLING) to John Huston (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE) to Quentin Tarrantino (RESERVOIR DOGS), it's been done, redone and repackaged in so many forms, it's become challenging to decide which stories are worth our time and which ones are worthless. Now I wish I could say that the French have done it better with this black and white film noir classic called RIFIFI, but in this case, the director Jules Dassin was an American (go figure!), and blacklisted during the era of McCarthyism, as well. The film tells the story of aging and recently-released-from-prison gangster Tony "le Stéphanois", Jo "le Suédois", Mario Farrati, and César "le Milanais". The four men band together again to commit an almost impossible theft, which is the burglary of an exclusive jewelry shop on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris. This, of course, shall be their last job together before finally settling down to the straight life of love, marriage and the basic pleasures that stolen money will buy, including a sensuous bath given by a large-breasted and nearly topless wife...

(now that's what I call a devoted wife!)

For the main character Tony, the prospect of this new heist comes with dramatic issues, including a former girlfriend who is now the property of a rival gangster and popular nightclub owner Pierre Grutter. The rival gangster is also a rival for the jewels after they've been stolen, but that comes later. The centerpiece that truly drives RIFIFI is an intricate thirty minute scene depicting the actual heist in detail, shot in near silence, without any dialogue or music whatsoever. One cannot understand and appreciate the brilliance of this sequence without watching it for themselves. The drama of the traditional background score or mindless chitter-chatter is replaced with the dramatic danger of maintaining absolute silence during a crime-in-progress in which anything can go wrong if the men involved are not careful. This fictional burglary, popular that it is, has apparently been copied by real criminals in real crimes around the world. And so once the break-in and the theft are (presumed) successful, the thieves appear to get away clean without having revealed their identities. However, as typical greed and stupidity would have it, one of the criminals makes a mistake by pocketing a diamond which he gives to his lover who happens to work at the club owned by the rival gangster (starting to put two and two together here?). Now we're faced with one criminal gang versus another in a battle of wits that will either win one of them the rich rewards or get themselves killed. By the time one of the heist men has had his son kidnapped and Tony has risked his life to get the boy (and the diamonds) back, all have failed and nearly everyone ends up dead (except the boy, of course!). We're left with the satisfying irony that after so much planning and so much detail involved, it's all gone to Hell and the suitcase filled with cash goes unclaimed.

The crime film, I suppose, can be approached in different ways, depending on what you're looking for. If it's just the thrills and suspense of the crime that intrigue you, then I suppose even crap like TOWER HEIST (2011) will do it for you. RIFIFI, with all of it's French subtitles, offers intelligence that breaks away from the traditional crime film - intelligence in its story, its actors, it's dialogue, its music and its final resolution. It offers a certain degree of humanity and sincerity, particularly in showing us the private side of some of the criminals and the love they feel for their women and their families. These emotional elements only matter, however, if you consider them relevant to a crime film. I say, why not!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Mario Ferrati (to Tony about Cesar): "For a job with you he'll come. Cesar! There's not a safe that can resist Cesar and not a woman that Cesar can resist!"

REVENGE

(February 1990, U.S.)

Despite being a film by Tony Scott and starring Kevin Constner, I suspect that REVENGE, based on Jim Harrison's original novella, went relatively unnoticed twenty-six years ago and has likely been all-but-forgotten today. For the late Tony Scott, it was a film in a small string of less-than-blockbuster films he made in between TOP GUN (1986) and CRIMSON TIDE (1995), though in all fairness, I loved BEVERLY HILLS COP II (1987) and I still do. For Kevin Costner, it was the middle film in between a succession of three back-to-back hits that began with THE UNTOUCHABLES in 1987 and ended with JFK in 1991. I suppose anything that happens to fall in the middle of anything can easily become lost in a massive shuffle. Too bad, because in my opinion, REVENGE is a highly worthwhile film of not only, well...revenge, but also love, devotion and loyalty.

In a manner that practically picks up where TOP GUN left off four years earlier, the film begins with the final wild flight of United States Naval Aviator Jay Cochran (Costner) just before retiring to a relaxing civilian life. He travels to Mexico, accepting an invitation from his wealthy crime boss friend Tiburon "Tibey" Mendez to spend time at his hacienda. He meets a beautiful young woman riding a horse who is Tibey's wife, Miryea (played by Madeline Stowe), who lives in lavish surroundings but is very unhappy because her much-older husband doesn't want children. Believing himself to be a guest of Tibey's rather than a common employee, Jay easily says no to his powerful friend and acts very independently, which rubs Tibey's suspicious right-hand man Cesar (played by Tomas Milian) the wrong way. After a dinner one evening, Tibey conducts a private meeting with business associates (in which one of them is murdered) while Miryea gets acquainted with Jay. Of course, she becomes attracted to him and the feeling is mutual. Jay cannot ignore the situation, both the attraction and the danger, or as he puts it, "Who we are and where we are!" Still, the attraction and the tension persistently grows until they can no longer control themselves and end up having passionate sex in a coat closet during a party with Tibey among the guests outside. Two words - NOT GOOD! On the other hand, if you have the opportunity to fuck Madeline Stowe (back in 1990, anyway!) in a coat closet, you likely take it, right? However, the film is more about the love between them and the betrayal of loyalty against his long-time friend that Jay struggles with more than anything else. Jay knows he's a dead man for what he's done, but still can't resist the forbidden fruit, whether it's getting distracted by Miryea's delicious-looking legs while driving his jeep on a deserted road or stopping to swim naked with her...

Well, as predictability would have it, Jay and Miryea are inevitably caught and all hell breaks loose. Tibey slashes his wife's face and commits her to a local whorehouse to spend the rest of her life getting drugged, abused and "fucked fifty times a day". Jay is beaten senseless by Tibey's men and left for dead somewhere in Mexico. Through some good Mexican Samaritans and a few local contacts looking to get their own revenge against Tibey, Jay recovers and braves a path of determination and violence against those who beat him and eventually comes face to face with Tibey. At this point, it would be easy to say that REVENGE could end in the traditional manner of a good get-even kill, but the film takes a surprising turn at the climactic moment. Rather than end up with one or two dead bodies, Tibey suddenly recalls what the two men once meant to each other, and in an inspirational moment of manly honor, asks Jay to formally ask him (Tibey) for forgiveness for taking his wife away from him. The end can go either way now, but Jay suddenly also realizes the importance of friendship and honor and lowers his gun to ask for that forgiveness. It's such a simple idea, yet so different by way of the traditional ending of any revenge film. Although the two men will never be friends again, they both survive and Jay is directed to the convent where Miryea is dying. Now, call it corny sentimentalism or just plain, old sappy mush, but I still believe nothing is more tragic and effective when telling the story of true love than having one person die in the arms of the other. I suppose the writers of REVENGE understand that, too, because when that sort of moment takes place in the face of Miryea's death, we can't help share the sorrow that Jay experiences in not only having lost the love of his life, but the valuable friendship of Tibey Mendez, as well.

I'll mention again that the year 1990 was (and still remains) the worst year of my adult life. That in mind, I tend to examine the films of that year that I post with just a little more sensitive scrutiny and memory. To reflect upon that year and the strong love I felt for a girl who did not return that love leaves me wondering what I was thinking at that time having gone to see such a strong-spirited love story in the first place. Perhaps I expected more thrills than love...who knows. I do remember walking out of the movie theater feeling like real shit, despite having enjoyed the film. Decades later, I've clearly gotten over the love crap of that time of my life, but still hold REVENGE with a certain degree of extra sensitivity regarding who I was back then and who I've become since. A better and stronger person, I hope...most of the time, anyway.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Cesar: "You looking for someone, Mr. Cochran?"
Jay Cochran: "No. Is someone looking for me?"
Cesar: "No, sir."
Jay: "Cesar, let's get it straight. I don't like you, you don't like me, right? So if I'm looking for someone, it's none of you business! You understand?"

RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, THE

(May 1975, U.S.)

There are, according to my research, a total of eleven Pink Panther films since the first one, simply called, THE PINK PANTHER, graced the big screen back in 1963 (one of them, the third one released in 1968 called INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU stars Alan Arkin in the title role instead of Peter Sellers), including three that were released after the great Sellers died and two remakes with Steve Martin in the title role (I haven't seen those and I won't!). That’s a whole lot of slapstick comedy that I can only call, in my opinion, quite redundant. In my vast collection of DVD and Blu-Ray titles, THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER is the only film in the entire lengthy franchise that I have deemed worthy of my time and my ownership. This is not only because I still find myself laughing with much enthusiasm at the antics of the late, great Mr. Sellers in his comedic stunts and pitfalls that I think greatly outsoar the other films, but also because I think this film carries with it a more intricate plotline in terms of the details behind the theft of the Pink Panther diamond itself.

Now if you remember the first Pink Panther film at all, you'll recall that the precious diamond had been stolen by the notorious thief known as "The Phantom" (played by Christopher Plummer in this film and previously played by David Niven in the first film) before and it was Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Sellers) who recovered it, though, somehow during the course of the film, he was suspected of being the "Phantom" himself. By the second film, A SHOT IN THE DARK (1964), Clouseau's prison term seemed to have been conveniently discarded, as he was back on the job, trying to solve a murder this time. By the third film, this one, he's after the Pink Panther diamond and the "Phantom" all over again. Interestingly, although this is a goofy comedy, the film begins with a somewhat suspenseful theft as we watch the mysterious thief carefully make his (or her?) way into the chamber where the diamond rests and skillfully removes it without setting off any of the security alarms. I have to admit, I actually find myself sitting in suspense as I watch the thief at work. After that little bit of seriousness, the film is off and running its trail of silliness with our re-introduction to Inspector Clouseau and his bumbling idiosyncrasies and thick-accented French dialogue. Like James Bond himself, Clouseau travels the world to exotic locales to track down the solution to this great crime and along the way, we can't help suspect that were he not such a bumbling idiot, he might actually score with a woman or two. Certainly, he thinks he can if he wishes to. There's a particularly funny moment when he's attempting to charm the "Phantom's" wife, Lady Claudine Lytton (played by Catherine Schell) in a nightclub. Holding up his drink, he proposes a toast and utters the classic line from CASABLANCA, "Here's looking at you, kid." Okay, that doesn't sound too funny on paper, but try to imagine it with an overly-thick fake French accent and it sounds more like, "Here's-a-looking-at-a-you, kid." Trust me, it funny! Look carefully at Catherine Schell and you'll see that the actress is having trouble containing her genuine laughter while working this scene with Sellers. Many of the traditional clichés and schticks that became repetitive in the many Panther films to follow still seem fresh in this film of 1975, including Clouseau's ongoing physical battle-of-wits with his faithful servant Cato (played by Burt Kwouk, who, by the way, my friend Richard K. in California will remind you that he also played Mr. Ling in the 1963 James Bond film, GOLDFINGER), and my personal favorite, Clouseau's police chief Inspector Dreyfuss (played by Herbert Lom) who is constantly hell-bent on killing the naive detective. Never do I enjoy someone's misery and frustration more than when I'm listening to Dreyfuss' desperation and laughter when he's trying to not only kill the poor man, but also explain to others just how much he hates Clouseau.

As for the cloak and dagger criminal element of this comedy, it's innocent enough for a G-rated film, despite moments of gun fire and explosions (the final resolution of who actually stole the Pink Panther diamond is actually quite boring and anti-climactic). But like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Clouseau only walks away with a dirty face and torn clothes when an exploding bomb nearly takes his life (the bomb sent to his house by Dreyfuss, by the way!). However, I do challenge the "G" rating of today if no other reason than there is actually some dialogue that would likely be considered racist by today's standards and that's when Clouseau repeatedly refers to Cato as his "little yellow friend". During the 1970's, a time when Archie Bunker was saying whatever the fuck he pleased on network television and people were loving it, such a reference to an Asian man on film probably went unnoticed. Today, someone out there would have a reason to go apeshit over it (everybody's always pissed off about something!). A little bit of racist dialogue is, perhaps, a small and questionable price to pay for the comedic talents of Peter Sellers in this particular film. While those talents may never have been able to live up to the madness and genius of his talent in the Stanley Kubrick films LOLITA (1962) and DR. STRANGELOVE (1964), it still remains a high level of entertaining silliness that I continue to enjoy to this day. As for the Panther films that followed...well, I remember really wanting to see THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1976) as a kid and finally did see it on TV four years later. Back then, I have no doubt that it made me laugh. Today, while still possessing a funny moment or two, the plot of Inspector Dreyfuss turning evil in the tradition of a James Bond villain just to kill Clouseau once and for all is, frankly, just too stupid to make the film worthwhile. REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER (1978) was a film whose only appeal for me were two; the first being a movie poster that featured comical version of the famous JAWS 2 tagline, "Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back to the Movies" and the second being a black leather dominatrix...

You know, until this film, I never even knew these women existed (bless them!)! Beyond this smokin' lady, the film sucks! After Sellers died in 1980, I gave up on all Panther films forever. What little bits and pieces of TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER (1982) that I happen to catch on HBO at the time was pathetic. I mean, really, trying to salvage a popular franchise by cutting and splicing unused footage from previous Panther films to make it appear that Sellers is alive and well for a new film two years after his death? Seriously??? Anyway, there you have it - eleven Pink Panther films and I stand by just one...and it's all mine!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Chief Inspector Dreyfus: "The beggar was the lookout man for the gang!"
Inspector Clouseau: "That is impossible. How can a blind man be a lookout?"
Dreyfus: "How can an idiot be a police officer?"
Clouseau: "Well, all he has to do is enlist..."
Dreyfus: "Shut up!"

RESERVOIR DOGS

(October 1992, U.S.)

If you go back in time to when I first posted my blog for Stanley Kubrick's 1956 film THE KILLING, you'll recall how I cited this film as a strong inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's independent film RESERVOIR DOGS. Not to take away anything from RESERVOIR DOGS' neo-noir and non-linear structure for what can clearly be labeled among the "heist gone wrong" crime thriller genre, but it should be noted that, like many great films, it gets its inspiration from a previous source (but what better source than the late, great Stanley Kubrick, yes?). As with many of other Tarantino's films (this being his first), the true originality lies not only in showing us what happened before and after the botched diamond heist, but the offbeat and quirky dialogue that's made Tarantino's career a true art form. From the moment we meet eight men sitting around a coffee shop table eating breakfast together, it's immediately apparent that these these men are crooks, thieves and potential murderers. But hey, even scum like these guys are not above having a (semi) intellectual conversation behind the true meaning of Madonna's "Like a Virgin". This video was, by the way, the only time (other than her 1992 sex book!) I ever really found Madonna totally hot! I mean, geez, look at her...

(but I digress!)

It's breakfast time (because you can't plan a perfect crime without a good, solid breakfast!) and the planning and scheming is in the works. Six total strangers using aliases: Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Blue (Edward Bunker), Mr. Brown (Quentin himself!), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), and Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), respectively. The entire operation is the plan of mob boss Joe Cabot (played by Lawrence Tierney), the organizer of the heist, and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot (played by Chris Penn, Sean's late brother). Seems safe enough that if they don't know each other's real names, then they can't rat each other out. As previously mentioned, the film focuses and the before, that is, the set up and planning that include the infiltration of the gang by an undercover cop who's actually Mr. Orange, and the bloody aftermath in which one of the men is dead, Mr. Orange is (really) bleeding to death from a gunshot wound and it's become pretty obvious to the others that there's a rat in the mix. We don't actually get to see the diamond robbery and how it all went to shit (which is unfortunate, actually, but you can't help be feel like you want more throughout the film), but we're given all the information through the tense dialogue as the surviving crooks recap what happened and try to determine how they were set up. It's through the dialogue that we truly get to know the heart of the gang, namely Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange and Mr. Blonde. And speaking of Mr. Blonde, never has their likely been a more serious and scary criminal as he's played by Madsen. Never was the characteristic of "silent, but deadly" more disturbing and explicit than when he's doing a sadistic dance to the tune of Stealers Wheel "Stuck in the Middle With You" in front of a bound and bloody police officer before slicing off his ear with a straight razor (oh, man, it's sick!!!).

RESERVOIR DOGS is also a film of memorable images, even if they only last a brief moment. If I were to look up the true definition of "Mexican standoff", I think I'd cite this film for sure! I mean, aside from the violent climax when all surviving crew members just shoot each other, there's this iconic image of just Keitel and Buscemi standing off with each other, one of them on the floor...

It's a simple shot, but it creates a sense of desperation and brutality while still maintaining a small sense of humanity because these two men don't actually shoot each other at this time, but rather allow diplomacy and reason to continue for a while longer. We spend our viewing time watching the pieces of the intricate crime puzzle take slow form without actually achieving completion. Tarantino leaves us to use our own judgement that can help fill in a few of the blanks of what we did not get to see on screen. Fact is, despite the bloody mess of it all, it's a whole lot of fun and a real pleasure to be allowed in on it. And in the end, it's the one surviving crew member who was afraid of being associated with a name like Mr. Pink because it sounded like "pussy" who actually survives it all and gets away with the diamonds! Ironic, but somehow, I think he deserved it!

Favorite line or dialogue:

Nice Guy Eddie: "The man you just killed was just released from prison. He got caught at a company warehouse full of hot items. He could've fuckin' walked. All he had to do was say my dad's name, but he didn't. He kept his fucking mouth shut and did his fuckin' time, and he did it like a man. He did four years for us. So, Mr. Orange, you're tellin' me this very good friend of mine, who did four years for my father, who in four years never made a deal, no matter what they dangled in front of him, you're telling me that now, that now this man is free, and we're making good on our commitment to him, he's just gonna decide, out of the fucking blue, to rip us off!!?"

RENT

(November 2005, U.S.)

"You're watching RENT?"

That's the question my wife asked me three nights ago when I was watching the Chris Columbus film version of the Tony award-winning Broadway musical of the 1990s, which is actually based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. You see, she knows my general distaste for musicals and was surprised to find me investing my valuable time in one while she went about the business of microwaving her evening meal. Yes, even I had to ask myself why I was watching RENT. To effectively answer that, let's go back about eighteen years...

I saw RENT on stage in May 1998 for my thirty-first birthday when I was living in Manhattan. At this point, I couldn't even tell you if the original cast members were still part of the production, but I do remember walking away having generally enjoyed it. I've always been a lot more partial to Broadway musicals with a great degree of originality as opposed to the vast multitude of them that have been based on movies (those are a complete waste of my time and money!). So now cut to seven years later - it's the holiday season of 2005, my wife is (very) pregnant with our son and she's dragging me to the new movie version of RENT. Normally, I would have said something like, "Aw, honey, can't you go with your cousin Lisa instead? She's a RENT junkie!". But hey, like I said, she was pregnant and I was trying to nice! Nearly two and a half hours later, the movie ends and I basically file it under that part of my brain that dismisses most musicals as a genre I simply cannot relate to (still, I bought my wife the DVD when it was released months later). Now jump ahead twelve years later and I can clearly see that RENT is the next DVD in the family collection of discs immediately following THE REMAINS OF THE DAY. So what to do? Skip over it and watch RESERVOIR DOGS or perhaps take a chance and see if RENT has anything to offer my brain and my memories having put a distance of so many years since I last viewed it. Well, guess what...I'm here now getting into this, so something must have been happening while my wife was asking me, "You're watching RENT?"

The film tells the story of the lives of several Manhattan's East Village "Bohemians" and their ongoing struggles with paying their back rent, drugs, sexuality and life under the shadow of AIDS. Their story takes place over the course of a single year, from Christmas Eve 1989 to Christmas Eve 1990. We have aspiring and struggling Jewish filmmaker Mark Cohen (played by original cast member Anthony Rapp), his roommate Roger Davis (played by original cast member Adam Pascal) who is a struggling rock musician and HIV positive from a former drug addict partner who subsequently died of AIDS, their friend Tom Collins (yeah...like the drink and played by original cast member Jesse Martin) who is a gay college professor also struggling with AIDS...

(hey, have you noticed I'm using the word struggling a lot here? I guess that's what "Bohemians" in the '90s do - they struggle!)

...Mimi Marquez (played by Rosario Dawson, not original) who is David's love interest and struggling (there I go again!) with her heroin addiction, Angel (played by original cast member Wilson Heredia) who is a street musician and drag queen and...yeah, you guessed it...struggling with AIDS, Benjamin Coffin III (played by Taye Diggs, also original) who used to be Mark and David's roommate and is now considered the "enemy working for the Man" as he is now the landlord of the building they live in and is trying to enforce the rent that is long past due. We have Maureen Johnson (played by Idina Menzel, also original, and also many years before she would make FROZEN's "Let It Go" an apocalyptic nightmare to listen to!), a bisexual performance artist and Mark's ex-girlfriend, and finally, Joanne Jefferson (played by Tracie Thoms, also not an original cast member) who is a lesbian Harvard-graduate lawyer and Maureen's love interest.

Let me take a breath here because I feel like I just announced the entire lineup of an Agatha Christie novel! And yet, in describing each of the film's character, it sort of alleviates my having to go too much deeper into the story's plotline. Knowing who these men and women are, what they do to survive everyday and how they deal with their relationships, illnesses and the prospects of death are enough to know and understand the sort of youth-oriented world of the 1990s we're dealing with. For me, the true value of watching RENT on film is it's effectiveness in how it's been filmed and photographed, particularly some scenes (only some, unfortunately) filmed on location in New York City. Interestingly, however, the movie opens with the primary cast members standing in a row on a theater stage singing the opening song "Seasons of Love". Bearing in mind that this is no longer a Broadway musical, this non-conventional opening somehow works for me because it abstractly sets the tone of introduction to a group of people we're going to devote the next couple of hours of our lives to and perhaps, if it works, come to really care about them. They'll sing and they'll dance their way through all of their struggles (again!), even to the point of dying, which by the way, no film tale of "Bohemia" and AIDS could possibly be without. While it's (admittedly) difficult for a man like myself to identify with a character like that of the drag queen Angel, he is, I must confess, a character considerably more beloved than the others in that regardless of his being quite different from the rest of his friends, is the one character who seems the most sure of himself through his kindness to others and his neverending zest for life, right up until the time he's dying of AIDS in a hospital bed with his loyal friends around him. And it's the loyalty of these people that I find particularly touching, especially in a world where loyalty appears to be a dying human trait.

Now taking into account (once again) that I generally don't like musicals (quite frankly, the singing never seems to end in this film as there are very short intervals of actual acting in between musical numbers), I'm really forced to ask myself what it is about RENT that appeals to me on film. The answer, I suppose, is its raw edginess and intensity in telling a story of city kids who must live and survive in a harsh world in which they never know what's going to happen next. As previously mentioned, the film takes place over the course of only a year, but there is much significance that happens in that year. The musical performances, for what they're worth to someone like me, are hard, fast and full of fury to effectively represent the love, anger and even betrayal that these young men and women feel every day of their lives. And, speaking for myself on a somewhat personal and selfish (and perhaps even cheap level), watching Idina Menzel in her sexy apparel (including a black cat suit!) totally does it for me because the girl is HOT!!! We even get to see her slowly pull down her pants during the song "La Vie Bohème" as she basically tells the world behind her to kiss her ass!

(though I would suggest that her ass could use a nice tan!)

And so, to my darling wife Beth, I hope I've answered the nagging question of why I was watching RENT. And thanks to the movie and your persistent singing, I've have the lyrics of "Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes" in my head all week! Thank you SO much for that!

Favorite line or dialogue (all sung):

Joanne: "This is weird."
Mark: "It's weird."
Joanne: "Very weird."
Mark: "Fucking weird."
Joanne: "I'm so mad that I don't know what to do. Fighting with microphones, freezing down to my bones, and to top it all off, I'm with you!"
Mark: "Feel like going insane? Got a fire in your brain, and you're thinking of drinking gasoline?"
Joanne: "As a matter of fact..."
Mark: "Honey, I know this act: It's called the Tango: Maureen!"

(yeah, I knew someone like Maureen a long time ago. I hated that dance!)

REMAINS OF THE DAY, THE

(November 1993, U.S.)

I wonder how many of today's generation of moviegoers know that Anthony Hopkins made a lot of movies before THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)? It's almost uncanny how the star of films like MAGIC (1978), THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980) and THE BOUNTY (1984) had to play a psychotic flesh-eating cannibal before he was infamously put on the Hollywood map (such is show business, I guess!). Yet, at the same time, there's something poetically charming about watching Hopkins play a truly gentle soul on screen in the Merchant/Ivory film of Kazuo Ishiguro's THE REMAINS OF THE DAY only two years after that iconic role.

As the character of Mr. James Stevens, the head butler at Darlington Hall in Great Britain of the 1930s, Hopkins is the almost perfect epitome of the true and proper English gentleman; a man who takes great pride in being of the utmost service to his wealthy employer Lord Darlington (played by James Fox). For Stevens, life is about routine, order and perfection. This is not merely his job, but his perception of the world around him, even if it's only limited to the surroundings of the house he serves and the staff he maintains. When he employs the new head housekeeper, Mrs. Kenton (played by Emma Thompson), she immediately challenges him and his apparent inability to express his feelings in any way. While her frankness and forwardness is, on the surface, irritating and unacceptable to him, it's very clear to those of us watching that she is, in her own fashion, a breath of fresh air to him and his life of routine and order, though he will never dare show it.

As a true Englishman, Mr. Stevens cannot fathom the concept of breaking away from his role as head butler for his Lord for even a moment. Upon hearing that his father (also a butler at the Hall) has passed away after suffering a stroke, his reaction is almost stoic. It's not that he didn't love his father, but the man's death just happen to occur at the worst time possible, when Stevens was in the process of performing his duties for his Lord and his most important political guests. To break that sort of professional concentration or to even appear as if he were listening to their conversations and had an opinion of his own would be considered rude, unprofessional and unacceptable to the etiquette of the proper English butler. Mrs. Kenton, as professional and effective at her job as she is, fails to understand Stevens' persona and inability to express feeling. And although she makes her frustrations clear to him, it's a futile effort.

It's important now to focus for a moment on the period of history that's taking place here at Darlington Hall. It's the time prior to Hitler's invasion of Europe and Lord Darlington is (also) a proper English gentlemen with an unfortunate and naive faith in attempting to form an alliance of peace with German heads of state. While he doesn't appear to truly believe in Germany's position against Jews, he doesn't want to be seen as uncooperative or politically incorrect, so he would sooner unfairly dismiss two young maids because their Jewish rather than ask for trouble. Mr. Stevens and Mrs. Kenton are witnesses to this act, and while Mrs. Kenton clearly express her outrage at this act, Mr. Stevens insists on keeping the faith in his Lord, who he still believes to be a fine and honorable man. While all of Darlington Hall's political guests appear to (falsely) believe that Germany is an ally to the world, only an American congressman (played by Christopher Reeve) believes that putting trust in the Germans is a horrible and regrettable mistake. Well, he was right!

One of the challenging (if not confusing) aspects of THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is trying to figure out if throughout all of their years together, Mr. Stevens and Mrs. Kenton are falling in love. If they are, both of them are refusing to express it openly. By the end of her employment at Darlington Hall, Mrs. Kenton seemingly tries to provoke Mr. Stevens by announcing that she plans to marry another man (whom we, as the viewer, presume she doesn't love) to see what sort of reaction she'll get from him. While his face suggests sorrow and regret over losing her, all he can offer her is his "warmest congratulations". However, there's one particular moment in the film that would suggest otherwise, but it's only a moment. Still, let me describe it for you. During a scene when Mrs. Kenton tries to discover the nature of the book Mr. Stevens is reading, she comes very close to him to take the book out of his hand. The moment she does this, Mr. Stevens nervously raises his hand to his forehead and his face appears to express a tenderness that we had not seen before. Take a look..

It's a simple gesture, but I believe the act of putting his hand to his forehead the way he does, even briefly, is a powerful visual moment that immediately (and only temporarily) tears down the emotional wall he has kept around himself. In that moment, we can see how much he loves her and how weakened this proper English gentleman has become when she gets too close to him. Tragically, he will never tell her this and his potential for true happiness shall go unrealized. Still, we're watching and we know how things really are. It's almost frustrating that we can't do anything about it because it's only a movie...and in the movies, endings aren't always happy ones. Mr. Stevens and Mrs. Kenton will never come together (watch the slow motion shot when their hands part for the last time, indicating that they'll never see each other again) and perhaps even worse is that Mr. Stevens will not learn anything from his experiences with her. Life shall continue as it always was for him; orderly, structured and oh-so properly English.

I've seen my small share of British film that date back as early as Hitchcock's early work of the 1930s. In the 1990s, I discovered the works of Merchant/Ivory in an attempt to broaden my cinematic tastes. Some I liked, some I didn't. As a truly British film, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY is one of the best I've ever seen, in its style, it's purity, its simplicity, its subtlety and it's thoughtfulness. The performances are first rate (Hugh Grant the small exception, his character being of a silly nature in a film I don't believe is ever meant to be funny), particularly by Mr. Hopkins in what I consider to be the best role of his extensive career (sorry Hannibal!). I also have to note that Christopher Reeve finally breaks away from Superman and gives an extraordinary performance of his own, two years before he would become paralyzed. He made a few more films before and after his accident but I honestly wish he hadn't. THE REMAINS OF THE DAY would have been a perfect swan song to his career and his life.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Congressman Trent Lewis: "You are, all of you, amateurs. And international affairs should never be run by gentlemen amateurs. Do you have any idea of what sort of place the world is becoming all around you? The days when you could just act out of your noble instincts, are over. Europe has become the arena of realpolitik, the politics of reality. If you like, real politics. What you need is not gentlemen politicians, but real ones. You need professionals to run your affairs, or you're headed for disaster!"

That line spoken by the late Christopher Reeve is dedicated to all those Americans out there who would actually be stupid enough (and insane enough!) to vote a clown like Donald Trump into the White House!