AFI 100 Years Series Discussion & Challenges, vol. 2

Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek give two of the greatest performances ever in this absolutely superb, gorgeous, amazing film. The story of Loretta Lynn and her husband Doolittle. Married at thirteen, four kids by eighteen when she's given a guitar and teaches herself how to play it. Soon she's writing music, performing around their new home in Washington State and before you know it they're off the promote her first album all around the appalachian states. She gets a big leg up from Patsy Cline (another phenomenal performance) and the Grand ole Opry, and has to deal with how her career affects her husband and her familiy. A perfect film that captures so much in a given scene. One I will revisit many times. Excuse me while I go buy some albums on itunes, because shamefully I only had a few loretta songs on my computer...

Hardly a cheery story, but a very inspiring one that doesn't need recapping. I've seen the play before and maybe we watched the movie in high school, I can't quite remember, but parts of the movie felt familiar. In any event the film was much better than the play--or perhaps it's that the story resonates more as you mature. But the quality of the acting and direction, was exceptional. The breathtaking, heartbreaking manner of shooting Anne's first kiss (in silhoette) was incredible, the sort of thing a play can never equal. Much like Apollo 13, this story has you on the edge of your seat no matter how well you know the outcome, and in the event of this film you really hope that it changes, but the end is always the same. I was very struck, this time at how powerful the hannukah scene is, simply a remarkable film. It never feels long despite being three hours, quite an achievement for a simple drama in essentially one set.

Superb film with a perfect script and even better performances, I think this is my favorite Potier performance and role. This could be made today without a single change to the script and be just as relevant and on point. Definitely inspirational and belongs much higher on the list

I expected this to be bad I had no idea it was really American Grafitti. Set in a NYC art high-school, a bunch of students try out for the acting, dance, or singing departments and go through the travails of high school as they try to learn who they are and develop their talents. The film weaves back and forth through many characters, and there various stories, insecurities, maturation and success (or failures). Quite powerful at times, this is a film that's definitely worth revisiting as it would probably improve on a second go round. That said the drawback seems to be that it's about art students in an all art environment and there's something about that which is just not all that interesting or compelling--it feels very safe and ordinary.

Incredible photography of a mostly silent film. Alec is thrown overboard from a cruise off the coast of North Africa, the ship sinks, and he manages to get to shore with the help of a wild black stallion that also escaped the ship. He manages to eek out an existence on the island he lands on, and eventually he tames Black and learns to ride him. Eventually he is found and they are shipped back to the states and Black soon escapes the city home of the boy to find a kindly old man with a farm and a fondness for horses. Before you know it the boy wants to race his horse against the best of the country.

Outstanding script, the best performance Mickey Rooney ever gave and the photography is jaw dropping and spectacular. A wonderful film, the final race is breathtaking and exciting.

Superb film about the discovery of radium that is also a wonderfully romantic and moving portrait of a relationship between two souls who couldn't be more of a fit for one another. Walter Pidgeon is absolutely outstanding. His marraige proposal speech is one of the all time greats I've ever heard, a terrific scene. Greer Garson is superb as Madame Curie, the only downer is that they stretched the truth a little for dramatic impact (which the vintage doc on the disc seems to indicate) and tension, but overall an excellent film.

Solid film with Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne about Tina and Ike Turner's rise to fame. The inspirational part comes from Tina eventually gathering the courage and sense of self to leave her abusive husband. The film has a signature scene when Ike rapes Tina that is especially heart rending. But eventually Tina overcomes Ike and reestablishes herself, leaving Ike to twist in the winds of his own destruction.

Superb film about a lifetime prisoner who found personal rehabilitation by learning to care for birds while locked up in solitary confinement.

Stroud killed a man for beating his girlfriend, a reputed prostitute, not an ideal prisoner, he was eventually transferred to Leavenworth, when a tiny altercation causes him to lose the possibility of seeing his mother, who has just arrived from Alaska to visit he kills the guard in cold rage. he's sentanced to death but his mother campaigns for clemency, eventually appealing successfully to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson to stay his execution and amend his sentance to life. There's a catch though, the original judge who sentanced him to death said that he must be kept in solitary until he is hanged by the neck. a quietly sadistic warden intends to follow those rules to the letter, and Stroud will spend the next fifty years in solitary confinement. A few years pass and Stroud one day rescues a birds nest that has blown into the yard, he then cares for the young hatchling within. When a new warden comes around he reveals his trained pet and asks for official permission to keep it, he is granted that. Soon he has several birds and other prisoners have them too. But when an epidemic begins striking down the birds is when Stroud truely changes. He throws himself into research on the disease and develops successful treatments, soon his remedies attract the attention of another bird lover and they start a business to sell his medicines, but a federal directive comes down to stop all prisoners from operating a business and banning all pets. Stroud fights back in the court of public opinion, and wins. But the penal institute is not pleased at being beaten by a politically defiant (but otherwise model prisoner, or so the film would have us believe) inmate, so they have him transferred to Alcatraz in the dead of night, shortly before he was likely to win parole.

Karl Malden is simply terrific as the mean domineering warden, but Burt Lancaster gives what is perhaps my favorite performance of his, absolutely outstanding, one of the finest prison films ever made, and a superb film about the triumph and complexity of the human spirit. Outstanding script and excellent dialogue.

One of the best films I've seen off this list, a superb film with an absolutely perfect ending.

Sally Field plays Edna Spalding, a woman whose husband, a small town Texas sheriff, is killed in the film's second scene. Left with no income and at the height of the Great Depression, she soon has no choice but to learn how to farm from an old drifter named Moses, played by Danny Glover. She continues to raise her kids and takes on a boarder blinded in the war, Will, played by John Malkovich. they survive tornados and more but come harvest time the sooner they get it in the better.

Fabulous performances from the entire cast, a pitch perfect script and one of the most remarkable and emotionally powerful endings ever put to film. Absolutely superb.

---

Paul Newman gives one of his great performances in this film. The film is excellent, but a bit slow and frustrating, the script and characters are superb, but you keep waiting for it to get over with as you know it'll work out okay somehow for the washed up alcoholic. As it is he lucks into the verdict he needs through a useful witness. It's inspiring to see him pull himself out of the gutter, despite the efforts of the prejudiced judge to consign him to it permanently by interfereing in the case and granting ridiculous exceptions--luckily Newman gives a superb closing argument that convinces the jury. A very good film, but definitely not an exciting, or even an especially cheerful or inspiring film. It's certainly no 12 Angry Men, not that it should be, nor is it quite as good as Lumet's recent Find Me Guilty, a film that is a better fit for this list.

A film with superb performances covering an atrocious story about the gross negligance of the world towards the plight of Rwanda. Do to the actions of Paul Rusesabagina many people were saved from slaughter and genocide, though the few he saved were a drop in the bucket compared to the death toll. The film is somewhat similar in that respect to Schindler's list, in that it is a story of a small surviving the horrors of war through the cleverness of a determined individual, although this story is not quite as relentless or fascinating as the Schindler one.

A musical all star cast with the barest veneer of a plot stringing together fabulous music and dance. There's a lot to be admired here from a technical standpoint as well as the quality of the music and performances. There is the drawback of the forties stereotypes of African Americans but they're more low key here than in many films of the thirties. The central number of Stormy Weather is outstanding, Lena Horne does a spectacular job with it and the song has an extended interlude of ballet that was reminescent of nothing so much as the ending to An American In Paris, and perhaps the final 25 minutes (the stormy Weather number followed immediately by the closing production number) is very reminescent of Singin in the Rain, imo. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this film had a big impact on Donen/Kelly.

"I'm just talking bout Shaft."
A great film from the blaxploitation era. Shaft is a Philip Marlowe private detective who clashes with the local police. He's contacted by the local Harlem Boss, Bumpy, who's daughter has been kidnapped by Italian Mafia that want to wrest control of Harlem's drug trade away from Bumpy. Shaft has to find the girl and get her back safely. And he gets laid along the way. Twice. What's not to like? Great fun movie.

One of the best James Bond films, the only drawback is that Roger Moore seems too old and not suave/electric enough to embody bond as well as Connery Craig or Brosnan. Still the song is excellent, the script crackles, and the performances and action are exceptional. Probably the best mix of comedy in a Bond film--I loved the use of the Lawrence of Arabia score, the Jaws references etc (and naturally the character of Jaws is one of the best Bond sidekick villains in the series). Great setpieces, gadgets mostly limited to the badass car, and overall all around.

Marlon Brando tries hard to sing and doesn't quite make it though it's an admirable effort. He's Skye Masterson, gambler extrodinaire, Frank Sinatra plays Nathan Detroit, operator of the longest running floating craps game in NYC. He's got no bankroll and Sky has come to town, he hopes to get the gambler that never says no to take a bet that will stake him again. Sky sees through him but gets caught on another spur of hte moment bet Detroit comes up with. Sky has to take teetotaler and reforming evangelist Sara to Havana Cuba for a date within the next day. meanwhile Detroit's girlfriend of fourteen years is finally putting her foot down and working what she can to get her man to the alter. and there's a cop on the beat that wants to bust them all, guys and dolls. You know what happens next, sparks, attraction, repulsion, forced together, hair undone, suspicious circumstances create reversal, in love, frantic scramble to set things straight, betting it all on a noble long shot, still not enough, happenstance confession clears the air, and finally happily ever after (or at least they're married).

Solid work from the supporting cast, and superbly directed, fun extremely stagey dance routines and choreography. Tedious and often bad script that is so weak only an Actor of Brando's magnitude is able to make his lines sound real and natural, while everyone else's words grate across the ears like a singer whose pitch keeps wandering but never actually finds the right one, despite trying several on for size.

With a better script (or supporting actors) this could have been a tremendous film. Sinatra doesn't get any really good songs (there's only two in the score, Luck be a Lady and the Love theme song), but Gene Kelly or even Bing Crosby could have really made the most out of Brando's role. Shame he can't sing, but the script is much worse than his singing voice.

CAMERA ON ME! that's the first thing I noticed about this film. Kris Kristofferson, while delivering a fine performance, seems to have been cast mainly so that he couldn't compete on screen with Streisand. Even when Kristofferson is talking and they're both in a tight two shot, the focus never racks, it stays on Streisand the entire time and Kristofferson remains a fuzzy background blob that is speaking.

While the leads have good chemistry and a pretty decent script to work with, it's impossible to believe the romance or story. Streisand simply seems too ruthless and dominating of the film, her last line/song is Are you watching me now, an emotional performance but you don't get a sense of remorse or loss, rather a sense of slight exultation as she finally takes the stage solo from her husband's influence.

Striesand sings some great songs, but it's utterly impossible to believe Kristofferson as a mega-rock star on his last legs, we're never once allowed to hear him sing a real line until his character is dead, because you know that might detract from Streisand if he also sang, and even then Streisand's reaction is to destroy the tape itself, way to go, make sure he's even more forgotton, and that a minor masterpiece is lost, can't have anything interfering with her stardom. Because Kristofferson's character is such a limp, toneless wet blanket of a man it's even more impossible to believe he was ever a success.

One of the things that does really work is the feel of the film, solid cinematography, excellent editing and really superb Production design (from Polly Platt) make the film succeed where Streisand's iron fisted approach crushes the story and believability of her co-star.

And Streisand is at least ten years too old for this role, and Kristofferson's character is cast ten years too old. A seventies rocker is hardly in his fifties in 1977, and a sixties rocker doesn't sound much like the teensy snippits of music we get to hear from him.

The thirties version remains the best execution of the story while the bloated Garland version has the best lead performances. But there are scenes in this version I like better than any in the other versions. Particularly the early romance and seduction/love scenes that end the first act of the film. those were superb and perfectly handled, almost elevated the film.

This is a perfect example of a film that should not be on the songs list. The song has no presence in the film at all, it's merely the lyrics song over the opening titles.

That said, the film itself is tremendous, stunning photography and astonishingly great lead performances with an absolutely amazing script.

Jack Lemmon is a publicist who likes to drink, and he finds that he needs to drink more and more to do a part of his job he finds distasteful--finding beautiful, loose girls to hook up with his wealthy corporate clients. but he really sparks to the secretary of his boss, and she sparks off him, and they quickly realize they like each other. Love each other even. She doesn't drink, doesn't like the taste doesn't see the point, but she loves chocolate, so when he orders her a Brandy Alexander (Brandy and Creme de Cacao) she decides alcohol isn't so bad.

A whirlwind, charming romance follows and soon their married and have a daughter. Jack has moved to a different client but it's starting again that he has to pimp things out, and he has to be away on business all the time. So when he does come home he just wants a good time and he hates it that he's hushed up becuase the baby's asleep he wants a fun drinking partner, not a spouse. So she starts matching him drink for drink, soon she's as much as a drunk as he is and his drinking is starting to bounce him from jobs, then they realize what they're doing and try to sober up, only to realize how much of a struggle that can be.

Wonderful film, absolutely doesn't belong on the songs list, the cheers list perhaps, exchange this film on the cheers list for Coal Miner's Daughter and you'd have something that makes a lot more sense.

Now this is a film/song that belongs on the list. Not only is Hayworth a superb singer, she's also insanely hot. This is the film with the 'hair flip' featured in Shawshank redemption btw.

This is a fabulous noir, set in Rio. Johnny is on the skids, but he makes his own luck with loaded dice. He's quite the incredibly adroit (cheating) gambler. He's rescued froma mug job by Balin. the local proprieter of the nominally illegal casino. Balin recognizes his skill, and subtextually seems to be attracted to Johnny in a less than professional manner. Very quickly, Johnny is appointed to be Balin's right hand man at the casino (he cheated them so he must be trustworthy). Then Balin leaves for a few weeks and returns with a wife--Gilda.

Gilda and Johnny were once lovers. Now Johnny tries to hold himself aloof while Gilda delights in tormenting him and flaungint her indepence in his face as she betrays her apparently impotent husband (a man Johnny also seems to love, to some degree, beyond a rational measure for your employer).

it all comes to a head in a terrific ending, and the use of the song, put the blame on mame is perfect in the two instanceds it is used, once as a ballad, and once as a raunchy cabaret number.

This thinly veiled biopic of Fosee is really excellent. the dance numbers are simply astounding, and throughout Fosse uses a reallyclever technique of Fosse talking to a mysterious woman in white only he can see, his muse, if you were. But ultimately the film felt kind of dull, plot wise Great photography, outstanding editing. nice nudity.


Thanks for the memory is one of the best songs on the list. could still be remarkably contemporary, as appropriate a song for Garden State or Juno as it is in a film from 1938.

BB is about a cruise liner race to see which is fastest, Gigantic has a new electric propulsion that should help it. but when owner WC Fields arrives and snafus with the machine he forbids it's use. and the Gigantic falls behind. Meantime Bob Hope, his three ex wives and fiancee are all on the Gigantic as well, Hope as the emcee and the exwives all determined not to have their share of alimony reduced by another future ex wife. while the first wife is sort of falling in love all over again (their duet is the song on the list).

Sharp, funny, and a damned good time.

Adam