Reviews

Don't bother watching if you're some plugged-up type demanding Sir Anthony Hopkins-quality acting coupled with high-brow story lines: It isn't in there, and you'll never get it. If you haven't got a somewhat offbeat sense of humor, you'll simply never understand what it is about this movie that delights those of us that do.

Go rent something with explosions, helicopters or car chases instead.

What a disappointment. After enjoying "Fargo" and seeing how highly rated this movie was in IMDB ratings, I sprang for the $1.60 rental.

That would have bought a cheap hamburger.

Paul Newman, one of my favorite actors, does NOT make a menacing or sinister character. It apparently isn't in his genes; he's meant to be the lovable cad 'Luke' or even 'Hud'. About the only redeeming quality this movie has is sets, which remind one of "Fargo" or "Batman".

Save your money or get the hamburger instead.

Steve McQueen was one of the most naturally talented actors to come along, and this movie, along with 'The Sand Pebbles', is one of my favorite McQueen movies. Ali McGraw is excellent (much better here, as compared to that sappy role she had in 'Love Story') as his on-screen wife, a team which is used to rob a bank but is double crossed by the insiders who stand to profit from the robbery. Sally Struthers even turns in a credible performance as someone exhibiting what will later be coined as the "Stockholm Syndrome", and the late Al Lettieri is great as one of their pursuers.

A far better movie than the 1994 remake.

One thing about Henry: he was versatile. From dottering old Norman Thayer in "On Golden Pond" to the child-murdering gunman in "Once Upon a Time in the West" and everything in between, Henry Fonda showed us his multi-faceted talent over and over again, as he does here as a waffling, semi-cowardly man initially unwilling to confront a bully that terrorizes a small community in the old west.

Aldo Ray's is ideally suited for his character as well, as the murderous brute intent upon destroying a small town and anyone who tries to stop him.

As usual, mild-mannered Good eventually triumphs over seemingly unstoppable Evil, but then, by 1967 Clint Eastwood already had a lock on the other outcome. Still, I enjoyed it quite a lot, and recommend it highly, for among other reasons, to see Aldo munch on a giant green onion as he drinks coffee, in celebration of a murderous rampage he just finished.

Said to be Elvis' personal favorite among all his movies, 'King Creole' truly is one of the best movies he made, and should delight his fans and other movie lovers as well. Made (I believe) just before he was inducted into the Army, it's much, much, much, better than, for instance, 'Speedway', or 'Paradise Hawaiian Style'.

Walter Matthau, Dean Jagger, and Carolyn Jones compliment Elvis (or maybe Elvis compliments them, actually) as, imagine this, a singer. Black and white treatment adds a sinister element to the small amount of violence in the film, and the music (if you like Elvis, as I do) is superb.

One of the least realistic, hokiest flying movies made. Anyone who knows anything at all about naval aviation will be groaning from the outset, especially during the inverted canopy-to-canopy sequence. Please! Where are the *tails* of the two aircraft supposed to be during this maneuver? Tucked away for safekeeping so as to not collide with one another?

Groan..............................

This may very well have been Howard Hughes' favorite movie, and one can understand that from someone who was a total recluse and kept tissue boxes on his feet. However, for the rest of us, it may not measure up. It could use a little bit better special effects and a lot more believability in the plot. Patrick McGoohan is OK, as is Ernest Borgnine, but Rock...... well, Rock just doesn't act as though he's interested. Maybe Jim Nabors was lurking somewhere nearby........

Riveting performance by Jimmy Stewart as a pilot of an oil company cargo aircraft dealing with the circumstances of being forced down in the desert by a sandstorm.

Among the passengers is an aircraft (albeit 'model' aircraft) engineer (Hardy Kruger) who believes a flyable aircraft can be built from the wreckage, and the quest of the survivors becomes to fly out of their predicament aboard Kruger's creation.

Jimmy Stewart plays the part to perfection, but this would be understandable considering the fact he flew many B17 combat missions over Europe. No folks, this isn't Tom Cruise masquerading as an F14 pilot; Jimmy was the real thing.

Belushi and Aykroyd team up for a dark comedy unlike any I've seen.

Earl (Belushi) is quietly living his life in the suburbs with his wife and daughter, but it takes a decided turn for the worse when a lunatic (Aykroyd) and his wife move in next door.

Earl's life is turned into a nonsensical nightmare by the new couple; Vic tells nonstop lies about everything including whether his 'home-made' spaghetti sauce came from a jar and if the spaghetti is from a non-existent Italian restaurant while his wife Ramona (Cathy Moriarty) alternately seduces and blackmails Earl. Particularly funny is the segment in which Earl tries to sneak out in the middle of the night for a rendezvous with Ramona, only to be caught by Vic, who is awake, on his rooftop, and wearing scuba gear.

I didn't really care for this movie the first time I saw it, because almost nothing made any sense. Now, it's one of the few movies I've purchased. I suppose it's an acquired taste, but don't give up too quickly on it. After all, Belushi isn't making any new ones, is he?

ps- Great musical score! No instruments lend themselves to bizarre going-ons quite as readily as a trombone and kazoo.

One of Woody's better films, maybe not up to 'Sleeper', but good nonetheless. Great lines in the narration, too, such as, "The prisoners were fed one hot meal per day: a bowl of steam." Parodying 'Cool Hand Luke', watch for Woody receiving the ultimate chain-gang punishment: a night in the box with an insurance salesman.

From a time in which movies were much more innocent, 'How Sweet It Is' is one of many comedies from the sixties that had to rely on script, timing, and facial expression instead of today's toilet humor to make audiences laugh. Not the funniest of the lot, but far from the worst.

James Garner and Debbie Reynolds are a married couple accompanying their teenage son as chaperones on a trip to Europe. Aboard the ocean liner, they are constantly trying to rekindle their romance by interludes in various cubbyholes of the ship. It's worth watching just to see the look of disgust on Paul Lynde's face and hear him sneer "Animals!" when he discovers them hiding in a lifeboat. Misunderstandings, jealousy, a rogue Frenchman, and a close encounter with divorce are in store before their European trip is over.

James Garner displays a knack for comedy, which he will later refine in his "Support Your Local Sheriff/Gunfighter" movies.

Good, clean fun if anyone is interested in that sort of thing nowadays. Kind of like a Rock Hudson/Doris Day movie. (Those were great, too!)

An all-star cast is showcased in this WWII farce centered around a B25 bomber squadron in the Mediterranean.

Alan Arkin shines as Yossarian, a bombadier who realizes the hopelessness of ever completing the number of missions required to be rotated out of harm's way; his commanding officers (Balsam and Henry) are constantly upping the number once anyone gets close. Yossarian decides his best bet is to try for a medical disqualification for flight under the grounds that it's insane to fly these missions, and since he's flying them, he must be insane. But the flight surgeon (Jack Gilford) declares anyone who realizes the insanity of the situation must, by definition, be sane, and therefore must continue to fly.

Lots of interesting side plots, such as War Capitalist Milo Minderbinder's (Jon Voight) excursion into, among other ventures, Egyptian cotton and Natley's (Art Garfunkel) discussions of lasting societies with an old Italian.

Austin Pendleton is perfectly cast as the son-in-law of General Dreedle (Orson Welles), a hulking figure of a man whose personal B25 is equipped with whitewall tires. When the General orders a moaning (after glimpsing the thigh of the General's female assistant) Richard Benjamin to be "taken out and shot", Pendleton's character admonishes him, "Dad! I don't think you can do that!" then whispers why into 'Dad's' ear.

A thoroughly enjoyable movie that may take more than one viewing before all the subtle humor begins to sink in.

Paul Newman's half-Apache character is as alienated from the white man's world as he is from the Indian's; he calls no man his friend, yet when called upon, lays his own life on the line for people he despises.

Richard Boone is absolutely great as the immensely hateable Cicero Grimes.

Steve McQueen, as Max Sand, gives another of his brilliant, understated performances, this time as a young man whose parents were brutally murdered by a gang of thugs led by Karl Malden.

From that day forward, his entire life is devoted to avenging the crime. Initially sorely ill-suited to the task, he meets Jonas Cord (Brian Keith), an apparently retired gunfighter who teaches Max the essential skills for killing men. From then on, nothing, including robbing a bank to get sent to the swamp prison where one of the killers is serving time, stops Max from completing his appointed rounds.

Professor Fate (Lemmon) uses every dirty trick in the book to try to derail auto race competitor Curtis.

Especially funny is the brawl in which Larry Storch asks "Can I get some fightin' room?"

Grim psychological study of two Marines on Guadalcanal, each seemingly trying to top the other in body count of Japanese slain, not for God, country, or to win the war, but for the sheer joy of killing.

Extremely realistic combat sequences coupled with Dullea's excellent portrayal of the on-the-edge-of-madness Pvt. Doll make this one of my favorite war films.

Buzz Rickson (Steve McQueen) is a B17 command pilot that has become so enamored with his role in the war he cannot fathom life now that it's conclusion is inevitable. As a B17 pilot, he has status, power, and excitement. What will civilian life hold that can possibly compare?

Buzz's co-pilot (Robert Wagner)is the exact opposite; a man hoping to simply survive the war and resume his life. Originally awed by the demeanor and flying skills of Buzz, the aircraft commander, he comes to realize that Buzz, the man, is a pathetic loser who has no place in civilian life.