Rented this Hallmark movie a while back, was intrigued by the plot. The story is about a group of American soldiers who saw heavy combat in Europe during World War II returning to their small Texas town in 1945. They then realize that a corrupt administration has taken over the city and that the mayor and other on-the-take officials are lining their pockets with war contracts and otherwise robbing those who served the country. It's true enough, for it was a legitimate post-war problem and returning vets did demand many changes from civil rights to reform government, but this film has too much banality to really make it work, from predictability involving the big climax to a sappy homecoming dialogue with a war widow. ("He said he was cold...and he loved you.") However there were some things to like, such as the mayor coming across not as a snarling villain but more of an overly friendly, ultra-politically minded good ol' boy who knows how to make the town run. There is also a nice montage with a homecoming parade set to the Pied Pipers song "Dream" which is one of the most bittersweet songs of World War II. So I give it about 6 stars. You may like it.
Reviews
6 Reviews
Sunshine Hotel
(2001)
Powerful, evocative
13 November 2002
What an incredible film, especially for a documentary. This reflection on a seemingly hopeless flophouse and the worn-out, tired men who live in it is stunning in the stark reality it gives the viewer, and the poor residents it reveals are truly fascinating people. They are people who anyone can relate to, who had a dream that didn't quite come to fruition, who had a terrible experience with prejudice or lost love, people who seem like they've had the deck stacked against them from the start. This movie is essential for a viewer who wants to see a movie about the lost dreams of an American city and American lives. It's tracing of the infamous Bowery neighborhood from it's glory days to it's present depressed melancholy environment show a changing America, but an America that has always had nothing but contempt for the losers in life. This film shows how those "losers" deserve sympathy from those less blessed in life--everyone knows someone like them, someone who just didn't get any breaks. There are some truly haunting shots, from a post-September 11th perspective, that show the World Trade Center buildings towering over the bleak city street on which the flophouse resides, but the real lesson in this movie is how our system ruins the lives of good people, like the elderly black Army veteran recounting his terrifying experience in the Jim Crow South during the 1950s, or the charming man who recounts his hopelessness and lack of confidence with women in a frank, honest manner that would have brought a less hardened man to tears. This film is sad and beautiful and unsparing in its truth, and it is an extraordinary movie.
American Dreams
(2002–2005)
Altogether very poor despite interesting setting
24 October 2002
As far as the year a television series is set in, 1963 would be a pretty good choice. If you've read "1963: The Year Kennedy Was Shot" like I did, you can see how fascinating that year in America was, what with the 1950s values threatened by race conflict, changes in social contexts, poverty, violence, and of course the murder of young, idealized President Kennedy. The advertising of the show has trumpeted NBC's intelligence by placing the show in the "Time of Innocence" Kennedy years, which would infer that the show is set in that era before assassination and upheaval of the later 60s. And why not? After all, NBC already put out "The 60's" so why be redundant? I looked forward to this show because of the good reviews I initially read and the concept of a family growing up in the ill-fated Camelot years. So what happens in the very first episode? Kennedy gets killed. Now, it's not like I didn't know that was going to happen, but why waste one of the most dramatic, tragic events in American history by plopping it in the first episode. I just mention this simply because it left a bad taste in my mouth after all the glittering publicity. There really is no reason to watch this show. It says nothing that hasn't been said in the superior (and much better acted)"60's" mini-series. The acting is bottom of the barrel, as is the writing, cliched, awkward, and worst of all, boring. It's like sitting in an avalanche of stereotypes for an hour, and that's too much valuable time to waste when you could just watch "American Graffiti" for a much more entertaining look at the early 60s, or even "Animal House" which at least used stereotypes humorously rather than seriously. Watch "The Sopranos" on your Sunday nights, because "Dreams" is a sleepy waste of time.
The Rat Pack
(1998 TV Movie)
Classic Tragedy, with Incredible Characters (slight spoilers)
6 July 2002
Warning: Spoilers
The fascinating thing aboutThe Rat Pack film is that director Rob Cohen treats it almost like a Greek tragedy, with an impressive rise and a truly mournful downfall. That these characters are real people and larger-than-life in their swagger and impact on a nation only adds to this movie's effect. The casting is awe-inspiring, with Cheadle, Liotta, and Mantegna really becoming their parts, not just aping mannerisms and voices of the real people but catching the effect of their styles and personalities. Liotta's is a very difficult part, for the real Sinatra was a turbulent, conflicted man, capable of rage and powerful anger and yet love, loneliness and tenderness, and it's great compliment to Liotta to say that he nailed the part. However,the film is most effective in showing the tragedy and lost hope of the Kennedy Years, the flawed but beautiful "Camelot" myth. William Peterson is great as Jack, coming across as a devilish, womanizing politician who wants to conduct himelf as a Rat Packer yet finds himself constrained by his Presidency, which ultimately hurts Sinatra, in scenes so emotional that the viewer feels very sorry for the wounded crooner, wanting love and respect from his poweful friend and yet getting rejected for the way he (and Jack Kennedy)has lived his life. The final scene, set to the tune of "One for My Baby" is haunting both in its revelations, its sad reflection on its characters, and the horror in what it leaves unsaid. A lesser film would've shown the Rat Pack's reaction to the Kennedy assassination and ended there, but instead Cohen ends with a shot of Peter Lawford standing solemnly outside the Kennedy Family Home in Hyanis Port, looking out to the sea, as if waiting for something. Then comes the end of the song,and there is a brilliant shot of the needle coming off the record and the familiar dull thud, then silence. A perfect metaphor for November 22, 1963, and the true end of the Rat Pack.
Saturday Night Live: Presidential Bash 2000
(2000 TV Special)
Great comedy which shows SNL at it's best
22 August 2001
Okay, I'm the first one to admit, the once great SNL is now an unfunny shadow of it's formerly hilarious, topical, and talented casts. But there is one area where SNL has always shined in all of it's 25 years, and that is politics. This collection, which aired during the 2000 election, has a high point in the introduction given by George W. Bush and Al Gore, who are very funny in mocking their own media image. There are also priceless moments here that show the best of Presidential imitations that have delighted audiences over the last quarter-century. Darrell Hammond gives us his side-splitting dead-on Bill Clinton, and the late Phil Hartman is fantastic as Ronald Reagan. The first skit showcases the 2000 debates between George W. Bush (Will Ferrell) and Al Gore (Hammond) Their perfect evocations of the subjects and the hilarity that ensues perfectly capture SNL's timelessness in political matters. And Ferrell says it perfectly, when he sums up Bush's policy in one word: Stategery.
Sinatra
(1992)
Excellent evocation of the man, the time, and the music
15 May 2001
As a big fan of Frank Sinatra and his music, I had high hopes for this program and was not disappointed. This program's epic scope and excellent period costuming and sets really create Frank Sinatra and the way he lived his life from his humble beginnings in Hoboken, New Jersey to the heights of his fame and the affairs, friendships and loneliness in between. There is some great acting here, and Casnoff really shines as Ol' Blue Eyes. There is also admirable work by Bob Gunton as hotheaded trombonist Tommy Dorsey and Gina Gershon as Sinatra's long suffering first wife Nancy. The movie effectively recreates the atmospheres, times and places that shaped Sinatra's life, such as Depression- era New Jersey, New York City during World War II, and the hot nightclubs and booze joints of Nevada and New Jersey during the 1950's and 1960's. A must-see for a history buff or any Sinatra fan.
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