Change Your Image
jhare
Reviews
Justified (2010)
Well acted and well written, worth a look
I have to admit I stumbled over "Justified" when channel surfing and I caught the Season 4 opener. I then watched the second episode of the season, and realized that to fully appreciate (much less understand!) the show, I'd need to see Seasons 1,2 and 3 to get caught up. Money well spent. I highly recommend that if you have not seen them, you will be well served by watching earlier episodes, either by retail DVD or, for a couple of bucks each, episodes on Amazon. Each season has a central story arc, especially Season 2 with the Bennett-Crowder-Givens family feud, and the Season 3 Frankfort mob-Givens-Crowder interplay.
I won't bore you with a synopsis of the story lines, or what characters do what, you can read that in any other review or IMDBs description. Not every episode is perfect - there were a few from Season 1 and 2 that I thought didn't really add too much to the whole series, but the thing of it is, each show has some little scene or scenes that contribute to the plot line that carries on. As other reviewers have noted, you also need to pay attention. Get distracted for a couple of lines, and you might miss an important plot twist. This is a THINKING person's show.
Some might describe the characters as caricatures or stereotypes, but they're really not - while they may portray 'simple country folk', their characterizations and motivations are, for the most part, quite complex. Boyd Crowder specifically is a great TV character. While violent, sociopathic behavior is second nature to him, he's also quite erudite, and perhaps the most knowledgeable character on the show, if not the best educated. Walton Goggins deserves an Emmy, without a doubt.
Timothy Olyphant's Raylen Givens is a combination of Eastwood's Dirty Harry and Garner's Jim Rockford. Not afraid to shoot, and tenacious as a terrier, he also has a bit of a blind spot for pretty girls, sad stories, and impossible situations. He's not perfect, by any means, and he knows it. Raylen and Boyd are the best good guy-bad guy team on TV. Their shared background and, at times, overlapping interests, make the interplay between their characters the high points of each episode.
The other cast members shine from episode to episode. The good part is that not all characters show up in every episode - thus allowing for a widely spread story line that lets actors move in and out as required. A special nod to Nick Searcy as the ever-suffering Chief Deputy Art Mullin, and bad boys Dewie Crowe and Dickie Bennett, and Jere Burns as Wynn Duffy, who appears to have bounced from USA Network's "Burn Notice" to "Justified" without having to change his character.
Like any really good show, the writing makes or breaks the whole thing. "Justified" is that rare combination of action, emotion, and humor that might just capture you. But don't start in the middle of a season - go from the beginning.
The Long Duel (1967)
Not among the better "action-adventure" flicks, unfortunately.
Given the talent of the star players in this film, I was disappointed. Trevor Howard tries to work with what he's given, but Yul Brynner's performance was wooden and predictable. Despite what some of the other reviewers have said,I thought this film was not nearly as good as it COULD have been, and the biggest problem was the script. Boring, hackneyed, clichéd lines choked any life out of this story which, as noted, has a basis in real life. The battle scenes were poorly done, and I found myself fast-forwarding through them to get back to the dialog, as bad as it was. I can't fault the actors so much as the script and direction. Howard and Brynner deserved better. As an action movie, when compared to some of the other mid-1960s efforts, it falls far short.
So Fine (1981)
Unheralded gem, deserves DVD release!
This is one of those movies that wouldn't seem to be very good, until you watch it - once or twice or half a dozen times. Each major actor handles his or her role with aplomb and genuine talent - especially so for the recently deceased and sadly missed Jack Warden. Warden plays a struggling garment maker in New York, with O'Neal as his college-professor son. The various details of the plot can be seen in the other comments, but basically it boils down to the fact that Jack is in debt to Kiel's gangster character ("Mr Eddie") and for some odd reason, Kiel insists on O'Neal joining the business. O'Neal falls for Kiel's lovely but ignored and bored wife, thereby endangering not only the business, but his life. Warden's reactions to the news are priceless, a combination of horror and bemused admiration for O'Neal's lovemaking prowess. Through an accident of timing, O'Neal ends up spending the night under the marriage bed of Kiel and his wife, and since she threw his clothes out the window in a fit of passion, he has to get home in the morning in a pair of her jeans. He splits the rear end of them, and patches them with some clear plastic scavenged from a trash can. His entry to the garment shop creates a stir, and within a few movie moments, the "So Fine" jeans are a national rage. The business back on top, O'Neal heads back to school. However, Mrs. Big Eddie follows him there, then of course Mr. Eddie himself is on the trail, and finally Warden too. The climactic scenes, played out against a college production of "Othello" are hilarious in themselves. But, as several have noted, the funniest line in the movie, and one of the dozen or so best lines ever, is Jack Warden's unabashed question to his love interest in the gondola on the canals of Venice just before the credits roll.
As a send up of the garment industry, provincial colleges, gangsters, Shakespeare, Mozart and various others, this movie hits on many different levels. There are at least a half dozen quick 'funny bits', not the least of which are scenes like Richard Kiel lip-syncing to the Four Season's "Walk like a Man" while stopping for some nourishment at an IHOP-like place, O'Neals impassioned goodbyes to the fellow garment workers, quoting Henry IVs "we few, we happy few" speech, Fred Gwynne's imperious college president turn, the police at the end peering at Keil's Drivers License (note the picture - only his neck and chin show, a "Big man" joke that passes by REALLY FAST), who look at each other in a quizzical fashion, one saying, "Nationality?" and the other, peering at the Othello-made up Kiel's passed out body, "Moor?".
There are so many quick jokes in this movie you really have to watch it four or five times to catch them all. Highly recommended.