"Casablanca" On The Big Screen

Last  night we had the treat of seeing the 1942 classic motion picture, "Casablanca" in  movie theater on a Big Screen.  Thanks to Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events for continuing this excellent service to movie lovers everywhere. In his opening remarks, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz said that even if you are seeing "Casablanca' for the fiftieth time, chances are, you have never seen it in a movie theater in company with other movie goers, and that will surely add to the enjoyment of the movie.  He was right!

I'm not going to go on and on about he movie - most of you  all know what it is about - other than to say what I have often said:  If there is such a thing as perfect movie, "Casablanca" is probably it.

Thanks to the Google Machine, though, I was able to go back in time and read the review of the movie written by critic Bosley Crowther of the New York Times from November 27, 1942.  I part, this is what Crowther had to say:

Against the electric background of a sleek cafe in a North African port, through which swirls a backwash of connivers, crooks and fleeing European refugees, the Warner Brothers are telling a rich, suave, exciting and moving tale in their new film, "Casablanca,".....

Yes, indeed, the Warners here have a picture which makes the spine tingle and the heart take a leap...... they have turned the incisive trick of draping a tender love story within the folds of a tight topical theme.

Like the film itself, Crowther's review has pretty much held up seventy-five years later.

Here is a link to the Times review in its entirety.

http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C06E1DF1039E33BBC4F51DFB7678389659EDE

As we have learned from these TCM events, there is nothing like seeing a movie on a Big Screen  in an honest-to-God movie theater.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Revisiting "American Graffiti"

This past Wednesday evening I visited the Cinemark North Hills to take in another Fathom Events presentation of an old movie on a big screen.  This one was 1973's "American Graffiti".  This was the second feature film directed by George Lucas, and it depicts a single night in the lives of a group of teenagers, the night before two of them were to leave their small California town and set off for college "back East".

When this movie was released in 1973, it was viewed as a "nostalgia piece" which is odd when you consider that it takes place in 1962, a mere eleven years in the past.  However, when you think about it, 1962 could have, indeed, been viewed with nostalgia in 1973...Jack Kennedy was still alive and in the White House, no one in America had ever heard of the Beatles, there was no drug culture to speak of, no hippies, and no mention was even made of a place called Viet Nam, although we are starkly made aware of it in the coda at the end of the movie, just before the credits roll.

This movie is probably most remembered for two things.  One, an absolutely terrific soundtrack featuring vintage pre-British Invasion American rock and roll.  The music plays almost continuously throughout the movie, sometimes even drowning out some of the dialog, something that I did not remember from when I first saw this movie back in '73.  

The second notable thing about the movie is the cast which included, among others....

Ron Howard, just after "Andy Griffith", just before "Happy Days", and long before he went on to become one of America's best directors, and an Oscar winner.

Richard Dreyfuss, before "Jaws", before an Oscar in "Good-Bye Girl", and many other great roles.

Cindy Williams, before "Laverne and Shirley".

Suzanne Somers, before "Three's Company" (she wasn't even billed in this one).

MacKenzie Phillips, before whatever that sitcom was that she was in.

And perhaps most famous of all, Harrison Ford, before "Star Wars" before "Indiana Jones" and on and on.

That George Lucas sure had an eye for talent, didn't he?

So, the question put to me was..."How good is this movie, really, forty-three years after it first came out?"  My answer:  It's a good movie, but I'm not sure that I'd call it a call it a classic.  It does a great job in setting the mood of one particular point in time in our culture.  It also captures the insecurities and the fears of kids on the cusp of adulthood.  In those respects, "American Graffiti" nails it, especially when it gives you that "Whatever happened to..." bit at the end.

There are some really good scenes, but I was struck by one comic scene of which I had no memory.  Towards the end of the movie Laurie (Williams), after a fight with boyfriend Steve (Howard) allows herself to be picked up by Bob Falfa (Ford). She jumps into Ford's hot rod  and icily says "Don't say anything and we'll get along just fine."  Hotshot Falfa/Ford regards her sitting all the way across the front seat from him and begins to sing, in an affected deep voice, "Some Enchanted Evening".  It was totally out of character for Falfa and out of context for the rest of the music in the movie, but it worked and was just a great scene by Ford and Williams.



As with all of these Fathom events movies, it played once on Sunday, and twice on Wednesday.  I don't know how many people came on Sunday, but when I bought my ticket on Wednesday, the ticker seller told me I was the first person to buy a ticket for it that day.  Three other people showed up after I did for the 7:00 show.  That can't be good for business, but I hope that this was an aberration, and that these Fathom Events special screenings will continue.

"On The Waterfront"

Last night, courtesy for he folks at  Turner Classic Movies and Fathom Events, we attended a screening of the 1954 classic movie, "On The Waterfront" at the Cinemark North Hills in McCandless.  This movie is truly a "classic" and, trust me, there is nothing like seeing such movies in an honest-to-God movie theater on a big screen.

The movie is a tale of corruption in the longshoreman's union on the Hoboken, NJ docks.  It was filmed on location in Hoboken and it certainly capture the grittiness of the subject matter.  The movie was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won eight Oscars:

• Best Picture
• Best Actor - Marlon Brando
• Best Supporting Actress - Eva Marie Saint
• Best Director - Elia Kazan
• Best Screenplay - Budd Shulberg
• Best Cinematography
• Best Art Direction
• Best Film Editing

One of the Oscars it did not received was for Best Music Score, which was composed by some guy you may have heard of - Leonard Bernstein!

In addition, three of the actors - Karl Malden, Rod Steiger, and Lee J. Cobb all received nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and each was excellent.

The undeniable Star with a capital S of this movie, though, was the then twenty-nine year old Brando.  He was absolutely mesmerizing as Terry Malloy.  When he was on screen, you absolutely could not take your eyes off of him.  If you only know Brando as Vito Corleone of "The Godfather", please make it a point to see him in "On The Waterfront".

As you can see from the picture at the top of this post, Fathom Events will also be showing "On the Waterfront" on Wednesday night this week at "Select Cinemas".  If you take the time to go and see it on Wednesday, I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

I will close with a clip form this scene from the movie.  It is perhaps its most famous scene, the one that is always shown on TV specials about great movies.  It is even greater when seen within the context of the entire movie.