Movie Review: Hardcore (1979)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Paul Schrader  

Starring: George C. Scott, Peter Boyle, Season Hubley  

Running Time: 108 minutes  

Synopsis: In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Jake Van Dorn (George C. Scott) is a successful business owner and a conservative Calvinist. His daughter Kristen departs to a church-organized summer camp in the Los Angeles area, but then disappears. With the police disinterested, Jake hires private detective Mast (Peter Boyle), who uncovers evidence Kristen has entered the pornography trade. Jake travels to Los Angeles to pursue leads, and after many dead-ends teams up with prostitute and porn actress Niki (Season Hubley) to infiltrate the industry and search for his daughter. 

What Works Well: In this eyes-wide-open journey into the sordid world of sex-for-sale, writer and director Paul Schrader navigates an underbelly milieu populated by an assortment of seedy product creators. From film producers raking in millions to lowly performers eking out a peep show living, a heavy-hearted George C. Scott as Jake Van Dorn bumbles his way into a neon-drenched environment far removed from his tidy suburban God-worshipping existence. Although Kristen is a minor presence, Schrader avoids obvious exploitation narratives, and through the character of Niki successfully finds heart, soul, and pathos in the gutter. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Jake's transformation from anguished father to man-with-a-plan is quite sudden; and the final resolution is emotionally rushed.

Conclusion: A post-viewing cleansing shower is recommended.



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Movie Review: Firestarter (1984)

Genre: Science Fiction Horror

Director: Mark L. Lester

Starring: Drew Barrymore, David Keith, Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, Heather Locklear

Running Time: 114 minutes

Synopsis: Andrew McGee (David Keith) and his young daughter Charlene (Drew Barrymore) attempt to escape capture by government agents. Years prior in college, Andrew and fellow student Vicky (Heather Locklear) participated in a mysterious drug trial: Andrew developed the power to control others and Vicky the ability to read minds. Their daughter Charlene was born with pyrokinesis (the capacity to start and stop fires with her mind). Now government agents Hollister (Martin Sheen) and Rainbird (George C. Scott) want to capture Andrew and Charlene to militarize their powers.

What Works Well: The adaptation of Stephen King's novel offers an intriguing concept by evolving his ideas from Carrie with classic child-in-peril thrills. Nine-year-old Drew Barrymore has pouty presence, and director Mark L. Lester delivers the best moments by focusing on her fan-swept face as she expresses uncontrolled anger with heat.

What Does Not Work As Well: The plot is severely undermined by doofus bad guy behaviour, and momentum grinds to a halt in the second half as Charlene and her father are subjected to uncoordinated experiments reminiscent of low-budget mad scientist antics. George C. Scott resorts to chewing the scenery in the absence of any background context for his character's demonic obsession. The special effects are quickly repetitive.

Conclusion: Fire and fury without coherence nor control.



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Movie Review: The List Of Adrian Messenger (1963)

A detective crime drama, The List Of Adrian Messenger is an initially decent but ultimately wayward whodunnit, cluttered by disguised celebrity stunt appearances.

The Marquis of Gleneyre (Clive Brook) hosts popular fox hunts at his English estate. At the end of one hunt, Adrian Messenger (John Merivale) seeks help from retired intelligence agent Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott) to investigate a list of recently deceased men. Messenger himself is then killed when his flight is destroyed by a suitcase bomb. Gethryn teams up with his old pal Raoul Le Borg (Jacques Roux), who survived the airline bombing and heard Messenger's final words. Messenger's cousin Jocelyn (Dana Wynter) is also eager to help, fearing for the life of her young son Derek.

Gethryn and Le Borg race to locate the men on the list who are still alive. But the last to die is Slattery (Robert Mitchum) who survived longest because of subterfuge. Gethryn deduces the victims are linked by their wartime exploits in Burma. The suave George Brougham (Kirk Douglas) then shows up at Gleneyre claiming to be the Marquis' nephew from Canada. Gethryn has to keep young Derek safe while finding a way to expose the murderer.

Written by Philip MacDonald and directed by John Huston, The List Of Adrian Messenger also "stars" Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, and Frank Sinatra in small and essentially walk-on roles. They join Mitchum and Douglas under cakes of makeup, although how much each participated in filming is open for debate. Regardless, they all appear after "the End" to rip off the facemasks and smile at the camera. The stunt casting doubtless increased audience appeal, but only distracts from an already middling Agatha Christie-type mystery.

The first half adequately engages by establishing the puzzle of what connects the dead men, with all the killings made to look like accidents. Messenger's cryptic final words are carried by Le Borg to set the investigation on its way. But Huston then seems to lose interest, and after the last man dies, the back-end deflates. Endless scenes are occupied by one foxhunt after another, the drama and tension seeping out of the film with every yapping hound and galloping horse. By this stage the villain's identity is strongly suspected, and yet they are allowed to carry on with plotting murders instead of being hauled off for a thorough interrogation.

A none-too-serious undercurrent helps the mood, with a sense that all the actors are playing British uppercrust dress-up, the elaborate celebrity disguises just an extreme version of the airs everyone puts on. Scott does not try for an English accent but still holds the centre together, although he is established as a cerebral investigator then robbed of a satisfying showdown with his foe. The rest of the actual cast members in the form of Jacques Roux and Dana Wynter don't contribute much beyond the initial exchanges of a tepid romance.

The List Of Adrian Messenger is intriguing as a premise, but trots towards the wrong field.



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Movie Review: The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)

A star-infused anthology drama, The Yellow Rolls-Royce features three distinct European-set adventures linked by one vehicle. The stories toil towards stodgy adequacy.

The opening segment is set in London of the 1920s. The wealthy Charles, Marquess of Frinton (Rex Harrison) of the British Foreign Office purchases a brand new yellow Rolls-Royce as an anniversary gift for his wife Eloise (Jeanne Moreau). He is looking forward to fielding the favourite horse at Ascot's Gold Cup, but Eloise is having an affair with diplomat John Fane (Edmund Purdom).

The second and longest story is set in Italy's Genoa area in the 1930s. Mafioso Paolo Maltese (George C. Scott) buys the Rolls-Royce when his moll Mae Jenkins (Shirley MacLaine) falls in love with it. She has no appreciation for culture, but gigolo tourist photographer Stefano (Alain Delon) catches her attention. When Paolo is called back to the United States, Mae and Stefano pursue an affair under the watchful eye of Paolo's right-hand man Joey Friedlander (Art Carney).

The final instalment starts in Italy near the border with Yugoslavia in 1941. Wealthy and influential American widow Gerda Millett (Ingrid Bergman) purchases the aging Rolls-Royce to drive into troubled Yugoslavia and meet the newly installed leader. Partisan Yugoslav commander Davich (Omar Sharif) is aware the Nazis are about to invade his country, and spots an opportunity to slip across the border in the vehicle's trunk.

A British MGM studios production, The Yellow Rolls-Royce labours away with plenty of verbiage yielding relatively limited impact. Writer Terence Rattigan demonstrates a propensity for long paragraphs of irrelevant dialogue, and despite the short length of each segment, the film gets bogged down in long scenes digging away at the obvious. To compensate, director Anthony Asquith makes good use of scenic European locations, and when all else fails, the yellow Rolls-Royce itself adds elegance to any frame.

As expected the format reveals interesting ideas beset by insufficient evolution. The third chapter is energized by the World War Two context and carries the most promise as a potential long-form drama. Finally the Rolls-Royce is put to use for something other than discrete love-making, as Ingrid Bergman's Gerda descends from haughty pretensions and helps partisans re-group in the mountains. 

The middle story is the longest, occupying half the two hours of running time, but remains in middling territory. Shirley MacLaine tries hard as the American hat-check girl and a fish out of water in Italy, Alain Delon the only piece of culture she is interested in. George C. Scott over-cooks his mafia boss into a cartoon character. Art Carney is more circumspect as the aging deputy and driver.

The first story is the weakest, all pomp and circumstance with Rex Harrison in his theatrical element. Asquith stages a lavish banquet then enjoys the Ascot surroundings, leaving limited room for the central illicit love affair.

The common themes across the three chapters include secretive love affairs and characters exposed to both stark realities and trajectory-changing revelations. The Yellow Rolls-Royce is gracefully staid, and perhaps unsurprisingly, never moves out of third gear.



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Movie Review: The Hindenburg (1975)

A disaster drama, The Hindenburg offers a few impressive visuals but is an otherwise a turgid exercise in waiting for the inevitable to happen.

It's May 1937, and Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott) is recruited by German officials to be the head of security for the airship Hindenburg. One of the symbols of pride for the ruling Nazi party, the Hindenburg is about to embark on the travel season's first journey across the Atlantic from Germany to the United States. A woman from Milwaukee has written a letter predicting the destruction of the vessel, and Ritter, who is still recovering from the death of his son, is asked to keep an eye on the passengers and deal with any possible sabotage threats.

After rigorous security checks the journey proceeds with Captain Pruss (Charles Durning) in command. The passengers include Ritter's acquaintance The Countess Ursula (Anne Bancroft), whose property has been seized by the Nazis, as well as an assortment of businessmen, tourists, entertainers, charlatans, crewmembers, government types and possible spies. Ritter and Gestapo officer Vogel (Roy Thinnes) try to keep tabs on all possible suspects, and eventually Ritter determines that crew member Boerth (William Atherton) may be the saboteur.

With the tragic ending of the Hindenburg rendered as one of history's most well-known disasters by the presence of multiple television cameras, any and all cinematic drama would have to be generated by character-generated stories. Unfortunately director Robert Wise and a trio of writers adapting the 1972 Michael M. Mooney book fail miserably in creating anyone or anything to care about. Despite some beautiful scenic shots of the Hindenburg majestically floating across the sky, Wise's attempts to enliven the journey across the Atlantic fly into severe headwinds. One contrived mid-flight emergency repair job is far from enough to maintain interest, and the film is a listless affair, singularly lacking in personality, meaningful events or any compelling interpersonal drama.

The sabotage plot is one of the more far-fetched and unsubstantiated theories as to why the Hindenburg exploded during the docking process at New Jersey's Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Setting aside the fact or fiction debate, the movie manages to reduce the entire evil plot to one tiny bomb and one nondescript crew member, and adds layers of convoluted implausibility by meandering its way to portraying Ritter as the clumsiest of plot enablers.

George C. Scott affixes a single stern expression throughout the film, his Ritter caught between heroism and incompetence, while Anne Bancroft overacts her way through the role of the Countess. The rest of the cast members are a bland assortment of character actors (among them Gig Young, Burgess Meredith, Richard Dysart, René Auberjonois and Peter Donat) playing distinctly forgettable and interchangeable travelers.

The Hindenburg starts with fake but effective black and white newsreel footage summarizing the history of hydrogen powered airships, and switches back to black and white for the dramatically calamitous climax, juxtaposing real and recreated footage of the crash. Regrettably, all the coloured bits in-between also represent their own special brand of disaster.

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Movie Review: The Bible: In The Beginning...(1966)

The Book of Genesis brought to life in an American-Italian co-production, The Bible: In The Beginning... is a ponderous adaptation of some of ancient history's most famous stories.

God creates Adam (Michael Parks) and then Eve (Ulla Bergryd) in the Garden of Eden. After they eat the forbidden fruit God condemns them to a life of toil. Their son Cain (Richard Harris) kills his brother Abel (Franco Nero). Generations later, God decides to reset humanity with a massive flood and asks Noah (John Huston) to build the Ark to help restart all forms of life. Hundreds of years later the Tower of Babel is built under the leadership of the overly-arrogant King Nimrod (Stephen Boyd); God punishes his conceit by giving each man a different language and scattering humanity.

Abraham (George C. Scott), a descendant of Noah, follows God's command and leads his followers towards a promised land. His wife Sarah (Ava Gardner) cannot conceive, but she offers her Egyptian handmaiden Hagar (Zoe Sallis) to Abraham and she provides him with a son Ishmail. In the meantime the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah become havens of corruption. God sends his Angel (Peter O'Toole) to oversee their destruction, but Abraham's nephew Lot (Gabriele Ferzetti) is spared. Sarah finally does conceive the child Isaac, but the elderly Abraham still has to face God's most difficult test.

Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by John Huston, The Bible: In The Beginning arrived at the tail end of Hollywood's obsession with religious historical epics, and captures all that was bad with the bloated genre. Overly serious, with plastic characters and a complete absence of nuance, the film is unequivocal, overly reverential and way too long. It's The Bible set to slow moving albeit sometimes pretty images, with every episode prolonged well past what is needed, inflating the running time to a tiresome 174 minutes.

In addition to directing, Huston narrates, provides the voice of God, and has fun in the role of Noah. And it is the Ark episode, while still overextended, that is peppiest. Huston's twinkle in the eye introduces an element of human levity sorely missing from the rest of the film.

The Adam and Eve and Abraham stories get the bulk of the rest of the film. The Creation is a narration-dominated 30 minute opening interlude awash in the hazy colours of an imagined Eden, kicking off the film on a dull note. Despite a dedicated George C. Scott performance channeling his inner Charlton Heston, Abraham's story is rather botched. The Christopher Fry script shortchanges the man and his mission and devolves into a sordid drama about who will provide him with an offspring and when. The rivalry between Sarah and Hagar sets the precedent for catty television soap operas just a few thousand years later.

Surrendering too easily to earnest intentions, The Bible: In The Beginning never finds the flint needed to spark inspiration and creativity.

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Movie Review: Taps (1981)

A military academy drama, Taps explores themes of honour, duty and loyalty through a story of cadets who make a stand. The film is in equal measures intense and stretched too thin.

The kindly Brigadier General Harlan Bache (George C. Scott) runs the Bunker Hill Military Academy for cadets between 12 and 18 years old. Bache selects the idealistic Brian Moreland (Timothy Hutton) to be the next Cadet Major, effectively the leader of his graduating class. Moreland's cohorts include the more pragmatic Cadet Captain Alex Dwyer (Sean Penn) and the militaristic Cadet Captain David Shawn (Tom Cruise). Moreland idealizes Bache and hangs on his every word about honour, duty, and military ethos.

Two tragedies strike the school in quick succession. First Bache is stunned to be informed that the Academy will be closing within a year to make room for a money-making condominium development project. Then during a gala evening, a confrontation between the cadets and a group of local teenagers ends in a calamity and Bache suffers a heart attack. Moreland decides to take matters into his own hands: seizing the Academy's cache of weapons, he leads the cadets in a takeover of the facility, demanding an inquiry into the planned closure. With the parents of the cadets thrown into panic, a long confrontation with local authorities ensues, with the National Guard's Colonel Kerby (Ronny Cox) entrusted with bringing the incident to an end.

Directed by Harold Becker, Taps is a grim but also gripping tale of pushing too far and too soon for all the right reasons. Quickly finding and then sustaining an emphasis on the passion of young men navigating the treacherous years between boyhood and adulthood, Becker infuses the film with a serious tone that fits well with the strict military surroundings. Despite the good intentions and quality execution, at over two hours the film is too long, and the second half begins to drag with more of the same in the absence of new ideas.

The story explores earnest objectives misplaced into the wrong cause. Moreland is trained to embrace the concepts of loyalty, national service and respecting tradition, and deploys all that he has learned to defend his academy against what he perceives as an imminent existential threat. Meanwhile Shawn is on the path to red beret training where killing with ruthless efficiency is all that matters, and whatever the cause he is eager to release his inner demon. Dwyer is the conscience of the group, not as invested in cadet principles but bound by friendship to stand by Moreland's side.

Becker ties the story together with admirable efficiency, and adds expansive cinematography and visuals to allow the film to breathe deeply from the grandeur that contributes to the majestic aura of life in the military for bright and eager youth indoctrinated early into the culture.

Taps does begin to suffer from relying too much on Moreland's descent from well-intentioned leader to a young man in over his head and not knowing when to quit. There is only so much that can be milked out of Moreland's admiration for Bache, and the dysfunctional relationship between Moreland and his father deserved more than one scene.

Taps features a terrific cast of young actors. Timothy Hutton was coming out of his breakout role in Ordinary People and continues to build his quietly tense screen persona, calm on the surface but struggling to control inner beasts. Tom Cruise and Sean Penn were on the cusp of stardom and prove their credentials by drawing out the characters of Shawn and Dwyer into memorable and unpredictable members of the rebellion. Despite top billing, George C. Scott has a supporting but pivotal role and transforms into a symbol rather than a presence after setting the initial stage.

Taps may not perfectly hit every note, but still plays a thoughtfully worthwhile tune.

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Movie Review: Malice (1993)

A spicy twisty thriller, Malice offers deceit, greed, hubris, murder and revenge in a potent mix.

In New England, Andy and Tracy Safian (Bill Pullman and Nicole Kidman) are newlyweds, struggling financially as they renovate their old Victorian home. Andy is Associate Dean at a local college while Tracy volunteers at a hospital daycare. Dr. Jed Hill (Alec Baldwin) is a hotshot surgeon, a renowned womanizer, and a new addition to the hospital staff. Jed and Andy were classmates in grade school, and after they reconnect, Jed rents the upstairs floor from the Safians, despite Tracy's reservations.

Meanwhile, a serial rapist and murderer is terrorizing the campus community, and the victims include Paula (Gwyneth Paltrow), one of Andy's troubled students. Detective Dana Harris (Bebe Neuwirth) does not seem to be making much progress in identifying the perpetrator. Andy and Tracy are desperate to have children, but Jed's disruptive behaviour as a tenant does not help their romantic life, and Tracy starts to suffer from regular bouts of severe stomach cramps. With Harris beginning to realize that several of the rape victims were connected to Andy, a medical crisis severely disrupts the the lives of the newlyweds.

Not much else can be given away about the Malice plot. Co-written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Harold Becker, Malice sets out to deceive and succeeds admirably. Suffice to say that in its final act, the film reveals its hand, and it's a clever, edgy twist, not entirely unpredictable but quite astute nonetheless. The final climax features another surprise, which is perhaps easier to foresee, given the established character motivations. And Malice is a character-driven thriller, where glances, demeanour, individual dynamics and the differences between genuine and socially convenient interactions are carefully constructed and prove to be relevant.

The first hour of the film consists of patient build-up. Becker introduces Andy, Tracy, Jed and Dana, creates individual contexts and conflicts for each, and sets them all up against the backdrop of a serial rapist preying on young college women. The film creates plenty of potential avenues for progress, and leaves all options open as to which one will be pursued. It's a relatively original stance, a story that doesn't telegraph it's real intentions until well into the second half, while maintaining plenty of interest through the lives of interesting and flawed characters.

Many points of friction provide rich territory for the imagination. Tracy used to be Andy's student, and their age difference may be catching up with them. There is a creepy kid next door who always seems to be staring into their bedroom. Tracy and Andy are under financial pressure and dealing with a money pit of a house. Andy and Jed are diametrically opposite personalities, the meek college associate dean and the philandering surgeon, former classmates but never friends. Dana begins to consider Andy as a potential suspect. Jed as a tenant proves to be quite the noisy nuisance. And Tracy's stomach ailment seems to only get worse. Once Malice reveals its central premise, a few of these potential take-off points are revealed to be successful diversionary tactics.

The three lead actors deliver dedicated performances, Baldwin, Kidman and Pullman not setting any new standards but respecting the tone and intent of the script. Veterans Anne Bancroft and George C. Scott get one scene each, Bancroft as a relative of a central character and Scott as a respected doctor. Bancroft in particular is unforgettable, creating in less than ten minutes of screen time an indelible picture of a crusty old woman thriving in her understanding of the conniving mind, while happily wallowing in her alcoholic addiction.

On close examination there are plot holes for sure, and as the film hurtles towards a resolution, the proclivity for violence, skulkiness and episodes of emotions trumping rationality increase. But Malice remains first and foremost an intelligent, enjoyable and sharply crafted psychological thriller.

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Movie Review: The Changeling (1980)

An old-fashioned haunted house horror film, The Changeling finds the right balance between mystery and chills in the story of a grieving man moving into a long-vacant estate.

In upstate New York, music composer John Russell (George C, Scott) loses his wife and daughter in a freak car accident on an icy road. After a period of grieving he accepts a university teaching position and relocates to Washington State. Claire Norman (Trish Van Devere) of the local heritage house society helps John to find and move into a Victorian-era mansion that used to belong to the Carmichael family. John also meets Senator Joseph Carmichael (Melvyn Douglas), a benefactor of the heritage society and one of the most powerful men in the state.

It does not take long for things to start going bump in the night. John encounters loud banging noises, doors that mysteriously open and close, and glass that suddenly shatters. He explores the house and finds a long closed-off cobweb-filled upper room, with a child's old wheelchair and a bathtub. John and Claire delve into archival records and find clues suggesting that back in the early 1900s, a child may have been murdered by his father at the Carmichael mansion.

A Canadian co-production directed by Peter Medak, The Changeling builds up a steady sense of trepidation.The film starts on a dour note with the car crash destroying John's family, and placing him in an emotionally vulnerable state. From there Medak steers the narrative into ever darkening physical and emotional corners, and John has to confront his own loss to help solve the mystery of a young murder victim.

An atmosphere of mounting dread is maintained throughout, helped enormously by an evocative piano-driven music score by Rick Wilkins, pregnant with the promise of bad things about to happen. The film is punctuated with memorable, scary scenes, none more so that one of the most chilling seances put to film. Medak conjures up a truly eerie intervention with a clairvoyant who connects with the dead in a terrorizing trance while scribbling furiously, and then ups the spookiness factor by capturing ghostly vocals on the tape used by John to record the event.

In other scenes, a child's small red ball and an empty wheelchair are deployed to bloodcurdling effect, and there are plenty of traditional what's-behind-this-door! jumpy moments, enhanced by limited light, striking shadows and the dreariness of the Northwest.

George C. Scott adds considerable weight to the proceedings, and creates in John Russell a victim and a sympathetic father with the courage to explore rather than flee. His sturdy presence is an equal match to the agony residing in the old Carmichael house.

The Changeling uses old tried and tested horror ingredients, but nevertheless creates an effectively haunting experience.

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The Movies Of George C. Scott

All movies starring George C. Scott and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)

The Hustler (1961)

The List Of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)

The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)

The Bible: In The Beginning...(1966)

Patton (1970)

The Hindenburg (1975)

Hardcore (1979)

The Changeling (1980)

Taps (1981)

Firestarter (1984)

Malice (1993)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Patton (1970)

A larger than life biopic for a larger than life war hero, Patton combines man and war to provide grand entertainment. George C. Scott's inspired performance embodies both Patton's self-serving bombast and his career-limiting failings.

It’s 1943, and the initial American foray into the North African theatre of World War Two is not going well: Rommel’s tanks inflict a heavy defeat on the Allies at Kasserine Pass. In response, General George S. Patton (Scott) is placed in charge of the American II Corps. Confident, aggressive, and a loud mouth, Patton appoints General Omar Bradley (Karl Malden) as his second-in-command and adopts an all-attack, all-the-time mentality while instilling discipline and improving morale. Before long, Patton masterminds an impressive victory over Rommel at the Battle of El Guettar.

Patton believes in reincarnation and destiny, and is convinced he has lived previous lives and participated in key battles throughout history. It is now his destiny to play a leading role in the Allied victory. After success in North Africa, the next objective is the invasion of Sicily, and Patton places great emphasis on personal glory, turning the invasion into a personal race with British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery (Michael Bates) to reach the key port city of Messina. But Patton finally allows his passion to get the better of him: he accuses one of his soldiers of cowardice, and strikes him. The incident stalls Patton’s quest for glory, and he is forced to wait in the wings while Bradley is promoted into a key role as the Normandy invasion looms.

A war movie filled with the thunder of conflict and the agony and ecstasy of the humans who wage war, Patton is an enduring cinematic achievement. Through the eyes of General Patton, humanity's deranged but passionate love of carnage is expressed. Patton was born to lead men into war: ironically, the battlefield of death is the one place he feels most alive. The movie makes no apologies and no excuses. Men like Patton turned back evil and won the war, and this is his story.

Driven by a palpable sense of historic purpose, Patton is portrayed as a man bulldozing his way to the certainty of victory. Scott’s performance is a seminal achievement, dominating the screen with personality, and filling the General's boots with a take-no-prisoners, accept-no-nonsense attitude. But the self-aware tragic hero within Patton also emerges: an inability to control his mouth or his temper, a propensity to place personal objectives ahead of strategic needs, and an almost obsessive focus on immediate tactics as opposed to the big picture. 

The contrast with the more restrained Bradley, portrayed with resolve by Karl Malden, is a study in divergent leadership styles. Bradley is more cerebral and careful, creating fewer waves, and demonstrating more empathy. Patton has no time for the desktop generals and their political masters, and in an organization as complex as the US Army, it is no surprise that Bradley is more effective at climbing the ladder.

Written by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, everything about Patton is large. The running length is close to three hours, the opening scene speech in front of a gigantic flag is audacious, the assembled armies of men, tanks, and trucks are huge, the battle scenes are impressively grand, and the personality battles are absorbing. Director Franklin J. Schaffner finds engaging settings and interesting camera angles for almost every shot, and Jerry Goldsmith provides a rousing yet poignant soundtrack. Patton is an artistic epic of legendary men eternally defined by a monumental conflict.

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Movie Review: Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)

A black comedy imagining a hot end to the cold war, Dr. Strangelove is a caustic epic. Through the story of a rogue American general launching an unprovoked nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, Stanley Kubrick deliciously dismembers the culture of war, exposing the infantile incompetence of generals and their politicians.

President Muffley: Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!

General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) gives orders for a group of nuclear bombers under his command to attack targets in the Soviet Union. Major T. J. Kong (Slim Pickens), a commander of one of the bombers, receives the orders, confirms them, and sets off to drop his nuclear payload on the target assigned for his B-52. Captain Lionel Mandrake (Peter Sellers), a British exchange officer and Ripper's second in command, realizes too late that Ripper has gone mad and is bent on starting a global nuclear war.

General Ripper: I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.

Once the magnitude of the crisis becomes clear, US President Merkin Muffley (Sellers again) convenes his advisers in the War Room, where a large wall screen shows the real-time progress of the bombers as they approach their targets. General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) is a warmonger who would like to seize the opportunity and launch an all out war. Dr. Strangelove (Sellers once again), a wheelchair-bound nuclear scientist and a former Nazi with a gloved and occasionally out of control right arm, informs the President that the Soviets have an unstoppable "doomsday machine" that will automatically detonate and destroy the planet if the Soviets are attacked. With the Americans helping the Soviets to destroy the incoming bombers, and American troops frantically attacking Ripper's base to seize the recall code, Major Kong has to evade enemy fire and stoically make his way towards his target.

President Muffley, discussing Ripper with Turgidson: There's nothing to figure out, General Turgidson. This man is obviously a psychotic.
General Turgidson: We-he-ell, uh, I'd like to hold off judgment on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in.

Dr. Strangelove is 90 sharp and hilarious minutes of biting satire. Based on the book Red Alert by Peter George, the film is filled with classic moments as Kubrick takes every opportunity to peel back and crumple the pompous absurdity of war and the men who wage it. Filmed in black with just some white, Kubrick and cinematographer Gilbert Taylor provide the movie with a shiny darkness, whether inside the cavernous war room or on board Kong's claustrophobic bomber. The world is about to be destroyed from decision rooms painted black, filled with shiny equipment, indirect light and men who look good making all the wrong decisions. The opening credit sequence, with beautiful music accompanying war machinery, sets the scene, while Vera Lynn's poignant Second World War song We'll Meet Again is an ode to a planet on the verge of self-destruction.


President Muffley, speaking to the Soviet Premier: I'm sorry too, Dmitri. I'm very sorry. All right, you're sorrier than I am. But I am sorry as well. I am as sorry as you are, Dmitri. Don't say that you're the more sorry than I am because I am capable of being just as sorry as you are. So we're both sorry, all right? All right.

The performances are uniformly pitch perfect, twisted comedy delivered with a straight face. Peter Sellers' three roles triangulate soldier, politician and weapons expert. Mandrake is a man in uniform swept up by events he has no control over, Muffley is the president who approved the command system that allowed Ripper to go rogue and now has to deal with the resulting mess, while Strangelove is the mad (in many ways) weapons scientist, almost gleeful that his nuclear industry is again and finally being used in anger. That he is also an ex-Nazi and not in control of his own rampaging right arm layers on commentary about the inner circle trusted to advise on matters of war. And yes, humanity's love of deadly conflict is, indeed, strange.

Dr. Strangelove: The whole point of the doomsday machine...is lost if you keep it a secret!

George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson inflates the warmongering general stereotype to fill the war room with his breathless anti-commie rhetoric, whipping himself up into a bloodthirsty frenzy. For Turgidson, acceptable casualties are calculated with a margin of error in the tens of millions, and it's all a victory as long as the enemy's losses are greater. Slim Pickens is a cowboy in the sky as Major Kong, and despite his eccentricities Kong is faithful to his orders, skilled in leading his crew, determined to fulfil his mission, and willing to go to extremes to ensure its success.

War is hell, and it's also ridiculous. Dr. Strangelove takes aim and riddles its target with a barrage of piercing mockery.

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Movie Review: Anatomy Of A Murder (1959)

An absorbing courtroom drama, Anatomy Of A Murder bids a firm farewell to the 1950s and welcomes a new, much more liberal decade. With sometimes startlingly frank discussions about rape, semen, abuse, panties, and women's sexuality, and a probing of the link between psychiatric condition and criminal acts, Anatomy Of A Murder happily jumps from one taboo subject to another, ushering in a new era.

In small-town Upper Michigan, Paul Biegler (James Stewart) is a former District Attorney, now struggling to run his own home-based law practice. Paul's best friend is old-timer Parnell McCarthy (Arthur O'Connell), a former lawyer but now a confirmed drunk. Desperate for work, Paul accepts a seemingly hopeless case: to defend Lieutenant Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), who admits to shooting dead a pub-owner called Barney Quill, after Quill raped Manion's wife Laura (Lee Remick).

Laura is stunningly beautiful, dresses provocatively, and can't help flirting with every guy she meets, including Paul. But she insists that Quill did rape her, triggering an uncontrollable rage in Manion. Paul convinces Manion to plead not guilty due to temporary insanity, and sets off to find a medical expert to prove the point. Paul also uncovers the role played by Quill's bartender Alphonse Paquette (Murray Hamilton) on the night of the rape and murder, while McCarthy tracks down the background of the mysterious Mary Pilant (Kathryn Grant). When the trial starts, Paul is up against a shark of a prosecutor in the form of Claude Dancer (George C. Scott), who will do his best to prevent Paul from turning what should be a straightforward murder trial into a rape and revenge case.

The poster art and the angular, playful credit sequence announce the forthcoming change of decades. Anatomy Of A Murder also immediately deploys an enjoyable and innovative all-jazz soundtrack by Duke Ellington (who also makes a cameo), capturing the spirit of a movie tackling serious issues with a light touch. And the Wendell Mayes script wastes no time in going where few movies had gone before, delving into the vocabulary associated with rape cases and courageously portraying the victim as a liberated woman pro-actively seeking the attention of men.

Otto Preminger keeps Anatomy Of A Murder moving along a taut wire for its entire 160 minutes of running time. Cleverly injecting humour to break the tension, and giving equal time to the exploration of murder, rape, and a marriage punctured by jealousy, the film is rich with characters worth knowing and truths worth unveiling. The entire final third is dedicated to the court proceedings, and Preminger creates a dynamic and cavernous courtroom environment with a multitude of perspectives presided over by a caustic but reasonable judge. There are enough colourful events and personalities on show that Sam Leavitt's black and white cinematography is a simplifying relief.

Paul Biegler is one of James Stewart's final great roles. Stewart received his fifth and final Best Actor Academy Award nomination for bringing to life a lawyer who is smarter than he looks, more melancholy than he shows, charming and disarming when needed, and much more dogged than his foes give him credit for. Stewart sparring with the uncompromising George C. Scott in the epic courtroom battle is a duel for the ages.

Lee Remick is the other star of Anatomy Of A Murder. In just her fourth screen role, Remick sizzles as an over-sexed wife attracting the eye of every man she meets, and revelling in the attention. Dressed in pants, high heels and tight tops as she proves too hot to handle for rural upstate Michigan, Laura is a challenge for Paul both in fending off her lustful looks and insofar as her story of rape may have sounded suspicious even to her own husband. In a performance full of refinement, Remick ensures that Laura is convincing both as a seductress and a victim.

Anatomy Of A Murder expertly dissects a case of death by jealousy, and finds within it societal norms already changing and about to be severely disrupted by a decade of tumultuous upheaval.

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