68. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Spielberg's first foray into alien adventure and it does act as a precursor to ET.
Close Encounters is supposed to be an everyman's search for hope and meaning, but all I see is an allegory of bad parenting set against an alien subplot.

Roy Neary is an average Joe who is having visions after experiencing an alien encounter. His obsession with this vision takes over his life and drives his family away. He then finds solidarity with a woman, Jillian, whose son went missing during an encounter at her home.

A bad mother and a really crap father are supposed to be the heroes of this piece? My sympathy is not at full tilt here.

The finale is quite breath taking though and he remastered mothership effects stand up today. John Williams' iconic 5 tone greeting/language is a true masterstroke.
In the end though, you'd think that now his enigma is solved Roy be full of apologies and dying to get back to his wife and children and recount his adventure. Nah. He just hops onto the spaceship and fucks off with ET. Possibly one of the worst role models in cinematic history!

This is classic Spielberg and contains many of his go to traits. The worried mother; a one man quest; the unknown; untrustworthy authorities.
I just think this feels like a rough draft. An idea was formed and though it looks pretty good, the story needed shaking up and the protagonist needed to be sympathetic. Basically ET is this film's better sequel of sorts.

The mothership finale is truly spectacular.

67. The Shining (1980)

A classic modern horror that I have never really got.

Writer, Jack Torrance takes his wife and son to live at the luxurious Overlook Hotel where he has been employed as an off season caretaker. During these winter months, Jack believes that the isolated location will get rid of his writer's block and force him to write a novel.
Unfortunately the hotel is haunted by, amongst others, a previous caretaker who murdered his family then killing himself whilst staying here.
Looks like a little bit of history repeating as Jack slowly descends into madness.

I do admire the look of the film. It is beautifully shot. The Overlook is suitably grand and the opening approach shot as Jack drives to his interview, is particularly wonderful.

It's the horror aspect I don't get. The demise of Jack's mental state is supposed to be a gradual descent, but Nicholson goes from nought to crazy in 5 seconds. Serious scenery chewing.
Shelley Duvall's character is just a flimsy doormat so it is hard to be sympathetic to her plight. Duvall does a good line in shrieking, though I could live without her high monotone voice.
Danny Lloyd's performance as the psychically gifted son is the most effective here. The 'split personality' of his imaginary friend is a great counterpart to Jack's encounters with the old caretaker. Lloyd's reactions to the visions are really well acted. He does shit scared very well!

I like my horrors to be frightening and this is where this is lacking for me. Everything that is scary about the original Stephen King novel is lacking here. This is mostly due to the portrayal of Jack. The premise of Room 237 never really pays off. The twin girls deliver on the creepiness factor as does the shooting of the hotel from the viewpoint of Danny on his big wheel, but this is just lacking in fright.

Plenty of oddness and creepiness, but just not scary.

66. Tootsie (1982)

Dustin Hoffman plays Michael Dorsey, a brilliant actor who is impossible to work with. Sounds a lot like Dustin Hoffman! When his agent bets him that he can't land a job, Michael Dorsey becomes Dorothy Michaels, a Southern belle who's sassy attitude lands her a role on a popular daytime soap opera. Hilarity ensues!

The cast is a wealth of talent. Hoffman is superb and even though the transformation is more Dame Edna than RuPaul, it is actually convincing and you start to believe in Dorothy and like her a lot more than Michael. Jessica Lange has a nice touch as the weird love interest. Dorothy's best friend who Michael is falling in love with. The weird lesbian connotation is awkward, but wonderfully farcical.
Bill Murray plays Michael's roommate and is quite a highlight. More so than Terri Garr who was Oscar nominated for her role as Michael's emotional girlfriend. Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, George Gaynes and even Geena Davis pop up to round out a sterling casting.

This really is an excellent comedy. It heralds back to farce and 50s screwball comedies, but director Sidney Pollack(who also plays the agent) keeps it up-to-date. It is superbly written and a definite must-see.

"That is one nutty hospital!"

How Bill Murray was overlooked for a supporting Oscar nod is a massive Academy gaffe.

65. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

A flying saucer appears from outer space and lands in Washington. Out comes a humanoid spaceman with a gift. The gift is quite pointy though, so a soldier shoots him. Turns out the gift was for the President and was a means of communicating with other planets. Broke now. Ah well!
The alien man, Klaatu, is fixed up in hospital so that's okay.
Klaatu is here with a warning. Be at peace, or face destruction. (Isn't irony ironic?!)

Robert Wise's sci-fi drama is very of it's time and isn't just another B-movie. It's anti-war message is very blatant and hit a nerve with the war weary audiences of its time.

Klaatu fails to win the trust of the world, but he does befriend a woman, her son and an Einstein-esque mad professor who organises some of the world's great thinkers to a conference with Klaatu, as the world's leaders are not so willing to. (Isn't science brilliant?!)

Here comes Gort. A 7ft tall indestructible robot with a very destructive eye laser. Quickly..."Gort, Klaatu, Barada, Niktoh!" Phew, that was close.

The film may seem clunky today, but they were very superior of the time. Effects certainly don't make a good movie as the dreadful Keanu Reeves remake proved.

It has many forgivable gaffes, but it stands out as the first popular adult sci-fi drama with a message, so a very worthy watch and Bernard Herrman's spooky soundtrack using 2 theramins, pretty much defined the music of sci-fi from thenceforth.

64. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Sprawling epic in every sense. From the 1000s of extras, to the CinemaScope photography, to the 227 minute length (it does go on a touch.)

T.E. Lawrence is a lieutenant in the army who is stuck in a clerical post in a basement. He is an eccentric young soldier and quite insubordinate. He is picked to go on a mission to Arabia and infiltrate the inner circle of Prince Faisal and find out what he is up to. Lawrence goes beyond the call of duty, making his way into the trust of the Arab clans until his grandeur lifts him to a godlike idol that the Arab soldiers will follow anywhere. Lawrence's former attitude against violence and murder change as he grows a blood lust and leads an army into defeating the Ottoman Empire.

Peter O'Toole shines in the lead. Hard to imagine that it is his first leading role. His depiction of Lawrence is quite remarkable. The changes he goes through from his humble beginnings in a murky basement drawing maps, through his study of Bedouin, finally to his rise as Arab Idol! It is an intense performance and he steps up to the plate. The lush technicolour adds vividness to his piercing blue eyes. The supporting cast is exceptional to. Omar Sharif as sheriff Ali is a particular triumph. His character being most affected by Lawrence as they seemingly do a swap of morals. Ali is prime witness to his decent into blood lust madness and tries to stop him from falling too far.

The centre of it all is the perplexing character of T.E. Lawrence. A man with undecided loyalty and unpredictable to say the least. This intriguing man is the core around which a superb cast, stunning cinematography and a triumphant score by Maurice Jarre revolve to make this a true great by David Lean.

Perfect Sunday matinee fodder.

Warning. This film contains no women!

O'Toole's range from meek to madness is almost as stunning as his eyes.

63. Gilda (1946)

A film so steeped in Casablanca, it's almost embarrassing as it isn't any where near as good.
The plot is ludicrous and rather boring (tungsten cartel anyone?)
It is the performances that make this a worthy watch. Hayworth is smoking hot as the eponymous temptress. At one point she performs a sexy striptease and manages to drive a crowd of men bonkers rapey, even though she only removes her evening gloves! A highly unpleasant character though. The entire film oozes misogyny. The character of Gilda is seemingly a metaphor for womankind. Whores who drive men mad and create havoc wherever they are. Serious mommy issues from the writer.
Gilda is merely a distraction of a bad element. As a post-war film we do get the requisite German bad guys, but they are such downplayed characters they exist only as plot devices. The main bad egg is Ballin Mundson, lusciously played by George Macready. He steals the show for me as a man who is not only full of hate, but positively thrives on it. His relationship with Johnny and Gilda (for it does play like a strange threeway) is a powder keg ready to explode.
Sadly the story just gets a bit too messy. After a bizarre plot twist where Ballin fakes his own death and does one, the Gilda abuse fires up even more, so much so that I really didn't buy the neat ending.
It is a gorgeous film to look at. The entire film seems to be set at night as the cast is swathed in gorgeous evening wear. Rita Hayworth's hair should really have billing. It is a wonder to watch when she dances.
So worthy of a watch for the performances and the quite blatant homoeroticism between Ballin and Johnny.

62. Apocalypse Now Redux (1979)



Director Francis Ford Coppola's task in making this war epic was no easy one. It was fraught with setbacks from start to finish. Most of this is documented in sublime detail in the documentary Hearts of Darkness (see future post.)
Emerging from this lengthy mess of production is possibly the greatest film about Vietnam. It was certainly the first big picture to question the war.

We follow Captain Willard and his crew as they travel into the jungle to search for Colonel Kurtz, who has turned renegade and gt himself a touch of god complex. Willard has been ordered to execute Kurtz with extreme prejudice.

What is achieved is a study of one man's journey into 'the abyss'. Martin Sheen's spectacular central performance is where the viewer is grounded. The fact that he himself is on the cusp of crazy, makes it all the more provoking.

The film is littered with set pieces. From the opening scene where we meet Willard in his Saigon hotel room, dishevelled and driven mad by his inner demons; to the Wagner accompanied napalming of a village; to the final face off between Willard and Kurtz. It's all brilliantly atmospheric. The lightness and black comedy of the Colonel Kilgore(loves the smell of napalm in the morning dontyaknow) pre jungle scenes is most welcome.

It's a bit of a hypnotic trip, but you do come out the other side having scene a true classic.