Double Bill: Treasure of the Sierra Madre & There Will Be Blood, Castro, Sunday. Two excellent films from very different times about much the same thing. In Treasure of the Sierra Madre:, three down-on-their-luck Yankees (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and the director’s father, Walter Huston) prospect for gold in Mexico. They find and stake out a profitable mine before discovering that they don’t
really trust each other. Writer/director John Huston, working from B. Traven’s novel, turned a rousing adventure story into a morality play about the corruption of greed. Paul Thomas Anderson’s small, character-driven films always felt like epics, so there’s no surprise how well he manages the real thing in There Will Be Blood. Based on a Upton Sinclair novel called Oil! (the name change makes no sense), There Will be Blood is big, sprawling, and spectacular, and captures not just a moment in history but a 30-year transition. Read my full review.
Lunafest Film Festival, Palace of Fine Arts, Thursday, 7:30. This touring collection of “short films by, for, and about women” benefits the Breast Cancer Fund.
Leave Her to Heaven, Rafael, Friday, 7:30. Gene Tierney’s “woman who loves too much” isn’t the
typical film noir femme fatale, seducing men to their doom in her quest for material ends. She doesn’t need material things, but she needs her man (Cornel Wilde) so desperately she can’t bear the thought of sharing him with friends or family. And she’s willing to do anything to keep him to herself. Tierney gets top billing, but the real star of Leave Her to Heaven is Technicolor. Set mostly in scenic locations (New Mexico, rural Maine, and others), the film shows three-strip Technicolor at its best. Part of the Rafael’s Academy Color Restorations series. I discussed this film a bit more at length last spring.
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 8:15. Ken Kesey’s novel offered a perfect opportunity for Milos Forman to explore his favorite topics: totalitarianism and rebellion. What’s Nurse Rachet’s insane asylum ward but a dictatorship in miniature? While the movie belongs to Jack Nicholson (one of many Oscar winners), the entire cast is letter perfect. In fact, supporting players like Danny De Vito and Christopher Lloyd hardly seem the unknowns they were in 1975. Part of the PFA series Czeching Out: The Early Films of Milos Forman.
The Band Wagon, Castro, Tuesday. Singin’ in the Rain’s producer and writers teamed up with director Vincente Minnelli to make the one great post-Ginger Fred Astaire vehicle. Their trick? They blended a small dose of reality into the otherwise frivolous mix. For instance, Astaire’s character, an aging movie star nervously returning to the Broadway stage he abandoned years before, is clearly based on Astaire himself. The result is a sly satire of Broadway’s intellectual aspirations, lightened up with exceptional songs and dances including “That’s Entertainment” and “I Love Louisa.” On a “Tribute to Cyd Charisse” double-bill with Party Girl.
The Big Country, Rafael, Saturday, 7:30. This is a big western from a time when Hollywood liked to make big films. The Big Country was shot in Technirama (the same large widescreen format as Sparticus) and runs nearly three hours. But it’s also an unusual western. It’s protagonist (Gregory Peck as a retired sea captain) is anything but macho and violence is kept to a minimum. In fact, one could reasonably call The Big Country Hollywood’s biggest pacifist western. As I write this, I’ve never seen it on a big screen; it may be better than I realize. Another entry in the Rafael’s Academy Color Restorations series.
Midnight Movie: Blade Runner, Clay, Friday and Saturday night, midnight. Based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Blade Runner remains surprisingly thoughtful for “˜80’s sci-fi–especially of the big budget variety. It ponders questions about the nature of humanity, and about our ability to objectify people when it suits our needs. Yet it never preaches. The script’s hazy at times; I never did figure out some of the connections, and a couple of important things happen at ridiculously convenient times. But art direction and music alone would make it a masterpiece. For more, see my more detailed discussion.
Wall-E, Elmwood, opens Friday. Andrew Stanton and Pixar made a courageous movie. When Disney finances your big-budget family entertainment, it takes guts to look closely and critically at such consequences of our consumer culture as garbage, obesity, and planetary destruction. Making an almost dialog-free film also took a fair amount of backbone. WALL-E wimps out in the third act–which is both disappointing and probably inevitable–and while that diminishes Stanton’s achievement, it doesn’t destroy it. Read my full review.
The Godfather Parts I & II, Castro, Friday. Francis Coppola, taking the job simply because he needed the money, turned Mario Puzo’s potboiler into the Great American Crime Epic. Marlon Brando may have top billing, but Al Pacino owns the film (and became a star) as Michael Corleone, the respectable son inevitably and reluctantly pulled into a life of crime he doesn’t want but seems most suited for. A masterpiece. And yet the sequel (which is also a prequel) tops it. By juxtaposing the rise of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando in the first film, a young Robert De Niro here) with the moral fall of his son Michael (Al Pacino again), Puzo and Coppola show us how the decision a seemingly good man makes to care for his family will eventually destroy the very people he loves. Both films have recently undergone a major restoration by the master of the craft, Robert A. Harris.
I Served the King of England, Aquarius, opens Friday. For more than half of its runtime, Jiríh Menzel’s clever and entertaining comedy celebrates the joys of serving the filthy rich. We accept this empty and amoral theme because the movie is funny and visually pleasing, but even more because Ivan Barnev is engaging and likeable as the story’s ambitious waiter protagonist. But just as the fun and games begin to tire us, the Nazis arrive. Jan falls in love with a German girl, collaborates with the enemy, and shows us just how low he can go. Told mostly in flashbacks, I Served the King of England maintains its light tone throughout; even when events get very dark. Read my full review.
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