A Century of Film: Crime Films

The Genre:

There seems to be an idea that Gangster Films and Crime Films are interchangeable.  But to me, a Crime film is more than just a Gangster Film and the latter is just a sub-genre of the former.  The Rough Guide to Gangster Movies kind of sums up the idea right away even if they are just talking about Gangster films and not Crime films:

“Every book about gangster movies has to have a working definition of what a gangster movie actually is.  And each will disagree with the other.  For the purposes of the Rough Guide to Gangster Movies, it is one in which the gangster is the protagonist, not the supporting player or bête noir of the long-suffering cop hero.” (p 3)

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RCM: Spaceballs

Revisiting Childhood Movies Part XXII:

Spaceballs

• Director:  Mel Brooks
• Writer:  Mel Brooks / Ronny Graham / Thomas Meehan
• Producer:  Mel Brooks
• Stars:  Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Mel Brooks, John Candy
• Studio:  MGM/UA
• Award Nominations:  none
• Length:  96 min
• Genre:  Comedy (Parody)
• MPAA Rating:  PG
• Release Date:  26 June 1987
• Box Office Gross:  $38.11 mil  (#31 – 1987)
• Ebert Rating:  **.5
• My Rating:  ***
• My Rank:  #55 (year)
• Nighthawk Nominations:  none
• Nighthawk Notables:  Best Opening, Best Line Not from The Princess Bride (“Now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.”)
• First Watched:  on video when first released
• Number of Times Watched as a Kid:  5 or so

As a Kid:  When I first saw this, I didn’t have that much of a knowledge of film because, hey, because I was still a kid.  But I knew Star Wars.  Good lord, did I ever know Star Wars.  So all the Star Wars references worked perfectly for me.  I even got the Wizard of Oz references (and even the Bridge on the River Kwai reference).  But to me, at the time, this was mostly a way of humorously looking at the movie that was not only a big thing in my life but had been the big thing in my life for a decade.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1969

FALSTAFF: We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Robert Shallow. (Henry IV Part 2, III. ii. 220)

My Top 10:

1. Chimes at Midnight
2. Z
3. Stolen Kisses
4. Oh! What a Lovely War
5. Midnight Cowboy
6. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
7. Boudu Saved from Drowning
8. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
9. Goodbye Columbus
10. Cactus Flower

Note:  This year’s post is a bit ugly with a number of source materials I was unable to get.  There is also even a film that I am unable to really review because while I have seen it, it was years ago (well over a decade ago) and it is extremely difficult to get hold of and I wasn’t able to do so.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1968

RICHARD: You’re getting old. One day you’ll have me once too often.
HENRY: When? I’m fifty now. My God, boy, I’m the oldest man I know. I’ve got a decade on the Pope. (p 48-49)

My Top 10:

1. The Lion in Winter
2. Rosemary’s Baby
3. Belle de Jour
4. Closely Watched Trains
5. The Odd Couple
6. Hunger
7. Rachel Rachel
8. Pretty Poison
9. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
10. War and Peace

Note:  My list is 14 long this year.  My #13 (The Fixer) and #14 (Oliver) are reviewed below because of award nominations.  The other two are listed down at the bottom.  You could make the case that 2001: A Space Odyssey should be listed but the Oscars treated it as original and I do the same.  You can find plenty of places on-line that explained the complicated history of its script.

 

A Century of Film: Makeup

Richard Taylor has fun with one of his Oscar winning creations.

Makeup has long been a part of film.  It was a key part of films back in the Silent Era with people like Lon Chaney doing their own makeup work.  Yet, somehow, it took until the 37th Academy Awards before they though it was worth rewarding and another 17 years before they decided it should be a permanent competitive award.  Is it a coincidence that the BAFTAs followed suit just a year later?  There is more on the various awards listed below.  But I should note that the Academy of Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (the Saturn Awards) started giving out their own Makeup Award in 1973, long before the other groups, so kudos to them even if I don’t track their awards.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1967

” ‘Mrs. Robinson,’ he said, turning around, ‘you are trying to seduce me.’ She frowned at him. ‘Aren’t you.’ She seated herself again on the couch. ‘Aren’t you?’ ” (p 22)

My Top 10:

1. The Graduate
2. In the Heat of the Night
3. In Cold Blood
4. Cool Hand Luke
5. Point Blank
6. The Comedians
7. The Deadly Affair
8. Wait Until Dark
9. Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne
10. A Fistful of Dollars

Note:  I not only have a Top 10 again but several films beyond the Top 10 which are down below.  Barefoot in the Park (#11) is the only film on my list I review down below as a WGA nominee.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: 1966

MARTHA: And it was an accident . . . a real, goddamn accident!
(GEORGE takes from behind his back a short-barreled shotgun, and calmly aims it at the back of MARTHA’s head.)  (p 57)

My Top 10:

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
2. A Man for All Seasons
3. Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment
4. The Professionals
5. The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming
6. Alfie
7. Red Beard
8. You’re a Big Boy Now
9. The Shop on Main Street
10. Georgy Girl

Note:  Back up to 12 films on my list this year.  One is reviewed below as a WGA nominee (Harper) and the final one is on a separate list at the bottom.
Note:  No less than five reviews in this year were lost when my computer died and three of them (Morgan, Alfie, Shop) were of sources that had been a pain to get the first time and so I have tried to write them again as best as possible from memory.