Race, Singin' in the Rain, M.A.S.H. and All the President's Men

7/31/16 Race, not yet nominated 2016

Race is the story of Jesse Owens' (Stephan James) journey to and experience at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany. Some historical background: Owens' family moved from Alabama to Cleveland, and Jesse essentially spent his formative years in Cleveland, Ohio, and then ran at The Ohio State University. The movie spends some time on his college racing career and his coach, Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis), and then moves to the Olympics in an increasingly hostile and racist and anti-Semitic Germany. Owens considered not going to the Olympics because of the conditions. German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (Carice van Houten), who filmed the Olympics as part of a larger propaganda scheme is in the film and acts as an interpreter/translator between Avery Brundage (Jeremy Irons) and propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. I don't know if that really happened, but it helps to connect the different personalities and introduces the character of Hitler even if there is no dialog from him. The movie gives us a very small glimpse into the Nazi world that Hitler was creating, and just a small look at what Jesse Owens had to deal with, overcoming the odds, the pressure to win four gold medals. There was a little bit of the relationship that Owens had with Carl "Luz" Long in the long jump competition, but as with most of the movie, I was left wanting more. I'm a little familiar with Jesse Owens's story, so I was hoping for something more, something visceral to really convey the racism he had to face, trying to balance his love for his sport and his country, but also survive in a country where racism was still quite systemic. I didn't get that. I got a little, but not enough. I wanted some of those moments I got from Selma which left me in tears and with chills. I wanted to come away with the sense of enormity with what he did. Now we think nothing of it that athletes participate in two, three or four Olympics, but back in the days before financial support and training opportunities, that just wasn't feasible for most people, so four gold medals in one Olympics was momentous. It was good, and this is the perfect time to watch it since Track and Field is happening in the Olympics now.

8/6/16 All the President's Men, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Art Direction, 1976, #77 AFI, National Film Registry

Released a few years after the events it covers (the break in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters, the subsequent cover up and the eventual resignation of President Nixon), most people viewing were probably more than well-versed in what was happening in the country at the time. Watching it forty years later, it may be more 'educational' on investigative reporting or a Clif's notes version of the 1970s, and an interesting look at a young Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. It's a fitting predecessor to the winner of the 2016 Best Picture winner Spotlight. I can watch All the President's Men over and over because there is always something I missed or didn't make the connection, or I've learned something new about the time frame and now it makes sense in the context of the movie. I love the story, I really like seeing the process of the research and digging into the sources; Redford as Bob Woodward and Hoffman as Carl Bernstein are good (I don't know enough about the real people to say how accurate they are); Jason Robards (love him) as executive editor Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It occurred to me that some people may think this Watergate stuff is tame compared to the craziness going on this year (heaven help us all), but I think it shows the power of the press and the importance of a free press and the ability to turn over the rocks.

8/9/16 M.A.S.H., Best Adapted Screenplay, 1971, #54 AFI, National Film Registry

 Before I ever knew there was a move M.A.S.H., my father subjected me to the television series (I say 'subjected', but it ultimately became one of my favorite television shows). There are similarities, but the television show gave the characters time to develop and evolve and for the viewers to learn more about their personal lives. The familiar opening tune in the television series is actually a whole song called "Suicide is Painless"; we also get the loudspeaker announcements. M.A.S.H. was directed by Robert Altman, which I did not know, and after I learned that, the flow of the movie makes sense. Based on the other Altman films I've seen (Nashville, Prairie Home Companion, Gosford Park), there may not be an obvious plotline, but if there is, it is connected by little vignettes, mini-movies within the larger movie. Characters like Hawkeye (Donald Sutherand), Trapper John (Elliott Gould), Henry Blake (Roger Bowen), Radar (Gary Burghoff - the only actor to go from the movie to television series), Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Hot Lips Houlihan (Sally Kellerman), sorry folks, no Max Klinger. We don't get as much in the operating theater as we did in the television series; it's there, but the action is focused on the hijinks and trouble that Hawkeye, Trapper John and co. can get into, whether that is revealing Hot Lips in the shower, rigging a football game, driving Frank Burns crazy. It's not my favorite Altman movie, I like it, but I still prefer the television series.

8/13/16 Singin' In the Rain, 1952 #5 AFI, National Film Registry, #7 BBC

 I haven't done a detailed study, but this may be the only movie that did NOT win an Oscar, but is on my three lists. That seems really crazy. It didn't win a single Oscar. Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Betcha didn't see that coming. Singin' In the Rain holds up after almost 65 years. Gene Kelly is Don Lockwood a vaudevillian turned stunt man turned actor; Donald O'Connor is Cosmo Brown, his friend and a huge comedic asset to the film; Debbie Reynolds is Kathy Selden an aspiring actress and singer who becomes romantically involved with Lockwood. The story (basically) is a re-telling of Hollywood's transition from silent pictures to the talkies; many actors and actresses were left behind because their voices did not translate to the silver screen. Lockwood and Lamont are working on a movie together when the new talkie technology and The Jazz Singer appear on the scene. R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) is the head of Monumental Pictures and he wants to make a talking picture. It doesn't take too long before everyone realizes that Lina Lamont may not be made for this new invention. This narrative is built around music and dance breaks which are worth watching alone. Kelly and O'Connor are great together, O'Connor is funny and comedic, but he matches Kelly step for step. "Good Morning", "Make 'em Laugh"and "Singin' in the Rain" and "Broadway Melody Ballet" are just spectacular. Fred Astaire was suave, debonair and elegant and Gene Kelly was suave, but athletic as well. The story is funny, it actually worked and held my interest, contrary to Swingtime which kind of bored me unless Astaire and Rogers were dancing. Jean Hagen really nails the character of Lina Lamont; Reynolds sounds superb and hangs with O'Connor and Kelly (I did read that she wasn't that much of a dancer and that Kelly, who directed the dance scenes, was tough on her); it's beautifully filmed, colorful without being gaudy and nauseating. It's one of the few movies I could watch over and over. It's great for family movie night.