Midnight Cowboy

In the film industry, an X or NC-17 rating for a mainstream film is a kiss of death.  When Midnight Cowboy first opened, many theaters would not show the film and newspapers would not run printed ads because of its X rating being associated with pornography.  Yet, the film went on to win the Academy’s approval and the award for Best Picture.

Culturally, this is a historic moment set right in the middle of the Sexual Revolution that was spreading in Western society.  The fact that a film dealing with such controversial topics so frankly and explicitly could win over critic acclaim shows the shift happening from within.  These topics suddenly had merit and could now be openly discussed, where just years ago they were called smut and swept under the rug.  Back in 1957, Peyton Place was pushing the envelope, but it just felt like an after school special and turned into a corny soap opera.

The film is about Joe Buck (Jon Voight), a naive young man from Texas who plans to make a living in New York as a male prostitute.  This seems to be the only job market he thinks he has potential in.  He’s got the cowboy look down naturally, but he doesn’t realize that that won’t win over his target audience: rich lonely married women.  Business doesn’t go so well mostly because Joe doesn’t know how to manage himself.  After having their initial disputes and running out of money, Joe teams up with Ratso (Dustin Hoffman) an outcast with a bum leg living in the most rundown apartment you can imagine.  A friendship grows between the two, not just over business but through their struggle for survival within the harsh city.

I found the portrayal of religion is more stirring, and perhaps more controversial, than the sexual nature of this film.  In the scene where Joe thinks he’s meeting someone to help him find more clients, the man is actually a preacher of some sort.  They have a conversation, where we assume this man is a pimp talking about the other boys working for him, ““I’m warning you Buck, I’m gonna use you.  I’m gonna run you ragged.”  The fact that he’s a preacher is not revealed until he asks Joe to get on his knees (where both our minds and Joe’s naturally go to the gutter), then the man opens the door to his bathroom.  On the other side of the door is a little alter, complete with a plastic glowing Jesus statue.  This sends us to a terrifying flashback of Joe remembering his baptism in a river.  As Joe runs away in fear, we hear the preacher yelling, “Don’t run from Jesus!”  From this scene, we can see that Joe views religion to be more unnatural and terrifying than sex.

It is never fully revealed in the film what the connection is between Joe, religion, an old girlfriend, his reasons for leaving Texas and new his career choice.  These are all in the past, so maybe it’s not the most important thing, but those are the dots and they can be connected in a variety of ways.  I’ve formed my own theories.

Please don’t skip Midnight Cowboy because you’re afraid you mom will scold you and drag you to church by your ear for watching an initially X rated film.  The more graphic scenes here are pretty tame compared to what some R rated films hold today.  In fact, Midnight Cowboy was only X rated for two years before being resubmitted to the MPAA and receiving an R rating in 1971.  So relax already and enjoy a film that is more about friendship and working through hard times than it is about sex.

“Frankly, you’re beginning to smell and for a stud in New York, that’s a handicap.”

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Loosely based on historical fact, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid tells the tale of two infamous outlaws, their exploits and their run from the law.  Butch (Paul Newman) is the leader of the Hole in the Wall gang, who rob banks and trains.  The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) is Butch’s right hand man.  Problem is, the ways of the old wild west are coming to and end and civilization, law and order are creeping closer to the gang.  After robbing the same train once too many, Butch and Sundance realize they’re being tailed, and they can’t seem to shake their trackers.  After some daring escapes, they decide to go to Bolivia with Sundance’s girlfriend Etta Place (Katharine Ross).  Bolivia should be far enough away from the law, right?  But a whole new world of challenges are there, and I can’t help but remember what Uncle Remus said, “You can’t run from trouble, there ain’t no place that far.”

The movie starts off well with some good old things we come to expect in westerns.  There’s gambling, some fancy shooting, a rivalry within the gang that Butch handles easily and a couple train robberies.  Those are all fun, especially the great scene where they use too much dynamite and blow the whole train car to toothpicks and the money just flies around them.  I cracked up.

After that, it becomes a very slow chase.  Through rocky desert, canyons and jumping into the river, it’s a great time to show off the beautiful land, but that excitement felt in the beginning is gone.  Soon they meander to New York for some photos and wind up in Bolivia.  When they arrive and see nothing but crumbling buildings, a family of hogs and a llama we were thinking the same thing:  Why the hell would they pick Bolivia?  Because it has a nice ring to it?  One thing to remember is that these were outlaws, not geniuses.  Not everyone in history made very good decisions.

In Bolivia, they fall back into old habits and start robbing banks.  Once they learn how to speak a few Spanish phrases, that is.  Nothing like pulling out a crib sheet in the middle of an armed robbery.  It’s funny, absurd and starts to bring back that fun we felt in the first half hour.

What the film does best is cinematography.  In the beginning we’re shown a little silent film explaining just a bit about Butch, Sundance and the Hole in the Wall gang.  Then the film starts up, borrowing the same sepia tones as the silent film and photos of the time and continues for a few scenes.  Color is introduced when we follow the duo out to the desert and there’s plenty of natural scenery that would be best in color.  It’s affective and the camera always captures the natural beauty we associate with the old west.

While I have some mixed feelings about the whole film, it ended well for me.  In the final scene, that excitement and gun-slinging that I was hoping for was back.  If it wasn’t for that very bad-ass last stand, I would have been disappointed.  This is not your typical western, Butch and Sundance have too many funny lines for that.  I usually enjoyed their banter, but it seemed too cute for outlaws at time.  And though Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head won best original song, the music just feels jarring in a western.  I mean, this was a western right?  It looks like it, but doesn’t sounds like it.

“You just keep thinkin’, Butch. That’s what you’re good at.”

Anne of the Thousand Days

This is at least the third film on this blog dealing with Henry VIII and all his chronic beheading, girl chasing, son craving glory.  However, it’s the most sympathetic towards Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn.

The film based on the Broadway play, takes place only within the time concerning Anne’s relationship with King Henry VIII.  Anne (Geneviève Bujold) is a young maiden, defiant against Henry’s attempts to seduce her.  Henry (Richard Burton) has already seduced and impregnated her sister, Mary.  But the more Anne resists, the more she becomes an object of desire and obsession to Henry.  He wants to annul his marriage to Queen Catharine, but the Catholic church will not allow it.  The story focuses on Henry working to divorcing Cathrine along with the whole Catholic Church for a good portion of the film.  His reasoning is that his marriage to his brother’s widow was incest, thus God has cursed their marriage, causing Catharine to bare only stillborn sons.  Once Anne is Queen, she’s only deeper in trouble than before.  The people hate her and call her a whore for replacing their beloved Catharine.  When she gives birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, Henry is disappointed and just wants to keep trying.  Soon Henry is looking at Jane Seymour to make sons with and the second divorce always goes easier than the first.

Anyway, we know the history.  What is important is that Anne becomes depicted as more of a hero than the infamous whore queen.  Henry does not want to have Anne executed, she could agree to simply annul the marriage and live.  But with annulment, Elizabeth would become illegitimate, and no longer in line to the throne.  Like I said, we know the history, and Anne’s blood is not spilt in vain.

One of the main reasons this play had not been turned into a film as because of its frank discussion of sexual topics.  Though the play began in 1948, the strict censorship codes of film throughout the forties and fifties made it next to impossible to do the play justice.  Many of the reasons Henry gives for divorce have to do with incest and adultery.  He’s also very blunt at times with his intentions with Anne.  It took until 1969 for these topics to have a respectable place within film.

Within the first five minutes, I made and educated guess that this film won the award for best costume design.  My guess was correct, the level of detail on each garment is easy to see.  At times, the costumes are the only source of color within the stone castle walls, yet I was never feeling the gloom of gray stone oppressing me.  From colorful gowns, Henry’s iconic fur coats and even masquerade masks, each piece of period clothing is exquisite, but sadly, nearly nothing else in the picture matches up to them.  It was rightfully the films only Oscar.

If you really want to watch every film about Henry VIII and all his sixteenth century antics, by all means go for it.  For those who just want to focus on Anne or the breaking of the church, choose this film over the others.  But if you want something more enjoyable, The Private Life of Henry VIII is my personal recommendation.  And the best of 1969 is still to come.

“We used the incest excuse last time. We can’t make a habit of it.”

Hello, Dolly!

Before seeing this film, I believe my only other encounter with Hello, Dolly! was in WALL-E.  For me, that’s not a bad thing.  Meeting Hello, Dolly! out of context didn’t make me put any outside influences on WALL-E.  However, as I watched Hello, Dolly! I did think of WALL-E a few times, and when I think of that lovable robot, I can’t help but smile.  But it wasn’t just my association with WALL-E that helped me enjoy this film, most everything about it was just endearing and whimsical.

Now, I had my doubts.  As I popped in the disc, I prayed I wouldn’t have another My Fair Lady reaction.  It’s so much nicer to enjoy musicals.  When that It Takes a Woman song started up, with all it’s oozing sexism, I was preparing myself for the worst.  Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Crawford started singing Put on Your Sunday Clothes and I was all smiles.  That happy feeling only grew throughout the film.

The story goes that Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) is a well-known matchmaker who’s got a business card for everything.  She’s been hired by Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau) to find a suitable husband for his niece and a wife for himself.  Thing is, Dolly has her heart set on Horace but doesn’t know how to tell him or how to get him out of a date in New York with the lovely miss Irene Molloy (Marianne McAndrew).  When she hears Horace’s under-appreciated employees are sneaking off to New York, she tells Cornelius (Michael Crawford) and Barneby (Danny Lockin) to find Irene and Minney (E.J. Peaker) and take them out on the town.  Dolly will handle the rest.

One of the things that makes this film so infectiously happy is all the wonderful color.  It seems to be early summer, with all the trees a healthy green and the sky always a clear blue.  That train to New York is so colorful and full of singing people, you’d think it was destined for Disney World.  When the big song and dance scenes come together, all the costumes seem to make a pastel rainbow of frills, lace and feathers.  The parade scene with all the floats, music, costumes and even a pig was just lovely.  The Oscar for art and set direction was well deserved.

The scene with all the dancing waiters had to be one of my favorites.  The simple gag of gluing fake food to a tray so the waiters could flip and twirl without spoiling dinner is wonderfully affective.  The bit where a customer picks a fish from a tank, then a lobster, and then a duck as it flies off the tray with a waiter ready to shoot the selection in mid air put me in stitches.  It is all so wonderfully absurd but done with such style and fantastic elegance that it’s simply charming and a great laugh.  And when I thought it couldn’t get any better, the whole scene is topped off with a Louis Armstrong cameo.

Thing is, I do not understand why Dolly has her heart set on Horace.  Sure, he’s rich, but he’s also stingy, grumpy, loud and impatient.  Something in his voice reminded me of Mr. Magoo, perhaps the bulbous nose furthered that image.  The way Matthau yells at Streisand throughout most of the film may not have been all an act.  Rumor has it, that he detested Streisand, saying that she “had no more talent than a butterfly’s fart.”  He even refused to kiss her at the end and instead a simple camera trick was used while he kept inches away.

Hello, Dolly! is a simply enjoyable film.  I cannot deny that my toes were tapping to the beat.  Everything is so fun and bright like a summer day.  I’ll admit, it’s not my usual taste in film, but if it was the only video tape I could find in a post-apocalyptic world, it would be a great find and would keep my spirits up.

“Put on your Sunday clothes,there’s lots of world out there…”

Z

Grigoris Lambrakis was a left-winged Greek political activist involved in the Pacifist Movement and opposed the Vietnam War.  On May 22 1963, he gave a speech at a peaceful anti-war meeting.  As he left, a three-wheeled vehicle drove by with two right extremists on board, and one man beat him on the head with a club.  Lambrakis suffered brain damage and died five days later.  Though they attempted to cover it up, his assassination was connected to far-right extremists within the police and military.  The assassination of Lambrakis sparked political developments in Greece and to this day he remains a symbol of democracy and the struggle against political repression.

In Z by Greek director Costa-Gavras, the story of the assassination and the uncovering of the conspiracy is told in an exciting and moving way.  From the little history lesson above, you’d expect this film to become preachy and full of politics, but much of the time, they are only in the background.  What is most important here is human life and uncovering the mystery behind the conspiracy.

When we meet  the now widowed Mrs. Lambrakis (Irene Papas), the realization that this man, a historical symbol to most, was also a much loved husband is heartbreaking.  Through her, we get quick moments of her memories with her husband.  An image of them nuzzling, then she’s brought back to reality remembering the ringing from the dreaded phone call.  It’s all very simple, quick and needs no words yet effectively moving.  These small flashbacks helped Z win the Oscar for Best Editing.

The film folds out as a mystery thriller, keeping those who are not all that interested in the history or politics on the edge of their seat.  As pieces of the plot are revealed, stakes get higher and the situation becomes more dangerous for each side.  There’s a good amount of action too, it seems that anyone affiliated with Lambrakis has a target on their back.  You never know when a walk down the street could turn into a man on foot being chased by a car.

You can’t get a title shorter than Z, but it’s important to understand the meaning behind the name.  Z stands for the first letter of the Greek word Zei, which translates to “He lives.”  After the assassination, Z became a popular graffiti sign in Greece protesting against the political climate that led to claim Lambrakis’s life.  The film demonstrates this idea wonderfully just after Mrs. Lambrakis learns of her husband’s death.  We see a group of protesters paint a giant Z on the ground, they chant “Unmask the murderers” and “Police accomplice!”  Like clockwork, a group of police step in and a riot ensues.  They even try to cut the long hair off some of the men.

While I feel this is an important film that the whole world needs to see, I know most people just won’t want to.  It’s a Greek film, and therefore those who discriminate against foreign films and hate the chore of reading subtitles will instantly be put off.  But it is about the fight for democracy and justice.  The film translates so well that we can relate it to many other real life stories of assassinations and political injustice.

“Concurrently, the military banned long hair on males; mini-skirts; Sophocles; Tolstoy; Euripedes; smashing glasses after drinking toasts; labor strikes; Aristophanes; Ionesco; Sartre; Albee; Pinter; freedom of the press; sociology; Beckett; Dostoyevsky; modern music; popular music; the new mathematics; and the letter “Z”, which in ancient Greek means ‘He is alive!’”