Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Everyone has something they do to give themselves a pick-me-up when the world seems dark.  Some indulge in their favorite coffee house drink.  Others get a workout at the gym.  A hot bath, round of video games, you name it.  For Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, her pick-me-up is looking into the windows of Tiffany’s, at all the fine and expensive things.

Her problem is that she is always on the outside of the lifestyle she wants, looking in.  She lives in a tiny, bare apartment with a nameless cat.  The only money she makes is from visiting Sally Tomato (Alan Reed) in Sing Sing (her happy name for prison).  Yet, she dresses like a socialite and holds loud, swinging parties at her place, with plenty of drinks flowing.  In the moment, she seems to be on top of the world.  When it’s over, she stubbornly keeps her lifestyle going.

When Paul (George Peppard), a young writer, moves in upstairs, he in instantly sucked into Holly’s world.  There is something about this talkative young woman, whom he meets only wearing a men’s tuxedo shirt, he is unable to turn away from.  She’s spunky and confident, yet a total wreck that he feels a need to protect.

But there is much more to Holly than meets the eye.  Buried under all that social elegance and love for finer things is a past that Holly is running from.  We understand later her fear of commitment.  It’s why she can’t name her cat, be with anyone exclusively or even hang get some real furniture (for the record, I love her bathtub-sofa).  She sees any committment as a cage and desperately wants to stay wild and free.  Can Paul tame this girl, or would he even want to?

What Breakfast at Tiffany’s does perfectly, is put the characters first, conflict between them second and romance somewhere towards the back, so it can evolve naturally.  We come away knowing Holly and Paul so well, they feel real.  When we know them like this, their problems become much more compelling, like they’re our friend’s problems.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t care about the budding romance of two strangers, but I genuinely worried if Paul and Holly could find happiness, both together and apart.

At the Oscars, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was nominated for a few awards, but seemed to have come just shy of a best picture nomination.  It picked up awards for both best music scoring and best song, Moon River.  Its nominations were in art direction, adapted screenplay, based off of Truman Capote’s novella, and lead actress by Audrey Hepburn.  If Hepburn had not been nominated, it might have caused outrage to this day.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not a film I expected to enjoy as much as I did.  While the characters are an odd sort, they feel inviting and compelling.  The twists in Holly’s past were a bit shocking, but only added new layers and deeper understanding to her character.  Same with the revelations in Paul’s character.  Mickey Rooney’s role as Holly’s comically angry landlord is interesting, even if it is over the top and racist.  I would advise all classic film fans to give this one a try.  It’s hard to tell who exactly will enjoy it, but it’s an essential film of the early sixties and Hepburn makes it worth the time.

“Thursday!  It can’t be!  It’s too gruesome!”

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

When you see Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, I think there are a few things you need to remember and keep an open mind about.  One, the film is mostly told from a unique child’s perspective.  So when his inner monologue feels a bit cliche or dramatically out of touch, remember how you thought as a child.  Not all of our ideas were made of gold, but we didn’t know that yet.  Go easy on him.  Two, yes, this film is about the attacks on September 11th, like America cannot get enough of its own tragedy.  Though the film remembers the past (and who could blame this kid for it?), the story is really about moving on from any tragedy.  The scars of September 11th are too much for one film to heal.  And three, this kid has amazing parents, both of them.

Oskar Shell (Thomas Horn) was about nine years old on September 11th.  He and his father (Tom Hanks) were very close and has always encouraged Oskar’s curiosity.  He asks so many questions, many parents would have given him the terrible answer, “Just because,” years ago, but thankfully not his father.  They play elaborate mind games where Oskar searches for artifacts all over Central Park.  These games of critical thinking have made Oskar very organized and independent for a boy his age.  I believe he is a gifted child, but also suffers from anxiety and social issues, possibly Asperger’s syndrome.

After that day, Oskar is without his father, his teacher and playmate, and is faced with something he cannot comprehend: chaos.  He is too logical to understand why this happened and it hurts to see this boy grasping at nothing, hoping he can find answers.  And his mother (Sandra Bullock) is doing all she can for him, more than he knows.

What Oskar does find is a key.  He believes, somehow, that finding what it unlocks will help bring him some last connection and closure with his father.  The elaborate system Oskar sets up to search all over New York is impressive and his determination should be encouraged.

Along his journey to find where the key fits, Oskar meets a wide variety of people.  Most of them are helpful and welcoming.  As he meets them, in his unique socially awkward fashion, Oskar takes their photograph and catalogs them in his journal.  While he is focused on the key, the boy  does not realize how his journey is touching so many people in a beautiful way.  But that’s just how kids are, right?  Too easily they can focus on one tangible idea and gloss over the big picture in front of them.  I’m sure we can all remember a moment like that from our childhood.

One important person Oskar meets is The Renter (Max von Sydow), who rents a room from his grandmother (Zoe Caldwell).  He does not talk (whether he can or not is a mystery) and offers to help Oskar on his quest.  I love how he keeps his communication simple, with a thick pen and pad of paper and tattoos on his palms for ‘yes’ and ‘no’.  I think that sort of simple logic draws Oskar to him.  Without saying a word, The Renter reveals levels of intrigue and guilt, that adults will connect far before Oskar does.

This film seems oddly slipped into the Best Picture nominations, I certainly did not expect it.  It only has one other nomination, Max von Sydow for Best Supporting Actor, and to hear his name called in 2012 feels out of place.  I do not find the technical aspects of the film great.  Adults will connect a few plot points before they come to fruition, but I feel compelled to overlook that since this is a child’s journey and mostly his perspective.

What I believe earned this film that last slot is something emotionally poignant and intangible.  Since I saw it on Friday, I find myself thinking back to it often.  I have reanalyzed moments unintentionally throughout the day.  There are small, telling moments that haunt me a bit.  Perhaps the way this film is hard to shake is what put it in the Best Picture category.  I do believe this film is good, very good, but not great.  It is too easy to mistake this to be a film simply about September 11th.  It’s about moving on from it and should serve as hope to anyone after experiencing unspeakable tragedy.

“Isn’t everyone somehow odd?”

If the Academy is looking to award a film that uses one tragic story to better understand a different kind of grieving that people can experience, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close will win the Oscar for Best Picture.

North by Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest has been hailed as his most entertaining film.  With a case of mistaken identity putting a man in danger and being hunted across the country, it is an exciting time.  Throw in some planes, trains, automobiles and Mount Rushmore, the thrills take some unexpected turns over and over again.  Top it off with a dash of romance to twist the plot further and that trademark Hitchcock suspense and North by Northwest is nearly perfect.

The story is that of average ad man Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant), an unglamorous bachelor complete with a badgering, overbearing mother (Jessie Royce Landis).  He is mistaken by a group of foreign spies as government agent George Caplan, kidnapped and taken to a mansion owned by a Mr. Townsend.  There, his kidnapper (James Mason) forces him to drink copious amounts of bourbon and sends him off down a dark, twisty road in a sports car.  This is got to be one of the most memorable, and thrilling drunk driving scenes on film.  In jail, no one believes the intoxicated Thornhill.  When he tries to prove his story, it seems that his captors have covered everything up and merely posed as Townsend.  Realizing that only the real Mr. Townsend can prove his innocence, Thornhill goes to the UN only to leave there wanted for murder.  He has no choice but to run from both the police and his assailants while trying to track down this George Caplan, which turns out to be one hell of a goose chase.

On the train ride from New York to Chicago, Thornhill finds a companion to keep him busy and even helps hide him from the authorities.  Eve (Eva Marie Saint) is another one of Hitchcock’s blond beauties to watch out for.  While she aids Thornhill and pulls him in with her beauty, she has her own agenda.  But when Thornhill finds out, he still cannot let her go, and his chivalry leads to a daring rescue and chase, scaling Mount Rushmore.

One of the most memorable scenes of this film is the crop duster scene.  After making it out of Chicago, Thornhill is told to wait for a ride, out in the middle of harvested corn fields.  The flat, expansive and isolating scene perfectly depicts the fields of the mid-west.  When a plane in the distance seems to be “dustin’ crops where there ain’t no crops,”  tension builds and it is a kick to see Grant run and dive from a swooping plane.  It’s one of the most iconic moments of the film, and ends with quite an unexpected bang.

I’ve got to say, I love how this trailer shows Hitchcock selling this movie like a vacation package.  In 1959, people were flooding to theaters to see big epic films, like Ben Hur.  That was some fierce competition.  So why not send them from New York, to Chicago and on to Mount Rushmore with some murder and suspense?  I guarantee you will never see that monument the same way after watching North by Northwest.

However, while Hitchcock was selling it, the Academy was not buying it.  In the end, North by Northwest took home no trophies for its three Oscar nominations: Original Screenplay, Editing and Art Direction in a Color Film.

Today, North by Northwest that is an essential Hitchcock film and can still make for a fun time.  When I meet someone that has never seen a Hitchcock film, I suggest North by Northwest along with Psycho and The Birds.  Of those three, it’s the one that is most fast paced, fun and as the plot continually twists, you have to keep on your toes.

“I don’t like the way Teddy Roosevelt is looking at me.”

The Apartment

C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has found the quickest way to rise from a nobody-clerk to an executive in hisNew Yorkinsurance company.  He lets the other executives use his apartment as a safe place to take their mistresses.  Though Baxter is often waiting outside in the cold when a date is running late, they drink all his liquor and eat all his cheese crackers, he keeps putting up with the pile of annoyances in hopes of the men acting on their promises to make him an executive.

Because of all the comings, going, loud music and empty bottles of liquor in his trash, Baxter’s neighbors assume he’s a real swinging bachelor.  His neighbor, Dr. Dreyfus (Jack Kruschen) says he can hear everything from next door and advises the young man to either slow down or donate his body to science.  With Baxter not always able to explain all the noise, the land lord starts becoming suspicious.

At work, Baxter has eyes for the pretty elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (Shirley MacLaine).  They flirt in the elevator on his way to see Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) about a promotion.  Part of this promotion includes letting Sheldrake use the apartment as well, but at least he has theater tickets to exchange so Baxter has somewhere to go, so Baxter asks Fran to go with him.  What Baxter doesn’t know is that Fran is Sheldrake’s mistress in a long line of mistresses.  Later, after drama ensues and Fran finds out the ugly truth about her relationship with Sheldrake, she tries something drastic in Baxter’s apartment.  Baxter becomes the only person who cares enough about Fran to help her.

Baxter is the sort of nice guy we can’t help but love, even though it’s obvious he’s a huge pushover.  He is constantly being taken advantage of by the executives just for a fast-track promotion.  Though we realize this isn’t the most honest path to rise in the company, we don’t chastise Baxter for loaning out his apartment.  Of all the scandalous ways to get ahead at this insurance firm, Baxter is keeping pretty tame and classy.  And for those of us who tsk-tsk-ed him at any point are turned completely in his favor when he unselfishly helps Fran.

Out of context, this plot may sound a little heavy.  In the film, it’s anything but.  From the start, a wonderfully light tone is set and stays consistent throughout the film.  We’ve got Jack Lemmon with all his quirky, charming comedic genius being pulled different ways.  His scene in Sheldrakes office with the nasal spray had me in stitches.  The jokes are quick, charismatic and naturally off the cuff.  And when the plot becomes heavier, that light feeling is not lost.  It becomes a wonderful charm to help ease the tension, get Fran back on her feet and moves Baxter to new levels of confidence.

You rarely find a film with this high level of comedy and an engaging plot with so much at stake.  Between the wonderful acting, which can range from slapstick comedy to life and death dramatics, and the zany yet calculable plot, The Apartment does not let up or let you down.  It was a two hour film, yet I sat back, laughed and became so engrossed it felt like it was over too quick.  I highly recommend The Apartment to all people who just want to enjoy a classic film.  Other than the horrible injustice done to Psycho (I cannot forgive the Academy on that one), Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is the best picture of 1960.

“When you’re in love with a married man, you shouldn’t wear mascara.”

Annie Hall

It appears that 1977 was one of the best years for romantic-comedies, ever.  With two up for best picture, one taking home the prize and both bringing genuine smiles to my face, romantic-comedies from the late 70’s may have more to show me still.  Annie Hall is about a neurotic New York comedian, Alvy Singer (Woody Allen directing himself), who falls in love with a fun-loving woman, Annie Hall (Diane Keaton).  The film explores their relationship, with Alvy leading the narration in a variety of ways, from a simple voice-over, breaking the fourth wall, watching and commenting on scenes from his past and even a short animation fantasy.

Alvy is one of those unforgettable characters that you can love, but wouldn’t want to hang out with.  He only reads books with Death in the title, enjoys watching documentaries about the holocaust and always suspects the worst in people.  He tries to compensate for all his paranoia, insecurities, self loathing and anal tendencies with a constant stream of jokes.  Alvy is a real downer in a funny way.  It seems that he is simply never happy, and there’s always something rubbing him the wrong way to complain about: a know-it-all who knows nothing behind him waiting for a movie, Annie becoming friends with her professor and the entire state of California.

Thing is, Annie seems to be equally neurotic, but in a positive light.  She’s outgoing, adventurous and willing to try new things, but always self conscious.  While Alvy is a stand-up comedian, she is a wannabe singer, well aware how terribly awkward her venues are.  In these moments, it’s Alvy who has to turn on a positive light.  But overall, the relationship is strained because both Annie and Alvy are stubborn about what they want.  And Alvy becomes jealous at how quickly Annie is progressing in therapy, while he’s been going for fifteen years with no breakthrough.

The element that really sets this film apart from the conventional romantic-comedy is Woody Allen’s charismatic way of mixing fantasy with reality.  Some of the greatest moments in the film come when Alvy is breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience directly.  Considering that Alvy is a stand-up comedian, this comes naturally and isn’t jarring at all, the film even begins this way with a great monologue.  One of my favorite moments is when Alvy confronts the loud know-it-all behind him in line for a movie and even has the director handy to weigh in and tell the guy he’s full of crap.  The real kicker is when Alvy turns to us and says, “Boy, if only life were like this.”

Sometimes these fantastic elements help address an idea or situation in a visual way.  When Alvy is a little annoyed that Annie only makes love to him while high, she agrees to go to bed without her usual hit.  Then we see a ghost of Annie suddenly removed from her body in bed and sitting across the room watching.  Alvy asks, “Are you with me?  You seem sort of distant.”  A moment later, the Annie-ghost gets bored and asks where her drawing pad is and Alvy, annoyed, gestures towards the ghost, “You see, that’s what I call removed.”  The whole scene is simple, and completely understood with just a touch of fantasy.

The great thing about Annie Hall is that neither character is perfect, and they both realize this.  In the end, their mutual friendship is still in tact, even if their relationship isn’t.  I believe most people today would enjoy Annie Hall, it’s funny, witty with a good mix of comedic variety.  And if we’re the stoic type, that wonders why a guy like Alvy would bother trying to find love, he has the perfect joke to explain it.

“Most of us, need the eggs.”

The Turning Point

The world of ballet is quite a demanding profession.  Physically, it takes years of practice, tough training, a certain amount of comfort in tights and can take a real tole on one’s feet.  In The Turning Point, we see that the honor of touring with a ballet company can mean sacrificing many of life’s milestones.  Unfortunately, there are regrets on either side of the decision to keep dancing or to have a family.

Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) and her husband Wayne (Tom Skerritt) were both professional ballet dancers together, but decided to give it up and have a family.  Now in their forties, they have three children, two who seriously practice ballet and Deedee runs the town’s dance studio.  When the old company they used to tour with comes to their Oklahoma town, they host a party for them in their little suburban home.  They get to catch up with old friends, especially Emma (Anne Bancroft).

In their days together with the company, Deedee and Emma were great friends and very competitive, but their separate paths show what the other wishes they had accomplished.  Deedee had just as much potential as Emma, would she have been a great dancer as well if she had not had a family?  And Emma is obviously lonely, but wildly successful.  Would she be happier if she gave up dancing for a family life?

When Deedee’s eldest daughter, Emilia (Leslie Browne), is invited to go to New York with the dance company, Emilia realizes what a big decision it is.  The decisions her parents have made are weighing on her and she is quietly pulled between one day having a happy family life or being a great ballerina.  But she’s still very young, so she can dance now and come to those bridges later.  In New York, with her mother and brother visiting for the summer, Emilia becomes romantically involved with a Russian dancer, Yuri (Mikhail Baryshnikov).  The strain between ballet, Yuri, family and trying to learn all she can from Emma can become overwhelming for Emilia and Deedee.

Within the course of this blog, I have discovered a love for ballet on film.  Here in The Turning Point, everything is centered around the dance form.  We are shown bits of practice as well as the beautiful stage performances.  In practices, the details are key.  There are close up images of toes pointed, sliding across the floor and the barre shaking as a row of hands grip it in rhythm.  The performances take a step back and give us a view from the audience, hardly cutting away.  In the final performance, we’re given details within the program, telling us the name of the ballet, the choreographer and the character on stage performing.  These small captions do not disrupt and go a long way for those of us wanting to know more.

The whole film is like going to the ballet, with a captivating story about the dancers inserted and not having to dress up or look between heads to see the stage.  The film was nominated for eleven Oscars, but sadly didn’t receive any.  If you don’t appreciate ballet, mother-daughter relationships or a strained friendship between aging women, this may be a stretch for you.  But between the thoughtful story, the thrill and beauty of ballet, I really enjoyed The Turning Point.

“Dancers have such ugly feet.  Ugh.  If I was a man, I could have all the feet… I mean, children I wanted to… and still danced.”

The French Connection

Have you ever followed someone before?  I don’t mean following a friend as you drive across town so you don’t get lost.  I mean a complete stranger, or someone who would not welcome you keeping an eye on them.  It’s a creepy question to answer yes to.  The experience is nerve wracking, keeping the target in sight while you stealthily stay just out of their range of perception.  You have to just go with it and ignore that part of your mind that calls you a creep, that’s what will make you slip up.  But when your target realizes just what he is to you, there are only two options: slip into the shadows or chase.  The French Connection is my dream chase.

In New York, Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy Russo (Roy Scheider) are cops in the Narcotics Bureau.  On a hunch, they tail Sal Boca (Tony Lo Bianco), owner of a seemingly normal sandwich shop.  It turns out he’s about to make a deal with Alain Charnier (Fernando Rey), one of the biggest suppliers of heroin to the US.  Doyle and Russo have to try to intercept the huge heroin shipment from France, but things get messy when Boca and Charnier realize they’re being tailed.

Gene Hackman is so amazing as Doyle that he won the Oscar for leading actor.  He has the most perfect loose-cannon cop presence I’ve ever seen.  One of his shining moments is in an early scene where he busts a bar.  As he enters, he yells, “Alright, Popeye’s here,” lines everyone against the wall and puts two men in the phone booths.  He knows all the tricks, reaches underneath the bar railing, finds all sorts of drugs and mixes them together in a leftover drink to make a “milkshake”.  Doyle is a loose guy, perhaps he gets too intense, but he’s a great cop.  His intensity and sense of duty is what gives the chase scenes a personal drive.

Honestly, the first view can be a bit confusing if you don’t pay close attention to who wants what with the drugs, but the main idea is always clear: Guy 1 is following Guy 2.  I remember in a film class we were shown about five minutes of the train chase.  We weren’t given any premise, just “this is a chase” and that’s all we needed.

Director William Friedkin knows that when it’s filmed right, the most simple plot can be the most captivating.  In the amazing-train-chase-scene, there is always a component of the chase shown in motion.  We see Gene’s car maneuvering recklessly through traffic.  The man on the train keeps moving forward and after enough time, catches a second tail.   When we get a shot of Gene’s face as he’s driving, the train above is reflected on the windshield.  As the chase continues, we only get more involved and stakes get higher.  What began as an on-foot pursuit has turned into a man hijacking a above ground train being chased by a cop in a stolen car below.

I’ve often talked about how I love to yell at certain films, especially tense Hitchcock moments.  Readers, I honestly wish I had been a further creep and videoed my reactions throughout this film.  I was brought repeatedly to my feet, cursing, yelling at Gene Hackman, “Get back on the train!”  By the end, my brain was fizzling and my veins pumped pupil dilating adrenaline.  There was a good half an hour before I could do anything more than pace around the house cursing in delight and jubilation.  I can only hope it will give you the same reaction.  The French Connection won Picture, Director, Actor, Editing and Writing and my undying love.  This is one of the greatest films I have ever seen.

“I’m gonna nail you for picking your feet in Poughkeepsie.”

Dead End

On a dead end block in New York, next to the river, a gang of boys gather and their antics are known all over the neighborhood.  Overlooking their usual hangout is a new apartment complex full of rich people.  The main entrance to their building is under construction, so all the residence must pass by the boys as they come and go.  This gives the boys fuel and something to laugh at.  When notorious gangster ‘Baby Face’ Martin (Humphrey Bogart) returns to the block, his childhood home, he observes the boys and gives them a few of his old tricks.

Martin’s old friend, Dave (Joel McCrea) sees that he’s just a bad influence on the boys, the neighborhood doesn’t need to produce anymore gangsters.  Dave is an intelligent man, went to college and studied architecture, but he can’t find any work.  So he stays around his home, helping out the good people in the neighborhood and tries to make the block look nice now that they’ve got rich neighbors.

The boys take their antics too far when they beat up a rich boy from the new building.  They trick him into being accepted by them, we don’t see the beating, but the kid who was so nicely dressed runs back home with his clothes in shreds, his pocket watch stolen and one boy wearing his nice white suit coat like a joke.  The rich boy’s father won’t have any of it and grabs one boy, Tommy (Billy Halop) by the arm, nearly breaking it.  In an effort to get his arm free, Tommy pulls a pocket knife and slices the father’s hand.  Well that’s too much for the father, so he calls an officer, who wants to find Tommy and take him away to reform school, the same fate that led Martin to life as an outlaw.

Humphrey Bogart is always such a joy to watch, and Dead End proves no different.  For a wanted man, Martin is pretty smart; before he decided to visit back home he had some sort of surgery on his face so he couldn’t be recognized, but no matter what he’s tried, he can’t change his fingerprints.  He returns home to see his mother and hopefully get back together with his childhood sweetheart.  When neither prospect go over well he concocts a plan to make his visit a little fruitful.

Problem is, Dave has taken it upon himself to watch over the neighborhood and is willing to take justice into his own hands, even against his old boyhood pal.

This is a wonderful precautionary tale mixing city boyhood antics in with a gangster twist.  I found myself getting very involved with the story as well with the characters.  I would recommend this for all ages, since the boys biggest bad word is “bologna” and there isn’t much violence until the climax.  Anyone who enjoys Bogart, McCrea or stories of inner city kids would enjoy this film.

“The famous ‘Baby Face’ Martin used to live on this block. He wasn’t such a bad kid either at first. He was smart and brave and decent… at first.”