Boetticher's Seven Men From Now has long been considered a mere B-western , especially due to the presence of its laconic star , Randolph Scott . This film was written by Burt Kennedy and produced by John Wayne's productions. Ben Stride (Scott) plays a former sheriff whose wife has been killed and he's going to get out and seek revenge. Along the way, he helps a married couple who are stuck in the mud ; who persuade Stride to ride west with them in case of further problems. Along the trail they meet up with Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his pal Clete ( Donald Barry) . Stride only talks when its complete necessary or very important. This film gave Scott a chance to show just what a fine actor he was. His Ben Stride could so easily have been played as corny and grumpy , but Scott gives it the emotional depth that the script demanded. The outstanding performance, without qualification is Lee Marvin's. He makes for an engaging villain , who makes his sinister and untrustworthy character as likable as possible. For a western, the economical script is impressively intelligent , witty and psychologically involving.
At the time of its release, Brother was hyped as Kitano's vehicle for breaking into the United States film market. Mostly , the film is a successful transposition of his trademark melancholic violence, playful humour and brutal editing, and in this respect Kitano maintains an artistic and thematic continuity with his earlier films. Kitano plays a Yakuza gangster who is exiled to the United States. He has his half brother living there so he has a place to live in. Soon he starts to have new friends and become a leader of their new gang. Kitano gives full shrift to examining the Yakuza sub-culture with its codes of chivalry, obligation, loyalty, obedience and brotherhood. Members of a Yakuza clan maintain a fanatical loyalty to their anikis within the gang with a willingness to put one's life on the line. The violence is very brutal and challenging but definitely not gratuitous or exploitative. His violence is always very symbolic and sudden, and not necessarily realistic. This film contains all the element which we have seen in his other films-flashbacks of events, long shots without editing, characters faces which say so many things more than words.
Walsh shoots the rise to the top and equally quick descent gangster film in a fast-paced semi-documentary style ( using newsreel clips , popular music from the period and a reporter's voice-over) ,keeping it true only to a certain point and fictionalizing it to keep it exciting as an entertaining film. Three soldiers meet on the ww1 battlefield in 1918. One is the all good lawyer Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn) , one the thoroughly bad George Hally (Humphrey Bogart) , and the third , an everyman named Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney) . Eddie is smitten with a girl , Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane) who has been corresponding with him from home. When the war ends Eddie returns to New York and hooks up with buddy Danny who is a Gabie. Unable to find work, Eddie is forced to share the driving of Danny's cab. In the meantime, prohibition takes effect and Eddie discovers that bootlegging is the way to get rich. At the onset he meets Panama ( Gladys George) who turns out to be his only friend. Cagney as usual dominates the picture. He is his usual cocky Irish tough guy but with character flaws. Although Cagney dominates every scene he is in , the more ominous gangster in the film is played by Humphrey Bogart in one of his best performances prior to assuming character roles in the late 40s. However the best turn of The Roaring Twenties is by alternate female lead Gladys George , billed lower but with comparable screen time and oodles more screen presence. A well-crafted screenplay with memorable scenes, newsreels , well-crafted gun-play, authentic costumes and hairstyles reflecting the Roaring Twenties are an added plus here.
Based on a novel by Masuji Ibuse who gathered information from interviews and the diaries of real-life bomb victims , the film depicts how an entire family is affected psychologically as well as physically by the bomb years after the original explosion. The film begins in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 as soldiers and civilians go about their normal daily activities. Suddenly a blinding light flashes and a thunderous blast is heard. The story centers around Yasuko (Yoshiko Tanaka) , a young woman who is caught in the radioactive rain as her boat head backs to the city to search for friends and relatives. When the family returns to their home, her life is forever changed. When her aunt and uncle try to find her a husband, the eligible men refuses to marry her because of suspicions about her health, even though her uncle has copied her diary to prove that she wasn't directly exposed to the bomb. She only feels comfortable with another damaged man Yuichi , who has a panic attack every time he hears the roar of an engine. The film is clearly designed as a memorial to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for a world too quick to forget. Perceiving the need to remind his country of the truth of the atomic horror, the normally confrontational director shows notable restraint here. This is one of the reasons why this film, despite being brilliant , is not among my favourites.
Ran
dolph Scott plays bounty hunter Ben Brigade , who captures outlaw Billy John (James Beast) and proceeds to transport him to Santa Cruz. On the way, Brigade rescues the wife of a station manager , and two outlaws help him defend against an Indian attack. This was director Budd Boetticher's first use of 'Scope' , and it's a masterpiece of economic action and performance ,as if he had no problem making the adjustment. This film beautifully captures the desolation of the old west and the lonesome characters who try to survive its hard way of life. All the performances are nice , and it does a masterful job showing the shifting loyalities and grand ambitions among the characters as they trek across the desert.
As writer, director and star of the film, Thornton became as close to an "overnight sensation" as it gets, quickly earning the sincere respect of his peers in all three categories . Though he's always been something of an outsider to the Hollywood machine, he's still managed to fit in quite nicely. Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) is a mentally disabled man who has been in the custody of the mental hospital since the age of 12 for having killed his mother and her lover. He soon finds a job fixing lawn mowers and farm implements and makes friends with Frank (Lucas Black) ,a lonely boy whose mother (Natalie Canerday) lets Karl move into the garage. Her boyfriend Doyle is an abusive man who torments Frank and Karl when she is working at the dollar store. As the story progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that Karl has got himself into a fix similar to the one that led to his earlier crimes. This story unfolds in many layers ,with friendship and love woven between bigotry and cruelty. Billy Bob Thornton was excellent in his portrayal . With his stooped shoulders, tight-lipped smile, jutting jaw, vacant expression and guttural throat-clearing, Karl became the butt of so many jokes back when the movie first came out that it's easy to forget what a truly amazing character - and job of acting - Thornton has pulled off here. As a director, he proves himself a master of rhythm and pacing, setting the mood and allowing the scenes to play themselves out without recourse to overstatement . This is the kind of movie that could have become very preachy, but it hasn't and that's something that I really appreciate.
The title refers to the Hindustani equivalent of "E-flat". It was part of the triology , Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) , Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha , all dealing with the aftermath of the partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre. The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative , the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, divided leadership of IPTA and the fallout of the partition of India.
Hero of this film, Bhrigu is a leader. And in due course , he is challenged and left alone by other leadership aspirants. He tells Anasuya why he is so rugged, unemotional today. He tells that on the bank of river Padma, from where he tries to see the other side, his home — another country now, where he can never go back as citizen again. Komal Gandhar is layered with cultural references — urban and folk. Heroes take names from Indian mythology —- Bhrigu, Anasuya ; the theatre group wants to find its essence in a performance of Shakuntala; Bhrigu compares Shakuntala’s sorrow in leaving behind her forest with an eviction from someone’s own space in Calcutta. Probably people identify him/herself with this movie to a great extent that it brings back the tune of nostalgia and responsibility.
The picture is the first adaptation of Charles Portis 1968 novel True Grit. John Wayne stars as U.S . Marshal Rooster Cogburn and won his only Academy award for his performance in this film. In True Grit, Wayne plays grumpy,
pot-bellied U.S. marshal "Rooster" Cogburn, hired by 14-year-old Mattie
Ross (Kim Darby) to find Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), who killed her father . She could have selected any other lawman but she chose the aging Cogburn because she believes that he has "true grit". Texas ranger Glen Campbell is also in search for Tom Chaney for a different murder. He teams up with the marshal and Mattie . But oddly enough, True Grit isn't really about plot. It's about the creation of the character. Tough old Rooster , isn't above a little larceny ,but has one stern moral code about real bad guys. And
he's got quite the colorful past as he relates tales of his younger
days to Campbell and Darby on the trail. Wayne's portrait of that fat, mean, greedy, eye-patched , whisky drinking and yet in some strange way lovable lawman will remain as one of the best performances in westerns. Kim Darby is also a surprise. She's more than capable of handling Wayne in
each and every scene. They made a very good team. Glen Campbell is not as
good as these two, but then he really isn't an actor . The photography is superb, with the hills, mountains, valleys
and forests being the real stars in this film.
