How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 4: Chinatown

Chinatown

Chinatown is the story of private eye J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) and his descent into a dark world filled with double crosses, deceit, and murder. It's a Film Noir straight out of the 1940s that just so happens to be filmed in the early 1970s. Roger Ebert, in his Great Movies review, says that when Chinatown was released it was seen as a "neonoir," yet due to Director Roman Polanski and Writer Robert Towne's (who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) successful grasp of the genre, it has rightfully been grouped together overtime with some of the best from the original batch. 

One of the things I admired most about Chinatown was just how dark the movie eventually becomes. Like some of the best Noirs, not every ending is tied up nicely. The worst outcomes are saved for the most innocent (who in a noir is never actually completely innocent). These movies always teach their lessons with bullets instead of words and Chinatown is no exception. The timing of the movie is perfect as it seems to have come out in what is now the mythical era of the early-to-mid 1970s, where some of the best American movies were able to be made, far away from the hands of studios looking to make a quick buck.  Maybe if we all click out heals together and wish hard enough, we will eventually go back to that system.

It's hard not to compare Chinatown with this year's "throwback" The Artist. While Chinatown chose the cool, dark world of Film Noir to dive into, The Artist instead hearkens back even further to the era where sound was still considered an experiment in film. While Chinatown uses the backdrop of Film Noir to create a new story that pushes the genre forward, The Artist is a gimmick film. No one will ever consider The Artist a great silent film, because it isn't. It's certainly a fun movie, but it's like praising an amazing impersonator. They may have talent, but unlike Chinatown, there is nothing to really chew on. 

It can be hard watching a movie like Chinatown and trying to view them through the eyes of a film viewer in the 1970s. Having the knowledge of where film went from that point on can make it harder to appreciate the new boundaries that the film pushed. Still, it's hard to deny just how fresh Chinatown feels, even to this day. It's one of the rare films that is both a throwback to a previous era and also a member of a new breed that helped define a new generation of film. How had I not seen this yet?

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: Salt water is bad for the grass.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Upcoming Titles:

- The Thin Man

- Dog Day Afternoon

- The Untouchables

- Battle Royale

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 3: The Godfather: Part II

The Godfather: Part II

There is little I could say negative about The Godfather: Part II. There is also little I could say positive about The Godfather: Part II that hasn't already been said in a much cleaner way than I could ever express. It simply lives up to the hype as a great film. It's not just an American classic, but a classic piece of art. It takes everything that was great (and there are many great things) about The Godfather, and builds upon them, bit by bit over it's epic three and a half hour running time, until the final hour is scene after scene of fantastic payoff. 

The cast of The Godfather: Part II is almost frighteningly good. Robert De Niro picks up where Marlon Brando left off and continues to make Vito Corleone into one of the best characters ever seen on film. I may not fully agree with the necessity of the flashback scenes, but he made them worth every second. It really is amazing to see the things De Niro used to be capable of. Same of course goes to Pacino, who is incredible at turning Michael Corleone into a character I hate. I could go on and on mentioning every other actor but special attention should go to John Cazale as Fredo. We simply didn't get enough movies starring him before he died (he "only" made 5 films: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather: Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter). I don't mean to be "punny" here, but his character broke my heart. The scenes with him and Michael alone were easily my favorite of the entire series so far.

One last thing I want to discuss is the notion that The Godfather: Part II is considered a "superior sequel." Sequels are an odd thing in film. It seems most successful movies that come out now are sequels/remakes/reboots or something with a built in audience such as a film based on a TV show, comic book, or even a line of popular toys for children. Sequels like The Godfather: Part II however are a rare breed in that they feel like an organic continuation of the original. I think of the first two Godfather movies the same way I look at two seasons of a great TV show, like Seasons 3 and 4 of The Wire. Both are amazing on their own but also continue the story forward without rehashing things we've seen before. They transcend the argument of "which is better" and are simply different sections of an amazing story*. That's what real sequels should do. How had I not seen this yet?

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: If you give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime. If you try to teach a boy to fish, you will be killed (and the boy will get no fish).

You're Welcome,

Dave

* I understand The Godfather: Part III doesn't have the same reputation as serving the story but I haven't seen it yet so I'll wait until I do to pass judgement.

Upcoming Titles:

- Dog Day Afternoon

- The Thin Man

- Battle Royale

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 2: The King of Comedy

The King of Comedy

The King of Comedy is the exact reason why I started doing this series. I had heard little regarding this movie except that it was about a stalker relationship between Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. I also knew that the few people who did mention it to me, told me I would love it. Unfortunately, it took so long to finally see because when someone repeatedly tells me I need to watch a movie because I'd love it, I gradually decide I never wanted to see that movie. I'd convinced myself that I liked the joy of discovering movies on my own and almost began to resent certain movies based on other people's recommendations. I have no defense for this and have since realized how stupid it is. Moving forward, I clearly have to listen to people's recommendations, especially when they are telling me I need to watch something as perfect as this movie.

The film centers on sad sack Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), who is obsessed with getting a stand-up gig on Jerry Langford's (Jerry Lewis, playing a NYC version of Johnny Carson) variety talk show. We first meet Pupkin as he saves Langford from a deranged fan who somehow gained access to Langford's car as he tries to leave the studio after a show taping. Pupkin then weasels himself into Langford's car, at which point he begins selling his act to Langford, hoping for a chance to have his breakout moment. At first it's unclear just how much of a chump Pupkin is, but it doesn't take long for the film to paint him as an imbalanced man who spends his time in his room (decorated as Langford's set, complete with cardboard cut-outs of Langford and Liza Minnelli) having pretend conversations with Langford. These conversations are shot perfectly, bouncing back and forth between the fantasy world in his head and the real world of Pupkin alone in his room, where the only occasional human contact he has is his faceless mother yelling through the walls for him to quiet down.

While it's a given that De Niro is incredible in this movie, everyone else is surprisingly great as well, including Lewis and also Sandra Bernhardt as fellow obsessed fan (and eventual accomplice) Masha. Jerry Lewis actually surprised me the most in this movie at how well he played Langford. This was the first movie I had ever seen Lewis in and I was impressed at how well he handled his scenes with De Niro. I doubt I'll go and check out his earlier comedies (unless The Day The Clown Cried finally gets unearthed) but it was cool seeing him in this role, especially after only seeing him in my lifetime as the guy who does the telethon, makes gay slurs, and doesn't think women are funny. Speaking of (un)funny women, Bernhardt deserves special credit for playing a delightful psychopath. It was good to see her actually be funny, which is something I've never seen her do on her current gig doing "Sandrology" every Wednesday night on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live.

The comedy in The King of Comedy is pitch black, which is exactly why I loved it so much. Much of the humor stems from the complete sadness that is Pupkin's life. At certain times, it's almost cringeworthy what we are forced to watch him go through, but De Niro is so good in this movie that he is able to ride the line between black comedy and unwatchable torture. In fact, I'm amazed that De Niro isn't given more credit for this role. Sure he's had so many iconic characters, but I truly believe this belongs in his pantheon of greats, right up there with Travis Bickle and Jake LaMotta. The scene alone where we finally see Pupkin's actual stand-up routine makes De Niro deserve an multiple awards for this role. The reveal of his routine (and the reaction it gets) had me simply staring at my TV with a giant smile on my face, enjoying what De Niro and Scorsese had just accomplished. How had I not seen this yet?

Valuable Life Lesson Learned: A lot of people may misspell and mispronounce it, but I now know that it's spelled "P-U-P-K-I-N".

You're Welcome,

Dave

Upcoming February Titles:

- The Godfather Part 2

- The Thin Man

How Had I Not Seen This Movie!? Part 1: The Godfather

Welcome to my latest attempt at restarting Dave's Constant. I'm going to try something different going forward as I've decided on a new plan for catching up on all of the "Classic" movies I've missed. I'm going to pick 4 movies a month that I feel are glaring omissions in the list of films I've seen and post my thoughts as I watch each one. The end goal is that I will no longer have to hear the phrase "How have you not seen that yet?" Oh, and "Spoiler Warning" ahead. Although really, it's your own fault for not seeing this movie yet... 

The Godfather

What better way to start this new feature than with the movie that seems to elicit the biggest shock when I tell people I hadn't seen it. There are many reasons why I never got around to seeing The Godfather. At first, it was hard for me to drum up interest in watching a three hour movie whose major plot points had been ingrained in our everyday Pop Culture lexicon for so long. It almost seemed pointless to even bother watching it when there were so many other films for me to discover/enjoy that I knew little to nothing about. After a while though, it basically became a weird in-joke for myself. I liked that I hadn't seen The Godfather mainly due to the reaction I got when letting people know I never saw it. But I slowly realized that I can't really consider myself a Film Fan without seeing this movie, so I set out to finally change that. 

I now completely understand why The Godfather is held in such high regard. Everything about this movie just works. It's a Master class on everything: Acting, Directing, Writing, all the way down to Costume Design. One thing I realized right off the bat is that I had really been missing the boat on Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. I've mainly been familiar with their work from the past 15-20 years, which gradually became them playing a bad impersonator doing an impression of them. Just look at the tail end of Brando's career, beginning with The Freshman, which ironically has him parodying his role in The Godfather. Everything after (and including) that point shows not one speck of the amazing talent that Brando showcased in this film. The same goes for Pacino. Nowadays he shows up in movies to yell every other line with a general look of confusion on his face. He was in Jack and Jill for Christ's sake! Is it that he just gave up or is nobody offering him real roles anymore? Either way, all that mattered to me while watching this movie was that I was seeing two actors at the top of their game going toe-to-toe in every scene they shared.

The only real bit of criticism I had when watching The Godfather was that at certain points in the first 2/3 of the film's almost 3 hour running time, I was left feeling like certain things could have been cut in order to make for a more concise (and shorter) film. But the real magic of this movie comes from the payoff in the final hour. Literally every scene I felt should have been cut ended up being crucial to the final puzzle. The best example to me was that we spend so much time at the happy wedding of Connie and Carlo in the beginning of the film. I kept rolling my eyes waiting for them to get to the real story. (Did I mention I am bad at long movies?) However, as we slowly start to see the marriage fall apart over the rest of the movie, it allows the pieces to fall into place for when Michael decides to coldly have Carlo killed, completing Connie's transition from bride to widow. We then end with the fallout of Carlo's death, where Michael is in the same room his Dad was meeting people on Connie's wedding day. The full transition has been complete (right down to Michael's wardrobe change). How had I not seen this yet?

Valuable Life Lesson Learned:  If an Italian woman attempts to drive a car, the car will explode.

You're Welcome,

Dave

Upcoming February Titles:

- The Godfather Part 2

- The King of Comedy

- The Thin Man