Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train: Farley Granger and Robert Walker Star in Lauded Hitch Film

A chance encounter between two strangers on a train leads to murder in this classic suspense thriller.

(review contains spoilers)

Strangers on a Train (1951) is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most recognized and praised films and is considered one of the foremost suspense thrillers in cinematic history. The film is based on American author Patricia Highsmith's first novel of the same name. Famous detective novelist Raymond Chandler was one of the screenwriters who adapted Highsmith's novel for Hitchcock's film. The other writers involved on the screenplay were Czenzi Ormonde and Whitfield Cook.

Murder Swap Plan

The film begins with a chance meeting between two men on a train. Amateur tennis champ Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets rich, spoiled socialite Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) after the two men accidentally bump shoes. Bruno immediately recognizes Guy from his pictures in the paper. Right away Bruno becomes overly familiar with Guy, asking him personal questions about his rocky marriage to his trampy, adulterous wife Miriam and his romantic relationship with Anne Morton, the daughter of a U.S. senator.

The scene has clear homoerotic undertones as it feels like Bruno is hitting on Guy. At first Guy is wary of Bruno's forward behavior but feels he's harmless enough and is cordial to him. During their conversation, Bruno tells Guy about his domineering, hard-nosed father who has recently been putting pressure on him to get a job and make something of himself. Bruno feels going to work and punching a time clock is beneath him and doesn't want any part of it. Bruno no doubt was a problem child and continues to be a burden to his father as a young adult. Bruno's worried that his father will eventually cut him off if he doesn't attempt to get a job and try to do something with his life. Thus, he feels he has to do something drastic before this happens.

In a half-joking manner, Bruno hypothetically suggests that the two exchange murders: Guy kills Bruno's father, and Bruno kills Mariam, "Crisscross." Bruno believes that the murder-swapping plan is perfect because neither would have any motive for killing a complete stranger, so there would be no connection tying them to the murders. Guy assumes that Bruno is joking and humors him, telling him it's a good idea. Guy gets off the train and doesn't give what Bruno said a second thought. Later on, to Guy's horror, Bruno tells him that he has indeed murdered Miriam and is now demanding that Guy keep up his end of the bargain and murder his father. Bruno's homicidal action sets off a psychological and suspenseful game of wits between the two men. It's compelling how Bruno keeps pulling Guy deeper and deeper into his dark, murderous plan to the point where Guy feels like a trapped prey.

Hitchcock Keeps The Tension High throughout Film

One of the things that makes the film so entertaining is that Hitchcock manages to sustain a high level of tension and suspense throughout. He keeps the audience on its toes with a number of unexpected twists and turns. Another significant component is that Hitchcock infuses the film with his trademark morbid sense of humor. His gallows humor can be found in most of the scenes involving his daughter Patricia Hitchcock, who plays Anne's younger sister Barbara ("Babs"). Babs is a kind of a strange girl who apparently has no filter and blurts out whatever she's thinking, much to the annoyance of her stern and rigid senator father. Bab's character is oddly charming. You can't help but like her.

Film Boasts Great Cast

The cast is uniformly good. Ruth Roman does a terrific job as Guy's romantic interest Anne Morton. Her character is all cool sophistication and haughty elegance. She just oozes class and style. She's the polar opposite of Guy's trashy wife Miriam. Kasey Rogers plays the role of Miriam with raunchy sex appeal, a bespectacled Jezebel with a devilish grin. The standout of the cast is Robert Walker as Bruno. Walker does a tremendous job in his role as the psychopathic Bruno. He's alternately menacing, desperate and vulnerable in the role. And Farley Granger is top-notch in probably the least colorful role in the film as the straitlaced Guy. His character is a great foil for the unbalanced and homicidal Bruno.

Subtleties

There are also some nice subtle touches in the film, for instance, when Guy gently straightens Bruno's tie after punching him in the face. It's a great moment as it shows the type of person Guy is in that he could still show kindness to someone who's attempting to ruin his life. And the scene also brings attention to the homoerotic undercurrent of the film. Or the scene when Miriam is flirting with Bruno at the amusement park the night he murders her. She looks over her shoulder to see if he's still following her, and when she turns back around, he' standing right next to her, seeming to appear from nowhere like an apparition.

Additionally, there's an excellent scene in which a very angry Guy is talking to Anne on a phone from a phone booth about his wife Miriam, who refuses to give him a divorce now that he's made some money playing tennis. While he's venting about Miriam, the sound of a train grows louder and louder, and when he finally yells into the phone, "I said I could strangle her!" the train goes by him and nearly drowns his words out. The sound of the train is a reference to the conversation he had with Bruno earlier about exchanging murders, and it also foreshadows Bruno killing Miriam by strangulation.

The Master Of Suspense

This film illustrates why Hitchcock was such a highly respected and critically acclaimed director. He knew how to grab an audience's attention and hold it in a vice grip. He was a great at building tension and suspense and would always sprinkle ample doses of his twisted, dark humor in his films to help counterbalance their more gruesome and horrific moments. They didn't call him "The Master of Suspense" for nothing.

Strangers On A Train at Amazon

Peter Berg's Very Bad Things: A Very, Very Black Comedy

A bachelor party turns into a nightmare when a prostitute is accidentally killed during the festivities. Her death triggers all sorts of unforeseen calamities. (review contains spoilers)

Very Bad Things is a truly twisted black comedy that teeters way over the edge of good taste. It was a very risky move on writer/director Peter Berg's part to make this his first foray into feature films as a director. However, the 1998 film has gone on to become something of a cult classic.

The film centers on a group of friends who throw their buddy Kyle (Jon Favreau) a bachelor
party in Las Vegas. In addition to Kyle, the group includes Mike (Jeremy Piven), his brother Adam (Daniel Stern), Boyd (Christian Slater) and Moore (Leland Orser). The guys are having a blast—boozing, snorting coke and trashing the hotel room—while Mike is having wild sex with a prostitute in the bathroom. In mid-coitus, Mike accidentally slams her head into a towel hook, killing her instantly.

When the others find out what happened, they start to panic and don't know what to do. Adam immediately runs to call the police, but Boyd stops him as he's not so sure if that would be the best course of action considering their situation. The rest of the group agrees with Boyd. They feel that calling the police would bring down an avalanche of problems on their heads and would completely ruin Mike's life. Thus, Boyd suggests that they bury the prostitute in the middle of the desert. He tells them that no one else even knows she was there, as he made the arrangements directly with her. The others think that this would be the best way to handle the situation.

The only one who has any real reservations about the idea is Adam. Boyd and the others eventually convince him that burying the prostitute would be the most practical and expedient thing to do in this predicament and would save them a world of trouble. Right when they're devising the plan of how they'll bring the prostitute’s body to the desert, a hotel security guard enters the room and tells them that there had been complaints about the noise. He soon spots the prostitute’s lifeless body in bathroom. Without hesitation, Boyd stabs him to death with a corkscrew. Now the group has two bodies to bury in the desert.

In Its Attempts To Shock, The Film Becomes Too Far Removed From Reality.

The Vegas incident triggers a chain reaction of mishaps and more grisly deaths. As the film progresses, it grows increasingly more violent and outrageous with the body count steadily climbing. After awhile, it seems that Berg wants to shock viewers more than he wants to entertain them. The first half, while sick, was still funny and entertaining, but the latter half just feels forced, soulless and depressing. It's shocking and sick just for the sake of it with no rhyme or reason behind it. The film becomes so over-the-top and outrageous that it loses any semblance of reality as well as much of its humor.

Each Character Battles With His Conscience.

The film raises some serious moral and ethical questions, and each character is forced to wrestle with his conscience as he comes to terms with his actions. However, there is one person who doesn't appear to be at war with his conscience, and that is Boyd. The incident in Vegas revealed a side of him that his friends never knew. It turns out that he's a bona fide psychopath. And Boyd is not just your everyday, run-of-the-mill psycho. He's a psycho who spouts self-help jargon while chopping up and disposing of dead bodies; he's a psycho who views killing two people and burying them in the middle of the desert as a sign of personal growth for him and his friends and treats it like a male-bonding excursion.

Christian Slater is terrific in the role of Boyd. It's one of his most underrated performances. And it's quite chilling to watch him calmly rationalize each monstrous act he carries out. Even when the film starts to veer off course, his character still remains interesting to watch.

And Daniel Stern and Jeremy Piven are quite good as the bickering brothers Adam and Mike. Both have a number of great scenes. Probably the funniest scene in the entire film is when Adam nearly has a nervous breakdown in the middle of a gas station mini-mart. Overwhelmed with guilt and paranoia, he just about loses it completely. The scene is fraught with tension and dread, but it’s also extremely funny. And Stern displays a great talent for physical comedy in the scene.

Stellar Soundtrack

One of the best things about the film is its soundtrack. Berg does a tremendous job in choosing the right music to set up scenes. For instance, the scene where the guys are cleaning up the hotel room and cutting up the bodies is set to "Do It, Fluid" by the Blackbyrds. This is a wickedly clever song choice for this scene. And right after that scene, Willie Bobo's "Fried Neck Bones and Some Homefries" is played while the group drives deep into the desert to bury the bodies. The haunting Latin groove fits the scene perfectly.

Cameron Diaz Plays The Bride-To-Be From Hell.

The film also stars Cameron Diaz as Kyle's controlling bride-to-be Laura. It turns out that she's just as deranged as Boyd. Her obsessive and controlling traits are apparent early on in the film. Even after she learns of what really happened in Las Vegas, she's still adamant about going through with the wedding. She wants to get married at any cost, even if she has to literally kill someone to make it happen. Laura and Boyd are cut from the same cloth. Both are selfish and manipulative control freaks who have homicidal tendencies. Diaz does a solid job as the cold and calculating Laura.

And Jeanne Tripplehorn (Criminal Minds and Big Love) delivers a fine performance as Adam's exasperated wife. Retired porn star Kobe Tai plays the prostitute, and Russell B. McKenzie plays the hotel security guard.

Peter Berg Makes Bizarre Choice For First Feature Film.

This film is a pretty odd choice for a director making his debut into feature films. But you've got give Berg credit for having the cojones to stick to his vision and not try to tone it down to make it more palatable for mass-audience consumption. This film has some brilliant parts but just as many bad ones, especially the ending. The film's finale is flat-out terrible. It feels as though Berg and everyone else involved had run out of ideas and just hastily threw that scene together. Had the entire film remained as strong as the first half, it would have been a great black comedy.

The reception to the film has been pretty much divided. It's just as much loved as it is reviled.

Very Bad Things at Amazon

Boogie Nights: A Look Back at a Decadent Decade

Filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) is a compelling exploration into the adult film industry during the late 1970s.

Boogie Nights is a captivating snapshot of the late 1970s and early ‘80s and the adult film industry before video, DVDs and the Internet turned it into a $15 billion-a-year cash cow. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson effectively captures the temper of the era in all its hedonistic decadence, from the casual sex to the illicit drug use to the loose morality that defined the decade. What could have been a depressing three-hour cautionary tale of the era’s excesses turned out to be a fascinating and thoughtful examination of a group of flawed individuals who form a familial bond in the most unlikely of circumstances and settings.

Strong Cast Brings Film To Life

The film boasts a stellar cast that includes Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy and Philip Baker Hall. Screen veteran Burt Reynolds turns in one of his finest performances as adult film director Jack Horner. Jack has designs to be a “real” filmmaker, meaning he wants to be taken seriously as a director outside of the porn industry. He feels that his work will one day be respected by mainstream audiences and ultimately change people’s perceptions of adult films. His ambitions reveal how different things were back in the late '70s in that some thought that X-rated movies would eventually become a legitimate and respected genre in mainstream filmmaking. In Reynolds' hands, Jack is a compelling character, who is by turns charming, scary, paternal and sleazy.

In a star-making performance, Mark Wahlberg plays troubled teen Eddie Adams who stumbles into the adult film industry. Eddie’s an emotionally wounded kid who’s constantly belittled by his bitter, shrewish mother. His caring but browbeaten father provides him little help from his mother’s verbal assaults. Eddie’s in sore need of someone who will make him feel that he has some value and will provide him unconditional love. Jack and the crew of his production company take Eddie in and become his surrogate family and provide him the unconditional love that was missing in his real family.

It turns out that Eddie’s a natural, as he’s, shall we say, gifted in an area that would make him very bankable in the adult film business. He rechristens himself Dirk Diggler and has a short reign as the top male star in the adult film industry before drugs and ego take him down. Diggler’s character is loosely based on real-life porn star John Holmes who went from being top dog in the porn biz to a desperate drug addict, eventually dying from AIDS-related complications at 43 in 1988.

Drug-Fueled Violence

This film contains several disturbing scenes of graphic violence, most of them triggered by excessive cocaine use. However, these scenes are not gratuitous but are necessary to show the brutal reality of the environment in which the characters inhabited. Probably the most chilling and riveting scene in the entire film takes place when Dirk and his two buddies Reed Rothchild and Todd Parker (played by John C. Reilly and Thomas Jane, respectively) get in over their heads when they try to rip off wealthy and dangerous drug dealer Rahad Jackson (brilliantly portrayed by Alfred Molina). The scene unfolds like a great piece of music. The tension builds and builds until it reaches a crescendo of heightened emotion and violence. Anderson has said in interviews that the scene was inspired by the real-life 1981 Wonderland murders in which John Holmes was involved. Holmes was on the scene when the crime took place, but it was never confirmed whether he participated in the actual murders.

 Great Use of Popular Music In Setting Mood

Anderson deftly utilizes some choice tracks in creating the proper mood in his scenes. Like Martin Scorsese, he has a knack for picking just the right song to perfectly set up a scene. Some of the artists and bands featured on the film’s terrific soundtrack include Marvin Gaye, the Ohio Players, the Beach Boys, KC & the Sunshine Band, the Commodores, Electric Light Orchestra and Eric Burdon and War.

Paul Thomas Anderson Delivers With Boogie Nights

In only his second feature film, Anderson proved that he was filmmaker of great vision and talent. And although he was working with a large cast, he managed to make the viewer get emotionally invested in each character. Following Boogie Nights, Anderson continued to display his gifts as a writer/director with excellent films such as Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. He always manages to get the best out of his actors. And when watching Boogie Nights, it’s clear that Anderson was a student of legendary director Martin Scorsese. Any Scorsese fan will notice the Scorsesian touches throughout the film. However, Anderson definitely has his own unique and original style of filmmaking, and he will no doubt continue to make compelling films.

Boogie Nights at Amazon

Related blog entry: Review of Paul Thomas Anderson's First Feature Film Hard Eight

Elisabeth Shue Stars in Adventures in Babysitting

Elisabeth Shue charms her way through this adventure/comedy about a suburban babysitter who gets thrown into a rough urban world of criminals and lowlifes.

(review contains spoilers)

Harry Potter director Chris Columbus made his directorial debut with Adventures in Babysitting (1987). It is a fun, highly entertaining comedy about the misadventures of a high school senior who gets sidetracked into a rough urban world of gangsters and assorted lowlifes while on a babysitting job. This was Elisabeth Shue's first starring role, and she didn't disappoint.

Adventures in Babysitting is sort of Risky Business lite. Both of the films' protagonists are naive, sheltered Chicago suburbanites who get a crash course in the real world and learn some important life lessons along the way. However, the PG13-rated Adventures in Babysitting is much tamer than the R-rated Risky Business.  The opening of the film even pays homage to the iconic Tom Cruise underwear scene from Risky Business. But instead of Bob Seger's gritty "Old Time Rock and Roll," Shue's character gets her groove on to the Crystals' hit "Then He Kissed Me." It's a really great way to open the film. You've got Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound, the sweet voices of the Crystals, and a joyful Shue dancing around while she gets ready for her big date. It nicely sets the film's fun, playful tone.

A Babysitting Job Goes Awry

Attractive suburban high school senior Chris Parker (Shue) takes a babysitting job after her jerk of a boyfriend cancels on their date at the last minute. The little girl that she's hired to babysit is a spunky eight-year-old named Sara Anderson (Maia Brewton), who's a huge fan of the Marvel Comics superhero Thor. Sara roller-skates around the house wearing a winged Thor helmet, and posters of the hammer-wielding Norse god adorn her bedroom walls. Sara's older brother Brad (Keith Coogan) is a gawky15- year-old who has a mega crush on Chris.

While babysitting Sara, Chris gets an urgent phone call from her best friend Brenda (Penelope Ann Miller). Brenda ran away from home due to her contentious relationship with her stepmother, but lost her nerve once she got a peek at some of the derelicts, weirdos and perverts who hang out at the seedy bus station in downtown Chicago. Brenda doesn't have any money for cab fare to get home and wants Chris to come pick her up.  So Chris takes along Sara, Brad and his obnoxious best friend Daryl Coppersmith (Anthony Rapp) to get Brenda. The rescue mission is thrown way off course after Chris' car gets a flat tire on the expressway. In their peril-filled journey through the rough streets of downtown Chicago, they encounter a car thief, gangbangers, a young prostitute and assorted mobster types.

Elisabeth Shue really shines in this film, bringing a natural charm to her role of Chris. In addition to her good looks, she has a relatable appeal that connects with the audience. However, there is one problem, and it doesn't have anything to do with her acting abilities. Shue does not look like a 17-year-old high school student. The then 23-year-old actress seems much older than cast member Keith Coogan, whom she's only supposed to be two years his senior. It's not a big problem, but it does make you do a double take when it's mentioned that the two attend the same high school.

Shue receives strong support from her fellow cast members. The standout among the supporting cast is Maia Brewton as Sara. The young actress has great comedic timing and steals a lot of scenes in her role as the scrappy eight-year-old Thor devotee. And Penelope Ann Miller is hilarious as Shue's frantic best friend Brenda. Also, Calvin Levels is impressive as Joe Gipp, the charming car thief with a heart of gold. Rapp and Coogan are also quite good in their respective roles.

 

 In addition, the late character actor John Davis Chandler is very scary as hardened mobster Bleak. With his raspy sandpaper voice and cold-as-death glare, Bleak is one guy you don't want to mess with. And keep an eye out for a very svelte Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket and Law & Order: Criminal Intent) as a surly mechanic who Sara thinks is Thor in his secret identity.

Columbus does a good job in his first outing in the director’s chair. He moves the film along at a nice, crisp pace and draws strong performances from his young cast. Columbus went on to a hugely successful career as a filmmaker with five massive blockbusters to his credit: Mrs. Doubtfire; Home Alone; Home Alone 2: Lost in New York; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The screenplay for Adventures in Babysitting was penned by writer/producer David Simkins.

Additionally, the film boasts a killer soundtrack. It’s filled with stellar blues, R&B and rock tracks. Some of the artists represented on the soundtrack include Percy Sledge, the Rolling Stones, Edwin Starr, Junior Walker, Iggy Pop, Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke. And the late legendary bluesman Albert Collins has a cameo in the film. The kids duck into his blues club while fleeing from mobsters. He tells them, “Nobody gets out of here without singing the blues.” The highlight of the film is the scene with Collins and the kids performing “Babysitting Blues.”

Columbus delivers the goods with Adventures in Babysitting. It’s everything a film like this should be. It has a charismatic and extremely likable protagonist; it’s very funny, has lots of excitement and a really strong group of supporting players. And as an added bonus, the film has an amazing soundtrack. What more could you ask for?

 

Adventures In Babysitting at Amazon

Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing Revisited

Spike Lee explores the racial divide in America and mob mentality in his controversial film Do The Right Thing.

(review contains spoilers)

It has been 25 years since Spike Lee's landmark film Do The Right Thing hit theaters in 1989. The film remains as relevant as ever and continues to spark heated discussion about race and racism in America. It stands as one of the most honest and uncompromising depictions on film of the problematic and sometimes volatile state of race relations in the United States. This is a very courageous film, especially for a young filmmaker who was just making a name for himself.

Probably the most significant thing that Lee accomplished with this film is that he reopened dialogue about race in America. Not many films at the time were addressing racial problems in the U.S. in such an upfront and contentious fashion. Although many critics hailed the film, others accused Lee of being reckless and irresponsible for releasing such an "inflammatory" work, which they felt reopened racial wounds that were better left closed. When Lee made this film, he knew full well that race problems were still very present in America and believed sweeping them under the rug and not addressing them just made the situation worse. He felt that open dialogue was the best way to address such issues. Therefore, Lee was doing the exact opposite of trying to fan racial flames as some had wrongly accused him.

Lee assembled an extremely talented cast for the film, which included Ossie Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito and Danny Aiello. Aiello is superb as Sal, the Italian-American owner of a pizzeria located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant (Bed-Stuy) section of Brooklyn. Sal has run the pizzeria in the same location for the last 25 years, and he and his pizzeria have become neighborhood fixtures. Sal is basically a decent and caring man who works hard and makes an honest living. For the most part, he gets along with most of the people in the area, which is predominately African-American. However, he is not without his flaws; he still holds deep-seated prejudices and is a bit of a hothead. Aiello doesn't hit a single false note as Sal, probably the most complex and finely drawn character in the entire film. Lee originally wanted Robert De Niro for the role of Sal, but De Niro turned it down due to prior commitments. Lee has said that getting Aiello for the role turned out to be a "blessing."

Sal runs the pizzeria with his two sons Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson). Older brother Pino is openly racist, has contempt for nearly everyone he comes in contact with, and hates every minute of working at the pizzeria: "Every day I come to work, it's like Planet of the Apes," Pino gripes. Vito, on the other hand, is much more tolerant and open-minded. He is cordial and respectful to all the customers at the pizzeria and even befriends a couple of them.

Mookie (Lee) is a young black man who delivers pizza for Sal. Mookie lacks ambition and is irresponsible. He has a young son out of wedlock with his girlfriend Tina, a sexy, sharp-tongued Puerto Rican played by Rosie Perez, and he's a burden to his younger sister Jade (played by Lee's real-life younger sister Joie Lee), with whom he lives. He does his job in a lackadaisical, apathetic fashion and constantly complains to Sal about making deliveries. Mookie is well-liked by almost everyone in the neighborhood, and even though he constantly screws up on his job, Sal holds a soft spot for him. Of course, Pino thinks his father should have fired Mookie a long time ago.

With such a serious and polemical subject matter, one would think that this film would be a grim and heavy viewing experience. On the contrary, much of the film is an enjoyable slice-of-life piece that chronicles the events during the hottest day of the summer in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood. The film is filled with colorful and humorous vignettes of the characters coping with the heat and bantering back and forth. Lee adeptly balances humor and serious drama in the film. The comedic moments allow the viewer to warm up to the characters. It was a smart move on Lee's part to offset much the serious drama with ample doses of humor. This melding of comedy and drama can be found in the famous racial-slur montage, one of the film's most powerful scenes. In the montage, people of different races and ethnic backgrounds take turns spewing racial epithets directly at the camera. This scene is at once compelling and funny.

The main conflict in the film begins when Buggin Out (a militant young black man played by Giancarlo Esposito) notices that there are no African American on Sal's wall of fame at his pizzeria, only Italian Americans. Buggin Out's grievance is that the wall of fame should be representative of the majority of customers who frequent the pizzeria, which is largely black. However, Sal feels he can put on his wall whomever he likes, as it is his pizzeria. An argument ensues between the obstinate Buggin and the hothead Sal, with Buggin being kicked out of the pizzeria. This compels Buggin to call for a boycott of Sal's Pizzeria. Later that night, Buggin and Radio Raheem (a hulking and intimidating young black man played by Bill Nunn) storm into Sal's restaurant right before closing.

Buggin loudly demands that Sal put some pictures of "brothas" up on the wall, and Radio defiantly has his boombox turned up full blast, further exacerbating an already explosive situation. Sal finally snaps, first dropping the "N" bomb and then destroying Radio's boom box with a baseball bat. Then all hell breaks loose, with Radio attacking Sal while Buggin and some of the other customers get into it with Pino and Vito. When the police arrive, they immediately go for Radio and put him in a choke hold until they cut off his air supply, killing him. The large crowd of onlookers explodes like a nuclear blast, and the conflict between Buggin and Sal has erupted into a full-scale riot during which Sal's pizzeria is burnt to the ground.

In this explosive scene, Lee brilliantly illustrates how a seemingly insignificant conflict can escalate into a full-blown riot. He shows how mob mentality can take over in which people don't think or act rationally. When Mookie throws a trash can through the window of Sal's Pizzeria, he yells, "Hate!!," verbalizing what was going through the minds of all the rioters. Da Mayor (the sagacious neighborhood drunk excellently depicted by Ossie Davis) is the only voice of reason during the mayhem; he tries to calm the crowd down, but to no avail. Lee caught flack from some people for the violent climax, but more praised him for the brutal honesty of the scene and for not holding back and laying bare how people's emotions can get the best of them and cause them to do things that they later greatly regret.
.
The film's conclusion has Mookie coming back to see Sal sitting in front of his destroyed pizzeria the day after the riot and asking for his last paycheck. The conversation they have is quite interesting. There are no apologies from either but a mutual understanding and an unspoken acknowledgement that both were wrong in their actions the previous night. The scene subtly shows that even after all that happened the night before, Mookie and Sal don't hate one other. Much credit should go to Lee for avoiding the temptation to infuse the scene with fake sentimentality or empty platitudes. The scene wouldn't have possessed the same authenticity and power if he had. The scene symbolically illustrates that there is still hope for a mutual respect and understanding between races--particularly between white and black--but will only be accomplished by acknowledging that there is a problem and addressing it through open dialogue.

Lee doesn't pretend to have all the answers with this film but merely opens the door for discussion about the issues of race and racism in America. He respects the intelligence of his audience enough not to spoon-feed them a pat ending wrapped up in a nice little bow. Lee challenges viewers to ponder and debate the issues rather than telling them what to think. 25 years later, Do The Right Thing still stirs up heated debate about racial issues in America,  which is a testament to the film's effectiveness and timelessness.


Do the Right Thing at Amazon

Related blog entry: Spike Lee Reminisces about his Youth in Crooklyn

 

Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy starring Robert De Niro

An unstable wannabe stand-up comic intrudes on the life of a popular late night talk show host in Martin Scorsese's twisted black comedy.

To say Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1983) is an unconventional comedy is a huge
understatement. This is one of the most tense and singular comedies ever put on the big screen. The acclaimed filmmaker accomplishes quite a feat here. He takes on the unpleasant subject of celebrity stalking, makes the film's protagonist an annoying sociopath, and delivers a thoroughly engrossing black comedy.

The film stars Robert De Niro as a mentally unstable wannabe stand-up comic named Rupert Pupkin. While working at his nowhere job as a messenger in New York City, Rupert fantasizes about one day becoming a huge and beloved comedy star like his idol Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), a Johnny Carson-type late night talk show host. Unfortunately, Rupert has neither the drive nor talent to achieve this lofty goal. The 34-year-old has a serious disconnect from reality. At his dingy, cramped house where he lives with his mother, he often conducts imaginary interviews with celebrity cardboard cutouts, pretending to be a popular talk show host like Langford.

What really sends Rupert over the edge is when he has a brief encounter with Langford. It occurs when Rupert helps Langford get safely into his limo after an overzealous female fan attacks him. Rupert convinces Langford to let him ride along with him since he helped him with the out-of-control fan. Rupert tells Langford of his ambitions to be a famous comedian like himself and asks if he'd listen to some of his material. He is so insistent that Langford humors him and tells him to call his secretary to set up an appointment . This is a huge mistake on Langford's part as he doesn't realize what an unstable and delusional person he's dealing with.

When Rupert is unable to get back in contact with Langford, he becomes increasingly desperate and obsessive, even going so far as to show up at Langford's summer home uninvited. Finally, believing he has no other alternative, he and the overzealous fan from earlier, Masha (Sandra Bernhard), kidnap Langford. Rupert calls up the producers of Langford's show to read them his demands. His one demand is that they allow him to do his stand-up routine live on the show, or he'll kill Langford. He tells them that if they allow him five minutes to do his routine on the show, he will release Langford unharmed and surrender himself peacefully to the authorities.

De Niro delivers a nuanced and finely calibrated performance as Rupert Pupkin. He does a stellar job at building the character's obsessiveness and desperation. He plays Rupert as seemingly harmless at first, more of an obnoxious pest than anything else. But he gradually becomes more aggressive, desperate and potentially dangerous as the film goes on. This is one of De Niro's most underrated performances.

And this is not the first time that the Oscar-winning actor has played an obsessive and mentally unstable character who feels shut out and ignored. There are some undeniable similarities between the character Travis Bickle (from Scorsese's classic Taxi Driver ) and Rupert Pupkin. Both characters are mentally unstable and obsessive. And both men feel ignored, shut out and isolated. They are both socially inept and have a difficult time making normal human connections and friendships.

And both characters ultimately take extreme action to get back at the world for ignoring them and shutting them out. Bickle does it in a really bloody fashion—gunning down pimps, drug dealers and other lowlifes in an explosion of violence. Rupert's revenge is far less violent but just as extreme. Travis Bickle is the more dark and internalized sociopath of the two, but they are cut from the same cloth. What the two characters also have in common is there is a tragic dimension about them. They are two sad, lonely and hopeless individuals who do something unthinkable just for someone—anyone—to take notice of them.

Sandra Bernhard gives a surprisingly strong performance as the unbalanced stalker Masha. She plays the role with panache and a demented sultriness. Bernhard more than holds her own in her scenes with De Niro. And what's more impressive is that this was only her second feature film. And comedy icon Jerry Lewis gives a solid performance as the cranky and constantly exasperated Jerry Langford.

One of the most significant things that the film examines is our culture's obsession with celebrities and the desire to become famous at any cost. Rupert risks going to prison for many years just to have five minutes in front of a huge television audience. And if you look at what people will do nowadays to get famous, it's not all that far-fetched. Released more than 30 years ago, this film's take on the desire for instant celebrity is more timely than ever. Look at all the people who line up to humiliate themselves on the endless procession of reality shows that keep being churned out.  Scorsese's film touched on celebrity obsession like few films did at the time. It anticipated our total fixation with fame and celebrity culture today.

The late Paul D. Zimmerman, former film critic for Newsweek, wrote the film's excellent screenplay. This film is a truly unique and absorbing black comedy. It's the forgotten gem among Scorsese and De Niro's legendary film collaborations.


The King of Comedy at Amazon

Revisiting 48 Hrs., Eddie Murphy's Exciting Film Debut

Eddie Murphy successfully made the transition from the small screen to the big screen in his star-making role in 48 Hrs.

The film 48 Hrs. celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2012. It's hard to believe that it's been more than three decades since 48 Hrs. opened in theaters back in December of 1982. The action comedy provided a perfect showcase for Murphy's edgy, rapid-fire brand of humor and charismatic personality. It was an extremely impressive film debut for the 21-year-old comic.

Although Murphy had proven that he was an immensely talented comedian and performer on Saturday Night Live, there were still some doubts that he would able to transfer that magic to the big screen. Many other talented SNL performers had attempted to make that transition, but most failed; John Belushi and a few others were the exceptions. Murphy's startling performance in 48 Hrs. removed any doubts about his film career, and he went on to become one of the biggest box office stars of all time.

 48 Hrs. is often credited as being the first buddy-cop action/comedy. After its success, an onslaught of these type of films were produced by Hollywood. And the genre is still very popular today. 48 Hrs. remains one of the best of the genre. It's everything a buddy-cop action/comedy should be. It's extremely funny, has great action sequences, and it keeps viewers thoroughly entertained throughout. And it has two dynamic leads in Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. The film also has a truly detestable villain, which is essential for a film in this genre. In addition, the film, which was directed by action maven Walter Hill, possesses a gritty authenticity that many other films of the genre lack.

Murphy plays convict Reggie Hammond who's serving a three-year prison term for armed robbery. With just six months to go on his sentence, he's given a 48-hour temporary release to help San Francisco police detective Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) track down psycho bad guy Albert Ganz (James Remar). Ganz was recently sprung from a prison road gang by his hulking partner in crime Billy Bear (Sonny Landham). Not long after busting out of prison, Ganz gets into a shootout with Cates and two other detectives, who happened upon the escaped con while investigating some stolen credit cards. Cates is the only one of the cops to survive the shootout. And to add insult to injury, Ganz gets a hold of Cates' gun during the shootout and kills one of the detectives with it. Reggie's connection to Ganz is that they were both part of a crew that robbed a big-time drug dealer for half a million dollars. Reggie hid the money shortly before his arrest and wants to retrieve it before Ganz finds out where it is.

Reggie and Cates start out despising each other, but the two eventually gain a grudging respect for one another; and by the end of the film, they have developed a tentative friendship. Nick Nolte is spot-on as the crusty, hard-drinking detective Jack Cates. Nolte brings a seen-it-all world weariness to the role that just rings true: the tired gravelly voice, the leaden gait, the gruff demeanor. Everything he does feels natural, right down to the brusque manner in which he flicks his lit cigarette to the ground. And Murphy was not the only one whose career benefited from the film. Nolte's star also rose. He and Murphy have great chemistry in their scenes together. The two riff off one another like a pair of seasoned jazz musicians. In the documentary Nick Nolte: No Exit, Nolte said that most of the dialogue between him and Murphy was improvised.

A good buddy-cop action/comedy always needs a great villain, and James Remar as the vicious psychopath Albert Ganz more than fits the bill. Like Murphy and Nolte in their roles, Remar is perfectly cast as Ganz. Remar exudes menace every time he appears on screen. He's one scary bad guy, a snarling homicidal maniac whose eyes light up when he's killing someone. Ganz is one of the great action-flick villains.

It's interesting to note that 48 Hrs. probably couldn't be made today due to the racially charged dialogue between the two main characters. Cates throws some particularly nasty racial epithets at Reggie, even calling him the N-word at one point in the film. This no doubt would cause a bit of a stir in the overly sensitive PC world that we live in today. You're not going to find many buddy cop flicks nowadays where one of the lead characters, whom the audience is supposed to root for, throwing those type of racial slurs around. Today, if such epithets are used, they're usually confined to the bad guy to make him appear even worse to the audience. Ironically, Ganz, the villain of 48 Hrs., doesn't use any racial slurs towards Reggie, and his trusted right-hand man, Billy Bear, is Native American. So Ganz may be a psychotic, remorseless killer, but he doesn't appear to be a racist.

Also, the attitude the characters have towards women probably wouldn't go over so well today either. Reggie calls two women that he and Cates run across "a couple of dykes" and basically talks to a woman he just met at a club like she's a prostitute, asking her for sex straight away and in a very crude fashion. And she acts like Reggie's the most charming guy ever who just threw a really smooth line at her.

Additionally, the dialogue is replete with four-letter words. But the racial slurs, the profanity and other non-PC language is one of the things that gives the film its sense of authenticity, of how people really talk in a world of hardened criminals and jaded, desensitized cops who see the worst of humanity on a daily basis. These guys are not going to be running around worried if what they say may offend somebody.

The scene where Reggie single-handedly intimidates all the patrons of a redneck bar is probably the film's biggest highlight. On pure attitude and the force of his personality alone, Murphy totally dominates the scene. He made you believe that Reggie armed with only a badge, his wits and a ton of attitude could thoroughly intimidate all the patrons of that bar. That's the moment when Murphy became a film star. He's had a few more great scenes like this during his film career, but they have been too few and far between of late. He's spent the last 15 years or so starring mainly in family-oriented films where we rarely see that brash, mouthy hot shot who rousted that bar in 48 Hrs.

Many of Murphy's fans miss that edgy, irreverent guy who blew audiences away playing funny, street-smart bad boys. His recent role as a thief in the comedy Tower Heist looks like a step in the right direction. Many critics have praised Murphy's performance as a welcome return to form. Hopefully, he's encouraged by the positive reviews and will take on more roles like that and not go back to solely making family films for a fat paycheck.


48 HRS. at Amazon