Quarantine Movie Reviews: Comes a Horseman, Saving Mr. Banks, 52-Pick Up

 We all have long lists of movies we've been meaning to watch, I've been catching up on films during this pandemic while staying inside. Here are three more of the films I've seen I hope you enjoy. -Ryan

Comes a Horseman (released 1978) ✯✯✯ out of four

A majestic film about the "modern" American West set in the 1940s during the waning days of WWII. Jane Fonda plays a widowed rancher struggling to keep her land and round up enough cattle to pay the bills. One day a neighboring rancher (James Caan) is found wounded and is nursed back to health by the widow. They reluctantly decide to become partners as they are the last two independent farm owners in the area, to round up a herd of cattle for sale to fend off the big land baron (Jason Robards) who wants to own the entire valley and drill for oil. The team of director Alan J. Pakula and cinematographer Gordon Willis (who previously worked on Klute and All the President's Men among others) create truly beautiful images here that are unlike anything they previously have done as a team before. They usually work in urban city environments so it makes this film all the more impressive as they capture the majesty of the mountains. plains, forests, and ominous clouds, these are truly paintings on film. The story is simple in the extreme and the film is slow paced and quiet, sometimes to the point of nothing happening except pretty images, which may lose many viewers. I was not bothered by the leisurely pace I was bothered by the heavy handed villainy of the Robards character, his performance is commanding as usual, but the script gives him very little to work with. As well the big climax seems to come from a completely different movie and almost feels tacked on, it feels out of place in the film. Overall I have been wanting to see this film for a long time and I am glad I saw if just for the beauty of the filmmaking and acting.

Saving Mr. Banks (released 2013) ✯✯1/2

This Disney historical fiction, depicts the pre-production of the studio's classic 1964 film Mary Poppins and specifically the process of convincing and securing permission from author P. L. Travers (wonderfully played by Emma Thompson) to use her characters for the film. That is the basic story but as the title implies it really is about Travers coming to terms with the long ago death of her dreamer/banker/alcoholic father (Colin Ferrell) who is the loose basis for the Poppins character Mr. Banks. There's also Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney (the person not the company) and despite his high billing he has more of a supporting role, but when he is on screen the movie really shines it's a shame he is not in more of the film. This film actually harkens back to the live action Walt Disney Pictures films of the 1980s and early 1990s, such as Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken and Never Cry Wolf, which were more adult oriented but still family entertainment though young children will probably be bored by any of these. Overall, though the whole first hour is mostly set up which makes it a little slow going since we all know where the story is headed, the period detail excellent, the actors are perfectly cast, and it is an entertaining story.

52 Pick-Up (released 1986) ✯✯

A wealthy Los Angeles inventor (Roy Scheider), whose wife (Ann-Margaret) is a candidate for public office, has an affair with a young model (Kelly Preston) and as the film begins he is blackmailed with videos of his liaisons with the young woman by three men hooded men with guns. The inventor decides to turn the tables on the blackmailers and fight back. Based on a book of the same name by Elmore Leonard (who also co-wrote the screenplay) we have the usual snappy dialogue, and the plot is good, though like some (most) of Leonard's work we spend over half the film with the sleazy villains and after a while there is no enjoyment there it just makes the viewer feel lousy, on top of that the big climax is a big let down. The blackmailers (led by John Glover at his slimy best) work in the world of low budget pornography and prostitution clubs of Sunset Strip, which features a continual abuse or degradation of women that makes the movie hard to watch (Preston's character is tortured, Ann-Margaret's character is kidnapped and then pumped full of heroin, etc). The only reason I gave it two stars is because of the strong cast and it is directed by John Frankenheimer whose excellent eye and use of LA locations bump it up a little, other than that it is a hard ride.

 

Quarantine Movie Reviews: The Organization, Fatal Beauty, and Love Letters (August 2020)

 Dear Readers,

The COVID-19 Pandemic and resultant stay at home regulations have, for better or worse, given me, like many of you the opportunity to watch a large amount of television and movies at home. Here are reviews of three of the movies I've watched, hope you enjoy!

The Organization (1971) Ryan's Rating ✯✯✯ (out of four)

Three years after the success of In the Heat of the Night Sidney Poitier reprised his role as Detective Virgil Tibbs in two back to back films, 1970s They Call Me Mister Tibbs! and this 1971 film, his third and final time playing the character. These sequels have very little to do with the original Academy Award Winning hit aside from Poitier's presence and the character being a brilliant detective. As in the previous sequel Tibbs is a San Francisco Detective with a wife and little boy (all of which is different from the original film). The convoluted story involves a robbery in which a man is murdered, a young revolutionary group contacts Tibbs says they committed the robbery but not the murder. Tibbs believes them and works to find the real culprits. I enjoy movies like this, old fashioned police investigations that are filmed on location creating a kind of time capsule. The film will probably seem dated as many police TV shows have taken these elements and used them to death but Poitier is always good to watch.

Fatal Beauty (1987) Ryan's Rating ⭐⭐ 

I first heard of this movie when I was in elementary school. During summer break I would stay with my grandparents during the day because both my parents worked. Every Thursday afternoon around 4:30pm (Hawaii time) TBS would show a movie, sometimes part of the "Dinner and a Movie" series other times just a Thursday night movie, the films were usually from the 1970s and 1980s and usually action or thriller movies. My parents would always arrive to pick me up at around 5pm, so I would inevitably only see about thirty minutes of any film. I remember being very drawn to the beginning of this movie but never saw the whole movie until now.

Whoopi Goldberg plays LAPD detective Rita Rizzoli, working to bust a drug ring. She drives a pink 1960s Mustang convertible, wears bright colored 1980s clothes, has a silver Beretta she carries in a shoulder holster. Also Sam Elliott is here as a mercenary with a lot of cool guns who is hired to kill Rizzoli but ends up falling in love with her. I can see why my childhood self was excited about this movie, my adult self is less enthralled. The movie shifts in tone from an action comedy in the Beverly Hills Cop mode, to violent starring vehicle closer to Sudden Impact or Cobra, along the way tries to put in some anti-drug drama, most of which plays like an after school special. Through all the style shifts Goldberg is very good and could have done more police action films if they had come her way.

Love Letters (1983) ✯✯1/2

A low budget drama that I first caught in high school on one of those movie channels like Flix, but again never saw the whole film until now. Jamie Lee Curtis (in her first non-horror starring theatrical film) plays a young Los Angeles public radio host who discovers a box of love letters from her recently deceased mother. The letters detail an extramarital affair between her married mother and a married older man, this then coincides with Curtis having her own affair with an older married man who is one of the sponsors the radio station (played by James Keach). The film sometimes feels like a repertory theatre company performing original work that is not quite finished, the acting is natural and strong but sometimes falls into melodrama and the script sometimes meanders. Curtis though is excellent in the lead and one can see why she became a big star. Writer/director Amy Holden Jones would go on to write such popular films as Mystic Pizza, Maid to Order, and Beethoven as well as creating the recent TV series The Resident.

That's all for now I've been watching a lot of movies so I hope to be back soon with more reviews.