The Blog
This blog will be all about film reviews. I'm going to be watching a lot of movies, writing reviews, and hopefully not spoiling any movies you plan to watch.
Director: Billy Wilder
Verdict: Thumbs Up Ace in the Hole, 1951 film starring Kirk Douglas and directed and produced by Billy Wilder, is an under appreciated classic. The film keeps the audience on the edge of their seats all the way through to the very end. Its strong plot plays a major role in pulling the film along. Married with a brilliant performance by Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole is a cinematic masterpiece. Chuck Tatum is a newspaper report who has been fired by major newspapers all over the country for inappropriate behavior. He arrives in New Mexico and gets a job in a small newspaper company. After a year of slow work, he learns of a man, Leo Minosa, who is trapped in a cave. Tatum jumps on the story and begins playing it up, making it a bigger story than it is. He manipulates the Sheriff and the contractors to make more of a show of the rescue and to keep other reports away. Meanwhile, Mr. Minosa’s wife falls for Tatum but he rejects her to help keep his story alive. Thousands come to the town to witness the rescue and a fair ground is set up. Tatum is rehired by his former New York employer. However, with a mere day before Leo will be able to be rescued, Tatum learns that Leo is going to die before he can be rescued. Tatum tries desperately to save Leo in order to save the story. Leo’s wife, having been bullied by Tatum yet again, stabs him with a pair of scissors. He rushes to get a priest to administer Last Rights to Leo. Moments later, he dies. Tatum announces to everyone that Leo is dead. Grief stricken, out of his New York job, and dying, he tries to confess what he did to his former boss in the New Mexico paper. However, as he is about to tell all, he falls on the floor and dies. Kirk Douglas plays the difficult role of Chuck Tatum to perfection, keeping the character in a very trick emotion for the audience. Tatum is a very complex character in how he acts. He is obviously a very confident, cocky, bold man who will do whatever it takes to succeed. This is what led him to his situation in New Mexico. Douglas must hold his character in a trick spot between being the real Tatum and the Tatum that must show he is trying to reform himself. When the plot develops into the story around Leo Minosa, we see the real Tatum as he sets about making the story as large as possible. He deliberately sabotages the rescue effort by allying himself with the Sheriff and using him to have the workers drill for Minosa instead of just shoring up walls and pulling him out. Tatum abuses Leo’s wife, Lorraine, as to keep up the role of a distraught wife. She wants to leave town and get away from Leo, whom she despises. Tatum receives offers from newspapers all over the country but decides to get his old job back in order to spite his former boss. However, things fall apart when Leo begins to die. Kirk Douglas balances Tatum’s need to keep the story, and therefore Leo, alive while also seeming genuinely concerned for him. He gives Lorraine a gift the Leo had been saving up for and becomes incredibly upset when she tries to get rid of it. This leads to him getting stabbed. It is unclear where Tatum’s true allegiance lies as he gets the priest for Leo upon his request but seems desperate to keep him alive at the same time, which he has stated is for the story. This juggling act by Douglas is a true masterpiece. The plot of Ace in the Hole keeps the viewer always wondering as to what will happen next and what Tatum’s true intentions are. Tatum is an incredibly complex character and the plot goes a long way to help shape him. It is always unclear as to what will happen next. It can be somewhat surmised, but the way it comes about is a constant surprise. The sudden change of direction with the sudden stabbing of Tatum, the deteriorating of Leo, and the ruin of Tatum, happens a pace that doesn’t blow away or confuse the audience, but is well timed so the hits just keep coming. The plot is a perfect build up of an unstable building that the viewer watches soar higher and higher before crumbling and falling apart at a greater and greater rate. However, the plot is a bit to focused on Tatum. The it seems that the plot is tailor made to move Tatum through a situation rather than a situation that the character works his way through. While this does feel a bit limited, it is not a problem at all, just a note. Kirk Douglas as Chuck Tatum makes the film with his fine balancing act. Billy Wilder set the film up perfectly so that Tatum is in a situation where he can not just exist, but must act. This is what makes Ace in the Hole so good. It makes the story intriguing as the viewers find themselves watching Tatum’s every move.
1 Comment
Director: Peter Collinson
The British classic The Italian Job makes brilliant use of British humor along with a clever plot and fantastic stunts to captivate and entertain the viewer. Strong performances by Michael Caine and the supporting actors help to pull the film together into a memorable classic. Criminal Charlie Croker (played by Michael Caine) a has just been released from prison and immediately sets about a to do a big job in Italy. However, when he learns about his former boss being killed in Italy by the mafia, he starts to worry. However, determined to carry out the job, he sets about preparations. Charlie breaks back into prison to ask Mr. Bridger, the leading crime lord, for assistance. Outraged at the intrusion, Mr. Bridger has his henchmen give Charlie “a good going over,” but is interested in the plan. He then decides to help Charlie after learning of a new Fiat factory to be built in China. With the support of Mr. Bridger, Charlie assembles his team and prepares for the job. They go through driving courses, test explosives, and modify three Mini Coopers to carry $4,000,000 worth of gold. However, when the team leaves for Italy, they encounter the mafia who destroy three of their cars and threaten Charlie about the plan. However, the team press on. They infiltrate the traffic station and sabotage the system as to produce a massive traffic jam to trap the gold convoy. With everything set and the traffic jam stopping up all the cars, the team assault the convoy, steal the gold, and begin the getaway. With the police in hot pursuit, the three Minis race down alleys and over rooftops and finally through a sewer pipe and over a weir to escape. After unloading the gold onto a bus and disposing of the cars, everyone is celebrating until the bus skids on the narrow alpine road and rests precariously on the edge of cliff. There it is balanced between the weight of the gold on one end and everyone else on the other. The film ends on a cliffhanger with Charlie exclaiming “Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea.” The Italian Job makes extensive use of humor as a means to make a film that could easily be very car, quite comedic. The film is a comedy, with Michael Caine driving much of the humor, with the plot setting up the situations. The humor is not conventional but very British. To someone who is not paying attention or is not used to British comedy, many of the jokes can be easily missed or seem crude and pointless. However, to those who are accustomed to British humor, it is hilarious and very gets old. One scene is a test of an explosive charge in a van. When Charlie counts down, the explosives go off, completely destroying the car. Charlie turns to the man who set them and exclaims “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” Moments such as this lend themselves greatly to the movie and make it a unique crime movie were it isn’t just dumb comedy but an intelligent movie with funny qualities. The use of stunts during the car chase adds extra excitement to the moment and captivates the audience at the skill displayed. As the police chase the gold laden Mini Coopers, Charlie and his boys use a series of routes leading through sidewalks, buildings, and rooftops to escape and evade capture, At one point, a police car follows the Minis down a flight of stairs and jumping between buildings by driving on the rooftops. Finally, the Minis drive up the ramped roof of a massive building and go in three directions, circle back, and go back down the roof while the police car stalls. The final act of evasions has the minis driving through a sewage pipe with only their headlights as illumination. Coming out of the pipe, the cars carefully drive over a weir and see the last of their pursuers stall in the middle of the river. In a show of driving skill, all three minis proceed to drive up a makeshift ramp on the back of the team's bus in order to offload to the gold. The final mini encounters some trouble doing such, just to highlight the difficulty of the task while also providing another comedic moment. All of this comes together when the bus spins out on the alpine road and is precisely balanced on the edge of the cliff, leaving the men in an awkward predicament. Michael Caine and the accompanying actors help pull all this together into a classic movie. Michael Caine as Charlie Croker, a cockney man who is a seasoned criminal, plays a perfect balance between a cunning criminal who can execute a carefully planned out job and a playboy who will badger someone until he gets what he wants. He is backed up by strong performances from the supporting characters. Mr. Bridger, played by Noёl Coward, acts as a steady force throughout the movie. An intimidating character, he acts as a god like figure whose approval is the final word. Other smaller parts like the men who help Charlie pull off the job add extra humor and their own little part to the movie without pulling it off course. The Italian Job shows how a crime movie does not have to be strictly comedic or serious, but can involve humor without going over the top with it. Combined with Michael Caine’s acting, brilliant stunt performances, and an enticing plot, The Italian Job has made a spot for itself in history. |
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June 2018
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