The Hateful Eight (2015)

1/1/16

I went into The Hateful Eight with a lot of expectations. It was the Tarantino film that almost wasn't (because the script had been leaked) and it was shot on Ultra Panavision 70. I came out of it very nonplussed.

Though it was shot with large format film and lenses, nearly the entire runtime was spent inside a not particularly cinematic cabin. And then there was also the question of misogyny. While I'm aware that Tarantino has written some seriously awesome female characters in the past, I absolutely could not figure out what he was trying to say here. Needless to say I wasn't really chomping at the bit to revisit this film any time soon.

5/16/17

It's nearly eighteen months later and I decide to give it another try. And while the Cinema of this filmed stage play still leaves much to be desired, I got a lot more out of it this time. I'm still not certain what Quentin was trying to do with this picture, but having lived through the 2016 Election and five months of Trump, the world of this film is now a much more recognizable one. It's not a straight analogy where A = X or anything like that, but this duplicitous world where everyone has a hidden agenda and rivals miraculously become unlikely allies, feels just like turning on the evening news. And of course it's particularly bad for the women. God bless America!

Sight & Sound Challenge: Rio Bravo (1959)

Film: Rio Bravo (187/250) 

First Time/Rewatch: First Time

I don't know, you guys. I haven't decided yet if I liked or disliked this film. At any rate, I didn't love it. My experience with westerns has been all over the place. I've seen some that blew me away, and some that left me cold. This one falls somewhat toward the latter. This is essentially a hang-out movie, which I didn't know going in... I was surprised by how aimless it felt at times. And while I very much enjoyed Dean Martin as deputy sheriff Dude and Walter Brennan as Stumpy (sounding very much like the announcer guy from Disneyland's Big Thunder Railroad...are my southern California roots showing?), I was distracted by Feathers (Angie Dickinson, who is absolutely dynamite in her own right) throwing herself at John Wayne the whole time. The age difference feels much greater than 24 years, and these Hollywood romances between young women and much older men give me the heebie-jeebies. But that's just me. All in all, I'm going with "okayish" for this one. But apparently it's one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite films, so what do I know?

Sight & Sound Challenge: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Film: Once Upon a Time in the West (166/250) 

First Time/Rewatch: First Time

Wow. Wow wow wow. This film completely blew me away. I came into it thinking I'd find it full of testosterone and not particularly memorable but reasonably entertaining (my general view on most non-John Ford westerns). But from that opening scene, I was completely hooked. Three men wait. Who are they waiting for? I had no idea, but I found myself holding my breath anyway. And with that amazing harmonica theme (seriously, a character plays his own theme song and it's AWESOME), the film pulled me in and didn't let me go. With memorable performances by Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Henry Fonda (eeevil!), and Claudia Cardinale, this is a film that will stay with me for a long long time. I think this is my new favorite western.  And the music?! It's incredible. Incredible music, incredible cinematography, incredible storytelling... I absolutely loved this. 

But let me quickly address something here, and that is the treatment of Claudia Cardinale's character. To quote the film: "You know what? If I was you, I'd go down there and give those boys a drink. Can't imagine how happy it makes a man to see a woman like you, just to look at her. And if one of them should, uh, pat your behind, just make believe it's nothing. They earned it." Sigh. Women have been told shit like that since the beginning of time. But I don't really expect morality and the civil treatment of women in a film where men go around shooting each other. And it's a minor nitpick in what is otherwise a great film. I can't recommend this enough. 

Dead Man (1995)

Recently on Instagram, comic book and television writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach posted a picture of Gary Oldman as George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The caption read: "knowing that sirius black fandom is a gateway to this makes me happy." I'm inclined to do a similar thing with a picture of Johnny Depp as William Blake in Dead Man. While it is certainly not my favorite Depp performance, and absolutely not my favorite Jim Jarmusch film, it's the one that brings me the most joy when I imagine Jack Sparrow fans sitting down to watch something simply because it has Johnny Depp in it. I want to interview them afterwards and get their thoughts on what they just watched. Most of them will probably just say it was, "boring". But my secret hope is that for at least a few people, it will alter their brain chemistry and set their life on a new course. A fellow can dream, right?

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

From the first strains of Leonard Cohen's song over the opening credits, you know that the characters in this story are doomed. A sense of fatalism permeates every grained-out frame of this film. But the hopeless love found in Cohen songs is only one level to this dirge of a film. On top of that lies an equally tragic tale about Capitalism and the American Dream. Because try as we might to make our fortunes and build something from nothing, we are merely playing at Capitalism. When the real guys come to town, it's all over. You might get in a few good shots here and there, but they will get you when all is said and done. And it won't end with a bang, but with a whimper.

Stagecoach (1939)

Like most people, I find the name John Ford to be synonymous with Westerns. Knowing this, I was very surprised to discover that prior to Stagecoach, Ford had not directed a Western in over ten years. Having spent the previous decade making serious pictures like The Informer (for which he won his first of four Best Director Oscars) as well as the Shirley Temple vehicle Wee Willie Winkie, Stagecoach was his conscious attempt to legitimize his beloved genre by grafting some more "important" themes on to it. Though this film might seem quaint today, the decision to villainize the "upstanding " members of society and to glorify two outcasts as our heroes was revolutionary. Over the decades this impetus to make Westerns "about something" would further mature and lead to the magnum opus that is The Searchers. But it all began here. The fact that Orson Welles screened this film countless times while prepping Citizen Kane is not a fluke. It's that good!

Red River (1948)

By all accounts John Wayne and Montgomery Clift did not get along well on set of Red River. Though allegedly this had to do with their differing political views (likely stemming from the fact that the House Un-American Activities Committee was in full swing by this point), it doesn't take too much digging to find another “dramatic” contrast between these men.

While Wayne had no formal training and had gradually worked his way up from bit player to star, Clift had studied “The Method” as member of The Actor’s Studio and had cut his teeth on the stage. Wayne epitomized the classic, “Show up on time, know your lines, and don’t bump into the furniture” school of acting. Clift (who predated Marlon Brando and James Dean on the screen) was something radically new in the world of film acting. He wanted to understand and feel every moment his character went through. He wanted it to be real.

Viewed in this context, is it too great of a leap to think that perhaps just as “Old West” Dunson was threatened by Matt’s “New West” in the film, “Old Hollywood” Wayne was threatened by “New Hollywood” Clift on the set? When you throw in the fact that this film was released into a world which had only recently started using terms like “teenager” and “juvenile delinquent” to describe its children, things get even more interesting. In a subtle way, this film is the opening salvo in a battle which would eventually be won by the likes of Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate and Easy Rider.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)

Three tough bastards (Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) are all on the trail of a buried fortune while the Civil War rages around them.

*      *      *

Seeing this movie at The Egyptian for my 21st birthday is easily one of the top 10 greatest moments in my life. I don't care that most of my friends fell asleep, my eyes were glued to the screen for every frame. Yeah it's long, but that's the point. This is the Western elevated to the level of Opera. Everything about this movie is BIG and LOUD. BIG characters, BIG emotions, BIG music viewed on a BIG screen with the volume cranked all the way to 11. There's a reason Metallica opens their live shows with this song:

Tombstone (1993)

Retired lawman Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) has come to the town of Tombstone, AZ to settle down...but he finds little peace.

*      *      *

Prior to seeing this film I hated westerns. They were all so morally black and white. There were the good guys and there were the bad guys and never the twain shall meet. Seeing this film at the impressionable age of eleven was a revelation. I became OBSESSED with Doc Holiday and even did a report on him. It is absolutely criminal that Val Kilmer didn't receive some sort of award for this performance. And the other actors ain't no slouches either...

Countless films before and since have addressed the west in this same unvarnished manner. And several of them have even done a better job of it. But your first trip to the rodeo will always stick with you. Yee-haw mother fuckers! It's time to saddle up!