Tag Archives: 1950’s

#258-The Bridge on the River Kwai

Quick recap: A group of PoWs build a bridge in a Japanese camp while another group of British soldiers make plans to blow the whole thing up. It sounds much more wacky than it actually was, sorry to say.

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Elephants helped build the bridge and took breaks whenever they damn well pleased.

Fun (?) fact: The story is loosely based on the relationship between Lt. Col. Toosey and Maj. Risaburo Saito, who was actually a reasonable guy. Toosey defended him during the war crimes tribunal and after he died, Saito went to England to visit his grave.

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Lt. Col. Toosey, whom the character Col. Nicholson is based on

My thoughts: War is hell, man. This is the thought I had not while watching the movie, but earlier today as I was scrolling through pictures of actual PoW camps from WWII. Not that I expected a film made in 1957 to be so realistic, but looking at a photo of the character Shears, with his muscles upon muscles and golden skin tone from hours of manual labor, next to a photo of a real PoW, all skin and bones, it startled me, to say the least. And, maybe unfairly, took away somewhat from what I had been feeling about the film.

The Bridge on the River Kwai is based loosely on real life, so I can’t down the tone too much. In the film, Col. Nicholson is the leader every soldier wants. He’s a rule follower to the point of risking his life to do what’s right and it pays off for him and his men. He eventually convinces Col. Saito, head of the Japanese camp ,to allow Nicholson and his officers to take over constructing the bridge, because it just so happens that a few of the men are engineers. It’s oddly convenient, but this is supposed to be the inspiring tale to end all inspiring tales, so let’s just run with it. The British soldiers respond much better when they are aren’t constantly threatened with death and so the bridge is built just in time.

Meanwhile, British forces are planning on blowing up the very bridge the soldiers worked so hard to construct, because, like I’ve said, war is hell. Had the movie only focused on the soldiers, I would’ve written off the whole film as shmaltzy, patriotic entertainment, but adding this element of Allies essentially working against each other makes everything so much more complicated. I wanted to root for Shears, who escaped the camp in the beginning, only to come back to help destroy it, but I also really liked the eventual friendship between Saito and Nicholson. In the end, SPOILER ALERT the bridge gets destroyed and it felt like a defeat. That might not have been the purpose of the movie, but that’s what I’m taking away from it. It felt unfair for everyone because three of the British soldiers on this secret mission died, the bridge was blown up and the train that the Japanese sent would’ve been used to transport sick soldiers to another camp. So, not all the heartwarming when you think about it. All I learned from this movie is that there are never any easy decisions in war and the decisions you think you are making for the good of many, might not be good after all.

Final review: 4/5. Alec Guiness as Col. Nicholson is worth watching for his role alone.

Up next: Paris, Texas

 

 

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#253-12 Angry Men

Quick recap: 12 guys ( some angrier than others) must decide whether a kid murdered his father.

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Fun (?) fact: To increase tension, the first third of the movie is shot above eye level, the second eye level, and the third below eye level.

My thoughts: Although I hadn’t seen 12 Angry Men until a few nights back, the movie ran through my mind constantly when I sat on a jury a few years ago. More than anything else, I was terrified I would end up in the Henry Fonda role and have to defend my verdict against everyone else. I know some people are born into that role, but I’m definitely not. Luckily, the trial was about hazardous waste that leaked out of some expensive bags so I didn’t have to decide whether or not someone was murdered.

Cinema-wise (totally a word. Shut up.), this movie is amazing, maybe even one of the best. The acting is phenomenal, which it has to be because people talking is the only action that takes place. On the surface, it sounds like the most boring premise ever- two hours of men deliberating. But director Sidney Lumet managed to pull out off so well that even though I knew the ending, I was still on the edge of my seat.The camera angles mentioned above really brought out the claustrophobia and by the climax  it felt like the walls were moving in on everyone.

12 Angry Men is lauded as the perfect movie to showcase that the justice system can work. But to me, it was terrifying to imagine how many juries are without a Henry Fonda.And how, even though there were some very angry men, most of them were at least a little open to hearing the opposite side. It’s a nice fantasy, but real life is much more messy. I try to be somewhat optimistic about humanity, but nothing squashes that quicker than sitting in a pool of jurors and listening to person after person give bullshit excuses as to why they can’t serve. I know that’s the whole point of jury selection, to actually choose people who will listen and make a good judgement, but it’s disheartening to know how many people don’t take the responsibility seriously. On an even more terrifying aside, it occurred to me halfway through the film that what if the kid was actually guilty and Henry Fonda is about to convince a group of people to let a murderer free? It goes both ways, I suppose.

Final review: 4/5. It was a little schmaltzy at times, but overall very well done and about as exciting as 12 men arguing can get.

Up next: The Jerk

 

 

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#249- Bob le Flambeur

Quick recap: Bob, a gambler, is almost broke- you guessed it- from gambling. Instead of bowing out gracefully, he decides to plan a heist to rob a casino.

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Fun (?) fact: Stanley Kubrick once said that he gave up doing crime films because of Bob le Flambeur.

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My thoughts: When I think of the genre ‘crime film’, I picture a bunch of hot guys in suits being all clever and flirty and through sometimes bumbling efforts, somehow end up pulling off the heist. Bob le Flambuer invented all that. Being French, however there is an undercurrent of sadness and a lingering feeling that even if the robbery does go through, it won’t change anything for anyone, so why bother, really?

So, this isn’t the most fun crime film I’ve watched, but it was definitely interesting to see such an American concept integrated with something so quintessentially European (in case you are keeping count, I’m pretty sure that’s the most pretentious thing I’ve written on this blog yet). The beginning of the film, as Bob describes Montemarté, reminded me so much of Lola or Cleo From 5 to 7. That makes sense because director Jean Melville is considered the father of French New Wave films. I loved the scenes with Bob interacting with his friends. He seemed so suave, it’s no wonder even the police loved him. Yet, there was this lingering sadness to him that I also liked. He wanted to pull off the heist, but not as a ‘screw you’ to society. Instead, he was doing it as a last ditch effort to find happiness.

The planning of the heist, including the gathering of the team, bored me the most. I couldn’t keep up with all of the men and their roles and it was clear to me early on that this wouldn’t end well. Bob, however, shouldered on, against everyone’s advice. I admire that, though. His insatiable urge to come out on top shielded him from logic, which is a very French thing to do. The end of the movie drew me back in, as Bob’s luck changed inside the casino. He was finally winning the hands and by the end, had won so much money that he completely forgot about the heist going on downstairs. The police were there, though, and by the time Bob remembered, he too had been rounded up and handcuffed. Being Bob, he managed to stay on top one last time as the casino staff shoveled in the massive amounts of money he had won. It was a very smart ending, to show Bob succeeding in the only way he truly cared about.

Final review: 4/5

Up next: The Crying Game

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#247- Rio Bravo

Quick recap: John Wayne plays Sheriff Chance, in charge of a small town that has been taken over by the Burdette brothers. The only people who can help him are a disabled guy, a recovering alcoholic and worst of all- a woman.

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Fun (?) fact: The set was built 7/8 scale so the characters could seem ‘larger than life’

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To celebrate his 18th birthday, John Wayne bought Ricky Nelson a pile of manure and then threw him into it, because that’s his thing?

My thoughts: I’m still not a huge fan of John Wayne, but boy was this a lot of fun to watch. It’s a Western that you don’t really have to think through. They even made the good guys wear white hats and the bad ones black ones! How much easier can you get? I guess maybe naming John Wayne’s character Goody McGood but that’s really unnecessary. Hilarious, but unnecessary.

There isn’t anything that stands out about Rio Bravo, which is maybe why I liked it so much. It’s not boring at all, which is saying something since the run time is almost 2 1/2 hours.It’s also not just an action movie from beginning to end. There was plenty of time to get to know the characters, of whom I especially liked Dude, played by Dean Martin. None of them were overly complicated or anything, because as mentioned before, all you need to know is who is bad and who is good. John Wayne was the star, but I think I liked his character the least. He was more good natured than Red River and definitely less murdery, so that was nice, but he was just some older guy doing his job. He seemed to genuinely care about Dude and Stumpy, but in a fatherly way, not like friendship.

Which is what makes the love story REALLY not work for me. At the time of filming, John Wayne was 51 while his love interest, played by Angie Dickinson was 26. It’s not that she looks all that young, but that John Wayne looked so old. If there is ever a time in your life that you need to think of something unsexy, might I suggest John Wayne making out? That’ll do that trick, guaranteed. The couple of songs also seemed out of place but considering Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson were cast, I guess they had to throw a bone to the audience.

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That’s one way to flirt? I guess?

Final review: 4/5. A badass female lead would’ve been nice but this was still a great movie

Up next: Possibly The Jerk

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