Week 17: Lightning Round

Things have been hectic at OP, and updates have suffered. The rational solution is to have another lightning round and to fire movie updates at you from a firehose:

To Kill a Mockingbird (Nominated 1962) - This is probably the Gregory Peck performance that is most lauded, although I do not agree that it's his best. It faithfully follows the book, from what I can remember of the book. Director Robert Mulligan does well to elevate Scout (a role casted brilliantly for Mary Badham, who at age 10 would become the youngest person ever nominated for Best Supporting Actress) to the main character and protagonist, and to tell the story from her perspective. A young Robert Duvall appears as Boo Radley at the end. Score: 7.4.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Nominated 1969), All the President's Men (Nominated 1976) and Out of Africa (Won 1985) - I will discuss these movies in tandem because they all involve Robert Redford.

Butch Cassidy is the movie with this scene:

It's funny and displays an air of nihilism that is somewhat common from movies in the late 60's/early 70's (see, e.g. MASH, The French Connection, A Clockwork Orange). The movie is 100% founded in the on-screen chemistry between Redford and Paul Newman, who would shortly thereafter capitalize on their relationship in 1973's winner The Sting. Score for Butch Cassidy: 7.0.

All the President's Men is the movie about Watergate, where Redford plays Bob Woodward and Dustin Hoffman is Carl Bernstein, both reporters at the Washington Post whose work led directly to the invention of the phrase "investigative journalism." The dialogue and directing is sharp, thanks to Alan Pakula, who oddly had very little future success replicating what he did on this film. Having never read the novel that the screenplay is based on, I learned more about Watergate from watching this movie than from anything else in my life. Because of that, and because of Redford and Hoffman's perfect performances, Score: 8.5.

Robert Redford is great at pretending to have a phone conversation.

Finally, Out of Africa. This is Sydney Pollack's opus as a director (Tootsie is arguably that, too, but I would not be one to make that argument). It's a beautiful, sweeping period drama drawing from a the style of David Lean. Meryl Streep plays the protagonist, a Danish aristocrat who moves to British East Africa to start a farm. Streep's performance is brilliant, although I struggled with her Danish accent. Redford is her flighty (literally) romantic interest. Ultimately, it is a love story with beautiful scenery. 1985's other nominees include the ridiculous Witness and The Color Purple. Not the greatest of Academy years. Score: 6.9.

OP also recently watched She Done Him Wrong (Nominated 1933). This is a short movie starring Mae West and a very young Cary Grant. The plot, etc., not important. It's a vehicle for Mae West, whose history in the entertainment industry is incredibly fascinating and is worth reading on its own. We all know who Mae West is. We all have seen cartoon depictions of her. Very, very interesting. The movie is just okay. Score: 5.5.

Week 16: Anatomy of a Murder

I'm just a simple, small-town movie viewer / blog person, and I have some thoughts about Anatomy of a Murder (nominated 1959).

Though OP had previously seen Anatomy, a rewatch was necessary due to a nearly 10-year time lapse. The second viewing was significantly more interesting, given the sheer amount of Jimmy Stewart exposure on the OP viewing list, including You Can't Take it With You, How the West Was Won, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (update coming later).

Stewart was 50 years old at the time Anatomy  was made, and director Otto Preminger gives us a decidedly less springy, more nihilistic, and ultimately more interesting version of the actor as Paul Biegler, the smalltown lawyer from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who navigates a murder case for a less-than-lovable client.

Anatomy is striking to OP for its intense focus on the technical details of criminal law, trial practice, and evidence. From the time we are introduced to the accused murderer to the time that the trial actually starts, Preminger carefully develops Biegler's personality as one that is equal parts shrewd and complacent. Ultimately, Biegler goes all in from an advocacy standpoint and even toes the line several times during the trial to being in contempt of court.

OP has rarely seen a movie create as much suspense out of legal technicalities. Other OP watchlist instances that come to mind are A Few Good Men (nominated 1992) and Judgment at Nuremburg (nominated 1961), but Anatomy is unique for doing it with a twist of raunchy humor on the side. For its time, Anatomy was quite a scandalous movie. For example, "panties" are a key trial exhibit and there is a lot of suggestive dialogue regarding the wife of the accused murderer.

George C. Scott, always a fine supporting actor in this era (see, e.g. The Hustler), does well as the "prosecutor from the big city of Lansing," and Duke Ellington provides a thrilling jazz soundtrack. The BP winner from 1959 is the epic of epics Ben-Hur, not the type of film to be easily challenged by an upstart procedural such as this.

OP gives Anatomy of a Murder a score of 7.7.