Casablanca: This film is arguably the most beloved Best Picture Oscar winner of all time. That played against the film for me because my expectations for the film was huge. It is a good movie, but I do feel as if it is overrated. The cast is great and the set design is amazing, but overall I was under whelmed. Rather than focus on the aspects of the film I was disappointed in, I will focus on what I like in the film. I really enjoyed Claude Rains performance. He has a way of disappearing into a performance (he-he) I also admire the way that the character of Sam is portrayed. Rick treats Sam as an equal and is really his only true friend. It feels like a brave choice for the time. My favorite aspect of the film is the ending. The fact that Humphrey Bogart doesn’t get the girl is what makes this a realistic love story. Like life, there is rarely a happy ending.
Lawrence of Arabia: This is a film, like Casablanca, that is often in the top ten of great movie lists. I also feel that this film is over hyped. It has possibly the greatest production value ever. The sets and costumes and grandiosity of the film is all there. I feel like the movie is lacking heart, however. I never connected to any character emotionally. The closest I came was Peter O’Toole’s debut performance as Lt. Lawrence. He is a man who is brand new to adulthood and searching within for how he will be defined. He is idealistic and knows he has greatness in him. His character arc is the most compelling component of the film. I am disappointed that most of the Arabic characters in the film are played by non-Arabic actors. This film was made about 20 years after Casablanca and somehow manages to be less racially progressive.
Raging Bull: I am not usually a fan of “sports” films, but there is something cinematic about boxing. This is possibly the greatest boxing film, followed by Rocky and Million Dollar Baby. None of these films are about the sport of boxing though. Raging Bull is about a man who is a force of nature and boxing serves as an outlet to release the “raging bull” inside of him. Robert De Niro becomes Jake LaMotta, both losing and gaining weight for the role as a way to fully commit to the role. This level of method acting has since become a bit of a marketing gimmick, but at the time was fresh. Scorsese’s use of black and white is an homage to the time period that the film takes place in and the contrast of that medium and the violence and rawness works perfectly.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Along with The Philadelphia Story, this is my favorite James Stewart role. Jefferson Smith is a character who you immediately root for. Stewart has a way of playing characters as genuine. This film is weirdly both a time capsule of the time and timeless at the same time. In today’s political culture, this comes off as a fantasy almost. Everyone would like to see the political machine taken on and defeated. Jefferson Smith’s patriotic nature is met with cynicism by all of his new colleagues in Washington and he manages to win them over by putting his reputation at risk. Claude Rains again delivers as the senior senator who attempts to use Smith as a pawn for his own interests. This is without a doubt the greatest film about filibustering ever made.
Rear Window: James Stewart stars in this film as a very different character than in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. He plays a man here who is depressed due to an broken leg that restricts him to the confines of his own apartment. He is ungrateful to his girlfriend who brings him dinner and spends her nights attempting to lift his spirit. The film focuses on the week before he gets his cast off and how he passes the time by living vicariously through his neighbors by spying on them with binoculars and creating his own back stories for each of them. The plot takes a turn when he begins to suspect one of his neighbors of murdering of the neighbor’s spouse. Hitchcock does an amazing job of neither confirming or denying Stewart’s suspicion and I found myself wondering if maybe being cooped up had driven Stewart mad. The courtyard set of the film is stunning as each apartment window is it’s own world. This is not Hitch’s greatest film, but it is never dull or lacking.
Stagecoach: Stagecoach is credited as being John Wayne’s breakthrough role. As great as he is, I found myself really enjoying the supporting cast, especially the relationship between Donald Meek’s timid whiskey salesman and Thomas Mitchell’s alcoholic doctor. The plot is great in it simplicity. The characters on the stagecoach are attempting to make it from one city to another in one piece, facing all the dangers that were present in the old west. I love that the film is a character study first and an adventure story second. One of John Ford’s best films.
The Searchers: I was a bit disconnected from this film. I was slightly offended by John Wayne’s racist character and how he is portrayed as the hero of the story. Not my favorite western even though it is often cited as being one of the most important. I will eventually give the film another shot, but until then, this has been one of my least favorite films from the AFI top 100.
Nashville: Robert Altman can film stream of consciousness like no other filmmaker. The Characters of Nashville walk in and out of frame often mid-conversation. It gives a feeling of being a bystander witnessing these people coming and going. The cast is huge, but the style of filming makes Nashville, TN the true star of the film. It captures the collective mind set of the musicians, politicians, and everyday people of Nashville rather than tell a linear story. This film seems to have been inspiration to many new filmmakers, most notably Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights and Richard Linklatter in Slacker.
Cabaret: Most musicals pre Cabaret were perfectly polished grand spectacles that cast “stars” in elaborate costumes, singing and dancing in over the top sets. Cabaret broke all those rules by presenting a seedy world full of morally ambiguous characters. Even though the film is set during World War II, this is without a doubt a 70’s film. I love that the music in this film is secondary to the story instead of a story being written around huge musical numbers. Liza Minnelli will forever be remembered as Sally Bowles and my only previous exposure to Minnelli was her role as Lucille 2 in Arrested Development and for the reputation of her personal life. She shows vulnerability in a way that I can not tell if she is acting or not. The greatest character of the film is without doubt Joel Grey as the emcee, a role he originated on stage. He serves as not only the emcee of the Kit Kat Klub, but also the film itself. Grey’s performance reminds me of a clown, desperate to make other peoples lives better regardless of the sadness of his own. Cabaret is one of my favorite musicals.
Rebecca: This is the only Alfred Hitchcock film to win an Oscar for Best Picture and it is my favorite Hitchcock film I’ve seen thus far. He is primarily known as a director of horror films, but this is not a scary movie. It does have creepy elements, especially within the gothic feel of Manderley, the De Winter estate. The film is, in my opinion, primarily a love story between Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier and how Fontaine misinterprets Olivier’s character as never having recovered from his previous wife’s demise. When she learns his true feelings and the fact that he is actually in love for the first time, she returns the feelings by standing by him even though she knows that he has murdered his first wife. The cast is wonderful, Olivier being the standout to me. With the exception of The Clash of The Titans, this is the first Olivier film I’ve ever seen.
Chicago: Chicago seems to take many cues from Cabaret, featuring characters who are not typical of a Hollywood musical. It is definitely it’s own film though. Taking place in a time when criminals were often seen as role models by people, It stars Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as rival inmates, both competing for the public’s attention as well as the services of Richard Gere’s showman lawyer. Every character is fleshed out and I love Queen Latifah in particular. The music is very catchy, especially John C. Reilly’s rendition of Mister Cellophane. Moulin Rogue is given most of the credit for reviving the movie musical, but I really feel like Chicago has had an equal or greater role in it’s resurgence.
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