Dez's Favorite Movies, #25-21

What the hell, I’ll give you a double shot of the Dez Favorite Movies. No horror or sci-fi in this batch. This one is dominated by historical epics. I’m a sucker for well done period pieces; unfortunately, they are rarely done well. #25-23 are exceptions to that rule. Two take place in the latter part of the 18th century, one in the palaces of Europe and the other in the south Pacific. Then the third one jumps to the 1970’s. I round out this batch with a documentary and a concert film/documentary, both covering events in the 1970’s. Not only is there a variety of time periods covered, but one film was made in the 70’s, two in the 80’s, one in the 90’s and one in the 2000’s.

25. Amadeus (1984), dir. Milos Forman
Mozart as rock star. I love many things about this film. First of all, it takes arguably the greatest music composer in history and humanizes him. It takes him out of the museum and concert hall and breathes life into him. Classical composers and musicians were the pop music artists of their day, yet they are rarely viewed in that context. Tom Hulce infuses his Mozart with an irresistible charm and self-destructive, carefree attitude. From what we understand of Mozart’s life, this was probably an accurate portrayal. The hard partying Mozart would have been at home hanging out with Keith Richards. It deals wonderfully with the maddening fact that, as the inferior composer Salieri seething with jealously notes, God decided to give this divine talent to a hard drinking, womanizing manchild. Hulce is wonderful, but it is F. Murray Abraham’s portrayal of the jealous Salieri that really makes this film. Salieri is a man just talented enough to realize the genius of Mozart (Mozart died in obscurity, he was only revered after his death), and how mediocre he and almost every other mere mortal composer is next to the godlike Mozart. As he proudly proclaims near the end “I am the patron saint of mediocrity!” The Salieri character is crucial, because he is us. We cannot understand or fully connect with Mozart himself, these people are rare indeed. But we all can understand the jealousy and desires of a Salieri, watching other people do what we wish we could do. The film is most likely not historically accurate as far as the Salieri/Mozart plot is concerned, it is a fringe conspiracy theory at best that the film presents as fact. Mozart was most likely solely responsible for his early demise. Makes for a great story, though.

24. Boogie Nights (1997), dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
A sprawling epic that uses the porn industry’s golden age to present the decadent side of the 1970’s and self-destructive early 1980’s. Mark Wahlberg’s Dirk Diggler was loosely based on porn legend John Holmes. Anderson put together a hell of a cast for his film, including Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Alfred Molina, Heather Graham and Luis Guzman. But it is Burt Reynolds’ career resurrecting performance as the fatherly porn king Jack Horner who really stands out. Some might say the film is a bit long and unfocused, but it serves as a study of 70’s California culture and less a traditional film with a plot. The favorable review in the San Francisco Chronicle sums it up very well, and is worth quoting: "Boogie Nights is the first great film about the 1970s to come out since the '70s ... It gets all the details right, nailing down the styles and the music. More impressive, it captures the decade's distinct, decadent glamour ... [It] also succeeds at something very difficult: re-creating the ethos and mentality of an era ... Paul Thomas Anderson ... has pulled off a wonderful, sprawling, sophisticated film ... With Boogie Nights, we know we're not just watching episodes from disparate lives but a panorama of recent social history, rendered in bold, exuberant colors." Anderson handles these disparate lives and stories with Robert Altman-like skill.


ABOVE: Burt Reynolds is so great in this. Here Reynolds resists the change from film to videotape in the porn industry in the early 80's. "You know, if it looks like sh*t, and it sounds like sh*t, then it must be sh*t."

23. The Bounty (1984), dir. Roger Donaldson
Considered a failure upon release (mainly because it went grossly over-budget), this dramatic retelling of the mutiny aboard the H.M.S. Bounty holds up extremely well. Based on the actual mutiny, it is a film that becomes a battle of wills between two titanic personalities. One is the volatile Captain William Bligh, played with manic intensity by Anthony Hopkins; the other is the mysterious and equally volatile First Mate Fletcher Christian, played by a ridiculously gorgeous Mel Gibson. (Yes, I called him gorgeous). While the acting may be over the top at times, the film captures the tropical beauty, madness and lust of Englishmen visiting Tahiti. The collision course that former friends Bligh and Christian are on is fascinating to watch, and you can understand and sympathize with both sides. With beautiful locales, dramatic scenes that are historically pretty accurate, a lush musical score from Vangelis; The Bounty is worth seeing. Look for Liam Neeson and Daniel Day-Lewis amongst the Bounty crew.


ABOVE: This is right after Christian and his allies take over The Bounty and set Bligh and his loyalists adrift. Again, this is a true story (largely based on Bligh's log and the testimony at the inquiry), and it remarkable that Bligh and his men were set adrift in the South Pacific and Bligh was able navigate from memory to safety. Whatever his faults, Capt. Bligh was a remarkable seaman.

22. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006), dir. Stanley Nelson
The Rev. Jim Jones of the Peoples’ Temple was one of the worst mass murderers in history outside of wartime, yet many people don’t look at what happened in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978 as murder. I have studied Jonestown and what happened there for many years; there is a cottage industry of books, research, studies and commentary on Jonestown, and I’ve probably read most of it. The people/victims of Jonestown were not simply brainwashed crazy cult members. Peoples’ Temple and Jones started out as a bold, racially integrated, charitable christian Church that accomplished a great deal. Over time, Jones changed the message from one of Christianity to Socialism, with Jones at the center of its universe. This was not a fringe group out the mountains. At the peak of his power, Jones was chairman of the San Francisco Housing Commission, he was responsible for electing SF mayor Muscone, and he was personal friends with everyone from the governor of California to First Lady Rosalind Carter. But once a small group of journalists started to look a little more closely into the church operations, they found tales of rape, embezzlement of members’ property, and a military-like structure with Jones at the top. That was when he took 1000 of his followers and started a utopian civilization in the jungles of Guyana. After Jones murdered a U.S. congressman who was visiting Jonestown to investigate reports of people being held there against their will, over 900 Americans died in the jungle, half of them children, when Jones ordered the mass suicide (although many people resisted and were forced to drink the poison). All of this and more is captured brilliantly in this documentary featuring footage, interviews and analysis. Crucially, the people of Jonestown are presented as good people who thought they were creating a better world. Instead they found themselves in a jungle hell. Since Jones recorded all of his sermons, you can also hear the harrowing audio of the actual suicide/murders, his Last Sermon. Gripping stuff, and a fascinating study of a complex story.



21. The Last Waltz (1978), dir. Martin Scorsese
You know this is not going to be your run-of-the-mill concert film when the director is Martin Scorsese. The Band was a hell of a band, making a couple of absolute classic albums in the late 60’s and maintaining a worshipful reverence from their peers throughout the 70’s. By the late 70’s leader Robbie Robertson decided to call it quits, but he wanted to go out in style. Organizing the ultimate farewell show, they invited friends like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell (even Neil Diamond) to join them onstage. The concert footage is thrilling as expected, but Scorsese does more. He captures the Bands’ perspectives and thoughts in sometimes profound, sometimes incoherent, sometimes funny (in a Spinal Tap kind of way), but always interesting interview and documentary segments. The Last Waltz becomes more than a concert film, it is a document of an era in music.


ABOVE: Here's Van Morrison with The Band in an exuberant performance of Van's "Caravan." Love Van's 70's jacket!