Dez's Fave 50 Flicks, #'s 5-2 and Honorable Mentions

The (almost) end of the road. Today I will give you #'s 5-2 and also some Honorable Mentions and tomorrow will be the grand finale.

5. The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2) (1981) (Australia), dir. George Miller
I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic films. Don’t know why, I guess I just enjoy the survivor aspect of it all. I’m also a fan of early Mel Gibson. While The Bounty and this are the only Gibson films to appear in my Top 50, Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously and even Lethal Weapon were also considered. Most Americans missed the original, excellent Australian hit Mad Max, so when its sequel rolled around, it was renamed The Road Warrior for American release and was viewed by many as a stand alone film. At any rate, Gibson’s Max (a “shell of a man” who lost his family in the first film) is now the ultimate bad-ass loner. It is after the world has been engulfed in nuclear apocalypse, and rogue gangs roam the highways in search of what little gasoline there is left, which now is worth more than gold. Max comes across a besieged group of survivors trying to protect their gasoline from the gangs led by the frightening Humongus. Max slowly, and inevitably, finds his humanity as he begins to help these people in their fight for survival. This is really a classic Western plot with cars instead of horses. But plot, schmlot. We’re here for the action, and TRW delivers it in spades. The extended climactic action sequence at the end of the film is the best action sequence in history. Period. A dazzling and thrilling highway battle that was filmed with real cars and real stuntmen; there is no CGI here, folks. It makes a difference. Trust me. Watch this sequence and then watch any action sequence in today’s blockbusters. You can still tell the difference between digital computer magic created by some geek in a studio office vs. flesh, asphalt, blood and gasoline. I’ll take the latter any day.


ABOVE: Don't screw with Road Warrior-era Mel...

BELOW: But also don't screw with The Humongus



4. The Godfather (1972), dir. Francis Ford Coppola
As Dre pointed out when I picked the sequel at #16, I used to actually prefer the sequel over the original. But now I feel that the original film holds together better and has an overall greater emotional impact. In reality, the first and second film should be viewed as a single piece anyway (and the third should be forgotten). It is hard to say anything new on this one, other than to agree with the frequent critical observation that it is so effective because it is as much a film about family and loyalty as it is about organized crime. “Leave the gun. Take the canoli.”


ABOVE: Here's Slash and Guns 'n Roses playing the 'Godfather Theme'

3. The Right Stuff (1983), dir. Phillip Kaufman
The word “hero” is thrown around pretty recklessly these days. If there was ever an appropriate time to use the word “hero,” it was in reference to the seven Mercury astronauts. These men were the pioneers of the space race, the first Americans to take those initial bold steps into space that a decade later culminated in our Apollo moon landings. This film was somewhat of a failure when it was released, but in hindsight many critics view it as one of the best of its decade. Based on the book by Tom Wolfe, the film follows the astronauts, scientists and engineers of NASA in the first years of the space race. It is far from a by-the-numbers historical flick, though. There is a wit and edge that permeates the entire picture (which, as Roger Ebert surmises, is perhaps part of the reason it was not an initial hit). These are heroes, alright, but not the infallible idols that the PR efforts of NASA portrayed them to be. The fights, competition, egos and near disasters are all laid bare, along with some very funny sequences. The ensemble cast is top notch, especially Ed Harris (as straightlaced John Glenn), Dennis Quaid (egotistical Gordo Cooper), Fred Ward (tragic Gus Grissom) and Scott Glen (all around bad-ass Alan Sheppard). As Wolfe does in the book, Kaufman wisely bookends and contrasts the astronauts who made the program (but necessarily had to compromise and play the game somewhat) with the truly untamable test pilot whom even the Mercury 7 acknowledged was the greatest pilot ever: Chuck Yeager (played wonderfully by Sam Sheppard). Yeager didn’t make the cut because he lacked a college education. It is a wonderful scene near the end when Gordo Cooper, the most egotistical of the Seven and apt to declare himself the greatest test pilot who ever existed, was asked a softball question by a reporter: “Gordo, who was the greatest pilot you ever saw?” There are a couple of fabulous seconds where Dennis Quaid’s expression goes to a far away place and he starts to talk about Yeager, but then he snaps to and gives his favorite “you’re lookin’ at him” answer. The only negative, although it is effective in the film, is the treatment of the Grissom incident where his hatch blew prematurely in the ocean and the capsule was lost and Grissom almost drowned. The film hints heavily that it was due to Grissom panicing, but most experts now believe it was purely a malfunction in the capsule. Grissom was viewed by many as the most capable astronaut of the whole bunch. (He later died in the tragic Apollo 1 launch pad fire). That complaint aside, TRS is irreverent and reverent at the same time, fun, exciting, patriotic without being simplistic and brilliantly paced. You hardly notice that three hours have gone by.


ABOVE: Here is the first great ten minutes of the movie, as Chuck Yeagar breaks the sound barrier. It has been edited, you see the very beginning and then it skips 4 or 5 minutes to the morning of the flight. You get the feel of it, though. Yeagar is played by Sam Sheppard, and his buddy Ridley (and the narrator) is played by Band drummer Levon Helm.

2. The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (1966) (Italy), dir. Sergio Leone
While Once Upon a Time in the West (#44 on this list) might be more artistically accomplished, TGTBATU is a hell of a lot more fun. Leone and Clint Eastwood had been creating a new kind of Western antihero in the previous two pictures of this loose trilogy, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. They finally accomplished everything that they wanted to accomplish in the third epic installment. Eastwood is “The Good,” but only in relative terms when compared to The Bad (a sadistic Lee Van Cleef) and The Ugly (Eli Wallach as Tuco). As cool as Eastwood is (and there is none cooler than Clint is here), it is Wallach’s performance as the shifty, fast talking Tuco that really gives life to this film. The plot unfolds lazily, but you don’t really mind, because everything else is wonderful to watch. Leone’s visual style is on full display here. There is a fun introductory sequence where Eastwood and Wallach have an ingenious scam going; Clint turns Wallach in for a reward, then busts him back out, they split the reward, and then do it all over again with ever escalating bounties on Wallach’s head. The actual plot centers around a cache of gold, but each of the three protagonists have only a piece of the necessary information as to its whereabouts. Through a series of shifting alliances and double crosses, they know they need each other to find the gold, but none of them intends to share it once it is found. But with Leone, it is all about the journey, not necessarily the plot itself. The film takes place with the Civil War as its backdrop, and Leone uses some powerful Civil War scenes to comment on the escalating Vietnam conflict. Of course the final three way duel in the cemetery is the stuff of cinema legend. Brilliantly filmed, with patented Leone close-ups of eyes, hands on the guns, sweat on the brow and then a blaze of action. Ennio Morricone’s groundbreaking music adds a whole other layer of greatness to the film.



HONORABLE MENTION
Next time (probably tomorrow), I will reveal my favorite movie of all time. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise, but hopefully I can give a good overview/explanation of the film. What follows is a short list of movies that almost made the Top 50 cut. If I were making the list on a different day, perhaps some of these would have knocked #’s 50-40 off, so they are relevant to the discussion. They are (by genre):

Horror: 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead (original), Dracula (original), Evil Dead II, Halloween, King Kong (original), Near Dark, The Shining, Tremors
Sci-Fi: 2001: a Space Odyssey, Aliens, The Black Hole, Forbidden Planet, Tron
Western: For a Few Dollars More, Tombstone, The Wild Bunch, Dances With Wolves
War: Breaker Morant, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gallipoli, Glory, Patton, The Pianist, Three Kings
Action: Batman Begins, Casino Royale, Goldfinger, On her Majesty’s Secret Service, Dirty Harry, Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, The Man Who Would Be King, The Towering Inferno
Drama: 12 Angry Men, Cinema Paradiso, Almost Famous, A Clockwork Orange, Gods and Monsters, Hud, Last Tango in Paris, Nashville, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Raging Bull, Sexy Beast, Taxi Driver, The Ten Commandments, The Year of Living Dangerously, Zodiac
Comedy: The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Airplane!, Bottle Rocket, Groundhog Day, High Fidelity, Midnight Run, My Cousin Vinny, Pleasantville, The Princess Bride, Running Scared (1986 film), Summer School, There’s Something About Mary