Playing the Hand You’re Dealt
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they agree with me or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) if they choose to disagree.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): I’ve waited a year (due to COVID restrictions) to see what one of the masters of contemporary cinema does with his somewhat-reimagined version of one of the best films ever as well as best musicals (along with marvels like Singin’ in the Rain [Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952], A Star Is Born [George Cukor, 1954], Cabaret [Bob Fosse, 1972], Chicago [Rob Marshall, 2002], from a genre I’m normally not that interested in but can easily applaud when it’s too exuberant to ignore [… Rain] or has unexpected-gravitas [the others I’ve cited here including the fabulous 1961West Side Story]). I wasn’t disappointed with this current result, finding it to be in its own way on par—if not better in a few conceptual areas but certainly equal in singing performance, dance numbers, overall dynamic staging and editing—with the brilliant production that changed the tone of Broadway and cinematic musicals all those decades ago. Admittedly, the underlying strength of this tale of star-crossed-lovers in the current incarnation of West Side Story about rival street gangs in NYC comes from the famous play of Romeo and Juliet (replacing the Verona family conflicts from long ago with the action this musical of our age is based on, Romeo ... with some notable cinematic versions as well in recent decades directed by Franco Zeffirelli [1968] and Baz Luhrmann [1996]), but when paired with the music of Bernstein, lyrics of Sondheim, choreography of Robbins (now done by Janusz Kamiński) it just becomes a magically-tragic-exploration of how difficult it can be to overcome deep-seated-hatreds even when love desperately tries to conquer all; I’m terribly stingy in awarding 5 stars, though I find it to be justified here. In the Short Takes section I’ll address The Card Counter from another master of contemporary cinema (including as a screenwriter), Paul Schrader, about a military criminal (Oscar Isaac) trying to reform his life as a calculated-low-level-success in casino card games until he’s recruited by the son of a suicidal ex-military-man to seek revenge on a mastermind of the infamous tortures at the Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraqi war, a gruesome story but told extremely well. The new West Side Story’s only in theaters; The Card Counter has ended its theatrical run, resides on Apple TV+ streaming for $19.99 rental. Also in that section I’ll provide suggestions for choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, tedious software!) along with a usual dose of industry-related-trivia
As we move into a combo of holiday mode (including my birthday; you’ll have to read further into this posting to know when—unless you’re Friends with me on blabbermouth Facebook) and growing concerns about indoor gatherings because of the rapid spread of the COVID-Omicron variant which might push me out of theaters again, I may not be posting anything new until early January, but take a look on December 23, 2021 if I squeeze another round of opinions. If not, Happy New Year!
Here’s the trailer for West Side Story [2021]:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film—or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who aren’t that tech-savvy)—to help any of you who’d like to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: (You may well be aware of this plot from a variety of other sources, but I’ll recount it briefly anyway, yet if it is new to you be careful of the spoilers just below; if you like, here's a video [15:16] that traces this narrative from stage to screen [ads interrupt at 10:00, 12:30], along with another one [1:30] offering comparisons of aspects of the trailers for the 1961 and 2021 films based on the theatrical originals). We begin with overhead shots of the rubble on the close-to-upper-west-side of Manhattan in 1957 as whole neighborhoods are torn out to make way for luxury high-rises and the grand Lincoln Center performing arts spaces. Within this rapidly-disappearing area there’s a street gang conflict between the Jets (various White ethnicities, Irish and Polish most noted), led by Riff (Mike Faist), and the Sharks (Puerto Ricans), led by Bernardo (David Alvarez), constantly making problems for seemingly-overmatched police Officer Krupke (Brian d’Arcy) with a harsh tone taken toward all of them by his Lt. Schrank (Corey Stoll) who makes overtly-racist remarks to the Sharks but also demeans the Jets as having parents too dumb to have left this rapidly-declining part of the city with their sons and daughters now caught flatly in dead-end-futures.
Then we meet Tony (Ansel Elgort), who founded the Jets a few years ago with Riff, then went to jail for a year because in a gang fight he was one punch away from killing his adversary; now he’s working at Doc’s drugstore, although Doc (played by Ned Glass in the 1961 film, a kindly Jewish man who tried to give advice to these angry kids in his ‘hood), is dead, the shop now run by his Puerto Rican widow, Valentina (Rita Moreno, in a role written just for her in this adaptation), trying to put his past behind him, even as Riff wants him to join in the plans for a winner-take-all-rumble with the Sharks. Tony initially refuses but later—in support of his long-time-buddy—shows up at the community dance where the “war” plans are to be made. Next is Maria (Rachel Zegler), recently-arrived from Puerto Rico, sister of Bernardo, living with him and his lover, Anita (Ariana DeBose [Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for this role back in 1961])—not that interested in his scenario of marrying Bernardo, having kids, returning to Puerto Rico—with her brother determined to link Maria up to Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), a guy she respects but with no romantic interest. At that ill-fated-dance, though, after the overmatched-authorities work desperately to keep these opposing sides from starting a rumble right there, Tony and Maria see each other across the gymnasium floor, soon meet under the bleachers, quickly become attracted, Bernardo breaks it up.
Later that night at Doc’s, contingents of the Jets and Sharks agree to the terms of the battle tomorrow night while Tony figures out where Maria lives leading to their “balcony” scene on the fire escape, him spontaneously climbing up to kiss her. Next day they go to the Cloisters, a rebuilt medieval-nunnery at the northern tip of Manhattan (I’ve been there, very serene) where they declare their love, but she wants him to stop the rumble. Meanwhile, Riff has bought a gun (unconvinced the Sharks might show up unarmed, despite pledges to keep the fight weaponless), which Tony tries to take away from him but fails. That night the gangs come to the appointed place, Tony arrives trying to call it off, gets into a fist fight with Bernardo (a successful amateur boxer), has him beaten but stops so as not to go too far; then when knives come out between Bernardo and Riff, Tony tries to intervene, then accidently allows Riff to be fatally-stabbed; angered, Tony kills Bernardo, the cops arrive, everyone scrambles, Chino leaves with the gun, then tells Maria about the killer of her brother which horrifies her until Tony shows up; they reconcile, even winning over Anita who understands their deep love. Tony’s hides out at Doc’s, but when Anita goes to give him a message about running away with Maria she’s challenged by the Jets, insulted, nearly raped until Valentina stops the boys. ⇒Angered, Anita tells them Chino shot Maria, horrid news Valentina passes on to Tony who goes out into the streets, calling for Chino to kill him too. Suddenly, he sees Maria running toward him with a suitcase for their escape, yet it’s not to be as Chino appears, shoots Tony. Both gangs gather around his body, Maria grabs the gun and wants to kill some of them before her own suicide but is overcome with grief, drops the gun. Finally, the gangs end their hostilities, join together in carrying Tony’s body away with Maria following, as Valentina's left with Chino until the cops arrive.⇐
So What? This iteration of West Side Story has a long, celebrated, embraced heritage beginning with William Shakespeare’s original play, Romeo and Juliet (1597), with stagings for centuries (plus a multitude of filmic versions over more recent years) until in 1947 (another significant event, along with my birth!) Jerome Robbins got the idea of adapting it to a contemporary setting* which came together on stage as West Side Story in 1957 with Robbins as director-choreographer, book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; critical acclaim, decades of touring companies and Broadway revivals (only a few Tony awards, including one in 1958 to Robbins for Best Choreography), followed but the concept was given an even-greater-context (with some location shooting in Manhattan, enhancing the basic sound-stage-work) when adapted to a 1961 film where Robbins continued to run the choreography as co-director (until fired for pushing the production way behind schedule), Robert Wise added as co-director, both of them getting Oscars for that role (overall the film won 10 Oscars—along with Best Director was Best Picture, Supporting Actor [George Chakiris, Bernardo], Supporting Actress [Rita Moreno, Anita], Film Editing, Scoring of a Musical Picture, Sound, and Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design [those last 3 for color pictures when Black & White was still an active choice]), plus an Honorary Oscar for Robbins to be sure he’d be noted for those dynamic dance routines, resulting in this film being considered one of the all-time-great-cinematic-musicals, one to which I would easily give 5 stars if I were reviewing it.**
*It began as East Side Story, conflicts between 2 Irish Catholic and Jewish families in Manhattan’s Lower East Side (rather than Juliet’s Capulets, Romeo’s Montagues); that idea was dropped as seemed just another version of Abie’s Irish Rose (Anne Nichols, 1922), a popular stage comedy (adapted to a couple of movies) for decades, surfacing again in the 1972-’73 CBS TV sitcom, Bridget Loves Bernie, debuted when I was in Queens so I could hear my Jewish neighbors in the lawn area outside my ground-floor-apartment to discuss/laugh about it each week until the weather cooled off.
**When I was teaching my Visual Communication class at Mills College (Oakland, CA) before retiring 13 years ago (Professor Emeritus of Film Studies now) I often used clips from this film because it’s such a wonder-work of imagery with the dance scenes, the creation of z-axis (implied depth) space, impactful editing, etc. A great example is "Tonight (Quintet)" joining the aspirations of Jets, Sharks, Anita, Tony, Maria (contrasted with worry by the cops), leading to an explosive finale.
While the 1961 film largely follows the plotline of the earlier stage version (a few songs are put in different places), there are much-more-notable-changes in this new Spielberg version, making it grittier, more authentic to what it’s presenting about the 1957 gentrification-situation in this area just north of Hell’s Kitchen; the contempt “proper” society had toward the populations both Jets and Sharks represented as shown by the overt racism of Lt. Schrank to the Sharks along with his Jets-denunciation as losers destined for eviction from this neighborhood’s coming-gentrification;* frequent scenes where members of the Sharks’ milieu speak Spanish without subtitle-translations for us gringos (although Anita keeps admonishing everyone to “speak English,” as she continues her assimilationist-attitudes presented in the song/dance masterpiece, "America" [from the 1961 film]).
While Spielberg’s West Side Story does use a rewritten script from Tony Kushner, again it keeps much of the original play’s structure intact, also moves a few of the songs around, but is most notable for giving Tony a harsher backstory; foregrounding the reality the Jets-Sharks clashes aren’t just about racism but also have a significant component of mutual fear of by all of them of losing their neighborhood entirely to the city’s remodeling efforts leaving them nowhere else to go; having all of the singing done by the actors on screen (Marni Nixon dubbed Natalie Wood’s Maria, Jimmy Bryant dubbed Richard Beymer’s Tony in the 1961 film, along with some other dubbers); and, of course, creating the role of Valentina in place of Doc to give Rita Moreno another chance to shine in this version where there’d be little opportunity to squeeze this now-90-year-old-superstar into any of the original roles (where she was one of the few Latino/Latinas in the cast, but now all of the Latinx roles are played by actors of that ethnicity—although not all Puerto Ricans, like Moreno, but at least actors with Afro-Caribbean heritage are also now included, noting a complaint raised against some other current films with a Latinx cast); there’s also the revised wannabe-Jet Anybodys (Iris Menas) who’s now not a tomboy-girl but a transmale, as efforts were made to acknowledge contemporary issues.
*Back in NYC on a short vacation with my wife, Nina, in 1996 I got a look at how the West Side Story area had been remade into a realm of highrise-luxury-apartment-buildings and the grand Lincoln Center performance complex when I was invited by a former Mills College student of mine to come up to her family penthouse for a grand look out at the city from dozens of stories up, along with seeing the Picasso on their wall and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Oscar given to her grandfather (1975), Hollywood director Mervyn LeRoy (for “creative producers whose bodies of work reflect a consistently high quality of motion picture production”), a long way from the world of Tony and Maria.
When you put all of the new aspects within the already-lauded-structure of this revised Romeo and Juliet, you’d think I’d have an easy time picking a rating, but I still had to mull over when I’ll allow anything into my hallowed 5-stars realm, as I’d easily grant to the 1961 film (as I’ve done with a few other time-honored-classics seen on re-release, not just on video). Ultimately, I ended up following Shakespeare's dictum, “the play’s the thing” (Hamlet [c. 1599-1601]), that—like my 5 stars to Fences (Denzel Washington, 2016; reviews in our January 4/Jan. 12, 2017 postings) and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (George C. Wolfe, 2020; review in our December 31, 2020 posting) where the storylines from playwright August Wilson are so strong it would take effort to make a lousy cinematic version—the story itself in West Side Story (thanks ultimately to Willie S.) is so engaging, so heart-breaking you’d probably always get an emotional impact from it, even if just in a decent high-school production (see my next section on that concept). I realize this film hasn’t gotten universal-acclaim (more on that shortly also) and has been blasted for perpetuating Puerto Rican stereotypes (see the Criticism section of this link, charges I’m not trying to ignore [nor, with my Anglo heritage/upbringings/ kneejerk-perspectives, can I offer any insightful counter-argument just yet]), but as with challenges to filmmakers like D.W. Griffith (The Birth of a Nation [1915], racism), Leni Riefenstahl (Triumph of the Will [1935], Nazism), Woody Allen (child abuse allegations, although still in dispute) I’m trying (where reasonable) to focus on what I see on screen and how significant it is in context of the development of the cinematic arts, no matter how personally vile the filmmaker or his/her content may seem to be.
But even then, when the filmmaking's advances might be considered noteworthy, the content may be too disgusting for a specific viewer to even try to have a conversation about it. In West Side Story I agree these Puerto Ricans are shown as unacceptable to certain Whites in our society, but for me, naïve as I may be, the mindless racism against them is called out in the film, they’re no more lacking as American citizens than the racist Jets who hate them, and all of these characters represent easily-forgotten-realms of our nation quickly quarantined into their ghettos/pushed out of the way when great financial opportunities arise, so I’m not seeing them as the denigrated characters these above-referenced-sociological-critics do, even if I may be misunderstanding any of their valid points.
If I were better involved in what it’s like to be in these critics’ shoes, I might be dismissive of this film also (in the interview in Related Links for below, though, the Latinx actors don’t voice any version of these views, but no one person speaks for their ethnic brothers and sisters or the circumstances anyone else has to face so I don’t mean for that to negate the sociological-critics’ positions either). Ultimately, this film works for me as primary a statement of how any group benefits when they can overcome the hate that may have grown up in their community (hard as that may be when the reasons for the hate have been cruelly imposed on them), somehow find common ground with their antagonists; if the specifics in how that message has been conveyed in a given art form come across as offensive, then there’s further hope for dialogue, certainly more frequent opportunities for films from a Latinx perspective (or Hispanic or Latino/a; even an outsider like me knows that such basic concepts as terminology for a given people aren’t universally clear yet), such as In the Heights (John M. Chu; review in our June 17, 2021 posting—although this one didn’t grab me as much as West Side Story, possibly because I'm too much of an outsider to what it’s depicting) to get better funding, promotion, opportunities to be seen. West Side Story brings up a lot of universal needs, speaks to a wide range of audiences, but its specifics also set us up for further dialogue about depictions not so universally-admired. To be complete on this topic, though (in regard to aspects of the Woody Allen dilemma for those of us who still admire his work), Ansel Elgort was accused in 2020 of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old-girl in 2014, a more serious allegation that those who say he’s not emotionally-effectively in this new film (although as a guy on parole, trying to stay out of trouble when his heart keeps leading him right into it, I found him appropriate to the handling of the role). He’s denied the sex was anything but consensual so we’re back to the usual impasse regarding these kinds of allegations, while I have no evidence on which to base any opinion; maybe we should just ask impartial Supreme Court Association Judge Bret Kavanaugh to offer his ruling on the matter.
Bottom Line Final Comments: The CCAL’s consistently supportive of this variation on West Side Story with the evaluators surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes offering a highly-encouraging 93% positive reviews while those at Metacritic give one of their best average scores of 2021 releases I’m aware of with an 85% mark. However, given my all-out-enthusiasm for this … Story, I was curious what another film critic had to say in rejecting it so I turned to my old hometown of Austin, TX where Eric Webb, writing at of one of my favorite former newspapers, the Austin American-Statesman, offers this viewpoint: “[…] an object out of time that serves no generation. […] this ‘West Side Story’ didn’t need to exist. […] It just doesn’t always bring the right weapons to a very real battle. It wouldn’t have been the worst thing for [Spielberg] to sit this one out.” Nevertheless, I’ll still line up with Ty Burr who says: “Choreographer Justin Peck keeps the essential vocabulary of Jerome Robbins’ iconic dance moves but builds on and recombines it in fresh ways. Most important, Spielberg and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski favor long shots that allow us to revel in the beauty of mass movement in set-pieces like ‘The Jet Song,’ ‘America,’ and ‘The Dance at the Gym’ – none of that hyperactive ‘Chicago’-style cutting from disembodied foot to flailing arm [Yet, I found Chicago to be quite effective. KB]. The camera really moves in this ‘West Side Story,’ becoming as much a part of the dance as the dancers but never upstaging them.” Burr also notes Sondheim refers to this new cinematic rendition of West Side Story as “great” which echoes his praise of the 2020 Broadway revival of the original play where he notes how he enjoys the way theatre evolves with new interpretations of the same script while a specific film is frozen in its production era, implying for a film to continue to work well it has to provide some sense of timelessness which he must have felt about Spielberg’s version, seen shortly before Sondheim died on November 26, 2021.
Despite this critical support, though, audiences haven’t been much enthused yet, because even though the film opened in 2,820 domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters its debut weekend yielded only $11.6 million ($16.1 million worldwide), a sparse take bringing it only to #57 of the year so far, with, admittedly, many weeks to go before it rotates off to video, but given the allure of Spielberg, the advance press about the remake of a classic, and the hopes of theater owners that such a potential blockbuster might help pull in a big-end-of-the-year-audience, it’s a bit of a dud of an opening (here are some thoughts about why that's happening)—the mid-afternoon-matinee Nina and I attended probably had no more than a dozen patrons, not good for the manager but at least helpful to us with only $6 for a senior ticket as theaters do what they can to entice us back into darkened rooms for masked-display of their wares, including those 25 min. of previews after announced showtime. Whatever critics (film or social) and/or the general public may think on this version of West Side Story, with a carefully-considered 5 stars-decision on my part, it’s got to be my front-runner for 2021’s best, although there are many others in the pipeline I haven’t seen yet. While I’m arranging my viewing calendar, though, I’ll share with you my Musical Metaphor for any version of West Side Story, the whichever-soundtrack-recording you prefer of “Somewhere” as it speaks directly to the best hopes of this story: “Someday, somewhere, We’ll find a new way of living, We’ll find a way of forgiving.” In case I don’t connect with you again before 2022, though, I’ll give you 3 renditions of the song, the first found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6qtHuntty0 as sung by Maria and Tony (dubbed voices) in the 1961 film, then the audio only version as sung by Valentina in the new film reminiscing about Doc even as the lyrics clearly apply as well to everyone in this misbegotten neighborhood (Moreno capably does her own vocal work) at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=oae6SW5bgeQ, then, finally, a version from the Bergen Performing Arts Center’s Performing Arts School (NJ) where high-school senior Rachel Zegler also played Maria (as best I followed this, she’s in a blue dress during this ballet scene where—oddly enough—2 women on either side of the stage actually do the singing) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrVb4HUwgro, a performance that led to her casting in the current film (go here if you wish to see that full production [2:03.57]). So, until either next week or next year there will be “a place for us … Somehow, someday, somewhere.”
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
A former soldier (Oscar Isaac) who spent 8 years of jail time because of his involvement in the U.S. POW torture at the Abu Ghraid prison in Iraq has now became an under-the-radar card shark when he’s approached by a young man who wants to kill the “consultant” of those atrocious practices as his father was another of the torturers, then later killed himself from shame—a moody film, but great.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading any further, I’ll ask you to refer to the plot spoilers warning far above.
Not wanting to risk theaters too frequently so instead looking over possibilities of films available on streaming I haven’t gotten to yet I found it hard to ignore Paul Schrader’s latest work (although I’d put it off for months for some reason, as it was released to theaters on September 10, 2021, making $2.7 million domestically, $3.6 million globally), given his extensive prior success as a screenwriter working with director Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver [1976], Raging Bull [1980], The Last Temptation of Christ [1988], Bringing Out the Dead [1999]), a fine director of his own scripts or those of others (American Gigolo [1980], Patty Hearst [1988], Dying of the Light [2014], First Reformed [2018; review in our June 21, 2018 posting]), and even as a film critic/theorist who wrote a marvelous article on film noir (I also saw him present ideas eloquently as part of a panel at a Sundance Film Festivals I attended in 1998 or 2004, but I’m not sure which anymore). I certainly wasn’t disappointed at what he’s concocted in The Card Counter (now available on Apple TV+ streaming for a $19.99 rental), a grim story (as Schrader’s narratives usually are; I can easily see why he’s enthralled by film noir) about William Tillich (Oscar Isaac), a former Army Private First Class at the horrendous Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraqi War where the American military engaged in atrocious torture of POWs under the command of Major John Gordo (Willem Dafoe)—formerly John Rogers, then shape-shifted; another soldier trained by Gordo was Roger Baufort, who, like Tillich, was dishonorably-discharged.
Tillich spent 8 years in the Leavenworth (KS) prison where he liked the regiment of sameness, taught himself how to count cards to cheat at blackjack as well as internalized winning poker strategies so he’d have a source of income upon release, although he clearly remains psychically-wounded by his torture actions, now drifts—renaming himself as William Tell—from casino to casino around the U.S. making enough to support himself, keeping his winnings limited so as not to cause any hassles (also sleeps in cheap motel rooms, first taking everything off the walls, wrapping all the furniture in sheets tied down with twine); Baufort, however, after his jail time became a drug addict, abusive to his wife (who left him) and young son, Cirk (Tye Sheridan), then killed himself. One day, Tell draws the attention of La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) who runs a stable of card players backed by investors who take a cut of their winnings, but Tell’s not interested in joining up. He changes his mind, though, after briefly attending a seminar run by Gordo at one of those casinos, then getting contact info from Cirk (also in the audience) who somehow recognizes Tell. Will meets with the young man, learns Cirk wants to kill Gordo after recruiting Tell to help out; Will’s rejects that offer but convinces Cirk to come along with him on his casino travels, agreeing to join up with La Linda to work his way into the World Series of Poker in order to make enough cash to help Cirk pay off his huge college debt (plus Mom’s debts as well), get back to school, make something useful of his life.
⇒When CIrk insists he still wants to kill Gordo, Tell gives him $150,000 to rectify his past problems and contact his estranged mother (or else Will will show him directly what torture’s truly about), then continues on with advancement at the prestigious poker World Series. However, when Will’s in the final round he gets a text from Cirk that he’s now at Gordo’s home with intent to kill so Tell walks away from the competition, sees on TV news that Gordo’s shot an intruder at his home, then drives to Gordo’s place where he takes revenge on this unrepentant former-solder (he retired from the military before Abu Ghraib, worked there as a “consultant” so he couldn’t be held accountable for the crimes), then calls 911 to turn himself in resulting in re-incarceration at Leavenworth. The film ends with La Linda visiting him, their hands touching of each side of the glass partition separating them.⇐ Certainly there’s nothing upbeat about this tense, taut story, but it’s a great study in accumulated guilt, the compulsion toward a sense of deserved-punishment, as well as an exploration of how one person hopes to cleanse himself of the residue of past sins (Will’s always aware of “the weight of past actions”) by helping another person turn away from the road to perdition, with marvelous acting throughout, especially by Isaac and Sheridan (Dafoe’s fine in his limited scenes, but he’s not actually an active player here except for the grotesque cruelties he represents).
The CCAL joins me in recommending this grim film to you, with the RT reviews at 86% positive, the MC ones offering a 77% average score (“generally favorable” in their parlance), but I understand this might be a bit too gritty as little light shines into Tell’s darkness (a clever use of that name, as in poker it’s how a player unknowingly communicates the strength/weakness of his hand, something impassive Will never does, although his personal angst always bubbles just below the surface). However, if you’re ready for some “dark cinema,” The Card Counter should be a sure bet for you. Either way, I hope you’ll enjoy my Musical Metaphor, Leonard Cohen’s “The Stranger Song” (1967 Songs of Leonard Cohen album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh-LWm4T2y0 (a 1966 appearance on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) which references “dealers,” “jokers,” “the holy game of poker,” and “the card That is so high and wild He’ll never need to deal another,” but ultimately speaks of this William Tell: “I told you when I came I was a stranger.” Is Will “just some Joseph looking for a manger” or is he more content as a sacrificial lamb? Take a look; think about it.
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are for U.S. Pacific zone so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
Friday December 17, 2021
5:00 PM Sounder (Martin Ritt, 1972) A Black sharecropper family in Depression-era Louisiana struggles to balance their immediate economic survival (ultimately, the father’s jailed for stealing a ham to feed his family) with a better future opportunity for their son as he stumbles upon a chance for getting an education, hopefully leading him out of such poverty (by the way, Sounder’s their dog); starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield as the parents, Kevin Hooks as the boy. Very well-honored.
7:30 PM Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) Acclaimed thriller where tennis star Guy Haines (Farley Granger) wants to be rid of his promiscuous wife, marry someone else, so he arranges with Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) to kill her in exchange for Guy killing Bruno’s father, given neither has motive for such crimes so they won’t be suspected. Bruno completes his end of the deal, but Guy hesitates to do the same so Bruno continues to put blackmail pressure on him.
Given how I've promoted them for the last couple of years, maybe everyone at TCM will come to Hayward, CA to help me celebrate my 74th birthday (congrats if you found this promised info), even if they won't all fit into the little restaurant Nina and I have reservations at (might they pick up the tab?).
Sunday December 19, 2021
1:00 PM Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) A Jewish prince (Charlton Heston!) runs afoul of his childhood friend Messala (Steven Boyd), now a Roman tribune, who wrongly condemns noble Judah to slavery; from here it’s all about the long road back for Judah, culminating in a magnificent chariot race, all during the time of Christ. Won 11 Oscars from 12 nominations (only Titanic [1998], The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [2004] have also won that many): Best Picture, Director, Actor (Heston), Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith), Film Editing, Music Scoring, Sound Recording, Special Effects, Art Direction-Set Decoration, Cinematography, Costume Design (the last 3 for color films).
Monday December 20, 2021
1:15 AM Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982) While not the last of Bergman’s storied-directorial-career (there were several TV movies through 2003), this is generally considered his final masterwork. Set in 1907 the children of a happy family face difficult changes when their father dies, Mom then marries the local bishop, a stern disciplinarian who makes all of them miserable but refuses his new wife’s request for a divorce; also, ghosts. Won Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Bergman also nominated for Best Director, Original Screen Play; you’ll need to be ready to invest time in this one, as it runs 3 hrs. 8 min.
Tuesday December 21, 2021
2:30 PM The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968) History-based drama set at Christmas 1183
at English King Henry II’s (Peter O’Toole) château where imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) is released for the holiday, argues with Henry over which son should succeed him, followed by extensive acts of palace intrigue. Won Oscars for Best Actress (Hepburn), Adapted Screenplay (James Goldman), Original Score for a Non-Musical (John Barry). Anthony Hopkins is their eldest son, Richard the Lionheart; Timothy Dalton's Phillip II, King of France.
Wednesday December 22, 2021
10:45 PM The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) Romantic comedy & satire of corporate immorality as execs at a huge insurance company force a lower-echelon-guy, Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon), to use his place for affairs, including Personnel Director (Fred MacMurray) with Bud’s secret attraction (Shirley MacLaine); complications arise. Won 5 Oscars—for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond), Art Direction-Black & White, Film Editing—noms for 5 more.
If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: (1) Golden Globes 2022 complete nomination list; (2) Ho-hum response to Globes noms. I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
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*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problems’ been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
AND … at least until the Oscars for 2020’s releases have been awarded on Sunday, March 27, 2022 we’re also going to include reminders in each posting of very informative links where you can get updated tallies of which films have been nominated for and/or received various awards and which ones made various individual critic’s Top 10 lists. You may find the diversity among the various awards competitions and the various critics hard to reconcile at times—not to mention the often-significant-gap between critics’ choices and competitive-award-winners (which pales when they’re compared to the even-more-noticeable-gap between specific award winners and big box-office-grosses you might want to monitor here—but as that less-than-enthusiastic-patron-of-the-arts, Plato, noted in The Symposium (385-380 BC)—roughly translated, depending on how accurate you wish the actual quote to be—“Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” so your choices for success are as valid as any of these others, especially if you offer some rationale for your decisions (unlike many of the awards voters who simply fill out ballots, sometimes—damn it!—for films they’ve never seen).
Here’s more information about West Side Story [2021]:
https://www.westsidestory.com/2021-film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0pMsewvTms (41:38 interview with actors Rita Moreno, Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, Brian d’Arcy James, David Alvarez, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist, and director Steven Spielberg)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/west_side_story_2021
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/west-side-story-2020
Here’s more information about The Card Counter:
https://www.focusfeatures.com/the-card-counter/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjfyYldi6Wk (10:44 interview with screenwriter-director Paul Schrader [ad interrupts at 7:00], but cuts off abruptly at the end) and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqO5qF2OSm4 (6:29 interview with actor Oscar Isaac)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_card_counter
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-card-counter
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker. But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"
—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest,
a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand"
(19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this good).
But, while I’m at it, I should also include another of my top favorites, from the night before
at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song always “just a shot
away" in my memory (along with my memory of the great drummer, Charlie Watts; RIP).
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