Christmas Catch-Up with Movies and Readin'

[thehefner]

My Christmas was spent mostly watching movies, with a bit of reading in between to keep my brain alive. Actually, I was less watching/reading for the fun of it, but rather, more to right some grievious errors in my never having seen/read these things in the first place.



FIRST BLOOD, by David Morrell: My introduction to Rambo. The movie from Netflix should be waiting for me tonight. I'm guessing the Sheriff isn't the good guy in this one?



THE KING AND I: ... Gay for musicals as I am, I'm starting to seriously wonder if I draw the line at Rogers and Hammerstein. I mean, I adore Yul and his shiny head, but... man. Aside from the hot-as-hell dancing lesson, yipes, was this dry. I dunno, between this, SOUTH PACIFIC, and OKLAHOMA, R&H just aren't doing it for me. Maybe they need to be seen live, or I'm just being a plebeian again.



Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU (TO LIVE): I think ciretose lent to this me a year ago, and I only yesterday finally checked it out, as there was nothing else on TV. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that I only watched this out of desperation and boredom. Deeply ashamed. Because this proved not only to be my second favorite Kurosawa movie, but perhaps--with time and reflection--could well become one of my very favorite films of all time.



I mean, just seeing IKIRU alone was a treat, but the wonderful essay from the Criterion Collection really pushed the point home. IKIRU is as powerful in its purity, compassion, and touching humanity as RAN was in its brutally harrowing epic nature. Both are about old men realizing that they've misspent their lives, and with numbered days, struggle desperately to make things right. Unlike RAN's King Lear, Takashi Shimura (absolutely unrecognizable as the lead samurai from SEVEN SAMURAI; the Yul Brenner role, natch) might just succeed, even if he's the only one who knows it.

A masterpiece.



Now, masterpiece that IKIRU is, it's not exactly in the public consciousness as a film that everybody has seen and generally adores, the kind of film where anyone who hasn't seen it is an absolute weirdo and freak. And as the years go by, it gets harder and harder to finally watch such a film for the first time when expectations have been raised so high. Films so loved like that, they're often dated and adored by the people who saw them when they first came out, and don't hold up to newbies (I have no idea if I'd like STAR WARS if I saw it today for the first time).

That said, holy sweet merciful god did I ever bloody adore A CHRISTMAS STORY.

That's right, I'd never seen A CHRISTMAS STORY until yesterday, and with IKIRU, it was a double-whammy of shame. As far as Hefnerian movies go, this is right up there with ANNIE HALL (also playing on TV last night; it still rings painfully true each time). As I'm already late to this party, I have nothing else to add, other than to say that I think I need to track down the further work of Jean Shepherd.

Now I just need to finally see IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Maybe next year.



Finally, I've been reading the old POPEYE comics by E.C. Sagar. Now, like most people, I kinda hate Popeye. That's because, like most people, I only know Popeye from the cartoons. And like most people... it turned out, I didn't know jack.



This is the comic strip equivalent of W.C. Fields and the Marx Brothers, and I say that with absolutely no bullshit. Everything here is above and beyond the quality of most comic strips from that or any era, and it's all set against the backdrop of a deeply cruel, amoral world (reflecting Depression-era America). This Popeye doesn't need no fucking spinach; this Popeye is the Wolverine of his day. In his first story, the guy gets shot sixteen times and still beats the crap out of the villain before collapsing.

Just like Rambo, Popeye has become a pop icon, but for reasons that are either totally wrong or just forgotten. It's amazing to finally see them in their true forms, even if most others won't. I'm totally buying the rest in the series.



Oh, I almost forgot the movie with which I ended my Christmas...

JOYEUX NOEL, about the WWI Christmas Truce between the Scottish, French, and German soldiers.



God, it's heartrending, but in a good way. Overly sentimental, perhaps, but the fact that this happened, and a couple times again after the original Truce (much to the disdain of the higher-ups) is just... it reaffirms faith in humanity, even in one of the lowest points in human history.



And now, Christmas is over, and I have a life again. Dang it. Back to work.

Comments

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

[laughs] I remember one year I went to sleepaway camp and the first week was great, but the second week it rained the whole time, so they put us all - literally the whole camp - in this one covered deck (no walls, just railings, so everything was damp and muggy) on the floor, pushed in a tiny-ass TV, and played "The King and I" over and over and over. I now cannot even hear the title without wanting to either fall asleep or kill something.

I finally saw "It's a Wonderful Life" this year - my family all hung out and watched it Christmas Eve after dinner. My sister spent about half of it going "Wait, this isn't a wonderful life! It's a terrible life! Life SUCKS!" So the fam may have spent much of it doing...um, commentary...but it is a classic for a reason.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! So I imagine when you see WESTWORLD, featuring an unstoppable cyborg cowboy (the first of the Terminator/Jason/Michael Myers stalker killers in cinema history, I think!) played by Yul Brenner, you'll go, "Oh, I've seen this before... in my NIGHTMARES!!!"

I will see IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE someday soon, but in the meantime, it's strange that I should have watched IKIRU instead; TIME Magazine, in describing it as one of the 100 All-Time Greatest Movies, likens it to IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, but in reverse gear.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

...you're seriously not helping my childhood trauma, here, bucko.

And that actually sounds good. I'd never even heard of it.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it seems that John Hefner and your childhood trauma just don't mix.

Yeah, it's totally worth checking out, IKIRU is. Just, y'know, have patience with it. The classic Japanese filmmakers like to take their time and can seem really unassuming at first, and there are no samurai nor sword battles in this particular Kurosawa to pique the interest throughout.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

I noticed. CURSE YOU, HEFNER!

And will do. We used to watch Japanese movies in (go figure) Japanese class. They were generally slow, but a lot of them worked with that pacing.

[fragmentedsky.livejournal.com]

Also, I figured you'd appreciate this if you hadn't already seen it.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I did indeed see it; someone posted it up on scans_daily, and while I'm not the angry fangirl type (as may be obvious), all I can say is HELL YEAH.

[cisic.livejournal.com]

When taken in the context of the time period in which they are written, the musicals of R&H are bold, daring, and innovative works.

That being said, I never go see productions of them. Mostly because all productions now have forgotten the above fact and do them as money makers that the white hairs will love. So almost all of the depth is completely missing.

Yes, R&H can have depth. I did not realize this until I had seen the video of the National Theatre's production of Oklahoma starring Hugh Jackman. It's not perfect, but for many reasons it's probably the best production of Oklahoma you will ever see. Like I said, I never go see R&H, but I love this production.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I would love to see a modern stage version that's also faithful to the depth of the R&H work. Because I do believe they (can) have depth, but I've just never seen a good version. But you're right, they're mostly money makers for the white hairs (love that sentence, by the way; how very evocative and true for that part of professional theatre).

And I have seen bits of the Hugh Jackman version. You're right, it probably is the best production I will ever see, and I would not be adverse to watching the whole thing.

[adaptor.livejournal.com]

Yes, JOYEUX NOEL! Did I recommend that to you? To I post about it? I forget.

This is one of my fav little moments in history and so I put off watching it for a bit due to fear it'd be turned to tripe. But for something that could've been so heavy handed, it wound up so subtle. Both the film and history geeks in me were delighted.

Never seen A Christmas Story? You poor, deprived person! The episodic nature makes it great for coming and going but they're all so good I always stay for all of it. Plus one of my friend's exes is the really angry female store elf. Yea for shooting in Cleveland! :-)

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

No, you never did recommend it to me, nor do I recall you posting about it, but I was certainly thinking of you.

I'm glad you approve of it. Some reviewers seemed to find it too sentimental in places, perhaps because of the use of fictional characters in the true setting, I dunno. I was listening to the final song (found on YouTube) while I was typing up this entry and was kinda tearing up. A lot kinda.

Ha! Oh man, I don't think I'd want to be the ex of that elf. I suppose I'd sooner choose David Sedaris, and I'm not even gay. But that'd be far too much monologuing neurosis in one relationshup as it is.

Deprived, in a sense. Mom was ashamed that she'd never shown it to me growing up, and I said that's because she was too busy taking me to the AFI to see RAN, THE LAST EMPEROR, and BOOGIE NIGHTS.

[aeonata.livejournal.com]

R and H...

The problem that usually happens with R&H is that directors forget or ignore the scary, dark, human parts of the productions in favor of the saccharine happiness of the relatively simplistic music. South Pacific- so full of racsism and hatred that the KKK might take a step back. Sound of Music- NAZIS! C'mon people- you don't get much darker than that. The King and I- more racisicm and colonialism and the darkness/arrogance of assumed cultural superiority.

Oklahoma can just go to Hell though. Any character that has to actually sing in a crappy "western" accent automatically marks the show for destruction. As does a Surrey with Fringe on Top.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Aye, I agree, and I just wish I could see a good version of these shows.

I'm reminded of OUR TOWN, which I'd only recently realized how damn fucking dark that play is, but most people do it as a sappy bit of corny Americana, which is how it's commonly percieved. I hated the play until I saw the dark version, and now I can't imagine any other way it can be done now.

[cisic.livejournal.com]

Yes! Which is why the London version of Oklahoma was so successful - because they embraced the dark! In the commentaries the actors talk about how Trevor Nunn told them that these were the people that became The Grapes of Wrath.

Trust me. See this production. I hated the musical until it. And Hugh Jackman brings remarkable depth to the song Surrey with the Fringe on Top. I didn't know it was possible.

South Pacific was hugely shocking when it came out. The powers that be tried to get R&H to cut the song "You've got to be carefully taught."

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

If anyone could do it, it's Jackman. The guy's seriously underrated. Still wish he could be playing Harvey Dent opposite Bale's Bruce Wayne in THE DARK KNIGHT, but eh, what're you gonna do?

And it's a Trevor Nunn production, so that's worth a note right there.

[cisic.livejournal.com]

There's almost nothing that I would object to seeing Jackman in.

He and Dr. Sam Beckett are my definitions of the perfect man.

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

SHAME, sir. Shame. I've seen A CHRISTMAS STORY every year since I was born, and my parents can barely speak English. And you must never, ever doubt Akira Kurosawa.

However, I did not know Popeye was such a badass.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

See, this is what happens when I grow up getting an education in all manner of odd and obscure movies! I catch the various NINTH CONFIGURATIONS of the world, but miss out on the CHRISTMAS STORY's! The obscure ones just need my love more!

And I was doubting Kurosawa because I saw SEVEN SAMURAI for the second time, and really, it's not one of my favorite Kurosawa films. I liked it better, and the more I thought about it the more I liked, but I dunno... I'm gonna revisit it again after I finally see THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.

He really is. And he's not even the main character yet! He's a side supporting player in the Thimble Theatre, with the star being Olive Oyl's brother, Castor! It's surprising stuff; amazing to think they used to tell whole long serialized comic strip stories that could go on for months on end!

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

See, I think there should be a required watching list for movies just like there's a required reading list to graduate high school. Just to get everyone on the same page. And making jokes about shooting your eye out.

I'm unfairly biased because I love Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen like nothing else, but I love The Magnificent Seven and westerns in general. I think my grandma and I watched every Clint Eastwood/John Wayne western ever made Saturday mornings. While eating top Ramen and pepsi. She was a cool lady.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Of course, then I discovered a there exists a movie called RED SUN. Heard of it? It's a spaghetti western teaming up gunslinger Charles Bronson with samurai Toshiro Mifune. With Alain Delon and Ursulla Andress as well

That's right. One of the Seven Samurai teaming up with one of the Magnificent Seven. This movie is clearly a must-see, like pronto.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

First Blood is pretty decent; it's not completely spoiled by the jingoism and hamfisted pyrotechnics of the sequel. The best part is an exchange later in the film between Brian Dennehy (the sheriff) and Richard Crenna (Rambo's former CO); two great character actors throwing down. Also, a young pre-stardom David Caruso, looking to be about age twelve.

I didn't see A Christmas Story until I was an adult, and I think that it's still superior to just about any Xmas film in showing what the holiday, and winter in general, is really like for a kid, or at least for this one. The movie is almost oddly achronistic, aside from the cars; even the recurrent "you'll put your eye out with that" echoes the fear of just about every toy that exists as a potential child hazard today. (My fave holiday movie, though, is still this one (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus_Is_Comin%27_to_Town_%28TV_special%29), which is really pretty subversive--it's as if Alan Moore wrote for Rankin-Bass.

And as far as Rodgers & Hammerstein... I'm pretty queer for 'em. I blame exposure to Cinderella (the musical, not the Disney cartoon) at an early age.

[civilbloodshed.livejournal.com]

OoOooh, I've neither seen nor heard the word "jingoism" since high school. Kudos, sir or madame.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Also, according to imdb, Chris Mulkey is in it! CHRIS MULKEY!

... I... I liked him in TWIN PEAKS...

The thing is, have you read the book as well? I understand in the movie, Rambo doesn't actually slaughter a couple dozen cops in a fashion so brutal it would make Jason Voorhees wince, and then single-handedly destroys the small town, does he? And the sheriff isn't actually the good guy in this version (or at least, every bit as sympathetic and morally complex as Rambo)?

Well, I'll see it soon enough, maybe tonight.

Y'know, another way I've been deprived, I've never seen any of the Rankin-Bass films, but I will make a special note to check out SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN next year if it is indeed Moore-ishly subversive.

[jackolantern.livejournal.com]

Way-ul, I don't wanna spoil the movie, but yes, quite a few things are different in the book. I will say that, according to H'wood legend, the original ending of the book was shot for the movie, and then they shot the ending that actually ended up in the movie, and preview audiences were 50/50 for each. So.

Yeah, Chris Mulkey.

Of all the Rankin-Bass movies, the one mentioned is the one worth Netflixing; a close second is the Rudolph one, and that mostly because I've described more than one set of friends as The Island of Misfit Toys.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, the original ending doesn't work when you turn the entire story around to turn Rambo into a thoroughly sympathetic underdog and the Sheriff into a heaving sneering stereotype that only Brian Dennehy could embody. Oy.

[irish-caffeine.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked Joyeux Noel! My girlfriend and I rented it a few weeks ago and loved it. You're right, it occasionally smacks of a Hallmark Movie of the Week, but it can be forgiven on the grounds that this is a story that NEEDS to be told. And yeah, echo what you said about faith in humanity.