SINS OF OMISSION - Entry #49: ...And Justice for All (1979)

Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Norman Jewison
Written By: Valerie Curtin, Barry Levinson
Main Cast: Al Pacino, Jack Warden, John Forsythe, Lee Strasberg, Jeffrey Tambor
Click here to view the trailer

NEW PACINO ENTRIES: 1 of 3

Did you know that I love Al Pacino? I used to really really like him back in the day and at a young, impressionable age, I saw a lot of his movies - a lot of movies that ended up becoming personal favorites, due to it being my age of cinematic impersonation. Three of those Pacino films will be included in this new batch - this is the first...

RATING: 8/10

453. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Norman Jewison
Written By: Stirling Silliphant, from novel by John Ball
Main Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates
Click here to view the trailer

AND THEY CALL HIM MR. GILLESPIE!

For the concerned, I'll commence with "Godard Week" either later tonight or tomorrow - either way the next movie I watch WILL BE "Contempt". I took today to spend with my wife and with the suggestion of a movie and looking at my list of planned films for the next 17, she picked this one.

The time period is the 60s and the setting is the segregated town of Sparta, Mississippi, where wealthy land developer, Philip Colbert has just been found dead. When police chief Gillespie (Steiger) sends out his boys, most notably, Officer Sam Wood (Oates), Wood returns with a black man in tow, whom he found at the train station and picked up simply because he had a fat wallet. The black man is Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) and when he arrives back in the Chief's office, Gillespie discovers that Virgil is also a police officer, in Philadelphia. It seems that Tibbs was visiting his mother, passing through the area and just happened to be in Sparta when Colbert's body was discovered. When Gillespie calls Tibbs' chief to check his story, the Philly chief suggests that Virgil stick around and give them a hand - after all, he is the lead homicide detective in Philly. Virgil, although not without reluctance, sticks around, giving a healthy dose of Northern justice to very Southern men at the Sparta department. However, the murder mystery is only half the fun, as the very bigoted Gillespie and Virgil Tibbs try their best to work together.

You know, I'm not as up to date as I should be on my Sidney Poitier filmography, but I have to say, right out of the box, that I wasn't very impressed with him here. I had seen "In the Heat of the Night" a few times before and never really noticed it, but in fact, Poitier didn't shine at all, as far as I'm concerned. Well, maybe that's unfair - maybe he was shining, but maybe his star was snuffed out by the magnificent work that was being done opposite him, via Rod Steiger. I'm not sure I've ever seen another Rod Steiger film and even when I watched "In the Heat of the Night", on previous occasions, I never really noticed him, but if you were to cut him out of this picture, you wouldn't have much and you surely wouldn't have a Best Picture winner. In fact, speaking of the Oscars, it's good to see there was a time when they gave Oscars to the right people and rightfully handed the little gold man to Steiger. As for Poitier, he really seemed to be emotionless here. He had the same deep, flat tone throughout the entire movie, no matter what lines he was delivering. Meanwhile, Steiger plays Gillespie perfectly, managing somehow to make you like him, even at his most racist.

As for the everything else, you had a decent enough film, I guess. Like I said, you lose Steiger here and you're not left with much, but you do still have a mildly entertaining crime story. The whole plot is a little too contrived for my tastes, however, with the "homicide expert" Tibbs somehow managing to be passing through the same town where there's just been a murder and in a town where murder isn't commonplace. The rest of the cast is kind of *meh*, with the exception being Warren Oates, who plays a pretty good dimwitted cop. The music worked too, with Ray Charles belting out the title song and "Owl on the Prowl" and "Bowlegged Polly" popping up throughout and fitting right in.

RATING: 7.5/10 We'll call that a review. If this film somehow manages to sneak into the TOP 20, it can thank Rod Steiger.

MOVIES WATCHED: 385
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 616

January 3, 2012 4:45pm

769. Moonstruck (1987)

Running Time: 102 minutes
Directed By: Norman Jewison
Written By: John Patrick Shanley
Main Cast: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Vincent Gardenia, Danny Aiello

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC

Tonight, as I was trying to decide what to watch, knowing that I wanted to watch SOMETHING, so as to reach my goal quicker, I went to the DVD shelf and yanked a movie that my wife recently purchased - "Moonstruck".

"Moonstruck" is set in Brooklyn, New York and is a tribute to the Italian-American family. Loretta Castorini (Cher) is an accountant for several local business in her neighborhood. One night at dinner, the man who's been courting her, Johnny Cammareri (Aiello), asks her to marry him and after some correcting (forcing him to get down on one knee, forcing him to give her his pinky ring) she accepts. That night, Johnny hops a plane to Sicily to be with his ailing mother, but promises Loretta that when he gets back they'll be married. He only has one request - that she visit his younger brother and clear the bad blood that exists between them and invite him to the wedding. Loretta, wanting to make everything perfect for her special day, contacts Johnny's brother, Ronny Cammareri (Cage), a bread maker with a wooden left hand, who blames Johnny for the loss of his limb. Ronny is a bit of a nutcase, but Loretta, being the mothering type that she is, straightens him out with a juicy steak and a glass of whiskey...and then he carries her to bed. One thing leads to another, full moons rise and before Loretta knows it she's forced to choose between the two brothers - the one she likes, the safe bet in Johnny or the one she loves in Ronny.

I actually have a little history with this film, that I wouldn't mind sharing. I saw this film many years ago, prior to the honing of my "film buffery" and I loved it. I went out soon after and purchased it on DVD and a few years later I watched it again, not remembering too much about it, simply remembering that I DID like it. The second go around wasn't as enticing, as "Moonstruck" actually ended up in the "FOR SALE" pile, obviously not holding up as well as the first time. Recently my wife watched "Moonstruck" and liked it so much that she immediately purchased it, giving it new birth on our DVD shelf. Tonight, I pluck it for a third watch and fall in love with it all over again. I don't know what happened that second time around, but I must have gone temporarily mental or something, because this is one fine movie. It's actually a film that really reminds me of an old, black & white movie. It has those tones of old, with nothing too risky and a really fun plot that you can get lost in. "Moonstruck" is a very inviting movie and to tell you the truth, as I write this in July, I watched it at the wrong time. This is the kind of movie you watch in the middle of winter, with the furnace roaring, huddled under a blanket, on a big comfy sofa. It's such a warm, friendly film and it invites you into the city of New York and instead of showing off the city, it places you right into the nooks and crannies of the city and experience it.

Nowadays when I get the news that a musician is going to try their hand at acting, I get a little sketchy, as usually it turns out being a not so good performance and a flop of a film. Believe it or not, Cher was a damn fine actress and honestly, that goes for Nicolas Cage too. Cage has had some really questionable movie choices as of late, but there was a time when I was a big Cage fan and I'm not sure if he still is, but he used to be a really good actor. Dukakis, Gardenia, Aiello and John Mahoney are all actors that add to the greatness that is "Moonstruck" and add, as the book says, a little extra spice to an already sizzling romantic comedy. "Moonstruck" is such a romantic film, that is dealing with romance in the unlikeliest of places, at the unlikeliest of ages, in the unlikeliest of circumstances. With Dean Martin tunes and music from "La Boheme" echoing in the background, it only serves to amp up the heart of "Moonstruck" and John Patrick Shanley's marvelous script and superb dialogue. For me, "Moonstruck" is the type of comedy that won't make you laugh out loud so much, as it will just make you smile a lot.

RATING: 8.5/10 This film really does have some of the most romantic dialogue. The kind of dialogue you hear and try to memorize so you can pop it on your wife.

MOVIES WATCHED: 296
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 705

July 16, 2011 2:44am