The Godfather, Part II

"The Godfather: Part II", #32/32, 1974

This movie posed an interesting problem. I hadn't seen the first Godfather movie, so how could I watch the sequel before the original? But, I couldn't watch the original because it's in the Top 10, and I was saving those for the end. In the end, I decided to watch part one, then watch part two, and I'll re-watch part one as I'm going through the Top 10.
I figured that was the best way to go about it considering I've already seen some of the movies, but am rewatching them in this process.
So... The Godfather: Part II...
This  movie was a really interesting overlap of two stories... current Godfather Michael Corleone going about his mafia business, and a flashback to Vito Corleone's childhood and how he got into the family business back before (and slightly after) Michael was born.

I really enjoyed the overlapping stories. I think it was handeled really well, and I liked the movie as a whole. There was a terrible moment at the end, when Michael could have redeemed and fixed two close relationships, but instead he did not, and he really did the opposite of what I wanted. So, that sucked, but still, a good movie.

The Birth of a Nation

"The Birth of a Nation", #44/Removed, 1915

Via the trivia available on imdb.com, I found out that after director D.W. Griffith made this film (which has some racial overtones-I'll get to that), he was criticized as being racist, and he was very hurt by this. So, he then made "Intolerance", which is also on the top movie list.

Now, this movie really is rather racist. It shows the American Civil War from the point of the South. And it shows the start of the KKK as a way to protect the southerns from the horrible new black-supremists that were terrorizing the place. In true 1910's style, this is a three hour long silent film, and D.W. Griffith didn't write a script or screen play at all. He came up with all the shots in his head, and simply explained to all the actors prior to each shot what was going on. I'm sure it really helped that it was a silent film, since he could then shout to the actors in the middle of scenes what he wanted them to do.

One of the things I liked the most about this was the soundtrack/score. Each character had their own theme music that would come on when a scene focused on them. So, it was probably the same eight songs played over and over again, with maybe a couple extra songs thrown in.

The first part of the movie shows two families who are long time friends - the Northern Stonemans and the South Camerons. They show them visiting each other prior to the war, and how much the two families care for each other. [[Major spoiler alert... but really, you probably won't be watching this movie ever, so who cares if I spoil it]] Then there is a really interesting scene where two men of the families (close friends) meet up on the battle field (fighting each other). One man is wounded on the ground, and the other man is approaching and about to stab him with the bayonet attached to his musket, and then he realizes who he is about to stab, and then embraces him as a brother and attempts to help him, but then they are both shot down, and die in each others' arms.
It was a very interesting scene that contrasted how much the North hated the South in general terms, but there was still a brotherhood love between individuals who were friends.

Good film, but a long, racist movie. I won't be watching it again, nor would I suggest it to anyone.

The African Queen

"The African Queen", #17/65, 1951
This movie takes place in 1914, at the very beginning of World War I. It takes place in Africa, and the African Queen is the name of a boat that Humphrey Bogart's character, Charlie, operates. He's a rough around the edges, blue collar worker, with a heart of gold. And he teams up (through a series of unfortunate events) with Katherine Hepburn's character, Rose, who is a proper, timid missionary (pretty petticoat and fancy hat).

The film was originally #17, and then drastically dropped to #65, which was the biggest drop in rank (without being removed from the list entirely).

This film has all sorts of interesting trivia to it. First of all, the first choice of actors for the two lead roles were not Hepburn and Bogart. But, it seemed to work out well for the filmmakers to end up with these two, as they are true superstars. Just like the Top 100 Movies list, AFI has a list of 100 Stars. Humphrey Bogart is the #1 male star, and Katherine Hepburn is the #1 female star.

Rose is living in an African village with her brother, as missionaries. Charlie has some kind of connection with them, I think delivering mail and just being the missionaries' connection to the outside world. Charlie shows up, and has lunch with them. There is this pretty hilarious scene over lunch with long, awkward, silent pauses between their forced small talk, and Charlie's stomach keeps growling in the pauses.
Then, the movie really kicks off when the Nazi Germans come in and destroy the whole village. And it was the most awful scene, they just run in with guns and set everything on fire and round up the villagers and haul them off somewhere, and leave Rose and her brother. But, dealing with the travesty proves too much for the brother and he passes away. Shortly after that, Charlie shows up and rescues Rose from this helpless, empty state she's left in and they board the African Queen.

The rest of the movie is this cute story of them living on this boat, getting to know each other, falling in love with each other, and having these desperate attempts to stop the Nazis. It gets really drawn on and slowly paced, but at the same time, it wasn't bad. The slowness just gave the audience the same feeling that the characters in the movies had of this drawn-out, never ending but still striving feeling, growing ever more hopeless, but still filled with this incredible motivation to get things done.

Nearing the end of their journey, there was a part where the river gets so narrow, covered by weeds, and current-less, that the boat simply won't move, so Charlie gets out, walks through the water while pulling the boat. (I tried to find the clip on youtube, but no such luck). When he gets back in the boat, he's covered in leeches. And Charlie is freaked out and shaking over them while Rose is putting salt on them to get them off. It's a scene that shows great acting by Bogart, and when asked in an interview about it, Bogart assured everyone that it was not great acting, he was thoroughly afraid of leeches.

This movie is not one I would particularly seek out to watch again, but if I was flipping through channels and came across it, I would stop and watch, at least for a little while. I think ultimately, the slow pace would lead me to change the channel again. But, it really was a great film, and I certainly think it belongs on the top movie list.

And, the last piece of trivia for you... The role of Charlie in the "African Queen" is the only Oscar of Humphrey Bogart's career.

Some Like It Hot

"Some Like It Hot", #14/22, 1959
This was a cute movie! It takes place in 1929, during prohibition. Though, everyone seems to know where to find the alcohol.
The movie is about two men who are musicians struggling to find a job. And there is a perfect job for them, except it requires two women. Then, when the men need to leave town (Chicago) to avoid getting killed, they decide to take the perfect job and get over the one thing that's not perfect, by dressing up as women.
It has the standard humor surrounding many comedies about men dressing up as women... getting used to high heels and nylons, and of course, our guys falling in love for women who are confiding in them as friends because they think our guys are women, and men who fall in love with our guys, thinking they are women.
The one particular women they're infatuated with is Sugar Kane Kowalczyk, played by Marilyn Monroe. With a name like Kowalczyk, it has to be good. Just kidding, they clearly called her Sugar (just don't tell the feminists).
This movie was pretty entertaining. It had good humor, great comedic timing, a relatively unique approach to the whole switch-gender thing, some good chase scenes, some nice musical numbers, and ultimately some pretty clever lines/scenes. I would definitely watch this again, and recommend it to others.
Here are some good lines, which may not make sense if you haven't seen the movie, but they certainly make me smile.

Jerry: Will you look at that! Look how she moves! It's like Jell-O on springs. Must have some sort of built-in motor or something. I tell you, it's a whole different sex!

Jerry: I'm engaged.
Joe: Congratulations. Who's the lucky girl?
Jerry: I am!
Joe: There's another problem.
Jerry: Like what?
Joe: Like, what are you gonna do on your honeymoon?
Jerry: We've been discussing that. He wants to go to the Riviera but I kinda lean towards Niagara Falls.

And, my favorite part, which I can't find the exact quote for, and I don't remember exactly how it goes as I watched this movie back in September (about 4 months ago), is when the two men are about to take the car out of the garage, and the garage attendant asks if they needs some gas (for their 100 mile trip) and they ask for 'about 50 cents worth' or something like that. I don't remember the exact quote, but I remember wishing that gas prices today were much more like gas prices back then.

Oh, one more thing I just remembered! Spats! There was this baddie named Spats Colombo, and I suppose he got his name from his love for spats. Spats are this kind of shoe covering. They go under pants and over the top of the shoe. And Spats Colombo was very particular about his spats, and it was super entertaining. These need to make a comeback in the world of fashion.

Midnight Cowboy

"Midnight Cowboy", #36/42, 1969
So I watched this movie back in November, but apparently, I never wrote about it. Whoops.

And, I wrote those lines back in July and never finished the post. Which means it's been over a year since I watched this movie, and I'm about a dozen movies behind blogging in general. So, major whoops on that. Apologies to the one person who reads this blog.

This movie has some really great acting by the young Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight.
The opening scene is this montage between a whole bunch of southern diner workers shout "Where is that Joe Buck?" and Joe Buck, played by Voight, getting all gussied up as a cowboy. He then goes into the diner, announces he's quitting the dinner and moving to New York. And he does.
Joe Buck goes to New York with this great plan that he could be this suave southern cowboy and easily gain money by prostitution. He finds out that it's not quite the easy, carefree, rich lifestyle he'd planned on. But, he meets Ratso, played by Hoffman, who is used a street-smart thief who is used to the tough life of being beyond broke in New York. And they become friends.
And that's really the heart of the story. The odd deep friendship these two have and how they take great efforts to provide for each other. Ultimately caring more about the welfare of the other person over their own.
The content of the movie (prostitution, stealing, etc.) but, it was very sweet to see their unique and loving friendship. I guess I can't be too certain, since it has been a year since I've seen it, but I think I'd watch it again.

Jaws

"Jaws" #48/56, 1975
Again, this is a movie that is on TV frequently, but I haven't seen it. I kind of enjoyed it. Before I watched it, my roommate informed me that it is incredibly predictable. Which, I agree with, to a point. The music, patterns in dialog, and other things would very clearly lead up to each shark attack. So, I did know that it was coming, but... I jumped every single time.
I could go on quite a few rants about how unrealistic the movie was (especially the ending), bad script, bad acting, just a lot of problems.
But... I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seriously. I loved watching it.
I don't think I'll go out of my way to watch it again, but, if I'm flipping through the channels and I come across this, I will most likely stop and watch it. You should do the same.

The General

"The General", New/#18, 1927
This is the highest ranked addition to the list. Again, it's really interesting to me when a movie is added to the anniversary list, even though it was around when the original list was put out. But, I support this addition. It's kind of interesting because it centers on the Civil War, and Buster (the protagonist) is from the South. And, since I've spent 99% of my life in Union states, it was really foreign for me to be rooting for a Confederate. So, in case you don't know, the American Civil War was one of (if not the) first industrial war. Which, along with a lot of other things, means that the railroads played a very important part in the war. And, turns out, that The General is a type of train. And, the entire story pretty much takes place on trains.
It was actually highly entertaining. Maybe I need to rethink my opinions about silent films. Because for hating them, I think I have actually liked the majority of the ones I've watched so far. And, the silent comedies are actually really good. Because they don't really have much dialogue, almost all of the comedy is physical comedy, which is hilarious. And Buster Keaton is hilarious.
Maybe I should talk about him for a little bit... Or, I guess write, since I'm not actually talking. Anyways... Buster was a nickname that Harry Houdini gave him. How awesome is that? he started his career in a vaudeville act with his parents. You can google vaudeville, but it was a theater type of entertainment, so people would go to a theater/arena/venue of some king and they would watch the acts. But, the big thing that Buster was known for was always having a solid poker-face, which was typically described as deadpan. I didn't research this, but I'm pretty sure he did all of his own stunts. He definitely did this really epic one in a movie called Steamboat Bill Jr., where a whole side of a house falls on him, and he miraculously is standing right where the window will be, so he doesn't get hit. You should watch it on YouTube. That scene is actually referenced in an episode of Arrested Development, when the 2nd model home falls apart and Buster Bluth is standing right where the window is.
But, back to Buster Keaton. He was a great comedy, and extremely well know in his time and still today. Well, he's probably not that well know by the public, but he is covered in any TV special about the great comedians of all time. The guy made over 100 movies. That's kind of ridiculous. And I would know about triple digits of movies.

Anyways, back to the review of The General... It was pretty good. It had a good mix of comedy with a little drama, a love story, a lot of action. I would watch it again, but I think there needs to be maybe a year or two in between viewings just because the entire movie follows this train around, so it really is this long continuous train ride. So you do need a little time as a view to recover from that.