Tag Archives: Darrell Zwerling

1974 Films, Best Picture-Drama Golden Globe Winners, Film noir, Top 100 Films, Top 250 Films, Top 50 Films

Chinatown-1974

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Chinatown-1974

Director Roman Polanski

Starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway

Top 250 Films #27

Scott’s Review #321

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Reviewed January 3, 2016

Grade: A

Chinatown (1974) is like a perfectly aged fine red wine- with each passing year or viewing, it becomes more and more spectacular.

A thinking man’s film, if you will, Chinatown is a complex puzzle, just waiting to unravel in a layered, complicated fashion. However, this is to its credit, as it is a fantastic, rich film noir, and as good as cinematic writing gets.

Set in the 1930s, the set pieces and art direction are flawless – as great a film in terms of look as it is in story.

Director Roman Polanski and star Jack Nicholson are primarily responsible for the film’s success.

The direction is a marvel, with astounding cinematography, flow, and pacing.

With a slow build, the film takes off at just the perfect point as the mystery deepens, building to a crescendo.

Nicholson plays Jake Gittes, a handsome Los Angeles private investigator hired by a woman claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray. Evelyn desires to have her husband followed, as she suspects him of having an affair with another woman.

Jake begins tailing the woman’s husband, only to uncover an intriguing mystery involving the Los Angeles water supply.

Soon, the real Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) turns up, and the film segues into a masterful web of complications and twists.

You won’t see the ending coming.

Nicholson leads the film as only he can. With his charismatic, aww-shucks attitude, mixed with humor, he is eye candy for the camera as he takes the case and becomes more and more immersed in the action.

This film was a pivotal point for him as he began a slew of worthwhile and abundant performances in pictures.

Let us not forget Dunaway’s acting performance. Smoldering, sexy, classy, intelligent, and vulnerable, she perfectly plays almost every emotion.

Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and Mommie Dearest (1981) are her best works in a career that spanned decades of success.

Chinatown (1974) is an entity unto itself in film noir. It is incredibly well-written, nuanced, and flawless.

This film must be seen.

The final thirty minutes- in addition to the “great reveal” are also violent, shocking, and extraordinary. A blueprint of what great filmmaking truly is.

Oscar Nominations: 1 win-Best Picture, Best Director-Roman Polanski, Best Actor-Jack Nicholson, Best Actress-Faye Dunaway, Best Original Screenplay (won), Best Original Dramatic Score, Best Sound, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

Golden Globe Nominations: 4 wins-Best Picture-Drama (won), Best Director-Roman Polanski (won), Best Actor-Drama-Jack Nicholson (won), Best Actress-Drama-Faye Dunaway, Best Supporting Actor-John Huston, Best Screenplay (won), Best Original Score

1978 Films, Chick Flicks, Comedy, Musical, Romantic Comedy, Summer, Top 100 Films, Top 250 Films

Grease-1978

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Grease-1978

Director Randal Kleiser

Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John

Top 250 Films #69

Scott’s Review #354

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Reviewed January 9, 2016

Grade: A

Grease (1978) is the ultimate musical fantasy that comes to life and can be appreciated by anyone looking to relive their high school days through song, or merely escape life’s stresses with a fun, bright musical that is very well made.

Is it realistic? Not, but sometimes escapism is just what the doctor ordered, and Grease is one of my favorite films that meets that criteria.

It is light-hearted and sweet, and above all, it contains wonderful legendary musical numbers.

The time is the 1950s, and we meet Danny and Sandy on a windswept beach with cascading waves and bright sunshine.

It is summer break for the two high school students, who meet in California; she is vacationing from Australia, and he is a local boy.

They say their goodbyes and return to their normal lives, but they can’t forget each other.

Suddenly, Sandy arrives at Rydell High in Los Angeles, coincidentally, where Danny goes to school. Her parents (whom we never see) decided to stay in California.

Danny is a “tough guy” in high school, much different from who he was on the beach with Sandy. He leads the infamous T-Birds, a group of boys who love their black leather jackets and cars.

Torn, he maintains his tough image, and he and Sandy find their way back to each other through classmates, songs, and dancing, intermingling with fun supporting characters who encourage them to find true love.

Travolta and Newton-John have magical chemistry, which allows this film to work.

Grease has appeared on stage numerous times, but these actors are fine together. I bought them as teenagers in love, although both were well beyond their teen years.

The supporting cast is excellent- specifically Stockard Channing as the lead Pink Lady, Rizzo, and Sandy’s kind-hearted friend, Frenchy.

Interestingly, no parents ever appear in the film, as it is not about the adults.

However, Rydell’s female principal, Mrs. McGee (played by Eve Arden), and her dotty Vice Principal, Blanche (Dody Goodman), are marvelous as comic relief.

Rizzo is an interesting character and can be argued to be the only one who threatens to steal the thunder from Danny and Sandy. With a tough exterior, she is also vulnerable, as she fears she has become pregnant midway through the film.

Being unmarried and pregnant in the 1950s was quite the scandal, and Channing conveys layers of emotion during her solo number, “There Are Worse Things I Could Do”.

The wonderful high school dance scene is choreographed amazingly well. The excitement of the student body at being filmed for a special television show is apparent as dance numbers and dance contests, some raunchy, follow.

The musical numbers “Grease”, “Greased Lightning”, “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, and “Beauty School Dropout” are intrinsically memorable, all of which are personal favorites of mine.

Grease is a film meant not to be analyzed but rather enjoyed for its fantastic chemistry and energy.

Sometimes, in a film, all the elements come together perfectly, and Grease (1978) is an excellent example.

Oscar Nominations: Best Song-“Hopelessly Devoted to You”

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture-Comedy or Musical, Best Actor-Comedy or Musical-John Travolta, Best Actress-Comedy or Musical-Olivia Newton-John, Best Original Song-“Grease”, “You’re the One That I Want”

1977 Films, Comedy, Satire, Top 250 Films

High Anxiety-1977

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High Anxiety-1977

Director Mel Brooks

Starring Mel Brooks

Top 250 Films #146

Scott’s Review #740

Reviewed April 11, 2018

Grade: A

For lovers of legendary film director Alfred Hitchcock (as this reviewer is a die-hard fan), the 1977 spoof/satirical feast High Anxiety is a must-see.

The film is a treat for the multitude (nearly twenty!) of fun references to Hitchcock classics that fans can easily spot.

It heavily parodies classics such as 1964’s The Birds, 1945’s Spellbound, 1958’s Vertigo, and 1960’s fan-favorite Psycho.

Producer, director, and star Mel Brooks abounds all expectations with a brilliant performance and a smattering of veteran Brooks ensemble players along for the ride.

Featured stars Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, and Cloris Leachman deliver wonderful, lively, and memorable comic performances without ever being too zany or silly.

High Anxiety is a hilarious and clever production.

Brooks plays neurotic Doctor Richard Thorndyke, whom the Psycho-Neurotic Institute has hired for the Very Very Nervous.

He replaces Doctor Ashley, who died mysteriously at the facility.

Transported by his nervous driver, Brophy, he meets a bevy of peculiar characters led by Doctor Charles Montague (Korman), a man with a BDSM fetish, and Nurse Charlotte Diesel (Leachman), the grizzled head nurse.

Thorndyke immediately receives death threats amid strange shenanigans that seem to follow him everywhere.

Brilliantly, Thorndyke suffers from “high anxiety,” a witty reference to Hitchcock’s character of Scotty from 1958’s Vertigo.

As he meets and falls in love with Victoria Brisbane (Kahn), a woman whose father is a patient at the facility, he becomes determined to prove the fraudulence and deceit of Montague and Diesel, while subsequently clearing himself of a murder charge orchestrated by the pair.

The murder scene- occurring in a crowded lobby- with Thorndyke caught red-handed holding the murder weapon as a camera snaps the shot for evidence, is a direct spoof of 1959’s North by Northwest.

To be clear, High Anxiety is not a high-brow film, nor does it ever dare to take itself too seriously. It knows what it is and what it wants to achieve: to both entertain and please fans of Hitchcock.

The film is an ode and tribute to the general filmmaking of the director, who reportedly adored the picture and the accolades that Brooks received for making it.

There is hardly a better stamp of approval than that.

I adore the casting and the odd characters Brooks writes, specifically Leachman and Korman. The duo ham it up with a script laced with great comic moments to sink their teeth into.

Leachman, with her drill-sergeant-like stiff posture and pointed bosom (Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca in the 1940s), is paired with the wimpy, snarky mannerisms of Korman’s character.

It’s the perfect female dominant/male submissive pairing, playing off one another in a crisp style.

The sinister way Nurse Diesel (my favorite character) utters the word “Braces,” a reference to her henchman, drizzles dark humor and wit.

Piggybacking off these characters, Dick Van Patten (Eight Is Enough) gives a fine turn as the doomed straight man with a conscience, Dr. Wentworth, who knows something is up at the facility but is too timid to know exactly what it is.

His death scene is one of my favorites as derived from 1976’s Family Plot; the poor man is driven to ruptured eardrums and a subsequent stroke after his car is rigged to blast rock music, trapping him inside.

Brooks and Kahn make a lovable duo as the beleaguered romantic couple is forced into an adventure to prove innocence and rescue Victoria’s father from harm.

A favorite moment is Brooks’s wonderful rendition of “High Anxiety” at a hotel piano bar, where he successfully woos Victoria in an entertaining romantic-comedy moment.

Predictably, he gets the girl.

High Anxiety (1977) is delicious, silly, and peppered with great classic Hitchcock moments that are fun to watch and spot.

An absolute must-see for all Hitchcock fans or those who want a humorous, lightweight introduction to the works of the Master.

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture- Comedy or Musical, Best Actor-Comedy or Musical-Mel Brooks

1990 Films, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Gothic

Wild at Heart-1990

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Wild at Heart-1990

Director David Lynch

Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern

Scott’s Review #1,230

Reviewed February 19, 2022

Grade: B+

David Lynch has created some weird films. Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (1992) are masterpieces that skew the odd and peculiar facets of human behavior.

But Wild at Heart (1990) takes the cake as the strangest in the lot.

Fascinatingly unhinged yet hard to understand, it has the Lynch handprint from start to finish, but it’s only a warm-up act compared to those other films.

Somehow, the film is classified as a comedy. It’s got to be one of the darkest of dark comedies.

Anyone who isn’t a Lynch fan will not appreciate or get this film. I am a Lynch fan, and I’m not sure I even got it.

I do appreciate it, though.

It’s also Diane Ladd’s best role, in which she plays a fiendish, witchy mama. The graceful actress belts a home run in her storied performance.

An event during the opening sequence sets the tone for the rest of the film. Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) serves prison time for a self-defense killing and reunites with his girlfriend Lula Fortune (Laura Dern) when he is released.

Lula’s mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), is desperate to keep them apart and hires a hitman to kill Sailor. But those are only the start of his troubles when he and Bobby Peru, played by Willem Dafoe, an old buddy who’s also out to get Sailor, try to rob a store.

When Sailor lands in jail again, he may never reunite with Lula.

Wild at Heart is a love story about Sailor and Lula and the many obstacles they must overcome to live happily ever after.

Cage and Dern are terrific, though I fantasized while watching how nice it would have been to see Kyle MacLachlan in the role of Sailor.

A Blue Velvet reunion would have been splendid since his chemistry with Dern in that film was top-notch. Nonetheless, I enjoyed watching Cage and Dern as the romantic leads.

The many references to The Wizard of Oz are delightful, such as when an image of Marietta flying through the air on a haggard broomstick appears, just like the Wicked Witch of the West.

When Lula desperately clicks her red heels three times to no avail, we strangely wonder where the home she wants to return to is.

The film is one of those that is hard to take seriously or focus too much on the plot.

This is evidenced by the inclusion of Twin Peaks (1990-1991; 2017) alumni Sheryl Lee, Sherilyn Fenn, and Grace Zabriskie. They play The Good Witch, Girl in Accident, and Juana Durango, respectively.

Each character is indescribable in their strangeness.

The nuttiness continues with bizarre turns from Crispin Glover and Harry Dean Stanton.

Interesting that Wild at Heart was released the same year as Twin Peaks. The inclusion of a seedy bar named One-Eyed Jacks, which appears in both productions, is about all that is comparable between the two productions.

The main events of Wild at Heart take place in Texas, while Twin Peaks is set in Washington.

Aside from the storylines, the best part of Wild at Heart is the cinematography. It features enough dark, dusty highway sequences, with glowing, moody lighting, and foreboding cracks and crevices in other visceral scenes.

Cigarette smoking has never looked as sexy or dangerous as it does in this film.

Despite admirable, perfectly Lynch-y elements in Wild at Heart (1990), the film is just too over-the-top for me to fall in love with.

I’ll pull out my copies of Blue Velvet (1986) and Mulholland Drive (1992) any day before Wild at Heart.

Oscar Nominations: Best Supporting Actress-Diane Ladd

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Supporting Actress-Diane Ladd

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: 1 win-Best Supporting Male-Willem Dafoe, Best Cinematography (won)

1976 Films, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Thriller

Family Plot-1976

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Family Plot-1976

Director Alfred Hitchcock

Starring Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Barbara Harris

Scott’s Review #99

Reviewed July 9, 2014

Grade: B

Family Plot is sadly Alfred Hitchcock’s final film, made in 1976.

It is certainly not one of his greats, but it is not bad either, and it is a fitting way for a viewer to conclude his career.

The film is a jewel caper and has a vastly different feel from many of his other, earlier films. It has a slick quality to it and is reminiscent of a 1970s television movie, which is not a knock.

It feels more television-like than film, perhaps because it stars notable television stars, William Devane and Katherine Helman.

It also features some big film stars of the time- Karen Black, Bruce Dern, and Barbara Harris.

The film is a departure from other Hitchcock films in that it is a macabre comedy. It is a tongue-in-cheek story of a fake psychic (Harris) and her boyfriend (Dern) who become involved in a search for a missing heir, a jewel heist, and a murder.

All of the characters intersect as the film moves along, and it contains some nice Hitchcock elements- the speeding car with no brakes down a hilly road is pure Hitchcock.

For me, the film has a slightly melancholy feel, as it is, sadly, Hitchcock’s final farewell.

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Actress-Comedy or Musical-Barbara Harris