What have been your five biggest surprises at the movies, good or bad, just surprises -- maybe it is a performance that you did not expect, a film that defied your expectations or never met them, something that left you shocked to your core -- here are some of mine. HEAVENS GATE (80)...could be believe that the director of The Deer Hunter (78) an OK film, directed this self indulgent mess of a narrative. Stunning to look at, with a haunting musical score, it is a dull, barely alive film in which so little happens we seem forever staring at western vistas. I saw the film at an advanced screening in 1980 after I was given tickets by a professor and watched for more than four and a half hours, realizing about an hour in, we were all in very deep trouble, none more than director Michael Cimino. To this day I am stunned at his arrogance and over indulgence, his treatment of the staff of United Artists, the people paying for his film, and his absolute failure to assume any responsibility for the films failure. STEVE MARTIN IN ALL OF ME (84)...A comic performance of genius proportion as good as anything Chaplin ever did. In a freak accident a women dies and her spirit takes over half of Martins body, leading to some of the most remarkable physical comedy I have seen to this day. he had proven his worth as an actor in Pennies from Heaven (81) but here he displayed comedic genius. He won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor, but the Academy denied him. In 186 he stole the show in Little Shop of Horrors (86) as a sadistic dentist, and in Roxanne (87) he again gave a superb performance as a modern day Cyrano de Bergerac, winning the LA Film Critics Award for Best Actor, but no Oscar nod. THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (88)...Martin Scorsese directed this superb film about Christ, presenting him for the first time in film history as just a man. Is he the son of God we wonder through the film, never given a clear answer. He is tormented by the voices he hears in his head, struggling with what they tell him he must do, and haunted by the fear of crucifixion. Willem Dafoe is terrific as Jesus, and there are some fine performances from the likes of Harvey Keitel as Judas, and David Bowie as a disinterested and casual Pilate. the images are powerful, many drawn from famous artworks of the masters, made flesh by Scorsese. A stunning film from one of the great filmmakers of all time. PENNY MARSHALL DIRECTS...Best known as Laverne, the bossy half of the popular TV show Laverne and Shirley, Marshall stepped behind the camera in the late eighties, delivering a string of hits that she has not since equalled. Big (88), brought Tom Hanks his first Oscar nomination, Awakenings (90) was a Best Picture nominee, though Marshall was snubbed for Best Director, and A League of Their Own (92) was among the years best films and among the best sports films ever made. The latter film made famous the fact there is no crying in baseball, and displayed Tom Hanks depth as an actor. Awakenings (90) remains her best film, with powerhouse work from Robin Williams and Robert De Niro and it is to the shame of the Academy they did not honour her with a Best Director nod. Two surprises with Brendan Marshall, one that she was such a gifted director, the second that she seemed to disappear. CLINT EASTWOOD...Had anyone said to me in the seventies that Eastwood would one day become among the finest directors in film history, I would have laughed in their face. Best known in the seventies as Dirty Harry (71) and the star of several spaghetti westerns, he was already directing, and well, but I do not think anyone expected him evolve into a fine artist. The Outlaw Josey Wales (76) was named one of the years ten best by Time Magazine, Bronco Billy (81) was well reviewed, and then Bird (88) his biography of jazz great Charlie Parker earned strong reviews. He won his first Oscar for Best Director for Unforgiven (92) as well as a nomination for Best Actor, actually getting stronger as an actor as he aged. And it just continued, the great love story The Bridges of Madison County (95) with he and Meryl Streep, Mystic River (03) which won Oscars for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, and million Dollar Baby (04) which won him a second Oscar for directing and earned him a second nod for acting. His latest nomination was for Letters from Iwo Jima (06) a superb war film, though many felt he was deserving of a nod for actor and director for Gran Torino (08). He might just land a nod for Jersey Boys (14) later this year. Never judge an artist by their early work, never be a film snob...hard lessons I have learned.
Posted on: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:35:03 +0000
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