Leo-12

If a SMILE could be the star of a movie, Sam Elliott's inimitable smile would be the star of "You Know My Name." Elliott may well be the greatest leading man in westerns in the post-1970 period, and he is at the top of his game in this based-on-a-true-story oater set in Oklahoma in the early twentieth century. There have been better westerns, sure, but there have not been many better western star turns than this. Elliott makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time, ALL the time, and at the end you just do both.

I add my ditto to those who've said that PIG IN THE CITY was the best film of 1998 -- most especially the late and lamented Gene Siskel. A lot of critics didn't care for this film (apparently because it is indeed different from its even better predecessor, BABE), and American audiences stayed away in droves. It was thus a flop in both crucial senses, which fact must have saddened George Miller and his team of loony geniuses after they put so much love and time and talent into making it. But a few end-of-year newsmagazine wrapup pieces named it to 1998's Top Ten, and I think it's slowly getting recognition -- too late to produce much money or fun for its makers, but not too late for film history, where I predict it'll join such reputational slow-builders as THE WIZARD OF OZ and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

It's an amazing piece of work from beginning to end, and maybe the most amazing thing about it is that, after the first ten minutes or so, the special effects stop calling attention to themselves and start looking quite natural. You just buy it all. At the same time, however, the sui generis Look of the film never stops startling you. (It's half David Lynch and half Frank Capra. In other words, it's George Miller.) See this movie, preferably on some sort of big screen with high resolution. If you don't like it, I will (as Mark Twain used to say upon completing one of his lectures) do everything in my power to make it up to you.

Ebert liked it. Maltin hated it. Maltin's usually reliable, but not here. Tom Conti, Giancarlo Giannini, and Fernando Rey are all terrific here in improbable story about how depressed young pope gets accidentally locked out of the Vatican and has an adventure amongst Italian peasants in a remote village. This is admittedly a feel-good flick, but its message is nonetheless both strong and timeless. As an added plus: on-location cinematography is gorgeous.