wmarkley

"The War Lover" isn't the greatest movie ever made, but it has some very good elements. The scenes of airmen inside B-17 bombers are excellent, with very good views of flight uniforms, equipment, flying instruments and the cramped conditions. The fearful aspects of aerial combat are also shown quite effectively. Some of the sound effects are muffled, but the general experience of flying on bombing missions over enemy territory is well portrayed.

Steve McQueen gives an excellent performance. While his character "Buzz" Rickson is often arrogant and amoral, McQueen is mesmerizing. He also nicely shows how Rickson has moments of compassion towards others. Its good to see a character like Rickson depicted in a way that's not completely black-and-white. Robert Wagner does a very good job as McQueen's co-pilot, a man with more decency and quiet character than Rickson, but who is also flawed like all of us. Unfortunately, while Shirley Anne Field is beautiful and shows some charm, she does a poor job of acting.

"The War Lover" is especially good at showing the toll of war, and how men of various characters and backgrounds are thrown together in the military. And it is very frank about the sexual promiscuity that is often a part of war. While the movie effectively shows these things, it does so in ways that are not as explicit as many movies of today might do.

The editing of "The War Lover" is quite poor at times, with a choppy quality, and minor characters sometimes pop up here and there in a confusing way. Overall, though, the film is very worthwhile for viewers who are interested in character studies and war movies.

"Apocalypse Now" shows some greatness here and there, but its also one of the most over-rated movies. Its a very good illustration of why egotistical directors often need someone to make big cuts in their work due to self-indulgence. Here and there, much of "AN" stretches on seemingly endlessly, with very little compensation in imagery, especially in the longer version. Some of the images and other elements might satisfy those with a taste for the surreal, but that's not a lot to say for such a long movie. And often "surreal" is just a fancy name for pretentiousness.

The whole French episode is silly, and seems pretty pointless except to show that the French once had a presence in Vietnam, and to exhibit the physical attributes of one French actress. Much of the dialog in this segment is unintentionally comical too, including at a funeral. The French episode along with an extended stay with some stranded Playboy bunnies badly break up the continuity of the plot, with very long interludes in which nothing much happens except for some sophomoric humor in the case of the bunnies. On the other hand, an advantage of the longer movie version over the one initially released in theaters is that it includes a few brief clips early on which reveal a bit more about the major characters on the boat.

I'm unimpressed by the characterizations throughout the movie. The characters mostly seem as if they were pulled from a comic book. For those who remember the old Sergeant Rock comic books, AN is sort of like a spacy, cynical, hip version of them. And its fashionable nowadays to criticize earlier war movies for their inclusion of soldiers from all walks of life: the poor kid, the farm boy, the immigrant, the rich kid, etc. AN, for all its pseudo-sophistication, does a 1970's version of this, particularly with the boat crew.

For me, Dennis Hopper and Robert Duvall are by far the best elements of the movie. Hopper as a wacked-out, guru-following photographer is very much like a few 1960's relics whom I've known, and he nicely captures their wackiness, obsessions and paranoia. Robert Duvall is also good as the cocky, driven, combative officer who shows flashes of compassion. He and Hopper were much more memorable than the main characters in the boat, except maybe for the Fishburne character nicknamed "Clean." Brando shows off his weirdness, which is somewhat appropriate for the role of Kurtz. For my taste, it would have been more satisfying to see Kurtz more, but the filmmakers probably wanted to keep some mysteriousness about him, which is legitimate.

Don't watch AN thinking that this is a "Vietnam movie." Please people, remember that you won't get history from movies like this! Sure, AN shows some of the absurdity and horror of that war, but there is absurdity and horror in every war, and in many other major human undertakings. AN does touch upon a few aspects of Vietnam such as the jungle settings, draftees, poor morale in some sectors, and no front lines, but it seems to fit more into some sort of adventure/mythology/noir genre than a realistic depiction of war.

On the plus side, AN serves at times as a pretty good adventure story, or it would if it was drastically cut. Much of the credit for its good story elements and major themes should go to Joseph Conrad, who wrote Heart of Darkness upon which AN is very loosely based. The combat scenes with the Air Cavalry are also pretty well done, and some of the imagery is nice and imaginative, such as the boat floating underneath a wrecked plane. Overall, though, the sophomoric humor and pretentiousness which saturate this movie are big flaws.

"Metropolitan" is like a little piece of jewelry which is beautiful and a bit ornate, and still unpretentious (maybe someone else described it this way too--I don't mean to plagiarize!). It might not sound like the most entertaining movie to watch, but for me its very enjoyable. It has lots and lots of talk, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, but its also a refreshing change from so many movies which bang you over the head with loudness, violence and graphic sex. And many of its characters are very likable. People like me whose idea of a good time includes an evening with friends playing board games would feel a close kinship with the kids portrayed here.

One of Whit Stillman's many strengths is that he goes against today's Hollywood stereotype of showing all rich people as evil, idiotic or guilt-ridden. From what I've read about him, he is very familiar with the world of the American wealthy, and so he knows what he's talking about. More importantly, he's also very good at showing human nature in general. In his movies, people with lots of money include nice people and jerks, and that's how it is, of course, in all classes of people.

One funny segment shows the big hurdles that the characters Tom and Charley have to overcome when they try to drive from Manhattan to Long Island--most of us wouldn't have as much trouble, but because of Tom and Charley's privileged background they don't have an easy time of it. Yet Stillman doesn't belittle them or turn them into caricatures. They come across as fully human and people with whom we can empathize.

Stillman also includes moral messages in his movies, but thankfully they are unlike the heavy-handed, politically-correct and dreary messages in so many other movies. I don't know if he is a Christian or not, but he shows subtle respect in all three movies for Christian values, which has been a rarity during the past few decades in Hollywood. I doubt, though, whether Pat Robertson would be likely to recommend his films, as they show a wide variety of human virtues and vices without simple black-and-white messages.

In addition to a sort of mini-epic storyline involving Tom, Charley and Audrey, there are several little entertaining side-shows throughout the movie, often consisting of get-togethers amongst a circle of friends. The slightly eccentric character of Nick is especially funny and appealing throughout, and helps tie things together. Charley, Tom and Audrey are good portrayals of nice, bright but awkward adolescents, and although they move in rich Manhattan circles, they go through much of the teenage angst that other less fortunate kids experience, and they serve as sort of "Everyman" characters.

"Metropolitan" isn't as polished as Stillman's other two excellent movies, "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco," but its my favorite of the three because of its characters. There is humor throughout, and lots of poignancy.