The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

 Week #1: Delaware :

 

The state of Delaware was the first of the 13 colonies to be established as a state in the United States. It was established, as so proudly displayed on it's state flag, on December 7, 1787. 

Details about Delaware:

State bird: Delaware blue hen

State flower: Peach blossom

State tree: American holly

Delaware's biggest claim, of course is the fact that they were the first state to join the union, and that appears on all of it's official material.

 

 

 

It turns out that, although quite a number of films have utilized locations in Delaware for it's filming locations, there are surprisingly few films that are actually taking place in Delaware. You should be thankful, therefore, that I made "taking place in the state" a priority when making my choices, otherwise today's entry might well have been Redneck Zombies...

 

 

Hiding Out (1987): 

 

Imagine if Michael Douglas' Gordon Gecko was connected to the mob, and instead of just taking a swing at Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox in Wall Street, he actually sent a few of his underlings out to kill the sorry S.O.B. that was going to testify against him at the end of the movie.  That was what I thought of during the initial set up of this film.

It seems that Andrew Morenski (Jon Cryer) and his pals in the bond market have been pegged as key witnesses in the trial of a mob boss named Kapados. It turns out they, maybe or maybe not unknowingly, had been involved in a process of money laundering for the kingpin in said bond market, and are now not so good friends with the mob boss. A contract is out on each of them, and one of them is killed early on. 

 

The FBI have Andrew under tight rein, but Andrew is not happy staying under house arrest.  He convinces his keepers to take him to a diner. Bad move, as a couple of the hit men show up, and while trying to take out Andrew end up killing one of the FBI agents. Andrew makes his escape into Delaware where he plans to hide out with his Aunt Lucy (Gretchen Cryer, and yes that is Jon's mom in real life) and his cousin Patrick (Keith Coogan).

 

In the process to trying to hide out Andrew gets a self induced makeover by cutting and dying his hair. He calls his aunt, who is the local school nurse, and arranges to meet her at the school. But in the process he decides the best way to hide out is take on an entirely new identity. Thus the late 20's-something Andrew becomes the new 17 year old senior at the high school. (Really!) He also takes on a new name: Maxwell Hauser: inspired, on a whim, by seeing a can of Maxwell House coffee... (Really!)

 

OK, just so you didn't miss out on this for later, what we have here is a guy pushing 30 posing as a high school senior. Because some of this stuff is going to push some buttons. For one thing, the inevitable romance between our main character and a girl who really IS a high school senior. In terms of age difference it's only about 12 years, which may be fine and dandy if the guy was 35 and the girl was 23, but it comes off a little weird in retrospect.

Because he has changed his look, he is no longer recognizable to his aunt, but his cousin helps out by hiding him in his bedroom. This works out for a while, but it can't last. 

Anyway, Andrew/Max becomes the center of attention at the high school, especially after he confronts a history teacher, Mrs. Billings (Nancy Fish), who has some decidedly controversial opinions about former Richard Nixon. When he points out the bad side of the former President, he makes an an enemy of the teacher. But on the other hand, he becomes a hero to the class for his stance against the status quo of the school.

 

It ends up getting him more attention than he really wants as there is an effort to get him elected class president, something that the current class president, Kevin O'Roarke (Tim Quill) sees as a threat. Not to mention that Andrew/Max has been spending time with Ryan (Annabeth Gish), whom Kevin considers his own girl. 

 

In the meantime, both the FBI and the crime boss' hit men are on the search for the missing Andrew.  The hit men meet up with Andrew's grandmother, Jennie (Anne Pitoniak), and come across a recently mailed birthday card from Andrew which has the cancellation code clearly stamped as coming from Top Sail, DE. Thus the hit men now know where he is. Of course, they are looking for Andrew before his transformation makeover, so a couple of times they are right next to him but don't know who he is.

Andrew/Max finds out that the FBI has found out who is his aunt is and are at the house looking for him. He has to ditch hiding in her house, and with the help of Patrick ends up hiding out in the last place anyone would look, the school's doctor's office. This goes well until the janitor, Ezzard (Lou Walker) discovers him. The janitor is a good soul and a former boxer who now lives in digs himself at the school.  (Just what kind of security does this school have, anyway..) Andrew lets Ezzard  in on his secret, and Ezzard  lets him in on a secret hideaway in the basement where he can stay. 

Eventually Andrew's conscience gets the better of him and he lets Ryan in on the secret, too.  But all this comes to a head when the hit men really learn exactly where Andrew disappeared to and what he looks like now. At a school assembly announcing the results of the school officers elections, one of the hitmen decides to dispute the election in his own manner.

 

Several things seem to gel to make this movie, but a lot of it is far from unique. We've seen, dozens of times, that old yarn about a "well past high school age" adult trying to pass himself off as a high school student. (While the episodes might have been interesting on occasion, the entire concept of 22 Jump Street was just too unbelievable, even if Johnny Depp did "sort-of" look like he was high school age.)

On the other side of the coin, the teen life in school aspect of the film never really came off for me. Admittedly, in 1987, I was 7 years past my own high school experience, so a lot of the inner relationship angle of school never got me involved. I was much more into the theme in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, even though at the time of THAT movie I had been out of high school for 4 years.

The only part of the movie that really connected with me was the experience of young Patrick trying to get his learner's permit. His mishaps while trying to learn to drive were not like mine (believe it or not, I was driving expertly by the time I took my first driving test), but I could still relate. The only down side to that part is he seems to catch on pretty quick over a brief period, since at the end of the movie he drives up to the graduation in a limo...   

The mob connection part of this movie is what makes this film worth watching, but even that part has some retread sense to it.  

But the main part of the movie, involving Andrew's attempts to try to stay incognito despite his having 10 years of experience in the outside world (you know, like being a working man with an education that far exceeds what any high school boy might be familiar with) sometimes falls flat. For instance, Ryan's father is impressed by "Max's" knowledge of tax codes that helps him save $1000 on his tax return, but he never really becomes entirely suspicious of this kid (which any normal adult would probably do without hesitation). The movie never really plays up on this within the context of the film itself, leaving only the audience to cringe in anticipation of someone actually saying "Hey! Just who the Hell are you.. really?" Most adults in the film seem to just think "hmm... that's a really bright kid..."

Still, all in all, it's not a bad movie. You could be forgiven if your first reaction to this review was "Hiding Out ? Never heard of it." Some of the top films of the year, such as Three Men and a Baby, The Untouchables, and Beverly Hills Cop raked in tons of cash, but Hiding Out only made a paltry $200,000 over it's original budget. And it wasn't entirely well received. Roger Ebert only gave it 2 out of 4 stars, who at least admitted that "the plot continued to intrigue me even after I'd more or less given up on the movie's ability to find anything interesting in it's material". According to one review I read this film barely cracked the top 90 in terms of ticket sales. (And just how many movies were released in 1987, anyway...?)

For those of you who are fans of Cryer's portrayal of Alan in Two and a Half Men, you may find this movie a welcome refresher into the actor. For those of you who like the idea of a 30 year old man trying to pass himself off as a high school student, it may fall a bit short, because, even though Cryer was only 22 when the film was made, I personally found it hard to see him effectively convincing as a 17 year old. But, as for the driving force that brings this situation to it's necessity, the fact that there are some goons out to cut him down, that part I did like.

That's it for this week. Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

  

This is my entry in the Siskel and Ebert Blogathon hosted by 18 Cinema Lane



The Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert phenomenon was at the very least a compelling tête-à-tête that appeared weekly on TV.  As early as the 1970's in various formats, the two would come on and discuss the current batch of releases in the theater, famously giving either a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" rating for each movie.  Sometimes both would agree on the rating, but then at other times they would disagree.

In particular, as to the disagreement theme, was their view of The Silence of the Lambs.  While Siskel berated the movie for lack of compelling characters and the subject matter being a little too sensitive, Ebert actually liked the movie.




I wholeheartedly agree with Ebert's take.  Yes the movie does dip a little at the end, what with the "who's behind the next door" typical horror film trope, I feel, however, that both Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins deserved their gold statuettes from the Oscars.  Hopkins in particular is extremely memorable.  You'll probably never hear the word "liver" in the same way after viewing Hopkins tell of his encounter with a census taker.  (and BTW, just in case you didn't know, that "thhpthhpthhp" he utters at the end was improvised.  It wasn't in the script.  And yet his little slurping noise is probable the one most recognizable part of the entire film..)




Both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert have gone on to do their reviews from "the other side" now.  Siskel passed away in 1999 and Ebert left us in 2013.





Silence of the Lambs (1991):

A serial killer is on the loose.  Known by the FBI as "Buffalo Bill", he has the habit of kidnapping young girls and cutting them up, removing certain body parts, primarily skin, before disposing of the bodies.

Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), a young recruit, is given the task of interviewing Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a former psychiatrist who has been imprisoned because of his taste for human flesh and his propensity for killing his prey to quench his tastes.





The task is given to her by her superior and mentor Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn).  John Kenneth Muir, in his book Horror Films FAQ, suggests that Crawford is in essence a surrogate father to Clarice, since she lost her father at an early age.  He also suggests that on some level that Lecter is also somewhat of a surrogate father (sick as that may seem).





Clarice interviews Lecter, but Lecter gains the upper hand immediately, by demanding a tit for tat.  He will only talk about "Buffalo Bill" if Clarice reveals some intimate details of her own life.  The most intriguing part of this movie is that tête-à-tête, as Clarice delves into her own past and psyche in order to appease Lecter and get him to open up about his insight into the current case.

Lecter also manages to convince Clarice that a "reward" is appropriate for his insight; that is he will tell her things to help her if she can manage to get him a better arrangement within the prison.  Of course Clarice doesn't have that kind of pull, but her boss does.  But the  deal is hampered by Lecter's nemesis within the prison, the doctor/warden.  Dr. Chilton (Anthony Heald) is reluctant to give any concessions to his prisoner.  Chilton is a smarmy self-satisfied jackass, and despite the presence of Lecter and "Buffalo Bill" is probably the least appealing character in the movie.  (it's almost gratifying when his imminent end is hinted at in the ending of the film).




Through Lecter's help and some luck, eventually Clarice is able to track down "Buffalo Bill", although her luck may just run out, as the film descends into the "who's behind the next door" sequence hinted at above.

One must approach Silence of the Lambs with a bit of an open mind.  The fact is that Lecter is alternately disturbing and, at some times, even appealing as a villain.  One cannot watch this movie and expect that all will be right in the end, even if one is an optimistic idealist.  If you like your movies to be on the dark side, however, it can be a good experience.  But don't fool yourself into believing that it will be uplifting.

Well folks, time to head home.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

This is my entry in the Doris Day Blogathon hosted by Love Letters to Old Hollywood.




My earliest memories of Doris Day were when she had a TV show back in the 60's.  I don't really remember anything from those days except that she sang the song "Que Sera, Sera" in the opening credits. But I can still recall the song, which is significant since I probably haven't even heard it done since those days.  (Not including the watching of the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew Too Much recently, which I found out is where the song originally appeared onscreen...)

An interesting side note about the song.  Hitchcock was not particularly agreeable to having a song in his film, but the production company, Paramount, insisted that there had to be one.  (Probably due to the fact that Doris Day had been cast for the film.)  Hitchcock approached the writing team of Jay Livingston and Ray Evans stating that he needed a song, but he didn't know hat he wanted.  After hearing what the duo came up with he told them that that was exactly what he wanted.  So what may or may not be Doris Day's signature song was the result of a happy turn of events necessitated by a production company's insistence on having a song.

Hitchcock had wanted Doris Day for the role all along, but associate producer Herbert Coleman states in an interview on the commentary of my DVD that he had some misgivings.  He didn't think Day could pull off the dramatic scenes in the movie, especially the pivotal emotional breakdown after finding out about the fate of her son.  But Hitch, as always, got his way, and in retrospect Coleman admitted he was wrong and that she was perfect for the role.





The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956):

Married couple Ben and Jo McKenna  (James Stewart, Doris Day) are on vacation in north Africa with their son, Hank (Christopher Olsen).




  They encounter a Frenchman, Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin) who is very inquisitive about them, arousing Jo's suspicions.



Upon arrival in Marrakesh, Bernard offers to take them to dinner, but cancels out after a mysterious man (Reggie Nalder) appears at their door. 




Instead the go to dinner alone, where they meet Edward and Lucy Drayton (Bernard Miles, Brenda de Banzie).  The four end up eating together and arranging to go sightseeing the next day.





While in the marketplace, a man in Arabian attire is murdered.  It turns out to be Bernard in disguise.  He whispers to Ben, just before he dies, that a foreign dignitary is going to be murdered in London and tells Ben to find "Ambrose Chapell".  When Ben and Jo are questioned by the authorities about the murder they discover that Bernard was an agent of the French secret service (a spy).




But before Ben can tell the authorities what happened he receives a mysterious call telling him that Hank has been kidnapped and will be killed if he, Ben, reveals what he knows.  Thus, Ben's driving force is to find out where his son is and save him.  To such measures he is even willing to let the events play out with the assassination if only he can retrieve his son safely.




Thus begins the frantic search which leads the two to London.  A fruitless attempt to track down Ambrose Chapell reveals that Ben and Jo are on the wrong track. 




And that people are not all whom they claim to be.  Of course, the fact that the Draytons obviously are involved because they were the last ones to be with Hank is not entirely surprising, but there is much more involved in the political intrigue.

Even after the assassination attempt is foiled, the two still have to track down and rescue Hank.  Which leads them to the embassy of the foreign dignitary.

The Man who Knew too Much was a remake of a 1934 film Hitchcock had mad with Peter Lorre, but much of the plot was changed so seeing both films together makes for an entertaining evening.  Hitchcock himself describes the first film as having been made by talented amateur and the second as having been made by a professional.

One should note a few recognizable faces in the film.  Reggie Nalder may look familiar.  He was the vampire in the 1979 TV version of Salem's Lot as well as Zoltan, The Hound of Dracula's master.  And Carolyn Jones, best known as Morticia Addams in the TV show The Addams Family is also recognizable, despite the fact that she is decked out in very short cropped red hair.  And look for Walter Gotell, a familiar Russian agent from James Bond movies in a brief role as a Scotland Yard policeman.

Time to fire up the Plymouth.  Drive safely, folks.
Quiggy

This is my entry in the James Mason Blogathon hosted by Maddy Loves Her Classic Movies.







"Mr. Kohler... it may be a blinding revelation to you that there are Nazis in Paraguay, but I assure you it is no news to me..."  So says Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) to the young intrepid Jewish investigator, Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg).  And of course, everybody knows that many Nazi war criminals hid out in South America, some to be found by intrepid Nazi hunters,  like a younger Lieberman, who was fictional; but based on real people.

The trope of a Nazi Fourth Reich has had a half-life of popularity in fiction almost since the day the Allies invaded the bunker that held Hitler's body.  The action/adventure section of the used book store stacks will reveal any number of books that concern espionage and covert operations, and in fact there actually were plans to revive the Reich. (For an actual history, might I suggest The Axmann Conspiracy: The Nazi Plan for a Fourth Reich and How the U.S. Army Defeated It by Scott Andrew Selby? It's rather intriguing.)  Not all the novels came with such intriguing scenarios as the one portrayed in Ira Levin's book and subsequent film The Boys from Brazil, however.

Lieberman continues to chide Kohler, implicitly stating that if he continues in his prying, "there will still be Nazis in Paraguay, but there will be one less Jewish boy."








The Boys from Brazil (1978):

There you go. As Barry Kohler (Steve Guttenberg) discovers, there are indeed Nazis in Paraguay.  But Kohler is onto something really big.  He has been pestering his idol, the aging Ezra Lieberman (Laurence Olivier) with his findings and persists in his endeavors, despite the relative lack of encouragement Kohler receives from his would be mentor.






And indeed there are some serious shenanigans going on in Paraguay.  Dr. Josef Mengele (Gregory Peck) himself, the holy grail of Nazi criminals, if you will, is on hand.  As well as several trusted bigwigs in the former Third Reich.





Mengele has a plan.  There are almost a hundred men, all civil servants, who must die in the coming years.  Not just die, but die at certain points in their lives.  It's all part of a nefarious plan.  And no it's not a coincidence that all the men must die at or around age 64.  Nor is it a coincidence that each man will be leaving behind a wife who is 20 years younger than he is.  And it is definitely not a coincidence that all the men have a son, each of which looks astoundingly like each other.





(I don't have to put a mustache on that picture to help you along, do I?)

Mengele is gung ho on his plans, and everything is going along smoothly.  He even has the encouragement of the boss of his project, Eduard Siebert (James Mason).





Except that somewhere along the way things start to go awry.  As they usually do when bad guys try to rule the world.  See, Kohler, despite his failure to initially get Lieberman's help, manages to instill a curiosity in his idol.  Of course, Kohler had to die to do it, just like Lieberman predicted.






But now, without much to go on, Lieberman is making progress on unraveling the nefarious plans of Mengele, Siebert and et.al.  So Siebert and the hibernating Nazi bigwigs cancel Mengele's day in the sun.  But Mengele, the dedicated Nazi that he is, is not about to let a bunch of incompetent lily-livered  bureaucrats put a damper on his parade.  The men will die, even if he has to personally kill each one himself.





Lieberman finally puts all the pieces together after talking with a former Nazi he helped track down who is in prison and a doctor who clues him in on the progress science has made in the field of cloning.





Getting any ideas yet?

The plot is rather formulaic by today's standards, but this rather unique twist on the trope was pretty cutting edge when it first appeared, and it's still entertaining, even if you already know the plot.

Time to head home, folks.  Drive safely.


Quiggy

June 11, 1979 is a date I will always remember.  It was on that date that I heard that my favorite actor of all-time, John Wayne, had passed away.  He still is my favorite actor, even after all these years.  Now September 6, 2018 will be another date I will remember.  On that day my second favorite actor left the stage for the final curtain.




Burt Reynolds made his mark on in the cinematic arena, and like him or not, he had an influence on those that came after him.  Admittedly his presence was not in the same arena as the Duke, and many of his movies appealed to those of less sophistication than, say, fans of Marlon Brando or Spencer Tracy.  To this I say, so what?  (or even smugly, "Guilty as charged".)  Reynolds name on the marquee was just as big a draw as any of them, maybe even more so.




Reynolds broke the mold in so many ways.  Did you know he was the first man to appear nude in a national magazine?  In 1972, shortly after delivering his breakout role performance in Deliverance, Reynolds agreed to pose for Cosmopolitan, a woman's magazine, and if Deliverance hadn't delivered the goods on his rising star status, the photo certainly would have.  (Sorry, ladies, even though it's fairly discreet by today's standards,  I'm not going to post the picture...)







Well, not the WHOLE thing, anyway...

For most of the 70's and 80's, Burt and his iconic 'stache dominated the macho male movie lines.  With such roles as "The Bandit" (Smokey and the Bandit {I, II and III}), Paul Crewe (The Longest Yard), J. J. McClure (The Cannonball Run {I and II}), and Stroker Ace, Reynolds thrilled both men and women alike.  He remained on the scene even through some admitted turkeys (how he acquiesced to being in A Cop and a Half is beyond me...).  He even proved he could sing, after a fashion, in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.



Deliverance proved to be his breakout role.  He had been on the scene for several years before that, and had a handful of movies under his belt, as well as a slew of appearances on television (he played the town blacksmith Quint Asper for several seasons on TV's Gunsmoke, among other shows), but this is the one that put him on the map.

(A side note about Deliverance, the novel by James Dickey on which this movie was based.  When I was a kid my grandparents belonged to one of the early book clubs and they had this book on their shelf.  Sometime after my grandfather died, my grandmother decided to donate all their old books to the Senior Citizen's Center, but she asked me and my sister to go through them and take any we wanted before she did.  This was the only one I wanted.  It was a great book when I read it as a kid, and it still is.  It remains one of the only two things that I still have that my grandmother gave me from their old house.  The other, BTW is a plaque with The Serenity Prayer on it.)




Deliverance (1972):

Four Atlanta businessmen decide to take a weekend jaunt down the Cahulawasee River (not a real river, the real Chattooga river did the honors as a stand-in.)  The trip is done at the behest of Lewis (Burt Reynolds) who insists it is their last chance to see the unmolested wilderness, as a dam that is currently under construction will end up flooding the valley and make the trip unavailable in the near future.

Lewis

Going on this trip with him are Ed (Jon Voight), Drew (Ronny Cox) and Bobby (Ned Beatty).  (Of the four only Jon Voight had any significant impact on Hollywood prior to this movie.  This was the first movie role for either Beatty or Cox)

Ed

Drew

Bobby

Lewis is a free spirit who lives for the moment.  (Which is a perfect prequel to many of Reynold's roles after this point.)  Drew, on the other hand, is the most level-headed of the group.  Ed has come along for the ride, although he is pretty much there only because he wants Lewis to think of him as a real man and not a guy who just wants to toe the line in his marriage and his life.  Bobby is the wimp of the clan.  He keeps trying to talk the others out of this survivor trip and just go play golf.

The guys end up in the backwoods and get a couple of brothers to drive their cars down river where they will be ready for them when this trip ends.  If you have ever heard the song "Dueling Banjos", you will get a kick out of Drew and the local hillbilly boy performing the song.  The song itself remains a recurring theme throughout the movie.



The first night goes without a hitch, but on the second day Ed and Bobby end up a ways ahead of Drew and Lewis who are in the other canoe.  While waiting for them, a couple of hillbillies come along and take them hostage.  (It is suggested, but never revealed, that they may have a still nearby.)  The scene turns rather graphic, and at this point you may want to skip ahead to the next paragraph.  While one hillbilly holds a gun on Ed, the other performs a rape on Bobby, commanding him to "squeal like a pig"




Lewis shows up and shoots one of the boys with his bow and arrow and the other takes off.  Although Drew is all for taking the body back to the authorities, Lewis convinces the others that this would be a bad idea.  They could be arrested on manslaughter charges and have to face trial.  So Lewis and the others, to the vociferous objections of Drew, bury the body and continue downriver.

When they come to some rapids in the middle of a canyon Drew falls overboard.  Lewis yells that somebody shot him.  Drew's body disappears and the others end up on the shore.  Sure that there is a shooter up on the cliffs, Ed does a harrowing scale of the cliffs to go after the shooter.  Although Lewis would probably be the best choice for this endeavor, he broke his leg during the run through the rapids, and in the midst off all this, one of the canoes is destroyed.





If you've seen this movie you don't need me to tell you the rest.  If you haven't seen it might I suggest a night of watching something that is extremely gripping?  Much of this movie is already a part of the lore of cinema history.  So much so that there is a t-shirt out there that plays on the movie and is good for a nervous smile from those of us in the know.




Well folks, time to head to the home front.  Be sure to keep your oars in the water at all times.

Quiggy