george-devlin Reviews

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974 TV Movie)

Television at its best

[8/10 · 13 February 2003]

This movie is clearly comparable to 'Roots', another 1970's TV epic. The heart and soul of the film involves the infliction of hatred by whites on the African American from the time of legal slavery and through the turbulence of the 1960's civil rights movement. My wife remembers watching this film in grade school, and if nothing else it sure does educate. There are many moments that blatant torture of blacks is depicted in a historically vivid and all too real way. As I sat watching this film I couldn't help but ponder about how horrific people throughout history have behaved toward those that were deemed a threat, simply by virtue of their color, class or association. The movie skillfully captures how one group of American people suffered over the course of many generations.

Platoon (1986)

still haunting after all these years...

[8/10 · 11 February 2003]

Growing up I remember my stepfather watching hours upon hours of 1950's and 1960's war movies. I never was too keen on this genre of film myself, but "Platoon" is in a class all on its own. I consider this movie to be only the third film to legitimately reflect the reality and aftermath of battle ("Coming Home" and "Deer Hunter" being the first two). The film is visually stunning while at the same time bearing witness to the impact of war on the human psyche. The impression it leaves is profound. On the one hand it's encouraging to see that the era of sugar coated war films has reached an end, but this film proves that in war time the screen audience that bears witness to these recreated battles is not alone in sharing a loss of human innocence.

The Paper Chase (1973)

law school pressure and the pre-bionic woman

[8/10 · 4 February 2003]

I have friends who have gone to law school and their subjective descriptions of how intense an experience that was seem to be validated in this now 30-year-old film. Houseman and Bottoms shine, the rest of the cast (while a bit too stuffy) seem to compliment them without flaw. I liked seeing a very young (unspoiled) Lindsey Wagner in her pre-bionic woman days. Truthfully, though certainly dated at this point, this film still held my interest. I was, however, disappointed in the last scene, for although it may have meant to be liberating for the Bottoms character to shift his priorities the timing, (upon receipt of his final grades) seemed ill chosen. Still, one can't help but root for him through all of this. In the end one wonders if while retaining his idealism he sacrificed his sanity.

Corvette Summer (1978)

that 70's movie.....

[5/10 · 24 January 2003]

I'd love to see a show where actors take questions and answers about their experience and thoughts on their past films that quickly ended up becoming obscure, or collecting dust at Blockbusters. I mean, in 2003 we have available to us on DVD every nuance of every film made from the mid-80's on. I suspect "Corvette Summer" will never quite get that amount of respect. Indeed, it shouldn't. Mark Hamill looks tired in this flik. As unwilling as he is to have sex with Annie Potts it seems so was his enthusiasm to play in this role. Still, if nothing else, the film does bring back memories of a now bygone era. I also (surprisingly) found myself being quite entertained by this movie, expect for the drawn out and unnessary car chase scenes at the end, the movie held my interest. Most appealing was the acting of Annie Potts and the on screen chemistry between her and Hamill. She undergoes some physical transformations here, all of them cutesy. It was also interesting to notice that bike helmets and H2O bottles (for bikes) were on the market back in '78, my wife and I didn't recall that these products were available during this era. Anyhow, in summary, this is a very light but fun film that unintentionally evokes some chuckles and is worth checking out. Just seeing that late 70's Corvette (and that groovy van!) is worth the price of admission, not to mention Danny Partridge before his DJ/VJ days!

True Grit (1969)

John Wayne was the master......

[7/10 · 21 December 2002]

I had wanted to see 'True Grit' for many years, ever since my elderly grandmother had commented on it as a great film back in the 80's after she had viewed it on TV. She was right, and it was worth the wait. This film is as pure as it gets in terms of showcasing John Wayne's acting talent. He also has a great spunky young supporting actress (Kim Darby)who he plays off of flawlessly. The one disappointment is that in watching the film I attempted to find the actor Wilford Brimley (he appeared uncredited here in his first film)unsuccessfully. He must have been an extra in the background of a scene. Also, it got off to a slow start, but one could argue that the time was well spent here building on character development. I'm not a big fan of the western genre, but all in all this movie is enjoyable and just plain fun to watch.

It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)

hopefully elvis has done better....

[3/10 · 17 December 2002]

I watched this movie with my best friend, a HUGE Elvis fan. Truthfully, It Happened At The World's Fair, was my first Elvis flik, and I'm sure, just positively sure, that Elvis has movies in his repertoire that are actually entertaining. This was a real snoozer. It's unfortunate that the child actress used in this film didn't continue in a film career, because she stole every scene that she and Elvis were in. In fact, I wondered why Elvis was even cast in this role, because it doesn't appear that his heart was in it. By '63 the guy was probably tired of burning it at both ends, and it shows. My buddy and I actually laughed out loud at some of the very hokey scenes, which weren't necessarily written nor acted to be humorous. All in all, the movie's greatest contribution was its footage of the world's fair circa early 1960's and the on screen appearance of a couple of members of his real life entourage. I look forward to viewing other Elvis films, its all uphill from here (I'm sure!).

The Thing (1982)

a throwback...

[8/10 · 3 December 2002]

old movies bring back memories, let's face it. it's not the quality of the story line, acting, music score or cinema photography that necessarily draws us back in, it's instead what the film represents in terms of remembering where we were, who we were with and what we were doing in our life at the time of the films original release.

I watched this movie again the other night, 20 years after I saw it in the theater. In 1982 it scared the hell out of me and I felt it was one of the most suspenseful films I had ever seen (to that point). Re-watching it, this time with my 16 year old, I found it somewhat hokey, and my daughter's laughter (at the gruesome parts) reconfirmed what I already knew: what scared people in '82 is not what keeps them on the edge of their seats in '02. Our kids are used to a world of realism (a.k.a. terrorists) and mutating organisms just don't hold them spellbound.

Still, I really like this movie, even after all this time has elapsed. In an age where most special effects are 100% computer generated, I found this film's most gruesome scenes original and refreshing (for they were 'state of the art' back then). At the risk of dating myself (I've already done that!) I have to say that I'm more drawn to this genre of film circa early 80's style, than I am to most of the content that comes from Hollywood today. I also love the character development on display here. It's great stuff.

I never saw the 1950's version of this flik. I was plenty satisfied with this one.