The Gold Rush

The Gold Rush (1925)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Chaplin, Mack Swain, Georgia Hale, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman

From: Charles Chaplin Productions

 

Big Jim McKay had what would be now known as post-concussion symptoms.

I recall as a very little kid seeing parts of this movie on public television one day. Of course, that version was one from the 40's that Chaplin created which made various changes and some material was excised. Last night's showing of a reconstructed version done in the early 2000's on TCM was the first time I saw this film in full and as close to the original 1925 cut as now available. I was happy to finally view one of the legendary silent movies and Chaplin's most famous work.

The setting is the Gold Rush of 1898, where many prospectors had gold fever and rushed to the Alaska and Yukon Territories in the hope of striking it rich... most were unsuccessful, as is always the case. The Tramp is hopeful to beat the odds but he has to deal with such events as the bitterly cold, windy winters and various sundry characters he runs into... including a real heel in Big Jim McKay; he gets a blow on his head and walks around dazed for awhile, before returning for the final act.

The movie has many great comedic moments and is funny throughout... even if you haven't viewed the film in full you likely have seen such things as The Tramp eating his shoe or putting forks in his dinner rolls and doing a little dance with them and may not have known it came from The Gold Rush. However, this isn't just a series of humorous sketches-there's an actual story where Tramp is a fully-developed character. There's even poignancy as he develops a romance w/ a young lass named Georgia... ironically, Chaplin had an affair with Georgia Hale during filming. Their relationship has its ups and downs and that was managed along with such sight gags as a shack almost falling off of a cliff.

As least for me (although this applies to many others) this was still an utter delight even almost a century after it was first released.

Missing Link

Missing Link (2019)

89% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 119 reviews)

  

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Chris Butler

Starring: The voices of Hugh Jackman, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Fry, Timothy Olyphant, and Zach Galifiankis

From: Laika, Annapurna, and even though their logo wasn't included in the beginning, United Artists

Hopefully I can get a mea culpa for this being my first and only Laika movie...

At least Missing Link should be better than most of the PG-rated films that had trailers before this.

I know that especially on Letterboxd there will be some who will be appalled to hear that this the first Laika movie I've ever seen. I have no excuse for why it's just now that I have started supporting an underdog, a small company that animates in a retro style uncommon in modern times, a studio that isn't giant like Pixar and never has made a king's bounty at the box office yet still has an avid fanbase... shame on me, really. At least in the future I'll view their other works. As I have the AMC A-List app, I now feel more free to try out different films like this... and also I feel like it's a waste if I don't use it enough as it would feel like a waste of money with the 22 bucks a month I pay for it.

I never even saw a trailer for the film or any advertising on television for the film (perhaps why it is flopping at the box office) so I do not know how much of the plot they revealed; I'll just give the basics: Hugh Jackman voices a haughty wannabe explorer (Lionel Frost) who wishes to be accepted by the even haughtier club of adventurers and other “great men” in London. Frost looks for Sasquatch in Washington State and finds him... discovering he can speak English, even though he is quite literal and naive. They unwittingly team up with a Latin lady that Frost knows from his past as they go and try to find Bigfoot's relatives... the Yeti. Yes, it is quite something that in the span of about a year we will have this, Smallfoot, and Abominable... three animated kids films involving the Abominable Snowman. It happens by happenstance once in a long while and always amuses me. To borrow a quote I recently heard, judging from its trailer-which played before this-Abominable looks like the “studio notes” version of Missing Link.

Missing Link is silly, the humor is hit or miss and apparently this is more for little kids than Laika's previous works... I can still say the movie was charming and entertaining. The animation itself was always gorgeous and the story literally spanned the world, visiting various locations and seemingly thousands of different colors are on display in the film. Most importantly, this has a lot of heart and teaches some nice life lessons for the kids (such as how they shouldn't be selfish) and thankfully Laika is one of the few studios that does NOT make modern family films filled with such crude moments as burp and fart jokes.

As I previously mentioned, in the future I'll talk about the other movies that Laika has created as I presume I'll find them to be even more of a treat, and this doing worse than expected at the box office is a shame. As I usually don't see family films theatrically, I got the rare treat of seeing other family film trailers. Now, such works as Ugly Dolls, The Angry Birds Movie 2 and the aforementioned Abominable may not be bad, but the trailers did not inspire confidence. I am sure they will all make more money than Missing Link and that is just not fair.

One Way Passage

One Way Passage (1932)

Runtime: 68 minutes

Directed by: Tay Garnett

Starring: William Powell, Kay Francis, Frank McHugh, Aline MacMahon, Warren Hymer

From: Warner Bros.

I'd love to hang around with a gal known as Barrel House Betty.

This played early last week on TCM (and happy 25th anniversary to that great channel, BTW) and as it is highly rated both here and on the IMDb and is barely over an hour long, this seemed like an obvious watch to me. The plot to this amusing romantic lark: William Powell is a charming murderer who is captured by cop Frank McHugh, and is on a ship from Hong Kong to San Francisco so he can be jailed. Kay Francis is a lady who is terminally ill; they met before his capture in a bar, and both happen to be on that ship. Neither divulges their secret to the other.

I say that this is charming, yet melancholy is also a strong feeling due to how this fling is not only brief, but won't be able to continue once the voyage has been completed. There is another romance and supporting characters-who are interesting in their own ways-are schemer Aline MacMahon (the aforementioned Barrel House Betty, although she puts on a countess act) and daffy thief Warren Hymer, who has an incredible laugh. I enjoyed all of them in this film and except for Powell, those actors have been long forgotten by most and it is a shame. For a few years, Francis was the highest-paid lady in Hollywood and also one of the most popular. She did not like the scripts that Warner Brothers gave her so there went her career. Unfortunate, as she was a dish.

Anyhow, even with the melancholy feeling, this was still an amusing, breezy watch and despite the brief nature, it was a charming romance I wish could have gone on longer, for their sake and mine.

Mr. Majestyk

Mr. Majestyk (1974)

Runtime: 104 minutes

Directed by: Richard Fleischer

Starring: Charles Bronson, Al Lettieri, Linda Cristal, Lee Purcell, Paul Koslo

From: United Artists

Charles Bronson was one tough melon farmer.

It was about time I talked about this movie here, where Bronson plays the improbably-named Vince Majestyk, an ex-con and Vietnam vet who... has a watermelon farm. And this tale was written by Elmore Leonard!

The trouble starts when a punk tries to strong-arm his white crew to work on the farm and pick melons, instead of the Hispanic migrant workers that Vince hired. The punk is rebuked and he files charges. I was worried early on when I saw that there would be migrant workers as I was hoping there wouldn't be any politically incorrect moments, you know. I'll just say that Majestyk was happy to hire them and was not prejudiced against Hispanics.

Anyway, even more trouble happens when he crosses paths with brute hitman Al Lettieri. That guy is no nonsense and you better not act dumb or argue with him as he WILL yell at you. Likewise, you better not interrupt Majestyk's job of picking then hauling in those watermelons for sale, unless you want him to get extremely angry and lookin' for revenge. Considering the film's writer, it should be no surprise that there is plenty of dialogue both of the “humorous” and “tough guy” variety.


When there is action, it is a lot of fun; apparently, Vince's banana yellow Ford truck was mostly stock, so the beating it takes in the final act was quite impressive. The movie is a lot of fun, over the top in the right ways and featuring cool actors & actresses, a very catchy score from Charles Bernstein, despicable villains, Bronson being awesome as always, and he even has a love interest. For a premise that may sound a little peculiar, Mr. Majestyk was a lot of fun.

Das Boot

Das Boot (1981)

Runtime: 209 minutes

Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen

Starring: Jurgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch, Bernd Tauber

From: Several German companies

NOTE: The version I viewed last night was the 3 ½ hour Director's Cut.

There are various epic length motion pictures that I haven't gotten to yet due to my preference in wanting to watch those films in one night (if not in one go without any breaks) and that isn't always possible each night. However, last night I was able to check out this classic and it was a rewarding journey which did not seem to be 209 minutes long.

The setting is a German World War II submarine (a U-boat, in other words) and the mostly young, neophyte crew that operates it. The opening scene is the gang getting extremely drunk at a “cathouse” the night before they ship off. They are all in good spirits, but boy does the mood change once they are stuck in those tight quarters and alongside the tedium of waiting for combat to happen, once it does it is amazingly stressful as they have to hope no enemy spots them as depth charges are a real SOB.

This film both captures the claustrophobic feel of the titular boot being crammed with dozens of soldiers (in part this is done via a handheld Arriflex camera that can easily maneuver around those tight quarters and zoom around the set, as it does occasionally) and the stress of having to be motionless in the vessel & pray they are not spotted and attacked. But there is time spent on knowing these lads better, and all are different personalities. Some are proper and by the book, while others are crude, and a few have significant others waiting back home.

The finale packs quite a punch and this goes alongside all the other classics that have an anti-war message by humanizing the participants and demonstrating how futile battle is as it results in many promising lives being snuffed way too soon. People should not be dissuaded by Das Boot's length... if they enjoy the genre, the movie really should be viewed by them.

Eraser

Eraser (1996)

Runtime: 115 minutes

Directed by: Chuck Russell (no relation)

Starring: Arnold, James Caan, Vanessa Williams, Robert Pastorelli, James Coburn

From: Warner Bros.

What a blast from the past this movie was... it reminded me of how R-rated action pics used to be: 

There's nothing quite like watching mid 90's CGI in modern times.

This film was on late at night on BBC America (of all channels) so I gave this a whirl. The plot description provided on the Letterboxd page is sufficient so I don't need to reiterate that; I will just mention that this new weapon is handheld EMP guns and as used in the film, they are pretty wacky. Then again, several utterly preposterous moments occur in this film, none of which I'll spoil for those interested in eventually checking this out.

This isn't one of Arnold's best films by any means, yet at least for me it provided enough of what I expect with one of his action pictures, which is... SOB's being beat up shot at and killed... some funny moments, and one-liners. It helps that there are some quality actors in the cast; James Coburn shows up for only a few scenes but James Caan has a substantial role. Some action setpieces are in familiar locations for genre fans-others are in different places.

A scene is set in a gay club and thankfully that was more silly than offensive; to me, more objectionable moments are all the Italian mobster stereotypes, the fate of a poor alligator... and the 90's CG. I know they tried their best with the technology of the time but yikes it looks TERRIBLE; at least the main reaction I got from that was laughter. After all, this is a silly movie where one of the Italian mobster stereotypes has to be used by the heroes in an important moment by... impersonating a pizza delivery driver.

Pet Sematary II

Pet Sematary II (1992)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Mary Lambert

Starring: Edward Furlong, Anthony Edwards, Clancy Brown, Jason McGuire, Darlanne Fluegel

From: Paramount

If you were bored by the remake of the '89 film, this may at least provide unintentional laughs: 

This movie did not make my shitlist.

II's reputation has never been great but I've heard some things about it-mainly Clancy Brown's performance-that make it seem like this was worth a shot. Turns out, the movie is oddly mean-spirited and cruel and yet... especially in the back half this is incredibly loony; technically this isn't good but Lord was it ever perversely entertaining to watch all the lunacy.

Edward Furlong has a famous scream queen mother... who dies on set in a hilarious accident, if I am being frank here. He and his vet dad (a bearded Anthony Edwards!) move to the same town in Maine that the first movie is set in, and once again more pets and humans end up in that ancient Indian burial ground and again we get chaos. Instead of being focused on death and grief-although those themes are still present-we get plenty of colorful moments, some of which are pretty brutal... for example, don't get too attached to the kittens or the rabbits you see; a definite Allison M. vegan warning, in other words.

Furlong's character ends up becoming best buds with chubby kid Drew. His stepdad is county sheriff Gus Gilbert, played to memorable effect by Clancy Brown. Gus is a terror and horrible human being, although amusingly so... and in the second half, he was amazingly over the top and great. Once the film gets going, wackiness and gonzo moments happen and I had fun. It goes off the rails in the final act; Many of the songs on the soundtrack are incredibly dated, although there was one from The Jesus and Mary Chain, another from Traci Lords (!) and in the true highlight, L7's Shitlist plays during a gruesome scene.

In tone and style this is far different from the original, but if you don't take it seriously and instead want to see what some would probably describe as “an Italian version of Pet Sematary”, this is worth a shot.