Hope and Glory

It's kind of funny how you can read the description of a film, think it sounds completely out of step for a filmmaker's work, and then actually watch it to discover that it ends up fitting perfectly. A slice of life tale of a small boy in the London suburbs during World War II felt…

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Deliverance

If you've ever wanted to make a movie where a handful of guys wander around the woods for most of the runtime, I'm not sure you could find a better model than John Boorman's Deliverance, based on the book and script by James Dickey. Apparently Sam Peckinpah was interested in adapting the book at the…

Marty: A Second Look

The Academy goes from awarding a pseudo-independent film (On the Waterfront was financed by Columbia) to an actual independent film in Marty, a film based on a teleplay by the screenwriter by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Delbert Mann, financed by the small production company started by Burt Lancaster and his agent Harold Hecht, while…

An American in Paris

I occasionally mention movies that I attribute with my father, but this is the main film I attribute with my mother. I saw it several times in my youth, all with her. In fact, my mother was due to come for a visit, so I actually worked my schedule so that we could naturally watch…

Heaven Can Wait (1943)

#12 in my ranking of Ernst Lubitsch's filmography. This late period of Lubitsch's career (he only had one more full feature film in him after this before his untimely death in the early days of production on The Lady in Ermine) is a largely subdued, melancholic, and charming period. I do wonder if he was…