Murder, musicals and politics----

This weeks films were diversified. I watched:

The Great McGinty (1940) The great Preston Sturges first film that he got to direct from his own script. Very good cast of Brian Donlevy as Dan McGinty, Akim Tamiroff as "The Boss", Muriel Angelus as Mrs. McGinty and Willam Demarest as the political fixer. Our political system in the late 1930s, as seen by Sturges, is not very different from today. Buying votes back then was just more open. The outrage of a bum becoming mayor and then govenor is mirrored in the recently nominated Vice-Presidential candidate who seems somewhat lacking. Sturges comment, through his script on the sorry state of the average person to know who is honest and how things work, is brilliant. A real jewel of a film and the start of the Sturges stock company of character actors who were in most of his eight films that he directed. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032554/

Girl Of The Golden West (1938) Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald musical set in the migration west starts with the wagon train our heroine is traveling on being waylaid by bandits, with a young boy the adopted son of the Chief among them. He hears the girl singing at the campfire and falls in love. Years later, the girl, Mary is the owner of the saloon left to her by her grandfather. The sheriff (Walter Pidgeon) is in love with her and wants to marry, but she keeps putting him off. On a trip to the town she meets and falls for the bandit, pretending to be a soldier. Lots of pretty songs, some with Latin rhythm, and the stars ride off together in the end. 9/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030182/

All The Kings Men (1949) Broderick Crawford as Willy Stark, is one of the great portrayals in movie history. Based somewhat of the Longs of Louisiana, it is the story of a rural school treacher who wants to get the roads paved into his area so the farmers can get their crops to market. From there the politicos and dissapointments take there toll and after a few elections, he knows how to win, but he also knows all the corrupt rewards of winning. Crawford is a force of nature in this role. He begins as a somewhat meek nice guy. By the time he is govenor, he is confident, boistrous and hard a nails. Along for the ride is John Ireland as Jack, a writer; his girl Anne (Joanne Dru); and Mercedes McCambridge, campaign head and lover of Willie. She won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041113/

Apology (1986) Leslie Anne Warren as an artist, and Peter Weller as a cop, heat up the screen in this pretty good murder mystery. Lily is working on a installation piece for her scheduled show. Her gimmick is to have people phone and leave messages on her answering machine. They have to confess something they have done and then apologize. It works too well. A creepy guy calls and confesses rape and murder. At first Lily refuses to cooperate with the cop, but when a murder happens just as the caller said, she changes her mind. Great chemistry between Warren and Weller. A little more of them and less mayhem, and it would have been a better film. 8/10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090653/

Veronica Guerin (2003) The great Cate Blanchett as Irish newspaper reporter Guerin, who takes on the drug lords in Dublin. As she gets closer to the top guy, he openly assaults her at his estate, and then has her gunned down on the road. The film shows the toll all her crusading is having on her family and the injuries she sustains from an auto accident caused by the mob. An engrossing look at the Irish mob. 8/10 ttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312549/

La Vie En Rose (Môme, La /French, 2007) What to say?! Marie Cotillard deserved her Oscar. But it was a hard slog to get through the film. The first hour (or did it just seem like an hour?) we see all the degradation and deprivation of the child, dirty, hungry and cold. All the adults in this waifs life are scum. The streets, hovels and bordellos where Edith Piaf is shuttled back and forth are so forlorn that I almost gave up; the music wasn't THAT good to watch all that misery.
And by the time we got Edith grown, I had almost lost interest in what happens next. I don't think Piaf was particularly likeable. And because I am not French, I really have no ear for the songs. Too many words don't seem to fit the melodies. But there were a couple that I remember from when she came to America in the 1950's and was on radio.
I can't say I enjoyed this film. But the performance was very good. 6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450188/

This week also saw the death of one of the greats of the golden age of films - Paul Newman. I remember when he first started as a young actor on live television. He was so good and so very good lo0kimg. Those blue, blue eyes were amazing. Such a fine man in every way. Rest in peace.