Reviews

In the classic sense of the four humors (which are not specific to the concept of funny or even entertainment), Altman's "H.E.A.L.T.H." treats all of the humors, and actually in very funny, entertaining ways. There's the Phlegm, as personified by Lauren Bacall's very slow, guarded, and protective character Esther Brill, who's mission in life appears to be all about appearance, protecting the secrets of her age and beauty more than her well-being. There's Paul Dooley's Choleric Dr. Gil Gainey, who like a fish out of water (perhaps more like a seal) flops around frenetically, barking and exhorting the crowds to subscribe to his aquatic madness. The Melancholy of Glenda Jackson's Isabella Garnell smacks of Shakespeare's troubled and self-righteous Hamlet -- even proffering a soliloquy or two. And let's not forget Henry Gibson's Bile character, Bobby Hammer ("The breast that feeds the baby rules the world"). Then there's the characters Harry Wolff and Gloria Burbank (James Garner and Carol Burnett, respectively), relatively sane characters striving to find some kind of balance amongst all the companion and extreme humors who have convened for H.E.A.L.T.H. -- a kind of world trade organization specializing in H.E.A.L.T.H., which is to say anything but health. This is Altman at his classic best.

The lyrics of Jerome Kern's "Who" resonate throughout this movie as the lead characters battle one another, both rhetorically and physically, for answers to the big question "Who?" Who does Ellen Turner (Olivia de Havilland) really love? Who does Ed Keller (Eugene Palette) like? Who invited Joe Ferguson (Jack Carson), erstwhile beau to Ellen and football hero/legend at Midwestern U.? Who will save Ellen and Tommy from themselves? Who can save Michael Barnes (Herbert Anderson) from "Hot Garters" Gardner (Jean Ames)? Who is Wally Myers (Don DeFoe), the current football hero, really courting? Joe or Patricia (Joan Leslie)? And who is Bartolomeo Vanzetti? and what does he have in common with people like these? Tune in to the song: i.e. "Who stole my heart away?/Who makes me dream all day,/Dreams I know will never come true,/Seems like I'll always be blue./Who makes my happiness?/Who would I answer yes to?/Well, you oughta guess, Who? No one but you." Don't guess.

See the movie. You not only gotta see the movie, but you gotta hear it, too.

Maybe true heroism is less than heroic. "How I Won the War" is a very funny movie that in its own surreal way depicts very real and less than heroic motivations for war. The setting is North Africa and Europe during WWII. The insinuations of absurdity could be any place and any time. Aptly portraying the soldiers is a cast that includes a young Michael Crawford playing the group leader -- bumbling, patriotic, and self-possessed of a desire to be rewarded. Roy Kinnear competently plays the jolly and slightly addled, clear-thinking (albeit mumbling) realist. Michael Hordern is the Blimpo commander with the proverbial blinkers on, never letting his men down when it comes to providing them with exhortation. There is also John Lennon who renders a very capable job of portraying a naive pessimist (perhaps a reflection of his feelings at the time about his role as a member of another group). No one ever really dies in this movie; they merely change colors. And in the end, the entire experience of war is capsulated into a home movie. Look for Alexander Knox playing an American general.

Sinatra plays a disheartened, dour, moody, impoverished and very talented musician hampered by what he sardonically considers bad luck. Hired by Young to do musical arrangements, he meets the Tuttle family and sulks his way into Doris Day's heart. Day has an ever optimistic outlook and sympathetic heart, to boot. Sinatra easily wins her over. Young, the forlorn finance, demonstrates great understanding and generosity of heart. All in all, the various love triangles that evolve and dissolve and the several good tunes -- sung by Day and, in turn, Sinatra at a time in their careers when they were both in top form -- make for a very entertaining, a very enjoyable movie. Incidentally, while "Young at Heart" ends happily, there is no mistaking that it is a remake of the 1938 Priscilla Lane, John Garfield vehicle "Four Daughters" -- also a very enjoyable movie without the same happy ending.

I was in 8th grade and watched this show and two others ("Run, Buddy, Run" -- starring Jack Sheldon-- and "Mr. Terrific" -- with Stephen Strimpell) religiously. No one of these shows lasted more than a season and I was very disappointed at such short runs for these three shows. Because they were all so short-lived, I suspect we will never get the opportunity to see them in syndication. But I keep hoping. They were all hilarious. My favorite moment in "Captain Nice" occurs in the episode where Carter Nash (a.k.a. Captain Nice -- i.e. William Daniels) and his girlfriend, Sergeant Candy Kane (i.e. Ann Prentiss) are charged with guarding Bob Newhart, who is playing a very conceited nightclub owner. Sergeant Kane knocks Bob Newhart to the floor, out of the way of a falling light fixture and saves his life; immediately thereafter she asks him, "Are you all right?" He responds, in great Bob Newhart deadpan, "All right? I'm darn near perfect!" I couldn't stop laughing. I still can't.

Before there was "Airport" or, for that matter, "Airplane," and all those sequels there was this movie. John Wayne contributes one of his best performances in the role of a somewhat legendary, though maverick, flier, who serves as co-pilot and mentor to a younger captain (Robert Stack, who also landed a role in 1980's "Airplane"). Like the blockbuster air-disaster films of the 70s and 80s, a very stellar cast (including Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer) lends support to the drama that unfolds in this sky. I wish that this movie were available on DVD or video tape. I suppose, however, I will have to wait for its next broadcast on the late, late show, which is where I first saw it. I highly recommend this movie to John Wayne and Action/Adventure/Disaster-movie buffs.

The story is, of course, about a reunion of two odd fellows who, because they can't get along, find themselves at odds not only with each other, but with a sheriff, a group of illegal-alien smugglers, two rather saucy young ladies and their lawless boy friends -- not to mention regulars, such as the ex-wives. It goes without saying that this movie is the sequel to the 1968 "Odd Couple." More precisely, however, it is the hilarious sequel. Madison and Unger's repartee has not changed over these thirty years. This is surely due to Lemon and Mathau's wonderful chemistry, which we have seen time and time again in any of the other movies they have teamed up for. As with the 1968 version, the bickering, the fighting, and threats to one another, Oscar's various vices and Felix's many forms of hypochondria all converge in a non-stop vehicle of conflict, confrontation, even conflagration. Oscar's the cynic and Felix the romantic. Underneath, of course, they are best of friends, and it is for friendship that all the friction makes us laugh. And we do laugh -- nonstop. Best of all perhaps, we are treated to a very funny tribute to two of the funniest characters in moviedom. And in keeping with the scale of the tribute, this movie is also about movies. It is not only reminiscent of the original; it serves up reminders of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World"; "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"; intimations on "Thelma and Louise," "North by Northwest," and, of course, "My Best Friend's Wedding." While for nostalgia and an aversion to tampering what is has already been done well the first time (i.e. the proverbial curse of the sequel), we may find the first "Odd couple" more to our liking. We may find the unfolding of events in 1998 a little too fantastic when we compare them to 1968. We may prefer that Oscar and Felix sport a little more of the depth of character development that occurred in the earlier take on them. But it remains that this second offering of these two characters presents more of the same hilarity, and more of a good thing is always better.