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Reviews
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
"Candid Camera" stunt
To call this a "documentary" is an insult to Robert Flaherty
("Nanook of the North," "Man of Aran," "Louisiana Story"), Per
Lorentz ("The Plow That Broke the Plains," "The River"), and Basil
Wright ("Night Mail"). Michael Moore is a Yasser-Arafat-lookalike
who claims to empathize with "the little people," but who actually
uses his "Candid Camera" stunts to express his sneering
condescension toward the American "common man." We need a
satirist on a par with Preston Sturges to skewer Moore's
self-importance and the faddish approval bestowed upon him by
the glitterati who wallow in Stalinist nostalgia. By the way, I am an
Individualist-Anarchist in the nonviolent tradition of Montaigne,
Henry David Thoreau, Dwight Macdonald & James T. Farrell -- so I
did not vote for Bush.
One, Two, Three (1961)
Was there ever a faster-paced comedy?
Cagney is dazzling as a fast-talking Coca-Cola representative in Berlin. This Wilder film ranks with the best of the fast-paced comedies of Preston Sturges and Howard Hawks. From what I've read, Cagney and Wilder did not get along very well while making the film, but whatever tension there was between them did not detract from the creation of a collaborative masterpiece.
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943)
One of the most hilarious films
Any 15 minutes of this masterpiece has more laughs than any 15 hours of today's comedies! I can't wait for it come out on DVD (it is due out in June 2003 -- with, as one of its bonus supplements, an interview with the late Eddie Bracken -- Preston's son, Tom Sturges, assures me that it is a wonderful interview).
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Where, o brother, art thou?
This is a real film buff's film, but I'd downgrade it a notch (9 out of
my usual 10 for a Sturges film) because the ending is a tad
sentimental -- that reprise of the laughing chain gang convicts -- a
little too close to Capracorn. "Christmas in July" shows that
Sturges can handle sentiment unsentimentally. But "Sullivan's
Travels" is a wonderful film. And it contains one of my favorite
lines -- William Demarest excitedly proclaims that "...it'll put
Shakespeare back with the shipping news!" In college, literature
profs try to brainwash us into regarding tragedy as more profound
than comedy -- might I suggest that Preston Sturges wrote better
dialogue than Shakespeare?
Christmas in July (1940)
A treat any time of the year.
Could this be one of Preston Sturges's most profound comedies?
In addition to being one of the funniest and most underappreciated. In "Sullivan's Travels," Preston Sturges has the
Joel McCrea character speak admiringly of fellow director Frank
Capra. In "Christmas in July" possibly Sturges was trying to teach
Capra how to handle sentiment without falling into sentimentality --
the scene where Dick Powell is handing out presents to his
neighbors, and he gives a doll to a crippled girl in a wheelchair --
a remarkably tender moment in the midst of a hectic scene -- done
with just the right touch, One of my favorite lines occurs when
bug-eyed Raymond Walburn sarcastically tells contest-winner
Powell, "I can't wait to give you my money!" Sturges also shows
that you can have plot complications without resorting to villains --
no Capraesque class warfare here -- rich and poor are equally
lovable -- even gruff William Demarest.
Live Nude Girls (1995)
Kim Cattrall always rates a 10!!!
Some films defy carping criticism. With a cast such as this film boasts, all 30+ beauties, plot and technique become as irrelevant as Hans Blix. Kim Cattrall (a certified goddess), Cynthia Stevenson, Dana Delaney, ...etc... -- what a feast for the eyes -- I'd watch them taking turns reading the phone book!