John Wayne Movies Where He Dies

[In honor of Skip Gillett who is my favorite docent at the Autry National Center]

(This is a growing list that I will be adding to as movie names are submitted and/or verified)

The Shootist

Two Sexually Significant Movies

Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) and Last Tango in Paris (1972) are two movies I highly recommend for social, psychological, sexual, feminist and cinematic reasons.  Women of experience in any and all of these areas should find both films viable enough to overcome any qualms that may exist in minor details and I believe the same could be said for men but not being a man of experience I may not be qualified to argue that point properly.  Frank Langella and Marlon Brando have the sex appeal (as far as this woman is concerned) and the acting chops to perform their decidedly masculine roles with the right amount of cad (Langella) and codger (Brando).  These two films show men and women acting and reacting to societal pressures to gender roles and sexuality.  And there's lots of nakedness and sex, of course.  While the endings to one or both these films might be unsatisfactory, I believe these films have so much to offer.  After all, we each have to choose how we will express our sexual selves and perform our roles.

LA Confidential (1997)

One of the more satisfying noir films, LA Confidential has the 1950’s LAPD rubbing the Hollywood underbelly in a picture that was nominated for nine Academy Awards.  The film won Best Adapted Screenplay Oscars for Brian Helgeland and Director Curtis Hanson (from the James Ellroy novel) and Best Supporting Actress went to Kim Basinger who also won a Golden Globe.  It’s the great writing and great performances that make this one of my most favorite films (probably in my top 20). After Ellroy saw it, he was quoted as saying, "I understood in 40 minutes or so that it is a work of art on its own level.  It was amazing to see the physical incarnation of the characters."

I like to introduce the film to friends of mine that have not seen it because frankly the plot is complicated enough that having someone watch it with you is a tremendous help in appreciating its many marvels.  If you aren’t sure, the second viewing will nail it for you.  I have not read the novel but several of the things that happen are based upon rumors that circulated and actual events which occurred in and around Hollywood and the Los Angeles crime scene.  You can visit the awesome www.imdb.com to get all kinds of thrilling information about the film’s trivia. 

LA Confidential received box office success as well as critical acclaim.  It stars Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, and David Strathairn.  Before working on films, Kevin Spacey made a great mark in the TV series Wiseguy (1987-1990) as Mel Profitt in 1988.  Several of the co-stars and minor players made that series watchable such as Joan Severance as Susan, Mel’s sister, Patti D’Arbanville as Amber Twine in 1989, and David Strathairn as a Sheriff in 1990, among other guest stars and celebrities.  Other Spacey works which I highly recommend are The Usual Suspects (1995), Se7en (1995), The Negotiator (1998), Pay It Forward (2000), and the Netflix series House of Cards (2013).  You may be feeling I have missed some films here but I do not recommend films that I don’t feel strongly about or haven’t seen.  Russell Crowe movies I recommend are The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Master and Commander (2003) and Cinderella Man (2005).  Guy Pearce films I recommend are Memento (2000), The Hurt Locker (2008), The Road (2009), and The King’s Speech (2010).

James Cromwell has been in over 160 films and TV shows so I am only going to list a few where the role or the impression was significant and the film is personally recommendable:  Babe:  Pig in the City (1998), The General’s Daughter (1999), The Green Mile (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), I, Robot (2004), The Queen (2006), and Surrogates (2009). While I can’t imagine any disagreements about LA Confidential being Kim Basinger’s best work, it is still worth seeing Nine ½ Weeks (1986) and Batman (1989) which are watchable for many reasons including her performances.  I should state for the record that I have not seen 8 Mile (2002).  Danny DeVito is a strong performer whether in comedy or drama and I therefore recommend some movies here highly and others not so highly but which his presence saved One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Terms of Endearment (1983), Romancing the Stone (1984), Twins (1988), Batman Returns (1992), Renaissance Man (1994), Junior (1994), Get Shorty (1995), and The Rainmaker (1997).

David Strathairn may be most well known as being consistently cast by John Sayles whom he met in college; however, his body of work extends beyond Sayles to movies such as LA Confidential , George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012).  I have not seen Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979) which was Strathairn’s debut but I recommend:  Silkwood (1983), Iceman (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), Passion Fish (1992), Limbo (1999, also starring Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) on which film I worked for a time before giving up my career in ‘the biz.’  [The two of them were incidentally the nicest cast members that I met on that production]; The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and The Bourne Legacy (2012).

Two other LA Confidential notable contributors:  Music by Jerry Goldsmith (over 131 credits including 18 Oscar nominations and one win (Best Music, Original Score for The Omen, 1976), eight Golden Globe nominations and seven Primetime Emmy nominations and five wins, five Grammy nominations and a multitude of other award nominations and wins) and a personal musical favorite Planet of the Apes (1968); and cinematography by Dante Spinotti (over 65 cinematography credits including two Oscar nominations, three nominations and a Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) from the American Society of Cinematographers and two nominations and one win and a personal cinematography favorite The Last of the Mohicans (1992) from the British Society of Cinematographers.

Running Time:  138 Minutes

Favorite Quote:  “[Voiceover] Something has to be done, but nothing too original, because hey, this is Hollywood.”  (Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens)

KILL BILL Volume 1 [2003] & Volume 2 [2004]

I have placed Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994) in my Top Ten Films of All Time and you can read my review on it in the archives under April 2014 or directly go to that page by clicking on this link: www.lisasmovielist.blogspot.com/2014/04/pulp-fiction-a.html

As I stated before writer-director Quentin Tarantino crafts cinematic sequences that mix heady-themed, snappy dialogue with visceral action to create intense, if not orgiastic, masterpieces.  While all of Tarantino’s films are in this same class, both Kill Bill films are a special case for several reasons.  [Effectively telling one story in two films, these two are here treated as one film, hence one review.]  The fact that the star/hero is female is one reason I am putting this film in a separate class from the other Tarantino films.  A male friend told me they didn’t really get the movie and I replied, ‘you have to understand female resentment to really appreciate it.’  My boyfriend and I watched both movies over the last two nights and he asked me if they are ‘feminist.’  I guess they are and he wasn’t asking just because the hero is female.  Several of the men in the film are killed by the female victims that the male characters had victimized in a sexual way.  [The other motive for killing (both male and female victims) is that they attempted to murder the heroine (vs self-defense).]  There is no doubt that Uma Thurman carries the movie and kudos for that but I’m not sure that by itself makes it feminist…

The main plot of the film (I hope I am not giving it away, ha ha) is the killing of Bill and his main sin appears to be that (outside of not being ‘nice’) is that he attempted to kill (and had others attempt to kill) the heroine who basically has left the clan.  While Bill appears to have some remorse for attempting to kill her, it is not enough for the female character to let this go and it is worthwhile to examine this as the main character herself has made the transition from ‘killer for hire’ to only killing for the reasons mentioned above. Therefore, it appears to me, that the negating of Bill’s motive (that it is not okay that he does not allow her to choose someone else) is essentially supporting the legitimacy of feminism. Since it is not okay for her to determine who or why she should kill or love (which is an anti-feminist stance), she is effectively an instrument or object belonging to Bill which is what she will not submit to and therefore becomes a self-determining female or feminist.

If these arguments seem too intellectual for you then I direct your attention to the scene where Lucy Liu as Oren-Ishi cuts Boss Tanaka’s head off (and there ensues an interesting speech from the top of the table).  It calls to mind Robert De Niro as Al Capone in Brian de Palma’s The Untouchables (1987) where he makes a speech around a big dining table and sums up by beating a guy’s head in with a baseball bat. Yes, women are now bad asses too.  [And that’s not even mentioning the multi-cultural thing which is pretty awesome, too.]

I don’t have any special opinion about the fact that the precipitating factor is her becoming pregnant although I’m sure some would argue that this is a legitimate way to a) show that since she has to now be in charge of someone else she gains some sense of agency which she lacked before and b) it emphasizes the nature of her conflict in a specifically female way.  Of course this all begs questions like:  What is the opposite of a feminist film?  What makes feminist motives different from non-feminist motives?  Can this film be judged by the same standard as any other film starring a male hero?  I would only suggest you watch Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012) before you try to answer those kinds of questions.

Tarantino’s obvious paeans to anime, martial arts films, samurai warriors, heros in general, comic books, specific film genres, musical styles and other known favorites are found in these films and it is a testament to his deft handling that whether you are aware of them or not, the appealing sequences are worthy of study as short films on their own.  Like Pulp Fiction, the story is told in a nonlinear fashion; however, Tarantino has title cards which are a considerable help in keeping the chronology straight.  Finally one more reason these films are for me in a class by themselves is that they work so well as one story told in two episodes.  If you have time watch them in one sitting.  If not, try to keep the time between them as short as possible.

I don’t have much to say in the way of how Tarantino’s often over-the-top treatment of violence might offend some people however, in this film it is done to such an effect that it approaches comedy and frankly I couldn’t stop myself from laughing several times. (This might be why I can watch Tarantino’s films over and over but I can hardly stomach any of Oliver Stone’s movies more than once.  If you want to complain about violence then feel free to dismiss Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick, too as I’m okay with that since I feel Tarantino belongs in their company anyway.)

The Kill Bill films were produced by Lawrence Bender.  The other Bender-Tarantino pictures which I highly recommend are Reservoir Dogs (1992, starring Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney and Michael Madsen), Pulp Fiction (1994) [see my earlier review], and Inglorious Basterds (2009, starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender among others, including narration by Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel).

Kill Bill stars Uma Thurman (nominated as Best Actress for a Golden Globe), David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, Viveca A. Fox, Julie Dreyfus, Chiaki Kuriyama, Shin’ichi Chiba and Chia Hui-Liu among many talented others). The film was nominated for five BAFTA’s including Best Actress (Uma Thurman), Best Editing, Best Film Music, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects.

Running Times:  Kill Bill Volume 1 is 111 Minutes; Kill Bill Volume 2 is 136 Minutes

A Favorite Quote:  “That woman deserves her revenge and we deserve to die.” (Michael Madsen as Budd) 

A Sentimental Favorite:  “You and I have unfinished business!” (Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo, AKA The Bride, AKA Black Mamba)

SONGCATCHER, MY BODYGUARD AND STARMAN

SONGCATCHER – A

Songcatcher (2000) is a beautiful gem and recommended for its emphasis on music and history.  The story follows a woman musicologist who discovers English ballads while visiting her sister in the Appalachians.  Produced by Richard Miller, written by and directed by Maggie Greenwald, the film stars Janet McTeer, Aidan Quinn, Michael Davis, Michael Goodwin, Jane Adams, E. Katherine Kerr, Emmy Rossum, Pat Carroll, Iris DeMent and Hazel Dickens.  The music score is by David Mansfield and the soundtrack features many famous female country singers who perform mountain ballads in traditional as well as contemporary arrangements.  Running time:  109 Minutes.

 

MY BODYGUARD – A

My Bodyguard (1980) stars Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin and Matt Dillon with notable appearances by Martin Mull, Ruth Gordon, Joan Cusack, and John Houseman.  Makepeace is a fish out of water when he goes to a new school and attempts to befriend the local black sheep as his bodyguard.  Produced by Don Devlin, directed by Tony Bill and written by Alan Ormsby, this endearing film was nominated by the Writers Guild of America as best drama written directly for the screen.  Running time:  102 Minutes.

 

STARMAN – A

Starman (1984) stars Jeff Bridges as an alien who is stranded on Earth and has the good fortune to meet Karen Allen who decides to help him get home while avoiding being captured by the Charles Martin Smith.  This charming story takes a lighter look at some of the ridiculous things that earthlings do while maintaining enough of a sci-fi angle to keep the story moving.  Also starring Charles Martin Smith and Richard Jaeckel, the film was directed by John Carpenter and written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon.  By way of a better synopsis, here’s a good quote:  “Do you seriously expect me to tell the President that an alien has landed, assumed the identity of a dead housepainter from Madison, Wisconsin and is presently out tooling around the countryside in a hoped up orange and black 1977 Mustang?” [Richard Jaeckel as George Fox].  Running time:  115 Minutes.

WORLD WAR Z - A

I am by no means an expert on zombie movies but World War Z (2013) is a strong apocalyptic horror film that packs a realistic punch.  Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos and Daniella Kertesz, the film was directed by Marc Forster who has some very impressive credits: Monster’s Ball (2001, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry); Finding Neverland (2004, starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman); The Kite Runner (2007, starring Khalid Abdalla, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada and Atossa Leoni) andQuantum of Solace (2008, starring Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko).  He also directed Machine Gun Preacher (2011, starring Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan and Michael Shannon), which I have not seen but is on my list to see soon.  Mr. Butler and Mr. Pitt are equally easy on the eyes in my book but just because they are does not mean I will recommend everything they touch…I’m just sayin’!

World War Z is one of those movies with so many writing credits that it is impossible to give credit where it is due except to say it is based upon the book “World War Z:  An Oral History of the Zombie War” by Max Brooks.  If you want to know more then please visit the awesome website www.imdb.com and look up the movie to find the full cast and crew credits.

The producers’ credits are also lengthy and include Mr. Pitt but it’s difficult to say how much beyond its being initially feasible by virtue of his name being attached is given over to a producer’s other expertise; however, it is important to note that several very solid films have his producer credit on them:  The Departed (2006, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Jack Nicholson and winner in four of five Oscar categories); Running with Scissors (2006, starring Joseph Cross, Annette Benning [in her Golden Globe nominated performance], Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes and Evan Rachel Wood among others); The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009, starring Robin Wright, Alan Arkin and Mike Binder); Eat Pray Love (2010, starring Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis); Moneyball (2011, starring Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jonah Hill and nominated in six Oscar categories) ; The Tree of Life (2011, starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain and nominated in three Oscar categories) and 12 Years A Slave (2014, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael K. Williams, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o in her Best Supporting Actress Oscar performance and winner of Best Picture and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Oscars amongst nominations in nine categories total).

Other worthy films in which Mr. Pitt has appeared (if not already mentioned): Thelma and Louise (1991, starring Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Harvey Keitel); A River Runs Through It(1992, starring Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt and Tom Skerritt); Interview with the Vampire (1994, starring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas); Se7en(1995, starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey); Twelve Monkeys (1995, starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt); Seven Years in Tibet(1997, starring Brad Pitt, David Thewlis and JD Wong); Fight Club (1999, starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter); Ocean’s Eleven(2001, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, amongst others);Ocean’s Twelve (2004, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, amongst others); Ocean’s Thirteen(2007, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, amongst others);The Curious Case of Benjamin Button(2008, starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton) and Inglourious Basterds (2009, starring Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and Eli Roth).

Other Pitt films may or may not be to your liking but they are not strong enough for me to recommend.  I have not seen Sleepers (1996, starring Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman and Brad Pitt amongst others) but it is on my list to see soon. Mireille Enos has been in several TV series; however, her most picture before World War Z was in Gangster Squad(2013, starring Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone). Daneilla Kertesz also comes from a TV background but World War Z appears to have been her first film.

Running Time:  116 Minutes

According to www.imdb.com World War Z 2 is to be released in 2015.

THE QUIET MAN - A

Director John Ford’s love story stars John Wayne as an American boxer who returns to the Irish village where he was born and has to endure an epic fight in order to secure his bride.  A strong supporting cast and Oscar-winning cinematography make this movie a paean to Ireland.  This film is my most favorite John Ford movie and in my top twenty films of all time.  The Quiet Man (1952) won Ford a Best Director Oscar and also stars Maureen O’Hara, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald.  The screenplay was written by Frank Nugent and is based upon the short story by Maurice Walsh.

Most notable films directed by John Ford:  Mary of Scotland (1936, starring Katharine Hepburn and Frederic March); Stagecoach (1939, starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devinem, John Carradine and a Best Supporting Actor performance by Thomas Mitchell); Drums Along the Mohawk (1939, starring Claudette Colbert, Henry Fonda, Edna May Oliver); Young Mr. Lincoln (1939, starring Henry Fonda, Alice Brady and Marjorie Weaver); Grapes of Wrath (1940, starring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell [in her Oscar-winning Best Supporting Actress role], John Carradine for which John Ford won the Best Director Academy Award); The Long Voyage Home (1940, starring John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell and Ian Hunter); How Green Was My Valley (1941, Starring Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O’Hara, Anna Lee, Donald Crisp [in his Oscar-winning Best Supporting Actor role] and Roddy McDowall, winner of five Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director); They Were Expendable (1945, Robert Montgomery, John Wayne); Fort Apache (1948, starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Shirley Temple also written by Frank Nugent); She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949, starring John Wayne, Joanne Dru and John Agar also written by Frank Nugent and winner of Best Cinematography Oscar); Rio Grande (1950, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Ben Johnson); The Searchers (1956, starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood also written by Frank Nugent); The Last Hurrah (1958, starring Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, also written by Frank Nugent); The Horse Solders (1959, starring John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers); The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962, starring James Stewart, John Wayne and Vera Miles); How the West Was Won (1962, “Civil War” Section, starring James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck among others and winner of three Academy Awards); Donovan’s Reef (1963, starring John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Allen, Jack Warden and Cesar Romero also written by Frank Nugent); and Cheyenne Autumn (1964, starring Richard Widmark, Caroll Baker, Karl Malden, Sal Mineo, Dolores del Rio and Ricardo Montalban).  While this does not include all of Ford’s pictures, they are the ones I feel are worth at least one viewing.

Writer Frank Nugent also wrote Mister Roberts (1955, starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, William Powell and Jack Lemmon in his Oscar-winning Best Supporting Actor performance).  John Ford, Mervyn LeRoy and an uncredited Joshua Logan directed the film.  Additional notable films with Maureen O’Hara include:  The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1935, starring Charles Laughton, Maureen O’Hara and Cedric Hardwicke); Miracle on 34^th Street (1947, starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Gene Lockhart and Natalie Wood); Against All Flags (1952, starring Errol Flynn, Maureen O’Hara and Anthony Quinn); The Parent Trap (1961, starring Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith); Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962, starring James Stewart and Maureen O’Hara); McClintock! (1963, starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and Patrick Wayne); The Rare Breed (1966, starring James Stewart, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith) and Big Jake (1971, starring John Wayne, Richard Boone and Maureen O’Hara).  Barry Fitzgerald as well as Ward Bond and several other cast members had many bit parts in John Ford films as well as numerous others; however, most famously Barry Fitzgerald appeared in:  Bringing Up Baby (1938, starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Charles Ruggles); The Dawn Patrol (1928, starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone and David Niven); The Sea Wolf (1941, starring Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino and John Garfield); And Then There Were None (1945, starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward among others); and The Story of Sea Biscuit (1947, starring Shirley Temple, Barry Fitzgerald and Lon McCallister).

A Favorite Quote:  “Put his name on the list.  Now cross it off!” (Barry Fitzgerald as Michaleen Oge Flynn)

Running Time:  129 Minutes