Rick’s Flicks Picks » This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates AFI 100 Newbies Part II

This Weekend’s Film Festival Celebrates AFI 100 Newbies Part II

11 06 2008

Last year the American Film Institute released its 10th anniversary version of its Top 100 American films list. In a previous This Weekend’s Film Festival, I took a look at some of the new editions of the list. Many covered overlooked performers and films such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (SWING TIME) or Buster Keaton (THE GENERAL). Newer films made the list like LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS. The other two films I looked at where IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, Sidney Poitier’s best film, and the searing drama WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?

With the next AFI list of 10 top 10 genre films, being announced next on June 17th, it’s a good time to return to the Top 100 list to look at some of the other newly added films. Over the next three months, I’ll be looking at 15 more films. So in the end, there will be four lineups featuring 20 of the 23 new films to make the list. This week’s lineup features a classic comedy, two musicals, a silent drama and a retro drama. All five films have received four-star reviews from me, so you’re in for a treat.

The first film is another make-up for an omission on the first list. SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS is the only Preston Sturges film to place in the top 100 at #61. Based on my initial impression of this film and THE PALM BEACH STORY, I wouldn’t have included Sturges on my top 100 either, but since I have come to a better appreciation of his wit and irony. As I said in my Upon Further Review piece, “Many times I go back and give films that didn’t strike me the first time a second chance and they just reconfirm all the things I didn’t like about them in the first place. But on a rare and wonderful occasion a film bursts off the screen like I am watching a completely different production.” SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS falls into the rare category. Sturges brilliantly melds his themes to his structure and to his characters in a tale that says a lot about the need for comedy and the plight of the forgotten man. John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is a successful film comedy director who wants to make a serious drama with striking metaphors about poverty. His studio bosses think he is crazy when he wants to head out onto the street to find out what it’s really like to be poor. Along for the ride is a failed actress, played by the radiant Veronica Lake. Ironically, Sturges has his rich character always land on his feet, because he always has the safety net of his filled bank account and the choice to stop living as a hobo. Even more irony comes in how Sullivan really learns what it’s like to be poor. With intelligence and silliness mixed together, Sturges makes a classic comedy with striking metaphors about poverty.

The Saturday lineup features the two new modern musicals on the list, which replaced classic musicals like AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and MY FAIR LADY. The first film is Bob Fosse’s CABARET, ranking #63. Winning eight Oscars, including Best Director, Best Actress for Liza Minnelli and Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey, this melancholy musical is set in a fun-filled German cabaret as the Nazis come to power. As I said in my original review, “This is the kind of film that slowly builds its purpose, seeming like it’s about nothing too meaningful until the meaning starts creeping into the corners and by the end you’re broadsided into silence.” Minnelli brilliantly brings to life the bohemian Sally Bowles who believes that life is a continuous party. At her boarding house, she meets English teacher Brian Roberts, played by Michael York. Through their friendship, he learns to open up and live life more fully. Eventually, their friendship develops to romance, but will be challenged by decadent baron Maximilian von Heune, played by Helmut Griem. Perfectly balancing the comedy, drama and music, Fosse crafts a powerful statement on the great harm of inaction in the face of great responsibility. He also reminds us that powerful and poignant drama often comes after the laughs.

The second musical isn’t a traditional musical at all. Robert Altman’s NASHVILLE is a drama set in the world of Nashville’s country music scene, giving us a film full of performances from Nashville pros and country Western wannabes. Ranking at 59, the film joins Altman’s M*A*S*H on the list, actually representing the director’s influential style more fully. There are dozens of characters whose stories interweave and overlap. Key characters include worn-out Nashville queen Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley), shrewd businessman and Nashville icon Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson), cheating gospel singer Linnea Reese (Lily Tomlin) and womanizing folk singer Tom Frank (Keith Carradine). As I said in my original review, “NASHVILLE is a film that truly represents its time. Following political assassinations and Watergate, the film depicts a cross section of American society.” Altman uses the bicentennial celebration as a time to reflect on the way American ideals have been warped. The violent ending is alluded to throughout this biting satire of fame and what we will do to obtain it. As the violence nears, we don’t know who will be the culprit, because the various suspects represent all sections of society and their disgruntled reasons for committing violent acts. Depending on your own optimism or pessimism, the conclusion to this brilliantly subtle satire could mean vastly different things just making it all the more a work of genius.

Kicking off Sunday’s doubleheader is the classic silent film, SUNRISE, from F.W. Murnau. Ranking at #82, it is only one of five silent films on the list, and the only new silent film to be added. Murnau, best known for his German expressionist horror classic NOSFERATU, came to America specifically to make this film. At the first Academy Awards, it won Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production, the only time the Academy gave out that prize. The story is very simple — a husband falls for another woman who pressures him to murder his wife. But when he attempts the ghoulish act, he can’t follow through and his wife flees to the city. There they rekindle their romance and discover happiness together. As I said in my original review, “This film is one of the best romances because it understands reality, which makes its love story feel more real.” While it takes us on its rollercoaster of melodrama, we connect to the real human elements. Murnau’s mastery of film language only heightens the experience with artistic and emotional uses of camera and lighting. Most silent films become dated because their point of view is dated, but SUNRISE retains its power because it is universal.

Closing this week’s lineup is Peter Bogdanovich’s THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Though it is the lowest ranked film on the AFI list for this week (#95), it feels like the perfect film to close, because it bridges modern and Golden Age American cinema so well. Set in tiny Texas town, the film follows Sonny Crawford (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane Jackson (Jeff Bridges), best friends who have little prospects for careers after high school. Sonny is jealous of Duane, because he is dating the prettiest girl in town Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd). Using a 1950s drama film style mixed with a brutally honest portrayal of sex, Bogdanovich creates a film that is both nostalgic and modern. The heart of the town is Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), who owns three of the key businesses. He’s kind and caring, unlike many of the men in town who walk around like zombies. He, along with Jacy’s mom Lois (Ellen Burstyn) and lonely housewife Ruth (Cloris Leachman), talk about the past longingly, warning the young to embrace their youth, but the teens never listen wanting to rush off and join the adult world. Sex was never portrayed quite like it was here before. It’s used as a weapon or for bragging rights, but never for love. As I said in my original review, “the film sounds like a downer, but the irony of the story is often humorous.” However, I also said it’s painfully honest.

So there you go, another reason to check out the AFI 100. Tell me what you think. So it’s that time to swing by the rental store, update the Netflix queue, check out Zap2It.com for a TV schedule or support the site by buying the films on DVD from the below links.