Murray's Masterpieces

MOVIES WHICH ARE GREAT IN ANY ERA!

 


When I first saw this film, I was probably 18 years old and it had been on video for a long time.  I didn't realize what an amazing film this was, until I actually was able to sit in peace and watch it alone.  A lot of times, you're distracted in a theater by people talking, people you're with that are talking,and even people yelling at the screen.  To appreciate this masterpiece you need to watch it in silence and take in all the wonderful performances, the beautiful direction, and the amazing cinematography.

This film is phenomenal!  It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and only won 3, including Best Actor for Marlon Brando and Best Picture of the year 1973.  How in the world, the cast got shut out for Best Supporting Actor is beyond me, since Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duval were all nominated in this category.  This is how great the performances are in this film!

If you haven't seen the film, it encapsulates the life of the Corleone family and specifically, the Godfather, Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando).  The film follows the life of this mafia family in New York during the 1950's when organized crime was at the height of it's power in America.  It was adapted from the book of the same name written by Mario Puzo, and in my opinion,  this is the "best" of all the gangster movies.  Why?  Because it tells the story of the family, not the story of the violence.  "Scarface" is a gangster movie which focus's more on the violence of gangsters and the peddling of drugs, but this movie is about family.  Specifically, the Corleone family and what all the men in the family are willing to do to protect the family business from outside interests.   If you are sick and stuck in the house, this is a great movie to pass the time, and to really enjoy yourself.  Another masterpiece from Francis Ford Coppola and the cast which is absolutely brilliant!  I hate to remind you but you MUST SEE this film.



When I saw this movie for the first time, my reaction was I'm assuming like everyone else, "Holy Shit!  What just happened?!" And that was after sitting in the movie for what seemed like 45 minutes, when in fact, it was more like 2 hours.  That is how brilliant this film is!  The action and the intensity carries you through the movie in no time at all.  You get sucked into one great scene after another until the ending which shocks the hell out of you.


This is probably the best cast I have ever seen in ONE film.  And that includes all the movies from the Godfather Saga.  Where do you even start?  My personal favorite was Mark Wahlberg, and it's the only the second movie where I really saw him attempt to act.  He won an Oscar for his performance in this film and it was well deserved.   Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson,  Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, and Vera Farmiga are all incredible.  You cannot take your eyes off the screen in this one.  I've probably watch it 20 times and it never gets dull.


The idea is that two Massachussets State Police Troopers take two very different routes in law enforcement.  One is an undercover police officer working with for the Irish mafia, while the other is an undercover hoodlum working with Boston's Special Investigations Unit.  Both men are "moles" in two very distinguished but very different operations.  The lines get blurred for both men, and the drama which ensues is enthralling.  I suppose the whole idea of the movie can be summed up in one line from Jack Nicholson's character, "You can become cops or criminals. Today what I'm saying to you is this.  When you're facing a loaded gun.  What's the difference?" 


What a great line, and what a great movie.  It won 4 Academy Awards, including Best Director for Martin Scorsese and Best Motion Picture of the Year 2007. Don't miss a chance to watch this one!

I find it odd that I agree with all the other critics who chose this as one of their top ten films of all time, but to be honest for the period it was made it is a great film.  Orson Welles started out as a handsome, brilliant young actor and director, but ended up a fat, arrogant, old drunk.  How sad that one of the brightest stars of stage and screen became a joke.  Well over time this film did not turn into a joke, like Wells.  It is his first and best picture period.

Although it didn't win the Oscar for Best Picture this film is regarded by most film critics as the greatest motion picture of all time.  Why?  There's no CG effects, there's no violence, there's no action?  All things that people want in a movie, so why is it so great?  Orson Welles is why it's so great.  He wrote, starred, and directed the film with a cast of his regulars from the Mercury Theatre.  It is the story of Charles Foster Kane, but it might as well be the story of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper magnate from the early part of the last century.

The movie follows the life of Kane which is a mirror image of Hearst's life and career.  We see Kane as a young boy growing up like any other boy, but still heir to a mining fortune.  With his money he begins to buy up newspapers until at one point he is not only the richest men in the world but one of the most influential.  What Welles does, is draw us in intimately to the life of a magnate and shows how despite his opulent wealth he is never truly happy.  It is well filmed and incorporated some state of the art cinematography at the time.  Well written, acted, and directed this film truly stands the test of time.  If you like older movies, you'll love this film.