bscardozo Reviews

Two for the Road (1967)

Marvelous Stanley Donen Film

[10/10 · 28 October 2006]

Next to Singing in the Rain, Pajama Game and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, this is Donen's Best, and that is saying a lot.

And this is not a musical!! The acting and the concept of time splicing is amazing. Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney, Eleanor Bron and William Daniels do their best.

In viewing the movie recently I felt it may have seemed dated which is not true of Donen's other movies. But my memory of seeing it the first time was so wonderful that I am inclined to watch it a few more times before I down rate the movie.

Decide for yourself if it is one of the greatest ever or has it not survived the test of time.

Becket (1964)

great movie -- better if roles of stars were reversed

[9/10 · 20 August 2006]

Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole are great. Beckett is great. But the movie would have been much better had the roles been reversed.

Why? Mostly because of physical appearances. Both actors could obviously play the roles they had. But the blond Peter O'Toole should have been Becket and the darker Richard Burton -- Henry II.

I know that Peter O'Toole gave a performance of a lifetime for an older Henry II later --- Lion in Winter -- one of his many performances of a lifetime. But anyway.

Also Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor public marriages and breakups, etc. lead me to believe that the public would have loved him as Henry II, a womanizer.

Oh well whatever.

The World of Apu (1959)

One of if not the best movie ever

[10/10 · 15 April 2006]

The first time I saw this movie was just after it was released in the United States. Ravi Shankar was becoming popular and the fact he did the score added to the movie's interest.

But Satyajit Ray is really in a class by himself. The movies -- there are three in the series, this one being the last, are mostly acted by amateurs. The trilogy starts with Pather Panchali, with Apu being a child. Next, Aparajito shows Apu growing up, going to school and learning English because that was the only way to get ahead in the grinding poverty of Bengal.

The last of the trilogy, the World of Apu shows Apu marrying, his wife dying, his leaving his son with his wife's parents and then going away to find himself. How the movie ends is your task. But each time I see it, tears cloud my eyes and my stomach turns over in joy and Let's just say the Academy gave Ray a long overdue Oscar for his films which are universal in appeal.

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Gene Kelly doing what he does best besides dancing

[10/10 · 13 September 2005]

The cast is amazing.

But I watch this film for the scene where Gene Kelly swings on a rope from one building to another. When he lands, he spreads his arms as if saying "TA DA"! My wife and I nearly feel out of our chairs.

On the one hand Kelly is campy and knows it. On the other he is the only actor who guarantees both of us a wonderful feeling at the end of the movie. What Joie De Vive! What an actor! I wish he was with us still.

Of the others, and they are great too, my favorite is Vincent Price who comes up with a stellar performance.

The Rickshaw Man (1958)

A soap opera but an amazing one filled with great acting.

[10/10 · 9 July 2005]

Like the other comments, this movie should be available on DVD or VHS. I remember seeing it 40 years ago and its brilliance stands out in my mind as if I saw it yesterday.

Toshiro Mifune plays against type. No samurai warrior he, but a humble Rickshaw man secretly in love with an upper class woman. He shepherds her son throughout the years and the woman, while almost recognizing the Rickshaw Man has helped make her son a man, never comprehends the love Mifune has for her.

A classic woman's film that caused this man to cry. And the fact that it stars Mifune and is directed by a macho director who likes to do period Samurai movies is amazing. Two macho stars making one of the great soaps of all time. And I mean that in the best of ways.

Man of Aran (1934)

People working through incredible hardship

[10/10 · 18 May 2005]

Another movie by a master movie maker.

His documentaries make one feel the hardship his subjects undergo, whether real or not.

A must see along with Nanook.

The visuals are stunning as is the empathy of the director for his subjects.

Would there be a documentary director like him today -- except for Frederick Wiseman whom I am sure was inspired by Flaherty's movies such as Nanook (a picture of a long lost world) and Man of Aran.

I wonder if people are still farming Aran or if they have all left for the big city.

There are other documentaries by the BBC -- See South Georgia Island or the re-creations of Shackleton's unsuccessful trip to the South Pole and you will feel as well as ache along with them.

A true pioneer when making films was difficult at best, impossible at worst. But Flaherty make the impossible real and captured a world that no longer exists.

A Price Above Rubies (1998)

One of the most touching movies about the plight of orthodox women

[10/10 · 1 May 2005]

The cast is remarkable.

Rene Zellweger gives the performance of her life hovering between wanting to be respectful and to blossom as a business woman and mother.

She is so much smarter than her husband and wants so much more than she has that your heart aches for her. By the end of the movie the bright caterpillar is on its way to being a butterfly.

The movie accurately depicts the present condition of the Hasidic movement in New York and Brooklyn and shows its strengths and weaknesses. The jewelry business is depicted as neither black nor white, but a series of grays.

This is a great film and Rene Zellweger should be toasted for risking much and achieving more. Carol Kane was wonderful in Hester Street and Amy Irving likewise in Crossing Delancy. But Rene Zellweger soars.