I love Laurel and Hardy.  I really do.  I mean how can you not?  During the 30's they were sort of a counterpoint and companion to the slapstick of the Three Stooges.

But in 1943's Air Raid Wardens, that original magic was pretty much gone.  They were both a few years older, and by this time were just going through the motions, and their "shtick" had already become somewhat dated, having been surpassed by more contemporary acts like Abbot and Costello.

The picture finds the two in their usual state of decrepitude.  Having gone belly up in several business ventures, they've started a bicycle shop.  But shortly after they get the patriotic itch and decide to join up with the war effort.

If there's one thing I've learned from watching movies for this site, it's the respect and admiration a lot of critics have for director Lewis Milestone.  In 1930's All Quiet on the Western Front, he explores the experience of a young German who eagerly signs up for duty in the army during the first World War, and is quickly shown exactly what it means to be a solider.  It's based on the novel by the same name (which I have yet to read) by Erich Maria Remarque.

I've basically outlined the story for you already.  A German schoolboy named Kat (Louis Wolheim) joins up for the army after a rather overplayed exposition by his teacher.  Really this opening sequence almost put me off the movie entirely.  The overzealous preaching of the teacher, coupled with the giddy "oooo sign me up!" actions of the kids, topped off by the trashing of the classroom in excitement and patriotic fury... it's a bit much.  But I suspect that's on purpose, just to show how over the top a lot of propaganda and flag waving can get.

But he signs up, and is shipped off from his peaceful little German burb, to a nearly decimated city someplace else near the front, and is quickly initiated into soldierhood.  The shells start falling nearly as soon as they're off the train, and some of his squad mates meet their doom early on.

From there he waits, quivering in a bunker with the rest of his mates as the shells fall around them.  Trying their wits and nerves, and even the grisled veterans are visibly nervous and scared.

Then it begins, they're called to action in the trenches, and Milestone makes his statement about the pointlessness of it all.  The encroaching Allied forces getting cut down by machine guns, overrunning the trenches and the messy close-quarters combat that ensues.  Then they're pushed back, only to have the tables turned as the Germans make an advance on their lines, to suffer nearly the exact same fate.

I'm going somewhat out of order here, so bear with me....  There's a section where Kat returns home, lauded as a hero, but he wants none of it.  Called back to that same classroom to tell his glorious tales of battle, he winds up telling quite the opposite tale, of being scared out of his mind, and of the horrors he's seen, much to the dismay of his patriotic teacher.

In another segment, he's pinned down in a hole with the body of a French soldier whom he had to kill, and we're treated to some more of that Milestone pontification that seems to permeate his films to the core.

And there is a lot of that.  Although its fit in much better here than in other Milestone pictures such as the dull "A Walk in the Sun", and even the more mainstream "The Halls of Montezuma."  The squad talks about the usual Milestone topics: Why are we here, fighting? What does it mean? Does anybody really care?....  You get the point.

How does it end?  Well, on that note I was a bit disappointed, but I suppose it fits with the entire theme of the picture.  Be it a little too "art school" for my tastes.

Even for the early days of "talking" cinema, this film can get a bit intense.  And given the era, I can't really fault the performance of anyone, I mean in 1930 "movie acting" was still a new art, and the cast really isn't full of your typical "stars" to speak of.

Sure All Quiet on the Western Front is more "anti" war at its core than a lot of pictures (aren't most of them anyway?) and it's told from the "enemy" point of view....  But this isn't a picture about us vs. them, or historical events, or any of that.  It's a thoughtful look into the events and experiences that (as they say) turn boys into men, and men into crying little boys again, and that scar their souls for the rest of their lives.

And in that respect it truly is a classic war movie.

Technorati Tags: war movie review, all quiet on the western front, 1930, world war i 1, lewis milestone, erich maria remarque, louis wolheim

Saigon.

Shit.

Few movies could pull off opening with those two words.  Apocalypse Now is that movie.  Period.

Apocalypse Now:Redux is a "director's cut" of sorts which puts back several scenes / episodes into the film that were dropped from its initial 1979 release.  Additionally it puts back the original ending.

A.N. is the story of one already-unstable Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen) and his top-secret mission to "terminate the command" of one Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who has gone stark raving mad and disappeared into the jungles of Cambodia.

Of course most of the film isn't so much about that, as it is about getting there, and how Willard prepares himself (and events prepare *him*) to meet this madman.

Along the way we're exposed to a lot of general madness.  A gung-ho surfer-dude Colonel in search of the perfect break, tigers in the bush, Playboy bunnies, the battle for a bridge that has gone completely out of control, what should be a routine riverboat insepction, native spear and arrow attacks...

... and in this release a couple of other deviations, namely the re-appearance of the aforementioned bunnies at a more-or-less abandoned "wild west" station, and the discovery of a group of French colonials defending their "plantation" in the midst of the war, complete with proper table settings.

I'm not sure putting these scenes back in was a good idea.  A lot of times the "director's cut" of a film rings truer to the original "vision" of a film.  If that's the case here, then its probably for the best that these scenes were dropped.  While the original "episodes" served to illustrate the madness of war, and prepare Willard somewhat for his final encounter, these two additions just don't make much sense at all.  The re-visited bunnies scene just comes across as twisted and morbid, and the French colonials just a boring sidestep.  I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind that bit being filmed, but the first?  It's just too "out there", even for this movie.

Of course eventually he and the remaining personnel on board "PBR Streetgang" finally meet up with Kurtz, and the journey towards madness is complete.  For both Kurtz and Willard.  The insanity of Kurtz is played brilliantly by Brando here.  And if nothing else, Dennis Hopper's short performance as the just-plain-weird photographer under Kurtz's spell is nothing short of genius.

I'm not going to spoil the ending, but the superimposition of the native's sacrifice with Willard's execution of his duties gets the message across.  Loud and clear.

The "fixing" of the final scenes in this version also tells us what happened to Willard.  The original it wasn't quite clear if he made it out before... well, I guess you'll have to see both to find out.





Technorati Tags: war movies, apocalypse now redux, vietnam, madness, dvd, reviews

"The men who fought. The women who waited. And the stolen moments they shared." Ick.

For those of you wanting the short-and-sweet version of this review, here it is: 1955's Battle Cry is short on Battle, and long on Cry. In it, we follow a squad of Marines from enlistment in 1942 all the way through Saipan in 1944. Or do we? I gotta say, I feel gipped!!

Instead of following the Marines in action, we mostly are treated to a few shorter stories involving the mens' involvement with various persons of the female persuasion. It looked like it could be an interesting picture, but the whole "soap opera" nature of the film left me throwing up my hands and going "WTF?! Where's the war, man!"

1969's Battle of Britain is a pretty academic and mechanical look at the escalation of German bombing attacks in 1940 which we all know as "the blitz."  An all-star cast consisting of such names as Christopher Plummer, Michael Caine, Curt Jurgens, Laurence Olivier, Nigel Patrick, Robert Shaw, and more round it out.

But the real stars of this movie aren't flesh and blood at all, but the staggering number of aircraft (both real and F/X.)  Matter of fact while watching this you come to realize that the people are just kind of a sideshow to the absolutely amazing dogfight and air battle scenes.

Spitfires, Hurricanes, Me-109s, Stukas, Heinkels... the list goes on, and there are lots of them.  Lots of them seem to meet untimely demises as well, and I hope(!) they were replicas or prop pieces!  The F/X here are really quite good for '69, as you can believe it when you're shown 100's of Luftwaffe bombers coming after London.

Like I said, the air battle scenes are where this movie shines.  From the sound effects, to the incredible camera angles and views, to the pilot chatter, it's all good.

Especially interesting is the final battle scene, where the sound effects were removed and all you hear is the (albeit overly "pompous") musical soundtrack.  It comes out as a magical "airplane" ballet of sorts.

To be honest the non-aircraft parts of the film are rather mechanical in nature.  Even with such greats as Plummer, Caine, and Olivier, its obvious these scenes are just kind of "filler" for in between the raging sky conflicts.

There's also a lot of subtitled German, as we're shown the Nazi POV of things.  I mean a lot of subtitles (which I didn't pick up on at first since I had the TV "zoomed" in to fill the letterbox across the screen!)  And they're even more mechanical and academic than the Brits!

Overall, I doubt you'll see a more impressive assemblage of German and British WWII aircraft anywhere than this film.  If you're a dogfight fan, or a fan of the more "methodical" war movies, this is a must see.

Technorati Tags: war movies, film, dvd, battle of britain, 1969, spitfire, hurricane, me109, stuka, blitz

I went into Battle of the Bulge thinking, "Alright! A nearly three-hour long epic docu-drama on the battle!"

And, unfortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong. I'm not really sure what this movie was supposed to be. When I think of the real Battle of the Bulge, I don't think of the things that were portrayed in this movie. I think of the poor slobs stuck out in the forest freezing their you-know-whats off, practically starving, and being pounded by German artillery.

I don't think of huge, and largely unbelievable tank battles that look like something out of the Revolutionary war. Funny, not until I started writing this did I find that my opinion matched some of the others out there....

Every once and a while I like to throw a documentary out there, especially when I haven't much of a chance to check out any traditional "war movies" (like lately! sorry!)

Battleground: 21 Days on the Empire's Edge is a multi-faceted look at the war in Iraq.  There's lots I could say, and we all have our own opinions on the subject, so let me just leave it at this:  "Battleground" is...  well its interesting.  I can't say I agree with a lot of the ideas they push, and I sure can't agree with some of the viewpoints of those they focus on, but its interesting nonetheless.

It takes on the subject through the eyes of a few different individuals.  One is a former Iraqi who fled the country after the 1st Gulf War after he joined the resistance movement which was abandoned by our first King George.  I'm not really sure what the point of this was, except maybe to somehow show that things are better now?  That he was able to return without facing death for himself and his family?  *shrug*  His observations and subsequent reunions were probably the most satisfying part of the picture.