Stranger Things Have Happened

 

This is my entry in the It Grew On Me Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

 

 

Note: This is actually a stretch for the theme of the blogathon, but I have Rebecca's OK for it...

I don't like Will Ferrell movies. I gave him a shot with Anchorman, which I thought was just stupid and not at all funny. I tried again with A Night at the Roxbury. Still no go. Old School was just a waste of my time, as I didn't even crack a smile. When he was on Saturday Night Live, he was only slightly funny. I admit I like the Jeopardy! parodies, but his Alex Trebek persona had help or it wouldn't have worked for me either. (Darrell Hammond as Sean Connery and Norm MacDonald as Burt Reynolds both saved his ass from being a one and done character in the role of Trebek). I like the Austin Powers films, but only the parts where Ferrell isn't on screen. In fact I came to a conclusion that Farrell needs to have somebody of far greater talent to blur out his lack of such.

In 2006, when Stranger Than Fiction was released on home video, I was having a conversation with an employee, Mark, at my local video rental place and told him that the concept of the movie intrigued me, but I was reluctant to take the plunge since I thought it would end up being the same old same old stupid output that I had seen in previous Ferrell movies. Mark said something I will never forget, and something that I am grateful to him for saying. He said that I ought to check it out because he had discovered that "people who like Will Ferrell don't like this movie, but people who don't like Will Ferrell have been saying they like it."

Based on just that I decided to give it a whirl. And what do you know? I actually found a Will Ferrell movie that I can stand, nay, even like. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Ferrell wasn't trying to be funny, at least not in the usual sense of his attempts when he was doing his standard comedies. So, no, the movie doesn't necessarily qualify, in the strictest terms of this blogathon. I didn't hate the movie at the outset, and then gradually change my mind about it on repeat viewings. And I still will avoid most movies which Will Farrell is the star. But, given that fact, I guess you could say Ferrell "grew on me" in one respect, since I will recommend Stranger than Fiction, especially if you are, like me, rather dismissive of his usual output.

 

 

 

Stranger Than Fiction (2006):

Do you hear strange voices?

Unless you are David Berkowitz (the infamous "Son of Sam"), it's probably not a serious problem if you do.

But for Harold Crick (Will Ferrell), this voice he hears is somewhat problematic. It is not telling him to go out and kill random strangers like the voice that spurred Berkowitz, but it is infringing on his sanity. 

The premise of the movie is that Harold, who works as an auditor for the IRS, begins hearing a woman's voice who seems to be narrating his life, as if he is a character in some novel rather than a normal functioning human being. So how would you react if suddenly it seemed like someone was writing your life? This bizarre story plays out as Harold tries to discover just what the hell is going on.

 

It is complicated by the fact that only Harold hears this voice. Everyone around him reacts as if he is just some nutcase talking to himself. But hearing this voice is indeed happening, even if Harold is the only one who realizes it.

 

It turns out that somewhere else in the city is a frustrated writer who is going through a case of writer's block. Karen Eiffel (Emma Thompson) has written several novels, most of which ended with the death of her protagonist. 

 

But she has been struggling with her current novel, because she really has no idea how to kill him off. The character in her novel?

Harold Crick. 

Eiffel: "Little did he know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death." 

Harold ends up going to a psychiatrist who diagnoses him with schizophrenia. But Harold insists that he is NOT schizophrenic. For some reason, possibly just to get him out of her office, she suggests he see a literary professor, since Harold thinks he is somehow involved as a character in someone's novel.

 

He goes to see Professor Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who takes him seriously (or maybe just tries to humor him). Hilbert runs through various scenarios and determines that he is not Hamlet, or a golem or any of the various literary characters that might possibly be a solution. He even tries to determine whether Harold is in the middle of a comedy or a tragedy:  

Harold: "I just met a woman who told me to get bent."

Prof. Hilbert: "Well, that sounds like a comedy..." 

 

The woman that Harold is referring to is a woman. Ana (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who is currently under investigation for not paying enough taxes. She is initially openly hostile to Harold (as probably any one who is trying to skirt regulations on their taxes with the hope of getting away with it would be). But Harold finds Ana intriguing, even if he is a bit reserved in his development of a relationship.

 

Eventually Harold figures out that Karen is the culprit behind it all and tracks her down. Needless to say she is just as shocked as Harold is that the situation exists, that Harold is a real person, not just a figment of her writer imagination.

 

She ends up giving him a copy of the novel she has written, which he takes to Hilbert. Hilbert tells him that it is the greatest novel he has ever read, but that Harold's death at the end of it is the only way the novel could end with a satisfying conclusion.

 

I won't tell you how this all wraps up. I will tell you that, aside from Old Yeller, this is only the second movie that has ever brought me to tears at the end. And, despite the fact that I think Ferrell is still a subpar comic actor, he pulls off what I think is his absolute best ever performance.

Ferrell was recognized in the critical community for this role, which in my mind goes a long way in redeeming himself as an actor. Ferrell was nominated for a Golden Globes Award in the category of Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy (which he lost to Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat). He was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actor- Musical or Comedy (which he lost to Joseph Cross for Running with Scissors). And, once again, he was nominated for a Best Actor Saturn Award (and that one he lost to Brandon Routh for Superman Returns). 

Could he also have qualified at least for a nomination for an Oscar? Hard to say. With the competition that year I find it difficult to find a spot for him. His competition would have included Forest Whitaker (the ultimate winner for Last King of Scotland), Peter O'Toole (Venus), Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) and Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson). I don't say he would have won that either because, if you haven't seen Whitaker's performance, it was outstanding. But like Jim Carrey's performance in an earlier role in  The Truman Show, I think Ferrell's role at least deserved a nod. (Maybe substitute him for Ryan Gosling...)

Whether it was because Ferrell was playing against type, or there were other factors involved, the movie only did moderately well at the box office. With a budget of $30 million it only pulled in $54 million in ticket sales. It got some good reviews, however. It has a 73% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. My old standby critic Roger Ebert gave it 3½ out of 4 stars, saying it proves that "he has dramatic gifts equal to his comedic talents". (Obviously Ebert had a better opinion of his comedy than I do...)

So, to sum up, I will leave you with this. Perhaps it is a good idea to take my friend Mark's advice: if you like Will Ferrell then approach this film with an open mind, but be expecting a different Ferrell, and if you don't like him, by golly, you are missing out by NOT watching.

Time to fire up the old Plymouth and head back to the house. Drive safely.

Quiggy

  

Hillbilly Hamlet

 

 

The following is a guest post by my friend Jim Bob Turner: I made a few editorial notes, but it's mostly his thoughts. For the most part you should be able to figure out to what or whom he is referring without my help. -Quiggy

 

 

Hamlet (1948):

OK, so my buddy Quiggy said he was tryin' to "expand my whore risin's". Hey! He said it, not me... and where them "whores" was in this movie, I can't say. I sure didn't see any...

But anyways, I'm good buddies with him, so I sat down an' watched this here movie on his say so. It was about some guy, I think he was called Hambone, or something like that. "Hambone". Sounds like my kind of guy, I'm going in thinking maybe this guy an' me could get together and share some good recipes. He might even have a good recipe for fried possum...

 

Anyways, the movie starts off with some guy saying that this is the "story of a man who could not make up his own mind...", and right away I'm thinking maybe this guy he's talkin' about tips the jug a little too much.  I get the same way, especially when I've drunk a little too much of cousin Cletus' moonshine. Cletus may not be able to add two and two together and come anywheres close to 5, but he does make a pretty mean batch of mountain dew...

I should point out at the start that this Hambone character comes from some play from about 1000 years ago. I think it was a play that Miz Winfred wanted us to read for English class back in my high school days. It was writtened by some guy named William Shake A Spear. I didn't read it, of course. I got the class nerd to help. It might actually have been my friend, Quiggy (ed. note: it wasn't me... I didn't meet Jim Bob until after high school). He gave me a quick 5 minute sum up. I didn't think I missed much.

 

So, anyway, the movie starts out with some guys who are guards on a balcony and they are talking about one of them claiming that he seen this ghost of the old king, who later turns out to have been Hambone's daddy. See, some time before this point, Hambone's daddy had died. His uncle, Claude, ended up marryin' Hambone's mother and now his uncle is his stepdaddy. Sounds like normal to me... what's the big deal...?

 

I guess Hambone didn't take to kindly to his uncle Claude becomin' his new daddy. He seems to think there's sumpin' fishy going on in Denmark, which is home country. Hey, "sumpin's fishy in Denmark"! I think I came up with a new phrase! I like that better'n the line in the movie... (ed. note: Jim Bob is referring to the line in the play/movie "something is rotten in Denmark." I have to admit I like Jim Bob's line better myself. too.) 

Hambone seems to be so glum about the whole situation that I think he's even thinking about suicide. I think that's the whole point behind that earlier dig at him, when the guy says the movie is about a guy who can't "make up his mind.." At one point Hambone even has an argument with hisself, tryin' to decide whether or not to drink the kool-aid. (ed. note: Jim Bob is referring to that famous piece known as "Hamlet's Soliloquy".)

So the guards decide they gotta tell Hambone what they seen. An' Hambone, thinkin' he's just gotta see for hisself, goes with them to the next guard watch. Hey, gotta give ol' Hambone some credit for having guts. You wouldn'a got me up on that balcony... There he meets up with ghost daddy and his daddy tells him the truth of what happened. Hambone's daddy, the former king, had no name in this picture, or I guess in the Shake A Spear play either. Leading me to ask that one question... hey, Hambone...who's your daddy?

Hambone learns of the truth behind daddy's death from the ghost. It turns out that Claude dumped some poison into Hambone's daddy's ear and killed him. Hambone decides that the best thing for him to do is to somehow prove that Claude is a bad guy. He decides he is gonna try to act like he's gone crazy. Hambone missed his calling. He shoulda been a stage actor, because he manages to pull off this play acting. 

 

At least he does as far as his mommy, Gertie, and his girlfriend, Filly, is concerned. 

 

But Claude suspects that Hambone may not be as crazy as he's puttin' on to be. Watch out, Hambone. Any guy that would kill his own brother is not a guy you wanna even play lawn darts with, much less try to trick. 

 

Claude gets his advisor, Possum to spy on Hambone. Possum thinks Hambone may not be faking it however. But he thinks the madness might have something to do with Filly, who as it turns out, is Possum's daughter. Hambone continues to play the part even when he thinks no one else is watchin', so he convinces Filly that he's done lost it, too.

 

But wily old Hambone, he ain't done yet. He gets a band of wandering actors to put on a play for Claude, but he gets them to change part of the usual play by puttin' in a scene that includes the same evil deed that Claude pulled on his daddy, hoping that Claude's guilty conscience will get the better of him. But when it comes down to it, Claude starts to pray for forgiveness and Hambone, who was gonna kill him, decides that he can't go through with it. Not because he himself has some kind of change of heart; he's just worried that Claude will be forgiven and let into Heaven, and Hambone wants him to go the other direction. (You gotta appreciate such focus on gettin' revenge).

The story gets a little more twisted as it goes on. Claude sends Hambone to Limey country (ed. note: He means England.) The plan is that some friends that Claude has will kill Hambone while he's there and keep Hambone outta his hair. But Hambone and his ship get attacked by pirates. I just thought of a movie I watched years ago where this kid says "Gettin' killed by pirates is good..." But Hambone don't get killed by them pirates. He gets returned to Denmark. And I guess Claude is startin' think what's a guy gotta do to get rid of his enemies... 

I forgot to point out that at one point Hambone accidentally killed Possum. Torn up by the death of her father, and the fact that Hambone seems to have lost his hold on being sane, Filly killed herself by jumping in a pond and drowning. Filly had a brother, Larry, who had shown up after his daddy's death and wants revenge. So Claude and Larry arrange a good ol' fashioned duel. My buddies over in Kentucky, the McCoys, woulda been proud. Them lowdown Hatfields would have deserved the same kind of showdown.

There's some sneaky little goings on involving fixin' up a sword with poison so that when Larry nicks Hambone he is gonna die toot sweet. All'n' of the bad guys gets their come uppance in the end. Too bad Hambone is one of them. I kinda liked him. Now I'll never get his recipe for pork chitlins...

 

Quiggy: Well, thanks Jim Bob. 

Hope you folks enjoyed Jim Bob's foray (actually mine, just in case you are slow on the updraw...) into the artistic world.

And, BTW, if you'd like another angle on Hamlet, check out Renaissance Man. As with my review of that movie, this one is dedicated to Rachel of Hamlette's Soliloquy, who I hope likes this take on her favorite Shakespeare play.

Drive safely, folks.

 

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #22: To Kill a Mockingbird

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

Week #22: Alabama -

 

 

The state of Alabama was established on December 14, 1819. 

 

Details about Alabama:

State bird: yellowhammer

State flower: southern long leaf pine

State tree: camellia

Additional historical trivia:

Rosa Parks became one of the icons of the civil rights movement when she refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery. 

Although celebrating Mardi Gras is most associated with New Orleans, the first Mardi Gras celebration in the U.S. happened in Mobile in 1703.

In 1836 Alabama became the first state to declare Christmas a holiday.

Without the Saturn V rocket, the moon landing doesn't happen. It was developed in Huntsville.

The oldest baseball stadium that is still in use is located in Birmingham.

Birmingham is the site of one of the most specialized bookstores in the world. The Alabama Booksmith only sells books that have been signed by the authors. (But, no, apparently they do not currently have a copy of the novel that inspired today's movie...)

Famous people born in Alabama: Harper Lee, Rosa Parks, Jim Nabors, Courtney Cox, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole,  Helen Keller, Jesse Owens, Hank Aaron and  Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

 

 

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962): 

The film begins in the quiet town of Maycomb, Alabama. "Scout" Finch (Mary Badham) and her brother, Jem (Phillip Alford), await their father, Atticus (Gregory Peck), to come home. In the meantime they meet a neighbor kid, Charles Baker Harris (John Megna). The three have a great rapport (such innocence as children had, and maybe still have, for all I know).

 

The children teach other little things about the neighbors and townspeople, including some of those rumors that often develop among children, such as the highly "dangerous" neighbor, Boo Radley, whom no one ever sees because he is supposedly chained up in the basement and only comes out at night. And Mrs. Dubose, a crotchety old woman next door, who antagonizes the children with somewhat veiled threats of what they will end up becoming when they grow up. Both of these characters are kind of like the boogeyman for the children, because after all, a part of growing up requires that children have some sort of boogeyman to be afraid of, whether or not such boogeymen really are worthy of that fear. 

In the background (as yet not the foreground) is the local judge coming to Atticus to try to get him to be the defense lawyer for a local black man who has been accused of rape of a white woman. In another world, the real world at the time, in other words, the black man probably would have already been lynched, without a trial. But then if that happened we would have no story.

 

Atticus is a proud man who has conscience and a ideal of doing what is right. As he tells Scout who asks why he is defending Tom:

“If I didn’t I couldn’t hold up my head in town, I couldn’t represent this county in the legislature, I couldn’t even tell you or Jem not to do something again.” 

 

Whether or not he initially believes in the innocence of his client at the beginning is not important. What matters is that Atticus is adamant that Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) be given a fair shake and a fair trial, and not just convicted by the prevailing crowd without said trial. There is a lynch mob that shows up midway through the film with that exact intention... This not being a Perry Mason mystery, we don't get a lot of investigation into the facts of the story. What comes out of the truth of the actual story is only played out during the trial.

 

The trial itself seems a little unbelievable. Not the facts that come out, mind you, but the lack of a crowd reaction to Atticus' questions posed to the witnesses. I kept expecting outrage from someone in the crowd, but instead the only reactions come from whomever is on the witness stand at the time. The most difficult part of this is there is no reaction to Atticus' basic accusations: a) that Tom is being railroaded and b) that the victim, Mayella (Collin Wilcox), was more or less the instigator not the victim. I would have expected a riot or at least someone trying to shout down Atticus at this point.

 

Of course, you may or may not know how the trial came out. In an effort to play fair, I will thus say spoiler alert! Tom is convicted of the crime, this despite the fact that Atticus pretty much exposed the whole thing as a lie on the part of Mayella and her father. The upshot is that Tom is carted off to prison, but is supposedly shot while trying to escape. (I will interject an opinion here: While the "escape" and "shooting" may have been accepted as plausible by the 60's audience, the cynic in me says that may not be how it really played out. Yet the film seems to want us to accept the story as told by the sheriff).  

There is still a bit of story left, including a revelation of who the mysterious Boo Radley (Robert Duvall) is. Hint: he is NOT the boogeyman. (And, although he never utters a word, Duvall made enough of an impression in his first film role that his one scene is fairly memorable). 

 

Although the film is primarily about Atticus and his efforts to defend a black man, Tom, in the rape trial, there are also some aspects of it that dwell on the lifestyle of a small town, and the film is sometimes a love letter to a more idyllic time. Sure, the racism aspect stands out in stark contrast against the backdrop, but some of the scenes come off a bit elegiac. Especially early on in the film.  The point of the film, and the novel it was based on, was, of course, to focus on the racial prejudices of the era. 

(A side note: One of my pet peeves is when a book or a movie is banned or criticized for pointing out what was historically accurate. The book, along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been targeted in recent years for banning, simply because black people are referred to as "niggers", as they are also in the film. It seems that the current PC crowd want to erase the fact that at one time there was an inequality between the white and black people. While I don't think it was a fair way to treat a fellow man, I also don't believe in trying to censor a part of history just because we are supposed to be more enlightened now).

To Kill a Mockingbird was nominated for 8 Oscars. In a different year it might have won more than the three it did win. It had the misfortune of competing for Best Picture that year with Lawrence of Arabia (the winner), as well as The Longest Day and The Music Man. (Mutiny on the Bounty was also a candidate, but personally I prefer the Clark Gable and the Mel Gibson versions). It also lost Best Director to David Lean for the aforementioned Lawrence of Arabia. Mary Badham was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress but lost to Patty Duke for The Miracle Worker. It did win in the category of Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, both times beating out the Lawrence film.

It was the 6th highest grossing film of the year (although, technically, most of it's ticket sales probably came in 1963. It was released on Christmas Day of 1962). It was a critical success, too.  It currently holds a 93% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and among it's advocates was Bosley Crowther who praised the "charming enactments of a father and his children in that close relationship, which can occur at only one brief period"and that that part of it was "worth all the footage of the film". Even in today's age it still gets it's share of praise. 

A couple of things worth pointing out as a wrap-up: The narration of the film is done by Kim Stanley, who in 1982 was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. James Earl Jones was one of the actors that auditioned for the role that eventually went to Brock Peters. Peters, BTW, had another connection to Jones; while Jones was the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars films,  it was Peters who did the voice on the radio versions of the stories. 

It is a worthy film. It ranks #34 on A.F.I.'s 100 Greatest Films.  Check it out if you haven't already seen it. Until next time, drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #21: The Untouchables

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #21: Illinois-

 

 

 

The state of Illinois was established on December 3, 1818

Details about Illinois:

State bird: cardinal

State flower: violet

State tree: wild oak

Additional historical trivia:

You might THINK it was in New York, but officially the first building that could be classified as a "skyscraper" was built in Chicago. 

Twinkies were invented in Schiller Park.

The first Dairy Queen opened for business in Illinois. 

Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's outside of California in Des Plaines. Kroc was from Illinois. (Now, I'm hungry...)

The famous Route 66 has it's starting point in Chicago. Or ending point if you are starting in California...

 Illinois was the first state to ratify the 13th Amendment which outlawed slavery.

The world's largest public library is in Chicago. 

Famous people born in Illinois" U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Ray Kroc,  Harrison Ford, Hugh Hefner, Walt Disney, Pope Leo XIV, Jimmy Connors and John Belushi.

 

 

The Untouchables (1987): 

The most famous gangster in the history of the United States would almost surely be Al Capone. While the history behind the efforts of the Federal government to put an end to Al Capone's reign as the crime boss of Chicago may be known to most people, it is a sure bet that only the most knowledgeable students have more than a passing acquaintance with the details. Most people probably only know the story from either the TV series with Robert Stack, or from this film.

 

The fact is that both are entirely reliant on dramatic license to tell a story and are filled with stuff that was rearranged or even invented out of whole cloth. One thing in particular that stands out in the film is that Eliot Ness and Al Capone had virtually no face to face interaction during the era. One site I read claims that Ness was only interacting with Capone when he served as one of the escorts that took Capone to prison after his trial.

That does not mean that Brian De Palma's film should be avoided completely, however, unless you are one of those people who demand strict historical accuracy in your films that deal with history. Instead, you could just look on this film as a well crafted fictional story and come away from it with a feeling of satisfaction.

As I have noted elsewhere, I am not a big fan of Kevin Costner. In fact, if it wasn't for the presence of Robert De Niro and Sean Connery in this film, I doubt if I would have as much appreciation for it, at least from an acting viewpoint. 

 

There is not much of Costner's portrayal that really connects with me. Roger Ebert in his review sums it up for me that he doesn't provide "any of the little twists and turns of character that might have made Ness into an individual", although he puts the blame more on David Mamet's script rather than on the actor himself.

Connery won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work, but De Niro was virtually ignored. I thought that De Niro was equally worthy of at least a nomination, even though some reviews claimed he was basically just going through the motions. 

The film opens with a scene that somehow just doesn't ring true, at least for me. Capone (Robert DeNiro) is getting a shave while interviewers are asking him questions about his status as a figure in town of note. Somehow I just can't see Capone openly admitting to being involved in bootlegging to the press. Maybe the real Al Capone actually was forthright in his activities in real life: it's not as if no one even knew he existed at that point in time. But it just feels odd.

 

Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) makes his appearance at the police headquarters and establishes his "goody two-shoes" persona when he makes it known that he is there to enforce Prohibition and take down those who would flaunt the law, including establishing that from that point forward, if the officers in his force had previously ignored the law before, there were expected to be paragons of virtue henceforth. Historically speaking, however, it was NOT against the law to drink during Prohibition, it was only against the law to make, transport or sell the stuff. Many people hoarded previously legal stashes that they got before Prohibition went into effect. 

Ness first finds out what he is up against when he makes a raid on a place that supposedly has a shipment of the illegal contraband, but instead of finding liquor he finds... umbrellas. It becomes apparent that there was a betrayal of his raid plans from within the force. As Malone (Sean Connery) tells Ness later in the movie, the town of Chicago "stinks like a whorehouse at low tide."

 

 Which is why, after convincing Malone to join his team, Malone says that they need to pull in some help from the newbies to the force. "If you're afraid of getting a bad apple, don't go to the barrel. Get it off the tree." So Malone and Ness go to the training section of the academy, looking for a man who is a good shot and honest (as in not corrupted by the graft that is rampant on the force).

 

The scene where they recruit George Stone (Andy Garcia) is one of my favorite scenes as far as dialogue. Malone and Stone have a tête-à-tête in which Malone queries Stone about his heritage: 

Malone: Stone? George Stone? What's you real name?

Stone: That is my real name.

Malone: Nah. What was it before you changed it?

Stone: Giuseppe Petri.

Malone: Ah! I knew it. That's all you need is one thieving wop on the team.

Stone: It's much better than you, you stinking Irish pig. (Both pull weapons).

Malone: Oh, I like him....

 

Also to come on board is a rather milquetoast addition, Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) who is an accountant in his real life. He is not initially what you would expect for a gun-toting gung ho federal agent, although he does develop over the course of his activities. Wallace thinks the best way, however, to take down Capone is to find information that would help to prosecute Capone for tax evasion.

 

Ness: Try a murderer for tax evasion?

Wallace: Well, it's better than nothing...

 

There are some great scenes in the second half of the film. Ness and his cohorts look to try to stop a shipment of contraband coming across the border from Canada. At one point one of the bootleggers is killed while trying to shoot it out with Ness. A short time later, while Malone is struggling to get another captive to open up about his connections he uses the corpse as an unorthodox incentive to get the prisoner to confess. I won't go into detail here, but it really is one of the scenes that probably swayed the Oscar voting to give Connery the statuette,

 

One of the other scenes that really stands out is a shootout at the train station. In an homage to a scene from Sergei Eisenstein's classic silent era film Battleship Potemkin,  the scene is staged on a series of steps in the train station. It is ten minutes of very intense action, and plays out with several parallels to the Russian classic.

 

There is one scene that happens late in the movie that is entirely fictional, and one of the few scenes that irks me due to it's unbelievable situation. Ness has an encounter with Frank Nitti (Billy Drago) on top of the courthouse. The ending, although it somehow fits in the context of the way that the story has been played out in this fictional account, does not seem to ring true with the character of Ness as he has been played out up to this point. Once again, I am going to leave it to the audience to watch the film and judge for themselves.

 

Ultimately, of course, and it's not a spoiler since this part is historical, Capone ends up being convicted of tax evasion. Historically speaking, that may have been the only way it was going to play out, since the Capone organization was powerful enough to keep the crime boss out of jail for his more overt illegal activities.

While The Untouchables  has it's issues with it's historical accuracy, the film is a stand out for the efforts that the director and the majority of the actors bring to the screen. Even some of the minor characters are memorable. I particularly liked Police Chief Mike Dorsett's (Richard Bradford) brief scenes when he interacted with Connery in the back alley fight. Dorsett is not as bad as it would all seem. I think he genuinely cares about Malone, even if Malone is opposed to the status quo (i.e. the bribery and corruption) in which Dorsett is involved.

This film ranks fairly high in lists of great gangster movies. One book I have in my collection, The Ultimate Book of Great Gangster Movies by  George Anastasia and Glen Macnow puts it at #28, while the Ranker website puts it in at # 11. (It should come as no surprise that both of those put the first two The Godfather films as #1 and #2). My personal list would probably have it at #5, behind those first two The Godfather films, followed closely by Goodfellas and Little Caesar. (Sorry Pulp Fiction fans...)

Well, that wraps up this week's entry. Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy