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bkohatl
Reviews
Fauve (2018)
A movie which makes you think how precious life is.
Two boys are horsing around a construction site, after a few minutes they go to the a quarry pit. Unknown to them, the ground is like quick sand, first one boy, then the other find out how dangerous it is. The first boy escapes, but the 2nd boy is dawn under and disappears. The look of shock and hopelessness in the first boy as he tries first to rescue his friend, then get help. Breaking down as he realizes that his friend is dead. Very powerful and meaningful. Every boy should watch it with their parents.
The Path to 9/11 (2006)
Lying liars
A pathetic right wing hate orgy, built on deceit and lies. Approved and written by a former Reagan era political hack, the show had only one purpose: to smear the Clinton Administration and build up Georg W. Bush, never letting the truth stand in the way.
This merely a propaganda piece to justify the war in Iraq. and blame Clinton and not Osama Bin Laden.
I would have preferred the truth. I would have preferred an honest playwright. I would have preferred someone who could assign blame on those responsible, not avoiding blame on his minions, smearing the loyal opposition.
The Window (1949)
Winner of The Mystery Guild's Award for Best Mystery
Only problem is there is no mystery in the film. I recently discovered that "The Window" was filmed in New York City in November 1948 when Bobby Driscoll was 10. In the spring of 1948, billionaire Howard Hughes bought RKO Studios. His first action was to fire Studio Head Dore Schary because he was a Hollywood liberal. Schary went to MGM where he succeeded Louis B. Mayer. He enjoyed great success there. His second decision was to shelve "The Window" for being worthless garbage. It had been one of Dore Schary's pet projects. The movie sat on the shelf for nearly two years, finally when the studio was short of films to release, Howard Hughes was talked into releasing "The Window". Instead it became the surprise hit of the year. A B movie, which was supposed to make back expenses and a small profit became a huge top ten hit and RKO's #1 movie of the year. And all the credit went to Bobby Driscoll. His terrifying portrayal of "Tommy Woodry" was one of them most intense ever caught on film: he went on to win an Oscar at the Academy Awards Ceremony at The Pantages Theatre(generously donated for the occasion by Howard Hughes, after the Shrine Auditorium proved to small). Bobby was very convincing as the boy who witnesses a murder but can't get anyone to believe him....except the murderers. Bobby's character is viewed as a teller of tall tales because of his vivid imagination. Tthe one time he tells the unvarnished truth, he is seen as a liar, it that isn't irony, then irony doesn't exist. Cornell Woolrich, the great film noir novelist based the story on "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Nobody, much less one ten-year-old boy, has ever been more alone than Bobby Driscoll's "Tommy Woodry". More a psychological terror than mystery, "The Window" is as intense a movie as has ever come out of Hollywood. By using a ten-year-old boy's point of view, when that boy is also the object of the murderer's mechanations, Ted Tetzlaff, the film's director, has let his audience into one boy's nightmare. It works brilliantly...
The Death of Richie (1977)
One of the saddest stories ever told...
I remember seeing this film when it was originally broadcast in 1977. It is based on article in Life Magazine about a true story. Thomas Thompson later turned it into a book. It is one of the most intense, emotional stories ever told. You see the disaster coming, and, yet, you know there is no way to stop it. You feel as helpless as Richie's Mom and Dad, and Richie himself. I would like to go on the record and disagree with others: there are no villains in this story(unless it is drugs), only victims. I remember identifying with Richie's brother Russ. I felt his sense of helplessness. He loved his brother, but he knew there was nothing he could do to help him. There is a powerful scene in which Russ begs his brother to quit taking drugs. If Richie's expression and pain could have been translated into action, he would have quit right then and there. I believe that Richie's Mom, Dad and brother, Russ, loved him with all their hearts. There was an incredibly moving scene in which Richie is talking to his Dad about how unloved he feels, his father breaks down and cries with his son. And every effort Richie makes to get his life straightened out comes up short. Although Richie really does try to fight his drug addiction, in the end it is all for naught. The drugs were stronger than he was.
It will haunt you forever that Dad, Ben Gazzara, has to shoot Richie in self-defense. This is as great a human tragedy as has ever been told. And one of two magnificent performances by Robbie Benson. His other "Death Be Not Proud".
Everyone connected to this film should be proud. I saw it once 25 years ago, and remember it almost word for word. There aren't many films which can make that claim. Its sad that such a powerful story has been forgotten and overlooked. It shouldn't be.
The Happy Time (1952)
Love is a beautiful thing where ever you find it.
The Happy Time `The Happy Time'(1952) is a wonderful movie in which Bobby co-starred with Louis Jourdan and Charles Boyer, in the story of a boy growing up in an eccentric French Canadian family during the 1920's. This charming movie gets everything right. What makes `The Happy Time' unique is its portrayal that the end of childhood, not as a time of regret, but as something to be enjoyed. Especially when you grow up in a terrific family. Bobby's character falls in love with the new maid, who is also the object of his Uncle Desmond's affections. Gently and wisely, Dad and the family guide the young man's affection toward the next-door neighbor's daughter, Peggy, who is already in love with Bobby's character, 14-year-old Bibi. The last scene of the movie is wonderful: Bibi has received his first pair of long pants and then Mom catches him kissing Peggy, who then flees. Papa walks in on both of them and just when Bibi starts to explain, his voice starts to crack. Dad takes Bibi in his arms and unabashedly cries. What a wonderful movie, now I remember why I liked it 30 years ago. Everybody deserves a family like that. Which goes to prove that happiness is easy when you only have to look next-door to find it, and your family is willing to give you directions so you don't get lost.