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DottHolliday
Reviews
The Missouri Breaks (1976)
A waste of talent and money
It might have been a good movie, but Hollywood's kowtowing to actors with recent success ensured that it soundly disappointed those who watched the movie. Marlon Brando's "eccentric" performance proves that as great and magnificent an actor as he was, he was equally as bad when he was not reined in by a director and script. Arthur Penn must bear a lot of the guilt for allowing Brando such a free hand in trashing the movie. I doubt that Marlon's antics went without negative comments and complaints from his fellow actors. Here he was given free rein and ruined what might have been a good movie. Nicholson, Lloyd, Quaid, Forrest, Stanton and other gave good performances, but they are inundated by Marlon Brando's absurdly bad "eccentric" performance. He wasn't eccentric, just BAD! If you skip this one, you will be ahead.
The Contender (2000)
Excellent Performances, Good Script
I agree with Mr. Oldman's views that his character and his associates was edited into venal cardboard cut-outs to suit the political views or predilections of the producers or executive producers and to the detriment of the story. The opposition to President Jackson's nomination of Laine Hanson could have been so much better if the director and editors let the opposition characters be three dimensional people with differing viewpoints that were as passionate in their beliefs as the President and Vice-Presidential nominees.
The political and moral issues of this story are current and spot on, but could have been developed more evenly. The conflict was unbalanced by the simple and purely venal portrayal of the opposition. This would have strengthened the denouement of President Jackson's final speech.
I liked the movie and it's drama, but I don't think it delved into the ethics and the morality at the center of the issue of the confirmation investigation and hearings. It should had been discussed. That is one of the problems of current Washington, D.C. where taking political positions is for gain of votes rather than improving the governing process ethically and morally. It probably is very tempting for producers, executive producers and the editors and director who must answer to them, to paint the world of political conflict as simple black and white choices instead of the myriad shades of grey that actually exist.
In this, those who shaped this film committed the usual stupidity of "Hollywood" and failed to believe the audience had the intelligence to understand and ravenously enjoy a drama with multidimensional protagonists and antagonists and multivalued morality and ethical concerns. It proved that the movie makers are less intelligent than their audience and (in this case, prefer pandering to their own predilections).
The cardboard antagonist treatment made the denouement anti-climatic and unrealistically wishful and sappy. Especially since no one can find a Republican, Democrat, Independent with the intelligence, strength of character, will, and charisma to make that type of stance and/or that kind of statement, even as a lame duck in over forty years. It will be at least that long or a century before we see a politician like that again, if ever.
The movie is well worth watching and the acting is very good, but the producers lessened the movie to the point where a 7 star average is probably accurate. They would have been better served to pay closer attention to Aaron Sorokin's better West Wing scripts and antagonists treatment.
Shadow on the Mesa (2013)
A Failed Collaboration
A movie is a collaboration of many technicians and artists working together to involve the viewer in the story the movie portrays. This collaboration failed because there was a strange paucity of motive or plot to the final conflict between the Dowdy's and the Eastman's. The movie that I was able to watch was, as an earlier viewer said, a collection of scenes cobbled together with little rhyme or reason for the characters actions. A their best they managed to be in chronological order. Mr. Martin, the writer, did manage some smooth and believable dialog, but without a plot or believable subplots the movies is just a hash or melange of scenes that fall apart without any believable motivation for characters actions or plot for the scenes to fit in. Maybe he can improve, since this was his first effort, but he need to learn a lot about structure and plot of a movie or play. The director, Mr. Cass, has directed a pretty good western in the past, "The Johnson County War." However, he must share in the lack of plot portrayed in the final film. The credits list a "Bronze Wrangler" Western Heritage Award,but it must have benefited from a lack of competition. If you don't expect a full story and can settle for watching the good scenes with some familiar television genre actors; and reading a book or newspaper until the next good scene then this will fill the bill. The sets, settings, costumes and actors were fairly good with a few inevitable anachronisms and contradictions, The western movie genre lost a lot of expertise in western period costumes and props with the death of the old studios systems.