Today’s Post by Joe Farace
‘The Big Lebowski’ was something we wrote for Jeff Bridges, and we set it aside for a couple of years because he wasn’t available.—Ethan CoenYou know, Joe, your taste in movies can change over time—Mary Farace to me over breakfast
I’m going through a period of reevaluating my taste in films. It all started when I decided to re-watch The Hudsucker Proxy, a Coen Brothers’ film I hadn’t seen in a while and always liked, especially the performances of Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh. On this re-watch, it seemed to me that the movie tried way to hard to be a Frank Capra film, specifically Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, with Jean Arthur in her first featured role. But as hard as Ms. Leigh, a vastly underrated actor, mixing Dorothy Parker with Barbara Stanwyck, tries she can’t save the direction which wants to hit you over the head with every shot. I never made it to the halfway point of the film and started asking myself, if I was wrong about the Coens.
So I decided to watch Fargo, a movie I really liked and have watched a few times but not lately. While I made to the film’s ending I once again found myself feeling “why did I bother.” Oh, for sure Frances McDormand deserved her Oscar and maybe the Coens did for their award but I was mostly unfulfilled by the film. Maybe it’s just me, something I’ll gladly admit.
In desperation I decided to watch The Big Lebowski to see if my affection for the Coen’s films has vanished. While I may stop short of calling this film a masterpiece, it’s one fine movie with superb performances by Jeff Bridges, John Goodman with Sam Elliott in a small roles and in even even smaller role, a mesmerizing and hysterically funny performance by John Turturro. The cast the Coens assembled for this film was stellar. Up until I saw this film, I had not been a fan of Julianne Moore; Now I love her in everything! A 4K (with Blu-ray) of the movie is available from Amazon for less that fifteen bucks. I’m going to get a copy to replace my Blu-ray and think you might want to as well.
PS: As a palate cleaner after those first two films I watched Raising Arizona and while this quirky film does not reach the heights of The Big Lebowski, it’s a hoot and Nicholas Cage;s performance is wonderfully crazy and funny. The Blu-ray of this film is the same price on Amazon as the 4K/Blu-ray of The Big Lebowski but it’s still a good buy. Am I going to watch any more Coen Bothers films? Probably not. True Grit? Don’t get me started on that one.
A Minor Movie Miracle
I’ve mentioned here before my wife has very specific taste in movies. The first question she asks me about any movie I suggest is: “When was it made?” If it’s been more than two years since the day we’re going to watch it, she’s not interested. The movie also has to be full of gun fights, fist fights and martial arts fights with lots of car chases and explosions tossed in for good measure, You think she would like The Fall Guy and she did. I didn’t care for the film and found it performative. You might think when I suggested we watch The Thin Man (1934) she would balk. Oh, I forgot, she doesn’t like black and white films or movies where the stars have passed away. But she said, like Mikey, she liked it!
Now, I don’t know of she was telling me the truth and I hope she was but when I asked if she wanted to see the sequel—After the Thin Man—she demurred. I, on the other hand wanted to see more films staring William Powell and found The Criterion Collections DVD of My Man Godfrey (1934) starring Powell at the library. I was knocked out with Gregory La Cava’s direction; He was nominated for an Oscar as Best Director for the film. Why isn’t he talked about more? On IMDB, La Cava is listed (uncredited) as the director of One Touch of Venus, a film comedy I love and the inspiration for Mannequin, another comedy that I’m fond of! In watching My Man Godfrey you will immediately notice that La Cava is a master of framing, blocking, editing and working with large number of actors. While Powell’s portrayal of the Godfrey in the title is wonderful his performance is subtle and occasionally, as in the opening sequences, moving. The movie, however, is stolen by Carole Lombard. She portrays the wacky daughter–the whole family is nuts—with the exception of the father who is delightfully portrayed by Eugene Pallette, one of the all-time great character actors. These two films, which were released in the same year, would make a wonderful double feature. Since the Criterion DVD looks fantastic I can only wonder how great their Blu-ray looks.
PPS: In case you’re wondering, I don’t provide links to purchase movies that I didn’t like. You may, however like them, after all it’s just a matter of taste. Everyone thinks the Coens are geniuses. I used to think so too. Now, not so much. If you think you might like some of their movies—Hey, I like a few of them too—get them from the library (for free) to watch or re-watch and let me know what you think. The best emails telling me why they like the Coen’s films, or just a specific movie, will get published here in a follow up.
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