The Usual Suspects (1995)

Check it out a movie that's actually from the lifetime of people who use social media - I'm so proud of myself. More important than it's relative newness, however is the fact that this movie meets my two primary criteria for inclusion on this list, 1) it is a brilliant movie and 2) not enough people have seen it. It has a cast of people who have, for the most part only become more popular and in demand than when they did the movie, but most importantly it has Bryan Singer as director. If you love the X-Men movies you owe it to yourself to see what Singer did with a more terrestrial script.

Synopsis:

The action of this movie is told almost entirely in flashback. The only exception is the very stylized, very brutal murder of one man by another. They clearly know each other, but it is not clear, how or how well. Immediately after the murder the boat is lit on fire and explodes. We are immediately transported to the interview of Roger 'Verbal' Kint (Kevin Spacey) who says the story began six weeks prior when a hijacking of a truck in New York caused the police to round up several criminals with connections to hijacking and to put them in the line up. In other words, they rounded up the usual suspects. (For those who don't know the title is taken from Casablanca in which the hapless police of Vichy France were told on more than one occasion to round up the usual suspects) We then see, in flashback the lineup these guys were put in and through that scene (which is very funny) we meet our other main characters including the man who was shot in scene on on that boat, Dean Keaton, played by Gabriel Byrne, a former cop who went REALLY bad. Michael McMannus played by Stephen Baldwin, is the regular crime partner of Fred Fenster, played by Benicio del Toro before he became really famous. Finally we meet Todd Hockney played by Kevin Pollack a loaner with a very colorful vocabulary. We see that Verbal has a bad limp and no use of one hand and it isn't clear what he's doing there with these more serious criminals.

As this group of criminals are cooing their heels in a holding cell after the line up, McMannus and Fenster decide that now might be a good time to recruit partners for a score they have in the works.  Dean Keaton wants nothing of the plan insisting that the whole line up was a set up and that he is going straight. The others are interested however and Verbal comes up with a plan but it requires 5 guys so he talks Keaton into joining them.

Soon we cut away to the blown up boat. We are told there are 15 or so fatalities and the only survivors are a cripple being talked to by the D.A. whom we recognize as Kint, and a man in a coma at the hospital. We are introduced to two investigators Dave Kujan of US Customs (played by Chazz Palminteri) and FBI agent Jack Baer (Giancarlo Esposito). Kujan is primarily interested in the involvement and death of Dean Keaton - they have history and he's not sure about the story he's heard Kint told the authorityes. (There are simply too many unanswered questions - why did so many people die for dope that wasn't there? It's all very confused but it is clear that  cares about Dean Keaton and him only, at least at first. He manages to gain access to Verbel Kint and question him one on one.  And Kint tells him the whole story - interspersed with parts of his own personal history the he throws in to apparently obfuscate his primary story. The rest of the film unfolds as Kint tells Kujon the story.

Review:

This really is one of those serendipitous movies in which everyone is at the top of their game and it all comes together in a taut. terrifying, fascinating thriller that you will talk about long after you see it. Because it is one of those stick to your ribs movies you will find that friends who have seen it reference the movie often. That is one of the reasons I would put movies on this list if they are conversation producers. But this is so much more. This is one serious tour-de force by Kevin Spacey. The plot is so complicated there is a very good chance that two viewings will be needed. I heard a story shortly after it's release indicating that even Gabriel Byrne was confused about a major plot point until he saw the final cut.  In addition to bringing many of these actors, and the wonderful director, to the fore for the first time, the screenwriter is engaged in his first big hit as well. It's a modern movie (ok absent cell phones and social media) with a real old fashioned film noir feel to it. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Chinatown (1974)

I recently had a friend tell me that they did not really think that Jack Nicholson was that great an actor, then she admitted that she had never seen Chinatown. That is unacceptable. I don't think Nicholson has ever been better (even though he didn't win an Oscar until One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest the next year) or better looking. Faye Dunaway had not yet started chewing the scenery as she has in most, if not all, of her post Mommie Dearest roles. Roman Polanski was still living in the United States, and Robert Towne, still one of the best writers in Hollywood, when he feels like it (we won't count Mission Impossible II) wrote one of the best scripts ever.

The basic idea behind the movie was to do a crime drama about the really big crimes perpetrated by men who don't go to jail, instead they get their names on buildings. Towne took the basic narrative of the men who created Los Angeles by solving it's water problem and added some VERY dramatic fictions, then drops a Sam Spade-esque private investigator in the middle of it and in a position where he feels he must unravel it all. It's the 1930s, the depths of the depression and J.J. 'Jake' Gittes (Jack Nicholson), former cop and PI is making a living specializes in sleazy matrimonial work - meaning spying on cheating husbands. Hired for what appears to be just another job catching a cheating spouse by Mrs. Mulwray he instead finds himself in the headlines, threatened with lawsuits, attacked with a knife, attacked by a crazy family of farmers trying to guard their water, falling in love, and threatened by one of the most powerful men in town. It's a fascinating and complicated plot.

Every time I watch this movie (and that's a lot of times) I notice something I never noticed before. A couple of years ago I noticed a song that was playing in a restaurant scene between Nicholson and  Dunaway and in the next scene, which was undoubtedly shot weeks later or earlier, Nicholson is humming that song as if it got stuck in his mind when he was in the restaurant. That's the kind of touch that tells you this is a really special movie. The performances are hard to beat and Polanski's direction is probably why people in Hollywood have been unable to condemn him for his personal faults. The powerful man that Gittes comes up against is played by John Huston, legendary director and father of Nicholson's real-life long term lover Angelica Huston. This adds an interesting dimension to the scene they play together. I cannot stress enough that if you haven't seen this movie you must see it soon.

The Boys from Brazil (1978)

OK, so the first actor you are likely to recognize as you sit down to watch this movie is Steve Guttenberg! But don't let that throw you. The real stars are none other than Laurence Olivier and Gregory Peck -- doesn't get much better than that. There have been many movies based on the idea of cloning, but as far as I know this was the first, probably the most accurate and the scariest.

Summary:

Guttenberg's character has decided to go Nazi hunting in South America on his own. He happens upon a huge meeting of former Nazi's set up to welcome former Nazi Doctor, Joseph Mengele played by Gregory Peck. Mengele has arrived to oversee the next step in an unspecified plan he's been working on for years. A plan that will require the murder of some 64 men over the next few months. Guttenberg tapes part of this meeting before his bug is discovered. He rushes back to his hotel to contact Nazi- Hunter Laurence Olivier (clearly based on Simon Weisenthal). While he's on the phone with Olivier, Peck and company track him down and kill him. Having heard this murder over the phone, Olivier's character, who had not been taking Guttenberg's claims seriously, decides he needs to investigate. What he discovers is, as I said, the worst possible implication of cloning human beings.

Even if you didn't have the ultimate movie bad guys (Nazi's) and a subject matter that only becomes more relevant with each scientific advancement, the mere presence of Olivier and Peck in one movie would make this worth seeing. The combination of all of these factors means it belongs on my must see list. The movie is chilling without being either bloody or overly suspenseful. The script is taut and the direction is fine, though nothing to write home about. It's mainly the script and the concept that drive the movie, and the acting, which cannot be beaten. Olivier and Peck only have one scene together, but seeing them play opposite each other is wonderful. In lesser roles there are such great actors as James Mason, Rosemary Harris and the great teacher Uta Hagen. It is a must see both as a film and as a cultural icon.

The Godfather I and II

I'm starting with The Godfather because so many things do. It is, as Nora Ephron put it in You've Got Mail the I Ching, particularly of 70's movies in general and any gangster movie since. I've included both I and II in this review because they are so great seen together or in close succession. Though each stands on it's own. In fact, part II is arguably the only sequel that was actually better than the original. I have not included part III because it was made so much later that it really doesn't stand with the other two, and with all due respect to the creative people it really doesn't belong on the same page as the other two.

Spoiler Free Synopsis

I'm gearing this page to people who have missed many of the great movies and although it is hard for me to imagine there are too many out there who haven't seen either of these movies I'm sure there are some so I won't spoil in this section.

Godfather I tells the story of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) major figure in the New York Underworld. It begins during the wedding reception for his only daughter, Connie (Talia Shire) at the Long Island, NY home of the Corleone family. Because it goes against tradition for the Don to refuse a request made of him on this special day he is stuck in his office for most of the wedding seeing supplicants. Based on these requests and his reaction to them we see how powerful and fearful Don Corleone is. Meanwhile we also meet the rest of the family, Sonny (James Caan)the randy eldest son. Fredo (John Cazale) the friendly open middle son, and Michael (Al Pacino) the youngest son still in uniform from World War II and in attendance with his clearly WASP-y girlfriend Kay (Diane Keaton). He spends much of the wedding telling her rather frightening stories about his father and his family while emphasizing that those stories have nothing to do with him or his plans for his life. Michael also introduces Kay to his brother Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall). He explains that Hagen has a different last name because he was adopted by his father after he saw him living on the street but that his believed it would disrespectful to Hagen's birth father to change his name. Hagen has been in on all of the meetings that the Don has been having so we know that he is a close confidant of the Don's.

After the wedding we follow the next few years in the life of the family. There are major changes in the life of all of the characters caused by the dangers of the family business, organized crime. This is the business both of the Don's nuclear family as well as his crime family, all of whom refer to him respectfully as Don or the Godfather. It is clear that the Don is working to transfer control of his family to his son, primarily to Sonny if he can get him away from the women long enough. Needless to say difficulties ensue and the rolls of all of the family members change over time, including that of Michael who was so determined to stay free of the family business.

Godfather II begins with another family/religious celebration, this time the first communion of of Michael and Kay's son. Our location has moved, however from Long Island to Lake Tahoe, NV. Michael, like his father before him is stuck in meetings. This time the business involved is semi-legal, the operation of gambling casinos in Nevada. The tactics have changed less than the location, however. Shortly after the party, we are transported thousands of miles and 60 years away to turn of the century Italy where we meet the young Vito Corleone, nee Andolini. This portion of the Don's early life are woven between the scenes of Michael's quest for legitimacy throughout the movie. The cast of characters for both sections mirrors that of the first movie, though it is the younger versions of Don Corleone and his co-horts that we see in the flashback sequences. Don Corleone is played by Robert DeNiro in these sections.

These are two of the great treasures of American movies. Based on different portions of Mario Puzo's epic book about the American Mafia they are beautifully written by Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola and directed by Coppola. Coppola had a solid career in Hollywood both as a screenwriter, culminating in the brilliant screenplay for Patton and as a journeyman director (most incongruously directing Finian's Rainbow a musical starring Fred Astaire), but it was The Godfather that made him.

Keep in mind that there was little to no Mafia lore prior to the Puzo book and these movies. There were lots of gangster movies but most of those more closely resemble crime dramas than mafia movies. The genre of mafia movie began with the Godfather. Remember that J. Edgar Hoover, and therefore the FBI refused to acknowledge the existence of the mafia for most of his career which didn't end until his death a few months before this movie was released. The Kefauver hearings which tackled organized crime in this country for the first time were only 20 years old.

It's not just that the genre started with this movie though but - what a movie! Brilliant performances mostly by previously unknown actors who later became the voices of that generation. Lushly written and filmed it is, quite simply an essential movie to see for anyone who likes movies at all.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

I recently had a discussion with my book club about the psychological effects of World War II on its veterans and whether it was different from other wars. This movie is a little bit of an answer to that question. The Best Years of Our Lives is a remarkably relevant look at the difficulties encountered by soldiers returning home. Remarkable because the soldiers in this movie were returning home from World War II, the War that retains virtually no moral ambiguity, the war fought by the greatest generation, the good war. Despite those positive differences between these veterans and the veterans of Vietnam or Iraq, coming home could still be difficult as William Wyler's brilliant movie demonstrates.

The movie centers on three veterans who return via the same military cargo plane to their hometown of Boone City, Iowa. The eldest is played by Frederic March, who had been a star for more than 20 years by 1946, and was beloved for his many comedy rolls. He was a mere Sergeant in the army who is now returning to his wife, Myrna Loy, and his children, Peggy, Theresa Wright, who is in her very early 20s and Rob, who's still in high school. Assuming he's been gone for the duration of the war, it means he left them as a high school girl and a pubescent boy. He's barely arrived and he gets the call from his former boss at the local bank to start working again. work that seems far less interesting or important than it did before D-day.

The next is Fred Derry, played by Dana Andrews. He's spent the war years as one of the glamor boys of the air force, as the members of the other services are happy to rib him for. Unfortunately, he didn't feel much like a glamor boy since he spent the war as a bombardier who saw too many of his friends torn apart by Anti-aircraft guns. Most importantly, there is little call for a bombardier's skills in civilian life, so Fred finds himself moving from his relatively large pay as an officer in the Air Force to a disappointing return to his old job as a soda jerk at the local pharmacy, which has unfortunately been bought out by a national chain since left. His personal life is worse, as he comes to realize that he and his wife, whom he married just before he shipped out, have nothing in common. In fact she is, to use 1946 vernacular, quite common.

Finally, the youngest vet with the hardest transition is Homer played by real life wounded veteran Harold Russell. He won an Oscar for his portrayal, though I'm sure he would have preferred more work as an actor instead. He was forced to sell his Oscar shortly before his death because he needed the money (although I seem to recall that Stephen Spielberg heard about his predicament and bought the Oscar at an inflated price so....). At any rate, Russell (and Homer) lost both arms below the elbows in a fire resulting from his ship being bombed. He's been fitted with and taught how to use hooks, but needless to say this causes no small stir in Boone City, Iowa. Remember that we are dealing with a time when a man had been President for 13 years and had successfully hid from most of the public that he was unable to walk. The fact that Roosevelt was able to hide this, and felt the need to hide this is certainly an indication of the view of the disabled at that time. On the outside, Homer seems fine with his disability, but we are given a few glimpses into his limitations and the attitude of the outside world that can still make us think about what is means to be severely wounded in war.

All of these lives intersect and affect each other in a wonderful story. Of course, everything works out for the best in the end (this is peak studio power days, after all) but the journey to that happy ending was truly revolutionary at the time and can still teach us a great deal today.  This movie won 7 Oscars including wins for Best Picture, Robert Sherwood's screenplay, William Wyler's direction and the acting of Frederic March and Harold Russell. All are well deserved. It's a movie I've seen dozens of times and it still holds my interest. The story is so universal and if you get bored there are wonderful moments with the famous songwriter Hoagy Carmichael who plays Harold Russell's uncle. Overall just a wonderful movie.