Gideon58's Reviews

I've mentioned my admiration of the directorial resume of Sidney Lumet before, but every director has a missstep somewhere along the way and for Lumet it was definitely the 1978 musical The Wiz, the overlong and overblown film version of the Broadway musical that was an "urban" re-working of The Wizard of Oz about the little girl who is transformed to a magical world where she meets three friends who she helps during her own journey back home.

In the original L. Frank Baum novel, the character of Dorothy was 10 years old. Judy Garland was 17 when she played Dorothy and Stephanie Mills was in her early 20's when she created the role of Dorothy in the stage version of The Wiz, but the role had to be re-thought when Diana Ross pretty much purchased the role of Dorothy for herself, so for the film, Dorothy has become a 31-year old schoolteacher (who looks 40) which legitimizes Ross' casting in the role, but does not legitimize the story because the story here is a little girl's dream and the fact that Dorothy is no longer a little girl, makes the whole thing a little hard to swallow.

Ross works hard in the role, but is pretty hard to take as a 31 year old living a 10 year old girl's dream. Michael Jackson is annoying as the Scarecrow and Ted Ross is serviceable repeating his Broadway role as the Lion. The only completely satisfying lead performance for me was actually by Nipsey Russell, who brings a humorous dignity to the role of the Tin Man, which is actually quite entertaining. Mention should also be made of the legendary Lena Horne, who stops the show with her one number, "If You Believe" and Mabel King, repeating her Broadway role as Evillene, the wicked witch who commands the screen with "Don't Nobody Bring Me No Bad News."

But other than that, this film is long and boring and despite a lot of glamorous trappings and the obvious money than went into the production, including the hiring of Quincy Jones to overhaul Charlie Smalls' original score, the film is a huge disappointment, especially if you've seen the show onstage. This was Lumet's first and last foray into directing musicals and I think that's a small mercy.

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Faye Dunaway's breathtaking and endlessly fascinating performance is the primary reason to check out Mommie Dearest, the 1981 camp classic, based on the book by Joan Crawford's eldest adopted daughter, Christina, concentrating on the allegedly dysfunctional relationship between film icon Joan Crawford and Christina. As outrageous and off-the-wall as this film appears, it is still a guilty pleasure of mine with great re-watch appeal.

I guess this film could be classified as a biopic, but it's hard for me to come at it from that direction, partially because the film is not really about Joan Crawford, it is a look at Crawford through the eye of her adopted daughter, a somewhat jaundiced and bigoted eye, if the truth be told. It's hard to know exactly if what is presented in this film is fact or fiction, because there are large portions of the book that aren't even addressed in this film.

In real life, Crawford adopted two other children who don't even exist in the film, so it's hard to take this film seriously as a biography of the great actress, but more as a one-sided, larger-than-life view of the actress through the eyes of her daughter, who definitely had serious issues with the woman, primarily the fact that, in Christina's eyes, Crawford seemed to care more about her career than her children. It is implied early in the film that Crawford's adoption of Christina was more of a publicity stunt to aid a flailing career than out of a genuine desire to be a mother, but I don't think anyone has a way of knowing if that's really true and I was bothered by the implication, but I digress.

The film is completely watchable thanks to an electrifying performance by Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford. Dunaway is mesmerizing and clearly did her homework, obviously watching a lot of Crawford's work before she began filming...there is a scene where Crawford has just been let go from MGM and she gets up and walks slowly out of Louis B Mayer's office and I swear I got chills...the walk was amazing, just one of the many layers that Dunaway brought to the physicality of the character. There are some over-the-top moments, like the infamous "wire hanger" scene, the cleaning the bathroom scene and the chopping of the rose bushes where Dunaway makes Crawford appear slightly insane, but I don't blame Dunaway for that completely, partial blame has to go to director Frank Perry for not properly reigning in his actress.

Two actresses were utilized to play Christina Crawford as a child and as teen/adult Christina. If the truth be told, I much preferred young Mara Hobel's work as young Christina, as opposed to Diana Scarwid, who comes off rather wooden as the adult Christina. Mention should also be made of Rutanya Alda as Crawford's devoted housekeeper Carol Ann and Howard da Silva as Louis B Mayer. Steve Forrest was just miscast as Gregory Savitt, Crawford's on-again off again lover who, according to the film, brokered Christina's adoption through some slightly shady means, a character I'm pretty much convinced was fictional, but despite everything, the film is worth checking out for Faye Dunaway's endlessly fascinating performance as Joan Crawford.

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An intelligent and uncompromising screenplay based on Washington DC's greatest political scandal, polished direction by Alan J. Pakula, and some solid gold performances combine to make All the President's Men an instant classic and one of the best films of 1976, whose release also ignited a huge increase in journalism majors in colleges all over the country.

This compelling drama is based on the best-selling book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two former reporters for The Washington Post, who are reluctantly brought together to work on what they think is a minor story about five burglars breaking into a hotel room in DC, that as they continue to investigate, are horrified to learn goes all the way to the top, eventually resulting in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

The story is presented here in layers and all the layers are equally effective, thanks to first rate writing and directing. We have a story of two reporters who work on the same paper but barely know each other and are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, learning how to work with each other. We have the story of a newspaper stumbling onto a story that could completely destroy the Nixon presidency and wanting to make sure they have the story right. We have a story of political conspiracy where no one involved is exactly sure who they are working for, who they are covering for, and how high the conspiracy could possibly reach. We also have the story of a reporter trying to get to the bottom of a story with the help of a mysterious informant who won't identify himself and will only point the reporter in the right direction without telling him anything directly.

The reason this film caused an increase in the enrollment in journalism schools was because it was fascinating watching Woodward and Bernstein piece this story together. I love the early scenes of Woodward on the phone and the notes he takes while talking or Woodward and Bernstein's highly sensitive meeting with a tightly wound White House bookkeeper. This film made journalism seem glamorous, alluring, and a lot of fun, something no film had ever really done before.

Producer Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman command the screen as Woodward and Bernstein, sparking an unexpected chemistry I really didn't see coming from this pairing. Jason Robards won his first of two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, and John McMartin score as other Post staff members as does the fabulous Jane Alexander, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance as the above mentioned bookkeeper, who is torn between helping these reporters get to these men and the danger she could be in by revealing too much.

A triumph for Redford, Hoffman, Pakula, and all involved. Cinematic storytelling at its zenith. 9/10

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National Lampoon's Vacation was the 1983 comedy classic that spawned three sequels, several inferior imitations and rip-offs and made a movie superstar out of Chevy Chase.

Chase plays one Clark Griswold, an everyman who becomes obsessed with taking his family on a cross-country car trip to a vacation spot called Wally World and the crazy adventures that occur enroute and after reaching their destination.

The film is rolling-in-the-aisle funny as we watch Clark, his wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), his son Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and daughter Audrey (Dana Barron) deal with a side trip through a Chicago ghetto, a couple of car accidents, a reunion with long lost relatives, hilariously played by Randy Quaid and Miriam Flynn, the sad story of Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca) and a brief encounter with a blonde in a convertible (Kristie Brinkley).

Harold Ramis' fast-paced direction and Chase's dead-pan approach to the material are big assets here and mention should also be made of John Candy's cameo as a Wally World employee. A film that provides major laughs, no matter how many times you watch it. 8/10

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Vacation is easily one of my favorite comedies. A lot of people seem to now favor Christmas Vacation, but I don't think it even compares.

CHRISTMAS VACATION is the 2nd best of the four movies, but no, it doesn't even touch the original film.

After his smashing film debut in 48 HRS, Eddie Murphy proved he was no flash in the pan with Trading Places, a laugh-out loud comedy that takes a well-worn cinematic premise and gives it a fresh coat of hysterically funny paint.

This is the story of a pair of wealthy industrialist brothers named Randolph and Mortimer Duke, who on the premise of a $1.00 bet, alter the lives of their spoiled rich nephew (Dan Aykroyd) and a streetwise con-man (Murphy) by arranging for Aykroyd's life and reputation to be destroyed and have it all thrust upon Murphy, giving him Aykroyd's old life.

In terms of originality, the film doesn't score a lot of points there, but where it does score is with the rock solid performances of Aykroyd and especially Murphy. It is funny watching Murphy's Billy Ray Valentine adjust to life as a millionaire, but for me, it was much funnier watching the spoiled Aykroyd, deal with life as a penniless suspected drug dealer. The scenes of Aykroyd's Louis being framed as a drug dealer and losing his fiancee walk a fine line between funny and heartbreaking.

Aykroyd and Murphy are backed by a wonderful supporting cast including Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche as the evil Duke brothers, Jamie Lee Curtis as Ophelia, a hooker who takes sympathy on Louis, and especially Denholm Elliott as Coleman, Aykroyd's butler who is actually employed by the Dukes, trapping him in the middle of this nasty charade and having mixed feelings about it. Watch Elliott in the scene where Aykroyd comes home to find the locks changed on his door and Elliott has to pretend that he doesn't know who he is...quietly brilliant acting by Elliott which has very little to do with actual dialogue.

The screenplay by Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingroid is surprisingly clever and John Landis' directorial hand is solid and focused, bringing us a richly entertaining comedy that became an instant classic upon release and confirmed Eddie Murphy as a comic powerhouse to be reckoned with. 8/10

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The directorial genius that is Martin Scorsese and the cinematic magic he has created with the gifted Robert De Niro was never seen to greater advantage than in the 1976 classic Taxi Driver

This is a chilling and bold character study that takes a look at the effects of loneliness, isolation, alienation, and PTSD and the effects that politics and violence can have on an already mentally shredded psyche.

De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a slightly disturbed insomniac who gets himself a job driving a taxi because he cannot sleep and he basically has no life. We then watch as Travis' midnight to six sojourns throughout the violent underbelly of Manhattan and how his already questionable mental instability causes him to become obsessed with murdering a political candidate and an equally strong obsession with a 12 year old prostitute who he decides it is his responsibility to rescue from this life that he has decided for her she no longer wants to live. He also becomes obsessed with an icy blonde who works for the political candidate he wants to assassinate.

Scorsese brilliantly recreates the seedy and often bone-chilling atmosphere of Manhattan after midnight, making Bickle's comfort in the atmosphere all the more unsettling, not to mention the atmosphere created by the few scenes that take place in Travis' apartment, a sparse place of convenience that contains a little more than a bed and some weights and the sparse equipment that Travis feels necessary to complete his "mission." Sometimes watching Bickle at home is even more unsettling than when he is in the taxi, making the character equal parts creepy, fascinating and pathetic. It's sad to watch how socially inept Travis is when he gets the blonde (Cybill Shepherd) to agree to go see a movie with him for their first date and he actually takes her to a porno film, not having any idea how inappropriate this is for a date movie and his confused reaction to her walking out is almost as heartbreaking as it is pathetic.

De Niro gives a powerhouse performance as Bickle, which galvanizes the screen and mention should also be made of Jodie Foster's Oscar nominated performance as Iris the hooker and Harvey Keitel as her pimp, who are centrally involved in the film's shockingly violent denoument. De Niro received a Best Actor nomination as did the film for Best Picture. Fans of Scorsese and De Niro probably consider this film their masterwork and deservedly so.

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The surprisingly solid onscreen chemistry between stars Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth Perkins and an intricate but humorous screenplay are the primary selling points of the 1991 comedy He Said She Said. Bacon and Perkins play Dan and Lorie, journalists who first met while working for the same newspaper whose opposing views on just about every subject eventually leads them to getting their own television segment where they offer opposing comments on the issue of the day.

However, the story actually opens long after their relationship has become personal when, during a segment of the show, Lorie brains Dan in the head with a coffee mug. The story then flashes back to show the birth of their relationship and what led to the throwing of the mug and just like their professional relationship, we see the relationship from Dan's point of view and then see it from Lorie's and it is the differences in their versions of the personal relationship paralleled with their opposing professional views that make the movie so fun and a lot more entertaining than I expected.

Directors Ken Kwapis and Marisa Silver have mounted a solid romantic comedy (which, I suspected, is probably loosely based on their own real life relationship) with the help of Brian Hohlfeld's deft screenplay, that provides equal doses of laughter and warmth and, surprisingly, will not having you taking sides with either of the protagonists. The leads also receive strong support from Nathan Lane as their boss and Sharon Stone as an old girlfriend of Dan's who conveniently comes into his life when things get rough with Lorie. It's not up there with other great contemporary romantic comedies like Sleepless in Seattle or When harry met Sally, but it is entertaining and will have you rooting for these two people to stay together at the end. 7/10

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Very well put! Taxi Driver is my favorite movie of all time!

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Barbra Streisand's ultimate vanity piece was definitely 1983'sYentl, a drama with music for which Streisand served as executive producer, director, co-screenwriter, and star and began Streisand's penchant for presenting stories and characters with extremely strong feminist leanings, that may have strained the credibility of some of her onscreen storytelling, but at this time, Streisand was the only woman in Hollywood with the juice to get a studio to back her personal vision and let her have the creative control she tried to have with A Star is Born but lost to then boyfriend Jon Peters.

Based on a short story called "Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy" by Isaac Bashevis Singer, this is the story of a Jewish girl in Poland named Yentl who is secretly being educated regarding the Talmud by her father, a sort of Jewish version of the bar exam, which, by law during this time, was only to be taught to men. When Yentl's father suddenly dies, she wants to continue her study of the Talmud and decides the only way she can do so is to leave her village, disguise herself as a man and actually gets admitted to a Yeshiva, using her late brother's name, Anshel, to study the Talmud and the Torah and becomes immediately attracted to another student there, a brilliant and sexy scholar named Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) whose competitive chemistry with Anshel is swift and immediate, but there is something else that pulls him to Anshel that he can't explain and provides awkwardness between the two.

Their relationship is further complicated when Avigdor asks Anshel to look after his fiancee, Hadass (Amy Irving) when her family rejects him as a future husband because they learn his brother committed suicide and Hadass finds herself immediately attracted to Anshel. This convoluted love triangle and the sexist politics of turn of the century Poland are what make up the crux of this story.

Streisand has, of course, brought her own contemporary feminism to this Fiddler on the Roof-type story where long dormant rules and beliefs are challenged and threatened. And since Streisand is the star, she decided to internalize Yentl's dreams and frustrations through the use of the musical score and having Yentl be the only character who sings in the film. Whether this works to the film's credit or detriment is most likely the individual viewer's opinion, but I do think it is odd that Streisand would hire a gifted singer like Mandy Patinkin, who has recorded several albums and won a Tony Award three years prior to this for EVITA, as her leading man and not allow him to sing a note.

Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman have provided some lovely songs for Streisand here, including "The Way He Makes Me Feel", "Papa Can you Hear Me", and another finale that bares way too much of a resemblance to "Don't Rain On My Parade" in Funny Girl called "A Piece of Sky" which finds our heroine, once again, belting out the tune on the deck of a boat.

Streisand the producer and director work very hard to make their star look good here and personally, the film's appeal is dependent on your feelings about the star. Streisand clearly poured a lot of money into the film and it all shows onscreen. She won the Golden Globe for Outstanding Direction of a Comedy or Musical but was ignored at Oscar time, though I still scratch my head over the fact that Amy Irving did receive an Oscar nomination for supporting actress for her work as Hadass, a nice performance in a thankless role, but hardly Oscar-worthy. Streisand fans will eat it up, others...be afraid, be very afraid. 6/10

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Glad to see a mention of Trading Places; it's in my all time top 40.

Taxi Driver is in my top 2.

One of the biggest hits of 1994 was the action thriller Speed, a thrill-a-minute film that provides edge-of-your-seat excitement from beginning to end.

Jan De Bont, who also directed Twister proves to have a gift for mounting a contemporary action drama filled with very human and believable characters, not to mention some bold casting choices, one of the boldest was the casting of Keanu Reeves as a police detective who gets in the middle of a bizarre hostage situation when he learns that a psychopath from his past (Dennis Hopper) has planted a bomb on a bus that will explode if the bus slows to below 50 MPH.

De Bont and screenwriter Graham Yost have mounted an intricate story that starts in one direction with our hero helping a group of people trapped in an elevator and all of a sudden heads into a completely different direction with a flawed protagonist whose guilt about his past with our villain puts him in full hero mode.

Reeves, an actor of questionable talent prior to this film, makes more than a viable action hero here and Hopper is properly menacing as our bad guy. Sandra Bullock gives a star-making performance in one of her earliest performances as a bus passenger who, through bizarre circumstances, ends up driving the bus and keeping it at 50 MPH.

This film provides riveting action and suspense from the beginning to the end, barely allowing the viewer to breathe as De Bont somehow tells this story on a pretty large canvas, yet gives us the claustrophobic feeling of being inside that bus at the same time. The film won four Oscars for its technical expertise and was followed by a forgettable sequel.

I think Speed is one of the best action films ever made.

Robert Aldrich, a director primarily known for making macho action films and working with male actors, had one of his greatest triumphs as a director working with two of the greatest actresses to ever grace the silver screen in the 1962 classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

This bizarre and macabre absurdist vision stars the legendary Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson, a former child star who still has dreams of reviving a career that ended decades ago, but until then, she spends the majority of her time torturing her sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), also a former actress, who is now confined to a wheelchair. Just as Jane's menacing of her sister has reached a fever pitch, she encounters a third-rate musician named Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono)who Jane petitions to help her get her career going again and decides that with her career on the fast track again, decides she must eliminate Blanche once and for all.

This film is fascinating as we finally got to watch two legendary actresses, who had never worked together before and allegedly couldn't stand each other IRL, work together for the first time and legend has it that the ladies did not get along at all during filming, but if that's true, it only worked to the film's advantage, as the characters they play are enemies, sisters, but enemies nonetheless and if these two screen icons really hated each other, they were professional enough to make this bizarre story one of the most entertaining films of 1962.

Bette Davis received her tenth Oscar nomination for her performance as Jane, a performance so off-the-wall and over the top that you can't help but be alternately terrified and amused by her. Davis pulled out all the stops to make this insane character work. Joan Crawford was also nominated for an equally effective performance in the less showy role as Blanche. Crawford infuses so much internal pain into the character of Blanche but never allows Blanche's character to fade into the woodwork opposite the outrageous Jane.

Watching these two cinema legends work together was a such pleasure, especially under the guidance of a skilled director like Robert Aldrich. You can't help but be in awe in watching these two work together and be reminded of everything they have done for the art of cinema, especially when both Jane and Blanche are observed watching film clips of Davis and Crawford in some of their earlier work. The black and white photography is also very effective, adding even more creepiness to the bizarre proceedings. The film was remade for TV about 30 years later with Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave, but this is definitely a case of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." 8/10

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For my money, the best film of 1997 was LA Confidential, an atmospheric, richly complex, and completely riveting period piece centering on murder and police corruption in 1950's Los Angeles, superbly mounted by director Curtis Hanson.

Brian Helgelund's flawless, Oscar-winning screenplay, adapted from a novel by James Ellroy, beautifully interlaces stories of growing organized crime in 1950's Los Angeles becoming a virus that is hard to control with police corruption that appears to be growing in equal doses.

The film focuses on a series of brutal murders that become a primary focus for three very different kinds of cops. Edmund Exley (Guy Pearce) is a straight-laced by-the-books cop trying to crawl from under the image of his late father, also a decorated officer of the law. Bud White (Russell Crowe) is a cop who is serious about getting a criminal behind bars and who is not above beating a confession out of a perp or planting evidence on him to guarantee a conviction. He also has a weakness for damsels in distress and will walk through fire for a woman he feels is in danger. Jack Vincennes (Kevin Spacey) is an officer who is more passionate about his job as the technical advisor on a television show than his actual police duties. It is the flawless interlacing of these three characters and their individual methods in pursuing justice that make this drama sizzle.

This film is so beautifully constructed and such complete attention is required that if you miss five minutes of this film and then return to it, you will be totally confused...for me, the primary aspect of a perfect screenplay.

Hanson has pulled uniformly superb performances from his hand-picked cast right down the line, with standout work from Crowe and Spacey. Kim Basinger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as a femme fatale who is central to the story and gets romantically involved with both Exley and White. Basinger is attractive in the role, but her Oscar win surprised me, though I will admit her chemistry with Crowe is off the charts here.

Solid support is also provided by Danny De Vito, David Straithern, Ron Rifkin, Graham Beckel, and especially James Cromwell as various players involved in the twists and turns this story takes.

Stunning art direction, cinematography, and costumes are icing on the cake in this textbook example of how to put a great crime drama on the screen. Remember: "Off the record, on the QT, and very hush hush." 9.5/10

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The chemistry between Goldie Hawn and her real-life love Kurt Russell was never utilized to greater advantage than it was in the 1987 comedy Overboard.

Hawn plays Joanna Stayton, a wealthy, self-absorbed and unhappily married heiress, who hires a carpenter named Dean Profitt (Kurt Russell) to remodel a closet on her yacht but she is not happy with the work and refuses to pay him. Joanna later accidentally falls off the yacht and upon waking up in the hospital, has developed amnesia. Witnessing what happened on the news, Dean decides to take the opportunity to get back at Joanna by going to the hospital and claiming that Joanna is his wife. He then takes her back home to cook and clean and become a mother to his four obnoxious sons.

Garry Marshall's exuberant direction is a lot better than Leslie Dixon's screenplay, but it all takes a backseat to the undeniable sexual heat between Hawn and Russell, who first met while making the 1968 Disney musical The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band, when Kurt was a child and Goldie made her film debut as a dancer in the film. They worked together 15 years later in the 1983 film Swing Shift, fell in love during the production of that film and have been together ever since.

Edward Herrmann plays Hawn's slimey husband and Katherine Helmond is amusing as Hawn's mother, and yes, director Marshall's good luck charm, Hector Elizondo, does make a cameo appearance in the film, as does Marshall himself. This breezy comedy is no classic, but it does provide major grins and proves that Hawn and Russell are one offscreen couple whose chemistry definitely translates onscreen. 7.5/10

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The year 2000 brought us two very different films centering around drug addiction and the war against drugs.

Traffic is a sweeping epic that flawlessly weaves three separate stories together in an incisive examination into the war against drugs and how it is a battle that, no matter what we do, we will continue to lose.

One story revolves around a judge, played by Michael Douglas, who is appointed by the President of the United States to be the new Drug Czar and as serious as he is about his job, his neglect of his home life is revealed to have its own consequences as it is revealed that his own daughter has become addicted to crack cocaine, an addiction that has led her to selling her body to a drug dealer in order to continue getting high.

Another story involves the pregnant trophy wife of a major drug trafficker (Catherine Zeta-Jones), who has tried to turn a blind eye to what her husband does, but when her husband is arrested and facing serious jail time, she opens her eyes and takes charge up to the point of ordering a hit on the primary witness against her husband and continuing to negotiate international deals to keep her husband's product moving.

Benecio Del Toro won a Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in the third story, a somewhat corrupt Mexican border cop who finds out his new boss is not who he thinks he is and how his work has put himself and his best friend (Jacob Vargas) in serious danger.

Director Steven Soderbergh blindsided Ridley Scott by winning the Best Director Oscar for his brilliant weaving of these stories together, which also includes riveting turns by Don Cheadle and Luiz Guzman as cops assigned to keep their key witness against Zeta-Jones' husband in one piece. Though Del Toro won the supporting actor Oscar, I personally would have given it to Cheadle, who is just magnificent here. Erika Christensen is very effective as Douglas' daughter as is Dennis Quaid as Zeta-Jones' husband's sleazy attorney, who has always had his own agenda regarding his boss and his boss' wife. Miguel Ferrer also scores as the witness Cheadle and Guzman are assigned to protect.

Soderberg proved to be a master cinematic storyteller with this compelling drama told on a large canvas that sustains interest and stirs emotions in equal doses, a sobering indictment regarding a war that we continue to be in denial about losing. 8/10

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The Absent-Minded Professor was the 1961 Disney classic about a nerdy college professor, delightfully played by Fred MacMurray, who invents an anti-gravity substance that comes to be known as "flubber", which he uses to make his automobile airborne and help his college's basketball team finally w in a few games, while keeping a corrupt local businessman (Keenan Wynn) from stealing the substance for itself.

After playing an adulterous slimeball the previous year in The Apartment, MacMurray proved that he could play a nice guy too and pretty much carved out an entire new career for himself, which included the TV series MY THREE SONS and a few more Disney comedies. Nancy Olson is lovely as the professor's neglected girlfriend and great veterans like Elliott Reed, Edward Andrews, and Leon Ames register in key supporting roles.

Bill Walsh's screenplay is well-mounted by Robert Stevenson, whose next directorial assignment would be a little thing called Mary Poppins. The film was followed by a sequel calledSon of Flubbeer and was remade in 1997 as Flubber with Robin Williams. 7.5/10

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The granddaddy of all comic book movies was the 1978 adventure Superman: The Motion Picture, a richly entertaining adventure which follows Marvel Comic's most famous character from his humble beginnings on the planet Krypton, his teen years in Smallville, and his concurrent romance of Lois Lane and battle with criminal mastermind Lex Luthor.

Director Richard Donner has crafted a beautiful film that takes a grand adventure and puts some very human faces on it. Donner has crafted a film that envelops us from the beginning with equal doses of suspense, laughs, romance, terror, and warmth.

Marlon Brando received top-billing, even though he only appears in a few scenes as Jo-rel, Superman's father. Then unknown Christopher Reeve turns in a star-making performance as Clark Kent/Superman and, if the truth be known, his nerdy and clutzy Kent is the most charming part of his performance. Margot Kidder revived a comotose career with the emotional spitfire she created in Lois Lane and she creates stupid chemistry with Reeve. Gene Hackman beautifully underplays as Lex Luthor and gets solid support from Valerie Perrine and Ned Beatty as his mistress and stooge.

The film has state of the art special effects (for 1978) and became an instant classic that spawned three sequels and countless imitations and re-inventions, but this is the original and it still has enormous re-watch appeal. 8/10

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