34th Hall of Fame

I am half-way through At Play in the Fields of the Lord and I gotta say, it's much better when you are awake. The jungle is almost always going to boost a film up by at least half a popcorn.

I'll take a link for The People's Joker, please and thanks.

Gone With the Wind -

Having spent, well...quite a bit of time in Georgia, I somehow have never seen this movie until now. I'll just say that this is as scandalous around here as saying I've never been to the World of Coke or to a Bulldogs game. Now that I finally have, I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. I also appreciate finally learning why the movie is so popular and controversial.

First of all, if this movie did not invent the Hollywood epic, it might as well have. Half the joy of watching this is basking in its grandiosity, which made me understand why it is the biggest moneymaker of all time since it begs to be seen on the big screen. One moment in particular where the camera zooms out on the Tara estate while Gerald O’Hara praises the value of land made my TV seem like it stretched to IMAX proportions. I watched a game show for movie buffs many years ago where someone argued that Vivian Leigh gives the best performance of all time in this, and I can see where he is coming from. If Leigh needed to do anything as Scarlett O'Hara, she had to convince us that the war, her romances, etc. sent her on a trip to hell and back, and she nailed it. What's more interesting to discuss, though, is whether her experiences changed her. As her short-lived marriage to her cousin Melanie's brother, Charles, indicates, Scarlett was just as prone to deception and spite before the war. These tendencies help her succeed, but as we also see in other great movies with similar arcs this one may have inspired like Citizen Kane, The Godfather Part II, etc. a professional rise tends to lead to a personal fall. With that, it is as good a time as any to mention the movie's other dynamo casting move in Gable as Butler. Charming, roguish and essentially Scarlett's mirror, their cursed romance succeeds in challenging the notion that Scarlett changes, and with her foolish pursuit of Ashley, a divide forms between who she wants to be and who she really is. There is more to it than that, though, isn't there? After all, Scarlett O'Hara is not just a legendary character because she is viscous. All the while, we are reminded that in this world run by men, Scarlett believes she must be the way she is not to succeed, but to survive. As the extensive opening credits indicate, there are many players here beyond the doomed couple, some of whom through no fault of their own made me cringe - more on that later - but everyone ends up leaving a lasting impression. Standouts are Howard's annoyingly indecisive Ashley, De Havilland's saintly Melanie and of course McDaniel's voice of reason that is Mammy.

I have not watched many epics, but I have not seen one I have disliked yet, with this being one of the best American ones I've seen. While it is also one of the longest ones I have seen, since it held my interest and nothing in it seems unnecessary, that is not a drawback. That is not to say it does not have any drawbacks: much of the dialogue, especially during Scarlett and Rhett's arguments, seems too on the nose and explanatory as if the writer had little faith in the intended audience members' attention spans. Also, despite taking the movie's age and context into consideration, I still felt bad for McQueen, Brown and Polk for how they had to portray Prissy, Big Sam and Pork respectively. With that said, despite not sharing author Margaret Mitchell's lament that the Civil War happened, I would not make any core changes to the movie, and I am thankful that nobody has done so yet. After all, I doubt I would be drawn to history, literature or movies if they only offered perspectives I agree with. Again, I am glad that I finally checked this movie off my cinematic bucket list, that it exceeded my expectations and that I have another movie to put on my list of ones to see in a theater. I am also glad that I am less likely to be tarred and feathered in my home state now.

And to think I almost watched the version for senior citizens:

Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)

Ok so just gonna address the elephant in the room, the overtly racist, pro-confederacy messaging of the film made this a complete non-starter from the opening text crawl and there was no way it was ever gonna win me back, though at least its honest and open about just wanting to own slaves and big houses instead crying "states rights" like the modern confederate sympathizers do. This had no chance and honestly I was hoping to be more conflicted about that but I don't think much else of the movie really works for me either. Don't get me wrong, I love a movie about an awful woman but she's just a little too annoying here, though I'll hang most of that on me just not being into the acting of the time. I don't know what the deal is with that accent every actor had in this era but Vivian Leigh just sounds like an overly yippy lapdog for 4 whole hours. Speaking of runtime, this shit went on longer than the actual confederacy did and I intended to watch it in one go but the fact that the first half feels nearly like a complete story (that I hated every second of) only for "INTERMISSION" to follow was just too demoralizing and I watched the second half the following day. The second half has the benefit of getting further and further away from the civil war as it goes thankfully so it gets a little less in your face with its disgusting messaging and is therefor a bit easier to watch. From here its mostly just a story of this terrible woman's life falling apart and looking at just that... its ok I guess? Its paced way too fast (wild to say about a movie this long, it just has too many things happen) and almost none of the dramatic moments land the way they're supposed to. Like, almost every tragic event in the late stages of the film feel like they're shot with comedic timing in mind, its baffling but at least somewhat entertaining. I also don't really know how this was sold as a romantic story because there is just flat out no sizzle at any point and it doesn't help that the one lead is endlessly annoying and the other I find to be rather creepy, which is exceedingly common for romantic male leads of this era, at least from my limited experience. So yeah, its a no for me.

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slurps up! 🤙🤙

Gone with the Wind, 1939

Spoiled rich girl Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) is madly in love with Ashley (Leslie Howard), who ends up engaged to the saintly Melanie (Olivia de Havilland). Unable to let her infatuation go, Scarlett carries her wounded pride through the trials and tribulations of the Civil War, and falls into a volatile affair with the mercurial Rhett (Clark Gable).

Epic visuals are the gorgeous frosting on a rotten cake of a story.

There is something to be said for scope and scale and the power of staging. I think that a sequence of Scarlett walking out into a street where thousands of men, wounded and dying, lay in the dirt. Likewise, I was very taken with a few scenes where there were overt stylistic choices, like a conversation between Melanie and Scarlett in a military hospital, filmed entirely with the women’s shadows projected large on the wall behind them.

But . . . that’s about all I can say for this film. I did watch it in one go (and I guess can give a slightly backhanded compliment that the four hours didn’t feel as long as I thought they would?), and not in one single moment did I feel myself click with anyone on screen.

The story of a self-centered promiscuous racist horse-murderer wooing a . . . . self-centered promiscuous racist horse-murderer is a hard sell for me, and every subplot centering on keeping a whole race of people in captivity left virtually nothing to gel with emotionally. Characters don’t have to be likable to be compelling, but they do have to grow or change. And yet every character in this movie stays fundamentally exactly the same, with only external forces causing them brief deviations from their norm.

It’s one thing for the characters to be tone-deaf about slavery and the subjugation of the Black people around them. That’s, you know, probably historically accurate. But the movie itself is equally tone-deaf and I found that more and more grating as it tried to frame character moments from that perspective. When Rhett declares that he’ll join and fight for the Confederacy because he can’t help but side with the underdog . . . while standing mere feet from enslaved people. Yikes. And while the movie seems to want us to be appalled at Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) lying about her midwife credentials and taking her sweet time while Melanie struggles with childbirth, I was utterly delighted. Meanwhile, there is only one thing that Black characters do to merit any kind of respect: take care of white people. Hattie McDaniel has a larger than life personality and I adored McQueen’s Prissy, but like all the other characters, they do not grow. (And the movie seems to imply that once freed Mammy and others just . . . stick around because they prefer the status quo because every enslaved person in this film absolutely loves their lives!).

Ultimately, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to get out of this film. It felt like big set pieces dancing around a fundamentally dull story about two people whose egos and rich-kid self-centeredness kept them from happiness. And when one of those people says things like “I’ll sell you South, I will!” and the other says to a grown woman “Blow your nose like a good little girl”, I’m not aboard that train.

I suppose from a cinematic completionist point of view, I’m glad to have checked this off my list.

First I want to say, this isnt my type of movie. Its not a bad film. Its not something I would normally watch from the 1930s.

It should be titled "The Dramatic Life and Loves of Scarlett O'Hara", because thats what it was. It was about the family, her beloved plantation and the men she used.

I understand in the time period this film takes place, there are things that are acceptable then but not by today's standards.

I found her character as well as many other characters annoying and overly acted.

I will leave my review as this.

Adieu

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

Pretty solid experience. I've said this several times already, but the jungle works for me. Especially when they are on the river. The acting in this one is not bad, but also pretty limited. I like John Lithgow, but I can't always buy him in serious roles. I think he did a fine job in this one, but still he was a little off. Kathy Bates is pretty good, she went from the most annoying character (other than Woflie) to the most sympathetic. I could have done with less little kid peepees. Tom Waits was annoying. Tom Berenger doesn't really have the chops for such a big role in a film, but he does have a strong physical presence. Uyuyu getting Martin was pretty funny at the end because I didn't see it coming. Not a perfect film, but I am glad to have seen it.

I'll wrap up in time

It's the story about a lady, Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) who must endure tragedy after tragedy - what makes this all the more complex for an audience is the fact that she's not a really great person. She's not evil, but she is selfish, lacks empathy, but not cunning. She spends her time pining for Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) who has married another woman - Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite Melanie's devotion to Scarlett and their friendship, Scarlett never ceases to hope that she can steal Ashley from her. In the meantime, the worldly and rich Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) falls for her, and eventually comes to believe that he can make things work, despite Scarlett's less than noble character. What serves as the background to all of this is the largest and most pivotal event in the history of the United States - the Civil War. Scarlett's family owns Tara - a cotton plantation in Georgia, and as such being Southerners their experience of the war will be brutal, costly and devastating. It's pretty easy to sketch in a broad outline why Gone With the Wind is the famous sweeping epic that it is.

When I was younger I was not naturally drawn to Gone With the Wind, and as such it took until I reached a period where I watched films that I "should" see as an older film fanatic to finally get around to it - around 10 years ago. I found that it was a lot to take in during one sitting - at 238 minutes it's a challenge to sit and watch it from start to finish (such films I usually cut in two and watch over two subsequent nights.) I remember being on holiday 6 years ago - on the beaches of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and finding myself set up at my cousin's ex-partner's house. We watched stuff like Runaway Bride - I'm not fussy, and she wasn't a fan of horror or violence. We also watched Gone With the Wind, which is where I chalked up my second watch. This viewing was number three - and so I finally feel like I've got a firm foundation in memory terms as to the film as a whole now. It's soap opera kind of material, which I don't like, but it's pretty much the best soap opera that has ever been made in my opinion, so I really don't mind that people over the years have made me give the film this extra attention.

Now, it's a little weird watching something from the South's point of view - because of slavery my very narrow view of the war is that the North were the good guys and the South the bad guys. Every time I see African Americans in this movie I cringe. "It's quittin' time!"? They make slavery look like a pretty enjoyable 9-to-5 job, with happy healthy slaves being their own bosses and being pretty content with their lot. It's either that or else black characters in the movie are behaving in an outrageously stereotyped manner. Really fantastic that Hattie McDaniel won an Oscar however - that eases the pain a little. Overall though, it does make me uncomfortable and it's a shame that such a great film has this aspect to it. I guess it could have been worse - it's not like it's the product of D. W. Griffith, or too extreme in any manner. Times change, no matter how hard some try to fight it - the momentum of history has carried us forward, and as far as I'm concerned it can't be stopped or turned back. This is a film about a bygone era that was also made in a bygone era, and I wonder if it could even be made today.

I'll write a more detailed review of Gone With the Wind at a later date - I'd like the time to read up and study everything about the production and I don't have the time to do that at the moment. So, just some quick notes - I just saw The Petrified Forest and as such I'm noticing Leslie Howard a lot more. He died on a flight during the Second World War - shot down by the Germans despite it being a civilian aircraft. I only mention that because I hear that so many people involved with Gone With the Wind were considered "cursed" by the film. Vivien Leigh would die of tuberculosis at 53, and Clark Gable a heart attack at 59 - which aren't quite young enough to consider curse-worthy. Maybe if the entire cast had of died in plane crashes then I'd consider it a curse. Anyway, my last note for now - something that's plaguing me - I can't for the life of me get Max Steiner's Gone With the Wind theme out of my head. It keeps on popping up - but I do admit that Oscar-nominated score was pretty special.

This is one film that has really started to grow on me a little more each time I've seen it.

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AND Hattie McDaniel was denied a place in the Hollywood cemetery she longed to be buried in when she died, with other Oscar winners and stars. It was for white people only. Discriminated against even in death. A memorial plaque was erected at the cemetery to try and make up a little for the injustice...it took until 1999.

Just finished my final film with a film, like so many in this HoF, that has been very pleasant surprises. I'll get my missing reviews up in the next couple of days.

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What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

The HoF closes tonight April 29th and I need your reviews posted before I can count your ballot...But I'm going to be busy with work on Wednesday and Thursday, I'll be doing the reveal on Friday. So if you can have all of your missing reviews up by Friday morning that will be fine, but I can't hold the HoF up any longer that that.

Absolutely, CR!!

At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)

This is one of many pleasant surprises that I've enjoyed in this HoF, including numerous turns in the storyline. I applaud the blunt truth regarding the interference of beliefs and habitat and its destructive end.
Consisting of a strong cast of folks I've enjoyed often. While I was a bit off on Tom Berenger's casting in a native role, his performance (as expected) was strong. The highlight of compassion and emotional outpouring belongs to Aidan Quinn. His awakening from blind faith, the loss of his son, and the emotional breakdown of his wife, played with her usual sublime complexity by Kathy Bates, kept me in an engaged disquiet. I'm a massive fan of Lithgow, and he was ideal as the overly confident, dismissive Fundamentalist with a panicky, cowardly streak.
I must also applaud the depth and detail of life and customs in the native tribes. I got a serious kick out of the bartering/chest-pounding resulting in celebration afterward; I simply loved the humanity of it.

A solid and truly worthy film to experience and enjoy. Bravo.

Joeun nom, napun nom, esanghan nom aka The Good, The Bad, and The Weird (2008)

This is on our Very Heavy Rotation list and spent some time on our Sleeping List (favorites we'd drift off to sleep to at night). I've wanted to nominate this numerous times, and my eyes lit up when I saw that it was. So, suffice to say, I am HIGHLY biased toward this heavy popcorn-munching action-packed, tip of the hat to Sergio Leone's TGTB&TU. Sprinkled with Graphic novel-style wit and cleverness, it shows evident love for the genre while retaining a life of its own. From the initial train robbery to the pursuit of the "treasure" map through a variety of shoot-outs and tight situations, my favorites include The Weird (Song Kang-ho), the finale's grand chase, to the inevitable Stand Off between the three main characters. I continuously laugh, cheer, and wholeheartedly enjoy this film with each viewing, with an anticipation of the following opportunity to view again.

The People's Joker (2022)

With monologue galore, cartoon-drenched acid-tripping aesthetics, and wave after wave of smarmy DC references, our heroine fills us in on her journey of early repression, trials, and tribulations of self-awareness and sexual identity in a protective coating of comic book satire, which, for the most part, I found pretty enjoyable. There were a few moments where I found my interest drifting off for no specific reason, but only now and again.
It's hard to discuss this film in any depth beyond the glamour that safeguards the inner turmoil. I am happy to have watched it, though.

Before the Rain (1994)

A slow, resounding pulsed film that never really lets you go. Nearly two weeks later, and I still feel the effects of experiencing this film. And yes, one of the very pleasant surprises whose subtlety crept up on me not only during, but for some time after.
Starting from the Third Act, we come back around, taking the whole journey of the story that is the first part of the movie titled "Words". With a rawness to its poetic execution, I can easily see how revisitations would enhance and increase one's overall experience, and, fingers-crossed, I just may find out one day.
One of my pleasant surprises is seeing Rade Serbedzija, whom I've wanted to see more of ever since I saw him play the intense and dangerous Boris in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. I truly loved the tip of the hat when he rode the bike unsteadily while whistling "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. Scenes like dispersed with precision in this, at times, hard-hitting movie, are the nuances that stick with you well after the ending.
A Poignant film, I am genuinely thankful to have had the opportunity to witness.

I have three more to go