I certainly agree that
A Man For All Seasons is definitely very watchable, well worth
, and I recommend it to everyone, along with
Becket and
The Lion in Winter. I personally find it a bit stodgy compared to
Virginia Woolf and
Alfie, but it's still great and I won't complain about it winning 6 Oscars, including Best Picture.
Cannonball! (Paul Bartel, 1976)
This flick, co-written by Don Simpson (yep, Jerry Bruckheimer's late production partner), came out well before the similar-themed Burt Reynolds' flick,
The Cannonball Run. Director Paul Bartel is a master at absudist black comedy, but he isn't exactly an action specialist, so although there are some decent car scenes and some wicked humor, much of the film is a mess. What makes the film watchable for action B-movie enthusiasts is the cool cast. You've got David and Robert Carradine, Billy McKinney, Veronica Hamel, Gerrit Graham, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski, Carl Gottlieb, Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel himself. Just be a bit forewarned, even if it
Cannonball! is passable, it really isn't any better than
The Cannonball Run, and it's far less cool than the original
Death Race 2000, which also starred David Carradine and was directed by Paul Bartel. So, I recommend watching
D R 2000 first because Bartel got a lot nastier in that one.
Flipper's New Adventure (Leon Benson, 1964)
Growing up, I watched the "
Flipper" TV series every Saturday night from the age of eight to 10. However, there had already been two Flipper theatrical movies before the show started, and this is the sequel to the original,
Flipper. Both movies and the series starred Lule Halpin who seemed like somebody I wanted to be. I enjoyed swimming and I loved dolphins, and this kid got to basically obsess over both all the time! Then, in this film, he gets to hang out with and start a romance with one of the cutest adolescent girls his age, Pamela Franklin! I'm telling you: Trifecta! The actual details of the plot are on the hokey side, but the relationship between the two children is honest and inspiring, if overall, it's just a simple family film not up to Disney standards. An interesting footnote is that Francesca Annis, who played Lady Macbeth in Polanski's Shakespearean adaptation, plays Franklin's older sister here.
The Man Who Came to Dinner (William Keighley, 1942)
I honestly believe that anyone who loves
Arsenic and Old Lace and/or
Harvey will love this film. It's a tale about world-famous, egotistical critic/commentator Sheridan ("Sherrie") Whiteside (the awesome Monty Woolley), who, against his will, comes to dinner with a Midwestern couple, but slips on their frosty front porch and breaks his leg. He proceeds to turn the life of the couple and their young adult children upside down by taking over their home, as well as trying to torpedo the blossoming romance of his secretary (the wonderful Bette Davis) with the local newspaper editor (Richard Travis). Other major characters include a vain movie actress (Ann Sheridan, the "Oomph Girl" and the female version of Sherrie) whom Sherrie uses to try to steal Bette's beau, an actor/playwright/Renaissance Man (patterned after Noel Coward) played hilariously by Reginald Gardiner, the effervescent, sex-crazed Banjo (Jimmy Durante) [think: Harpo Marx with a voice], and the young nurse (Mary Wickes) who Sherrie constantly bombards, physically and verbally, at will.
Sample line of Sherrie speaking to his nurse: "My great aunt Jennifer ate a whole box of candy every day of her life. She lived to be 102, and when she'd been dead three days, she looked better than you do
now!"
The nurse has to wait about an hour further into the flick to retort, but it's a doozy: "I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure. If Florence Nightingale had ever nursed YOU, Mr. Whiteside, she would have married Jack the Ripper instead of founding the Red Cross!"
I'm about ready to discuss two Werner Herzog films,
Even Dwarfs Started Small and
Encounters at the End of the World, but duty calls!