Best Picture Hall of Fame

On the Waterfront



This was a personal favorite of mine, so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't ecstatic to see this get nominated. I think it's the third time it has been in a Hall of Fame, and I've no problems with that at all.

The biggest thing that the film brings is an excellent script with outstanding dialogue. The pieces of the puzzle all fit together with the great performances. Brando as Terry Molloy is one of my favorite lead performances of all time. A lot of people bash on Eva Marie Saint, but it was a hell of a debut for me and is one of my favorite female supporting performances. The supporting cast is as strong as it has ever been in any film, this time I personally thought Cobb was cold as ice and did a fantastic job as Johnny Friendly. The way that the scenes are set up makes for many iconic moments. I was at awe with the car scene between Charley and Terry this go around as I usually am. It may be the greatest scene in cinema history perhaps, at least up there with it. Kazan is simply at his best.

Pound for pound this is one of the greatest films ever made so I obviously think it was a worthy best picture winner, especially since Rear Window wasn't nominated.

+

I’ll be binging and reading through the thread this weekend, rewatched Godfather and Forrest Gump very little to say outside of what’s been said 100 times but I’ll jot something down

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The varying reasons I continue and thoroughly enjoy these Hall of Fames are pretty well documented, but there is yet one more reason for being here: discovering new perspectives on old favorites along with the insight into movies I have not seen.
The new perspective is the titles that had been place on Nurse Ratched and of McMurphy back in the day, when this came out.
Nurse Ratched, from what I remember back then, had been labeled as The Best Villain of her time; and at that time, that is exactly as I saw her. And by reasoning, IF she is the villain, then McMurphy, the anti-establishment, fly-in-the-ointment MUST of been the hero.

But, are they?

Having seen this so many times in the past, I paid more attention to the actions of the these primary characters.
When Nurse Ratched enters, I watched the orderlies and the nurses beneath her. Everyone was civil and courteous. There was no dread or worry like you would see when a "villian" first enters a movie.
Though I did see a kind of henchmen mentality as the three orderlies stood behind her the morning after the party as she calmly gave them their orders and there was a slight glimmer of pleasure as they to them.
In the end, she is Head of Staff and her job is to keep everything and everyone at an even keel. Thereby keeping the patients calm and the chance for any kind of "incident" to
remain at a minimum. A role that comes to mind of those primordial icons of Creation/Law.
And she excelled at it. Things were calm. Everyone followed decorum and the rules and everything ran smoothly.

And then, McMurphy arrives.

Now the sh1t gets crazy. Chaos seeps in and everything and everyone starts to get out of hand. And it spirals until the wheels truly do come off.
McMurphy even places a bet early on that he will cause so much upheaval that Nurse Ratched won't know up or down.
Talk about the Devil popping up and raising all kinds of hell.

A truly intriguing perspective in a new light on an old favorite.

Something else I paid more attention to, was the Chief, or rather, his own inner decision to begin to open up and take a chance on talking and moving about.
It's a fantastic and incredibly subtle build up that I've rarely paid close attention to. Since I was always caught up in the other patients and their interactions as well as the craft of the actors portraying them. All of which are just incredible to witness. Especially with McMurphy inciting them as he does.
And, in the end, some of the iconic scenes are with the Chief: "Mmm, Juicy Fruit,", the basketball scene where, after the first dunk of the basketball we see him striding to the other side of the court, and, of course, that very ending, which, following all that had happened from the morning after the attempted farewell party to his own escape is very powerful and still causes me to catch my breath as it unfolds.

SPOILERS

And speaking of the ending, I always find it pretty amazing. Considering the horrible suicide of Billy, it's not easy to bring it all to an end that still grips you and this definitely does it.
With McMurphy, having attempted to murder Ratched by choking her and all the hell he created just in that night itself, he has been lobotomized.
The fact that the stoic Chief takes it upon himself to "free" McMurphy by suffocating him with a pillow and then, using brute strength to tear up the water hose system and sending it crashing through the barred window is something powerfully visceral. It is a primal force unleashed and its magnificent to behold.
The cheering of the other patients are like an electrical current that shoots through them and us.

Did it deserve the win? Nevermind all the other awards it got?
Tough call with Dog Day Afternoon in the mix and I honestly have trouble since I keep going back and forth on them. Especially having watched Dog Day for the 70s HoF.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Gladiator when you get to it.

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"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

I have another 4 write ups to do, but wanted to get one on the board today.

Love the layout Sarge! Nice write up for Gladiator!

Great write-up, Sarge!

And yet at the same time he's still kind of hot. It's conflicting

I feel like this simplicity of story is both sort of a weakness and sort of a strength as well. Too many films are overly complicated or try to be really relevant in a way that dates them while there's a lot to be said for classic simplicity.

A little off on a tangent here, but look at Disney films - the classics just told simple classic fairytales (which are classics for a reason) whereas some of the more recent ones are trying so hard to twist or subvert classic stories or to have an unnecessary third act, that they lose sight of that simple storytelling (which ought to be even more important in kids' movies).

I definitely agree that the third act was the weakest (which is a shame as it goes out on a low compared to what came before). I see what you mean about the sympathy for the underdog too. It's hard to see the Chiron we know from the first two segments in that guy. But I think that actually that's what the film-makers were going for. Showing that when you look at this big, muscular, tough guy, you don't necessarily know what's going on underneath. That under all that front he's still the same outsider, still the same sensitive lost soul. That he's lonely and too scared to let anyone touch him and knowing the earlier parts of his story we can connect with him.

Well said Thursday. I was going to say something similar. Third segment might be my favorite. I don't know, first one is really good.

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Letterboxd

I find that true of many movies...they start out strong but the final act is often a let down or feels rushed. Some felt that Mutiny on the Bounty was weak in the ending, and I can see why.

So many movies seem to lose steam right at the end. I guess it's because we can care so much for the characters and their plight, that we then can feel let down when the movie doesn't deliver what we had hoped for, or imaged. At least that's how it works for me.


I can see that. I also think they chose that adult actor and made him up as they did with the skull cap, gold teeth and chains and diamond earrings as he then looked a lot like the man who first was kind to him and took him into his home.

I think the film makers were saying that without a strong home life, Chiron then molded himself after the one person who showed him kindness to him as a child, the drug dealer. And that's what he then becomes as an adult.

78 reviews down out of a possible 169

I don't think this is accurate. Most of the Classic Disney Films (if we're defining them the same) where based on Grimm's Fairy Tales or messed up books like Pinocchio, even Bambi is significantly different. Don't think they were just telling classic fairytales when they were only using a basic outline and changing everything else about them, the Disney versions of those are basically their own thing entirely.

Definitely. The scene where he answers the call from Kevin is incredible; he quickly turns into a helpless shy child. I think that phonecall was the best piece of acting in the film outside of my boy Mahershala Ali

Just wanted to let you guys know, that like Vamp I've been wresteling with a cold from hell that had me prone for the last two weeks. That said, I had just about enough energy to watch some movies, so all I've got left to watch is Mutiny on the bounty, On the waterfront and Twelve years a slave. I'm off work today, so I'll post at least one review. I'm working the weekend, but come monday there should be another two. And as far as revealing on Oscarday, I've made it a goal to be done by end of febuary, so that won't be a problem for me.

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Why not just kill them? I'll do it! I'll run up to Paris - bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm back before week's end. We spend the treasure. How is this a bad plan?

I don't find him hot, but I will take your word for it

Simplicity is a great thing to have often, but sometimes a curve ball out of nowhere can give a film a bit extra. As I said it was all that I have. I remember when I first saw it that I knew how it would play out early on. It didn't detract from my love of the film but I like to be surprised every now and then.

I do.

Argo

Argo f@ck yourself

I'm surprised that's not on a t-shirt, somewhere lol

Any hoots, rather enjoyed this. I have been pleasantly surprised by Affleck recently; with movies like The Accountant and The Town and this one is added to the list. There was a lot of tension and it was kept up through out the film. And, yes, the chase bit at the end WAS very Hollywood, but it wasn't over the top Hollywood and I honestly was caught up in it. Worried that no one would answer the phone at the studio and simple things like that. Which is quite a compliment when you can incite tension going from one checkpoint to the next in an airport terminal.
That also had one of my favorite character growth moments, when the one naysayer was the one that stepped up to bullsh1t the ones looking to retain them by filling them in on what the "fake" movie was going to be and without a pause answered why he spoke Farsi. "Of course, I speak Farsi, I'm going to do a film in Iran."
Totally cheered the guy for that.
Also enjoyed the comparison photos at the end of the film as well. Very nice touch.

Like everyone else, I'll rave about Goodman and Arkin; whom I both love and to see them together was an excellent match. They fed off one another with such ease, it was great to watch.

And while this is based on and not completely accurate, it was a great story to put to film and they did a solid job of it.

Can't say if it deserved its win since I've only seen a couple of films. Enjoy Django more, but that's simply a personal entertainment/taste thing and I could see Lincoln being a serious challenge.

So now I've seen all of the 2016 Best Picture Nominees. I think that's the only year I can say that of.


Moonlight ++
I do think Moonlight deserved to be nominated, and I don't think it was Oscar bait. It felt like a genuine, heartfelt story from the director. It wasn't my favorite that year but I did like it better that some of the other Best Picture nominations.

Arrival -
I enjoyed this as a fun movie and the aliens and their ink language was awesome. Amy Adams is a fav too, but the story of the military coup plot was straight out of a 50s B budget sci fi.

Fences
Seems not many have seen Fences and that's too bad as it's a film with well developed characters with complex relationships, and spot on dialogue. This would be one of my choices for Best Picture.

Hacksaw Ridge
Great story, that's true, but lame war effects from Mel Gibson makes this the least favorite of the noms for me.

Hell or High Water -
Totally over the top Hollywood shoot-em up ending took this down a popcorn rating. Otherwise I mostly liked it.

Hidden Figures
Sure it wasn't dead serious and had an odd mix of rom-com and history....all while telling the story of a group of black women who worked as human computers at NASA during the early 60s, and faced institutionalized racism. That sounds like a weird mix, but it worked.

Lion
The first segment of the little boy lost in India was a solid 4.5/5. But the story of the adult now living in Australia was meh. Though the last scene was very touching.

Manchester by the Sea ++
Excellent movie and one of my favs of the nominations.

La La Land
This would be my choice for Best Picture and not because it was a musical with brilliantly staged numbers. Even if you removed all of the music numbers and made this a straight drama it would work brilliantly.