Falling Down (1993) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a powerful film, but I personally don't look at it as some type of social commentary or condemnation of modern society, although it certainly touches on some of the problems that will always exist among human beings. Falling Down may well have a potent effect on anyone watching it, though. It always leaves me feeling really, really weird because it touches on so many things we all have to put up with each day, presents a monster whom I can't help but sympathize with in some degree, provides us with a hero whose own life is rife with undeserved problems, and runs its course atop a strong undercurrent of sadness. Michael Douglas gives one of his better performances as Bill Foster, an unremarkable man who finds his world torn apart and finally just snaps. He has lost his wife and little girl (which is his own fault); he's lost his job, the one thing that made him feel important; he just wants things to be like they used to be. He doesn't want to sit in traffic with no air conditioning or pay almost a dollar for a little can of soda or see plastic surgeons living the life of Riley while he can't even support his little girl. His journey "home" is an extraordinary one, and the kinds of awful people he encounters on the way do nothing to help his mentality. It's hard not to cheer him on when he manages to effect an escape from a couple of gangsters trying to rob him, but acts such as holding a burger joint up just because they refuse to serve him breakfast after lunch time is, obviously, way out there. No matter what terrible things he does, though, I can't get completely past the fact that he earnestly wants to see his little girl and give her a present for her birthday; in a clearly psychotic way, I find this movie somewhat touching, and that only makes the whole experience more depressing than it already is.
Robert Duvall is indeed quite good as the good cop, Prendergast, pursuing this vigilante on his last day before retirement. His life is no dream either, but of course he handles his own problems in a way quite unlike our man Foster does. His wife is clearly disturbed, made frighteningly burdensome and vulnerable by the death of their own little girl and an earlier wounding of her husband on the job. For her benefit, he took a desk job and is forced to put up with a lot of jokes and insults from his fellow cops, including his own boss. Except for his partner, all of the cops in this film are as unfeeling and cruel as some of the shady characters Foster meets up with during his journey home, and that is to me one of the more disturbing aspects of this film.
One of the things I liked most about Falling Down was its attempt to portray Foster as one very disturbed man and not a stand-in for any type of stereotypical vigilante; one character in particular makes this point quite clearly when, discovering that Foster doesn't actually agree with him in his own twisted, stereotypically extremist mindset, he asks the man just what kind of vigilante he is supposed to be. My own thinking is that Falling Down is not meant to be a warning about a group of potential Bill Fosters festering in the midst of society; instead, by showing us what happens to one man, it is warning us to walk carefully on our own journeys and to be careful to keep our tempers in check even when the world seems to be out to get us. At the same time, it doesn't imply that we should roll over and play dead whenever a problem comes our way, using the character of Prendergast to show us that we can and should stand up for ourselves but only in constructive ways. I really have a lot of conflicting emotions about this film, but the one thing I am sure of is that Falling Down is an unforgettable motion picture well worth seeing.

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A man who has lost his job and his marriage takes a walk through the troubled urban landscape of Los Angeles on a hot, destructive day, with a retiring police officer trying to anticipate the next stop.Genre: Feature Film-DramaRating: RRelease Date: 8-FEB-2005Media Type: DVD

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Pure Country (1992) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought the video to Pure Country after listening to the soundtrack album. The movie is well-done. George Strait plays Dusty Chandler, a country music superstar who gets tired of the loud sound and overhyped special effects(smoke and strobe lights) in his shows. After an argument with his manager, Lula Rogers(played by Lesley Ann Warren), Dusty says to his best friend, Earl(John Doe), "I'm just gonna take me a little walk," and he does that. He returns to his old hometown, cuts off his beard and ponytail, and tries to get back to his down-home country roots, going first to his Grandma Ivy's house and then to the bar where he once played. After Dusty leaves town, Lula tries to keep his show going at all costs. With some important concert dates coming up, including one in Las Vegas, she hires Buddy(Kyle Chandler), a member of Dusty's road crew, to lip-synch his songs. Most of the band members have doubts, but Lula goes ahead with the plan. The first concert date goes smoothly, and Lula justifies what she does by blaming Dusty for walking out. Lula also hires a private detective and goes off herself to find Dusty.
Meanwhile, Dusty goes to a night club, where he meets the young rancher Harley, the other principal character(played by Isabel Glasser). Harley's boyfriend gets jealous upon seeing her with another guy, and a fight starts. After breaking his rival's nose, Dusty is knocked out in the parking lot and wakes up the next morning. He accepts Harley's offer of breakfast and later finds himself taking roping lessons. Before too long, with the help of Harley and her brothers, he becomes a good roper, and it turns out that his skills are needed. Harley's dad, Ernest(Rory Calhoun), is in danger of losing the ranch, and he is depending on Harley's winning her event at a big rodeo in Las Vegas to stay afloat.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it turns out to be a fairy tale in which things eventually work out well for everyone. Harley wins at the rodeo, saving her ranch. Dusty comes back, patches things up with everybody(except Buddy, whom he gets rid of after learning how much publicity Buddy's lip-synching act has gotten) and puts on a great show in Vegas--minus the ponytail, beard and fancy costume. Lula at long last gives Dusty an emotional apology. And despite Lula's efforts to break up his romance, Dusty gets his girl(Harley) in the end.
Though George is the movie's star, Lesley Ann Warren, in my opinion, steals the show as the crafty Lula. Lula professes to be concerned about Dusty and his band members, but everything she does(using Buddy as a stand-in, hiring a private detective, and following Dusty) shows me that she's really in it for the money. It is only after watching Buddy's TV interview and seeing Harley, who turns out to be Dusty's true love, that Lula breaks down. We're not told much about Dusty and Lula's non-business relationship, although those who saw the movie(including myself) will see, from the barroom photo Dusty looks at, that she played in his band before he got popular and that she was his old girlfriend. John Doe's character, Earl, also plays an important role, though it's a minor one. He reminisces with Dusty about the old days(when they went to the carnival and watched the "dancing chicken"). He defends Dusty against Lula's accusations that he(Dusty) walked out, and, being the loyal friend that he is, he walks out himself and follows Dusty to Harley's ranch.
Director Chris Cain and writer Rex McGee did a very good job on this film. Their failure to develop Dusty and Lula's relationship further is the only flaw in an otherwise fine movie. The acting, though there aren't many well-known actors, is first-rate, and George sings a lot of great tunes, including the hit "I Cross My Heart", on an awesome soundtrack. I think, too, that George, who had never acted before except in TV commercials, does a very convincing job as Dusty. I became a George Strait fan after watching this movie. I think that even those who aren't music fans will like it. It's a great portrayal of country music, and it also is a good slice-of-life movie.

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After 25 chart-topping hits, the singing star becomes a movie star!George Strait makes his film debut in an entertaining look into the heart and soul of country music from Young Guns director Christopher Cain.Superstar Dusty Chandler (Strait) is tired of the smoke, the strobe lights and the overmiked sound of his arena spectaculars.One night, something snaps."I'm just going to take a little walk," Dusty says as he walks out of the empty hall, ditching his beard, ponytail - and temporarily, his career - to reclaim his down-home country roots.But his manager (Leslie Ann Warren) retaliates:a stand-in (Kyle Chandler) lip-synchs his songs in concert.And a romance with a lovely rancher (Isabel Glasser) is on again, off again like a rodeo cowboy.The simple life can be complex, but it's nothing a revitalized country boy can't handle!

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Heaven's Gate (1980) Review

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1980 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the strangest media events ever. There was an eagerly-awaited invitational preview on a Thursday for a four hour Michael Cimino western called HEAVEN'S GATE. The whole industry came out in force to see Cimino's first movie since his Oscar-winning THE DEER HUNTER (1978) and, at a budget of $40 million, a movie that had bankrupt United Artists. The result was apparently an unholy disaster-so awful that Friday opening day regular engagements were abruptly cancelled. Reviews were venomous, focusing much more on the hefty budget and how an arrogant auteur filmmaker had brought down a studio with his excesses. Roger Ebert was particularly hostile. The 219 minute movie was sent back to the editing room with Cimino and several original editors. In mid-1981, an all-new HEAVEN'S GATE was brought out at only 149 minutes. The same hostile reviewers, except for Kevin Thomas in THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, still hated the movie for being too long and not having a coherent story. I saw that shortned print, adored the movie, and sent a rave review to Mr. Cimino. I got a very positive thank you letter from the filmmaker himself saying it was a hit in France. In America, I think the 149 minute print played for only two weeks in deserted theaters. Just for good luck, animal rights groups who had not seen the movie in any form were protesting the mistreatment of horses in the film.
Thank God for home video! While heavily censored TV prints of HEAVEN'S GATE still run 149 minutes, the uncut 219 minute roadshow version (which importantly never got a theatrical run for the general public) is available on letterboxed videocassette and DVD. Let us wish it a Happy 25th Birthday, forget all budget problems, and just evaluate what is up on the screen for 219 minutes.
According to writer/director Cimino, the Johnson County War took place in 1892 Casper, Wyoming. It was a battle waged between Eastern European immigrants and American cattlemen. The cattlemen, led by a despicable villain named Canton (Sam Waterston at his nastiest), claimed that the immigrants were stealing cattle and land in exchange for sexual favors in a local whorehouse run by Ella Watson (Isabelle Huppert). Acting under authority of the President and Federal Government, Canton and his Cattlemen's Association came up with a death list with 125 immigrant names on it, including Ella. The movie's central protagonist is marshall Jim Averill (Kris Kristofferson in the performance of his career), who is in love with Ella. So is a bounty hunter named Nate Campion (Christopher Walken). How can the critics say there is no story here?! There is a passionate and romantic love triangle wrapped inside a powerful western conflict. As God is my witness, the uncut HEAVEN'S GATE is my favorite western of the last 25 years-yes, including Best Picture Oscar winners UNFORGIVEN (1992) and DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990), which are admittedly very good adult westerns also.
I have no idea what HEAVEN'S alleged $40 million budget would be in 2005 dollars. Probably $80 million, which is hefty, but not unreasonable for a four hour period western meticulously shot on location on magnificent Idaho and Montana locations. An entire frontier town (Casper?) was built in Kalispell, Montana. A working antique train was brought to the location. Nothing was too good for the genius who had won Oscars for THE DEER HUNTER only two years before. The movie's art direction got a 1981 Oscar nomination. The dusty sepia Panavision photography, by Vilmos Zsigmond, captures the look of antique photos. There were horse wranglers for dozens of horses, dance and skating instructors (for an exquisite extended "Blue Danube Waltz" at Harvard at the beginning and a memorable roller skating scene in the film's middle). David Mansfield's fiddle and mandolin score is unforgettably beautiful and haunting throughout, especially when "The Blue Danube Waltz" becomes a slow motion dirge during the latter battle scenes. The climactic battle is violent and seems to go on as long as the real 1892 cattlemen/immigrants battle. It is a horrible and beautiful sustained sequence--maybe lasting an hour of screen time--that is severely shortened in the cut TV print. This is one gorgeous piece of filmmaking by a master who admittedly let the movie get away from him. It IS too long and IS too pessimistic. But at least you can see where the money went. It is a true labor of love movie that, ironically, may be Cimino's finest films. I don't think it is quite as great as THE DEER HUNTER, but certainly it is better than Cimino's modestly budgeted subsequent films.
(PLOT SPOILERS-BEWARE!) It is impossible to discuss why I love the uncut HEAVEN'S GATE so much without discussing the 20 minute Prologue and five minute Epilogue. So many critics call these scenes extraneous and confused, but they are the very heart of the movie for me. The Prologue takes place at 1870 Harvard with Jim Averill as a young student in love with a young woman he is frustratingly too shy to talk to; they exchange smiles. Averill is haunted by this beautiful young woman all his life, as I am by a married young woman I loved at UCLA long ago and cannot get out of my mind. Joseph Cotten has a cameo as a head professor, and John Hurt is the class orator. Look at the end credits. Writer Cimino really did his homework-these are real speeches being spoken. And the dance on Harvard lawn, a lengthy and enthralling "Blue Danube Waltz", may be one of the American cinema's loveliest set pieces. Shockingly, it is sometimes cut for time on TV showings, instead of the overlong battle much later.
The Epilogue is the key to the whole movie for me. Study it. (PLOT SPOILER ALERT!) It is 1903, and Jim Averill is the sole survivor of the bloody Johnson County War. I won't tell you how or where Nate and Ella die. We are on a yacht off Newport, Rhode Island at sunset. Averill is below deck with a young woman. He has finally married at least a surrogate for the girl of his dreams from Harvard long ago and is still deeply unhappy. He lights a cigarette for his presumed wife, while staring off into space, lost in his dreams of the past. He walks back up on deck for one of the most beautiful final shots in the American cinema of the 1980's. (Beware of an old VHS tape version that omits this final scene and freezes on Jim below deck!) And Mansfield's music, as always, is incomparable.
So, the majestic and magnificent HEAVEN'S GATE, in its uncut 219 minute form at least, is a portrait of the entire lifetime of Jim Averill, from Harvard youth in 1870, to Wyoming marshall in 1892, to a lonely middle aged intellectual man in 1903 with all of his friends dead or long gone. It is so haunting, and Mansfield's exquisite music plus Zsigmond's sepia-tinted Panavision photography, again make it a truly special motion picture if you have a whole evening viewing slot. (There is an intermission on the letterboxed VHS copy I am reviewing.) Happy 25th Birthday, HEAVEN'S GATE!
(UP FRONT CAUTION: THIS MOVIE CONTAINS STRONG AND SUSTAINED VIOLENCE, HORSES AND TRIP WIRES, PROFANITY, AND SEX SCENES WITH FRONTAL NUDITY. REVIEWED FROM LETTERBOXED VIDEOCASSETTE.)

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"Richly textured and visually compelling" (The Hollywood Reporter), this lavish, epic Western retells the true story of Wyoming's infamous Johnson County Wara brutal conflict during which wealthy cattlemen, backed by the U.S. government, hired mercenaries to murder 125 immigrant settlers.From the incredible beauty of the magnificent landscapes to the explosive violence of the bloody battle itself, Heaven's Gate combines breathtaking cinematography, Oscar(r)-nominated* Art Direction and memorable performances by Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert and Jeff Bridges in a spectacular, panoramic and ultimately haunting look at the reverse side of the American dream.

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