THE WILD ONE -- László Benedek, dir

©1953
studio: Sony Pictures
production company: Stanley Kramer Productions
dir: László Benedek
cast: Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Keith, Lee Marvin, Jay C. Flippen, Peggy Maley, Hugh Sanders, Ray Teal, John Brown, Will Wright, Robert Osterloh, Robert Brice
screenplay: John Paxton (from the novel The Cyclists' Raid by Frank Rooney)
B&W

Stuck in town following an accident to a Black Rebel gang member, Johnny falls for the Sheriff's daughter, and tries to impress her with a stolen trophy. When a rival gang, The Beetles, ride into town, trouble is just around the corner.

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This was a damned good movie. Brando conveys a lot through his quiet and child-like demeaner. Lee Marvin was a hoot to watch.

There was a definitely a sense of 1950's simplicity to the film and occassionally I chuckled at the thought that these bikers were scary at the time, but I also felt that when more rucus was being raised, there was a well-developed sense of fear at what might happen in the town.

I enjoyed how Brando struggled to impress someone out of his league on the one hand, and tried not to give a damned on the other.

Glad I watched this and would recommend it.

EASY RIDER -- Dennis Hopper, dir

©1969
studio: Sony Pictures
production company: Columbia Pictures Corporation, Pando Company Inc., Raybert Productions
dir: Dennis Hopper
cast: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson, Antonio Mendoza, Phil Spector, Mac Mashourian, Warren Finnerty, Tita Colorado, Luke Askew, Luana Anders, Sabrina Scharf, Robert Walker, Jr., Sandy Brown Wyeth, Robert Ball
screenplay: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Terry Southern

Two long-haired bikers from Los Angeles take off on a cross-country trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. On the way they meet several unusual characters.

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I thought I knew this film, and/or had watched it before, but I don't believe so, now that I've seen it through in one sitting. All I can say is, "Geez, that sucked."

I understand its relevence to the era in which it was made, and I can appreciate how it was done on such a low budget (duh ... that's rather obvious) and how it perhaps broke some new ground for its style, but for a neophyte such as myself, I had trouble enjoying this.

I didn't understand the drug connection at the beginning of the film and what it had to do with the rest of the motorcycle journey. I never bought Fonda as a "hippie," but could see how he might be manipulative as a drug dealer by not looking hippie-like.

Fonda seemed stiff and wooden throughout. Hopper was a joy to watch. Nicholson was fun to watch and i liked the character -- a lawyer struggling with his identity, but I didn't get the beating in the woods.

I'm glad that I finally watched this film, but I sure can't recommend it.

BILLY ELLIOT -- Stephen Daldry, dir

©2000
studio: Universal Studios
production company: Arts Council of England, BBC Films, Studio Canal, Tiger Aspect Productions, WT2 Productions, Working Title Films
dir: Stephen Daldry
cast: Jamie Bell, Jean Heywood, Jamie Draven, Gary Lewis, Stuart Wells, Mike Elliot, Billy Fane, Nicola Blackwell, Julie Wlaters, Carol McGuigan
screenplay: Lee Hall

A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.

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This is a wonderful, heart-warming and heart-wrenching film. The set-up of the characters and their situation is flawless. It is easy to empathize with the struggle that Billy (Jamie Bell) is going through, and even though his tough, miner father might appear to be a bit hard on the family, we see easily, and understand his own pain (somehow, as he chops up his deceased wife's piano for kindling to keep the family warm at Christmas, he remains stoic, but we manage to see how it hurts him inside).

Once the father sees that his son indeed has talent, he, a leading force behind the miners striking, hires on as a scab to make the money to keep his family going. For only a second I wondered why he'd scab at something he was fighting against, but I saw through to the fact that mining was the only thing this man (and his elder son) have ever known.

The dancing was wonderfully filmed. Never performed flawlessly, but most certainly with passion ... the passion of a young boy who can't imagine doing anything BUT dance. It shows, and it works.

I think that the least effective moments in the film are when Billy spends time with his friend who we learn is gay, and expects that Billy, because he likes to dance, is also gay. It felt that the moments where there only to let the audience know that Billy is NOT gay ... that boys can dance and NOT be gay. It felt didactic and unnecessary (though perhaps only unnecessary to me as a father of boys who dance -- perhaps they did need to tell people that the father, and their own perceptions, are not true).

I wanted the film to be more about Billy himself and to see more of the dancing (there was plenty), but it is about the family, and the effect that the striking miners has on the family and Billy, is essential to the greater story.

This is a film worth seeing!