Cool Hand Luke

Title: Cool Hand Luke
Year: 1967
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writers: Donn Pearce & Frank Pierson, based on Pearce’s novel
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy
Music: Lalo Schifrin
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Kennedy); currently #123 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 126 minutes
Synopsis: a “hard case” on a chain gang
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for story)

There are some great, very memorable sequences.  But it seemed unnecessarily episodic.  In retrospect, I can see how everything contributed to character development, but it felt unfocused while watching it.  And the ending is too inevitable to be satisfying.

The French Chef: Volume One

Title: The French Chef: Volume One
Year: 1963-1973
Network: PBS
Starring: Julia Child
Episodes: 18 (selected from throughout the show’s run), at 28 minutes
Synopsis: Child teaches us how to cook for 1960’s/70’s dinner parties
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past few weeks
Subjective Rating: 6/10
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story (n/a), cinematography, special effects/design and acting (n/a))

My wife got a kick out of these, but I don’t really see the fun in cooking shows. And apparently traditional French cooking makes me nauseous (“If you don’t leave the [fish] heads on, you won’t be able to tell what it is!”). Child is charismatic, though (much to my surprise). And the show’s never boring.

The Graduate

Title: The Graduate
Year: 1967
Director: Mike Nichols
Writers: Calder Willingham & Buck Henry, based on the novel by Charles Webb
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
Music: Paul Simon, Dave Grusin
Distinctions: Oscar for best director; currently #157 on IMDb’s Top 250
Length: 105 minutes
Synopsis: guy has an affair with his parents’ friend
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2009
Subjective Rating: 7/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for pacing and cinematography)

It’s a good movie, but it’s kind of painful how unrelatable everyone is. Are the musical interludes really necessary? The cinematography is interesting; I don’t think it’s any good, but it’s interesting.

Bonnie and Clyde

Title: Bonnie and Clyde
Year: 1967
Director: Arthur Penn
Writers: David Newman & Robert Benton
Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Estelle Parsons
Music: Charles Strouse
Distinctions: Oscars for best supporting actress (Parsons) and cinematography; currently #213 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: an account of their bank-robbing career
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), September 2008
Subjective Rating: 3/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for dialog, pacing, acting and music)

It just sort of runs down a list of events with no story arc. The action scenes are the 60’s equivalent of a Michael Bay movie: tropes strung together with lots of noise. Boring and pointless.

In the Heat of the Night

Title: In the Heat of the Night
Year: 1967
Director: Norman Jewison
Writer: Stirling Silliphant, based on the novel by John Ball
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger
Music: Quincy Jones (with Ray Charles)
Distinctions: Oscars for best picture, screenplay (non-original), actor (Steiger), editing and sound; currently #239 on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a black man visiting the south is arbitrarily accused of a murder
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), August 2008
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for cinematography)

Nice movie. We were lucky enough to happen to watch it without reading any synopses first. If you somehow don’t know anything about this movie, I highly recommend doing the same (my synopsis above is only of the first five minutes or so of the movie), as every summary or trailer I’ve seen (even one of the tag lines) completely spoils a great scene.

In Cold Blood

Title: In Cold Blood
Year: 1967
Director: Richard Brooks
Writer: Richard Brooks, based on the novel by Truman Capote
Starring: Robert Blake, Scott Wilson
Music: Quincy Jones
Distinctions: formerly on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: the aftermath for two men who murder a family during a robbery
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2008
Subjective Rating: 7/10 8/10
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for cinematography and music)

Great movie. It’s a bit long, but it pulls you in. The violence — there’s very little of it, and it’s off screen, totally PG-13 — is startlingly stronger than any modern movie I can think of. There’s a lot of focus on the cinematography being dramatic and atmospheric (Jim Jarmusch probably loves it), but it ends up obscuring things too much. The music is overbearing and inappropriate. One of these days I have to see Capote.

Le Samouraï

Title: Le Samouraï
Year: 1967
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Writer: Jean-Pierre Melville & Georges Pellegrin, based on a novel by Joan McLeod
Starring: Alain Delon, François Périer
Music: François de Roubaix
Distinctions: formerly on IMDb’s Top 250
Synopsis: a criminal evades the law and his employers
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), March 2008
Subjective Rating: 3/10
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, cinematography, special effects/design, and music)

Honestly, I hardly remember this movie. (The above ratings are copied from my old blog.) So I guess all I can really say is that it’s not memorable. Here’s what I wrote after watching it:

Very boring. It has the makings of a film noir crime/detective story, but there’s no suspense, mystery or excitement of any kind. There’s also no character development, although judging from the out-of-nowhere ending, there was probably supposed to be. The DVD bonus features lead me to believe that what’s supposedly great about this movie is that it was filmed on location. That’s great, French people.