greschiem2002 Reviews

Men in War (1957)

A Minor Classic Anti War Film

[9/10 · 8 January 2015]

This is an Anti War film directed by Anthony Mann, a low budget film set during the Korean War. This film rates as amongst Mann's best films along with "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and "Winchester 73". This is one of those relatively unknown minor classic war films like "Hell is for Heroes".

The fact that it was done on a low budget and reportedly without Army Cooperation means that this had to be a character piece to be a Movie at all. On this level it benefits by the always good Robert Ryan and also a fine performance by Aldo Ray as "Montana". And, as I have read in other reviews - this film stringently avoids clichés and two dimensional characterisations.

The stark black and white images mixed with what appears to be relatively high contrast lighting fits this film's grim story of a lost patrol and brings out the bleakness and also banality of the landscape which contrasts heavily with the anguish and fear of the men being lost behind enemy lines.

As with other war films up to 1977 (when Cross of Iron and a Bridge too Far brought a new level of realism to combat sequences) this film lacks a certain urgency in the actual combat scenes and also a lack of authenticity that these characters are used to a soldiers life . However, the final combat scene is the best in this respect bringing a strong climax to the film.

If you like films with subtlety, nuance and strong characterisation then you may well enjoy this excellent war film.

Drunken Angel (1948)

Early Kurosawa Masterpiece

[10/10 · 7 January 2015]

This is an early gem from Kurosawa who was working with actor Toshiro Mifune for the second time. However the standout performance for me in this film is Takashi Shimura as the Drunken Angel (Shimura plays the titular character who is a Doctor), this is one of his great performances, whereas I find Mifune's acting too "big" in this film. I still believe however, that Mifune was arguably the greatest of all screen actors. The scenes between Mifune and Shimura are powerful , something Kurosawa would continue to use in many future films. Reizaburô Yamamoto is also excellent as the gangster Okada.

There are certainly some hidden sentiments about the then American Occupation of Japan in this film and I find the swamp in the middle of the set very interesting as if it represents the underlying darkness of the situation in Japan at the time seeping out onto the surface. We also see this in a more mundane form of the Gangsters and Japan taking on aspects of the American lifestyle that Kurosawa does not appear to approve of.

As can be seen in other films of Kurosawa's such as Yojimbo, Kurosawa displays his complete contempt for Gangsters in Drunken Angel. There is nothing glamorous about the gangsters in this picture, they are shown for what Kurosawa believes them to be, venal and depraved human beings who create a lot of human misery. Having said that, the strong humanist streak that is ever present in Kurosawa's films is also found in the character of the Drunken Angel, his long suffering helpers at his Medical Clinic and his student patient who is eventually completely cured of TB.

Kurosawa said about Drunken Angel that this was the first time he felt he had found his own style. This film is undoubtedly that of a master film maker.

Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Turning the Detective Genre/ Buddy Cop Flick upside down.

[8/10 · 6 January 2015]

I have read reviews of this film that apologize for its racism and its lack of political correctness. The first thing I would say about this is I do not believe that this film is racist, "Freebie" (James Caan) is a racist and this is something his Mexican partner "Bean" (Alan Arkin) takes him to task for. I would suggest that the title characters are, more than anything else, amoral.

What I like about this film is it completely turns on its head the Detective/Buddy Cop Genre; everything you expect from the genre is turned upside down. Freebie and Bean are incompetent, violent, destroy half the city in the pursuit of suspects, beat up innocent victims by accident and Freebie, as his name suggests, steals things. This film appears to deliberately go out of its way to upset every possible expectation leaving no stone unturned in its pursuit of this.

The Cinematography by the great Laszlo Kovacs is excellent and there is great chemistry between James Caan and Alan Arkin as the sometimes warring partners and sometimes friends. I think this is one of Alan Arkin's finest performances as he plays uptight neurotic characters so well. Also of note is the delightful performance of Valerie Harper as Bean's long suffering wife. This film also contains some amazing stunt work.

I find this film vibrant, wonderfully ridiculous and genuinely funny and I have read that two fans of this film are Quentin Tarantino and the late Stanley Kubrick.

Too Late the Hero (1970)

A reasonable Robert Aldrich flick.

[6/10 · 6 January 2015]

Robert Aldrich had something of a renaissance in the 70s with films like "The Longest Yard" and in particular "Ulzana's Raid" and "Hustle", however this film is not at the level of those films in my opinion.

The ideal conditions for making unusual and risk taking films appeared to have been in place in 1970s America when mainstream Hollywood was making original, daring and interesting films like never before or since. These conditions could be said to have roughly existed between 1966 through to 1981-82.

On the positive side this film has those classic Robert Aldrich dark touches, where we see humanity at its worst and weakest and we also get glimpses of how horrible War can be. The performances of Michael Caine and Denholm Elliot are both very good. And as one other reviewer has noted, you can really see that these guys are running around the jungle and not on a set or in a botanic garden somewhere, this film really has a sense of place and the film's Production values are high.

However on the downside, the action scenes lack the vitality and realism that suggests that these characters really are fighting to the death, something I believe that this era of War films lacked. This element of realism in War Films didn't really come into place until "Cross of Iron" and "A Bridge Too Far" (both made in 1977). I also found the ending to be unimaginative, contrived, and over the top and it is always disappointing when a film does not end well.

This is not one of Robert Aldrich's best films, but it has enough interesting about it to be worth checking out if you like films from this era.