Joe Johnston is a director that has made some fantastic movies and my guess is that most people would not know his name. He tried and largely failed to make “The Wolfman” a marketable film  after the original director and the star Benicio Del Toro fell out on the vision of the movie. My favorite of Johnston’s films is “The Rocketeer” with maybe “October Sky in second  place. Both of those movies have something that “Captain America” needs in spades, and that is a heart that is set in traditional values. Those movies were set in the past and Johnston knows how to evoke that past really well. The first thirty or forty minutes of Captain America consists of images from America, in the process of fighting World War Two. These are not combat images, but looks at the homefront.  New York City is shown to be a tough place to live but also the sparkling jewel that nostalgia wants us to remember. There was not any 1943 World’s Exhibition that I know of but New York did have the World’s Fair in 1939 and the invented World Exhibition clearly took it’s inspiration from the futurist visions of the 39 Fair. The sleek looks of the future were started there and in the movie we are talking about now, they come to life in the laboratory of the American Project, the munitions plants of the Nazi spawned Hydra organization and the cars and planes that are featured throughout the story. The style of Johnston in those places is reminiscent of the Hugh’s factory featured in “The Rocketeer”, the lighting and angles are evocative of an earlier time when the world was more direct in the way we saw ourselves.

The sense of accuracy starts with all of the usual things that make a movie work. Let me start with something that I can’t remember writing about extensively in any of my blog posts before, costumes. The look of America in WWII is found in a thousand photographs of the times. Check a high school yearbook, or view the family album of your parents, or more likely now, your grandparents, and you will find the distinctive clothing. Steve Rogers, our hero appears in simple street clothes that were visible in those photos. If you have a picture of your dad or grandad in uniform during the war, he probably looks like Bucky Barnes, Captain America’s best friend. The tweed of Dr. Erskine fits an academic of the day and the military uniform of Peggy Carter is as sharp as the ones worn by Dinah Shore in “Up in Arms” from 1944. Schmidt’s car is not real as far as I know, but it looks like a nightmare of power and Teutonic arrogance that could easily have been made in those times. The Bowler hat with the Sgt’ stripes worn by one of Roger’s team is of course silly, but it looks like it could be real. This is a fantasy that is being run through a prism of reality and our memory of what the reality was. The costume that Captain America conducts his War Bond sales shows in, is the way a hero would be imagined in a 1940’s comic book. When the suit gets changed, the alterations are not dramatic but they are practical and they keep the patriotic spirit that the comic character and the movie need to have to work.

The tone of the movie is set early on by the undefeatable spirit of a young man, desperate to contribute to his country. He is not trying to prove himself to anyone, he wants to be like everyone else, a contributor to the defeat of the enemy. There is a key point in the film when Steve Rogers is questioned and asked if he wants to go kill Nazis like all the other men, his answer is what makes him a real hero. The earnest motives and morals of the American spirit are contained in a young man that is not physically able to match those feelings. This is the sign that he is the right man to give this power to.  Everything that precedes the transformation of Steve Rogers into Captain America, is needed to make this story soar as a real character we can root for and not just another super hero to turn loose on the movie screens of the world this summer. There were some hints months ago that the movie would downplay the American exceptionalism that makes Captain America what he is. There was even talk that the movie would simply be titled “The First Avenger”, to broaden the international audience. I don’t know how the marketing of this movie is going in the rest of the world, but this movie sells American ideals and spirit. Yes, many of those are ideals shared with other nations, as is indicated by the Captain’s team, but it matters that he is American and you cannot disguise that in this story or movie. Just as he did in “October Sky”, Johnston manages to get real American ideals on the screen, without having to wave a flag. Unless you take a close look at that big ass shield that Cap is throwing around.

My knowledge of Captain America prior to this film is limited to the few comic books I can recall from when I was nine, ten or eleven. There was a limited movement cartoon version of Captain America that I watched along with all the other Marvel characters in the 1960s. I have been singing the theme song for forty plus years, but I am not an expert on the character.

This is the memory I have and if this is not accurate don’t tell me. I want the current film to be my standard for what Captain America is.

There is plenty of action in the movie, but the action all seems to serve the story and reflect the world that these characters are supposed to exist in. The pacing of the film is steady, it is an origins story so it has all the classical elements of the super hero early narrative. They are not in a rush to get to the slam bang action, instead the story builds and leads us into action that we will appreciate all the more when it finally does show up. The two super hero films this most feels like are “Ironman” and “Superman”. We get a clear logical development of the powers that we are going to see like we did in Ironman, and it is backed by the down to earth goodness of our hero and the world he comes from like “Superman”. Next year Marvel Studios has a Hero all star film coming out called “The Avengers”. We have been getting hints of it in the Ironman, Hulk and Thor films of the last few years. The addition of Captain America makes me want to see this movie more than I ever had before. They have great potential with this character and I hope they don’t muck it up and let him get lost among all the other heroes.

The actors do a good job in their parts. Chris Evans is cast perfectly in his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America. The effects work used in the first part of the film is a couple of steps beyond what we saw in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. It is much more convincing and less obviously computer generated. Tommy Lee Jones just has to show up and be himself to make his part work, but he does get all the best one liners in the movie so pay close attention when he speaks, all of the verbal humor is in his dialogue. There are some visual jokes but nothing that will take you out of the movie. Everything fits together really well and makes this so far the highlight of the summer (along with Harry Potter).  Watch the credits all the way through for the Avengers teaser but also watch them for the spectacular WWII era art work that is meshed into the film so well. The show tune that is featured in the movie is a perfect fit for the kind of entertainment people would have sought out before Television and the internet. This film recreates a time and place that only the oldest of our parents and grandparents will recall, but it will make it an era that you wish you could have lived in an fought for. It is a comic book tribute to the greatest generation. We can never do them any justice for the burden and sacrifice they bore, but we can cheer on their spirit and the values they tried to save for all of us. This movie absolutely rocks and I can’t imagine anyone would not enjoy it.

A few years ago we stayed up till all hours of the night to go to a Mid-night screening of the first Transformers movie.  The toys were well after my childhood and came mostly before my kids time. Also, they were girls and we had a lot of pound puppies and unicorns around the house. We did not know what to expect except space robots that turned into vehicles. That movie turned out to be loud and stupid and much more fun than it had any right to be.  Shia LeBeuof was starring and we barely knew who he was much less how to say his name. Megan Fox was just a picture on a poster, who knew she was about to become an “It” girl. Here we are six years later and I’m sorry to say, Shia is a household name, but not yet a great actor, Megan Fox has dropped off the radar, and the Transformer movies are as stupid as they ever were but they have lost the charm they once contained.

Many on line sites have been very supportive of this film, especially in comparison to the second movie. As far as I was concerned they both had the same weaknesses that made them inferior to the first film. The stories are overly complicated, the action is bigger, louder and less clear. The humor in the movies has gotten overdone and does not seem genetic to the films or the characters. “Dark Side of the Moon” starts well, goes off the tracks and then recovers a little with some spectacular scenes of Chicago being destroyed. Other than that it has little going for it.

I always knew the formula for Michael Bay photography and storytelling. I’ve seen almost all of his movies and those that he has produced but not directed himself. After watching “Team America”, it is hard to get out of the formula and just concentrate on the story. Since the Transformer Movies largely consist of the same story repeated over and over, there is not enough to distract from the overdone slow motion, sun drenched heroics with matching score. It has become a exercise in watching the cliches and wondering if they will stick out too much. They stuck out plenty in this movie, but fortunately we waited until enough other films were in 3D that we could see this in a standard screening. Otherwise the visual hokum would be intolerable. This movie has been out for three weeks and I was surprised at the number of people there for a weekday afternoon screening. It was not packed but the audience was enthusiastic. The kids behind us were not taking any of it seriously, but they did suck in their breath at some robot punches and they cheered the destruction of the appropriate Decepticons.

John Malkovich is in this movie for no reason whatsoever. Francis McDormand is also in the film and while she is a little more relevant as character, I am not sure why they needed her as an actress. She brings little of the steely resolve she is known for, she is slumming in an underwritten comedy part. However compared to Malkovich, her part is complex. He has no relevance to the story, adds nothing interesting to the film, and his mugging which can be hysterical in the right movie (Burn After Reading) was just annoying here. John Turturro was on the radio the other day promoting another project and he sounded so bright and engaging. It is sad that he has to pay the bills doing nothing work like this. There was a humorous story line with his character in the first movie, but here it is stretched to buffoonery.  The one great appearance in the movie is by Buzz Aldrin, a real American Hero. The Apollo program is integrated into the story in a clever way, and then all the inventiveness goes out of the movie.

There is nothing wrong with a dumb summer movie, but this one just feels redundant and convoluted. I like watching stuff blow up as much as the next guy, but there ought to be a reason for it. Here the only reason is to get your money. We get a sucker punch joke about Obama being the one to award Sam his medal, and there is a quick Star Trek joke based on Leonard Nimoy’s voice work in the movie and a line from some of the Star Trek films. Except for the set up and Buzz Aldrin, this movie makes only a token effort to be better that the widely flogged Revenge of the Fallen, and is not close to the first movie in gee whiz charm. Enjoy it for what it is but don’t expect to remember anything about it afterwards, it is quickly digested. I hope for better with a couple of upcoming big summer flicks.

We came a little late to the Harry Potter books, but we had started them by the time the first movie came out 10 years ago. It has been a journey that marked the childhood of both of my kids and reminded me so much of what it was that I loved about reading when I was young. There is adventure and heroism and the fantasy that the world around us had secrets which at any moment could change our lives. The accomplishment of the books is one of the great stories of success that an individual writer can take credit for. J.K. Rowling’s imagination grew with each volume and the story came together in a coherent way that made the previous stories more meaningful. That it became a worldwide phenomena and that she became the most financially successful author in history, will deserve it’s own books and movie at some future date. To take the next step and create the films was a shrewd move on the part of Warner Brothers and the producers. I don’t think that it was as big a gamble as many would believe because of the incredible impact the books had, this was a series of works far more likely to have a wide audience than any other literary work that had come along before.. For me, the audacity of the project was to attempt to film it using the same group of young actors as they grew up. There have been eight movies over the course of 10 years. Rowling was able to take her time getting a new book out, and the audience would be waiting and begging for the next installment. Because there were already three books written when the film series started, there was plenty of time to develop each screenplay and plan the next movie. The books promoted the next movie which created anticipation for the next book until all of the novels were written and we could hardly stand the wait for the movies to catch up. Now that we have, it is a meal to savor but one on which there is the foreknowledge that no dessert is coming. That means we should eat this up as much as we can now.

In preparation for seeing Deathly Hallows Part 2, I went back and watched the earlier seven movies. It is clear how the story started off and a children’s fantasy and grew darker with each chapter. Kids grow up, and the simple world they lived in fades each day with new challenges. The Potter films did the same thing. There are the uncertainties of social status and friendship in the first two books. The threat is an indirect one, where the kids challenge is slow to build and fast to finish. When we got to the third story, it was a long threat that Harry faced, and it was part of everything he did in the film. Quidditch became less a game and more a moral challenge to the hero. It disappears entirely in the fifth film and returns briefly as part of a adolescent growth story for Harry’s friend Ron. Up to this point he has been a sidekick in the whole story. Sure there were important things for him to do, but it was always Harry’s story. With the fifth, sixth and seventh films, the characters of Ron and Hermione become equal parts of the story. It is right that they choose to leave Hogwarts with him and go in pursuit of the Horcruxes. To do so though, they have to have stories on a level with Harry to make us care. For me, the saddest part of the whole film series is the pre-title sequence on Deathly Hallows Part one, when Heromine erases her very existence from her parents lives. It will be as if she never existed, this was a grown up sacrifice to protect them from the dark Lord, and a step into a story where it is not certain that everything will come out OK. From the time Cedric Diggory’s story is completed in the Goblet of Fire, it is never clear that there will always be a happy ending. The fifth through seventh films all end with the loss of important characters. They are not going to be magically resurrected like Spock in the science fiction films of Star Trek. We see them briefly in many other contexts, but it is clear they are gone and it is the work of Voldemort.

The first time I saw part one of Deathly Hallows, I was uncertain about how I felt about the movie. It does not feel complete, there were many sections of introspective sadness hanging over it, and the friendship of our three heroes was tested in dramatic ways. It really is a lot of set up for the final movie. The more I watched it however the clearer it became that it was an excellent film. There are some great sequences and the actors step forward as adults for the first time. It is an adult story that is only possible if you went on the journey through the previous stories as well. Thursday night, we went to a screening of Part One at nine o’clock, to be followed by the mid-night screening of part two. This was a smart choice on our part because it really is one long story and they fit together so well. There are payoffs that come in part two that mean more because you just saw the first part. The characters growth was easier to see and the drama is more satisfying.

Speaking of long set ups, it is now time to get to our current film. If you have read any of my postings before, you know that I go out of my way to avoid spoilers. I don’t want to recap the whole story in a couple of paragraphs and then give you a thumbs up or down. I will stick to that formula, but be aware that some elements of the films quality can only be discussed in the context of story. I don’t want to be the tool that drives by a Harry potter Book Release line, shouting out that “_____________ dies”. So, there is a fairly quick but very well conceived raid on Gringott’s to retrieve another Horcrux. The visuals on this actually exceed my imagination from reading the book. The sequence does not have a huge amount of suspense in it because it is happening so early in the film, we know that it is a step and not a destination. It was still quite exciting and it resolved the plot points of Olivander and the Goblins, quickly and efficiently. There were so many stories from the book that were essential to the action, I was not sure they could do them and make the movie work. Dumbledore’s brother and family background are covered in the minimum amount necessary. The whole issue of his connection to the Deathly Hallows and his victory over the Dark wizard Grindlewald are basically expunged. The movie ships large segments of Hogwarts activities to keep the story on Harry but we get some fantastic visualizations of a student life under the cloud of death eater control of the Ministry of Magic and the school. Just a couple of long shots of students marching to the Great Hall, convey the essentials of what has been going on. The back story of the Hogwarts resistance is also lost and we dive into Harry’s return to the school and the final confrontation very quickly.

Two fast audience rousing moments occur almost immediately. Harry reveal himself and McGonnagal shows us that she is a formidable opponent not only for the students but adults as well. There was a great cheer when Snape is driven out of the Hall. It is also so interesting that within a short time we reverse our positions and our view of Snape is altered forever. I wanted the sequence with Snape and his memories to live up to my imagination, and the screenwriter and actor do that exactly. This film series has been top notch but has largely been ignored by the film industry when it comes to awards. It is my hope that Alan Rickman will become the actor that receives recognition for his work in the series at next years award season. He has built this character so carefully and in line with the books that when his chance to make it comes, it pays off in spades. As powerful as Harry’s story is, and the tears that came with Hedwig and Dobby, this is the most emotional plot element in the series. The coda segment in the book is one section I cannot read out loud without my voice breaking. The few sentences we get 19 years after the end of the story are the most moving tribute to a character I can imagine. If all of us could see the past as clearly we would all be better people.

I looked forward to several moments in the film, and not all of them made it into the story. The battle for Hogwarts actually takes up most of the movie and there is still not time to tell everything. I will say that Mrs. Weasly lived up to my imagination in her fury at Belatrix LaStrange. Malfoy’s situation was actually more satisfying to me in the film than in the books. He is still not anyone that you would love, but Harry and Ron’s capacity for goodness is illustrated in the most difficult of curcumtances and there was a final benefit that plays it’s part in the ultimate confrontation with harry and Voldemort. Neville Longbottom is a character that is so much richer in the books and was largely shunted aside in the movies. He does however get to be the figure he deserves in a key role in the battle. Remember the sword of Griffindor can present itself to any worthy Griffindor in time of need and we know definitively that Neville is worthy after what we see here.

The whole sequence of Harry’s confrontation with Voldemort is done in great style and give Daniel Radcliffe a chance to show he is a real actor. He has grown immensely as a performer, and his maturity has matched the stories very well. He needs to be the central Hero and he comes off as heroic, not like someone playing at being a hero, but like someone ready to make an incredible sacrifice. Ralph Finnes, invisible behind the make-up and digital magic, makes Voldemort a more complete villain. There were several points in the eight movies where we got a chance to see how he became what he was. At an early point in the series, Dumbledore tells Harry that it is our choices that define us. We see several places where Tom Riddle made the wrong choices and sealed his doom as Lord Voldemort. Fiennes make an all powerful dark wizard frightening but also incredibly needy. There is a skilled performer there that is not just cashing a paycheck or working out of a sense of obligation to a project he was invited to be a part of. He works the part and gets results that lesser actors would make into a cliche.

Back after the third film came out there was talk that Emma Watson might not do the rest of the films. We are so lucky she stayed on board because the chemistry she and Radcliffe and Rupert Gint have together as Heromine, Harry and Ron, sustains a lost of exposition and quick storytelling. Ron’s character is a grown up at the end as well, and another one of those satysfying audience moments is the kiss Hermione and Ron share briefly during the battle. It did not come off as contrived but rather quite genuine. The one key player in the ten year span of the films that had to be replaced was Richard Harris as Dumbledore. I would never say his death was a blessing, but it did lead to a strong actor being cast in a role very effectively. In the long run Michael gambon will always be the Dumbledore that I see in my head as I re-read the books. He was here in the pensive and in a sustained sequence in the afterlife. All of those moments were stronger because he was there.

I am incredibly happy with the way the films have come out. I do like some better than others but all have been amazing. To tell this story as we see the main charcters actually grow up in front of us is one of the great serendipitious achievements of all cinema history. To mount these movies in a ten year period and sustain the quality and committment to the stories is something we may never see again. I am very sad to be saying goodby to everyone in this series. When we were seated in the theater, my wife and I sat next to each other but to be in the row we wanted, we ended up seperated from our kids (now 23 and 24)by the wheelchair spaces. Dolores asked Amanda if she wanted to sit next to me, but she said that she wanted to sit next to her sister as her childhood came to an end. I am so gald we all got to share this experience for the last ten years together. We will see this again with some friends that we have gone to all the other films with, but our family history with Harry potter is now complete. My heart was full but a little heavy as my fatherhood with just kids also closes.

We have been very busy the last few days and I have fallen a bit behind on our Robert Shaw Festival posting. We actually watched this on Sunday. I had a copy for years on VHS, but you know where that has gone, so when I was out a couple of weeks ago, I decided to spring for a new Blu-ray of the film. It looks very solid and except for the lack of extras was a pretty good value.

Force 10 From Navarone is supposed to be a sequel to the Guns of Navarone which was made 17 years earlier. there is a brief two minute intro that summarizes the goal of the commando unit in taking out the guns and then puts two of our actors into the scenario. I could not remember if their characters had the same names as Gregory Peck and David Niven, but I think that was the inference. This time the commando squad has been turned into an assassination team, on its way to eliminate a traitor that has ruined several operations in the Yugoslavian Theater of war WWII. Events bring this team together with an American sabotage mission headed by Harrison Ford’s character.

The plot is not in any hurry to get to the action. There is an espionage element and some culture clash along the way. We get double and triple crosses as the team penetrates into areas controlled by the Nazis but also fought over by partisans fighting a guerrilla war in the Slavic areas. This was a very old fashioned war story even for 1978 standards. I know I took Dolores to see it in 1978 because we were big Star Wars fans and it had Ford in his first starring role after the space epic. Robert Shaw must have also been a favorite because I saw almost all of his films, but I don’t remember that he was the star that brought me into those movies.

Shaw is the lead in the film, but his part is so standard that he could do it in his sleep, and he doesn’t get much chance to shine here. There are some good sardonic asides and a couple of brief action bits, but nothing that was very memorable. I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night and I thought Shaw would have been terrific as “Mad Eye” Moody. So there was not a lot to add to his legacy from this movie. It is enjoyable but it tends to meander. Shaw’s best lines are the last lines in the film and they do try to remind us that heroics are not always about getting the job done, there is a lot more that has to come afterwards as well. Check out the poster below and see how the marketing tries to take advantage of a lot of other films that are more memorable. There are so many Bond veterans here that Cubby Broccoli should have gotten a piece of the action.

Where Have The Theater Ushers Gone?

She was the most important female political figure of the 2oth Century. She may well have saved Great Britain, and along with Ronald Reagan, she pulled Europe out of the clutches of the Iron Curtain. I want a serious biography and Meryl Streep is the right actress to do this part. I hope it is not a political hatchet job.

Somewhere, there sits a group of people who cannot imagine any reason to see a movie like this. They smugly dismiss romantic comedies. They believe movies should be targeted at the young. The worst offense a film like this commits in their eyes however is that it fails to be edgy. A film, from the point of view of these people should make us uncomfortable and challenge our points of view. Many of the people in this group, are motion picture producers and executives. As a result we get comic book movies, films that purport to be romantic but are actually sex fantasies that are given a romantic spin, and comedies that use every adjective imaginable as long as it starts with an F, has a compound word starting with F, or features an actor or actress known for something other than acting.

The word of mouth on this movie was not good. On the Mark and Brian radio show, I heard Mark badmouth it just from the trailer. It was a news article that Larry Crowne got a lower Rotten Tomatoes score than did the new Transformers movie. I like comic book, edgy, and raunchy as much if not more than the next person. The problem is that if you dismiss a movie for lacking those things, you will miss many pleasant experiences, that while not always important, do sustain us, much like daily conversation with co-workers does. I am probably part of the target audience for this modestly made adult comedy. I’m over 50, I like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, I worry about the economy and I sometimes ask myself are there second chances if I screw this up this late in my life? Two years ago, “Up in the Air”, brought us some similar themes and George Clooney in a sour love story that was biting and timely. Larry Crowne has some of the same themes, but lacks the dark undertone of the Clooney film. It lacks this for a very good reason, it means to entertain us rather than provoke deep self reflection. It is a nice way to spend a couple of hours with some old friends, and not feel like you were beat up for making the effort.

Unlike “Up in the Air”, the only nudity featured is an silly moment with Hanks in his underwear, and it had nothing to do with sex. This story about middle aged people working on their second chances, does not try to draw us in with visuals of good looking people past their prime, trying to fake being sexy. There is attraction because the characters see something in the other person that they want for themselves. They don’t cheat on their spouse, use sex as a bargaining tool, or lie as a way of manipulating others. It is romantic in nature, but it does not follow the cookie cutter model of so many contemporary romances. There are the requisite cute meets, and the secondary characters that are interesting but undeveloped. You get no explosions, physical or emotional, no snarky insight on politics, and you will not feel assaulted by being in the company of the film maker.

Tom Hanks directed and co-wrote this movie. The previous film that he wrote and directed was “That Thing You Do”, which is a perfect piece of charming storytelling. This movie has a lot of charm, but it’s narrative is a lot lazier than the 1996 musical. There a lot in this movie that feels real, but it is all layered in Tom Hanks persona and Julia Roberts smile. I liked George Takei as the econ professor, and Ian Gomez as Larry’s buddy with the coffee shop. Takei gets a bit more of a chance to shine, his part is fleshed out more. Larry’s friends in the scooter club are fun, but you can clearly see that he enjoys them but also knows he is not a kid just winging it like they are. Bryan Cranston plays Julia Roberts husband, who while not a complete douche, is a big enough pig that it is clear why he must ultimately be pushed out of the picture. Pam Grier is always a welcome presence, and here she is used just enough that you feel she is a friend and not just an opportunity for the character to engage in some exposition.

I heard ELO and Tom Petty on the soundtrack in several places. The musical cues work for me. Some one that wants edgy would be looking for a less obvious new talent and unfamiliar songs that make the same points. They would find the comfort in this music off-putting because of it’s obviousness. I found the right amount of Tom Petty Charm matched with Tom Hanks’ good nature, to make me smile. I teach Speech at a Community College like Roberts character, I know the students that are shown in her class. Some of you reading this are probably that guy, you know, the good natured stoner kid that has some ability but is not focused enough to get out of school what you could. The three or four teachers you see in this movie, sound a lot like the colleagues I work with. The returning students, who all actually read the material, are familiar to me as well.

We get a school based comedy, with a mild romantic plot, centered around a downsized returning student and it takes place in a speech class much of the time. You add the two appealing stars, the galaxy of welcome supporting players and the guidance of a guy like Hanks, who knows what his strengths are, and you get a movie like Larry Crowne. It is adult in the way that once meant adult, without the necessity of an R rating. It won’t be remembered as a great film, but it is a nice way to spend a couple of hours, without having to be a hipster or endure eardrum shattering explosions in completely unnecessary 3-D.

If you have seen this clip before, than you already know the power of Robert Shaw as an actor in the perfect role. I am sure you have heard it said in a dozen other places, but when the history of acting awards is written, this will be the biggest glaring omission ever. This four minute scene is sufficient in itself to have impressed anyone who cares about film acting. It is the go to piece from this film. I have nothing but respect for everyone involved in putting this piece of cinematic art on the big screen for us to enjoy, chew on, and be horrified by. There are however a number of other reasons that this is the ultimate Robert Shaw film role.

Let me start by pointing out that in the first hour of the movie, Shaw’s character Quint can be seen only twice. One of those is a passing shot as he looks derisively at the weekend warriors who have shown up to try and catch the shark that Mrs. Kitner has put a bounty on. This comes a few moments after his earlier scene and reminds us of the earnest, self righteous, and totally commanding presence his character promises to be. We are left to wait until half the movie is over to see him again and have that promise fulfilled. The shipboard scene in the harbor lasts a few seconds. The two minutes he gets as an introduction came just before this and sets up our tension as much as the shark attacks do.

Many characters have been given incredible entrances into the stories they are a part of. Omar Sharif appears as a speck against a desert horizon, coming closer and dominating the scene by the time he arrives. Hannibal Lecter is the bogeyman we are warned about and frightened of before we ever see him, but when he is revealed, standing in the middle of a dungeon like cell, with a polite manner and chilling smile, the creep factor is on ten. Darth Vader, strides into the original Star Wars through a cloud of white steam, emerging as a figure of doom clad in black with a voice like a mechanical god. Quint though may take the cake. We know he is there from the terrifying squeal of fingernails dragging across a chalkboard. This may be an experience younger viewers will be unfamiliar with, but anyone who went to school in the 20th Century will know how awful that sound is and will find their own fingers twitching and teeth grimacing as he does what most of us would refrain from doing even if we were being paid. It does the trick though. Quint takes the focus of the town meeting away from the mayor, the police chief, and all the prominent local merchants, and he seizes the moment to make his pitch to the assembled community. He is an Islander, and he does not fit in. He is rough, blunt and cheerily superior in his world to anybody there. Shaw uses a charming grin, to deliver his bitter advice and then makes his exit quickly, like any well trained speaker ought to do. We know another force of nature besides the shark lurks in the waters around Amity, and he will not speak to us again for forty more minutes.

Shaw has three repeating tricks to draw on with this character that he takes full advantage of. In addition to all the best lines and the most interesting character, Shaw gets to punctuate Quint’s impact with song on at least three occasions. As he mocks Hooper’s technical tools, before they leave port, he engages in a sea shanty that refers to doomed fishermen. He sings it joyfully. It is an indicator of his comfort in his superiority in this scenario. Later, as a gesture of good will to traveling companions that may not be up to his standard but have put in a good days work and broken down some barriers, he sings with them, a well know sailing song, that sounds like the wish of every drunken fisherman. One last time he returns to sing the sea shanty, is when he thinks he has the upper hand on the shark and attempts to draw it into the shallows. It was his last moment of confidence in the film.

The second trick the actor gets to use is all his own, it is unscripted and natural. He wears a hat like no one else can in this movie. Sometimes it is down over his eyes giving him a menacing continence, other times it is pushed back in a nearly jocular manner. The actor conveys superiority, dismissiveness and friendliness all with the same action, but when combined with the right tone of voice or facial expression, you will never be in doubt as to which one is being directed your way. The third trick is a tool that I have seen other actors use, but none so naturally as Shaw. He is nibbling on something or drinking something in nearly every scene. An apple slice, a toothpick, a piece of hard cracker, and a can of beer all tell us the characters inner mind. They say “I’m condescending to speak to you”, or “I’m determined and focused”, or simply, “I’m better than you”. Spielberg is the ultimate actor’s director so he probably had a hand in these choices, but Shaw is the man that has to sell them, and he does.

Characters that are well written must be a joy for actors to play, but Shaw may not have had much joy because he apparently was sea sick for much of the shoot. You will not see a sequence in the film though where he does not look at home on the boat or a part of the sea. There were other actors considered for the part before he was given the role, and everyday we need to be thankful that they could just not work it out. As a consequence of their inability to make room for themselves in Jaws, they made room for Robert Shaw in the eternity of great actors meshed with great parts.

This is one of the films from the Seventies that did not make my original project because it was not a summer release. It sure feels like one though, it is breezy, clever and gets by with charm and wit galore. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture, beating out my favorite that year “The Exorcist”. If it ultimately deserves that honor or not is really not relevant to this post. I will say that there is nothing to be ashamed of if you love this movie, because in addition to the qualities I mentioned just now, it has Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and our featured star this week Robert Shaw.

Shaw plays Doyle Lonnegan, the gangster the grifters target in the movie for ordering the killing of their friend. This character is despicable from the moment we see him in a half shadowed profile, giving the ambiguous murder warrant for the two con men who took one of his numbers runners. He is a joyless golfer and a grinding businessman,which makes him a bit hard to crack. The research the con artists dig up suggest that ambition is his only flaw and that he might warm to or at least recognize the ambition of another up and comer. Oh, and he cheats at cards. This gives us the lead to follow for the rest of the story as each segment of the narrative is labeled with a title card, “The Hook”, “the Set Up”, “the Tale”, etc. This willingness to cheat at cards give the scam a way to push Lonnegan into behaviors he would otherwise avoid.

The first pivotal sequence with Shaw is on the train to Chicago, in a high stakes poker game. He is a humorless man, playing a game with others, not for the joy of it but as a mechanic, tweeking the engine of his ambition and taking advantage of others. Shaw plays him as a sour mirthless automaton, seeking only the next chance to take someone himself. The most volatile scene he has comes when he expresses to his underling the frustration that he can’t call out Gondorf, Newman’s character, for being a better cheat than he is. His instinct is to have him killed, but his pride is what calls him back from the rash act and ultimately means he has taken the bait.

You don’t get to the top of the rackets by being stupid, and Lonnegan is suspicious all along the way. The con artists are able to exploit that by using his own suspicions as a way of building up their own credibility. They play loose with a couple of his last minute demands and surprises, and allow him to talk himself into everything they ultimately want. Shaw is cheerless in each false victory that gives him confidence. His curt manner with his new partner, reminds us of why we want this Son of a Bitch to go down. When he demands that Redford’s character accept a ride from the train station, if I had been Redford’s character, my testicles would have crawled up inside me, and my bladder would feel tight. It is clear from the way the character is written and that Shaw plays him, that this is a venomous snake, best to stay away from but to which he must stick to make the sting work.

It seems like Shaw played more villains than heroes in his career. Most of his facial expressions clarify exactly why, he has a cold eyed look that seems pitiless. His voice is often controlled and low key, with just an edge of menace. He did a fine job in this film, but the star of the movie is first the plot, then the two leads, and finally the surprises. It is often said that a movie is only as good as the bad guy is allowed to be. That makes this a pretty good film. Shaw does not overplay it or draw attention to his work. He is loathsome, but not in the showy manner that so many of today’s actors (John Travolta, Gary Oldman) seem to be. The closest he comes is at the end when he is frustrated about the outcome of his gamble, but if you lost a bucket load of money you might raise your voice just a bit too.

I’m quite excited to write about this film for many reasons. First of all, I am a Bond fan, dyed in the wool, 100%, even enjoying Moonraker. I saw my first 007 film in 1967 or 68. It was a double feature with Thunderball, and my memory tells me I saw it second. I started reading the books then as well. I know we had them in a cupboard in the house we lived in in East L.A., and we moved out of that house in 1969, so I was reading them by age ten or eleven. For most of my life, From Russia with Love has been my favorite Bond film and book. While it is still my favorite of the original Fleming novels, as the years have passed, I grew to appreciate the audacity of the film making in Goldfinger, so From Russia with Love slid down to number 2. Of course that is number two out of twenty-three so still pretty good.

One of the major things that this film has going for it is the character of Donald “Red” Grant, played by our featured star this week, Robert Shaw. Shaw was in his mid thirties when he played this role, at the peak of his physical condition, and he had a face of granite, that mirrored the character perfectly. Casting can make a movie work so well sometimes, that it is a wonder to me that it is not Awarded at the Oscars on a regular basis. Whoever made this decision made the movie work twice as well as it would have otherwise. The character dominates the movie from the opening pre-title set up, to the last moment he is on screen. In fact his character dispatches Bond in the first minute and fifty-three seconds of the film. Those of you who know the film know what I am talking about.

What is especially impressive of Shaw’s performance, is that he has no lines for the first hour and a half of the movie. In fact, there are really only three scenes that he speaks in. All of which have been set up well by the script and the director, but the anticipation of the confrontation owes a substantial amount to the actor. He refers to himself at one point as Bond’s guardian angel. His character has hovered in the background for most of the film, a grim Spectre , looking over 007’s shoulder and waiting for his chance to strike while denying anyone else the same opportunity. The lack of a smile, the silent stalking and the tough exterior leave us waiting for the confrontation that we know must ultimately come.

Shaw plays it cool from the beginning of the film, even though his character is supposed to be a homicidal maniac. He is kept on a tight leash but all the time we can see that he is itching to take Bond down. His eyes narrow to a squint when he first spots Bond at the airport and joins in the spy v. spy game they play in Istanbul. When he breaks the rules of the game by killing a Russian surveillance man,there is only a slight hint of satisfaction on his face as he knows that Bond and his ally Kerim Bey will be blamed. One of the most tense scenes right before he and Bond meet occurs as Grant haunts Bond on the Orient Express. When James gets off the train in Belgrade to contact his local support, Grant is right over his shoulder, still on the train, often seen only as a reflection in the glass, like a true ghost waiting to wreak havoc. He keeps his cool as we see him displace the real agent Nash, the only indicator of the violence is the way he slips on his gloves as he leads the unwitting Nash to the water-closet.

Once he makes contact with Bond, Shaw uses his voice and plays the proper Englishman for as long as necessary. The despairingly used phrase “Old Man”, is the one way he can needle Bond before he can give up his cover. Shaw makes it sound condescending but not so deliberately that it would tip Bond off. When confronted red handed for drugging Tania, Grant /Shaw uses the right tone to convey that it is all part of the plan and that Bond can relax. That soothing tone works just long enough for James to drop his guard and then Grant attacks. Once he is in control of the situation, you can begin to see the monster that was there all the time. The cold blooded look returns and it is accompanied by a hostile twinkle in the eye that should be bone chilling. Still Bond toughs it out, all he needs is a chance to even the odds and he will be OK.

Once the fight starts, you know that it is seriously going to do some damage to your psyche. These are not cowboy punches thrown at arms length. There is wrestling, and karate, and blows to the solar plexus, that we know Grant can take from earlier. Bond needs to kick and grab and throw his opponent to have any kind of a chance. Ultimately we see that Shaw’s character has his favorite weapon at hand, a garote that emerges from his watch and he nearly gets Bond around the neck. It is a single hand caught between the garote and his neck that gives James a chance to access his own back up, a throwing knife secreted in the briefcase provided by Q Branch. Bond gets a chance to reverse the noose and suddenly Grant is caught in his own device, learning first hand the destiny he has brought to so many others.

So, simply put, Shaw’s performance enhances this film and makes the final confrontation the true climax of the picture. There is a helicopter chase, a boat chase, explosions and poisoned tipped shoes that all come after this, but none of them seem like a real threat because Bond has already taken out the toughest opponent imaginable. I think Tania Romanov was the second most beautiful Bond girl after Solitaire, and I think the briefcase is the second greatest gadget Bond ever got from Q, after the Aston-Martin with ejector seat. So my second favorite Bond has my second favorite gadget and second favorite Bond girl, but it also has the greatest of opponents in Bond’s 22 movies so far. That is why this film deserves to be in the Robert Shaw Film festival.

Both Sean Connery and Robert Shaw will Return in,

Robin and Marion