Flight of the Phoenix

A few weeks ago I watched Flight of the Phoenix, a 1965 adventure movie based on the novel of the same name. I found the movie to be very strong, extremely underrated on the whole and with Jimmy Stewart as the star, a fantastic movie.

The movie begins with Frank Towns flying a cargo plane across the top of Africa to land in Benghazi, Libya. Towns played by Jimmy Stewart is a veteran pilot, grizzled and a bit surly, one gets the sense there is a backstory for the man. His navigator is the Richard Attenborough played Lew Moran. Getting caught in a sandstorm Towns is forced to crash land in the middle of nowhere. Much worse having attempted to evade the storm they are one hundred miles off course and so not in the path of any would be searchers.

With one man severely injured and two dead Towns is racked with grief. The survivors are a motley lot. Oil field workers, British soldiers, and others involved in the oil industry including an accountant and a company Doctor. Also among the survivors is a rude, arrogant, German aeronautics engineer. Eventually he approaches Towns by saying he can create an aircraft out of the viable remains of the plane that crashed.

As time passes and the water and supplies run dangerously low Towns, who had been against any cannibalization of his aircraft thinking it could not be done, agrees to the plan. He is convinced by Moran that even if it will not work the survivors need to believe in something while they await being found.

The movie follows a fairly predictable path from there. Personality conflicts, the loss of a man here and there until eventually the plane is ready. With a limited amount of starter cartridges to fire the plane there is a real danger all the work will come to naught. On the eve of the test Towns and Moran discover that their German engineer is aero engineer of model aircraft. Incredulous they realize they have no choice but to keep their own counsel and move forward. This is a last attempt at survival.

It will not be giving anything away to say that of course eventually they are successful, Jimmy Stewart does not often die in his movies, but the movie does do a good job of building suspense and introducing us to characters that are credible and worthy of our care and investment.

The movie is filmed wonderfully, the desert scenes, the endless blue skies. The grizzled, unshaven, sweaty survivors leave no doubt of where they are and have been, this is no pleasure cruise. A wonderfully filmed and executed movie. Perfect for a long snowy Saturday afternoon.

Strangers on a Train

This 1951 Hitchcock movie is fantastic. In the late fifties Jimmy Stewart became the go to guy for many of the Hitchcock movies but this movie, being earlier, in the decade had no one in the cast I had ever heard of.

No matter, one thing I have learned from watching Alf red's movies is that they are all fantastic and this movie is nothing short of that.

Centering on a chance meeting between a young tennis pro named Guy Haines. Played by Farley Granger, Haines is married to a crass, adulterous, woman and wants a divorce so that he too can marry the daughter of a Senator he has been dating. As a slightly famous person Haines is not shocked to be recognized on the the train he is traveling by a man named Bruno Anthony. Played brilliantly by Robert Walker Bruno is forward and loud. He discusses the items currently appearing in the gossip columns about Haines wife and his own lovelife.

Guy is uncomfortable with the conversation but allows himself to be drawn in. He is shocked however as the conversation extends to hear Bruno say that the perfect murder would be for two people who do not know each other to swap murders to commit. His reasoning is that with no ties to the victims both crimes would be unsolvable. Haines cuts the conversation short, realizing that the man might well be unbalanced.

We, as the audience, know what is going to happen and we are not disappointed. We see it happen. Soon enough as Haines returns home one night Bruno is waiting for him to tell him that he has completed his half of the deal. Haines shocked and surprised to see Bruno again does not believe Bruno's claims but when the phone rings inside and Bruno tells him that will undoubtedly be the police he realizes what he is caught up in.

What does Guy do? Does he go to the police and confess what he has got caught up in. Or does he get sucked into the murder plot further and actually commit the unspeakable act.

With some great scenes set around an amusement park Hitchcock again brings all the moving parts together to an exciting ending. He was perhaps the greatest filmmaker of his time and it is surprising in a way how little he is referenced as one of the greats. Perhaps thrillers are not considered as worthy of the great epics such as the works of David Leen. More likely in our now is better culture we revere the works of Spielberg and Malick, both great directors, and forget who came before.

This is a wonderful movie.

Two Rode Together

Jimmy Stewart made some incredible movies in the fifties, his run of movies in which he teamed with Alfred Hitchcock became some of the most important movies ever made. Still by the early sixties Stewart was back making Westerns, he made a ton in his career, and one would have had high hopes for a 1961 Western directed by the remarkable John Ford.

One would think this combination would make something special but Two Rode Together is far from it. Watchable, anything with Jimmy Stewart is watchable, the movie is the story of a lazy sheriff Guthrie McCabe who is coerced into leading a mission to ransom some white settlers stolen over the years by Cherokee Indians. Certainly this story has been told before in Western's, The Searchers, might be the best example of the premise, or of the Western itself.

Stewart's McCabe would rather not go but convinced by an Army Captain he can take bribes and ransom from the families he proceeds. Richard Widmark appears as his friend and Army LT Jim Gary, and off they go. In arriving at the settlement of family members they are greeted as conquering heroes.

Shirley Jones plays a young woman whose brother was kidnapped years ago. Young in this movie it is remarkable for those of us who grew up with her as Mother Partridge how attractive she really was, in a fresh faced Noxzema commercial kind of way. Not that you would have trouble knowing what was coming with this plot line but in case you do watch the movie box she owns very carefully.

In the end the negotiations are held, Stewart brings back a couple of captives, Sheriff McCabe is not really such a mercenary as he appears and along the way we learn a lesson about prejudice.

I love Jimmy Stewart ao it's not a terrible movie, still one might have expected more from a Ford/Stewart combination.

Shenandoah

This 1965 movie stars Jimmy Stewart. There might not be an actor that I enjoy more than Jimmy Stewart. Stewart plays Charlie Anderson, a Virginia widower with six sons. Living an idyllic, yet lonely without his wife, life running the family farm Charlie Anderson wants to keep his sons out of the Civil War.

Watching this movie one sees several people that are faces you recall from other TV shows. There is Dabs Greer and Kevin Hagen later to be Reverend Alden and the Doctor on Little House on the Prairie. Denver Pyle, later to be Uncle Jesse on the Dukes of Hazzard and John Wayne's oldest son Patrick Wayne also appear.

The story itself is fairly predictable. Charlie Anderson, somehow, inexplicably so, has managed to get through four years of the civil war in Virginia with no damage to his home or his family. Still he is facing pressure from his community as to why his sons are not in the war.

Eventually the family does become, against their will, in the war. The youngest son having been mistaken for a Confederate Soldier is taken prisoner. Anderson decides to go looking for him and on the way more heartache is in store.

Oscar worthy the movie is not. Still the scenery is nice and Jimmy Stewart is worth the price of admission for any movie he is in. Interestingly the anti war sentiment was thought to be a correlation to Vietnam but the timing of 1965, when the war was widely supported and Stewart's stalwart Conservative record makes it unlikely he would have knowingly particpated in a movie with such an obvious corralary.

Worth watching.

It's a Wonderful Life

How many times have we all seen this movie. Five times? Ten Times? More? Yet tonight we watched it again. Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. Donna Reed as his wife Mary. Bert, Ernie, Uncle Billy and Mr. Potter.

The story has become a Christmas story but it is not really. The day that the major event takes place is Christmas Eve but it could be any day. Jimmy Stewart is extremely likable as George Bailey. A man who as a youth had many dreams and they all consisted of getting out of the one horse town of Bedford Falls but continually gets pulled back. First the death of his father, then his brother's decision to marry and even losing his honeymoon when there is a run on the bank.


We have all seen it so why do we watch it. Why do I watch it. I love Jimmy Stewart. Donna Reed was bueatiful and wholesome and fun to watch. As Clarence writes in his gift to George at the end of the movie, any man with friends is a rich man. George Bailey is as his brother toasts him " the richest man in town." A good and decent man, a man involved in his community. Today with the reputation of bankers around that of Congress the idea of a bank executive such as Stewart's George Bailey seems unlikely. It was unlikely for that time too however.

I teared up tonight watching the end. You know whats coming, still the look of Donna Reed's face lit up with joy as friends help them out, his brothers toast, even the bank examiner chipping in to help....it is a story we enjoy because who would not like to entertain the thought that when in trouble that many people would come to help them. Karma says you reap what you sow and for too many of us we are afraid what might come to us in our reaping.

George Bailey is a man we can all love. A man we could all strive to be.

It's a Wonderful Life is a morality tale told with sugar and not with spice. A great movie. I will watch it again next year.

Anatomy of a Murder

This film from 1959 is a great courtroom drama. Directed by Otto Preminger, starring Jimmy Stewart as Paul Biegler, the former prosecuting attourny in Iron City, Michigan who defeated for reelection has become an expert fly fisherman.

Biegler is asked by Laura Mannion to defend her husband, Army Lt Mannion on a murder charge. The murder of which there is no doubt comes about as a result of the rape of the Leuitentant's wife by Ben Quill the owner of a local bar.

Lee Remick plays Mrs. Mannion and she exudes sensuality to say the least. She is flirtatious and everything she says could be interpreted as a come on. That said she insists she was attacked and that she had never been a loose woman.

The court case plays out over the last 90 minutes of the movie. It is well told with the predictable characterizations of the raped woman, how she was dressed, questioning her morals and the avenging husband as a jealousy crazed lover.

Stewart plays well Stewart. The scenes of him stammeringly trying to control Mrs. Mannion as she affects her charms on him are funny while not meaning to be. In many of Stewart's films he plays that caricature of himself we have seen so often. Still in this movie it works so well.

In 1959 this movie dealt with rape and sexuality in a very brave way. This issue is mirrored by the discussion of panties that are missing after the rape. They later turn up in a key way. Still the movie is kept tasteful and with a level of decorum we certainly would not find today.

The movie has a twist. We never are really sure if Lt. Mannion beat his wife causing the bruisies and thus bringing about the rape charge. One interpretation of an earlier scene in the movie could imply that both Mannion's had been " stepping out". Biegler, after leading the defendant toward an insanity plea proceeds to win his case but perhpas always be left wondering what the true nature of the crime was.

A neat twist at the ending and a great cast with Lee Remick, Ben Gazerra, and George C Scott leading the way.

This is a great, riveting movie.

The Far Country

Watched this old Jimmy Stewart western the other day. It appears that after the Hitchcock movie era Stewart went back and played in quite a few Westerns.

In this movie Stewart joined Walter Brennan as two men determined to take a herd of cattle to the town of Dawson in Northern Alaska to take advantages for the inflationary prices for beef.

They run into some bad characters on this trip and Stewart is actually on the run from a trumped up hanging charge.

Not a great movie, barely a good one. But for me Jimmy Stewart makes it worthwhile.

Broken Arrow

Watched another Western with one of my favorite actors Jimmy Stewart. In this movie a man helps a young wounded Apache boy back to health and slowly earns the trust of Cochise and his Apaches. He plays peacemaker, falls in love and in the end peace is accomplished.

It is a predictable story and white men playing Indians seems kind of lame. Seeing Will Geer 22 years before the Waltons is kind of funny.

Still anything with Jimmy Stewart is worth watching and this is too.

Who Shot Liberty Valance

Watched this movie yesterday. It was on the TIVO from a recent Turner Classic Movies and it was a great movie. Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne with Lee Marvin as the the gunslinger Liberty Valance. This was a John Ford western shot in black and white. In 1962 they certainly had color available but the director felt that color would add nothing to the story.

Jimmy Stewart was an incredible actor in this movie. The rivalry over the girl between Stewart and Wayne's character was very good but yet Wayne still did the right thing in the end. Of course we always expect John Wayne to do the right thing.

At the end of the movie Rance ( played by Stewart) and his wife are leaving on the train and it Rance asks his wife who left the cactus rose on Tom Donovan's ( played by Wayne) coffin. She tells him she did and he looks at her and is about to say something else and is interrupted by the train conductor and we never know what he was going to ask.

Jimmy Stewart made some incredible movies and is one of my favorite actors. This movie was another of his best.

Rating: 8.5