The French Connection

The French Connection was a 1971 police drama that won the Oscar for Best Picture and for it's star, Gene Hackman, the Oscar for Best Picture. This movie could serve as Example One of Hackman as the most underrated actor of his generation. Yes he won the Oscar here and received multiple awards but still when the list of greats is named Gene Hackman is never on the list.

In this movie Hackman plays Popeye Doyle, a Detective in New York City. He and his partner Buddy Russo, Roy Schneider, through a chance discovery in a bar, become suspicious of a big time heroin shipment coming into the city.

The movie begins with Alain Charnair, A Frenchman in Marseilles who is a major drug smuggler. With an ingenious plan to bring in over one hundred pounds of heroin he has made contact with Sal Boca, a small time hood who now is looking to make a big score. Acting as a go between between the Frenchman and Sal Weinstock a wealthy financier suspected of being linked to previous drug deals.

It takes awhile for the movie to come together, for the various plot points to all make sense. It does come together however. Schneider is very good in his role, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor, and Hackman easily deserved his Oscar.

A brilliant car chase in this movie, a race between Doyle in his commandeered sports car and a sniper taking refuge on a elevated train is one of the best I have seen.

As good as the movie was, and it was very good, I am not sure it is Oscar worthy. As it was based on a true story the ending could not be one in which we had a nice neat package. In real life that did not happen and it did not here. The movie, however was very influential, one of the first procedurals to have this level of grit and be rewarded. In fact it was the first R rated movie to ever win the Oscar.

I have now ordered French Connection Two and look forward to seeing how the story culminates.

A very good movie.

The Last Resort

Last Thursday night ABC debuted this new series. Starring Andre Braugher as Captain Marcus Chaplin. Chaplin is the Captain of the nuclear submarine the USS Colorado. The show has been given good reviews and most critics have said that the premise of the show is promising.

It's time slot is very challenging as it is against The Big Bang Theory and The X Factor but I, for one, after watching one episode, can tell you that I will be watching.

The first fifteen minutes of this series are as good an opening as any show that you will ever see. The premise is quite simple. The Captain and his XO,played by Scott Speedman are on uneventful cruise when they receive an order to fire nuclear missiles at Pakistan. The orders are verified, but, coming as they do through a second channel from Antarctica both Captain Chaplin and XO Kendal question them. After all the second channel is only to be used were the primary channel unable to be used, for example, should Washington be flattened. This does not appear to be the case as a satellite check of communications shows all the networks with regular programming.

Ships captains are supposed to follow orders but when Captain Chaplin states that Hannah Montana is still on the air so he does not understand why we are firing nuclear missiles.

Soon enough Chaplin is ordered relieved from command and the XO takes over. However when he also questions the orders and requests the orders through the primary channel their ship is fired upon, by a United States ship.

From there the crew itself is divided, some feel simply that orders should have been followed, some are with their captain. The submarine comes ashore at a small French Island in the Indian Ocean that is equipped with a NATO station. Soon they discover that their sinking has been blamed on Pakistan and that retaliatory missiles have been fired at that country.

In short all hell has broken loose. Andre Braugher is a wonderful actor and he portrays a man full of righteous anger and indignation better than perhaps anyone else. The show in this first episode strives to make a big impression and it does, to do so perhaps some of the scenes are a little over the top, certainly it is hard to imagine a coup in the United States of some sort that has us firing at our ships. Certainly however we must face the fact that something like this could happen, for a variety of reasons, and it is at least likely that we would not as citizens know about it. It would be hidden or a cover story laid down.

This show might find a hard trail ratings wise, still I will be watching and it is my hope that others will as well. This was described as a combination between Lost and 24 and that seems an apt description. I am on board and hoping that the show can maintain this level of excitement.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

This is one of those books we have all heard referenced a thousand times. Jack London who was one of the great writers at the turn of the twentieth century writing both short stories and novels. Call of the Wild might well be his most famous and popular novel.

After having read the short story To Build a Fire I had placed more of London's work on my list and so recently had started this book.

One quarter of the way in I have come to a very relevant point. The book is told from the point of view of Buck, a very proud and strong husky dog. It is still, however, a book told from the point of view of Buck, a husky dog.

I find the writing to be clunky and frankly not very good. Perhaps the book was that time and place's version of young adult work. Still held up as a classic I was not aware of this.

This will be one of the few books that I start that I will not be finishing. Consider this a thumbs down.

Duel

This Stephen Spielberg movie is one of his most famous early works. Originally aired as an ABC Movie of the Week in November, 1971 the movie was later cut for distribution in theaters overseas. This movie is considered the movie that launched Speilberg on his way.

A very simple movie it stars Dennis Weaver as an electronics salesman named David Mann. Traveling on a two lane highway he comes up behind an old rusty Peterbilt truck which is going very slow and spewing a great deal of smoke. He passes the vehicle only to soon thereafter have the vehicle pass him and then once in front of him slow down again. From that point on David Mann is terrorized by the truck.

My son when watching it with me kept asking me if this was all there was to the movie. Did something else happen? I explained to him that the key to the movie was the suspense. We see Weaver's character talking to himself, we hear this thoughts to himself as he wonders how he can get out of this predicament. As the movie progresses and the car and truck progress up into the mountains and down through the canyons the situation becomes life threatening. The driver of the truck tailgates, eventually pushing and hitting his car from behind. Forcing him to drive down the mountain faster than he can David Mann struggles to keep control of his car.

At one point Mann stops at a diner and goes into a washroom to clean up and settle himself down. When he returns to the restaurant he notices the truck outside and must contemplate that the driver is with him inside. A strong scene develops where he reviews each customer and wonders if indeed that is the driver.

This movie is simple and for those kids and folks who have watched movies in the last twenty to thirty it may not offer enough. Perhaps so, but in some cases less is more and I think that Spielberg has directed a movie here that can only be seen as underrated and under recognized. This is a very suspenseful movie and makes me miss the movie of the week days when we only had three channels and those channels offered some original movies two to three times a week.

Babel by Mumford and Sons

Continuing this very fruitful fall in new books and music Mumford and Sons released their followup album to last years breakthrough effort. Babel promised to stay true to the original sound with perhaps just a little more fire and rock in some songs, to make them more friendly to the arenas that Mumford's popularity is bringing them to.

I cannot listen to Mumford and Sons without thinking of The Avett Brothers. I suppose just as forty years ago The Beatles and The Stones had separate fan bases one gets the sense that for this new popular sect of music who you prefer of these groups defines you.

Certainly The Avett's have been releasing albums longer than the Mumford Boys. Building a fan base through constant touring and incredible live shows as opposed to having a singularly, surprisingly, breakthrough album probably gives a band more street cred but what is obviously clear is that the quick success of Mumford and Sons can only help The Avett's and the now slew of bands replicating their sound.

The Babel album and The Carpenter albums being released within two weeks of each other gives us a rare chance to critique the leaders of this music as they mirror each other. The Avett album which I reviewed previously was strong and in truth when I reviewed it I think I might not have praised it enough. It's variety of styles and lyrics even in the last two weeks have aged well on me.

The Babel album is also strong. What is clear is that the best songs on the Mumford album have a commercial element, a bigness about them, that the songs on The Avett album do not.

The album debuts with Babel and then two songs later we get the first single I Will Wait. This song is the best song that Mumford has written thus far and with it's demanding guitar work and hallowing choruses is a song that might well top the charts and bring even more fans to this type of music. Lover of the Light is another strong song but the truth is that I have listened to this album at least seven times in the last three days trying to get a sense of it. Much of the time from one listening to the next I do not even remember the songs and their distinctions.

This album is in no way as diverse as what the Avett's are doing and a good number of the songs should be considered no better than filler. Near the end of the album we do hear another very strong song called Below My Feet which will also earn much deserved praise. For me as much as I love I Will Wait and, as I have been singing it all week my kid will attest that it is captured my attention, the most remember-able song on the album is Broken Crown. The song is strong with the violent guitar strumming that Mumford is well known for, their signature sound as it is, and in it they make good use of the f word. They did this on a song in the first album and certainly they are aware that a good segment of their target audience will enjoy hearing a song with the singer frustrated with f-ing things up. The Avett's to my knowledge have not yet made a habit of this strategy. I do not have an opinion either way, it is a difference between them.

This is a very good album, it will easily and deservedly appear on many Top !0 lists later this year. For me, however, the verdict is clear, in any so called competition between Mumford and The Avett's I fall into the Avett camp. With them you get a much stronger sense of who they are and quite sure that success or not they will be who they are. Perhaps it is unfair but I do not know the life expectancy of Mumford and Sons in comparison with the Avett's. Love them both and this is a great album that you should enjoy but my position is clear.

Ray Romano on Parenthood

This show is incredible. It is wonderfully written with a huge likable cast. Before now Craig Nelson has been my favorite actor in the show, his role as Gus, the family patriarch, is wonderful.

In the new season, now three weeks in we are blessed with Ray Romano joining the cast. He plays a photography studio owner who employs Sarah Braverman.

We love Ray Romano in our family, we still rage against the cancellation of Men of a Certain Age, but my wife does not want his character to end up with Sarah. She would prefer Sarah stay with her boy toy, the younger schoolteacher she is currently engaged to. I told her that his fate was sealed when he insisted on being in the family portrait. The Braverman grandmother, played by Bonnie Bedelia, has had a long rule against boyfriends and significant others being in the yearly portrait. One must marry into the picture. Still he talked his way into it and inevitably sealed his fate.

So much is always going on in this show, and this season is no different. Still here is one vote wishing that Ray Romano goes from a guest star on a short arc to a full member of the cast. He is brilliant in everything he does. As we learn more about his character it is interesting to see that Romano can do more than comedy and easy schtick. He is a much more nuanced actor than one would assume.

However it works out this is must see television in our house. Our middle son even comes out of his cave to watch this with us each week. It must be doing something right.

Modern Family and The Middle

These two ABC stalwarts made their season debut last night. As singing shows rule the roost in our house I DVR'd these both the premiere episodes.

Both shows are examples of how tremendously funny a television show can be. Modern Family, which wins award after award each year, is funny, sarcastic and mixes effortlessly between right between your eyes funny and under the radar humor that you have to catch or observe. Last night's episode for example featured a couple of very large stuffed animals apparently copulating on the roof of a car. Who thinks of this stuff?

The Middle on the other hand is surely the less cool of the two shows. While Modern Family features a diverse group of people, including a gay couple with an adopted Chinese baby, The Middle tells us the story of a middle class family in Indiana with the last name Heck. Hollywood loves to celebrate themselves and so The Middle is rarely acknowledged for it's success. Flyover country, it seems, exists in television shows as well.

With that being said The Middle is fantastic television. While I watched the episode this morning I felt like I should resolve to find the hidden cameras in our home as they clearly were stealing all of their ideas from our lives. As the Heck family last night struggled on a thin budget to create memories of their perhaps " one last summer with everybody together" I recalled a conversation with my wife a few months ago where she said the exact same thing. Of course the similarities are clear, they have three kids, we have three kids and the gratifying thing in watching your life on the small screen is realizing that what you are going through with your kids is close to universal. They are not really spying on you, your family life is terribly familiar to all parents.

Modern Family is perhaps slightly more sophisticated in it's humor and I suppose in some parts of the country featuring a gay couple might still be controversial but I don't think in too many places that matters anymore. Ann Romney, for Goodness sake said that the show was her favorite. That of course begged all kinds of follow up questions but to my knowledge they were never asked.

The Middle featuring that white-bread, boring, Indiana family might be more of a challenge to produce. What is true is that a great prejudice exists in our culture amongst the elite against middle class families like the Hecks. Middle class values are claimed to be respected and honored but in many cases it is just lip service and those speaking the words go back to their vacation homes and enjoy their cognac. In short how many social scientists wear flannel and live in Middle America. To them the Middle and the people they portray could be as foreign as aborigines.

Both of these shows are brilliant and I enjoy them both. I suspect that most of the viewers who watch one watch the other. Still I do find it remarkable that with a little bit of thought the two shows can be seen to be portraying many of the divisions in our country. Traditional versus new age families, East and West Coast culture versus flyover country, those who live in huge palatial homes versus those that live in a small, well lived in, ranch house. Indeed in it's simplest terms blue state versus red state.

I enjoy both shows and think most people do not think that deep. Nor should they. Still I suspect that somewhere, right now, a social scientist is writing his dissertation on the subject of the ABC Wednesday night comedies.