Category: Movies

100 Years At the Movies

Movie History Montage

Occasionally, while watching a film on Turner Classic Movies, during the break between movies I’ve caught a wonderful montage of movies throughout history. I am always mesmerized by it.  During the video, I cannot change the channel or turn off the TV. The short montage, called 100 Years At the Movies, takes the viewer through the history of movies up to 1994.

The segment begins with a movie shown in a former shoe store on April 14, 1894. Viewers watched the moving pictures through a slot, making it the first commercial movie in history. With that humble beginning, the motion picture industry has captivated viewers, making us laugh, cry, think, feel, and watch in awe.

The short film 100 Years At the Movies, takes us through that history.  It features short clips from some of the greatest movies during the century. It will remind you of the joy you have received from watching movies. At the same time it will test your memory to try to name as many as you can as they quickly flash by.

Chuck Workman created 100 Years At the Movies for TCM. Check it out.


Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies (Book Review)

    Ann Hornaday Ann Hornaday, who is chief film critic at the Washington Post, recently wrote a book to help viewers understand what they are seeing on the big screen and how to think about what they see.  Her book, Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies (2017), is like a crash college course on appreciating film.

    Hornaday explains in the introduction that the book “Is designed to guide readers through a medium that, as it morphs into an ever more constant presence in our lives, has called upon everyone to be their own most trusted film critics.”

    The book chapters break up various aspects of movies, starting with The Screenplay and Acting all the way through Cinematography, Editing, and Directing.  Each chapter tells the viewer what to watch for to appreciate the good and bad qualities of certain movies.

    Talking Pictures likely will not radically change your understanding of movies.  But Hornaday is not trying to provide the definitive treatise on movie-making.  Instead, Talking Pictures is an easy and enjoyable trip through various aspects of watching and appreciating movies.

    Hornaday writes in an easy-to-understand manner.  One of the best parts of the book is her use of actual movies to illustrate her points.  Most of the films will be familiar to the average movie fan, so the reader will easily understand the examples.  Hornaday also mentions some movies you might not have seen, which will peak your curiosity to seek out those films.  Similarly, at the end of each chapter, Hornaday provides a list of recommended films related to the chapter’s topic.

    If you love movies and want to learn more about how to appreciate and how to talk about film like a movie critic, check out Talking Pictures: How to Watch Movies.

    What is your favorite book about film?  Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Who Was Blaze Foley?

    Blaze Foley If I Could

    Blaze Foley, who was born as Michael David Fuller on December 18, 1949, died less than 40 years later from a gunshot wound on February 1, 1989.  The singer-songwriter never achieved the fame that some of his friends did, but Blaze Foley, as he became known, left us some beauty from his troubled life.

    I ran across Foley’s name recently while reading John Prine: In Spite of Himself by Eddie Huffman. In the book about singer-songwriter John Prine, it mentioned that one of Prine’s recordings I really like was a song written by Blaze Foley.  Prine is quoted about falling in love with the song before realizing that he had known the songwriter many years earlier. The story made me look up more about the man who wrote “Clay Pigeons.”

    Foley also wrote “If I Could Only Fly,” a song Merle Haggard performed for decades before making it the title song on his 2000 album. Foley hung around in that Texas group of songwriters that also included Townes Van Zandt.

    Foley lived an interesting, although short, life.  Townes even wrote a song about Foley (“Blaze’s Blues”) as did Lucinda Williams (“Drunken Angel”).

    Foley was shot dead in 1989 reportedly because he was protecting an old man from being abused by his son.  Foley was only 39.

    Below, Foley performs “If I Could Only Fly” at a friend’s wedding.

    Movies and a Book About Foley

    There are a number of resources to learn more about Foley, such as the book Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley (North Texas Lives of Musician Series), written by Foley’s lover Sybil Rosen about her experiences living with the singer. He wrote “If I Could Only Fly” about her.

    There is a documentary about Foley’s life entitled Duct Tape Messiah (2011 and 2013), with the title referencing Foley’s practice of using duct tape to decorate his clothes. The movie was directed and produced by Kevin Triplett.

    You may find out more about the documentary on the film’s website. There, you may also watch a short version of the film, Duct Tape Messiah.

    Finally, Foley likely will be more well known soon. At the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, a movie about Foley recently garnered significant attention. The movie, Blaze (2018), is directed by and written by Ethan Hawke. Benjamin Dickey stars as Foley. Additionally, Kris Kristofferson plays his father, Alia Shawkat plays Rosen, and singer-songwriter Charlie Sexton plays Townes Van Zandt.

    Although Foley never achieved the fame he deserved during his lifetime, somewhere there is a drunken angel laughing.

    What is your favorite Blaze Foley song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Enrico Caruso on Film

    Caruso MoviesThe great opera singer Enrico Caruso was born in Naples, Italy on February 25, 1873.  Apprenticed to a mechanical engineer when he was 11, Caruso also sang in church, eventually finding his true calling as a great singer.

    Caruso became a popular tenor in Italy before debuting at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1903.  By 1904, he began his American recording career, with records bringing his wonderful voice to more people than could ever see him.

    Before he died in a hotel in Naples on August 2, 1921 at the age of 48, Caruso achieved worldwide fame.  Fortunately, his career coincided with the use of recorded sound so we can still hear his voice today.  The timing was fortunate for Caruso too, as he managed his business affairs well and the recordings made him a wealthy man.

    Below is a recording of Caruso singing “Vesti La Guiba” from Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci (1892).

    But it was the early days of movies. So, even though Caruso appeared in the Paramount Pictures film My Cousin (1918).  Unfortunately, it was a silent film. Still, it is kind of cool to see him act. Check it out.

    The Great Caruso

    I have been to the Metropolitan Opera a number of times. My fondness for opera probably resulted from watching another Caruso movie while I was a kid. Growing up far from any place with an opera, my mom unwittingly introduced me to opera with the movie The Great Caruso (1951).

    So, when I picture Caruso, I always think of him looking like Mario Lanza, who did an excellent job portraying Caruso in the movie. Many future opera stars were also inspired by their exposure to Lanza, who also died at a young age (38). In this scene, Lanza sings “La Donna E Mobile” from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Rigoletto (1851).

    There are a lot of great places to learn about Caruso. His Wikipedia page includes a large number of audio clips of the singer. And, of course, Lanza’s portrayal in The Great Caruso is an entertaining story.

    Photo via public domain. What is your favorite opera? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    A Dark Humorless Somewhat Revisionist Western: “Hostiles” (Short Review)

    Hostiles movie Critics seem divided on the latest interpretation of the great American Western, Hostiles (2018).  Is it an “excellent modern take on the Western” or is it “a brutal, shallow Western“?  Well, there is truth in both views about the new movie directed by Scott Cooper.

    The film is set in the West during 1892 in the waning period of the American Indian wars, around six years after Geronimo has surrendered and less than two years after the Wounded Knee massacre.  Christian Bale stars in Hostiles as Joseph Blocker, a captain nearing retirement.  BLocker has seen and done horrible things during the wars with the Native Americans.

    Blocker’s final assignment is to escort an ill chief (Wes Studi) from New Mexico back to his tribe’s lands in Montana so the chief may die on his own soil.  Blocker, who has nothing but hatred for the Native Americans, does not want the assignment.  But he is forced into it.  So, he sets off with a few men and the chief and the chief’s family.

    Along the way, Blocker’s group picks up new people and loses others.  The film opens with some Native Americans killing a family, with the only survivor being Rosalie Quaid (Rosamund Pike).  Soon, Blocker’s group finds Quaid, still traumatized from her own experience.

    The movie follows Blocker’s struggles with his beliefs about duty and about his old foes as he also tries to get his group to safety in a hostile land.  Some of the travelers have their own demons.  And other characters are somewhat developed, but the film mainly focuses on Bale’s character.

    Not the Greatest, But a Good Addition to the Western Canon

    There are echoes of other Westerns here.  Blocker’s changing assortment of traveling characters may remind one  of The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), for example.  But the most obvious connection here is to John Ford’s beautiful classic, The Searchers (1956).  That film followed John Wayne’s racist character searching for his niece.  One may also recognize echoes of the final shot from The Searchers in the final scene of Hostiles, one of my favorite touches in the new film.

    Hostiles does not rank among my favorite Westerns.  But it does a decent job telling a story steeped in realism as do many revisionist Westerns, even if one may debate how far the movie deviates from traditional Western stereotypes.  And the acting is superb all around.  The movie features another great performance from the always fascinating Bale, who also did a very good turn in the recent Western 3:10 to Yuma (2007).

    The movie, though, is not an enjoyable ride.  While there are scenes of horrible violence, the movie lacks the excitement and pace of most Westerns.

    Darker Westerns can still show flashes of joy or humor — as do The Searchers, Unforgiven (1992), McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), and The Outlaw Josey Wales. But there is little human joy or laughter in Hostiles.  The story reveals some friendships and human connections.  But the dour movie could have done more with them.  Those few moments still seem buried in the darkness of the story, perhaps because the camera rarely leaves the grim Blocker.

    Hostiles is a good movie and anyone who enjoys Westerns should check it out.  I see why critics and viewers are somewhat split on the film, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 72% Critics Rating and a 71% Audience Rating. While Hostiles is not a fun ride and one may debate its success as a Revisionist Western, the film gets credit for trying to do something deeper than most recent action movies.

    What did you think of Hostiles? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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