Last Ten Films I've Seen....'Malcolm' in the Middle

Contrary to this image of Malcolm McDowell, Stanley Kubrick's surreal masterpiece "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) is NOT among the last ten films I've seen. But, I did see the three-hour against-the-grain musical comedy/political satire "O Lucky Man!"
(1973, dir-Lindsay Anderson) which McDowell actually consders his favorite film.

Here is the rest of the list:

1. "Suzanne's Career"* (France. 1963. dir-Eric Rohmer)
2. "Zulum/Cruelty" **(Turkey. 1972. w/Turkan Soray. dir-Atif Yilmaz)
3. "O Lucky Man!" (UK. 1973. w/Malcolm McDowell. dir-Lindsay Anderson)
4. "Punishment Park" (1971. dir-Peter Watkins).
5. "Wanda" (1970. dir-Barbara Loden)
6. "A Man for All Seasons" (1966. w/Paul Schroder and Robert Shaw. dir-Fred Zinneman)
7. "Lifespan" (Holland. 1976. w/Klaus Kinski. dir-Sandy Whitelaw)
8. "Prince of Persia" (2010. dir-Mike Newell)
9. "Yazgi/Fate)"** (Turkey. 2001. dir-Zeki Demirkubuz"
10. "The Fugitive Kind" (1959. w/Marlon Brando. dir-Sidney Lumet).

*-Not a full-feature length film
**-Not distributed in the United States

Here are some notes on the other films in the list:

"Suzanne's Career" is the second film in Rohmer's "Moral Tales" series, which includes what many consider to be his best film- "Claire's Knee" (1971).

"Zulum/Cruelty" is a vintage Turkish melodrama with a very young Turkan Soray who is known as the 'Queen of Turkish cinema.' It makes for an excellent guilty pleasure, but needless to say it was not a challenger to Luis Bunuel's French film "The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie" which deservedly won the Best Foreign-Language film Oscar in 1972.

"Punishment Park" is a docudrama based on the 'siege mentality' concept. Along with the documentary "FTA" with Jane Fonda, it is one of several Vietnam War-era films which were effectively banned in America for political reasons. In the film, anti-war protestors choose to go to Punishment Park where they must capture an American flag on top of a mountain as opposed to federal prison. But, they soon find out that with armed law enforcement officers trailing them that they made the wrong choice.

"Lifespan" is vintage kitsch, and Kinski's appearance in the film makes it even more so. The plot is bascially this: "A doctor trying to develop a serum to strengthen his life tries his formula on nursing home residents.' Pardon the cliche, but this is definitely NOT for all tastes. In fact, I'm wondering if the film even offended me!

"Yazgi/Fate" is based on the novel "The Stranger" by the late French writer Albert Camus. The film by Zeki Demirkubuz, one of Turkey's most acclaimed directors, deal with the ramifications of nilihism as the title character is presumed guilty of a crime he did not commit because of his emotional detachment to the victims.

Lastly, "The Fugitive Kind," which is based on the Tennessee Williams play "Orphesus Descending" features four Oscar-winners. In addition, to Brando, the erotic for its time film has Anna Magnani, Joanne Woodward and Maureen Stapleton in its cast--all of whom won Oscars during their carreers. Woodward is the only one of the four who is still alive. Magnani, who became famous for her performance in the Italian classic "Open City" reportedly lusted after Brando, but he was not romantically interested in her.

Quote of the Week- Susan Sarandon

Since Virginia's new far-right leader Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has said he will go through with the first execution under his administration (we presume there will be many more, jaywalkers beware!) this week, it seems appropriate to quote one of the nation's leading anti-death penalty advocates Susan Sarandon.

Though I am considerably more to the political center than Sarandon, one has to admire her for taking a stance and sticking to it. She has recently been in the news for her personal life as her relationship with actor Tim Robbins is apparently over.

Robbins directed Sarandon, arguably the sexiest 64-year-old around, in her 1995 Oscar-winning performance as Sister Helen Prejean of Louisiana.

Sarandon also debuted in the 1970 film "Joe," which starred the late Peter Boyle of "Young Frankenstein" fame, which we put on our recent list of the Best Left-Wing Films of all time.

I decided not to put "Dead Man Walking" on the list because it is a superlative film which has a relevant message which goes beyond its politics.

Ironically, Prejean who is more admired by liberals than conservatives, is also pro-life.

Here is the quote of the week from Sarandon, who grew up in Edison, NJ:

"I try to live every day in the present, and try not to turn a blind eye to injustice and need."

Quote of the Week- Jane Fonda

Today, in honor of the Oscars which were held last night, we are quoting the two previous Oscar-winners for Best Actress and Best Actor from the 1978 film "Coming Home," Jane Fonda (here) and Jon Voight (on our other blog: Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time).

"Coming Home," directed by the late Hal Ashby, was considered to be an excellent film about the plight of returning Vietnam veterans. The film lost out to another Vietnam War veteran film "The Deer Hunter," directed by Michael Cimino, in the 1978 Oscars.

But, "Coming Home" landed acting Oscars for its two stars and some film critics maintain it is a better film than "The Deer Hunter." Though Ashby is one of my favorite directors, I actually haven't seen "Coming Home" since it aired on network television when I was a teenager (I no longer consider seeing a film on network tv with commercials as seeing the actual movie!)

Interestingly enough, both Fonda and Voight who were vocal liberal activists in the
'60s and '70s have become devout Christians, but Fonda has mostly maintained her politics while Voight has done an about-shift and evolved into perhaps the most radical right-winger in Hollywood (not counting Chuck Norris).

Fonda also won a Best Actress Oscar for "Klute" in 1971. And, she appeared in a wide range of films at the height of her career, including Jean-Luc Godard's brilliant French film "Tout Va Bien!" (1972), which I saw very recently.

Last night, Fonda tweeted her disappointment that the late Farrah Fawcett was not included in the list of film industry people who died last year. Though Fawcett was best known for the '70s tv series "Charlie's Angels," she had appeared in a number of films including "The Apostle."

Here is the quote from Fonda who once declared that she had retired from acting though she has appeared in a few films and performed on Broadway in recent years:

"A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming," Fonda said.

Top 10 Left-Wing Films of All Time

We are running an accompanying entry on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" entitled the Top 10 Right-Wing Films of all time.

This list is basically totally random, though not entirely pointless.

My friend Jason Garnett, who is NOT a right-wing extremist, professing his admiration of the ultra-conservative film "Red Dawn," which makes our other list.

He is opening a new venture entitled The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke, Va., with a screening of "The Big Lebowski" on March 27. To my knowledge that film does not have a political bias, but the John Goodman character is reportedly based on the director of "Red Dawn" whose name escapes me (where is the IMDB when you need it???).

I did see two films on this list, the Brazilian film "Motorcycle Diaries" and the Michael Moore doc "Fahrenheit 911" at Jason's former house of worship the Grandin Theatre, also in Roanoke, which was kind enough to screen "Gremlins" for my 40th birthday last night. Perhaps, it's just me, but I sensed the 1984 adventure film had some Cold War overtones........yeah, I guess I do read too much into things. The Grandin is currently showing films like "Crazy Heart," "Shutter Island" and "Valentine's Day," none of which are subversive but you can never too sure about romantic comedies.

Ironically, one film listed here the original 1968 version of "Planet of the Apes" is considered a liberal film for its environmental message even though it stars the late ultra-conservative actor Charlton Heston.

Here is a list of our favorite films which are definitely to the left of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.):


1. Medium Cool
2. Salt of the Earth
3. Battle of Algiers
4. Easy Rider
5. Motorcycle Diaries
6. Joe (pictured)
7. Tout Va Bien!
8. Harlan County USA (pictured)
9. Hearts and Minds
10. Planet of the Apes (1968-pictured)/Fahrenheit 9-11

Amazingly enough the socialist propaganda film "I Am Cuba" did not make the final cut!