Back again with all the films I saw during the month of May. This was a bit of a chaotic month personally as our cat had to have a dental procedure done (thankfully she’s better now)… So despite May being chaotic there were thankfully a lot of good watches sprinkled in. We’ve got some classics, cult favorites and a couple of new music documentary films sprinkled throughout. Naturally there are a few weak moments but overall May was a solid month for films. Let’s get into it.
Priscilla (2023)
Priscilla was a new release from last year that I have been looking forward to finally seeing. My husband and I had mixed feelings over the Elvis biopic that came out a couple years ago and found this outing from Sofia Coppola to be quite refreshing by comparison. This outing, as the title naturally suggests, focuses in on the lesser talked about life of Priscilla Presley. The relationship she shared with Elvis has been gilded in legend over the years, but in recent times a more critical eye has been cast over it. Priscilla was barely a teenager when she first met Elvis, a young girl being given attention by one of the most famous men in the world. From there on in their highly fraught relationship would grow. Coppola’s very unique direction and aesthetic is used at full advantage here and she tells the story solidly.
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Gone With the Wind has long been considered one of the crowning jewels of the Old Hollywood era, the darling of the 1939 Oscars and one of the most dazzling epics of its time. In recent times it has gone under the microscope for its weak handling of race and slavery. It is a difficult film to watch with our modern gaze for those very reasons, but you can know that and also still find aspects to appreciate beyond its obvious flaws. Gone With the Wind is a sweeping film with majestic scenic vistas and dazzling cinematography. At the heart of the film though is Vivien Leigh, who rose above many hopefuls to snag the most coveted role in Hollywood at the time. When you watch the film it is hard to imagine anyone else doing the same possible justice for the role as she did. This is not a perfect film by any means, but it hold a lot of strong points and remains a solid watch.
Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
This spring I have been introducing my husband to another one of my favorite classic television shows for a re-watch, this one being Hazel. The star of Hazel was popular stage actress, Shirley Booth. She didn’t do a lot of film work, but her debut in an adaptation of a role she originated nabbed her an Oscar win… That film is Come Back, Little Sheba. This is a very intimate and quiet film, Booth plays the retiring and anxious wife of a recovering alcoholic (Burt Lancaster). Their marriage seems to be stagnant, with things seemingly contented but with the vibe that everyone is walking on eggshells. All this begins to change when the couple take in a young woman as a new boarder. She imbues youth into their rather tired routine, but in doing so causes old pains to come to the surface. I really enjoyed this, much to due with Booth’s very strong central performance. It suffers slightly with Lancaster, he does well but feels miscast. The role calls out for someone who could more easily play curmudgeon you can feel pity for (Humphrey Bogart or Spencer Tracy would’ve been perfect). Regardless this is a good pick for when you crave a film with that certain theatrical intimacy to it.
Sorority House Massacre (1986)
Sorority House Massacre is a bit of an oddity in the long line of slashers that came out during the genre’s peak in the 80s. It is a film I knew nothing about till we stumbled across it on Roku. It looked promising and was drenched in a Day-Glo color palette… Unfortunately it stumbles on many fronts, one of the most egregious being how it has almost no mystery and very little tension… Why is this? Well much of this is due to the fact that the film shows its cards far too early and sets up a killer that feels very oddly handled. It could’ve been a fun slasher if it just tried to retain its mystique for a bit longer. Favorite aspect was one of the girls in the main group named Linda (Wendy Martel) seems to be very intentionally made-up to resemble a teen version of Diane Chambers from Cheers. I just found that to be a fun observation.
The Money Pit (1986)
Speaking of Diane Chambers this leads us right into a Shelley Long movie! The movie in question is The Money Pit, pairing Long with Tom Hanks during his 80’s comedy era. At face value this seems like a pretty straight-forward comedy that should’ve been a solid hit. You have two very charismatic leads and a premise that takes the idea of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) and updates it for the 80’s yuppie crowd… It should’ve been a lot better than it ultimately ends up being, it starts off good but gets skewered by a very odd third act. The third act in question throws in a weird infidelity plot-line that comes off very unnecessary, instead of adding anything more it just drains a ton of the goodwill of the film. The Money Pit is a film that could’ve benefitted from a a good polish of the script. Love Long and Hanks in this, but they deserved a better script to do their pairing true justice.
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Paul Newman had a presence made for the screen and that is presented perfectly in Cool Hand Luke. This is a film about underdogs trying to stick it to the man, by the end you can’t help but feel enraptured by the perfect tale of camaraderie you have just been witness to. There is plenty of humor as well as stakes to be found, but it is also quite rich in pathos. Newman is the center piece as an alienated drifter who isn’t here to make friends, but ends up doing so anyway. In the small group of criminals he soon becomes an idolized christ-like figure as he wins there trust and esteem. This whole film is full of religious imagery if you look close enough, but doesn’t do it in a heavy-handed way… It is subtle. Overall this is a perfect film when you want to drift through the range of emotions in a tasteful way.
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family (1941)
Yasujirō Ozu’s most prolific and remembered era of films comes from post-war Japan, but he was making plenty of films before that time that are more underrated. Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family is nestled in the early 1940s, premiering in the spring of ’41, months before the Pearl Harbor attacks which would drag the United States and Japan into WWII. This is a serene and contemplative story which is common to Ozu’s oeuvre. It is also a film that can be seen as an early trial run of the points that would be featured in one of Ozu’s most prolific films, Tokyo Story in 1953. We start out on a large Japanese family reuniting to celebrate the 69th birthday of the family’s patriarch, all is well until the goodwill is soon followed by his sudden passing. Most of the children are married and out of the home, all that is except one daughter as well as the now widowed mother. Once comfortable they soon feel like burdens as they drift between family members. Not all is somber though as the film closes out on a rather lighthearted and optimistic note, more-so than the more melancholic ending Ozu would use later in Tokyo Story. A hidden gem from Ozu that is definitely worth checking out.
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School is a bombastic send-up of the fun and musically inclined high school films that preceded it over the 60s and 70s. It does it with an eccentric twist, but never loses the charm needed for such films. We are quickly served the set-up and get dispersed into the kinetic world of this story. Vince Lombardi High School is full of students who could care less about classes and homework as there whole world revolves around rock and roll music… At the center of the anarchy is Riff Randell (P.J. Soles), she’s spunky and the biggest fan of the music blaring through everyone’s speakers. She dreams of becoming a song writer, specifically for the alternative rock band known as The Ramones. All is not easy as the new principal wants to correct the bad behavior running rampant, all slowly building to an explosive battle of the generations by the films conclusion. It is hard to not have fun with a film like this, minor aspects don’t age well… But taking this with a grain of salt this is a great watch to spend an evening with.
That Darn Cat (1965)
The 1960s were a peak era for Disney doing live action films, and was a decade containing many of their most performers. That Darn Cat features two of the studio’s biggest stars of the time – Hayley Mills and Dean Jones. This would be Mills’ last film with the studio for many years and Jones’ first, so it is definitely noteworthy for that tidbit of information. I was charmed by this film, but I cant help but feel it would’ve been a lot better if it had been polished and tightened up a bit more. This isn’t too much of a hinderance as the film gains much of its goodwill from the performances, everyone present here seems to be having a great time and it shows. Disney really loved doing comedic films about animals at this time, this one about a mischievous and nosy cat who happens upon a crime in action during one of its evening jaunts around the neighborhood. From there action and hilarity ensue.
Apollo 13 (1995)
Sometimes there is nothing quite as exhilarating as a good space travel movie. Apollo 13 hits all the standard marks that you can expect to find in these films which chronicle infamous space expeditions. This story being that of the Apollo 13 mission which was meant to be a mission to the moon that ultimately gets aborted due to an on-board accident reducing their power and oxygen. Overall this is a quiet film once you get past the wonder of the launch, we spend much of the time inside the cramped quarters where tensions run high as a search for a way to safely return is sought. The suspense builds and keeps steady quite well with a cast of all solid actors in top-form. If one were to quibble there are a couple of details that feel “off” if you look into the historical background of the mission, most notably with the critiques of how Kevin Bacon’s role is portrayed compared to his real-life counter-part. All in all though this is a film that will keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat, even if you know how things will work out in the end.
The Stranger Who Looks Like Me (1974)
Back again with another television movie to slide in. This time we have the rather obscure offering of The Stranger Who Looks Like Me from 1974. As I mentioned above in my run-through of Come Back, Little Sheba I kind of set out to watch one film from each of the main adult actors on the sitcom Hazel. Whitney Blake did not have as illustrious or expansive filmography so she was a bit tough. I came across this TV movie that paired her with her real-life daughter, Meredith Baxter… I thought it would be an interesting watch even though I read Blake’s role was small, yet significant. Unfortunately this is a very weak sampling of what the world of television movies could offer. We open on Baxter’s character living a comfortable life with adoptive parents who love her, despite this she feels a bit lost and yearns to know more about the people who decided to give her up as a baby. Since this is the 70s, this is an era when most adoptions were closed and accessing information was extremely difficult and barred with various legal issues. This does not deter our main character who soon joins up with other adoptees searching for similar answers (with a rather odd performance for Beau Bridges thrown in). The concept of this is compelling but the handling is far too odd and strange. Under a different hand this could have been a thoughtful story, instead this becomes a bit too exploitive to be any good.
Bend of the River (1952)
Bend of the River is a beautifully shot western with Jimmy Stewart front and center. This is a more subtle western that has less focus on grand set-pieces, and more on a sort of cat and mouse game. The core of the story is a disillusionment of the friendship shared between Stewart and Arthur Kennedy. There friendship is one of ying and yang as they both have shady pasts with each man making their way into the future by differing means… Stewart is trying to carve an honorable path and yearns to do was is right, while Kennedy can’t help but slip back into his more devilish ways. In the crossfire of this complicated friendship is Julie Adams who plays the woman both men find themselves drawn towards. This is a rather solid outing and worth checking out when you have an itch that this kind of film can scratch for you. Also it is benefitted by a supporting performance from the always enjoyable Rock Hudson.
The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)
We ended up watching back to back music documentaries during the month of May, first of which was Netflix’s The Greatest Night in Pop. This doc chronicles the late night recording session for the 80’s big charity hit single of We Are the World, a song that brought together dozens of music’s biggest names of the time. The project was spear-headed by Lionel Ritchie, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones; for this doc Ritchie is on as the narrator to guide us through how such an event came to be. More than anything this is interesting for seeing very off the cuff moments from great musicians, observing as they struggle with ego as well as with vulnerability. It doesn’t really blow you away, but if you are interested in nuggets of music history there is plenty to be enjoyed here.
The Beach Boys (2024)
Next up for music documentaries is The Beach Boys from Disney+. My husband is a long-time fan so this was an obvious watch, even if the brunt of information seen here is hardly news to him. All in all this is a very standard run-through of how this memorable group came to be, nothing revolutionary to set it apart from very similar works sprinkled throughout the ether over the last 40 years. One could even argue that this new outing is almost painfully surface level. Much of the band’s dramas, difficult moments and transitional creative periods are skimmed over in favor of hitting the same old well-traveled roads we are used to. When watching it feels apparent that much of the narrative control is under the hands of polarizing member Mike Love. Given Brian Wilson’s recent medical news it is hard to say when we may ever get a truly deep dive into the band’s immersive lore, but if you’re a diehard fan then you know of other places to seek this out. Save this one for the introductory fans wanting a standard introduction.
Without Reservations (1946)
We come to the concluding film of my cast members from Hazel in film watch list. This time with Don DeFore in Without Reservations. This film is a bit of a forgotten outing squeezed out during the post-war era of Hollywood and the time of many films being about all the enlisted men returning home. DeFore is tasked with being the third wheel of the film’s trio with John Wayne and Claudette Colbert’s romance taking center stage. I always enjoy these types of films from this post-war era, they usually have an accessible and cozy vibe to them, this unfortunately was a bit of a dud. The premise was fun but loses steam due to how stretched out the plot feels, many portions feel overlong and lacking in effervescent energy. Wayne in particular feels ill at ease in this role of screwball romantic hero, never becoming comfortable. Cary Grant briefly appears as himself near the end of the picture and his instant charisma feels like a drink of water found in the desert. Wish this could’ve been more fun, it’s a real shame.
Popeye (1980)
Popeye is a movie that has long been dogged by an infamous reputation, it often sticks out as a bit of an oddball in famed director Robert Altman’s filmography. It is a live-action take on the well-known cartoons of the same name which were very popular during the 1930s. Altman remains very faithful to the source material and brings forth a rather loving send-up of these characters. The cast of actors also feel very well-suited and game to clown around in justice of the film, the camera here is particularly in love with Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall who steal the show. This is a film that will not be to everyone’s tastes. Growing up I was never too fond of Popeye when it was constantly shown on TV, therefore I lack in a certain fondness for this world… Despite this I find a lot to admire in this very creative venture, a ton of detail was put in here and that is to be admired. If you love campy films then definitely give this a chance.
An American in Paris (1951)
An American in Paris is an extremely gorgeous movie. It is dappled in that pristine 1950’s technicolor sheen, where everything is vivid and everyone looks great. Despite a lot to be admired, I found myself not really loving it. This may be due to the fact that as far as the great Old Hollywood dancers go I have never been a diehard fan of Gene Kelly. The man knows how to dance, but something about him is just slightly off-putting to me. Leslie Caron is a gamine delight but she is given very little to do here, she too is a great dancer but often times feels like window dressing with lack of development. This is to simply say that this film suffers from a very weak story, if the script was stronger it could be nearly perfect. All in all I do really love the art direction and sheer style and scope of this film, even if the story is lacking the style makes up for it.
Lilies of the Field (1963)
It had been quite a few years since I had last seen Lilies of the Field. I had forgotten what a quiet delight it is. This is the film that most notably won Sidney Poitier his Academy Award and when watching the film you can see that it was well deserved. Lilies of the Field is a simple story but it packs quite a lot in its modest trappings. It starts out when a jack of all trades happens upon a small cluster of nuns living in a modest dwelling in the Arizona desert. He only stops to get water to cool down his engine, but the nuns see a person that can be of assistance to them and aren’t willing to send him off so quickly. Homer Smith (Poitier) balks at their incessant requests and questions as he just wants to be on his way, but as time goes on he grows to appreciate them and vice versa. Some people may not appreciate just how earnest and devoid of cynicism this film is, but I absolutely loved it.
May 2024 Final Tally
Without further ado here are my favorite new to me films that I had the pleasure of discovering during the month of May. Presented here in no particular order.
Priscilla (2023)
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
See you next month for a round-up of all the films I’ll have seen during the month of June!
Toujours Katie 