cminj2001 Reviews

The High and the Mighty (1954)

John Wayne was a Great Actor

[9/10 · 12 January 2024]

Handguns, cigarettes, ermine wraps and steak dinners. This is when it was still fun to take a 12 hour flight. So long as the crew didn't insist on pitching your suitcase out the back door along the way. Watch Duke command this crisis and ask yourself who else you want up there with you while Bob Stack sweats and fidgets? This story and Robert Stacks performance in particular are clearly the inspiration for the Airplane series. I am a big fan of pretty boy, John Smith, having met him in a bar in Mechanicville NY in 1963 before the world premier of some B movie he had just made. I am so glad you no longer have to declare your age at the ticket counter down at the airport.

Suddenly (1954)

Good old fashioned Police Work

[8/10 · 1 January 2015]

Yes a junior deputy sheriff saves the U.S. by checking out a random stranger in town. The first thing the secret service does in 1954 is to clear all the buildings with windows facing the spot where the President will stand. All the buildings, public and private are checked and secure....but this was 1954, I guess they had forgotten all that nonsense by 1963. In this movie they figure an assassin would have to be a real heel, a guy with no politics, who slaps little kids around and is happy to kill for money! You gotta love Frank though, he puts on a double breasted suit, a necktie and a fedora when he is getting ready to off somebody famous....oh OK maybe Jack Ruby caught this flick. He was a big Sinatra fan.

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Overrated

[4/10 · 16 November 2013]

I don't know why everybody speaks so reverently about this supposedly hidden gem. I recall that this was something of a hit. It played for about six weeks at the famous Hellman Theatre. Jack Nicholson and Karen Black were big 70s breakout stars and they both sold tickets. That being said its a bad movie. Just being realistic is not enough to overcome a lack of storyline. Oh it's so realistic that it is just about miserable people acted boorish in a cold damp miserable locale. Its OK as a curiosity piece but don't expect to get hooked by the story. Just when you are wondering if the story is ever going to start the picture ends and you feel ripped off for the time you put into the movie. When we blocked out all the wretched style excesses from the 70s we should have burned these celluloid documents as well.

American Playhouse: The Wide Net (1987) Season 6, Episode 3

unforgettable study of human nature

[10/10 · 3 November 2013]

Does anybody really believe there is a body in the creek or are they just having great time being outdoors together in the precious last waning days of early fall. Its a Mississippi backwoods flash mob and its just a heck of a lot of fun. I saw it 26 years ago and I wish it was on tonight. Its so sad that the culture that could have put these good hearted folks bare-feet in the creek was long ago swallowed up by progress. The story works on several levels and gives the viewer no clue as to whether it should be taken seriously at all. The scenery the pace and the dialog are like a soothing low speed raft trip. No police, no first responders, no telephones, no helicopters just the local men and boys with an old fish net. PBS please bring this back.