So, I happened upon Bright Road when I first heard it mentioned in the HBO original movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. This was my first movie with the actual Dorothy Dandridge, not Halle Berry as her doppelganger. I must say that the most distracting thing about this movie is that Dorothy Dandridge was gorgeous. She's supposed to play this schoolteacher and I was just like, "Are you kidding me? She has to be a schoolteacher? I don't think so."
Not that she wasn't a capable actress, sometimes I think some people's talent os overwhelmed by the gift of beauty. I mean check out the trailer! Apparently you did not have to get all ugly to do serious drama in the 1950s.
Anyway, onto the next thing. The story is actually charming if a little light. Dorothy Dandridge is a new 4th grade teacher at a black school in the segregated south. It's based on a short story by Mary Elizabeth Vroman who herself was a schoolteacher in Alabama and the first black person to join the Writer's Guild. She has a rebellious pupil called CT played by Philip Hepburn, the middle child of eight, who repeats every grade he's in. Dorothy sees the potential in him and what he's good at rather than considering him a "backward child" as the other teachers do. She sets out to help him and believes she has until CT's crush Tanya played by Barbara Randolph, dies of pnuemonia. CT goes into a downward somewhat existential spiral. That might be overstating it.
It's not a heavy social issues picture, but it is revolutionary in that it features a predominantly African American cast, there's only one white guy in the whole movie and he's Tanya's doctor. It also features the film debut of Harry Belafonte. The film was a decided commercial failure, most likely due to the time it came out in, but it's pretty impressive that the film got made at all considering how hard it is today to get a film with a predominantly African American cast made. Outside of Tyler Perry, but please don't start me on Tyler Perry. I really can't deal with Tyler Perry.
I decided that the last two posts were on pretty depressing tear fests. This selection is calculated to break that pattern. Animal House is the archetypal movie about college life and for good reason: it is damned funny. Parts are crass and tasteless, but who needs taste when we're talking about comedy? The basic plot you're probably familiar with because every film about a frat or a sorority ever since has been based upon it. It's iconic for a reason. There are so many things that ring true still about college, like Donald Sutherland's stoned hippie professor who sleeps with a student. (Every college has at least one of those, right?) The students who appear to have no major. It was directed by John Landis, written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller, deriving inspiration from their actual college experiences, particularly from Dartmouth. The only thing approaching a film long plot line is Stephen Furst as Flounder, a Freshman trying to find his way in the flat. (Nerd alert: He was Vir on Babylon 5). So, I think it's better if I just do the highlights.
Obviously, TOGA! Our heroes faced with insurmountable odds throw a party that will help nothing, doing one of my favorite bits with Otis Day and the Knights. Seriously, I do enjoy this for no reason. I even get excited when they play it at the Spurs game, but of course they usually do that when we're up by ten...
It also leads to this bit, where some of the guys after a foray to a women's college take their dates to a nightclub because Otis Day and the Knights are playing. They discover to their surprise and chagrin that the people are all black. Being white Ivy League boys, they are terrified.
Of course, this scene is when they're on trial and Otter, played slickly and brilliantly by Tim Matheson, gives possibly the greatest defense ever conceived.
One of the greatest parts of this movie is John Belushi, I love the way he goes through the film with so little dialogue, but when he speaks it's worth listening to such as this speech he gives when it appears all hope has been lost for Delta House.
He along with Bruce McGill (San Antonio native, also University of Texas alum) as Daniel Simpson Day have the greatest, dialogue light parts in this film.
About the ending of this film, after the hilarious and brilliantly executed homecoming parade, it concludes with telling us what happened to each of the characters. Now craft tip, if you do this in fiction, it sucks everywhere but the ending of this movie. Filmmakers need to stop ending movies not based on a true story with title cards telling us what happened to the characters! You are either finished with the movie or you're not! Also, stop ending movies where I obviously know what happened the same way as in, "George Washington went on to lead the Continental Army and was later elected the First President of the United States." That's not an actual example, I just can't remember an actual one right now. The only possible exception is when it is funny like this movie.
By the way, John Landis babysat Donald Sutherland's son. That's right, Kiefer. Imagine being able to walk around saying, "I babysat Jack Bauer." I would have a bumper sticker that says that.
For my second Back To School Special, I have selected a film that also takes place in England, but this time on the right side of the tracks and also has a comma in the title. Goodbye, Mr. Chips is really one of those films that pleasantly surprises you. The first time I saw it was last TCM Oscar festival. See it had the misfortune of coming out the same year as Gone With The Wind , so it doesn't quite have the same clout on the imagination, though Robert Donat did win an Oscar for his performance and it's well earned considering the versatility he has to show in this film, showing us Chips throughout his life. I was thinking seriously, what is this crap? Then I started watching it and realized yeah, it's like that episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor is back in 1913 and he's teaching at a boys' school and he's human but he has dreams about being the Doctor.
Oddly enough, the YouTube clips for that episode are much better than the ones for this movie. That's actually as close as I can get to showing you the start of this movie without showing you like twenty minutes of it. Just the boys don't seem to be jackasses in this movie. So that kept me watching long enough to realize what a truly special film this is. Robert Donat plays the titular Mr. Chips. We see him in flashback starting out as a Master in his first year at Brookfield School, a British boys' boarding school that dates back to 1492 and boasts such alumni as Sir Francis Drake. He goes in eager to be the boys' friend, but soon finds he has to use harsh discipline to teach them. He is an effective teacher, but he is lonely and laments that he can never have a real impact on the boys the way that the other masters seem to. This is heartbreakingly evident when he's passed over to be master of his own house because he doesn't seem to have the same ease with the boys. His friend a German Master takes him for a visit to his homeland of Austria, where he falls in love with Katherine played by Greer Garson.
Katherine turns out to be just the change he needs and helps him become friends with the boys by hosting tea at their house every Sunday. Oh, she also gives him the nickname Chips. Everything is going incredibly well, he gets his own house, they're expecting a baby and of course, she dies. Because this is always what happens in the 1800s. There's a very touching scene where the boys discover this and they all silently try to carry on. We see the passage of time through the montage of boys giving their names, discussing events, their dress slightly changing and I have to say it's about as good a montage as there ever was. We cut next to Chips being asked to retire because he's too set in his ways for the school and his pupils coming to his rescue. He then retires, but is called back to be headmaster when World War I breaks out. I love it because he gets everything he set out for, just not in the way he expected it, We see him on his deathbed, colleagues lamenting how lonely his life must have been. He corrects him, saying he's had thousands of children, all of them boys. This clip is like ten minutes long so just fast forward.
It really is a skillful film, utilizing the montage and the cuts through time in a striking way. Greer Garson is really great in this as the love of Chips' life, I much prefer her in this to Pride & Prejudice. I stand by my assessment of that film. Questions, comments, concerns? Let me know.
For the month of September, I have decided to feature some classic films that are about going back to school, teachers, etc. I am trying to avoid Dead Poets' Society but I do reserve the right to feature Legally Blonde and call it a classic. To this end, my first selection is 1967's To Sir, With Love starring the one and only Sidney Poitier.
To Sir, With Love is the story of Mark Thackeray, a native of British Guiana who finds himself after an unsuccessful job hunt as a teacher in one of London's toughest schools. This is the part that always amuses me, most British films have royalty and people drinking tea and parrying verbal insults. For some reason, I still find it unusual when I find a film about a bad neighborhood in London. I was watching the first series of Doctor Who for a while when I was like, "Wait, does Rose Tyler live in the projects? Is her mom on welfare?" Same deal here, but I think these kids would still get their asses kicked by kids from American slums. Thackeray goes in sure that no matter what these kids throw at him, he can take it given what he's already had to put up with. Not so much. I spent the first part waiting for him to go all Mr. Tibbs on those kids. He loses it when one of the girls throws a sanitary pad on the furnace, which I had to look up on Wikipedia to find out, but that does sound pretty gross. He has the revelation that these kids are about to be adults, he should treat them as such and lays out a whole new course for the class. The students will choose what they want to discuss and places an emphasis on deportment. It works wonders and seems to change their whole attitude. Thackeray loses them when he tries to explain how the world works after one of the students get in an altercation with their boxing teacher. He finally wins them back when he shows mercy on a student and with all the weird sixties dancing in this movie, you know Sidney Poitier was going to have to get down in this movie.
I have to say that Sidney Poitier somehow pulls that off. I was thinking about him in comparison to Colin Firth while I watched this movie. Number one was that they both possess a certain poise and elegance, even while they do the ridiculous. It seems to me that this kind of film is the forerunner of the magical minority helping figure film, but I think it's because Sidney Poitier occupies a unique space in film history. He was one of the first black actors to be billed as a leading man, but studios still had to find a way to market him to audiences, specifically a non-threatening way. Look at Lilies of the Field or a Patch of Blue. It wasn't until this same year that Sidney got to go all "They call me MR. TIBBS!" in In The Heat of the Night. This was also the same year as Guess Who's Coming To Dinner? Have you watched that recently? I mean, I enjoyed it thoroughly the first time, with all the Hepburn-Tracy stuff going on, but seriously, what is Sidney Poitier doing with their idiot daughter? He's a freaking doctor with the World Health Organization, and oh, yeah, he's Sidney Poitier! He can do better! Sorry, I realized this the next day. You know what that movie's like? It's like if Mr. Darcy had ended up marrying Lydia Bennet and was happy about it. That's what it's like. In the case of this film, they use Thackeray's life story of improving his speech and working his way through school- strikingly similar to Poitier's own back story- as a source of inspiration for the mostly white, lower class students. (There is a mixed race character, but also a Chinese girl and an Indian girl neither of whom ever says anything.) Anyway, it becomes clear that Thackeray has really had an impact on the students and Lulu sings.
I have to admit that is a catchy tune. A lot of this movie seems cheesy and dated now, like the field trip told through photo montage, but you really have to admire Poitier's performance, he remains timeless. Judy Geeson's performance as a student with a crush on Thackeray is adorable and just a little heartbreaking because you can see he's the first man who's treated her with any sort of respect. Anyway, I liked it, you can go watch it on YouTube if you want, apparently there was some sort of TV movie sequel... Oh, must they do that?
Questions, comments, concerns? Did you think that girl was too idiotic to marry Sidney Poitier, too?
So, September 1st, my life in movies is complete. Just to remind you the original idea came from Fandango Groovers A Life In Movies Blogathon back in May. If you go back on the right of this blog, you can find my journey from Bladerunner to Bridesmaids throughout this summer. Also, a lot of Doctor Who clips, probably more than necessary, I'm not gonna lie.
So, the year isn't up yet and I haven't seen everything but I'm going to declare that my favorite film of 2011 is Bridesmaids. It's about Annie played by Kristen Wiig, a woman whose life basically has one thing going for it her best friend, Lillian, played by Maya Rudolph. All other parts of her life suck even though she's sleeping with Don Draper. Trouble starts when Lillian asks her to be the Maid of Honor at her wedding. She gets introduced to a motley crew of women, notably Lillian's new friend, Helen, played by Rose Byrne and Megan played by Melissa McCarthy. It is insanely funny, like my throat hurt from laughing funny. The story gets ridiculous in the best possible way but mostly Annie gets ridiculous and has to learn to grow up a little. I actually don't want to spoil this for you, because it did only come out in May, but it does feature the best usage of Wilson Phillips since Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, it's been on my iPod Top 40 all summer. Because I'm like that.
