My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Delirious, 1991

I had a couple of options for 1991, but this is what I ended up with. This blog entry is about a film that I don't think you've probably heard of, but has had a profound effect on me. I remember seeing it and considering for the first time that writing TV was perhaps something that would be interesting to do.

The film stars the late and great John Candy as a soap opera writer, Jack Gable. He is hopelessly in love with the soap's star played by Emma Samms, a hopelessly bad soap actor, played by David Rasche, Raymond Burr as the soap opera family patriarch, the also late and great Jerry Orbach as the soap's producer, Renee Taylor (also known as The Nanny's mom), Andrea Thompson (also known as Talia Winters from Babylon 5, nerd alert) as a nurse, Dylan Baker and Charles Rocket as the patriarch's sons and Mariel Hemingway as an aspiring actress/new girl in town on the soap opera.

The film begins quite brilliantly in my opinion following Jack's cable guy around town as Jack furiously waits for his appointment. We follow him to work and learn of his crush on Rachel/Laura and the struggles he has with his producers on keeping his vision of the show. They've brought in another writer behind his back Arnie Federman to rewrite what he's done. Rachel/Laura quickly invites herself along to a weekend with Jack and then spurns him. He is then hit by a trunk loading her luggage into his car and knocked out. He wakes up in Ashford Falls, the town his soap opera is set in. He finds that all the characters are in tact, much to his chagrin. "He's operating on people? He's an actor! Not even a good one!" Even more intriguingly that whatever he writes on his typewriter comes true, which gives him unreasonable power. (Do you see how this film makes TV writing look like a good idea?) He decides to play the hero and tries to win over Rachel/Laura, all the while fighting Federman's rewrites and oh, yeah, Robert Wagner shows up. He has ridiculous scenes where he rescues Rachel on horseback and buys back his own Ferrari GTO 250 at an auction, as well as a climactic and hilarious party scene where he plays piano, dances with Rachel/Laura and his typos come back to haunt him. All the while though, he finds himself torn as he falls in love with Mariel Hemingway's character, Janet.

There are also a lot of nice touches in this film like the transvestite auto mechanic, one of the brother's incestuous lust for Rachel and Raymond Burr is hilarious in this, his last film performance. He gives every line the greatest level of soap opera gravitas, even as he waits for the cable guy, "I'll tell you how I am! I have black bars on two! And seven!" Overall, I think this film is a hidden gem and maybe isn't the best, but I love it.

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: The Hunt for Red October, 1990

This is seriously one of my favorite movies. I love it, I feel compelled to watch it in its entirety whenever it pops up on TV. I have tried to learn the Soviet National Anthem because of it and I have only made it through the first few lines. Probably something about not speaking Russian, not reading the Cyrillic alphabet and not being able to find a phonetic translation of it anywhere. The loss of the DVD to this film results in panic on my part and eventually led to my buying it on Amazon, where I wouldn't lose it. It is in my opinion the greatest submarine film ever made.

The film is directed by John McTiernan and is a taut thriller about a Soviet naval captain, Marko Ramius, played by Sean Connery who decides to defect with a new submarine that can run almost silently. Trouble is, the whole of the soviet and American navies and the North Atlantic are between him and his goal. The only man who's worked this out is Jack Ryan, played in this film by Alec Baldwin, who does a really good job with this. While I love Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan, I can't picture anyone but Baldwin in this film. The cast is rounded out with the greatest group of actors. Sam Neill is Ramius' first officer, Tim Curry is the Soviet physician who is hopelessly befuddled by the events of the film. On the American side, we have James Earl Jones as Ryan's CIA boss. Scott Glenn plays Bart Mancuso, the captain of the submarine that finds the Red October and Courtney B. Vance is great as his eccentric, but skilled Sonar technician. In there you also have Fred Thompson, Stellan Skarsgard and Gates McFadden (Doctor Crusher) as Ryan's wife. It is so cool.

Everything about this movie is great. The actors. The intertwining of Ryan and Ramius' stories as the plot heightens. The tension that still exists every time I watch it even though I clearly know what's going to happen. The music is great, heavily influenced by Soviet music. They manage to keep the look of the film dynamic even though about eighty percent of it takes place inside a boat. And they do something different with the language issue. Usually when you watch a movie like this, what you get is one cast speaking with Russian accents (I'm looking at you K-19). In this film, we start out with the actors speaking Russian and through the use of a character reading a passage from a book, they switch to English. When the Soviets meet up with the Americans, they speak Russian again. It's brilliant. I also love the way that no scene is one dimensional and usually have some layer of humor with them. I particularly love the scenes in the White House with the Soviet ambassador as they play a chess game of diplomacy.

Part of the brilliance of this film is in keeping the audience out of the loop on the conclusion and not telling us anything, letting us go along for the ride. apparently, studios had a hard time imagining the original Tom Clancy novel as a film, they thought it would be too complicated for audiences to figure out. Luckily, somebody at Paramount understood its potential. I also love the authenticity of the film, with real naval officers playing small parts and even Scott Glenn spent some time on a submarine learning how to command from a real naval captain. Also, I love the way this film isn't just a thriller, it involves you emotionally in the characters. The finale of this film is always such an intense ride for me, taking you from moments of humor to tears, all the while maintaining the intensity you need to deliver an ending that's worthy of the rest of this film.

Okay, comments, what is the greatest submarine film of all time if not this one? And did that film have its own video game? Also, does it seem short-sighted of the Soviets to have given James Bond his own submarine?

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Steel Magnolias, 1989

I think this is one of those movies that's required viewing in the south, like Gone With The Wind. It even has a first half hour that most men will sit quietly through because Tom Skerritt is trying to get birds out of the trees for his daughter's reception utilizing firearms and fireworks. Also, there's a groom's cake in the shape of an armadillo made out of red velvet. It is hilarious.

But this movie is about the women. There's Shirley MacLaine as Ouiser.("I'm not crazy, I've just been in a very bad mood for forty years!") Olympia Dukakis as Clairee (Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!) Dolly Parton as the hair salon owner, Truvy ("There is no such thing as natural beauty."). Sally Field as M'Lynn Eatonton, Shelby's mother. ("Oh how pretentious is this wedding going to get I ask you? That sanctuary looks like it's been hosed down with Pepto Bismol!") Daryl Hannah, looking for most of the film as mousy as Darryl Hannah gets, which is not much, as Annelle ("Miss Truvy, I promise that my personal tragedy will not interfere with my ability to do good hair.) Finally, Julia Roberts as Shelby, the bride in our wedding, M'Lynn's daughter ("My colors are blush and bashful.") Best of all, Julia Roberts isn't even annoying in this movie. She does the laughing thing once, but I don't think she can help that.

We spend about a third of the film in the business leading up to the wedding and most of that, like the rest of the film, takes place in Truvy's beauty parlor. In this first part, we learn about Shelby's health problems and that she may never be able to have children. The next Christmas we learn that she is pregnant, to M'Lynn's dismay given the health concerns. The story picks up again later as M'Lynn is about to give Shelby a kidney and later to Shelby's death. We also follow the course of Truvy's relationship with her husband and Annelle's born again Christian-ness. All of the women in this movie are genuinely hilarious except Julia Roberts because it's hard to be funny while you're dying. Although, it is good to be funny at a funeral. Also, this movie is seriously quotable, I had a hard time picking out just those and I would just post the whole movie from YouTube if I could, but let's stick with this scene which illustrates the deftness with which this movie goes from tears to laughter.



I'll admit it, I am a sucker for this movie. I've watched it more times than I can count and I still cried when I watched it today. Truly, Sally Field will break your heart in this movie and you will be going over the dialogue in your head for days. Not to mention that thing with the groom's cake will just stay with you forever. I do love it, please begin your ridicule in the comments section. Or please share anything you love about this film. Go!

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: Working Girl, 1988

You know, some of these years are much harder to do than others. Apparently in 1988, there was Big, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Coming to America and the film that I've selected. It was difficult. Anyway, this movie stars Melanie Griffith and may surprise you in that it doesn't suck. I think the problem is that Melanie Griffith has been trying to play this same role every other time in her career and it doesn't work. Case in point: Shining Through. Take her character in this movie add Nazis and you've got Shining Through. Speaking of which, why is Liam Neeson a Nazi in that movie? I know that Schindler's List was after that, so they couldn't have seen it coming but it's still disturbing. I just don't want to see Liam Neeson as a Nazi, I watched that whole movie bothered that I still liked him.

Okay, on to the task at hand. Working Girl, directed by Mike Nichols, is the story of Tess McGill, a working class girl from Long Island with aspirations in finance. She finds these ambitions to be stifled by the lack of an Ivy League/blue blood pedigree. She feels like her life is turning around when she becomes the secretary to Katherine Parker. I love this part of the film because it plays on knowing someone who you hate/want to be. Tess brings her an idea for a deal and Katherine promises to use it to help her. Then Katherine gets in a ski accident and things change. Tess finds out Katherine intended to steal her idea, so Tess decides to take matters into her own hands and sets up a meeting with Jack Traynor played by Harrison Ford. Before that, she has an unfortunate incident with prescription meds and Tequila, which makes the business part of this awkward. So, Tess starts moving in business circles and pursuing a relationship with Jack, because you know, he's Harrison Ford before he started dating Calista Flockhart. Oh, also, Katherine thinks she's pretty much engaged to Jack. There are issues, which all come together nicely upon Katherine's return where Tess is able to show her for the fraud she is. The important part is really the ride along the way as Tess struggles with her identity: that of a secretary or a serious business lady. That theme is summed up in this one clip from Tess' best friend.

Okay, the best parts of this movie: the stellar cast, containing basically everyone. You've got Joan Cusack as Tess' best friend, Alec Baldwin as her boyfriend, an Irish guy from Long Island (Hey, wait a minute...), Olympia Dukakis, Oliver Platt and even Kevin Spacey in a memorable appearance. I love the way it captures the divide between blue and white collar, evidenced through the fantastic cityscape of Manhattan in the film, giving you the full gusto of New York in the 1980s. You know, at least h Also, there's a Carly Simon song in this film, evoked throughout the score. Another win. Carly Simon should write more songs in movies that we can sing driving to work.

My Life In Movies Flashes Before My Eyes: No Way Out, 1987

Remember what I said before about Harrison Ford tarnishing his legacy with crap? Same thing, Kevin Costner. I'm talking about Waterworld. The Postman. Whatever else there is that I'm forgetting. What about that one where Paul Newman plays his dad? The one based on the Nicholas Sparks book? Here's a spoiler, every Nicholas Sparks story has the same ending: SOMEONE DIES. That may not be entirely accurate, but I think it is and that should be good enough for the Internet, right?

Anyway, let's examine the fact that Kevin Costner had two excellent films come out this year. This one and The Untouchables, the film for which Sean Connery won as Oscar. I just felt like mentioning that.

Anyway, this film features Kevin Costner as a Naval officer who falls for the Secretary of Defense's mistress played by Sean Young. Gene Hackman plays the Secretary and there's a part with Iman and Fred Thompson. What more do you people want from this movie?



I love a good thriller which I suspect you might learn as this list goes on and even more than that, this is a great Cold War thriller and nothing can really beat that. Okay, there is that one scene in the limo that I'm not entirely comfortable with. I mean, how awkward is that for the driver? Anyway, this is about what happens when you work at the Pentagon, have an affair with your boss' mistress and she dies. Long story short: it's BAD.

Okay, so, now there's a spoiler that I would actually feel bad about spoiling, which is so rare for me, so if you haven't seen No Way Out, please stop reading and go do that. They throw so many red herrings at you in this movie that this becomes the best twist ending ever. So, I would go on and on about that, but I can't so...

Talking points: great Cold War thrillers, why all movies should feature Iman and Fred Thompson, limo etiquette? I'm really tired, people.