#98 Yankee Doodle Dandy

98. Yankee Doodle Dandy - 1942

Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Written by: Robert Buckner and Edmund Joseph (screenplay) Robert Buckner (story)

Starring: James Cagney

Previous viewing status: First viewing.


At long last I finally watched Yankee Doodle Dandy thanks to my good friend, Keegan, who had the (possible) joy of seeing the film with me. This film was extremely difficult to find; either renting or online, and after watching it I've found out why that is... there are some slightly racist portrayals in the film. There is a scene where the main character, George M. Cohan, and his family are performing a vaudville show in blackface. Obviously, this would register on anyone's "uncomfortable meter" as fucking uncomfortable. The film was made in 1942, but it was a biopic film pre-1942; there is even a contemporary character of Franklin Delano Roosevelt which is always an added amusement considering he was still alive at the time the film was made.

The film follows the birth of Cohan (named George after President Washington because he was born on 4th of July), and through his career as a hit musical writer, dancer, singer and producer. There were many patriotic songs that I remembered learning in elementary school to sing for Memorial Day or President's Day assemblies (Yankee Doodle Dandy *duh*, Over There). All in all, I felt there was something missing in the film because I honestly had never heard of George M. Cohan before, and I wasn't sure if the story was new and they wrote the songs for the film, or if the songs and Mr. Cohan were the basis of the story.

I can't say that I felt there was any heart and soul in this movie. The overt patriotism tends to override any interpersonal emotions that are portrayed in the film; everyone is too "Johnny-Do-Gooder", such as the scene where America is suddenly involved in the first World War and Cohan goes down to enlist in the army and they tell him they'd love him to fight, but he's too old (forty-something) and he does some fancy dancing to show them all he's more fit than many younger-a-man, but sadly, gramps is told he can't go sit in a trench in Europe for his country.

The best part of this film is James Cagney's dancing. For someone famous for being a villainous mafia guy, he can dance the socks off of the best of 'em! There's a scene where after being presented with the congressional medal of honor from FDR (for reals; he was the first artist ever bestowed this award), Cagney is walking down the steps (supposedly as a 70+ year old George Cohan), and he starts to dance, and if you weren't paying attention you wouldn't notice it; he's just that smooth. He ended up winning best actor for his amazing dance skillz and that alone is the scene that I feel pretty good about touting as extraordinary. Too bad it's only 13 seconds long.

#97. Blade Runner

97. Blade Runner - 1982

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Written by: Hampton Fancher, David Webb Peoples (screenplay) Philip K. Dick (novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?")

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Previous viewing status: Watched once before - only the director's cut.

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When it comes to original cuts and director's cuts, I'm not sure which category falls into slot number 97 on this list for Blade Runner. To be fair, I've only ever seen the "Final Cut" version of the film, now both times that I've watched it. From what I hear and read of the original version, the main character, Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, has a character arch of disliking (I'm not sure that hate would fit here) 'Replicants' and comes to fall in love with one. From what I've seen in the director's cut, there wasn't anything that I saw that would show his utter dislike of Replicants enough for the story to be really be all that compelling. But perhaps I just need to find an old version of the film so I can judge more accurately.

As for the so-called "Final Cut" - I have to say, it's true to Ridley Scott form for it's unbiased view of the future. He never goes for streamline perfection, but a more real and gritty style. Scott has some similarities to Kubrick in that they know how to milk a moment - almost to the point of losing viewer interest - but Scott has the ability to reward the viewer more for making it through the slower parts of his films with dramatic and intense action. Blade Runner is possibly the epitome of his skill, if you go by the fact that it is his only film on this list. However, I feel strongly that Alien is by far a better film.

Blade Runner feels very uncoordinated while watching it; I never really understand how Deckard decides to go from place to place. Many parts of the film's storyline seem rushed and unpolished. Roy Batty, the leader of the on-the-run Replicants, seems impossibly cruel at the beginning of the film, but as poetic and merciful as Ghandi by the end. I think that his change confronting Deckard makes more sense in the "Final Cut" as opposed to the original - for reasons I don't want to give away for anyone who hasn't watched the film. Roy is definitely the most well-sculpted of the characters, while Deckard is the least, despite being the main character in the story. It never actually feels as if we know who Deckard is beyond the moment, and that also would support the "Final Cut" better than the original.

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this film, and describing it is a very rambling experience because of that uncertainty. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. It leaves me with a mediocre taste in my mouth from the lack of solidity in its entire point. There's plenty of plot to go around, but it feels like it doesn't actually lead anywhere in the end.

Stalled.

So I've been having some health issues the last two weeks that have sort of set me back from my film watching, but the main factor to my lack of movie watching is I haven't been able to find #98 Yankee Doodle Dandy anywhere, save buying it at Borders which is not part of the plan.

My course right now is to just scoot around it to #97, Blade Runner and come back to YDD once I've got my hands on a copy of it!

Tonight, it's time to party with the replicants.

#99. Toy Story

99. Toy Story - 1995

Directed by: John Lasserter
Written by: John Lasserter, Joe Ranft, Andrew Stanton, Pete Doctor (story)
Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Coen, Alec Sokolow (screenplay)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen

Previous viewing status: Watched at least 5 times, but not since 2000.


Toy Story was the beginning of an era. It's seriously hard for me to believe that it came out in 1995 when I was 12 years old. Animation has come so far since then but this film, regardless of technical aging, holds up. Why? What makes something that looks so primitive compared to animated films now hold it's own against them? It's the story and the directing. The crucial cinematography that perfectly mirrors realistic camera movements and decisive camera angles is the key that brings it through time. It was a film made entirely inside computers and yet it feels like it was filmed in a plastic reality with real cameras and actors.

There's some of everything in this film; comedy to drama to action to fantasy. The entire novelty of the story itself is genuinely blended with reality so it doesn't feel like they don't belong. The complex character arcs of Woody and Buzz Lightyear (Tom Hanks and Tim Allen) are perfectly mapped out while somehow avoiding cliches along the way. And what would the film be without a little bit of happy, American music from Randy Newman?

The film never feels like it drags or passes too quickly. And the real piece that makes the film really great is that, unlike every other Pixar film since, it doesn't feel air tight from questions; it doesn't feel locked behind cased glass, untouchable and perfectly wrapped up in a bow. I think that's part of the key to every great film - a little bit of imperfection. Things like Buzz pretending to be a toy when Andy plays with him even though he doesn't know he's a toy, or how the toys that have been dismantled in Sid's house can't speak, or where Andy's dad is in all this (even though he has a baby sister who is an infant). Things like that make it interesting to discuss! People don't like being given everything, we like to fill in pieces of the puzzle with our imaginations. Obviously plotholes make things difficult, but it's just nice to get something that doesn't feel like it's trying too hard.

Joe Ranft really brought the story a cinematic life with his mythical storyboarding skills. John Lasseter knows exactly what it takes to make kids compeled to love characters. Toy Story will always be there to tell children of the future, stories of friendship, overcoming jealousy, prejudice and misunderstandings.

RIP - Joe Ranft

#100. Ben-Hur

100. Ben-Hur - 1959

Directed by: William Wyler
Written by: Lew Wallace (novel) and Karl Tunberg (screenplay)

Starring: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet and Jack Hawkins

Previous viewing status: Unwatched except a clip of the chariot race.


The thing about Ben-Hur is that it is a film based on religion. The thing about me is that I'm hard-pressed to find anything appealing in film of a religious nature. I suppose cinematically it was an achievement. The massive sets and backgrounds created for the film; the dynamic shots that helped influence the intensity of characters predicaments. The real frustrating bit about the religousness of the film is that it comes in as a magic wand to fix a scene that would otherwise need more explanation. Instead of that, we just get the back of Jesus's head and a reaction of the person looking at him as if they have suddenly forgotten how to blink and close their mouths. There's no emotion or anything in the way they look at him, it's actually incredibly disturbing. It plays off as bad acting, but really it's just bad direction. It makes the film feel as if there is no soul in these parts, more like it's an infomercial for Jesus than a feature film with a plot, characters and entertainment value. As soon as those bits are over, the story starts back up and this is where I can really get into the heart and core of the film: man crushes.

It's evident from the very first time we meet Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) that he has quite the enamoring effect on other men. He first meets up with his childhood friend Messala (Stephen Boyd) whose fire and anxious passion flickering in his eyes is almost disturbing because Judah seems to not even notice this in his close-friend's overly warm greeting. There are multiple other instances throughout the film that play to this same strange affect that Ben-Hur has on other men.

By far, the most homo-erotic scene in the film is when the Consul, Quintus Arrius, a man in his late 40s or early 50s, is on the Roman military ship that Judah Ben-Hur is a slave of for rowing. He picks Ben-Hur out of all the slaves and whips him after asking how long he's been on the ship. Soon after this, he has a chair to sit in and watch the mostly naked men rowing and rowing while sweat drips down their glistening muscles. He then tells the drummaster to up the pace to Battle, Attack and so on, working the men harder and harder and harder and ooh! Oh! YES YES YES! That's it! Don't stop! Don't stop! DON'T STOP!! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaaaaah...... And they all slump over when he finally releases... erm, relieves them of the drummaster's beat. Arrius then retires to his private quarters. The next scene is Ben-Hur entering his quarters (take that phrase as you wish). It only elevates from there, including bondage, ring-giving and riding bitch on a chariot.

Aside from all the man crushes everyone seems to get on Judah, there is also this strange lapsing in time. It's not portrayed well at all. We're constantly jumping forward in time and not realizing it happened until someone says, "Oh it's been three years and twenty-nine days!" And then we're just left to make up what happened in the missed years, when it sounded like there was some pretty exciting stuff going for the characters then, like Ben-Hur somehow becoming some super-star in the chariot races at the Roman Circus (not like the modern circus, but similar in that it was for entertainment, often with mortal reprecussions). And who cares if he said he hated the Romans, and that he left his mother and sister to rot in a prison dungeon in Judea? He was pimpin' now, though he felt bad in his heart about it. I would have liked to have seen this change in character instead of just be left out of the loop in what made him stay in Rome and so readily become one of them.

All in all, it wasn't a terrible film (aside from the white actor with his face painted to look Arab, which was humiliating to watch). The pace of the film was done well and everything that happened to Judah was something I wanted to see through to the end. The chariot race scene lives up to its hype as an amazing piece of film, and that is possibly the reason it is so well-loved. The mutilated Messala's death is also quite poignant and masterfully acted. There is also a lot to be said of the lepers and their role in bringing around Judah's peaceful side again (since he was "corrupted" in Rome to be vengeful and angry). But of course in the end, when the film has taken a turn to la-la-land and we're for some reason focusing on Jesus's death, the lepers are instantly cured of their disfiguring disease. And that concludes a film with an odd and ambiguous ending to which all I can say is:

"Jesus is magic!"

Making the list.

It occurred to me recently that there are a marvelous number of films I've never seen. It all began because of an impetuous trip to rent a movie one night with a friend who was staying with me in San Francisco. The classics section is often the least populated and probably the least visited part of a video rental store, and since most people don't even rent movies from stores anymore, I doubt most people even see these films while they're browsing. Instead we add movies to a queue that seems endlessly filled with films we may never even get through to the end. Of course there's nothing wrong with this method, it's just less likely that we'll spot films that we may not think of renting simply because we have no idea they exist.

So what happened to me in the classics section that night? I picked up a film called The Apartment. I'd heard the name before, maybe even watched a clip of it in a film history class in college, but I didn't really know anything about it. I read the back and was immediately intrigued, something about a man whose apartment near Central Park is used by his work superiors to entertain their mistresses in exchange for undeserved promotions at the office. For 1960 this sounded pretty risque, but then again, I was just hanging onto a stereotype of what I thought films were before 1970.

My friend wasn't interested in the black-and-white, best picture winner from fifty years ago, but there was no way I could put it back on the shelf. After my friend's stay was over, I had the film to myself and I was so glad that I did; The Apartment sparked a fire inside my heart, the place where all the films I love are tucked away into and I wanted to find out what else I had been missing.

And all this leads us here to this blog. I'm starting this as a record and a forum for the AFI list of the top 100 Films (The Apartment, #80), revised in 2008 for the 100 year anniversary of narrative filmmaking. I'm going to watch each film on the list, starting with Ben Hur at number 100 and work all the way down to Citizen Kane, sitting pretty in slot 001.

My goal is to post every day about a new film. Today is not yet the first day, but the introduction; the prologue. So you can always see what lies ahead, or if you feel inclined to go along with me on this ridiculous venture, here I post the list of these 100 films, from beginning, to end:

100 Ben-Hur 1959
99 Toy Story 1995
98 Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942
97 Blade Runner 1982
96 Do the Right Thing 1989
95 The Last Picture Show 1971
94 Pulp Fiction 1994
93 The French Connection 1971
92 Goodfellas 1990
91 Sophie's Choice 1982
90 Swing Time 1936
89 The Sixth Sense 1999
88 Bringing Up Baby 1938
87 12 Angry Men 1957
86 Platoon 1986
85 A Night at the Opera 1935
84 Easy Rider 1969
83 Titanic 1997
82 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans 1927
81 Spartacus 1960
80 The Apartment 1960
79 The Wild Bunch 1969
78 Modern Times 1936
77 All the President's Men 1976
76 Forrest Gump 1994
75 In the Heat of the Night 1967
74 The Silence of the Lambs 1991
73 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
72 The Shawshank Redemption 1994
71 Saving Private Ryan 1998
70 A Clockwork Orange 1971
69 Tootsie 1982
68 Unforgiven 1992
67 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 1966
66 Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
65 The African Queen 1951
64 Network 1976
63 Cabaret 1972
62 American Graffiti 1973
61 Sullivan's Travels 1941
60 Duck Soup 1933
59 Nashville 1975
58 The Gold Rush 1925
57 Rocky 1976
56 Jaws 1975
55 North by Northwest 1959
54 MASH 1970
53 The Deer Hunter 1978
52 Taxi Driver 1976
51 West Side Story 1961
50 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001
49 Intolerance 1916
48 Rear Window 1954
47 A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
46 It Happened One Night 1934
45 Shane 1953
44 The Philadelphia Story 1940
43 Midnight Cowboy 1969
42 Bonnie and Clyde 1967
41 King Kong 1933
40 The Sound of Music 1965
39 Dr. Strangelove 1964
38 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948
37 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946
36 The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957
35 Annie Hall 1977
34 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937
33 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975
32 The Godfather Part II 1974
31 The Maltese Falcon 1941
30 Apocalypse Now 1979
29 Double Indemnity 1944
28 All About Eve 1950
27 High Noon 1952
26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939
25 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
24 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
23 The Grapes of Wrath 1940
22 Some Like It Hot 1959
21 Chinatown 1974
20 It's a Wonderful Life 1946
19 On the Waterfront 1954
18 The General 1927
17 The Graduate 1967
16 Sunset Boulevard 1950
15 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
14 Psycho 1960
13 Star Wars 1977
12 The Searchers 1956
11 City Lights 1931
10 The Wizard of Oz 1939
9 Vertigo 1958
8 Schindler's List 1993
7 Lawrence of Arabia 1962
6 Gone with the Wind 1939
5 Singin' in the Rain 1952
4 Raging Bull 1980
3 Casablanca 1942
2 The Godfather 1972
1 Citizen Kane 1941