Young Frankenstein

 

This is my entry in the CMBA Make 'Em Laugh Blogathon.

 

 

Note: As I am writing this, just around the corner, we are going to be celebrating the 100th birthday of Mel Brooks. He will be joining David Attenborough, Gene Shalit and Bambi Linn (from Oklahoma!) for 2026, as well as Dick Van Dyke and Lee Grant, from 2025, to hit that centenary mark (and June Lockhart, who hit 100 before she passed away late last year).. I think, therefore, it is fitting that this review comes out at this point. Happy birthday, Mel!

 

It's no secret that two of my top five all time favorite comedies are ones that were directed by Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks had a sensitivity for what makes people laugh. Of course, he often had a cast of great actors to help him pull it off, not to mention several great writers (besides himself) that helped him create a few of them. Blazing Saddles, which ranks as my favorite comedy, had the help of Richard Pryor and Andrew Bergman, and today's movie was credited with the help of the star, Gene Wilder.

Mel Brooks, surprisingly, only has 11 movies to his credit, as a director, but with the exception of Life Stinks, I think all of them are comedic gems. In addition to the ones I've already mentioned, he directed the first The Producers, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, plus a few others that are fondly remembered.   

Mel Brooks got his start pairing with Sid Caesar, with whom he created some classic gems of early TV on Caesar's Your Show of Shows. Later he worked with Carl Reiner, father of Rob Reiner, in creating a series of comedy albums featuring The 2,000 Year Old Man, a couple of which managed to be nominated for Grammy for Best Comedy Albums. He also helped get the classic Get Smart, featuring a bumbling spy in the vein of James Bond on the air.  

In Young Frankenstein, Brooks and Wilder hit comedy gold, a well-received follow up to his/their previous work in Blazing Saddles. The film was the brainchild of Wilder who brought the idea to Brooks while on the set of Blazing Saddles. Initially Brooks was not overly enthusiastic. He was quoted as responding to Wilder's idea of another Frankenstein film with "Not another! We've had the son of, the cousin of, the brother-in-law. We don't need another Frankenstein." But when Wilder suggested the idea of a guy who was dismissive of his family as kooks, Brooks admitted the idea had some funny potential.

When it came time to cast the film one of Wilder's stipulations for doing the film was that Brooks had to excuse himself from his usual cameo (or significant) role. Wilder expressed some concern that Brooks tended to break down the forth wall when he was in the scene.  Of course, if you've seen the film you know that fourth wall was actually breached a couple of times anyway, by Marty Feldman. Feldman, by the way, made his first American movie appearance in this film, and is one of the many highlights of the film.

In addition, coming back for another role in a brooks film was Madeline Kahn, who had such an influence in the previous film.  Teri Garr, who had up to this point been mostly cast in uncredited roles in film and TV, also has some great scenes. She had originally auditioned for the role that eventually went to Kahn, but Brooks kept her, and his decision made the role of Inga a memorable one. And of course we can't forget Peter Boyle, who as the monster, gets one of the most iconic scenes of the movie, that of performing a soft shoe and duet with Wilder singing "Puttin' on the Ritz". Boyle had recently come off of what I consider a virtuoso performance as the lead character in an obscure movie called Joe (a movie I though I had reviewed for The Midnite Drive-In, but apparently that was for the previous incarnation of my movie reviewing blog... Gotta rectify that soon.)

They decided to film the movie in black and white, as opposed to color. The decision met with some resistance from the brass, who suggested a compromise, film the opening in black and white but the bulk of it in color, but Brooks remained firm in his decision. He wanted to stay true to the visual style, the way the old Universal Studios horror movies they were paying homage to were filmed. In that respect of staying true to the older films they even managed to get the permission of Kenneth Strickland, the creator of the original lab equipment which Strickland owned. And I'm not sure if he was paid money, but one of the stipulations that Strickland had for granting the use of the equipment was that he received a credit in the movie for it. I like that. He just wanted his name recognized more than anything else. (I feel an affinity for that sentiment. I, too, have had pieces I have written published in magazines, (under my real name), not wanting the money so much as having my name in print...)

The Oscars for 1974 were pretty much dominated by The Godfather, Part II, but Young Frankenstein did manage to get a wee bit of recognition. No, it didn't win an award, but it got nominated for two, Best Adapted Screenplay which it lost to The Godfather, Part II (which, technically shouldn't have counted, since the story was not a part of the original Puzo novel...) and Best Sound to Earthquake (and that one I don't begrudge one bit...) 

If comedy is a pariah at Oscar time, one could say that it was highly unlikely for Young Frankenstein to win anyway.  Only a smattering of movies that could be remotely considered "comedies" have won Best Picture, and at least a few of those were probably given for the musical part of the picture (Gigi, An American in Paris, My Fair Lady, Chicago) and many of the others were more romantic comedies than outright comedies. Not that I would have replaced any of the would-be contenders that year with Young Frankenstein for Best Picture (possibly The Towering Inferno, but that's just because those all-star cast movies always seem to get the nod, whether they were overly melodramatic or not... And one of these days I am going to delve into a piece on the "disaster flick" fascination of the late 70's....)

Still, I could have nominated a couple of other candidates for Oscars from this film.  For one thing, this movie would have been entirely different without the talent of Boyle. Admittedly he had no real lines until the ending (except the mumbling attempt at the aforementioned duet), but I really can't think of anyone else at the time who could have pulled it off with such panache. And not that it would have actually won against the raft of powerhouses that WERE nominated, but I think the film deserved a nod for cinematography. That decision to stay true to the older films and use strictly black and white shows not only dedication to the older films, but also some talent in being able to pull it off.

So before I move on: remember I said this is one of my top 5 comedies? Well, here for your enlightenment are the list of the top five that I consider the best: 

 

1. Blazing Saddles (1974): 

2. This is Spinal Tap (1984): 

3. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944):

4. Young Frankenstein (1974): 

5. Johnny Dangerously (1984): 

 

 

 

Young Frankenstein (1974):

The scene opens with the coffin of Baron von Frankenstein being opened and a box contained in the coffin being removed. Catch the reluctance of the corpse to let that box go because, unfortunately, it is the only real comedic scene in the opening moments of the movie. It really doesn't start to get hilarious, at least for me, until the 15 minute mark.  

 

The opening involves Dr, Frederick Frankenstein (that's pronounced "Fronk-en-steen"...) is delivering a lecture at a university. Frederick (Gene Wilder) demonstrates the difference between voluntary and reflex action of the brain, and asserts that, despite what one student points out about Frederick's heritage, that once a brain is severed from the body it cannot be revived. He claims that his infamous ancestor was a "kook" and that his research must therefore be flawed.

 

Frederick is approached by an executor for his family estate making him the inheritor of the family castle in Transylvania. He goes to visit the estate, where he is met by Igor, played by Marty Feldman, (his name is pronounced "Eye-gor") and is introduced to his laboratory assistant, the extremely attractive Inga (Teri Garr). Don't miss the early funny part of the film where Igor tells Frederick to "walk this way", and shows him what he means.

 

We finally get a glimpse of the Frankenstein Castle.

 

"It's only a model..."

 At the castle Frederick meets the mysterious housekeeper, Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman). Just mentioning Blucher's name causes the horses to whinny in fear. (I think that Leachman is struggling in these scenes to not burst out laughing, which is a good thing because it would be entirely out of character for her to actually laugh...)

 

When Frederick inspects the castle he inquires about his grandfather's private library, of which Frau Blucher claims to not have any knowledge. But later, upon awakening from a nightmare he hears music coming from behind the walls. He finds a secret passage behind a book case. Which involves a revolving bookcase and a candle that has to be placed just so...

 

The result is that Frederick finds his grandfather's secret laboratory. He finds the diaries (including a tome titled "How I Did It"), and becomes obsessed with the idea that he could recreate his grandfather's legacy. He obtains the body of a newly hanged criminal and sends Igor to a local morgue to retrieve the brain of a genius, Hans Delbruck. 

 

Unfortunately butterfingered Igor drops the brain and destroys it. But, ever resourceful, he just grabs another brain. He doesn't tell Frederick about his mishap right away, however. 

Frederick performs his experiment, using lightning as a power source. A great parallel to the original speech delivered by Colin Clive as the original doctor, over the top, almost parallel to Clive's essaying of the same madness. 

 

But it initially appears he has failed. 

 

But he is being pessimistic a bit prematurely. Meanwhile in town the citizens are becoming wary. Five times before (five???) a Frankenstein has occupied the castle and brought into the world an unwanted experiment. So Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars) volunteers to go to the castle to have a chat with Frederick and make sure that he is on the up and up.

 

At the same time, the monster comes to life, but is acting so strangely that Frederick becomes suspicious of the brain that he actually put into his creation. Igor admits he had an accident with Delbruck's brain and just grabbed a nearby brain as a substitute: "Abby somebody... Abby... Normal!" Frederick sees the problem right away: "Are you telling me that I put an abnormal brain in a seven and a half foot long GORILLA???" (It's beginning to look like Frederick might have been better off if he had failed.) 

 

While Inspector Kemp is, as needs be, suspicious of the new resident at Frankenstein castle, Frederick is coming to the realization that his creation is dangerous. But a revelation from Frau Blucher reveals that she knows a little secret about the heredity of the Frankenstein family and their creations: they adore music. Some of the scenes that follow are sweet, such as the attempt of the monster to try to catch some butterflies that apparently only it can see, as Frau Blucher plays a melodic tune on a violin. But the monster runs off after being startled by an electrical short in a nearby outlet.

The monster escapes and, in an homage directly referencing a similar encounter in the original The Bride of Frankenstein, it encounters a blind hermit, played exquisitely by Gene Hackman (who was uncredited in the first release). The monster, having been attracted by the sweet strains of music that the hermit is playing pays a visit. (And if you watch nothing else from this film, you just HAVE to watch this scene play out...)

 

Side note Hackman originally came into the movie as a result of his friendship with Wilder. Hackman asked Wilder if there was a part in the movie for him, because he wanted to get into some comedic roles. Both Wilder and Brooks immediately came to the conclusion that the only role that Hackman could be perfect for was the blind man. And they weren't wrong. You only had to see his later role as Lex Luthor in the Christopher Reeve Superman films that Hackman could do comedy just as well as he could dramatic roles.

Frederick finally recaptures the creature and has plans to turn him into a functional calm and friendly member of society. Eventually he premieres his creation to a group of scientists and public, performing "Puttin' on the Ritz". 

 

(Initially Brooks was adamant that this scene would not work and was against having it filmed, but Wilder was insistent. And work it does. It is probably one of the most memorable scenes in the film. And the film audiences did laugh.)

But things go haywire when one of the stage lights explodes and brings out the fear the creature has for fire. The audience reacts by throwing vegetables at him and the creature runs amuck. It is destined to be made a lesson for how man shouldn't meddle in the realm of that which is reserved for God. But take heart, once again the monster escapes and Frederick has plans to help the monster complete it's adjustment to polite society.

 One of the more interesting homages occurs when Frederick's fiancee shows up and has an unexpected romantic interlude with the monster. Not only does it make her no longer an uppity virginal debutante but it also gives her a new updo that is straight out of The Bride of Frankenstein...

 

 

 

In terms of box office and critical reception, the film holds a 95% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That means pretty much every critic at the time had good things to say about it. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, and even his competitor Gene Siskel managed to concede it a three star rating. IMDb gives it an 8 out of 10 on it's rating.

Not everyone was glowing in it's praise, however. One reviewer quoted in the wikipedia article, although praising of the movie itself, had some disparaging words about Feldman's portrayal. Leslie Halliwell is quoted as saying that the script was "far from consistently funny, but there are splendid moments".

The public however, seemed to think it was a gem. In terms of box office sales it ranked third for the year, only behind The Towering Inferno and Blazing Saddles in terms of draw. With a budget of only about $2.5 million it pulled in well over $30 million in US sales, and ultimately about $85 million worldwide. 

Definitely Young Frankenstein is well worth watching, even multiple times. I return to this movie often, especially when I want to remember one of the cast members. Unfortunately most of them have passed on to the studio in the sky, most recently Teri Garr, whom we lost in 2024, and Gene Hackman who passed away last year.. But as stated in the opening, we still have the director, Mel Brooks. (Note: I would imagine the little girl is still alive but I can't find any information one way or the other on her status. She would be in her 60's by now if she is.)

Well folks, the time has come to go back to the castle. Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

   

Wayne Got His .44 Magnum After All

 

 

 

John Wayne had a career that spanned decades. He began with bit parts in the late 20's, until his first real meaty part in The Big Trail (1930). Then he wallowed in "poverty row" westerns (cheap B movies cranked out by such studios as Monogram and Liberty, with budgets lower than even the quality) until John Ford rescued him and gave him what is referred to commonly as his breakthrough role as "The Ringo Kid" in Stagecoach (1939). Over the next 40 years, Wayne's name became a drawing factor in dozens of movies.

Admittedly, he was involved in some clunkers over that span. Not too many would disagree that probably his worst was when he tried to play Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956).(Wayne as a Mongol warrior? See the link to see what I thought of that decision). A lot of those poverty row westerns rank pretty low on a list of Wayne movies, too, and admittedly, to me at least, most of them could be confused with each other, because they all basically had the same story.

Personally, I think Wayne was at his best when he stayed with the westerns genre.  My personal favorites in this category are El Dorado, The Horse Soldiers, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, Stagecoach, The Train Robbers, The Undefeated and The War Wagon, all of which I have reviewed elsewhere on this blog. You can also add a few that I haven't gotten around to reviewing (yet): Chisum, Fort Apache, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River, The Searchers and True Grit. I also like Rio Bravo, but not nearly as much as I like the remake, El Dorado.

When Wayne tried to branch out from his western hero mold, at times he came across as a western cowboy in a role that was decidedly not a western, but many times did a good job at it anyway. As jingoistic as they come across, both Sands of Iwo Jima and The Green Berets are still standout Wayne performances. But both of those are war movies, and cowboys and soldiers are not all that far apart, at least in the Hollywood tradition. You could have transplanted both of those in the realm of the Civil War and made him a Union officer leading troops and they still would have been mostly the same.

In my opinion, however, when Wayne tried to play modern day characters outside of the war and western pictures, his films were not all that great.  Circus World, Jet Pilot and even Hellfighters are probably some of the worst films my admitted movie hero ever made.

Two movies Wayne made just prior to his last, and one of his greatest, films, The Shootist, rank among those that many Wayne fans are not overly fond of.  Both, I think, were made in response to Dirty Harry (1971) and involved him playing modern day detective/cop characters. In McQ (1974) and Brannigan (1975) Wayne played the rogue cop role already made famous by Clint Eastwood, and followed by such TV shows like Baretta. Of course, in McQ Wayne's character quits the force and takes on the role of private investigator to complete his goal, but he starts out as a sort of Harry Callahan character at the start.

It's not that Wayne is absolutely horrible in these two. The fact is, being an avowed Wayne western aficionado, I myself just had a hard time with accepting him playing the gritty modern cop character. Now it must be said, Wayne had been approached to play Harry but turned it down, and admitted later that he thought he had made a mistake. So his taking on these two roles probably had a lot to do with that decision. 

Contrary to the title of this blog entry, Wayne's gun(s) in these films is not a .44 Magnum as Eastwood uses in Dirty Harry. In Brannigan his preferred weapon is a Colt Diamondback, and in McQ, it is a SW Model 10, but I couldn't resist the title, given that these two films were basically knockoffs of the Eastwood film.

Both films have something to keep the interest of people. There is a little bit of film noir running through each, what with a lot of surprise double crosses, and a few "didn't see that coming" twists, but in my opinion, Wayne was the fly in the ointment here. Clint Eastwood was 40 when he made the first Dirty Harry, and as such somewhat believable as the rogue cop with some vigor still in his body. Wayne, on the other hand, was in his mid-60's when he made these two, and even taking the cancer that was starting to take toll on his body by this time, just didn't have the oomph to look like he could still hang with the big guys. 

 

 

 

 

Brannigan (1975):

Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) likes doing things his way, regardless of what objections the bosses might have. He is hot on the trail of a mobster named Larkin, and he'll stop at nothing to get him.  But Larkin is no longer in America.  He is currently in London, where the Brits have offered to extradite him to the Americans, and the powers that be send Brannigan to collect him. But basically Larkin is walking around free until at such a time. That's because the Brits have some "by the rules" laws, which includes the fact that he could go on bail.  Not to worry, however, Jimbo, they have him "under surveillance". Jolly good, eh, what? 

 

Larkin has a hit out on Brannigan, and has hired a hit man to eliminate him, this despite the fact that even if he succeeds the Americans will just send another man.  But Larkin doesn't like Brannigan very much, so he has his sights set on just the immediate future. 

 

And he has one of the best hit men in the world on the pay roll, Gorman (Daniel Pilon). He also has no intention of taking the advice of his "lawyer" , Fields (Mel Ferrer), to skip town through a bit of subterfuge because Larkin really likes London and wants to hang around.

 

Brannigan is met at the airport by a police officer, a woman (bit of a change from his last stint in London during the war.) Det. Sgt. Jennifer Thatcher (Judy Geeson) escorts Brannigan to meet with the head honcho in Scotland Yard, Sir Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough), who assures him they can pick up Larkin any time Brannigan is ready to do so.  But there is a fly in the ointment.  While Larkin was at a men's club getting a massage, he is kidnapped, and now even the Yard has no idea of his whereabouts.

 

Brannigan gets off to a bit of a bad start with Swann over his insistence to wear his firearm, which, although regulatory by American standards is against British law.  "When in London, do as the Londoners do" is not a part of Brannigan's repertoire, however. Despite many demands put on him by Swann to turn over his weapon, he refuses to do so.  Which decision comes in handy quite often over the course of the film.

 What keeps this movie from becoming an unintentional farce like the Conqueror is the fact that the action gets gritty enough to hold your interest.  And the chase scenes through the London streets are exceptionally well paced.  I am especially grateful for the fact that when, in the inevitable scene in which Wayne is forced to take the wheel in one car chase, the film didn't sink into the "fish out of water" driving I half expected: that of Wayne, being American, driving the wrong side of the road or some such ridiculousness.  At least they kept that joke out of the picture.

There is some very interesting twists going on, and Brannigan seems to think that maybe, just maybe, that kidnapping of Larkin isn't as on the up-and-up that it would seem to be.  Although you might think it was given the fact that one scene involves the "kidnappers" sending the police one of Larkin's fingers as proof they mean business. Which just goes to show how committed some people can be in hoodwinking others.

Over the course of the film there is always that hit man working his way into the objective, and in one scene, the female detective almost buys it just because the hit man mistakes her for Brannigan.  Fortunately she is saved, because that would have been a very serious letdown if she had died.  I liked the girl playing her.

The final shootout with the bad guys goes pretty much as you would expect.  But wait! Remember the hit man?  He is still determined to finish his assignment. OK, so this movie (and as you will see, the other one) are not really horrible. And with a younger guy than Wayne, these movies both might have been good moneymakers, whether or not a star name was in the title role. 

 

 

McQ (1974):

 

The beginning has a guy driving around the city where he kills two uniformed police officers.  One is a guy on early morning patrol checking locks when he sees the car and investigates.  The driver shoots him and speeds away.  But not very far because he shoots another a few blocks away.  Then he goes to a diner where he stashes the gun in a satchel.  And we find out that he is a police officer himself... He takes the satchel outside and throws it in a car that pulls up, but as he is walking away, the driver of that car shoots him. It turns out that the original shooter was a Det. Sgt. Boyle, who was a partner and friend of Lt. Lon "McQ" McHugh (John Wayne). 

 

It's a bad morning for McQ. Not only does he learn that his partner and friend has been shot, but when he goes outside, he finds some guy trying to hijack his car.  He yells at the would-be thief  who runs away, but someone has been lying in wait for him and tries to shoot McQ.  He dodges the bullets and ends killing his would be assassin instead.  Already, barely three minutes into the picture, we have 4 dead bodies.

In the tradition of film noir, it gets even more complicated as it goes along.  McQ's boss, Capt. Kosterman (Eddie Albert) thinks the whole thing is a plot by radicals. (This being the 70's, liberal anti-war student radicals were often the bad guys.) 

 

But McQ is convinced it is the work of a local drug lord, Santiago (Al Lettieri).  He tries to do his own work in solving the murders (Boyle has in the meantime died), and ends up beating the crap out of Santiago to try to get a confession.

 

 

That doesn't work so well.  McQ ends up in hot water with his bosses and is told to take a desk job pending investigation.  But McQ is in no mood to give up so easily.  He quits the force and then goes to a private detective friend to get hired on as a private investigator. This is just a cover, since McQ's "client" is himself, thus giving him some freedom to operate on the case in another capacity. He still retains a compadre on the inside of the force, however, to help him wangle the necessary information he might need; J.C. (Jim Watkins)

In the process of investigating he finds out from a former snitch, Rosey (Roger E. Mosely), that there is a planned heist, and from another snitch, Myra (Colleen Dewhurst) that the planned heist is going to be from the police department itself.  

 

It turns out that about $2 million worth of drugs is about to be burned, but hoods posing as laundry men, take the drugs.  McQ gives chase but loses them in a confusion during the chase. Capt. Kosterman is none too pleased and threatens McQ with removal of his private license. But McQ is still on the case, with or without his legal license to carry. Ultimately he breaks into Santiago's offices where he finds, conveniently, a desk littered with bags of the "drugs".  But he is caught by Santiago and his henchmen, and finds out that even crooks can be taken for a ride.  What Santiago actually ended up with in his drug heist are bags of sugar. 

You get it now?  There are some police men on the inside who are dirty, taking the drugs for their own profit and basically leaving the real drug dealers high and dry.  McQ suspects that the Mr. Big on the inside must be Kosterman, who, after all, has been doing everything he can to get McQ off this case.  But don't be too sure about that...

Of course, it turns out, as anyone watching must have cottoned to, that Boyle was involved in some dirty dealings, but he had to have a partner in the ring, one who knew all about his dirty dealings, and one who was higher up in the echelon on the inside.  But maybe there were a couple of other partners that were in on it that no one else knew about. And possibly, just possibly, friends that McQ has may not entirely be the friends he thinks he has.

At this point I would normally tell you how it all panned out.  But despite  the fact that I thought Wayne was out of his element in this role, I still liked the double cross the film makers put on the viewing public as to the real solution.  Maybe you will see it coming a mile away, but I was thrown for a loop. Which is why I think this movie is worth watching, at least plot wise. Wayne may not be believable as an obviously aged cop trying to pull off stuff that someone 20 years younger ought to be doing, but the story makes it worth a watch.

One of the important reasons why this film works is that it had a guy behind the camera who knew how to make the action interesting.  John Sturges, the same man who gave us such classic action oriented movies as The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven (and there's a movie long overdo for an appearance at the Drive-In...), Ice Station Zebra and his last film, The Eagle Has Landed knew how to hold the viewers interest. Many of you could name others, I'm sure, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind for me.  

Well, folks, as opposed to most of my Wayne movies, this time I won't have to try to saddle up a horse, although the Plymouth is no match for the kinds of cars Wayne gets to go home in...

(And, in case you missed it a few years ago, for those who might be wondering, I present the Plymouth...)

 

 

Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

The Rise and Fall of a Big Man

This is my entry in the Al Pacino Blogathon hosted by Pale Writer

In the early 80's, somewhere around 1983, Showtime broadcast what was, at that time, the only two Godfather movies, edited so that it was historically in sequence.  It was my first ever experience with the Godfather saga.  For those of you who have never seen either, the first Godfather movie showed the transition of the Corleone family post WWII, as Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) arrives home from serving the country in WWII, and the family's dealings with pressure to expand it's operations from gambling and prostitution into the drug culture, among other things.  Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is an old-fashioned guy who resists the coming change, while his eldest son, Sonny (James Caan) looks at the potential from a money point of view.

Michael himself is resistant to get involved, wanting to distance himself from the family "business".  But when Sonny is killed in a gang hit, Michael eventually transfers from being a reluctant participant to an active leader, and after the death of his father takes over the family business.

In The Godfather Part II, Michael is now the capo di tutti capi, and is trying desperately to maintain his empire.  In contrast the film also shows the immigration and maturation of the original Godfather, Vito (played by Robert DeNiro), as he learns how to survive in the Italian ghetto of New York.

When Showtime originally aired its edited version (a 4+ hour extravaganza), it transitioned the Vito/DeNiro portion to the front of the movie series, thus making it more historically in sequence.  It wasn't until a few years later that I got to see both movies in their original form.  Needless to say, the effect was eye-opening.

You get the idea that Hollywood doesn't really understand some of it's potential.  Else why would they have allowed Ted Turner to "colorize" dozens of black and white films back in the 80's, most of which were not improved by the process and many of which lost its cache by the coloring?  And why would they allow the altering of director Coppola's vision by taking the flashback sequences out of context in this film?  It's fortunate that the historical sequencing of the Godfather films did not become big, because watching The Godfather Part II in its original form has something that would be entirely missed watching it in sequence.  The whole film acts as a parallel between the rise of Vito and the gradual decline of Michael.

The film was a big hit at the Oscars.  It was nominated for 11 awards and won six of them, including Best Picture and an award to DeNiro for Best Supporting Actor  Which I think was the first time for an actor in that category, whose character spoke virtually no English in the role.  He spoke Italian with the exception of one or two phrases.   (Sophia Loren, BTW, beat him out as the first overall foreign language Oscar recipient, when she won one a few years earlier for Two Women, in which her character spoke Italian.  And if you want to get technical, Jane Wyman actually won the first Oscar by playing a character who used sign language to communicate.)

The Godfather Part II (1974):


1901:  While Michael (Al Pacino) contemplates his future...

We are first treated to a flashback to a young Vito Andolini (Oreste Baldini) as he accompanies his mother to beg the local Mafioso chieftain, Don Ciccio (Giuseppe Sillato) to spare the life of young Vito.  See, Vito's father insulted the don and the don had him killed.  It is probably already too late for Vito's older brother who has sworn vengeance for his father, but mother thinks she can convince the don that Vito is too shy and stupid to join in.  When shortly thereafter Vito's brother is indeed killed attempting to extract vengeance, mom helps Vito to escape and young Vito heads to America.

1958:  Michael is trying to gain control of several gambling casinos in Las Vegas, part of his attempt to legitimize the family business.  At his son's First Communion party, Michael meets with a corrupt senator (G. D. Spradlin) who tries to extort more money from the Corleones than is normally charged for the transfers.  Michael counters with another offer, one which the senator rejects.  (But he will live to regret it, as we shall see.  Don't **** with the family there, senator...)

Michael also meets with a mob sub-boss Frank Pentangeli (Michael V. Gazzo) who wants permission to dispense with a pair of brothers, the Rosatos, who are causing him some grief in his New York territory.

But Michael refuses to grant permission because the Rosatos are connected with Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), a business partner in Miami.  When later that night an assassination attempt is made on Michael, he suspects his business partner.

1917:  The now grown Vito Andolini (now called Vito Corleone, due to a discrepancy  during his initial immigration) is working in a grocery store and raising a new son.  Don Fanucci (Gastone Moschin), the local Mafioso boss forces Vito's boss to hire on his nephew, thus essentially forcing the man to have to fire Vito.  Vito meets Clemenza (Bruno Kirby) for the first time and unwittingly helps him in a robbery.

1958:  Michael meets with Roth, although he does not let on his suspicions that Roth was involved in the attempted assassination,  Instead he convinces Roth he suspects someone else.  Roth and Michael travel to Havana where they have an ongoing relationship with the current leader of the country, Batista.  Several things occur to sour things, including a failed attempt by Michael to have Roth killed and the revolution that brings Fidel Castro to power coming to fruition.

1920:  The situation with Don Fanucci is getting out of hand.  The don extorts money from everyone and even tries to muscle in on Vito and his friends' occasional robberies, demanding a cut in return for the don not ratting them out to the police.  Vito arranges for the don to take an early exit from life.

1958:  Michael has to deal with the Senate Subcommittee's investigation into the activities of the secret organization known as the Mafia.

He also has to deal with his older brother Fredo (John Cazale) who may or may not be ignorant of his involvement behind the attempted assassination of Michael.  But Michael resolves not to do anything while his mother is still alive.

And what's worse is his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton) insisting that she is leaving Micheal and taking the kids with her.  Not only that, but she tells him the miscarriage he assumed she had was actually an abortion.  (And that's the straw that breaks the camel's back, so to speak...)

1923:  Vito returns to his hometown of Corleone and exacts his revenge on Don Ciccio, now an old man and no threat to anyone, but revenge is revenge, especially in the society of which Vito has been a part.

The movie comes full circle as by the end we see Michael sitting alone and contemplating his future.  His friends are gone, his enemies are gone, his family is gone and he has only what he has built for himself, a life of crime and the loneliness it produces.

Watched by itself, The Godfather Part II may not completely satisfy since you are not really given much background on why Michael is where he is today.  But then how many movies have you seen recently as stand alone movies are there in which all the characters motivations are revealed in the context of the movie?  Personally I would watch all three Godfather movies in succession (there was a third one that came out in the 1990's which takes up the Corleone saga 20 years later from the end of Part II.)

Al Pacino is in top form in this outing.  At the Oscars that year,  he competed with the likes of Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Dustin Hoffman (Lenny) and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express), any one of which COULD have won, but  all lost to Art Carney (Harry and Tonto), and the less said about that injustice the better.


Time to fire up the old Plymouth.  Drive safely folks, and watch out for big long cadillacs packed with gunmen....

Quiggy

A Yard in the Yard

This is my entry in the 1st and 10 Blogathon hosted by hosted by Dubsism and Me

Football.  My favorite sport.  And a contender for America's favorite sport.  Yes baseball is considered "America's Pastime" and maybe rightly so, but you don't see kids playing baseball in the middle of November.

In Texas football is almost a religion.  I remember some time ago there was an attempt to change the high school traditional Friday night football games to Saturday.  You would have thought they were trying to make churches change from worshiping God to worshiping Allah.  For the most part football remained the same through that todo. 

I could watch football all day long (and sometimes do).  So the uncultured female at the beginning of this movie thinks "only a moron can sit and watch two football games, one after the other" and football fanatics like myself can't help but feel a little vindicated when Crewe shoves her on her hoity-toity ass.

But, as much as this movie is about football, it's also about a guy who refuses to bend over when the man tells him to.  And Burt Reynolds is probably the only man who can pull that off with panache.  (Forget Adam Sandler and his punk-ass remake of this film.  Sandler couldn't shine Burt Reynolds' shoes...)

The Longest Yard (1974):

Paul Crewe (Burt Reynolds) is a renegade.  And a rebel.  And a misogynist.  He does what he wants, when he wants and to hell with what anyone else has to say about it.  But it gets him into trouble when he takes his girlfriend's car for a joyride after shoving her into a wall.  Which gets him arrested and sent to prison.

Warden Hazen (Eddie Albert) pulled every string in the book to get Crewe sentenced to his prison.  Because Crewe was a former NFL star and Hazen thinks Crewe could be an asset in getting his amateur prison guard team into shape.

Unfortunately, Chief Guard Capt. Knauer (Ed Lauter) doesn't want Crewe's help and uses force to convince Crewe to decline Hazen's offer.  Which leads to a battle of wills.  Hazen gives Crewe every crappy work detail he can think of to convince Crewe to change his mind.

Eventually they come to terms.  Crewe doesn't take the job of coaching the prison guards.  Instead he offers the warden an opportunity for a warm-up game.  Crewe will enlist a group of prisoners to form a team.  But Crewe is up against something else on that respect.  You see, as an NFL player he was involved in a gambling scheme in which he shaved points of off games to help win big bucks for the gamblers.

Caretaker (James Hampton): "All I'm saying is that you could have robbed banks, sold dope or stole your grandmother's pension check and none of us would have minded.  But shaving points off a football game?  Man, that's un-American."

Crewe does manage to get a few recruits by using the promise that they could kick the crap out of the guards and exact some semblance of revenge for past indiscretions put on them by the guards.  But his team is not all that good, mainly because the black prisoners refuse to play with him.  All except one.  Granville (Harry Caesar) joins the team, despite the fact that his fellow black inmates accuse of him of being a sort of "Uncle Tom".

Eventually, however, Granville helps to recruit the others after the way he is treated by the racist members of the guards.  So Crewe has a team that can play.  And they are pretty good.  So good in fact that Hazen tries to convince Crewe to throw the game.  Initially Crewe agrees because the warden has promised that after a sufficient lead he will have his guards relax on their brutish play.  But Hazen has no intention of keeping his promise.

So Crewe is forced to show up Hazen and his guards.  Leading to a final 15 minutes of some great football play. 

A whole slew of then current and former NFL players appear on both sides of the field in this movie.  If you were a football fan in the late 60's and early 70's you will probably recognize quite a few of them:  Ray Ogden, Ernie Wheelwright, Pervis Atkins, Joe Kapp, Mike Henry, Joe Nicholson and of course the great Ray Nitschke, one of the players instrumental in helping the Green Bay Packers win the first two Super Bowls.

The Longest Yard was remade in the 2000's with Adam Sandler in the Burt Reynolds role. Don't make the mistake of confusing the two.  The Reynolds movie is the real deal.  Burt actually played football in college.  Sandler probably couldn't even have made the team as the waterboy.

Time to fire up the old Plymouth and head home.  Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy