FILM FRENZY

Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine in Terms of Endearment (Photo: Paramount)

By Matt Brunson

(View From The Couch is a weekly column that reviews what’s new on Blu-ray, 4K and DVD. Ratings are on a four-star scale.)

BACKDRAFT (1991). The fire is the A-list star in Backdraft, a hoary melodrama in which the clichés are more plentiful than the flames. The visual tropes begin immediately, as the camera pans to a fallen hero’s helmet landing forlornly on the ground — and there’s plenty more where that came from. Kurt Russell and William Baldwin are cast as estranged brothers Stephen and Brian McCaffrey, firefighters who alternate between battling blazes and battling each other. Backdraft would have worked best had it concentrated more on the everyday perils confronted by firemen; instead, the movie spends far too much time on the sappy storyline involving the feuding siblings, and it operates even less effectively when it centers on their relationships with their respective (and woefully one-dimensional) lady loves, Stephen’s separated wife (Rebecca De Mornay) and Brian’s ex-girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Far more interesting, although no more original, is the subplot involving the efforts of arson investigator Donald Rimgale (Robert De Niro) to identify the maniac who’s been using fire as a murder weapon — there’s a whiff of the Thomas Harris library when Rimgale and Brian visit an imprisoned, Hannibal Lecter-like arsonist (Donald Sutherland) in the hopes of scoring some intel to help crack the case (there’s even some “quid pro quo” taking place). The fire sequences are tremendous — it’s just a shame they’re surrounded by such a soggy screenplay. This earned three Academy Award nominations in the categories of Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects (beaten in all three by Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

Blu-ray extras include an introduction by director Ron Howard; deleted scenes; and a look at the fiery effects.

Movie: ★★

BEFORE NIGHT FALLS (2000). Although famous in his homeland of Spain, Javier Bardem was, a couple of art-house pics excepted, a virtual unknown to U.S. audiences in 2000. That quickly changed with Before Night Falls, which features a performance so formidable that it landed him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and a stand-to-attention by Hollywood (I recall reading at the time that no less than Jack Nicholson was so impressed by Bardem that he took it upon himself to arrange a special screening of the film). As a young hedonist, the gay Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas (Bardem) reveled in the spiritual freedom he derived from sex, surf, and his own writing. But as the Castro regime began to firm up its policies, artists and homosexuals were among those being targeted for imprisonment and execution — of course, being both placed Arenas in double danger. Filled with striking hallucinatory sequences, flamboyant characters (Johnny Depp and Sean Penn appear in memorable cameos), and the constant presence of Arena’s prose on the soundtrack, Before Night Falls places its themes of sexual tolerance and freedom of expression in a context that interestingly emphasizes the activities themselves without ever muting the underlying messages or resorting to heavy-handed proselytizing. It’s only during the final half-hour, when Arenas makes it to the United States only to run smack-dab into AIDS, that the film falters — needlessly hurried and shot in a drowsy manner, it drains the piece of its hard-fought vibrancy and loses much of its emotional heft.

Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by Bardem, director Julian Schnabel, screenwriter Lazaro Gomez-Carriles, composer Carter Burwell, and co-director of photography Xavier Perez Grobet; a 1983 interview with Arenas; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

CONTEMPT (LE MÉPRIS) (1963). Trust Jean-Luc Godard to make a big-budget movie meant to be more mainstream than his usual fare and then turn it into a look at the raging battle between art and commerce. The contempt is everywhere: Godard’s contempt for Hollywood-styled filmmaking, his contempt for the movie’s co-producer, Joseph E. Levine (as signaled by making a producer the film’s heavy), perhaps even his contempt for himself for accepting this assignment (he would later routinely dismiss this film). On the screen, the contempt is even more pronounced, with Brigitte Bardot cast as Camille Javal, the wife of French playwright Paul Javal (Michel Piccoli). Paul has been hired to touch up the script for a film version of Homer’s The Odyssey; Austrian director Fritz Lang (the M and The Big Heat helmer, playing himself) wants to make a classy and literate motion picture, but American producer Jeremy Prokosch (Jack Palance) favors vulgarity and cheap thrills (such as a focus on topless mermaids). To her shock and disappointment, Camille not only witnesses her husband tossing aside his morals by siding with Prokosch, she also feels that he’s pimping her out to the lecherous producer to better solidify his own standing. One of the film’s most celebrated set-pieces is a lengthy midsection in which Camille and Paul bicker for over 30 minutes straight in the confines of their residency — much like the rest of the movie, it’s at once playful and penetrating (even if I was more emotionally and intellectually gripped by similar scenes in Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage and Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight).

Contempt is available as a standalone 4K or part of a bundle with the 2010 Blu-ray that contains all the bonus features. These extras include a making-of featurette; an hour-long chat between Lang and Godard; and an interview with Lang.

Movie: ★★★

THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971) / TEXASVILLE (1990). Serving as director Peter Bogdanovich’s eye-catching calling card (his solid 1968 Boris Karloff drama Targets only gathered its cult in later years), The Last Picture Show is an American classic in every sense. Working from a brilliant screenplay he co-wrote with future Terms of Endearment author Larry McMurtry (adapting his own novel), Bogdanovich takes a leisurely and loving look at the residents of a tiny Texas town in 1951. Filmed in black-and-white (at the suggestion of Orson Welles) by Robert Surtees, the picture mixes its sense of nostalgia for a bygone era with its clear-eyed depiction of the sheer boredom that can penetrate the lives of small-town folks with few options available to them. The younger generation is represented by the sensitive Sonny (Timothy Bottoms), his cocky best friend Duane (Jeff Bridges), and Duane’s self-centered girlfriend Jacy (Cybill Shepherd in her film debut), while the older set is embodied by the sensible and respected Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson), Jacy’s restless mom Lois (Ellen Burstyn), lonely coach’s wife Ruth (Cloris Leachman), and wise waitress Genevieve (Eileen Brennan). In Bogdanovich’s capable hands, the soap-opera elements — Sonny has an affair with the older Ruth, Jacy chases (among other boys) Sonny, Jacy ends up sleeping with her mom’s lover, etc. — never become maudlin or sordid; instead, they provide insight into how these recognizably flawed characters combat their daily despair. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Bridges), Supporting Actress (Burstyn), Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Cinematography, this box office hit captured statues for Best Supporting Actor (Johnson) and Best Supporting Actress (Leachman).

The big news regarding Criterion’s 4K release of The Last Picture Show is that it includes the 1990 sequel Texasville in both its original color and in Bogdanovich’s black-and-white director’s cut. Most people probably don’t even remember there was a sequel, given that it was a box office bomb and garnered middling-to-negative reviews. Yet while not in the same class as its peerless predecessor, it’s an interesting and entertaining follow-up featuring practically all the same actors (only Burstyn didn’t want to return; Johnson, of course, couldn’t return due to circumstances surrounding his character). Although made 19 years after The Last Picture Show, it’s set 33 years later (in 1984), with Duane (Bridges) now a millionaire oilman who’s deeply in debt, Sonny (Bottoms) serving as a land owner but barely holding onto his sanity, Ruth (Leachman) working as Duane’s secretary, former teenage nerd Lester Marlow (Randy Quaid) now an excitable bank president, and Genevieve (Brennan) confined to a wheelchair. Then there’s Jacy (Shepherd), who became a “B” actress in Italy and has now returned to her hometown both older and wiser. Written and directed by Bogdanovich and based on another McMurtry novel, Texasville is a far different sort of film than The Last Picture Show: It’s less wistful and more frenzied, and, although some of the comic segments play awkwardly, the movie overall does a nice job of running a string of humor through the drama of these people’s lives. Although all the returnees deliver fine performances, top acting honors go to a newcomer to the saga: Annie Potts, who’s excellent as Duane’s sharp wife.

Extras for The Last Picture Show include audio commentary (from 1991) by Bogdanovich, Shepherd, Leachman, Quaid, and future Raiders of the Lost Ark / Who Framed Roger Rabbit producer Frank Marshall (who worked on Bogdanovich’s first few films in various capacities, including location manager on this one); audio commentary (from 2009) by Bogdanovich; a making-of piece; and screen tests. Extras for Texasville include an introduction by Bogdanovich, Bridges, and Shepherd.

The Last Picture Show: ★★★★

Texasville: ★★★

PASSION (2008). Long before snagging the Best International Feature Academy Award (as well as nominations for directing and writing) for 2021’s Drive My Car, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi was a student at Tokyo University of the Arts. His graduate project was the feature-length Passion, and the sudden interest in Hamaguchi post-Drive My Car and post-Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (his other highly acclaimed 2021 offering) allowed this to reach our shores just this year. This begins when Kaho (Aoba Kawai) and Tomoya (Ryuta Okamoto) reveal their engagement to their four pals, an announcement that affects all concerned for different reasons. From there, Tomoya and the other two men in the gang, Kenichiro (Nao Okabe) and Takeshi (Kiyohiko Shibukawa), decide to pay a late-night visit to Takako (Fusako Urabe) — an independent spirit, her presence further complicates group dynamics, as she used to date Tomoya (who’s been unfaithful to Kaho), presently dates Kenichiro (who’s hopelessly in love with Kaho), and might end up with Takeshi (who’s married with a pregnant wife). Gender stereotypes, acknowledgement of self-worth, and resistance to the demands of adulthood are some of the issues examined in this thoughtful drama that refuses to easily compartmentalize its complicated characters. Among the highlights are Kaho’s discussion with her students as to how best to handle violence (her advice goes beyond “turn the other cheek”; it’s more like “rip off your own cheek and hand it to your assailant”) and a scene in which Kaho and Kenichiro appear to be speaking in voice-over until their tiny figures finally materialize in the distant background.

Blu-ray extras include an introduction by Hamaguchi; a visual essay; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★

RUDY (1993). With its modest goals and wholesome values, this true-life tale could have premiered as a television Movie of the Week or Afterschool Special rather than as a theatrical offering. Sean Astin delivers a heartfelt performance as Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger, a member of a working-class Catholic family whose other god is the sport of football — or at least where the University of Notre Dame team is concerned. Young Rudy has always had only one goal: to play football for the Fighting Irish. But as someone puts it, Rudy is “five-foot-nothing, one-hundred-and-nothing,” and between his small stature, his lack of athletic prowess, and his mediocre grades, he seems destined to neither attend the prestigious college nor revel in its gridiron glory. Rudy’s mission impossible is the backbone of this likable if rather bland underdog tale, with director David Anspaugh and screenwriter Angelo Pizzo (who both scored with 1986’s meatier Hoosiers) dutifully checking off the boxes inherent in such Americana fare (factory toiling, disapproving family members, motivational montages, the self-doubt before the cathartic undertaking, etc.). Still, it’s decent entertainment for family viewing, and such fine actors as Ned Beatty (as Rudy’s dad) and Jason Miller (as the Notre Dame coach) appear in support — I especially liked Charles S. Dutton as the stadium groundskeeper, although you just know that his character is one of those either created from scratch for the movie or a composite of several real-life individuals (the latter, it turns out).

The 4K + Blu-ray + Digital steelbook edition contains the 114-minute theatrical version and the 127-minute director’s cut. Extras include audio commentary by Anspaugh and Pizzo; a behind-the-scenes piece; deleted scenes; and a look at the real Rudy Ruettiger.

Movie: ★★½

TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983). “Come to Laugh, Come to Cry, Come to Care, Come to Terms.” Yeesh. Could any film possibly justify — or even survive — such a treacly tagline? Well, yes, as the magnificent Terms of Endearment scores on all these fronts and then some. Second only to Return of the Jedi as 1983’s biggest box office hit, this finds James L. Brooks, creator of such TV gems as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Taxi, fully turning his attention to cinema with smashing results. Serving as writer, director, and producer, he transforms Larry McMurtry’s novel into a genuine heart-warmer and true heartbreaker, focusing on the testy relationship between Houston widow Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger). Spanning many years, it’s rich in character and incident, with the story also encompassing Emma’s unfaithful husband Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels), her own lover Sam Burns (John Lithgow), and Aurora’s next-door neighbor Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson, in a role written for, and turned down by, Burt Reynolds), a former astronaut now content chasing after younger women. All the performances are superb, with Nicholson a particular treat as the crude yet caring lothario. Michael Gore’s delightful music score is another asset. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Actress (Winger) and Best Supporting Actor (Lithgow), this won five big ones: Best Picture, Best Actress (MacLaine), Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson), Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Incidentally, this earned Polly Platt, the legendary and beloved production designer (The Last Picture Show) and producer (Brooks’ subsequent Broadcast News), her only career Oscar nomination, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration. A sorry sequel, The Evening Star, followed in 1996.

Extras in the 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital edition consist of audio commentary by Brooks, Platt, and co-producer Penney Finkelman Cox; a new interview with Brooks; and the theatrical trailer.

Movie: ★★★★

Short And Sweet:

DANCE, FOOLS, DANCE (1931). Top-billed Joan Crawford, already a major star, and sixth-billed Clark Gable, still on the ascendancy, were paired for the first of eight times in this frenetic pre-Code drama. Crawford and William Bakewell play Bonnie and Rodney, rich-kid siblings forced to work for a living after the stock market crashes and their father (William Holden, and, no, not that William Holden) dies of a heart attack. Bonnie becomes a newspaper reporter while Rodney serves as a flunky for mob boss Jake Luva (Gable); she’s ultimately assigned to go undercover to get close to Luva, little knowing that her baby brother is involved in his illegal operations. The 1929 St. Valentine’s Day Massacre served as inspiration for one of the plot developments in this rousing flick.

Blu-ray extras consist of the 1972 ABC special Hollywood: The Dream Factory, a look at MGM over the years (and featuring clips from over 75 films, including Dance, Fools, Dance), and the 1931 Looney Tunes cartoons Smile, Darn Ya, Smile and One More Time.

Movie: ★★★

WITNESS (1985). This exceptionally fine film finds Harrison Ford earning his first (and, so far, only) Best Actor Oscar nomination as John Book, a Philadelphia detective who retreats into the Amish community to protect a widow (Kelly McGillis) and her young son (Lukas Haas) from corrupt cops. Maurice Jarre’s score is a standout, and the scene in which Ford and McGillis dance to “(What a) Wonderful World” is one of my all-time favorite instances of movie romance. Look for Viggo Mortensen in his film debut as an Amish farmer. Nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director (Peter Weir), this box office hit earned statues for Best Original Screenplay (Earl W. Wallace, Pamela Wallace, and William Kelley) and Best Film Editing. Weir and Ford would reunite the following year for the criminally underrated drama The Mosquito Coast (still not on Blu-ray, let alone 4K).

Extras in the 4K edition include film historian audio commentary; a five-part archival making-of piece; archival interviews with Weir and Ford; and a deleted scene from the network TV version of the film.

Movie: ★★★½

FROM SCREEN TO STREAM

Turkey Pick: FLED (1996). My fondest memory involving Fled isn’t even on the screen; instead, it was the priceless moment on TV’s Siskel & Ebert when Roger Ebert dismissed the action film by stating, “I guess it sort of holds your attention while it’s happening. I mean, something is moving on the screen, so you look to see what it is.” (To which a laughing Gene Siskel retorted, “What a compliment!”) As for the movie itself, it’s nothing more than a generic “buddy flick” that feels like a clone of countless better pictures. Aware of the derivative nature, director Kevin Hooks and scripter Preston A. Whitmore II attempt to waylay criticism by employing a running gag where one of the main characters constantly references other movies (“Didn’t you see The Fugitive?” “Didn’t you see Deliverance?”). Nice try, guys, but those quips only serve to remind viewers that they could be watching one of those classics instead of this dud. The by-the-numbers plot concerns the search for a missing computer disc that contains enough incriminating evidence on it to bury a Cuban mobster (Michael Nader); among those involved in the hunt are Luke Dodge (Stephen Baldwin), a computer hacker, escaped convict, and owner of said disc, and Charles Piper (Laurence Fishburne), a fellow prisoner who — shades of The Defiant Ones — is shackled together with Dodge and thus forced to also take it on the lam. In a break from the usual NYC or LA backdrops, Fled is largely set in Atlanta, though that change of scenery does nothing to improve the tiresome shenanigans. Will Patton delivers the best performance as a kind-hearted detective, but Salma Hayek is wasted as an innocent bystander who assists our handcuffed heroes.

Movie: ★½