Category: Movies

That Time George Kennedy Gave a Great Movie Its Name

Cool Hand Kennedy

Actor George Kennedy recently passed away on February 28, 2016 at the age of 91. Kennedy turned in many great roles in movies like Airport and the Naked Gun films. But for my money, I will always first associate him with his wonderful role as Dragline in the classic film Cool Hand Luke (1967), which has a 100% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

While Paul Newman played one of his greatest roles and one of the great cool characters of all time, George Kennedy made us see the main character through the admiring eyes of his hot-tempered character. It is the pairing of the two actors, laying the foundation for the future of buddy movies, along with a fine supporting cast, that elevates the movie from good to great.

Kennedy’s portrayal of Dragline gave us a movie character for the ages. He even received the honor of uttering the movie’s title in response to Luke’s great line that “sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand.” Check out the poker scene from Cool Hand Luke.

It would be too long before Paul Newman finally received a Best Acting Oscar, but Cool Hand Luke gave George Kennedy an honor he deserved with the Best Supporting Actor statue. And he gave a touching and exceptionally short speech.

Interestingly, Kennedy had a different impression than Newman of his Cool Hand Luke character’s motivation in the church scene near the end of the film. In a 1968 interview with Roger Ebert, Kennedy explained that Newman saw Dragline’s acts leading the authorities to Luke as a form of betrayal, while Kennedy saw the act as one of stupidity. I tend to agree with Kennedy’s interpretation, perhaps because his great acting gives the viewer the sense of the character’s simple sincerity.

What is your favorite George Kennedy movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Movie Tributes on “The Simpsons”

    Simpsons Movie Montage

    Celia Gómez recently put together a video supercut that compiles many of the movie tributes that have appeared on The Simpsons. The tributes include Mr. Burns as the title character out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) and Bart Simpsons as Indiana Jones from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

    Although most of the tributes are ones most people would catch, some of the best references are ones you may have missed while watching The Simpsons. The cuts showing both the movie scenes and the scenes from The Simpsons highlights the animators’ attention to detail. Check it out.

    The music accompanying the video is “Sing Sing Sing With a Swing” by the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

    What is your favorite Simpsons movie tribute? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    When a Hockey Team Made Us Believe in Miracles

    1980 U.S. Hockey Movie On February 22, 1980, the U.S. hockey team shocked the world with a 4-3 victory over the Soviet Union team at the XIII Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York. As time expired, sportscaster Al Michaels asked television viewers a question that he immediately answered, “Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!”

    The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal two days later with a victory over Finland.

    The 1980 Team and the Miracle on Ice

    Although the U.S. team entered the Olympics seeded seventh, the team was more than a rag-tag group of amateurs. A large percentage of the team was made up of top college athletes on their way to the NHL. And Coach Herb Brooks had the team in top shape, as it was led by players like Mike Eruzione and goalie Jim Craig.

    The “Miracle on Ice” resonated with Americans weary from the Iran hostage crisis searching for something to celebrate. Events from the 1970s like Watergate also contributed to the fact that Americans yearned to be proud again.

    Also, President Carter had already announced that the U.S. would be boycotting the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow because of the Soviet’s invasion of Afghanistan. So it was not surprising that a scrappy group of young men taking on the powerful Soviet hockey team in the Winter Olympics would bring us together.

    In the U.S., we watched the game on tape delay during prime time. The game had already been played several hours earlier in the day. But in those pre-Internet days, it was easy to believe you were still seeing it live.

    As we watched the end of the final period, hoping the U.S. would keep the Soviets from tying the score, had we ever seen a more tense final few minutes to a sporting event?

    I was a kid, but I remember watching every U.S. hockey game in the Olympics. By some chance, I had caught the U.S.’s first game against Sweden when the U.S. tied the game with seconds left. From then on, I loved the team, and for me it was my luck that the team would go on to win the gold medal.

    Portrayals on TV and Film

    I also love sports movies, and the story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team is probably the only sports story where I own both an acted-out version of the story and the documentary. I have never seen the 1981 ABC made-for-TV movie Miracle on Ice starring Karl Malden as Brooks, but there would be later excellent movies about the team.

    The 2004 movie, Miracle, starring Kurt Russell as coach Herb Brooks, is a gripping by-the-book retelling of the story of the team. You know how the movie is going to end.  And there is nothing flashy about the way the story is filmed.  But it is a fun movie and a fitting tribute to the team and to Brooks, who passed away after principal filming but before the movie was released.

    Documentaries About the Teams

    In 2001, a documentary was made about the team called Do You Believe In Miracles? The Story Of The 1980 U.S. Hockey Team. The movie features interviews with many of the players, Al Michaels, and others.

    The film does an excellent job putting the team and its accomplishments in the context of the times. And watching the story still makes me tear up. Currently, the entire documentary is available on YouTube.

    But what about the Soviets? More recently, in 2015 ESPN’s 30 for 30 series helped correct the imbalance of the coverage with Of Miracles and Men, directed by Jonathan Hock. This fascinating documentary examines the story of the members of the 1980 Soviet team and their experience in the Olympics. One of the most touching moments is hearing one of the players describe watching the U.S. team celebrate their victory.

    Similarly, another documentary examined the Soviet side of the story. Gabe Polsky directed Red Army, which was released in 2014.  Red Army tells the story about the Soviet team from a broader perspective but with significant focus on the 1980 team. The movie follows the history of the Soviet-Russian hockey program from the 1950s to the 1990s.

    On this anniversary of one of the greatest sports battles in my lifetime, I’m thankful for everyone involved in the game. And also thankful that decades later they made outstanding movies about the teams.

    What is your memory of the 1980 Miracle on Ice? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Gregory Hines in “White Nights”

    White Nights In The New Yorker, Joan Acocella recently wrote an article “Up From the Hold” reviewing a new book on the history of tap dancing, What the Eye Hears: A History of Tap Dancing, by Brian Seibert. The article gives a fascinating overview of what sounds like an interesting tale about the style of dance and the people who kept tap dancing alive as an art form.

    One of the stars portrayed in the book is Gregory Hines, who was born on February 14, 1946 in New York City. The article quotes Siebert’s description of an extended Hines dance sequence in the film White Nights (1985). The dance was choreographed by Twyla Tharp and features Hines and ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov.

    Watching the two men, Siebert concludes that it is “difficult to choose which one to watch, which shade of cool to savor.” Check out this dance scene from White Nights, where Hines and Baryshnikov define cool.

    Fans expected Hines to take tap even further. He appeared on TV and Broadway in addition to films. And he worked in various ways to promote tap dancing as an art form.

    Even though Gregory Hines passed away at the relatively young age of 57 in 2003, his work lives on, not only through his recorded work but through those he taught and influenced. Among others, Hines influenced tap dance artists like the outstanding Savion Glover.

    What is your favorite tap dancing scene in a film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    The Lost Jerry Lewis Movie: “The Day the Clown Cried”

    Jerry Lewis Concentration Camp

    One of the most famous movies-that-you-cannot-watch is The Day the Clown Cried, a 1972 movie that Jerry Lewis co-wrote, directed, and starred in. The controversial film about an imprisoned circus clown at a World War II concentration camp has achieved legendary status both for being an obviously bad idea and for being shelved by Lewis. But a new BBC documentary The Story of The Day the Clown Cried provides some never-before-seen images from the lost movie about the fictional clown Helmut Doork along with some insight into why Lewis did not want anyone to see the movie.

    If you just think about how a movie about a clown at a concentration camp possibly could go wrong, you may not need to know much more about The Day the Clown Cried. But for everyone curious about how a film got made that ends with Lewis’s clown leading children into the gas chamber at Auschwitz, the BBC documentary, presented by Jewish comedian David Schneider, is revealing.

    To make the 28-minute documentary, Schneider used footage of Jerry Lewis discussing the film and also sought out other people connected to the making of the movie. Check out the complete The Story of The Day the Clown Cried below.

    In 2015, Lewis donated The Day the Clown Cried to the Library of Congress with an agreement that the movie will not be shown for at least ten years. So, if you are curious, you may get to see the movie in 2025 (although the movie itself was never completely finished due to financial and production problems).

    Until then, you will have to satisfy your urge to see a comedian in a Holocaust movie by watching Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1997).

    What was Jerry Lewis thinking? Leave your two cents in the comments. Photo via YouTube.

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