CONTINUATION WEEK

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FOURTH TOP 10 + 2  CONTINUED -

Here is the next instalment of the next Top 10 + 2, the fourth of such lists.

As I have previously posted, my Top 10 + 2 films is based on “watchability”, those type of films which you (meaning me) like to watch more than once and enjoy thoroughly for whatever reasons. Hence Groundhog Day is on the list, Citizen Kane is not, at least in my case never having had the urge to watch Citizen Kane more than once. My friend Steve cringes at my choices .

The reason my first list was called Top 10 + 2 was that I had difficulty whittling the list down to 10.

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The fourth list so far:

How Green Was My Valley

It Happened One Night

The Maltese Falcon

Take the Money and Run

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The list continues with another 3 films, linked by the fact that the audience sympathies are with the principal characters in circumstances where if someone acted like that in real life, it would be totally unacceptable or our sympathies shift to someone who would ordinarily be seen as the ‘bad guy’.

I really like all 3 films.

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Das Boot (‘The Boat’ in German):

Das Boot is 1981 West German war film adapted from of Lothar-Günther Buchheim's 1973 German novel based on his experiences aboard German submarine U-96. The film is set during World War II and follows U-96 and her crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.

The film ranks among the most expensive films in German cinema, but it was a commercial success and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Comment:

Seen from the German side, we get to know the characters and their hardship as U-Boat submariners, forgetting that U-Boats sank both naval and merchant marine vessels from ambush and stealth in the North Atlantic during WW2. We feel sorry for them when they are attacked by British fighter planes, want them to prevail.

By the way:

The author of the novel on which the screenplay and film are based, Lothar-Günther Buchheim, has expressed disappointment with the film adaptation. He described the film as converting his clearly anti-war novel into a blend of a "cheap, shallow American action flick" and a "contemporary German propaganda newsreel from World War II".

The cast was deliberately kept indoors continually during the shooting period in order to look as pale as a real submarine crew would on a mission at sea. Scenes were shot in sequence so that the growth of beards would be entirely natural, although a few shots had to be redone later on with false hair.

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Falling Down:

This would have to be near the top of the list of audience sympathy being with the wrong guy.

It is a 1993 American psychological thriller starring Michael Douglas as William Foster, a divorced and unemployed former defence engineer. It centres on his trek across the city of Los Angeles as he attempts to reach the house of his estranged ex-wife in time for his daughter's birthday. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, cause him to react with increasing violence and to make observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism.

The film received generally positive reviews. It grossed $96 million against a $25 million budget, taking the top spot at the United States box office in its first two weeks of release.

Comment:

Consensus on the review website Rotten Tomatoes states: "Falling Down's popcorn-friendly take on its complex themes proves disquieting—and ultimately fitting for a bleakly entertaining picture of one man's angry break with reality." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Falling Down encourages a gloating sense that we the long-suffering victims are finally getting our splendid revenge. The ultimate hollowness of that kind of triumph reflects the shallowness of a film all too eager to serve it up."

Nonetheless you can’t help but cheer him on in situations such as where he is being harassed by two Mexican gang members, who threaten him with a knife.

By the way:

Michael Douglas considers this his best film.

Bill Foster starts out the film dressed in a simple white shirt and tie with black pants. By the climax of the film, he's dressed in all black, which serves as a metaphor for his declining mental state. His change of clothes from formal outfit to a military outfit was a sign that he was dressed for the fact of being at war.

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First Blood:

First Blood is a 1982 American action film co-written by Sylvester Stallone, who stars as Vietnam War veteran John Rambo. In the film, Rambo, a troubled and misunderstood Vietnam veteran, must rely on his combat and survival skills when a series of brutal events results in him having to survive a massive manhunt by police and government troops near the fictional small town of Hope, Washington. In the end it is turned into a war that virtually destroys the twon.

Initial reviews were mixed, but the film was a box office success. In 1985, it also became the first Hollywood blockbuster to be released in China, holding the record for the largest number of tickets sold for an American film until 2018.

The film's success spawned a franchise, consisting of four sequels (co-written by and starring Stallone), an animated television series, a comic books series, a novel series and several video games.

Comment:

If someone acted like that in real life, we would be horrified, but not when it is Sylvester Stallone as Rambo. Even US President Ronald Reagan in a comment just before he addressed the nation from the Oval Office in 1985 joked that the movie “Rambo: First Blood Part II” gave him an idea about how to handle a hostage crisis if he is faced with another one: “Boy, after seeing ‘Rambo’ last night, I know what to do the next time this happens.” The remark was picked up by microphones placed in his office for the television and radio speech but not carried in the broadcast.

By the way:

After watching a rough cut of the film, which was about three hours long, Sylvester Stallone and his agent claimed that the film was so bad that it made them sick. Stallone also feared that the film would kill his career, and he attempted to buy all the footage and destroy it. When he couldn't do that, he suggested that the producers cut much of his part and let the rest of the characters tell the story. After heavy edits, the film was cut down to 93 minutes and set a precedent for future action movies.

In the script Rambo originally kills 18 people. While director Ted Kotcheff described the killings as target practice, co-producer Andrew G. Vajna felt it was glorifying a crazed mass murderer, thus suggested that Rambo should instead be a sympathetic person who is really lost without direction, and a victim of circumstances. In the final film, he was never seen killing a person directly.

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What do Byters think of these movies?

What do you think, Steve?

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