Watch Out! Richard Likes These

What's that? You want to see more than just the same boring crap you passed over the first time because it looks so tired and formulaic? Well, you've been heard. Our resident classic movie aficionado, Richard Barr, tells us which of the greatest generation's movies we should be looking out for. And if you haven't heard of any of these, you aren't alone. And he threw in a couple from my lifetime just to keep the kids paying attention. I'm not sure if these will be everybody's cup of tea, but chances are that if you loved Lawrence of Arabia, you'll love these too.

Richard's picks range from 1927-2015, spanning 88 years of movie-making

A Thousand Clowns (1965): – I have a friend who claims Zorba the Greek changed his life. I’ve read the book and seen the movie without being much impressed. My perspective on life was permanently altered by A Thousand Clowns. The casting was superb. Jason Robards was brilliant as the iconoclastic Murray, a writer for a children’s TV show who hates his job and quits. Robards’ chemistry with Barry Gordon who plays his 12 year-old nephew, Nick, is the emotional center of the film. Or maybe not “Nick.” Murray raised his sister’s out of wedlock son and said since she didn’t give the boy a name he wouldn’t either. “Nick” could pick his own name, so over the years, the kid has tried on many. Meanwhile, Child Protective Services, in the person of William Daniels, doesn’t think Murray is providing a proper home. At a minimum, Murray has to be employed and get his job back. Barbara Harris is adorable as the social worker who is charmed by Murray’s passions. Personally I remember Murray’s phone greeting every time my phone rings or whatever phones do these days: “Hello, is this anyone with good news or money? …No?” And then he hangs up.

Director: Fred Coe
Cast: Jason Robards, Barry Gordon, Martin Balsam, Barbara Harris, William Daniels

Updated: Available on YouTube!

Blow-Up (1966): A movie that literally changed my life. Like a great many young men, it inspired me to seek a career in photography. And like David Hemmings in the film, my quest took me on a totally unforeseen path. In the picture, Hemmings’ character, Thomas is a successful, trendy London fashion photographer who drives a white Rolls Royce convertible. While taking random shots in a park of Vanessa Redgrave and an apparent lover, he accidentally captures on film what, in the darkroom, appears to be a murder. Redgrave tracks him down to steal the incriminating film. The movie is less about the mystery than it is about Thomas’s vapid life coming in conflict with harsh reality. Of course, rolling about on studio background paper with two wannabe models revealed an upside to his ennui.

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles

Available to rent most places

Sunrise (originally Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans) (1927): One of Hollywood’s last silent films. As production was wrapping up, it was converted to a sound film, but not a “talkie” because there still isn’t any spoken dialogue. F.W. Murnau created a tone poem by substituting horns for speech and it works. The plot is melodramatic, maybe even over the top, but the soundtrack and camerawork raise the movie to fine art. Example: while the movie was shot entirely within a studio, there are city street scenes when the streets appear to stretch for miles. Murnau achieved this effect by making buildings and vehicles progressively smaller to create perspective. It deserves to be seen.

Director: F.W. Murnau
Cast: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston

Available on Classix (yeah, I never heard of it either) and to rent most places

Tampopo (1985): A manju of a movie—in other words, a sweet delight. It’s called the first Japanese noodle western. It pokes fun at Japanese practices and attitudes toward food blended with a Shane-type western story. A stranger in a cowboy hat rides into town in a truck and helps Tampopo, a struggling noodle shop owner, compete in a showdown with a rival noodle purveyor. Among the memorable asides are the proper way to slurp noodles, a housewife who rises from her deathbed to make dinner, and a mob boss who amuses his girlfriend by overturning a bowl of live prawns on her bare belly so they can tickle her as they scramble about inside their domed enclosure. A noodle sensei reminds us to gently caress the ramen in our bowls with our chopstick tips to show affection.

Director: Jûzô Itami
Cast: Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto

Available on HBO Max and The Criterion Channel

1944 (2015): This is a portrayal of an Estonian dilemma that echoes even today. The advent of the Second World War offered hope to Estonians that they could escape the Soviet yoke. To that end many in this Baltic nation joined the German military to drive out the Russians. Other young men joined the Soviet army to drive out the Nazis. The movie shows a battle and it’s aftermath when two Estonian units on opposite sides meet without animus toward each other but in conflict with the juggernauts they serve. As war movies go, it’s on the smallish side, but as we get to know the characters, the weight of their situation becomes overwhelming.

Director: Elmo Nüganen
Cast: Kaspar Velberg, Kristjan Üksküla, Gert Raudsep, Maiken Pius

Available on Hoopla, Tubi, Kanopy, and Film Movement Plus