Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join us each week as we pick three movies that fit the week's theme and tell each other about them. It's fun!
Uh oh.
You've just done something bad. Something wrong. Something you weren't supposed to. And the wrong person found out.
What do you do?
You go on the run.
Just like the people in this week's Thursday Movie Picks!
No Country for Old Men (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2007) Poor Llewelyn Moss. He happens across the aftermath of a violent shootout with no apparent survivors and a briefcase full of money. He thinks it's his lucky day. Unfortunately for him, there's a tracking device in the briefcase, and both sides want it back. As do the police, naturally. And even more unfortunately, one of the men after the briefcase is one Anton Chigurh, a quiet, possibly insane, deadly force. The Coen Brothers' thriller won the Best Picture Oscar and it's a tense, brutal film with killer performances and beautifully bleak cinematography. It's too bleak for me to enjoy, but I do respect the hell out of it.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969) Butch Cassidy runs the Hole in the Wall Gang of outlaws. The Sundance Kid is his right hand man. After a train robbery goes awry, the two of them find themselves on the run without the gang and with Sundance's lady. I probably don't need to tell you what happens from there in this American classic with two devastatingly handsome star turns from Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but if you don't know, you should see this. The final standoff may feel a little tame after Bonnie & Clyde, but the film builds it up into a pretty emotional climax.
North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) Roger Thornhill is having a VERY bad time of things. First he gets kidnapped by some nattily-dressed thugs thinking he's someone named George Kaplan, then they drug him and send him home behind the wheel of a car after he fails to convince them of his true identity. Then his mother has to get him from prison, no one at the house the kidnappers took him to admits to recognizing him, and when he finds the man who owns the house, that man is stabbed in the back while in Roger's arms. Yeah, you'd run in that situation, too! Writer Ernest Lehman wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures," and by George, he just might have done it. I've probably seen this more times than any other Hitchcock film, and it's just as entertaining every time - probably the most purely entertaining film he ever made. Cary Grant is perfect as Thornhill, James Mason a deliciously suave villain, Eva Marie Saint the perfect Hitchcock blonde, and the entire supporting cast is chock full of great turns. An All-Time Favorite of mine, for sure!
Tremendous choices! I LOVE N by NW too, it's not my favorite Hitchcock but would make my top five along with Saboteur, Lifeboat, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train. It's a wonderfully clever film with all those exceptional elements you mentioned and endlessly rewatchable.
Butch & Sundance is at times too ambling for its own good but overall a terrific film and you can't beat the lightening in a bottle chemistry of Redford and Newman.
I feel the same about No Country as you, a fine film but grueling and grim. I do like how the filmmakers trust the viewer enough to have some major plot points play out off stage.
I love this kind of movie and though I didn't plan it that way all mine are rather vintage this time. I also didn't realize until I had them pulled together that they were on the intense side so I added a comic extra for balance.
The Clouded Yellow (1950)-Fired and seeking tranquility after a case goes wrong British Secret Service agent David Somers (Trevor Howard) retreats to the Fenton country estate and a quiet job cataloging butterflies. Upon his arrival he meets and becomes enamored with the Fenton's niece, the fragile Sophie (Jean Simmons). His peace is short-lived though when Sophie is framed for the murder of menacing handyman Hick. Escaping to London he uses his skills and a network of old friends to evade capture as both the police and the real murderer chase them across Britain as they attempt to flee to safety. Tidy thriller that benefits from location filming throughout England and a superior cast.
Dust Be My Destiny (1939)-Down on his luck but honest Joe Bell (John Garfield) gets into a fight with a crook and is sentenced to a work farm for 90 days. There he falls for Mabel Alden (Priscilla Lane), much to the displeasure of her stepfather Charles Garreth (Stanley Ridges) the farm's foreman. Goaded into a fight Joe knocks Garreth out and the panicked pair flee. To avoid suspicion and hard up for cash the couple endure an audience wedding then learn Garreth has died and Joe is wanted for his murder. Moving from town to town to elude capture they try to build a new life when Joe get a job as a photographer on a newspaper after capturing pictures of fleeing bank robbers but destiny is still on their trail. Solid Warner Bros. social issue drama with two excellent lead performances.
You Only Live Once (1937)-Ex-con Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda), recently released due to the influence of his fiancée Joan (Sylvia Sidney) the public defender’s secretary, attempts to stay to the straight and narrow after they marry. Things go wrong however when he’s accused and convicted for a bank robbery he didn’t commit in which six people were killed. Sentenced to fry in the electric chair he escapes on the eve of execution with the aid of a smuggled gun, accidentally killing the prison chaplain while fleeing. Taking Joan with him they go on the lam but only tragedy lays ahead. Bleak Fritz Lang directed film, an amalgam of the Bonnie & Clyde legend and Lang’s reaction to his first wife’s embrace of Nazism, is considered the precursor to film noir.
Lighthearted Extra-Midnight Run (1988)-Fun adventure comedy/buddy film of bounty hunter Robert DeNiro taking fugitive mob accountant Charles Grodin cross country to collect his reward and dogged every step of the way by the FBI, Mafia and other bounty hunters all of whom want Grodin for reasons of their own. DeNiro & Grodin have a spiky exasperated chemistry with each other that adds greatly to the comedy of the situation.
Clouded Yellow might be a tough get but Dust (my favorite of the four-I LOVE John Garfield & Priscilla Lane) and YOLO both show up on TCM from time to time. Midnight Run is on DVD I think. They all do have phenomenal casts.
No Country is an excellent film but I did find it a bit depressing. Love Butch and Sumdance...one of my favourite western, buddy, comedy adventure films....what a mouthful:) love North by Northwest...it's one of Hitchcock's best adventure films. Love your picks
I've seen all your picks! No Country for Old Men is definitely my favorite, and North by Northwest was on me Blind Spot list a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteNo Country is really well-done, but I love North By Northwest SO much better!
DeleteI have never seen any of these, but I will see if Netflix has them, they sound good.
ReplyDeleteOf these, I think only Butch Cassidy is on Netflix Instant LOL
DeleteTremendous choices! I LOVE N by NW too, it's not my favorite Hitchcock but would make my top five along with Saboteur, Lifeboat, Rear Window and Strangers on a Train. It's a wonderfully clever film with all those exceptional elements you mentioned and endlessly rewatchable.
ReplyDeleteButch & Sundance is at times too ambling for its own good but overall a terrific film and you can't beat the lightening in a bottle chemistry of Redford and Newman.
I feel the same about No Country as you, a fine film but grueling and grim. I do like how the filmmakers trust the viewer enough to have some major plot points play out off stage.
I love this kind of movie and though I didn't plan it that way all mine are rather vintage this time. I also didn't realize until I had them pulled together that they were on the intense side so I added a comic extra for balance.
The Clouded Yellow (1950)-Fired and seeking tranquility after a case goes wrong British Secret Service agent David Somers (Trevor Howard) retreats to the Fenton country estate and a quiet job cataloging butterflies. Upon his arrival he meets and becomes enamored with the Fenton's niece, the fragile Sophie (Jean Simmons). His peace is short-lived though when Sophie is framed for the murder of menacing handyman Hick. Escaping to London he uses his skills and a network of old friends to evade capture as both the police and the real murderer chase them across Britain as they attempt to flee to safety. Tidy thriller that benefits from location filming throughout England and a superior cast.
Dust Be My Destiny (1939)-Down on his luck but honest Joe Bell (John Garfield) gets into a fight with a crook and is sentenced to a work farm for 90 days. There he falls for Mabel Alden (Priscilla Lane), much to the displeasure of her stepfather Charles Garreth (Stanley Ridges) the farm's foreman. Goaded into a fight Joe knocks Garreth out and the panicked pair flee. To avoid suspicion and hard up for cash the couple endure an audience wedding then learn Garreth has died and Joe is wanted for his murder. Moving from town to town to elude capture they try to build a new life when Joe get a job as a photographer on a newspaper after capturing pictures of fleeing bank robbers but destiny is still on their trail. Solid Warner Bros. social issue drama with two excellent lead performances.
You Only Live Once (1937)-Ex-con Eddie Taylor (Henry Fonda), recently released due to the influence of his fiancée Joan (Sylvia Sidney) the public defender’s secretary, attempts to stay to the straight and narrow after they marry. Things go wrong however when he’s accused and convicted for a bank robbery he didn’t commit in which six people were killed. Sentenced to fry in the electric chair he escapes on the eve of execution with the aid of a smuggled gun, accidentally killing the prison chaplain while fleeing. Taking Joan with him they go on the lam but only tragedy lays ahead. Bleak Fritz Lang directed film, an amalgam of the Bonnie & Clyde legend and Lang’s reaction to his first wife’s embrace of Nazism, is considered the precursor to film noir.
Lighthearted Extra-Midnight Run (1988)-Fun adventure comedy/buddy film of bounty hunter Robert DeNiro taking fugitive mob accountant Charles Grodin cross country to collect his reward and dogged every step of the way by the FBI, Mafia and other bounty hunters all of whom want Grodin for reasons of their own. DeNiro & Grodin have a spiky exasperated chemistry with each other that adds greatly to the comedy of the situation.
That Redford/Newman chemistry really is remarkable.
DeleteI've not heard of ANY of your picks before, but they all have elements that interest me, particularly the casts!
Clouded Yellow might be a tough get but Dust (my favorite of the four-I LOVE John Garfield & Priscilla Lane) and YOLO both show up on TCM from time to time. Midnight Run is on DVD I think. They all do have phenomenal casts.
DeleteNo Country is an excellent film but I did find it a bit depressing. Love Butch and Sumdance...one of my favourite western, buddy, comedy adventure films....what a mouthful:) love North by Northwest...it's one of Hitchcock's best adventure films. Love your picks
ReplyDeleteThanks, Birgit! And this list was much easier to put together than I expected when I first looked at the theme lol.
DeleteI've only seen No Country For Old Men and I loved it. I've been meaning to watch North By Northwest for a while.
ReplyDeleteNorth By Northwest is an absolute MUST SEE. So entertaining.
DeleteHahahahah loved the intro!
ReplyDeleteGreat picks too! Aw Butch and Sundance - despite the length (i remember it being long) I do love this western. And I can't say no to a Coen Bros film.