but I realized that after 22 months of campaigns I would go nuts watching the election returns. Seeing the unfounded authority and empty wisdom of the pundits on all sides sputter and die has a certain entertainment value, or would if it were ever actually to happen. But election night is always really a frustrating, but comic, spectacle of the pundits pretending, as they rapidly adapt their opinions to the changing circumstances, that they say so much because they know so much. So I chose to spend the evening watching Downfall (I checked the returns on CNN every so often). Two and a half hours of artillery fire is like a lullaby compared to election coverage, and it seemed appropriate, given the outcome, to watch that particular movie on the night America more or less gave Mr. This-would-be-so-much-easier-if-it-were-a-dictatorship Bush the finger (finally). And, by the way, the movie is incredible.

Reed Richards

Excellent action-adventure film, capped off by one of the great put-down lines in the history of cinema...

RALPH BELLAMY

You bastard!

LEE MARVIN

Yes sir, for me an accident of birth.

But you sir are a self-made man.

Am I the only one on the planet who gets this?

Great movie with an absolutely horrific ending. To this day I don't know what the hell Clouzot was thinking.

Now Oscars are like McDonalds, many have been served, Jerry's Oscar on the other hand, was truely deserved.

...which was one of the first movies to definitely not spare the horses (or its herione). The first time I saw it, I had to keep reminding myself it was an early-60's flick, because I couldn't believe any movie before the '70s would put Audrey Hepburn (!) through that kind of mess. And it boasts one terrific villian--Harry Roat, Jr. from (aiiiieeee!) Scarsdale...

"...they had comic book minds. So, I let them do it their way, right up to the very end. And then, topsy-turvy. Me topsy and them turvy."

:)

Jerry Goldsmith was the greatest...

I would add "The Satan Bug", a great pairing to "The Andromeda Strain" and its "teeny tiny things'll kill ya if we don't watch out" mantra. Great Jerry Goldsmith score, too.

Someday, they'll have to film "The Father Thing", and "The Willows", those would keep me up for many nights.

Comfort-food movies:

Babette's Feast -- the true spirit of communion, earthly enjoyment in combination with fellowship and generosity

Star Wars - I think the dialogue is just fine! A glorious triumph of spirit and grass-roots organization over Evil

Auntie Mame -- still who I want to be when I grow up

The Thin Man -- a portrait of the perfect marriage

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -- Harrison Ford *and* Sean Connery, with a little uplifting of the human spirit thrown in for good measure. Also, in general about the Indy movies: Smart Is Good.

I just received my box set of Budd Boetticher's Ranown westerns, and I'm hoping they'll provide me with conservative comfort food for the next two years.

Maybe we don't need thrillers tonight. Maybe we need something really comfortable and homey -- to sooth our troubled spirits.

How about "Harvey" with Jimmie Stewart and Josephine Hull? How about reclining on a comfy chair in Akron, Ohio, drinking beer administered by a lovey girl, whispering "poor, poor thing" in our ears?

Or the setting in a warm bar, complete with great juke box music, Martini's, and "The evening wore on...".

Or Jimmie's line: "For years I struggled with reality, and I'm glad to say I finally won out."

Be well, everyone.

This is why I hate visiting Planet Crazy - I always feel compelled to point out the craziness.

First of all, there's not anything wrong with Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive" - he's solid and subtle. But anyone who rates it as his best performance is either a deliberate contrarian or someone who has long grown numb to the many charms of the first Indiana Jones movie. And if you believe in letting hindsight color your judgement on these things, you have to be a little mad at "The Fugitive" and "Presumed Innocent" for starting him down that trail of always playing the gruff, righteous hero. (You can throw the Clancy movies on that woodpile too, and light a torch on 'em.) Indiana Jones is a cultural icon - and at least 75% of that is because of Ford, giving the performance the role needed: worn down but resilient, humorous but cynical, clever but not TOO clever, charming and abrasive by turns. And he capped it off with one of cinema's best mega-surly drunk scenes, after Marion's "death" midway through the movie.

Now: Spielberg's best movie is most certainly not "Duel" or "Saving Private Ryan." "Duel" is a fat-free, awesome little thriller, for sure; "Saving Private Ryan" is half an hour of incredible hanging on the bloated carcass of two hours of missed opportunity, and sandwiched between 15 minutes of ill-advised, badly executed frame tale. And "AI"? Please. "Jaws" is this movie. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is perhaps in the running. Those are really the only contenders. Again I have to wonder if O'Hehir is just a contrarian by nature, but here I suspect that it's a case of him looking for what *he* likes in a movie rather than what the director does best. "AI" is a complex movie (read: kind of a mess) and taps into veins of darkness that Spielberg rarely ventured near (for which, of course, we can thank Kubrick). But this was not the best material for Spielberg, and it showed - especially in that much-despised ending. Spielberg's natural language is the one spoken throughout "Jaws" and the Indy movies. For that reason, his more mature projects have never been fully satisfying (for me, "Munich" came closest)... and his shallower, crowd-pleasing work remains his best.

I LOVE Duel! It really is an amazingly good movie. Spielberg's best, of course, is actually "Saving Private Ryan," but Duel was one of the first to really get under your skin with a faceless threat, so I'll give you a pass. This time.