On Jun 6th, 1944, Allied forces invaded Normandy, France, in the largest amphibious invasion in military history. This action laid the foundation for the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi control.
There have been some incredible cinematic portrayals based on and around that historic day. Here are some of my favorites.
Pat Garrett, the man who shot and killed William “Billy the Kid” Bonney, was born on June 5th, 1850. He’s become a legend of the old west based on that fact, and he’s been portrayed by many different actors over the years in movies and on TV. I love westerns so the stories of Billy the Kid, and thus Pat Garrett, have always been fascinating to me. As such, on the anniversary of the man’s 176th birthday, here are “4 Shots from 4 Films” featuring some notable portrayals of Sheriff Pat Garrett.
Bruce Dern has made so many great movies that it was pretty tough for me to pick out just 4 shots from 4 films. I ended up picking out the movies that he’s been in that have affected me the most personally, for a variety of reasons. I’ve noticed that Bruce isn’t the “star” of these movies, but each film benefits greatly from his presence. While he has had his share of starring roles over the course of his 6-decade (and counting) career, many of his best performances have come in supporting roles. The man just makes everything he’s in better.
Today, I celebrate the work of a living legend, Bruce Dern!
Today would have been actor Tony Curtis’ 101st birthday!
With a career that spanned almost 60 years, Tony Curtis starred in a whole bunch of classics, especially in the 50’s and 60’s. I’ve always enjoyed watching Curtis, as he could be suave and debonair, hilarious, or even a murderous sociopath, depending on what the role required. Thanks for the memories, Tony!
And one bonus shot…
My wife and I love going to Las Vegas. As a matter of fact, as I type this, I’m sitting in my hotel room looking out the window at the Sphere and Paris Vegas! We gamble very little, but we enjoy the shows, the lights, the food and the people watching. You never know what you might see on the Strip or on Fremont Street.
We only started going a few years backs, so I’ve been watching movies set here. I enjoy revisiting the places I’ve now been. To celebrate Sin City, I present 4 Shots from 4 Films, live from Las Vegas!
And one bonus shot…
Today would have been Andy Griffith’s 100th birthday! I love The Andy Griffith Show so much. It’s one of those shows that just makes me feel good on the inside, as the warmth of its homespun nostalgia still echoes to this very day. At least it does in my house. I’ve seen every episode of the series at least 3 or 4 times in my life, and I’ll often bring various scenes or sayings up in my daily conversations.
As is the case for all people, Andy Griffith was a much more complicated man than his Sheriff Andy Taylor from the classic series. And his many other roles were also more diverse upon a further inspection. What we can be sure about is that Andy Griffith is an icon of American television, and I celebrate him today with 4 Shots from 4 Films!
I have about a 30-minute commute to my office every day, so I love to listen to podcasts about my favorite actors and movies. About a year or so ago, I discovered the “Podcast on Fire,” which mostly focuses on Hong Kong movies, but will veer into other Asian related cinema as well. Kenny B and his various co-hosts may do a series on a prominent Hong Kong director one week and a sleazy category III soft porno the next, so the wide variety is especially enjoyable, and I’ve learned so much by going through their back catalog of episodes. I recently came across their series dedicated to popular Hong Kong melodramas. The first episode in the series included a lengthy discussion of ALL ABOUT AH LONG, an award-winning tearjerker starring Chow Yun-Fat. I haven’t watched it in over 20 years, so it was time for a revisit.
Ah Long (Chow Yun-Fat) is a former motorcycle racer who lives in Hong Kong and works as a truck driver while raising his son Porky on his own. The two seem to have a great relationship, even if their situation can only be described as modest at best. Things get interesting when Ah Long’s former girlfriend Por Por (Sylvia Chang), who also happens to be Porky’s mother, enters their life after being away in America for 10 years. In a cruel twist that was brought on because her family did not want her to be with Ah Long, she had been led to believe that Porky had died and her escape to America was her way of dealing with that pain. Now wealthy and successful, she discovers that Porky is indeed alive, and Ah Long has been raising their son alone all these years. Naturally, she wants to be involved in her son’s life. As a matter of fact, she wants to give Porky a life that his father never could.
My favorite living actor, Chow Yun-Fat, gives one of the best performances of his career in this film. It’s especially impressive because it asks him to behave almost completely the opposite of the cool heroes that made him famous around the globe in his Hong Kong action hits like THE KILLER and HARD BOILED. His Ah Long can be funny and charismatic, but he can also be immature and downright mean. There are times he’s so sweet and likable, and then there are times, especially seen in flashback, where he’s not likable at all. Chow doesn’t try to smooth away the rough edges of the character, either. Ah Long is flawed, but he’s also a great dad, and his chemistry with his son Porky (Huang Kun-Hsuan) feels very natural. I also like Chow’s chemistry with Sylvia Chang as Por Por. Even though she wants to take Porky back to America with her, she’s never portrayed as this evil villain, and she and Chow actually end up working together to do what’s best for their son. Chow would win his 3rd Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor for his performance here.
The film is very melodramatic, but director Johnnie To goes out of his way to ground the film in some level of reality. Long before To was transforming the Hong Kong film industry in the late ‘90’s through his Milky Way Images production company, he was a working director just making successful movies. With this film’s cramped apartments, simple meals, awkward dinner conversations, and past romantic regrets, the movie gives all of us something we can latch ahold of. When tragedy enters near the end, it’s especially affecting since we’ve grown to understand and care about the characters. If ALL ABOUT AH LONG doesn’t make you reach for the tissues, you’ve got a heart of stone, my friend!
In my opinion, ALL ABOUT AH LONG is also the kind of movie that determines if you’re a Chow Yun-Fat fan or just a John Woo action movie fan. Chow is about as far away from the charismatic hero of A BETTER TOMORROW as he can possibly get. This is Chow at his most human and relatable, and I’ll admit I loved every moment of his performance. I watched it again on the DVD that I purchased about 25 years ago, and there’s just nobody any better out there.
Recently, I was sitting on the back deck of my parents’ house visiting with my family. Of course, when I’m around movies are always a topic of conversation, and my sister brought up the fact that she had just watched AN UNFINISHED LIFE and really liked it. My sister has always loved Robert Redford, and when she brought him up, it was fun hearing my mom get on her case about her long-ago recommendation of UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, that came without the appropriate warning of the movie’s tearjerker of an ending. That’s a no-no with my mom, and we all had a good laugh. When my wife and I got home, we were browsing the Paramount Plus streaming service, and lo and behold, there was AN UNFINISHED LIFE, so it just seemed like the right time to watch it!
The movie centers in on Einar Gilkyson (Redford), a Wyoming rancher who still hasn’t properly dealt with the death of his son about a decade earlier. He blames his daughter-in-law Jean (Jennifer Lopez) for the accident that killed him. When Jean shows up at his ranch, because she’s on the run from her abusive boyfriend Gary (Damian Lewis), Einar tells her that he doesn’t want her there. His heart softens though as she introduces him to Griff (Becca Gardner), the granddaughter that he never knew he had. This sounds like a setup for big-time melodrama, but director Lasse Hallstrom is able to keep things somewhat grounded as we watch this broken family attempt to reconnect.
It’s time for a confession… I’ve never been the biggest fan of Robert Redford. Now don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like him. It’s just that he’s so perfect, maybe too perfect?! My favorite actors are not perfect looking human beings, but they do have an undeniable charisma and screen presence. Actors like Charles Bronson, Roy Scheider, and James Woods immediately come to mind. As such, I’ve never made it a priority to watch all of Redford’s movies, although I’ve watched most of his best at some point in my life. I will say that I think he’s excellent in AN UNFINISHED LIFE. He’s still undeniably “Redford,” but age has a way of evening up the playing field, and this performance relies on his ability to embody a character slowly opening his heart after years of shutting himself off. His scenes with his granddaughter are especially strong, without seeming excessively manipulative. I may look more closely into his later career based on his work here.
I’m also not the biggest fan of Jennifer Lopez. I loved her in SELENA, the film that kickstarted her career, but other than OUT OF SIGHT and ANACONDA, I haven’t enjoyed much else in her filmography. With that said, I think she’s good here. Her character has made one bad decision after another since her husband died, but I can’t help but root for her to find some happiness. In real life, it would have taken a lot of courage to ask someone like Einar for help, and I do appreciate that she’s willing to humble herself for her daughter’s sake.
Have I mentioned that Morgan Freeman is also in the film in the role of Mitch Bradley, Einar’s injured ranch hand and closest friend? He brings his warmth and wisdom to the proceedings even though his character’s unique storyline, which revolves around being mauled by a bear, doesn’t always work. The characters played by Damian Lewis and Josh Lucas also don’t land that strongly. Lewis is Lopez’s abusive boyfriend, but his awful behavior is ultimately dealt with in a way that’s more cartoonish than you might expect in a serious drama. Lucas, who was born in my home state of Arkansas, is fine here as “Crane” Curtis, but he doesn’t have that much to do.
The Wyoming setting for our story is beautiful, but it was actually filmed in British Columbia. My wife spent 18 years of her life in Wyoming, and it’s generally not as green as the “Wyoming” presented here. That’s just a minor nitpick, because for the uninitiated, the setting is beautiful and makes you feel like you’re part of a modern day western. There’s just something romantic and comforting about that, and the wide-open spaces seem to offer endless chances for a new beginning.
Overall, while I don’t think AN UNFINISHED LIFE is a great movie, I enjoyed watching it. It’s a movie that understands the importance of forgiveness by showing us wounded characters who are willing to open themselves up to imperfect people who are just trying to be better. At the end of the day, if any of us want meaningful connections to the people in our lives, we’d better be willing to do the same.
I recently had the opportunity to participate in an interview with the Native American author Sherman Alexie. We were discussing some of our favorite films, and he threw out MEKKO (2015) as a movie he really liked. I was surprised because it’s a movie I had never heard of, and I consider myself in the know when it comes to all things movie related. I checked and it’s streaming on Tubi, so I decided I would check it out for myself.
The story follows Mekko (Rod Rondeaux), a Native American who heads to Tulsa after serving nineteen years in prison for killing his cousin in an alcohol-fueled fight. When what’s left of his family turns their backs on him, Mekko finds himself living on the city’s streets with many other Indians. While he finds a few friends, he also comes across the predatory and murderous Bill (Zahn McClarnon). When Bill turns his focus Mekko’s way, he decides to take things into his own hands.
I’ll just say right off the bat that I think that the best thing about the film is the incredible performance by Rod Rondeaux in the title role. He doesn’t have a lot of credits to his name, but he’s absolutely perfect here. It doesn’t even feel like he’s acting. His face seems to carry a lifetime of regret, but also a hope that his hard-earned wisdom will eventually mean something positive for him and the people he cares about. Rondeaux plays Mekko with a dignity that feels completely out of place with the world he now finds himself in. It’s a masterful performance that would net him the Best Actor award at the American Indian Movie Award ceremony for 2015.
MEKKO was written and directed by Sterlin Harjo, who also created the series RESERVATION DOGS for FX that ran from 2021-2023. A citizen of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Harjo presents us with a grungy, realistic film that’s also full of old tribal stories and myths. One of the main reasons that Mekko decides that he must take care of the murderer Bill himself is due to his grandma’s stories about evil spirits and witches that sometime insert themselves into people’s lives. Harjo’s film treats these beliefs at face value, and based on what we’ve seen, it’s hard to argue with him.
I’ve been to Tulsa on a few occasions to watch the PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Golf Course. I’ve never seen the Tulsa that’s presented here. This Tulsa is dirty and extremely dangerous. Harjo used real locations and a lot of regular people from the local Native community, and that certainly adds to the authenticity of the story. As Mekko visits the homeless camps and soup kitchens, it just feels real. When Mekko takes on Bill (a truly frightening performance by Zahn McClarnon), it’s both a physical and spiritual reckoning that seems completely necessary.
MEKKO is definitely a slow burner of a film that’s rough around the edges, but it’s also an undeniably powerful film. It feels honest in a way that most movies don’t. It’s about a wounded, decent person who’s trying to live a better life, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it for days.
All my life, my Dad has told me that Roger Corman’s BLOODY MAMA (1970), which was filmed completely in Arkansas, contained scenes along the beautiful white bluffs of Calico Rock, Arkansas. Dad and I watched it today, and we didn’t see any such scenes. I did some quick internet research, and it turns out my dad has been spreading misinformation all these years. He had mistaken the film for a different movie called BOOTLEGGERS (1974). It was filmed in and around the Ozark town of Calico Rock, and it was directed by B-movie maestro Charles B. Pierce (THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN). Having never seen the film before and only being a few generations removed from my own family’s legacy of bootlegging, I was happy to see that it’s streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi.
Set in rural Arkansas during the Prohibition era, the movie follows Othar Pruitt (Paul Koslo) and his moonshine-running buddy Dewey Crenshaw (Dennis Fimple) as they manufacture high quality moonshine whiskey and battle their local business rivals, the Woodalls, led by their vicious patriarch Rufus (Seamon Glass). When he’s not battling the Woodall’s and running from the law, Othar finds time to hang out with his grandpa (Slim Pickens) and romance the tough but beautiful Sally Fannie (Jaclyn Smith, who receives an “introducing” credit). If you’ve seen many southern redneck movies, you probably know where this is all heading, but the fun is watching how it gets there!
BOOTLEGGERS is not a traditionally great movie, but there is a lot of fun to be had if you’re in the right frame of mind for some crude regional filmmaking. Director Charles B. Pierce clearly understood rural Arkansas in a way most filmmakers don’t. The dusty roads, cave-based moonshine stills, and run-down old homes feel more authentic since they are actually filmed on location. Heck, a lot of the extras look like they could have wandered into the scenes straight off the local streets and fields. I love Arkansas, and I get an extra layer of enjoyment hearing the characters reference some of my favorite local towns, like Mountain View and Hot Springs. The print I watched looks like a really bad VHS copy, but Tak Fujimoto’s cinematography still manages to capture the scenic nature of the area with its beautiful mountains and those limestone cliffs hanging over the White River. One gripe though… the characters keep referring to the river as the Buffalo River, which is another beautiful river in Arkansas, but it is not the river in this movie.
Another element of the film that I found interesting is the casting of Paul Koslo as the lead and good guy of the film, Othar Pruitt. Koslo almost always plays a slimy bad guy with bad hair, at least he did in Charles Bronson’s 70’s films THE STONE KILLER, MR. MAJESTYK and LOVE AND BULLETS. The German born actor is actually pretty good as an Arkansas redneck, and he seems more comfortable handling the revenge sections of the film than he does the romance and comedy.
As far as the other cast members, Dennis Fimple steals most of his scenes as Othar’s friend Dewey. He’s the goofy but lovable hillbilly friend that these types of movies almost always have. He’s fun here. I always love seeing Slim Pickens and he’s pretty much exactly what you’d expect as an old moonshiner with plenty of homespun wisdom. Jaclyn Smith, a couple of years before her CHARLIE’S ANGELS fame, has a few fun scenes as a pistol-packing local hairdresser who takes a liking to Othar. Needless to say, when she did hit it big, the producers shamelessly repackaged the film to make it seem she was much more important to the plot than she actually is. All part of the 70’s fun of trying to make a buck at the drive-in!
At the end of the day, BOOTLEGGERS isn’t as professionally made as a movie like the Arkansas set WHITE LIGHTNING with Burt Reynolds. What it is though, is a solid southern redneck film, set in a beautiful location, with good performances and a violent ending that should please its intended audience. It certainly did me!
Through the Shattered Lens 