Gallipoli Color, Australian, 1,981; directed by Peter Weir, with Mel Gibson

This tragedy starts off in Australia during W.W.1. Mel Gibson is a runner who's the best around.
Suddenly a competitor turns up, beats Gibson and becomes his good friend.
The new guy talks Gibson into joining the British Army and next thing you know, the 2 men are at the Turkish Front as running messengers.
An uncoordinated attack is ordered and the 2 men are fatally caught up in the absurdity and misfortunes of war.

The Thing Color, American, 1,982; directed by John Carpenter, with Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley and Keith David.

The original version of this movie, made in 1,951, always gets praise for being a political warning about the, then new, specter of communist infiltration, dressed in the disguise of a monster from outer space movie.
The later version is an altogether different beast.

As I recall the story, Carpenter hired a screen writer who intended to make the alien look rather like, surprise, the creature in Alien.
This man had no intention of even reading the original science fiction story by John Campbell, so we can be thankful he was sidelined by an accident.
The next guy pretty much made an updated version of the original, 1,938 story and the movie is much the better for it.

The story takes place in a remote American science base near the South pole.
Some very determined looking men in helicopter chase a husky into the camp, shooting and throwing grenades at the dog without regard for the bewildered men standing around the camp watching the fantastic scene.

After the helicopter is accidentally blown up by one of the marauders and bystanders are wounded, the camp commander takes it upon himself to shoot the remaining attacker.
But nothing is as it appears, not even the panting husky, and before it's all over, you won't believe your eyes.
State of the art special effects, good acting, and a tight script make this one of the most effective horror or science fiction movies I've ever seen.

The Thin Blue Line Color, American, 1,988; directed by Errol Morris

This excellent documentary covers the case of Randall Adams, who, in 1,978, was tried and convicted of murdering a Houston police man at a routine traffic stop, as they always say.
Even though there was a much more likely suspect for the crime, Adams was convicted for it - apparently because he was a recently arrived Northerner and the other suspect was a juvenile.

Although there are the usual talking heads and stills shots of newspaper front pages, Morris defies convention by cutting his interviews with very stylish film reconstructions of scenes from the crime.
He repeatedly shows fragments of these in such a way as to call into question much of what his witnesses are saying.
It's all done to a good score by composer Philip Glass.

This documentary did what few have - it helped get an innocent man out of prison.

The Sorrow and the Pity B. & W., French, 1960's; directed by Marcel Ophuls

Max Ophul's son's very long and absorbing documentary about France during the Nazi occupation.
Using extensive interviews with everyone from statesmen to housewives, as well as much pro-Vichy film (including some by Maurice Chevalier), Ophuls shows just how deep french collaboration with the Nazis went.
I like documentaries and history so I love this film, but it may not be every one's cup of tea.

More coming soon.

From the sketchbook of kattyb (copyright)

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