Category Archives: 100Unknown

1000NYTimes, 100Unknown, 1987, Suspense, Unusual

House of Games (1987)

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From NetFlix:

Psychologist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) decides to help one of her patients out of a gambling debt. Margaret finds the person to whom the money is owed: slick-talking Mike (Joe Mantegna). Mike, who runs poker games, persuades Margaret to help him look for “tells,” or telltale body language, in a game. She falls for the con and for Mike, becoming deeply involved in his world. David Mamet wrote and directed this psychological thriller.

I was reading an Italian lawyer novel in which the lawyer protagonist mentions that “House of Games” is one of his favorite films. So I gave it a try.

Lindsay Crouse was married to David Mamet. She is a good stage actress. As soon as the film starts you realize that all the actors speak as though they are on a stage, not at all what you expect to hear in a film.

The plot is everything. At the very least you get to learn a few good “cons” just in case you were thinking of going into the business. Eventually it comes down to who is conning whom.

I enjoyed the film, but you are warned that it is very different.

1000NYTimes, 1001BeforeDie, 100Unknown, Classic, Could Be Hard To Watch, German, Unusual, Violent

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)

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From NetFlix:

In the mid-16th century, after annihilating the Incan empire, Gonzalo Pizarro
leads his army of conquistadors over the Andes in search of the fabled City of
Gold, El Dorado. As Pizarro’s soldiers battle starvation, Indians, the forces of
nature and each other, Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski), ‘The Wrath of God,’
is consumed with visions of conquering all South America and leads his own army
on a doomed quest into oblivion.

All three film catalogs rave about this film. In fact it is one of a kind, slow, and mesmerizing.

First some history: Pizarro sends a “small” task force to continue down th Amazon to find the City of Gold. The commander Pedro de Ursua and his aide, Lope de Aguirre, take soldiers (always in metal battle gear), one priest, Inca slaves, cannon, horses, and two noble women carried in a covered transport box down the mountain and eventually on rafts in the Amazon. Aguirre murders Ursua in an act of mutiny and forces the others, by force of his homocidal mania, to continue on to find the City of Gold. Much of this we know from the priest’s diary. The end is conjecture.

The marvel is that these poor actors had to live and suffer just as the historical figures did. Werner Herzog, the megalomaniacal director, was a fanatic that insisted on realism. Aquirre, played by Klaus Kinski, is obviously “nuts” from the get-go. At one point Kinski tried to flee the jungle and Herzog brandished a pistol and promised to kill Kinski if he escaped.

Just sit and watch this “happening”. It is slow, beautiful, and unforgettable. Hearing Spaniards speaking in German is admittedly a bit unusual, but there are English subtitles.

Violent, not for children. But a genuine screen classic.

1000NYTimes, 1001BeforeDie, 100Unknown, 1947, Classic, Old-Fashioned

Black Narcissus (1947)

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From NetFlix:

Secular matters consume five missionary nuns who head to the Himalayas to establish an Anglican school. In the meantime, the quintet’s leader, Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), must grapple with the envy of one nun (Kathleen Byron), the bitterness of a man (David Farrar) and the cruelty of the elements. The film received Oscars for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography, in part for its Technicolor innovations.

When I was a young boy I saw the coming attractions for “Black Narcissus”. The scene in which the crazed nun tries to push another nun (Deborah Kerr) over a cliff while the latter is ringing a large hanging bell stayed in my mind for a long time. Needless to say, I was not allowed to see this movie. So here I am years later leafing through the three film catalogs discussed in the page entitled “Unusual Categores” and all three suggest that “Black Narcissus” is an historically important film. So I watched it. I can see why it was an important film way back in 1947, but the movie seems a bit dated. Over the years film acting has changed, in fact I would say it has improved in some ways. Note, however, that I usually have to rely on subtitles due to my poor hearing. But CDs containing old films often do not offer subtitles. Acting may have improved, but diction has suffered. In this older film the actors project their speech much as you would do on stage with the result that I could understand every word. Today’s speech patterns everywhere (workplace, telephone, films) are quicker and somewhat mumbled.

Watch this movie as if visiting another planet. Historically it may be worth the visit.

1001BeforeDie, 100Unknown, 1987, Unusual

Withnail and I (1987)

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From NetFlix:

Two unemployed actors — Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and
Marwood (Paul McGann) — take a trip to the British countryside
in 1969. But instead of rejuvenation, they experience a lack of
food, an abundance of rain and a plethora of alcohol. Their host,
Withnail’s gay Uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths), displays a love
for life and a lust for Marwood. This classic art-house comedy
won an Evening Standard British Film Award.

Daughter Kate and boyfriend Nigel (both movie fans) are with us for Christmas. I asked Nigel
to send me a list of films we could all watch together. His first pick was a British cult film
“Withnail and I” whose atmosphere is the alcohol and drug excesses of the sixties. Nigel had
never seen the film. In the film Withnail drinks just about everything and Nigel tells me that
the cult followers as a challenge try to drink everything that Whitnail drinks. Lighter fluid
anyone ?

This is one of the most unusual films I have ever seen. You almost certainly cannot afford
the time to watch this film unless you are retired with a lot of time on your hands or just plain
bored to death. But I don’t regret watching this strange “happening”.

You are warned.