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61* (2001)
A Must See for any Baseball Fan!
It's a trip back in time; thanks to Billy Crystal's fanaticism about Mickey Mantle,Roger Maris, & the New York Yankees. The actor's he found were the spitting image of the real thing, who were played by Barry Pepper (Roger Maris) Thomas Jane (Mickey Mantle) Anthony Michael Hall (Whitey Ford) The story begins in 1998 with Mark M.cGwire about to break Roger Maris record of 61 home runs in one season. Decades earlier in 1961, Maris is presented with the Most Valuable Player award for the 1960 baseball season, but Mickey Mantle remains the New York Yankees' superstar. Mantle starts off hot while Maris struggles. Maris suspects he may be traded, but new manager Ralph Houk has Mantle and Maris switch places in the Yankees' batting order to see if it helps. It does, and Maris begins to hit home runs at a record pace. Mantle keeps pace and it becomes clear that both "M&M Boys" will make a run at Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers in one season. A great tribute to the unbeliveable Baseball season of 1961. This is a must see for any baseball fan!
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story (2022)
This film is a "Must have" for any John Lennon/Beatles fan!
"The Lost weekend: A Love Story" is worth viewing/owning; because despite what you've already heard/read; it is a very honest, down to earth account of John Lennon's life with May Pang. The film quality is excellent as well as the sound.(DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) I can see why this relationship worked, and I have my own ideas about why it might have failed as well. For me personally the most interesting parts, in the film are about May Pang's early years growing up in New York City, up to the start of her relationship with John Lennon. Her total sincerity towards the end of the film is quite touching. A lot of fantastic music was created that otherwise might not have been, if it wasn't for May Pang's relationship with John. Oddly enough, put out by a company that still pays me a monthly pension "Universal Pictures Home Entertainment" For the twenty plus years I put in with them. (Thank You for that!) This film is a "Must have" for any John Lennon/Beatles fan!
The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977)
The Quentinsessential Howard Hiufges
Tommy Lee Jones is the quintessential Howard Hughes,with mannerisms, voice,and he looks just like Howard Hughes (Check out old news reels) His acting puts the frosting on the cake. In the same regard Ed Flanders portrayal of Noah Dietrich, is right on the money as well. I also like the "Aviator" (2004) Martin Scorsese's ,interpretation is also great;but Tommy Lee Jones (for me) became Howard Hughes,through 1924-1976. This film deserves to be remastered for sound/video, but for now I'm quite satisfied with my DVD version of this 1977 Mini Series Classic!
I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
American Graffiti/ Animal House Meet The Beatles
Another MCA/Universal Pictures classic comedy; about how The Beatles first weekend in New York City drove some teenagers to comedic madness. Well written, with good acting with all the hi-jinks that some girls went through to get closer to The Beatles, with an unexpected ending. I was playing drums at The Winter Garden Theater when this film was first released, and it brought me great comic relief from my daily life of being a "Fake Beatle" I highly recommend this film
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
The Real Life Story behind Saving Private Ryan
The 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan" is one of the all-time great war movies. While much of the movie is a fictional account, the premise behind Capt. Miller's mission is based on a true story. That is the story of the Niland brothers - Edward, Preston, Robert, and Frederick - from Tonawanda, New York.
The two middle brothers, Preston and Robert, had enlisted prior to the beginning of the War. After America entered the war the oldest, Edward, and youngest, Frederick, known as Fritz to his friends, joined up in November 1942. Because of the tragedy of the Sullivan brothers aboard the USS Juneau earlier that year, the brothers were split up and sent to different units around the Army. Edward became an enlisted pilot, with the rank of Technical Sergeant, of a B-25 Mitchell bomber flying in the Burma-India-China theatre. Preston was commissioned into the infantry and assigned to Company C, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Robert and Fritz both became paratroopers. Robert served with Company D, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. Fritz joined Company H, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. U.S. Army paratroopers are dropped near Grave, Netherlands while livestock graze near gliders that landed earlier. This was the beginning of Operation Market Garden during World War II, which resulted in heavy Allied losses. As fate would have it, three of the brothers found themselves preparing for the invasion of mainland Europe.However, before the brothers could start their "Great Crusade" to liberate Europe, Edward was shot down somewhere over Burma. He was listed as Missing in Action, but this usually carried a presumption of death at the time, especially if he had fallen into the hands of the Japanese. Then, in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, Robert and Fritz joined over 23,000 Allied paratroopers in cracking Fortress Europe. Although Fritz's unit, 3rd Battalion, 501st PIR, was supposed to be the division reserve, the misdrops meant they were thrust into action in ad hoc groups. These forces were able to secure vital causeways, bridges, and locks allowing the 4th Infantry Division, and Niland brother Preston, to exit Utah beach later that day. U.S. Soldiers of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, move out over the seawall on Utah Beach after coming ashore. Other troops are resting behind the concrete wall. Elsewhere, Robert Niland had landed outside of Ste. Mere-Eglise with the rest of the 505th as part of Mission Boston. After the 3rd Battalion was able to capture the town early in the morning, the 2ndBattalion linked up with it to establish a defensive perimeter. When a strong German counter-attack came from the south, Robert Niland and the rest of D Company's 3rd platoon were left to guard the northern approaches to the town in a small village called Neuville. When two companies of Germans came at their position, they fought tenaciously to hold them off to buy time for their comrades to the south. When the position became untenable, Robert Niland, along with two other paratroopers, volunteered to stay behind and cover the platoon's retreat toward Ste. Mere-Eglise.While manning a machine gun in the face of the German onslaught, Robert Niland was killed in action. That very same morning, Lt. Preston Niland led his men onto the shores of Utah beach as part of the seaborne invasion of Normandy. Though casualties were relatively light for the men of the 4th Infantry Division on Utah beach, the battles beyond would be much tougher. Despite having made if off the beaches, the men of the 4th Infantry Division still had numerous gun batteries of Hitler's Atlantic Wall to clear. The task of capturing the Crisbecq battery, which had already sunk the destroyer USS Corry, fell to Lt. Niland and his men. On June 7, Niland led his men against the German position. During the heavy fighting Niland fell mortally wounded. The rest of his unit was repulsed. The battery would not fall until several days later to units of the 9th Infantry Division. The Niland brothers' parents received all three notifications in a very short amount of time. Their only condolence was a letter from Fritz informing them that "Dad's Spanish-American War stories are going to have to take a backseat when I get home. "Fritz was unaware of the fate of his brothers. When the War Department received word of the tragedy orders were dispatched to return Fritz Niland to the United States. That task fell to the regimental Chaplin, Father Francis Sampson. Sampson located Fritz, who had been searching for his brother in the 82nd and began to paperwork to send him home. Returning to the United States in 1944, Fritz served for the remainder of the war as an MP in New York.
This article was written by James Elphick and originally appeared on WeAreTheMighty.com
King (1978)
King (1978)
The film "King" 1978 is everything one could hope for in a dramatization on the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson were the perfect pairing of actors to portray MLK JR. and Coretta Scott King. They literally bring history back to life. After years of watching a pre-recorded VHS tape of this classic film, I just received the 2005 DVD (MGM) and it looks as good as ever. Winfield captures the very essence of MLK the ups and downs, the fear and the gallantry that was Dr. Martin Luther King, with a fabulous supporting cast. A perfect casting choice was also the great Ossie Davis as Martin Luther King SR. There is however one caveat that I just discovered,which is within the screenplay, about the three American civil rights workers, James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael "Mickey"Schwerner, who were murdered in the early to mid-sixties. This is concerning the actual time period when this event occurred. That said,the rest of the movie is accurate events wise, and sometimes hard to take, for the true to life aspects of this film. I highly recommend "King"
Lansky (1999)
One of my Favorite Films but I wanted it to be longer.
When I first heard HBO was putting out a film on the life of Myer Lansky starring Richard Dreyfuss, who I really admire, my initial reaction was can he pull this off? I totally underestimated his abilityas an actor. Part of my thinking was within the look-a-like department.But with Ricard Drefyuss, along with Joshua Praw and Ryan Merriman (who both play the younger Lansky) I felt that director John McNaughton,along with Richard Dreyfus' ability to clone the movements and essential dramatic aspect, for his portrayal of Myer Lansky made this film work for me. With Anthony LaPaglia (as Charles "Lucky "Luciano),and the incomparable Eric Roberts (as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel), as the frosting on the cake. While I really admired Warren Beatty's version of Siegel (Bugsy 1991) Robert's performance will grow on you in a different positive way. The fact that Myer Lansky outlived all of his contemporaries, without ever getting convicted of a crime, is an amazing thing in of itself. His ability to constantly evade, truth in life, was enough to get me interested in his story, along with the fact that I had read the books by Uri Dan and Dennis Eisenberg piqued my interest even further. Some have said the screen writers miss a lot the factual points of Myer Lansky's life, but how can we truly argue this point, when we have no concrete idea of what these points were? I watched the original airing of Lansky on February 27th, 1999 on HBO. I do not take to a lot of movies right away but the more I watched "Lansky" the more it grew on me. I now consider it one of my favorite films. On the negative side I wish the film could have been much longer, with more dramatic detail (whether these details were true or not) While the film does show Lansky's initial meeting with Anna Citron, the film does not extrapolate on her eventual outcome. Another thing to consider is if dramatic films covered all the absolute truths,they would lose some of their entertainment value (for me) I have documentaries for that area. The cinematography, along with the orchestral soundtrack, along with the popular hits of that time period are also superb." Lansky" also does a credible job of capturing the period settings (e.g. turn of the century lower east side) I highly recommend the film "Lansky"