July Recommendation: Rob Roy

 

          Trying to find some random movies to watch, mainly trying to at least find something that I've not seen or haven't gotten the opportunity to sit down and watch from start to finish. And Rob Roy was one of those movies that came into my radar but just hadn't got to time to sit down finally watch. So, as luck would have it, I finally got down and watched the film all the way through. And I more importantly chose this for my monthly recommendation for the month of July, since May we had the Western genre, June was of course the comedies, and now July is the epics, and yet with Rob Roy it has a great list of actors From Liam Neeson to Brian Cox as well as other accomplished actors. 

          In 18th Century Scotland, Robert Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is the head of a proud Highlands clan that herds cattle. Rob takes a one-thousand-pound loan from the Marquis of Montrose (John Hurt) to feed his people through the upcoming winter. Though deception as well as blood being spilled Rob Roy must go into hiding and find the right moment to strike at the very people who wronged him. 

          The other reason as to why I chose this film to be my July Recommendation, and of all the epics I would choose, this was like the underappreciative Braveheart movie at that time of the film’s release granted this film was made and released the same time as Braveheart and I personally felt this was almost like a younger brother of Braveheart that nobody watched as well as nobody even remembered this film was even released to theaters in the mid-90s, and yet this film was great to watch from beginning to the final frame, I mean you had an incredible ensemble cast with Liam Neeson at the helm with a great list of antagonists with John Hurt, Brian Cox and Tim Roth who really did a fantastic job playing the main antagonist in the movie, I mean he of all the villainous Brits in the movie aside from Cox, Roth was just so, wrenched of all the cruel deeds he does in the movie I was just rooting for Neeson to strangle him or finally get his comeuppance and granted, I've seen the duel a bunch of times prior to not seeing the movie ahead of time but the way Roth being so cruel and so, scum of the earth that you just hate the bastard from the first bad deed till he meets his end then your like "YES", "oh feels so, good", for which in all honesty is the reason as to why he was nominated for a Oscar. I will say what holds this movie together is the actors and even Jessica Lange because you feel for the Scots and the abuse they go through but more importantly showed that the rift between Brits and Scots still wasn’t that great. Although I will honestly say I've got to noticed some interesting things about 18th century especially when the royal's get to go to the bathroom they simply have a huge pan or bow that they can lift their bed dress and just take a big wiz while sitting on the bed and hopefully they throw it outside with the hopes that they don't hit someone with their wiz if you know what I mean, for which it would be difficult to do now because we're all pretty much in our own undies and would be difficult to pull off our undies and sit back down on the bed, also I think Liam Neeson has Leo beat when it comes to spending the night inside an animal though sure it's been a long time since I've watched the Revenant but I though Neeson getting the guts out of a cow was disgusting though in all fairness it's been close to ten years since I've seen the Revenant so I may have to cross that bridge and find out in futures to come. The fun fact about the movie is that it was shot entirely in Scotland so, it would make sense that you would get a ton of these beautiful shots of the landscape and more importantly they had to hike to get to their destination, hence the same way of shooting Chris Nolan and his crew in the Odyssey with the huge IMAX camera. Again this film alone is one of the many reasons why the 90's were an exciting time to go to the movies as well as having the best of time, and Rob Roy is one of those 90's films that I would highly recommend watching from start to finish of course because it was a younger brother to Braveheart, but like most epics this film was more grounded in terms of character driven storylines like most epics for sure, but this film does heavily focus themes of honor, loyalty and more importantly devotion between both Neeson and Lange moreover each of them did an exceptional job through the course of the movie and you can't help but root for them to gain their justice by end of the film and Rob Roy does a fantastic job rooting for your main protagonists as well as despising your antagonists along the way. So, in closing Rob Roy is free to watch on yours truly Tubi as well as Amazon Prime and Pluto TV, so if you’re looking for a great 90's epic movie to watch I would highly recommend watching Rob Roy. 

               

50th Anniversary of The Shootist

 

                     John Wayne month has finally reached its end, with Wayne's final movie in his entire movie career, and this was most certainly the sadist movie to rewatch. The Shootist when I slowly realized that this film is officially 50 years old now, I knew months ago that I would have to review this great classic as well as the last ride of John Wayne's film career. Though with this film, The Duke is not alone for this conclusion as he's joined alongside other great costars, including his best friend James Stewart, Lauren Bacall and even a young Ron Howard. 

                     J.B. Books (John Wayne in his final film role) is an aging gunfighter diagnosed with cancer who comes to Nevada at the turn of the 20th Century. Renting a room with a widowed Bond Rodgers (Lauren Bacall) and her son Gillom (Ron Howard), Books is confronted by several people of questionable motives, including a man seeking to avenge his brother's death and a few who are looking to profit from Books notoriety. Not wanting to die quiet, painful death, Books devises a plan to go out with a bang. 

                     Both the Shootist as well as Big Jake remind me a whole lot of both Red Dead Redemption games where it's the turn of the century and the legendary gunfighters are dying out, moreover the government is coming into clean house. The most notable similarity with The Shootist and the Red Dead games is that we also have a main protagonist whose dying and tries to go out in the best of fashion or trying to make amends with his past terrible deeds, for which now having watched the Shootist does give me the craving to play Read Dead Redemption on both PS4-PS5, and seriously if you haven't played those great video games I would highly recommend playing them. The Shootist was in fact Wayne's final movie role which expanded from the silent film genre in 1926 for which in all fairness he began acting 100 years ago if you think about it. During the seventies Wayne was in fact battling cancer, as I explained with films like the Sons of Katie Elder, though another source explained that while filming the Conqueror, in earlier years they were filming on a testing site for atomic bombs so there's another good source that would be possible. Although he was cancer free until early 1979, I would imagine that Wayne made it clear that The Shootist would be is final movie, so, according to a source unknown Wayne did in fact had some casting request for which would reunite with fellow costars like Richard Boone, John Carradine even Lauren Bacall who in fact made a movie with Wayne called Blood Alley and even his best friend James Stewart. Even Stewart at the time of the films production as retired from acting and decided to accept the role because he owed it to the Duke, though through series of takes it was like directing two old men who were both mumbling and needed to raise their voices, though let’s be honest these two titans who are now mortal need to be reminded that they need to speak up sometimes. Granted I remember watching this movie when I was a kid furthermore wasn't a huge fan of the movie considering that Wayne dies at the very end but now re-watching the film I understand why it's a great classic because it has all the morels of legends of the west suddenly realizing that their no longer mortal and spending their final days enjoying life a bit more as well as going out on his or hers own terms and that's basically what the Shootist is all about, is trying to die in peace and not allowing any annoying publicity or Marshalls interfere in terms of what a life he once had or trying to spin the story because when you’re a gunfighter it's not always the most pleasant life, it's always the kill or be killed life as well as the cycle of violence and Wayne's character tries in the best of his abilities tell Ron Howard's character not to follow his footsteps but almost learn how to use a gun in self-defense. And I truly believe with this movie, Wayne is showing that these legendary gunfighters are not great people to admire as well as nothing but killers, though granted I can be wrong and I don't claim to be right. As a fan of the Duke's great work as well his ability to still be tough even in death, this film was without a doubt the most heartbreaking movie to watch for good reasons is that this film marked the final leg of the Western genre and a year after the film’s release we would all be worshiping Star Wars as well as the Science Fiction genre and sure this film was supposed to be Wayne's last ride this was also closing a chapter in this iconic film actors life until his later death in 1979, and that's the most heartbreaking thing about the Shootist is that the gunfighter don't ride off into the sunset, they soon meet their end for which this film would be metaphorical to John Wayne's life as well three years after the film’s release. As much as I hate to end a John Wayne month with dying Wayne, but this is defiantly a underrated Wayne movie that I doubt people remember more than his iconic roles but more importantly it's the last hurrah to the legacy of the Duke almost the same way of Hugh Jackman's last hurrah in Logan though he later returns to the role of Wolverine in which he's still making money off of, though in all fairness Jackman is still in the best of shape so, he can do whatever he wants. Even though I'm closing the John Wayne month, I'm sure there are more of Wayne's movies to check out and now having relived some of these great classics I still feel the need to watch more of John Wayne's films that I've not seen besides the Western genre, though I'm going to take a long break because when it comes to watching many of the Duke's films, it gets a little bit old. So, in closing I'm going to leave you all with a great line that Wayne said to the late Barbara Walters in an unknown interview "Don't let those bastards get you down". 

         

The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance

 

            I extended my John Wayne month for good reasons I was in a strong sense over working on my everyday life and mostly feeling a bit tired in the sense of pulling long hours. Though for good reasons I was having small trouble finding some other John Wayne movies I have not seen. Though through the course of the short break, I began to realize that you can't necessarily have a John Wayne month if you can't talk about the great and respectable friendship between two of our greatest actors of all time John Wayne and James Stewart for which leads to the second to final movie in the John Wayne month. 

            Questions arise when Senator Ranse Stoddard (James Stewart) attends a funeral for a local man named Tom Doniphan (John Wayne) in a small Western town. We flash back to the time when Stoddard first comes to town and is attacked by an outlaw named Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) and is later saved by Doniphan himself. Both men of different backgrounds suddenly are the only two to stand up to Valance as well as the only two people that can save their town from terror and corruption, though both men are later in life become legends but with a price. 

             Like I said earlier you can't really have a John Wayne month without talking about the greatest friendship between John Wayne and James Stewart, two of the greatest actors of all time, moreover two titans of the Golden age of actors in Hollywood if I may say. Both men were first introduced by one another by a Hollywood banquet hosted by John Ford himself, and Ford introduced each other at that very banquet. Though granted the Liberty Valance was their first film together as well as a collaboration with Ford, through the years they've been respectable friends over the course of four decades. And in the Duke's final years Stewart visit him quietly even upon is death in 1979, for which shows that these two men were not just friends for Hollywood, but a real friendship built on respect and admiration. The movie is defiantly a great example of two men in a Western environment with different ways of how to deal with justice in the West, Wayne represents the tough and gritty world of the West, while Stewart represents the law abiding citizen as well as wanting to make the town a safer place without violence, and yet both men need each other though the course of the movie because they both help each other in times when they need help. Like most Western's or any Superhero movie you need a great antagonist to push their protagonist to the edge of finally standing up to their antagonist and Lee Marvin is hands down the best villain in any Western movie combined, and it was John Wayne himself that actually recommended Marvin for the role of Vallance and Marvin is fantastic through the course of the movie where you just hate him from beginning to the very end as well as relieved to see him get his componence and that's what you always want to have for a bad guy and Marvin is fantastic. Now sure, people who've never seen a John Wayne film or a James Stewart film would of course through this fit that their acting might be horrible or mediocre but I would beg to differ in the sense that both Wayne and Stewart are both different protagonist and yet you root for them through the course of it furthermore while Wayne is a brave and tough Cowboy in every Western he's in for which of course you need but deep down with this movie he does a great job playing sad in the sense of helping others cost him deeply and yet realizes that he can't always give the woman he loves a better life. Jimmy Stewart on the other hand plays a perfect outsider who sticks to his principles even in the end when secrets are revealed and he has to continue going because it's the only way to save a town from utter destruction, and both Wayne and Stewarts characters together are tragic characters through the course of the movie because they both have to keep a close secret for each of them because in the infamous line in the movie "this is the West, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend" for which in all honesty that's the who brass on what the wild West and mythic tales on how the West evolved in America and the way Ford portrays heroes and legends are a great contrast to Greek myths in Ancient times. This was actually the first film in which John Ford doesn't use massive landscapes but small towns with a kiss of landscapes to go along with it, but yet with this film it's strikingly violent and yet you don't see the violent act onscreen and that's always the beauty of movies like John Ford's work and granted, this is almost reminiscent to The Searchers. But you see the depiction of violence but you let the imagination do the work and that's always the impressive way of how Ford's films depict violence to the extent that you don't see the act of violence happening but you get shocked in terms of what you’re seeing on screen and it's almost like the opposite of a Quentin Tarantino movie where Quentin shows the violence happening and Ford lets the audience imagination to the work. And so, like many of John Wayne's finer works this is without a doubt a great movie to watch for all fans of Westerns, especially when the film is finally on Tubi, hopefully for a long time and not for a short while. Though with great performances from both Wayne and Stewart together, this film depicts the Western lore of heroes and legends coming align in a time when America was about to evolve from a world of violence and more importantly this film is another great example of Western lore and myths almost the same way Greece has the Gods and heroes and us American's have Westerns to love and cherish. But more importantly this is a great example of two legendary American Actors each are both different in terms of hero standards but are both friends till the very end as well as built on respect and admiration and more importantly a great example of friendship in a time when the West was in the midst of changing. 

              

            

Sands of Iwo Jima

 

           

              Counting down the final days of John Wayne month, I decided to take the opposite approach and watch one of the duke’s films that doesn't consist of Cowboys and Indians. Sands of Iwo Jima was Wayne's sixth World War II film, for which received an Oscar nomination in 1949, with all the great accolades the film contains this is truly a great World War II epic that's in actual first to focus on the war in the Pacific, and not just Nazi's in Europe. 

              Marine Sgt. John Stryker (John Wayne) is despised by his own men for his rough attitude and exhausting training regimen. As the war in the Pacific progresses, though, they begin to respect Stryker's hard-edged outlook on war and his brutal training methods, as it has helped them prepare for the harsh realities of the battlefield. They'll need all of Stryker's battle tactics if they want to survive what will end up being one of the bloodiest engagements of the war: The Battle of Iwo Jima. 

              A lot of people didn't know this, but John Wayne didn't get much of a chance serving his own country in World War II, and it always been curious as to why he didn't get the chance, like, James Stewart was allowed to serve his country but why not Wayne? Well, a lot of it had to do with Republic Pictures not wanting him to go in the Military because his presence would boost morale to all civilians as well as troops going into WWII. And for good reasons John Wayne before the United State entered the War, he was a huge star, I mean he was the same big-time celebrity long before Harrison Ford became famous in the eighties. And sure, James Stewart entered the war but he wasn't as big as John Wayne and all of the Generals in the Army or Navy would never in a million years wanted to be responsible for the duke’s death, and hell Joseph Stalin was a huge fan of John Wayne so, you can see that even the most evil tyrants can be fans of the duke. All facts a side this was a really outstanding war movie and the way that the filmmakers we're able to show the horror of war in the Pacific is defiantly great and terrifying because the way Japan was able to fight the American's they were almost fighting the way the American's fought the British in the Revolutionary War. There are some of the footages that I had interesting questions about in terms of the battle sequences but either way some of the main characters that you are introduced to in the beginning of the movie you feel bad for some of those characters. Like the Searchers this is another John Wayne performance where you can see that he's a tough sergeant to his own men but through the course of the movie you begin to see a soft side of him for which really this movie alone I would defiantly rank in Wayne's best performances. Both free on YouTube and available to watch on Pluto TV, so if you’re looking for a great movie to watch in July or craving for a World War II movie, then I would highly recommend watching Sands of Iwo Jima, especially when you watch a different side of John Wayne as a gritty/tough Sargent that takes no for an answer and more importantly something different from Wayne's acting career. 

       

The Long Goodbye

 

               Once finishing Mash: the movie, never have I thought I would like another Robert Altman movie and for good reasons I figure you'd find the best movie and you'd never need to watch other movies, almost the way I approached Full Metal Jacket and said to myself "well I don't need to watch another Stanley Kubrick movie". Though the Long Goodbye comes around and I guess now I need to watch all of Altman's movies. 

                Private Detective Phillip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) is asked by his old buddy Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) for a ride to Mexico. He obliges, and when he gets back to Los Angeles is questioned by the Police about the death of Terry's wife. Marlowe remains a suspect until it's reported that Terry's committed suicide in Mexico. Marlowe doesn't buy it but takes a new case from a beautiful blond, Eileen Wade (Nina Van Pallandt), who coincidentally has a past with Terry. 

               I don't know if anyone knows this and granted the Oceans films are close to twenty years old by now but Elliot Gould during my era of movies has always been Ruben Tishkoff who is basically the mentor to George Clooney and Brad's Pitt's character in the Ocean's Films for which sure if you grew up with the Ocean's films that's a big shocker the same with me, though watching some of his earlier work I got to say this guy is awesome as an actor. Moreover, I loved Bogart's portrayal as Marlowe in the Big Sleep and it's a great performance from Bogie but, I got to say, Gould's performance as Marlowe has now become my favorite Marlowe performances and even Altman allowed Gould to improvised and the best part of the whole movie is him improvising the interrogation scene and yet wiping the fingerprint ink all over his face which makes it funny at the same time. I really don't want to spoil anything about this movie because this is now become one of my favorite movies of all time and Long Goodbye is another film in which follows the Dan Harmon storyline cycle but more importantly in what makes this film fantastic is that they modernized the character of Philip Marlowe and you never really get to see that in other great PI detectives being set in today’s world and sadly enough, Hollywood is in so much of a shamble that you don't get any of these films now and I wish they do more bring characters like the Thin Man couple to today’s world for which in all honesty would make a great movie too. Again Tubi, in my opinion, is still reigning supreme in terms of hidden treasures as well as classic films so, if you have Tubi then I would highly recommend watching The Lost Goodbye as well as go on record that Elliot Gould is the best Marlowe of all time. 

   

Thief

        

          Going back to films my brother instructed me to watch, and my latest selection has now become one of my favorite movies of all time as well as in my lest of 100 greatest films of all time well, mainly in my non-bias whichever comes first. Thief staring James Caan as well as the directorial debut of infamous director Michael Mann, famous for such great films like Heat and the Insider. Another surprising factor is this was in fact Jerry Bruckheimer's first ever produced movie as well, almost a couple of years before films like Top Gun and Michael Bay came into his life.

          A highly skilled jewel thief, Frank (James Caan) longs to leave his dangerous trade and settle down with his girlfriend, Jessie (Tuesday Weld). Eager to make one last big score in order to begin living a legitimate life, Frank reluctantly associates with Leo (Robert Prosky), a powerful gangster. Unfortunately for Frank, Leo wants to keep him in his employ, resulting in a tense showdown when he finally tries to give up his criminal activities once and for all. 

          The interesting thing about Thief is, it's really a simple story, just a simple safecracker trying to get out of the business finds a perfect score but soon realizes it's not easy getting out. I mean the story is so, simple and so great that even through the course of the movie, I was playing the Dan Harmon storyline game (long story, but Dan Harmon found a simple way to write a script) and this movie hits all the right themes to creating a simple story, and it's crazy how Michael Mann was able to get this story so simple to the core though in all fairness it was independently made, in all fairness. What makes the film great personally is that this was one of the first films where we see these criminals in blue-collar professions basically seeing the thieves in the everyday lives before they begin to hit a score at night, and Michael Mann does a fantastic job staying true and more realistic to what a modern thief at the time would usually steal in terms of not going all high fashion like the Ocean's films and that they get away by the end of the film, and Man actually does a fantastic job portraying the film on what these types of thieves choose to do but realize the consequences of their actions. James Caan is a fantastic actor in the movie you can see that he's a man who wants to have a better life but deep down is a tough guy and through the course of his journey can't hide his criminal life even though trying to have a normal life tends to never be easy in his personal life, and even Caan himself claims that besides The Godfather, Thief is another performance he's actually proud of. From the camera work to the outstanding visuals as well as the realism to thieves and safecrackers combined, Thief is a fantastic neo-noir film that holds up the same way Heat holds up in terms of realism and great visuals. Found this on Tubi and once and always again Tubi is still holding the top streaming service for me, by perfect films to watch as well as hidden treasures and so, if you don't have Tubi, then I would highly recommend subscribing Tubi and watching this crime caper classic.

          

50th Anniversary of Rocky

 

           Happy Post-Fourth of July everybody, hope you all had a great 250th celebration of our country’s birth. In all honesty, a side from blowing off fireworks and having to listen, mediocre to overrated country songs about America. See of all movies to talk about that would describe the American dream, and really Rocky kind of caught my eye and I've seen this movie before as well as watched the Rocky films through the ages and thought the first film stands the test of time, more importantly was the first sports film to win Best Picture. And strangely enough it's reached its fiftieth birthday. So, here we are now talking about the greatest boxing film.

            Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), a small-time boxer from the working class of Philadelphia, is arbitrarily chosen to take on the reigning world heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), when the undefeated fighter's scheduled opponent is injured. While training with feisty former bantamweight contender Mickey (Burgess Meredith), Rocky tentatively begins a relationship with Adrian (Talia Shire), the wallflower sister of his meat-packer pal Paulie (Burt Young).     

             Sylvester Stallone at the time was living the same life as majority of actors trying to score big in Hollywood, he was of course broke and working dead end jobs to pay the rent, later on learned that of course he was a certain type of actor in his own words to the point that it would almost limit his work abilities as an actor. And so, between the mid-seventies is when he fell back on his writing albitites for which the iconic boxing legend Rocky wrote. Strangely enough, it was the year 1975, in which a Championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, furthermore, brought Stallone inspiration to write Rocky in Sly brought a tone of great themes of wanting to dream big as well as being ready for the moments of opportunity and being challenged into taking a leap of faith. It's really fascinating in going back to some of Stallone's earlier work, and he does a fantastic job as both an actor and a screenwriter in that you can see Rocky as a down on his luck type of character that we as an audience member can relate to as well as follow through the course of the movie moreover one of my favorite scenes is the day of the fight and Rocky can't go to sleep and tells Adrian that he has no chance in beating Apollo, and wants to make it his goal to go the distance and that's just symbolizes all of us in terms of having the sense of fear and dread of knowing you’re not going to win but making a personal goal in our lives that even if we don't win, we can at least reach this goal to know that we're actually worth something in this life or the next. Granted this movie came out in a time when there weren't a whole lot of heroes or legends to look up to and Rocky does fit that mold, and especially if you look at the setting in which the film takes place, Philadelphia was in a shambles in terms of economics as well as every working class citizen not making ends meet, more importantly fearing to keep their jobs, and if you don't think that was bad, the sports teams besides Philly's hockey team won two cups at that time, but all the other teams were horrible so, having a local boy taking a shot at the heavyweight champion of the world, almost as a David vs. Goliath, that's Hollywood magic in the making. The surprising factor about the movie is yes, it was a one-million-dollar budget, but it was a low budget filmmaking at its finest. Great example, Rocky jogging all over Philadelphia was all gruella filmmaking (filming without permits), where they had to select certain parts of Philly where they find intriguing to film and have Sly run a good portion of that route and even in the market ally that was all gruella filmmaking too, and director John G. Avildsen would film Sly Jogging while on the side door of the van with a camera. The first Rocky is a perfect American story about rags to riches and chasing a impossible dream and I think if you want to watch anything that symbolizes America, Rocky fits all those perfect themes and I would highly recommend watching the film from start to finish. Though granted at times it does feel slow but once it hits the gas pedal it's a fantastic story, though I will say the internet does ruin things because of some scenes where they take it out of context and sure make it funny but is also annoying as well. With all of that said, Rocky to me is most certainly in my top ten list of the greatest sports movies of all time. And so, if you have either Netflix or MGM+ then I would highly recommend sitting down and watching a movie about getting an opportunity as well as chasing a dream and second chances furthermore if Rocky doesn't get to feeling proud of being American, I don't know what does. 

       Speaking about the land of opportunity and chasing a dream, here is a special moment for Rocky meeting Muhammad Ali.