Film Pairings — Two Approaches To Serial Killer Tales

Not all serial killer movies are born equal. The Calling grossed roughly $3 million, a fraction of the $73 million spent just to make The Bone Collector, which ended up with $151 million in box office receipts. Yet structurally, the two have a lot in common. In each, a former star cop forms a team to piece together mysterious but similar clues to what otherwise appears to be random killings.  They must do so quickly to stop the quickening mayhem. Also in both cases, protagonists must solve the puzzles despite the obstruction of incompetent higher-ups. Sounds like a formula to me.

Gil Bellows and Susan Sarandon

The Calling — I usually love high-quality low-budget crime films.   They are often projects driven more by love than money. Because they are a result of personal passion, they may not have that blockbuster appeal.  Yet, they often provide a deeper glimpse into the characters. They are everyday folks like us, and we accept that such horror could happen in our own ordinary lives. Susan Sarandon, Donald Sutherland, Christopher Heyerdahl and Ellen Burtstyn bring a level of gravitas to a story that is more personal than suspenseful. Jason Stone directed The Calling, which was based on the novel by Inger Ash Wolfe and released to video in 2014.

Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie

The Bone Collector — I’d like to root for the underdog; but The Bone Collector is the better movie.  In this case, money made a difference.  Its plentitude here is apparent in every scene, in the sets, the lighting, the extras, even the camera angles. The plot, the dialogue and the acting aren’t necessarily superior; but the environment in which that all takes place is more seductive and where needed far more terrifying. This 1999 movie also has box office star power — Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Given the somewhat sappy Hollywood ending, there was no need to kill off the film’s most likable and most intriguing character. The Bone Collector was based on the book by Jeffery Deaver and directed by Phillip Noyce.

In both films, a chill is in he air. You might want a little warmth.  So I’m suggesting a glass of decent whiskey as an accompaniment. Or, maybe a cup of hot chocolate will do as well.

Film Pairings – Two Classic Buddy Movies, Crime Included

Davis & Sarandon

This is Women’s History Month.  And even if it weren’t, Thelma and Louise is history-making cinema and a cause to celebrate.  Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are magnificent in this 1991 Ridley Scott film.  Best friends, the two of them. A waitress at a diner and a submissive housewife decide to take a mini-vacation together – just let loose for a while.  Things don’t go well. Thelma (Davis) is assaulted in the parking lot of an Oklahoma roadhouse and Louise (Sarandon) shoots and kills the determined would-be rapist. But that’s only the beginning.  Thinking no one would believe them, the buddies go on the run.  An empathetic cop, Harvey Keitel chases them.  Brad Pitt complicates things, provides comic relief and more than a little eye candy.  Damned and praised as a tribute to the feminist movement, it is a damn fine movie and worthy of the praise heaped upon it.

Redford &  Newman

Country-western gives way to pure western in in one of the most popular buddy movies ever made, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. There are definite similarities.  Both are filmed in big-sky country. But instead of two women fleeing the law in a Thunderbird convertible, the two men do so on horseback.  In both, there are lots of guns, lots of drinking, some sex, some explosions and a constant chase, making sure our eyes stay riveted on the screen. While there is more substance just below the surface in the wonderful tragi-comedy of Thelma and Louise, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is played more broadly, though very well. No message, pure adventure. Producer John Foreman brought top talent from all disciplines to make this 1969 classic. Veteran George Roy Hill directed. William Goldman wrote the screenplay. The music (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”) came from Burt Bacharach. Paul Newman played Butch and Robert Redford was Sundance in a pairing that electrified the media at the time.

Usually crime films are male dominated. This is a perfect double feature for those who want equal time for men and women. 

Film Pairing — Keep The Kid In The Picture, And Keep Him Alive

This double feature represents that old saying “keep the kid in the movie…because the kid is the movie.  That’s not altogether true for Witness and The Client, both big box office successes that deal with protecting a child who becomes a target for elimination because he knows too much.

The Client (1994) is based on John Grisham’s bestseller. Brad Renfro plays a mature beyond his years teen caught between an overly ambitious U.S. attorney (Tommy Lee Jones) and some gangsters who killed a high-ranking Louisiana politician.  Susan Sarandon plays Reggie Love, an ex-alcoholic attorney on the comeback trail.  She is the character who must keep young Renfro from being run over by the competing forces, both, it seems, intent on destroying him as well as his moonbeam of a mom in order to win the battle.  All three main characters are strong, as is the plot, but Renfro is the draw here.  He plays a tough, uncannily wise country bumpkin. Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Actress.”  Anthony LaPaglia, Ossie Davis and William H. Macy also appear in the film.  Joel Schumacher directed.

Witness (1985) cleaned up in the awards department. I remember loving the movie. My worry, when I sat down to watch it again these many years later, was that it wouldn’t hold up.  I needn’t have worried.  Director Peter Weir created a nearly timeless film that delivers a sit-on-the-edge-of-your seat plot and sets it against both a rarely used social environment and a strikingly visual landscape.  A young Amish kid witnesses the brutal killing of a cop in the restroom of a train station.  Because of corruption in the police department, neither the young witness (Lucas Haas) nor his police protector Harrison Ford, are safe — anywhere.  They retreat, Ford reluctantly, to an Amish community in Pennsylvania, where we meet an attractive Amish woman played by Kelly McGillis and other members of the boy’s family.  We also see Alexander Godunov, Patti LuPone and the first Hollywood appearance of Viggo Mortensen.  Danny Glover plays a significant role and if you pay attention you’ll get a glimpse of James Earl Jones.

As far as what to have with your double feature, maybe this is an alcohol free night.  The Client takes you back and forth from New Orleans to Memphis, but despite this two-hour plus film, time goes quickly.  Witness moves a little more slowly and lusciously. But when you are in Amish country, you have to be content with sipping lemonade on the porch swing.

Film Pairings — Small-Time Crooks And Great Small Crime Stories

When a writer or film director tries to tell odd, little stories, sometimes you end up with odd, little stories.  And Sonny is one of them.  I want to call it experimental; but there is nothing all that new or inventive about it. Perhaps it could be called an interesting exercise.  It is worth-while, perhaps an engaging curiosity.  Yet it is something out of the ordinary, well done and a chance to see what a talented young actor, James Franco, can do when given free reign. It is also a wonderful opportunity to watch the inimitable Harry Dean Stanton in a subtly meaty role.  If it interests you, Nicholas Cage shows what he did with this, his first directorial attempt.  He also makes a bizarre cameo appearance.

James Franco

The story is about Franco’s character, Sonny. He is a young man who returns to New Orleans and his brothel-owning mother after a couple of years in the Army. It appears that his military stint helped the young man sort out his life.  However, Mom, who trained her son to satisfy wealthy women for a fee, doesn’t want to let go of her prime earner, even though he’s decided to live a “normal “ life.  He just came by to say hello and goodbye. The story gets steamy and more complicated when a beautiful and sexy prostitute, played by sensuous Mena Suvari, shows up.  Her surprisingly tender, erotic presence muddies what otherwise would be a clear choice for the troubled young man.  This is Franco’s movie.  However, it is Stanton who makes it more than a high-quality student film.  Sonny was released in 2002.

Willem Dafoe

Paul Schrader directed Light Sleeper (1992), which is purportedly part of a Schrader trilogy that includes American Gigolo and The Walker.  Willem Dafoe plays the young man, a Manhattan drug dealer and former addict, who seriously contemplates getting out of narcotics altogether.  His drug business boss, Susan Sarandon, has already decided to go legit and may or may not help Dafoe in his desire to change his life. She implies she might, once she’s settled.  Just one last drug delivery.  That’s all she asks. Yeah, right.  One last heist.  One last hit. As you are likely to guess, the last delivery ends up disastrous and deeply personal. However, the predictable twist has a twist.  Light Sleeper is certainly the stronger of the two films.  Dana Delany plays a central character and, if you don’t make a quick trip to the bathroom, you’ll notice a funny little scene with David Spade — not exactly a man with a thousand faces.

I’m really at a loss to recommend drinks to accompany these films. New Orleans?  New York? I’m certainly NOT going to suggest that things go better with Coke.  You are on your own tonight.

Film Pairing — Atlantic City and Key Largo, Dangerous Destinations

Last week I splurged on films, providing the sure-to-offend “top best” crime movies and TV lists. Both Atlantic City and Key Largo were honorable mentions, so I’ll trot them out again as a potential double feature for some rainy Friday night. What we have in this pairing are portraits of old gangsters. Lou Pascal, in Atlantic City is an aging gangster who remembers being a big-time gangster and Johnny Rocco, in Key Largo who thinks he still is. Both are wrong. An accompanying similarity is the fact that both movies use their geographical locations as key characters in the drama. One more thing they have in common — both are also based on plays by lauded American playwrights.

Atlantic City, the old Atlantic City that is, is withering away, with, as it turns out, symbolic appropriateness. Louis Malle’s sensitive and somewhat quirky film released in 1980 was based on a script by the highly regarded American playwright, John Guare. Burt Lancaster’s Lou Pascal was fading as fast as the old neighborhoods he inhabits, but he is given a chance to be the person he always thought he was. It is a poignant portrayal in a film that received Academy Award nominations in the top five categories — winning none. Viewers will get a chance to see the pre-Trump and legendary East Coast city that no longer exists as well as seeing an unusual and unusually good film that also stars Susan Sarandon.

For the second feature — how could you go wrong with tough guys Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart? Key Largo (1948) was the fifth time they performed together and apparently their star status (relative to each other) in film advertisements was settled by Bogart’s name being to the left on posters and Robinson’s occupying a higher position in the middle. In the film, Johnny Rocco and his equally nasty crew take over a small hotel in Florida’s Key Largo, where they are threatened by a rival gangster, the police, one of the hostages and a hurricane. Directed by John Huston and based on Maxwell Anderson’s play, the cast includes Edward G. Robinson (as Johnny Rocco), Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore and Claire Trevor. Trevor, called the Queen of Noir (says Wikipedia) was nominated three times for an Academy Award and won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rocco’s alcoholic and abused girlfriend.

The two fading gangsters couldn’t be more different. But we need some sort of tough-guy drink to accompany the double feature. Another question to consider: What should you drink during a hurricane? Rum may not be appropriate for New Jersey, but remember, you’ll be heading for the sultry Keys.