Reviews

I watched this documentary during a PBS fund raising drive and I was instantly pulled into this remarkable story of natural beauty, individual strength and intimidating isolation. Proeneke's homespun narration is amusingly engaging ("...it was time to go fishing...for I was fish hungry...tomorrow is Sunday...I will go someplace"). The incredible physical challenge of building a shelter virtually from scratch with hand tools forces one to think about the modern conveniences we take for granted. For example, Dick hand sawed every board for his cabin...that means each plank 5 feet in length required him to saw through 5 feet of solid wood 8-10 inches thick, a feat he modestly describes as "...15 minutes of sawing and I had myself a nice board...". I wondered throughout this film how many of the construction challenges I would not be able to surmount because of the physical stamina required in the hand work. The construction of the cabin fireplace from lake stone and sand is nothing short of remarkable keeping Dick's cabin a "balmy 40 degrees" in the dead of an Alaskan winter.

I found myself often asking why would someone want to do this? What part of modern society was so unappealing to him that he would want total isolation? Perhaps it was a combination of disgust for the rat race and Alaska's raw beauty that drew him to this remote place of natural wonder but I'm certain most of us would find the challenges he faced overwhelming regardless of the million dollar view from his cabin. A great documentary.

TAS does a descending ballet through the levels of Wildfire similar to the one we go on in Kubrick's 2001 during the Blue Danube...a journey designed to dazzle us with technical advancement and movie-making wizardry. Unfortunately, it has not stood the test of time. The annoying computer/human interfaces, the generated graphics, the construction and spaceship look of Wildfire, the technically advanced research facilities...none of them inspire awe the way the trip to Clavius still does in 2001. The "Big Brother/Nuclear Disaster" plot line is a little old these days. So is the conspiratorial background of Scoop and Wildfire being generated out of a desire to exploit space exploration and the associated research for the production of biog-weapons. Other than that, the movie is an engaging thriller and does draw you in. As biotechnology sci-fi horror goes, it's pretty accurate, not the disaster of other infectious agent threatening global disaster films like "Outbreak".

Great atmosphere and remarkable performances from DeNiro, Foster and even Albert Brooks but this film is sloppy with too many loose ends. Never really explained or expanded upon is the underlying friction between Travis and African Americans in the film...his suspicious, trance-like staredowns with black characters are never developed. The ending is completely out of place and unbelievable...Travis initiated the shootings...he never would have been hailed as a vigilante hero and in the real world would have been tried for murder. Deeply disturbed protagonist gets the girl in the end???? Come on. What's that all about. Also never fully explained is why does Palentine become the target of his lonely obsession with making a mark in this world? Travis had always expressed the desire to clean up the scum...and I understand the symbolic linking of a pimp with a politician, but the association is sloppy in the film because Travis always admired Palantine even after his disaster date with Betsy. There was never a turning point or event for him where the candidate became the target of his social dissatisfaction. And then there's the subject of Travis' hair. I know it seems petty but it was very distracting seeing scenes that were obviously shot as soon as the shaved headed DeNiro's hair grew in barely enough to pass for continuity with the earlier scenes.

In all, I like this film. I think it's powerful and disturbing but it is not an icon or masterpiece. In its day, it was so groundbreaking that many of its flaws received a pass. 7out of 10

Stanley Donen's cinematic adaptation of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince is a delightful musical that will appeal to children and adults alike. The film is adequately paced at 88 minutes and will hold the attention of its young audience. The cinematography of Christopher Challis does justice to Saint-Exupery's original art work in the novelette. The stark beauty of the desert and the crisp brilliance of the night sky provide a beautiful backdrop to the sweet interaction between The Pilot and The Little Prince played by Richard Kiley and the adorable and competent Steven Warner. The film remains faithful to much of the original story except for a 1970s upgrade of the inhabitants of the Prince's neighboring planets. The drunkard, the lamplighter and the vain man of the novel are replaced by more contemporary representations of frivolously driven grown-ups. There is more than just a hint of Cold War era futility and fear flavoring these characters. In the novel, The King ridiculously rules over no one on a small empty planet. In the film, he has been replaced by a boarder patrolling royal figure demanding "Where are your papers. Where is your passport?" Another planet is home to a general commanding an army without soldiers who proudly lectures on the virtues of military discipline. In a world 30 years into the Cold War and exhausted from a decade of Vietnam, these were much more appropriate symbols of pointless and aimless grown-up affairs. In viewing these planetary visits, Challis' work is technically impressive. A majority of the scenes are shot through a circular, fish eye lens adding a claustrophobic feel to the action played out on these tiny worlds. Bob Fosse's choreography is impressive. I wish the same could be said of his performance in the film as The Snake. I wondered how he would work some of his trademark accessories into the portrayal in a subtle and intelligent manner. Instead, he looks ridiculous in chapeau, black gloves and spats dancing well worn steps from "Cabaret" among the rocks and sagebrush. I'm certain young viewers will enjoy the movie regardless but Fosse is an actor with average delivery skills who truly shines by creating in the dance studio or directing behind the camera. Several years later, he wisely turned portrayal of the thinly veiled biographical character Joe Gideon in "All That Jazz" over to actor Roy Scheider and the result was 9 Oscar nominations and 4 awards. Gene Wilder is excellent as The Fox. His gentle voice and appearance is wonderfully suited to roles in children's film and he taps into the same spirit he brought to Willie Wonka in "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". No child would fear taming this gentle creature.

In all, the film is cinematically beautiful, wonderfully told, sweet, sad and endearing. Like the novel, it should be enjoyed by film-goers of all ages.

I saw this film in its original run. I knew it was going to be something of a cringe but we went as sort of a goof just to see Lewis make an a#* out of himself. The film actually evoked sympathy from me. I couldn't believe how God awful it was...how any film crew, studio exec or preview audience could have allowed this thing to escape. It was far worse than Lucille Ball in her 70s doing slapstick, physical comedy in "Life With Lucy" or an alcoholic Lon Chaney Jr., oblivious that he was on live television, not in a dress rehearsal, gently picking up and setting down furniture he was supposed to be smashing in rage during a Halmark Hall of Fame Theater episode. Lewis was still something of a young man at 54, yes, years removed from his heyday and in the thick of painkiller addiction but still in possession of an active and creative mind. Who sat through the final edits of this and said "That's a wrap...nice job"? One scene that still sticks out in my mind 28 years later was the scene where Bo, employed as a waiter, gets his ring caught in the shawl of an elegant female customer. He immediately devolves into an imbecile and begins delivering his dialog in a lispy, slushy baby talk mumbling over and over again "My ring is caught in your mesh" as he's unable to untangle himself. I remember thinking, "This isn't funny...it's not even a flavor of bad I can enjoy and laugh at...it's just pitifully sad." Thank God Lewis found himself several years later in a perfectly suited non-lead role playing the iconic, self absorbed, "Carson-like SOB" talk show host in "The King of Comedy". He was fantastic playing a despicable narcissist.