Category: 1997

Reel 62: Subversive Adaptations

Over the course of this show, Sean and I have covered all kinds of adaptations. Some were based on books, some on record albums, and some on Broadway Musicals (HA! Kidding about that last one; Sean would rather be dragged through broken glass and then dipped in rubbing alcohol).

But the one thing they had in common was some sense of fealty to the original source material. Well, that ends with this episode, hence the title “Subversive Adaptations.”

We start with Kiss Me Deadly, the 1954 film directed by Robert Aldrich. Aldrich takes a direct poke at the right-wing mentality of Mickey Spillane’s original novel. He carries us on a trip following Mike Hammer, who’s about as ignorant as we are regarding what’s going on.

From there we move on to 1997 and Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Robert A. Heinlein’s novel was written on the cusp of his transition out of the “juvenile” science fiction he’d been doing. While the book depicts a relatively militaristic society, the story line spends most of its time in the central character’s military training and his move up the command chain, and not so much on the details of the war. (Also, a character who dies late in the film doesn’t make it past Page One of the book.) Verhoeven—a Holocaust survivor—gives us an eerily prescient view of what it looks like when fascistic politics takes precedence over common sense.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

In our next two episodes, we take a slightly different turn. Rather than featuring films that have a common thread thematically, we’ll be looking at two films whose only commonality is the title. To that end, next time we’ll be screening two different films both titled No Way Out, from 1950 and from 1987.

Reel 30: Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard started out as a Western novelist, but soon discovered a knack for suspense thrillers and crime fiction. Many of these—and several of his short stories—were turned into feature films or TV movies, and in a couple of cases they became TV series.

In this episode we’re looking at two of the better examples of films based on Leonard’s novels. First we’re watching Jackie Brown (1997) directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Pam Grier. Jackie Brown is based on his 1992 novel Rum Punch. There are a bunch of actors in this film who you may think at first are badly miscast, but as you settle in you discover just how right they were for the parts they’re playing.

After that we move on to Out of Sight (1998), directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. It’s based on his 1996 novel of the same name.

In both cases we get to appreciate the deft comic spin that Leonard puts on his characters even as they’re talking about things that are deadly serious, to them at least. This is a long episode but there isn’t much wasted time in it.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

In our next episode we’re going to check out a pair of films that feature Robert DiNiro and Al Pacino together. First up is 1995’s Heat, in which they don’t share a lot of screen time (though it’s more than they shared in The Godfather Part II), but what they do have is amazing. Then we jump to 2019 and The Irishman, a film backed by Netflix and which, as of this post, is still available only on that platform.

Reel 24: Foreign Correspondents

It’s a fact. With some films, all you need to do to enjoy it is shut up and eat your popcorn. With other films you need to be able to buy into the story. And when you’re dealing with films that take place during real events, verisimilitude is where it’s at. If the viewer doesn’t buy some element of the film, then the suspension of disbelief will break down. And that’s bad because they stop engaging.

So with that, we bring you Under Fire, from 1983 and directed by Roger Spottiswoode. This film takes place during the Nicaraguan civil war of the 1970s. From there we jump a few years to 1997’s Welcome to Sarajevo, which was shot on location and feels realistic partly because the rubble and ruined buildings were still there from the war just a few years earlier. In fact, in my usual fusing two different images from the films for the cover picture, this time I used a real photo of Sarajevo from the war. That guy on the right isn’t an actor; he’s just some guy in the street. (A very similar shot appears in the film, so I’m sleeping well tonight.)

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Reel 25 takes a look at two conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s: First is The Parallax View, from 1974, followed by Winter Kills, from 1979 (and again a few years later). Be warned: if you like to watch the films before listening to the show, Winter Kills will be tough to find. 

As promised, here’s a supercut of Wilhelm Screams from a bunch of movies and TV shows:

Reel 14: Foreign Exchange, Part 1

As we noted last week, we’re accelerating the rate of episode releases for a couple of weeks to make up for the lengthy gap in our recent output.

This week is the first of a series of films in which we look at both the foreign original version and compare it to the American English edition. This week we’re looking at Abre los Ojos (“Open Your Eyes”) and Vanilla Sky.

Abre los Ojos is a 1997 film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, starring Eduardo Noriega and Penelope Cruz. Vanilla Sky is a 2001 remake directed by Cameron Crowe, and stars Tom Cruise and…suprise! Penelope Cruz again! Four stars and three of them pronounce their last names the same way. Not to mention that Vanilla Sky has Cameron Crowe and Cameron Diaz working together. So clearly the working environment for the latter film was a modern-day “Who’s on first?” routine.

At any rate, both of these films are so close to one another in plotline that Claude only had to write up one synopsis, which was a nice break for him. And in a few days we’re going to drop some bonus audio in which Claude throws a minor fit about certain streaming services. So you’ve got that to look forward to!

Finally, a little shout-out of thanks to Tina Cassano for her “backstage” help with getting us to understand some of the Spanish-based culture in Abre lo Ojos.

Reel 5: The Film Was Better

When a book is adapted for movies, the usual thing you’ll hear from people who have consumed both versions is that “the book was better.” In this week’s episode, Sean (who has read the books) and Claude (who hasn’t) explore the reasons behind why this isn’t always the case.

The first film on our virtual projector is 1994’s Nobody’s Fool, starring Paul Newman, Melanie Griffith, Bruce Willis and a host of amazing character actors. Newman is doing his “lovable rogue” thing but he’s toned it way down, and it truly works. Robert Benton directed this film, based on the novel by Richard Russo.

Atom Egoyan is the director behind our second film, The Sweet Hereafter. Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood and Sarah Polley headline this film in which a lot of small moments manage to come together in a way that will allow you to bring them back on your own, without much help from us.

Next episode, we begin SorkinFest with four episodes looking at the works of Aaron Sorkin. We start with Sorkin’s pairups with films directed by Rob Reiner, The American President and A Few Good Men.