Oscar Mission, Part II

21. A Civil Action (1998)

There are two popular actors who I just can’t get past. Whenever John Travolta or Rob Lowe play an educated, intelligent, or hard-working character, my simply won’t accept the premise. This film had potential, and a nice supporting cast. Robert Duvall’s creepy, sublime performance was terrific. Replace goofy Travolta with a decent actor – Nick Cage, perhaps – and the film improves immediately.

22. Mrs. Brown (1997)

What great casting. Judi Dench with her raspy, haughty voice, and Billy Connolly, playing much larger than his actual 6-0, are perfect foils. The manner in which Brown’s character is so dedicated to his Queen, even to the point of offending her staff and her own royal family, is a pleasure to watch.

23. Nell (1994)

The AMPAS just loves it when mainstream actors play disabled people. Sometimes the role is actually challenging, like Dustin Hoffman’s Rain Man; other times, it’s basically consists of braying and loud laughs, like Sean Penn’s “I Am Sam.” Jodie Foster’s Nell is neither, falling somewhere in the middle. It’s the script that makes such little sense. <>

24. Malcolm X (1992)

I’ve often argued that Denzel Washington might well be our greatest living American actor. He can play anything. Clean cut cop, bitter and angry slave, boozing bodyguard, corrupt cop, career Naval officer, and, in this case, bring life and humanity to a complex historical character. <>

25. Dry White Season, A (1989)

I need to find out how accurate this film is. Made during end of Apartheid, I’m guessing that the opening massacre is based on Sharpeville, and Jürgen Prochnow’s character is a fictionalized Colonel J. Pienaar. Still. Did he order his troopers to shoot children in the back? The film almost, almost, goes too far to demonize the bad guys. Shocking.

26. Mission, The (1986)

Beautiful scenery, strong performances, a story of faith and redemption, but for some reason it just didn’t work for me. I might need to watch this again.

27 .Trip to Bountiful, The (1985)

I kept thinking “This reads like a play.” The characters seemed two-dimensional, and the performances were a bit over-the-top, like you have to do on stage to communicate with an audience 100’ away.

28. Frances (1982)

Interesting how the Sam Shepard character seems to drift in and out of Frances’ life, arriving just when he’s needed. Jessica Lange, in her younger years, had a vulnerability about her that made her perfect for this role. It turns out the lobotomy story was a complete falsehood, although it doesn’t diminish the horror that such a technique was still in use in my own lifetime.

29. Reds (1981)

Huge, sweeping, perhaps overly ambitious. Why isn’t this film available on DVD? I had to purchase an old VHS copy in order to see it. Some completely unmitigated crap is available on DVD, but not a multiple-Oscar winner?

30. Chapter Two (1979)

It’s hard to believe there was a time when we found Neil Simon films to be entertaining. When we felt Marsha Mason was a great actress. When James Caan tried to play sensitive roles. Well kiddies, it was the 70s, what can I say. Caan’s character has a meltdown, treats his new bride like a bay treats a diaper, then goes for a walk and everything’s fine. Roll credits.

31. Julia (1977)

I lost interest and started responding to emails. Ok, ok, I’ll scratch it off the “seen” list and watch it again.

32. Save the Tiger (1973)

I miss Jack Lemmon. By my count, in 82 roles he never shot anyone, never beat anyone up. Harry Stoner remains one of his greatest characters, a troubled man who wants to do the right thing, but feels left behind by a rapidly changing world. I started to write, “Why isn’t this film available on DVD? I had to buy an old VHS copy on eBay to see it.” Then I found out it was just released on DVD, with a nice widescreen print. Well ok, then.

33. Cinderella Liberty (1973)

There was this fascination with navy NCOs in the late 60s and early 70s. Perhaps with Viet Nam raging, it was hard to focus on a career ground pounder and not deal with the war. The Navy was safer, and of course there was always the romance of life on the sea. Boatswain’s Mate, First Class, John Baggs Jr is believable. His Naval career isn’t that hard, and he finds himself wanting to make a dent on land. Not a bad film.

34. Fat City (1972)

An undiscovered gem, at least for me. I had no idea Jeff Bridge’s had such acting chops as a young man. The always-creepy Stacey Keach is well cast as a washed up fighter, and one who has nothing else to fall back on.

35. Five Easy Pieces (1970)

I’d pretty much watch anything shot by Lazlo Kovacs. This meandering, complex, unpredictable story made a star out of Jack, and was one of the more visible examples of Hollywood moving into the uncharted territory of the New Wave of Cinema. For the next five years, we’d see a string of dynamite films.

36. I Never Sang for My Father (1970)

Gene Hackman has always been great at playing angry characters who were trying to control their anger. Watch the way his face changes, for example, when he confront Sean Young in “No Way Out.” Now we see where that bottled rage came from – his film father, played by Melvyn Douglas. Watching their final confrontation, you have this sad little glimmer of hope that they’ll finally come to terms, and for a while it seems like it will.

37. Anne of a Thousand Days (1969)

When I was a teenager, I fell in love with a variety of screen actresses. One was Geneviève Bujold, due to roles in “Coma” and “Obsession.” While we all know the basics of Henry VIII’s wives, it was interesting to see it put into the human terms of Anne Boleyn. Bujold’s naïveté and inability to grasp how much she’s being manipulated make for compelling cinema.

38. They Shoot Horses, Don't They (1969)

I’m fine with downer screenplays. Hell, I’ve never written an upbeat story in my life. But even my dark stories of despair are overshadowed by this endlessly depressing tale. Did these dance contests really go on for weeks? How were they funded? Yowza-yowza-yowza, this is one I have no desire to watch again.

39. The Sand Pebbles (1966)

Again with career Navy characters. I see a trend.

40. The Pawnbroker (1965)

Before there was Archie Bunker, there was Rod Steiger’s Sol Nazerman. Of course, Nazerman has some ghosts that fuel his xenophobia. Interesting that a few years later, Steiger would portray the sheriff in “In the Heat of the Night,” another character taken over on television by Carroll O'Connor.