Happy Birthday Athena

Today is my mother's birthday.  She'd be 96.  She's been gone for nearly 20 years but a day doesn't go by where I don't think about her or say something she used to ("That outfit hides a multitude of sins"  "Why doesn't that car go?? He has a prairie!!").  I see her in the faces (and spunkiness!) of my family and even in the food we all cook.  She will never really be gone.

This post is entirely in my mom's honor.  She was a movie lover from WAY back (Gone With The Wind was her favorite all time movie) and instilled that love in me.  I'm sure she'd be happy that my cockamamie idea of taking Film Studies in school has actually kept me in food and housing because I think when I got my first job in the "industry" (video duplication) she thought I was working at a Blockbuster.

Hope you enjoy!

Untouchables  released in 1987

My mother was a huge fan of gangster films.  Loved James Cagney (and who can blame her).  When Untouchables was coming out she was SO excited to see it she had me play hooky from school that day (granted I was in college so it wasn't that huge of a deal) and go see it with her. Opening day. Matinee. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I had forgotten a lot about this film and learned some new tidbits  It was directed by Brian DePalma!  The music was written and conducted by Ennio Morricone (I was a bit underwhelmed by this music, especially considering I absolutely loved his score for the film The Mission.  That film came out the year before so perhaps there was some wad shooting.  I kid.  The man was amazing and incredibly prolific. He composed for like a zillion spaghetti westerns.).  The wardrobe (not costume design, mind you, so I imagine they just meant the suits) was created by Giorgio Armani (he got his own card in the credits). The screenplay was written by muthafuckin' David Mamet!!  This is the item that blew me away the most.  Several of the actors did Mamet's lovely and unique writing style justice - Robert DeNiro and Sean Connery (oddly)...but Kevin Costner trying to interpret Mamet's rhythmic dialog is like listening to Kevin Costner try to be "British" as Robin of Locksley.  The common denominator being...Kevin Costner.

One of the coolest things about this movie is DePalma's homage to one of the most revered sequences in film history:  the Odessa Steps sequence from Battleship Potemkin (allow me to get all film major-y on you for a moment).  Potemkin was made in 1925 by a director named Sergei Eisenstein.  Eisenstein is credited with creating the "montage" in film editing.  What that meant for him (not the montage sequence of today - see Team America!!) was to take two or more images to create a "third thing" which is basically an emotion or an idea.  A synthesis.  Essentially, by juxtaposing images he can manipulate the viewer into a specific feeling.  If you ever want to spend 8 or 10 minutes, find the sequence on YouTube and watch it.  It's a ground breaking piece of film (particularly for the time) showing these regimented soldiers marching down the steps and the crowd panicking and dispersing.  It's very violent, most everyone dies, a child is trampled and the last part is watching a baby carriage roll down the steps (with a baby in it) unattended.   In my opinion, DePalma's homage is a good one.  DePalma favors slo-mo and he films his whole steps sequence that way.  All we hear, even though Eliot Ness and all the gangsters are shooting each other, is the synchopated sound of the baby carriage going down the steps.  It's very bloody (But come on!  It's DePalma.  Think about Carrie, for crying out loud!) but the baby does live at the end.  I'm not so sure that is implied in Eisenstein's version.

Sean Connery is always a treat, even though his Irish accent sounded pretty Scottish to me. Oh well, I'm gonna give it to him anyway.  And a special shout out goes to Andy Garcia's hair.  Always good, regardless of what I think about his acting. 

(My drink pairing for this film is some nasty, illegal bathtub gin!)

Silverado - released in 1985

My mother also loved a good western.  I think this is the movie that made her love Danny Glover, too.  As I've said before, she was a huge fan and at a Bammies one year he kissed her cheek.  She was giggly about that one for years.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this film again even though I was somewhat reluctant to watch it.  I think I remembered it as long with kind of a dreary ending.  And more Costner, which could be trouble.  BUT.  It was great!  The dialog is witty, the awe-inspiring landscapes are...well...awe-inspiring (it was filmed in Vistascope or something like that....totally worth it).  The cast is amazing.  Even Costner is incredibly charming as a sort of ADD gunslinger.

This is essentially a buddy film.  4 decent dudes meet up under strange circumstances in the wild and wooly old West.  They have adventures and save the town.  It IS a long movie; 132 minutes.  But the pacing is swift and well executed so it didn't feel taxing.  It met with mixed reviews back in the day but I have to say...having not grown up in the age of Westerns (like the 40's and 50's, I guess?) I really enjoyed this version of the classic genre.

It's directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who directed The Big Chill among many other films.  Kevin Costner got his role, Jake, in this film because he was essentially cut out of The Big Chill entirely.  Clearly Kasdan likes ensemble films.  What I had forgotten about him is that he wrote films like The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  No wonder it's a good film.  Seriously, the dialog is great.  There were several times where I LOL'd in my house alone.  Kevin Kline is perfect in this film (it reminded me about how much I loved him back in the day.  Was marrying Phoebe Cates his downfall?  Perhaps.).  His performance is reminiscent (to me anyway) of Gene Wilder's character in Blazing Saddles.  Kline plays his role completely deadpan and delivers some of my favorite lines in the whole film.  At one point Kline and Scott Glenn's character are mistaken for two other guys - Baxter and Hawley.  Scott Glenn says he's not Baxter so the confused guy looks at Kline and says "You aren't Baxter either??" and Kline says "No, I'm not Hawley."  Heh.

The cast, as I said, is amazing.  John Cleese plays a sheriff "not from these parts" (duh) and gets to say a classic Monty Python line as his first bit of dialog onscreen "What's all this then?".  Linda Hunt (everyone's favorite 1980's little person!) has a great role where she gets to look and dress like a woman!  And Brian Dennehy played the bad guy.  He shows up in a lot of my revues actually.  He's clearly a hard working actor!  He plays a nuanced bad guy, which I think might be a tad unusual for a Western.  I think his character is actually a sociopath.  He's kind of charming yet completely sinister at the same time.  He smiles but you can see the evil behind his eyes.  I think this is my favorite role of his to date.  Jeff Goldblum is also in it, playing a city slicker. It's a toss up of which cowboy version of Goldblum I like better - this one or Buckaroo Banzai.  Danny Glover also gets a great line - "I don't want to kill you and you don't want to be dead."  And Rosanna Arquette is in this film.  I have a hard time seeing what about Rosanna prompted the dude from Toto to write a song about her.  And truly, her whole family seems like a bit of a mess.  What up, Toto?

The last thing I'll say about this film is I'm SHOCKED that no character in this film suffered from PTSD.  A shit ton of people get shot in front of a shit ton of different people and everyone (including the little kid) seem to take it all in stride (well, except for the dead guys).  Maybe that's just the law of the Old West.

(My drink pairing for this film is a shot of rotgut (good whiskey cut with something nasty to make it go farther) or if you're feeling like a weenie, a glass of sarsaparilla.)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding - released in 2002

This movie was released long after my mother passed away.  I know she would have loved it, though, which is why I added it to this post.  This movie makes me long for my Bostonian Greeks.  I see aspects of my family all over the place in this film - from restaurant ownership to never, ever eating lamb with (ick) mint sauce.  If this movie had Smell-O-Vision, it would smell like garlic!!

Apparently this film is the biggest grossing romantic comedy of all time.  Naturally...it's about Greeks.  :)

This film was written by Nia Vardalos, who also stars in it.  She originally had staged it as a one woman play based on her life and marrying a non-Greek.  Rita Wilson (Mrs Tom Hanks) saw it and eventually Hanks' production company Playtone produced the film.  My aunt ALWAYS reminds me that Rita Wilson is Greek.  Rita must be some kind of poster child for Greeks marrying famous guys.

Michael Constantine plays her father, Costa.  I had a fling with a guy named Costa once. On a cruise ship. Dang, that man was yummy.  Sigh.  Okay, sorry, I'm back. What were we talking about?  Oh yeah.  Constantine is great in the role - perfectly executing the Greek dad who uses Windex to cure any ailment and insisting all words are from a Greek origin.  Her mother is played by Lainie Kazan, who is so, so great (I just read that she's part Turkish!).  I think she's an under appreciated actress.  She consistently brings so much warmth and humor to every character she plays.  Anyone who hasn't seen My Favorite Year should for Lainie alone ("Swanny!"), although the movie is brilliant and everyone in it is fantastic.  Also, she has a good name.  It's a favorite in my family!

My singular favorite performance in this film, though, is Andrea Martin.  My brother Dennis has quite the story about meeting Andrea Martin which makes me want to not love her...but in this film it's hard not to.  She has arguably all the best lines ("What do you mean, he don't eat no meat?  That's okay, I'll make lamb."  Or the whole bit about getting the "bobopsy" done on her lump.  And it's her twin! Hilarious.). And when she's following Lainie Kazan around to pluck her chin hairs?  It was like being at home (Get the one big one!).  

I remember going with my family to see this film and it was really like having Athena sitting there with us.  I could just hear her big, big laugh.  She'd probably knock over her popcorn (apparently klutziness is passed down to the females of our family).  She would absolutely flirt with the ticket guy.  And she'd be hugging and kissing on us all as we were trying to leave.  I miss you, Mamitsa.

(My drink pairing for this film is Ouzo.  Lots of Ouzo.)

My takeaways:

#1 - It's no surprise that my mother influenced my movie watching, although I think in the end she was more of a Costner fan that I can ever be.  Maybe because she never saw Waterworld.  

#2 - I know a lot of you thought I'd include Singin' In The Rain here, but that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

#3 - Please raise a glass of whatever you're drinking today to my mom.  You would all have gotten a kick out of her and I guarantee she'd have loved each and every one of you.

xoxo...hashtagSueslife