What to Watch When You're Quarantined Week Three

Well, they say the third time is the charm- but I don't think they were referring to shelter-in-place. Three weeks in and I'm trying to figure out how to turn vintage cloth napkins into face masks.

Pandemic 2020: Making You Crafty.

When I wasn't folding cloth with rubber bands so I could go buy Prosecco, here are the movies I watched:


Hud (1963)

If I had to choose someone to be isolated with, Paul Newman would most definitely be at the top of the list. Even with a coronavirus mask on, those eyes would make my spine turn to custard and I wouldn't care if it was a Wednesday or a Friday. Every day would be Paulday.

In Hud, a family of ranchers experience a pandemic of their own- Hoof and Mouth disease. But Hud (swagger-ific Newman) doesn't seem to care if the family's cattle and livelihood are about to be wiped out. He is too busy raising hell in honky-tonks and the bedrooms of bored housewives.

Patriarch Homer (a wonderfully aged Melvyn Douglas) does what he can to set Hud straight- but nothing seems to keep Hud from following his baser instincts. Will young and impressionable nephew Lon (gone-too-soon Brandon De Wilde) follow in his uncle's notorious bootsteps, or is there redemption to be found on the desolate Texas prairie?

The acting performances here are masterful earning Newman, Douglas, and Patricia Neal Oscar noms- with both Douglas and Neal taking home the statues. Also winning an Oscar for his stunning black-and-white cinematography was the legendary James Wong Howe.

Howe's Texas vistas are breathtaking, and his shots of small town life are bleakly tender. A precursor to such lonely, modern westerns as The Last Picture Show (1971) and Days of Heaven (1978), Hud is a feast for the eyes any way you look at it.

The Farewell (2019)

If Ozu and Wes Anderson made a movie, it would be The Farewell. Awkwafina's Nai Nai (the utterly charming Shuzhen Zhao) has three months to live- but in true Chinese cultural fashion, the family has decided not to tell Nai Nai. So a wedding is concocted to bring the family together so that Nai Nai can get all the hugs and scoldings in before she drops dead.

There is space here for raucous family comedy and larger-than-life character, but director Lulu Wang takes it in a quieter, more touching direction. There aren't any explosive Terms of Endearment blow-ups, just typically complicated familial confessions with an underlying tone of mortality. It's simple- and it works.

Awkwafina surprised me, as I was only familiar with her comic reputation from Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Nora from Queens (2020) but she's quite good as the black sheep of the family despondent over the impending loss of the one relationship she could count on.

Wang's focus on heavily constructed shots and atmosphere-enforcing soundtrack overwhelm at times- but the images of fallow Changchun, China are an eerie foretelling of the empty spaces this pandemic has produced not only in China, but around the world.

The High and the Mighty (1954)

In times of disaster, sometimes it's fun to watch films about- well, disaster. And the granddaddy of the "plane danger" genre is 1954's The High and the Mighty. Long before Airport (1970) this doomed flight adventure was taking wing with audiences and making them question whether that six hour flight was really worth the air miles. H&M takes us back to the golden age of flying when your seat was the size of a barcalounger, there were only 21 people on your flight, and you could smoke everywhere- even on the flight deck.

John Wayne as Whistlin' Dan (No, seriously. He whistles a LOT. A drinking game should be played where you quaff each time Dimitri Tiomkin's theme tune is heard) is a co-pilot with baggage and he along with Captain Robert Stack (who parodies this very character in Airplane (1980)) are flying from Honolulu to San Francisco with a cabin filled with disaster movie stereotypes:

Newly married couple- Check! Couple ready for the divorce attorney- Check! Cuckolded married man ready to get revenge on the man who he thinks shtooped his wife- Check! Precocious kid who winds-up sleeping through the whole flight- Check! Insensitive portrayals of Asian, Italians, and Mexicans- Check!

The gang's all here- and with scenery-chewing performances from the likes of Claire Trevor, Sidney Blackmer, and Jan Sterling- you have the perfect group-viewing movie. Zoom it with your favorite cineastes- and don't miss the best line of the film, "I always thought your brain would fit nicely in a demitasse."

I could tell you all about my Netflix binge-viewing of zeitgeist darling Tiger King (2020) or Dark Horse comic to series entry The Umbrella Academy (2019)- but this is a movie blog- and this pandemic won't make me change my rigid blogging standards... but let's see what week 4 brings...

Stay safe faithful LWM readers!

Happy Birthday, Cool Hand!

Paul Newman. The man has so much universal appeal that just saying his name seems enough to describe him. Everyone knows how beautiful he was- those crystal blue eyes, that smirk, that figure. His screen acting was second only to Brando's at the time with nine Academy Award nominations for acting including a win for The Color of Money (1986). His Newman's Own product line was more than a vanity salad dressing project. It funded many charities including his Hole in the Wall Gang Camp that gives hope and joy to seriously ill children and their families. His political activism was something he was proud of- bringing his star power to address racial and gay issues. And his loyalty to friends was absolute.

When William F. Buckley Jr. called Gore Vidal a queer on live television, Newman was waiting for him back in his dressing room and apparently ripped Buckley a new one. Of course Vidal had called Buckley a pro-crypto Nazi but that's a discussion for another post. Paul Newman was a Hollywood star who seemed so casual about himself, that we felt he was one of us- even if there was no way we could be anything close to Paul Newman. 

On what would have been his 91st birthday, here are some of my favorite Newman classics.

Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)- Great early role with Newman playing real-life pugilist Rocky Graziano. Newman looks great in a pair of boxing trunks- but more importantly is able to convey the rage and despair of a trapped man.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)- There may never be a more ravishing pair of leads than Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. They are so sexy it seems impossible that they don't rip each other's clothes off and make a Little Dandy right there in that brass bed. But that's part of the genius of the casting- if these two aren't screwing there is something wrong- and that tension drives this Tennessee Williams classic.

The Hustler (1961)- Newman is effortlessly cool as a pool player who has the balls to take on the unbeatable champ, Minnesota Fats (a rare dramatic turn from Jackie Gleason). A pre-Carrie Piper Laurie is sensational as a drunken, gimpy girlfriend.

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)- This movie is sort of a reunion for the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof creatives with Richard Brooks directing a script based on a Tennessee Williams play. Geraldine Page as washed-up actress Alexandra del Lago steals the film, but part of Newman's grace as an actor was his ability to allow his co-stars to shine.

Hud (1963)- Newman is perfect as Hud, a shiftless cowboy who has not figured out what to do with himself in his small Texas hometown. The fact that you don't hate him by the end of the movie is a testament to his likability. James Wong Howe's Oscar-wining black and white cinematography is breathtaking and co-stars Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas took home statues as well for their tremendous performances. Younger brother Lonnie's (Brandon De Wilde) idolatry of Hud adds a gay subtext- something Brick and Skipper might have appreciated.

Cool Hand Luke (1967)- Newman again plays a charismatic scamp who takes unfair, abusive imprisonment in stride, becoming a legend in the process. There's no failure to communicate here. Newman is the king.

The Sting (1973)- In the second (and final) pairing of Newman and Redford, the hot-shot chemistry between these two Hollywood stars sparks off the screen. Either one of these actors could have hogged this movie- but their sense of play and sly one-upmanship instead creates the perfect caper team. Robert Shaw and Eileen Brennan add to the Depression Era antics under the slick direction of George Roy Hill.

The Towering Inferno (1974)- Newman is only one of the many stars that populate the sky of this Irwin Allen disaster classic. Not quite as fulfilling as The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Towering Inferno still explodes with its share of corny dialogue and "which star will burn next?" plot twists. But seriously, I'd be happy to burst into flames if I could be tied to a pillar in a room with Newman, Steve McQueen, and William Holden.

The Verdict (1982)- Newman is washed-up, sodden lawyer Frank Galvin who gets a chance to redeem himself with a case that sheds light on a questionable death at a Catholic hospital. Newman knocks it out of the park and if it weren't for the super stiff competition that year (including winner Ben Kingsley for Ghandi, Jack Lemmon for Missing, Dustin Hoffman for Tootsie, and Peter O'Toole for Man of the Year) Newman would have taken home his first Oscar. Currently in Oscar hot water, Charlotte Rampling is great as a shady sedcutress.

Road to Perdition (2002)- In a career where Newman mainly played lovable scamps, his role as Irish mobster John Rooney strains our ability to like this dark, vindictive character. But no one in this stylized Sam Mendes action/drama comes out clean- not even leading man Tom Hanks. Newman earned his final Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

What's your favorite Paul Newman Movie?