There was also The Bass Bottle (1964) with Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, and Burl Ives as the Genie. I always figured that this film was responsible for Barbara Eden starring in I Dream of Jeannie, which debuted the next year (even though she wasn’t a genie in this film).
This was actually the third film version. All of the films were based on a 1900 novel. The other two versions were silent films, which are considered lost. But there was a still from one of the silent versions published in Famous Monsters of Filmland that showed a cyclops.
(The cyclops seems to be in the 1923 version, based on Wikipedia)
Dick Shawn. Sad ending. He had a heart attack during a comedy performance and hit the floor face down, dead. The crowd thought it was part of the act for several minutes.
Somehow They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) was one of those missing chapters in my cinematic education.
Yowza! People are getting all excited about the prospect of an American Squid Game and it was already made to perfection 56 years ago! Glad I finally stumbled upon it.
Wonder (2017). An 11-year-old boy born with facial disfigurement has been home-schooled for years and is finally sent to a prep school for his fifth grade. The reactions of the other students and his evolving relationship with them is inevitably a big part of the story, but it goes much deeper than that. There are intriguing sub-plots seen through the eyes of some of the major characters, all of which have some relevance to the main story.
This film benefits from superb performances by all the major characters, especially Jacob Tremblay, himself just 11 at the time, who plays the young boy. But Izabela Vidovic who plays his older sister also turns in an extraordinary performance. Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson are the parents.
Based on a novel of the same name, the title of the film comes from a line spoken to the boy by his mother near the end, “you are a wonder, Auggie”. Sensitive and at times heart-wrenching, this is a powerful film that manages to tug at one’s emotional heart-strings without ever becoming maudlin. A little slow and predictable at first, but a richly structured story line soon develops. Highly recommended.
A Simple Plan (1998). Wow, this is one of the best crime dramas I’ve seen in a long time. So much so that for those who haven’t seen it, I’ll give away almost nothing about the plot, except to say that it involves three ordinary law-abiding men – two brothers and a mutual friend – who make a stunning discovery that leads them to hatch “a simple plan” that quickly spirals totally out of control. Thornton and Bill Paxton are great in the lead roles. Just a terrific movie, with some really tense moments. Scores 91% on RT and 7.5 on IMDb.
The style of this film is so characteristic of Coen brothers – complete with Coen brothers regular Billy Bob Thornton – that it’s hard to believe it isn’t from them. But it isn’t – it was directed by Sam Raimi and based on the book by Scott B Smith who also wrote the screenplay. Thornton got a Best Actor Oscar nomination and Smith for best writing.
Smith also wrote the book and screenplay for The Ruins, another story in which things begin to go wrong at the outset that cascade into an impossible set of complications. You don’t want to be a character in a Smith book or movie.
(The Ruins involves science fictiony evil plants. I’ve always thought of it as a documentary about my forsythia.)
I loved the book version of A Simple Plan. Every step of the way, the characters did what I hoped they would do. And you see how that worked out!
I wish Scott Smith would write some more, but I think A Simple Plan and The Ruins is all there is.
Man, this was one bizarre flick. It’s very hard to talk about without giving spoilers, but I’ll try not to go too far. It’s a horror movie, but most of it is in the vein of slow burn, make-you-squirm type horror rather than violence and monsters.
A middle school age, blind, asian girl, Piper, and her older stepbrother, Andy, are placed into temporary foster care with a woman and her adopted son, Ollie. The adopted son is STRANGE. He has a buzzcut, is mute, and likes to stand outside shirtless in the middle of a drained swimming pool and clutch animals in a threatening manner. The mom’s treatment of the son is pretty weird too. When Piper asks what he looks like, she says he has long curly red hair. When mom goes out, she locks him in her room. The boy has a panic attack one day about something or other, and she takes him to her room to soothe him. She puts on a cultish instructional video where it is telling her what to do with a child similar to Ollie to soothe him. She follows the instructions and it seems to work. The video also tells her about other stuff which is super freaky, involving soul transference and cannibalism. At some point, you also find out this woman lost her daughter in a drowning accident in their swimming pool.
I’ll leave it there, but I’ll say the movie was very well shot and acted, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. When things go off the rails in the last half hour, they REALLY go off the rails.
Raimi had previously worked with the Coens as co-writer of The Hudsucker Proxy and director of Crimewave. When he directed A Simple Plan, he sought out their advice for filming against bright-white snow-covered backgrounds (as they had done extensively two years earlier in Fargo).
For those like you and @Dung_Beetle who’ve read the book but haven’t seen the movie, I think you’d enjoy it even knowing the plot because it’s just so well done. For those who don’t know the plot, it’s a real fun ride.
I remember when the book was published how much publicity there was around the pre-sale of the movie rights and how much excitement there was for the adaptation…and then it just died. Wikipedia details all the shenanigans that took place before it reached theaters, and I’m glad it did.
Haven’t seen A Simple Plan yet, but I think I have it waiting for me on my DVR. Or maybe not…
I was shaking my head reading this quoted bit, being sure it was Coen Brothers just from my memory of the detail info from the listing on my DVR. But IMDb to the rescue, pretty sure the title I’m conflating with it is Blood Simple from the Coen Brothers.
Now I’m not sure which one is actually on my DVR. There’s even a slim chance it’s both. I haven’t seen either of them yet, which makes it easy to conflate the titles.
What a movie! I’m not even sure what to say about it. And after all this, I see that the actor who played the MC of the dance-athon shot his young wife and then himself. What an oddly depressing thing to learn about an oddly depressing(but great!) movie.
Gig Young was a likeable, versatile actor who won a Best Actor award for that picture. He also had a severe drinking problem and lifelong mental issues. He was originally cast to play the role Gene Wilder played in “Blazing Saddles,” but was too drunk to do it, and was fired. (Some reports indicated he had an epileptic seizure.) That murder/suicide was a shock. I don’t think any reason for it has ever been established. A sad ending for a guy who brought pleasure to so many people.
He starred in one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes, “Walking Distance.”
