Movies

[Rusty]

339 - Crack USA: County Under Siege (1989) - 6/10 - The crack epidemic in Palm Beach, Florida seemed to really be out of control back in the late 1980s based on this documentary. Lots of sad stories, many of them involving teens hooked on crack.


340 - With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade (1978) - 8/10 - A group of women are interviewed about their role in the GM strike of 1936-1937 as the 40 the anniversary of that strike approaches. Their stories were pretty interesting and the archival footage from the strike was also pretty good. Those were the early days of the UAW as they fought for changes to improve working conditions and pay for their workers.


341 - Daybreak in Udi (1949) - 5/10 - The 'wonders' of British colonialism are on display here as a government official helps the natives build a maternity home in Nigeria, despite some opposition. As a short film, it was okay, though it certainly wasn't a documentary, which was what the Academy gave it an Oscar for. There seem to have been a fair number of non documentaries (or fictionalized documentaries) in the documentary category over the years.


342 - The War Game (1966) - 9/10 - This film shows the effect that a hypothetical nuclear war might have on the people of Great Britain. In the scenario, the U.S. is battling China in Vietnam and the use of nuclear weapons is authorized leading to an escalation and eventual Soviet attack. Preparations for war are shown, including evacuation of part of the population to lower priority target areas. The attack and its aftermath are also shown in fairly realistic detail. They did a pretty good job on this film.

[Rusty]

343 - Journey Into Self (1968) - 6/10 - A 16 hour group therapy session with 8 fairly well adjusted individuals and a psychologist is condensed to 45 minutes. It was interesting at times, but I didn't find myself all that invested in it.


344 - Report from the Aleutians (1943) - 6/10 - After the Japanese captured Kiska Island in 1942, U.S. forces set up an airfield on another Aleutian Island in order to conduct bombing raids on Kiska before ultimately recapturing it (after being abandoned by Japanese forces). There is decent footage here, but the film itself isn't all that interesting.


345 - War Department Report (1943) - 7/10 - A propaganda film directed to the workers supporting the war from the home front. It does a pretty good job making its case as to the course of the war and some of the logistical difficulties that they face.


346 - The Circus (1928) - 8/10 - The tramp intrudes on the acts at a struggling circus and gets a lot of laughs so he is hired. It had plenty of laughs and was a fun movie. My favorite scene was the early chase sequence.

[Rusty]

347 - Devil Pays Off (1941) - 5/10 - A disgraced naval officer is recruited by his former captain for an espionage assignment aboard a cruise ship. He heads to Havana and finds himself with two women, including the wife of the cruise line owner. There are spies and traitors and so on, but much of the plot is pretty nonsensical. There are things to enjoy here and there, but it isn't a very good film.


348 - Unfinished Business (1986) - 8/10 - This is a pretty good film about three men who defied the orders for curfew or evacuation of Japanese Americans during WWII and how the internment camps still affect their lives 40 years later. Min Yasui's family was the subject of a similar film a couple of years later.


349 - $1000 a Minute (1935) - 7/10 - Wally Jones wastes a lot of his salary and is always broke. He can't afford to finish paying off the engagement ring for his girlfriend, Dorothy. He gets involved in a bet between two millionaires and has to spend $720,000 in 12 hours. If he succeeds, he earns $10,000. If he fails, he gets nothing. Meanwhile, the police are after him because they think he was involved in a bank robbery. What follows is a decent comedy while he tries to spend the dough.


350 - The Lady Objects (1938) - 6/10 - A former All-American halfback is finding it difficult to find advancement in his career as an architect. His wife, though, is a lawyer who suddenly finds stardom within her field and starts bringing home a lot of money. He gets upset about the disparity in income and takes to nightclub singing so that he can earn more. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.


351 - The Lost Patrol (1934) - 7/10 - A British patrol in the Mesopotamian desert during WWI is lost once their officer is killed. They end up at an oasis, but are surrounded by an unseen enemy who slowly starts killing them off. John Ford directed. It was a good film.


352 - The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960) - 6/10 - Nautical was an international show jumper in the 1950s who started out as a cow pony in New Mexico. This film chronicles his life.


353 - Chasing Ice (2012) - 8/10 - An excellent documentary about photographer James Balog who spent several years photographing glaciers using time lapse photography in order to document how climate change was affecting them.

[Rusty]

354 - Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018) - 7/10 - This is an unconventional film. It is beautifully shot, but lacks a narrative structure. As such, it can be somewhat unfocused. It is a slice of life film that takes place in Alabama. There are a few people who get more attention, such as Daniel, a student starting school at Selma University to play basketball. I started losing interest around 2/3 of the way through, but still liked it overall.


355 - Zelig (1983) - 6/10 - This mock documentary stars Woody Allen as a man who came to fame in the 1920s/30s due to his unique chameleonlike ability to alter his appearance and abilities to fit in with his surroundings. Allen is inserted into a variety of archival pictures and video. There are also contemporary interviews with a variety of people. It was interesting at times.


356 - Victory Through Air Power (1943) - 7.5/10 - This Disney animated film is based on a book and is about long range strategic bombing, though they also get in a history of aviation as well. I thought it was pretty good.


357 - James and the Giant Peach (1996) - 6/10 - James' parents are killed by a rhinoceros so he has to live with two horrible aunts who mistreat him. With the aid of magic crocodile tongues and a giant peach (along with insect and arachnid friends), he sets out for New York City to fulfill a dream that he shared with his parents. It was a bit underwhelming, but okay.


358 - The Flame of New Orleans (1941) - 7.5/10 - Marlene Dietrich stars as a Countess who spawned a legend for having disappeared on her wedding day in 1840 only to have her wedding gown found in the water. The film tells her story as she is romanced by a sea captain (Bruce Cabot) and a wealthy banker (Roland Young). The movie is fun and the stars do a pretty nice job in their roles. I also liked Theresa Harris as Dietrich's maid, Clementine.


359 - Helicopter Canada (1966) - 8/10 - Created in advance of the Centennial celebration, this movie was filmed entirely from helicopters and it gives a sky view of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific, including the major cities, tourist attractions, and examples of popular Canadian activities such as skiing, fishing, dog-sledding, etc. The narration is good and there is even a cameo by the Beatles. My favorite bit was when one kid gives a two handed shove to another kid to knock them off the top of a big snow mound.


360 - Union Maids (1976) - 7.5/10 - Three women are interviewed about the working conditions they experienced in the early 1930s and the birth of the labor unions, including their roles in the C.I.O. Archival footage is interspersed with their stories to add context. It was interesting, though similar to a couple of other films that I've seen recently.

[Rusty]

361 - The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (2009) - 7.5/10 - Booth Gardner was the Governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease about a year after leaving office. In 2008, he led a campaign to get physician assisted suicide on the November ballot. This documentary does a pretty balanced job showing Gardner's reasons and campaign as well as the opposition. Gardner gets more air time since he is the primary focus, but the other side isn't neglected. Gardner's Parkinson's does become a factor during the campaign in a few ways. The documentary probably could have gone into more depth, but it is a short film of just under 40 minutes rather than a feature length film.


362 - Why Girls Leave Home (1945) - 5/10 - A young nightclub singer is fished out of the river and many people assume that it was an attempted suicide, but a newspaper reporter doesn't believe it and sets out to find the truth. This was mostly a dull and uninteresting film.


363 - The Living Desert (1953) - 8/10 - This Disney True-Life Adventure explores the life found within the deserts of the American West: Insects, birds, mammals, flowers, and more. I thought it was pretty interesting.


364 - The Vanishing Prairie (1954) - 7.5/10 - This Disney True-Life Adventure moves to the east of the Rocky Mountains to what is left of the Great Plains. The film is similar to The Living Desert, though the focus this time is on the buffalo, prairie dogs, badgers, mountain lions, and other animals that live there. There is a struggle for survival at times, but life goes on. The views inside the burrows were interesting.


365 - The Man Who Walked Alone (1945) - 7.5/10 - Dave O'Brien stars as Marion, a soldier with a medical discharge who is trying to hitch a ride into town. Kay Aldridge is the woman who nearly runs him down before giving him a ride. The two end up in jail briefly a couple of times in this romantic comedy. The little sister (Nancy June Robinson) holds her own in her scenes and is pretty funny as well. I enjoyed this B-movie quite a bit.


366 - Say Goodbye (1971) - 6/10 - This film is about wildlife conservation, though somewhat indirectly. There is some overlap with The Vanishing Prairie in terms of the animals and their behavior. There is an interesting battle between a mountain lion and a deer. They show, though, that the greatest threat to animals is man in a variety of ways. There is some good footage in here, but I didn't like the narrator at all.

[Rusty]

367 - Typhoon (1940) - 7/10 - A bad storm is sinking a ship in the Pacific so the captain puts his young daughter on a life raft to save her. 10 years later, the girl has grown up to be Dorothy Lamour and lives on an otherwise deserted island with a chimpanzee for company. She's built herself a nice little hoe with what she has scavenged from things thrown up on shore. She helps a sailor who ends up on her island and then his friend who is the victim of a mutiny. The movie is a bit nonsensical, but I thought it was fun and the special effects were pretty good. We get a big storm that sinks a ship, a forest fire, and a typhoon.


368 - Ferry Tales (2003) - 8/10 - A group of women meet every day in the women's restroom on the 8:15 Staten Island Ferry while on their way to work. Over the years, these women have formed bonds from this part of their daily routine. This film takes a peek inside and interviews the women as well. It was pretty well done.

George Grosz’ Interregnum (1960) - 7/10 - Artist George Grosz fled Germany and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1933 just before the Nazis took control. The Nazis were certainly not fans of his artwork from the previous 15-20 years which were critical of German society and showed the brutality and corruption of those in power. I'm not a big fan of his style of artwork, though it grew on me a bit. I think that the narration got somewhat tedious by the end. Overall, a decent film, though.


369 - Sing! (2001) - 8/10 - This is a very nice film about the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. They have four choirs for students from ages 6-18 and the film shows part of the audition process along with practices, performances, evaluations, and more. Students and directors are interviewed about their experiences and what the program means to them. We also get to see a small group of students rehearse with Placido Domingo prior to a performance of La Boheme, which they have roles in. Definitely an interesting film if you have any interest in children and the arts.


370 - Never Give Up: The 20th Century Odyssey of Herbert Zipper (1995) - 8/10 - Herbert Zipper was born in Vienna in 1904 and educated in an upper middle class Jewish home. He ended up in Dachau in 1938, but was released a year later so that he could join family in London. He moved to Manila, got married, led a symphony, and then was a Japanese prisoner for four months when they took over the country. After emigrating to the U.S., he worked toward promoting music education for the next five decades. This was a nice look at his life and his work that continued into his 90s.


371 - General Spanky (1936) - 6/10 - This was the only Our Gang feature length film and it was okay, though setting it during the Civil War with Spanky, Buckwheat, and Alfalfa on the Confederate side seems on odd choice that doesn't hold up well today, especially with Buckwheat looking for a master to take him as a slave. Other than that, the antics and other situations are generally mildly amusing.


372 - Scared Straight! (1978) - 7.5/10 - A group of juvenile delinquents are taken into a prison to have a 3 hour session with prisoners who are each serving 25 years or longer for armed robbery, murder, or other serious crimes in an attempt to get them onto a better path.


373 - The Battle of the Bulge…The Brave Rifles (1965) - 6/10 - This documentary looks at Germany's last big push during WWII. The footage was okay, but the narration was overmelodramatic and pretty bad.


374 - With These Hands (1950) - 4/10 - A garment worker is about to retire and he thinks back to his long career and the rise of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. He thinks of the poor conditions and steps that the union took to help the workers. Unfortunately, the scenes which don't use archival footage are generally poorly acted and seem like they are out of a bad stage play.

[Rusty]

The Witness (2008) - 8/10 - Reverend Billy Kyles was standing next to Martin Luther King on the balcony when King was assassinated in 1968. 40 years later, Kyles reminisces about that day and about his interactions with King in regard to the Civil Rights movement. Archival footage and footage of Kyles preaching about King from the pulpit is interspersed with the interviews. It is a pretty good short film.


375 - Girls' School (1938) - 7.5/10 - Anne Shirley stars as a poor girl named Natalie who is on scholarship at a ritzy boarding school for girls. As part of her scholarship, she has to do a lot of the scut work, including reporting on infractions by other girls. After accidentally spotting a popular girl (Nan Grey) coming in after being out all night, she tries to avoid reporting it because it could lead to expulsion, but has it forced out of her. This sets up a chain of bullying and misunderstandings in what I thought was a pretty good film. I liked both Shirley and Grey here. There are definitely some dated parts to the film, but also a number of things that ring true, such as the bullying. As a teacher, I was kind of annoyed at the headmistress and staff of the school, though for their fairly cavalier attitude toward the students at times.. Expulsion for one infraction just prior to graduation? That seems pretty severe to me.

[Rusty]

376 - Transatlantic (1931) - 7.5/10 - This pre-code drama takes place aboard an ocean liner where there is quite a bit of action. Monty Greer is a gambler who falls for Judy Kramer, the daughter of a lens grinder who is accompanying his daughter on a European adventure. The father has his savings in a bank that may be failing. Henry Graham is the man in charge of the bank and he is on the ship as well, along with his estranged wife (Myrna Loy) and Swedish mistress (plus some securities). There is a gun battle, a murder attempt, theft, music, dancing, and a fairly entertaining film. It picked up an Academy Award for art direction and I think it was a good choice, though an argument could be made for À nous la liberté.


377 - The Killing Ground (1979) - 7/10 - This ABC News production reports on problem areas in regard to chemical dumps, including the infamous Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, plus spots in New Jersey, Louisiana, Michigan, and elsewhere. Illegal dumping is shown to be a profitable business without much in the way of penalties if caught. The chemical dumped or buried contaminate underground water sources and led to birth defects, leukemia, and numerous other health issues. Parents, politicians, government employees, and a whistleblower are all interviewed. The governor of Louisiana comes across as pretty smarmy, which I guess isn't too surprising since he later serve six years in prison for racketeering, extortion, money laundering and other charges. This ended up being a decent documentary about a fairly serious issue that is sometimes ignored due to lack of resources or financial gain.


378 - El Salvador: Another Vietnam (1981) - 7/10 - The idea proposed here is that U.S. aid to El Salvador in terms of money and weapons under the pretext of battling communism could lead to a situation similar to what happened in Vietnam. I don't think that they really make that case very well, but instead make a different case. The government forces murdered many people, sometimes seemingly at random, disrupted life for many of the poor people of the country, and led many people to join the opposition. The U.S. flow of money and aid was only interrupted when four American nuns were kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Even then, the flow of money resumed shortly thereafter with the establishment of a new junta. The documentary shows a number of abuses by the government forces, interviews relatives of victims, and also interviews some of the rebels who think of themselves as freedom fighters. Even the murder of a Catholic bishop while saying mass didn't seem to change anything. This film, along with others like The Panama Deception the short film School of the Americas Assassins paint a pretty bad picture of U.S. involvement in Latin America during the 1970s/80s which included training soldiers who served as death squads. The Salvadoran Civil War lasted until 1992.

[Rusty]

379 - The Race for Space (1959) - 7.5/10 - Mike Wallace hosted this entertaining documentary about the development of the U.S. space program. It starts with the first Sputnik launch and then backtracks to discuss Robert Goddard and his experiments. Goddard's wife is interviewed and footage of some of the experiments is shown. The German V-2 rocketry program is looked at with footage from Germany included. The U.S. program got a boost with the capture of German scientists and leftover V-2 materials. It was interesting to see Soviet footage from their experiments, including dogs in space. Wallace did a nice job narrating and hosting the film, though it felt more like a highlights reel rather than an in-depth study. It was entertaining and likely used to try and increase interest among the U.S. populace for investment in space research, but it also wasn't very deep.


380 - Aloma of the South Seas (1941) - 5/10 - When she was a young girl, Aloma was chosen by the chief on a tropical island as the one who would marry the chief's son when they were adults. The son, Tanoa, is then sent away to the United States to be educated. When he returns 15 years later, he falls for the adult Aloma (Dorothy Lamour), though a rival wants to keep them apart. This movie seems basically to be another excuse to use Lamour in a tropical setting. It features nice technicolor and is short fairly well, but the story is pretty simple and not all that interesting. The special effects shots of a nearby volcano erupting aren't particularly convincing. Rivo, the villain of the picture, is pretty much one dimensional. The movie is watchable, but isn't really very good.


381 - The Great American Cowboy (1973) - 7.5/10 - Joel McCrea narrates this look at the rodeo and the men who compete in it. There is plenty of time devoted to bucking bulls and horses, though time is also given to steer wrestling, bareback riding, and rodeos for kids. Two of the cowboys (Phil Lyne and Larry Mahan) were a bit better than the others and they were competitive for the top earner spot. Animals that perform well become known on the circuit and one such bull (Oscar) draws a cowboy from Mexico to the rodeo to get a chance at riding him. The lives of the cowboys aren't too glamorous as they spend a lot of time on the road traveling from one event to another. Injuries among the cowboys and the rodeo clowns are common as they get kicked or animals fall on them or some other injury. The camera angles used were pretty effective, even giving the occasional view from the saddle. I'm not a rodeo fan, but I did find this interesting. I liked the 101 year old cowboy that they interviewed who talked about how it was different in the old days. This is a pretty good look at a sport that isn't exactly mainstream, but does have quite a few followers. There's a lot more to it than what is portrayed here, but you get a peek inside at least.


382 - Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (1995) - 8/10 - A nice biopic about the life of Hank Aaron that follows his life from childhood through passing Babe Ruth's all time home run record and beyond. This had a nice mix of narration, contemporary interviews, archival footage, and re-creations using actors. Aaron certainly had to go through quite a bit over the course of his career with overt and covert racism in many places plus death threats and hate mail for his pursuit of Ruth. He was definitely one of the all time greats in baseball.


383 - Down and Out in America (1986) - 7.5/10 - This documentary looks at three situations that may seem unrelated on the surface, but do have things that connect them. The first situation was the plight of farmers, especially in the midwest. At the time, the country was losing farms at a high rate. Farmers were going into debt because costs were rising quickly and the money they got for their food was stable or even decreasing. The banks seemed more interested in getting the land than in helping the farmers. There are a number of similarities to the later film Troublesome Creek. My dad grew up on a farm and my uncle was a farmer and brickmason so I have some familiarity with their plight. Fortunately for my family, they didn't run into the debt problems that many farmers faced. The second segment looked briefly at factory workers and management who lost their jobs due to factories moving their production elsewhere, to other countries in many cases. The people that remain had a hard time surviving on minimum wage. The third segment looked at the homeless, including those who were displaced from their apartments in New York City due to fire and essentially forced to live in welfare hotels with little hope for getting out of the cycle. The film paints a pretty bleak picture of sections of society in the 1980s. I know that problems persist to this day, but it was a bad time for many.


384 - Soldiers in Hiding (1984) - 7/10 - Six Vietnam veterans are profiled here. Each of them came home from the war deeply affected by their experiences such that they are unable to function fully around a lot of other people. Most of them seek solace in remote areas where they live off the land. This costs some of them their family, but a couple of the wives stick with their husband, giving them room to be alone when they need it. It's not a pretty picture that they are still so deeply affected 15 or more years after their service. While these profiles are interesting, I don't think that we can use it to paint all Vietnam vets. There have likely been veterans from all wars who came back mentally scarred from their experiences, but with television it comes out more into the open. Also, I suspect that earlier generations may have felt some pressure from society to keep it to themselves and deal with it in private.

[Rusty]

385 - Portia on Trial (1937) - 7/10 - Portia Merryman is a successful defense attorney who ends up taking the case of Elizabeth Manners who is on trial for the murder of the wealthy Earle Condon. Portia knows what Elizabeth is going through since she was in a similar position 17 years earlier when she had Earle Condon's illegitimate son, only to have the son taken away by Earle's powerful father. I thought this was a pretty entertaining film. Sure, a number of corners were cut in the courtroom scene, but it was still fairly effective. It's too bad that the only available copy at the moment is one that had around 18 minutes cut for television. I think that much of that was likely early in the film when her son is injured and then is suddenly well again shortly thereafter.

[Rusty]

386 - Adam Clayton Powell (1989) - 7.5/10 - Adam Clayton Powell was a reverend in Harlem who was in early leader in the Civil Rights Movement and represented his community in Congress for many years. He was a good speaker and had a flamboyant manner. He was very influential until the mid-1960s when his womanizing, financial irregularities, and absenteeism caught up with him, tarnishing his reputation. He was still popular with his constituents, but had many detractors. I'll admit that I wasn't familiar with Powell before watching the film, though he seems like a pretty important figure. His lifestyle, especially later in life, was certainly a contrast to Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders.


387 - The California Reich (1975) - 7/10 - The four California units of the American Nazi party are profiled here through interviews and film of them in 'action'. Their numbers are pretty small and in general they seem kind of pathetic, definitely not the image you might have when thinking of Nazis. There are certainly other groups that have cropped up since then who seem more like what one might expect of Nazis, but these seem like a social group for misfits. The indoctrination of the young with racist attitude is sad, but overall these groups appear to have very minimal real impact.


388 - A Time for Burning (1967) - 7.5/10 - The minister of a white Lutheran church in Omaha, Nebraska tries to get his congregation to embrace the idea of interracial visits between their church and a black church from the north side of Omaha. He meets with members of the black church and community along with those in leadership positions of his own church, but finds quite a bit of resistance to the idea within his own congregation. The film is pretty interesting for the frank discussions and also for the pointed questions that are sometimes asked. Ernie Chambers is a black barber who is an important figure in the film. Chambers later went on to serve as a state senator for 46 years representing the north side of Omaha. There is no narration in the film with the discussions getting the story across. It is a pretty good film that gets the sad truth across that many white Christians were not ready or willing to cross the color barrier to get to know members of the black churches.


389 - Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann (1992) - 7/10 - Bernard Herrmann was the conductor of the CBS Symphony Orchestra in the 1930s when he moved to Hollywood at the urging of Orson Welles. He then worked in Hollywood as a composer and conductor for the next 35 years until his death. He started with Citizen Kane and ended with Taxi Driver, working on many Hitchcock films in between, including Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, and others. He had a definite talent for composition, but would rather have been a symphony conductor. The effect of music on motion pictures is pretty evident here and they even show a couple of scenes with and without music to illustrate this. It was a pretty interesting film.


390 - The Ten-Year Lunch: The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table (1987) - 7/10 - During the 1920s, a group of friends (mostly journalists and writers) met for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. They became fairly well known and each shared a sharp wit. Members included Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, Edna Ferber, Harpo Marx, George Kaufman, and others. One thing that came out of this group was The New Yorker magazine. They also spent time together away from the lunch table, but eventually drifted apart at the end of the 1920s, some to Hollywood. The film is narrated by the son of two members and also features interviews with the last surviving member (Marc Connelly) as well as others associated with the group. I thought it was a nice film and I enjoyed the quips and anecdotes shared throughout. There is also archival footage and photographs.


391 - High Society (1955) - 5/10 - This Bowery Boys picture was mistaken for the better known movie of the same name that came out in 1956 and temporarily received an Academy Award nomination. Slip and Sach run a garage in New York City when Sach innocently becomes part of a plot to steal part of an inheritance. I didn't like the first part of the picture at all, but it got a bit better after that. They made a ton of these Bowery Boys films, but this was the first (and probably last) in the series for me. I did like Dead End quite a bit which also had Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall and was the first film featuring the Dead End Kids who eventually morphed into the Bowery Boys.

[Rusty]

392 - Chile: Hasta Cuando? (1986) - 7.5/10 - An Australian film crew went to Chile in 1985 under the pretense of doing a story on music. They really wanted to document the brutality and crimes of the Pinochet regime. Pinochet took over Chile in a U.S. backed coup in 1973 and during his time in power, thousands of people went missing and even more were arrested and sometimes tortured. Economic inequality increased dramatically during his reign and unemployment was rampant in certain sectors. The people try to unite, but protests are squelched with water cannons, tear gas, and bullets.


393 - Unchained (1955) - 7/10 - Steve Davitt is sent to an experimental prison in Chino, California where the cells aren't locked and there are no armed guards. They can also wear the clothes that they want and have visitors on Sundays. The Superintendent of the prison believes that prisoners are people and wants to treat them as such in hopes of rehabilitating them rather than punishing them. The movie is based on the non-fiction book by Kenyon Scudder and is based on his real experiences at Chino as Superintendent (aka warden). The acting of Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch as Davitt left something to be desired, but the supporting cast was mostly okay. The plot is a bit pedestrian, but I still enjoyed it.

[Rusty]

394 - Children of Darkness (1983) - 7.5/10 - This documentary looks at a few teenagers with mental illness or other issues such as drinking or antisocial behavior along with some of the facilities that 'treat' them. Of the places that were shown, it seems that the facilities were generally understaffed and many of the residents underwent various forms of abuse in the name of treatment. At one place, there was even a boxing ring where students would be made to beat each other. Injecting lots of drugs to medicate residents and the use of restraints also seemed common. One facility called South Beach had over 60 deaths in a year and a half and there didn't seem to be any serious repercussions. This is a sickening look at mental health care among juveniles and I doubt if it got much better for those who moved on to adult facilities. One employee defended their practices in the name of trying to keep kids out of jail which would be much worse, but it seems a dubious argument at best.


395 - High Grass Circus (1976) - 7/10 - The Royal Bros. Circus operated in Canada in the 1970s. They would travel from small town to small town throughout the season with over 100 shows. It was a pretty small outfit and some of the young workers that they hired would occasionally grab their belongings and leave during the night. The crowds seemed to enjoy the entertainment. The film shows some of the performances along with the work involved in setting up the show and moving from town to town. I don't think that the show could have been very profitable, but it provided a living for people, entertainment for the customers, and allowed the seasonal workers to travel across the country.


396 - Promises to Keep (1988) - 7.5/10 - Community for Creative Non-Violence is an organization in Washington, D.C. that worked for several years in the mid-80s to get a homeless shelter renovated by the government and kept open. The government donated the empty building, but refused to provide funds to fix it up. They later agreed, but reneged on the deal, instead trying to bus residents to a more distant facility. The leader of CCNV was Mitch Snyder and he went on a hunger strike at one point to get the funding and this nearly killed him. The plight of the homeless is definitely serious and it doesn't look to have changed much in the 30+ years since the film was made. I can see where Snyder might rub some people the wrong way, but he was persistent and seemed to genuinely care about the people that he tried to help.


397 - The Profession of Arms (1983) - 8/10 - Gwynne Dyer hosts this look at what it takes to be a soldier. There is a brief segment on the history of warfare followed by interviews with officers (and a few enlisted) from U.S., Canadian, Soviet, and Israeli armed forces. Video of training exercises and archival footage is also mixed in. I thought it was a pretty good look at decisions that some of the leaders need to make and how different people approach having to possibly kill enemy soldiers.


398 - Isaac in America: A Journey with Isaac Bashevis Singer (1986) - 7/10 - Singer recounts some tales from his life and visits Coney Island where he lived when he first came to the United States. He is also shown answering questions from an audience and receiving an award from the King of Sweden. Singer seems to have a decent sense of humor. I've never read any of his stories, but the name was certainly familiar. The documentary wasn't bad.


399 - Kon-Tiki (1950) - 8/10 - This film features narration coupled with film and photographs from the 1947 Thor Heyerdahl expedition where he tried to show that it was possible for residents of South America to have reached Polynesia by raft 1500 years ago. He and his crew build a large raft from balsa wood and set out on a 100+ day voyage across the Pacific Ocean. The film from the trip is very interesting and the narration doesn't get boring at all as it explains what is going on in the film. Very entertaining.


400 - Fighting for Our Lives (1975) - 8/10 - In April 1973, the contract for grape workers in California expired. The growers brought in the Teamsters and the workers went on a non-violent strike, wanting a United Farm Workers contract. There were numerous acts of intimidation and violence by Teamsters against strikers and their families. The growers also brought in police and they arrested thousands of strikers over the next few months and also committed acts of brutality against them. Cesar Chavez was one of the faces of the strike which also spread to lettuce workers. The film does a good job documenting the strike and the troubles that they faced.


401 - A Great Day in Harlem (1994) - 7.5/10 - In 1958, photographer Art Kane arranged to gather as many jazz musicians as he could on one particular day in Harlem so that he could get a group photograph. Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins, and many others gathered there. Kane had some difficulty getting the musicians arranged because they wanted to visit with their friends, many of whom they hadn't seen in a while. Eventually it came together in a very memorable photo filled with tons of musical talent. This documentary features interviews with Kane and surviving musicians from that day as they reminisce about some of the others who were there. Mixed in are home movies taken by bass player Milt Hinton and his wife at the photo shoot and archival footage of the musicians being discussed in action. It makes for a pretty laid back and entertaining film.


402 - Before the Mountain was Moved (1970) - 7.5/10 - Strip mining for coal in Raleigh County, West Virginia was destroying the landscape, polluting water sources, and causing landslides. One landslide buried a family's car up to the top of the trunk and along the side of the house. A group of residents meet at the local church to discuss the matter with the help of an organizer. Some residents are afraid to participate because they live in company homes or because one of them works for the coal company. The residents go to the State Capitol and speak before the Senate about the issue and then return home. A strip mining bill was under consideration at the time so their testimony could have had an impact. This was a good environmental film, though I wonder what changes were made after the law was passed.

[Rusty]

403 - Desert Victory (1943) - 7/10 - This film examines the North Africa campaign fought by the British and their allies against Rommel and his German army. There is some captured footage included along with re-enactments and plenty of combat footage. The narration is informative, though a bit dry. It was a decent enough film for wartime, though I thought it got a bit repetitive at times.


404 - After the Axe (1982) - 8/10 - This Canadian drama (a fictional documentary) shows what happens to an executive in a large company after he is fired. Since he had been with the company for a long time and to avoid problems, the company pays his salary for a year and also pays for relocation training to help him find a new job. The people at that company and the executives he meets later are all real, but the man and the company he worked for were fictional. I think that the movie does a good job showing what these 40-something executives might go through and how they likely need to realign their thinking to move on with their career.

[Rusty]

405 - The Cry of Reason - Beyers Naude: An Afrikaner Speaks Out (1988) - 7.5/10 - Beyers Naude was a white South African cleric who started speaking out against apart apartheid in the early 1960s. It caused him to separate from his church and start his own institute. He was harassed by the South African government and banned for seven years. He is interviewed here along with Desmond Tutu and many others about his work and his relationship with the black population. Archival footage is also mixed in and it all makes for a pretty good film.


406 - Doing Time: Life Inside the Big House (1991) - 6/10 - This HBO film had the filmmakers visit Lewisburg Penitentiary in Pennsylvania where they interviewed guards, the warden, and prisoners to discover what their lives were like inside the prison. They also discussed with a few of the prisoners what led them to be in prison and what problems they currently had. I thought that the film was interesting at times, but didn't find myself fully engaged at others. Overall, it was okay.


407 - He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin' (1983) - 7.5/10 - Jacques d"Amboise was the principal dancer for the New York City Ballet for many years. He started the National Dance Institute in 1976 to bring dance into New York City schools so that students could meet once each week with professional dancers and learn modern dance. Exceptional students were invited to join his 'Swat Team' and rehearse at Lincoln Center on Saturday mornings. At the end of the year they put on a big performance to show off the various routines that they learned, woven together into a story. This was a nice film and the kids seemed to be having a great time, even though it was hard work. d'Amboise is demanding, but generally in a nice way, taking the time to work with the kids, and they speak highly of him in the film.


408 - Let My People Go (1965) - 7.5/10 - This film looks at events that led to the founding of the State of Israel, mostly from the beginning of the 20th Century through 1949. The founding of Tel Aviv, the British Mandate, Jewish Ghettos in Poland and elsewhere, concentration camps, etc. are all covered. Immigration to Palestine was limited even after WWII ended so that many Jews were kept in camps on Cyprus if they were caught trying to enter illegally. The footage was well chosen and the narration was good, though I felt that the history was sort of superficial. There was a lot to cram into a one hour documentary.


409 - The Anderson Platoon (1967) - 7/10 - A French film crew was embedded with an American platoon in Vietnam for six weeks. This film shows what their lives are like during that time. There is combat, but there is also time to relax, eat dinner, bathe in the river, go on leave in a big city, and interact with locals. The narration is sometimes sparse as it often lets the film speak for itself. A number of the platoon members are wounded or killed during the course of the film. I found it to be an interesting look at some of the things soldiers in Vietnam had to deal with.


410 - Wolves and the Wolf Men (1969) - 7/10 - Wolves are shown (and studied) in the wild. Some of them are captured, equipped with radio collars, and released so that researchers can study their movements. Wolves are also raised in captivity so that researchers can become close with them and study their social behaviors. In some areas, wolves were still being hunted to extinction and populations were somewhat threatened. I thought the film did a nice job showing the wolves that were raised in captivity and how they interacted with humans and each other. Their behaviors were also explained by the narrator or the scientists involved.


411 - The Fighting Lady (1944) - 7.5/10 - The USS Yorktown is an aircraft carrier that was commissioned in 1943. This film takes place from July 1943-June 1944 and shows it traveling through the Panama Canal, undergoing sea exercises, and battling Japanese forces in various parts of the Pacific. We get to see plenty of action using gunport cameras and activity aboard the carrier with planes landing, sometimes too damaged to land properly. We also get to see aspects of everyday life aboard ship - writing or reading letters, playing cards, getting some sun on the deck, eating meals, getting mission briefings, etc. It is in technicolor and I think that this really adds to the film. The Yorktown is now a museum ship in South Carolina and I visited it a couple of years ago. It is a big ship and it was interesting to tour it.


412 - On the Bowery (1956) - 5/10 - Ray is new to the Bowery, a place full of people who are down and out, making very little money and often spending what they do have on alcohol. Ray is taken advantage of by one of the residents that he thinks of as a friend, though Ray doesn't realize it. When he is sober, Ray swears to stay off drink and try to better himself, but the call of drink is too much to resist. I didn't really care for this film very much. It didn't really work for me, though it seems fairly popular to others.