Recommendations: Cal (PvtCaboose91)

"I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or from the air, and I plan on doing both before the war is over."

The Great Escape (1963)

Director: John Sturges
Country: United States of America
Genre: Action / Adventure / Drama / Thriller / War
Length: 172 minutes



World War II has been subject to multiple cinematic interpretations around the world and the one applied by John Sturges in The Great Escape is truly one of a kind. With the right amount of the brutality that WWII films have always portrayed, either graphically or psychologically, and stylish humor, The Great Escape is a classic adventure masterpiece rich in character, not to mention the director's best achievement. Moreover, it is the vivid and epic representation of the glory that adventure films had back in the 60's, effectively becoming an action film with exciting moments that guarantee three hours of massive and unparalleled entertainment disguised with cinematic brilliance.

The film is based on a true account of one of the most ambitious and complicated escape attempts from a German POW camp during the Second World War, equally focusing on both the constant and non-stop escape efforts by the Allied prisoners through the building of a long, underground tunnel and the exhaustive search by the German Gestapo of the ones that actually managed to escape from Stalag Luft North. The film received an Amademy Award nomination for Best Film Editing, losing it against How the West Was Won (1962).

John Sturges' approach to the Second World War is effectively enough to provide to the audience what the cast and the premise promised since the beginning. Being basically divided into two episodes, The Great Escape may be one of the greatest fictionalized war stories ever put to the big screen for several reasons. The technical aspects of the film cannot be left unnoticed. Its pace allows to provide a vast amount of different characters with various respective backgrounds and psychological characteristics, thus leaving room for enough character development for making the spectator to care for each and every one of them. That is the way the film opens and firstly develops. Consequently, The Great Escape proceeds with the controversial and daring discussion of the nearly-impossible and extremely ambitious escape attempt of 250 men, including the construction of the tunnel.

The escape attempt is easily one of the most thrilling and memorable sequences ever created. From this moment on, the film's length is no longer felt and the editing and the sound are the obvious highlights, besides a remarkable camera work. The glorious days of old Hollywood never lacked an entertainment factor, so one of the greatest motorcycle chases of cinema history was a rather important scene not to be ommited where a well-shot cinematography can be fully appreciated, a motorcycle ridden by Steve McQueen. His character may not be so different from the male-centered characters he usually portrays, appearing this time as a hilarious mix of the kid that never learns to stop trying to escape from the POW camp and a man whose commitment and so-ridiculous-that-they-may-actually-work ideas encouraged the rest of the Allied prisoners to become involved in the overall escape process.

An inevitable, yet necessary war realism is a present characteristic in the film, which is exactly the reason that justifies the movie's conclusion. However, thanks to the empathy of the wide cast and the development of the events, one as a viewer is decently forced to accept the upcoming consequences, sequences that slowly start to construct a brutal ending. Inspirational scenes and one-liners make up for the aforementioned details, making of The Great Escape the best US feature film of 1963, undoubtedly.

As a mixed bag of genres, it is a unique film to watch. As a real-life account put into film, it is a masterpiece. As an action/adventure film, it is an exciting and brilliant experience. A rare film that is success from wherever one may see it, The Great Escape is a film of noticeable power and predominant hope and inspiration, and a daring and somewhat patriotic, yet realistic version of the German POWs during World War II, being arguably the second best prison-escape film ever directed and an American homage to Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion (1937).

93/100

"Dreyfus once wrote from Devil's Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls... For me they will always be - *glorious* birds."

Harold and Maude (1971)

Director: Hal Ashby
Country: United States of America
Genre: Comedy / Romance
Length: 91 minutes



Calling Harold and Maude one of the most inspiring films of American history is a rather subjective statement. A fact is that Harold and Maude is a very throught-provoking classic with that enchanting and magical cinematographic touch of the 70's with a heavy dose of dark humor. Ultimately, it challenges what a person could see in the screen as a lover couple. Its oddity is an immediate factor, yet it is so masterfully handled that the thematic material ends up being inspiring rather than purely dark and depressing.

Harold is a wealthy young man with a not-so-strange peculiar characteristic: he's obsessed with death. He spends his leisure time simulating suicides trying to get the attention of his indifferent and self-centered mother and attending funerals and the demolishing of buildings, among other activities. His obsession has driven her mother mad and his lame psychologist puzzled. Harold finally meets Maude at a funeral, an optimistic and wise, yet extraordinarily odd old woman. Both develop a strong relationship and Maude teaches Harold a new perspective towards life itself.

Naturally, the outcome is obvious: opposites attract. But what makes this film so brilliant and original is the director's genius approach towards such a delicate theme and the way it is beautifully orchestrated with a strong dark humor and undeniable cinematic beauty. The screenplay allowed Hal Ashby to create and slowly develop both of the main characters and accomplish a much stronger final result. The pace of the film, its simplicity and its length are erased from all preconception of time and makes Harold and Maude feel longer than it really is, thus making it a very special gem.

Harold is a memorable character. The death obsession he has is a very delicate psychological feature, but his hilarious attempts of suicide and violence-related acts arise a new kind of unusual comedy, effective by itself. However, Maude is an extremely hard, yet interesting character to analyze. Her view towards life is one of a kind: it is a game, a beautiful challenge full of surprises and unexpected outcomes. Life is not an event to be won, but to be lived and contemplated at its fullest form. The chemistry between two masterly outlined characters detonates an emotional bomb of both hilarity and strong, emotional sensations.

Since Harold meets Maude, the second chapter of the film begins, thus separating it from the first, which has a grandiose and brilliantly filmed opening that isn't shy from showing a possibly disturbing scene that had the purpose of introducing the character without any unnecessary redundance. The film does not deviate from any nature it possesses; consequently, it has really important life lessons. The perpective that the film Harold and Maude offers clearly states to its audience that life is not a greek tragedy, at the same time explaining that life shouldn't be precisely lived as Maude does. She's just the visual motor that, at the end, becomes the protagonist of a parable. The performances are, obviously, extraordinary, especially the one by Ruth Gordon.

The film is brilliant in every single aspect and easily would belong to a list of the best films of 1971. It is a captivating and audacious drama that may arise several deep questions into the mind of the viewer, and move his/her heart until the final sequence and ending shot. As a positive message towards life itself, it wonderfully works; as an American classic film, it succeeds in every single basic aspect that a masterpiece may require.

89/100

OK... This movie is exclusively for Stallone and Rocky fans, I get it. Even so, my curiosity motivated me to try to find out where the hell so much praise and love towards Rocky Balboa came from. I have still no clue, so I'll blame the conservatism of the American nation AND the size that the character of Rocky has acquired as a cinema icon. The film is shit, indeed. Fails to inspire and tried way too hard to reach the brilliance of the first Rocky. It is ashaming.

50/100

Its predominant simplicity makes it a very special modern gem with a solid screenplay and an "anti-Hollywood" ending. This suddenly felt like a porn film: you no longer care about the plot, but you keep waiting for the song scenes to start. That means it has a beautiful soundtrack. The setting of Once is astonishing, and its overall premise proves that no big budgets are required for making decent films.

76/100