Covid Classics: With Malice Toward None; With Charity For All
Speeches like the one America’s greatest President gave above swell with pride and optimism. Charismatic figures don’t come around that often, but when they do, the great ones generate one feeling above all: Inspiration. And you can’t spell Inspiration without: the plots of these 6 films below.
Kingo Gondo worked though years of pain up to the top of a shoe company. But that type of power and status attracts enemies who might, say, kidnap a kid and demand some sort of train exchange, leading to many nights of aspirin for Kingo and the police as they try to track to down the perpetrators.
Why It’s Good
For the loyal readers at this site, it will come as no surprise that an Akira Kurosawa film ends up with high marks. The gifted director uses inspiration in twisted ways here, showcasing the side effects of someone with power and influence, and how much pain and suffering they endure to try to do the right thing. Conversely, through the detailed but exhilarating police investigation, we get the opposite side of inspiration: someone with nothing driven mad by the prospect of trying to make something of themselves. Using a by the numbers police procedural Kurosawa finds the deep pathos of life at the top and bottom, a testament to his prodigious skills.
Using Pi, Cosine, Ratios, and other math terms, Jaime Escalante teaches inner city high school kids to soar to new heights. Oh, and simply, the letter R is the 18th letter of the alphabet, exactly the number of students pass the AP Calc exam in the movie.
Why It’s Good
Edward James Olmos’s Jaime Escalante, a beacon that you hope all students craving to learn flock to. The student storylines are pretty standard fare, so it is up to Olmos to carry the film with his antics in the classroom to engage his kids and teach them the power of education. Because of Olmos, math is exciting, and leads to compelling drama, a feat so rare school administrators can’t believe how good Jaime is at teaching his kids to make something of themselves.
Dealing with a sprain, nerves, and other ailments, Alex Hannold tries to be the first to climb 3,000 up in the air, to get atop El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
Why It’s Good
Perfection is the goal of any artist. The only thing different is the canvas. Free soloing, the art of rock climbing without harnesses, is Alex’s canvas. The movie digs deep into what makes Alex the best at what he does: a meticulous attention to detail, physical and mental gifts, and until recently, a life devoted to his art. Half of the movie is about Alex’s struggle to obviously climb El Capitan, but equally compelling is Alex trying to share his life with others, and how foreign that concept is to him, and how he adjusts to a life filled with more love and more compromise.
Prost! After a drunk driving arrest, former QB Paul Crewe is sent to prison, where the warden makes him take convicts who’ve never played the sport to gear them up to play the guards’ semi professional team. It’s cops vs. convicts!
Why It’s Good
Most of Gen Z and the Millennials are only familiar with the Adam Sandler comedy version of the story, with Burt Reynolds playing the old Nate Scarborough. The 1974 version makes the movie more befitting the theme for that decade: a rebellion against the sinister powers that be, with Reynolds playing Paul Crewe. Charming and athletic, Reynolds fits the part of a damaged QB who can rise to the occasion. The football scenes are shot like a professional game tape, with someone really thinking through plays, and how a game of football looks in real life.
A fan of most types of sin, Humphrey Bogart becomes enamored with Gloria Grahame while also being a part of a murder investigation, wooing her with his pianist skills to get over his writer’s block to print his next story.
Why It’s Good
Nicholas Ray’s thriller is brilliant in how it twists the film noir on its head. Bogart and Grahame are both excellent, initially playing the femme fatale and lead. However, the story goes in strange directions, leading to a climax that is completely surprising when you consider the movie starts with a murder investigation. Ray shows the dark side of toxic masculinity, as Bogart becomes more and more enabled as Grahame helps him shed his writer’s block, which helps keep the story interesting and fresh.
God anoints Andrei Rublev, Russian paint icon extraordinaire, with the true gift to make something beautiful. Through an epic life, Rublev’s spirit is tested and affirmed in different ways, as temptations and horrors abound in humanity.
Why It’s Good
To believe, or not to believe. This is the driving force of Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece. Anatoliy Solonitsyn is excellent playing the larger than life religious painter from his pious upbringing to his exhaustive journey through the human condition. Inside of this film are amazing discussions about the right way to live, the consequences of living a selfish life, and the struggles of a true artist. Tarkovsky’s finds a perfect match of storytelling and theme, finding new angles to discuss and stories to tell inside his magnum opus. You’ll be exhausted, but you’ll also feel exhilarated at everything Tarkovsky and Solonitsyn show you about human beings and the lives they lead.
