Reviews (10)

A Flawed, if Unflinching Look at Genocide in the U.S. West
With its stark re-creation of the massacre of Native Americans at the hands of a volunteer U.S. Army during the American Civil War, it's no surprise that "Soldier Blue" has been largely buried by cable and broadcast TV. When a local station was brave enough to air it--uncensored, no less--years ago, I was stunned at the depiction not only of sadistic violence, but overt racism and genocide that most westerns have chosen to whitewash or ignore to avoid offending mainstream audiences. That said, it's not easy to watch "Soldier Blue" without recoiling at the visciousness of so-called civilized people who defended their actions by labelling everyone else "savages." Peter Strauss plays a wayward cavalry soldier who teams up with a frontier-savvy immigrant (Candice Bergen) on the eve of a brutal attack by the army (based loosely on Chivington's massacre of the Cheyenne at Sand Creek) He quickly comes to realize who the real savages are but is nonetheless powerless to prevent the gleeful slaughter that includes rape and dismemberment. "Soldier Blue" may remind viewers of "Little Big Man" and "Dances with Wolves"--and there are striking similarities--but despite their higher production values, neither film seems to capture the sheer venom of actions and attitudes against Native Americans. (The film itself stops short of depicting the full range of brutality.) Still, "Soldier Blue" is far from a perfect film--the acting at times is over-the-top and the parallels to the Viet Nam War (think: My Lai Massacre) detract from the film's focus. Watch it not as great cinema but as a glimpse of an American West we usually don't get to see.

How the West was really won
Soldier Blue was made as a biting allegory of the Vietnam war. It divided critics at the time of its' release and indeed, continues to do so. It is extremely brutal but not gratuitously so. The appalling acts depicted are shown from the point of view that this actually happened, as opposed to well lets give the audience some gore. People seeing the film tend to be shocked from the former point of view as opposed to the latter.

The film opens deceptively with a Cheyenne massacre of a US Cavalry troop guarding a pay chest. The survivors of the massacre are one naive boy soldier and a savvy, young frontier woman, played superbly by Peter Strauss, and Candice Bergen respectively. Their adventures and subsequent romance are then chronicled. Along the way they encounter Donald Pleasance's superbly sinister arms smuggler. The film's climax is a savage massacre of a Cheyenne village by the US Army - based on the real life events at Sand Creek, Colorado. In an orgy of blood lust, women and children are slaughtered and body parts are taken as trophies. By this time the film has swung 180 degrees from its' opening and has established the root cause of the suffering which is the white man's treatment of the native american. During all this, Strauss' character has changed from naive volunteer soldier to conscientious objector while the character of Candice Bergen remains the hope of reconciliation and co-existence.

The film is brutally honest and makes its' point more effectively than other bigger budget films of the same genre eg. Dances With Wolves. Sadly the film is not readily available in the USA. I would strongly urge MGM who now own the rights to re release the film on dvd, preferably in its' completely uncut version(The film is available on vhs only here in the UK but it is the cut version). In the current climate where Fahrenheit 9/11 is generating massive interest in the US, the re release of a brutally honest recreation of a bloody piece of American history would be timely and well received. In the meantime, if you can get a copy, I strongly urge people to see this film and form their own conclusions.

Not Very Good Then (1970); Not Very Good Now!
The Sand Creek Massacre portrayed in the worst Hollywood exploitive fashion! Stupid obligatory Hollywood love story mixed with a poorly produced Sam Peckinpah-like bloodletting. Add a decapitation of a squaw-dummy holding her doll-papoose; simulated rape of a curvaceous nude Indian maiden; a young Cheyenne boy's head exploding a-la the Zapruder-Kennedy assasination film and a young soldier (Strauss) asking, "Why? Why?". Good question: "Why make such a movie?" I can't help but recall that BOTH sides in the Indian Wars perpetrated atrocities with equal ferocity. By the end of this film you learn nothing new. "Soldier Blue" has developed a cult following for reasons probably based upon the simulated sex, blood and gore. It will only satisfy a cultist video-phile!

Roy's Music
I happen to be in the studio when Roy Budd (my brother) did the score for this movie. I thought then and still do that it is some of the best music he had written. The released version of "Soldier Blue" was heavily edited, due to the content of the ending. There were many musicians in the studio that were visibly upset with the violence, and Roy actually apologized for it enough though he had no part of the actual filming of the film. I saw the the uncut version, and it was very violent at that time. Now days it would be acceptible. Apart from the overacting of Candice Bergen it still stands up to scrutiny.

A Minor Masterpiece Of 'Radicalization'...
Ralph Nelson, the director, began in television and much of "Soldier Blue" has a tv quality, e. g., the tight focus on the two leads, the adequate but relatively modest production values, even the annoying musical score that seeks to lead the viewer into a "certified" emotional response.

That said, the film is quite striking nevertheless: the performances by Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss are probably the most memorable of their careers, with Bergen a delight as the profane, independent young woman. The characterizations actually reverse the expectations of the helpless lady from the East (Bergen's "Chresta Marybelle Lee" is from New York City but she is no "lady") and the trail-wise cavalryman (Strauss, also in a very fine performance, is naive, rather prissy and only accidentally adequate as a frontiersman) in that it is Bergen who understands the environment, evinces the most courage and Western savvy, and who is the most powerful voice of sanity and humane conscience -- despite her seeming "utilitarian" philosophy.

The final section of the film is of course the most controversial but it is really (especially in the edited version) only a truncated look at the historical atrocity of the Sand Creek Massacre (only one among many by the way, and unfortunately not unusual), upon which it is based. With its contemporary, Arthur Penn's more artistically accomplished "Little Big Man," "Soldier Blue" has attempted to show what the conventional celebrations of American military conquest rarely reveal, namely its base in racism, crude jingoism and gross brutality. The final scene of the braver-and-wiser (now "radicalized") "Honus Gant" (Strauss), chained behind a cargo wagon as a "traitor" (a charge with which he had formerly accused "Chresta"), while a deerskin-clothed Bergen, now moving off with the remnant of Cheyenne survivors, beams at him through tear-streaming eyes is reminiscent of the moving last meeting between Kirk Douglas as "Spartacus," crucified at a Roman gate, and Jean Simmons as his wife "Varinia," defiantly revealing to him their baby son who will now live in freedom in that 1960 epic.

This movie, most will say I think, could have been better; yet it is, despite so many flaws, a true "minor masterpiece": it has something worthwhile to say and says it so that you will always remember. The lead actors (Donald Pleasence is also -- as always -- remarkable as a "prairie scum" worthy of the legendary Strother Martin and L. Q. Jones) create characters with strong human qualities, good and bad; you will like the two leads, identify with them, and I hope, become "better" as they become better in their understanding and their courage to dissent against unjust war. ... Read more

Reviews (73)

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 2 KA
Rod Serling was a very odd person. He went to school to become a P.E. Teacher and ended up wrighting over one hundred stories for T.V. One of these stories is Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. This story, as you've probably guessed, takes place on Maple Street. The characters Charlie, the annoying, smart-mouthed neighbor, and Steve, the actually intelligent neighbor, are two of the lead characters in the story. I think that if Charlie had only listened to Steve a lot of bad things wouldn't have happened.
I don't think this story was very realistic. In a real neighborhood people would go crazy just because the power went out and they certainly wouldn't think it was aliens that did it. People would say, "Oh, there goes the power again." Not "The electricity's off!!"(669). Oh no! The powers out! What are we going to do? (sarcastically) The electricity goes out in our neighborhood at least once every other month. Most people would be in side all day so only about three people would have seen the U.F.O. and they would have been kids. Who would believe them? I think the people in the story really over reacted.
There were a few parts of the story that were unbelievable, like when Mr. Goodman's car started. That was really weird. I really didn't see that coming. There was also when Pete Van Horn got shot. I didn't think anything like that would happen. I knew the ending couldn't be happy. The Twilight Zone never is. The stories always seem to be so tragic. What was Rod Serling thinking? He must have been a troubled child. Any way; I can't believe that Charlie actually thought that Pete Van Horn was a monster. "You killed him Charlie. You shot him dead!"(679) How dumb could he be?
I didn't really pick this story. Ms. Chabot told us to read it. I liked it though. I think it's funny to watch old science fiction shows. I laugh at the cheesy acting and the corny special effects. You can see the strings holding them in the air. I thought it was funny how one little boy made all the neighbors think that aliens were attacking their neighborhood. Nobody would believe that now-days. Maybe people were more easily convinced of those things fifty years ago.
I think the video Monsters Are Due on Maple Street and the teleplay Monsters Are Due on Maple Street are a lot the same. They used most of the same lines and used the same camera angles. Just like this line, "What was that? A meteor?" The story took a lot longer to read though. The video was only a few minutes. The book took days. It had more detail than the video did. Just like when they showed the space ship. You could see at least five strings coming off of it. Every body in the class laughed. It was really funny.

4jk
Rod Serling was a former boxer and a future PE teacher. He takes a path uncommon to jocks and science fiction. He wrote a movie called "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street." The characters in this movie are: Charlie the wise-cracker know it all, Steve the wise one, Don the laid back one, Tommy the kid who knows what's gonna happen, Sally his mother, and Pete Van Horn a scientist. You don't here a lot about Pete Van Horn because he leaves Maple Street at the beginning of the movie because he goes to another neighborhood to see if the power is on there. It all happens on Maple Street, USA.

My feelings as I read this book were that I couldn't understand why everybody was fighting and blaming each other. It's like you wanna yell " Jiminy Christmas." It's like what Rod serling said, "The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, and prejudice to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, prejudice can kill and suspicion can destroy and a thoughtless frightened search for scapegoat has a fallout all its own for the children... and the children yet unborn.
Pg [684.]

I wonder why the town is so peaceful, now and days you see kids about 13-16 on the street smoking, drinking and doing drugs. You might see parents telling there kids there grounded and then later you see the kids sneaking out the window. I mean come on who in the right mind would believe that? "Maple Street, U.S.A., late summer. A tree-lined little world of front porch gliders, hopscotch, the laughter of children, and the bell of an ice cream vendor." Pg [668.]

My favorite part of The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, is when everybody was accusing each other of who where the aliens. Everybody was bickering and fussing about this and that and everything that was going on. Tommy came running up the street yelling an alien is coming, so Charlie took his shotgun and shot what was coming up the street. It was Pete Van Horn, Charlie shot Pete Van Horn. [He swings the gun around to point it toward the sidewalk. The dark figure continues to walk towards them. The group stands there, fearful, apprehensive, mothers clutching children, men standing in front of wives. Charlie slowly raises the gun. As the figure gets closer and closer he suddenly pulls the trigger. The sound of it explodes in the stillness. There is a long angle shot looking down at the figure, who suddenly lets out a small cry, stumbles forward onto his knees and then falls forward on his face. Don, Charlie and Steve race forward over to him. Steve is there first and turns the man over. Now the crowd gathers around them.] Pg 679.

I felt that the book was good. It was very weird I wonder what's going to happen to all of the other people in the book. I wonder if the aliens are going to take over the whole world. Like hypnotizing all of the animals in the whole world to attack and kill all the people in the world except for one person to tell them how all humans lived and the aliens will all move down to earth and start living like humans. Then the whole world will never be the same again. Are you wondering what happened to that one guy? Well they kept him alive, and hypnotize him to think that the aliens are really humans and he married an alien, which he thought was a human. Are you wondering what happened to the animals? Well there alive to but the aliens experimented on them and mixed all of them up. It is freaky dude. I just hope that one of you aren't the one left not killed, because if I were I would just not feel right but I couldn't feel right because I would be hypnotized. Well I change my mind I would want to be the one left behind because I would act like I was hypnotized then I would get some weapons and kill all the aliens in the world. Then I would search all over the world and try to find pieces of the people that were killed then I would go to a lab and clone everybody so that all the people in the world would be back to life but they would be clones but I still would be happy because all of my friends, teachers, family members and other people in the world would be alive. But before I could clone people I would have to read the manual on how to work the cloning machine, then after I read that I would have to read the manual on how to clone people. Then I would fix all the animals back together. Wow! Sorry got off the subject there. Well the book was good I like it a lot I hope you like it to. So you have to read "Monsters are Due on Maple Street"

1VJ
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," is a classical episode of the Twilight Zone. I like how it showed that we can be prejudice and suspicious. It's also interesting how all the "monsters", or aliens, had to do was flick on and off a few lights to scare the people. Then the rest was the peoples own doing. The movie is very dramatic, and is almost exactly the same as the teleplay. The fact that it is in black and white makes it even more intense, in my opinion. The video and the teleplay both had the same scene of fright where the lights go out and nothing works. This then goes on to mass confusion, foreshadows the coming of aliens, and shows the weak points of the human race.
The plot advances with chaos. The people get scared and confused. They blame each other for having something they don't. This causes mass confusion and general panic. Things only get worse after that. One thing happens after another. The suspicious grows and the people get paranoid, until someone is killed. This person was Pete Van Horn. "You killed him, Charlie. You shot him dead!" (679)
As the plot advances they also foreshow what will come. The aliens are the ones who cause all the lights to fail, but the humans are the ones who became suspicious. This foreshadows the doom of the humans. The aliens plan to go from Maple Street to Maple Street and do the same to cause the fall of humans. "Then I take this place... this Maple Street...is not unique."
Rod Sterling's theme for "Monsters are due on Maple Street" is you shouldn't be too quick to judge people. Or be suspicious of people who have things you don't. Chaos supports this theme in showing how easily we can become suspicious of others. Then from there chaos and mayhem come. The theme could also be a kind of moral. "They pick the most dangerous enemy they can find... and it is them selves" (682) I think this quote is a good quote to describe the theme.
I think "Monsters are due on Maple Street" is really great. It has a wonderful plot. When I read the teleplay, I thought it was just like the other Twilight Zones. (I have seen a few others. One was about a man being in isolation.) I really enjoyed the Monsters are due on Maple Street. The teleplay was almost exactly like the movie or visa versa. My favorite part in this one was at the end where the sudden quietness is shocking. Then the aliens come and start talking, and it fades out to Sterling's face and he said his "And this is the Twilight Zone." I also like the beginning/ending songs. In conclusion I think the teleplay and the movie were both equally interesting.

The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street 1KC
" The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

Rod Serling, a screenplay writer for MGM in the 1950's wrote many famous science fiction teleplays, movies, Broadway shows, and television entertainment shows. Serling has won multiple Emmy awards for his work. He wrote 92 twilight zone episodes that were aired on CBS. They became one of America's most recognized, and most popular television series.
Some of Serling's most famous writings include: "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" and "Time Enough at Last". "Time Enough at Last" was written in 1959. I do not know when "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" was written but I assume it was around 1959.
Rod Serling died on June 28th, 1975. He died during a coronary bypass operation in Rochester, New York. Rod Serling's stories of aliens and super natural happenings are entertaining for all to this day. His name will live on in science fiction history forever.
"The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", a teleplay and television entertainment show, was written by Serling in the nineteen fifties'. I love how Serling describes les Goodman's car starting up with no one in it (673). This event brings chaos and unproven assumptions. Other things, such as flickering lights, happen all down Maple Street. They are mostly all blamed on Les Goodman because of his insomnia. These things bring complete and utter chaos.
Confusion breaks free when all of the lights and appliances down Maple Street turn off and stop working (668-669). This advances the plot to confusion. Chaos doesn't come until Les Goodmans' car starts up with no one inside. People turn wild as new and crazy things happen down Maple Street. Sound effects in this section of the teleplay are screams, crying, and gunfires.
Other crazy things happen down Maple Street. Lights flicker, appliances turn on and off, and again chaos starts up (683). Mostly these things are blamed on Les Goodman. They think he is an alien because his insomnia sometimes wakes him up. So to occupy himself he takes walks at night and claims to be looking at stars. But the families all down Maple Street think he is looking for his alien friends. This foreshadows who is behind all of the chaos and confusion.
I thought Rod Serling's teleplay, "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street", was very realistic when referring to human nature. Even though it is believed that alien or outer space life forms are not real. The car starting then produces this assumption.
I thought it was interesting how Serling never gave a definite ending to "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". He never gives a definite ending to the teleplay. I just assumed the chaos went on until every human life on Maple Street was dead or confused for their lifetime. Even though I am not into science fiction writings, I really enjoyed "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street". I would call this science fiction movie and teleplay one of the best from the 1950's.

1OE
The Monsters Due On Maple Street

"The Monsters Due On Maple Street" was probably the only kind of movie that was supposed to be scary back then. Since I'm in the year 2003 that movie was pretty dumb, but back in that time it must have been awesome. The aliens looked really dumb with those two antennas. I liked seeing all the fake shooting and killing. I can now see how far we have come with movies since then. The movie was confusing until the alien started to talk. They told their plan of taking over the Earth by flickering some lights and making some stuff mess up. When they said that, it put all the pieces of the movie together, and foreshadowed that the human race would end because of prejudice.
I think the way he ended the movie was great. He told about the plan and makes you think, could that happen to us? That is how he advanced the plot, he told the story about the alien's plan and then had them talk and tell how everybody is the same. He had the aliens take off saying they were going to take over the world just by sitting down. Then left for another place to terrorize.
When the aliens talk it foreshadows the Earth in complete destruction. Dying because of them assuming that their friends are the enemy, when really they are the most dangerous because they terrorize people as innocent as them. When the aliens talk they say the theme of how people can be so prejudice. "They find the most dangerous enemy they can find............and it's themselves" (682). It is the probably the best and easiest plan the aliens have ever come up with.
The theme in this story is not to be prejudice. My part advanced the theme by talking. The aliens tell their plan about using prejudice to destroy the humans. As much as that sounded stupid, it was smart. The aliens could actually make their plan work, and that is what The Monsters Due Maple Street shows. About everyone has a little bit of prejudice inside him. After reading the story, realizing the theme, and thinking about it, you will think could that happen to me?
The book and movie are so close to each other. You can read from the book and they will say almost all of the same lines in the movie. That is what helps me relate to the movie. I can just see if the picture was same in the movie as in my mind. In other movies they are far off from the book, so it changes the whole view of the story. The author picked a great way to show how everyone can be so prejudice. When I read the story I also was prejudice. I thought Charlie was the alien, but as I found out nobody was. That surprised me a lot. This was the first book that showed that nobody was the bad guy, and that made the story's end great. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great Great Movie
I read the other 2 reviews of "Soldier in the Rain" and totally agreed with them. I just wanted to add my opinion - and that is that this movie has universal themes that will appeal to anyone I think. I first saw the film, probably in the 70's when a friend highly recommended it. The characters from Jackie Gleason's seasoned performance to Steve McQueen's innocent youthfulness to Tuesday Weld's sweetness to Tom Poston's pompousness all contribute to a very human story - along with the antagonist soldiers and gentle humor and little tragedies we all encounter along our lives. I highly recommend this great great movie to everyone - it has some wonderful lines and lessons for us all.

Another lost gem
It's a shame that this classic is going the way of all things. I don't know if service in the military is absolutely essential to appreciate this film, but those who have served can easily appreciate Gleason's and McQueen's genius in rendering their characters. Both figures are timeless and ever-present in the real military (the military that's generally not reflected in entertainment media because it's simply too real, ordinary and every-day) and Gleason and McQueen play them with dignity and a sensitivity that shows their characters for the ordinary human beings they are. These characters may be less compelling to the average movie-goer than those of Preminger or Spielberg, but they are much more typical of the institution that, for most Americans, exists in peacetime somewhere out there in the backstage of their minds.

One might argue that a movie about street sweepers would be just as relevant. To the degree that most Americans have well developed preconceptions about street sweepers that don't accord with the every day reality of street sweeping in our society, the argument may be justified. But I doubt that's the case. That most Americans have fairly concrete, if uninformed, notions about their standing military is hard to deny. That even informed citizens fail generally to distinguish between the peacetime and wartime institutions is nearly axiomatic (and not a peculiarly American phenomenon).

Nor should Gleason's and McQueen's characters be interpreted as exclusively American stereotypes. Anyone who has served in any professional military - American, Soviet, German, Chinese, French etc - will recognize these characters and appreciate the realism and drama these masters bring to their roles.

Movies like "Soldier in the Rain" (or "The Pawnbroker" or "A Patch of Blue") are evidence of what Hollywood can do when it's not just trying to sell movie sound tracks and sequel rights.

Steve and Jackie outstanding
A splendid showing of their versatility, Steve of his upcoming stardum and Jackie of his seasoned acting. This is in a catagory along with stalog 17. It pulls you along with all the feelings of an actual happening. It has your comedy and tragity in good order. Tuesday Weld also makes her character true to life. This film is outstanding with performance excelence. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Sidney Poitier won an Oscar for this endearing movie about a handyman who thinks he's just passing through a little town in New Mexico, and ends up staying awhile to build a chapel for a cluster of German-speaking nuns. The renowned actor is highly entertaining in his combative exchanges with Lilia Skala, playing a Mother Superior who survived Hitler and makes no bones about bullying the goodhearted, itinerant worker into doing more and more for her. The film has an ambling, easygoing style with several memorable moments, not least of all is Poitier leading his holy hostesses through verses of the gospel song "Amen." Lilies is directed by the late Ralph Nelson, a pioneering director of live television who also made a number of popular feature films with notable performances (Jackie Gleason in Requiem for a Heavyweight, Cary Grant in Father Goose, Cliff Robertson in Charly) in the 1960s and 1970s. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Another Poitier Triumph
Although highly regarded in its day, "Lilies of the Field" is now considered a relic of the civil rights era or Hollywood's token Oscar "gesture" to a Black performer. This is unfortunate, since it underrates both the film and Poitier's textured performance. "Lilies..." is a simple, funny and touching story that emphasizes respect for the differences in people. Lilia Skala gives a powerhouse performance as the Mother Superior, almost stealing the film from Poitier. She gives just the right measures of rage and prideful determination to make her character sadly noble. Hers is one of the most memorable supporting performances on film, and she deserved an Oscar as well. But this is Poitier's show, and he gives the character of Homer humor, rebeliousness and magnanimity that make him unique in films. Rather than the usual angry political stance Hollywood takes with anything involving race, this character is presented as simple, decent, a little lost, but just an average man doing the best he can. There's nothing "special" about him, which makes the character (and Poitier's performance) special and memorable. Of note in this edition, the digital transfer of the film is especially crisp and vivid, not the usual slack job MGM does with these older films. Unfortunately, there are almost no extras, and it would have been great to have a commentary by Poitier to listen to. Still, this is a memorable film for the whole family. Makes me wanna holler.

Lilies of the Field is a Work of ART!
This amazing movie used to be shown on TV, usually between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I fell in love with this movie from the 1st time I saw it. Sydney Poitier deserved his Oscar for this and you will immediately see why he became a star. "They don't make 'em like this anymore" is an understatement. Now, only available on video, I urge you to buy this movie. Sit down, relax and enjoy a real story line, no special effects, no violence, no swearing and the most amazing true talent you will ever see. To top it off, this is a story that leaves you feeling good and you will be humming "AMEN"

Poitier Great in Small Movie
Mostly its just Poitier showing his acting chops. He is awesome. One of his finest roles. Wise & funny. A simple man thrust into an absurd situation rises to the occasion. Poitier was all about dignity and responsibility.

Simply Delightful!
A black man (Sidney) is passing through town minding his own business...but some German Sisters catch him in their grips like powerful sticky hooks, and will not let him go until God's plan is fulfilled.

The German Sisters feel that (Sidney) is a God-send. This is the man who will build their chapel, their black angel, God's carpenter. ALLELUIA!!!!!!!!!!

(Sidney) tries to leave many times, but God's plan is so apparent that something always stands in his way...not only that, but the sisters make him feel guilty about leaving. He was sent to them from GOD.

The relationship that develops between he and the sisters is beautiful and humorous at times. When he sings 'AMEN' one cannot help but Know he was meant to be there.

This is a movie about faith and love. How the most unconventional relationships can be the most fulfilling, brilliant, Godly, unforgotten.

A simple man passing through town learns that living for himself is not enough. He is in town long enough to build a chapel, build relationships, find a purpose.

When the chapel is built, he leaves once again to find whatever it was he was searching for...
but the viewer knows he shall never be the same. AMEN

Amen.
Simple, uncluttered, charming- sadly, this film could not be made today simply because the mentality of so many Hollywood studios is steeped in formulaic storytelling: more sensationalism (they would want Homer Smith to exude more action, and maybe have a hot romance), and more youth (the 36-year old Sidney Poitier would be considered too old for the role today; Hollywood would want a younger, and definitely "edgier" actor to do the role now. Ice Cube? Mekhi Phifer?) As it is, the story gets to the point in short order, and gives a stronger lesson about teamwork, tolerance, and faith in its 94 minutes than most modern films do today (I'm sure there are cynics who'll read this and pigeonhole it in so-called 'political correctness' because it dares to mention positive race relations, but whether you agree or not, that is part of the world we live in). One could even argue that Poitier's relationship with Mother Superior Lilia Skala never really reaches a warm-and-fuzzy breakthrough, but I accept that compromise based on the fact that the characterizations are tight as a drum, and leave little room for a 180-degree change. (After the completion of the chapel there are various facial ponders, but no further dialogue; only the chant of "Amen-" as it should be.) Check it out, and marvel at a film that cost less than a quarter million dollars to make. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

A Charming Comedy
FATHER GOOSE is a charming comedy about a decadent American expatriot (Cary Grant) who gets pressed into service as a coastwatcher by the Australian Navy during World War II. Grant is stationed on a lonely South Pacific island until he unwittingly is forced to rescue Leslie Caron and her band of young French refugees who join him at his outpost.Trevor Howard is an Australian Navy Commander who maintains radio contact with Grant.

Much credit goes to Director Ralph Nelson and Peter Stone with his fellow screenwriters. Cary Grant is superb as usual and Leslie Caron is gorgeous.

FATHER GOOSE won an Oscar for Best Original Story and Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Editing and Sound.

Fancy and Reality play well together
Essentially a comedy FATHER GOOSE dabbles into some of the realities of World War II in the South Pacific. Credit for this can be given to Cary Grant's surly yet sophisticated approach to this type of role and Ralph Nelson's direction which uses comedy as a canvas to spin his tale tinged with the realities and frailties that are encountered in life's many challenges not to mention relationships. I could not help but think as I watched this film that Cary Grant really stood his ground as an actor because the seven little girls really could have stole this picture away from most adult actors. Leslie Caron is also good as she brings a sense of level headed femininity to counter Cary Grant's gruff response to having his solitude encroached on by "civilization" and all that implies. This is an enjoyable film.

Cary Grant plays an unshaven outcast!

Director: Ralph Nelson
Format: Color
Studio: Republic Studios
Video Release Date: November 23, 1999

Cast:

Cary Grant ... Walter Christopher Eckland/Mother Goose
Leslie Caron ... Catherine Louise Marie Ernestine Freneau
Trevor Howard ... Commander Frank Houghton RAN/Big Bad Wolf
Jack Good ... Lieutenant Stebbings RAN/Bo Peep
Sharyl Locke ... Jenny
Pip Sparke ... Anne
Verina Greenlaw ... Christine
Stephanie Berrington ... Elizabeth Anderson
Jennifer Berrington ... Harriet 'Harry' MacGregor
Laurelle Felsette ... Angelique
Nicole Felsette ... Dominique
Alex Finlayson ... Doctor Bigrave
Peter Forster ... Chaplain
Richard Lupino ... Radioman
John Napier ... Lt. Cartwright, USS Sailfin Executive Officer
Simon Scott ... Captain of Submarine, USS Sailfin
Don Spruance ... Navigator
Ken Swofford ... Helmsman, Submarine USS Sailfin

An unkempt, scruffy Cary Grant plays an American ex-patriate during WWII who is running from civilization, but is recruited into the coast watcher service against his will by Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard)of the Royal Australian Navy with promises of whisky as a bribe. While on an island radioing aircraft and ship traffic, he is induced to take a teacher (Leslie Caron) and her girl charges into his custody. Japanese forces are a constant threat, as well as the danger of snakebite, for which Cary Grant maintains a supply of snakebite remedy. Of course, it is suspected that he also carries a supply of snakes for the same purpose.

This is one of the last movies that Grant made. Two years after it was made, he retired from the movie industry.

The usually dapper, suave Grant, was out of character in this part: unshaven, scruffy, and a drunkard. It was a refreshing part for him, and he played it superbly.

It is a thoroughly entertaining film.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Cary Grant driven mad by Leslie Carron
Cary Grant plays an American drifter in the Pacific during WW2, who is blakcmailed by Australian Naval officer Trevor Howard into staying on a small island to keep a lookout for Japanese (Howard rams Grant's boat to make sure he can't get away from the island). His peaceful island existence is disrupted when he has to accomodate a French diplomat's daughter (Leslie Carron) and the seven little girls in her charge. Carron is an insufferable prig who forces Grant to give up his hut to accomodate them, and to add insult to injury hides his supply of whiskey. There is a charming scene where, after he has saved the life of one little girl when Japanese land on the island, she shows him where the whiskey is. From then on the girls become friends with Grant, and even the self-righteous Carron unbends a bit and becomes less obnoxious. Then he teaches Carron to catch fish by hand, and as he is fondling her in the water, they start to smoulder at each other, and you probably can guess where it goes from there. The girls are all very good,particularly 'Harry', who is inseperable from her cricket bat. This is a very funny film,though Carron is infuriating through a lot of it. Personally I think it would have been better if Grant had - oh well, perhaps I'd better not finish that thought, it's very politically incorrect.

Father Goose is Cary Grant at his best!
"Father Goose" is a lot of fun and is arguably Cary Grant's funniest and finest film. Yes, he was great in "Charade", "North by Northwest", "Notorious", etc -- but here his honed skills and comedic timing pay off in this very funny film and makes it well worth seeing. You don't have to be a Cary Grant fan to enjoy this film -- but after seeing it, you will be.

"Father Goose" was nominated for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) by the Golden Globe and won an Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen in 1965. The cast, production, direction, photography, story -- all are top notch.

The film looks terrific on DVD with an aspect ratio of 1.85. The South Pacific cinematography adds greatly to the visual impact of this film. There are brief bios and filmographies of the priniciples. That's all. No further extras. This film is 16x9 enhanced.

Highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (27)

A Charming Comedy
FATHER GOOSE is a charming comedy about a decadent American expatriot (Cary Grant) who gets pressed into service as a coastwatcher by the Australian Navy during World War II. Grant is stationed on a lonely South Pacific island until he unwittingly is forced to rescue Leslie Caron and her band of young French refugees who join him at his outpost.Trevor Howard is an Australian Navy Commander who maintains radio contact with Grant.

Much credit goes to Director Ralph Nelson and Peter Stone with his fellow screenwriters. Cary Grant is superb as usual and Leslie Caron is gorgeous.

FATHER GOOSE won an Oscar for Best Original Story and Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Editing and Sound.

Fancy and Reality play well together
Essentially a comedy FATHER GOOSE dabbles into some of the realities of World War II in the South Pacific. Credit for this can be given to Cary Grant's surly yet sophisticated approach to this type of role and Ralph Nelson's direction which uses comedy as a canvas to spin his tale tinged with the realities and frailties that are encountered in life's many challenges not to mention relationships. I could not help but think as I watched this film that Cary Grant really stood his ground as an actor because the seven little girls really could have stole this picture away from most adult actors. Leslie Caron is also good as she brings a sense of level headed femininity to counter Cary Grant's gruff response to having his solitude encroached on by "civilization" and all that implies. This is an enjoyable film.

Cary Grant plays an unshaven outcast!

Director: Ralph Nelson
Format: Color
Studio: Republic Studios
Video Release Date: November 23, 1999

Cast:

Cary Grant ... Walter Christopher Eckland/Mother Goose
Leslie Caron ... Catherine Louise Marie Ernestine Freneau
Trevor Howard ... Commander Frank Houghton RAN/Big Bad Wolf
Jack Good ... Lieutenant Stebbings RAN/Bo Peep
Sharyl Locke ... Jenny
Pip Sparke ... Anne
Verina Greenlaw ... Christine
Stephanie Berrington ... Elizabeth Anderson
Jennifer Berrington ... Harriet 'Harry' MacGregor
Laurelle Felsette ... Angelique
Nicole Felsette ... Dominique
Alex Finlayson ... Doctor Bigrave
Peter Forster ... Chaplain
Richard Lupino ... Radioman
John Napier ... Lt. Cartwright, USS Sailfin Executive Officer
Simon Scott ... Captain of Submarine, USS Sailfin
Don Spruance ... Navigator
Ken Swofford ... Helmsman, Submarine USS Sailfin

An unkempt, scruffy Cary Grant plays an American ex-patriate during WWII who is running from civilization, but is recruited into the coast watcher service against his will by Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard)of the Royal Australian Navy with promises of whisky as a bribe. While on an island radioing aircraft and ship traffic, he is induced to take a teacher (Leslie Caron) and her girl charges into his custody. Japanese forces are a constant threat, as well as the danger of snakebite, for which Cary Grant maintains a supply of snakebite remedy. Of course, it is suspected that he also carries a supply of snakes for the same purpose.

This is one of the last movies that Grant made. Two years after it was made, he retired from the movie industry.

The usually dapper, suave Grant, was out of character in this part: unshaven, scruffy, and a drunkard. It was a refreshing part for him, and he played it superbly.

It is a thoroughly entertaining film.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Cary Grant driven mad by Leslie Carron
Cary Grant plays an American drifter in the Pacific during WW2, who is blakcmailed by Australian Naval officer Trevor Howard into staying on a small island to keep a lookout for Japanese (Howard rams Grant's boat to make sure he can't get away from the island). His peaceful island existence is disrupted when he has to accomodate a French diplomat's daughter (Leslie Carron) and the seven little girls in her charge. Carron is an insufferable prig who forces Grant to give up his hut to accomodate them, and to add insult to injury hides his supply of whiskey. There is a charming scene where, after he has saved the life of one little girl when Japanese land on the island, she shows him where the whiskey is. From then on the girls become friends with Grant, and even the self-righteous Carron unbends a bit and becomes less obnoxious. Then he teaches Carron to catch fish by hand, and as he is fondling her in the water, they start to smoulder at each other, and you probably can guess where it goes from there. The girls are all very good,particularly 'Harry', who is inseperable from her cricket bat. This is a very funny film,though Carron is infuriating through a lot of it. Personally I think it would have been better if Grant had - oh well, perhaps I'd better not finish that thought, it's very politically incorrect.

Father Goose is Cary Grant at his best!
"Father Goose" is a lot of fun and is arguably Cary Grant's funniest and finest film. Yes, he was great in "Charade", "North by Northwest", "Notorious", etc -- but here his honed skills and comedic timing pay off in this very funny film and makes it well worth seeing. You don't have to be a Cary Grant fan to enjoy this film -- but after seeing it, you will be.

"Father Goose" was nominated for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) by the Golden Globe and won an Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen in 1965. The cast, production, direction, photography, story -- all are top notch.

The film looks terrific on DVD with an aspect ratio of 1.85. The South Pacific cinematography adds greatly to the visual impact of this film. There are brief bios and filmographies of the priniciples. That's all. No further extras. This film is 16x9 enhanced.

Highly recommended! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

MUSCLES & SASS!
HERO provides viewers with the all too familiar but well-done here tale of a troubled youth who falls in with the wrong crowdfrom day one. We're treated throughout to a young black boy's total disrespect for the system. There's plenty of non-conform-ity everywhere- sass at home, in the classroom & on the streets as well. And oh yeah Benji not only gets into drugs but deals them 'round school. Our 13 year old lead is played by Larry B.Scott who most of us first came to recognize in the NERD MOVIESthen more recently in a spoof of rap music in FEAR OF A BLACKHAT. For me, Larry's always been a joy to gaze at- spec-ially when he's san shirt. The shirtless scenes here are few & tho his arms resemble toothpicks with slight bulges, it's easy to visualize his muscular potential down the road. His chest is full & well-defined & he's already sportin' well-layered ripped abs.When our little dynamo is standing in the bathtub stark nakedwith his cheeks a-blazin' I'm more than ready to step in, take the lad under my wing & try to pound some sense into him. After this film, Scott obviously picked up the pace with weight training & exercizing-cause in later rolls he had filled out rather nicely. For instance, his guns are huge in REVENGE OF THE NERDS. Oh I almost forgot,the flick ends with Benji hangin' out with the right crowd & swearin' off drugs for good. More importantly for me, Larry B. realized early on he should hone & tone his bod for the long haul 'cause that would be his mealticket to meatier roles. BOTTOM LINE: L.B.S. delivered with lots of moxie & flashed just enough flesh tosatisfy this fan's curiosity. Sure be nice to get this title on DVD. My zoom would draw his muscles even closer to my face. And now I'm ecstatic to report the DVD version is inmy hands. Boy am I ready to break this baby down inch byinch!

Misses a lot of the spirit of the book
This is one of those book adaptations which leave the viewer wondering why the screenwriter (here, the book's author), made the changes that were made.
The 1973 book describes the life of 13-year-old Benjie Johnson, an African-American who lives in an apartment with his mother Rose, grandmother, and mother's boyfriend Butler, in an apartment house with "dark, stinky hallways" in a "tough block." For Butler to take Rose out by taxi is "their fine way of going out." The pusher's (Tiger's) apartment is "one fine-lookin place" because it has "a good record player and a TV" plus wall-to-wall carpet and drapes at the window. A crisis occurs when Benjie steals Butler's good suit for drug money.
By the time the 1978 movie was released, the setting had changed. Benjie and family are living in a middle-class single family home, and their own car. Benjie and friends frequently take walks on the beach. It's just a quick walk, apparently, to the walk-up graffiti-covered apartment roof where Benjie first smokes marijuana. Tiger's apartment now has wood paneling, two aquariums, an inlaid coffee table, a treadmill, rowing machine, and weights. The crisis is now Benjie stealing Butler's inherited sapphire-and-diamond cufflinks.
And, a happy ending, not present in the book, is glommed onto the last scene in the movie. There's a unnecessarily-protracted scene showing the nude Benjie being put into the Indigo Blue bath.
It's natural, and beneficial, for a movie to telescope some of the book's plot, and eliminate marginal characters. Yet, the sudden relative affluence of Benjie's family takes away from the immediacy of the many pressures facing the family, just as the "happy ending" validates the fear the school's principal expressed in the book: when an ex-addict is portrayed as a heroic figure, some students may see drugs as something to use and then bravely give up, because the speaker doesn't mention that he is the one in a hundred to be able to kick the habit.
Some of the language (although appropriate in context) and some scenes are more intense than the usual PG movie.
I recommend that folks stick to the excellent book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

For the first time ever, Julie Andrews's performance in the title role of the original 1957 television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella is available to the public on home video.Cinderella was created as a Broadway-style television production with an original score from the creators of Oklahoma! and Carousel, featuring such songs as "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible," "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful," and "Stepsisters' Lament."Cast in the title role was the 21-year-old Andrews, at the time starring on Broadway in My Fair Lady (another Cinderella story of sorts), and the cast was filled out by a talented bunch of stage veterans (including Kaye Ballard, Edie Adams, Dorothy Stickney, and Stickney's husband, writer Howard Lindsay).On March 31, 1957, a then-record 120 million homes saw the program as it was broadcast, live and in color, but it was preserved only in black-and-white kinescope, i.e., by aiming a camera at a monitor during the broadcast.While this version probably looks better than we have any right to expect, the picture is still fuzzy black-and-white, which makes it a tougher sell for kids than the later color versions, 1965 with Lesley Anne Warren and the 1997 Disneyized version.But give older kids (say, 8 or so) credit for being able to look past the black-and-white picture and primitive effects and enjoy the charming songs, the excellent performances, and the prospect of seeing one of their favorite actresses play one of their favorite princesses. It's also available on DVD with numerous bonus features. --David Horiuchi ... Read more

Reviews (9)

I just wanted to come back and hear the calliope
WALKING DISTANCE is probably the best episode ever produced. Gig Young acts out Serling's prose so perfectly that he speaks for every man that ever wished he could go home again. It is a very moving episode. Bernard Herrmann's score intuitively picks up the emotion and heartfelt sincerity that Serling wrote into this story. This was Rod Serling's, Bernard Herrmann's and Gig Young's finest work for any medium. I think it is the finest piece of work ever put on film. KICK THE CAN is thematically similar and also very moving. It examines what it means to grow old and if one must give up the very things that makes us who we really are. It too is a very heartfelt episode, sincere and remains one of the best.

Timeless and Forever.
Long ago when Television was young there were indeed programs of quality and value. One of the great icons of the era was for sure Rod Serling. Mr. Serling has been gone now since 1975...but his vision and talent and taste for the ironic live on in " Twilight Zone" episodes.

In "Walking Distance" Martin Sloan( Gig Young) gets to look back on his life in a very special way. A shock to himself when he sees himself, as a boy, carving names into a post on a gazebo..( a gazebo that could have been possibly in Serling's home town of Binghamton New York.

The quagmire of time and space are now imposed on Martin Sloan..and this unique teleplay is one of the best 26 minutes you might see on Television. The montage scene on the merry go round...the field is at first tilted...then corrects itself with a return to Mr. Sloan's reality..Frak Overton, Byron Foulger and Ronnie Howard round out the singular cast.

If this were all not enough, Bernard Herrman lends a most meloncholy score to the whole proceedings. This is what happens when great artists combine talents to produce something timeless.

Some " Wisp of Memory" indeed!

This tape has Serling's classic episode "Walking Distance"
In Rod Serling's classic episode "Walking Distance," Martin Sloan (Gig Young) leaves his car at the gas station and walks into his hometown, where suddenly everything is just as it was when he was a child. In fact, he encounters his younger self (Michael Montgomery), and has to come to terms with the fact that he has not been happy with his life for a long, long time. The episode, directed by Robert Stevens, is one of Serling's best evocations of nostalgia, with a cast that includes Pat O'Malley and young Ronnie Howard. "Kick the Can" was George Clayton Johnson's final script for the series, and was the episode adapted by Steven Spielberg in "Twilight Zone: The Movie." Charles Whitley (Ernest Truex) and his friend Ben Conory (Russell Collins) are residents of Sunnydale Rest, a home for the aged. Charles becomes convinced that the secret to being young is acting young, and one night he begs the others to join him for a game of kick-the-can. Everyone agrees to join in the game, except Ben. Because this is the Twilight Zone, this is a tragic mistake and one that Ben will regret the rest of his life. This is an okay episode, but not a classic like the first one on this tape.

Short subjects as timeless as their medium...
This is another fine package in the series, two classics that have obvious but effective stories to tell. "Walking Distance" is about Martin Sloan, successful in business but not successful in that walk of life that all men try sooner or later: trying to go home again. "Kick the Can" is an enormously moving and engrossing piece with Charles Witley dilivering the goods as an old man who refuses to die in Sunnydale Rest. He is a man who knows that he will die in this world if he does not escape...into the Twilight Zone. This is one you should see.

The Human Side to the Twilight Zone
Rod put a lot of humanity into these two episodes of the Twilight Zone. The first story deals with a man's return home to his childhood trying to find his younger self that he left behind. The second story deals with people in their senior years who play a game of "Kick the Can" and discover that being young and old is very closely linked, and not seperate. Even if you don't like science fiction, watch these two Twilight Zone stories, they are human stories. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

A Charming Comedy
FATHER GOOSE is a charming comedy about a decadent American expatriot (Cary Grant) who gets pressed into service as a coastwatcher by the Australian Navy during World War II. Grant is stationed on a lonely South Pacific island until he unwittingly is forced to rescue Leslie Caron and her band of young French refugees who join him at his outpost.Trevor Howard is an Australian Navy Commander who maintains radio contact with Grant.

Much credit goes to Director Ralph Nelson and Peter Stone with his fellow screenwriters. Cary Grant is superb as usual and Leslie Caron is gorgeous.

FATHER GOOSE won an Oscar for Best Original Story and Screenplay. It was also nominated for Best Editing and Sound.

Fancy and Reality play well together
Essentially a comedy FATHER GOOSE dabbles into some of the realities of World War II in the South Pacific. Credit for this can be given to Cary Grant's surly yet sophisticated approach to this type of role and Ralph Nelson's direction which uses comedy as a canvas to spin his tale tinged with the realities and frailties that are encountered in life's many challenges not to mention relationships. I could not help but think as I watched this film that Cary Grant really stood his ground as an actor because the seven little girls really could have stole this picture away from most adult actors. Leslie Caron is also good as she brings a sense of level headed femininity to counter Cary Grant's gruff response to having his solitude encroached on by "civilization" and all that implies. This is an enjoyable film.

Cary Grant plays an unshaven outcast!

Director: Ralph Nelson
Format: Color
Studio: Republic Studios
Video Release Date: November 23, 1999

Cast:

Cary Grant ... Walter Christopher Eckland/Mother Goose
Leslie Caron ... Catherine Louise Marie Ernestine Freneau
Trevor Howard ... Commander Frank Houghton RAN/Big Bad Wolf
Jack Good ... Lieutenant Stebbings RAN/Bo Peep
Sharyl Locke ... Jenny
Pip Sparke ... Anne
Verina Greenlaw ... Christine
Stephanie Berrington ... Elizabeth Anderson
Jennifer Berrington ... Harriet 'Harry' MacGregor
Laurelle Felsette ... Angelique
Nicole Felsette ... Dominique
Alex Finlayson ... Doctor Bigrave
Peter Forster ... Chaplain
Richard Lupino ... Radioman
John Napier ... Lt. Cartwright, USS Sailfin Executive Officer
Simon Scott ... Captain of Submarine, USS Sailfin
Don Spruance ... Navigator
Ken Swofford ... Helmsman, Submarine USS Sailfin

An unkempt, scruffy Cary Grant plays an American ex-patriate during WWII who is running from civilization, but is recruited into the coast watcher service against his will by Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard)of the Royal Australian Navy with promises of whisky as a bribe. While on an island radioing aircraft and ship traffic, he is induced to take a teacher (Leslie Caron) and her girl charges into his custody. Japanese forces are a constant threat, as well as the danger of snakebite, for which Cary Grant maintains a supply of snakebite remedy. Of course, it is suspected that he also carries a supply of snakes for the same purpose.

This is one of the last movies that Grant made. Two years after it was made, he retired from the movie industry.

The usually dapper, suave Grant, was out of character in this part: unshaven, scruffy, and a drunkard. It was a refreshing part for him, and he played it superbly.

It is a thoroughly entertaining film.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

Cary Grant driven mad by Leslie Carron
Cary Grant plays an American drifter in the Pacific during WW2, who is blakcmailed by Australian Naval officer Trevor Howard into staying on a small island to keep a lookout for Japanese (Howard rams Grant's boat to make sure he can't get away from the island). His peaceful island existence is disrupted when he has to accomodate a French diplomat's daughter (Leslie Carron) and the seven little girls in her charge. Carron is an insufferable prig who forces Grant to give up his hut to accomodate them, and to add insult to injury hides his supply of whiskey. There is a charming scene where, after he has saved the life of one little girl when Japanese land on the island, she shows him where the whiskey is. From then on the girls become friends with Grant, and even the self-righteous Carron unbends a bit and becomes less obnoxious. Then he teaches Carron to catch fish by hand, and as he is fondling her in the water, they start to smoulder at each other, and you probably can guess where it goes from there. The girls are all very good,particularly 'Harry', who is inseperable from her cricket bat. This is a very funny film,though Carron is infuriating through a lot of it. Personally I think it would have been better if Grant had - oh well, perhaps I'd better not finish that thought, it's very politically incorrect.

Father Goose is Cary Grant at his best!
"Father Goose" is a lot of fun and is arguably Cary Grant's funniest and finest film. Yes, he was great in "Charade", "North by Northwest", "Notorious", etc -- but here his honed skills and comedic timing pay off in this very funny film and makes it well worth seeing. You don't have to be a Cary Grant fan to enjoy this film -- but after seeing it, you will be.

"Father Goose" was nominated for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) by the Golden Globe and won an Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen in 1965. The cast, production, direction, photography, story -- all are top notch.

The film looks terrific on DVD with an aspect ratio of 1.85. The South Pacific cinematography adds greatly to the visual impact of this film. There are brief bios and filmographies of the priniciples. That's all. No further extras. This film is 16x9 enhanced.

Highly recommended! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Adapted from Daniel Keyes's novel Flowers for Algernon, Charly must be viewedas a soap opera of and for its zeitgeist--the halcyon '60s, when "natural" wasnirvana, the air hummed with the mantra "Everybody's beautiful," and all illsstemmed from institutional monoliths such as Science, Government, Education,Religion. Accordingly, Charly (Cliff Robertson) is a 30-year-old retardate whosedoofussweetness makes him superior to most able-minded folk, whether they're thebigoted dolts he sweeps floors for or the ambitious scientists who see him asthe human equivalent of Algernon, a mouse they've surgically (butimpermanently) smartened up. Naturally, post-op Charly, sporting a geniusIQ, "sees things as they are." Trotted out as the neurosurgeons' posterboy, he stands up to the "learned" audience--shot as faceless, inhumaninterrogators. He's every '60s flower child, berating his "elders" forblighting their brave new world.

The one gift Charly gets out of becoming Brainiac is sex. In a lengthymontage resembling a retro TV commercial, he and his special-ed teacher(Claire Bloom, madonna with eternal Mona Lisa smile) romp through an Edenicoutdoors, their embraces hallowed by sunlight glinting through leaves,moonlight glinting on water, and sappy Ravi Shankar music. (Stylisticclichés also include embarrassing outbreaks of split screens and multiplesmall screens within the frame, notably when rebellious Charly turns biker.) Robertson's performance is well-meaning but hokey. Still, in thepenultimate moments when Charly begins to slide back into retardation, theactor achieves a genuine tragic gravity, and he became a surpriseOscar winner for his pains. --Kathleen Murphy ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Unintentionally comedic.
"Charly" is unfairly dramatized. Now, I undestand that the original is subtle and challenging stuff to film, but excuses do not make a good movie. When I go to see a film version of Keyes' masterpiece "Flowers for Algernon," I'm not really expecting a ludicrous romance armed with several barbs directed at intellectualism and pop-culture.

"Flowers for Algernon" was about a mentally challenged man's exponential mental development after a surgical procedure, followed by his tragic decline. "Charly" is about a mentally challenged man's transformation into a suit-and-tie kinda guy, at which point his libido awakens and he strikes up an absurd relationship with his tutor. Then we get a minute's worth of footage of Charly growing forgetful and irritable, and then - bam! - he is again frolicking around with an IQ of 68, happy as a clam. Not only does this film provide us with a happy ending - it's the WRONG happy ending: read the book and you'll find a much better one at the end.

Of course, "Charly" isn't entirely bad. It just seems that way. Cliff Robertson's outstanding performance as the title character buoys the score a little. It also allow him to keep a straight face during an unintentionally comical scene in which a panel of scientists ask him existential questions and he gives snappy answers ("Standard of living?" "A TV in every room." "Education?" "A TV IN EVERY ROOM!") The scenes in which Charly goes through biker and disco dancer phases are also hilarious.

Seriously, though, the entire film creates an impression of wrongness and inappropriacy. Charly acts in realistic, sufficiently childlike ways, but the viewer never gains insight into his inner workings. The film is a character study narrated by minor and totally undeveloped characters. "Charly" also suffers from exceptional heavy-handedness. The scene is which Charly gropes Ms. Kinnian and she scrambles away from him, screaming "who could want you, you stupid moron!?" is a prime example. Another is his relationship with his co-workers. In the book they just joked about him. Here, they are genuinely malicious.

People who've read the literary work before seeing the film based on it are usually biased against the film. I am definitely a part of that crowd, so your opinion may be vastly different from mine. Nonethelss, the writer and director should have taken a hint when they had to resort to soap-opera contrivances to interest the viewer.

Robertson rivals dustin hoffmans performance in Rain Man
This movie is emotionally moving, stimulating, and thought prevoking. Share the joys and sadness of a handicapped man's journey from limited intelligence to genius status, then revert to his earlier levels. Share his joy and experiences of learning, loving, seeing hearing and touching. Share the sadness of his intellectual decline, and the gap his departure leaves for those touched by him.

A devestating performance by Robertson, servely underated by the critics.

Charly is a great Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was a great movie even thought it didn't follow the book that good. I think that Cliff Robertson did a very good job at it, but it was funny when Charlie fell in love Mrs. Kinnian because he kinda attacked her. The motor cycle part wasn't in the book and Dr. Strauss wasn't a man in the Movie but Dr. Strauss was a man in the book. Whoever said that the movie was awful stinks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I recommend that people of all ages should read the book and watch the movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Charly is worth the money
This movie was based on the book called 'Flowers for Algernon'. You can look at the synopsis above, and that will save me from boring you with the details.

I will say this: I thought that the split screens were wonderful. Yes, the way that the period that was supposed to be Charly's adolescence and young adult phase was portrayed *was* a bit hokey, but what does one expect when viewing a movie made so long ago? It is a bit campy, but no matter. Personally, I thought that the split screen presentation of that period was refreshing after the 80's and 90's choreography I'd seen(I saw Charly first in '95).

I am not a typical female that gets all sappy during all 'chick flix', and I enjoy many movies that are considered 'guy films' (Quentin Tarantino, anyone?).

It could be said that the sixties were a more innocent time, or it could be said that these folk (both the author of 'Flowers for Algernon' and the makers of 'Charly') had little *truly significant* experience in personal relationships (i.e. close friendships) with retarded people. Whichever you choose, it goes without saying for those of us who do not lack such experience-that retarded people mature sexually, just as the rest of us do. It may take them a little while longer, but it is very probable that Charly would have had knowledge of at least one woman by the time he was 30 years old.

Aside from that, the film-in my opinion-is a wonderful story of a fragile, yet moral and responsible human being. Perhaps not as good as the book, but movies seldom are.

Charly was a disappointment to many when held up to the book, but by itself it's beautiful. Worth a rent, if not a buy, but I am going to buy it regardless.

If you are capable of forgiving the differences between the film and stage versions of 'The Killing of Sister George', you are capable of loving this movie to the point of making your friends nauseous. Give it a look.

A Great Movie
This movie is great. I have read the book and watched the movie and I loved them. They are both touching and sad at times.... any who it is great ... Read more

Reviews (7)

the best movie
it was a good movie i would reccamond it for other people.

A copy of airplanes fly into "The Twilight Zone"
Airplanes taking trips into "The Twilight Zone" is obviously the common denominator for these two first rate episodes from the celebrated television series. "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" stars William Shatner as poor Bob Wilson, who has left a sanatorium only to take a plane flight where he keeps seeing a gremlin trying to sabotage the engine. Of course, no one wants to believe him. Written by Richard Matheson, who wrote the original short story, "Nightmare" was directed by Richard Donner, who went on to be a film director of some note. "The Odyssey of Flight 33" might be a notch below classic status but it is still a solid "Zone" episode. The story by Rod Serling, directed by Justus Addiss, is of a plane that picks up a freak tail wind that sends it back in time. John Anderson as Captain Farver leads the excellent cast that makes this rather far-fetched idea utterly believable. Serling made a point of finding out what real pilots say in the cockpit, which certainly helps the story along. But Shatner's performance is what you will remember from this tape.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE
These are two of the best episodes from this great TV series. In one episode a commercial airliner Captained by veteran actor John Anderson goes back in time in THE ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33. Writen by Rod Serling this modern-moody episode is both memorable and entertaining. In the other episode, William Shatner gives a dazzling performance in NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET written by Richard Matheson from the 5th season. As a just-released mental patient on an airplane flying home with his wife (Christine White), Shatner peers out the window and sees a wooly creature on the wing, dismantling one of the engines. This is one of my favorites and is probably the most recognizable episode from the entire series. Richard Donner ingeniously directed it.

Great Stocking Stuffer from the Twilight Zone
From the 2nd season "THE ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33" is a good episode about a commercial airliner that goes back in time to a prehistoric era and that's only the beginning. John Anderson is very good as the plane's pilot. William Shatner gives a brilliant performance in "NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET" from the 5th season and directed by Richard Donner. As a newly recovered patient from a psychiatric institution, Shatner peers out the window of commercial airliner and sees a bestial creature on the wing, tampering with one of the engines. One of the best scenes is when Shatner has to remove a gun from a sleeping passenger. Only Shatner could have pulled this one off. This is one of my favorites and still holds up to repeated viewing because it is so well crafted.

View these episodes before boarding your next flight.
Serling must have had a ball narrating and scripting these two classics, but he embraced them more than the average viewer will. Twilight Zone fans can't really say they are a fan until they've atleast watched these, but people who can't use their imaginations will be put off. Anyway fans, enjoy your flight! ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Inger Stevens and Ida Lupino visit the Twilight Zone
Inger Stevens and Leonard Strong turn in strong performances as Nan Adams and the title character in Serling's "The Hitch-Hiker," based on the radio play of that name by Lucille Fletcher. Following a blowout, Nan repeatedly sees the same hitch-hiker as she travels along the highway. Since this is, after all, the Twilight Zone, we all know the true identity of the hitch-hiker. "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine," written by Serling, stars Ida Lupino as Barbara Jean Trenton, an aging actress who just sits n her private screening room watching her old films. Martin Balsam turns in an nice performance as her agent, trying to coax her back to the real world. But trying to get her a part in a film and having her former leading man visit her only backfire. Watching this one certainly reminds you of "Sunset Blvd." with a rather happy ending. Both episodes feature fine performances by all the principles, which is why these end up being a couple of above average trips into the Zone.

stupid don't buy it
dum

Going My Way?
One of Rod Serling's masterpieces which features a young, attractive woman on her way to California, who cannot escape the haunting vision of an eerie man thumbing a ride wherever she goes.

Going My Way? For fans of the Twilight Zone, this is a must-see indeed! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Rod Serling + Art Carney = MAGIC!
Every time I watch this I tear up at the end.

This was a hastily done show to get it done in time for Christmas. Serling himself said that there was a holiday spirit on the set, maybe because they had more children than usual on the set.

Art Carney's acting ability makes this episode shine with the magic of the season.

A must have for sentimentalists who still enjoy the Magic of Christmas.

Art Carney stars in Serling's Twilight Zone Christmas Gfit
Night of the Meek," written by Rod Serling, finds poor Henry Corwin (Art Carney), a department store Santa who shows up drunk on Christmas Eve and is fired. Wandering the streets, he discovers a magic bag that can dispense any gift he asks for. The question is, what will Henry do with this most unusual bag? Definitely a seasonal message from Serling and directed by Jack Smight, this episode originally aired on December 23, 1960. Legend has it Serling wrote the episode just to see Art Carney play Santa Claus, and if that story is not true, then it should be. The excellent support casts sports the recognizable John Fielder as Henry's short-tempered boss and Burt Mustin as a friendly bum on the streets, but this is Art Carney's triumph.

still has it
Art Carney (star of THE HONEYMOONERS)(still has it). What I mean is great acting. Rod Serling is a genious making this episode. This is one of my favorite Twilight Zone episode.

Pure Serling
Rod Serling's yearning for those cherished days long gone or a part of ourselves that we think was lost is always evident in his best works. NIGHT OF THE MEEK is very u