In the Heat of the Night

Loved it!

I have to say, this film is my favorite of the ones we have seen so far. Of course, many of us have heard the famous line "they call me Mr. Tibbs" and the less cultured among us at least recognize the Lion King spoof "they call me Mr. Pig! AAAAHHHHHHH!" Although many famous lines from AFI movies seem a let-down or just plain cheesy when you actually view them in context, this one is an exception. I thought Poitier's delivery of the line was nothing but powerful, along with the movie itself.

The story sheds light on the differences between the North and South and the ways in which prejudice is still deep rooted in many small southern towns. When Mr. Tibbs (called "Virgil" by the disrespectful police officers investigating a murder), a black Philadelphia police officer, proves to be yards ahead of his white counterparts in small-town Mississippi, they are forced to face their blatant racism and challenge their preconceived notions of African Americans. Tibbs is smooth, efficient and clever, in contrast to the other police officers' clumsy and clueless approach to solving the murder case.

At parts, the film was extremely moving, especially when Tibbs visits a cotton plantation and is slapped in the face by the white owner, a motion which he quickly returns, much to the recipient's horror. I was blown away by Sidney Poitier's skill and effortless performance. This was my first encounter with him as an actor but he certainly lived up to his great reputation. I am itching to see "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" after thoroughly enjoying this performance. An excellent story, excellent acting, excellent film. Truly an American classic.

The Heat of the Night

In the Heat of the Night was based off of a book by the same title by John Ball.

The film takes place in the fictional town of Sparta, Mississippi. A prominent man is murdered in a small southern town, and the police must find the killer. To solve the murder, the town police must get the help of a Northern Policeman, who happens to be an African American, who must deal with the racist attitudes of a 60s southern small town.

It came out in 1967 and it won five academy awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (for Rod Steiger), Film Editing, Sound, and Writing Adapted for a screenplay.

The film is ranked number 75 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies, it is a new addition to the list from the 1998 list. It also has the distinction of being on AFI's 100 Movie Quotes list as well, with, "They call me Mister Tibbs!" as being number 16 on that list.

Jaws

To be honest, I was excited when I found out we were going to be watching Jaws. I have attempted to watch it about four and five times, but I had never been able to complete the movie. It always got to the part where they were going to find the shark- but I always had to turn it off! Usually this was because my Dad had to go on some kind of a business errand or my Grandma had just finished cooking dinner. So, the prospect of finishing the elusive Jaws was an exciting prospect for me!

I found the film to be good, but not exactly to my liking. The first half of the movie begins like a Hitchcock film, that is, it is suspenseful and mysterious. Spielberg never shows the vicious shark and leaves you wondering what will happen next; when the movie gets to a point when the heroes must board the ship to defeat the monster, it is then that the film begins to lose its luster. I had never experienced the latter part of the film, and I don' t know if I would want to again. It is not bad or uninteresting, just that it seems to go on for far to long. The characters shoot the shark to no avail, and battle it with with nature. And, just when it seems that they are about to give up or take the shark down, the movie just goes on another twenty minutes....

All of the characters are great and the special effects are wondrous for their time. I just wish that Spielberg had cut the movie down by fifteen to twenty minutes.

Jaws

I was surprised at how much "Jaws" reminded me of the 50s/60s Hitchcock thriller. I confess, I had not known it was made in the seventies and thought it was an eighties movie when I caught it on TV growing up. In all probability, I had only seen the second half of the movie, which I found very different from the first half. It was as though for the first hour Spielberg drew from "Psycho" or "The Birds", and for the second he focused on a model that would inspire the likes of "Armageddon" - the "mission" film.

"Jaws" is a sort of mish-mesh of the two styles of film, making me think of it as a bridge between one era and another. Being a classic movie fan, I enjoyed the first half more; I liked the way he built up suspense and dread in the viewer with the several shark attacks, first the girl swimming late at night and then on the beach in broad daylight. The shots were very Hitchcock, including one that Max pointed out debuted in "Vertigo." Once we had seen the shark, I lost most of my interest in the film.

I can see how, after seeing "Jaws," audiences at the time would have been afraid to go swimming. It is really terrifying in parts. However, once we see the men on the boat attempt a hundred times to kill the shark, I just start to hurl something at the screen to kill it myself. How many times can a shark be shot before it dies? Just for the fact that this film was a hallmark in its day, though, and probably ushered in a new type of filmmaking/distribution pattern, it does deserve to be on the list.

Jaws

Jaws (1975) was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on a bestselling novel inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916.

It is regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history, the father of the summer blockbuster movie and one of the first "high concept" films. It was the first time that a film was ever "widely released" (opened nationwide all at the same time.)

It stars Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton.

Jaws was nominated for Best Picture, and won Academy Awards for film editing, music (original score) and sound. It is no. 2 on AFI's "100 years... 100 thrills" list, and no. 56 on the "100 Greatest Movies" list (down 8 from 1998).

Easy Rider

Wow, I agree with Max. The film really was painful to watch. From the first frame, the protagonists (what were their names again?) were already taking drugs. It felt that not only the characters, but the filmmakers themselves, were pretty drugged up throughout the experience. I started to wonder if I had taken something myself... or wish I had...

Max mentioned the scenery of the film being beautiful, and I agree. Throughout the hour and a half, I could not help but wonder how much of the success and popularity of the film is due to the novelties it would have presented to an audience in the late sixties. I imagine that, before this, few films had been shot almost entirely in the outdoors, and with such freedom to explore America's terrain from a biker's perspective. There is also the cultural aspect; how did "Easy Rider" look by the end of the sixties? It was probably representative of a society that moviegoers recognized and identified with. Yet today in the 21st century, such distinctions are merely commonplace, and have even rolled into the category of "cliche."

"Easy Rider" is probably a good example of a film that doesn't hold up in its own right today. Being squeamish and overly timid, I found it difficult to watch the often explicit and downright disturbing drug and sex scenes; but even putting those personal reactions aside, I found little to enjoy as a viewer in 2008. The film's message of freedom and promotion of the hippie lifestyle is outdated, and its technical features are unspectacular too. A decent plot and universal values might have saved the film, but alas, here too, it fails to deliver.

Easy Rider- Not so easy...

In order to be cultured in todays world, it is essential to have knowledge of cinema. Movies have effected every aspect of our culture and to be ignorant of them is a profound mistake. At the risk of sounding like a philistine, it is just as important to expose yourself to Hitchcock as it is to Beethoven.

Thankfully, The American Film Institute has given us a valuable guide to viewing the "great" movies; Unfortunately, to do this, it involves watching movies like Easy Rider. I originally saw this movie back in 2000 when I was seventeen, then I thought the movie was boring and unenjoyable. After discussing it with my video production teacher I came to the conclusion that the movie was simply too advanced for my taste. Now, eight years later, after giving the movie another try, I have concluded that it is not only unejoyable but it is unwatchable.

The only way anyone could possible enjoy this movie is if they saw it in theaters back in 1969. But, its important to note, the film is not bad because it is dated; It is bad because there is no plot, no characters, no nothing...It is just two drug dealers riding motorcycles through the desert while stoned. All the events that take place in the 93 minutes of the film seem irrelevant.

In fact, the only meaningful part of the film, is Jack Nicholson (who joins halfway through) diauloge with Billy:

George Hanson: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.
Billy: Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened. Hey, we can't even get into like, a second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel, you dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or somethin'. They're scared, man.
George Hanson: They're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.
Billy: Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
George Hanson: Oh, no. What you represent to them is freedom.
Billy: What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.
George Hanson: Oh, yeah, that's right. That's what's it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it, that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. Of course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free, 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh, yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom. But they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.
Billy: Well, it don't make 'em runnin' scared.
George Hanson: No, it makes 'em dangerous. Buh, neh! Neh! Neh! Neh! Swamp!

This paranoid style of thinking is prevalent throughout the film. All of the characters are either on the side of the free (ie. good) or the reactionaries (ie. nearly everyone else). The problem with this is not only does it make for uninteresting cinema, but it also plays into the fact that the film is so dated; when Hopper (who acts and directs the film) shows us a hippie commune that is presumably the "ideal" lifestyle , it looks absolutely ridicules to anyone who who is not on a hallucinogenic drug. In contrast to this, the villians are cardboard cutouts of every redneck stereotype imaginable. They prevent Captain America and Billy from staying at motels and throw them in jail for "parading without a license". When the bikers visit a roadside cafe, they are mocked and driven out by the square good ole boys; while it is hard to sympathize with them, how could any objective person really feel anything for Captain America and Hopper? Days before, they had just sold cocaine and used the profits to finance their trip to Mardi Gras. And, moments before being mocked, the riders openly flirt with underage girls. Although the rednecks are supposed to be bad for their prejudice against long hair- are they wrong? Do the bikers have any redeeming qualities? And, would you feel comfortable with your daughter bringing one of them home for dinner?

Easy Riders glorifies an abstract notion of "freedom" that is largely undesirable for anyone who who values sobriety. As a film, it has some beautiful scenery, and as a period piece it has some interesting qualities; but, like the late-sixties, the film is should be forgotten as a whimsical and ridicules moment in time.