Word: capra
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...problem, alas, is that the Lincoln Memorial is not an ideal, it is a cliche. It was cliched when Frank Capra had the wide-eyed Mr. Smith prevented from seeing the corruption all around him in the Senate by being taken on a tour of the Capitol where he fawned over the same memorial. It is cliched today...
Historical dramas? Of course. In 1939 there was something for everyone. Try Juarez, Union Pacific and The Story of Alexander Graham Bell. Tearjerkers? Take a box of Kleenex and see Dark Victory, Intermezzo, Goodbye, Mr. Chips and The Light That Failed. Politics? Just think of Frank Capra's populist parable Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or that gritty tragedy Of Mice and Men. The list goes on and on: Babes in Arms; Destry Rides Again; The Hunchback of Notre Dame; W.C. Fields' You Can't Cheat an Honest Man; The Roaring Twenties; and The Cat and the Canary, which gave...
...biggest loser is Kanin. His script, considered an American classic, either has dated badly or was overrated to start. It is a political, moral and especially a rhetorical muddle; its most grandiloquent speeches sound like discarded first drafts for a lesser Frank Capra movie. At the end, a Senator gets away with taking a bribe and Brock apparently gets away with murder, all with the connivance of the supposed hero and heroine. That may echo how some spectators feel about the outcome of recent insider-trading cases, but Kanin seemingly intended a shout of triumph, not this cynical sigh...
...WONDERFUL LIFE (almost everywhere). Imagine what Christmas would be like if Frank Capra's film classic had never been born...
Unlike Bull Durham, Eight Men Out is a true baseball film. Although it may go too far in attributing Frank Capra-esque traits to baseball, the movie does attempt to present the sport the way it should be, as an integral part of American culture. When news of the scandal becomes public, Chicago is in shock. The possibility of actual players, the immortal heroes of the city, sacrificing their talent for a few quick bucks is unthinkable in the untarnished world of baseball. Yet Sayles succeeds in bringing his point across. Innocence will always tarnish, whether it be love...