By Mike Wilmington Wilmington@moviecitynews.com
Wilmington on DVDs. Co-Picks of the Week: Box or Multiple Sets. The Godfather/The Godfather 2; Braveheart/Gladiator;
CO-PICK: “The Godfather”/”The Godfather 2″ (Four Stars)
U.S.; Francis Coppola, 1972 (Paramount)
Francis Coppola’s restored versions of the first two parts of one of the greatest of gangster sagas and American movies. An offer we can’t refuse, with a cast that can’t be topped: Marlon Brando as Don Corleone, Al Pacino, James Caan and John Cazale as his three sons, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and Morgana King as Corleone womeny, and Richard Conte, Sterling Hayden, Richard Castellano, Al Lettieri, Alex Rocco, Lenny Montana and Abe Vigoda as fellow denizens of the dark world of Mafia crooks and crooked cops — not personal, strictly business.
U.S.; Francis Coppola, 1972 (Paramount)
Francis Coppola’s restored versions of the first two parts of one of the greatest of gangster sagas and American movies. An offer we can’t refuse, with a cast that can’t be topped: Marlon Brando as Don Corleone, Al Pacino, James Caan and John Cazale as his three sons, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and Morgana King as Corleone womeny, and Richard Conte, Sterling Hayden, Richard Castellano, Al Lettieri, Alex Rocco, Lenny Montana and Abe Vigoda as fellow denizens of the dark world of Mafia crooks and crooked cops — not personal, strictly business.
You’re better off with the restoration of the entire Godfather Trilogy, including the more controversial 1990 Part Three. But since a number of viewers feel that Last Chapter is a letdown, they may prefer this shorter package, since it contains the two movies that few argue over. They’re great films, in any case: two masterpieces from an era when our movies were more ambitious, more daring and more adult — and an era when you definitely didn’t want, as Jimmy Caan put it, to have your brother coming out of there with just his dick in his hands…
CO-PICK: “Braveheart”/”Gladiator” Double Feature (Two Pack) (Four Discs) (Four Stars)
U.S.-U.K.: Mel Gibson/Ridley Scott, 1995-2000 (Paramount)
U.S.-U.K.: Mel Gibson/Ridley Scott, 1995-2000 (Paramount)
This is an excellent package, economical and satisfying, and it works whether you’re a history buff, an action fanatic, or just plain a movie-lover. The contents: Two Best Picture Oscar-winning historical adventure films, Braveheart and Gladiator, with two Australian superstars, Mel Gibson and Russell Crowe, in full sword-slashing hero form. The scripts are literate, the underlying history is at least visible, the action is furious, the direction is stylish, and the casts are first-rate. I like them both.
Includes: Braveheart (U.S.: Mel Gibson, 1995) Three and a Half Stars. It may not have deserved the 1995 best picture Oscar. (Many of the winners don’t.) But this lavish period epic about the 13th century Scottish revolt led by William Wallace (Gibson) is an exciting, chest-thumping Rob Roy of a show and still director-star Gibson’s best movie.
The settings are lush, the action is exciting and brutal and the picture is as politically incorrect as you’d expect. The unusually good supporting cast includes Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan (as England’s Edward I), Brendan Gleeson, Catherine McCormick, Ian Bannen, Alun Armstrong, Angus Macfadyen and Brian Cox.
Also: Gladiator (U.S.: Ridley Scott, 2000) Four Stars.
This one may not quite have deserved the Best Picture Oscar either, but it’s as sweeping and entertaining a Hollywood historical adventure epic as you‘ll find, and classier in the visual department than Braveheart. (Of course; Ridley Scott was the director.)
The story is essentially the same one (or very similar) that director Anthony Mann and screenwriters Ben Barzman and Philip Yordan (a longtime black list victim and his longtime front) told in their 1964 Samuel Bronston epic, The Fall of the Roman Empire (the movie that led to the fall of the Bronston Empire), but with more changes and more fictionalization. Russell Crowe is the warrior/gladiator/hero Maximus where the equivalent in The Fall of the Roman Empire, played by Stephen Boyd is general/hero Livius. But Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen and Richard Harris play the same roles (loony emperor Commodus, heroine Lucilla and the meditative Marcus Aurelius) that Christopher Plummer, Sophia Loren and Alec Guinness did for Fall. The rest of the cast is stellar, noble and Roman (well, more stellar, bonle and British, actually) as well: Derek Jacobi, David Hemmings, Oliver Reed (who died in mid-film) and Djimon Hounsou.
The Fall of the Roman Empire was underrated and Gladiator a little overrated, but both of them are very entertaining ways to watch Rome fall, especially if you don’t have the time to read Gibbon‘s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (and you probably don’t). Rest in peace, if possible, Oliver Reed.
Extras: All the extra features from the Sapphire editions of Braveheart and Gladiator.
Good Morning Michael:
Thank you for the shout-out for “THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE”. However, it should be noted that the screenplay (and the crucial and deep research that preceded the outlining of the complex storyline) was the result of a collaboration between Ben Barzman and the Italian screenwriter and journalist Basilio Franchina, who deservedly shared the screen credit. In his de facto role as The Bronston Studio’s chief creative officer, Yordan contributed his customary script editing and production re-write services.
— Paul Nagle