Midnight Oil:Movies and More

“Apollo 13” (1995), directed by Ron Howard, provides a wonderfully realistic dramatization of the historic aborted moon voyage of 1970. There was a PG rating on the film for language and emotional intensity. I appreciated the warning as the parent of a 10 year old who remains fascinated by gadgets, gizmos and galaxies but who gets slightly stressed out by the super suspenseful inner states of being that sell movies. You really do want to make sure that you go to the bathroom before you start out on this two hour “disasterful” cinematic voyage to the moon and back. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon (playing astronauts Lovell, Haise and Swigert) form a triumvirate for outer space. Ed Harris provides ground support as Flight Director Gene Kranz. Well, there was that other guy, Gary Sinise. He plays astronaut Ken Mattingly. That’s the fellow who gets knocked off of the roster at the last minute by German measles - but no one ever mentions him. They did manage, in the name of historical accuracy, to mention the fact that the unfortunate Pilot Haise, played by Bill Paxton, got a major urinary tract infection due to not drinking enough water during the mission. Too much information.

Methinks there was a bit too much testosterone floating around the stratosphere in this film. In the end, everyone keeps their head and all get back to earth safely. I really wasn’t sure there for a few minutes – and that was after seeing the film previously and living through the historical event. When they are done right, movies can be an engrossing form of storytelling. This one was done right.

 >>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

>>Real Life Story: Darrell Waltrip was a great success as a NASCAR driver until a near fatal accident changed his direction in life.

View the video trailer for "Apollo 13" (1995)

"Fahrenheit 451" (1966) IMDb, inspired by Ray Bradbury's science fiction novel of the same name, delivers a disturbing vision of a futuristic world where books are contraband to be burned by the state. For those of us who love books, this is a truly scary and undesirable future reality. Werner Oskar stars as the fireman who begins to question the purpose behind burning books in the oppressive police state. Julie Christie plays the double role of the witless wife of the fireman, Linda, and the open minded free spirit, Clarisse.

Check out Thom Ernst's blog for the scoop on his interview with the original author, Ray Bradbury, for the TVO Saturday Night at the Movies Interviews.

View the TVO video web preview for "Fahrenheit 451" (includes snippets of the Bradbury interview)

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See the video trailer for "Fahrenheit 451" (1966)

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“I Confess” (1953) with Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter, and Karl Malden makes for a rather melodramatic situation where the real murderer uses the silence of the confessional as the perfect cover-up for his crime. Alfred Hitchcock’s direction on site in Quebec City gives this film a bit of a different perspective. Once you realize that the setting is supposed to be Quebec City during the 1950’s in the pre-Vatican II Duplessis era, it all starts to make a little more sense – the film, that is, not the murder mystery plot. The murder, cover-up, romance, blackmail and dénouement are all very predictable. What else can we expect when two excruciatingly beautiful people such as Anne Baxter and Montgomery Clift are caught up in a thoroughly impossible situation? It is all completely incomprehensible and implausible in today’s world until you remember that this is supposed to be Quebec in the 1950’s. The prominent landmarks and buildings seen in the film are still there today. (Our family visits quite regularly.) The social and religious landscapes that make this film believable are not. C’est quoi encore le dicton en anglais? “Much Ado About Nothing”?

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See the film trailer for "I Confess" (1953).

“Kiss of Death” (1947)INDb starring Victor Mature with Karl Malden is overshadowed by the Tommy Udo character played by Richard Widmark. Widmark is unforgettable as the sneering psychopath who inhabits this film. The movie is constructed so that we’re supposed to cheer for the ex-con, Nick Bianco (Mature) and his new love (Coleen Gray) as they try to make a new life for their family far away from the criminal past. Suspense builds as Tommy Udo swears revenge on Nick Bianco for turning him in to the police and then goes on the hunt for his family. It ends up that it’s Widmark who makes an indelible impression on people’s minds and on film history, and not the “good guy” who gets the girl and the happy ending.

See the SNAM blog authored by Thom Ernst on a dedication to the recently passed Richard Widmark.

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Catch the infamous "wheel chair scene" on video from “Kiss of Death” (1947)

“Local Hero” (1983) is an offbeat film about an offbeat oil magnate (Burt Lancaster) who sends his lackey boy (Peter Riegert) to buy a sleepy little fishing village on the coast of Scotland in order to accommodate some of his latest industrial projects. What with the aurora borealis, a pretty biologist named Marina, a canny lawyer slash innkeeper, a roving Russian songster and an odd assortment of townspeople, things get quite off track in short order. Amongst my favourites from the cast of local characters was the right Reverend MacPherson, a pillar of the community who happens to be a black man from Africa. Equally unexpected is the colourful character of Ben Knox, the eccentric beachcomber whose wise words and unflappable tenacity get the whole show moving in a completely different direction. Thanks to old Ben, it turns out that we see that there might just be something more important in life than money after all.

This film was screened with "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", also reviewed on Midnight Oil.

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See the video trailer for "Local Hero" (1983)