MRM : Disney's Lone Ranger: Wild West Wipeout

 

Today's Disney is a sad and pale comparison to it's days of greatness, no film is a better example of this than Disney's attempt at bringing one of the most hallowed and legendary wild west myths to life, The Lone Ranger.

The film was an abomination to the motion picture industry and a disgraceful insult to the American Legend.

One of the worst parts was the casting of, then red hot actor, Johnny Depp to play American Indian character, Tonto, to the loud objections of the masses to cast an actual American Indian in the role rather than just another Hollywood actor.  Depp's character was overplayed and many times seemed to be more of a focus of the film than others, including the namesake of the film.  Depp was, one of the few times, out of his element and really lost on how to portray the character.

The outlandish situations in the story and characters in the film would have been far better put in a sequel to the Will Smith & Kevin Kline hit, Wild Wild West, which was based on such things.

The Helena Bonham Carter character, Red would have been a perfect fit for the second WWW film, as would Disney's interpretation of the lead horse, Silver, who sometimes seemed to believe he was a bird. 

Disney is truly lost, the best they can do in today's market is to repeat stories they have told in the past and to buy out other franchises and characters, rather than telling classic stories in the Disney way.  Creativity has been completely replaced for the sole desire to make money, not understanding that they will never see the revenue they would under the way Walt did it.

I greatly fear for the day that Disney decides to modernize their classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, forcing modern political and social issues into the classic tale from Jules Verne, it only seems a matter of time.

Walt Disney's path was to unite the greatest film makers and creative minds that he could, to come up with the greatest creations and telling of tales that would spark the imagination and creativity of audiences, but there seems to be no talent or creativity in the modern Disney company at all.

Disney's telling of, The Lone Ranger couldn't get a lower rating from me, it's one of the worst films that I've ever seen, and being that I grew up watching the reruns of Clayton Moore as the legendary masked man, I consider the film as an insult to Mr. Moore and the legacy he worked so hard to give to the character.

Major League memories for a winning movie

 "...JUST a bit outside!" has become a catch phrase for more then just a wild pitch in baseball.  It's been called out by commenters at tennis matches, football games and about any other sport with a ball, but it's just one of the many memorable lines from, Major League.

To this day, Major League, is still one of the most beloved and memorable sports movies of all time and gave us some truly great movie characters and a launching pad for two great careers, Wesley Snipes and Charlie Sheen.

The biggest problem that this movie has, its sequels, it's hard for some to separate the first film from the second, and the second didn't do any favors to the first, as the sequel went far more into the comedy genre than a good up-and-coming baseball film.

Standing on it's own, Major League really is a truly great sports movie, it had a lot more of the life problems that some players see, but was also able to mix in a bit of that movie magic, so that all things come together.

One of the first people that has to be acknowledged is, Mr Baseball Bob Uecker, without him, the film would have had a completely different tone and wouldn't have been the success it was, he stole the show, yet all the rest of the cast is still very memorable.  He was given a completely free hand at his scenes and it really paid off.

The base story is pretty good, a widow and former showgirl inherits ownership of a major league baseball team from her deceased husband, she hatches a plan to sink the team and move it to a more pleasant climate, from Cleveland to Miami.  The ragtag team of has-beens, never should bes and misfits has to come together to win the pennant.  It's basic but really works, especially if you can keep the second film out of your head, it deserves the 🌟

Wild Thing Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), Cerano (Dennis Haysbert) & Jobu, Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger) and the bitch herself, Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitten) are ones that very few sports fans don't know, and a lot of non-sports fans won't forget.  The characters for the film all filled their roles very nicely, almost no crossover.  Even though you might not remember the name, Eddie Harris (Chelsie Ross) you will remember the line, "yo bartender, Jobu needs a refill" and what he was like.  This gang should get the star but I'd like to have seen more of the team represented than just a small handful of the starters, I think this is one of the two things that held the film back.

The casting, was phenomenal, not sure they could have done any better on any of the choices.  Each one ate up their role as if the chef cooked it based on their DNA.  James Gammon was great as Manager, Lou Brown and his short connection with Charlie Donovan (Charles Cyphers), was an excellent scene, and should have had more to it.  Casting gets the 🌟

Next to the sequels, the writing was one of the parts that needed to push themselves more, in the way the team did to mess with Rachels plan, but they slid short and got tagged out.  As I said, the basic story was good, but the script didn't seem to know which direction it really wanted to go.  The comedy from Uecker's announce, Harry Doyle and the problems with Wild Things control were more than enough comedy for the film, but they felt the need to over play some at the expense of what could have been a bit more dramatic story. 

When Jake Taylor walked back out onto the field, we felt the weight of it and that special moment for him, we felt that big league part.  He points to the wall, takes his swing and hits his "home run" and takes his trip around the bases, but it then fell a bit flat as the two rookies didn't have their moment of "WOW, this IS the big leagues" that they should have, another fail of the writing, but we still felt it for Taylor.  On top of that, all the other locations just felt right for the scenes, except one, the bar that Vaughn was sitting alone in when Dorn's wife comes in to pick him up, didn't seem like his kind of place to "be alone".  Two pieces, even though one was more the writers fault, doesn't make it to third base on production.

The soundtrack is an excellent blend of James Newton Howard's great buildup music and Randy Newman's easy blues for, Burn on Big River, gave you the feel of Cleveland and Municipal Stadium near the Cuyahoga River, it made a good setting for the opening credits, you got the vibe of film from that song and you were moved by the background music, encouraging the desire to cheer them on.  The nice mix gets the soundtrack the 🌟

When it comes to the direction of the film, this cast shot says a lot, they really had a good time making the movie and it moves well, you connect to the story and characters at a good pace and get the changes and growth of the story and characters.  There aren't any bits and pieces left dangling, no real unanswered questions that highly affect the story, things wrap up nicely in then end,  David Ward gets the 🌟 for this one, too bad some of his other directorial outings, King Ralph, Major League II and Down Periscope weren't done a bit better, even though I'm a fan of those.

The editor Dennis Hill should get an extra bases high five, as the scenes went well together, the flow and rhythm of the film are good and keep you involved. 🌟

The studio put a fairly good marketing campaign out for the film, but didn't really step up to the plate like they could have, more baseball oriented merchandise like pennants would have been great, as well as action figures through Kenner Toys and their, Starting Lineup sets would be incredible collector items today.  They seemed to just see it as another sports movie, with a decent push, but didn't expect much so they didn't go for the big hit, they played it safe, unfortunately. 

As far are Time & Loyalty, like many sports movies, this one certainly qualifies for the hall of fame, it's still a big hit and fans still cheer for the underdog.  The merchandise has even begun to come around with bobbleheads and Funko Pop figures, along with even being able to get a pair of Wild Thing glasses. 🌟

⚾ A film that could have been an epic, grand slam home run, but didn't have the power to make it over the wall, so it's only a 6 out of 10 stars, but still a movie I will rarely give up the chance to watch. 

Airport (1970) Flying to a Perfect Score

 Based on the 1968 novel by Authur Hailey, this film was one of the classics of Hollywood's epic disaster era, so much so it would spawn several sequels and one of the most famous film spoofs of all time, Airplane (1980).

Director and screenwriter, George Seaton (Miracle on 34th Street, 1947) brought the novel to the studio and was granted a great budget for the film, Hollywood was still pretty open about going all out for such types of films at the time.  

The base story of the novel/film is that the transcontinental flight between the US and Rome was threatened by a disturbed passenger looking to commit suicide by bomb so his wife could collect the insurance.  The explosion was to take out the airliner over the sea, as one character says, "the Atlantic doesn't leave any evidence".  Bottom line, it's basic, real and believable in the age, it was as if one was watching a film of how an event actually happened.  The story gets the 🌟 and the bold yet realistic script also gets the 🌟

The cast was quite the who's-who list for the era and would cost a major fortune by today's standards.  Burt Lancaster stars as Airport President, Mel Bakersfeld, overseeing the day-to-day operations of Lincoln International Airport during one of the worst snow storms in 20 years.  It also created the role for which George Kennedy was born to portray,  head mechanic, Joe Patroni, a role he would reprise over and over, also leading him to be, Mr Disaster Films for the 1970's.  Two Supporting Actress Wins, an Oscar for Helen Hayes as Ada Quonsett & a Golden Globe for Maureen Stapleton. Everyone  either grows or grows on you.  The Characters get the 🌟  While we're on the subject, everyone seems to be just right for their parts, each one fits their role in the story and comes off as believable and identifiable.  Casting also gets the 🌟

The Production was top rate for their time, they even brought in a second director (Henry Hathaway) to oversee the outdoor winter scenes that didn't involve the main cast, so as to take in the full effect of what the storm was doing to, not only the airport, but the north part of the nation.  Sets and settings were fantastic and had the exact look that took people behind the scenes of how an airport is run.  The Cinematographer, Ernest Lazlo is an Oscar Winner and went on to work on, Fantastic Voyage, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (with Mel Brooks) and the sci-fi classic, Logan's Run. For this, it also gets the 🌟

For the films score, Alfred Newman was brought in and created a masterpiece, he would be nominated for the Oscar for best soundtrack and win the Grammy for the same that year.   The score is not only memorable but moving the viewer through the film and has great timing, the theme brings out the hurried panic that the story wanted, so this also gets the 🌟

Director & screenwriter George Seaton hadn't had a major hit since he worked on the 1947 classic, Miracle on 34th Street, but if you're going to hang your hat on a film, that's a good one to have.  After you learn about the film, you can feel his passion for the project and to pull off a very specific mood for the film, like the magic of 1947, he brings out the fear and panic in this one, so he too gets the 🌟

In the editing process you develop the pace for a movie, a critical step in the making of any disaster film, 1970 or 2021, Airport would lay out a flight plan for other films to follow for decades to come, even though not all would follow it, Stuart Gilmore (Hatari, 1962) (The Alamo (1960) would be used to a big production after two John Wayne hits. 🌟

The studio would go all out for the film, with multiple posters in the States (a sign of studio confidence back then) and both would feature shots of the star-studded cast, which is another reason they went all out, even if the story flopped, they thought most would come out to see these stars together.  English actress and 70s sex symbol icon, Jacqueline Bisset would do some of the promotion for the film, that sure got a lot of men interested in the film.  It also showed the confidence that would give them three sequels, each one trying to outdo the last, Airport 77, will be another film I'll feature sometime.  But the Commitment & Confidence in this one also gets the 🌟

It's only in the category of, Time & Loyalty, that the film see's any issues, but not for the fault of the movie or it's producers, air travel has changed so much since then, it doesn't have the believability it once did, people just can't understand how the character of D.O. Guerrero (great character actor, Van Heflin, who would be characterized in films and cartoons) could get a bomb on board an airplane that easily.  Also the information age does some damage to the films credibility.  Back then, it would take an expert in air travel to see the unlikely way the plane remained airborne after the explosion, but with the internet, everyone is an "expert" or thinks they are.  But, if you know the era and age that it was filmed in, or allow yourself to live in that era, it still holds up and the loyalty of the fans George Kennedy still has, keeps this one flying high, so it still gets the 🌟

As you might have guessed, I really like this film, it has all the elements that makes for great and basic story telling.  It is one of my "go-to" films to just pop in the player and let it fly, it's one that never gets old to me. 

Those who don't like this film are mainly going to be people who don't have the intellectual capacity to put themselves into the era the film was made, they try to watch it with today's eyes and refuse to understand the history of film making.

Airport (1970) gets 10 out of 10, and my highest recommendation. ✈😉

Next film review will get a little WILD with, Major League