Night of the Hunter (1955): The psychotic horror

Horror is not only about things that creak in the night, or about other such stuff that is tried to scare you. The concept of a crazed human being, who otherwise looks perfectly normal, and who kills and terrorises others, can be very scary. Especially, when this is done by someone who takes their time over this, willing to wait for a certain period of time before carrying out their mission. No matter that it takes time, the mission is uppermost in the mind of this individual, and he or she does not care about the feelings of others, or that if necessary, other human beings can be killed.
The Night of the Hunter is a movie acknowledged to be a 'film noir' movie, although there are people who absolutely love the movie, and there are others who cannot understand why the movie is so liked; after all, the characters are not really daily life, the story may not be so plausible, and the acting is considered by some to be over-done.



When the movie was released, it was not met with rapture by critics, but over a period of 4 decades, the movie has been shown on Television multiple times, and has acquired a cult following (to the extent that the movie is now believed to be a top 100 movie; it is also regularly listed among the most scary movies of all time). The movie was directed by a one-time director, Charles Laughton, who was much more famous as a Academy Award winning actor, and screen-writer. The movie stars Robert Mitchum in the main role as the demented killer.
Night of the Hunter was based on a book of the same name by author David Grubb, and both were based on the real life story of Harry Powers (executed in 1932 for being the main accused in the murder of 2 women and 3 children). The story was powerful, but the style of the movie - it combines religious overdone, a Brothers Grimm type fairy tale in the middle, and a stalker who is most ruthless.
The movie is about the self-styled preacher, Harry Powell (Mitchum) who is sharing a prison cell with a man Ben Harper (Peter Graves) who is sentenced to hang for his part in a robbery in which killings happened. He alone knows where the money is hidden, and only tells his children (John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce)) where the money is located. He does not tell anyone else, not even his wife. Powell tries to get Harper to tell him where the money is located, but no dice; however he does get an elusive clue from Harper in the manner of a quote uttered in sleep "And a child shall lead them". This is enough to convince Powell that the children know where the money is located.
Once he is out, there is a single minded quest to get the money, and to be near the children, he manages to get Harper's widow Willa to marry him. However, even on questioning, the children do not trust him and do not tell him anything. Willa eventually finds out, and Powell then kills her. After Willa, Powell uses threat and manages to get them to tell him the location, but then escape with the money on a boat ride (a most fantastic ride) and find sanctuary with Rachel Cooper (Lilian Gish). Powell searches for them, and finds Rachel, but she manages to hold him off, and then the police arrive.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

Kramer vs. Kramer was an incredible movie. Based on an adaptation of a novel by Avery Corman, the movie was directed by Robert Benton and released in 1979. The movie became a major landmark in the depiction of the trauma of the divorce of a couple, and the effect that it has on everybody involved, most notably on the young children who are torn apart by the divorce. The depiction of the tensions in a marriage related to ambition, feelings of neglect, and the shift in the earlier traditional roles of a marriage made this movie one that seems relevant even today. The movie came at a time when there was a shift in the traditional dynamics of a marriage, with a greater number of women seeking to find themselves by building a career for themselves. Combine this with a great script, some careful (and non-biased handling), and excellent performances, and you get to see why Kramer vs. Kramer became successful then, and remains a wonderful movie.



The movie starts Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as Ted and Joanna Kramer. Ted is a rising advertising executive, and needs to put in a large amount of time in his job. Something has got to give when such large amounts of time are spent on the job, and ted is unable to spend much time with his wife and child, eight-year old Billy (Justin Henry). He hardly knows what is going on at home, and greatly neglects his wife Joanna. And then it happens; Joanna feels a total sense of despair, of not doing anything, and informs Ted that she needs to leave in order to try and find herself.
This shocks Ted to an incredible degree. He struggles to understand as to why Joanna left him and also has to adjust to running the house, with a young son, and also keep to his demanding job. He slowly starts to adjust to the reason as to why Joanna left him, and starts to form a bond with his son. His job starts suffering, but he is more interested in being a good parent, and eventually he loses his job. And then, after an year and a half, Joanna comes back to claim Billy. Ted is not willing, and a custody battle happens which Ted loses and custody is granted to Joanna. However, in the end, Joanna tells Ted that she understands that Billy has a great relationship with Ted, and that Billy can continue to stay with Ted.

Oscar Wins

* Best Picture
* Best Director
* Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
* Best Actor in a Leading Role - Dustin Hoffman
* Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Meryl Streep

Nominations

* Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Jane Alexander
* Best Cinematography
* Best Film Editing
* Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Justin Henry. Henry was and is to date the youngest acting Academy Award nominee.

The Goodbye Girl (1977)

The Goodbye girl was a movie released in 1977, a urban comedy about an odd-beat romance set in Manhattan (centered about an apartment over there). The twist in the making of the movie was that it was supposed to be starring Robert DeNiro and Marsha Mason (the wife of the screenplay writer Neil Simon (they later divorced in 1981)). The screenplay for the movie was called 'Bogart Slept Here'; but guess what, the movie never got made based on that screenplay. A bit later, Robert DeNiro got written our, and Richard Dreyfuss was brought in, and then the screenplay was dumped; however, Dreyfuss and Mason were kept on as the leading couple and the screenplay was re-written. The movie proved to be very lucky for Dreyfuss, since it led to a Best Actor Oscar for him (in fact, at the time he was the youngest actor to win the Best Actor award).



The movie got 4 other Oscar nominations:
- Best Picture nomination - Ray Stark
- Best Actress nomination - Mason
- Supporting Actress nomination - Cummings
- Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen nomination - Simon

The movie is rated both as a great comedy and as a bitter-sweet romance where the couple initially hate each other's guts, get into many scenes with each other, but slowly over a period of time, learn to appreciate each other (or a single incident can also do that in some cases); and finally realize that they do love each other.
The movie is about these 3 characters - Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason), her 10 year old daughter Lucy (Quinn Cummings), and a young actor Eliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss). Paula and Lucy are staying with Paula's boyfriend Tony, an actor, and he has promised that the next week they will all move to Los Angeles. After a long day shopping, Paula and Lucy come home and realize that this was not to be, like previous cases where Paula has been dropped by other men (many of them actors), Tony has left them high and dry and gone off to Italy.
Paula realizes that they don't have money and she needs to resume dancing, but soon realizes that things are not so easy. She needs to get back into dancing form, and while returning from the class, she is told by the building manager (Mrs. Crosby) that Tony (to add insult to injury) had sublet the apartment and Paula can't do anything about it since Tony owned the apartment. She is by now not terribly fond to actors; so imagine the shock when she finds out that the apartment has been leased to Eliot (another aspiring actor). However, she has to keep her anger and scorn under control, and agrees when Eliot proposes that they share the apartment. Eliot is here to play the title role in the stage production of Richard III (but in the nature of a stereotype homosexual), not something that seems likely to succeed.
They have many clashes, but slowly start adjusting to each other, and Eliot also starts getting closer to Lucy, likely to warm any mother's heart. And they start to fall in love, and then the inevitable, he gets a call for a great opportunity in another city, a very important chance. This has happened to Paula many times, and so it seems like destiny repeating itself; what happens to their relation now ?

The movie also had a song with the same name, and that was super hit (performed by David Gates).

E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial

How many people would there be who have not seen or hear about this movie ? This was one of the movies that made Steven Spielberg famous. Released in 1982, it was a financial super-success. At the time of its release, it was the most financially successful movie released; costing a bare $ 10.5 million, it made upwards of $ 790 million. The movie was such a great success, it was re-released in 1985 and again in 2002. The movie was to a large extent based on an imaginary alien companion that Spielberg invented when he was a young child, primarily to overcome the trauma of his parent's divorce.
The cast of the movie included Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert McNaughton, Drew Barrymore and Peter Coyote. Out of these, Drew Barrymore is the one who is the most famous now. But the one who got the most credit out of this movie is Steven Spielberg who became extremely famous after this movie, and he rightfully credits it as one of his best movies. The character of E.T in this movie was a delightful creation, every small child's dream, a very good companion. The movie touched the hearts of a whole generation of people and is still remembered as a eminently watchable movie.



The story is not very complicated. A group of aliens are collecting samples of vegetation in the forest when Government agents approach. In their haste to leave, they leave behind one of their own. He is discovered by a young boy Thomas Eliott, who tries to entice the cute looking alien to his room.
He manages to avoid going to school the next day to find out more about the alien and to play with him. He also gets his elder brother Michael and sister Gertie to meet the alien, but hides his from his mother. They get into a sort of conversation with the alien where it floats balls to represent its own solar system and also brings a dead plant back to life.
The two, Eliott and E.T develop a close bond, that also causes Eliott some trouble in school since he does some strange activities that get him sent to the Principal's office. E.T learns English by watching a television serial called 'Sesame Street' and takes Eliott's help for building a device so that he can call home. On Haloween, they dress E.T as a ghost and take him out of the house and into the forest where E.T successfully calls home.
The next day, both Eliott and E.T seem to be dying, at which time Government agents invade the house and set up a quarantine for Eliott and E.T. E.T suddenly dies, breaking the link between them, and then comes back to life and says his kind are returning to take him back. The kids decide to help E.T escape and stay a step ahead of Government agents in a chase. At this time, one of the most famous sequence of the movie happens where E.T lifts the bicycle in the air when they are trapped in a dead-end. And finally, E.T returns home.

Home Alone: A great any time watch movie

Home Alone was a tremendously successful movie. Released in 1990, it is still remembered today as an incredible comedy. Starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a 8 year old boy, and starring Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as 2 bumbling bandits who are trying to steal Kevin's house when he is Home Alone. This movie made Macaulay as a world star, and earned a great deal. It was made on a budget of $15 million and earned more than $450 million worldwide, which makes it a tremendous money making machine.
Home Alone is the kind of movie that you can watch again and again for the humour contained in it. Even though the humour is essentially a series of misfortunes directed at the 2 bandits, the speed and sequence of the events ensure that you are laughing through most of them; it also helps that the events are orchestrated by a kid against 2 grown up robbers.
The movie is essentially about Kevin getting left behind home when the whole family goes on vacation. On the evening just before the vacation, Kevin has an argument and gets sent to an upstairs bedroom, and when the family wakes up late, they rush to get to get to the airport in time. In all the commotion, Kevin gets left behind and wakes up to an empty house. He enjoys the empty house to some extent, but starts missing his family soon.
Given all this is happening just around Christmas Eve, there is a fair amount of snow and Christmas Spirit, and Kevin meets a feared neighbour, Marley and discovers that Marley is just separated from his family, and is otherwise not to be feared at all. In the meantime, there is a group of bandits called the 'Wet Bandits' because they leave a running tap in house where they break into. They see a number of empty houses all ready to steal into while their owners are away for vacation.
The bandits plan to break into Kevin's house, and he discovers this. And this is where the real action begins. He prepares a battle plan and lays a series of traps, which includes putting grease on the house entrance, putting a fire torch to burn whoever enters, heating up the door opener to burn the hand, putting tacks near the window, and a number of other obstructions. In such a way, he prevents them from entering the house for a fair amount of time, and when they finally enter after much bruising, they face a number of other obstacles. For a list of all the traps that they faced, refer to this Wikipedia article.
They are getting more mad, and finally, after much beating at the hands of the various traps, they manage to capture Kevin. Unfortunately for the bandits, at that time, the neighbour Marley intervenes. Eventually, Kevin is re-united with his family. This movie can be enjoyed at any time, and kids really love it.

Great animation: Toy Story

Toy Story is an incredible movie, it is sometimes easy to forget that this was an animation movie, released in 1995. Made by Pixar, it was Pixar's first feature film and was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the US, and was the first computer animated film to be released. The movie grossed over $350 million worldwide, which is an incredible amount, given that the budget was $30 million. It was a major advance in the history of animation in movies, and resulted in much better animation in movies after that. The voices of the different characters were done by stars, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen playing the major roles. For this movie, John Lasseter received an Academy Special Achievement Award in 1996 "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film."
In 2007, the film was ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Edition of the 100 greatest American films of all time, the only computer animated film on the list, as a mark of its stature. After the immense advancements in this movie, animation became much more common-place. The movie also stuck a deep chord with kids, and is exceedingly popular with kids of all ages.



The story is about toys in the room of a 9 year old buy, Andy, who lives with his mother and sister, Molly. He has a set of toys, in which the cowboy toy, Woody is his favorite. Woody is apprehensive since it is Andy's birthday and he is wondering as to what Andy will get as a present. A new toy will create problems in terms of the new toy becoming Andy's favorite. And that is exactly what happens, with Andy's mom giving him a surprise in terms of Buzz Lightyear, a spaceman (inspired by the real life Buzz Ladrin). Woody gets jealous as Buzz becomes Andy's favorite toy. Buzz himself does not know that he is a toy, believing himself to be real, and on a mission.
The other toys gravitate towards Buzz because of his flashy style and attitude, making Woody even more jealous. This has its repercussions when Andy has to select one toy for a trip, and Woody tried to hide Buzz, instead knocking him out of the window. The other toys turn on Woody at that time, but Andy comes and takes Woody (since he is unable to find Buzz). In the car, though, Woody finds that Andy had hung onto the car, and they fight and are left behind. And then follows a series of adventures as they try to find their way, meeting Andy's next door kid (a kid who experiments with and destroys toys), Buzz realizes on watching an advertisement that he is only a toy and gets depressed, escape a dog bent on catching them, and then they eventually make friends with each other,