Mister Roberts (Released in 1955) starring Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon and William Powell

Mister Roberts is a comedy – drama, which was adapted from the book written by Thomas Heggan based on his experiences aboard USS Virgo in the South Pacific during world war II. It is also adapted as a broadway play. Mister Roberts was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning Jack Lemmon an Oscar for the best supporting actor.
The film takes place aboard an American Naval Cargo ship during World War II in the south pacific. The ship supplies the essentials to the US naval fleet engaged in combat in the South Pacific and is commanded by Captain Morton, a dictatorial officer who does not give any leeway for the crew but has a spotless record of delivering the goods on schedule. Because of his oppressive behaviour, the crew despises him. Mister Robers or Lt JG Douglas Robert, the second-in-command, is a genial man and has an excellent relationship with the crew. He is the only one who is able to manage the crew and make them do the needfull and, without the Captain's knowledge, gives some freedom to the crew members. But his heart is set for a transfer to the combat areas. Captain Morton refuses his requests because, he knows that Roberts is the only one who can manage the crew.



Morton bags all the credit for managing the crew and is presented with a palm tree by an Admiral. This much despised tree is kept on the bridge of the ship in a dirt filled bucket. For the crew it is a symbol of subjugation. Ultimately Roberts, tired of the oppression, supercedes Captain Morton and requests for crew liberty. Morton, after heated discussion, grants a small vacation in lieu of Roberts not pushing for a transfer. Roberts agrees and the crew goes for a vacation. But this liberty comes at a great cost with the crew members indulging in arson, stealing and other disruptive activities. Things go from worse to worst, with the military police surrounds the ship to prevent the crew from going ashore. Captain Morton yells at Roberts, which further depresses him.
As the world war is ending Roberts finds himself very far from the combat zone and his dream of engaging in combat slipping away. He gets very depressed. Yet one day, inspired by a radio speech, he tosses the Captains palm tree overboard. The incensed Captain transfers Roberts and elevates the mild-mannered Ensign Pulver, to his position and oppresses the crew as before.
Things change when Mr. Roberts' letter arrives for Pulver where he describes combat in Okinawa and his excitement to a part of it. This is followed by another letter From Pulver's friend who is posted at the same front as Roberts informing him about his death in combat. This breaks Pulver's pleasant demeanor and energizes him to fight for his rights. An inspired Pulver confronts the captain and asks for the liberty of the crew and symbolically throws his palm tree overboard. Captain Morton realizes his mistake and understands his reign of terror is now over.

Yours, Mine and Ours (released in 1968) starring Lucille ball and Henry Fonda - romance between people with large families

This movie was an inspiration from a real life fairy tale romance between two widowers, Fran Beardsley and Helen North who combine their families of ten and eight children respectively to live happily ever after.
Frank Beardsley (played by Henry Fonda) is a Roman Catholic Naval officer who is assigned shore duty as a project officer to develop a standard equipment in all aircraft carriers nicknamed the “meatball”. Helen North played by Lucille ball is a Roman Catholic nurse whose husband tragically dies in a naval accident. Frank Beardsley brings his distraught daughter to her hospital for treatment and Helen comforts her. She remarks that the lack of maternal guidance is responsible for her depression and this gets the both parents talking. Both Frank and Helen hit it off and go on dates with out disclosing the fact that they are bringing up big families all on their own.
They try to call off their relationship on learning about their respective children. But with the intervention of their friend chief warrant officer Darell Harrison, they start dating again and began contemplating marriage. Frank runs his house as a tight ship and has all rules in place. But when Helen visits them his elder sons, Mike, Greg and Rusty mix vodka in her drink to make her behave in an wild and embarrassing manner. Soon their game is up when Frank chances upon their trick and an angry Frank announces his decision to marry Helen.



The children from both sides are against this union and regard each household suspiciously. There are many misunderstandings and tiffs which threatens to break up Helen and Frank. But they all come together when they come to know about Helen's pregnancy and support each other. The elder Beardsley children guide and form a role model for the North children. Another storm brews in the mean time with a mean minded teacher taunting Phillip North to change his surname to Beardsley. The North children are aghast and refuse Franks decision for cross adoption. But the arrival of their small baby brother Joseph John Beardsley unites them again with all of them agreeing for adoption under a common name.
The film ends with Mike Beardsley moving out of the house fully grown up to attend the camp for joining the marines. This movie was a true life adaption of Helen Beardsley's book “who gets the Drum stick?”. In fact the movie was so entertaining that Frank Beardsley is said to have remarked that the movie was a better story than truth.
On release the movie was not received well by the critics but was a hit at the box office. It collected so much profits that Lucille ball who never anticipated such a large collection never made a tax shelter for herself. This resulted in the dwindling of her share of profits.
A feel good movie, it is a fore runner and inspiration for many shows like The Brady Bunch and was remade in 2005 with Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo. It still remains a hit in the DVD circuit.

The Ox Bow incident (released in 1943) starring Henry Fonda and Harry Morgan

The Ox Bow incident tells the tale of mob fury and violence. It is a western which is adapted from the book by Walter Van Tilburg Clark by the same name. The Ox-Bow Incident was selected for preservation in the United states National Film Registry by the Library of congress and was nominated for the the Oscar for the Best motion picture. When it was released, it tanked at the box office but over the years it has achieved artistic success and is marked for the superb acting of its cast namely Henry Fonda as Gil carter and Dana Andrews as Donald Martin.
The movie opens with Gil Carter and Art Croft (Harry Morgan), two drifters riding in to the town of Bridgers Well. They find that the tension is simmering in the town because of certain incidents of Cattle rustling or the stealing of livestock. The two new strangers are initially suspected of being thieves, but later an uneasy calm prevails. Gil Carter mourning the loss of his girl friend tries to drown his sorrows in the bottle.



Amidst all this a rider comes in with news that a local rancher, Larry Kinkaid is murdered and his cattle has been raided. This enrages the men around and they gang together to form a posse to hunt the cattle rustlers. A local Judge tries to pacify them and tells them not to take law in to their own hands. But the furious mob egged on by Major Tetley, Farnley, Jenny Grier pay little heed to the judges words and go in search of the thieves. Gil and Art are forced to join to avoid further suspicion.
They meet 3 men sleeping near the Ox Bow Canyon with some cattle nearby. It is revealed during interrogation that they are Donald Martin, Juan Martinez an illiterate Mexican and a senile Alva Hardwicke. The furious mob decides that these men are cattle thieves and decided to hang them. Only Gil, Gerard Tetley and Davies support the men and ask for clemency. But the furious mob overpowers them. Davies even reads out an eloquent letter written by Martin to his wife, to support his claims. To make matters worse, Juan Martinez is found to be a gambler knowledgeable in many local languages and in possession of a gun with Kinkaid's name engraved on it. This enrages the posse which orders the killing with Gerald Tetley being forced by his father to be one of the executioners.
The victorious posse on their return gets the news from the sheriff about the real culprits being caught for the attack on Larry Kinkaid. The judge and the Sheriff condemn their actions and promises to bring them to justice. The posse returns to the saloon and drinks, with Davies reading out the sad letter of Donald Martin. Major Tetley filled with remorse is driven to suicide when his son screams at him for his devilish behavior. At the end of the film Art and Gil is deputed by Davies to deliver the letter to Donald Martin's widow and ride out of Bridges Well.

Grapes of Wrath (released in 1940) starring Henry Fonda - A great movie based on the book by John Steinbeck

Grapes of Wrath is a cult film in the era of motion pictures. This Oscar nominated movie has been adapted from John Steinbeck's novel of the same name which in turn has been a literary milestone in its own right. Grapes of Wrath has won Steinbeck the Pulitzer prize and the ultimate Nobel prize for literature. Even though nominated for eight categories, Grapes of Wrath had only won 2 Oscars, for the best director and the best supporting actress. But nobody can deny the social relevance of this amazing saga which depicts raw human emotions and travails.
Grapes of Wrath opens with Tom Joad on his way home, paroled from prison for homicide. He meets preacher Jim Casy who has seen so much of hardships that his faith is shaken. They reach Tom's homestead, which is deserted and repossessed by the lending authorities. Muley Graves, one of the neighbors takes Tom to his now destitute family living with their uncle John Joad. Joad's have lost everything in the dust bowl of Oklahoma and being impoverished are seduced by the advertisement about a promising life in California. Even though Tom Joad cannot leave Oklahoman due to parole restrictions, he risks the journey to California to find a better life.



So the Joad family of 12, along with Casy loads everybody into the old 1926 Hudson super six sedan and set out west on route 66 to California. But soon they realize that they are not the only ones making this journey, the route is filled with families in a similar predicament. Portents of bad news comes along with experienced travelers who warn them not to expect anything but hardships in California. The arduous journey takes a toll on the Joad's with grandpa Joad dying and has to be buried on the wayside and Connie Rivers, husband of Tom's pregnant sister Rose, deserting her.
The Joads on reaching California, enter their first transient migrant camp filled with jobless vagrants and laborers. They have a tough time finding a place to sleep and have a showdown with a group called the agitators. They move to another camp called Keene Ranch where situation is still more precarious. After a hard day of work they find that they still cannot afford food from the camp store. Soon they are attracted to unions and Tom and Casy try to attend meetings organized by a striking group of migrants. Here tragedy strikes as the group is discovered by the guards who attack the strikers. Casy is killed by one of the guards and Tom is wounded and inadvertently kills one of the guards in self defense. The Joad family hides Tom and they are able to slip away from Keene Ranch to reach the federally operated clean camp called Farm workers wheat patch camp.
Tom realizes that he must change the world and find a better deal for every worker. He leaves to join in a mission committed to social justice and the Joad family supports him. Ma Joad concludes that the hardships have made them tougher and nobody can wipe them out from this world. Grapes of Wrath has been in the list of the best films made in the 21st century. It has been well received by the critics and has been a discerning film for a student of the the craft of film making.

Gangs of New York (2002) - A movie by Martin Scorsese, and a big commercial success

With Gangs of New York (released in 2002), Martin Scorsese was back to where he makes his mark, the gritty streets of New York, with lots of hard violence, mafia and gangs, rock music based soundtrack, and people with an inclination for violence. However, with the movie, Scorsese starred a different set of characters, with the starring roles being taken up by Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. The movie was set at the time of the American Civil War of the 1960's, and was based on a pretty old book by Herbert Asbury, with the same name "The Gangs of New York".
This was another movie that Scorsese had been wanting to make for a long time, but kept on getting put off for various reasons (over a period of greater than 2 decades); even when the movie was finally made in 2001, the release was delayed for a period of around an year while Scorsese and the producer Harvey Weinstein negotiated on the final cuts in the movie, and the actual length of the movie. The movie was finally released to a majority of critical acclaim, although many critics found the movie not as good as some of his better movies. The movie, made at a budget just under $100 million, went on to make approximately $200 million worldwide.



The movie is about a conflict between 2 warring gangs, led by their leaders. William "Bill the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a White Protestant Anglo-Saxon and leads the gangs called 'The Natives', since they are already residing there; further, Bill has a hatred of immigrants and their attempts to muscle into the territory where he is the primary gang leader. He comes into conflict with a gang comprised of recent immigrants, with the gang called "Dead Rabbits," led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson). He has a young son called Amsterdam (who will later become Leonardo DiCaprio when he grows up). These 2 gangs have a bloody fight in which Bill kills Vallon, witnessed by Amsterdam. Amsterdam finds the knife with which his father is killed and buries it, and then is taken to an orphanage. This entire situation is set in the year 1946.
Change to 16 years later, when Amsterdam is now an adult, the Civil War between the North and the South is in full swing, and the draft is in commission. Amsterdam finds that his father's old gang members are mostly now part of Bill's gang. Amsterdam is introduced to Bill by an old friend, Johnny (without telling Bill who Amsterdam actually is). Amsterdam also meets a pickpocket called Jenny Everdeane (Cameron Diaz), and is attracted to her (although his friend Johnny is also attracted to her); Bill starts trusting Amsterdam more and Amsterdam keeps on gaining some amount of influence, and also saves Bill once in an assassination attempt.
Bill trusts Amsterdam enough to talk about Priest Vallon with him, including the fact that he respected Vallon, and it was that incident that gave him strength and character to fight all his enemies. The rest of the movie is about the final fight between Bill and Amsterdam, once Bill has learnt who Amsterdam actually is, while the Union Soldiers are quelling riots that have broken out in the city over the draft laws.

Bringing Out the Dead (1999), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Nicholas Cage - movie did not do too well

After a couple of movies such as Casino and Kundun, Martin Scorsese returned to the same location that is a staple of his movie, the gritty New York areas where he takes people with deep emotional conflicts and shows up the progression of these conflicts. In 'Bringing Out the Dead', Scorsese made a movie where he depicts the life of a deeply traumatized paramedic working the night shift in a New York Hospital (he has been traumatized by some of the experiences that he has seen, especially that of a young homeless girl; and his job is one that exposes him to profound grief shown by others - typically the relatives of people who area admitted to emergency services and who often do not survive). He is what you would call a typical recipe for a person heading to a collapse, with his nerves and emotions driving him to a point of collapse.
He realizes that he is headed to towards burnout, already suffers from insomnia, and wonders whether he will, in his current condition, meet another victim whom he cannot save; and he attempts to try and get fired. And then he gets salvation.
The movie was based on a novel by Joe Connelly (screenplay for the movie by Paul Schrader); but even though the movie is now considered a pretty good movie, it was a disaster at the box office with the US box office collections only making half of the $32 million budget.



The movie is a frantic 3 days, where the main character has 3 different partners in terms of his work as a paramedic (and the 3 partners also portray their roles - with 3 entirely different types of characters, one being very engaging, the second being more of a stirring type of person, and the third being more crazy). The path to salvation for Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage in a pretty fine performance) comes from his meeting with the daughter of a heart attack victim that Frank had helped save; he meets Mary (Patricia Arquette) when she often comes to visit her father in the hospital.
It is Mary who, in her interactions with Frank, passes on her compassion and her feelings of helping others, which finally takes Frank out of his depression; repair his feelings about the people he was not able to save, and finally cure his insomnia.

Kundun (1997) - Directed by Martin Scorsese, a film about the Dalai Lama

Martin Scorsese is persona non grata in China, and will never be allowed there. But I guess he would have expected that if he made a movie about the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama, the 14th in line, is the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet and the administrator before the Chinese invaded the region and took complete control of Tibet (declaring that Tibet was always a part of China and another province); the Dalai Lama now has a base in the northern Indian town of McLeodganj and no longer supports the concept of Tibetan and independence, instead asking for more autonomy for Tibet inside China. However, China, mindful of the position of the Dalai Lama in the minds of the people of Tibet, considers the Dalai Lama as a separatist leader and refuses to try and let him get any legitimacy. Any film maker who makes a movie on the Dalai Lama that does not position China's viewpoint will be viewed with hostility by the Government of China; and that is what Martin Scorsese has faced (in fact, the first studio that was to make the movie, Universal backed down once it became clear that China will be openly hostile; the second one, Disney refused to back down).
The movie is called Kundun (another title for the Dalai Lama, which means 'The Presence') is made very beautifully, but for a movie with drama and wonderful scenes, the movie did pretty badly at the box-office, earning only around $6 million. The movie was written by Melissa Mathison, and is based on the life and stories of the Dalai Lama.



The Dalai Lama is typically selected by a test where a young child (often as old as 2-4 years) must satisfy a group of experts that the child is the incarnation of the previous Dalai Lama,and so it was with the 14th Dalai Lama; the regent Reting Rinpoche had a vision, and based on that, senior lamas go to the location of the vision, finding a young child who is able to identify objects that belong to the previous Dalai Lama. On completion, he along with family come to the Potala Palace in Lhasa (the traditional headquarters of the Dalai Lamas); once he comes of age, then he will be enthroned.
The Dalai Lama is a young child after all, and passes through some emotional trauma including becoming homesick, but is comforted by the regent (regent Reting however loses a power struggle and is imprisoned), with the Dalai Lama becoming more active. However, this is the same time in which the Communists have taken over China and claim Tibet to be a part of China. They soon invade, and after some initial reconciliation, the Communists are recognized as oppressors. The Dalai Lama even meets Mao in Beijing, but the Dalai Lama will not fit in the overall plans of the Communists and is seen as a powerful influence against the interests of China. When he is threatened, the Dalai Lama makes his escape to India through a difficult journey ahead of the pursuing Communists.