arthur_tafero

A tale of the West Virginia and Ohio hill country, and the gentle folk that live there. What could be a finer setting for a beautiful tale of growing up in the fifties and sixties? Well, it ain't the setting that goes awry in this tale. As a matter of fact, it's a pretty good yarn. However, it is full of more evil in two hours than you saw in five years of the Waltons.

The movie kinda reminded me of David Lynch's Twin Peaks, with its surrealistic behavior of almost every character in the film. In the battle between good and evil; sometimes good wins, and other times evil wins. Occasionally, you have a tie. The performances and direction of the film are well done, and the author should be applauded for setting such a fine and believable environment for the players of this tale. But ultimately, the film is unsatisfying because everyone it touches is filled with terrible sadness. No one wants to leave a movie filled with sadness.

After The Producers and Young Frankenstein, this Mel Brooks masterpiece ranks as his third best film ever. That also means that it is the third best comedy ever. Brooks was the master of broad and slapstick comedy in the modern era of film. The Coen Brothers have succeeded him as the kings of film comedy, but they concentrate more on black and cynical material; which, in reality, is closer to real life. However, we don't always go to the moves to experience real life; we want to just relax and laugh our butts off. And no one did that better than Brooks.

The ususal cast of Brooks actors are in this film (Gene Wilder, Madelyn Kahn, and others), but Harvey Korman and Cleavon Little mostly carry this film, which has some classic comedy moments that are priceless.

Slim Pickins is in one scene that will literally take your breath away. Little plays a black sheriff hired by the corrupt town businessman, Korman. The casting in this film is letter perfect. I will not spoil your fun by describing scenes in the film, but suffice it to say, you will see it more than once.

This film had a lot going for it. It had a superb ensemble cast; including Al Pacino, John Cusack, Danny Aiello, and several good supporting actors and actresses. The script was spotless, as Paul Schrader was involved, among others. The direction by Harold Becker was professional in every way, as was the cinematography. So what went wrong?

The film was overly ambitious. Instead of concentrating on the impossible job of being Mayor of the most famous city in the world, or concentrating on the assistant to the Mayor, the film tried to get into everyone else's motivations.

And this is fine, if you want to involve every character in the film to contribute to the plot and move it forward. However, there is also a price to pay for trying to be all things to all people all the time. The price is you are going to fail. Being noble is a fine impulse, and examining that large gray area between black and white can be both fascinating and exasperating at the same time. Crossing the line is mentioned, but not defined. What is crossing the line? How close to the line can you get before you are almost certain to cross it? Those questions, and several others are not really addressed in the film. It is an extremely watchable film, and captures a great deal of the reality of politics in New York City; however it never really gets to the meat and potatoes of right and wrong, and the difference between the two.