Dean's Thoughts on Entertainment

Man, you know I want three!

As a child born in the Eighties I missed many great classics of film, so each week I rent 3 movies that I missed for some reason. They won’t always be old but usually at least one will be. This week I rented The Great Escape, The Grey Zone, and Hard Boiled. I didn’t intentionally pick two movies about Nazi imprisonment but since I did I will compare them with one another.

The Great Escape
The Great Escape is considered one of the best from Steve McQueen, and is usually listed as one of the best ensemble films of all time. The story is about the Allied troops that have been gathered up into one giant imprisonment camp during the Second World War, mostly on their daring attempts to escape. Surprisingly, it is a feel-good movie which didn’t quite fit with the setting of the movie. While most movies on the subject center in on the cruelty of the Nazis, this one had the Nazis depicted as foolish and almost friendly. The Dirty Dozen does a better job of balancing its humor while still maintaining the severity of their opposition. The acting is great with the best performances coming from Richard Attenborough and Steve McQueen, Honorable mention goes to Donald Pleasance, Gordon Jackson, and James Garner. It is worthy of its Classic trademark, but I couldn’t fully enjoy the good natured Nazis.

The Grey Zone
This movie was an art house release with a great ensemble cast which is what drew me to rent it. This one explores the depraved lives of the Jews who have taken positions to help the Nazis dispose of the bodies from the Death Camps in order to live a bit longer and more comfortably. This one is brutal and really lets you taste the bitter reality of having to sell out your own kind to death in order to stay alive. Within the camp they are planning an uprising, not to escape but to destroy the plant, because they are so deeply ashamed of their lives. More great performances here especially from Harvey Keitel as one of the head guards and David Arquette as one of the younger Jews in the camp. I was surprised by how well Arquette did, especially after seeing all his 1-800-Collect commercials and Ready to Rumble. Rounding out the cast is Steve Buscemi and Mira Sorvino. I would recommend it as a rental.

Hard Boiled
A John Woo classic to stand next to the equally good The Killer, which shares the same lead actor Chow Yun Fat who is the best Eastern actor to carry a gun. The story isn’t terribly important; the fight sequences are what you need to see this for. John Woo blends style and hardcore violence better than most and this is before he decided that gravity wasn’t real in Mission Impossible 2. Call a guys night out and watch this one.