I AM LEGEND

I AM LEGEND

Francis Lawrence, known for Constantine brings us the third adaptation of Richard Mathesons 1954 novel. The first adaptation was in 1964 known as ‘The Last Man on Earth’, the second was in 1971 ‘The Omega Man’, and now in 2007 – I am Legend.

October 2009, a medical researcher, Dr. Krypton (Emma Thompson – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) created a genetically engineered variant of the measles virus, which was meant to be a cure for cancer. There was a brief period of great clinical trials, however, the virus mutated into a strain that killed 5.4 billion people worldwide. The people that survived, 558 million devolved into aggressive creatures known as ‘Dark-seekers’, which heightened agility and strength along with animalistic behaviour, though, also developed photosensitivity. They then began hunting down and killing the remaining 12 million humans who were immune to both the virus and the mutation effects.

In September 2012, military virologist Robert Neville (Will Smith – Men in Black) is the last human in New York City, and potentially the last human on earth. He lost his wife and daughter in a helicopter accident during the quarantine of Manhattan. His daily routine includes; experimenting on infected rats to find a cure for the virus, trying to isolate the gene in his blood to make him immune and trips through Manhattan to collect food and medical supplies and even hunts dear that have wandered into the city. Many animals managed to escape from the zoo and thrive like wild animals, who seem unaffected by the virus.
He also listens each day for a response to his recorded radio broadcasts, which instructs any survivors to meet him at midday at the designated South street Seaport, where he sits on a bench and waits every day for 30 minutes. The only communication he has is with his dog, Sam and interaction with mannequins he has set up as patrons of a video store.

With the outbreak, Robert uses knowledge from the Dark-Seekers habits, he has shielded his habitat with UV projectors and iron shutters inside the window. He also set up some generators inside the house to provide electricity.

One day, he goes out deer hunting with Sam, who chases one into an abandoned building. He finds the deer and finds a dog hiding and realises it is filled with Dark-seekers. They then flee.
To test a treatment, Robert sets up a snare trap that uses the scent of blood to capture an infected person.
As he inspects a captured woman, a male Dark-seeker emerges from the building and screams with the pain of the sunlight. Robert thinks this is due to the increased hunger and notes down that the loss of all human characteristics in the Dark-seekers are gone.
Back in his lab, he tries a new serum on the infected woman, with no success.

The next day, Robert notices one of his mannequins has moved onto the street infront of Grand Central Terminal. He is caught in a snare trap and passes out. Once he regained consciousness at dusk, he manages to free himself, however, a pack of infected dogs attack both him and Sam.
Sam is attacked and Robert takes her home to inject a strain of the serum in the hope to save her, however, it is too late and Sam begins to mutate, forcing Robert to strangle her to death.

Full of grief and rage, Robert attacks a group of Dark-seekers in the seaport the following night with his 3rd generation Ford Expedition which is equipped with UV lights, which looks like a suicidal last stand. He manages to kill many of them, but he is almost killed before he is rescued by a pair of immune humans, Anna (Alice Braga – City of God) and Ethan (Charlie Tahan – First movie role), who have followed his radio broadcasts from Maryland.
Anna and Ethan take Robert back to his home and Anna explains that they are making their way to the survivors camp in Vermont. Robert does not believe the camp exists and expresses doubt when Anna says that God told her about this camp.

The next night,a man leads an infected mob to attack Robert’s home. Anna, who was unaware of Robert precautions in covering his scent outside the house had inadvertently allowed the Dark-seekers to follow their scent.
As the Dark-seekers charge the house, Robert stops the first lot with the UV projectors, which others destroy. He destroys the second lot with mines in his garden, but finds himself defenceless against the third lot.
As Robert tries to find Anna and Ethan, the leader and another Dark-seeker enter the house and the leader attacks Robert. As Robert fends him off, the other Dark-seeker gets upstairs and tears a hole in the roof so the others can get in.

Robert manages to save Anna and Ethan, they retreat into the lab. They manage to seal themselves in a glass walled room with the infected woman and discover that Robert treatment is starting to work – the infected woman starts to look more normal. The Dark-seekers manage to break in and the leader begins to throw himself against the glass, managing to crack it into the shape of a butterfly.
Robert then sees Anna’s butterfly tattoo and thinks of his daughter, who used to make a butterfly shape with her hands.
Robert then draws a vial of the infected woman’s blood and gives it to Anna, before shutting her and Ethan inside a coal chute in the back of the lab.
Robert manages to detonate a M67 grenade to destroy all the attackers and kills himself in the process.

The next morning, Anna and Ethan wake up to find all the attackers had gone and they head towards the survivor colony.
They manage to arrive at the colony where Anna hands over Robert’s antidote.

Anna states that the survivors are Robert’s legacy, as his fight for a cure became a legend.

I am Legend feels like another zombie type movie, the creatures are all infected and can infect others and theres one person who can save the world – like Resident Evil.

However, there is one thing that makes this movie different than others – Will Smith. He is just a normal guy, not a mutation, or robot or flapping his arms about like a mad man, he is a virologist, who believes he has a cure to the Dark-seekers. He, along with his pet dog, are almost like the Terminator Salvation resistance, trying to find others like him, to prove he is not the only human left.
The movie itself is very dark and quite jumpy at parts, the Dark-seekers are very different to a typical type zombie with excess skill and strength, which also cannot come out in the light due to the light sensitivity – which also differs from a typical ‘zombie type’ movie.

This movie is just about surviving. He has lost his wife and daughter and then sadly loses his dog.
The sequence in his home as he hugs his dog, we begin to see the mutation of the dog and as the camera pans up to Will Smith’s face we can here the growling, and whimpering of the dog as he strangles it to death to prevent further mutation.
This sequence changes the movie. Anyone who has lost a pet, whether its of natural causes or merely putting it to sleep, Smiths character is doing it for the dogs benefit and anyone who has lost a pet will feel a lump in their throat at the untimely death of Sam the dog. As he strangles her, the camera is fixed on Smiths character, Roberts face, where you can see different emotion’s across his face – anger, sad, helpless and grief as he has to put down his best friend.
This stands out purely because it is an action/thriller movie, we normally do not see things like that and it almost feels like Robert has no one left to live for – the dog was the last of his family, which is not only powerful to show the relationship between man and animal but also seals Roberts fate he puts himself into.

The movie setting is very dark and desolate. Very little characters are seen throughout the movie, so it is purely again up to Smith to hold screen presence alone, which not many can do, but he was able to pull it off brilliantly, especially with the ‘Castaway’ type speaking from Tom Hanks with the volleyball to Will Smith talking to manniquins.

Will Smith is a very under rated actor and is merely seen as a action/comedy star, but in the likes of this movie and several others, we see different sides to his acting ability which is very widespread and should not been just seen as ‘that funny guy who can shoot a gun’
The only negative point of the movie is the moments of flashing lights. Not only can it disarray a typical audience member but, that of those who are epileptic, who are potentially missing out on a great film. Though, taking my own precautions to watch the movie, I would have preferred to see this film in the cinema, but unfortunately would never be able to due to the flashing/strobe lighting.

I am Legend is a great movie from start to finish, a thrilling ride with such emotion at parts, it is definitely a film not to be missed, however, there was no need for excessive flashing lights used in parts.

Rating 4/5

 

AMERICAN PSYCHO

AMERICAN PSYCHO

American Psycho is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, to which is a cult, crime drama. Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol) brought it to the big screen with several big named actors in such a little movie.

The movie starts with an introduction to Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale – Empire of the Sun), who is an investment banker living in Manhattan in the mid to late 1980s. His life revolves around the high life – trendy restaurants and has a fiancee, Evelyn (Reese Witherspoon – Cruel Intentions). He has a circle of equally wealthy friends, to which are very shallow and he dislikes. However, Bateman leads another life, a secret one of that being a serial killer.
The movie documents his lifestyle from his daily exercise and beauty routine, his music collection which includes Huey Lewis and the News and Whitney Houston. He has a taste of expensive designer clothes, the perfect apartment, everything anyone could ask for.
Then, in one instance, he finds himself angered by his associates flaunting their business cards, to which are much better than his. He is further enraged by a co worker, Paul Allen (Jared Leto – Urban Legend) and his classy business card, so goes out and murders a homeless man and his pet dog in an alleyway, merely to get his rage out his system.

At a Christmas Party, Bateman manages to make plans with Allen to have dinner with him, under another associates name, Marcus Halbestram, whom Allen always mistakes Bateman for.
At the dinner, Bateman manages to get Allen drunk and manages to lure him back to his apartment.
As he plays ‘Hip to Be Square’ in the background, Bateman murders Allen with an Axe and disposes of his body. Then, Bateman goes to Allen’s apartment and stages that Allen has went to London and packs a bag.

Allen’s family grow suspicious and hire a detective to investigate. This is where Bateman is met by Detective Donald Kimball (Willem Dafoe – Mississippi Burning), who is searching for the truth.

That night, Bateman has a horrific threesome with two prostitutes, with made up names – Christie and Sabrina. He lectures them about the band Genesis after Phil Collins replaced Peter Gabriel as the lead member. The two prostitutes leave later on battered and bruised.

The next day, another colleague of Bateman, Luis Carruthers shows him his new business card, to which tips Bateman again over the edge. Bateman tries to Kill Luis in the bathroom of the restaurant they are dining in, but cannot seem to bring himself to kill him. Luis mistakes the attempt to murder him as a sexual advance toward him and declares his love for Bateman, who quickly leaves.

After murdering a model, Bateman asks his secretary, Jean, who secretly likes him back to his apartment to have dinner. As they have sex, unknown to Jean, Bateman holds a nail gun to the back of her head as they are ‘together’.
As he receives an answering machine message from his fiancee, Bateman decides not to kill Jean and asks her to leave before she gets hurt.

Following a lunch with Kimball the next day, Bateman has another threesome with his friend Elizabeth and ‘Christie’, in Allen’s apartment.
He kills Elizabeth during sex and Christie runs out the apartment in horror. As she runs, she finds several female bodies and words scrawled on the walls in blood. Bateman then catches up with her and murders her with a chainsaw by dropping it down a flight of stairs an kills her instantly.

Several months later, Bateman breaks off his engagement to his fiancee. That night, he finds a kitten and while he uses the ATM nearby, he imagines that the ATM displays the words ‘Feed me a stray cat’. He is then stopped by a woman, to which he murders instead. Then, the police chase him, but he manages to destroy the police cars by shooting their gas tanks, leading to an explosion killing every policeman in the cars. As he attempts to run to his office, he accidently enters the wrong building and then murders a security guard and the janitor before leaving again.

When he reaches his office, he calls his lawyer, Harold and leaves an answering machine message confessing to the murders in great detail.
The next morning, Bateman visits Allen’s apartment to find a ‘For Sale’ notice and all the belongings gone. The estate agent sees him as an intruder and tells him to leave immediately.

As he goes to meet his colleagues and his lawyer, Jean finds detailed drawings of murder and rape in his office journal.
At the same time, Bateman sees Harold at a restaurant with his friends and tries explaining that he is Patrick Batmen and he is a serial killer. Harold mistakes him for another man, Davis and laughs off this big confession as a joke.
Harold also informs Bateman that Allen is not dead, claiming that he had dinner with him in London only 10 days previous.

Bateman realises that he has escaped punishment that he deserves and lament that there has been no catharsis and it still remains a mystery to himself.
He regrets that nothing has been gained from all of this, but, he still wants his pain to be inflicted on others.

He finishes by stating ‘This confession has meant nothing’.

American Psycho is a very low budget movie which proves worthy of the classic cult movie. The movie has a basic eerie setting with plain colours, which highlight the power of the red blood that seems to run constantly through Batemans mind.
The main theme is also very eerie and yet classic to which gives u a nauseating feel right from the start, which proves worthy of the subject matter.

The scene of business cards is a very classy sequence. As everyone exchanges their business cards, we can see Bateman’s anger building up as he feels like his card is the best. Then when Paul Allen shows his card, a close up of Bateman’s face as he stares in anger as his voiceover describes his anger at this seemingly ‘perfect card’, to which leads him to kill Allen in later sequences. This sequence seems very pointless, yet the basis of his crazy side begins to unravel and is done beautifully.

The main sequence that everyone associates to the movie is Paul Allen’s death – to Hip to be Square.
Batemans voice seems like a very american game show host, to which is rather amusing in itself. The way he puts his white rain jacket on to his swivel dance to hide his axe whilst the drunken Allen is lounging is also very amusing, yet terrifying at the same time. When Allen askes if he is wearing a raincoat, Batemans reply is “YES IT IS!!”, which is hilarious the way he puts and he marches to his music system to blare out the iconic song for the scene. He then goes on to detail the flaws of the band and music and shouts “HEY ALLEN’ and then brutally murders him as he shouts random rubbish and he hacks him to death with the axe. Once he is finished, he takes the raincoat off, fixes his hair and sits down to smoke a cigar as he views his blood bath. Not only are the camera techniques cleverly done along with the acting and action, and of course the music makes this scene the definition of a horrific, yet hilarious cult classic sequence to which is Jared Letos most iconic role to date.

The backing cast has the likes of Jared Leto, Reese Witherspoon and Willem DeFoe, a wide variety of acting capability to which proves worthy for this type of movie. However, the main characters performance, Christian Bale proves this to be his BEST acting movie. The sarcastic, eccentric madman suits his working method down to a tee and will remain his best performance to date and is a shame that he did not get any recognition for his witty character.

American Psycho is a product of fantastic adaptation and true classic acting. The movie will remain a cult classic, yet is really under-rated and shunted to the side. This is a must see movie, which will not disappoint.

Rating 5/5

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

IN DEPTH ANALYSIS OF SIR ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. Hitch, The Master of Suspense had a film career spanning over 60 years — over half a century of film work. He is one of the finest Directors in history and most acclaimed for his movie, Psycho. But, how did this Essex lad become so famous?

Hitch was born on the 13th of August 1899, the youngest of three of William and Emma Hitchcock. His name originated from his fathers brother. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Not only was his English, but he had Irish ancestry also.
According to Hitch, when he was bad, his father would send him to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for up to 5 minutes as punishment. Due to this, Hitch had a lifetime of fear of Policemen, yet was used frequently throughout his film work.

For the first World War, Hitch was declined to enrol for war due to his obesity, which also made him very socially isolated growing up, however, he still signed up to a cadet regiment of the Royal Engineers in 1917. His military time was very limited; he received theoretical briefings, weekend drills and exercises. He would march around Hyde Park and was made to wear puttees — though, he could never master how to wrap around his legs properly.

While working for the company, Henley’s, he began to express creativity. In 1919, the Henley Telegraph was introduced and he often submitted articles and then became one of its proflic writers. His first article was ‘Gas’ in 1919 – which a young woman imagines that she was being assaulted in Paris, only for the twist to show that it was all a hallucination in the dentists chair, induced by the anaesthetic.
He then went on to write others including; ‘The Woman’s Part’, ‘Sordid’, ‘And There was no Rainbow’. ‘What’s Who?’, ‘The History of Pea Eating’ and ‘Fedora’.

In 1924, Hitch ended up in Germany, where he co-wrote the film ‘The Blackguard’. He also watched German Expressionist F. W. Murnau at work on ‘The Last Laugh’, which he was very impressed by and in his later works, integrated a lot of Murnau’s techniques into his own work.

Like most Directors, his first few movies didn’t do well. His first directing movie was ‘Number 13’, to which the production was cancelled due to financial problems. Then, in 1925, Michael Balcon gave Hitch another opportunity for directing ‘The Pleasure Garden’, which was made in Germany. Then, he directed ‘The Mountain Eagle’, however, this film was eventually lost.

In 1926, Hitch got his first thriller, ‘The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog’, to which became a huge success in the UK. Many critics regard this movie as the first ‘hitchockian’ movie.
Soon after in the December of 1926, Hitch married his assistant director, Alma Reville in London. They only had 1 child together, Patricia, born in 1928. Alma became Hitch’s closest co-worker to which he would only discuss matters in private as she was keen to keep out of the publics eye.

In 1929, Hitch made his 10th film, ‘Blackmail’, which was originally a silent movie, but was later converted to a talkie, which is often cited as a landmark movie. This movie also sees his longest cameo appearances in a movie.

Then in 1933, Hitch worked with Balcon again for ‘the Man Who Knew Too Much’ and then in 1935 ‘The 39 Steps’, which is considered as one of the BFI’s greatest early period of film work.
After his 1938 film, ‘The Lady Vanishes’, David O. Selznick signed Hitch to a seven year contract beginning in the March of 1939 – in Hollywood.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Hitch brought out many iconic movies and not only had he converted to talkies, but also to Technicolor movies — to which not many directors had the privilege of doing so. It was during this time that he worked with the likes of Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Jane Wyman and many more iconic Hollywood stars.

Hitch moved to Paramount Pictures in the early 1950s to which his first movie with them was Rear Window (1954). Soon after in 1955, Hitch became a US citizen.
In 1956, he successfully remade his own movie ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’, which starred James Stewart and Doris Day, to which Day won the Oscar for Best Original Song ‘Que. Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be’, which also became a huge hit for her.

In 1960 came Hitch’s best known film, Psycho. Made on the tight budget of $800,000 and shot in black and white on a spare set came the violence of the shower scene, the early death of the main star and the innocents lives disturbed by murder became the defining moments of Hitch’s new horror genre and have been copied by many others within the genre.
The audiences loved the film, with queues of people waiting outside for the next showing. It broke box office records in China, Asia, France, Britain, South America, US and Canada and was a success in Australia for a short time. It was the biggest black and white talkie ever made and Hitch gained $15 million. He then swapped his rights to Psycho and his TV anthology for 150,00 shares of MCA, making him the 3rd largest shareholder in MCA and his own boss at Universal – on paper anyway.

After his success of Psycho came ‘The Birds’, which was Hitch’s 49th film, with the newcomer Tippi Hedren in the starring role alongside Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshetee. It contained hundreds of shots mixing live and animated sequences.
What also made Psycho and the Birds even more outstanding was the score, the screeching strings in the murder scene of Psycho and The Birds using the electronically produced sound effects to which Bernard Herrmann composed for Psycho and Consulted on The Birds.

In the last 20 years of his career, Hitch’s failing health reduced his work load, which also included going back to England to work.
Near the end of his life, Hitch made a script for ‘The Short Night’ alongside screenwriters James Costigan and Ernest Lehman, however, the film was never made. This was caused by his own failing health and his concerns of Alma’s health, who has suffered a stroke. The script was published in a book on Hitch’s last years.

Hitch died of Renal failure on 29th April 1980 and was cremated. His remains were scattered over the Pacific Ocean. Alma died in 1982 and their daughter, Patricia is still alive to this day and still working.

There were many rumours to the way Hitch worked. From the tossing over the cup and saucer over his shoulder everytime he finished a cup to the treatment he gave his actors in his films; treating them like props. He had less than pleasant relationships with many of the actors, there was a persistent story that he said actors were like cattle.

Hitch’s visions has influenced lots of film directors, producers and actors, his influence helped create a trend for directors to control artistic aspects of their movies as he learned from the great F. W. Murnau.

Hitch has only ever been portrayed in movies and TV 3 times – Anthony Hopkins in 2012’s ‘Hitchcock, Toby Jones in 2012s HBO TV movie ‘The Girl’ and the up coming film ‘Grace of Monaco’, portrayed by Roger Ashton-Griffiths.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock remains an iconic figure in British and Hollywood film making. Though his attitude toward people and his movies could be seen as ‘inappropriate’, he, like Stanley Kubrick done what is takes to make the movies perfect. There are many great movie directors, but not many have reached the 60 year mark in movie making, which shows the impact Hitch had in movie making.

 

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

John Wells, known for the likes of ER and Shameless, has brought us a black comedy adapted from Tracy Letts’ play with the same title, August: Osage County, which shows a very dysfunctional family, who are forced to come together after a death…….

The story goes that the father of the family, Beverly (Sam Shepard – The Right Stuff) who drowns in the lake, leaving his dysfunctional family and his wife, Violet (Meryl Streep – Its Complicated), a sufferer of mouth cancer and a drug addict to deal with coming together for his death. Beverly and Violet have three daughters; Ivy (Julianne Nicholson – Boardwalk Empire), Barbara (Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich) and Karen (Juliette Lewis – Whats Eating Gilbert Grape). Though the daughters have their own problems with their own lives, they are forced to pull together for the death of Beverly and to cope with their strong willed mother and her addiction.

The movie is very isolated i.e., not many scenes are filmed out with the house, which gives the movie a claustrophobic, isolated feeling like the actual house is – secluded and out in the middle of nowhere. This claustrophobic feel makes the movie very exceptional as it is solely based on the acting of the movie – nothing else, like Tom Hanks in Castaway, it was all about the acting. August Osage County is exactly the same, there is no special effects, nothing but pure acting, which is a very hard thing to do for 120 minutes and the cast and John Wells pulls it off brilliantly.

The cast includes; Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham – which covers a variety of performances for seriousness, drama, comedy, sad and even eccentric acting. Each of the cast holds great screen presence throughout the whole movie. With the cast with ‘backing roles’ like Benedict Cumberbatch, Misty Upham, Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper, they still hold great presence as much as the main stars.
One actress which is very underrated in the movie is Julia Roberts. She is one who has unfortunately been missed out as award season for her portrayal as the ‘bitchy’ daughter as she plays a very different role for her norm and plays it beautifully.
Meryl Streep was fantastic for her character for mouth cancer and drug addiction. She is constantly high, to which you cannot help but laugh at, but at the same time, you really feel sorry for her, especially when she finds herself alone at the end with her carer.

The camera work in the movie is again very basic, almost Tv like, but, again does work for this isolated movie as it is a basic story about a family trying to clutch together for blood sake and it brings the movie out more with its camera work.
Not only the camera work, but the music as well, it is mostly country music which gives it an upbeat feel. There is one song, to which Benedict Cumberbatchs character, Little Charles writes and performs both on piano and vocally – yes it is not the best vocal performance in the world, but him singing and playing the piano is such a sincere moment and is beautifully done, to which only his character could do.

The movie as a whole is one of those movies that is so fresh – none of the horror, action or visual effects – just a good old plain movie about plain family life. Every family has its problems and every family only comes together when there is death and sadness, and between the direction and the acting, it is sad to see it not receiving anymore award nominations as it already has.
An outstanding movie from start to finish, truly a real movie to which every single one of us can relate to

Rating 5/5

THEY 39 STEPS

THE 39 STEPS

Following the 1915 novel by John Buchan, The 39 Steps has been made into different movies along the decades.

However, in 1935, Alfred Hitchcock brought his vision of it to the audience which was very intriguing indeed.

The movie starts in the London music hall theatre, where Richard (Robert Donat – Goodbye Mr Chips), is watching a demonstration of superlative powers of recall known as ‘Mr Memory’; a man with a photographic memory when shots are fired.
In the ensuing panic, Richard finds himself holding an apparent, frightened Annabella (Lucie Mannheim – The Doll Maker of Kiang-Ning), who talks him into taking her back to his home. This is where she tells Richard that she is a spy being chased by assassins, and that she uncovered a plot to steal vital military secrets, masterminded by a man missing the tip joint of one of his fingers. She also mentions the ’39 steps’, but, does not elaborate on it.
That night, Annabella bursts into Richard’s room, fatally stabbed in the back and tells him to escape.

Richard finds the map of Scotland that was in Annabellas hand, with a town circled on it. He sneaks out and boards a train to Scotland.
He notices on the train that there is a nation-wide manhunt going on for Annabellas murder.
He enters a train compartment and kisses the sole girl in it, Pamela (Madeleine Carroll – The W Plan), she frees herself from him and alerts the policeman onboard.
Richard jumps from the train onto the Forth Road Bridge and escapes.

He walks toward the town which is circled on the map and stays the night with the poor crofter and his wife. The next morning, he leaves wearing the farmers coat.

Richard arrives at a resident home in town, whom he thinks was Annabellas contact, andwas going to meet and speak of the 39 Steps.
He gets to the mans house and tells his story to the ‘apparent’ respectable Professor Jordan (Godfrey Tearle – Jade), who then shows that he has a missing part of his finger.
Richard, realising his mistake, is shot by Jordan and left for dead, however, is only saved by the farmers hymnbook left in the coat pocket.

Richard goes to the police station, but, they do not believe him as Jordan is good friends with the Police Inspector. He then jumps through a window and escapes into the crowd.
He is then mistaken for a political speaker and is forced to give a speech – but he is recognised by Pamela, who gives him up once more.

He is then handcuffed and taken away by what seem as policemen and Pamela is urged to accompany them. Richard realises they are agents of the conspiracy when they did not turn into the police station.

As he is handcuffed to Pamela whilst the men try to move a flock of sheep blocking the road, he again manages to escape, dragging the unwilling Pamela along.
They get across the countryside and stay in a nearby Inn.
While Richard sleeps, Pamela manages to get out the handcuffs, but, overhears one of the fake policemen’s conversation on the telephone, which confirms Richard’s story.
She returns to the room and sleeps on the couch.

The next morning, she tells Richard what she had heard. He then sends her to London to warn the police.
Upon arrival in London, Pamela finds out that no secret documents have been reported missing, therefore do not believe her.
As she leaves, the police follow her to get to Richard.

Pamela leads them to a Theatre Show. When the performer was introduced, Richard recognised the theme music – Mr Memory.
He puts two and two together – the spies are using Mr Memory to smuggle the secrets out.
As the Police take him away he shouts ‘What are the 39 Steps?’

Mr Memory answers;

‘The 39 Steps is an organisation of spies, collecting information on behalf of the foreign office of…..’ Just then, Jordan shoots him and tries to flee, but is caught.

The dying Mr Memory recites information stored in his brain – a design for a silent aircraft engine.

Hitchcock’s version was adapted as a radio play in December 1937, starring Robert Montgomery and Ida Lupino. The 2005 West End and Broadway play is also adapted from both this version and from Buchan’s novel, which shows the imprint Hitchcock’s version has left.

As all movies back in the 1930s, the majority was shot in black and white as Technicolor was not fully captivating audiences. Black and white movies suit Hitchcock’s direction.
Though, this does not retain the auteristic ways of Hitchcock, it is full of certain aspects of suspense as the story progresses.

The acting in the movie is your typical early 1900-1950 type acting, all vacant expressions and progressing into the ‘Talkies’ did make movies more intriguing, to which you can tell as you watch the 39 Step with the muffle sounding mic whilst the performance is on screen, sound was still a motion in progress, yet, it still does not affect the movie in any way.

The movie is a very enjoyable movie, but the best scene in the movie is the finale of Mr Memory exposing the 39 Steps. As Richard gets taken away he shouts the question ‘What is the 39 Steps?’, and as Mr Memory exposes the 39 steps, he is shot by the villain, Jordan. The sheer panic as the shot rings out around the theatre is pure Hitchcock in every way and as Mr Memory dies, the music in the background booms louder and the simple words of that era ‘The End’ fade in then out, truly magnificent sequencing that only Hitchcock could do.

Alfred Hitchcock’s version of The 39 Steps is a true classic, one of Hitchcock’s finest pieces of works, for a classic novel.

Rating 4/5

TWIN TOWN

TWIN TOWN

Movie Director Kevin Allen (The Big Tease) was not a well known director until he brought out his crime caper movie in 1997, Twin Town.

The movie is set in Wales, we meet the Lewis twins; Julian (Llyr Ifans – Arthur’s Departure) and Jeremy (Rhys Ifans – Street-life), who are not twins, just brothers.
They live with their parents and sister in a caravan on a mobile home site.
Their father falls from a ladder while doing roofing work for the prominent local business man/small time gangster, Bryn Cartwright (William Thomas – Anthony and Cleopatra). The twins lay the blame on Cartwright and demand compensation for him.
Cartwright claims it was on a cash arrangement between him and their father and refuses to pay them compensation.

The twins take it very personally and seek out revenge by gatecrashing the local karaoke competition. Cartwright vows to get even and after several efforts to disrupt their lives, Cartwright manages to get one of the corrupt detectives to beat up the twins down a back street.

The feud continues and progresses with the twins beheading Cartwrights poodle, then Cartwright retaliates by setting the twins dog kennel on fire while their dog is still in it, however, it accidently hits a gas bottle which destroys the twin’s family and their home.

After some fights, the twins come down from the hill where they had been hiding and go after Cartwright , by breaking into his house, tie him up with his washing line attached to his electric garage door.
The twins ask to borrow Cartwrights boat, to which he agrees, thinking and hoping they will let him go unhurt. However, they leave, leaving Cartwright on the brink of death.
Cartwrights wife comes home and unknown to her as she opens the garage door, she kills her husband by hanging.

The twins consider the job done and grant their fathers wish of being buried at sea (with Cartwrights boat), draped in the welsh flag.
As the coffin floats away, the twins make a bet on how long it would the coffin would stay afloat.
The coffin sinks and emotions are shared by twins.

The twins wonder how far the boat would take them and insist they would be heading to Morocco.

Twin Town is one of those old British movies you cannot stop giggling at, even more so with it being welsh. Allen’s direction in the movie is pure class for a directorial debut.
The camera techniques used are very soap like i.e. — very basic, shot for television type camera movements, but this still works for Twin Town and the type of movie it is.

Having the Ifans brothers play on screen brothers works brilliantly – though Rhys is the better actor, Llyrs presence is also crucial the to the Lewis boys, and it feels like it is just them playing themselves which is what acting is meant to be about.

Though there are some scenes not comedic, i.e., Fattys death, the beheading of the poodle, The Lewis’ family and home being burned to pieces, the film still upholds the comedic feel to which not many films can do as well as Allen has done in this movie.

The finale of the twins laying their father to rest in the water, draped in the welsh flag is one of those moments of sentiment, yet the comedy breaks through again when they bet how long it will take for the coffin to sink. Not only is this hilarious, but it is also a perfectly cut punch-line in such an emotional moment — you would not find this happen at a normal, typical movie.

All in, Twin Town is a lighthearted crime caper with a great feel to it, having the Ifans brothers take the lead in this low budget movie, makes the film stand out even more – it is just a shame that Llyr is not as famous as Rhys, as these two guys could hit it bigger working together more often.

Rating 4/5

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEW

Tim Burton, perceived as a “strange” director, always choosing gothic settings and interesting, yet sometime mis-interpreted stories came up with the idea, mixing a gothic holiday with a happy holiday, definitely what you would call a contrast and to top it off, add some music into it to make it a full blown musical. Burton took his idea to Henry Selick, to which he directs this movie. Neither of them thought that this movie would still be a hit now, than what it was when it first came out.

The stop motion musical fantasy was called – The Nightmare before Christmas.

Nightmare before Christmas comes the story of Jack, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, who is a very arrogant skeleton, who wants a change, growing tired of the same old thing. He stumbles into Christmas Town after a night walk and decides to take over Christmas, with the help of Halloween Town. Rather than copying the whole Christmas Theme, he turns it into a nightmare, but to Jack and Halloween Town, being terrified is brilliant.

The movie, though very short, opens with a spiral camera sequence to the Holiday World, seeing the likes of Easter Town, Christmas Town, and Valentines Town, we then go through the door of Halloween Town, where you are shown things that taps into the human mind of things that scared you when you were a child, such as monsters under the stairs and things lurking under your bed. Burton creates shadows of monsters in a “Murnau” way, almost Nosferatu shadow like in many ways.

Characters like Jack and Sally, who is typically the female version of Frankenstein’s Monster also create a beautiful love story, between a non-human skeleton and an experiment for the professor’s pleasure. Jack and Sally ultimately fall in love with one another through not only romance, but through strong ideas on things in life and their inner selves.

The music of the movie, done by the brilliant Danny Elfman, matches perfectly to the sequence to which it is being played in. “Something’s Wrong With Jack” matches the scene of the Halloween Town folk ponderings what is wrong with Jack as Jack also ponders and quizzes what Christmas is all about. Jack in this scene, plays an almost Shakespearian character, showing interest, confusion and ideas of HIS Christmas.

Other characters like the Mayor, who stereotypically shows that politicians cannot make their own decisions, and relies on Jack to make his decisions for his can be seen as controversial in the politician world.

Lock, Shock and Barrel, the children of Halloween town, who are notorious trick or treaters, that work for the almost gangster like Oogie Boogie sing a frightful song “Kidnap the Sandy Claus”, to which they sing about their plan to capture Sandy Claus. You hear some frightening phrases such as “tie him in a bag” and “beat him with a stick” which you would not hear or a typical child sing or dare think about it.

Oogie Boogie is the gangster/Boogie man of Halloween town, who everyone is scared of – Oogie Boogie is every child’s worst nightmare and Burton creates a very accurate depiction of what the boogie man would be conceived as.

Analysing animations is difficult, as it is very hard to discuss characterisation of just voices, though the actors playing their characters portray them through their speech and language exactly the way you would expect them to. Even more so with Danny Elfmans Operamatic singing voice of Jack, which captivates the audience with how beautiful a singer he is.

Through Burton’s movies, there is always something to connect his movies, In Nightmare before Christmas; it connects to all his movies by the iconic images of bats, ducks, shapes of doorways and the infamous black and white stripes, which work perfectly to Burton’s direction.

The lighting, sequence edits, music and characters all fit perfectly with each other, making the movie fun, enjoyable and also quite scary in certain aspects.

Burton is many ways is the present day answer to the amazing German Expressionist F. W. Murnau, through stories, camera techniques and music, which we must applauded Danny Elfman for to not only creating gothic deep, interesting movies, but also created this masterpiece – The Nightmare before Christmas, which will continue to be iconic for many years to come.

Rating 5/5

THE PIANIST

THE PIANIST

Director Roman Polanski is a visionary director in any field given to him. Most notably famous for ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, he turned his direction to a story of a true man who lived through the Second World War –the Polish/Jewish Pianist, Wladylsaw Szpilman, simply naming it, ‘The Pianist’.

Wladylsaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody – Angels in the Outfield) was playing on the radio, when his radio station was bombed – World War 2 had broken out. The family rejoiced that War had come to Germany by Britain and France, but what they did not expect was to be embroiled in it.
The family are forced out of their home and forced to live in a ghetto, people are starving, corpses are left in the open streets and the family also witness the SS murder a family during a raid.
In 1942, the family are deported to a termination camp, where only Wladylsaw survives, which he soon becomes a slave labourer to hide his identity as a Jew.

In August 1944, the Polish resistance attack the German across from Wladylsaw’s hideout. Over the months, the town is destroyed and then becomes deserted, only to be inhabited by Wladylsaw.

He struggles for food and warmth, but, one day he finds a jar of pickles. While trying to open in, a German Officer, Wilm Hosenfeld (Thomas Kretschmann – Downfall) catches him. Feeling this will be his last moments, Hosenfeld asks what he done before the war, where Wladylsaw responds he was a pianist. Hosenfeld asks him to play on a nearby dusty old piano. Wladylsaw plays Chopin’s Ballade in G Minor, as if he was playing for his life. Being moved by the music he had just heard, Hosenfeld allows Wladylsaw to live and frequently builds a friendship with him listening to music in exchange for food and warmth.

In January 1945, Germans have to retreat and Hosenfeld meets Wladylsaw for the last time, giving him his coat and promises to listen to him on the radio when the war is over.
Being given this coat almost causes fatal consequences for Wladylsaw, where he is mistaken for a German Officer. Finally the men stop shooting and Wladylsaw tells them who he really is, he was saved.

In the spring of 1945 in a POW camp holding German soldiers, we find Hosenfeld amongst them. He overhears a released inmate talking of his former career to which he was a violinist. Hosenfeld asks the violinist if he knew of Wladylsaw, to which he agreed. Hosenfeld pleads with the violinist to find Wladylsaw and bring him to the camp to save him as he done him a favour.
Sometime later, the violist and Wladylsaw go back to the camp to find it abandoned – they were too late.

The movie then ends with Wladylsaw performing Chopin’s Grand Polonaise Brillante to a large audience.
The epilogue states that Wladylsaw died in 2000 aged 88 and that Hosenfeld died in Soviet captivity in 1957 – years after the war was over.

Roman Polanski is one of those directors who can do anything. Hitchcock was the master of suspense, FW Murnau was the master of German Expressionism and in modern day cinema, and Guy Ritchie is the master of British gangster movies. Polanski, however, can float in and out of genres and pulls it off brilliantly. Some directors can do the same, but, not with Polanski’s perfectionism.

The movie itself is very complex. Coming from a Jewish background, Polanski had to be cautious from what he was putting on screen, yet had to show the realism of the movie itself, like Spielberg done for Schindlers List, he too had to put his ‘Jewish’ side to the side and focus on making the movie.

The novel is a rather short book, whereas the movie is very long winded, standing at 150 minutes long, we see how things happen to the family and then to Wladylsaw himself and how one man’s survival was saved by music in the end.

The movie is your typical war like movie, harsh lighting with very little colour, almost grainy, dull like, which is very fitting for a war which cost so many lives, what’s so colourful about that. The camera techniques are also very basic, but due to the story being told, works perfectly.

The best thing about the movie is of course we see a relationship flourish between a Jew and a German – through music. The lead up to Wladylsaw playing the piano for Hosenfeld is very intense, yet quiet; as if you do not know what is going to happen. Then with a sudden move, beautiful music flows and it feels like the war is gone and nothing else matters than this piece of music, which ultimately saved his life and bonded with a German through it.
The way this is done is so beautiful, yet, pivotal to the whole movie as if Hosenfeld could have killed him at any moment, instead he too had a love for music, and he too was human just like Wladylsaw.

The acting in the movie is hugely applaudible. Having being the majority of the movie himself, Brody played it brilliant, like Tom Hank done in Castaway, he could hold screen presence himself, just as Brody did in this, which not many can do so well. Brody won Best Actor at the Oscars for this role – beating off lead contender Daniel Day Lewis for Gangs of New York, it would seem as if Day Lewis was robbed of his Oscar, however, Brody was on level pegging as Day Lewis and deserved the Oscar as much as Day Lewis, who then went on to win a few years later for There Will Be Blood. Adrien Brody must cherish this Oscar as not many could pull off the role that he played.
Thomas Kretschmann, who played Hosenfeld is an actual German actor. Not only was he well suited for the role, but is often forgot about that it was he playing Hosenfeld, which, frankly is a shame as he played his character with such power and charisma, he is always fobbed off as ‘another foreign actor’ – forgetting that many foreign actors are just as brilliant as American and British.

Please if you have watched of planned to watch The Pianist, Never forget Hosenfeld and Kretschmann playing him as he also is just as great as Brody.

The Pianist is a very powerful movie. It is not just your average war movie, but it is about a man, who lost his whole family to the war and what kept him alive was not only his strength and courage, but his passion for music, which the Pianist visually shows it not only beautifully, but perfectly.

Rating 5/5

PSYCHO

PSYCHO

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock had already delivered us classics, such as North by Northwest. He then turned his direction to a suspenseful thriller, to which becomes one of the most iconic movies in the horror genre, Psycho.

The movie starts with Marion Crane (Janet Leigh – Little Women) and her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin – Imitation of Life), who meet up on Marion’s lunch hour. After their relations, they talk about how they can’t afford to get married and how unfair life is.
Marion returns to work at her office where a client comes in with $40,000 in cash to purchase a house for his daughter.

Marion, who is entrusted with the money, decides to steal the money and leave town.
While on the road, she pulls in to sleep and is woken up by a policeman. Knowing there is something suspicious about her, he lets her go and follows her to the nearest town. This is when she exchanges her old car for another and pays the excess up front.
She continues to drive and whilst during a heavy rain storm, she pulls into the Bates Motel, an isolated motel forgotten about after a highway bypassed it, therefore, low on custom.
The owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins – The Matchmaker), who seems to be a very nervous, quiet man, welcomes her in by giving her a room and something to eat in the office. Norman speaks of his mother, whom he states is mentally ill. Marion suggests she gets proper care, but Norman abruptly dismisses this.

The conversation between them makes Marion think about returning the money. So, she goes in for a shower to get settled for the night, when suddenly a shadowy figure appears and stabs her to death in the shower.
Norman rushes into the room to find Marion dead. He wraps her in the shower curtain, cleans the bathroom and puts her and all her belongings (including the money which is wrapped up in newspaper) into her car boot and sinks it in a nearby swamp.

Back in town, Marion’s sister, Lila (Vera Miles – The Searchers) and Sam become concerned about Marion’s disappearance. A Private Detective, Arbogast (Martin Balsam – Al Capone) confirms that Marion is suspected of stealing the $40,000 and eventually tracks her down to the Bates Motel.
Whilst questioning Norman, Arbogast is not convinced by Norman, with his constant contradictions and stuttering. Arbogast decides to go up to the house to question Normans mother, whom Arbogast seen sitting at the window. As he goes up the stairs, someone comes out of the room and murders him.

Suspecting something has happened to Arbogast, Sam and Lila go to the towns local Sherriff, who is puzzled by the claim that Arbogast was going to speak to Normans mother – stating she has been dead for many years, after a murder/suicide incident with her lover.

We then hear Norman talking to his mother, telling her it would be safe for her to hide in the fruit cellar. We then see Norman carrying her as she verbally refuses to his plan.

Sam and Lila then rent a room at the Bates Motel and search the cabin Marion stayed in. Lila finds a piece of paper with $40,000 written on it. Sam also notices that there is no shower curtain, believing something had happened; Sam distracts Norman as Lila sneaks into his house looking for Mrs Bates.
Soon after, Norman knocks Sam out and chases Lila. Seeing Norman in pursuit of her, she hides in the cellar and sees Mrs Bates sitting in a rocking chair. As the chair turns, it shows a corpse – Mrs Bates. A figure then enters wearing a dress, wig and a large knife – Norman has been the murderer all along. Sam rushes in and saves Lila and handles Norman.

After Norman is arrested, a psychiatrist that has just interviewed him states that Norman had murder his mother and lover and had developed a type of ‘split personality’, to wipe the crime from his memory.
His split personality is that of his mother. At times, he can function as himself, but other times his mother’s personality takes over – he was even able to hold a conversation as her and himself. However, now Normans mind is locked into his mother’s personality completely.

At the end, Mrs Bates’ voice talks about harmless she is and how it was all really Normans fault and not hers, who committed the murders.

As the camera fades out, we see Marion’s car being removed from the swamp.

Firstly, Psycho is a Hitchcock movie, therefore you either like his movies or not. An auteur in his own right to make him known as the ‘Master of Suspense’. Psycho is the definition of that title.

Psycho, although like most intriguing horrors, takes a while to get into. The movie is in black and white and you can see through the direction, that Hitchcock had been taking notes on German director/expressionist F.W Murnau, with high significance of shadows rather that a basis’s of harsh/light or bright lighting, we only have shadows to go by, which shows the intensity as well as the acting, which works just as well for Hitchcock as it did for F.W Murnau.

The camera work itself is rather basic; with only the use of extreme close ups on significant parts, the majority of parts are shot in medium close ups. This, is boring, but gives the audience a better idea of what is going on around the acting in the middle.

The most iconic scene, the Shower scene is one of horrors greatest moments, which is done so often through parody. The Shower Scene features 77 different angles and took 50 cuts to do. What is also so clever about this scene is the audience never actually see the knife penetrating the skin, you see what looks like a brutal stabbing, instead Hitchcock let the audiences minds go mad with horror, excitement and best of all, imagination.

The Shower scenes music, dubbed ‘The Murder’ is as famous as the movie. Not only this piece of music, but the main theme is also very obscure and is famous as the Murder music, which lays a big stamp on Hollywood horror.

Arbogasts death is rather amusing. At the top of the stairs his face is slashed. He then fakely falls down the stairs, with the camera moving in time with Arbogast and then the scene fades out as he is stabbed to death. The fake fall is funny as we all know this could never happen like it did in the movie, but also has a somewhat fear factor integrated into it as it fades out as he is brutally stabbed.

The acting in the movie is very good. Janet Leigh was who everyone would have wanted to see, but, with her character killed off within the first half of the movie, it opens the movie up and creates that suspense that Hitchcock is the master of.
Janet Leigh, as usual was always at her best as well as everyone else. Anthony Perkins never got as much credit for his role, which is loosely based on a true killer, he plays the character sweetly and makes you feel secure, yet it is he who is the murderer, which leads the audience into a false sense of security, which is another clever point of Hitchcock’s direction.

The film, Psycho is a timeless classic. However, it is rather drawn out at parts; the movie will always be remembered for the Shower Scene. Psycho is not Hitchcock’s best work, but it certainly will be remembered as a great horror classic. You will either love it or hate depending on what method of horror you like, the choice is yours.

Rating 4/5

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST

ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST

Director Milos Forman (Loves of a Blonde) was not a well-established director. Only making three movies, he turned his eye to a Ken Kessy novel, not even realising the impact the movie would make in the cinema world or mental health nursing. The book was One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Its 1963, Randal P McMurphy (Jack Nicholson – Easy Rider), was serving a prison sentence for raping a 15 year old girl. Though he is not ‘mentally insane’, McMurphy is transferred to a mental institute to be evaluated, in the hope of serving out his prison sentence in a relaxed, easy environment.
Once in the ward, he meets the head nurse, Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher – A Gathering of Eagles), who is this horrible, stern, bully of a nurse, who runs a tight ship on the ward, and the patients are terrified of her, rather than focusing on having a life outside the institutes walls. McMurphy soon meets fellow patients; the young stuttering Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif – First movie appearance), child light temper Charlie Cheswick (Sydney Lassick – Sinderella and the Golden Bra), the delusional Martini (Danny DeVito – First movie appearance), the well-educated paranoid Harding (William Redfield – Such Good Friends), the head case Taber (Christopher Lloyd – First Movie Appearance) and Chief Bromden (Will Sampson – First credited role) – a native American, who poses as a deaf and dumb Indian.
McMurphy becomes leader of the gang as soon as he arrives and everyone feels safe with him, much to the dismay of Nurse Ratched, who has noticed he had started winning the patients cigarettes in card games, therefore she rations them. McMurphy then calls for a vote to change her ward policies to challenge her and even goes to the lengths of trying to throw an old hypnotherapy console up and out the window.

Soon after, McMurphy steals the patient’s bus and takes them on a fishing trip with a girlfriend of his, Candy, which gives the patients the strength to have fun and gain self-confidence within them.

However, McMurphy learns that Ratched and the doctors have the power to keep him committed indefinitely. Ratched soon tightens her grip on everyone. During one of her group therapy sessions, Cheswick’s agitation boils over and he, McMurphy and the Chief wind up brawling with the orderlies. They are sent up to the “shock shop” for electric shock therapy. As they wait, McMurphy learns that the Chief is not deaf and dumb and only acts like that to deflect any interest on him.
After the electric shock therapy, McMurphy scuttles into the ward pretending to be vegetated and then smiles and jokes around with the patients – hiding the fact the therapy was really horrible.

With a release date beginning to look faint, McMurphy plans to escape. He manages to phone Candy and tells her to bring her friend, Rose and some drink into the hospital one night. McMurphy bribes the night orderly and they all begin to have a party.
At the end of the night, McMurphy and the Chief prepare to escape with the girls. McMurphy says goodbye to everyone and invites the clingy Billy to escape with him, he declines and states is not ready for the world, however, he would like a date with Candy.

McMurphy insists that Billy and Candy have a one off sex session and then they go to a private room. The mixture of drink and their medication begins to show and everyone falls asleep.

The next morning, Nurse Ratched discovers the ward in a mess and the patients sleeping everywhere. She orders for the windows to be locked, cleaned up and a head count to be done. This is when the orderly’s find Billy in bed with Candy and for the first time, Billy speaks without a stutter as the patients applaud. Nurse Ratched then announces that she will tell Billy’s mother what he has done. Billy panics, his stutter returns, and he starts punching himself; locked in the doctor’s office, he kills himself. McMurphy, enraged at Nurse Ratched, chokes her nearly to death until one of the orderly’s knocks him out.

Sometime later, the patients in the ward play cards and gamble for cigarettes as before, only now with Harding dealing and delivering a pale imitation of McMurphy’s patter. Nurse Ratched, still recovering from the neck injury sustained during McMurphy’s attack, wears a neck brace. Rumours begin to spread that McMurphy escaped the hospital rather than being taken “upstairs.”

Later that night, Chief Bromden sees McMurphy being escorted back to his bed, and initially believes that he has returned so they can escape together. However, when he looks closely at McMurphy’s unresponsive face, he is horrified to see lobotomy scars on his forehead. Unwilling to allow McMurphy to live in such a state, the Chief smothers McMurphy to death with his pillow.

He then carries out McMurphy’s escape plan by lifting the hydrotherapy console off the floor and hurling the massive fixture through a grated window, climbing through and running off into the distance, with Taber waking up just in time to see the Chief escape and cheering as the others awake.

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is one of those movies that are hard to come by in modern day cinema. The movie itself is fantastic and what the actors done to create the perfect ward setting was exemplary. Having spent 6 weeks in a mental institute to watch how patients spoke and moved, all actors, especially the ones which was their first appearance in a movie, done exceedingly well and is very hard to point out negativity, even more at the fact that the majority of the extras in the movie were real mental institute patients. It has emerged that even off camera; the cast would stay in character to keep the authenticity going, which shows true versatility of all the actors.

A key scene of the movie as everyone would say is the electric shock treatment. It has been said that Jack Nicholson voluntarily went through the treatment beforehand so he knew exactly how to act and what it really felt like getting done – which in modern day nursing is strictly prohibited under certain units. This scene is remarkable and well played – you would think it was actually happening to him, which makes his acting capability far better than what he was – just another actor. He won best actor for his role in this movie, and rightly so as no other person could have played this role and played is with such emotion, wackiness and charisma than Nicholson done.

High praise to all actors and actresses in the movie, especially from Brad Dourif, Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd and Will Sampson. This was their first onscreen performance and for a film set in a small group, where all actors were used the same amount as others, in an intense environment and they proved to be fantastic and as we know these actors went on to make different movies, some in the one genre, some in a mix, but needless to say, this movie derived the potential of these guys.

What is also good about Forman’s direction was his reaction shots. This allowed to bring in the characters more. In some of the group therapy scenes, there was roughly 10 minutes of Jack Nicholson’s reactions filmed – even without dialogue. There is also another shot of Louise Fletcher looking rather icily at Nicholson after he returns from the electric shock therapy, which was actually her irritated reaction to a piece of Forman’s direction.

Louise Fletchers performance as Nurse Ratched – well, as most people know working in the health care environment, there is always a Nurse Ratched, which is derived from this movie i.e. the harshest, strictest bitch of a nurse. No one in healthcare can say they have never met a Nurse Ratched in their time, and she played it beautifully.

All in, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest is an amazing movie, sweeping the movie award boards everywhere, it is a Hollywood Classic. It never gets old, is as classic as Singin’ in the rain and the Wizard of Oz, a truly inspirational and realistic movie which will never have a negative comment said about it.

Rating 5/5