Double Indemnity (1944) review

Hailed by many as the greatest Film-Noir of all time, I was definitely in need of checking out Double Indemnity. As someone who is growing a love for classic films, I decided not to have any sort of high expectations and thankfully, Double Indemnity is not only an intriguing film but it is a film as close to perfect as possible. It does something interesting that most films at the time of its release would never have done, which is reveal the big “secret” within the opening minutes hence allowing the audience to be fully invested within the characters and in order for them to effectively enjoy the film that much more.

Fred MacMurray plays a salesman named Walter Neff who recounts the events leading to the death of Mr Dietrichson, as he meets Ms Dietrichson and forms a strange affair with her. The strange affair leads to the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson persuading Walter to join her in a scheme to kill her husband and in order to receive an indemnity. Realizing that there is indeed ‘a double indemnity’ if killed on a train, they agree to do so but an insurance manager, Keyes, shows his suspicion about the death of Mr Dietrichson and attempts to solve the crime.

Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is one of the greatest films from the Golden Age of cinema, featuring fantastic performances by Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, who resemble and embody the characters. Barbara is shown as a rather lifeless woman, yet seductive especially how she initially acts around Neff. Walter is portrayed as a rather wise and cunning man, as portrayed at the end of the film. Keyes, played by Edward Robinson was truly fantastic in his role as he truly embodies every bit of characterization of Keyes. He outsmarts those around him, his determination to solve the death is evident and his inability to be fooled is quite easily evident.

The story is fantastic, complex and deeply layered giving each character enough depth, even Mr Dietrichson’s daughter. Each character is still easy to understand and their motivations are clear. The story telling structure is very clever and how the story unfolds is even better. The cinematography is gorgeous, the lighting often stands out.

It isn’t just a crime/drama tale. It has all the essentials for a masterpiece with an ability to mix in various genres such as thriller and romance. With this, Wilder accomplishes far more than he otherwise would have. A near perfect film that exceeds in every department of film making. 

Grade- 10/10

Mean Streets (1973) review

Director Martin Scorsese, a newcomer at the time of its release, must be credited for his direction taken with this crime film considering the year earlier brought to us the greatest crime film ever created, which is portrayed as a big and epic mafia film. However, Mean Streets is the complete opposite of Mean Streets. It has a low budget, has a small scoped story and takes crime films back a few years. Even with all the changes, Mean Streets is a rather enjoyable film by master filmmaker Martin Scorsese, who would later go on to make far greater films.

This is where Mean Streets is separated from other crime masterpieces such as The Godfather Parts I & II, Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas and even other crime films such as the absurd Scarface. The story is such a shorter part of the story that the essential focus isn’t always around the story but more so the characters. Here is where I have one of my issues. Whilst the story is told early on about Johnny Boy (Robert de Niro) owing money to many people in the streets and how he is basically a con, the story come to a point in the middle of the film with Harvey Keitel’s Charlie and Teresa, Johnny’s cousin which is all about romance which completely threw me away from the story. Not that romance is a bad thing, in fact it works perfectly in The Godfather but here, it felt as if the entire focus suddenly shifted which made my attention shift. From here, the story becomes less relevant until towards which is a rather pity considering that by the end of the film, the story folds up beautifully. It is truly a pity that a little more focus wasn’t spent on the basic story.

In one of his earliest films, Robert de Niro truly delivers a great performance as a semi psychotic teenaged man with a tendency to go off towards others and a tendency towards violence. De Niro completely embodies the character of Johnny Boy and is a rather pity that he didn’t receive the role of Sonny in The Godfather in the previous year. The following year, De Niro keeps up his fantastic acting as Vito in The Godfather Part II and then as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. From Mean Streets, De Niro became an acting legend. Twenty years before Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel starred in Scorsese’s Mean Streets as an uncertain and much more friendly and thought provoking man by the name of Charlie, who throughout the film sticks up for Johnny and for others. Keitel too, delivers a fantastic performance. The rest of the cast all give good performances each being able to act to Scorsese’s writing. De Niro shows strength, power, greed, violence and even corruption from an innocent boy to a thief. Keitel perfectly brings to the table what crime life can do to people and is used to separate others from him being able to illustrate what life is like for those who are involved in everyday crime.

By now, Martin Scorsese is a masterful director but back then, he wasn’t a name. In Mean Streets, whilst definitely providing a good premise and some fantastic actors, as well as an engaging script (just like all his other films), Mean Streets is easily his weakest film I’ve seen (I have not seen Hugo and his more recent work) Whilst a very interesting first act, the second act of this film falls underwater with the third act having to rise from the water which it eventually does. However, when viewed as one piece, Mean Streets can be a little tiring, a little messy and a little tough to relate to, especially when a love story is rather suddenly introduced and is eventually one of the central focuses. Whilst a definite good film with great performances, Mean Streets didn’t meet my expectations but is nevertheless, a film that I enjoyed even though it can be a little messy as one film.

Grade- 7.5/10

On The Waterfront (1954) review

In some ways, it is a shame to think exactly how long it took the legendary Marlon Brando before he won his first Oscar, but realizing that he won it in ‘On The Waterfront’ deeply warms and satisfies anyone’s heart with his legendary performance being praised to death. The film itself, is one of incredible style, showing plenty of talent and skill and leaves an undying message that will live forever, much like this legendary picture has.

Marlon Brando stars as an ex-boxer named Terry Malloy, whose life has turned to misery and misfortune since been conned out of boxing. This is highlighted in his iconic line, “I coulda been a contender…” which has been parodied everywhere since then. It has become such a Hollywood classic that it cements a spot in the top 5 movie quotes of all time, according to the infamous AFI. Terry Malloy blindly takes part in the death of Joey Doyle and is willing to play D & D (deaf and dumb) for his boss, Johnny Friendly, portrayed by the legendary Lee J. Cobb. At this same time, a series of murders and crime ensues as Terry meets and begins a relationship with Joey’s sister, Edie portrayed by Eva Saint Marie in her debut.

Every single performance in this film is incredible whether the obvious Marlon Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Eva Saint Marie or even smaller roles such as Rod Steiger. Brando’s performance is quite possibly, the greatest cinema has ever seen rivalled only by his performance 18 years later, in The Godfather. He brings a certain energetic feel to the film, boosting the brilliance of his performance by his speciality, method acting. Had anyone else been cast, no matter how legendary, I fear that they couldn’t bring the certain endearing aspect that Brando does, the confusion, the anger, the disappointment and most importantly, portray the innocence of his character. Brando excels at each aspects of this film. He is not alone in terms of fantastic performances.

Lee J Cobb plays Terry’s boss, Johnny Friendly and portrays him with brilliance. He brings yet again, a rather endearing personality to it and later unleashes with an intense, dirty and evil performance. The scene towards the end of the film, where he begins pounding Terry is vicious and completely believable not only from Brando’s side but from Cobb’s side. He certainly has a way with playing bad guys!

Karl Malden is terrific as the priest in this film and it is his second film with Brando, the other being ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ He is once more, fantastic as a supporting character knocking some sense into the kid inside Terry. The scene where he objects to Terry’s desperate need for murder was just brilliant. Malden brings a certain frustration towards Brando’s character, some heart and most importantly, is evident that he brings some sense into Terry.

Not only do we have the brilliance of Brando, Cobb and Malden but it is mindblowing to think that Eva Saint Marie won herself an Oscar in her film debut as she plays Terry’s love interest, Edie. Whilst her performance may not be up to scrap with the others, it is nevertheless an absolutely fantastic performance especially considering it be her debut. The brilliant thing about ‘On The Waterfront’ is that it becomes so easy to get lost with the fact that there are actors acting out parts of this film due to how realistic and how grabbing the performances are.

The story is an extremely touching one, full of emotion and a realistic take on crime. The film itself is an extremely inspiring and positive one sending the undying message that even the average “bum” like Terry can do good like he does by the end of the film. It realistically presents what life can be like and the addition of the two kids who are often shown present with Terry are just brilliant, resembling the innocence of the kid within Terry.

At 100 minutes, the film is flawlessly written, directed and paced and keeps a certain intensity all throughout. The cinematography in this film is gorgeous and all themes tackled in this film provide us with hope in life, especially for those who are often discriminated due to various reasons. ‘On the Waterfront’ is simply a movie that can knock some sense and hope into anyone and it does after all, feature one of the all time greatest performances! 

Grade- 10/10

#2- The Godfather (1972) review

Hailed by many as the greatest film to ever grace the big screen, it can usually be hard to agree with such statement when hundreds of ground breaking films have also been released but in this case, when the Godfather Part I is considered the greatest of all time, I without hesitation, will agree!

Focusing around the Corleone Family, the story’s essential focus is that of their youngest son, Michael Corleone, a World War II patriotic veteran who has returned home just in time for his sister’s wedding. The film depicts the fall and rise to power of Michael Corleone as well as various other family businesses movements.

The greatest strength of the film, which is extremely tough to pick one when everything about this movie is flawless and perfection, but the greatest aspect of the film is the acting. Marlon Brando’s performance of Vito Corleone is what I believe one of the all time greatest performances ever. It is chilling, calming, intense but completely believable. If I were to ever have a godfather, I would imagine him as Brando’s Vito. He embodies that, he is the Godfather! You remember the poster to Forrest Gump that says “TOM HANKS….IS FORREST GUMP”, in this case it should most certainly say ‘MARLON BRANDO IS THE GODFATHER” He is the scene stealer of the film, he owns the film, he motivates the film and he is simply the driving force of the film. 

However, the supporting cast is unbelievable. Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, adopted son of the family and lawyer, Duvall is fantastic in his role and is welcome! His character is also superbly done. James Caan as the oldest brother, Sonny, is unbelievable and believe me, right up there with Al Pacino’s performance in this film. It’s a truly remarkable performance, that everything I see him, I’m left with the biggest of smiles on my face! Caan and Brando are the ones that are sorely missed in The Godfather Part II. Diane Keaton is great in her role, despite heavy criticism towards her performance. It  isn’t most definitely the greatest she could give but it is a believable performance. However, what would acting be without a strong performance by our lead star: Al Pacino. Despite not being the scene stealer, it is mainly Michael’s story and Al Pacino is the only man to possibly play Michael. He is innocent when he needs to be, caring and lovable and simply, the one character you wouldn’t want to fall into the family business but when he does, it is one of the greatest performances ever. Like Brando, it is extremely relaxed yet extremely intimidating.

The acting is flawless, the direction taken by Francis Ford Coppola is only described by the word ‘flawless’ and that’s what every aspect of the film is. The writing is superb and obviously helps from incredibly strong source material by Mario Puzo and the amazing cinematography is just gorgeous to look at. Every scene is filmed in the most gorgeous of ways even though it does not seem like they try to do so. That’s what good filming does! Gorgeously filmed and executed, along with strong writing, The Godfather is still flawless.

When you have a three hour epic like The Godfather, the pacing to the film must be strong and that’s exactly what this film is. It is paced unbelievably well. For a three hour film, a lot of important events happen such as the death of a character. Francis Ford Coppola shows his mastery here by leaving a clear indication to how it affects Michael but has the brain to not have any further discussions about this, therefore not wasting any time unnecessarily. Whilst this may be considered too packed, believe it or not, it isn’t. There isn’t one moment that feels too slow nor too packed. The dialogue is downright amazing, the music is legendary. One of the most iconic soundtracks ever to grace the screen, everything it plays throughout this film, I fall in love with it. Whereas Part II uses it, it doesn’t have the effect that the score has on this film.

The Godfather is packed with many iconic scenes and dialogue. Dialogue from ‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse’ to ‘Look how they massacred my boy!’ to ‘It’s a Sicilian message. It means Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes!” are the definition of iconic dialogue. Then, the iconic scenes in this movie do not stop. Unlike Part II, which despite being a masterpiece, offers very little iconic sequences or if they are iconic, aren’t anywhere to the extent of the power in this film. The film is packed with iconic sequences to the horse head, to Luca Brasi, to the Sollozo/McCluskey incident, to Vito being shot, to the baptism, Vito’s talk with Michael, the agreement with the Five Families to the tollbooth sequence. The word iconic graces every minute of the film and that’s no joke!

And that is no joke too! That being said, The Godfather is the definition of a masterpiece and quite possibly, the greatest film ever made. A gorgeously shot movie with masterful directing and writing, to legendary acting and story-telling alongside one of the greatest film scores of all time, The Godfather is the definition of an iconic movie. It’s a legend…Everyone needs to see The Godfather…Or else…Vito Corleone will catch you!  

Grade- 10/10

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) review

After viewing this film a few times, it is truly a pity to think that The Shawshank Redemption did not carry home any Oscar, even though the film clearly surpasses the greatness of Forrest Gump which managed to take 7 Oscars. With one of the greatest, most realistic and most moving stories, to fantastic acting or amazing characters, The Shawshank Redemption is one of the finest directed films and has sent through a message that has inspired many people. “Hope is always a good thing”

When thinking about films, I generally like to think of an aspect to a film that I do not appreciate even if it is a very slight nit-pick but the Shawshank Redemption is so full of brilliance in every department of great film making that there isn’t one slight thing about the film that I do not like. Even one of my favourite films of all time, Pulp Fiction, the other film in 1994 that should’ve won Oscars has a slight nitpick here and there but upon rewatching this film, it has immediately moved into my top 5 films of all time.

The Shawshank Redemption plays out in a prison called Shawshank where a young man named Andy Dufresne is sent to Shawshank for two life sentences on the account for murdering his wife and her lover. There he forms a bond with a man named Red as the film continues to show Andy’s progress from a timid man into a confident and rather respectable man whilst he attempts to escape Shawshank. 

What is so brilliant about this film is that it is completely free to allow itself to be set up nicely never feeling rushed or slow. It is so brilliant in everyway that, like the late Roger Ebert said, The Shawshank Redemption makes you completely lose track of time and ensures that you forget you are watching a film as the narration, giving by the godly voice of Morgan Freeman makes you feel as if you are one of the men in Shawshank. Featuring one of the greatest screenplays, The Shawshank Redemption is a masterful adaptation off Stephen King’s masterpiece. The pacing is just incredible and the messages that are sent through this film are incredibly powerful, thanks to a fantastic script. Some of the lines, especially ‘Remember Red, hope is always a good thing!” is such a fantastic and such an inspirational line. 

Some films that deal with prison life could come off horrible but The Shawshank Redemption offers a completely realistic and rather dark yet emotional and happy take on prison life. The characters presented have been considered to have done bad stuff in the past but are rather friendly people once you come to know them more. Red and Andy are endearing characters and even minor characters, mainly Brooks, the old librarian are vital to the story and what may be Red’s fate. Brooks was a major character who was portrayed brilliantly as he was able to show what life on the outside is like after serving a lifetime on the inside. The way that this simultaneously linked with Red was superb and the whole sequence regarding Red’s narration of Andy’s escape was done perfectly but the finest scene in the final, in my eyes, was Brooks’ fate. Not only heavily emotional but extremely realistic, this scene provided much pity not just for Brooks but also for others at Shawshank.

Morgan Freeman was absolutely superb as Red, his voice providing such power and emotion to the film. His performance is calm making his character all the more endearing. The chemistry he shared with Tim Robbins was fantastic and Robbins’ gave a fantastic performance showing his dedication to the library, showing his urge to leave and his fear and guilt of his past. The way that both Freeman and Robbins’ portrayed extremely calm characters yet how we could still see their anger and fright was just superb. The rest of the cast did a great job especially Bob Gunton who played the corrupted head of Shawshank, Warden Norton. That scene involving Norton and newcomer, Tommy was just superb. The way that Norton’s face was mainly covered by the dark was extremely symbolic and the entire scene was intense. He displayed what true corruption would be like and is quite possibly, one of the great antagonists ever put to screen. 

Frank Darabont’s directing was utterly fantastic and in many ways, it is no surprise that his film is so well received by critics and users across the world. It remains, one of the all time greatest films and has been placed at #1 on IMDb’s infamous top 250 list for an extremely long time period even though it is definitely not the greatest film ever made. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is a movie for anyone aged 15 and up and will demonstrate what true life can be like. An extremely dark at times yet positive film that has timeless re-watchable value. A true masterpiece in my eyes. 

Grade- 10/10