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If one had no other reference with regards to the American West, they might gather from this movie that Jesse James’ notoriety came from his ability to talk people to death. Well, most of the jaw-jackin’ in this movie comes from the titular coward, but there is no shortage of talk and a relative dearth of the gunplay that one expects from a typical horse opera.
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You have the power to kill but not negotiate. In Somalia, killing is negotiation.
Ridley Scott’s fact-based epic is probably the most patriotic anti-war movie ever made. It successfully honors the men and their mission, while simultaneously acknowledging the politics that ultimately made their sacrifices rather futile in the end. It may be the first modern war movie about a truly modern war and watching it now, I realize that the current occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have either not seen this movie or have at least never internalized the lessons from the events depicted. The prior tenant may have learned the wrong lesson from the Battle of Mogadishu, but at least he was paying some attention.
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...a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing...
William Shakespeare, The Scottish Play
Stealth had some impeccable B-Movie credentials behind the camera. Screenwriter W. D. Richter was responsible for writing directing The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension and writing John Carpenter‘s Big Trouble in Little China. Director Rod Cohen helmed the noisily successful The Fast and the Furious and xXx.
The talent in front of cameras wasn’t exactly known for perpetrating schlock. Aside from Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and actor/playwright Sam Shepard, you have the always solid Joe Morton. Josh Lucas and Jessica Biel each have their share of respectable acting credits, as well.
So how did Stealth make such a huge blip on my suck radar? Continue reading
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If nothing else, The Right Stuff could go down in history as the movie that could have elected a President. At a time when the Democratic party was looking for a viable candidate to challenge Ronald Reagan in 1984, the image of Ed Harris as John Glenn, the squeaky clean All-American with the can-do attitude filled them with hope that the real former astronaut turned senator could help them re-capture the White House. I think the film may have actually hurt Glenn in the long run. While he was an American hero, a capable senator and probably would have made an able president, to paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen, he’s no Ed Harris, at least not in the charisma department.
Unfortunately, all the focus on political ramifications had nothing to do with the actual film, which seemed to get lost in the shuffle. Too bad, because it’s one of the best films of the 1980s, taking real life personalities and molding them into something like a modern American myth.