Overlooked and underrated: ‘Once Upon a Time in America’

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

The phone rings and rings and rings.

For nearly 20 minutes that open “Once Upon a Time in America,” the constant ringing of a phone fills the soundtrack as the film jumps from the 1930s to the 1960s. At first, it’s irritating. But as you settle into the film, you realize this is just a stylistic device by the director to unite different ti me periods covered by his story.

Sergio Leone’s 1984 gangster film masterpiece – the final motion picture directed by the Italian film maker before his untimely death from a heart attack in 1989 at age 60 – is one of the great overlooked and underrated films of our time.

Adapted from the novel “The Hoods” by Harry Grey, “Once Upon a Time in America” stars Robert De Niro and James Woods in the gripping story of Jewish youths who live in poverty and rise to prominence in the New York mob scene.

‘The Last Temptation of Christ’: Scorsese’s unforgettable epic

THE LAST TEMPTATION
OF CHRIST (1988)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

As an exhausted, dying Jesus hangs on the cross and rejects one last elaborate temptation to renounce his role as the Son of God, I have never been more moved by a motion picture.

Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” created major controversy when it played theaters in the fall of 1988, primarily from right-wing, fundamentalist religious fanatics who missed the entire point of the film.

Led by the Rev. Donald Wildmon and the American Family Association, opponents objected to several scenes – including the film’s climax in which Jesus is tempted by Satan who appears in the form of a beautiful young girl.

In that sequence, Jesus sees what life would be like if he denied his role as Savior. He marries, has children and grows old. When Jesus rejects Satan, accepts his destiny and willingly dies on the cross to save us, Scorsese movie packs powerful jolt.

Bad movies I love: Julie Christie carries the ‘Demon Seed’

DEMON SEED (1977)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Aside from “Alien” in 1979 and its first sequel “Aliens” in 1986, the science fiction-horror genre has never produced many memorable box-office hit films – especially during the 1970s.

“Alien” itself was a huge gamble for 20th Century Fox. The film was, essentially, a haunted house film set in deep space featuring a man in a monster suit hunting and killing the crew of a spaceship.

As conventional as the plot was, “Alien” worked magnificently thanks to taut direction, a brilliant production design and one of best horror film scores ever composed.

In an odd way, the same can be said of the little-seen, 1977 sci-fi horror film “Demon Seed.” This strange film, based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz, is one of the most bizarre horror films ever made. An artificial intelligence named Proteus IV overtakes the computerized home of its inventor, Dr. Alex Harris, and holds his estranged wife, Susan, captive.

Chaplin’s silent comedies still hilarious nearly a century later

CHARLIE CHAPLIN AND JACKIE COOGAN
IN THE KID (1921)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

“Blazing Saddles,” “Annie Hall,” “Animal House” and “The Hangover” have more in common than simply being smash hit film comedies at the time they played in theaters.

The common denominator is simple: Those films – and, by extension, any and all successful film comedies – owe a large debt of gratitude to the brilliant, unsurpassed work of the screen’s first comic superstar, Charlie Chaplin.

Chaplin was an English comic actor and a silent film auteur, a man who wrote, directed and starred in a series of slapstick comedies in the early 1900s that remain as fresh and funny today as they were almost 100 years ago.

Best known for his endearing on-screen character, “The Tramp,” Chaplin created such timeless, feature-length, silent classics in the 1920s and 1930s as “The Kid,” “The Circus,” “The Gold Rush,” City Lights” and “Modern Times.”

‘Lagaan’: Unlike anything you’ve ever seen in American film

LAGAAN (2001)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

About a half hour into the four-hour epic “Lagaan,” the cast suddenly breaks into the first of several spirited, infectious, hook-laden musical production numbers filled with great singing and choreography.

But this isn’t Hollywood. It’s Bollywood. “Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India” is a typical, Hindi-language melodramatic film, the type that will pack thousands of movie goers into air conditioned cinemas across India.

And it’s all incredibly enjoyable.

“Lagaan,” an Oscar-nominated drama, is set in Victorian period of India’s colonial British rule. The film is about a small village whose residents are struggling with a severe drought and also with oppressive, unfair taxes levied by the evil ruling British authorities.

Like most Hindi films, “Lagaan” includes many conventions common to Bollywood films; They feature popular Indian stars, melodramatic stories, over-the-top acting, clearly defined good and bad characters and lavishly staged musical numbers.

Scorsese, De Niro paint portrait of madness with ‘Taxi Driver’

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

From the minute Travis Bickle explains he is a Marine, many people quickly lump “Taxi Driver” into the category of movies about crazed, mentally disturbed Vietnam veterans.

But Martin Scorsese’s film is about more than Vietnam. While the specter of America’s failed Vietnam policy haunts every minute of “Taxi Driver,” Scorsese’s movie in the end is about redemption.

That’s what makes this movie so memorable – and such an important part of Scorsese’s overall body of work. For all the problems and issues “Taxi Driver” touches on and the character of Travis Bickle raises, in the end everything comes down to redemption.

Whether or not that redemption is real or a fantasy is debatable. But make no doubt about it: Scorsese slowly and methodically layers his film and tightens the tension as he approaches an unforgettable denouement.

Sneak Prevue Mailbag: Sneaking into R-rated films as a teenager

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

Nothing is better than a silly, pointless comedy. And “Kentucky Fried Movie” fits that requirement perfectly. I write a little about “Kentucky Fried Movie” in this edition of the Sneak Prevue Mailbag.

I also talk about the high cost of movie concessions and reminisce about sneaking into R-rated film as an underage teenager.

Every Friday, I dig deep into the mailbag and answer some of the more interesting questions from readers of this blog. If you have a question, write me at editor@sneakprevue.info and I’ll try to answer it on this blog.

Mr. Cassreino: I’ve been reading your blog now since it began last month. I find it quite interesting and even used your suggestions in deciding which films to watch on Netflix. Have you ever seen “Kentucky Fried Movie?” – John in Durango.