In honor of John Wayne's 100th birthday, it seems everything Wayne ever appeared in is hitting the shelves in upgraded editions--if you've ever felt the need to own a copy of Big Jim McCain, here's your chance--and to me, the best of the bunch is the new Special edition of 1969's True Grit.
This, of course, is the movie that won the Duke an Oscar, yet it's been consistently underrated by serious critics since its debut. Henry Hathaway's staid direction takes most of the blame, but to me, his straightforward approach to the sly, lightly self-mocking material (faithful to the fine Charles Portis novel) is what makes it work--a more stylized approach would have made the whole thing too precious. Plus, with a great cast (Kim Darby, Robert Duvall, Strother Martin), beautiful photography by Lucien Ballard (the only cinematographer to have worked with Sam Peckinpah, Stanley Kubrick and The Three Stooges!) and a rousing score by Elmer Bernstein, this is classic Hollywood filmmaking at its best.
Speaking of classic filmmaking, Clint Eastwood's magnificent Letters From Iwo Jima is out today, either on its own or as part of a multi-disc set with its companion piece, Flags Of Our Fathers. Either way, you'll get not only an emotionally devastating look at the human cost of war, but a great example of a master director showing how it's done.
Sidney Lumet can't quite be called a master; his career is full of indefensible crap, from the stupefying The Wiz to the hilariously misconceived A Stranger Among Us (or, as my mom used to call it, Undercover Jew), from the unbearably precious Garbo Talks to the amazingly unnecessary remake of John Cassavetes' Gloria.
On the other hand, there's Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. More to the point, there's 1981's Prince Of The City, probably his best work, which finally arrives on DVD today. Treat Williams is great as a cop who slowly becomes aware of how pervasive is the corruption surrounding him, and who discovers his efforts to do right slowly strip him of everything he knows and loves. Lumet's direction is naturalistic, the script is full of moral complexities and the acting is superb down to the bit parts. If not a truly great film, it's close enough.
Also out today: the gritty character study Straight Time with a fine Dustin Hoffman performance; the essential documentary The Murder Of Fred Hampton; and a whole bunch of Howard hawks pictures including the original Scarface, the hilarious Gary Cooper-Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Ball Of Fire and a new upgrade of Rio Bravo, which auteurist critics consider a masterpiece--but if I want a lighthearted comedy western vehicle for a dumpy John Wayne, I'll stick with True Grit.
