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Tabbycat (672)
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If it’s foretold …
“I’m still here”
What is this movie saying?
Ed McMahon: “You’re Fired”
“Bitches like you are the f!cking problem!”
How the #&%! Did This Miss A Best Picture Nomination?
This Movie Disgusts Me
Now ***FREE*** in HD on Tubi (with a few ads)
On YouTube Right Now In HD — FREE
“It’s Not About Anything Anymore”
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He’s a liar and a con man hoping against hope Scudder would fall for it.
“Cuz I held back, baby.”
Yes, but I’d love it more in stereo.
Where is the original stereo soundtrack?
Original posters and L.A. Times ads showed “Dolby Stereo in Selected Theaters” but it never happened. Time for James Newton Howard to loan out his stereo dubs for CD release as David Shire did for “Taking of Pelham 1-2-3.”
The sno-cone scene was an improvised classic. A highlight that also gave Andy Garcia work for life.
They covered that thoroughly.
Exactly Kaffee’s original plan until developments made him feel he had something to prove — that he could be a real courtroom lawyer like his esteemed father.
“I said, ‘Grave danger?’ You said, ‘Is there any other kind?’ I can have the court reporter read back the transcript … “
No, no, no, no, and no.
Colonel Jessep “broke down” because he was unable to hide his contempt for snotty lawyers in “faggoty white uniforms” who, he feels, neither understand nor appreciate his responsibilities and what he feels he must do regardless of what the army code technically states. His arrogance is his undoing, because he can’t see what he did as wrong nor how formidable a legal opponent Kaffee turns out to be. He is also a liar and arguably a coward. If he truly believes Code Reds are an “invaluable teaching tool” then why not say so and take the consequences? Instead he tries to have it both ways by lying about his ordering it while defending the practice hypothetically.
There are two genuine sides to the central moral quandary here, and the movie orders a surprisingly deep and thorough exposition of both. Jessep may have been incapable of seeing the other side, but at least one equally gung-ho Marine was not: Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson. When asked after sentencing by PFC Downey why they were dishonorably discharged for doing nothing wrong, he had this:
“Yeah, we did.
We were supposed to fight for the people who couldn’t fight for themselves.
We were supposed to fight for Willie.”
That line was moving and real, and made for a hell of a final gut punch.
I like this movie better than when I first saw it.
Unlike so many others, it seems to acquire more weight with each viewing.
I do.
Bought in 2018 when first released.
Newly-released soundtrack CD that year also, first time in stereo.
Clearly you say “clearly” a lot — even if the reason is ‘t clear. 😸
Have to say, I’ve never understood how or why this film disappeared from public consciousness. It was a big deal in its day (summer of ‘75), the most expensive AIP release at the time and a moderate hit.
Just watched it again and frankly marveled at how well-made it is. Three things stood out:
1) Very good cast overall, including big stars of the day (Sarrazin, Kidder, and O’Neill)
2) Tight editing with well-aligned parallels of flashbacks vs current shots
3) Jerry Goldsmith’s moody, unforgettable score
That last one really hit me tonight. I’ve always admired it (though the soundtrack was not commercially released until 2017), but now I see how effectively it ties the whole story together. I actually tried imagining certain scenes minus the score and saw how they would fall flat without it.
The director was a veteran about my age at the time — 61 — who demonstrates repeated competence with difficult scenes that depend on careful direction of his actors. One standout example: Dr. Proud walks into a police station in dark sunglasses and stares across the room at the desk captain, imagining how the conversation about a 30-year-old unknown murder will go, then deciding to leave instead. It’s an expositional scene that could have gone wrong and gotten muddled, but plays as intended here. There’s also a nicely done bit with a police cruiser slowly passing the parked Dr. Proud in front of Marsha’s home that gets the point across with no dialogue needed.
There really isn’t another film like this, and that’s a shame. I hate to sound like the old guy lamenting how they don’t make ‘em like that anymore, but it’s clearly true. And I really don’t know why.
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