Mickey One

Whenever an actor or a director makes their big break, many of the films they made beforehand usually get overshadowed by said big break. (Let's be real. How many people have seen any of Peter Jackson's pre-The Lord of the Rings films?)

Take for instance both Arthur Penn and Warren Beatty. Penn only had four films to his name whereas Beatty was still trying to make a name for himself as an actor when they made Bonnie and Clyde. As every cinephile knows, that film was responsible for paving the way for the New Hollywood era. But Bonnie and Clyde wasn't the first film Penn and Beatty did together. Go back two years, and you'll come across Mickey One.

Mickey One is a film that was particularly dark for its time. And even though it's a comedy (albeit one with dark humor), the so-called jokes reflect the era. (This was released amid the very tumultuous decade that was the 1960s.) It showed a time of uncertainty and paranoia.

The film also reflects on an existential nature. It shows how Mickey feels trapped by the society he's a part of, a common theme for most films of the decade. He's a loner amid an indifferent world, trying to be recognized. (The result is bittersweet at best.)

Mickey One in toll isn't anything that revolutionary but you can see a few benchmarks later seen in Bonnie and Clyde. Beatty proves here that he can be a viable actor rather than just another pretty face. But all in all if you can get a hold of this film, it's worth a look.

My Rating: ****

Night Moves

With Arthur Penn's passing back in 2010, I was compelled to see some of his films (as with the case of other names in the business that have died recently). But what to watch? I had already seen Bonnie and Clyde and The Miracle Worker within a month before his death.

Then I discovered Night Moves, his film from 1975. It's an underseen entry year because, let's face it, 1975 was loaded with great movies. Like the other releases of the year, Night Moves is damn good.

Gene Hackman, who worked with Penn on Bonnie and Clyde, stars as detective Harry Moseby. He's stuck in a faltering marriage, but he doesn't let that affect him too much. Comparing him to other film private eyes, he shares similarities with Elliot Gould in The Long Goodbye.

In relation with Bonnie and Clyde and The Miracle Worker, Night Moves focuses more on character development than it does on plot development. I'm saying it not as a bad thing but as merely an innocent observation.

All in all, I really liked Night Moves. The flow of it kind of bothered me considerably, but the performances made up for it. Either way, it's an underrated entry of the 1970's.

My Rating: ****1/2

Bonnie and Clyde

Like I've said before, 1967 was a landmark year for movies. The type of genres ranged from romantic comedies (The Graduate) to social dramas (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night) to crime (Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood).

The second Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) met, it was a bomb just waiting to go off. In just a few years, they would become the most notorious outlaws of the 1930's. They are joined by C.W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), Clyde's brother Buck (Gene Hackman) and Buck's wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons), and they become "the Barrow gang".

The performances from Beatty, Dunaway, Hackman, Pollard and Parsons are excellent (even though I found Parsons annoying). The infamous "ballet of blood" at the end is gruesome yet poetic, violent yet beautiful. Arthur Penn's direction is vivid and expressive. One of the best movies of the 1960's.

My Rating: *****

The Miracle Worker

Some actors, once they're famous, become forever known for one role (James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Anthony Perkins in Psycho, Anne Bancroft in The Graduate, Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange). That fact may prevent people from seeing other movies they've done, either released before or after that one film that immortalized them.

Fed up by her behavior, the parents of Helen Keller (Patty Duke) hire Annie Sullivan (Bancroft) to teach Helen.

Bancroft and Duke deliver excellent performances and rightfully earned their Oscars. The direction of Arthur Penn, whose best-known work was Bonnie and Clyde, is also excellent. It's a heartbreaking story, so have tissues ready. The Miracle Worker is one of the best movies of the 1960's.

My Rating: *****