B-MOVIE OF THE MONTH - THE DEATH OF RITCHIE (TV 1977)

Looks like a lot of fun to me, I don't know. Seriously and for those that don't know, The Death Of Ritchie is one of the most iconic TV movies of the entire '70's decade. I was roughly 15 when it aired and i can tell you that both Robby Benson and teens taking drugs were very hot topics at the time. The film is based on a true story where a father who couldn't control his teen's behavior from drug abuse was forced to take the law into his own hands. The father here is good ole Ben Gazzara and he is at his Gazzara best with a ferocious intensity, his scenes with Benson as father and son a perfect chemistry. At the time more emphasis was on Benson as a model but his performance here is really amazing. Streams free on Tubi, Freevee, Roku and Plex, if this was being rated on the standard scale I would give it five stars, 'nuff said. 2.75 stars/2.75

Monday, January 16, 2023

TAR (2022) - I'M A BIG TODD FIELD FAN BUT SOMEHOW I DIDN'T SEE THE SAME FILM EVERYONE ELSE DID

 

Never in a million years would I have thought I would land up jumping ship on a Todd Field movie. But alas it did happen - I hit the stop button about ten minutes before the end. Brilliantly directed no one can deny but I just could not get into this character. I wouldn't care if she was a conductor or lead singer for a rock band. Nor would I care if she's male, female, straight or lesbian. I just could not find anything to latch on with her character, no idea of what she wanted, where she was going, her background, nothing. It's as if I was watching a documentary on a famous conductor but with actors.

There are not many directors who can say they put out a movie and instantly the accolades and award nominations start flowing like manna from the sky. But this was and is the case with Field. I thought In The Bedroom was a brilliant achievement. He got two incredible performances out of Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson on that one. Little Children was excellent especially Winslett and Patrick Wilson but the whole inclusion of the sex offender character in the movie and particularly the ending was unsettling. Now with Tar comes a character I can't get into that also has some ugly sexual stuff going on. Even with Blanchett's obviously incredible performance there are so many other appeasable (or not) characters she could play. As far as masculine roles like this one strives for I could see her doing something amazing with a remake of The Conversation and her as a female Harry Caul character. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Anyways, that's my take on it, obviously I'm a little disappointed. I feel like a Peter Gabriel fan who's waited 16 years for an album to finally come out which I don't like and the last one wasn't that great to begin with. Objectively, I'll go 4 stars on it, in my heart more like 1.5.

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