Cool Hand Luke

I enjoyed the film Cool Hand Luke; I thought the story was interesting and inspiring. While it took a while for the story to get going the boredom quickly shed when Luke began to push the authorities. Luke’s rebellion is inspiring because he really has nothing to fight for; no family and no apparent life outside of the penitentiary after his mother died. Luke is simply fighting for his freedom and for a chance to make people realize that they are capable of changing things. The religious correlations in this movie are endless. When the storm begins and Luke is standing alone in the rain he makes the first religious suggestion, the next is when we meet Luke’s mother, whose name is Arletta, which closely relates to, “our lady” who is the virgin Mary. The most obvious religious affiliation is the presents of Luke, he inspires and encourages his peers to react differently than the normally would. From the beginning of the story Luke holds a heavy presents, his smile is intense and he is often the only one smiling in the scene. In Cool Hand Luke, Paul Newman creates one of his most memorable characters. The actor is simply great as the charismatic, yet detached, Luke, whose evident disdain for authority and ability to be entertaining make him a favorite of the other inmates. Luke’s defiance and open disobedience and disregard for others are more amiable in this film than the subdued inmates who continue with the day to day monotony of prison. I was impressed by the way the screen writers were able to create an amicable prisoner, in our society the imprisoned are viewed as hopeless people who have greatly offended society but Cool Hand Luke gives us insight to the people who are actually facilitated by prison and make us realize that they too have feelings and they are normal people who may not deserve to be there.

Physco

The film Physco was the most interesting movie that we have studied so far. The story line was impressive for its time. In the 1960’s mental illness had been barely recognized in medicine, let alone respected among people; so the theme throughout this movie is truly something that had not been touched upon yet. The movie Physco was always impressive because of the theme technique used at that time. The cross cutting, music and the blood were all used to create things that were not literally happening but presented on the screen in a way that made them seem as real as you or I. This film also subtly taught very valuable lessons; though shall not steal. If Marion had not taken the money than she would have not ended up at the Bates Motel and she would have not experienced such a violent death. Another important lesson is not to partake in infidelities; Marion would have not taken the money if her partner had not expressed his financial distress. The motion picture kept you guessing the whole way through; at first you begin to think that the only scandal happening in this film is the affair between Sam and Marion, then when Marion takes the money you quickly jump to the next event and from there at the Bates Motel you learn of Normans hardship and once Marion is killed you learn of the entirety of Norman’s emotional problems. This made for a very realistic adaptation because just like in life there is never just one clear cut problem, instead there are always obstacles we have to try and face. This film overall presented a good morals, an interesting story line, great filming and impressive acting. I had never been more impressed with a black and white film as I was with Psycho, everything was so detailed and constructed so perfectly, with so much life it was hard to notice that there was no color.

Casablanca

The 1942 classic film Casablanca is still ranked thirteenth on The International Movie Databases top 250 movies of all time and has won two Oscars; there is no doubt that this is a loved film, with over a dozen quotes that are now used in common conversation it’s fair to say Casablanca is here to stay. In our generation it is hard to become enthused about a black and white motion picture about war torn lovers in the 1940’s however because of the weight this film has had on society for generations we can respect this film. It is important for everyone to watch this movie to be able to understand references that are commonly made in everyday conversation. Casablanca’s story line is timeless, regardless of the outdated vocabulary and apparel, the story can be placed in any time period, from World War II, Vietnam or even today’s fight against terror could hold the same characters trying to escape from injustice into America. This is what keeps Casablanca timeless, as long as there is conflict their will be people who are trying to escape it with their loved one close behind, and these characters will always run into the same problem of being unable to control what life throws at you. Personally, I am glad that I had the opportunity to watch this film because the sayings, “play it, sam” and “a penny for your thoughts” are more relative to me. However in comparison to the new releases of modern time I was not interested in the film.

King Kong, 2005

The 2005 edition of King Kong was hard to watch after the classic, 1933 version. Although the special affects were considerably better and the plot was mostly consistent, the characters evolved so much the movie became drastically different.
The scene when Anne dances to entertain Kong, is the first glimpse into the new Kong’s personality and at first he appears shallow, becoming angry and annoyed when he can’t get what he want but through out the movie Kong displays human like expressions and reactions that cause you to fall in love and truly sympathize with the oversized puppy.
With this new Kong there was some creative license to create a new Anne, in this rendition of King Kong Anne is not struggling like we saw her throughout the first movie, instead she too feels the compassion for the lonely, estranged giant.
In the world we live in today, it is not strange to see people become more attached to animals and people alike; making it easier for the producers to create an interesting Kong and Anne relationship however I feel as if the love between Anne and Jack was destroyed because of this, the quote, “I think I love you” in the first movie is recognized around the world and it is something that set the plot up for the romance between the brave Jack and the damsel Anne. When that relationship was robbed in this rendition of Kong I felt as if it lowered the quality of the film.
The verbal motif that concluded King Kong in the 1933 version was slightly corny but delivered perfectly for the time and fit in with the theme of the movie. In 2005 when Jack Black attempted to conclude the movie with, “twas beauty killed the beast” it seemed over stressed and misplaced.
It Is hard to judge the quality of this movie on its own; if I had seen the 2005 King Kong before I saw the original I probably would have liked it better than I did, but having known the greatness of the original and knowing what it meant to people of that time period I can’t help but feel the 2005 King Kong did the plot a great injustice by drastically changing the characters.

King Kong - Movie Review

When the movie, Avatar hit the screens in 2009 director, James Cameron created a new world for people of all ages to enjoy. The technology used in Avatar was something most generations had never experienced before; through 3-D and green screen technology standards of the movie world completely changed. This same thing happened in 1929 when Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, released King Kong, which became as big as the beast itself. Through overlapping sheets of film the brilliant producers were able to create the illusion of people being in different places and through clay animation the producers were able to create unique monsters that had never been seen before.
Optical illusions have been around since the beginning of civilization, what was different about the illusions of King Kong is that they had never been seen before, and such a clever trick had never fooled the masses. This technology was something that had never been experienced before. People began to believe that this film crew had to actually travel across the world to meet this monster.One of the most amazing things about the original King Kong is American’s immediate identification with the characters; the realistic reactions, impressions and emotions of the characters allowed for the special affects to also become more realistic. King Kong was not only believable because of the impressive clay animation, stop motion filming but because he was given expressions and anyone who looked into this big brown eyes in top of the empire state building would know that this was a beast who actually had emotions and truly cared for the golden woman.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that King Kong was impressive for the time. What most movie viewers don’t realize is what that feeling meant to the people in the theaters. The later 1920’s was plagued with economic hardship, homelessness at an all time high and less than 5% employment rate; but some how families managed to pay the whopping 25 cents to see the feature film. This 2 hour presentation was an escape for everyone who was suffering. People could escape into the jungles of Africa and New York City and for a few short moments they worried about Kong, instead of how to feed their families.


When the classic King Kong first began I was overly unimpressed. I thought the acting was horrible, the picture quality was less than par and the conversations were unrealistic however when I began to realize what this movie was in its time, and what it meant to the people it was intended for I began to have a whole new appreciation for the pioneer actors, producers and creators. I saw that it was not about how the characters were talking, it was about what they were saying. It was not about the film quality today but how it must have looked to people who had never seen anything like this. I realized that these actors were obviously not focused on being realistic because the movie is fueled through imagination! It would be wonderful if two people could meet on a boat one day and the next day love each other so much they would risk excruciating death to be together and save the other. King Kong is as important to our history as any other invention, it is a technological milestone that created hope and an escape for thousands of people.