Out of Africa

Recently, I’ve been watching a lot of old movies, thanks to TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar program. That means I’ve seen quite a few past Best Picture winners throughout the ages. Many I chose to watch were picked as ‘bad’ or ‘unworthy’ by consensus. Here are some of my thoughts on some I’ve had the (dis)pleasure of seeing.

Cimarron (1931) – From 1931, Cimarron. Often cited as the one of the worst (here or here or here) Best Picture winners of all time. Honestly, I think it might be the worst. Worst, not as a Best Picture winner, but worst films I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t help that whoever has the rights failed to properly take care of it, because the eighty-four year old film looks like butt. The film, a Western about a journalist and his wife moving to a new town and their troubles, is boring AND racist. It did help make Irene Dunne famous, though, who is absolutely terrific in the screwball The Awful Truth (2/10)

The Life of Emile Zola (1937) – Emile Zola isn’t often called bad, but it pales in comparison when ranked against On the Waterfront, The Godfather, and Lawrence of Arabia. Zola was one of the first OScar biopics ever made, and it holds up decently. It’s conventional as all heck, and barely explores the work of writer Emile Zola (“Jew” is never said in the film, nor 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement, a worse film also “exploring” anti-semitism). Still, Zola is decently watchable, and its influence on many other Oscar biopics today cannot be denied. (7/10)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) – I honestly can’t decide whether this movie or Cimarron was worse. At least Cimarron kept its torture to a two hour runtime. The Greatest Show on Earth lives on the idea that ‘bigger is better’, down to the incredibly overlong circus scenes and the large ensemble. Many of the trapeze scenes are thrilling, and Charlton Heston is a good leading man, but both positives belong in a better film than this. There’s a shoddy love triangle (Betty Hutton is insufferable, Cornel Wilde’s performance is poor), and simply too little happens to sustain 152 minutes. There’s a plot twist involving Buttons the Clown (a wasted Jimmy Stewart) that just made the whole thing worse. I feel this movie would’ve lost to the brisk and original High Noon only if screenwriter Carl Foreman wasn’t blacklisted. The Greatest Show on Earth is what people mean when they find old movies boring. (3/10)

Around the World in 80 Days (1956) – I shouldn’t like this movie. Like The Greatest Show on Earth, this is another overlong epic tailor-made for awards. However, Around the World in 80 Days, despite being total fluff, is usually entertaining. Watching David Niven and Cantinflas travel the world in various escapades looks fantastic. At one point, it was the world’s largest film production, and it shows. The costumes and colors look great. Though I might be bored in the final hour of the three, I would love to see Around the World on the big screen in its 70 mm glory. (6.7/10)

Out of Africa (1985) – Oscar gave awards to many great films from 1956 to ’85, to Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, and even nominating the unflinching Raging Bull. They backtracked big time by awarding the unbelievably boring Out of Africa, though. For example, Lawrence of Arabia and The Godfather are both films longer than Africa, but they feel infinitely shorter. Why? Because there’s always something at stake. What’s at stake in Out of Africa? Meryl Streep’s happiness? Though she masters another accent, the will they/won’t they romance between Streep and co-star Robert Redford just isn’t enough to make the movie good. I’m honestly surprised I didn’t fall asleep during it. John Barry’s musical score comes highly recommended, though. (4/10)

So there’s many movies I still have to watch, but there’s my thoughts on some of the ones that you may have been on-the-fence about watching. Check out Out of Africa if you ran out of Lunesta or something.

I first saw Steve McQueen’s (the painter, not the actor) 12 Years a Slave at the beginning of winter. The cool outdoors reminded me that it was Oscar season, a time when the year’s best films were due to come out. The next month produced three masterpieces, Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, and The Wolf of Wall Street. However, I failed to acknowledge a film worthy to be mentioned in the same breath as the other three.

My AP US History teacher offered extra credit for any movie or TV show with a write-up completed pertaining to it. Earlier, I had already seen HBO’s incredible John Adams as an attempt to get extra credit, so as an effort to raise my grade, I decided to rewatch 12 Years a Slave. I had always been fond of the film, praising it’s acting, screenplay, and direction. However, I was in no way prepared for the movie I was about to experience (even if it was for the second time).

Here’s an Oscar history interlude: somehow, 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture from at the Oscars last year. The timid, baity Academy was brave enough to vote for a film that was probably the year’s most violent and most shocking. Prognosticators like me don’t give the Academy enough credit, I guess. I think of them like grumpy old men that like Out of Africa and Chariots of Fire because those movies are safe. But when a film so important to history comes around, like Schindler’s List and 12 Years a Slave, ignoring it would be wrong.

So even though 12 Years a Slave was the ‘year’s best picture’, I still under-appreciated it. “It’s not that good”, I would say in January 2014, adding a plug for Before Midnight afterwards (hint hint). But to really do my best on my extra credit assignment, that meant rewatching 12 Years a Slave, a film I liked but did not love.

Saying I loved 12 Years a Slave would be incorrect, though. It’s not a film to love. It’s one to appreciate, one to talk about, one to discuss after it ends. It’s brutal, but it is effortlessly watchable for many reasons. I could run my mouth about what has already been said, like the incredible performances (Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Lupita Nyong’o), the beast of a Shakespearean script by John Ridley, Steve McQueen’s able direction, or Sean Bobbitt’s beautiful cinematography. Even though the final product feels like it is two-thirds of an epic, 12 Years a Slave is truly a masterpiece, a work of cinematic art that will challenge and astound future moviegoers for years to come.

I also should not discount the Academy of Motion Pictures as much now too.