The Red Badge of Courage is a John Huston Civil War classic starring Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin (yes, the WWII creator of the “Willie and Joe” cartoons). Barely over an hour long, the movie pretty much sticks to Stephen Crane’s novel and features multiple passages read outloud by the film’s narrator. While clearly a [...]
This week’s movie is Conagher. If you’re looking for a film to demonstrate certain manly virtues it’s hard to go wrong with a movie based on a Louis L’Amour book and starring the laconic Sam Elliott. Elliott plays Conn Conagher, a seasoned cowhand with the highest personal integrity; not looking for trouble, willing to avoid [...]
You can trust a Robert Louis Stevenson tale to work in plenty of swashbuckling action, hair-breadth escapes … and moral clarity. Kidnapped doesn’t disappoint, and this 2004 made-for-tv adaptation (don’t confuse it with the earlier PBS version that plays fast and loose with history and the book) delivers a rollicking story with plenty of villains [...]
I want to go in a little different direction with this week’s movie. Instead of a classic movie or a more contemporary film that illustrates strong values and virtues I want look at the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. This documentary is the factual and very well done basis for the new movie in [...]
The 1960 epic Spartacus is long and in it’s production and pacing doesn’t fare well when compared to modern films that tell similar stories such as Gladiator or Braveheart, so it might be difficult for younger viewers to appreciate. (Really, when was the last time you saw a movie that took itself so seriously as [...]
No movie this week as I’ve exhausted my original list of films and discussion topics I compiled for the Fundamentals in Film class I taught to a small group of junior and senior high school boys. I am, however, in the process of reviewing other films I’ve thought of or that people have recommended so [...]
The point of the Fundamentals in Film class was to help a group of young men see examples of “manly” behavior beyond just pro wrestlers or Homer Simpson. The World War II submarine movie U-571 fit the bill, having the requisite non-stop action and examples of strong character under stress (true of most films in [...]
I have some more movies in mind that will allow me to continue this Friday series, but this week’s movie was the last one I presented to a class of junior high and senior high school boys. I chose The Shootist (1976) as the final movie not just for the character issues, which we’d pretty [...]
For the next-to-last film in this series for the class of junior high and high school aged boys I departed from the war, western and sports genres for a classic “chick flick”: Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman. This dramatic shift in direction led one of the lads [...]
A Christmas Story actually wasn’t one of the movies we watched and discussed in the class I led with the junior high and high school boys, but given the season I thought it appropriate to delve into some of the character lessons that can be found in this classic film. First let me say that [...]
