Richard Dreyfuss – Matt Lynn Digital

Wil Weaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell in the Rob Reiner movie ‘Stand by Me’

The notions, both, of end-of-summer and bildungsroman were explored with impressive feeling and sensitivity in the Rob Reiner movie Stand by Me (1986). Based on Stephen King‘s 1982 novella The Body, the story takes place over the weekend of Labor Day in September of 1959. Four boys from the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon take a prolonged journey to find the body of a missing boy.

(**Richard Dreyfuss** as Gordon ‘Gordie’ Lachance, as an adult, in the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

The story of Stand by Me, whose title is derived from the Ben E. King song Stand by Me, began in the modern day of 1986 with writer Gordie Lachance, portrayed by Richard Dreyfuss, learning of a stabbing in a restaurant. This led to Lachance thinking back to that Labor Day in 1959, when he journeyed with three friends enroute to see a dead body.

(From left, **Wil Wheaton** as Gordon ‘Gordie’ Lachance (aged 12), **John Cusack** as Dennis ‘Denny’ LaChance, **Marshall Bell** as Mr. LaChance and **Frances Lee McCain** as Mrs. LaChance in the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

The trip to that body begins earlier with an introduction to Gordie’s family. Gordie’s parents grieve the death of Gordie’s older brother, Denny, as portrayed by John Cusack. The grieving isolates Gordie, as the loss of one brother leaves little if any room for his parents to address the emotional needs of Gordie, Denny’s surviving younger brother. Marshall Bell and Frances Lee McCain portrayed Mr. and Mrs. LaChance, the parents of Gordie and Denny, respectively.

(From left, **River Phoenix** as Chris Chambers, **Corey Feldman** as Teddy Duchamp, **Jerry O’Connell** as Vern Tessio and **Wil Wheaton** as Gordon ‘Gordie’ Lachance (aged 12) in the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

The seeds of the adventure to follow are planted below the deck of Vern Tessio, the friend of Gordie LaChance, Teddy Duchamp and Chris Chambers. The really random acts of Vern leads to his suggesting to Gordie, Teddy and Chris that the four of them go looking for Ray Brower, a boy missing outside of town. Tessio, LaChance, Duchamp and Chambers were portrayed by Jerry O’Connell, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and River Phoenix, respectively.

(Front seat from left, **Kiefer Sutherland** as John ‘Ace’ Merrill and **Bradley Gregg** as Richard ‘Eyeball’ Chambers. Back seat from left, **Casey Siemaszko** as Billy Tessio and **Gary Riley** as Charlie Hogan in the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

The adventure represents what the four boys expect the coming journey will offer to them. That each boy brings different yet emotionally similar baggage with them will become part of another similar tale that begins playing out alongside this main tale. A group of teenage boys with clearly deviant behaviors, led by John ‘Ace’ Merrill, holds sway over Billy Tessio, Charlie Hogan, Richard ‘Eyeball’ Chambers and Vince Desjardins. Bent on intimidation and peer pressure, Vern’s relationship with Billy and Chris’ relationship with Richard, their elder brothers, are not easy. Merrill, Billy Tessio, Hogan, Richard Chambers and Desjardins were portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, Gary Riley, Bradley Gregg and Jason Oliver Lipsett, respectively.

(Bruce Kirby as Mr. Quidacioluo in the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

‘Ace’ Merrill and ‘Eyeball’ Chambers threaten Chris and Gordie before their formal journey begins, with the internal baggage this reflects gaining its fullest significance only at later points in the movie. The individual relationships that the four youngest boys have with their fathers, in part defined through the relationships the older brothers also have with their fathers, becomes a focal point through the story. The expressions of these moments of pain, and the way that the boys respond, becomes worth your time and effort for engaging with the Stand by Me movie.

(From left, director **Rob Reiner** and actor **River Phoenix** on set of the **Rob Reiner** movie **Stand by Me**).

The screenplay for the movie Stand by Me was written by Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans. The movie produced perhaps the first experience I had with seeing a movie prompting me to go back to the novella and read the material that inspired the movie. The parting drama, the histories of the boys shared at the end of the film, and the reflection upon what friendship was when twelve-years-old, becomes a parting gift. Popeye in his role as Chopper also was a gift. I rate Stand by Me as directed by Rob Reiner 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, August 27, 2022

The Year 2020 in Movies

With the oddness that has been the year 2020, new movie releases have been few and far between. Matt Lynn Digital continued to look into the past for movies to enjoy and review with you. The year saw us review thirty-six (36) films through the year, which we will share with you by decade, shared from highest rated to lowest.

(**Argo** starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman was a 2012 gem that leads the 2010s with 4.5-stars from **Matt Lynn Digital**).

Argo (2012) leads the way for movies from the 2010s. The film earned 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars, which is the highest rating matched only twice for movies this year. Earning 4.0-stars for the decade were Game Night (2018) starring Jason Batemen and Rachel McAdams, Captain Phillips (2013) starring Tom Hanks and Barkhad Abdi and The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) starring Matthew McConaughey and, for a second time this decade, Bryan Cranston.

(Matt Damon makes two appearances for the 2010s, the first with the 2019 film **Ford v Ferrari**).

Ford v Ferrari (2019) offers the first of two starring roles in the Matt Lynn Digital movie reviews for Matt Damon and Christian Bale. The story of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans earn a rating of 3.75-stars along with The Martian (2015), which starred Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig and Jeff Daniels and Gravity (2013) starring Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and Ed Harris.

(**Tom Hanks** returns to our list with the 4.25-stars granted Cast Away by **Matt Lynn Digital**).

The Robert Zemeckis film Cast Away (2000) starts in the holiday season where the character portrayed by Tom Hanks faces tremendous odds while delivering an outstanding movie granted 4.25-stars. The movie Ray (2004), starring Jamie Foxx in the role as Ray Charles and the Ang Lee movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) starring Michelle Yeoh and Yun-Fat Chow each earned 4-stars in their 2020 reviews.

(The Martin Scorsese film **Gangs of New York** featured among the best portrayals of a movie villain ever delivered by Daniel Day-Lewis. The film earned 3.75-stars from **Matt Lynn Digital**).

Gangs of New York (2002) leads a stable of five movies to earn 3.75-stars from the decade that began the 21st century. While prominent, the performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson and John C. Reilly held sway in part for where the ranking placed. Other films from this decade gaining 3.75-stars included The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, The Blind Side (2009) starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, Friday Night Lights (2004) starring Lucas Black, Billy Bob Thornton and Tim McGraw, and Elf (2003) starring Will Ferrell, James Caan and Zooey Deschanel. The Skulls (2000) starring Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker and Craig T. Nelson earned 3.5-stars.

(**Fight Club** starring **Brad Pitt**, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter and the **Martin Scorsese** movie **Goodfellas** starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Lorraine Bracco lead the 1990s with 4.5-stars granted by **Matt Lynn Digital**).

The film Fight Club (1999) and the film Goodfellas (1990) bookend the 1990s with a pair of movies earning the 2020 top rating of 4.5-stars offered by Matt Lynn Digital. The football movie Rudy (1993) starring Sean Astin and Ned Beatty is joined by baseball movie The Sandlot (1993) with Denis Leary and the military, political intrigue movie The Hunt for Red October (1990) starring Sean Connery, James Earl Jones, Alec Baldwin and Sam Neill with ratings of 4.0-stars.

(**For Love of the Game** starring Kevin Costner, **John C. Reilly** and Kelly Preston lead 1990s films getting 3.75-stars by **Matt Lynn Digital**).

Baseball and borderline romantic comedy film For Love of the Game (1999) earned 3.75-stars from Matt Lynn Digital in 2020. The film Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) with Richard Dreyfuss and the Ron Howard film Far and Away (1992) with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman join For Love of the Game with 3.75-stars. Earning 3.25 stars is the film The Usual Suspects (1995), which starred Kevin Spacey, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro and Kevin Pollak.

(The Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone film **Scarface** with Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Loggia and Steven Bauer kicks off the 1980s with a 4-star rating by **Matt Lynn Digital**).

The 4-stars earned by the organized crime movie Scarface (1983) is joined by the Steven Spielberg film Empire of the Sun (1987) starring Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Joe Pantoliano and Tim Burton‘s film Beetlejuice (1988) starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Michael Keaton. The Richard Donner film Scroooged (1988) starring Bill Murray, John Forsythe, David Johansen and Carol Kane completes the decade with 3.75-stars.

(Ridley Scott‘s film **Alien** starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt and Ian Holm earns the best rating of the 1970s for **Matt Lynn Digital** at 4.25-stars).

Alien (1979) closed out the 1970s with quite the impact, garnering 4.25-stars for a science fiction story that stands on its own. The Martin Scorsese concert goodbye The Last Waltz (1978) with The Band leads three other productions getting 3.75-stars. Joining The Last Waltz with 3.75-stars include the baseball movie The Bad News Bears (1976) with Walter Mathau and Tatum O’Neal, the western movie The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) starring Clint Eastwood and John Vernon and the comedic war movie Kelly’s Heroes (1970) starring Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Carroll O’ Connor and Gavin MacLeod.

(**The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance** and **The Lady Vanishes** achieved two different things in two different decades to complete the movie reviews by **Matt Lynn Digital** in 2020).

The John Ford movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Vance (1962) starred John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin and Vera Miles in a western that earned 3.75-stars. The Lady Vanishes (1938) put Alfred Hitchcock on the proverbial map with a political commentary in the guise of a thriller starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas and May Whitty. The Lady Vanishes earned 4.0-stars from Matt Lynn Digital.

(Blog friend **Cobra** reviewed the movies **Before Sunrise**, **Before Sunset** and **Before Midnight** in a single sharing on **Matt Lynn Digital**).

Matt Lynn Digital also enjoyed sharing a review of Richard Linklater‘s Before Trilogy of movies. Blog friend Cobra reviewed Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013) in a single review. Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy explore the notion of relationships a bit more fully and cleverly than often happens with any movie franchise. It is with thanks that we look back to this sharing.

Share the Matt Lynn Digital blog with your friends if you see value in what we are doing. We feel these reviews provide excellent content that we would like to continue offering.

Matt – Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Year 2020 in Music

Matt Lynn Digital focused on reviewing music related material deliberately in 2020. Today we walk down memory lane for reviews made in 2020. We’ll refresh your memory first of album reviews in reverse order of album release, which is to say most recent first. We’ll then remind you of a couple of nostalgia moments that were of our own making. Finally, we’ll point you to films with some moviemaking hands thrown in.

(The album **McCartney III** joins **Letter to You** as the two albums we reviewed for the new decade, which we’re saying is the Twenty Twenties).

The 2020 album McCartney III by former member of The Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings, Paul McCartney, leads our list. The self-produced effort shows a little age for the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, yet offers a little personality if you pay attention. The same is true of the Letter to You album by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, which offers a love letter of mourning of sorts. Both albums look back with a statement of experience and appreciation.

(The album **Merry Christmas, Baby** reflects a look we made into the Twenty Tens this year).

The album Merry Christmas, Baby by Rod Stewart came along in 2012 with largely Christmas music. Interesting collaborations offers sweetly rendered takes, uplifting sentimental tunes, and individual rhythm and blues takes on new music. The spiritual focus on Silent Night was fantastic.

(The album **MTV Unplugged in New York** joins **Superunknown**, **Wildflowers** and **Violator** for the Nineteen Nineties).

The four albums from the 1990s included the MTV Unplugged in New York album for Nirvana, circa 1994. Soundgarden‘s Superunknown album and Tom Petty‘s Wildflowers album both came along in 1994, with Petty being the most established of these artists by this point in their collective careers. The 1990 album Violator by Depeche Mode was likely most responsible for getting this band of English rockers into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Whether I am beginning to show my age with this picks is beside the point.

(The U2 album **The Joshua Tree** is joined by the albums **The Lonesome Jubilee**, **Tunnel of Love**, **Learning to Crawl**, **Genesis** and **Moving Pictures** for albums we reviewed that were released in the nineteen eighties).

U2‘s The Joshua Tree 1987 album likely made this band in the United States, despite having been well known even before this album made its rounds. The Lonesome Jubilee album of 1987 by John Mellencamp offered a more mature lyrical offering for the artist also known by Johnny Cougar and John Cougar Mellencamp. Bruce Springsteen‘s 1987 solo album Tunnel of Love reflected a look back on what divorce can mean to you emotionally. The 1984 Learning to Crawl album by The Pretenders thematically places itself, incidentally, somewhere between Springsteen‘s Tunnel of Love and Letter to You albums. The band Genesis released the album Genesis in 1983, offering something of the bands progressive roots with the pop band the group was becoming. The 1981 album Moving Pictures by Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Rush gives us a sense for some of the best music this band has created.

(The self-titled album **Van Halen** by **Van Halen** is joined by **The Grand Illusion**, **Feels So Good**, **Selling England by the Pound**, **Just as I Am**, **Electric Warrior** and **Cosmo’s Factory** as reviewed albums released in the nineteen seventies).

The album Van Halen by the band Van Halen offered a sound that transcended at least two decades and four lead singers, with the original singer with the biggest edge singing on the 1978 introduction to the band. 1977’s The Grand Illusion album by Styx depicts a strikingly different sound and temperament despite playing in a similar era. 1977’s Feels So Good album by Chuck Mangione again offers a distinctly different take in a different genre of music. Each group and sound has its merits. 1973 offers a second look into the band Genesis with the progressive rock album Selling England by the Pound. The 1971 Bill Withers album Just as I Am was the breakout debut for one of the many artists on this year’s list that passed away in 2020. 2020 Rock & Roll Hall of Famer inductees T. Rex saw perhaps their biggest recognition in the United States with their 1971 album Electric Warrior. The 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival is the sixth of this decade reviewed. Take a closer look at the song Run Through the Jungle to see how the song has been misinterpreted by many through the years.

(The 1957 album **Here’s Little Richard** is offered with **Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order, Vol. 2, 1930-1934** for complete the nineteen album reviews **Matt Lynn Digital** made in 2020).

The Little Richard album Here’s Little Richard debuted as a complete album in 1957. The distinctive vocals, bombastic piano playing and distinctive style made him an early pioneer of early Rock & Roll Hall from Tennessee. A predecessor to Little Richard from the same state was Blues Hall of Famer Thomas A. Dorsey, also known as blues pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey. The compiled album Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order, Vol. 2, 1930-1934 offers a look in the music of Dorsey from the period 25 to 30 years before Here’s Little Richard was released.

(Chuck Berry and Bruce Springsteen lead a review of artists including John Lennon, Bing Crosby, David Bowie, The Kinks, Eagles, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Reverend Horton Heat, Bob Dylan, Jason Isbell, Adele, Billy Joel and Garth Brooks).

A Matt Lynn Digital classic rock playlist of Christmas songs offered fifteen distinct songs in December as a means to enjoying some of the music I’ve enjoyed growing up. We began looking into the notion of music as a vehicle for storytelling here. This second subject is one that we would like to return to more vigorously in 2021 as interest allows.

(The movie **Ray** is joined by **Mr. Holland’s Opus** and **The Last Waltz** in wrapping up our review of Matt Lynn Digital’s review of music from 2020).

The movie Ray (2004) starred Jamie Foxx in the role of the title star offered us a biographical movie that offered some notion for the soul, blues and gospel musician that was Ray Charles. For those unfamiliar with this musician, the story does a decent job of level setting who Ray Charles without telling the full story you might get from a book on the star. The 1995 movie Mr. Holland’s Opus went in a different direction of storytelling. In this case, the movie starring Richard Dreyfuss in the starring role of the fictional title character offered the story of the conflicting passions of someone aspiring to write music placed against the responsibilities and adversities of a life that offers other passions that can become intermixed with a passion for music. This subject is broached in the movie Ray. A middle ground of sorts is found in the film of the last concert for a band named The Band. Released in 1978, The Last Waltz is a concert with guest stars performing alongside the featured band, interspersed with interviews of members of the band about life on the road and the personal reasons the band had for retiring. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the adventures of that night and the career of the band were made manifest in the concert event biography that came from the experience.

Share the Matt Lynn Digital blog with your friends if you see value in what we are doing. Before the end of this year, a similar review for entries on movies and books will also be coming. We feel these reviews provide excellent content that we would like to continue offering.

Matt – Monday, December 28, 2020

Richard Dreyfuss and the film ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus’

Family friendly films of an after school special quality have their place on the big screen. The film Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) landed in my film queue over the weekend with positive results for my own personal brand of uplifting in the face of drama.

(Glenne Headly as Iris Holland, left, and Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

The film Mr. Holland’s Opus begins with the notion of the Iris and Glenn Holland changing their perspective of married life after having tried to make a go of the husband’s music and composition career. Richard Dreyfuss played the title role of Glenn while Glenne Headly played the role of Iris.

(Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland, left, and Olympia Dukakis as Principal Helen Jacobs in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

At the beginning of the movie, Glenn and Iris plan to be affixed to the newly minted John F. Kennedy High School in Portland, Oregon for a not too long period. The couple questions the wisdom of the decision, made initially for financial stability, when Glenn runs into initial resistance from Principal Helen Jacobs (played by Olympia Dukakis) and vice principal Gene Wolters (played by William H. Macy), who resent Holland while questioning the value and importance of music education given the school’s strained budget.

(Jay Thomas as Bill Meister, left, and Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

Along comes an epiphany for Mr. Holland, after some well-placed pressure by Jacobs and an insight on how to reach the students. Football coach Bill Meister, played by Jay Thomas, joins with Principal Jacobs in cutting Glenn Holland slack in reaching students in the appreciation of music by incorporating fun into the curriculum. In the mid 1960s, that translated to reaching students through Rock & Roll, Rhythm and Blues, and whatever else will get students to appreciate music. Vice Principal Wolters was less impressed.

(Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland, left, and Terrence Howard as Louis Russ in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

Somewhere about this time, student Louis Russ (played by Terrence Howard) needed a hand getting academic credit in order to wrestle during the winter sports season. Holland agreed to help Russ in exchange for help from Meister with getting the marching band that Holland agreed to take over in marching order. This led to a positive impact for Russ, Holland and Meister while revealing that the relatively new addition to the Holland family, Cole Holland, was severely hard of hearing.

(Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland, left, and Joseph Anderson as Cole Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

As a fresh storyline emerges from the irony of an avid lover of music having overcome the means of reaching his students through music now having the difficulty of reaching his own son. Iris struggles with reaching Cole, too. The financial stress of getting Cole the help he needs to learn tugs upon the couple, in addition to the title character’s desire to compose. Meanwhile, Glenn helps student Gertrude Lang (played by Alicia Witt) connect emotionally with music in a way that adds appreciation and joy for music in a way it hadn’t until the two unlocked that reason why.

(Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland, left, and Alicia Witt as Gertrude Lang in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

The pull of composition, the pull of students, and the effort to keep music in John F. Kennedy High School begins to cause tension at home for the Holland family. Glenn and Iris feel the death of John Lennon keenly, which becomes an emotional rupture between Glenn and Cole for the two have struggled to connect on the level of the passion Glenn feels for something Cole cannot appreciate in the manner many do. An artful solution presents itself, as does what looks like a potentially inappropriate relationship between teacher (Glenn Holland) and student Rowena Morgan. Jean Louisa Kelly played Rowena Morgan. This test gets graded through the course of the movie, as ultimately does the career of Glenn Holland, the perspective of recognition through music composition, and the investment made in relationships and family.

(Jean Louisa Kelly as Rowena Morgan, left, and Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland in Mr. Holland’s Opus).

The film Mr. Holland’s Opus repeatedly asked what the value of music education is within the school curriculum. The further question is what does it mean to be a fully formed human being, which we see in the characters of Glenn Holland, Iris Holland, Cole Holland, Gertrude Lang, Louis Russ, Stadler (as played by Balthazar Getty), Rowena Morgan, and even John F. Kennedy High School staff members Bill Meister, Principal Helen Jacobs and vice principal Gene Wolters. The message of Mr. Holland’s Opus becomes the value of that investing fully in people. That music, teaching and family are celebrated, too, has its clear merit. I rate Mr. Holland’s Opus at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Steven Spielberg, John Williams and the film ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’

Our appreciation for most films Steven Spielberg and most film scores John Williams at Matt Lynn Digital is a justifiable, poorly kept secret. An early film in the collaboration of these two titans of cinema is an alien-themed film with a lyrical bent that impacted editing, as opposed to the reverse. Today we remember the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

(Steven Spielberg, left, wrote and directed Close Encounters of the Third Kind as John Williams wrote and conducted the film’s music).

The film features two main stories converging into a single tack around the notion of alien visitors visiting Earth. Academy Award winning director François Truffaut director from Day For Night (1973) stars in the role of French scientist Claude Lacombe, the authority at the forefront of understanding odd disappearances, inexplicable alien encounters, and the human responses to these. Richard Dreyfuss stars as Roy Neary, one of the persistent and compelling humans to experience just such an encounter beginning in northeast Indiana and crossing over into northwest Ohio.

(François Truffaut as Claude Lacombe, left, and Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

Melinda Dillon and Cary Guffey starred as Jillian and Barry Guiler, two caught up in the telling three compelling perspectives for the same encounter that drew Roy Neary (Dreyfuss) into the alien encounter tale spun by Steven Spielberg. Beyond the notion of aiming to make sense of a calling for answers that Jillian, Barry, and Roy each share from an overwhelming need for answers, the three work to come to grips with their attraction to their close encounter through what is an initially inexplicable need to express what they have experienced.

(Melinda Dillon as Jillian Guiler, left, and Cary Guffey as Barry Guiler in Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

Barry plays music (composed by Williams) that is shared with him by his initial UFO encounter. Jillian draws a representation of Devils Tower National Monument in northeastern Wyoming. Roy moves through various stages of molding the monument, from mashed potatoes in an emotional scene with him family through a defiling of the landscaping in his neighborhood that drives his wife, Ronnie Neary as played by Teri Garr, to take the couples kids and flee what feels like a husband losing his emotional hold on a sanity Ronnie understands.

(Teri Garr as Ronnie Neary, left, and Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary in Close Encounters of the Third Kind).

Through some trickery, subterfuge, and tacit assistance from French scientist Claude Lacombe, Roy Neary and Jillian Guiler make it to the secret military communication with the aliens as Devils Tower, witnessing the communication through music wherein the abducted Barry is reunited with Jillian. An emotional catharsis through the communication and the return of veterans lost to history for 30 years previous without aging were made. Roy happily joins a dozen volunteers who will join the aliens aboard their flying ship, which to quote United States President Ronald Reagan “slipped the surly bonds of earth” to a destination unknown as the closing credits rolled. Our rating of Close Encounters of the Third Kind merits 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, June 22, 2019

Top 20 Movie “Jaws.”

Everything started with the disappearance of a skinny-dipping blonde off the coast of Amity Island in coastal New England. Amity’s Chief of Police Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, had perhaps the second biggest boat for those whose careers were launched in the 15th movie on our Top 20 Movies in ranked order listing, Jaws (1975).

The movie Jaws offered perhaps the biggest career boost to highly influential producer, writer, director, and actor Steven Spielberg. At the time that Jaws was do to be made, Spielberg undoubtedly was on the rise. He was selected to direct the cinema worthy of the marketing buzz created for Peter Benchley‘s 1974 book Jaws. As the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) telling informs us, producers Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown had acquired rights for producing a movie from Benchley’s book. Spielberg, who has earned much influence in the film industry, was their directorial choice.

We as the audience get to know Amity police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) best. Much of Jaws is told from Brody’s perspective, and we wind up rooting for him as the hero.

Brody is pitted against two primary antagonists.

The first and obvious antagonist is the main attraction…the Great White Shark that brought people to the movie theater. Perhaps the iconic quote of the movie comes when Jaws (the shark) is battling Brody and fellow protagonist, boat-owner, and seaman Quint (played by Robert Shaw). Brody spoke the quote to Quint:

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

I personally admire the popularity and resonance of the quote, in addition for the context that prompted it. Part of that context is the second main antagonist. Amity Island’s money-obsessed, safety-last Mayor Larry Vaughn, played by Murray Hamilton, partially responds to outside pressure from the business community in advocating for maintaining an open beachfront around the lucrative Independence Day timeframe. After all, this middle-of-summer period is when people travel to the tourist town of Amity Island for sand, water, lodging, and tourism.

In the midst of this, and after the death of the skinny dipping lady to start the movie, a boy is attacked by the shark we know to be Jaws. Richard Dreyfuss plays Matt Hooper, an oceanographer fascinated with sharks who hired Quint to hunt and kill that shark that had staked a claim to Amity Island.

The building tension and focus on the main story line of the killer shark, the reluctant mayor, and the struggle to kill a shark swimming around Amity Island is aided by a famous soundtrack created by renowned composer John Williams. In providing the compelling theme song to Jaws, Williams‘ music is as much of a character in the movie as the characters, the tension, and the shark.

In the heat of the fight to close the beach, the film Jaws and its director (Spielberg) are given a tip of the cap in the naming of Bryan Singer’s production company. Chief Brody responds to an elderly gentleman teasing Brody for not going in the water. As Mental Floss explains, the elderly man is Harry, he is wearing an ugly swimming cap, and the line itself is this:

“That’s some bad hat, Harry.”

Bad Hat Harry Productions goes on to produce House M.D. (2004-2012) and The Usual Suspects (1995).

Steven Spielberg has won Academy Awards for Best Director for Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Best Picture and Best Director for Schindler’s List (1993). He also won Best Director Golden Globes for both of those films.

As we are reminded by this Five Thirty Eight article, the opening of Jaws (1975) in June of that year is considered “the beginning of the era of the Hollywood summer blockbuster.” If you haven’t already seen this movie, you really should.

Matt – Friday, February 10, 2017