Saturday, February 20, 2010
WINNING BIG
Today's movie is also a NYTimes 1176 Best Film
with Jeff Bridges.
This great film is part biopic, part auto mania, a little Dukes of Hazzard and a lot of good cinema to say nothing of life lessons.
What saves this from being a B-film destined for the drive-ins is the quality of production and the true inspiration of the story.
We have a story based on Tom Wolfe's article of the same name. We have a title song that became world famous, Jim Croce's I've Got a Name which they use sparingly but effectively.
They've got Ned Beatty as an early mentor. The manic redneck promoter. They have Geraldine Fitzgerald as Mom and Art Lund* as Dad. Valerie Perrine as the break-your-young-heart race groupie. And they have, bless him, Jeff Bridges.
They also have a kickass ending.
It is a lot of show not tell. There is nothing fake about the picture. And, it is the real story of Junior Johnson.
Did I mention that it is short? They move it really fast. 100 minutes.
Well, it is a racing film.
I wanted to see this again. That makes it a 5 out of Netflix5. I liked it as much as I did the first time.
It is interesting. There are virtually no reviews of this in IMDb. It is lost in the ether. But not for me.
*Art Lund was a great actor. He began as a band singer. Had a few hits. Always on the margins. In this film he plays Johnson's Dad who is a moonshiner. It is hard not to make this a stereotype role but Lund keeps it on the emo level so well, all his scenes have impact. Some have tears. He and Bridges are archetypical in their competitive father/son love. I saw Lund in the Frank Loesser musical called The Most Happy Fella. It was a considerable hit. He played a drifter. Same kind of thing. He stole the show with one song. Joey. I have never forgotten him or it. I can still hear him. In this film he would be maybe 20 years older and his energy does not dim.
Labels: best films
