Cinema Wellman's 50th Episode Celebration!

               Cinema Wellman’s 50th Episode Celebration!

  Hello again and welcome to Cinema Wellman! You are here today for yet another “very special” episode! I seem to say that a lot, but I guess they’re all special to me.

Today’s episode is special because, believe it or not, we are celebrating the 50th episode of Cinema Wellman!

For the life of me I thought the 50th anniversary was the Diamond Anniversary! Turns out that’s actually the 60th! The 50th anniversary is the Golden Anniversary. 

What you really should be getting today is an episode highlighting “Gold” movies. Instead, you’ll get what I researched, screened, and prepared for. Hannah always tells me I can do whatever I want with this project, so I’m giving that a shot. 

So here it is…

Cinema Wellman’s Diamond Anniversary Episode! (10 episodes too early).

There are many popular phrases you’re probably familiar with that include the word diamond.

We have “Diamond in the rough,” “Diamonds are a girl's best friend,” and “Diamonds are forever,” to name a few.

Leonardo da Vinci once said that, “A diamond is just a lump of coal that stuck to its job.”

I think da Vinci would be happy with us because what we have today is a little mixed bag of cinematic diamonds. We have action, comedy, sci-fi, a musical, and even a sports movie in our little cluster of diamonds today.

We will begin with…

Blood Diamond (2006)

R/143 m/IMDb: 8.0

Nominated for 5 Oscars: Actor (DiCaprio), Supporting Actor (Hounsou), Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing

“Whenever something of value is found here, the natives die. It happened with ivory, gold, oil, and now diamonds.”

Unfortunately, this statement is very true about the continent of Africa, the setting of this film. The land, and its people, have been exploited by Europeans (and others) for centuries.

This 2006 film brought the issue of “conflict diamonds” into the public eye. The diamond industry is brutal to its workers resulting in countless numbers of people being exploited, brutalized, and killed. 

Many of these “Diamond Movies” are fun movies. The first three on this list are anything but breezy. Blood Diamond isn’t an easy watch, but it’s worthwhile because of the performances and still meaningful story. Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou were both nominated for Oscars for these roles.

DiCaprio doesn’t usually play the heavy, but when he does, he does it well. He’s pretty evil in this. He tries to redeem himself at the end, but you can be the judge of whether or not he succeeded.

That late redemption game is a tough one in movies. I usually don’t go for it. 

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

R/117 m/IMDb: 7.3

“The world is an evil place, Charles. Some of us make money off of that, and others get destroyed.”

Talk about not an easy watch. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead is the final film of the late great friend of Cinema Wellman Sidney Lumet, and it is brutal.

This is the story of two brothers (Andy & Hank), neither of whom you can root for in any sense of the word. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Andy) is a drug-addicted businessman who is stealing from his company. Ethan Hawke (Hank) is a divorced loser who is sleeping with his brother’s wife (the underappreciated Marisa Tomei). When both are faced with money issues, Andy cooks up a plan to rob a mom & pop jewelry store.

The problem is, it’s literally Andy & Hank’s mom &  pop who own the store. If you’re thinking, “this can’t go well,” you don’t know the half of it. 

Lumet broke this film into sections, one more gut wrenching than the next;

The Day of the Robbery, Hank 3 Days Before the Robbery, Andy 4 Days Before the Robbery, Charles 1 Day Before the Robbery, etc.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is terrifying in this (as are his eyebrows!). He is so very evil, and yet there’s this vulnerability only he could add to someone who is so depraved. His character’s life is going down the drain, and that descent is rapid.

Albert Finney (Charles) is wonderful as the patriarch of this extremely dysfunctional family. Not a lot of time is spent on his character, but when he’s on the screen his performance is mesmerizing. 

Carter Burwell’s musical score is tremendous, and is totally synched up with the mood of the film. The score is reminiscent of Burwell’s score for Fargo in the way that it hauntingly looms just under the surface of extremely tense situations on the screen.

There is a tremendous scene at Andy’s drug dealer’s apartment that reminded me of two other movies with similar situations. One is True Romance where dealer Drexl Spivey is played by the almost unrecognizable Gary Oldman. Spivey is scarfaced and talks as if he’s Jamaican. He’s terrifying to watch even when you’re watching from the safety of your home.

The other movie is Boogie Nights where a totally unhinged silk robe wearing Alfred Molina almost steals the entire movie in a single scene. You’ll never hear Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” again without hearing firecrackers go off. 

In Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, the unhinged person in the scene is the drug user not the dealer. Hoffman is amazing, which is no surprise. He was always amazing. Every part he ever played, in any movie. I miss PSH very much. 

If you’re in for a dark thriller, I recommend Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.

Thief (1981)

R/123 m/IMDb: 7.4

“I am the last guy in the world that you wanna fuck with.” ~Frank

I promise it’ll get much lighter after this one.

Michael Mann’s study of a career thief, brilliantly played by James Caan, was a big influence on me since I was a sophomore at BU when it came out. I was utterly hypnotized by it.

The German techno band Tangerine Dream provides the score, and their music fits so perfectly with this film and its ebbs and flows. I was so impressed by Tangerine Dream that I used their music to score just about every student film I made during that time. 

This was Mann’s first feature, and I’ve become a big fan. I think he’s a talented director who is very adept at creating a stylized atmosphere for his characters. The Last of the Mohicans and Heat are two of my favorite Mann films. 

I was always a fan of Jimmy Caan. He can never quite play a guy who’s totally good, but you usually find yourself rooting for him. That’s definitely the case in Thief. 

I’ve always loved heist movies and movies with robberies in them. One of the reasons being that I would never, in a million years, have the guts to pull off some of these jobs. The stress and tension would be too much for me. 

The opening 10 minute robbery sequence is virtually silent except for Tangerine Dream’s score. It wasn’t quite Rififi silent, but it was close!

Great use of the overall setting. Thief will definitely be considered as a possible entry  in a future City Spotlight: Chicago!

This is a character driven action thriller with a wonderful cast. Robert Prosky is excellent as the evil scumbag. As I mentioned while eviscerating Songwriter in an earlier episode, Willie Nelson can actually act a bit. He is certainly fine in this role. 

There is an excellent diner scene with Tuesday Weld and James Caan that showcases both the scriptwriting and their talents. 

Caan goes total scorched earth before handing out a Travis Bickle-esque ass-kicking.

Like the burning bar he uses to get into a safe, this one is a slow burn. Well done all around. 

The Sandlot (1993)

PG/101 m/IMDb: 7.8

“You’re killin’ me, Smalls!” ~Ham Porter

You see what I did here, right? :) I told you there was going to be a sports movie.

The Sandlot is a marvelous portrayal of the neighborhood life I think I wish I had growing up. I loved my childhood. 

It was pretty much perfect (my therapist has confirmed this for me), but for some reason I always thought I wanted to grow up in a real neighborhood with a bunch of guys I could play baseball with every day. 

This coming of age story has it all, the love of baseball, the need to fit in and be accepted by your peers, the misunderstood neighbor, and the hyperbolic legendary beast of a dog.

If you used to be a kid, you like baseball, and you like to smile, you will not be disappointed with The Sandlot.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

AP/91 m/IMDb: 7.1

“Get that ice, or no dice!” ~Lorelai

Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic figures in American pop culture. She is known all over the world by generation after generation, and has lived well beyond her early death. 

I’ve always been puzzled by this (like the way Elvis puzzles me). She wasn’t the best singer. She wasn’t the best actress. She wasn’t the prettiest actress. 

She was just Marilyn.

And she was adorable. 

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a light hearted musical about Lorelei and Dorothy, two showgirls traveling to Paris and being pursued by scores of admirers. 

Jane Russell is Marilyn’s co-star, and she is one sassy showgirl! Russell is a perfect companion to Monroe as they form kind of a showgirl Yin/Yang. 

If you’ve ever seen a montage of great movie moments, you’ve seen a clip of the famous number from this film. Marilyn Monroe singing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” while being surrounded by a swarm of tuxedoed gentlemen is musical gold! The pink dress is now so iconic (Madonna copied it in her “Material Girl” video), and that number is so much fun. 

Marilyn is a delight, as is Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

“It’s a terrible thing to be lonesome, up in the middle of a crowd.” ~Lorelei

“I can be smart when it’s important, but most men don’t like it.” ~Lorelei 

Both of those lines are spoken by "Lorelei," but they sound a lot like Marilyn.

To Catch a Thief (1955)

NR/106 m/IMDb: 7.4

Nominated for 3 Oscars: Cinematography (c), Art Direction-Set Decoration (c), Costume Design (c)

Oscar Winner: Best Cinematography (color)

“Even in this light, I can tell where your eyes are looking.” ~Frances Stevens

Coming very soon to Cinema Wellman is our first ever “Director’s Corner!” and our first director will be one of my all-time favorites, Alfred Hitchcock.

Each “Director’s Corner” will be a bit different (depending on the director and their body of work). Hitchcock’s will be a Top 10 episode.

The reason I mention this is because To Catch a Thief will NOT be on that Top 10 list, but it’s certainly perfect for our 50th Anniversary “Diamond” Episode!

I’ll save all of the Hitchcock praise for that episode, and just concentrate on the film. But I will tell you to look for Hitch with the bird lady on the back of the bus!

Partially (and beautifully) shot in the French countryside, To Catch a Thief is the story of a retired jewel thief who is out to clear his name when robberies fitting his M.O. begin happening again. 

The classy, elegant, jewel thief is played by Cary Grant. You remember Cary Grant, he’s known for playing unsophisticated farmers. Grant’s romantic interest in this film is one of Hitchcock’s favorites (and one of Cinema Wellman’s favorites as well) Grace Kelly. 

The story is compelling enough, but I just always seem to lose my concentration when Hitchcock fills the screen with Grace Kelly. 

I realized during this rescreening that Hitch gives us the type of car chase you see in a thriller as opposed to an action film. Kelly and Grant are being pursued by bad guys on a winding mountainous road. Green screens are used for the closeups of the pair in the car, but the chase (shot via helicopter) along that beautiful ribbon-like road is spectacular. It doesn’t have to be fast to be a quality chase sequence. 

More Hitchcock to come very soon!

Dogora (1964)

NR/83 m/IMDb: 5.6

“Diamonds are Dogora’s best friend.” ~ actual line in this film, which is wonderful.

Only the Japanese could combine a gangster themed diamond movie with kaiju and honeybees! Nothing is too far fetched!

This is a treat from start to finish. IMDb describes the fun as follows; “An amorphous cellular life-form descends from the atmosphere to consume carbon in the form of diamonds.” 

You got it! That diamond eating space monster movie you’ve been asking for actually exists!

Thank you, friend of Cinema Wellman, Ishiro Honda.

This certainly is as silly as it sounds, but if you’re a fan of kaiju movies, put this on your list. 

The soundtrack for Dogora reminded me of the OG Gojira soundtrack. I think that score is so great, that a lot of kaiju films seem to honor it (steal it?). 

The Pink Panther (1963)

AP/115 m/IMDb: 7.0

Oscar Nominee: Best Music

“There are some very strange things going on here.” ~Inspector Jacques Clouseau

For this episode I chose to re-watch the original Pink Panther movie from 1963. I really could have substituted any of the Pink Panther movies starring Peter Sellers as far as this project was concerned. They’re all “Diamond” movies, after all. 

I haven’t seen the reboots with Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, so I can’t vouch for those. In this film, Sellers is his usual brilliant self. His facial expressions and physical comedy is what makes this series so enjoyable. 

I’m not a David Niven fan, and this movie doesn’t feature Clouseau’s manservant, Kato, but this still hits the mark. 

The iconic Henry Mancini score is such a treat no matter how many times you’ve heard it. Those first few notes on the sax always bring a smile to my face.

By the way, the diamond in this movie is the “Pink Panther.”

The Hot Rock (1972)

PG/101 m/IMDb: 6.8

Oscar Nominee: Best Film Editing

“You take failure too hard. I don’t mind it so much anymore” ~Kelp

I realize The Hot Rock was part of S1:E19 “The 70s Show: Part I,” but I just rescreened it for the first time in a long time and wanted to talk about it.

Robert Redford, George Segal, Paul Sand, and Ron Leibman are the gang of four that are out to snatch a priceless African diamond.

There’s a helicopter scene that takes us on a tour over NYC. It’s fun, interesting, and ultimately sad to see the World Trade Center still under construction in these shots. The city looks great in this movie. 

The unique thing about this diamond film is that the same diamond is stolen over and over and over!

Robbery 1: Museum: We need more museum robbery movies. Where’s the Gardner museum heist movie?!

Robbery 2: Police Evidence Room

Robbery 3:  Not really a robbery, but there’s a prison break in this movie! In the middle of all of this!

Robbery 4: Bank: The same diamond now needs to be stolen from a safety deposit box in a bank.

Do that, Danny Ocean!

You’ve heard me say this before, but the cast is marvelous! Paul Sand was such an underrated comedic actor. His presence in some of these scenes had me laughing without him saying a word. I’ve always loved George Segal. That goes way back to the days when I first got HBO and watched him in The Black Bird about 10,000 times. 

My mom loved this movie. I think she just loved Robert Redford. Don’t we all?

And that leaves us with the diamond with the most carats! It just has to be…

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

GP/120 m/IMDb: 6.5

Oscar Nominee: Best Sound

“Tiffany, my dear. We’re showing a bit more cheek than usual, aren’t we?” ~Blofeld

Several years ago I created a project for myself that has since been shared with Dakota, John and his daughter, Jessica. 

I created a James Bond rubric and watched every single 007 movie to determine which was my favorite.

That Top 10 is certainly going to be a future episode. For now, let’s talk about Diamonds Are Forever.

Two of the categories on that rubric are “Bond Girl” and “Henchmen.” Jill St. John as Tiffany Case! Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd! Bond Girl and Henchmen both 5 out of 5! Very few reached the highest rung on the Bond Rubric Ladder!

I kind of prefer my Bond on the light side. Bond drinking, carousing, committing murder in the name of the Queen…all of that light fare. That’s one of the reasons I love Diamonds Are Forever. All those boxes are checked. 

And Cinema Wellman’s love for Jill St. John is no secret. Thank you, Miss Tiffany Case.  

There’s a fantastic chase sequence through Old Las Vegas, there’s Dame Shirley Bassey belting out the theme song, there’s “Sausage King” Jimmy Dean as a Howard Hughes type, there’s Blofeld and his cat, there’s a diamond-encrusted satellite…

It’s all here in the Top Diamond Film on today’s list!

Thank you for joining us for our 50th episode celebration here at Cinema Wellman. 

Special thanks to Quin in IT, Andy in our musical department, and everyone who consumes Cinema Wellman. Whether you read the blog, watch on YouTube, or listen on Spotify, we certainly appreciate you spending some of your entertainment content time with us. 

Thanks for being here for our first 50 episodes, and we hope you’re here for the next 50.

Join us right here next week when we’ll take you on a tour of the Cinema Wellman set! I’ll actually explain all of the stuff that’s behind me every episode. I’ll even tell the story of my chair. 

Until then, take care.