Okay I have decided to help my readers out and recommend some movies, since I consider myself a student of film and many of my readers have an interest in movies. I will break this feature into 3 parts. The first will be “Classics You Should See”, the 2nd “Movies You Never Heard of, but Should Have”, and “Tucker in Defense of Hated Films”. Most of these films are available on DVD at this point, but you might have to go to netflix because many of them are obscure or older films.


“The Classics You Should See”
Metropolis (1927)

Quite possibly the most well-known non-comedy silent movie second only to Birth of a Nation. Certainly, a film that has can be considered one of the most influential movies of the silent era. The film has been referenced as recently as last year’s Star Wars prequel (although I have yet to pick it out).


The movie may only appeal to people who can tolerate a completely silent film. The movie is visually stunning and includes images that will likely stay with you for a long time. Director Fritz Lang’s peak into the future is eerily accurate in the way that he envisioned the future look of large cities. Thankfully, things haven’t reached the level of bleakness that Lang predicted. Various images such as the zombie like workers droning off to work, and mindlessly changing shift with another group of workers are classic. Each person marches in unison and seem almost robotic. Another image is the bizarre and equally as confusing clock sequence.

The basic plot of the film is the rich are jerks and live above ground, meanwhile the working class toil (underground) mindlessly in dangerous menial jobs. To make matters worse the rich plan to replace them with robots who could do the jobs more efficiently and for less money in the long run.

The film follows the son of the evil dictator who is outraged when he realizes everyone works underground in such horrible conditions. He meets a girl who may or may not be robot and tells his rich evil father off. Some sort of revolution arises and chaos ensues pinning father against son. Now if anyone can actually make sense of anything else of this film they are one-step a head of me. Random things happen with little or no explanation and its hard to tell the difference between robots and humans Some things just seem to come out of left field and are left to interpretation this happens mainly at the start of the film and towards the climax. However, the film can still be appreciated for its symbolism (which comes with repeat viewing I imagine), the haunting images (which lead me to have many whacked out dreams after seeing it)and the remarkable set design. The movie may also appeal to fans of impressionism films, because its one of the first of it’s kind.

It should be noted however that many parts of the film were lost over the years and the recent 2003 release of the film is about as cleaned up as its going to get. Some still images have been inserted where footage is missing. Unfortunately back than when the films were passed around people could just slice and dice when ever they wanted. Another version exists with 80’s hair band music played over it. These is also Japanese cartoon version out there some where.

House of Wax (1954)

I am amazed how many of my friends (if not all of them) have never even heard of this classic horror film. Its one of the few horror movies that still stands up decades after is release. The film was in really early days of Technicolor and was originally presented in 3D which results in a haunted house/ spooky type atmosphere.

The film is about a struggling wax museum one of the owners takes pride in his work(played by the ever so creepy and occasionally mildly flamboyant Vincent Price), and the other one just wants out of the business. The two have squabble, which escalates when the disgruntled partner starts torching the place. Price (Vincent not Mike) is horrified at the thought of his precious wax sculptures being destroyed. He ends up trapped in the museum and left to die in a fiery tomb.

Years later he resurfaces apparently he lived the ordeal, but is horribly disfigured and seemingly crippled. This comes to a surprise to his old friends. He decides to reopen a museum but oddly the sculptures resemble corpses that have been stolen out of the morgue. People start to get suspicious when bodies start to mount. Is it an eerie coincidence or has Vincent Price gone on a heinous killing spree fueled by murderous rage and anger towards those who wronged him. Could these new figures be corpses encased in wax?

The movie is like a roller coaster ride, and highly recommended to any fans of horror films.


Harvey (1960)

Director Frank Kapra has a knack for making a heartwarming comedy that makes you smile and touches on elements of humanity. The basic premise of the Harvey is a bizarre one. The lead played by screen legend Jimmy Stewart has moved in with his sister and niece. Their family was rich so Stewart hasn’t worked a day in his life, but that doesn’t stop him from giving out his generic business card to various strangers.

However, what makes Stewart even more of an odd ball is his best friend is 6 feet tall and a rabbit named Harvey. Apparently, he is pretty confident of his existence since goes to bars and orders drinks for his furry little friend. He introduces him to everyone he sees, and spends the majority of his day making new friends and drinking at the local bar.

His niece thinks he is out of his mind, and is embarrassed when Stewart talks about his rabbit friend. After an embarrassing incident, his sister tries to have him committed, but wackiness starts to happen and they think she needs to be committed.

What is interesting about this film is many people have stern contracting opinions of what the film is really about. Here are some of the options I have come up with.
A. There really is a Harvey
B. Harvey is symbolism of alcoholism
C. Jimmy Stewart is completely insane
D. The movie is pro-alcoholism

Jimmy Stewart is really fun to watch in this performance that is both funny and poignant. He makes you honestly envision a 6 foot rabbit simply by reacting to a nothing. Its amazing how well he this because Harvey never really appears in the film and yet you can use your imagination with the help of Stewart’s acting can tell where the rabbit is allegedly standing. You compare these to today’s actors trying to interact with horrendous CGI creatures and you wonder if they ever saw this film.

Some of the scenes are highly amusing. Stewart carries a jacket around the entire film (I guess in case his friend gets cold) and helps him across a busy street. He gets their images painted and wants to hang it up at home, and is genuinely kind to the people at the mental hospital who think he might be a dangerous nut.

Will his family and friends eventually get fed up and disown him? Does Harvey have to leave his friend to go off to other far off lands? Will drugging up Stewart make him realize Harvey is just a hallucination? Well I am afraid you will have to rent the film my friends. I guarantee you will feel all warm and fuzzy inside and laugh out loud.


The Apartment (1960)

Sadly the only Billy Wilder film I have seen to date. The film stars a very young Jack Lemmon an insurance salesman who wants to make extra money on the side. In order to do these he rents his apartment room out to various co-workers. They use it for parties, poker games, but mainly to hump girls usually cheating on their wives. Things start getting out of hand rather quickly when Lemmon is ousted into the cold New York winter night in order to satisfy his client. However some higher ups in the company start using his apartment which results in him rising up the corporate ladder.

When the CEO calls him in you think he is busted but he just simply wants in on the good deal he is offering the people at his company. Of course there is a love story interweaved through the film Lemmon has a crush on girl who although is charmed by Lemmon is seemingly off the market.

A running gag involves his neighbor’s who think he is some sort of ladies man with all the late night female visitors and all. The direction is crisp and aside from obvious changes in clothes technology (and the fact that is black and white) it seems like it could be just as easily filmed in 2000 as 1960.

The movie has some dark undertones of loneliness and despair. It also explores the ugly side of humanity and some of the key players certainly aren’t anyone you would want to consider a trusted friend. It is also fun to see how Lemmon changes from the start of the film. The film is well acted an holds up perfectly after all these years. Lemmon is as usual a delight, and who couldn’t smile when he starts stringing spaghetti with a tennis racket?