025. White Lightning

025. (22 Jan) White Lightning (1973, Joseph Sargent) 38



Burt Reynolds's star power is on full display in White Lightning, but this backwoods crime drama doesn't offer much otherwise. The car chases and stunts are as good a you'd expect. The story is just severely undercooked, wasting talents like Reynolds, Ned Beatty and Diane Ladd in favor of meaningless action sequence after action sequence.

222. Something the Lord Made

222. (25 Sep) Something the Lord Made (2004, Joseph Sargent) 55



Something the Lord Made makes the odd move to dramatize heart surgery as much as the institutional racism that complicates the partnership of Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas. That makes for rather unbalanced scripting since it's clear Blalock and Thomas's work proved successful. The film is minor, but moving. Alan Rickman's more impassioned performance stands out here while Mos Def is underplaying perhaps too much. They have a good dynamic opposite one another which makes their volatile friendship believable.

219. Miss Evers' Boys

219. (22 Sep) Miss Evers' Boys (1997, Joseph Sargent) 61



Alfre Woodard dominates this conventionally made, moving story about the Tuskegee experiment. She brings her usual pathos and dignity to a role that requires such a sympathetic, likable presence. Her chemistry with Laurence Fishburne only elevates this. The structure is typical telefilm stuff, full of flashbacks and melodrama. But Sargent has made a message film spanning decades that feels understated and accomplished.

185. Jaws: The Revenge

185. (02 Sep) Jaws: The Revenge (1987, Joseph Sargent) 33



Despite its reputation as one of the worst films of all time, Jaws: The Revenge is an infinitely more watchable film that Jaws 2 or Jaws 3-D. While those films are self-serious and downright boring, this moves briskly. It is bad, to be sure, full of plot holes, bad performances and outrageously embarrassing effects. Those things at least give this a little camp value.

151. Warm Springs

151. (13 Aug) Warm Springs (2005, Joseph Sargent) 51



Warm Springs tells a more dramatic tale of FDR's battle against polio than Sunrise at Campobello. This look at an unfaithful, sad sack Franklin and chilly Eleanor feels overly critical of the pair. In an attempt to keep them relatable, this repeatedly ventures into mawkish territory where a teary-eyed FDR is repeatedly confronted for feeling sorry for himself. During such scenes, Joseph Sargent does nothing to conceal that he's making a movie in tone and appearance that's for the small screen.

Kenneth Branagh gives a convincing turn as Franklin while Cynthia Nixon is more teeth than performer as Eleanor. Kathy Bates is amiable in a supporting role while Jane Alexander, who bested her for the Emmy, is not noteworthy in the slightest.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

“The Taking of Pelham One Two Three” (1974) is a crackerjack crime thriller, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. I taped it off TCM awhile ago, and now that Halloween is over, I felt like watching something that wasn’t horror related. I picked a good one.

A quartet of robbers who call themselves Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Grey and Mr. Brown (hello, Quentin Tarantino) hijack a New York subway train and demand one million dollars in one hour or they will kill one hostage for every minute the money is not delivered. Robert Shaw plays the head robber and Walter Matthau plays a transit cop who negotiates with them. They’re both marvelous, and Matthau is a particular joy to watch.

I enjoy these gritty 1970s crime dramas that stress realism over fanciful stunts and contrived situations. Director Joseph Sargent doesn’t allow a wasted scene and gives pros like Martin Balsam, Hector Elizando and Jerry Stiller the opportunity to do their stuff.

The film is augmented by a marvelous score by David Shire, a prime example of 1970s funk with the main title being one of the most propulsive to drive a 1970s action movie.

It may be odd for those who only know Matthau from his later day comedies that in the 1970s he made three terrific crime dramas in a row, this one and “The Laughing Policeman” and “Charley Varrick”, both from 1973.

For those looking for big explosions and farfetched action set pieces, the film will disappoint, but I was engrossed throughout and particularly enjoyed the film’s final scene - proof positive that a crime drama doesn’t need to end in an orgy of killing and destruction to be completely satisfying.

Some of the language and stereotypes would not make it today, but one aspect of the film hasn’t dated - the scenes of an unpopular Mayor bemoaning that the transit system is broke and they don’t have one million dollars to spare seem chillingly prophetic.

The film is being remade with Denzel Washington and John Travolta in respectively, the Matthau and Shaw roles. If it stays true to form to current action movies, I can only imagine how loud, stupid and irritating this version will be. I hope I’m wrong, but the only good thing I can glean from it is it may introduce people to the wonderful 1974 original.

Rating for “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three”: Three-and-a-half stars.