Filmically Perfect

Jerry Lewis’ first film with a strong storyline is also one of his best. A film full of flash and color and fun! Jerry takes R.L. Stevenson’s classic tale, Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde and turns it on it’s head, giving it his own wacky flavor. Regardless of how many times others try to remake it (and with 2007 there will be three!), this version will arguably be the first and best, at least to those of us here at Filmically Perfect.

Whom better to make a film about the American South than British director John Boorman? Well, he was arguably the right choice as the longevity of this simple yet harrowing film attests. Shot under extraordinarily difficult circumstances, with a tiny budget of $2,000,000 and no insurance underwriting, this film, based on James Dickey’s popular first novel has become, in a rather disturbing way, one of the prime films that people connect with the South. And way too much has been devoted to the “squeal like a pig” scene which, although pivotal to the plot, is not the main subject of the story and has actual begun to detract from the film, in my humble opinion. (Geo.) Nevertheless, the film has remained extremely popular in the thirty years since it’s a debut and, if nothing else, introduced us to one of our finest character actors, Ned Beatty.

Arguably one of Bruce Dern’s finest moments on the screen, Douglas Trumbull’s enviro-cautionary fable still resonates today, more powerfully than more ham-fisted attempts such as The Day After Tomorrow. A simple film, where not much seems to happen, but it gets inside your head and travels around with you. In this heated episode of Filmically Perfect, host Niki Dakota declares her dislike for Silent Running, but learns the hard way as The Film Guys verbally pummel her into realizing what they have known all along: that this is a Perfect Movie. But we love her and we are there for her, even when she is mistaken. Like now.

The Film Guys attempt to get a jump on the Christmas Season and give our listeners a few new, cool ideas for DVD giving this year!

They said we were mad! They said we were crazy! Crazy? Yes, crazy like a fox! To include this seventeen-minute Three Stooges short with the likes of to Kill A Mockingbird and Sunrise? You got it, Bunky! In our proud personal pantheon of perfect productions, this one fills a special place--and in our hearts as well. Jerome “Curly” Howard so shamelessly steals this film from everyone, including his older brother Moe, that we couldn’t not choose it. You don’t agree? That’s fine, but this is our game and we choose the players!

Frank Capra’s first film after WWII was of the utmost importance to him--would audiences still accept what so many critics had labeled “Capra-corn?” In 1946, the answer was “no.” But then, a strange thing happened--television. Slowly, the film began to gain momentum. Then, in the seventies, when it fell into Public Domain, the sudden abundance of viewings, plus the availability on the new home video systems helped turn it into the American equivalent of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

Ties? A new bathrobe? Socks?? Fuggedahboudit! What every red-blooded cinema fan wants for Christmas (or Hanukkah or whatever celebration you’re into this season) is movies on DVD. Let me qualify that: GOOD movies on WELL PRODUCED DVDs! In this Extra Special episode of Filmically Perfect, J.Todd and Geo., the Film Guys, and Niki Dakota, our most wonderful host, take a look at some of the best sets of DVDs Hollywood has to offer this season and even manage to squeeze in a little history.

Does it amaze anyone else that one of America's favorite Christmas movies comes from Canada? Or that its director had previously made Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Black Christmas, and Porky’s? Yes truly, Bob Clark “paid his dues” before reaching what might well be the zenith of his career with this wonderful romp through Jean Shepherd’s mind. Unless there’s something about Baby Geniuses that we all missed...

“Chicken Every Sunday?” Do you remember that movie? No? Well, in order to get Miracle on 34th Street made, director George Seaton had to sign on to direct the other film, a project near and dear to Darryl F. Zanuck, the boss of 20th Century-Fox. Seaton did make the film and it was released in 1949, where it garnered no awards and no nominations. Even today, it is not available in any video format and rarely shows up on television. In the meantime, Miracle ran in the theaters for six months, won three Academy Awards and two Golden Globes and will be watched by millions every Christmas from now until the end of time on VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, satellite, cable, HDTV, etc.

From George Miller, the creator of Mad Max and The Road Warrior comes Babe, a film without a single truck chase or sharp-edged boomerang (although it does have at least one feral child)! Arguably the best talking pig movie ever, it was one of the first to successfully mix traditional puppetry, animatronics, computer animation AND actual live animals to tell this heart-warming but not mushy or cloying story of a young pig’s adventures on the Hogget’s farm. Top it off with a score built around Camille Saint-Säens’ beautiful Third Symphony and you have a perfect film the whole family can treasure!