Chip Kaufmann’s Pick:
The Red Pony (1949)
For years The Red Pony has only been available in washed out, substandard prints first on VHS and then later on budget line DVDs. This new version from Olive Films looks and sounds gorgeous. The sound is as important as the picture because the film’s score was composed by Aaron Copland. Now it can be heard in all of its glory. If you know the orchestral suite then you’ll recognize it immediately throughout the film.
The casting is perfect with Myrna Loy beautifully understating the role of the wife and mother who is estranged from her husband. Veteran thespian Louis Calhern is perfect as the pioneer grandfather who regales the family over and over again with his former exploits on the Plains. Robert Mitchum, 31 when this film was made, has one of his first opportunities to play a gentler character much like he would do 20 years later in Ryan’s Daughter.
The story of a young boy (Peter Miles) learning to raise a pony and the responsibilities it entails never becomes too sentimental or cloying thanks to John Steinbeck’s screenplay from his own stories and the creative direction from Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front). Milestone, Steinbeck, and Aaron Copland had worked together 10 years earlier on Of Mice and Men.
It is quite obvious that Walt Disney, who had yet to make a full length live action feature, took this film as his template. He would produce the somewhat similar Old Yeller 10 years later. If you have never seen The Red Pony or you haven’t seen it in years then you owe it to yourself and your family to see this new, beautifully restored version. It looks even better now, thematically as well as visually, then when it first appeared in 1949.
Michelle Keenan’s Pick:
The Way Way Back (2013)
New on DVD this month is The Way Way Back. This little film was of the summer’s most unexpected and understated treats. If you missed it, it’s well worth renting. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the creative team that brought us The Descendants, make their directorial debut with The Way Way Back. It’s not an important film, but it’s a well done and tenderhearted delight.
The opening sets the tone for the movie. Duncan, a quiet and awkward 14 year old, is sitting the back, the way back, of one of those big old wood paneled station wagons (the kind with last seat facing the back window). This in and of itself creates nostalgic feel even though the film takes place in present day.
Duncan and his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), are traveling with her boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his teenage daughter to Trent’s beach house on the Massachusetts coast for the summer. During the drive (while the ladies are dozing), Trent asks Duncan on a scale of 1 to 10, what he consider himself. Baffled by the question, but in attempt to answer, he says, “I don’t know – I guess a 6.” Trent tells him he thinks he’s a 3. Who does that?!
At the beach Duncan is introduced to an array of characters. Eager to escape the overbearing eye of Trent, Duncan takes off on bicycle and eventually finds himself at a water park managed by a kooky character named Owen (brilliantly played by Sam Rockwell).
Laid back, likeable and in near-constant comic monologue, Owen takes Duncan under his wing and gives him a job. At Water Wizz, Duncan finds a place among the assorted oddballs that work there (including Faxon and Rash in very fun bit parts). This is where the film really takes off.
Knowing straight away that Trent is a grade A Jerk obviously doesn’t bode well for his and Pam’s relationship. The film in fact holds little mystery. It is familiar coming of age, teen angst territory and it is quite predictable, but none of that detracts from the story or our enjoyment of it. Instead, Faxon and Rash delve into the humanity of their characters in a way that evokes empathy and reminds us we’re all a work in progress.
Part of what really sets The Way Way Back apart is the nostalgic feel of summers past. This will resonate particularly with anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s.
