Chip Kaufmann’s Pick:
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
I first saw Johnny Got His Gun when I was a freshman in college. It came out at the height of the Vietnam War and quite simply blew me away. It was the only film to be directed by legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (see my review of the new movie about him also in this issue) and was based on an anti-war novel set during World War I that he had written back in 1939.
There were plenty of other anti-war movies at the time as well as such WWI classics as All Quiet on the Western Front and Grand Illusion but none of them made the impact that Johnny Got His Gun did. While realistically depicting war, most of the movie concerns itself with an American soldier (Timothy Bottoms) who is reduced to a faceless, armless, legless torso by a shell explosion and who is kept alive by military doctors for study purposes who don’t realize that his mind is still intact.
Lying in his hospital bed, he relives his brief life before the incident and has several remarkable dream sequences involving his father (Jason Robards) and a long haired, bearded figure (Donald Sutherland) who is meant to be Jesus.
Loaded with haunting imagery and still as powerful today as it was back in 1971, Johnny is not a film for everyone because of its subject matter but nevertheless. I recommend it as a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience that showcases Trumbo’s strength as a writer and as a movie that has something important to say.
Michelle Keenan’s Pick:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
In selecting my DVD for the month, I wanted to pay tribute to recently departed screen legend Maureen O’Hara. I was tempted to select The Quiet Man as a tie in to my review of Brooklyn (which takes place in 1952 and references the film), but as we prepare to go to press, news outlets are anticipating the largest crowd ever for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And with that there was no other choice; the parade was immortalized in the beloved holiday classic Miracle on 34th Street, starring Maureen O’Hara.
It’s unlikely that anyone that reads this section hasn’t seen this iconic Oscar winning film, but maybe it’s been a while. Maybe it’s time to revisit it or introduce it to younger generations, who not have experienced its magic. Miracle on 34th Street tells the story of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn), a kindly old man and lovable department store Santa Claus. When Kris claims to be the real deal, he is institutionalized for insanity until a young attorney (John Payne) comes to his defense.
Edmund Gwenn plays Kris so brilliantly you wonder if in fact he really is the real deal. Maureen O’Hara plays the Macy’s manager and coordinator of the annual parade. She’s a pragmatic single mother whose skeptical ways have rubbed off on her young daughter Susan, played by eight-year-old Natalie Wood. Kris doesn’t seem to care what anyone seems to think of him so long as he can convince this one little girl to believe in him.
Rounding out the core cast is John Payne as the handsome young attorney who defends Kris and who also happens to be in love with Susan’s mother. On a side note Miracle on 34th Street marks Thelma Ritter’s film debut as a harried mother and Christmas shopper.
One of the things I always found interesting about Miracle on 34th Street is its edge, a real world bitterness and skepticism. Looking back, the film may have actually been ahead of its time. We often think of old films as being representative of a more innocent and wholesome bygone era, but this 1947 movie touches on the harsher realities of life that many other films of its time did not. It also has a decidedly anti-consumeristic message. As much as we’d all like to think otherwise, commercialism is nothing new to Christmas.
Miracle on 34th Street is smartly written and directed. The cast, from the young to the old, is pitch perfect. Best of all the film stands the test of time and is still relevant today. Ultimately the real miracle is in all of us – when humanity dwells in kindness and love. Sixty-eight years later it’s a message that still rings true.