THE 400 BLOWS (1959)

Somewhat ignored by his parents, the young Antoine Doinel plays hooky from school and takes part in some small petty theft.  Eventually he's labeled as a troublemaker by his parents and teachers and taken to the cops for stealing a typewriter.  From there he's sent to a reform school.

THE 400 BLOWS is a captivating watch, filled with beautiful shots and strong performances, but it's not nearly as powerful as I had hoped.  Compared to childhoods like the kids in ONCE WERE WARRIORS, BULLY, HAPPINESS, KIDS, LOS OLVIDADOS (which was made years before THE 400 BLOWS), FISH TANK and THE WAR ZONE Antonie's childhood is pretty nice.  Hell, his childhood is probably better than 50% of the kids in the world today!  Maybe I'm just being pessimistic with that number, but I don't think so.  He wasn't even abused!  Just neglected.  That's still sad though.  What's the point of having a kid if you're only gonna treat 'em like shit?

Good film, but does it deserve all the praise it gets?  I have no idea, go ask a film professor.  I've seen it a few times over the years and I've always enjoyed it, but I never found it anything to get overly excited about.  Then again, I'm probably an idiot.

Part 2 - Love at Twenty
Part 3 - Stolen Kisses
Part 4 - Bed & Board
Part 5 - Love on the Run

 Truffaut cameo.

ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN (1936)

Fun little film about a egotistical crime writer who gets involved with with the case of a notorious art thief (who is believed to be dead), while at the same time romancing a lovely young actress who's in a play that also happens to be the cover for massive jewel job.

When I put this in the trusty ol' Oppo I didn't even know what this film was about, just that it starred McCrea and Arthur, and I ended up pleasantly surprised.  The dialogue was funny, the pace quick, numerous familiar faces, the acting good all around and the crime capers actually entertaining.

At only 73 minutes ADVENTURE IN MANHATTAN is well-worth any classic Hollywood fans time.  Recommended.

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (1969)

I've long had a fascination with dance marathons, not the bullshit 12-24 hour ones they have nowadays for charity, but the Depression-era dance marathons where they would pretty much just torture the contestants for days, weeks and sometimes even months!!!  And it wasn't just dancing, but also speed-walking, eating while standing up, figure-eight races, blindfolded racing, heel-to-toe sprints, "cot nights", racing while tied together and so on. 

THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? is about one such dance marathon.  Our penniless heroes, Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin, enter a marathon dance contest with a prize of $1,500.  Things go smoothly for the first 600 hours or so, but then the lack of sleep, mental/physical exhaustion and the roar of the blood-thirsty crowds really start to take its toll.  Still these desperate people fight on.  How long can it possible go?

A dark subject matter like this would have been perfect for directors like Polanski or Kubrick (can you imagine the intensity of the end game in a dance marathon film by Kubrick?!), but that didn't happen, so instead of a masterpiece about dehumanization and a social commentary with some black humor mixed in, we get an alright but overall forgettable film that honestly was kinda boring.  The speed-walking scenes were engaging, but other than that I really wasn't into it.  None of the characters were successfully fleshed out, the flash forwards were distracting and unneeded, the pacing was a drag, the sets and costumes looked just like that, the continuity of the contest didn't come off very well and that ending.  Lame.

It might sound like I disliked the film, but that's not true.  It just didn't click with me.  I'm sure there's tons of people out there that love this film (hell, it had 9 Oscar nominations and even won 1).  I'm just not one of them.