Chinatown (1974)

It is 1937 and Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is a private investigator in Los Angeles.  After wrapping up another case about an unfaithful spouse, he is hired by Mrs. Mulwray to expose her husband's infidelity.  Hollis Mulwray is the director of the water department.  Initially, Jake's investigation finds that Mulwray spends his nights on the beach near a drainpipe.  However, he does finally locate the other woman and gets some pictures.  The following day, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) files a lawsuit against Jake; she is not the Mrs. Mulwray who hired him!  Jake has been setup and Mulwray was targeted for some reason.  Jake wants to know why.

What starts as an investigation about infidelity soon evolves into one about the water supply of Los Angeles, corruption, murder, and a hidden scandal in a powerful family.  Noah Cross (John Huston) is the former partner of Hollis Mulwray and the father of Evelyn Mulwray.  He is rich and powerful.  Evelyn says he is dangerous and Jake should steer clear of him.  Jake finds himself under threat of death at every turn.  Clearly, he is poking his nose in unhealthy places.

The setting is terrific, immersing the viewer in 1930s Southern California.  The acting is top notch.  Jake is a talented investigator but has a habit of jumping to conclusions, some of which cost him.  He is often reckless.  In fact, Evelyn points out that he can't last long with assaults he suffered in the last 24 hours.  One annoying thing was the constant reference to Chinatown.  Chinatown figures prominently in Jake's past but the precise details are never offered.  Then, the last few minutes of the film take place in Chinatown.  So?

"Forget it, Jake.  It's Chinatown."

What is that supposed to mean?

The film is very dark, painting a bleak picture of Los Angeles and the prospects of many of the characters.  Nonetheless, it is a good film and recommended.

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Though my mother took me to movies frequently as a kid, it was very rare that my father took the family to a movie.  The first time that happened - as far as I recall - was for The Towering Inferno.  My memories are very limited (I was 7 years old).  We had gone to Fashion Island in Newport Beach and the line wrapped around the building.  My father had gone scouting toward the ticket booth while my mother waited in the line with my brother and me.  It was already dark and felt very late.  In retrospect, I suppose my parents were unable to get a babysitter and decided to bring us along.  As for the movie, the only thing I remembered was Robert Wagner putting wet towels on his head and running into the fire.  In the years since, I don't remember ever seeing the movie again.  I decided it was time.

The movie opens with a helicopter flying over the Golden Gate Bridge and landing on an immense tower.  Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) climbs out of the helicopter and is greeted by Jim Duncan (William Holden).  Roberts is the architect while Duncan is the builder.  The next half hour is spent meeting the various employees of the tower and the guests to the ribbon cutting and party.  There is Susan (Faye Dunaway), a reporter and love interest of Roberts, Simmons (Richard Chamberlain) the son-in-law of Duncan and the man who cut corners to save money on tower construction, Dan Bigelow (Robert Wagner) the PR guy who is having an affair with his secretary, Harlee Claiborne (Fred Astaire) the conman with a heart of gold, Jernigan (OJ Simpson) from tower security, US Senator Parker (Robert Vaughn) who may be offering some juicy building contracts to Duncan in the wake of this magnificent tower, and many others.  Unbeknownst to most of these people, a wire shorted in a storage closet on the 81st floor and the fire is expanding.  Though urged to begin an evacuation, Duncan refused.  The fire department responds and Chief O'Halloran (Steve McQueen) takes charge.  It is now too late to evacuate the top floor and desperate measures begin.

Once the fire gets out of control, it becomes clear that the building is a death trap.  Stairways have gas leaks that detonate, blowing away several floors worth of stairs.  The sprinkler system does not work, the electrical wiring is overheating from the load, the elevators stop working, and an emergency door is blocked by spilled concrete.

The acting is generally very good.  Newman and McQueen dominate, Newman for the first half and McQueen for the second half.  The various mini-stories resolve themselves as the movie unfolds, whether that be the tragic fate of Dan Bigelow and his secretary, the rocky marriage of Simmons and his wife, the love affair of Roberts and Susan, etc.  These little side stories reminded me of the Love Boat or Fantasy Island.

The special effects are clearly dated but the movie is still entertaining.  Good popcorn fun.

Little Big Man (1970)

Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) is a very old man - 121 years - when the historian came to interview him about his time in the West.  Jack outlines his life in which he experienced all the Old West had to do.  His parents were killed by a Pawnee attack.  He was raised by Cheyenne.  He was 'rescued' from the Indians when he was a teenager and pressed into religion.  He tried being a Cheyenne warrior - which earned him the name Little Big Man, a churchgoer, a snake oil salesman, a gunfighter - the Soda Pop Kid, a businessman, an army muleskinner, a drunkard, a mountain man, a trapper, a husband, a father, and an angel of vengeance.  His grandfather, Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George), is a recurring presence, always offering wisdom and prophecy on the occasions when Jack finds his way back to the tribe.

There are two primary threads to the movie.  One follows Younger Bear, a Cheyenne warrior who owes Little Big Man a life.  Younger Bear is very bitter about this state of affairs and never pleased to see that his rival yet lives.  The other is George Armstrong Custer (Richard Mulligan), who first appears as a dashing cavalry officer who suggests Jack go West.  However, in later encounters, he finds Custer to be repellent and something of a self-important oaf.  These two threads meet at the Little Bighorn.

Jack is a hapless character, who bounces from one failure to the next.  Hoffman gives him a naive quality.  He is never sure of himself, always speaking with uncertainty and hesitation.  He is a tumbleweed, mostly traveling where the wind takes him.  When he does choose a path, it inevitably ends in failure.

Old Lodge Skins is the best part of the movie.  He is the perfect grandfather, with nuggets of wisdom, spirit visions that invariably come to pass, and a "today is a good day to die" attitude about life.  Walking across a battlefield while invisible was both hilarious and tragic.  It is no surprise he won an Oscar.

Custer was portrayed as a dull-witted fool.  His bravery was attributed to his stupidity.  He proclaimed that he could tell a man's profession by looking at him, which is how Jack became an Army muleskinner.  He led his column into the disastrous attack at Little Bighorn, despite doubts among his officer, because Jack told him to do it.  Despite knowing that Jack wished him ill, he did a reverse-reverse psychology and rode to his death.

An array of other characters make appearances.  Mrs. Pendrake (Faye Dunaway) is first a devout Christian and later a soiled dove (i.e. prostitute).  Allardyce T Meriweather (Martin Balsam) is a snake oil salesman who keeps losing limbs to his dangerous profession.  Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Corey) turns Jack away from gunfighting, but later hauls him out of his drunken stupor.  Of course, the Cheyenne have a cast of characters who change over time.  In addition to grandfather and Younger Bear, there was Shadow That Comes in Sight, the warrior who brought him back to the tribe as a child, Little Horse, a Cheyenne boy who chose to live as a woman.

The movie is in no ways historically accurate, but it does look at the Old West from a different perspective than the typical Western.  It is a lot of fun.  Recommended.