#236. Lengthy Running Times

In a world that is having an increasingly difficult time sitting still for an extended amount of time, any movie longer than 90 minutes can be a struggle to watch. Especially with the ubiquitous nature of smartphones shortening our attention spans, many of us won’t even bother watching a video that’s longer than seven seconds. Part of the solution many movies have resorted to in recent years has been to split films into two parts, so they are easier to watch, instead of sitting through a four-hour film. Other solutions have been to keep the pace of the plot set so fast as to keep the audience enthralled all the way to the end credits. This latter option often includes plenty of flashy and disorienting action to sustain the excitement level at a point where viewers won’t glance at their watches. This week’s two films have lengthy running times but are worth the watch if you can pay attention long enough.

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Year: 1975
Rating: Not Rated
Length: 201 minutes / 3.35 hours

Movies with running times above three hours have been around since nearly the beginning of cinema itself. Many of these films were merely adapting to the tenets of the theatre. With its plays and musicals, many theatre productions included overtures and intermissions. These plays and musicals were quite long, easily spanning several hours. This is why many long films also followed suit by including overtures and intermissions for audiences to get up and stretch. While the latest notable film to have an intermission was made in 2001 (Pearl Harbor), quite a few films from the 1960s and 1970s had intermissions, even if they were cut out in home media. That being said, Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) does not have an intermission, or fast-paced plot, or any exciting action. It merely has the life of a homemaker, revealed in near real-time.

Life as a single mother can be a regular series of events, repeated ad nauseam. For each of the three hours of this film’s running time, we get a glimpse into three days of Jeanne Dielman’s (Delphine Seyrig) life. There is cleaning to do, dinner to cook, and a bedroom “job” to perform to keep her and her son living comfortably. However, when the small details start to go awry, we see Jeanne slowly succumb to the stress she hides right beneath her stoic surface. Whether it’s the countless hours spent alone in the house or the exceptional standards of homemaking that she holds herself to, the subsequent days definitely show she is almost at her breaking point. Finally, on the third day, Jeanne has a sudden release with one of her “clients.” Perhaps, as a result, she cuts her session short in a sudden outburst of violence.

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Year: 2003
Rating: PG-13
Length: 201 minutes / 3.35 hours

If there’s one thing the Academy Awards like, it’s a long movie. Often, the nominees for Best Picture are regularly over two-and-a-half hours long, and will sometimes even break the three-hour mark. Additionally, some films of a particular series might have different release dates but are considered as one, complete film when placed back-to-back. In these cases, franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and The Lord of the Rings could all be considered singular films with running times at or over 12 hours long! In regards to the last series of the aforementioned list, which won Best Picture in 2003, the fact that it was shot all at once with the same actors gives credence to the thought that all three films are actually a single film split into three parts. With the “extended editions” of these films considered to be the true film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings story, get ready for a half-day movie marathon.

The third installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King (2003) follows Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) as they complete the final push into Mordor to destroy Sauron’s ring of power. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Fellowship (established in the first film, The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)) bolster their forces to take on Sauron’s army. Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) gains alliances of kings, both living and dead, and battles his way to Sauron’s front door. Having traveled an incredible distance and endured numerous obstacles and struggles, Frodo and Sam wearily make their way into Mount Doom, the source of (and therefore the only way to destroy) the ring of power. As the battle heats up between good and evil, Gollum (Andy Serkis) sees his last chance to obtain the ring for himself. Will Sauron win in the end, or will Frodo be able to rid Middle Earth of the ring once and for all?

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 movie marathons

#072. Oscar Sweepers

If there’s one thing about the Academy Awards, it’s winning. Of course, within that one word, there are two emphases. There’s “winning,” and then there’s winning. Sure, you could win Best Picture, but if that’s your only win (like with 1928’s The Broadway Melody) would everyone else really agree with you? Now, the flip side of that coin is if you’re nominated for double-digit awards but only walk away with a few (as with 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with 13 nominations and 3 wins). If you didn’t even win the Best Picture award, it makes people wonder if your film’s prestige was all hype. However, there do exist films that so dominate the Academy Awards that they end up winning most of the awards. Only five films have come away from the ceremony holding 10 or more statuettes, including Best Picture. Movies like West Side Story (1961), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), and Titanic (1997) pretty much swept the Oscars for their respective years. This week’s two films are included in that list of Oscar sweepers.

Gone with the Wind
Year: 1939
Rating: PG
Length: 238 minutes / 3.97 hours

Often, Box Office sensations rarely win many awards. And yet, Gone with the Wind (1939) is perhaps the exception. Before 1939, the most Oscars one film had received was five. This record was blown out of the water with Gone with the Wind‘s 10 wins. What is perhaps more impressive is the number of times this film has been re-released to theaters. Aside from its original 1939 release, this film has been re-released eight times (1947, 1954, 1961, 1971, 1974, 1989 and 1998), which is why Gone with the Wind is often considered the highest-grossing film of all time, garnering more than $400 million in ticket sales alone. To further its importance, the American Film Institute has placed Gone with the Wind as high as #4 on its list of Top 100 movies of the last 100 years.

With an impressive running time nearing four hours (with a 15-minute intermission included), Gone with the Wind (1939) is perhaps the longest epic film ever made, or at least it was upon its release. Of course, when adapting a Pulitzer-prize winning novel, there is obviously a lot of material to cover. After all, the entire first half of the film covers life in the South before the Civil War. There wasn’t much to worry about at that time, except for who you were going to marry. And yet, once the war hit, many struggled to maintain their lifestyles. The second half of the film dives deep into poverty, in stark contrast to its first half. What will people resort to when their lives of luxury are lost? Most will come to terms with their fate and make sure that they’ll “never be hungry again.”

Ben-Hur
Year: 1959
Rating: PG
Length: 212 minutes / 3.53 hours

There’s just something about epic films. While not nearly as long as Gone with the Wind, Ben-Hur (1959) comes pretty close. And yet, the distinction of most Oscars won was held by Gone with the Wind for twenty years before Ben-Hur came along. It held this distinction for a much longer time frame since the next film to win more Oscars than Ben-Hur was Titanic in 1997 (almost 40 years later). Of course, as this was a remake, who knows if the original Ben-Hur filmed in 1925 (also based on a book of the same name) would have done nearly as well at the Academy Awards, had they existed at that point. Then again, winning 11 of 12 available awards is quite a feat, percentage-wise as well. Needless to say, plenty of memorable cinematic moments occurred in this film, which is why the American Film Institute has placed it at #72 on its first Top 100 films list.

Ben-Hur starts out much in the same way that Gone with the Wind did. Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is an influential and wealthy man in Jerusalem during the time of Roman rule. Unfortunately, for keeping his standards and not ratting out some Zionist revolutionaries, he is wrongfully accused for some harm that had befallen a Roman near Ben-Hur’s house. As such, he is shipped off into slavery where he is shown to have some talent. After refusing to ride chariots, he is put on a warship that eventually sinks. However, fortune smiles upon him as he escapes and resumes his life as a free man. Unfortunately, his sister and mother have gone missing, and he still needs to take revenge against the man who sent him to a life of slavery. But what luck! A chariot race can give him his revenge, and his old connections know where his family is. And yet, it’s never that straightforward, now is it?

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 big winners

#071. Clark Gable

If you’ve ever walked down a seaside boardwalk, you’ll see a lot of different artists, both performance and traditional. Among the human statues, magicians, and musicians is often a caricature portrait artist. This artist will usually have some examples of his work, which picks up on the unique properties of a person’s face and exaggerates them to comical effect. Often, they will have pictures of famous movie stars drawn in this style to give an idea of what to expect. Now, if Clark Gable were to get his caricature done, it would most certainly point out that he has somewhat large ears. Of course, this never stopped him from being the suave man in control on the big screen. And even though this characteristic is often parodied in animated fare, the fact that he won a Best Actor Oscar still remains a fact. This week’s two films highlight some Oscar-nominated performances by Clark Gable, but ironically enough, neither is the movie for which he won the award.

Mutiny on the Bounty
Year: 1935
Rating: Not Rated
Length: 132 minutes / 2.2 hours

In 1934, Clark Gable starred in a little comedy directed by Frank Capra known as It Happened One Night (1934). This role garnered him a lot of attention, and a year later he was once again cast in a leading role for a true story on the high seas, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Even though his ears may have stuck out a little bit, that slick hair made up for it in spades. While he didn’t have his trademark pencil-thin mustache in this film, it didn’t seem to make much of a difference in the end, since he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Partially due to this film’s success, it was remade in 1962 under the same name and with Marlon Brando playing the part that Clark Gable once inhabited. Of course, the 1935 version remains the classic and is obviously a great story (the remake was also nominated for seven Oscars, although it didn’t win any).

Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) is the first mate on the HMS Bounty. This ship and its crew are heading to Tahiti under the guidance of Captain William Bligh (Charles Laughton), who is a stickler for discipline. It seems his crew can do nothing right, so as punishment, almost every one of them is eventually flogged. This type of punishment does not sit well with Christian, who sympathizes with the crew and their harsh treatment. In collaboration with other crew members, they decide that enough is enough. What prompts this increase in courage? They had finally arrived at Tahiti and had gotten involved with the locals there. The local women, to be specific. After they have finished the job they came for and have arrived back at sea, Christian leads a revolt against the tyrannical captain and guides the ship back to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to let the crew enjoy the rest of their lives on the island paradise of Tahiti.

Gone with the Wind
Year: 1939
Rating: PG
Length: 238 minutes / 3.97 hours

Clark Gable is one of those suave actors from the late 1930s who everyone always associates with one film. Of course, outside of Gone with the Wind (1939), Clark Gable has made many other movies. What may be interesting is that, while everyone knows him for his role as Rhett Butler, it is not the one he won his Oscar for. In fact, of his three nominations, he only won one Best Actor Oscar, and that was for It Happened One Night (which, coincidentally, won the “Big Five” that year (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay)). Still, his nomination for Gone with the Wind (and the aforementioned Mutiny on the Bounty) was well deserved. And even if we can’t remember who won Best Actor that year off the top of our heads, it just goes to show that Gable’s performance was truly timeless.

Life was good in the South if you had the right background. For instance, if you were Scarlett O’Hara (Vivian Leigh), the daughter of wealthy plantation owners, you would spend your life being selfish and whining over all the things you don’t have, despite living a life of luxury. When she goes to a ball to confess her love to a man who is about to marry someone else, she doesn’t notice that there is another man there as well, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable). Unfortunately, the Civil War breaks out and plunges the South into poverty. Scarlett struggles on, not only through poverty but through a few different marriages until she finally comes upon Rhett once again. Of course, by now it is clear that the relationship won’t work and in the words of Rhett, “Frankly, my dear. I don’t give a damn.”

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 fantastic Clark Gable performances

Bacon #: 2 (Making the Misfits / Eli Wallach -> Mystic River / Kevin Bacon)

#031. The Civil War

At the heart of any great story is a simple concept: conflict. And what is the epitome of conflict? War. While wars against obvious enemies (Nazis, Communists, Aliens, etc.) make good movies, the battles with the most depth are the ones between ourselves. After all, we should all be on the same side, so what would drive us to fight each other? The reasons that anyone would arrive at a Civil War are varied indeed, but the drama is still intense no matter how the schism started. With the understanding that there are (and have been) many Civil Wars in many different countries, those of us in the United States tend to think of the Civil War between the Union and Confederacy as one of the darkest, but most poignant, points in our national history. This week’s two films highlight the American Civil War as their setting and source of conflict.

Glory
Year: 1989
Rating: R
Length: 122 minutes / 2.03 hours

While it is said that history is written by the winners, the truth of the matter is that in a Civil War, nobody wins. When citizens fight against each other, the ensuing losses are shared by the whole. Of course, considering that one of the reasons the Civil War was fought in the first place was so that the slaves could be treated as citizens, there’s no doubt that many people had the drive and desire to win . . . on both sides. The interesting thing about movies is that we’ve come to expect a happy ending. After all, if we want to escape reality and absorb ourselves in a world where everything comes out OK, movies are just the ticket. However, Glory (1989) is one of those movies that has a sobering conclusion but with a small glimmer of hope tied to it.

Imagine for a moment that you are a slave around the time of the Civil War. You’ve overheard your masters talking about why the war is being fought, so you know it’s partly because the Union wants to give you your freedom. Now, I know that I would do whatever I could to make sure I could fight with the Union. And that’s just what happened. Colonel Robert Shaw (Matthew Broderick) was given command of the first company of black soldiers, which came with the challenge of getting these men into fighting condition. As he puts up with the inherited prejudice, he finally gets the chance to lead his men into battle. Unfortunately, it’s against an impenetrable fortress in the Charleston Bay. Can his company win against the odds, and (more importantly) can his company win against prejudice?

Gettysburg
Year: 1993
Rating: PG
Length: 271 minutes / 4.52 hours

When most people think of a detailed look at the Civil War, they think of the Ken Burns documentary. And yet, Gettysburg (1993) does a great job of representing this key battle without as much violin music and grainy pictures. The only unfortunate thing I can say about this film is that its 2003 prequel, Gods and Generals was a horrible movie that just ended up being a long, drawn-out mess. Then again, I guess you could say the same thing about the Civil War itself, but who am I to judge? At any rate, Gettysburg is a good film to get a somewhat accurate glimpse at the drama and energy that was tied to this tide-turning battle.

Even though this film is perhaps one of the longest most people have ever seen (Lawrence of Arabia (1962) is only about 3.6 hours long), it covers in great detail the fighting that took place over the titular three-day battle. Not only did they film this movie in the same locations as the actual skirmish, but they also tied in many of the letters and speeches of the generals and commanding officers to make the experience more realistic. Being able to see Pickett’s charge or the defense of Little Big Top makes history come alive in this film. One can read about such battles until the cows come home, but seeing the brutality of war through such a struggle as this makes one really think about the reality of the speech Abraham Lincoln gave in recognition of the battle of Gettysburg.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 Civil War battles