Tom G Film Review: Harry and Tonto

"Harry and Tonto" is Paul Mazursky's road movie about an old man and his cat. But more than that, it's a story about about life and change.

Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is a seventy-two year old, retired school teacher and widower. He lives alone in his Manhattan apartment with Tonto, his cat and closest companion. He spends most of his day talking about life with his friends, Tonto always by his side. His neighborhood is, as Harry states it to Tonto, "becoming run-down". He's been mugged four times in the past year. Still, he loves his neighborhood and enjoys the company of his city friends, but alas, his building is on the slate to be demolished. Resistant to the very end, with the rock-solid determination that only a seventy-two year man can muster, Harry and his furniture are carried out of the building by police who are also kind enough to chase-down the hoodlum who recently mugged him.

Harry's son, Burt, gladly takes-in Harry and Tonto allowing them to live with him and his dysfunctional family in suburban Long Island. Life with Burt and his family, away from the city, prove a difficult adjustment for Harry. A failed apartment hunt and the heartbreaking death of Harry's good friend, Jacob, prove a turning point in Harry's life. With nothing but a couple of suitcases, his fedora, his social security and Tonto, Harry sets-out on a journey to experience life and the world he never could as a younger man.

On their way to Los Angeles to see Harry's son, Eddie (Larry Hagman), Harry and Tonto meet a colorful and varied cast of characters including: Ginger, a sixteen-year-old runaway; Jessie, Harry's (now senile) high school sweetheart; Harry's daughter, Shirley (played by Ellen Burstyn); a "snake oil" salesman; a traveling prostitute named Stephanie; Sam Two-Feathers (Chief Dan George), an indian medicine man who cures Harry's bursitis. Eventually, Harry and Tonto make it to Los Angeles where they find that Eddie is a financially ruined wreck. We are also confronted with a heartbreaking loss.

Throughout "Harry and Tonto" Harry reflects on his life and the changing world around him, Tonto seems to listen. Harry and Tonto have a relationship unlike any pet-owner relationship ever seen on screen. Tonto is more than Harry's pet, and Harry more than Tonto's owner. They are true and loving friends, when Harry talks, Tonto listens. Not as a pet, but as a confident, a sidekick, an equal. The loss at the end of the film is truly, truly heartbreaking. This is especially poignant when you learn that Art Carney did not like cats, but being the consummate performer that he was, he are convinced of Harry's love for Tonto.

Paul Mazursky had under his belt the successes of "Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice" (1969), "Alex in Wonderland" (1970), and "Blume in Love" (1973), all of which were films that examined the changing times and reflected the open attitudes of the period. "Harry and Tonto" seems to step-back a little and look at the changing world through the looking glass of an aging man who sees the changes not as a participant, but as an observer with a seasoned eye.

 All of the performances, just about without exception are perfect. They are just what they're supposed to be. Art Carney, who found fame playing Ralph Cramden's foolish neighbor, proves his worth with this film. He was made for the role, and the role written just for him. The relationship between Harry and Tonto, Harry's reflections and digressions about the past, the present, and the meaning of life, along with Bill Conti's beautiful soundtrack make "Harry and Tonto" a tear jerker. Harry reminds you of your grandfather, and with that, all of the emotions attached are used by Mazursky to bring-out the audience's sympathy and emotional grounding. The only type of person who can view "Harry and Tonto" and not have tears in their eyes by the end are sociopaths.

With that, I recommend "Harry and Tonto" to anybody... ANYBODY.

More Sordid Tales from 2011...

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2011: Review of a Year In Hell

As we are now on the verge of New Year's, 2011, perhaps now is as good a time as any to look back at the insanity, bedlam, decay, rage, sleaze and disaster that was 2011 AD. It was a year of fires, earthquakes, tsunamis, Wall Street wackiness, psychotic politics, riots, shootings, a hurricane, terrorism, and of course, the year that gave us "Cowboys and Aliens".

The year began with the overthrow of Arab dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. In the case of Tunisia, there was very little violence, in the case of Egypt, a "60 Minutes" reporter was nearly gang raped, and in the case of Libya, Moammar Gadhaffi's regime fell after months of warfare and he was shot in the face after being dragged-out from under a septic tank. Nice.

That spring saw an earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan, killing thousands. Osama bin Laden (the most wanted man in the world) was killed by Navy Seals in a covert operation. His hideout apparently contained pornography and he tried to use a woman as a human shield.

The US Government nearly shutdown due to a budget crisis. Major rioting broke-out in London, England resulting in millions of dollars in damages due to arson and looting. That summer also saw a bombing and shooting spree in Norway that left 77 people dead.

Hurricane Irene hit the East Coast of the United States. It passed over the Mid-Atlantic. It was not the "Storm of The Century". (Sorry Jim Cantore) Of course, Irene only hit AFTER a magnitude 5 earthquake hit the area. The winter of 2011 saw record-high snow fall. In fact, New York City was SO hit by the succession of blizzards that garbage piled-up for weeks in some places and when the snow melted, dead bodies were found in the mountains of trash. The summer of 2011 saw near record-high temperatures.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn (manager of the International Monetary Fund) was charged with sexual assault and kidnapping in New York City after being accused by a African maid at Strauss-Kahn's hotel in Manhattan. After a week in Riker's Island, DSK was released on bail. After a little digging by the New York City prosecutor's office, the accusing maid's story fell apart. It seems she told multiple varying versions of what happened, and had made phone calls about possibly profiting from the scandal. The charges against Stauss-Kahn were dropped and he returned to France.

Arizona Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head during a public appearance at a Safeway in Tuscon Arizona. The shooter, Jared Lee Loughner shot another 20 people in the incident, 6 of whom died. He was apprehended and awaits trial. Giffords survived the attack.

Jerry Sandusky, former assistant coach for Penn State's football team was charged with molesting several boys. Legendary coach, Joe Paterno, was fired after admitting to knowing that Sandusky was using Penn State's showers to have sexual relations with under-age boys.

The US and World economies spent the year between stagnant and decline due to a paralyzed real estate market and debt crisis face US and European governments.

The TSA came under fire for using invasive and crude methods for screening passenger boarding all US flights. In some cases, young children get groped by TSA officers and cancer patients are forced to remove their prosthetic limbs. 

The Occupy Wall Street Movement made a name for itself in 2011. Demonstrations, encampments, police brutality, and a rabble of youth, college students, professor's, Union scum, a "South Park" episode and piles of piss and shit on the sidewalks of many American cities made the 99% movement a movement to remember.

North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-il, died. Won Ton was succeeded by his son. 

The year closed with a less-than white Christmas and a sigh of relief that the earth didn't explode, although, it probably came close. Happy New Year, and may 2012 give us all a friggin' break.

Deaths: Gerry Rafferty (Singer Songwriter), Elizabeth Taylor (Actress), Sidney Lumet (Film Director), Randy Savage (Wrestler, Slim Jim connoisseur), Jeff Conaway (Actor), Jack Kevorkian (Dr. Death), Peter Falk (Actor, Columbo), Betty Ford (First Lady 1974-1977, Gerald Ford's wife), Charles "Bubba" Smith (Football Player), Smikin' Joe Frazier (Boxer)

Tom G Film Review: Dawn of the Dead

In 1968, George A. Romero, a film student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania made a low budget horror picture about a group of people stranded in a farm house after fleeing a hoard of zombies. The film was darkly funny, stark, and had something to say. "Night of the Living Dead", which was made ad hoc with the help of neighbors and its gore effects supplied primarily from a local butcher, became an instant classic. An iconic horror film, and THE  iconic zombie movie. Romero's low-budget, darkly relevant look at society and the goings-on of the late '60's single handed started a movie genre; the zombie movie.

Ten years later, George Romero returned to the genre with another dark, humorous, and saucy commentary on the state of American society with "Dawn of the Dead" (1978). Although still an independent film, Romero had a larger budget to work with,  the talents of special effects virtuoso Tom Savini, and the Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh to use at night. The result was another landmark zombie picture loaded with commentary, dark humor, and perhaps the most glorious gore of the 1970's.

The plot is fairly straight forward. As the world devolves into a zombie-infested bedlam devoid of law or order, Philadelphia television studio employee Francine (Gaylen Ross) and her boyfriend, TV helicopter pilot Stephen (David Emge) steel the station's helicopter in an attempt to escape the doomed city. Philly SWAT team members Peter and Roger (Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger) meet after a brutal and chaotic raid on a zombie-infested Housing Project. Armed and disillusioned, they, like Fran and Stephen, decide to make a run for it. The two pairs meet and decide to team-up finding strength in numbers and SWAT guns. After crossing Pennsylvania, they end-up finding refuge in a huge, powered, watered, and well stocked shopping mall. After clearing the mall of its plethora of  zombies (former shoppers as one would conclude) and losing a teammate, the group do what anybody would do if they were locked in the mall alone and without law... they loot it. Eventually the elation of raw and unadulterated amassing and exploitation of all the mall has to offer wears off, and another round of disillusion sets in. Before the survivors can move-on, the mall is discovered by a marauding horde of bikers led by an unnamed  leader (played by Tom Savini) who crash the tranquil cloister of this shopper's paradise. The film ends with a final battle between the survivors, the bikers, and the zombies.

"Dawn of the Dead" is not a "shock horror" movie. There are no surprises around the corner, no jump scares, and the zombies themselves are by no means scary or intimidating. If anything, Romero's zombies are stupid and even comical. No, "Dawn of the Dead" is more along the lines of "action horror". It's packed with all the gunmanship, running, looting, blood, guts, and dark comedy that a zombie movie fan's heart can desire. It's fun, just a lot of fun to watch. Not to mention, dates well for a 1970's zombie picture.

"Dawn of the Dead" is one of the best scored movies I've ever seen, personally. Even the incidental music is just a delight to the ear that creates the right mood; weather it's funny, sad, horrific, chaotic, and so on. The soundtrack was provided, in part, by the Italian Prog-Rock band, Goblin (who have also done scores for Dario Argento, whose work was influenced by Romero's).

The real sales-point of "Dawn of the Dead" is its gore effects provided by Tom Savini. What can you say about Tom Savini? He is a virtuoso in his field, perhaps THE virtuoso of practical special effects. While Dick Smith is the master who made special effects an art form, Tom Savini is the virtuoso who can make even the most stomach-churning gore a thing of pure and earthly beauty. "Dawn of the Dead" is the movie that ushered  in the gore movie. Every slasher flick, every gore-crazy Italian horror movie you've ever seen post-1978 owes itself to Tom Savini's work on "Dawn of the Dead".

If George Romero proves one thing with any of his pictures, it's that he's right where it's at. "Dawn of the Dead" carries on the tradition of "Night of the Living Dead" in that it's more than just a zombie movie. It's more than just blood and guts. "Dawn of the Dead" is commentary. Why do the zombies come to the mall? Because it's where they came when they were living. The store is where everything comes from. Creatures of habit go where the food is, no? The zombies in "Dawn of the Dead" are not only stupid; they're clumsy, habitual, like sheep. They follow the other zombies, even to certain death, because it's all they know. Romero's zombies are a mirror on modern man. The only difference: they can't use a gun.

No, the guns are used by the "living". They use them to kill zombies, to survive. When the living break though, they loot, and they loot, and they loot some more. It's all for the taking, so why not take it. The living even use their guns to defend their loot. It's theirs, and entirely theirs because they found it.

The chaos, consumerism, and human madness that "Dawn of the Dead" portrays is as relevant as ever. If "Night of the Living Dead" reflected the changing society of 1960's, then "Dawn of the Dead" reflects the "fuck you" society of the 1970's. From the violent, reactionary racism of the SWAT raid, to the "every man for himself" chaos of the TV studio, to the hicks hunting zombies, once their friends and family members, for fun sport, to the material paradise of the mall, and finally the crazed and callous bikers throwing pies and looting even the most arbitrary goods, "Dawn of the Dead" reflects a nation ever more extreme, ever more contentious, ever more materialistic, ever more exhausting, and ever emptier. A society deprived, depraved, diseased and dissolute. Romero is looking through his lens at modern America.

"Dawn of the Dead" is a must see for any horror fan and any cinephile. It is the consummate zombie movie. It's gore effects, audio, visuals, and relevancy were game changers. Every zombie movie since owes its existence to this picture. At least that's my opinion.

Tom G Film Review: Mean Streets

I've seen a lot of movies in my time... A LOT of movies. Some good, most awful, but a few have been real gems. True pieces of art; accomplishments in the medium of film. Along with being one of my all time favorite films, Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" (1973) is a much overlooked film that changed the way films are conceived and produced.

Originally titled "Season of the Witch", Mean Streets was written by Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin over the course of several years. Like it's precursor film, "Who's that knocking at my Door", Means Streets is somewhat of a documentary of a young Scorsese, the Lower Manhattan he grew-up in, and ultimately Italian-American neighborhoods throughout the North East.

After making "Boxcar Bertha" (1971) for B-Movie Producer, Roger Corman,  Scorsese was encouraged to make a film close to his heart, a labor of love. Corman originally offer to finance the film with the condition that the cast be entirely black. Scorsese turn-down the offer. Mean Streets was made on a budget of roughly $500,000, a paltry sum, even in 1972.

The plot of Mean Streets revolved around Charlie Cappa, played brilliantly by Harvey Keitel, a Little Italy local and protege of his Mafia Capo Uncle, Giovanni, played by Cesare Danova. Charlie's life revolves around collecting debts for his uncle, hanging-out at Volpe's, a Gin mill owned by his friend, Tony (played by David Proval), keeping his friend "Johnny Boy" Civello (played by a young Robert DeNiro) out of trouble, obsessing over a black stripper (Jeannie Bell), and having a clandestine affair with Johnny Boy's cousin, Teresa (Amy Robinson).

The conflict in the story is within Charlie himself. A devout Roman Catholic, he is fearful of the hell that he knows awaits him, even to the point of masochistic self-infliction of pain. He is also a collector for his Uncle who promises Charlie ownership of a restaurant. The only problem, Charlie's gain will come at the cost of another man's debt to Giovanni. Charlie's Catholic guilt creates the compulsion in him to "save" others. One of those Charlie dedicates himself to "saving" is the volatile and possibly unhinged Johnny Boy who owes money all around, but most importantly to the wolfish and stone-like loan shark, Michael (played by Richard Romanus). Along with his taboo love affair with the epileptic Teresa, Charlie finds himself torn between loyalty to his friend, his lover, his career, and his faith.

Mean Streets is not a simple story; it is reflective, gritty, uncompromising, dark, touching, and heartbreaking. From the beginning, the audience is immersed in these characters, this story, this time, this place, and it's emotion. Scorsese, showing the colors of an early master, introduces us to the time, place, and characters using quick vignettes and rolling fake Super 8 home movies over the opening credits. It feels authentic, it sounds authentic, it looks authentic. Scorsese creates a reality. Of course it helps that it's based in a certain level of reality.

Scorsese's mobsters may be dressed nice, and perhaps a bit fun, but they are fundamentally petty, volatile, and bleak. They are everything that movie mobsters aren't supposed to be...they're real. Scorsese's New York City isn't the romantic wonderland of "Manhattan", or the shiny Oz of many films. The New York City in Mean Streets is the NYC of the 1970's, the real deal. Grimy, graffitied, garish, and garbage-strewn. Sex in Mean Streets, is not romantic or lofty; it's funky, awkward, and beautifully human. Violence in Mean Streets is not dramatic or epic, it's split-second and unsettling. No Sinatra, it's pure Rolling Stones. Mean Streets is the reaction to the Godfather.

The film also deals, although passingly, with issues that are relevant even today; drug use, racism, homophobia, moral decay, and the effects of war.

Even the costumes play a part in this film. Charlie, dressed like a gentleman gangster in his pinstripe three-piece suit, a possible ode to the Pre-Code gangster films. Johnny Boy dressed in his leather coat, mismatched get-ups and fedora; the image of chaos. Tony in red, always red, even his bar; the color of danger, or possible sleaze. Michael in black, grey, and white. Like a wolf, like stone, ice cold. Richard Romanus seemed born to play that role, his face looked almost carved from granite; threatening even when splattered with cake.

Somehow, in all this sleaze, violence, and urban disorder Scorsese makes the audience feel right at home. It seems normal enough, even mundane. From the crowded mayhem of the San Gennaro Feast, to the crimson-soaked Saturday night at the bar, to the Italian eateries, the tenement apartments, the air shafts of the buildings, the dark streets of the Lower East Side, the sub-level pool hall, the Churchyard, even the rooftops; none of it feels like a movie. The dialogue is so real, so hard, so fast, so natural that it's hard to believe that any of it was ever scripted. The characters so natural, so unbalanced, and so organic that the viewer gets almost fooled into believing that they're real people. The conflict and the tension so palpable and relate-able that the viewer finds him or her self invested emotionally at times. The brawls, the arguments, the profanity-laced conversations are all a given. They fail to shock an audience that develops a relationship and a normalcy with the story and its players.

To be fair, and I will be, Mean Streets was made on a budget of $500,000, and it shows. The look of the film is somewhat grainy, half the film (the interiors) were shot in Los Angeles, and by today's standards the production values were primitive. But that said, Scorsese utilized, in full, what he had to work with. The actors were second to none, the writing immense, the spectacular visuals and the full "Pop" soundtrack, much of it from Scorsese's own record case, were fresh, and remain so even today.

For those who fancy themselves as true cinemaphiles, Means Streets is a must see. It was a landmark film for Independent Film, and it changed film making and how film is viewed forever. It will change your point of view, just the way it did for yours truly.