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Tag Archives: James Garner

Fire in the Sky

27 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

1990's, Based on a true story, Bradley Gregg, Craig Sheffer, D. B. Sweeney, Drama, Fire in the Sky, Henry Thomas, James Garner, Mystery, Peter Berg, Robert Lieberman, Robert Patrick, Science Fiction

Inspired by the alleged alien abduction of Travis Walton, Fire in the Sky paints a mysterious yet very deep story of the impact of truth and whether people believe what is deemed extraordinary. Whether you believe the story or not, this film is bound to have an effect on you.

It is 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona and happy go lucky logger Travis Walton( D.B. Sweeney) has just started working on a job in the White Mountains. He is on the team headed by his more serious friend and future brother in law Mike Rogers, who is the kind of man who tries to keep everything running smoothly in life. Then there is the rest of the group; hot-headed troublemaker Allan Dallis( Craig Sheffer) , trustworthy and religious David Whitlock( Peter Berg) and jokers, Greg Hayes(Henry Thomas) and Bobby Cogdill( Bradley Gregg) . On the night of November 5th, they are travelling in their truck back home when they see a brilliant red light in the distance. Curious, they go to look at it and here is where events get sinister. They come across what looks like an alien spaceship, though they can’t be sure. Travis gets out to examine it and is struck by a light. Fearing him dead as he doesn’t move, the team in terror leaves. Later on, Mike returns to look for Travis but there is no sign of him. Returning to their town, they relay what they saw to the local police officer. The arrival of seasoned detective Lt. Frank Watters( James Garner) coincides with the investigation as he digs into the story. At first he doesn’t believe their tale and believes there has been foul play involved. The townsfolk get wind of events and most people are highly skeptical of what transpired. Yet when after five days, Travis turns up, disorientated and traumatised, it leaves things wide open for interpretation. Especially when he ‘remembers’ what happened to him, much to the shock of others.

Robert Lieberman is at the helm of this film and he effortlessly infuses it with a sense of time and place. He contributes a very human touch to what many will say is fiction by not going overboard with the alien aspects, keeping a certain sense of realism to things that many may sniff at. Fire in the Sky lets you make your mind up on whether the extraterrestrial encounter took place or not. It edges towards believing Walton’s claims, yet leaves a welcome ambiguity and mystery to it. What’s most impressive about Fire in the Sky is how it doesn’t go for an over sensationalised angle and instead concentrates on the pain of losing a friend and how it sends shockwaves through an uneventful small town. The film is pretty character driven, particularly by and is all the more human for it. Naturally, it has filmic elements to add to the story( which I’ll speak about later that are effectively used), and that’s what makes Fire in the Sky a strange beast. It’s a film about s science fiction subject that’s played entirely straight. Now it’s not flawless by any means( I find some parts of it don’t add up and the denouement could have been stronger), but for my money, Fire in the Sky is a very underrated movie that’s worth your time.

And when it gets to the scenes of what what happened to Travis, horrifying is taken up several notches as we witness the torture and dehumanisation of this man. Shot like a chilling horror movie, it’s a scene that genuinely makes you uncomfortable and disturbed. Many will claim that these sequences embrace science fiction too much, but I think it’s just following the story as Walton told it with an obvious bit of elaboration for the movie to chill you. And that’s not a criticism, I mean don’t all movies based on real life take some different avenues in the name of entertainment? If anything, it’s one of the best scenes in the film in terms of what it presents and just how scary it makes it. Up until that point, there has been definitely strange but these sequences that come later on in Fire in the Sky really go for the jugular. The music by Mark Isham, strikes the right chords of emotion, fear and when needed terror, to create something that plays along to the movie’s strength.

The cast assembled here is a very good one that add a lot to the film. D. B. Sweeney, with his likeable face and jovial manner is ideal for the part of the dreamer whose suddenly taken. It’s impressive because his appearance in the film is mainly in the first quarter and then the last parts, the rest of the time focuses on the other characters related to him. Sweeney manages to make Walton a full character in the time he’s on screen with just the right amount of sympathy and belief, especially after his traumatic experience which is where Sweeney really shines. Robert Patrick is given the most material and boy does he act his socks off. Embodying determination, a head full of guilt and being the boss in life, Patrick explores excellently by giving him layers and making him very relatable. It’s stellar acting from Patrick as the heart of the story. Craig Sheffer, Peter Berg, Henry Thomas and Bradley Gregg flesh out the other members of the team, with particularly good skill from Sheffer as the belligerent member and Berg as the one who tries to smooth everything into a positive. James Garner is a huge plus to the cast and he’s obviously relishing the role of old school lieutenant. Still bearing that twinkle in his eye and wit that balances with notes of grim seriousness, Garner is superb.

Involving, emotional and by turns very creepy, Fire in the Sky is an intriguing film that I think deserves a bigger audience, especially for its acting and aforementioned revelations. I think many will enjoy the mystery and very human drama within Fire in the Sky.

The Children’s Hour

31 Saturday May 2014

Posted by vinnieh in Movie Reviews

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

1960's, Audrey Hepburn, Drama, Fay Bainter, James Garner, Karen Balkin, Miriam Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine, The Children's Hour, Veronica Cartwright, William Wyler

Film Title

The Children’s Hour

Director

William Wyler

Starring

  • Audrey Hepburn as Karen Wright
  • Shirley MacLaine as Martha Dobie
  • James Garner as Joe Cardin
  • Karen Balkin as Mary Tilford
  • Fay Bainter as Amelia Tilford
  • Miriam Hopkins as Lily Mortar
  • Veronica Cartwright as Rosalie

William Wyler directs this powerful and daring adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s controversial play, The Children’s Hour. Focusing on the repercussions of a spiteful lie and the emotional fallout, it provides compelling and emotionally gripping viewing.

The Children's HourGood friends Karen Wright and Martha Dobie are the headmistresses of a private school for girls in New England. Karen is engaged to doctor Joe Cardin, who she plans to marry soon. Martha is slightly jealous of this and doesn’t want her friend taken away from her. She has a heated conversation with her Aunt Lily, a former Broadway star and elocution teacher about her feelings of loneliness. Her aunt tells her that her relationship could be seen unnatural.  Among the girls attending the school is Mary Tilford, a spoiled and vicious bully who delights in trouble. After being reprimanded by Karen over a wrongdoing, the spiteful girl forms a lie based on fragments of gossip given to her by her friends and tells her grandmother Amelia that Karen and Martha are lovers. Mary continues to fabricate this lie making her grandmother believe her. As a prominent citizen, Amelia quickly tells the other parents of the girls. One by one, the girls are withdrawn from the school as the rumours begin to spread about Karen and Martha’s relationship. The lie soon leads to swift, unexpected and ultimately tragic consequences as the two women are ostracized and their school becomes ruined.

The first thing to praise in this powerful tale of the horrifying impact of lies is how it deals with its subject matter. Lesbianism was still very much a taboo subject in the 60’s, The Children’s Hour manages to address this in a way many people will understand and doesn’t sugarcoat the source material. It examines how the women are treated when the rumours start, one particularly horrifying scene includes a group of men gleefully staring at the women, judging them because of their alleged relationship. The scene clearly demonstrates the prejudice and stigma against gay people during this time and shows it to devastating and heartbreaking effect.William Wyler directs with immediacy and quiet power as the camera looms over the school that gradually becomes silent as the girls leave and the two women at the centre of the story are torn apart by the lie of the spiteful Mary. The music score is an evocative one, engulfing the audience in the emotional fallout with crescendos and quiet strings. The script deftly captures the atmosphere of confusion and betrayal all caused by a few words from a little girl.

What gives The Children’s Hour its powerful impact is the talented cast. Audrey Hepburn subtly and luminously portrays Karen with a solemn and quiet reserve that takes on a pained expression when the lie begins to circle and her happy life is destroyed. Shirley MacLaine works excellently against Hepburn and delivers a touching performance as the needy Martha, who begins to crumble as the lie engulfs every inch of her existence. James Garner is suitably kind as the doctor engaged to Karen, who is one of the few people to stand by the women as others judge them. Karen Balkin is wickedness personified as the mendacious Mary, whose little lie puts the swift wheels in motion that lead to the pain endured by Martha and Karen. Fay Bainter nails her supporting role as Amelia, who spreads the lie but comes to see that her granddaughter is fabricating events too late. Miriam Hopkins is a delight as the highly strung Aunt Lily, who accidentally puts her foot in it many times. A young Veronica Cartwright essays the role of Rosalie, a classmate of Mary’s who is blackmailed into cooperating with the telling of the lie.

Powerful, daring and emotionally involving, The Children’s Hour shows the swift and tragic impact that one lie can have on the people involved.

 

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