Fred’s Top 50 Films: 40.Fargo (1996)

 Marrge is in a sticky situation in Fargo

“The heck do ya mean?”

-Jerry Lundegaard

*Spoiler Alert*

If there is any genre that the great writing, directing team the Coen brothers are good at it’s black comedy. Their best is easily their crime film/black comedy crossover Fargo a film that captures an unforgettable atmosphere of darkness and humor. Fargo is also a great crime film that perfectly captures the time, place, and creepiness of the story laid within.

Fargo, according to the opening titles, is “based on a true story” something of which can be considered a tongue and cheek claim that sets the viewer up for the events to come. What comes next is a wacky yet restrained and atmospheric film about the ineptitude of criminals and investigators throughout the investigation of a car salesman Jerry Lundegaard who hires two henchmen (played by Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) to kidnap his own wife to get money he needed from his father in law. The film opens on the two ridiculous henchmen Steve Buschemi’s screw up henchman and Peter Stormare’s something is not quite right henchman. The next introduction we get is the yang to the henchmen’s eying which is the cold, dark and snowy Fargo North Dakota filmed beautifully by the great Roger Deakins. The great contrast between the atmosphere and the characters that live in it is one of the great factors in the film and hammers home the two tones and styles present in the film.

The other great aspect is the investigation and dramatic irony within. Francis McDormand’s pregnant investigator is one of the most pleasurable and fun characters to watch on screen. The stereotypical North Dakota dialogue, written brilliantly by the Coens, helps bring home some of the whimsy and the creepiness of the town and the characters that embody it such as Francis McDormand’s brilliant investigator Marge. The other brilliant part of the investigation is the dramatic irony present within it. The audience knows how stupid the kidnapping plot is and how wrong is going and it’s fun to watch Marge try to put together the pieces while interviewing continuesly more insane people and ultimately getting nowhere.

Then there is the ending. The film takes a dark turn near the end as the plan continues to go array resulting in the disturbing woodchipper scene which leaves an unforgettable scar on the viewer. The sequence is best watched and is again an example of the amazing contrast used in the film as following the scene is a generally happy ending that masks the horrid things that came before. It’s brilliant!

-Frederick Cholowski

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Fred’s Top 50 Films: 41.To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

The trial of a lifetime in To Kill a Mockingbird

“If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

-Atticus Finch

To Kill a Mockingbird may be one of the most important and influential films of all time. The film is adapted from one of the greatest, and most influential American novels of all time so it’s greatness shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, but what is surprising is that the message brought to life on screen may be more powerful than that written down on the page.

To Kill a Mockingbird on film is able to not only portray the story through the eyes of young Scout (Mary Badham) but to keep in focus the great, almost heroic Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck). The film never tells the story through Finch’s perspective but keeps his emotions in play just as much as the kid. This makes the trial of the African American at the end of the film much more powerful and emotionally impactful while never losing the innocence of the coming of age story presented through the eyes of the young girl.

What makes To Kill a Mockingbird such a special film is not only how it delivers its story and message but the message itself. Prejudice, of all sorts is still massively present in modern society and the weight of not only the trial but the adventures with the children brings those prejudices to light head on. The message in the film is just as important today as it is to the people of the 1960’s making this a relic that needs to be cherished.

The other great piece of the film is the flow of emotions. Seeing events through the perception of Scout finds us generally feeling the emotions that are present within her and the people all around her. These characters and emotional battles with life hit hard and frequent allowing the viewer to really put themselves in many of the character’s shoes. It’s an amazing part of the film that makes it stand out as a true masterpiece.

To Kill a Mockingbird is an unforgettable Drama that is still one of the most important films of all time over 50 years later.

-Frederick Cholowski

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Fred’s Top 50 Films: 42. Halloween (1978)

 The Shade creeps on in Halloween

“I met him, fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blank, pale, emotionless face and, the blackest eyes... the *devil's* eyes. I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... *evil*.”

-Dr. Sam Loomis

If Psycho is the grandfather of the slasher film than Halloween is the father. Halloween is the greatest and most frightening horror picture of all time, without question. It, to this day, stands head and shoulders above all the films, including its lackluster sequels, in the genre it created. Halloween is scary for reasons that no other horror film since has understood or captured and is a masterpiece in every sense.

The first of many reasons that Halloween is better than any other slasher film is that it’s all about atmosphere. It starts from the very first frame with arguably the most recognizable theme in all of horror filmdom. It’s simple and concise but grabs the viewer into the film right away creating a creepy vibe that is carried throughout the entire film. Credit has to go to director John Carpenter for his creative filmmaking vision and general love for the art of film that comes in every frame.

Halloween, unlike its many imitators, didn’t focus on the actual killings themselves; instead it focused on creating suspense and atmosphere. In fact there is hardly any gore throughout the picture. Most of the murders present in the film aren’t displayed for the camera and are left mostly up to the imagination, much like the main murder in Hitchcock’s Psycho. Carpenter seems to understand that the killings aren’t what make the film frightening it’s the atmosphere and looming threat that truly gets the fear.

The other piece of the puzzle that Carpenter nails is the characters. The villain (known not as Michal Myers in the film but just as the Shade) in the film is shrouded in mystery and his motivations are unknown; all we know is that he’s pure evil. Not humanizing the villain is the best thing that the film does as it’s way scarier than when the sequels decided to give him a name and a backstory. The second character that is well served is Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie who is never presented as a helpless victim and is able to protect herself through most of the film. She still has to scream and run every once and a while but when you have a scary evil who feels no pain chasing after you it must be done once and a while.

John Carpenter’s out of nowhere masterpiece is another example of a masterpiece that spawns films that don’t understand the reasons why it is a masterpiece. Halloween is a pure exercise in the power of atmosphere and how it is the true form of scares.

-Frederick Cholowski

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Fred’s Top 50 Films: 43.Jaws (1975)

The Merry Band of shark hunters in Jaws

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat”

-Brady

Someone recently asked me what the appeal of Jaws was all these years later as it looks old and feels old. After thinking about that question for a while and ultimately came to the conclusion that the fact that Jaws is old is the best part of it. Jaws is one of those they don’t make them like this anymore films, from the model shark used to the depth of the characters presented on the boat (even with our only brief time with them) everything is old fashioned, but old fashioned in the best way possible.

Jaws really isn’t a horror picture and shouldn’t be watched at such. Instead the film is more like a well structured thriller with a shark. The film is best at generating large amounts of suspense and atmosphere throughout the film instead of providing scares per say. It begins with the deep bassey score from John Williams blaring whenever the shark is near provides a constant sense of suspense throughout the film. Also the model shark is completely believable something that can’t be said about future CGI counterparts.

The film also benefits from good thriller like characters that enter the fray especially on the boat trip near the end of the film. The boat shark hunting section is one of the greater sequences of film history thanks to the characters on board and the tension that is established. This is thanks to the three wonderful characters that are established and developed who all bring their own ideas and quirks to the fray. Deep characters is one of the things that makes Jaws a great film and differentiates itself from it’s imitators.

Jaws also began the blockbuster film. It is responsible for the creation of so many big budget fests that would follow. Stephen Spielberg created his career off of Jaws and it’s evident why. Spielberg creates the near perfect blockbuster doing things, like developing characters and creating atmosphere that imitators would never catch on to. Thus is why Jaws is a great film and Spielberg a great director and his imitators are not.

-Frederick Cholowski

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Fred’s Top 50 Films: 44.The Wizard of Oz (1939)

 We're off to see the Wizard the Wonderful Wizard of Oz!

“Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!”

-Dorthy

If any film provides pure whimsy it’s the Wizard of Oz. The 1939 classic is perhaps the most magical film of all time with every frame dripping of pure filmmaking bliss. It’s a classic in absolutely every sense of the word, from the wonderful songs to the whimsical visuals to Judy Garland’s heartfelt performance. It’s no wonder that The Wizard of Oz is easily one of the most recognizable films of all time.

The main magic of the Wizard of Oz is that it can be watched and interoperated in so many ways. The film is just as appealing to me today, with its themes of childhood love and protection, as it was when I was a young child when the colors, songs, and the heart of the film dazzled me. Over the years, the film has been interoperated in so many ways binging out so many different themes and ideas that it truly is astounding. It says something about the film when different people can interoperate it’s meanings in completely different, unrelated ways.

The Wizard of Oz’s other quality is heart that it has. The characters and plot all have a center that is both sweet and powerful. The characters aren’t soft archetypes (in fact they created character archetypes) instead they have their own qualities and problems that are all valid in every way. It really makes one long for the days when characters in films made for children were well conceived instead of just part of a whole.

And The Wizard of Oz is just plain entertaining and nostalgic!

-Frederick Cholowski

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