The 12th Peanuts TV special is actually my daughter’s favorite. Mostly due to Snoopy dancing with bunnies, but it all really is very funny.
Review of It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown:
I always think of this as one of the original classics, but in truth this was actually the 12th Peanuts TV special. It probably maintains that spot in my mind because it is so good. There’s so much good stuff here: Peppermint Patty’s failed attempts to teach Marcie to dye eggs, the repeated shopping trips to the department store that warns “Only 246 shopping days until Christmas”, Linus preaching the gospel of the Easter Beagle as enthusiastically as he spoke of the Great Pumpkin. It’s so good. Go watch it.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score:
Yeah, I’m not doing this for a Charlie Brown cartoon…
[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.peanuts.com/” name=”It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” description=”The Peanuts gang prepare for Easter in their own clumsy ways.” director=”Phil Roman” ]
Cimino’s directorial debut is 2 weird movies. Part 60’s counter-culture road flick, part 70’s crime/action pic. Result uneven but not bad…
What’s more:
There must have been a memo that went around to all film studios in the 1970’s concerning the mandated amount of grittiness, meanness, and depressing endings required in all films of that time period.
It probably directed studio heads, “Celebrate the bloodless anti-hero, ignore any woman who isn’t currently naked, make sure to have any slightly hopeful character buy it by the third act and get some folky/pop song that can be used as a single. Make sure it’s catchy, because we’re going to use it uninterrupted three or more times.” What a hopeless decade…
While Clint Eastwood’s career has spanned many decades, he may arguably be most associated with the 70’s, and his tough visage is certainly the face of the era. He plays very slightly against type here as the interchangeably named Preacher, John Doherty and the Thunderbolt. Based on my reading, he gives an excellent performance in this; I must have missed it. He was his usual: fine.
Jeff Bridges, on the other hand, steals the movie as Lightfoot, a charming, ever-ready free spirit whose enthusiasm can’t be kept down. Bridges was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and deserved it; he is fascinating to watch.
Written & directed by Michael Cimino, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is the story of two buddies on the road. No, it’s the story of an old con getting back in the game. No, wait, it’s a heist picture. No, it’s an action movie with lots of car chases. What is this movie? This is the 1970’s…
If the movie doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, it’s at least entertaining, though overlong by my watch. The first hour follows the wild antics of these two men as they are thrown together by a series of chases and escapes. Lots of time is spent on watching these well-matched actors with great rapport build a partnership, if it’s a touch unclear why. The scenes with these two in the first half are the best in the picture. In fact, if they had stayed in this direction, it might have made a very good buddy / chase movie.
George Kennedy, who has been trying to kill them, finally catches up and they reach détente in the best scene in the film. From there, it rapidly turns into a straightforward crime movie. Not a bad one, just not as engaging as the first half.
The film itself is gorgeous; DP Frank Stanley sure knows how to film in Big Sky Country, Montana – leave the lens open and just don’t screw it up. The aforementioned pop song is “Where Do I Go from Here”, composed and sung by the otherwise great Paul Williams.
[schema type=”movie” name=”The Godfather: Part II (1974)” description=”The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.” director=”Francis Ford Coppola” actor_1=”Al Pacino” ]
The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.
