# 192 Harvey (1950)

Harvey is a movie about an extremely nice middle-aged man, Elwood P. Dowd, whose best friend happens to be a pooka. Now, what is a pooka? It's a "benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology" who is especially fond of social outcasts. In this story it appears as a 6 foot tall rabbit. Elwood drives his sister and his niece crazy by trying to introduce his friend to everybody around them, which makes people avoid their whole family.

At first I really had no idea what the movie was going to be like, for a while I even thought that it might be something like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I kept getting more and more captivated by the story, and I have to say that I really liked the comic side of the film, this comedy of errors, where one mistake leads to another, making things more and more complicated. The second part of the film is more of a drama, and I felt like the moral was a little too obvious, but still I liked how Harvey brought up the issue of prejudice, and people being unable to accept what's different from themselves.

The supporting character's acting was too theatrical, but Stewart did an amazing job, and the film's success, in my opinion, is entirely on his shoulders. The character himself is very memorable too, I enjoyed watching how he touched the lives of others, it's him who made the movie so good-natured. Besides, there are some great witty lines, my favorite is in the "favorite quote" section below. Harvery leaves a good aftertaste, and it's definitely worth watching.

Interesting fact: Although James Stewart is 6'4", he refers to Harvey as being 6'3 1/2" tall in the film and looks up at him during the entire film. That's because this is Harvey's height in the original play by Mary Chase. In a 1990 interview, Stewart said that he had decided that for the film, Harvey was going to be 6'8'', so that he could indeed look up at him. At the suggestion of James Stewart, the director changed many shots to make them wider so that "Harvey" would be in the frame.

Favorite quote: Years ago my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be" - she always called me Elwood - "In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

# 191 The Kid (1921)

Today is 122 years since Charlie Chaplin was born (thanks to Google for the information), and here comes a very special review of his first feature-length film. The Kid tells us a story about the Tramp who finds an abandoned boy and raises him as his own. Years later, the authorities find out about it, and try to take the child away from the Tramp. At the same time, the mother of the boy, who had once left him, becomes a famous singer, and tries to find him.

This is a very good film, I wouldn't say that it's become my favorite out of all Chaplin's films, but definitely a classic. Almost every aspect of the film was perfect, but most of all I was amazed by Jackie Coogan's performance. I mean, the kid was only about six years old back then, and he managed to do a great job and express so much emotion and humor without the use of words.

There were a couple of things that made the movie less-than-perfect to me though. First of all, the dream sequence towards the end of the film, where the Tramp finds himself in heaven, surrounded by angels, was a little weird. Secondly, overall the movie was a bit too heavy on the sentimental side.

Nonetheless, the film is great. It becomes even more interesting once you know its background. So I recommend looking it up in Wikipedia, or even watching a movie called Chaplin, which is based on his autobiography, in order to get a deeper insight.

Interesting fact: Many Chaplin biographers have attributed the relationship portrayed in the film to have resulted from the death of Chaplin's firstborn infant son just before production began.

# 190 The Hustler (1961)

The Hustler centers on a pool player, "Fast" Eddie Felson, played by Paul Newman, and his struggle to make money by means of his talent. His main goal is to beat another outstanding player, Minnesota Fats. There is also a romantic plot line in the film. However, to me, the main interest of the movie was the relationship between Eddie and his manager Bert.

This happens a lot in sports or music industry: not-so-talented people take advantage of those who are particularly good at something, make them play by their rules, and, what's even worse, make them feel like they are nothing without their help. All of this has been talked about before, but this film is pretty good at showing how this actually happens.

I enjoy watching snooker a lot (I wonder how many of my followers have heard of it), which gives me a right to say that I can somewhat relate to cue sports, and although the rules and the ideology behind nine-ball is very different, it was still fun to watch, and I guess that's what made the movie worth it for me.

If it wasn't for my interest in cue sports though, most likely I would have found The Hustler very boring. To me it was just too slow, the romantic plot line was depressing, I couldn't think of a reason why those two people ended up being together. I guess their relationship was necessary in order to provide such a dramatic ending (which, by the way, was one of the strongest parts of the movie), but their romance left me emotionally distant. Not a bad movie overall, but I'd rather watch The Color of Money than this one again.

Interesting fact: In the first big game, Eddie uses massé to change the cue ball direction and pocket two balls on a single shot. In the final game of the movie, he does it again. This is actually the same shot filmed from different angles. Although the shot is impressive, it is very risky and would give Eddie no discernible advantage.

Favorite quote: "I lie. When I'm drunk I lie".

# 189 Le notti di Cabiria (1957)

Le notti di Cabiria, also known as Nights of Cabiria is a film directed by Fellini, which tells us a story about a prostitute from Rome who lives in her own little house, with water, electricity, bottled gas, and basically can take care of herself. She dreams of something good happening to her, a major life change, and all of a sudden she runs into a man who is generous, caring, and doesn't care about what she does for a living.

First of all, Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife, does a great job playing the lead, and no other movie has ever made me sympathize with a hooker so much. She is really charismatic, and so easy to like, that I'm sure I was not the only one who wanted to forget about her occupation and see something good happen in her life. Without giving away the ending, I'm just gonna say that it's very dramatic, the final scene by the river had my heart beating really fast.

My favorite part of the film is when Cabiria meets a movie star who take her to his luxurious villa while trying to forget about the girlfriend he'd just broken up with, but ends up abandoning Cabiria when the girlfriend returns to make it up to him. That part of the movie reveals how fragile and vulnerable Cabiria is, it shows what she's really like. Of course she doesn't belong there, in that actor's world, but at the same time she doesn't belong in the prostitute world either.

When I reviewed 8½, one of my followers, Jump Raven, said that it was not the best movie to start watching Fellini with. Now I see that he was absolutely right. Nights of Cabiria was a totally different experience. It was easier to understand due to its linear structure, but at the same time it's very powerful on the emotional level. Highly recommended to everyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Interesting fact: According to Federico Fellini's assistant Dominique Delouche, actor 'Francois Perier' was hired so the film could get financing as a French co-production.

Favorite quote: "What are you saying? Marry me? What are you saying? Marry someone you've seen ten times. That's not how it's done. Really! Thank God I'm an honest woman.That's not how it's done. Excuse-me!"