This week on The Movie Gourmet, my top recommendation is The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, a rare nugget of complete originality that takes us into a unfamiliar world filled with unexpected laughs, suddenly turns into a thriller, and finishes as a moving love story. The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic is one of the Best Movies of 2023 – So Far.
But that’s not all! I also have new reviews of the showbiz biodoc Being Mary Tyler Moore, the family comedy Dealing with Dad and the ever-kinetic French indie Rodeo. And, from TCM’s Memorial Day Weekend slate filled with black-and-white war movies, I’ve plucked a 67-year-old gem that you almost certainly have not seen.
Note that Little Richard: I Am Everything and The Lost King have moved from theaters to the streaming platforms.
REMEMBRANCE
Jim Brown is justifiably best known for being voted the best NFL player of the 20th Century, but the reason he left the NFL was to star in the movies, where he was an African-American trailblazer. In 1969’s 100 Rifles, he played the first African-American male character in a major Hollywood movie to be shown having sex with a white woman (Raquel Welch). Although Brown displayed a range of emotion onscreen described by James Wolcott as “no wider than a mail slot”, he was a pretty convincing action star, perhaps best in The Dirty Dozen.
CURRENT MOVIES
- BlackBerry: woulda, coulda, shoulda. In theaters.
- The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic: wow – laughs, thrills, love. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Being Mary Tyler Moore: you might just make it after all. HBO.
- Dealing with Dad: two serious topics in an ok comedy. In theaters.
- Rodeo: roller coaster on two wheel. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu.
- Little Richard: I Am Everything: never denying his identity, but renouncing it. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Fanny: The Right to Rock: triple threat trailblazers. PBS.
- Land of Gold: the kid is very good, anyway. In theaters.
- Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song: a reflective artist, a reflective movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Jews of the Wild West: desperadoes, cowpunchers…and Jews. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Lost King: not all cranks are cranky. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Living: what is it to live? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- A Dark, Dark Man: rounding up the usual suspects in Kazakhstan. MHz.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The Speed Cubers: odd, and then profound. Netflix.
- Force Majeure: some things you just can’t get past. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, HBO (included).
- Satan & Adam: more than an odd couple. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Levinsky Park: refuge for refugees? Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- Rodents of Unusual Size: 5 million orange-toothed critters and a Cajun octogenarian. Amazon, AppleTV.
- The 11th Green: a thinking person’s paranoid conspiracy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Wave: Everything you want in a disaster movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Magallanes: some wrongs cannot be righted. AppleTV.
ON TV
On Memorial Day Weekend (May 28), Turner Classic Movies airs an overlooked Korean War film, The Rack (1956). A returning US army captain (Paul Newman) is court-martialed for collaborating with the enemy while a POW. He was tortured, and The Rack explores what can be realistically expected of a prisoner under duress. It’s a pretty good movie, and Wendell Corey, Edmond O’Brien, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Marvin and Cloris Leachman co-star.
