betrayed is a 1988 american drama thriller film directed by costa-gavras , written by joe eszterhas , and starring debra winger and tom berenger .

the plot is roughly based upon the terrorist activities of american neo-nazi and white supremacist robert mathews and his group the order .

betrayed ( 1988 film )

data as of : today today in 1988 jan . 31 , 1988 feb . 29 , 1988 mar . 31 , 1988 apr . 30 , 1988 may 31 , 1988 jun . 30 , 1988 jul . 31 , 1988 aug . 31 , 1988 sep . 30 , 1988 oct . 31 , 1988 nov . 30 , 1988 dec . 31 , 1988 specify date about this feature or ( month jan . feb . mar . apr . may jun . jul . aug . sep . oct . nov . dec . / day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 / 1988 1989 )
film is not dead , he is just marvelously sick . film is famous . film is dead .
with the headline : review / film ; costa - gavras ' s ' betrayed , ' the world of bigotry .
direct action ,
an interview with andrew kopkind , in interview ( new york ) , september 1988 .
in a 1996 interview , berenger named betrayed as his favorite film , shrugging off any media criticism with the retort
it was exactly what it was meant to be
.
constantin costa - gavras : politics at the box office ,
an interview with claudia dreifus , in the progressive , september 1988 .
title betrayed year 1988 formats dvd , cinema distributor ( s ) warner home video ltd , u . i . p . ( uk ) , mgm home entertainment ( europe ) ltd classified date ( s ) 12 / 02 / 2003 main language english bbfc reference azf061527
costa - gavras directed joe eszterhas ' script for this courtroom drama and political mystery . it was a remake ( of sorts ) of his earlier plot - twisting jagged edge ( 1985 ) , with a holocaust background , or the costa - gavras / eszterhas film from a year earlier titled betrayed ( 1988 ) with a backdrop of white supremacy and klansmen .
maslin , janet . “a pair of sunglasses reveals a world of evil . ” the new york times . 4 november 1988 . urltoken . accessed 10 june 2017 .
one pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film . trailers for this film include :
carpenter , john , director . “independent thoughts – an interview with writer / director john carpenter . ” they live . 1988 . blu - ray . shout ! factory , 2012 .
david , keith , actor . “man vs . aliens – an interview with actor keith david . ” they live . 1988 . blu - ray . shout ! factory , 2012 .
there ' s always a point of view ,
an interview with dan georgakas , in cineaste ( new york ) , vol . 16 , no . 4 , 1988 .
reviews were positive . the film got a 92 % fresh rating on rotten tomatoes , the lowest of any pixar film , until cars got a 74 % in 2006 .
theatrical and video releases of this film include geri ' s game , an academy award - winning pixar short made in 1997 , a year before this film was released .
swires , steve . “john carpenter & the invasion of the yuppie snatchers . ” starlog , vol . 136 , november 1988 , pp . 37 - 40 . urltoken . urltoken . accessed 7 june 2017 .
these are the most shocking episodes in ' ' betrayed , ' ' a film directed by costa - gavras and written by joe eszterhas in a scorching , irony - laden style that strives for the incendiary at every turn . when film makers play this deliberately with fire , they had better do it with a lot more skill and intelligence than are on display here .
constantin costa - gavras : an american film institute seminar on his work ,
1977 .
betrayed was met with mixed reviews , with rotten tomatoes giving it a 45 %
rotten
rating . winger ' s performance was praised by some reviewers , who felt she was successful in conveying complex and mixed emotions throughout . critics of the film point to a muddled and sometimes unbelievable unravelling of the plot .
in short , my conclusion is that the religious critics who think last temptation a bad film are correct . does this mean that the fans and film critics who think it a creative masterpiece are wrong ? i’ve made my case for the film’s spiritual bankruptcy , but what about its value as art ?
holy shit ; aside from the bumpy conclusion , this was one incredibly tense and downright frightening film .
this film is not currently playing on mubi but 30 other great films are . see what’s now showing
michalczyk , john j . , costa - gavras : the political fiction film , philadelphia , 1984 .
martin scorsese’s controversial 1988 film the last temptation of christ is one of those perilous movies , like titanic or dogma , that the critic reviews at his own risk : it is he himself , not the film , that is really being judged . in one way , of course , this is quite reasonable ; the reader naturally wants to have a sense of who the critic is , and reviews of controversial films can provide a convenient index of his approach and style .
the crucifixion was not possible without judas and while it may have hurt christ to be betrayed , it was — as i said — necessary . does that not leave you — like me — with some doubt about judas and his real motivations ?
the film noir genre generally refers to mystery and crime dramas produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s . …
this list shows all films released in 1988 , including films that went direct - to - video , or only got an international theatrical release . for each film , we use the first date on which it was made available to the public , which might include international theatrical or domestic video releases that were a few days , or sometimes more , earlier than the domestic ( us / canada ) theatrical release .
idiom is proud to present keith sanborn’s manifesto , “modern , all too modern , ” which remains as provocative and intellectually invigorating today as it was upon its initial publication in 1988 . the author has appended the text with brief notes where necessary ; it is otherwise presented in its original form .
yakir , dan ,
missing in action ,
in film comment ( new york ) , march / april 1982 .
dreamworks animation ' s similar film antz was released a little more than a month before a bug ' s life . dreamworks ' jeffrey katzenberg left disney in 1994 and said the idea for antz came from a 1991 story pitch by tim johnson that was related to katzenberg in october 1994 . however , disney had been working on developing an ant film since 1988 . pixar head john lasseter pitched a bug ' s life the day katzenberg left disney in august 1994 , and said he felt
betrayed
when he learned antz was scheduled for release before a bug ' s life . according to lasseter and steve jobs , katzenberg offered to stop development of antz if disney moved the release date of a bug ' s life , which was coming out opposite dreamworks animation ' s the prince of egypt . pixar refused .
more than anything else , “betrayed” is finally just very deeply confused . costa - gavras must have considered it a political film , eszterhas undoubtedly saw it as a thriller , and winger and berenger , to give them full credit , interpret it as the complicated human stories of their characters . that’s why the film creates its turmoil ; in the center of confusion , sloppy plot developments and the conflicting motivations of the filmmakers , there are two performances of such power that the characters become real , and sympathetic , despite everything .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
costa - gavras ' most recent film , la petite apocalypse ( the minor apocalypse ) , is a decidedly minor affair , a satire of 1960s radicals , capitalist greed , the demise of communism , and an overzealous media . it premiered in new york in 1995 not on a theatrical run , but as the opening film in the sixth annual human rights watch international film festival .
another well spent 25 cents . this film is about racism , conspiracy , fbi undercover , etc etc . really well done film from the 80s . nothing i ' ll go out of my to buy on dvd but thankful i got to see it .
bombastic and simple - minded , costa - gavras ` ` ` betrayed ` ` demonstrates why it ` s often more damaging to make a poor political film than it is to make no film at all . the director of ` ` z , ` ` ` ` state of siege ` ` and ` ` missing ` ` has here turned his attention to white supremacist groups lurking in america ` s heartland , but his vision is clouded by such feverish paranoia that he ends by giving these sad little groups of sad little people much more credit than they deserve .
( 1988 ) a woman ( debra winger ) starts working on gary’s ( tom berenger ) farm . they become friends and fall in love . the problem is that gary is an anti - government white separatist . little does gary know that the woman he has fallen in love with is hiding a past also . debra winger gives another superb performance and has great chemistry with berenger . the plot is a little thing , but winger makes this film worth watching . my rating : bargain matinee
the film debuted at # 2 at the box office , earning $ 5 , 534 , 787 and coming in behind the second weekend of a nightmare on elm street 4 : the dream master . the film would go on to gross $ 25 , 816 , 139 in the united states .
betrayed is ultimately an outsider ' s view of the american heartland and the vietnam veteran . while gary and his ilk objectify blacks , jews , asians , and gays , costa - gavras and screenwriter joe eszterhaus are equally as guilty of objectifying white midwesterners . the film would lead you to believe that every last american farmer is a closet cross - burner . and gary simmons , a psycho in sheep ' s clothing , is yet one more superficial celluloid vietnam veteran .
andy warhol began to make films in 1963 , the year zapruder shot kennedy on film . warhol’s own five year plan for film was completed in 1968 when he himself was shot by a woman who had acted in his films . warhol survived all the shooting , but he is now permanently dead .
wood , m . ,
in search of the missing ,
in american film ( washington , d . c . ) , march 1982 .
“betrayed” is a film that left me in turmoil , torn between the strong sympathies i felt for the characters and the fundamental doubts i had about the plot . here were people i believed in , involved in a story that no one could believe in . and that kind of conflict raises basic questions , such as : how could the characters themselves , who seem so intelligent , believe their own story ? that’s the trickiest thing about creating movie characters who can think for themselves .
set in iowa , betrayed stars debra winger as an fbi agent who infiltrates a klanlike white supremacist organization . allegedly a woman of intelligence and perception , winger throws caution and logic to the winds when she falls in love with local farmer tom berenger . much to her surprise berenger turns out to be the most rabid racist of all .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice , telling a story of startling cruelty . what a space it opens…
cumbow , robert c . order in the universe : the film of john carpenter . lanham : scarecrow press , inc . ; second edition , 2000 .
so far , this is the only pixar film released before disney purchased it that has neither received a sequel or prequel , nor has had one announced .
fini les émigrés ,
an interview with freddy sartor , in film en televisie + video ( brussels ) , no . 432 , may 1993 .
for the same reason that a scientist who is also a believer is drawn to address apparent conflicts between science and faith . the last temptation of christ , an ambitious film from a director of significant stature , based upon a serious novel by a talented writer , met with widespread acclaim and praise among film critics , yet drew enormous negative attention in many religious circles , often from people who hadn’t seen the film and were not in a position to frame their objections critically .
mathijs , ernest , and xavier mendik , editors . the cult film reader . new york : open university press , 2008 , pp . xvii - 25 .
. rice , tom . “‘the true story of the ku klux klan : ’ defining the klan through film . ” cambridge journals . 16 dec 2008 . 21 apr 2010
not all of costa - gavras ' s features are
political
: the sleeping car murders is a well - made , atmospheric murder mystery , while clair de femme is the dreary tale of a widower and a woman scarred by the death of her young daughter . both of these films star yves montand . but while costa - gavras ' s most characteristic works do indeed condemn governments that control other governments or suppress human rights , his concerns as a filmmaker have perhaps shifted towards the more personal . the two features made with scriptwriter joe eszterhaus , betrayed and music box , focused on the relationship between the central female character and a man ( a lover in betrayed , a father in music box ) who is subsequently revealed as a fascist .
the film opens with a disclaimer stating that the film is
not based on the gospels ,
but upon the novel by nikos kazantzakis ( a moot point , since the novel itself is based , however distantly , on the gospels ) . kazantzakis’s novel is a speculative exploration of the concept of christ’s dual nature , focusing particularly on his humanity .
i’m fascinated by your interpretation of the last temptation of christ . whilst recognising the sometimes blasphemous nature of the film , i can’t help but think you are somewhat wrong about judas .
this is certainly a fascinating thriller . it certainly lacks the brilliance in terms of fresh and inventive storytelling of missing and the confession . however , it is as intense as both of them . joe esterzhas the writer of paul verhoeven ' s basic instinct is the writer for this film , his style of screenwriting seems to suite costa - gavras ' s direction . what is most frustrating about this film is the ending as well as the 35 minutes after the brilliant opening of the film . regardless of that the film has a portrayal of neo - nazis that is frightening and fresh to this day . to see how behind this wholesome , midwestern family image are violent murderers , as well as an organized schooling and indoctrination of young children…
this is essentially the same dilemma that eszterhas created for glenn close in “jagged edge . ” can she trust the man she loves , or is he , as all evidence seems to indicate , a two - faced killer ? in that film , the audience did not know the answer until the last moment , but in “betrayed” the answer is obvious from fairly early on ( even the title is a giveaway ) . the thriller doesn’t hinge on berenger’s behavior , but on how winger will save herself from almost certain exposure . and as that level of the plot unfolded , i began to have problems .
had a mixed critical reaction when it initially appeared . in his movie guide , leonard maltin gives the film a low one - and - a - half star rating , calling katie “the stupidest
this was such an odd , bizarre little film from a different time , where the southern , country music - lovin ' white supremacists were portrayed as some kind of out - dated russ meyer / grindhouse red - necks , while the film itself wanted to be taken seriously as a prestigious oscar - contender , with real hollywood actors , and a classy director in costa - gravas .
' ' betrayed , ' ' which opens today at the embassy 1 and other theaters , is indeed grim and unsettling , but beyond that its impact is harder to assess . that ' s because the film ' s effect , which is initially so overwhelming , has practically no staying power . though the premise is startling and the acting good enough to divert attention from the screenplay ' s many problems , those weaknesses become clearer and clearer as the story unfolds . the final impression is that someone has drawn out an elephant gun , loaded heavy ammunition , taken aim , and somehow shot himself in the foot .
i know that there are right - wing paramilitary groups in america . i know that members of one of them were recently convicted of the murder of alan berg , the liberal denver talk show host whose murder inspired this story . i didn’t question that level of the story . and even when “betrayed” went out of its way to exaggerate the contradictions in the berenger character , i accepted that as part of the job of thrillermaking .
this was the third film in universal ' s blockbuster series of pre - code horror films in the early 30s - it was suggested by edgar allan poe ' s classic tale of the same name .
a bug ' s life is pixar ' s second feature film . it was produced by pixar animation studios and distributed by walt disney pictures . it was released in theaters on november 25 , 1998 .
film is the most modern of the arts . its powers and structure have served as a paradigm for the arts of the twentieth century , from balla’s strolling dog to duchamp’s descending nude . film was fated to play a central role for modernist utopians from lenin to goebbels , from eisenstein to riefenstahl . for the first half of the twentieth century it represented something more than the degree zero of technology , it projected the fundamental myths of the new metropolis , resolving their complexities in chaplin’s sentimental “the end” or vertov’s reflexive “kinets . ” 1 as we have passed beyond modernism , film has become the victim of its own paradigmatic modernity .
the “new talkie” proudly traces its paternity to godard ; in so doing it betrays its ignorance of godard’s own questionable origins . praise among english and american academics ( e . g . wollen ) for godard’s bourgeois sunday - maoist recuperation of the formal devices of situationist film has been possible , first , because it coincides with the impostures of those academicians and , second , because situationist film remains virtually unknown outside of paris .
director costa - gavras has always been drawn to incendiary political subjects , but in
betrayed
( citywide ) , which is about the white supremacist movement in the american heartland , he has apparently trusted the instincts of his american screenwriter and co - producer joe eszterhas (
f . i . s . t . ,
flashdance
) . the result is a loosening of the trademark costa - gavras tension and the sogging of a relevant issue into overwrought pulp .
it ' s a terrifying film , but i found it almost impossible to believe that berenger ' s character could be fooled by winger ' s taciturn , shifty - eyed undercover lover . no offense to the fine actors .
set in the american midwest , the film begins with the murder of a jewish radio host in chicago . fbi undercover agent catherine weaver , alias katie phillips , sets out to infiltrate a farming community , suspected of harboring those responsible .
goebbels on potemkin : “it is a marvelously well - made film , and one which reveals incomparable cinematic artistry . its uniquely distinctive quality is the line it takes . this is a film , which could turn anyone with no firm ideological convictions into a bolshevik . which means that a work of art can very well accommodate a political alignment , and that even the most obnoxious attitude can be communicated if it is expressed through the medium of an outstanding work of art . ”
' ' betrayed ' ' begins on a chilling note , with the murder of a talk - show host in chicago . ( here and elsewhere , the film falls back eagerly on real headlines to strengthen its impact ; the reference to the 1984 killing of alan berg in denver is clear . ) richard libertini , who makes a memorable impression as the hatred - fanning host in this brief sequence , avows that it ' s all right to ' ' let people say what they want , as ugly as it may be , ' ' and indeed his call - in guests do exactly that . but the last look on his face , as he realizes he is caught in a deadly ambush , is far more eloquent in suggesting the terrible consequences of encouraging people to do their worst .
a film is like a match : you can make a big fire or nothing at all ,
an interview with h . kalishman and gary crowdus , in cineaste ( new york ) , vol . 6 , no . 1 , 1973 .
the film opens as sam kraus , a chicago radio shock jock , challenges any anti - semite to call him on the phone . after his broadcast , kraus is shot while approaching his car in a parking garage . the killer then spray paints the letters
this great raymond chandler detective thriller from director edward dmytryk , was a hard - boiled tale - a superb , complex , shadowy film noir of murder , corruption , blackmail , double - cross and double identity , with witty dialogue and cynical voice - over narration .
in
betrayed ,
none of its actors ' notable efforts can save the farm . the most diligent effort comes from debra winger , in a loose reprise of ingrid bergman ' s character in
notorious ,
an fbi plant sent into dangerous territory . here she is supposed to follow fbi agent john heard ' s hunch about the assassination of a left - leaning chicago talk show host ( a fine bit by richard libertini ) . the letters z . o . g . at the scene of the killing make heard believe that a specific supremacist group may be behind it .
there is meant to be something daring in the film ` s romantic subplot - in the suggestion that fascism and fanaticism can be attractive . it ` s a phenomenon that is regrettably well documented , though the film is careful to protect its heroine . rather than put cathy to any real test , costa - gavras insists that it was only gary ` s norman rockwell - ish glow that drew her to him ; his dark side had nothing to do with it . honest , she didn ` t even notice that he was completely insane .
yet , for me at least , the last temptation of christ is a complete wash . not because of a directorial failure on scorsese’s part , but simply because no director in the world could possibly make this material into a film worth sitting through for its own sake .
the climax of this dramatic mystery film from director clint eastwood was the resolution of the central murder case - the murder of 19 year old katie markum ( emmy rossum ) . the main plot was very similar to amc ' s episodic murder mystery the killing ( 2011 - 2014 ) .
keith sanborn is a media artist and theorist . his work has been featured at the whitney biennial , rotterdam international film festival , and centre pompidou , among many other venues . he has translated into english the work of guy debord , rené viénet , gil wolman , georges bataille and napoleon .
famed belgian detective hercule poirot ( albert finney ) delivered his sleuthing findings at the film ' s end to the assembled group of suspects aboard the orient express , snowbound between istanbul and paris . his conclusion about the murder of callous , millionaire american businessman mr . rachett ( richard widmark ) was :
neither side has much use for the other’s opinion . yet i have one foot in each camp — indeed , both feet in both camps , since i write film criticism informed by faith , rather than compartmentalizing or partitioning my beliefs when i review a film . in a case like this , where critical thought and religious opinion seem irreconcilable , i feel it is necessary to offer a response that is both critically responsible and spiritually sound — if only to satisfy myself ( if no one else ) that such a response is indeed possible ; that critical perspective and orthodox judgment are not somehow exclusive .
the film - maker sees himself in elias .
he ' s discovering everything ,
gavras says .
he can ' t speak the language to ask questions . it ' s like a silent movie .
he likens the film ' s gentle irony to that of jacques tati - though with an undercurrent of fear .
elias is used - as most illegals are . he ' s handsome , so he ' s used sexually . underneath , it ' s a serious drama .
yet there is optimism .
even elias resists fate - the fate of where he was born .
last temptation goes way over that line . poisonous morally and spiritually , it is also worthless as art or entertainment , at least on any theory of art as an object of appreciation . as an artifact of technical achievement , it may be well made ; but as a film , it is devoid of redeeming merit .
sitney has , since the writing of this text , rewritten visionary film several times and has significantly revised the films he has included and to some degree the logic of their inclusion . the current edition includes a significantly greater number of women than the edition in print at the time this text was written . [ ↩ ]
the death of the avant - garde coincides with the death of modernism . for film , that was sometime between 1973 and 1978 , at the latest , though the five year span a decade earlier suggests itself as well . unfortunately , it was only in 1987 that the voice of the critics began to register any notice .
in 1988 , the cinematographe is not only an invention without a future , it is an invention without history . for when the cinematographe superceded its identity as a mechanical technology , history was superceded by what frampton called “metahistory . ” but in deploying “metahistory , ” we must keep in mind our position in the labyrinth of etymology : just as “metaphysics” first meant “the works which follow the physics” [ in the writings of aristotle ] , so “metahistory” first means “the work which follows history . ” in the inevitable montage of temporal successivity , metahistory will necessarily be taken as commentary on that which came before , but it should not be assumed from the outset , that its ambition is to contain its object in succeeding it . it is a question of developing a strategy for comparing the incommensurable : what comes before and what comes after .
but “betrayed” is not a love story . it is an undercover thriller , and we quickly learn that winger is an fbi agent and that berenger is suspected of being part of a secret right - wing terrorist organization that is responsible for the murder of a left - wing chicago talk show host . how can this be true ? how can this honest , open - faced farmer from a world of sunday church services and apple pie be a neo - nazi killer ? at first winger doesn’t believe it , and she tells her fbi contacts that they are after the wrong man . but then , after she falls more deeply in love with berenger , he decides to trust her with his secrets . his first wife left because she could not endure his world of secret paranoia , but he realizes he must be honest with winger because he loves her . his desire to share his hidden life creates some of the weirdest scenes in the film , because there is such an ironic tension between the ultraright paramilitary organization he belongs to and the pop psychology of his language when he explains that they must be open with each other and share the things that are important .
marlowe was first engaged in a film - long quest - he had been hired by love - struck ex - con moose malloy ( mike mazurki ) to look for a mysterious velma valento , his missing ex - lover . velma had sold him out 8 years earlier for unknown reasons , although he still remembered her :
she was cute as lace pants .
rally , gary shows remnants of his original feelings , such as when he lashes out at a neo - nazi selling photos of adolf hitler . ironically gary is infected with the same racist ideology as the nazi leader he despises . perhaps the most shocking moment in the film , however , is when katie first overhears innocent young rachel employ the same racist language as her father .
i know that your review of scorsese’s last temptation of christ is 7 years old , nonetheless i have one piece of what i hope is perceived as constructive criticism . this review is not a review of the film ( i . e . screenplay , direction , actors portrayals , cinematography ) . it is , quite frankly , a review of kazantzakis’ book . you have reviewed and critiqued the main plot points that were created by kazantzakis almost 50 years ago . reviewing a movie such as this is like walking a tight rope to insure that you don’t review the book . you never set foot on the tight rope , though , and instead fell to the ground , into the trap of a book review . what i was really hoping for was a film critique .
nor is it only the portrayal of jesus himself that is antithetical to christian thought . virtually every characterization , every aspect of the film is deliberately iconoclastic , self - consciously contrary to traditional christian understanding , calculated for shock value . first and foremost is the reinterpretation of judas iscariot ( harvey keitel ) as a principled hero , a man who ultimately
betrays
jesus only because jesus orders him to do so over judas’ own tortured objections . when faithful judas demands to know whether if jesus himself , were he in judas’ place , would be able to betray a beloved master , jesus replies ( in a moment typical of the film’s sensibilities ) ,
no , i couldn’t . that’s why god gave me the easier job [ i . e . , dying on the cross ] .
during the question and answer period of a recent panel discussion in new york on the responsibility of representing the other , a white male european in the audience questioned what he saw as the hyperintellectuality of trinh t . min - ha’s treatment of the africans she filmed in reassemblage . he especially objected to her voice - over commentary . he offered leni riefenstahl’s book on a certain african people—he couldn’t remember their name but he said it didn’t matter—as a counterexample of a more direct , accessible practice . eye brows were raised and mouths opened by not a few members of the audience and of the panel . min - ha with some puzzlement admitted her film could be thought of as an “art film” in the context of ethnography , but had little to say about the alterative praxis offered by the example of riefenstahl’s book .
but wait ! there’s more ! in the best traditions of film - making , there needs to be a “twist , ” a logical proposal that’s unexpected . and the final “temptation” scenes provide that in droves . the “dual - spirit” of not only jesus but all of humanity is described and employed insomuch that the temptation - experience can be seen as both “in the mind” and “in reality” at the same time .
by the film ' s exciting ending , mirakle had already committed four murders . he had sent erik to kidnap sweet ' virginal ' ingenue , mlle . camille l ' espanaye ( sidney fox ) , and in the process of abducting camille , her mother mme . l ' espanaye ( betty ross clarke ) was strangled and stuffed up the chimney by the ape , feet - first - a quite grisly sight .
according to box office mojo , a bug ' s life made $ 162 . 8 million in its u . s . theatrical run , easily covering its estimated production costs of $ 120 million . this made it the fourth highest grossing movie in 1998 . even so , it had been the lowest grossing pixar feature animated film , until the good dinosaur . its worldwide box office total was $ 363 . 4 million .
but the jesus of last temptation does all of the above things , and more . the film gives us a human jesus , but a jesus of fallible , fallen humanity — a jesus who could not be god . this is evident , not just in the sequences containing obvious blasphemy , such as the scene where jesus the carpenter explains that he makes crosses for the romans and helps crucify his fellow jews so that god will hate him and leave him alone ; or even in the scenes depicting jesus’ persistent doubts and confusion about the nature of his identity and mission , or whether he is the messiah at all ; but everywhere you turn in the film . the fact is , willem dafoe’s jesus has hardly a scene — hardly two lines of dialogue put together — in which the falseness of the character is not the dominant fact about him .
school daze represents the opposite side of the coin from jungle fever . jungle fever skirted needless controversy thanks to its brilliant construction , school daze invited criticism with its rough edges and incomplete vision . controversy without a clear statement is viewed , rightly or wrongly , as cage rattling for the sake of cage rattling . school daze was received as a film that thought it had a lot to say but ultimately didn & apos ; t .
i find myself reflecting on the significance of the fact that this film represents the collaboration of a writer of greek orthodox heritage and a filmmaker of italian catholic background . only artists so steeped from childhood in the rich profundity of christian tradition could possibly create something so profoundly antithetical to that tradition , so deeply heretical and blasphemous . it could never have been made by an ordinary nonreligious or atheistic filmmaker , or even by a lapsed protestant .
a woman ( debra winger ) starts working on gary’s ( tom berenger ) farm . they become friends and fall in love . the problem is that gary is an anti - government white separatist . little does gary know that the woman he has fallen in love with is hiding a past also . debra winger gives another superb performance and has great chemistry with berenger . the plot is a little thing , but winger makes this film worth watching . my rating : bargain matinee
throughout the movie judas acts almost as jesus’ conscience . as the film opens we find judas patriotically upbraiding jesus for collaborating with rome by his cross - making . when jesus begins his ministry , judas follows him conditionally , warning him that if he betrays his mission judas will kill him . finally , in the climactic scene , it is a stern , prophetic judas ( or a dream - representation of him ) that recalls jesus to the necessity of his dying on the cross .
it’s quite true that a film can be morally or spiritually objectionable and still have significant artistic or entertainment value . that’s the whole point of my specialized ratings system . i had grave moral objections to the cell , american beauty , and being john malkovich , but i gave them all high marks for artistic / entertainment value . whatever other faults these movies may have , each of them is in its own way interesting to watch . parts of them i might even want to see again .
at the same time , i have no intention of trying to stake out some sort of middle ground or happy compromise between the critics’ acclaim and the religionists’ censure . my own finding is that one of the two sides is right , and the other is wrong . i will try to show in this essay which side went wrong , and how , and to explain it in a way that should make sense both to believers and to critics and film lovers , as well as those who , like myself , fall into both categories .
alongside they live ’s classical western influences , carpenter draws from science - fiction of the 1950s . his use of black - and - white harkens back to the era of filmmaking to which carpenter pays homage , resulting in a film that , in its colorless scenes , appears very much like a classic sci - fi yarn ( most of the film’s visual effects , such as the black - and - white billboards , were achieved with old - fashioned techniques such as matte paintings and stop - motion sequences ) . classical science - fiction tropes found alien intruders promising liberation through slavery . films such as it came from outer space , invaders from mars ( 1953 ) , invasion of the body snatchers ( 1956 , 1978 ) , and village of the damned ( 1960 , which carpenter remade in 1995 ) contain aliens that take over the minds of human beings and promise a better world through their control and the human race’s subservience . aliens from the fifties were symbols for communist intruders who threatened america’s sense of personal freedom and free enterprise capitalism that had come to define the country’s values .
tom berenger , as the forceful , widowered vietnam war veteran she takes up with , does the best he can with an even harder role - - the decent american with two young children to raise who has completely swallowed the line of the crackpot right . he has a less showy role than winger , but he gives it care and thought . so does betsy blair , a welcome figure as his protective mother , although her role is underwritten . but for all their efforts , the film begins at the implausible and works its way quickly downhill .
all these considerations are a bit wild , but that is because they correspond to the unrestrained film buff that i am and have always wished to remain—that is in a sense uncultured and fascinated . there is a kind of primal pleasure , of anthropological joy in images , a kind of brute fascination unencumbered by aesthetic , moral , social or political judgments . it is because of this that i suggest that they are immoral , and that their fundamental power lies in this immorality . ” ( the evil demon of images , pp . 26 - 27 . )
it ' s not that the idea of broad - based right - wing political conspiracies is ridiculous ; a look at any documentary on these parties will dissuade you of that . it ' s the speed and the broadness of the film makers ' approach that is jarring . take that whirlwind meeting and love affair between berenger and winger - - why would this cautious church - goer , of all people , hit on an itinerant combine driver he has met in a bar , taking her home and making her part of his family within days of their meeting ?
however , when passions run high enough , inevitably some readers make a litmus - test out of the critic’s conclusions , too often in the process ignoring the actual substance of the review , the reasons given for those conclusions . in particular , a critic who faults a movie like the last temptation of christ can expect to be dismissed as a fundamentalist and accused of judging the film on doctrinaire grounds rather than approaching it aesthetically and on its own terms ; while a critic who defends it can expect to be dismissed as a modernist and accused of condoning blasphemy and heresy .
once again , there’s nothing wrong with trying to humanize judas to an extent , or give him understandable motivations . the filmmaker can even make us empathize with him to the point of feeling that we too would be capable of doing what he did . but what he did , in the end , has to be wrong ; and keitel’s judas never manifests anything like corruption , self - interest , or pettiness . jesus is the main character and protagonist here , but a case could be made that judas is the film’s true hero , or at least its most idealized character .
now 76 , he is one of french cinema ' s most internationally feted writer - directors , having made some 20 films over 45 years . a student at the sorbonne in the 50s , he still lives in paris ' s latin quarter , in a pink house off a courtyard hidden behind the boulevard saint - michel , where his grandchildren play around him . he is a naturalised citizen , has a french knighthood and in 2007 became president of the cinémathèque française , one of the world ' s largest film archives , lavishly rehoused in a frank gehry building across the seine .
the film ended in the grayle beach house when helen admitted to marlowe that she fabricated the jade necklace robbery ( marlowe :
it was never stolen ? there wasn ' t any holdup ? you faked the whole thing .
) she also confessed that she and marriott had set up marlowe to be killed in the canyon , because he was a
nosy detective
and would interfere with her schemes . her intention was to kill both of them , but her stepdaughter ann grayle ( anne shirley ) had arrived at an inopportune moment , and she was only able to murder marriott .
there is also a very significant appearance by st . paul that occurs in a difficult , extended dreamlike sequence at the end of the film often been described as a vision or dream sequence . ( what follows is spoiler intensive . ) the sequence begins with jesus on the cross seemingly being approached by a young girl , who tells him that he has suffered enough ; that he has proven himself faithful , and doesn’t actually have to die after all . ( she makes an interesting case for this , citing the precedent of abraham being told at the last minute not to sacrifice isaac on mount moriah . )
a bug ' s life was a much more complex film than toy story because of the more complex character models , so pixar ' s computers tended to run sluggishly for the animation process . the crowds of ants were particularly challenging , with some 400 crowd shots scattered throughout the film , with many requiring the animation of 800 characters . the technical team worked around this by instructing the animators to work with 4 or 5 groups of 8 to 10 ants . the software team wrote an
ant generator
program that would duplicate the character models and motions of the ants , and then automatically and randomly adjust the character models of each ant to change physical traits such as eye and skin color , height , and weight . the ants were then randomly scattered throughout the shot . this allowed these shots to be animated much more efficiently and for ants to look different from one another , despite the fact that the programmed motions would be nearly identical . these tools were based on existing
particle systems
that allowed autonomous dust and snow , which would eventually be perfected to allow up to 2 million dust particles on wheezy ' s shelf in toy story 2 and 3 million hairs on sulley in monsters , inc .
what bothered me were two other elements . one was the heavy - handed way in which the plot sets up winger for danger . an fbi man , played by john heard , becomes adept at being in the wrong place at the wrong time and acting carelessly . and the stupidity of his character would have been irritating even if the movie didn’t also create an old romance between winger and heard so that jealousy could be added to police work . over and over , i found myself asking why the winger character , who is so intelligent , makes such stupid decisions in the film , inspiring her own betrayal .
under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian 21 or older . the parent / guardian is required to stay with the child under 17 through the entire movie , even if the parent gives the child / teenager permission to see the film alone . these films may contain strong profanity , graphic sexuality , nudity , strong violence , horror , gore , and strong drug use . a movie rated r for profanity often has more severe or frequent language than the pg - 13 rating would permit . an r - rated movie may have more blood , gore , drug use , nudity , or graphic sexuality than a pg - 13 movie would admit .
despite this , in practice i myself was deeply disturbed and repulsed by the sheer visual - emotional impact of a close - up depiction of jesus christ passionately kissing a woman in bed . roger ebert , in his review of spike lee’s bamboozled , criticized that film’s use of actors in blackface makeup — even though the actors themselves were black and the device was intended as a critique of racism — arguing that the sheer racist association of the image itself overwhelms the context and dramatic purpose . watching this scene in last temptation , i had a similar reaction : i was just blown away by the wrongness of the very picture of jesus kissing a woman .
several years subsequent to the writing of this text , debord’s film were released on dvd along with his final effort guy debord , son art et son temps , a video made in collaboration with brigitte cornand and broadcast after his death in 1994 in a special soirée guy debord on canal + , during which two of his earlier films were also broadcast . around the same time the dvd’s were released , the films also circulated in newly struck 35mm prints , poorly subtitled . there were several problems with the initial dvd release , which i pointed out in an article published in artforum . the problems have now more or less been quietly addressed . [ ↩ ]
now , christian theology teaches that jesus christ was fully human as well as fully divine ; and certainly there is nothing objectionable about trying to evoke or express in art the humanity of christ . a work of art , a film or novel or painting , that evokes the truth of christ’s humanity is a good and noble thing , even if it doesn’t directly address the subject of his divinity . a recognizably human portrait of jesus — for example , one that envisions him being capable of suffering weakness , loneliness , fear , exhaustion ; of becoming exasperated with his disciples , or of having a good time at a wedding party — all of this can be quite valid and worthwhile .
although this strange episode occurs in what is ostensibly a dream sequence , paul’s argument seems to represent kazantzakis’s ( or scorsese’s ) idea of what could have or would have happened if jesus were not raised from the dead . essentially they are introducing the idea that
faith
is more important than jesus’ resurrection . what is the function of having paul say these things , even in a dream sequence , other than simply introducing these ideas into the film ? if they merely wanted to show paul preaching the gospel in order to suggest the necessity of jesus completing his mission , why not follow up by having jesus’ denial of paul’s message leave paul shattered and despairing , or at least flatly disbelieving jesus’ claims ?
the plot , as it unfolds , is cleverly constructed by writer joe eszterhas ( who crafted the diabolical double - reverses in “ jagged edge ” ) and director costa - gavras ( who has specialized in clandestine right - wing groups in movies like “ z ” and “ missing ” ) . winger and berenger form a sympathetic couple right from the start , and even well into the story there is a residual feeling that this iowa farmer cannot be as two - faced and racist as he seems . then , as the film’s center of gravity shifts , it becomes mostly winger’s story , and she is wonderful at creating sympathy as costa - gavras turns up the heat , trapping her between love and danger .


wild boys of the road is a 1933 pre-code depression-era american film telling the story of several teens forced into becoming hobos .

the film was directed by william wellman from a screenplay by earl baldwin based on the story desperate youth by daniel ahern .

the film stars frankie darro .

in 2013 the film was selected for preservation in the united states national film registry by the library of congress as being " culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant " .

wild boys of the road

wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie . . .
wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie clip ) . . .
wild boys of the road is a marvelous piece of americana , a look at the social confusion of the depression era .
wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie clip ) i . . .
wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie clip ) his . . .
rush . “rev . of wild boys of the road . ” variety . 26 sep 1933 , 20 .
wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie clip ) i was . . .
wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) - - ( movie clip ) open , . . .
title drop :
police alarmed at increase in wild boys of the road
is a newspaper headline .
wild boys of the road is a 1933 drama directed by william a wellman , about the plight of homeless teenagers during the great depression .
an impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos in wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing wild boys of the road near you .
an impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos in wild boys of the road ( 1933 ) . >
wild boys of the road . . . is disappointing , primarily because it might have been so much more than it is .
a clip from the 1930 film -
wild boys of the road
. i am not affiliated with the creators nor claim rights to the film .
wild boys of the road was not a financial success and much like today’s audiences , the public of 1933 seemed to prefer their movies to be of a lighter fare .
nugent , frank s . “rev . of wild boys of the road . ” new york times . 22 sep 1933 . accessed 12 sep 2015 . urltoken
there are no featured audience reviews yet . click the link below to see what others say about wild boys of the road ( dangerous days ) !
while wild boys of the road can feel like the flip side of carvel , an andy hardy movie gone awry , it’s another mickey rooney movie that makes for a more logical follow - up : boys town ( 1938 ) .
really the climax of the opening chapters confirming the virtues of the protagonists , eddie ( frankie darro ) gives his unemployed dad ( grant mitchell ) the proceeds from selling his car , in wild boys of the road , 1933 . >
loved the energy of this heartfelt depression - era social - conscious road film .
the introduction of decent - but - broke heroes eddie ( frankie darro ) and tommy ( edwin phillips ) , from william a . wellman ' s acclaimed great depression drama wild boys of the road , 1933 . >
upon the release of his autobiography i attended a screening of “wild boys of the road” and “the ox - bow incident” hosted by william wellman . he was very proud of this picture and the demand that he produce a more optimistic ending than intended led to his placing the cartwheel as a form of sarcasm .
coached by older hobos , the boys overwhelm some railroad thugs , then eddie ( frankie darro ) discovers the wounded grace ( rochelle hudson ) and they take revenge on brakeman ward bond , in william a . wellman ' s wild boys of the road , 1933 . >
on their first night riding the rails , eddie ( frankie darro ) and tommy ( edwin phillips ) encounter the feisty sally ( dorothy coonan , who became the wife of director william a . wellman ) in wild boys of the road , 1933 . >
in the depths of the depression , two teenage boys strike out on their own in order to help their struggling parents and find life on the road tougher than expected .
papa wolf : the boys strike back at the brakesman after he rapes grace .
one of the films more tongue in cheek scenes has young eddie whistling , we’re in the money as he walks away from his empty garage after selling his jalopy to help his family financially . the song , of course , was from gold diggers of 1933 which came out only three months earlier than wild boys of the road .
edwin phillips , who acted in barely any other movies , holds his own alongside frankie , and is especially good with him after the tragedy in the railroad yard , and later in the sewer pipe city , where he struggles to come to terms with the physical maladies of the road . dorothy coonan , who director wellman married after completion of wild boys of the road , is involved slightly less than the two boys , but is as much of a charmer to audiences as she is to all of those adults in the movie who scrunch their noses back at her .
wild boys of the road ,
the new picture at the hollywood , is disappointing , primarily because it might have been so much more than it is . dealing with the problem of the host of young americans whom the depression turned loose upon the nation ' s highways , the film might have been at once tragic , dramatic and a stirring call for remedial action . view full article in timesmachine »
despite some outdated dialogue and an ending that seems somewhat out of place , wild boys of the road is an agonizing look at the plight of america’s young homeless during the depression , and the lack of government empathy reflected by then president hoover’s failed approach to ending the depression . his belief that aiding the average u . s . citizen would only make them lazy and depend more and more on government ( 2 ) .
i’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for the juvenile delinquent movies of the 50’s . i’m not exactly sure why but young troublemakers often make for fun movies . the 50’s may have mastered the genre but every decade in movie history has had its share of troubled teens . today we head to the pre - code era of the 30’s and a film that could be seen as a grandaddy to the delinquent films of the 50’s . directed by william wellman , director of the first best picture winner wings , it’s 1933’s wild boys of the road .
i had seen pictures of the wild children of revolution - racked russia . i had read of the free youth of germany after the world war . i knew that in every nation , following a plague , an invasion , or a revolution , children left without parents and homes became vagrants . before my own experiences i had always believed that in america we managed things better ( minehan xvi ) . before wild boys of the road came to america’s movie houses , a sociologist named thomas minehan had spent two summers , plus weekends and holidays , integrating himself among america’s youth on the road . the result was his classic…
famous sequence in which eddie ( frankie darro ) , sally ( dorothy coonan ) and the gang , especially tommy ( edwin phillips ) , de - train as they come into columbus , arthur hohl the doctor they visit , in william a . wellman ' s wild boys of the road , 1933 . >
wild boys of the road is certainly a grim reminder of the great depression . i remember my grandfather telling me he lost his job in 1931 ( he was 32 years old with a wife and 3 small sons ) , then had his radio repossessed and then lost his house . i really felt the history when watching this film . thanks for the excellent review .
despite an upbeat ending wild boys of the road is one of the darkest , bleakest films of the depression era . william wellman already had a reputation for going straight for the jugular , as he did in his previous film , heroes for sale . he did not beat around the bush . while films like gold diggers of 1933 dealt with the great depression , it was mostly light hearted and escapist . you get no such relief in this 1933 hard core pre - code drama .
the film - - as propulsive as a locomotive - - is sympathetic to the plight of the young , the unemployed , the female and the ethnic ( the ' boys republic ' is open to black and jewish youngsters ) .
while the film is erratic in its brilliance , there are scenes that are truly disturbing and unsettling . one scene shows the young homeless boys and girls fighting with the police as they try to hold onto their sewer city “home . ” wellman , always on the side of the underdog , presents the police as symbols of an autocratic system . by using an excellent combination of close - ups and editing , the scene in which tommy’s leg is crushed is both brutal and affectively moving . the authenticity of the boxcar and railroad yards scene , s filmed on location , certainly adds to the film’s realism . wild boys of the road is still a strong look at the depression , the forced lawlessness , the poverty and the victimization of youth . the film gives you a strong punch in the gut that you will soon not forget .
sweet polly oliver : sally dresses as a boy and continues to wear boys ' clothes throughout the film .
the trio meet up with other youthful wanderers and the most intriguing parts of wild boys of the road becomes the escalating episodes of vagrancy in the middle of the movie . the parts that terrorized and turned off early reviewers . most of the highlights come on the trains or in the railroad yards , though i’m partial to the scene when sally discovers her aunt is a madam after the cops arrive to make a pinch . there are no greener pastures . in addition to the more shocking single scenes are a series of confrontations with authority , adults who take no pleasure in their duty , but whose service demand they take the proper steps and shoo away the vagabonds to the next town . everyone feels for them , but nobody wants them .
the wild boys
is burroughs & apos ; s fifth or sixth or seventh book . the gang of totally sadistic homosexual young snopeses who come into the book in the last third are not important except as a culmination of the continual fantasy of boys in rainbow - colored jockstraps coldly doffing them ; nor are they important to the book . nothing here is any more important than anything else , except possibly burroughs & apos ; s unusually tender memories of adolescent sex around the golf course and locker rooms in his native st . louis in the 1920 & apos ; s . but the wild boys are apaches of freedom , and so are different from the
thought - control mob ,
the narcotic cops and the despots of the communications monopolies who are the villains of burroughs & apos ; s other books - - espeically
nova express .
the wild boys in this book are a positive force for freedom : i . e . , they have such an aversion to women ( to burroughs , women are the thought - control mob in infancy ) that the boys continue the race by artificial insemination and thus , gott zu dank , a
whole generation arose that had never seen a woman & apos ; s face nor heard a woman & apos ; s voice .
frankie darro , who previously appeared for wellman at the opening of the public enemy ( 1931 ) , leads the cast and the honors . a great talent , blessed with the skills of a mickey rooney , but cursed by similar stature and a less trustworthy face , darro otherwise had all of the tools for stardom . his biographer and friend , john gloske , noted that this was frankie’s favorite of his movies , and wrote that “until his death he would keep a newspaper stuffed away that he would gladly pull out and show to guests , ” a front page that showed the huge crowd surrounding the premiere of wild boys of the road ( 57 ) .
i had seen pictures of the wild children of revolution - racked russia . i had read of the free youth of germany after the world war . i knew that in every nation , following a plague , an invasion , or a revolution , children left without parents and homes became vagrants .
it ' s a cinematic blast of anger and outrage and exasperation sprung from the immediacy of the depression .
wild boys of the road is one of six movies directed by william wellman that is included in warner home video ' s 2009 dvd set , forbidden hollywood collection volume 3 . other titles are other men ' s women , the purchase price , frisco jenny , midnight mary , and heroes for sale . included among the special features are two documentaries , wild bill : hollywood maverick , which is more of a traditional documentary , and the men who made the movies : william a . wellman , which is packed with wellman in wellman ' s own words . i ' ve probably watched this forbidden hollywood collection more than any of their other sets .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
the movie debut of albert finney , at work in the raleigh . . .
in reality , the new roosevelt administration quickly attempted to curb the problem of transient youth through new deal programs like the civilian conservation corps and various services formed under the federal transient relief service ( fera ) and , later , the works progress administration ( wpa ) . the problem was ultimately curtailed by america’s entry into world war ii as young men both entered into service and vacated jobs at home , providing opportunity to those who were previously left without work . for those of us who came along later , wild boys of the road captures an american experience that seems beyond belief , yet was thought of as over - sentimentalized by the film critic for the nation ' s top newspaper .
wild boys of the road begins with a fairly playful style to it . darro and phillips certainly have a sort of leo gorcey / huntz hall dead end kids approach to their parts . the lightheartedness fades quickly , though . the film becomes pretty dark . it is a pre - code , after all . i mean we’ve got murder , rape , and gangs of hoods attacking the police . not to mention one of the main characters getting his leg crushed by a train followed by a back alley amputation . it is a grim picture of the depression era and still packs quite a wallop today . of course , the most graphic elements of the story , like the rape and the crushed leg , take place off camera ; still , you can’t really say that the film pulls any punches . these moments are shocking and cast a darkness over the film that lingers with the viewer .
an expression of the frustration and rage felt by thousands of anonymous american caught up in the paralyzing dislocation of the great depression . the story centers on two teens , in particular who are forced to ride the rails when their own parents are thrown out of work .
when i first met wild boys of the road , as someone who had grown up in a comparatively cozy era two generations removed from the great depression , it seemed more like an alternate history that could have never happened than any sort of former american reality . it’s depressing stuff , and hard to take , these children on the lam , losing limbs , risking rape , living in sewer pipe cities , and doing their best to grin and bear it without stopping to think tomorrow will probably be worse .
just the top of the
yankee doodle boy
number from george . . .
note : the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer ( s ) .
as hollywood got to know him , ahearn was compared to jim tully ( who worked on the story for wellman ' s similar beggars of life [ 1928 ] ) , but beyond picture snatcher and wild boys of the road , the only other story of ahearn ' s adapted to film was bulldog edition for republic in 1936 . this mysterious figure was eventually convicted of a robbery and assault that landed him a life sentence in 1948 . a technicality lowered that sentence to 15 - to - 30 years in 1952 , with the possibility of parole in six years . whether ahearn ever got out or not is a mystery . he died in obscurity in 1960 at age 59 .
don ' t you dare pity me ! : the boys are said not to help tommy up after he falls over , for this reason .
you could probably make a case that the end of the film wraps everything up a bit too neatly . not to give it all away , but what plays out on screen seems to point to a brighter future for eddie , tommy and sally . yet , it also leaves a lot up to the audience . after all that had transpired in the hour leading up to that , my brain wasn’t convinced that all turned out well after the screen faded to black . it looks like a happy ending on the surface , but i just wasn’t so sure . i suppose that’s a testament to the skill with which wild boys of the road was crafted .
james l . neibaur of urltoken calls it :
one of the most interesting and important film books of the young year ,
adding ,
the documentation is original and significant .
full review .
above : ann hovey in the clutches of ward bond , the same memorable scene captured in the advertisement above it .
random events plot : the movie is very episodic , showing what happens when each of the friends moves to a new location in search of work .
the underrated william a . wellman made many neglected classics during the depression , and this 1933 feature is one of the very best .
alison drake , the tough - minded executive of an automobile factory , succeeds in the man ' s world of business until she meets an independent design engineer .
the introduction of decent - but - broke heroes eddie ( frankie . . .
above : the same open letter on the other side of the country , clipped from the portsmouth herald ( nh ) , november 29 , 1933 , page 4 .
the young cast turns in some impressive performances . darro especially gives his role a optimistic spirit that likely resonated with 1930’s audiences , despite the unpleasantness not only on the screen but also in the world that awaited them beyond the theater doors . i also really enjoyed sterling holloway who provides a small degree of comic relief to the film . given the dark nature of the rest of the proceedings , he tickles the funny bone just enough to ease tension on the audience , but not come across as out - of - place .
frankie darro stars in director william a . wellman’s grim story of america’s transient youth . ripped freshly from the headlines and released in september 1933 . vivid scenes of riding the rails across the country and sometimes violent consequences suffered by young people at the mercy of society and authority .
sally ' s piece of cake jumps from the plate into her hands between shots .
at west point , 1857 , in the conceit of wally kline and . . .
living through the great depression was tough for many including the thousands and thousands of dispossessed youngsters riding boxcars and living in shantytowns . wellman , or as he was known “wild bill” wellman was a tough son of a bitch , yet he worked within the studio system fighting for good scripts . legend has it he once dumped a trunk load of manure onto a studio bosses desk along with a script that he felt the same way about ( 1 ) .
rape as drama : grace , one of the girls on the train , gets left behind when the others are battling the railroad mooks . she is raped by a brakeman .
this earnest , socially - conscious road drama centers on two california teenagers who find their comfortable lives thrown into turmoil during the great depression . to find work for themselves , the adventurous lads sneak aboard a chicago - bound train .
the library of congress announced wednesday the addition of 25 films to its national film registry , a growing archive of american motion pictures earmarked for preservation because of their cultural , historic or aesthetic significance . according to librarian of congress james h . billington , who hand - picks the films each year from a shortlist winnowed from thousands of online suggestions , the national film registry — which includes everything from home movies to hollywood blockbusters — is not just a best - of list , or even a list of his favorite films , but a “vehicle for understanding our culture and society more broadly . ”
don ' t let the giddy jazz age prologue or the deliriously happy ending fool you : this is one of the bleakest films from the 1930s that i ' ve ever seen .
road trip plot : a harrowing journey from middle america to chicago and thence to cleveland and new york , scrounging for food and trying to avoid arrest and / or assault .
jean genet is a hero to burroughs , but genet & apos ; s masturbatory fantasies were undergone in prison , and were in the service of love . genet is indeed an addict of love , which is why his novels and plays are crowded with people . burroughs seems to me the victim of solitude . he expresses it in the coldness with which partners are dismissed :
the boy shoved the dib & apos ; s body away as if he were taking off a garment .
the comic moments in
the wild boys
are not situations but jokes :
bearded yippies rush down a street with hammers breaking every window on both sides leave a wake of screaming burglar alarms strip off the beards , reverse collars and they are fifty clean priests throwing petrol bombs under every car whoosh a block goes up behind them .
to that end , the 2013 honorees include three early works from the silent era : “a virtuous vamp” ( 1919 ) , “daughter of dawn” ( 1920 ) , and the proto - feminist cinderella tale “ella cinders” ( 1926 ) . the inclusion of these titles will come as particularly good news to fans of silent cinema , many of whom were no doubt alarmed this month to learn , through a report issued by the library of congress , that as many as three - quarters of all silent films made through the 1920s have been lost or utterly damaged .
the young tramps seldom remain a week in any community . relief policies force them to move . in addition , there is the lure of the road inspiring them with hope of better times just beyond the hills and a nervous ‘itching foot’ for travel per se . it was , in truth , impossible for the transient boy or girl to stay anywhere when this study was made . relief authorities gave a meal and an invitation to move on . no matter how tired he or she was , how willing to work , how weary and disgusted with the road and its aimless wandering , he had to take to it . police did not trouble transients so long as they kept moving . as soon as they attempted to halt , however , police acted . jungles were raided , soup and bread lines searched for non - residents , mission lists combed . the child tramp was out again on the road ( 54 ) .
illiam s . burroughs is a great autoeroticist - - of writing , not sex . he gets astral kicks by composing in blocks , scenes , repetitive and identical memories galvanizing themselves into violent fantasies , the wild mixing of pictures , words , the echoes of popular speech . it is impossible to suspect him of any base erotic motives in his innumerable scenes of one adolescent boy servicing another like a piece of plumbing ; nor should one expect a book from him different from his others . burroughs is the purest writer in barney rosset & apos ; s grove , and not just because in this book he more than ever turns his obsession with cold , callous homosexual coupling into a piece of american science fiction .
the threat to older films is well established , partly as a result of the library of congress’s efforts to raise awareness . but more recent works are also highly fragile . filmmaker michael moore , whose groundbreaking documentary “roger & me” is also on the list of 2013 inductees , says he was recently dismayed to discover — when the new york film festival requested a copy of his film for the festival’s 50th anniversary — that there were no prints of the 1989 film that had not “faded to pink . ”
jacqueline t . lynch , author of ann blyth : actress . singer . star . , says :
a prime example of a classic film fan taking the reins to produce a scholarly study of a neglected figure from the golden age of classic films in a way that i feel is refreshing , infinitely helpful to fans and students of old movies .
full review .
while on the train they meet another runaway , sally ( dorothy coonan ) . she is heading for chicago to stay with her aunt . when they arrive in the windy city , most of the other young transients on the train are hauled off by the fuzz , but since dorothy has a letter from her aunt , she and the boys are able to stay . too bad sally’s aunt has her own problems with the police and is hauled off shortly after the trio arrives at her apartment .
burroughs & apos ; s whole esthetic and his suspicion of every political idea are the same : let me alone ! even his endlessly fascinated , obsessive recall of homosexual intercourse says - - let me alone . there is no lovemaking , no interest in love , not even much interest in the sensation of orgasm . the emphasis is on emission as the end product . the idea is to show in how many different scenes and with how many coldly selected partners one can do it . but repetition , that fatally boring element in burroughs & apos ; s
cut - ups ,
turns the coupling into an obsessive primal scene that never varies in its details . the technical arrangements never vary , but they are described with such unwearied relish that the
wild boys
and their sadistic knives , scissors , gougers , castrators , etc . , etc . , seem like the embroidery of a cruel dream , not wickedness .
punch clock villain : the cops in cleveland , who are just following orders when they turn the fire hoses on the children ' s tramp village . one mentions that he has a couple of kids of his own at home .
spared by the adaptation : in the original story sally is the character who is raped on the train , and she hangs herself . in the movie the rape happens to another character , grace , and sally ends the movie alive .
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lakeith stanfield and his sorry to bother you director boots riley discuss the stress of filming sex scenes .
there is a very good book on the films of the depression called “we’re in the money” written back in the 1970’s but is still in print today . there is also a documentary , that actually played in movie theaters back in the mid 70’s called “brother , can you spare a dime” , which is an excellent source of depression era material . i remember clips including scenes of the stock market crash , dance marathons , breadlines and the new deal . plus there are a lot of clips from movies like “little caesar . ” , “gold diggers of 1993” and many others .
credit three excellent lead actors for lightening this dose of reality . director william a . wellman also includes many little touches to occasionally lighten the mood , whinnying horses and stolen cakes , the wrinkly - nosed smiles of the actress he ' d soon marry , and sterling holloway doing pretty much anything , as usual . then there’s the athleticism of star frankie darro bunny - hopping into a trash can or letting loose with a series of handsprings , youth keeping him an admirable bundle of energy no matter how downtrodden life is around him . but the overall tone is morbid , and even the happy ending doesn’t seem so very happy if you stop to think about it on the way out of the theater . the future is bleak .
in the 1930 ' s depression , teenage boys and girls leave home to make their own way in the world and to take the burden off their parents . travelling by train & foot , they rarely find any work and starve most of the way , and one character loses a leg in the process . eventually arrested , the three main characters are sent to court , where a sympathetic judge sends them back unpunished , giving them recommendations for jobs and a more hopeful future .
moore applauds the work being done by the library of congress’s packard campus in culpeper , va . , where films on the national film registry are typically housed , in collaboration with other archives . he also acknowledges the simple prestige of being included in such august company . “to me , ” says moore , “this honor goes on the same shelf as the oscar and the palme d’or . ”
r . d . – you are right , that was “pettin in the park” you heard . i guess warner’s was saving money . i recorded most of the wellman films that night . i watched “midnight mary” and it was decent , certainly not as good as “wild boys . ” still have to watch “heroes for sale” and “frisco jenny . ” darro was certainly agile . i meant to say something about that leap he did in the trash can , it was amazing ! did you happen to watch the documentary on wellman that was part of “the men who made the movies” series . he was an interesting character . as a former world war i pilot , he performed one of his own stunts in his first film , “wings” , when the stunt man could not do it . it required that when landing , the plane was to flip over ! wellman did it and walked away with minor scratches .
they end up getting on the train once again , joined by a number of other youths ( including one played by a young sterling holloway ) . they soon number in the hundreds . their numbers are so big , in fact , that when confronted by authorities at another station , the boys rise up and fight back . after defeating the cops , they turn their attention to the train’s brakeman ( an uncredited ward bond ) who raped one of the other young female transients ( rochelle hudson ) during the battle with the cops . he ends being tossed off the train to his presumed death . the good times continue when the gang jumps off the train and tommy ends up losing a leg as he struggles to get out of the way of an oncoming locomotive . as time moves on , eddie , tommy and sally make their way to a “sewer pipe city” in columbus , oh and eventually to new york city as they struggle to survive .
established in 1989 , the national film registry now numbers a total of 625 films , and includes such obvious classics as “citizen kane” ( 1941 ) ; “the wizard of oz” ( 1939 ) and “casablanca” ( 1942 ) , along with such surprising choices as amateur filmmaker abraham zapruder’s 1963 footage of the kennedy assassination ; jon landis’s 1983 music video for michael jackson’s “thriller” ; and a 1972 short known as “a computer animated hand . ” created as a college project by one of the men who went on to found pixar , it’s thought to be one of the earliest example of 3 - d computer animation .
above : clipped from the medford mail tribune of medford or , november 22 , 1933 , page 4 .
“we can preserve only a small fraction of threatened films , ” says morrison , who described himself as overjoyed about the news of his film’s selection . coincidentally , his prints of “decasia” were destroyed in flooding from hurricane sandy , although the museum of modern art had stored his negative , allowing morrison to reprint the film . the many layers of destruction and creation involved in “decasia” make it a work that gives people “lots to chew on , ” says morrison . being honored with preservation by the nation’s biggest library is , he says , “yet another layer” to the story .
the fact is , he is mad about anything that he can get down on paper . he loves , literally , being engaged in the act of writing , filling up paper from the scene immediately present to him . composition by field , as the black mountain used to say ; plus composition by frenzy and delight , and in any direction . words , horrid isolate words , those symbols of our enslavement , are replaced by the a - b - c of man & apos ; s perception of simultaneous factors - - the ability to drink up the
scanning pattern .
get it down when it is still hot , vibrant and wild to your consciousness ! the literary impulse is more daemonic to burroughs than sex was to sade , but can be just as nonconductive to onlookers .
an effective pre - code social drama . a group of children travel to find jobs during the depression . the story is potent , but dated , and the studio wanted . . .
excellent . i feel i know the movie , but now i realize i only thought i did . looking forward to my next viewing through the lens of all the information you provided .
a tenant farmer ' s son is caught in the middle of owner - tenant disputes when he falls for the plantation owner ' s seductive daughter .
the story was adapted for wellman by earl baldwin from an original by danny ahearn , who is probably the most interesting character with any hand in this classic . ahearn , who also wrote the original story that warner bros . turned into picture snatcher ( 1933 ) , was promoted as the man who committed—and got away with—a couple of murders . he had credibility along those lines as author of a book called how to commit a murder ( and all the major crimes on the calendar and get away with it ) , which supposedly fulfilled the promise of its title . a review of ahearn ' s book in the july 1930 issue of true detective described what was inside :
great movie , until the ending , which is a campaign speech for fdr and the new deal . this is the second good wellman picture to flub the ending . the other . . .
alfred kazin teaches at the state university of new york at stony brook . his books include
contemporaries
and
starting out in the thirties .
mooks : the railroad thugs sent to chase the kids off the trains . after the kids realize they outnumber the railroad mooks by a large margin , they attack them , and chase them off .
i saw this on tcm a few years ago and i thought it was devastating . it was heartbreaking . i was rather shocked , and it’s haunted me in a way , ever since . the ending was kind of ridiculous . the actors were wonderful , i wish this movie was more well known . it seems to be buried in favor of the typical giddy gaudy 30’s baubles everyone is familiar with . wbotr is a dark shadow at the end of the driveway of a 30’s white art deco mansion .
this is how they did it , the transition in which the . . .
in the town for which the movie is named , sheriff shaw . . .
coming of age story : a particularly dark one , as two fresh - faced teens suffer terribly during the depression .
frankie darro as a can - do kid searching for work amidst the urban jungle of depression - era new york .
the supporting cast is filled with familiar faces including rochelle hudson as eddie’s date at the beginning of the movie ; grant mitchell and claire mcdowell as eddie’s parents ; minna gombell as sally’s aunt ; sterling holloway as the oddball drifter ; ann hovey as the poor girl who ward bond stumbles upon ; willard robertson as the detective sorting through the kids off the train ; arthur hohl , playing nice as a jungle surgeon ; and robert barrat as the juvenile court judge pitying the kids .
the most modern film yet accepted into the registry , which is restricted to works at least 10 years old , is “ decasia , ” a 2002 experimental collage piece by new york artist bill morrison . ironically , it was assembled from deteriorating film footage , some of which morrison says he found at — wait for it — the library of congress . according to the artist , “decasia” is not a call to arms , but rather a celebration — in such sequences as one in which a boxer appears to be battling a blob of decaying film stock — of the beauty and inevitability of decay .
cop dave ( joe partridge ) puzzles over a series of women . . .
ahearn tells exactly how to cover one ' s tracks after committing a murder . he discusses crime with the flair of one who knows it and he makes it clear that there lives in the midst of the law - abiding people of this country a strange and dangerous group apart . people who have different habits , customs , methods of living , ethics and dangers . people who have no center balance—who are either up in prosperity or down in despair ; who are either in or out—and far too many of them out ( 8 ) .
our story follows two teens , eddie ( frankie darro ) and tommy ( edwin phillips ) . they’ve got themselves a car and a regular stream of young ladies willing to climb into the backseat with them . life is good . that is , until tommy reveals that he and his mother have been living off the community chest for the last few months . to make matters worse , eddie soon learns that his father has been laid off , too . both boys decide to drop out of school and get jobs , but works is scarce . even selling the car only puts a measly $ 22 in their pockets . they soon decide their best move is to relieve their parents of the burden of caring for them . they end up jumping a train , hobo style , and heading east .
the cast led by frankie darro , edwin phillips , dorothy coonan and rochelle hudson all give good performances . darro , never seemed to out grow juvenile roles , though his career lasted a long time appearing in films like “a day at the races , saratoga , the babe ruth story and such serials as junior g - men of the air and the phantom empire dorothy coonan , who appeared in 42 nd street and gold diggers of 1933 as a chorus girl caught the eye of william wellman and would soon become the fourth and final mrs . william wellman . the marriage would produce seven children . also in the film are the fine character actors sterling holloway , grant mitchell and minna gombell .
an impoverished girl masquerades as a boy to run with a gang of young hobos .
cerebus retcon : a gag when eddie comes home from the dance has him cutting a slice of apple pie . . . and putting the tiny slice back in the fridge while he prepares to eat the big part . then he finds out his father has lost his job , and he goes back to the kitchen to take the smaller slice instead .
decomposite character : sally is the one who gets raped in the book . in the film this happens to another character called grace .
happy ending : forced on wellman by executive meddling . in the original script , it ' s a downer ending where the judge sends the kids to jail . in the finished film , the judge relents and promises to get the kids work and places to stay .
thanks for your thoughts on what your family went through . my father was a young man during the depression and i remember him telling me that one of his brothers went to work on one of the government works programs . again , thanks for your comments .
kangaroo court : a very short and sweet version of one when the kids , after finding out that the brakeman raped grace , throw him off a moving train to his death .
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interview with jacqueline t . lynch on her new biographyy of ann blyth – click on photo
samus is a girl : eddie suspects another hobo of stealing their sandwiches . eddie confronts the other hobo and gets a bloody nose before finding out the hobo is a girl , sally .
i write about old movies and movie stars from the 1920s to the 1950s . i also sell movie cards , still photos and other ephemera . immortal ephemera connects the stories with the collectibles .
this one’s great , and one of my favorite pre - code discoveries . you’re right that the ending was more or less mandated after the original version– which i believe involved jail time– was deemed too bleak . it was also a reflection of the more optimistic tone warners was trying to give their movies after roosevelt’s election as well .
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this is another one i really want to see , after seeing frankie darro in ‘the mayor of hell’ – it sounds like powerful stuff from your description despite the cop - out at the ending . i will have to wait until a bit later in the year to get the new wellman box set ( only available on import in the uk ) and will look forward to seeing this then .
burroughs became an imaginative force in our self - indulgent literature of disaster with
naked lunch .
he was able to turn his addiction to morphine , to
junk ,
into a really amazing ability to scrutinize the contents of his restlessly bold , marvelously episodic imagination . his aversion to the hallucinogens ( lsd and the like ) is significant . he did not want to have his mind changed - - burroughs does not need inspiration ! he wanted in the tradition which is really his own , for he transcribes sexual fantasy into literary energy , to make the fullest possible inventory and rearrangement of all the stuff natural to him . he wanted to put his own mind on the internal screen that is his idea of a book .
speakeasy says :
despite her decline , this is not a sad or bleak book but an enjoyable history . . . any fan of the collectible citadel “films of” book series will appreciate the modern twist on that format , a full biography followed by an expanded filmography .
full review .
michael o ' sullivan has covered the arts for the washington post since 1993 , contributing reviews and features on film , fine art , theater and other forms of entertainment to style and weekend . follow
own all of the previous ' mission : impossible ' movies to watch at home for just $ 3 . 99 each with ticket purchase . buy tickets
fan disservice : grace changing is not played for titillation , as the shot of her in her underwear has the brakeman approaching her - leaving genre savvy viewers in little doubt as to what happens next .
you say you ' ve got to send us to jail to keep us off the streets . well , that ' s a lie . you ' re sending us to jail because you don ' t want to see us . you want to forget us . but you can ' t do it because i ' m not the only one . there ' s thousands just like me , and there ' s more hitting the road every day .
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the runaway : eddie , tommy , sally , and the other kids on the trains have run away from home because their parents can ' t feed them .
shout out : the movie playing in the theater when eddie is trying to avoid arrest is footlight parade .
great piece , cliff . all the information about the real - life inspiration and research which went into the film are fascinating , as is all the publicity material , including that letter supposedly from the theatre management . i agree with you and lesley that darro is so talented and it is a pity he didn’t make it as an adult star – but he gave us some great performances in this and the mayor of hell .
moore’s no stranger to the detective and / or repair work that is sometimes necessary to bring to light old film footage . his body of work , which some might say has ushered in a new golden age of nonfiction filmmaking , is notable for the inclusion of obscure clips . on occasion , he has personally paid to restore damaged films ( such as milos forman’s 1979 “hair” ) in order to be able to screen them at the small michigan film festival that he runs .
in between these extremes of old and new , there is much more mainstream fare . this year’s inductees include the 1956 sci - fi adventure “forbidden planet , ” notable for being the first film to feature a robot with personality ; “the magnificent seven , ” a 1960 western inspired by akira kurasawa’s “seven samurai” ; and “pulp fiction , ” quentin tarantino’s 1994 puree of genre films .