Rating the Warren Beatty Movies

I've been more objective in my ratings than usual and  up-rated several movies for being critical and award winning hits. I don't think Beatty ever made a "Great" movie, and there are a lot of flops. In fact, Beatty made more bad movies (as a percentage of his filmography) than any other 20th Century Star.  That's not just my view - 7 of his movies have a 5.9 IMDB rating - or lower.

Very Good

1. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
2. Heaven Can Wait  (1978)
3. Reds (1981)

Good

1. Splendor in the Grass (1961)
2. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
3. Shampoo (1975)
4. Dick Tracy (1990)

Average

1. Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
2. All Fall Down (1962)
3. Lilith (1964)
4. Mickey One (1965)
5. Kaleidoscope (1966)
6. Parallax View (1974)
7. Bugsy (1991)

Poor

1. Promise Her Anything (1966)
2. The Only Game in Town (1970)
3. $  (Dollars)  (1971)
4. The Fortune (1975)
5. Ishtar (1987)
6. Love Affair (1994)
7. Bulsworth (1998) 
8. Town and Country (2001)
9. Rules Don't Apply (2016)

Love Affair (1994)

Plot: During a flight to Sydney, a singer  and Ex-football star fall in love. They agree to meet in NYC three months later to see if the attraction still holds.  The 2nd remake of Love Affair (1939)
Stars: Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Katherine Hepburn

No surprise  - this is one bad movie. In 1994, the critics disliked it and it did poor box-office. Love Affair is tepid, slow-paced, and full of bad artistic decisions. This is an old-fashioned, two-person story, requiring lots of charisma and a light comedic touch from the leads - and Beatty/Bening don't make the grade. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr they ain't. Other problems include: an embarrassing performance from 87 y/o Hepburn, an unbelievable cruise ship sequence*, and a flat script.  The introduction is awful with an annoying music score**. Finally, 57 y/o Beatty is too old and has little romantic chemistry with Bening.***

Summary:  Unless you're a Beatty or Bening fan, (or wish to see Kate Hepburn's last feature film performance) avoid at all costs.  Rating 1 out of 4

Notes

* - For some reason, Beatty decided to duplicate the shipboard romance of the first two films. But the Transatlantic liners used in the 1939 and 1957 films weren't unusual - that's how average people got across the Atlantic. Here, we get 747 engine trouble, an emergency landing on Cook Island, and a slow-boat to Tahiti. And guess who's there? Why Katherine Hepburn.  How convenient.  The contrivance is jarring and completely unnecessary.

** - No doubt because everyone in the movie is white, we get a lot of Jazz bits and pop songs from Louis Jordan, Ray Charles, and Bobby Short. None of it fits the movie.

*** - Although a lady-killer in real life, Beatty's track record as a Rom-Com star is decidedly mixed.  He has mediocre chemistry with Julie Christie in Heaven Can Wait, Hawn in Dollars Caron in Promise Her Anything and Halle Berry in Bulsworth. 

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

Plot: A middle-aged Widow becomes involved with an Italian Gigolo.  Based on the Tennessee Williams Novella.
Stars:  Vivien Leigh,  Warren Beatty, Lotta Lenya

Watching this, I  felt sorry for Vivien Leigh. What a waste of a great actress! She brings some authenticity to this gloomy piece of piffle, but she gets little support from the Script or the Director. Her character is a dumbed-down Blanche Dubois, a one-note johnny: pathetic, depressed, and headed for a bad end. The other actors? Only two have significant parts.  First, Lenya is suitably reptilian -as the corrupt Countess.  But then we come to Warren Beatty...

Warren Beatty.  No doubt realizing he's completely miscast, and his wavering "Chef Boyardee" Italian accent ridiculous, Beatty repeatably looks away from the camera and sleepwalks through the part. His presence constantly pulled me out of the story.  How could anyone buy All-American Warren Beatty as an Italian?

Summary:  Ultimately, the only reason to see the movie is Vivien Leigh. The story is dull and depressing**. Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone adapts a Tennessee Williams' novella - not a drama -  and maybe that's the problem.  We're missing the poetic language and interesting/energetic characters present in Williams' plays***. Add in a terrible Warren Beatty performance and you have one mediocre movie.  Rating 2 of 4

Notes
** = Its also somewhat dated.  Mrs. Stone is only 50, and she's intelligent, good looking, and wealthy.  Yet, the movie treats her like an ancient crone whose life is at an end.  No doubt that was believable in 1961 - but today? We have 70 y/o rock n' rollers (not that I approve!)

*** = The novella is a character study of an unlikable faded beauty and ex-actress.  Its a cautionary tale since she's relied on her looks/show-biz sucess to play "King of the Mountain" and with those gone, she  has "drifted" and turns to Roman gigolos.. There's surprisingly little dialogue.  For the film,  Mrs. Stone has to be made more likable (which defeats the purpose) and everyone else given more  depth. This probably accounts for the dullness of the dialogue.

Promise Her Anything (1966)

Plot:  A NYC softporn filmmaker falls for a French Widow in the next Apartment.
Stars:  Leslie Caron, Warren Beatty, Bob Cummings, Kennan Wynn

There's nothing worse than an unfunny comedy, and there are few laughs to be had in this cheap Rom-Com. Before, I labeled The only Game in Town as Warren Beatty's worst movie. Wrong! This is his worst movie. The direction is uninspiring, with the only humor coming from Cummings' child-hating psychologist.  The script is thin and even at 98 minutes its outrageously padded-out with endless shots of the cute 2-year old kid - and silly songs from Bikini clad models.

Pros? Its not smutty (despite the soft-porn angle) and Caron is pretty.

Warren Beatty:  He's adequate - but his role is surprisingly small and his lines aren't funny. Bob Cummings outshines him. This was another of Beatty's Box Office Bombs before he struck gold with Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Worst Scene: We spend 5 five minutes on Beatty saving the Kid from an obviously fake runaway crane. No one involved knew how to do slap-stick comedy.

Conclusion:  Promise her anything - but this picture. The movie aims for Bohemian charm but fails miserably. Completely forgotten* Promise Her Anything plays like a TV Pilot for a failed Sitcom. Rating 1 out of 4

* It currently has 7 IMDB user reviews and 5.4 rating!

King Rat (1965)

Plot:  In a Japanese POW camp a young British Officer and a wheeler-dealer American Corporal form an unlikely friendship. Based on the Novel by James Clavell.
Stars:  George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox , John Mills

Beautifully photographed and well-acted, this is a faithful retelling of Clavell's novel - which was based on the author's real-life POW experience. Unfortunately, "realistic" doesn't mean engaging or enjoyable - and there's no one to root for. This isn't a patriotic movie like Bridge on the River Kwai.  Here, your fellow POW's - not the Japanese* - are the real enemy and its every man for himself. We focus on "King Rat" a callous, much darker, Sgt. Bilko** and James Fox's more naive British officer. The direction is good - but its 15 minutes too long.***

Summary:  Well done, but utterly depressing - and pointless. Watching it was like being a real POW.  I was glad to have survived the 135 minute ordeal - and have no desire to repeat the experience  Rating - 2 out of 4

Notes
* - like almost all Post-1945 movies, King Rat goes easy on the Japanese. For example, a Japanese officer justifies searching a hut based on the Geneva Convention - which is laughable. Japan did NOT sign the Geneva Convention - it was NOT taught to Japanese Prison guards! In the movie, when a Guard finds a forbidden radio in a bed-railing, only the man who slept there is punished. In real life, the Japanese would've brutally beaten - or even executed - everyone in the Hut.
**Casting smug George Segal in the lead didn't help.  Steve McQueen and Paul Newman turned down the role.
*** King Rat should have ended with the Japanese surrender and  King Rat's reversion to the status of a lowly US Army Corporal - Instead, it limps along for another 15 minutes.

MIles Ahead (2015)

Plot: A fictionalized exploration of Miles Davis.
Stars: Don Cheadle, Ewan McGregor,
Best Scene:  Davis pulls a gun on a slimy record exec.

A missed opportunity. Cheadle is a dead ringer for Miles Davis, and Davis was a Jazz Giant. But Cheadle avoids a straight Bio-pic, and instead gives us a silly "Buddy picture" with Reporter McGregor and a drugged-up Miles Davis tearing up 1979 New York City in search of stolen musical session tape. Occasionally, we get flashbacks to Davis' rocky relationship with his first wife, Frances Taylor - but there's not much "bio" in this "pic". And we hear little of Miles Davis' music. Summary:  Cheadle wastes a good performance in a thin, low-budget story that barely covers 104 minutes. We needed less Ewan McGregor, fewer car chases, and more real Miles Davis and his music. If you're interested in Miles Davis, read his Autobiography instead.  Rating **1/2

Top 61 War Movies

Here's my list of the Top war movies.  Generally, I've avoided movies where "the war" is a small part of the movie ( like GWTW or Dr. Zhivago) or movies about mass killing (Katyn, Killing Fields, etc.). However, I've relaxed that rule when the movie has a military setting: (From Here to Eternity or Sand Pebbles). Famous excluded movies?  Paths of Glory is too  unrealistic, Glory is a standard war movie with a black cast and  Battle of Algiers is more about politics than war.

	Movie	Year
01	The Big Parade	1925
02	Wings	1928
03	Hell's Angels	1930
04	Wooden Crosses	1933
05	Grand Illusion	1937
06	Dawn Patrol	1938
07	Four Feathers	1939
08	In Which We Serve	1942
09	Wake Island	1942
10	Life & Death of Col. Blimp	1943
11	Rome: Open City	1945
12	They Were Expendable	1945
13	Battleground	1948
14	Twelve O'clock High	1949
15	Sands of Iwo Jima	1949
16	Steel Helmet	1952
17	Cruel Sea	1953
18	From Here to Eternity	1953
19	Stalag 17	1953
20	Bridges of Toko Ri	1954
21	The Caine Mutiny	1955
22	Bridge on the River Kwai	1957
23	Human Condition	1957
24	Kanal	1957
25	Run Silent, Run Deep	1958
26	Ice Cold in Alex	1958
27	Fires on the Plains	1959
28	The Bridge	1959
29	Ballad of a Soldier	1959
30	El Cid	1961
31	Guns of Navorone	1961
32	Damn the Defiant	1962
33	Longest Day	1962
34	Great Escape	1963
35	Zulu	1964
36	Sand Pebbles	1966
37	Blue Max	1967
38	War and Peace	1967
39	Dirty Dozen	1968
40	Battle of Britain	1969
41	Patton	1970
42	Japan's Longest Day	1972
43	Deer Hunter	1978
44	Apocalypse Now	1979
45	Das Boot	1980
46	Gallipoli	1981
47	Platoon	1986
48	Full Metal Jacket	1987
49	Henry V	1989
50	Winter War	1993
51	Gettysburg	1993
52	Stalingrad	1995
53	Braveheart	1996
54	They Were Soldiers	2002
55	Saving Private Ryan	1997
56	Thin Red Line	1999
57	With Fire and Sword	2001
58	Blackhawk Down	2003
59	Master and Commander	2004
60	Downfall	2004
61	Dunkirk	2017