Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 182: Cold War Comedy

A few days ago I talked about Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove and how it mocked America's attitude to the nuclear missile crisis. Two years later Norman Jewison made The Russians Are Coming, The Russians are Coming which looked at America's attitude towards The Cold War. The film sees a group of Russian soldiers take a detour and end up on the New England coast. They then decide that they must find a motorboat to safely return them to their submarine and decide to pose as Norwegian tourists. They happen on the holiday home of Carl Reiner's frustrated writer Walt Whittaker who has come to the town in the hope of finishing his novel. He is surprised when the two Russian officers turn up at his house and soon hold his family at gunpoint until he gives them the keys to his car. Whittaker eventually overpowers the young officer who is tasked with guarding them and goes into town to try and find out what the Russians are actually up to. Meanwhile news of the Russians' presence in the town has been circulating and has led to mass hysteria breaking out. The town's level-head police chief attempts to get to the bottom of the case however some of the more vocal locals try to get their case heard. Meanwhile Whittaker starts to warm to Russian Lieutenant Rozanov, played by Alan Arkin in his first film role, and realises that he's not such a bad guy after all. The film builds up to a massive climax in which the townsfolk descend on the Russians while they in turn threatent to blow up the town. However a potential tragedy then breaks out which seemingly brings them all closer together.

The Russians are Coming is much more of a standard comedy than the much more subtle Dr Strangelove. The laughs essentially stem from the fact that the Russians are on the whole quite cool and calm while the Americans are a lot more hysterical. The whole thing has a farcical element about it but this is stopped from getting out of hand by the Russian characters who you could believe would actually kill. Personally I couldn't believe that this was Alan Arkin's first film role as he was great as the incredibly calm Rozanov who got increasingly more baffled by events in the town. Carl Reiner was also the perfect choice to play the American writer as he can get laughs based on his facial expressions alone. The supporting cast where also brilliant as a paranoid bunch who felt the Russians were there to attack them rather than simply to get back to their submarine. William Rose's screenplay is packed full of obvious yet funny jokes as well as few very well-choreographed set pieces. One element that didn't really work for me was the romance between the young Russian officer and the Whittaker's babysitter however that was mainly due to the actors rather than anything else. Overall The Russians are Coming is a lightweight comedy which doesn't have any of the political message that Dr Strangelove does. But at the same time I can't say it wasn't entertaining though I'm still not sure whether it deserved a Best Picture nomination.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 137-138: Mostly Marlon Part 2

And without further ado here is the second part of the Marlon Brando season.



After three years of striking out in the Best Actor category Brando finally came up trumps at the 1955 ceremony with the film that also won the Best Picture award that year - On the Waterfront. For this picture Brando reteamed with both Streetcar writer Elia Kazan and co-star Karl Malden to make a story based on real experiences that long shoremen had dealing with their mob-run environment. As the film starts Brando's Terry Malloy is instrumental in the death of long shoreman Joey Doyle who's death is interlinked with him testifying against gangster Johnny Friendly who runs the docks and trades illegally. Malloy's brother Charley works as Friendly's accountant and gets Terry to do some of the easier jobs through his guilt of making Terry throwing fights when he was a prize fighter. Events get complicated when Terry falls for Doyle's sister Evie who, along with Malden's priest Father Barry, tries to convince Terry to testify against Friendly. Worried that Terry is being swayed Friendly sends Charley out to set Terry straight where Terry delivers the still famous 'I Coulda Been a Contender' speech. Eventually Terry testifies and Friendly turns the rest of the dockworkers against him and has him beaten up but Friendly is then discredited with all the longshoremen turning their backs on him. There's so much to praise about On The Waterfront and thankfully for once a great film gets recognised by the Academy winning Best Picture, Actor, Director, Screenplay and Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint as Evie. Saint is great in the film so much so I think this was almost a Lead performance which would've seen the film scoop the much-touted 'Big Five'. If Streetcar was Brando's breakout then this was definitely his star-making turn playing a conflicting character wanting to do what's right but not wanting to test his loyalty against his brother and the men who have been giving him the job. There are also so many great filmic moments from the already mentioned speech, to the ending where a beaten Malloy makes his way to work despite being light on his feet and having blurred sight but my favourite scene is probably Terry telling Evie about his involvement in Joey's death which we don't hear as a big steamship comes past making their conversation inaudible. Of the supporting performances Karl Malden is probably my favourite as the priest, but Lee J Cobb also makes a convincing gangster and Rod Steiger as Charley also is strong in a couple of scenes all were nominated as Supporting Actors but to Edmond O'Brien in The Barefoot Contessa both a role and film that aren't best remembered. I also feel that the score is brilliant it stuck in my head afterwards and added to the atmospheric tone. The Oscar winning set direction and cinematography were both brilliantly handled with the shoot taking place over 36 days in Hoboken, New Jersey making all the shore scenes seem very real and the workers' silence over how badly their work is run and even some of Friendly's goons are played by real-life prize fighters. Just a brilliant film and a worthy Best Picture winner and definitely the film that made Marlon Brando.

The final Best Picture nominee that Brando starred in during the 1950s, and again he got a Best Actor nomination, was Sayonara which I feel was a bit of a departure from the roles he played in contemporary American dramas in this particular blog post. The film sees Brando play Air Force Major Ace Gruver who moves from Korea to Japan where one of his troop - Joe Kelly is about to marry a Japanese woman. A lot of people in the Air Force and the military in general aren't happy with Kelly's choice to marry a Japanese woman but despite his reluctance Gruver agrees to be Kelly's best man. Also in Japan, Gruver's superior General Webster has bought along his daughter Eileen, played by Patricia Owens, who for a long time Ace has been in a relationship with. However during the time in Japan neither feel the relationship is pretty solid with Eileen's feelings being a lot stronger than Ace's. As time goes on Gruver starts to accept Kelly's relationship with his wife Katsumi and himself becomes entranced by a Japanese dancer Hana-ogi. Things come to a head when Kelly is to be shipped back to America and his wife isn't allowed to come with him despite the fact she is pregnant. Ace is also to be sent back after his relationship with Hana-ogi is revealed but the day that Kelly is to be taken away he runs back to Katsumi and they both commit suicide deciding to be together in the next life. Ace then discovers that General Webster has made a law possible for men like Kelly to bring their Japanese wives back to America so he announces to the media that he is marrying Hana-ogi and people best get used to it. The biggest surprise in this film is probably seeing Brando in a kimono despite that this film is a little long-winded in its message of equality and that these soldiers are in love with these women rather than just wanting to be with the first woman they touch as Webster so eloquently puts it in once scene. Brando's Southern drawl adds an extra dimension to this character who is portrayed as being a natural leader but at the same time very simple in his views and he is one round by the differences that Japan and Japanese women have to offer. However the two standout performances come from Oscar winners Red Buttons and Miyoshi Umeki as Joe and Katsumi both giving spectacular performances as the doomed couple Buttons in particular is a revelation as he was much better known as a comedian than a dramatic actor but this film more than showed that he could do both. I have to say I felt the film needed to be about 20 minutes less and I didn't need to see as many of the Japanese sequences as I did and I felt James Garner was wasted in a worthless role as the military man showing Ace a different side of Japan. Overall though a film with a strong message and another great performance from Brando again displaying his range.

As I watched this quartet of films I really felt that Brando was improving as an actor as the decade went on from rough and ready in Streetcar he honed his skills for On the Waterfront before playing an almost naive character in Sayonara. Like with Elizabeth Taylor I'm looking forward to seeing more of Brando as we trek on through the decades but I guess its Sayonara for now