Coppola's greatest failure?

One from the Heart (1982)

This is the movie that put the last nail in the coffin of Francis Ford Coppola's dream factory Zoetrope Studios. Even though the company didn't disappear, it went bankrupt and every bit of income from the following movies until the end of the 90's was used to pay off the debts from this movie. With a budget of 27 million and box office of less than one million it's clear that the movie was a disaster for the studio. Then again reading about how extravagant the production was I'm not really surprised, in a way I'm actually happy that it failed as it showed that you can't make a great movie by just throwing money at it. These “studio killers” are actually very interesting and there are quite a few of these kind of movies out there where the studio decides to bet all it's money on them and end up losing. Maybe some day I'll focus more on them, but for now lets focus on this one.

This is actually the kind of musical that I like, the music carries the movie but the movie does not stop so that the cast can perform their musical number. That's one of the main reasons I hate musicals as the movie stops when the music starts, same reason I don't like Bollywood movies. So the actors don't sing in this one, but the songs from the soundtrack tell the story as we go along. Even though the concept was great, this is still not a great movie. The biggest issues are the story, or the lack of it and the main couple. The story is just too simple and way too common to keep any interest up. And the main couple, even though Teri Garr has her moments, are just not up for carrying a movie like this. They were rather uninteresting and in a movie like this that's just not going to work. That's mostly the fault of the script and direction but also Frederic Forrest and Teri Garr are not the first that come to mind when speaking of captivating screen presence. It says a lot that the support cast, Raul Julia and Nastassja Kinski, would have made a better lead couple for this movie. But the whole movie is not totally bad. I loved the look of it and even though the ridiculously expensive indoor sets were the main reason for the fall of the studio, they really worked brilliantly for the look. That artificial neon lighted look was by far the best part of this movie. Another thing I liked were the numerous split cuts throughout the movie and the music was quite good as well. So the audio-visual aspect of this movie is great, but unfortunately the heart is missing.

54%

The Greasers vs. The Socials

The Outsiders (1983)

What's in common with Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez and Ralph Macchio? Well they all starred in this movie, but also they all sucked in acting when they started their careers, though some of them suck even today. So the acting is quite bad in this one, though I must say Emilio Estevez wasn't that bad and luckily at least C. Thomas Howell managed to put some effort into his part. Anyway the movie is set in the late 50's and tells the story about a boy whose home town is torn in half by the two sides of wealthy kids and the poor kids. The boy is called Ponyboy Curtis (C. Thomas Howell), he's a dreamer who writes a diary about his life in this town as an outsider stuck in the poor side of it with the "Greasers" as they call themselves. His best friends are Johnny (Ralph Macchio) and Dallas (Matt Dillon) and they end up in trouble with the "Socials", the rich kids. During a fight one of the "Socials" ends up dead and Ponyboy and Johnny need to run away from the town. Ponyboy's bigger brothers Darrel (Patrick Swayze) and Sodapop (Rob Lowe) are also "Greasers" and they try to keep Ponyboy out of trouble, but as a big fight between the two gangs is about to erupt things get out of hand. Well, despite the name of the main character and the strong male bonding going on in the movie, he's not gay, or at least that's what the movie tries to tell us. This movie has become a classic nowadays and the fans love it, but I must say I was far from impressed. Now I haven't read the book, so I have no idea how well it's adapted on screen, but what I saw was quite weak. Now I already bashed the bad acting, but really the characters are quite weak also, meaning that the bad actors don't really have much to go with in the first place. That of course doesn't help it one bit. I know there's a longer version of the movie, but I saw the 90 minute theatrical cut so maybe the characters are given a bit more depth in the long version. I hated the overly dramatic music, it watered down all the little drama there was in the first place and made it seem more like a farce. The movie isn't horrible by any means, it has a bit too much syryp for my taste, but it has it's moments also. It was entertaining enough and the ending is quite dramatic so it ended with the right note. Wouldn't give it another try though.
59%

One for the jazz fans

The Cotton Club (1984)

In the 20's the Cotton Club was the coolest place in town where all the celebrities and street kingpins spent their quality time. The performers were the best of the best from jazz musicians to dancers and singers. Even though close to all of the performers were black the club was for white folk only, which of course added it's own tension in addition to the mafia bosses fighting for the biggest share of Harlem. Dixie Dwyer (Richard Gere) is a skilled musician who ends up being a favourite to a nasty mob boss who takes him under his wing, even though Dixie doesn't really like the idea. Dixie's brother, Vincent (Nicolas Cage), is a small time crook looking to get a footing in the city. Vera Cicero (Diane Lane) is an up and coming singer also looking for a big breakthrough. Sandman Williams (Gregory Hines) is a tap dancer with his brother who get a spot in the Cotton Club's show. Owney Madden (Bob Hoskins) is the guy who runs the place and one of the rivaling "families". They all eventually end up mixed together and things of course don't always go as planned. There's so much going on in this movie that once you try to write what's it about it might seem quite confusing, but Coppola keeps it all well in hand. Even though the movie would have worked just as well with a bit less characters to focus on, none of them still seem unimportant. That's of course thanks to the script and good direction. The cast is quite big and quite varying, there's some brilliant performances and some pretty bad ones as well. Though in the end they kind of balance out. If you're a jazz fan, you'll love this movie as there's plenty of music in it and some quite nice performances. I wonder why the movie flopped so bad when it came out as this is definitely not a bad one, it's big, pretty and entertaining, just what the audience wants. Though it's a bit long and tends to get a bit boring at parts, but luckily there's always a nice comeback to get the attention again. Not the best from Coppola, but still a good and entertaining movie.
73%

Eavesdropping has it's downsides

The Conversation (1974)

Francis Ford Coppola fresh out of the phenomenal success of The Godfather (1972) made this brilliant little thriller based in the world of espionage. Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a very private person who loves nothing more than to be by himself, but in contrast he spies on the lives of other people as he runs a private company specialized in electronic surveillance. He has been hired to record the conversation of a young couple and at first it seems like just another job, but things don't seem quite right. Soon he discovers that the couple might be in danger and he's facing a dilemma of wether to return the tapes of the conversation to the man who hired him or to just destroy them and possibly save two lives. I must say I really like this movie. It's quite ingenious at parts and the subtle development of the storyline towards a truly suspenseful thriller is something even Hitchcock would have been proud of. The cast is just brilliant, Gene Hackman doing one of his best performances and the rest aren't much worse. The last 30 minutes of this movie are probably the best thriller from the 70's, it's simply a work of art. The cinematography was quite nice also, though nothing exceptional but there were some shots that looked stunning. Definitely among the best from Coppola and even among the better thrillers ever made.
93%

Death brings out the worst side of everyone

Dementia 13 (1963)

I noticed that there's quite a many Francis Ford Coppola's pictures which I haven't seen yet or seen so long ago I couldn't really remember anything about them. So I decided to start with the first movie Coppola ever made. Louise's husband suffers a fatal heart attack while they are on a midnight boat ride. But Louise has another problem in addition to the body in her hands, she can't get a penny of the big family inheritance if his husband is dead and the lady with all the money is alive. So she convinces the family that her husband had to go on a business trip while she travels to Ireland to see how she could help the early demise of the lady with all the money. Soon however an axe murderer is lose in the Irish mansion and someone seems to have plans of their own to cut down the possible persons in the line of the inheritance. This is actually an early slasher film, but it's not just axe murders and people running scared around the mansion. It's also a proper psychological thriller that's even quite scary at parts. Sure some of the scenes were almost direct ripoffs from Hitchcock, but still Coppola manages to get his own touch in there as well. The low budget and the extremely tight shooting schedule shows quite badly as there are tons of mistakes and a fair share of not that good acting. This is a very good effort as a first movie and was well worth watching despite its flaws.
68%