Movies for the Homebound XIII: Before They Were Famous
Posted on June 23, 2020 at 9:07 am
Copyright Universal 1973It is fun to look for early appearances of some of today’s biggest stars, including four Avengers. Here are some great films with the added pleasure of seeing favorite performers before they were famous.
American Graffiti; This classic film about one night in the lives of a group of California teenagers features future stars Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Mackenzie Phillips (the original “One Day at a Time”), and future directors Ron Howard and Charles Martin Smith.
“The Frisco Kid: Harrison Ford was not yet a star when he appeared with Gene Wilder in this westerrn about a cowboy and a rabbi.
It’s Kind of a Funny Story: Viola Davis plays a sympathetic therapist in this semi-autobiographical story about a teenager struggling with anxiety and depression who checks himself into a mental hospital.
School Ties: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck play classmates of a prep school’s star quarterback (Brendan Fraser) who is forced to conceal that he is a Jew.
Cellular: Before he was an Avenger, Chris Evans appeared in this nifty little thriller about a kidnapped woman (Kim Basinger).
Heart and Souls: And before he was an Avenger, Robert Downey Jr. starred in this bittersweet comedy about a man who has to help four souls complete their destiny so that they can get to heaven.
Mississippi Masala: Denzel Washington was already a successful actor, but not yet a major star when he appeared in his sweet love story about a Black American who falls for an immigrant from India, upsetting both of their families.
The Horse Whisperer: Before she was an Avenger, Scarlett Johansson played a traumatized girl whose mother seeks the help of a man who knows how to gentle horses and people.
Hoot: Another future Avenger, Brie Larson, stars in this story about Florida middle schoolers fighting to protect endangered owls.
Southland Tales: I can’t even begin to tell you what this strange and strangely fascinating movie is about. But I can tell you it has a really fun early appearance by Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). With hair.
Copyright Vertical Entertainment 2020Nichole Beharie is incandescent as a former beauty queen determined to create a different outcome for her daughter in “Miss Juneteenth,” inspired by the Texas holiday commemorating the date more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation when word came through that slavery was no longer legal.
The Miss Juneteenth pageant is central to the Black community in the small Texas town near Fort Worth where Turquoise Jones (Beharie) works as a waitress and all-around staff in a tiny barbecue restaurant. The pageant participants are drilled on what it means to be “ladies,” and elegance, poise, graciousness, and deportment determine which girl will wear the tiara and win the scholarship. Great things are expected of the winners, and most of them have gone on to become women of achievement and contribution. “We are expecting greatness,” the head of the pageant explains in dulcet tones. They have strong ideas about what it means to be “successful young ladies” and it includes knowing the difference between a salad knife and a dinner knife. “One would surely not eat the main course with that.”
Turquoise takes her place at a pageant event in the seats reserved for former winners, who know how to use those dulcet tones and gracious words to make it clear they consider themselves superior and want her to know that. “How wonderful that you’re looking to replicate your success,” one murmurs. “It slipped my mind that you had a daughter old enough to compete,” says another one. It is never stated, but we understand that the reason Turquoise’s path toward greatness was sidetracked was her pregnancy with Kai (Alexis Chikaeze), now almost 15. Turquoise is determined that Kai will win the crown and go on to college with the scholarship money.
But teenagers have their own ideas about what success means. Kai checks her phone during the inspirational opening remarks about the pageant. She does not want to memorize the Maya Angelou poem her mother read as her talent when she competed. Turquoise gets little support from Kai’s father (Kendrick Sampson as Ronnie) and none from her own mother, who says, “You won that thing. What good did it do you?”
First-time feature writer/director Channing Godfrey Peoples creates an exceptionally evocative sense of place and community in this film. We really believe the deep and complicated history of this group of people. Beharie shows us that pushing Kai is as much about a second chance for herself as it is about Kai, and that she is bringing that same sense of determination that won her the crown to make it happen. Even the smallest parts are layered, sympathetically portrayed, and real, especially Sampson’s Ronnie and Lori Hayes as Turquoise’s mother. The issue of “success” defined as emulating upper-class white traditions and of the eternal struggle of parents to provide guidance to adolescents while allowing them to be themselves are explored with delicacy. The heart of the film in every way is Beharie, who makes Turquoise every bit the phenomenal woman her pageant poem describes.
Parents should know that this film has some strong language, family conflict, alcoholism, criminal activity, struggles with money, sexual references and non-explicit situations.
Family discussion: Why was the pageant so important to Turquoise? What did she learn about herself? About Kai?
If you like this, try: “Miss Firecracker” and “American Violet”
What do “Wall Street” and the “Star Wars” saga and, seemingly, about half the movies ever made have in common? They are about fathers. In “Wall Street,” Charlie Sheen plays the ambitious Bud, who respects the integrity of his blue-collar father, played by his real-life father, Martin Sheen. But Bud is dazzled by the money and power and energy of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). The movie will up the ante with Bud’s father’s heart attack as we see him struggle between the examples and guidance of these two male role models.
Copyright 20th Century Fox 1977
In “Star Wars,” Luke (Mark Hamill) does not know until halfway through the original trilogy that (spoiler alert) the evil Darth Vader is his father. He was raised by his aunt and uncle, who are killed very early in the first film, but the father figures who are most meaningful in his life are the Jedi masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. Like Bud in “Wall Street,” Luke must choose between the good and bad father figures. Like Luke, Harry Potter is raised by an aunt and uncle, but he finds a true father figure later. For Harry, it is headmaster Albus Dumbledore. In opposition is He Who Must Not Be Named. Like Luke, Harry has the opportunity for great power on the dark side, but he lives up to the example set for him by Dumbledore.
The first stories ever recorded are about fathers. The central human struggle to reconcile the need for a father’s approval and the need to out-do him is reflected in the “hero of a thousand faces” myths that occur in every culture. In Greek mythology, Zeus is the son of a god who swallowed his children to prevent them from besting him. Zeus, hidden by his mother, grows up to defeat his father and become the king of the gods. Ancient Greece also produced the story of Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, and The Odyssey, whose narrator tells us “it is a wise man who knows his own father.”
These themes continue to be reflected in contemporary storytelling, including films that explore every aspect of the relationship between fathers and their children. There are kind, understanding fathers whose guidance and example is foundation for the way their children see the world. There are cruel, withholding fathers who leave scars and pain that their children spend the rest of their lives trying to heal. There are movies that reflect the off-screen real-life father-child relationships. Martin Sheen not only played his son’s father in “Wall Street;” he played the father of his other son, Emilio Estevez, in “The Way,” which was written and directed by Estevez, and which is about a father’s loss of his son. Will Smith has appeared with his son Jaden in “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “After Earth.” John Mills appeared with his daughter Hayley in “Tiger Bay,” “The Truth About Spring,” and “The Chalk Garden.” Ryan and Tatum O’Neill memorably appeared together in “Paper Moon.” Jane Fonda produced and starred in “On Golden Pond” and cast her father Henry as the estranged father of her character. Jon Voight played the father of his real-life daughter Angelina Jolie in “Tomb Raider.” And Mario Van Peebles, whose father cast him as the younger version of the character he played in “Sweet Sweetback’s Badasssss Song” made a movie about the making of that film when he grew up. It is called “Badasssss!” In the role of Melvin Van Peebles he cast himself.
Director John Huston deserves some sort of “Father’s Day” award. He directed both his father and his daughter in Oscar-winning performances, Walter Huston in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and Anjelica Huston in “Prizzi’s Honor.”
Some actors known for very non-paternal roles have delivered very touching performances as fathers. Edward G. Robinson is best remembered for playing tough guys, but in “Our Vines Have Tender Grapes” he gave a beautiful performance as a farmer who loves his daughter (Margaret O’Brien) deeply. Cary Grant, known for sophisticated romance, played loving – if often frustrated — fathers in “Houseboat” and “Room for One More.” “Batman” and “Beetlejuice” star Michael Keaton was also “Mr. Mom.” Comedian Albert Brooks is a devoted father in “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory.”
There are memorable movie fathers in comedies (“Austin Powers,” “A Christmas Story”) and dramas (“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Boyz N the Hood”), in classics (“Gone With the Wind”), documentaries (“Chimpanzee,” “The Other F Word”), and animation (“The Lion King,” “The Incredibles”). There are great fathers (“Andy Hardy,” “Call Me By Your Name”) and terrible fathers (“The Shining,” “Winter’s Bone,” “The Spectacular Now,” “The Barretts of Wimpole Street”). There are fathers who take care of us, as well as they can (“John Q,” “Toni Erdnmann,” “Lorenzo’s Oil,” “Leave No Trace,” “The Road,” “Extraordinary Measures”) and fathers we have to take care of (“I Never Sang for My Father,” “Nothing in Common”). All of these stories are ways to try to understand, to reconcile, and to pay tribute to the men who, for better or worse, set our first example of how to decide who we are and what we will mean in the world.
In honor of Father’s Day, here are some of my favorite movie dads, many of them based on the real-life fathers of the filmmakers. Extra love to the two great dads in my life, my father and my husband. Give the dad in your life an extra hug and ask who his favorite movie father is!
Spencer Tracy in the original “Father of the Bride” may be befuddled by the planning for his daughter’s wedding, but when she is distraught because her fiance’s plan to go to Nova Scotia for their honeymoon is making her question her decision to marry him, we see one of the all-time great father moments in movies. Elizabeth Taylor, who played the young bride, always called Tracy “Pops” because of their time together on this film.
Clifton Webb plays real-life efficiency and safety pioneer Frank Gilbreth in “Cheaper by the Dozen,” with Myrna Loy as his partner and wife Lillian, based on the memoir by two of the twelve Gilbreth children (well worth reading).
“The Pursuit of Happyness” stars Will Smith as real-life Christopher Gardner, who went from being homeless to being a successful stockbroker, all the time caring for his son, played here by Smith’s own son Jaden, adding depth and authenticity to this inspiring story.
The classic play “Life With Father,” based on the book by Clarence Day, Jr. about his bombastic but affectionate father is a delightful movie starring William Powell, Irene Dunne, and Elizabeth Taylor.
In “The Lion King,” Mufasa is a wise ruler and a loving and devoted father who knows he must teach his young son that being king is more than just doing whatever you want.
Atticus Finch teaches his daughter Scout to read, and he teaches her that courtesy is the foundation of empathy and recognizing the humanity in others in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” based on Harper Lee’s memories of her own father.
“Parenthood” was inspired by the real-life experiences of its writers and directors and it shows. A wide variety of parental challenges are presented with warmth and understanding and Steve Martin excels as a dad struggling to be what his own father (Jason Robards) was not.
Laurence Fishburne plays Furious Styles in “Boyz N the Hood,” a father determined to teach his son, with his example and with their conversations, what it means to be a man in a world that can lead him into danger.
We don’t see much of Fess Parker in “Old Yeller,” but when he comes home near the end of the film, he is in one of the all-time great father-son scenes, giving his son room to mourn the dog who died but giving him some perspective about how he will not always feel so devastated.
A clownfish father voiced by Albert Brooks spends a whole movie searching for his son in “Finding Nemo,” and he learns some important lessons along the way about how to help his son become more independent.
Movies to lift the heart and possibly inspire some exercise! Some of my favorite movie dance numbers:
Bye Bye Birdie: When a pop idol is drafted, the teenagers go crazy in this classic musical starring Dick van Dyke and Ann-Margret. Two teenagers trying to make each other jealous make this dance number one of the all-time best.
The Step Up movies have some sensational dance numbers. Here’s one of my favorites from Step Up 3, to a song originally from a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie.
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: Choreographer Michael Kidd was famous for his wildly energetic dances and this is one of the best. At a barn-raising the mountain Pontipee brothers compete with the men from the town for the hands of the ladies.
It’s Always Fair Weather: Kidd appeared on screen in this film, featuring the remarkable garbage can lid dance with Gene Kelly and Dan Dailey.
Kiss Me Kate: Speaking of choreographers on screen, Bob Fosse dances along with Tommy Rall, Bobby Van, Ann Miller, Carol Haney, and Jeanne Coyne (later Gene Kelly’s wife) in this merry musical based Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew,” with music by Cole Porter.
And here is Fosse with his wife, Gwen Verdon, in “Who’s Got the Pain” from “Damn Yankees.”
is FREE today through Father’s Day
What do “Wall Street” and the “Star Wars” saga and, seemingly, about half the movies ever made have in common? They are about fathers. In “Wall Street,” Charlie Sheen plays the ambitious Bud, who respects the integrity of his blue-collar father, played by his real-life father, Martin Sheen. But Bud is dazzled by the money and power and energy of Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). The movie will up the ante with Bud’s father’s heart attack as we see him struggle between the examples and guidance of these two male role models.
