Safe

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

Safe (1995), written and directed by Todd Haynes, has an ironic title since the main character can’t find anywhere that she finds to be truly safe. Julianne Moore plays Carol White, the last name suggesting someone bland, but which also points to her Caucasian, entitled, upper-class demographic. The actress said she used a quiet, high-pitched voice suggesting Carol couldn’t breathe, which may imply she is being deprived spiritually and physically of life. The weak voice also shows her character has no ballast in her world to anchor her. She lives in California's San Fernando Valley. She doesn’t work, has a stepson, not a natural child, and lives in her husband’s house. It’s like she is a ghost who tried to attach to life through things, not people, or any interests of depth, and is more interested in superficial activities, such as decorating her house. She begins to suffer ailments that are undiagnosable, and her dismissive doctor suggests it must be something psychiatric. She gets an attack when she has another woman’s child sitting on her lap, which could suggest her lack of family ties to ground her. The film allows for various takes on what is happening concerning people with these strange ailments and how they deal with their situation, and those who cope or exploit the situation of the afflicted.

 

The first sound of the film is Carol sneezing as she and her husband, Greg (Xander Berkeley), return from an outing. It foreshadows all that is to come and plants the seed of suspicion as to whether this suburban affluent paradise is sustainable. When she and her husband have sex, she looks distant and is obviously not engaged in passionate intimacy. She later has a reaction to aerosol sprays her husband uses and vomits. We also have views of electrical wire towers everywhere. Roger Ebert said there are several scenes where there is, “a low-level hum on the soundtrack … It suggests that malevolent machinery of some sort is always at work somewhere nearby. Air conditioning, perhaps, or electrical motors, or idling engines, sending gases and waste products into the air. The effect is to make the movie’s environment quietly menacing.”

 As Carol becomes weaker and sicker, she finds that she may be part of the population that has a controversial diagnosis of multiple chemical sensitivity. According to IMDb, symptoms include, “fatigue, headaches, nausea, and dizziness.” She gets a nosebleed while being exposed to chemicals at her hairdresser. Can that be psychosomatic or is it a symptom of an actual physical ailment? Early on, Greg is unsympathetic as he acts selfish like an adolescent who becomes angry that his girl has headaches and will not have sex with him. The result is to blame the victim for the problem. Carol eventually has trouble breathing and pulls around an oxygen tank that she uses to help her respiration. She changes her diet and other habits but to no avail. 

 At this point the film seems to be dwelling on the effects created by the abuse of the ecological system. In a formula-driven story, the audience would expect that the cause of Carol’s disease will be discovered, she will be vindicated for insisting her illness was real, and maybe get better, while the polluters will be punished. But, as Ebert says, Haynes, “has something more insidious up his sleeve.” The film starts to explore how Carol and others who share her predicament deal with their problems. Instead of socially and politically trying to rectify environmental problems, she adopts the California way of dealing with things, which is to use money to go to a retreat, a new-age type of place that urges that individuals look inward to solve their ills. The place she retreats to (because what she and others like her do is withdraw from the world) is called Wrenwood, a remote place away from city life which is supposedly devoid of pollutants. 

 Wrenwood is run by Peter Dunning (Peter Friedman), who is HIV positive and also claims to have environmental sensitivity. He seems reliable based on his experience of being initially dismissed as an AIDS victim. But, instead of channeling the attendees' energy to fight for acknowledgment of their illnesses, he blames the individual for getting sick by not having the right positive frame of mind to strengthen the immune system. The result is to attach guilt to those who are ill. At one point Peter is talking to Carol and the leader points out a coyote looking at them. The image appears to be symbolic, showing Peter as the animal preying on these lost souls since cults recruit those who feel they are social outcasts. 

 

Ebert says Carol may be “responsible for aspects of her illness. Her life and world are portrayed as so empty, so pointless, that perhaps she has grown allergic as a form of protest. In that case the spa won’t help either, because it is simply a new form of the same spoiled lifestyle.” Ebert, thus, suggests that she may be “poisoning herself,” and “maybe the blissful group leaders at the spa are doing to her mind what pollution did to her lungs.” 

 

So, despite the avoidance of chemical products by wearing cotton clothing and eating and drinking organic substances, Carol continues to feel sick. A visitation from her family is detached and she has no friends who visit her, implying her life was and is a lonely one. There is a momentary connection with a male member in this community, but the film again subverts expectations when he and Carol appear ready to become intimate and the man abruptly leaves her standing alone. She moves into an igloo-like sterile dwelling that was occupied by a man who recently died, not a good omen for Carol. She first removes herself from her privileged community and then further exiles herself from the outcast spa compound. 

 

The movie ends with her secluded in the curved housing which suggests a womb, implying Carol’s regression to an almost prenatal existence. She looks into a mirror and says, “I love you,” but her sad face undermines her declaration. We are left with an unresolved conclusion as to what are the causes of Carol’s ailments and if she will ever be reborn into a healthy world.

The next film is Fried Green Tomatoes.

7 of the Greatest Movie Cliffhangers

We have a guest post today from Hotdog.com.

7 of the Greatest Movie Cliffhangers

 Most film endings are straightforward. Heroes successfully set off on a quest of self-discovery, and the audience feels a sigh of relief as they ride off into the sunset. However, sometimes the most memorable movies don't spell out everything. They leave us with a cliffhanger to debate, interpret and re-watch to find details we missed before. The following films, we believe, boast 7 of the greatest movie cliffhangers, many of which are available to enjoy on popular streaming platforms.

Spoiler alert – we discuss the plots below.

 

Take Shelter

 

An apocalyptic storm is on the horizon. At least, that's what Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) believes while experiencing a series of horrifying nightmares. His history of mental health issues and increasing paranoia compel him to build a fallout shelter, but his precautions create skepticism. Whether or not his visions are true lasts until the final frame. Even then, the film’s symbolism of the storm as a reflection of Curtis’s mental state leaves doubt about his family's survival.

 

The Birds

 Director Alfred Hitchcock cultivated a catalog of suspenseful work for movie buffs to study while also struggling to sleep at night. His adaptation of Daphne DuMaurier's novel upends his staple of human-driven murder mysteries with birds attacking a peaceful seaside town. The film doesn't answer what makes the birds tick. Instead, the ending only beckons us to wonder if humankind can survive as the cast led by Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor search for a sanctuary. Unfortunately, birds occupy the scenery as far as the eye can see, causing viewers to wonder if Mother Nature has won once and for all.

 

Prisoners

 

Director Denis Villeneuve is no stranger when it comes to infusing his films with palpable intrigue. Prisoners is one of the best examples of his auteur style. Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) will do anything he can to find his missing daughter and her friend. As he takes the law into his hands, Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) unravels a labyrinth of similar cases filled with dead ends and disturbing secrets. As Dover becomes the ultimate victim, the conclusion beckons the audience to wonder with hope or despair if Loki will uncover the truth right in front of him to solve everything.

 

The Graduate

 

Who knew young love could be so tumultuous? College graduate Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) engages in an affair with an older woman, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), and then falls head-over-heels for her daughter Elaine (Katharine Ross). Benjamin and Elaine have one thing in common: they feel tied down by their parents' expectations about their careers and relationships. Caught in-between arranged plans for the future, Benjamin and Elaine manage to break free during her wedding ceremony. As the adrenaline wears off, their stunned expressions don't paint a picture of living happily ever after. The final moments are a hallmark of a classic film as we're left to decide if they made the right choice.

 

Mulholland drive

 Director David Lynch always offers a surrealist escape, but even he outwits his genius with Mulholland Drive. Aspiring actress Betty Elmes (Naomi Watts) befriends an amnesiac (Laura Elena Harring) recovering from a car accident. Their lives strangely intersect with other actresses who look exactly like them and whose fates dissolve into murder/suicide. Was it all a dream or alternative realities merging? Unfortunately, or fortunately, Lynch remains secretive about the ending. His execution to use the same actresses to play multiple roles and the unreliable narrative makes it one of the most theorized cliffhangers in movie history.

 

The Empire Strikes Back

 

From superhero flicks to action blockbusters, franchises are commonplace now. But in 1980, a space opera trilogy-in-the-making took the world by storm with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. As the sequel to Star Wars – A New Hope, fans caught up with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo attempting to bring down Darth Vader's regime. Nobody could prepare for the shocking revelation that Skywalker was Vader's son, or the dread of Solo forever frozen in carbonite. Even though we know what happens to the original trilogy characters today, Lucas's original vision is the blueprint for an installment that leaves audiences wanting more.

 

Inception

 Any film by director Christopher Nolan is a worthy entry on this list. However, Inception deserves extra recognition because of the iconic ending. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) extracts secrets from his clients' subconscious minds better than anyone. But when he accepts the opportunity to do the impossible – plant an idea – his guilty conscience seeps into his mission. Nolan's intricate world-building around reality and dreams makes it difficult to tell the difference between the two. An elegant solution is to give the characters a totem. Cobb's totem is a top and links to a tragic accident in his past he hasn't healed from. If he uses it while dreaming, it will never topple. Using this to his advantage, Nolan crafts an ending where Cobb finally frees himself from his mistake and spins the top one last time. However, the film cuts away before we ever find out if the top ever stops spinning. Though most films' ambiguity builds to a flawed and unfulfilling conclusion, Nolan's attention to detail will encourage audiences to debate Inception's ending forever.

The Caine Mutiny

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

The Caine Mutiny (1954) deals with the strains of military command, and honor and self-sacrifice versus selfishness. The film begins with a graduation ceremony for ensigns in the U. S. Navy who are about to join the fight in WWII. The man giving the address uses high-minded words that do not anticipate what happens when the fight against the enemy is compromised by confrontation with fellow seamen. Willie Keith (Robert Francis), a Princeton graduate, is one of the ensigns who, despite his adult status as a military man, is controlled by his wealthy mother. Mrs. Keith (Katherine Warren) bullies him into coming to her party instead of celebrating with fellow soldiers. He disappoints his girlfriend, May Wynn (same as her actual name), by gesturing he will join up with her later instead of introducing her to his mother right then. Willie probably knows that his mother will not like any woman who lessens the connection to her. Willie meets the angry May later at the club where she sings. She becomes more upset when she realizes he only has a couple of days to spend with her until he ships out. There is the sexual implication that instead of going out that they could use the forty-eight hours otherwise. She stops him short, and suggests that they get married first. She knows he's dominated by his mother, and her hopes of liberating him fall flat as he dismisses the idea of a wedding.

 

After Mrs. Keith’s overprotective advice about staying safe no matter what, Willie travels to Pearl Harbor to board the Caine, a minesweeper, which is a dilapidated ship. It does not live up to Willie’s expectations of a battleship or aircraft carrier that would carry him into glorious battle. As one man says of the Caine, “the only thing that’s keeping the water out is rust.” Willie meets communications officer Lt. Tom Keefer (Fred MacMurray), who fancies himself a writer. If there is a villain in the story it is Tom, not Lt. Commander Queeg (Humphrey Bogart), the captain. Tom is an elitist who stirs up trouble but doesn’t have the courage to stand by his convictions, allowing others to take responsibility for actions he incites. He calls Willie’s orders, “Those monstrous papers that transform ex-civilians into men without minds.” His comment reveals his disdain and his prejudice as to how the military functions. (It’s interesting that the story is based on Herman Wouk’s novel, and that the writer made the author the bad guy).

 

Willie also encounters the executive officer, the second in command, Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson). He is a man who becomes torn between his military loyalty and what he feels he must do to protect the other servicemen. Steve takes Willie to see the current captain, Blakely (Warner Anderson), who tells him he is in the “junkyard navy,” suggesting he better adjust his expectations. Tom orients both Willie and Ensign Barney Harding (Jerry Paris) while displaying his sarcasm. He says that during a year and a half they have yet to sweep one mine, which means that their equipment was “designed by geniuses to be run by idiots.” He says that to run the engine room, “all you need is any group of well-trained monkeys. Ninety-nine percent of everything we do is strict routine. Only one percent requires creative intelligence.” He continues to show contempt for those who must do the dirty, hard work of fighting the war. 

 

At lunch, Tom says that those assigned to the Caine are “all doing penance, sentenced to an outcast ship, manned by outcasts, and named after the greatest outcast of them all.” He is, of course, referring to Cain who killed his brother as told in the Bible. He is likening deployment on the ship as the equivalent of permanent exile for violating the rules of society. Blakely even complains about wanting relief from the Caine. He says he received a request from an admiral to have Willie transferred to his staff. His mother probably used her influence to try and have her son reassigned to a cushier position. Willie is obviously embarrassed by his mother’s attempt at gaining preferential treatment for him, and requests to stay onboard, to which Tom says he will regret that decision. Tom only cares about his own needs and is not concerned about integrity. Steve, however, puts himself in danger of a shark attack by diving overboard to retrieve some lost equipment, something the self-serving Tom would never do. 

 

Blakely summons Willie to reprimand him for not decoding and delivering a dispatch that the ensign forgot when he was aiding Steve in his rescue mission. Blakely enters a negative comment in Willie’s record. The ensign feels that it was just one mistake and that everyone on the Caine is not performing the way they should. He basically feels that Blakely’s negative stance encourages the poor attitude of the other sailors. It turns out that the dispatch stated that Blakely is being relieved. When asked if that is favorable to Willie, he says it is. His response turns out to fit the saying, “watch out what you wish for.”

 

Blakely tells the new captain, Queeg, the ship should be made into “razor blades” given its rundown appearance. This physically negative assessment also applies to the crew according to Blakely, but he says each man is a worthy soldier. However, being assigned to a second-rate vessel most likely plays into Queeg’s doubts about his own self-esteem which places self-imposed pressure on him to counter the look of failure with which he has become associated. Blakely unofficially accepts a watch as a going-away gift from the sailors, but says that he will run it one half-hour late to remind him of the fouled-up crew of the Caine. He’s being falsely sarcastic, but it does reflect the negativity that the men of the Caine have come to adopt. 

 

Queeg’s first interaction with the officers of the crew is standard military toughness tempered by some humor as Queeg says he had some tough times in the Atlantic and sometimes thought the enemy was going after him personally. They laugh but it does hint at Queeg’s paranoia that becomes overt later. Blakely was loose with the rules and said that may have made him a lesser captain. Queeg is just the opposite, wanting unreasonably high standards to be followed. He considers himself a “book” man, and says that he is the ultimate authority since there is “the right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way” of doing things. He rewrites accepted standards of performance to fit his level of desired achievement by saying, “excellent performance is standard, standard performance is sub-standard, and sub-standard performance is not permitted to exist.” On the one hand he sounds extremely exacting; however, could it be that the crew’s acceptance of mediocrity aids in bringing out the worst in Queeg? 

 We get an immediate example of Queeg’s placing overemphasis on small details to build up his sense of self-worth when he tells his officers that untucked shirt tails, non-regulation haircuts, and facial hair will not be permitted. He assigns Willie to be the “morale officer,” but the annoying rules that he must impose produce the opposite of creating good feelings onboard. Queeg says they have been assigned to tow targets and they will be the best at that job. He pulls out three metal balls that he rotates in his right hand which becomes a manifestation of his obsessive, ruminating mind. One could say that he is losing his “marbles,” his mental faculties, and he is trying to hold onto them before going insane. After Queeg leaves the cabin, Willie says the captain “certainly is Navy,” to which Tom wittily says, “Yeah, so was Captain Bligh.” His comment indicates that an overzealous attitude toward adherence to regulations can lead to cruelty. Since Bligh’s actions led to the mutiny on the Bounty, Tom’s remark is also a foreshadowing. 

During the assignment, one of the seamen, nicknamed “Horrible” (Claude Akins), the name possibly implying the state of affairs on the Caine, wears his shirt out because of a heat rash. Not a good enough excuse for Queeg. He yells through the public address system for Willie and then also blames Tom since he was the officer on deck during this lack of regulatory appearance. He tells Tom that his duties preclude his novel writing, which is all that Tom really cares about. Queeg’s focus on minor infractions allows him to lose sight of more important issues. As he yells at the crewmen, the Caine continues on the course Queeg set and the ship navigates in a circle and cuts the target towing line. Queeg is so insecure he can’t admit he is at fault, so blame must be placed elsewhere, and instead says the towing line was faulty. 

 

Queeg then shifts his harsh manner to a more genial one when talking with Willie. He shows that he is a character with different facets. He attempts to explain his concern about “petty” details, saying “big things are made up of details.” He says that a loose nail in a horseshoe can lead to the loss of a battle. Because of this point of view, he admits that a captain’s job can be lonely and misunderstood. In a way, he is looking for some relief from that isolation. He tells Willie, “Forget that I bawled you out.” Willie seems relieved. But Queeg tends to veer off his mental course when he can’t see the big picture of the forest by concentrating on the individual trees. 

 Tom receives a message that the Caine must return to San Francisco, and he believes Queeg will be reprimanded for the towing line incident, and he reminds Willie he will be able to see May. However, Willie doesn't seem excited about the prospect, since his relationship with her most likely reminds him of his inability to stand up to his mother. It is interesting that Willie’s taking orders from his mother led him to being a soldier taking commands. Mrs. Keith and May meet him at the pier, and he first gravitates toward his mother but then quickly introduces May. His attempt at independence continues as he plans some time at Yosemite Park with May. His mother makes him promise not to do anything “rash,” which means getting married, which would loosen the tightness of her apron strings. 

 

At Yosemite, Willie’s attempted defiance of his mother’s rule is evident as he says he came without needing any permission. It is suggested that he and May spent the night together, since in response to his marriage proposal the next day she says she doesn’t want him to feel obligated to marry her because he feels it is “the decent thing to do.” She tells him “no” about the marriage because she sees that he is more concerned with making a show of independence than really not caring what his mother wants. She says that he will be miserable without Mrs. Keith’s blessing. So, his default position is taking orders. Later Tom emphasizes this point when he tells Willie that he has to get over being impressed by those in authority, like captains and parents. This sequence allows for some time off of the boat, but some may argue that the romantic sublot distracts from the suspense of the main story.

 

Contrary to Tom’s prediction, Queeg is still the captain, who says that there was some misunderstanding about what happened with the tow line. Queeg said that they were in San Francisco to get new radar equipment installed as opposed to Queeg’s removal, which is what Tom had hoped for. Queeg told the admiral that he was at a disadvantage in inheriting such a lowly ship and crew and that he would work to compensate for this fact. Any mistakes he makes he denies and places the blame on others, which is a political maneuver. Their new orders are to assist in an invasion. 

 

During the mission to escort Marines in amphibious landing craft to a beach, Queeg makes a couple of blunders, allowing the inexperienced Willie to take command and thus putting the Marines in danger of a collision with the Caine. Steve compensates for these mistakes. There is heavy fire around them and Queeg appears shaken. He possibly is experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder from previous battles. He pulls out of the area too quickly and leaves a yellow dye marker in a feeble attempt to help the Marines navigate to shore.

The yellow stain becomes a symbol for the men of Queeg’s supposed cowardice. They even make up a sarcastic song called “Old Yellowstain.” Steve hears them and puts a stop to it since it is cruel as he sees it to insult the man. Queeg has another meeting where he says he doesn’t feel well, probably because he is upset by his actions during the assignment. He again shows his humanity as he tries to make a connection, as he did with Willie, by saying he has a wife, child and a dog who are fond of him, so he is like the crew, and they should not be afraid of him. He says he can use “constructive loyalty,” so he is asking for “help.” He likens a ship to a family, which, despite differing ideas, the members “pitch in for the good of the family.” His eyes shift around as if seeking some support and says he would listen to their suggestions. Nobody reaches out a hand to help the shaky captain, so what follows is not entirely Queeg’s fault.

 

After the meeting, Steve looks at the plaque that shows that the ship is named after a war hero, not the biblical criminal that Tom metaphorically suggested. Fiction writers do warp reality. Tom has no sympathy for Queeg and amusedly suggests contacting columnist Walter Winchell, another winter, to go outside the chain of command to blow the whistle on Queeg. Steve and Willie were moved by Queeg’s speech, but Willie says the man turned coward on them. Steve points out Willie’s inexperience and stresses that Queeg has been worn down by his past combat encounters. Tom quashes any sentimentality, which is what a writer should do, but not necessarily a human being. Tom doesn’t see Queeg as being exhausted by war but instead paints him as a “Freudian delight.” He says that he has a pathology that indicates paranoia separate from his military life. Tom says the metal balls, not looking others straight on (which would most likely imply looking for threats), and constant headaches point to mental problems. Steve is defensive, saying “everybody’s a screwball in some way. That doesn’t make them crazy.” Tom, always thinking of his own interests, says he will not go to the fleet physician’s office with Steve unless he supports Tom’s viewpoint. Steve doesn’t believe the diagnosis at this point and says they must drop the accusations immediately or he will report them.

 

Tom’s comments have worked their way into Steve’s thoughts. He reads a book about mental disorders and begins a log about possible examples of Queeg’s psychiatric problems. Incidents are enacted showing Queeg not informed about the showing of a movie and then prohibiting films for thirty days. It’s possible since he wasn’t notified, his subconscious felt neglected, and he lashed out in retribution. He penalizes everyone by denying recreational liberty because some are not wearing combat gear during an exercise. He actually sees a few men not outfitted but by the time Willie looks all the men are equipped, and it appears to him that Queeg is seeing things that aren’t there. Steve notes that the morale on the ship is very low.

 The famous incident that follows in this story revolves around a gift the ship received from another vessel which consisted of a gallon of frozen strawberries. Queeg calls his officers together at one o’clock in the morning about the remainder of the fruit that he says is missing. He has a steward dole out sand to represent the portions eaten at dinner and interrogates each officer as to the number of servings they had. He says there should be a quart remaining. Not only was this a prized gift that he sees as having been stolen, but he continues to see himself as the victim of conspiracies to make him look like a fool, which would point to a paranoid state of mind. He orders an investigation to go through the night, an extreme demand considering this “petty” incident that is similar to one he talked about earlier.

 The officers, represented by Steve and Tom, report that their findings were inconclusive. Queeg of course is unsatisfied and says that he has been able to reason it out that a duplicate key to the icebox was fashioned by the crook. Of course, there is no evidence of this fact, only a possibility that Queeg has constructed to justify his warped view of events. Queeg’s plan is to collect all the keys onboard and label which ones belonged to whom. Then have the men strip so they can’t hide any keys. The key that opens the door will identify the thief. He relates that he found the culprit of a similar crime on another ship. Thus, his pathology has its roots earlier on. Queeg insists that the strawberry felon will not toss the key because he went to too much trouble to make it, which is a dubious claim. There is joking about the whole affair during the stripping, as Meatball (Lee Marvin) wants to know if they will x-ray him to see if he swallowed the key. Harding is leaving because his wife is ill, and he confides to Steve, Tom, and Willie that he saw the mess seamen eat the rest of the strawberries. He told Queeg who threatened him with a delayed departure if he revealed the facts. Queeg didn’t want his theory about the key undermined since it would make him look foolish. He probably wanted to show himself off as a great detective. 

 

Tom tells Steve that Queeg is reenacting his triumph over discovering the cheese robber, implying he is attempting to bolster his paranoid ego. Tom is like Iago whispering in Othello’s ear, urging him to act on his suspicions. He quotes regulations that would allow Steve to relieve Queeg of command. After the strawberry investigation, Steve asks Tom and Willie to accompany him to talk to the fleet admiral. But, the cowardly Tom pulls out since he only wants others to take risks to get what he wants. He says that the admiral will not believe them since those not on the Caine haven’t seen Queeg’s mannerisms and will side with Queeg since it will only seem like he was disciplining them. He even admits that he has, “a yellow streak fifteen miles wide. I’m too smart to be brave,” which shows how he has disdain for those soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect their country. The film suggests that his selfishness would mean defeat in war if all are as “smart” as he is. Steve abandons the meeting since he needed Tom to make the argument. 

 

A typhoon engulfs the area. Queeg will not admit they are in trouble which fits with his concern over his self-esteem. He freezes when the ship is in danger of sinking because he wants to hold to the course that was initially ordered. He doesn’t want to look like he is not following his assignment. But Steve points out that the orders did not take into account the danger they are in. Steve relieves him and changes course, saving the ship. Queeg, not willing to admit his inability to handle his duties then says all officers who go along with Steve will all be convicted of mutiny.

 Barney Greenwald (Jose Ferrer), a lawyer, meets with Steve, Willie, and Tom, who says he is “holding” the coat of the other man, and says he is a “friend of the family.” His inappropriate humor does not fit the seriousness of the situation, which Greenwald points out. Tom will not put himself in the same category of the other two as he distances himself from the effects resulting from his actions. Greenwald says he thinks what happened “stinks,” and that eight other lawyers turned down the case. He is there to talk with Steve before he decides to defend him. This resistance to defend Steve’s actions shows how the allegiance to the chain of command is difficult to counter. Greenwald points out that a few ships were lost regardless of the competency of the captains because of the ferocity of the storm. The overwhelming number of ships in the fleet were saved without having to remove captains, the lawyer says. Greenwald points out that the Navy has psychiatrists that will testify to Queeg’s sanity. Tom says Steve should get a medal and that paranoids are shrewd at not being detected. He says, “They walk a thin line between sanity and lunacy.” Greenwald points out that Tom is no psychiatrist, but if he was the one who first recognized Queeg’s symptoms, then he can testify. He tells Tom that he will share in the responsibility for the removal of Queeg if he does so. Tom points out that he isn’t on trial and walks out. Steve is honorable, unlike Tom, and says it’s his responsibility alone for what happened. Greenwald says he’d rather be the prosecutor, but takes the case. Greenwald is sarcastic when he says that Steve will plead not guilty because he is “a great naval hero.”

 Lt. Commander Challee (E. G. Marshall) is the prosecutor who points out Queeg’s experience and the crew’s subjective dislike of the captain for being strict. When Tom is on the stand he lies that he wasn’t the one that suggested Queeg’s mental illness and says he wasn’t on the bridge to determine who was right or wrong When Steve relieved Queeg. He then says that he did not think the evidence shows that Queeg should have been relieved of command. He sells out Steve to save his own skin. Greenwald doesn’t cross-examine because he says that Tom will just continue to lie and make it more difficult for Steve. (One may question why Greenwald would not recall Willie to the stand to contradict Tom’s testimony). Willie, outside the courtroom and ignorant of the testimony, thinks Tom is good with words and knows what he was doing. Tom says, “Yeah, I knew what I was doing.” It shows that he realizes how he double-crossed his friend. 

 

Lt Commander Dickson (Whit Bissell) says that Queeg was not mentally unstable, but says he compensated for his problems. Greenwald brings out that Queeg had an inferiority complex brought about by his childhood and arduous service that made him have “rigidity of personality, feelings of persecution, unreasonable suspicion, a mania for perfection, and a neurotic certainty that he is always in the right.” He gets the doctor to admit that Queeg has a paranoid personality. Dickson says that that kind of disorder would not cause a problem for someone in command. Greenwald points out Dickson’s lack of naval experience so he was not qualified personally to know how the strains of naval command would act upon a paranoid personality. But Dickson saw those in positions of authority in private life, so the prosecutor tries to show that Dickson’s judgment is sound.

 Steve is not convincing as a witness since he hasn’t the understanding to professionally judge Queeg’s mental competence. But, he says, as Willie pointed out earlier, these distanced reviewers were not witnessing Queeg’s actions firsthand. 

 

Queeg takes the stand and reverses the accusations, stating that Steve was the one who was acting wildly and thought he was the only one who was in the right. Queeg says that Willie was a poor officer who sided with Steve, but he is not angry with them and says he feels “extremely sorry for them.” He is crafty, as Tom said, and appears very reasonable at this point. When Greenwald questions him, Queeg’s personality problems surface when he is under stress. He admits to several crewmen being disloyal, and becomes flustered when answering about cutting the towline and dropping a yellow dye so he could steam away from an intense situation. He becomes agitated when insisting that there was a duplicate key to the freezer housing the strawberries. When Greenwald says he can produce Ensign Hardy who will state that he told Queeg that the mess seamen ate the remaining strawberries and that Queeg conducted a false search to justify his prior accusations. It is at this point that Queeg pulls out his marbles in his hand and says that Harding will only tell lies. The court can now see Queeg’s agitation and paranoia for themselves, which surfaces under stress that is far less intense than that of a ship in a typhoon. 

 

There is a celebration following the court’s acquittal of Steve, which is inappropriate given how an experienced officer was humiliated in court. Tom shows up and is grateful to Steve for not telling the others how he sold his friend out. Steve is a decent man who turns the other cheek and says to just forget it. Greenwald arrives, drunk, and sick about his part in the court martial. He indicts the partygoers for their lack of empathy and refusal to help Queeg when he was open to connecting with his fellow officers. He sees their actions as contributing to the man’s downfall. Greenwald points out that people like Queeg were protecting the country while those like the young Willie were at Princeton. Greenwald then confronts Tom, and calls him the “man who should’ve stood trial,” and he discloses what Tom said on the stand. Greenwald says to Tom that, “you hated the Navy. And then you made up this whole idea. And you managed to keep your skirts nice and starched and clean, even in the court martial. Steve Maryk will always be remembered as a mutineer. But you, you’ll publish your novel, you’ll make a million bucks, you’ll marry a big movie star, and for the rest of your life you’ll live with your conscience, if you have any. Now here’s to the real author of “The Caine Mutiny.” Here’s to you, Mr. Keefer.” Greenwald is likening Tom’s manipulation of people as to how a writer controls his fictional characters. He then throws his glass of champagne in Tom’s face and says he’ll wait for him outside if he wants to fight concerning what he said. Greenwald stresses Tom’s lack of courage for what he stands for when he says, “I’m a lot drunker than you are, so it will be a fair fight.”

 

Willie finally seems to find the balance he sought between service to others and individuality. He defies his mother and marries May but then reports to his new ship that happens to have his original skipper, Blakely, as captain. The man, like Steve, does not carry a grudge about Willie’s earlier disapproval of him, and maybe actually agrees now with Willie’s original assessment of him. He allows Willie to take the ship out so that the young ensign can gain the experience needed to be a successful leader.

The next film is Safe.

The Stunt Man

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

 

 The Stunt Man (1980) is about making movies and the sometimes demonic way that the process plays with reality. The opening has one dog blocking a car’s access, and another dog snarling and trying to bite someone in a diner. However, on a TV commercial playing in that restaurant, a perfectly trained pooch jumps through a woman’s bent leg. The images show how video alters reality to fit the filmmaker’s agenda. 

 

 Cameron (Steve Railsback) is in the diner. (His name, noted by IMDb, is a play on “camera on,” which stresses the fact that the actor, who is being filmed by a camera, plays a fugitive who will play a stunt man, who will also be photographed). He is a Vietnam vet wanted for attempted murder, which we discover much later. Policemen are in the diner, and they attempt to arrest him, but he escapes. He tries to hitchhike on a bridge. A car, a Duesenberg, which is an unusual anachronistic vehicle to be there, stops and he assumes he is to be picked up. But, the driver yells at him, telling Cameron to get lost. When the car reverses its direction, Cameron throws something at the car, but when he looks, the car disappeared (a bit of movie magic). A helicopter descends and hovers next to the bridge. It has a camera on it which shows Cameron has wandered onto a movie shoot. The director, Eli Cross (Peter O’Toole, nominated for an Oscar for this role) stares intently at Cameron. His first name, Eli, means God in Hebrew, according to IMDb, and, of course, his last name conjures up Christ being crucified. Eli descends from the sky, like a deity, but he is ironically more like an anti-Christ as he controls destinies in his make-believe world which spills over into the actual one. IMDb points out that T-shirts worn by crew members show the title of the film Eli is making is “Devil’s Squadron,” which would clearly equate Eli with Satan.

 

 Cameron heads to a beach and as he strolls on a boardwalk, he notices someone painting the ocean and sand on a canvas. The shot emphasizes how art tries to recreate the actual world, but it is just a copy, not the genuine thing. He watches other people gathering to look down on the beach where the film crew is working. A WWI airplane flies by, which shows how movies within their own structure can warp time as they create their own representation of life. The people there applaud as supposed bullets are fired and explosions go off. We are the real audience and they are a fake one, our surrogates, since they are in a movie about the making of a movie. The special effects are so real that the audience, Cameron among them, are fooled into thinking an actor playing a soldier really had his leg blown off. But, they are relieved when they see makeup was used to create the effect. The scene shows how people automatically suspend their sense of reality when watching a story unfold.

 

An old woman approaches one of the actors and asks for an autograph. She then falls into the ocean and Cameron tries to save her. She turns out to be the leading actress, Nina Franklin (Barbara Hershey), wearing makeup to see if she will pass for a senior citizen later in the film’s story. She not only fools Cameron but also those making the movie. It’s as if the film is suggesting that anyone is susceptible to accepting illusion for reality. She tells Cameron to follow through with rescuing her, as if to continue a scene from a film. He even comments on the verisimilitude of the activity by saying that it’s “just like the movies.” Even the master of illusion, Eli, says he was “scared” she might have been harmed.

 

Eli’s helicopter lands and he exits upset as he tells Ace (Philip Bruns) that the car that went off the bridge drifted downstream and the stunt man driving it drowned. True catastrophes occur while telling a fictional tale. This accident happened while Cameron was mistaking a phony event for a real threat. Eli tells Ace not to divulge anything about the accident since real life would infringe upon his imaginative creation, which is more important to him than anything else.

 

Eli saw Cameron on the bridge from his chopper and smartly deduces that he was running away. As cops arrive at the scene Eli observes how nervous Cameron becomes. He also notices that Cameron has the severed remains of handcuffs on his wrists, which Eli alters, as he does with other perceptions as a director, calling them “charm bracelets.” Eli knows he can use Cameron’s situation to help him concerning the loss of the stunt man. Cameron says the car was speeding toward him and he implies that his defensive reaction was one he adopted in Vietnam, where he evaded “gooks.” Eli says that he thought that racist term was just something made up by “Time Magazine.” His comment shows how what is taken as real some may believe just came from something an individual made up.

 

Jake (Alex Rocco) is the local police chief, and he is angry about Cross disrupting the everyday existence of the town because of the filming. He sees the film crew as a sort of invasion of his real-life domain. In order to avoid legal problems, that is, reality interfering with his creative project, Eli invents (what else?) a story. He says that Cameron is really the supposedly deceased stunt man, Burt (ironically played by Michael Railsback, which adds a real relationship to the fictional one). Since Cameron is wet from “rescuing” Nina, Eli can say that Burt was recovered from the submerged car. As the two are hoisted up on a crane, Eli tells Cameron that he can have the whole crew and actors greet him as “Burt,” which shows the extent of Eli’s power. His ascension into the air stresses Eli’s omnipotence. So, Cameron goes undercover, and deceptively plays multiple parts, one outside the film, that of Burt, and also as a stunt man pretending to be other actors within the movie. Eli says that people like to believe stories, they enjoy shedding incredulity, and since the cops are people, they’ll believe what Eli is creating. (Director Richard Rush said in an interview that having a story where a person is hiding on a movie set and is dominated by a director was, “a way to examine our universal panic and paranoia of controlling our own destinies.” In a way, that is what happens to all actors within the context of making a film).

 Eli says he will be on the set “in a minute.” His employee says is that “a real minute or an Eli minute,” stressing the two types of realities co-existing here. To emphasize this idea, Eli tells Cameron, as they approach a door, that the barrier is “a looking glass” and on the other side is “wonderland.” He tells Cameron to close his eyes, which he does. In a way, the director of the film we are watching, Rush, makes us close our eyes, too, since the screen goes dark, joining us with the fictional character. When the next lit scene is revealed, the hair stylist, Denise (Sharon Farrell) has cut Cameron’s hair, turned it blonde, and Cameron has lost his beard. He now resembles the dead Burt who was made to look like the lead actor, Raymond Bailey (Adam Roarke). The wizardry of the movies has resurrected a man, at least in the pretend world. Eli now calls Cameron “Lucky,” a term that at this point seems appropriate since he has escaped the cops.

 

Denise seduces Cameron and as they recline on the floor of the trailer, that shot is in counterpoint to the next one where we have an actor in a similar position playing a dead soldier. The contrast stresses how the same physical position can imply intense life and the end of one’s existence. In a scene with Raymond, Eli says the film is about how people put themselves in danger, just as Burt did, to give purpose to their lives. Cameron begins to learn stunts from the coordinator, Chuck (Charles Bail), who doesn’t seem thrilled to have an amateur to train. He asks Cameron how is he going to handle running across roofs while bullets are shot over his head? Cameron counters by saying that in Vietnam, he had to run while the enemy shot at his head, not over it, and he survived. His real-life experiences were more dangerous than the fake ones in the film. The effects in a movie do not replicate reality, but instead stylize it to produce the effect the director wants. Cameron wonders if Chuck is “putting” him on, and Chuck says, “I wouldn’t know how to do that.” But, that is exactly what he does for a living, presenting a false appearance. What follows are several scenes where Chuck shows the tricks (emphasis on that word) of the trade, including an awning that is a reinforced prop which is supposed to catch Cameron in a fall.

 

Ace complains about Eli being behind schedule because the director is not satisfied with certain scenes. There is the conflict here between the practical business aspect of moviemaking and the artistic desire to get the work done right. Sam (Allen Garfield), the screenwriter, tells Eli at dinner with the cast and crew that Eli missed his relevancy about making an anti-war film because it was now peacetime. But Eli says that Cameron thought the war was like a “plague.” Yet, he enlisted. Eli points out later that someone made a good anti-war movie, but when it was shown, enlistments increased, implying it had the opposite effect of what was intended. Cameron said earlier that he was just trying to get home for Thanksgiving, so sometimes he had to kill the enemy to do so. Eli says he is trying to show “that there is a reasonable and better way to get home for Thanksgiving.” Eli seems to be suggesting that he wants to show that there should be an alternative to engaging in war in the first place. Sam says that the studio will chop out the thematic parts and leave in the battle scenes. Eli likens that to having the fingers of one’s child cut off. When he asks Sam what he would do if the studio suggested that amputation be performed on his daughter, Sam says he would need to get a second opinion. It is a funny line, but it shows that although Eli has control on the movie site, there are those in the background that also want to have power over his destiny. He could be likened to a rebellious Lucifer showing his disdain for the god-like film company bosses. Police chief Jake interrupts the party and asks if anyone saw the fugitive, Cameron, and asks “Lucky” if his hair was always blonde. This scene adds suspense as to what might happen if Cameron is found out. Jake says that Eli must submit to someone in a higher position of authority to aid in the investigation of the car crash. Again, the filmmaker’s artistic vision is threatened by outside forces.

 Cameron, most likely feeling that he is in danger of being apprehended, packs a bag and looks like he is going to leave the hotel where the cast is staying. Eli, Denise, and Nina arrive. Cameron hides outside, and then he sees Nina through the oval-shaped glass of the hotel door. She looks radiant amid the chandelier in the background and the ornate wrap she is wearing that frames her. The view simulates a shot from a movie, and Cameron is attracted to her star appeal, which is an augmented illusion. He looks up at a tower that is part of the hotel and is surprised by Nina who asks if he is planning to rescue the “maiden” from that height, which is to occur in the movie. They have already played out a fake rescue and they revisit that make-believe scenario again, indulging in the escapism that movies provide. But, Cameron says Eli wouldn’t let him do the stunt if there was real danger. However, Eli has already lost a stunt man. Cameron says she can jump from the tower, and they go up to the ledge around the circular height. When up there, Nina becomes upset and angry and wants to escape as she can separate real danger from the imagined kind. When she realizes that Cameron is also frightened, his vulnerability draws her in, and they kiss. But then Eli focuses a spotlight on them. It’s a reminder that what we are watching as the audience is a scene from a film, not real life, but it also stresses Eli’s intervention in all of their lives.

 

Eli floats around on a crane, reinforcing his otherworldly persona. Cameron thinks Eli will sell him out to the cops if he shows footage of him on the bridge. Eli acts as if he is above all of that (literally and figuratively), as if regular rules don’t apply to filmmakers. He says that King Kong was a model that was only three feet, six inches tall. The illusion created by the movie presented him as an immense ape. Based on this power of altering perceived reality, the megalomaniac Eli says, “If God could do the tricks we can do, he’d be a happy man!” When Cameron asks why Eli would protect him, the director says the new stunt man is as “crazy” as the person he is making the film about. Eli adds, “I’ve fallen madly in love with the dark side of your nature.” These words point to Eli’s subversive nature. Later, Eli tells Sam that he wants to know what Cameron did that caused him to be wanted by the police, and that he sees him as being like a time bomb that can explode at any moment, which is what he sees as duplicated in the main character of his film. Eli’s fiction is inspired by actions and motivations of actual people.

 

When filming resumes Cameron performs numerous stunts, including jumping off of the tower and climbing over rooftops as bullets are shot and explosions go off. We wonder at some parts, as when Chuck hits him with a rifle butt and then Chuck falls off the building, if what’s happening is real or not. The sequence, which has great stunts for any film, ends with Cameron crashing into a brothel, which was substituted for an earlier scene in a mental institution. Even Cameron was surprised by some of the actions, and Chuck tells him that Eli likes the scenes to look spontaneous. There is a gray area here as to what is true of fake within the context of the movie within this movie. (Of course, we also know that there is a real stunt man filling in for the actor Railsback who supposedly is doing the stunts in the story). The cop Jake watches this action piece so he can be convinced that Cameron, alias Lucky, is Burt.

 

Sam says that when he read the original insane asylum part of the screenplay to his family, his son shook his hand for the first time out of admiration. But, Sam concedes that Eli’s “vulgar” brothel segment is more “moving” and “impassioned,” and he doesn’t know why. Eli says maybe it’s because, “the enemy may just be a poor horny slob, like yourself, falling into the nearest whorehouse.” Eli seems to be stressing the universality of behavior, and it fits in with his previous desire to offer an alternative way of thinking that may prevent wanting to go to war with others that are more alike than they are different. He says that he wants to show some of the madness behind the wartime action depicted. Eli asks Cameron what he would do to show that craziness if he were on the wing of an airplane about to die, and Cameron says he would dance. We see that scene being shot, and it looks as if Cameron is really on the wing of a WWI airplane high above the ground, and he dances. He then loses his footing which results in his hanging onto the edge of the wing. But then it is revealed that it is a special effect, and the plane is just a short distance off the ground and is being rotated, with Cameron safely tethered to the plane. It then appears that Cameron is being thrown form the plane and his face at first seems to reflect shock, but there is a transition, and he has really reached an orgasm while having sex with Nina.  Afterwards, the alarm clock goes off which Nina set to make sure they were on time on the set. Cameron also tries on her old- woman wig. She gets upset and wants the alarm turned off and for him not to ruin the wig. He wants her not to care about the clock and the wig, as a sort of defiance against Eli ruling her life, and thus having some control over her destiny.

 

There was a camera mounted in the car that filmed remote footage of Burt under water. Burt was supposed to get out but couldn’t escape. Cameron and Chuck watch the footage of Burt drowning, and it is a dark scene as they are an audience watching an actual death, not a fake one, as intended. Of course, it really isn’t since we are watching a movie. But, within the context of the story, an actual event substitutes for a contrived one. IMDb also suggests that Cameron here could be viewing his eventual drowning death. After all, he is the new Burt.

 Sam comes up with an idea that has the elderly character that Nina is portraying receive a gift from her love, the character who dies in the car accident. It is a collectible with figurines of a woman on a swing, legs apart, being approached by a bear. It suggests bestiality, or at least the merging of sweetness with danger, sort of the existence of opposites in life. As Nina acts out a scene with mementos at the unmarked grave of her deceased lover, Cameron learns from Denise that Nina and Eli were once romantically involved, which complicates how Cameron views Eli’s motivations toward him. At the end of the scene, Nina’s fondness for Eli is still evident as she hugs him.

 As Eli hands Cameron additional script material there is smoke surrounding them. It could be a special effect made from dry ice, but it lends a hellish element to Eli’s appearance. They head to a screening room where Jake and a FBI agent view footage of the car going off the bridge. Eli has someone state that he saw Cameron heading off elsewhere while the real Cameron sits there pretending to be Burt. Eli is directing real life now, not just a movie, as he has edited out Cameron’s appearance on the bridge. When Jake tells “Burt” that it’s surprising he survived, Eli says they must get back to work and still have time to kill Burt. He means in the movie, but it seems ominous, since Eli is jealous of Cameron’s relationship with Nina, and he may want to eliminate Cameron who can reveal that the director is covering up the real Burt’s death. As the two walk, Cameron voices his concern that Eli may make him drown as did the real Burt, thus getting his picture completed and just delaying knowledge of Burt’s death coming out. He says this while behind a closed fence, that makes him seem like he is trapped in Eli’s web.

 

After an involved war scene is cut short because of a lack of film, Eli’s wrath appears as he talks about how he can do all of these omnipotent activities within the film, including killing people, but he is frustrated that his minions can still ruin his movie. Meanwhile, in Cameron’s room, Nina plays out a scene, but Cameron is unresponsive, since he sees Nina as being deceitful about her relationship with Eli. She tosses him an apple and he takes a bite and then throws it away. The action appears to be symbolic of Eve bringing about Adam’s downfall.

 

Cameron shows up at a family birthday celebration for Nina, and they kiss and seem reconciled. Cameron learns from Henry (Jim Hess), the camera assistant, who is drunk at the bar, that Eli just let Burt drown so he could get the footage. Eli literally determines who lives and dies on his set. There is a switch to watching the rushes and Nina’s family gets to see her portraying someone else. But a nude scene appears, and Nina’s parents see the uncomfortable side of representing realistic images inside a fictional tale. The immoral Eli acts like it was a mistake that the shot was included, but he really allowed the image to be seen so Nina could portray “shame” on camera.

 Cameron confesses his fear to Nina that Eli may try to kill him when the shot of the car going off the bridge is recreated. He wants to leave, and she says she wants to know why he is being pursued before she commits to going with him. He tells her that the fellow soldier he was supposed to partner up with after the war was having sex with his girl. He broke into his comrade’s store and started to destroy it when a cop confronted him. Cameron threw a vat of ice cream at the officer, injuring him, but only causing frostbite of the nose and ear. However, he was charged with attempted murder. As he tells the story he revisits his violent wartime feelings as he did when he wrecked the store. He breaks and throws things in the prop room they are in, so we have a fake reenactment of an actual event, just like a movie. As they slide around on paint, they begin to laugh, showing how drama can turn into slapstick comedy, in movies and in life.

 

The two want to sneak out at night and they go to the garage, but Cross and the police have locked them down and secured the roads. Cameron says that Eli seems omniscient, knowing what he is planning to do. Cameron says he feels like he is in a story that Sam wrote, saying he doesn’t feel real and has to die because a “script says so.” Thus, again, art and life mix together. Cameron muses about how nice it would be if they tore out the last page of the script. He sees Nina’s smiling face reflected in the car window, as if it’s an image being projected on a screen, and they say they will do a “rewrite.” Instead of the car going off the bridge, he will drive away with Nina hiding in the trunk so that the two lovers can drive off and live happily ever after. They want the film’s story to end the way they want their own life to turn out.

 

Eli gives a film director’s god-like Sermon on the Mount as he bellows high up on a bridge (his usual default position, above everyone else) that no camera shall jam, and no cloud shall pass in front of the sun. They rig the car, another Duesenberg, for the last shot for the plunge into the water that Cameron wishes to avoid. Jake the police chief has his men there and they will be extras in the scene. It’s more blurring of the lines between fact and fiction. One of the deputies says that the rifles look too modern for WWI, which implies that movies can’t exactly replicate facts. Cameron says that the guns better have blanks, which shows his fear that actual danger may slip into the fabricated story. Cameron grabs the handle to the trunk where Nina was hiding. His double, the star, Raymond, seems to know that she is supposed to be in there and tells Cameron he doesn’t need to check, since it will not alter what action happens next. He seems to be the inability to alter one’s fate. Their faces are reflected in the car’s surface, showing how art mirrors life and vice versa, and it’s difficult to distinguish one reality from another.

 

The stressed-out Cameron mistakes a camera check for his cue to start driving. But there is a blowout of a tire, and the car goes off the bridge. Cameron is frantic, thinking that Nina will drown in the trunk. But, Cameron views Nina next to Eli on the Bridge. Cameron is able to get through the window of the car and swim to land. The cops dressed as soldiers approach menacingly and one says, “get him.” To Cameron, it sounds like he is being apprehended, but they are just there to help and congratulate him. Cameron laughs hysterically out of relief. There were divers in the water to help with his rescue. Nina tells him that Eli told her that Cameron changed his mind and decided to do the stunt, which, of course, was not the case, and was just another example of Eli manipulating those around him since everything must be subordinated to his artistic needs. She is delighted that he and Eli were now on good terms, another deception. She runs and messes up her outfit just to hug and kiss Cameron.

 Eli descends once again from a crane and implies that the possibility of him trying to kill Cameron was just for effect. Eli is taller and goes off flying in his helicopter, taking up his dominant stance. Cameron and Eli argue about how much Cameron should be paid. The fake stunt man appears like an angry Job incensed by how much suffering God has made him endure.

 

The next film is The Caine Mutiny.