The Great Movies III

438 Pages·2010·9.12 MB·english

by  Roger Ebert

The Great Movies III
Other Books by Roger Ebert
An Illini Century
A Kiss Is Still a Kiss
Two Weeks in the Midday Sun: A Cannes Notebook
Behind the Phantom’s Mask
Roger Ebert’s Little Movie Glossary
Roger Ebert’s Movie Home Companion annually 1986–1993
Roger Ebert’s Video Companion annually 1994–1998
Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook annually 1999–
Questions for the Movie Answer Man
Roger Ebert’s Book of Film: An Anthology
Ebert’s Bigger Little Movie Glossary
I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie
The Great Movies
The Great Movies II
Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert
Your Movie Sucks
Roger Ebert’s Four-Star Reviews 1967–2007
Scorsese by Ebert
With Daniel Curley
The Perfect London Walk
With Gene Siskel
The Future of the Movies: Interviews with Martin Scorsese,
Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas
DVD Commentary Tracks 
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
Crumb
Dark City
Floating Weeds
t h e
G r e at   M o v ie s
III
R o g e r   E b e r t
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago and London
Roger Ebert is the Pulitzer Prize–winning film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times. Starting in 1975,
he cohosted a long-running weekly movie-review program on television, first with Gene Siskel
and then with Richard Roeper. He is the author of numerous books on film, including The Great
Movies, The Great Movies II, Awake in the Dark: The Best of Roger Ebert, and Scorsese by Ebert, the
last two titles published by the University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The Ebert Company, Ltd.
Foreword © 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
isbn
-13: 978-0-226-18208-7 (cloth)
isbn
-10: 0-226-18208-8 (cloth)
Previous versions of these essays have appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, 2004–2009.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ebert, Roger.
The great movies III/Roger Ebert.
p. cm.
  isbn
-13: 978-0-226-18208-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
  isbn
-10: 0-226-18208-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Motion pictures. I. Title. II. Title: Great
movies three. III. Title: Great movies 3.
  pn e
1994 . 2323 2010
791.43'75—dc22
2010009016
a
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na-
tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ansi z
39.48-1992.
Contents
Foreword by David Bordwell .................................. ix
Introduction .............................................. xv
3 Women ................................................. 3
Ace in the Hole ............................................. 7
Adaptation ............................................... 11
After Dark, My Sweet ....................................... 15
After Hours ............................................... 19
The Age of Innocence ....................................... 23
Army of Shadows .......................................... 27
Atlantic City .............................................. 31
Au Revoir les Enfants ....................................... 35
Babel .................................................... 39
The Band Wagon ......................................... 43
Baraka ................................................... 48
The Battle of Algiers ........................................ 52
Bergman’s Trilogy 1: Through a Glass Darkly ..................... 56
Bergman’s Trilogy 2: Winter Light ............................ 60
Bergman’s Trilogy 3: The Silence ............................... 64
The Best Years of Our Lives .................................. 68

Contents
The Big Red One .......................................... 72
Blade Runner: The Final Cut ................................. 76
Cabiria ...................................................80
Cat People ................................................ 84
Chimes at Midnight ........................................ 88
Chop Shop ............................................... 92
Chuck Jones: Three Cartoons .................................96
Cool Hand Luke .......................................... 101
Crimes and Misdemeanors .................................. 105
Crumb .................................................. 109
Dark City ............................................... 113
The Dead ................................................ 117
Diva .................................................... 121
Dog Day Afternoon ....................................... 125
The Double Life of Veronique ............................... 129
Easy Rider ............................................... 133
El Norte ................................................ 138
El Topo ................................................. 143
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser ............................... 147
Exotica ................................................. 151
Fanny and Alexander ...................................... 155
Faust ................................................... 159
Fitzcarraldo .............................................. 163
Forbidden Games ......................................... 167
The Godfather: Part II ..................................... 171
The Great Dictator ........................................ 175
Groundhog Day .......................................... 179
Howards End ............................................ 183
Inherit the Wind .......................................... 188
Johnny Guitar ............................................ 193
Juliet of the Spirits ........................................ 197
Killer of Sheep ............................................ 201
La Belle Noiseuse ......................................... 205
L.A. Confidential ......................................... 209
vii
The Last Picture Show ..................................... 213
Last Tango in Paris ........................................ 217
The Last Temptation of Christ ............................... 222
Late Spring .............................................. 226
Leolo ................................................... 230
The Long Goodbye ........................................ 234
Magnolia ................................................ 239
The Marriage of Maria Braun ................................ 243
Mephisto ................................................ 248
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters ............................ 252
Mon Oncle Antoine ....................................... 256
Moolaade ................................................ 260
My Fair Lady ............................................ 264
My Man Godfrey ......................................... 269
Nanook of the North ...................................... 273
Ordet ................................................... 277
Out of the Past ........................................... 281
Pan’s Labyrinth ........................................... 286
Paths of Glory ............................................ 290
The Phantom of the Opera .................................. 295
Pixote .................................................. 299
Playtime ................................................ 303
A Prairie Home Companion ................................. 307
Rebel Without a Cause ..................................... 311
The Red Shoes ............................................ 315
Ripley’s Game ............................................ 319
The River (Le Fleuve) ...................................... 323
Rocco and His Brothers .................................... 327
Safety Last ............................................... 331
Samurai Rebellion ......................................... 335
Sansho the Bailiff ......................................... 339
Santa Sangre ............................................. 343
The Scarlet Empress ....................................... 347
Secrets & Lies ............................................ 351
Contents
The Shining .............................................. 355
The Terrorist ............................................. 359
The Thief of Bagdad ....................................... 363
Top Hat ................................................. 367
Triumph of the Will ....................................... 371
Vengeance Is Mine ........................................ 375
Waking Life ............................................. 379
Werckmeister Harmonies ................................... 383
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? .......................... 387
Withnail & I ............................................. 391
A Woman’s Tale .......................................... 395
Woodstock .............................................. 399
WR—Mysteries of the Organism ............................. 403
A Year of the Quiet Sun .................................... 407
Yojimbo ................................................. 411
Foreword
R
oger Ebert has won a readership paralleled by no other film critic in
history. His devoted audience numbers in the tens, perhaps hundreds, of
thousands. A visit to the Commentary section of his blog shows that he
has attracted articulate, thoughtful readers of all ages. They find his writ-
ing—not only his film writing but also his essays on humor, science, and
spirituality—little short of inspiring.
His endurance alone offers lessons in courage. Despite health prob-
lems that would lead most people to retirement, he has simply revved up.
Apart from his usual reviewing, his attendance at film festivals and sympo-
sia, his coordination of an annual film festival, and globetrotting that would
exhaust a youngster, he has managed to turn out another suite of essays on
film classics—The Great Movies III.
Quantity isn’t all. You can argue that since his illness, Ebert’s writing
has become even more relaxed, conversational, and brilliant. We are, I think
it’s clear, watching a writer at the peak of his powers. But what accounts
for his indelible appeal? I’d argue that he has become something unique: a
“man of letters” whose voice comes from the world of cinema.
I apologize for the gender solecism, but “person of letters” sounds
forced, and “littérateur ” is too stiff. Traditionally, the man of letters was nei-
ther academic nor journalist. He was a deeply informed essayist, one who
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