THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE IFFY (4)

The GOOD:  "THE SEARCHERS."   Arguably one of director John Ford's greatest pictures, it certainly is a favorite of mine.  Starring John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter and Vera Miles, it concerns the tireless search for a missing girl abducted  by Indians when she was but a child. And it is steeped in beautiful photography and incredible art direction.  Although not appearing until the last half hour or so, Natalie Wood shines as the confused girl finding her long lost roots. Ward Bond is also in the cast as he was one of Ford's favorite actors.  Named by the American Film Institute as the "Greatest American Western" in 2008, it certainly is worthy of that title and has also been called a masterpiece in many circles.  While I am not a fan of the western genre, this one stands above the rest and is worthy of your attention.  It is a brilliant piece of film making!


The BAD:  "AWRINKLE IN TIME."  Sometimes even Disney screws up. High hopes abounded for this film but it felt flat at the box office and with the critics.  Over blown, and over produced, it had Oprah Winfrey (in badly designed make-up and changing sizes every time she came on screen which I assume was meant to be) and Reese Witherspoon. With endless CGI that became boring after a while, I actually fell asleep during one sequence. It's all about two children trying to find their father (Chris Pine) who has been lost into some parallel universe (or some such nonsense).
 I couldn't follow it all.  And when the happy ending came,  I was just happy it had ended.



The IFFY:  "SOUTH PACIFIC."  Director Joshua Logan took this perfectly wonderful movie and messed it up, big time.  For some reason, he decided to add colored filters to a lot of the scenes tinting the action with pale lavenders or sunny yellows and it doesn't work (at least not for me). I with there was someway these intrusions could be removed to reveal the lovely film underneath.  Starring Mitzi Gaynor in one of her best roles as Ensign Nellie Forbush  with Rosanno Brazzi as Emile de Becque and John Kerr as Lieutenant Cable, Ray Walston as Luther Billis, Junita Hall as Bloody Mary and France Nuyen as Liat.  The score is brilliant as everyone knows and the actors do it proud (although Kerr and Brazzi were dubbed) so try to ignore the "color wheel) and just bask in the beauty that is "South Pacific."







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