Jeff Bridges: The Big Lebowski, Tron: Legacy, Cutter's Way

Two of the films in today's entry probably don't need to be brought to your attention because you've probably noticed them popping up in Netflix's "New Movie Arrivals" on Watch Instantly.  But in the spirit of creating themed entries to encourage you to explore the less familiar on Netflix, I've matched them with a lesser known Jeff Bridges film from the early 1980s.

The Big Lebowski is one of those strange films that might not impress you on first viewing, but gets significantly better as you think about it and talk about it and revisit it with repeat viewings.  Certainly that was my experience watching it when it was initially released, and many considered it an odd misfire after the critical success of Fargo.  But it has subsequently been absorbed into pop culture to such a degree that perhaps it's quotes and references ("It really ties the room together," "The Dude abides," see The Big Lebowski Random Quote Generator for more) are better known than the movie itself.  So whether you're seeing it for the first or fiftieth time it is well worth checking out on Netflix Watch Instantly.

The Big Lebowski (Joel Coen, USA, 1998, 117 minutes)
Netflix: Slacker Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) gets involved in a gargantuan mess of events when he's mistaken for another man named Lebowski, whose wife has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. All the while, Dude's friend, Walter (John Goodman), stirs the pot. Brothers Joel Coen and Ethan Coen write and direct this cult comedy classic that also stars Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore and John Turturro.  Netflix link. 

Okay, so Tron: Legacy is not as good as most of the films that I post here, but it is still worth watching at least one time, if only for the performance of the CGI generated young version of Jeff Bridges as Clu (Codified Likeness Utility).  I thought the film took too much time making sure that it showed updated versions of the famous sequences from the first film, rather than going wherever the imagination could go in the Tron universe.  But that said, the visual design is often quite stunning.

Tron: Legacy (Joseph Kosinski, USA, 2010, 125 minutes)
Netflix: While investigating the mysterious disappearance of his father, Kevin (Jeff Bridges), techie Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) lands in a beguiling computerized world of enslaved gladiators, where his dad has been living for more than 20 years. Joined by Kevin's trusted friend (Olivia Wilde), the father and son must journey across a breathtaking -- and perilous -- cyberscape in this 21st-century update to the beloved 1982 sci-fi classic. Netflix link.

I'm not familiar with Cutter's Way but after looking into it I placed it in my queue and I look forward to catching up with it.  From the trailer it looks like it might resonate in interesting ways with The Big Lebowksi, not for Bridges's role, but for John Heard's role (almost unrecognizable, until you hear his voice) as the eccentric Alex Cutter.  This film had an interesting distribution history, getting mixed to negative reviews on first release, but subsequently found more receptive critics after United Artists turned it over to its classics division.

Cutter's Way (Ivan Passer, USA, 1981, 109 minutes)
Netflix: Burned-out beach-bum Richard Bone (Jeff Bridges) and his best friend, disfigured Vietnam veteran Alex Cutter (John Heard), stumble on a murder cover-up involving a powerful landowner in director Ivan Passer's brooding crime thriller. But Bone gets more than he bargained for when Cutter insists on blackmailing the suspect, who forces them into a cunning cat-and-mouse game that ignites a full-blown war. Lisa Eichhorn plays Cutter's neglected wife.  Netflix link.

Musicals: Absolute Beginners, Purple Rain and the 1980s

The addition of Purple Rain to Netflix Watch Instantly made me start thinking about musicals in the 1980s, or at least movies with music if not musicals proper.  With the rise of MTV one would have thought that the 1980s would have been a new golden age for the movie musical, but somehow the MTV aesthetic never really melded with the traditional musical genre.  While soundtrack sales were on the rise, and the synergy between films and music continued to rise (Flashdance, Footloose), musicals made in the package-unit system (one-off films) suffered in comparison to the expertise and specialization required to make musicals in the producer-unit system (like the Freed Unit at MGM).

Still, there are some interesting films worth looking at again that are currently streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.

Absolute Beginners (Julien Temple, UK, 1986, 107 minutes)
Netflix: Get set for a splashy musical about London teens in the 1950s, when England was really starting to swing (thanks to a preoccupation with American rock 'n' roll). Follow Colin (Eddie O'Connell) and Suzette (Patsy Kensit), two lovers who must choose to live by their idealistic principles or sell out to get to the top of the fashion world. David Bowie co-stars. Netflix link.

Absolute Beginners has the most obvious connections to the world of the music video, helmed by well-respected music video director Julien Temple, but somehow it got lost in the media shuffle at the time of its release. I distinctly remember promotions for Absolute Beginners on MTV well before its release (including some kind of contest, as I recall) but by the time the film was ready to be released its studio, Goldcrest, was nearly in ruin. I only got to see it during a one-week run at the Majestic Theater in Madison, Wisconsin. While I'm not sure if the film is always successful, particularly in the more heavy-handed second half, it does feature several fantastic sequences and always bounces with a great deal of energy. Its opening sequence is typical of its stylistic audacity: a faux long take (with Rope-like hidden cuts) zig-zagging though London's bohemian night life.

Luckily it is possible to see the film in widescreen again; when I revisited the film on VHS, many of the best sequences were ruined in pan-and-scan.  Possibly the best sequence of the film is one that harkens back to the days of the classic musical (as well as Jerry Lewis's The Ladies Man): Ray Davies's "Quiet Life."

Purple Rain (Albert Magnoli, USA, 1984, 111 minutes)
Netflix: In his semi-autobiographical film debut, Prince plays a hip Minneapolis club musician known as The Kid who struggles with a tumultuous home life and his own smoldering anger. He takes refuge in his music and in a budding relationship with a beautiful young singer, Apollonia (Apollonia). Winner of both an Academy Award and a Grammy for Best Original Musical Score, Purple Rain also stars Clarence Williams III and Morris Day. Netflix link. Streaming on Netflix Watch Insantly starting 4/29/11.

You know, this is actually a pretty good film.  I wonder how I'd feel about it revisiting it after all of these years, but in terms of memorable scenes and memorable songs, this holds up reasonably well.  It's possible that Prince played all of his cinematic cards here in one film, and he certainly wasn't able to follow this up with anything that anyone wanted to see (with the exception of the concert film Sign o' the Times).  But certainly in 1984, when one was 14 and a little bit too young to see the film, this was pretty damn cool. 

Little Shop of Horrors (Frank Oz, USA, 1986, 93 minutes)
Netflix: Plant yourself in front of the tube and veg out with Frank Oz's horticultural horror flick. Gawky Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), looking for a way to save his job in a ramshackle, skid row flower shop, purchases a curious exotic plant hoping it will make business bloom. And it does. There's just one problem: The little creeper possesses a rapacious appetite for fresh human plasma … and it's mushrooming out of control! Netflix link.

This example is the most clearly indebted to musical theater, both in terms of style and content.  But it also incidentally points to where movie musicals would go in the 1980s through its lyricist, Howard Ashman.  Shortly after this film was made, Ashman jumped over to a little company named Disney, and worked on the now over-looked Oliver and Company.  But his next film for Disney, The Little Mermaid, transformed both Disney and the movie musical for the next decade, as audiences seemed to accept animated integrated musicals even as they rejected live-action ones. 

I had the strange experience of watching Little Shop of Horrors with my orthodontist, who happened to attend the same screening.  The material here has stood the test of time (I hear "Suddenly Seymour" at karaoke from time to time), though perhaps more for live theatrical revivals rather than the film itself.  I recall at the time of its release Roger Ebert suggested that it might rival The Rocky Horror Picture Show as the next cult musical.  But there's something too slick here to make it a cult film, as enjoyable as it is.  Incidentally, Netflix Watch Instantly is also streaming the original film, Little Shop of Horrors (Roger Corman, USA, 1960, 71 minutes).

The Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1984, 128 minutes)
Netflix: Richard Gere plays his own cornet solos in Francis Ford Coppola's story of a jazz musician at the titular 1930s legendary nightclub. When Dixie Dwyer (Gere) saves the life of mobster Dutch Schultz (James Remar), he finds he must fight for his own life when he falls for the psychotic gangster's moll. Coppola and his Godfather co-writers Mario Puzo and William Kennedy combine musical performances with a classic mobster story. Netflix link.

This was infamous at the time for its overblown budget and production problems (the New York Times opened its review saying that it "may be a tap-dancing Cleopatra for the 1980s").  But the film has always had its defenders, including Roger Ebert who gave it four stars in his initial review in 1984.  As time has passed, the film has found even more defenders as can be seen by its 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This is one that I finally need to catch up with, and I've put it in my queue.

Genres: 1980s Science Fiction

It is interesting to use InstantWatcher to search and filter titles in the Netflix Watch Instantly collection.  Once you click on Sci Fi & Fantasy, a total of only 192 titles come up.  Filter that with the Rotten Tomatoes "Fresh" filter, and you're already down to 31 titles.  Filter by Netflix User Ratings, and you won't get anything with a 4.5, and you only will get four titles with a 4.0 (Aliens, Blade Runner, Star Trek, and Serenity).  So it might be a while before I return to Sci Fi in any depth here.

Meanwhile, I decided to come at the Sci Fi topic from the perspective of someone who was 10 to 19 years old between 1980 and 1989.  Some of these films I have not seen since seeing them in the theater the year they came out, or shortly afterward when they came out on VHS, or shortly after that when they made it to cable.  In other cases, I caught up with them much later than their original release when I became more of a film buff in high school.

Mad Max (George Miller, Australia, 1979, 93 minutes)
Netflix: In a postapocalyptic future, jaded motorcycle cop Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is ready to retire. But his world is shattered when a malicious gang murders his family as an act of retaliation, forcing a devastated Max to hit the open road seeking vengeance. As he travels the Australian outback's empty stretches of highway, he tours the bloodstained battlegrounds ruled by marauding bikers who feed on violence. Netflix link.

The Road Warrior (George Miller, Australia, 1981, 95 minutes)
Netflix: In this sequel to the dystopian action-adventure Mad Max, Mel Gibson returns as the heroic loner who drives the dusty roads of a postapocalyptic Australian Outback in an unending search for gasoline. Arrayed against him and the other scraggly defendants of a fuel-depot encampment are the bizarre warriors commanded by the charismatic Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson), a violent leader whose scruples are as barren as the surrounding landscape. Netflix link.

Okay, I know Mad Max is 1979, but it never really got any attention in America until after the release of The Road Warrior (originally titled Mad Max 2, but changed in America for just that reason).  These films don't really need an introduction since they are so firmly established in American pop cultural memory.  But it is worth going back and looking at both of them.  For the most part, it is The Road Warrior that generated the iconography that we associate with the series (and most parodies actually reference it, rather than the original).  Because of that, the original Mad Max might seem even weirder today than it might have seemed when first released.  One might even argue with calling the original science fiction, even though the sequels are more fantastic in they're portrayal of the dystopian future.  I had to wait until later in the decade to catch up with these since they were pretty firm R ratings, which leads me to a brief diversion into a brief discussion of the PG-13 rating with the next two titles.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller, USA/Australia, 1985, 107 minutes)
Neflix: While the final Mad Max film can't outrun the first two, director George Miller delivers an awesome depiction of order amid chaos. Max (Mel Gibson) becomes embroiled in the internal tensions of Bartertown, ruled by the imperious Aunty Entity (Tina Turner). Will ex-cop Max turn into an assassin? Featuring the inventive Thunderdome fight sequence, this installment offers plenty of action. Adam Cockburn and Bruce Spence co-star. Netflix link.

Dreamscape (Joseph Ruben, USA, 1984, 99 minutes)
Netflix: Two research scientists (Max von Sydow and Kate Capshaw) operate a government-funded clinic specializing in the study of dreams. Seeking help with an experiment, the doctors hire gifted psychic Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) to enter the subconscious minds of patients troubled by ominous nighttime illusions. But shady politico Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) has more sinister plans for Gardner's paranormal abilities. Netflix link.





The PG-13 rating debuted in 1984, so it was highly relevant to me since it seemed that I was the exact age that it was meant to protect.  This is all a distant memory now, but there was a time when people worried about whether I should have been able to see Indana Jones and the Temple of Doom as a 13-year old.  The main consequence of this was the years in which Hollywood didn't seem to know what to do with this rating.  Perhaps it has never really figured it out; see Live Free or Die Hard or The King's Speech controversies.  Clearly the PG-13 rating benefited the box office for Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but it should have been designed as an R-rated film as with the first two in the series.  That said, I was the demographic that the filmmakers were going after by making that change, and I got to see the film in the theater. I enjoyed it at the time, but I'm going to re-visit it and see what I think.

I'm including Dreamscape here because I only have a foggy memory of seeing it on video right when it came out, and not being sure whether I should be watching it or not for some scenes, not necessarily because I couldn't handle it, but because I wasn't sure if I wanted the parents to see what I was watching.  I'm going to revisit it and see what prompted that feeling at the time.  My memory is that it is a good movie (I wouldn't mention it otherwise) and that it had a great creepy performance by David Patrick Kelly, who seemed to be creepy in a lot of 1980s movies (he played Luther in 48 Hrs.)  Just keep in mind that this is a review from a 14-year old.

Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam, UK, 1981, 116 minutes)
Netflix: In Terry Gilliam's fantastic voyage through time and space, a boy escapes from his gadget-obsessed parents to join a band of time-traveling dwarves. On their journey, they visit Napoleon (Ian Holm), Robin Hood (John Cleese) and King Agamemnon (Sean Connery), among other popular figures. It's a giddy, visually outrageous fairy tale, a revisionist history lesson and a satire on technology gone awry -- all wrapped into one adventure. Netflix link.

I remember being very excited about the possibility of seeing Time Bandits, and asking my parents well in advance of its local release whether I could go and see it. Surprisingly as I think about it now, I was somewhat disappointed by it.  I was 11-years old, and I think I was expecting a constantly goofy movie.  While the film has many great comic moments, it also had a wider range of emotional tones, and at the time I simply wasn't interested in all of that. Now as a 40-year old I appreciate the film in a much different way, especially since I'm more familiar with Gilliam's other work.  This may be an example of a film that is about childhood that doesn't necessarily resonate with children, much like the response to Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are.  Now that I think of it, a nephew of mine is the same age that I was when I saw this, so I will try to get him to watch it and get back to you with his response.

From Beyond (Stewart Gordon, USA, 1986, 85 minutes)
Netflix: After inventing a way for creatures from the fourth dimension to come into his own world, Dr. Edward Pretorious (Ted Sorel) suffers a gruesome decapitation at the hands of those he brought "from beyond." But authorities suspect his assistant (Jeffrey Combs) is to blame. Barbara Crampton co-stars as a beautiful psychiatrist brought in to help police solve the case in this classic 1980s thriller based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft. Netflix link.


On the other end of the spectrum, here's the kind of movie that teenage home video was made for.  While Gordon's Re-Animator is a far better film, his second H.P. Lovecraft adaptation still delivered the goods for teenage boys looking for gross-out scenes and nudity.  While Watch Instantly has other more recent examples of this particular sub-genre, it's hard find the good ones to recommend.  (If only they had Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce, which is available on DVD.)  Based upon user reviews, your best bet for a genuine B-movie along these lines from this period might be legendary Fred Olen Ray's Star Slammer.

I look forward to your feedback and comments, and any other recommendations you might find.  --JLK