The Battle of the Normans - We have a winner

After many weeks and four movies, we have a winner from the duel between Norman Jewison and Norman Taurog. Here are my reactions to the four movies and why the winner is Jewison:

Fiddler on the Roof

This movie was astoundingly well done in my perspective. It had all of the perfect elements of a musical and translated a theater production onto the screen beautifully. The addition of camera work and scene transitions enriched the story and movement of the characters. One of my favorite elements of camera work in the film is when Tevye begins a spoken internal monologue while talking with each of his daughters about their potential husbands. At this point, the camera suddenly shows that he is distant from his daughters physically as he talks to God about whether to allow them to marry. As I am rating movies based on how they make me feel, this movie carries a great deal of weight.

Boys Town

I can definitely see why this film was so impacting and important in its time. Coming from 1938, when the prevailing thinking was that someone was born bad and stayed bad throughout their lives (an idea which still pervades our current systemic and internal functioning), this film was progressive and possibly even subversive. The idea was shocking that someone could take a large group of orphan boys and foster in them a sense of community and responsibility. But Father Flanagan sticks to his belief that "no boy is bad" and viewers of the day were probably astounded that this story was based on reality. Beyond these powerful messages, the film was slightly stiff and formulaic, though there were moments from Mickey Rooney that were incredibly endearing, and the small, lovable orphan aptly named Pee Wee was irresistibly cute.

In the Heat of the Night

Oh my goodness. I can't believe I hadn't seen this amazing movie before beginning this tournament. Sydney Poitier helps this movie to burn with his apparent passion and commitment as an actor. The tension is palpable throughout the film, emanating from the screen and affecting the viewer. This is one of those films that so fluidly helps me to see another situation, another perspective and circumstance. This film is a sort of time machine that can help me better understand where we have been as a country and why. The acting, costuming, setting, and camera-work all came together to communicate with an audience. This movie is expressive and true and I loved it.

Pardners

Jerry Lewis is a master of physical comedy and the camaraderie and comedic partnership is apparent between him and Dean Martin. They bring the audience in to view their inside jokes and their own love for each other as great friends. I can't tell if this relationship between the stars puts up a slight barrier because we know that we can't be a part of it or whether I don't connect to the comedy as closely because it's from a different time period. Whatever it is, I found myself simply observing rather than enjoying a lot of the jokes. It is obvious that the two stars and the audience have come to expect a formula and they stick to it. But the movie is nevertheless fun.

So, our first winner is Norman Jewison! Congrats, Norman, you move on to face William Wylar. dun dun dun.

The first showdown

So after watching the first four movies of our massive director showdown I am ready to pick an initial winner...but first the completely unnecessary movie rating system with which I have made my decision:

Fiddler on the Roof - Norman Jewison
Genre- Musical - With its amazing blending of familial love and tragedy, bigotry and racism, and more memorable show tunes than you can believe 9/10.
Characters- From Tevye who somehow manages to be everyone's version of the lovable father to minor characters like Yente the town matchmaker filled with characters you can't forget 8/10.
Mood Theme Ambiance- The tavern scene where the jews and russians literally weave in out of each others dances to higlight how the two groups weave in and out of each others lives is worth 3 points alone- 8/10
Inventivness-Jewison adapted the film from the stage musical so he had a platform to work from but the way in which he brings the non stage elements to the film is remarkable. Note the end visual sequences of the jews leaving the villiage looking like something out of a Mark Chagall paitning. 7/10.
Film Quality- So many of the songs still live on today that you won't believe how many you know. Also the dancing will replay in your head for days and days. 9/10.

Total Score: 41/50

Boy's Town: Norman Taurog
Genre- Bio pick - the interesting true story of the life of Father Flannigan an American Catholic priest who starts a town for children run by children. 6/10
Characters- While Mickey Rooney blew me away with his charisma and acting chops the rest of the characters including Spencer Tracy's Flannigan seem all too saintly to be real. 4/10
Mood Theme Ambience - There is an interesting interplay between hope and doom that lives within each boy and ties together many of the characteristics of the Catholic faith. 5/10
Inventiveness - Taurog writes the script on how to get the most out of child actors. Give them lots of screen time doing action stunts and slapstick but let the adults do the heavy hitting emotionally. 6/10
Film Quality - I wouldn't say there were many magical moments in this film but I would definatly say that the story was centered and direct to its point. 5/10
Total Score: 26/40

In the Heat of the Night: Jewison
Genre: Crime Drama- Cleary takes the genre to a new level making dramatic statements about race, culture, and common humanity all the while interweaving a well put together crime tale: 9/10
Chracters - While Sidney Poitier would begin to be criticized for always playing a perfectly ideal black male his Det Tibbs comes across as angry but lovebale. Rod Steiger plays a near perfect southern sherrif and the rest of the cast fits well 8/10
Mood Ambience Theme - So much of the story is told through what is not said but implied and in todays less overtly racist time i feel like i missed a lot of it. One scene that highlights the mood well is when Poitier states he'll get a room at a motel only to have a local black family laugh as they carry his bags inside. 7/10
Inventiveness - A black man had never struck a white man on screen before this film and wouldn't have if they had followed the original script. Between Jewison and Poitier they worked one of the most racially charged moments of this or any film in possibly the most racially charged time in American History. 8/10
Film Quality - Movie moments abound in this film showing Jewison's range. 8/10
Total: 40/50

Pardners: Norman Taurog
Genre- Comedy - a film that easily highlights the slapstick commedy of Martin and Lewis. but is often too smooth and too polished. 5/10
Characters- the duo each play two characters both a father and a son but to say that the characters are over the top in an understatement 4/10
Mood Ambience Theme- An anti government moral message about the wild west with a bit to say about the nature of being partners 4/10
Inventivness- How Lewis can pull off that many falls and stunts in such long takes is amazing. Nothing else really stands out 3/10
Film Quality- The pair seems to be having a great time together. but the overall film comes off a bit too polished. 4/10
Total: 20/50

Average Jewison: 40.5/50
Average Taurog: 23/50

And my winner for this round is Norman Jewison.

Battle of the Normans

The first competition of our director show-down will feature Norman Jewison and Norman Taurog. While initially I had never heard of either of these directors and they seemed to sprout from obscurity from my perspective of limited experience, they are actually incredibly influential, powerful directors with impressive carreers.

Norman Taurog was a director from the earliest days of American filmmaking in the 1920's. He primarily made short films in mass numbers. He became notable for the film Skippy, the adaptation of a comic strip involving impoverished children of the slums. This film won him his best director award in 1931. Unfortunately, we won't be able to watch his first big hit as it is not available on DVD. His next major film nomination came for the film Boys Town, which began Mickey Rooney's carreer. I'm very excited to see him as a teenager. From this point he became more known for comedies rather than hard-hitting dramatic films and his formula for easy-going, family films that involved elements of song was utilized when studios wished to bring Elvis Presley to the screen. Taurog and Presley teamed up for a number of films, all widely successful, including Jail House Rock and Blue Hawaii. Taurog's third most notable credit goes to uniting the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis for the first of many highly successful films. We will be watching Pardners, which is considered by many to be the quintessential Martin-Lewis team-up.

Norman Jewison was a highly successful director in the 60's and 70's working in the genres of light comedy, hard-hitting socially concious films, and musicals. One of Jewison's most notable musicals was Jesus Christ Superstar, which managed to tackle a grand theatrical story and bring the essence of the 1960's to the screen. The musical genre and social consciousness came together in the widely successful Fiddler on the Roof. This film granted him a nomination for Best Director from the Academy. He won Best Picture and Best Director for one of the most important race relation films of all time: In the Heat of the Night, which dared to talk about the highly current issue of race relations amid the riots occurring in the late 1960's. His work with race relations and film has never truly ended; in the late 90's, he produced The Hurricane, a film starring Denzel Washington as a boxer who has been wrongfully convicted of a crime and spends life in prison.

I´m very excited to see how this match-up turns out, but seeing as the victor will be meeting up with Wyler, they probably will only see two rounds.

The Match-Ups

Just one more time for reference, the top 32 directors (listed in a previous post) are not competing at all in the first round. The rest of the directors were divided into two groups, "upper" and "lower" and then randomly drawn out of a hat, so that one "upper" director was paired with a "lower" director for the first round of matches. Whomever wins in the first round will then meet up with one of the top 32 directors in the second round. The first round match-ups are as follows:

1. Norman Jewison vs. Norman Taurog (winner faces William Wyler)
2. The Coen Brothers vs. William Friedkin (winner faces Milos Forman)
3. Steven Soderberg vs. John Woo (winner faces George Cukor)
4. Orson Wells vs. Tony Scott (winner faces Joseph Mankewitz)
5. Quintin Terantino vs. Michael Bay (winner faces John Huston)
6. Sidney Pollack vs. George Hill (winner faces Robert Altman)
7. Peter Jackson vs. Bob Fossi (winner faces King Vidor)
8. Buster Keaton vs. Robert Rossin (winner faces Frank Capra)
9. Charlie Chaplin vs. Wes Anderson (winner faces Woody Allen)
10. Frank Borzag vs. Joseph Von Straussberg (winner faces Michael Curtiz)
11. John Hughes vs. David Lynch (winner faces Clint Eastwood)
12. Roman Polanski vs. Sam Wood (winner faces David Lean)
13. Brian DePalma vs. Paul Anderson (winner faces Sydney Lumet)
14. Gus van Sant vs. Warren Beaty (winner faces Francis Ford Coppola)
15. M. Night Shymalan vs. Robert Benton (winner faces Stanley Kubrick)
16. Tim Burton vs. Fritz Lang (winner faces Billy Wilder)
17. Robert Redford vs. James Ivory (winner faces Martin Scorsese)
18. Spike Lee vs. Mark Robson (winner faces Federico Felini)
19. Robert Zemekis vs. Barry Levinson (winner faces Ridley Scott)
20. Ron Howard vs. David Cronenberg (winner faces Eli Kazan)
21. George Lucas vs. Ernst Lubitsch (winner faces George Stevens)
22. Peter Weir vs. Leo McCarey (winner faces Oliver Stone)
23. Mel Brooks vs. Peter Yates (winner faces Cecil B. Demille)
24. Akira Kurisawa vs. Christopher Nolan (winner faces John Ford)
25. Michael Mann vs. Jim Sheraton (winner faces Frank Zinneman)
26. Lewis Milestone vs. Bernardo Bertolucci (winner faces Frank Lloyd)
27. Mel Gibson vs. Richard Brooks (winner faces Clarence Brown)
28. James Cameron vs. Otto Preminger (winner faces Alfred Hitchcock)
29. Howard Hawkes vs. Steven Dawldry (winner faces Mike Nichols)
30. Ang Lee vs. Arthur Penn (winner faces Frank Wise)
31. Ingmar Bergman vs. Vencente Minelli (winner faces Joel Schlesinger)
32. Carol Reed vs. Gore Verbinski (winner faces Steven Spielberg)

So there it is, folks. This part alone will take us about a century to complete. Then comes round two. Hope you'll be along for the crazy ride.

Laura's "Hippie" Rating System

As it seems that in my absence Eirik has taken it upon himself to portray my rating system as a hippie, go-with-the-wind, flight of fancy, I thought I might post to clear things up. There is definitely an element of "just gonna see how it feels" in the way I plan to process the films we are watching during this epic contest, but I think the reasoning behind this system and a more complete description will make me sound like less of a lazy ass. Not that I am any less of one.

Anyhow, I was trying to determine how much research would be going into the watching of each film, especially since Eirik had revealed to me that he was planning on taking technological advancements and impact into consideration. I am of the opinion that a really high quality film should be impactful whether or not the viewer has done research on the film. Also, great directors can produce timeless work that brings the context along with all of the elements in the film, not requiring someone to research the time in which it takes place or the context of the film in order to fully experience it.

I am coming from the perspective of the everyday movie watcher, as someone who would like to experience the film rather than dissect it. I have no intention of guarding myself against information and will welcome input in general conversation and the processing of a film with others who have seen it; these are things that I do all the time when I see movies. Basically, I am going to include everything that Eirik has in his detailed rubric, but rather than researching and examining a film to determine scores in each category, I plan to let the movie wash over me and see how much it impacts me when I watch it for the sake of watching it.

Also, I'm about to have a bunch of homework so I don't need to add any on myself.

My Vote

So my last and final setup post before the actual contest begins will be about how it is that I am coming to my decisions about films. While it appears that Batgirl will be applying the "How did it make me feel" mantra to her votes I felt that if I really wanted to do this right I had to put a little more thought into hw it was that I am coming to a decison on these films.

So will mulling it over I felt that it was important to put as much as effort as possible into discovering a way to make it so that no genre of film or era of film was signifigantly benefited or hindered by my decision. So my vote is going to be based on 5 catagories each with a ranking of 1-10 for a maximum score of 50 each film. Each director will then have 2 scores per round which will then be averaged for their average score for their films. The director with the higher average score moves on. This I think helps to promote those directors that consistently made excellent work rather than simply having a great film that get one or two amazing scores. Also as we move from round to round and new scores are brought in all the directors scores will be averaged to create their single average score for moving on or not.

Now the Five catagories I sill be using are ( each will be rated on a 1-10 scale per film) :

1. Genre- What genre was the film and how effective, influential, and creative was the film within that genre? This will benefit directors who shot exclusivley within a genre and make it possible to compare Teminator to The Maltese Falcon without signifigantly harming either.

2. Characters- Did the film craft full and complete characters? Were these chracters new and interesting and interact properly with themselves and plot the elements of the film? This is again possible to judge cross genre and eassily throughout time.

3. Mood, Theme, and Abience- How did the director utilize the non-plot driven elements of the film to complete the film? Again something that is going to be doable cross genre.

4. Inventiveness- In what ways was this film groundbreaking? This catagory is going to include both techinle achievements in film making as well as in new plot elements that then become standard or character interactions that become standard plot devices afterwards. This I think will help to benefit earlier films that may seem typical to a modern viewer that has seen the same plot elements over and over again in later films. But it will also to be possible to note which plot elements of new current films feel new and fresh.

5. Film Quality- How did the overall film fit together to make a singular statement or story? What wpic movie moments were created? Also did the director do at making a complete film?

Directors (cont.)

So the directors have been seeded as follows:
#1- Steven Spielberg, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese
#2- Woody Allen, Fred Zinneman, John Ford, Frank Capra,
#3- Alfred Hitchcok, John Huston, David Lean, Geroge Stevens,
#4- Elia Kazan, Sydney Lumet, Joseph Mankewikz, Mike Nichols,
#5- Francis Ford Coppolla, Geroge Cukor, Ridley Scott, Robert Wise,
#6- Oliver Stone, Robert Altman, Clarence Brown, Clint Eastwood,
#7- King Vidor, Michael Curtiz, Frank Lloyd, Stanley Kubrick,
#8- Milos Forman, Cecil B. Demile, Federico Fellini, Joel Schlesinger

These directors will have no oppenent in the first round.

Now the final 64 we broke into higher and lower group and then randomly paired them about the brackets:

Higher Group (in no particular order) Lower Group (again no order)
1. Charlie Chaplin 1. Michael Bay
2. Peter Weir 2. Leo McCarey
3. Ron Howard 3. John Woo
4. Peter Jackson 4. Tony Scott
5. Norman Jewison 5. Bob Fosse
6. Sydney Pollack 6. Wes Anderson
7. Roman Polanski 7. Paul Anderson
8. Carol Reed 8. Warren Beatty
9. Ingmar Bergman 9. Richard Brooks
10. David Lynch 10. Stephen Daldry
11. Steven Soderbergh 11. Barry Levinson
12. Frank Borzag 12. William Friedkin
13. Robert Zemeckis 13. Robert Benton
14. Robert Redford 14. Bernardo Bertolucci
15. James Cameron 15. Vincente Minelli
16. Mel Gibson 16. Geroge Hill
17. Howard Hawks 17. Norman Taurog
18. Ang Lee 18. Peter Yates
19. Spike Lee 19. Josef Von Sternberg
20. Michael Mann 20. Jim Sheridan
21. M. Night Shaymalan 21. Robert Rossen
22. Gus Van Sant 22. Mark Robson
23. Coen Bros. 23. Otto Preminger
24. Brian De Palma 24. Sam Wood
25. Mel Brooks 25. Arthur Penn
26. Buster Keaton 26. Ernst Lubitsch
27. George Lucas 27. Jamesd Ivory
28. Quentin Tarantino 28. Gore Verbinski
29. Orson Welles 29. Christopher Nolan
30. Tim Burton 30. Joel Cronenberg
31. John Hughes 31. Fritz Lang
32. Akira Kurosawa 32.