FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| John Ford |||
John Ford

One of the art form's grand masters of all time, Ford is responsible for influencing the seminal directors of generation after generation. Strongly associated with the impressive body of work created over a lifetime with collaborator John Wayne, it is nearly impossible to choose just three… but here it goes.

This powerful winner of the Best Picture Academy Award is set in Wales at the turn of the 19th century, and tells the story of a family of miners, whose lives are filled with danger and repression. The film is beautifully crafted, lovingly depicting the gut wrenching sacrifices and light-hearted moments that are elemental to family life, making this film a true representation of the craft that is unmistakably John Ford.

This film is told in flashback as James Stewart, after a long absence, returns home for the funeral of a friend who saved his life from a sadistic outlaw. This classic covers every essential element required to qualify as a western epic from unlikely friends to the girl who comes between them, to the enemy they both despise, but handle with extremely different approaches, to Fords signature cast of supporting characters, all combine to make this a staple for every fan of this uniquely American genre.

This romantic comedy seen through the eyes of John Ford has John Wayne ( an American-raised boxer) go to Ireland to the village of his birth, fall for feisty Maureen O'Hara, and fight with town ruffian Victor McLaglen in one of the all time classic screen brawls. This is an exceptionally fine romantic movie that with Ford’s capable bravado manages to be a film that any man’s man can openly enjoy.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

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Once in a Lifetime

By BrianOrndorf

August 11th, 2006

Soccer has never seemed as entertaining as it looks in “Once in a Lifetime,” a documentary about the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos. Lacking some important viewpoints, the film still manages to paint a delightful and educational picture of sports history when soccer was more popular than baseball and football combined.

Once in a Lifetime

“Once in a Lifetime” looks at the short-lived life of professional soccer in America. Fueled by hype, disco-fad mentality, and legitimate competitive excitement, the New York Cosmos piloted the charge that brought football to the U.S. for a beautiful, sweet moment in the 1970s.

Using the modern template for documentaries (fast, loud, and messy), “Lifetime” (narrated by Matt Dillon) embarks on a mission to describe the feeling of watching soccer rise from a sport most Americans didn’t care about to a phenomenon that sold out the 80,000-seat Giants Stadium at its peak. This rise to glory isn’t an easy one to tell, so directors Paul Crowder and John Dower slice off little sections of Cosmos history and take each bite slowly.

The North American Soccer League started off in 1970 as an opportunity for investors to climb aboard a rising world sport while it was still affordable to do so. Seeing the popularity of football all over the globe, these businessmen felt it was time to bring it to America, and it was met with a collective yawn. Routinely playing to crowds of mere hundreds, it took the gusto of Warner Brothers Communication honcho Steve Ross to take the Cosmos by the collar and force them into nationwide recognition. His answer? Lure arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport out of retirement with the buckets of money he craves and ride his popularity to a media tidal wave of exposure.

The story of Brazil superstar Pelé and the Cosmos is the spine that holds “Lifetime” together. Yet it’s missing Pelé. Suggested in the end credits that perhaps he requested a hefty appearance fee, Pelé is missing from the interview portions of the film, and his absence hurts “Lifetime” from attaining that comprehensive feel it desires. We see Pelé as the hero of the story; the man who brought the Cosmos (and the NASL) to the top not only on the pitch, but in the papers as well. And even though the footage shown is 30 years old, there’s still a slack-jawed relish in watching the master work the ball downfield, running around his baffled American competition like a Porsche maneuvering around a Matchbox car.

“Lifetime” follows this line of overspending for foreign talent to meet other masters of the game, such as Franz Beckenbauer and the villain of the film, the Italian monster, Giorgio Chinaglia. Still sweating a wild ego about his contributions to the Cosmos, Chinaglia is a fascinating figure, and brings some heavy structural firepower to the film with his stories and still quite potent self-image.

When keeping its scope on the game and the bewildered Americans who got their chance to be apart of sports history, “Lifetime” is satisfying documentary filmmaking. The team has faded into obscurity, but the film reminds the viewer that the story of the Cosmos is crucial not only to the popularity of the game today, but also in the way it shaped the uneasy mix of sports and entertainment. “Once in a Lifetime” is a marvelous primer on this remarkable event in soccer history, most likely never to be seen again.

My rating: B+