Johnny Deadline: Three Films for Which I Am Thankful

 by JB

Pilgrims, gather 'round! I want to talk about three recent releases that make me happy. I will keep this week’s column short and sweet... because I’ve got all these gobblers to slaughter.

1. North by Northwest

What just may be Hitchcock’s best film (certainly, his most entertaining one) finally makes its 4K debut and the new disc is stunning. Back in my previous life as a high-school film teacher, I used the famous "cornfield plane-chase" sequence for a super-hard in-class quiz on basic film grammar. Suffice it to say that I have seen this famous scene (whips out actual calculator, does math) over 200 times... so I am quite familiar with it. During my tenure at the school, I went from using 16mm to using VHS to using laserdisc to using DVD.

The new transfer is one of the best-looking 4K discs I have ever seen. Details are sharper. Black levels are richer. Skin tones are truer, given the heavy makeup used at the time. There are scenes that make you want to approach your monitor so that you can reach out and feel the fabric of Cary Grant’s suits, so well are their textures rendered. It’s astonishing.

NOTE: Do not reach out to feel the fabric of Grant’s suits. He hates that.

The Plot in Brief: Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is an advertising executive who is unexpectedly mistaken for government spy George Kaplan and kidnapped. Bad guy James Mason decides to do away with him via a time-tested assassination method (Bourbon & Automobile) but Thornhill proves hard to kill. How will Thornhill convince everyone that he is not George Kaplan? Will Thornhill ever find the real George Kaplan? Will Martin Landau ever profess his love for James Mason? What does all of the above have to do with Mount Rushmore?

Eight long years ago, the Pope of Film declared North By Northwest to be the nineteenth greatest American film of all time and wrote, “North by Northwest represents the height of moviemaking in the 1950s: the plot is clever, the dialogue is witty and urbane, the performers are glamorous and believable, the direction is astute and never calls attention to itself, the set-pieces (including that crop duster scene and the famous Mount Rushmore face chase) are iconic, and the musical score is rousing and memorable—truly an evening’s entertainment. This film is a glass of bubbly champagne, courtesy of Mr. Hitchcock. It never takes itself too seriously, but it provides its thrills and intrigues with class and energy.”

2. Blazing Saddles

Warner Brothers released Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles in 4K last week, and this disc too is cause for celebration. Not for the disc itself, which looks great, but for the simple fact that Warner still stands by this film and has not consigned it to the Dustbin of Political Incorrectness.

Disney used said dustbin for its amusement park ride Splash Mountain, which recently joined its inspiration, Song of the South. We cannot avoid the fact the parts of our past are rooted in racism, and that the modern-day reaction to said racism should not be to bury it. I have written before that Song of the South’s cardinal sin is not racism but boredom; we get 20 minutes of excruciatingly slow Southern soap opera for every eight or ten minutes of delicious animation. The film literally lurches between animated segments in a set pattern of interminable live-action segments of poorly-told, static plot nonsense, followed by just a few minutes of delightful fun with Br’ers Rabbit, Fox, and Bear.

Song of the South is 95 minutes; there are only 20 minutes of animation. Although you can argue that Disney should have made it clearer that the film takes place in the post-Civil War South, there is no doubt that Uncle Remus loves children of all races and just wants them happy. I will admit that some of the animated characters’ exaggerated accents are problematic.

BUT... We don’t have to worry about any of that because the film will never be seen again. Once it has been consigned to the Disney Dustbin, it will never be seen again. Along with Walt’s frozen head!

ANYWAYS... I’m glad that Warner Brothers has not taken a similar attitude to Blazing Saddles. Its subject is racism. It confronts that subject head-on with humor and honesty. Yes, people talked like this; some still do. It’s worth noting that one of the chief characteristics of the bad guys in the film (beside their penchant “to go do that voodoo that [they] do so well) is their love of the “n-word.” That’s how you know that they are the bad guys. They are racists. Racists talk like that.

We have become so knee-jerk binary about certain sensitive issues in this country that I would expect this film to be consigned to the Dustbin of Political Correctness for its dialogue alone. I cannot tell you how many reviews of the new disc I watched on the YouTube machine last week where the YouTuber breathlessly opined that THIS FILM COULD NEVER BE MADE TODAY. I think it could be, though I may be giving the American movie-going public a bit too much credit for being able to get the point, to actually see the forest for the trees.

Thanks, Warner Brothers. Thanks for trusting me to recognize satire and irony.

In the words of the late George Carlin, “You can read about [both of them] in the library, if they haven’t burned all the books yet.”

3. Godzilla Minus One

I loved this film when it enjoyed its first theatrical run. In fact, it was only film I saw more than once in a theater in 2023 because I was curious to see its Godzilla Minus One Minus Color iteration. In fact, my only quibble with the new 4K disc, which looks stunning, is that it does not include the black and white version, necessitating the purchase of a more expensive edition or a whole other disc.

BOO. I BLOW MY BLUE ATOMIC BREATH ON ANYONE AT THE VIDEO DIVISION OF STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVICES RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT DECISION. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

Who could have guessed that if filmmakers leaned into the human story and made Godzilla a terrifying supporting character in his own film that that would be a winning recipe for both artistic and box-office success? This film is gripping, terrifying, and tragic.

But all of my readers know this, right? I mean, you’ve seen it, right? Right?

Happy Thanksgiving!