Director George Roy Hill, who died recently at the age of 80, specialized in making difficult material cinematic and entertaining. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), with Paul Newman and Robert Redford as the legendary outlaws, is on my all-time top 10 list. It has suspense, humor, and charm up to its eyes and only gets better with time. Mr. Hill was nominated for an Oscar but lost to Franklin Shaffner for Patton.
Four years later, George Roy Hill got his Oscar for The Sting (1971), the best scam movie ever made. Again we have Newman and Redford, who could charm the bark off a tree, as con men extraordinary. They spend lots of time and money setting up sinister blow-hard Robert Shaw. Even though we know it’s coming, we’re still delightfully surprised by the complicated scheme. Don’t blink!
Kurt Vonnegutt’s Slaughterhouse Five (1972) seems not only uncinematic but unfilmable. But Mr. Hill ably filmed this convoluted story of American Bill Pilgrim, normal as apple pie, and the Dresden Fire Storm of World War II. A cast of complete unknowns perhaps helps. Not to all tastes but an icon to Vonnegutt’s many fans.
To the contrary, John Irving’s marvelous The World According to Garp (1982) has almost too much story, but George Roy Hill convincingly boils it down into a cinematic gem. Robin Williams as Garp and Glenn Close as his feminist mother Jenny lead a stellar cast. John Lithgow’s turn as a transsexual pro football player (“the old tight end Roberta”) is alone worth the price of admission.
Paul Newman returns as a profane, to-hell-with-the-rules ice hockey player in Slap Shot (1977). To say this is one of the best movies ever made about hockey may be damning with faint praise, but it is raunchy and funny throughout. Beware network editing!
The unlikely, but serendipitous casting of Peter Sellers as a serious concert pianist sets the stage for the underrated The World of Henry Orient (1964). He is absolutely beset by two teen-age girls who fawn on his every note and virtually stalk him around New York City. In lesser hands, this film could be average or worse; with Mr. Hill’s expert direction it become a very telling comedy.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are for 12 and up.
Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.
Rusty Hammond
Mr. Movie: George Roy Hill made it look easy
- Rusty Hammond
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Mr. Movie: Burgess Meredith
Burgess Meredith had an astonishing movie career of nearly 60 years. He appeared in over 55 films in his long professional life. Some are very good; some are real dogs.
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Mr. Movie: To 3-D or not to 3-D
Is 3-D really worth the clunky glasses? Sometimes yes, most times no.
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Mr. Movie: Atlantic City
It's called the Poor Man's Las Vegas. It was right much of a dump before the casinos arrived, and is still right much of a dump after. But Atlantic City has the lure of easy riches, and is a natural setting for movies.
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Mr. Movie: Richard Farnsworth
Richard Farnsworth worked right up until his death at 80. His face looked like it had worn out three or four bodies. His name may not ring a bell, but if you saw his picture, you would recognize him.
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Mr. Movie: Crimedies
What do you call a crime movie that’s also funny? How about “crimedies”? There are several entries in this somewhat off-beat category.
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Mr. Movie: Mel Brooks
The non-musical version of The Producers (1967) with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder kicked off a string of six tremendous films directed by Mel Brooks.
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Mr. Movie: Ring Lardner Jr.
Ring Lardner Jr., died in 2000 at the age of 85. He wrote great screenplays when they let him.
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Mr. Movie: Remakes
Hollywood seems obsessed with the idea that if something worked once, it will work again. Hence the remake.
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Mr. Movie: Sean Connery
With apologies to Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, et al., Sean Connery of course is James Bond. But there’s a lot more to him than that.
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Mr. Movie: Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson, who died recently at the good old age of 88, appeared in over 50 movies and even more TV shows.
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