Richard Widmark is the captain of a naval destroyer which civilian photojournalist Sidney Poitier has recently boarded. The new ship’s doctor Martin Balsam soon discovers that Widmark is a strict commander where illness is just not allowed among his crew not even the slightest headache. This unrelenting maniacal control carries over to other arenas when the ship crosses paths with a Soviet submarine. Because of Poitier’s recent death, I had checked this out as it was one of his few works at my public library that I hadn’t yet seen. While he gives his usual solid performance, he mostly serves as a foil to Widmark’s masterful lead and his Ahabian pursuit of the Russian vessel.  

In a California desert town, timid Sissy Spacek begins working at a health spa and becomes charmed by somewhat more worldly and outgoing Shelley Duvall, whom she soon becomes roommates with. Though somewhat annoyed by her roommate’s naiveté and constant presence, Duvall also enjoys the fawning and attention she is denied in all her other relationships. Also in the women’s orbit are the womanizing owner of their building and his aloof, pregnant artist wife. Despite her incessant chatter and seemingly obliviousness to the opinions of others, Duvall’s character is rather adorable in her era fashions and homemaking. The film makes an interesting follow-up to The Stranger Within as they both explore women’s roles and experiences in the 1970s, here the three women exhibiting and trading between them extreme versions of traditional feminine roles.

The world is shocked when famous actress Fedora (portrayed by Marthe Keller), renowned for having retained her beauty throughout her long career, apparently commits suicide by running in front of a train. At her funeral, producer William Holden reflects on his recent meeting with the actress and tries to piece together why she died. The film has some bits that are heavy on the melodrama and strangeness, but it also provides an interesting reflection on Hollywood, its standards of aging and beauty, and their effects on mental health. It could somewhat work as a companion to Billy Wilder’s earlier Sunset Boulevard. There’s even a bit of stunt casting with Michael York playing a version of himself and Henry Fonda cast as the President of the Academy

Despite her husband’s vasectomy, Barbara Eden miraculously finds herself pregnant. Before long it becomes more obvious that this pregnancy is not a normal one. She craves vast amounts of salt, reads voraciously, and prefers unnaturally cold temperatures. Reruns of I Dream of Jeannie and Harper Valley P.T.A. didn’t prepare me for how great Eden is in the role. She fully commits to a script that asks her to act more and more ridiculous. The film takes its time building to its conclusion and it is not until the climax that there’s even a hint of the reasons behind all of the strange activity. 

While one of the last films in the series, this is my first experience watching one of the Hope-Crosby Road to films. While it’s definitely not without its charms, it also didn’t make me feel like I need to make sure I watch the entire series. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are a song and dance team where both members need to flee Australia because of ill advised marriage proposals. They wind up on their way to Indonesia to work for a prince and end up both falling for his cousin. The plot isn’t really the point of these films. It’s the in-jokes, hijinks, gags, and chemistry between the two lead to seven of these films being made. It’s interestingly the only one in Technicolor. The type of loud humor seems almost necessary to be paired with bright colors. One other notable bit about this entry is the various cameos from other celebrities such as Martin and Lewis, Jane Russell, and Humphrey Bogart by way of a cut from The African Queen.  

Based on the novel of the same name by Flannery O’Connor, war veteran Brad Dourif returns to the remains of his family home a changed man and decides to head for the city. There he runs into a blind street preacher Harry Dean Stanton and his young daughter Amy Wright. The latter immediately develops a crush on him while the former inspires him to create his own antireligion church. An absurd indictment on religion, I had been really interested in seeing Dourif leading a film since he generally stands out in any of the works I’ve seen him in. I was not disappointed at all with his portrayal. He often plays characters just on the line between unhinged and sane and that works to great effect here.

Set in 1920s Kansas and based on writer-director Gordon Parks’s semi-autobiographical novel, this film centers on Kyle Johnson as a teenager who is quickly forced into adulthood through the events he experiences over the course of a year. Over the short period of time, he is exposed to issues of first love, sex, race, and injustice and how to navigate each as a Black man in small town America. His actions and development are in sharp contrast to those of his friend and later foe Alex Clarke whose path crosses but whose experiences widely deviates from those of Johnson. Overall, the film doesn’t overdramatize the events or force a particular perspective for the viewer. It just offers one man’s realistic, and likely uncommon, experience growing up in middle America.

When she is almost busted for selling bootleg DVDs, undocumented immigrant Dina Shihabi is forced to hide out in the apartment of Martin Starr, a former soldier who worked with her uncle in Iraq. Against their better judgment, the two fall in love even while immigration officials are closing in. The two actors have a casual chemistry between them that grows as they get to know each other. Delightfully, Shihabi’s smile lights up the screen during their courtship. I find it interesting whenever a work has a woman who wears hijab on her own terms and here it reflects on her attempts to meld her traditional Muslim with her new-found American culture.