April Showers

As film mirrors life, rain is inevitable in the movies. In countless features, wet weather has helped drive plot and establish a range of moods. Obvious example: the thriller that uses a rainstorm to build a sense of isolation and dread.

But to welcome spring, we’ll stay away from that darker territory, and consider the lighter, cleansing side of rain that summons up life transitions and new beginnings, often romantic ones.

The following hand-picked titles all include a pivotal scene where rain somehow advances the story in a hopeful way, consistent with the buoyant nature of the season.

In the gossamer Astaire/Rogers musical romance “Top Hat”(1935), it’s love at first dance for performer Jerry Travers (Astaire) and the stunning Dale Tremont (Rogers) , until Dale gets the wrong idea that Jerry is already married. This case of mistaken identity leads to a series of comic shenanigans, which run on the hilarity of the ensemble players, in particular Eric Blore as persnickety butler Bates, and Erik Rhodes as Beddini, rival to Dale’s affections. Beyond the ineffable Astaire-Rogers chemistry, the real stars are a buttery Irving Berlin score and meticulously choreographed dance numbers that define grace in motion. In one charming sequence featuring the song “Isn’t This A Lovely Day (To Be Caught In The Rain)”, a sudden shower serves to bring Fred and Ginger together after a rocky start to a very tentative romance. As always, Fred’s prospects improve on the dance floor.

Just seventy minutes in length, the animated classic “Bambi” (1942) marks one of Walt Disney’s crowning achievements. The title character is a young deer born in the forest, forced to face life's sadder realities when he experiences loss at the hands of human hunters. With the passage of time and changing of the seasons, Bambi recovers and eventually grows into a fine young buck, ready to prove his own mettle. An early highlight shows a young Bambi discovering the wonders of the natural world with the advent of spring, to the delicate strains of “Little April Shower”. It’s movie magic.

In the tuneful, exuberant “Easter Parade” (1948), hoofer Don Hewes (Astaire) gets dumped on Easter by longstanding dance partner Nadine (Ann Miller), and rashly wagers he can still draw crowds, even teamed with the greenest of chorus girls. Arbitrarily, he picks one Hannah Brown (Judy Garland), and begins grooming her for stardom. Astaire’s moves, Garland’s pipes, and yet another phenomenal Berlin score combine for peerless entertainment. Standouts include the title song, the vaudevillian duet “We’re a Couple of Swells” and Astaire’s excellent solo to “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”. But let’s not forget the handsome, reedy-voiced Peter Lawford crooning “A Fella With An Umbrella” during a studio-generated downpour, with some welcome accompaniment from Judy.

Obvious as it is, how can I omit “Singin’ In The Rain”, which boasts the most famous rain sequence in film. A tribute to (and satire of) the late 20's, when Hollywood transitioned from silent films to “talkies”, Gene Kelly plays Don Lockwood, a star with a future who meets talented unknown Kathy Selden (Reynolds), and besotted, schemes to advance her prospects. First, he must derail the career of cloying co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen), a shrill femme fatale from hell-or is it Canarsie?. The sprightly Donald O'Connor plays Cosmo, Kelly's eternally loyal, energetic pal. Both the catchy period music and athletic dancing routines are sensational. With an inspired Comden & Green script, this is also the funniest musical ever made- just witness Hagen’s side-splitting performance as Lina. (Trivia note: the film’s producer, MGM’s Arthur Freed, had also written the lyrics to the score- twenty-five years earlier.)

In the iconic “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” (1961) adapted from Truman Capote’s novella, director Blake Edwards is in signature form, but his fleet-footed romantic comedy would not be a cultural touchstone without the bewitching, effervescent presence of Audrey Hepburn as central character Holly Golightly. Her Holly is a mass of contradictions: a small-town Texas girl with her feet planted firmly in the glitz of New York’s party scene; a vision of chic, elflike beauty in Givenchy and pearls, but also a frail creature harboring secrets. Hepburn plays both sides exquisitely. George Peppard is solid and likable as writer Paul, Holly’s admirer and confidante, while Patricia Neal chews on her steely role as Paul’s wealthy older mistress. With Holly’s persistent kookiness and Paul’s romantic entanglements, will the two New York transplants ever be a couple? At the unlikely moment late in the film when Holly’s cat gets caught in the rain, we get our answer, to the crescendo finish of Henry Mancini’s Oscar-winning heart-tugger, “Moon River”.

From this unforgettable ending, we move to an indelible beginning. Jacques Demy’s “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”(1964) opens with an ingenious overhead shot of rain falling on multi-hued umbrellas , to a simple, soft rendition of Michel Legrand’s “I Will Wait For You”. In a debut that made her an international star, nineteen year old Catherine Deneuve plays Genevieve, a stunning young woman who operates a small umbrella shop in Paris with her mother. Genevieve loves Guy ( Nino Castelnuovo), but the couple is forced to separate when Guy gets drafted for military service in Algeria. Though they vow to stay true to each other, the toll of separation and other complications gradually undermine their future. Rain and the elements punctuate how time and circumstance alter the course of life, leaving early promises not kept. Demy’s visually sumptuous masterpiece is unique in that it’s all-sung, with no spoken dialogue. Thanks to a magical score by Legrand, this bold conceit works. Lead billing also goes to the director’s vibrant color palette, a tribute to the ‘50s Hollywood musicals he adored.

At the close of the sixties, Paul Newman and up-and-comer Robert Redford would star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” the first of two hugely popular collaborations with director George Roy Hill. (The other was “The Sting.”) No standard western, “Butch” romanticizes the story of the infamous “Hole in the Wall” gang with a disarmingly literate, light-hearted screenplay by William Goldman, who won an Oscar. Loosely based on true events, this cheeky, freewheeling buddy picture tracks likeable outlaw pals Butch (Newman) and Sundance (Redford) in their final months together. After twice robbing the same train, the pair heads for the hills with Sundance’s girl, Etta (Ross), eventually crossing borders to Bolivia to escape the indefatigable posse tailing them. Yet with all that transpires, the image that sticks with me most is Butch and Etta’s first ride on a bicycle (Butch to Etta: “Meet the future!”), to the strains of Burt Bacharach’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”. Though the hit song mentions rain, there’s none in sight during the scene: it’s just a sunny, dew-soaked early morning in spring. Rainy or not, this whimsical sequence crystallizes a moment of pure joy and unbridled playfulness, and provides a final bright interlude before the clouds gather in earnest for anti-heroes Butch and Sundance.

Finally, in Herbert Ross’s “The Goodbye Girl” (1977), written by Neil Simon, newly jilted Manhattan divorcee Paula McFadden (Marsha Mason) is busy recovering her equilibrium, while raising precocious daughter Lucy (played by Quinn Cummings, who’s terrific). One rainy night Paula discovers the hard way that her recently departed actor-boyfriend has leased their apartment right out from under her. Worse still, the new tenant is another actor, one Elliot Garfield (Richard Dreyfuss). After some predictable conflict on Elliot’s surprise, rain-soaked arrival, she and the new thespian in her life form an uneasy truce and start sharing the apartment. Cupid takes care of the rest, but we always remember: it’s the presence of rain on that first, fateful night that makes Paula open her door to a most unexpected phenomenon: true love.

In Concert!

DVD DETECTIVE: IN CONCERT!

For movie gatherings, outstanding rock documentaries and concert films are virtually guaranteed crowd pleasers, particularly if your video set-up features a decent sound system. And no surprise, there are a host of fabulous rock titles on DVD that only improve with repeat viewings.

It was 1967, and the summer of love, a charged moment when rock’n’roll was evolving in daring new directions, fueled by psychedelic drugs, the sexual revolution, and a new generation finding its voice. It was the summer of “Sergeant Pepper’s”, and the Monterey Pop Festival, which documentarian D.A. Pennebaker covered like a blanket, filming everything and everyone. Thus was created the first feature length rock concert film, “Monterey Pop”, showcasing immortals Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and The Who, among others. The incredible music they made lives on, but Pennebaker’s magic camera makes it seem so close and so real that the distance of forty years quickly recedes. The Criterion Collection’s re-mastered three disc set contains the original eighty-five minute feature, and for those wanting more (and who wouldn’t ?), a second disc focusing on Hendrix and Redding’s stunning work, and finally, a third DVD full of priceless out-take performances. All true rock lovers should own this set.

Of course, the monster of all rock concerts, and concert films, is “Woodstock” (1970), Michael Wadleigh’s astonishing visual document of the legendary three-day music festival that drew nearly 500,000 people to Max Yasger’s farm in 1969. A slew of cameras, (one of them manned by a young Martin Scorsese) roam from stage to mud-caked street, encountering band members, crew, fans, cops, and local “squares” alike, while the greatest acts of the time— Hendrix and The Who (again), along with Joe Cocker, Sly and the Family Stone and others, perform at their respective peaks. Musician and “person-in-the-street” interviews are interwoven with concert performances, all of it presented in the then-ground-breaking format of multiple on-screen images. Most everyone appears justifiably awestruck at the influx of humanity that fueled this largest of all “happenings.” “Woodstock” is a nearly four-hour kaleidoscope of unremitting fascination, another must for rabid rock fans.

That same year, we joyfully discover that the king of ‘50’s rock-n’-roll is still kicking in Denis Sanders’ rousing “Elvis: That’s The Way It Is”. Here we find Presley at a crossroads, with the waning of his movie career allowing him to get back to live performing. Presley looks terrific as he rehearses for his much ballyhooed Las Vegas opening, and beyond the force of his charisma and talent in full blossom, we get a glimpse of Presley’s comical, playful side, which humanizes this larger-than-life entertainer. “Way” culminates in a predictably triumphant opening night performance, with such luminaries as Cary Grant and Sammy Davis, Jr. in attendance. The ensuing years would not be kind to Elvis, which lends poignancy to this last moment when he appeared at his very best.

Six years later, in “The Last Waltz”, wunderkind director Martin Scorsese would capture The Band’s farewell tour after sixteen years on the road. To mark the milestone, the group assembled a rock hall-of-fame to join them, including Bob Dylan (whom the group backed for years), Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, and Neil Young. The rest is music history. Robbie Robertson, the film’s producer and guiding light behind The Band, is the epitome of cool, off-stage and on. Highlights include Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote”, Waters’s earthy, soulful “Mannish Boy”, Dr. John’s dreamy “Such A Night”, and Clapton’s jaw-dropping guitar work on “Further On Up The Road”. Scorsese hired top directors of photography to film this event from every angle, and the result is an intimate, exhilarating ride into the heart of rock music.

Filmed over a three-day stint at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater, director Jonathan Demme’s first outing, “Stop Making Sense” (1984) celebrates the inspired pop energy of David Byrne’s Talking Heads, as they’ree joined onstage by a succession of phenomenal players, including keyboardist Bernie Worrell. This infectious film captures the group at the pinnacle of their fame, but still it’s much more than a filmed performance. Working from an idea hatched by Byrne, “Sense” opens with his solo rendition of “Psycho Killer” (accompanying himself on a boom-box) and then builds, song by song and player by player, to a roof-raising climax with “Burning Down the House.” Demme’s film is an uplifting, concept-driven dance party that avoids all the clichés.

Finally, one of last year’s top documentary releases was Martin Scorsese’s two-part “No Direction Home”, an ambitious, insightful profile of Bob Dylan, first covering the enigmatic balladeer’s rise, then his risky, courageous transformation from folk artist to rock’n’roller in the mid-sixties. Simultaneously, Dylan was under pressure from colleagues, fans and the press to assume a more active political role in those divisive days, but he steadfastly refused, for all the right reasons: He wanted simply to make music, and have the music speak for itself. The film suggests that even if Dylan’s 1966 motorcycle accident hadn’t sidelined him indefinitely, he still would have taken a lengthy hiatus from live performing, as his mid-sixties English tour was met with audience hostility every time the singer picked up an electric guitar, further straying from his folk roots. Including modern day interviews with Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Allen Ginsberg, Scorsese crafts a penetrating sixties time capsule, and a revealing meditation on the price of artistic integrity and iconic super-stardom. John Farr