This movie is adapted from the classic by Paul Theroux. Directed by Peter Weir, it stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and River Phoenix in the title roles. Harrison Ford plays the role of Allie Fox, a genius inventor who gets tired of the the crass commercialism pervading the American Society. He dreams about an ideal world where men live in harmony with what they need and not what they want. Allie abhors the materialism and the schizophrenic pace of the society and says “We eat when we’re not hungry, drink when we’re not thirsty. We buy what we don’t need and throw away everything that’s useful. Why sell a man what he wants? Sell him what he doesn’t need. Pretend he’s got eight legs and two stomachs and money to burn. It’s wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”
To escape from this material world Fox uproots himself and his family, of six from rural Massachusetts to a remote island La Moskitia in south America. Here his wife and 2 sons and twin daughters follow him and his ideals. Initially everything is hunky dory with fox finding the peace of mind to pursue his inventions and trying to better the natives lives. Soon with absolute dreams comes absolute and painful reality. The plan to civilize the natives is also a kind of intervention which is not a natural course of events.

The movie is narrated through the eyes of the eldest son, Charlie who completely admires his father’s genius. His love and admiration is mixed and what has the upper hand is evident only at the end of the movie. Mother Fox, Allie’s wife is a dutiful spouse following the marriage vows to the end. She moves herself from the comfort of their home to come to a remote clearing Jeronimo to play house and puts up with the ravings of her husbands flawed genius.
Allie on the high for bettering the plight of the natives plans to build a giant ice machine which uses fuel to make ice instantly. His need to awe makes him go to the interiors of the jungle to show off his machine. On his way he meets some dangerous ruffians who follow him back to Jeronimo and set fire to his inventions. As everything goes in to smoke Allie’s descent in to chaos happens. In his madness he destroys his family, relationships and a fragile system he tried to nurture. At the very tragic end the movie poses some important questions about his despotic nature and the effect of it on his relationships.
The movie also has amazing philosophical moments when Allie spars with the preacher Spellgood whose fanaticism puts him off. But in the end Allie’s contention that progress brings about civilization is as flawed as Spellgood’s theory of religion uplifting man. One man’s desire to shock, awe and better the natives to ultimately achieve glory and splendor falls flat on the ground. In the end Allie did bring in what he had fled in America, a search for material things and thats is his downfall.
Splendid performances by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren is the highlight of the movie. This movie failed miserably at the box office but I still recommend it as a must see. It is a thinking man’s movie and go with a philosophical frame of mind.

Fail safe is a film released in 1964, starring Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and others. It is about a fictional cold war scenario which escalates to nuclear war and is adapted from the book of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler; the ultimate horrors of a nuclear exchange and the quest to avoid a suicidal war.
The strategic Air Command or SAC notices a suspicious aircraft heading to America from Europe. American bombers are deployed to counter the plane. According to the routine, six fighter planes are deployed around strategic points called the fail safe points around the Soviet Union. If the attack is innocuous the bombers are recalled back to the fail safe points.
Due to a technical transgression the attack code CAP 811 is transmitted to the six fail safe planes. The planes are the vindicator bombers with nuclear war heads commanded by Colonel Grady. Colonel Grady gets the code and tries to confirm it through radio. Since the frequencies are routinely jammed by the Soviets it fails to get through and he puts the attack in motion. Accordingly the bombers are dispatched to bomb Moscow.
According to the attack procedure, once the bombers are cruising towards the target they refuse to accept any audio alterations to their mission. It is felt that the enemy may use impersonators to distract them from their mission.

In America the whole establishment is in a tizzy. The president calls on the Soviet Premier to make him understand the accident. General Black, the Air chief fears that if Moscow is bombed the Soviets may launch nuclear missiles on America. To make them understand the sincerity of American operations six planes are deployed to shoot down the planes. But due to fuel constraints these planes fail and are lost. American President assures the soviet Premier that all of it was an accident and if Moscow is bombed he himself will order the bombing of New York. The Soviets are thus convinced of his sincerity.
Initially the Soviets refuse American help but turn around to ask for assistance. Americans help them to shoot down the plane. Five bombers are shot down and the President through the radio asks Gray to desist from the bombing. But Gray following orders says that he cannot take audio orders anymore fearing it to be an impostor. Soon the soviets detonate nuclear bombs in the air to avoid being hit, but Gray passes through and detonates the bomb over Moscow. When Moscow burns the American Ambassador’s phone melts giving a shrill tone.
The Soviet Premier tells the President that he acknowledges that it was an accident and he does not blame anybody. Both the heads of state promise not to depend overtly on machine controls anymore. However, there is a price to be paid to avoid a nuclear war.
The President orders General black to bomb New York City as he had promised the Soviet Premier as a show of solidarity. The First Lady and Black’s family are in New York, putting them in harm’s danger. Black bombs new York city and commits suicide. The last haunting scenes are the lively scenes of New York City, all to be incinerated in the back drop of the shrill sound of the melting phone.
A classic and haunting film highlighting the cost of distrust.

This black comedy western is directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and star Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda. Paris Pitman Jr is a bespectacled smooth talking con man and a murderer. He is a very evil man with no morals and soft feelings within him. But being a cool operator he is able to charm his way out of difficult situations and win the trust of those around him.
Pitman and his gang loot the house of a wealthy rancher, Lomax and make away with half a million dollars. But one by one the gang members are shot by the police and the surviving lone marauder is killed by Pitman himself to prevent him from claiming a share on the booty. Pitman escapes and enters a brothel. He ties the money up and drops it in a rattlers pit.
He enters the brothel, is recognized by Lomax and is subsequently arrested and sentenced to a prison Arizona. The prison is in the middle of a desert and a hard life awaits Pitman. But he tries to bribe Warden LeGoff to help him escape. His plans go awry when the warden is killed by one of the inmates and his place is taken up by an upright officer called Lopeman. Lopeman is an idealist who is in favor of prison and judicial reform. He believes in reforming the criminals and presents a slew of measures to improve the conditions in the prison.

Pitman is enraged at first at his failure, but soon wins the trust of Lopeman. Lopeman puts him in charge of the building of a new prison dining room. Soon he starts manipulating others to formulate a plan for escaping from the prison. He forms a gang of his own which includes Missouri Kid, Whinner and Macnutt (a gay con artist couple), Floyd moon, Michael Blodgett, a kid on death row and Ah Ping, a silent Chinese. All of them slowly feel the power of Pitman Jr and plot an escape. They plan to start a riot during the inspection day by the governor.
Soon the plot is successful, with full scale rioting taking place, and as a result, all of them escape from prison. But Pitman the backstabber that he is, kills every one. Lopeman sheds all his idealisms and vow to bring back Pitman dead or alive. But fate has another things in store for the outlaw. As Pitman takes out the loot from the Rattlers nest he is bitten by one of them.
This is the most cynical movie I have ever seen. There is no good vs evil fights with good triumphant over the bad. This is the story of a bad man who corrupts and manipulates his way out to meet the just desserts by the quirk of fate. Tough movie to watch on.

Grapes of Wrath is a cult film in the era of motion pictures. This Oscar nominated movie has been adapted from John Steinbeck’s novel of the same name which in turn has been a literary milestone in its own right. Grapes of Wrath has won Steinbeck the Pulitzer prize and the ultimate Nobel prize for literature. Even though nominated for eight categories, Grapes of Wrath had only won 2 Oscars, for the best director and the best supporting actress. But nobody can deny the social relevance of this amazing saga which depicts raw human emotions and travails.
Grapes of Wrath opens with Tom Joad on his way home, paroled from prison for homicide. He meets preacher Jim Casy who has seen so much of hardships that his faith is shaken. They reach Tom’s homestead, which is deserted and repossessed by the lending authorities. Muley Graves, one of the neighbors takes Tom to his now destitute family living with their uncle John Joad. Joad’s have lost everything in the dust bowl of Oklahoma and being impoverished are seduced by the advertisement about a promising life in California. Even though Tom Joad cannot leave Oklahoman due to parole restrictions, he risks the journey to California to find a better life.

So the Joad family of 12, along with Casy loads everybody into the old 1926 Hudson super six sedan and set out west on route 66 to California. But soon they realize that they are not the only ones making this journey, the route is filled with families in a similar predicament. Portents of bad news comes along with experienced travelers who warn them not to expect anything but hardships in California. The arduous journey takes a toll on the Joad’s with grandpa Joad dying and has to be buried on the wayside and Connie Rivers, husband of Tom’s pregnant sister Rose, deserting her.
The Joads on reaching California, enter their first transient migrant camp filled with jobless vagrants and laborers. They have a tough time finding a place to sleep and have a showdown with a group called the agitators. They move to another camp called Keene Ranch where situation is still more precarious. After a hard day of work they find that they still cannot afford food from the camp store. Soon they are attracted to unions and Tom and Casy try to attend meetings organized by a striking group of migrants. Here tragedy strikes as the group is discovered by the guards who attack the strikers. Casy is killed by one of the guards and Tom is wounded and inadvertently kills one of the guards in self defense. The Joad family hides Tom and they are able to slip away from Keene Ranch to reach the federally operated clean camp called Farm workers wheat patch camp.
Tom realizes that he must change the world and find a better deal for every worker. He leaves to join in a mission committed to social justice and the Joad family supports him. Ma Joad concludes that the hardships have made them tougher and nobody can wipe them out from this world. Grapes of Wrath has been in the list of the best films made in the 21st century. It has been well received by the critics and has been a discerning film for a student of the the craft of film making.