Bryce Zabel's MOVIE SMACKDOWN!

The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009) -vs- The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

  Keeping the Trains Running (Out of Time)  

The Smackdown.  Thirty-five years ago Joseph Sargent's successful blend of suspense, drama and thrills (and even some comedy) set the bar high for action directors to follow, a precursor of films like Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" or Jan de Bont's "Speed."  Inspiration is one thing, though, and a re-make is another challenge altogether. This time out it's director Tony Scott who tackles the film adaptation of the novel by John Godey.  And Godey's premise is a goody -- four gunmen hijack a New York City subway train and demand a huge ransom be paid within the hour.  The money must not be late in arriving because for every minute thereafter, one of the hostages will be shot.  No exceptions.  What ensues is a deadly cat and mouse game of verbal sparring between the leader of the highly armored gang and the unlucky transit official who must do everything possible to delay the inevitable. It's said that Benito Mussolini kept the trains running on time.  Does Tony Scott do the same for the New York Transit Authority?  Or is the original the better ride?  It's time to get out the subway tokens -- all aboard!

The Challenger. As Chester A. Riley might say, "What a Travoltin' development this is!"  Blessed with mega-star power, Tony Scott's version features John Travolta as Ryder, an ex-commodities trader turned ex-con who masterminds a plot to steal even more money than that Bernie guy made-off with.  Talk about a low life.  On the other side of the tracks, the good side, is Denzel Washington, a Walter Mitty sort of fella who is a disgraced MTA official recently demoted to the position of a train dispatcher in the NASA-like central control room for the Big Apple's subway system.  Just his luck that he's the guy who fields Ryder's call for the ransom money.  The razor-sharp dialogue from screenwriter Brian Helgeland allow these two heavyweight actors to engage in a wickedly escalating two-person verbal dance as the clock enevitably ticks down.  Travolta's language is more foul than the waters of Lake Titicaca, but it is believable, edgy, realistic, and quirky -- his randy remarks about taking a Lithuanian ass model to Iceland is classic.  

Mad Men (2009-2007) -vs- Revolutionary Road (2008)

 Trouble in Paradise 

The Smackdown. In the age of instant communication, instant gratification looking back 50 years seems like a trip in the way-back machine. Many of us remember this as the time our parents scrambled to attain a level of security described by the catchall American Dream.

We tie this period before the Cuban Missile Crisis to hula hoops, fallout shelters, drive-in movies, TV dinners and American Bandstand. This was a time when people in the background --mostly men-- worked overtime branding these cultural signposts as passports to the good life. This period matters. It directed the shape of many of our lives.

Against that backdrop, "Mad Men" began a low-key run on cable's AMC channel. The program caught fire and soon begins a third season. The ensemble drama is set in a fictional New York advertising agency, Sterling Cooper and follows hotshot Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in and out of the office. Along the way, dramas play out in a time capsule where the look of that material world and the attitudes of the time strike a consistent, convincing note. Even better dramatically, all is not right in this artificial paradise. So far, "M-M" has pulled in six Emmys, three Golden Globes plus a BAFTA award and the critical run may not be over.

Director Sam Mendes visited this creative neighborhood in 2008's "Revolutionary Road," just out on DVD and Blu-ray. Featuring his real-life wife, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio breathe discomforting life into Richard Yates' 1961 novel. Both look right in the environment. They have problems, and it's not a giant leap in logic to imagine the DiCaprio and Hamm characters running into each other at the train station.

Good drama plays well on large screen and small and this Smackdown! will focus on the smaller elements that advance the story: Which project evokes the stronger sense of historical authenticity and anxiety in this big apple to big apple comparison?

The Godfather (1972) -vs- The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Vote Now: An Offer You Can't Refuse...

The Smackdown.  By now it's all become a part of our collective cultural memory -- the horse's head showing up in the bed, making an "offer he can't refuse" and that haunting score by Nino Rota.  Imagine being in the theaters though, almost four decades ago when the original "The Godfather" was in release back in 1972. For years new viewers of the Godfather Trilogy were exposed to either increasingly degraded theatrical prints or VHS or DVD copies that were, in many cases, even worse.  For the past two years, though, Francis Ford Coppola and a small army of digital restoration experts have been at work reclaiming the golden glory for high-definition Blu-ray, standard DVD and even a few more theatrical prints out in some major cities.  It's not the purpose of this Smackdown to lay out that process but if you want to know more about "The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration," there have been some excellent articles including The New York Times and Slate Magazine.

What is most astonishing about "The Godfather" which won the 1972 Oscar for "Best Picture" is that two years later "The Godfather, Part II" also won the Oscar for "Best Picture."  This pretty much qualifies the second film as the unquestioned best sequel of all-time (although there are supporters now for "The Dark Knight").  And, of course, it triggers a Smackdown to find out which of these two extraordinary films is the best.  We'll give the competition our usual treatment with an added bonus.  Five of our critics weigh in at the end with their individual essays.  Joe Rassulo, Scott Baradell, Sherry Coben, Mark Sanchez and Jay Amicarella all come at the material with damned unique POVs, and it's a fun read.  Finally, at the end of this review, you can put in your own two cents by voting in our Smack-Poll.

The Defending Champion.  If you think about it now, the "Godfather" films are the modern world's version of those Shakespeare plays about kings and princes.  This is the film where Vito Corleone, the aging Don of a powerful Mafia family hands off the power, reluctantly, to his youngest son Michael, delivering one of the saddest lines in cinema, "Michael, I never wanted this for you."  Al Pacino's Michael Corleone is one of the greatest acting performances on screen ever and his transformation from shy son to ruthless criminal makes you forgive any of the actor's excesses over the years.  The film opens on a wedding where Michael has returned from World War II just in time to see his sister Connie get married. All of the men in Michael's family are involved with the Mafia and it's assumed that the older brothers will handle the criminal duties while Michael lives a legit and decent life. It's truly the story of the family but the engine that drives the action is about a drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo who wants Don Corleone (Marlon Brandon) to go into the drug trade with him.  Corleone refuses, gets shot by hit men, barely survives.  This opens the door for his son to begin a violent mob war against Sollozzo that changes him and his family forever.  It's the story of the old ways surrendering, violently, to the new ways.  You probably know all this.  Beautifully photographed, scored, directed, written.  Most people have it on their Top Ten lists and more than a few place it as #1. 

Death Sentence (2007) -vs- The Brave One (2007)

Do-It Yourself Justice

The Smackdown.  The problem with being a vigilante is that it's illegal.  So if you take the law into your own hands to get the justice you think the system is denying you, you're still likely to get the system to throw the book at you.  Not practical for the average guy.  Going back to Charles Bronson in "Death Wish," films become the way for crime victims to stand up to the really bad guys when the cops or the judges won't do it for you.  2007 saw the vigilante film genre in strong resurgence with two revenge flicks that came at the story completely differently: one from a man's point of view, and one from a woman's perspective.  For purposes of this Smackdown, Jody Foster and "The Brave One" get to the be the defending champion because that film managed $70-million in worldwide box office while Kevin Bacon and "Death Sentence" have to challenge, having made less than $16-million.  Money can't buy you love, though, especially here at Movie Smackdown.  Here's a battle of the sexes to see who made revenge the sweetest.

The Challenger.  In "Death Sentence" Kevin Bacon is Nick Hume, an ordinary businessman, husband, and father who suddenly finds his world destroyed by a senseless act of violence.  His oldest son is killed before his eyes in a robbery.  The culprit, a young initiate into a gang, is set free. Vengeful, Nick confronts him and winds up stabbing him.  Now they're even, right? Hardly.  Culprit's older brother and his gang don't think so and target Nick and his family.  The violence escalates until Nick's family is killed and he goes after the gang on their turf in the bloody finale.

Hairspray (2007) -vs- Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Thirty Years of Dancing Travolta!

The Smackdown. It was three decades ago that a charismatic sitcom star named John Travolta crossed over into feature film fame with the cultural sensation Saturday Night Fever. In the years since, Travolta has seen his career wax and wane and regularly made choices that placed him on the dance floor post "Fever," notably playing Danny Zuko in Grease and Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. This year he returned as Edna in Hairspray.

This time out we serve up a different approach to a Smackdown: two critics, each on different sides, present the evidence and make their pitch -- but you decide the winner by voting in our poll at the end. What do you think? Which is Travolta's best film where the music and the dancing are what it's all about -- the time he put on his disco shoes for Saturday Night Fever or the time he put on the fat suit for Hairspray?

Mark Sanchez for "The Challenger."  It's Edna all the way. Travolta made headlines for Hairspray by appearing in a secondary role as a woman in a fat suit. As Edna Turnblad he kept the buzz alive by performing the role so well. Travolta never descended into caricature or slapstick but showed remarkable sensitivity as a self-doubting hausfrau. She may have been self-exiled in her Baltimore apartment, but Edna noticeably blooms the more she gets out. Edna / Travolta provides one of Hairspray's many highlights in a dance number with Christopher Walken that is extremely well-staged and graceful. I'm not the only person in the audience who gasped at how effectively they managed "You're Timeless to Me." Hairspray didn't change my life but it mattered a lot more because John Travolta  breathed life into Edna Turnblad.

"Feast your eyes, Lady-in-Red. I'll never be fat, old or a woman. Tough luck for you. Let's dance."

Bryce Zabel for "The Champion." According to Roger Ebert (who should know), "Saturday Night Fever" was his original partner Gene Siskel's favorite movie and Siskel watched it at least seventeen times. I've seen it, like, maybe five times but if you dropped by the house with the DVD and wanted to screen it again, I wouldn't complain.

Let's start with the character of Tony Manero. According to the DVD extras, Travolta fought to keep Tony edgy and he won. Tony can be a real dick to the girls who adore him but, at the same time, he's got a huge heart and tons of style. He is so cut and charismatic in this film it's insane. Yet, he's got a world of sadness beneath him because he senses that his days on the dance floor won't be enough to get him out of Brooklyn or even to get him into a good life that a real adult can live in. What's also progressive about this film is how it seems not interested at all in explaining Tony. It only wants to push ahead in its story and let Tony be Tony.

The story is mature, nuanced, powerful, joyous and sad. I remember getting dressed up to go out to discos and feeling like an inadequate fool and yet knowing that I had to go and compete. And I was just a nerd in Eugene, Oregon. He was a god of the 2001 Odyssey -- imagine the pressure he felt!

This film is a musical except the characters never break into song. The soundtrack -- dominated by the Bee Gees -- was, in my few, the first flawless and pungent synthesis between film and song. The dancing is incredible. Travolta worked for nearly eight months in preparation for this role and it shows.

The Scorecard. Normally, this is where our critic ticks off the pluses and minuses of the film they're reviewing. In this one-off, however, it's where our two critics each stand up for their pick and make the argument personally.

Mark Sanchez: Edna Turnblad scores heavy points on-and-off the dance floor for John Travolta in Hairspray. Unlike Saturday Night Fever Travolta doesn't play a young Italian guy from New Jersey which in 1977 was no great reach for him. Bryce, this takes nothing away from the film: It struck a chord and had a dynamite soundtrack featuring recognized hits from the disco era. Even so, acting credibly and dancing well as a middle-age woman in a fat suit probably demanded more from Travolta as a performer. He can no longer squeeze into that white disco suit..but as Edna Turnblad demonstrates on the dance floor Travolta still has the moves. As a film Hairspray is a compelling hybrid: It takes the "Here comes the 1960s" storyline from the original movie, but owes more to the Broadway musical. The newest Hairspray features several specially-written songs. It also deals  --  breezily, for sure  --  with serious issues of racial intolerance and coming of age that still have meaning today. I guess  --  for me  --  some themes resonate more deeply. And here you have Edna / Travolta singing and dancing in the middle of it. Bryce, you'll see that for yourself as Hairspray is now available on DVD.

Bryce Zabel: Honest, Mark, Hairspray's a fine film and it's a pretty harmless diversion for an evening. But it's no singular achievement like Saturday Night Fever. That film single-handedly kick-started disco into a white hot phenom even as it was starting to wane in 1978. I guess I could concede that both films capture that excitement that goes with wanting to take whatever skills or magic you have and take them as far as they'll go. But SNF added to that by showing that even that isn't enough. At the end of the dance, at the end of the audience cheers and adulation, you still have to go home with yourself. Every time I see this film, it moves me. Even more in SNF's favor, I think, is that the music is chock-full of songs that define a time perfectly. There really aren't any songs (I don't think) in Hairspray that exist as mega-hits outside of the film. SNF was a marriage of a huge film and a huge soundtrack. There was a time in my life (yes, I'll admit it) when I listen to that album every single day. But, no, I never did own a white suit...

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you only want to judge this on the dancing, though. There's no question that Travolta still has the dance chops in Hairspray (as do others in the film), but his work in Saturday Night Fever is passionate and powerful. The solo number he does at the 2001 Odyssey is probably the best dance sequence in film ever.

The Decision. Okay, then, you've heard our passion. Now it's your turn to weigh in. Please vote your choice in our MOVIE SMACKDOWN! Vizu poll and let us know how you feel. We'll give it a few weeks, then post back with what the people's verdict is, and we'll ask all our Smackdown! critics to give us their opinions.

Opinion Polls & Market Research