Reviewing Movies

JAG, Judge Advocate General, was one of the best TV series of the 90ies. Given the amount of military hardware depicted onscreen it must also have enjoyed the US military’s support as well. Mind you one of the central conceits of the series, that Harman Rabb was an airforce pilot, stretches reality to the extreme as fitting his six foot, four inch frame into a cockpit meant for an aviator no more than five foot nine seems a physical impossibility. The diminutive Tom Cruise in Top Gun, yes; David James Elliot, no. Whereas Tom’s sets must have platforms to elevate the vertically challenged Mr. Cruise the challenge here was finding partners for David who wouldn’t look like dwarves beside him. Seeing him attempt to navigate in the confined space of a small submarine is almost laughable if it didn’t look so painful.

Everything about this series points to high production values. The writing, the sets, the venues, the settings world wide, the military hardware, the ships, the armaments, the acting. It is no coincidence that this series hung around for ten years. JAG almost gives lawyers a good name and Harm, the lead character thumbs his nose at authority with a twinkle in his eye that only the profession’s brightest and best could get away with. The supporting characters are equally well developed and acted. Season Two is already available and the remaining eight will surely follow.

Just finished watching John Harrison’s mini-series 2000 version of Dune. Even allowing for the advances made in film making since David Lynch’s attempt in 1984 this is a far superior version of Frank Herbert’s classic Science Fiction novel of 1965. Matt Keeslar, who appears to have matured considerably and muscled up even more since his salad days in Run of the Country, is no longer cute but makes a handsome Feyd though he does not have the sinister leer that Sting lavished with such relish in the earlier version. Even with nearly 5 hours running time this story still seems heavily compacted. As with most movie adaptations many storylines and plot extras are dropped and in the interest of maintaining a broader audience rating Baron Vladimir Harkonnen’s more perverted proclivities are not displayed on screen, though we do meet one of his deceased sexual partners when Feyd is summoned to account for the assassination device concealed on its body.

It is unfortunate that the lead characters Duke Leto and Paul Atreides are so upstaged by the performances of so many minor characters. Both actors seem to lack the charisma their parts would seem to demand. My other quibble is with the confusing, difficult to navigate menu system provided on the DVD’s. These caveats aside the depiction of Arrakis, a desert planet where the value of water is superseeded only by “spice”, truly evokes a setting beset by sand storms with winds of 800 miles per hour and giant worms that are attracted to anything that moves on the open desert. The Fremen with their glowing blue eyes, their culture, and their societal values are faithfully evoked. This is a truly primal society where the survival of the community trumps all other considerations. As with a series such as Lord of the Rings, there are so many characters and plot twists that anyone not familiar with the story from reading the books would be hard-pressed to keep up with the action. This is a movie meant for Frank Herbert afficionados and for them this has many delights. I can’t wait to get my hands on Children of Dune.

Rio County, Texas is a land political correctness forgot. A place where the niggers live in Dark Town, whites are in the minority, and the majority Mexican American’s refer to their border hopping cousins as “wet backs”. Where political malfeasance is assumed and the Sheriff is expected to take a lead role in conducting graft. Where sheriffs commit murder and the town has a sixty-cell jail for housing “wetbacks” and is talking about building another one.

As the movie starts the town fathers are about to unveil a memorial to Sam Deed’s steely-eyed Dad a much-loved sheriff who drove off his corrupt predecessor and was judge, jury, and executioner at home. Sam is dismissively referred to as Sheriff Junior but must rise to the occasion as a skeleton that should have remained buried comes inconveniently out of the closet. The Masonic ring, County Sheriff’s badge, and Colt 45 bullet found with it lead to obvious conclusions—does this make Sam’s Dad Buddy the killer?

Rio is a southern town without the southern drawl and air of gentility. The nearby army base that is about to close just adds more tension to the pot that simmers under the sleepy seeming exterior. The white school board members object to a Mexican-American Teacher who gives a Mexican slant on History. The idea of a Spanish-American/Black-American union raises hackles on all sides. Why would a sheriff want to run for re-election; especially since the town father’s have already endorsed his replacement?

As a personal aside and not necessarily a comment on the movie for the third time I’ve fallen asleep repeatedly while I tried to watch this movie.