Al's Omniflick: Al's Omniflick at 350 and Mother's Day: 5 Memorable Moms

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Al's Omniflick at 350 and Mother's Day: 5 Memorable Moms

This post celebrates a milestone and Mother's Day, which just happen to fall on the same day. As of this blog-entry, Al's Omniflick boasts 350 posts! That's right, folks; it's no joke. That means 400 isn't far away but for now, let me take a moment and another posting to commemorate this hallowed event and to also wish Moms everywhere a Happy Mother's Day.

I thought it might be fun to compile a short list of moms you may remember from cinema past. You might notice the list is mostly composed of moms we might be glad to say aren't our moms but hey, at least they aren't dull.

I kept the list brief and have no doubt overlooked many other movie moms who were worthy of inclusion. If I omitted a favorite of yours, kindly inform me in the comment section below.

FIVE MOMS IN FILM:

Janine "Smurf" Cody (Jackie Weaver)--from the film Animal Kingdom (2010)
Jackie Weaver received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her role as the matriarch of a family of hard-nosed criminals. Behind this mom's sweet, sunshiny grin is a sharp razor blade; ready to cut those who would cross her or her family. A wonderful depiction of a not-so-wonderful mom.

Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway)--from the film Mommie Dearest (1981)
Based on the memoir of Christina Crawford, adopted daughter of screen siren Joan Crawford; Mommie Dearest is as close to being a horror film as a non-horror-genre film can get. If the film and Christina's memoir are to be believed, Joan was a abusive wreck who made her daughter's life a living, vivid hell. For Crawford the elder; maternal and infernal were interchangeable terms.

Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand)--from the film Fargo (1996)
Marge Gunderson isn't technically a mom, but her very pregnant body makes her a mom-to-be. Smart, perceptive and a better cop than her male colleagues, Marge's expectant mother quirks include sizeable food servings and a very funny moment of crime scene nausea, which we discover is connected more to her pregnancy than disgust for the bloody bodies strewn across the snowy landscape. We know Marge will be a terrific mom because her memorable moment in her police vehicle when she tsk tsks the brutal killer Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) en route to jail sounds like a parent castigating a child. McDormand is sublime in this role.

Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway)--from the film Chinatown (1974)
Faye Dunaway makes this short list twice for her other malign mom role. The problem with Evelyn Mulwray's character here is that she is more than a mom to her daughter. If you've seen the film, no further explanation is necessary. Evelyn isn't an evil mom, but a victim of an evil man; which makes her a tragically sympathetic character.

Mother (Susanne Wuest)--from the film Goodnight Mommy (2014)
The mommy in Goodnight Mommy is diabolically creepy in the early part of the film until she becomes an object of sympathy, which is a spectacular understatement. To watch this mom suffer unspeakable indignities at the hands of her "sons," is to suffer as an audience member as well. No breakfast in bed for this mother.

I hope you enjoyed this very quick list. Thanks to those who have visited this blog in the past and continue to do so and to those for whom it applies, an encore Happy Mother's Day. See you all soon.

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On DVD

Fury (1936)

Director: Fritz Lang

Though we might normally think of the films M and Metropolis when director Fritz Lang becomes the topic of conversation, less known is the legendary director's work in Hollywood. Having fled the ever-growing menace of Nazi Germany for America in the early 1930s', Lang eventually found himself under contract for MGM.

Though his work in Hollywood is very uneven, one standout is Fury, from 1936. Starring Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney, the film's condemnation of mob justice seems spectacularly daring now, considering lynching was still a reality in Depression-era America. We don't see one black person in the film entire but we know precisely for whom Lang film is sympathetic.

Spencer Tracy plays Joe Wilson, who is arrested in a small town while en route to meet his fiance, Katherine (Sylvia Sydney). Suspected of being part of a kidnapping of a little girl, Wilson is arrested on the flimsiest evidence. While he sits in cell; angry and indignant, Katherine is puzzled as to why her fiance hasn't arrived at their prearranged meeting place.

But Wilson's fortunes take a darker and more dangerous turn when a mob--already on edge--is roused to anger. Egging one another on, the mob moves on the jailhouse where Wilson is being held. As the angry gathering becomes a mass, drawing citizens of the town into their swelling numbers, a lynch-mob begins to form. The sheriff, determined to see due process take its course, refuses their forceful demands. Becoming angrier and angrier and bolder and bolder, the crowd storms the jail, overwhelming the sheriff and his deputies. Unable to unlock the cell doors to reach Wilson, the mob sets the jailhouse ablaze as an alternate method of lynching.

Katherine, having arrived on the scene, faints when she sees flames engulf the cell where her fiance is held.

In spite of the mob acting as a faceless entity, its principle members are brought to trial though the town and the defendants maintain a conspiracy of silence, hoping to escape convictions and censure.

A sure acquittal seems imminent until damning evidence assures their guilt. When the majority of the members receive death sentences, Wilson turns up at his brothers, having survived the fire. Knowing the public is unaware of his survival, he vows to stay in hiding to ensure the mob conspirators are executed.

The scene where Katherine, nearly insane from grief, comes face to face with Joe is a powerful moment in the film. As she slowly recovers from her state, she realizes Joe's vindictive determination to see the mob hang is in itself a great injustice.

The story climaxes during a stirring courtroom scene that brings the fascinating story to a close.

I would have never expected Hollywood to make a statement as powerful as Fury made in 1936. Given the fact that lynchings in America at the time went unpunished, the movie railed bravely, in spite of the main character being white rather than black, against what was then the status quo. The Oxbow Incident would make a similar and commensurately powerful statement seven years later.

The film's willingness to peer into the darker side of American life could be partly attributed to Lang, who co-wrote the story and who was no stranger to exploring the darker side of humanity. Having seen evil flower in his home country, it makes sense Lang would choose to tell this story.

Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sydney give wonderful, emotionally layered performances. Katherine's near descent into madness is depicted touchingly by Sydney. To see Tracy's mild-mannered Wilson become angry and vengeful is heartbreaking.

Even watching Lang's film on a small screen does little to diminish its power. Weeks after the viewing, I still can't shake its indelible images or its angry indictment of one of America's great crimes. One couldn't devise a better title than one it was given eighty years ago. Fury indeed.