MY FELLOW AMERICANS (1996) AND THE CROSSROADS OF THE NINETIES

Few things define an era better than its politics and films, whether borrowing too many aspects from each other, or capturing an optimism that would soon evaporate in the next decade. While it seemed to get lost in the shuffle of political satires released during the Clinton administration, Peter Segal's 1996 effort has become (for this writer) a microcosm of the post-TCM/Grumpy Old Men era, nestled in that "Cold War is over, let's rest on our laurels" cultural zeitgeist.

Jack Lemmon as Former President Russell Kramer

James Garner as Former President Matt Douglas

Dan Aykroyd as President William Haney

John Heard as Vice President Ted Matthews

Bradley Whitford as Carl Witnaur

Everett McGill as Colonel Paul Tanner,

continuing his run of playing villainous government officials.

Wilford Brimley as Joe Hollis

Lauren Bacall as Margaret Kramer

Intended as yet another Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau vehicle, My Fellow Americans came off the heels of box-office hits Grumpy Old Men (1993) and Grumpier Old Men (1995), but with Matthau having to drop out for health reasons, he would be replaced by James Garner, himself coming off a successful run of Rockford Files T.V. movie revivals.

Truth be told, Garner pulls off the "ladies man" part of Douglas

better than 90s Matthau would have.

Armed with a solid script and excellent cast, MFA is a surprisingly difficult movie to gauge in that there's so much going on in it. But while it barely made back its budget and was considered weak for a political satire, it, like many 90s mainstream comedies, comes off as more and more wide-eyed with the passage of time.

It's an old premise, but the "two enemies forced to work together" plot

is the movie's glue, given the talents of Garner and Lemmon.

Former Presidents Kramer (Lemmon) and Douglas (Garner) are drawn into an elaborate conspiracy involving bribery, assassinations, cover-ups, and a nationwide manhunt. All the while, they have to contend with both each other and the truth of their unfulfilled lives after their presidencies.

Kramer merchandises his image to all hell in the hopes

of staying relevant after his presidency.

MFA is certainly dated in more ways than one, but its script, cast, direction, and chemistry bring it well above its negative critical reception.

Lemmon somewhat outshines Garner due to having more of a character arc,

and Kramer is surprisingly earnest and vulnerable given the genre.

Douglas is hardly a stretch for Garner's (underrated) capabilities,

but he's perfectly ornery and has terrific chemistry with Lemmon.

(Especially considering the role wasn't intended for him.)

Heard is pitch perfect as Matthews, a few-years-removed riff

on former Vice President Dan Quayle.

Matthews offensively apologizing to the black golfer he hit with his ball

is unfortunately all too timeless today.

The film's only tonal off note is when Genny (Connie Ray), mother of a homeless family

that's driving Kramer and Douglas, explains how she and her husband lost their jobs

and home due to the presidents' policies. The scene is played almost totally seriously, at odds

with the earlier lighter-hearted satire. (The piano music doesn't help, either.)

Sela Ward as Kaye Griffin

Ward only has roughly two scenes in the film, which is a touch weird,

given how the film doesn't have many female characters to start with.

Did she originally have more scenes, or did I overestimate Sisters' popularity?

A more contentious point is that this movie has a serious lack of Bacall.

That, and I don't quite buy her as Lemmon's wife.

Why not have her as his badass campaign manager instead?

While stereotypical, the LGBT characters are equally as kind

as the other characters who help Kramer and Douglas,

and (spoiler!) even help save their lives.

THE ROLE OF THE NINETIES (AND DID WE ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING?)

Being a 90s kid too young to remember much of that decade, MFA represents for me a warmer, sunnier, safer time, when normalcy and optimism prevailed, and things were in a state of calm. Of course, this outlook has the downside of obscuring systemic problems that were already rife in the 90s, but were conveniently ignored by the white mainstream. 

Still, as I've said before, MFA and Kramer's character arc come off as idealistic in light of what would later happen in real life (especially as reflected in other political satires). Even just a few years later, a movie like MFA probably couldn't be made with the tone that it has. In its present state, MFA may dip into sentimentality at times, but one could make the argument that those "dips" were emblematic of the time, when treacly shows and movies were still popular.

But the microcosm I referred to at the start of this post is how MFA would turn out to be one of the last in a series of comedies aimed at an older adult audience, with casts having at least one Old Hollywood star as a headliner. 

It's mind-boggling now to think of how short the post-Grumpy Old Men era truly was. Seemingly overnight, studios were scrambling to cast Matthau and Lemmon (and/or their contemporaries) in comedy vehicles dependent on their chemistry. Adding to the trend was a renewed interest in Old Hollywood, a large chunk of which was precipitated by Ted Turner's 1986 purchase of the MGM film library. Growing cable channels not only aired classic films, but commissioned many T.V. movies starring the same actors. (Lemmon, Bacall, Gregory Peck, and George C. Scott easily come to mind.)

Lemmon and Scott would even star together in the T.V. movie adaptations of

12 Angry Men (1997) and Inherit the Wind (1999).

After 1996 (or '97) however, things would take a turn. Not only were younger stars like Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler now headlining the biggest comedy hits (and hitting that much-desired 18-35 demographic), but the culture at large was skewing younger and younger. (Even my memory of the time had the Y2K/aliens/dance music aesthetic hit virtually overnight.) Perhaps the best indicator of this shift in retrospect was Bacall, much-hyped for her nomination for The Mirror Has Two Faces, famously losing the Best Actress Oscar to Juliette Binoche. 

But even had this era lasted longer... well, I don't mean to sound morbid, but... the stars were dying. And since the 80s, in increasingly rapid succession. 

Matthau would pass away in 2000, with Lemmon following a year later.

Close friends Garner and Bacall would pass away less than a month apart in 2014.

It may have ended abruptly, but seeing this era's renewed appreciation for the stars and talents while they were still around (and seeing these films appreciated by younger folks now) warms my heart as a classic film and T.V. buff. 

AND THE REST...

In addition to its great main cast, MFA boasts a multitude of character actors and future stars, including (but not limited to)...

90s villain mainstay James Rebhorn as defense contractor Charlie Reynolds

Conchata Ferrell as a truck driver who picks up Kramer and Douglas

While MFA won't win any awards for its depiction of Mexican immigrants,

it does give a small role to Michael Peña in turn.

Comedian and future Simpsons writer Dana Gould as a sandwich delivery boy

who Douglas has tackled by his Secret Service agents as a distraction

Director Paul Feig as a reporter who gets a cramp from writing

down Matthews' cringeworthy apology

John O'Leary as Ben, the night guard of Kramer's presidential library

The legendary Esther Rolle as Rita, the White House Chef

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Jack Lemmon as one half of a duo on the run who hides on a train?

(And with a Marilyn impersonator to boot!)

Before he would perfect the "walk and talk" on The West Wing, 

Bradley Whitford pioneered the "spin and talk" and the "jog and talk".

"Who dances at speeches with ex-Presidents? Sexual Harassment Panda!"

In case you forgot this was made in the 90s,

James Garner on the toilet singing "Macarena".

Believe it or not, The Odd Couple II would later pretty much

steal this immigrants scene (and do it noticeably worse).

It was only in screencapping for this post that I noticed these priceless

facial expressions from Bacall.

TIDBITS AND SUCH

Although I thought he did a fine job with this film, Garner and Lemmon didn't get along with director Segal, as Garner stated in his 2011 autobiography The Garner Files that Segal "was a self-appointed genius who didn't know his ass from second base and Jack and [Garner] both knew it."

Chris Roberts' podcast I Saw It On Linden Street has a greatly informative episode on MFA here.

All political satires grow more and more relevant with time, but My Fellow Americans proves that satirizing the worst of politics could at least at one time be done with a reassuring counterbalance of American optimism and sense of justice, and the film deserves more notice for its talent, its place in time, and as a companion to the Matthau/Lemmon renaissance.

"You son of a..."

Copyright © Chynna Moore

LICENCE TO KILL (1989)

Few film series have afforded such a vast array of diverging opinions as the James Bond franchise. Everyone has a best, a worst, an underrated gem, and, in the case of today's film, a rediscovered, ahead-of-its-time classic.

Flashback to 2002, when the series was celebrating its 40th anniversary. Growing up with the then-recent Brosnan films and knowing a bit about the Connery ones from T.V., nine-year-old me one day was reading the Entertainment section of The Province's B.C. edition, and coming across the photos of prior Bonds, including some young upstart named Timothy Dalton. Who? Never heard of him.

Let me reiterate, back then, no one seemed to care about the Dalton films. Especially with LTK, the Dalton era was seen as too dark and humorless compared to Roger Moore's increasingly silly fare. Cut to a decade later, with the series' 50th anniversary approaching, and I find out that the one Bond film once decried for its violence and had a lacking reception was now revered as a hidden gem and an important precursor to the Craig era.

Timothy Dalton as James Bond

Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez

Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier

David Hedison as Felix Leiter

Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora

Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher

Wisely avoiding the subject of Communism given the time period, Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum's script instead focuses on the Miami Vice vein, with elements from the Live and Let Die novel. This time for Bond, it's really personal. (Insert Jaws 19 joke here.)

The same decade that saw Roger Moore snowboard to a cover of "California Girls" now ended with amputation-by-shark, people on fire, and death by cocaine grinder, among other things. Naturally, this led to some staying away, as well as some trims to the film on both sides of the Atlantic.

As much as Soto is not an amazing actress, this shot

always broke my heart.

On a one-man vendetta after Felix Leiter is maimed and his wife is killed on their wedding night, Bond finds his license to kill revoked by M and goes off as a rogue agent. (Hey, just because the movie spells "license" with two "C"s doesn't mean I have to!)

The character of Sanchez has had a resurgence in popularity

in the past decade, and for good reason.

The man he's after is escaped drug baron Franz Sanchez, a villain who values loyalty over money. In his vendetta, Bond also goes after the men who've either aided Sanchez's escape or work for him in order to get closer to the man.

Grand L. Bush as DEA Agent Hawkins

The tense reunion of Agents Johnson and Johnson.

Everett McGill as DEA Agent Ed Kilifer,

who always resembled Andrew "Scorpio" Robinson to me.

Anthony Zerbe as Milton Krest,

a character originally from the Fleming short story

"The Hildebrand Rarity".

Benicio del Toro as Dario, a henchman so effective onscreen,

you'd swear he's in the film more than he is.

Along the way, Bond meets trained pilot and ex-CIA agent Pam Bouvier, Leiter's last living operative in the area. 

Somehow, Pam manages to sneak a huge shotgun into a crowded bar.

I know it's Florida, but still.

Unusual for most Bond films, Bond has to rely on his quick thinking when his plans to assassinate Sanchez don't quite pan out, and manages to worm his way in through mind games over brute force.

I always found the cult/televangelism subplot to be a bit

tacked-on in my opinion. As clever an idea as Butcher's show is

for Sanchez's operation, it's a bit much, considering that Sanchez

pretty much already owns an entire country.

(Relatively) innocent people do end up getting killed

thanks to Bond's desire for revenge, but the film doesn't delve

deeper than you expect a film like this would.

Never trust a drug lord with an iguana on his shoulder.

Similar to Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, Davi gives Sanchez a warm, affable demeanor that serves to explain the character's success in his "business", all while showing just how ruthless he can be in the name of said "business". And unlike most Bond villains, Sanchez benefits tremendously from having an actual, honest-to-god character arc.

Sanchez actually does pay Kilifer the two million dollars promised

for aiding his escape, though if you're an insanely rich drug lord,

two mil is just a drop in the bucket.

(And Bond just later kills Kilifer anyway.)

As Sanchez grows more and more unhinged, he shoots

himself in the foot by killing most of his own men 

out of paranoia.

A "down to business" Bond Girl who's a solid fit for 

the film's story, Pam Bouvier is pretty damn cool, 

saving Bond on several occasions.

I've always liked Pam Bouvier. A total badass, she's also funny as hell when undercover. And not that she shouldn't develop feelings for Bond in the grand scheme of things, but just in that speedboat scene alone, a page of the script seems to be missing between her telling him off and them kissing. (Maybe she's really turned on by being paid a lot?) Again, not against the idea, just maybe bridge that gap a bit, guys?

For all the crap Dalton got for being "humorless" in The Living Daylights,

LTK gives him several chances to have some fun in the role.

Agreed by all that LTK is where Dalton hits his stride, he does great in combining the moral ambiguity of book Bond (being more than happy to kill mooks if they're in his way) with this film's emotional notes (his friendship with Felix and his teaming up with Sharkey (Frank McRae), the Theodore "T.C." Calvin of the group).

The saddest.

The funniest.

Desmond Llewelyn as Q

LTK's break from Bond's story beat formula allows his and M's 

appearances to work as surprises.

Script-wise, LTK could use another pass for the purposes of streamlining. We're given several characters and subplots that either serve little purpose or get killed off a short time after they're introduced. Casualties of Bond's mission are one thing, but the film itself has a surprisingly large group.

Anthony Starke as Truman-Lodge, Sanchez's financial advisor.

No guesses as to what happens to him.

Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa as Hong Kong Narcotics Agent Kwang

Don Stroud as Colonel Heller, who I literally forgot existed

before revisiting this film.

And being a late 80s action film, LTK still has bits of silliness that somehow don't undercut what it gets right in seriousness, including:

Yes, those fishing lures are supposed to be live maggots.

And Bond using them to subdue a mook is just as ridiculous

as you can imagine.

"KAKU-RANGER! NI-IN-JA! NI-IN-JA!"

But thankfully, LTK has proven to have quite the staying power over three decades later. Not making a huge impression on me the first time, it's improved a lot in my eyes now, and it's rightfully earned its place in the series as a re-evaluated great Bond film.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

The mullet. Dear god, that mullet...

As usual, LTK's stunts are top-notch.

And this isn't even the movie's most famous stunt.

Michael Shannon, is that you?

"Patty?!"

Between this film, Columbo, and Star Trek: Insurrection, 

Anthony Zerbe's characters seem to die solely

from fatal injuries to either the head or neck.

Leiter at the end of the film looks awfully chipper for a guy

whose wife was just murdered and whose leg was just bitten off.

TIDBITS AND SUCH

LTK was famously a casualty of the "Summer of '89" onslaught of blockbusters ultimately bested by Tim Burton's Batman. Part of this was attributed to the late title change from Licence Revoked. Bob Peak's unused teaser poster art is below.

Copyright © Chynna Moore