Thursday, July 20, 2017

Cinema Cycle - Murder On The Bayou (A Gathering Of Old Men)


CINEMA CYCLE
(Cardio Workout And Reviewing Movies At The Same Time)

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DATE REVIEWED: 07/19/2017


FORMAT: Laserdisc

TIME RIDDEN / FILM LENGTH: 1 hour 32 minutes

DISTANCE RIDDEN WHILE VIEWING: 21.1 miles

TOTAL CINEMA MILES LOGGED: 7097.7 miles

SYNOPSIS: A group of elderly African-American men rally to protect a peer that is accused of murdering a white man.

CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER: The reverse of a black lynching.  Empowerment of a repressed group against the establishment.

PROS AND CONS:  Wasn’t sure what to make of this film in the beginning.  It suffers most in the script and dialog, when the elderly cast individually get to recount their mistreatment by ‘white’ America in long five minute speeches.

The film starts to move along about half way through and becomes interesting when Richard Widmark enters the screen.  This must be one of his final films and his acting style reveals four decades of starring in movies.  He is like Jack Nicholson in Chinatown or Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke.  He is a joy to watch.

The film is a targeted piece, aimed squarely at righting the wrongs done in the deep south regarding racism and apartheid.  In that aspect it is educational and informative.  


To read an overview of this project, check out this status posting.  

This film is a part of my LaserDisc Collection.

Clicking on the title will take you to the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) entry for this film. 

This film was viewed while exercising on my recumbent cycle.  A summary of my time spent working out on my journey through movie-land can be found on Strava.com.

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