Pipesofpeace

Had this been made by Universal Studios instead of MGM, they might well have called it AIRPORT '72, so closely does it follow the template of that popular disaster movie series; it even casts Charlton Heston as a pilot two years prior to his playing a similar role in AIRPORT 1975. The film introduces us to the personal lives of several passengers, including a U.S. Senator (Walter Pidgeon), a jazz cellist (football legend Roosevelt Grier), a smart-mouthed teenage girl (Susan Dey from The Partridge Family), and a very pregnant lady (Mariette Hartley, who used to do those cute Polaroid commercials with James Garner)who probably shouldn't be flying to begin with at this late stage. There's also an unusually twitchy Vietnam vet on board (hammily played by James Brolin) which should remove all doubt as to who is leaving scary notes on the bathroom mirror and threatening to blow up the plane if his demand to be flown to Moscow isn't met. Yvette Mimieux and Leslie Uggams appear as two of the best-looking flight attendants in aviation history (they were called stewardesses back then, but then again that was a time when you could also smoke openly on a commercial airplane.) TV's Claude Akins shows up in the control tower, essentially playing George Kennedy. This sounds pretty ridiculous, and in some ways it is, but director John Guillermin (The Blue Max, The Towering Inferno) keeps up a brisk pace and makes this quite watchable, for what it is.

Writer-director Larry Blamire has a very distinctive comedic talent - genius, really - for spoofing movie genres not by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink (a la the great AIRPLANE!, the mediocre SCARY MOVIE, or the awful DATE MOVIE) but by recreating those movies, and all their endearingly dated conventions, in a manner so precise you could have a hard time telling them from the real deal. THE LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA was a dead-on parody of grade-Z Ed Woodian sci-fi, and one of the funniest movies of recent years. THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN added cheesy jungle adventures into the mix. And this wonderful picture, DARK AND STORMY NIGHT, heads into an entirely new direction for Blamire: 1930's and 40's murder mysteries (a la THE OLD DARK HOUSE, THE CAT AND THE CANARY, and AND THEN THERE WERE NONE) that were inevitably set in a spooky old mansion on a rain-soaked night where a motley assortment of characters are gathered for the reading of a will. Most of Blamire's brilliant cast of players from the two SKELTON movies (as well as the hilarious web series TALES FROM THE PUB) return, and they are deliciously in tune with each other and with Blamire's unique comedic sensibilities. Jennifer Blaire (aka Mrs. Larry Blamire) is particularly at home with the stylized, lightning-paced wisecracking written for her reporter character; in another era, Blaire could have been another Jean Arthur or Rosalind Russell. If you loved LOST SKELETON OF CADAVRA, if you're a fan of old movies, or you're just looking for 90 minutes of clever, rib-tickling fun, this one is a must.

As a Beatles fan it may be hard to write objectively about this enormously satisfying and moving tribute to the life and music of George Harrison. But as a movie fan I can honestly put this film in the same revered class as Martin Scorsese's great concert film The Last Waltz. Gorgeously filmed by world-class cinematographer Chris Menges inside the Royal Albert Hall last year, one year to the day after Harrison's death, the concert was the brainchild of Eric Clapton, who felt that the most fitting way to pay tribute to his friend would be to gather many of George's greatest musical friends and admirers to perform his songs in a once-in-a-lifetime mega-concert. Musical highlights are plentiful. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne revive the spirit of the Travelling Wilburys with a lively Handle With Care. Billy Preston brings out the gospel flavor of a heartfelt My Sweet Lord. Clapton himself contributes powerful renditions of Beware of Darkness and Isn't It a Pity. An Indian orchestra led by the great Ravi Shankar remind us of Harrison's lifelong spiritual devotion. George's irreverent sense of humor is saluted by members of Monty Python, who are joined by Tom Hanks for the classic Lumberjack Song. And of course there are those other two Fabs, Paul and Ringo, without whose contributions this tribute would have been lacking. Ringo's sweetness exudes throughout Photograph (written with George) and Honey Don't (by Harrison idol Carl Perkins). And Paul has rarely been in finer voice than in his brilliant renditions of For You Blue and All Things Must Pass. There is also an astonishing version of Something which starts out with Paul on ukelele (a la his last tour)then builds to a powerful full-band arrangement highlighted by Clapton's guitar and a lovely string section. And while he doesn't do any singing (save some background vocals), George's son Dhani is on stage during nearly every number, playing guitar and looking amazingly like his own father circa 1963. I pity anyone who passes up the chance to see this in a movie theatre, figuring that the DVD will be out in a few weeks anyway. To see this on the big screen is both a joyous and an emotionally powerful experience. In a year full of great documentaries, this is simply one of the best films of the year.