Marathon of the Lost: Week 2



It’s been another week, which means that I watched another week’s worth of movies featuring contributions of some people we lost in 2013.  This week has led me to watch some good movies that I had never seen before.  It gave me appreciation for some great people that I took for granted over the years.  Do you want to know which movies, and which people?  I think you do.  Here are this week’s movies.



Snatch.
This is one of two movies this week that weren’t originally in the schedule for the month.  It is one of two movies where I was reminded of the death during the first week of the marathon.  That fact makes me sad because both movies are people that I respected.  I’m not sure how their deaths had slipped my mind.  It’s as painful as the deaths themselves.  Why did I choose Snatch.?  I chose it because of the death of Dennis Farina, and how this movie features my favourite performance of his.

Dennis Farina passed away on July 22nd, 2013 at the age of 69.  He suffered a pulmonary embolism, which is a blockage of an artery in the lung.  His career spanned decades and included work in movies like Get Shorty and Midnight Run, as well as on television shows such as Law and Order, Luck, and New Girl.

He’s done a lot of work, but my favourite performance I’ve seen from him is his performance in Snatch.  Farina perfectly embodies the character that he is playing, and I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role.  The brashness of the character is excellently portrayed by Dennis Farina.  On top of that, the movie is a fun little tale of interwoven stories and chains of events.  Everything interlocks in certain ways to make it feel more than a simple caper gone wrong.  It’s a comedy of errors of sorts.  It’s a good movie made better through some great performances.  Dennis Farina gave one of them.



Clash of the Titans

This is the other movie featuring the work of someone who I forgot had died in 2013.  This time, the death was that of Ray Harryhausen.  I hadn’t seen any of his work previously, but I owned Clash of the Titans.  I thought that now was the perfect time to watch it.  I mean, it’s one of Harryhausen’s most popular films.  His effects work is showcased throughout the film.  It’s a wonder I hadn’t seen any of his work before.  I’m not sure how I had missed out on this creative genius’s filmography.

Ray Harryhausen died on May 7th, 2013 at age 92.  That’s a pretty long life, if I do say so myself.  He was a pioneer in effects work and influenced many of the filmmakers who came after him.  His stop motion work is among some of the most famous and popular stop motion animation to ever exist.  The film Pacific Rim was dedicated to him.

Like I said, his work is in the foreground of Clash of the Titans throughout the runtime.  The monsters, creatures, and mythical beings that exist within the film couldn’t exist without the mind of Ray Harryhausen.  The guy did work on levels that other people couldn’t.  He was a pioneer in effects work and his contribution to film will forever be remembered.  He helped to make a fun mythological adventure movie that inspired a remake, a sequel to the remake, and many other adventure flicks of the same kind.  His legacy will last.



Where the Wild Things Are

I have appreciated James Gandolfini’s work in whatever I have seen him in.  His presence helps to lift a film in a way that some actors can.  Because of this I decided that for this marathon I would choose a movie that highlights his presence without actually showing him.  I wanted to go with a voice performance and see if it lifted the film in the same way that seeing him would.  Where the Wild Things Are seemed like the right choice for this.

James Gandolfini passed away on June 19th of 2013 at the age of 51.  It was confirmed through an autopsy that he died of a heart attack.  A lot of celebrities came out to say great things about the man.  I’m not going to list them here because that would be twenty blog posts worth of material.  Let’s just say that he was greatly respected and loved by others in the business.

The right choice was made by picking Where the Wild Things are for this marathon.  Instead of focusing on seeing James Gandolfini, I got an emotional performance given through his voice work.  It worked in a way that I couldn’t have anticipated.  His voice portrayed the internal struggle that the character had.  It brought personality to the character.  Voice work is something that is difficult to accomplish in a satisfying manner.  Many actors cannot pull off emotional voice work.  The fact that Gandolfini was able to do it in this movie only goes to show how good of an actor he was.


Rebecca

I never knew Joan Fontaine’s work.  She was someone that completely passed me by.  This retrospective marathon of the many filmmakers that we lost in 2013 was the perfect way to introduce me to a respected actress and one of her most popular works.  I made my entrance into her career by watching a movie from Alfred Hitchcock, a director whose movies I tend to enjoy.  Hell, she earned an Oscar nomination for her work in this movie.  That’s got to be a good way to be introduced to her work.

Joan Fontaine passed away on December 15th, 2013 at the old age of 96.  She went in her sleep of natural causes.  I’d say that’s the best way to go, really.  She left behind a legacy that included the aforementioned Oscar nomination, as well as a win for Suspicion the year after.

Rebecca is a pretty good movie.  It definitely wouldn’t have been as good as it is without Fontaine’s performance.  She is the central role to the whole movie.  She’s the character that the audience is supposed to relate to, and she is the entry into the mystery behind Rebecca.  Without Joan Fontaine and her performance, the whole movie would fall apart.  It’s a crucial performance that allows Rebecca to be as entertaining as it is.  I can understand why people loved Joan Fontaine.  This movie has me on the path to loving her as well.


The Rocketeer

This is one of those movies that I’ve always heard about, and most of the time it was good things I was hearing.  Joe Johnston, director of Captain America, directed it.  It lays the groundwork for that movie.  Johnston is directing a movie about a superhero of sorts.  It’s a period piece.  You can see how he got from one to the other.  But when you look at The Rocketeer, it would be nothing without the performances of the actors within it.  One of the actors passed away in 2013.  His name was Ed Lauter.

Ed Lauter died on October 15th, 2013 of mesothelioma.  He was 74, and he was still making films up to his death.  He has a few films to still come out, so we haven’t seen the last of this recognizable character actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows.

Lauter doesn’t have a huge role in The Rocketeer, but it is an important one all the same.  He’s one of the lead FBI agents, hunting down the mob and other bad guys in the movie.  He shows up every once in a while and is an enjoyable presence when he does pop up.  That is much like The Rocketeer itself.  It’s an enjoyable movie that I’m happy to have finally watched.  It’s something that I’ve been interested in seeing for a long time, and this seemed like the perfect chance to seek it out.  Lauter didn’t make the movie, but he supported it well and his presence in movies will be sorely missed.



That’s it for this week of looking back at different film involved people who died in 2013.  There were a lot of greats that are now gone.  There are a lot of holes in the hearts of movie lovers around the world because of these losses.  Next week, I’ll take on a few more of the filmmakers who are no longer with us.  I’ll be sad to see them gone, and I’ll be happy to see you along for the ride with me.  See you next week.

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