Double Feature

May 2017 - As many of you know, Marc Lederman passed away late last year. I met Marc when I belonged to Central Pennsylvania Mensa and enjoyed many a movie night at his and Joy's home. I can't remember all the movies I watched there, but here are two classics that stand out.

A Beautiful Mind tells the story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash. Russell Crowe earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in the title role. Jennifer Connelly won an Oscar for her portrayal of his wife, Alicia. Ron Howard took home a statue for best director, and the PG-13 movie won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The movie follows Nash from his days as a graduate student at Princeton to his receiving the Nobel Prize some 50 years later. At Princeton, Nash is brilliant but socially awkward. He never goes to class, but instead spends his time trying to come up with a totally revolutionary mathematical theory. He does, and it earns him a spot at Wheeler Labs, a defense contractor on the campus of MIT. It's there that Nash falls for one of his students, a woman named Alicia.

Saying any more would ruin the surprise, which comes about an hour into the movie.

Overall review: Loved it! A totally fascinating, engrossing film. Excellent performances all around and an amazing story. I've read that the film ignores or glosses over some of the less noble aspects of Nash's life. Maybe so, but don't let the facts get in the way of a great movie.

Thirty years earlier, The French Connection won big at the 1972 Oscars. This R-rated action thriller won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for William Friedkin, and Best Actor for Gene Hackman.

Hackman plays Popeye Doyle, a NY police detective who works narcotics. Roy Scheider (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) is his partner, Cloudy. They make lots of busts, but it's all nickel and dime stuff. But, Popeye smells a big score when he and Cloudy go to a nightclub and see a small-time store owner rubbing elbows with some known crooks. They connect him to another big-time drug kingpin, and ultimately, to the Frenchman who smuggled the heroin into the country by making a struggling French actor his fall guy.

The movie includes one of the most famous chase scenes in all of movies as Popeye tails a French hit man. Another classic scene involves Popeye following the main French guy and getting involved in a little game of cat and mouse.

Overall Review: Liked it. Holds up well, I think, despite being made in the early Seventies. The style of the era (clothes, music, cars) does not detract from the overall impact of the film. The only thing that's slightly disappointing is the abrupt ending.