RAMble, the University Libraries' blog

As a continuation of our “Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride” display, I picked out three gangster/heist movies to watch for this week: Reservoir Dogs [IMC DVD 364.15 R433 2002], White Heat [IMC DVD 364.1066 W582 2005], and Goodfellas [IMC DVD 364.1066 G197 2004].

My first movie, Reservoir Dogs, is different from most gangster movies because it is directed by Quentin Tarantino, who loves to break up his films into segments. The movie was interesting because most of the actual film was the aftermath of a heist which went wrong. You learn that there was a snitch in the group, and as we meet the characters involved in the heist, we try to figure out who the snitch might have been. I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would, and recognized a couple characters from Tarantino’s other movies.

White Heat was my first James Cagney movie, and it did not disappoint. Cagney plays a psychotic gangster who tried to lay low after a train heist goes wrong, and then decides to take a stint in jail until the trail goes cold. Little does he know that the cops are onto him, and send in an undercover cop to try to get the information about where he hid the money from the heist. James Cagney does a great job in his role, and I’m excited to watch a couple more of his earlier films!

My last movie, Goodfellas, is a movie that has been on my watchlist for a very long time, but I hadn’t yet gotten around to watching it. I’m glad I finally did, because it is easily one of Scorsese’s best films. While mobster movies can be enjoyable on their own, I particularly like this film because of the voice-overs that Scorsese has several of the characters do throughout the film. In this way, we get much more of the story without it feeling intrusive to the story itself. The soundtrack is perfect as well, blending in so seamlessly that you almost forget to listen for it. I highly recommend this movie if you, like me, had not yet gotten around to watching it.

Hopefully you've had a chance to check out our “Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride” themed display. If not, next week is our last week before we switch over to Staff Picks! You can track your own film viewing progress here: https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ .

I was very excited for our movie display this month because almost every single movie (!) is on my list. It makes sense, once you realize that we are featuring movies that didn’t win the Oscars, but maybe should have. For this week, I wanted to watch the three Stanley Kubrick films that are on our display, especially because he has been overlooked in many of the Academy Award shows.

The earliest film from my set is Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. This film satires (extremely well) the fear of nuclear annihilation between the Americans and the Russians. The whole film is a comic situation where a General becomes convinced that the Russians are poisoning the water with fluoride, which is affecting the “fluids” of the Americans. He decides to take action and sanctions a nuclear attack on Russia without the President’s authority. All this is reported to the President by a different general, “Buck” Turgidson, who plays the role with remarkable detail. There are many close ups of Buck and throughout his monologues, he incorporates many facial nuances that draw your eye when he is on screen. The other delightful acting is done by Peter Sellers who plays the President, Dr. Strangelove, and Captain Mandrake (which doesn’t become apparent, if at all, until the end).  

Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is a bizarre movie in its own right. The narration of the film is sparsely distributed across 165 minutes, with a lot of non-action dispersed in between. However, it is a great movie because it accurately portrayed aspects of space before we were even in space. (This movie was created before the Moon landing). It also helped influence the creation of several space movies later, such as Star Wars, Solaris (although indirectly), and even WALL-E. Kubrick’s special effects were incredible for the time, and still hold up even now. Having watched this movie, I can see why it did so poorly at the box office and didn’t get the credit it deserved until much later.

Later came Kubrick’s adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. If you’ve never read the book, then the movie is a huge shock—lots of violent imagery throughout. However, it is also an interesting commentary on social reform and what the consequences end up being for some. My favorite part of the book (which also shows up in the movie) is the plethora of made-up words that Anthony Burgess created for his character in this dystopian future world. Malcolm MacDowell does a fantastic job in his portrayal of Alex, the main character. The main thing that impresses me about this movie (and really all Kubrick films) is his use of music in just the right way. He uses music sparingly but when he does, the viewer notices and it leaves an impression.

My next block of movies will be looking at heist/gangster movies from our “Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride” Oscar display so stay tuned! As always, you can start your own film travelogue with Letterboxd list here: https://letterboxd.com/peterstanley/list/1001-movies-you-must-see-before-you-die/ or just stop by the IMC and pick any movie from our display!

As we welcome students for #ADPsummer and Summer Session II, the New Nonfiction display will focus on Student Success! There are many aspects to student success represented in our display. You'll find studies on learning, stress management techniques, writing guides for different subjects and much more.

This display is up for the month of July so check it out! Every month, we'll have a new display to highlight the broad range of subjects in our collection.