What I
didn’t know then was that Stone was just finishing what would easily become his
greatest era. In fact, I think there are few filmmakers in history who can
claim to have as great of a 10 year stretch as Stone did between 1986 and 1995.
During that time, he made 10 films, won two best director Oscars (for Platoon
in 1986 and Born on the Fourth of July in 1989), made a few films I would
consider to be masterpieces (at minimum JFK, Natural Born Killers and Nixon
(1995) – and perhaps Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July as well), and never
made a bad film. Sure, Wall Street (1987) has aged – and not well – in the
decades since, and The Doors (1991) is wildly uneven, and I’ve never loved
Salvador (1986) the way some do – but none of them are bad films in the least.
Talk Radio (1988) and Heaven & Earth (1993) are less well known than some
of his other films of that era – but both are great films in their own right,
and deserve to be more widely seen and talked about.
Before
1986, Stone had directed just two films – Seizure (1974) and The Hand (1981) –
both of which I will be watching for the first time as part of this series
(when I was obsessed with Stone, I don’t think either was available). In the 20
years since 1995, Stone has only directed 7 additional features (along with
some documentaries – with another, Snowden, due next year). None of these films
has garnered Stone the kind of recognition he had during his peak – and while I
like nearly all of them, and even love a couple, it’s easy to see why. Stone,
who used to be the most controversial filmmaker in Hollywood, has hard time
drumming up that kind of controversy in the past couple of decades – or
perhaps, he just tired of it, since really only 1 of those films (2008’s W.)
courted controversy in any real way.
To a
certain extent, Stone has been a victim of the vanishing “middle class” movie –
movies that exist in budget ranges below blockbusters but above Indies – which
is where he did his best work. Studios aren’t much interested in those anymore.
Part of it is unquestionably Stone’s fault as well though – the one hugely
budgeted film he has made in this time was 2004’s Alexander – a massive
critical and commercial failure. He rebounded somewhat with his follow-up –
World Trade Center (2006) – which got respectable reviews and box office (which
is impressive when you consider it was made during a time when pretty much
every movie about 9/11 or the War on Terror was bombing). Perhaps it didn’t help
that World Trade Center seemed so unlike an Oliver Stone movie – it almost
seems like a Ron Howard film at times, even if I doubt Howard would have
painted Michael Shannon’s heroic character in such a dark way (had the entire
movie been about him, it may have been a masterpiece).
Perhaps
it’s something even simpler than that though. Stone, whose best films seem to
be documenting America in the 1960s and 1970s – perhaps ran out of things to
say about that time period. Three Vietnam War films, a film about the JFK
assassination, and one about Richard Nixon, what else is left for him. Stone
certainly had things to say about the 1980s – in films like Salvador, Wall
Street and Talk Radio – and I would love to see Oliver Stone’s Reagan – but
despite the fact that Stone made one of the great films about the 1990s in
Natural Born Killers, he is on shakier ground when dealing in the present. The
exception for me is his under rated W., which came out during the tail end of
George W. Bush’s Presidency, and was largely greeted with a shrug – probably
because to Conservatives it was too much of a hit piece, and for Liberals not
enough of one. That film is nowhere near as complex as Stone’s Nixon – but for
a very good reason: George W. Bush is nowhere near as complex as Richard Nixon.
Stone saw a seemingly average – not stupid – man who got into the White House
to prove himself to his dad, which he could do because of who his dad was, and
was woefully over the head the entire time.
At this
point, I find it hard to see Stone ever truly returning to form again. The type
of movie that he is best at making, is the type of movie that doesn’t get made
anymore. Perhaps Snowden will do it – I certainly hope so, but we’ve been down
this road before.
Stone
does, however, remain one of my favorite filmmakers for those films that meant
so much to me as a teenager. They meant so much to me in fact that I’ve
actually avoided watching many of them for the past decade or so. I have
certainly seen JFK and Natural Born Killers in that time period, as well a
re-watch of Wall Street before the ill-advised sequel, and I seem to recall a
viewing of Talk Radio a couple years ago for some reason. Part of the reason I
haven’t re-watched them is simply time – I tend to get wrapped up in the current
year’s movies, and don’t watch as many from the past as I probably should. But
also partly, I think, I’ve been avoiding them in case I don’t love them the
same way now I did as teenager. I’ve certainly changed as a movie lover over
the years, so perhaps what once seemed so great, no longer would, and would end
up tainting my memory of them. I hope not, but you never know.
So,
before Snowden hits next year (when I started re-watching, it was supposed to
come out at Christmas – had I known it was going to be next year, I may have
put this series off – but, oh well), I plan to go back and watch all 19 of
Stone’s previous feature films. I considered added his screenwriter credits as
well – Midnight Express (1978 – for which he won an Oscar), Conan the Barbarian
(1982), Scarface (1983), Year of the Dragon (1985), 8 Million Ways to Die
(1986) and Evita (1996), but adding another six films to the list seemed like a
little too much (for these retrospectives, I tend to prefer directors with 15
films or less – they’re easier to get through, and I don’t burn out on them as
easily, so 19 films was already pushing it). I also considered adding his
documentaries – Commandante (2003), Persona Non Grata (2003), Looking for Fidel
(2004), South of the Border (2009), Castro in Winter (2012), The Untold History
of the United States (2012-2013), Mi Amigo Hugo (2014) – but that caused the
same problem, along with two additional ones – finding 12 hours to watch The
Untold History of the United States, and sitting though the docs (most of which
I have seen) again. For the most part, I think Stone gets a bad rap for being
overly didactic in his films, as I think normally he provides more complexity
than he is given credit for (for example, the sympathy he shows for Nixon the
man in Nixon, but not Nixon the President) – but that’s a complexity he is
either unwilling or unable to show in his docs, which I find rather
insufferable at times, despite their good qualities.
So,
that leaves 19 features to revisit (or in the case of Seizure and The Hand,
watch for the first time). I’m looking forward to this, with equal parts
excitement and trepidation. As always in these introductions, I provide a
preliminary ranking of the 17 Stone features I have already seen – based on my
memory – along with a few thoughts. At the end, I will provide an updated
ranking – and yes, some things always change.
17. Alexander (2004) – I’ve
only seen this film once – in theaters – so it’s obviously based on the
theatrical cut of the film. For this retrospective, I’ll watch the so called “Final”
– which is 214 minutes (I would choose the 207 minute “Ultimate Cut”, which
Stone says will be his final one – it is his 4th – but as far as I
can tell, it’s not on Canadian iTunes, and even Bay Street Video doesn’t have
it – I cannot say I blame them, they have the Theatrical Cut, Directors Cut and
Final Cut version, for a movie no one really wants to watch)– which may be a
colossal mistake. I will say this though for Alexander – whatever it’s (many)
flaws are, being boring or unambitious are not among them, so while I may well
think it’s Stone’s worst film, I actually am looking forward to watching it
again.
16. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)
– I
actually remember liking this film back in 2010, even if I can barely remember
it now, just five years later (and no, I have never had the urge to revisit
it). Probably the only film on Stone’s resume I could describe as wholly
forgettable.
15. World Trade Center (2006) – The
film is actually very well made – and had the film focused on Michael
Shannon’s, heroic true believer (who Shannon gives dark under currents to, even
if we never see him do anything not heroic) it may well have been a
masterpiece. The main thrust of the story is rather forgettable though – which
should be possible considering what an incredible true story it is based on.
14. Wall Street (1987) – Michael
Douglas’ Oscar winning performance remains great – not much else about the rest
of film does however, which is a quintessential 1980s Hollywood film, in ways
both good, and bad.
13. Any Given Sunday (1999) – Yes, at
nearly 3 hours, the film is too long. And no, Stone’s portrait of professional
football as being mainly about greed is not overly shocking. Still, it has some
great performances (Jamie Foxx can probably thank Stone for his Oscar, since
his “serious” career started here), the bone crunching football sequences are
fun to watch, and Al Pacino rips into the scenery just enough to keep his coach
from being a caricature, but still be a hell of lot of fun. I rarely think
about this film – but every time I see it, I like it.
12. Salvador (1986) – James
Woods’ excellent, Oscar nominated performance elevates this movie, about a
cynical American reporter in El Salvador, just as the country seems ready to
explode. Surprisingly for a Stone movie, it isn’t all that interested in
politics – the movie actually gets awkward when they try to discuss them
directly – but is rather a character study. On that level, it works fine – and
Woods, as mentioned, is terrific. Still, it is in many ways another movie where
a white character is at the center of a story that barely involves him – while
the darker people who should be at the core, are shunted to the side.
11. Savages (2012) – Stone’s
most recent film, is a straight ahead genre piece – an action/thriller about
two pot growers/dealers, who end up in the middle of a war between different
drug cartels and a corrupt DEA agent. As that, and only that, it is a hell of a
lot of fun – although I have to admit the trio at the center of the movie
(Aaron Taylor Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively) aren’t nearly as
interesting as the supporting cast – Benicio Del Toro, John Travolta and
especially Salma Hayek.
10. The Doors (1991) – An
uneven movie to be sure, but when the film works, it is amazing – and Val
Kilmer as Jim Morrison truly is terrific. Part of the problem, as Roger Ebert
pointed out, is that there isn’t much of an arc to Morrison’s life – he was
born, got stoned, made some great music, and died. What Stone does do in the
film – which makes it somewhat different than many rock biopics, is not overly
romanticize Morrison – seeing him mainly as a selfish prick – which is an odd
choice, but one that works.
9. U-Turn (1997) – The
film that marked the end of Stone’s run on top, was a bomb both critically and
commercially back in 1997, and hasn’t earned a lot of fans since. But damn it,
I like it for it’s insane weirdness, and willing ensemble, who embrace all that
craziness. You meet 10 people who have seen U-Turn, and 9 will hate it. I’m the
other guy – and occasionally I come across a fellow traveler who feels the same
way. What can I say – we’re weird.
8. W. (2008) – Throughout
the George W. Bush years there were a lot of jokes about how dumb he was – but
I never thought he was dumb, and neither, really, does Oliver Stone’s film.
Instead, it sees him as an average man, born into an extraordinary family, and
in an effort to prove himself worthy, he ends up the President of the United
States of America, where he proceeds to screw everything up, by letting
everyone around him walk all over him, like they have his whole life. Josh
Brolin gives a great performance in the central role. No, this is not a complex
movie – but W. isn’t a complex man, so it’s a fitting one.
7. Heaven & Earth (1993) – The
least well known of Stone’s Vietnam war trilogy, Heaven & Earth deserves to
have a much wider audience. Stone doesn’t really portray the Vietnamese people
in either Platoon or Born on the Fourth of July – instead, locking in on the
American perspective. In Heaven & Earth, he corrects this – telling the
story of a Vietnamese woman (a wonderful Hiep Thi Le), who sees her country
destroyed – ends up marrying an American soldier, and moving there, to a land
of even more confusion. There have been a lot of American movies about the
Vietnam War – Heaven & Earth is one of the only ones to tell a story from
the other side – and as a result, it should be far better known.
6. Talk Radio (1988) – Talk
Radio gets my vote for the most underrated film of Stone’s career – a screen
adaptation of Eric Bogosian’s play, starring Bogosian, as a controversial talk
radio host, with a death wish, who pokes and prods the jackasses in his
audience to respond. Stone avoids almost all of the traps of stage to screen
adaptations, and makes an intelligent, funny, brilliantly acted film. Somehow,
in the middle of his most well-known period, Stone made this under the radar
gem, and not many noticed. That’s a shame.
5. Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – The
story of a true believer, who goes to Vietnam, comes back paralyzed from the
waist down, as well as bitter, angry and cynical – who tries to drown himself
in drugs and alcohol, before he recovers, and comes back to the land of the
living. The film functions brilliantly as a companion piece to Platoon – which
was about the war itself, whereas this one is about the aftermath of it. As is
true of many Stone movies, there is a great performance at the center of the
film – this time by Tom Cruise, who has arguably never been better.
4. Platoon (1986)
Platoon
was the Best Picture Winner of 1986 – and it has aged better than practically
any other film to win the prize that decade (only Amadeus is really in the same
class). It is a Vietnam war film, based on Stone’s own experiences, who went
over there as a true believer, only to become disillusioned by what he saw
there, and torn between two mentors – Tom Berenger’s win at all costs, hardnosed
sergeant, and Willem Dafoe’s, drug using hippie, who is still smarter than
Berenger. The film is appropriately chaotic, and shows how a young man becomes
confused and disillusioned. The film remains one of the best Vietnam War films
ever made.
3. Nixon (1995)
Stone’s
long (192 or 212 minutes) movie about the life of Richard Nixon is perhaps the
greatest film ever made about a real life President. It shows some scenes of
Nixon as a boy – but it mainly concentrates on him as a man, and politician,
brilliantly played by Anthony Hopkins, as a man driven by his need to be loved
to become the President – who is then destroyed by his hubris. It’s a Shakespearean
story – brilliantly directed by Stone to be sure, and also brilliantly well
written and acted. An utter, and complete, masterwork.
2. Natural Born Killers (1994) – This is
perhaps the film I have seen more than any other – not just Oliver Stone film,
but any of them. This chaotic, nightmarish vision of hell is over the top and
violent from the first frames, and just keeps getting crazier. The film almost
plays like its channel hoping, from one demented vision of America to the next
– painting a portrait of lovers/killer on the run as heroes, villains and
everything in between – but mainly as a product of their violent surroundings –
and how they really are the quintessential American couple. Natural Born
Killers was a favorite of mine in the 1990s – and continues to look better and
better as the years pass.
1. JFK (1991) – Quite
simply one of the most stunning films ever made. You don’t need to agree with
Stone’s theories in the movie – just like you don’t really need to see Nixon or
George W. Bush the same way he does to like those movies. What Stone captures
in JFK is the massive sense of loss America experienced when JFK was assassinated.
Yes, Stone is spinning a counter narrative here – and whether you see it as
true, or the paranoid rantings of a madman, I really do not care. The skill in
which Stone makes his argument, the mastery of style is stunning. One of the
greatest films ever made.
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