Aristocats (1970)

Why it's here:
Are you kidding? After Sometimes a Great Notion, we clearly needed something animated and innocuous! Actually, I remembered watching this one as a child and being charmed by it. I figured the boys would too.

Specs:
1 1/2 hours, animated; rated G

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1-10:
7.0

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This is charming and sweet, just as I'd remembered it. The story is of a rich woman who has no family, but a "devoted" butler, a cat and the cat's 3 kittens. The woman writes a will leaving her entire estate to the cat, whereupon the butler becomes jealous. He kidnaps the cats and disposes of them out in the country. The cats manage to get away from him and connect with a warm-hearted stray cat and become a team, traveling together.  They go on amazing adventures and sing "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat," and do other sweet charming funny things. Its great.

High recommendations for family from us all!

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Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)

Why it's here:
Years ago we had a backpacking buddy who used to reference this film's line "wake it and shake it you Stampers" whenever he'd wake us up to get hiking on cold early mornings. I was always curious about the film and thought we'd include it.  Somehow I had the idea in my head that this would be like Grizzly Adams but with a heartwarming family tale behind it. I could not have been more wrong!

Specs:
Almost 2 hours. Rated PG. (This is not a "typical" PG film by modern standards).

Our average rating on a scale of 1-10:
5.38

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This film gets some dubious distinctions in our fest. It is our 4th LOWEST rated film overall. In fact this is our lowest rated film since 1935's Becky Sharp, and one of only 6 in our festival that received less than a "6" average score. Perhaps it is not fair to say that we hated the film or that the film was bad, but better to say that the film was wholly unsuited to our purposes. I strongly encourage you and your family to skip this one.

The film is rated the equivalent of PG, which just showcases the shortcoming of ratings in trying to convey audience appropriateness. It is shot in a slow, plodding, 70s era style. The natural locations were gorgeous, I guess, but the film never felt lovely or attractive, because the whole thing was shrouded in a dark complicated tone of family disharmony. There was a constant sense of foreboding that terrible things would be happening. And it was the tone that made the film very hard to watch. In fact, many terrible things do happen in this picture.

The story is about a proud and defiant logging family headed by Henry Fonda and with Paul Newman as the eldest son. They stand up in principle against a logging union that is strongarming them into not cutting wood in order to raise prices. However, the Stampers do what they see is right, and do not cower under threat of violence. As good as that might sound in terms of providing positive role models, the film is not meant to be a positive story of standing up for what's right, so much as a depressing exposition of a disfunctional family's ambiguous principals. The film explores adult themes of divorce and blended family along with much younger second wife having a quasi-incestuous relationship with one of the sons. It also involves two horrific logging accidents and a very grotesque (in my opinion) display at the end that is played for humor.

(Welcome to the 1970s!  I should probably have known/noticed that this was an adaptation of a Ken Kesey novel and was unlikely to be a good choice. ha. I guess maybe you have to be from the 70s - as our backpacking partner was - to enjoy this type of stuff.)

Let me be clear: I'm not saying the film was poorly made or bad, but rather that it was not at all what I meant to pick for our enjoyable family festival. If you do want to watch this one with kids, I'd suggest that you know your kids and their tolerances and I'd still suggest a pre-watch just to make sure you know what you're in for.

Truth is, we realized early on that this film was not a good fit for us and didn't really "watch" it. After about the first 30 minutes or so, we started skipping on fast forward and pulling out various scenes to watch. We sort of skip-watched the whole thing.

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My Side of the Mountain (1969)

Why it's here:
We were familiar with this classic and often recommended 1959 novel and were interested to see its (only?) adaptation

Specs:
About and hour and a half. Rated G

Our family's rating (on a scale from 1- 10):
A solid 7.

More about the film and our reaction to it:
We were all curious how well they managed to adapt the story given that there are very few characters and the whole movie centers on a boy's running off to the wilderness. The solitude was dealt with by creating a raccoon character with whom the boy (Sam) could convey thoughts and experiences.

Our impression of this movie was mixed, and similar to the way we felt about Born Free. It is good and solid, but really not amazing or spectacular. It feels very much like a 60s-era nature film and reminds me of shows like Wild Kingdom I used to see on TV.  We give it a solid recommendation for families who wish for a beautiful and wholesome movie to enjoy together.

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Funny Girl (1968)

Why it's here:
For the chance to see and hear Barbara Streisand, who shouldn't be overlooked as a major film star. She won an Oscar for her role for Funny Girl - which was also her first screen role.

Specs:
2 1/2 hours; color
Set in the 1920s

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1-10:
8.0. In fact, every one of us rated it an "8."

More about the film and our reaction to it:
You expect teen and preteen boys to enjoy certain kinds of movies. Abbot and Costello pictures, the On the Road series, the Maltese Falcon....  But, when they love a movie like Funny Girl -- detailing the life of stage star Fanny Brice -- that simply speaks volumes to the QUALITY of a motion picture. It has to be a great film if it won over people who are so far out of its target demographic. And it was. [In fact, my husband, who was working in his study and had not planned to watch, came in to see it; it hooked him from the next room].

Barbara Streisand and her incredible voice and performance are the undisputed anchor for this movie. She is so watchable. Everything else -- from the plot, to supporting performances, cinematography -- is  a support to her charm, comedy and talent. We also enjoyed seeing Omar Sherif again, this time in a very different role from where we saw him last (Lawrence of Arabia).

The film is long, but, again, it speaks to how well made and solid it is that we didn't mind. We watched it over two nights and were all anxious to sit back down and enjoy the second half.

It is clear that we are now deep into the modern-era 60s! We've seen, in this festival, many films dealing with marriage and divorce, but this one felt like a first, in that the marriage ended (sorry spoilers!) for reasons that are distinctly depressing: people who love each other, where neither is at fault, cannot make a go of it for reasons of pride and introspection. Though set in the 20s, the film is stewed in its (present) time; It feels like a 60s flick. Parents should be aware of some very sexy bikini style costumes on full display in an early musical number! Those costumes were certainly not period appropriate.

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Planet of the Apes (1968)

Why its here:
My brother, again. Its lucky he told us to watch it though, because I had the impression, shaped by years of inferior sequels that have diluted the franchise, that this movie would be cheesy and dumb. The amazing thing is, the original Planet of the Apes is a FANTASTIC film.

Specs:
Almost 2 hours. Color.

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1 - 10:
8.0

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This movie is still compelling and powerful and only just slightly affected by 60-s era cheesiness. As everyone knows, it tells the story of a small group of astronauts who have been traveling in space and are about to return home. Their space ship crash lands, while they are in stasis and when they come to, and disembark, they find themselves in a strange place. It is a good half hour into the film before you first realize (along with our astronauts) that they have landed on a planet that is ruled by apes. And what's more, on this planet humans are present, but as primitive beings that can not speak and have no power.

Because everyone is familiar with the franchise, the retelling of these plot details may have lost some of the chilling effect it would have had in 1968. "Yes, we get it; how very odd for the tables to be turned in this way," you're thinking. "don't bore me."  But you'd be wrong.  Because this movie is so very well made, the unfolding of this troubling story is very disturbing and the realization of what these poor astronauts have come upon is highly unsettling.

As amazing as the plot themes still manage to be, the production itself is half the reason to watch.  The acting is incredible. The special effects (including the simian costumes/makeup) are impressive. The scenery and cinematography are evocative and gorgeous; and the musical score stirring.

The ending (which I wont reveal) is still a mind-blowing experience if you can manage to watch the film without first having it spoiled - which I would strongly recommend you attempt.

The movie is tense and very unsettling, rendering it perfect for the tween to grownup set. I wouldn't recommend it for those much younger as the power of the story will be lost on them while the details that make it incredible are unlikely to be those best appreciated by kids.

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The Love Bug (1968)

Why its here:
I remembered having watched the Love Bug as a child. But its turns out I was wrong. I'd never seen this film -- but probably one of the 1970s sequels. haha. In any case, I thought the boys would get a kick out of the VW Bug in its starring role.

Specs:
1 1/2 hours. Color.

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1 - 10:
6.5

More about the film and our reaction to it:
Solid, enjoyable film. Totally appropriate for family viewing and basically unobjectionable all around.  Kind of like Flubber or the Elvis film we saw, it is good to have a familiarity with these well-known films that are part of the American cultural experience.

The story weaves together a down-on-his-luck car racer and his funny roommate, with a villainous car dealer and his spunky employee, a sweet and stubborn Volkswagon and a gorgeous cross country motor race in California. (As I write this, its starting to remind me of The Great Race, too. Between the two of them, even though we rated The Great Race a bit higher and it is probably better cinema, families are much more likely to enjoy this one.)

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Why its here:
An iconic film of such stature that it just had to be included in the festival.

Specs:
2 1/2 hours. Color.

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1 - 10:
We had a definite split of opinion on this film in our family. Two of us rated it in the "9s", and two of us gave it a "6"! Our average was a 7.63.

More about the film and our reaction to it:
This has to be the film with the biggest split of opinion our family has seen in the festival.  My younger son and I were blown away -- mesmerized by every bit and dying to see it again in order to figure it out better. Truth is, I'll admit that, though we loved it, we didn't actually understand it. Its just that we were OK with that. For us, it was an all-consuming visual and auditory experience that we couldn't resist. [It is not surprising that he and I are also the family members with the greatest affinity for silent films. This movie is not heavy on plot, action or dialog, but rather, like silent movies, is more about images and introspection.]

On the other hand, while my husband and older son appreciated parts of the film, they could not love it. They were irritated by its lack of sense and only drawn in during certain parts -- like some of the climactic scenes involving Hal and other escapades out in space. We have heard no end of the following dialog: "Open the pod bay doors, Hal." "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" in our house since we watched it. There is no question that at times, they were spellbound, but overall, they were frustrated with the ending and the lack of plot.

Aside from the split of opinion, I think we could all agree that it was clearly an effective bringing-to-life of the director's vision and was extraordinarily well-made. For example: I had not seen the film before. We put in the dvd and sat back to watch. About 15 minutes in to it, all of a sudden it dawned on me that, having been made in the 1960s, the ape-men I was seeing were simply extraordinary. They couldn't have been actual non-human primates (and obviously weren't cg), yet they looked and moved so realistically, I could hardly believe I was watching human actors made up as ape-men. Yet that's what they were. I learned later that Kubrick had hired an expert mime to be in charge of the choreography/movements of these scenes and the primitive humans were all played by mimes. Details of care and deep thought come through in every moment of the picture.

Depending on what you and your family value and enjoy, those details and that vision may be enough to blow you all away, or you may be bored out of your minds, or even hate it. So while we aren't going to particularly recommend 2001 for families, I do suggest you consider it!

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Barefoot in the Park (1967)

Why its here:
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda are enough of a reason. But add a funny Neil Simon play, and this one is not to be missed.

Specs:
1 1/2 hours. Color.

Our family's average rating on a scale from 1 - 10:
8.0. We all gave it an "8"!

More about the film and our reaction to it:
We were all highly charmed by this film about the challenges of a young married couple. Their personalities are quite different, but they are passionate about each other. It feels very much like a play turned movie (which, of course, it is), with most of the action taking place in the newlywed's apartment. Although the story has depth and heart, it also has enough silly comedy moments that it appealed to everyone. In particular, the mother/mother-in-law and the telephone installation/repair guy gave us a lot to laugh at, is did the recurring joke about the many flights of stairs needing to be scaled to reach the apartment.

Both lead actors here show why they deserved stardom. They are not just beautiful to look at, but overflowing with charisma and interest. Their performances, and an excellent supporting cast, really make this film great.

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