Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

consequences. You can either pick up some superbly annoying catchphrases (eg, the cruel
postscript "Not" to indicate that your previous compliment was not entirely honest), or play
spot the filmic reference. This extended Saturday Night Live sketch is chock full of both.
Werckmeister Harmoniak
(Bela Tarr, 2000)
Hungarian director Bela Tarr is famous, or notorious, for his inordinately long, black-and-white
movies of unutterable gloom. His longest, Satan's Tango, clocks in at seven hours. This is
manageable, at around two: a mesmeric, dream-like tale of a bizarre circus, consisting of a
vast corrugated-iron shed, containing a dead whale, which incites a zombie-like uprising
among the townsfolk. Truly strange.
West Side Story
(Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961)
There are people who still say the stage show was the only way to see it, but the film won
plenty of awards, and the cast boasts George Chakiris and Rita Moreno as well as Richard
Beymer and Natalie Wood. Robert Wise and choreographer Jerome Robbins collaborated on
direction.
What's Up, Doc?
(Peter Bogdanovich, 1972)
Bogdanovich's homage to the screwball comedies of the 1930s has klutzy Iowa professor
Ryan O'Neal and wacky dropout Barbra Streisand fetching up at a hotel where any number of
identical suitcases get mixed up, creating slapstick mayhem. It doesn't match, say, Bringing
Up Baby, but it's brimming with witty, cartoonish energy.
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
(Robert Aldrich, 1962)
Following years of public feuding, ageing screen legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
were paired for the first time on the silver screen, with Davis thoroughly enjoying her sadistic
turn as Jane, the decrepit former child star whose jealousy of movie star sister Blanche sees
her torture and starve Crawford with (presumably) real-life relish.
When Father Was Away on Business
(Emir Kusturica, 1985)
Kusturica really put himself on the map with this, his second film: it won the Palme d'Or and
got an Oscar nomination. It's a child's-eye view of communist Yugoslavia; father is in fact in a
labour camp. Made only a few years before the break-up of the country and the bloody siege
of Sarajevo, it now stands as a vision of a harmonious society that's been irrevocably
destroyed.
When Harry Met Sally
(Rob Reiner, 1989)
Arguably the last pitch-perfect romantic comedy made. Every note rings true as a chronically
wry Billy Crystal and perky-but-repressed Meg Ryan flirt with the relationship continuum.
Sharp dialogue and keen observation on gender difference make this a perfect hetero date
movie. Also contains the most fondly remembered orgasm, fake or otherwise, in film history.
When We Were Kings
(Leon Gast, 1996)
The natural cinematic charisma of Muhammad Ali shines out of this wonderful documentary
about his legendary 1974 fight against George Foreman, staged in Zaire: the Rumble in the
Jungle. It is about sport, about race politics and about Africa itself. The masterly mix of
newsreel footage and talking-head contributions made Gast's film a masterclass in journalism
and history.
Where Eagles Dare
(Brian G Hutton, 1968)