Ace in the Hole - MatthewHunt

detailed, Yang's semi-autobiographical tale of quiff-sporting delinquents heading toward
violent confrontation takes us to the heart of a culture in crisis.
Brighton Rock
(John Boulting, 1947)
This Graham Greene adaptation, co-scripted by the novelist, is kerosene-fuelled by Richard
Attenborough as juvenile gangster Pinkie, brimming with menace. The oppressive opening
murder on the ghost train sets out the film's stall: a crushing journey into violence and spiritual
damnation that stands alongside the best of American noir.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
(Sam Peckinpah, 1974)
Peckinpah's most complex exploration of his skewed moral code. At times this is almost a
buddy road movie, albeit an impossibly dark one, with Warren Oates teamed up with the
decomposing head he's claiming bounty on. A tequila-and sweat-sodden tale of life on the
bottom rung.
Bringing Up Baby
(Howard Hawks, 1938)
Susan wants fun. David wants grant money. She wants to go through life as a tempest; he
wants to rebuild a dinosaur skeleton. Then a leopard gets loose. The film was a big flop, but
i's Howard Hawks, Hepburn and Grant, and it's a masterpiece comedy on making work fun.
Broadway Danny Rose
(Woody Allen, 1984)
Superbly shot in black and white, this gentle, Runyonesque comedy is a real gem. Allen plays
a legendary talent agent who promotes the acts that others won't touch: balloon twisters,
piano-playing birds, blind xylophone players. But the fun starts when he takes on an alcoholic
lounge singer and his mafia moll (Mia Farrow behind giant sunglasses).
Brokeback Mountain
(Ang Lee, 2005)
Ang Lee's epic of cowboys in love is multilayered, achingly subtle, stunningly photographed-a
peerless heartbreaker and an instant classic. Jake Gyllenhaal is touching as the puppyish
Jack Twist, but it is Heath Ledger's clenched, wrenching performance as the taciturn Ennis
Del Mar that's the soul of the film.
Buffalo 66
(Vincent Gallo, 1998)
Buffalo, New York, is in many ways a terrific city with a rich artistic and architectural history.
Fairly or not, it's also something of a national US punchline, best known for its dreary winters
and chicken wings. A rabid sports town, Buffalo lost four consecutive Super Bowls starting in
1991, when place-kicker Scott Norwood famously missed a field goal that could have won the
game and finally given Buffalo its moment in the limelight. In Buffalo 66, writer-director-star
Vincent Gallo takes this pivotal disappointment and claims it as his own personal trauma. As
far as Gallo's wretched protagonist, Billy Brown, is concerned, his life ended the second that
kick veered wide right of the goal. Badly damaged by a loveless upbringing, Billy (played by
Gallo, who was born and raised in Buffalo) reaches a point of no return when he bets $10,000
that he doesn't have on the Bills and, to escape the wrath of his bookie, takes the rap for
another man's crime. Once out of jail, Billy kidnaps a dance student, Layla (Christina Ricci),
and drags her home to his appalling parents (Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara) while also
planning to avenge his football-playing nemesis. Gallo's autobiographical film is a poison-pen
letter to his hometown, but it also holds out the possibility of redemption for Billy in the form of
Layla. No matter how much Billy berates or ignores her, she sticks adoringly by his side.
She's something of a miracle worker, in fact, her steadfastness turning a caustic tale of how
you can't go home again into a cockeyed, weirdly -convincing love story.