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Date: 7/24/2019
What I’m watching: a deceptively titled but unique and noteworthy film.
On Hulu: The Man who Shot Hitler and then Shot the Bigfoot
This is a fascinating movie as it has a completely exploitation film title, but yet is not an exploitation film.
Shot partly in Greenfield, Lenox, Montague, and Sunderland, I knew I wanted to see it and it ran briefly here at the Amherst Cinemas in a late-night slot – too late for this movie geezer.
It is now on Hulu and it is well worth watching.
Set in the 1980s, Sam Elliot plays Calvin Barr, an aging WWII vet who lives alone in a small town where his younger brother is a barber. Barr is haunted by memories of things he did – and did not do – in his life.
It is clear he has many regrets and the events in which he participated have left lasting emotional scars. He spends his life alone with his dog, venturing out daily to a local bar and then occasionally seeing his brother.
Through flashbacks we learn he ran a hat store before the war and he met a schoolteacher with whom he fell in love. Service in the military interrupted his plans and he became a special ops agent. Unlike other soldiers, his girlfriend could not contact him.
We also see that his assignment in WWII was to assassinate Adolf Hitler, a job that he accomplished after much preparation. However, the Nazis simply substituted a look-alike meaning that all of his effort and his success did not end the war.
This outcome is the emotional backbone of the story. What if you had done something that you thought would change history but it didn’t. As Barr notes his action did not end the war. Instead the Nazi ideals lived on longer.
So what if you had accomplished something such as that but couldn’t tell anyone and if you did no one would believe it? What if that action and its outcome meant that you could not have a life afterwards that approached being “normal?”
The FBI approaches Barr with one final assignment for his government. A Bigfoot creature is infected with a plague that kills everything but plants. It is now living in a 50-mile radius in the Canadian wilderness. Barr’s blood type makes him naturally immune. They want him to track and kill the creature before the contagion spreads.
Barr initially resists but then accepts the task.
So we have a science fiction adventure story played as a straight personal drama. The combination is striking largely due to the thoughtful script and direction by Robert D. Krzykowski and Elliot’s performance.
There are few actors who can do more with less than Elliot. He effectively conveys the pain his character has and his reluctance to interact with people and everyday life. This may be the most unusual film of his career – it’s just as singular as “The Big Lebowski” – and his performance is outstanding.
One of his co-stars is the comedian, writer and actor Larry Miller, who had a severe head injury several years ago that effectively stopped his career. I’ve interviewed him twice and it was heartening to see him perform again.
This is a movie that I heartily recommend if you’re interested in a film that is definitely not easy to define, but is a satisfying character study.
On Netflix: Stranger Things Season Three
This series still remains binge-worthy but with the third season has gleefully switched gears to becoming more a splatter-filled horror outing then the more science fiction oriented show it was in the first two seasons.
For me that was just fine. For others, they may be a little appalled.
Essentially we join our young heroes and heroines months after the events of the previous season. El and Mike are in love and the big news in Hawkins, IN, is there is a brand new mall that has replaced the downtown as the center of the community.
What the good folks of Hawkins don’t know is the Soviets are trying to open up a doorway to the alternative dimension dubbed Upside Down and that the monster from that dimension, the Mind Flayer, is still capable of operating in this dimension and is intent of eliminating El as she had stopped him before.
I don’t want to say any more other than I think the series’ creators, the Duffer Brothers, have done an outstanding job in presenting a second sequel that is as vital and interesting as the first two seasons.
This season is a lot more moist though that others. You’ve been warned.