The Patricia Neal Story (1981, Made-for-TV)

My favorite film starring Patricia Neal (b. 1926) is The Subject Was Roses (1968). In my opinion, she delivers one of the finest film performances of the decade.

Roses was her "comeback film" role.

In between Hud (1963, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar) and Roses, Ms. Neal suffered three life threatening aneurysms, all in 1965.

She was pregnant at the time, and was even filming a movie, John Ford's 7 Women. (Anne Bancroft stepped in to fill her role in the picture).

In this fine biographical TV-film (first televised in the United States in December 1981), the actress' rehabilitation process is portrayed. Pat had to learn how to walk and speak -- and to live -- again after her coma. If you watch the film, be prepared to be moved by Glenda Jackson's (b. 1936) remarkable, Emmy-nominated performance.

Dirk Bogarde (1921-1999) also gives an intense performance as her supportive and loving husband, British writer Roald Dahl, and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor for his moving portrayal. And if the name Roald Dahl sounds familiar, it is because he wrote the original "The Fantastic Mr. Fox", which was just adapted into a stop-motion animated film last year and is up for an Oscar this weekend.

Television actress and model ("All My Children") Sydney Penny, only 10 years old at the time, plays one of their daughters.

Veteran character actress Mildred "Millie" Dunnock (1901-1991), a friend of Ms. Neal's in real life, portrays herself in the film, in a very candid performance which required her to play herself as she felt at the time: scared, and at times, hopeless.

It's an emotional film. In one scene, after Pat is released from the hospital, she's back at home recovering and is watching the Oscars, longing to be there in person to present.

The film, though inspiring, is also somewhat bittersweet in hindsight: Neal and Dahl divorced in 1983 (after thirty years) due to his infidelity.

Ms. Neal, now age 84, continues to act and make public appearances.

Silent Movie (1976)

This is my favorite Mel Brooks which I recently re-watched. It takes place in contemporary (mid-70s then, of course) Los Angeles/Hollywood. However the main gimmick of the film is that it's "silent" without any  dialogue. Retro "title cards" are used throughout.

Watch the trailer:


The simple plot: has-been director Mel Funn (Brooks) trying to make a comeback with a new idea for a film: modern-day SILENT MOVIE. He pitches it to a studio boss (Sid Caesar) who is a little skeptical until Funn gets major Hollywood stars to sign up (leading to hilarious results). Among them: Burt Reynolds, Anne Bancroft, Liza Minelli, and James Caan. He even tries to get legendary French mime Marcel Marceau to sign up; in one humorous scene, he calls him in Paris to ask if he'd like to be a part. Marcel responds, "No!" in the only spoken word of dialogue in the film.



Everyone hopes the film will be a hit except for a rival studio who wants the film to fail. The rival studio even sends out a sexpot nightclub dancer/singer (Bernadette Peters) to distract Mel Funn and his bumbling associates (Dom DeLuise and Marty Feldman). The hilarious film is filled with sight gags that will remind you of the classic slapstick comedy you enjoyed in silent movies of an earlier era.

Even making an appearance is Paul Newman, playing (and mocking) himself. When we first see him in the film, he is in a hospital recovering from a broken leg after one of his famous car races, and we see him in a motorized wheelchair. Mel & Co. sneakily track him down, and this leads to a hilarious wheelchair chase, complete with a little Ben-Hur homage. I could also mention several more scenes, but I don't want to spoil it all. See the movie! I highly recommend it.



POSTSCRIPT:

Mel Brooks was chosen to be one of the 2009 Kennedy Center honorees. The ceremony is an annual gala where 5 American showbusiness legends are awarded lifetime achievement medals from the Kennedy Center, a performing arts center in Washington DC. The President attends, and it's always a grand affair. A well-deserved honor for the Oscar-winning filmmaker. No less than three of his films are usually regarded among the funniest of all time : The Producers, Young Frankenstein, and Blazing Saddles.

Watch a clip from the Kennedy Center tribute:

The Miracle Worker (1962)

Based on both a play of the same name and real life events, this inspiring film (one of the most inspiring I've ever seen) tells the story of Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. Young Helen Keller (Patty Duke), blind and deaf since infancy, is frustrated by her inability to communicate and subject to frequent violent and uncontrollable outbursts as a result. Unable to deal with the child, her terrified and helpless parents contact the Perkins School for the Blind for assistance. In response they send Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a former student, to the Keller home to tutor the child. What ensues is a battle of wills as Annie breaks down Helen's walls of silence and darkness through persistence, love, and sheer stubbornness. Ms. Bancroft and Ms. Duke both won well deserved Academy Awards for their acting performances. See this movie if you have not. Directed by Arthur Penn.

Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

Neil Simon's funny and sweet 70s urban-living comedy stars Jack Lemmon, Anne Bancroft, and.... New York City! A must see for fans of all of them. Empty-nesters Mel and Edna (Lemmon and Bancroft) learn to live with some major life crises - all in a matter of days: Lemmon loses his job, their apartment in the Upper East Side (The Mayflower Apartments on Second and 88th Street) gets burglarized, Lemmon looks for a job, Bancroft goes back to work full time, Lemmon gets robbed by pickpocket on the street (played by Sylvester Stallone - 1 year before "Rocky"), Bancroft loses her job, and Lemmon seeps into a manic depression, and comically lashes out any chance he can get at anyone and everyone. Throughout the entire film he pretty much plays Felix Unger after the meat loaf burns. Ms Bancroft is both very sweet and very manic in this movie - and Lemmon is a perfect neurotic, as always. There is a hilarious scene with Lemmon going completely nuts in the living room, spewing out the most outrageous conspiracy theory about unemployment you've ever heard. Bancroft also has a scene at the end where she flips out. And their banter is quite "Bickersons"-esque. Also starring Gene Saks (from "A Thousand Clowns" - ironically, his role here in "Prisoner" is much like Martin Balsam's in "Clowns") as Lemmon's brother who tries to help him out of his neurosis. Was originally a Broadway hit with Mike Nichols directing (and winning a Tony for Best Director). More Trivia: On the stage, Peter Falk and Lee Grant played the leads, and Vincent Gardenia won a Tony for Best supporting Actor as the brother. Other than the plentiful New York exterior shots, the rest of the movie - mostly apartment scenes - was filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA.