Now that I have appeared on NECN as a cultural commentator — I spoke about the final episode of The Sopranos two weeks ago — I will venture occasionally into cultural criticism. At ten p.m. on Friday (thank you Max), three films were playing simultaneously on cable that reflect a prior golden age of movies all with a similar collection of outstanding actors and all included on the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 films. Bravo was showing “The Godfather”, starring among others, Al Pacino and John Cazale. Pacino was just honored this week by the AFI. Flixe was playing “Sophie’s Choice”, for which Meryl Streep won an Academy Award. And Retro was broadcasting my favorite Vietnam War film, “The Deer Hunter”, starred in by, again among others, Robert De Niro, Streep and Cazale, her fiance who died shortly after filming. (It more than any other American film demonstrated the toll the war took on our soldiers, families, and communities.) Such choices. While as a child of the 1970s I am typically inclined to be biased against the cultural icons the Baby Boomers worship, I must give full credit to the films they made in that decade. I am also reminded what a compelling actor Cazale, so still identified in the public eye as Fredo, the weak Corleone, was.
Dispatches from Seth Gitell 