What a silly fucking movie.
This movie is Criterion Collection-ed and all, starring Henry Fonda (a good sign) and directed by John Ford (who also directed Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath *and* an earlier, very awesome legal drama, The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance). To be frank, I was expected a movie, a classic movie, full of guts and gusto and pomp and fury and all of that passion that accompanies our American classics. What I got was a silly, froofy little movie that made me think weird things about Abraham Lincoln.
Every one of the Google Image results for this movie cracks me up.
I suppose a plot synopsis is in order. Le sigh, fine. So, Abe Lincoln’s girlfriend-thing dies, and Lincoln gets his hand on a law book and studies law now because of it, and travels to Springfield on a fucking mule and sets up a little law practice, and uses a murder in a brawl as his first case, and commands angry crowds with his oratory about how we can’t hang them right now, they need a fair trial. He then stuffs a jury with drunks and prances around the courtroom making jokes until he finally decides that the moonlight wasn’t bright enough for the eyewitness account to be considered substantial evidence, and he then tricks the eyewitness into admitting he did it through some sort of logic (although, it is just as equally plausible that there was no logic at all). Also, there is this really hilarious scene where Abe eats some pie for like a million hours. Guys, this movie is ridiculous.
"Sir, I am just making sure you are drunk enough to serve on my jury"
My expectations were so high. I expected this movie to play to my heartstrings, not to bore me and make me squeal “This is ridiculous!” out loud several times. This is a real Meet Me In St. Louis, another “classic” that is just too inane and annoying to take even remotely seriously. I mean, Abraham Lincoln’s whole case is that he makes fun of people on the stand. At one point, he tricks someone into calling himself a horse’s ass, and is basically “Yup. I rest my case. That man is a horse’ass”. Henry Fonda plays him as cheeky, rebellious and smarmy, feet on the table and all. It makes you say “Wow. I guess Abe Lincoln was kind of a jerk?”
This is the scene where Abe Lincoln decides he wants to be a lawyer atop a hilltop in a thunderstorm and it cracks me up so very very much.
Nancy Is A Lawyer?
Ha. This movie uses law only as a prop for a character. It doesn’t make me think anything about the legal profession at all. The judge giggles while Abe Lincoln gets drunkards on the stand. This movie is essentially a movie about what people in the 1940s thought about people from the 1830s, and from that perspective, yeah it’s kind of interesting. The 1940s thought the 1830s were filled with a bunch of dummies. All of the actions – exaltations, shouts, laughs – were highlighted and over-acted. I can’t believe the judge just giggled when Lincoln called him a horse’s ass? I guess this film made me want to be a lawyer, because it made me wanna smack my gavel down and yell at Abraham Lincoln. That’s what being a lawyer means, right?
Yup. That's all that being a lawyer means.
No comments:
Post a Comment