Weekday video picks include 'Oh, God!' and
'Educating Rita'
By Don Weberg
The video picks are ironic choices this
week, an irony that I didn't even see until the column was started.
The movies of the week are "Educating Rita" and "Oh, God!"
Anyone who has seen the two films will
agree that they have nothing and everything to do with each other.
Don Weberg
The 1978 Warner Brothers hit directed
by Carl Reiner, "Oh, God!" probes the idea of what God might be like.
Starring George Burns as God and John Denver
as Larry Landers, supermarket manager called upon as God's deliveryman,
the duo work all too well together. It's surprising, at first, to think
the two can really pull it off.
Throughout the film's beginning, Landers
finds himself checking to make sure that he's not totally insane, while
wondering if the little old man who keeps telling him that he's God is
insane.
When the little old man makes it rain inside
Landers' car, the man is convinced.
God came to Landers to get him to help
spread a message.
His family thinks he's nuts and his employers
are nowhere near amused by all of Landers' fiascoes.
But, as God reassures him, "Lose a job,
save a world.
Not a bad deal."
The flick is great, funny and somehow even
enlightening.
Unlike "Oh, God!," "Educating Rita" is
not a film for everyone.
It's humorous, but dark at the same time.
The 1983 RCA/Columbia Pictures film by
Lewis Gilbert presents the story of what happens when a burned out British
literature professor crosses paths with a starving for life hairdresser.
Michael Caine plays Professor Frank Bryant
who has become disillusioned with his work and encourages students to live
their lives to the fullest and disregard the dead poets.
But when he meets Rita (Julie Walters),
her spark and zest for life make Bryant stop and reassess his own life.
Despite her husband's disapproval over
Rita taking the class, she flourishes and loves it.
So does Bryant.
The duo pull off an extraordinary job of
acting out the zany student and the burned-out professor.
They are almost too good playing the parts.
The annoyances he feels and her natural
fun-loving way newly uncovered by his class make for an uncomfortably comfortable
situation.
A rare quality of this film is the way
the start is so dark and deep and lightens up at the end.
"Educating Rita" is definitely a movie
for a burned-out person or just someone looking for a good flick.
The answer to last week's trivia question,
"What was the name of the dog in 'Back to the Future?'" is Einstein.
With the new 007 movie opening this Friday,
it's only fair to bring up James Bond.
What type of car is 007 most famous for?
Bonus, where is the ejector seat button located? |
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