Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Eons ago on the Binge Cast, Jim Law challenged me to write up a list of unofficial sequels to established films. It only took me almost two months, but here he finally gets his wish. This list was much harder to do than I originally thought. Reason being is how many times have you said to yourself, ‘ahhh, (fill in the blank) could very easily be a sequel to (fill in the blank),’ and then processed what you just said. Of course, it doesn’t help that I watch movies drunk 90% of the time.

Anyway, let’s get on with the list that Law was so adamant on me doing. Ok, he wasn’t. But if this list completely sucks, I have to lay the blame on someone, don’t I?

Here we go:

 

10) Gran Torino – Dirty Harry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I originally watched Gran Torino in its original release at the tail end of 2008, I had not seen one Dirty Harry film. Ok, I take that back. My father would always take me to the drive-in to see them. But if it did not have aliens or special effects, I wouldn’t pay attention. So in essence, I had seen three out of the five Dirty Harry films. However, in recently watching the entire Dirty Harry series and then following that up with Gran Torino, you can take away Walt’s backstory of being a Korean War veteran, and you could have Harry Callahan in retirement, angry at what the world around him has become after spending years defending it.

 

9) The Rock – Sean Connery’s Bond Films.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is gaining a bit of traction as the result of a Yahoo article that explored the question of whether now retired curmudgeon Sean Connery was using The Rock to play an older version of his characterization of Ian Fleming’s spy he played throughout the 60s and early 70s (and the 80s if you must include Never Say Never Again). The theory holds a lot of water, as The Rock makes lots of references to Connery’s character of Mason’s checkered spy past, with this bit of exposition spewed to say what happened for Mason to have ended up imprisoned in Alcatraz: “Of course the British claimed they’d never heard of him. And we held him without trial, until he gave up the microfilm. But he never did.” Say what you will about Michael Bay. The man knows cinematic history, and I think all references to Bond made in The Rock are far from coincidental.

 

8) Manhattan Murder Mystery – Annie Hall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say what you will, but I am a fan of Woody Allen’s late 80s – early 90s work. I started getting into his stuff while still an employee of a video store. With three free rentals at my disposal, I figured I had nothing to lose by renting at least one Allen film a week. That one became two a week. Progression took its course, and I was eventually renting three a night. His ‘nebbish caught in situations he cannot control’ schtick worked with me for years. It has only been in the last decade or so where I have found myself not getting as hooked on his writing as before. Getting back to this part of Allen’s career (and the essence of this list), when I watch Manhattan Murder Mystery, I like to pretend Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are playing Annie and Alvey from Annie Hall, having gotten back together over the last 20 years. It would seem to be a natural progression, and it wouldn’t surprise me, especially given Allen’s original intentions of making Annie Hall revolve around a mystery, if it had some shard of truth in it.

 

7) Election – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll go ahead and say it: I have never been a fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I think it pales in comparison to John Hughes’ teen fare. But its biggest flaw is that its main character is nothing short of an asshole. While you can say that about the majority of Hughes’ characters, Ferris did not have one endearing quality which made me root for him. Even as a kid, I wanted his parents to get home in time so that his ruse for a day off could be completely broken. So when I finally laid eyes on Alexander Payne’s Election a couple years ago (yes, I was late to that party) I couldn’t help but feel that little asshole was finally getting his comeuppance in the form of Reese Witherspoon’s shenanigans.

 

6) My Blue Heaven – Goodfellas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an odd one. Coming out the same year as Goodfellas, My Blue Heaven was written by Nora Ephron, who was the wife of Nicholas Pileggi. Of course, Pileggi wrote the book Wiseguy, on which Goodfellas was based. Not a coincidence. My Blue Heaven stars Steve Martin and Rick Moranis as men leading different lifestyles but share similar life altering situations. IE: Their wives leave them and they both deal with the Witness Protection Program. Of course, we all know about Goodfellas, which tells of Henry Hill’s induction and obsession into the world of mobster life. Heaven‘s witty script is helped by Martin’s hilarious portrayal of Vinnie, a mobster who does not want to give up ‘the life.’ I guess when played side by side, these two films can be seen as a single episode of ‘Crimes in Conjunction with Lifestyles.’

 

5) Enemy of the State – The Conversation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t notice this one until rewatching both of these films in close conjunction with one another. There are quite a few similarities between Gene Hackman’s NSA agent Edward Lyle from Enemy of the State and his freelancer Henry Caul from The Conversation. From their trench coat filled wardrobe all the way to their all-consuming paranoia, the two characters are one of the same. Proving not to be indignant to the similarities, director Tony Scott uses a picture of Henry Caul from The Conversation as the image to represent the younger version of Edward Lyle.

 

4) E.T. – Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my experience, there are two types of people. Those who love E.T. and those who love Close Encounters. There are no two ways about it. You either go with Richard Dreyfuss living his dream of going up in an alien space ship. Or you go with Henry Thomas watching his best friend go up in his. Me, I have always been an E.T. guy. And when watched back to back, both films act as well done acts of projection. Where E.T. gets it right is in its innocence and vulnerability. Dreyfuss playing with his mashed potatoes did nothing to make me like him. So, is Elliott Steven Spielberg’s mirror image, or is he the son of Dreyfuss who, much like Elliott’s dad, left his family without a father? Perhaps not coincidentally, 23 years later Spielberg would revolve a remake of Wells’ War of the Worlds around the story of a father trying to make ado before he loses his family.

 

3) Hard Eight – Midnight Run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Thomas Anderson is another modern filmmaker whose work I am not up & over the moon over, but his love for the art form is not to be ignored. Hard Eight is probably my favorite work by him, and it was only in recently rewatching Midnight Run where I made this connection: Hard Eight is built around Philip Baker Hall’s burnt-out gangster, who may or may not be the same man from Midnight Run. However you feel about either, you cannot ignore one similarity: both characters are named Sydney and played by the same actor. Ohhh Anderson, you sly devil you.

 

2) This is 40 – Knocked Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Judd Apatow has spent the better part of a decade building his own comedy universe. Both behind the scenes and his cinematic universe, Apatow has done a nice job of weaving characters and their lives just to his liking. Almost as if all his Freaks & Geeks characters have gotten their own bit of screen time. Some people like these characters. Others (me) do not. But however you feel about his comedic style, Apatow takes his good ol’ time with each character he creates. Almost as if this is how Ron Howard would have handled his Parenthood universe had he decided to stick with it. These two films, when watched back to back, work just as well when looked at as a four hour movie. In fact, I would argue one could not be watched without the other in order for either to work.

 

1) Unforgiven – All of Clint Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I start with Clint, I end with Clint. Hey, it’s my list. I can do what I want. In any event, this connection is quite obvious in watching Unforgiven today. A dark film written by David Peoples (Blade Runner) with no leeway in sight, Unforgiven is an unrelenting foray into the world of prostitution in the Old West. When given the opportunity for a reward, Eastwood’s character of William Munny can be seen taking on ‘one more job,’ and seems to be a perfect cap-off to all his other -less dark- spaghetti western films. Eastwood hasn’t taken the genre on again in the 23 years since The Unforgiven was released. And much like Gran Torino did for Dirty Harry, I see it as a perfect conclusion to what he started.

Do you have any more? There are so many I wanted to include but didn’t. For example, I think Black Rain and Basic Instinct go very well together as one story. Both films have Michael Douglas playing a cop dealing with vice issues, and they are both named Nick, albeit with different last names. Nonetheless, Douglas’s character in Basic Instinct gets a lot more interesting if you look at Black Rain as his backstory.

Anymore? Let me know either here or on our Facebook page.