Orson Welles

The film, “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” directed by Sergio Leone, the father of Spaghetti Westerns, is considered one of the best Westerns of all time. It launched Clint Eastwood into stardom as, “The Man with No Name” also known as Blondie “The Good”, through his interactions with his co-stars Lee Van Cleef, Angel Eyes “The Bad”, and Eli Wallach, Tuco “The Ugly”. The hero here, Blondie, is not the typical hero that you would expect, but through an analysis of several scenes, one begins to…

In Cléo de 5 à 7, Varda follows more closely to the filmmaking techniques that are used by most classic Hollywood cinema. The only major difference, other than the context of the film, would be Varda’s use of temporality by having a film set in a two hour time period and of trying to keep the action of the film almost in the exact lifetime of two hours. It takes the idea of Classical Hollywood continuity to an extreme. Another difference is that Cléo takes on more French political issues such as…

It is not often that I find myself cheering for the liars and thieves of the world in the same way that I would a superhero. Nevertheless, director Steven Soderbergh’s hit film, “Ocean’s Eleven” accomplishes this feat in a 2001 remake of the original 1960's film which starred Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. The modern take stays true to suave Hollywood glamour in using today’s brightest stars; a list that includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts in the leading roles. The…

The movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, directed by John Ford seems to greatly stand out from other movies released during this era. Many elements were compiled to make this movie unique. The backbone of the film stems from camera elements. John Ford used the camera elements of camera work as well as costumes and make-up to accurately portray his vision of the film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. The movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, incorporates several different varieties of…

It is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1949 which brought Miller “ Pulizer Prize for Drama” and “ Tony Award for Best Play” the same year. Miller has been considered a master in drama since then. In the 1940s, the capitalistic economy in America were developing rapidly and America was the most prosperous country in the world. On the one hand, many people were inspired by “ American dream” and they were eager to make a fortune and transform their dreams into reality. On the other hand, at that…

Although a flop during commercial release in the US in its day, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West is now generally acknowledged as a masterpiece and one of the greatest films ever made, regardless of genre. What made me select it for this assignment is the haunting sound of the harmonica in one of its key scenes, sheer brilliance in blending the visual and the auditory into one of the most poignant moments in movie history. Once Upon a Time in the West is a 1968 spaghetti western film.…

On December 18, 2015, Star Wars:The Force Awakens, the seventh installment in the main Star Wars movie series, was released into theaters all over the United States. Starring Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia from the original trilogy, and dozens of other actors, this epic Star Wars movie was a major hit. After the defeat of the Galactic Empire thirty years ago, the galaxy faces a new danger from the evil Kylo Ren and the First Order. When…

Special Effects have been evolving for years it all started in 1895 when Alfred Clarke created what is considered the first-ever special effect. While filming a reenactment of the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, Clarke instructed an actor to step up to the block in Mary's costume. As the executioner brought the axe above his head, Clarke stopped the camera, had all the actors freeze, and had the person playing Mary step off the set. He placed a Mary dummy in the actor's place, restarted…

The film Citizen Kane starts as the main character, Charles Foster Kane, mutters his last words and dies; his last words were “Rosebud.” The entirety of the movie is based around trying to find out the significance of rosebud, and in doing so the viewers get a look at the summary of Charles Kane’s life through flashbacks. Throughout his life, Charles Kane used his wealth to make millions, however by the end of the film we realize that being a tycoon in the United States, the “American Dream,”…

When ‘Citizen Kane’ was originally released in 1941, it gave an insight into the manipulation and distortion of the press by scrutinizing Kane’s desire to gain control. As Kane’s character is based on newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst, Welles depicts Kane’s influential media control by exposing the beginning of “yellow journalism” as Kane reiterates Hearst’s famous note, “you provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war.” Kane’s unethical abuse of media power expressed when Kane states…