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Fifty years ago, President Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated for a second term after a landslide election; his fall from grace would accelerate over the course of 1973.  Amidst the growing turbulence of Watergate, the Roe v. Wade decision came down, and the Paris Peace Accords were signed, signaling the end of the Vietnam War. A racehorse named Secretariat won the Triple Crown for the first time in a quarter century.

Today his name may be familiar only to film buffs, scholars and students, but some of Fritz Lang's movies have never really left us. For the most part his work explored nefarious doings in society’s criminal underbelly. But he also gave us our first real science fiction epic (1927’s “Metropolis”).

Twenty-five years later, 1997 feels like yesterday, yet at the same time an eternity. So much has changed. Will the movie industry ever experience another banner year like 1997, not just in box office terms but also the range and quality of its output? It’s an open question.

Reviewing a list of October birthdays last week, several names popped out at me, but I also noted a pattern: a surprising number of players, most from Hollywood’s Golden Age, excelled in film comedy, the genre that I’d argue is the hardest to do really well.

With the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, we have the first instance in our history of an established right actually being taken away from Americans. For the majority of us, the decision feels like a step backward, not just in progress but in time. As we absorb the consequences, we recall our own dark past on this issue before Roe became law, and also the rigid policies of more repressive societies around the world.

Thanks to a couple of stellar releases from the Criterion Collection, I’m being reminded of a big star from Hollywood’s golden age who risks being forgotten, but shouldn’t be. His name was Charles Boyer, and he was one of only two French actors to break through in Hollywood during the thirties (the other was singer Maurice Chevalier, who unlike Boyer, confined himself to musical comedies).

Even as movie theaters have struggled to survive during the pandemic, fueling grim predictions about the demise of feature films, it’s reassuring to note how many solid releases we’ve actually seen over the past couple of years. Of course, to make this claim you have to include international titles. 

As we mark the centennial of Judy Garland’s birth this month, I want to hear her sing again. I want to cry for the hundredth time listening to “Over the Rainbow” or get goosebumps over “The Man That Got Away.”