The film is so hard, so painful and so truthful. There is barely a false note to be found.
Richard A. Blake
Richard A. Blake, S.J., served as managing editor and executive editor of America and director of the Catholic Book Club, as well as America's regular film reviewer for many decades. He is the author of Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six American Filmmakers, among other books.
Posted inArts & Culture, Vantage Point
From 1972: ‘The Godfather’ is a film ‘close to the soul of modern man’
America’s film editor reviews “The Godfather,” a film he thought too long but otherwise a remarkable movie by a 33-year-old Francis Ford Coppola.
Posted inFaith, Vantage Point
How would Catholic media cover Jack and Jill falling down? A thought experiment
From 1977: How Catholic journals covered the perilous journey of Jack and Jill up that treacherous hill in 1977.
Posted inBooks
What did Peter O’Toole accomplish in his nearly 80 years on earth? This biographer tried to find out.
Yes, Peter O’Toole did have a life after “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Posted inFilm
75 years later, what can “Citizen Kane” tell us about the presidential race?
“In short, it is the story of a media manipulator who strove to turn his celebrity into elective office. Draw what parallels you may.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Vantage Point
Read our 1977 review of ‘Star Wars,’ a new ‘rip-roaring good movie’
“Star Wars” is original and surprising. It is witty, not only in its comic dialogue, but in its ability to spoof itself and the science-fiction genre without going for the cheap laugh.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Revisiting the revolutionary—and revolting—D. W. Griffith
This year marks the centennial of D. W. Griffith’s masterpiece, “The Birth of a Nation.” Who cares? Or who should? After all, it’s really only an embarrassing antique. Film historians have long extolled its artistic innovation as the foundation of the modern motion picture. S
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Woody’s World: Richard A. Blake on the films of Woody Allen
A selection of reviews of Woody Allen’s films from former America film critic and Allen biographer, Richard A. Blake, S.J.