Ezio Flagello Movies
- 1973
This program features one in a series of lectures given by Leonard Bernstein at Harvard in 1973. His accomplishments both in serious music and for the Broadway stage and his flair for teaching young people combined to make Leonard Bernstein a well-known conductor, composer, and teacher. After retiring in 1969 from a long and illustrious career as conductor for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Bernstein turned much of his energy to teaching. This particular lecture examines how Igor Stravinsky kept tonality viable while freely experimenting with dissonance. The Russian-born composer Stravinsky, best known for his ballets, developed an interest in and made lasting contributions to serial, or 12-tone music. Invited to lecture at Harvard University in 1939, Stravinsky moved to the United States, making his home in Hollywood. There, through collaborations with the young American musician Robert Craft, Stravinsky became interested in serial music -- particularly that of Anton von Webern. Stravinsky's Canticum Sacrum for voices and orchestra and the ballet Agon contain 12-tone elements and were followed by the fully serial works Threni, Movements, Variations, and Requiem Canticles. The flamboyant Bernstein talks about Stravinsky's achievements and contributions. Included in the film is a complete performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonard Bernstein
Francis Ford Coppola's legendary continuation and sequel to his landmark 1972 film, The Godfather, parallels the young Vito Corleone's rise with his son Michael's spiritual fall, deepening The Godfather's depiction of the dark side of the American dream. In the early 1900s, the child Vito flees his Sicilian village for America after the local Mafia kills his family. Vito (Robert De Niro) struggles to make a living, legally or illegally, for his wife and growing brood in Little Italy, killing the local Black Hand Fanucci (Gastone Moschin) after he demands his customary cut of the tyro's business. With Fanucci gone, Vito's communal stature grows, but it is his family (past and present) who matters most to him -- a familial legacy then upended by Michael's (Al Pacino) business expansion in the 1950s. Now based in Lake Tahoe, Michael conspires to make inroads in Las Vegas and Havana pleasure industries by any means necessary. As he realizes that allies like Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) are trying to kill him, the increasingly paranoid Michael also discovers that his ambition has crippled his marriage to Kay (Diane Keaton) and turned his brother, Fredo (John Cazale), against him. Barely escaping a federal indictment, Michael turns his attention to dealing with his enemies, completing his own corruption. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, (more)
An international collection of well-known directors contributed to this compilation film, each fashioning a short film inspired by an aria from a famous opera. The approaches vary broadly, from the playful abstraction of Jean-Luc Godard's segment, which illustrates Armide with exercising body-builders, to the more literal approach of Franc Roddam, who transports Tristan und Isolde's story to modern-day Las Vegas. A particular stand-out is Julian Temple's take on Rigoletto, which recasts Verdi as the accompaniment to a contemporary Southern California sex farce. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Theresa Russell, Nicola Swain, (more)
