Oliver Stone and Me

If you had asked me in 1992 or 1993 to list my favorite movie directors, Oliver Stone would've been on a very short list. Of course, at that time, I was still watching JFK at least once a week. Now, I'm not here to debate the relative level of paranoia expressed by that film. Feel free to comment on that, by all means. That's just not my initial intent with this post.

Regardless of the politics of JFK, or the many liberties Stone might've taken with the "truth", it remains a landmark of film editing. The seamlessness with which we are taken from documentary footage to spot-on recreations of documentary footage to completely fictionalized scenes and back again in unpredictable order is incredible.

But, now, as I sit here in 2006, would Stone still be on my short list of favorite directors? That's what I was just pondering as I held Emily while she attempted to feed me the saltine cracker on which she was snacking. Yummy!

Here's his filmography, according to Wikipedia: Last Year in Viet Nam (1971, short), Seizure (also known as Queen of Evil, 1974), Mad Man of Martinique (1979, short), The Hand (1981), Salvador (1986), Platoon (1986), Wall Street (1987), Talk Radio (1988), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), The Doors (1991), JFK (1991), Heaven & Earth (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994), Nixon (1995), U-Turn (1997), Any Given Sunday (1999), The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001, TV) (produced only), Persona Non Grata (2003), Comandante (2003), Alexander (2004), Looking for Fidel (2004), World Trade Center (2006) (post production).

First of all, I have not seen any of his short films from the '70s. Nor have I seen The Hand or Salvador, though I've at least heard good things about the latter. I must confess that, particularly with 20 years of perspective, I find Platoon highly overrated. In fact, it might be the most egregious example of Stone's tendency to make the good guys good, bad guys bad, and leave no shades of gray whatsoever.

Wall Street suffers somewhat from that as well, but I still enjoy it. I suppose I'm just a sucker for the world of high finance, especially '80s style (Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, etc.). I've been told that Talk Radio is among the least realistic depictions of a radio show ever filmed. However, I still enjoyed it. The thing is, though, that the film stars Eric Bogosian in an adaptation of the one-man play he co-wrote and in which he starred as well. This makes me wonder to what degree the whole package was kind of handed to Stone on a silver platter.

Born on the Fourth of July is one I should watch again. It's been a long time. My natural tendency at this moment is to lump it in with Platoon (see above). However, I'll withhold further comment until rewatching it. Then, there's The Doors, which is way more remarkable for Val Kilmer's dead-on depiction of the late Jim Morrison than for anything specifically attributable to Oliver Stone. Or, am I remembering incorrectly?

JFK is a masterpiece (see above). I've never seen Heaven & Earth, as I was too busy rewatching JFK on video to even note its release. I'm recalling Natural Born Killers as a complete f*cking mess, but it's been a loooong time. Plus, I'm sure my view is colored by the fact that I had jumped on the Quentin Tarantino bandwagon by then, and heard about the ugliness with him demanding to have his screenwriting credit removed from Stone's film.

Nixon has its faults, to be certain. I'd say the positive outweighs the negative. But, it still languishes as somewhat of a lesser cousin to JFK. Then, we have U Turn, which despite a stellar cast, is a fairly standard collection of plot twists. Any Given Sunday is among my least favorite sports movies ever. Hey, let's face it, sports movies almost never capture the true essence of the sport in question, and thus suffer as dramas and/or action movies. The vast majority of my favorite sports movies are comedies, with the two notable exceptions of Hoosiers and Remember The Titans. (Oh, and there's Hoop Dreams, but that's a documentary.) Not to be a pig, but I'd have rather seen Cameron Diaz go all sprawled-out-horny in front of the gargantuan bare cocks she virtually ignores during her locker room tirade. (Note to self: give serious consideration to deleting that last sentence.)

I have seen nothing of Oliver Stone's 2000s catalog. I meant to watch Alexander "on-demand", but missed the end date.

So, as the dust settles, I'm left with one of my all-time favorite films (JFK), another I really like (Wall Street), a couple I like OK but am not sure Stone is the key creative force behind (Talk Radio, The Doors), a couple I need to check out again (Born on the Fourth of July and Natural Born Killers), and several others that range from moderately good to complete shit.

I'm not sure Oliver Stone is exactly closing in on Stanley Kubrick's rear view mirror, so to speak. Love that JFK, though...