Christine (1983 film)

Based on the novel by Stephen King, Christine is the story of a young teenager who buys a 1958 Ford Plymouth as he becomes obsessed with the car that comes to life and kills whoever harms him and the car. Directed by John Carpenter and screenplay by Bill Phillips, the film explores the strange relationship between a nerdy young man and his car which creates something that is scary and full of terror. Starring Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, and Harry Dean Stanton. Christine is a thrilling and exhilarating film from John Carpenter.

Set in 1978, the film revolves a young nerdy teenager who buys a beat-up 1958 Ford Plymouth from an old man as he would start to change in drastic ways while becoming obsessed with the car and kill anyone who insults or harms him and his car. For this young man, the chance of having a car doesn’t just give him the chance to have something of his own but also would mark a major change from this cowardly nerd to being someone that is no longer afraid but would also mark some very dark characteristics into his personality. Bill Phillips’ screenplay doesn’t just explore the change in the personality of its protagonist Arnold Cunningham (Keith Gordon) but also in how those who are close to him would react to this change. Especially as his best friend Dennis Guilder (John Stockwell) notices the change in his personality where Arnold manages to snag the new girl in town named Leigh (Alexandra Paul) as well as get the ire of the bullies.

The script would also indicate where Arnold was before he had the car as he was just this nerd that was doing whatever it takes to succeed in high school and always did what his parents told him. Upon seeing this beat-up car, Arnold sees this chance to find a new identity but one that has him being very antagonistic towards his parents as well as being neglectful towards Dennis who would get injured at a football game upon the moment he sees the change in Arnold with this car. Even as the garage owner Darnell (Robert Prosky) who would let Arnold put the car there in exchange for some work and such notices that something isn’t right. Once the story becomes more about the car that is called Christine and the number of victims it went after, it would also play more into Arnold’s own personality as he becomes obsessive, angrier, and also more controlling in what he wants to do with his life.

John Carpenter’s direction is very gripping from the way he opens the film which begins with an assembly line of workers checking on different models of 1958 Ford Plymouth where this one red Ford Plymouth would do something and it would then shift to twenty years later. While much of it is presented in a simple manner in terms of its compositions, Carpenter’s approach to the suspense is very slow once it relates to the car that is Christine. Carpenter’s usage of close-ups and medium shots do help play into some of the drama and suspense yet it is the moments involving Christine where the radio would light up playing an rock n’ roll tune is where things get very interesting. Most notably the sequence where Christine goes after Arnold’s enemies in such a way as it has this sense of terror but also glee considering that some of these individuals who tormented him are getting what they deserve. The film’s climax is intense where Carpenter’s usage of the wide shots and setting doesn’t just play into what must be done but also reveal exactly how far one must go to help a friend from this terrible obsession. Overall, Carpenter creates a very exciting and mesmerizing film about a teenager and the car that he loves.

Cinematographer Donald M. Morgan does excellent work with the film‘s cinematography from the sunny and colorful locations in the day to the more lavish usage of lights for some scenes at night including the scenes involving Christine. Editor Marion Rothman does fantastic work with the editing in its usage of rhythmic cuts as well as some stylish cutting to help build up some of the suspenseful moments including the scenes of Christine unleashing herself. Production designer Daniel A. Lomino and set decorator Cloudia Rebar do brilliant work with the design of Darnell‘s junkyard/garage which would be the place where Arnold would work on Christine as well as some of the places he would go to. Costume designer Darryl Levine does nice work with the costumes as it‘s mostly casual as it sort of strays from the clothing that is often typical of the late 1970s.

Special effects supervisor Roy Arbogast does amazing work with some of the effects as it revolves around Christine coming back to life after being beaten and humiliated as it is among one of the chilling sequences in film. Sound editor David Lewis Yewdall does superb work with the sound to play into Christine coming back together as well as some of the sound work that goes on in the locations and in the suspenseful moments. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth is wonderful as it’s very low-key in its electronic setting with its usage of synthesizers and keyboards to help play into the horror and suspense while the soundtrack would feature not just old classics from Ritchie Valens, Robert and Johnny, Johnny Ace, Buddy Holly, Larry Williams, Dion and the Belmonts, Danny and the Juniors, and Little Richard but also songs from the 70s by the Rolling Stones and Bonnie Raitt and an anachronistic yet fitting song from George Thorgood and the Destroyers.

The casting by Karen Rea is incredible as it features some notable small roles from David Spielberg as the auto shop teacher, Stuart Charno, Steve Tash, and Malcolm Danare as a trio of bullies who torment Arnold, Robert Blossoms as the old man who sold Arnold the car which previously belonged to his brother, Kelly Preston as the cheerleader Roseanne who has a thing for Dennis, Christine Belford as Arnold’s mother who disapproves of Arnold having the car, and William Ostrander as the lead bully Buddy who torments Arnold and wants to cause hell to him until he becomes a target of Christine. Harry Dean Stanton is superb as the detective Rudy Junkins who would confront and question Arnold over some of these incidents as he knows something isn’t right. Robert Prosky is fantastic as Darnell as a junkyard/garage owner who reluctantly lets Arnold have Christine stay at the garage as he is a no-nonsense kind of guy that is also baffled by the car itself.

Alexandra Paul is excellent as Leigh as the new girl in school that catches the eyes of many as she would date Arnold until she becomes concerned with his ever-changing moods as she thinks it has to do with Christine. John Stockwell is brilliant as Dennis as this jock who is a friend of Arnold as he becomes concerned with Arnold’s newfound behavior and obsession towards Christine as he realized how much he’s changed and not for the better. Finally, there’s Keith Gordon in an amazing performance as Arnold Cunningham as this nerdy kid who buys this beat-up ‘58 Ford Plymouth as he becomes obsessed with this car where he becomes a much darker and more antagonistic individual as it’s one of Gordon’s finest performances.

Christine is a phenomenal film from John Carpenter. Featuring a great cast, a cool premise, a fun soundtrack, and some chilling moments in films. It’s a film that isn’t just one of Carpenter’s quintessential films in terms of horror and suspense but it’s also one of the finest Stephen King adaptations ever created as it is told with such unique style. In the end, Christine is a spectacular film from John Carpenter.

John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Halloween - Someone’s Watching Me! - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - Body Bags - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Escape from L.A. - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward

The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2015

Cheaters (TV film)

Written and directed by John Stockwell, Cheaters is about a working-class high school teacher from Chicago who rallies his students to cheat against a top-city school in an academic decathlon. Based on the real-life events of 1994-1995 decathlon scandal in Chicago, the film is an exploration of what a school teacher and his students try to do for their school. Starring Jeff Daniels, Jena Malone, Blake Heron, Luke Edwards, Dov Tiefenbach, and Paul Sorvino. Cheaters is a smart yet compelling drama from John Stockwell.

Dr. Jerry Plecki (Jeff Daniels) of Steinmetz High School is set to lead the decathlon team for the third year in a row. Yet, many of the students coming from the working class area of Chicago doesn’t seem to care with the exception of the 15-year old junior Jolie Fitch (Jena Malone). Fitch helps Plecki assemble a decathlon team that includes math wiz Darius (Luke Edwards), Matt (Blake Heron), Paul (Dan Warry-Smith), two young Polish kids in Dominik (Dominik Podbielski) and Agnieska (Anna Raj), and a wild-card named Irwin Flickas (Dov Tiefenbach). After a few hard months of studying and hard work, they attend the regional decathlon competition. Despite making it to state at fifth place, they were beaten big by the already successful Whitney Young school that has won the decathlon for nine years straight.

With the realities of their environment as well as the fact that they’ll never beat Whitney Young, the students and Plecki realize that all of their hard work isn’t enough. When a friend of Matt’s was able to get him inside a building where a copy of the upcoming tests are, Matt is able to secure a copy of the tests only to have Irwin take it so he can show it to Plecki. Though Plecki is aware that what he’s doing is wrong, he reveals to his team that he has a copy. While a few reluctantly decide to take part in the plot to cheat, Plecki decides to have the already demoted Irwin to play the role as a spy for the upcoming state decathlon. With Plecki and his team taking on a plan to cheat without getting caught, their plan succeeds as they pull an upset over Whitney Young.

While the victory has caused a great sense of pride for Steinmetz High and its principal Constantine Kiamos (Paul Sorvino), a lot of press attention goes to the school as Irwin feels left out. After writing an essay about cheating, Irwin finds himself in trouble with Kiamos as Irwin later claims it was just fiction. Yet, it would be the first of many problems Plecki and his students would face as the school board accuses them of cheating. With the whole team and Plecki deciding not to return their prizes and claim that they did nothing wrong, a scandal starts to escalate as Plecki becomes the main target of everything that has happened.

The TV movie is about a cheating scandal that rocked an entire state but it is more about why did a teacher and a group of kids did what they did? Well, it wasn’t the fact they did it simply to beat some elite high school in the city or to bring pride to the school. Did they do it to expose an already corrupt system where richer schools get more and inner-city public schools to get less? John Stockwell goes into that but he chooses to focus more on the people involved in this real-life cheating scandal.

While the script at times does reach into some heavy-handed idea of moralization about what immigrants and working-class people had to do to get ahead in the third act. John Stockwell does at least make Dr. Plecki and his students into very interesting personalities as they all try to work hard to succeed despite what they have to face. Dr. Plecki knows that cheating is wrong but knowing that his students have worked too hard and make the kind of sacrifices to succeed wouldn’t be enough to beat some elite school. With cheating, he hopes to give these young kids the chance to succeed and feel proud that he’s made some difference.

Yet, he manages to get in trouble with the system while one kid, who was part of the team, feels left out as he gets revenge by writing an essay and expose the story to the press. For those kids, they’re faced into an unwanted situation where they‘re pressured to expose themselves for the gain of an unfair school system. Plecki however, becomes vilified to the point as he ponders about everything he had done.

Stockwell’s direction is very good for the way he presents the film. While the direction is mostly straightforward with some stylized compositions. It does play to the energy of the film of how hard the kids are studying through a series of speedy montages or slow it down a bit for slow-motion walking. By basing the film on location in the Chicago area, Stockwell does manage to maintain a sense of realism in the film while he knows how to frame the camera given that he’s shooting it on full frame. Overall, Stockwell does create a very solid yet engaging TV-movie that explores the world of cheating.

Cinematographer David Hennings does a nice job with the photography to maintain a gritty though polished look for a lot of the exteriors to emphasize the coldness of the Chicago working-class area along with some excellent interior shots for some of the nighttime scenes. Editors Eric A. Sears and Scott K. Wallace do some amazing work with the editing by creating some wonderful montages as well as slowing things down for stylistic scenes as the pacing is presented in a leisured form.

Production designer Craig Lathrop, with set decorator Steven Essam and art director Edward Bonutto, does a fine job with the set pieces created such as Plecki‘s classroom and the homes he and the kids live in. Costume designer Lisa Martin does a very good job with costumes for Plecki and the students to emphasize their working-class world and their more elitist opponents. Sound editor Leonard Marcel and sound designer D. Chris Smith do some wonderful work with the sound to play up the chaos of the locations or to overlap some of the dialogue for the interrogation scene late in the film.

The film’s score by Paul Haslinger is pretty good for its mix of plaintive, piano-driven score and some low-key electronic pieces to maintain the gritty presentation of the film. Music supervisor P.J. Bloom and Evyen Klean does play to the world of the mid-90s with an array of alternative rock music like Cracker and the Cranberries as well as some electronic music from acts like Portishead.

The casting by Randi Hiller and Diane Kerbel is superb as it features some memorable small appearances from Lenka Peterson as Plecki’s mother, Marcia Bennett as a school board member, and Robert Joy as Whitney Young’s decathlon coach. For the roles of the young kids, there’s wonderful performances from Dominik Podbielski as the quiet Polish kid Dominik, Anna Raj as the hard-working Polish student Agnieska, Dan Warry-Smith as the fat but fun Paul, Luke Edwards as the witty Darius, and Blake Heron as the brash Matt. Dov Tiefenbach is very good as abrasive yet smart Irwin who would be the kid that causes a lot of trouble leading to his own departure from the team while plotting revenge against his teammates.

Paul Sorvino is excellent as principal Kiamos who hopes for something for his school to be proud of while trying to help Plecki with the onslaught that is going on late in the film. Jena Malone is fantastic as Jolie, a young junior who hopes to get something from the decathlon while being one of the few kids that wants to learn as Malone’s performance is full of excitement and a real sense of determination. Jeff Daniels is great as Dr. Jerry Plecki who is a good teacher that wants the kids to do their best while going into his own personal conflicts about cheating once he’s targeted as he is trying to do what he feels is right for the kids. Daniels’ performance is remarkable for the way he makes Plecki sympathetic without making him as some martyr.

Cheaters is a stellar TV movie by John Stockwell that includes two excellent performances from Jeff Daniels and Jena Malone. While it’s a film that does asks questions about whether cheating is the right thing to do or not depending on one’s environment. It is an engaging film that doesn’t pander to its audience despite being heavy-handed in the third act about morals. Of the films that Stockwell has done as a director, this is his best as it has a gritty element but also presents itself in an accessible manner. In the end, Cheaters is a wonderful yet engrossing drama from John Stockwell.

John Stockwell Films: (Undercover) - (Crazy/Beautiful) - (Blue Crush) - (Into the Blue) - (Turistas) - (Middle of Nowhere)

© thevoid99 2011