This Week on The Movie Gourmet – a review of Jia Zhangke’s sweeping Chinese drama Caught by the Tides, with its stunning performance by Tao Zhao; it’s the best movie of 2025 so far. I also have a new review of The Friend. Coming soon – an updated review of the superb biodoc Pee-Wee Herman as Himself and a new review of the new comedy in theaters, Friendship. But, first, three remembrances.
REMEMBRANCES
Joe Don Baker, with his imposing physicality and country demeanor was the perfect Sheriff Buford Pusser in Walking Tall, a little indie that became a mega hit. No one would be surprised that Baker hailed from a small town near Waco, but I didn’t know that he studied at the Actor’s Studio. His best work was in Charley Varrick, The Outfit, George Wallace and Mud.
Belgian actress Emelie Dequenne was a force of nature in her debut, as an alienated young woman in Rosetta, the 1999 film that mad the Dardennes brothers famous auteurs. For that performance, Dequenne won the Best Actress at Cannes, and she won a Cesar in 2020.
George Wendt played the beloved Norm! in 269 episodes of Cheers and appeared in well over 150 titles, mostly on television. But his carrer began with small roles in good movies: A Wedding, Bronco Billy and The Bodyguard.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Caught by the Tides: xxxxx. In theaters.
- The Count of Monte-Cristo: you think you’ve seen a revenge movie? kanopy (free), Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Pee-Wee Herman as Himself: a man hidden in his own invention. HBO Max.
- Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s: real, uplifting, essential. PBS and the PBS YouTube channel.
- John Singer Sargent: Fashion and Swagger: locking gazes. kanopy.
- The Friend: grieving with an enormous dog. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- The Trouble with Jessica: a diverting farce. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango.
- Bix Biederbecke: Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet: rediscovering a lost jazz legend. Amazon, YouTube.
ON TV
On May 31, Turner Classic Movies brings us a testosterone injection. Here’s one of my favorite manly adventure sagas, The Vikings from 1958; a one-eyed Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis bare their chests over Janet Leigh and swill mead with full-bearded Ernest Borgnine – it’s rip-roaring and silly and just a whole lot of fun.
And, on June 4, TCM airs one of the most fun of films noir, The Big Steal, which rematched Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer after their iconic noir Out of the Past. This time, Mitchum and Greer careen around Mexico, being chased by William Bendix. The Big Steal was only the third of the 36 feature films directed by the grievously underrated Don Siegel. Siegel became a master of crime movies (and was the primary filmmaking mentor to Clint Eastwood). I particularly love Siegel’s 1973 neo-noir Charley Varrick, the guilty pleasure Two Mules for Sister Sara and John Wayne’s goodbye: The Shootist. Anyway, The Big Steal is delightful.
