Paths of Glory (1957)

05/27/22 • 14 min

In honor of Memorial Day, let’s revisit one of the earliest films from a true titan of cinema, the late great Stanley Kubrick – this was only the third feature film he directed, and it came three years before what many consider his true breakout film, Spartacus starring Kirk Douglas. Douglas stars in this as well as a Colonel in the French Army during World War I who is ordered to lead his battalion into an untenable situation right at the edge of the European Front, though No Man’s Land.
What results is a tragic incident involving many deaths that only gets more tragic as some surviving soldiers are to be held accountable for what happened – Douglas’ Colonel Dax also takes it upon himself to defend these men in court. This film is part war drama, part courtroom drama, and ALL compelling! It also stars Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, and George Macready in one of THE greatest anti-war films ever made and from the same filmmaking master who would go on to direct A Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001: A Space Odyssey...among several other classics.

Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

Send us a text

Previous Episode

Desperado (1995)

We kick off our Second Season with this gem from the mid '90's. Back in the early ‘90’s, a young aspiring filmmaker from Austin made his first movie for $7,000 with much of the financing coming from selling his body for science – the filmmaker was Robert Rodriguez and his first feature was the celebrated El Mariachi, an inventive action film about a guitar player-turned-assassin seeking revenge.
A couple of years later, he followed this up with a bigger budget Hollywood version of this story which was originally going to be a remake but ended up being a sequel....this time starring Antonio Banderas as the Mariachi, with a significantly bigger budget, and a pretty stacked cast surrounding him including Salma Hayek, Steve Buscemi, Joaquim de Almeida, and Cheech Marin. THIS version was called Desperado and it ended up being one of the best action films of the era!

Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

He still feels the need, the need for speed! Maverick (Tom Cruise) is back after more than 36 years – he’s still toiling with the Navy as a Captain and still likes flying jets. He has now been called back to the Top Gun academy at Miramar by his superiors....to train a NEW crop of flyers for a top secret mission. Those new flyers include various characters with various call-signs including Hangman, Phoenix, Coyote, and.....Rooster (Miles Teller) who is actually the son of Goose, which was his best friend who died during a training exercise in the first movie. Yes this is indeed a DIRECT sequel to the 1986 smash Top Gun but it’s so much more than just a sequel. 😊 Joseph Kosinski (Tron Legacy) directs this aerial adventure also starring Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Charles Parnell, Glenn Powell, and Ed Harris.

Host: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon
https://livingforthecinema.com/Facebook:
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Living for the Cinema - Paths of Glory (1957)

Transcript

PATHS OF GLORY - 1957

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, and Timothy Carey

Genre: War/Courtroom Drama (Audio clip)

This was a recent first-time watch for me as the furthest back I had gone into Kubrick's filmography had been Spartacus - this was the film he directed before that one and his third overall. And MAN, I can't believe he was able to craft such an initially