"Mister 880" with Burt Lancaster, Dorthy McGuire and Edmund Gwenn (1950)

This is a true story. One of the most unusual counterfeiting cases ever recorded, it originated in Manhattan but played out in Brooklyn, from Boro Park to Flatbush to Coney Island. Even Kings Highway was targeted. It took place over 10 years, between 1938 and 1948 and was the toughest case ever undertaken by the Secret Service.

It is the story of Emerich Juettner, also known as "Skipper", an ex Navy Machinists Mate from World War One who made his living as a junk dealer and only printed the counterfeit $1 bills in order to make ends meet. They were of extremely poor quality, which made the case even more baffling. Even the word Washington was mis-spelled!

The case came to a head in January 1948, after a fire forced him to leave his apartment in Manhattan. The firemen left his belongings in an alley where some kids found them. In the film the kids use them to trade and play cards, but in reality they turned them over to the Police, who had been alerted by the Secret Service of their existence.

Agent Steve Buchanan and his boss had discussed their longest running case, called Case 880, for 10 years, never turning up a credible lead. Out of respect for their quarry they nicknamed him "Mister 880." The counterfeit notes passed by him were even called "880s".

When a woman, Ann Winslow, a  translator at the newly formed United Nations, was found passing 2 of the counterfeit notes, the Secret Service cultivated her as a possible conspirator. She became interested in Agent Buchanan romantically, as he did with her.

Soon, it became apparrent that the bills had merely come into her possession accidentally. But how? That was the key to solving the case.

Eventually it was determined that she lived in the same rooming house as the old man, who was still not a suspect. But, when she bought 2 small spinning wheels from him for $3 each, she had paid with two $5 bills, receiving 4 of the bogus bills in change. This was his only mistake in 10 years.

He had only undertaken the enterprise as a way of survival. Had he placed himself in the care of the government and lived at the Old Sailor's Home it would have cost the United States $85.70 a month to care for him. Needing less than $50 a month to live on, he began doing the whole thing as a way to save the government money.

Agent Buchanan was a relentless man who believed in the maxium penalty for any counterfeiter, even "Skipper", but as the case unfolded he began to have a begrudging respect for the old man.

Eventually, Juettner was arrested, and sentenced to nine months in jail. But when the judge is informed that a sentence of less than a year makes Skipper ineligible for parole he changes the sentence to 9 months and a $1 fine, making him eligible for parole in only 4 months. Agent Buchanan paid the $1 fine for him.

When 20th Century Fox bought the movie rights to his story, "Skiper" earned 8more money than he had ever made as a counterfeiter.

Edmund Gwenn, who played 'Skipper", won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance. Agent Buchanan was played by Burt Lancaster and Ann Wilson was portrayed by Doroth McGuire.

The exterior scenes were all filmed on locaion in Manhattan and Brooklyn, while all the interior scenes were shot on soundstages in Hollywood.

This is a most endearing and entertaining film. It can be viewed here:

https://youtu.be/Ko17byRnCWo

"Seven Days In May" with Frederic March, Kirk Douglas, and Burt Lancaster

Director John Frankenheimer had his pulse on the State of the Union when he directed this political thriller set in the White House amidst the height of the Cold War. Coming, as it did, on the heels of his 1962 release of Richard Condon's "Manchurian Candidate", these two films are a blueprint of what was happening in Washington during those years. President Kennedy watched "The Manchurian Candidate" at least three times in 1962 and 1963. When "Seven Days In May" was being considered for production, the President went so far as to phone Kirk Douglas, urging him to make the film.

Briefly, this film concerns the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military group which surrounds the President and advises him during times of National peril. They wield enormous power. Although by theory they serve to implement the President's decisions, the possibility always exists that they have the capability to assert the ultimate control in the form of a coup. Most people think that this can never happen here in America, while some think that it has already happened, at least once.

In reality, this film was made during the time that President Kennedy was pushing through his landmark Test Ban Treaty in the summer of 1963, shortly before his assassination. In the movie, the President is making the case for a Test Ban Treaty while under pressure from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who not only oppose the President, but in some cases actually question his motivations.

When an alert Officer, Colonel Casey, played by Kirk Douglas, accidently comes across some things that make no sense, he begins to piece together the plot that is being assembled by fellow Officer General Scott, played by Burt Lancaster. When Casey approaches the President with his suspicions, the President, played by Frederic March, is skeptical. But when all the facts are gathered before him there is no denying the obvious and the President is forced to act.

Edmund O'Brien is brilliant as the Southern Senator Raymond Clark. With his love of whiskey and spot on impersonation of a Southern Senator, he lends a sense of outrage to the plot that would destroy our system of government.

This film, along with The Manchurian Candidate" (the 1962 version) both shed light on what was really happening in the early 1960's in relation to the Cold War and our own politics here at home.

"Atlantic City" with Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon

This is the 1981 masterpiece from Director Louis Malle. The flavor of the opening scenes, in which the old hotels are being demolished to make way for the new corporate ones, can be found in "Casino", the blockbuster hit film by Martin Scorsese which was made over a decade later.

This film is largely about people and their dreams. Burt Lancaster plays Lou, an aging man who has been a low level numbers runner in Atlantic City for decades. He has been everyone's errand boy, but never made that one big score for himself. He wants to be like his old boss, the man on top. That's his dream.

Then there is the dream of Grace, the long suffering ex gun moll, and widow of Lou's old boss. She still pays Lou to "protect" her. She first came to Atlantic City in the 1940's for a Betty Grable look-a-like contest and never went home. She dreams of a man like the one she had, one she does not have to pay to protect her, someone she can be proud to walk down the board walk with again, a Princess in her own mind.

Susan Sarandon is Sally, a divorced young woman who waits on patrons at an oyster bar in the casino, but is also going to school to learn how to be a dealer. Her dream is to go to France and work in the casinos of Monte Carlo. She just doesn't have the money.

When Sally's ex shows up with his pregnant girlfriend and a stash that doesn't belong to him, things change. And that's all I will tell you about this remarkable film, which was about 15 years ahead of it's time, both in it's direction by Mr. Malle and the subject matter itself. Set against the backdrop of Atlantic City during the late 1970's, when the town was turning from a family resort to a mob run gambling town, lends tension and a seedy quality to the film, which was largely shot on location.

As for the acting, all I can say is that Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon are both outstanding as people who get caught on the edge of life. Mr. Lancaster is especially great in this breakout role as a sensitive man with the desire to rise up and be more, both for himself, and those around him. This is a sharp, well made film.

"Judgment at Nuremberg" with Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich and Judy Garland

This landmark film, made in 1961, the same year in which Israel was trying Adolf Eichmann for Mass Murder, is a stirring production concerned with the responsibility we all hold toward one another as human beings.

The Chief Judge, played by Spencer Tracy, (William Shatner plays his Aide) has never been in the war, and is shocked by the devastation and destruction that he sees when he arrives in Nuremberg, which had been the seat of the Nazi Party. He is tasked with judging the defendants, all of whom were judges in Germany prior to, and throughout, the war. They were responsible for implementing the laws enacted by the Nazi Party. These laws included forced sterilization, denial of race mixing and other social programs that were all part of Germany's plans to exterminite Jews, Gyspy's and any others who did not measure up to the standards set forth by law.

The War Crime Tribunal is of the opinion that these judges should have stood against these laws, even if it meant the ends of their careers, and possibly their lives. From the perspective of the Defendants this would only have resulted in other, more pro-Nazi judges being appointed, with no question as to how they would have acted in implementing these laws.

Burt Lancaster is the German judge who finally comes to realize the damage done by the collective silence of his fellow judges. Montgomery Clift is brilliant as a victim of forced sterilization. Marlene Dietrich plays the widow of a German officer who has been executed for his crimes in a previous trial. Her home is now the residence of the American judge played by Spencer Tracy. From one another they learn just what a person will do, and how far they will go, in order to protect what is theirs. Sometimes it is not an easy call to make.

As Tracy struggles to understand just how the German people allowed the Holocaust to happen, he is confronted by the spectre of our own shortcomings as "victors" in the war. The German Counsel for the Defense, played by Maximilian Schell, is very adept at bringing to light our own nation's sins against our fellow man. Quoting from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and the American Constitution's "Seperate but Equal" clause, and invoking the horror of our own experiments with "Eugenics" in the late 1930's, usually against blacks and people with low IQ's, he brings stunning reality to bear on the questions of who is right and what is wrong. Does morality change with time and circumstance? Is there ever a real reason to commit Genocide?

This film is timeless in it's subject matter. When Richard Widmark gives his impassioned speech about the brutality of the Nazi's and the futility of Appeasment, one cannot help think about the current debate concerning Islamic Fundamentalism. When does tolerance become foolish? What lengths are acceptable to employ in wiping out evil? And mostly, what are our responsibilities as individuals in standing up to the things that would destroy us all.

The tension of the courtroom scenes, and the sharp direction of a tightly written script, along with superb acting and a timeless question of morality all combine to make this a "must see" film.