Page 24 THE VILLADOM TIMES II & III • May 5, 2010 Andy Griffith brings down-home charm to comedy by Dennis Seuling “No Time for Sergeants” (Warner Home Video) falls under the category of “service comedy” -- a movie that focuses on people in the armed services and derives its laughs from how they cause comic chaos in a rigid organization. “Buck Privates” with Abbott and Costello, and “Private Benjamin” with Goldie Hawn are examples of this durable genre. “No Time for Sergeants” first appeared as a novel by Mac Hyman and was later adapted by Ira Levin for an episode of TV’s “United States Steel Hour,” starring Andy Griffith as country bumpkin and Air Force draftee Will Stockdale and Myron McCormick as Sergeant Orville C. King. Broadway came next, with Griffith and McCormick reprising their TV roles. Mervyn LeRoy, producer of “The Wizard of Oz,” directed the big-screen version, once again starring Griffith and McCormick. The film relies on the standard fish-outof-water theme. The naive Will thinks of Sgt. King as a friend rather than his military superior, much to the sergeant’s consternation. Griffith is the best thing in the movie with his down-home charm, which was exploited to a much different, darker end in Elia Kazan’s “The Face in the Crowd” the year before. In “Sergeants” viewers see the genesis of the easygoing, good natured Southern man who became Sheriff Andy Taylor in the long-running CBS series, “The Andy Griffith Show.” The danger with a comedy of this type is that the premise can wear thin. If the audience loses patience with the main characabout two childhood friends, poor German immigrant Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) and the son of a wealthy plantation owner, Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), who enlist in the Confederate Army, attempt to hold the enemy back while those around them face terrible deaths as the South they knew crumbles around them. This is not a poetic version of the Old South as in “Gone with the Wind,” but a hard-edged look at the decimation of war and the downfall of a way of life. There is a tone of sadness throughout the film and several points of view are explored. Some men fight out of loyalty to the South and its traditions, others to avenge personal wrongs, and a former slave (Jeffrey Wright) displays unusual wisdom even though he has chosen to fight for the Confederacy. It is these characterizations that make “Ride with the Devil” more than just a Civil War flick. Lee stages the battle sequences impressively, never turning away from the violence. Will Stockdale (Andy Griffith) shakes things up as an Air Force draftee in ‘No Times for Sergeants.’ The 1999 film is a restored, high definition digital transfer of Lee’s director’s cut. Bonuses include two audio commentaries by Lee and screenwriter James Schamus, a new video interview with Jeffrey Wright, and a booklet with essays about the movie. “Doctor Zhivago” (Warner Home Video), a 1965 Best Picture nominee directed in grand style by David Lean, is available in a new three-disc 45th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition. The film is a series of flashbacks chronicling the love story of Yuri Zhivago (Omar Sharif) and Lara (Julie Christie) with narration by Yuri’s Bolshevik brother (Alec Guinness), while war, revolution, and social upheaval are transforming Russia. There is a guilty pleasure in watching one of these 1960s epics. It boggles the mind that there was enough money in Hollywood to muster casts of thousands of real people, gather real vintage trains, and tell a romantic tale against cataclysmic world events. Lean was the man for the job. He (continued on page 26) ter, the laughs diminish. But Griffith is so right in this role and has such a winning, sincere smile, that viewers happily go along for the ride. The supporting cast includes Nick Adams as Will’s barracks pal, Murray Hamilton as fellow enlisted man and bigcity tough guy, and Don Knotts as a shaky aptitude tester. There are no extras. “Ride With the Devil” (The Criterion Collection) is a Civil War drama directed by Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”) K IRK E RS INN Sauerbrauten • Schnitzels • Bavarian Sausages Goulash • Potato Pancakes • Dumplings Spaetzel and more. GERMAN FULL BEERS ON TAP Plus Our Regular Menu • Reservations Suggested TOP GERMAN AMERICAN RESTAURANT IN BERGEN & PASSAIC COUNTIES BAR Open Monday-Saturday – Noon-Midnight • Closed Sunday www.kirkers.com • All Major Credit Cards Accepted Calling All Crafters and Antique Cars! 237 Diamond Bridge Ave, Hawthorne • 973-427-7700 The Best Got Better! 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