Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976)

Larry Lapinsky (Lenny Baker) is an aspiring actor in his early 20s who leaves his Brooklyn home, overbearing mother Faye (Shelley Winters), and hen-pecked father Ben (Mike Kellin) and moves to Greenwich Village, a few subway stops away. This is the Village of 1953. Bob Dylan and the folkies won't arrive here for years, and even the beatnik scene isn't yet in full bloom. But it is the hippest place in town, filled with counter-culture artist types, and Larry settles right in. Very quickly he gets entangled with a group of free spirited friends, discovers adult romance with foxy girlfriend Sarah (Ellen Greene), deals with life's problems and triumphs, and hardest of all, copes with his mother.

Shelley Winters is brilliant as the ultimate Jewish mother. When Faye weeps over the radio singing of Jussi Bjorling, vowing to hear him in person at the Met, or unconventionally jitterbugs with a black gay guy at a Greenwich Village party she crashes, we feel affection for her despite her cluelessness and manipulations. Bernstein (Antonio Fargas), a black flamboyantly un-closeted homosexual is asked by Faye if he's Jewish, and he replies, "No, darling, I'm gay."

Writer-director Paul Mazursky's autobiographical "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" is a film of considerable charm and appeal. Lenny Baker, who made only a couple more films before dying of cancer in 1982, is fine in the central role--an actor playing an actor. The movie is smart and well-observed, with humor and warmth, along with an improvisational feel. It also tends to play very real, especially the scenes involving the two young lovers. It's a classic film about youthful ambition, betrayal, tragedy, and a never-ending surplus of hope. While most directors wind up knee-deep in schlock when making a movie about their youths, Mazursky keeps his focused on honesty. Bill Conti composed the music.

The Anderson Tapes (1971)

In this crime thriller, career burglar John "Duke" Anderson (Sean Connery) is released from his latest prison term of 10 years. He renews his relationship with his old girlfriend Ingrid (Dyan Cannon), who lives in a upscale apartment block in NYC. Anderson decides to burglarize the entire building. He gets financing from a Mafia boss and gathers his four-man crew, including Haskins (Martin Balsam) a vintage 1970s gay stereotype, and old ex-con drunk William "Pop" Myer (Stan Gottlieb), whom Anderson met in jail, and who is to play concierge while the real one is bound and gagged in the cellar. What Anderson doesn't know is that every move he makes is being monitored and taped by several law enforcement agencies, who hope that he will lead them to the Mob kingpins. "The Anderson Tapes" boasts an impressive supporting cast, many of whom play against type, including Alan King as the aging and infirm Mafia don Angelo. It was the first major motion picture for actor Christopher Walken, who appears as "The Kid."

Less welcome is a man the Mafia foists onto Anderson: the thuggish "Socks" Parelli (Val Avery) , a psychopath who has become a liability to the mob and, as part of the deal, Anderson must kill him in the course of the robbery. Anderson is not keen on this since the operation is complicated enough, but relunctantly agrees. The agents, cameras, bugs, and tracking devices of numerous public and private agencies see almost the entire operation from the earliest planning to the execution. As Anderson advances the scheme he moves from the surveillance of one group to another as locations or individuals change. The movie goes on and on and on and finally in a shootout Anderson kills "Socks" but is himself shot by the police. The other robbers are killed, injured or captured, but none get away with it. "Pop" gives himself up after a while of letting the police believe that he is the real concierge.

In the course of searching the building, the police discover some audio listening equipment left behind by the private detective who was hired to check up on Ingrid. While organizing the robbery Anderson met various people who were under similar surveillance for other reasons by various government agencies. To avoid embarrassment over the fact that they failed to realize what was going on and that some of the tapings were illegal, the agencies order the tapes to be erased.

This fast paced movie is slick, humorous, experimental at times, with a notable performance by Martin Balsam as the gay Haskins. Direction is flashy, but it fails to explain the tapes very well, although it addresses the influence of surveillance on modern times, as well as the lack of co-ordination between government agencies. Sean Connery's performance helped him breakout from being stereotyped as James Bond. The screenplay was written by Frank Pierson, based on the best-selling 1970 novel of the same name by Lawrence Sanders. Quincy Jones composed the music score, and Sidney Lumet directed.