Don't Look Back.
1967 Leacock-Pennebaker Productions; distributed to DVD by Docurama.
Featuring: Bob Dylan, Albert Grossman, Bob Neuwirth, Joan Baez, Alan Price, Tito Burns, Donovan, Derroll Adams, Horace Freeland Judson, Marianne Faithfull, Allen Ginsberg, John Mayall (last three uncredited)
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
The 1965 Tour Deluxe Edition of this movie is available from Amazon.
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan across the pond to England to cover his three week tour in 1965, where he made the transition from acoustic folk to rock music played with electric instruments. Opening with the now famous "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, we follow Dylan as he (among other things) plays several shows, including one at the Royal Albert Hall, picks on Time journalist Horace Freeland Judson, verbally jousts with student and future record mogul Terry Ellis, and befriends his British counterpart, Donovan. The film was also shot at the tail end of Dylan's relationship with Joan Baez, and even though they do collaborate on a song that came out in 1968, the tension between them is obvious.
The 2007 DVD release also includes the new documentary 65 Revisited, comprised of unused material shot in 1965, outtakes, and full song performances of seven tracks, including a duet with Baez.
Highly recommended film.
Showing posts with label national film registry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national film registry. Show all posts
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
T.A.M.I. Show
T.A.M.I. Show (a.k.a. Teen Age Command Performance).
1964 Screencraft International & American International Pictures; distributed to DVD by Shout! Factory.
Featuring: The Barbarians, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Miracles, Rolling Stones, The Supremes
House Band: The Wrecking Crew (Jack Nitzsche, Hail Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson, etc.)
Also appearing: Toni Basil, Teri Garr
Producer: Bill Sargent
Director: Steve Binder
Available at Amazon.
Released at the end of 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) is a groundbreaking concert film, and incredibly influential in the development of music videos. It's almost criminal that such an influential movie didn't receive an uncut release to home video until 2010. Rights issues saw the Beach Boys' performances cut from most prints of the film, but Shout! Factory restored the lost footage to the film for their definitive DVD release. As expected, since that segment was captured from another print and not the master, there is some minor film damage present, but seeing a rare Brian Wilson live performance with his legendary band more than makes up for it.
The concert lineup is nothing short of spectacular; only the Barbarians never had a Top 40 hit before or after the movie was first released, but they still did a fine live version of their first single, "Hey Little Bird", complete with their one-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton nearly stealing the show with his own frantic drumming. Chuck Berry trading licks and songs with Gerry & the Pacemakers to open the show was fun to watch, and there are stellar performances from the Motown representatives the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and of course, the Supremes.
And then, we have James Brown. Anything I write cannot even begin to describe just how over the top and magical his four songs were, especially "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train". Everything is here: the energy, the inspired dancing, the passionate singing, and the gimmick with the cape. Producer Rick Rubin once said that Prince had Brown's T.A.M.I. Show performance running in a loop on a television in the lobby of his offices, and he called it the single greatest rock and roll performance ever captured on film. He's completely right. The Rolling Stones close the show, and while their performance is raw and energetic, it's not going to even approach what James Brown did onstage just a few minutes earlier. Keith Richards has admitted in interviews that going on after Brown was the biggest mistake the Stones ever made in their careers.
Get this one, folks. There are no better concert films out there.
1964 Screencraft International & American International Pictures; distributed to DVD by Shout! Factory.
Featuring: The Barbarians, The Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, James Brown and the Famous Flames, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, Billy J. Kramer and The Dakotas, The Miracles, Rolling Stones, The Supremes
House Band: The Wrecking Crew (Jack Nitzsche, Hail Blaine, Jimmy Bond, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Aken, Glen Campbell, Lyle Ritz, Leon Russell, Plas Johnson, etc.)
Also appearing: Toni Basil, Teri Garr
Producer: Bill Sargent
Director: Steve Binder
Available at Amazon.
Released at the end of 1964, the T.A.M.I. Show (Teenage Awards Music International) is a groundbreaking concert film, and incredibly influential in the development of music videos. It's almost criminal that such an influential movie didn't receive an uncut release to home video until 2010. Rights issues saw the Beach Boys' performances cut from most prints of the film, but Shout! Factory restored the lost footage to the film for their definitive DVD release. As expected, since that segment was captured from another print and not the master, there is some minor film damage present, but seeing a rare Brian Wilson live performance with his legendary band more than makes up for it.
The concert lineup is nothing short of spectacular; only the Barbarians never had a Top 40 hit before or after the movie was first released, but they still did a fine live version of their first single, "Hey Little Bird", complete with their one-armed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton nearly stealing the show with his own frantic drumming. Chuck Berry trading licks and songs with Gerry & the Pacemakers to open the show was fun to watch, and there are stellar performances from the Motown representatives the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, and of course, the Supremes.
And then, we have James Brown. Anything I write cannot even begin to describe just how over the top and magical his four songs were, especially "Please, Please, Please" and "Night Train". Everything is here: the energy, the inspired dancing, the passionate singing, and the gimmick with the cape. Producer Rick Rubin once said that Prince had Brown's T.A.M.I. Show performance running in a loop on a television in the lobby of his offices, and he called it the single greatest rock and roll performance ever captured on film. He's completely right. The Rolling Stones close the show, and while their performance is raw and energetic, it's not going to even approach what James Brown did onstage just a few minutes earlier. Keith Richards has admitted in interviews that going on after Brown was the biggest mistake the Stones ever made in their careers.
Get this one, folks. There are no better concert films out there.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H. 1970 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Gary Burghoff, Fred Williamson, Bud Cort, Kim Atwood, Marvin Miller
Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr.
Director: Robert Altman
Availavle from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Robert Altman Collection.
Based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, and set during the Korean War in 1951, Robert Altman's M*A*S*H was a huge hit in 1970, when many Americans were confused, weary, and angry about the ongoing conflict in Vietnam. M*A*S*H was also Altman's first project employing his filmmaking trademarks of widescreen photography, zoom lenses, overlapping sounds and dialogue, and a large ensemble cast largely improvising when the cameras were on. It also inspired the sitcom on CBS that ran for eleven years, even if Altman hated the show, and would only refer to it as "that series".
The film itself has several different ongoing storylines surrounding the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital; namely the arrival of the rebellious and mischievous new surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Sutherland) and Captain Duke Forrest (Skerritt) to the 4077th, who arrive in a "borrowed" Jeep, flirt with the nursing staff, and begin feuding with their tent mate Major Frank Burns (Duvall).
* A new thoracic surgeron named "Trapper" John McIntyre (Gould) comes to the unit, and Hawkeye is absolutely convinced he knows him from somewhere, even if Trapper John isn't talking about who he is, or where he came from. Trapper John also witnesses Major Burns blame another private for a patient's death, which leads to Burns getting punched out in front of another newcomer: Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Kellerman). Burns and Hot Lips find that they have repressed sexual tension for one another, which leads to a publicly broadcast tryst over the camp's PA system. Hawkeye taunts him the next day, and Burns attacks him, which gets him sent back to the United States.
* Meanwhile, Father Mulcahy (Auberjonois) discloses to Hawkeye later on that the unit's dentist Painless Pole (John Schuck) believes he is homosexual and decides he's going to kill himself. Hawkeye and company stage an impromptu Last Supper where Painless takes a "black capsule", which is actually a sleeping pill. Hawkeye then arranges a sexual encounter between Painless and another nurse who is returning to America soon, thus curing Painless of his "problem".
* Duke and Hawkeye make a bet that Hot Lips isn't a natural blonde, so they come up with a plan to see if the curtains match the drapes, so to speak, publicly humiliating Hot Lips after she's caught by the boys in the shower. She goes to Colonel Blake ranting and raving, and ultimately threatens to resigns her goddamn commission. There's also an ongoing plot featuring Ho-Jon (Atwood), who is drafted into South Korea's army, but after Hawkeye drives him to an induction center, he is found to have high blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat, but he is not disqualified from service. Instead, it's insinuated that Hawkeye gave Ho-Jon medicine to induce those symptoms to keep him from being conscripted.
* Trapper and Hawkeye are sent to Japan to operate on the son of a U.S. congressman...and to play golf on decent courses. They arrive and order the man into surgery immediately, so they can get on the links that much faster, not to mention enjoying a decent lunch. Hawkeye and Trapper also encounter problems with the hospital's commander, who can't stop the "Pros from Dover" from returning with a Japanese-American baby with serious medical issues. The commander is sedated, and then blackmailed when he is photographed in bed with a prostitute.
* The 4077th plays a friendly football game with General Hammond's (G. Wood) unit, where some money is thrown into the pot to make it interesting. Hawkeye enlists a neurosurgeon, Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones (Williamson), a former pro player, to play for their side while wheeling and dealing with the money bet on the game. Jones is kept out of the game until the second half. Even with Jones on their side, the 4077th does win the game on the last play of the game in a "semilegal" play, leading to a big ol' brawl after the game.
M*A*S*H is also well known for the song "Suicide is Painless", with lyrics written by Altman's son Mike, who ultimately made more money than his father got for directing the film in royalties. The making of the movie was reportedly difficult, thanks to tension between Altman and his cast. Donald Sutherland claimed he was the only principal cast member not using drugs during filming, and he along with Elliot Gould spent a third of their time on the set trying to get 20th Century Fox to fire Altman, who at the time had not earned the credentials to justify his unique filmmaking process. The film also earned one Academy Award, for Ring Lardner, Jr., who had spent twelve years blacklisted by the Hollywood studios (1954-66) by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which went along with another Oscar that he wrote under a pseudonym during his twelve year ban (he never revealed for what movie).
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Gary Burghoff, Fred Williamson, Bud Cort, Kim Atwood, Marvin Miller
Screenplay: Ring Lardner, Jr.
Director: Robert Altman
Availavle from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Robert Altman Collection.
Based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, and set during the Korean War in 1951, Robert Altman's M*A*S*H was a huge hit in 1970, when many Americans were confused, weary, and angry about the ongoing conflict in Vietnam. M*A*S*H was also Altman's first project employing his filmmaking trademarks of widescreen photography, zoom lenses, overlapping sounds and dialogue, and a large ensemble cast largely improvising when the cameras were on. It also inspired the sitcom on CBS that ran for eleven years, even if Altman hated the show, and would only refer to it as "that series".
The film itself has several different ongoing storylines surrounding the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital; namely the arrival of the rebellious and mischievous new surgeons Captain Hawkeye Pierce (Sutherland) and Captain Duke Forrest (Skerritt) to the 4077th, who arrive in a "borrowed" Jeep, flirt with the nursing staff, and begin feuding with their tent mate Major Frank Burns (Duvall).
* A new thoracic surgeron named "Trapper" John McIntyre (Gould) comes to the unit, and Hawkeye is absolutely convinced he knows him from somewhere, even if Trapper John isn't talking about who he is, or where he came from. Trapper John also witnesses Major Burns blame another private for a patient's death, which leads to Burns getting punched out in front of another newcomer: Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan (Kellerman). Burns and Hot Lips find that they have repressed sexual tension for one another, which leads to a publicly broadcast tryst over the camp's PA system. Hawkeye taunts him the next day, and Burns attacks him, which gets him sent back to the United States.
* Meanwhile, Father Mulcahy (Auberjonois) discloses to Hawkeye later on that the unit's dentist Painless Pole (John Schuck) believes he is homosexual and decides he's going to kill himself. Hawkeye and company stage an impromptu Last Supper where Painless takes a "black capsule", which is actually a sleeping pill. Hawkeye then arranges a sexual encounter between Painless and another nurse who is returning to America soon, thus curing Painless of his "problem".
* Duke and Hawkeye make a bet that Hot Lips isn't a natural blonde, so they come up with a plan to see if the curtains match the drapes, so to speak, publicly humiliating Hot Lips after she's caught by the boys in the shower. She goes to Colonel Blake ranting and raving, and ultimately threatens to resigns her goddamn commission. There's also an ongoing plot featuring Ho-Jon (Atwood), who is drafted into South Korea's army, but after Hawkeye drives him to an induction center, he is found to have high blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat, but he is not disqualified from service. Instead, it's insinuated that Hawkeye gave Ho-Jon medicine to induce those symptoms to keep him from being conscripted.
* Trapper and Hawkeye are sent to Japan to operate on the son of a U.S. congressman...and to play golf on decent courses. They arrive and order the man into surgery immediately, so they can get on the links that much faster, not to mention enjoying a decent lunch. Hawkeye and Trapper also encounter problems with the hospital's commander, who can't stop the "Pros from Dover" from returning with a Japanese-American baby with serious medical issues. The commander is sedated, and then blackmailed when he is photographed in bed with a prostitute.
* The 4077th plays a friendly football game with General Hammond's (G. Wood) unit, where some money is thrown into the pot to make it interesting. Hawkeye enlists a neurosurgeon, Dr. Oliver Harmon "Spearchucker" Jones (Williamson), a former pro player, to play for their side while wheeling and dealing with the money bet on the game. Jones is kept out of the game until the second half. Even with Jones on their side, the 4077th does win the game on the last play of the game in a "semilegal" play, leading to a big ol' brawl after the game.
M*A*S*H is also well known for the song "Suicide is Painless", with lyrics written by Altman's son Mike, who ultimately made more money than his father got for directing the film in royalties. The making of the movie was reportedly difficult, thanks to tension between Altman and his cast. Donald Sutherland claimed he was the only principal cast member not using drugs during filming, and he along with Elliot Gould spent a third of their time on the set trying to get 20th Century Fox to fire Altman, who at the time had not earned the credentials to justify his unique filmmaking process. The film also earned one Academy Award, for Ring Lardner, Jr., who had spent twelve years blacklisted by the Hollywood studios (1954-66) by the House Un-American Activities Committee, which went along with another Oscar that he wrote under a pseudonym during his twelve year ban (he never revealed for what movie).
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now (viewed June 5th and 6th).
1979 American Zoetrope; distributed to DVD by Paramount.
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, Joe Estevez (uncredited)
Produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Available from Amazon as part of Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier.
The story of the making of Apocalypse Now is probably just as well known as the film's story itself. Director Coppola had originally cast Harvey Keitel as Captain Benjamin Willard, but replaced him with Martin Sheen only a few days into filming, unsatisfied with Keitel's portrayal as the troubled veteran. Filming on location in the Philippines saw its share of troubles, ranging from Typhoon Olga striking the region in May of 1976, halting production for a month. In addition, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos agreed to let his army provide helicopers and pilots to help work on the film, but the government would sometimes recall them from the set to help battle bands of rebels nearby.
Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack during production (his brother, Joe Estevez, stood in for him and also provided voiceover work where needed in post-production), and when it was his time to appear, Marlon Brando showed up reportedly drunk, very overweight, and unfamiliar with the script, or the novella it was based on, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. A compromise was reached, and Brando was allowed to largely improvise while Coppola filmed him in shadows and using a taller stand-in to disguise the actor's weight gain. Coppola did not escape the filming unscathed either: he threatened to commit suicide several times.
As for the rest of the story...
Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen) is a special operations veteran. He has returned to Saigon after finding it nearly impossible to adjust back to civilian life back in America. Willard is actually still battling his demons even after returning to the scene of the war. Despite all of his hardships, Willard is assigned by two intelligence officers to travel up the Nung River deep into Cambodia, and find the rogue officer Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando), who has assembled a large platoon of Montagnard troops who worship him like a god. Citing some very disturbing radio broadcasts and recordings made by Kurtz, Willard is assigned to terminate Kurtz's command "with extreme prejudice". Willard would prefer to make the trip alone, but he is assigned a crew comprising of the no-nonsense Chief Phillips (Hall), the chemically enhanced surfer dude Lance (Bottoms), the young South Bronx hepcat Clean (Fishburne), and Chef (Forrest), someone totally unprepared for what he's seeing away from his native New Orleans. Before the mission to find Kurtz begins, Willard and his men end up taking part in a mission led by the loud and boisterous Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Duvall), where they seize a Viet Cong village near a beachhead that seemingly is perfect for surfing. After the fighting stop, Kilgore cheerfully informs Willard that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning" since you all know it smells like victory.
Willard, whose mission is classified, so his companions are pretty much in the dark as to why they're going so far up the river, spends much of the time reading up on Kurtz, becoming more obsessed with his target, even coming to understand Kurtz's motives. In due time, several crew members are killed, Lance goes insane, and after encountering a loopy American photojournalist (Hopper) upon arrival at the compound who seems to idolize Kurtz, it remains to be seen if Willard will complete his mission to terminate with extreme prejudice.
Highly, highly recommended movie.
1979 American Zoetrope; distributed to DVD by Paramount.
Starring: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper, Harrison Ford, Frederic Forrest, Sam Bottoms, Albert Hall, Joe Estevez (uncredited)
Produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Available from Amazon as part of Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier.
The story of the making of Apocalypse Now is probably just as well known as the film's story itself. Director Coppola had originally cast Harvey Keitel as Captain Benjamin Willard, but replaced him with Martin Sheen only a few days into filming, unsatisfied with Keitel's portrayal as the troubled veteran. Filming on location in the Philippines saw its share of troubles, ranging from Typhoon Olga striking the region in May of 1976, halting production for a month. In addition, Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos agreed to let his army provide helicopers and pilots to help work on the film, but the government would sometimes recall them from the set to help battle bands of rebels nearby.
Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack during production (his brother, Joe Estevez, stood in for him and also provided voiceover work where needed in post-production), and when it was his time to appear, Marlon Brando showed up reportedly drunk, very overweight, and unfamiliar with the script, or the novella it was based on, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. A compromise was reached, and Brando was allowed to largely improvise while Coppola filmed him in shadows and using a taller stand-in to disguise the actor's weight gain. Coppola did not escape the filming unscathed either: he threatened to commit suicide several times.
As for the rest of the story...
Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Sheen) is a special operations veteran. He has returned to Saigon after finding it nearly impossible to adjust back to civilian life back in America. Willard is actually still battling his demons even after returning to the scene of the war. Despite all of his hardships, Willard is assigned by two intelligence officers to travel up the Nung River deep into Cambodia, and find the rogue officer Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Brando), who has assembled a large platoon of Montagnard troops who worship him like a god. Citing some very disturbing radio broadcasts and recordings made by Kurtz, Willard is assigned to terminate Kurtz's command "with extreme prejudice". Willard would prefer to make the trip alone, but he is assigned a crew comprising of the no-nonsense Chief Phillips (Hall), the chemically enhanced surfer dude Lance (Bottoms), the young South Bronx hepcat Clean (Fishburne), and Chef (Forrest), someone totally unprepared for what he's seeing away from his native New Orleans. Before the mission to find Kurtz begins, Willard and his men end up taking part in a mission led by the loud and boisterous Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore (Duvall), where they seize a Viet Cong village near a beachhead that seemingly is perfect for surfing. After the fighting stop, Kilgore cheerfully informs Willard that he "loves the smell of napalm in the morning" since you all know it smells like victory.
Willard, whose mission is classified, so his companions are pretty much in the dark as to why they're going so far up the river, spends much of the time reading up on Kurtz, becoming more obsessed with his target, even coming to understand Kurtz's motives. In due time, several crew members are killed, Lance goes insane, and after encountering a loopy American photojournalist (Hopper) upon arrival at the compound who seems to idolize Kurtz, it remains to be seen if Willard will complete his mission to terminate with extreme prejudice.
Highly, highly recommended movie.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang.
1932 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.
Based on the autobiography written by World War I veteran and Georgia chain gang member Robert Elliott Burns (while he was still on the run in New Jersey), I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang, this film not only contributed to significant changes in the United States penal system when it came to prison chain gangs, it also was a big enough hit at the box office to save Warner Bros. from financial ruin. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was banned in the state of Georgia, where Burns served his stint, even if the movie took place in an unnamed state.
Also, before this picture was made, it was almost unheard of for any studio or filmmaker to tackle serious social issues.
Sergeant James Allen (Muni) returns from World War I planning to find work in construction, but soon finds himself having a hard time finding work, or at least a job that he's completely happy with. Allen is so broke at one point that he pawns his war medals. One night, he is accidentally caught up in a robbery, and finds himself sentenced to ten years in a chain gang.
After several months, Allen makes his escape, and winds up in Chicago. In the Windy City, he finds great success in the construction business, and Allen marries the proprietor of his boarding house, Marie Woods (Farrell). Marie discovers Jim's secret, and blackmails him into entering an unhappy marriage. Later on, Allen meets and falls in love with Helen (Vinson). When Jim asks his wife for a divorce, Marie betrays him to the authorities. Allen is offered a pardon if he turns himself in; he does so, only to find that it was a ruse, prompting him to escape back to Chicago.
Allen finds Helen at her home, and tells her that he is going back on the run. When asked questions about where he's going, and if he needs any money, Jim tells her "I steal" before disappearing back into the darkness. The lighting during the final scene was a happy accident (the lights either failed, or were turned off too soon), and it was kept in the final print.
Highly, highly recommended pre-Code film.
1932 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of the Controversal Classics box set.
Based on the autobiography written by World War I veteran and Georgia chain gang member Robert Elliott Burns (while he was still on the run in New Jersey), I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang, this film not only contributed to significant changes in the United States penal system when it came to prison chain gangs, it also was a big enough hit at the box office to save Warner Bros. from financial ruin. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang was banned in the state of Georgia, where Burns served his stint, even if the movie took place in an unnamed state.
Also, before this picture was made, it was almost unheard of for any studio or filmmaker to tackle serious social issues.
Sergeant James Allen (Muni) returns from World War I planning to find work in construction, but soon finds himself having a hard time finding work, or at least a job that he's completely happy with. Allen is so broke at one point that he pawns his war medals. One night, he is accidentally caught up in a robbery, and finds himself sentenced to ten years in a chain gang.
After several months, Allen makes his escape, and winds up in Chicago. In the Windy City, he finds great success in the construction business, and Allen marries the proprietor of his boarding house, Marie Woods (Farrell). Marie discovers Jim's secret, and blackmails him into entering an unhappy marriage. Later on, Allen meets and falls in love with Helen (Vinson). When Jim asks his wife for a divorce, Marie betrays him to the authorities. Allen is offered a pardon if he turns himself in; he does so, only to find that it was a ruse, prompting him to escape back to Chicago.
Allen finds Helen at her home, and tells her that he is going back on the run. When asked questions about where he's going, and if he needs any money, Jim tells her "I steal" before disappearing back into the darkness. The lighting during the final scene was a happy accident (the lights either failed, or were turned off too soon), and it was kept in the final print.
Highly, highly recommended pre-Code film.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Casablanca
Casablanca.
1942 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson
Director: Michael Curtiz
Available from Amazon as a single DVD (snapcase!), or as a two-disc special edition, which I own. Casablanca is also part of two box sets: the first Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection, and the Best Picture Winners installment of TCM's Greatest Classic Films Collection. Or, you could always invest in the ultimate collectors' edition.
"Here's looking at you, kid."
"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By." *
"Round up the usual suspects."
"We'll always have Paris."
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
One of the all time classic American films. Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Michael Curtiz.
Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner in Casablanca during the early days of World War II. Rick's Café Américain is an upscale nightclub slash gambling den that attracts a wide base of customers, notably Vichy French and Nazi officials, as well as refugees and thieves. One day, a petty criminal called Ugarte (Lorre) shows up in the club with "letters of transit" that he got after two German couriers were murdered. These documents will allow the bearer to travel as they pleased through Nazi-controlled Germany, into neutral Portugal, and from there into the United States. Obviously, these are very valuable and highly coveted, and Ugarte plans to make a killing by selling them to the highest bidder who is eager enough to get out of Casablanca, but the criminal is arrested by the local police under the command of the corrupt Captain Louis Renault (Rains) before he could sell. He still entrusts Rick with the letters (Ugarte dies offscreen while in police custody).
And then, Ilsa Lund (Bergman) arrives in the club with her new husband Victor Laszlo (Henreid), a fugitive Czech Resistance leader. Rick and Ilsa were lovers, but she left him without explanation. Ilsa and Victor need Rick's letters to eventually escape to America so Victor can continue his work, and the German Major Strasser (Veidt) shows up to make sure Laszlo doesn't succeed. Laszlo has also met with Rick's business rival, Signor Ferrari (Greenstreet), voicing his suspicion that Rick has the letters. When Laszlo and Rick meet privately, he refuses to hand over the letters, suggesting that he ask his wife for the reason. Just then, Stresser and his fellow officers begin to loudly sing "Die Wacht am Rhein". Laszlo, with Rick's approval, gets the house band to play the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", triggering long-suppressed patriotic fervor in the crowd, and quickly drowning out the Nazis. Strasser retaliates by having Captain Renault shut the nightclub down.
Later, Ilsa confronts Sam and demands the letters, but he refuses to hand them over. She tries to shoot him, but can't bring herself to pull the trigger, confessing that she still loves him. The truth comes out: Laszlo was believed killed in a concentration camp, but as the Germans were on the brink of capturing Paris, Ilsa learned that Laszlo was still alive; hence her wordless break-up with Rick, she left to tend to an ill Laszlo. Rick's bitterness towards Ilsa fades, and he agrees to help, making her believe that she will stay in Casablanca with Rick when Laszlo leaves for America.
Rick, as everyone knows, has other ideas, and his future does not involve a permanent reconciliation with Ilsa.
There's really not much else I can add. Of course, this one is highly, highly, highly recommended.
* Often mistaken for the simpler "Play it again, Sam".
1942 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson
Director: Michael Curtiz
Available from Amazon as a single DVD (snapcase!), or as a two-disc special edition, which I own. Casablanca is also part of two box sets: the first Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection, and the Best Picture Winners installment of TCM's Greatest Classic Films Collection. Or, you could always invest in the ultimate collectors' edition.
"Here's looking at you, kid."
"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"Play it, Sam. Play As Time Goes By." *
"Round up the usual suspects."
"We'll always have Paris."
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."
One of the all time classic American films. Casablanca won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Michael Curtiz.
Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine, a nightclub owner in Casablanca during the early days of World War II. Rick's Café Américain is an upscale nightclub slash gambling den that attracts a wide base of customers, notably Vichy French and Nazi officials, as well as refugees and thieves. One day, a petty criminal called Ugarte (Lorre) shows up in the club with "letters of transit" that he got after two German couriers were murdered. These documents will allow the bearer to travel as they pleased through Nazi-controlled Germany, into neutral Portugal, and from there into the United States. Obviously, these are very valuable and highly coveted, and Ugarte plans to make a killing by selling them to the highest bidder who is eager enough to get out of Casablanca, but the criminal is arrested by the local police under the command of the corrupt Captain Louis Renault (Rains) before he could sell. He still entrusts Rick with the letters (Ugarte dies offscreen while in police custody).
And then, Ilsa Lund (Bergman) arrives in the club with her new husband Victor Laszlo (Henreid), a fugitive Czech Resistance leader. Rick and Ilsa were lovers, but she left him without explanation. Ilsa and Victor need Rick's letters to eventually escape to America so Victor can continue his work, and the German Major Strasser (Veidt) shows up to make sure Laszlo doesn't succeed. Laszlo has also met with Rick's business rival, Signor Ferrari (Greenstreet), voicing his suspicion that Rick has the letters. When Laszlo and Rick meet privately, he refuses to hand over the letters, suggesting that he ask his wife for the reason. Just then, Stresser and his fellow officers begin to loudly sing "Die Wacht am Rhein". Laszlo, with Rick's approval, gets the house band to play the French national anthem, "La Marseillaise", triggering long-suppressed patriotic fervor in the crowd, and quickly drowning out the Nazis. Strasser retaliates by having Captain Renault shut the nightclub down.
Later, Ilsa confronts Sam and demands the letters, but he refuses to hand them over. She tries to shoot him, but can't bring herself to pull the trigger, confessing that she still loves him. The truth comes out: Laszlo was believed killed in a concentration camp, but as the Germans were on the brink of capturing Paris, Ilsa learned that Laszlo was still alive; hence her wordless break-up with Rick, she left to tend to an ill Laszlo. Rick's bitterness towards Ilsa fades, and he agrees to help, making her believe that she will stay in Casablanca with Rick when Laszlo leaves for America.
Rick, as everyone knows, has other ideas, and his future does not involve a permanent reconciliation with Ilsa.
There's really not much else I can add. Of course, this one is highly, highly, highly recommended.
* Often mistaken for the simpler "Play it again, Sam".
The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon.
1941 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane
Director: John Huston
Available from Amazon as a three-disc special edition, which is also part of the second Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection.
This will be a special "Warner Night at the Movies" edition, which is an option available on the DVD. Had you gone to see The Maltese Falcon back in '41, this all would've awaited you at the theater:
* A trailer for Sergeant York.
* A very brief Newsreel.
* The Gay Parisian (short), directed by Jean Negulesco. Basically, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dance to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It's in Technicolor, so it looks great, but it really doesn't go anywhere. Pass on it, even if it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
* Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, directed by Friz Freleng, 1941. Bugs Bunny is hunted by a pint-sized Hiawatha in between trying to read Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. One of the earliest cartoons starring Bugs, and the first directed by Freleng.
* Meet John Doughboy, directed by Robert Clampett, 1941. Porky Pig hosts a parody of a newsreel with an armed forces theme, complete with caricatures of Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. This one is also available on the sixth and final Looney Tunes Golden Collection.
* And of course, the main feature...
John Huston's directorial debut is a screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, and it received three Academy Award nominations. It also helped turned Humphrey Bogart into a major star.
Bogart, as everyone knows, is detective Sam Spade, a man with his own personal code of honor. One day, a Miss Ruth Wonderly (Astor) breezes into the office Spade shares with his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), and offers them a healthy incentive to protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. Archer takes the offer, simply because he saw the woman first. Later that evening, he and Thursby are shot to death. After some confusion about Spade's possible involvement in the murders (a motive that he might be attracted to Archer's wife Iva, played by Gladys George), the detective meets Wonderly again, but she's now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Brigid explains that Thursby was her partner, and he may have shot Archer, but she doesn't know who offed Thursby.
Spade also meets the effeminate Joel Cairo (Lorre), and a criminal named Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet), and everyone involved is looking for a 12 inch high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Spade is offered small fortunes by Cairo and Gutman to find the treasure, but they are not above committing violent crimes to attain the bird themselves. As usual, many things are not what they seem, or appear to be.
Highly, highly recommended movie.
1941 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLane
Director: John Huston
Available from Amazon as a three-disc special edition, which is also part of the second Humphrey Bogart Signature Collection.
This will be a special "Warner Night at the Movies" edition, which is an option available on the DVD. Had you gone to see The Maltese Falcon back in '41, this all would've awaited you at the theater:
* A trailer for Sergeant York.
* A very brief Newsreel.
* The Gay Parisian (short), directed by Jean Negulesco. Basically, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dance to the music of Jacques Offenbach. It's in Technicolor, so it looks great, but it really doesn't go anywhere. Pass on it, even if it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
* Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt, directed by Friz Freleng, 1941. Bugs Bunny is hunted by a pint-sized Hiawatha in between trying to read Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. One of the earliest cartoons starring Bugs, and the first directed by Freleng.
* Meet John Doughboy, directed by Robert Clampett, 1941. Porky Pig hosts a parody of a newsreel with an armed forces theme, complete with caricatures of Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson. This one is also available on the sixth and final Looney Tunes Golden Collection.
* And of course, the main feature...
John Huston's directorial debut is a screen adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, and it received three Academy Award nominations. It also helped turned Humphrey Bogart into a major star.
Bogart, as everyone knows, is detective Sam Spade, a man with his own personal code of honor. One day, a Miss Ruth Wonderly (Astor) breezes into the office Spade shares with his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan), and offers them a healthy incentive to protect her from someone named Floyd Thursby. Archer takes the offer, simply because he saw the woman first. Later that evening, he and Thursby are shot to death. After some confusion about Spade's possible involvement in the murders (a motive that he might be attracted to Archer's wife Iva, played by Gladys George), the detective meets Wonderly again, but she's now calling herself Brigid O'Shaughnessy. Brigid explains that Thursby was her partner, and he may have shot Archer, but she doesn't know who offed Thursby.
Spade also meets the effeminate Joel Cairo (Lorre), and a criminal named Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet), and everyone involved is looking for a 12 inch high, jewel-encrusted statuette in the shape of a falcon. Spade is offered small fortunes by Cairo and Gutman to find the treasure, but they are not above committing violent crimes to attain the bird themselves. As usual, many things are not what they seem, or appear to be.
Highly, highly recommended movie.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Apartment
The Apartment.
1960 The Mirisch Corporation & United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Edie Adams
Director: Billy Wilder
Buy The Apartment Collectors' Edition from Amazon.
The Apartment was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Billy Wilder.
C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) works for a Manhattan-based insurance company with the less than ideal home life, as four different company managers take turns commandeering his apartment (on West 67th Street) for various extramarital trysts. Baxter is obviously unhappy with this arrangement, but he's unwilling to challenge it directly, as his supervisors are returning the favor with glowing reviews of his work, which leads to a big promotion later on. His neighbors assume that Baxter is a lothario who brings home a new woman every evening to get them drunk, which he does nothing to disprove.
Baxter is also trying to catch the eye of the elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (MacLaine). After his promotion, he finally asks Fran to a Broadway show, which she accepts...and stands him up. When Baxter returns home, he finds Fran dressed in his bed, having overdosed on sleeping pills. Before the promotion, Baxter had also allowed his company's personnel director Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray) to use his place, and he was present the night Baxter was away at the show. Fran reveals that he had been involved with Sheldrake the previous summer, but it ended when his wife returned from a vacation. She still caved into his promises later that fall, but attempted suicide after Sheldrake offered her money instead of a Christmas gift.
After Fran recovers, and Sheldrake's marriage finally collapses thanks to a tattletale secretary who also happens to be a former lover, Baxter finally takes a stand against his superiors taking advantage of him and using his quarters for their affairs. Baxter quits the firm, and Fran ditches Sheldrake on New Year's Eve, having realized who truly cares for her. They spend the big holiday playing gin rummy.
Highly, highly recommended. Now, shut up and deal!
1960 The Mirisch Corporation & United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Edie Adams
Director: Billy Wilder
Buy The Apartment Collectors' Edition from Amazon.
The Apartment was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture, and Best Director for Billy Wilder.
C.C. Baxter (Lemmon) works for a Manhattan-based insurance company with the less than ideal home life, as four different company managers take turns commandeering his apartment (on West 67th Street) for various extramarital trysts. Baxter is obviously unhappy with this arrangement, but he's unwilling to challenge it directly, as his supervisors are returning the favor with glowing reviews of his work, which leads to a big promotion later on. His neighbors assume that Baxter is a lothario who brings home a new woman every evening to get them drunk, which he does nothing to disprove.
Baxter is also trying to catch the eye of the elevator operator, Fran Kubelik (MacLaine). After his promotion, he finally asks Fran to a Broadway show, which she accepts...and stands him up. When Baxter returns home, he finds Fran dressed in his bed, having overdosed on sleeping pills. Before the promotion, Baxter had also allowed his company's personnel director Mr. Sheldrake (MacMurray) to use his place, and he was present the night Baxter was away at the show. Fran reveals that he had been involved with Sheldrake the previous summer, but it ended when his wife returned from a vacation. She still caved into his promises later that fall, but attempted suicide after Sheldrake offered her money instead of a Christmas gift.
After Fran recovers, and Sheldrake's marriage finally collapses thanks to a tattletale secretary who also happens to be a former lover, Baxter finally takes a stand against his superiors taking advantage of him and using his quarters for their affairs. Baxter quits the firm, and Fran ditches Sheldrake on New Year's Eve, having realized who truly cares for her. They spend the big holiday playing gin rummy.
Highly, highly recommended. Now, shut up and deal!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Manhattan
Manhattan.
1979 United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Anne Byrne, Michael O'Donoghue, Wallace Shawn
Director: Woody Allen
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of The Woody Allen Collection, Set 1.
This is Woody Allen's love letter to his hometown, as well as George Gershwin's music. He hated the finished product, and offered to make a movie for free if United Artists never released it. The studio obviously did not keep the film shelved like the director wanted.
Allen is Isaac Davis, a former TV writer who has been divorced twice, and his current project is writing a book about how much he loves New York City. He's also dating a 17-year-old high school girl named Tracy (Hemingway) who he still feels is too young for him, which is why he won't commit. His best friend Yale (Murphy) is married to Emily (Byrne), but he's still shagging Mary Wilkie (Keaton) on the side, and her ex-husband Jeremiah (Shawn) is also in the picture. Also, Isaac's lesbian ex-wife Jill (Streep) is writing a tell-all book about their relationship.
Isaac and Mary, after initially having a bad first meeting, fall in love, complete with the iconic scene with the bridge in the background. Isaac still continues to see Tracy, but he does encourage her to take an educational opportunity in Europe. Things change when Yale dumps Mary, unwilling to end his marriage to Emily, and suggests that Isaac ask Mary out, which he does, and he breaks it off with Tracy, which devastates her.
Things don't stay this way for long, as Yale finally splits with Emily to resume his relationship with Mary. Emily might have triggered this by reading out loud portions of Jill's book about her marriage to Isaac during a double date. Isaac tries confronting Yale about what happened, but after Yale says he met Mary first, Issac tells Emily that Yale was having extra-marital affairs. Emily simply believes that Isaac introduced Mary to Yale.
Isaac tries to catch Tracy before she leaves for England to rekindle that romance, but the plans are already made, and she simply tells him that Isaac needs to have a little more faith in people.
Highly, highly recommended film.
1979 United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Anne Byrne, Michael O'Donoghue, Wallace Shawn
Director: Woody Allen
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of The Woody Allen Collection, Set 1.
This is Woody Allen's love letter to his hometown, as well as George Gershwin's music. He hated the finished product, and offered to make a movie for free if United Artists never released it. The studio obviously did not keep the film shelved like the director wanted.
Allen is Isaac Davis, a former TV writer who has been divorced twice, and his current project is writing a book about how much he loves New York City. He's also dating a 17-year-old high school girl named Tracy (Hemingway) who he still feels is too young for him, which is why he won't commit. His best friend Yale (Murphy) is married to Emily (Byrne), but he's still shagging Mary Wilkie (Keaton) on the side, and her ex-husband Jeremiah (Shawn) is also in the picture. Also, Isaac's lesbian ex-wife Jill (Streep) is writing a tell-all book about their relationship.
Isaac and Mary, after initially having a bad first meeting, fall in love, complete with the iconic scene with the bridge in the background. Isaac still continues to see Tracy, but he does encourage her to take an educational opportunity in Europe. Things change when Yale dumps Mary, unwilling to end his marriage to Emily, and suggests that Isaac ask Mary out, which he does, and he breaks it off with Tracy, which devastates her.
Things don't stay this way for long, as Yale finally splits with Emily to resume his relationship with Mary. Emily might have triggered this by reading out loud portions of Jill's book about her marriage to Isaac during a double date. Isaac tries confronting Yale about what happened, but after Yale says he met Mary first, Issac tells Emily that Yale was having extra-marital affairs. Emily simply believes that Isaac introduced Mary to Yale.
Isaac tries to catch Tracy before she leaves for England to rekindle that romance, but the plans are already made, and she simply tells him that Isaac needs to have a little more faith in people.
Highly, highly recommended film.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz. 1939 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick, Terry the Dog (as Toto)
Directors: Victor Fleming, Mervyn LeRoy, Richard Thorpe, King Vidor (last three uncredited)
A 70th Anniversary Collector's Edition will be released on September 29, 2009. All other releases on DVD are currently out of print.
What else can I say about the beloved film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that hasn't already been said before?
Since I really don't need to summarize the plot of the movie, I can just go ahead and say that it's highly, highly, highly recommended, and everyone needs to see this one at least five times during their life. If you haven't seen it by now, well, we can't do nothin' for ya, man.
Maybe next time, I can try this one out to see if it really works...
Starring: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan, Charles Grapewin, Clara Blandick, Terry the Dog (as Toto)
Directors: Victor Fleming, Mervyn LeRoy, Richard Thorpe, King Vidor (last three uncredited)
A 70th Anniversary Collector's Edition will be released on September 29, 2009. All other releases on DVD are currently out of print.
What else can I say about the beloved film adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that hasn't already been said before?
Since I really don't need to summarize the plot of the movie, I can just go ahead and say that it's highly, highly, highly recommended, and everyone needs to see this one at least five times during their life. If you haven't seen it by now, well, we can't do nothin' for ya, man.
Maybe next time, I can try this one out to see if it really works...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Cool Hand Luke
Cool Hand Luke. 1967 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio, Robert Drivas, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet
Also Starring: Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Buy the deluxe edition of Cool Hand Luke at Amazon.
"What we've got here is failure to communicate", number 11 on the American Film Institute's list of the one hundred most memorable movie lines.
Paul Newman is Luke Jackson, sent to a prison chain gang after he is arrested for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. Despite the best efforts of the Captain (Martin) to "get their minds right", Luke shows that he isn't about to kowtow to just anyone, which slowly wins over the other prisoners, even Dragline (Kennedy, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role), who initially despises the newcomer. Among his other talents, Luke is decent at poker, and he devises methods for the other men to get their road work done in half the time, earning them an afternoon off.
After learning about his mother's death, Luke escapes, and when he is caught, he simply escapes again. During his longest time away from the camp, Luke mails the prisoners a magazine that has a picture of him with two beautiful women, which is faked, but still impresses the other inmates.
Soon enough, the people in charge of the prison start to break Luke's will, but he still makes a last bid for freedom with Dragline when the chance arrives to steal a guard's truck. Late at night, they are both tracked down at a church. Dragline made a deal with the feds saying they won't be hurt if they surrender peacefully, but Luke dismisses this, which gets him shot in the neck. After Dragline helps him outside, Luke is sent to the prison hospital, which is more than an hour away, despite his clear need for immediate medical attention. The film ends with Dragline and company reminiscing about Luke during another hot day in the fields.
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J.D. Cannon, Lou Antonio, Robert Drivas, Strother Martin, Jo Van Fleet
Also Starring: Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, Harry Dean Stanton, Joe Don Baker
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Buy the deluxe edition of Cool Hand Luke at Amazon.
"What we've got here is failure to communicate", number 11 on the American Film Institute's list of the one hundred most memorable movie lines.
Paul Newman is Luke Jackson, sent to a prison chain gang after he is arrested for drunkenly decapitating parking meters. Despite the best efforts of the Captain (Martin) to "get their minds right", Luke shows that he isn't about to kowtow to just anyone, which slowly wins over the other prisoners, even Dragline (Kennedy, who won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role), who initially despises the newcomer. Among his other talents, Luke is decent at poker, and he devises methods for the other men to get their road work done in half the time, earning them an afternoon off.
After learning about his mother's death, Luke escapes, and when he is caught, he simply escapes again. During his longest time away from the camp, Luke mails the prisoners a magazine that has a picture of him with two beautiful women, which is faked, but still impresses the other inmates.
Soon enough, the people in charge of the prison start to break Luke's will, but he still makes a last bid for freedom with Dragline when the chance arrives to steal a guard's truck. Late at night, they are both tracked down at a church. Dragline made a deal with the feds saying they won't be hurt if they surrender peacefully, but Luke dismisses this, which gets him shot in the neck. After Dragline helps him outside, Luke is sent to the prison hospital, which is more than an hour away, despite his clear need for immediate medical attention. The film ends with Dragline and company reminiscing about Luke during another hot day in the fields.
Highly, highly, highly recommended film.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath. 1941 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Shirley Mills, John Qualen, Eddie Quillan
Director: John Ford
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, a 'Ford at Fox Collection' single DVD, or as part of the Ford at Fox Collection: The Essential John Ford box set.
The film version of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. John Ford and executive producer Darryl F. Zanuck were both considered politically conservative, and the book contained left-wing political views, particularly the ending, and the choices of Ford and Zanuck to make the film was a surprise to some critics.
Tom Joad (Fonda) has been paroled from prison after four years for manslaughter, and he's on his way back to the Joad family farm in Oklahoma. Before getting there, Tom meets an old family friend, Casey (Carradine), a former preacher warning him about dust storms, crop failures, and advances in agricultural methods have ruined Oklahoma's once prosperous farm lands. When Tom gets home, he finds that his family is making plans to head west to California in search of employment since their farm has been foreclosed by the bank.
Following a long trek down Route 66, where Grampa dies, and later, another migrant warns them that California isn't as great as it sounds, the Joads make it to the Golden State, and do not last long in the first two migrant camps. Casey ends up murdered by a guard from the second camp at a secret meeting held by striking migrants unhappy with high food prices at the local store. Tom accidentally kills the guard who killed Casey, but suffers a wound on his face, which would make identifying him too easy. The Joads hide Tom long enough to leave the second camp, and they end up at a legitimate one run by the Department of Agriculture. Tom becomes personally idealized by his experiences, and plans to carry on Casey's mission in the world and fight for social reform. He must leave his family behind to accomplish this mission. The rest of the Joads move on from this camp, but realize that they're not going to be defeated by anything else in the future.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine, Shirley Mills, John Qualen, Eddie Quillan
Director: John Ford
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, a 'Ford at Fox Collection' single DVD, or as part of the Ford at Fox Collection: The Essential John Ford box set.
The film version of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. John Ford and executive producer Darryl F. Zanuck were both considered politically conservative, and the book contained left-wing political views, particularly the ending, and the choices of Ford and Zanuck to make the film was a surprise to some critics.
Tom Joad (Fonda) has been paroled from prison after four years for manslaughter, and he's on his way back to the Joad family farm in Oklahoma. Before getting there, Tom meets an old family friend, Casey (Carradine), a former preacher warning him about dust storms, crop failures, and advances in agricultural methods have ruined Oklahoma's once prosperous farm lands. When Tom gets home, he finds that his family is making plans to head west to California in search of employment since their farm has been foreclosed by the bank.
Following a long trek down Route 66, where Grampa dies, and later, another migrant warns them that California isn't as great as it sounds, the Joads make it to the Golden State, and do not last long in the first two migrant camps. Casey ends up murdered by a guard from the second camp at a secret meeting held by striking migrants unhappy with high food prices at the local store. Tom accidentally kills the guard who killed Casey, but suffers a wound on his face, which would make identifying him too easy. The Joads hide Tom long enough to leave the second camp, and they end up at a legitimate one run by the Department of Agriculture. Tom becomes personally idealized by his experiences, and plans to carry on Casey's mission in the world and fight for social reform. He must leave his family behind to accomplish this mission. The rest of the Joads move on from this camp, but realize that they're not going to be defeated by anything else in the future.
Recommended movie.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Star Wars
Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope).
1977 20th Century Fox & Lucasfilm Ltd.
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Denis Lawson, James Earl Jones (voice only)
Director: George Lucas
Available from Amazon.
Note: I will be watching the original 1977 theatrical release, which was included as a bonus disc when the original trilogy was re-released to DVD in 2006. This was how everyone saw Star Wars back in the day, presumably as nature intended, before George Lucas decided he wasn't quite done with the finished film. In this cut, James Earl Jones did not receive screen credit, and the DVD transfer was taken from the 1993 laserdisc remix, so it isn't perfect, but hey, it's servicable.
You know the story by now: there's a civil war going on in the galaxy, and spies for the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans for something called the "Death Star", a space station capable of destroying a planet. Princess Leia (Fisher) has the plans, and when her ship is captured, she downloads them along with a holographic recording onto a droid known as R2-D2, and sends it and a fellow droid called C-3PO (Daniels) on an escape pod that lands on Tatooine (and its two suns in the sunset). After being found by Jawa traders, the droids are sold to a farmer named Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker (Hamill). Luke accidentally activates the recording while cleaning R2-D2, and finds that she's requesting help from Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guinness).
Before long, Luke and the droids encounter Obi-Wan, and he asks Luke to accompany him back to Alderaan. Luke agrees only after he finds that his aunt and uncle were killed by Imperial stormtroopers. Before Luke decides, Obi-Wan tells him about the "force", and his past days as a Jedi Knight as well as his association with Luke's father, who he says he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader (HA HA!) Pretty soon, Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids are enroute to Alderaan, with the help of Han Solo (Ford) and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca (Mayhew), aboard the Millenium Falcon.
It doesn't take too long for Luke to find himself in the middle of conflict between the Rebels and the Galactic Empire, having to rescue a captive Leia, and helping the Rebels discover a weak spot within the Death Star to blow it to kingdom come, which would only temporarily derail Darth Vader's (Prowse & Jones) plans. There's two more sequels to go, folks.
Highly, highly, highly recommended, of course, and you wouldn't have it any other way. Episodes V and VI will be watched and reviewed Tuesday evening.
1977 20th Century Fox & Lucasfilm Ltd.
Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Peter Cushing, David Prowse, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Denis Lawson, James Earl Jones (voice only)
Director: George Lucas
Available from Amazon.
Note: I will be watching the original 1977 theatrical release, which was included as a bonus disc when the original trilogy was re-released to DVD in 2006. This was how everyone saw Star Wars back in the day, presumably as nature intended, before George Lucas decided he wasn't quite done with the finished film. In this cut, James Earl Jones did not receive screen credit, and the DVD transfer was taken from the 1993 laserdisc remix, so it isn't perfect, but hey, it's servicable.
You know the story by now: there's a civil war going on in the galaxy, and spies for the Rebel Alliance have stolen plans for something called the "Death Star", a space station capable of destroying a planet. Princess Leia (Fisher) has the plans, and when her ship is captured, she downloads them along with a holographic recording onto a droid known as R2-D2, and sends it and a fellow droid called C-3PO (Daniels) on an escape pod that lands on Tatooine (and its two suns in the sunset). After being found by Jawa traders, the droids are sold to a farmer named Owen Lars and his nephew Luke Skywalker (Hamill). Luke accidentally activates the recording while cleaning R2-D2, and finds that she's requesting help from Obi-Wan Kenobi (Guinness).
Before long, Luke and the droids encounter Obi-Wan, and he asks Luke to accompany him back to Alderaan. Luke agrees only after he finds that his aunt and uncle were killed by Imperial stormtroopers. Before Luke decides, Obi-Wan tells him about the "force", and his past days as a Jedi Knight as well as his association with Luke's father, who he says he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader (HA HA!) Pretty soon, Luke, Obi-Wan and the droids are enroute to Alderaan, with the help of Han Solo (Ford) and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca (Mayhew), aboard the Millenium Falcon.
It doesn't take too long for Luke to find himself in the middle of conflict between the Rebels and the Galactic Empire, having to rescue a captive Leia, and helping the Rebels discover a weak spot within the Death Star to blow it to kingdom come, which would only temporarily derail Darth Vader's (Prowse & Jones) plans. There's two more sequels to go, folks.
Highly, highly, highly recommended, of course, and you wouldn't have it any other way. Episodes V and VI will be watched and reviewed Tuesday evening.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tootsie
Tootsie. 1982 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, Geena Davis
Director: Sydney Pollack
Available from Amazon (25th Anniversary Edition).
A movie with a positive message, and that message is, it's perfectly acceptable for a desperate man to dress as a woman to get what he/she wants.
Dustin Hoffman is Michael Dorsey, a respected but perfectionist actor on the brink of forty. At this point in his career, nobody anywhere wants to hire him because he is so difficult to work with, or he's either too old, or too young for a part. He hears from his friend Sandy Lester (Garr) of a role on a soap opera. After an argument with his agent George Fields (Pollack) that drives home the fact that he's too much of a pain to work with, Michael comes up with a plan. Entrusting only Fields, and his writer roommate Jeff Slater (Murray), Michael becomes 'Dorothy Michaels', the feisty "actress" who quickly becomes the newest cast member of the soap Southwest General.
Michael thinks this charade is only a temporary gig to pay the bills, but as Dorothy, he becomes a sensation, signed to a long-term contract, and later, he starts appearing on magazine covers.
There are other problems to deal with for Michael other than being exposed, notably his strong attraction to a co-star, Julie Nichols (Lange, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress). Julie is in an unhealthy relationship with the show's director, the amoral and sexist Ron Carlisle (Coleman), who is just a miserable sonuvagun (Michael discovers he has a lot in common with the director when it comes to women). Michael, as Dorothy, finds himself being pursued by Julie's widowed father Les (Durning), who even proposes!
It's up to Michael to find a creative way to get out of the complex situation he's gotten into, and he does it beautifully during a live taping, although Julie isn't too thrilled with the revelation...for the moment.
Highly, highly, highly recommended.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, Geena Davis
Director: Sydney Pollack
Available from Amazon (25th Anniversary Edition).
A movie with a positive message, and that message is, it's perfectly acceptable for a desperate man to dress as a woman to get what he/she wants.
Dustin Hoffman is Michael Dorsey, a respected but perfectionist actor on the brink of forty. At this point in his career, nobody anywhere wants to hire him because he is so difficult to work with, or he's either too old, or too young for a part. He hears from his friend Sandy Lester (Garr) of a role on a soap opera. After an argument with his agent George Fields (Pollack) that drives home the fact that he's too much of a pain to work with, Michael comes up with a plan. Entrusting only Fields, and his writer roommate Jeff Slater (Murray), Michael becomes 'Dorothy Michaels', the feisty "actress" who quickly becomes the newest cast member of the soap Southwest General.
Michael thinks this charade is only a temporary gig to pay the bills, but as Dorothy, he becomes a sensation, signed to a long-term contract, and later, he starts appearing on magazine covers.
There are other problems to deal with for Michael other than being exposed, notably his strong attraction to a co-star, Julie Nichols (Lange, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress). Julie is in an unhealthy relationship with the show's director, the amoral and sexist Ron Carlisle (Coleman), who is just a miserable sonuvagun (Michael discovers he has a lot in common with the director when it comes to women). Michael, as Dorothy, finds himself being pursued by Julie's widowed father Les (Durning), who even proposes!
It's up to Michael to find a creative way to get out of the complex situation he's gotten into, and he does it beautifully during a live taping, although Julie isn't too thrilled with the revelation...for the moment.
Highly, highly, highly recommended.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
The Thin Man
The Thin Man. 1934 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Porter Hall, Cesar Romero, Natalie Moorhead, Edward Ellis
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Available from Amazon as a single DVD (in a keepcase, we must note), or as part of the Complete Thin Man Collection with six other titles.
The film saga of Nick and Nora Charles, characters created by writer Dashell Hammett, begins right here, which saw six total films made between 1934 and 1947, a long running radio show called The Adventures of the Thin Man, and a television program featuring Peter Lawford that ran on NBC for two seasons. By the way, the title "Thin Man" does not refer to Nick Charles, who was actually overweight in Hammett's novel, but he was still played on film by the trim William Powell.
Here, Nick Charles is recently retired and fond of his martinis, and he and his wife Nora (Loy) are trying to ease into their private lives when Nick is prompted back into service by the disappearance of his friend Clyde Wynant (Ellis), who vanished just after a former girlfriend (Moorhead) was found dead. Clyde, the "real" Thin Man, becomes the prime suspect, but his daughter Dorothy (O'Sullivan) can't believe he really did it, so she asks Nick to take the case, with help from Nora. The murderer's true identity is revealed at a dinner party between cocktails and the main course.
The Thin Man was intended to be a 'B' movie, and MGM made it for relatively cheap in less than two weeks. Regardless, a classic movie and huge box office hit was born. Highly recommended movie.
Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Porter Hall, Cesar Romero, Natalie Moorhead, Edward Ellis
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Available from Amazon as a single DVD (in a keepcase, we must note), or as part of the Complete Thin Man Collection with six other titles.
The film saga of Nick and Nora Charles, characters created by writer Dashell Hammett, begins right here, which saw six total films made between 1934 and 1947, a long running radio show called The Adventures of the Thin Man, and a television program featuring Peter Lawford that ran on NBC for two seasons. By the way, the title "Thin Man" does not refer to Nick Charles, who was actually overweight in Hammett's novel, but he was still played on film by the trim William Powell.
Here, Nick Charles is recently retired and fond of his martinis, and he and his wife Nora (Loy) are trying to ease into their private lives when Nick is prompted back into service by the disappearance of his friend Clyde Wynant (Ellis), who vanished just after a former girlfriend (Moorhead) was found dead. Clyde, the "real" Thin Man, becomes the prime suspect, but his daughter Dorothy (O'Sullivan) can't believe he really did it, so she asks Nick to take the case, with help from Nora. The murderer's true identity is revealed at a dinner party between cocktails and the main course.
The Thin Man was intended to be a 'B' movie, and MGM made it for relatively cheap in less than two weeks. Regardless, a classic movie and huge box office hit was born. Highly recommended movie.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane.
1941 RKO Radio Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Ray Collins
Director: Orson Welles
Buy Citizen Kane from Amazon.
Orson Welles directed a fictionalized account of the life of William Randolph Hearst with elements of his own past worked into the film. Many people consider this to be one of the greatest movies ever made, if not the greatest movie. Tonight is the first time I've seen it, so I'll be able to judge for myself soon enough.
The media magnate Charles Foster Kane (Welles) has just died on his enormous estate Xanadu, and his last word was "Rosebud". From there, a newsreel obituary reveals details from Kane's remarkable life, going from poverty in his childhood to becoming one of the world's richest men by building an empire of newspapers from coast to coast before withdrawing into a life of seclusion at Xanadu. A reporter named Jerry Thompson (William Alland) is assigned by the newsreel's producer to find out about Kane's private life and personality, and yes, the meaning of his last word.
Thompson interviews scores of Kane's old acquaintances, and we are treated to many flashbacks of Kane's life since childhood, starting where he is forced to leave his mother to live with the deceased banker Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris) to escape his abusive father, and progressing up to Kane building his newspaper fortune while going through two failed marriages.
In the end, though, Thompson is unable to solve the Rosebud mystery, and concludes it will remain a mystery forever. But we happen to see some workers burning some of Kane's many belongings, including a sled that curiously has the name "Rosebud" painted on it. Perhaps Charles Foster Kane was happiest when he was a poor child, and the sled was his most prized possession after all these years.
Citizen Kane won just one Academy Award, for Best Original Screenplay (Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz), and it was nominated for eight more. It was the only Oscar that Orson Welles ever won, and it has been disputed that Welles actually did not contribute much, if any writing to the script (according to his contract with RKO, Welles would be the only one credited for screenwriter). The film was also the target of William Randolph Hearst, who was angered enough that he banned any mention of the movie in his newspapers. While Citizen Kane wasn't a smash hit in 1941, Hearst's efforts ultimately backfired in the long run, as any mention of his life and career will usually mention the movie's parallel to it. The movie's critical success in the United States began in the mid-1950s when it was revived for television; prior to this, it was released and largely forgotten during World War II.
Final thoughts? Highly, highly, highly recommended, and it's a film you must view at least once in your life.
1941 RKO Radio Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Ray Collins
Director: Orson Welles
Buy Citizen Kane from Amazon.
Orson Welles directed a fictionalized account of the life of William Randolph Hearst with elements of his own past worked into the film. Many people consider this to be one of the greatest movies ever made, if not the greatest movie. Tonight is the first time I've seen it, so I'll be able to judge for myself soon enough.
The media magnate Charles Foster Kane (Welles) has just died on his enormous estate Xanadu, and his last word was "Rosebud". From there, a newsreel obituary reveals details from Kane's remarkable life, going from poverty in his childhood to becoming one of the world's richest men by building an empire of newspapers from coast to coast before withdrawing into a life of seclusion at Xanadu. A reporter named Jerry Thompson (William Alland) is assigned by the newsreel's producer to find out about Kane's private life and personality, and yes, the meaning of his last word.
Thompson interviews scores of Kane's old acquaintances, and we are treated to many flashbacks of Kane's life since childhood, starting where he is forced to leave his mother to live with the deceased banker Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris) to escape his abusive father, and progressing up to Kane building his newspaper fortune while going through two failed marriages.
In the end, though, Thompson is unable to solve the Rosebud mystery, and concludes it will remain a mystery forever. But we happen to see some workers burning some of Kane's many belongings, including a sled that curiously has the name "Rosebud" painted on it. Perhaps Charles Foster Kane was happiest when he was a poor child, and the sled was his most prized possession after all these years.
Citizen Kane won just one Academy Award, for Best Original Screenplay (Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz), and it was nominated for eight more. It was the only Oscar that Orson Welles ever won, and it has been disputed that Welles actually did not contribute much, if any writing to the script (according to his contract with RKO, Welles would be the only one credited for screenwriter). The film was also the target of William Randolph Hearst, who was angered enough that he banned any mention of the movie in his newspapers. While Citizen Kane wasn't a smash hit in 1941, Hearst's efforts ultimately backfired in the long run, as any mention of his life and career will usually mention the movie's parallel to it. The movie's critical success in the United States began in the mid-1950s when it was revived for television; prior to this, it was released and largely forgotten during World War II.
Final thoughts? Highly, highly, highly recommended, and it's a film you must view at least once in your life.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Sweet Smell of Success
Sweet Smell of Success.
1957 Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions & United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Sam Levene
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Available from Amazon.
J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) is New York City's most influential newspaper columnist, and the press agent Sidney Falco (Curtis) wants very badly to get his clients mentioned in the column. Falco has been unable to fulfill his promise to break up the romance between Hunsecker's sister Susan (Harrison) and jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Milner), who the columnist disapproves of. He comes up with a plan to spread false rumors about Dallas being a dope smoking Communist in someone else's newspaper column, and then encourages J.J. to defend Steve in his own column, which would see the guitarist having to choose between his integrity and owing a favor to Hunsecker, who he can't stand. Falco's plan works, in a way: Susan breaks it off with Steve after he insults her brother, but only to protect him from J.J. The columnist still decides to leave nothing to chance, and against Falco's wishes, orders the agent to plant marijuana on Dallas, and have him arrested and roughed up by the corrupt police officer Harry Kello (Emile Meyer).
This plan works, but Falco and Hunsecker will eventually have to face their own consequences.
Sweet Smell of Success was based on Ernest Lehman's novelette, which appeared in a 1950 issue of Cosmopolitan, well before its days as a women's magazine. Lehman was originally slated to produce and direct the film adaptation after Hecht-Hill-Lancaster acquired the rights, but the producers instead selected Alexander Mackendrick, a British director who had recently began entertaining offers from Hollywood after his original employers, Ealing Studios, were purchased by the BBC in 1954, and he feared getting fired. The actual filming was an ordeal for Mackendrick, who found himself shooting script pages just one or two hours after they had been written by playwright Clifford Odets. Mackendrick also had to deal with shooting on location in New York at rush hour on its busiest streets, as well as the crowds of young Tony Curtis fans, who occasionally got past police barriers. "We knew where we were going vaguely, but that's all," he later said. Regardless of the difficulties in bringing Lehman's story to the screen, the finished product is a great, great film that was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1993.
Highly, highly, highly recommended.
1957 Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions & United Artists; distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Sam Levene
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Available from Amazon.
J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster) is New York City's most influential newspaper columnist, and the press agent Sidney Falco (Curtis) wants very badly to get his clients mentioned in the column. Falco has been unable to fulfill his promise to break up the romance between Hunsecker's sister Susan (Harrison) and jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (Milner), who the columnist disapproves of. He comes up with a plan to spread false rumors about Dallas being a dope smoking Communist in someone else's newspaper column, and then encourages J.J. to defend Steve in his own column, which would see the guitarist having to choose between his integrity and owing a favor to Hunsecker, who he can't stand. Falco's plan works, in a way: Susan breaks it off with Steve after he insults her brother, but only to protect him from J.J. The columnist still decides to leave nothing to chance, and against Falco's wishes, orders the agent to plant marijuana on Dallas, and have him arrested and roughed up by the corrupt police officer Harry Kello (Emile Meyer).
This plan works, but Falco and Hunsecker will eventually have to face their own consequences.
Sweet Smell of Success was based on Ernest Lehman's novelette, which appeared in a 1950 issue of Cosmopolitan, well before its days as a women's magazine. Lehman was originally slated to produce and direct the film adaptation after Hecht-Hill-Lancaster acquired the rights, but the producers instead selected Alexander Mackendrick, a British director who had recently began entertaining offers from Hollywood after his original employers, Ealing Studios, were purchased by the BBC in 1954, and he feared getting fired. The actual filming was an ordeal for Mackendrick, who found himself shooting script pages just one or two hours after they had been written by playwright Clifford Odets. Mackendrick also had to deal with shooting on location in New York at rush hour on its busiest streets, as well as the crowds of young Tony Curtis fans, who occasionally got past police barriers. "We knew where we were going vaguely, but that's all," he later said. Regardless of the difficulties in bringing Lehman's story to the screen, the finished product is a great, great film that was selected for inclusion in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1993.
Highly, highly, highly recommended.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Chinatown
Chinatown. 1974 Paramount Pictures.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Burt Young
Director: Roman Polanski
Available from Amazon (special collectors' edition).
Chinatown established Jack Nicholson as a true superstar in Hollywood, and it was also the last movie Roman Polanski directed in the United States before his arrest and conviction for statutory rape. The movie was part of a planned trilogy about corruption in the local government in Los Angeles. Nicholson himself directed the second part, The Two Jakes, which looked at the natural gas department in L.A., but its failure at the box office nixed plans for the third part, Cloverleaf, a movie about the development of the Los Angeles freeway system during the late 1940s.
The movie also won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (for Robert Towne), plus four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture: Drama for producer Robert Evans, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama for Nicholson.
J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Nicholson) is a detective specializing in "matrimonial work" hired by someone claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray (Ladd) to tail her "husband", Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes takes a picture of Hollis with a young blonde and assumes it's an open and shut case, but when the real Evelyn Mulwray (Dunaway) surfaces, the detective finds out that she never hired him in the first place. Hollis turns up dead, prompting Gittes to investigate further, running across a shady home for the elderly, corrupt L.A. bureaucrats, angry farmers upset at losing needed water to the city, and famously, a nostril-slicing attacker (Polanski in a cameo). By the time Gittes confronts water baron Noah Cross (Huston), who is also Evelyn's father and a former business partner of Hollis, Jake thinks he has the case solved, but nothing doing. Gittes is also stunned to learn about the true relationship between Evelyn, her father, and the young blonde seen with Hollis earlier.
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Highly, highly recommended.
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Burt Young
Director: Roman Polanski
Available from Amazon (special collectors' edition).
Chinatown established Jack Nicholson as a true superstar in Hollywood, and it was also the last movie Roman Polanski directed in the United States before his arrest and conviction for statutory rape. The movie was part of a planned trilogy about corruption in the local government in Los Angeles. Nicholson himself directed the second part, The Two Jakes, which looked at the natural gas department in L.A., but its failure at the box office nixed plans for the third part, Cloverleaf, a movie about the development of the Los Angeles freeway system during the late 1940s.
The movie also won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (for Robert Towne), plus four Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture: Drama for producer Robert Evans, Best Director, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama for Nicholson.
J.J. "Jake" Gittes (Nicholson) is a detective specializing in "matrimonial work" hired by someone claiming to be Evelyn Mulwray (Ladd) to tail her "husband", Water Department engineer Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling). Gittes takes a picture of Hollis with a young blonde and assumes it's an open and shut case, but when the real Evelyn Mulwray (Dunaway) surfaces, the detective finds out that she never hired him in the first place. Hollis turns up dead, prompting Gittes to investigate further, running across a shady home for the elderly, corrupt L.A. bureaucrats, angry farmers upset at losing needed water to the city, and famously, a nostril-slicing attacker (Polanski in a cameo). By the time Gittes confronts water baron Noah Cross (Huston), who is also Evelyn's father and a former business partner of Hollis, Jake thinks he has the case solved, but nothing doing. Gittes is also stunned to learn about the true relationship between Evelyn, her father, and the young blonde seen with Hollis earlier.
"Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown." Highly, highly recommended.
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Night of the Hunter
The Night of the Hunter.
1955 United Artists, released to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce, Lillian Gash, Peter Graves
Director: Charles Laughton
Amazon.com listing (discontinued).
Ben Harper takes part in a robbery where two men are killed. Before being caught, which leads to his sentence of death by hanging, Harper hides the money, and only informs his children John and Pearl (Chapin & Bruce) where the loot is hidden.
Harry Powell (Mitchum) is a serial killer and a self-appointed preacher with the words LOVE and HATE tattooed on his knuckles. Powell shares a cell with Harper and tries to get him to share the location of the money before he is executed, but the only clue Harper provides is a Biblical quote muttered during sleep: "And a child shall lead them".
After being released from prison, Powell seeks out, woos, and marries Harper's widow Willa (Winters), who is unaware of his motives, but is convinced that this marriage will lead to her salvation. Whenever the children are alone, Powell quizzes them over the location of the money, but they do not tell him. John is especially suspicious of his stepfather, and protective of Pearl. Once Willa overhears her new husband grilling the kids, she realizes the truth. That's also the night that Powell slits Willa's throat and dumps her body into a lake. He does find out the location of the stolen money, but the children beat him there first, taking it for themselves, and seeking refuge with Rachel Cooper (Gish). Rachel protects the children armed with a shotgun, but the confrontation never turns violent (she and Powell sing hymns throughout the night), and the would-be preacher is finally arrested.
The Night of the Hunter was one of the two films Charles Laughton directed, and its failure at the box office probably scared him off from directing anything else. However, thanks to the cinematographer Stanley Cortez, whoever did see it was probably impressed by his striking cinematography, which has been both praised and imitated for years afterwards. Highly, highly, highly recommended movie.
1955 United Artists, released to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Billy Chapin, Sally Jane Bruce, Lillian Gash, Peter Graves
Director: Charles Laughton
Amazon.com listing (discontinued).
Ben Harper takes part in a robbery where two men are killed. Before being caught, which leads to his sentence of death by hanging, Harper hides the money, and only informs his children John and Pearl (Chapin & Bruce) where the loot is hidden.
Harry Powell (Mitchum) is a serial killer and a self-appointed preacher with the words LOVE and HATE tattooed on his knuckles. Powell shares a cell with Harper and tries to get him to share the location of the money before he is executed, but the only clue Harper provides is a Biblical quote muttered during sleep: "And a child shall lead them".
After being released from prison, Powell seeks out, woos, and marries Harper's widow Willa (Winters), who is unaware of his motives, but is convinced that this marriage will lead to her salvation. Whenever the children are alone, Powell quizzes them over the location of the money, but they do not tell him. John is especially suspicious of his stepfather, and protective of Pearl. Once Willa overhears her new husband grilling the kids, she realizes the truth. That's also the night that Powell slits Willa's throat and dumps her body into a lake. He does find out the location of the stolen money, but the children beat him there first, taking it for themselves, and seeking refuge with Rachel Cooper (Gish). Rachel protects the children armed with a shotgun, but the confrontation never turns violent (she and Powell sing hymns throughout the night), and the would-be preacher is finally arrested.
The Night of the Hunter was one of the two films Charles Laughton directed, and its failure at the box office probably scared him off from directing anything else. However, thanks to the cinematographer Stanley Cortez, whoever did see it was probably impressed by his striking cinematography, which has been both praised and imitated for years afterwards. Highly, highly, highly recommended movie.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume 2 (Disc 4)
Purchase it from Amazon.
Looney Tunes All-Stars: On Stage and Screen:
Back Alley Oproar, directed by Friz Freleng, 1948 (Wiki).
Book Revue, directed by Robert Clampett, 1946 (Wiki).
A Corny Concerto, directed by Robert Clampett, 1943 (Wiki).
Have You Got Any Castles?, directed by Frank Tashlin, 1938 (Wiki).
Hollywood Steps Out, directed by Tex Avery, 1941 (Wiki).
I Love to Singa, directed by Tex Avery, 1936 (Wiki).
Katnip Kollege, directed by Cal Danton & Cal Howard, 1938 (Wiki).
The Hep Cat, directed by Robert Clampett, 1942 Wiki).
Three Little Bops, directed by Friz Freleng, 1957 (Wiki).
One Froggy Evening*, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Rhapsody Rabbit, directed by Friz Freleng, 1946 (Wiki).
Show Biz Bugs, directed by Friz Freleng, 1957 (Wiki).
Stage Door Cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, 1944 (Wiki).
What's Opera, Doc?*, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki.
You Ought to Be in Pictures, directed by Friz Freleng, 1940 (Wiki).
Bonus Features:
So Much for So Little, directed by Chuck Jones, 1949 (Wiki).
Orange Blossoms for Violet, directed by Friz Freleng & Chuck Jones, 1952.
* Selected for inclusion by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
Obviously, the presence here of One Froggy Evening and What's Opera, Doc? automatically warrants a rating of Highly Recommended, although I'm not sure exactly why Warner Bros. picked Michigan J. Frog from the former as their mascot for the defunct WB network. We should also mention I Love to Singa, which many South Park fans will recognize as the song Eric Cartman uncontrollably sings during the very first episode back in 1997.
This disc also includes two of my old favorites with a common theme: literary characters coming to life and horsing around in both Book Revue and Have You Got Any Castles?
Actually, there's not a single dud on this disc. Get it as soon as humanly possible if you haven't already.
Looney Tunes All-Stars: On Stage and Screen:
Back Alley Oproar, directed by Friz Freleng, 1948 (Wiki).
Book Revue, directed by Robert Clampett, 1946 (Wiki).
A Corny Concerto, directed by Robert Clampett, 1943 (Wiki).
Have You Got Any Castles?, directed by Frank Tashlin, 1938 (Wiki).
Hollywood Steps Out, directed by Tex Avery, 1941 (Wiki).
I Love to Singa, directed by Tex Avery, 1936 (Wiki).
Katnip Kollege, directed by Cal Danton & Cal Howard, 1938 (Wiki).
The Hep Cat, directed by Robert Clampett, 1942 Wiki).
Three Little Bops, directed by Friz Freleng, 1957 (Wiki).
One Froggy Evening*, directed by Chuck Jones, 1955 (Wiki).
Rhapsody Rabbit, directed by Friz Freleng, 1946 (Wiki).
Show Biz Bugs, directed by Friz Freleng, 1957 (Wiki).
Stage Door Cartoon, directed by Friz Freleng, 1944 (Wiki).
What's Opera, Doc?*, directed by Chuck Jones, 1957 (Wiki.
You Ought to Be in Pictures, directed by Friz Freleng, 1940 (Wiki).
Bonus Features:
So Much for So Little, directed by Chuck Jones, 1949 (Wiki).
Orange Blossoms for Violet, directed by Friz Freleng & Chuck Jones, 1952.
* Selected for inclusion by the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
Obviously, the presence here of One Froggy Evening and What's Opera, Doc? automatically warrants a rating of Highly Recommended, although I'm not sure exactly why Warner Bros. picked Michigan J. Frog from the former as their mascot for the defunct WB network. We should also mention I Love to Singa, which many South Park fans will recognize as the song Eric Cartman uncontrollably sings during the very first episode back in 1997.
This disc also includes two of my old favorites with a common theme: literary characters coming to life and horsing around in both Book Revue and Have You Got Any Castles?
Actually, there's not a single dud on this disc. Get it as soon as humanly possible if you haven't already.
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