Friday, August 21, 2009

My Week of Movie Watching

Attack! – Strong Robert Aldrich WWII flick from 1956. The film chronicles the tension between two soldiers: One heroic (Jack Palance), and one an opportunistic coward (Eddie Albert). The film was disavowed by the US military, and it’s easy to see why, based on how it ends. Buddy Ebsen is here as a soldier, and also Lee Marvin as a tough, but slightly shady colonel. Highly recommended.

Crossfire - Noirish police procedural from 1947, with Robert Young trying to trap the killer of a Jewish veteran. Crossfire was notable for touching on the topic of anti-Semetism, which hadn’t really been addressed. Despite the presence of Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan as the killer, I always remember Young’s ultra-cool cop in this one. He has a great monologue comparing the murder of the Jewish man to the long-ago murder of his Irish Catholic grandfather, and his method of trapping Ryan at the end is so clever and simple that I want to applaud. Also highly recommended.

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