Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
My Week of Movie Watching
The Petrified Forest – A quiet roadside diner is taken over by a bunch of murderous gangsters. This is mainly notable for being the film that launched Humphrey Bogart to stardom. Bogie had played the role of lead bad guy Duke Mantee on stage, and star Leslie Howard lobbied hard to have him on board when the play was made into a film. Apparently, Bogart modelled his dour villain on John Dillinger, and he’s easily the most memorable thing in this. The main engine of the film is the dynamic between Bogarts sullen resignation and the blowsy intellectualism of Howard's Alan Squire. Bette Davis is also here as a waitress who falls hard for Howard. PF has some interesting ideas, but falls a bit short for me due to some embarrassingly bad supporting players, including a dim football player, and an old drunk. Moderately interesting, but not quite recommendable.
Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) – Orson Welles lost control of this 1955 drama, and thus there was never a definitive version released. A reclusive billionaire (Welles) hires a small time con man and smuggler (Robert Arden) to investigate his past, in hopes of uncovering lost memories. Arkadin is dense and confusing, as Arden encounters one bizarre character after another (who always seem to end up dead), and although I sometimes was fuzzy on who I was watching, my attention never wavered. Welles pulled out on the stops on his visual presentation here, and that’s what makes the film worth a watch. Arkadin is kitted out in an outrageous beard, and usually shot in daunting close-ups and unsettling tilted shots, giving him a Mephisto-like presence. Not a perfect film, but an interesting one. Recommended.
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Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
My Week of Movie Watching
Jules and Jim – When I first saw François Truffaut’s great
love triangle many years ago, it didn’t really leave a mark on me. In
revisiting it again this week, I can finally appreciate its melancholy jumble
of emotions. The story is complicated, but it draws from a deep wellspring of love,
loyalty and sadness. Jules and Jim are great friends. Jules falls in love with
the free-spirited Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). They marry, but she feels stifled,
and begins an affair with Jim. Rather than lose her completely, Jules allows
the affair to flower, with tragic results. Truffaut is like a kid with a new
toy with this movie, and I was delighted by his exhilarating visual style. The
dialogue is rich and beautiful. Highly recommended.
Hands Over the City – Terrific political film from Francesco Rosi stars Rod Steiger as a corrupt Neapolitan politician out to line his pockets through a proposed housing development. The film often has the look and feel of a documentary, and Steiger is utterly brilliant as a man who is long accustomed to having the system make him rich. Carlo Fermariello has a meaty and important role as an idealistic political rival to Steiger. The films conclusion is bitterly cynical, but somehow perfect. Recommended.
Story of a Prostitute – I’ve only seen a couple of Seijin Suzuki’s films (Beauty of the Underworld and Gate of Flesh), but both of them have stuck with me. This story of a prostitute brought to a WWII Japanese army base will be no exception. The title character is subjected to brutality from the camp commandant, and decides to seduce his loyal orderly in order to punish him. The virginal orderly at first wants nothing to do with her, but the two gradually grow close. Like many Japanese films set during the war, SoaP has a lot to say about the army’s rigid adherence to codes, and the destructive consequences of this. Suzuki was a filmmaker who didn’t care much for soft edges. This one is big and bold, but does tend to go a bit over the top on occasion. Liked it, didn’t quite love it.
Hands Over the City – Terrific political film from Francesco Rosi stars Rod Steiger as a corrupt Neapolitan politician out to line his pockets through a proposed housing development. The film often has the look and feel of a documentary, and Steiger is utterly brilliant as a man who is long accustomed to having the system make him rich. Carlo Fermariello has a meaty and important role as an idealistic political rival to Steiger. The films conclusion is bitterly cynical, but somehow perfect. Recommended.
Story of a Prostitute – I’ve only seen a couple of Seijin Suzuki’s films (Beauty of the Underworld and Gate of Flesh), but both of them have stuck with me. This story of a prostitute brought to a WWII Japanese army base will be no exception. The title character is subjected to brutality from the camp commandant, and decides to seduce his loyal orderly in order to punish him. The virginal orderly at first wants nothing to do with her, but the two gradually grow close. Like many Japanese films set during the war, SoaP has a lot to say about the army’s rigid adherence to codes, and the destructive consequences of this. Suzuki was a filmmaker who didn’t care much for soft edges. This one is big and bold, but does tend to go a bit over the top on occasion. Liked it, didn’t quite love it.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
My Week of Movie Watching
Under Capricorn – Another one checked off my Hitchcock list. This one from 1949 stars Ingrid Bergman as a woman who is slowly being driven mad by a servant who’s in love with her husband (Joseph Cotten). That encapsulation is simplistic – There is a lot of other stuff going on, as well. Hitch apparently liked the story, but wasn’t fond of the finished product. To be honest, it’s a bit off the rails from traditional Hitchcockian fare. First off, it’s a costume drama (set in 19th century Australia). Hitch never made another one after this. Second, it is more a Gothic horror movie in the vein of Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte than a traditional suspense film. Still, I recommend it. The camerawork is beautiful, and the performances are uniformly good.
Witness For the Prosecution – If there’s one movie genre that I don’t care for, it’s the courtroom drama. If there were one courtroom drama that was an exception, it would be this Billy Wilder gem from 1957. Tyrone Power is on trial for the murder of a rich widow. Marlene Dietrich plays his wife, who seems to be acting kinda strangely. Charles Laughton plays Powers lawyer. Laughton is great as an ailing legal titan who gets drawn out of retirement. Something just doesn’t smell right in this case, and he is damn well going to get to the bottom of it. There are a couple of fiendish twists at the end that will likely have you slapping your forehead. An added note: Elsa Lanchester has one of her great scene-stealing roles as Laughton’s nurse. Recommended.
At Close Range – Terrific, under appreciated Noir from 1986 stars Sean Penn as a bored slacker youth who falls under the influence of his criminal father (Christopher Walken). This might just be my favorite Walken role. The man always oozes menace, but look how he handles this character – He’s warm and chummy to his son, but never completely loses that chilling edge. It’s a masterful performance. Highly recommended.
My Dinner with Andre – I knew the deal going in on this one - Two guys go for dinner and talk for two hours. Although that sounds as entertaining as watching someone shave, I took the plunge based on the rep the film has. It took me a while to get warmed up. Theatre director Andre Gregory does the bulk of the talking, and there were times I just wanted him to shut the hell up. It slowly drew me in, however, and the breadth of the conversation is kinda neat. I liked how Wallace Shawn’s character is content to soak up the talk at first, then gradually wades in.
Sweet Smell of Success – One of those films that I check out every 5 years or so. I’ve always loved the great slimy, symbiotic relationship between Burt Lancasters’ gossip columnist J.J. Hunsacker, and Tony Curtis’ toadie press agent Sidney Falco. The gist of SSoS is a plot hatched by Hunsacker to have Falco break up his beloved sisters relationship with a jazz guitarist, and how Hunsackers ego and hubris brings down his whole world. The dialogue by Clifford Odets is top shelf, as is James Wong Howes’ cinematography. If you haven’t seen this, by all means do.
The Deadly Companions – This mediocre Western from 1961 is notable mainly because it was Sam Peckinpah’s directoral debut. Brian Keith plays a Civil War vet who helps a widow Maureen O’Hara transport her young son’s body across apache territory for burial. They are accompanied by a couple of shady associates of Keiths. Keith is also driven to exact revenge on a man who tried to murder him, but the film doesn’t really develop any dramatic tension around this plot point until the conclusion, and then things just kind of peeter out. Not really recommended.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
My week of Movie Watching
Five Against the House – Interesting caper noir by Phil Karlson of Kansas City Confidential fame concerns a plan by 4 college buddies to rob a Reno casino. It starts out as a lark (They plan to give the money back!), but things go bad when their troubled buddy (Brian Keith) decides that he wants to keep the money after all. The plotline reminds a lot of Kubricks The Killing, and the script by Stirling Silliphant is first rate. Kim Novak also stars as a nightclub singer. Well worth a look.
Horrible Bosses – Some good laughs in this one, in particular from the 3 bosses in question – Kevin Spacey at his slimy best, Jennifer Aniston playing against type as a sexual predator, and especially Colin Farrell as a nasty cokehead with the world’s largest comb-over. I liked the way the characters are movie aware – When they cook up the idea to kill one another’s boss, one says “It’s like in that movie…Throw Momma from the Train”, which is of course a borrow from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Recommended.
Murder by Contract – Vince Edwards as a super-cool hit man, who is thrown for a loop when he finds he has been hired to whack a woman. There’s some stuff going on in the background, too. Edwards’ Claude seems to harbor a hatred of women, and his relationship with one of the other bad guys has some gay sub tones. The disc includes an interview with Martin Scorsese where he says that the Claude character was one of his influences for Travis in Taxi Driver. I am also thinking that Jean -Pierre Melville might have based a bit of Alain Delon’s character in Le Samurai on Claude. Recommended.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Monday, January 09, 2012
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Karel Riesz’ Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) is a testy, petulant, balled-up-fist of a movie. It’s portrayal of a young factory worker struggling to keep his life from sliding into a sea of boredom and ennui is one of the vanguard films of what was to become known as the British New Wave in the early sixties.
Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney) is a Nottingham lad who has two facets to his life. By day he labors at a bicycle factory – Nights and weekends, he’s at the pub. Albert has a definite edge to him, that’s plain to see. Watch his swagger when he hits the town in his stylish suits or the smug way he exhales cigarette smoke. He’s a likable rogue, and it’s easy to imagine women being drawn to him.
Brenda (Rachel Roberts) certainly is. She’s with him as the film opens, and if the fact that she’s married bothers either of them, it’s hard to tell. That’s the thing about the blue-collar world of SN&SM – The people are beaten down by life, and they don’t seem to give much thought to anything outside their own orbit. Arthur likes this woman, and is romantic with her, but one doesn’t get the sense that his investment in her runs very deep. For her part, Brenda gives no indication that she wants out of her marriage (to a co-worker of Arthurs) – It’s more like she just feels a bit more alive when she’s with this wild young man.
This was Albert Finneys’ first starring role, and he is electric as Arthur. The role calls for Seaton to be a charming cad, but also to be selfish and thoughtlessly cruel. That is a hard package for any actor to shoulder, but Finney pulls it off beautifully. Watch him as he woos the pretty young Doreen (Shirley Ann Field). He is almost insanely cheeky and confident as he pushes through her defenses, and by the time the conversation is done, he’s got a date with her.
The thing that elevates this film to masterpiece, however, is the world that Seaton occupies. This is working class England in 1960, and the film illustrates a country still trying to regain its footings after the devastation of World War II. Most of the guys in the factories and pubs would have been veterans, and they are realizing that the better England and better lives that they hoped to find after the war aren’t going to be there. The cinematography by the great Freddie Francis helps add shading to the feeling of societal malaise that pervades the film. Everything looks sooty and worn out.
That’s the life that Arthur is terrified of. He tries to live his life as a rebuke to all of this, and says so at every opportunity.
“That’s what laws are for. To be broken by blokes like us!”
“Think of number 1. Share and share alike’s no good.”
“I’m out for a good time – All the rest’s propoganda!”
Arthur talks tough, but it’s hard not to see that he’s an empty shell. The idea of marriage amuses him, and we already know that fidelity and loyalty are foreign to him. He lies to every single solitary person that he encounters in this film, and seems to have no guilt about it. For all his bluster, Arthur realizes that he is probably going to end up just like those poor blokes that he so despises.
The film seems to reach a turning point when Arthur finds out that Brenda is pregnant by him. His reaction is what we might expect – That she has to “Get rid of it”, and it’s in these exchanges between Arthur and Brenda that the true soul of SN&SM resides. Arthur is supportive and not completely unsympathetic to Brendas plight, but the thought of the baby fills him with dread. It’s an inconvenience.
For her part, Brenda is the films most tragic character. Send by Arthur to see his aunt about an abortion, she comes back with a pitiful tale about being told to “Sit in a hot bath and drink gin.” She has allowed herself to become close to an attractive but irresponsible playboy, made a mistake, and now finds herself abandoned by him. She also faces the prospect of going to her husband with the truth about her pregnancy. When she confides to Arthur that she is going to keep the baby and confess her infidelity to her husband, it’s a beautiful, brave scene.
Near the end of the film, there’s a line that Arthur throws out about his parents that seems heedlessly cruel and unfair. When his cousin remarks that they seem happy, Arthur shoots back “They’ve got a TV set and a pack of fags, but they’re both dead from the neck up.” - Meaning that they have fully surrendered and are just marking time until death. As harsh as that sounds it’s not really wrong for most of the people we see. When Arthur encounters Brenda’s husband near the end of the film, instead of anger and violence he gets sadness and resignation. The man doesn’t feel the need to vent on this punk who cuckolded him, and this amazes Arthur. He would have respected the man more if he had tried to fight him.
The final passage of SN&SM is quiet and reflective, and anticipates what Arthur has fought his whole life against. Arthur and Doreen walk to a grassy hillside overlooking rows of factory houses, and Arthur remarks that when he used to come up there when he was a kid, there were no buildings. As the couple talks about getting married, Arthur hurls a stone at one of the houses. Doreen admonishes him saying “That could be our house” and Arthur replies, “It won’t be the last one I throw” By now, Arthur is starting down the path to surrender himself, and he knows it. Just like the blackberries gave way to urban sprawl, his youth will ebb away, and he will be like the rest. Dead from the neck up.
IMDb
Amazon
Arthur Seaton (Albert Finney) is a Nottingham lad who has two facets to his life. By day he labors at a bicycle factory – Nights and weekends, he’s at the pub. Albert has a definite edge to him, that’s plain to see. Watch his swagger when he hits the town in his stylish suits or the smug way he exhales cigarette smoke. He’s a likable rogue, and it’s easy to imagine women being drawn to him.
Brenda (Rachel Roberts) certainly is. She’s with him as the film opens, and if the fact that she’s married bothers either of them, it’s hard to tell. That’s the thing about the blue-collar world of SN&SM – The people are beaten down by life, and they don’t seem to give much thought to anything outside their own orbit. Arthur likes this woman, and is romantic with her, but one doesn’t get the sense that his investment in her runs very deep. For her part, Brenda gives no indication that she wants out of her marriage (to a co-worker of Arthurs) – It’s more like she just feels a bit more alive when she’s with this wild young man.
This was Albert Finneys’ first starring role, and he is electric as Arthur. The role calls for Seaton to be a charming cad, but also to be selfish and thoughtlessly cruel. That is a hard package for any actor to shoulder, but Finney pulls it off beautifully. Watch him as he woos the pretty young Doreen (Shirley Ann Field). He is almost insanely cheeky and confident as he pushes through her defenses, and by the time the conversation is done, he’s got a date with her.
The thing that elevates this film to masterpiece, however, is the world that Seaton occupies. This is working class England in 1960, and the film illustrates a country still trying to regain its footings after the devastation of World War II. Most of the guys in the factories and pubs would have been veterans, and they are realizing that the better England and better lives that they hoped to find after the war aren’t going to be there. The cinematography by the great Freddie Francis helps add shading to the feeling of societal malaise that pervades the film. Everything looks sooty and worn out.
That’s the life that Arthur is terrified of. He tries to live his life as a rebuke to all of this, and says so at every opportunity.
“That’s what laws are for. To be broken by blokes like us!”
“Think of number 1. Share and share alike’s no good.”
“I’m out for a good time – All the rest’s propoganda!”
Arthur talks tough, but it’s hard not to see that he’s an empty shell. The idea of marriage amuses him, and we already know that fidelity and loyalty are foreign to him. He lies to every single solitary person that he encounters in this film, and seems to have no guilt about it. For all his bluster, Arthur realizes that he is probably going to end up just like those poor blokes that he so despises.
The film seems to reach a turning point when Arthur finds out that Brenda is pregnant by him. His reaction is what we might expect – That she has to “Get rid of it”, and it’s in these exchanges between Arthur and Brenda that the true soul of SN&SM resides. Arthur is supportive and not completely unsympathetic to Brendas plight, but the thought of the baby fills him with dread. It’s an inconvenience.
For her part, Brenda is the films most tragic character. Send by Arthur to see his aunt about an abortion, she comes back with a pitiful tale about being told to “Sit in a hot bath and drink gin.” She has allowed herself to become close to an attractive but irresponsible playboy, made a mistake, and now finds herself abandoned by him. She also faces the prospect of going to her husband with the truth about her pregnancy. When she confides to Arthur that she is going to keep the baby and confess her infidelity to her husband, it’s a beautiful, brave scene.
Near the end of the film, there’s a line that Arthur throws out about his parents that seems heedlessly cruel and unfair. When his cousin remarks that they seem happy, Arthur shoots back “They’ve got a TV set and a pack of fags, but they’re both dead from the neck up.” - Meaning that they have fully surrendered and are just marking time until death. As harsh as that sounds it’s not really wrong for most of the people we see. When Arthur encounters Brenda’s husband near the end of the film, instead of anger and violence he gets sadness and resignation. The man doesn’t feel the need to vent on this punk who cuckolded him, and this amazes Arthur. He would have respected the man more if he had tried to fight him.
The final passage of SN&SM is quiet and reflective, and anticipates what Arthur has fought his whole life against. Arthur and Doreen walk to a grassy hillside overlooking rows of factory houses, and Arthur remarks that when he used to come up there when he was a kid, there were no buildings. As the couple talks about getting married, Arthur hurls a stone at one of the houses. Doreen admonishes him saying “That could be our house” and Arthur replies, “It won’t be the last one I throw” By now, Arthur is starting down the path to surrender himself, and he knows it. Just like the blackberries gave way to urban sprawl, his youth will ebb away, and he will be like the rest. Dead from the neck up.
IMDb
Amazon
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