Results tagged “movies” from Pathophilia
Brute Force (1947): A deeply moody prison noir, photographed by black-and-white master William Daniels.
Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster*) and his cellmates are mentally and physically tormented by the sadistic chief guard, Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn). But when Munsey assigns the prisoners to the dreaded drain-pipe detail, the group plans their dramatic escape.
* In his 2nd movie, after The Killers.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" (1957): A black-and-white tape of the original live-and-in-color TV performance, with a 21-year-old Julie Andrews in the title role.
Andrews didn't have the acting chops, or perhaps the inclination, to show her character's real sadness, but the musical production is remarkable for coming off live, with nary a hitch. Especially notable are Alice Ghostley and Kaye Ballard as the stepsisters (singing, "Why would a fella want a girl like her...?") and Edith (Edie) Adams as the godmother.
The DVD's 20-minute special feature, in which Andrews and other cast members remember the show, is a must.
A breakdown of the 137 people who signed the petition to free Roman Polanski in "a case of morals."
|
Trait |
Number |
Percentage |
|
Male |
122 |
89 |
|
Non-US born |
118* |
86 |
|
Filmmaker** |
106 |
77 |
|
People I’ve never effing heard of |
116 |
85 |
* One undetermined.
** Either director or producer.
Of the 37 15 women who signed the petition, none were born in the United States. Most of the foreign-born signers are French, which makes you wonder how one country can support so many movie directors.
Among the 18 Americans who signed:
Woody Allen (cue spit-take)
Wes Anderson
Jonathan Demme
Buck Henry (who played the pedophilic babysitter, "Uncle Roy," on "SNL" during the 1970s)
John Landis (who was charged with involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of Vic Morrow and 2 children on the set of the Twilight Zone)
David Lynch
Michael Mann
Martin Scorcese
The real heartbreakers are Demme, Lynch, and Scorcese.
The Well (1951): A black girl's disappearance ignites a race war when a white man (Henry Morgan) is suspected of kidnapping her. The movie, however, returns quickly (and naively) to racial harmony, when it's discovered that the girl has fallen 60 feet down a forgotten well. Her suspected kidnapper then plays a major role in her attempted rescue.
Although the primary-speaking roles belong to white actors, the film is notable for employing a considerable number of black actors—including Maidie Norman—who didn't have to pretend they were domestic help for a change.
Major HT to KTG.
Duplicity
(2009): Who's setting up whommmmm in this lust-love affair between an ex-CIA agent with racehorse legs* (Julia Roberts) and an impossibly hot ex-MI6 agent (Clive Owen)?Absurdity is the foundation of the ridiculously self-important world of corporate spying between 2 rival conglomerates, each headed up by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson—and neither of whommmmm gets enough screen time for my taste. Giamatti, in particular, is absolutely flawless when rallying his shareholders.
P.S. Skip the self-congratulatory commentary** with writer/director Tony Gilroy.
* Phrase blatently stolen from somebody.
** Despite the fact that Gilroy denies the commentary is self-congratulatory.
(1947): Classic, classic, CLASSIC noir. Right up there with Double Indemnity. Cigarette smoke will be coming out of your speakers.
Does Robert Mitchum, as an ex-"detective," deserve redemption, or he is consigned to a damned life with a very bad girl? Nice scenes are created, in particular, between Mitchum and Kirk Douglas (in his second film), who plays Mitchum's off-and-on mob employer.
Better-than-average commentary is also provided on the DVD by noir expert James Ursini.
N.B. 1984's Against All Odds was the flop remake.
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973): Robert Mitchum is Coyle, a burnt-out arms dealer in Boston who tries to play snitch in exchange for a lighter upcoming sentence. But his friends (with finger quotes in full effect) may or may not be better at the ratting game. With Peter Boyle, Alex Rocco (Moe Greene in The Godfather), Richard Jordan, and Steven Keats. Directed by Peter Yates (Bullitt, Breaking Away).
Merely by example, old-schooler Mitchum could teach a thing or two about naturalistic acting to any method whippersnapper.
A twofer—for two entertaining, but seriously flawed, movies.
(Tell No One) (2006): Francois Cluzot (who could easily pass for Dustin Hoffman's cuter, younger brother) is a pediatrician suspected of killing his wife. The truth of the matter, however, is impossibly complicated in this are-we-done-yet French blockbuster. I'll eat my hat if an American remake is not in the works.
(2008): If you can get past Woody Harrelson's caricature of a goofball American tourist and the preposterous climax, Transsiberian effectively conveys the intense discomfort of en-masse, international travel in very tight quarters. Especially effective are Emily Mortimer as Harrelson's rehabilitated wife; Eduardo Noriega as the hot, dangerous Spaniard; and Kate Mara as his young American girlfriend. Also Ben Kingsley offers one of his usual, engaging performances, this time as a Russian police detective.
A new (re)release on DVD: Alfred Hitchcock's The Paradine Case (1947).
A happily married and notable defense attorney (Gregory Peck) becomes infatuated with his client (the enigmatic Valli from The Third Man), who is accused of murdering her blind husband. At trial, the case balances on the moral fiber of the accused and her ambiguous relationship with her husband's valet (Louis Jourdan).
Not one of Hitchcock's best but still a Hitchcock joint, with the expected hallmarks—including brief visual nods to carnal appetites; the sharp, supportive single gal; and the director's fleeting cameo. Perhaps most notable is the moving shot of the valet's entry into the courtroom to testify, contrasted with the filming of his exit.
Just released on DVD is the underappreciated Lonely Are the Brave (1962), based on an Edward Abbey novel and adapted for the screen by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo.
An easy-going cowboy (Kirk Douglas, in what has to be one of his best performances) refuses to be fenced in by urban sprawl and the law. With fine, complementary work from Gena Rowlands, Walter Matthau, and Whiskey the Horse and an over-the-top performance by George Kennedy.
HT: KTG
Winner of Best US Drama at last year's Sundance, Frozen River (2008) is writer-director Courtney Hunt's very realistic feature debut about human trafficking along the New York-Canadian border. The movie's highly authentic feel begins with the amazing Melissa Leo, playing a desperate mom who merely wants her double-wide. There is absolutely no sense that Leo, who was nominated for an Academy Award last year, is the usual Hollywood glamourpuss-turned-frump for the sake of an Oscar bid. Not a trace of Botox, chemical peeling, or Restylane. Praise Jesus.
The supporting cast, including Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, and Michael O'Keefe, is also beyond reproach.
Kiss of Death
(1947): An armed robber (Victor Mature) sets up a hit on his accomplice through the DA's office. Mature then proceeds to go after the giggly, psychopathic hitman (a young Richard Widmark).* Karl Malden makes brief, but noticeable, appearances as an aggressive prosecutor.P.S. The basis for the title remains a mystery to me.
* Widmark's over-the-top portrayal clearly informed Frank Gorshin's turn as The Riddler on TV's "Batman."
Middlemarch
(1994): If you can't get through the book (I'm talking to you, English majors), then watch the BBC mini-series—a highly faithful adaptation of George Eliot's novel (written by Andrew Davies of Pride and Prejudice fame).Dorothea Brooke believes that life's purpose can be found in marriage to a fussy academic, the elderly Reverend Casabaun, while she cultivates a sympathic friendship with his disinherited cousin, the fetching Will Ladislaw (Rufus Sewell). The parallel lives of two other couples (the earnest Dr. Lydgate and his spoiled wife; a ne'er-do-well aristocrat and his long-suffering country sweetheart) are intertwined for the obligatory contrast and comparison.
When it debuted in 1991, Billy Bathgate—based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow—was generally faintly praised (Vincent Canby) or soundly panned (Roger Ebert). Perhaps the lukewarm reception had something to do with overblown expectations and rumors of production troubles on director Robert Benton's set. But the film is notably sustained by a young Loren Dean as the titular street kid. Dean (Mumford, "Bones"), who never quite developed the career that this movie would have forecasted, strikes a nice reactive-proactive balance as the protege of gangster Dutch Schulz (Dustin Hoffman) and the protector of his boss's mistress (Nicole Kidman).
The comedy and gravity of global espionage are explored in Our Man in Havana (1959), Carol Reed's adaption of the Graham Greene novel. A humble vacuum cleaner salesman in prerevolutionary Cuba, Jim Wormold (Alec Guinness) adds to his income by exploiting the pyramid structure of British intelligence. With its uneven tone, the movie's never quite what it could be; but Greene shows off a blithe cynicism in the story's fantasy-to-reality turnabout. With Burl Ives, Ernie Kovacs, and a-not-particularly-well-cast Maureen O'Hara.
State of Play (2003): Not the recent Russell Crowe movie, but the BBC mini-series (on which the movie was based). There's no rule of privacy that British journalists won't violate when investigating the death of an MP's mistress. The series, comprising 6 twisty episodes, is notable for its prescient casting of up-and-comers Kelly Macdonald (No County for Old Men) and James McAvoy (Atonement). Lesser-known UK actors* John Simm, Bill Nighy (Shaun of the Dead), Polly Walker ("Rome"), Marc Warren, and David Morrissey round out the excellent cast. Morrissey, in particular, is spot-on as the distressed, self-interested MP.
MP = Member of Parliament.
* At least lesser known in America.
Fail-Safe (1964): With its self-important tone and preposterous ending, it's more miss than hit for director Sidney Lumet and his original* cold-war drama. But as a time capsule of doomsday angst, the film has its merits, including a surprisingly touching performance by Larry Hagman (pre-"I Dream of Jeannie") as the President's Russian translator.
* In 2000, Fail-Safe was remade as a live TV broadcast, starring Richard Dreyfuss and George Clooney.
Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski: two crazy men who are crazier together. And it all started with Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), the story of a power-hungry conquistador (Kinski) on his psychotic quest for the mythical El Dorado along the Amazon River. Although the story is only very loosely based on fact, Herzog's allegiance to 16th-century detail—costuming, customs, hair*—conveys a powerful authenticity and, moreover, keeps the movie from becoming dated.
Warning: Some animals were possibly harmed in the making of this film.
* Nothing worse than anachronistic hair.
Le Cercle Rouge
(1970): Deliberate pacing and spare dialogue lend a very existential vibe* to this engaging jewel-heist movie from Jean-Pierre Melville. With Alain Delon as a professional thief and Yves Montand as a seriously alcoholic cop.Il n'y a pas d'innocent.
A remake is reportedly in production with director Johnnie To, the "Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong." No doubt the action will be accelerated.
* With a wry, introductory nod to Buddha.
Force of Evil
* (1948): Shot in gorgeous black and white by DP George Barnes; written and directed by the later-blacklisted Abraham Polonsky.John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice) is a Manhattan attorney caught between the organized numbers game and fraternal loyalty. Supporting character actors Thomas Gomez (Key Largo), as Garfield's beefy brother, and Howland Chamberlain (High Noon), as the jumpy bookkeeper, are in top noirish form.
* Not to be confused with the Orson Welles classic, Touch of Evil.
Un long dimanche de fiancailles (2004)*: A young woman (Audrey Tatou of Amélie) is determined to discover the fate of her fiance and 4 other soldiers who were court-martialed for self-mutilation during World War I. War scenes in director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's visual masterpiece owe heavy debts to Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front and Kubrick's Paths of Glory; but the end-product is, by no means, derivative.
N.B.—A mid-film sequence reveals the payoff of Jodie Foster's education at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles.
* English title: A Very Long Engagement.
HT: KTG
Film noir in sunny California: John Boorman's Point Blank (1967).
A double-crossed thief, Walker (Lee Marvin), is after the guy who stole his wife and his share of a cash heist in this very conscientiously (perhaps too conscientiously) photographed story of vengence. The film gains steam after an initial, wooden performance by Sharon Acker as Marvin's wife. With Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn, and Carroll O'Connor.
Patty Hearst (1988): A 25-year-old Natasha Richardson is Patricia Hearst aka Tania aka Pearl in Paul Shrader's visually striking adaptation of the newspaper heiress's story of her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. Several then-unknown actors who played Hearst's captors went on to have enduring careers, including Ving Rhames, Francis Fisher, and Dana Delany.
Note: This movie is not currently available on DVD (US format) but can be watched "instantly" at Netflix.
See No Evil*: Long before Woody and Soon-Yi, an eternally vulnerable Mia Farrow had trouble seeing dead people in this really illogical, but still effective, thriller from 1971. (Keep in mind, however, this recommendation is colored by the powerful memory of first seeing the movie through spread fingers in the sixth grade.)
* Do not confuse with the identically titled teen-slasher flick from 2006.
The Beatles, The First US Visit: Nearly a decade before the Maysles brothers, Albert and David, filmed the dispossessed life of Edie Beale (Grey Gardens), they obtained seemingly unfettered access to the greatest rock n' roll band ever during their 1964 tour.
Watch Ringo play with a new-fangled transistor radio!
Hear John shriek when Paul plugs Capital Records on the "Ed Sullivan Show"!
Miss a sick George during a Central Park photo shoot!
(But the real highlight: John's on-air performance of "This Boy.")
HBO's Recount (2008): A left-leaning dramatization of the 2000 recount of Florida votes, which determined the outcome of the US Presidential race by a hair's breadth.
A very tight script of a very complicated story was ostensibly written by 34-year-old actor Danny Strong ("The Gilmore Girls," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), who I suspect got a lot of rewrite help from the late Sydney Pollack (executive producer) and others. Florida's infamous Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, is handled mostly with care by Laura Dern—a difficult job, given that Harris is such a real-life cartoon.
Also Kevin Spacey and Denis Leary have a nice exchange about chads.
More than just a movie with a really, really good title, Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) shows off the right-honorable talent of the right-honorable Spencer Tracy. While searching for a Japanese farmer in a dying desert town, a saintly Tracy, as WW2 veteran John J. McCreedy, faces off against the unholy trinity of Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin, and Ernest Borgnine.
When Tracy and Borgnine finally go at it, notice Tracy's method of defense.
Edward G. Robinson does comedy, see, in Larceny, Inc., see.
A consummate idea man, Robinson's "Pressure" Maxwell pairs up with 2 fellow ex-cons—dim-witted gorilla "Jug" Martin (Broderick Crawford) and the merely dim-witted "Weepy" Davis (Edward Brophy)—to pull off a labor-intensive bank heist. Anthony Quinn and a nearly unrecognizable Jane Wyman co-star.
Pressure: This job's got to be handled with finesse.
Jug: Who's that?
An unprecedented recommendation from this century (hell, from just last year): Wildly successful playwright Martin McDonagh takes a shot at (pardon...) film directing with In Bruges (2008).
McDonagh's Laurel-and-Hardy hitman duo, played by Brendan Gleeson (aka Professor Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody in the Harry Potter movies) and a surprisingly amusing Colin Farrell, hang out in Bruges (Belgium, that is) to wait for their next assignment from their very principled boss (Ralph Fiennes).
A fine, early example of a character-driven set piece is John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934). In the Middle Eastern theater of WWI, 11 British soldiers are stranded at a Mesopotamian oasis after their commanding officer is shot and their horses are stolen by unseen Arabs. Desert snipers then serially pick off the men during their various displays of bravery, recklessness, and insanity.
Overacting even by his contemporary standards, Boris Karloff nevertheless cuts a striking figure as a religious fanatic before the movie's climax. The film also features the solidly built Victor McLaglen, who became a staple in Ford's films.
Congratulations to Chicago stage actor Michael Shannon, who received an Academy Award nomination this week for his supporting role in Revolutionary Road.
I first saw Shannon onstage several years ago at a tiny Chicago venue, A Red Orchid Theatre,* where he reprised his role as the very disturbed Peter in Tracy Letts's very disturbing Bug. Shannon's performance was possibly the most riveting I've seen in any theater (his leading lady, Kate Buddeke, was also outstanding).
Since that rare experience, I've seen Shannon in several other stage productions, including Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman, Craig Wright's Lady, and Denis Johnson's Shoppers Carried by Escalators Into the Flames. In all cases, Shannon either supported the beauty of the work (as in the case of The Pillowman) or transcended it (as in the case of Johnson's theatrical misfire).
The same can be said of Shannon's consistently engaging work in a wide and growing list of films—as well as an obligatory "Law & Order" episode. However, I've found Shannon most compelling when he's embodied the very odd guy in a thin shell of normalcy, as he did in Revolutionary Road. (I'm prone to imagine that this is how the actor himself routinely goes through life.) A currently available example on DVD is Shannon's interpretation of US Marine Dave Karnes in World Trade Center (2006), a surprisingly intimate treatment of the 9/11 tragedy, given that the production was steered by blowhard Oliver Stone.
* At 1531 N. Wells. I'm terrible at square-footage estimates, but the seating area was probably the size of a large living room. It's important to state that I'll never see the movie version of Bug, lest the film spoil my memory of the stage production.
Photo of Michael Shannon from A Red Orchid Theatre.
This frigid week, the reader is referred to an update of a previous Kick-Back post.
(And just for the record, the answer to "Who is Number 1?" isn't "Pittsburgh.")
With director William Wyler, DP Gregg Toland, screenwriter Lillian Hellman, and Humphrey Bogart, Dead End (1937) is perhaps, astonishingly, a film that is less than the sum of its parts. Nevertheless, Wyler—with a fine ensemble cast (including the stage play's original "Dead End" kids)—effectively recreates a highly theatric, claustrophic corner of Manhattan, a place where slum met urban renewal in the early 20th century.
P.S. It took me forever to place a young Ward Bond as the doorman, maybe because Dead End is not a western.
Before Cate Blanchett or Helen Mirren drew on the role of Elizabeth I (like it was a freaking annuity), the Virgin Queen was reliably portrayed by Glenda Jackson. Following the 6-part mini-series "Elizabeth R" in 1971, Jackson almost immediately repeated her performance in Mary, Queen of Scots. However, most of the screen time in this film belongs to a dewy Vanessa Redgrave, as the very Catholic Mary Stuart and rival for England's throne.
There are some artistic liberties taken with the story of the royal conflict between the cousins, so don't let teenagers use the movie as a historic reference. But do point out actors, including Redgrave,* that they'll recognize from more recent films—like Timothy Dalton (aka Simon Skinner in Hot Fuzz) as Lord Darnley or Ian Holm (aka Bilbo Baggins) as David Riccio.
* For instance, kids, Redgrave was the old Briony in Atonement. Aha.
01/15/09 update: Kids won't know him, but the rest of us raised by 60s television will recognize Patrick McGoohan, aka Number 6, as Mary's half-brother, James Stuart. According to CBS news, McGoohan died Tuesday at the age of 80, after a "short illness." In memorium and as a remedy for the current deep freeze, cocoon with McGoohan's you're-so-messin'-with-my-mind-man "The Prisoner" on DVD.
Zulu (1964), with a very blond and relatively young Michael Caine, depicts the lopsided battle between 139 British soldiers, some hospitalized, and roughly 4000 Zulu warriors at a South African mission station in 1879. The movie forecasts a bloody outcome for the British by opening with the Zulu victory over a much larger British force in the Battle of Islandlwana and by taking a respectful, almost documentary-like view of Zulu warrior culture.
Close attention to smart dialogue among the British infantrymen will compensate for the dramatically rough, often amateurish scenes of hand-to-hand combat.
The Dawn Patrol (1938) with the debonair trifecta of Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, and David Niven. Not exactly holiday fare, but a remarkably advanced morality tale of an RFC division in France during WWI. All 3 actors give wide-ranging, yet frequently nuanced, performances (if that's not too oxymoronic)—even by today's standards.
Plus I could look at Basil's profile for hours.
Poster image from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair use law.
Another scenery-chewing western (but the good kind) from Anthony Mann: The Furies (1950). Walter Huston, in his last film, and Barbara Stanwyck are New Mexican ranchers T. C. and Vance Jeffords, possibly the most mutually vindictive father-daughter duo outside of Greek tragedy.
Blago wouldn't stand a chance against these two.
N.B. If you're trying to place the miscast Wendell Corey, Stanwyck's would-be fiance, he was the detective in Rear Window.
Classic noir doesn't get any more classic than Fritz Lang's The Big Heat (1953), which pits wholesome detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) against snarly underboss Vince Stone (Lee Marvin).
Gloria Grahame, as Stone's girlfriend, becomes a none-too-subtle metaphor for corruption when she encounters a pot of coffee.
For a lighthearted family break from disheartening news:
The Court Jester (1955) with Danny Kaye.
If for nothing else, to be (re)watched for the famous brew-that-is-true bit between Kaye and Mildred Natwick.
The Naked Spur: Jimmy Stewart's intent on bringing in a murdering outlaw (Robert Ryan) for a big cash-money ree-ward. Trouble is he may have to share it with two wayward characters along the trail: a crusty prospector and a crafty lieutenant. The outlaw's girlfriend (Janet Leigh) further complicates the situation.
There are no real good guys in this over-the-top western from director Anthony Mann—just one guy who's not as bad as the others.
More love for UK actors—especially those whose work is as good in non-US projects as it is wince inducing on American TV.
The recent high-profile gigs of hot Scotsman Kevin McKidd (Rome) in TV's "Grey's Anatomy," "Journeyman," and the straight-to-airplane Made of Honor do him no credit, but he is a one hell of a Count Vronsky in this "Masterpiece" version of Anna Karenina (2000).
Yeah, I'd throw myself in front of a train, too, if I thought he was cheating on me.
P.S. Brit Helen McCrory, who plays Anna, is hooked up with another UK redhead, Damian Lewis, star of TV's "Life."
On a period-piece roll...
There are at least 7 movie versions of Jane Eyre out there, including the classic with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles, the Timothy Dalton version (now who decided he'd be a good Bond?), and the recent "Masterpiece" version with Maggie Smith's son. But my favorite, far and away, is the A&E film with Samantha Morton and Ciaran Hinds—primarily because Ciaran Hinds can do no wrong.
P.S. I'm astonished to find that this version has been roundly panned at Netflix. They're mistaken.
The title's probably better than the movie itself, but Kansas City Confidential (1952) still offers solid noir fun. An ex-con, mistakenly nabbed for an armored car robbery, sets out to find the real culprits...and maybe the money, too. Hmmm.
Featuring the great character heavies Lee Van Cleef and Jack Elam, both of whom appeared in too many westerns to name.
Good and campy, Dangerous Crossing features an interesting mix of actors whose careers, characteristic of the early 1950s, straddled the motion-picture and television industries. Twenty-eight-year-old Jeanne Crain (State Fair), a little long in the tooth by then-Hollywood standards, doubts her sanity when her new husband, played by Carl Betz ("The Donna Reed Show," "Judd for the Defense"), goes missing on their honeymoon cruise. The ship's doctor, Michael Rennie (The Day the Earth Stood Still), tries to sort it all out.
Don't spend a whole lot of thought on this one.
Trouble in Paradise (1932): All's fair in love and con artistry when two thieving soulmates, Gaston and Lily, pair up to scam a perfume heiress, Madame Colet. There's plenty of naughty repartee in this early talkie, before the MPAA production code was duly enforced.
Gaston: Madame Colet, if I were your father, which fortunately I am not, and you made any attempt to handle your own business affairs, I would give you a good spanking, in a business way, of course.
Madame Colet: What would you do if you were my secretary?
Gaston: The same thing.
Madame Colet: You're hired.
Although the movie is considered an Ernst Lubitsch classic, just about anybody could imagine a Coen Brothers remake with George Clooney.
Poster image from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair-use law.
Martin Scorsese's After Hours (1985) is a wonderfully goofy, bad-dream homage to The Wizard of Oz and every anxious feeling I've ever had about Manhattan. Main-guy foil Griffin Dunne is great casting as a nerdish word processor (an obsolete job!) who ventures into SoHo to meet then it-girl Rosanna Arquette—followed by a whole string of women nut jobs.
The script dialogue, written by Joseph Minion, is still knee- and/or forehead-slapping funny.
Marcy (Arquette): My husband was a movie freak. Actually he was particularly obsessed with one movie, The Wizard of Oz. He talked about it constantly. I thought it was cute at first. On our wedding night, I was a virgin. When we made love—You've seen the movie haven't you?
Paul (Dunne): The Wizard of Oz? Yeah.
Who knew that f#%k-spewing David Mamet could pull off English period drama?
The Winslow Boy (1999)—a thinly veiled love letter from director Mamet to his wife, Rebecca Pidgeon—is the story of seemingly lost causes: the acquittal of the titular boy in a case of theft, women's suffrage, and a chauvinist's love for a feminist. The cast features many a rock-solid English actor, including Nigel Hawthorne and the splendiferous Gemma Jones.
Before Eric Bogosian needed real money, he was this performance artist/stand-up comic/monologuist/writer guy known mostly to New Yorkers. Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll (1991) is probably the best example of Bogosian's ability to fuse all of his scary talents into a spare one-man performance, but I've had a devil of a time finding the recording on DVD (Luddites can watch the show on VHS). The next best thing is the bluer Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (2001); however, I can only vouch for the live performance, seen at Chicago's Park West venue in the waning months of the 20th century.
A bonus funny: Bogosian gets uppity with a fan and reviews his own work at Netflix.
You're a has-been loser on the small-town boxing circuit.
How much of a has-been loser?
So much of a has-been loser that your manager doesn't even let you in on the fix that you'll go down in the third round. He's relying on your clued-in opponent to clean up when the time's ripe.
That's the end-of-the-road life for aging boxer Stoker Thompson (Robert Ryan) in The Set-Up (1949), a tight-as-a-drum noir story from director Robert Wise (The Andromeda Strain, The Sound of Music). Wise, a former editor,* constructs the night of Stoker's rigged fight in real time—cutting between Stoker, his dispirited wife (Audrey Totter), and great shots of nutty boxing fans.
Among the many quotable lines from the film is this Sisyphean warning: "You'll always be just one punch away." Story of my life.
P.S. Boomers will recognize Stoker's manager, played by George Tobias, as Abner Kravitz on "Bewitched."
* Of Citizen Kane, for example.
Young and Innocent (1937): a not-terrifically-well-known-but-still-terrific Hitchcock joint, in the style of The 39 Steps.
A constable's daughter (Nova Pilbeam) comes to champion the innocence of a young writer (the nicely coiffed Derrick de Marney) in a starlet's murder. The film version of Westlake Entertainment's DVD could stand some audio and visual restoration, though nothing can be done about a swing band in wince-inducing* black face. Ouch.
* Ha. Watch the movie, and you'll realize that's kind of a double entendre.
Poster image (NB: The Girl Was Young was the US title) from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair-use law.
Affecting a w-for-r accent,* Sir Alec Guinness is an unassuming banker who attempts a bullion heist in The Lavender Hill Mob. The movie climaxes in (or degenerates into, depending on your viewpoint) a farcical police chase. Oh, cwazy English bobbies wunning awound! How dwoll!
P.S. Don't blink or you'll miss Audwey Hepbuwn.
* Or is that just Alec Guinness?
Kitty Foyle
: A hypnotic melodramedy of women's liberation and class distinction circa 1940—which means not a whole lot of liberation and a substantial amount of class distinction. Starring a remarkably versatile Ginger Rogers.Poster image from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair use law.
Get Carter: Michael Caine is smokin' hot as a ruthless hitman who investigates his brother's murder. There's still plenty of England's Swinging Sixties in this 1971 film—micro-minis, sexual promiscuity, bad teeth...no paisley, though.
Poster image from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair use law.
Reportedly one of Dustin Hoffman's favorites, Straight Time (1978) also features newbies Gary Busey (before he went absolutely meshuga), Kathy Bates, and Theresa Russell, along with M. Emmet Walsh. Rock on, casting director Dianne Crittenden.
Hoffman, playing lifelong con and current parolee Max Dembo, tries to make it—as the film title indicates—legitimately.
A wonderful girl's movie: I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) with Wendy Hiller. Any heroine whose lifetime mantra is the movie title is bound to be sidetracked on the way to her wedding in the Hebrides. Enjoy the lilt of the occasional, impenetrable Gaelic and look for a brief appearance by 12-year-old Petula Clark.
Poster image from Wikipedia and reproduced under fair use law.
Ripe for a decent remake, 1973's The Day of the Jackal is still excellent entertainment. Based on Frederick Forsyth's popular novel, the cinematic hunt for the would-be assassin of Charles de Gaulle is directed by one of the great, versatile directors of old (or older) Hollywood, Fred Zinnemann (Oklahoma!, High Noon). The English actor Edward Fox, probably best known for his role as the Jackal, shows the right amount of slickness, sinew, and detachment as the one-minded hitman.
P.S. See if you can spot a young Derek Jacobi (hey, he doesn't stutter!) in a supporting role.
