Movie review - "Red Eye" (2005) **

Unpretentious B film which feels like it should have more ideally been an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but has the advantage in a strong pair of leads in Rachel McAdams and Cilliam Murphy. McAdams is very pretty and sensible as the damsel in distress, Murphy an ideal creepy villain. When this is on the plane it works pretty well - you go with the baddies having contacts with an airline but not a hotel - but when it hits the ground it is less strong (as is the case with thrillers set on airplanes eg Passenger 57). Surely she would go to the police? They can delay getting the baddies causing her to escape, but its something that needed to be dealt with. Also at the end they forget the terrorist stuff so its just a baddy chasing McAdams around a house trying to kill her a la an 80s slasher film. (They could have made the finale a bit better by having say the assassin's target go vi st McAdams' house to thank her,that would have been logical) The film is almost stolen by the actor who plays McAdams' ditzy work mate.

Movie review - "Sunshine State" (2002) ** 1/2

I'm a John Sayles fan but I found this movie a little irritating. It had a lot of good stuff, intelligent writing, fine performances... but it's a bunch of essays really, rather than a movie. There's the black character who talks about black business in time of segregation, a white character who talks about history, a greek chorus of golfers (this device actually works really well) who talks about nature, a black doctor who talks about civil rights, an architect who talks about business, an ex footballer who talks about business. There aren't really any strong characters except for the lead two, Angela Bassett and Edie Falco (who is excellent). Its about property developers threatening a Florida Island - I felt a bit closer to the topic because in Australia property can be an obsession, particularly in Sydney and the Gold Coast. It misses that property money lust. It feels like an outsider film. Acting as always is strong, and the locations are pleasant.

Movie review - "Anything Else" (2003) **

Another Woody Allen disappointment from that filmmaker's longest cold streak. Frustrating to watch because it was so easy to see how it could have been fixed. Its the story of a young promising comedy writer (Jason Biggs) who has a fling with a crazy woman (Cristina Ricci) and gets advice from an elder writer (Woody Allen). That's not much of a plot but films like Annie Hall and Manhattan didn't have much plot either, yet were still wonderful - because they were full of romance and acute observation, because Allen knew what he was talking about when he was making it. Here he doesn't - he doesn't know young people well enough however young his wife is. But he was young once and the story feels as though it must be autobiographical - if only he'd made the film really autobiographical, set in during period. That way things like Biggs writing for night club comics, Biggs being married young and Biggs and Ricci talking about how much they love Billie Holiday and Cole Porter wouldn't seem so odd. I mean, I know young people like these things but they also like other stuff - it just seems like old Woody Allen dialogue put in young people's mouths. Setting it in period would have fixed that - I know it would have added something to the budget but it would have been worth it. There is one scene where Biggs and Ricci are at a party and in the background a Moby song is playing - an actual modern song in a Woody Allen film and I know I'm biased because I like Moby but it acted like this incredible jolt of energy into the film. It doesn't really help either that none of the leads is really well cast - Biggs would have seemed ideal as young Woody but isn't quite there... I always want to like Biggs more than I do because he seems like such a nice guy and is obviously intelligent but he can't do the neurotic Woody thing as well - he doesn't seem like a writer, and he has the physique of someone who has a personal trainer. Ricci is OK - not a terrific Diane Keaton but OK (there's a scene of her in underwear and a tight top around the house which would normally be sexy but knowing Woody was there as a director kind of ruins it a bit). Woody isn't even that good as the mentor - I like the idea of a 60 something trying to make it, but to be such a mentor... couldn't they have given him more of a history? In some ways Danny de Vito (who plays Biggs agent and has a funny scene towards the end) would have been better casting; Allen's presence in the role throws it slightly out of whack. A frustrating film. There is stuff to admire but I just wish he'd stick to what he actually knows about.

Movie review - "Boxcar Bertha" (1972) ***

A last teaming of some old friends: an AIP presentation by Sam Arkoff and James H Nicholson before the latter left AIP, and produced by Roger Corman after Corman had left AIP, but under an old contractual obligation. It seems fitting, therefore, that the film was directed by a newcomer, Martin Scorsese.

I am trying not to be too wise after the event here, but the direction is very impressive, with lots of energy and verve, and the action sequences seem very Scorsese-esque: abrupt edits, shots of people flying through the air when hit by a shot (it reminded me of Taxi Driver). 

His handling keeps fresh what is a slightly tired story - or maybe I had just seen too many of that early 70s depression era gangster films before I watched this one. There is the harmonica on the soundtrack, shots of rural poverty, oppressed workers, sexually promisucous country girls, evil capitalists, shoot em ups, etc.

Bertha (Barbara Hershey, sexy in a rural way and very good), is a girl who when her father dies joins up with a unionist (David Carradine) and goes hoboing on the railroad. After he's put away for hitting someone she busts him out of gaol; they eventually start robbing the railroad. The solid cast also includes Bernie Casey as one of Carradine's mates and John Carradine as an evil capitalist.

Best thing about the film was its crucifixion ending - this had a real jolt. (Though I was confused - did Casey let him die so that the labour union movement would have a martyr?)

Movie review - "The Corpse Bride" (2005) ***1/2

Tim Burton returns to the Nightmare Before Christmas territory with this bright Christmas fable - you might not initially think "bright" with the gloomy atmosphere and underworld look, but its a good natured piece, with some excellent animation and nice tunes. I especially loved the dog Scraps who comes back from the dead. The corpse bride is very engaging.

Movie review - "The Lady in Red" (1979) ***

A film best remembered today because the screenplay was written by John Sayles during his exploitation phase. Sayles never wrote down to his audience though and despite the boobs and violence this is a terrific taunt little film which tells the saga of Polly Franklin (Pamela Sue Martin), a farm girl turned prostitute turned girlfriend of John Dillinger (Robert Conrad) - she was there the night he was shot. The film builds up to that event - I thought she would be Dillinger's partner in crime or something but she doesn't even know his true identity (which was true) and has given up prostitution by the time he comes along. Their scenes are mostly romantic - of the "I just want to move to California" variety.

Dillinger actually isn't in the film that much - beforehand most of the screen time is devoted to Franklin's various adventures, mostly her having a hard time: being seduced by a newspaper man, going to work in a sweat shop (run by Dick Miller), becoming a ten cents a dancer, going to gaol (where the bitch guard I think was the fat lady in Porkys), turning hooker, then giving it up and becoming a waitress. It's a Roger Corman film for New World but there are superior production values. Most of the skin is seen in the brothel.

Martin is an engaging, feisty lead, very sympathetic. Conrad adds dash and verve as Dillinger, and Louise Fletcher is ideal as the woman who betrays him.

 

The film has a structural flaw - it goes fine until Dillinger's death (the most exciting sequence): but then had a whole other sequence where Hamilton and some friends rob a bank and it all goes wrong; Sayles sets it up as best he can by only using characters we've met before hand, and tying up a whole bunch of lose ends in this bit (eg Christopher Lloyd's vicious mafioso) - but it still seems like an add-on just to get our hero on a crime spree. And when it all goes badly a lot of sympathetic characters get killed, not to mention a whole bunch of innocent people - which leaves a slightly sour after taste. Brisk direction from Lewis Teague.

Movie review - "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" (1973) ***

Highly contentious Sam Peckinpah film - an important one in his career because it was the last time he made what was arguably a masterpiece. Walter Hill said the film was a turning point in the director's career because it marked the time he went downhill - although Hill admits the film has many fans. What is certain is that the movie has claims for greatness that none of Peckinpah's later films do (at the moment that it - you never know with critical revisionism).

The film had a legendarily troubled production and post-production: some problems caused by Peckinpah, others by MGM. This version I watched was supposedly a director's cut. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would; didn't think it was a masterpiece but it was a very good film centering around the last few days of Billy the Kid (Kris Kristoffersen).

Billy is a good looking kid who is determined to live life like the old "free" ways; the film seems sympathetic to this point of view at times, even Garrett (James Coburn) defends him, and some of the henchmen of Chisum, the rich land owner bent on civilising the country are shown to be horrible violent rapists - but also there's no doubt Billy is a gun-toting psycho who kills at whim and is better off dead. (He reminded me at times of the violent leader of a hippy cult). Kristofferson is scary and charismatic in the role; Coburn solid in support.

Strongest feature of the film is Bob Dylan's evocative score, esp "Knocking on Heaven's Door". When this is used the film is terrific, such as Slim Picken's death. I also enjoyed the dialogue, and the general feel of the film - it has been described as "elegiac" and that certainly suits. Many other cowboy faces appear, including Jack Elam and Chill Wills.

True to Peckinpah style there are two scenes where people slap hookers around, cowboys sleep with hookers, and in one scene Coburn is in bed which what looks like five hookers. There's also lots of whiskey. Still I can't help feeling some fans of the film are overly inlfuenced by the fact that it was cut by the studio - film fans love the pain of the lost masterpiece, butchered by unthinking accountants, sending a career of a genius into spiral (eg The Magnificent Ambersons). I saw this on VHS and kept wishing it was on DVD so I could see what had been cut by the studio and what had been cut by Peckinpah.

Movie review - "The Hot Rock" (1972) **1/2

WiWilliam Goldman has written extensively (and entertainingly) on his various adventures in the screen trade, positive and otherwise, but rarely mentions this effort. It's certainly nothing to be ashamed of - and from other thing he's written he says he was a friend of director Peter Yates (who later directed Goldman's Year of the Comet), it was a Robert Redford film at the time of Redford's great popularity, is a New York crime story (two things Goldman loves).
The script also seems to be very much Goldman - tight, bright dialogue, well constructed, some twists. It is minor Goldman - and minor Yates and minor Redford for that matter.
Golden locks plays a crim who tries to rob a diamond with three others. The twist is they end up having to rob it three more times. This does get a little repetitive, especially without some sort of subplot: a love interest, or a pursuing police officer. The main subplot involves Zero Mostel, good fun as the conniving father of one of the crooks.
Redford is in handsome leading man mode here; he seems awkwardly cast in the film, which feels as though it needs someone with a bit more New York pizzaz to mix in with the rest of the gang (which includes a broad George Segal and Ron Liebman).
Also there is a scene where the gang make a distraction by pretending to die in a car crash, relying on the sympathy of security guards - this isn't a very nice thing to do and serves to make them unsympathetic (important when this is a comedy). Some bright moments, like talking in the park long distance and a little old lady sits down between them, and Redford's walk at the end.

Movie review - "Countdown" (1968) ***

When most peoploe refer to Robert Altman's movie career they mean from MASH onward, but he made some interesting features beforehand. This was his first Hollywood feature - he'd shot some independent features, and a lot of television - and its really good. Certainly good enough to be better remembered today - but it deals with a ficticious first moon landing and from 1969 onwards I guess became dated. (the method of moon landing is very different from what happened - here a solo man is planted on the moon where he has to live until people come and get him!) Its a shame because Loring Mandel's script is typically intelligent with some strong characters and Altman gives the scenes life and verve. It's not indulgent or typically Altmanesque, just fresh and interesting.

James Caan is in good form as the astronaut who gets picked to be the first man on the moon, over the more qualified Robert Duvall (also very strong) because Duvall is a member of the airforce and they want to send a civilian for PR. The relationship between Duvall and Caan is first-rate; less good is the domestic stuff involving Caan and his wife: typical "you care more about your job than me". The ending seemed a little abrupt, but this definitely falls into the "unknown gem" category.

Movie review - "Robbery" (1967) ***

The film which got director Peter Yates the job of directing Bullitt. One can see why: this is a cool crisp no nonense thriller with a terrific car chase (Yates was a one time racing car driver). At times it is a little too cool and crisp, and one wishes there was more character stuff - or if not character then high voltage star power. Stanley Baker is always good value but the other crims were a bit indistinguishable; Barry Foster can be a bright talent but he's blonde and so was another gang member and it was hard to tell them apart. James Booth can be a bright talent, too, but he isn't given much to do, as the investigating copper. 

 

The film gets off to a strong start with a robbery sequence (though would have been better if Baker's character had been involved); the details involving the robbery are interesting. The robbery itself was a bit too darkly lit to be that involving, but the scenes after, with the crooks hiding out with the cash are exciting. The ending was a little flat - one feels something more could have been made of it. But a good, tough film, one of Baker's best after Zulu (he made it like that one for Embassy Pictures).

Movie review - "Dillinger" (1973) ***

The directing debut of John Milius begins marvellously, with Dillinger (Warren Oates) robbing a bank. The script is full of brisk dialogue and interesting scenes and Oates is ideal in the cast. Milius the director isn't up to Milius the writer - often the scenes are stagnant, especially the action scenes, which have too much gunfire. He should have moved the camera about a bit more. Some actors give spark to their scenes, especially Richard Dreyfuss as Baby Face Nelson and Cloris Leachman as the lady in red. Pretty Boy Floyd is treated very sympathetically, far more so than Melvin Purvis (Ben Johnson, who is a little stiff). The film appears to pay effort to historical truth. There is a creepy love scene between Oates and Michelle Phillips where they slap each other around.

Car racing films

There have been lots of car racing films over the years, none of them really successful - even when they seem to have everything going for it, such as Days of Thunder. Grand Prix made some money but not enough to cover its massive cost. Steve McQueen at his height couldn't propel Le Mans to a decent gross. The problem is this: in car racing movies, the cars just go around and around. You can stack it, but that's it. If you have a hero who is in danger of collapsing while driving, then the audience lose sympathy for him. And cars crossing a finishing line isn't that exciting.

Car chases are different. You can have high stakes - life or death, ticking clocks, all that stuff. Also the chases are unpredictable. That's why The Fast and the Furious and Smokey and the Bandit made so much money. Or you need to take a typical car race and make it life or death, like Death Race 2000.

Car racing films offer a similar problem to surfing films. The thing about surfing is - why go into the surf other than for a competiton? You can't have a "surf chase". So it gets repetitive.

Incidentally, does anyone remember the stock car racing boom of the late 1960s? It was a mini boom, staring with Fireball 500 (1966), an AIP film that seems to have meant to be a grown up Beach Party, with songs and Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, plus Fabian - it does have more adult content. It was followed by Thunder Alley (1967) with Funicello and Fabian. Then Fabian starred in the formula one The Wild Racers (1968) and ex Funicello co-star Tommy Kirk featured in Track of Thunder (1968). The films never matched the popularity of biker films though - again, too limited by going around in circles.

John Milius

I’ve always been interested in the career of John Milius. I first became aware of him as one of the film school generation – the movie brats that included Spielberg, Lucas, Coppola, Scorseses and de Palma. Milius was always mentioned in association with them – he was kind of the not-quite-famous one, the not-quite-artistically-legit one, without a hit of Star Wars or ET proportions on his CV. Nonetheless, Milius’ contribution to movies is quite enough on his own.

Of the movie brats, Milius was probably the best writer – though Coppola had a good claim to match him by the early 70s. Milius went to film school with George Lucas, and made an early claim to film history by introducing Lucas to the films of Akira Kurosawa - Kurosawa's Hidden Fortess partially inspired Star Wars. Milius, a keen hunter and surfer who must have seen larger than life to the quiet Lucas, was also supposedly an inspiration for the Han Solo character and the Paul Le Mat character in American Grafitti.

Milius' writing earned him money straight after film school. His first credit was The Devil's Eight, a Dirty Dozen knock off set in the rural south starring Fabian. Milius shares credit with Wilfred Hyuck who co-wrote American Grafitti. Milius earned a reputation as a hot screenwriter with his original scripts Jeremiah Johnson and Judge Roy Bean; the former was extensively rewritten and was a bit hit, the latter was directed by John Huston, who one would have thought would have been ideal for Milius, but no one seems to have been satisfied with the result. He also worked uncredited on Dirty Harry - I read an early draft of the script, which also had Terence Malick's hands on it, and there are several passages which are unmistakably Milius, mainly monologues about guns. (Incidentally the early draft has Harry chasing after a vigilante, not a psycho killer, and his partner isn't hispanic.) The famous "did he use six bullets or five" speech wasn't in the script I read; it has been credited to Milius and no one seems to have offered evidence to the contrary. Milius also worked on the sequel Magnum Force.

By the early 1970s Milius was one of the leading scriptwriters in Hollywood, along with William Goldman and Robert Towne. He persuaded AIP to let him direct if he wrote the script - Dillinger. (AIP gave early chances to directors such as Scorsese.) The film did well enough for Milius to get financing for a big budget studio film, The Wind and the Lion. Milius the director didn't seem to reach the heights of Milius the writer. Apparently the film did OK, and Milius could make another film, the personal surfing epic Big Wednesday. This film was a massive box office flop.

Milius' emphasis on directing meant that his writing was neglected in the second half of the 70s. His writing did attract attention - he contributed Robert Shaw's legendary "why I hate sharks" monologue in Jaws, one of the best examples of Milius' abilities. Watch it: an action film but Spielberg just keeps the camera on Shaw for a couple of minutes. The quality of the acting and the words create an amazing scene. Milius' script for Apocalypse Now, which he wrote in the late 60s and early 70s, reached the screen in 1979. His script had been much rewritten by Coppola, particularly the stuff involving Kurtz. Some of it is unmistakably Milius, including the character of Kilgore (Robert Duvall). I read an earlier draft of the script which also includes a fantastic scene where the American soldiers come across some French plantation owners. Coppola was a directo with the visual gifts to match Milius' story telling and its a shame they didn't collaborate more.

Milius spent some of the late 70s and early 80s in pseudo-executive mode, executive producing some films from film school grads including 1941, Used Cars and Hardcore. He returned to directing with a commercial triumph with Conan the Barbarian. This was followed by Red Dawn, for which Milius was paid a reported million dollars. It did OK at the box office but not as well as MGM had hoped.

Apart from an episode of Twilight Zone, Milius' next film wasn't until 1989's Farewell to the King. Like his other adventure films, it had a terrific idea - an American deserter becomes head of a tribe in WW2 Borneo - but didn't live up to its ambitions. The same could be said for 1991's Flight of the Intruder, although the story wasn't as strong for that one. Both films were expensive flops, and Milius hasn't directed a studio film since, though he has made two for TV: Rough Riders and Motorcycle Gang. His films are always interesting, but he isn't the best director in the world: his films are often visually stagnant and the action scenes full of endless gunfire and explosions. There is little real excitement.

In the 1990s he concentrated on screenwriting and made contributions to Geronimo, The Hunt for Red October, Clear and Present Danger, as well as the acclaimed TV series Rome. He remains something of a cult figure - the audience for Big Wednesday continues to grow, he inspired the John Goodman character in the Big Lebowski.

Milius has a strong career and even today few screenwriters can match him. He once said his dream was to make B westerns in the 40s and 50s and he probably would have been better off doing so. He also might have been better off not directing. But with the respect givden to screenwriters that probably would have sent him nutty.

Movie review - "To Live and Die in LA" (1985) ***

A flop when released this action film has earned a cult in recent years. Seemingly an attempt by director William Friedkin to create a more commercial film - the basic story is about a secret service agent (William Petersen) who seeks to avenge the death of his partner (who actually says "I'm too old for this shit" and dies two days before retirement) at the hands of a nasty counterfeiter (Willem Dafoe). However, Friedkin can't help himself - he makes Petersen a prick who blackmails a former prison girl into helping him, Petersen goes overboard with tactics. The story seems simple enough but keeps going off on tangents - for instance, Petersen needs $30,000 to do a "sting" on Dafoe... but the govt won't give it to him... so he decides to rob a crook... which results in a massive car chase... then he gets the money. Then there's a plot where Petersen catches a John Turturro... Dafoe tries to kill Turturoo.. Petersen does a deal with Turturro and gets him out of gaol... He escapes... Is recaptured. This sort of thing feels like things that realistically happen, but it sort of clashes with the stylised way the film is shot. There are two moments of real surprise: the identity of the person whom Petersen "robs" and the fate of Petersen. The second half of the film is more to do with Petersen's partner, played by John Pankow, who was on "Mad About You". In fact the film is full of people before they became famous: Petersen, Dafoe, John Turturro. Petersen has a real presence, odd and slightly off kilter, like he was in Manhunter - although at times when he struts around in jeans and sunglasses it does make you laugh. Plenty of style - it feels very Miami Vice with flashy looks of LA and designer clothes and fashion; beautiful photography. A bit confusing in places - what is the thing with the female characters at the end? Both of them? The car chase deserves its reputation - Petersen drives into on coming traffic on the LA freeway! The music was by Wang Chung - you can hear 'Dance Hall Days' on the soundtrack.

Movie review - "Panama Lady" (1939) **

I really enjoy the B pictures from RKO in the 30s and 40s - so unpretentious. This one is an example, running at 65 minutes. Its main problem is it should so clearly be a comedy but in fact its a drama with wisecracks. Lucille Ball is a show girl who gets stranded in Panama; she tries to roll a prospector, fails, and goes to work for him as a housekeeper. There's an exotic native girl and Ball's no-good fiancee to content with.
Fast moving enough with some bright dialogue and that enjoyable 30s Hollywood recreation of South and Central America, but Ball spends a lot of the film being glum when it would have been better had she shown more spunk.
The 1932 version Panama Flo apparently made the sexual connotations of the story a lot more explicit - they are here (Ball comes close to prostitution several times and at the end it seems she becomes a prostitute) but not really strong enough for it to work as a drama. The ending seems a lot like Pretty Woman - rich man comes along to sweep a prostie off her feet.

Movie review - "Southern Comfort" (1981) ****

Walter Hill's lost patrol classic looks even better today - and more realistic, too, after Hurricane Katrina showed us how badly they deal with a crisis in Louisiana. Set in 1973 - a time when the American military was at a low ebb, shattered by Vietnam, filled with drunks, poor training and morale - this deals with a group of National Guardsmen who get lost in a swamp on maneuvres and get into scrapes with local Cajuns. Andrew Laszlo's cinematography is incredible - darkish greens and browns, the swamp setting marvellous, Ry Cooder's amazing score evocative. The script does at times rely a little too much on the Guardsmen being dills in order to propel the plot. Very strong cast, led by Powers Boothe and Keith Carradine, the only members of the patrol who aren't morons (apart from Peter Coyote, who plays the obligatory leader who gets killed straight away - it would be interesting to see a lost patrol movie where this didn't happen). And I only just realised re-watching it that at the end Carradine actually leaves Boothe to the Cajuns! My favourite scene is the final one, where Booth and Carradine come out of the swamp and are in a bright, sunny, Cajun village where everyone is dancing - but they could be in even greater danger.

Movie review - "Duel" (1971) ***1/2

The people who love this movie seem to be the ones who just happen upon it - "I saw this movie and it was really great" etc. I'd received a bit of hype before hand so, while I wasn't let down, I wasn't amazed. It remains an impressive piece of work, a clever "what if" scenario from Richard Matheson well worked out (though towards the end why doesn't he just get a lift off that old couple?), and energetic direction from a young Steven Spielberg who made his name from this. Clever things: casting nerdy Dennis Weaver as the man tormented by a truck and having him drive a crap car. As those who do a lot of driving on country highways know, the scenario is all too believable.

Play review - "Shimada" by Jill Shearer

A play about a small town where the bike factory is under threat of take over by a Japanese company. One of the factory workers was a Japanese POW and isn't happy about it. A solid play, even a bit lumpy, with some powerful scenes. It received a Broadway run, only a short one after the critics got to it.

Movie review - "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (2001) **1/2

Three part anthology of stories about lesbians, all set in the one house over the years.
The first one, set in the early 1960s, is the story of a lesbian couple where one of them dies and the survivor (Vanessa Redgrave) cannot grieve or benefit financially from being a widow. It's a strong idea, but they could have tightened up the legal stuff - surely if she had records of paying rent she'd have some claim?
The third one set in 2000 is about a lesbian couple (Shaz Stone and Ellen De Generes) trying to have a baby. That's a bright idea but there isn't really a story - the couple just try to have a baby. If, say, they tried to have a baby with that gay couple, or they broke up or something there would have been some meat there, but it's just episodes in having a baby. It is brightly done, though, with some very funny lines (although written and directed by Anne Heche one can't feel Ellen had some input in the script).
The second story, set in the 1970s, is really good. Michelle Williams is a uni student who gets involved with a, shall we say, more traditional, i.e. butch lesbian (Chloe Sveginy). This is really strong stuff, dealing with the divides in the women's movement between feminism and lesbianism, and also the divides in the lesbian world between different social classes. There is enough here for a feature, so it seems a little undeveloped.

Movie review - "Father's Little Dividend" (1951) **1/2

Sequels weren't as common in the 1950s as they are now but a follow up to Father of the Bride seemed natural: the father (Spencer Tracy) becomes a grandfather. So everyone fusses over the mum to be (Elizabeth Taylor, very pretty and then still not very good an actor, though A Place in the Sun would be soon), there are clashes with the in-laws, the daughter's marriage is threatened through a silly misunderstanding, dad comes to love being a grandad. There is the whiff of that 50s prosperity women-stay-at-home, but the film still has the aura of truth - grandparents fighting over the baby, everyone getting excited, people worried about their ability to be parents. Tracy pulls off his role with aplomb once again.

Movie review - "Shannon's Deal" (1989) ***

Short lived television series created by John Sayles, about a former high flying corporate lawyer (Jamey Sheridan) who has had a break down and is trying to piece his life back together. This excellent pilot sees him take on a number of cases, the main one being a person busted for smuggling drugs into the country with possible government involvement. He also romances a lawyer and a journalist. Some smart writing, good performances (Sheridan is an interesting actor, a solid leading man who never quote made it), a non cop out ending where Shannon faces the interests of his client vs the interests of society. Directed by Lewis Teague, who directed several of Sayles' exploitation films.

Movie review - "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1936) **

Few American producers were more Anglophile in the 30s than David O Selznick, who produced this ode to the British upper classes. Freddie Bartholomew is incredibly annoying as a simpering child who finds out he's descended to British royalty. 

Although Bartholomew speaks with a strong British accent he's meant to have grown up all his life in Brooklyn - so when he arrives in Britain there is no real culture clash (the role probably should really have been played by Mickey Rooney, who plays one of Bartholomew's mates) just Bartholomew being cute. If you dig him, you'll like this. If not... C Aubrey Smith plays the crusty uncle role to perfection.

Movie review – "The Comancheros" (1961) ***

Full blooded sprawling John Wayne Western from his fertile early 60s period: lots of colour, action, and a handsome younger co-star (in this case Stuart Whitman). Wayne is a Texas ranger in 1840s Texas who tries to stop gunrunners and becomes involved with a criminal society living out in the desert. Highly enjoyable, with its star in good form, solid support from Whitman (who never became a star despite 20th Century Fox pushing him in a few films – he doesn’t have super charisma but is likeable), colourful supporting characters including one half scalped rascal played by Lee Marvin (whose role is too short). The most interesting character is the lead female, the daughter (Ina Balin) of the head comanchero who sets her cap at Whitman – feisty, sexual aggressive, smart, she is an unexpectedly strong female character in a Wayne film. (Balin doesn’t really do it full justice but she’s OK and very pretty).

TV series review – “24” (2002) – first series

I finally got around to watching this on DVD and really enjoyed it. I had been too intimidated to watch it on television – too much of a commitment and felt if I missed one episode that was it. I didn’t realize a lot of episodes would be the same – Kiefer Sutherland shooting at someone, someone shooting at Kiefer, a confrontation, someone kidnapping Kiefer’s wife/daughter, a tense domestic situation involving David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert). It remains gripping stuff, though, with some incredibly clever writing and plotting – disposing of villains at the half way point and getting in new villains, offering a genuine surprise mole at the end.
My favourite scene was the senator’s aide-tries-to-bug-her-assassin-lover scene – it’s marvelous writing: you think she’s going to be killed, then he’s going to be killed, but then… oh, see it.
The vision of the show is terrific, with its split screen and moody look and feel (the main director was semi-Aussie Stephen Hopkins and it’s the best work he’s done to date). Kiefer doesn’t really have much of a character to play – a good man in a bad world, and that’s about it, really. I couldn’t recognize any of the other cast except for Haysbert and the special guest stars towards the end – presumably this was intentional because it greatly adds to the spooky feel of the show: you don’t know who to trust, etc.
My favourite character was Nina, Kiefer’s assistant who carries a torch for him – hungry for love! It’s not that ground breaking in many of its characterizations – I note how most of the assassins are still very sexy, drug dealers have long hair, sex usually results in death – but that doesn’t really matter. Kiefer’s daughter was a little annoying – Elisha Cuthbert is cute, but is a bit too much “I’m playing a determined girl and I can’t really act” and her character is annoying (her mother says she’s pregnant and Elisha goes into a sulk – after they’ve been kidnapped together!).
Around the four-fifths mark it felt a little slack – Elisha’s women-in-prison sequence, the Lady Macbeth antics of David Palmer which didn’t seem to really strike true somehow. But all in all invigorating television.

Movie review – “The Racket” (1951) ***

RKO kind of went to seed under Howard Hughes but I have a great affection for many of the films they produced during that era, particularly ones starring Bob Mitchum. Mitchum is a little oddly cast in this one, playing a straight-arrow, incorruptible, slightly self-righteous cop – the sort of Eisenhower Era hero that Glenn Ford spcialised in playing. But he’s always watchable and up against a fine villain in Robert Ryan.

The film gets off to a flying start with gangster Ryan running a town, but in an uneasy alliance with new, smooth criminals; Mitchum is determined to bring Ryan down, and to that end isn’t about using a bit of hard force (which the film seems to think is fine and dandy.

There is a goody-goody non corrupt cop who you know is going to die because he’s played by an unfamiliar, uncharismatic actor; more interesting are the parts of Ryan’s useless brother and his floozie woman (Lizabeth Scott). It gets a bit we-love-law-and-order towards the end but is unpretentious, enjoyable and fast moving.

Movie review – “Battle Cry” (1955) ***

Not remembered much today but a big hit at the time; a quintessential 1950s movie in many ways, with a large budget, based on a best selling novel, a solid topic (war) spiced up a little (more frank in the sex department – its clear there is a lot of premarital rooting going on), a cast that consists of some solid old hands (Van Heflin, Raymond Massey), and some new ingénues under contract to the studio (Aldo Ray, Tab Hunter), plus some indistinguishable starlets (Mona Freeman, Anne Francis).

It has a sort of odd structure – we meet a cross section of troops who enlist in the Marines in 1942, then see them go into training. Then we concentrate on Tab Hunter and his relationship with married woman (Dorothy Malone) despite having a sweetheart (Mona Freeman) back home. Then this relationship is resolved, the troops ship out to New Zealand, where Aldo Ray has a relationship with an American-accented New Zealand widow (Nancy Olson).

A good portion of this film is set in New Zealand so Kiwis will find it fascinating (the land of the Long White Cloud also features in Sands of Iwo Jima and Until They Sail). Then it concentrates on Van Heflin leading the troops into action. A few characters are set up such as the geeky writer character (John Lupton) and they don’t seem to use him – they don’t even give the geeky writer a death scene. Tab Hunter – who isn’t much of an actor but suits the part – was meant to die but was made to live for the ending. Those Warners beefcakes of the 50s found greatest success when they were ingénues surrounded by other actors.

The film is always watchable and the franker portrayal of sex really helps it - it seems evident Hunter and Malone have sex, Ray and Olson have pre-marital sex.

Book review – “The Producers”

Interesting collection of profiles of various film producers. Makes the mistake of incorporating quotes into prose instead of letting the producers speak in their own words. I knew the stuff involving Dino de Laurentiis, wasn’t aware of how difficult Michael Douglas’ struggles as producer were. Other producers included Andrew MacDonald, Jeremy Thomas.
The most interesting bit was the French guy who runs a massive cinema campaign and produced the three colours trilogy – a former revolutionary and radical turned capitalist, but one with a real cultural agenda. I’d never heard of him and found it fascinating.

Play review – “Stuff Happens” by David Hare

A brilliant play about world’s politicians leading up to the Iraq War. Hare’s special skill is not to fall into the trap of making them evil or stupid – he explains why they did what they did, then shows, devastatingly well, why it was sp wrong. Superb.

Book review – “Elia Kazan” by Richard Shickel

Richard Schickel’s day job is a film critic for Time magazine and his biography of Kazan his highly opinionated. He doesn’t stuff around – from the beginning he opens with a spirited defence of Kazan’s naming names. Not that this is a hagiography of Kazan, he criticizes the director a fair bit – he doesn’t like East of Eden or his novels – but he is on Kazan’s side about the naming names thing. I agree too much has been made of this in recent years, but it is an issue that flames passions – I remember getting in an argument with a friend at a picnic in 1999. 

This is a pretty good biography, which isn’t so much interested in facts and events as in analyising films and political background to the time. Schickel is a little easy on McCarthyism – yes, it was a lot less nasty than Stalinism but it still wasn’t very nice.

At times I wondered if this book and some of its attitudes was partly a dig at Patrick McGilligan, who has written extensively on the blacklist and got stuck into Shickel over the latter’s Clint Eastwood bio (McGilligan had a similar Eastwood bio and he thought Shickel went way too easy on Eastwood.) I enjoyed the book a lot, and it made an ideal companion to Kazan’s brilliant memoirs. Kazan was a feisty character – sadly he went a bit ga ga in his final few years.

Movie review - "The World's Fastest Indian" (2006) ***

A bit of a mess but the most sheerly likable film in a long while. I saw it in a cinema where the audience consisted almost entirely of 60 year old couples - half men! Don't underestimate the retiree audience This film will be especially loved by 60 something blokes who muck around in sheds, have prostate problems and are cranky at people writing them off. For that's what Bart Munro (Anthony Hopkins) was while building the motor cycle that broke the land speed record. Munro is still chipper enough to charm two women into bed and also charm plenty of strangers in America - a transvestite, customs officials, racing officials. Some people are snappy at him but generally people are nice and helpful, which helps make this a nice film. Munro is deaf so there are a lot of dialogue lines where people repeat what they say to him, which is a little tiring.

Warner Brothers in the 1950s

Warners had been one of the Hollywood majors since the 1920s. The studio is best known for its innovation with sound and its great films of the 30s and 40s – Curtiz, Flynn, Bogart, etc. They are less well known for their success in the 1950s with television and new stars. Other studios entered television – Disney was the first to make a go of it, then Warners with Cheyenne. Warners realized if they could keep their costs down television could be a way to keep up the tradition of B movies – so they put a lot of their young talent to work in television. Studios went on a talent sign up splurge in the mid 1950s with Warners the most successful of them all – consider the names under contract: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Roger Moore, Paul Newman, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Roger Moore, Ed Byrnes, James Garner, Connie Stevens.

OK, there’s a lot of cheese amongst that lot but they had talent and Warners kept them very busy. On the flip side, in 1956 they sold off their pre-1948 films – a company called Seven Arts who made a fortune from buying movies and selling them to television took over the company in 1967. Warners were probably the last studio to have real success with actors under contract – though Universal and Fox at the time were big on it, too.

Book review - "Tab Hunter: Confidential" by Tab Hunter

I remember being astonished when I first discovered there had been a film star called “Tab Hunter”. What sort of a name was that? Indeed , even Tab Hunter hated it. He was a young good looking Californian kid who hung around the movies. I was familiar with the broad basics of his career, but didn’t know all the details: his first role was a starring one with Linda Darnell, and he made a big splash in the fan magazines… but his career didn’t really get going until he signed with Warner Brothers and made Battle Cry.

He was a star – a teen idol star – for the rest of the 50s. Despite his silly name he seems to have been genuine box office, especially with a name co-star. He also tried to expand his horizons. He was a little difficult with the studio – but every actor under contract with Warners became difficult. He actually paid to get out of his contract, and after a few dud films his career plummeted and he was making films in Europe and doing dinner theatre. Having said that he could still make a decent living. He had a sort of comeback as a camp icon in Polyester and is still around today.

In his memoirs Hunter comes across as a decent guy who got lucky in the 50s then got unlucky; his name was too silly and he also received bad publicity over allegedly hitting his dog just at the wrong time – this helped turn him into a joke. Although it probably was a mistake forhim to leave Warners, how much good would it have done for him, really? Troy Donahue, Ed Byrnes and all that lot suffered similar slumps. To his credit Hunter worked hard. His memoir is open about his sexuality - he had a relationship with tony Perkins and a fling with Nureyev, but he also talks about his more serious relationships. He also talks of his friendships with Natalie Wood and Joan Cohn and other adventures in the screen trade. Well worth a read.

Book review - "Adventures of a Suburban Boy" by John Boorman

John Boorman has always been an interesting director since he burst on to the scene in the 1960s – he had a distinguished background in television, along with many top British directors of the time, made a name with a Dave Clark film, then enjoyed a splash with Point Blank. His career has varied wildly – from the highs of Deliverance and Excalibur to the erratic bombs of Zardoz and Exorcist II. Hope and Glory was his last film to really make a whack, I think, though he is still turning them out – I wish his films did better.

I had read Boorman’s writings in the Projections series and also his diary on the making of The Emerald Forest and his screenplays for The General and Hope and Glory. Many of the same stories turn up again in this memoir but there are enough fresh ones to make this incredibly worthwhile – the stuff on Hell in Pacific is hilarious (Boorman’s relations with Mifune broke down – he directed through an interpreter whom Mifune ended up hitting), although he has an ego like all directors he is frank about the faults of films like Zardoz and Where the Heart Is – the book essentially cuts out after this, which is a shame because I would have liked to know more about his post 1990 films.

He is hazy, too, on his marriage – he mentions infidelity and divorce but this is sketchy (presumably because his former wife is still alive). He is a lot more open on his relationship with Lee Marvin and Jon Voight. I always thought Burt Reynolds should have starred in The Emerald Forest (though Powers Boothe is very fine he wasn’t the same sort of star) – it could have revitalized both careers.

Movie review – “A Star is Born” (1937) ***1/2

This film is better known for its 1954 remake, which is a superior movie but this is pretty good, too. It doesn’t start very well, following the ambitious Esther (Janet Gaynor) who wants to be famous and goes to Hollywood. Gaynor was a silent film star but you can’t really tell from this film; Esther here isn’t very nice, she’s a bit calculating and greedy. In the 1954 version you really got the impression that Esther as played by Judy Garland was (a) really talented and (b) really loved her husband. Here you don’t. When Gaynor tries to give up her career at the end you know she really resents it – and her husband.
Around half an hour in, though, Norman Maine appears as played by Frederick March and the film improves incredibly. March is excellent as the pitiful movie star on the slide – you believe he is talented and that he loves his wife.
The satire on Hollywood is very sharp, though Adolfe Menjou is way too cuddly and nice to make a believable movie producer. Lionel Stander is better as the nasty press agent – initially a figure of fun but then revealed to be a prick (though Jack Carson was even better in the remake). It makes more sense in the 1954 version to end it at the Oscars and start it at a movie premiere (where this film ends). But its cynicism and look at the cruelty of Hollywood help it vault the age. In colour but in that crappy mid 1930s colour.

Short movie review – “Pardon My Pups” (1934) **

Undistinguished short film (20 mins) about a boy overcoming his phobia of dogs – only of note today because his sister his played by Shirley Temple, even then cute as a button and full of spunky sass. In one scene she’s sprayed with water and her expression indicates she didn’t know in real life she was going to be sprayed – but like a trouper she keeps on with the scene. The actor playing a male teenager looks like the graduate from some local Ulladulla Drama Society.

Movie review – “My Favourite Brunette” (1947) ***

Bob Hope spoofs film noir as a baby photographer who gets mistaken for a private eye. Dorothy Lamour is a femme fetale and Peter Lorre a villain; Lon Chaney Jnr has a support role and cameos are played by Alan Ladd and Bing Crosby. A fun, bright movie with the star in good form. I found the plot a little confusing at times.

Book review - "Dark Lover"

Excellent biography of the legendary silent film star, Rudolph Valentino. Valentino is one of the few silent stars still known by young 'uns today along with Chaplin, Keaton, Garbo. Why? He had a totally suitable name, he had a strong iconic presence, and he died at the right time of his career. Valentino had a mythic reputation in his lifetime and even more so today. This book shows the real Rudy - who seems to have been an amiable guy, a charmer and talented dancer who was a bit of a dill, kept having affairs with lesbians/bi-sexuals, a kind of spoilt kid who loved his food and worried about going bald. He is touchingly human here - so his death is a genuine shame. I watched a copy of the Eagle recently and Valentino still has charisma.

The book is very well researched. It sheds a lot of light on his impact on 1920s America - popularising of the latino lover, his effect on women, and - surprisingly - his effect on men. Valentino was hated by many men in his life - he was the first metrosexual superstar - but he influenced male fashion, especially after Blood and Sand. Its interesting to consider how he would have fared with the coming of sound.