Script review - "The Getaway" by Walter Hill (1991)

I have seen the Alec Baldwin version of The Getaway but don't remember that much about it except to think that Baldwin really established himself as no Steve McQueen, and a sex scene between Baldwin and Kim Basinger which seemed very full on, but somehow not that hot because they were married - it just felt a bit show off-y.

The script in the film is credited to Walter Hill and Amy Holden Jones. The version I read was credited solely to Hill, and included some changes from the original - I'd gotten into my head that Hill's credit came due to his 1970s work but evidently not. It starts with Doc busting someone out of prison, then things going wrong, then him being arrested and going to gaol  - the 1972 film began with him getting out of gaol.

From memory the 1994 film shared the same ending as the 1972 one but this has Doc and his wife actually go to El Ray and find out that it's not that great. This is from the novel, although greatly truncated.

The rest of the script feels similar to the 1972 one. It's tight and solid and moves along fast. But really it needs the right stars.

Soundtrack review - "Johnny Handsome" (1989) ****

Ry Cooder did plenty of superb scores for Walter Hill - this was one of his best. Cooder was obviously inspired by the film's southern setting and reacted with an atmospheric, pungent score. The main theme is beautiful but the real stand outs for me were the rocking "Clip Joint Rhumba" and "Cajun Metal" (these tunes just say "Walter Hill movie" for me - tough, swaggering pieces) and the achingly lovely "I Like Your Eyes". The album is more consistently successful than the film.

TV review - "Rough Riders" (1997) ***

Two part mini series from TNT about the Teddy's Roosevelt's Rough Riders and the Battle of San Juan Hill. Although Tom Berenger is top billed as Roosevelt this is more of an ensemble piece, with lots of characters being displayed: there's Dale Dye's colonel, George Hamilton as William Randolph Heart, Chris Noth as a rich man's son determined to be a hero, an Indian, a black soldier, Brad Johnson as a stage coach robber who becomes a hero, Gary Busey's blowhard Southern general, Sam Elliot's good ole boy sergeant.

Milius always displayed a pleasing acknowledgement of different people who fought wars - there's blacks, Indians, people from all over America. Should be said there's hardly any women in it though - and the Indians are stoic and the blacks humble.

It could have done with a  bit more of the younger Milius' satire that was present in The Wind and the Lion and Apocalypse Now. There's some, such as in Roosevelt's Patton like opening speech and Hearst's gleeful cynicism (I really wish this part had been bigger - Hamilton is great fun). But too much of it is stock tropes from 1940s war films - Johnson discovering bravery, brothers in arms etc.

To be fair I don't mind a well worn trope if it's done well and some of this was moving: the death of the stiff Harvard type, the black soldier going for a drink with the white one. It's hard to feel too much sympathy for anyone though since all the characters run headlong into battle and war, seeking glory, but I was moved.

Milius isn't particularly good with action and the battle scenes feel like a collection of gunfire and explosions rather than anything with genuine dramatic build. The last hour or so in particular is heavy going - battle scenes seem to be people running up hills in formation firing guns. Maybe that's what happened - it's not that particularly visually interesting.

The Texas scenery is pleasant. Brad Johnson was effective - he's a lot more handsome with a bit of three day growth. It took me a while to get used to Chris Noth playing a blue blood but I didn't mind him. Sam Elliot is always good in these sort of crusty sergeant roles - ditto Gary Busey as an eccentric general.

Milius fans will get a lot out of it - the depiction of Teddy R, the imperialist slant, the gunfire, the cast which includes many faces from earlier Milius movies (such as Johnson, Brian Keith, Hamilton, William Katt).

It's a watchable episode of American history. There are some effective moments and I liked Berenger's performance.

Movie review - "Love and Friendship" (2016) ***1/2

Whit Stillman's movies were often described as modern day equivalents of Jane Austen tales, so he's an entirely appropriate person to be adapting Austen's little known Lady Susan. Extra fun for Stillman fans is the casting of Chlove Sevigny and Kate Beckinsale in roles that would have fitted into Last Days of Disco.

I'll be honest - sometimes I struggled to follow what people were saying, but it's crisp and bright and the handling has vigor. I enjoyed the cast and Stillman's irreverent treatment.

Movie review - "The Devil's 8" (1969) **

Cheerful knock off of The Dirty Dozen which would have benefited from stronger handling. I wanted to like this better than I did - it has a cute pedigree, being co written by John Milius and Willard Hyuck, based on a story by Larry Gordon; the cast includes Fabian; I like guys on a mission films; I enjoy Christopher George as an action hero - he's a good solid tough guy; Ralph Meeker has gone to seed but he adds gravitas as the villain. There's also Cliff Osmond, who was briefly a favourite of Billy Wilder, as Meeker's sidekick.

There are some good ideas - one of the convicts (Ross Hagen who has the second best role after George even though his billing isn't the best) is a former moonshine driver, whose ex (Leslie Parrish) is Meeker's mistress. Several agents investigating Meeker have gone missing. There is state wide corruption. Some of the other prisoners have some character to play - Larry Bishop is a pacifist, Fabian is a drunk. There's an action scene every ten minutes - a bar room brawl, a driving training sequence, a shoot out.

But most of these ideas aren't followed through - we never find out who the traitor is, or meet any of the missing agents. I wish the subplots had been stronger. More people should have died.

Most crucially the action isn't very well done. I'm not familiar with Burt Topper's work but he lacks flair. Scenes don't have build, and/or suspense and excitement.  There's also this jarring theme music that plays relentlessly through the film.

Fabian's role is surprisingly small for someone second billed - I would've thought they might have given him Hagen's part. Maybe he didn't seem Southern enough. Or they just didn't want to use him in it. He has a bit of acting to do, being a drunk who sneaks away to run around with women but redeems himself.

It's not offensive. It's just one of those films which you wish you could call a "hidden gem" or a "cult fave" instead of what it is, a bland knock off.

Movie review - "Bad Moms" (2016) ****

Raunchy, funny female skewed R rated comedy which has a very strong cast and some outstanding moments. At it's heart this is an old fashioned star vehicle for Mila Kunis, who is probably too young for her role in terms of age (to have a 12 year old) but completely right in terms of attractiveness, charisma and tone.

She's a super woman - tries to be there for her husband, is a great mom, a top notch worker and very funny. The husband is No Good, the kids are ungrateful, and her work don't appreciate her. Oh and she clashes with the head bitch of the PTA (Christina Applegate, perfect). This leads to an act of rebellion - she kicks out the cheating husband, teaches the kids to be self sufficient, parties, scores a hot widow (Jay Hernandez, not very good in a thankless role), beats the baddies, and learns the importance of more chilled out parenting.

It's a nice message and the writers have come up with lots of laugh out loud moments and fresh twists on old situations to overcome the formula. Kunis has excellent support from Kathryn Hahn (trashy single mom) and Kristen Bell (uptight anxious mom) as her new BFFs. Lots of fun.

Movie review - "Rashomon" (1950) ***1/2

I finally got around to seeing this! Had heard of it for years of course - it's one of the very few movies whose title has become a noun, to mean contradictory accounts of the same story told by different people.

It's beautifully shot like all the other Kurosawa movies I've scene, full of striking compositions and intense acting from men, shell-shocked performances from the women (well, one woman).

It's quite a full on tale. The story concerns the murder of a samurai and the rape of his wife by a bandit.  The rape is never in doubt - even the bandit's version has him raping her. The bandit reckons he duelled honorably with the samurai - the wife says her husband killed himself. A woodcutter who saw it thinks the battle was all too nasty and ferocious (this fight scene - clumsy and all over the place and ending with the samurai begging for mercy and an exhausted bandit killing him - is one of the most believable on film). The samurai's ghost has a different version.

Sorry if this makes me seem like a philistine but the samurai's ghost feels like a cheat. And I wish the kid at the end of the film had been tied in with one of the other characters in the film in a stronger way.

But its powerful and the themes of "what is truth" interesting (although it is undercut because more weight feels given to the woodcutter's version of events). It looks fantastic and Toshiro Mifune is electric as the bandit.

Movie review - "Manhattan" (1979) ****

An important film in the evolution of Woody Allen, Superstar - this followed up the blockbuster success of Annie Hall by being a similar adult comedy. The two movies helped set the template for many classic 90s-00s TV series which explored modern day relationships.

I wonder if its recalled as fondly as other Allen films - say Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, or Bullets over Broadway. Maybe not. In part because it's more serious, less loving - also I think the fact Allen's character goes out with a 17 year old and realises at the end that She's The One For Him, can, in hindsight, be a little off putting.

Gordon Willis' black and white photography is stunning, as are the views of New York and the use of Gershwin's music. Dianne Keaton gives a wonderful performance, so different from Annie Hall. Darling support turns from Wallace Shawn, Michael Murphy (in the Tony Roberts role), Meryl Streep (what a stunner). Mariel Hemingway is okay - a bit wooden. Woody himself gives one of his most confident star performers - funny, neurotic, but a rounded adult.

Very strong acting, jokes and situations. Its uniqueness has since been superseded by TV but it remains entertaining.

Movie review - "Ghostbusters" (2016) **1/2

I wanted to like this, really I did - I know a lot of male critics are saying this, and maybe I'm more sexist than I realise, but I did hate the hate campaign against this, wish those trolls would go to gaol and I really liked Bridesmaids and Spy.... but I feel this missed the mark.

It took me a while to pinpoint what was wrong - it's got the basic story still, an amazing cast, decent special effects, respectful cameos. I did feel it was made by people who weren't that into ghosts. This is something I never appreciated about the first movie, but it was genuinely spooky, with a New York that consisted of old atmospheric buildings, and a real feel for the paranormal. (I understand Dan Aykroyd was big into that stuff.) This isn't spooky, and the ghost stuff lacks atmosphere. In Spy I really felt Paul Feig loved spy movies - their conventions, tropes etc. I didn't feel from this that he liked ghost stories. There was no passion underneath it.

I also missed the Sigourney Weaver/Rick Moranis parts. The film could've done with a genuine love story; Kirsten Wiig has a crush on Chris Hemsworth to be sure - and Hemsworth's turn is very funny. But he's a comic relief person - there's no genuine romance there. In the original there was a chance that Weaver and Bill Murray would make it in the future - so when she was at threat at the end, there was genuine stakes. We didn't care about the vague populace of New York but we did about Weaver. There's no Weaver here.

There's no Rick Moranis either, unfortunately - the film cries out for a comic support character to come in and steal the show (it's not as though the filmmakers wouldn't have known someone). Moranis brought a great deal to the original Ghostbusters - a hugely entertaining subplot - and this version doesn't replace it.

Finally, I felt the casting wasn't right. Wiig and Melissa McCarthy are genuine movie stars, but neither is seen to their best feature - maybe they needed to switch roles or something. Kate McKinnon is a major debit. She's a phenomenally talented performer, she has X factor - but she doesn't work here; she pulls focus from her scenes, doing little "bits" like having glasses hang from her hair. Her character acts cool all the time instead of being invested in what's going on. This does make for a nice moment at the end when she connects with the others but it's too late - I wish they'd made her more into ghosts or the friendship or something.

Lots of funny moments but the film doesn't work. I wish they'd have another go at it because I think the potential for something special is there.

Movie review - "Plucking the Daisy" (1956) **

Brigitte Bardot became known as a sexpot but she was also a vivacious comedienne - bright, lively, full of spirit. As a star she's served reasonably well by this screwball comedy (co written by Roger Vadim), which seems to borrow from a whole bunch of Hollywood movies, many of them written by Norman Krasna: she writes a novel under a pseudonym (a concept strong enough for a film but they throw it away), her brother pretends to be a success in the city but is actually just a tour guide,  she's a sripper but hides her face, she hides her stripping from her boyfriend, a journalist (Daniel Gelin).

Bardot is the best thing about this movie - she's cute, fun, endearing, and (don't laugh) seems a bit innocent. Gelin isn't much but then his character is awful - a lecherous womaniser we are meant to like; his best mate photographer also grates, they are so into women it's like they are covering something up.

Later Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi pops up in a small role. The script is full of bright ideas but doesn't seem to know how to use them - the character of the father, the concept of the convent, etc. There is some nudity too - bare boobs and butts - which surprised me; not from Bardot, but the other contestants. It is lively enough.

Robert Vaughan Top Ten

1) Teenage Caveman (1957) - no kidding, actually a genuinely imaginative early Roger Corman flick
2) The Magnificent Seven (1960) - probably the best of the supporting cast
3) Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) - touching reprise of his "Seven" character
4) Bullitt (1968) - oily politician
5) The Bridge at Remagen (1969) - v good as a sympathetic German
6) SOB (1981) - funny as an executive
7) Superman III (1983) - is this film as bad as everyone says it is? I remember liking it when I was ten but I've been too scared to go back and check
8) I suppose I should put the Man from UNCLE on here...
9) The A Team Season 5 - playing a variation on his stock military figure character
10) Coronation Street (2012) - I never saw this but he was on Corrie, how awesome is that?
Oh and he wrote a PhD... about the blacklist... which I think is cool. RIP Robert.

Movie review - "Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey" (1995) **1/2

Richard Schickel look at the famous director, similar to the one he did on Gary Cooper - some decent clips, lots of talk about themes, not that much on the actual life. This has the advantage of an extensive interview with Kazan himself, then still firey and virile. The blacklist is mentioned but not dwealt on in detail. We hear a lot about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Baby Doll, Streetcar, Brando, Waterfront, Wild River, Viva Zapata, Gentleman's Agreement, Splendor in the Grass and America, America - not a lot about The Visitors, Sea of Grass, Pinky, Man on the Tightrope, Last Tycoon, The Arrangement, his later stage work.

To be fair there's a lot to get through. I liked seeing his old screen tests. Would've liked more of a straight up narrative. Eli Wallach narrates.

Movie review - "Kelly's Heroes" (1970) *** (warning: spoilers)

A tail-end entry in the 60s guys-on-a-mission cycle, this one has the bright idea of some American soldiers who, during the Normandy campaign during World War Two, decide to spend a few days robbing some gold from the Germans.

The idea is better than the resulting movie. I feel they could have done more with the soldiers as thieves - more conflict amongst the guys, more anti war, more satire, more twists... something. The Dirty Dozen really used the central concept, i.e. that they were ex-cons - played it out via conflict amongst the characters. But "soldiers as thieves" really gets raised at the beginning and the end and that's it.

There's lots of things you could've done - there's a soldier who wants to say report them for stealing and is going undercover, or some soldiers mutiny after it becomes apparent that this trip could get them killed, or authority figures genuinely figure out what's going on and try to stop/betray them.  It lacks say the twists of Where Eagles Dare or Guns of Navarone.

There is some decent action - some scenes seem to have inspired the later Saving Private Ryan eg soldiers climbing up bell towers in French villages. I love the colour and the production design.

The cast is decent and have different types to play. Telly Savalas really makes an impression as a hard-arsed sergeant, Don Rickles is fun as a wheeler and dealer and Donald Sutherland hilarious as a hippy style tank commander. Clint Eastwood is always at home in this sort of material though to be frank he's overshone by those other four. His character isn't as outlandish or funny - we never get to know him much more than "he's cynical".

You'll also see people like Gavin Macleod and Perry Lopez in it and Carol O'Connor is funny as a general. Shame the French locals couldn't have played more of a role - this could've done with say a treacherous Frenchie, or some female parts.

The finale, which builds to a Leone style shoot out and ends with the Germans agreeing to help, feels like a cheat - I get the idea of it, just felt emotionally hollow. But the concept is so strong... I'd love for this to be remade.

Movie review - "School for Love" (1955) ** (aka ‘Futures vedettes')

Early Brigitte Bardot film where she's a student at a conservatoire, singing dubbed opera. Jean Marais the the head of the school, a singer. Bardot has the hots for Marais who is married - and also flirts with another student, Isabelle Pia.

The set up for this isn't bad - lives and loves of people at a music school; you've got sex, and betrayal and musical interludes, etc etc. But there isn't much drama. I kept expecting a suicide or murder or big confrontation but it never comes.

Marais is ideally cast as an aging teacher who is still handsome. Bardot is very cute and appealing. The film was directed by Marc Allegret, who also wrote the script with Mr Bardot, Roger Vadim. They didn't do a very good job. I get the feeling they were unsure which way to go - not funny or charming enough to be a comedy, not enough happens for it to be drama.

Movie review - "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (1976) ***1/2

A Western with many things going for it - the period detail, basic story, some fine performances. I did feel it had been overpraised. Maybe I'm being nitpicky.

It starts off as one film and ends with another. The first part is more straight up Death Wish style revenge - Eastwood is a Southern farmer whose wife and kids are killed by red legs, so he joins raiders and kills people. The war ends, and his squadron are treacherously killed. He kills them back, heads out West... and the piece changes into Wales/Eastwood collecting a bunch of misfits  -Sondra Locke, Chief Dan George, Paula Trueman, Geraldine Kearns. It's all about communal living... then the baddies turn up again and there's a big battle where Wales/Eastwood gets to kick some ass.

So an interesting collection of scenes. It looks fantastic. Southerners will enjoy it. Bill McKinney is a worthy villain and John Vernon an interesting antagonist (he's not a baddy, though Clint thinks he is). Actually the whole cast is fairly strong. The take on war makes you think - it's so traumatic for everyone, yet it also unites people.

TV movie review - "The Falklands Play" (2002) ****

A TV play about the Falklands War, not shown by the BBC because it was considered too sympathetic to Margaret Thatcher. I thought it was a well written, concise tight view of events - strongly acted, gripping to see. It was sympathetic to Thatcher and there were one or two "isn't she awesome" moments, but it really was her finest hour.

The cast is very good - people like Patricia Hodge and James Fox. Ian Curteis is an excellent writer and I wish Australia could make one off historical dramas like this.

Movie review - "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952) **** (warning: spoilers)

Citizen Kane done MGM style as we look back at the life of a film producer (Kirk Douglas) through three people closest to him - a director (Barry Sullivan), star (Lana Turner), writer (Dick Powell). This is Dore Schary's MGM at it's best - a clever, smart film, with some handsome gloss, strong performances. I'm assuming a lot of credit goes to producer John Houseman, a man with a first class list of credits... including Citizen Kane.

Actually now I think about it there's several more similarities to Kane - an old haunted house with a broken down drunk girl living inside, the story of a Great Man, etc.

There's some key differences - we only have three flashbacks instead of five, which means that we get into the stories more; the subject of the film is alive at the beginning, not dead, which means there are more stakes in them establishing a relationship; the tone isn't as bleak.

Kirk Douglas is a bastard but not a complete bastard - yes he does some rough things but never that terrible: he develops a project with Sullivan and gets in another director; he falls for Turner but goes off with a floozy (Elaine Stewart); he pretends he didn't know Powell's wife (Gloria Grahame) was having an affair with a star (Gilbert Roland) when he did. I mean none of those are mortal sins, really... Well, says I anyway.

And as kindly mogul Walter Pigeon points out all the main characters got stuff out of their association with him: Douglas helped launch Sullivan as a director, made Turner a star, and helped Powell become one of the leading writers in Hollywood.

Each story has something interesting about it. Sullivan isn't that exciting an actor, but I loved how the filmmakers borrowed the real-life story of Val Lewton and Cat People. Turner is genuinely good as the hot mess of an actor who thinks she loves Douglas only to have him drive her away - it's one of her best ever parts.  The Powell-Grahame relationship is genuinely interesting - he's this pipe smoking smug racist historian (okay I'm reading the racism into it but an old southern professor with a black maid... I don't think it's too much of a leap) with a trashy wife who gets very excited about the prospect of going Hollywood.

Gilbert Roland's character is a bit too much of a cliche - Latin lover. It's beautifully shot and scored, very well written. Vincente Minnelli does a strong job as director.

Documentary review - "This is Orson Welles" (2015) ***

Clift notes version of Orson's career, which clocks in at under an hour. It includes interviews with his daughter Chris (mostly affectionate), Peter Bogdanovich, Henry Jaglom, Martin Scorsese and Joseph McBride. There's lots of footage from Jaglom's films.

It's hard to pack Orson's life into something under an hour. This does as good a job as any.