Book review - "Out of Sight" by Elmore Leonard (warning: spoilers)

 Such a good book. Tight. Funny. Fast. Might be a bit confusing if I hadn't seen the film. Faithful adaptation - I was surprised how much dialogue was taken directly. The one big change of the film was making it non linear and actually meeting the mogul character - he's only referred to. Oh and the ending -here Buddy dies and it's more down beat. But a lot of fun, great characters and twists.

Movie review - "Cry for Happy" (1961) **

 Films set in Japan were all the rage in the late 1950s but this was one at the tale end of the cycle - I think it flopped. Glenn Ford is once again an American serviceman abroad, this time working for the navy. He and some other sailors including Glenn Ford get billetted at a geisha house.

The girls, Miko Taka and Miyoshi Umeki, were both in Sayonara. James Shigeta and Chet Douglas are other sailors.

There's a really unfunny extended bit in the middle where everyone watches a film with Japanese actors in a Western. Actually a lot of this is unfunny. It reaches for charm and doesn't get there. O'Connor's role is relatively small... I felt this would be better as a straight out buddy comedy.

Apparently Bobby Darin was up for a role in this but couldn't make it work schedule wise. O'Connor's part? Douglas's?

This is one of those films where the elements are there - the concept, stars, director all seem appropriate - but it just doesn't work. Maybe it's the lack of a core romance for Ford. Maybe it was too early to have really racy fun with the subject matter. Or they were too worried about offending people. Or something. It doesn't work.

Location filming is pleasant. And it was good to see actual Japanese actors given decent parts.

Book review - "Unsinkable" by Debbie Reynolds

Reynolds' second memoir. Covers her dud third marriage, adventures with Carrie, later films like Mother, construction of her hotel and casino. A lot of the financial misadventures make grim reading. I kept thinking "just invest in basic real estate and shares, Debbie. Stop trying to make a museum and hotels!"

It also goes film by film through her career with various anecdotes so the films get plenty of attention. Great anecdotes: Marjorie Main carried around an urn of her dead husband's ashes to talk to him; on Give a Girl a Break Stanley Donen had a man crush on Bob Fosse and a big fight with Gower Champion; she was taken off The Actress (they should've used her); Bundle of Joy was hard to film due to Eddie Fisher's insecurity making him cranky and Norman Taurog's memory loss; on Tammy Leslie Nielsen was a method diva and Walter Brennan full of tricks to steal scenes (like always turn your face three quarters in a two hander to get more exposure; Tony Randall (The Mating Game) had an enormous member; Richard Brooks bullied slapped Reynolds making The Catered Affair (which she otherwise liked... I think Brooks was a real bully); Glenn Ford actively chased Reynolds around a room (they became friends but Debbie... that's attempted assault); the budget of Molly Brown was cut during filming to pay for Zhivago but intense rehearsal meant they saved a dance number; Tony Curtis spread an Eddie Fisher rumour that Reynolds was a lesbian and lousy lay (and she's defensive about her love making abilities); the one time she was tempted to bang a co star was Maurice Ronet on How Sweet It Is; James Garner brought a vibrator as a joke into a bed scene with Reynolds; as an uncredited producer on Whatever Happened to Helen she was going to sack Shelley Winters for lack of professionalism and replace her with Geraldine Page but decided it would cost too much; Dennis Weaver is a great kisser up there with Frank Sinatra; Sean Patrick Flannery refused to rehearse.

Fun book.

Movie review - "I Love Melvin" (1953) **1/2

 MGM musicals went into a decline after Louis B Mayer left. This reunited two stars of Singing in the Rain Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor - the age gap is only seven years which is small by Hollywood standards.

The songs and stars are great as are the dances. It's all done with MGM gloss and skill - they had so many good people under contract it was hard for them to make a bad musical.  On one level.

This has a dopey book. A really bad book. And that matters. Reynolds is a small town gal dreaming of stardom (cue fantasy sequences which I believe are generally a bad idea unless completely fantastical) who is loved by photographer assistant Donald O'Connor. She insists he get her on the cover of a magazine or she'll marry someone else which isn't very nice although Reynolds gives a charming performance. It's based on contrived misunderstandings and greed. It's a shame because the musical numbers are so good and the stars so strong.

Robert Taylor makes a cameo. Richard Anderson plays a fake love interest to O'Connor's love interest as he would do in The Buster Keaton Story.

Movie review - "The Buster Keaton Story" (1957) **1/2

 The film that marked the end of Donald O'Connor's time as a movie star... he'd just been in Anything Goes then he did this, billed above the title, and it flopped and it was... over. No films for a few years, and they didn't do much.

He's really good. He's always good. Does the comedy, the drama (Keaton's alcoholism). He's not exactly Mr Stoneface but that's hard to do. He was ideal because he grew up in vaudeville and was an alcoholic too.

Maybe the story was too hard. The fictionalisation of this is annoying. It gives Keaton one wife, a made up script supervisor. Ann Blyth was in musicals with O'Connor back in the day but here she's just bland pretty doll and too sensible. We never feel that she and O'Connor would be together or why (she seems very uncomfortable taking part in the slapstick at the end) - which is a big deal since that's the one relationship the film invests time in. Biopics only work really when they focus on a relationship. 

They do little with Keaton's parents There's the one studio guy, Larry Keating, one flunkie, Richard Anderson (as a rival for Blyth). Rhonda Fleming pops up as a silent film star Keaton falls for. Peter Lorre has a random small role as a director and Cecil B De Mille appears as himself.

It never feels real. There's no consistent theme.

I enjoyed O'Connor's dramatic acting and there's nice bits like Keaton doing business for the baseball kids. I do like that they had a go at it - I mean it's interesting and is a good chance for O'Connor. Sidney Sheldon directed - maybe he was the wrong guy. Maybe it just should've focused on the early days of vaudeville made it happy go lucky. The true story actually has a great five act structure (early days, struggle, fame, decline and booze, third wife) but that was probably too hard legally.

Look, this film did buy Keaton a house.

Movie review - "Call Me Madam" (1953) ****

 Not regarded as one of the great Hollywood musicals but I really liked it. Ethel Merman blasting her way through a perfect vehicle for her, an ambassador to a small European country. Actually everyone is well cast - Donald O'Connor is charming as her press attache (they have a lovely relationship), Billy de Wolfe fun as the snobby ambassador staff, George Sanders has fun singing as the guy who Merman falls in love with, Vera Ellen's limitations as an actor are protected by putting on the accent and she has some wonderful dances. It's full of colour and fun and is just good natured delight.  Walter Lang deserves more credit.

Movie review - "Anything Goes" (1956) ***

 Donald O'Connor was meant to team with Bing Crosby in White Christmas but fell ill - the two men got their chance together with this, which isn't that well remembered. I mostly recall just hearing it used a different plot to the 1936 version.

Maybe the two female leads let it down - Jeanmarie is a dancing legend, but doesn't exactly pop on screen. Mitzi Gaynor is bright and professional but lacks a little X factor.

The number between Crosby and O'Connor at the beginning feels very influenced by Singing in the Rain.  So too does a big ballet Jeanmarie does to a backdrop of a town, and a cheer up number O'Connor does to some kids.

There are some terrific numbers and songs - everyone can sing and dance (maybe Bing can't dance). Robert Lewis, more of a Broadway guy, does a decent job of directing.

The book is dim - misunderstandings about women being offered the lead in a play - but it is bright and sparky and I enjoyed it.

Movie review - "Marie of the Isles" (1959) **

A biopic of someone called Marie Bonnard du Parquet, a wife of the governor of Martinique who I assume is more famous in France. She's played by Belinda Lee, who often played real life figures in her European movies, often notorious sex pots.

Here Marie is a serving maid who meets a handsome lout (Alain Saury) but can't marry him because she's trailer trash and he's off to run Martinique. She marries a rich baddy who doesn't consumate marriage while Suary gets involved with a chubby pirate.

I was looking forward to this as I like a pirate film but there's not enough Lee or swashbuckling. It's mostly the chubby pirate and other character actors and the budget isn't that big. It perks up towards the end. I was a little disappointed. Maybe it was more due to my expectations.

It was directed by Georges Combret.

Movie review - "Sing 2" (2021) ***

 Like an old school musical - a rickety book (about putting on a show in a Las Vegas type city) - but packed full of songs and charm. Looks great on the big screen with all that colour and detail. I liked the mother pig with all her piglets getting a big chance. A lot of the voices felt familiar - well, they were played by stars. Chelsea Peretti is the talent scout, Bono is the lion singer, Spike Jonze is the assistant. When you see Wes Anderson did the voices you realise a lot of the cool kids are here. It was fun.

Movie review - "Blood Feud" (1961) (aka Il Sicario) **1/2

Italian film directed by  Damiano Damiani (who later did Amityville 2) which I only watched because Belinda Lee has a support role. It's about an industrialist (Sergio Fantoni) who owes a lot of money who decides to hire Alberto Lupo to kill his creditor. Belinda Lee is his wife - quite dowdy in comparison to her normal European roles. When Lupo slaps her around she goes silent, takes her coat and the kids and leaves. Later they get back together.

Lee gets a few other chances to act here - a break down, yelling at her husband. So too Sylva Koscina who plays Fantoni's girl.

Cesare Zavattini was one of the writers.  This doesn't play out the way I thought it would. I figured Lupo would kill relatively early then there would be twists and turns. But actually it's mostly Lupo angsting.

Nice to see Lee in a film which actually tries to be good. Doesn't quite get there, but it's interesting.

Movie review - "The Pathfinder" (1952) **1/2

 Cheerful Sam Katzman Western set during the French Indian Wars based on James Fenimore Cooper's prequel to The Last of the Mohicans. George Montgomery plays the Hawkeye role, Jay Silverheels is Chicganook. Uncas is a baby, and Helena Carter is the girl they escort across the forest.

There's not much escorting - the last act is mostly indoors. Carter is helping Montgomery spy for the French. There's a bit of bickering before they fall in love. Carter has a decent subplot - a guy she was engaged to has become a drunken bum married to an Indian. The French officer develops a crush on Carter and Montgomery which is cute.Carter has more to do in this than in most of her films and was only seven years younger than her co-star which is pretty good for Carter.

Unpretentious programmer fun.This was the last film of Carter's I had to see so it's nice that it's ticked off the list.

Movie review - "Curtain Call at Cactus Creek" (1950) ***

 Fun musical Western which is kind of a spoof of The Westerner with Walter Brennan again as an outlaw (I guess he was a judge in the other one) with a crush on an entertainer. That's a great idea for a musical although they don't really do enough with the Lily Langtry figure - played here, very fun, by Eve Arden. Vincent Price is entertaining as  a hammy actor touring the West with Arden, Gale Storm and backstage guy Donald O'Connor.

it's a vehicle for O'Connor who is winning. Charles Lamont directs well, it is lively and in colour.  I wish more had been done with Price and Gale Storm but the relationship between Brennan and O'Connor is very sweet.

O'Connor does a final act in blackface, which is unfortunate.

Movie review - "I Married a Woman" (1958) *

 This was one of the two films Diana Dors made for RKO in the US. It was also one of two starring vehicles for George Gobel, who I have not seen in anything before this - he had a weekly comedy show. From what I gather Gobel became famous playing a lonesome type. Here he's married to Diana Dors playing an advertising executive.

The plot is sitcom - Gobel has to come up with an ad campaign. He neglects his wife... Dors. Seriously?

How are they married? Why would he neglect her? Why would we be supposed to care?

It ambles along. Gobel has a lethargic screen presence. Dors, typically, gives her all. She looks terrific, has strong comic timing. But she's just so miscast and the vehicle so bad. It needed to be in colour.

John Wayne appears in a gag cameo, as a character in a movie appearing opposite Angie Dickinson. That's funny - as is his reprise at the end.

The incompetence of this movie made me angry. Its dopiness. The fact it took a sitcom plot and padded it out to feature length. Its miscast stars. The lack of colour or point. The waste of support characters like Adolphe Menjou and Jesse Royce Landis.

Movie review - "What's Cookin'?" (1942) **1/2

 The low budget Universal musicals of the 1940s didn't get much TV play in Australia when I was growing up. A shame since they're a lot of fun. Low budget yes but it was Universal, so production values are high.

This was Donald O'Connor's first film under contract to Universal. There's a bunch of teens in it - including Peggy Ryan - but O'Connor is the one who has individuality. Gloria Jean is pretty as a rich girl who sings. The Andrews Sisters are in it.

Not a lot of story - basically put on a show - but done with energy and verve.

Movie review - "Mister Big" (1943) **1/2

 Donald O'Connor was promoted to being above the line star for this musical set at a drama school. Florence Bates as a stuff rich girl who wants her niece Gloria Jean to star in Antigone, leading to some funny gags. Robert Paige rocks up to play a composer - his part isn't very good; he has a love interest. Peggy Ryan is very funny as a gal with a yen for O'Connor - actually a lot of girls seem to be into him. The Jiving Jacks and Jills dance.

O'Connor and Jean go the full pash at the end. There's wall to wall music and not much time on story. The kids do a number in black and white minstrel make up. Then some black singers turn up - kids, the Ink Spots.

There's a lot of talent here.

Movie review - "There's No Business Like Show Business" (1954) **1/2

 Not really a good movie but it's packed with legends: Ethel Merman, singing the title tune, and Marilyn Monroe, and now time has passed you could include Dan Dailey, Mitzi Gaynor, Donald O'Connor, and Johnnie Ray. There's Irving Berlin songs, Marilyn Monroe singing 'Heatwave" in a skimpy outfit, a love of old performers, a wonky story, but hey... they don't make 'em like this any more.

Movie review - "Barb and Star go to Vista del Mar" (2021) ***1/2

 Really fun nutty buddy comedy which goes all over the place - imaginary spirit animals, spy movies, murderers, sex, musical n umber. Jamie Dornan steps into the Jon Hamm role with aplomb. Very strong cast.

Movie review - "Wraith of God" (2021) **1/2

 Had no idea what to expect going in, except Jason Statham kicked arse. The action scenes are well done, I enjoyed the jumping around in time. It's very blokey and masculine. Very strong cast - Scott Eastwood gets to show a bit more flair. A lot of characters, most of whom wind up dead - I mean the toll is really high. A solid film though.

Movie review - "The Suicide Squad" (2021) **

 This sounded like a great idea - get James Gunn to have a crack. Margot Robbie is terrific once more. Actually all the actors are good except John Cena, who struggles with the comedy.

But this has a black heart. There's a whole segment where the Squad go and shoot all these people - sometime electrocute them, cut their heads, etc... then, hahahahaha, it turns out they're friendly revolutionaries, hahahahah.

And there's a sequence where they discover all these people who've been tortured and mutated over 30 years. Is that fun?

And the team operate with an incredible lack of professionalism - going to a bar and boozing on.

Then we're meant to care when the characters are given backstory involving their parnts?

The film must break some kind of record for killing off NS guards. After a while I started to feel sorry for her.

Daniela Melchior is fun as the sleepy rat girl. The shark is entertaining (Stallone did the voice).

It's just a mean spirited film. I also think Americans don't go for films where their government is really really bad.

Movie review - "Godzilla vs Kong" (2021) **1/2

 Excellent effects and action sequences. Great fights. I enjoyed Hollow Earth. And the little girl who did sign language with Kong, that was cute.

Too much of that podcaster and the two teens - they could've cut that out of the film. Actually they could've cut most of the human stuff out.

Alexander Skarsgard is... I don't know, there. Rebecca Hall is professional. Eiza Gonzales comes on looking spectacular and you want her to kick arse but she does barely anything. Ditto Shun Orguri. Demian Bichir is a stock villain. The Kiwi kid was cute.

Not a turkey, some good moments, you just wish it was better.

Movie review - "In the Heights" (2021) **1/2

 Some glorious sequences - bright colours, dancing, imaginatively staged - and a talented cast but at 144 mins it's a a hard slog and they didn't get the love story right. Both of them lack drama and conflict. I constantly felt like this would play better on stage.

Maybe it lacked star power too. Everyone was very capable but it lacked X factor. IMHO anyway. I wanted to love it.

Book review - “I’ll Be Your Huckleberry” by Val Kilmer

One minute Kilmer was everywhere, then he wasn’t. He became famous very quick... I was aware of him from the get go because he was the lead in the classic Top Secret, barely out of Julliard (which he calls THE Julliard in the book, too many times). There was Real Genius then a showy role in Top Gun, which made him a kind-of star. I actually don’t think he was ever a proper star - he was a character actor who had leading man looks, so Hollywood thought he was a star. But for a time his luck was very good: showy cameos in True Romance, showy actor-y roles in The Doors, showy character parts in Heat and Tombstone, a lead in Batman Forever. Then in the late 90s things wobbled with a series of, if not flops, then underwhelming works: The Saint, The Ghost and the Darkness, The Island of Dr Moreau, At First Sight.

To be honest I thought Kilmer would come back more than he did... every now and then it seemed he was “back”: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Spartan. He never quite did, either in a box office hit or a critical darling... his luck didn’t hold. He got chubby of course and never lost the weight... that beautiful young man thing left him, which doesn’t help.

Tales of his temperament flew thick and fast around the 90s but haven’t seemed to have dogged him in the last twenty years. I know lots of Aussies who tell stories of his time on Moreau and Red Planet (the latter not mentioned here). They would also be surprised to hear of his claim to not have been into drugs.

It’s an interesting read. Very art-y and full of talk of love. He writes with great affection for the women in his life, listing their famous names: Cher, Joanne Whaley, Darryl Hannah, Cindy Crawford, Mare Winningham, Ellen Barkin... Then adds he hasn’t had a girlfriend in more than fifteen years. You feel sorry for him at times. The career feels unfulfilled. But he's done some incredible things.

Movie review - "Jack" (1996) **

 The Rainmaker was one Coppola example of 90s Hollywood studio cinema - Grisham, stars, languid pace, lawyers, etc. So too was Jack - high concept, Robin Williams, schmaltz.

It's hard going. Coppola cares about the material and it's made with care but the whole film feels... off. Too slow. Miscast (eg Diane Lane as Jack's mum... I like Lane she just feels wrong. Ditto Brian Kerwin as dad). Maybe Robin Williams is too old and sad for the piece to be funny. I actually think Coppola was just the wrong director.

Or not. I dunno. This film evokes strange feelings. I didn't enjoy it. Williams plays a 40 year old ten year old.  He's not even handsome and fit at his peak - he's already in decline. Tom Hanks in Big was in his prime.

Bill Cosby is fine but his presence kills fun. Actually all the acting is good - the kids and so on. Jennifer Lopez is good. Williams is solid.

It's just a bit sad and depressing. The kids are mean but then like Jack because he's good at bastkeball. But hanging with ten year old boys is rarely fun on screen - farts, vomit, burps, porn mags, etc. It's all true it's just not a very engaging age (while being a teenager is more interesting). 

The one fun bit was when Fran Drescher hits on him. That's fun. And Michael McKean at a bar. The rest is so serious. Maybe, I don't know, if there had been some subplot where Williams helped his parents find love, make his mother a single mum and help her life. or help Lopez get a promotion. Improve people's lives. I know these are very Hollywood notes but it needed something.

Play review - "Vieux Carre" by Tennessee Williams (1977)

 Not a masterpiece but no disaster. The main flaw for me was that so much of the ground was well travelled - a memory play of the past narrated by a writer, a boarding house run by a crazy old day, the bisexual stud with a sado masochistic relationship with a dying woman, the Williams surrogate, a sick old painter.

There's some developments - more swearing (the f**k word), more obviously gay (the painter seduces the writer). The girl Jane and the stud Tye seem like a young Stella and Stanley complete with marital rape.

It's a lot of short scenes, it doesn't really build or even interconnect - Jane and Tye barely have anything to do with the Writer for instance. It doesn't build to anything, there's no melodramatic secret or reveal, say. But the writing is strong. It has some effective scenes such as the gay seduction and Miss Nightingale and the writer.

Movie review - "Tonight for Sure" (1962) *

 Before Coppola worked for Roger Corman he did some nudie cuties. This is about two men who meet and travel through Sunset Strip. There's lots of gryating women. Jack Hill worked on this as did Coppola's dad Carmine. It's dull. The photography isn't as good as say Russ Meyers. There's some quirky bits. You'd be hard pressed to know it was Coppola. Not really a porno more a "nudie".

Movie review - "The Rainmaker" (1997) **1/2

 Francis Coppola tries John Grisham. It's not one of Grisham's big thriller pieces more a series of different plots centered around a young poor lawyer (Matt Damon in an early leading role). He romances a sweet little domestic violence victim (Clare Danes, being regularly thumped by Andrew Shue), goes to work for an ambulance chaser (Mickey Rourke) teams up with another ambulance chaser (Danny de Vito). lives with a little old lady (Teresa Wright) who has shonky rellies, and a family with a son who has leukemia (Mary Kay Place).

There's a lot of poor white trash: wife beaters, ruthless ambulance chasers, eccentric old ladies, sexy but noble alcoholic turncoat witness (Virgina Madsen). There's also rich white trash: insurance company lawyers, the insurance company (Roy Schneider). Plus noble white trash: kid with terminal illness, domestic violence victim. And a noble black judge (Danny Glover)

It has a sleepy, ambling pace - it takes 50 minutes for de Vito and Damon to set up their own business, which is really where it could've started. I think this is why it wasn't a big hit.

Terrific photography, great acting. Everyone is on form. It's another Australian film from Coppola - well acted meandering. The violent bits perk up. This was okay, just long.

Book review - "Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins" by Amanda Vaill

 Very good book. Exhaustively researched. About an important person. Decent gossip (flings with Montgomery Clift). Some anti-communist naming names. The trickiness of putting on Broadway shows.

But it's about a dancer/choreographer and I kept wanting to see it. I don't know how you can get past that. I think she wrote as good a book as you could.

Book review - "Genghis Khan" by Frank McLynn

 McLynn's done a very good job - it feels like exhaustive research, he keeps it readable, I can't see how this would be better. Genghis was a genius and a genuinely self made man. But he killed and killed and conquered and conquered and there was no point. Millions died because he wanted to expand then constructed a society dependent on war. They would routinely wipe out towns, chopping up pregnant women. And it got wearying. Reading this I thought "I bet the author will say oh everyone did this back then" and he did and that made me more depressed. Look, I get it, the book is just a downer to read.

Movie review - "Rumble Fish" (1983) ***1/2

 The public weren't ready to embrace this at the time but looking back it's become a Coppola fan favourite. The artiness of a treatment I think annoyed many back then but now is exciting and fresh - the Stuart Copeland score, the back and white photography, arty camera angles.

Matt Dillon is effective as Rusty James the young, thick wanna be gangster. Mickey Rourke is electric as his elder brother Motorcycle Boy. Coppola stepped up another notch when working with a writer he respected - Puzo, Milius - and that's the case with SE Hinton.

Dillon's fellow gang members include Vincent Spano (nerd who never seems to do as much as you think), Chris Penn and Nicolas Cage. Diane Lane is his gal, Sofia Coppola her sister. William Smith a cop who hassles them, Tom Waits runs a pool hall, Dennis Hopper is the dad, Larry Fishburne is a townsperson.

The last third of this didn't quite work for me - instead of building it seemed to dissipate and Rourke's death seemed throw away. But it was always interesting, strong acting, stimulating.

Movie review - "The Island of Dr Moreau" (1996) **1/2

 A film whose fame has lingered when other better, more popular movies are forgotten.  But then there was only one Marlon Brando, one John Frankenheimer and one Val Kilmer. The head is David Thewlis who, er, lacks a little charisma... he took over from Rob Morrow, who I'm not sure would've saved things. I actually think the casting of Thewlis played  a big part in this not being a hit - he's just this skinny everyman.

Brando is interesting - big, hammy, Brando-y, loads of fun. Kilmer is entertaining too as his weird sidekick, whic his actually a showier role than the lead. Kilmer's weirdness is appropriate as is Brando's - I like how Kilmer imitated Brando. And I liked Fairuza Balk too.

The film's main problem for me was the script didn't seem to make sense in the last third (didn't Thewlis want to escape?) and Thewlis isn't very compelling. The film loses life when Brando dies (only one hour in) and then Kilmer not long after. And it's a downer Balk was killed. They should've kept these characters alive at least until the very end.

But it looks gorgeous, the basic story still holds, there's atmosphere and weirdness, Brando, Kilmer and Balk are spot on.

Play review - "Night of the Iguana" by Tennessee Williams (1961)

 Williams' last Broadway hit, I think... a fun look at various types hanging around a small hotel in a Mexican coastal town. There's the earthy Maxine who shags her beach boys and has just lost her husband but isn't too sad about it; Shannon, a defrocked priest on the verge of a nervous breakdown (a fantastic part, one of Williams' best male roles... Richard Burton was made to play this); Hannah, a spinster artist with her granddad who may be Shannon's one true love.

Williams doesn't seem that interested in the character of Charlotte, the 16 year old Shannon has banged, or her guardian Judith - these feel like they need a subplot. I enjoyed the Nazis and the colour. Oh and Hannah's story involving a horny middle aged Australian salesman in Singapore.

It doesn't build to a big melodramatic finale but it does have those interesting characters, a great sense of time and place.

I read a very good edition which included essays on the play, including one by Williams who explained his inspiration (a 1940 holiday where he befriended another writer) and the original story story (no Maxine or Shannon in it, but Hannah and "two writers").

Novel review - "The Roman Spring of Miss Stone" by Tennessee Williams

 Williams, sorry, Miss Stone, enjoyed a lot of success in the theatre but never knew true passion until she roots a hooker in Rome. Ah, Tennessee. Some lovely prose, but a lot of it is in dialogue - one senses Williams wanted to write it as that. It's a novella actually. Interesting to read but not a lot of story. He would tell this story a few times - middle aged woman gets rooted by young hot stud, etc.

Movie review - "Twixt" (2011) ***

 Films don't get more obscure that Coppola's 21st century output but I've got to say I quite enjoyed this shaggy dog tale with its odd bits and pieces. It's got tubby Val Kilmer as a writer described as a second-tier Steven King and the story feels like a King short story... he arrives in a small town, his career on a downward slide, and comes across a local legend about killer kids that he decides to turn into a book.

Bruce Dern is the local sheriff, Elle Fanning is  girl who appears in his dreams, Ben Chaplin is Edgar Allan poe who also appears in dreams, Joanne Walley appears as Kilmer's wife via skype, Alden Ehrenreich (those 70s directors love him) is a local goth.

I enjoyed the atmosphere the spookiness. It got a little odd in the last act, a bit silly... but Coppola is more lively with violence, I'm realsing and it was fun,

Movie review - "Tucker: The Man and His Dream" (1988) **1/2

 I remember hearing about this film when it came out and wanting Coppola to have a hit but also not being excited by the idea: an engineer who wants to make a car and does and then goes bankrupt. That's fun because...?

Look, I get it. The 30s Capra-esque style. The rat-tat dialogue, Jeff Bridges channelling James Stewart, the courtroom finale. I love that George Lucas backed it. It's just... I don't know, I didn't care. I would've cared if it was actually about Coppola making movies instead of it being subtext. It's meant to be him - this big time family man who is always optimistic, trying

There's a strong cast - Martin Landau as a financier, Christian Slater as Tucker Jnr. Joan Allen is The Wife. Elias Koteas as a designer. Frederick Forrest as another engineer. Dean Stockwell as Howard Hughes.

I just didn't care. Maybe because it was about cars. Or maybe 1930s style films belong in that decade. There was an authenticity with those faces which doesn't convey. They were contemporary films- this is looking back. Maybe it doesn't work for me.

Script review - "Being the Ricardos" by Aaron Sorkin

 Bright, fun, Some great moments. The flashback scenes carried more weight because more was at stake - their whole careers as opposed to a temporary blip while famous. Didn't quite hit the heights for me but always enjoyable.

Script review - "The Cutting Edge" by Tony Gilroy

 Simple, well done sports movie romance. It was a solid high concept - high class posh gal and working class ice hockey player team to be figure skaters. They have the "thing" they do, a triple, like in Trapeze, a Russian coach, a driven father. There's some homophobia from the hero which hasn't aged well but the conflict is solid and it just works.

Movie review - "Gardens of Stone" (1987) **

 For a filmmaker associated with operatic action films, Francis Ford Coppola made a lot of slow moving, well acted dramas which sort of amble along. This is one. It's about the guard unit of the army, the ones who do the funerals at Arlington. Sergeant James Caan wants to train troops for Vietnam, DB Sweeney is a young soldier who wants to transfer to Vietnam.

The cast is great. There's Mary Stuart Masterson as the girl Sweeney marries, Masterson's parents IRL Pete and Carlin Glynn as her on screen parents, James Earl Jones is one of this earliest "black military man" roles, fellow Some Kind of Wonderful alumni Elias Koteas as a clerk, Dean Stockwell as an officer, Angelica Huston as Caan's new girlfriend, Larry Fishburne as a sergeant, Lonette McKee as Mrs Jones, Sam Bottoms as a soldie.

Caan is particularly excellent. Sweeney is fine - there was a ten year period where Hollywood tried him as a leading man in films and then TV but it didn't work out apart from some minor hits (The Cutting Edge, Fire in the Sky)... Fishburne should probably have played this role.

There's some 80s boomer dialogue about Vietnam ("we'll never win"). Actually come to think of it a lot of the dialogue felt off.

The music drones and feels odd. It's dull. I didn't care about Sweeney's romance with Masteron. I think Sweeney just should've played Caan's actual son instead of Sweeney having an unseen dad and Caan an unseen son.

The turmoil Coppola went through on this film - losing his own son - is a compelling story, more moving that what is on screen. I found the movie dull.

Movie review - "One from the Heart" (1982) **

 Coppola certainly swings for the fences... there's nothing quite like this quasi-musical-drama set in Las Vegas about a couple who break up. It's got this kitchen sink story, about working class protagonist - mechanic Frederick Forrest and travel agent Teri Garr who dreams of another life... done with a theatrical flourish, a la Bill Inge or Tennessee W... and there's unrealistic sets, and bright neon, and overlays, and long trackng shots.  It probably should

There's a lot of Teri Garry walking around taking her top off, getting out of the shower, being carted through a lobby in her underpants (I think Coppola had a thing for Shiska goddesses, eg Shirley Knight, Elizabeth Hartman). She's warm and great as always, while Forrest isn't that engaging - gives a good performance I'm talking in terms of personality.

This film should've been done on a super low budget for the BBC or PBS or something but Coppola sunk millions into it. It looks amazing, is interesting, Garr is lovely. The songs that spell out the subtext are a little annoying.

Garr hooks up with Raul Julia, which I can see. Forrest gets Natassa Kinski, which I can't quite see,

Forrest's character is horrible. He takes Garr's plane ticket money to buy a house without her permission, gets jealous and possessive when she leaves, kidnaps her from the bed of Raul Julia when she's in just underwear. I think this factor more than anything is why this film flopped. He's awful, you want her to leave, she does leave, he kidnaps her, she leaves again, he chases her to the airport and threatens a counter server... then she comes back at the end? F off.

Movie review - "You're a Big Boy Now" (1966) **1/2

 Francis Ford Coppola got a lot of breaks early on in his carer... he was young when he signed a deal with Seven Arts who let him right and direct this swinging sixties comedy with Peter Kastner, an actor who I recognise from nothing, starring as a young man who moves to New York City. Dad is Rip Torn and mum is Geraldine Page. Kastner has a crush on Elizabeth Hartman not noticing Karen Black. Julie Harris is a landlady.

To be honest a lot of this was annoying - quirk like black men playing bagpipers, visits to Times Square, witty banter, wacky support characters (albino hypnotherapist), manic pixie dream girl (Hartman), a dwarf, chapter headings.

There's clips from Dementia 13 and The Pit and the Pendulum which is cute. Like The Rain People this felt like an Australian movie at times - Kastner can't get it up for Hartman. But it's also American with its possessive mother (Page) and dad.

It was hard to care. Kastner had people who loved him, dad who supported him, mum who was possessive yes but he had his own pace, he could've scored Hartman if he could've satisfied her, Karen Black there was to pick up the pieces. 

I can see why people like this. And there were things I enjoyed like Hartman. But not for me.

Movie review - "The Rain People" (1969) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Coppola indie film, which sort of ambles along but is full of intelligence, warmth, skill... Shirley Knight is a housewife who flips out and takes off.

The role is a gift for Knight who come to think of it got a lot of good parts in the sixties. A really top actor might've made this sing - Diane Keaton? Knight is absolutely fine - she just doesn't exceed what's on paper if you know what I mean. Coppola wrote the film for her apparently... I think he was a little love struck (the blonde shiska goddess factor, no doubt... blondes pop up all the time in early Coppola films.)

James Caan does in his part. A mentally challenged footballer is normally the cue for "retard acting" but Caan does is subtly, just playing someone a bit slow. It's superb work.  Also good is Robert Duvall as the cop.

The plot has Knight pick up Caan, then they drive for a bit, visit an ex of Caan's. Then Knight gets him a job at a chicken farm. She's pulled over by cop Duvall. Knight is hot for Duvall. They go to bed but he's stalker-y, creepy and she says no and he says yes and Caan tries to stop it and Duvall's little daughter shoots Caan dead. This felt like an Australian film. A good one though.

1984 interview with Shirley Ann Richards

 Link is here. Another one is https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20080721102440/http://www.nfsa.gov.au/the_collection/collection_spotlights/shirley_ann_richards.html

Among the bits in the interview

- during making Tall Timbers Richards sang a song "tosti's (?) goodbye" on a train (she was studying singing) which apparently was bad luck and horrified the theatrical types in the cast (Richards didn't know at the time) - also Frank Leighton was appearing in The Student Prince with Glady Moncrieff - he was so run down he got boils on his neck which had to be camoflaged - Richards called him a "very precise" actor

- she was very close to Frank Harvey - he would run her lines - when she went away to US he wrote her a letter of advice about professionalism and life in general - she said she would pass on the advice to her sons - she still had the letter - said Frank wrote "I am writing to you as though you are another daughter" (he had a daughter, Helen)

- Ken Hall could be a bit aloof directing but he was busy

- she enjoyed the romanticism of Lovers and Luggers, and dressing as a boy

- adored Harvey Adams who would bring crabs and shrimps for lunch - "most charming"

- Ken G Hall used lots of rehearsal - everyone had excellent raaport, she never worked anywhere else where it was the same crew day in day out

- got along Lloyd Hughes... remembers making Lovers and Luggers nearly asphxiated on a lugger because of smoke

- George Yates v protective of Richards - when she was bullied by an actress Yates sabotaged a door for Richards

- says cast of It Isn't Done were "marvellously kind" to her and helped her enormously

- Campbell Copelin was "very much in love" with Elaine Hamill during the making of the film - they went to England together (a few weeks apart)

- she didn't have a good rapport with Bert Bailey who was a bit distant - this was in contrast to her work with other actors at Cinesound like Cecil Kellaway, they'd discuss the scene - she didn't have any sort of chat about the scene with Bailey, suggests maybe it was because he was shy, or had played the role for so many years, doesn't know if he'd do it with other actors - it was her only experience as an actor where she didn't have any sort of rapport with a co star - didn't get to know him even professionally

- Ken Hall sent a film with Richards when she went to America... this went missing so she had nothing to show when over there - they had to get film on her while over there - she got lucky though with the film The Woman in the House - no one else suitable for MGM, she got the part, that was seen, she was put under contract

- found MGM very big - she was used to same faces and same actors - but got used to it - you could do tests as well - she did one with Philip Dorn

- her husband didn't care for movies as much as the stage - he could do everything for himself on stage... different with film - he gave away showbusiness, he was a scientist

There's a very good look at Richards' life here.

Play review - "The Glass Menagerie" by Tennessee Williams (1945)

 I think I studied this at my school. Not sure Williams is the best thing to teach boys at all-boys private school it trains them women are dreamers, nutters and horny. It's a beautiful play. Memory play - very theatrical with its narration and slides and so on. Better seen than read maybe? All three of the family are dreamers - Tom constantly goes to "the movies" (is he having gay sex?), Laura has her glass menagerie and cripple-dom, Amanda has her memories - as if Blanche got married to a straight man, but a bounder who left her. The Gentleman called is a little like Mitch - basically a normal mediocrity who stumbles upon this odd family. Doesn't have the power of Streetcar but doesn't have the sex or violence -except for the smashing of the menagerie.

Play review - "Arcadia" by Tom Stoppard

 Re-read it for fun. Gorgeous. Don't get the maths or garden stuff. I mean I get its story function. But beautiful. Heartbreaking ending. Most fun character is Barnard - I sense Stoppard developed so much affection for him he still gave the dude a little triumph (two Byron reviews, etc).

Movie review - "The Odd Angry Shot" (1979) ***1/2

 Tom Jeffrey directed two films that did poorly at the box office then made this which was a hit so it's weird this was the last film he directed (he produced some others). This is his best movie, a lovely, moving account of SAS troops in Vietnam. It concentrates on the banter and jokes - there's a lot of comic actors in it - but doesn't ignore the power of death. This feels real.

The set design looks terrific. The cast is very strong though some look too old/fat/rich to be in the SAS - especially Graham Kennedy who is otherwise very good (his laconic presence feels spot on... it's just his size). Kennedy's character makes a lot of homophobic cracks. I had a bit of trouble buying Graeme Blundell too - nothing against him as an actor he's very good he just felt a little too old and La Mama.

Everyone is in this film - Bryan Brown, Richard Moir, John Hargreaves, Graham Rous, Frankie J. Holden, John Jarratt, Max cullen, Grant Page, Ray Meagher, Roger Newcombe (an actor who plays one of the Americans), Tim Page (bald dude from Young Doctors), Tony Barry. They look more like soldier types. Brian Wenzel is in it too.

My favourite bit was Kennedy telling Cullen to f*ck off for being a sack of sh*t - that was hilarious and felt very real. There's other tremendous sequences like the scorpion fight that lead to a brawl.

It's well produced, being focused on the base and in the jungle. Bryan Brown's mine injury is an effective cut - one minute laughing then the next being on the ground.

I wasn't wild about the music but this is  a very good film.

Movie review - "The Removalists" (1975) ***1/2

 This must have been incredible to watch on stage back in the day - Aussie society with its knockabout ockers smacking each other around, the verbal jousting, the machoness. What a writer.

This film is a worth encapsulation of the play. It's basically a filmed play but quite well done, with a superb cast. Everyone is perfect: Peter Cummins as the blustering cop, John Hargreaves as the callow newbie, Jackie Weaver as the dim sister, Kate Fitzpatrick as her wealthy sister, Chris Haywood as the supremely neutral removalist who only gets wound up when people say moving things are easy, Martin Harris as the vile husband.

The drama ebbs and flows, explodes and subsides. It's got Williamson flaws that we would see time and time again - both women just Want It - but the depiction of men are perfect: the little Hitler cop, the gangly youth, the ocker stud. The set is quite ugly. Tom Jeffrey generally directs well. There's some awkward bits like a close up of Jacki Weaver's boobs when she arrives.

Random observation - I wonder if this was even if subconsciously influenced by A Streetcar Named Desire... if Blanche married someone straight, this could be her coming to fetch Stella from Stanley's place.

Movie review - "Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee

 Depressingly still relevant - the story of the Scopes Monkey Trial with science struggling against lunatic religious beliefs. It's got two great star parts for older men, and an annoying Greek chorus of a cynical journo: this device was over used in the 1950s.  People who whinge the real case wasn't like this miss the point. Very entertaining. Ideal school play fodder. Solid construction complete with Brady collapsing and dying.

Play review - "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams

 When I read this at high school I admit I used to identify with Stanley Kowalski - the penny didn't drop he raped Blanche at the end, and if he hit Stella well he said sorry didn't he, and he was trying to figure out why Blanche was lying. I'm not proud of that fact, just being honest.

As time goes on you can see that wife beating Stanley isn't exactly admirable, though Blanche like Williams is still attracted to him. They are a great mismatched couple, Stanley and Blanche, with Mitch and Stella providing counter balance.

Re reading it, it's so wonderfully theatrical - the noise and bustle of the neughbourhood, the sounds of the poker game, the monologues, the memory.  It's beautifully structured and has good old fashioned story telling at its core, with basic mysteries: why is Blanche here? What is her secret?

It's been much mocked and sent up but the work still has basic power. And it's rich because both Blanche and Stanley are right and wrong.

Movie review - "Heaven Tonight" (1990) ***

 Probably Frank Howson's best film - a terrific central situation with John Waters perfectly cast as an aging rock start determined for one last comeback, only to discover that his son (Guy Pearce) is having more success in the biz. The subplots are well integrated - Kim Gyngell as an old bandmate of Waters with a major drug problem, Sean Scully as another old bandmate who has moved into executive territory, Rebecca Gilling as Waters' wife. It probably lacks a female love interest for Pearce's character - I sense that would have dramatic possibilities (say an assistant/colleague of Scully, or a dealer for Gyngell). 

The music lets this down. I love Howson's passion for music and appreciate he's had a long career, but the songs he writes are very middle of the road. I know taste is subjective but would point out that nothing he's written as been a sizeable hit. Stronger songs would've worked wonders. (This actually would make a good musical.)

I wish they'd make Waters' character a little more likable. He didn't have to hug kittens but maybe show some more warmth to Rebecca Gilling - sing her a song or something - and not hit her when he's upset.

But it's easily the most realised film Howson made (at least that I've seen... it definitely is from his first six.)

Nice support cast too - people like Edward Hepple, Reg Evans, Bruce Venables, Nico Lathouris, the guy from the Empty Pockets.

Play review - "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" by William Inge

 Probably the least remembered of Inge's stage hits even though it too was made into a movie and the original stage production was directed by Elia Kazan. The title indicates a horror movie but this is a family drama, belonging to the universe of Splendor in the Grass, set in the 1920s Oklahoma about a family headed by a woman married to a travelling salesman. He talks a good game, cheats on her and hits her in a fight but is forgiven because that was the way then. Some moving stuff about the passing of time. A beautiful 17 year old boy appears then later turns out to have killed himself because of some anti Semitic taunts at which point I admit I thought "oh come on, Inge". It's fine.

Movie review - "Hunting" (1990) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Frank Howson changes genres by coming up with a thriller, an erotic thriller I think it's meant to be, which is a good idea. Photography is stylish as always in his films - the ones at this stage anyway. Kerry Armstrong is ideal in the lead - she's gorgeous, has a naive look perfect for her character. (Is that her taking the nude shower or a body double? And in the bum showing sex scenes?)

John Savage isn't idea - maybe in real life he's number one ladies' man but on film he's got crazy eyes and he and Armstrong have nil chemistry. Really his part should've been played by Guy Pearce who plays Savage's sidekick. I think the lack of chemistry is to do with Savage because later on he roots Rebecca Rigg and that's flat too.

Armstrong has this dead beat husband who comes across as a creep, but is works for the story because you don't blame her for cheating. When Pearce has him killed it's almost a relief.

The plotting is a bit iffy... why not use Savage's skullduggery a bit more? A lot of it feels as though it could've been utlised more - the character of Pearce, Armstrong's boss Rhys McConniche, Rebecca Rigg.  This was typical of Howson scripts they always needed another draft... they had all the characters they needed they just needed to use those characters more.

The rape scene is unpleasant but does have dramatic weight. Memorable final shot. Armstrong is very good. These films could've been little gems - they always fall short but they had potential.

Movie review - "My Forgotten Man" (1993) **1/2

 Frank Howson's biggest film to date. Originally entitled Flynn it was shot under the direction of Brian Kavanagh before being substantially reshot with Howson as director and Steve Berkoff, John Savage and Claudia Karvan added. The resulting film was not cinematically released in Australia but had a life on video.

It's a rare Howson film that is not shot in Melbourne and is period . But it does feature recognisably Howsian moments: photography is great, it's about showbusiness (someone who will make it in LA), and a man with a dream, the production values are high, there's a big ballad (the title track sung by Wendy Matthews), it has strong actors including newbies who went on to do well (Guy Pearce, Claudia Karvan) and some of his stock company (Pearce again, John Savage, Andrew Shepherd from What the Moon Saw as young Errol watching a topless Nicki Paull from Boulevard of Broken Dreams as Flynn's mum root a random).

There's location filming in Fiji standing in for New Guinea. Berkoff is good as the Hans Erben figure. 

Karvan is lovely and ideally cast alongside Pearce but has nothing to play, no character. Like many Howson scripts there's plenty of potential story but he can't extract all juice out of it. The potential is there... he could've done more stuff about Flynn and his dad, and mum, and Claudia Karvan... but its skimmed over.

It's raunchier than typical Howson films, with Pearce in bed with various topless women, a sort of Wake in Fright "seduction" scene where Steve Berkoff goes after a wasted Pearce, and Pearce rooting guys for cash in Sydney. 

Pearce does well enough in a thankless part - he's got the looks, and a pleasant screen presence. He doesn't quite convey the "bounder" aspect.

It's not dissimilar to the episode of Michael Willessee's Australians on Flynn - romance with an uptown gal, shenanigans in New Guinea, swapping himself for John Simon when auditioning for Charles Chauvel. Some actors play Charles and Elsa Chauvels and they ask if Ken Hall called which is fun.

I didn't mind this. It looks good, has pretty pictures. It doesn't nail is but is better than many other versions of this story.

Movie review - "What the Moon Saw" (1989) **1/2

 Boulevard of Broken Dreams somehow enabled Frank Howson and Peter Boyle to raise money for a slate of pictures starting with this - they later included Heaven Tonight, Beyond My Reach, Flynn, Hunting.

This is probably Howson's best movie. It's clearly autobiographical and has a really good heart, being about a child falling in love with theatre. Alan Shepherd is strong value as the little kid who goes to the city to stay with his grandma (Pat Evison, excellent) who works in the box office of a theatre run by Max Phipps. A panto is playing and Shepherd gets involved in the lives of people there: the star (Danielle Spencer) on whom he develops a crush, the whingy writer (Kym Gyngell).

There's a lot of lovely things on display here. Loving shots of Melbourne (Howson was one of the most Melbourne-philic directors around), fondness for theatre, the acting (it's a typical Howson combination of fun old hams and exciting new talent -for all his faults Howson had an eye for young actors eg Danielle Spencer, Guy Pearce, Alan Fletcher who has a small role in this). Spencer looks lovely. Her singing voice might've been more protected.

It's just frustrating that it isn't better. The running time feels padded, like most Howson films - when there was enough story potential. Why not use the fact his dad Gary Sweet is seen in a wheelchair at the beginning instead of never seen again? Just do a little plot with Evison and Sweet. Why not give Gyngell more of a story than whingeing about changes? Give Spencer more of a romance. Give Phipps more to do.

The biggest flaw - so, so frustrating because it's so easily fixable... the finale, one hour in, has Shepherd watching a show... falling ASLEEP and IMAGINING he's in the show... which he is for twenty minutes. I'm sorry you can't have a dream sequence in act three that goes for twenty minutes. Just have the actor (Murray Fahey) fall injured and have Shepherd have to step in. It was such a fixable flaw.

Movie review - "Beyond My Reach" (1990) **

 One of the slate of films Frank Howson made via his Boulevard Pictures, this tackles many of his favourite themes: Melbourne, showbusiness, Australia vs US, love, tearjerkers, his bland middle of the road rock songs.

Alan Fletcher and Dave Roberts are a writer and director who sell a film to America (they've already made the film, which kind of lessens the stakes).  The American exec is Terri Garber, who was married to Frank Howson IRL. The cast includes familiar faces like Nicholas Hammond, Nick Wendt (as Fletcher's girlfriend I think), Tim Robertson.

The film sends up soaps and post apolcapytic movies - blows which might have landed better if Howson's own dialogue had no been so on the nose and clunky.

Howson said Pino Amenta was going to direct this but they fell out over Howson directing Hunting. So Dan Burstall, Tm's son, made this.

There's some decent drama here - what is selling out (using an American editor, accepting changes), a neat twist where a dopey action film Roberts directs inspires a real life shooting (this is the best bit in the film), Garber sees Roberts and Hammond simultaneously. 

There's maybe not enough story for a feature - it's padded out with montages. I think there was enough dramatic meet but Howson didn't dig in enough. The whole thing sort of feels like an amateur play written by a suburban group from people who have a bit of talent but can't land the knockout punch. I mean the ending has Roberts and Fletcher make a film about themselves.

Terri Garber goes topless in one scene which feels like a jolt. This film never got theatrically released. I'm not surprised.

It does have some effective moments. The leads can act. Nice photography.

Book review - "20th Century Fox" by Scott Eyman (2021)

 Eyman sets a high standard which he doesn't really live up to with this book. The time is ripe for a biography of the studio now Disney has bought it. This is really brief biographies of William Fox and then Daryl Zanuck. The post Zanuck years are like dealt with in one chapter. I had heard of most of the stories before. They're entertaining stories don't get me wrong. This just isn't as good as Eyman's epic bios on de Mille and Mayer and so on.

Book review - "Young Frankenstein"

 Coffee table book on the film, whose best feature is colour behind the scenes pictures which are fabulous. Lots of soft soap mini essays. Judd Apatow does the introduction. Fans will like.

Book review - "Sick in the Head" by Judd Apatow

 Highly entertaining and informative collection of interviews. I did get a little sick of hearing Apatow go on about his parent's divorce, it was like "alright already". I get why he did it... just wish maybe the interviews had been edited more. Very good book.

Book review - "Wendy and the Lost Boys" by Julie Salamon (2011)

 Wendy Wasserstein doesn't get much play in Oz - I don't recall her works being done that much. There aren't many films made from her scripts - The Object of My Affection was one. A bunch of others were for PBS but didn't travel. 

But in New York she was big.Jewish population helps of course. She spoke for a large group - was very popular lecturer and essayist. Interesting family (brother was a tycoon). Had the full Jewish mother, the dreams, heaps of gay friends. Had a sexual relationship with Terence McNally. Cripes - lot of girls thought they could covert back in the day. Sad ending - she died quite young, leaving a little girl.

Salamon does a really good job - top quality interviews, and research.

Book review - "Crazy Horse" by Larry McMurtry

 Easy to read, enjoyable look at the famous leader, a companion piece to McMurtry's Custer. Matter of fact, a little melancholic. I can't vouch for the research but it read well enough.

Movie review - 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams" (1988) **

 The first real effort from the notorious Boulevard Pictures. It's a perfectly fine mediocre weepy with some fine aspects: the basic story, its lovel of theater, John Waters is sold in the lead, Kym Gyngell is excellent in support, Melbourne rarely looked more beautiful.

The script needed another draft - a reality wash. Like, why not make Waters a film director or singer. Why have Waters be cut off from his kid (Jacinta Stapleon)? It's mean of Waters to have not seen his kid for three years, for his ex to go along with it and insist it's still the case, and for her new lover (Andrew McFarlane) to not want him to be in contact.

I wish they'd done another pass. Could've given Waters a more realistic job. Given Nicki Paull's character a stronger reason to be with them (have them fall in love... I quite liked the relationship). Be up front about him dying... let us know straight away. Borrow the Dark Victory template... have him learn the news, deny it, act badly, then improve as a person. The original idea to have Waters sacrifice his love and get his wife back with her boyfriend would've been stronger - more noble. As it is he's selfish. He breaks up a decent relationship because he's selfish.

A film with a lot of potential. I just wish Frank Howson had gotten a co writer. Support cast full of interesting people like Ian McFadyen.

Play review - "Sweet Bird of Youth" by Tennessee Williams (1959)

 The aging female film star, the ageing beautiful male prostitute, the flowery dialogue. Easy to mock, but Williams writes it so well and with conviction and also underpins it with some first rate drama - he's back in town to get his old girl, whose powerful and scary dad threatens to castrate the man. And it leads up to that finale.

The movie start part, the Princess, is actually a support part really - she's at the beginning then comes back at the end which feels like Williams going "I need to pay off that relationship more".  Once I read that it started as a one act play you can see the seams but it does work very effectively.

Movie review - "Great Expectations: The Untold Story" (1987) **

 I'm not sure "missing years"sequels are ever a good idea... because if those years were so interesting why were they not in the original? Magwith is a great enigmatic character but if you lose the enigma by making him front and centre is he as interesting? They put in Pip at the start but we never get why Pip means so much. In the novel it's because he reminds Magwith of his dead daughter, isn't it? We don't see that - the film starts with Magwitch's trial.

In fairness maybe that was in the mini series version. The version I saw was a 100 minute cut down version. It feels like a TV movie - the run of the mill photography. Music.

The incident of Magwitch becoming a hang man is taken from a real life case that was dramatised in Rex Rienits 1960s ABC mini series.  Ron Haddrick was in one of those and he turns up in this, giving it a nice synergy.

I enjoyed the little arc of Sigrid Thornton falling for Robert Coleby and turning into a drunken trashback in the space of a few minutes. Bruce Spencer and Noel Ferrier feel like good Dickens types. I'm not sure John Stanton was up to his role - someone like Ray Barrett would've got more light and shade. But really this felt like something the Brits should've made. The actors would've been more at home.

Movie review - "Weekend of Shadows" (1978)**

 A famous flop in its day. It's clear what sort of movie this is trying to be - a Wake in Fright style analysis of a town that goes a bit nuts when a murder is committed and the town gets whipped up into a frenzy to find the guy.

It's remarkably lacking in atmosphere and tension. Probably didn't need to be a period film. There's good acting - John Waters as the shy Rabbt, Melissa Jaffer as his former good time girl wife, Wyn Roberts as the cop (both he and Waters are pushed into it by their wives), Bill Hunter as a scary townie, Graeme Blundell as a jokey townie, Brian James as a journo.

Not quite sure what went wrong. I haven't read the original script. The music score doesn't help. Maybe this just should have been a TV movie.

While watching it and being a little bored I checked the synopsis for The Ox Bow Incident which showed how these things are done. Fast, passionate, a rich array of villains - the Confederate officer, his weak son, the bloodthirsty woman, the hoons - plus a sympathetic protagonist, and victims (three different ones) who we get to know and feel fore.

No one seems to care for the crime. There's no passion. Maybe if the person being chased was black or something. Oe we got to know the person being chased.

The best thing is the backstory of John Waters and Melissa Jaffer - that is touching. The one about cop Wyn Roberts wanting to go home to the city isn't that interesting.

Random thoughts on biopics

I’m watching episodes of an old TV anthology series from 1988. Called Michael Willessee’s Australians, it was a series of 13 one-hour eps about famous old Aussies like Les Darcy, Betty Cuthbert, etc

None of the eps are really good, though the production values are amazing (hello, 10BA).

They keep making the same mistakes. I thought I’d summarise them just to get straight in my own head because even if you haven’t seen the episodes, and I’m guessing you haven’t, it plays into the issues of how to do biopics.

a) Bald expeditionary dialogue.

The curse of all biopics. “I say Errol Flynn, I haven’t seen you since you got expelled.” It is damn hard to avoid, clearly. “Bohemian Rhapsody” was fully it.

Random thought... is it just easier to use damn title cards?

Mind you, I’m with William Goldman’s dictum that dialogue isn’t as important as sometimes people think it is - eg dialogue in James Cameron’s “Titanic” is awful.

But bad dialogue does leap off the page/screen.

b) Trying to do too much

Another risk. “Oh we have to put that in”. I get it, I do. The greatest hits approach. But it can be overdone.

c) Not dramatising an interesting period in someone’s life

Weirdly common. Not just in this series. I enjoyed Aaron Sorkin’s “Jobs” but not sure his device of storytelling (i.e. three product launches) worked for film. It was a more theatrical device where references to events off stage is more effective. The most interesting stuff in that story happened in flashback IMHO - his parentage, being fired, etc. (except for the ending scene with the daughter which was nice).

It happened in the Mike Willessee series too. (You’ll have to take my word for it.)

For instance they did one on Lotte Lyell, Aussie film star who hooked up with director Raymond Longford, made some classics with him (which she helped write and direct at a time when that was not common), they couldn’t get married because he was Catholic, she died young of TB.

In the OZ TV version she and Longford make their classic, The Sentimental Bloke. And... that’s it. Oh she wants to get married but can’t. Finds out she’s terminally ill. But we don’t see her die. Don't see her in conflict. Just see her make the film, which was a classic, but making it wasn't that hard. They got the money and... did it. The end.

They skip over her final years, when she and Longford were in lawsuits with Americans, when she was dying, or her early years when she fell in love with him and became a film star... the interesting stuff.

For Betty Cuthbert story they have her race... win races... be shy about public speaking... learn how to speak in public... win more races. But later on she got MS, learned to live with that and walk again... isn’t that more interesting?

I get sometimes there may be legal reasons not to show the most dramatic times in someone’s life.

But often the most famous event in someone’s life is not always the most dramatic.

d) Not focusing on a key relationship

This for me is number one. So I’ve put it last!

Any decent biopic needs a key central relationship whose facet they can explore. This is the crux of the drama. Because you can usually get three acts out of it.

In “Shine” it was Geoffrey Rush and his dad, then his new love interest.

In “Bohemian Rhapsody” it was Freddie Mercury and his girlfriend, boyfriend and dad (hugging his AIDS-infect son at the end... sniff. Box office gold)

In “Never Tear Us Apart” it was Michael Hutchence and his various girlfriends.

Biopics face a lot of hurdles. Often the people are alive and want to be portrayed as saints, there are copyright issues with the music/film/books, etc etc.

I get all that.

But I think you need a really solid relationship story at the core.

For instance “Phar Lap” was a love story between Tom Woodcock and the horse.

If you don’t have that, even if you have an interesting character, it’ll fall over because things aren’t dramatised.

Anyway rant over...

TV review - "Michael Willesee's Australians Ep 1 - Jack Darcy" (1988) **

 The first ep of this series, written by John Upton and directed by Kevin Dobson. There's been plans to make a Darcy story for years- Richard Franklin, John Howson, etc - but to my knowledge this was the only one actually made.  Actually, no, there was an episode of Behind the Legend in 1972.

Peter Phelps is excellent as Darcy as are Kerry Walker and Michael Caton as his parents. Gia Carides plays his girlfriend, with an irish accent. There's a scene where she introduces him to Nikki Coghill who plays Lily Molloy, star of On Our Selection - not made until 1920. Why do this?

On the nose dialogue throughout - this would plague the series. Too many scenes of reading the newspaper. Excellent boxing scenes. It does at least dramatise the big moments of Darcy's life... his desire to enlist, being pillored by Billy hughes, going to America, and dying.

I think it would've been better off focusing on one thing... Darcy's relationship with O'Sullivan. They could've touched on everything through that.

TV review - "Michael Willesee's Australians Ep 9 Betth Cuthbert" (1988) **

Female driven effort: Cuthbert, Denise Morgan writes, Kathy Mueller directed. The cast includes people like Lynette Curran, Jeff Ashby and Deborah Kennedy (coach) but a lesser known lead, Helen Mutkins.

The big dramatic event in Cuthbert's life was her MS battle. This doesn't deal with that. It's about her winning races and overcoming shyness which isn't as dramatic - this series tended to do that.

She runs, is shy, gets better, has an injury, gets over it... wins gold. The end. Maybe it was easier to get this approach approved.

Movie review - "Abba: The Movie" (1977) **1/2

 Few countries adored Abba more than Australia and their tour here was a big deal - so it was typically smart of Reg Grundy to finance a film. Full of interesting names: Lasse Hallstrom directed, Robert Caswell co wrote the script, future inmate Robert Hughes starred (another deep voiced actor, Bruce Barry plays his boss), Tom Oliver is Abba's bodyguard.

The film actually wasn't a big hit but it travelled and has had a long life. 

Plenty of documentary footage of the band - answering dumb Aussie press questions ("You won a poll for best arse how do you feel  about that?"), performing in concert (SOS, Money Money Money).

Some scene age, er, not too well eg Robert Hughes asking questions of kids. Other scenes are fascinating time capsules, eg audience members going on about how they like Abba because "they're neat".

The "plot" consists of journo Hughes trying to get an interview with Abba and that's it. But it's watchable with the songs, and the band, and scenes clearly shot in Sweden.

Book review - "Home Truths" by David Williamson (2021)

Enormously enjoyable. Better than his wife's biography. Peak Boomer - there's an index "Williamson - real estate purchases". Invaluable. Names names of inspirations and circumstances. Has an engineer's thoroughness. 

Leaves out some stuff eg his Macbeth. Some bitchy swipes eg people being mean to Kristen. Both of them seem like big personalities. Talks a lot about kids. The Bob Ellis orgy is in there. 

Wonderful book though.

Movie review - "Alvin Rides Again" (1974) *

 They didn't trust in the concept of Alvin. The first twenty minutes they do... Alvin is irresistible to women including Briony Behets, Candy Raymond (who goes full frontal), Abigail and Penne Hackforth Jones among others.

But then the plot switches and becomes about Alvin having to impersonate gangster Balls McGee. He's depicted as an American gangster with molls dressed appropriately - it's all played in broad dinner theatre revue style. The central concept of Alvin is thrown out the window.

Nothing wrong with Alvin being a lookalike or being involved with gangsters but they forgot the basis of Alvin - that he's a nerd who is catnip to the ladies. Also Balls is so unrealistic it's this extra layer of unreality on top of the character.

Like why not make it that Alvin as Balls is now irresistible and all these molls go after him? Why not put him in a woman's prison? Or a nunnery.

This was annoying. The incompetence of this is annoying.

There are incidental pleasures: the randomness of the cast (Chantal Countouri, Kris McQuade, Frank Thring, Maurie Fields), an extended Brian Cadd performance.

I saw a 75 minute copy of the film - I remember seeing a long version where Alvin and his mate dressed up in drag to play women's cricket. It was a mean spirited sequence and isn't missed.

Movie review - "Adam's Woman" (1969) **

 A number of movies were made here in 1969-70 several with American money - Ned Kelly, Color Me Dead, etc - but none hit. This is a convict era melodrama with Beau Bridges, in the grand tradition of Alan Ladd in Botany Bay, as a convict determined to escape.

He flees with James Booth but is captured in bed with Tracy Reed (Booth manages to stay free). Bridges negotiates his freedom with Governor John mills who wants convicts to marry female convicts. Even though Bridges has time left on his sentence and wants to escape Mills lets him marry a wife - this ssection is very unconvincing. He picks Jane Merrow who gives the best performance in the film. They go and live on a property and this film turns into a two hander with them going through the tropes - he spots her swimming naked, there's shenanigans with a horse,they try to farm, she's feisty.

Bridges feels contemporary but you get used to him after a while. The main problem is that there's no sexual tension between him and Morrow - he's lechy and she's clearly traumatised from sexual assault.

"If you want me to keep my hnds off you, you stop looking so damn much like a woman," says Bridges in what I think was meant to be romantic.

Later on Bridges tells Harold Hopkins who is having marriage trouble with Helen Morse - they're another convict couple and she keeps charging him money for sex - "that a woman is like a good dog you've got to treat her right."

The other problem is the story lacks narrative drive. Bridges wants to escape but when he and Merrow settle there's farming montage stuff. James Booth turns up being bush rangy but then he disappears. Then all these other convict couples turn up and it's like "what's the story here". Then Booth turns up and knocks out Bridges and tries to manhandle Merrow and Bridges and Merrow get together... and there's still more than half an hour to go.

Then the film becomes about John Mills trying to prove the success of his plan against forces of businessmen like Peter O'Saughnessy. And they hold a dance/celebration and Booth has to appear again and there's a big violent shoot out which doesn't seem real. A lot of it doesn't.

The photography is beautiful and it was shot in Australia. I liked John Mills and Andrew Keir (a soldier who has a man crush on Bridges) and it was fun to see Aussies in support roles like Helen Morse (horny convict), Harold Hopkins, Tom Oliver, Clarissa Kaye, and Roger Ward as a flogger.

Fascinating that it exists. Also that Americans who normally keep the story cracking got bogged down. This goes over too long a period of time. Too much of it doesn't make sense. Like Mills really bends over backwards for Bridges. I wish they'd brought back Tracy Reed's character. But they have too many characters.

A mess. Ineptly made. But it has its pleasures.

TV mini series review - "Robbery Under Arms" (1985) **

 I remember when this came out and by that stage no one was reading the book any more but we were aware it was a classic. In the early 20th century it was hugely popular, thanks mostly to theatre adaptations - it was filmed a bunch of times. The novel was less read as the century went on but it popped up again during the 70s-80s history boom.

Part one - Starlight robs a train, we meet the Marston brothers (Steve Vidler, Charles Cousins), they meet Starlight, steal cattle, go to Adelaide, meet the girls. At the end Dick is arrested.. There's a lot of on the nose colonial TV drama dialogue. A lot of punching people.

Part two - Dick escapes. They bust Starlight out of prison. Go the gold fields. Run into the sisters. Get busted again. Young brother gets captured, they rescue him. This was getting repetitive. Meet dodgy bushranger who takes magistrate hostage.

Part three - the horserace sequence where Starlight undercover again (repetitive). The final confrontation. Death.

The cast is fine. Steve Vidler essentially has the lead. Sam Neill has charisma. Deborah Coulls is fun in the best female part, Kate, the trashy sister. Jane Menelaus is the sister of Vidler and Cummins hot for Neill. Liz Newman has the worst dialogue as Gracey - "I hate you Dick Marston". 

Ed Devereaux is solid as the boy's dad but the mini series misses chances to dramatise the dysfunction of this relationship. The mini series fails to make the big moments tell - the boys deciding on to go bushranging, the tension of almost being busted, being busted, the excitement of escape. It feels like they're determined to get things over and odne with.

There's a lot of cricket. A big game in Adelaide, and one on the gold fields.

Production values are divine. Directed by Ken Hannam and Donald Crombie. It doesn't milk the drama. Too much trivia. Going for Butch and Sundance. Doesn't work At the end it's quite effective when the gang are preparing for their final shoot out. That's when it felt moving. I think melodrama was more the way to go than a romp.

Movie review - "Shark's Paradise" (1986) **

 Michael Jenkins directed the film version of David Williamson's Emerald City where the Williamson surrogate devises a cop show like Miami Vice. Not long before hand Jenkins directed this TV movie, an attempt to do the same thing.

There's good names on this - Jim McElroy, David Phillips wrote it, Jenkins, Martin McGrath shot it.

It's hilarious, great fun, dialogue full of cliches, David Reyne channelling Don Johnson (complete with jacket and T shirt and black sidekick), a very strong support cast (Sean Scully, Dennis Miller, Peter Sumner, Vincent Gil, Lynda Stoner), an excellent rock soundtrack (Split Enz, INXS, etc), fights in helicopters and on boats and a waterslide.

Reyne, Sally Tayley and Ron Beck have a nice little camraderie even if none of them are strong actors - they needed at least one. It's dumb and fun.

Movie review - "Devil in the Flesh" (1989) **

 The only feature film directed by Scott Murray of Cinema Papers despite him being of that generation where there was all this money going around. Did he not want to do theatre, TV, genre stuff? Was he just writing applications to the AFC and getting indignant at being rejected? There are other ways of telling stories.

Anyway this is an interesting movie. Adaptation of a classic French text which had been filmed. It's about the affair between a teenage boy and a married woman whose husband is interned.

In the original she was a women whose husband was away at the front, which Murray could've done but instead he made her a French woman whose Italian husband is interned. Which felt a little odd. I think Murray just wanted the girl to be French.

There's a lack of known actors in the film. Maybe Murray was keen to discover people. The two leads aren't really up to it - they try, they're not bad, but this sort of film needs stars, if not actual ones then potential stars. There's some nudity from the leads - plus also a model the guy hooks up with. Clearly catnip. Oz movies did a witty piece on this movie about "where is this country town".

The dialogue feels like translated subtitles. It's hard to care about the leads or their dilemma. It's wartime and they're happily shagging. He looks too old to be a student. She looks young. They seem around the same age. You don't get a tense of societal taboo or even that there's a way on because there's no real sense of small town Australia - there are all these people with foreign accents.

It's good critics make films but watching is not the same as practising. Peter Bogdanovich made very good feature film out of the gate but he'd had a long apprenticeship as an actor and theatre director, and did a stint under Roger Corman.

Movie review - "Break of Day" (1976) **1/2

 Pat Lovell and Cliff Green, coming off Picnic at Hanging Rock, teamed with Ken Hannam, coming off Sunday Too Far Away resulting in a movie that didn't do as well as either, though it has its pleasures, such as a loving depiction of small town.

It's about the impact on that town of a visiting bohemian, Sarah Kestelman, in particular on a young former Anzac (Andrew McFarlane). Both actors are fine... I think Kestelman needed to be better looking or sexier or something. Like he should have seen her bathing nude to start off with. That is blunt but the film needs an electric charge like that.

Beautifully shot and all that. Very much an "AFC film" like The Irishman and so on. I enjoyed so much time being dedicated to a cricket sequence at the end.

Nice performances in the support cast from people like Tony Barry, Maurie Fields,  John bell, Geraldine Turner. The film might've been more interesting told from the bohemians point of view - with bisexual Kestelman, war veteran Bell, etc. Downer of an ending with the reveal McFarlane shot himself in the foot to avoid more fighting at Gallipoli, and then seeing Kestelman has slept with Turner.

But not a bad film.

Movie review - "Cassandra" (1987) **

 Weird things are happening to Tessa Humphries, daughter of Barry, who is the lead here. 

This isn't a very good movie. It's got telemovie vibes which means a lack of atmosphere, sex and violence. To be fair some televemovies can be very exciting but not this one.

Humphries reminded me of a French actor on Call My Agent - the lesbian accountant. Her dad is played by Shane Briant, her mum by Briony Behets. Plodding pace. Susan Barling as Briant's mistress throws in some nudity.

Jeff Truman and Kit Taylor are cops. A young Natalie McCurry is a receptionist.  Jeff Watson from Beyond 2000 has a cameo. Chris Fitchett wrote and the script with John Ruane and Eggleston. These credits are more interesting than the film.

Movie review - "Cathy's Child" (1978) **

 Donald Crombie's third feature has a good, solid story, even if without movie stars it was probably better suited to being a telemovie. That's no criticism of Michelle Fawdon and Alan Cassell, both of whom are very good - Fawdon's Maltese accent sounded believable to me, and Cassell has a great tough presence, spitting out dialogue. And I can't think of what stars could have played the role as well. Maybe Rod Taylor in the Cassell part. A post-Newsfront Bill Hunter? Gerard Kennedy? Jack Thompson was too young.

The film is mostly from the POV of Cassell - so they don't dramatise scenes that would've been exciting like seeing Fawdon clash with her husband, and finding her child going missing. There's a lot of reportage. There may have been budget/legal reasons for this but it means Fawdon doesn't get the automatic sympathy she would have otherwise and the journey isn't as compelling.

There's a lot of reportage and backstory. A lot of smoking too.  Heaps of two and three handers where people talk.

I like that Cassell's real life character was actually interesting - a boozy journo. They had to pull back on that and the fact he slept with Cathy. And presumably legal reasons why we can't see the husband.

Support cast full of familiar faces - Bryan Brown, Lex Marinos, Robert Hughes, Arthur Dignam, Grant Dodwell, Frankie J Holden.

It has the pace of a decent procedural.But far too many Q and A scenes. It doesn't really dramatise the story. Great piece of material but they were hampered by being unable to show too much true story.

Dean Stockwell Top Ten

 1) The Boy with Green Hair - RKO classic

2) Kim - Errol Flynn swashbuckler

3) Compulsion

4) Sons and Lovers

5) Long Days' Journey into Light

6) Psych Out

7) Dune

8) Married to the Mob

9) The Player

10) Paris, Texas

Movie review - "The Irishman" (1978) **

 One of the many coming-of-age period pieces made in Australia in the late 1970s. It feels very much a film from a different era, with its healthy budget and period detail. Michael Craig is fine in the part of a gruff old type who laments the passing of time with his clydesdales.

Lou Brown and Simon Burke are his sons. Robyn Nevin is mum. I thought the film would be about Burke but Brown gets story too, rooting some girl and fighting with dad. It might've been better to have one son. Or more conflict. Or something.

Caddie had inherent conflict - single mum bucking the odds trying to hang on to her kids. This doesn't. Craig doesn't want things to change but... it's his own fault. He's a boozer and a dick and not much of a dad. It's hard to care. About anyone. Plot ambles. They're trying to do John Ford without being Ford.

You can't help have some affection for it - it's a valentine to old Queensland, with references to labor disputes and the old pub. It's just dull.

 

Movie review - "The Commitments" (1991) ****1/2

 Wonderful film. Better with age. So authentic. I assume. Captures a time and place and even people that has gone, I guess. Some stuff is universal. The banter, the struggle, the romance of being in a band.

Love the different types. Everyone has their moment in the sun. The two buskers. The three girls, all foul mouthed - I love how one just wants to sing country and western. The guy who wants to play jazz. The shy doctor. The psycho dummer. The awful singer. The hottest girl in class who'll just get married. The old guy who roots the women but who gets the poetry of failure.

The swearing, the violence, the banter, the grime. It's wonderfully done. Some of the acting is raw but everyone is well cast. One of Alan Parker's best films.

Movie review - "A Bullet is Waiting" (1954) **

Some major talent having an off day - writer Casey Robinson, director John Farrow. It sounds like a sure fire material: two men crash in the mountains, cop Steve McNalley and crook Rory Calhoun and they come across a girl Jean Simmons. McNalley and Calhoun are fine but simply don't have the star power of a, say, Robert Mitchum. Simmons is horrendously miscast.

There's rapey stuff from Calhoun as he manhandles Simmons and she falls for him. Brian Aherne is Simmons' father. I know they're educated but Simmons seems weird.

It builds to a finale where Calhoun or McNally die but it doesn't - Calhoun agrees to turn himself in and McNally agrees not to kill him. That's dull. The film needed a villain. Even nature isn't the villain. There's no twists or interesting characterisation. It's just dull.

TV review - "Body Business" (1986) **

 Miniseries from PBL trying to get some of that Dallas/Return to Eden ratings gold. It doesn't work because it's just... not very good. Flat. Lazy. Dumb.

Jane Maneleus, Mrs Geoffrey Rush, has the lead as a woman who comes back to Australia to work for a company. She has to deal with arch bitch Carmen Duncan, enigmatic Gary Day. Michael Pate is in there too. Oh and people like Trish Nolan and Beth Buchanan. Max Phipps. Gary Sweet! I'm not sure Meneleus is up to being a leading lady; she's fine but she's no, I guess, Rebecca Gilling.

I'm sure Channel Nine execs enjoyed leching around on the set on this one. It doesn't have a solid core though. Dallas was about family, evil JR vs Good Bobby - so was Dynasty - boring Krystle vs exciting Alexis. Return to Eden was about a woman scorned. This is just dull. Leaden pace. On the nose dialogue.

Good soap is harder to do than it looks.

Movie review - "Submarine Command" (1951) **

 Made with the official co operation of the navy and it feels like it, with lots of talk of duty and any fun sucked out of the film.

William Holden is a sub officer who towards the end of WW2 has to undertake an action that results in the death of some fellow officers. No one blames him, it's all above board, but he's tormented by Guilt. Fortunately the Korean War comes along to give him the chance to be a hero.

Directed by John Farrow who was presumably attracted to the sea aspects of the story but it lacks his usual energy. Holden isn't well cast in this sort of thing. The cast is a bit "yawn-y": Nancy Olson as his gal, Don Taylor as an officer, William Bendix as a comical below decks character.

 

Movie review - "Crosstalk" (1982) **

 A film only remembered because the producers sacked the original director, Keith Salvat, during filming - because they were running behind schedule apparently. The 1st AD took over.

The day was not saved. I'm not sure it ever could have been, mostly because the film is so confusing. I've read a synopsis at Oz Movies here and it's still confusing.

They try to do too much, It's Rear Window in an apartment block but also conspiracy thriller stuff about a computer closer to 2001. Pick a lane. Dennis Whitburn is credited as one of the writers.

Gary Day doesn't really have the individuality to play a leading man - he was always more effective as corrupt cop offsiders for other actors. He's the hero here, a man in a wheelchair doing work for computers in an apartment who becomes convinced neighbour John Ewart is killing people.

There's two female leads - Day's wife Penny Downie and nurse Kim Deacon - when one would've done.

It's fun to see John Ewart as a homicidal maniac but it was so confusing and after a while I was longing for sex and violence. Vincent Monton's photography is typically excellent and there's some decent suspense sequence such as Deacon poking around Ewart's apartment.

TV review - "Michael Willesee's Australians Ep 8 - Jack Davey" (1988) **

 Davey was a big radio star in the 1950s - a colourful person, a gambler, womaniser, New Zealander, hard worker, with a notable rivalry against Bob Dwyer. This focuses on Davey participating in the round Australia car race in which Davey, with his dodgy heart, was not allowed to participate. I guess is interesting. There's Gelignite Jack (Bruce Venables).

Rhys McConnochie is okay as Davey - it's a hard role. The cast also includes Leone Carmen as a girl.

Geoffrey Atherden wrote it, George Whaley directed. Again, a healthy budget. I keep thinking though that this series always picks uninteresting periods to dramatise in its subject's life. Wouldn't it have been better to do Davey vs Dwyer and cover them going into television and Davey struggling?

There's no real central relationship. Davey and the girl I guess. We don't get to go on the race, which I get for budget reasons (though the production design we do get is typically handsome)... but why devote so much space?

Random thoughts on the film Moneyball

It’s a film with a great DNA that they ignore so it can be a star vehicle for Brad Pitt.

My take...

“Moneyball” is about beating the system. Watching a sport and going “hang on, they’re not picking the team right... I need to pick the team”.

That’s every sports fan’s fantasy. Well, apart from playing. If we can’t play... to be able to pick the side, and pick it better than the pros.

It’s the core DNA of the film/book.

Someone ignored, who is a joke, no good at sports, but who loves the game... sees what other people can’t see. And is proved right.

The film should be about Jonah Hill’s character. Tubby, nerdy, treated with disdain. But... he knows the Secret. He installs a system... picks players who others think are no good. And... creates a winning team.

Ta-da.

But...

Brad Pitt wants to make it.

Great. Brad Pitt is a big star. People will go see his movies. Jonah Hill not so much. (At least not at the budget).

But there’s only one role Brad Pitt can really play... Billy Beane.

Good looking. Charismatic. The boss. I mean, he never made it as a top player but... he’s brad Pitt. God did not hate him.

So they had to make the film about Billy Beane trying to find a new way... it touches on his unfulfilled playing career but it’s a little convoluted.

I think they made a good film on this.

But it's not the film they should've made.

That should've been about Jonah Hill's character.

Movie review - "Outbreak of Hostilites" (1985) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Ron McLean made this for his own company, he wrote and produced, David Copping the art designer directed it. It's about a family in 1939 - I wonder if it was a Sullivans rip off. McLean died in 1983 I think this was made in 1982 but didn't air on Oz TV til 1985 (I could be wrong about those dates). Copyright is 1983. McLean co produced this with Colin Eggleston.

Scott Burgess is a sensitive young man who has an affair with an older woman, Cornelia Francis - nice to see her in a change of pace. George Mallaby is Burgess' dad. The cast also includes Max Cullen, Moya O'Sullivan and Judy Nunn (who I didn't recognise).

It's fairly bland and dull. On the nose. I think McLean rehashed old movies he'd seen. The family seem to be constantly sitting by the radio listening to broadcasts from Menzies. The low budget is covered by having a lot of scenes take place at the beach or in the one house.  Oh and stock footage.

There is some war stuff at the end, tents on the sand dunes and some equipment. Mallaby has a decent death scene - actors love death scenes and Mallaby is a good actor. Then Burgess dies in an attack.

Just not quite sure of the point of it is. There's a flashback with an old lady in make up - Colleen Fitzpatrick I think who is Burgess' mother.

Directed by David Copping. Credits refer to Brisbane production runner... was this shot in Brisbane?

Movie review - "Where Danger Lives" (1950) *** (warning: spoilers)

 The first of two noirs John Farrow made for Howard Hughes starring Bob Mitchum, being loaned out by Paramount. This has a simple story with doctor Mitchum falling for Faith Domergue, famed Hughes "discovery", not realising she's married to Claude Rains. Soon he's dead and they go on the run.

Mitchum has to act like a dill for a lot but the film has a certain hypnotic quality. There's not a lot of twists it's more a mood piece as Mitchen amd Domergue make a break for the border. Mitchem keeps trying to stay awake as he becomes increasingly paralysed.

The border town is fun, with its beard competition, dodgy vaudeville show, and shonky Philip Van Zandt helping them get across. Ther's a film in that town.

It was known as White Rose for Julie. Irwin Allen co produced this. It started his relationship with screenwriter Charles Bennett.

It does feel a little bit of a cheat that Mitchum is allowed to live at the end.

Movie review - "Innocent Prey" (1984) **

 Junky, silly slasher thriller which was actually quite entertaining. It's a film of starts and stops - it never seems to get momentum going and there are plot holes but it has some effective moments if you get into the spirit of the thing.

It starts in Dallas Texas where PJ Soles (a rare lead role) is married to Kit Taylor (who is a superb villain). She comes across him in a hotel room having sex with a hooker (Debi Vorhees who was in a Friday the 13th film) who he then kills. He winds up in prison (Martin Balsam is a local cop) but escapes and chases PJ to Australia where she's moved in with a friend... into an apartment house with another psycho, a guy who perves on the inhabitants with secret cameras.

If you go with that conceit you'll have fun, with PJ Soles giving an efficient performace, Taylor very good, Susan Stenmark adding some glamour as Soles' hot friend, Grigor Taylor as Soles new love interest. The death toll is very high!

Based on a script by Ron McLean and directed by Colin Eggleston - their fourth collaboration after Airhawk, Outbreak of Hostilities and The Little Feller.

Movie review - "Sirens" (1994) ***1/2

 A big deal in its day - huge - because Elle McPherson was in it, naked.  It's a film that was genuinely liked too - a positive affirming little fable, sort of like Smiles of a Summer Night ish. It's sexy too - sensual, I get, but sexy; I admit I can't help think of John Duigan going around to the actresses saying "I've got all these degrees and am very intelligent let's talk about sensuality". But he made a good movie.

It's beautifully cast. Hugh Grant is very engaging - because he's Hugh Grant (albeit pre-fame) you can see why Tara Fitzgerald (very sweet and lovely) stays with him. Sam Neill shines in a showy support role, Pamela Rabe is very good. Kate Fisher and Elle look spectacular; their acting is a little raw - Elle doesn't have much to play but Kate does. The real surprise packet is Portia di Rossi who came out of nowhere; she's beautiful, vivacious and charming. I wish she'd done more Aussie stuff; she's got a great Austrlaian voice.

When you see John Polson and Ben Mendelsohn in small roles and realise it was shot on location in the Blue Mountains, throw in sexy model Mark Gerber (who has a bigger part than the first two) you go "geez that must've been a wild shoot".

It's witty, fun, gorgeous to look at. Not everything lands but it's a good movie.

TV review - "Michael Willesee's Australians: Ep 12 Errol Flynn" (1988) **

 Flynn's life has never been successfully dramatised. This is the attempt of writer John Lonie and director Michael Carson.

Who is the blonde young thing in 1950 Jamaica when we meet Errol (played by Terry Donovan) about to flash back? Is it meant to be Beverly Aadland? But she didn't come along until 1958.

It seems to be full of historical errors. Like he went to New Guinea several times, some on his own boat; there's no mention of his writing; the New Guinea adventures are compressed. Was this how he got cast in Bounty - by pretending to be someone else.

 Interesting cast - Chris Stollery plays young Errol, Nell Schofield from Puberty Blues is his fiancee Scott, Timothy Conigrave whose life was immortalised in Holding the Man is Flynn's friend Cooper-Smith, Janette Cronin is a friend of Scott, Rhys McConnochie is Scotty's dad.

The plot concerns Flynn's engagement to Scotty, him taking off to New Guinea and having adventures, then coming home and being cast in In the Wake of the Bounty.

You never get the sense that Flynn likes Scotty so it's hard to care about their relationship. What's the point of Flynn and his mate Cooper-Smith? He's just there for exposition, really. 

They avoid a lot of drama. We don't meet Flynn's parents (surely that would be more interesting). Or Hans Erben.  They do have Flynn arrested in New Guinea. That's something.

I enjoyed the New Guinea sequences, and liked seeing depictions of Charles and Elsa Chauvel (unbilled) and the recreation of In the Wake of the Bounty. Production values are very high.