Movie review - "Flesh and Blood" (1985) **1/2

 The original idea was meant to be about two old comrades, Rutger Hauer and Jack Thompson, clashing. Orion pushed for more of a lovestory. Because it's Paul Verhoeven that means rape. 

Hauer is ideally cast although he and Verhoeven clashed on the film. Jennifer Jason Leigh has a perm, a sexual curiosity, gets gang raped, then is into Hauer.

The other casting is a real grab bag. Hauer's team include Bruno Kirby (!), Susan Tyrell (terrific), Brion James. Tom Burlinson is fresh faced as the prince betrothed to Leigh. Jack Thompson is a mercenary. 

The baddies are diverse - include several women, a kid, a gay couple.

Solid story. But no emotional links between characters. We forget Thompson and Hauer fought together. Burlinson is a stranger basically to Leigh and Hauer. Leigh and Hauer knew her.

Better if Leigh was Thompson's daughter and knew Hauer/Burlinson a long time.

Leigh goes naked a lot.  To a point where it's like "is this really necessary for the script?"

Movie review - "Mad Dog Morgan" (1976) *** (re-watching)

 I want to like it more than I do. I love the photography, sets, period detail, cast, Dennis Hopper, violence, madness, boldness.

Not a great script - a series of encounters. No core relationships other than Hopper and Gulpilil which seems like two odd bods. Frank Thring is evil. Jack Thompson is a pursuing cop but his role is small - he's undermined in a way too by Michael Pate's pursuing cop.

Great visuals. Consistently interesting. Phillipe Mora can't quite hook in the viewer via narrative. But he had a go.

Movie review - "The Journalist" (1979) *

 This got made because Michael Thornhill was on the board of the NSWFC and so had an "in", Roadshow made money on Petersen and so loved Jack Thompson, I think funding bodies thought "it's time we made a light comedy and here's one" and it sounded fun - "Jack Thompson as a rapscallion".

It's terrible.

This feels like a first draft, a vomit draft. The sort of thing entered in the Monte Millers.

Why didn't they get David Williamson to give it a pass?

You sense it'll be bad from the opening credits -played over scenes of Sydney Harbour, but the water isn't blue and the credits go on and on. They can't even get the credits right. I mean, just have pretty pictures of Sydney and keep it short. But all these people get their own card eg Stewart Wagstaff.

The story is dumb and confusing. 

Thompson is bad.  

Okay what I liked

- Elizabeth Alexander is beautiful and tries

- I like Candy Raymond who pops in at the end

- Don McAlpine is a good cinematographer

- Sam Neill does well

- there is camp in seeing Jack Thompson at the disco

- it shows the sexual desires of elder women eg Carol Raye, Margot Lee

What doesn't work

- the film keeps changing what it's about - he goes to Hong Kong,  then he's a journalist, then he's doing a government job then he's a journalist

- he's a bad journalist writes lousy copy can't type and doesn't investigate

- it's unclear what his relationship is like with Liz Alexander - they're together, she's pregnant, but she never seems that intohim

- the references to other movies and films eg Shampoo, Annie Hall - just make me angry at Thornhill's ineptness

- no sense of theme, of character

- no sexy, no nudity, no jokes, Thompson can't even get it up for two women (why include this)

- it was a scandal this was made

Movie review -"Spank!" (1999) *1/2

 Shot in Adelaide which is a point of difference - there are lots of scenes of Rundle Mall and some nice houses. Robert Mammone nicely underplays the lead who got out of a monastery which is interesting.

The story is about some Italian Australians who want to open a cafe. There's a lot of broad playing - a lot. Some guy who I kept thinking was Sal Coco mugs ruthlessly, gyrating and talking about woman. Vince from Heartbreak High mugs relentlessly, There's lots of mugging. It's exhausting. Maybe this would've worked on stage. I wondered why Mammone kept hanging out with them.

Many of the characters wear black and and have black hair and I had trouble telling them apart.  Especially has everyone acted like a maniac.

There was potential here - the story of young people opening up a cafe, colourful characters, a man out of a monastery having his first romantic relationship. That last subplot could have propped up the whole film if just played relatively straight with a bit of colour. (Even if there's some very unconvincing kissing - there's a great final shot of a conga line and everyone partying but 

 Rolf de Heer was executive producer.

Movie review - "Sex is a Four Letter Word" (1995) **1/2

 Some people sit around and talk about sex. A film of its time - this sort of raunchiness could not be seen on television.

It's surprising Joy Smithers organised a truth telling session when she's had an abortion and isn't sleeping with her partner (Rhett Walton). Did she not thing that was going to come out?

There's some twists - Walton is sleeping with uptight friend Tessa Humphries. Tony Waltton is bi and on with Miranda Otto and Mark Lee.  This part of the story is still fresh because we don't see many bi guys on screen even now.

It might've used being a movie more - ducking off to corner rooms works well.

Structurally the movie has flaws - characters will make revelations and then act as if the revelations haven't been made. Also the "my parents are bad" as get out of gaol is oversued, and Miranda Otto's character (while performed with plenty of energy) is a little Williamson/Bob Ellis (young, dim, horny, has great memories of rooting her music teacher at school).

Still there is a lot of energy, it's well acted, and it's impossible not to have admiratino for Fahey's spirit.

Movie review - "Star Portal".(1997) *

 One of the cheapies made in Ireland by Roger Corman, this has a strong source material, Not of This Earth but is just ineptly done. I like Athena Massey and it's cute to see her blending in to the world learning about sex and taking her clothes off, and Steven Bauer was sweet as a doctor with glasses who pursues her rather like Ryan O'Neal in What's Up Doc? but there's no suspense or horror and the film gets dumber and more incompetent as it goes on.

Movie review - "Undercover Heat" (1995) **1/2

 An utterly competent, perfectly designed late night cable erotic thriller, not with a huge budget, but a skilled, likeable, attractive cast. Athena Massey is very engaging as the cop investigating the murder of a hooker so she goes undercove as a high class call girl in a brothel run by Meg Foster with her offsider Jeffrey Dean Morgan. So there's some star power here.

It's cute (yes also and exploitative) how Massey discovers she quite enjoys doing increasingly sexual acts and tells her superiors to get lost.

The mystery isn't bad. Some promising subplots not developed like Massey and Morgan, and the romance between Meg Foster and Massey's boss. Nice friendship between Massey and the girl from Showgirls.

A movie that absolutely knows what it is.

Top unmade Margaret Lockwood films

 1) Rob Roy - announced before WW2, cancelled because of it... a great shame, would've been great, Gainsborough, Ted Black, Will Fyffe, Lockwood..

2) The Blue Lagoon - another Gainsborough project cancelled by WW2 it was good this was made in colour but young Lockwood would've been perfect 

3) Vanity Fair - announced in the late 1940s, presumably cancelled due to the financial crisis. Could have been fun. Maybe. I have limited confidence of Rank.

4) Ann Veronica - adaptation of the novel by HG Wells. Hmm... maybe director dependent. She did do it for TV and no one cared.

5) The Wicked Lady's Daughter - this should have been made. Arliss and company were still around. 

6) Mary Magdalene - Rank wanted to do this. She refused. Hmm.... I like the idea but Rank couldn't have pulled it off. The Americans could have.

Book review - "Helga's Web" by Jon Cleary

 The second Scobie Malone, revolves around the Opera House. We meet Scobie's miserable whiny working class parents - dad works on the Opera House and helps give them access which is good - and they clash with Scobie's girlfriend, Lisa, who moved here following The High Commissioner. 

Cleary had sex on the brain with this one. Interesting structure, it cuts back and forth between Scobie's investigation into Helga's murder and Helga's last few days. The identiy of the killer isn't that shocking.

The characters are types really - aspiring politician, his ambitious wife - although I liked the commercials producer, I wonder if that was inspired by Brian Chirlian. Cleary is strong on a sense of place and narrative, not so great on characters.

Movie review - "The Woman for Joe" (1955) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Obscure Rank feature from the 1950s despite being in colour and Vista Vision - it got a decent release but wasn't a TV perennial. Perhaps due to the story. George Baker runs a circus and becomes best friends with little person Jimmy Karoubi. Then Karoubi falls for Hungarian barmaid Diane Cilento.

Having a little person as protagonist is so unsual the film has a fascination.  Karoubi isn't really up for the part - he's got a charisma, I just wish he was a better actor. George Baker isn't that good either - he wrote in his memoirs that Peter Finch should've played the role and he was right.

The film is too nice. Baker and Karoubi like each other. Cilento is a decent person. They still are selfish. Karoubi loves Cilento. She's hot for Baker. Baker goes for her even though he would (arguably) have other options and she would have other options. She's got to go for Karoubi's best friend and he's got to go for her. Sorry, they're selfish. They don't even struggle against their attraction. Then Karoubi dies in an accident (I think it's a hinted suicide because she set him up with a dwaf he rejected earlier in the film after Baker tried to set him up with her?) They go off together feeling a little bad. Sorry for bad language, but fuck them. In playing everyone as "nice" they still come across as insensitive pricks because at the end of the day Karoubi is a dwarf and he isn't.

It might've been more fun using the plot of Freaks. Cilento is  tramp out for Karoubi's mother and hot for Baker. Or if they wanted to make Baker nice have some sexy dude she humps. Throw in a murder.

The writer has done for a more sensitive portrayal. Which is fine. But those need really skilled handling. Everyone tries. No one is outstanding.  It needed a better director. Cilento comes off best despite a Hungarian accent - which again is fine just another layer of artificiality.

I read a review which said the film seems to go on forever. I get that and think I know why. It lacks pace, it puts everything out in a linear manner. We meet Baker. Establish his problems. We meet Karoubi. Things get better. We don't meet Cilento until 30 minutes in. The film could've stared five minutes before hand.

The glimpses of circus life are fun. This is a negative review but there are many good things about the movie. The fact it's about a dwarf is inherently interesting. It totally gets points for that.

Book review - " Cimino:The Deer Hunter, Heaven’s Gate, and the Price of a Vision" (2022) by Charles Elton

 I'm surprised it took someone so long to do a book on Cimino, I thought he'd be a natural, but I guess he was uncommunicative and lived a long time (thus better able to sue). Elton tackled the job with admirable enthusiasm, with his best "get" being he contacted Joan Corelli but also a close friend when Cimino was transitioning and Steven Bach's exec partner at UA (who slags off Bach a lot, not unexpectedly - but it doesn't discount Bach's version).

Elton makes a lot of minor errors, mostly about the history of Hollywood - he's prone to saying things were "unprecedented" when they weren't, and stuff like Something's Got to Give was completely shut down when Fox filmed it as Move Over Darling. I think he's also a little too forgiving of going over budget - the "well David Lean did it" argument.  

It's not definitive but it's really good and Cimino is such a fascinating character.

Movie review - "The Undead" (1957) **** (re-watch)

 Oh the rating is too high but I love this film. It's ambitious, its spookiness, the quality of its script, the dialogue - Griffith said Corman cut out the iambic pentameter but there's a bit in there. Acting quality varies - Richard Garland slightly OTT, Pamela Duncan is okay but Alison Hayes is wonderful and Val Dufour a great slimy shrink plus Mel Welles has the time of his life as a gravedigger.

It throws in dancing girls, Satan, a little person (Billy Barty), witches.  The ending has emotional power with Duncan giving up her life.

Movie review - "The Flying Fontaines" (1959) **

 Michael Callan given a lead role in this trapeze drama which references the Burt Lancaster Trapeze  a few times. There's a love triangle, talk of a triple. Callan is the only one of the young Columbia contract players to have much individuality. Bright colour. George Sherman directed. Bigger budget than a "B" it feels - "A minus" maybe. Not much of a story. Lacks a murder or something. Nice production values. Callan dances at a night club.

Gene Hackman top ten

 

Okay enough time has passed (arguably) to do a Gene Hackman top ten. Everyone knows the actual good movies so I thought I'd do my top ten weird Gene Hackman movies.

1) Lucky Lady (1975) - Gene has a threesome with Burt Reynolds and Liza Minelli. That is not made up. Burt gives Gene's arm a fondle the morning after. You gentleman, Burt!

2) Two of a Kind (1982) - reteaming of Olivia Newton John and john Travolta that no one remembers except uber fans - Gene Hackman provides the voice of God and does very well

3) March or Die (1977) - Hackman made a few films for Lew Grade's company ITC in the late 70s- I enjoyed this french foreign legion tale where he is, as always, good

4) Bat21 (1988) for some reason this movie was on like every few months on Channel Ten on Friday/Saturday nights in the nineties - there was probably a bigger market for pudgy men in war movies than people realised - this film isn't that weird actually it was more weird how it was always on Channel ten

5) Zandy's Bride (1974) - when people talk about how great cinema was in the 70s it's always good to say "what like Zandy's Bride?" in the conversation to be annoying - Hackman is good as always

6) Superman 4: The Quest for Peace - everyone took the money on this one - read Daniel Kremer's Sidney Furie bio for the inside scoop on what went down

7) First to Fight/ Covenant with Death (mid 60s) - when Hackman was working his way up through the ranks he had to support actors like Chad Everett and George Maharis in films like these because they were what people thought film stars looked like and Hackman wasn't - he graduated to "supporting peopole who looked like film stars and actually were" like Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Jim Brown and Gregory Peck - but i guess you've got to get through Chad Everett first to get to Redford

8 ) Lilith (1964) forgotten film in which Jean Seaberg, who often sleepwalked through her roles, is terrific - so too is peter Fonda

9) Doctor's Wives (1971) - sleazy material with a director who had a class rep on TV and. a first rate cast - they manage to still make it sleazy material

10) Misunderstood (1984) - a male weepie with Hackman and Henry Thomas, coming off ET - i remember it made my cry as an eleven year old but I sense it may be terrible so am afraid to see it again

Movie review - "Return of the Secaucus Seven" (1980) ****

 Rough, of course, with some erratic acting and staging. But I love the film for its ambition. Being an ensemble piece, trying to break up chat with basketbell games, ordering drinks, nude swimming. You do get to know the characters - I think maybe a few different haircuts would've helped.

The tensions, humour and acting are well staged. There's "future star" spotting with Gordon Clapp and David Strathairn.

It's more sexual than other Sayles films except maybe Lianna. The scene where two characters, Adam leFevre and Karent Trott, whisper about wanting to do it and do it is very hot - Sayles didn't often write that, but he could do it well (eg Battle Beyond the Stars).

I loved the scene where they were arrested and these flakes, or people who seemed flakey (Mark Arnott as the druggie), started reeling off their arrests for political events. 

I would've liked to have seen Lacey, the actress again.

But I love the feeling of friendship, the indie vibe. I's an important movie.

Documentary review - "The Self-Preservation Society" (2009) ***

 Solid doco about making The Italian Job  with some great talking heads: Michael Deeley, Michael Caine, Robert Evans, Peter Bart (who never passes up a chance to self  promote), Peter Collinson's widow and kids. The Collinson story is inevitably moving.  Lots of details about cars. Fun clips. Good natured.

Ronald Lewis Top Ten

 I always called him "Roland Lewis". Anyway

1) The Square Ring - effective character work - I think he was a character actor in a leading man's body

2) Robbery Under Arms - the fault of the films are not his

3) The Wind Cannot Read - like many pushed as a leading man, made a better villain

4) Scream of Fear - excellent work

5) The Full Treatment - ditto

6) Conspiracy of Hearts - decent work in a good Ralph Thomas film 

7) Mr Sardonic - some William Castle fun

8) The Secret Place - solid noir

9) Storm Over the Nile - he doesn't have much to do but I like the movie

10) Siege of Saxons - cheerful kids film, Lewis has a bad blonde wig but is fine

Movie review - "Shiva Baby" (2020) ***1/2

 Bright comedy-drama with a star making turn from Rachel Sennott and well written and directed by Emma Seligman. Kind of like a play in that it basically is set in one place over a restricted period of time but the handling is cinematic as Sennott kind of loses it with a particularly strong music score.

Diana Argon plays a blonde shiska.

Movie review - "Stanley: Every Home Should Have One" (1984) *

 Oz attempt at Arthur has Peter Bensley as the titular man child who goes to live with an ordinary family - Graeme Kennedy (who would've been idea for the lead when younger), Susan Walker, Joy Smithers and David Argue (who would've been better if more aggro). He reomances Nell Campbell and the two don't have chemistry.

The film cost $4 million - there are some pretty shots of Sydney Harbour but I'm not sure where it all went. 

The plot might've been okay for a half hour kids thing. There is adult stuff with Kennedy being busted at a gay bar with Harold Hopkins, Walker having an affair, Smithers being pregnant to an Aboriginal and Argue being a drug dealer... actually isn't this the plot of Bliss?

Over time the film's lack of comedy, endless cut aways of Max Cullen stalking Bensley and lack of chemistry between Bensley and Campbell got on my nerves and I started to hate the movie.

Movie review - "My Old Ass" (2022) ****

 Swee fantasy comedy where Maisy Stella meets her older self, Audrey Plaza, who gives some advice on her last summer. Stella is outstanding - everyone is good too.

I wasn't sure it was okay to have a woman who sleeps with women then realising she prefers dudes, nbut maybe that's how it swings in Canada. The film is very Canadian - there's comments about climate change, open attitudes to sexuality, it's all set by a lake, there's a Justin Bieber sequence.

Movie review - "The Sunchaser" (1996) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Michael Cimino's last feature film as director is one no one remembers, not really. It escaped with a whimper, not a bang, doesn't even have a decent controversy associated with it. Woody Harelsen, who shows a likable tendency to work with all sorts of directors, plays the lead - a cancer doctor. He's kidnapped by teen gangster Jon Seda who wants Native American meidcal treatment which is interesting. Seda's performance gets on the nerves after a while - lots of yelling.

Alexandra Tydings is a generic leggy type as Harrelson's wife, perhaps put in the film as Harrelson's beard since the film has Harrelson essentially fall in love with Seda. This is raised in the film and feriously refuted.

This movie is reminiscent of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot - two men on the lam - although it's different in that Harrelson is kidnapped so could escape, there's no stakes if the cops get him.

I like taking Navajos seriously and we meet some hot Navajos (one played by Talisa Soto!) and the ending is satisfying. But there is something missing in the movie. An extra twist. Or someone dying at the end. Really Harrelson should die at the end - I think that would've worked if they'd gotten rid of his family. His family being in the film doesn't work, there's no point to it.

But, you know, interesting.

John Milius in Film Comment 1976

 

Movie review - "Michael Cimino: God Bless America" (2022) ***1/2

 Doco about the director with taped interviews though not recent pictures. Great talking heads of others though like Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone. Visits scenes where various movies shot notably The Deer Hunter. I like that it book ends The Sunchaser with Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

Movie review - "Desperate Hours" (1990) **

 I think the theory was good - take a well worn story, which almost always works (siege/home invasion), and add a hot star like Mickey Rourke, some great actors like Mimi Rogers and Anthony Hopkins, and give it to Michael Cimino.

It's got 90s bloat which we saw in a lot of remakes around this time (eg The Getaway). I think Cimino struggles with cramped, indoor stories. His famous films - all of them until here - were basically oudoor stories. Even the indoor sequences felt spectacular eg Russian Roulette in Deer Hunter, the restaurant in Year of the Dragon.  The scenes set outdoors here - Kelly Lynch on the opening, for instance, or when David Morse escapes - has a life the indoor stuff doesn't.

Cimino struggles with character interactions. Desperate Hours should be full of them - we keep waiting to see humanity in Rourke towards Hopkins/Rogers/Smith... but don't. Sexual attraction/repulsion, an understanding, people realising stuff about themselves, interesting gang dynamics... none of that is really there. I kept waiting for a psycho convict to do something... no. There's a nice moment where a convict recognises a video game played by Hopkins' son and waited to see that relationship developed... No. Smith is a bratty teen and I waited to see a convict fall for her (or Rogers) - or threaten them. No. Yes, cliches, or tropes, but at least drama. Hopkins acts all tough, which is foolish when people have your family. He has a younger lover he left Rogers for who would be a great person to turn up... instead there's a real estate agent who is killed. Also Smith's boyfriend appears but they don't move there.

It's one of those films where maybe they were too afraid of cliches.  So they didn't do the cliches but they didn't replace them with anything.

The movie needed to be directed by, I don't know, John Badham or someone. That's no diss on Badham - I think that director was better with characterisation and more conventional material.

Movie review - "The Sicilian" (1987) **1/2

 Heaven's Gate hurt Cimino's career but it didn't kill it - he made Year of the Dragon which underperformed in North American but did well enough for finance to be raised for this movia, a biopic of Sicilian bandit/politician Salvatore Giuliano.

There's very little American interest in the story but it was based on a novel by Mario Puzo. Christopher Lambert is not ideally cast in the lead. John Turturro is his best friend,  Giulia Boschi is his girlfriend and  Barbara Sukowa a horny countess. Joss Ackland is a mafia don and Terence Stamp is a prince.

The novel was part of The Godfather series and included the Corleones. They are removed here - presumably due to legal issues. It's a shame - I get the reasons, but maybe some American characters added could have helped the movie connect with American audiences. Or any non-Sicilian audiences. There's a lot of chat about Sicilian politics, elections and communists, that I felt a little behind the eight ball with.

Lambert looks good but is terrible. There's an awful "If you don't rape me I'll rape you" scene between Lambert and a countess and they listen to music and have sex  (Many Cimino's film have rape in them.) I think once they cast Lambert they just needed to reduce all his dialogue and give it to Turturro and Ackland and Stamp. Or just cast Terence Stamp. Or someone who can act. Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. The women in the cast aren't great either.

The tremendous period  detail of his earlier films is present in the outdoor scenes but indoor scenes with big bands feels fake.

The spectacle, sweep and subject matter could've made this really good. There was a cut version and Cimino version - I saw the latter. It has stature but has a lead who can't act and some dreadful scenes as well as some amazing ones.

 Gore Vidal did a pass of the script. Most of the key actors are English but Aldo Ray has a small role.

Movie review - "Year of the Dragon" (1985) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Mickey Rourke was born in 1952 so he could've served in Vietnam - I like his performance but his silly hair makes him seem old. And Ariane, I have affection for, but the fact is a really good actress in that part would've make it sing. John Lone is superb.

It looks gorgeous. Sweeping vistas. Extras.Burmese jungle. Hong Kong. Restaurants.  The action sequences are incredible - assassinations, shootouts in restaurants, people being shot on the road, beatings in nightclubs. So many great touches like the nuns translating bugged criminals and the mafia guy with a throat box.

They didn't have to make Rourke's character such an arsehole. When Ariane says she's been raped he grabs her and throws her in the chair and yells at her. When his wife is angry he took off at dinner he goes and sleeps with Ariane. He constantly makes racist slurs. This didn't have to be in the film. Neither did the rape scene - I wonder if that was Stone or Cimino both were partial to rape.

I like the bloke who played Rourke's old mate. The wife character is the standard Oliver Stone nag, but the actress does the best she can. Dennis Dun is moving as the undercover cop - at least he gets some time in the sun as does Ariane.

Really, Rourke's character should have died at the end - it feels wrong that Dun and his wife were killed and Ariane was raped and he got to live. 

Still, a really thought provoking movie. Not cookie cutter.

Movie review - "Heaven's Gate" (1980) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Looks gorgeous. Cimino spent a lot of money but it's up there on screeen. Every shot is like a painting.

Opening scene with John Hurt making speeches at Harvard doesn't really make sense.  There's pretty dances and bands and it looks tremendous - it doesn't have the universality of people getting married.

A key problem of the movie is Cimino is so in love with set pieces and sets. A train arriving. A horse drawn carriage. Rollerskating. Landscapes. It lacks the personal touch. It is pretty funny in that one scene where there's a juggler in the background. Some over the top action sequences like little battles. The immigrants have no personality.

And yet... 

There is greatness. In bits. Isabelle Huppert is captivating. The love triangle between Chris Walken, her and Kris Kristofferson works a treat. Walken's part is terrific. Kristofferson less strong - he looks wonderful and I think Cimino was in love with filming him in poses. 

The acting is fine. Sam Waterson as baddy.  Jeff Bridges as Kristofferson's mate. Walken - who steals the show.

No one enjoys sex here. I'm noticing that in Cimino films. Kristofferson and Huppert frolic nude but don't often do it. The other hookers look poorly. Huppert is raped.

The plot is actually simple. The bankers/land barons do up a death list. Execute. The people push back. Chaos. 

Easy to see the bits that needed to be fixed - give John Hurt some point, some genuine tie with Kristofferson. Cut all the stuff that has no story point. Trim it down. Really the story should've been properly told from the POV of immigrants - rather, the lead. I think Cimino had a man crush on Kristofferson.  His stakes don't compare. I mean, make Kristofferson an immigrant... the story comes alive a lot more.

The ending is moving with Kristofferson old, rich and sad. But wow what a downer - the government helps the richies, most of the immigrants die, then Bridges and Huppert are killed just to make us feel especially bad. 

Reviews were hysterically negative. I understand why but they shouldn't have been. It's not a masterpiece - Cimino needed a co writer - but it's a work that deserves appreciation.

Book review - "The Director Should've Shot You" by Alan Dean Foster

 Memoir of a novelist - but someone better known for novelisations. Most film buffs had a Foster on their shelves back in the day - I'm glad he's still at it. Lively account of his life and times. A lot of hours spent in front of the typewriter so not a huge amount for a personal life, at least according to this. 

Some interesting experiences - the challenges of John Carpenter's Dark Star, the generosity of George Lucas giving a percentage on Star Wars, disliking Alien 3 and changing the story (letting Newt live) and being scolded by Walter Hill, getting involved in a actor-director fight on Chronicles of Riddick, working for JJ Abrams (no goss he sounds decent). Too much whining over lack of science in sci fi. But the talk of craft is interesting. Made money from Star Trek log books in the seventies.

Book review - Hardy#3 - "The Marvellous Boy" by Peter Corris

 Corris rips off The Big Sleep  as a rich old crone asks Hardy to look for a missing relatives. He still smokes here. Gets knocked out. There's well described violence. An abortonist. Some weirdos.

Movie review - "The Deer Hunter" (1978) ****

 A big deal in its day and the fame has lingered in part because of the notoreity of Michael Cimino. It's long - over three hours - so is probably best appreciated in the cinema. It looks gorgeous - the Pennsylvania steel towns, Vietnam and stuff.

There's New York actors pretending to be working class types and they mostly pull it off because they're excellent actors. The Russian Roulette stuff works brilliantly as a dramatic device. It's so homoerotic - the homophobia dialogue is accurate for the milieu but Chris Walken and de Niro seem to be in love and John Cazale accuses de Niro of not being interested in women and de Niro doesn't do anything in bed with Meryl Streep for a while. 

We see a deer actually be killed. There is Hollywood shenanigans in de Niro is in Nam, then runs into Walken and Savage, then they are all captured, then de Niro escapes by being super heroic then de Niro gets back and does a silly but highly effective final Russian Roulette.

John Cazale's part isn't much and I sense the roles of George Dzunda and Chuck Aspegren could be combined and Streep is the Girl and Savage's wife could've done something more but...

You know what? This is still a really good movie. It's gorgeous. The money is on screen. De Niro is superb. It's moving. Russian Roulete words a treat. The cuts are terrific. It tackles PTSD very well. It does like it's characters.

Movie review - "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 Michael Cimino got his directing career going with this buddy comedy, a genre much in vogue at the time. Cimino's commercials background means he knows how to fill a frame and compose an image. It ambles a bit in that Malpaso way. I was surprised how low fi it was (essentially a two hander which morphs into a four hander with a big heist sequence in act two). Also how homoerotic it was - Jeff Bridges is clearly in love with Clint Eastwood who is into Bridges; there is talk of women and they pick some up (including Catherine Bach) but it feels forced.

Interesting to see Bridges in drag after reading what came out about Cimino but that just may be accidental. Neat touches and twists like how George Kennedy dies. I'm guessing Midnight Cowboy was an influence.

Book review - "Junior Bonner: The Making of a Classic with Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah in the Summer of 1971" by Jeb Rosebrook

 Memoir by Rosebrook who wrote the script fo Junior Bonner. The story of the making of this film actually isn't super interesting despite the involvement of drama magnets Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah - there was no recutting, no massive bust ups, it was so Major Dundee or coke riddled Convoy. McQueen liked the script, Peckinpah liked doing something non violent. Peckinpah did some mild (by his stands) bullying, firing people who didn't deserve it, McQueen was basically the boss, but people generally behaved.

Still it is an interesting book because of the director and star and also characters like Ida Lupino (whose role was intended for Susan Hayward who wanted to do it but they all got drunk and forgot to offer it to her and she got annoyed), Robert Preston (who as usual everyone loved), Barbara Leigh (an engaging unpretentious model who just had affairs with everyone from Elvis to McQueen to James Aubrey) and rodeo riders. Also the book acts as a memoir for Rosebrook's career which wasn't amazing but was entirely decent. He wrote a script for James Coburn, who sounds like a gentleman, and did a lot of TV. Rosebrook was a producer so has an engaging appreciation of below the line workers which a lot of writers don't.

Jack Thompson interview from 1975 Cinema Papers

 

Old Cinema Papers interview with Bryan Brown