Movie review - "God's Little Acre" (1958) **

 A big deal in its day - a famous horny Southern eccentric book, which took more than twenty yeras to be filmed. It comes across as boring about tiresome people though the cast is interesting: Aldo Ray, Robert Ryan (paw), Tina Louise, Fay Spain, Vic Morrow, Jack Lord, Michael Landon as an albino. Ryan's hee haw character got on my nerves. I know such people existed. I just got tirin.

Fay Spain and Louise are the horny ones. But theren's not a lot of sex.

It picks up in the second half when the work gets more political

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 - "The Siege of Pinchgut" (1959) **1/2 (re-viewing)

 Such a great idea and amazing start,  with all the excitement sucked out of it via treatment.

- unrealistic casting

- wishy washy goal of convicts

- confused motivation other convicts (why does Victor Maddern go along with everything)

- wet performance from Neil McCallum

- doing absolutely nothing with Heather Menzies

- making the convicts too unscary

- not raising stakes

Movie review - "The Secret of Nimh" (1982) ***

 I'm not that familiar with Don Bluth films. The animation is very fine, and there are memorable sequences such as visiting the owl and going underground - all the spooky stuff. There's some full on scenes of animal testing, people getting crushed and stabbed, and adult flirting. 

The story lacks momentum - it's about staying still, inside because a kid has pnuemonia. 

Really interesting voice cast including Wil Wheaton, Shanneon Doherty, Elizabeth Hartman and Aldo Ray! Hartman took her own life only a few yers later.

Movie review - "What Did You Do in the War Daddy?" (1966) ***

 A box office flop despite the fact it was from Blake Edwards and had James Coburn coming off Our Man Flint and a concept that would've seemed idea for the cynical sixties I'd have thought - a US unit in Italy comes across a town that wants to surrender after their wine festival, so the Yanks pretend to meet resistance, which brings in the Germans and US superiors. That's funny.

But maybe when you pick at it, it's not - World War Two was a Good War, so they are ducking out of important service. Also why can't they surrender and then do the wine festival? It doesn't make sense. It maybe would've worked if it was near the end of the war and they'd been sent to fight silly battles and there was a better reason to stop - like give the Americans a really villainous gneneral.

The movie falters in terms of characterisation. The leads are Dick Shawn and James Coburn but Coburn's role is sidelined. I think Shawn is meant to be uptight and Coburn laid back but Shawn gets un-uptight pretty quickly and Edwards can't seem to think of things for Coburn to do, or Aldo Ray who's also in there. Operation Petticoat had very defined characters - Cary Grant was uptight and by the book, the nurses called havoc, Tony Curtis was on the make... The characters here aren't as fixed. You could cut Coburn and Ray out of the film and made it about Shaw and Sergio Fantoni - actually that's what it should've been.

It looks gorgous, there's some funny bits, it was good to see Shawn in a lead role. I did sense Edwards would've been happier with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. But also Edwards liked Coburn - he used him on Waterhole 3 and The Carey Treatment - why not give him more to do. The Italian female doesn't have much of a character, or does Sergio Fantoni (friendly Italian).

Movie review - "Dead Heat on a Merry Go Round" (1966) **

 One of those films inspired by Charade - all groovy, with twists. It's a bit annoying. A lot rests on the shoulders of James Coburn, who gets out of prison and plans a heist. Thing is it takes half the film for him to raise money for the heist, which involves him romancing people - the shrink to get him out of prison, a maid (Nina Grey who is terrible), a socialite (Rose Marie) another cleaner (Camilla Sparv). Most of these actresses are gorgeous and dressed gorgeously but they're swept off their feet by Coburn - who is attractive but not that hot. Even Cary Grant would struggle to have sold it. But it's all so patchy and stop start.

Coburn also imitates various people including an Australian cop! (He was an Aussie in The Great Escape.)

The film gets much better once the heist kicks in and there's some pace.

It looks terrific in that late 60s way. Harrison Ford pops up to deliver a telegram. I struggled to tell the male support cast apart.

Movie review - "Gone with the West" (1975, made 1968) *

 Ugh. A sort of jokey Western, "way out" and "crazy". Stupid. Cheap. Dumb. Quite a serious story - James Caan is a cowboy framed by Aldo Ray and goes looking for revenge. Ray's scenes seem like they are filmed on different days and cut in. Stephnie Powers plays an Indian. Sammy Davis Jr is a cowboy. He should've played the lead - that would've given the film some point. Caan is professional and accomplished. Awful.

TV series "Frontier Circus" (1961) Ep 1 **1/2

 There were so many Westerns on TV at this stage they were desperate to vary the formula. This one is about a circus, which is cute. The ostensible stars are Chill Wills, Richard Jaekel and John Derek but the bulk of the story involves guest star Aldo Ray - who plays a drunken former lion tamer. Knowing Ray was an alcoholic gives this tremendous resonance - we see scenes of him being boozing and self loathing. It's a good performance.

(Derek and Ray made Saturday's Hero together as well which gives it an extra layer.)

On the concept front, Wills is ideal in this show but Derek and Jaekel are too stock I feel - nothing wrong with them as actors they're just a little too Wagon Train when the show would've benefited from some more obviously showbiz style stars I think - like a brassy showgirl or something.

Movie review - "Saturday's Hero" (1951) ***

John Derek's first few credits were pretty high brow - a Nicholas Ray film starring Bogart, a Robert Rossen political drama - that Columbia started building vehicles for him from the get-go. They put him in swashbucklers but also this sports drama, where Derek is a top football player from a poor mining town sought out by colleges. Years before All the Right Moves and Varsity Blues!

There's plenty of cliches - dim ethnic dad, wise cynical journalist, third act injury. The film might've been a bigger hit if it had a few more of them - sweet girlfriend, cruel coach, the big game at the end.

It doesn't do these things. Which is interesting. Gal next door Donna Reed is the love interest - but not a sweet thing rather this rich girl who is a bit wild and has a possibly incestuous relationship with her rich uncle. That's kind of interesting. 

They might've been better off having the wise journo as his hometown girlfriend and Reed as a glory hunting rich gal. But the fact this is different means you're not sure how it's going to end.

Derek's father dies off screen - why not have him do it on screen? I kept expecting the brother to do something interesting.

The film has guts. It takes on the corruption of college ball - the benefactors, the way they treat players like garbage. The film was made by left wingers - Sidney Buchman, etc - and it's got a Marxist take. But a lot of it feels reshot, rewritten - like the finale with Derek deciding to go to night school and Reed sends a telegram that she'll be with him as opposed to seeing it on screen.

Aldo Ray has an early role as a fellow football player - he has ease and comfort on screen that Derek never quite matched for all Derek's beauty. But Derek is quite good here.

The film doesn't get there. It's too over the shop feels too uncertain. But it tries to be a good movie. It tries. And that does count.

Book review - "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" by Quentin Tarantino (2021)

 A delight. Liked it more than the movie. It can go on detours. It's more joyous. Less anti woman. I didn't quite buy Cliff was so into European film, that sounded like Quentin, but I did love how he held his dead wife together for seven hours waiting for the coast guard. Warm heart. Love the changes from the movie, like ending it on the girl and Rick discussing how much they loved acting. Enjoyed the Aldo Ray chapter. Enjoyed pretty much all of it.

Movie review - "The Power" (1968) ** (warning: spoilers)

 There's a decent enough story at the core of this - a scientist investigates murders committed by a psychic  but the treatment was needlessly confusing. I also think it wasn't very well directed by Byron Haskin, towards the end of his career/life. The treatment cried out for spookiness, scariness, atmosphere, but too often looks like a flat Universal movie from the late 60s. There's no MGM lushness or style.

As a whodunnit it's not effective because we forget (or I did) who the people at the start of the movie were. I'm not sure George Hamilton was up for the challenges of the role although it is one of his better performances. I wish Suzanne Pleshette, who plays his girlriend, and who should have been the main baddie, had played his part. Or, if it had to be a man, then Rod Taylor, who was attached to this for a time.

Some decent moments like going out to the desert where Aldo Ray tries to kill Hamilton. This needed to be shot outside a studio, with a director really keen to make it work, not an old pro.

Movie review - "Beyond Mombasa" (1956) *** (warning: spoilers)

 A sort of remake of Duel in the Jungle from the same producers (Todon, company of Donna Reed), same director (George Marshall), shot on location which focuses on white people on an expedition.

This one has Cornel Wilde investigating his disappearing brother, accompanied by Leo Genn and Genn's niece Donna Reed. Reed is lovely, Wilde is ideal for this sort of stuff (Aldo Ray turned down the role... why?), Genn is fun, especially at the end when he goes nutty, Christopher Lee is even more fun as a big game hunter who may be a baddy, Ron Randell is on hand as another person who may be a baddy.

Randell's voice is dubbed - poor Ron! Nice photography of Kenya. The leopard men are fun.

Movie review - "The Siege of Pinchgut" (1959) ***

 For a long time this movie was dismissed in histories of the Australian industry. Its reputation has risen in recent years. It's a frustrating film to watch because the central idea is brilliant and there's good things about it.

The opening is brilliant - an ambulance racing through Sydney (love the location footage) with anxious staff and driver and a bandaged patient. They get pulled over, then have to take a genuine sick person, and wind up at a hospital.

But instead of building the tension by keeping the gang stuck at the hospital there's a cut and bang they are at this safe house. How did they get there? Why have them go there? Why not get them on the boat.

They get on the boat and it breaks down, so you don't actually need that opening sequence. They arrive at the fort... take it over. Aldo Ray is so apologetic about it, it robs the piece of tension.

Some tourists arrive on the island. They don't seem to be in much danger of being busted. Then Grant Taylor comes and it gets exciting. But then Aldo Ray lets him go. His co conspirators are justifiably annoyed.

Ray's character is so dumb - always whining about wanting a new trial. We never find out if he's innocent or guilty by the way - the harsh copper says he's guilty and he's not disproved. He's too nice, no threat. He goes a little mad at the end.

There's no other threat among the group. Victor Maddern's character should have been harsh but he's amiable. Makes no sense he's along. Why not make him bad? How are they going to get off the island? 

Grant Taylor is in this as a cop who gets chased off the island then shoots Maddern. Watching this I felt maybe Taylor was justifably annoyed he wasn't playing that role. Taylor had a strength and gravitas that the hijackers could have used. They should have shot some people.

I liked the other Aussies. I guess I would but does anyone like the Brits in the cast: Heather Sears in a typically poor Ealing female role, Carlo Juistini has someone who seems as if they're going to be interesting but isn't, Neil McCallum is very poor as Ray's brother, Barbara Mullen as the mother who just whimpers (why not have her be a sex bomb who wants Ray or something.

Kenneth J Warren is a very good booming voice commissioner - I hadn't heard of him before. Gerry Duggan is great too. Ray might have been fine had he been given something to play.

The location is tremendous. Sydney Harbour looks fantastic. It does build effectively. 

I just wish they'd kept the original idea of making it about Germans in World War Two, and used more Aussie actors who would've been better.

Movie review - "The Day they Robbed the Bank of England" (1960) ***

Decent heist film. Lacks a little zing and is maybe hampered by Aldo Ray in the lead. I like Ray normally but he seems out of place in England of 1900 or whenever this is set. Maybe he was particularly drunk.

It's a shame because the lead role is ideal for an American - an Irish American helping the IRA rob the bank of England. Its hooked up with politics - they're ordeed to stop at times because Home Rule might happen which is a great complication.

Keiron Moore booms as a fellow thief and Elizabeth Sellers is alright as the Girl but the film is mostly memorable for two support characters - Peter O'Toole, full of youth and life as the idiotic upper class twit who gives Ray all this inside information then begins to twig (easily the best role - I think O'Toole was offered Moore's part and figured out accurately that the other one was the one to nab) and Albert Sharpe was a drunken tunnel digger. This maybe needed less Ray and more of the support cast but the period detail gives it difference.

Movie review - "Nightfall" (1957) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Not bad film noir starring Aldo Ray who made surprisingly few of them - he suited the genre with his gravelly voice and sad eyes. This has a slight Out of the Past vibe as Ray tells his story in flashback to model Anne Bancroft - it involves him grabbing an opportunity to steal a bag of cash.

The most effective moment is when two killers come across innocent Ray and his doctor friend and make them run before killing them (or in Ray's case trying to). The most bizarre moment is the fashion show where Bancroft does some modelling - it's kind of justified in that the two bad guys turn up but it feels weird.

There's several scenes in the snow including the climax (which includes that old staple, death by snowplow). Brian Keith is effective as a baddy - he normally gives a good performance I'd just never seen him play a baddy before. Rudy Bond is his more psychotic colleague.

Stirling Silliphant's screenplay has some bright dialogue but feels as though it cheats in spots. Ray twice is allowed to live by Keith and Bond - one at the beginning where they just knock him out the second time they think he's dead. At the end they should kill him a third time then for some reason Keith turns on Bond.

The story lacks a femme fetale - Bancroft is good. They mention the wife of Ray's friend who is killed Jack Albertson - it really needed to be her. No femme fetale means Ray can be redeemed and survive the film but that feels less fun.

There's too much of James Gregory as a kindly investigating insurance dude - and too many scenes of him explaining the plot to his wife, Jocelyn Brando.

t's beautifully shot and quite well acted.

Thoughts on Ralph Meeker

Ralph Meeker isn't a very well known name to buffs today unless you're a fan of Kiss Me Deadly. At one stage though he had a real buzz around him - he replaced Brando on stage in Streetcar Named Desire, and had a key role in Mr Roberts on Broadway as well as the lead role in Picnic (with Paul Newman supporting him).

Why did never become a star?

He was a burly tough guy in a decade when that was a plus. Other Brand replacements, Jack Palance and Anthony Quinn, became famous. Meeker's Picnic co star Paul Newman became famous.

Why not Meeker?

Well, they did try - MGM hired him to a contract in the early 50s. His starring vehicles did not perform well (unlike say Palance who got lucky with Sudden Fear and Shane right off the bat).

Maybe he was difficult, but I've got no proof of that.

I also think maybe he lacked a certain... affability. He seemed mean. He never had say Brando's or Newman's on screen gentleness. Maybe he could've and I haven't seen it. Maybe it was just role selection. Too many guest shots on TV not enough solid directors.

But it is a puzzle. He has his fans - Quentin Tarantino liked that Aldo Ray/Meeker/Brian Keith type. But Meeker's career never seemed to hit even Aldo Ray heights.

Anyway, still, made some great movies - anyone would be happy to have Kiss Me Deadly and Paths of Glory on their resume.

Movie review - "Nightmare in the Sun" (1965) ** (warning: spoilers)

After leaping to fame in Dr No Ursula Andress appeared in two decently budgeted studio films, Fun in Acapulco and Four For Texas before winding up in this cheapie thriller. I assume she was talked into it by her then husband John Derek who has the lead role.

But it must be said this isn't bad. It's directed by Marc Lawrence, best known as an actor, and presumably it was he who attracted the top level cast - Andress is a saucy minx married to small town tycoon Arthur O'Connell, who is having a fling with sheriff Aldo Ray, and she tries it on with hitchhiker Derek who gets dropped off in town by Sammy Davis Jnr; Richard Jaekel and Robert Duvall are travelling through, locals include Allyn Jolyson, Keenan Wynn and Chick Chandler.

Derek looks a bit old - still handsome, but the hair is flecked with grey. He's okay - in the scenes where he's pursued for murder he's convincingly worried, but other moments he's more awkward. The character isn't much - he wants to get home with his wife. Would've been better drama had he been more shifty - and slept with Andress, say, or did a little light thieving.

Andress is a star. She's relaxed and comfortable and vivacious and gives a good performance. But she dies 21 minutes in. A great scene - O'Connell shoots her and Lawrence cuts to a doll reverberating. 

There's a few other neat touches in this - a dust storm, Stanley Cortez' striking photography. I feel the movie would've been better had Andress stayed alive more. Also Derek gets out of it by a deux ex machina - Ray persuades O'Connell to blame the murder on Derek but O'Connell then changes his mind.

Good quality acting, patchy script... but a surprisingly enjoyable B film. Andress holds her own in a top level cast by virtue of sheer charisma and beauty. I think acting with Derek made her relax more but he's awkward.

Dorothy Malone RIP - And a Top Ten

1) The Big Sleep (1946) - Malone is only in this for two scenes but does them with Humphrey Bogart and is sensational (aspiring actresses could do worse than to study these scenes of how to make a big impact in a short space of time).

2)The Fast and the Furious (1955) - not the Vin Diesel classic but a 1955 car chase flick which was the first feature Roger Corman ever produced - Malone is v likekable (Malone also appeared in Corman's directorial debut, Five Guns West).

3) Battle Cry (1955) - a melodrama about WW2 based on a best seller which New Zealand audiences will especially find interesting (part of the film is set there) - Malone has a surprisingly sexually frank fling with a young soldier played by Tab Hunter.

4) Sincerely Yours (1955) - Liberace's attempt at big screen stardom with Malone as his love interest (in the space of three years Malone steamed up the screen opposite Liberace, Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson...) - a fairly terrible movie but fascinating to see Liberace act in a melodrama (he took the blame for this film's failure but the script was as much at fault).

5) Artists and Models (1955) - for me the best Martin and Lewis film a really terrific fun comedy with Malone well matched with Martin and Shirley MacLaine perfect for Lewis.

6) Written on the Wind (1956) - Malone won the Oscar for this but I rewatched it recently and felt her performance did not hold up that well - check out her stroking the oil rig at the end (the same team then made The Tarnished Angels)

7) Too Much Too Soon (1958) - Malone mostly played "the girl" in films but her Oscar saw her get a real chance here, as Diana Barrymore, in what I feel is a pretty decent film - stolen by Errol Flynn as John Barrymore.

8) The Last Voyage (1960) - Malone's role isn't much (something you could say about a lot of her career) but they actually sunk a real ship for this film which is cool.

9) Fate is the Hunter (1964) - a Rod Taylor film where Malone has a one scene unbilled cameo - for years I thought it was a mirage but then later on confirmed it that yes it was her - this is a pretty good movie.

10) Beach Party (1963) - most film fans remember Frankie and Annette and forget or don't realise Robert Cummings and Dorothy Malone had quite big parts in this film, the first in the series.
Oh and she's in Basic Instinct (1992) too

Movie review - "Sylvia" (1965) **

Michael Caine once wrote when he arrived in Hollywood in the 60s every male film star was called George - George Peppard, George Chakiris, George Maharis, George Segal. This one stars Maharis, a smug 60s type whose name I was familiar with but who I don't recall from much - his claim to fame is being in Route 66. He feels like a TV star. He's definitely not a film star - too bland, too smug. Maybe he would make a good villain.

This uses the Citizen Kane/Laura template of someone putting together the pieces of someone's life. Maharis is investigating, Carrol Baker is the subject. Maharis gradually comes to fall in love with Baker, which is a stock story line... it can work, but here Maharis doesn't meet Baker until the last half hour. We see them fall for each other but it's very late in the day and a bit yuck too because Maharis uses everything he's found out about Baker to get her to like him. It's like he's being rewarded for being a stalker.

I think we're meant to go "gee isn't he great for not minding she was a hooker and rape victim" but he's creepy. And Maharis plays him smug and creepily. Maybe it would have worked if first choice Paul Newman played the role but even with him it would have retained elements of dodginess.

The film is mainly of interest for a cast. It's structured to be a lot of two handers - Maharis interviewing someone, who gets a chance to do some juicy emoting. We've got Peter Lawford as a prospective husband, Ann Sothern as a drunken lady, Edmond O'Brien as an ex, Aldo Ray as a rapist, Viveca Lindfors as a librarian, Lloyd Bochner as another rapist, Joanne Dru as an ex-prostitute, Paul Gilbert as a nasty cross dresser, Nancy Kovak as a stripper. The quality of acting varies - there's a fair bit of ham going around.

And some bad writing. Sylvia isn't a terribly interesting character - men seem to like her and want to have sex with her; she's a loyal friend... but that's about it. Baker is okay in the role - I always like her, but she can't surpass the material. Maybe someone better could have made more of the role, but I doubt it (Jane Fonda? Natalie Wood?) At least she's got a bit of charisma. And even Vanessa Redgrave at her peak would struggle to make all that gunk about Baker's love of poetry and poetry writing work (and there's a lot of it, especially in the last half hour when she meets Maharis).

The whole film has an unpleasant sixties male vibe - with this man investigating a woman, as if he's going to understand her, and these censor-pushing items like two rapes (I mean two, come on...),  and a cross dresser and alcohol, and these women seeming to find Maharis super attractive (not just Baker but also Kovak and Lindfors). It's a misfire, only for completists of the actors.

Movie review - "The Green Berets" (1968) ** (warning: spoilers)

Attacked by the mostly liberal film critic establishment with almost hysterical furor in its day, enough time has passed to appreciate this movie for what it actually is, an utterly fascinating time capsule that is a pretty crap flick.

The one big big budget pro-Vietnam War film was always going to be up against it; things aren't helped by some shoddy filmmaking. Structure wise, the film really should have focused just on the siege - then they throw in this extra act about a female agent who helps them abduct a general, which clunks.

Hokey moments abound - the intro sequence where sergeant Aldo Ray professes to be non political then gives journos a lecture about why they want to be in Vietnam; the journalist from the woman's journal being apologetic on that fact; meeting Hamchuck the orphan; Hamchuck getting into bed with Jim Hutton; Hamchuck going "you funny"; pretty much every sequence involving Hamuck (including the ending exchange "was my Peterson brave?" "Yes he was brave" "what will happen to me now" "You let me worry about that you're what this war is all about".)

But it's fascinating, utterly fascinating. It takes these well warn World War Two and Western tropes - evil generals, double agent women, spies, sieges in outposts, yelling savage natives - and puts them in this fresh Vietnam War setting. It's remarkable to see Wayne talking about DMZ and saying Vietnam place names. It contrasts sharply to Vietnam War tropes (soldiers going crazy and raping/napalming Vietnamese etc) which we assume are so much more accurate because... um... we see it more in movies I guess.

Some of the action isn't bad - I enjoyed the siege component as a good old fashioned John Wayne siege story. And the film doesn't stuff around showing the harshness of war - we meet key soldiers who die (eg the likeable Jim Hutton winds up in a trap - this made me feel sad; Mike Henry gets a whole taking-out-several-VC-before-being-killed himself sequence). The Vietnamese enemy are admittedly heavily depersonalised as wild, mostly faceless savages (just as they were in Platoon and Full Metal Jacket), but the South Vietnamese are allowed a bit of characterisation: the double agent girl, the officer. It is completely worth seeing.