Movie reviwe - "The Gypsy Moths" (1969) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 John Frankenheimer really loved making this movie, good for him, but it doesn't quite work. Burt Lancaster is in a role that neesd a Steve McQueen - once they cast Lancaster they should've rewritten it to make it more lively. Scott Wilson is a good actor but that part needed a star.

It's a movie of interest. Gene Hackman is excellent. Nice midwest atmosphere. It's pervy - the three skydivers go to a strip club and watch a long topless dancing scene. Deborah Kerr goes topless in her love scene with Lancaster (while wearing a perm and pearls) and shows her backside. She was 47! Go Deb! Sheree North works at the club. Bonnie Bedelia is very young and pretty but it's not much of a role.

The film falls down in two areas. It didn't convey why Lancasster woud kill himself, there's no build. Also the relationship between Wilson and Lancaster didn't work. It was... I'm not sure.  

Movie review - "The Train" (1964) ***1/2

 Burt Lancaster called in John Frankenheimer to replace Charles Crichton on Birdman of Alcatraz and did something similar after he booted Arthur Penn from this movie. It's has a fabulous concept - the Germans are trying to take French art works from Paris as the Allies approach and the French resistance is trying to stop them. Burt Lancaster is the leader of the French.

It's smart. Looks great in black and white. Long. As French as it can be. Lancaster strong star, Paul Scofield ideal. I would've liked more of a character relationship with Lancaster and someone. I know that was tricky. 

Movie review - "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) ***

 Famous Burt Lancaster movie with a troubled history - original director Charles Crichton was fired during filming and replaced by John Frankenheimer.

Frankenheimer wanted to make it for TV. The story does suit it but the director is glad he didn't because of the issue with birds. 

A good movie - serious, intelligent, well made and all that. Lancaster brilliant. But a hard slog. Such a hard slog.

It doesn't deify Stroud at all, it's fairly clear he's a brute. It shows how dehumanising prision is and I think people felt guilty so lashed out at the film "glamourising" Stroud. 

Movie review - "The Young Savages" (1961) **

 Feels like it should be a TV play - some hoods in New York kill another hood. They're teens so it's West Side Story without songs, as someone commented. The story isn't involving. The hoods kill someone in the opening scene, so we know who did it so there's no mystery. Lancaster is a prosecutor, so he's just putting people in prison.

It's kind of interesting he's downtown and his wife Dina Merill is uptown. But nothing much is done with that - he should have slept with ex Shelley Winters, mother of one of the accused. That would've been drama. Or the mother of the dead kid. I kept waiting for Lancaster's daughter to be threatened. Didn't happen. 

John Frankenheimer directs his backside off though. It's gloriously shot, well acted - Telly Savalas is in it, Shelley Winters. He didn't want Dina Merill but accepted her as a trade off to not have Paul Anka! Sydney Pollack was dialogue director and impressed Burt Lancaster so much the actor helped Pollack's career.

Frankenheimer wanted to make the best film he could. But it's just not interesting.

The gang members are irritating. Well acted but still stock types - cocky or secretly disabled. 

Jim Hutton top ten

 Can we get there? Let's see...

1) And When the Sky Was Opened (1959) - Twilight Zone so maybe cheating but I'll do it

2) Ellery Queen (1975)

3) Where the Boys Are (1960)

4) Who's Minding the Mint? (1967)

5) The Horizontal Lieutenant (1961)

6) Time to Love and a Time to die (1958)

7) Period of Adjustment (1962)

8) The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

9) The Green Berets (1968) - don't yell at me! His performance is fine

10) Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)

There I go - did it! I haven't seen a lot of his TV work. 

Movie review - "The Osterman Weekend" (1983) **1/2

 Sam Peckinpah's famously mediocre last movie. Dutch actor Rutger Hauer plays an all American TV host who hosts weekends for his old college friends. Then CIA agent John Hurt (a British actor) tells him that his friends are spies. The friends are played by Dennis Hopper, Chris Sarandon and Craig T Nelson.

Actually this film wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I felt it was easy to fix - they should have told the whole story through Hauer's eyes. The reveals come when he's revealed. Also more characterisation work please - I couldn't tell the difference in personality between Hopper, Sarandon and Nelson. 

Everyone had a blonde wife too - Hopper ( a sort of trashy hooker), Hauer (scary eyed Meg Foster who at least got to kill someone with a bow and arrow), Hurt (whose wife masturbates before being killed). Sarandon's wife was played by the woman who was Kris Kristofferson's sad eyed lover in Convoy.

 The action scenes are done very well. The voyeur stuff is irritating - the CIA watch everything on screens. How did they film everything? I got confused in a lot of places.

This actually should have been a character piece - dig into the notion of friendship.

But I didn't mind it. I guess my expectations were super low.

Movie review - "The First Time" (1952) ***

 Frank Tashlin's directorial debut (as a feature) is a comedy about new parents Barbara Hale and Robert Cummings. Its a series of small vignettes - waiting for the baby to come, she gives her will in case something goes wrong during the birth (not unreasonable at the time), scenes of grandmas and mid wives ripping babies out of mum's hands, struggle to get sleep, worries about finances which prompts Cummings to take a job he doesn't like.

Tashlin's vision arrived pretty formed. There's lots of his touches, like jokes about sex (Cummings collects a hooker/floozy thinking she's a baby sitter), animation references (the family watch a cartoon).

I feel a third main character would have helped more - there's a nanny but even she's a little thinly drawn.

Still this is charming and sweet.

Movie review - "The Rose Tattoo" (1955) ***

 A big deal in its day - Anna Magnani had buzz, Tennessee Williams and Burt Lancaster were stars, Daniel Mann was consideredn an exciting director.

It's not bad. Magnani is a woman whose husband dies in an accident. She whines about it. Her daughter Maria Pavan is horny for Ben Cooper. Like all these Williams' adaptations I've been watching it feels a half an hour too long. It drags. Lancaster doesn't appear until like 45 minutes in.

At first I was resistant to it and I'm not convinced it's a great movie or anything - too 1950s-adaptation-of-Broadway - but I got used to it.Lancaster is clearly trying - he's slightly amateurish but he's giving it a go, suits the part physically, and is a handsome charismastic star. Magnani Acts all over the place but she commits too. It helps a lot that the two seem into each other and like each other. This was missing in Fugitive Kind - Brando and Magnani didn't seem to care in that one.

Lots of dialogue and acting and two handers. Cooper is fine, I guess. Pavan is sweet. It's a more upbeat Williams. Happy ending and so on.

Movie review - “Sorry Wrong Number” (1948) ***1/2

The original radio play is a pretty much perfect 30 minutes - how do you expand it to a feature? You could have kept it with the main lady (Barbara Stanwyck) on the phone, added more twists and turns, or you go more into the motive... which is what this film does. It fleshes out the characters of her husband (Burt Lancaster), who grows to resent his wife’s money, controlling nature and ill health. There’s also her rich dad who is a great character, and her old friend (Ann Richards) who saw Something Suspicious.

It’s not a bad mystery, with William Conrad on hand to provide menace. Richards has another thankless best friend role but get some decent screen time and a suspenseful scene where she follows her husband out to a beach.

Not as good as the play but pretty good - probably Richards' best American film.

Book review - "Ernie" by Ernest Borgnine

 The sort of book you'd imagine Ernest Borgnine to write - it has an "aw gee I can't believe I did it" quality. He was lucky he came along when he did. But you also make your own luck - he worked hard, took all sorts of roles, could act, could play leads and support parts. He was lucky to get Marty which put him in a new league but he never really became a star. On TV it was different. Spent something like ten years in the navy but never saw active service.

This book is hazy is some stuff, notably his love life. He had a number of divorces (including with Katy Juarando and Ethel Merman) before getting lucky with number five... a woman who became a make up tycoon.

Sam Peckinpah told him to fuck off several times, Gene Wilder was meant to play Red Buttons' role in Poseidon Adventure, he was briefly sacked on The Adventurers for giving direction to an actor, he doesn't mention Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, he said Lee Marvin referred to Jim Brown as a n*gger and had to be pulled into line by Bob Aldrich, he wanted to play the warden in Escape from New York, he calls Chuka undistinguished.

Not a great memoir, too chipper, but not bad.

Movie review - "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (1976) **

 That's right, Robert Altman made two films with Paul Newman. This one has Burt Lancaster too. And Harvey Keitel, Will Sampson, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Duvall.

It's long. Over two hours. Ambles. Nice visuals, production value. It ambles. Bill puts on a show. Chats. Chats with a woman in his bed. There's Indians. Sitting Bull is stoic.

It shows Bill to be a bit of a braggart and a tool. That was blamed for the film's commercial failure. I don't think it was that - I think it's because the film was dull. Altman wrote the script with Alan Rudolph but they weren't working from a particularly strong source material, I'm guessing.

I was glad it was over. The acting and photography and stuff is fine, it's just dull.

Movie review - "From Here to Eternity" (1953) ****

An iconic movie of its time - the exemplification of a 1950s blockbuster: based on a best seller, sexy but censored, all star cast, angst, war.

It's beautifully made. Lovely stars. Fred Zinnemann cast the third act, as they say: Monty Clift isn't the first actor you think of as a soldier or a boxer but he is perfect as a sensitive, self destructive rebel, who could turn things around but refuses, and is into his male friend rather than his girlfriend  - what a stunning actor and star. Donna Reed is a sort of hooker who is actually very smart and a nice person with plenty of ambition. Deborah Kerr is actually hot for a bit of sex, like Kerr was IRL apparently. Burt Lancaster is a tough professional not keen on a relationship. Frank Sinatra is, in hindsight, super ideal as a proud, cocky, angry man who refuses to back down and gets in fights when he shouldn't have.

Lots of this is moving - the defiance of Sinatra, the constant casual bullying of people in positions of power (and the formal bullying), the death of Sinatra. Some scenes such as Clift playing taps and the Pearl Harbour attack are very well done.

Movie review - "Judgement at Nuremberg" (1961) ***

 Stanley Kramer cops it from hipster critics and maybe he did believe his own publicity too much for a time, but his movies stood for decent liberal values and were important. Maybe concentration camp victims are low hanging fruit but who else was tackling this head on in Hollywood?

This one focuses on a fascinating aspect of the trials - not straight up evil Nazi commandants, but the judges who enforced the rules at the time. Among those on trial are Burt Lancaster as a German. Lancaster gives his role dignity though his make up does seem a little odd.

Presiding over it is Spencer Tracy as a super judge. Actually he's well cast - who does craggy intensity better. I didn't know William Shatner was in this, as Tracy's aide.

Montgomery Clift is electric in his one scene as a German laborer who has been sterilised. Clift's nerves, intensity and crazy eyes were never used to such good effect. He's brilliant.

Also good is Judy Garland in a short scene as a woman who denies rooting a Jew who was killed falsely for the crime of having sex with her.

Bigger roles go to Richard Widmark (prosecutor) and Maximillian Schell (the firey defendant). Both are fine. Widmark gets a drunk scene, maybe put in there to make his role more attractive (acting!). Schell gets to make some flamboyant speeches. Dietrich gets to be... female, I guess.

It goes for three hours. I don't think it needed to be that long. I kept seeing places where it could have been cut.

Some stuff really packs a punch like newreels of little kids in the camps. Other times I was like "alright, already". But an important movie.

Play review - "Come Back Little Sheba" and "Picnic" by William Inge

 Sex and loneliness in small town Kansas. Sheba is the dog that used to be owned by a middle aged lady (Lola) married to boozy doc. They both get het up about young hot things - a sexy dame and a muscular athlete she's rooting who takes his shirt off. There's a milk man who takes his shirt off - alright already Inge.

Picnic is about a hot stud who comes into town. A middle aged lady paws at him and wants him, a younger girl wants him even though he's no good. It is very well crafted and written with affection. The world is bigger than Sheba. 

Both had just the right amount of sex and empathy for the times. In Sheba the depiction of an abusive marriage is extremely well done - when Doc lets Lola have it. Picnic is also very well crafted.

Both are famed for middle age horny woman but both also have horny young women - I think this was the secret sauce to making a hit of these 50s plays.

Movie review - "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (1959) ** (warning: spoilers)

The sh*tness of this version really gets to me. Why did it have to be so bad? I mean, I guess they tried. But it's bad.

The play was very effective. Simple. Didn't have to cost a lot. Nothing wrong with setting it in Sydney. I get they wanted things like the Harbour and Luna Park.

But they stuffed the structure. They don't set up Bubba and the boys, there's a weird middle section where Roo has a fight with the wrestler and Dowd is all forgiving. And the ending is shocking - Roo makes up with Barney and then Roo and Olive seem to reconcile. The piece loses all its power.

The acting is bad. Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth would've been great... if they didn't want to do it then surely it could have been reworked for Peter Finch who did The Shiralee with Leslie Norman. He was a good enough actor to act older.

Ernest Borgnine and John Mills can act but they just feel wrong - they never seem like mates. Anne Baxter and Angela Lansbury are also fine actors but they struggle with their accents. They seem so uncomfortable. Vincent Ball and Janette Craig aren't very good as the young ones - they're fine, but I wished at least Rod Taylor (who had done a movie for HHL) had the role.

"The Americans" copped the blame for this but I think it was more the British.

Movie review - "Lawman" (1971) **

There's an interesting idea at the core of this movie - lawman Burt Lancaster is so determined to see justice done he runs around blasting away everyone while ostensible baddy Lee J Cobb is actually more reasonable and businesslike.

That isn't really developed - subplots should accentuate this theme fail to do so.There are some strong actors around like Richard Johnson, John Beck, Robert Ryan, Robert Duvall - but generally they play tropes (whimpy sheriff etc) without going into too much detail.

The handling is vigorous at first but then the film seemed to run out of puff half way. Technical stuff is adequate. Burt Lancaster is fine - Charles Bronson would have been more interesting. Or actually come to think of it Kirk Douglas. Lancaster doesn't seem that interested in what's going on. 

Sheree North is the smurfette character, an ex of Lancaster's.

Audrey Hepburn age gaps with her co star (it's approximate)

Roman Holiday - 24 to Greg Peck's 37
Sabrina - 25 to Bogart's 55 and Holden's 36
War and Peace - 26 to Fonda's 50 and Mel Ferrer's 38
Love in the Afternoon - 28 to Gary Cooper's 56
Funny Face - 28 to Fred Astaire's 56
Green Mansions - 30 to Tony Perkins' 27
Unforgiven - 31 to Lancaster's 47
Breakfast at Tiffany's - 32 to Peppard's 33
The Children's Hour - 32 to James Garner's 33
Charade - 33 to Cary Grant's 59
Paris When it Sizzles - 35 to Holden's 46
My Fair Lady - 35 to Rex Harrison's 56
How to Steal a Million - 37 to Peter O'Toole's 34
Two for the Road - 38 to Albert Finney's 31
Wait Until Dark - 38 to Effrem Zimbalist's 49
Robin and Marian - 47 to Sean Connery's 46
Bloodline - 50 to Ben Gazzara's 49
They All Laughed - 52 to Gazzara's 51

(Again I stress these are approximate ages - I don't know exact shooting dates - but it will give you some idea of the gap.)
 

Movie review - "Scorpio" (1973) ** (warning spoilers)

This film is silly. At its core it is simple - a veteran assassin is chased after by the CIA who send the assassin's protege after him. Burt Lancaster is ideal as the veteran - sad eyed, old but still athletic.

But too many moments feel like "ooh let's have a twist" or "let's have a cool action bit" or "let's do a cute bit". Lancaster's wife is shot, and Delon's girlfriend is a double agent, and Delon likes cats.

There's no momentum - they keep having action sequences then Delon goes back to the office and reporting to John Colicos. Delon seems silly working for the CIA - he has trouble with English, he feels ill at ease.

There is plenty of action and bang bang but what should be a simple story is made pointlessly confusing... you don't care or feel anything. At least I didn't. The locations help and the quality of the cast is strong - it also includes people like Jame Sikking and Paul Scofield, whose scenes with Lancaster are the best thing about the movie which should have been about their relationship.

Movie review - "The Leopard" (1963) ***1/2

I always wondered about the high reputation of this film - a really rich family realises the world is passing on... Is that the stuff of grand cinema? It's epic and stately and deals with the passing of time. It was like The Magnificent Ambersons I guess. You can feel its influence on The Godfather films with its rich tapestry of period detail, family scenes, country rituals.

It's extremely well made - you can feel the love and care and detail. The acting is beautiful - it took a while for me to get used to Burt Lancaster being dubbed but he has the gravitas the part needs, he has weight and can act... at the end his face is very moving.

I'm just not sure I cared. Lancaster inherited his position. People get where they are because of nature and God as opposed to what they actually do. I guess Alain Delon and Terence Hill at least fight in the army.

Claudia Cardinale is stunningly beautiful as the daughter of the nouve riche though Visconti packs the film with more beautiful young men - Alain Delon, Terence Hill and that random relative who gets all these close ups.

It's stately and beautiful and all that. I absolutely recognise its quality -the big screen, the period recreation, the battles, the ball. I'm just not sure it was for me.

Book review - "John Frankenheimer: A Conversation with Charles Champlin"

Frankenheimer had one of the all time hot streaks - both during the Golden Years of television where he was one of the stars, but also his early films. Young Savages, All Fall Down, The Manchurian Candidate, The Train, Seven Days in May, Seconds... Critics cooled on him from Grand Prix onwards after which his career seemed to wobble: The Extraordinary Seaman, The Fixer, The Gypsy Moths, I Walk the Line, The Horseman, Impossible Object, The Iceman Cometh, 99 and 44/100% Dead,. There were some "commercial" films - French Connection II, Black Sunday, The Prophecy - and a drinking problem. His career dipped in the 80s but he came back in the 90s with TV work. This book is before Ronin.

Obviously a smart guy - lucky in how he got into tv, but you make your own luck, developing material, taking chances, taking risks. Strong work ethic - he managed to kick the booze. He whinges a bit about studios and like all people in their memoirs blames other people for his films that flopped but in fairness takes some brickbats too.

The film is full of interesting bits like his sometimes prickly relationship with Burt Lancaster, saying James Garner was only effective when playing "a shit", his hopes for The Horseman (the Afghan government offered him free land), Gordon Stulberg of Fox agreed to finance 99 and 44/100% Dead if Richard Harris was cast, Don Johnson was a pain on Dead Bang.

An entertaining book, I just wish it included some of his later career.