Book review - "Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship" by Charles Cassilio

 Montgomery Clift comes out of this badly - bitchy, self pitying, smart, whining about his loss of beauty, a junkie, a pain. People loved him though. And even people he annoyed worked with him again. Liz Taylor comes out of this wonderfully. Brave, funny, loyal, smart.

Gossipy but done with scholarship. And you know something? The small size of Clift's manhood is not insignificant. 

Each film the two made together were iconic in their way - Place in the Sun, Raintree County, Suddenly Last Summer and (in planning) Reflections in a Golden Eye.  But sorry Clift was a bit of a loser.

Movie review - "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986) ****1/2 (re-watching)

 Fun. So Howard Hawks. Wonderful teams. Engaging. Can't believe it wasn't a hit. Kim Catrall so funny. Ditto Kurt Russell. Everyone.

Angie Dickinson Top Ten

 An under-rated actress.

1) China Gate (1957) - gets a terrific opportunity as a Eurasian hooked, super sympathetic.

2) Dressed to Kill (1980) - a splendid role, beautifully acted, gives it tragic dimension.

3) Big Bad Mama (1974) - glorious fun.

4) Rome Adventure (1962) -  steals the movie.

5) Point Blank (1967) - very sympathetic, seems like a gangster girl. I prefer this to The Killers.

6) Pretty Babies All in a Row (1970) - wild movie, she fits in.

7) Sam Whiskey (1969) - fun Burt Reynolds film and she teams well with him.

8) The Chase (1966) - hectic, sprawling, entertaining.

9) Rio Bravo (1959) - too young for the Duke but fun, I wish Hawks had used her agaim. 

10) Captain Newman MD (1964) - sure, why not. 

Movie review - "Rio Lobo" (1970) **1/2 (re-viewing)

 Not a good movie but I enjoy it, with its 70s hair, John Wayne beaming at the inadequate supporting cast, Jorge Riviero not up to it, neither Chris Mitchum or Jennifer O'Neill, but Jack Elam fun, and plenty of random helpers eg Shelley Lansing.

But no one has much of a character to play - Victor French (baddy) has a clear goal (money) as does O'Neil (revenge) but everyone else feels sketchy. 

Movie review - "El Dorado" (1966) ****1/2 (rewatching)

 I like spending time with these people. Loses half a star for the Chinaman sequence. Wayne is excellent, Mitchum fun, James Caan great, Michelle Carey energetic, Charlene Holt winning, Chritospher George impressive, Ed Asner is fine. Memorable action. Wonderful mood. Makes me feel good. 

Movie review - "His Girl Friday" (1940) *****

 I've read the two most influential Broadway comedies where What Price Glory? and The Front Page - certainly it's easy to see the influence of the latter on journalism movies. This remake would be highly influential on rom coms.

Every change improves it - making it a romance, giving the journos more humanity, bringing in Walter and Hildy to start.

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell have the time of their lives, Ralph Bellamy is perfect. Wonderful cast and film. The Nazi-Soviet pact at the time meant the anti-commie jokes could be kept.

Howard Hawks Top Ten

 1) Scarface (1932) - terrific gangster flick even today

2) Red River (1948) - terrific Western even today (I'll stop saying that)

3) His Girl Friday (1940) - terrific etc

4) El Dorado (1967) - I like it better than Rio Bravo

5) Only Angels Have Wings (1939) - guys and gal bein' tough and Hawksian

6) To Have and Have Not (1944) - watch a couple fall in love

7) The Big Sleep (1946) - entertainingly confusing

8) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - make more musicals Howard

9) The Thing (1951) - of course it's his film

10) Ball of Fire (1941) - good Stanwyck

No I didn't forget Rio Bravo or Bringing Up Baby I'm not really a fan of either.

Book review - " Mean...Moody...Magnificent! Jane Russell and the Marketing of a Hollywood Legend" by Christina Rice

 I'm glad someone did a biography of Russell, she deserved it - someone who as Rice points out is an icon despite appearing in not that many films. This isn't as much fun as Russells batshit memoirs with its Christian sacrifices but is thorough. There was lots I didn't know particularly in the later years.

Marilyn Monroe Top Ten

 Not many films but anyway

1) Some Like It Hot (1959) - easy choice, so perfect... imagine Mitzi Gaynr in this. No thanks.

2) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - again, easy choice - shame she was never reteamed with Russell.

3) How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) - glorious fun. Steals movie. 

4) Bus Stop (1956) - I recall Don Murray being creepy and Marilyn being great.

5) All About Eve (1951) - one scene but a great one.

6) The Misfits (1961) - flawed, but marvelous

7) Niagara (1953) - she's probably miscast but it's a good movie.

8) There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) - hokey story but those song and dance numbers!

9) The Seven Year Itch (1955) - icon.

10) Don't Bother to Knock (1952) - haven't seen this in ages just throwing it in there.

Movie review - "Red River" (1948) ****1/2

 Big epic Western which marvellously combines a been-around-for-a-bit star, John Wayne, who was just starting to play old men (he was a A minus star for most of the 40s, 1948 turned him into an A plus one) and an exciting new face, Montgomery Clift. They thrown in old reliable Walter Brennan, and an up and comer John Ireland... plus a surprising amount of juicy support parts (I'd forgotten because most analysis of the film concerns the leads but there's good support cowboys, like the bald dude from The Searchers; also Colleen Gray as Wayne's true love).

It's a very good story - Mutiny on the Bounty on the trail is a tremendous idea - very well developed, beautifully shot. It's full of Hawksian moments and/or homo-eroticism, with Clift and Ireland fondling their guns and making eyes at each other and Joanne Dru being hit by an arrow but not mentioning it and everyone being sassy.

The ending is maybe a little silly. It builds to this epic confrontation and sort of drifts into a shaggy dog treatment. I'm not sure how else you do it... I'm sure scholarship has been done on this but Ireland's death seems thrown away.

Movie review - "Targets" (1968) **** (rewatching)

 Maybe it's more naturally three and a half stars but considering the restrictions this is four star. Excellent debut from Bogdanovich, presented with, as Quentin Tarantino says, a puzzle... some footage from The Terror, a few days of Karloff.

Bogdanovich's luck was strong at this stage: he picked a great idea (to do something based on a spree killer), had Sam Fuller and Polly Platt in his corner to help him write the script (which I think gave him a false idea of his skill in that area).

Bogdanovich's acting is awkward - he had a lot on his plate - and the character should have been killed for shock value but his presence has film buff appeal. There's an Asian lead which might be more progressive if people didn't comment on the girl's Asian-ness all the time.

The director's style is apparent from the get go - long takes, languid takes, momentum that builds. People were idiots to say he was Ford/Hawks when he was his own man (or rather couple).

Movie review - "The Last Picture Show" (1971) ***** (warning: spoilers)

 This could've gone wrong so easily - Texasville gives some indication how - but this just works. Every decision: location work, black and white, being set twenty years ago, a 1971 view of 1951 meaning sex and violence could be shown but it was still in present memory, the casting.

It meanders on a bit but always with point. At times I was thinking this is a four star or four and a half star film but the ending walloped me: the shocking death of Billy (Sam Bottoms) and Sonny (Tim Bottoms) going to see Cloris Leachman who goes him. Stunning.

Although specific to time and place it is universal - leaving school, falling in love, regret, the death of an old man. It focuses on two boys but the women all get a turn: Jacey is a vixen but a three dimensional one, motivated by her mother who gets a terrific monologue, Eileen Brennan the waitress gets a great monologue and Leachman's speech is divine. I love the matter of fact acceptance by Ellen Burstyn of Bottoms having a fling with Leachman ("it's a scratchy age").

So much great stuff: the plot about a preacher's son being a pedophile and the way it's dealt with (I forgot that whole storyline but it's well done), the second-rate-ness of the football team, the matter of fact nudity, John Hillerman trying to engage his school class. 

Better writers have written about this movie but it is just damn good. Why didn't Bogdanovich make more dramas?

All the actors are perfect: both Bottoms, Ben Johnson, Cybil Shepherd, the old faces, etc.

Book review - "Cary Grant" by Scott Eyman

 Typically excellent biography by Eyman of the legendary Hollywood star. Discussion in recent years has centered around Grant's sexuality - this one presents the evidence rather than making conclusions (some dicey... who cares what Budd Boetticher thought?) and basically leaves it for the reader to decide. He mentions Grant's physical beating of his first and fourth wives without comment.

Grant's father married above his class; the mother would pester him and was a bit eccentric - dad got jack and had her sent to a lunatic asylum, which he could. No wonder Grant became a bit odd and wanted to reinvent himself.

It's a tribute he turned out so normal. He was genuinely smart and charming,capable of kindness. Open minded about sex. As mentioned Eyman quotes a number of people who insist Cary was straight but quotes a bisexual dude who said Grant was open about that to him and the evidence seems to imply otherwise. Loved kids (he should have had more than one and he knew it - he tried).

He had his flaws. Stinginess, if you count that as a flaw (he would present house guests with a bill). He hit his first and fourth wives. Controlling.

A superb actor. Didn't push himself as much as he should have. A great friend of Clifford Odets.

Possible movie in this... Cary Grant married to Besty Drake, who came up with the idea of the film Houseboat. Grant sold it with Drake to co star but then fell for Sophia Loren, had the film rewritten for her, Loren and he had a fling but she refused to leave Carlo Ponti, Grant is left alone, but finds happiness via LSD.

Movie review - "Red Line 7000" (1965) **

 A fascinating car crash of a movie, if you forgive the pun - because it is so absolutely purely Howard Hawks. Its full of fresh faces, the women keep trying to talk like Lauren Bacall, everyone hangs out and is noble in the face of death, there's overlapping dialogue, talk of professionalism, and being Hawksian.

And it could have worked. Hawks has a great feel for the camaraderie of the drivers and their women - they are groupies, though, just kind of hanging around. The basic stories aren't bad - a girl who dated a racer that died worries he's bad luck (this happens at the beginning though... it may have been more effective had we seen their relationship), a womanising driver has a fling with the sister of his boss and she goes head over heels, a man falls for the French girl of his rival but can't get over the fact she's used goods.

But the stories aren't really developed in interesting ways - we never see the bad luck girl with the guy who dies, so it doesn't matter much, and the new driver who loves her doesn't have a reason to do so; the womanising driver and the girl are just together then break up then he disappears from the movie; not enough time is spent on the rivalry.

Hawks needed to focus on the key six - it's hard enough doing that - but then the manager of the team gets all this screen time and so does Charlene Holt. There's a singer in there too. He doesn't do justice for the stories.

More importantly, the cast aren't up to it. James Caan is terrific - he's got "new star" all over him, you can see why people expected him to be one straight away. His character is loathsome, calling the girl he likes a slut because, gasp, she had a former boyfriend, but Caan is excellent. The other two racers, John Crawford and Skip Ward are far too anonymous - I kept getting them mixed up. Norman Alden was fine, but I kept forgetting who he was too. Couldn't they afford Walter Brennan?

Now the girls. Charlene Holt is fine... but I don't think they needed her character. Gail Hire is spectacularly bad with that voice. Laura Devon tries - has some moments - but really needed a better actor to play against. Mariana Hill is fun as a French girl, constantly dancing.  She gets to do some scenes with Caan.

There's not enough strong actors as Hawks later admitted. Not enough work on the story. Moments of pure camp like a song and dance number, and one of the racers competing with a hook once he loses his hand.

Still I enjoyed watching it. Everyone being Hawksian and not up to it.

Movie review - "Man's Favorite Sport?" (1964) ***

A maligned entry in the career of Howard Hawks but it's bright and colourful with a sense of relaxed camraderie that is winning. Paula Prentiss has this friend (Maria Perschy), who goes along who probably isn't really needed script wise but jokes around and is fun. They probably should have given Hudson a similar friend instead of that random boss figure.

There's some dated jokes about a local who pretends to be a Native American, bright colour, Prentiss is a delight, Hudson is amiable even though his role was clearly meant for Cary Grant and he plays it like Cary Grant (the slow burn, being pursued by a woman). Charlene Holt - like Perschy, a Hawks discovery - is Hudson's fiancee who is never much of a threat.

The whole film has a nice vibe to it.

Movie revew - "Fourteen Hours" (1951) ***

This starts off fantastically -Richard Basehart (very good)  walks out on the ledge of a building, sending everyone into a tizz. Passing cop Paul Douglas tries to talk him down while he gets visits from shrinks, another cop, the guy's parents.

But the thing is the movie doesn't really have anywhere to go. The movie is about finding out The Reason Why He's On the Ledge - and because it's the early 50s you can guess it'll be because his parents were to blame, and because it's 20th Century Fox you can guess the parent was a woman (Zanuck's films had this misogynistic streak), and when Agnes Moorehead turns up as mom it's like "there we go"... the macguffin is the fact Moorehead wrong raised Basehart to hate his father (Robert Keith).

I get divorce does terrible things to children but my sympathy with Basehart did ebb over time. Maybe it's to do with the fact that Basehart, who is excellent, was 36 when he made the film and he looks it. It's sort of made me go "alright already" when better casting might have been a young nervy actor, like James Dean (or equivalent).

Also the subplots aren't that memorable. Grace Kelly gets one as a woman on her way to divorce husband James Warren. Kelly doesn't look as though she's a star here - she's actor-y and pretty enough, there's no magic. She is far too good looking for Warren and their story is dull - she's distracted in a lawyer's office then they decide to give it another try. (This film would be loved by Catholics - it's all about preventing suicide and the evils of divorce).

The other one involves Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget, office workers who meet, and Hunter uses it as an excuse to flirt with Paget. This is treated seriously.

Apparently Howard Hawks was offered this and wanted to do it as a comedy, so Fox went with Henry Hathaway instead. Hathaway's direction is excellent - brisk, fast moving, lots of cuts, skilful use of location footage. But I think it would have worked better as  a comedy. Around the edges you see glimpses of a more interesting film - an evangelist who approaches the man, Moorehead playing up for the cameras, people waiting impatiently to jump. I feel it need a more cynical, satirical edge - maybe not go as hard core as Ace in the Hole but along those lines. Or at least a few more subplots - two wasn't enough - or at least some more twists in the two that are there. As it is Hunter just asks out Paget the end, and Kelly and her husband decide to get back together the end.

Douglas is very good, as is Howard da Silva as a fellow cop. Martin Gabel is perhaps creepier than he was intended to be as a shrink.

Movie review - "The Thing" (1982) **** (warning: spoilers)

I didn't like this movie when I saw it as a kid - too gory too bleak. But time has been extremely kind to it, especially when seen on the big screen, as I managed to do.

It looks fantastic with those snowy vistas and cramped interiors. Big screen make it easier to differentiate the characters too, which is a problem looking at it on the smaller screen - in this one I fully got who was who and appreciated the sublety in many performances, such as Richard Dysart as the doctor.

Some random observations:
* I think it would've been better if the bulk of the action had played out over one night instead of several days.
* They should have covered why Macready can fly to the Norwegian base and where the spaceship was found but not to help.
* I love Wilford Brimley going nuts.
* Many ideas of Macready turn out to be bad eg locking Brimley in the tool shed (so he can build a space ship).
* I realised one of the guys, the radio dude, is played by the actor whose character was killed off on The Warriors because he was annoying.
* A stoner character is useful in sci fi because they can make really outlandish claims as comedy, which helps sell the reality of the world you are creating.
* The quality of acting is very strong - there are no bad performances. It wouldn't have hurt to have two females though.
* The creepiest bits are the quiet ones... the dog entering someone's room and it fading to black, the creature moving under the blanket without the others knowing.
* There's a very American quality to the actions of the group. No thought of quarantining a strange dog even after people kill it. A lack of hygene. A tendency to pull out the flame throwers when things get testy. And the decision to blow things up before considering other possibilities.

Still, a wonderful movie. See it on the big screen if you can.

Book review - Marlowe #1 - "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler (1939) (re-reading)

Full of so much divine writing - the dialogue and the descriptions, not to mention vivid characters:Marlowe of course, the PI almost masochistic in his determination to do the right thing; Vivian, sexy, smart and harsh; Carmen, psychotic and constantly nude; General Sternwood, dying in his chair with that great intro scene (we want to see him again but when you see him again it's not worth it and you go 'there was no point to that we may as well have just had him in one scene'); the principled-or-is-he gangster Eddie Mars; the not-very-smart blackmailer Joe Brody; Geiger, the bisexual blackmailer; Carol, his violent, swear-happy lover (who doesn't appear in many adaptations); Agnes, the luckless woman; Mrs Eddie Mars, the lover of Reagan, caught up in a vicious crew; Regan, the soldier of fortune described but never met; Owen Taylor, the chauffeur whose murdered famously Chandler didn't know; the super killer Canino (a worthy threat)/

Some of the plotting is bodgy - Chandler really should have made it clear who killed Owen, and also the character of Harold Young, Agnes' feller, felt added on. And there was no resolution with the Eddie Mars character.

There's an unpleasant strand of homophobia, which one guesses was typical of the period. But great atmosphere and characterisation, even if you do get the feel Chandler is making it up as he goes along.

Paula Prentiss

Tip of the hat to Paula Prentiss, the tall, gawky, brilliantly talented actor who lept to fame in her first movie Where the Boys Are but who never became a star despite being the best thing about pretty much every film she made in the early 60s...

There were a few reasons for this, including the fact that the films were often not that good (The Horizontal Lieutenant, Follow the Boys), or considered disappointments (Man's Favourite Sport - though Howard Hawks loved her). 

She had brilliant bits in The World of Henry Orient and What's Up Pussycat? but during the making of the latter had a nervous breakdown that saw her retire from acting for a while. 

She went back to it but never regained her former career momentum (the late 60s and 70s weren't a great time for female stars in Hollywood) but always could be counted on to turn in great work, whether in The Parallax View or The Stepford Wives. She also had a family and is still married to Richard Benjamin after 50 years. If you like screwball comedies and aren't familiar with her work she is worth checking out.

A top five
1) Where the Boys Are (1960) - great debut
2) The Honeymoon Machine (1961) - a rare Steve McQueen comedy, quite fun, and Prentiss steals the show
3) The World of Henry Orient (1964) - Prentiss hilarious as a nutter
4) What's New Pussycat? (1965) - see above
5) The Parallax View (1974) - only a small role but very effective

Script review - "Rio Bravo" by Leigh Brackett and Jules Furthman

The central set up is great, I recognise the strength of its opening sequence, there's memorable characters - John T Chance, Dude, Stumpy, Colorado, Feathers - but it's not a great script. It's a series of scenes some of which are memorable (eg tracking down the killer with muddy boots, the Feather-John banter) others of which are repetitive (eg Dude being captured twice).

There's no build of tension - or suspense - I mean Chance sleeps in the hotel, and is always wondering off for a chat. It didn't make sense why the baddies would shoot Wheeler (the head baddy is supposed to be smart), the baddies aren't very memorable, Colorado doesn't get an end to his story.

I mean there's good stuff, and some great dialogue, and everyone is very tough and Hawksian and talking about being independent and professional. But I can't see why others love it so.