TV review - "Playhouse 90 The Last Tycoon" (1957) ***1/2

 F Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel at one stage meant for Humphrey Bogart and Bacall but he died so they wound up with Jack Palance and Lee Remick. Palance's performance is fascinating - intense, empathetic, strong.

Support cast is amazing - Peter Lorre as a burnt out director, Keenan Wynn is an exec, achingly pretty Lee Remick is a nubile thing hot for Palance (shock).

Story ambles and kind of ends - I think he dies at the end. But then the novel was unfinished. Has that late 50s TV seriousness. 

Movie review - "The Lonely Man" (1957) **

 Solid story but of a type that would become over saturated on TV - gunslinger tries to connect with long lost son despite other outlaws being on his tail. Superb villains - Neville Brand, Claude Akins - but Jack Palance is awkward as the gunslinger and never convincing for a second as Tony Perkins' son. Perkins is a lousy cowboy. (It's amazing how often he was miscast in his career.)

Moody, lots of chat. They could've livened it up with action but they don't. More typical of director Heny Levin's Columbia films.  The idea of Palance going blind had huge potential they don't do enough with it.

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

 Odd sort of late 60s Western from oldies - Henry Levin, Irving Allen, Jack Palance - with the spaghetti influence, also more violence. Levin shoves in lots of scenes of people blasting guns and horse galloping.

Story - Palance is a Southern raider with sons George Maharis and Vince Edwards, going overboard with the killing and raping so Edwards drops out. Years later Palance and Maharis are still running riot and they cross with Edwards.

This was shot in Spain so there are English actors in it - Sylvia Syms doing a topless swim (she went nude a bit, was she ask or offered) as Edwards' wife.

Edwards seems bored - it's not hard to see why he didn't become a star, at least not based on this. Palance hams it up. Maharis is a blank presence. Neville Brandis is a sympathetic marshall.

Down beat - Syms is killed, Palance and Edwards kill each other, a lot of rape.

Feels kind of... stockly nihilistic. Written by Walter Brough who worked with Levin on The Treasure Seekers. 

Movie review - "Craze" (1974) **

Not a very good horror film. I enjoyed the work of producer Herman Cohen and director Freddie Francis in other movies but not this one - maybe it was made too late in the day. Or they didn't have enough money. Or a shared vision. Or whatever.

Maybe Jack Palance wasn't suited for the lead role. Maybe films about men seducing women for a cult aren't as interesting as women doing it - if Julie Edge or Suzy Kendall were in the lead instead of Palance, maybe that would've worked. Of course depends on how in to Palance you are.

Strong cast including Trevor Howard, Edith Evans, Hugh Griffith and Doris Dors - they are all solid, as is Palance to be fair. I did laugh at the cop slapping around Palance's off sider - it made me wonder if they ever made a Sweeney style police brutality movie with Satanic villains?

It's an ugly looking movie like far too many 70s British horror movies. Did they lose the gift of art design or something?

Movie review - "Chato's Land" (1972) **1/2

Decent enough Western with Charles Bronson well cast as an avenging Indian. Well, he doesn't start out that way - he kills a sheriff who is going to kill him and a posse go to get him. His wife is raped around the half way mark to give him extra motivation - this would have been better up the front.

Bronson doesn't do that much in the movie - most of the action focuses on the posse, led by Confederate uniform wearing Jack Palance, and some black hat rapists (including Richard Jordan and the dad from The Waltons) and a liberal. Strong cast, including Victor French and James Whitmore and Richard Basehart. The female "character" basically smiles and gets raped. There would be a lot more rape from Winner.

Aside - for some reason a lot of early 70s Westerns were made by Poms: Euan Lloyd, Winner, Gerald Wilson, Alan Sharp...

TV series review - "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979) **1/2

For me this was always in the shadow of Battlestar Galactica but it has its pleasures. It's a more full on, nutty show, with superb guest stars that were frequently given insufficient screen time, outlandish art direction and bonkers plots that frequently felt like cobbled together from various other projects and episodes. It feels very late 70s - the costumes have a Studio 54 aesthetic.

Ep 1 and 2 - The pilot - a very solid origin story helps this immensely, as does the generous production budget and they cast the key actors well. Any trauma Buck might have felt at missing so much time is minimised (as was the decimation of the human race in Battlestar). The villains are tremendous fun - Pamela Hensley, Henry Silva and Duke Butler as Tigerman. The action scenes aren't done that well.

Ep 3 & 4 - Planet of the Slave Girls - a great trashy title and heaps of different storylines, none of which is exploited in the way they should have been. David Groh is Buck's frizzy haired rival and former love of Wilma - not enough is made of this. Neither is enough made of Roddy McDowall's weak local ruler, though he is great fun - so is Jack Palance as a despotic ruler. Brianne Leary is a slave girl with the hots for McDowall's son. Buster Crabbe pops up as a veteran pilot - I wish he'd been used more too. Lots of story - a native uprising against a despot leader, a weak Sultan type, a plan to weaken all the pilots.

Ep 5 - Las Vegas in Space - another notable guest star wasted, in this case Cesar Romero as an intriguing dodgy figure who doesn't go on a mission he prompts, to rescue a girl. She's played by Ana Alicia who is very good. Universal TV stalwart Pamela Susan Shoop plays a hooker in all but name, Buck Rogers has a reflective moment at the casino about his old life which is moving and the ever reliable Richard Lynch is a good villain. The episode is still odd though because Juanin Clay plays a character clearly meant to be Wilma - the girl Buck goes on the mission with. They cover it with some topping and tailing with Erin Gray as Wilma but it still feels odd.

Ep 6 and 7 - The Plot to Kill a City - Buck pretends to be an assassin in another episode with an overdose of plotlines insufficiently developed. There's so much story - Frank Gorshin is the head of a group of terrorists, Markie Post from Nightcourt is an ex of the assassin, John Quade has telekenetic powers, Nancy deCarl is striking as a female terrorist, James Sloyan is great fun as a shifty type,Victor Argo is a tough guy. There's this black guy and a crippled guy and.. oh there's a lot going on but it still feels unsatisfactory because they skim it. But it's got to be said it does feel like a comic.

Ep  8 - Return of the 69th - Buck makes a touching plea against ageism in this tale where our heroes have to use a bunch of old pilots to fight a baddie.  Peter Graves is the main pilot - it's a shame Buster Crabbe couldn't have hold off until this episode to be used; maybe they thought he wasn't up to it. Woody Strode is there too as a pilot but the best parts go to Elizabeth Allen (who was vaguely familiar... she held her own against John Wayne in Donovan's Reef) and Robert Quarry as the villains The girl who plays the slave girl is undercast.

Ep 9 - Unchained Woman - Jamie Lee Curtis plays a prisoner rescued by Buck, an idea which sounds like a lot of fun, but as I'm coming to see was all too typical of this show they don't have any fun with the concept. She needed to bounce off Buck in some way - be up town, a snob, a thief, something... but she's just straight, and Curtis is, like so many guest stars on this show, wasted. This show had a lot of good ideas but didn't know how to best execute them.

Ep 10 - Planet of the Amazon Women - this starts off fun, with Buck trapped into a man hungry planet, but it isn't developed well and is thrown by a subplot involving a rival planet.  They don't go for it - this show really should have had more of women finding Buck irresistible, they could have made it work, I mean that was the set up of the pilot. You needed Wilma in there getting annoyed, and more fun with the concept. Jay Robinson is good value as a treacherous man - it's entertaining to see Anne Jeffreys too as the head of the planet.

Ep 11 - Cosmix Whiz Kid - the storylines on this show were so nutty that it made perfect sense that Gary Coleman is a genius... they didn't need to make it so he was cryogenically frozen from Buck's time. That's a whole separate concept that isn't used... they waste it on this episode. Coleman is entertaining - some people feel he was out of place but I feel it fits in as much as any one else. The big debit is Coleman has hardly any scenes with Buck or Tweetie, who would be his natural co stars, and hangs out with Ein Grey while Buck runs around with Coleman's dull bodyguard. Why not give this actor something to play? Ray Walston lives up his scenes as a baddy - I do love how this series had a healthy respect for older stars.

Ep 12 - Escape from Wedded Bliss - Pamela Hensley makes a welcome return as the Buck-hungry Princess Ardala. Hensley was the best thing about this show - strutting around in  a series of spectacular outfits, playing everything with just the right amount of tongue in cheek. But the script doesn't do the idea or her justice - and neither does Gil Gerard who seems bored (he was frustrated with the direction of the show, and is low energy). It's obvious what should be done - you have Aradala wanting Buck just as his romance with Wilma is about to take off, and the humans push him into it and it should all be silly fun: a bucks party, hens night (Wilma as Bridesmaid), someone who wants Ardala all that... but there's hardly any Wilma and no Wilma-Aradala clash. It's so frustrating. This does get some points for a roller skating disco number.

Ep 13 - Cruise Ship to the Stars - an episode best remembered for Dorothy Stratten playing a starlet in a space bikini - while she's very attractive she doesn't quite suit it in the way, say Pamela Hensley did. Stratten was a sweet, girl next door type rather than a space bikini wearer. Her role is surprisingly small - a bigger part is some other blonde, Kimberley Beck (Stratten could've played the part but Beck is quite good) who is gaslit and shares a split personality with Aussie Trisha Noble, who is excellent. There's not enough Wilma, though she does go undercover with a hilarious perm. Twiki scores with another robot. There's more disco.

Ep 14 - Space Vampire - a more serious story and it results in a terrific episode with Buck and Wilma on board a ship where some Mysterious Things Are Happening. Erin Gray was - disastrously for the show - sidelined for most of the second half of season one, due apparently to Gerard's insecurity, but she has a good chance here, being possessed, and makes the most of it. Christopher Stone adds some class to the support.

Ep 15 - Happy Birthday, Buck - a mess of an episode, which, like so many of these episodes, has a decent premise that is poorly executed. There's all these shenanigans with Wilma wanting to cheer up a morose Buck who is feeling lonely, intercut with a plot to assassinate Tim O'Connor (given something to do at last apart from issue orders). Then there's another plot with Buck escorting Morgan Brittany. This series muffed the Buck-Wilma thing so bad... it would've been so easy to do

Ep 16 - A Blast for Buck - a clip show, and an entertaining one since the series' production values were high and guest stars so interesting.

E 17 - Aradala Returns - the show had one of the best villains with Princess Ardala but failed to come up with decent eps. Like Escape from Wedded Bliss the set up is fantastic - Ardala clones Buck - but they don't use Wilma nearly enough, can't make up their mind how Buck thinks about Ardala, and the whole ep lacks energy.

Ep 18 - Twiki is Missing - John Ryan has the time of his life as a hammy villain. Twiki being kidnapped is a decent idea and this episode is solid. Wilma is wasted, once more.

Ep 19 - Olympiad - campy fun with a futuristic Olympiad and Buck getting involved in a romance between two athletes from different cultures. Really Buck should have had the romance. He looks bored mostly, except in a few scenes where he seemed lecherous. Not enough Wilma. Dennis Haysbert is in this.

Ep 20 - A Dream of Jennifer - Universal must have liked Anne Lockhart as a love interest in sci fi, she was Captain Sheba in Battlestar Galactica and pops up as the double of Buck Rogers' long last love here. It's a decent episode, accessing Buck's past, and has some brilliantly entertaining villains done up like Masque of the Red Death - one played by Mary Woronov. Actually come to think of it the "long lost love" thing is another indication the writers of this might have seen the Corman Poe movies. Gerard looks bored - he began this series as one of his strengths then brought it down.

Ep 21 - Space Rockers - high camp as Buck gets involved in a rock band who are causing riots. That's a bit wowser-ish! Jerry Orbach is in this looking about as comfortable in sci fi garb as you would expect.

Ep 22 - Buck's Duel to the Death - Buck winds up in a fight with William Smith, who is perfect for this sort of thing. No Wilma along on the mission - that's what helped wreck this series.

Ep 23 and 24 - Flight of the War Witch - Aradala is back which is always fun but never as fun as you think because they never had the fun with her they did in the pilot. I did like her shifting allegiances. Julie Newmar is in it but underplays which seems pointless. Vera Miles pops up as does Sam Jaffe and once again Wilma is wasted.

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.

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 - "Contempt" (1963) ** (aka Le Mepris)

Jean Luc Godard is given CinemaScope, colour and big stars - Jack Palance wasn't on the A list at this stage but he was a name and Brigitte Bardot was one of the biggest stars in the world. Not so big was Michel Piccoli, who pops up in all sorts of French movies. He's a writer hired by producer Palance to work on an adaptation of The Odyssey.

He's married to Bardot and the film tells the story of strains in their marriage. Not hard to see why - she's one of the hottest women of the planet and Piccoli is seriously out of her league. Instead of being grateful and taking what he can get, he whinges and worries. She runs off with Palance and both die in a car crash - because the bitch deserved it presumably, proving once again the Godard isn't that radical.

The music score is spectacular - one of the greatest I've ever heard, lush and moving. That carries the film for a long way.

There's an opening shot of Bardot lounging naked in the dark as Piccoli talks to her arse and she collapses out of a few towels. The colour is gorgeous as are the island locations. And Godard is always worth watching for directors because he jazzes things up. But it got on my nerves and dragged.

Vale Omar Sharif

Omar Sharif was always a bit of a punchline rather than an actor but he remains (I'm pretty sure anyway) the only Arab to have become a genuine Hollywood star, and proved you can sustain a lucrative career appearing in only three hits and countless flops provided those three hits are among the biggest blockbusters of all time.

For the sheer hell of it here are my top five random Omar Sharif performances in massive flops:
1) Fall of The Roman Empire (1964) - actually has the same plot as Russell Crowe's Gladiator just structured differently and as a result no one went to see it. Played King of the Armenians.
2) Mackenna's Gold (1969) - the team that made Guns of Navarone reteam with Sharif thrown in and results in a confusing Western. Played a Mexican.
3) Che! (1969) - Sharif as Che Guevera has to be seen to be believed as does Jack Palance as Castro. It's actually kind of an interesting movie just very right wing. Played an Argentinian.
4) The Last Valley (1971) - Michael Caine out miscasts Sharif here in a film which answers the question "why doesn't Hollywood make any movies about the 30 Year War?" Plays a German.
5) Top Secret (1984) - one of the funniest comedies of all time, and the only reason I can think it wasn't a massive hit is it mixed genres. Plays someone from a random nation.

Movie review - "City Slickers" (1991) ***1/2

A first rate comedy which starts with a strong concept - three men with varying mid life crises decide to drove cattle across country - and excellent complications - their range leader dies and they have to take the cattle themselves. It also attempts to provide an answer to the question "what is the meaning of life"... "one thing". And you know, that's a pretty good answer.  I can't think of a movie that's come up with a better one.

Other bits in this film have always stayed with me - the fact men can talk about baseball forever, even a father and son who argue about everything else; Billy Crystal's summation at the beginning about a life span; the legendary arse crack shot of that cab driver and Crystal's associated expression.

Billy Crystal is in excellent form and his baseball references weren't that annoying then; he works well with Bruno Kirby and Daniel Stern, who each are allowed a chance to shine. Helen Slater is bland as the sole girl but at least is pretty and Jack Palance is excellent as Curly.

The segment where they rescue the calf went on too long (it was like a typical 90s action set piece) and the comedy schtick involving guessing flavours of ice cream seemed pointless. Touching father-son stuff involving the black cowboys. Jake Gylenhall has hs first role as Crystal's son.

Movie review - "The Torture Garden" (1967) *** (warning: spoilers)

After their success with the anthology Dr Terror's House of Horrors, Amicus had a few flops so went back to the well for this entry. It's four stories, plus a sort of epilogue: Michael Bryant (one of those British actors whose face feels vaguely familiar) is attacked by a demonic cat; Beverly Adams is as a starlet who realises that robots are everywhere; Barbara Ewing is tormented by a killer piano; rich Jack Palance meets Edgar Allan Poe die hard Peter Cushing. Linking them is Burgess Meredith as a sideshow carnival operator.

I have really been enjoying these Amicus movies - it looks handsome, is well directed by Freddie Field, with a decent script and strong acting. It does lack a little in star power; you will laugh at the killer piano if you're not in the right mood; the robot actors story would work better if the actors were better and more youthful looking (who cares if old Robert Hutton wants to hang on to his looks?); and the final one with Palance and Cushing was surprisingly dull. Also there's a really silly pointless epilogue with Michael Ripper killing Meredith and then it turning out to all be a trick. Sorry, that's just lame.

But Meredith's hamminess suits his part; it's fun to see Peter Cushing act with Jack Palance; Beverly Adams is pretty and has a decent role; ditto Barbara Ewing.

Movie review - "Ten Seconds to Hell" (1960) **

No one seemed to have a good time on this film - Robert Aldrich, Jack Palance, Hammer, and Seven Arts all whinged about it - but you're always up against it to create tension in a bomb disposal film with two stars because you know those stars are going to live until the end. You get your suspense from supporting actors - like The Hurt Locker did - but here it's pretty much entirely the Jack Palance and Jeff Chandler show, occasionally cutting to a support actor.  (At the end when they do the roll call of men who died I kept thinking "oh that's right, they were in the film" - but I barely remembered them.)

It's a different sort of setting - the heroes are German bomb disposal experts working in Germany after the war, where there are bombs everywhere. Palance is one of those "I opposed the Nazis" Germans whose cinematic representatives probably outnumber their real life inspirations, with Chandler as a nasty egotist. Chandler's actually quite good as a baddie and plays with more energy. Palance struggles more, in part because his character is so sketchily drawn.

Like many Aldrich films its best when it concentrates on men under pressure, but the support line up is fatally undercast. (This is normally a strength of films from this director). There is a female character - a French woman who married a German and is kind of a prostitute (there were a lot of these in Aldrich films). The German locations help with reality, but really it's a bunch of rubble.

Movie review - "Sign of the Pagan" (1954) ***

Most Hollywood films only deal with the Roman Emperors around the Julio-Claudian era, so its wonderful to find one set so late in the piece, with the Empire split in half and Attila the Hun running riot. It's reasonably historically accurate too - there really was a Roman centurion called Marcian who ended up as Emperor, marrying Pulcheria; a cowardly eunuch who encouraged Emperor Theodosius to bribe Attila to stay away, Pope Leo who persuaded Attila to steer clear of Rome.

Jeff Chandler was born to play a Roman, with his sculpted hair and physique - but although the film starts off about Marcian it's really more about Attila, and him grappling with this new thing called Christianity. His daughter converts, one of his "seers" is killed by a bolt of lightning. And it's also about Pulcheria... actually this film is a little all over the shop. Chandler disappears for slabs, I was unsure what it was about sometimes, and there are a lot of scenes of Palance looking upwards.

Palance gives a good performance though - but the girls, Ludmilla Tcherina and Rita Gam are weak. Leggy Allison Hayes pops up as a captive forced to marry Attila. There's colour, action and some good production design - it was directed by Douglas Sirk. No classic but interesting, especially to fans of Roman history.

Movie review – “The Big Knife” (1955) *** (warning: spoilers)

This starts wonderfully with a great Saul Bass credits sequence that consists of Jack Palance sitting in the dark and freaking out, and the first scene between Palance and Ida Lupino is very good. 

I bought Palance as a Hollywood star (well he kind of was, wasn’t he – and it’s specified here he was in lots of boxing films etc) and Lupino is excellent as his wife (hard exterior, soft interior – someone who’s been around the block a bit). Rod Steiger’s methody performance as the studio head might have its fans – it certainly can’t be ignored, full of ticks and melodrama. 

 

Wendell Corey is better value as a ruthless studio hatchet man, but the story becomes less believable as it goes on – studios are mean, but I didn’t buy they would consider murder to save a star’s name. Also this might have worked better if set twenty years before – by 1955 studio power was clearly on the slide. I did buy that a movie star killed himself – it’s all about crossing the line of personal principles, and Palance does that.

 

Shelley Winters does her normal Shelley Winters thing as a trashy woman and I hated the ending with the noble Hollywood writer threatening to tell the story. Directed by Robert Aldrich from the play by Clifford Odets (Aldrich helmed a few plays during his career, notably this, Attack and The Killing of St George), it’s got a lot of Aldrich intensity and shouting.

Movie review – “Once a Thief” (1965) ** (warning: spoilers)

Alain Delon apparently turned down a contract with David O Selznick before he’d made his first film, but once he became a star in France he made several attempts at cracking it in Hollywood. This was one – an MGM European co-production set in San Francisco with several Hollywood stars in support plus American director, Ralph Nelson (it’s set in San Francisco). 

 

 It starts very artily with scenes of beatniks at a jazz club, black and white photography, titled camera angles, funky atmosphere, multicultural characters (there are blacks and Chinese). The plot is more familiar – Delon is a former crook trying to go straight, hounded Javert-style by a cop he once shot, Van Heflin.

 

Delon is very pretty – probably too pretty for the role, not quite convincing as a former crook (or brother of Jack Palance). He makes an attractive couple with Ann-Margret, who is really hot especially when in sexy waitressing outfit – but Delon slaps her. It was at this point the film lost it for me: Delon’s character is a sulky misogynistic idiot who treats his wife badly and doesn’t really want to go straight (why doesn’t he just move as Ann-Margret suggests) so his death isn’t much of a tragedy. I liked Ann Margret- she and Delon made a good match physically at least.

Radio review – Lux – “Shane” (1955) ***

Because this famous Western doesn’t have that much action (you think it does because what’s there is so memorable) it transfers well to radio. It helps Alan Ladd and Van Heflin are on hand to reprise their film roles, although Jack Palance and Jean Arthur don't and you miss them. The kid is especially whiny on radio. It remains solid drama.

Book review – “The Eternal Male” by Omar Sharif

Sharif is an interesting movie star, still the only Arab to make it big in Hollywood. He only really had three hits but since they were three of the biggest films in the 60s (and remain classics today) he made a lot of money out of it. These are his memoirs and even though I admit I rarely give much thought to Omar Sharif, this reads exactly like you’d imagine – suave, prone to waffling when justifying his womanising, egotistical but self aware, a nice line in humour and charm, old fashioned values (not a big fan of democracy in the Arab world, a woman’s place is in the home, etc) but aware they’re old fashioned.

You need movie stars like Omar Sharif, who are citizens of the world, represent Egypt in bridge at the Olympics, appear in silly projects for the money, devote their spare time to money-wasting hobbies like horse breeding and gambling, who sleep with heaps of women.

Sharif says he doesn’t want a kiss and tell memoir but then goes to write at length about his flings with Barbra Streisand and Anouk Aimee, as well as the Egyptian star who became his wife. Sharif had a blessed run in many ways – son of a rich timber merchant he developed an enthusiasm for acting, became a star in his first film due to his looks and marrying his co-star (a big name at the time), spotted by an agent for David Lean, having Lawrence of Arabia as his first Hollywood film. (How bad do you feel for poor Maurice Ronet, cast in the role but substituted, partly because his eyes were the same colour as Peter O’Toole's?).

The book is light on anecdotes. It starts with a great one, which has him, Peter O’Toole and Lenny Bruce in gaol the night he arrived in Hollywood for the Lawrence premiere (they went to see Bruce in concert then later on Bruce shot up). It’s a shame there aren’t more like this – he talks of roistering with O’Toole on “leave” in Beirut during filming, but the details are sketchy.

I would also have liked to hear a bit more about the films, because we get tantalising glimpses: Zanuck and Fleischer pursued him ferociously to play Che Guevera, he loved being in The Horsemen, his casting in Funny Girl partly came about because of a joke (they’d ask “Why not Omar Sharif” as a joke until eventually deciding to give it a go). 

It’s also interesting to read about a man who was Christian in Egypt, then converted to Islam, and got in trouble for kissing known Israel supporter Streisand in Funny Girl. It goes up to 1977 but he skims over his 70s movies.

Still, I enjoyed the book; it is light brisk reading and Sharif is entertaining company on the page.

Movie review - Ladd #25 - "Shane" (1953) ***1/2

Sociologists of the future seeking to understand baby boomers could do worse than to look at the character of Joey, played by Brandon de Wilde in this classic Western. Joey hero-worships Shane, a relationship which makes this movie so loved, basically dumping his hard working decent father for him the moment he rides into town.

But Joey's love isn't unconditional - he's always asking Shane questions, nagging him to do things, being a blood-thirsty little pain ("You wouldn't be a coward, would you?" "You'd beat him up wouldn't you?"). When Shane rides off into the distance you don't feel really sad, because Joey hasn't been particularly nice or fun for Shane to be around - you get the impression Shane will be glad for peace and quiet. It doesn't help that de Wilde, whose performance was widely admired at the time, actually acts like a stunned mullet through the film. Joey is your classic boomer - spoilt, never satisfied, always looking for something better on the horizon, resents his parents.

OK, I'm being mean. There is much to admire in the Western, most of all the beautifully constructed shots - although, like other George Stevens movies from this decade, every now and then you can't help mutter "stop it with the beautifully constructed shots, George, and just get on with it" (for instance that final ride into town seems to take forever).

There are some terrific scenes: my favourite are Shane's confrontations with Ben Johnson in the bar, one where he walks away another where he fights him (these are terrifically tense), all the moments with Jack Palance (in a star making turn - NB like a few movie in the 50s such as The Proud Rebel this has the baddy make really nasty anti-Southern slurs - it wasn't until another decade that Hollywood would turn on the south). The use of loud sounds for gunfire became deservedly famous, as did Elisha Cook Jnr's funeral scene with the dog scraping at the coffin (you realise how life is normally so cheap in a Hollywood film - it's lovely that here they give it weight).

Alan Ladd's acting has copped it a lot over the years. He wasn't the best actor in the world but he had presence and Stevens helps him brilliantly. I wondered, could any star have played this role? I think a lot could have (I remember my old English teacher at school said Charles Bronson would have been and I agree - but in the late 60s or 70s not in 1953). Ladd does bring a stillness, and an inherent sense of sadness that he carried with him that totally suits the character. He is also very warm in his moments with de Wilde (probably because Ladd had children around de Wilde's age).

The best performance, though (and this surprised me) was Van Heflin, who carries the "reality" of the film. His farmer is a decent man, hard working, brave, loyal, etc - but when push comes to shove he simply lacks glamour, which Shane has (and Heflin didn't have, so he is perfectly cast). His relationship with Shane is moving - both men admire each other, and although Heflin knows his wife and kid prefer Shane in some way, he doesn't resent Shane. Jean Arthur is strong as the wife - her attraction to Shane is done very subtly and well. Emile Myer is electric as the bitter Ryker - although he's a villain, he's a three dimensional one and is given this great speech where he talks about his history (Ben Johnson also gets a chance to have a bit of lightness and shade).

These sort of films always raise issues on the questions of violence. While it supports the "violence is not the way" argument, it does glamorise the superhero like Shane, who can take on anyone, who everyone love, and so makes violence attractive. (Even Van Heflin is shown to be a tough guy.) Its a film of clear quality but didn't have the emotional impact it obviously does for other (maybe you have to see it as a young boy or with your son).

Movie review - "Panic in the Streets" (1951) **1/2

Chase movie about gangsters infected with plague in New Orleans. It benefits from location shooting and some wonderful "faces", including Zero Mostel and Jack Palance. Paul Douglas and Richard Widmark are on the case; Widmark is a health official who's always going on about how he doesn't earn enough money (He was a decent actor, Widmark, but a bit bland when playing a nice guy - his character needed a bit more of an angle). Elia Kazan directed, so there are lots of scenes of men shouting at one another.