Love this film. Don't get why it isn't more critically acclaimed. Seems to have fans. John Dall should've been a bigger star. Farley Granger is excellent. James Stewart is miscast yes and his dialogue doesn't work in the first bit for his persona but he's good in the last third as he figures out what's going on. Good support cast too with Cedrick Hardwick being touchy. With that young man revealed to have dump the girl... is every male character in this film gay? I love the sun going down in the background, the ending.
Showing posts with label James Stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James Stewart. Show all posts
Friday, August 08, 2025
Friday, August 18, 2023
Movie review - "Ziegield Girl" (1941) ****
Fantastic example of MGM at its peak. A three girl movies where the girls are played by iconic stars each in a specifically defined role - Lana Turner as a shabby poor girl (elevator operator) who can't resist the money, Judy Garland as a super talented girl who isn't as hot as the others but is the one made for showbiz, Hedy Lamarr as the refugee.
Turner and Lamarr have controlling partners - James Stewart (adding affability and star power) as a truck driving boyfriend, and Lamarr with her sooky violinst husband Philip Dorn. Garland isn't given a girlfriend but an actor dad whose career she helps.
Lamar's subplot looks promising when sleazty singer Tony Martin goes after her but then his wife somes along and asks for her to back off and she does and gets back with violinist Dorn. This plot needed a little more kick and for Lamar to interact with the girls. There's not enough girl interacting.
But Turner's is a lot of fun as she embraces booze, rich men (Ian Hunter, then they get sleazier - one of them is Dan Dailey), and Stewart becoomes a bootlegger. It's basically implied Turner becomes a hooker, she has a lovely final scene with Stewart then goes to see a show, and basically dies which is grand OTT wonderful MGM crap as are the production numbers.
Female writers so the women are depicted sympathetically, even the cuckolded wife, and gold digger Eve Arden, and the men are unreliable (even Stewart winds up going to prison before bouncing back). Jackei Cooper is cutely bumbling as Turner's brother - kept waiting for her to hook up with Garland but didn't happen. Paul Kelly is nicely ruthless as a stage manager and Edward Everett Horton is part of the Ziegfield organisation - two recogniseable types.
Lots of fun. Turner's film more than Garland's too which is part of its charm.
Friday, February 24, 2023
Movie review - "Vertigo" (1958) ****1/2 (warning: spoilers)
The greatest film of all time? That is pushing it. But there is certainly a lot of admire. The brilliant hypnotic score. Saul Bass' titles. The opening sequence plunges you straight into action. The stylish design and look. Funky visuals. Use of colour. It's maybe too long. Though hard to cut.
Kim Novak is used brilliantly. Hitchcock captures two aspects of her - the beautiful blonde goddess, enigmatic and alluring versus the trashy insecure shopgirl.
The film actually kicks up a notch in the last third with the reveal because Novak becomes the protagonist. It's about a woman hungry for love, who's been kicked around, and this guy pays her attention - she's willing to put up with it even though he's abusive. It's fantastic.
James Stewart maybe isn't good looking enough for her to be so devoted but I guess he is a film star. And his nervous intensity is used brilliantly - all that wartime PTSD.
Barbara Bel Geddes shines as the nice bitch in love with Stewart. This was a good addition from Sam Taylor, who downplayed the contribution of Alec Coppel.
Still ti's Novak who is the soul of the film - her longing. While Stewart is its possessive soul.
Not hard to see why it wasn't a hit. It's depressing.
Sunday, February 19, 2023
Movie review - "Bell Book and Candle" (1958) **1/2
Kim Novak makes a very good witch for most of this - all sultry eyes and ethereal nature. She sets her cap at James Stewart and puts him under a spell and shenanigans ensue involving his fiancee (Janice Rule), her brother (Jack Lemmon), a wacky writer (Ernie Kovacs), and a housekeeper who is also a witch (Elsa Lanchester).
Novak struggles a bit in the third act when she's required to actually fall in love with Stewart, but is she a film star as is he. It's got a glossy look, reminds me of the sort of thing my grandma used to love, old style sophistication. There's a comic cat.
Thursday, June 02, 2022
Movie review - "Spirit of St Louis" (1957) ***
Very sober and respectful for a Billy Wilder film, this focuses on the least controversial aspect of Lindbergh's life - his Atlantic plane flight. I felt Wilder would make a more memorable movie about the kidnapping, or the America first movement, or his war service, or his German mistresses. I get why he chose this version - presumably there was no "choice" due to Lindbergh being alive - but still...
James Stewart is famously too old to play the lead, though at the same time he was perfect casting (All-American, pilot). Even too old he's better than John Kerr (who turned it down!) would have been.
Wilder wanted to add a fictitious story how the journos around that night chipped in to pay for a hooker to sleep with virginal Lindbergh on the flight. Not a bad idea - some female love interset. He couldn't do it.
Hal Needham did some stunt work on this. Billy Wilder went up on the wings of the plane for one shot.
Two hours and fifteen minutes' running time. Not much happens on the flight - he chats to a fly, falls asleep at one stage (easily the best sequence).
It is of interest. You can't say it's a bad film. Well done and a little dull. Beautiful music. I remember my English teacher putting on a VHS and making us watch it. I guess it was safe material for schools, even though we would've learned more about human nature discussing Lindbergh's politics and kidnapping.
Monday, May 04, 2020
Movie review - "The Big Sleep" (1978) **1/2
Michael Winner was always going to cop it coming up against Howard Hawks and Raymond Chandler - he did have Robert Mitchum in his corner, plus a more faithful rendering of the novel, but did not help his case by setting it in England yet keeping so many Americans. They just could have made them English. One expat American!
Winner was very good at pace, at getting films done under budget, and shoving his films full of good actors. His respect for Chandler helps keep this surprisingly watchable - the pace of it spanked along. I never quite got used to Mitchum in England - Mitchum felt too old anyway for someone who is meant to be irresistible to Candy Clark and Sarah Miles.
Both did kind of look kinky. Winner throws in gay kissing which was in the book, and some nudity and porn which was in the book too.
Joan Collins is great fun in her role as is Edward Fox. I loved Oliver Reed and Richard Boone. John Mills is a bit of a nothing as the cop. Sara Miles was... I guess weird. Candy Clark tries in a difficult role. It was sad to see James Stewart. Joan Collins could have played Miles' role and she would've been terrific- but Miles does bring an eccentricity to the part.
Winner was very good at pace, at getting films done under budget, and shoving his films full of good actors. His respect for Chandler helps keep this surprisingly watchable - the pace of it spanked along. I never quite got used to Mitchum in England - Mitchum felt too old anyway for someone who is meant to be irresistible to Candy Clark and Sarah Miles.
Both did kind of look kinky. Winner throws in gay kissing which was in the book, and some nudity and porn which was in the book too.
Joan Collins is great fun in her role as is Edward Fox. I loved Oliver Reed and Richard Boone. John Mills is a bit of a nothing as the cop. Sara Miles was... I guess weird. Candy Clark tries in a difficult role. It was sad to see James Stewart. Joan Collins could have played Miles' role and she would've been terrific- but Miles does bring an eccentricity to the part.
Tuesday, July 30, 2019
The Cinema of Fabian
In a recent interview for the Pure Cinema Podcast (https://purecinemapodcast.libsyn.com/new-beverly-calendar-july-2019-with-quentin-tarantino), Quentin Tarantino talked at length about his influences for the Rick Dalton character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). Among such names as Ty Hardin, George Maharis, and Edd Byrnes was the pop star turned actor Fabian, whose talent was admired by the director ("he was very personable"), leading to Tarantino scheduling three Fabian movies at his New Beverly Cinema in July 2019.
Fabian is still probably best known for his (relatively) brief heyday as a pop star - specifically the year 1959 when he had three top ten hits - "Turn Me Loose", "Tiger" and "Hound Dog Man". Yet he also had a career as a motion leading man that spanned over a decade. It's one that is worth revisiting.
Early Career
Fabiano Anthony Forte was born in Philadelphia in 1943. His launch into showbusiness was something out of a Ruby Keeler musical: in 1957 his policeman father had a heart attack at home; Fabian was waiting by the ambulance when spotted by record producer Bob Marcucci. Marcucci was on the hunt for a good looking teen who could be the next Elvis Presley and asked the fourteen year old if he was interested in a singing career. Fabian, wanting to help his family financially, agreed to give it a shot.
Fabian wasn't a natural singer, but he worked hard, looked good and could at least put over a song. Marcucci gave him singing lessons and new clothes, made him lose the crew cut and get an Elvis-style pompadour, and shorted his name to "Fabian". After a few false starts the teenager started appearing at Dick Clark record hops, lip syncing to songs. Girls went wild, Clark put him on American Bandstand and a star was born.
Right from the start Fabian was something of a joke within the industry - his name, inexperience and limited singing ability were all much mocked (for example on the comedy album 2000 Years With Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks there's a interview with the teen idol "Fabiola"). But the baby boomer teens who formed the bulk of his audience didn't care - Elvis was in the army and they needed a new idol. By 1959 Fabian was earning $250,000 a year and Hollywood came calling.
20th Century Fox
Fabian (or, rather, his managers) elected to go with 20th Century Fox, who had a decent teen idol track record: they made the highly successful debut features of Elvia Presley (Love Me Tender) and Pat Boone (Bernandine), albeit also the flop first film of Tommy Sands (Sing Boy Sing).
It was a smart decision - Fox gave Fabian a top producer (Jerry Wald), skilled director (Don Siegel), colour and CinemaScope, plus a decent budget and source material - Hound Dog Man (1959), based on the novel by Fred Gipson who had written Old Yeller. His co stars included two Fox contract players: Carol Lynley coming off Blue Denim (1959) and Stuart Whitman, an emerging name. There was also Arthur O'Connell who played paterfamilias to pretty much all the teen idols on screen around this time, and an excellent line up of character actors including Royal Dano, Claude Akins and Edgar Buchanan. While Fabian was top billed he really had a supporting role - the protagonist was Blackie Scantling, the "Hound Dog Man", played by Whitman. This was in line with Love Me Tender where Elvis made his debut supporting a more experienced actor, Richard Egan.
The film is set in 1912 Texas and revolves around shiftless Blackie going on a hunting trip over the weekend with young friend Clint (Fabian). It doesn't have the heavy plot of Love Me Tender - that was a serious Western with brothers betraying brothers, shoot outs, Civil War and so on. Hound Dog Man is a more slice-of-life, coming-of-age piece - a little hunting, some singing, Claude Akins pops around periodically to snarl at Whitman, Lynley pants over Whitman as does Akins' wife. There's a comic doctor, a dog, a barn dance. It's actually a sweet film - well made, with great production values, and a very strong cast.
Fabian seems to consciously ape Elvis a lot in his debut, playing a yes ma'm type complete with Southern drawl. It's an ideal role for him - a bored young teen on a farm, - occasionally sulky, but a decent kid underneath it all - and he is extremely well protected. Every time he sings, however, Don Siegel arranges it so the song is interrupted - a dog barks, or Fabian walks off in anger, or something, I'm not joking - this happens four times. Actually some of the tunes are good, notably the title track and 'This Friendly World'.
The film was not a box office success. Maybe it was too "plot lite". Maybe it needed more star power than Whitman - Robert Mitchum was attached to play Blackie in the early 50s and he would have been ideal; an elder singer, like say Pat Boone or Ricky Nelson, could also have worked. Fox didn't lose faith in Fabian, however, and decided instead to shift him to support roles, where he would be teamed with an older star of a different generation. This was a common device at the time (eg John Wayne and Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo (1959)), the logic being the film would then appeal to two demographics.
Fabian's second film was High Time (1960), directed by Blake Edwards, starring Bing Crosby as a restaurant magnate who decides to go back to college, where his fellow students include Fabian, Richard Beymer and Tuesday Weld. The film is set over four years giving it a surprisingly wistful time-moves-on quality; there are bright colours and some funny jokes though it is badly hurt by the performance of Nicole Maurey as Crosby's love interest. Fabian has a decent role as a jock who struggles at college and winds up with Weld at the end.
Far more enjoyable was North to Alaska (1960), a comedy "northern" set during the Klondike Gold Rush with John Wayne. It's the sort of movie that could have gone disastrously wrong - battle of the sex comedies with Wayne often had an abusive vibe about them (eg McLintock (1963)); female star Capucine was the producer's mistress, a model who had only made one film before; and filming started without a completed script. But it completely works - it's charming and sweet, director Henry Hathaway keeps the pace fast, and Capucine turned out to be one of the best co-stars Wayne ever had. Fabian has a great little role as the younger brother of Wayne's partner (Stewart Granger!) who tries to seduce Capucine; he sings a song and joins in on a few comic brawls. His performance won him the "Uncrossed Heart" award for least Promising Actor of 1960 in Harvard Lampoon's Annual Movie awards - a completely unfair accolade but typical of the snarkiness with which Fabian was treated at the time. High Time was reasonably popular but North to Alaska turned into a big hit and affirmed Fox's commitment to Fabian; in November 1960 they signed a new contract with the singer, to last for seven years, with an option to make two films a year.
Fox had a lively TV division and assigned Fabian to star in an episode of the anthology series Bus Stop (based on the 1956 Marilyn Monroe film) - "A Lion Walks Among Us", directed by Robert Altman. Fabian plays a drifter who rocks into a small town and soon makes waves: hitting on the middle aged drunken lady who gives him a lift, robbing and killing a grocer, singing without permission at a tavern, starting a brawl and pulling out a switchblade. He's hauled into prison and is arrested but remains cocky, keeps singing to himself a lot and actually gets freed at the trial... whereupon he propositions a blonde groupie, kills his lawyer, then is killed in a murder-suicide by the drunken lady. It's excellent television, superbly directed by Altman, with Fabian giving his best performance.
Unfortunately the episode screened at a time when America was undergoing one of its periodical moral panics about the influence of television violence on children. Part of the problem apparently was Fabian's presence - he's handsome, young, sings a few songs, is shown to be attractive, speaks a lot of groovy early 60s slang, and gets away with it (for the most part). This perceived glamourisation of violence was very confronting for some: Jack Gould of the New York Time wrote not one, not two but three separate columns decrying the episode; several sponsors withdrew their support from the series and and a number of stations would not run it. The episode was criticised in congress, leading to Bus Stop being axed and and the president of ABC being fired.
To be fair, the show was intense, not really suitable for young kids, but it is worthy adult drama. Apparently Fox wanted to turn it into a feature but Fabian refused to shoot the necessary extra scenes - it's a shame, because then this would be better known, and his fine work more widely seen.
The blow back didn't seem to hurt Fabian personally - indeed, he decided to quit singing, buy himself out of his contract with Marcucci, and focus entirely on acting. When Fox's management underwent major restructuring in the wake of the Cleopatra (1963) debacle, numerous people lost their jobs but Fabian held on to his contract. One possible fall out - Fabian veered away from villainous roles for the next decade. He played anti-heroes, yes, but not out-and-out villains, which I feel in hindsight was a mistake.
Fox loaned him to the producers of Breakfast at Tiffany's who put him in a teen comedy at Paramount: Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1962). Fabian played a coast guard who comes between two platonic friends - newcomer Toby Michaels and fellow pop star Tommy Sands, whose black hair was dyed blonde so he would look different from Fabian. The film has problems of movies of its time - for instance, Fabian basically tries to sexually assault Michaels - but also its pleasures (the cinematography and tunes - Burt Bacharach and Hal David did the title track). It's very possible to do a gay reading of this film, with Sands displaying zero sexual interest in Michaels or any woman throughout the film. Or maybe that's too limiting: because when Fabian puts the hard word on Michaels she is very coy and not keen at all, despite flirting heavily with him until then. So maybe it's more accurate to describe this movie as being about two people with low sex drives who find each other. Sands has the showier role but lacked the chops to pull it off (he's not a believable intellectual). Fabian is far more comfortable in a more straightforward part.
Fabian was one of many Fox contract players who appeared in The Longest Day (1962). He played a US Ranger who stormed Normandy alongside other teen idols like Tommy Sands, Paul Anka, Robert Wagner and George Segal. Okay maybe Segal wasn't a teen idol but the others were - it's like a late 50s pop supergroup put into a war movie. The film was a blockbuster - the most commercially successful movie Fabian appeared in, although his role was brief.
He was one of several names in Irwin Allen's Jules Verne adaptation Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962). The studio had previously made a terrific film based on Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959) with Pat Boone, but Five Weeks is not in that class. It has bright colours and solid actors (Cedric Hardwicke, Barbara Eden) but too many of them seem miscast, such as Red Buttons trying to channel Clark Gable. Fabian has relatively little to do though he sings a song - the title track, which did not become a hit. The film was a box office disappointment that helped kill off the Jules Verne cycle.
Fox teamed Fabian with another old star, James Stewart in Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), a sweet comedy about Mr Hobbs (Stewart) and his family, well, taking a vacation. Fabian's role is not big but he has a lovely scene - Hobbs pays Fabian to dance with his lonely awkward daughter but Fabian has so much fun he refuses the cash. The film, written by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Henry Koster, and was popular, leading to two more comedies from the same team - Take Her She's Mine (1963) and Dear Brigitte (1965).
Fabian was meant to be in Take Her She's Mine alongside Stewart and Sandra Dee but doesn't appear in the final film - presumably because he was meant to play Dee's boyfriend and Fox head Daryl F. Zanuck eventually decided to make that character French. He is in Dear Brigitte (1965) playing the boyfriend of Stewart's daughter (Cindy Carol); it's not a very good movie and flopped at the box office, though Fabian has some decent moments trying to exploit a child genius at the race track -the film would have been better had they done more with this storyline.
In between these films Fabian was borrowed by Columbia Pictures for a surf movie, Ride the Wild Surf (1964). Production on this was difficult - original director Art Napoleon was fired and replaced by Don Taylor; Fabian's original co-stars Jan and Dean (fellow pop artists) got the sack when a good friend of theirs kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jnr and were replaced by Tab Hunter and Pete Brown. The resulting film is, however, one of the best beach movies of the 60s - it actually makes an attempt to understand surf culture, has decent female roles, and features some spectacular surf footage. Fabian has a solid part, accessing his pseudo-Elvis schtick playing a surfer with a chip on his shoulder. He is charming with Shelley Fabares, although yet again there's a scene where he uses rough handling on her - this was very common in 60s cinema.
Fox announced Fabian for several projects which did not happen - adaptations of the novels Beardless Warriors and A Summer World as well as a Western, Custer's Last Stand. He made no more films for the studio after Dear Brigitte but it had been a good run.
In 1965 he appeared in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians for producer Harry Alan Towers, playing a singer who is the first guest killed. He was also appearing regularly as a guest star on episodes of TV shows such as Wagon Train and The Virginian, always doing professional work - though never under a director as good as Robert Altman and they never came up to the standard of A Lion Walks Amongst Us.
AIP
Samuel Z Arkoff, one of the vice presidents in American International Pictures, wrote in his memoirs that he wanted Fabian to co star alongside Annette Funicello in Beach Party (1963) but was prevented by Fabian's contract with Fox. Even if the story is accurate - Arkoff was notorious for bending the truth - it was probably lucky for AIP they got Frankie Avalon instead: the amiable actor-singer had a broader, more cartoon-style persona that fitted those movies better.
AIP were still keen on Fabian however and signed him to a seven picture contract in November 1965. By then the studio had made six beach party films and the formula was waning so they took key members of the team - notably Avalon, Funicello, and director William Asher - and put them in a stock car racing movie, Fireball 500 (1966)... co starring Fabian. The film awkwardly straddles the broad surrealistic musical comedy of the Beach Party movies with AIP's more serious works of the late 60s - it has a claymation title sequence, Avalon does a double take at the camera and characters break out into song, but it has more adult themes (characters have sex, people die, 50% of Julie Parrish’s dialogue is sexual innuendo). Fabian brings his pseudo-Elvis snarling to this one and it works well - he was a believable race car driver, angry but good underneath. Funicello winds up with Fabian at the end rather than Frankie, which after all those beach party movies she made with Avalon feels like cheating.
The film was produced by Burt Topper who put Fabian in another stock car racing film for AIP, Thunder Alley (1967). It co-stars Funicello and Diane McBain under the direction of later cult favourite Richard Rush (Getting Straight, The Stuntman). Thunder Alley is far more cohesive and successful film than Fireball 500 - a solid drama with a thumping soundtrack (some of which Tarantino appropriated for Deathproof) and Annette Funicello is really good - but then it's a strong role, perhaps her best ever for AIP. Fabian is also strong - cocky, arrogant, but haunted and basically decent; it's one of his best parts.
In between these two movies AIP sent Fabian to Italy to replace Frankie Avalon in Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966), a sequel to Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) starring Vincent Price. Girl Bombs, directed by Mario Bava of all people, is a nutty comedy that was mashed up between two different styles of films - a Goldfoot sequel (Price reprised his role) and vehicle for the Italian comedy duo Franco and Ciccio. There are two main versions of the film - one for America (with more Vincent Price) one for Italy (with more Franco and Ciccio). Fabian is an amiable straight man but it's a terrible movie, considered among Price's and Bava's worst.
Fabian's third racing film for AIP was very different from the others. The Wild Racers (1968) was shot on location in six different countries throughout Europe. Producer Roger Corman supervised a tight crew who would go from race to race shooting footage (a method he had used earlier on The Young Racers (1963)). It's a very arty avant garde film, directed by Dan Haller - shots rarely go longer than ten seconds, most dialogue is voice over. Fabian is very good as the cocky race driver who is meant to help his more senior partner win but can't help winning himself. That's the gist of the plot - plus a romance with a stunningly beautiful Mimsy Farmer. There are plenty of scenes of cars zipping around, groovy music and credits, great production values and consistently interesting techniques - Nestor Almendros did the cinematography. There's not a lot of drama going on and only Fabian gets a full fleshed character - the way the movie is made causes you to feel distance from it. Still, it's worth seeking out if you're interested in a race car movie that is very "late 60s funky". It's Tarantino's favourite race car movie.
Fabian's fifth film for AIP was a surprisingly conventional drug drama, Maryjane (1968) where he plays a teacher who uncovers a marijuana racket at his high school. It's bewildering to think that AIP made this the year after The Trip (1967)... but then Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson were concerned about the former movie being too pro drug so maybe they churned this out to cover their bases. Maury Dexter's handling is generally quite lively and there is some decent enough acting but this is just silly, with gangs of kids puffing weed and driving off cliffs, like in Reefer Madness (1936). It's a little odd seeing Fabian play a teacher; he's alright, but it's a shame this wasn't made a few years earlier when he could have played the charismatic bad student.
The Devil's Eight (1968), produced and directed by Topper, was an AIP rip off of The Dirty Dozen where agent Chris George recruits a bunch of convicts to take on moonshiner Ralph Meeker. Fabian's role is surprisingly small for someone second billed - he plays a convict with a drinking problem, and he's fine, but his part is not as good as Ross Hagen, who plays a former moonshine driver whose ex is Meeker's mistress. Maybe Fabian didn't seem Southern enough, or they only used him in the movie under suffrance. The film was the first credit script credit for John Milius and Willard Hyuck and was based on a story by Larry Gordon - all would become major players in Hollywood in the 70s but none of them used Fabian again. Neither did other collaborators who went on to bigger things, such as Mario Bava and Richard Rush.
Fabian took time out from AIP to play a Depression era gangster, John Ashley, in a film for Crown International - Little Laura and Big John - a low budget knock off of Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Fabian gives a decent performance as does co star Karen Black but the film, shot in 1968 was not seen until 1973.
Fabian's seventh and final movie for AIP was Bullet for a Pretty Boy (1970) another Depression-era biopic of a gangster, in this case Pretty Boy Floyd. It was mostly directed by legendary schlockmeister Larry Buchanan, given his biggest budget ever, with Maury Dexter coming in to shoot some additional scenes. Fabian gives another accomplished performance as a gee-it-isn't-his-fault-kid-forced-to-crime. His physical attractiveness is exploited heavily in the movie - surprisingly few films did this considering Fabian became a pop star mostly by being good looking. Here he's got Jocelyn Lane and Astrid Warner throwing themselves at him, as well as a brothel madam. The film itself is competent rather than inspired - it could have done with more passion - but isn't bad.
Later Career
Without a contract to a studio, Fabian found himself in considerably less demand for feature film work in the 1970s. He made a few career missteps this decade - he posed nude for Playgirl and regretted it, was involved in a car accident. He had the lead in some low budget features that few people saw - Soul Hustler (1973), directed by Burt Topper, where Fabian plays a drifted who becomes a Christian rock star; and Disco Fever (1978), disco-splotatoin effort with Casey Kasem.
Fabian returned to singing and hit the nostalgia circuit, notably in places like Las Vegas; he was well received and still remains in demand for this in 2019, sometimes teaming up with fellow idols like Avalon and Bobby Rydell. On a personal front, he had two unsuccessful marriages but struck gold with the third, marrying magazine editor Andrea Patrick in 1998. A son from his first marriage, Christian, wrote the film Albino Alligator (1996).
Fabian continued to act through the 70s, 80s and 90s, mostly guest shots on TV shows - Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and so on. Perhaps his best performance from this period was the George Peppard TV movie Crisis in Mid Air (1979) where Fabian plays an airport worker who kills taxi drivers. He was a cop in the zombie film Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981), Joe Dante gave him a small role in Runaway Daughters (1994) and he had a cameo as himself in Up Close and Personal (1996).
He wasn't forgotten as a cultural touchstone. The leads in Laverne and Shirley were obsessed with Fabian, as was the Nicolas Cage character in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). "Turn Me Loose" was used in Ralph Bakshi's American Pop (1981) and Fabian provided the inspiration for the character of Cesare (Peter Gallagher) in The Idolmaker (1980) a thinly disguised account of the rise of Bob Marcucci directed by Taylor Hackford (Fabian sued the filmmakers and won an out of court settlement.)
Conclusion
What to make of the cinematic career of Fabian Forte? He was no Elvis Presley, or even Pat Boone, but he certainly did better as an actor than, say, Tommy Sands or Bobby Rydell. His career was more analogous with his fellow Philadelphian Frankie Avalon. He was mainly called upon to play basically nice young men, sometimes with a chip on his shoulder. When offered a meaty role he usually rose to the occasion - Hound Dog Man, A Lion Walks Among Us, Thunder Alley - when he had to support he did it effectively s - North to Alaska, Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation. He wasn't a great actor but he was good one, and should be better remembered.
Fabian is still probably best known for his (relatively) brief heyday as a pop star - specifically the year 1959 when he had three top ten hits - "Turn Me Loose", "Tiger" and "Hound Dog Man". Yet he also had a career as a motion leading man that spanned over a decade. It's one that is worth revisiting.
Early Career
Fabiano Anthony Forte was born in Philadelphia in 1943. His launch into showbusiness was something out of a Ruby Keeler musical: in 1957 his policeman father had a heart attack at home; Fabian was waiting by the ambulance when spotted by record producer Bob Marcucci. Marcucci was on the hunt for a good looking teen who could be the next Elvis Presley and asked the fourteen year old if he was interested in a singing career. Fabian, wanting to help his family financially, agreed to give it a shot.
Fabian wasn't a natural singer, but he worked hard, looked good and could at least put over a song. Marcucci gave him singing lessons and new clothes, made him lose the crew cut and get an Elvis-style pompadour, and shorted his name to "Fabian". After a few false starts the teenager started appearing at Dick Clark record hops, lip syncing to songs. Girls went wild, Clark put him on American Bandstand and a star was born.
Right from the start Fabian was something of a joke within the industry - his name, inexperience and limited singing ability were all much mocked (for example on the comedy album 2000 Years With Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks there's a interview with the teen idol "Fabiola"). But the baby boomer teens who formed the bulk of his audience didn't care - Elvis was in the army and they needed a new idol. By 1959 Fabian was earning $250,000 a year and Hollywood came calling.
20th Century Fox
Fabian (or, rather, his managers) elected to go with 20th Century Fox, who had a decent teen idol track record: they made the highly successful debut features of Elvia Presley (Love Me Tender) and Pat Boone (Bernandine), albeit also the flop first film of Tommy Sands (Sing Boy Sing).
It was a smart decision - Fox gave Fabian a top producer (Jerry Wald), skilled director (Don Siegel), colour and CinemaScope, plus a decent budget and source material - Hound Dog Man (1959), based on the novel by Fred Gipson who had written Old Yeller. His co stars included two Fox contract players: Carol Lynley coming off Blue Denim (1959) and Stuart Whitman, an emerging name. There was also Arthur O'Connell who played paterfamilias to pretty much all the teen idols on screen around this time, and an excellent line up of character actors including Royal Dano, Claude Akins and Edgar Buchanan. While Fabian was top billed he really had a supporting role - the protagonist was Blackie Scantling, the "Hound Dog Man", played by Whitman. This was in line with Love Me Tender where Elvis made his debut supporting a more experienced actor, Richard Egan.
The film is set in 1912 Texas and revolves around shiftless Blackie going on a hunting trip over the weekend with young friend Clint (Fabian). It doesn't have the heavy plot of Love Me Tender - that was a serious Western with brothers betraying brothers, shoot outs, Civil War and so on. Hound Dog Man is a more slice-of-life, coming-of-age piece - a little hunting, some singing, Claude Akins pops around periodically to snarl at Whitman, Lynley pants over Whitman as does Akins' wife. There's a comic doctor, a dog, a barn dance. It's actually a sweet film - well made, with great production values, and a very strong cast.
Fabian seems to consciously ape Elvis a lot in his debut, playing a yes ma'm type complete with Southern drawl. It's an ideal role for him - a bored young teen on a farm, - occasionally sulky, but a decent kid underneath it all - and he is extremely well protected. Every time he sings, however, Don Siegel arranges it so the song is interrupted - a dog barks, or Fabian walks off in anger, or something, I'm not joking - this happens four times. Actually some of the tunes are good, notably the title track and 'This Friendly World'.
The film was not a box office success. Maybe it was too "plot lite". Maybe it needed more star power than Whitman - Robert Mitchum was attached to play Blackie in the early 50s and he would have been ideal; an elder singer, like say Pat Boone or Ricky Nelson, could also have worked. Fox didn't lose faith in Fabian, however, and decided instead to shift him to support roles, where he would be teamed with an older star of a different generation. This was a common device at the time (eg John Wayne and Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo (1959)), the logic being the film would then appeal to two demographics.
Fabian's second film was High Time (1960), directed by Blake Edwards, starring Bing Crosby as a restaurant magnate who decides to go back to college, where his fellow students include Fabian, Richard Beymer and Tuesday Weld. The film is set over four years giving it a surprisingly wistful time-moves-on quality; there are bright colours and some funny jokes though it is badly hurt by the performance of Nicole Maurey as Crosby's love interest. Fabian has a decent role as a jock who struggles at college and winds up with Weld at the end.
Far more enjoyable was North to Alaska (1960), a comedy "northern" set during the Klondike Gold Rush with John Wayne. It's the sort of movie that could have gone disastrously wrong - battle of the sex comedies with Wayne often had an abusive vibe about them (eg McLintock (1963)); female star Capucine was the producer's mistress, a model who had only made one film before; and filming started without a completed script. But it completely works - it's charming and sweet, director Henry Hathaway keeps the pace fast, and Capucine turned out to be one of the best co-stars Wayne ever had. Fabian has a great little role as the younger brother of Wayne's partner (Stewart Granger!) who tries to seduce Capucine; he sings a song and joins in on a few comic brawls. His performance won him the "Uncrossed Heart" award for least Promising Actor of 1960 in Harvard Lampoon's Annual Movie awards - a completely unfair accolade but typical of the snarkiness with which Fabian was treated at the time. High Time was reasonably popular but North to Alaska turned into a big hit and affirmed Fox's commitment to Fabian; in November 1960 they signed a new contract with the singer, to last for seven years, with an option to make two films a year.
Fox had a lively TV division and assigned Fabian to star in an episode of the anthology series Bus Stop (based on the 1956 Marilyn Monroe film) - "A Lion Walks Among Us", directed by Robert Altman. Fabian plays a drifter who rocks into a small town and soon makes waves: hitting on the middle aged drunken lady who gives him a lift, robbing and killing a grocer, singing without permission at a tavern, starting a brawl and pulling out a switchblade. He's hauled into prison and is arrested but remains cocky, keeps singing to himself a lot and actually gets freed at the trial... whereupon he propositions a blonde groupie, kills his lawyer, then is killed in a murder-suicide by the drunken lady. It's excellent television, superbly directed by Altman, with Fabian giving his best performance.
Unfortunately the episode screened at a time when America was undergoing one of its periodical moral panics about the influence of television violence on children. Part of the problem apparently was Fabian's presence - he's handsome, young, sings a few songs, is shown to be attractive, speaks a lot of groovy early 60s slang, and gets away with it (for the most part). This perceived glamourisation of violence was very confronting for some: Jack Gould of the New York Time wrote not one, not two but three separate columns decrying the episode; several sponsors withdrew their support from the series and and a number of stations would not run it. The episode was criticised in congress, leading to Bus Stop being axed and and the president of ABC being fired.
To be fair, the show was intense, not really suitable for young kids, but it is worthy adult drama. Apparently Fox wanted to turn it into a feature but Fabian refused to shoot the necessary extra scenes - it's a shame, because then this would be better known, and his fine work more widely seen.
The blow back didn't seem to hurt Fabian personally - indeed, he decided to quit singing, buy himself out of his contract with Marcucci, and focus entirely on acting. When Fox's management underwent major restructuring in the wake of the Cleopatra (1963) debacle, numerous people lost their jobs but Fabian held on to his contract. One possible fall out - Fabian veered away from villainous roles for the next decade. He played anti-heroes, yes, but not out-and-out villains, which I feel in hindsight was a mistake.
Fox loaned him to the producers of Breakfast at Tiffany's who put him in a teen comedy at Paramount: Love in a Goldfish Bowl (1962). Fabian played a coast guard who comes between two platonic friends - newcomer Toby Michaels and fellow pop star Tommy Sands, whose black hair was dyed blonde so he would look different from Fabian. The film has problems of movies of its time - for instance, Fabian basically tries to sexually assault Michaels - but also its pleasures (the cinematography and tunes - Burt Bacharach and Hal David did the title track). It's very possible to do a gay reading of this film, with Sands displaying zero sexual interest in Michaels or any woman throughout the film. Or maybe that's too limiting: because when Fabian puts the hard word on Michaels she is very coy and not keen at all, despite flirting heavily with him until then. So maybe it's more accurate to describe this movie as being about two people with low sex drives who find each other. Sands has the showier role but lacked the chops to pull it off (he's not a believable intellectual). Fabian is far more comfortable in a more straightforward part.
Fabian was one of many Fox contract players who appeared in The Longest Day (1962). He played a US Ranger who stormed Normandy alongside other teen idols like Tommy Sands, Paul Anka, Robert Wagner and George Segal. Okay maybe Segal wasn't a teen idol but the others were - it's like a late 50s pop supergroup put into a war movie. The film was a blockbuster - the most commercially successful movie Fabian appeared in, although his role was brief.
He was one of several names in Irwin Allen's Jules Verne adaptation Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962). The studio had previously made a terrific film based on Verne, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1959) with Pat Boone, but Five Weeks is not in that class. It has bright colours and solid actors (Cedric Hardwicke, Barbara Eden) but too many of them seem miscast, such as Red Buttons trying to channel Clark Gable. Fabian has relatively little to do though he sings a song - the title track, which did not become a hit. The film was a box office disappointment that helped kill off the Jules Verne cycle.
Fox teamed Fabian with another old star, James Stewart in Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962), a sweet comedy about Mr Hobbs (Stewart) and his family, well, taking a vacation. Fabian's role is not big but he has a lovely scene - Hobbs pays Fabian to dance with his lonely awkward daughter but Fabian has so much fun he refuses the cash. The film, written by Nunnally Johnson and directed by Henry Koster, and was popular, leading to two more comedies from the same team - Take Her She's Mine (1963) and Dear Brigitte (1965).
Fabian was meant to be in Take Her She's Mine alongside Stewart and Sandra Dee but doesn't appear in the final film - presumably because he was meant to play Dee's boyfriend and Fox head Daryl F. Zanuck eventually decided to make that character French. He is in Dear Brigitte (1965) playing the boyfriend of Stewart's daughter (Cindy Carol); it's not a very good movie and flopped at the box office, though Fabian has some decent moments trying to exploit a child genius at the race track -the film would have been better had they done more with this storyline.
In between these films Fabian was borrowed by Columbia Pictures for a surf movie, Ride the Wild Surf (1964). Production on this was difficult - original director Art Napoleon was fired and replaced by Don Taylor; Fabian's original co-stars Jan and Dean (fellow pop artists) got the sack when a good friend of theirs kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jnr and were replaced by Tab Hunter and Pete Brown. The resulting film is, however, one of the best beach movies of the 60s - it actually makes an attempt to understand surf culture, has decent female roles, and features some spectacular surf footage. Fabian has a solid part, accessing his pseudo-Elvis schtick playing a surfer with a chip on his shoulder. He is charming with Shelley Fabares, although yet again there's a scene where he uses rough handling on her - this was very common in 60s cinema.
Fox announced Fabian for several projects which did not happen - adaptations of the novels Beardless Warriors and A Summer World as well as a Western, Custer's Last Stand. He made no more films for the studio after Dear Brigitte but it had been a good run.
In 1965 he appeared in an adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians for producer Harry Alan Towers, playing a singer who is the first guest killed. He was also appearing regularly as a guest star on episodes of TV shows such as Wagon Train and The Virginian, always doing professional work - though never under a director as good as Robert Altman and they never came up to the standard of A Lion Walks Amongst Us.
AIP
Samuel Z Arkoff, one of the vice presidents in American International Pictures, wrote in his memoirs that he wanted Fabian to co star alongside Annette Funicello in Beach Party (1963) but was prevented by Fabian's contract with Fox. Even if the story is accurate - Arkoff was notorious for bending the truth - it was probably lucky for AIP they got Frankie Avalon instead: the amiable actor-singer had a broader, more cartoon-style persona that fitted those movies better.
AIP were still keen on Fabian however and signed him to a seven picture contract in November 1965. By then the studio had made six beach party films and the formula was waning so they took key members of the team - notably Avalon, Funicello, and director William Asher - and put them in a stock car racing movie, Fireball 500 (1966)... co starring Fabian. The film awkwardly straddles the broad surrealistic musical comedy of the Beach Party movies with AIP's more serious works of the late 60s - it has a claymation title sequence, Avalon does a double take at the camera and characters break out into song, but it has more adult themes (characters have sex, people die, 50% of Julie Parrish’s dialogue is sexual innuendo). Fabian brings his pseudo-Elvis snarling to this one and it works well - he was a believable race car driver, angry but good underneath. Funicello winds up with Fabian at the end rather than Frankie, which after all those beach party movies she made with Avalon feels like cheating.
The film was produced by Burt Topper who put Fabian in another stock car racing film for AIP, Thunder Alley (1967). It co-stars Funicello and Diane McBain under the direction of later cult favourite Richard Rush (Getting Straight, The Stuntman). Thunder Alley is far more cohesive and successful film than Fireball 500 - a solid drama with a thumping soundtrack (some of which Tarantino appropriated for Deathproof) and Annette Funicello is really good - but then it's a strong role, perhaps her best ever for AIP. Fabian is also strong - cocky, arrogant, but haunted and basically decent; it's one of his best parts.
In between these two movies AIP sent Fabian to Italy to replace Frankie Avalon in Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966), a sequel to Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) starring Vincent Price. Girl Bombs, directed by Mario Bava of all people, is a nutty comedy that was mashed up between two different styles of films - a Goldfoot sequel (Price reprised his role) and vehicle for the Italian comedy duo Franco and Ciccio. There are two main versions of the film - one for America (with more Vincent Price) one for Italy (with more Franco and Ciccio). Fabian is an amiable straight man but it's a terrible movie, considered among Price's and Bava's worst.
Fabian's third racing film for AIP was very different from the others. The Wild Racers (1968) was shot on location in six different countries throughout Europe. Producer Roger Corman supervised a tight crew who would go from race to race shooting footage (a method he had used earlier on The Young Racers (1963)). It's a very arty avant garde film, directed by Dan Haller - shots rarely go longer than ten seconds, most dialogue is voice over. Fabian is very good as the cocky race driver who is meant to help his more senior partner win but can't help winning himself. That's the gist of the plot - plus a romance with a stunningly beautiful Mimsy Farmer. There are plenty of scenes of cars zipping around, groovy music and credits, great production values and consistently interesting techniques - Nestor Almendros did the cinematography. There's not a lot of drama going on and only Fabian gets a full fleshed character - the way the movie is made causes you to feel distance from it. Still, it's worth seeking out if you're interested in a race car movie that is very "late 60s funky". It's Tarantino's favourite race car movie.
Fabian's fifth film for AIP was a surprisingly conventional drug drama, Maryjane (1968) where he plays a teacher who uncovers a marijuana racket at his high school. It's bewildering to think that AIP made this the year after The Trip (1967)... but then Sam Arkoff and Jim Nicholson were concerned about the former movie being too pro drug so maybe they churned this out to cover their bases. Maury Dexter's handling is generally quite lively and there is some decent enough acting but this is just silly, with gangs of kids puffing weed and driving off cliffs, like in Reefer Madness (1936). It's a little odd seeing Fabian play a teacher; he's alright, but it's a shame this wasn't made a few years earlier when he could have played the charismatic bad student.
The Devil's Eight (1968), produced and directed by Topper, was an AIP rip off of The Dirty Dozen where agent Chris George recruits a bunch of convicts to take on moonshiner Ralph Meeker. Fabian's role is surprisingly small for someone second billed - he plays a convict with a drinking problem, and he's fine, but his part is not as good as Ross Hagen, who plays a former moonshine driver whose ex is Meeker's mistress. Maybe Fabian didn't seem Southern enough, or they only used him in the movie under suffrance. The film was the first credit script credit for John Milius and Willard Hyuck and was based on a story by Larry Gordon - all would become major players in Hollywood in the 70s but none of them used Fabian again. Neither did other collaborators who went on to bigger things, such as Mario Bava and Richard Rush.
Fabian took time out from AIP to play a Depression era gangster, John Ashley, in a film for Crown International - Little Laura and Big John - a low budget knock off of Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Fabian gives a decent performance as does co star Karen Black but the film, shot in 1968 was not seen until 1973.
Fabian's seventh and final movie for AIP was Bullet for a Pretty Boy (1970) another Depression-era biopic of a gangster, in this case Pretty Boy Floyd. It was mostly directed by legendary schlockmeister Larry Buchanan, given his biggest budget ever, with Maury Dexter coming in to shoot some additional scenes. Fabian gives another accomplished performance as a gee-it-isn't-his-fault-kid-forced-to-crime. His physical attractiveness is exploited heavily in the movie - surprisingly few films did this considering Fabian became a pop star mostly by being good looking. Here he's got Jocelyn Lane and Astrid Warner throwing themselves at him, as well as a brothel madam. The film itself is competent rather than inspired - it could have done with more passion - but isn't bad.
Later Career
Without a contract to a studio, Fabian found himself in considerably less demand for feature film work in the 1970s. He made a few career missteps this decade - he posed nude for Playgirl and regretted it, was involved in a car accident. He had the lead in some low budget features that few people saw - Soul Hustler (1973), directed by Burt Topper, where Fabian plays a drifted who becomes a Christian rock star; and Disco Fever (1978), disco-splotatoin effort with Casey Kasem.
Fabian returned to singing and hit the nostalgia circuit, notably in places like Las Vegas; he was well received and still remains in demand for this in 2019, sometimes teaming up with fellow idols like Avalon and Bobby Rydell. On a personal front, he had two unsuccessful marriages but struck gold with the third, marrying magazine editor Andrea Patrick in 1998. A son from his first marriage, Christian, wrote the film Albino Alligator (1996).
Fabian continued to act through the 70s, 80s and 90s, mostly guest shots on TV shows - Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, and so on. Perhaps his best performance from this period was the George Peppard TV movie Crisis in Mid Air (1979) where Fabian plays an airport worker who kills taxi drivers. He was a cop in the zombie film Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981), Joe Dante gave him a small role in Runaway Daughters (1994) and he had a cameo as himself in Up Close and Personal (1996).
He wasn't forgotten as a cultural touchstone. The leads in Laverne and Shirley were obsessed with Fabian, as was the Nicolas Cage character in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986). "Turn Me Loose" was used in Ralph Bakshi's American Pop (1981) and Fabian provided the inspiration for the character of Cesare (Peter Gallagher) in The Idolmaker (1980) a thinly disguised account of the rise of Bob Marcucci directed by Taylor Hackford (Fabian sued the filmmakers and won an out of court settlement.)
Conclusion
What to make of the cinematic career of Fabian Forte? He was no Elvis Presley, or even Pat Boone, but he certainly did better as an actor than, say, Tommy Sands or Bobby Rydell. His career was more analogous with his fellow Philadelphian Frankie Avalon. He was mainly called upon to play basically nice young men, sometimes with a chip on his shoulder. When offered a meaty role he usually rose to the occasion - Hound Dog Man, A Lion Walks Among Us, Thunder Alley - when he had to support he did it effectively s - North to Alaska, Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation. He wasn't a great actor but he was good one, and should be better remembered.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Book review - "Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart" by Scott Eyman
There's been plenty of books about film star romances... here is perhaps the first about a film star bromance, between Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, one of the most famous Hollywood friendships where no one's ever really tried to claim they're gay (ec Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, Laurence Olivier and Danny Kaye).
It's a good book - Eyman biographies always are. Stewart and Fonda were both very admirable men with a lot in common - both loved Margaret Sullavan, both solid Americana types who worked for Ford, both excellent war records, both close to Josh Logan. Stewart was a bit less volatile and fond of the stage; Fonda married more often and was a bit more of a prick.
Both were bascially decent men... which makes them at times a little dull as subjects. But there's a colorful support cast - manic depressive Josh Logan, swashbuckling Leland Hayward, mad Margaret Sullavan, sexy Jane Fonda, the Vietnam War.
A very good book.
It's a good book - Eyman biographies always are. Stewart and Fonda were both very admirable men with a lot in common - both loved Margaret Sullavan, both solid Americana types who worked for Ford, both excellent war records, both close to Josh Logan. Stewart was a bit less volatile and fond of the stage; Fonda married more often and was a bit more of a prick.
Both were bascially decent men... which makes them at times a little dull as subjects. But there's a colorful support cast - manic depressive Josh Logan, swashbuckling Leland Hayward, mad Margaret Sullavan, sexy Jane Fonda, the Vietnam War.
A very good book.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Movie review - "Calling Northside 777" (1948) ***
This would've have had more impact after the war when things like location filming had more novelty - not to mention the 'gee whiz' treatment of technological marvels like being able to blow up the size of a photo and lie detectors.
James Stewart is good value as the reporter who gradually becomes convinced of the innocence of Richard Conte, gaoled for shooting a cop in Chicago. Conte's got the most noble, suffering pious immigrant washerwoman mother you saw outside an MGM film. He's also got an exwife who Stewart scolds for remarrying - I'm noticing a misogynist strand in these Fox films (to reinforce this, the main reason Conte is in prison is the lying testimony of an old drunken woman). (To be fair though this was based on truth.)
Helen Walker does what she can with the role of Stewart's wife, who is a sounding board. Stewart has a lot of charisma though I laughed at the final shot of him standing enigmatically, wind flapping around him.
A decent enough movie. A film of its time but the basic story is fine.
James Stewart is good value as the reporter who gradually becomes convinced of the innocence of Richard Conte, gaoled for shooting a cop in Chicago. Conte's got the most noble, suffering pious immigrant washerwoman mother you saw outside an MGM film. He's also got an exwife who Stewart scolds for remarrying - I'm noticing a misogynist strand in these Fox films (to reinforce this, the main reason Conte is in prison is the lying testimony of an old drunken woman). (To be fair though this was based on truth.)
Helen Walker does what she can with the role of Stewart's wife, who is a sounding board. Stewart has a lot of charisma though I laughed at the final shot of him standing enigmatically, wind flapping around him.
A decent enough movie. A film of its time but the basic story is fine.
Monday, February 04, 2019
Book review - "Screewriter, the Life and Times of Nunnally Johnson" by Thomas Stempel
A biography of Nunnally Johnson? Sure, why not? It helps that Stempel is a pleasant writer, who has done a number of illuminating book on screenwriting.
Johnson occupies a curious place in American film history - I'm not sure how well he is remembered. Possibly he was better known say 40 years ago when his films would have been more widely seen on television.
He was a journalist and short story writer who went to Hollywood, as so many of them did at that time (Charle Brackett, Ben Hecht etc). Like many of them he sometimes had a reputation of someone who sold out their talent - a trope which Stempel rightly mocks. Did we really lose so much from Johnson giving up his stories of small town life in Georgia for Hollywood screenplays?
It took him a little while to get going, but what made him thrive was working for Darryl F. Zanuck at the new Twentieth Century Pictures, which became 20th Century Fox. Johnson became one of Zanuck's gun screenwriters, along with Philip Dunne and Lamar Trotti. Like he eventually moved his way up to producing, more out of boredom than anything else. Like Dunne he became a director as well who isn't remembered particularly fondly - though I feel his reputation is slightly higher than Dunne's because he made Three Faces of Eve with Joanne Woodward.
He did leave Zanuck for a period, working for Bill Goetz at International Pictures, but didn't do particularly well and returned to Zanuck. He eventually retired in 1970.
It was an extremely good career, a lot of classics: House of Rothschild, Jesse James, The Grapes of Wrath, Roxie Hart, The Gunfighter, The Desert Fox, How to Marry a Millionaire. He kept relevant up until the end - in the 1960s his credits included popular James Stewart comedies like Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (with Fabian), as well as The Dirty Dozen and Flaming Star. He tried Broadway a few times and it didn't work but there's no shame in that.
He seems to have been a nice man, gentlemanly, perhaps a little fond of the bottle, very dedicated to work. The book hints his third wife - the marriage that lasted - wasn't perhaps entirely happy giving up her acting career.
Stempel doesn't touch on some of the more racist aspects of Johnson's work such as the depiction of blacks in The Prisoner of Shark Island. He is very strong otherwise on analysing Johnson's scripts, particularly the man's interest in writing about marriage and having married heroes.
A very interesting book.
Johnson occupies a curious place in American film history - I'm not sure how well he is remembered. Possibly he was better known say 40 years ago when his films would have been more widely seen on television.
He was a journalist and short story writer who went to Hollywood, as so many of them did at that time (Charle Brackett, Ben Hecht etc). Like many of them he sometimes had a reputation of someone who sold out their talent - a trope which Stempel rightly mocks. Did we really lose so much from Johnson giving up his stories of small town life in Georgia for Hollywood screenplays?
It took him a little while to get going, but what made him thrive was working for Darryl F. Zanuck at the new Twentieth Century Pictures, which became 20th Century Fox. Johnson became one of Zanuck's gun screenwriters, along with Philip Dunne and Lamar Trotti. Like he eventually moved his way up to producing, more out of boredom than anything else. Like Dunne he became a director as well who isn't remembered particularly fondly - though I feel his reputation is slightly higher than Dunne's because he made Three Faces of Eve with Joanne Woodward.
He did leave Zanuck for a period, working for Bill Goetz at International Pictures, but didn't do particularly well and returned to Zanuck. He eventually retired in 1970.
It was an extremely good career, a lot of classics: House of Rothschild, Jesse James, The Grapes of Wrath, Roxie Hart, The Gunfighter, The Desert Fox, How to Marry a Millionaire. He kept relevant up until the end - in the 1960s his credits included popular James Stewart comedies like Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation (with Fabian), as well as The Dirty Dozen and Flaming Star. He tried Broadway a few times and it didn't work but there's no shame in that.
He seems to have been a nice man, gentlemanly, perhaps a little fond of the bottle, very dedicated to work. The book hints his third wife - the marriage that lasted - wasn't perhaps entirely happy giving up her acting career.
Stempel doesn't touch on some of the more racist aspects of Johnson's work such as the depiction of blacks in The Prisoner of Shark Island. He is very strong otherwise on analysing Johnson's scripts, particularly the man's interest in writing about marriage and having married heroes.
A very interesting book.
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
Book review - "Yvonne" by Yvonne De Carlo (1987)
The cinematic work of Yvonne De Carlo deserves re-appraisal - for a time there in the late 40s and early 50s she was a genuine lower level star at Universal, playing a succession of slinky Eastern dancing girls and tough Western dames in some unpretentious technicolor films. She and Maureen O'Hara were these quasi-feminist adventure stars, until the 50s took hold and both wound up staring admiringly at the heroes.
De Carlo was an old pro in the best sense of the world. She started quite young, with a pushy mother and absent father (very common elements in biographies of female star). She did a lot of dancing when younger and moved to the US from Canada; her looks saw her win beauty contests which resulted in a dancing gig at the Florentine Gardens. She worked hard at her dancing and was eventually picked up for the movies, doing a stint at Paramount.
In the 1940s girls with "exotic looks" were not discriminated against; de Carlo played a series of dancing girls and natives; she was going to step in for Dorothy Lamour in Rainbow Island but Lamour changed her mind. She also just missed out on good parts in For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Story of Dr Wassell. Her career was stagnating there but got a huge boost when Walter Wagner cast her in the lead of Salome Where She Danced which turned her into a star.
Salome was made by Universal who put her to work in lots of Easterns and Westerns, and wanted someone easier to deal with than Maria Montez (and De Carlo could sing and dance which Montez couldn't). Occasionally she got the chance in something more prestigious like Criss Cross. De Carlo eventually branched out into comedy, notably in England, and got a few parts in "A" pictures, like The Ten Commandments and Band of Angels. But she never made the full transition to "A" stardom - it's harder for women, especially in the macho late 50s. And to be fair De Carlo didn't have the individuality of great stars - or even great icons like Maureen O'Hara; she lacked spark and life-sometimes she blended into the scenery. But she could act and sing and dance, often better than she was given credit for.
De Carlo found things harder from the late 50s onwards, but she kept at it - working regularly in TV and having a career boost when starring in The Munsters. She also achieved fame on Broadway in Follies. She expresses regret her agents didn't push her for Broadway roles earlier; I'm surprised she didn't appear in more musical films - Universal did make them, though not as often as they did in the 40s.
As a good looking girl De Carlo spent a lot of time fending off lecherous Hollywood wolves/sex pests - Errol Flynn, Franchot Tone, Orson Welles. She was keen on Sterling Hayden but he didn't do anything. Ditto James Stewart. She had amiable dates with Red Skelton and knew Burgess Meredith, a romance with Ray Milland before finally losing her virginity to someone called Carl Anthony. She says Billy Wilder was the first great love of her life. She later had serious romances with Howard Hughes (who made love like an engineer which made me laugh), Robert Stack, Howard Duff and Jock Mahoney (she fell pregnant to him but lost the baby), flings with Burt Lancaster, Carlos Thompson, Tony Curtis and Robert Taylor. There was Aly Khan, of course, who was a great lover - it isn't a very discrete book!
The book gets harder going as once De Carlo marries stuntman Bob Morgan. A sexy man's man, he was overly fond of a drink, and not a particularly devoted husband. She was going to leave him but then he had an accident which resulted in him losing his leg. From then on it was work, work, work as she took every gig going - night club acts, crummy roles in films. She was perennially unlucky in love - she had a taste for love rats (married men, pricks), which never improved.
I liked reading about her encounters with Maria Montez - de Carlo came to Universal as a Montez back up taking her role in Frontier Gal but Montez and she got along; Montez would talk about her being reincarnated, warn her off Howard Hughes and recommend de Carlo and Jean Pierre Aumont (her love interest in one film) play more love scenes because you got more close ups that way.
De Carlo admits to being a right winger - I would've been interested to hear more about this. (I imagine a lot of actors who slogged their way up from the chorus were right wing eg Ginger Rogers.) The book was written before her son died.
It's an entertaining book - a little harrowing (all the sexual harassment), and sad (the career and financial battles). De Carlo had a pretty good life - fame, some good parts, sex with handsome men - but struggled to hang on to money and a good relationship. Still, the world was a better place for her being in it.
De Carlo was an old pro in the best sense of the world. She started quite young, with a pushy mother and absent father (very common elements in biographies of female star). She did a lot of dancing when younger and moved to the US from Canada; her looks saw her win beauty contests which resulted in a dancing gig at the Florentine Gardens. She worked hard at her dancing and was eventually picked up for the movies, doing a stint at Paramount.
In the 1940s girls with "exotic looks" were not discriminated against; de Carlo played a series of dancing girls and natives; she was going to step in for Dorothy Lamour in Rainbow Island but Lamour changed her mind. She also just missed out on good parts in For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Story of Dr Wassell. Her career was stagnating there but got a huge boost when Walter Wagner cast her in the lead of Salome Where She Danced which turned her into a star.
Salome was made by Universal who put her to work in lots of Easterns and Westerns, and wanted someone easier to deal with than Maria Montez (and De Carlo could sing and dance which Montez couldn't). Occasionally she got the chance in something more prestigious like Criss Cross. De Carlo eventually branched out into comedy, notably in England, and got a few parts in "A" pictures, like The Ten Commandments and Band of Angels. But she never made the full transition to "A" stardom - it's harder for women, especially in the macho late 50s. And to be fair De Carlo didn't have the individuality of great stars - or even great icons like Maureen O'Hara; she lacked spark and life-sometimes she blended into the scenery. But she could act and sing and dance, often better than she was given credit for.
De Carlo found things harder from the late 50s onwards, but she kept at it - working regularly in TV and having a career boost when starring in The Munsters. She also achieved fame on Broadway in Follies. She expresses regret her agents didn't push her for Broadway roles earlier; I'm surprised she didn't appear in more musical films - Universal did make them, though not as often as they did in the 40s.
The book gets harder going as once De Carlo marries stuntman Bob Morgan. A sexy man's man, he was overly fond of a drink, and not a particularly devoted husband. She was going to leave him but then he had an accident which resulted in him losing his leg. From then on it was work, work, work as she took every gig going - night club acts, crummy roles in films. She was perennially unlucky in love - she had a taste for love rats (married men, pricks), which never improved.
I liked reading about her encounters with Maria Montez - de Carlo came to Universal as a Montez back up taking her role in Frontier Gal but Montez and she got along; Montez would talk about her being reincarnated, warn her off Howard Hughes and recommend de Carlo and Jean Pierre Aumont (her love interest in one film) play more love scenes because you got more close ups that way.
De Carlo admits to being a right winger - I would've been interested to hear more about this. (I imagine a lot of actors who slogged their way up from the chorus were right wing eg Ginger Rogers.) The book was written before her son died.
It's an entertaining book - a little harrowing (all the sexual harassment), and sad (the career and financial battles). De Carlo had a pretty good life - fame, some good parts, sex with handsome men - but struggled to hang on to money and a good relationship. Still, the world was a better place for her being in it.
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Book review - "The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger" by Chris Fujiawara
To say Preminger has a variable reputation is putting it mildly - before I'd seen any of his movies I was familiar with several stories: a harsh bully on set, a brave fighter of censorship, capable of making classics and an inability to direct comedy.
All the stories turned out to be true. There were many fine things about Preminger: the man had guts; he was a fighter; he had some admirable progressive politics (I stress the word "some" - Robert Mitchum called him a "Jewish Nazi"); he took on the censor board; he made some great movies; he had a surprisingly large amount of success on Broadway; he was a decent actor.
Other things were less admirable - he was a horrid bully - not for the benefit of the work, he clearly did it for his own sadistic enjoyment, especially to tyro actors (Jean Seberg, Tom Tyron, John Philip Law); he couldn't direct comedy; his last batch of movies were stinkers; he was possibly a better producer than director.
He's a flawed, fascinating figure and he gets a very good book from Chris Fujiwara. It focuses on Preminger's art as director - there's lots of discussion how scenes are framed and camera movement and so on which to be honest I wasn't that interested in; I was more into the biographical stuff.
I didn't realise how many financially unsuccessful films Preminger made at Fox - Zanuck seemed to like him though (he'd fired him earlier but rehired him and enjoyed success with Laura); he was the ing of the noirs for a while but his great days were from the early 50s to early 60s where he seemed to hit the zeitgeist: The Moon is Blue was just sexy enough, The Man with the Golden Arm was just gritty enough, Advise and Consent just political enough, Anatomy of a Murder was just legal enough etc etc. He tried to keep up with changing times but ultimately didn't get the new liberation - also he was old.
Interesting bloke, interesting book.
All the stories turned out to be true. There were many fine things about Preminger: the man had guts; he was a fighter; he had some admirable progressive politics (I stress the word "some" - Robert Mitchum called him a "Jewish Nazi"); he took on the censor board; he made some great movies; he had a surprisingly large amount of success on Broadway; he was a decent actor.
Other things were less admirable - he was a horrid bully - not for the benefit of the work, he clearly did it for his own sadistic enjoyment, especially to tyro actors (Jean Seberg, Tom Tyron, John Philip Law); he couldn't direct comedy; his last batch of movies were stinkers; he was possibly a better producer than director.
He's a flawed, fascinating figure and he gets a very good book from Chris Fujiwara. It focuses on Preminger's art as director - there's lots of discussion how scenes are framed and camera movement and so on which to be honest I wasn't that interested in; I was more into the biographical stuff.
I didn't realise how many financially unsuccessful films Preminger made at Fox - Zanuck seemed to like him though (he'd fired him earlier but rehired him and enjoyed success with Laura); he was the ing of the noirs for a while but his great days were from the early 50s to early 60s where he seemed to hit the zeitgeist: The Moon is Blue was just sexy enough, The Man with the Golden Arm was just gritty enough, Advise and Consent just political enough, Anatomy of a Murder was just legal enough etc etc. He tried to keep up with changing times but ultimately didn't get the new liberation - also he was old.
Interesting bloke, interesting book.
Sunday, May 21, 2017
Movie review - "Cheyenne Autumn" (1964) **
A terrible movie - long, dull, lacking insight or interesting/empathetic characters, full of actors doing "bits". I think even the hardest core John Ford fans struggle to enjoy this.
There are one or two good things. An impressive cast. The colour, A few stylistic compositions of Indians and cavalry standing in line. There's a bad ass moment where James Stewart shoots a cowboy in the foot through his pocket with a hidden gun. And it's John Ford, and you always get something out of a John Ford movie.
But by god was it heavy going. 154 minutes long! You feel every day of that Indian trek.
You get the feeling at the beginning it's going to be a hard slog, with Richard Widmark's narration not really explaining anything we can't figure out, and endless shots of Indians standing around in the hot sun, and badly written and staged love scenes between Widmark and Carroll Baker (I did like him writing his proposal on the blackboard, but there's no heat, no affection, no chemistry between them).
Eventually the Indians make a bolt for it but it's a dull slog. Widmark doesn't have a character so much as a bunch of lines about how much the Indians have suffered and what good fighters they are. Baker just gets lines about how much they have suffered; she accompanies them, basically a saint in training. Gilbert Roland and Ricardo Montalban give interchangeable performances as stoic, noble Indians. Montalban is more of a fighter than Roland I think and there's a plot about Montalban's second wife having the hots for Sal Mineo, which threatens to be vaguely interesting... but Ford trims that to the bone and instead gives us endless - and I mean endless - scenes of men on horses travelling through Monument Valley, or standing on crests of hills.
We also get characters doing "turns". Widmark has a bit of a go at the beginning, then along comes Mike Mazurski (playing the Victor McLaglen role) and he's given a drunken Polish sergeant bit, and some other random actor is given a drunken Irish surgeon bit, then Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy get an extended bit as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Edward G Robinson comes along and does a bit. Ford completists will enjoy seeing people like John Carradine, Ben Johnson and George O'Brien.
There's some action, none of it too memorable - the Indians are said to be good fighters but are never given the opportunity to kick some arse. Their only real victory comes because gung go Patrick Wayne (in a wooden performance) stuffs up (he doesn't even die). They march and starve, and are saved at the end by white men.
I thought at the least they'd get the chance to get some revenge at the viciously racist Texan cowboys who shoot two starving Cheyenne just for fun (an affecting scene even if the cowboys over act). But it never happens. One of them later gets shot by Earp but not because of what they did to the Indians - only because they pick a fight with Earp.
It's an inherently depressing story - the Indians are treated badly, escape north, starve, most of them are massacred at Fort Robinson, and give up. But surely it could have been more interesting/entertaining? It feels like Ford was bending over backwards to show how liberal he had become about the Indians - the main issue is he'd become more dull about them.
There are one or two good things. An impressive cast. The colour, A few stylistic compositions of Indians and cavalry standing in line. There's a bad ass moment where James Stewart shoots a cowboy in the foot through his pocket with a hidden gun. And it's John Ford, and you always get something out of a John Ford movie.
But by god was it heavy going. 154 minutes long! You feel every day of that Indian trek.
You get the feeling at the beginning it's going to be a hard slog, with Richard Widmark's narration not really explaining anything we can't figure out, and endless shots of Indians standing around in the hot sun, and badly written and staged love scenes between Widmark and Carroll Baker (I did like him writing his proposal on the blackboard, but there's no heat, no affection, no chemistry between them).
Eventually the Indians make a bolt for it but it's a dull slog. Widmark doesn't have a character so much as a bunch of lines about how much the Indians have suffered and what good fighters they are. Baker just gets lines about how much they have suffered; she accompanies them, basically a saint in training. Gilbert Roland and Ricardo Montalban give interchangeable performances as stoic, noble Indians. Montalban is more of a fighter than Roland I think and there's a plot about Montalban's second wife having the hots for Sal Mineo, which threatens to be vaguely interesting... but Ford trims that to the bone and instead gives us endless - and I mean endless - scenes of men on horses travelling through Monument Valley, or standing on crests of hills.
We also get characters doing "turns". Widmark has a bit of a go at the beginning, then along comes Mike Mazurski (playing the Victor McLaglen role) and he's given a drunken Polish sergeant bit, and some other random actor is given a drunken Irish surgeon bit, then Jimmy Stewart and Arthur Kennedy get an extended bit as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Edward G Robinson comes along and does a bit. Ford completists will enjoy seeing people like John Carradine, Ben Johnson and George O'Brien.
There's some action, none of it too memorable - the Indians are said to be good fighters but are never given the opportunity to kick some arse. Their only real victory comes because gung go Patrick Wayne (in a wooden performance) stuffs up (he doesn't even die). They march and starve, and are saved at the end by white men.
I thought at the least they'd get the chance to get some revenge at the viciously racist Texan cowboys who shoot two starving Cheyenne just for fun (an affecting scene even if the cowboys over act). But it never happens. One of them later gets shot by Earp but not because of what they did to the Indians - only because they pick a fight with Earp.
It's an inherently depressing story - the Indians are treated badly, escape north, starve, most of them are massacred at Fort Robinson, and give up. But surely it could have been more interesting/entertaining? It feels like Ford was bending over backwards to show how liberal he had become about the Indians - the main issue is he'd become more dull about them.
Saturday, March 25, 2017
Script review - "Rope" (1948) by Ben Hecht, Arthur Laurents
This tends not to be regarded among top flight Hitchcock - I've never been sure why. Maybe because James Stewart is so patently miscast in a role needing Cary Grant or James Mason. Maybe it's regarded as "film theatre" even though it improves mightily on Patrick Hamilton's already excellent source material - and it is cinematic too, using close ups of the rope, the chest, the various people talking.
It's a brilliant screenplay. It starts with a bang - a murder - and proceeds at a fine pace. The two killers, Brandon and Philip, are very definiable and different. The supporting characters too - which no one remembers - are easy to understand: the dopey guy who was in love with the dead man's girlfriend, the dead man's girlfriend, a nattering woman, the dead man's father, the house keeper. Most of all there's Rupert, the superior intellectual whose words and attitudes are thrown back at him by the killers.
The build up of tension is done extremely well as Rupert slowly figures it out, clocking the interactions at the party. The killers almost get away with it right up until the end. The homosexual subtext - is it that, or more subtle depictions of gay characters (the two guys live together, are clearly a couple) - is completely appropriate for the story: two people living in a hidden world, turning their exclusion into superiority. I suppose there are some overly convenient things, like Brandon letting Rupert come back up and Brandon giving away his gun. And some speeches are preachy. But this is a knockout.
It's a brilliant screenplay. It starts with a bang - a murder - and proceeds at a fine pace. The two killers, Brandon and Philip, are very definiable and different. The supporting characters too - which no one remembers - are easy to understand: the dopey guy who was in love with the dead man's girlfriend, the dead man's girlfriend, a nattering woman, the dead man's father, the house keeper. Most of all there's Rupert, the superior intellectual whose words and attitudes are thrown back at him by the killers.
The build up of tension is done extremely well as Rupert slowly figures it out, clocking the interactions at the party. The killers almost get away with it right up until the end. The homosexual subtext - is it that, or more subtle depictions of gay characters (the two guys live together, are clearly a couple) - is completely appropriate for the story: two people living in a hidden world, turning their exclusion into superiority. I suppose there are some overly convenient things, like Brandon letting Rupert come back up and Brandon giving away his gun. And some speeches are preachy. But this is a knockout.
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Movie review - "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962) ***1/2
I was surprised by the emotional reaction I had to this film. My expectations were so low going in - I'd seen clips with Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne far too old to play young things in the old west, heard that the film's heart apparently laid with Wayne's gunslinger as opposed to lawyer Stewart.
But it got me in the gut. It's very sympathetic to Stewart, who wants to bring law and education to the West - he's got book learnin', teaches at the school. He's brave but gets bullied by Lee Marvin's Liberty Valance, the sort of thug who always threatens the world (for instance he brutally attacks Edmond O'Brien). The film is about the conflict between Marvin and Stewart, with Wayne looking on... he understands Marvin and can deal with him; can see that Stewart can't, knows that Stewart stands for a better future. Both love the same woman (Vera Miles).
It's not a perfect film - there are all these sequences which don't feel needed, like the final election sequence (included to give John Carradine the chance to barnstorm?) which went on forever. The bit where Marvin confronts Stewart and his cronies at an election meeting didn't feel true - Marvin was scarier operating out of the shadows and in the dark. And Stewart and Wayne are too old.
But age aside they are well cast. The themes of bullying still have resonance. Its about being brave and the importance of myth and about realising the world is going to pass you by and it's sad and quite lovely.
But it got me in the gut. It's very sympathetic to Stewart, who wants to bring law and education to the West - he's got book learnin', teaches at the school. He's brave but gets bullied by Lee Marvin's Liberty Valance, the sort of thug who always threatens the world (for instance he brutally attacks Edmond O'Brien). The film is about the conflict between Marvin and Stewart, with Wayne looking on... he understands Marvin and can deal with him; can see that Stewart can't, knows that Stewart stands for a better future. Both love the same woman (Vera Miles).
It's not a perfect film - there are all these sequences which don't feel needed, like the final election sequence (included to give John Carradine the chance to barnstorm?) which went on forever. The bit where Marvin confronts Stewart and his cronies at an election meeting didn't feel true - Marvin was scarier operating out of the shadows and in the dark. And Stewart and Wayne are too old.
But age aside they are well cast. The themes of bullying still have resonance. Its about being brave and the importance of myth and about realising the world is going to pass you by and it's sad and quite lovely.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Movie review - "Dear Brigitte" (1965) **
20th Century Fox had a big hit with Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation and Take Her She's Mine so tried to get lightning to strike for a third time with another family comedy courtesy of Henry Koster and James Stewart. It didn't do as well - something I think partly explained via the premise. While there's universality in the premise of a family going on holiday, or worried that your daughter is getting too racy at college, there's not so much with your young son turning out to be a maths genius. That's the guts of the plot - they pad it out with some extra, dull conflict with arts professor Stewart being concerned that the humanities is being swamped by sciences, and the kid having a crush on Brigitte Bardot.
Fabian is second billed but his role is very small - the boyfriend of Stewart's daughter, whiny Cindy Carol (a one time Gidget), who gets Stewart Jnr (Billy Mumy) to bet at the track.... only he acts as a conduit for another guy so he actually doesn't even have ownership over that plot. His performance is professional and perfectly fine - more so than Carol, or Glynis Johns, whose Englishness jars in an admittedly thankless role (mostly going "there there" to Stewart and making food).
Billy Mumy is outstanding as the kid - this is the second biggest role. (I got the feeling scenes were dropped/cut in favour of Stewart-Mumy stuff eg there's a bit where the two of them go to buy a dress which feels padded.) Brigitte Bardot is winning her her cameo, and John Williams and Alice Pearce offer some good support.
But it's an unpleasant movie at heart - I didn't like Stewart's constant wailing about the importance of poetry, and being annoyed at his son's gift (which he exploits for his own ends), and the sexism (the female characters are all drags except Bardot). Structurally it felt wonky with the John Williams plot shoved in at the end, and Fabian's character under-utilised. There is bright colour and it's easy to watch but not up to Mr Hobbs.
Fabian is second billed but his role is very small - the boyfriend of Stewart's daughter, whiny Cindy Carol (a one time Gidget), who gets Stewart Jnr (Billy Mumy) to bet at the track.... only he acts as a conduit for another guy so he actually doesn't even have ownership over that plot. His performance is professional and perfectly fine - more so than Carol, or Glynis Johns, whose Englishness jars in an admittedly thankless role (mostly going "there there" to Stewart and making food).
Billy Mumy is outstanding as the kid - this is the second biggest role. (I got the feeling scenes were dropped/cut in favour of Stewart-Mumy stuff eg there's a bit where the two of them go to buy a dress which feels padded.) Brigitte Bardot is winning her her cameo, and John Williams and Alice Pearce offer some good support.
But it's an unpleasant movie at heart - I didn't like Stewart's constant wailing about the importance of poetry, and being annoyed at his son's gift (which he exploits for his own ends), and the sexism (the female characters are all drags except Bardot). Structurally it felt wonky with the John Williams plot shoved in at the end, and Fabian's character under-utilised. There is bright colour and it's easy to watch but not up to Mr Hobbs.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Movie review - "Rose Marie" (1936) ***
I didn't mind this Nelson Eddy-Jeanette MacDonald starrer, once I got used to the ridiculous of the concept. It helped this had a solid simple basic story full of conflict: opera star Jeanette heads off for the Canadian wilds in order to rescue her criminal brother and is accompanied by mountie Nelson Eddy.
Most of the running time consists of a road trip (well, mountain trip) between Eddy and MacDonald, leading to expected adventures: falling in the river, singing, squabbling, fish out of water comedy, him handing her clothes in her tent when she's had a bath and is flashing bare shoulders (an unexpectedly hot scene).
Eddy is - surprise - stiff and awkward but that suits playing a mountie and he teams well with Jeanette. (They apparently had an affair during production; if so it paid off because there's an earthiness to their chemistry.) There's a lot of warbling including the famous "Indian Love Call'.
James Stewart steals the film in a brief appearance as MacDonald's brother. His plot is resolved very abruptly - only two scenes really. But I guess what the public wanted was Jeanette and Nelson and that Canadian alpine scenery.
Most of the running time consists of a road trip (well, mountain trip) between Eddy and MacDonald, leading to expected adventures: falling in the river, singing, squabbling, fish out of water comedy, him handing her clothes in her tent when she's had a bath and is flashing bare shoulders (an unexpectedly hot scene).
Eddy is - surprise - stiff and awkward but that suits playing a mountie and he teams well with Jeanette. (They apparently had an affair during production; if so it paid off because there's an earthiness to their chemistry.) There's a lot of warbling including the famous "Indian Love Call'.
James Stewart steals the film in a brief appearance as MacDonald's brother. His plot is resolved very abruptly - only two scenes really. But I guess what the public wanted was Jeanette and Nelson and that Canadian alpine scenery.
Friday, November 08, 2013
Movie review - "Two Rode Together" (1962) ** (warning: spoilers)
No one seems to have much enthusiasm for this John Ford Western, despite the fact it stars James Stewart, Richard Widmark and Shirley Jones (remember when she was a star?), and touches on many of the themes of The Searchers. Stewart and Widmark play two cowboys, the latter a soldier, who try to retrieve a series of whites who've been raised by Indians; Stewart is doing is for cash and Widmark for duty, which means its already a less complex, interesting movie than The Searchers and certainly the characterisations and script isn't as good (although the comic brawls are as annoying).
Ford made a lot of buddy movies around this time - Liberty Valance, Donovan's Reef, The Horse Soldiers - but Stewart and Widmark lach chemistry. The film badly needs John Wayne and doesn't have him.
It's also a really depressing story - the Indians have kidnapped these women and basically made them sex slaves; some don't want to come back, others do. Linda Cristal comes back and faces lots of prejudice (especially from women who can't understand why she didn't kill herself) and eventually leaves town. Shirley Jones wonders where her brother has gone and when he's "rescued" he hates it, wants to go home, kills a white woman and is lynched, Stewart and Widmark being unable to stop it. The happy ending consists of Stewart and Cristal going off into the sunset together and Widmark marrying a traumatised Jones.
It lacks classic Fordian moments - the action isn't well done, and there's little warmth, despite antics at a cavalry post and Andy Devine, Woody Strode and Harry Carey Jnr lumbering around. It's also sexist and looks cheap.
Ford made a lot of buddy movies around this time - Liberty Valance, Donovan's Reef, The Horse Soldiers - but Stewart and Widmark lach chemistry. The film badly needs John Wayne and doesn't have him.
It's also a really depressing story - the Indians have kidnapped these women and basically made them sex slaves; some don't want to come back, others do. Linda Cristal comes back and faces lots of prejudice (especially from women who can't understand why she didn't kill herself) and eventually leaves town. Shirley Jones wonders where her brother has gone and when he's "rescued" he hates it, wants to go home, kills a white woman and is lynched, Stewart and Widmark being unable to stop it. The happy ending consists of Stewart and Cristal going off into the sunset together and Widmark marrying a traumatised Jones.
It lacks classic Fordian moments - the action isn't well done, and there's little warmth, despite antics at a cavalry post and Andy Devine, Woody Strode and Harry Carey Jnr lumbering around. It's also sexist and looks cheap.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Book review - "My Lunches with Orson Welles" (2013) by Peter Biskind, Henry Jaglom
I can't believe at this stage of the game there's new stuff to learn about Welles but this book blew me away - a series of taped lunch encounters between Welles and his friend, director Henry Jaglom towards the end of the former's life. Welles knew Jaglom was taping him but preferred not to see the device so he could talk freely, and freely he does - spouting off theories, showing a homophobic and slightly racist time, bragging, being insecure, worrying about money (his lucrative ad work was drying up), trying to raise money for The Dreamers and King Lear.
As editor Biskind says in his introduction you really feel like you're there - conversations are interrupted by waiters (they took place at Ma Maison restaurant), visiting famous people (Jack Lemmon, Mrs Vincente Minnelli, Richard Burton, Zsa Zsa Gabor) and Welles' dog; we even hear him pitch - badly - a project to HBO - he throws a tantrum right then and there.
I thought I knew a lot about Welles but I was surprised - he's very bitchy and vicious about John Houseman, continually makes swipes at Larry Olivier, respects Pauline Kael as a writer despite the job she did on him, hates Charles Higham, discuses the books on his life, calls Katherine Hepburn a slut, says Spencer Tracy was mean, says old people all look like Jews or Irish, prefers the company of right wingers to lefties even though he was left, brags about his sex life (including Lena Horne), doesn't rate James Stewart as an actor, prefers Hitchcock's British films, was really hurt by the failure of F for Fake (in a dream world he says he would've made film essays rather than narrative dramatic stories), has a man crush on Gary Cooper, thinks Joe Cotten was a character actor rather than a movie star, claims credit for discovering Van Johnson, doesn't rate Thalberg, talks about Peter Bogdanovich's rampaging ego and mistake in writing Killing of the Unicori, admires Richard Pryor - and many more.
It's sad because he was so worried and frustrated towards the end of his life - low on funds, struggling to get ad work the way he used to, tormented by tax problems; you also get frustrated at his ability to be nicer to producers and for not taking the opportunity to make Cradle will Rock, Big Brass Ring and King Lear - it sounds here he might have had he just done it for less money, or been willing to accept Robert de Niro in the lead of Big Brass Ring. But such is the appeal of Welles - "if only..."
Oh and Jaglom sounds like a really nice guy in these talks and it made me keen to actually see some of his films.
As editor Biskind says in his introduction you really feel like you're there - conversations are interrupted by waiters (they took place at Ma Maison restaurant), visiting famous people (Jack Lemmon, Mrs Vincente Minnelli, Richard Burton, Zsa Zsa Gabor) and Welles' dog; we even hear him pitch - badly - a project to HBO - he throws a tantrum right then and there.
I thought I knew a lot about Welles but I was surprised - he's very bitchy and vicious about John Houseman, continually makes swipes at Larry Olivier, respects Pauline Kael as a writer despite the job she did on him, hates Charles Higham, discuses the books on his life, calls Katherine Hepburn a slut, says Spencer Tracy was mean, says old people all look like Jews or Irish, prefers the company of right wingers to lefties even though he was left, brags about his sex life (including Lena Horne), doesn't rate James Stewart as an actor, prefers Hitchcock's British films, was really hurt by the failure of F for Fake (in a dream world he says he would've made film essays rather than narrative dramatic stories), has a man crush on Gary Cooper, thinks Joe Cotten was a character actor rather than a movie star, claims credit for discovering Van Johnson, doesn't rate Thalberg, talks about Peter Bogdanovich's rampaging ego and mistake in writing Killing of the Unicori, admires Richard Pryor - and many more.
It's sad because he was so worried and frustrated towards the end of his life - low on funds, struggling to get ad work the way he used to, tormented by tax problems; you also get frustrated at his ability to be nicer to producers and for not taking the opportunity to make Cradle will Rock, Big Brass Ring and King Lear - it sounds here he might have had he just done it for less money, or been willing to accept Robert de Niro in the lead of Big Brass Ring. But such is the appeal of Welles - "if only..."
Oh and Jaglom sounds like a really nice guy in these talks and it made me keen to actually see some of his films.
Thursday, June 06, 2013
Movie review - "The Far Country" (1952) ***
I love Northerns - tales of the Alaskan gold rush; they always look terrific with mountains and snow in the background, and saloons, boots and muddy streets.
This is one of those James Stewart-Anthony Mann stories with Stewart as a tough guy who heads to Alaska and runs afoul of a corrupt smiling Judge (John McIntire). Borden Chase's script is full of life and incident, although it does kind of feel made up as it goes along - characters keep coming and going, stories stop and start (there's the judge, the women, crossing the mountains, the fate of a small town).
There's a surprisingly strong female presence - Stewart is panted after by shady saloon owner Ruth Roman and spitfire French Canadian Corinne Calvet (neither really up to their parts) plus some blousy women who live in an Alaskan town; McIntire's performance could have been bigger but there are some choice supporting actors including ever reliable Walter Brennan and Jack Elam. Brennan has a great death scene - there's some expert Mann action here.
It's not a classic (the "psychological study" basically consists of Stewart deciding to put his gun on) but it's highly enjoyable.
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