Movie review - "Tombstone" (1993) ***

 Lots of people love this movie. Respect that. Feels cut down from a longer work, as indeed was the case - full of interesting people who don't get enough screen time. Looks fabulous. Some excellent performances. A solid movie.

Movie review - "Johnny Doesn't Live Here Any more" (1944) **1/2

 Simone Simon's accent limited her job offers but she's a cutie in this sweet screwball comedy - she lives in a flat where keys have been given to servicemen and shenanigans ensue. There's a fantastical element about gremlins introduced but not developed - they may as well have cut it out.

Directed by Joe May. I couldn't tell the men apart aside from Bob Mitchum who appears at the end. I like how everyone liked Simon and she was spending time wondering who she'd be with.

Not a masterpiece or even that funny but high spirited. 

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

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

George Hamilton Top Ten

 1. Light in the Piazza (1962)

2. Love at First Bite (1979)

3. Godfather Part 3 (1990)

4. Doc Hollywood (1993)

4. Your Cheatin' Heart (1965)

5. Evil Knievel (1971)

6. Death Car on the Freeway (1979)

7. Rough Riders (1997)

8. Where the Boys Are (1960)

9 Home from the Hill (1959)

10.The Victors (1963)

Movie review - "Track of the Cat" (1954) **1/2

 Disappointing! It starts so well, with this great melodramatic missed up family in the 1900s and a panther on the loose. Bob Mitchum is causing trouble amongst his family, there's two brothers, William Hopper and Tab Hunter, and Hunter wants to marry the older Diana Lynn, and mum Beulah Bondi is a crone and dad's a boozer and sister Teresa Wright is bitter and it's all very William Inge. 

But the problem is Hopper and Mitchum go hunting for the cat then come back home and we're stuck at home with Bondi, Hunter and the others. It's all stagnant and there's too much Acting and the scenes don't progress. They needed to be all out there hunting for the cat, Mitchum messing with Hunter's head and so on... it dissipates the drama. Philip Tonge as the dad has endless scenes boozing and prattling. There neeed to be a gal hot for Mitchum.

Interesting use of colour and it is unconvientional. Hunter works in these callow torn youth roles, Mitchum is ideal, Bondi is fun... I just wish they'd knocked the story into shape.

Connections between Bob Mitchum and Australia

Let's see if we can make ten...

 1. The Sundowners. Easy. Shot in Oz. Mitchum made a great Aussie.

2. Matilda. Boxing kangaroo flick.

3. Ryan's Daughter. Co starred with Australia's own Leo McKern. I'ms starting to strain now.

4. His Kind of Woman. Directed by Australia's own John Farrow. They also made Where Danger Lives. I don't want to cheat with Farrow.

Look, not a lot of connections... :)

Movie review - "Ryan's Daughter" (1970) ***

 The visuals are beautiful, even for a David Lean film - the cliffs, the wind, the coast, the town. The authenticity level is low. This didn't seem to matter for Lean's earlier movies but something about this one does - maybe it's because it's a 1970 movie, shot in Ireland, where there's heaps of good actors. And none of the leads here are Irish - Mitchum, Miles, Leo McKern, Trevor Howard, John Mills. Mills' village idiot performance now reeks of Simple Jack-ness.

Because the film takes so long to tell such a simple story the mind has a chance to wander and contemplate the casting. Robert Mitchum in the lead. Hmm... The producer thought Gregory Peck would've been better. Alec Guinness could've worked (he had an innate sexlessness - you'd understand his wife cheating on him). But as the film went on I warmed to Mitchum - he's big and lumbering and looks dopey, like a St Bernard. It's fine work.

Sara Miles in the lead... She can act, she's fine... I constantly got the sense though that they wrote this for Julie Christie. Maybe because I'd just seen Zhivago but that's what I felt. I can't criticse Miles' performance. I just wish Julie Christie had played it. Or someone with more... I don't know... va-va-voom.

Barry Foster is effective as an IRA man. It helps he has a juicy role, shooting policemen and importing guns, but he does have a great presence. So too does Christopher Jones. Too cool for school, yes, but he has a great look. His voice was dubbed but it doesn't matter. 

The townsfolk aren't really depicted with much nuance - the women are shrill harpies and the men yell.

I quite like this film. It was unduly criticised at the time. It looks gorgeous, even on the small screen - that storm sequence! I'll have to see it on the big screen one day. Dramatically it's satisfactory, building to a good old head shaving of the town harlot.

The main flaw is a super simple story is dragged out far too long for characters who aren't complex. Old low sex drive man, hot for it wife, traumastised soldier... we've seen these before. There's none of the freshness of Kwai's Colonel Nicholson or TE Lawrence, or the subplots of those films or the epic sweep of Zhivago who goes through so much and those colorful characters. 

What's there is fine, but just do it at two hours, guys.

Movie review - "His Kind of Woman" (1951) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Legendary nutty film noir turned comedy which starts out as a Bob Mitchum-Jane Russell movie then becomes a comedy farce headed by Vincent Price. Slangy dialogue, Tim Holt looking puffy as an agent who winds up dead, Charles McGraw as another agent, Raymond Burr a gangster, a creepy torturing doctor, reshoots. Fascinating.

Movie review - "Macao" (1952) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Put this on again just for fun. Mitchum and Russell were a great team - tall, sexy, arrogant, sly - and it's a shame they only made two films together. This is fun in the backlot third world with the two coming up against Brad Dexter and William Bendix as an undercover agent. Makes a strong bill with His Kind of Woman. Russell is really attractive. I know that's taken as a given but it's worth saying again!

Movie review - "Where Danger Lives" (1950) *** (warning: spoilers)

 The first of two noirs John Farrow made for Howard Hughes starring Bob Mitchum, being loaned out by Paramount. This has a simple story with doctor Mitchum falling for Faith Domergue, famed Hughes "discovery", not realising she's married to Claude Rains. Soon he's dead and they go on the run.

Mitchum has to act like a dill for a lot but the film has a certain hypnotic quality. There's not a lot of twists it's more a mood piece as Mitchen amd Domergue make a break for the border. Mitchem keeps trying to stay awake as he becomes increasingly paralysed.

The border town is fun, with its beard competition, dodgy vaudeville show, and shonky Philip Van Zandt helping them get across. Ther's a film in that town.

It was known as White Rose for Julie. Irwin Allen co produced this. It started his relationship with screenwriter Charles Bennett.

It does feel a little bit of a cheat that Mitchum is allowed to live at the end.

Movie review - "Second Chance" (1953) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 One of Bob Mitchum's junky thrillers he made for Howard Hughes at RKO. It's enjoyable and low rent and gives a decent 50s role to Linda Darnell. The copy I saw had a washed out look,  I think because it was shot in 3D. It was shot partly in Mexico.

It's best remembered if at all for its climax on a cable car - the last twenty minutes. I wonder if more could've been made of this.

Linda Darnell is a solid actor but I never quite believed she genuinely loved Mitchum. I did buy him loving her - he was committed in this role. Jack Palance is the best - genuinely terrifying. Dan Seymour adds some Sidney Greenstreet-style class. 

During the cable car some English supporting actor gets all this dialogue that should've gone to Darnell. It was quite a shock to see a guy plunge to his death in front of his son - and that kid had his mother murdered by his dad the previous night. Full on!

Enjoyable second tier action which will best please fans of Palance, Darnell and Mitchum.

Movie review - "Cape Fear" (1962) ****

 Robert Mitchum is electrifying - it's a brave performance in a way showing what a complete prick he could be.

He teams well with Gregory Peck whose decency and dullness (maybe that's unfair) is a wonderful counterpoint. Bergen rises to the occasion, particularly in the rape sequence - it's so powerful. 

I can understand the censor's unease about some because Peck's daughter (Lori Martin) looks really young. I mean, she looks twelve or something.

A simple story brought to life by excellent cast and writing plus divine photography and Bernard Herrmann's score. It's not exactly a barrell of laughs.

Superb support work from Barrie Chase the girl who got raped - is this is sensational role. Was this Joan Henry's influence on J. Lee Thompson? You don't normally see this kind of sensitivity.

The one flaw - the plan of Peck's character at the end, luring Mitchum into a trap with just one deputy. That's so risky and dumb. And not needed - they just could have Peck and his family go into hiding with a bodyguard.

And the final fight sequence probably drags on a bit.

Movie review - "What a Way to Go" (1964) **

This has a cute idea a little bit like Kind Hearts and Coronets  - Shirley MacLaine is a woman who dislikes money, keeps marrying poor men who then become rich and die, leaving her richer and richer.

The film took no chances at the box office, roping in Robert Mitchum, Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin and Gene Kelly to play husbands, with Robert Cummings thrown in for good measure.

How well you enjoy this depends on how much you like the stars. I'm not a massive MacLaine fan - Mitchum seemed irritating (sometimes I like him, sometimes he feels genuinely lazy and this was such a time), Dean Martin was... fine, Van Dyke was... fine, Newman was trying to be Funny (in a beard as a French artist). Cummings was fun as a nutty shrink who falls for MacLaine.

For me the best was Gene Kelly, in part because he does a few song and dance numbers - including one with MacLaine who does it terrifically. It made me wish this was a musical - at times it feels as though it was meant to be and had songs cut out or something. Because in those scenes you see the actors really trying as opposed to being a smart arse. That may be unfair but the rest of the movie felt like stars being smart arses - drenched in costumes and production value, pulling faces. But like I say if you adore those actors you might feel differently.

It was directed by J. Lee Thompson who actually made a few comedies in his career, people just didn't remember them. I'm actually surprised this wasn't turned into a stage musical or remade because of the concept.

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.

Documentary review - "To the People of the United States" (1944) ***

Surprisingly progressive look at syphilis for the government full of good messages - don't be ashamed to seek treatment, be honest, get fixed, look at Denmark as an example. The Catholic Legion of Decency complained that it didn't point out the main cause of VD was promiscuity. Thanks, Legion!

Robert Mitchum pops up as a bomber, there's a plot about a bomber who can't go on missions because he has VD, the Surgeon General appears to lecture, Jean Hersholt hosts it as a kind colonel. It's fascinating. Produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Arthur Lubin.

Movie review - "When Strangers Marry" (1944) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Cult noir which promised a bigger career as director for William Castle than eventuated - he could clearly do a great job on a two week shoot... but that didn't necessarily mean he'd do a better one on a three week shoot.

It's tight and crisp - it clocks in at a little over an hour and there's still time for a music number (Dean Jagger and Kim Hunter pass via a Harlem club and they do a dance) but you don't feel cheated. The story (mostly from Philip Yordan) is neat and has a solid fnal twist. Castle's handling is fresh, the atmosphere is evocative. There are some clunky moments, and a surprisingly large amount of humour involving a dog but you forgive it.

The chief benefit is the cast - young Kim Hunter is excellent as the bewildered heroine, Dean Jagger is ideal as her mysterious husband (who looks as though he could be a killer), and young Robert Mitchum has charisma to burn as the best friend (his acting is a little awkward at the end, but it's great to see him).

I don't want to over hype this film - it's probably the sort of movie better discovered than hyped - but it was entertaining.

Book review - "Farewell My Lovely" by Raymond Chandler (1940) (re-reading)

The second Marlowe novel gets off to a great start with the introduction of the memorable Moose Malloy, then him being hired by the blackmailer Marriott and picked up by Anne Riordan... who you think will probably be Velma, the lost love of Moose, until you meet Mrs Grayle.

There's some corrupt cops who knock out Marlowe and sent him to a lunatic asylum which is full on. There's lots of corupt cops but also the occasional good one, like Red, who helps Marlowe get on a gambling boat - they have a kind of bromance. I don't recall the gambling boat from any of the film adaptations which is a shame. It gets convoluted at the end and I had, as usual, trouble following it and remembering it. Some big action happens "off screen" eg the death of Velma.

I don't think it's as good as The Big Sleep and the racism is unfortunate. I wanted to meet Anne's father. But it's a very fine book.

Script review - "The Yakuza" by Paul Schrader based on novel by Leonard Schrader

I'm not sure which draft this is exactly - I'll assume it was the Schrader one that sold for a lot of money and not the Robert Towne rewritten one.

Some of the writing is clunky - the dialogue isn't that great, there's lots of descriptions (everyone's clothes are described), there's some dodgy voice over explaining things.

But it's a good story full of classical tropes - the private eye asked to come back to help out a friend, the missing girl a la The Searchers, the old Yakuza dude who comes out of retirement.

Really the film is as much Tanaka Ken's movie as Harry the American hero. It's a buddy movie about two dudes in love with each other - the girl in the film, Harry's ex, is really a beard. She has no personality just a kid as stakes.

In this version Hanako the daughter lives - apparently in the film she's killed. The death toll is very high. It's a good action film with lots of honour and the Japanese stuff gives it freshness even now.

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

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

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

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

Movie review - "Aerial Gunner" (1943) *** (warning: spoilers)

More two fisted antics from Pine-Thomas with Richard Arlen and Chester Morris as rivals (Arlen was a cop who Morris thinks hounded the latter's crim father to suicide) who wind up in the same aerial gunner crew. That's good solid conflict - I think it works better than in Wrecking Crew where they were basically mates.

Of course they also both like the same girl, Lita Ward - who isn't much (not as good as Jean Parker) but whose part isn't very big. Writer Maxwell Shane at least gives her something to do - she's the sister of Jimmy Lydon (who was in the Harry Aldrich films over at Paramount)... and Lydon cracks up during training and later dies trying to prove his bravery.

The film is well done - decent acting, Arlen and Morris are believably tough. It's helped by location filming at a real life aerial gunnery school in Texas - and also the seriousness of the story and the situation (Lydon dies, Morris dies).

I really liked seeing Bob Mitchum in a small role - he has a few lines too even though he isn't credited. It's a strong film. Great finale with Morris blasting away against the Japanese on a deserted island.