Angie Dickinson Top Ten

 An under-rated actress.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Movie review - "The Tarnished Angels" (1957) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Has a big rep and it's a well made film. I wasn't as wild about it. Story isn't strong - Rock Hudson tries as a boozing journo impressed by some fliers after World War One. He has strong chemistry with Dorothy Malone (who's very good) the wife of flier Robert Stack. They have a kid. Stack dies, kid bawls which is traumatic.

Beautifully shot. Interesting. Just a little underwhelming. Malone gives best performance. Stack is stiff. Hudson tries but isn't up to his role. 

Book review - " Inventing Troy Donahue - The Making of a Movie Star" by Michael Gregg Michaud

 There's a lot of camp fascination for Donahue, who became weirdly popular despite not being able to act - a last-gasp manufactured star from the studios, in his case Warner Bros, who put him in a series of Delmer Daves melodramas as well as those beefcake private eye shows.

I think I get Donahue's appeal. Handsome, slow eyed, big and blonde. He seemed sincere and soulful. The lack of acting ability meant audiences could project on him.

This book draws heavily on quotes - very heavily, mostly fan magazine interviews, I sense, but also contemporary ones with people like Connie Stevens. It's an interesting approach. I wouldn't have minded a few harder facts, especially background to the famous movies. But I got used to it.

The main problem with the book is Donahue is such a, well, wanker. He was born into privilege, had a bit of a struggle to make it but didn't have to work too hard. He was signed by Henry Wilson, then Universal, who dropped him, but then got A Summer Place and Warners. He was an alcoholic, a problem drinker before fame, and it only got worse. He went into drugs and would drink to "calm his nerves". He hit women - this was reported in the papers and no one seemed to care. He didn't respect his craft and wasn't good at it - the second is forgiveable but not the first. It took him something like ten takes to deliver something useful which is why he struggled on television and why Delmer Daves got sick of him (casting James MacArthur in Spencer's Mountain and James Franciscus in Youngblood Hawk).

He must've had some good qualities. It's good someone wrote a book on him.

Movie review - "By Love Possessed" (1961) **

One of those adaptations of sexy best sellers you had in the 50s and 60s. The ingredients are there for some pulpy fun - there's adultery, prostitutes, fraud, suicide, a rape allegation - but the film doesn't click.

Some people feel perfectly cast - Lana Turner (though her character doesn't have much to do, which is probably why she asked for so many changes) and George Hamilton (horny spoilt brat).  Susan Kohner is fine. These feel like they belong in this movie.

But this isn't John Sturges' sort of material. Nor is it Walter Mirisch's - it needed a Ross Hunter. Or Delmer Daves in his Troy Donahue mode.

It isn't sufficiently glamorous - not enough attention has been paid to clothes. The central character is actually Effrem Zimbalist Jnr who is bland - torn men can be interesting as shown by Gregory Peck but Zimbalist doesn't have It. Jason Robarts feels under utilised. Ditto Barbara Bel Geddes.

It's like they tried to make a decent film out of this, couldn't do it, but didn't compensate by going full melodrama. There's no vision behind it, even just a simple Ross Hunter "rich beautiful people suffering" vision.

TV series - "Surfside 6 - Ep 1 Country Gentleman" (1960) **

 One of Warners' detective shows that featured three hunks and gals who hang around in some exotic location - there was 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat, Hawaiian Eye, this. The first ep is powered by Van Williams, hired to prove ex gangster Ray Danton killed some old stuff type. Troy Donahue appears a bit and looks hiliariously uncomfortable. Williams can act.

Book review - "Born to Be Hurt: The Untold Story of Imitation of Life" by Sam Staggs

 One of Staggs' growing library of works on camp classics (which doesn't mean the films can't be good). This melodrama - race, sex, singing - is beloved by cultists, with its Douglas Sirk direction and Lana Turner recovering from the family stabbing.

The structure was slightly odd -I would've preferred a more straight up chronological approach. And it felt padded in places - I don't mind a long book but a lot of it felt like stretching. There's some original scholarship, but not that much.

I did appreciate profiles of people like Ross Hunter, Douglas Sirk, John Gavin, Troy Donahue, etc.

Book review - "Mr Know It All" by John Waters

Really lively, fun book - I think Waters made some good films but his real gift is being him. He seems to have the best life, with a staff and apartments in Baltimore and New York and holidaying in Provincetown and lots of friends.

This is a series of essays. A biographical account of his career from Polyster up til the present day, how he does his one man show, a comic rant on sex acts, a brilliant chapter on Andy Warhol, a discussion with this imaginary child, a look at death, and various other matters. Consistently stimulating and always entertaining, a lot of fun.

Top Ten Imitation James Deans

 1. Michael Parks - played broody enigmatic loner in Bus Riley's Back in Town

2.Paul Newman - took Dean's part in Somebody Up There Likes Me

3. Christopher Jones - very Dean style in films like Wild in the Streets

4. Tab Hunter - under contract to Warners... more a nice young man that Dean's moody people

5. Troy Donahue - soulful man in a series of 60s films at Warners

6. Warren Beatty - discovered by Elia Kazan in a Dean style role

7. Robert Wagner - don't laugh - played Dean role in True Story of Jess James

8. Elvis Presley - occasionally went into Dean territory eg King Creole

9. Nick Adams (not Dennis Hopper) - copied Dean

10. Dean Stockwell - Dean style actor in Compulsion

Book review - "Raoul Walsh" by Marilyn Ann Moss (2011)

 Surprising in a way it took so long for someone to do a decent bio on Walsh, but then he's been overshadowed by figures such as Ford and Hawks. This is a good book - it's hefty but then Walsh had a hefty career (I mean, he learned from DW Griffith and was in Birth of a Nation).

On a personal level he wasn't that fascinating - lost the eye, an actor, a tall tale teller, some dud marriages, a tendency to sue for the love of causing mischief, was into horses, politically conservative, earned a lot of money but never seemed to have enough.

His great period was at Warner Bros of course - all those great movies with Errol Flynn and Bogart. A shame he never worked with Flynn again after Silver City. Last movie was with Troy Donahue - actually Walsh worked a lot with teen idols.

Entertaining read.

 

Play review - "Plaza Suite" by Neil Simon (1967)

 A wonderful play - collection of plays, rather. The first one contains some of Simon's best writing, a look at a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary and the wife realises the husband is having an affair. I actually think Simon could've spun this out into a full length piece - act two she goes on a date, act three they reunite at a child's wedding. But what's left is terrific - it captures the ebb and flow of a 20-something marriage, a woman who forgets stuff but is still razor sharp. It's very well done.

Part two isn't as regarded but it still quite funny/touching - a producer has romanticised his past and tries to seduce his star struck ex. I love the pop culture of the time - references to Mia and Frank, Yvette Mimieux, Dean Jones, Troy Donahue. The central situation of this was actually strong enough for a longer piece too.

Part three is a comic gem - daughter locked herself in room on wedding day. Ed Asner is the dad (I listened to a radio version) - he doesn't have the strength that George C Scott would have. A lot of Simon I think benefits from casting a guy who would make a believable killer - Scott, Robert Redford - not a nebbish character. But great.

Movie review - "My Blood Runs Cold" (1965) **1/2

A real surprise - I don't want to overpraise this but I found it to be a tight, unpretentious thriller with a decent idea and novelty casting. Heiress Joey Heatherton - in her first lead - is engaged to Nicholas Coster but then meets Troy Donahue who is convinced they were lovers in a past life.

That's not a bad set up for a psycho thriller and you've got Barry Sullivan and Jeanette Nolan adding heft as her parents. Its atmospheric, Donahue is used well - it's one of his most effective performances (a low bar to jump over I know but still...). Heatherton is maybe too confident - she has a great dancer's body shown off when she and Troy go swimming (he's sucking in the gut a bit). But she's not bad.

The location filming on the Monterey coast helps - boats and rocky shores and inlets and stuff. I wish Sullivan or Coster had been really bad and that Heatherton was more involved in the climax but this was entertaining -I put it on to watch for a bit and saw the whole thing.

Movie review - "The Phantom Gunslinger" (1967, released 1970) *

Weird comedy -was there a market for such things in the 1960s because it reminded me of something like Unkissed Bride. Troy Donahue, career firmly on the slide now, actually seems to try as an aspiring preacher who winds up sheriff of a town overrun by gangsters.

It was shot in Mexico with a mostly Mexican cast although the heavily endowed Brit actor Sabrina is in it. There are bright colours and nutty behaviour - it's like an episode of The Monkees or something. only not funny. It's hard going a lot of the time. My four year old watched it with me part of the time and liked the colour and movement.

Albert Zugsmith directed this!

It should be said too that Donahue seems to throw himself into the role, acting with more energy and pace than he did in his soulful Delmer Daves hey day.

Book review - "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson" By Robert Hofler (2005)

Entertaining, gossipy look at the life, loves and career of legendary agent Henry Willson, best known for discovering Rock Hudson and a bunch of similar pretty boy actors - Guy Madison, Rory Calhoun, Race Gentry,  Chad Everett, John Saxon, John Gavin, George Nader, Robert Wagner, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue. He also had some female clients - Natalie Wood, Lana Turner, Rhonda Fleming - but he was best known for the boys, some of whom Willson slept with.

He got a reputation as a major Hollywood predator, which hurt him in the long run - actors associated with him would deny the association, he struggled to get new talent. Eventually Hudson dropped him as his agent in 1966 and Willson's career never recovered. He lost all his money (he was a prodigious spender), had poor health (he was an alcoholic) and died broke and alone (he seems to have never had a long term romantic relationship).

The book focuses heavily on Hudson, who was Willson's great achievement - and the agent could lay claim to Hudson being his achievement, he really championed him, and he became the biggest star in the country. There are also long entries on Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, both of whom apparently Willson slept with, and who represented the twin desires of Willson.

Being gossip heavy the book emphasises the personal life - at times it seems Willson mostly went out seducing men and partying and Hudson just had sex. Occasionally I felt the book was a little unfair to Hudson, who was an engaging, likeable presence on screen - he had warmth which made him a bigger star than many of his contemporaries (eg Jeff Chandler) - whereas this book makes it seem like he slept his way to the top. (He had an affair with Ed Muhl of Universal!!!)

Also it can be a depressing and wearying book - all that predatory sex, straight men allowing themselves to be used for their career, alcohol addiction. It's not always a fun and breezy read.

Still, Willson had a definite place in Hollywood history and deserved a book.

Movie review - "Tab Hunter Confidential" (2015) ***1/2

This sounds mercenary but the fact Tab Hunter is gay makes a documentary about his life a lot more interesting than one about Troy Donahue (just like - this sounds harsh but it's true - the death of Natalie Wood makes the Robert Wagner story more interesting).

He was so clean cut, pearly white teeth beefcake of the 50s - marketed to girls, who would scream and sigh when he appeared - the irony of his sexuality offers irresistible entertainment.  It's all very well to go in hindsight "oh of course he was gay" but he was no more camp than Troy or Jeff Hunter or John Saxon or any of the other brylcream boys.

Those who've read Hunter's memoirs won't find anything that new but this has pictures - Hunter didn't grow up with his dad, was close to his mum and brother (who died), was blessed with good looks which led to an acting career. He found fame very quickly, was one of the last contract stars (Warner Bros) - I'm not sure Hunter was as big a star at the box office as this film implies but he was a name, and also a genuine recording star. He found the going harder in the 60s but held on to his career, evening turning producer - Lust in the Dust, etc.

The main "talking head" is Hunter himself. Others include Connie Stevens, Debbie Reynolds (who had no idea, naturally), Rex Reed (looking grotesque), John Waters (easily the best value - funny, succinct, smart). Clint Eastwood pops up randomly at the end, along with Robert Wagner - it's like they didn't have much to say but they couldn't be excluded.

Plenty of great vision, not just from the films but TV appearances (his fan base was much mocked in his time), singing clips, vision of him ice skating, photos. The most dramatically interesting stuff is Hunter's relationship with his mother and also his romance with the highly competitive Tony Perkins.  This documentary has received some harsh reviews but I enjoyed it.

Troy Donahue Top Five

He didn't make enough movies for a top ten but there was enough for a top five so here we go, in no particular order
1) Imitation of Life (1959) - Donahue's role is only small but he's genuinely effective as a racist smacking his girlfriend around after finding out she's black
2) Godfather Part 2 (1974) - again Donahue's part is tiny but he is extremely well cast as Talia Shire's useless boyfriend and indicates that he might have had genuine success as a character actor had he gotten his act together in the 70s
3) A Summer Place (1959) - junky melodrama which has the courage of its convictions and remains watchable and Donahue teams well with Dee
4) Rome Adventure (1962) - sweet, undemanding romance which is more of a vehicle for Suzanne Pleshette but is fun to watch
5) Palm Springs Weekend (1963) - Donahue is too old for the film, but this is a likeable take off Where the Boys Are only set in the desert

Movie review - "Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon" (1967) ** (warning: spoilers)

Dimwitted attempt to cash in on the success of Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines has at least an impressive cast made for this sort of thing - Terry Thomas, Lionel Jeffries. Burl Ives suits the fun as PT Barnum but Troy Donahue brings everything down by playing "comedy". Donahue's deep voice and brooding quality suited melodrama; it might have worked in comedy if played completely straight but he tries to be funny and collapses in a heap. It's not too damaging though since his part isn't very big.

What is damaging is that it takes forever to get to the moon - indeed they only get there in the last minute of the movie and it mightn't be the moon, it could be Russia. Which feels pointless and dumb and really, really frustrating - I mean you can't make this sort of movie and not actually go to the moon.

There are some pleasures - the hammy acting by the Brits, the production design, the costumes, location filming in Ireland. It's a handsome film to look at and everyone is trying to give the audience a good time.

Daliah Lavi plays Donahue's girlfriend and is beautiful but wooden.  Dennis Price and Hermione Gingold add some class. Don Sharp's direction keeps things bubbling along although maybe he's responsible for the tone being out in places - he was never known for his comedies.

Movie review - "Come Spy with Me" (1967) *

Badly made, dull spy spoof which depends heavily on narration to tell it's story, never a good sign. The plot involves spy shenanigans on an island; it took me ages to figure out what was going on - there was a secret agent, someone brainwashing someone, an agent investigating the deaths of some Americans in the Caribbean, a skindiving competition, a woman mistakenly kidnapped.

The photography isn't the best but the locations were pretty and the cast interesting: Andrea Dromm from The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming in the lead, Troy Donahue (looking handsome in some scenes, and bloated/puffy in others) as the sort of male lead (although it's not a very big part - he seems to spend a lot of it dancing puffily), Valerie Allen (who Donahue later married) and Albert Dekker, shortly before his death from auto-erotic asphixiation.

Smokey Robinson sings the enjoyable title track, there are some good looking physiques running around and a decent credit sequence. But it's confusing, there are too many characters, and it lacks a consistent tone.

Movie review - "The Godfather Part 2" (1974) ****

Does anyone really like this better than the first film? I mean, really? Notwithstanding what they say in Scream 2? Or is it just one of those things that get repeated by film buffs without thinking, like that directors cut versions are the best?

Francis Coppola certainly deserves points for boldness - a sequel which jumps forward and back in time, and where many of the characters speak Italian. The production design and cinematography are stunning - perhaps better than the first. It's a feast for the eyes.

There's also some superb acting. Pacino is magnificent - I'd forgotten how restrained he could be. (When did he jump the shark into becoming a ham forever? Was it Scarface?) He's like this vampire, a man who becomes the walking dead... when he smiles in a joking scene with his brother it's like his face cracks. Occasionally he yells and has explosions of temper, but it's like the last gasp of passion of a dying man.

Robert de Niro is also very impressive - lithe, watchful, smart - though truth be told he doesn't have the world's most complex character to play. Young Vito is intelligent, loyal, faithful, a good friend, wryly humorous, and the only people he's mean to are nasty mafia dons, mean landlords, cocky and smug representatives of the Black Hand. And he's doing it all for this family; he's got to be the most kindly mafia chieftan in film history. (Michael Corleone also only has to fight baddies - corrupt politicians, other gangsters, treacherous employees - but at least smacks his nice wife, is a lousy father and orders his brother to be killed).

There is excellent support from Robert Duvall and John Cazale again - the movie doesn't really know what to do with Duvall's character to be honest, but the Cazale-Pacino relationship is the guts of this movie. James Caan's cameo at the end points up the lack of someone with equivalent zest in this film but Lee Strasberg is stunningly good as the Jewish gangster Hyman Roth (he's very well presented, listening to baseball, complaining about his health(, and Talia Shire impresses again as the now-wastrel Connie. Good to see Ray Bright again as Al Neri (who has a much bigger role here) and Dominic Chianese.

And you know something, Troy Donahue is good in his part as her gigolo boyfriend (Donahue was at his best in short appearances - he was in Imitation of Life as well) and I liked seeing directors such as Roger Corman and Bill Bowers as the Senators.

I wasn't wild about Michael Gazzo's Frank Pentagelli - I really missed Clamenza, for whom the script was so obviously written ("oh he died") and thought Gazzo was irritating though I loved his taciturn brother from Sicily.

The film goes for far too long - it could easily have an hour cut out of it, and smacked of indulgence - especially the flashback stuff it was like Coppola was going "this is my once chance to recreate my family's history so I'm going to go for it". The whole opera sequence, the parade - there was just endless endless art design. So many scenes felt as though they went on loo long.

It also lacks iconic moments. There are some: Hyman Roth's speech about Moe Green (actually every bit involving Roth), Cazale's ranting about being overlooked, the Senate hearings. The murder of Roth at the end is too silly for a decent assassin, the "I had an abortion Michael" speech feels amateurish. It's worth seeing but is heavily flawed.

Movie review - "The Crowded Hour" (1960) *** (warning: spoilers)

Warner Bros entry into the airplane disaster movie lacks a bit in the star power department - it's full of familiar faces but no big names, people like Dana Andrews, Effrem Zimablist Jnr, John Kerr, Troy Donahue, Anne Francis. Much of it is hokey, full of cliched characters and scenes with characters thinking aloud to themselves.

But you know what? I kind of liked it. There's always something happening, and it's handled professionally enough. Effrem worries about trashy wife Rhonda Fleming who sleeps with everything that moves (kind of like Jessica Lange in Blue Sky), John Kerr disapproves of co pilot Dana Andrews' bad parenting of Andrews' son, Troy Donahue worries about being married and training to be a pilot, the navigator comes in for comic relief, two geeky passengers find each other attractive but can't admit it, a old flame of Keenan Wynn's sits next to him but he doesn't recognise her, some passengers have a terminal illness, John Kerr is romancing air stewardess Anne Francis who is a reformed slut with a long lost baby, Kerr wants to be a painter and had a famous painter father. Plot, plot, plot, plot, plot.

Then in the last 15 minutes it gets awesome - Zimbalist crashes into Andrews' plane... and Zimbalist and Donahue die when their jet blows up! Then the wisecracking engineer gets sucked out and dies and some of the passengers die. Everyone else gets home alright but it's a great shock and worth the film.

Dana Andrews is a perfect pilot, John Kerr far too smug, Donahue alright, Zimbalist all craggy integrity, Fleming is OTT, Anne Francis very likeable. There are lots of character actors, some crappy model work for the crash, too much characters listening to their own thoughts, a lot of the characters seem to repeat the same tropes (there's several show biz plots - painting, actor, producer; several tramps; several bad parents). Briskly directed.

Movie review - "A Distant Trumpet" (1964) **

This was based on Paul Horgan's novel about fighting Apaches in the southwest in the 1880s (inspired by the Geronimo War), which had been snapped up for filming very quickly, but took a couple of years to be made. It is best remembered today for being the last film of Raoul Walsh, who is not in good form - the direction is a flabby - but far more problematic is the script and acting.

I got the feeling the script and story was meant to have depth and be a character study but that didn't come across - there was a lot of angsting and scenes of people talking about not much, and the set up to the fighting was clunky. It felt like a project that had been tinkered with far too much for its own good.

Warners assigned lead roles to a bunch of their contract stars - Troy Donahue, Diane McBain, Suzanne Pleshette. It was a change of pace for Donahue, who had worked in melodramas for the studio up until then; he looks uncomfortable in Western garb, being particularly lunky and awkward. He is most relaxed in his love scenes with Pleshette - who is sexy and seems very at home in a Western, particularly in a hot moment where they do it in a cave. But generally he's out of his element as a cavalry officer.

He doesn't give the worst performance though - that honour goes to James Gregory, as Donahue's commanding officer; he's got these fake whiskers and he struts around taking forever to get his (admittedly pompous) dialogue out. It was painful, as if he's sending the whole thing up. And unforgiveable, really - aren't these roles super easy to play? Or at least to get reliable supporting actors to do?

The love triangle between McBain, Donahue and Pleshette didn't work for me: Pleshette is married, but her husband is rarely around, so isn't a threat; I wasn't sure what the point of McBain was - to do her normal rich bitch thing? She's dismissed easily at the end and then Pleshette and Donahue are married because, um, her husband's dead and... anyway it was confusing. This was badly handled with major dramatic pieces missing.

There's some lovely pictures and images, great location work, some pretty battles (it sounds odd but it's true - most of the battles are filmed in long shot, so you are distanced from them). Claude Akins livens things up as a person who sells guns to the Indians. Under all the bad acting and cliched scripting there's an interesting story - Indians fighting for freedom, unsure whether to trust the cavalry, the US government willing to betray them... it is interesting because it's based on truth. But the handling does it in.