Movie review – “Targets” (1968) ****

Extremely accomplished debut from Peter Bogdanovich – that’s if you count this, and not Voyage to the Planet of the Prehistoric Women as his first feature. It’s very confident and assured, as befits a man who was young at the time but had been obsessed by film since he was a boy, had studied it (and acting) for years, and knew many people in the industry to give him advice. Chief among them in this case was Roger Corman, who gave Bogdanovich an early break by hiring him for The Wild Angels and Voyage, and funded this movie (budget of $100,000 plus Boris Karloff for two days and some old footage from The Terror; it was later sold to Paramount). There was also Samuel Fuller who helped him knock the story into shape, and his then-wife Polly Platt, who worked on the story with him and did the production design.

 

It helps that it has a terrific subject matter: a serial killer in the Charles Whitman mode, well played here by Tim O’Kelly (what happened to him?) – a seemingly all-American boy who is stressed out then goes on a shooting rampage. Part of the reason this is so effective is O’Kelly isn’t “explained” at all through backstory, but via action; also Bogdanovich was confident enough even at this stage to have long takes where nothing much happens, then exploding into violence – which makes the violence more effective and terrifying. (You wish Bogdanovich did more bang-bang stuff in his career he handled it well without desensitizing the viewer.)

 

The plot with Boris Karloff playing Boris Karloff and Peter Bogdanovich played Peter Bogdanovich is an enjoyable counterpoint, with plenty of film in-jokes. Bogdanovich’s acting is a little stiff in places but he does an okay drunk scene. It builds up very effectively to a strong climax. A great film for Karloff to make towards the end of his career - part of me wishes it was his last.

Movie review – M&L #3 - “At War with the Army” (1950) **

Martin and Lewis apparently made this right after My Friend Irma but it’s release was held off after the release of My Friend Irma Goes West (something similar happened with Abbott and Costello’s early film career – Hold That Ghost’s release was delayed so the stars could go do follow ups to Buck Privates). Unlike Irma this puts Martin and Lewis front and centre. It’s the most commercial of comedy genres, the service comedy – our heroes are in the army; Martin is a sergeant desperate or active service, Lewis is an idiot private, and they were a partnership team way back when.

 

 It’s not a very good movie, to be honest. The stars are in alright form but they spend too much time apart; also Martin’s character is meant to dislike Lewis’, (they’re former songwriting partners only Martin doesn’t want to have anything to do with him) – which gives the action an emotionally yukky core. 

 

The story is very weak: it’s about Martin wanting to be transferred to Korea (even if they never seem to mention the word “Korea”), and Lewis wanting to go home to see his wife and their new baby (yes that’s right he plays a married man – and we never see the wife or child), and some officer getting jealous of Martin pursuing his girlfriend (Polly Bergen) (which is fair enough but the officer is meant to be the baddie), and there being confusion about a dumb girl who Martin thinks he’s knocked up (he passes the blame on to Lewis, which is horrible).

 

There are some decent comedy bits, like Lewis in drag at an officer’s mess, and shenanigans on the army training field. There’s also a bit where Martin and Lewis impersonate Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald in Going My Way. But it's definitely one of the weaker films made by this duo.

Radio review – TGA#19 - “The Silver Cord” (1946) ***

One of the classic situations of soap opera is the domineering mother who won’t let go off the apron springs; it’s the subject of this play adaptation, which is about a newly wed couple who visit the groom’s mother in a small town after the war. It turns out mum is an oppressive, obsessed mother determined to get her way. She’s got another son, who’s engaged, who didn’t go to the army because of his nerves and is an interior designer – is this code for gay? It’s all quite predictable but there’s enough meat in the situation to pass the time. It’s kind of feminist in that the new wife is a strong character – she has her own career as a chemist, loves her husband, has principles and isn’t afraid to express them. It’s also well structured (Sidney Howard wrote the play)l, with a three act structure and climax involving one woman running away and the wife telling the mother in law to get stuffed Nora in Dolls House style. Ralph Bellamy and Ruth Hussy are the newlyweds, Estelle Winwood plays the mother from hell.

Movie review – “Machete” (2010) ***1/2

Enormously fun Robert Rodriguez tribute to grindhouse – it comfortable carries for a whole feature, although it could do with 15 minutes cut out of it. The plot is good basic, exploitation: Machete is a Mexican cop betrayed by his colleagues and has his wife and daughter killed (though we never see what happens to the daughter). The baddies don’t kill him though and three years later he’s living on the streets (I felt we missed out on a sequence here). He gets drawn into a plot straight out of Shooter – an assassination where he’s double crossed so he goes on the rampage.

There’s plenty of action and blood (it’s called machete for a reason); there is some nudity and sex, but not a lot – the naughties were quite prim. There’s some boobs at the beginning and from Lindsay Lohan’s body double but that’s about it. The quality of the cast is astonishingly high; Lindsay Lohan is the best value, sending up her modern image (spoilt, drug addicted, sexy, fame hungry, making amateur porn) – it’s a real shame her part isn’t bigger. Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodgriguez were born for this sort of movie, especially the latter (I kept expecting the revelation one of them would be Machete’s daughter but it never happened); Jeff Fahey, Steven Seagal and Don Johnson form one of the strongest trilogy of villains in recent memory… and you can throw in Robert de Niro too. Oh and Cheech Marin. Danny Trejo totally carries the film as a lead – I could really see him in a bunch of these movies as star.

Radio review – “Amos and Andy – Cat Burglar” (1953) **

I heard of Amos and Andy, but never listened to an episode before. The series was enormously popular and hugely controversial, even at the time. It's not hard to see why - a radio series about two dim-witted African-Americans played by white actors (actually, three - the series was really about Amos, And and their dodgy mate Kingfisher). They were probably the highest profile black fictional characters in their day (except for Hattie McDaniel and Eddie Rochester in The Jack Benny Show). The thing is, this sort of humour - misunderstands, silly schemes that go haywire, in this one they think Kingfisher is the local cat burglar - is incredibly common in black films today; you could see a version with Chris Tucker, etc doing it. The difference is of course they're actually black and there are other black roles going around.

Radio review – Lux – “The Story of Dr Wassell” (1944) **1/2

Cecil B de Mille wasn't known for making movies "torn from the headlines" but he made an exception during the war. There weren't many good news stories for the Yanks during the war before Midway - one of the few ones was the story of Dr Wassell, who refused to leave some of his sick patients after the Battle of Java, and managed to transport them across country to another boat and safety. They pad out the running time with some flashbacks to Wassell's work in China, researching some virus, and his romance with a nurse. Gary Cooper reprises his role as Wassell - like so many Cooper parts, Wassell is a bit of a sook; he refuses to tell the nurse he loves her because his rival does well with research. (Cooper characters were always sooking eg Mr Deeds, Will Kane - why does he have this reputation for being tough and stoic?) He's brave and noble and all that, but you're more likely to remember the subplot about an angry injured patient and a half-caste nurse who gives blood to him and loves him. They get cut off from the others and go out in a blaze of glory against the Japs... although it turns out he was captured and is still alive when the film was made. (He made it home, too.) This is a bit hokey but the fact its radio really makes the "gosh this really happened" factor sink in. Alan Hale supports.

Radio review – Lux – “Wuthering Heights” (1954) ***

Cameron Mitchell isn’t a name that registered strongly with me – I had a memory of him supporting in some "A" films and starring in a lot of schlock – so I was surprised to read a Tom Weaver interview with him where he spoke about this awesome reputation as an actor he once had. Well, it must have been true if he was picked to act opposite Merle Oberon in Laurence Olivier’s old part (I googled Mitchell – apparently he was the original Happy in Death of a Salesman on Broadway). 

Actually Mitchell isn’t bad – he’s not Olivier but he does all the glowering intensity and passion quite well. (The actor I really would have liked to hear in this part was Robert Newton who apparently Wyler considered briefly for the film version). Oberon is adequate – her beauty can’t help her out on radio. An interesting production; it still works even if you miss Gregg Tolland’s photography. 

Sam Goldwyn appears at the end talking about his upcoming production of Guys and Dolls; it was the first time I’d actually heard him speak, and his English was still very accented.