Audie Murphy Western which starts off fairly predictably - his father and brother are killed and Audie goes looking for revenge. But there's an unexpected lift when the local sheriff (who is dodgy) sends him to arrest a resident psycho gunman (played by the ever-reliable Dan Duyrea), and the two form an unlikely friendship. It's a great relationship, Duyrea and Murphy play off against each other well - you wish they'd done a better job on it (the movie still feels conventional). Still, be grateful for what you have.
There is a good support cast - in addition to Duyrea, there's Denver Pyle as a reverend, Gilligan's old professor Russell Johnson as a weak willed gunslinger (Johnson always played these sort of weak characters who were killed around the two-thirds mark), Susan Cabot as a woman who falls very quickly in love with Murphy despite being engaged to someone else (mostly, it seems, because her fiancee doesn't take her to a dance), Jack Elam as a baddie. Cabot's baddie fiancee has dark hair, as did most villains in Universal Westerns from this time. Murphy was born to play this sort of seemingly-wide-eyed-innocent-who-is-actually-deadly-with-a-gun, constantly underestimated by everyone, violence bubbling under the surface. It's one of his best performances from this time.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Movie review - "The Muppets" (2011) ****
A brilliantly successful to update the old franchise (a horrid word but appropriate nonetheless). They really pulled it off - it explains why the Muppets were important for a new generation, the characters are treated with respect but not reverence, the new songs and gags are really good, there's some great oldies, including 'The Rainbow Connection' and 'We Built This City on Rock and Roll', and a genuinely uplifting ending. I even liked Walter, the new muppet guy - they've learned from Pixar to give new characters decent backstory; after seeing what Walter went through growing up (wanting to grow, only feeling at home when he saw the Muppets) you are totally on his side.
All the fate of the Muppets make sense - Kermit lonely in a mansion, Fozzie playing Reno, Gonzo making a fortune in plumbing, Scooter at google, Ralph doing nothing, Piggy at Vogue, Sam the Eagle as a news reader. Jason Segel and Amy Adams are perfect for this sort of movie - they are muppets too in their way.
The plot embraces the spirit of the show and the first Muppet Movie. The voice work wasn't as good as the original (maybe it was as good - it just sounded too different for me that's all) and maybe the story could have done with a bit more logic (making fun of the fact the logic was weak doesn't quite make up for it). But it was wonderful.
All the fate of the Muppets make sense - Kermit lonely in a mansion, Fozzie playing Reno, Gonzo making a fortune in plumbing, Scooter at google, Ralph doing nothing, Piggy at Vogue, Sam the Eagle as a news reader. Jason Segel and Amy Adams are perfect for this sort of movie - they are muppets too in their way.
The plot embraces the spirit of the show and the first Muppet Movie. The voice work wasn't as good as the original (maybe it was as good - it just sounded too different for me that's all) and maybe the story could have done with a bit more logic (making fun of the fact the logic was weak doesn't quite make up for it). But it was wonderful.
Movie review - "Iron Sky" (2012) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
There isn't really a justification for Australian tax payer money to be in this, but at least it's different - a very stupid, very fun, genuinely subversive take on Nazis on the Moon and their attempts to get Earth back. The special effects are pretty good, the central idea is so ridiculously high concept it deserves some sort of medal, the actors get into the whole thing with gusto, some of the jokes are really funny (e.g. the Nazis thinking The Great Dictator was pro Nazi because they've only seen the 10 minute version, every country in the world has satellites which are secretly armed with weapons - except for Finland).
The script is astonishingly lazy in places - they don't bother to explain great slabs of what happened (I was looking forward to hearing more about the history of Nazi life on the moon), things are overlooked wholesale (e.g. why doesn't the black astronaut ever contact her family), it feels mean (e.g. making the black astronaut a male model who can't even really fly a space ship), science and logic are completely ignored. But it's got the balls of 70s cinema - black men turning white, chunks of the moon being blown off, and ending with the Americans hogging energy supplies on the moon and starting World War Three!
The Queensland tax payer had money in this which is a joke - it barely mentions Australia, except for having Australia's armed satellite joining in on the fun.
The script is astonishingly lazy in places - they don't bother to explain great slabs of what happened (I was looking forward to hearing more about the history of Nazi life on the moon), things are overlooked wholesale (e.g. why doesn't the black astronaut ever contact her family), it feels mean (e.g. making the black astronaut a male model who can't even really fly a space ship), science and logic are completely ignored. But it's got the balls of 70s cinema - black men turning white, chunks of the moon being blown off, and ending with the Americans hogging energy supplies on the moon and starting World War Three!
The Queensland tax payer had money in this which is a joke - it barely mentions Australia, except for having Australia's armed satellite joining in on the fun.
Movie review - "Duel at Silver Creek" (1952) **
An early work from Don Siegel and you can feel his effort to make a decent film - there's energy in the staging, exciting tracking shorts of horses galloping across the plains, use of close ups, etc. It's not much of a story, though - there's lots of voice over narration explaining what's going on which suggests maybe test audiences were having trouble understanding it.
Audie Murphy is top billed but really he shares hero duties with Stephen McNally (the voice over dude), a local marshall fighting claim jumpers kicking miners off their land; Murphy is a gunslinger who is hired as deputy.
Really it's McNally's movie more than Murphy's, which doesn't feel right as Murphy has more of a personal stake in the action (the baddies killed his paw) and he always looks as though he's about to do something interesting in his all black outfit, but never does.
Howard Hughes protege Faith Domergue has a decent role as a woman who loves McNally but may not be entirely trustworthy; Susan Cabot plays a tomboy, one of several appearances she would make as a love interest for Audie Murphy. Lee Marvin has a small role as a baddie and I liked the sombrero wearing Mexican gunslinger but generally this is a pretty average Western.
Book review - "Cleopatra" (1889) by H Rider Haggard (warning: spoilers)
Not long after he wrote She Haggard came up with another tale set in an exotic land about a handsome man who falls for a beautiful, ruthless queen and pays the price. This of course is based on a true story, very well-trodden territory - but Haggard has come up with a great, fresh take: it's told from the POV of Harmachis an Egyptian who wants to be Pharaoh and is determined to have a coup to knock off the Greek Cleopatra. It starts after Julius Caesar but before Anthony and ends with Cleopatra's death.
Haggard loved his bewitching queens, and Cleopatra comes across well - hot, sexy, partial to a good looking guy, smart, human, patriotic in her own way... There's also another strong female character in the Egyptian lady who loves Harmachis so much her jealousy causes her to thwart Egypt. Harmachis is a bit of a drip through - he's got top plan to knock off Cleopatra which collapses at the sight of some boob; he allows himself to be pussywhipped, even leading Cleopatra to a secret tomb she raids for jewels (another similarity with She - going into a tomb with a hot queen). Then he gets involved in "revenge" against Cleopatra by throwing spanners in the wrench when she and Anthony are up against Octavian - this doesn't come across as particularly believable, because Cleopatra surely would have recognised him.
There's a lot of flowery dialogue and religious ceremonies and people talking to their Gods. Still, it's an enjoyable tale, helped along by an epic sweep, the fact it was an exciting time and it's told from the POV of an Egyptian as opposed to a Roman, some good sequences (invading the tomb, a shipwreck).
Haggard loved his bewitching queens, and Cleopatra comes across well - hot, sexy, partial to a good looking guy, smart, human, patriotic in her own way... There's also another strong female character in the Egyptian lady who loves Harmachis so much her jealousy causes her to thwart Egypt. Harmachis is a bit of a drip through - he's got top plan to knock off Cleopatra which collapses at the sight of some boob; he allows himself to be pussywhipped, even leading Cleopatra to a secret tomb she raids for jewels (another similarity with She - going into a tomb with a hot queen). Then he gets involved in "revenge" against Cleopatra by throwing spanners in the wrench when she and Anthony are up against Octavian - this doesn't come across as particularly believable, because Cleopatra surely would have recognised him.
There's a lot of flowery dialogue and religious ceremonies and people talking to their Gods. Still, it's an enjoyable tale, helped along by an epic sweep, the fact it was an exciting time and it's told from the POV of an Egyptian as opposed to a Roman, some good sequences (invading the tomb, a shipwreck).
Movie review - "Demetrius and the Gladiators" (1954) *** (warning: spoilers)
Hollywood didn't go in for sequels as back back in the 1950s, outside of official movie series, but The Robe made so much money, and had such potential for a sequel 20th Century Fox no doubt felt it was rude not to follow it up. Yes, Richard Burton and Jean Simmons went off to their unconvincing martyrdom (shown in reprise in the first minute here with Susan Hayward added in), but there's still Victor Mature, the robe and Jay Robinson's Caligula who hadn't received his comeuppance yet.
This has a great concept - Caligula hears that the robe has special qualities and asks for it to be tracked down. Having said that, this tends to get sidelined as the action progresses and we concentrate on the story of Mature, as he's forced to become a gladiator - at first he's reluctant (he won't fight humans but takes out a poor tiger), but after a good little Christian girl (Debra Paget) is manhandled by gladiators (Richard Egan mostly) and seems to die somehow, Mature takes to killing gladiators with a vengeance, and banging Messalina (Susan Hayward), going to parties with dancing girls and eating grapes. But he gets his faith back when Peter (Michael Rennie here) shows him that the girl isn't dead, just resting. (So Mature's faith is conditional upon miracles.)
People interested in Ancient Rome will enjoy depictions of gladiator life and portrayals of St Peter, Caligula, Claudius, Messalina, Macro, Cassius Chaera; film fans will get a kick out of seeing a young Richard Egan, Anne Bancroft and Julie Newmar.
There's also one of the most positive black characters who had appeared in a Hollywood film - William Marshall as the gladiator who gives Mature advice on how to survive, has to fight him in the ring, but unlike Woody Strode in Spartacus is allowed to live, get his freedom, become a Christian, and share the final frame walking alongside Rennie and Victor Mature.
A lot of this is campy e.g. slave girls, Hayward throwing herself at Mature, Hayward at the end of the film swearing she won't root around no more laughing gladiators. Ernest Borgnine was born to train gladiators and Hayward is beautiful, even if her character is all over the place (is she a tramp? religious? genuinely in love with Mature?)
Mature seems mostly tired and doesn't pull off the emotional requirements of his role, Jay Robinson got on my nerves as Caligula (it's a gift part but he's amateur hour) and some of the handling of action scenes was slack. But there's certainly plenty to keep you interested and there are some great bits like Caligula ordering a prisoner to be killed to test the robe.
Movie review - "The Criminal" (1960) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)
A fusion of the American and British gangster film - expat director Joe Losey has a high old time with this tale of hardened crim Stanley Baker who gets out of prison, where he is top dog, and sets about promptly going back to his old ways, organising a stick up of a race trek (shades of The Killing!), and winds up back there.
Baker is in his element here as a hard man, who thinks he's on top of it all, but winds up being outwitted by women, prison guards and his fellow crims. There's an interesting jazz soundtrack (Cleo Laine sings the title song), Aussies will love seeing a huge bald Aussie prisoner in gaol, an unflinching look at prison life, some effective riot sequences, funky cinematography.
Like a lot of Losey movies the female characters aren't that great - Baker is tormented by his over acting, drunken ex and sleeps with a gangster groupie. Also the plot feels repetitive - get out of gaol, rob something, wind up back in gaol, escape from gaol. But it's good, tough entertainment with fine work from Baker and the male support cast (including Patrick Magee as a sadistic warden).
Baker is in his element here as a hard man, who thinks he's on top of it all, but winds up being outwitted by women, prison guards and his fellow crims. There's an interesting jazz soundtrack (Cleo Laine sings the title song), Aussies will love seeing a huge bald Aussie prisoner in gaol, an unflinching look at prison life, some effective riot sequences, funky cinematography.
Like a lot of Losey movies the female characters aren't that great - Baker is tormented by his over acting, drunken ex and sleeps with a gangster groupie. Also the plot feels repetitive - get out of gaol, rob something, wind up back in gaol, escape from gaol. But it's good, tough entertainment with fine work from Baker and the male support cast (including Patrick Magee as a sadistic warden).
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