Movie review - "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (1976) **

 That's right, Robert Altman made two films with Paul Newman. This one has Burt Lancaster too. And Harvey Keitel, Will Sampson, Geraldine Chaplin, Shelley Duvall.

It's long. Over two hours. Ambles. Nice visuals, production value. It ambles. Bill puts on a show. Chats. Chats with a woman in his bed. There's Indians. Sitting Bull is stoic.

It shows Bill to be a bit of a braggart and a tool. That was blamed for the film's commercial failure. I don't think it was that - I think it's because the film was dull. Altman wrote the script with Alan Rudolph but they weren't working from a particularly strong source material, I'm guessing.

I was glad it was over. The acting and photography and stuff is fine, it's just dull.

Movie review - "Images" (1972) ***

 I'm surprised this Altman isn't better known. It's kind of a commercial genre for him - a thriller about a woman going crazy and possibly killing people. It's got nudity from the star, Susannah York, and focuses on her sex life. 

Maybe people didn't go for York - who gives a very good performance. Maybe it was distribution - it was from Hemdale and lacked the muscle of a Hollywood major. I guess the a lot of it is ambiguous and part of me (okay a lot of me) wished that Altman had worked on this with a co writer. Some subplots feel unfinished, like York's relationship with her stepdaughter (Cathryn Harrison).

Vilmost Zsigmond shot it, Rene Aberjonois plays York's husband. Beautiful desolate locations.

Movie review - "That Cold Day in the Park" (1969) ***

 Early Robert Altman. Shot in Canada and it feels like a Canadian film. Sandy Dennis is one in a long line of 50s-60s repressed spinsters whom one suspects is a stand in for  gay male from the writer, though I may be wrong about that.

She picks up a guy from a park (Michael Burns) and gives him clothes and a bed and is hot for him. The guy pretends to be mute but can chat and lives with his sister - who is often nude and seems to want to sleep with him. Dennis wants to sleep with him too. He doesn't want to sleep with her so she hires a hooker for him (Luana Anders, very good) and locks him in his room.

Its unsettling and weird and quite interesting to watch. It felt long - I would've preferred her to be ga-ga earlier but then I like my stories more conventional.

Movie review - "The James Dean Story" (1957) **1/2

 A curio. An early work from Robert Altman, a documentary about the recently deceased James Dean. Because it's Altman it is visually interesting. It benefits from lots of contemporary footage - chats with people who knew Dean, stills, clips from premieres of his films.

They didn't get the best talent to talk - people who vaguely knew him at his home down and college, some kind-of ex girlfriends.

You can tell it's made by people of talent. They got Sandy Stern to write it, so the narration (with Martin Gabel's bombastic tones) has a poetic quality.

Interesting. I mean, Dean comes across as a pretentious wanker, to me at any rate, but interesting movie.

Next James Deans

 1) Paul Newman in Somebody Up There Likes Me

Dean was going to play Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me for MGM. He died. Paul Newman stepped in instead. Newman became such an individual star that it's often forget he was very much in Dean's shadow for a long time, playing a lot of similarly moody young men. Like Dean, he was also under contract to Warners. Every role Newman played in the late 50s you could imagine being played by Dean.

2) John Kerr in The Corn is Green

 In 1955 just before Dean died it was announced Maurice Evans was negotiating with Dean to star in The Corn is Green for TV with Judith Anderson. He was about to start rehearsals when he died. Kerr took the part - Anderson's role ended up being played be Eva La Galliene.

3) Dewey Martin in The Battler

Martin took over a role meant to Dean in The Battler on TV. 

4) Paul Newman in The Left Handed Gun

Apparently Dean was going to be in this. Sounds like a perfect fit. Unlike the first three this may have more been in the "advanced talks" phase. Dean would have made a Western, inevitably. Even Brando did one.

5) Tony Perkins in Fear Strikes Out

This was in negotiation apparently not a done deal. The role would be perfect for Dean - moody young man, athlete, TV origins.

Movie review - "Get Back" (1991) **

 This was grim. Paul McCartney's world tour in a particularly uninteresting time in his life. Linda is on keyboards but we don't see much of her. We see more of these other musicians there. Sorry ifyou're important, guys, I didn't recognise you.Nice colours.Bright lights.  Baby boomer audience members dancing away having a good time. Late 80s fashion - mullets, long sleeves.

Paul goes through the hits, Beatles and Wings with some newer ones. There's clips to some songs - vision from Help! and shots of Vietnam veterans and the like.

It's not very well done. I mean it's professional, just dull. It's Trad Dad had more fun. Richard Lester's last studio film to date. You long for some life... some pretentious chat, some backyard footage, an appearance by Ringo. Something.

Richard Lester - random thoughts...

 I recently completed the (feature length) cinematic oeuvre of director Richard Lester and tried to come up with a top ten  I couldn't. I totally respect him as a director, I get the cult thing - he's had at least three books written on him. He just doesn't do it for me.

I came up with a top seven...

1) It's Trad, Dad (1962) - quite a bright debut feature. Not really a proper musical, it's a collection of musical acts, but some of those are very good and presented imaginatively. Compare it with the hard slog, impersonal gloss and late 80s fashion of Get Back (1991).

2) A Hard Day's Night (1964) -freewheeling in the best sense, the perfect marriage of performer and director it would seem, superb music. It makes it so odd that in Help (1965) Lester seems bored with the Beatles and more interested in the support cast, people like Leo McKern - seriously, watch the movie, you could cut all the Beatles out of it except Ringo and he's just a maguffin.

3) Petulia (1968) - excellently acted smart drama, one of the more realistic depictions of domestic violence, not to mention marriage and divorce, in a Hollywood film

4) The Three (and Four) Musketeers)(1973-74) - Lester is kept under control by a very good adaptation of a strong source material. His "bits" add to the fun rather than detract. Superb cast.

5) Juggernaut (1974) - Lester brought on as a hired gun. He adds lots of "bits" but the satire works in the context of the film and he's straightjacketed by a strong narrative line.

6) Robin and Marian (1976) - more superb actors, one of Sean Connery's best performances, some terrific stuff (eg death of Richard I). A very real take on the story. My only gripe is that Marian doesn't seem that into Robin. And maybe the thought of King John (Ian Holm) having a horny 12 year old bride (Victoria Abril!) isn't as funny as Lester think it is.

7) Cuba (1979) - the basic story of Casablanca turned on its head. A slightly silly last act but wonderful things up until then - the atmosphere and colour of Cuba, with its jai alai games, poverty, sleazy clubs, corruption, plantations, dodgy foreigners at casinos, casual violence. I get why this flopped but I think it's terrific. Connery is great, so is Brooke Adams, so is everyone, actually.

As for the rest...

Mouse in the Moon (1963) and Butch and Sundance the Early Days (1979) a both "whatever" sequels - not terrible, just watching them the whole time you go "I wish the original stars were in this... and why is there no romance?" (Lester is lousy at romance.) I don't mind Return of the Musketeers (1989), it's just a bit "whatever" too despite having the original cast (I think they should have adapted Man in the Iron Mask instead... better story).

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966) and The Ritz (1976) were not bad but, for me, movies that you watch going "this was probably really fun on stage". Royal Flash (1975) I've written about at length - I think it was miscast, used the wrong Flashman novel, and needed voice over. Finders Keepers (1984) felt miscast.

For his culty movies... The Knack (1965), How I Won the War (1967) and The Bed Sitting Room (1968) all have great things and are visually interesting but just... boring. Sorry cultists. The last two in particular seemed to make the same point again and again. I absolutely recognise these films have their fans.

I don't count Superman 2 as a Lester film - it was Richard Donner's, he overlooked the casting and the script Lester just shot most of it. Superman 3 however... yikes. Liked it as a kid, has good ideas in it (bringing in Lana Lang, having bad Superman) but it's lazy, full of stupid "bits" (that Perry White subplot involving the competition, Richard Pryor as a general) and has a script lacking in logic and full of contempt for its source material. This movie actually made me angry.

Anyway, Richard Lester. He was attached to do The Princess Bride. It would've been okay but he would've muffed the love story. I think he would've done a great Sea Kings.

This is more negative than I intended. Give Petulia and Cuba a look if you haven't.