Movie reviwe - "The Gypsy Moths" (1969) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 John Frankenheimer really loved making this movie, good for him, but it doesn't quite work. Burt Lancaster is in a role that neesd a Steve McQueen - once they cast Lancaster they should've rewritten it to make it more lively. Scott Wilson is a good actor but that part needed a star.

It's a movie of interest. Gene Hackman is excellent. Nice midwest atmosphere. It's pervy - the three skydivers go to a strip club and watch a long topless dancing scene. Deborah Kerr goes topless in her love scene with Lancaster (while wearing a perm and pearls) and shows her backside. She was 47! Go Deb! Sheree North works at the club. Bonnie Bedelia is very young and pretty but it's not much of a role.

The film falls down in two areas. It didn't convey why Lancasster woud kill himself, there's no build. Also the relationship between Wilson and Lancaster didn't work. It was... I'm not sure.  

Movie review - "Threads" (1984) *****

 The greatest TV movie ever made? Powerful. Uncompromising. Important. Starts as gritty British drama (shotgun marriage, squabbling family). Torn apart. So many terrifying things including this - the government do a lot. Tries to keep order, gets involved in planning. It's not enough.

Movie review - "Journey into Fear" (1943) (rewatching) ***1/2

 I read an interview with the author of a book on the production of this movie, so decided to re-watch it. Norman Foster directed as opposed to Orson Welles but it is full of Welles touches like the magic show and it is a Mercury Production.

Laurence Olivier did this on radio in 1946.  It was also filmed for TV in 1956. Ben Hecht did the original script.

It's a lot of fun. Everyone's trying to kill Joseph Cotten. Cotten is a whimp. Welles hams it up. Dolores del Rio is enjoyable. Jack Moss is great. It's not a masterpiece but has some nice style.

Movie review - "The Extraordinary Seaman" (1969) *

 MGM took some big swings in the late 1960s - sometimes it hit, other occasions missed, this being a case in point, a film that brought John Frankenheimer's hot streak to an end - he never really got it back.

Four lost American seamen (including a young Alan Alda) come across a disgraced British naval officer (David Niven) trying to redeem the family honour.

It's set in the Philippines but was shot in Mexico. Faye Dunaway is a local woman who owned a garage and fires a gun which I think is supposed to be Frankenheimer being progressive.

These sort of anti war comedies are hard to do. Frankenheimer can't do it. The film was shot in 1967 and not released for two years.

May as well have been a TV play. It's only 80 minutes and feels padded. Intercutting with documentary footage is annoying. The whole movie is annoying. The music score. David Niven always drinking. The antics. 

This movie sucked. 

Movie review - "The Fixer" (1968) **

 This was given a lot of money because John Frankenheimer was "hot" and the novel was a big deal in its day. Its day has passed.

This starts off lively with a good old progrom in 1910s Russia  then becomes bogged down as handyman Alan Bates goes to work for Hugh Griffith whose daughter Elizabeth Hartman is horny for him - this is a basic stock situation but takes around 40 minutes to get us there. 

At heart this is a television play - a man is falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit, because he's Jewish. There's some fancy production values at the beginning but the guts of this takes place in prisoin cells and interrogation room.

Fine acting from Bates, Dirk Bogarde (tortured official),  Ian Holm (prick), David Warner (aristocrat), Carol White (ex wife). It has views of sixties in that women are bitches - Hartman fakes a rape claim, White is a harlot. The characters say the word "Jew" in dialogue a lot.

It's not dumb, it tries to be decent, it has some moments but it's a slog. Kind of like Birdman of Alcatraz. 

I think it needed a plot witith someone on the outside. 

Movie review - "The Young Stranger" (1957) ***

 A nepo baby movie in a way - based on a TV play Deal a Blow by Robert Dozier, son of William Dozier, and starring James MacArthur, son of Ben Hecht and Helen Hayes. When William Dozier became head of RKO he greenlit a film version and got the director of the TV version, John Frankenheimer, to do the job again. Frankenheimer later the experience - he was younger than the crew, who grumbled and fought with him,

It's still basically a TV play. A solid one. MacArthur is a middle class kid, his dad thinks he's done a decent job providing which he has but he hasn't spent any tme.

David Shipman the critic loved this. I'm not sure why - maybe it was personal. MacArthur has a close friendship with a fellow male teen. 

I liked that the mum and dad had a relationship that was wobbly but feel this could've done with more scenes outside, in high school, with a girlfriend. 

Interesting autobiographical touch in that the kid's dad is a film producer - I was reminded of the Rob Reiner film about his sin. 

Movie review - "The Train" (1964) ***1/2

 Burt Lancaster called in John Frankenheimer to replace Charles Crichton on Birdman of Alcatraz and did something similar after he booted Arthur Penn from this movie. It's has a fabulous concept - the Germans are trying to take French art works from Paris as the Allies approach and the French resistance is trying to stop them. Burt Lancaster is the leader of the French.

It's smart. Looks great in black and white. Long. As French as it can be. Lancaster strong star, Paul Scofield ideal. I would've liked more of a character relationship with Lancaster and someone. I know that was tricky.