Enjoyable Audie Murphy western with the little guy as an outlaw who shoots the lawman after him, but gets mistaken for him when he turns up in a town. The town is ruled by a ruthless yet humorous judge (Walter Matthau) who is a little like Judge Roy Bean (always fining people, making up the law as he goes along), and the impersonating hero makes this feel like the filmmakers might have seen The Westerner. Complicating things are Gia Scala as a girl who knew outlaw Murphy who is forced to be his wife and a little kid.
Matthau is fun but if I'm honest he was a little too young and inexperienced at this stage of his career to knock it out of the park. Also his character at first is set up to be this bad ass but he softens and disappears from the action. Gia Scala's performance isn't much either but the fact she has a European accent at least gives this some novelty. Henry Silva pops up as the main villain, a gunslinger - Matthau should have been a baddie, too, but them's the breaks. This is still good fun, with some decent suspense and a believable transformation of Murphy from outlaw to respectable family man.
Monday, June 04, 2012
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Movie review - "The Adventures of Tintin: The Search for the Unicorn" (2011) ***
Probably the best film that could be made from a Tintin comic... or is it? There's certainly a lot of love and care, the technical stuff impresses, the casting good (Jamie Bell, Andy Serdakis), the script very respectful... But there's too much noise, chases and crash boom-bang and a John Williams score that never seems to end. That's a personal opinion of course - others may like it, especially kids. But I can't help feeling they missed a lot of the satire in the comics, the characters don't seem as rich (there's Bianca Casatfiore but no Calculus), the villain is a bit light, it... I don't know, it just doesn't get the magic. Maybe they missed out by not going to the island a la Red Rackham's Treasure. I'm glad it did well though and that there will be a sequel.
Movie review - "Room at the Top" (1959) ****
Marvellous film which was a bit hit but then became unfashionable to admire compared to later British kitchen sink movies - not as arty or something. It was a ridiculous thing to happen because this is a superb movie, very well directed, scripted, and acted.
Laurence Harvey gives his best performance as Joe Lampton, who is always described as ruthless - he certainly wants to get ahead, and why not? What's wrong with that - he's an accountant for the council at a low level, smart and capable... why shouldn't he better himself? His bosses like him - what right do they have to warn him off seeing rich Heather Sears? (To be fair the film doesn't criticise this, I'm taking task with the critics who simplify it).
Lampton is very sympathetic here - yes he chases after Heather Sears, but because she's good looking and likes a challenge, he isn't necessarily interested in her dad's money (just her position). He's good in bed - Sears obviously likes the first time they have sex (this is startlingly frank), and Simone Signoret likes him too. He works hard, makes friends easily, is nice to his parents who he doesn't disown. He's certainly more likeable that Sears' smug boyfriend, always going on about his war service, or Signoret's faithless, cruel husband. Yes, he's sexist but Signoret calls him on it. Yes, he drops Signoret but only after her husband points out he will fight it all the way - and he marries Sears but only after refusing a bribe from her father and finding out that Sears got pregnant. He sells out by not going off with Signoret regardless (who is broke up with then asked back) but even at the time knows it's the wrong decision and it clearly destroys him.
The film tackles class head on - Lampton goes on about it a lot, as do other characters, in a way that seems real. It also embraces sex - Lampton is a sexual beast, there are post-coital scenes with Signoret and Sears, he has sex with another woman in an alley. Signoret is superb, all melancholic sexiness and warmth. (I wonder if James Woolf, Laurence Harvey's sponsor and occasional lover in real life, related to this part - all the references to her being older and past it but the only person who loved him.) Sears isn't as good but is effective as a pretty, spoilt thing who nonetheless has some spirit.
A few things clunk - it's a drag to see Lampton beaten up by toughs as a sort of punishment for his behaviour (this sort of scene is always in movies about lotharios - it was even in Shame), it was funny to see him start social climbing by participating in amateur theatrics, some of the supporting performances of upper class types seem over the top. But it remains a gripping, strong drama.
Laurence Harvey gives his best performance as Joe Lampton, who is always described as ruthless - he certainly wants to get ahead, and why not? What's wrong with that - he's an accountant for the council at a low level, smart and capable... why shouldn't he better himself? His bosses like him - what right do they have to warn him off seeing rich Heather Sears? (To be fair the film doesn't criticise this, I'm taking task with the critics who simplify it).
Lampton is very sympathetic here - yes he chases after Heather Sears, but because she's good looking and likes a challenge, he isn't necessarily interested in her dad's money (just her position). He's good in bed - Sears obviously likes the first time they have sex (this is startlingly frank), and Simone Signoret likes him too. He works hard, makes friends easily, is nice to his parents who he doesn't disown. He's certainly more likeable that Sears' smug boyfriend, always going on about his war service, or Signoret's faithless, cruel husband. Yes, he's sexist but Signoret calls him on it. Yes, he drops Signoret but only after her husband points out he will fight it all the way - and he marries Sears but only after refusing a bribe from her father and finding out that Sears got pregnant. He sells out by not going off with Signoret regardless (who is broke up with then asked back) but even at the time knows it's the wrong decision and it clearly destroys him.
The film tackles class head on - Lampton goes on about it a lot, as do other characters, in a way that seems real. It also embraces sex - Lampton is a sexual beast, there are post-coital scenes with Signoret and Sears, he has sex with another woman in an alley. Signoret is superb, all melancholic sexiness and warmth. (I wonder if James Woolf, Laurence Harvey's sponsor and occasional lover in real life, related to this part - all the references to her being older and past it but the only person who loved him.) Sears isn't as good but is effective as a pretty, spoilt thing who nonetheless has some spirit.
A few things clunk - it's a drag to see Lampton beaten up by toughs as a sort of punishment for his behaviour (this sort of scene is always in movies about lotharios - it was even in Shame), it was funny to see him start social climbing by participating in amateur theatrics, some of the supporting performances of upper class types seem over the top. But it remains a gripping, strong drama.
Movie review - "Woman Hater" (1948) *1/2
Maybe I'm being mean with the rating but this was very hard going. Stewart Granger wanted to play comedy and he does okay - he clearly tries, even if he was no Kenneth More - but it's a lousy story and he doesn't have chemistry with Edwige Feuillere.
Granger is a lord who hates women, thinking they're dumb, and hears that movie star Feuillere is sick of men - so he sets out to seduce her for a bet. It's the sort of silly concept that would probably get green lit today, done without romance, warmth, charm or sexiness. The gimmick has Granger pretend to be... wait for it... an estate manager. What sort of impersonation is that? Why not be a butler or gangster or something with a bit of contrast?
Nicholas Phipps wrote the script (from a story by Alec Coppel) and although he specialised in light entertainment any breeziness is killed by the players and Terence Young (a miscast director if there ever was one). Granger falls into some mud on horseback, the two leads get drunk together, Feuillere pretends to drown not once but twice, there are wacky elderly servants who have their own shenanigans.
If set in period, with proper light comedians, and in colour, this might have worked, but as it is here, it's very hard going.
Movie review - "The Guns of Fort Petticoat" (1957) ***1/2
A really excellent Audie Murphy western - I'm probably overpraising it but it's quality took me by surprise. Come to think of it, I don't know why it should - the more of his films I'm seeing the more I realised he should be better known as an actor (I think it's because (a) too many of the films he made were Westerns and (b) he didn't work with enough famous directors).
This one as Audie as a Texan serving with the Union Army during the Civil War, who deserts in the wake of the Sand Creek Massacre in order to warn his old neighbours that the Indians are coming. They hate him because his conscience made him fight for the Union, so response is slow. Also, all the guys are away fighting so it's mostly all women. But a corpse makes them pick up their pace and soon the action turns into a siege story.
There are lots of entertaining subplots: the women are an interesting combination of dance hall girls, Christians, former flames, tomboys, old crones; there's also a little boy who hates traitor Murphy, and a treacherous man who has impregnated one of the girls. (Throw in a no good man who impregnated one of the girls and some Mexicans who are convinced there's gold in the fort.)
Well handled by director George Marshall, lots of good action (siege stories almost always work) and the supporting cast are good too. Audie has fun bossing the women around as if they're soldiers.
It's not a feminist tract by any means (one of the women say that they don't expect men to tell them how to raise babies and she doesn't expect them to tell men about strategy) but it offers a greater variety of roles for women than you normally see in Westerns.
Friday, June 01, 2012
Movie review - "Dick Barton Strikes Back" (1949) **
A much more confident and accomplished film than Dick Barton, Special Agent - it feels like a real movie, is fast paced and well done. Dick and Snowey investigate a baddie (Sebastian Cabot) who is developing a destructive ray. There's less jokes and a treacherous femme fetale and plenty of action. My main gripe is the fact that the ray has this annoying "ding" sound which goes on and on and is really irritating - so much so that an otherwise exciting finale is almost ruined. Still, it's an enjoyable piece of kiddie entertainment, very clearly a forerunner for the James Bond films.
Movie review - "Dick Barton, Special Agent" (1949) **
In it's own way a very influential film - an early success for the fledgling English company, Hammer, which prompted them to make a series of films adapted from pre-established radio/TV shows, which eventually led to Quatermass and the horrors. I'd never heard or read any Dick Barton stories and watching it I was aware of the need to catch up. Barton was a secret agent, who mucked around with some friends, had achieved a level of fame... it felt a little like some of the jokey Bulldog Drummond movies. It's not really a star vehicle either for Barton - as much screen time is given to his mates and the enemies.
The plot involves baddies trying to kill Barton so he won't stop their plan, which I would have thought drew attention to it. But it's a good plan... destroying Britain with bacteria in the water supple. It's tongue in cheek and fast paced with ex Nazi villains and outlandish ambition in the story lines - I would love to see Simon Pegg and that crowd up date this. It does creak though - the low budget is evident, the acting over the top and it feels more like an adapted radio play than a full-on film. It kept reminding me of old Australian films.
The plot involves baddies trying to kill Barton so he won't stop their plan, which I would have thought drew attention to it. But it's a good plan... destroying Britain with bacteria in the water supple. It's tongue in cheek and fast paced with ex Nazi villains and outlandish ambition in the story lines - I would love to see Simon Pegg and that crowd up date this. It does creak though - the low budget is evident, the acting over the top and it feels more like an adapted radio play than a full-on film. It kept reminding me of old Australian films.
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