This is a famous classic, I get that, but a lot of it got on my nerves - maybe I was in a bad mood, but there was a little too much of Henry Fonda in a fake nose, and slice of small town life, and gossiping character actors, and women in bonnets.
It's clearly made with skill and love and there are some terrific moments - like introducing Ann Rutlege then cutting to Abe visiting her grave - and I enjoyed the legal story which takes up the bulk of the action. Donald Meek has more fire than I'm used to seeing him playing the prosecutor.
Still I can't help feeling this was over-rated: too much common sense, people being cute and saying "I reckon", sunsets and Lincoln being a man of destiny. I was like, alright already. The issue of black people is mostly skirted apart from some mention that slaves are making it hard to be a farmer in Kentucky.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Movie review - "The Killers" (1964) **1/2
For a long time the reputation of this movie lived in the shadow of the more famous 1946 version (which made Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner stars) but it has risen in recent years. I wasn't wild about it, though it has an amazing cast, led by Lee Marvin in outstandingly good form. Maybe modern day viewers are attracted to the idea of rehabilitating its reputation as well as the misogyny in the story (a lot of cult films are misogynistic).
The idea of the killers looking into the past of the man they have killed may have seemed fresh, but having raised a vaguely plausible reason for them to bother - they are keen to get their hands on a million dollars - this is basically dropped and it feels like the killers investigate out of interest, which doesn't make sense. While Lee Marvin's performance is excellent it's just weird that he's acting like a cop and also that Clu Gulager (as his very 60s hitman offsider - sunglasses, talking jive) goes along with it.
Its not really a complex story: a woman is responsible for all the bad things, here played by Angie Dickinson. She's mistress to Ronald Reagan, but leads on driver John Cassevetes, and eventually betrays the latter. Everyone gets what's comin' to 'em.
Dickinson is beautiful, Cassevetes does the doomed tormented victim thing, Norman Fell and Claude Akins flesh out the support cast. There are some effective moments, such as the finale, lots of slapping and the opening scene where Marvin and Gulager threaten a school principal then make their very public way to track down Cassevetes (NB I thought hired killers were a bit more subtle). But it's an ugly looking movie - with garish colour and that flat Universal TV appearance - and Ronald Regan isn't that good, despite the novelty of him playing an out and out baddie.
The idea of the killers looking into the past of the man they have killed may have seemed fresh, but having raised a vaguely plausible reason for them to bother - they are keen to get their hands on a million dollars - this is basically dropped and it feels like the killers investigate out of interest, which doesn't make sense. While Lee Marvin's performance is excellent it's just weird that he's acting like a cop and also that Clu Gulager (as his very 60s hitman offsider - sunglasses, talking jive) goes along with it.
Its not really a complex story: a woman is responsible for all the bad things, here played by Angie Dickinson. She's mistress to Ronald Reagan, but leads on driver John Cassevetes, and eventually betrays the latter. Everyone gets what's comin' to 'em.
Dickinson is beautiful, Cassevetes does the doomed tormented victim thing, Norman Fell and Claude Akins flesh out the support cast. There are some effective moments, such as the finale, lots of slapping and the opening scene where Marvin and Gulager threaten a school principal then make their very public way to track down Cassevetes (NB I thought hired killers were a bit more subtle). But it's an ugly looking movie - with garish colour and that flat Universal TV appearance - and Ronald Regan isn't that good, despite the novelty of him playing an out and out baddie.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Movie review - Bond#17 - "GoldenEye" (1995) ****
You've got to feel for Pierce Brosnan - when Daniel Craig came along as James Bond, such was the excitement over him that it's almost as if Pierce never existed, which is a shame because he did some fine work, and more importantly helped shepherd the "franchise" (for lack of a better word) back to success after a long spell on the bench.
Brosnan had of course been signed to play the role in The Living Daylights but lost out when NBC insisted he still make Remington Steele; he probably didn't think it at the time, but the gap turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise because the extra decade gave him some more lines and experience, made him a more realistic secret agent. He's a bit uptight in some scenes, lacks the humour of Moore or Connery (which wasn't a problem in Remington Steele, interestingly enough), and is not as good an actor as Dalton, but he's handsome and dashing, does the quips okay and is strong on action.
The movie has a whiff of 90s political correctness - Bond is called a sexist misogynist, Moneypenny accuses him of sexual harrasment, Bond admits sending some Cossacks back to Stalin after World War Two was not Britain's finest hour (this line has always annoyed me - why were the Cossacks dumb enough to think Britain would fight their wartime ally straight after peace?) - but I guess these things needed to be said at some stage.
The script is strong - although not based on a Fleming novel, it is very much in the spirit of them: there's a villain who is getting revenge on England for the wrongs done to his people rather like Hugo Drax in the novel of Moonraker; a Bond girl who is integral to the story (Izabella Scorupco, who has a nice Three Days of the Condor type subplot of her own); a decent plan, a funny ally (Robert Coltrane as a former Russian agent), some witty lines. It's a great idea to have the villain a former 00 agent (these had popped up sporadically in previous films, usually as corpses or mentioned as going to take over Bond's mission), although I was frustrated why they didn't have Felix Leiter instead of some random CIA guy Jack Wade. And the opening action stunt is silly and unbelievable - it pushes it too far.
Locations wise I felt too much of it was set in Russia, which tends to be overly brown, overcast and dull; there are also scenes in Monaco and Cuba, and the movie could have done with more of this colour. There were also a surprisingly large amount of two hander action scenes as if the budget for extras wasn't large.
Brosnan is surrounded by a superb support cast: Sean Bean is a solid head villain; Famke Janssen is a superb henchwoman, one of the best (as a killer who gets orgasmic at the sight of blood); Coltrane, Gottfried John and Alan Cumming are fun as Russians; Scorupco isn't an all time leading Bond girl, but is pretty, brave, likeable and sensible; Judi Dench makes an outstanding M, utterly believable and compelling.
Eric Serra's music score is fascinating, containing some dreadful electronic tunes and a wonderfully romantic theme, "We Share the Same Passions". The title song, by Bono/the Edge/ and Tine Turner, is awesome.
Brosnan had of course been signed to play the role in The Living Daylights but lost out when NBC insisted he still make Remington Steele; he probably didn't think it at the time, but the gap turned out to be something of a blessing in disguise because the extra decade gave him some more lines and experience, made him a more realistic secret agent. He's a bit uptight in some scenes, lacks the humour of Moore or Connery (which wasn't a problem in Remington Steele, interestingly enough), and is not as good an actor as Dalton, but he's handsome and dashing, does the quips okay and is strong on action.
The movie has a whiff of 90s political correctness - Bond is called a sexist misogynist, Moneypenny accuses him of sexual harrasment, Bond admits sending some Cossacks back to Stalin after World War Two was not Britain's finest hour (this line has always annoyed me - why were the Cossacks dumb enough to think Britain would fight their wartime ally straight after peace?) - but I guess these things needed to be said at some stage.
The script is strong - although not based on a Fleming novel, it is very much in the spirit of them: there's a villain who is getting revenge on England for the wrongs done to his people rather like Hugo Drax in the novel of Moonraker; a Bond girl who is integral to the story (Izabella Scorupco, who has a nice Three Days of the Condor type subplot of her own); a decent plan, a funny ally (Robert Coltrane as a former Russian agent), some witty lines. It's a great idea to have the villain a former 00 agent (these had popped up sporadically in previous films, usually as corpses or mentioned as going to take over Bond's mission), although I was frustrated why they didn't have Felix Leiter instead of some random CIA guy Jack Wade. And the opening action stunt is silly and unbelievable - it pushes it too far.
Locations wise I felt too much of it was set in Russia, which tends to be overly brown, overcast and dull; there are also scenes in Monaco and Cuba, and the movie could have done with more of this colour. There were also a surprisingly large amount of two hander action scenes as if the budget for extras wasn't large.
Brosnan is surrounded by a superb support cast: Sean Bean is a solid head villain; Famke Janssen is a superb henchwoman, one of the best (as a killer who gets orgasmic at the sight of blood); Coltrane, Gottfried John and Alan Cumming are fun as Russians; Scorupco isn't an all time leading Bond girl, but is pretty, brave, likeable and sensible; Judi Dench makes an outstanding M, utterly believable and compelling.
Eric Serra's music score is fascinating, containing some dreadful electronic tunes and a wonderfully romantic theme, "We Share the Same Passions". The title song, by Bono/the Edge/ and Tine Turner, is awesome.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Movie review - Bond#14 - "A View to a Kill" (1985) ***
A frustrating grab bag of a Bond film - not great, with some truly terrible moments, but good ones as well. It starts like gangbusters, with a lively ski chase sequence (a little soon after For Your Eyes Only perhaps, but very well done, with a then-fresh snowboarding angle... why don't they do ski chases any more?), and an outstanding Duran Duran theme song.
Then it gets more mixed. There's the unmemorable Robert Brown as M and Lois Maxwell in her last appearance as Mrs Moneypenny looking really old (her acting seems to have gotten worse), but some pleasing location footage at Ascot and French stables. It is fun to have Patrick Macnee act opposite Roger Moore although his part really should have been played by Desmond Llewellyn as Q (because the characters had more history - that banter would have been more fun).
Apparently Chris Walken's part was originally offered to David Bowie, who would have been fantastic but Walken is fine - he's not remotely French but at eat he tries something different for a Bond villain (a sort of method-y portrayal). The character, Zorin, seems inspired by Hugo Drax from the book Moonraker with a dash of Goldfinger thrown in.
Zorin's plan is very Goldfinger - trying to create a monopoly in an important product (in this case, microchips) by wiping out the leading American producer in said product (here, wiping out Silicon Valley by causing an earthquake), raising funds by contacting a crime syndicate for money and killing people who don't want to be involved in the plan (by dropping them out of an airship instead of killing them in a car), and connections with the Russians.
Also like Goldfinger, Zorin has a sexy assistant who sleeps with Bond and later changes sides - although May Day (Grace Jones) is far more ruthless than Pussy Galore ever was, meaning she has to die even after she turns good. It's a shame in a way because Grace Jones is one of the all time great Bond villain henchman - she's spectacular, scary and utterly convincing; the scene where she gets on top of Roger Moore is hilarious. And also because the girl Bond winds up with at the end, Tanya Roberts, is incredibly bland. She's pretty, but too whiny, constantly asking for Bond to help her, and she's not even needed in the story.
(Far better value is Fiona Fullerton as a sexy Russian spy who becomes briefly involved in the case; I wish they'd gone with her as the girl but maybe the filmmakers were worried about being too close to The Spy Who Loved Me... as if that would have mattered).
It's a very up and down movie; pros include a decent Eiffel Tower action sequence, a genuinely clever bit where Bond escapes by breathing air in a tire, some funny lines, Zorin's engaging collection of fellow villains (a couple of girls in addition to May Day such as Alison Doody's Jenny Flex and Patrick Bauchau as a sauve henchman decent stunts and spectacle at the Golden Gate Bridge, and an early appearance by Dolph Lundgren.
Cons include an extremely dull and pointless car chase through San Francisco, Zorin shooting his men at the end (I think the idea was to make him seem a real psycho but it falls flat), an overlong running time, the fact Zorin's plan was already seen in Superman, a complete lack of chemistry between Moore and Roberts, and the fact that Moore was becoming far too old for the part. He definitely stayed one too long.
Then it gets more mixed. There's the unmemorable Robert Brown as M and Lois Maxwell in her last appearance as Mrs Moneypenny looking really old (her acting seems to have gotten worse), but some pleasing location footage at Ascot and French stables. It is fun to have Patrick Macnee act opposite Roger Moore although his part really should have been played by Desmond Llewellyn as Q (because the characters had more history - that banter would have been more fun).
Apparently Chris Walken's part was originally offered to David Bowie, who would have been fantastic but Walken is fine - he's not remotely French but at eat he tries something different for a Bond villain (a sort of method-y portrayal). The character, Zorin, seems inspired by Hugo Drax from the book Moonraker with a dash of Goldfinger thrown in.
Zorin's plan is very Goldfinger - trying to create a monopoly in an important product (in this case, microchips) by wiping out the leading American producer in said product (here, wiping out Silicon Valley by causing an earthquake), raising funds by contacting a crime syndicate for money and killing people who don't want to be involved in the plan (by dropping them out of an airship instead of killing them in a car), and connections with the Russians.
Also like Goldfinger, Zorin has a sexy assistant who sleeps with Bond and later changes sides - although May Day (Grace Jones) is far more ruthless than Pussy Galore ever was, meaning she has to die even after she turns good. It's a shame in a way because Grace Jones is one of the all time great Bond villain henchman - she's spectacular, scary and utterly convincing; the scene where she gets on top of Roger Moore is hilarious. And also because the girl Bond winds up with at the end, Tanya Roberts, is incredibly bland. She's pretty, but too whiny, constantly asking for Bond to help her, and she's not even needed in the story.
(Far better value is Fiona Fullerton as a sexy Russian spy who becomes briefly involved in the case; I wish they'd gone with her as the girl but maybe the filmmakers were worried about being too close to The Spy Who Loved Me... as if that would have mattered).
It's a very up and down movie; pros include a decent Eiffel Tower action sequence, a genuinely clever bit where Bond escapes by breathing air in a tire, some funny lines, Zorin's engaging collection of fellow villains (a couple of girls in addition to May Day such as Alison Doody's Jenny Flex and Patrick Bauchau as a sauve henchman decent stunts and spectacle at the Golden Gate Bridge, and an early appearance by Dolph Lundgren.
Cons include an extremely dull and pointless car chase through San Francisco, Zorin shooting his men at the end (I think the idea was to make him seem a real psycho but it falls flat), an overlong running time, the fact Zorin's plan was already seen in Superman, a complete lack of chemistry between Moore and Roberts, and the fact that Moore was becoming far too old for the part. He definitely stayed one too long.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Movie review - Bond#15 - "The Living Daylights" (1987) ****1/2
Once again, the Bond series manages to reinvent itself at the right time... after Roger Moore and A View to a Kill seemed so old and tired, things bounce back to form magnificently with this highly enjoyable entry. I recognise this isn't a universally accepted point of view - the movie was not a big hit at the box office, it's not that well known compared to other entries - but I feel it's aged well, and returned things to a more even keel, one of the things that has enabled the series to last so long.
Timothy Dalton wasn't exactly Mr Action Man - the back projection is a bit too obvious when he's hanging off planes and cars - but his youth is a tonic after Roger Moore, and he has dark good looks, and a believably ruthless streak. He's also surprisingly - and touchingly - romantic. Bond doesn't sleep around in this one; he flirts with some girls but only really has eyes for Marym d'Abo, who is one of the most likeable Bond heroines, Kara. Kara is a top cellist completely out of her element in the adventure, and d'Abo brings a winning naivety to the part; she's so much better than Tanya Roberts. John Barry's romantic theme and some pleasing shots of Vienna add to the romance.
It's an excellent script, which skilfully incorporates the Fleming short story that gives the film it's title, and is well thought out and witty. There are some flaws - the one liners aren't super strong, I wasn't wild about Kara's incompetence causing the plane bottom to open up at the end, the finale in Afghanistan went on too long, an over use of the exploding key ring device - but these are easily outweighed by the strengths.
The support cast is of high quality: Jeroen Krabbe is an engaging rougish Russian general, Joe Don Baker is always good value as a military nut gun dealer, Art Malik is fun as an Afghan leader, John Rhys Davis is superb value as another Russian (it's a shame they didn't bring him back for other movies in the series), as is Andreas Wisniewski as a truly frightening, smart henchman (the best of the Red Grant rip offs; takes part in a really tough kitchen fight sequence with a British agent who isn't Bond - this is given a surprisingly long running time).
Of the regulars Desmond Llewellyn and Walter Gotell (his last appearance) are in good form, Robert Brown isn't memorable, or is the latest bloke to play Felix Leiter, and Caroline Bliss a disappointingly poor new Moneypenny. Sexy Aussie Virginia Hey pops up too as Rhy Davis' mistress.
Locations are varied and exotic: Gibraltar (I love it when Bond defends the crappy modern day British Empire, it's so cute), Tangiers, Vienna, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan. Decent stunts and action - nothing particularly awesome, just solid, smart Bond movie making. Poor theme song (by A Ha, who prove yet again they are no Duran Duran) but a lovely romantic tune from John Barry, doing his last music score for the series.
Timothy Dalton wasn't exactly Mr Action Man - the back projection is a bit too obvious when he's hanging off planes and cars - but his youth is a tonic after Roger Moore, and he has dark good looks, and a believably ruthless streak. He's also surprisingly - and touchingly - romantic. Bond doesn't sleep around in this one; he flirts with some girls but only really has eyes for Marym d'Abo, who is one of the most likeable Bond heroines, Kara. Kara is a top cellist completely out of her element in the adventure, and d'Abo brings a winning naivety to the part; she's so much better than Tanya Roberts. John Barry's romantic theme and some pleasing shots of Vienna add to the romance.
It's an excellent script, which skilfully incorporates the Fleming short story that gives the film it's title, and is well thought out and witty. There are some flaws - the one liners aren't super strong, I wasn't wild about Kara's incompetence causing the plane bottom to open up at the end, the finale in Afghanistan went on too long, an over use of the exploding key ring device - but these are easily outweighed by the strengths.
The support cast is of high quality: Jeroen Krabbe is an engaging rougish Russian general, Joe Don Baker is always good value as a military nut gun dealer, Art Malik is fun as an Afghan leader, John Rhys Davis is superb value as another Russian (it's a shame they didn't bring him back for other movies in the series), as is Andreas Wisniewski as a truly frightening, smart henchman (the best of the Red Grant rip offs; takes part in a really tough kitchen fight sequence with a British agent who isn't Bond - this is given a surprisingly long running time).
Of the regulars Desmond Llewellyn and Walter Gotell (his last appearance) are in good form, Robert Brown isn't memorable, or is the latest bloke to play Felix Leiter, and Caroline Bliss a disappointingly poor new Moneypenny. Sexy Aussie Virginia Hey pops up too as Rhy Davis' mistress.
Locations are varied and exotic: Gibraltar (I love it when Bond defends the crappy modern day British Empire, it's so cute), Tangiers, Vienna, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan. Decent stunts and action - nothing particularly awesome, just solid, smart Bond movie making. Poor theme song (by A Ha, who prove yet again they are no Duran Duran) but a lovely romantic tune from John Barry, doing his last music score for the series.
Sunday, October 20, 2013
John Landis, George MacDonald Fraser and the Lone Ranger
On October 12, 2013 I had the honour/delight of meeting John Landis while he was in Melbourne as a guest of the Melbourne Festival. It was at a book signing where he was putting his John Hancock on his book about movie monsters.
During our five minute chat, I managed to ask him a few questions, in particular about his collaboration with one of my favourite writers, George MacDonald Fraser, on a script about the Lone Ranger which Fraser refers to in his memoirs. (Fraser whined about political correctness in Hollywood causing the deletion of a scene where Indians were made drunk despite the fact it was based on history, but also said it was a shame the movie was never made as he and Landis got along like "ham and eggs".)
Landis brightened at the mention of this and said Fraser's script (the writer did two drafts) was one of the best he'd ever read, but didn't get made because of a long, complicated issue partly involving the rights.
The director also said:
- he really liked Fraser even though the author was very right wing and they were an odd couple but they collaborated well
- the script was very historically accurate - Tonto always spoke Indian when he was with Indians and only English when he was with whites
- there was a funny subplot about a touring Shakespearean actor where Tonto ended up speaking words of the Bard
- there was a romantic scene where people were looking for the Lone Ranger and he hid in a room and kissed a woman several times and she ended up not minding (inspired I feel by The 39 Steps).
Landis wasn't a big fan of the 1981 or 2013 movies and expressed regret the movie wasn't made. I think there's a fair few of those in his career though and he wasn't bitter about it.
A lovely short chat - I figured I'd put it on the net in case anyone is interested!
During our five minute chat, I managed to ask him a few questions, in particular about his collaboration with one of my favourite writers, George MacDonald Fraser, on a script about the Lone Ranger which Fraser refers to in his memoirs. (Fraser whined about political correctness in Hollywood causing the deletion of a scene where Indians were made drunk despite the fact it was based on history, but also said it was a shame the movie was never made as he and Landis got along like "ham and eggs".)
Landis brightened at the mention of this and said Fraser's script (the writer did two drafts) was one of the best he'd ever read, but didn't get made because of a long, complicated issue partly involving the rights.
The director also said:
- he really liked Fraser even though the author was very right wing and they were an odd couple but they collaborated well
- the script was very historically accurate - Tonto always spoke Indian when he was with Indians and only English when he was with whites
- there was a funny subplot about a touring Shakespearean actor where Tonto ended up speaking words of the Bard
- there was a romantic scene where people were looking for the Lone Ranger and he hid in a room and kissed a woman several times and she ended up not minding (inspired I feel by The 39 Steps).
Landis wasn't a big fan of the 1981 or 2013 movies and expressed regret the movie wasn't made. I think there's a fair few of those in his career though and he wasn't bitter about it.
A lovely short chat - I figured I'd put it on the net in case anyone is interested!
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Movie review - "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) ****
George Raft wouldn't have done too badly as Sam Spade in this classic private eye mystery but no way near as well as Humphrey Bogart who took the role and completely ran with it, launching himself as a star. And no wonder - its remarkable what an anti-hero Spade is: mean, cruel, sleeping with his partner's wife, sadistic (look at his face when he punches Peter Lorre), greedy, snarky. His saving grace is a sense of honour and the fact the villains are worse. Or, more accurately, fabulous: was there ever a better rogues gallery than Sydney Greenstreet, Lorre, Elisha Cook Jnr and Mary Astor (who I never used to be a fan of but my appreciation of her performance grows every time I see this film)?
There is an awful lot of exposition going on here - great slabs of dialogue which go on and on, and to be honest sometimes I had trouble following the plot. But I went with it because the acting and dialogue was so good - there's encounter after encounter between masters at their peak: Bogart and Astor, Bogart and Lorre, Bogart and Greenstreet. I felt it could have done with some more emotion - I never really got the sense that Bogart fell for Astor, despite that dynamic finish.
Lots of gay subtext - Lorre/Cairo is campy, Greenstreet/Gutman keeps pawing Bogart - plenty of nice touches (eg Bogart's hand shaking after an encounter with the others), a cute cameo from Walter Huston, some scary cops (Ward Bond and Barton MacLane), plenty of rich supporting roles.
There is an awful lot of exposition going on here - great slabs of dialogue which go on and on, and to be honest sometimes I had trouble following the plot. But I went with it because the acting and dialogue was so good - there's encounter after encounter between masters at their peak: Bogart and Astor, Bogart and Lorre, Bogart and Greenstreet. I felt it could have done with some more emotion - I never really got the sense that Bogart fell for Astor, despite that dynamic finish.
Lots of gay subtext - Lorre/Cairo is campy, Greenstreet/Gutman keeps pawing Bogart - plenty of nice touches (eg Bogart's hand shaking after an encounter with the others), a cute cameo from Walter Huston, some scary cops (Ward Bond and Barton MacLane), plenty of rich supporting roles.
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