1) I Wake up Screaming - a very good murder mystery
2) My Darling Clementine - a genuine classic with Mature very good
3) Kiss of Death - possibly Mature's best performance
4) Violent Saturday - more of an ensemble piece than a Mature vehicle, this is a decent thriller
5) Demetrius and the Gladiators - enjoyable Ancient World pulp, much more fun than The Robe
6) Chief Crazy Horse - Mature surprisingly effective in the title role
7) Samson and Delilah - Cecil B de Mille spectacle, a lot of crap and good moments
8) Zarak Khan - fun British Empire pulp, the best of Mature's Warwick films
9) Cry of the City - more effective noir from Mature
10) Moss Rose - this film lost a bomb but I found it an enjoyable period noir from Mature's best era (the late 40s)
Special points to One Million BC for it's sheer oddness.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Movie review - "That Man from Rio" (1964) ****1/2
William Goldman once wrote that the hardest kind of movies to do well were romantic comedies and action adventure films. Books upon books have been written about rom coms; the latter is less well explored. How many top class examples of the genre can you think of off the top of your head: Charade, North by Northwest, Romancing the Stone, the best Bonds, Raiders of the Lost Ark... there's not that many.
They're very easy to go wrong - the tone can be off, the wrong stars cast, the script too lazy. But when it works it works wonderfully as proved by this infectious fun French film. It has a high reputation - it was very popular internationally, it one of Jean Paul Belmondo's best remembered films - and I was delighted to see it lived up to the reputation.
The whole thing just works, from the moment the bright bossa nova theme song plays over the jaunty credits, to the opening sequence of a statue being stolen from a museum. This forms an effective Macguffin, with statue and professor being kidnapped along with professor's daughter (Francois Dorleac)... whose fiance (Belmondo) takes off in hot pursuit. There's a good ticking clock too in that Belmondo is on eight days leave from the army and has a certain time by which to get back.
Belmondo is the perfect hero, masculine, handsome (though not annoyingly pretty), clearly having the time of his life... much more likeable than say Alain Delon. Dorleac is a wonderful heroine, spiritied, beautiful and funny - a much sparkier performer than her sister, Catherine Deneuve.
It was shot on location in Paris and Brazil, the latter especially offering some fresh, gorgeous locations - even now Brazil doesn't turn up as a location that much in Hollywood films, so I'm not very familiar with it. They visit Rio and Brasilia and the Amazon it looks wonderful, beautifully shot. Brasilia has this wonderful other-world-y quality. The Amazon sequence at the end feels very Raiders of the Lost Arc-y. There's some unexpected poignancy at the end when we see an Amazon tribe by the roadside as a crew cut down trees.
If I'm being honest there's probably one sequence too many - Dorleac's final kidnapping was one too far. But it's just darn fun.
They're very easy to go wrong - the tone can be off, the wrong stars cast, the script too lazy. But when it works it works wonderfully as proved by this infectious fun French film. It has a high reputation - it was very popular internationally, it one of Jean Paul Belmondo's best remembered films - and I was delighted to see it lived up to the reputation.
The whole thing just works, from the moment the bright bossa nova theme song plays over the jaunty credits, to the opening sequence of a statue being stolen from a museum. This forms an effective Macguffin, with statue and professor being kidnapped along with professor's daughter (Francois Dorleac)... whose fiance (Belmondo) takes off in hot pursuit. There's a good ticking clock too in that Belmondo is on eight days leave from the army and has a certain time by which to get back.
Belmondo is the perfect hero, masculine, handsome (though not annoyingly pretty), clearly having the time of his life... much more likeable than say Alain Delon. Dorleac is a wonderful heroine, spiritied, beautiful and funny - a much sparkier performer than her sister, Catherine Deneuve.
It was shot on location in Paris and Brazil, the latter especially offering some fresh, gorgeous locations - even now Brazil doesn't turn up as a location that much in Hollywood films, so I'm not very familiar with it. They visit Rio and Brasilia and the Amazon it looks wonderful, beautifully shot. Brasilia has this wonderful other-world-y quality. The Amazon sequence at the end feels very Raiders of the Lost Arc-y. There's some unexpected poignancy at the end when we see an Amazon tribe by the roadside as a crew cut down trees.
If I'm being honest there's probably one sequence too many - Dorleac's final kidnapping was one too far. But it's just darn fun.
Monday, August 29, 2016
Book review - "On the Good Ship Hollywood" by John Agar (2007)
John Agar was an odd kind of movie star - the son of a meat packer, he launched into global fame by marrying Shirley Temple, which resulted in a movie contract from David O. Selznick. He lucked out with some of his early film roles, which included parts in classics such as Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and The Sands of Iwo Jima. Agar was an awkward, inexperienced actor, but he looked good on a horse, moved well and didn't bring down any of these films - indeed his work in Iwo Jima was genuinely good.
He was given a few leads - Breakthrough, The Magic Carpet -but he couldn't really carry a film and his career took a nose dive when he divorced Shirley. He copped a truckload of bad publicity for this and the fact he was always being arrested for alcohol related incidents.
His career received a second chance when he was signed by Universal Studios in the mid 50s, for whom he made a number of films, mostly science fiction epics - some of them of very high quality, like Tarantula. He kept busy acting for the rest of his life, though he occasionally had to boost the old income earnings via real estate and other odd jobs. He kept relapsing with drinking and made the mistake of not renewing with Universal when he had the chance - bland handsome types like Agar were always better off under contract. But his second marriage was happy, and they had a couple of kids who seem to love him.
The book is an interesting one - Agar is a relentlessly cheery upbeat sort of chap, forever trying to look on the bright side. He decries attitudes of the younger generation, and all the swearing and violence in films today, takes the blame for his own mistakes. Shirley Temple doesn't get that much of a mention - he simply says they were very much in love, the mum was a piece of work, their marriage suffered... he denies that he cheated on her but admits to drinking a lot. His biggest regret is being estranged from his child with Temple and smoking and drinking so much.
It's a short book and disappointingly slight. There's some stuff on John Wayne and John Ford but not a lot; it's slight on his classic Westerns and war films and sci fi efforts. He talks wistfully about wanting to make more Westerns - indeed I'm surprised Universal didn't use him more for them. The book is fleshed out with some typically strong interviews Tom Weaver did with him which focus on the sci fi stuff. But all the way through I wanted to know more - I mean how many actors worked with Shirley Temple, John Ford, John Wayne, Sam Katzman, Charles Griffith, early AIP, Sidney Pink, Audie Murphy, Larry Buchanan...
Agar comes across as a likeable, amiable guy who was a bit of a goose. The book is a quick read, it's entertaining - but I feel you could do a more solid book on Agar.
He was given a few leads - Breakthrough, The Magic Carpet -but he couldn't really carry a film and his career took a nose dive when he divorced Shirley. He copped a truckload of bad publicity for this and the fact he was always being arrested for alcohol related incidents.
His career received a second chance when he was signed by Universal Studios in the mid 50s, for whom he made a number of films, mostly science fiction epics - some of them of very high quality, like Tarantula. He kept busy acting for the rest of his life, though he occasionally had to boost the old income earnings via real estate and other odd jobs. He kept relapsing with drinking and made the mistake of not renewing with Universal when he had the chance - bland handsome types like Agar were always better off under contract. But his second marriage was happy, and they had a couple of kids who seem to love him.
The book is an interesting one - Agar is a relentlessly cheery upbeat sort of chap, forever trying to look on the bright side. He decries attitudes of the younger generation, and all the swearing and violence in films today, takes the blame for his own mistakes. Shirley Temple doesn't get that much of a mention - he simply says they were very much in love, the mum was a piece of work, their marriage suffered... he denies that he cheated on her but admits to drinking a lot. His biggest regret is being estranged from his child with Temple and smoking and drinking so much.
It's a short book and disappointingly slight. There's some stuff on John Wayne and John Ford but not a lot; it's slight on his classic Westerns and war films and sci fi efforts. He talks wistfully about wanting to make more Westerns - indeed I'm surprised Universal didn't use him more for them. The book is fleshed out with some typically strong interviews Tom Weaver did with him which focus on the sci fi stuff. But all the way through I wanted to know more - I mean how many actors worked with Shirley Temple, John Ford, John Wayne, Sam Katzman, Charles Griffith, early AIP, Sidney Pink, Audie Murphy, Larry Buchanan...
Agar comes across as a likeable, amiable guy who was a bit of a goose. The book is a quick read, it's entertaining - but I feel you could do a more solid book on Agar.
Movie review - "Seven Days... Seven Nights" (1960) (aka "Moderato cantilabe") **
Jean Paul Belmondo later said this film was boring and he was right. No one's denying the talent - Marguerite Duras' script from her novel, Jeanne Moreau, Peter Brook, Belmondo, some stunning black and white cinemtaography. It's a simple story with interesting aspects. It feels realised, if that makes sense - that the filmmakers made the film they wanted to. It satisfies on it's own terms.
But it is dull. It goes on for too long. It avoids drama - you keep waiting for Belmondo and Moreau to go for it but they don't, not really. Moreau is very good. Belmondo seems a bit bored (he was a last minute replacement for Richard Burton).
I'm always nervous about writing these sort of reviews about art house classics because I feel I'm exposing my ignorance or something. That I missed the point. However I do feel I got the point here - I just didn't like it. Maybe I'll change my mind in another viewing in a decade or so.
But it is dull. It goes on for too long. It avoids drama - you keep waiting for Belmondo and Moreau to go for it but they don't, not really. Moreau is very good. Belmondo seems a bit bored (he was a last minute replacement for Richard Burton).
I'm always nervous about writing these sort of reviews about art house classics because I feel I'm exposing my ignorance or something. That I missed the point. However I do feel I got the point here - I just didn't like it. Maybe I'll change my mind in another viewing in a decade or so.
Friday, August 26, 2016
Movie review - "Hunter Will Get You" (1976) **1/2
Jean Paul Belmondo in tough guy mode, a sort of free lance muscle who does jobs the cops can't touch like bust heroin dealers and shut down gambling operations. The main plot of this involves him looking into a serial killer (Bruno Cremer, who you may recognise from Sorcerer) who gets young men to help him rob banks then kills them.
It's not very well made (the writer and director is Philippe Labro), and the film suffers in the early part when Belmondo is not around. But things pick up when Belmondo hooks up with a young man who Cremer failed to kill; he breaks him out of prison and they escape together.
The last half hour is good - Cremer killing the boy and then Belmondo seeking revenge (shock - another French film about the undeclared love between two men), resulting in some strong action and a climactic fight scene where Belmondo shoves a broken glass bottle into Cremer's gut, leading to a quote from Oscar Wilde plays over the credits.
It feels like a TV show with a bit more violence and a major star in the lead.
It's not very well made (the writer and director is Philippe Labro), and the film suffers in the early part when Belmondo is not around. But things pick up when Belmondo hooks up with a young man who Cremer failed to kill; he breaks him out of prison and they escape together.
The last half hour is good - Cremer killing the boy and then Belmondo seeking revenge (shock - another French film about the undeclared love between two men), resulting in some strong action and a climactic fight scene where Belmondo shoves a broken glass bottle into Cremer's gut, leading to a quote from Oscar Wilde plays over the credits.
It feels like a TV show with a bit more violence and a major star in the lead.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Movie review - "Fear Over the City" (1975) **1/2
Like British film stars had to play war heroes in the 50s, French film stars had to play cops in the 70s. Here Jean Paul Belmondo is a tough chain smoking detective investigating a serial killer. It's fun to see Belmondo and partner Charles Denner (you might recognise him from The Man Who Had Power Over Women) constantly smoking and looking world weary; both are definitely well cast and it's an ideal star vehicle for Belmondo. It was co-written and directed by Henri Verneuil, a man with a number of strong tough guy feature credits (eg The Sicilian Clan).
The film suffers from being about serial killers - not super common in 1975, that subject has become so well covered a lot of this feels familiar. It plays like an episode of a TV show, only in French, with Belmondo, and an impressively staged chase sequence in the middle where Belmondo goes after a baddie. (You think it's going to be a small chase but it turns out to be a long one, rather like The French Connection. And the baddie isn't the killer, he's someone else.)
The opening sequence consists of a lone woman being taunted by a serial killer over the phone - rather like the opening of Scream, only she throws herself impulsively off a balcony rather than being legitimately murdered. But don't worry, murder fans - the killer still knocks off some women in dutifully unpleasant scenes. The killer (Adalberto Maria Merli) has a neat visual "look" - a bug eye. He kills because he doesn't like the morals of certain women, rather like the killer in Frenzy. He sends lots of letters and phone calls to the police and even visits them - so it's not that hard for them to figure out who did it, you would think, but Belmondo doesn't until the killer throws a grenade into a porno theatre and holds a porno actress and her friends (!) hostage. Belmondo isn't much of a detective - even at the end he admits he's more muscle than brain.
There's a subplot about a gangster who is pursued by Belmondo and lots of scenes in apartments. Various psychiatrists at the end get involved to have a chat.
This film feels like a bunch of "bits"thrown together - a serial killer, a robber, an action sequence. It was a big hit and Belmondo seems to be having fun.
The film suffers from being about serial killers - not super common in 1975, that subject has become so well covered a lot of this feels familiar. It plays like an episode of a TV show, only in French, with Belmondo, and an impressively staged chase sequence in the middle where Belmondo goes after a baddie. (You think it's going to be a small chase but it turns out to be a long one, rather like The French Connection. And the baddie isn't the killer, he's someone else.)
The opening sequence consists of a lone woman being taunted by a serial killer over the phone - rather like the opening of Scream, only she throws herself impulsively off a balcony rather than being legitimately murdered. But don't worry, murder fans - the killer still knocks off some women in dutifully unpleasant scenes. The killer (Adalberto Maria Merli) has a neat visual "look" - a bug eye. He kills because he doesn't like the morals of certain women, rather like the killer in Frenzy. He sends lots of letters and phone calls to the police and even visits them - so it's not that hard for them to figure out who did it, you would think, but Belmondo doesn't until the killer throws a grenade into a porno theatre and holds a porno actress and her friends (!) hostage. Belmondo isn't much of a detective - even at the end he admits he's more muscle than brain.
There's a subplot about a gangster who is pursued by Belmondo and lots of scenes in apartments. Various psychiatrists at the end get involved to have a chat.
This film feels like a bunch of "bits"thrown together - a serial killer, a robber, an action sequence. It was a big hit and Belmondo seems to be having fun.
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Movie review - "What's So Bad About Feeling Good?" (1969) *1/2
George Seaton was best known for his dramas in the 40s, 50s and 60s but he had a background in writing comedy - notably several musicals and the Marx brothers film A Day at the Races. He worked on the script for the latter with Robert Pirosh and the two of them collaborated for this one. I think knowing that helps give this some context - Seaton and Pirosh were clearly going for something equally mad cap and off the wall, their attempt to match say the 60s films of Richard Lester. That sort of film is hard to pull off though, especially by old men, and Seaton was writer, producer and director. This is a dreadful mess that is painful to watch.
The film starts with George Peppard as a one time ad man living with some hippies in a loft, including girlfriend Mary Tyler Moore. (I wonder if the team at Mad Men ever saw this - a lot of the visuals are reminiscent: hippies in the village with beards and guitars, etc). Then a virus strikes which makes everyone feel positive about things. It spreads throughout New York, causing sales of alcohol and tobacco to plummet, resulting in a tax crisis; the mayor (John McMartin ) and governor (Dom Deluise) get involved.
That's an OK idea - not the world's best, but you can see opportunities for satire. It probably needed to be made for an established comedy star - Jerry Lewis, say, or The Beatles, someone with whom it was easier to travel into a world of make-believe. Mary Tyler Moore can play comedy well, as well all know; George Peppard isn't a bad straight man (eg Breakfast at Tiffany's) but struggles in "madcap" world. Some players get it right such as Dom Deluise.
But the tone is all off. It's not particularly funny or clever or even genuinely madcap / subversive - at heart it's about people being nice to each other, and having to get married. It may have played better had we seen Peppard fall in love with Moore instead of already establishing them as a couple. Or maybe it simply needed to be funnier.
The film starts with George Peppard as a one time ad man living with some hippies in a loft, including girlfriend Mary Tyler Moore. (I wonder if the team at Mad Men ever saw this - a lot of the visuals are reminiscent: hippies in the village with beards and guitars, etc). Then a virus strikes which makes everyone feel positive about things. It spreads throughout New York, causing sales of alcohol and tobacco to plummet, resulting in a tax crisis; the mayor (John McMartin ) and governor (Dom Deluise) get involved.
That's an OK idea - not the world's best, but you can see opportunities for satire. It probably needed to be made for an established comedy star - Jerry Lewis, say, or The Beatles, someone with whom it was easier to travel into a world of make-believe. Mary Tyler Moore can play comedy well, as well all know; George Peppard isn't a bad straight man (eg Breakfast at Tiffany's) but struggles in "madcap" world. Some players get it right such as Dom Deluise.
But the tone is all off. It's not particularly funny or clever or even genuinely madcap / subversive - at heart it's about people being nice to each other, and having to get married. It may have played better had we seen Peppard fall in love with Moore instead of already establishing them as a couple. Or maybe it simply needed to be funnier.
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