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The BellGab Classic Movie Playhouse

Started by GravitySucks, June 11, 2016, 05:28:45 PM

    The next film re-teams Tierney with Cook once again along with Claire Trevor and Walter Slezak among others.  Born To Kill (1947), an RKO film noir feature directed by Robert Wise,  is a rich noir but  I have to confess I found some of the film implausible.  The romance between Trevor and Tierney never gels with me for some reason.  I guess I found the classy Trevor engaging in a romance with the thuggish Tierney unbelievable.  Sure she likes the bad boy types a bit too much.  As the movie starts, she is coming off of a bad marriage and getting a quickie divorce in Reno.  However, she was raised in a classy elegant household and I have  hard time believing she would fall for an idiot like Tierney.  He's a common thug who kills his girlfriend (Isabel Jewell) when he finds out she is seeing someone on the side.  An unbelievable circumstance for me is the fact that she is living in the same house as Trevor and she unwittingly discovers her body after coming home one night.  While taking a train back to San Francisco, she meets Tierney and figures out that Tierney is the killer but is drawn to him. :o




     He gets cozy with Trevor but little does she know that he has his sights set on Trevor's younger and innocent foster sister (Audrey Long).  She owns the city newspaper and is very wealthy.    For whatever reason she also falls in love with Tierney  :o :o and marries him.  The sad fact is he could care less for Long and probably had attentions to kill her so he could get back with Trevor.  Cook is Tierney's sidekick and maybe gay lover.  It is implied subtly in the script.  He moves into the main house once Long and Tierney are married.  Meanwhile, the landlady (Esther Howard) of the Reno abode has hired a P. I., Walter Slezak in probably the best performance of the film, to find Jewell's murderer.  He hones in on Tierney and Trevor and threatens them.  Trevor finds Slezak more than willing to take a bribe but plans ago afoul when Cook tries to murder Howard.  The rest you'll have to watch for yourself.

      Everyone does a decent job but I think Tierney was badly miscast for the role.  I can't see many ladies falling for him.  He's too gruff and more than a bit rough around the edges.  He looks mean and the character really calls for a person who doesn't look nasty.  I found some of situations unbelievable as I stated earlier and a complaint from my wife was that the film was far too melodramatic.  She wouldn't finish it with me.  I'm going to give the film 3.25 stars as I enjoyed it for what it was but it just didn't ring truthful to me. Wise did a fine job and he learned a lot from Citizen Kane which he edited and his horror efforts with Val Lewton.
     

   The third Cook film is a B feature from Warner Brothers from 1949 and it shows.  Flaxy Martin is about a gun moll (Virginia Mayo) who double-crosses her lawyer boyfriend, Walter Colby (Zachary Scott) and has him sent up the river for 20 years.  Mayo, Taylor and Cook all give excellent performances but the script and direction aren't very good.  Cook particularly shines in a somewhat meaty role as a small-time hood working for a big-time gangster.  I went into this film hoping for  a great bad-girl lead performance but she is absent from the middle of the film.  The film is really about Walter Colby not Flaxy.  Too say I was let-down would be an understatement. 

    Anyway, to get to the plot of the film.  Mayo plays a jazz club singer who strings along Walter while he harbors hopes of marrying her.  Both work for Hap Richie (Douglas Kennedy), a mob boss who is in fact Flaxy's sugar-daddy.  Walter hates working for Hap as Walter is an ethical man and what Hap forces Walter to do grates  on him.  He's just gotten one of Hap's hoods, Caesar,  off on a murder charge.  Hap supplies a last minute witness, Peggy Farrar (Helen Westcott) to give Caesar an alibi.  Walter finds out afterwards and is enraged.  He threatens to quit but Flaxy sweetens him up again and so he continues representing Hap and his gang of hoods.

   Peggy then tries to blackmail Hap and Caesar is sent over to rub out Peggy.  Flaxy has just given Peggy a tongue-lashing and meets Caesar as she's leaving.  She is well aware of Caesar's mission and leaves him to it.  Peggy is found dead but someone places Flaxy at the scene of the murder.  To protect her, Walter decides to take the fall for her, thinking he can get himself off in the courtroom.  Little does he know that Hap has supplied another (witness) that places him at the scene of the crime.  He is found guilty and is sent to prison.  En route to the prison,  Walter manages to knock out the cop who is accompanying him on the train and gets away.
   
    After sustaining some injuries after jumping off the train, Walter collapses on a road  in suburban/rural Long Islandand a meek librarian, Nora Carson, (Dorothy Malone) picks him up and takes him to her house where she takes care of him.  They both find themselves attracted to each other and Walter explains the mess he is in.  She offers to help but Walter says he'd best take care of his business himself.  As he's getting ready to leave, a cop comes to the house searching for Walter.  Right at the same time, Hap's flunkie,Roper (Elisha Cook), enters the house and locks up the cop and takes Walter and Nora prisoner with intent to kill and bury their bodies. 
   



     Here is where I have a severe problem with the story.  I understand why the cop is at the house.  He's making a general search of homes in the area looking for Walter.  What I want to know is how the hell did Roper know that Walter was at Nora's house?  It's a little too convenient if you ask me.  The story falls apart at this point and so does my interest in the film.  Cook is at his best here though and it would have been a shame to cut his part out of the movie but that is really what is needed here.  It's a bridge too far for me. It's a shame because it could have been a terrific film with the proper film-makers.  Malone is in fine form in a rather mousy role while Mayo does shine for the brief time she is on the screen.  Taylor also does an excellent job and he makes a fine leading man. Do the criminals get their just desserts?  Well, this is a Production Code era film so the answer should be all too clear.  Shoddy film-making does this one in.  Is it worth watching?  Maybe once or twice but no more than that.  2.75 stars for a film that could have easily been 4 stars with the proper care.




    Now for the last film I want to mention in this series of reviews.  Its a very different film from the others I have reviewed.  It is basically a Western/Indian War film set in Florida in 1840.  Distant Drums (1951), directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Gary Cooper is a beautiful-looking film.  It was filmed in Florida on location in the Everglades, Lake Okeechobee, Silver Springs and St. Augustine.

  Coop plays Captain Quincy Wyatt who is given the mission of routing the Seminole nation into submission to the US government.  The precise nature of the mission is to destroy a fort ( Castillo de San Marcos in disguise) located near the Everglades that Cuban gunrunners are using where they give guns to the Indians.  They succeed in their mission easily but all hell breaks loose soon after.  Seminoles attack and Coops men lose their chance to get away on Lake Okeechobee.  The large part of the movie is devoted to the trek back to civilization through the Everglades.  During this trek, people die from gators and snakes and frequent Seminole attacks.  Accompanying the soldiers are a group of women and men who were being held prisoner at the Fort. Obviously one of these women will be Coop's love interest in the film.  Mari Aldon gets this plum role and its nice to see a different face as opposed to a regular face from the usual cast of starlets.



*This still is obviously from a studio session but I guarantee that 95% of the film is on location.

     The film culminates in an underwater knife fight between the Seminole chief and Coop.  This is beautifully filmed  with the stars but it is all too apparent that Coop will come out on top.  The Seminoles are portrayed rather one-dimensionally but don't let that fool you.  This film has a very sympathetic view of Indians in general.  Coop's character is a widower who was married to a Creek princess who bore him a son.  His wife was killed by racist US soldiers.  After that, Coop decided to live with the Creeks and raise his son as one of them.  Coop only joins the US fight against the Seminoles when his home is jeopardized by Seminole attacks.  The Creeks in the film are portrayed sympathetically.

    The blu-ray of this film was gorgeous and I will watch it again.  It is not a very accurate film when it comes to historical details.  Repeating rifles were used by both sides in the battles during the film.  However, these were not mass-manufactured until the 1870's and the clothing used by the American soldiers have more in common with what they wore during the Spanish-American War in 1898.  Regarding the rifles, apparently the film-makers preferred to use repeating rifles to provide more action to the film.  For the clothing, there can be no excuse but I'm basing this detail from another reviewer's knowledge not mine.

     Walsh does a fine job as usual and the Technicolor photography is truly exquisite.  Coop delivers as he usually does in these sort of roles.  He makes acting look so easy.  Special mention to Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Barrat and Ray Teal as standouts in the supporting role department.   It is definitely several notches above the more routine fare of the day but it just falls short of being a classic. 3.75 out of 5 stars.




One more note on Distant Drums.  This is the film that first features the Wilhelm Scream voiced most likely by Sheb Wooley.  This scream would be a subsequent stock sound effect for at least 225 films and tv shows.  George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson use it routinely.

GravitySucks

Quote from: 21st Century Man on July 14, 2016, 12:16:44 AM
One more note on Distant Drums.  This is the film that first features the Wilhelm Scream voiced most likely by Sheb Wooley.  This scream would be a subsequent stock sound effect for at least 225 films and tv shows.  George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton and Peter Jackson use it routinely.

Cool fact. I just went and listened to it on YouTube.

Quote from: GravitySucks on July 14, 2016, 12:29:38 AM
Cool fact. I just went and listened to it on YouTube.

The complete list of films.  Also used on tv and in videogames too.

Distant Drums (0:15)
Springfield Rifle
The Charge at Feather River
The Command
Them!
A Star is Born (1:07)
The Sea Chase
Land of the Pharaohs
Helen of Troy
Sergeant Rutledge
Harper
The Green Berets
Impasse
The Wild Bunch
Chisum
Hollywood Boulevard (2:00)
Star Wars: A New Hope
Star Wars: The Holiday Special
More American Graffiti
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
The Big Brawl
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
History of the World, Part I
Swamp Thing
Poltergeist
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Howard the Duck
Nutcracker: The Motion Picture (3:00)
Spaceballs
Willow
Three Fugitives
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Always
Gremlins 2
Beauty and the Beast
Batman Returns
Mom and Dad Save the World (3:57)
Reservoir Dogs
Aladdin
Matinee
A Goofy Movie
Die Hard: With a Vengeance
Toy Story
Dante’s Peak
The Second Civil War
The Fifth Element
Hercules (5:00)
Lethal Weapon 4
Small Soldiers
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
The Kid
Backstage
The Little Mermaid II
Thirteen Days
Tomcats
Just Visiting
Planet of the Apes
Wet Hot American Summer
Osmosis Jones
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The Majestic (6:00)
Life or Something Like It
The Salton Sea
Spider-Man
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Scorched
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
The Legend of Suriyothai
Cradle 2 The Grave
Tears of the Sun
Agent Cody Banks
A Man Apart
Pirates of the Caribbean
Once Upon a Time in Mexico (7:00)
Under the Tuscan Sun
Kill Bill
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Peter Pan
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton!
Hellboy
Troy
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Ghost Rock
Anchorman
Paparazzi
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Taxi
Team America: World Police (8:02)
I Am David
The Pacifier
The Ring 2
Sin City
Kingdom of Heaven
Monster-In-Law
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Madagascar
Fantastic 4
Thank You For Smoking
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Get Rich or Die Tryin’
Storm
Aeon Flux
King Kong
16 Blocks
She’s the Man
Abominable
Over the Hedge (9:02)
Cars
Monster House
Accepted
Black Sheep
Flushed Away
Norbit
Are We Done Yet?
The Invisible
Shrek the Third
Transformers
License to Wed
Juno
Dragon Wars
30 Days of Night
Death Proof (10:01)
Resident Evil: Extinction
Enchanted
The Mist
The Water Horse
Meet the Spartans
Over Her Dead Body
Kung Fu Panda
Speed Racer
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Tropic Thunder
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Bolt (10:59)
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Knowing
Monsters vs. Aliens
Up
Inglourious Basterds
Princess Protection Program
The New Moon
Solomon Kane
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Toy Story 3
Despicable Me
Machete
Due Date
TRON: Legacy (12:01)



ItsOver

While channel surfing yesterday, I got lucky.  I've seen the movie numerous times over the years.  It's been a long time, but I believe I even caught it on the big screen, decades ago, when it was first released.  A true action classic, with a number of iconic actors.  Attenborough, Garner, Pleasence, Bronson, Coburn, and, my favorite, "The Cooler King," Steve McQueen.  Great acting, excellent script, beautiful cinematography, magnificent music, NO F'n CGI, just a truly enjoyable flick.  When I watch a classic from the '60s such as this, it's no wonder the current Hollywood crap pales by comparison.




Quote from: ItsOver on July 17, 2016, 04:56:18 AM
While channel surfing yesterday, I got lucky.  I've seen the movie numerous times over the years.  It's been a long time, but I believe I even caught it on the big screen, decades ago, when it was first released.  A true action classic, with a number of iconic actors.  Attenborough, Garner, Pleasence, Bronson, Coburn, and, my favorite, "The Cooler King," Steve McQueen.  Great acting, excellent script, beautiful cinematography, magnificent music, NO F'n CGI, just a truly enjoyable flick.  When I watch a classic from the '60s such as this, it's no wonder the current Hollywood crap pales by comparison.





Great film.  I haven't seen it in a very long time though,

Rix Gins

Quote from: 21st Century Man on July 17, 2016, 04:57:45 PM
Great film.  I haven't seen it in a very long time though,

I've got The Great Escape on dvd and watch it about once every couple of years.  I can never remember if James Garner is gunned down by the Nazi's after he climbs out of his wrecked plane.  Guess I'll have to watch it again to find out.

ge30542

Quote from: ItsOver on July 17, 2016, 04:56:18 AM
While channel surfing yesterday, I got lucky.  I've seen the movie numerous times over the years.  It's been a long time, but I believe I even caught it on the big screen, decades ago, when it was first released.  A true action classic, with a number of iconic actors.  Attenborough, Garner, Pleasence, Bronson, Coburn, and, my favorite, "The Cooler King," Steve McQueen.  Great acting, excellent script, beautiful cinematography, magnificent music, NO F'n CGI, just a truly enjoyable flick.  When I watch a classic from the '60s such as this, it's no wonder the current Hollywood crap pales by comparison.




It's over, you are correct. I saw this one at the theatre with the psycho step father. Was it '67, '68?  I was 8 or 9. LOVE it.

Have you seen The Sand Pebbles?  McQueen's finest acting job, (it is said).  He was the King of Cool, but Lee Strassberg he wasn't. As a bonus, you'll see 19 yo Candice Bergen.

ge30542

Quote from: Rix Gins on July 17, 2016, 05:10:49 PM
I've got The Great Escape on dvd and watch it about once every couple of years.  I can never remember if James Garner is gunned down by the Nazi's after he climbs out of his wrecked plane.  Guess I'll have to watch it again to find out.
Donald Plesence is shot, Rockfish surrenders.

Rix Gins

Quote from: ge30542 on July 17, 2016, 05:14:39 PM
Donald Plesence is shot, Rockfish surrenders.

Thanks, ge.  Right, come to think of it, Rockfish was covered with oil wasn't he?  I think I'm always mistaking it for blood.  lol

ge30542

CORRECTION, Released in 1963, so perhaps I saw it as a re-telease on the late 60s, or, perhaps I'm totally full of it.

      Last night I watched one of the most beautifully photographed films that I've ever seen.  Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970).  It is an odd Czech film though, totally surreal ,and it is not for everybody.  This sensual film is very much like an adult Brothers Grimm story.  There are Nosferatu-like vampires, hints of incest, lesbianism, witch-burnings, attempted rapes and much more.  A prudish grandmother is turned into a young and sexually voracious vampire.  You would think with all that I have mentioned that this would be some Eurosleaze trash.  It is not.  It is all handled very tastefully with minimal nudity. 





     The main character is a 13 year old girl who lives with her grandmother.  Various characters creep into her life as if in a dream.  A vampire who holds the town under it's thrall may be her father.  His young lackey who Valerie is attracted to may be her brother. A visiting missionary who tries to rape Valerie and subsequently has her burned as a witch.  Or does he?  This film is Dali gone mad. Nothing is at it seems and if you think you know what is going to happen next, you will be surprised.

      As I said before , the cinematography is breathtaking. There are lots of low angle and high angle shots and the movie is like a technicolor dream come true.  The film is based on a book of the same name which is a surrealist classic.  I can't ever imagine a film like this getting made in today's environment.  First of all, it is a movie about the sexual awakenings of a 13 year old girl who is incidentally played by a 13 year old girl.  Her brushes with make/female incest, rape, and lesbianism have the smack of pedophilia.  This is not true but that is how are society would see it.  It is simply a coming of age film.  Through it all, the young actress, Jaroslava Schallerová, who plays Valerie gives her character an air of innocence through all the perils that she has to go through.

       If you want a straight story-line told in the traditional manner, this is not the film for you.  There is no ending nor is there a beginning.  You have to take it for what it is. True surrealist art.  I'm very suspicious of many art films and if I think it is junk, I will say so.  This is not junk.  If you feel adventurous, check it out.  You won't be disappointed.  A surrealist classic.  4.25 out of 5 stars.  Available on Criterion blu-ray and DVD.


A postscript:  This would be the last film of the Czech New Wave as the Communist took over the country and pretty much grounded the film industry until the fall of the Soviet Union.  For all their screechings of atheism and humanism, they felt that films like Valerie were morally repugnant.

    As opposed to the previous film,  Confessions of A Young American Housewife (1974), makes no bones what it is.  It is soft-core erotica albeit one that has a bit of moral fiber behind it. Not much but it is there.  It is about two swinging couples who find themselves in a precarious situation.  Carol's  (Rebecca Brooke) mom (Jennifer Welles), a young and conservative widow,  comes into town to stay with her daughter for several weeks.  What to do with mom around?  The couples initially try to behave themselves but as time wears on, their passions heat up.  Mom captures the 2 couples in all their passion and is initially upset with their behavior.  Then her daughter takes her aside and said that's how they live.  Carol tells her mom that she should let go of any sexual hangups and have a good time.  Of course, it goes without saying that Carol doesn't want to get intimate with her mom or vice versa but mom can play with the other 3 or find her own man.  Carol and her close friend, Anna, take her to a new-age therapist, so that mom can expand her mind. Said new-age therapist is at least bi and all of them have sex together.  Then Mom initiates a relationship with the young man who delivers groceries to their apartment. It's not too long before mom is taking center-stage in the now fivesome's get-togethers.  Everyone's in love with her particularly Carol's husband.



      This makes Carol feel inferior but she also has her problem with Mom.  She finds herself becoming sexually attracted to her Mom and Mom feels the same way about Carol.  Troubled by her feelings, knowing that they are wrong,  Mom decides to move in with the grocery delivery boy and leaves the foursome to their activities. The End.
       I'm posting this review for this film because of the ability of the director, Joe Sarno, who specialized in dramas like this in the 60's and 70's.  He brings real psychological tension to the sexual dynamics of the cast and the cast does a reasonably good job with the material.  The sex is not that explicit.  Genitalia are not seen.  This is leagues above current porn and the stuff shown on Cinemax.  It doesn't hurt that the cast is very attractive.  I think it is a good couples movie to watch before having sex.  It really turns up the heat in a very erotic way. That being said, this sort of movie could never get a great rating from me unless it was truly unique.  For what it is, I'll give it 3 stars.  The one drawback are the fashions of the 70's.  The colors and styles suck.  The delivery boy wears pants that look like they were made from grandmother's old quilt. :-\
       

     Getting back to Hollywood's more traditional fare,  I watched a pair of films recently that have one thing in common.  The great Bernard Herrmann.  My favorite movie composer though John Williams comes close.



      First up Sisters (1972),  Brian de Palma's first ode to Hitchcock. Others might call it a Hitchcock ripoff.  I'd never watched this movie before . I snatched up at a relatively old Criterion dvd at Barnes and Noble during their 50% sale this month.  I'd caught snippets of it before but it never intrigued me enough to stay with it.  Boy was I wrong.  This is a great little film.  Obviously filmed on a relatively tight budget, it stars Margot Kidder as Danielle Breton, one of a pair of Siamese twins that had been surgically separated.  Anyway, she meets this black guy while they are guesting on a TV show based on Candid Camera called Peeping Toms. One thing leads to another and they find themselves back at her place and he stays the night.  In the morning, he wakes up and goes out to run a few errands, picking up a birthday for Danielle and bringing it back to her apartment.  Ge gets a butcher knife out to carve the cake with and goes over to the bed to wake up Danielle.  She grabs the knife and horrifyingly stabs him to death.  But before he dies, he crawls to the window and scrawls HELP on it with his blood.




     A neighbor across the street witnesses this and calls the police.  Turns out the neighbor is also a journalist for a Staten Island newspaper.  She wants to get the story so she goes up with the cops to the apartment only to find no body and no hints of a murder while Danielle is prettying herself in the bathroom.  The cops think that the reporter, Grace Collier (Jennifer Salt),  is nuts and they leave. However, Grace does not give up so easily.  She contacts a PI played by Charles Durning to do some work for her.  He somehow manages to help Danielle load  a couch on a truck and notices that it is a lot heavier than it should be and tries to track it.  Meanwhile a suspicious man (William Finley) who has been tailing Danielle and covering up any of her mistakes takes her back to a clinic to have her assessed.  Grace finds out about the clinic and goes up there too.  Many surprises are to be found there.


    This is too good a story to go into any further details for those that haven't seen it.  De Palma seems fascinated by the idea of a doppelganger or body double in his films.  in this case, the doppelganger is the other sister, Dominique, or is she?  The acting is pretty good though I found the Grace Collier character irritating at times.  William Finley is certifiable creepy as the sinister stalker.  Kidder does a great job and she is very attractive in this film.

     De Palma after he made the film snippeted a score together from various Hitchcock films.  He used material from Vertigo, North By NorthWest, Psycho and other films for his work print.  He then found that the composer of those films, Bernard Herrmann,  was available and he contacted him, brought him to New York and showed the work print to him.  This gave Herrmann the idea to compose a new score but with similar motifs and themes that he used in the Hitchcock films.  Thus the new score.  One incidental note, De Palma in a supplemental interview found on the dvd, said that Hitchcock's work suffered after Hitchcock and Herrmann had a falling out.  I would have to agree.  After Marnie, I found Hitchcock's films lacking save for Frenzy.  I really liked that one.  I have never seen Family Plot though but I'll get around to it sometime.  I'm going to give Sisters 3.75 stars.  A really great film with a few minor faults and one major fault, Jennifer Salt.
     
     



I really enjoy the classic historical, and or biblical films of "old" Hollywood.
They just seem to transport one to a different time or place.
Maybe; in some cases, it's the black and white film.
They didn't have all the technical tricks we do today.
Good acting, and a great story drove the film.
While not perfect: historical inaccuracies, actor caught wearing a wristwatch in Ben Hur, etc., they were entertaining.
I do appreciate the technology in today's cinema, and do like the films.
CGI has made things possible in films that could only be dreamt about years ago.

Here's some trailers from some classic films I've seen, and enjoyed:

https://youtu.be/uYRsMfuIAgo



https://youtu.be/IuEYgMPqwA4



https://youtu.be/HcIMY1Ah3aw



https://youtu.be/on3M7YWlewo



       On Dangerous Ground (1951) starring Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino is a wonderful film and among my favorites.  It gets dumped into the film noir category but it is not pure noir.  There is no femme fatale although Cleo Moore in a small role is a rather interesting bad girl who does tempt Ryan.  Also, the ending is up-beat which is unusual for a noir film.



       This film is short but sweet.  It is a character study of a weary young police officer, Jim Wilson (Ryan),  who is on the edge of a nervous breakdown.  He's fed up with the lack of respect he gets from mugs as well as law-respecting citizens.  He wants to beat the crap out of everyone who says a cross word.

      The film starts out with a cop-killing, an all too common occurrence in our society today,  Wilson and his 2 partners track down the guilty and Ryan beats the living tar out of one of the mugs.  He is then warned by his police chief to curb his actions or there will be consequences.  Ryan beats up another mug and is then ordered by his chief to take a case outside of the city up in the mountains.  Ryan can't continue on the police work if he continues to act so violently. He reluctantly agrees.  The city part of the film takes up about a third of the film and I've simply reduced it to its basic elements.

        So Ryan goes up to this settlement in the mountains where a young girl has been murdered.  The father of the girl, Walter Brent, (Ward Bond) is in a rage and wants revenge.  The sheriff (Ian Wolfe) mounts up search parties to find the killer and Wilson partners up with Brent.  In an ironic turn of events,  Jim tries to calm Walter and not let things get out of hand.  Anyway they track the killer and are just about to catch him when he flees in a car.  Jim and Walter follow in their car and find the car crashed into a ditch off the side of the road.  They have their own problems with the snow and iced over road. The same thing happens to them but they get out and track the suspect to a house way out in the middle of nowhere.
       


       There they find a pretty young lady, Mary Malden (Ida Lupino), who happens to be blind.  They find evidence of a male living at the house and have their suspicions.  Mary says that she does have a brother that lives with her but he is gone for a few days.   It turns out he is hidden elsewhere on the property.  Jim is strangely drawn too Mary and she to him.   In a moment when Walter is not around, Mary tells Jim that her brother is on the property and is likely the killer but he has mental issues and does not understand the implications of his actions.  She begs Jim not to let any harm come to him.  He readily agrees.

      In the morning, after a night's sleep, Jim leaves the house and finds the brother.  They talk but then Walter finds them and before he knows what he's doing, he tries to shoot the boy.  A melee ensues and the boy escapes and climbs up a pylon of rocks with Jim and Brent close behind.  The boy slips and falls to his death.  Walter, discovering that the murderer is nothing more than a child himself, is full of sorrow for the way the events unfolded.  He carries the boy back to Mary's home with Jim at his side.  Jim goes back to the city but finds he is lost without Mary so he goes back to her and they live happily ever after.



      Yeah, this is a fairly simple story but with heavy connotations.  Man finds redemption in Nature.  Jim is forever changed by his days in the wilderness.  You can read religion into that.  Ryan is at his best here as is Lupino and Bond.  Bernard Herrmann's score is one of his best and his only noir score.  It drives the action in the film.  Nicholas Ray, the director, is also at his best and the noir cinematography is striking amidst the snow-covered landscape.  4.5 stars out of 5.

     Force of Evil (1948), directed by Abraham Polonsky, is a story about a big city lawyer, Joe Morse (John Garfield), who runs numbers rackets with his mob boss, Ben Tucker (Roy Roberts).  They are buying up and closing down all of the small-time numbers rackets including one run by Joe's brother, Leo (Thomas Gomez).  Joe wants to be sure his brother is protected and so he convinces Ben to make Leo's place the central gaming house. Leo doesn't like it.  He hates big-time crooks like Joe's boss but he does not really have a choice in the matter.  It is either that or the welfare check so Leo stays on.  Meanwhile Ben's wife, Edna (Marie Windsor), makes a play for Joe but he doesn't like the idea of screwing around with the boss's wife so he turns down her advances.


     Now Leo's employees don't really want to be involved in a mob operations so they try to quit. Doris Lowry (Beatrice Pearson) is the first to go.  She had no idea that what she did there was against the law in the first place.  Then a bookie tries to quit but Ben and Joe won't let him leave.  They are afraid he will start squealing to the cops.  Amidst all of this, Joe and Doris start to have feelings for each other.  Doris tries to convince Joe to quit the illegal rackets.  He says he can't as Ben will likely talk and Joe will be disbarred from practicing law.  The bookie decides to call the police and let them know about the illegal racketing going on.  Ben finds out and has the bookie killed.  Then the mob grabs Leo because now he's decided to talk.  They threaten him and he has a heart attack and dies.  Joe finds out and confronts Ben and another big time mob boss, Bill Ficco (Paul Fix) and a gunfight ensues.  Joe kills Ben and Bill and then goes to find his brother's body on the waterfront.



    I don't know about this film. It is supposed to be a pro-Communist rant about the evils of capitalism but the only thing that I can see is the parallel in big-time rackets aka corporations buying or putting out of business small-time rackets aka small businesses.  In that case, it is not a failure of capitalism but corporatism but too often it seems people mix the two up. I thought the story was ok but nothing fantastic.  It is definitely not my favorite John Garfield film. Cinematic critics like Martin Scorcese think it is a masterpiece.  I don't see it that way.  The acting was fine with a great cast but the story didn't do much for me. The cinematography was fine with the typical noir shadows and such. The music was forgettable.  Maybe I need to watch it again because I just didn't get it.  Polonsky was later blacklisted as a communist but maybe his lack of work had nothing to do with supposedly being a communist. At least Trumbo was good enough to find work under other names so he could keep working in the industry.  With that said, I'll be kind and give it 3.25 stars out of 5.  Marie Windsor and Paul Fix are the best things in it.  Too bad their roles were not larger.  Gomez was very good too.  Again, I would not call this a classic noir as some elements are missing.  Marie Windsor plays a femme fatale type but Garfield rejects her advances.




Quote from: god of thunder on July 17, 2016, 07:53:33 PM
I really enjoy the classic historical, and or biblical films of "old" Hollywood.
They just seem to transport one to a different time or place.
Maybe; in some cases, it's the black and white film.
They didn't have all the technical tricks we do today.
Good acting, and a great story drove the film.
While not perfect: historical inaccuracies, actor caught wearing a wristwatch in Ben Hur, etc., they were entertaining.
I do appreciate the technology in today's cinema, and do like the films.
CGI has made things possible in films that could only be dreamt about years ago.

Here's some trailers from some classic films I've seen, and enjoyed:



Love those type of films too.  Spartacus is fantastic.

Rix Gins

Quote from: 21st Century Man on July 17, 2016, 08:35:37 PM
       On Dangerous Ground (1951) starring Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino is a wonderful film and among my favorites.  It gets dumped into the film noir category but it is not pure noir.  There is no femme fatale although Cleo Moore in a small role is a rather interesting bad girl who does tempt Ryan.  Also, the ending is up-beat which is unusual for a noir film.

Yowza!  On Dangerous Ground is a great movie.  I liked how they filmed in real snow at that settlement.  Looked real cold there.  And Ryan's chief, played by the great character actor Ed Begley...great job, especially the part where he has Ryan's character meet him at a restaurant for one of those dressing downs.  Ryan walks up to the table and Begley is there shoveling food into his mouth.  "Waiter," Begley calls out.  "More peas."  Then he turns to Ryan and says. "Are you hungry?  Do you like food?"  Ryan gives a slow and grim shake of his head.  If there was anything he was less interested in at that moment, it was food.

To repeat, great movie, and Robert Ryan is one of my favorite top ten actors.

Quote from: Rix Gins on July 17, 2016, 10:17:52 PM
Yowza!  On Dangerous Ground is a great movie.  I liked how they filmed in real snow at that settlement.  Looked real cold there.  And Ryan's chief, played by the great character actor Ed Begley...great job, especially the part where he has Ryan's character meet him at a restaurant for one of those dressing downs.  Ryan walks up to the table and Begley is there shoveling food into his mouth.  "Waiter," Begley calls out.  "More peas."  Then he turns to Ryan and says. "Are you hungry?  Do you like food?"  Ryan gives a slow and grim shake of his head.  If there was anything he was less interested in at that moment, it was food.

To repeat, great movie, and Robert Ryan is one of my favorite top ten actors.

Forgot to mention old Ed.  I loved that scene too.  To bad his part was not bigger but he did his job well. Ryan's a damn great actor, no doubt.  He is so good at playing tortured souls.

ItsOver

Quote from: ge30542 on July 17, 2016, 05:13:24 PM
It's over, you are correct. I saw this one at the theatre with the psycho step father. Was it '67, '68?  I was 8 or 9. LOVE it.

Have you seen The Sand Pebbles?  McQueen's finest acting job, (it is said).  He was the King of Cool, but Lee Strassberg he wasn't. As a bonus, you'll see 19 yo Candice Bergen.
Yes, indeed, I've watched "The Sand Pebbles" a number of times.  I'd have to say my two favorite McQueen movies are "Bullitt" and "Baby the Rain Must Fall."  He's perfect for "Bullitt" and I enjoy watching him with Lee Remick in "Baby the Rain Must Fall."

TigerLily


For your viewing pleasure. On TCM Tuesday 6pm/3pm  Red Sun (1972). A Western with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Miffune, Alain Delon and Ursula Andress.  Maybe not a classic but very enjoyable.

GravitySucks

Quote from: TigerLily on July 18, 2016, 06:55:09 PM
For your viewing pleasure. On TCM Tuesday 6pm/3pm  Red Sun (1972). A Western with Charles Bronson, Toshiro Miffune, Alain Delon and Ursula Andress.  Maybe not a classic but very enjoyable.

I saw that movie a few years ago. I loved the scenery. Thanks TL. Now if I only had cable. LOL

TigerLily


... And immediately following. A Fistful of Dollars.  Which one is better? The original, Yojimbo, or the re-make? I gotta go with Yojimbo. But then again. Clint Eastwood during his spaghetti western days.  Still, my vote is Yojimbo

TigerLily

Quote from: GravitySucks on July 18, 2016, 07:02:17 PM
I saw that movie a few years ago. I loved the scenery. Thanks TL. Now if I only had cable. LOL

Well. I can't stream movies so probably makes us even

GravitySucks

Quote from: TigerLily on July 18, 2016, 07:04:11 PM
... And immediately following. A Fistful of Dollars.  Which one is better? The original, Yojimbo, or the re-make? I gotta go with Yojimbo. But then again. Clint Eastwood during his spaghetti western days.  Still, my vote is Yojimbo

I haven't see Yojimbo. I loved the man with no name trilogy. Clint only got paid $15,000. I didn't know they were sued. Cost them over $100,000 to settle out of court. In real dollars.

zeebo

I wonder which samurai classic inspired Every Which Way But Loose.

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