tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50666975509403427562024-03-17T20:00:02.081-07:00Cinema SmearUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2959125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-70151705828862971292024-03-16T01:38:00.000-07:002024-03-16T01:38:36.614-07:00Joe Camp, RIP<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1e6CrJ2ynJbIt_PztrbkiV45AXosPy0d-bm6y1EsctzAVQRaRiC61paPbHpuMn3PpUUmLfjk72P7E_ZK66pLifTrPE7Czkhls0TnNQpx0QphEWNFAaKn_Szrb0RwOQjK-bQAhs7TpBXUTf8q4Rmj__4q3UlKzqIUNkgsp6nKXZ3BDn8EzZsUYehZKIf5/s480/joe-camp.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1e6CrJ2ynJbIt_PztrbkiV45AXosPy0d-bm6y1EsctzAVQRaRiC61paPbHpuMn3PpUUmLfjk72P7E_ZK66pLifTrPE7Czkhls0TnNQpx0QphEWNFAaKn_Szrb0RwOQjK-bQAhs7TpBXUTf8q4Rmj__4q3UlKzqIUNkgsp6nKXZ3BDn8EzZsUYehZKIf5/w400-h300/joe-camp.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Joe Camp died yesterday at age 84. He made the Benji movies including <i>Oh, Heavenly Dog </i>starring Chevy Chase. Also made a mystery, <i>The Double McGuffin.</i><p></p><p>I saw <i>Benji</i> in a theater back in 1974. I must have been 11 and it bothered me that the dog wasn't really an actor and didn't understand the storyline he was acting out. Bob Barker once said it was his favorite movie and, according to IMDb, it was a "guilty pleasure" of Alfred Hitchcock.</p><p>One of the sequels, <i>Benji the Hunted, </i>was attacked by Michael Medved who lashed out against it because Benji doesn't come when his owner calls him and stays in the woods to save some orphaned baby animals.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-9325383200184847142024-03-15T12:46:00.000-07:002024-03-15T13:30:11.198-07:00Bowanga, Bowanga (1951)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhL2s50BxI-1hyPukgWCM5SfIbhUVZ604Ew133k5spBd40AQXtoXc6BghtFNOKt0LDm2oaZJyqc9AmM4EbiPppjux0xT2lV1tc7xx9iQD4AhLyrwd-pQg1qB5c7CAAMxnHbN0tTLqggJNynvoIjKgC49uxoijmOQUfRDJWWkrjlRTiBq2iHrka1F1pncn/s465/bowanga2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="300" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGhL2s50BxI-1hyPukgWCM5SfIbhUVZ604Ew133k5spBd40AQXtoXc6BghtFNOKt0LDm2oaZJyqc9AmM4EbiPppjux0xT2lV1tc7xx9iQD4AhLyrwd-pQg1qB5c7CAAMxnHbN0tTLqggJNynvoIjKgC49uxoijmOQUfRDJWWkrjlRTiBq2iHrka1F1pncn/w258-h400/bowanga2.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><p></p><p>Three white guys are abducted by white African women in two piece swimsuits.</p><p>A little more realistic than similar films. The women barely speak English and it takes place in a desert rather than a jungle. Good-size women. They beat up the men.</p><p>"You don't think they're cannibals, do you?"</p><p>"...They could be treacherous in other ways."</p><p>Not much you can say about it. The women must have been wrestlers.</p><p>Available on Pub-D-Hub.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhou9FsEJw-Iez5ts4zuHC4MlK49P4_e8ievSO4qtsP4M9ONzsPDqmwN6DfZCMqDQ17qNX143so4yx3OK-F_r6HiPDoKrXnyi8pmGBO7LdQ14IbTrIFFboXP81-KLKey1s5-iH9IUCsfsN6XaXS37zJ-3O5h_UZFFc0G4L1tAyiz4F6BiKE-09WrHSkgGAF/s300/bowanga.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhou9FsEJw-Iez5ts4zuHC4MlK49P4_e8ievSO4qtsP4M9ONzsPDqmwN6DfZCMqDQ17qNX143so4yx3OK-F_r6HiPDoKrXnyi8pmGBO7LdQ14IbTrIFFboXP81-KLKey1s5-iH9IUCsfsN6XaXS37zJ-3O5h_UZFFc0G4L1tAyiz4F6BiKE-09WrHSkgGAF/w320-h320/bowanga.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-8167394164641196562024-03-13T11:43:00.000-07:002024-03-13T11:43:06.224-07:00Ishtar (1987) Elaine May<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzuooRimkDB-NrIqyjVEvq1Lh0r9cfE7a8-Y6oAu2-cF1b7Zo9jO2ZN-fbUBYlqBYGXjGRUBRgcQp5fX8cHT4R8pO0oZE7UUIKTiar8nAvFO958fEGoNuBnT9c2pj3dh_UOxnTHcj5flGK5zogl7K9FGqOB-E4MrF7cEodQRgWotNDI1l073-wW5xQ5zB/s3000/ishtar3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2006" data-original-width="3000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdzuooRimkDB-NrIqyjVEvq1Lh0r9cfE7a8-Y6oAu2-cF1b7Zo9jO2ZN-fbUBYlqBYGXjGRUBRgcQp5fX8cHT4R8pO0oZE7UUIKTiar8nAvFO958fEGoNuBnT9c2pj3dh_UOxnTHcj5flGK5zogl7K9FGqOB-E4MrF7cEodQRgWotNDI1l073-wW5xQ5zB/w400-h268/ishtar3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I have two brothers who are jazz musicians and they and their musician friends loved this movie. They thought the bad lyrics were hilarious. There are amateur musicians who record in the same studios the professionals use, and most of them are very nice people. The professional musicians like them and get along with them, but their songs are not good. We can't be geniuses at everything.<p></p><p>And I'll mention this. Some years ago, Natalie Portman railed against Woody Allen:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">“I don’t think that’s what the conversation should be about. I think it should be about: Why didn’t Elaine May make a movie every year? Why didn’t Nora Ephron make a movie every year?"</p></blockquote><p>She was right that there should be more women filmmakers, but Woody Allen makes a movie a year because his sister goes to Europe and raises money year after year. He apparently stays within his budget. Elaine May, on the other hand, made Ishtar for $55 million, nearly $150 million today, far more than Woody Allen's ever spent, and this was, as Warren Beatty put it, a gift to her to give her a chance to show what she could do as a director. He was grateful to her for the work she put into re-writing a couple of his movies, <i>Heaven Can Wait</i> and <i>Reds. </i>She also did a re-write on Hoffman's movie, <i>Tootsie.</i></p><p>Two painfully bad singer-songwriters (Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman) travel to north African to perform and find the country crawling with CIA on the verge of revolution. With Charles Grodin. It wasn't great but it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be at the time. It was attacked for being so expensive which, Beatty argued, shouldn't be the audience's concern.</p><p>Available on The Criterion Channel. <br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-21762762413412402192024-03-08T11:49:00.000-08:002024-03-13T11:44:49.204-07:00John Wayne, Brannigan (1975)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3usTxw2xRBgg-BCr_p0ggaWf8s_XuOk9KjVYXgx1QTvMqPDOVlJFKTfoo_VcH3L_xPIQC1P_f_vFcF8vCACTTAifqHf1vIGjLm_tL5tpon_nhuGNDfOITtXL1d-aTNS35aMAjPkf8R0jmOuGjkBh4LtXQc1VppuJLH45aJNUQRO_Aw5YYNy6VNxusxcf/s1023/brannigan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1023" data-original-width="701" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf3usTxw2xRBgg-BCr_p0ggaWf8s_XuOk9KjVYXgx1QTvMqPDOVlJFKTfoo_VcH3L_xPIQC1P_f_vFcF8vCACTTAifqHf1vIGjLm_tL5tpon_nhuGNDfOITtXL1d-aTNS35aMAjPkf8R0jmOuGjkBh4LtXQc1VppuJLH45aJNUQRO_Aw5YYNy6VNxusxcf/w274-h400/brannigan.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br />My impression was that this and <i>McQ</i> were attempts by John Wayne to be another Dirty Harry. He kicks in doors and says, "Knock knock." He threatens and beats information out of people. He's looking for a racketeer (John Vernon, the mayor from <i>Dirty Harry</i>) who fled to England when he was indicted in Chicago. Brannigan flies to the U.K. to bring him back but finds that he's been kidnapped.<p></p><p>The joke is that the British cops are so by-the-book and Brannigan is so tough and plays by his own rules. He carries a gun which he has no right to do in Britain. There's a barroom brawl that's like something from a western, people punching each other and breaking chairs over their heads without anyone being hurt or killed.</p><p>Draft dodger John Waye keeps claiming to have been in London during the war. Young people today don't seem to know that World War Two veterans hated John Wayne for staying out of the war.</p><p>There's kind of a romantic thing between John Wayne and a much younger English policewoman.</p><p>It was interesting to see England in the mid-70's but not with John Wayne walking around. Although, now that I think about it, I had a friend in high school who loved this movie.</p><p><i>McQ</i> had a better ending. Filmed around Seattle, it had a car chase down a beach. The thrilling climax here is just John Wayne shooting at a Jaguar.</p><p>Free on Tubi.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-3437599139471197032024-03-08T05:40:00.000-08:002024-03-08T05:40:13.523-08:00Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCIRcwXi0rntMrq1C_5XtX_0j1N-h73oZCBX0Y3zPNo-vnaH0tupS7Jc0SYPLCVKqy_fwsBdFRwHsEw074pjD-V1p_vsp2jnZfHiffMA2OpRFwXYSRQU_y4Wtw7AxvbEvi0o3mK7vUQwZ-wLBBzvF0b4xgJo4wHJtF-Ji01h5HsryU5d62evZVTur6kjP/s400/jesse-james-meets-frankenstein-s-daughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="400" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGCIRcwXi0rntMrq1C_5XtX_0j1N-h73oZCBX0Y3zPNo-vnaH0tupS7Jc0SYPLCVKqy_fwsBdFRwHsEw074pjD-V1p_vsp2jnZfHiffMA2OpRFwXYSRQU_y4Wtw7AxvbEvi0o3mK7vUQwZ-wLBBzvF0b4xgJo4wHJtF-Ji01h5HsryU5d62evZVTur6kjP/w400-h283/jesse-james-meets-frankenstein-s-daughter.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />And why SHOULDN'T Jesse James meet Frankenstein's daughter, allthough I think it was actually his granddaughter. The Cartwrights on <i>Bonanza</i> met Charles Dickins. <p></p><p>I never understood Jesse James' appeal. There was an episode of <i>The Brady Bunch</i> where Peter, misled by movies, became an admirer. Mike and Carol introduce him to an old man whose father was murdered by Jesse James. They could have just told Peter that Jesse James was a Confederate, a traitorous racist monster. </p><p>Frankstein's granddaughter has left Vienna and come to America to an area where electrical storms are more common. She needs that electricity to bring dead guys back to life.</p><p>The movie wasn't that awful. Directed by old B movie director William Beaudine.</p><p>Free on Tubi.</p><p> </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-52656529341019302052024-03-08T05:00:00.000-08:002024-03-11T12:15:19.359-07:00Richard Lewis on cinema<p> Quote from the late Richard Lewis found on Counterpunch.com:</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">I’m obsessive-compulsive. For example, I can watch John Cassavetes’s films over and over again. When I used to date women much younger than me, I would put them through training periods—”This is Ingmar Bergman week,” “This is Stanley Kubrick week.” It was very controlling, because they had to enjoy what I enjoyed. I see now how foolish and crazy and narcissistic it was. I like dark films. There’s a French film called The Mother and the Whore [1973]. It came out about a year after Last Tango in Paris [1972], which blew my mind and frightened me because it’s all about fear of intimacy. When I watch Marlon Brando in that movie now and I realize that I’m so much older now than he was when he was in it . . . Even though I got married, I still have . . . you know, those shadows followed me, those intimacy problems. The Mother and the Whore, though, was directed by Jean Eustache. He was this guy who came after the French New Wave and who wound up committing suicide. Jean-Pierre Léaud, who was one of my favorite actors, is in the movie. So I come home one night and I’m watching this film and I’m saying, “God, it looks like a [Bernardo] Bertolucci movie. It’s so dark. But I’ve never seen Jean-Pierre in a movie like this.” And it went on and on. It’s a masterpiece. It’s the greatest film I’ve ever seen on the Madonna-whore complex. So I do obsess over these films—I watch them over and over because, I guess, I sort of feel less alone and less crazy when I see some of these works of darkness.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-80244788732802146532024-03-07T04:33:00.000-08:002024-03-13T11:53:42.135-07:00Rust armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed convicted of manslaughter<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0lQ_l3rQLaX8y2bpJ7OFhzw_E8cC566IjhSHaFKYV17-_RQailVFb6sMymu_QAU9RGxr8yt0Wh3W1BueVH0FDtT40eRzfKHnvDp5aNL-TIQlZGrsTtDU9iWxvICWt5fNouZl75rKooPC-8Z-ifmCxbzJuA8_UyTbEncUw7Ukv_ptVIfiUcxpEMMX6CuP/s768/BB1jscph.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv0lQ_l3rQLaX8y2bpJ7OFhzw_E8cC566IjhSHaFKYV17-_RQailVFb6sMymu_QAU9RGxr8yt0Wh3W1BueVH0FDtT40eRzfKHnvDp5aNL-TIQlZGrsTtDU9iWxvICWt5fNouZl75rKooPC-8Z-ifmCxbzJuA8_UyTbEncUw7Ukv_ptVIfiUcxpEMMX6CuP/w400-h266/BB1jscph.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Acquitted of destroying evidence for allegedly disposing of some cocaine.<p></p><p>Watched a couple of YouTube videos discussing the case. There were questions about where the live ammunition came from and there was footage of Alec Baldwin shooting a scene firing a gun then demanding the armorer hurry and reload so they could do a retake. If he wanted to rush it, they should have skipped the re-takes. It was only a western. How good does it need to be? </p><p>She's facing a maximum 18 month sentence.</p><p>Why even use real guns? They have to use fake guns anyway when they have an actor who's a convicted felon. There was a scene in this movie where a 13-year-old fires a gun and accidentally kills a man and they didn't use a blank---they added smoke and muzzle flash digitally.<br /></p><p>I know I'm repeating myself but actors have been killed and injured firing blanks on movie sets before. Bruce Willis suffered hearing loss on the set of a Die Hard movies by firing blanks in a closed space. And there was the time that real, fully functional submachine guns were stolen from the set of <i>The Untouchables</i> around 1960.</p><p>I still want to know if that film professor had any second thoughts about demanding that college kids use only real guns in their student films. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-60148724815469578272024-03-06T09:36:00.000-08:002024-03-06T09:36:36.688-08:00Freddy Got Fingered on The Criterion Channel?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-dcTC-088OtnmI8mOgRgSYY-jnsbRRoIJsG1zMtrgglEXXoO-qXVtfa8Mvm8EtrQ5YdrhA_CCR6-GqG38cBSKJjkTOk03bgqtQWUNrceA2Y3T3NlVvrJFPdRnvJYNJR0cxeebw5iKaYL7KbkmQ088szQGkBnZlPQtuioYbOa_iSQw_cbIMb8I90Wgc3e/s1277/FreddyGotFingered.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1277" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix-dcTC-088OtnmI8mOgRgSYY-jnsbRRoIJsG1zMtrgglEXXoO-qXVtfa8Mvm8EtrQ5YdrhA_CCR6-GqG38cBSKJjkTOk03bgqtQWUNrceA2Y3T3NlVvrJFPdRnvJYNJR0cxeebw5iKaYL7KbkmQ088szQGkBnZlPQtuioYbOa_iSQw_cbIMb8I90Wgc3e/w400-h225/FreddyGotFingered.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />I've never seen it so what do I know? Maybe it's brilliant. They have <i>Freddy Got Fingered</i> playing on The Criterion Channel, and if I'm reading this correctly it's their most popular title.<div><p>Oh, I see. They're featuring Razzie-"winning" films. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p>Irredeemable affront to good taste? Or subversive Dada masterpiece? Critically reviled upon its release but increasingly recognized for its undeniable, go-for-broke audacity, Tom Green’s infamous gross-out comedy is a true cinematic Rorschach test. Described by Green himself as the “touching story of a young man who desperately wants to make his daddy proud,” FREDDY GOT FINGERED casts the writer-director-star as Gord, an unemployed wannabe cartoonist whose desperate attempts to please his father (Rip Torn) lead him into all sorts of misadventures—whether it’s getting way too friendly with a horse on a stud farm, creating his own form of sausage-based performance art, or wreaking havoc inside a hospital delivery room.</p></blockquote><p>Maybe Dada just wasn't very good.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-86438895029239806732024-03-03T09:35:00.000-08:002024-03-03T09:35:04.793-08:00Richard Lewis, RIP<p>I watched Richard Lewis's last episode of <i>Curb Your Enthusiasm.</i> Kind of an awful episode where much of the humor revolved around looking up the leg of men's shorts and seeing their genitalia. This is what we would have been watching on <i>Seinfeld</i> all these years if it hadn't been for the snotty network censors. </p><p>It's been noted elsewhere that, in the episode, that Lewis told David that he would leave money for him in his will. </p><p>"When I die, I want you to know how much I care about you."</p><p>From a statement by Larry David:</p>“Richard and I were born three days apart in the same hospital and for most of my life he’s been like a brother to me. He had that rare combination of being the funniest person and also the sweetest. But today he made me sob and for that I’ll never forgive him.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-14388858299160142962024-02-24T10:35:00.000-08:002024-03-03T23:10:44.777-08:00Back in action<p>I was regaling my brother-in-law with the fact that the three brothers on <i>Bonanza</i> each had a different mother. I knew that because I had a friend who saw an episode that went into Cartwright family history. There were over 400 episodes of the show. I used to watch it now and then when it was still on network TV and since then I've watched it in syndication over the years, but there are only a few episodes I've seen more than once. </p><p>Later, we watched an old episode of Frasier. Frasier and Niles had no idea who Hoss and Little Joe were. I myself feel s little disappointed in people when they show too much knowledge of the show.. To me, it was always like The Brady Bunch. I saw The Partridge Family as the more sophisticated show. </p><p>I've let a long time go between postings on here. I have good reason. I was having severe headaches which turned out were caused by my brain bleeding. Had emergency brain surgery, then some more brain surgery so it wouldn't start bleeding again. </p><p>When I went back t the hospital for an appointment, a nurse from Minnisota or Wisconsin told me that this was a common injury where he was from. People would slip and fall in the ice, hit their heads and put off seeing the doctor. So don't let this happen to you. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-85511000356255558742024-01-31T02:38:00.000-08:002024-01-31T02:38:23.088-08:00Stuff I watched on TV briefly<p>I haven't been well. I've been lying in bed a lot watching old episodes of <i>One Day at a Time</i> on Pluto. They've been showing later episodes after Mackenzie Philips left and Glenn Scarpelli joined the cast. I never understood Mackenzie Philips' appeal and I thought Glenn Scarpelli was great. He was funny and could pull off emotional scenes. He was everything <i>The Brady Bunch</i> hoped Cousin Oliver would be.</p><p>Then watched <i>The Brady Bunch,</i> "The Subject was Noses". Nicholas Hammond (Frederick from <i>The Sound of Music</i>)<i> </i>breaks his date with Marcia when her appearance is marred by a blow to her nose. "Something suddenly came up," he tells her, so handsome he didn't even try to sound sincere.</p><p>Directed by Jack Arnold.</p><p>I don't know how I feel about it.</p><p>As I write this, Mike and Carol Brady are dressed like Anthony and Cleopatra. Mrs Brady was going to wear earrings she entrusted to Marcia but Cindy had been monkeying with them and they are lost. Peter is wearing a deerstalker cap trying to solve the mystery but is of no help. Alice saves the day.</p><p>I don't think there's any deeper meaning.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-2586180703242701252024-01-22T23:44:00.000-08:002024-01-23T17:22:21.174-08:00All Against All (Slovenia, 2019)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqt9_dI3jjzUH1Vqb2il3KGCqtCiMlhUMtXIqJkdO_qjHl1csTeRP-VT5R5pcvvhyMmmk1dGt-k46-x3tUSO6iP0_Ej9acXtHFTx3-1QIbWBciZKudMKQYDMdHtKhibd4o1r59cUMNiKSH1EQFAHIQK7qbrnMfYkjyXL9MtU21IlXRQd_FdVm9aG20qhz/s900/all%20against%20all%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKqt9_dI3jjzUH1Vqb2il3KGCqtCiMlhUMtXIqJkdO_qjHl1csTeRP-VT5R5pcvvhyMmmk1dGt-k46-x3tUSO6iP0_Ej9acXtHFTx3-1QIbWBciZKudMKQYDMdHtKhibd4o1r59cUMNiKSH1EQFAHIQK7qbrnMfYkjyXL9MtU21IlXRQd_FdVm9aG20qhz/w400-h266/all%20against%20all%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />A political thriller set in a town in Slovenia. The mayor is about to be voted out of office and goes to absurd lengths to destroy his opponent. Had about five different subplots. The stakes seemed pretty low at first, but everything's relative and things spin out of control.<p></p><p>It looked like a nice place to live except for the violence and corruption. </p><p>Free on Tubi.</p><p>Remember Jason Mann, the poor devil who "won" on <i>Project Greenlight</i> and got to direct a made-for-HBO movie for $3 million in 2015? They turned him into the villain on the reality show and dashed any hopes he may have had for a career in Hollywood. I turned this movie on because he was the cinematographer. And it looked pretty good, the camera drifting through scenes.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-16630631964169492282024-01-20T01:22:00.000-08:002024-01-20T08:07:05.149-08:00Teenage Mother (1967)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTd6_ALn_ANatNC-k9_KCux2xxImOH5ziIB780Ea6MeQ0kEY8LLHSki5zSiIO09Cg6FrRKeGhaZc7piWX0DcoxzesDq3hjEtk_AouvP7A9lY2JY4oz-VlM-vFhyYEO8MZaLJO3fnwJ90H17IqWJ3rWNiT6aEGw-vXxa8FDob1peEunh6AUjN5x9Cg5fd4K/s512/fred%20willard.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="512" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTd6_ALn_ANatNC-k9_KCux2xxImOH5ziIB780Ea6MeQ0kEY8LLHSki5zSiIO09Cg6FrRKeGhaZc7piWX0DcoxzesDq3hjEtk_AouvP7A9lY2JY4oz-VlM-vFhyYEO8MZaLJO3fnwJ90H17IqWJ3rWNiT6aEGw-vXxa8FDob1peEunh6AUjN5x9Cg5fd4K/w400-h225/fred%20willard.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Rated GP, what they used to call PG, when it came out. A Swedish high school health teacher comes to America. She's sexually assaulted by the school drug dealer. A father blames her when his daughter pretends to be pregnant although it sounded like girls got pregnant all the time there.<p></p><p>It really didn't make any sense.</p><p>With Fred Willard in an early role as the coach. </p><p>"Health education being taught by a woman," Willard says. "That's something new."</p><p>He announces that Health Education will now be called Anatomical Biology, "a study of what makes up the differences between man and woman and the various functions their bodies perform."</p><p>"Yeah, man!" exclaims a 35-year-old teenager. </p><p>"All right, that's enough of that," says Fred Willard.</p><p>There was little hint of his future screen persona.</p><p>Ends with medical film showing the use of forceps in childbirth which was what the whole thing was leading up to.</p><p>Free on Tubi.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-21317715111413554612024-01-19T23:54:00.000-08:002024-01-20T00:06:42.835-08:00Seijun Suzuki's Man with a Shotgun, 1961<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifz2PWzw1VXn0vFOR7ZJxTtOAqWszygYw9J8JsiyDiLlTcirVi2QP4QsIpo5ikKSDyqMOjR_KitPwnV5_1z_7HTDYEBbuIxY9fZLlfnYYNkGqX3lR5LRE3x8Sj-Mk2rKKYf4QnZYyiROzFaHZZE1t5F9RFRNSIMGGsDxMaSyi9h_zosPueifjfzpGOfDAA/s750/manwithashotgun1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="750" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifz2PWzw1VXn0vFOR7ZJxTtOAqWszygYw9J8JsiyDiLlTcirVi2QP4QsIpo5ikKSDyqMOjR_KitPwnV5_1z_7HTDYEBbuIxY9fZLlfnYYNkGqX3lR5LRE3x8Sj-Mk2rKKYf4QnZYyiROzFaHZZE1t5F9RFRNSIMGGsDxMaSyi9h_zosPueifjfzpGOfDAA/w400-h240/manwithashotgun1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />There were movies like <i>Yojimbo</i> that seemed to be inspired by American westerns, but this took it further. A man with a shotgun claiming to be a hunter wanders into an isolated corrupt town in the mountains in then-present day Japan. The owner of the mill, the town's largest employer, is harboring criminals who harass residents and act as his bodyguards. The town has a sheriff who is just a guy who wants to find who raped and murdered his wife. <p></p><p>There's a bar where the men hang out. There are fights where all they do is punch each other in the face and break chairs over their heads without injuring or killing each other. They'll occasionally throw in a Judo thing.</p><p>There was a scene in the saloon where there was music and dancing, but there were only a few women so it was mostly men dancing together.</p><p>It was kind of repetitive. There's a lot of debate over who'll be the new sheriff. A double-barreled shotgun wasn't the best weapon for this situation, but they wore better shoes, not like American westerns where the men limp around in high heeled boots.</p><p>I liked Kurosawa's <i>High and Low</i> where the detectives were armed with little .32 automatics and the head detective had a tiny .25 automatic, the sort of gun American ladies carry in their handbags. The big, stupid-looking guns in American westerns always bothered me. But in this movie, the sheriff walked around with a rifle. </p><p>Available on the Criterion Channel until the end of the month. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-51059520398496913072024-01-13T14:39:00.000-08:002024-01-14T10:48:20.990-08:00Disney's The Cat from Outer Space (1978)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76T_RQRHyTzPtBEHJHjGD1VV3-AyPJiyLEHvD5O0ZJtFMXbBdctKkUdg1mr6SxabMGsYb9fewdnJTDPBlYT-zwPwO9l7NMVhJoaRhvoKzecgxLJN5j75wEr1onq9rUF3RlUQ2FP8KwRsEfjwfcHSK0BGmPP7OSbg7J7ke3lV8w2zqQ-S0YraKYpNaxqO9/s325/CatFromOuterSpace.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="250" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg76T_RQRHyTzPtBEHJHjGD1VV3-AyPJiyLEHvD5O0ZJtFMXbBdctKkUdg1mr6SxabMGsYb9fewdnJTDPBlYT-zwPwO9l7NMVhJoaRhvoKzecgxLJN5j75wEr1onq9rUF3RlUQ2FP8KwRsEfjwfcHSK0BGmPP7OSbg7J7ke3lV8w2zqQ-S0YraKYpNaxqO9/w308-h400/CatFromOuterSpace.webp" width="308" /></a></div><br />I read long ago about a short film made for small children called "Vacation on Mars". It sounded like it was just shots of ducks walking around in front of large postcard photos as backdrops. The ducks were supposed to be Martians. <p></p><p>We only see one of them, but in this movie, the space aliens look like cats. </p><p>Stars Ken Berry and Sandy Duncan. Has both McLean Stevenson and Harry Morgan from <i>M*A*S*H*</i>. Hans Conried, Roddy McDowall. Alan Young (Wilbur from <i>Mr Ed</i>) and the voice of Ronnie Schell as The Cat from Outer Space.</p><p>The critic for <i>Variety</i> wrote: "... it's a good cast of veterans and nothing to tax them beyond their abilities."</p><p>Roddy McDowall was working for a supervillain who gave more thought to the cause of humanity than Berry did. He and Sandy Duncan and McLean Stevenson set out to help the cat get back to his own people without a thought.<br /></p><p>Written by cartoonist and writer Ted Key. Director Norman Tokar.</p><p>Rather long at an hour and forty-four minutes. It was still shorter than <i>That Darn Cat!</i> which was almost two hours. Were all Disney movies this long? Was it so parents would have a decent length of time away from their children? I feel hurt if it was.</p><p>Had some aerial stunts in the end that didn't look very safe.</p><p>Available on The Criterion Channel.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-31016743456835179862024-01-12T11:38:00.000-08:002024-01-20T08:06:01.549-08:00Disney's That Darn Cat! (1965)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzUV1LnC5mqXdxzNAAMEFwALyZNtnFgANOVRezW3-y8jnVX0xjwzIWAUhkL7M2WQxoVB2xmD7qR3APhpIXx7yrgeh2Mo4FYuPBYruCaw-LOugfh7PrR9mqOtyOgsoA8aZNcwWlIJlD9y5oElMjKilasuLh5JHNvBTt6e5ANKcheCu6Dscu-ZwMQTJ_rjG/s970/DC.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="970" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzUV1LnC5mqXdxzNAAMEFwALyZNtnFgANOVRezW3-y8jnVX0xjwzIWAUhkL7M2WQxoVB2xmD7qR3APhpIXx7yrgeh2Mo4FYuPBYruCaw-LOugfh7PrR9mqOtyOgsoA8aZNcwWlIJlD9y5oElMjKilasuLh5JHNvBTt6e5ANKcheCu6Dscu-ZwMQTJ_rjG/w400-h225/DC.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Kind of a grim story. I <i>guess</i> it was a comedy. It was based on a crime novella. The FBI is looking for two bank robbers who stole a vast sum of money and abducted a bank teller who they plan to murder. One of the crooks, Frank Gorshin, likes cats and lets a Siamese cat into the apartment. Their hostage puts her wristwatch around the cat's neck and sends it on its way. This is what prompts cat owner Hayley Mills to call the FBI who sent agent Dean Jones to look into it. They decide to tail the cat hoping to follow it to the kidnappers' apartment.<p></p><p>Dean Jones is allergic to cats and sneezes convincingly, not something every actor can do. At one point he holds his nose to keep from sneezing which can blow your ear drums out. How many children were injured imitating what they saw in this movie?</p><p>Hayley Mills and Dorothy Provine as sisters who speak with different accents. Elsa Lanchester in a mixed marriage with American William Demarest. With Ed Wynn. </p><p>Bobby Darin sang the theme song.</p><p>There was some suspense over the fate of the hostage (Grayson Hall) although you knew nobody was going to die. The two sisters have terrible boyfriends (Tom Lowell and Roddy McDowall) who keep forcing their ways into the girls' house. </p><p>I don't know how I would have reacted to this as a kid. I liked TV violence, but I wanted realistic violence. This movie had a slapstick sequence where Dean Jones follows the cat in foot into a drive-in movie theater. The theater manager and an employee suffered what might have been serious injuries chasing him and the cat, violence that might have been saved for kidnappers and would-be murderers.</p><p>Directed by Robert Stevenson who died in 1986. He directed several Disney movies including <i>The Absent-Minded Professor, </i>the first movie Paul Schrader saw when he was seventeen. The Schrader family was in a hyper-conservative Calvinist church which didn't approve of movies. I don't know if Stevenson knew that Schrader said he was "very unimpressed" by it. </p><p>Available on The Criterion Channel along with other cat movies including Disney's <i>The Cat from Outer Space.</i></p><p>I guess they couldn't get <i>Harry & Tonto.</i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-1163982831219160702024-01-08T18:52:00.000-08:002024-01-09T21:57:43.226-08:00Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiud-RgPCw8TzHzyEsJo9C6hStbpQxU46I7sdP3ECrh6EEK2yi5sUFuLivKyA7SVrPmmJsJGHy9FHqcofNQID9ooYQe8A3fSD3O6WIgTzY3EbSVKFq97xs8jVheAVuwSK4DQqKpefapXxcUjrAz0E2hXi7vMIoghlWRD9pzWbas3CuZLQYYBbRSFa6m2jHn/s800/earth%20flying%20saucers%201.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiud-RgPCw8TzHzyEsJo9C6hStbpQxU46I7sdP3ECrh6EEK2yi5sUFuLivKyA7SVrPmmJsJGHy9FHqcofNQID9ooYQe8A3fSD3O6WIgTzY3EbSVKFq97xs8jVheAVuwSK4DQqKpefapXxcUjrAz0E2hXi7vMIoghlWRD9pzWbas3CuZLQYYBbRSFa6m2jHn/w400-h225/earth%20flying%20saucers%201.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />It was better than I remembered. The less you know about the space aliens in a movie, the more plausible they are, something Ed Wood got horribly wrong. In this movie, they provided some explanation for what the aliens were doing. They were almost invincible but had limitations. Seeing the aliens walking out of their flying saucers from a distance was creepy. <br /><p></p><p>Ray Harryhausen did the special effects and hated it. Stop motion animation of buildings being destroyed was too much work. It ends with the aliens attacking Washington, D.C. </p><p>Inspired by the "nonfiction" book <i>Flying Saucers from Outer Space </i>by Donald Keyhoe, so it almost had a serious purpose. He was head of The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, a relatively respectable UFO group. In the '50s, when the movie was made, the group dismissed people who claimed to have contact with aliens, so I don't know how Keyhoe felt about the movie.</p><p>Starring Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor.</p><p>Free on Tubi. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-83062850159816635952024-01-06T12:12:00.000-08:002024-01-06T12:15:17.121-08:00No Blade of Grass (1970)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEZrpXMIJTISoFekdubWGoKJFFBcpL6mbVbwDsqxK3l5j90AWdHr1hZto3C8asq5R2uqFH2kPpGe4DniakCBs4Q_yS9x5KM15I7Dy9tG8xVsQLnRO3wDs8dzIIUhtm8Y9Ez-I8glq3okoISelZUAB8nhiP1fjm7Lw0bRgFSGHersrxRUKmNn98TnVm18c/s1100/no%20blade%202.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="1100" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEZrpXMIJTISoFekdubWGoKJFFBcpL6mbVbwDsqxK3l5j90AWdHr1hZto3C8asq5R2uqFH2kPpGe4DniakCBs4Q_yS9x5KM15I7Dy9tG8xVsQLnRO3wDs8dzIIUhtm8Y9Ez-I8glq3okoISelZUAB8nhiP1fjm7Lw0bRgFSGHersrxRUKmNn98TnVm18c/w400-h314/no%20blade%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />A global pandemic originating in China wipes out the world's grass including grains such as wheat and barley. Facing mass starvation, the Chinese nerve gas cities and it looks like the British are planning the same thing, so a guy and his family flee London into the countryside heading for his brother's farm. <div><br /></div><div>Like<i> Lord of the Flies</i> with middle aged English people, except the kids in <i>Lord of the Flies </i>didn't instantly drop their civilized facade. </div><div><br /></div><div>The film seemed to have some seriousness of purpose at the beginning. They show documentary footage of starving African children. But it degenerates into an exploitation film. The mother and daughter are raped by motorcycle gang members and there are episodes of gun violence. They gather a larger and larger group of armed English people.</div><div><br /></div><div>They're not the brightest people in the world, but I was surprised that a large motorcycle gang would fight to the last man for no apparent reward. Maybe it was like the auto race in <i>On the Beach</i> where drivers, knowing they were doomed, killed themselves recklessly until the last surviving driver won by default.</div><div><br /></div><div>It reminded me of <i>Panic in the Year Zero</i> in how quickly the middle class family turns feral when they survive a nuclear war. Both movies are available now on The Criterion Channel's Postapocalyptic Sci-Fi collection.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUk5ic5aRKxNMbaBOmF8xCnKp_gNP08PzXpn1848YOjvcCnv0yDUCAUW5F53yE5ksepQGgTp9yofrx0Gq2yPPYYJGkvecPWw9EUx3nBLHYp4cFZTlj1dYgOcBb8ORpCSgvEJy6NHMny-RTAtrndGP3Mgy-n6An40l1LbK6r5OtbejGzBw1GaSUest5yxjh/s1100/no%20blade%201.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="863" data-original-width="1100" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUk5ic5aRKxNMbaBOmF8xCnKp_gNP08PzXpn1848YOjvcCnv0yDUCAUW5F53yE5ksepQGgTp9yofrx0Gq2yPPYYJGkvecPWw9EUx3nBLHYp4cFZTlj1dYgOcBb8ORpCSgvEJy6NHMny-RTAtrndGP3Mgy-n6An40l1LbK6r5OtbejGzBw1GaSUest5yxjh/w400-h314/no%20blade%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-16392452193999699872024-01-01T18:16:00.000-08:002024-01-02T09:01:13.567-08:00The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) George Segal, Barbra Steisand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoVw2CPIUjWOh6Vd6BD19J_x5Onm_Kw6vmkGvXsjNbyxabasr8sKPAEsZNWFZVKkGmgxr75UzyLWKNMJtJHIStgpSa0-QaqI3h0YHXiVLpQO8eXU2qnNtD1u7X5NlreT1ixsWVszIlAd8oTvGKIhrddxJi5X8s_MRmzwDlSHIaSwZeF2eWZiXu8_6H5OW/s1280/owl%20pussycat.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="1280" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoVw2CPIUjWOh6Vd6BD19J_x5Onm_Kw6vmkGvXsjNbyxabasr8sKPAEsZNWFZVKkGmgxr75UzyLWKNMJtJHIStgpSa0-QaqI3h0YHXiVLpQO8eXU2qnNtD1u7X5NlreT1ixsWVszIlAd8oTvGKIhrddxJi5X8s_MRmzwDlSHIaSwZeF2eWZiXu8_6H5OW/w400-h319/owl%20pussycat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />It was kind of a standard Barbra Streisand thing, her annoying George Segal and others. <div><br /></div><div>George Segal is a struggling writer in New York living in a tiny apartment. He's able to peer into the window of his neighbor, Barbra Streisand, in the same building, sees her being paid for sex and immediately reports her to the landlord. She's immediately kicked out of her apartment and come to Segal's apartment to yell at him. She assumes he's gay for some reason. </div><div><br /></div><div>Barbra Streisand annoys Segal and others into the night. I guess there are people who like that sort of thing. Like <i>What's Up, Doc,</i> but with loud talking instead of slapstick.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>With Robert Klein and with Allen Garfield who died of COVID in 2020, poor guy.</div><div><br /></div><div>Written by Buck Henry,</div><div><br /></div><div>Free on Tubi. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-2434417980411278692023-12-23T11:12:00.000-08:002023-12-23T11:14:15.176-08:00Lady in the Lake (1947)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jQKL_x9qRt73GCgdGLfOwbBSWOZwVCzF2n0q3JTpJX-ONpRS-BdcS-5pIjTKauNYUcjE_gEoRF7BV0JyRcStp5wzD5BNdm1zRMCWovOM2iSbE1Mz7lwV8-8DYsM_Nax7MBGr-1TMVfUQw7bWThkSJ_Tq5_3BzjicZru87rGpEQy1RfPZBC9Dbodvk3FO/s475/Lady-in-the-Lake-1947.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="475" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0jQKL_x9qRt73GCgdGLfOwbBSWOZwVCzF2n0q3JTpJX-ONpRS-BdcS-5pIjTKauNYUcjE_gEoRF7BV0JyRcStp5wzD5BNdm1zRMCWovOM2iSbE1Mz7lwV8-8DYsM_Nax7MBGr-1TMVfUQw7bWThkSJ_Tq5_3BzjicZru87rGpEQy1RfPZBC9Dbodvk3FO/w400-h240/Lady-in-the-Lake-1947.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />It's all in subjective shot, seen through the eyes of Philip Marlowe as he tries to find a missing woman. We never see him except when he looks in a mirror. I suppose it made it hard for them to edit scenes since everything's a continuous shot, the camera moving slowly. Sometimes his hand comes into the frame. The gimmick just didn't work very well. It didn't make it realistic. Robert Montgomery's performance, mostly voice-over, was one-note.<p></p><p>A Christmas Noir on the Criterion Channel. The story begins a couple of days before the holiday and ends Xmas morning.</p><p>I liked the Southern gigolo. But the whole thing was people looking directly into the camera as they talk to the detective. In one scene, he stares at a closed door as he talks on the phone. The bits of violence don't work very well.</p><p>Robert Mongomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan.</p><p>An hour and forty-five minutes.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-63789252009389555802023-12-20T08:44:00.000-08:002023-12-20T08:44:52.646-08:00Rear Window (1954)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_5b9CqVlRZWjLmO02UeK6mVd7hPS37s8AiJzCcyhHBsQHo19hCGj2XlmDKceva_FyyqzmEg_q3QrIjs88npr643vMXT6umcTmoLb1YRLbfZkaX0GUSjIMUD6ZJ9U6RHFVszRlJZ1GZzL1ajPEVZd1EjFphbn46Q6TY7rIwa2H-n9zp1kFzFxWbd8YX88F/s1200/rear%20window%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_5b9CqVlRZWjLmO02UeK6mVd7hPS37s8AiJzCcyhHBsQHo19hCGj2XlmDKceva_FyyqzmEg_q3QrIjs88npr643vMXT6umcTmoLb1YRLbfZkaX0GUSjIMUD6ZJ9U6RHFVszRlJZ1GZzL1ajPEVZd1EjFphbn46Q6TY7rIwa2H-n9zp1kFzFxWbd8YX88F/w400-h210/rear%20window%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />This was one of several movies that Hitchcock owned the rights to. He pulled them from circulation to increase their value for his daughter. They were re-released in 1984, each playing for one week at a local theater. I dragged a friend kicking and screaming to see them. I think <i>Rear Window</i> was the first one we saw, and he shut up after that. <p></p><p>How many movies have imitated <i>Rear Window</i>? Does this mean it's dying from over-exposure or that it's still obscure enough that they think they can steal from it and no one will notice? <i>The Simpsons </i>did a spoof of it.</p><p>This is why you should watch movies alone. If you're with a group, you have to make a safe pick everyone will enjoy and you'll get tired of any objectively good movie. </p><p>I just watched it again last night. My brother's in town and he turned it on. </p><p>"Frank Cady's in it," I said watching the opening credits. He was Sam Drucker in <i>Green Acres</i> and <i>Petticoat Junction. </i>He was the guy sleeping on the fire escape with his wife which I would consider a stunt.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-43006431947379447792023-12-15T07:13:00.000-08:002023-12-15T07:13:28.368-08:00Greg Brady's lip in the UFO episode<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgub0ncp46PWHoj-vq9hKExL5yoLoi-MgaaBwDMOUcDu6fCoh685rcrSTSV08gkoaRl4h68Zn-91NAMFep7ScOKl1YgARb6d6ZyFLNE0SKqTKfmns4I5r56Tbb2P193uW49crIeaNdLxMb89zcuDnt0_SqR_jihtwJuVXR4a0uWIh_fkNe4aNQ9_EA7JoUP/s1280/greg's%20lip.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgub0ncp46PWHoj-vq9hKExL5yoLoi-MgaaBwDMOUcDu6fCoh685rcrSTSV08gkoaRl4h68Zn-91NAMFep7ScOKl1YgARb6d6ZyFLNE0SKqTKfmns4I5r56Tbb2P193uW49crIeaNdLxMb89zcuDnt0_SqR_jihtwJuVXR4a0uWIh_fkNe4aNQ9_EA7JoUP/w400-h250/greg's%20lip.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />One time a movie director went ballistic when Steve McQueen arrived on location riding a motorcycle. The slightest mishap on that thing would delay or halt production and cost them millions. <p></p><p>Well, I'm sitting here in the middle of the night watching <i>The Brady Bunch, </i>the episode where Bobby and Peter keep seeing a UFO. </p><p><i>What's that on Greg's lip,</i> I wondered.</p><p>I googled it. It was a common question. They said he cut himself shaving in the episode, but Barry Williams had been in a minor car accident. Not everyone wore seatbelts back then. He had this little bandage on his lip.</p><p>In the early seventies, my family got a car with a buzzer that would go off until you put on your seatbelt. People would pull the seat belt out just far enough that the buzzer would stop and sit there holding it to spare themselves the indignity of actually fastening it.</p><p>The episode where Marcia gets hit in the face with a football was reportedly written because she injured her nose in a car accident.</p><p>I don't have a point here. I was going to ponder what the best course of action would be if one of the kids on the show was unable to continue.. Should they bring in another kid who looked like him like the new Darrin on <i>Bewitched</i>?<i> </i>On <i>My Three Sons,</i> they wrote one off the show and adopted another one. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-19492551140707036792023-12-12T08:05:00.000-08:002023-12-14T09:36:49.901-08:00Murder by Contract (1958)<p>A really annoying existentialist hitman travels to California to murder the witness against an organized crime boss. At one point, I thought it would be one of those honor-among-murderers thing. He's outraged when he learns he's supposed to kill a woman, but it's because he thinks he should have been paid extra because women are "unpredictable".</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq52gQK2qWCiFHg1mkWfDoIYSwBVOFA_-9k6RB1qLxlCNUutoNTBLUd2jYpNq-AW2PrheaVTdJPuq3I_CGZ0Sir_9BYIPLp1aQN9wb_nklKdxypUB24QVNbuvv8anEbaQxSzyRTwM7w4JTYQMU1q_8gnqbf8rN8f10EdLCB3jr41egHyKU8B2rd8w6yvYd/s592/MBC3.webp" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="592" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq52gQK2qWCiFHg1mkWfDoIYSwBVOFA_-9k6RB1qLxlCNUutoNTBLUd2jYpNq-AW2PrheaVTdJPuq3I_CGZ0Sir_9BYIPLp1aQN9wb_nklKdxypUB24QVNbuvv8anEbaQxSzyRTwM7w4JTYQMU1q_8gnqbf8rN8f10EdLCB3jr41egHyKU8B2rd8w6yvYd/w400-h225/MBC3.webp" width="400" /></a></div><br />There's no one to get behind in this thing. He only has two weeks before the trial starts, but he spends day after day just hanging around. He wants to go to the beach. The two guys there to assist him are getting panicky. The woman is under guard by police at her house. The hitman finally comes up with an elaborate plan to murder her.<p></p><p>He later decides the job is "jinxed" and refuses to go forward.</p><p>Directed by Irving Lerner. Starring Vince Edwards, Phillip Pine and Herschel Bernardi. <br /></p><p>Martin Scorsese said it was the movie that had the greatest influence on him, but he also called it a "<a href="https://www.filmcomment.com/article/martin-scorseses-guilty-pleasures/" target="_blank">guilty pleasure</a>": </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">...there’s a getting-in-shape sequence that’s very much like the one in <i>Taxi</i> <i>Driver</i>. The spirit of <i>Murder By Contract</i> has a lot to do with <i>Taxi Driver</i>.
Lerner was an artist who knew how to do things in shorthand, like
Bresson and Godard. The film puts us all to shame with its economy of
style, especially in the barber-shop murder at the beginning. Vince
Edwards gives a marvelous performance as the killer who couldn’t murder a
woman....<br /></p><p>Reportedly filmed in seven days. </p><p>81 minutes. Free on Tubi. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RGAGmQtxSdIr2o7XE3rZJ3bi0JPZ1W9mOKk4BWRLoMu-Al2peaT6zhhs2N6bHFtos6-Ey49bz4quDGTbxUQVA8f3KLjsFfjpwP3XZWywMeJAovxUhUMWCvZ0D0YhZM_WnnlbJ-s8lfgcurFN6wbcX0SCS6ULi35MU1alJ2s3Dn1Qo1qGp9tUWCnuzxAR/s1200/MBC2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_RGAGmQtxSdIr2o7XE3rZJ3bi0JPZ1W9mOKk4BWRLoMu-Al2peaT6zhhs2N6bHFtos6-Ey49bz4quDGTbxUQVA8f3KLjsFfjpwP3XZWywMeJAovxUhUMWCvZ0D0YhZM_WnnlbJ-s8lfgcurFN6wbcX0SCS6ULi35MU1alJ2s3Dn1Qo1qGp9tUWCnuzxAR/w400-h200/MBC2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-59095681116631704282023-12-10T10:32:00.000-08:002023-12-10T10:32:20.864-08:00Ryan O'Neal dead at 82<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y9KyBdPeKHg" width="320" youtube-src-id="Y9KyBdPeKHg"></iframe></div><br />Ryan O'Neal has died at 82.<p></p><p>The things that stand out to me was the time he punched his teenage son, Griffin, in the face knocking his teeth out because he had developed a drug problem. This was reported in the press at the time but nothing happened to him. O'Neal first forced Griffin to snort cocaine when he was eleven. He was later arrested for trying to shoot him. And there was the time he hit on his daughter, Tatum, at Farrah Fawcett's funeral.</p><p>A horrible person who should have died 60 years ago.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5066697550940342756.post-1158053484026130602023-12-09T01:56:00.000-08:002023-12-12T09:05:02.464-08:00Norman Lear, RIP<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRHvJarGS9Tu3buH22nrn92cR1kmqG-u2CsErkuY2SAUPawmNFKihuDRDcwRhBCpJM5zntkmxoh3v5m5heNPtRf6hJPmdcEJatJReV55oGvZwC6mZDdhbCj9Wb9iOac8lUNoDZIIz-ISWNJxSOn_xqtUdCSbKpiZh4Ye9s8WbAwiluLlCOuHHIojdrB0z/s4000/norman.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2250" data-original-width="4000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTRHvJarGS9Tu3buH22nrn92cR1kmqG-u2CsErkuY2SAUPawmNFKihuDRDcwRhBCpJM5zntkmxoh3v5m5heNPtRf6hJPmdcEJatJReV55oGvZwC6mZDdhbCj9Wb9iOac8lUNoDZIIz-ISWNJxSOn_xqtUdCSbKpiZh4Ye9s8WbAwiluLlCOuHHIojdrB0z/w400-h225/norman.png" width="400" /></a></div><br />Norman Lear died December 5th at age 101. Created shows like<i> All in the Family</i> and several spin-offs and spin-offs of spin-offs such as <i>Maude</i>, <i>The Jeffersons</i> and <i>Good Times</i>. I didn't know it until years later, but <i>Diff'rent Strokes</i> and <i>Facts of Life</i> were his work, too. His shows had their own extended universes.<p></p><p>Even as a ten-year-old, I didn't understand why a supposedly radical or at least liberal show like <i>All in the Family</i> was so anti-working class. The audience would laugh whenever Archie mentioned that he was in World War Two and I would strain to see the joke. Why was a radical like Meathead so dismissive of the war against fascism? Now I find it strange that four adults live together and the only one with a job was the bad guy.</p><p>Here are the words of Richard Nixon himself on <i>All in the Family</i>:</p><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">“Archie is sitting here with his hippie son-in-law, married to the screwball daughter. The son-in-law apparently goes both ways. This guy enters. He’s obviously queer, wears an ascot, but not offensively so. Very clever. Uses nice language. Shows pictures of his trip and all the rest. And so then Arch goes down to the bar. Sees his best friend, who for two years used to play professional football as a linebacker…God, he’s handsome virile, strong, this and that. And then the fairy comes into the bar…”</blockquote><p>I know the episode he was talking about. I guess it's nice that Nixon watched. I had Republican grandparents who liked the show, not because they were rooting for Archie but they were amused by Meathead's frustration with him.</p><p>I wish they'd show <i>Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman </i>again somewhere. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0