Wednesday Double Features- Duelists

by on March 8, 2017 at 9:01 am
Posted In: Test

When I first started this week’s theme I thought I’d go with films based on Joseph Conrad stories, but when the first film I came across on my list (after Apocalypse Now) was The Duelists, I decided that doing duelists would make for an even better theme.

Wednesday Double Features- DuelistsI confess that all I knew about The Duelists before this week, was knowing it was Ridley Scott’s first film (though even then I kept mixing it up with Speilberg’s Duel.)

The Duelists tells the story of two calvary officers Gabrial Faraud (Harvey Keitel) a hot headed serial duelist and the more levil headed  Armand d’Hubert (Keith Carradine). When d’Hubert is sent to arrest Faroud after Faroud beat the son of the mayor of the town they are stationed in Faroud challenges d’Hubert to a duel and after they both survive he challenges him to another one… and another for years afterwards. It is a tail of obsession and self destructive honor.

This was Scott at his best. The fight choreography is great… Not spectacular just brutally realistic… the best one being the third duel where the two have been fighting so long that they are so exhausted they loose all skill and are swinging their swords desperately as if they are (very sharp) clubs. But the best thing about this is the lighting. Scott takes full advantage of natural light and candle light for the interiors giving the whole film a wonderful etherial beauty.

Wednesday Double Features- Duelists ShootistJohn Wayne’s last film, The Shootist, was another film that I first heard about in a collection of Mort Drucker movie parodies I owned growing up. After that I mostly knew about it from other creators referring to it. Despite of this it is yet another well known film I’d never gotten around to seeing.

Wayne plays J.B. Books an aging gunman (the shootist of the title) diagnosed with terminal cancer. He arrives in Carson City Nevada and takes up lodging to settle his affairs and await his death. But news gets out and his past is comes a calling as old enemies come to finally get there revenge.

This was a wonderful mostly quiet swan song for Wayne as well as the traditional Western. The film goes out of it’s way to show that times are changing, starting from a newspaper article announcing the death of Queen Victoria to one of Books’ enemies driving a car.

Wayne himself is more restrained than normal, deliberately being a shadow of his former self. The arrogance and bravado is still there but he’s not fooling himself and he knows his story is nearly over.

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Wednesday Double Feature – Film Noir Comedy

by on March 1, 2017 at 10:21 am
Posted In: Test

This week I decided to return to one of my favorite genres of film noir. Only this time I decided to touch on the lighter side of it with Film Noir comedy and parody. In hind sight this may not be one of my better ideas but here we go.

Wednesday Double Feature - Film Noir Comedy Bet the devilThe first one on my list, Beat the Devil, was one that piqued my interest almost immediately, being a a John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart with a script by Truman Capote.

It didn’t disappoint. Bogart plays Billy Dannreuther, a impoverished business man who is helping fur a group of shady individuals, (consisting of Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Ivor Barnard and Marco Tulli)) in buying land in East Africa with uranium deposits. While he and his wife lovely wife Maria ( played by the lovely Gina Lollobrigida) wait for the boat to africa to be ready they run into a Brattish couple, Harry & Gwendolyn  (played by Edward Underdown and Jennifer Jones),who will be on the same boat. They quickly hit it off with Gwendoly falling in love with Billy and Maria falling in love with Harry. On top of this the crooks overhear many of the things that Gwendolyn, a compulsive lier, tells about Harry’s background and what he is planning to do… and from there hilarity ensues.

While I won’t consider this one of John Huston’s best film this was a fun ensemble piece with most of the humor based on character interactions as well as the way. It’s also great to see how great character actors true star power every time as Lorre and his three companions steals the show in every shot they’re in.

Wednesday Double feature film noir comedy dead men don't wear plaid Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid was one of those films that I first became are of when my family got our first video players and I became aware of the joys of browsing a video rental collection. (As well as learning that Steve Martin did films as well as standup)

So when I doing this weeks selection this was one that I had on my list before I even started researching my research.

We open with hardboiled detective Rigby Reardon (Martin) in his office when mysterious woman, Juliet (Rachel Ward) walks in and faints… She wants to hire him to find her missing father a famous cheesemaker) and so on.

Seriously,  if you’re remotely familiar with the film noir genre you’ve seen this movie. The whole film is a mosaic of film clips from old classics. Martin goes to talk to James Cagney  in prison from White Heat, shares a train seat with Cary Grant, from Suspicion, answers phone calls from “Marlowe” Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (except when he’s from Dark Passage and Rigby tells “Marlowe” not to stop messing with him when Bogart identifies himself with a different name) and he visits old flames Ava Gardner and Barbara Stanwyck. Pretty much any of the original material is a way to sew all of the clips together, and while the editing and some effects to merge Martin and Warden into the scenes make this work quite well, it gets old fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEKlrl33e9A

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Wednesday Double Features – Escape From the POW

by on February 22, 2017 at 8:47 am
Posted In: Test

Growing up one of my favorite shows was Hogan’s Heroes. I watched it religiously and one of the side effects was doing a lot of reading about the real POW camps as well as the history of world war II (got one of my few perfect grades on a paper about the SS in high school that way.) Regretably the show doesn’t hold up as well as I’d liked (though I still enjoy Werner Klempner’s performance) Though it led me to watch one of the films that it was slightly based on Stalag 17, still one of my favorite Billy Wilder/William Holden films. So I decided to dedicate this week’s selselection to several of the other world war II escape films.

Wednesday Double Features - Escape From the POW great escapeIt’s almost embarrassing when all you know about a movie comes from watching one of the parodies first. Regrettably this was very much the case with The Great Escape. Make no mistake Chicken Run is a wonderful movie, but you really shouldn’t judge the film that inspired it on it’s merits. After that all I knew about it was there was a scene where Steve McQueen passes the time in solitary confinement bouncing a baseball against the wall.

The Great Escape was amazing. While Steve McQueen is listed as the star it is really an ensemble film with Charles Bronson, Richard Attenborough, James Garner and the rest have equal time telling the story of the adaptation of the true story about how 76 prisoners escape from a German POW camp (at least temporarily)

What makes this film so good is meticulous pacing and attention to detail. While I had never read about this particular escape what I had read about POWs in general made many of the details very familiar. Everything from the logistics of digging a 100 foot tunnel from getting the proper foundations, the air pump they built to make the tunnel breathable and most importantly how to hide all of the dirt. (Especially when it’s a  different kind of dirt than the dirt you’re trying to mix it with.)

And of course we finish it all with Steve McQueen driving a motorcycle.

Wednesday Double Features - Escape From the POW Harry FriggThe next film on my list was much more light hearted and comical. It The Secret War of Harry Frigg, Paul Newman plays the title character a private in the US Army who has escaped from the stockade numerous times. Because of this when five Generals get captured he is regarded as the perfect choice to rescue them.

The generals have been placed in a prison that was originally a five star Italian hotel with every luxury. On top of that since they’re all the same rank, they’ve been planning their escape through committee and getting nowhere. In order to break this deadlock, Frigg gets promoted to major general in order to be able to give the generals orders. However when he gets there he is quickly seeduced by the luxury of the prison (as well as the former owner of the Hotel, a beautiful contessa.)

This was a mostly fun film. Though as far as quality it’s rather unfair to put it back to back with The Great Escape. I enjoyed Paul Newman playing a puckish trickster character that contrasted nicely with Tom Bosley’s deadpan performance as one of the generals.

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Wednesday Double Features – Films that inspired Sitcoms

by on February 15, 2017 at 8:48 am
Posted In: Test

For this week’s selection I thought I’d do something different with movies that inspired popular sitcoms. This was harder than it sounds because I’d seen most of the obvious ones like MASH and Private Benjemin, and I didn’t really have any desire to see any of the lesser known ones like Gung Ho. I briefly considered watching The Odd Couple but figured that was just as based on the Neil Simon Play as it was the film.

Wednesday Double Features - Films that inspired Sitcoms alice doesn't live here anymoreThe first film on my list, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, (which for some reason I constantly remember as Alice Doesn’t Work Here) was my main reason for this week’s theme. While I don’t think I was ever a fan of the show it inspired growing up, but Alice was one of those shows that were a ubiquitous presence when you were channel surfing in the afternoon. So I knew about it, knew of the movie it was based on and, most importantly, knew it was a Martin Scorsese film.

Ellen Burstyn plays Alice Hyatt a thirty-five-year-old housewife trapped in a loveless marriage. She’s suddenly freed from this when her husband dies in a driving accident. In need of work to support herself and her ten-year-old son, she follows her dream to become a singer and to return to her hometown of Monterey, California. Regrettably, this doesn’t work out and she ends up as a waitress at a greasy spoon in Tuscon Arizona where she finds new friends and love in a hunky rancher played by Kris Kristofferson.

This was an interesting film that took its time going through Alice’s life. The humor was quiet and low key and sweet. I liked the little things about it like Alice finally making friends with her coworker the abrasive and funny Flo (Diane Ladd ).

Despite liking the title character, I wasn’t that big a fan of the show, Mr. Belvedere. It was one of those eighties family comedies that were nothing but an endless string of “very special episodes”. But since I didn’t even know it was based on a movie before I did my research for this week and I just had to sate my curiosity.

Wednesday Double Features - Films that inspired Sitcoms sitting prettyIn Sitting Pretty (I can’t believe I missed the pun until I watched the movie) Maureen O’Hara and Robert Young play Tracey and Harry King, two parents in desperate need of a full-time babysitter for their three sons and Great Dane. After several false starts (most of the local babysitters have heard about them) they finally get an answer for their add from a Lynn Belvedere. Thinking this is a woman, they hire sight unseen. When they meet Mr. Belvedere, played wonderfully by Clifton Webb,  it’s too late to back out. Fortunately, Mr. Belvedeere is incredibly competent in everything he does (and never lets you forget it) so soon the kids and dog are under control. However, nosey neighbors and misunderstandings make the whacky hijinks flow.

This was a really fun little farce. With lots of wonderful comic performances that I will recommend to everyone.

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Happy Darwin Lincoln Day!

by on February 12, 2017 at 3:11 pm
Posted In: Test

I Can’t believe I had to be reminded of this but a very happy birthday to Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln! While the two never met I still like to pretend that they would have enjoyed each other’s company over drinks as this picture implies.

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