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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 13, 2024 22:45:42 GMT
Coming Soon: The Only Game in Town (1970): Crap shoot gets a new meaning.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 15, 2024 15:21:27 GMT
The Only Game in Town (1970): Jet set Liz played a working class showgirl and nobody stopped her.
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This one has so much pedigree it's ridiculous, which makes its failure so stunning. It was directed by George Stevens, who led Elizabeth through A Place in the Sun and Giant, from a script by Frank D. Gilroy, who had won a Tony and a Pulitzer for The Subject Was Roses (1965) and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty, both of whom were cinema royalty by that time. But Gilroy's play, on which this is based, had closed after just over a dozen performances; first red flag. And Elizabeth was making her customary demands, this time that an intimate story set amid the sprawl of Las Vegas should be filmed on a sound stage in Paris simply because Richard Burton was also filming there; second red flag. Add to that the fact that Liz, who practically defined the term jet setter back then, was playing a modest working girl/showgirl on the fringes of the entertainment world, yet couldn't resist indulging herself in the kind of movie star glam squad treatment which would have been beyond the means of a person of that type. Too many early compromises doomed this one from the get-go.
The movie opens with Fran (Elizabeth) waking to an alarm (3 P.M.) and blinking as she opens the drapes to a panoramic view of the usually unseen back side of the Las Vegas Strip, the kind of thing which no amount of movie magic can fake. Right. Then a cut to a loud stock footage jet plane overhead, then to a standard montage of Vegas casino signage, finally settling on a chorus number at one of the big hotels with a cadre of sequined ladies descending a staircase, leading to the single biggest unintentional laugh of the movie, with an insert of Liz which is supposed to be part of the number but which features her in soft-focus close-up doing some smiley head-bobbing which is intended to represent an actual showgirl in motion.
 
Ah, the joys of filming in Paris, half a world away. The problems is that the movie never stops feeling half a world away, even though some after-the-fact location shooting was done as a remedy. So as a result we see Fran walking for miles along the Strip after work, all the way from the big hotels to the wedding chapels, in a bid for authenticity. She finally stops at a small bar and lounge which offers pizza. Inside is Joe Grady (Beatty) playing piano for a captive audience of two regulars. He asks Fran: "Who told you about me?", which I guess is supposed to show both his ego and his neediness, then offers to play the song of her choice, which is "But Not for Me". Of course. Off the market and shut down emotionally. Got it.
She then proceeds to eat her pizza with a very non-proletarian knife and fork, which may be standard for Britishers like Taylor but which I'd venture to guess is seldom seen in Vegas lounges. Before you know it she's sitting next to him on the piano bench, those iconic Taylor eyes all over him.
Next we see Fran rushing into her tiny apartment to a ringing phone, followed by Beatty. She misses the call but we know that a phone call with that kind of urgency attached to it will come up again and that it will probably be a man. They settle down to small talk and he opens up that "I used to do a bit of gambling but haven't touched the stuff in months. I satisfied all my creditors, started a bank account which, when it reaches $5,000, will be my ticket out of this cesspool." To Fran: "Why do you stay?" Fran: "Inertia." They're getting all existential over drinks. We're in for a talkfest, folks. Joe: "I don't have to be a psychiatrist to know you're just as hard up as I am, just as lonely." This softens her enough to ask in a kittenish voice to be carried into the bedroom. I hope there was a rider in the movie's insurance policy to cover such a thing; Elizabeth was approaching her "voluptuous" years. After that, naked shoulders above the covers and more small talk in bed. Fran: "I'm not sure I like you." Joe: "I knew we had something in common." But things hit a snag at breakfast due to his brusk manner. Fran: "I think you should get out. I have a long antenna for bad news." Joe: "You're very wise. I'd only break your heart, he said cavalierly." Fran: "I've met some nuts in my life but you take the cake." Joe: "Does that mean I can finish my coffee?" as he sits back down. It looks like we're in for a long haul. Joe: "How long have we been married?" Fran: "It feels like forever." Think how we feel. It's only the first twenty minutes.
The next day he comes to her with news that he somehow parlayed his total cash savings of $2,000 into $8,000 and wants to take her out on the town to celebrate and to brag to his friends before he blows town.
He starts laying down a few small bets and before you know it....Oh, you do know it, because it's the old story? She walks out unnoticed as he spirals himself back into poverty, this time without the job he just quit. He shows up at her place later, asking for a twenty but really wanting solace. She draws him a bath and the spa treatment brings him back to reality. He asks her about the guy on the phone and is told that he's married but will leave his wife any time now. This old plotline. Anyway, they make a deal; he can stay with her and she'll help manage his finances and he'll distract her from Mr. Married. Then comes a montage of fishing on Tahoe and grocery shopping, couple stuff...
.....until Mr. Married arrives unannounced and lets himself in, greeting them when they return. Awkward, but not surprising, the way the cliches are stacking up around here. Joe bows out and Tom (the married guy) shows her a divorce decree and invites her on an extended honeymoon if she'll just pick up and go.
Joe's back at the bar, drink in hand, in the seat where he first met her. She calls as a courtesy to say goodbye but can't do it and says goodbye to Tom instead. Joe comes home and, when asked, she lies and tells him Tom went home to get a divorce, to which he replies that he should move out. But they decide that since they'll both be moving on soon anyway they should just keep the living arrangement as is, both eager to maintain the illusion of a no-strings relationship. Then begins a cat-and-mouse game of him trying to get his hands on the earnings he'd asked her to keep for him. He cracks and rummages through her stuff, breaking a treasured knick-knack, until she cracks too and throws the money at him. Joe, on his way out the door and with no regard for her disappointment: "You disappointed me. I thought you'd hold out a good deal longer." A long gambling montage follows, leading to empty pockets amid other crass gambling types. Outside he unexpectedly finds a last bill ($100) in his pocket and folds it into a little boat to float down a storm drain, which I suppose is symbolic of something but my brain's too tired to speculate.
At home Fran tells him: "You'll be alright. Think of the other times."
She doesn't want details but he tells her the saga anyway of selling the watch she gave him, then his car, at which point his luck turned and no matter how crazy the bets he kept winning. "I started to feel comfortable and the crazier it got the more I won and the uneasier I got. I finally couldn't stand it anymore and cashed in and they handed me $22,000. I never felt worse in my life." He explains that the uneasiness came from the feeling that if he didn't have the money he wouldn't have to leave her. "The lady or the dough? Then it occurred to me: why couldn't I have both? All I needed was the courage to walk in that door and say I love you." She demurs in favor of keeping things as they are but he tells her "It's too costly in time, money and energy to maintain a delusion that there are no strings, no commitments between us, and to fully appreciate the joy at hand we ought to have the guts to acknowledge it.....Granted that marriage is a most faulty, pitiful, wheezing institution, but right now it's the only game in town and we're going to play it." Wheezing is about the stage this movie is at right now, but it's a nice speech in a movie full of speechifying. So this is where we end up: marriage is the only game in town, which shows how old-school this supposedly "hip" take on things really is.
[[SPOILER: She holds out from fear that marriage would make it more likely that he would leave her. Joe: "Which is worse, the heart abused or the heart unused?", which practically begs to be embroidered on a pillow. Fran tremblingly admits that she loves him and they kiss, the end, so nothing new to see here, folks. Congrats to the happy couple but don't forget that there's a big crazy world out there outside that Paris sound stage...I mean Las Vegas apartment.]]
I've liked many, many Elizabeth Taylor movies but in some of them, such as this one and, say, The Sandpiper, in which she went "bohemian", she appears to be test driving a character instead of inhabiting it. I'm sorry to say it but without her the movie almost works; Beatty had played this kind of beaten-down character before and knew what to do with it, and he's the one most in synch with the quirky non-sequitur dialogue. But we've seen gamblers and showgirls hung up on married men so often that it would have to be very special to stand out from the pack. What are essentially two-person stage dramas like this and Two for the See Saw or The Owl and the Pussycat are problematic for screenwriters to adapt, even for the original playwright, and this adaptation just didn't meet the moment. But there's enough here for it to be a Disappointing Movie We Want to Like rather than a Bad Movie We Love. Fox Movie Channel shows it occasionally and it premiered on TCM a few years back and it's also on YouTube in a decent print for anyone interested.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Jan 19, 2024 23:48:21 GMT
Oh I'm interested. I love this thread. So much fun and yet very thought provoking.
I am more reticent to admit to box office smashes or artistic masterpieces that for me missed the mark. Bad movies I love is my entire movie collection most likely.
I doubt anybody sets out to make a questionable film. Liz could have taken EZ street as a rom com queen. Clearly taking chances can land you in some out of the way places.
I ponder this a great deal of late. An actor gets a script that seems great. The list of noteworthy colleagues on board lends an air of credibility. And yet for some reason it is declared a dud, overlooked, tossed aside. It is always striking in interviews, when asked about a surprise big hit, did the actor/director/writer/producer know it was going to be a big hit and of course they had no idea. If only movie magic was so easy to conjure!
This one looks like a must see for me and reminds me of my love of Boom! (1968).
Tennessee Williams stated that it was the best movie version of any of his plays that was ever produced. The rest of the world did not seem to agree, for the monumentally expensive production bombed at the box office.
I have much work to do in the Elizabeth Taylor arena. Growing up in the shadow of the Liz/Dick headlines made me overlook many great works and in the case of The Only Game in Town, at least an interesting endeavor.
Boom! (1968) trailer
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 21, 2024 19:32:48 GMT
Oh I'm interested. I love this thread. So much fun and yet very thought provoking. This one looks like a must see for me and reminds me of my love of Boom! (1968). Tennessee Williams stated that it was the best movie version of any of his plays that was ever produced. The rest of the world did not seem to agree, for the monumentally expensive production bombed at the box office.
I have much work to do in the Elizabeth Taylor arena. Growing up in the shadow of the Liz/Dick headlines made me overlook many great works and in the case of The Only Game in Town, at least an interesting endeavor. is one I really like too. John Waters is also a fan, so that puts you in good company. (The poster for BOOM! was in the Marble's home...actually John's...in Pink Flamingos.) Liz was probably too abundantly healthy to realistically portray a dying woman but her glam look (and headgear!) made these characters seem almost Olympian, which brought the story to a whole other level.  And when have we ever seen Noel Coward so appropriately cast? He wasn't someone who could just fit in anywhere but it's like he was born to play the Witch of Capri. Apparently Williams was notoriously unpredictable in terms of his responses to productions of his work; I remember stories of him laughing during rehearsals in ways which baffled the cast and seemed inappropriate to them, but he definitely knew what he liked and what he didn't. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 24, 2024 15:38:20 GMT
Coming Soon: Maryjane (1968): The Fabulous Fabian can't save his town from stereotypes, but can he save it from...Gasp!...marijuana?
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 25, 2024 15:55:52 GMT
Maryjane (1968): Reefer madness comes to the youth of Oakdale...Are you next?
As soon as we see that American-International logo we know we're in for some middling entertainment with minor star power. We're inside a smoke-filled car careening along a mountain road as the occupants giggle at each dangerous swerve, until an unlucky pedestrian...on a mountain road?...steps out and is knocked down, causing the car to go over a cliff onto the roadway below. A pan up the body of the pedestrian finds his head in a ridiculously huge "blood" spill looking like a harvest tone oil-based house paint, which is probably what it was. We're in low-budget territory for sure. Next we see ambulance attendants loading a female body from the wreckage as a zoom shot reveals a large red pendant around her neck bearing the inscription "MARYJANE", giving us the title, punctuated by a loud drum riff to grab the teen viewers.
A cop leans to pick up a still-smoldering joint next to a gas tank leak, saving us from even graver consequences. The message here is that there's a straight line from pot-laced revelry to an ambulance stretcher and you can believe it because American-International was the most solemn and trustworthy of studios. Next comes the funeral, with the driver being eulogized in stilted tones not heard since the days of Ed Wood. "Before he was able to know all the wonders of our Lord's, his knowing others, the mysterious, beauteous panorama of Heaven, in which we will all be allowed to view." Is this guy on pot too? Further titles reveal it was written by Dick Gautier (Conrad Birdie!) and Peter Marshall (Hollywood Squares!), so now I'm hooked. (Oops. I shouldn't say that in this context, should I?) Attendees at the funeral include the mayor, the high school principal and the police commissioner, who start pointing fingers at each other as to the cause of this blight on Oakdale, the generic locale being threatened by this new infestation. One theory is that the girl was from Bay City, so maybe it's Bay City's fault? That's right, guys, keep it real.
Now to ground zero, the high school, where assistant football coach Phil Blake (The Fabulous Fabian) is chastising player Jordan Bates (Kevin Coughlin) for pulling stupid stunts on the practice field.
The head coach tells Fabe that they're in a bind because if Jordan leaves "four others leave with him and we've got no team". So now we have the set-up: five troublesome football players and a pot infestation waiting to converge. Let the fun begin. Next, in the faculty lounge art teacher Phil (He's sensitive and a jock.) has eyes for history teacher Ellie Holden (Diane McBain) while outside we see student Susan (Patty McCormack...The Bad Seed!!) being grab-assed by Jordan and his buds, so we know she's "popular". She tells them that the girl from Bay City died and asks if that will "blow the deal with the Bay City boys". Jordan: "I hope not. I already spent all their money." Jordan is approached by fellow student Jerry (Michael Margotta) asking about "qualification trials" for the group, only to be blown off for not having the requisite "brains, imagination and guts".
Later in art class Phil (Fabe) singles out Jerry's work as having "great sensitivity", causing a fellow student to blow Jerry a kiss, so we know Jerry's on the outs but he wants in, and is therefore a likely a victim-to-be of the new "infestation". Jerry shoves the guy and tears up his own canvas. At home we see Jerry's dad relaxing on the sofa in front of the TV in the middle of the day, drink in hand, telling Jerry he's bought a nice roast for supper, with a salad and a nice wine. "You're old enough." Sir, this is Oakdale, not Paris, and your son is in high school. Jerry says he won't be home and next we see him scoping out a girlie mag at the market when Susan approaches and tells him she's off to "the old picnic grounds" to meet up with the fellas. Jerry asks her to put in a word for him. "I know he thinks I'm chicken and I'm not. I'll do anything to get in. You just tell him that." Let's all say it in unison: "You'll be sorry." Next: spooky "hippie" music at the old picnic grounds as joint after joint is passed around. Jerry crashes the party and one of them says: "We should have some fun with him." Jordan: "Yeah, that would be a ball." Jordan hands Jerry a joint: "Welcome." Close-up of a lighter being brought to a pair of lips, but it turns out to be Phil lighting a cig at the bowling alley with Ellie, a cinematic fake-out I'm sure Orson Welles would envy. Then a forward to them continuing the conversation parked by the lake. She's become "sort of a nomad I guess, travelling from place to place, trying to find a place that would do him (her father with tuberculosis) some good." Later, driving home Phil is passed by a speeding car which pulls over and Jerry is kicked to the curb as the car speeds away. Phil takes Jerry back to his place, asking "Have you been smoking pot?" Jerry: "No. Why would you ask that?" Phil: "When I smoked it I got sick as hell", giving us a baseline "normal" reaction to judge these crazy teens by. One of those MARYJANE pendants falls out of Jerry's pocket and he explains it's "kind of a club" that he doesn't belong to yet but he had it made anyway. Phil: "Everybody fits in somewhere, Jerry. I wouldn't worry about it." You will.
Phil is called into a meeting between faculty and administrators about what marijuana is and isn't, one saying if it's like being drunk then what's the problem? Said the drunk. The police chief counters with: "Drunk? It spreads, like cancer. First it's marijuana, then it's LSD and STP, then it's cocaine and heroin." Yeah, ignorance spreads like that too, chief. "We don't want the kids. We need to get at the source", which sounds a little like the old "It's Bay City's fault" gambit. Phil admits that "I tried it once in college" but that "I don't condemn it or condone it", the perfect squishy middle ground for a movie that wants to have it both ways.
Later, we see the gang hassling a gas station attendant (Garry Marshall!), then taking Jerry on his initiation of shoplifting $20 worth of goods.
Jerry is caught but is rescued by the gang running interference, only to be rejected by Jordan: "You're a thief. We can't have anything to do with you." There's no logic to this guy. Must be the pot. Soon Jordan has some explaining to do to the Bay City boys that the shipment of Acapulco Gold is late but that he'll "be laying it on them soon".
Meanwhile, Phil and Ellie have a make-out sesh by the lake but she backs off with "Whatever you heard about me, it just isn't true." So now Phil has trouble on two fronts.
Later, Jerry knocks on Phil's door while Phil is in the shower, because it couldn't hurt the box office to have a gratuitous Fabian shower scene. Jerry came for counsel but when he goes unheard he can't resist "borrowing" Phil's convertible to follow the gang to the closed amusement park where they've gathered after hours. The cops bust them up and they flee but the cops follow Jerry in Phil's car, which he abandons in front of Phil's place, forgetting some "evidence" which then lands Phil in jail, along with some ridiculously overwrought druggie types.
The chief wants to throw the book at him, but then Ellie posts his bail. Phil finds Jerry's MARYJANE pendant in his car and confronts him, getting Jordan's name out of him. Phil finds Jordan picking up a "quart of Gold" from the ice cream truck parked outside the school practice field. You read that right. This menace to society is being dispensed from the same place Oakdale kiddies gather for their Dilly Bars. Why, it ought to make our skin crawl and maybe it will after we stop giggling. Phil knocks it out of his hands and both Jordan and the ice cream truck guy...the monster!...take a powder. Now it's a race against time as Phil puts all the pieces together to clear his name and prove that no way is Oakdale like that dump, Bay City. He first of all destroys the evidence by flushing the "Gold"...WTF, Phil?? Mariska Hargitay would have your ass for a stunt like that. Jordan and the gang are down by the lake priming Jerry with hashish to send him with some low-grade pot to fake out the Bay City boys so they'll take it out on Jerry instead of the gang. Jordan tells Susan that he doesn't need her anymore and that the gang is welcome to her, then drops off Jerry with the inferior goods. Meanwhile, the cops get a tip that Phil has "the stuff" and they impound his car.
SPOILER:
So Phil goes to Ellie's to borrow her car but finds Jordan there with some pot and needles, but guess who has the tracks on her arms. Oh no, sweet, troubled Ellie is already on the inevitable path from Mary Jane to the hard stuff. So young, so pretty, so cliche. Ellie: "Once upon a time a sweet little girl became a junkie. What difference does it make?" Phil: "But why infect those kids?" Ellie: "Because that's where the market is. If you had my problem, where would you sell it?...In a way I'm glad it's over." But it's not over because hashish-fueled Jerry is a giggling mess like some film noir nutjob and has just made the drop of the fake Gold to the Bay City Boys.
They rough up Jerry and go looking for Jordan, at which point we hear Jordan's screams as he gets his payback. Jerry has wandered off like Plato at the Observatory, but Phil rescues him as he's about to tumble into an empty swimming pool.
Jerry comes to in Phil's arms...Awww...and tears off that cursed MARYJANE pendant, a sterling example to us all, thus concluding this inspirational Bad Movie We Love. Go in peace.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Jan 25, 2024 17:42:46 GMT
I remember stories of him laughing during rehearsals in ways which baffled the cast and seemed inappropriate to them, but he definitely knew what he liked and what he didn't. Gorgeous Liz headgear snap. And so nice being in the company of John Waters. Before I wander off to the google machine to research your gem of an anecdote.... Do you recall any of the details of the laughing? Was it for Boom! or other TW production(s)? Maryjane is another to add to my never-ending must see list. Not sure how it escaped me with Fabian in the cast. I guess I have been far too busy off with other TERRIBLE musician based dramas. I won't count Wild in the Streets. For me that is a GREAT picture. : D Who could forget this nightmarish gem that I must love like a little bird with a broken wing: One Trick Pony 1980 TV trailer Jonah Levin knows what it's like to sit atop the world of pop music. But chart-topping hits (as well as enduring marriages) are harder to come by – and nothing he ever knew could prepare him for the skid to the bottom. Playing Jonah, the enduringly talented Paul Simon knows the musical terrain – but scores in acting and screenwriting areas as well in this sometimes funny, always probing look at the intriguing starmaking machinery of the recording industry.
Blair Brown, Rip Torn, Joan Hackett and Mare Winningham also score among the movie's performances.
Among the ten soundtrack Simon songs are "Ace in the Hole," "Late in the Evening," the title tune and "That’s Why God Made the Movies." Offering a showcase to a master musician like Simon is another divine reason to carry this cinematic tune.
Also features a cast of real-life musicians including Lou Reed and the B-52s.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 25, 2024 18:26:03 GMT
I remember stories of him laughing during rehearsals in ways which baffled the cast and seemed inappropriate to them, but he definitely knew what he liked and what he didn't. Gorgeous Liz headgear snap. And so nice being in the company of John Waters. Before I wander off to the google machine to research your gem of an anecdote.... Do you recall any of the details of the laughing? Was it for Boom! or other TW production(s)? Maryjane is another to add to my never-ending must see list. Not sure how it escaped me with Fabian in the cast. I guess I have been far too busy off with other TERRIBLE musician based dramas. I won't count Wild in the Streets. For me that is a GREAT picture. : D Who could forget this nightmarish gem that I must love like a little bird with a broken wing: One Trick Pony 1980 TV trailer Jonah Levin knows what it's like to sit atop the world of pop music. But chart-topping hits (as well as enduring marriages) are harder to come by – and nothing he ever knew could prepare him for the skid to the bottom. Playing Jonah, the enduringly talented Paul Simon knows the musical terrain – but scores in acting and screenwriting areas as well in this sometimes funny, always probing look at the intriguing starmaking machinery of the recording industry.
Blair Brown, Rip Torn, Joan Hackett and Mare Winningham also score among the movie's performances.
Among the ten soundtrack Simon songs are "Ace in the Hole," "Late in the Evening," the title tune and "That’s Why God Made the Movies." Offering a showcase to a master musician like Simon is another divine reason to carry this cinematic tune.
Also features a cast of real-life musicians including Lou Reed and the B-52s.
Pop star vanity projects are the best! I'll definitely be getting to Mariah Carey's Glitter (2001) at some point. She claimed credit for the "idea" of a backup singer who strikes out on her own. It won't stand up in court, Mariah. Diana's Mahogany (1975) wasn't musical but it was a gift from her hubby to feature her fashion designs. I kept waiting for something from Celine but I guess we can assume either she or Renee had the good sense not to. I'll revisit One Trick Pony because it's been years. Also, Prince's Under the Cherry Moon (1986) is a must if you haven't seen it. Totally unhinged. I don't remember the source of the Williams anecdote, but probably a bio. Jonh Lahr's was the latest but it's dim enough in my memory that it must have been before that. Also, I've read all the Capote biographies and he dearly loved to dish his "good friend", so maybe he repeated some gossip there, but I think it was a quote from a cast member of a production of one of his later plays, when his behavior was getting unpredictable enough to make him almost unwelcome at rehearsals. |
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Jan 25, 2024 19:02:16 GMT
Pop star vanity projects are the best! I'll definitely be getting to Mariah Carey's Glitter (2001) at some point. She claimed credit for the "idea" of a backup singer who strikes out on her own. It won't stand up in court, Mariah. Diana's Mahogany (1975) wasn't musical but it was a gift from her hubby to feature her fashion designs. I kept waiting for something from Celine but I guess we can assume either she or Renee had the good sense not to. I'll revisit One Trick Pony because it's been years. Also, Prince's Under the Cherry Moon (1986) is a must if you haven't seen it. Totally unhinged. I don't remember the source of the Williams anecdote, but probably a bio. Jonh Lahr's was the latest but it's dim enough in my memory that it must have been before that. Also, I've read all the Capote biographies and he dearly loved to dish his "good friend, so maybe there, but I think it was a quote from a cast member of a production of one of his later plays, when his behavior was getting unpredictable enough to make him almost unwelcome at rehearsals. It would probably be quicker to list any well done pop star vanity projects. The bad ones are truly scrumptious. I haven't seen Glitter. I suppose I will have to dive in - how bad could it be? Mahogany - loved it. Didn't know about the fashion angle. You should post one of of the ensembles to Is That What You're Wearing. Haven't tried the Cherry Moon either. Good grief I am a slacker. Celine you have a really good point. It must have been something they pursued. She is absolutely hilarious which I would have loved to see in a What's Up Doc kind of film. Thanks for all the TW tips. I haven't seen One Trick Pony in years. It keeps disappearing from my library streaming services before I can tackle it again. Which leads me to a question: how many times do you see a movie before declaring your love or hate for it? I enjoyed Moment by Moment (1978) the first time I saw it. Upon second viewing I worried about my mental state the first time around. I didn't like it at all. I can't even post the trailer here it is so terrible. So I will post the trailer to Perfect (1985), another one I love(d) but suspect maybe I was concussed at the time. I've only seen it once. Once is not enough might we say? Perfect (1985) |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Jan 25, 2024 19:31:01 GMT
It would probably be quicker to list any well done pop star vanity projects. The bad ones are truly scrumptious. I haven't seen Glitter. I suppose I will have to dive in - how bad could it be? Mahogany - loved it. Didn't know about the fashion angle. You should post one of of the ensembles to Is That What You're Wearing. Haven't tried the Cherry Moon either. Good grief I am a slacker. Celine you have a really good point. It must have been something they pursued. She is absolutely hilarious which I would have loved to see in a What's Up Doc kind of film. Thanks for all the TW tips. I haven't seen One Trick Pony in years. It keeps disappearing from my library streaming services before I can tackle it again. Which leads me to a question: how many times do you see a movie before declaring your love or hate for it? I enjoyed Moment by Moment (1978) the first time I saw it. Upon second viewing I worried about my mental state the first time around. I didn't like it at all. I can't even post the trailer here it is so terrible. So I will post the trailer to Perfect (1985), another one I love(d) but suspect maybe I was concussed at the time. I've only seen it once. Once is not enough might we say? Perfect (1985) I haven't had the courage to go back to Moment by Moment, mostly out of respect for Jane Wagner, who wrote and directed it. A really bad miscalculation on her part and everyone else's. I'm too co-dependent to look at it rationally. I'd forgotten all about Perfect. Travolta was on a tear around that time. Staying Alive was another one; "Satan's Alley" is a chuckle-worthy example of what Hollywood thought Broadway was all about. Add to that sweaty John in his dance togs and Stallone-inspired body. Not sure how many times it takes for a person to realize a movie is a keeper. Sometimes it clicks right away and sometimes it has to persist in your memory a while and keep calling you back. I'm with you; there are plenty of quantifiably "bad" movies I can't live without. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 25, 2024 23:54:21 GMT
Coming soon:
Sincerely Yours (1955): Liberace the movie star? It never happened and here's why...
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Post by I Love Melvin on Feb 26, 2024 13:05:13 GMT
Sincerely Yours (1955): He's a player, and not just on piano. Liberace has not one but two leading ladies!
Liberace had a successful daytime TV show in the 1950's, as well as a thriving concert career in Vegas and elsewhere, so it's natural that Hollywood would be tempted. But it could safely be said that this film represented the pinnacle of Liberace's career as a lead actor because it turned out to be the only instance. Warner's had big expectations but this remake of The Man Who Played God was skewed heavily toward the kind of angsty melodrama normally associated with female leads, like the similarly doomed Mario Lanza movie Serenade (1956), which we've already looked at. Not as well versed in irony as "bad movie" lovers of today, audiences were basically indifferent and missed out on all the silly fun.
As the credits wrap up we see a marquee announcing "Anthony Warrin Tonight" and we hear a concert in progress as a pan takes us around to the stage door where adoring fans have gathered in the rain. Above, Warrin's secretary Marion (Joanne Dru) surveys the scene and reports back to manager Sam (William Demerest) "Bless 'em all" as she goes to watch the show from backstage. Tony (Liberace) finishes a classical number and asks for suggestions from the audience, selecting a young girl's request for "Chopsticks", proceeding to turn it from lowbrow to highbrow with lots of the showy flourishes which spell "class" to the masses. He's a man of the people, you see, with the kind of unctuous charm "the people" are prone to gravitate to. Then an establishing shot of a cable car leads us to Tony's hotel suite in a San Franciso hotel, where Marion recounts recent offers to ride an elephant in the circus (Tony: "No thanks. I'll take a taxi."), be Avocado King ("Too fattening.") or open a new aquarium ("And get seasick?") He's a maestro of the quip as well as the keyboard.
But Tony jumps at the offer of tickets to "the big fight" that night because what sort of man wouldn't, beginning a pattern of overly zealous assurances that he's all man with only manly things on his mind. If you say so. Marion also mentions Sam (Demerest) receiving a telegram from a New York promoter, whereupon Tony jumps up to interrupt Sam in his bubble bath smoking a cigar; again with the "manly" counterpoints, so there'll be no confusion about what kind of household we've wandered into. It's an offer to play at Carnegie Hall, number one on Tony's wish list. Tony: "I'm happy to play for the 12,000 tonight but the 2,700 at Carnegie Hall are a challenge. They've judged the finest." Sam: "You give pleasure and comfort to the millions. Why should they lose you to the thousands?" Grumpy isn't helping your case, Tony. Who's managing who? Tony asks Marion if his old teacher Zwolinski is around. Marion: "He's still up on Telegraph Hill. He's been roasting people since the great fire." They can't all be zingers. Marion is in love with Tony, of course, thus the insipid banter. Tony pops around to Maestro Z's apartment, letting himself in. Alone, he sits at the piano as socialite and prospective student Linda (Dorothy Malone) enters and mistakes him for the master. He's instantly charmed and it's mutual. She admits to being "a rich girl who's expected to be accomplished", so Tony has her play and coaches her: "There's no feeling. You've got to put your heart into it. And practice, practice."
When Zwolinski returns and the mistake is exposed, they head out to lunch, because that's what you do with a rich girl, I guess. A second date at a fancy club leads to Tony being called up on stage, where he charms a table of his demographic matrons and shows his "Americaness" by playing boogie woogie for the swells.
He asks one of the swooning women if she's like to touch him, which she does timidly. Tony, flirting outrageously, points to his thigh and says "Right about here is where I start to get the message." Smooth, but nowadays she'd be getting a good lawyer. After the number he rushes back to the table and kisses Linda because, you know, nature must have its way....Shut up. Just accept it and things can go a lot quicker. The poor matron sinks to her seat in disappointment. Men. On a third date at a local museum, the guide recognizes him and, to save him from autograph seekers, sidetracks them into a roomful of antique pianos, where Tony gives them a mini-concert on each, thus demonstrating his breathtaking range or some such thing. Mid-concerto he blurts out "Linda, did you ever wonder what it would be like married to a musician? It wouldn't be easy", to which the guide interjects: "What's the matter? You've got a union, haven't you?" It's a race to the bottom of the barrel with all these quips. Tony tells Linda that even though they've only known each other for a short time "under certain conditions it can feel like..." Linda (finishing the thought): "..Like knowing a person a lifetime?" They're finishing each other's sentences so this must be the real thing, according to the goofy logic of rom com meet-cute. Tony proposes and she promises to run it by her parents that weekend, because I guess that's what rich girls have to do. The end result is a static clinch on the piano bench, with lips in each other's general vicinity but just barely.
At the intermission of Tony's concert that night Linda accidentally drops into the lap of a soldier (Alex Nicol as Sgt. Howard Ferguson) as she gets up and he quips (Of course!) "We're meant for each other", to general laughter from those around them. They meet again in the lobby, where he quips "when you've sat in a man's lap you're hardly strangers". True that. He's about to be discharged and it turns out he's "sort of a composer" working on "an American symphony". The music groupie in her perks up and we can see something's brewing here. He's also a Warrin fan: "He respects the classics, but from a sitting position, not on his knees." (Insert the quip of your choice here.) Back in the concert hall Tony finds his hearing cutting in and out, but doesn't tell anyone. Next we see Tony backstage at Carnegie Hall where the same thing happens as he's about to go on stage. "It's no use. Tell them to go home. I'm deaf. Stone deaf." We just switched gears into the high drama portion of our show and now begins an ordeal which would ruin a lesser man.
A cover story is sent out that he's injured his hand, then Tony consults an expert (Edward Platt, later Don Adams' boss on Get Smart), who tells Tony his only hope is an operation which could either cure him or leave him permanently deaf. The doc tells him it's a long shot. To Marion and manager Sam: "He's apt to become depressed and irritable. If he decides against the operation he should take up lip reading. It'll take him out of himself." That'll be a nice switch. (I know I shouldn't make fun. My brother was deaf.) Marion decides to contact Linda. "She should be here." When she arrives she's intercepted outside the building by the good sergeant but she blows him off in favor of rushing to Tony.
Upstairs she's told about his deafness but that Tony doesn't want to see her because he doesn't want to involve her in his troubles. But Marion thinks she should hear it from Tony, who tells her "When I asked you in San Francisco to marry me it was different then. I had my music, my career. I had something to offer you", sending her back to her family until he can "work it out".
He takes up lip reading and gets binoculars so he can practice on people in Central Park below. "I don't go out so I bring the people up here with these." He watches a crippled boy Alvie (Richard Eyer) and his grandfather sitting on a bench watching other boys play football, wishing he could play. Tony is reading a biography of Beethoven, telling Marion that "he wanted to kill himself. Only his art held him back. I don't have my art." She tells him Beethoven wrote his best stuff after his deafness. "Your deafness is a test and you've got to face it." Later Tony steps onto the balcony amid swirling dead leaves and swelling music and leans over the edge, only to be pulled back by Marion. Tony has decided that God has no time for him and in despair wanders into a church where he sees Alvie and his grandfather, lip reading Alvie praying to be able to play football.
But later Tony sees Alvie through the binoculars saying "I don't want to go to church anymore, because I don't believe praying can help." Tony hears this as a call to action, of course. He has Marion tell the grandfather they'll have the money for the operation, but anonymously. Marion gives him a letter from Linda, but he says "I'll get to it later. Right now I have a problem with Mrs. McGinley", a woman (Lurene Tuttle) who meets her daughter (Lori Nelson, best remembered for Revenge of the Creature (1955) and Hot Rod Girl (1956)) on a park bench every week.
The daughter married up into swanky rich folks (stock brokers, don't you know?) and keeps avoiding introducing her mother to her new family out of embarrassment. The daughter (in a silver fur stole) brings her money every week but won't let her into her new life because she's made up stories about her background. "Soon when I'm more secure I'll bring you to Westchester." So project #2 is on the books for Tony.
Tony has a brief window when his hearing returns and he belts out the movie's theme song at the piano, because that's what the people came to see. While he has his hearing he works on Mrs. McGinley, outfitting her at a fashion house and squiring her to a society charity ball where he's auctioning off numbers, where her daughter's in-laws can be properly introduced.
They invite Mrs. McGinley to come live with them in Westchester; their snootiness has evaporated once she has the blessing of the great Anthony Warrin. Mission #2 accomplished. But during Rhapsody in Blue his hearing checks out again, with Tony telling manager Sam "Don't tell anyone. Let's not ruin Christmas." Linda is coming for Christmas and Marion uses the opportunity to leave, jokingly (but not really) telling him "I can't afford to work for a man who isn't eligible. You'll have Linda now." Sam tells Tony "she wouldn't have gone if she knew you couldn't hear", which Tony says is why he couldn't tell her. Then snoopy Tony catches Linda and her ex-sergeant on the park bench confessing their love for each other, yet Linda feels an obligation to Tony.
Tony, the consummate gentleman, sends Linda back to Howard with his best wishes. Alvie, post-op, and Grandpa have been invited to Christmas, where Alvie is given a football helmet and he gives Tony a St. Christopher medal. "I wore it in the hospital so I wouldn't be scared."
This steels Tony to undergo the surgery of his own, with the medal prominently pinned to his hospital gown.
SPOILER: Forward to Tony's bandages being unwrapped by the Get Smart doctor, whereupon he hears a surgical instrument being dropped...Voila! Anthony Warrin is back! Next we see a full house in a concert hall, with Linda and Howard, Mrs. McGinley and the daughter's swanky in-laws, and Alvie and Grandpa in attendance, when who should appear on the backstage balcony but Marion. It's The Circle of Life as per the rules of Melodrama 101, as the two who were meant for each other all along are reunited in a tidal wave of music and emotion, thus bringing to a thrilling conclusion this Bad Movie We Love, Liberace edition.
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Post by kims on Apr 7, 2024 12:56:56 GMT
TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (1965) with Connie Stevens, Dean Jones and Cesar Romero. It's a common basic horror story plot: lovely young woman (Connie Stevens) must stay seven nights in an eerie mansion to inherit her father's fortune. (In real life has anyone ever had that in a will?) Anyway, Dean Jones is the stalwart boyfriend who will come to the rescue. Cesar Romero is the father of Stevens-a magician who accidently kills his wife during a guillotine act gone wrong. There are some good bits in the film using magician props to create surprise and fear. Turns out Cesar Romero isn't really dead, he's just crazy, thinking his daughter is his wife and wants to perform the guillotine act again. Jones comes to the rescue, but accidently guillotines Stevens or did he?
This film may have been better with different editing. Some scenes are drawn out to create the scary tension, but go on so long I said "all right already." The film takes itself too seriously to rise to the level of camp, but best viewed in that frame of mind. The best reason to watch is Cesar Romero-consider this film an audition tape for Romero's The Joker in BATMAN tv show. The two characters are not similar, but he has one quality in common with Vincent Price: playing the role seriously, while enjoying the fun of it. When I saw TWO ON A GUILLOTINE first run in a theater, I did not think "how low Romero has become taking a role like this after all those romantic Fox films" Instead his appearance ends the growing boredom-Let the party begin!
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 13, 2024 23:05:32 GMT
TWO ON A GUILLOTINE (1965) with Connie Stevens, Dean Jones and Cesar Romero. It's a common basic horror story plot: lovely young woman (Connie Stevens) must stay seven nights in an eerie mansion to inherit her father's fortune. (In real life has anyone ever had that in a will?) Anyway, Dean Jones is the stalwart boyfriend who will come to the rescue. Cesar Romero is the father of Stevens-a magician who accidently kills his wife during a guillotine act gone wrong. There are some good bits in the film using magician props to create surprise and fear. Turns out Cesar Romero isn't really dead, he's just crazy, thinking his daughter is his wife and wants to perform the guillotine act again. Jones comes to the rescue, but accidently guillotines Stevens or did he? This film may have been better with different editing. Some scenes are drawn out to create the scary tension, but go on so long I said "all right already." The film takes itself too seriously to rise to the level of camp, but best viewed in that frame of mind. The best reason to watch is Cesar Romero-consider this film an audition tape for Romero's The Joker in BATMAN tv show. The two characters are not similar, but he has one quality in common with Vincent Price: playing the role seriously, while enjoying the fun of it. When I saw TWO ON A GUILLOTINE first run in a theater, I did not think "how low Romero has become taking a role like this after all those romantic Fox films" Instead his appearance ends the growing boredom-Let the party begin! A big deal has been made of older actresses going to the dark side in those spooky 1960's movies like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Lady in a Cage (1964), but this shows that younger actors and actresses were doing it too as they started to age out of the "teenage" roles they made their reputation on. Pat Boone did it too with The Horror of it All (1964) and Fabian did it with Ten little Indians (1965), based on the Agatha Christie classic. I haven't seen this one in years but I'll keep my eyes open. I'm always up for some good stupid fun. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Apr 13, 2024 23:13:28 GMT
Coming Soon: Cobra Woman (1944): Maria Montez does twinsies, an unassuming island girl and a psychotic pagan priestess. Come for the divas and
stay for the snake.
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