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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 7, 2024 16:02:29 GMT
The Thomas Crown Affair from 1969 with Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway and Paul Burke
If you suspend a little more disbelief than usual and just soak up the 1960s cool factor and style, The Thomas Crown Affair is an enjoyable fairytale of crime, money, luxury, sex and fashion. I saw this film once and was totally bored by Steve McQueen's performance and not particularly impressed with Dunaway's. Burke I liked. One of these days I'll get around to watching the remake which sounds like it'd be more my cup of tea.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 7, 2024 16:31:28 GMT
The Thomas Crown Affair from 1969 with Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway and Paul Burke
If you suspend a little more disbelief than usual and just soak up the 1960s cool factor and style, The Thomas Crown Affair is an enjoyable fairytale of crime, money, luxury, sex and fashion. I saw this film once and was totally bored by Steve McQueen's performance and not particularly impressed with Dunaway's. Burke I liked. One of these days I'll get around to watching the remake which sounds like it'd be more my cup of tea. I understand that view. I saw it a few decade ago and liked it a bit (but clearly not that much as I didn't watch it again for over two decades), but really enjoyed it this time as I appreciated the 1960s style and what the director was trying to do this time way more than I did the first time I saw it. But of course, you might not like it anymore the second time than you did the first.
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Post by intrepid37 on Mar 7, 2024 22:56:27 GMT
The remake is very unsatisfying.
The ending of the original is excellent. McQueen's character is perfectly maintained.
The ending of the remake is for snowflakes and simps.
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Post by dianedebuda on Mar 8, 2024 1:43:26 GMT
The remake is very unsatisfying.
The ending of the original is excellent. McQueen's character is perfectly maintained.
The ending of the remake is for snowflakes and simps. I don't like the cold, so I'll probably be a simp. 🦠
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 14, 2024 10:55:26 GMT
3:10 to Yuma from 1957 with Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr, Leora Dana, Henry Jones and Ford Rainey
3:10 to Yuma is a wonderful morality tale, the Western's stock-in-trade. It's a good-versus-evil story that still causes your allegiances to shift here and there, because it mixes in enough moral grayness and conflicted personalities to give the movie texture.
Glenn Ford plays a likable - he just is - head of a gang that holds up a stagecoach, steals its gold shipment and kills the driver. Afterwards, he heads into the nearby town and ends up having a quickie with the barmaid.
Make no mistake about what happens: Ford walks into town, shows a sensitive side to a lonely and pretty barmaid, played with a perfect bored wantonness by Felicia Farr, and they go at it. Start to finish, it's done in under an hour as Ford has to get out of town in a hurry.
The law, though, catches up with Ford before he can get away. But it's a small town with one law officer, a sheriff, and everyone knows Ford's large and professional gang will come back for him. The sheriff needs help, yet few want to be deputized.
The owner of the stagecoach lines offers $200 a man to, effectively, escort Ford to Yuma by train. This catches the attention of a broke farmer and family man, played by Van Heflin, who will lose his farm if he can't buy water to tide him over until the next rain.
Heflin accepts the offer. With a double-barreled shotgun, he takes a handcuffed Ford to his house to hold him overnight. Heflin plays down the risks to his two boys and wife, played by Leora Dana, but sharp-witted and strategic Ford sees Heflin's vulnerabilities.
After that, it's onto a nearby town for Ford and Heflin to hold up in a hotel until the 3:10 to Yuma train comes. But of course, Ford's gang, trying to find him, has a scout in town.
What works is the interplay of Ford and Heflin. Ford has one objective, to get away either on his own or with the help of his gang. Heflin wants to complete his job, get the $200 and he wants to do the right thing, but he also doesn't want to die trying.
Personable Ford relentlessly works on Heflin's psyche offering him thousands of dollars to let him go free - (paraphrasing) "My gang will free me anyway and you're not a lawman, so why not take my money, save your farm and family and not get killed?"
Ford points out that even if Heflin gets him to Yuma, he'll still probably escape, so what is Heflin risking his life for? It's compelling enough to get Heflin thinking.
If he dies, what's to become of Heflin's wife and kids? Doesn't he morally owe them more than getting killed over this job? Yet without the $200, he can't save his farm. Plus, Heflin is a man who feels the tug of "do the right thing." You never fully know what's motivating him.
The head games are intense as Ford and Heflin spend a claustrophobic day in a hot hotel room waiting for the train. It becomes a brutal one-on-one battle of wills. You know it's wrong, but for a second, you'll want Heflin to take the money Ford offers and let him go.
Of course there is a final shootout as the train arrives, but nothing is cookie cutter in director Delmer Daves thoughtful portrayal of this surprisingly complex story. Its resolution is more open ended than happens in 3:10 to Yuma's earlier movie cognate High Noon.
Ford is the glue in this one playing a bad guy that you can't help liking. It's easy to see how his charm, charisma, smarts and cunning has allowed him to thrive as the head of a criminal gang. Ford, who usually played good guys, seems to relish this chance to play a villain.
He's oddly but equally matched by Heflin who is Ford's antithesis. His personality is rough and he's not cunning or "sharp," but he is, basically, a moral man. He thinks slower than Ford, but he's smart in his own way. It's an outstanding performance by Heflin.
Farr as the lonely barmaid and Dana as Heflin's wife, who brings her own will to their marriage, both carve out small but impactful roles as all but the only women in the movie.
Henry Jones as a drunk with more courage than you expect and Ford Rainey as the sheriff in need of deputies help to round out a strong cast where every small performance adds to the movie's crisp narrative.
The black-and-white cinematography, the bleak landscape - the ground is parched owing to the lack of rain that is bankrupting Heflin's farm - and the simple wood buildings give the movie the perfect spartan atmosphere for this good-versus-evil tale to play out.
3:10 to Yuma is a classic for a reason. It took a story that is simple on its surface - bring a murderer to justice - and layered in two complex personalities and some moral confusion to give the audience a nail-biting, exhausting and thought-provoking viewing experience.
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nickandnora34
Junior Member
Just a grease spot on the L&N
Posts: 77
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Post by nickandnora34 on Mar 14, 2024 18:22:14 GMT
A lot of the movies I will be watching this year will be related to a personal challenge: On the movie-tracking site Letterboxd, there is a "stats" section where it keeps track of all your most-watched directors and actors, etc., and I will be attempting to have my actor stats be filled with all classic Hollywood women (gives me an excuse to watch some of their films that have been on my watchlist for forever). There are 20 slots available, so I have come up with a list of 20 names. I've been on a bit of a Jean Simmons & Ida Lupino kick recently, so here are two I watched:
Home Before Dark 1958: (Jean Simmons #4). In this film Jean Simmons portrays a woman who has recently been released from a mental hospital. Her husband comes to collect her from the hospital, and the audience is immediately met with his cold and unfeeling demeanor. It is not initially obvious to Jean, but as she returns home to her patronizing stepsister and stepmother, she begins to realize that the trio's behavior is not going to assist in her recovery. As the plot progresses, we see Jean begging her husband to show her a single shred of affection, while potentially being driven into another man's arms. Due to the gaslighting by her family members, she slowly begins to repeat the cycle of descending into madness, and is in danger of returning to the hospital. There is a scene in the film where Jean embarrasses her husband at a restaurant, and it made me feel so uncomfortable (mainly due to her declining mental state and the subsequent events that occur afterwards). Jean was absolutely fantastic in this, and she has quickly risen to my list of underrated actresses of the time period. One thing that drove me crazy was the fact that she would ask her husband a question about his feelings and actions, and he would never give her a straight answer, just something along the lines of "you're doing it again, Charlotte," and "how could you think something like that?" I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him. *4 stars*
They Drive by Night 1940: (Ida Lupino #2). I'm not used to Humphrey Bogart playing second fiddle, so this was an interesting change of pace. George Raft and Bogart play trucker brothers who find themselves down on their luck. As they are trying to change their fortunes, they meet a waitress at a diner (Ann Sheridan) and befriend her. Raft quickly falls for her, and they become "an item." After an accident, Raft's career trajectory changes, and he ends up working for a wealthy trucking company owner. Lupino plays the wealthy man's wife who has her hooks into Raft; she is determined to get him, and there seems to be no limit to the things she will do to make him hers. There isn't too much plot besides what I have just mentioned, but the third act is where it gets interesting. There is a courtroom scene where Lupino gives a stellar performance as a woman who has snapped mentally. I found myself incredibly moved. Another underrated performer of the time, in my opinion. *3 stars*
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 14, 2024 18:58:59 GMT
A lot of the movies I will be watching this year will be related to a personal challenge: On the movie-tracking site Letterboxd, there is a "stats" section where it keeps track of all your most-watched directors and actors, etc., and I will be attempting to have my actor stats be filled with all classic Hollywood women (gives me an excuse to watch some of their films that have been on my watchlist for forever). There are 20 slots available, so I have come up with a list of 20 names. I've been on a bit of a Jean Simmons & Ida Lupino kick recently, so here are two I watched:
Home Before Dark (1958): In this film Jean Simmons portrays a woman who has recently been released from a mental hospital. Her husband comes to collect her from the hospital, and the audience is immediately met with his cold and unfeeling demeanor. It is not initially obvious to Jean, but as she returns home to her patronizing stepsister and stepmother, she begins to realize that the trio's behavior is not going to assist in her recovery. As the plot progresses, we see Jean begging her husband to show her a single shred of affection, while potentially being driven into another man's arms. Due to the gaslighting by her family members, she slowly begins to repeat the cycle of descending into madness, and is in danger of returning to the hospital. There is a scene in the film where Jean embarrasses her husband at a restaurant, and it made me feel so uncomfortable (mainly due to her declining mental state and the subsequent events that occur afterwards). Jean was absolutely fantastic in this, and she has quickly risen to my list of underrated actresses of the time period. One thing that drove me crazy was the fact that she would ask her husband a question about his feelings and actions, and he would never give her a straight answer, just something along the lines of "you're doing it again, Charlotte," and "how could you think something like that?" I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him. *4 stars*
They Drive by Night (1940): I'm not used to Humphrey Bogart playing second fiddle, so this was an interesting change of pace. George Raft and Bogart play trucker brothers who find themselves down on their luck. As they are trying to change their fortunes, they meet a waitress at a diner (Ann Sheridan) and befriend her. Raft quickly falls for her, and they become "an item." After an accident, Raft's career trajectory changes, and he ends up working for a wealthy trucking company owner. Lupino plays the wealthy man's wife who has her hooks into Raft; she is determined to get him, and there seems to be no limit to the things she will do to make him hers. There isn't too much plot besides what I have just mentioned, but the third act is where it gets interesting. There is a courtroom scene where Lupino gives a stellar performance as a woman who has snapped mentally. I found myself incredibly moved. Another underrated performer of the time, in my opinion. *3 stars* That sounds like a fun plan you have for yourself - enjoy.
I liked your comments on both films. I love Sheridan's early takedown of Raft in the the latter, as seen here:
Sheridan destroys Raft
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 16, 2024 10:58:05 GMT
The Charge of the Light Brigade from 1936 with Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Patrick Knowles, Donald Crisp. Nigel Bruce, Henry Stephenson, Spring Byington and David Nivens
Marginally framed by Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem, The Charge of the Light Brigade, this Warner Bros. movie by the same title shows the studio and Errol Flynn at their action-adventure best even if historical accuracy is a less than secondary consideration.
Flynn, in the 1930s and at the peak of his handsomeness, made several wonderful action-adventure movies, but The Charge of the Light Brigade has a touch of something more because the historical event behind it is magnificent in its valor if not strategy.
The thumbnail history of the battle is that owing to a misunderstanding of an order somewhere along the chain, a British light cavalry unit charged on a well-fortified Russian artillery battery in 1854 in the Crimean War.
It was a slaughter, as it had to be, for the British. Yet memorialized weeks later by Tennyson's poem, it glorified the courage of the troops and became part of the legend of the British Empire. If your modern politics can't abide this history, this is not the movie for you.
In Warner's hands, with director Michael Curtiz at the helm, a love triangle - amongst Flynn, Patrick Knowles, both officers in the Light Brigade, and Olivia de Havilland, a commanding officer's very comely daughter - provides the story's structure.
It's a fine off-the-shelf Warners 1930s way to tell this story, especially since Flynn and de Havilland have appealing on-screen chemistry, but you can ignore all that "mushy" stuff if you want as the military tale is what really engages in this one.
Early on, Flynn has a friendly relationship with the leader, known as Surat Khan, of a local Mid East tribe, until "the Khan" violates an agreement and attacks a lightly fortified British outpost manned by the Light Brigade and kills many women and children.
Later, with the British now fighting the Russians in the Crimean War, Flynn is given orders for the Light Brigade to not attack. Knowing, though, that the Surat Khan is there with the Russians, he defies these orders, which leads to the famous Charge of the Light Brigade.
While confusion over the orders led to this colossal historical mistake, it assuredly did not happen as shown here. But Flynn, who also protects his brother from the battle because de Havilland asked him to, has to be the hero in the picture, so he is.
All of these military machinations - Flynn is given orders which he rewrites, puts in an envelope and seals in wax - are the backbone of the movie as the love triangle slightly disappoints because de Havilland chooses the wrong guy, Knowles (you learn that early).
It all leads up to a battle scene that had to amaze audiences in 1936, since it is still captivating today. Kudos to Curtiz as he created a panoramic landscape of a charge that seemed to use a full brigade of men and horses. DeMille had to be jealous.
Men armed with sabers on horses, in an open field, charging an artillery battalion holding the high ground and firing cannonballs at it is a crazy, futile and beautiful thing to see (if you're not doing the charging).
The famous quote "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton'' avers the British Empire was not happenstance, but a well-orchestrated system. Those boys who became soldiers didn't always win, but they conducted themselves with impressive valor.
Even with a large cast comprising some of Warner Bros. top talent - including Donald Crisp, Henry Stephenson, Nigel Bruce, Spring Byington and, even, a young David Niven - this is Flynn's movie.
Flynn was a talented actor with surprising range - he had an underappreciated talent for comedy and a well-appreciated talent for bedding women - but God put him on earth to play swashbuckling heroes and he didn't let God down.
With the passage of time, futile acts of courage can become inspiring stories that can become the stuff of legends as happened with The Charge of the Light Brigade.
You watch Warner Bros. 1936 version of The Charge of the Light Brigade to enjoy the inspirational legend expertly if inaccurately told by a Hollywood studio system that knew how to push all the right emotional buttons of its audience.
You turn to the history books if you want to learn what really sparked that famous charge on that singular day in 1854.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 17, 2024 11:14:47 GMT
Girl with Green Eyes from 1964 with Rita Tushingham, Peter Finch and Linda Redgrave
Couple toasting themselves alone: Woman: "To love." Man: "To simplicity." Woman: "To you." Man: "To us." Woman: "Forever after." Man: "For while we're happy."
Maybe it was a bit daring in its day, but even with its edge worn down by our shifting cultural center, Girl with Green Eyes is still a moving tale of two people at very different stages of their lives briefly finding love and comfort in each other.
Rita Tushingham, with her quirky looks, oversized eyes and gaminish appeal, plays the girl with green eyes, a poor Irish farm girl who moves to Dublin to escape her dreary and dogmatically religious home.
Living in a one room flat with her best friend, played by Lynn Redgrave, working in a small grocery and partying at night with friends, Tushingham feels the weight of the world has been lifted from her shoulders now that she can have youthful fun without guilt.
She then meets a middle-aged man played by Peter Finch. Finch, handsome in a mature, worldly way, especially to a farm girl who views Dublin as the height of sophistication, sees in Tushington a youth, innocence and simplicity that appeals to him after his failed marriage
Separated from his intelligent and cultured wife, who now lives in America with their daughter, Finch is ready for a mentally and physically easy romance. Tushingham, though, has to pursue him at first, then it takes off.
Based on Edna O'Brien's novelette, The Lonely Girl, (comments on The Lonely Girl here: "The Lonely Girl") the second book in the trilogy, the story is told from Tushingham's perspective. She, like so many kids from poor, rural backgrounds, wants "more," but doesn't really know what that means, let alone how to get it.
Finch seems like a direct route. He's a writer from the upper class with the speech, clothes, home and mannerisms to match. Today, they'd have an open affair and see where it goes, but in Catholic Ireland in the early 1960s, they have a quasi-secret affair.
That creates some drama around getting a cover-story wedding ring and a gruesome sequence with her family when they try to kidnap her from "her life of sin." It's not a funny situation, but the resolution is the movie's funniest scene.
Director Desmond Davis wonderfully captures writer O'Brien's smart and nuanced insights as in the pitch-perfect sequence when Tushingham is made to feel unsophisticated and laughed at by Finch's "smart-set" friends.
Kind friends would have made Tushingham feel welcomed by including her in their conversation, but these supposedly cultured people purposely talk about things they know a young country girl wouldn't be conversant in. She's made to feel small, but they look small.
With the early glow of the relationship having passed, the climax, no spoilers coming, has the two facing the reality and challenges of their class-divided May-December romance. You might be surprised by what you hope will happen.
Sometimes billed as a "kitchen sink" drama because of Tushingham's rural escape, Girl with Green Eyes is more of a coming-of-age romance. Supporting that point, you don't want to kill yourself when the movie is over.
Filmed in Dublin in beautiful black and white, Girl with Green Eyes has a time capsule feel as you can sense the full 1960s cultural change about to burst onto the scene. Still, other than some forced 1960s film-school artsiness, it is a timeless story well told.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 20, 2024 10:57:10 GMT
Indochine from 1992 with Catherine Deneuve, Linh-Dan Pham, Vincent Perez and Jean Yanne
Indochine is a beautifully filmed epic that observes more than it comments on the final decades of French colonial rule in Indochina, a part of which became Vietnam. But it is observation with an opinion.
Catherine Deneuve plays the French owner of a large rubber plantation she inherited from her now widowed father. Unmarried, Deneuve adopts an orphaned girl, played by Linh-Dan Pham, who was born into a dynastic Vietnamese family.
Opening in the 1930s, Deneuve is confidently in charge of her rubber plantation as she firmly commands her native "coolie" labourers. She loves the plantation and the country, but of course, in the construct that has her as part of the ruling class.
Outwardly, Deneuve is aristocratically reserved, but we see she has clandestine sexual affairs and secretly visits opium dens. Libidinous passions and psychotropic desires course through her blood, no matter how haughty she may appear.
Deneuve deeply loves her adopted daughter, openly stating her life's passion and goal is to pass her large plantation on to her. Quite likely, Phan would have accepted the plantation and lived a life of wealth and privilege but for the brewing revolution.
The catalyst that breaks Deneuve's plan is a young, handsome French naval officer, played by Vincent Perez with whom Deneuve has a brief, but passionate love affair. Fast-forward and Perez, innocently at first, becomes entangled with Deneuve's daughter, Pham.
His entanglement is sparked by the sweeping societal changes that will see Pham transform from a daughter of privilege into a catalyst and hero of the revolution almost by happenstance. She and Perez become part of a story that is much larger than either of them.
Indochine tells that story, the story of Vietnam's fight for independence, through the lives of Deneuve, Pham and Perez. The movie, which begins in the 1930s, closes with the defeated French leaving Vietnam in 1954 as the country splits politically into the North and South.
If it is a detailed history one is after, this is not the movie. Indochine does, though, provide a passionate feel for the beauty and tragedy of the country's final colonial days. The movie is also visually stunning.
Filmed mainly in Vietnam, with the plantation scenes shot in Malaysia, the country becomes a character itself. Director Regis Wargnier captures the beauty of Vietnam's mountains, inlets and verdant jungles with gorgeous sweeping shots.
Wargnier also pays great attention to detail by showing the beauty of the French colonial architecture and clothing and the beauty of Vietnam's extant royals in their stunning palaces and colorful robes. But he sets all that against the poverty of the bedraggled lower classes.
Wargnier mainly observes, but by constantly juxtaposing the nearly abject poverty of the average Vietnamese worker and family against the opulence of the French colonialists and indigenous royals, he quietly connects the dots to the coming revolution.
Nearly fifty and still beautiful, Deneuve delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a singular Frenchwoman in a unique place and time in history. Her screen presence and acting talent drives a movie with a strong cast and rich story.
Pham and Perez also deliver impressive performances as does Jean Yanne as Deveuve's friend, the modestly corrupt, but also effective and moral in his own way, French official. He sees the signs of the end of French colonial rule earlier than most.
Indochine isn't perfect - it is soapy in parts and forced in others - but those are quibbles in a movie that beautifully and powerfully captures a time, place and moment that is now part of history. It uses all the strengths of cinema to deliver a rich movie-viewing experience.
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Post by NoShear on Mar 24, 2024 14:38:11 GMT
Unless I misheard, TCM's screening of COOGAN'S BLUff last night did not include the uncut talk of the 1968 movie's title explained by Susan Clark's character at one point in the film. (Don't necessarily rely on a DVD for it either.)
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Mar 24, 2024 23:04:25 GMT
If you need films that confound, confuse and haunt, please consider... Dutchman (1966) ‧ Thriller/Drama ‧ 55 mins Director: Anthony Harvey Screenplay: Amiri Baraka (as LeRoi Jones) Music: John Barry Cinematography: Gerry Turpin Shirley Knight as Lula Al Freeman, Jr. as Clay We know we are in interesting territory when the imdb swings wildly: - A good idea but...TERRIBLE
- Revolutionary Play Adapted to Screen
- Brutal honesty
The movie tells the story of a black man who meets a white woman while riding the subway in New York City. Is it biographical? Allegorical? Historical? How far exactly have we come since the LeRoi Jones play premiered in 1964? My country is run by a man who has donned blackface at least three times. I see my American cousins still struggling with Knees and necks. Homophobia, antisemitism, sexism - all issues of the past? What does cancel culture have to say about Amiri Baraka? Although not shown widely, the film was critically well-received and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, where Shirley Knight received the Volpi Cup for best actress. The full article is worth a read but I've pulled a few interesting snips below: Shirley Knight’s 'Dutchman' still resonates today
By NICK THOMAS For The Oklahoman May 27, 2018 www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/2018/05/27/shirley-knights-dutchman-still-resonates-today/60522444007/With over 200 theater, film, and television credits throughout her 60-plus year career, you might think a 55-minute black and white low budget 1960s movie filmed in a week entirely inside a train carriage with only two principal characters wouldn't rate high on Shirley Knight's list of favorite roles. But you'd be wrong. With its racial themes based on the Amiri Baraka play, 1966's “Dutchman” remains a favorite with Knight and still stirs emotions with viewers. “I saw the play and told my husband we had to make it as a film even though it was short,” recalled Knight, who coproduced and starred in the production. “We couldn't get it done in New York so went to England to shoot. We didn't have a lot of money, but people helped out, like offering us music for the score.” “I also did the play in Los Angeles and people were insulting us, sending things to the theater, and trying to shut us down. In fact, the first night we did ‘Dutchman' someone from the government turned up because they were worried about it. It was a crazy time with apartheid in South Africa and all the ugly racial issues going on in the South.”
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 29, 2024 11:03:28 GMT
The Samurai from 1967 with Alain Delon, Nathalie Delon and Francois Perier
"Neo Noir" is definitionally meta as it uses classic film noir for its foundation, often adding color and current cultural references, but in an overall style that is an homage to noir's original fatalistic and often bleak black-and-white mid-century American crime movies.
The Samurai, then, is possibly the most neo-noir movie ever made. French writer and director Jean-Pierre Melville all but blended noir and neo-noir in his paean to the genre's original style by stripping it down to its essential elements in this 1967 French film.
Alain Delon stars as an emotional stunted and laconic hitman. At the open, we see Delon murder a man, but he is seen by a few witnesses. Knowing this, he creates an ex-post-facto alibi with his girlfriend, played by his real-life wife at the time, Nathalie Delon.
The police commissioner - the cinematic version of the French police commissioner is up there with the baguette on the list of wonderful things the French have given the world - played by Francois Perier, sees through Delon's alibi, but can't yet prove it.
Delon has another problem as the mob that hired him, because he was questioned by the police and because, well, they don't really want to pay him, try to kill him. Injured in the mob's first failed attempt, Delon is a man without a redoubt.
The movie's plot is an isolated Delon trying to find a way out of a world closing in around him. With the police openly tracking his every move and the mob doing the same from the shadows, there are few places for him to turn.
Delon, with great skill, eludes the police surveillance for longer than he should be able to. He also audaciously tries to turn the tables on the mob, but this is noir and happy endings aren't part of its metier.
The story is minimalist noir as we never learn much about any of the characters including the lead himself. We know little more than that Delon is a hit man living a spartan life in a bleak one room apartment with his caged bird being a metaphor for Delon himself.
Delon seems to realize this as in several scenes he looks sadly at his bird flying from one perch to another in his small cage. Delon will later be briefly held prisoner, like his bird, in his apartment. It's all meta noir.
Like most (all?) hitmen, he is a sociopath, but other than dressing in a throwback style with a trenchcoat and fedora, and showing a talent for thinking on his feet, the man is an enigma.
His girlfriend, despite her small role, is somewhat more developed - she hates the police and loves Delon - but the question of why hovers. The only answer hinted at is Delon's lovemaking and if that is the answer, then Godbless and we'll all tip our hat to him.
Perier doesn't overplay his part, a risk for anyone in the role of a cagey French police commissioner; instead, he marshalls the large resources at his command to slowly encircle Delain. It's a noir cat-and-mouse game played out with slow methodical resolve.
This leaves the movie's raison d'etre its style and theme. Shot in color, but with the brightness muted and the greys emphasized, it looks noir. Delon's attire, smoke-filled rooms, narrow streets and claustrophobic chases through the subway are all classic noir style.
The second subway "surveillance" scene, where the police have an army of men and women following Delon, as he tries one trick after another to get away, is almost a film course on the narrow but popular movie sub-genre of subway surveillance scenes.
But what does this visually beautiful movie add up to? Is it style for style's sake? (Yes, to a point.) Is Delon a noir antihero? It's hard to sympathize with a man who kills people for money. Is he an outsider fighting the system? Don't all criminals fit that description?
You can go down the existential angst and meaninglessness of life route - the perfect nexus of film noir and French philosophy - if you want, but again, without knowing more, Delon's just a psychotic thug.
Melville's movie is a visually and psychologically gauzy world of cops and criminals. It also pulls a neat noir trick: it has you not really rooting for the cops even though you know you should be and would be if this was real-life and not cinema justice.
Classic film noir is a criminal world of gangsters with cops barely in control; it is sex that is never fun; it is money that never brings happiness; it is a perverted honor code and it is a criminal style perfected on screen in a way that never happened in real life.
Melville's movie is a blend of noir themes, done with noir style for noir's sake itself. And that's almost enough, but it can also feel as if the film isn't a real movie with real characters. Which brings us back to Melville, neo-noir and homage.
The Samurai is a love letter to the classic American film noir era. Melville made several similar movies in his career with 1956's Bob the Gambler being an outstanding earlier effort at bringing American film noir style and themes to French Cinema.
In The Samurai, though, Melville all but perfected his noir reverence by stripping noir to its essential elements - style and theme - but maybe in doing so, he also stripped out a bit of his movie's heart.
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Post by cmovieviewer on Mar 30, 2024 3:45:37 GMT
Unless I misheard, T CM's screening of COOGAN'S BLUff last night did not include the uncut talk of the 1968 movie's title explained by Susan Clark's character at one point in the film. (Don't necessarily rely on a DVD for it either.)Those who are curious can refer to the Wikipedia page for a description of 3 missing scenes in Coogan's Bluff (see the 'Home media' section):
TCM's presentation has the same 94-minute runtime as all of the currently existing DVD and Blu-Ray versions. The most recent Blu-Ray release by Kino Lorber in 2021 (also 94 minutes) did not have the scenes either (not even as extras). So sadly, it appears that these scenes are essentially lost to history at this point. There is a description of the dialogue in one of the missing scenes, transcribed from an old 16-mm print of the film at: theclinteastwoodarchive.blogspot.com/2016/03/coogans-bluff-missing-scene.htmlThe scene with Susan Clark's description of the bluff with the additional context for the film's title would be a nice addition.
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nickandnora34
Junior Member
Just a grease spot on the L&N
Posts: 77
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Post by nickandnora34 on Apr 1, 2024 1:01:06 GMT
A lot of the movies I will be watching this year will be related to a personal challenge: On the movie-tracking site Letterboxd, there is a "stats" section where it keeps track of all your most-watched directors and actors, etc., and I will be attempting to have my actor stats be filled with all classic Hollywood women (gives me an excuse to watch some of their films that have been on my watchlist for forever). There are 20 slots available, so I have come up with a list of 20 names. I've been on a bit of a Jean Simmons & Ida Lupino kick recently, so here are two I watched:
I gave up on this lol. It started to feel entirely too restrictive and demanding... I do plan on watching more of the people I came up with at some point though.
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