cigarjoe
-
Posts
10,789 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Posts posted by cigarjoe
-
-
The Killer Inside Me (1976) Montana Noir
Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me was written in 1952 it was called "one of the most blistering and uncompromising crime novels ever written, " in the introduction to the anthology collection, Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s. In this adaptation the story is moved to Montana and instead of a Texas oil patch peckerwood Lou Ford we get a more "westernized" stoic cowboy version of the character.
Directed by Burt Kennedy (The Money Trap (1965), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)), and written by Edward Mann (screenplay), Robert Chamblee (screenplay) based on Jim Thompson's novel. The cinematography was by William A. Fraker (Rosemary's Baby (1968), Bullitt (1968)), with Music by Tim McIntire and John Rubinstein.
The film stars Stacy Keach (Fat City (1972), The New Centurions (1972), The New Mike Hammer TV Series (1984–1989), Sunset Grill (1993)) as Lou Ford, Susan Tyrrell (Fat City (1972), Andy Warhol's Bad (1977)) as Joyce Lakeland, Tisha Sterling (Coogan's Bluff (1968), Betrayal (1974)) as Amy Stanton, Keenan Wynn (Shack Out on 101 (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Point Blank (1967), ) as Chester Conway, Don Stroud (Madigan (1968), Coogan's Bluff (1968), Taxi Driver (1976), The New Mike Hammer TV Series (1984–1989), Django Unchained (2012)) as Elmer, Charles McGraw (veteran of 10 Classic Film Noir) as Howard Hendricks, John Dehner (Vicki (1953), The Twilight Zone TV Series (1959–1964)) as Bob Maples, Pepe Serna (The New Centurions (1972), Scarface (1983), The Rookie (1990), The Black Dahlia (2006), ) as Johnny Lopez, John Carradine (Fallen Angel (1945), 'C'-Man (1949), Female Jungle (1956)) as Dr. Jason Smith, Royal Dano (Undercover Girl (1950), Hammett (1982)Twin Peaks TV Series (1990–1991)) as Lou Ford's Father, and Julie Adams (Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957)) as Lou Ford's Mother.
Lou Ford (Keach)
Joyce Lakeland (Susan Tyrrell)
The story is simple. Lou Ford (Keach) is a deputy sheriff in Central City, Montana. The Silver Bow County Sheriff cars and The Berkeley Pit reveal the true location, Montana's Mile High/Mile Deep City, Butte. Lou is good ol' boy likable, efficient, helpful and outwardly friendly. On the inside is a simmering f-ing nut job. He is a true Freudian sociopath which he manages to hide very effectively from his steady schoolmarm sweetheart Amy (Sterling), his immediate supervisor Sheriff Bob Maples (Dehner) and the Mayor and mine owner Chester Conway (Wynn).
Central City (Butte, Montana)
Berkeley Pit
Lou has had a horrendous childhood. The son of a mathematics professor (Dano) whose wife (Adams), Lou's mother, (another educator BTY) liked to sleep around every time the old man was away from the house. Was she a ****? An unsatisfied wife? Was Lou's father impotent? I've never read this particular Thompson novel so for me it's left to the imagination.
The inception of Lou's psychosis begins with his peeping upon his mother and the various men she entertained through the windows of his home. This all come to a head when one night Lou awakens hearing the drip, drip, drip, of a faucet in the bathroom. Getting up to shut it off he sees through the open door of his parents bedroom his mother in bed screwing another man. Lou is transfixed and drawn into the room. he watches the proceedings from the foot of the bed. When his mother notices him watching she screams at him to get out. This freaks out the man she is with who runs out the door. His mother now furious begins to slap the **** out of him repeatedly. Lou fights back and pushes his mother back onto the bed falling on top of her. It is in this position that Lou's father finds them in when he bursts through the door. Does his father already know of his wife's infidelities? Does he tolerate it? Or is this apparent display of deviant incestual behavior between mother and son what really sets him off? It's never explained. We just see Lou's Father severely beating his son. All this is revealed to us in fragmented flashbacks. The flashbacks are initially triggered by Lou having a hallucination of his father in a diner.
While a mayoral election between Conway and county district attorney Howard Hendricks (McGraw) is pitting organizing miners against businessmen causing small flare ups of violence, Lou is sent five miles out on Derrick Road, to run a ****, Joyce Lakeland (Tyrrell), out of town. Joyce has been diddling with Conway's son Elmer (Stroud).
When Lou gets to her house Joyce thinks that he is just another trick, but the situation gets out of hand when she finds out that he's a cop. Joyce slaps Lou and that triggers him into a flashback and a violent spree. He beats Joyce up until a vision of his father appears. Lou announces to the vision that he's sorry. To his surprise Joyce is turned on by the beating "don't be sorry, I love it." They have sex.Later after Joyce cooks up a blackmail scheme to bilk Conway out of $50,000 dollars, everything spirals out of Lou's control and into Noirsville.
Noirsville
Keach gives us an excellent performance. His exterior calm and collected demeanor is juxtaposed by a stewing maliciousness just under the surface. At first the way Keach is lit is quite flattering, he looks all American down home handsome, then as things start to spiral out of control he's lit in a more sinister way that highlights his cleft lip (probably why he wears a mustache) and makes him look somewhat grotesque, just through lighting.
Tyrrell is outstanding as Joyce. Born to play in Noir. Born to play the cheap and tawdry. She seems always off kilter, naturally skewed, with a sleepy bedroom eyes sexuality and a whiskey soaked voice. She's almost as scary sexually as Keach is psychotically.Watching Charles McGraw, Keenan Wynn, and John Dehner do their stuff in this is like slipping into a comfortable old pair cowboy boots. Of the rest of the cast Don Stroud is a real hoot as the slightly goofy Elmer and Pepe Serna is quite compelling as the overly trusting Johnny Lopez.
Screencaps are from the Simitar Entertainment DVD Release 1998. 8-9/10 Full review with more screencaps a (few NSFW) here : http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-killer-inside-me-1976-montana-noir.html-
1
-
-
The Lookout (2007) Fargo-esque Christmas Neo Noir
The Lookout is an excellent example of the correct way to create a Neo Noir. All the characters are either everyday schmucks, just getting by survivors, or small time lowlife losers. People you can identify with. No fancy cars or car chases, no explosions, no machinegun firefights, the direction is tight, clean, and simple.Joseph Gordon-Levitt is excellent in his portrayal of the damaged protagonist. Jeff Daniels' Lewis is quite entertaining as the I may be blind but I wasn't born yesterday blindman. He senses that something is way off. Gary Spargo plays the sleazeball card pimping out his girlfriend and cruelly bullshitting Chris into feeling he's an accepted part of the crew. Screencaps are from the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: May 3, 2011. A masterpiece 10/10.Full review in Film Noir - Gangster page and with even more screencaps here: http://http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-lookout-2007-fargo-esque-christmas.html
-
2
-
-
The Lookout (2007) Fargo-esque Christmas Neo Noir
Glory days, well, they'll pass you by
Glory days, in the wink of a young girl's eye
Glory days, glory days
Fly over country. The Great Plains. Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a "Richie $ Rich," Varsity Hockey Star. Got it made. Got the car. 2001 Ford Mustang. Got the babe Kelly. Got the top down. Speeding across a Kansas prairie, with another couple in the backseat, on a two lane highway. Watching the fireflies. He turns off the headlights for better effect. What they see looks like a billion star warp drive on the Starship Enterprise. What they don't see is the New Holland TR86 combine stalled in the middle of the road. Head-on!!!!
Directed and written by Scott Frank ( director: A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014), writer: Dead Again (1991), Get Shorty (1995)). Excellent cinematography was by Alar Kivilo (A Simple Plan (1998)) and the music was by James Newton Howard (Collateral (2004), Falling Down (1993), Night and the City (1992), 8 Million Ways to Die (1986)).
The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Brick (2005)) as Chris Pratt, Jeff Daniels (Something Wild (1986)) as Lewis, Matthew Goode as Gary Spargo, Isla Fisher (Nocturnal Animals (2016)) as Luvlee Lemons, Sergio Di Zio as Deputy Ted, Greg Dunham as Bone, Morgan Kelly as Marty, and Aaron Berg as Cork.
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) 
Lewis (Jeff Daniels (Something Wild)
Four years later.
When Chris woke up out of his coma he had frontal lobe damage. His girlfriend Kelly has lost her leg and their two friends are dead. Chris has anterograde amnesia, and must keep a notebook to remind himself of his daily routines.
As part of his rehabilitation into society the Independent Life Skills Center teams him up with a blind apartment mate Lewis (Jeff Daniels). He also has a job as a night janitor cleaning up at a bank. Besides Lewis his only other friend is Ted (Sergio Di Zio), a goofy sheriff's deputy who brings him a doughnut when he passes by the bank on his night time rounds.
Chris Pratt: I want to be who I was.
Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) a skell, is planning a bank robbery. After scouting all the banks in the vicinity with his gang, he zeroes in on the bank that Chris works in. Spargo knew Chris from High School, he was a few grades ahead of him, and he knows about Chris' accident and mental impairment. Spargo figures out a plan using his ex stripper girlfriend Luvlee Lemons as the jeune femme fatale bait. Luvlee hit's on Chris, **** him stupid enough to accept the sleazball gang as his new cool friends, and get's him to go along with their plans to crack the bank's safe. Chris will let them in and act as the lookout while they break through the concrete wall and torch the rebar to get inside the safe.
Bait
When the night of the robbery arrives Chris changes his mind and tells them he doesn't want to go through with it. Too late, sucker, they put a gun to his head and make him go in through the hole they made and help empty the safe. When Ted arrives with his doughnut he bangs on the door but Chris is still inside the safe. Seeing the reflections of the robbers hiding behind the columns Ted reacts and all hell breaks loose. Of course everything goes beautifully Noirsville!
Noirsville
The Lookout is an excellent example of the correct way to create a Neo Noir. All the characters are either everyday schmucks, just getting by survivors, or small time lowlife losers. People you can identify with. No fancy cars or car chases, no explosions, no machinegun firefights, the direction is tight, clean, and simple.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is excellent in his portrayal of the damaged protagonist. Jeff Daniels' Lewis is quite entertaining as the I may be blind but I wasn't born yesterday blindman. He senses that something is way off. Gary Spargo plays the sleazeball card pimping out his girlfriend and cruelly bullshitting Chris into feeling he's an accepted part of the crew. Screencaps are from the Echo Bridge Home Entertainment DVD Release Date: May 3, 2011. A masterpiece 10/10.Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-lookout-2007-fargo-esque-christmas.html
-
See, I don't have HDMI service, laptop or any use for wifi, and the thought of spending money on yet ANOTHER device just to watch a movie strikes me as ridiculous.
But that's me. If that sort of thing makes YOU happy, then I'M happy.
Sepiatone
If you have a newer TV it probably already has the connection, if you can watch a Youtube video on your computer screen you can watch in on TV.
I don't have cable TV any more. All I pretty much watch in Movies and the News. I watch TCM, the movies I'm interested in BTW, on SlingTV (and others on Netflix) whenever I want within a reasonable time once they are shown on TCM. This means I can Watch Noir Alley at the proper time, i.e., NIGHT. I cut the Cable TV bill in half.
It was worth it. If you have smart phone (I don't) you can stream the films from that onto your TV also.
I'm glad you're HAPPY, I'm just telling you a simple and CHEAPER way to watch TCM or whatever you can find on google. BTW the Internet Archive has Public Domain films that you don't see on TCM for free.
You'll save the money you spent on the chromecast unit (it's the size of a can of Copenhagen and just hangs off the TV) on your first cable bill.
This is info for anybody who wants to dump their 97% crapola content on cable TV.
P.S. HDMI isn't a service it's a connection like a hi tech coaxial cable
-
Since my only access to YouTube is my desktop PC with a 15" monitor, I doubt I'll bother.
In fact, I rarely bother with YouTube at ALL. unless there's a short clip of something that might interest me that someone sends to my e-Mail or posts in a thread somewhere( as this isn't the ONLY forum I'm involved with).
Sepiatone
For $30 you buy a chromecast unit and you can cast anything on your desktop or laptop (if it has wifi), Youtube, Dailymotion, etc., etc., to your TV you just need a power source to plug it into and a spare HDMI connection on your TV. I watched it on a 50 inch TV screen.
-
Watched it, it was entertaining enough.
-
1
-
-
A Hatful Of Rain (1957) Dope & Soap Noir
John Pope (Lloyd Nolan) is up from Florida to visit his two sons and his new daughter-in-law. They live in the Alfred Smith housing project in the Two Bridges neighborhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. John has bought an option on a beachside bar in Ft. Lauderdale, he's also up to collect the $2,500 that Polo saved up for him to complete the renovations.Johnny Polo (Don Murray) is a Korean War vet and a hero. Polo Pope (Anthony Franciosa) is a bouncer in a NYC bar. Celia Pope (Eva Marie Saint) is pregnant with his grandchild. When John finds out that Polo blew the $2,500 he refuses to speak to him. Polo tells him that he gambled it away but in reality he's been giving to to Johnny who is hooked on heroin. Johnny was wounded in the back and got hooked on morphine while recovering in the VA hospital.Don Murray is compelling as a man with a monkey on his back, Lloyd Nolan is doing his regular schtick, and Eva Marie Saint is still in her frumpish plain jane looking stage quite a far cry from her turn in North By Northwest, it's hard to believe they are the same actress. Henry Silva, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and William Hickey needed to be utilized a bit more.It all just seems a bit too talky and not enough showy, the apartment sequences seem to drag a lot betraying the films play source. The film comes alive with the lower East Side NYC location shots and dies in the apartment/housing project sequences. 6/10Full review with more screencaps from a Youtube stream here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-hatful-of-rain-1957-dope-soap-noir.html
-
2
-
-
A Hatful Of Rain (1957) Dope & Soap Noir
The Lost Weekend (1945), Guilty Bystander (1950), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955), Stakeout On Dope Street (1958) Days of Wine and Roses (1962), all films about addiction of one sort or another. There are probably even more that have drug addicted characters, but under the Motion Picture Production Code in the 1940s they probably just alluded to it very vaguely. Jeff Corey's "Blinky" character in The Killers (1946) was a junkie for one that I can think of, off the top of my head, though it was never mentioned.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann (Act of Violence (1949), High Noon (1952)). Written by Michael V. Gazzo, Alfred Hayes, and Carl Foreman and based on Michael V.Gazzo's play of the same name. Cinematography was by Joseph MacDonald (The Dark Corner (1946), Call Northside 777 (1948), The Street with No Name (1948), Panic in the Streets (1950), Fourteen Hours (1951), Niagara (1953), Pickup on South Street (1953), House of Bamboo (1955)). Music was by the great Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane (1941), Psycho (1960), and Taxi Driver (1976)) among many, many others.
Polo (Franciosa)
The film stars Don Murray (Bus Stop (1956), Advise & Consent (1962)) as Johnny Pope, Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront (1954), North by Northwest (1959)), as Celia Pope, Anthony Franciosa (A Face in the Crowd (1957), The Long, Hot Summer (1958), Across 110th Street (1972), The Drowning Pool (1975)) as Polo Pope. Veteran of seven Classic Film Noir Lloyd Nolan as John Pope, Sr., Henry Silva (The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Johnny Cool (1963), ) as Mother, Gerald S. O'Loughlin (In Cold Blood (1967)) as Chuch, William Hickey (Something Wild (1961), Prizzi's Honor (1985), Sea of Love (1989)) as Apples, and another Classic Noir bit player Paul Kruger (The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Killers (1946), High Wall (1947), Call Northside 777 (1948) among others) as the Bartender. The final character of the piece is a gritty wintery lower Manhattan.John Pope is up from Florida to visit his two sons and his new daughter-in-law. They live in the Alfred Smith housing project in the Two Bridges neighborhood of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. John has bought an option on a beachside bar in Ft. Lauderdale, he's also up to collect the $2,500 that Polo saved up for him to complete the renovations.
Johnny Polo is a Korean War vet and a hero. Polo Pope is a bouncer in a NYC bar. Celia Pope is pregnant with his grandchild. When John finds out that Polo blew the $2,500 he refuses to speak to him. Polo tells him that he gambled it away but in reality he's been giving to to Johnny who is hooked on heroin. Johnny was wounded in the back and got hooked on morphine while recovering in the VA hospital.
John Pope is one of those fathers who favors one of his sons over the other. Johnny gets all the praise for his military accomplishments and raising a family while he considers Polo a moocher living off his brother. In reality it's Polo's misguided love for his brother that glues the family unit together.
Johnny has lost four jobs due to the monkey on his back. Johnny and Celia are on the skids, he's gone all hours of the night. Celia thinks he is two timing her, but Johnny is out trying to score a fix. His other problem is that he owes a pusher called "Mother" $500 bucks, who demands payment. Mother and his two goons will seriously mess him up if he doesn't come up with the doe. Mother gives the desperate Johnny an automatic and tells him to mug people for the cash. When Johnny can't bring himself to do it Mother tells Polo to sell his car to cover it.
Noirsville
Adding to the soap opera quality of this film is the fact that Polo is getting the hots for Celia and she is responding.
John Polo comes on very overbearing, his constant nagging of Polo begins to sound like an annoying foghorn. It becomes hard to believe that Polo would be that dumb to let the situation get to the point where he loses all the money he's saved for his dad and has to sell his car to boot to support Johnny's drug habit. It's also hard to accept that Celia was so naive. You'd think she'd notice the track marks on Johnny's body or wonder **** was up with his abrupt mood swings. The film has her living in a bubble.
I guess we're supposed to accept the fact that there was that much of a stigma, at that point in our culture of admitting you're a junkie to everyone his wife, his father, his neighbors that Johnny was able to convince Polo not to spill the beans. Looking back upon it it seems too innocent.
I suppose that at the time this was released it must have been shockingly powerful stuff, Tony Franciosa was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Yet I find The Man With The Golden Arm the grittier of the two films. What this film has going for it are the actual New York locations, Sinatra's film was all shot on a set and it loses something because of that fact.
Don Murray is compelling as a man with a monkey on his back, Lloyd Nolan is doing his regular schtick, and Eva Marie Saint is still in her frumpish looking stage quite a far cry from her **** turn in North By Northwest, it's hard to believe they are the same actress. Henry Silva, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, and William Hickey needed to be utilized a bit more.
It all just seems a bit too talky and not enough showy, the apartment sequences seem to drag a lot betraying the films play source. The film comes alive with the lower East Side NYC location shots and dies in the apartment/housing project sequences. Screen caps from a Youtube stream, 6/10 Full review with more screencaps here : http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/05/a-hatful-of-rain-1957-dope-soap-noir.html-
3
-
-
Here's John Davis Chandler looking a little more civilized.
I most recently saw him in the movie 'Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead' (1994). He was funny as hell in it.The first movie I ever saw him in was 'The Young Savages' and I never forgot him - always recognizing him immediately in everything he appeared in.I remember him from Westerns
Ride The High Country
Barquero
-
1
-
-
The three big streaming services, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are notoriously bad when it comes to offering classic films, so it was nice to see Amazon Prime will add Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz in May.
Now all they have to add is North By Northwest
-
1
-
-
The Young Savages (1961) East Harlem Gang Noir
East Harlem 1961, a time of genuine upheaval. The demise of the 3rd Avenue el and its demolition 1955-56 opened up Yorkville and East Harlem to real estate redevelopment. A roadway reconstruction project widened 3rd Avenue to 70 feet and rows upon rows of tenements on either side were raised for the new highrises to come. This is the tableau vivant, frozen in time, that director John Frankenheimer presents in The Young Savages. The story is based on Evan Hunter's novel "A Matter of Conviction." Evan Hunter was the legally adopted name of Salvatore Albert Lombino who also wrote under the name Ed Mcbain among others. He was born in East Harlem in 1926 and his early life on the streets obviously informed the tale. The screenplay was written by Edward Anhalt and J.P. Miller.Entertaining time capsule of NYC. Screencaps from Youtube 7/10. Full Review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-young-savages-1961-east-harlem-gang.html
-
4
-
-
The Young Savages (1961) East Harlem Gang Noir
"A lot of people killed your son, Mrs. Escalante."
East Harlem 1961, a time of genuine upheaval. The demise of the 3rd Avenue el and its demolition 1955-56 opened up Yorkville and East Harlem to real estate redevelopment. A roadway reconstruction project widened 3rd Avenue to 70 feet and rows upon rows of tenements on either side were raised for the new highrises to come. This is the tableau vivant, frozen in time, that director John Frankenheimer presents in The Young Savages. The story is based on Evan Hunter's novel "A Matter of Conviction." Evan Hunter was the legally adopted name of Salvatore Albert Lombino who also wrote under the name Ed Mcbain among others. He was born in East Harlem in 1926 and his early life on the streets obviously informed the tale. The screenplay was written by Edward Anhalt and J.P. Miller.
Arthur Reardon (John Davis Chandler), Danny DiPace (Stanley Kristien), and Anthony "Batman" Aposto (Neil Nephew)
The excellent cinematography was by Lionel Lindon (The Blue Dahlia (1946), Alias Nick Beal (1949), The Turning Point (1952), Hell's Island (1955), The Big Caper (1957) I Want to Live! (1958), The Manchurian Candidate (1962)). The nice jazz and bongo score was by David Amram (Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962)).
It looks like a war zone. Wrecking balls are battering brick flophouses and tenements to rubble. Walls left standing are occasionally seen with rectangles of wallpaper or paint denoting the outlines of recently vanished rooms. Piles of salvage, wood, bricks, lead, copper festoon the cityscape.
Three street hoods, Danny DiPace (Stanley Kristien), Arthur Reardon (John Davis Chandler) and Anthony "Batman" Aposto (Neil Nephew) phalanx through the destruction on a mission. They are part of the Thunderbirds gang. They are warring over turf with a gang of Puerto Ricans called the Horsemen who control three blocks.
Roberto Escalante (uncredited) Louisa Escalante (Pilar Seurat)
Danny, Arthur, and "Batman", in broad daylight walk right up to Roberto Escalante a blind member of the Horsemen and stab him to death with switchblades. They run but are cornered by NYPD and caught. They are questioned by assistant district attorney Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster) who discovers that Danny is the son of his old neighborhood flame Mary diPace (Shelley Winters).
Hank Bell (Burt Lancaster)They separate out DiPace because he's under sixteen. When Hank tries to question Reardon he gets wiseass ****. From "Batman" he gets a song.
"Batman"(sung to my Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean): My mother sells snow to the snowbirds. My father makes barber shop gin, my sister sells gas for a livin', and that's why the money rolls in.
When he discusses the case with district attorney Dan Cole (Edward Andrews), Hank tells him he knows DiPace's mother and that he is actually from the same neighborhood. Hank's father changed the family surname from Bellini, to fit in better in whatever he was pursuing. Hank went to law school and married Karin (Dina Merrill) a Vassar girl. Karin isn't impressed with Hanks zealotry.
Karin: Oh, by the way, your old girlfriend Mary DiPace called today... twice. I referred her to your office, did you talk to her?
Hank: I don't know what to say to her.
Karin: Oh why don't you just tell her that you're going to burn her son for old times sake.
"tell her that you're going to burn her son for old times sake." When Hank meets Mary, she tells him that Danny promised he'd never join a gang. Digging into the facts Bell visits the hangouts, the tenements, the families and all that were involved. He gets attacked on a subway, and his wife gets threatened in an elevator.
The film through Hank's investigations, interactions and trial evolves into an indictment of society as a whole. The broken homes, the ethnic discrimination, the high levels of poverty, the squalid conditions, the instability, the lack of education, the low I.Q.s, the gangs and the local political machines are all to blame. Society as a whole is going to Noirsville.
Noirsville
Karin (Dina Merrill)
The film also features Larry Gates as Randolph, Telly Savalas as Detective Gunderson, Pilar Seurat as Louisa Escalante, Roberta Shore as Jenny Bell, Milton Selzer as Dr. Walsh, David J. Stewart as Barton.
All the performances are top notch the film doesn't disappoint.
The Young Savages is a message picture, the old establishment forces marshalled towards capital punishment, against the new science of criminology and sociopathic behavioral studies with their treatments. Basically the law and its technicalities against damaged humanity, and both exposed under by the microscope by news cycle of the times. On the personal level it's Hank the by the book prosecutor vs. Karin the third generation progressive against the political circus of his boss's run for gubernatorial nomination.
Entertaining time capsule of NYC. Screencaps from Youtube 7/10. Full Review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-young-savages-1961-east-harlem-gang.html-
1
-
-
Hey,JOE!(Where ya goin'.....ach! sorry,couldn't resist) Did you also notice that SHENANDOAH( full title "A Man Called Shenandoah") not only starred ROBERT HORTON from WAGON TRAIN, but that he also sang the THEME SONG from the show? OutSTANDING voice on that boy!
Yeah. I liked that one too. I also didn't mind too much JOHN GAVIN'S take on TV's version of DESTRY.
Sure. I too, liked MAVERICK a lot back then. And preferred the Garner ones. But, much as I like and admire ROGER MOORE as an actor, I couldn't get into him as a Maverick.
Sepiatone
Yea I forgot to add Maverick, and also Johnny Yuma, now that I'm reminiscing, was another that wasn't town bound.
-
Body Double (1984) L.A. Café au lait Noir
Another film dealing with voyeurism. My, how perceptions and attitudes swiftly zig-zag. In 1954's Rear Window it was a wheelchair-bound good guy photographer who spies on his neighbors, 1960's Peeping Tom he's depicted as an irredeemable murderer, 1964's Strange Compulsion dealt with it clinically in an exploitive sort of way. Body Double deals with it as one of the perks of living in a Jetsons style flying saucer-like California hillside highrise.Part Film Noir/Hollywood homage, part Hitchcock homage to Rear Window, and in one aspect also to Vertigo, part black comedy, director Brian De Palma gives us a nice peak into 1984 era tinseltown.Director Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill (1980), Scarface (1983), Carlito's Way (1993), The Black Dahlia (2006)) is amusing himself and us with various genres and at the same time poking a little fun at Hollywood show business in general. A few vintage L.A. institutions are lovingly lensed, others i.e., Angels Flight are faintly hinted at in the inclined access railway to the Chemosphere House. The film also has some quite humorous lines.Body Double was written by Robert J. Avrech (screenplay) from a story by Brian De Palma. The cinematography was by Stephen H. Burum (8 Million Ways to Die (1986), Carlito's Way (1993)) and the music was by Pino Donaggio (Don't Look Now (1973), Dressed to Kill (1980)). Noir light 7/10. Full review in Film Noir/Gangster page and with some NSFW screencaps from the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD here:http://http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/body-double-1984-la-cafe-au-lait-noir.html
-
3
-
-
Body Double (1984) L.A. Café au lait Noir
"A seduction. A mystery. A murder."
Another film dealing with voyeurism. My, how perceptions and attitudes swiftly zig-zag. In 1954's Rear Window it was a wheelchair-bound good guy photographer who spies on his neighbors, 1960's Peeping Tom he's depicted as an irredeemable murderer, 1964's Strange Compulsion dealt with it clinically in an exploitive sort of way. Body Double deals with it as one of the perks of living in a Jetsons style flying saucer-like California hillside highrise.
Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) is an actor in Hollywood, genre de jour is Horror film. Jake is playing an androgynous glitter bloodsucker in some low budget vampire flick. But Jake has a problem with claustrophobia, when he has to do a scene in a coffin he freezes, and gets fired.
Part Film Noir/Hollywood homage, part Hitchcock homage to Rear Window, and in one aspect also to Vertigo, part black comedy, director Brian De Palma gives us a nice peak into 1984 era tinseltown.
Jake heads back to his wife's house early and finds her in bed with someone else. Devastated Jake batches with a bartender buddy of his while trying to get another job. While going to various auditions he meets a friend of a friend Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry) who tells him that he's got a gig in Seattle and he can house sit the hill top flying saucer style house (Chemosphere House), that belongs to a millionaire buddy who is in Europe.
Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) rt.
Jake is ecstatic, besides the luxury digs Sam clues him into a neighbor woman who puts on a exhibitionish show every night in the large picture windows of her apartment on a ridge across the way. Sam even has a telescope trained on the windows.
One night while Jake is watching the show, he spies a man rummaging around in the woman's bedroom. Later Jake also spots a man who looks like a Native American perched on a satellite dish also watching the woman.He becomes anxious for her and begins to follow the woman who he discovers is named Gloria Revell (Deborah Shelton) around, sort of keeping an eye on her. He tails her to a Rodeo Drive shopping mall, and to the Beach Terrace Motel in Long Beach.
Gloria Revell (Deborah Shelton)When the woman takes a stroll on the beach the same man he spotted on the satellite dish grabs her pocket book and runs off with Jake in pursuit. He catches up to him in an underpass beneath Ocean Blvd, but Jake's claustrophobia overwhelms him and prevents him from further actions save collecting the woman's emptied pocketbook. She thanks him profusely, and after some heavy petting she takes off. Jake is more than smitten.
Claustrophobia That night with Jake watching through the telescope he sees her get attacked. He calls the police and runs over to help. He's too late. The woman is dead and the police consider him a suspect especially after they find out that he was peeping on her. The police would have likely suspected the woman's ex husband but Jake's testimony points to the Native American.Jake is now doubly depressed. He's drinking heavily, and watching the porn channel on the TV, but something catches his eye. He notices a blond actress called Holly Body (Melanie Griffith) making the exact same moves he watched Gloria dance every night. Jake decides to track Holly down and that entails Jake breaking into the porn flick business and of course it all goes Noirsville.Noirsville
Tail o' The Pup 
Holly the Body (Melanie Griffith) in grave
Craig Watson (The Outsider (1979), Carny (1980), Ghost Story (1981) The Pornographer (1999)) is highly believable as the good guy, a regular Joe Schmoe, he looks a bit like Bill Maher. Gregg Henry (Scarface (1983), Payback (1999)), is a chunkier Dan Duryea. Deborah Shelton (Dallas TV Series (1978–1991)) is the unattainable beauty, her part is mainly visual. Melanie Griffith (Night Moves (1975), The Drowning Pool (1975), Something Wild (1986), Mulholland Falls (1996), ) is coming to the end of her early eye candy phase in this. Dennis Franz (NYPD Blue TV Series (1993–2005)) plays the independent film director, and Guy Boyd (Ghost Story (1981)) plays the police detective.
Director Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill (1980), Scarface (1983), Carlito's Way (1993), The Black Dahlia (2006)) is amusing himself and us with various genres and at the same time poking a little fun at Hollywood show business in general. A few vintage L.A. institutions are lovingly lensed, others i.e., Angels Flight are faintly hinted at in the inclined access railway to the Chemosphere House. The film also has some quite humorous lines.
Body Double was written by Robert J. Avrech (screenplay) from a story by Brian De Palma. The cinematography was by Stephen H. Burum (8 Million Ways to Die (1986), Carlito's Way (1993)) and the music was by Pino Donaggio (Don't Look Now (1973), Dressed to Kill (1980)). Noir light 7/10. More NSFW screencaps from the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment DVD here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/body-double-1984-la-cafe-au-lait-noir.html-
1
-
-
Oh, I think she did have sex with him. It's just that they couldn't come right out and say it or show it due to the Production Code so they had to be subtle. It's implicit, not explicit.
Great movie; one of my all-time favorites. I just love it.
Agree it was the code that prevented it being more blatant.
-
I was always more partial to the non town bound Westerns, I liked Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Shenandoah, Sugarfoot, Wagon Train. etc., etc.
-
The updated chronological list of the Visual Neo Noirs (more to add as I come across them) from 1960 to 2015. These Neo Noir have the strong visual stylistics attributed to classic film noir and/or the visual archetypes associated with film soleil. Films that don't have these attributes that are Noir In Plot Only I label as NIPOs and are not on this list.Girl Of The Night (1960)Never let Go (1960)The Savage Eye (1960)The 3rd Voice (1960)Why Must I Die? (1960)Blast Of Silence (1961)The Young Savages (1961)Night Tide (1961)Underworld USA (1961)Something Wild (1961)Cape Fear (1962)Experiment In Terror (1962)Manchurian Candidate (The)(1962)Private Property (1962)Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)Satan in High Heels (1962)Shock Corridor (1962)Stark Fear (1962)Twilight Of Honor (1963)The Naked Kiss (1964)The Pawnbroker (1964)Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)Lorna (1964)The Glass Cage (1964)The Thrill Killers (1964)Strange Compulsion (1964)Angel's Flight (1965)Brainstorm (1965)Flesh and Lace (1965)Love Statue (The)(1965)Mirage (1965)Once A Thief (1965)Tell Me in the Sunlight (1965)Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965)Aroused (1966)Mister. Buddwing (1966)Espions à l'affût (aka Heat Of Midnight) (1966)Seconds (1966)Rage (1966)Harper (1966)The Chase (1966)In Cold Blood (1967)The Incident (1967)In The Heat Of The Night (1967)Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)The Pick-Up (1968)Marlowe (1969)The Honeymoon Killers (1969)Darker Than Amber (1970)Shaft (1971)Across 110th Street (1971)The Getaway (1971)Get Carter (1971)Hickey & Boggs (1972)The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974)The Nickel Ride (1974)Chinatown (1974)Lenny (1974)Road Movie (1974)The Drowning Pool (1975)Farewell My Lovely (1975)Night Moves (1975)Seven Beauties (1975)Taxi Driver (1976)The Big Sleep (1978)Dressed to Kill (1980)Union City (1980)Body Heat (1981)Thief (1981)Blade Runner (1982)Hammett (1982)Blood Simple (1984)Paris, Texas (1984)Tightrope (1984)After Hours (1985)To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)Blue Velvet (1986)Angel Heart (1987)Siesta (1987)Slam Dance (1987)Kill Me Again (1989)The Grifters (1990)The Kill-Off (1990)The Hot Spot (1990)Wild At Heart (1990)Impulse (1990)Dick Tracy (1990)Delicatessen (1991)A Rage In Harlem (1991)Delusion (1991)Reservoir Dogs (1992)Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)The Public Eye (1992)Red Rock West (1993)Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)True Romance (1993)The Wrong Man (1993)China Moon (1994)The Last Seduction (1994)Pulp Fiction (1994)Natural Born Killers (1994)Blink (1994)Se7en (1995)Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)Fargo (1996)Mulholland Falls (1996)Hit Me (1996)Jackie Brown (1997)L.A. Confidential (1997)Lost Highway (1997)A Gun, A Car, A Blonde (1997)This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)Dark City (1998)A Simple Plan (1998)The Big Lebowski (1998)Palmetto (1998)Payback (1999)Night Train (1999)Sexy Beast (2000)The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)Mulholland Drive (2001)Collateral (2004)Sin City (2005)Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)The Black Dahlia (2006)36 Quai des Orfèvres (2006)No Country For Old Men (2007)The Lookout (2007)Honeydripper (2007)Dark Country (2009)The Missing Person (2009)The Killer Inside Me (2010)Hotel Noir (2012)The Iceman (2012)Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014)Too Late (2015)
-
I love the MST3K version. it almost becomes a musical as they make up words to sing along to the odd score.
It's on a popular video site as a stand alone film. wink, wink
-
he also directed THE ATOMIC BRAIN, if I am not mistaken.
Yes he did, just watched it in fact the other day, it's close to Ed Wood territory but with a much bigger budget ;-)
-
1
-
-
Strange Compulsion (1964) Fringe Noir/Lost Noir
Directed by Irvin Berwick (The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959, )The 7th Commandment (1961), The Street Is My Beat (1966)). The screenplay by Jason Johnson. The Cinematography was by Joseph V. Mascelli (The Thrill Killers (1964), The Street Is My Beat (1966)) and the cheap jazz music was provided by S.F. Brownrigg of the Sound Department.The film stars the son of Preston Sturges, Solomon SturgesStrange Compulsion is the story of Fred, a twenty-two year old pre med student trying to follow in his late father's footsteps and become a doctor. Fred lives in an affluent household with his mother and their maid.Fred is a smart, good looking, young man with an irresistible compulsion to voyeur women. He is very aware of the problem and is seeing Dr. Hazzlett about his neurosis. Throughout the film we see the various sessions Fred has with Dr. Hazzlett. These sessions consist of Fred telling Dr. Hazzlett of his various compulsive acts and these are shown mostly as voice over narrated flashbacks.Strange Compulsion has it too ways, on one hand it's really an interesting piece on the clinical treatment (at least in 1964) of voyeurism, on the other it's equally effective as a sexploitation film showing the lurid idiosyncrasies and progressions of a peeping tom and numerous women in various states of undress. You have your cake and eat it too circa 1964. During the years of the Motion Picture Production Code, and individual like Fred would have been depicted as some low life creep with no redeeming qualities, and would have either ended up behind bars, or somehow been struck blind or met some other just moralistic end.Strange Compulsion is available on DVD from Something Weird Video. Incredibly seedy surreptitious entertainment, you'll need to take a shower afterwards, 7/10.Full review here in Film Noir/Gangster page and with with NSFW screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/strange-compulsion-1964-fringe-noirlost.html
-
1
-
-
Strange Compulsion (1964) Fringe Noir/Lost Noir
I'm finding a lot of interesting films in the 1960-68 range with some new talented, innovative directors and actors that emerged after the demise of the Motion Picture Production Code, the rise of TV, and the end of "B" unit studio production. The 1958/59 years usually given for Film Noir style cut off was just arbitrary. There are still a few B&W Film Noir up to 1968.
I think, what was going on is, as the Motion Picture Production Code weakened and independent poverty row and low budget film creators were allowed more artistic freedom. So those Film Noir that went too far over the line depicting violence started getting classified as Horror, Thriller (even though they were just say, showing the effects of a gunshot wound, or dealing with weird serial killers, maniacs, and psychotics, etc.). Those that went too far depicting sexual, drug, torture, etc., situations were being lumped into or classed as various Exploitation flicks, (even though they are relatively tame comparably to today's films). The the noir-ish films that dealt with everything else, except Crime, concerning the human condition were labeled Dramas and Suspense. Those that tried new techniques, lenses, etc., were labeled Experimental. Some films are so so bad in all aspects that they acquire the "so bad it's good" Cult status.
With nothing really giving some of some of these directors & producers some parameters, or putting the brakes on, there was no speed limit they just shot past the limits of contemporary common sense, cultural acceptability and good taste. Good taste can block out entire subjects deemed dangerous or unworthy. What makes these low budget films worthwhile, to quote V. Vale & Andrea Juno in Incredibly Strange Films, is the "unfettered creativity. Often the films are eccentric-even extreme-presentations by individuals freely expressing their imaginations..." To quote Picasso "Ah, good taste! What a dreadful thing! Taste is the enemy of creativeness."
With nowhere else to get distribution these low budget mavericks eventually just dispensed with almost all plot at all and just followed the easy money into hardcore. Shame cause you can clearly see artistic talent in these early proto "Grindhouse" features.
Fred (Solomon Sturges) Directed by Irvin Berwick (The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959, )The 7th Commandment (1961), The Street Is My Beat (1966)). The screenplay by Jason Johnson. The Cinematography was by Joseph V. Mascelli (The Thrill Killers (1964), The Street Is My Beat (1966)) and the cheap jazz music was provided by the S.F. Brownrigg of the Sound Department.
The film stars the son of Preston Sturges, Solomon Sturges (Synanon (1965), Charro! (1969)) as Fred (credited as Preston Sturges Jr.), Jason Johnson a veteran of many Westerns and also (Sergeant Preston of the Yukon TV Series (1955–1958), The Abductors (1957), A Hatful of Rain (1957), Playhouse 90 TV Series (1956–1961), I Want to Live! (1958), Arson for Hire (1959), The Twilight Zone TV Series (1959–1964), One Step Beyond TV Series (1959–1961), 13 West Street (1962)) as Owen J. Hazzlett, the psychiatrist, Annabelle Weenick (The Street Is My Beat (1966), Don't Look in the Basement (1973), Deadly Blessing (1981), Palmetto (1998)) as Fred's Mother (credited as Anne MacAdams), John Harmon (They Made Me a Killer (1946), Fall Guy (1947), Fear in the Night (1947), Brute Force (1947), Flaxy Martin (1949), The Crooked Way (1949), Man in the Dark (1953), The 7th Commandment (1961)) as Photo Studio Manager (uncredited) and Helen Melene, Shirlee Garner, June Oliver, Patricia King, Mitzie Dickey, Barbara Tomlin, Jane Hall, and Mamie Carroll.
Strange Compulsion is the story of Fred, a twenty-two year old pre med student trying to follow in his late father's footsteps and become a doctor. Fred lives in an affluent household with his mother and their maid.
Fred is a smart, good looking, young man with an irresistible compulsion to voyeur women. He is very aware of the problem and is seeing Dr. Hazzlett about his neurosis. Throughout the film we see the various sessions Fred has with Dr. Hazzlett. These sessions consist of Fred telling Dr. Hazzlett of his various compulsive acts and these are shown mostly as voice over narrated flashbacks.
Freds first experience with his compulsion started when he was sixteen. He was caught, by his mother, peeping on the maid as she took a bath through a keyhole. She slapped him, took away his allowance for a month, and fired the maid. His next experience was the very next day in his father's home office. A woman patient was admitted to see his father and Fred left through the changing room. Fred though had a compulsion to listen in and he hid in the closet where he could peer out through the slatted door (you get the impression viewing this sequence that it may have been David Lynch's inspiration for a similar sequence in Blue Velvet.
Fred that day made an important discovery the most exciting experience in his life was seeing a woman naked and from then of he was going to repeat the experience as much as he could. He also realized that if he was to become a good doctor he'd have to cure himself of this compulsion. The doctor tells him that one of the first stepping stones to a cure is admitting you have a problem.
Fred: I don't want to touch them I just want to take pictures of them.
peeping Eloise the maid
Stalking
Filming Dr. Hazzlett also has Fred do experiments to see if he has any reaction "getting kicks" at venues where women are normally naked, He tells the doctor of a negative reaction to a medical clinic class with a naked woman, and of his tests going to a life model class at an art studio, and to a "camera club" type nude shoot where many **** photographers (and Bettie Page) got their first starts at. The doctor surmises that it was because he didn't have to make an overt effort to watch the girls and they knew you were there and paying for the privilege, and that you knew that they knew.When Fred gets to the next phase in his neroursus the need to touch his victim he seeks the service of a prostitute, but discovers after he's in her dive flop that when it comes to an aggressive woman he can't go through with it. The prostitute is first **** of at the loss of a trick and then laughs at him as he flees into the night.
Flop House Apartment
After an incident at the swimming hole where Fred saves a drowning woman, he begins a relationship with her. This relationship with Wanda combined with the sight of a rape victim at the medical college clinic tempers Fred's impulses and he finds he's more excited about going on his date with Wanda than watching Eloise through the two way mirror.
Fred and Wanda almost consummate their relationship. Wanda's only problem is that she is separated from her husband, and when he shows up at her place after a hot date with Wanda, Fred has to beat him up. Fred decides he's got enough problems, and taking on Wanda's also is too much.
Strange Compulsion has it too ways, on one hand it's really an interesting piece on the clinical treatment (at least in 1964) of voyeurism, on the other it's equally effective as a sexploitation film showing the lurid idiosyncrasies and progressions of a peeping tom and numerous women in various states of undress. You have your cake and eat it too circa 1964. During the years of the Motion Picture Production Code, and individual like Fred would have been depicted as some low life creep with no redeeming qualities, and would have either ended up behind bars, or somehow been struck blind or met some other just moralistic end.
Solomon Sturges is very good in the part of Fred, he lionizes his dead father while he agonizes over his compulsion and the wreck it could make of his career. He's confident and forthright and makes the character entirely believable. Jason Johnson is equally effective as the surrogate father like psychiatrist Hazzlett. Of the rest of the cast only the Wanda, Helen, and Fred's stepfather characters have minimal speaking parts, aside from Fred's sessions with Hazzlett the film is pretty much all flashbacks and narration.
Apparently voyeurism is not as "strange" as it was once believed.
"research found voyeurism to be the most common sexual law-breaking behavior in both clinical and general populations.(The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Exhibitionism, Voyeurism, and Frotteurism) In the same study it was found that 42% of college males who had never been convicted of a crime had watched others in sexual situations. An earlier study indicates that 54% of men have voyeuristic fantasies, and that 42% have tried voyeurism.( "Patterns of sexual arousal and history in a ?normal? Sample of young men". Archives of Sexual Behavior) In a national study of Sweden (Exhibitionistic and Voyeuristic Behavior in a Swedish National Population Survey) it was found that 7.7% of the population (both men and women) had engaged in voyeurism at some point. It is also believed that voyeurism occurs up to 150 times more frequently than police reports indicate. This same study also indicates that there are high levels of co-occurrence between voyeurism and exhibitionism, finding that 63% of voyeurs also report exhibitionist behavior.
Strange Compulsion is available on DVD from Something Weird Video. Incredibly seedy surreptitious entertainment, you'll need to take a shower afterwards, 7/10. Full review with NSFW screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/04/strange-compulsion-1964-fringe-noirlost.html
*About the director
"Irvin Berwick, he was "a child prodigy, playing concert piano before the age of ten. Although he never gave up playing privately, his career was to be in films. His first job, in Hollywood, was as a dialogue coach, working under contract at Columbia Studios in the mid- to late 1940s and frequently with William Castle. Berwick was employed at Universal-International throughout much of the 1950s, working often with Jack Arnold on several science-fiction thrillers and westerns, and was dialogue coach on Against All Flags (1952) starring Errol Flynn, who gave him a case of expensive liquor for his services (although Berwick did not drink). During the same time period, he worked (uncredited) on the TV series Topper (1953). In 1958-59 Universal-International laid off many of its employees. Berwick then joined with make-up expert Jack Kevan to form a production company, Vanwick Productions. The company's first picture was The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)"
( IMDb Mini Biography by Ted Newsom) -
MONSTROSITY: THE ATOMIC BRAIN (1963) ridiculous and fun time waster, in Ed Wood territory 5.5/10
-
2
-
-
I would also like to see more of James MacArthur. Even though he was more known for playing Danno on the original Hawaii Five-O, he did make some Disney films in his kid star days. The only MacArthur Disney film I've ever seen played on TCM was Swiss Family Robinson (I think the last time TCM played it was in 2010, but it might have been more recent than that.) If MacArthur is chosen for SUTS this year (he has never been honored before), TCM could play all his Disney films, including Swiss Family Robinson.
I liked A Light In The Forest too.
I Just Watched...
in General Discussions
Posted · Edited by TCMModerator1
Link Removed due to Inappropriate Content