Arkadin

Yes. Wilde directed this film. Like you, I saw it many years ago so I am not the best person to ask info on this one. I am really looking forward to revisiting the film though, and possibly getting the DVD for the higher resolution picture.

Comes on Friday. Cornel Wilde stars as a Safari hunter in Africa who is the only remainder of his party after being slaughtered by a tribe they have disrespected. Wilde is given "The Lion's Chance" and sent naked and weaponless into the bush for the warriors to stalk (with only a ten second head start!). A very interesting film with lots of undertones, The Naked Prey has recently enjoyed a Criterion release so we will have a great print. Don't miss this one!

I understand.

I'm a fan of the long take. Hitch, Welles, Dryer, and Cassavetes all used this technique, and I love their work. A long take gives the actors a chance to live in their character, much like the stage, but on a smaller scale. Cassavetes used to actually let actors run through entire scenes from the beginning and would only start filming where he needed to. If you've got a good cast that knows each other well, there's a lot of spontaneous magic or slight bits of improvisation that can take place that would otherwise be unrepeatable. This is one reason many of these directors chose to work with the same actors over and over. They could trust their instincts to deliver what was needed for the part, sometimes in unexpected ways.

Ya left out FORCE OF EVIL (1948)!

I've seen it. It's an interesting film. Not very imaginative in plot (except for Strohiem's act), but the performances are first rate.

Hi Kyle, I don't think George understood that one either, so he just wrote another tune about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwYIAG1tXRk

I recorded it a Dewey's suggestion, but haven't had a chance to view it yet.

Someone at one of my other forums posted this one:

GATE OF HELL 1953 STRAY DOG 1948 TOKYO STORY 1953 CRAZED FRUIT 1956 HIGH AND LOW 1963 RED BEARD 1965 PORCO ROSSO 1992 TOKYO DRIFTER 1966 THE FACE OF ANOTHER 1966 NAUSICAA OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND 1984 DRUNKEN ANGEL 1948 DREAMS 1990 GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES 1988 IKIRU 1952 LATE SPRING 1949 WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS 1960 UGETSU 1953 VENGEANCE IS MINE 1979 KWAIDAN 1964 YOJIMBO 1961 THRONE OF BLOOD 1957 FLOATING WEEDS 1959 JIGOKU 1960 THE BURMESE HARP 1956 FIRES ON THE PLAIN 1959 SANSHO THE BAILIFF 1954 RAN 1985

I know everyone is geared up for tomorrow's showing of NIGHTFALL, but don't miss this grandaddy of prison talkies showing beforehand. A great film that TCM usually only shows once a year, if that often. Spend a few hours with the boys in stir--you'll be glad you did.

I checked out the thread. Those people are certainly entitled to their opinion, but personally, I think KOS is one of the best films ever made. Burnett's film deals with an America that many people cannot relate to, or would rather ignore, but for those who do get it, KILLER OF SHEEP is a wonderful film of a broken man making his way through a less than perfect world. I connect very much with Stan and his aspirations to live his life when all the cards are stacked against him. To some people, movies should be a diversion from life. SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1942) is a great example of this. To others, film is a realistic view of everyday life, and KOS focuses on the latter. Both ideals are valid and should be seen on TCM.

One of John Garfield's most entertaining films, Body and Soul would influence boxing movies for the next thirty years. This was Garfield's biggest success, and gave him independance from major studios. It's also safe to say without Body and Soul later more influential works such as Force of Evil (1948) and He Ran All the Way (1951) could never have been made. The film boasts great casting and crew including Director Robert Rossen and Cameraman James Wong Howe. TCM has not shown this film in some time, so catch it if you can!

?You are not a child anymore. You soon will be a **** man. Start learning what life is about now son.? Killer of Sheep is that rare film that eschews plot and story lines for human experience. The movie opens in the past with a reprimand to young Stan and to us as well. We join Stan in the present, his wife and children in the seedy Watts section of Los Angeles. We will live with them for only eighty-three minutes, but in this short time, director Charles Burnett will present us with life in all its flawed beauty. What we learn is up to us. The origins of KOS are well known. While studying at UCLA, Burnett began making ample use of the universities film lab and equipment. Dismayed by Blaxploitation film, which dealt with stereotypes (most of them criminal), Burnett drew inspiration from Neorealism and the work of Vittorio De Sica whose work explored the lives and emotions of the everyday man. Non-actors fill most of these roles in true De Sica fashion. Burnett had originally envisioned a three film series about Stan and his wife, but limited funds and equipment use (UCLA wanted their lab back) has only left us with a small portion of Burnett?s epic. Raising a family in deteriorating Watts, Sam is a man of much mileage who has long since run down. Despairing of personal hopes and dreams, he works at a nearby slaughterhouse where cool detachment has become his way of life. For Stan to admit his total desperation would be suicide. Instead, he is a sleepwalker doing the things he must to survive. Insulated and isolated, Stan is almost unreachable by those who love him. Burnett got his start in photography and much of KOS is just that?pictures and music. We are observers of a certain kind of life here and perhaps the most touching thing about this film, is the fact that Burnett trusts us with his vision. We walk around his neighborhood taking in the sights, making up our own minds about what we see. Many of these wordless scenes can be viewed as small vignettes or parables that attempt to explain black life as a whole: A child laying under a train while another playfully steals his shoes, Kids jumping across rooftops heedless of danger, or Stan?s lonely dance with his wife as they are unable to connect physically or emotionally. If pictures tell stories, Burnett?s choice of music provides context and commentary on his social backdrop. Sheep hanging in the slaughterhouse suggest it is ?A Mean old World? (Little Walter) indeed. Paul Robeson?s ?That?s America To Me? underscores the harsh reality that the American Dream is only a fantasy for the impoverished. Earth Wind and Fire?s ?Reasons? is a record played by Stan?s child who sings along while Stan?s wife puts on makeup, arranges her hair and dress for her man who has long since lost interest. Burnett shows his genius here by cutting between the two rooms, showing us daughter and mother listening to the same song, which has a different meaning for each of them. When Stan?s wife looks in on their child, it?s a bittersweet moment. Here is a little girl singing along to an adult-themed song about love. When Stan?s wife appears in the frame, we wonder if she is the embodiment of what this child will become. Will her fate be the same as her mother? Although the movie has its share of bleak moments, if Stan were merely a miserable man, this wouldn?t be much of a film. His refusal to admit his situation (?We ain?t poor! I give stuff to the Salvation Army!?) belies his inability to climb out of it. A man can live without many things, but honor is not one of them. There?s also humor in Stan?s son, who is always in trouble (he likes a little bit of cereal with his sugar and milk), Stan?s adventure buying the used motor, or the gang drinking in the windowless car. There is a tenderness as well. Stan loves his daughter. She is the only thing that can still touch his heart. When he plays with her, you know that beauty and love still exist for him?even in the darkest places of his soul. Although Killer of Sheep owes much to De Sica and the Neorealist movement, it is fundamentally different in the fact that there is no crisis that changes Stan?s outlook. In Bicycle Thieves (1948) or Umberto D. (1953), crisis creates change. KOS provides no such easy outlets and we are left pondering hard questions with no easy answers. At the end of the film, Stan?s circumstances haven?t changed, but he has. His view is not one of acceptance or understanding, but determination. As Stan drives the sheep to the killing floor, we realize there is no hope for his situation. It's for his children that he does these things now, in hopes they will leap across the void that separates these separate American existences. Is he a defeated man? Perhaps. That?s a question Burnett wisely leaves in our hands, rather than moralizing. Stan might not have the stars to play with nor the moon to run away with, but he has some things money cannot achieve?namely his community and the love of his family. When new life comes to the neighborhood, it grows at the personal cost and sacrifice of others to sustain and nurture it. We see this in the death of the sheep and perhaps the death of Stan?s hopes and aspirations, which are unfulfilled. Stan does have hope for his children, and this hope has returned him to the human race and drives him on. These things, like the sugar that sweetens his son?s cereal, temper his life and help him to see that perhaps his journey on this earth is not so bitter after all.

DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959) is finally showing again. Thank you TCM!

A heads up for this little seen Michael Powell work, EDGE is an incredible looking film that anticipates films like Visconti's LA TERRA TREMA (1947) by a decade. As times change, a fishing village slowly erodes to extinction. If this sounds like good bait to you, cast your line tomorrow morning!

Both are amazing films. LE SAMOURAI is basically a reworking of THIS GUN FOR HIRE (1942), but much better in my opinion than the original film. LE CERCLE ROUGE is a heist film. Both feature Alain Delon in the lead and are directed by Melville. I would reccomend you start with SAMOURAI as it's a bit easier to get into. The visuals and colors are stunning and there is very little dialogue--it almost plays like a silent film.

Nice review.

THREE COMRADES (1938) FORBIDDEN GAMES (1952) BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)

HUMORESQUE is a great film. It's really amazing when you realize the work that Garfield put into his part. Some of the more technical scenes used another violinists hands, but it's Garfield's attention to detail that makes this all look legit.

DON'T LOOK NOW (1973) still scares the heck outta me. I don't sit in the dark with that one.

There is also a picture of a bird on the wall in Marion's room. When Norman discovers her body he backs up, knocking this picture off the wall--Marion Crane (bird) has been bumped off!

Hi mickeeteeze, You're right about the nice surprises in this film. Many times gangsters are shown as idotic thugs with a taste for blood. Ayres dispells that myth and only rejoins the gang to avenge his brother. He's also intelligent and well liked, unlike Tom Powers and Rico who terrorized everyone around them but their best friends (and even made them nervous a time or two!). It's also his best friend that steals his wife, but is never discovered by Ayres who still thinks he's a "great pal". A very different type of picture even by modern standards.

Hi Frank, I would agree that Cummings was the weakest actor of the three in the trilogy and even go a step further to say he was quite possibly the weakest actor in SABOTEUR itself. However, I think it gives the film a suspensful quality as Cummings seems truly overmatched by his adversaries. Donat in my opinion, is clearly the best actor of the three and balances heroics with a run for your life attitude as few can. Although he and Cummings both end up in handcuffs, Donat's character makes better use of the prop by chaining himself to his costar. Donat's interaction with those he meets on his journey is also better written and well acted. Much smoother in my opinion than Cummings or Grant. Finally Donat's speech to unawares is the best of the three with Grant's "auction" coming in a close second. On comedic terms, all actors are pretty evenly matched. Cummings has my favorite scene though when he suggests to the effeminate spy who wants his kid to have long golden curls the advice of a haircut: "it might save the kid a lot of grief." As far as the villians, SABOTEUR and 39 STEPS clearly have the edge here. Their characters are powerful, sophisticated, and confident. Otto Kruger makes the better use of his wordy lines like a spider spinning webs of deceit and propaganda--all with a sneering smile. He also keeps popping up in unexpected places, which adds to his menacing quality. Costars are no contest for me. I'm a big Priscilla Lane fan and love her spunky qualities. She was beautiful, but you never felt like she was afraid to get her hands dirty. She had great ability to balance comedy and drama in her roles and comes through in spades here. SABOTEUR's weakness is perhaps the scene where Cummings escapes from the house. After all that work to snare him, it's just not believeable he could set off a fire alarm and walk out. Cummings also has a bit of trouble and tends to rush his speeches (but I'll give him a break here--that stuff was so wordy ANYONE would have trouble with it.). I also think that THE 39 STEPS has a better ending in the death of Mr. Miracle. All in all, I love the first two films very much. I think that SABOTEUR is the best touring film and has a bit of an edge in comedy on 39 STEPS which I find to contain a more serious aspect and is perhaps a better spy film. NORTH BY NORTHWEST is the weakest film for me (especially the ending), but contains one of the best film scores of all time in my estimation. I love Cary Grant and he does a great job here, I'm just not a big fan of the film itself.

While many people prefer THE 39 STEPS or NORTH BY NORTHWEST, SABOTEUR remains my favorite of Hitchcock's "Wronged Man on the Run" trilogy. There is so much to see in this film that it really needs to be viewed a couple of times to appreciate everything within it's frames. An interesting work (and virtual tour of the U.S.) that more people should be familar with.