CineMaven

"...was it meant to be pornography, psychological thriller or travelogue?" THAT might be three good reasons to see "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" SansFin. Oh yeah, I liked Jennifer O'Neill too.

I've gotta go with Rosemary DeCamp.

"Ending I found shocking was 'The Reincarnation of Peter Proud' (1975). I think my reaction is because it is brilliant ending to mediocre movie." - <SansFin > Wow! I haven't heard of that film since it was released. I loved it and Margot Kidder!

Oh you!!!!

21?! Oh easy, easy big fella. There are laws about that. :-) Her valentine to film noir has got to be the best thing I've ever seen on YouTube. Her editing was fantastic. (Pssst...though I think I could give her a good run for her money in the editing depart-ment). I'm glad you enjoyed it, Grimesy. I thought you would.

Uhmmmmmmm...ohhhhhhhhkay. Just don't blame me...for the movie or the hangover. :-)

Night Otter, you haven't lived until you've seen "THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH." Check it out...you can thank me later. Uhmmmm...much later!

That first pix you posted from "BLACK ORPHEUS" breaks my heart. :x And now both actors are gone. Thank you, Mongo.

MONGO...would you happen to have any photos /stills from "BLACK ORPHEUS" in your extensive library? It's coming on tonite at 8:00PM and Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello have got to be among the top ten most beautiful looking couples in movies since Gable and Leigh. For anyone who hasn't seen this classic, may I recommend to you "BLACK ORPHEUS." Yup, it's an Essential.

Oh you're too kind. Thank you. As for the Barbie Doll and being a Barbie Doll (THAT got a laugh outta me)...I'd like to meet the guy who could make you into a Barbie Doll. He'd wake up with Annie Laurie Starr and get the surprise of his young life!!!

Hi there Miss G. I thought you might like to see this. > Enjoy!!! CinemAva.

> "Have you seen 'Gun Crazy', Lively Gal?" Wellllll....here's a reminder...a 'Valentine to Film Noir': << >>

If TCM can assure me that watching the Bowery Boys will keep me young...I'll give 'em a go. P.S. I loved Sonja Henie.

"...That and the tone of her voice were just bone chilling. She REALLY revealed her true inner self in that scene (at least to me) Before that.. we only got quick glimpses here and there... not really seeing her completely...and BOY is it ever a much uglier picture than her pretty face allows. Soulless is the right word for it. And the little flickering flame of POSSIBLE redemption and the hint of regret that was shown the night before.. is snuffed out in an instant." Hey Ro--you have perfectly encapsulated a chilling factor in the make-up of Annie Laurie Starr with this comment. I went "Whoa!" when I read it ("...is snuffed out in an instant.") When he brings Laurie to his sister's house...I think Bart realized that he brought the fox right into the hen house. What an infection Laurie was. I saw ?LADY AND THE TRAMP? so I know that cocker spaniels are the cutest!!!

Thank you Jackkaaaaay. > "I thought she was beautiful at the end, all smeared with mud, really and truly scared out of her wits...." Yes...very. Lust and fear all rolled into one.

Well...being a lover of film noir, and of femme fatales in film noir, I couldn't be caught dead walking anything less than a German Shepherd or Great Dane or Mastiff. I haven?t seen ?GUN CRAZY? in years and wasn?t quite in the mood for it when it aired on TCM the other night. Then I started reading all the interesting conversation about it in this thread and thought, ?UH-OH, C-Mave. You blew it...again. Dumbkoff!? I don't know what's up with these moods. Then I found out it was on YouTube and here I am...torturing you with a CineMaven?s Musings. One of the Message Board?s own illustrious, venerable, ubiquitious and painstakingly prolific posters once wrote this: *"...Dirty sexy. You ever been turned on by someone you know is bad news?? Well that?s ?GUN CRAZY? in a nutshell, isn?t it? That?s the whole enchilada of the story in a gun shell. I didn?t remember a lot of the movie, and as it incrementally unfolded in eight-minute You Tube chapters, I was pulled in deeper and deeper. A carny offers sage unheeded advice to our poor hapless lug: "She ain?t the type that makes a happy home.? Ha! What man EVER listens? I didn?t try to decipher their psychological backstories. I just took it all at face value that there were screws loose in both Bart?s and Laurie?s make up. But I must say...she did try to warn Bart about herself: "I told you I was no good; didn?t kid you did I. So now you know. Bart, I?ve been kicked around all my life. From now on I?m going to start kicking back. Bart, I want things. A lot of things...big things. I don?t want to be afraid of life or anything else. I want a guy with spirit and guts. A guy who can laugh at anything...do anything. A guy who can kick over the traces and win the world for me.? She tells him plainly and clearly what she wants. And we see that Bart is aware of what that would entail to get her those ?big things.? ?Look, I don?t want to look in that mirror and see nothing but a stick up man staring back at me.? Yeah buddy. She doesn?t want much, does she. Just your will....your life...whatever you're willing to give up. I think Joseph H. Lewis did a very robust job of directing this film. I liked the shorthand montage of Bart and Laurie living the good life. And then when the cash runs out...they can?t even order onions with those burgers they eat voraciously. I enjoyed the bank robbery scenes. His choice of shots, camera angles were very strong. I know much has been made of the bank robbery scenes and with good reason. Very well done, especially for those late forties audiences witnessing that level of cinema verite. I did get the sense I was watching a documentary instead of the ?long shot-medium shot-close up? school of filmmaking. Well done Mr. Lewis. With Lewis placing the camera in the back seat, he made us accomplices in the robbery too. Gee, thanks a lot! Crikey! We?re on the lam too and we, (like Bart) were also being taken for a ride! I loved how sloppy the sound was in those instances. They talked fast, talked over each other, talked outside of the car where there was no microphone so it was a tad hard to distinguish what was said. The car?s door frame obscured a clear shot of Bart as he stops to buy a newspaper. (Can you imagine George Cukor doing that? Perish the thought, pumpkins!) I liked that...all that; felt very contemporary. I liked the choice of filming in the meat factory. All those poor dead carcasses swinging (like in ?COMA.? Where is Elizabeth Ashley when you need her?) I sort of wondered why Lewis never showed the fruits of their labor (having money...being in the chips) after pulling numerous bank robberies. He just focused on them being ?on the run.? To not glorify it, perhaps? It didn't look like they enjoyed the money they got. Why are they still living hand-to-mouth? How the heck much did a fur coat cost back then. I liked the bird?s eye view of planning the robbery. Brains and brawn. No doubt, Bart was the brains of the operation...and Laurie...the brawn. Actually, why am I beating around the bush. Let me get down to brass tacks: it?s all about Annie Laurie isn?t it. And she has brass ones, doesn?t she. Peggy Cummins plays the femme fatale in ?GUN CRAZY.? I liked her femme fatale. I liked her dead eyes. She fulfills the requisite traits for being a lethal lady and writing on this Message Board: * Sociopath: cares about no one * Money hungry: money as escape * Dupe-a-dope: get the big lug to do the dirty work * Murder: Killing as sexual foreplay (ooooh, now there?s a bonus) Aaaaah, but who'd have time to write on the Message Board, with all THIS going on? The cops are on your heels!!! Laurie lays her cards on the table. She really was just as willing to let Bart go...to send him on his merry way with a kiss on the cheek and a pat on the head. But he wouldn?t let her go. Her face is like porcelain...alabaster as someone mentioned. She really was reminding me of (one of my big faves) Piper Laurie. They have the same small dead eyes. Cummins? face was as smooth and unlined as a mannequin. It was devoid of emotion. FYI: B?4 the shot was used by Richard Brooks "IN COLD BLOOD? with raindrops falling down as tears, Joseph H. Lewis uses that in this film. I saw it and went "WHOA!!? as Laurie?s face is pressed up against the window. Remember when we see her in the beginning facing and unfacing the camera as she shoots? I thought that was kind of mirrored later on when she's telling Bart that he should leave her, but that she loved him. She faces us with one line, and Bart can't see her face delivering it; and then she faces Bart with "I love you," and we don't see her face. (Hmmm...that could be a stretch, but I think there's something in that). She?s a cold hearted, sharp shootin?...gal. She's a cute little package too. She could also take him or leave him at the drop of a beret, at least in the beginning: [/i]?Kiss me goodbye...?[/i] She was an athletic little thing too. She ran hard; wow...the way she bolted down those stairs after the payroll robbery was great. I never saw Bette Davis EVER break a sweat in forty movies!! Phyllis Dietrichson run? Brigid O'Shaughnessy bolt? Naaaaah. Men use love to get sex. Women use sex to get love. Laurie has a male sensibility...she goes for what she wants, uses whoever she has to. (Ha! When she picked up the baby to hold as hostage...a little too far, Missy!) In noir, men are usually duped. Bart?s not really duped. He thinks he knows just what he?s let himself in for, he walks in with his eyes wide shut, but I don't think he realizes just how far Laurie IS willing to go. Laurie is like a drug and Bart just can?t stop. It was interesting to see how far he would go with this. And he did go to the bitter end. When they decide to pull their ?last? job and separate for two months...maybe three, I watched enough noir to know what was going to happen. She was dumping him, taking the money and not looking back. Brigid would have done it, Velma would have done it. Kathie Moffett definitely would have jetted outta there. Hey fella, yeah you, you fool!!!! She's dropping you like a hot potato. Well they fooled me. I loved how the scene did play out. And that convinced me she really did love him. But I tell ya, the girl was always quick to pull a gun. Scared? Naaaaah. She just liked to kill. It was survival, but it was also pleasure. I think when the gun goes off...so does she. Her promises, her sexual heat keeps Bart hanging on. I can?t say I found her sexy per se. I'm thinking someone like Gloria Grahame would induce men to follow her to hell. Her sex kittenish looks would lure...but I could see her snapping into cold b*tch mode. With Cummins, I don?t really see it. But I do feel her contempt and disdain and that makes her kind of sexy to me. Ooooh, did you see the stare she gave her sister-in-law in the kitchen. Cold. The sexiest I thought she ever looked was near her end. Running...tired...worn out...she?s fallen in the muddy waters. Her hair?s a mess. Bart is trying to get some rest in the reeds. She now picks this time to be amorous? Well, how much more turned on does she need to be? She?s been robbing and stealing. Their names are splashed across the headlines in a montage of newspaper print. Teletype info comes in. How smart are they? They?re one step ahead of the law. Close shaves with checkpoints heighten the excitement. Bust through police barricades with the man you love. Their fate unfurls inexorably before them. Things are out of control. It?s dizzying. What else is left but to face your death being engulfed in the fog. And in the end she's kind of like a mad dog...rabid words spew from her mouth: "One more step and I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'LL KILL YOU!!!!" Poor Laurie. Poor Bart. A boy who was into guns, grows up (sort of) and sees a girl who shares the same passion. You'd think it'd be a match made in heaven. He was hopeful...he kept hoping for the best. He was tethered to her promises. "Bart, I?ve never been much good. At least up to now I haven?t. You aren?t getting any bar- gains. I?ve got a funny feeling that I want to be good. I don?t know, maybe I can?t. But I?m going to try. I?ll try hard Bart. I?ll try.? ...The hollow promise of a soulless killer. Edited by: CineMaven on Jul 22, 2010 12:19 PM...b'cuz I couldn't get it all down in one fell swoop. I had a bank to rob! Hey. What's that rustling... Oh, it's FrankGrimes and Millie Per- kins. Saaay, you can't do that here!!!!!!!!!*

"...So I went into the link.. and actually... what you were quoting as ME, was really me quo- ting SHIFTLESS GRIMES' from HIS list. (I was commenting on his top two picks for most awful bad guys) and then it all made SENSE to me. (whew.. you had me worried for a minute there, ha)" Ooops! I'm sorry, Rohanaka. You're absolutely right. I went back through the thread and saw where I made my mistake. I made the attribution to the wrong person and it turned out to be Frank (The-Man-You-Love-To-Slap) Grimes. My bad. :-(

I understand from my dog-lover friends, that the canine taste buds run to Rum. Your dog is different?

Oh my. He's ten years younger than I am. < GULP! >

HA!!! Next time, send invites. Just an Amtrak ride away. I'll walk your dog.

Dude, don't rush the dog into doing his thing at 3:55AM. Sheesh!! At least take him out at 3:50AM. Cold ziti and vodka at four in the morning is a good snack to watch an old flick with.

" still have to put Marvin in the #1 slot, but BOY is it ever close. ha. (we should make a list of our favorite (love to hate 'em) cowboy movie bad guys, ha. Only you would have to go first because I am LOUSY at list making) ha." You know what Ro-, there actually was a thread like that once upon a time when Moira roamed the land. She created this thread back in 2007: http://forums.tcm.com/jive/tcm/thread.jspa?threadID=94641&start=105&tstart=0 You can read it to check out all manners of villain. Here are some posts that struck me: 1. < MOVIEMAN1957 - JAN. 17, 2007 > "I think 'The Cowboys' was the first movie I ever saw John Wayne die. It was pretty intense for a 15 year old. I thought Bruce Dern was about the meanest thing that ever walked the earth. He was nastier than anything, dirtier than anything and was lower than low. He sure was good in that part." 2. < MISS GODDESS - JAN. 17, 2007 > Bruce Dern in 'The Cowboys': The dirty yellow snake shot John Wayne in the back! I also want to mention the surprisingly effective villain that Chuck Connors made in 'THE BIG COUNTRY.' I always thought the attempted rape scene with Jean Simmons was scary as can be." - 1/19/2007 3. < JACK FAVELL - JUNE 30, 3009 > "...I am a big fan of movies with a group of villains - several villains of varying degrees of meanness and evil.... I adore evil henchmen, 'big' men who sit back and let others take the blame, and psychotic snakes in the grass.... I can think of several movies that have group villains.... the ones that come to mind are 'One Eyed Jacks' - Karl Malden is the oily, duplicitous Dad Longworth, burying himself in lies in order to keep his status as Sheriff of Monterey, willing to kill his old friend Brando to hide his past from the town and .....himself. Slim Pickens as Malden's stupid, braggard henchman, Lon Dedrick, especially hideous when he's putting his slimy moves on fragile Pina Pellicer. Ben Johnson as Bob Amory - Scary, mean and just plain nasty, Johnson is like a coiled rattlesnake. I hated him when I first saw this movie. How a nice guy like Johnson had it in him to play this serpent, I don't know. There is a gleam in his eye as he shoots down an innocent man, whose bullets he has stolen so he can't even fight back. Ugh. 'Bad Day at Black Rock' - "Everyone. Most notably: Ernest Borgnine - "half horse and half alligator" Robert Ryan - Was there ever a more quiet, menacing villain? I'm still scared of him.... 'The Wild Bunch' - The bunch themselves, including: Bo Hopkins. Geez. He licks that poor woman! Emilio Fernandez as Mapache - another 'big' man... so drunk and lazy with power, his rotten insides are just waiting to be spattered all over something. Strother Martin and L.Q. Jones..... I can't even talk about these two. They are vile. 'Cool Hand Luke' - Oh wait... not a western." 4. < FRANK GRIMES - JULY 2, 2009 > Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson in 'The Shooting') Frank (Henry Fonda in 'Once Upon a Time in the West') Waco Johnnie Dean (Dan Duryea in 'Winchester '73') El Indio (Gian Maria Volont? in 'For a Few Dollars More') Cicero Grimes (Richard Boone in 'Hombre') Ben Vandergroat (Robert Ryan in 'The Naked Spur') Ram?n Rojo (Gian Maria Volont? in 'A Fistful of Dollars') Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin in 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) Pa Clanton (Walter Brennan in 'My Darling Clementine') 10. Sheriff Gannon (John McIntire in 'The Far Country') Actor-wise, I'll go with Dan Duryea. And yourself... 5. < ROHANAKA - JULY 2, 2009 > Billy Spear (Jack Nicholson in 'The Shooting') (Henry Fonda in 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

Hold on to your berets and Berettas, ladies and gents and children of all ages... But first... JANIS CARTER will be on tonite during TCM's airing of films with a jury theme. Just wanted to give her a little shout-out 'cuz I thought she was an interesting lady of film noir. Last we spoke of her, Jackaaaaay Favell said this of Janis in "FRAMED." "It was a lot of fun and I liked Janis Carter too..... she had a sweetness about her that was charming. She reminded me a little of Virginia Mayo, except that Virginia could probably act rings around her. Still, there was something about her confidence and her sunshiney smile that I really liked. I am glad you felt sorry for her at the end too..... poor thing, she could have offed them both easily, but instead she offered to cut Glenn in on half of the dough, and what did she get for her trouble? A one way ticket to the slammer." - < JackFavell - August 10, 2009 > Couldn't think of a way to bring up Janis Carter (she's one of my faves) without starting a whole new thread, hence the shout-out. But now...Peggy Cummins. Ha! You have a point about feeling left out. Soooooooooooo... Peggy Cummins. Whoa, now there's a different kettle of fish. Psychotic sociopathology never looked more lovelier. Thanks for the "Yeehaw!" Rohanaka.

?I know there will be some kidders piping in with studios releasing certain films or casting so-and-so in a role...but I am serious. The Lohan trial brought back to mind how in L.A. one can get away with so much if you are famous..I admit to feeling a little bit sorry for her when she broke down in tears at her sentencing, but it is clear this girl thinks rules others live by don't apply to her.? - < filmlover > I thought of your post re: Lindsay Lohan as I watched the last few moments of "THE FIREBIRD." I thought how very lovely Anita Louise looked, and how she was now prepared to pay for her own crime of killing that cad, Ricardo Cortez. Her folks were played by Veree Teasdale and Lionel Atwill, a little misguided in their overprotectiveness while Lohan's parents seemed to abandon all pretense of parenting skills. Lindsay's in a cell now doing time. And "THE FIREBIRD" is kind of a forgotten film, but with nice performances (though the acting is a tad over-the-top...which also mirrors Lohan's parents behavior as well). I just love it when art imitates life imitating art imitating life. Lessons learned?

"Well guess what, (duh) I remembered a conversation w/ you and Miss G (from some time ago) and I went into youtube.. and sure enough.. I found Gun Crazy there. (So of course I had to watch it, ha) I was feeling so left out reading everyone's comments on this film that I decided to forsake a decent night's sleep (yet again, ha) and see what you all were really talking about." Hmmmmmmmmm....YouTube, ey?