Film_Fatale
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Posts posted by Film_Fatale
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> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}
> Border Incident is really a film noir that takes place in the west, not really a western, but it does have Arthur Hunnicutt in it....
Very good analysis, Jackie!
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> I do love Jimmy Stewart's westerns, although I do think I understand MissG's comments about his darker side having no redeeming qualities in Two Rode Together. If it's anything like the dark side he showed in Vertigo, one doesn't see so much the agony propelling Stewart, just a sort of vicious blackness. Wayne's dark side always has a boundary, and a cause. He is more like a hurt animal. He is definitely in agony, and so we can empathize with his character. We know that Wayne will come out of his black pit - Stewart has a nasty, mean quality that I find hard to watch, and I am not so sure he will be redeemed. But his acting is compelling and interesting nevertheless.
It's been about a year since I watched *Two Rode Together*, and I do want to watch it again to comment on it a bit more deeply, but your analysis does strike me as right on the money, especially the part about this being one of Stewart's less sympathetic parts. I don't suppose that would have anything to do with the apparent lack of interest in putting this out on DVD?
Re: "Silverado." Stella's story and the the way Kline sees her is a lovely part of the story. After you see it we'll chat some more about it. (I'm glad the point about the church was helpful.) Doesn't Dennehy make a wonderful nasty guy?
I always thought Brian Dennehy was incredibly compelling, as a nasty guy as he is in *Silverado*, or when he was going for simpatico. I'm always wishing he could be in more movies, he didn't have a big part in that recent movie with DeNiro and Pacino but it was still nice to see him.
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I definitely see it listed in the schedule, Flooluk. Are you in Canada perhaps? They have a different schedule there sometimes.
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Jack White along with the Raconteurs came to Austin at the Austin City Limits Festival, and he had that Claudette guitar with him. we were on the ront row of that concert, and boy was it loud! he's definitely an accomplished guitarist! he had a few solos in that concert i had never heard befroe that, and it was amazing!
That's a great story, Theresa!! You're so lucky you were there. By the way, I had never heard of ACLF, I thought SXSW was the only big music festival there.
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> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}
> Newspaper cap courtesy of Preston Sturges......it's from "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek".....
I'm surprised I didn't recognize it, Jackie, it's a great cap!
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Leave it to the French to make the most touching *Marty* poster I have ever seen. I am definitely looking forward to Ernest Borgnine's Private Screenings! He's so full of vitality.
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> {quote:title=coopsgirl wrote:}{quote}
> Im not surprised that Frank is related to Dr. Grimes who is a dentist and we all know that is the most sadistic profession on the planet. Dr. Grimes nearly gassed one of his patients to death due to an old grudge and I would bet a wooden nickel that Frank gave him the idea.
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****, Angie!
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Those are all great posters, Haley. The one for *Love in the Afternoon* I don't think I had seen before. Saul Bass was _very_ good.
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*HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...*
*Jimmy Van Hausen* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Jan. 26, 1913 - Feb. 7, 1990)
*Joan Leslie* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Jan. 26, 1925)
*Paul Newman* !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Jan. 26, 1925 - Sept. 26, 2008)
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Xavier, Professor Charles - Patrick Stewart in *X-Men*
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> {quote:title=CelluloidKid wrote:}{quote}
> I would love TCM to show _The Stripper_ (1963) W./Joanne Woodward! It was Nominated for Oscar for Best Costume Design!!
So do you want Woodward to have her day in SUTS as well, or just want one film shown?
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Olivia de Havilland
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> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}
> Hey, Ang, I loved that list, and how specific you got for each character. I would never have thought of you as a cold fish, either...
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> I think Jean Arthur as Babe Bennett is pretty close to my personality. I am still idealistic, but have an edge that has been created by disappointments.
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> And although it sounds impossible, I think I am equal parts of Helen Ramirez and Amy in High Noon. I get indignant at hypocrisy and am very emotional like Helen, but I have a cold streak - a hesitance to commit like Amy.... and an intolerance of guns.
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> Oh, I don't believe I actually just compared myself to yucky Amy.....
If I was to compare myself to any of the ladies on that list, it would probably be Sugarpuss O'Shea - I guess that comes closest of all.
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Some really great photos there, Armand!
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> {quote:title=PrinceSaliano wrote:}{quote}
> And Lupe Velez.
Lupe V?**** would be a great choice, but I wonder if TCM would have enough movies to avoid repeating all of the *Mexican Spitfire* series, which they already had on the schedule once. But even if her day of SUTS was more or less a repeat of that *Spitfire* day on the schedule, it might be worth having!
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Kathy,
The scary thing (at least for me) is that *Silverado* actually came out 24 years ago, and next year will mark its 25th anniversary - same with *Back to the Future*. Sure makes me feel old!
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hamradio, sorry to hear about your brother's experience, glad filmlover is here to give you the lowdown.
On a personal note, I'd just like to say that getting used to watching some movies on blu-ray, especially new releases, has truly spoiled me in a way I didn't anticipate. I am now a lot less likely to watch a new release in the theater, and would rather wait for the blu-ray.
See, while 35mm film has the potential for greater picture quality than any HDTV set can possibly offer, that potential is only achieved when you have competent projectionists running things. When a movie isn't quite well-focused, you can lose a lot of the sharpness that 35mm film is capable of. Compared to that, the sharpness of a blu-ray disc is far, far more reliable.
But don't blame technology - blame the greedy theater chains that don't bother to properly train their projectionists.
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Well to me personally, accepting Henry Fonda as a Latino priest might have required a greater suspension of disbelief. However I can see how awareness of a specific actor can sometimes get in the way of people's enjoyment of a particular film...
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Ford's *The Fugitive* isn't what I would call a boring movie, but it's also certainly not fast-paced. I think I'd also fall asleep if I tried to watch it when I was tired.
It does, however, offer some great qualities if you can watch it when you're well-rested, not in a rush to do something afterwards, and in a rather contemplative state of mind. I won't go too deeply into the plot, but it is one of the few movies that Ford shot completely on location in Mexico, I believe, and he even availed himself of arguably the greatest Mexican cinematographer of the 20th century - Gabriel Figueroa. He wasn't just great by Mexican standards - he was truly world-class.
So the black-and-white photography is amazing; the movie also offers a relatively rare part in an English-language film for Mexico's screen goddess, Dolores del R?o, who wasn't working in Hollywood anymore by that point in her career (as opposed to, say, Katy Jurado, who was in *High Noon* and *One-Eyed Jacks* late in her career).
Del R?o's marriage to MGM's Art Director, Cedric Gibbons, ended around 1941, and her affair with Orson Welles didn't last long, so after 1942 she made movies almost exclusively in Mexico. (She had _never_ acted in Spanish in her native country until 1943, at age 37!).
Dolores del R?o.
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*Local Hero* is quite a charming movie, Theresa. I am certain that you'll enjoy it!
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One of the funny things about the movie is that Paramount still owns the rights to it - even though it sold the bulk of its pre-1949 non-silents to MCA/Universal. The reason, apparently, is that the sale was done with television showings in mind, and nobody at that time thought this movie could possibly be shown on TV.
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> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}
> Howdy, ma'am!
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> I did not watch Silverado, though I meant to. I was busy getting my little one to bed and then catching up here on the boards....
Howdy, dahling!
Well, the good thing about both of tonight's westerns is that they are both on DVD.
However, *The Last Command* (1955) which shows Monday night, is NOT available on DVD, although it was released on VHS at some point. It shows at 9pm PT/12am ET, and won't show again until March. (According to the credits, J. Carrol Naish plays Santa Anna!
)Then Tuesday morning, Jacques Tourneur's *Stars In My Crown* will be showing:
*Stars In My Crown* (1950)
A parson uses six-guns and the Bible to bring peace to a Tennessee town.
Cast: Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell, Alan Hale Dir: Jacques Tourneur BW-89 mins, TV-G
So I'd say we'll be starting the week pretty well, westerns-wise.
Also, although technically not exactly a western, John Ford's *The Fugitive* will be showing on Monday morning/afternoon. That's another Ford movie that is shamefully not yet on DVD.
Anyone planning to watch any of these movies?
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Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up, this Western hadn't been mentioned by anyone but is going to be showing Monday night:
*The Last Command* (1955)
Texas hero Jim Bowie defends against Mexican general Santa Ana.
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Richard Carlson, Arthur Hunnicutt Dir: Frank Lloyd BW-110 mins, TV-PG
Here is the TCM article:
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=95527
*The Last Command*
Certain historical events are simply too cinematic to be left alone by Hollywood. The battle at the Alamo, with its out-numbered heroes and lots of bloody gunplay, re-appears every few years, the latest installment being John Hancock's 2004 box office bomb starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton. Frank Lloyd's The Last Command (1955) may not be the biggest or best known cinematic interpretation of the events at the Alamo, but it boasts a strong cast and enough gritty action sequences for what amounts to a glorified B-picture.
Sterling Hayden stars as Jim Bowie, who, yes, is the inventor of the Bowie knife. As the story opens, Bowie lives peacefully in Mexico-owned 19th century Texas. But his American-citizen neighbors, Mike Radin (Ernest Borgnine) and William Travis (Richard Carlson) are itching for secession. Although Radin and Bowie eventually end up in a knife fight (word to the wise - don't get into knife fights with people who invent knives), Bowie winds up siding with the secessionists. This, of course, leads to a showdown at the Alamo, during which 187 men hold off an onslaught of 7,000 Mexicans for nearly two weeks. The narrative builds slowly, but the final battle is terrifically staged, even if you aren't surprised by the outcome.
Historians are always complaining that Hollywood plays loose with the facts, and The Last Command is certainly no different than other Alamo pictures in that regard. It's best to just sit back and enjoy Hayden's gruff performance, and Borgnine's rather inexplicable street-smart presence. No amount of frontier garb could fully take the New York out of this performer. (He seems to forever be digesting a Nathan's hot dog and a beer.) Max Steiner's rousing score is also a big highlight.
You'll probably recall that John Wayne directed and starred in The Alamo (1960), an overblown variation of this story which co-starred Richard Widmark. Wayne had been trying to get the film off the ground for quite a while, and was actually negotiating the deal with Republic, who financed The Last Command. Unfortunately, Wayne wanted to make a much more ambitious (i.e. costly) film than Republic head Herbert Yates was prepared to finance. Some people also believe that Yates insisted on using Vera Hruba Ralston, a former Czechoslovakian figure skater and would-be Republic "movie star," as the Duke's love interest. Wayne had already worked with the marginally talented Ralston on Dakota (1945), and blanched at doing it again. So there went the deal.
But that wasn't the end of Republic's interest in the Alamo. In a move that seemed at least partially designed to get Wayne's goat, Yates rushed The Last Command into production. The film he ended up with certainly can't compete with Wayne's epic in terms of sheer scale, but as Western novelist Brian Garfield notes in his Western Films guide, it has "considerably more verve and drama." Wayne's picture, though visually spectacular, is simply too grandiose and lumbering to sustain much tension. Sometimes, it seems, smaller really is better. Especially if you're the guy putting up the money.
Producer/Director: Frank Lloyd
Screenplay: Warren Duff (based on the story by Sy Bartlett)
Cinematographer: Jack Marta
Editor: Tony Martinelli
Music: Max Steiner
Art Design: Frank Arrigo
Principal Cast: Sterling Hayden (James Bowie), Anna Maria Alberghetti (Consuela), Richard Carlson (William Travis), Arthur Hunnicutt (Davy Crockett), Ernest Borgnine (Mike Radin), J. Carrol Naish (Santa Ana), Ben Cooper (Jeb Lacey), John Russell (Lt. Dickinson), Virginia Grey (Mrs. Dickinson), Jim Davis (Evans), Eduard Franz (Lorenzo de Quesada), Otto Kruger (Stephen Austin), Russell Simpson (The Parson), Roy Roberts (Dr. Sutherland), Slim Pickens (Abe), Hugh Sanders (Sam Houston).
C-110m.
by Paul Tatara
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Vargas, "Mike" - Charlton Heston in *Touch of Evil*
Movie Rambles
in Films and Filmmakers
Posted
Ang,
I'm really happy to realize you are a fellow Edward Arnold fan. I can't tell you how much I have admired so many of his performances, not only the ones you listed, but also stuff like *The Toast of New York*, *Idiot's Delight*, *The Devil and Daniel Webster*, and so many others. Have you thought about starting an Edward Arnold thread in "Your Favorites"? If you don't, then someone else should.
Speaking of favourites, I finally got a chance to watch *Wife Vs. Secretary* over the weekend, what a lovely movie! :x
Myrna Loy is excellent as Clark Gable's all-but-perfect wife, who doesn't have the slightest suspicion her husband could have anything but a professional interest in his secretary (Jean Harlow) until some funny stuff starts happening. But, lo and behold, the things that are going on with no small degree of secrecy aren't an affair at all, just Gable being a very careful businessman and trying to put a deal together and keeping it all hush-hush. Yes, even the trip to Havana and Harlow picking up his hotel room phone at 2am is very much part of their professional duties, heh!
Harlow is incredibly subdued in this one, and her few scenes with Myrna Loy have an unexpected poignancy to them. I love them both! :x