ChiO

One thing for sure -- the TCM Board would be loaded with posts castigating Coppola for having the audacity and obvious lack of vision in making a re-make. Has he no original ideas? :-)

Monday night...big screen. Slap to the face! Punch in the gut! Knife in the chest! Shot in the ****! Yes, I saw Verboten! (1959). Glad I went in spite of the UofC student (excuse the implicit anti-intellectual and ageist characterization) next to me who thought we were at a Midnight Camp Movie Fest. OK, I'll admit that with one of the sappiest opening theme songs in movie history (Paul Anka warbling lines such as "Our love is verboten") and our American soldier hero convincing a German fraulein that she is acceptable to him by saying "You're kosher" could make the movie appear campy, but this is Fuller at his lurid and unsentimental best. The film starts (after Anka) with American soldiers "liberating" a German town near the end of WWII (to Beethoven's Fifth Symphony). Our American soldier hero, having been shot in the ****, is tended to by a fraulein, who has an angry teenage brother who lost an arm during an earlier American bombing of the town. Hero falls in love with fraulein. Fraulein acts as if she loves hero -- but does she? Hero stays in village post-WWII as a civilian working with the American Military Occupation forces while a gang of young unreconstructed Nazis terrorize the town (to Wagner's Die Valkure). The gang is led by a friend of the fraulein, who had gotten him a job working for the hero. And fraulein's brother, of course, gets sucked into the gang. Romance! Nazis! Racism! Juvenile Delinquents! Savagery! Survival! Fuller, again, with the slenderest of a main plot line, gets all of his touchstones into a 93 minute movie that has more subplots than a Dickens novel. And does it with style and gusto. Love him or hate him, he is the prototype of an auteur. So now I have the following under my belt ( * = I own a copy for continuous viewing pleasure): *I Shot Jesse James* (1948) *The Baron of Arizona* (1949) *The Steel Helmet* (1950) *Fixed Bayonets* (1951) *Park Row* (1952) * *Pickup on South Street* (1953) * *Hell and High Water* (1954) (the only Fuller movie I come close to recommending not seeing) *House of Bamboo* (1955) * *Forty Guns* (1957) * Verboten! (1959) Underworld U.S.A. (1960) (hoping to see on the big screen on Monday) *Merrill's Marauders* (1962) * *Shock Corridor* (1963) *The Naked Kiss* (1964) * Shark! (1969) * *The Big Red One* (1980) * *White Dog* (1982) *

Somewhat like Arkadin, I interpreted the Bogdanovich question (or, is it the MissG question?) of "My Five Most Important Movies" as "The Five Movies That I Loved As a Wayward Youth and, In Retrospect, Had the Greatest Influence on Me and the Way I Watch Movies Today" (even though they may not be my 5 Favorite Movies today). In the order in which I saw them: 1. CITIZEN KANE: The first movie I saw where my reaction was, "Wow! I didn't know movies could look like this, be sooo different than anything else I've seen, tell a fascinating story, AND be entertaining." I was somewhere in the range of 11-13 years old. It is still my favorite movie and Welles is still a favorite director. 2. THE MALTESE FALCON: The first film noir that I saw (I think I knew the tone was special, but not why). My second Bogart movie (first was...CASABLANCA). Snappy dialogue and iconic acting all around. Not bad for Huston's debut. 3. DUCK SOUP: I loved Groucho from You Bet Your Life and had enjoyed MONKEY BUSINESS, HORSEFEATHERS and A DAY AT THE RACES, but when I then saw DUCK SOUP, it just blew those (and me) away. Anarchy and wordplay have never been more fun...or serious. 4. BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN: The first non-comedic silent that I remember seeing or, if it wasn't, the first to have a real impact. Knowing who Eisenstein was and what montage is came later. For years, it was second only to *CITIZEN KANE* as a favorite. Not in my Top 15 anymore, but still obviously an influence. 5. BONNIE AND CLYDE: I hate violence and blood. I have loved this movie -- and especially the last scene -- since I first saw it in a theatre in 1967. It transcends its constituent parts and (unlike EASY RIDER) both captured the zeitgeist when released and has remained fresh. Fashion, story, sex, romance, rebellion and a ballet of violence. Maybe it can be blamed for the prevalence of much of the negative aspects of those things in contemporary movies, but it sure works for me it this one. Without this and THE MALTESE FALCON, would I have ever gotten to GUN CRAZY? A truly classic movie that you're embarrassed you haven't seen: *THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS* -- I keep waiting for a pristine uncut copy to surface in a dumpster in Andorra, or somewhere, and be released by Criterion on a Region 1 DVD with loads of extras. Should I give up and just watch it on VHS? The movie you have watched the most times in your life: I don't know, but probably CITIZEN KANE, followed by DUCK SOUP, CASABLANCA, PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM, DR. ZHIVAGO, DINER, DR. STRANGELOVE, CATCH-22 and GUN CRAZY. Five Favorite Directors: This week it would be -- Orson Welles John Cassavetes Carl Th. Dreyer Samuel Fuller (added another film this week that I hadn't previously seen -- on the big screen!) Jacques Tourneur

The first that I can vividly remember is Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Had nightmares for years afterwards. I'm sure it was part of a double-feature, but I have zero recollection of what the other movie might have been.

Kim -- *Merrill's Marauders* is available at Deep Discount (and not at Amazon) for under $12 -- I bought it immediately when I found out a couple of months ago. I still prefer The Steel Helmet, Fixed Bayonets (my favorite of his war movies) and The Big Red One, but I still like it more than most non-Fuller war movies. I hope to see Verboten! at the University of Chicago, which has a student film society that does some impressive programming. See http://docfilms.uchicago.edu/calendar.shtml and look at Monday nights (and Thursday, March 13). I've been derelict in getting there, but hope to catch the next five Mondays. Rent *Shock Corridor* if you haven't seen it. It is not my favorite Fuller film, but it probably is the Fuller film. Action, sexual tension (of various configurations), racism, journalism, literal and figurative punches in the gut...it has it all. Film is like a battleground. Love. Hate. Action. Violence. In one word, emotion. -- Sam Fuller (uncredited) as himself in Godard's *Pierrot le fou*

I'm trying to think what song it is that Louis Armstrong sings where he mentions Lotte Lenya by name...I just heard it this morning and I've already forgotten the title. I think you are trying to remeber "Mack The Knife." Yep -- Good ol' Mackie Messer's back in town. It is "Moritat" originally, but "Mack the Knife", or "Theme from The Threepenny Opera", in English. Satchmo released his version in 1956 (#20 on the Billboard Pop Chart) and Bobby Darin (nee Walden Robert Cassotto) released his version with the same "Lotte Lenya" addition in 1959 (#1 for 9 weeks on the Billboard Pop Chart). Six other versions (Dick Hyman Trio, Richard Hayman & Jan August, Lawrence Welk, Billy Vaughn, Les Paul, & Ella Fitzgerald) hit the Top 100 between 1956 and 1960. If Dewey is out there: Who sang the version that Ernie Kovacs used on his TV show?

Lotte Lenya recorded "September Song"? Wow. I love that song. It's on a 2-disc (that's "vinyl", not "CD") set called The Lotte Lenya Album: The Berlin and American Theater Songs of Kurt Weill. I just checked on Amazon and it has it on CD "New and Used, From $49.99". Maybe my vinyl is worth something. I'd like to say that I inherited it from my Grandfather, but I bought it when it was released (just like I got 45's in the '50s). Although I enjoy film music in the context of the film, I've never been enamored with listening to instrumental soundtracks. In fact, I think I own only one (which I love and, yes, it is on vinyl): Last Tango in Paris by Gato Barbieri. There are three versions of the theme -- a tango, a ballad, and a waltz -- and each is lovelier than the other.

Kim -- We've had our Fuller moments on other threads, but thank you for starting a thread on one of the more iconoclastic and independent American directors of the second half of the 20th century. In that category, he is right there with Welles and Cassavetes. Perhaps we're channelling each other -- about a month ago, I bought *Shark* for a buck on VHS. Given what Fuller said about it in his autobiography (A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking), I expected not to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Far from his best, but a good yarn. Seeing *Park Row* on TCM was exciting -- I had not seen it before. Last week, I finally got around to seeing I Shot Jesse James and, next Monday, I'm hoping to see for the first time Verboten! on the big screen. Forty Guns (probably 2nd only to Alan Barron's *Blast of Silence* for my favorite opening sequence), The Steel Helmet and Fixed Bayonets are closely grouped near the top of my Fuller list -- *Pickup on South Street* is at the top. Scorsese in-joke: In The King of Comedy, there is a scene where Lewis arrives at home after an encounter with DeNiro; Lewis glances at his TV and *Pickup on South Street* is on. I take the homage as Scorsese's pointing out that both films deal with the frailty of self-identity. I'm now reading Sam Fuller: Film Is a Battleground (Lee Server). Message was edited by: ChiO Message was edited by: ChiO

My 10 favorite songs and recordings: *The Man I Love* -- Billie Holiday *September Song* -- Lotte Lenya *But Beautiful* -- Tony Bennett (w/ Bill Evans) *Alison* -- Elvis Costello *Bachelor Kisses* -- The Go-Betweens *Blitzkrieg Bop* -- The Ramones *Be My Baby* -- The Ronettes *Mr. Tamborine Man* -- The Byrds *Heaven and Back* -- The Mekons *Lovesick Blues* -- Hank Williams

FORCE OF EVIL? For goodness sakes, I left out the greatest of all times -- GUN CRAZY -- just to show how objective I can be. Actually, only about three of the films I listed would make my Favorite 10 (or 15) list, but I probably wouldn't have gotten to those without these.

Maybe this means that we'll get to take another gander at Fixed Bayonets or The Steel Helmet to complete our Gene Evans film festival soon. Gene Evans is a favorite of mine and it was nice to see him in a Fuller movie sans Army uniform. Then, this weekend during a Suzanne Pleshette, a ROUTE 66 episode with her as a guest was shown. Forget Marty Milner and George Maharis...there was Gene Evans (with Claude Akins as his brother). Interestingly, it was about a horse that was being set up as a murderer. Even though it looked like the horse killed Mr. Evans, I was confident that that could not be the case because of all of that experience he had handling Flicka. Sure enough, the horse was innocent and Akins was guilty.

I agree that FORCE OF EVIL is a great noir; however, while perhaps not quite up to its standard, SLIGHTLY SCARLET is also wonderful. I am hard pressed to think of a better film noir in color from the classic period. That, of course, is courtesy of John Alton, cinematographer extraordinaire. He certainly brings out the reds (scarlet), especially of the two gorgeous redheads, Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl. John Payne is reliable and Ted de Corsia plays, as usual, one of the nastier tough guys. And I always feel as if I'm watching the entire history of Hollywood whenever I see an Allan Dwan movie from the '50's.

I haven't seen too many film noir movies but my curiosity has been piqued. Is Nightfall typical of what to expect? *Nightfall* is film noir because of its theme and feel, but it is atypical in its look; i.e. it doesn't have the stereotypical dark urban claustrophobic chiaroscuro setting with Expressionistic camera angles. 10 Suggested Classics of Film Noir -- A Primer *The Maltese Falcon* *Double Indemnity* *Murder, My Sweet* *Detour* *The Killers* (Siodmak) *Out of the Past* *The Big Heat* *Kiss Me Deadly* *The Killing* *Touch of Evil* Then you'll be hooked and constantly searching out the unknown B-movie from the '40s or '50s in hope of finding a gem that you can tell your friends about...as they look at you as if you are a loon.

Oops -- Freudian slip. The title is SAM FULLER: Film Is a Battleground. Life. Film. To-may-toe. To-mah-toe. Life is Film. Film is Life. :-)

As MikeBSG pointed out, the Good Guy/Bad Guy dichotomy may be of less importance in films noir generally. Or, to be less gender specific, the Good Person/Bad Person may be of lesser importance (mustn't forget our Stanwycks, Bennetts & Grahames). One of the attributes of film noir is the key role of Fate and, if Fate is in control (or the characters lack control), can a character be truly good or truly bad? Whether the performers can portray a sense of ambiguity is probably more important. That said, Duryea, Mitchum and Ryan sure can play good Bad Guys. And, as you force me to reflect further as I type (I hate it when that happens), I will stand (at least temporarily) on viewing the dichotomy as being of less importance. Perhaps, however, that is not because of a lack of Bad Persons; it is because of a lack of Good Persons. Some characters may be truly Bad (Marvin in *The Big Heat* or Widmark in Kiss of Death, anyone?), but none (or few) are truly Good. Add Fate and Alan Rhode's observation on characters who start out screwed -- and it goes downhill from there -- and you have film noir.

Showing again on the morning of March 8.

Showing again on March 8.

*Tokyo Story* (1953) *Floating Weeds* (1959) *Rashomon* (1950) *Ikiru* (1952) *Seven Samurai* (1954) *The Throne of Blood* (1957) *Ugetsu* (1953) *Sansho the Bailiff* (1954)

I'm with you, MissG. I'm reading another of his books now. Ready? SAM FULLER: Life Is a Battleground

"the innovative, bold film is an acknowledged milestone in the development of cinematic technique, although it 'shared' some of its techniques from Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and other earlier films." Namely, the earlier films of John Ford, John Ford and John Ford. Well...there you go again, MissG. The reality is -- and believe solid research would bear me out -- that Greg Toland hired John Ford to direct The Grapes of Wrath in order to prepare for working with a Genius the following year. :-) :-) :-)

*The Black Book* (aka Reign of Terror) *Slightly Scarlet* *Silver Lode* It is purely coincidental that those films had the same cinematographer.

My Dearest MissG -- Similarities between Rebecca and Citizen Kane? No, I hadn't even thought about it. But how intriguing! Now you make me want to sit through that abominable film again just for this. I assume that your gracious reference to "that abominable film" is intended to be a reference to Rebecca. I should watch it again, too, and continue to until I figure out who portrays Rebecca. It was probably Gloria Grahame. See, FrankieG, your opinion is the one that really counts. I'm really starting to feel lonely. I never thought that I'd feel compelled to defend Citizen Kane as my favorite film, or read a post calling Killer of Sheep (one of my Top 10 faves) "independent junk", or sense that my integrity is being questioned (not on this Board) by listing Tourneur's *Stars in My Crown* as my favorite Western. Such a price to pay for not worshipping at the feet of Hitchcock. But, hey, I really enjoyed The Informer.

Even though The Charles Burnett Collection is beside our TV, we watched *KILLER OF SHEEP* last night on TCM. I was choking back tears...of joy, of sadness, of exhilaration and amazement over the artistry...from start to finish. Mrs. ChiO prefers Billy Woodbury's BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS; her explanation is that "KILLER OF SHEEP is just too real." That observation is dead on. Seeing the This Bitter Earth dance of Stan and his wife -- he looking so world weary as to be emotionally dead, and she feeling (and wanting to arouse him to feeling) a passion so deep as to be terrifying -- is as an emotionally draining scene on film as I can think of. Watching *KILLER OF SHEEP* last night for the fourth time, it became clear that Burnett has, just as my other favorite directors (Welles, Cassavetes, Fuller, Tourneur, Dreyer, Bresson) have, an attribute that makes his work stand out: respect -- respect for the characters and respect for the audience.

Mr. Arkadin -- Thank you for the beautiful and incisive summary of one of the finest films I've ever seen. There are must-sees and there are must-sees. This is a MUST-SEE!

MissG wrote Is The Edge of the World that Powell/Pressburger movie about the Scottish island? Very very v-e-r-y close. It is the Powell movie about the Scottish island. It's pre-Pressburger. After watching it, I learned that it is available on DVD (Milestone). It's of epic Greek Tragedy proportions. Hmmm...so was The Informer. Nice programming, TCM.