kingrat
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Posts posted by kingrat
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned Jacob, the French maid in La Cage aux Folles.
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Favorite bad line from 1968 comes from Isadora, when Isadora's Russian lover assures her, "We make love like tigerssss!"
Jason Robards plays Paris Singer, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, in Isadora. I believe it was TV Guide that once noted in its movie listings that Robards played "a Paris singer."
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From here on in, I have much less interest in and passion about both films and performances, though I've probably seen 40 or 50 movies from this year.
Best Actor: Alan Arkin, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Best Actress: Vanessa Redgrave, Isadora
Best Supporting Actor: James Olson, Rachel, Rachel
Best Supporting Actress: Kate Harrington, Rachel, Rachel
Although I think that Joanne Woodward's performance in Rachel, Rachel has held up, TCM did her no favors by showing two or three of her repressed spinster performances back to back during her SUTS day. I'm much more interested now in the performances by Kate Harrington, James Olson, and an actor Bogie named is his list, Terry Kiser. Kate Harrington jumps off the screen with the power and malevolence of her performance. Most of us would be nuttier than Joanne if this were our mother.
In James Olson and Terry Kiser I thought we were seeing two of the stars of the future. James Olson had a very short career as a leading man, perhaps because he lost his hair early. (Many of us can sympathize.) One would have expected an actor as good as Olson to make a bigger career as a character actor. Terry Kiser had played two major soap opera roles, one as what some people now call an "adorkable" character, one (after he had bulked up a little) as a romantic leading man. He had extensive off-Broadway experience in both comedy and drama, with excellent reviews. He's very good as the charismatic preacher in Rachel, Rachel. And he is now best known for . . . playing the corpse in Weekend at Bernie's. Something happened. Drugs, perhaps, given the time frame? Rachel, Rachel hasn't held up quite so well as a whole--the flashback and childhood stuff is a mess, and not very interesting--but some quality actors do quality work in it.
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Eric Rohmer fans will probably enjoy La Collectionneuse, one of his early films. Is Haidee really a collector of men, or is this merely the way she's seen by a young man who's attracted to her?
The Killing Game (Jeu de massacre) can probably be found on VHS, and perhaps on YouTube. Alain Jessua followed up his superb first film, Life Upside Down, with this equally superb film in a different manner. Husband and wife write a comic strip about a superhero. A wealthy Swiss wacko, wonderfully played by Michel Duchaussoy, attempts to act out these exploits in real life. The couple really needs money, so they write him into the comic strip. How is this going to turn out? One of the great strengths of the film is that about three-quarters of the way through, we can imagine a number of different endings, each plausible. Jessua's first two films easily stand with the best of Truffaut, Malle, Rohmer, Chabrol, and I don't know what happened to his career. He made a handful of other films, mostly in the SF or horror genre. In the era of Comic-Con, The Killing Game ought to be revived, and (bite my tongue) I can imagine a good American remake set in the present.
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The Stranger is an excellent adaptation of Camus' novel, with Marcello Mastroianni and Anna Karina starring. For those who are not especially fond of Visconti's longer and slower films, this is a good recommendation. Attractively photographed.
Two for the Road is certainly worth seeing for fans of Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. For a change, Audrey is paired with a male star her own age. The couple meets, marries, has marital problems. Tricky time sequence in a way that seemed more chic then than it does now. Watch the car license plates if you're getting confused. Interesting to see Stanley Donen, who had moved to London, adapting to the post-studio era. Very attractively photographed. Jacqueline Bisset is in the picture, too. Eleanor Bron and William Daniels are amusing in an over the top way. I believe Mary Quant chose Audrey's clothes, some of them off the rack, quite a change from the designer gowns she usually wore on screen. Naturally, she makes everything look like the height of fashion.
Up the Down Staircase may be the film which shows Sandy Dennis at her most pleasant and appealing, despite the annoying mannerisms. She plays an idealistic new teacher who's caught up in the rules and regulations of a New York City high school. Ellen O'Mara plays the student who has a crush on one of her male teachers; this does not end well. Worth a watch.
No movie could hope to give more than a sketch of Joyce's Ulysses, but it's entertaining, with good performances by Milo O'Shea, Barbara Jefford, and T.P. McKenna. Maurice Roeves is the attractive but none too interesting hero Stephen Daedalus. It's not really his fault, because Stephen is a bore in the novel, as autobiographical characters often are.
Elvira Madigan is pretty to look at and you have a Mozart piano concerto to listen to. Not too interesting dramatically, however.
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TOP TEN FILMS OF 1968
1) 2001: A Space Odyssey
2) Once Upon a Time In the West
3) Night of the Living Dead
4) Shame
5) The Lion In Winter
6) Planet of the Apes
7) Where Eagles Dare
8) Bullitt
9) Rosemary's Baby
10) The Party
Runner-ups: Monterey Pop, Hour of the Wolf, Romeo & Juliet, Faces, and Hell In the Pacific.
I would say overall that this is an average year. However, the top three on my list are among my all-time favorites in their respective genres: Sci-Fi, Western, and Horror.
Lawrence, one of my most cherished moments is seeing Shame on the lower half of a double bill with Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell. And this was in Manhattan!
I remember an ad for a drive-in in my hometown featuring a double bill of Blow-Up and an Elvis Presley movie, Double Trouble. Maybe Elvis would have been the perfect blank canvas for Antonioni?
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Skimpole, I would say that Timothy Bottoms is the lead and would probably say Cybill Shepherd is a lead as well (will defer to Bogie on that one). Everyone else is supporting, including Jeff Bridges, Ben Johnson, Ellen Burstyn, and Cloris Leachman.
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I had forgotten that Albert Finney directed Charlie Bubbles as well as starring in it. The script by Shelagh Delaney concerns a young writer who has found early success, including financial success, and doesn't know what to do now, cut off from the working class origins which had fueled the original artistic drive. Delaney had written A Taste of Honey at 19, and Finney had gained international stardom with Tom Jones, so there is plenty of autobiographical energy going on.
The film is something like a northern English take on Antonioni. Some will think it meanders too much, others will adjust to the pace. Likewise, some will think the ending just right but others will detest it, Colin Blakely plays Finney's best friend, and Billie Whitelaw plays the bitter ex-wife who still loves him. Liza Minnelli, in her first film, plays Finney's secretary.
It's too bad Finney never directed another film. Peter Suschitzky is the excellent cinematographer.
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Great variety this month, from established classics to unfamiliar titles. Among the ones I haven't seen and would like to:
The Moon Is Down - I like WWII resistance/collaboration movies, and have included this one more than once on programming challenges.
In the Mood for Love
Hope/Crosby road movies - These Paramount films haven't been shown much on TCM
Carry On Cleo - Perhaps TCM can get more of the Carry On series.
Othello - Directed by Orson Welles
They Were Sisters & They Met in the Dark - These titles would make a great double feature. Actually, I'd like to see the other three 1940s James Mason movies again--Odd Man Out, The Seventh Veil, The Wicked Lady.
Some less familiar titles I'd recommend:
A Life of Her Own - The opening has one of Bronislau Kaper's greatest themes. The movie isn't as good as the music.
Daughters Courageous - Not a remake of or sequel to Four Daughters. It's like a parallel universe where most of the actors from Four Daughters play more or less the same roles. Not shown that often on TCM.
The Tarnished Angels - Great noirish black & white cinematography. Probably the only 1950s film where a guy considers pimping out his wife to get the entry fee for an airplane race. One of Douglas Sirk's best films.
Honeymoon for Three - Who knew that George Brent could play screwball comedy? Ann Sheridan is a delight, as usual.
Fallen Angel - If you see only one of the movies from the Dana Andrews tribute, this is the one. First-rate film noir. A must for Linda Darnell fans, too.
The Wagons Roll at Night - Sylvia Sidney fans will enjoy her performance as a phony fortuneteller in a carnival.
Between Two Worlds - Highly recommended. Passengers on a ship eventually realize that they are on a voyage to the afterlife. Great cast includes John Garfield, Eleanor Parker, Faye Emerson, Paul Henreid, Sidney Greenstreet, Edmund Gwenn, Isobel Elsom, among others. Warner Brothers had a great stock company in those days.
Hotel Berlin - Based on a novel by Vicki Baum, author of Grand Hotel, it's essentially a version of Grand Hotel set in the last days of the Third Reich. Helmut Dantine, Andrea King, Faye Emerson, and Raymond Massey head a strong cast.
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The difference in Broadcast News is that Holly Hunter isn't a country bumpkin. She's a neurotic intellectual like everyone else, only smarter. I do think it's noteworthy that from 1976-1980 we had a president with a thick Southern accent and from 1992-2000 we had another one. Without the example of Jimmy Carter, Holly Hunter might have been asked to tone down her Southern accent.
Richard, I think you make an excellent point that actors like Pacino and DeNiro hang onto their regional accents, whereas Holly Hunter wins an Oscar for a film where she doesn't speak at all. I got extremely grumpy about a recent NYTimes crossword puzzle which had "SILENTL" as an answer for "Something 'chalk' and 'talk' have in common." They do if you happen to have a thick New Yawk accent, but not if you speak something approximating Standard English.
Dan Rather was the first prominent newscaster with a thick Southern accent, and he is a very important figure in the mainstreaming of the Southern accent. I would also note Eileen Fulton, who kept her North Carolina accent in the very Midwestern genre of the 1950s/1960s soap opera.
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Bogie, how cool that you got to hear Conrad Hall talk about In Cold Blood. It's amazing that Robert Blake and Scott Wilson looked so much like the men they played, and it's even more amazing that the lookalike actors both gave stunning, absolutely believable performances.
By far the most visually interesting films directed by Richard Brooks are The Professionals and In Cold Blood. What do these two have in common? Conrad Hall as cinematographer.
The decision by Richard Brooks to film In Cold Blood in black and white turned out to be absolutely right. From here on out, B&W will be almost exclusively the province of some foreign films, independent films, or deliberate attempts at nostalgia (e.g., Woody Allen's Manhattan). In 1965 black & white was just as mainstream as color, and two years later it isn't.
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I believe that Broadcast News is the first film, not set in the South, where someone with a thick Southern accent is the smartest person in the room. Can anyone else think of an earlier example?
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The National Society of Film Critics Awards for 1967 were …
Best ActressBibi Andersson, Persona* (66)
Annie Girardot, Vivre Pour Vivre
Edith Evans, The Whisperers
Bogie, I believe that on an earlier ballot there was a tie between these three actresses, and the critics then went to a 3-2-1 system to decide the winner. This is detailed in the volume of criticism brought out by the circle. They published a selected volume of criticism by their members for the major films of the year, including pro and con views for the more controversial films. Unfortunately, this only lasted two or three years. The quality of criticism was quite high at this time, and it was stimulating to read the reviews of Stanley Kauffmann, John Simon, Pauline Kael, Wilfred Sheed, Hollis Alpert, Richard Schickel, Andrew Sarris, and others, whether or not one happened to agree with them.
For best actor in 1967, the first round had only one vote each for a dozen or so different actors. Steiger then won the 3-2-1 weighted round.
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In a perfect world In the Heat of the Night would have been delayed a year until Gene Hackman could have been cast as the sheriff. Hackman not only sounds Southern, he looks Southern, unlike Steiger. I'm not Rod Steiger's biggest fan in any event, generally preferring him in supporting roles with a strong director to keep him from chewing the scenery. Kazan in On the Waterfront is the perfect example.
It's worth noting that a few critics around this time considered Steiger the best contemporary American film actor. That opinion is not often held today.
1967 is also the year when Sidney Poitier starred in three box office smashes: To Sir With Love, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Both Hollywood and the culture in general were changing so dramatically that here was a huge box office draw whom no one could quite figure out how to use. Both Poitier and Steiger arrived at the zenith of their careers in 1967.
Bonnie and Clyde excited me because it felt so authentically Southern. There's Hackman, of course. There's some authentic Southern dialect: "I aim to send a mess of flowers to their funeral," says the old man at the bank who got to keep his money. (Actually, I have only heard "mess" used to refer to food, as in "We got several messes of beans out of that," but it sounds right.) The film makes great use of the local non-professionals, like that old man. The woman who plays Bonnie's mother looks quite a bit like my grandmother.
Because he is now a drastically underrated director, I'll give a big shout out to Arthur Penn. Penn was neither taken up by most of the auteurists, nor, after Night Moves, could he forge a solid career in the new Hollywood. He did have one more big hit with Little Big Man.
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Thanks for the link to the Forbes article, Jake.
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1967 gives us a much stronger group of lead actresses than the previous year. In fact, four of the five Oscar nominees strike me as worthy of a win. Naturally, the other one won. As I mentioned in another thread, I had always considered Robert Blake as giving the strongest male performance in a lead role this year, which doesn't feel altogether comfortable now. The winners in the supporting categories are among my all-time favorites.
Best Actor for 1967:
Michel Duchaussoy, THE KILLING GAME (JEU DE MASSACRE)****
Robert Blake, IN COLD BLOOD
Scott Wilson, IN COLD BLOOD
Dustin Hoffman, THE GRADUATE
Paul Newman, COOL HAND LUKE
Honorable mention: Stanley Baker, ACCIDENT; Warren Beatty, BONNIE AND CLYDE; Lee Marvin, POINT BLANK; Sidney Poitier, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT; George C. Scott, THE FLIM-FLAM MAN
Best Actress for 1967:
Diane Cilento, HOMBRE****
Anne Bancroft, THE GRADUATE
Edith Evans, THE WHISPERERS
Audrey Hepburn, WAIT UNTIL DARK
Faye Dunaway, BONNIE AND CLYDE
Honorable mention: Audrey Hepburn, TWO FOR THE ROAD; Anne Heywood, THE FOX
Best Supporting Actor for 1967:
Gene Hackman, BONNIE AND CLYDE****
Strother Martin, COOL HAND LUKE
George Kennedy, COOL HAND LUKE
Richard Boone, HOMBRE
Michael J. Pollard, BONNIE AND CLYDE
Honorable mention: Alan Arkin, WAIT UNTIL DARK; Cameron Mitchell, HOMBRE; Peter Finch, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD; Alan Lake, CHARLIE BUBBLES; Michael Sarrazin, THE FLIM-FLAM MAN; Gene Wilder, BONNIE AND CLYDE
Best Supporting Actress for 1967:
Jo Van Fleet, COOL HAND LUKE****
Billie Whitelaw, CHARLIE BUBBLES
Estelle Parsons, BONNIE AND CLYDE
Mildred Natwick, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
Katharine Ross, THE GRADUATE
Honorable mention: Avis Bunnage, THE WHISPERERS; Evans Evans, BONNIE AND CLYDE; Genevieve Page, BELLE DE JOUR; Barbara Rush, HOMBRE
Hollywood's idea of a Southerner: Rod Steiger, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
Kingrat's idea of a Southerner: Gene Hackman, BONNIE AND CLYDE; Scott Wilson, IN COLD BLOOD
Most Enduring Line of the Year: Strother Martin in COOL HAND LUKE, "What we got here is a failure to communicate."
Favorite Line of the Year: Alan Lake (as a hitchhiking serviceman) to novelist Albert Finney in CHARLIE BUBBLES, "Are you working now, Charlie, or are you just doing the writing?"
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I did not know that Anthony Call was the son of Abner Biberman. Call was a soap star on several shows, mainly Guiding Light. Edge of Night, and One Life to Live. Much better looking than his dad.
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I'm a big fan of The Fisher King, too. One of the best films of the 1990s.
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The Deadly Affair is based on one of John Le Carre's earliest novels, Call for the Dead, pre-dating the creation of George Smiley. You can see some of the material that he will use more skilfully later on. James Mason and Simone Signoret make The Deadly Affair worth checking out, even if this isn't one of my favorite Sidney Lumet films. I believe that Harriet Andersson's lines have been dubbed by another actress.
Like Bogie, I find A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum a lot of fun. Zero Mostel has his best screen role, with Jack Gilford admirable as Hysterium the eunuch, Michael Hordern an utter delight as an old man with a shrewish wife, and Michael Crawford most agreeable as a dopey but very nice young hero. Leon Greene has a great bit as Miles Gloriosus, the braggart soldier.
Some favorite lines from Forum:
(About Miles Gloriosus): "He raped Thrace thrice?"
Slave holding up a bottle of wine: "Was 1 a good year?"
Stephen Sondheim's songs are another big plus. All the chauvinist pig ogling and leering at sexy young maidens may not appeal to some viewers. Richard Lester's jump cut directing style seems dated, but the old-fashioned comic acting saves the day.
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Gambit is an enjoyable caper film, with an interesting twist about 45 minutes in. Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine have good chemistry.
The Glass Bottom Boat, in addition to attractive stars Doris Day and Rod Taylor, has the kind of gay subtext humor that seems dated today (i.e., each of two men thinks he is getting in bed with Doris but it's actually the other guy). I find it worth watching for the cinematography, with lots of pastel oranges, blues, etc. You don't see much of this kind of cinematography today, but it's right for this film.
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TOP TEN FILMS OF 1967:
The Killing Game (Jeu de Massacre)
Bonnie and Clyde
The Graduate
Cool Hand Luke
Hombre
The Stranger
In Cold Blood
Point Blank
Wait Until Dark
The Whisperers
Alternates: Belle de Jour, Le Samourai, Two for the Road, The Dirty Dozen
There is no year about which I feel more confusion than this one. Some I saw upon release, others shortly thereafter (Hombre), and some many years later (The Killing Game, Point Blank, Le Samourai, The Dirty Dozen, Two for the Road). I've left the ones on the list which inspired my youthful enthusiasm. I'm not altogether sure what to think of some of them now, although I definitely like Warren Beatty's performance in B&C less.
That doesn't even include the question of what to think of Robert Blake, whose performance I thought quite brilliant.
The theme for the year appears to be killing: Bonnie and Clyde, In Cold Blood, Point Blank, The Dirty Dozen, Le Samourai, The Stranger, and to a slightly lesser extent Wait Until Dark, Hombre, Cool Hand Luke, and even The Killing Game.
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Seconds is especially noteworthy for the sensational directing of John Frankenheimer and the equally sensational cinematography of James Wong Howe. The editing style and camera angles are the sort of thing movies and television today try to achieve, but usually fail miserably in the attempt. The very opening of the film is absolutely thrilling, especially if you ever get to see it on the big screen.
This thread, however, concentrates on performances, and Seconds has strong performances throughout. John Randolph is perfect as the middle-aged man who is sick of his comfortable life and wants a change. When Seconds was shown in 1966, some audience members laughed when John Randolph was turned into Rock Hudson. This actually works perfectly, because many of us have said at one point or another, "What I wouldn't give to be [some favorite movie star]?"
This is probably Rock Hudson's very best performance. A man leading one life but craving another kind of life? A man pretending to be something he wasn't? Hudson knew all about that. He has no problem bringing deep personal emotion to the role.
Out of the strong supporting cast, I'll mention three. Will Geer has perhaps his best screen role as the seemingly wise old man, the seemingly kindly psychiatrist or whatever he is. Notice how cleverly Frankenheimer directs their scenes to increase our sense of unease. The scene is edited to suggest that Hudson and Geer are facing each other, then the camera shows us that they are seated on the same couch. It's very disorienting.
Perhaps the most emotionally moving scene is the one when Rock Hudson revisits his wife, Frances Reid, who of course doesn't recognize him with his new face.
One of my TV favorites, Richard Anderson, is perfectly cast as the surgeon. When he spoke at the TCM Festival, he said that Cary Grant once told him that you know you've arrived when you have the last line of a film. Richard Anderson has the last line of the film.
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Did any mainstream (i.e., non-pornographic) film imply oral sex before Charlie Bubbles (1967)?
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Lawrence, I think you have the best ones, and if you get the chance to see Charlie Bubbles, which was fairly popular when released but has dropped into obscurity, I think you'll like Billie Whitelaw, who plays Albert Finney's bitter ex-wife.
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Lead or Supporting Role?
in Your Favorites
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I agree with you. Bogie's list makes sense, too, though as always there are a couple of close calls.