sineast
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Posts posted by sineast
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Even though it's outside the scope of the movie, I find it hard not to think that many of
the upstanding folks fighting against political corruption were most likely segregationists
too. Hard to watch a movie about Alabama in the 1950s and not think of that.
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Tried a number of times to post Ringo doing Act Naturally with the Beatles, but it's
never worked. So here is the Nose performing A Little Help From My Friends many
years later.
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Yeah, sweet in what way? Like sugar is sweet? Is that what you think? Too saccharine?
Think I'll rot somebody's teeth? C'mon, you wanna mess with sweetness. No. I really
wanna know. You said it was sweet. You want sweet? I'll give you %^&*@#$% sweet.
Yeah, it's definitely getting too late. This afternoon is almost another day.
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> {quote:title=HollywoodGolightly wrote:}{quote}
> Yes, and it's a one of the great things about this movie, that something as mundane as a supermarket aisle becomes a place where the conspirators meet to discuss their plans for murder. I think Billy Wilder must have gotten a kick out of that!
I know I did. It's a delightful little scene. Okay, baby everything's set for next Tuesday.
Oh Walter, I can hardly wait. Me too, baby. Say where are the frozen peas in this place?
Straight down that line Walter. Sure baby, straight down the line. (And how about the
name Nino Zachetti? Got to love that one).
Goodfellas was a great flick. And the one guy did start to knock off everybody toward the
end. One thing I am absolutely sure about, it was good to see Joe Pesci get his. Sweet.
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Criminals may lack a sense of traditional morality, but they may have their own
code of conduct, as you mentioned before. I would think that right near the top
would be "Don't be a rat." This makes me think of +M+, where the criminals band
together to try to catch the child killer. They do it partly out of self-interest so the
cops won't be all over the place, and at least partly because they are disgusted
at the crime. Later, if I recall correctly, the Peter Lorre character asks them how
they, a group of criminals, can pass judgment on him. It's a good question. However
horrible his crimes, some of theirs are probably just as bad.
Another sideline to Double Indemnity is that it too doesn't take place in the usual
grimy dingy environment that we sometimes think of as typical noir. It's mostly a
middle-class environment that is the backdrop to the characters. The only shadowy
place I can think of is Walter's underground garage, and even that doesn't look too bad.
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Fooling around on the web, I came across a most interesting book The Quote Verifier
by Ralph Keyes. It deals with all manner of quotes, and it demonstrates that many of
the quotes we think we know just aren't so. Here are a few pertaining to classic films.
No doubt many fans already know about these, but just in case...
James Cagney impersonators always go with "You dirty rat." Before he received the
AFI's Life time Achievement Award in 1975, Cagney had somebody go through all
his movies to see if he had actually said the line. He hadn't.
Gary Grant is stuck with "Judy, Judy, Judy." Nope, never said it. Cary speculated that
someone introduced Garland at a party as Judy, Judy, Judy, and for some reason, it
was attributed to him.
Charles Boyer never said "Come with me to the Casbah." Not in Algiers or any other
movie. Not being a big Boyer fan, I'm rather indifferent.
Oh gosh, there is some doubt that Dorothy Parker ever criticized Katherine Hepburn with
the famous line that Kate ran "the gamut of emotions from A to B." Is nothing sacred?
Last, but certainly not least, the great W.C. Fields doesn't have the phrase "On the whole,
I'd rather be in Philadelphia." written on his tomb. Just his name and dates appear there.
But in 1925, a Vanity Fair piece on the imagined epitaphs of celebrities has a somewhat
similar phrase for Field's. As with so many quotes, over the years the phrase changed a
bit and somehow migrated to where it never actually appeared.
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I guess we could chastise the criminals for having a self-interested morality that
permits them to do what they want, but maybe we ourselves have something
similar as to self-interest, though in a minor key. And I doubt the criminals do
much thinking about relative morality. They just get the job done. Gotta run and
do some relatively moral things.
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The Bodysnatchers were a part of the 2 Tone ska revival in England during the late
1970s and early 1980s. They weren't together very long and never recorded an album,
but did put out some good singles, including Let's Do Rock Steady.
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I don't put much stock in fate, except as a plot device, as in 'straight down the line.'
Chance or coincidence is another matter. Old Walt went out to the Dietrichson's on
a routine matter, so it was by chance that he ran into Mrs. D. On another day he
might have run into Lola, and then you might have a whole different film. Walter
never seemed entirely innocent at the start, he keeps up well with the initial sly
banter with Phyllis, and as a salesman he probably knows how to work the angles.
And she has to work on him a while for him to go along. But he does make the choice
and has to, according to the Code, pay the price. It is in the nature of movie characters
to be presented with out of the ordinary situations for dramatic purposes. In noir,
it's often a matter of life and death. In real life, it rarely is. Thus the entertainment
factor comes to the fore.
There are near moral absolutes, but not many complete ones. In certain situations,
killing, stealing, lying have their place. Gravity is not a good example, since it is a
natural physical law and, as far as I ever knew, has nothing to do with morality. Both
Hitler and Mother Teresa were affected by it. Morality is, for the most part, relative.
It varies from place to place, and from time to time. What is considered moral in one
part of the globe might be considered immoral in another. What was deemed moral a
hundred years ago might be seen as immoral today. Very often what we consider
moral or immoral is simply what we like or dislike.
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The critics said it would never happen. You just can't tamper with such a beloved
screen classic. There could never be a sequel, but the critics were misinformed.
Coming in 2011 *Casablanca II: Return to Rick's*.
Download it . You did it for her, you can do it for me. Download it again, Def Sam.
Of all the meth labs in the world, she has to walk into mine.
I don't got to show you no stinkin' letter of transit.
Fake Versace trench coats for sale? I'm shocked, shocked.
In this world, the troubles of two people don't amount to a hill of moche lattes.
Louis Lu, this could be the start of a beautiful gay friendship.
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In the bath tub or out, he did seem to be a bit of a snob. Gotta run.
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Trigger finger on the mouse.
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That's the charm of the cinema. Hanging out with real bad guys is very dangerous.
Not all noirs are portraits of the old witticism about life as a sewer seen through a
glass-bottom boat. Laura is noirish, though maybe it's more of a murder mystery.
It takes place in an upscale world where there aren't many shabby places or charac-
ters, where the poorest guy is probably the cop, played by Dana Andrews. Waldo
gets quite a charge by reminding Andrews of his low status and, from Lydecker's
pov, his lack of intelligence. So you don't always have to live in a dingy hotel or
apartment to live the noir life, though that can't hurt.
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C'mon Mack, just tell 'em when you got here, I was already gone. All I need is a
break. Give me a good half-hour start and they'll never find me. And you'll never see
me in Lompoc County again.
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King Crimson was an English prog rock band, a contemporary of Yes and Genesis,
though they never became as popular. Their debut album is one of the best albums
of the genre. The first video is the audio recording of a live performance of the song
Epitaph by the original group in 1969, with some Dali paintings as visual aids.
The second is a regular live video of the same song featuring two members of the
original group and a new lead singer. Both are good renditions of a fine song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN2oaBPhvOM&feature=related fmt=18
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The idea that individuals have varying degrees of "good" and "bad" qualities which go to
make up the ambiguous nature of their character is as old as the hills. The not so old
I contain multitudes riff. Most of the antagonists in noir don't seem to be completely
evil. Tommy Udo is pretty mean but he displays a certain snarling sense of humor
occasionally. One of the most sadistic that I can think of was a supporting player,
Neville Brand as Chester in D.O.A. He really gets off on sticking his gun in Edmond
O'Brien's tender stomach. Again and again.
Like other genres, noirs are, to some extent, a series of repeated gestures and looks that the audience comes to expect, though most are individual enough in their vision to keep things
interesting as they go through the paces. Not very realistic unless you're a small gauge
private eye or criminal. They are, for the most part, more fantastic than realistic in their
situations and characters. Many seem to be a form of visual slumming, where the
comfortable audience gets a peek at the "dark side" of life, at least as imagined
by Hollywood. Now you can sit in your cozy chair, have a drink, and sit back and
watch some sucker scratch around in a series of big city dives. Of course this in no way compromises their entertainment value. It likely adds to it. I do take away one moral lesson from these films: Never leave a loaded gun around the premises. You're apt to be shot in the back.
By the most unlikeliest of people.
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I applaud the little nipper for showing, at the tender age of 13, such an interest in
classic films, though I must disagree with the lad that today's movies are junk.
As to perversion, well that really is in the eye of the beholder. One person's perversion
is another's joie de vivre. I used to love certain actors when I was around that age,
Bogie and Robert "It Sure Beats Working" Mitchum at the forefront. But gradually,
over the years, my infatuation with certain screen stars has faded. I still enjoy their
films, but love has been replaced by admiration.
If the TCM honchos really want to mess with our heads, they would change the posting
format every day. One day in ascending order, the next in descending, etc. As Bruno
Anthony put it in Strangers on a Train, crisscross. What confusion. Been very lucky
with Firefox since the change. Maybe one of these days I'll go back to IE 8 and see if
that works. It would be the ultimate test.
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Why Madam, if the performance is not to your approbation, surely you should endeavor
to walk out of the theater on your hind legs.
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Radiohead expecting No Surprises.
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I have no objection to focusing in on Miss Torso, but if we have to watch Lars Thorwald
all the time, count me out.
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All the world's a stage, even this small part of it. Just bring the camera back for a wider
perspective, and you do have a fairly interesting human drama. Maybe not a barn burner,
but something of real note. What's the old saw about academic politics? The more trivial
the issue, the more vehement the positions taken. It's only an internet forum, Ingrid.
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AMC may not be much of a choice for classic film fans anymore, though it was once.
Bob Dorian was a telegenic, charming presence, at least equal to TCM host Robert
Osborne. But AMC does have a fantastic original production, Mad Men that makes a
weekly trip to the channel worthwhile.
Minor story lines this week: Little Sally seems to be going through some type of
pre-adolescent crisis, all connected with the recent birth of a new sibling, and the
death of Grandpa Gene, from whom Sally once lifted a five or ten-spot. Mildly
interesting, but it's not about the kids. Trouble is brewing for busty Joan and her
new doctor hubby. It seems the latter is not much of a sawbones, and this might
present career problems. Joan might be forced to settle for a Caddy every two years
instead of every one. It's just one damn thing after another.
But the main story was the arrival of the A team from the English parent company to
see how things are going across the pond. Of course the uncaring limeys would have
to show up just before the Fourth of July holiday. Bloody tourists. The Englishman who
was the head of the former Sterling and Cooper in NY is informed he's headed to Bombay,
which he isn't happy to hear, but accepts with the usual stiff upper lip aplomb. The
English wunderkind from Oxbridge does his thing and a party breaks out. Everyone is
having just a swell time, until one of the secretaries, riding a tractor from new client
John Deere, loses control and runs over the wunderkind's foot. Ouch, bloody hell. No
one has the presence of mind to call out "Fie fi fo fum..." Nobody saw that coming.
We learn in the aftermath that Oxy will lose a foot, will probably see his career in the
ad game disappear, the other Englishman will be staying in NYC after all, and things
will remain in the status quo until next episode. Oh yes, Don is called by Conrad "Call
me Connie" Hilton for some advice, and perhaps much more. Time will tell. Bet that's
the last time the limeys try to interrupt the Fourth of July.
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Just as in a similar thread a few weeks ago, the law of unintended consequences has come
into play, and made this, whatever the original intent, quite an entertaining thread. Probably
learn a little more about human psychology in action than one could from a viewing of the
headshrinkers putting forth their theories in Spellbound. It's the wavy lines, man.
Some sort of comparison between trolling (however one defines it) on an internet
forum and the Nazis? Surely, you jest.
Don't let the man get you down.
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Sisterhood is powerful. I read a group biography of the Brontes many years ago. It concentrated
on the three sisters, but also gave a good account of Patrick and Branwell Bronte. One of
the themes of the biography was that, over the years, a romanticized view of the Brontes
had gradually accumulated that made their lives seem a lot more melodramatic and "gothic"
than they actually were. Even though they lived in a relatively remote corner of England,
they kept in touch with the cultural and political currents of the day, and led a fairly normal
life for that time and place. I haven't seen Devotion lately, so I don't know how closely it
kept to the actual lives of the Brontes. Maybe it was no more egregious in its ahistoricism
than the usual Hollywoood product. Though it is mostly irrelevant to its entertainment value,
it's an interesting sidelight to see how the real Brontes compare to the ones portrayed in
the movie.
Leslie Halliwell didn't think the pros in S. Cali did very well with the material. Being an
Englishman, he might have been prejudiced: "An enjoyably bad example of a big-budget
Hollywood production which tampers with things it cannot understand, in this case life
in a Yorkshire parsonage in Victorian times." Ouch.
TCM, O Brother you got to be kidding !
in General Discussions
Posted
Not to be too nitpicky, but TCM is showing all of the Rathbone/Bruce films except for
one, The Woman in Green, which is one of the four films that are in the public domain.
Whatever. I thought the Christmas date was just a nice coincidence, but it isn't. A
new Holmes film, starring Robert Downey, is scheduled for release on Christmas Day
2009. Ah, those tricky tie-in programmers.