AndyM108
-
Posts
4,255 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
18
Posts posted by AndyM108
-
-
I didn't find Klute 's cinematography particularly objectionable, and the soundtrack was nowhere near as muffled as 90% of the post-1970 gangster movies I've grown to love.
But this was the first time I'd seen it since it was in first run, and it was a minor disappointment. Fonda's acting wasn't remotely on the level of what she displayed in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Sutherland's character is just too pure and perfect and frankly more than a bit unbelievable, and the plot's denouement was obvious from about the second time the camera gave a closeup focus on Cable's face. But then The Big Boss is always going to be the ultimate villain in any Jane Fonda movie. Big surprise.
When I first saw Klute back in 1971, I thought it was a fine dramatic portrait of the vulnerability of the street trade. Now it just seems like a period piece that's neither fish nor fowl. It tries to make a social statement but appeal to the mass audience via a run of the mill detective story. But the plot line is tired, and the message part was conveyed much better by Miriam Hopkins in The Story of Temple Drake, even with that movie's eyerolling final scene.
-
For the most part, movies I liked the first time usually get better, while movies I didn't like the first time only get worse. I guess that's because if I like it the first time I'll be looking on second viewing for nuances and things I missed, but if I didn't like it the first time the irritating parts only get more irritating.
There are a few exceptions: For some forgotten reason I didn't like Trouble in Paradise the first time, but now it's one of my favorites. (What could I have been thinking?) Truffaut's Stolen Kisses and Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor also made me glad I gave them a second chance.
OTOH I thought I was going to go for The African Queen after hating it 20 years ago, since I love both Bogie and Kate. But the second time around it seemed even more contrived and sappy than ever, and you couldn't pay me enough money to try it a third time.
And there are a few movies that after about the 10th showing I just can't watch any more. Casablanca and several other Bogarts, for example. It's not that they're any worse, it's just I'd rather watch something else instead. I doubt if there are more than a few dozen movies I could take more than once a year at the very most.
-
A film that I've never seen and very much want to see on TCM is the 1949 The Lady Gambles - Barbara Stanwyck film, she's a compulsive gambler.
Can't find this one on youtube either. Where is it? I hope TCM can get the film and air it.
I have The Lady Gambles on a DVD as part of a Barbara Stanwyck collection issued by Universal. It's a boxed set that also has Internes Can't Take Money (1937 / the best version of Dr. Kildare I've ever seen), The Great Man's Lady (1942), The Bride Wore Boots (1946), All I Desire (1953), and There's Always Tomorrow (1956), which has shown on TCM several times in 2013. The set runs $23.99 on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Barbara-Stanwyck-Collection-Internes-Tomorrow/dp/B0037RBVLU
-
I wish she had used specific examples from Silkwood and from Klute. The mention of Lucille Ball after Out of the Past was strange; I was thrown by that, too.
I almost wonder if this wasn't a case where a sleepy technician fed the wrong segment into the wrong time slot. It's hard to imagine that Landis could have been so utterly out of it that she'd fail even to mention the title of the movie that had just been shown.
-
It's for the TCM Programming Challenge. Members can vote on the schedules submitted for the challenge. The schedule with the most votes wins and the person who created the schedule hosts the next challenge.
Okay, got it, and thanks for the info.
-
What is the "voting thread" all about? Never heard of it.
-
*WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1928)*
This is the one MGM Lon Chaney silent still in existence that TCM has not shown. Chaney plays a hard boiled NYC police detective, and from the reviews I've read of people who have had looks at this rare gem, he gives a strong performance in a contemporary (1928, of course) setting. The film also boasts, they say, strong NYC on-location photography.
TCM would be providing silent film buffs with a great opportunity by having a premiere of this extremely rare Chaney production.
While The City Sleeps would indeed be a great choice, but as it's apparently not even available on a bootleg DVD, let alone an authorized one, I have to wonder how TCM could obtain the rights to show it.
-
While I can understand the reasoning for the mini-memorials, I certainly hope that TCM can re-schedule Mouchette. For a suitable time slot, I might suggest zapping the inevitable next screening of Lawrence of Arabia, which would leave space for another movie as well.
-
Mine also came fully intact. If you contact the Now Playing magazine at 1-888-982-6746, you should be able to get a quick replacement.
-
Thanks for the followup reply here, Andy. I like many of your likes here also.
I noticed you made mention of the following here:
*movies centering on gambling of any type...movies with charming cads*
And so, I'm going to guess you liked Mamet's 1987 film, "House of Games", which of course featured both these things. And other than what I've always thought was a rather oddly wooden performance by Lindsay Crouse in this film, I liked a lot.
Since my knowledge of Hollywood movies consists about 90% of what I've seen on TCM, I've never heard of it, but it's now at the top of my Netflix queue. They claim I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars, so it sounds like you're giving me a good steer.
Best gambling movie I've ever seen by far is Jeanne Moreau's 1964 Bay of Angels, which is about a compulsive casino gambler on the French Riviera who sucks a young man into her downward spiral of addiction. Unfortunately, I don't think TCM's ever shown it.
For American movies on the subject, The Cincinnati Kid is my #1. McQueen, Robinson and Blondell are an unbeatable trio.
-
*Other than those few exceptions, I'm easy.
*LOL
So, that leaves Noir, RIGHT???
(...just wanted to make sure I didn't perchance overlook this one on that "short" list of yours here Andy, THAT'S all!)
To quote one of my gurus.....
"My analyst told me" that I should listen to Johnny Mercer instead of those nattering nabobs of negativism....
SO....in the spirit of act-sent-chu-atin the positive, I get all warm and googly watching....
gangster movies and noirs (but you knew that)
social dramas set in the time that the movie was made, preferably with a strong moral POV but not one that bops you upside the head with it
movies that depict characters with real hearts and honest sentiments, even if the hearts are sometimes a bit larcenous
movies with fast talking dames and slick talking men
pre-codes that spit in Joe Breen's eye and don't pull punches
movies whose humor resides primarily in throwaway lines, either intentionally or unintentionally funny
slice of life movies along the lines of those of Eric Rohmer, with charmingly neurotic and strangely appealing women
movies where the actors say " sk *wuhh* - rull " for "squirrel"
movies centering on gambling of any type
caper movies that don't fall apart right from the start, and give you hope that the thieves will be able to retire to that little horse farm in Kentucky
movies with charming cads
nearly any urban drama from the 20's through the 50's that doesn't involve upper class fops
movies with intergenerational conflict that don't devolve into easy stereotypes
any corporate drama from about 1945 to 1965
movies with African American themes that depict everyday life and reality, and not the sentimentalized and/or sensationalistic Hollywood version of it. *YAY* A Raisin in the Sun and Anna Lacosta, *BOO* Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
courtroom dramas
most any movie filmed in postwar Europe or Japan
and 95% of all movies with Stanwyck, Harlow, Loy, Lupino, Loretta, Crawford, Judy Davis (and Bette's non-costumers), Roz, Mitchum, Ryan, Gabin, Mifune, Moreau, Widmark, Glenn Ford, William or Dick Powell, Hayden, Calhern, Dix, Laurel & Hardy, Fernandel, Gable, Jack Carson, Pacino, DeNiro, Keitel, Cagney, *GLENDA,* Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Ginger without Fred, Warren William, Sanders, Stewart Granger, Conte, and probably half a hundred more.
Like I said, I'm easy....
-
While Chico's film persona is that of the not so bright foil to Groucho, Chico?s characters are not dummies. In fact often his character is the smartest one in the movie. His jokes cover the spectrum from silly to sophisticated. To me Chico is the glue that makes the team work.
Glad to see that at least one person doesn't think my ChicoLove is misplaced. Thanks for showing your intelligence by agreeing with me.
-
Thanks for mentioning those titles on the 9th, Andy. FIREBIRD is one of those rare programmers that casts Verree Teasdale (better known as Mrs. Adolphe Menjou) in the lead role.
This really is a great month on TCM.
I agree, and the only reason I didn't list even more of my favorites was because for space considerations I wanted to restrict the list to movies that rarely show up on TCM. There really is going to be something for everyone this time.
Once again I'd like to note that The Younger Generation is really 84 minutes rather than its listed 75. I discovered this the hard way when I only allowed about 80 minutes the first and (up to now) only time I recorded it. The movie is a somewhat generic Lower East Side sobber, but the sentiments are honest, the intergenerational conflicts depicted were all too real in many cases, and from an historic POV it's notable for being Capra's first sound film - - - - although because of severe budgetary restrictions the sound parts are interspersed randomly among the silent parts in about 8 to 10 places, giving the film a unique mix of the old and the new in more ways than one.
-
Which, I suppose, brings up an interesting question about the kind of comics we love. Do most people have varied tastes in the type of humour they enjoy, or do they tend to stick to "cerebral" comics with pungent comentary as opposed to those that are less sophisticated.
I love Harold Lloyd, *Harlow,* *Powell/Loy,* Donald Duck, the Little Rascals, Hepburn/Grant (but not Hepburn/Tracy), *Fernandel,* Belushi, Laurel & Hardy, Fields, Cheech and Chong, Danny DeVito, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Moms Mabley, Eddie Murphy, Chico Marx, Larry David, The Simpsons sans celebrity guests, unintentional self-parodies like Reefer Madness My Dinner With Andre and Massacre Mafia Style, and the occasional comic ventures of Stanwyck and Roz Russell. Is that too sophisticated or not sophisticated enough? Probably it's mostly schizo in the misused sense of the word.
OTOH I run away screaming from Hope, Skelton, Jacques Tati, and nearly all comedy that's dependent on jokes or slapstick with little or no strong sense of characters.
And some comics like Mel Brooks blow so hot and cold I can't figure out whether I love em or I hate em.
-
If one loves Harpo over Groucho that doesn't mean they are less intelligent, but the type of humor Harpo offers is less sophisticated than that of Groucho. One has to have a certain level of education to understand many of Groucho wisecracks. Most physical humor doesn't have the same requirement.
I think I must test *WAAAYY* down on the good old Stanford-Binet, because unless he's playing the piano, I've always found Chico to be by far the funniest of the Marx Brothers. The other two are funny in spurts, but after a while they just get annoying in their persistence.
Of course it's true that you need at least two of them together to make the humor come off. Without Groucho as the perfect foil, even Chico's classic "Getcher Tutsi-Fruitsi ice cream" skit in A Day at the Races would've fallen flat.
-
...for clearing out all that Lady Ga-Ga nonsense!
HUZZAH!
HUZZAH!
HUZZAH!
Sepiatone
Agreed, though it was kind of fun while it lasted, and as long as it only lasted as long as it did.
And since it only lasted for a few hours, it wasn't nearly as annoying as those endless threads complaining about "non-classic" movies. *Those* threads are in sore need of a roving helicopter equipped with a giant electromagnet to pick them up and drop them in the Atlanta city dumpster as soon as they appear.
-
In addition to many terrific pre-code and noir Crawfords, there are these seldom-screened rarities which make January the best month in a long time, a welcome relief between the Month of Musicals and 31 Days of Repeats:
P.S. Note that all but 6 of them are before 1960, with the great majority being from 1929 through the 1940's.
*2 Thursday*
2:00 PM Washington Masquerade (1932) A widowed U.S. Senator finds himself embroiled in scandal when he remarries. Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Karen Morley, Diane Sinclair. Dir: Charles Brabin. BW-88 min.
*4 Saturday*
2:00 AM Shoot First, Die Later (1974) The mafia tries to strong arm a crooked cop into stealing a police report. Cast: Luc Merendo, Richard Conte, Delia Baccardo. Dir: Fernando Di Lio. C-94 min.
*8 Wednesday*
8:00 PM Gunman in the Streets (1950) An American army deserter turns street criminal after escaping from police custody. Cast: Dane Clark, Simone Signoret, Fernand Gravet. Dir: Frank Tuttle. BW-88 min.
9:45 PM Embraceable You (1948) When he accidentally injures a young girl, a gangster risks his freedom to nurse her. Cast: Dane Clark, Geraldine Brooks, S. Z. Sakall. Dir: Frank Jacoves. BW-88 min.
2:45 AM Whiplash (1948) An artist becomes a boxer but finds that it may not have been the best career choice. Cast: Dane Clark, Alexis Smith, Zachary Scott. Dir: Lewis Seiler. BW-90 min.
*9 Thursday*
9:00 AM Millie (1931) A prostitute turns to murder to protect her teenage daughter?s honor. Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Lilyan Tashman, Robert Ames. Dir: John Francis Dillon. BW-85 min.
10:30 AM Firebird, The (1934) A young girl's secret romance is exposed when her lover is murdered. Cast: Verree Teasdale, Ricardo Cortez, Lionel Atwill. Dir: William Dieterle. BW-74 min.
11:45 AM That Certain Woman (1937) A gangster's widow fights for love despite society's disapproval. Cast: Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Ian Hunter. Dir: Edmund Goulding. BW-94 min.
*11 Saturday*
4:15 AM Child Bride (1938) A schoolteacher in a rural community campaigns to stop the practice of older men marrying young, underage girls. Cast: Shirley Mills, Bob Bollinger, Warner Richmond. Dir: Harry J. Revier BW-63 min.
*13 Monday*
6:00 AM Street of Women (1932) A property developer is torn between his wife and his mistress. Cast: Kay Francis, Roland Young, Alan Dinehart. Dir: Archie Mayo. BW-59 min.
8:30 AM Stolen Holiday (1937) A Paris fashion model marries a fortune hunter to protect him from the law. Cast: Kay Francis, Claude Rains, Ian Hunter. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-80 min.
5:15 PM Allotment Wives (1945) Unscrupulous women marry servicemen for their pay. Cast: Kay Francis, Paul Kelly, Otto Kruger. Dir: William Nigh. BW-78 min.
6:45 PM Divorce (1945) A frequently divorced woman sets her sights on a happily married man. Cast: Kay Francis, Bruce Cabot, Helen Mack. Dir: William Nigh. BW-70 min.
*15 Wednesday*
4:15 AM State's Attorney (1932) A district attorney's arrogance almost costs him his career. Cast: John Barrymore, Helen Twelvetrees, Jill Esmond. Dir: George Archainbaud. BW-79 min.
*18 Saturday*
8:15 AM Twelve Chairs, The (1970) A fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs. Cast: Ron Moody, Frank Langella, Dom DeLuise. Dir: Mel Brooks. C-93 min.
10:15 AM Carson on TCM: Mel Brooks (2/75) (2013) TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Mel Brooks from 2/13/75. C-10 min.
11:30 PM Die! Die! My Darling! (1965) A religious fanatic imprisons her late son's sinful fiancee. Cast: Tallulah Bankhead, Stefanie Powers, Peter Vaughan. Dir: Silvio Narizzano. BW-96 min.
*21 Tuesday*
7:00 AM Special Investigator (1936) A crooked criminal lawyer discovers his brother has been killed by one of the gangsters he kept out of prison. Cast: Richard Dix, Margaret Callahan, Erik Rhodes. Dir: Louis King. BW-61 min.
8:15 AM Absolute Quiet (1936) Murder follows when a plane filled with shady characters is forced to land on a tycoon's ranch. Cast : Lionel Atwill, Irene Hervey, Raymond Walburn. Dir: George P. Seitz. BW-70 min.
*23 Thursday*
7:45 AM Younger Generation, The (1929) A rising businessman tries to make his immigrant parents assimilate. Cast: Jean Hersholt, Lina Basquette, Ricardo Cortez. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-75 min. *FRANK CAPRA'S FIRST SOUND MOVIE. IGNORE THE LISTED RUNNING TIME, AS IT'S ACTUALLY 84 MINUTES.*
12:15 PM Soldier's Plaything, A (1931) A group of U.S. soldiers run riot through France after the end of World War I. Cast: Lotti Loder, Harry Langdon, Ben Lyon. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-57 min.
1:15 PM Are You Listening? (1932) A radio announcer accidentally kills his wife, then leads an on-air hunt for her killer. Cast: William Haines, Madge Evans, Antia Page. Dir: Harry Beaumont. BW-73 min.
3:45 PM Unashamed (1932) A society girl's brother goes on trial for killing her lover. Cast: Helen Twelvetrees, Robert Young, Lewis Stone. Dir: Harry Beaumont. BW-76 min.
6:45 PM Tough Guy (1936) To save his beloved dog, a boy runs away from home, only to get mixed up with gangsters. Cast: Jackie Cooper, Joseph Calleia, Rin Tin Tin. Dir: Chester M. Franklin. BW-76 min.
*27 Monday*
7:30 AM Juke Girl (1942) A migrant laborer becomes a champion of farm workers' rights. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Ronald Reagan, Richard Whorf. Dir: Curtis Bernhardt. BW-90 min.
*28 Tuesday*
8:00 PM Gambit (1966) A man dreams of the perfect robbery but can't seem to pull it off. Cast: Michael Caine, Shirley MacLaine, Herbert Lom. Dir: Ronald Neame. C-108 min.
10:00 PM Get Carter (1971) A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother's death. Cast: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland. Dir: Mike Hodges. C-112 min.
*29 Wednesday*
4:15 AM I Compagni (1964) (AKA The Organizer) At the turn of the century exploited textile factory workers fight for better working conditions. Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot. Dir: Mario Monicelli. BW-130 min.
*30 Thursday*
6:30 AM Le Notti Bianche (1957) An office worker falls for a woman who's pining for the man who deserted her. Cast: Maria Schell, Marcello Mastroianni, Jean Marais. BW-102 min. Dir: Luchino Visconti.
4:15 PM I Love a Mystery (1945) A detective tries to protect a man who has predicted his murder will take place in three days. Cast: Jim Bannon, Nina Foch, George Macready. Dir: Henry Levin. BW-69 min.
5:30 PM Devil's Mask, The (1946) A detective tries to identify a shrunken head found in a crashed cargo plane. Cast : Anita Louise, Jim Bannon, Michael Duane. Dir: Henry Levin. BW-66 min.
6:45 PM Unknown, The (1946) A woman with amnesia hires two detectives to keep her alive long enough to claim her inheritance. Cast: Karen Morley, Jim Bannon, Jeff Donnell. Dir: Henry Levin. BW-71 min.
-
Yeah, Andy?! Then what's all this I hear about YOU lately and your upcoming co-hosting duties with Bob introducing all those Errol Flynn Swashbuckler flicks, HUH?!
You must have me mixed up with my cousin, Andym180 the pirate. *I'm* introducing the ceremonial burning of every Bing Crosby movie, followed by a screening of the last five seconds of every vintage Warner Brothers cartoon.
-
I can take most any type of movie, with a few exceptions:
Movies with priests as avuncular figures. Movies with singing priests or nuns. Movies with priests who continually nag honest gangsters.
(Movies with priests as resistance fighters are okay, however. And DeNiro's priest in Sleepers was a standup guy.)
Superhero movies, especially those featuring "heroes" on steroids.
Fantasy movies, especially those involving witches, fairies or elves.
Any animated movie made in any style not reminiscent of a vintage Donald Duck cartoon. And any animated movie with singing.
Swashbucklers of every conceivable type.
Costume dramas not written by Shakespeare.
Movies where the Breen Code ruins the last two minutes with impossibly contrived endings.
Movies with fancy dress balls.
Beach party movies.
Any Elvis Presley, Bob Hope, or Bing Crosby movies.
Movies drowned in phony southern or hillbilly accents by actors who've never been east of Hollywood or south of Connecticut.
Sloppy sentimental movies about Ireland and / or Irishmen, especially those with saccharine soundtracks.
Other than those few exceptions, I'm easy.
-
I'm sure I must be missing something, but what does Lucille Ball have to do with Out of the Past ? Not a peep about Mitchum or Greer, but instead a riff on I Love Lucy. What was going on there? I've gotta say that costume design woman has got to be one of strangest choices yet for hosting movies.
-
Yes, comedy is subjective. My wife can't figure out why I and several of my friends crack up over the Firesign Theater, doesn't care for the Marx Brothers, never "got" the flap over Harold Lloyd. Never cared for Woody Allen, even before the Soon Yi (or whatever) thing, thought Peter Sellars wasn't anything special. In short, she's a COMMUNIST!
She also wasn't big on Hope, Benny, Skelton, Abbot and Costello, Kaye or many of the other old timers except Laurel and Hardy. Hell, she even hates CHAPLIN! But she DID like Pryor, Carlin and likes Chris Rock. And is a big fan of Carol Burnett.Given the only comedians you've named that she seems to like are Laurel & Hardy, Pryor, Carlin, Rock, and Burnett, I'd say she's got a good foundation in taste. Does she also like Animal House, The War of the Roses, and Tin Men ? If so, I think you've got a real winner.
-
I just tried to listen to this interview, and the parts I could make out were interesting, but for the first minute or two the overall sound on Barbara's end was extremely muffled and often very hard to follow. By contrast, the interviewer's voice comes off loud and clear, and I think with a little tinkering it would be more uniformly enjoyable.
-
I don't think I'd group Hope with Skelton, Kaye , and Lewis. He's on a higher plane than that. Woody Allen has always been a huge fan of Hope, and cites him as a major influence.
I'm not that big a fan of Woody Allen, either, with a few exceptions like Broadway Danny Rose and Husbands and Wives. Too many of his films seem like the ones that just preceded them, especially those that came before Annie Hall, and his style of humor is a bit too jokey for my taste. My idea of a perfect comedian / comedienne runs much more along the lines of Fernandel, Harlow, Hepburn/Grant, the Sturges stable, and more recent comedians such as the characters on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm. But then as always it's just a matter of taste, and I'm not trying to promote Larry David for SOTM.
-
But I liked them ALL, Andy. Even Lewis, Hope, Skelton and Kaye.
The only "comedy" of yore that I've abandoned since then were The Three Stooges. Can't stand them now.
Sepiatone
And Bringing Up Baby may be among my favorite 5 comedies ever. I think this confirms my suspicions that we weren't really separated at birth.
*
Klute (1971)
in General Discussions
Posted
It was certainly appreciated more than the godawful fad of Streisand's bee hive. Though women everywhere were affecting that hairspray monstrosity for a couple of years, I never knew a man who liked it.
Though if you can believe the urban legend that was known coast to coast like butter and toast, there were a lot of head lice who did.