AddisonDeWitless
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Posts posted by AddisonDeWitless
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> {quote:title=clore wrote:}{quote}
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> There was actually some footage from GUN CRAZY used in the film, just some vehicles arriving at the police station.
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Inn-teresting. I made it a point to say Crime Wave was "possibly" derivative of Gun Crazy because, like They Live By Night, I've always read Crazy was barely released in 1949-50 and seen by few.
But that long, fluid shot from the POV of the back seat where they pull up to the bank to launch into the heist, I was like "man, this is so Gun Crazy !!!"
(Not that that's a bad thing.)
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 9, 2012 8:28 PM
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> {quote:title=Hibi wrote:}{quote}I thought (Hayden) was once (SOTM)... Maybe not. He should be.........
He had a day on Summer Under the Stars last summer, I think. It was a terrific day of films.
I've always known Hayden was a great actor- especially classic is his turn in Dr. Strangelove- but I don't think I've ever been as blown away by his talent as I was while watching Crime Wave last nite. The rapid-fire dialogue, the world-weariness, the physical intimidation used by his character...I was reminded of Robert Ryan in On Dangerous Ground, who plays a similar character (the world-weary, jaded cop not exactly being a rare type in the 40's and 50's) but whereas there are moments when you catch Ryan (who was a great actor) acting! I didn't see that with Hayden. He was just real, raw, bruised, angry- gnawing like a bulldog on that toothpick where many other actors (Edmund O'Brien and STEIGER! come to mind) would have chowed down on the scenery instead.
Just an ace of a performance.
ps- don't know if he shot Crime Wave before or after Johnny Guitar (also 1954) but I'd wager it was after. He looks like a man who has been to hell and survived.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 9, 2012 8:19 PM
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> {quote:title=AndyM108 wrote:}{quote}I agree that The Bank Dick isn't one of Fields' finest,
I must've phrased me response poorly because I would *definitely* say that The Bank Dick (in spite of the meandering first act) is one of the best comedies of all time and one of the best films of 1940 (a year which I actually thinks tops 1939 in quality.)
As to its being on Essentials Jr. it is a thoroughly innapropriate film for children, which is why I love it to pieces.
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Another one of those "never-hoid-of-it, but I liked it" pictures that TCM is so good for trotting out for us film freaks periodically. (Thanks, guys)
A tidy little Warner Bros noir of the type that never stops to catch its breath, directed by Andre de Toth (whose other pictures I have found lacking a little in artistry, but not this one) starring an excellent Sterling Hayden (as good as he's ever been in anything ) and Phyllis Kirk from de Toth's blockbuster of the previous year House of Wax, as well as some *terrific* supporting actors- save the (usual) scenery chewing, teeth-baring antics of Timothy Carey, who seems to be trying to frighten a black bear crouched in the corner of the soundstage during his painfully long five minutes of screen time.
What was his deal anyway?
A little derivative of Asphalt Jungle and (possibly) Gun Crazy, but solid on its own account, I stayed up to see it play out even though I was zonked on benadryl and pain meds (has a little accident earlier in the week.)
Rating much better than the **1/2 stars Maltin gave it, check it out if it comes on again.
ps-who played "The Doctor"? He was great.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 9, 2012 9:57 AM
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I agree. I wish more of Fields' stuff besides The Bank Dick (which was a pretty innapropriate choice for Essentials Jr.) and the oft-shown David Copperfield could be seen on TCM, who have come kind of close to tapping the Marx Brothers vein dry.
I remember TCM when showed It's a Gift and I missed it. I was so bummed.
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D-n you! I fell this week and fractured a rib and it hurts to laugh.
Nonetheless: *Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!* (ow)
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> {quote:title=SueSueApplegate wrote:}{quote}Well, let's not give Ellen Barkin "Das Boot," either. I felt her choices were also "out of the box."
Yes they were.
I feel like *Das Boob* for forgetting her.
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I too commend Kyle for his on-the-money Ox Bow Incident ref and astute Third Man observation.
I think in his careless actions during the unfolding of the Martin case, Lee showed he was no better than the rubber-necking looky-loo yokels cracking peanuts on the front row of the grotesque media circus presented most fortuitously in Wilder's Ace in the Hole . Hence: irony.
As to The Third Man, at least it's a film I never get tired of, whereas Face in the Crowd (for all its many wonderful attributes) isn't the sort of film you just want to cozy up to on any old evening.
I'm getting increasingly tired of these celebrity guest programmers who come on the network, ostensibly condescending to illuminate us all on classic films while bringing "their fans" with them; professing what fervent, dedicated viewers they are of the network and then picking something, like, six other GPs have picked over the last two years.
Anyone who has watched TCM with any regularity for the last 3-4 years knows that the two aforementioned films (as well as Wuthering Heights, Some Like it Hot and Duck Soup) are not even close to undershown.
Not to say that the occasional celeb programmer doesn't come in with some fresh choices, Chris Isaak, Winona, Rainn Wilson ( High School Confidential is the only reason I even know who he is) and Cher all earned points for thinking outside *DAS BOX.*
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 7, 2012 4:13 PM
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Can't wait until they show The Bank Dick this weekend and all those parents get to explain The Black P****y Cafe to their kids.
Seriously, the choices this year are the worst ever and that is really saying something.
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*from wikipedia:*
In March 2012, after the [shooting of Trayvon Martin|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin|Shooting of Trayvon Martin], Spike Lee was one of many people who used [Twitter|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter|Twitter] to circulate a message which claimed to give the home address of the shooter. The address turned out to be incorrect, causing the occupants to leave home and stay at a hotel. Lee issued an apology, and reached an agreement which included compensation.
*end quote*
Is *irony* the right word here?
Anyway, it's an awesome movie nonetheless and one well worth showing (for years it was not in circulation at all.)...Although I do wish they'd find some artful way of telling these celebrity programmers that every third celebrity programmer picks A Face in the Crowd. Anyway, Ace is the only film I can think of that is more cynical than Network and, wouldn't you know? they're both about news media.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 5, 2012 8:46 PM
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thank you for the very thorough info and link. i stand both better informed, corrected and entertained, and how often can you say that?
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My theory: The chain gang men were tired, underfed, and possibly had been able to pass around a ditchweed joint under the eyes of the un-hip guards. Given the fact they'd all sweated off about five pounds a-piece that day, the weed took more of an effect than it otherwise would have, had their stomachs been full and their constitutions less tried.
Also, animation was still kind of a novelty at the time and, for all we know, some of these fellows (and poor, rural parishoners in the church) might not have ever been to a picture show in their lives.
At least they weren't given one of those effed-up Betty Boop cartoons where she meets the drooling spider with fangs who chases her into the cave with all the acid-trip inspired monsters. (What the hell is that thing about anyway? Did they even have LSD in the 1930's when that thing was made?)
Finally, on a sad but somewhat related note, Seth MacFarlane Re--Re-Re-cycles Materal that Wasn't Even Funny or Original to Start With (aka Ted ) was number one at the Box office this weekend, taking in *52 million dollars,* so who the hell can EVER comprehend what "the people" find funny in anything, then or now. (Or whether there is still a God, or ever was one to begin with, for that matter. )
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jul 1, 2012 9:33 PM
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> {quote:title=casablancalover wrote:}{quote}My sympathies, Addison, on your unfortunate experience with WOMAN IN HIDING.
Oh no, I did enjoy it mostly, the "nearing-her-sell-by-date-Leading-Lady-in-jeopardy" genre being one I'm partial to, and I'd been looking forward to seeing the film for a while and it's one I hope they encore on the network as it was, in spite of its faults,quite inn-teresting and compelling.
On a one to four star scale, I'd give it a low three- maybe a high two-and-a-half.
Maybe if the lead had been Loretta Young or Celeste Holm I would have bought the outright stupidity more easily, but I think the viewer- even one not familiar with Lupino's other work- just can't escape the feeling that our girl Ida would've handled the situation a leetle differently.
(Like with a slug between the eyes.)
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I think it's a combination of the satire of Hollywood not being appreciated by Hollywood itself (shocking, I know) and the film getting lost among the amazing winning streak of classic titles that began in 1939 and would continue (arguably) through 1946,
However, I have to carp that while Sullivan's Travels is a FLAWLESS and TIMELESS film, the same CANNOT BE SAID for some of the actual 1941 Best Picture nominees: the trifling Blossoms in the Dust, the deeply flawed Suspicion and the solid, well-acted but somewhat didactic family drama The Little Foxes.
I've never seen Tom, Dick and Harry or Tall, Dark and Handsome, which were nominated for the best screenplay Oscar over Sullivan's.
Also, don't forget Sturges had won the screenplay Oscar the year before for The Great McGinty.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 30, 2012 10:21 PM
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Nice list! Especially inn-teresting is the fact- heretofore not realized by me- that two of my *favorite* films, Cluny Brown and No Man of Her Own (1950) were written by women as I have always noticed they are decidedly proto-feminist in tone, very ahead of their time.
I think a *GREAT* way to pay trib to Ephron would be to have a *whole day* of films written and directed by women...
Or heck, even a month-long tribute.
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Hope I'm not guilty of a thread derailment here, but did anyone check out Woman in Hiding (1950) with Ida Lupino and Howard Duff last night?
It was an inn-teresting noir with some inn-teresting moments and a tight first 30 minutes, but it was definitely done in by some *waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay weak writing*. The basic gyst is that Ida, in all her extra-smoky fabulousness, is the inexplicably British-accented daughter of a well-to-do North Carolina textile plant owner. He dies and Ida marries the man who it turns out killed him. She flees their honeymoon cottage after his girlfriend shows up and spills the beans, crashes her car and fakes her death. BUT INSTEAD OF RUNNING STRAIGHT TO THE COPS THE NEXT DAY SHE DECIDES NO ONE WILL BELIEVE HER UNLESS SHE FINDS THE GIRLFRIEND TO CORROBORATE HER STORY.
EH?
Then, ida goes into hiding- badly, AND IN THE SAME GENERAL AREA WHERE SHE VANISHED might I add, taking a job as a WAITRESS BEHIND A COUNTER at one point. She then meets Howard Duff, BUT INSTANTLY LOOSES ALL THE COMMON SENSE SHE HAS SHOWN THUS FAR (well, except for the NOT GOING TO THE G.D. POLICE IN THE FIRST PLACE) and ACTS LIKE SUCH A NUTTY, WHACKO, DELUSIONAL SPAZZ, THAT HOWARD THINKS SHE IS MAKING IT ALL UP AND SENDS HER BACK TO HER HUSBAND WHOM SHE COMPLACENTLY AGREES TO GO OFF ON A TRAIN WITH WHEN THE MAN HAS TWICE TRIED TO F***ING KILL HER AND DOESN'T SCREAM HER HEAD OFF IN THE COMPARTMENT THE MINUTE THEY ARE ALONE.
She escapes from the husband in a brief and fleeting moment of common sense- then she finds the girlfriend WHO HAS BEEN VISITING FAMILY FOR TWO WEEKS THUS GIVING HER THE REASON TO PROLONG HER HIDING OUT (?!?) the girlfriend, of course, takes her right back to the f-ing husband. AGAIN.
*Good writers*, the plot problems ARE IN ALL CAPS. Fix them if you can (a magic wand may be needed)
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 30, 2012 9:53 PM
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 30, 2012 9:55 PM
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> {quote:title=clore wrote}{quote}: Imagine Rand blowing up the Warner lot and getting away with it.
That would be absolutely eff-dash-dashing HEE-lair-Eous.
Sometimes I wish TCM had some extra money in the budget to produce the occasional, humorous, classic-film-related parody as between-the-films bumpers because it would be AWESOME to see your idea as a short film.
That and I'm getting really tired of The Making of Dr. Zhivago featurette.
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I was watching one of my favorite comedies of the 1940's last week- King Vidor's laugh-out-loud, screwball take on Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.
As I watched, I couldn't help but wonder what might have been if:
A. Someone took Rand's script in one hand and a big, black, permanent marker in the other and snuck off for a couple hours, later emerging with something less ludicrous (or at least 40 pages shorter), and...
B. John Garfield had played Howard Roark.
Either would have been a wise choice, but then I 'spose a comedy goldmine would've been lost.
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Ditto ditto.
(treads carefully with the following statement.) Artists are artists, directors are directors, writers are writers- gender and race and whatever other characteristics are purely secondary...
But...
Sometimes I feel like most of the better known female directors and even screenwriters- Nancy Myers (sic?), La Streisand, and Lisa Chodolinko (sic again?) come to mind- make some of the most self-indulgent, pretentious, LOUDLY directed films out there. And I haven't seen The Hurt Locker, but I have seen K-19, Strange Days and Point Break, so I'll just put it out there that Kathryn Bigelow has caused a lot of personal pain for me.
But...
Nora Ephron quite often did great work- maybe a little hokey in moments, but honest, straght-forward, no beating you over the head with the morals, no four-inch fingernails, no flawlessly decorated homes in the country (at least not on the level of a Myers film) and no one whispering "Lowenstein" as they cross the George Washington Bridge. She did some solid stuff, and that's no small feat in the HOLLYWOOD of the last 20 years for anyone, man or woman.
If I offended anyone with my backwards compliment of Ephron, I apologize, and I'm ready to get ripped for this because, duh, I know the ratio of men to women in directing is insane and I know it's probably the meanest rats that rise to the top and I know it's hard to make good movies period. I also know there are more than a few men who make some painful, overlong, pretentious, preachy and self-indulgent films too.
But Ephron totally deserves the TCM tribute. The rights to a lot of her stuff is likely what'l hold things up. I don't seem to recall ever seeing Heartburn or Silkwood on the channel and they're more than qualified to rate a presence on the net.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 28, 2012 2:20 PM
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> {quote:title=finance wrote:}{quote}Kim Novak for VERTIGO? I've always been a fan of Kim, but...........?
yeah, big ditto here.
but on the same note: George Sanders Best Supporting Actor winner for Rebecca? J'adore George, and he's very good in the film (he seems to be the only one in the whole affair who is having any fun (as usual), and he really helps the picture get over the third act slump) but ...he's not as good as he is in Foreign Correspondent from the same year and not as good as James Stephenson and the unnominated Herbert Marshall in The Letter. (Why Albert Basserman got nominated for his blinkandyoumissit turn in Correspondent is something of a mystery to me though.) And for the record, Walter Brennan, one of the most maligned Oscar winners on the books, is actually pretty solid in The Westerner. Of his three winnings perfs, that's the one I get.
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I am surprised by your prurient interests, Herr Professor! I didn't think you had a lascivious bone in your body (so proud of you, btw)
Personally, I just don't know whether or not I believe this cat, but by now every celebrity in classic Hollywood has had a gay tryst with everyone else in the world of note, from Walter Pidgeon right down to Francis The Talking Mule- with very little actual proof...which is actually kind of fine, because it feeds the mystery and mystique , traits that the celebrities of today sadly lack.
I remember some years back, I woke up and was stumbling along with my morning routine when a story ran on CNN that someone had released a taped session Marilyn Monroe had with her psychiatrist in which she revealed that she and Joan Crawford had had a torrid one night stand circa 1954: Proof positive.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!
Now I dedicate a moment of my mental time each day, years later, to the image of those two bumping uglies.
Like I said, life is better with a little mystery.
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Hello all.
Not much of a fan of most current films, but when I do stumble over an inn-teresting one, I like to tell the world about it (happens so rarely.+)+
Whilst dog-sitting for cableless friends, who do at least have streaming Neflix (which is "eh ok" at best), I checked out Alexandre Philippe's 2010 documentary The People vs. George Lucas after viewing the whole recent season of South Park (which is still genius, btw.)
First off, I am not a fan of the whole Star Wars saga. I guess the first three are fine for what they are: pure sugar-crusted entertainment candy for the senses (and certainly each has astounding production values and some good acting and the story arc is legit) but all the wipes and the trite dialogue (as well as the increasingly callow performances of Mark Hamill- who years later redeemed himself with his brilliant voice work as The Joker on the animated Batman series) grate on me. And I find the "prequels" to be astoundingly awful.
But this documentary is *fascinating* in a multi-layered tapestry of aspects beyond the actual movies themselves.
Yes, it looks at an author and creator who- in a story that mirrors the very one for which he is so popular for telling- sells his soul and becomes the verly imperialist, impenatrable power around which his space opera is based. But it is also a film about art and artists (both legit and guerilla) and the nature of art itself. It examines the compulsive need to fix and change art. It asks "when is a work of art done?" "Does art belong to us or the creator?"
There are issues of film preservation, censorship (I did *not realize how far Lucas has gone to change all the films and ensure that their original 1977, 1981 and 1983 versions do not see the light of day again)* and yes, it gets into Jar-Jar, The Holiday Special, and even takes a moment to examine and salve the then-fresh wound that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull had torn across the heart of this nation.
Anyhoo, I could prattle all day about it, but really, even if you are not a Star Wars fan- if you care about the preservation of ALL FILMS in their original, non-CGI, standard, as released format, CHECK IT OUT. It's funny, it's compelling and it's quite well done.
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> {quote:title=Lori3 wrote:}{quote}
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> And it was more than just Joanne Woodward's opinion or didn't you read all of my post.
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> Oh, would you like to sign my petition to get a box-set of John Garfield films made? It is just my opinion that his talent and memory deserves i
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Non sequitor on the first part:
You know, one thing bothers me about that "Joanne Woodward on John Garfield segment", and it's that she kind of disses Lana Turner, implying (more or less) that it would be hard to be good or genuine when acting opposite Lana Turner. that's kind of a catty thing to say when the only time the woman was nominated for an Oscar she lost to you.
For the record, Lana could be a crummy actress but she does have some solid perfs and (one genuinely great one) on the books.
Questions galore on the second part:
What four films* would you include? If you could make it five films, what would be the fifth? Are we talking 5 DVDs or 4 titles on one DVD? (The latter might have a better chance, although I know that format isn't terribly popular 'round these parts.)
*consider also Right's Issues. You might have to look strictly at his stuff at Warner's because a lot of his independent features like Body and Soul, He Ran All the Way and Force of Evil might be tricky to snag.
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 17, 2012 10:40 AM
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> {quote:title=Sprocket_Man wrote:}{quote}Donat winning the Oscar began an chain events that resulted in a couple of the more unfortunate results in the history of Academy voting.
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> Academy voters are like baseball umpires: they're not suppoded to make mistakes, but they do -- and those are the times and plays people remember
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Personally, I agree with the selection of Donat in 1939/40, but those "Whopsy! Our bad. Please accept this consolation Oscar for something less good you did in a following year while depriving someone else their deserved reward" vicious chains are a fascinating sidebar to the Academy Awards and could merit a thread of their own.
Very astute quote at the end, I include it for that and for the "suppoded" typo, a rare occurence on your part but- hey- I'm playing umpire meself this morning...I think you also would say "a chain."
Hope you're doing okay, such slippage is rare on your part!
Edited by: AddisonDeWitless on Jun 17, 2012 10:26 AM
anyone catch "Crime Wave' (1954)?
in General Discussions
Posted
Damn.
I really wish someone like you was writing the outro/introes for the prime time/weekend showings on this network. I've learned more about this one film from your two posts than all of the copy-and-pasted-from-imdb (and often error-riddled) spiels they've been handing Os and Manskie to recite for last I-don't-know-how-many years put together.
Bravo.