Vautrin
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Posts posted by Vautrin
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I was thinking of Edgar Winter, though I never thought he was divine. The other
Edgar appeared in a lot of TV westerns, usually playing a charming but somewhat
dishonest and fast talking though still slow moving con artist.
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Stark was no hero, just a corrupt rube with a wide authoritarian streak.
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3 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
As interesting as old Joe and his 205 Commies in the State Department were, I am still waiting for the movie biopic of infamous CIA impresario, James Jesus Angleton, so we can find out who really killed JFK. Ignore all the following supposed bios or mentions of Angleton as none really do him justice:
- The 2006 film The Good Shepherd is loosely based on Angleton's life and his role in the formation of the CIA.[26]
- The Laundry Series by Charles Stross features a senior Laundry agent whose nom de guerre is James Angleton after the CIA chief.[27]
- The 2007 television mini-series The Company focus on Angleton's efforts to find a Soviet mole. Angleton was portrayed by Michael Keaton.
- Angleton was portrayed by John Light in the 2003 BBC TV mini-series Cambridge Spies.
- The song "Angleton" by Russian indie rock band Biting Elbows is about Angleton's life and career.[28]
- In the television series Granite Flats the actor Cary Elwes plays Hugh Ashmead, the name "Ashmead" being the cover name for James J. Angleton.
- William F. Buckley's 2000 novel Spytime: The Undoing of James Jesus Angleton is a fictionalized treatment of Angleton's career, a storyline being placed upon, between and within actual historic facts and events.[29]
- Mike Doughty released a song entitled James Jesus Angleton on Apple Music in December 2017.
- The Fatima Mansions track 'Brunceling's song' mentions James Jesus Angleton by name, in a narrative involving spooks adapting to regular life.
Talk about two guys from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Hard to think of JJA
wanting to hang around with Joe McCarthy. I've read of JJA here and there, but not to
the extent of a full biography. I believe he is most notorious for his is he or isn't he a
mole in relation to one Soviet defector and the time spent in trying to reach a conclusion.
And I always got a kick out of his middle name. Like many CIA spooks, Angleton should
have been terminated with extreme prejudice himself. The long hidden secret can now
be revealed--JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald with his semi-trusty Mannlicher-Car
cano in Dallas.
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If I had to listen to Bendix go on and on about Rosie and Roseland or whatever the
joint was called, I might have been tempted to get him to go over the side just
like little Willie did. Ja wohl.
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A slimmer Joe McCarthy without the booze problem. I do get a kick out
of the last name. If you need a G. Gordo fix, you can always see how
long you can hold your hand over a candle flame.
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4 hours ago, Fedya said:
There's also Shadow of a Doubt.
True. I left that one out on purpose because it really isn't like the typical serial killer
film as we never see Uncle Charlie at work. That's not a knock on the film itself. I
find it very entertaining, especially the small town atmosphere. When he goes to
the bank and tells the president of the bank that he isn't all that interested in money,
the banker looks like he was just hit over the head.
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4 hours ago, ChristineHoard said:
We do get to see Janet in her bullet bra.
Duck, live ammo. I think I read once that Janet Leigh received some kind of award from
the bra manufacturers of America or some such group for, well you know. I suppose
Hitch would say she still wasn't topless so the male half of the audience was still
cheated.
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8 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
As usual, penetrating exegesis, Vautrin!
Not only am I obsessed by "Vertigo" as a movie, I am obsessed with the opening title sequence. Just who is the actress who we only see in bits and pieces. I once took screen shots of each part, the eye, the nose, the mouth and pieced them all together so I could see the lady's entire face assembled. If I recall correctly whoever played this small part in the film is not credited, though there are a couple names of women in IMDB who it could apply to, but I need to do more research. I thought at first it might be the lady playing Carlotta in the nightmare sequence, but it's probably not. No one much talks about the title sequence except for the swirling figures by Saul Bass, but to me there is a lot to speculate on since I think Hitchcock always had a motive for anything he filmed. How about, and I just thought of this...the woman is watching Scotty as he hangs onto the gutter and her shock as he eyeball opens up wide, is seeing him fall to his death. Okay, I think I am going to go with this theory now, until a new one comes to me. Thanks, Vautrin for your thoughts!
Addendum: My friend who is a script supervisor and mega film fan just informed me that the face used in the opening of "Vertigo" is of Audrey Lowell, a sometimes model who did appear in a few films like "Loving You" and "The Horizontal Lieutenant" and even later was in a "Cheers" episode.I can't say I am obsessed with Vertigo, just that I often watch it when it is on TCM, even
though the plot puzzles have been solved. Maybe that theory connects with the shot that
slowly radiates out from Janet Leigh's eyeball after she has been killed in the shower. Or maybe
not. I thought the short sequence of the close up of Jimmy and all the things going on in the
background while he is dreaming or whatever it was was a big gimmicky, though it doesn't
interfere with the overall movie.
Frenzy seems to be Hitchcock's contribution to the serial killer genre, made with a lot more skill
and care than the usual run of the mill ones. And the rape sequence. Lovely...lovely. Just kiddin'.
Maybe Hitch was finally getting his chance to balance the bias he spoke about in Psycho where
the female half of the audience gets to see John Gavin topless, but the male half doesn't have the
same luck with Janet Leigh.
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The real Hoover, dead in an open casket.
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1 hour ago, CaveGirl said:
I have a tome, and it really deserves that word, that is so academic and deep about the meaning behind "Vertigo" that it can blow one's mind. It's all about that Scotty is shown to be a male who is a bit, shall we say, impotent, and all the French twist close-ups and burial holes and towers and stairway passages that one can fall into, are about falling in love. This is Scotty's first attempt at such sexual issues since he thinks of Midge as a mother figure. I think we know that towers and tunnels could be representing phallic issues, and there is a certain necrophiliac leaning by Scotty towards his paramour that is also deeply regarded by the author whose theories are really interesting to read. He even goes into the colors that are used by Hitch for scenes and what he might have been trying to telegraph to the audience. I could go on but my head is starting to hurt. It's actually a great book though, and is quite thought provoking. I think it is called "An Eye for Hitchcock" by Murray Pomerance and has some other nice chapters focusing on a few more of his films.
One final thing about "Vertigo". I've often thought that there is no way Scotty could have survived holding on to that gutter on the roof at the beginning. I doubt he was saved and the story of "Vertigo" is just a stream of consciousness effect occurring right before his life is ended when he falls. Again see, the fall is the most important issue in the film. Yes, none of it happened, and just like Ambrose Bierce's story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" a whole life is encapsulated in a few seconds of time, and we the audience get to share the downfall of Scotty as he is falling from the roof and he dreams about the love that he never experienced on earth and regrets missing.I haven't read the book, but I know there is a lot of high tone speculation about the various
meanings of Vertigo, which are enjoyable as far as they go. I guess one can take one's pick.
Another big one seems to be the meaning of identity, who is the I, who are we really, is
there a permanent personality or is it just made up of shifting feelings, etc. Hey, whatever.
Round and round the verti goes, where it stops, nobody knows. For someone who doesn't
have a lot of time before he falls from that gutter, he sure packed a lot of plot into it. I view
it more as just the usual Hollywood improbability, which is sort of covered over and then
forgotten, especially when viewers only saw the film one time. After seeing the film a number
of times the Carlotta subplot is kind of boring to me, though it is more noteworthy the first
time through when one is trying to puzzle out exactly what is going on. Speaking of the
obsessiveness of Stewart's character reminds me a bit of It's a Wonderful Life where he is
so obsessed with getting out of his small town and seeing the larger world. In a few scenes
he ls so frustrated that it looks like he is about to explode. Of course in that case things end
on a positive note.
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I'm sure that car was sleek and sharp back in '58, but today it looks old and
clunky, somewhat like Stewart's character. Guy never quite gets it until the
last few moments. I like Vertigo, though I don't know if I'd put it at #1 in
Sir Alfred's filmography. There would be a lot of jostling at the top. Tom
Helmore is a wonderful villain. Laid back and reserved, he's not the Hey look
at me, I'm as crazy as a bedbug type of bad guy. I was glad he got away with
it in the American version of the movie. Appreciation for a job well done.
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Maybe he should have split the difference and gone with Champale.
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About as flimsy as those Depression era hamburgers that always seem to
be cooking on a grill in the movies.
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1 hour ago, darkblue said:
That's very believable with you.
You have more faith in the savvy of the Twinky producers than I do.
Dolores Haze all in my brain,
Lately things don't seem the same.
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1 hour ago, LornaHansonForbes said:
Please tell me it has "suicide doors."
Hey, the movie ain't that bad. No suicide doors, though possibly hernia doors from
the effort needed to open those things.
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1 hour ago, Hibi said:
LOL!!! Does she lecture him about eating organic; saving the whales and biking?
Not yet. So far she's happy to eat all the artery clogging junk Bill serves up at home,
though she tries to eat an apple a day. Breezy is sort of a minor but charming con artist.
And Kay Lenz, just like Susan George, is not afraid to show a little skin in the name of
artistic integrity.
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1 hour ago, CaveGirl said:
I personally hate when anyone salivates over my footwear particularly when I'm still walking in them, natch!
Kind of messy, especially on a nice new pair of expensive shoes. Spit shine, no thanks.
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Just on a personal note, once the kiddies reach double digits I lose all interest.
Damnant quod non intelligunt.
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Breezy is on YT. I'm about halfway through it. More interesting as a 1973 time capsule
than anything else. And Bill does drive a huge car, a big old Lincoln. You could build a small
pool in the trunk and still have room for a few suitcases.
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16 hours ago, darkblue said:
And are all those other "Lola" films about an older man hooking up with a young teen girl like 'Lolita' and this particular movie are?
You're probably right - I'm sure they didn't even know there was a movie called 'Lolita' that was about the exact same thing. Just a coincidence they changed the title to a similar tarty name.
The one I saw was more about class difference than about age difference. Anyone dumb enough
to title a movie Twinky might be dumb enough to not see a connection between Lolita and Lola.
And who knows how many people would have gotten it anyway. So I'm not sure about any Lolita
connection. Maybe, maybe not.
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7 hours ago, CaveGirl said:
I have that book on Bunuel, which has the whole section focusing on his close-ups of feet in films. Now I can't even watch one of his movies, without looking for feet constantly. One of my favorites that I don't think TCM has ever shown is "El" which starts with the rolling shot of a row of feet in the church setting. It's a great movie focusing on a man's excessive jealousy and of course has the famous scene which inspired Hitch to do the bell tower scene in "Vertigo". Thanks, Vautrin and my favorite foot fetish scene in Bunuel is of course when Fernando Rey is trying on the women's bridal shoes in "Viridiana".
Fernando Rey was always good at playing a high class, though subtle, perv.
I enjoy watching him salivate over footwear, even though it does nothing for me.
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Liv Ullman was very attractive, but she usually didn't have an overt sex appeal.
Guess he left that to the Andersson girls, Harriet and Bibi (no relation).
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1 hour ago, Hibi said:
I'm sure it was the film, not the promotion. Didnt get good reviews either.
Me too. As I said above, I haven't seen it in years so I can't really comment on it
beyond the age difference thing. Today Kay Lenz could play a cougar falling for a
young hunk, though she drives a Prius, not a boat.
Red Flags
in General Discussions
Posted
Hey now, leave little Stevey alone. I thought he was very believable as Gilbert.
Of course fair haired Gilbert was a pretty sneaky fellow and not much of a
reliable friend. That's what made him interesting. He did nasty things on purpose
that Larry did because he was stupid. Tooey? Toooey was a four-eyed nerd who
didn't know his as from his elbow. Fooey on Tooey. I think Lyle was in a few
episodes of Beaver himself. One where Beaver had to go to a girls' party and
Lyle played the dad whose den Beaver wound up in so Lyle could show him so
manly man things. I think that was Lyle, though I wouldn't swear to it.