GregoryPeckfan
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Posts posted by GregoryPeckfan
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A lot of people didn't care for The Shining, and while its reputation has grown since its release, its still not critically liked. A lot of my friends, too, feel that it's boring. And some fans of the book (including the author himself, Stephen King) don't like the movie, and feel that the book's point was lost in the film. I haven't read the book, mainly because I love the film so much, and some differences, like the hedge maze from the film not being in the book, and instead there are hedge animals that come to life, seem to make the book the inferior product.
The Shining is my favorite horror film, and one of my favorite films period. It is one of the few films to genuinely creep me out, as opposed to cheap jump scares or sloppy gore scenes. Something about the lighting scheme makes it scarier to me, since instead of things being half seen in shadowy darkness, everything is brightly lit, so when the supernatural occurs, it upsets the heightened sense of reality.
I have not read the book and for much of the same reason. I enjoy the film. I know King does not like it. But my interest in the film as a lot to do with Jack Nicholson.
I think that my favourite horror film, if I were to rank them - and keep in mind that I am not a fan of horror films -would be Frankenstein for the movies made with monsters, and The Innocents, for movies made about ghosts.
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I guess it's not possible, after all these years, Eugenia, that you don't know the twist ending of The Sixth Sense.
But if, by chance, you don't know the ending, please stick your fingers in your ears right now and don't remove them until you see the film. And should you see the lips of someone ask you why your fingers are in your ears, just tell them they're stuck.
Believe me, no matter what kind of weird looks you get (maybe really weird, I admit), it will be well worth it for you if you don't know the film's surprise ending in advance. And forget all those posters here who said they guessed it half way through. Believe me, they didn't.
At least I'm being totally honest with you when I say I couldn't see the ending coming.
The reason I saw the ending coming is because I am a bit too familiar with the genre. I.e, I can guess where film noir is heading...
There are indeed movies I saw for the first time where I did NOT see the ending coming - these aren't part of the thread title genre but:
Zorba the Greek
Stalag 17
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe
Easy Rider in terms of *why* the people who are killed in the film were killed. Silly me, I thought that it was a movie about drug overdoses
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Something Wild (1961) New York Kitchen Sink Noir
A psychological noir directed by Jack Garfein, written by Jack Garfein and Alex Karmel, stars Carroll Baker (Baby Doll (1956), Ralph Meeker (Kiss Me Deadly (1955)), Mildred Dunnock (Kiss of Death (1947), Baby Doll (1956)), Jean Stapleton, Martin Kosleck (The Spider (1945)), Clifton James, and Doris Roberts. Cinematography was by Eugen Schüfftan (Port of Shadows (1938)) and music by Aaron Copland.The tale is about a young woman Mary Ann (Baker). She still lives at home with her mother (Dunnock) and step father. She is attending college in New York City. One night after riding the Jerome Avenue line subway back to Kingsbridge Road Station, she takes a shortcut home through St. James Park.
Near the Southeast corner she is grabbed from behind. Dragged into the bushes she is brutally raped up against a retaining wall by a grunting panting slob. Bruised, sore, and traumatized, she gathers up her books and belongings and runs home.She quietly enters her house and tells no one. In her bathroom, frightened and shivering, she strips her clothes off, gets into a tub, and washes away all the evidence. She takes scissors and cuts the soiled clothes and undergarments into small pieces and flushes them down the toilet.
She hides the rape from her parents and tries to carry on with her life. She now recoils from physical contact with all people. While riding the subway to school, the crush of people in the morning rush hour is too much for her to bear. Felling sick she rushes from the train and faints on the platform of the 103rd St. Station. The NYPD brings her back home and her uptight, whining, insensitive mother who is always concerned about "what the neighbors think", is mortified that she has been brought home in a police car.Continuing in the following days to wallow in a morass of self deprecation and despair Mary Ann snaps. She just takes off from her Morningside Heights school, leaves her books on a sidewalk bench and walks downtown through Harlem, The Upper West Side, Times Square, Greenwich Village to the Lower East Side.
In the Lower East Side she rents, from sleazy slumlord (Kosleck), a five dollar a week flop in his rundown tenement, and finds a twenty-five dollar a week job at a five-and-dime. She has a loud, obnoxious, two bagger prostitute, Shirley (Stapleton) as a next door neighbor, who offers to fix her up with some "gentlemen friends."
Continuing her downward spiral she becomes increasingly alienated from the world and decides to end it all. To Mary Ann the conveniently nearby Manhattan Bridge has a big imaginary sign that says "JUMP ME." As she climbs up on the rail about to go over she is stopped by by Mike, an alkie, sad sack, slightly whacked in the head auto mechanic. Her knight in rusty armor has a few screws loose himself. He walks her back to the Manhattan side and talks her into resting at his place while he goes to work. He doesn't trust her in the condition that she's in, thinking that she try something again, so he locks her in his basement apartment. Mike, slow on the uptake, never quite understands why Mary Ann doesn't want to be held there against her wishes.
When Mike comes home late that night sloppy drunk he tries to get a little "friendly" with Mary Ann but with what she just went through and in the condition she's in she naturally totally freaks and kicks him in the eye. When Mike comes too the next morning he has no recollection of the night before thinking he got into a fight at a bar. He's a blackout boozer. He loses the eye as a result of her kick and has to wear an eye patch.
When Mary Ann tells Mike that she has to go back to work, he offers to match what her boss pays her at the store. So we ask ourselves why does Mike behave this way? Did he also contemplate doing a brodie into the East River? Is he aware, on some gut level, of the certainty that letting her go now in this condition would be fatal, but just mentally disabled enough not to realize the "benies" of getting her professional medical attention. He "knows" in some weird way that fate has bound them together. He actually NEEDS her in his own twisted way.So Mike continues to hold Mary Ann prisoner, telling her that he likes "the way you look here." She is held there in Mike's apartment for months having, at times, surreal nightmares. One night Mike does it up big, he cooks steaks, buys wine sets the table with flowers, and fixes a nice dinner for the both of them. He proposes to Mary Ann and she rejects him. She tells him that it was she who kicked him in the eye. Mike says that he didn't know, but insists the she is "his last chance." Mike is a damaged person also. He gets up heartbroken and goes out the door leaving it ajar.Mary Ann grabs her coat and is out the door. Free at last she wanders the city eventually sleeping in Central Park. Her destructive funk is cured and she returns to the apartment to be back with Mike. These two damaged souls manage to find each other and bring into the equation what the other needed.They get married and as our story ends Mary Ann has a bun in the oven. Life is strange indeed, there are a million stories in the Naked City.....
The cast is excellent, the first half of the film is pretty much all Baker, and besides the obvious iconic Classic Noir creds that Ralph Meeker brings to the table, watch for a bit of cinematic memory, Mildred Dunnock played Rossi's mom, the one that Tommy Udo sent down the staircase in the wheelchair in an iconic Noir sequence from Kiss Of Death.Screencaps are from the MGM limited edition DVD. Aaron Copland's score is adequate, but I would have preferred something more jazzy/bluesy that would have fit NYC better, hell I would have loved say a variation of the NYC classic Street Scene, another bit of cinematic memory.Depending on my mood a 7-8/10.Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/04/something-wild-1961-new-york-kitchen.htmlI saw this not long ago on TCM where it was discussed how it was not understood by American Audiences until after 9/11, but that European audiences always understood it. It is an excellent film. Leading lady and director were married at the time. BRutal story. Ultimately, it is a story about survival.
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I believe Rosemary's Baby has been mentioned, Eugenia.
I have yet to see it. I know John Cassavetes is in it so I would like to see it eventually.
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He spent a lot of time making that television series tarring Matt Dillon who was very standoffish compared to his stand in. A lot of the series was filmed near where I lived and I have to say, the director walked by me several times and I had no interest in trying to meet him. I was supposed to be an extra in the pilot episode and a lot was filmed in the scenes where I was supposed to be walking down the street. When I saw the pilot episode and the extremely brief and in the far distance from the camera any extras could be seen, I was glad that I had not been available to do further episodes.
I did watch the first half of the series. But then I got bored with it half way through, because again, this is the problem with that director.
I guessed The Sixth Sense ending part way through just like with The Others.
Signs was okay.
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I have it recorded on PVR and I am waiting for the right time to see it for a first time viewing.
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She forgot to mention her thoughts on PINKY (1949) though.
I'd be interested to hear what she thinks of that movie.
ps- i thought a rights issue was keeping THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE off Canadian TCM?
That was the original scheduling change yes. and so I was thrilled to get news that it was available online and I watched it during the daytime on a small laptop. Then I noticed that according to my service provider in B.C., The spiral Staircase was scheduled to air after all. In case this was an error, I asked Bogie and Barton_Keyes who are in Ontario and often comment on what movies air airing only in the USA and what movies will air instead in Canada to see if this movie was airing everywhere in Canada, and Bogie answered me back that TCM Canada is not regional (unlike some sports channels) so everyone in Canada was able to get it after all.
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Charles S. Ogle
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Glen Close
Next:
Audrey Hepburn in Charade or Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina
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In a Danny Kaye movie, and preferably The Jester....
Next:
Would you rather be in a movie with a cat stealing all your scenes or a dog stealing all your scenes?
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Lina Lamont - Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain
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Oates, Warren
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Isle of the Dead
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An American In Paris - Gene Kelly's character
Next:
Real life painter is depicted
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Fred Astaire was in On the Beach with Gregory Peck.
Gregory Peck was in How the West was Won with Debbie Reynolds
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NEXT CATEGORY: BEST ACTRESS 1940:
NO ORDER, WINNER LISTED AT END:
Joan Fontaine in Rebecca
Roseland Russell in His Girl Friday
Bette Davis in The Letter
Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle
Judy Garland in Strike Up the Band
Olivia DeHaviland in Sante Fe Trail
Alice Faye in Tin Pan alley
Betty Grable in Tin Pan Alley
Miriam Hopkins in Virginia City
Irene Dunne in My Favorite Wife
Myra Loy in I Love You Again
Eleanor Powell in The Broadway Melody of 1940
Jean Arthur in Arizona
Bette Davis in All This And Heaven Too
Maureen O'Hara in Dance, Girl, Dance
Betty Grable in Down Argentine Way
Claudette Colbert in Boomtown
Norma Shearer in Escape
Margaret Lockwood in Night Train to Munich
Linda Darnell in The Mark of Zorro
Joan Crawford in Strange Cargo
Margaret Sullivan in The Shop Around the Corner
Barbara Stanwyck in Remember the Night
Greer Garson in Pride and Prejudice
Joan Bennett in The Son of Monte Cristo
Merle Oberon in Too many Husbands
Carole Lombard in Vigil in the Night
Vivian Leigh in Waterloo Bridge
WINNER: ROSELAND RUSSELL IN HIS GIRL FRIDAY
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I have not seen this Long Voyage Home movie you are all mentioning. I feel it must go on my to-see list.
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TCM will be considering new guest programmers for the year 2017. They will not be choosing them in the usual manner where they have some say.
Instead, they will be looking at the imdb list of most popular stars born within each month and randomly picking out names and writing them down on little pieces of paper. They will then be drawn out of a hat by Ben M. As long as the person is still alive, they qualify. If they want to do it, TCM pays them for their time. If they don't want to do it, they have to pay TCM money to make sure TCM does not get in touch with their agents again.
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James Cagney was in Footlight Parade with Ruby Keeler
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Just thought of another one. Apparently I have a lot of hate this evening. Lol.
The girl in Sabrina who is cackling and giggling at the beginning of the film while Sabrina is watching. She continues giggling all the way to the tennis court. Irritating to the very end.
Yes, that Sabrina girl is annoying. This thread is great.
I have read somewhere that a lot of the murder victims in Agatha Christie mysteries were people based upon people she hated in real life. Kill them off in books.
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Another famous person who did not appear as himself on television was Earle Stanley Gardner who appeared in the final episode of Perry Mason. Dick Clark was in that one. I don't wan't to give who the killer is away if anyone hasn't seen it...
But as for the character of Hamilton Burger, he never did quite match Perry Mason and you kind of wonder about whether he needed a pitchfork. I mean, William should have gotten one in The Hitch-hiker.
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Oh, the sisters yes in The Odd Couple, yes. I seem to recall the actresses who played them in the film guest starred in an episode of the television show as the same characters, but I have not seen it in ages. The giggling does get annoying.
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I watch The Odd Couple on MeTv each week, so really I enjoy both versions. I would not really pitchfork either Felix. I might pitchfork the unseen ex-wives though.
The Supernatural and the Spiritual
in General Discussions
Posted
That is what I meant when I said that I am familiar with a genre like film noir. I am familiar with the director.
I think the twist he did in the television was really not that original.
It is like - where shall we hide in this horror movie - I know:
Let's hide in the tool shed.