movieman1957
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Posts posted by movieman1957
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I agree about Cassavetes. He became more annoying as it went but it also shows the deepening of his psychological state. It becomes deep enough that he plays the situation against Crisp and also his brother when he feels he now has the audacity to want to take it all over. I think he becomes a little obsessive with Dano and his plan to build fences but that also seems like an excuse for how he behaves.
Taylor reminded me some of his character in "Westward The Women." Tough, direct but with a soft spot for the right situation.
The thing I like about the writing and often with early Paddy Chayefsky is the crispness with which people are allowed to dress down each other. Smart, pointed and even blistering at times. It is the kind of stuff you don't expect but wish you could think up yourself.
Edited by: movieman1957 on Dec 16, 2010 12:10 AM
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Last I checked many of them are on YouTube.
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*Saddle The Wind* is a really nice surprise. I've not seen it before and found it to be very interesting and well done. Written by Rod Serling, which accounts for the great dialog, and it stars Robert Taylor and John Cassavetes as brothers who own a ranch. They love each other but are headed for trouble. ("Family Feud" is a more descriptive but tacky title.)
Taylor plays a reformed gunfighter and Cassavetes plays the younger brother who, after killing his first man in a not quite fair fight, becomes enamored with the idea of being one. The trouble is he is a hot head and it can't be simple. They certainly look like brothers and Cassavetes is really good in his part. He walks a fine line of being right and over-the-top. Donald Crisp plays a character not unlike that in "The Man From Laramie." The real surprise was Royal Dano. I know we all like him but I haven't seen him like this before. It is not a big part but it is memorable. Lots of anger from everyone but that makes for great dialog.
Julie London plays an odd character who comes to the ranch to marry Cassavetes after having only met him a few days before. Even after finding out she is not all that fond of him she hangs around. She is mostly a sounding board for Taylor but while she is fine there isn't a lot for her to do.
Unusual ending ends a beautiful looking and pretty tight film. I think it is worth a look for the fine performances.
(I didn't find a discussion this year and, if so, surprised it hasn't come up. Or did I miss it?)
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Matthau was good at playing bad guys as he followed this one up with playing a nasty guy in the Kirk Douglas film "The Indian Fighter."
I have not seen all of "The Kentuckian" but since it is in a kind of rotation on the Westerns Channel I figure that may be rectified soon.
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You, sir, have excellent taste.
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*Three Hours To Kill* is as much murder mystery as straight western. Dana Andrews is believed to have killed his fiance's (Donna Reed) brother. He knows he didn't do it but that doesn't stop the town's attempted hanging of him. Andrews comes back to get it straightened out.
Standard but beautiful looking film with a host of familiar faces. I'm not quite sure I buy Andrews as a western hero. He wears the stern look well but the horse doesn't fit him as well as a trench coat. Harry Joe Brown produced and has the look and feel (and length) of the later films with (cue chorus) Randolph Scott.
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Remember Scott had retired by 1964 and Clint was just starting in movies so they didn't have much of a chance.
If you really want to go gangbusters you can list Wayne and Joel McCrea. (As far as I recall.)
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*Laffite:*
Yes. Playing his friends against each other. The things Morgan does for Blasedell, good and bad. The whole relationship is unusual. Without him the movie is not nearly as interesting.
*The Divine MissG:*
The sooner the better. It can awfully quiet when you're not around.
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>but I found it a bit of a stretch that Fred would murder his colleague.
By that time nothing really surprised me about Fred. He had already killed someone so he was in deep. His partner was already in trouble and Fred had that over him but I don't think Fred had thoughts of killing him when he got in the car but things change in a hurry.
It is hard suspecting a cop and each step deeper into it always had a plausible explanation. But we knew it would cave in on him eventually.
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You're right, as always. One thing that did bother me about Kim's character was how fast she fell for Fred/Paul. When he "helps" her with her car she is smitten, to say the least, right away. Fred may be doing his job but get a good kisser who likes that it might be easy for someone to get pulled in.
After their argument when Kim finds out about the car, right before the line I mentioned, I thought it was going to be more trouble.
The voyeurism that bothered me more was Carey watching Malone. Novak was their job and they had a good reason for doing it. This part made me think of "Rear Window." Though his watching has a paternalistic quality, so he says, at first he then becomes attached to her romantically.
One thing it took me a bit to figure out was that I thought they were watching her from across the street when it turned out to be a courtyard. (Rear Window.) But when they met so easily on the roof it was a different set up.
One other thing of useless information is that as I recall there were only two day time scenes. One was the opening back robbery and the other was when Carey calls Fred about being late for bowling. There may have been one at police headquarters to talk about the stake out but I don't think Kim was in any daytime set.
Edited by: movieman1957 on Dec 9, 2010 10:10 AM. To correct a word. That's important.
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I didn't see much of "Vertigo" as I was too busy comparing it to "Double Indemnity." But thinking about how Fred was getting Kim to do whatever he wanted does look to it.
I like the end of one of the early scenes where Kim proposes their plan and Fred says, right before he kisses her, "And I thought I was using you." That stays with you the rest of the film and at times made me wonder what was genuine and what was them "using" the other.
I've never thought much about Carey one way or another but this is one of his more likable roles. Even when he is putting off Malone I didn't get him being rude, as it looked like she did, as much as he honored his duties at the moment. I liked him.
Kim was indeed beautiful. The black dress caught my eye.
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"Dodsworth" is a great film. I introduced it to my bride and she loved it. You mentioned Niven and I said somewhere that there has never been a more blistering, well-spoken and mannerly smack down in film. She had it coming too.
So much is going on in both lives. I feel bad for Dodsworth as after his retirement it all starts slipping away. He makes the best of things in the nicest way.
We had a pretty hot discussion over at the other site. It amazes me sometimes the discussions a film will generate. It makes the watching all the more interesting.
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That one works too.
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With the urging (via a Youtube clip) I watched "Pushover" with Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak. After the first ten minutes this looks like this will be a standard police grunt work type drama. Not exactly. This becomes a bigger, more involved and trickier film than you would think.
Borrowing, sort of, from "Double Indemnity" MacMurray picks up Novak after a movie that has to rank as one of the quickest pairings and one of the sexiest to come across my screen. Shortly after they figure out who is who and what is going on. The first half-hour moves at a pretty good clip. Dorothy Malone plays the girl next door - literally.
Some nice twists come through the script. A couple of things I noticed of no particular importance are that this film may have more rain in it than anything that doesn't involve a flood and more trench coats than you will find anywhere outside of a London Fog factory. A pretty good "B" film I have never heard of but am glad to have found.
Thanks Ms. Maven.
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>well...see how easy it is to bamboozle a man? Sexy, isn't it?
Re: "Pushover."
The first ten minutes was pretty sexy. I would think that a bra-less Kim Novak would have created quite a stir in 1954. (It still does these days.)
Now if I can find some of those outfits for my bride....
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Wow! Thank you. I love them all but I really like the one with Jean looking back over the chair. I love her hair. Too bad they didn't keep close to that through the 40s.
You got my heart started.
The picture for Sir Francis, doesn't look a thing like Samuel Bronston.
Edited by: movieman1957 on Dec 7, 2010 9:56 PM
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We chatted a little about "Warlock" over in the western rambles in the last page or so. Maybe we'll have a bigger discussion after tonight.
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Looks like my house every night.
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That figures. It has been that kind of day.
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Just watched "He Ran All The Way" and Wallace Ford was very good in it.
(Since his name came up.)
Sir Francis:
I'm with you.
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I hadn't consciously thought of it as being claustrophobic but I did think that has was trapped. He may have thought he had the upper hand but only narrowly speaking. As long as he was in their place he was but he couldn't go out. It was a too big a risk.
Ford standing across the street and screaming was great.
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I watched John Garfield in "He Ran All The Way." (That's a great title.) The story isn't really anything new but the performances make this one worth watching. Garfield plays a man on the run for a killing who holds up in Shelley Winters home with her family. Always keeping one of the family members with him to keep the others in line Garfield's "Nick Robey" runs the emotional roller coaster from thug to caregiver to paranoid tough guy afraid of the shadows.
The underlying story revolves around him and the relationship with Shelley Winters. Garfield meets her in a public pool on his escape from his crime. They are taken with each other. He sees her as a means to escape but he becomes fond of her. Through the film she seems to love him but then seem to only say it so she can save her family. Only at the end do you find out for sure.
Garfield is great in what would be his last performance. He manages to strike fear into this family while at times giving a sense that he is not all seems. Wallace Ford is really good as the father trying to protect his family. Unsure of sticking it out or finally going to the police. Winters is good as the girl who takes a fancy to Garfield I think just because he showed interest in her. In spite of all that is going on you take her feelings that this may be her only chance at a romance. Surely, she couldn't have that kind of interest in him.
This was Garfield's last film.
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I've seen stories that John Ford was doing much the same thing on his boat.
Western Movie Rambles
in Westerns
Posted
Coincidences happening more often as I saw Royal Dano in an episode of "Gunsmoke" this morning. It often seems that after a movie someone shows up on the Westerns Channel morning line up.