webestang Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Got this movie on DVD at a flea market for $2......WOW!!!!!! What a wonderful film. Sterling Hayden was so good, this is the only movie besides Dr Strangelove I have seen him in.........great stuff!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redriver Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Absolutely outstanding. One of those movies it would be really hard to find anything wrong with. I love the character of Dix. I, too, tired of life in the big city, and longed to return to my native Kentucky. Like Dix, I finally did. Thankfully, with better results! The characters in this classic heist film are fascinating. From Louis Calhern's crooked attorney to John McIntyre's brief police bit. To say nothing of the working class criminals. The wonderful James Whitmore. That funny looking guy with the moustache. They're the real story. This movie is so sharply filmed it's amazing. Arguably, the two best and most emulated crime dramas were directed by the same man. MALTESE FALCON and this quiet treasure. A clever, concise screenplay from W. R. Burnett's novel serves well. Someday I have got to read that book. I'm quite sure I'd like it! RR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickspade Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Agree, this one is right in the pantheon of film noir. Terrific use of character actors, including the underrated Marc Lawrence, who brings the "crew" together for Sam Jaffe. Best line by Lawrence (as someone is counting out money in front of him, he wipes the perspiration from his forehead): "I can't help it if I sweat. Money makes me sweat." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weasel56 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 One of my favorites of all time. Jean Hagen IS a doll! I could watch her all day long! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webestang Posted February 7, 2008 Author Share Posted February 7, 2008 I just remember Lawrence in "Hold That Ghost" (1941) where he took being a gangster to be funny..and wasn't he in "The Oxbow Incident" as well...?..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickspade Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Yes, very funny in A & C's "Hold that Ghost", playing "Charlie Smith." I can always hear Lou calling for him by name after he disappears inside the "haunted" mansion. And he was also in Ox-Bow, playing one of the vigilantes. Lawrence had quite a lengthy career; he worked in films and TV from the fifties through the eighties and even into the nineties. He had been blacklisted during the witch-hunt days (early 50s), and eventually gave in and named names to HUAC. Spent time in Europe during the blacklist period. Always menacing, but sometimes funny. Famous Lawrence scene from a Bond movie (Diamonds Are Forever): He throws Lana Wood, aka Plenty O'Toole, out of a highrise hotel window, and you figure she's done for until you hear the huge splash and realize she's fallen into the hotel pool. Lawrence lived until 2005, and died at age 95. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redriver Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 "Plenty O'Toole. Named for your father, no doubt." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo_Chuck Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 I can't think of another film where Desperation is such a central theme, all the way thru. Just amazing. There are so many intricate relations going on - the corrupt cop and the financier bar-owner, James Whitmore and loyalty to prison pals, Sterling Hayden desperately trying to avoid the romantic entanglements of a woman clearly draping herself all over him. Louis Calhern's fretting over his real situation. Marilyn Monroe going from mistress to alibi is just too much for her. This film is filled with desperate situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redriver Posted February 26, 2008 Share Posted February 26, 2008 All that poor guy wants is to get back to Boone County, Kentucky. Outstanding movie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronxgirl48 Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 GREAT MOVIE! LOVE IT! (especially Louis Calhern and Sam Jaffe) I always remember Marc from HOLD THAT GHOST.. To Bud and Lou: "It'll be a pleasure to take you boys for a ride" Message was edited by: Bronxgirl48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripleHHH Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Highest recommendation from me...great film and dialog thats to die for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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