I Just Watched...

[TomJH]

20 minutes ago, TomJH said:

I know, that look Cabot's date is giving him says a lot. And Bruce looks even more like a hee honk than usual here.

In his autobiography Flynn wrote that he eventually forgave Cabot though I don't know that the two ever saw each other again. Cabot was always very quiet about Errol after his death but did have one quote in which he made reference to the deterioration, both physical and mental, that overcome Flynn because of his drug addiction, calling it one of the saddest cases he ever saw.

[Fedya]

20 hours ago, omm said:

Who on earth names their kid Berry Berry?

There's a "Rose Rose" in The Cider House Rules.

[rosebette]

This week-end, I saw two films that couldn't be more different, but both carry plot elements about drunk driving.  I viewed Topper (1937), which incredibly, I had never seen, even though I'm a longtime fan of screwball comedies and Cary Grant.  I have to admit my modern sensibility was not amused by this film at all.  Warning:  many spoiler alerts for those who are not familiar with the Topper series.  The plot is about a gorgeous socialite couple who basically binge drink and club hop the entire night of their wedding anniversary.  Grant actually shows up to work in his evening clothes and cuts up throughout a business meeting.  Then, the couple climb back into the car, drive recklessly and get themselves killed.    They then resuscitate as ghosts to do the "good deed" of teaching stiff upper lip Roland Young to adopt their free-wheeling life style, and he very nearly winds up a ghost himself in the end.   I'm not exactly a teetotaler, but as someone who raised three young adults who made it out of their college years alive, I was somewhat horrified by this picture that glamorizes and trivializes alcoholism and drunk driving.    

On a similar topic, I watched Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) a train wreck or rather car wreck of a picture that was more enjoyable than it had any right to be, due to some way over-the-top performances by Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, and even Cyd Charisse, and some color drenched and vulgarly opulent hotel rooms and settings in Rome.    Strangely enough, the main plot element in this film is also an alcoholic car crash, which nearly kills alcoholic movie star Douglas and is a wake-up call for him to straighten out his life.   There's another near wreck later -- pretty crazy and harrowing.  Nearly everyone in the film, except for the ingenue, is pretty venial and rotten, but like a car wreck, I couldn't stop watching.  I think there was also some truth about the mercenary and amoral aspects of show business, some great lines, too.  In one scene Robinson calls Trevor his "lawfully wedded nightmare."  

[txfilmfan]

1 hour ago, TomJH said:

I know, that look Cabot's date is giving him says a lot. And Bruce looks even more like a hee honk than usual here.

That's his 3rd (and last) wife, Francesca De Scaffa, and they were at Ciro's.   There are copies of this photo that supposedly quote the original caption that stated  Cabot and De Scaffa had just divorced the prior week in 1951, but other sources state they got divorced in 1957.

[Fedya]

6 hours ago, TikiSoo said:

The widowed* male charactor with children unabashedly seeks a woman to help raise them. The trope is they fall in love & she becomes their Mother since she loves them already. *(Widowed because the only way a man would get custody)

(Yes, I know the movie is about the father losing custody.)

[txfilmfan]

8 minutes ago, Fedya said:

There's a "Rose Rose" in The Cider House Rules.

And Humbert Humbert in Lolita.

[Shank Asu]

On 1/14/2022 at 5:12 PM, sewhite2000 said:

I'm only reading this post a good half hour after your other post on the thread I created, which maybe I took too personally. This post gives me a greater comprehension of your specific issues. As I said, on the other thread, I've mostly only seen later-career Anderson, so I'm less aware of how his style has evolved over a longer period of time. He does put a lot of effort into constructing movement of people and objects into every shot. I can' see how that would get annoying. I do think there are still great human elements. Loved Adrien Brody's performance in The French Dispatch, for example.

I'm surprised you haven't seen his early films.  You're missing out.

[sewhite2000]

I've seen bits and pieces of The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore and The Life Aquatic, all back in the days when I had a primo cable subscription and like five or six different HBOs, Cinemaxes, Showtimes, Starz, etc., each. I caught a lot more of the recent theatrical releases in those days. But that viewing was all very random. If I stumbled across a film mid-airing and was able to identify it, I usually stuck with it. But I never chanced upon an early Anderson film just as it was starting. I did state in another thread I received a gut punch in watching the (Spoiler alert!) Luke Wilson suicide scene in Tennenbaums and can't imagine the now exceedingly mannered Anderson ever showing something so emotional again. I don't know if his co-writers have an effect on the content of his work. I believe he co-wrote many of his scripts with Owen Wilson early career but more recently either by himself or with Jason Schwartzman.

[LornaHansonForbes]

TUBI TV continues to be where it's at, I came across THE STUNT MAN (1980)- which I have been curious about for some time.

[note: this is not an easy film to describe or review]

**EDIT: IT OCCURRED TO ME: THIS FILM IS LIKE WATCHING AN ACTION FILM WRITTEN BY VLADIMIR NABOKOV (with a REWRITE from VONNEGUT perhaps)

It stars STEVE RAILSBECK as a man on the run, wanted for murder, who winds up being (more or less) kidnapped and forced into work as a stunt man on a troubled WWI picture that is being shot- for some reason never explained but amusing nonetheless- AT THE HOTEL CORONADO (in San Diego I think?) by a MACHIAVELLIAN MEGALOMANIACAL DIRECTOR played to b!tchy, deranged, grandiose perfection by PETER O'TOOLE, doing A wicked DAVID LEAN, but DAVID LEAN as one of the many personalities of his psychotic character in THE RULING CLASS.

It's a wild film that blurs reality and challenges the viewer- it's META to THE CORE, but interestingly so, and even though it's 20 minutes too long and there's one scene in the third act  between RAILSBACK and BARBARA HERSHEY, as the film's subservient, duplicitous leading lady that TRIED MY PATIENCE...

But, not even knowing that much about film, you cannot help but be DAZZLED by the direction, which is showy because it can be, but not so showy as to interfere with the story. there are some shots and stunts in this movie that are years ahead of their time- amazing they were done before computers, and stunning for it.

the film got OSCAR NOMINATIONS for BEST DIRECTOR for RICHARD RUSH (which he really deserved) and BEST ACTOR for O'TOOLE, it's a shame that his part verges on being supporting, but in terms of performance, he's a LEAD all the way.

it's a rare example of a film that was nominated for BEST DIRECTOR but not BEST PICTURE and that's kinda how it shoulda been.

good luck getting the theme song out of your head:

 

[LornaHansonForbes]

oh, just to add a little more in re: THE STUNT MAN,

there is a pivotal plot point which involves A STUNT MAN drowning after driving a "Dusenburg" (which is clearly a MERCEDES) off a bridge which was- it would seem- not in California.

the very next year, on the filming of the movie THE PRIVATE EYES on THE BILTMORE ESTATE, a stunt man almost drowned when he was driving a BENTLEY doubling for a ROLLS ROYCE into a lagoon on the property.

OOGIE SPOOKY COINCIDENCE..."

Either way, the crash and submerging scenes at the climax of the film are STUNNINGLY WELL DONE.

[Bethluvsfilms]

Just now, LornaHansonForbes said:

oh, just to add a little more in re: THE STUNT MAN,

there is a pivotal plot point which involves crashing a "Dusenburg" (which is clearly a MERCEDES) off a bridge which was- it would seem- not in California.

the very next year, on the filming of the movie THE PRIVATE EYES on THE BILTMORE ESTATE, a stunt man almost drowned when he was driving a BENTLEY doubling for a ROLLS ROYCE into a lagoon on the property.

OOGIE SPOOKY COINCIDENCE

THE PRIVATE EYES was a childhood favorite film of mine, but it's been ages since I've seen it. Will have to give it another look one of these days.

Real classic, classy car.

[LornaHansonForbes]

1 minute ago, Bethluvsfilms said:

THE PRIVATE EYES was a childhood favorite film of mine, but it's been ages since I've seen it. Will have to give it another look one of these days.

Real classic, classy car.

SAME.

I love it with all my heart and I have since shared it with nieces who also adore it. were are NORTH CAROLINIANS and used to visit THE BILTMORE before it got to be $600 for four people to go (!!!!!!!!)

[nakano]

1 hour ago, txfilmfan said:

That's his 3rd (and last) wife, Francesca De Scaffa, and they were at Ciro's.   There are copies of this photo that supposedly quote the original caption that stated  Cabot and De Scaffa had just divorced the prior week in 1951, but other sources state they got divorced in 1957.

I thought it was Joan Blondell as she was a friend of Errol but since it is a side shot    I  was not certain

[rosebette]

53 minutes ago, nakano said:

I thought it was Joan Blondell as she was a friend of Errol but since it is a side shot    I  was not certain

That' s the second picture Tom posted.  The first one is Flynn and his wife (Nora Eddington or Patrice Wymore?), and Bruce and his wife.

 

[TomJH]

33 minutes ago, rosebette said:

That' s the second picture Tom posted.  The first one is Flynn and his wife (Nora Eddington or Patrice Wymore?), and Bruce and his wife.

 

I find Nora and Pat difficult to tell apart much of the time. However, I don't believe Nora ever wore glasses and Pat did so my guess is that it's Wymore in that photo with Errol, Hee Honk and Wife of Hee Honk.

[King Rat]

2 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

TUBI TV continues to be where it's at, I came across THE STUNT MAN (1980)- which I have been curious about for some time.

[note: this is not an easy film to describe or review]

**EDIT: IT OCCURRED TO ME: THIS FILM IS LIKE WATCHING AN ACTION FILM WRITTEN BY VLADIMIR NABOKOV (with a REWRITE from VONNEGUT perhaps)

It stars STEVE RAILSBECK as a man on the run, wanted for murder, who winds up being (more or less) kidnapped and forced into work as a stunt man on a troubled WWI picture that is being shot- for some reason never explained but amusing nonetheless- AT THE HOTEL CORONADO (in San Diego I think?) by a MACHIAVELLIAN MEGALOMANIACAL DIRECTOR played to b!tchy, deranged, grandiose perfection by PETER O'TOOLE, doing A wicked DAVID LEAN, but DAVID LEAN as one of the many personalities of his psychotic character in THE RULING CLASS.

It's a wild film that blurs reality and challenges the viewer- it's META to THE CORE, but interestingly so, and even though it's 20 minutes too long and there's one scene in the third act  between RAILSBACK and BARBARA HERSHEY, as the film's subservient, duplicitous leading lady that TRIED MY PATIENCE...

But, not even knowing that much about film, you cannot help but be DAZZLED by the direction, which is showy because it can be, but not so showy as to interfere with the story. there are some shots and stunts in this movie that are years ahead of their time- amazing they were done before computers, and stunning for it.

the film got OSCAR NOMINATIONS for BEST DIRECTOR for RICHARD RUSH (which he really deserved) and BEST ACTOR for O'TOOLE, it's a shame that his part verges on being supporting, but in terms of performance, he's a LEAD all the way.

it's a rare example of a film that was nominated for BEST DIRECTOR but not BEST PICTURE and that's kinda how it shoulda been.

good luck getting the theme song out of your head:

 

I got to see The Stunt Man at one of the TCM Film Festivals with Richard Rush present. The film had been restored and looked great on the big screen. Though my memory is hazy, I believe it had been years since Rush had seen it on the big screen. The audience was very enthusiastic. For whatever reasons, Rush never had the sustained directing career in the movies that his talent deserved. I'm with 100% about Best Director nomination being deserved, omission of Best Picture nom OK, and that Peter O'Toole, in a supporting role, feels like a leading man.

The Paul Brodeur novel is no more linear or coherent than the film. I had seen the film on television and realized, after seeing it on the big screen, just how many nude scenes had been cut for TV. No wonder it was so difficult to follow. Yes, it was filmed at the Hotel Coronado in San Diego, where Some Like It Hot was filmed, and where L. Frank Baum stayed when he was writing some of the later Oz books.

[Shank Asu]

Recently got Covid, so i locked myself in my room for 4 days and watched a load of films on the Criterion channel (not a diss to TCM, but i can only watch Criterion on my laptop)

Sterling Hayden marathon of :

The Long Goodbye (1973) I enjoyed this but it did take me while to get used to Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe.  Sadly, Sterling's character of a drunk author seems like a caricature of his real self.  Decent film IMO.  Wish there were more Marlowe films made in this era.

Terror in A Texas Town (1958) Something is just cool about watching Hayden go after a gunslinger with only a whale harpoon and marching through town with it hoisted above this shoulder.  Hayden's Swedish accent in the film is pretty laughable however.

Pharos of Chaos (1983) Documentary featuring Hayden as he's living on a barge in France.  Kind of sad to see the big strong hollywood leading man and tough guy, ramble on incoherently for two hours and walk barefoot  on his boat and along the banks of an unnamed French river.  He says the film is a document of alcoholism.  He talks about sailing, his two books he'd written up to that time and testifying in Washington and giving up the names of communists.  The film ends with the filmmakers saying they heard from Hayden a year after shooting him and that he says he spent time detoxing  and hasn't touched alcohol for months and is busy writing a third novel and wishes for them to come back and film him again- and for forever, which is a touching way to end the film, but ultimately i was dispointed with this doc.  Besides just seeing Hayden in rough shape, his stories weren't very coherent and maybe it would've been better to have him communicate when he was sober.

Other films:

No Way Out (1950) Noir featuring Poitier as a prison doctor who gets on the bad side of a criminal.  Not one of Poitier's bettr films but still an enjoyable noir.

Hanzo the Razor:  Sword of Justice (1972) WTH did i just watch here?  A big fan of samurai films and this trilogy has been on my list for a few years but definitely an odd film in the genre.  Title character rapes multiple women in order to torture information out of them- but not torture of pain.  They actually want him to proceed with their sexual encounter so bad that they spill all their information to him to get him to keep going.  And he's a 'good guy'.  The disco soundtrack also stands out as an annoyance.  Will get to part 2 at some point but i was hoping i'd like this first one a lot more.  Actually not much fighting. 

There Was A Crooked Man (1970) Joseph Mankiewicz Western starring Kirk Douglas an d Henry Fonda. I liked the set up of showing the different criminals getting caught during their separate crimes before all ending up together in prison, butkind of lost interest in the film.  The maguffin is the money that Douglas' character has hidden, but all the audience cares about is the planned escape.

Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) Had never heard of this film or its sequel but apparently it was somewhat popular?  Maybe?  The comedy tale of a Siberian rock band (i believe they're from Siberia in the film, but in real life the band is from Finland)and their travels to the US and Mexico because 'people will buy anything in America'. Each band member has extreme pamdour hairstyles- to the point they look like unicorn  horns on their heads, and long pointy winklepicker boots.  The band is a real band and even scored a hit single from the movie (in some country- not in the US) and is still releasing music this day.  The comedy never hits high notes but was entertaining enough for me to enjoy. Has anyone else seen this film?

[nakano]

Peter O'Toole  was amazing in The Stunt Man,too bad it did not do well when it was released.

[Joe P.]

There seems to be an error in the movie Barefoot Contesta with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. The character Director Dawes is in the Spanish courtroom. He later describes Maria's testimony. He explains it well, except for one thing. Dawes doesn't speak Spanish. 71 years and nobody noticed.
 

[midwestan]

5 hours ago, rosebette said:

I watched Two Weeks in Another Town (1962) a train wreck or rather car wreck of a picture that was more enjoyable than it had any right to be, due to some way over-the-top performances by Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor, and even Cyd Charisse, and some color drenched and vulgarly opulent hotel rooms and settings in Rome.    Strangely enough, the main plot element in this film is also an alcoholic car crash, which nearly kills alcoholic movie star Douglas and is a wake-up call for him to straighten out his life.   There's another near wreck later -- pretty crazy and harrowing.  Nearly everyone in the film, except for the ingenue, is pretty venial and rotten, but like a car wreck, I couldn't stop watching.  I think there was also some truth about the mercenary and amoral aspects of show business, some great lines, too.  In one scene Robinson calls Trevor his "lawfully wedded nightmare."  

You're right about "Two Weeks In Another Town" being over-the-top with its campy performances by the principals.  Still, it's one of those guilty pleasures that I enjoy watching whenever it shows up on TCM's schedule.  There are so many scenes where you wonder which actor or actress scored the highest decibel reading while shouting their lines!  That climactic scene toward the end where the maniacal Kirk Douglas is speeding down the winding, twisting road with Cyd Charisse screaming at the top of her lungs had me thinking....had this film been made 30 years earlier, Charisse might have given Faye Wray a run for her money as the 'queen of scream'!

[nakano]

On 1/17/2022 at 7:50 PM, Joe P. said:

There seems to be an error in the movie Barefoot Contesta with Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. The character Director Dawes is in the Spanish courtroom. He later describes Maria's testimony. He explains it well, except for one thing. Dawes doesn't speak Spanish. 71 years and nobody noticed.
 

What I noticed is the beautiful  huge Ava Gardner's statue in the opening scenes in the cemetery,it was shown several times in the film,Frank Sinatra got (he bought it) and kept the statue in his garden at home in Coldwater Canyon,until Barbara Marx forced him to remove it in 1976 .She knew  Ava was the one true love of Sinatra,I do not know the whereabouts of this beautiful statue.

 

 

[King Rat]

2 hours ago, midwestan said:

You're right about "Two Weeks In Another Town" being over-the-top with its campy performances by the principals.  Still, it's one of those guilty pleasures that I enjoy watching whenever it shows up on TCM's schedule.  There are so many scenes where you wonder which actor or actress scored the highest decibel reading while shouting their lines!  That climactic scene toward the end where the maniacal Kirk Douglas is speeding down the winding, twisting road with Cyd Charisse screaming at the top of her lungs had me thinking....had this film been made 30 years earlier, Charisse might have given Faye Wray a run for her money as the 'queen of scream'!

She probably felt she had to scream to keep up with Claire Trevor.

[speedracer5]

4 hours ago, Shank Asu said:

Recently got Covid, so i locked myself in my room for 4 days and watched a load of films on the Criterion channel (not a diss to TCM, but i can only watch Criterion on my laptop)

Sterling Hayden marathon of :

The Long Goodbye (1973) I enjoyed this but it did take me while to get used to Elliott Gould as Philip Marlowe.  Sadly, Sterling's character of a drunk author seems like a caricature of his real self.  Decent film IMO.  Wish there were more Marlowe films made in this era.

Terror in A Texas Town (1958) Something is just cool about watching Hayden go after a gunslinger with only a whale harpoon and marching through town with it hoisted above this shoulder.  Hayden's Swedish accent in the film is pretty laughable however.

Pharos of Chaos (1983) Documentary featuring Hayden as he's living on a barge in France.  Kind of sad to see the big strong hollywood leading man and tough guy, ramble on incoherently for two hours and walk barefoot  on his boat and along the banks of an unnamed French river.  He says the film is a document of alcoholism.  He talks about sailing, his two books he'd written up to that time and testifying in Washington and giving up the names of communists.  The film ends with the filmmakers saying they heard from Hayden a year after shooting him and that he says he spent time detoxing  and hasn't touched alcohol for months and is busy writing a third novel and wishes for them to come back and film him again- and for forever, which is a touching way to end the film, but ultimately i was dispointed with this doc.  Besides just seeing Hayden in rough shape, his stories weren't very coherent and maybe it would've been better to have him communicate when he was sober.

Other films:

No Way Out (1950) Noir featuring Poitier as a prison doctor who gets on the bad side of a criminal.  Not one of Poitier's bettr films but still an enjoyable noir.

Hanzo the Razor:  Sword of Justice (1972) WTH did i just watch here?  A big fan of samurai films and this trilogy has been on my list for a few years but definitely an odd film in the genre.  Title character rapes multiple women in order to torture information out of them- but not torture of pain.  They actually want him to proceed with their sexual encounter so bad that they spill all their information to him to get him to keep going.  And he's a 'good guy'.  The disco soundtrack also stands out as an annoyance.  Will get to part 2 at some point but i was hoping i'd like this first one a lot more.  Actually not much fighting. 

There Was A Crooked Man (1970) Joseph Mankiewicz Western starring Kirk Douglas an d Henry Fonda. I liked the set up of showing the different criminals getting caught during their separate crimes before all ending up together in prison, butkind of lost interest in the film.  The maguffin is the money that Douglas' character has hidden, but all the audience cares about is the planned escape.

Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989) Had never heard of this film or its sequel but apparently it was somewhat popular?  Maybe?  The comedy tale of a Siberian rock band (i believe they're from Siberia in the film, but in real life the band is from Finland)and their travels to the US and Mexico because 'people will buy anything in America'. Each band member has extreme pamdour hairstyles- to the point they look like unicorn  horns on their heads, and long pointy winklepicker boots.  The band is a real band and even scored a hit single from the movie (in some country- not in the US) and is still releasing music this day.  The comedy never hits high notes but was entertaining enough for me to enjoy. Has anyone else seen this film?

I watched a Sterling Hayden film on the Criterion Channel recently too! Except I cast the Criterion Channel to the TV from my phone so I don't have to watch it on my computer.  I can also watch it through my husband's XBOX One, but casting is easier.  

Anyway, I watched Crime of Passion with Hayden and Barbara Stanwyck.  Hayden was more or less there for the ride as it was Stanwyck's film; but his character did serve as the reason why Stanwyck did the things she did.  It was interesting seeing him a little less grumpy and in more of a romantic part.  I always enjoy seeing him though, he has such a unique presence on screen.

I also watched No Way Out on the Criterion Channel.  I watched it in tribute to Poitier and it was his first film.  I was shocked at how blatant the racism was in this film and how mean and nasty Richard Widmark's character was.  There was no beating around the bush in terms of addressing racism in this film.  Widmark's character did not screw around and was one of the nastiest characters I've ever seen in a film.  There's no way that this film would be made today.  I think this movie would make a great double feature with Odds Against Tomorrow if that was the type of double feature that someone would want to put together. 

[King Rat]

1 hour ago, speedracer5 said:

I also watched No Way Out on the Criterion Channel.  I watched it in tribute to Poitier and it was his first film.  I was shocked at how blatant the racism was in this film and how mean and nasty Richard Widmark's character was.  There was no beating around the bush in terms of addressing racism in this film.  Widmark's character did not screw around and was one of the nastiest characters I've ever seen in a film.  There's no way that this film would be made today.  I think this movie would make a great double feature with Odds Against Tomorrow if that was the type of double feature that someone would want to put together. 

You could pair them with a "Liberals Playing Racists" theme, and add Shelley Winters in A Patch of Blue.

[LornaHansonForbes]

11 hours ago, nakano said:

Peter O'Toole  was amazing in The Stunt Man,too bad it did not do well when it was released.

According to Wikipedia, the film received such a limited release that Peter O’Toole himself said “the film wasn’t released, it escaped.”