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(back to JUNE) JULY... I'll Sleep When I'm Dead 7.2.4 At the Movies July 2004
***** Silver City; July 2: Variety Club Preview Room; Friday, 1pm. Nice cast, but banal and forgettable, very far from Sayles' best. Sad to see quality character players I haven't been seeing enough of lately (Clennon, Ferrer, Gammon, Kristofferson, Murphy, Waite) in something so trite. Directed by John Sayles. Written by John Sayles. Cinematography by Haskell Wexler. Film editing by John Sayles. Cast Some say: "... from John Sayles, one of the essential, iconoclastic voices of American independent cinema, comes" this film, one "that is equal parts scathing political lampoon and sun-stunned neo-noir detective story. Set against the backdrop of a mythic 'New West,' 'Silver City' follows grammatically-challenged, 'user-friendly' candidate Dicky Pilager (Cooper), scapegrace scion of Colorado's venerable Senator Jud Pilager (Murphy), during his gubernatorial campaign. When Pilager finds that he's reeled in a corpse during the taping of an environmental political ad, his ferocious campaign manager, Chuck Raven (Dreyfuss), hires former idealistic journalist turned rumpled private detective Danny O'Brien (Huston) to investigate potential links between the corpse and the Pilager family's enemies. In the tradition of the great films noir, Danny's investigation pulls him deeper and deeper into a complex web of influence and corruption, involving high stakes lobbyists, media conglomerates, environmental plunderers, and undocumented migrant workers. With pitch-perfect dialogue, unerring sense-of-place, and a slashing satiric strain, 'Silver City' offers John Sayles's timely and toxic look at the state of the union on the eve of the 2004 Presidential election."
***** A TRIBUTE TO ORSON WELLES -- "He inhaled legend -- and changed our air. It is the greatest career in film and the most tragic." -- David Thomson... SATURDAY-SUNDAY JULY 3-4: THE STRANGER: Daily: 1:20, 5:10, 9:00: The mastermind of the Holocaust, Franz Kindler, who effectively erased his identity, has been tracked by War Crimes Commissioner Edward G. Robinson to the small Connecticut town where highly esteemed college professor Welles seems to be living the perfect life with bride Loretta Young. Robinson's only clue is the war criminal's fascination with antique clocks... Directed by Welles. With Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson. (1946) 95m New 35mm Restoration! After Welles' semi-success at the box office, Citizen Kane, and his definitely not a success at the box office, The Magnificent Ambersons, he wanted to prove to producers that he could bring in a simple little hit. The Stranger is it. Some Welles fans are annoyed by this movie, I find it an entertaining crime/noir/thriller. Cast Directed by Orson Welles. Screenplay by Anthony Veiller; adaptation by Victor Trivas and Decla Dunning; story by Victor Trivas. Produced by Sam Spiegel (as S.P. Eagle). Music by Bronislau Kaper. Cinematography by Russell Metty. Richard Long was born December 17, 1927, Chicago, Illinois; and died December 21, 1974, Los Angeles, California, multiple heart attacks. The Stranger was one of three films Richard Long made in his debut year as a film actor (the other two were The Dark Mirror and Tomorrow Is Forever). He would play the non-rural, non-retard child of Ma and Pa Kettle -- Tom -- in The Egg and I (1947) and three of the charming backwoods comedy sequels: Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950), Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951). He found a similar role in The Life of Riley (1949). There were more films, including Tap Roots (1948), Criss Cross (1949) and Saskatchewan (1954), before his recurring role as Gentleman Jack Darby on "Maverick" (1958-59). Popular schlock-horror of House on Haunted Hill (1959) was next. More series TV was attempted: Long played Rex Randolph on "Bourbon Street Beat" (1959-1960) and then "77 Sunset Strip" (from 1960-1961), before finally having his greatest success as Jarrod Barkley on "The Big Valley" (1965-1969). After Valley folded, Long found short-lived success opposite Juliet Mills on "Nanny and the Professor" (January 1970- December 1971). After that ended there were only a couple more series attempts, a couple TV Movies and a ridiculously early death (from multiple heart attacks!) less than a week after his 47th birthday. Long was married to Suzan Ball (12 April 1954 - 5 August 1955) (her death)* and Mara Corday (1957 - 21 December 1974) (his death). Suzan Ball was Lucille Ball's second cousin and was born on March 3, 1934 in Jamestown, New York. From the imdb: "She came to Hollywood with her family in 1941. She sang with the Mel Baker Orchestra from 1948-1953. Her first part in Hollywood was as a harem girl in "Aladdin and His Lamp" at Monogram. She got an interview with the talent department of U-I and signed a contract. In 1952 she was proclaimed "The New Cinderella Girl of 1952". She had a fleeting romance with Scott Brady who she met on the set of Untamed Frontier (1952) and they planned to marry. She then filmed City Beneath the Sea (1953) and fell for Anthony Quinn, who was still married. Their romance lasted only a year because Quinn was still in love with his wife, Katherine DeMille. Suzan was proclaimed one of the most important "New Stars of 1953" by Hedda Hopper. On her next film "East of Sumatra" she suffered an injury to her right leg during a dance number. Later in 1953 during filming the movie "War Arrow" she was told by doctors that her leg had developed tumors. Later that year at home she slipped on some spilled water and broke her leg. She was rushed to the hospital and operated on to remove the tumors. The operation was not a success and she was told that amputation of her right leg would be necessary. In December of 1953 she became engaged to Richard Long. On January 12, 1954 her leg was amputated. "On April 4th she was married to Richard in Santa Barbara wearing an artificial limb. Some guests in attendance at her wedding were: Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, David Janssen and Jeff Chandler. In May 1955 she embarked on a night club tour. In July, while rehearsing a scene for a "Climax" television drama, she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs. On August 5th, 1955 Suzan died of cancer, only six months after her 21st birthday. She fought her battle with cancer for 16 months and lost. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetary. Her husband Richard was always praised for his love and devotion to Suzan during her long illness." ***** Saved!; July 8; Empire 3; $6.50; 5PM; Ticket purchase: 4:49PM. Tagline: Heaven Help Us. Plot Outline: When a girl (Jena Malone) attending a Baptist high school becomes pregnant, she finds herself ostracized and demonized, as all of her former friends turn on her. Decent, but instead of really skewering home a message about religious fanatics, a soft/sweet/cop-out ending is chosen. Cast Directed by Brian Dannelly. Written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban. REM's Michael Stipe is one of the producers. ***** Anchorman; July 9; AMC Van Ness. My review for this successfully insane comedy is here. Meanwhile, we had an unbelievable filmgoing experience. I wish I had this guy's name and/or photo to publish here. The guy who spent the first 20 minutes of the movie attempting to pirate it via filming it with his video camera. Usher type people kept going over to him and asking him to stop or he'd have to leave. He was like, "okay." By the time they turned around to leave he was already filming again. When these people came over to him, he would talk really loudly. He would just point to the screen and say, "Hey I'm watching the movie," acting like he had no idea what they were talking about. This guy was a fucking asshole, straight up. Who does this? The usher type people couldn't handle him and had to keep going to get other usher type people. Finally he left. And when he left he left like he was a guy you had over to your house and he was leaving the living room. Except you didn't have this asshole over to your house. Totally loud. So thoughtless and annoying. *****
I rarely see silent films. I am not a fan of Chaplin's -- sorry people: he is just not funny. I like Harold Lloyd better and I really like Buster Keaton. My fav silent film is Keaton's The General. Meanwhile, The Blue Bird is the one silent film I got myself to during the 9th Annual SF Silent Film Fest. Partially because it sounded neat, and partially because it was directed by the father of a director I really admire, Jacques Tourneur. For the most part, I think this film really worked. It pretty well took me into this fantasy world that these kids -- kids from 1918 were in. One thing as I was watching it, I wondered if the two little kids could still be alive. I mean, they could be, but were they? They'd be in their 90s. But that's possible. Anyway, these poor kids, who oddly live directly across the street from some rich kids, have this dream... Well, first this witch type man comes over (he's a third neighbor) and asks the kids, Mytyl and Tyltyl (who I kept wanting to call Tytyl because it still seems to make more sense), if his very, very sick daughter can have their blue bird because she loves it and he thinks it might help her recover. The man comes off as villainous, and the kids say no. Next, although cash-poor, the family is not wanting for love: Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Dog, and Cat. So then the two kids have this simultaneous dream. So that's our first concern about how much of a dream is this? Household objects become real (people in very silly costumes): a loaf of bread, other things, and somewhat surprisingly the dog and cat become actors in dog and cat costumes, and they also take on the deepest personalities. The dog is the loyal, heroic caretaker of the kids, the cat is selfish and only into him/her-self. Of course, stereotypical traits of these pets taken to slightly more extreme levels. I don't mean to offend cat-lover (I like cats, I do), but come on, that's kind of like one of the reason that cat lovers are cat lovers -- they need less affection, are more independent (totally a good thing), and are even more selfish and less concerned with their masters than dogs (and dogs are damn selfish!). The film is shown in several different tinted colors -- very affecting and pretty. Anway, the Castro was PACKED, and the Castro is a big theatre, so I was glad for that -- I'm always glad when film fests are successful (duh). Still, for me to get much out of a silent film, I think I'm going to need to see it in a theatre. On video, my TV is small and far away, I'm on the computer, I've got a dog, I don't know. It kind of needs to be force-fed to me. But it's always good to experience a silent movie, and sometimes it's really cool -- like with Maurice Tourneur's The Blue Bird -- and Keaton's The General. Sunrise is at the Stanford next Wednesday (Sept 8, 2004) -- and I really want to go. We'll see. ***** Fahrenheit 9/11; $9.50; 7/11; ticket bought at 4:27pm; show: 4:30; ticket sold by Raechelle. I don't like Michael Moore. He's a grandstander, and a falsifier to some extent, and in many ways he's just as bad as the conservatives who push their own agenda -- only thing Moore is pushing an agenda I agree with: we gotta get rid of Bush. Moore's film is very manipulative, and at times contradictory (he's anti the war, but then he also seems to be saying at times, that it looks like we should have gone to war earlier). Showing a grieving mother crying at the loss of her son in Iraq can't really work as an anti-war statement, because, let's face it: there are times when you gotta go to war. In December 1941 when America finally declared war on Germany and Japan -- should we not have? I mean, Japan attacks us, and we all know what sick, sick nastiness Germany was up to. Whatever, it was good that at least a lot of people were seeing this movie. It's something to think about, and discuss. And Moore does make some legit points. ***** TUESDAY JULY 13: THE BEST OF EVERYTHING: Daily: 1:30, 4:15, 7:00, 9:30: Three working girls in the big city: a delicious genre (the clothes! the sets! the amours!) that's proven supremely adaptable over the decades, from 1925's Sally, Irene, and Mary to 1967's Valley of the Dolls. (Add a girl, and the formula worked perfectly well for a "daring" late-lamented HBO hit.) For the lush Twentieth Century Fox CinemaScope bonbon The Best of Everything, based on the bestselling novel by Rona Jaffe (the combination Judith Krantz and Helen Fielding of her day), only the best of everything would do (all tech credits pro, as Variety would have it): producer Jerry Wald, inspiration for Sammy Glick, hired three-girls specialist Jean Negulesco, a Romanian charmer who cheerfully glorified the American girl (How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Coins in the Fountain) for Fox in DeLuxe color, and Sammy Cahn and Alfred Newman to write the aching title song, sung by Johnny Mathis. The three girls, blonde Hope Lange, brunette Diane Baker, and redheaded Suzy Parker, work in the oh-so-glamorous world of publishing (offices in the Seafram Building, no less), but their real job is looking for love, in mostly all the wrong places, with, among others, Stephen Boyd, Louis Jourdan, and, for fans of The Kid Stays in the Picture, Robert Evans in his last onscreen role. And, for fans of Joan Crawford, there she is, ramrod-straight and dieted-down, in her first-ever supporting role (though nobody seemed to tell that to Joan), as uber-bitch-editress Amanda Farrow. Abortions! Adultery! Alcoholism! (With stalking and true love thrown in, and with white gloves and pearls.) It really is the best of everything. -- Meredith Brody (1959) 121m. My friend Marnie is gone as I write this. Gone to NYC. Our last movie together was The Best of Everything. And, so, here's some email back-and-forth between Marnie and myself (hopefully she doesn't mind my printing some direct quotes from her):
Ted: Totally! Are you still up for it? You want me to pick you up at a certain time? 6:15? Marnie: yeah, i'm still down. would 6:30 be too late? i can try to get home by 6:15, but that will be cutting it a little close. or maybe i can meet you somewhere around the theater cause then i would just go straight there. i could meet you at 6:30 nearby. what do you think? where to meet--if you want to do that? Ted: What is easier for you? Marnie: to meet you there. will you eat popcorn for dinner, or did you want to grab something quick beforehand? pizza? where should we meet? Ted: at that pizza place across street? will we have time? what time will you be there do you think? Marnie: i can meet you at the pizza place at 6:20. this should be enough time assuming the show isn't too full. do you think it will be? Ted: I think we'll be okay, therefore -- I think we'll be awesome! See you at 6:20!!!!!!!!!!! Ted!! So that may not be that interesting, but it might be in like 80 years. If it's still there. If people still talk and/or email. But anyway, I got there like 15 or so minutes early, and I checked the pizza place -- just in case -- and Marnie wasn't there. So I went across the street and went into this magazine-cigarettes store and looked at magazines. Then I went back across the street and leaned on the railing of the BART exit, figuring I'd just see Marnie when she came out. All of a sudden it's 6:30 and Marnie's still not there! And I'm like (in my head): "Marnie!" And so, I'm like, it's possible she could be at the pizza place, so I walked down the, like, 50 or so feet, and she's standing there waiting for me! She had gotten there early, went across the street to some other store and gone back to the pizza place! And she was all, like, hrmphing me 'cause I was late! But, technically she was in the right. She was waiting at the right place. So, the movie was kinda fun... The original tagline for this film was: The Female Jungle EXPOSED! Cast Directed by Jean Negulesco. Written by Mann Rubin, Edith R. Sommer, based on the Rona Jaffe novel. Produced by Jerry Wald. Original Music by Alfred Newman; song "The Best of Everything" by Lionel Newman, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, sung by Johnny Mathis, orchestrator Earle Hagen (of The Andy Griffith Show Theme fame). Cinematography by William C. Mellor. 20th Century Fox. Runtime: 121 min. DeLuxe Color. Westrex Recording System. Trivia from imdb: This was the first time Joan Crawford accepted a supporting role in a movie, supposedly because she found herself in debt after the death of husband Alfred Steele early in 1959. According to Diane Baker, Crawford's role was cut even further before release, causing the removal of a show-stopping drunk scene by Crawford. Well, this film is a little long, but has a lot of crazy times-of-yore attitudes that are fun. (Plus, seeing a pretty packed movie at the Castro -- in the Castro -- that has Joan Crawford in it is like, you know you're in for some audience participation.) Anyway, Hope Lange is strong, smart and hardworking (she's also shockingly beautiful -- something I hadn't quite noticed before when I'd seen her in other things). Yet, she's stupid when it comes to this ass who she is planning to marry as soon as he gets back from his fancy European trip (guess who's screwing around on her...). Suzy Parker is a slacking secretary who is always busy at auditions in re her desire to become a superstar actress! Diane Baker (who can be so great sometimes: seen briefly as the Republican senator and mother of kidnap victim in Silence of the Lambs, and most notably as Joanna Clay in a 1976 episode of Columbo, Last Salute to the Commodore) is super naive April who nearly unwittingly falls for the advances of aged alcoholic editor Brian Aherne (a pretty good performance), and then does succumb to Robert Evans' callous playboy who woos her with lines like "sure I love ya baby!" -- meaning: "you'd better get them draws (drawers -- panties) off and let me take care of business if you ever want to see me again." So, she fools herself into believing that Robert Evans (of all people!) really does love her. Guess what, or rather, guess who gets pregnant. That's cool, though, because Baker believes Evans is going to marry her. She's all jabbering away about love and puppies and children and Evans gets her into his convertible and is like, "shut it, broad, I ain't takin' ya to city hall -- I'm taking you to -- a -- doctor!" Yeah, that kinda doctor, baby. Baker freaks and attempts to leave the convertible while it's moving. Next she's in hospital. She's so sad -- she's lost the baby (what I call convenient and not a surprise). Best moment of the film happens next when Baker tells visiting pal Lange "Now I'm just somebody who's had an affair." (As Baker's learned the error of her ways, and is allowed (via 50s mores) to meet a nice young doctor, who is standing behind Lange and hears the confession. Wow! He's so sweet he's going to "forgive" Baker. Also, you can bet that he and Baker won't be fucking until at least the night of their wedding. And possibly not even then. Likely, our doc is a torn gay Catholic.) that now she's nothing but a woman' who's had an affair! So funny. I mean, yes, people thought that way back then (ie my mom!), but it's still funny to hear it put that way. Earlier this year (March 2004 Issue) there was a neat, long, high profile article on the making of TBOE in Vanity Fair. Meanwhile, here's a link to a write-up in Movieline. ***** We Don't Live Here Anymore; Friday July 16th; 11am; Variety Club Preview Room. Check out my rather minor review of this rather minor film here at Mediasharx.com. ***** The Bourne Supremacy; film review for mediasharx here. *****
I rented M. Hulot's Holiday once about 10 or 15 years ago, and ever since, I have not been a big fan of Jacques Tati ever since. So, maybe if I saw that film again, now under different circumstances, and bla bla, I'd like it more, I don't know. But Playtime had a lot to recommend it. In fact on cinematography and set design alone the film is worthwhile. Great use of color, great use of widescreen, great use of sets, etc. It's funny and cute and pokes a bit of fun at modernization. Very much in the style of a silent film. But I would also venture to say that by far the best place to see this film would be in a theatre on a big screen -- as I did, at the Castro. *****
So, director Michael Haneke tends to make some rather downbeat films -- to put it mildly... I've seen three: I really liked The Piano Teacher -- disturbing but in a good, true way that did not get overindulgent, with a great performance by Isabelle Huppert; Code Unknown -- very interesting with a great performance by Juliette Binoche; Funny Games was a nasty thriller -- or a satire of a nasty thriller, which was to make us, the audience, rethink something, or something, but I never bought that aspect, and only found this movie nasty... So, The Time of the Wolf is kind of like that, but better than Funny Games, it's unpleasant, and not interesting enough to get over the unpleasantness and make it worth it. Isabelle Huppert is always great and watchable, but this movie mainly just leaves me really looking forward to her next film, hoping it's better. ***** The Manchurian Candidate; Kabuki; 11:25am; Friday, 7.30.4; Aud #4; $7.50. My review for Mediasharx.com is here.
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Marnie wrote: did you want to go to the 7:00 showing? you still up for it? or what?
