Monthly Archives: June 2018

The Strangler
Directed by Burt Topper
Written by Bill S. Ballinger
1964/USA
Bischoff-Diamond Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] “I knew–though I didn’t recognize the fact–that I wasn’t all right.” ― Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me[/box]

One of the better of the many Psycho progeny.

Leo Kroll (Victor Buono) has mommy issues.  Mom (Ellen Corby) is currently in a nursing home.  He doesn’t visit as often as she would like.  When he does, she berates him and puts him down.  Leo has developed an outlet for his rage.  He has taken to strangling nurses with nylon stockings.

One of this serial killer’s signatures is the mangled doll he leaves behind.  We learn that these are obtained through his considerable prowess at a carnival game that offers the dolls as a prize.  As a police investigation gets closer and closer to Leo his crimes become more frequent and personal.

Victor Buono’s truly creepy performance makes this movie.  He is scary, arrogant, and just plain weird.  Sort of a Laird Cregar of the 60’s.  Recommended for those who like this kind of thing.

Seven Days in May
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Written by Rod Sterling from a novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II
1964/USA
Joel Productions/Seven Arts Productions
Repeat viewing/FilmStruck

[box] Senator Raymond Clark: All you’ve got to know is this: right now the government of the United States is sitting on top of the Washington Monument, right on the very point, tilting right and left and ready to fall off and break up on the pavement. There are just a handful of men that can prevent it. And you’re one of them.[/box]

I expected more suspense in a conspiracy theory film from John Frankenheimer.

In the not so distant future, America is divided over President Jordan Lyman’s (Fredric March) decision to enter into a nuclear disarmament agreement with the Soviet Union. Chief among the President’s detractors is General James Scott (Burt Lancaster), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Fortuitously, Marine Colonel ‘Jiggs’ Casey (Kirk Douglas) learns of a top secret base in the desert.  He eventually discovers that, unless foiled, there will be a military coup to overthrow the President in the next seven days.

The remainder of the film follows the battle of wits between supporters of the President and supporters of the coup.  Many dirty tricks are employed.  With Edmund O’Brien as a dipsomaniac Senator and friend of the President and Ava Gardner as General Scott’s ex-mistress.

This obviously has a fantastic cast and they handle their roles admirably.  My problem with the film that the amount of speechifying undercuts what could be a very tense and suspenseful story.  I had seen this before but had forgotten almost all of it – never a good sign.  It’s got a 7.9/10 IMDb rating so your mileage may vary.

Seven Days in May was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Edmund O’Brien) and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

Zorba the Greek (Alexis Zorba)
Directed by Michael Cacoyannis
Written by Michael Cacoyannis from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
1964/Greece/USA
Twentieth Century Fox
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

Alexis Zorba: Life is trouble. Only death is not. To be alive is to undo your belt and *look* for trouble.

Anthony Quinn is such an infectious life force that it is easy to forget how sad much of this movie is.

Basil (Alan Bates) is a bookish young Brit who has returned to his father’s native island of Crete to try his hand at reopening the old family coal mine.  His boat is delayed by a storm and he meets Zorba (Anthony Quinn) who instantly takes a liking to him and offers to accompany him as cook and “mining engineer”.  The two could not be more different but Zorba quickly becomes a father figure and cultural guide to the younger man.

The earthy Zorba has sexual energy to spare and soon starts an affair with Parisian widow Madame Hortense (Lila Kordova) who lives in her very colorful past.  He advises Basil to set his cap for an aloof young widow (Irene Pappas) who has rejected the advances of most of the single men in town, including the mayor’s son who is obsessed by her.  The joys of life on Crete are counterbalanced by some genuine tragedy.

Anthony Quinn is absolutely amazing in this picture.  He becomes Zorba and you fall in love with him.  The women match him in intensity.  Bates is something of a cipher and his plummy upper-class accent sounds odd on him.  The production values are outstanding. One would want to move to Crete if it didn’t rain so much.  Then again the Cretan people are not seen in the best light.

Zorba the Greek won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actress (Kedrova); Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; and Best Art Decoration-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Quinn); Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Media.

The Pumpkin Eater
Directed by Jack Clayton
Written by Harold Pinter from a novel by Penelope Mortimer
1964/UK
Romulus Films
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,/ Had a wife but couldn’t keep her;/ He put her in a pumpkin shell/ And there he kept her very well. – Nursery rhyme [/box]

Powerful performances anchor a story of marital breakdown.

Jo has eight children from three marriages.  Six are living at home with her and husband Jake.  Only one of the children is his but Jake apparently takes the chaotic household in stride.  Something tells Jo that all is not well and she becomes suspicious of the relationship between her live-in friend Philpot (super-young Maggie Smith) and Jake.

Unspoken tension in the marriage is pushing Jo to the point of nervous breakdown.  Then she finds herself pregnant again and the tension erupts into fireworks.  With Cecil Hardwicke in his final film as Jo’s father and James Mason as a wronged husband.

I enjoyed this for the performances but did not understand the dynamics of the relationship too well.  The film includes a nice Georges Delerue score and beautiful cinematography by Oswald Morris.

Anne Bancroft was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress.

What a Way to Go!
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green; story by Gwen Davis
1964/USA
Apjac-Orchard Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Rod Anderson, Jr.: What are you doing after the orgy?[/box]

A stellar cast and lavish production enliven a pretty silly story.

The story is framed by Louisa May Foster’s (Shirley MacLaine) session with a psychiatrist (Robert Cummings) telling her life story.  When Louisa May Foster (Shirley MacLaine) comes of age, her money-grubbing mother wants her to marry Leonard Crawley (Dean Martin), the big man in Crawleyville.  Louisa despises the conceited Crawley and marries Edgar Hopper, a Thoreau-reading general store keeper.  One day, Edgar is inspired to go to work and just can’t stop until he has amassed a fortune.  He dies of overwork leaving a rich widow.

Louisa seems to be condemned to repeat the same story over and over again.  In turn she marries a starving American artist in Paris (Paul Newman), a bored millionaire who wants to go back to the farm (Robert Mitchum), and a bad small-time comic (Gene Kelly).  As soon as MacLaine thinks she has found happiness, her husband becomes successful and leaves a rich and overworked corpse.  Each of the segments contains a movie spoof showing life with that husband.

There was a sort of craze for what I call “cartoon-style” colorful larger-than-life story in the 60s which this film exemplifies perfectly.  It’s fun to look at, especially MacLaine’s fantastic wardrobe, but ultimately unsatisfying to me.

What a Way to Go! was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color amd Best Costume Design color.