Monthly Archives: May 2024

Mommie Dearest
Directed by Frank Perry
Written by Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, etc. from a book by Christina Crawford
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental

Joan Crawford: Why can’t you give me the respect that I’m entitled to? Why can’t you treat me like I would be treated by any stranger on the street?
Christina: Because I am NOT one of your FANS.

This film might have been saved by a better script and a different leading lady.

Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) has it all and fights constantly to keep it.  One thing the much-divorced actress lacks is a family.  She can’t have children of her own or convince an adoption agency she is a fit mother so she essentially buys two, Christina and Christopher.  They make great props for her press events.  She shows them much affection until they demonstrate that they have wills and needs of their own.

Joan gets into a running battle with the strong-willed Christina.  She must resort to harsher and harsher punishments but they just terrify the little girl.  It doesn’t help that Joan becomes a belligerent drunk and loses her mind as her career goes down the tubes.

This movie destroyed Faye Dunaway’s career and with good reason.  She was horribly miscast.  She was a good actress but not one who could disappear into a character.  So her Joan Crawford just seems like Faye Dunaway on a rampage.  In addition, she reportedly was extremely difficult to work with and thought she was turning in an Oscar-winning performance.  The script is pure sensationalism and exploitation.  The film does have some camp delights but not enough to recommend watching it.

Coup de Torchon (Clean Slate)
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier
Written by Jean Aurenche and Bernard Tavernier from the novel “Pop. 1280” by Jim Thompson
1981/France
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime channel

Lucien Cordier: They say we are made in God’s image though if that were true I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley!

Is this a jet black comedy?  It is certainly not a murder mystery.

It is 1938 in French West Africa.  Lucien Cordier (Philippe Noiret) is the Chief of Police in a small town.  He is a real sad sack, hired because of his laziness and ability to turn a blind eye.  He is the butt of everyone’s jokes.  He is married to Huguette (Stephane Audran), who is openly having an affair with her “brother” that lives with them. He takes up with Rose (Isabelle Huppert), a sex pot who is the victim of her husband’s physical and verbal abuse.

After his latest humiliation, he goes to the big city and is  told to give back double of what he gets from his tormentors.  Somehow Lucien believes this is a license to kill, which he does with abandon for the remainder of the film, being careful to always have a fall guy for his crimes.

The story this has most in common with is Taxi Driver (1976).  The Philippe Noiret character is a complicated mix of clown and avenger.  He comes to view his job as taking out the trash.  There is not one sympathetic character in this movie.  The story could have been told in a more compelling way but I love the actors and the staging so much that I can recommend it.  But only if you like well-done dark stories about unpleasant people.

Thief
Directed by Michael Mann
Written by Michael Mann based on a book by Frank Hohimer
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Apple TV free

 

Frank: You’re marking time is what you are. You’re backing off. You’re hiding out. You’re waiting for a bus that you hope never comes because you don’t wanna get on it anyway because you don’t wanna go anywhere. Ok?

Michael Mann’s film debut features some stylish action and the character study of a man trying to change his life in all the wrong ways.

Frank (James Caan) spent 17 of his formative years in prison, starting with a two-year sentence for stealing $40.00.  While there, he earned another 15 years for manslaughter when he killed to protect himself from rape.  He also learned safecracking  from his friend and mentor Okla (Willie Nelson).  As the movie starts, he has been free for four years and is putting this skill to work.

Frank specializes in high stakes jewel and cash heists. He just needs one last big score before he goes straight.  He wants the same thing as many men have – a wife, a child, and a house.  Unfortunately, he has expensive tastes and feels he is running out of time. He sets his sights on diner hostess Jessie (Tuesday Weld) and she agrees to his awkward  and premature proposal.  He gets an offer he is unable to refuse from big-time fence Leo (Robert Prosky).  But his explosive temper is a bad fit for the work Leo has in mind.

The crime story is the old one of the thief in search of one last heist.  This part is brilliantly stylish and reveals Mann’s budding talent.  The character study part kind of misses the mark for me.  I love Tuesday Weld.  She didn’t make nearly enough movies.  This is also probably Caan’s best work as an actor.

The Killing of America
Directed by Sheldon Renan
Written by Leonard Schrader and Chieko Schrader
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube

[last lines] Narrator: While you watched this movie, five of us were murdered. One was the random killing of a stranger.

The scariest thing about this scary documentary is that violence in America is even worse more than 40 years later.

The film covers the history of violence in America from the assassination of John F. Kennedy to the assassination of John Lennon with other key assassination and assassination attempts along the way.

We also see footage of famous snipers, lunatics, serial killers, spree killers, etc.  Very graphic footage.

While one can’t exactly recommend this movie due to its non-stop carnage, it certainly accomplishes its aim brilliantly.  There is a ton of newsreel and other footage that I had never seen before.  The interviews are also revealing.

On Golden Pond
Directed by Mark Rydell
Written by Ernest Thompson from his novel
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing?/YouTube rental

Ethel: Sometimes… you have to look hard at a person and remember… that he’s doing the best he can. He’s just trying to find his way, that’s all. Just like you.

The acting is the thing in this sweet movie about family and aging.

Norman Thayer Jr. (Henry Fonda) and his wife Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) have spent summers at their place on Golden Pond in New England for years.  He is about to turn 80 and is currently obsessed with dying and his failing memory.  Ethel adores him but worries.  Their daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) is to visit for the birthday party with her new boyfriend Bill (Dabney Coleman) and his thirteen-year-old son Billy.  Chelsea carries a grudge toward Dad for various slights in her childhood.

And Dad is definitely not on his best behavior for Chelsea’s visit.  He seems to have lost his filter and blurts out the first thing that crosses his mind, which is usually not too pleasant.  Despite all this Chelsea wants her parents to take Billy for a month so that she and Bill can vacation in Europe.  Norman and Ethel agree.

This is one of those movies I was sure I had seen before.  Evidently not.  It’s a well-done story about aging and family.  It would have been treacly without the outstanding Oscar-winning performances by Fonda and Hepburn.  How is it that Fonda did not win before this?  He is really great here.  Hepburn is playing Hepburn as only she can.  I loved the scenery too.

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn won Best Actor (his first) and Best Actress (her fourth) Oscars.  The film was nominated in the categories of Best Picture, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress.

Loons! I love them so

This Is Elvis
Written and Directed by Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt
1981/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube renta

I hope I didn’t bore you too much with my life story. — Elvis Presley

An uneasy but interesting mix of biopic and documentary that features revealing footage of Elvis Presley’s journey from humble country boy to King of Rock and Roll to tragic figure.

The film attempts to tell its story using a mix of actors and seldom seen footage of Elvis.  We see early TV appearances, scenes from his movies, and concert footage.  Home movies and newsreels are included.  It is sad to see his disintegration in the 70’s.  Non-stop touring left him looking both high and ill as he struggles through his lines on stage.  Only his voice remained.  And what a voice he had.

Recommended!

The Aviator’s Wife (La femme de l’aviateur)
Directed by Eric Rohmer
Written by Eric Rohmer
1981/France
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

When people get married because they think it’s a long-time love affair, they’ll be divorced very soon, because all love affairs end in disappointment. But marriage is a recognition of a spiritual identity. — Joseph Campbell

The first in Eric Rohmer’s six-part “Comedies et Proverbes” is one of his classic contemplations on the vicissitudes of young love.

Anne (Marie Riviere) is a working 25-year old.  As the movie begins, her married lover Christian comes over at 7 am to inform her that he is going back to his wife, who is now pregnant.  She spends the entire rest of the film in a very bad mood.  She is also seeing Francois, a 20-year-old student who adores her.  He has even arranged for someone to repair her faulty plumbing.  But she just wants him to leave her alone so she can suffer in private.

Francois spotted Christian leaving Anne’s building and Anne refuses to explain what is going on.  So when he spots Christian and a blonde in a cafe, he decides to follow them. In the process, he meets pretty, saucy 15-year old Lucie.  She rapidly figures out what he is up to and becomes his enthusiastic partner in detection.

While this is not the best movie Rohmer ever made, it is thoroughly enjoyable.  The director has such a deft hand at portraying the confusion of youth and the vagaries of attraction and romance. So they are not so much stories about love as they are comedies of manners about how people search for love.

Not a missing theme song but relevant none the less