Monthly Archives: December 2015

Johnny Guitar
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Written by Philip Yordan from a novel by Roy Chanslor
1954/USA
Republic Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#292 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Johnny: There’s only two things in this world that a ‘real man’ needs: a cup of coffee and a good smoke.[/box]

Nick Ray strays into Sam Fuller territory with this gaudy, off-kilter Technicolor Western.

Vienna (Joan Crawford) owns a saloon in the middle of cattle country.  The headstrong businesswoman’s plan is to wait for the railroad to pass through and then cash in on a new town.  The ranchers have little use for the railroad or Vienna.  But Vienna has a secret weapon in the form of the enigmatic Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden).  The two apparently had a thing at one time but at first things are more platonic not least because Vienna has since had a thing with the Dancin’ Kid.

A stagecoach is robbed and a man is killed.  Blame is pinned on the Dancin’ Kid’s gang. Emma (Mercedes McCambridge), the sister of the victim, insists that Vienna was also mixed up in this.  She starts organizing a lynching party.

The Kid’s gang is evidently innocent of the stagecoach hold-up but decides the best way to get money to leave town is to rob the local bank.  Vienna is in the bank at the time but her money is spared.  All these things whip Emma into a state of righteous wrath and builds up to the climactic battle between the two women.  With Ernest Borgnine as a gang member, Ward Bond as a town elder and John Carradine as a loyal drunk.

If for nothing else, this is worth seeing simply to watch Crawford and McCambridge try to outdo each other in the overacting department as each actress’s character vies to become Queen Bee of the territory.  Otherwise, it’s enjoyable but nothing that makes me want to see it again.

TrailerJohnny

The Barefoot Contessa
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
1954/USA
Figaro/Transoceanic Film
First viewing/Amazon Instant
#288 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Maria Vargas: In Hollywood, it is not easy to become a star.

Harry Dawes: Ah, where is it easy?[/box]

Mankiewicz takes a melodramatic look behind the “glamour” of show business through a cynical Cinderella story of a Spanish beauty who becomes a Hollywood star.  It’s watchable enough.

Writer-Director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) has fallen on hard times and has taken to working for egomaniac producer Kirk Edwards.  The two are in Europe scouting for a fresh face to star as leading lady in their new film.  They find her in gorgeous nightclub dancer Maria Vargas.  Despite her bearing and beauty, Maria is a simple sort who prefers going barefoot and has a turbulent home life.  With the help of Dawes and PR man Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O’Brien),  Maria’s film debut is a sensation and she is a star.

All Maria’s fame and beauty seem to do for her, however, is make her the prize in a tug-of-war between the men in her life.   Finally, it seems she may have found her Prince Charming in the form of handsome, wealthy Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi).  But life is not a fairy tale even for the rich and famous.  With Valentina Cortese, Warren Stevens, Elizabeth Sellars, and Marius Goring.

I thought this film dragged and could not really get too excited about Gardner’s fate.  The actors all seemed tired.  I might not have been in the right mood.

Edmund O’Brien won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor beating out three far superior performances in On the Waterfront.  Mankiewicz was nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay.

Trailer

On the Waterfront
Directed by Elia Kazan
Written by Budd Schulberg based on his original story suggested by articles by Malcolm Johnson
1954/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Horizon Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#281 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Edie: I want you to stay away from me.

Terry: Edie, you love me… I want you to say it to me.

Edie: I didn’t say I didn’t love you. I said, “Stay away from me.”[/box]

Every few years a group of craftspeople and artists at the peak of their creativity come together at one time and place and create a movie.  This is one such movie.

Terry Malone (Marlon Brando) grew up among longshoremen on the waterfront.  His brother Charley (Rod Steiger) went to college and became a big shot in the extremely corrupt union run by boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb).  At one time, Johnny backed Terry in his career as a prize fighter.  Now Terry works as longshoreman, raises pigeons, and does the bidding of Johnny and Charley.  One day this involves luring a whistle-blower, Joey Doyle, to the roof, from which he is then pushed by Johnny’s henchmen.

Terry has very mixed feelings about his part in Joey’s murder, which are further complicated by his feelings for Joey’s sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint).  A local priest, Father Barry (Karl Malden), becomes radicalized and starts working to get Terry to testify against Johnny and his gang before a crime commission.  Terry is torn between loyalty to his roots and his developing conscience and love for Edie until the powerful climax of the story.

I hadn’t seen this one in awhile and was blown away yet again.  I think this is Marlon Brando’s greatest performance.  He balances sensitivity and explosive power brilliantly. Then we get some of the best character actors of the 50’s and 60’s at the top of their game.  The Criterion Collection Blu-Ray makes the fantastic cinematography shine.  If all this were not enough, Leonard Bernstein’s amazing score perfectly accompanies the action and emotion of the piece.  Most highly recommended.

On the Waterfront won Academy Awards for Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Saint); Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White; and Best Film Editing.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Cobb, Malden, and Steiger) and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comediy Picture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSImMMMf5nA
Trailer

A Star Is Born
Directed by George Cukor
Written by Moss Hart; 1937 screenplay by Dorothy Parker, Alan Campbell, and Robert Carson; story by Carson and William A. Wellman
1954/USA
Transcona Enterprises/Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#284 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Judge George J. Barnes: Were you Norman Maine the actor?[/box]

This is a fine musical melodrama but it’s not a movie I love.

Esther Blodgett (Judy Garland) is the singer with a band that is one of the opening acts at a benefit.  Norman Maine (James Mason), one of the featured stars, shows up roaring drunk and stumbles into her act.  Esther reacts like a trooper turning his appearance into a comedy spot.  Later that night, after he sobers up, Norman goes in search of Esther and finds her jamming with some other musicians at a closed club.  He recognizes star quality when he sees it and offers to bring Esther to the attention of Hollywood bigwigs.  Before he can do this, though, he is more or less shanghai’d off to a remote shooting location.

Esther has bought the dream though and does her best to get somewhere in Hollywood. She is renamed Vickie Lester in the process. When Norman returns, he gets her a plum part and her talent does the rest and makes her a major star.  Unfortunately, twenty years of heavy drinking and bad behavior have rendered Norman virtually unemployable.  Norman’s addiction plays havoc with his romance and marriage to Vickie.  With Jack Carson as a cynical PR man and Charles Bickford as a studio head.

This has some amazing numbers for Garland, particularly “The Man That Got Away”, and a great performance by Mason.  The rest of the numbers seem sort of shoe-horned into the melodrama but are quite OK. The jabs at Hollywood hypocrisy are effective.  I’m going to be in the minority, I know, in feeling like Garland goes way over the top in the final third of the movie.

This movie was a remake of A Star Is Born (1937) directed by William A. Wellman and starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March.  I prefer the story as a straight drama.  It was remade again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson as a rock and roll melodrama.

A Star Is Born was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Actress; Bess Actor; Best Art Decoration-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Music, Original Song (“The Man That Got Away”); and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.

Trailer

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Directed by Stanley Donen
Written by Albert Hackett, Frances Goodrich and Dorothy Kingsley based on a story by Stephen Vincent Millay
1954/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#294 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Milly: Well, it wouldn’t hurt you to learn some manners, too.

Adam: What do I need manners for? I already got me a wife.[/box]

For us dance fans out there, this entertains despite the dated sexual politics and corn.

Adam Pontipee (Howard Keel) is the eldest of seven parentless brothers carving out a homestead in a remote region of the Orgeon territory.  The housekeeping and cooking isn’t exactly up to scratch, so he decides what they need is some wives.  Adam makes one of his rare visits to town for supplies and starts scouting prospects.  All the eligible ladies are already spoken for.  But, rather miraculously, Milly, the feisty cook at the local saloon takes a long look at the big galoot and decides to marry him on the spot.  After she gets used to the idea of living with seven illiterate ruffians, the marriage works out ok.

Milly begins to groom the other boys to win them wives as well.  They succeed in attracting some girls at a local barn-raising but courtship is not going so fast as they would wish.  Inspired by tales of the Sabine women, Adam decides to simply kidnap the lasses.  With Russ Tamblin as one of the boys and Julie Newmar as one of the brides.

The superb dancing and singing was enough for me to overlook any political incorrectness in this one.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers won an Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Writing, Screenplay; Best Cinematography, Color; and Best Film Editing.

Clip – Barn-raising dance