Monthly Archives: November 2020

State of Siege (Etat de siege)
Directed by Costa-Gavras
Written by Franco Salinas; original scenario by Costa-Gavras and Salinas
1972/France/Italy/West Germany
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Tupamaro militant: {repeated exchange that occurs between the leader and five different militants who are asked to vote on killing a hostage] I’ve received the report.
Tupamaro leader: So, you know the situation. This is not a personal problem. It was never that. It’s a political problem. Yes or no?

I was underwhelmed with this Costa-Gavras entry.  There’s all the politics but without the energy.

The setting is Montevideo, Uruguay in August of 1969.  The names have been changed but this film is based on and takes sides on an historical incident involving the kidnap and murder of an American USAID worker named Dan Motreoni, who was training the Uruguayan police.

After brief framing device beginning the story at its end with a funeral, we segue into flashback which occupies most of the film. Yves Montand plays Motreoni’s alter-ego American Philip Michael Santori, who lives the diplomatic lifestyle with his wife and several children.  At the time, the Tupamaros were somewhat low-key leftist revolutionaries who used a Robin Hood technique to attract followers.  They stole the money to distribute to the poor from robbing banks or carjacking motorists at gunpoint.

The Uruguayan Government was determined to stamp out any opposition.  Santori had been training the civil police in counter-insurgency techniques.  The Tupamaros resorted to kidnapping, murder, and assassination.  The kidnappers of Santori wanted to use him in an exchange for a number of Tupamaro prisoners.  They  stage a mock trial in which they repeatedly try to get Santori to confess to war crimes.  All this is pretty polite as they plan to keep Santori healthy for the exchange.  But his fate will be governed by cold political calculation.  With Renato Salvatore as a police official.

I have a particular interest in the history of Uruguay, having worked in Montevideo in the early 90’s, and still this movie failed to grab me.  As a PS to the story, after much bloodshed the Tupamaros were banned and in 1973 a military coup ended liberal democracy until it was restored in 1985.  Costa-Gavras is best when he gives us characters to care about.  The problem here maybe simply that Yves Montand is the central character and the only one we know a little about.  But he is clearly supposed to be the enemy and the teacher of unspeakable torture practices.  To add to that, there is entirely too much talking.  On the plus side, it has a nice Mikis Theodorakis score.

The New Land (Nybyggarna)
Directed by Jan Troell
Written by Bengt Forslund and Jan Troell from a novel by Vilhelm Moberg
1972/Sweden
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Karl-Oskar: We can’t risk your life.
Kristina: My life is in the hands of the Almighty.
Karl-Oskar: It’s too dangerous. How dare you?
Kristina: It’s easy. I don’t care about the doctor. I trust in God. If I live, it is His will. If I die, it is His will.

The story of Swedish immigrants in America is one of triumph through tragedy.  I have some nits to pick but this is a compelling sequel.

The film picks up in 1850 Minnesota where The Emigrants (1971) left off.  The Nilsson family – father Karl-Oskar (Max von Sydow), mother Kristina (Liv Ullmann), their children and Karl-Oskar’s young brother Robert (Eddie Axberg) – separate from their fellow immigrants and go to the land Karl-Oskar has selected for them.  It is forested land on a lake.  They start with the belongings they have brought with them on the ship and some small amount of cash.  The family begins building their house and planting crops.  They overcome many obstacles.  We follow their relations with neighbors as the settlement grows.

Early on they make the acquaintance of the indigenous population.  Kristina shares what little they have with some women and makes a kind of peace.  As the years wind on occasionally some Native Americans will show up, examine everything carefully and take something they want.  It looks like this is a tolerable level of harmony for both sides.  But it does not last.

Robert bristles under the criticism of his older brother and takes off with a friend to walk to the gold fields of California.  This is an extremely ill-fated move and filmed in sort of a nightmarish way.

Finally, Kristina who has been pregnant most times during the years covered by the story is told by a doctor that another childbirth will kill her.  The years go on.  Some more sad, tragic stuff happens.  But the family prospers financially and the next generation will be 100% American.

I thought the first part of the film was on a par with the previous film.  It leisurely gives a highly detailed account that puts the viewer in the action and feeling the emotions that the newcomers must have felt as they worked for survival.

Then things get pretty dark. The trip to California and the fate of the Indians are filmed and edited in a very 1972  self-conscious way that I did not particularly like. It’s a long film and a bit of a misery sandwich but I’m glad I saw it.  If you get around to “The Emigrants”, I’m sure you will want to see this one as well.

The New Land was nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.

Nice tribute by Liv Ullmann to director/writer/cinematographer Jan Troell

Unused theme song

The Merchant of Four Seasons (Händler der vier Jahreszeiten)
Directed by Ranier Werner Fassbinder
Written by Ranier Werner Fassbinder
1972/West Germany
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Every decent director has only one subject, and finally only makes the same film over and over again. My subject is the exploitability of feelings, whoever might be the one exploiting them. It never ends. It’s a permanent theme. Whether the state exploits patriotism, or whether in a couple relationship, one partner destroys the other.  — Ranier Werner Fassbinder

I think I like the high melodrama Fassbinder better than the political Fassbinder.  This film is on the political side.

The setting is in the lower-middle-class environs of contemporary Munich, Germany.  Hans Epp has had a colorful past including in the police department from whence he was fired when caught accepting the sexual favors of a prostitute and subsequently in the French Foreign Legion.  Now, he ekes out a living for his wife Irmgard (Irm Herrmann) and daughter by hawking fruit in the courtyards of low-rent apartment buildings.

Everyone looks down on Hans for his lowly profession, including his entire family.  He reacts by becoming a mean drunk and assaulting the domineering, and long-suffering, Irmgard.  Irmgard has her bags packed when, suddenly, Hans has an incapacitating heart attack.  He can no longer lift anything and must take it easy.

Irm gets the bright idea of selling from a fruit stand herself and hiring someone to sell from the cart.  Hans’ first employee gets caught with his hand in the till. Hans then turns to an old friend from his Foreign Legion Days.  The revived business is a big success.  Hans becomes marginalized and even more despondent.  Fassbinder muse Hanna Schygulla plays Hans Epp’s sister.

The talent in all aspects of making this movie is evident but I didn’t connect with the story. It feels like it is trying to say something about middle class morality in Germany. I’m not sure what. The film lacks the sensory overload or raw emotion of  something like Petra von Kant (1972).  This is more or less just depressing.

Un flic (“Dirty Money”)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville
Written by Jean-Pierre Melville
1972/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Commissaire Edouard Coleman: The only feelings mankind has ever inspired in policemen are those of indifference and derision.

Melville’s swan song is not one of his best but has elements that reveal he was still at the height of his powers.

The setting is contemporary Paris.  Commissaire Edouard Coleman (Alain Delon) is an ice cold detective impervious to even the goriest of crimes.  His best friend is Simon (Richard Crenna) a nightclub owner.  Edouard is having an affair with Simon’s wife Cathy (Catherine Deneuve) before Simon’s very eyes.

What Edouard does not know is that Simon is the ringleader of the gang responsible for a bank robbery resulting in the death of one of the robbers.  He also does not know that the next phase of the plan involves a sophisticated drug heist.  A game of cat and mouse ensues.

There is not a lot of dialogue in this movie with images left to tell the story.  Some of the vignettes are exquisite.  Problem is the plot never really grabbed me nor made me care about the fate of these people.  I would not recommend starting here with Melville.  But he did leave us several fabulous classics in his 55 years and for that I am grateful.

The film might not be a must-see but this clip absolutely is!  How the old becomes new again and again …

Butterflies Are Free
Directed by v
Written by Leonard Gershe from his play
1972/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Don: Mother, you have to laugh sometime, or people will think you’re a lesbian.

I watched this to see Eileen Heckart’s Oscar-winning performance and was not disappointed.  Otherwise it’s a pleasant enough stage-bound rom-com.

The setting is contemporary San Francisco.  Twenty-something Don (Edward Albert) has been blind since birth.  He has been under the thumb of his over-protective mother (Heckart) who wrote a series of children’s book about “Little Donnie Dark” blind boy super-hero.  Don mightily resents this.  Mom drives him crazy by calling him Donnie.

As the movie begins, Don has negotiated the right to rent an apartment of his own for two months as an experiment.  Mom was supposed to leave him alone until the end of the experiment but calls all the time.

The apartment is an extemely low-rent affair.  Don’s quiet existence is interrupted by the arrival of next-door neighbor Jill (Goldie Hawn) in his life.  She is messy whereas he must be neat; she’s a wacky hippie, his mother buys his clothes.  They are an odd couple but soon are virtually living together by unlocking the door that turns their two apartments into one.  Don falls in love.

Mom arrives unannounced and is thoroughly appalled.  But Jill is just the one to teach her some hard truths.

Well, Heckart was just as great in this as she usually is.  She always has a brash exterior covering a tender heart that makes her as moving when she is bossy as when she is showing her real feelings.  My favorite of her performances was in The Bad Seed (1958) as the boozy mother of one of the victims.

Otherwise, this is an entertaining enough way spend an hour and change on some lazy afternoon.  I can say I did have a tear in my eye at the appropriate time.

Eileen Heckart won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.  The film was also nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Sound.

Operation Last Patrol
Directed by Frank Cavestani and Catherine Leroy
1972/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph.  — Ron Kovic

Home-movie quality documentary about the protest that would be recreated in Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July (1982).

A group of Vietnam Veterans Against the War traveled in a convoy from California to Miami to protest at the 1972 Republican National Convention.  There is no narration.  Various incidents are filmed along the road and at the Convention.

This looks like what it probably was.  Some participants filming occasionally during their trip.   It’s a product of its time.  Mostly interesting as a historical document.

Sisters
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Brian De Palma and Louisa Rose; story by De Palma
1972/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1,000 Greatest Horror Films on theyshootzombies.com

Crazy Woman: Did you know that the germs can come through the wires? I never call and I *never* answer. It’s a good way to get sick. Very, very sick… That’s how I got so sick! SOMEONE CALLED ME ON THE TELEPHONE!

Brian De Palma cleverly one-ups several classic Hitchcock thrillers in the blood and gore department to the sounds of Bernard Herrmann’s screechy score..

The setting is New York City.  Danielle Breton (Margot Kidder) is a young model participating in a TV game show called “Peeping Tom”.  The contestants have to guess what Philip, a young man from the audience, will do when she starts to remove her clothing.  After the shoot is over, Danielle approaches Philip and says she doesn’t want to be alone.  Her ex-husband has been stalking her.  The approach turns into a night at Danielle’s apartment.  She tells Phillip that tomorrow is her and her twin sister Dominique’s birthday.

Philip goes out in the morning to surprise Danielle with a birthday cake.  He is in for a surprise of his own when he returns.

Newspaper reporter Grace Collier lives in an opposing flat.  She sees Philip’s bloody demise from her window and calls the cops.  When they get there, they find no trace of evidence.  The police aren’t crazy about Grace in the first place because her main beat seems to be following cases of brutality.

But Grace is determined and hires a private detective (Charles Durning).  This leads the two on a trail that takes them to Quebec and unknown further terrors.

De Palma employs references to Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954) and Rope (1948) in this film but it is far gorier than anything the Master ever attempted.  There is a fair amount of body horror to be had as well.  A truly scary movie that kept my attention all the way through.  Recommended to fans of psychological or body horror.

Sounder
Directed by Martin Ritt
Written by Lonne Elder III from a novel by William H. Armstrong
1972/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

David Lee: You know, I’m going to miss this raggedy old place…. But I ain’t going to worry about it.

This tender story of a loving family of poor African-American sharecroppers should be better remembered.

The time is the Great Depression somewhere in the rural South.  The Morgan family works as sharecroppers.  As the movie begins, cropping season is long gone and the company store will extend no more credit.  The father Nathan Lee (Paul Winfield) goes out with his eldest son David Lee with a shotgun and hound “Sounder” to try to bring home some game.  He is unsuccessful.  Finally, in desperation, he steals meat from a white man’s smokehouse.  He is promptly caught, jailed, tried, and sentenced for a year in a prison labor camp.  The sheriff refuses to reveal which camp he is going to.

Finally, a white lady who has befriended the family and, in particular David Lee, gets access to the sheriff’s files and tells the family where father is.  David Lee goes on a days long walk with Sounder to try to find his father.  I will stop here.

The plot summary really gives only a bare outline.  For me, the best of the movie is details of the day-to-day lives of the family and the relationships within it.  Well-acted, well-made, and it made me cry sweet movie tears.  I guess that’s a recommendation.

1972 was an outstanding year for soundtracks and this film’s was written by Taj Mahal, who also plays a jovial friend of the family.  His folksy style perfectly suited this movie.

Sounder was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor (Winfield); Best Actress (Tyson); and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryois6DaxhM

Chloe in the Afternoon (L’amour, l’apres-midi)
Directed by Eric Rohmer
Written by Eric Rohmer
1972/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Frédéric: I think some element of mystery is essential for people who live together.

Somehow these meditations by Eric Rohmer on morality and modern love never get old.

The setting is contemporary Paris.  Frederic (Bernard Verley) manages an office and is married to Helen (Francoise Verley), with whom he has an adorable toddler and a baby on the way.  They are happily married but somehow his marriage has opened him up to a rich fantasy life in which he speculates about pretty women on the street.  He flirts mildly with his secretaries.

Chloe (Zouzou) reappears in Frederic’s life as he is in this weakened state.  Chloe was Frederic’s best friend’s girlfriend back in the day and they flirted at that time.  Now Chloe needs a job.  Frederic has none to give her.  Then she slowly starts a seduction campaign in which they meet in the afternoon to play with fire.  I love the ending of this movie and will close this summary far before we get there.

This is another gentle, dialogue-rich rom-com from Eric Rohmer.  I love his observation of all the subtle details that make up the relationships of men with women.  I love his wit and I love his humanity. Warmly recommended.

This is the last of Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales”.