Flickers in Time

No Way to Treat a Lady
Directed by Jack Smight
Written by John Gay from a novel by William Goldman
1968/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Mrs. Brummel: I am sickened at heart when my own son goes looking at dead women’s naked bodies. I tell you Morris, it is no way to treat a lady.[/box]

1968 was certainly a year for serial and spree killer movies!  This one straddles that fine line between thriller and comedy and mostly does it well due to some fine acting.

A rash of murders, Boston Strangler-style, is disturbing the already shaky equanimity of New York City.  The killer (Rod Steiger) is crafty.  Witnesses see only his disguise, never his real face.  Detective Morris “Mo” Brummel (George Segal) is on the case.  Poor Mo has a stereotypical Jewish mother (Eileen Heckart) who is always hectoring about his lowly employment and comparing him to his MD brother.

During his investigation, Mo meets eye-witness Kate Palmer (Lee Remick), a non-Jew who rings every one of his bells.  In the meantime, the murderer may be exposing himself by taunting his pursuer by phone.

Often when Steiger is given free rein to ham it up he blows it.  Here fortunately he exercises enough restraint to give five or six impressive performances.  The rest of the cast is also rock solid.  It’s the weaker of the thrillers I’ve been watching lately but enjoyable for all that.

Clip – pre-credits murder

The Boston Strangler
Directed by Richard Fleischer
Written by Edward Anhalt from a book by Gerold Frank
1968/US
IMDb link
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Capt. Ed Willis: We’ve got a full-blown maniac on our hands.[/box]

Solid performances and direction make a “true crime” story enjoyable.

This is supposedly the true story of the investigation and ultimate capture of Albert De Salvo (Tony Curtis), who strangled and mutilated thirteen women in the Boston area in the early 60’s.  The first half of the movie is a police procedural about the increasingly desperate efforts of law enforcement to halt the killings, which span several different jurisdictions.  Finally, the State Attorney’s Office takes over to coordinate.  John S. Bottomly (Henry Fonda) takes charge.  Little progress is made as the investigators continuously focus on “perverts” (read homosexuals).

The police get their break when family man De Salvo leaves a survivor (Sally Kellerman), who bit him on the hand. She has blocked the identity of her attacker and much of the incident out her mind.  There is no physical evidence to tie him to the murders.  De Salvo is diagnosed with multiple personality disorder.  Bottomly gets him to open up to a certain extent  at the mental hospital by promising nothing he says will be used against him.  With George Kennedy and Murray Hamilton also investigating.

Tony Curtis gets a chance at working outside his comfort zone and gives a good low-key performance as the confused killer.  I thought the movie worked best, however, in its first hour with its well-edited killings and surprisingly sexually frank content.  (I guess I still have to get used to demise of the Hayes Code.)

There are theories that De Salvo did not commit all of the murders but apparently the police were satisfied and the attacks stopped after his arrest/involuntary commitment.

Romeo and Juliet
Directed by Franco Zefferelli
Written by Franco Brusati, Masalino D’Amico, and Franoco Zefferelli from Shakespeare’s play
1968/UK/Italy
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063518/reference
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Romeo: Thus with a kiss I die.[/box]

This dreamy, romantic, lush film has held up beautifully over the years.

Surely nobody needs me to explain the plot of this movie.  With Leonard Whiting as Romeo, Olivia Hussey as Juliet, John McEnery as Mercutio and Michael York as Tybalt.

When this first came out its big selling point is that the star-crossed lovers were played by actual age-appropriate teenagers and for being somewhat racy.  All the performances are good.  I like John McEnery’s Mercution best.  But the high points go to the fabulous Renaissance production and costume design.  The Nino Rota score is also a gem.  Beats the Norma Shearer-Leslie Howard version by a mile.  Recommended to Shakespeare lovers.

Romeo and Juliet won the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design. It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture and Best Director.

Clip – Love at first sight

Dire Straits in Sydney – just because I love this song so much.

Destroy All Monsters (Kaiju soshingeki)
Directed by Ishiro Honda
Written by Ishiro Honda and Takashi Kimur
Japan/1968
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channe

[box] Kilaak Queen: Ghidorah is a space monster. The monsters from Earth cannot win. I will get in touch with you, when you feel like giving up.[/box]

As a break from more serious fare, I took a chance on this utterly lame monster movie so you don’t have to.  Unless you want to, of course.

The alien Kilaak people have vowed to enslave the human race.  The first step is gaining control over all the monsters segregated on Monster Island and some of their human keepers.  All the series monsters are then unleashed on major world capitals where they crush skyscrapers with their mighty feet.  Mankind’s last hope are some lunar astronauts who figure out how to unleash the combined power of the Earth monsters on Space Monster King Gidorah.

This one never grabbed me.  I thought Toho had reached rocked bottom on its special effects in 1967, but nooo, these are even worse.  So some laughs for some people on some days.

The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
Directed by Robert Ellis Miller
Thomas C. Ryan from a novel by Carson McCullers
1968/USA
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Jake Blount: Huh? “John Singer. I am…” Um – a MUTE? Chee-rist! And all this time I thought you was a good listener![/box]

If you are looking for a bittersweet Hollywood movie with some superlative acting, look no further.

This has an involved plot and I’ll be leaving out quite a bit.  Alvie Singer (Alan Arkin) is a deaf-mute.  His best friend is Antonopoulis, who is also a deaf mute and seems to be mentally retarded as well.  Antonopoulis’ custodial relative has him committed to a mental hospital when he gets in trouble one time too many.  Singer moves to an even smaller Southern town to be near his friend until he can take custody of him.

Singer rents a room in a home with a complicated family life.  He befriends its dreamy 16-year old daughter Mick (Sondra Locke in her film debut).  Circumstances make him the favorite listener of several other lonely people. With Stacy Keach (in his film debut) as a drunk; Percy Rodrigues as a pround black physician; and Cecily Tyson as his angry daughter.

I last saw this on original release.  It stuck with me (even if I did not see the ending coming yet again) and I loved it this time as well.  Arkin is amazing in a detailed, nuanced performance in which his face and demeanor convey a rich interior life that is not guessed at by the many people who lean on him.  The supporting players are also uniformly excellent.  Recommended.

Alan Arkin was nominated by the Academy for Best Actor.  Sondra Lock received a nod for Best Supporting Actress.

Black Cat (Kurnoneko/Yabu no naka no kuroneko)
Directed by Kaneto Shindo
Written by Kaneto Shindo
1968/Japan
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel
One of 1000 Best Horror Movies on They Shoot Zombies, Don’t They?

My mind was always on the commoners, not on the lords, politicians or anyone of name and fame. — Kaneto Shindo

Kaneto Shindo gives us a beautiful and truly creepy ghost story that rivals his Onibaba (1964).

War rages in Japan.  A mother and her daughter-in-law live in an isolated hovel scraping out a meager existence as peasant farmers.  Their son/husband was snatched away by samurai three years previously.  Suddenly, they are attacked by a troop of samurai, gang raped, and killed.  Their hovel is reduced to ashes.

Their ghosts vow to the evil god to suck the blood of and kill every last samurai.  They proceed to do this.  Things get complicated when the son/husband comes home in triumph as a very successful samurai himself.

Might be the first film of the year for the 2020 Favorite New-to-me Films list.  I thought it was absolutely superb.  The score, soundscape, editing, and slightly surreal imagery combine to make the chills run up your spine.  Highly recommended.

Genocide (AKA “War of the Insects”) (Konchu daisenso)
Directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu
Written by Susumu Takaku; story by Kingen Amada
1968/Japan
IMDb link
First viewing/Criterion Channel

[box] Since Auschwitz, we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima, we know what is at stake. Viktor E. Frankl[/box]

Japanese horror trades giant monsters for tiny ones in this amusingly dreadful movie.

Swarms of insects attack a U.S. bomber and it pilot becomes the first to be infected.  He slowly goes insane and starts babbling about genocide.  Turns out the insects have gathered together to exterminate the human race in order to to save themselves from extermination by the H-bomb.  A pretty American concentration camp survivor(!) is conspiring with the insects.

The twisted mind that brought us the hilariously bad The X from Outer Space (1967)  is back with this little gem, in which bizarre plot meets bad effects.  The dialogue (sub-titled) is pretty great too.  Recommended to my fellow connoisseurs.

The Odd Couple
Directed by Gene Saks
Written by Neil Simon from his play
1968/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amzazon Instant

[box] Oscar Madison: Wait a minute, you’re not going anywhere until you take it back!

Felix Ungar: Take what back?

Oscar Madison: “Let it be on your head.” What the hell is that, the Curse of the Cat People?[/box]

Despite a few now cringe-worthy jokes, the performances are classic and it’s pretty funny 50 years latter.

Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau) is a divorced sportswriter, who relishes his freedom to be a slob.  Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon) has just been given the boot by his wife, leaving him feeling mighty sorry for himself and announcing suicides plans.  They are friends who play poker weekly with several other guys in Oscar’s pad.  Oscar invites Felix to move in. He eagerly accepts.

It soon seems obvious why their wives couldn’t take any more.  Oscar is a complete slob. Felix takes his chosen “housewife” role to hilarious extremes.  This gives everybody the opportunity to lob one-liners back and forth for the duration of the movie’s running time.

Little attempt is made to open up Simon’s stage play.  With acting as good as this, it’s still quite watchable.  If you like Neil Simon, you should love this.

The premise was made into a long-running TV sitcom with Tony Randall and Jack Klugmann.  They also made a perfect “odd couple”.

The Odd Couple was nominated by the Academy in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium and Best Film Editing.

Clip

The Lion in Winter
Directed by Anthony Harvey
Written by James Goldman from his play
1968/UK
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Eleanor of Aquitaine: Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It’s 1183 and we’re barbarians! How clear we make it. [/box]

This movie holds up so damn well to a re-watch.

The plot is kind of convoluted.  It takes up the dual tasks of conveying some history of the Plantagenets of England and trying to be sort of a 12th Century Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) with three bickering sons thrown in for good measure.

At any rate,  King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) is enjoying his romance with Alais, a woman many years his junior, as well as the enforced absence of his headstrong wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn.  But now the succession to the throne is weighing heavily on his mind.  The choices are between the somewhat feeble minded (?) John (Nigel Terry), war-like Richard (Anthony Hopkins), and the conniving Goeffrey.  Henry favors John and Eleanor, who has friends in high places, favors Richard.  Henry summons Eleanor from the convent for Christmas.  Then the plotting among the sons and their champions begins in deadly earnest.  At the same time King Phillip of France (Timothy Dalton) shows up to add to the fun and try to enforce Henry’s promise to allow his sister Alais and John to marry.

And then there are many scenes in which Henry and Eleanor bicker on and on about whether they ever loved each other and whether they love each other now.  This is interspersed with some of the most cutting domestic ddialogue in any movie, in which the spouses take low blows at each other’s known weaknesses.

Well, I fell in love with this all over again after many years.  The acting by the both principals is remarkable.  Such mastery of conveying real feeling under the carefully crafted dialogue.  The movie also has a fiery early performance by Anthony Hopkins and I thought Timothy Dalton was excellent.  Made me wonder why he is not better know outside of being Bond.

My only problem with the film was its script.  I have a bias against the ‘I love you, I love you not’ theme.  I also thought the melding of the modern sensibility of the script with the 12 century authentic production design was not well-handled.  Again, both the performances and the production values outweighed any small niggles .  I felt exhilerated when it was over.  Recommended.

Katharine Hepburn won an Oscar for Best Actress in a tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968).  The film also won in the categories of Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from another Medium and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a musical.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Director and Best Costume Design.