Photo caption: Josh O’Connor in LA CHIMERA. Courtesy of NEON.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of La Chimera and continuing coverage of both the SFFILM and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, both underway now. Here’s my latest festival coverage:
Eleanor Coppola was the wife of director Francis Ford Coppola and the mother of director Sophia Coppola. Eleanor Coppola herself directed perhaps the best ever documentary film about the making of a movie, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.
CURRENT MOVIES
La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. In arthouse theaters.
Linda Hunt and Mel Gibson in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
On April 29, Turner Classic Movies presents Peter Weir’s 1982 political thriller The Year of Living Dangerously, starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. In the exotic setting of Sukarno’s Indonesia, this film has gripping intrigue, romance and a neo-noir ending.
The stars were each coming off their first major feature, Weaver’s Eyewitness with William Hurt and Gibson with the original Mad Max. The Year of Living Dangerously made them both solid A-list movie stars. Linda Hunt won an Oscar for her gender- and race-crossing performance as the local fixer.
Weir had made the fine Australian films Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli. This major MGM release brought him success in his first Hollywood picture and empowered Weir to follow with Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander.
Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson in THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY
June Squibb and Fred Hechinger appear in THELMA, the closing night film of both the SFFILM and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by David Bolen.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – we’re all about the upcoming SFFILM and SLO Film Festivals. Both fests start next week, and I’ll soon be posting my recommendations from both programs. The closing night film for both San Frnacisco and SLO is Thelma, which will become a popular hit when it’s released into theaters in June.
Lucky: Harry Dean Stanton and the meaning of life Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
They Shall Not Grow Old: technology transforms film and ressurects a generation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Richard Roundtree in SHAFT.
Richard Roundtree died last year, before the release of his very sweet final performance in Thelma. Roundtree’s FIRST MOVIE role was as the iconic John Shaft in Shaft. He went on to over 250 more screen credits, including four more as John Shaft. Although in my mind, the biggest star of Shaft was Isaac Hayes’ music, Richard Roundtree was, along with Pam Grier, the most significant on-screen force in Blaxploitation cinema. Turner Classic Movies is airing Shaft, on April 22.
Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks?
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
KILLER’S KISS
On April 18, Turner Classic Movies will present one my Overlooked Noir, a young Stanley Kubrick’s Killer’s Kiss; it will be on Noir Alley with an intro and outro by Eddie Muller. It doesn’t take long to realize that Killer’s Kiss is not a typical film noir – there’s Kubrick’s own bracing visual style, an interracial relationship and a comically absurd fight to the death. The cast matched a couple one-hit wonders with the pioneering African-American actor and civil rights activist Frank Silvera.
Photo caption: Katy O’Brian and Kristen Stewart in LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Courtesy of A24.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’ll soon be posting on Monkey Man, which I will NOT be recommending, and Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s, which you should DVR on PBS Monday. Love Lies Bleeding is still the best choice in theaters.
REMEMBRANCE
Louis Gossett, Jr., won an Oscar for his drill sergeant in An Officer and a Gentleman. He also played Fiddler in Roots, amid 198 other screen appearances.
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Erich von Stroheim, Anne Baxter and Franchot Tone in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO.
On April 6, Turner Classic Movies will present an underseen Billy Wilder wartime noir, Five Graves to Cairo. It’s th movie Wilder made immediately before Double Indemnity, and it’s not a masterpiece like that or Stalag 17, Sunset Blvd., Ace in the Hole or Some Like It Hot, but it’s a pretty good suspense thriller with a great cast. The film was released just thirteen months after Rommel’s victory over the British in Tobruk, Egypt. British Corporal Bramble (Franchot Tone) has survived the battle and wandered, alone, into an isolated desert hotel run by Farid (Akim Tamiroff) and his French maid Mouche (Anne Baxter). Suddenly, the German Army move in, led by Rommel himself (the great director Erich Stroheim). To survive, Bramble impersonates the hotel’s recently deceased waiter, who unbeknownst to Farid and Mouche, was a German spy. The tension comes from Bramble, Farid and Mouche walking on egg shells as they perpetuate the deception while Bramble tries to elicit critical military intelligence from the Germans. Tone and Baxter, reliable movie leads of the 1940s, are very good. The wonder character Tamiroff is vivid as always here, fifteen years before his greatest performance as Uncle Joe Grandi in Touch of Evil. Von Stroheim, in no way impersonating the real Rommel, gives a bravura performance as the German commander.
Anne Baxter and Akim Tamiroff in FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO.
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Fred MacMurray and Kim Novak in PUSHOVER
On March 31, TCM plays Pushover, one of my Overlooked Noir. Tracking a notorious criminal, the cop (Fred MacMurray) follows – and then dates – the gangster’s girlfriend (“Introducing Kim Novak”). It starts out as part of the job, but then he falls for her himself. He decides that, if he can double cross BOTH the cops and the criminal, he can wind up with the loot AND Kim Novak. (This is a film noir, so we know he’s not destined for a tropical beach with an umbrella drink.)
M. Emmet Walsh was one of cinema’s most stories, prolific (233 screen credits) and welcome character actors. Walsh was unforgettable as the murderous private detective Loren Visser in Blood Simple, a scary (and funny) concoction of amorality, sleaze and tenacity. He also elevated Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, What’s Up Doc?, Serpico, Blade Runner, Ordinary People, Slap Shot, Straight Time, Reds, Cavalry and Knives Out. There was only one T in Emmet, and the M stood for Michael.
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Richard Conte, Brian Donleavy and Cornel Wilde in THE BIG COMBO.
On March 18, Turner Classic Movies presents the classic film noir The Big Combo for its ruthless villain, his henchmen, plenty of dramatic shadows and some sly naughtiness by the filmmakers. In his most flamboyant performance, Richard Conte plays mob boss Mr. Brown. Cornel Wilde (also the film’s producer) plays Lieutenant Diamond, a cop with two obsessions, to bring down the crime lord and to take his woman, Susan (Wilde’s real-life wife Jean Wallace). Mr. Brown is supremely confident, with good reason, and so arrogant that he only addresses Diamond, standing two feet away, through Brown’s own lackey. Brown and his henchmen ((Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman)) are also cruelly ruthless, carrying out the usual beatings and murders, and also torture by hearing aid and by boozeboarding.
Director Joseph Lewis and his collaborators did successfully slip some things past the censors. Conte’s Mr. Brown reminds Susan of how he pleases her. And the henchmen are a couple, as Holliman confirmed decades later to Eddie Muller.
Lewis and the great cinematographer John Alton delivered one of the most iconic final shots in noir.
Photo caption: Aylin Tezel and Chris Fulton in FALLING INTO PLACE, US premiere at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – Cinequest is underway, and it’s my 14th year covering Silicon Valley’s own major film festival. My Best of Cinequest recommends films from the Thriller, Romance, Comedy, International, Art Film and Documentary categories, along with two Must Sees. All of my coverage is linked on my Cinequest 2024 page – so far, four features and reviews or capsules of ten films.
The WIfe and I are also preparing our renowned Oscar Dinner – more on that tomorrow.
Speaking of the Oscars, I’ll be especially interested in
How many Oscars that Oppenheimer racks up. I’m guessing AT LEAST seven: Best Picture, director Christopher Nolan, cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, editor Jennifer Lame, composer Ludwig Göransson and actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
How much recognition Anatomy of a Fall gets, despite not being a Hollywood movie. I’m rooting for Justine Triet’s original screenplay and Sandra Huller’s performance (but it would be OK if Lily Gladstone wins Best Actress instead).
I’ll also be rooting for America Ferrara’s performance and Greta Gerwig’s adapted screenplay for Barbie.
Also note that, with Poor Things, American Fiction and The Zone of Interest going to VOD, you can now stream any and all of the major Oscar-nominated films.
CURRENT MOVIES
Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
American Fiction: this can’t be happening. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube,
The Taste of Things: two passions: culinary and romantic. In arthouse theaters.
Golden Years: when dreams diverge. In arthouse theaters.
Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
Warren William with Loretta Young in EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE
On March 12, Turner Classic Movies airs Employees Entrance, starring Warren William, whose movies from the early 30s remain fresh today. Although he is not well-known today, William was “King of the Pre-Code”, starring in 25 movies between 1931 and 1934, many with the sexual frankness and moral ambiguity that was to be erased by the Production Code. If you want to understand Pre-Code cinema, watch Employees Entrance, and imagine the future movie censor, the supercilious Joe Breen, with his head exploding.
In the 1933 Employees Entrance, William plays a department store manager who is viciously ruthless with his competitors and suppliers. He abuses his own employees and is indifferent to the resultant suicide attempts. He uses his position to have sex with a young employee (Loretta Young), even after she marries someone else. And he keeps a floozy on the payroll to distract another executive (his putative supervisor) from meddling in the business. And for all 75 minutes of Employees Entrance, William’s joyously despicable character is richly enjoying himself. If you’re looking for the triumph of Good over Evil, this isn’t your movie.
With his striking features (including a prominent and noble nose) and his deep and cultured voice, William was a natural for the newfangled talkies. William excelled in the Pre-Code movies because he could play deliciously shameless scoundrels who would use their wit and position to exploit everyone else, especially for sex, power and money. His characters are fun to watch because they take such delight in their own depravity. His leading ladies included the likes of Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak and Claudette Colbert. But in 1934, the new Production Code meant that movies could no longer allow his characters to have sex and otherwise behave badly and get away with it.
One of my favorite movies is 1932’s hilarious political comedy The Dark Horse, in which William plays an equally ruthless and amoral campaign manager. He is such a scoundrel that he must first get sprung from jail to teach his dimwitted candidate to answer every question with “Yes…and, then again, no.” He describes his own candidate (the gleefully dim Guy Kibbee) thus: “He’s the dumbest human being I ever saw. Every time he opens his mouth he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.”
Ever the sexually predatory cad on the screen, the real-life William led a quiet life and was married to the same woman for twenty-five years until his death.
Photo caption: Emma Stone in POOR THINGS. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.
This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’m busy working on unveiling most of my Cinequest coverage on Tuesday; here’s my festival preview: Get ready for the return of Cinequest.
CURRENT MOVIES
Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
American Fiction: this can’t be happening. In theaters and Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube,
The Taste of Things: two passions: culinary and romantic. In arthouse theaters.
Golden Years: when dreams diverge. In arthouse theaters.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
Youth: a glorious cinematic meditation on life. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: a Must See, perched on the knife edge between comedy and tragedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The Gift: three people revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
Inez & Doug & Kira: the tangle of love, friendship and bipolar disorder. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon, Vudu.
Run & Jump: a romance, a family drama and a promising first feature. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
Victoria: a thrill ride filmed in one shot. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KinoNow.
ON TV
George C. Scott (center) seethes while James Stewart (right) lawyers in ANATOMY OF A MURDER
Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting Anatomy of a Murder (1959) on March 2. I love this film for its great courtroom scene, for the great performances by James Stewart, George C. Scott, Ben Gazzara and Lee Remick, and for its exquisite pacing by director Otto Preminger. None other than the great Duke Ellington provides one of the very first jazz soundtracks (after Miles Davis’ Elevator to the Gallows and Johnny Mandel’s I Want to Live! in 1958).
The Fireman’s Ball (Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia, 1967)
The Last Metro (Francois Truffaut, France, 1980)
Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, Denmark, 1987)
Indochine (Regis Wargnier, France, 1992)
8 1/2 and Mon Oncle are on my fifty or so Greatest Movies of All Time. The Fireman’s Ball and Babette’s Feast are two of my personal favorite films. (On the other hand, The Woman in the Dunes is a two-and-a-half hour slog.)
Of these, I’m highlighting Mon Oncle, Jacques Tati’s masterful fish-out-of-water satire of contemporary consumerism and modernist culture. In its deadpan way, I think it may be the most deeply funny movie of all time. If you have strong feelings (either way) for Mid-century Modern style, be patient and settle in. There’s very little dialogue and lots of sly observational physical humor. Tati’s use of ambient noise/sounds in the very spare soundtrack is pure genius.
