Weekly Movie Recommendations

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Lily Gladstone in KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Courtesy of AppleTV.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – new reviews of Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon and of The Pigeon Tunnel, Erroll Morris’ fine biodoc of espionage novelist John le Carré.

REMEMBRANCE

Richard Roundtree in SHAFT.

Richard 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.

CURRENT MOVIES

  • Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. In theaters.
  • The Pigeon Tunnel: a great storyteller’s story, told at last. AppleTV.
  • Fremont: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. Amazon, Vudu.
  • Flora and Son: a bad mom turns it around. In theaters and AppleTV.
  • Reptile: a neo-noir showcase for Benicio del Toro. Netflix.
  • Oppenheimer: creator of a monster controlled by others. Still in theaters.
  • Past Lives: a profound and refreshing romance. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

WATCH AT HOME

MAKING MONTGOMERY CLIFT. Courtesy of Frameline.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Ross Martin and Lee Remick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR

There’s an early neo-noir on Turner Classic Movies on October 29 – 1962’s Experiment in Terror. It’s not one of the great noirs, but it’s a nailbiter with some high points and some curiosities. A criminal (Ross Martin) tries to heist a bank by threatening a bank teller’s little sister; he’s stalking her and scaring her over the phone, so the FBI leader (Glenn Ford) only has the crook’s asthmatic voice as a clue. The bank teller is played by Lee Remick, who is always worth watching, and the role of the little sister was one of the first for 20-year-old Stefanie Powers. Like Stefanie Powers (The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. and Hart to Hart), Ross Martin became a well-known TV star (Artemus Gordon in The Wild, Wild West). The climax is a chase in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park – right where the departing throngs bottle-necked at the entrance to the long escalator – a point always to be remembered by Giants fans; oddly, the bad guy is trying to be inconspicuous by being the only person in the crowd to wear a hoodie – not yet ubiquitous ballpark fashion. Blake Edwards, much more well known for comedies, directed.

Lee Remick catching a Giants game at Candlestick in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR
Ross Martin in EXPERIMENT IN TERROR

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Piper Laurie as Margaret White in CARRIE.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of the neo-noir Reptile and two remembrances.

REMEMBRANCES

Piper Laurie was, in her middle age, recognized as a great actress of stage and screen, thrice nominated for Oscars. She was unforgettable as the religious fanatic mom in Carrie. What I didn’t know until recently was that she was a starlet in the Hollywood Studio era, co-starring at age 20 with Rock Hudson, Tyrone Power and Tony Curtis (three times); Laurie disdained those roles as empty adornments, and quit Hollywood in search of better material. Good for her.

Burt Young was one of those stellar character actors who make each supporting turn memorable. I first noticed Young when he elevated such a role in Chinatown. Of course, his signature (and Oscar-nominated)role was as Paulie in Rocky, alternatively devoted, blustery and vulnerable.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Kelley Kali in I’M FINE (THANKS FOR ASKING). Courtesy of SFFILM

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Charlton Heston in SOYLENT GREEN
Charlton Heston in SOYLENT GREEN

On October 25, Turner Classic Movies is screening the 1973 cult sci-fi classic Soylent Green, which was utterly under appreciated until the past decade or so. Set in a dystopian future (like those so popular in today’s sci-fi), humans have pretty much destroyed the environment and most are impoverished, even homeless. The dietary staple is a green pellet provided by a mega-corporation. Charlton Heston is surprisingly effective as a jaded and solitary cop, whose investigation leads him to a horrifying discovery. The cast is very good, including Edward G. Robinson in his final performance. Soylent Green was directed by the versatile Richard Fleischer, 21 years after The Narrow Margin.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Jeremy Allen White and Anaita Wali Zada in FREMONT. Courtesy of Music Box Films.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – the good-hearted and entertaining Flora and Son is in theaters and on AppleTV, and Fremont, one of the best and most overlooked movies of the year, now watchable at home. Another of the year’s best, Past Lives, is also streaming.

REMEMBRANCE

Michael Gambon, the venerated actor of the British stage, ended his career famously as Dumbledore in several Harry Potter movies. He had also played LBJ in Path to War, the lord of the manor in Gosford Park and the king in The King’s Speech, and elevated smaller movies like Page Eight, Quartet and Layer Cake.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Ronald Zehfeld and Nina Hoss in PHOENIX

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN

OK – work with me here. On October 19, Turner Classic Movies will present The Unknown with Lon Chaney, and I think that Chaney’s charisma is worth sampling. And as a fun experience, not a “this is good for you” experience.

I will fess up that I am not a huge silent movie fan. I usually watch only one silent movie each year (out of the 250-300 movies that I see annually). I like the Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton comedies, but I usually find sitting through most of the silent dramas to be “eat your broccoli” experiences. But Lon Chaney really enlivens his films. It’s like he is acting in a more modern movie than are the other actors.

Chaney was an expert with makeup and is well-known for grotesque roles like Quasimodo, and the Phantom of the Opera.  Accordingly, I had always thought of Chaney as his nickname, “Man of a Thousand Faces”.

But, for all his reliance on changing appearances, Chaney was NOT a gimmick actor.  He was very naturalistic, a relaxed actor whose screen-acting was very modern.   His course features and his charm combine for a unique magnetism.  I think that he would have been very successful in today’s cinema.

Unfortunately, Chaney died suddenly at age 47, so he was able to make only one talkie – the 1930 remake of his 1925 silent The Unholy Three.  You can find snippets of the remake on YouTube and hear his voice.

The Unknown has a completely outlandish plot.  Chaney plays Alonzo, a circus freak with no arms, who throws knives and shoots rifles with his feet.  But actually, Alonzo is a criminal on the lam who is merely PRETENDING to be armless.  He’s love with his much younger assistant, played by 21-year-old Joan Crawford (already in her 18th film), who spends much of the movie in a bikini top.  The thing is, she has a phobia and only feels comfortable with Alonzo because she think he has no arms.  Alonzo starts contemplating amputation to get her to marry him.  Yep, this is about a farfetched as a plot can get, but Chaney’s expressive face transcends the weirdness.

I also recommend the 1925 silent The Unholy Three, like The Unknown, directed by Tod Browning.  (After Chaney’s death, horror master Browning went on to make Dracula and Freaks.) 

(Don’t confuse him with his son Lon Chaney, Jr., who also counted many horror pictures among his 197 screen roles.  I remember Lon Jr. most for playing Lennie in Of Mice and Men and the old retired sheriff in High Noon.)

Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Ashley Judd in William Friedkin’s BUG. Courtesy of Lionsgate.

This week on The Movie Gourmet, it’s William Friedkin Week – with reviews of three of the director’s underseen films, To Live and to Die in L.A., Bug and Killer Joe.

Just got back from two weeks in Spain. Gotta say that I was impressed with the movie choices on Iberia Airlines, all free: Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Jerry and Marge Go Large, A Thousand and One, Hypnotic, Cocaine Bear, The Return of Casanova (Italy), Do Unto Others (Japan), Argentina 1985 and Adios, Buenos Aires (Argentina), The Cow Who Sang etc. (Chile, The Crime Is Mine (France) and Asteroid City. Plus big franchise movies: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Spider Man and the Spiderverse 3, Avatar: The Way of Water, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Creed III. Coupled with above-average airline food (included), there are worse ways to spend 11 hours on a plane.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

SUMMERTIME

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

KILLER JOE: you sure ain’t gonna be bored

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OK, this is NOT FOR EVERYONE.  Here’s a movie that will either thrill or disgust you. Either way, you sure ain’t gonna be bored.

It’s William Friedkin Week at The Movie Gourmet, and we’re looking at three of the director’s more overlooked films. We’ve covered the neo-noir thriller To Live and to Die in L.A., and the psychological horror movie Bug. Today’s Friedkin classic is another neo-noir, that paragon of perversity, Killer Joe

In Killer Joe, Thomas Haden Church, Gina Gershon and Emile Hirsch play a white trash family with a get-rich-quick scheme.  They give a hit man (Matthew McConaughey) the teen daughter (Juno Temple) as a deposit.  They’re all as dumb as a bag of hammers, so what could go wrong?

Killer Joe was directed by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) and shot by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Right Stuff, The Natural) in just 20 days.  These guys know how to tell a story, and Killer Joe pops and crackles.

Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Thomas Haden Church and Juno Temple in KILLER JOE. Photo credit: KillerJoeTheMovie.com.

Killer Joe is rated NC-17 for good reason and Friedkin accepts the rating without complaint.  Indeed, Killer Joe has its share of Sam Peckinpah-style screen violence and an unsettling deflowering scene.  But the piece de resistance is an over-the-top sadistic encounter between McConaughey and Gershon involving a chicken drumstick,  at once disturbing and darkly hilarious.   But Sam Fuller and Quentin Tarantino would have loved it, and so did I.  Nevertheless, some viewers will feel like they need a shower after this movie.

Matthew McConaughey in KILLER JOE. Photo credit: KillerJoeTheMovie.com.

The cast does a good job, but the picture really belongs to McConaughey and Temple.  McConaughey was recalibrating his career a la Alec Baldwin – he had just started his move from playing pretty boys in the rom-coms to taking meatier, more interesting roles.  He is both funny and menacing as Killer Joe (and I liked him in Bernie and Magic Mike, too).  Killer Joe preceded his roles in Mud, The Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective  and The Free State of Jones.

The movie slowly makes Juno Temple’s character more and more central, until she takes command of the denouement.  Temple is always sexy (Kaboom and Dirty Girl), and here she is able to ratchet down her intelligence to play a very simple character, always exploited by others, who is finally empowered to take control.

I saw Killer Joe at a screening where Friedkin said that the screenwriter (famed playwright Tracy Letts) saw Juno Temple’s character as the receptacle for all feminine rage.  Friedkin himself sees it as a Cinderella story – just one where Cinderella’s Prince Charming is a professional killer.  That’s all pretty deep sledding to me – I see Killer Joe as a very dark and violent comedy – kinda like In Bruges with twisted sex.

Killer Joe is available to stream from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Hulu.

BUG: the “paranoid” in paranoid thriller

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Photo caption: Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in BUG. Courtesy of Lionsgate.

It’s William Friedkin Week at The Movie Gourmet, and we’re looking at three of the director’s more overlooked films. We’ve examined the neo-noir thriller To Live and to Die in L.A., and today’s choice is the psychological horror movie Bug. We could also describe Bug as a psychotic horror movie.

Ashley Judd plays Agnes, a woman who seems well-balanced but has been made vulnerable by circumstance. She has been shattered by the most profound family tragedy. She’s justifiably terrified of her monstrous estranged husband Jerry (Harry Connick Jr.), and she’s unsettled by being on the run from him and in an unfamiliar environment; there are signs that Jerry is closing in on finding her. She’s found herself living so far from a regular, stable life that’s she’s become profoundly alienated.

Ashley Judd and Lynn Collins in BUG. Courtesy of Lionsgate.

Agnes is street-wise and, in normal times, she could handle herself, but she’s just being overwhelmed by too much shit. She needs some comfort and acceptance, some of which she finds in a new pal R.C. (Lynn Collins), although R.C. enables Agnes’ tendency to get too wasted.

But Agnes could also use some male companionship and physical security and protection. She meets Peter, who, in contrast with Jerry, is civil, kind and not abusive. He’s socially awkward, but he seems really safe and non-threatening.

As soon as they bond and start sharing the same motel room, Peter believes that he has found, first one aphid, and then a slew of them. More alarmingly, Peter is attaching the bugs to a conspiracy theory. Is Peter paranoid, delusional, hallucinating, or is it really a conspiracy? Friedkin and the Tracy Letts screenplay start to play with movie genre conventions.

Agnes is in a place where she is inclined to join Team Peter, and she starts seeing thing Peter’s way. Unfortunately, the two become ever more unhinged, begin deploying vast quantities of aluminum foil and, finally, go to EXTREME LENGTHS.

Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon in BUG. Courtesy of Lionsgate.

Friedkin’s final shot messes with us one last time. Memorably.

What happens in this story is a real thing, called folie à deux, shared psychosis or shared delusional disorder. The person whose delusions become shared by the second person is called the inducer, which gives a new, chilling meaning to the phrase “he drove her crazy“.

Michael Shannon is an actor with an uncommon gift for projecting creepiness. He shot Bug just a year before he broke through in Jeff Nichols’ brilliant indie Shotgun Stories and five years before Nichols’ Take Shelter. Writing about Take Shelter, I described Shannon’s character’s behavior “which starts out quirky, becomes troublesome and spirals down to GET ME OUT OF HERE.”

Ashley Judd in BUG. Courtesy of Lionsgate.

But Bug really depends on Ashley Judd’s performance as Agnes. After all, we can accept that Shannon’s Peter is just balls-out wacko, but Judd has to make us believe that an absolutely sane person can become completely insane on 48 hours. She’s dazzling here. I also recommend Mick LaSalle’s fine review of Bug, focusing on Ashley Judd’s performance

Bug can be streamed from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Shere Hite in THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHERE HITE, playing at the Nashville Film Festival. Courtesy of NashFilm.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – Must See at NashFilm, Under the Radar at NashFilm and a streaming recommendation of Charm Circle, a film I discovered at an earlier NashFilm. Plus, I got around to recommending Master Gardener.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Aviva Armour-Ostroff (left) in LUNE, world premiere at Cinequest. Photo credit: Samantha Falco. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: William L. Petersen in TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – Previewing the Nashville Film Festival and Much more overlooked neo-noir, with the addition of twelve more films, including To Live and Die in L.A.

And, remember – I’ve just entirely refreshed my most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Zoe Kravitz in KIMI. Courtesy of HBO.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Frances McDormand in BLOOD SIMPLE

On September 24, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1984 film that was Oscar winner Frances McDormand’s first screen credit, Blood Simple.  That was also the storied Coen Brothers’ first feature film (and sparked McDormand’s 35-year marriage to Joel Cohen).  Since their debut, the Coens have gone on to win Oscars for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, and their True Grit and the very, very underrated A Serious Man are just as good. Along the way, they also gave us the unforgettable The Big Lebowski.

It all started with their highly original neo-noir Blood Simple. It’s dark, it’s funny and damned entertaining. The highlight is the singular performance by veteran character actor M. Emmet Walsh as a Stetson-topped gunsel.  The suspenseful finale, when Walsh is methodically hunting down the 27-year-old McDormand, is brilliant.

BLOOD SIMPLE
M. Emmet Walsh in BLOOD SIMPLE

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Florence Pugh in OPPENHEIMER. Courtesy of Universal Pictures.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – an all new most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE. Start of the football season with the Oscar-winning Undefeated.

As /i mentioned last week, we’re in that annual late- August/early September doldrums when we just don’t have good choices in brick-and-mortar cinemas. The one wonderful new film, Fremont, is still in a few arthouses and the masterpieces Oppenheimer and Barbie are still on theater screens. But Scrapper, Between Two Worlds, Afire and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have all slipped from theaters, and Past Lives is barely lingering on a screen or two. However, note that Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Barbie and Fremont: are all on my Best Movies of 2023 – So Far; you might check out that list because several other of those films are already streaming.

And next week I’ll have a preview of this year’s Nashville Film Festival.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

UNDEFEATED

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Undefeated: an Oscar winner you haven’t seen. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Kimi: an adequate REAR WINDOWS ends as a thrilling WAIT UNTIL DARK. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Lune: funny, searing, and richly authentic. Amazon.
  • Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Phoenix: riveting psychodrama, wowzer ending. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • I’m Fine (Thank You for Asking): a desperate dash for dignity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Making Montgomery Clift: exploding the myths. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Our Kind of Traitor: Skarsgård steals this robust thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • ’71: keeping the thrill in thriller. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.

ON TV

Jeanne Moreau in ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS

On September 19, Turner Classic Movies will present one of my Overlooked Noir, Elevator to the Gallows – such a groundbreaking film that you can argue that it’s the first of the neo-noir.  It’s the debut of director Louis Malle, shot when he was only 24 years old.  It’s more difficult now to appreciate the originality of Elevator the Gallows; but in 1958, no one had seen a film with a Miles Davis soundtrack or one where the two romantic leads were never on-screen together.

Marcel Ronet in ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Orson Welles in CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

This week on The Movie Gourmet – don’t miss Turner Classic Movies’ presentation of Chimes at Midnight tonight, and I’m also recommending another TCM selection that airs later this week (see below).

We’re in that annual late- August/early September doldrums when we just don’t have good choices in brick-and-mortar cinemas. The one wonderful new film, Fremont, is still in a few arthouses and the masterpieces Oppenheimer and Barbie are still on theater screens. But Scrapper, Between Two Worlds, Afire and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have all slipped from theaters, and Past Lives is barely lingering on a screen or two. However, note that Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Barbie and Fremont: are all on my Best Movies of 2023 – So Far; you might check out that list because several other of those films are already streaming.

CURRENT MOVIES

WATCH AT HOME

Ariane Labed and Soko in THE STOPOVER photo courtesy of SFFILM.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • The Stopover: PTSD takes more than an umbrella drink…Amazon, AppleTV.
  • Land Ho!: rowdy geezer roadtrip to Iceland. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: gentleness from ferocity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
  • The Imposter: a jaw dropper. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • The Secret in Their Eyes: Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
  • NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.

ON TV

Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK

On September 12, Turner Classic Movies presents the seminal 1960s neo-noir Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin. Marvin stars as Walker, a heist man who is shot and left for dead by his partner Reese (John Vernon, Animal House’s Dean Wormer), who absconded with Walker’s share of the loot and Walker’s wife. When Walker recovers, he is hellbent on revenge, aided by his sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson).

It turns out that Walker needs to trace the money through a cavalcade of Mr. Bigs (Lloyd Bochner, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor). There’s a great set piece where Walker invades a highrise penthouse, despite the heavily guarded elevator being the only entrance. Point Blank ends in a thrilling nighttime finale at Fort Point.

Walker is a very uncomplicated character, all he wants is to kill Reese and reclaim his $93,000. Anyone in Walker’s situation would be pissed off, but Lee Marvin plays Walker in a constant state of cold rage. Lee Marvin’s unique charisma animates this relentless killing machine.

Marvin, just coming off The Dirty Dozen and having won an Oscar for Cat Ballou, was at the peak of his stardom. Marvin’s other contribution to the film was handpicking the then unheralded John Boorman to direct; (this was five years before Boorman’s masterpiece Deliverance). Boorman intentionally delivered a morally bleak story in the most deserted of locations: empty parking lots, the Los Angeles River channel. and San Francisco’s two icons of abandonment – Alcatraz and Fort Point.

Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK

If you’re wondering why Angie Dickinson was a movie star, Point Blank is for you. Angie was ballsy, sexy and always unashamedly very direct, and she rocked midcentury fashion. (She plays one unforgettable scene in a dress with bold horizontal stripes in the colors of Denny’s restaurants.)

Watch for James B. Sikking as the professional sniper; Sikking became well-known as the supercilious SWAT team commander Lt. Howard Hunter in Hill Street Blues. Future horror icon Sid Haig pops up as the security guard in the penthouse lobby.

Angie Dickinson and Lee Marvin in POINT BLANK