312. Bigger Than Life (1956)

Running Time: 95 minutes
Directed By: Nicholas Ray
Written By: Cyril Hume, Richard Malbaum, from article by Burton Roueche
Main Cast: James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau, Robert F. Simon, Christopher Olsen
Click here to view the trailer

RAY WEEK: THE CONCLUSION

Earlier today I wrote about "Rebel Without a Cause" and how it was a step in the right direction after Nicholas Ray's previous two BOOK entries, "In a Lonely Place" and "Johnny Guitar". I commented that certainly a step in the right direction was good, but two or three steps would've been better. "Bigger Than Life" WAS those two or three steps I was hoping for.

James Mason stars as Ed Avery, the husband/father of a middle class, suburban family (a wife and one son) and a school teacher. Ed enjoys his job, is well liked by his peers and is faithful to his wife. In fact, the only secret that he has from her is that he's holding down a second job, as a taxicab dispatcher; a secret he keeps because he thinks that she'll feel that the job is not good enough for him. The only problem is that, every once in a while, Ed has spells. The spells consist of Ed doubling over in pain and pop up at different locations on his body - anywhere from his head to his abdomen. One night, after a dinner party and during Easter school break (fitting that I watched this now, only weeks before Easter) Ed blacks out in his bedroom and is taken to the hospital. After running a flurry of tests, doctors discover that Ed has a rare condition that is causing his arteries to become inflamed. Under normal circumstances, the condition is fatal at approximately a year after the first attack and Ed has been having the attacks for six months. However, there is a new "wonder drug", Cortisone and if it works, it can completely eliminate Ed's pain and he'll survive. Well, the drug works and Ed makes a full recovery, returning home and to his job at the school. But, all is not well with the world, as Ed begins to develop psychosis, a side effect of taking too much Cortisone. At first Ed begins to forget when he's taken his dose and starts taking more than prescribed and by film's end, he's addicted to the stuff. As a result, Ed begins to lash out at his family. I'll leave the rest for you to discover.

SPOILER ALERT!!

GOD WAS WRONG!!

Isn't it a great feeling when you watch a movie and a certain line hits you and you say "WOW, what a line!", having never heard of it before. Then, when you're finished with the film, you go on to discover that actually the line is a famous one from the film and you feel as if you picked up on it, without anyone else telling you it was in there. It's a little hard to explain, but it's like watching "A Streetcar Named Desire" and hearing Brando yell "Stella!". Even if it's your first time seeing ASND, you KNOW that line is coming and when it comes, it doesn't have quite the same impact, because you knew about it beforehand. With the "GOD WAS WRONG" line, I had never heard of it before and when James Mason delivered it, it sent a chill down my spine. What a line and what delivery! In fact, what a movie! I was beginning to wonder if the 1950s were ever going to start impressing me (seeing as how this is the 50s season and the only 50s movie to really WOW me so far have been "Wages of Fear" and "Le Trou", the latter of which is actually from 1960) and then James Mason and his wonderful portrayal of a man with psychosis shows up and knocks a home run, right down the centerfield line and into the parking lot!

After doing some perusing of the IMDB message boards, I found that a few people were making comparisons between "Bigger Than Life" and other movies, like "American Beauty" and "The Shining". I think "The Shining" reference is a good one, as obviously Mason goes a little whacko and even when Richie goes to hide in the bathroom, with the telephone, I kind of though Mason was going to pull a "Here's Johnny!" and bust right through. The "American Beauty" reference has less merit, but before I even saw someone make that comparison, I couldn't help but be reminded of the 1999 Kevin Spacey film during the dinner scene, when Ed makes deductions and realizes that Lou sneaked Richie a glass of milk. It was eerily reminiscent (even in the way the camera was set-up) to the dinner scene in "American Beauty" and once again I started to suspect certain actions from Mason, like as if he were to suddenly rise and smash the milk pitcher against the wall.

Even the trailer is great, as Mason himself pops up and talks directly to us (he produced the film as well) and tells us that when he's an audience member, he looks for excitement, entertainment and situations that actually impact regular people. Way to go Mr. Mason, you called it dude! It took some convincing for me to finally come around, but "Bigger Than Life" finally sold me on James Mason. I mean, I always knew he was a great actor, but he was this classically trained actor, this guy who did everything by the book and to perfection, lacking any real character almost. "Bigger Than Life" was controversial for it's time, that's obvious to even me and Mason really pushed himself and delivered in a big way. I loved how this movie took you inside the suburban seemingly perfect home and tore that facade to shreds. We got to see inside these plastic people's house, inside their real problems and what goes on when the picture perfect world crumbles.

I was going to come in here and nitpick the fact that the film ended happily, because everyone knows how much I LOVE an unhappy ending. But, you know what? I think Ed Avery and his family deserved a happy ending. The character was too likeable to have to suffer further and the film was filled with so much unease, that when it came time for "FIN", you wanted that hug and kiss and to know that these people were going to be alright. Part horror/suspense, part drama, filled with great acting from all the principles and something that we can all probably relate to, at least a little bit. How many of us have known someone who went through a scary medical ordeal, something to which the diagnosis had to be hunted for and something for which new medicine was prescribed, one with nasty side effects that hopefully never presented themselves...but there was always that possibility that they would?

Something else to ponder before I leave you for the night: Did Ed deserve our sympathy, because he deliberately took too much Cortisone, which led to him being the only one to blame for his delirious mental state or did the medicine cause his memory to give out, making him unaware when it was time for a new dose, therefore deserving of our sympathies?

RATING: 8.5/10  Not an out and out '10', but close enough for me. It's about time the 50s showed up to play ball!

MOVIES WATCHED: 635
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 366

RANKING RAY

No special words about Nicholas Ray, but a quick ranking of his four "1001" offerings...

1. Bigger Than Life
2. Rebel Without a Cause
3. In a Lonely Place
4. Johnny Guitar

COMING SOON
Black Orpheus (1959 - Marcel Camus)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957 - Jack Arnold)
Artists and Models (1955 - Frank Tashlin)
Shane (1953 - George Stevens)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955 - Robert Aldrich)

March 14, 2013  8:36pm

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296. Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Running Time: 111 minutes
Directed By: Nicholas Ray
Written By: Nicholas Ray, Irving Shulman, Stewart Stern
Main Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran
Click here to view the trailer

RAY WEEK: PART III

I hope to wrap up "Ray Week" either tonight or tomorrow. I can't say that I've been particularly impressed with Mr. Ray, however, "Rebel Without a Cause" was certainly a step in the right direction.

The film opens with Jim Stark (Dean) lying in the street, drunk and marveling over a wind-up toy monkey. He's subsequently hauled into jail and since he's a minor, his parents are phoned. After his parents arrive, we learn that Jim's father (Backus) and mother (Doran) move him around from place to place, anytime he gets into any trouble. After an outburst in the middle of the station ("You're tearing me apart!), the police chief in charge of juvenile crimes has a one on one talk with Jim and learns that Jim resents his father for not having the guts to stand up to his wife, Jim's mother. The policeman manages to get Jim calm and sends the Starks packing. Also at the police station, we meet Judy (Wood), another conflicted teenager, who seems to have "daddy issues". And since everything here seems to hinge on the police station, before he leaves Jim also meets Plato (Mineo), a third troubled teen (what a coincidence that all of these troubled teens, who would go on to be a big part in each others lives, were all arrested on the same night) who is arrested for...shooting puppies! So we finally get out of the police station and later, all of the teens end up at the same school, despite the fact that Plato looks half the age of Judy and Jim. Plato is pretty infatuated with Jim - a man crush, if you will and Jim just wants to make everything work out ("I'm sorry I stepped on the school seal" - not much of a rebel, if you ask me). But, of course, a group of guys lead by Judy's boyfriend Buzz see Jim as the new fish in their pond and decide to give him a rough time, culminating with a "chickie run" - racing two stolen cars toward the edge of a steep cliff, with the first person to jump out being deemed the "chicken".

SPOILER ALERT!!

This was, as I said, a step in the right direction for my experiences with Nicholas Ray. However, I really could've done with three or four steps in that same direction, if I was really going to give Mr. Ray any sort of impacting praise. I would say that the likes and dislikes in this movie, for me, were about equal and that ultimately it was mainly disappointment in a picture that I looked forward to, that lead to my declining opinion. So before I really begin nitpicking (because, lets face it, I'm a fantastic nitpicker), let me just say that it doesn't get much cooler than James Dean, but honestly, the guy was more than cool. He was also a hell of an actor, in my opinion and I consider it a great tragedy that he died so young. Who knows how high his star would've risen. I think he had the chops to really go far and I really wish we had more than three movies to admire him in. Now all I need to do is see "East of Eden" and I'll have seen all of his movies.

Anyway...

The film wasn't bad, by any means, but I wish it would've kept the momentum after that great opening scene at the police station. They used their time really well and despite my little jab at the coincidence of all the teens being there, it was actually a pretty smart way to introduce everyone and get us acquainted with them all. Once we leave the station, in my opinion, the film takes a decline. It seems that after that, everything is leading up to the "chickie run" and once Buzz dies, everything that follows is a result of Buzz dying. SO really, everything is wrapped around that one moment in the film - the death of secondary character. Oh and poor Buzz, who's girlfriend sees him drive a car over a cliff and LATER THAT NIGHT professes her love for Jim! She didn't even give car time to stop smoldering before she was cuddled up next to Jim! And didn't she hate him earlier in the film? See, I'm sorry, but I hate that about older films. The fact that couples fall in love in a matter of seconds - one minute being strangers or even enemies and the next minute running on the beach, watching the stars or holed up under a big tree, in the middle of a park. I just can't stand that melodramatic crap.

I don't know... blame it on a great opening scene, not being followed up on, the required romance between Dean and Wood or the fact that everything in the film really revolved around Buzz's crash, but there was just something that kept me from fully enjoying this film. I wanted to like it and even at the beginning, I thought I was going to. However, things eventually went South and as it is, I'd call it a slightly better than average offering. Plus, teen movies have never really been my thing, be it teens from today or yesterday.

RATING: 6.5/10  Not bad, just disappointing I think. I really was looking forward to this one, having never seen it before and always hearing about it and seeing the "You're tearing me apart!" scene referenced or replayed. Next up for "Ray Week": "Bigger Than Life".

MOVIES WATCHED: 634
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 367

March 14, 2013  3:17pm

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269. Johnny Guitar (1954)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Nicholas Ray
Written By: Philip Yordan, from novel by Roy Chanslor
Main Cast: Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady, Ward Bond

RAY WEEK: PART II

Continuing right along with "Ray Week" (that's Nicholas Ray Week), we come to Ray's 1954 Old West offering of "Johnny Guitar" - a western starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden, which I recorded off of Turner Classic Movies months (probably even years) ago.

Hayden is Johnny Logan a.k.a. Johnny Guitar, who, when the film opens, strolls into Vienna's, a saloon/gambling joint, to meet with the owner herself...Vienna (Crawford). Vienna is a strong woman who plans to capitalize when the railroad is built through the area. As the film opens, a lynch mob, lead by Emma Small (McCambridge) and John McIvers (Bond), storm into Vienna's looking for the culprits who pulled off a stagecoach robbery. They suspect The Dancin' Kid (Brady) and his cohorts, but when that gang swaggers in behind them, they deny having anything to do with it. Already some pretty combustible elements are put into play, as you have the lynch mob and the fiery Emma Small, Dancin' Kid's gang, with Ernest "Bart Lonergan" Borgnine in tow, Johnny Guitar, who wields a guitar in one hand and happens to be a pretty feared shot and Vienna, a tough cowgirl, played boldly by Crawford. When The Dancin' Kid's gang are accused of robbing the coach and ARE innocent, they decide that if they're going to be accused, they might as well actually do something to be accused for. So they head to the bank one morning and hold it up, planning to take the gold, buy some new horses and make way for California. Of course, all doesn't go as planned and all the combustibility that is originally introduced, comes to a head in the climax of the film.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Despite the seeming excitement of the plot, the movie is actually quite a drag. They introduce lots of fire early on and in my opinion, fail to deliver the goods, as the movie is never really building to anything particularly exciting. Westerns were never really my bag anyway and the few that I have liked from THE BOOK were, more than likely, just cases of being in the right mood, at the right time and the fact that those particular westerns hit the nail right on the head, in my eyes. In fact, I can only name a handful - three or four - things I actually liked about this movie and for your convenience, I now present them in list form:

1. The initial confrontation between Johnny and Bart, at the bar and the subsequent fist fight. Pretty great stuff and had they featured Ernest Borgnine a little more prominently, I may have taken to this better. Love that guy, can't wait to review "Marty".

2. The shot where the lynch mob storms into Vienna's to find her playing the piano. The tracking shot as Emma swings open the doors and the beautiful camerawork that follows, Crawford in her billowing white dress. Was it just me or did anyone else think that Turkey was hiding under her dress skirt?

And finally

3. The finale and of course I'm talking about the shoot out between Emma and Vienna, the beautiful backdrop behind Crawford's head, the bullet between The Dancin' Kid's eyes and Emma falling over the balcony of the lair.

That's about it. The rest of the film was kind of a drag and I didn't, in the least, buy Sterling Hayden as a cowboy. You have to understand that the only other two Hayden movies I've ever seen are "The Killing" and "The Asphalt Jungle" where, in both, he plays a crook. I've been conditioned to view his as a crook, not a cowboy. And while I'm on the subject of the cast, I really didn't like Joan Crawford as a cowgirl either. She played the role fine, with confidence and vigor, but I'd rather see Crawford in noir too and to be brutally honest, she lost a lot of her attractive qualities with short hair (or was her long hair just pinned up?) and wearing western shirts and blue jeans.

RATING: 4/10  I can't even get it to the average marker and Nicholas Ray is turning out to be a big disappointment. To be honest, that rating may have been lower if this hadn't been the first movie I watched AFTER "Too Early, Too Late", which in comparison would make ANYTHING look appealing. Next up for "Ray Week": "Rebel Without a Cause".

MOVIES WATCHED: 632
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 369

March 12, 2013  12:08am

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231. In a Lonely Place (1950)

Running Time: 94 minutes
Directed By: Nicholas Ray
Written By: Dorothy B. Hughes, Edmund H. North, Andrew Solt, from novel by Dorothy B. Hughes
Main Cast:  Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frank Lovejoy, Carl Benton Reid, Art Smith
Click here to view the trailer

RAY WEEK: PART I

Whoa, look at me - after two days away from the blog, I use a Saturday off from work to squeeze in two reviews! Could there be three? Stay tuned. Today, after the positive "Trainspotting" review, I figured I'd keep things rolling by kicking off "Ray Week" - a four film salute to Nicholas Ray.

Humphrey Bogart is Dixon Steele, a Hollywood screenwriter who hasn't had a hit in quite some time and who is being sought out to adapt a dreamy, love novel into a hit epic. While dining at a local Hollywood hot spot, Dixon meets a hat check girl who gushes about the novel. It is also at the hot spot where we learn that Dixon has a short fuse and will tussle with anyone for even looking at him with cross eyes. Later, he picks up the hat check girl, coaxing her to cancel her prearranged date and go back to his place, so she can summarize the novel for him and he can decide if he wants to write it. At his place, the girl does just that and when Dixon gets too tired to entertain her any longer, he sends her away with $20 and directions to the taxicab stand. The next morning, a detective and friend of Dixon's, Brub Nicolai (Lovejoy), comes knocking on Dixon's door, summoning him to the station. Dixon is confused at first, but after arriving at the station is told that the hat check girl was found dead and that he's the prime suspect. Dixon takes it all in stride, playing it cool, like only Humphrey Bogart would do and can only think of one person that can vouch for him staying in the night before - his neighbor (Grahame). So, his neighbor, Laurel Gray, is brought to the station and confirms everything that she knows - that Dixon was in the night before and as far as she knows, he stayed in - and they're cut loose, only to strike up a romance, after arriving back at their apartments. Now, we have a "whodunit" on our hands, wrapped around a budding love story.

SPOILER ALERT!!

Humphrey Bogart is now 0-115 as far as his record for impressing me goes. Okay, so maybe there haven't been THAT many Bogart selections in THE BOOK, but I can think of at least five, off the top of my head - five so-called classics - that really failed to win me over. You've got the disappointing double shot with him and Bacall ("The Big Sleep" and "To Have and Have Not"), the mildly entertaining, but also mildly disappointing "The Maltese Falcon" and don't even get me started on that train wreck, so-called SUPER COLOSSAL CLASSIC "Casablanca". In fact, there has only been ONE other Bogart film that I've watched for the 1001 journey and that was "Angels with Dirty Faces", still an absolute favorite of mine, but not because of Bogart. But let's dig a little deeper, because you see, I didn't mind Bogart in "Angels" and if you'll recall, in "Angels" he played the bad guy. Perhaps we're onto something. Maybe, just maybe that's the ticket. Maybe I can't stomach Bogart as his cliche character - you know, the one he ALWAYS plays - the cigarette smoking, dame pleasing, fedora wearing, fast talking cool cat. I hate THAT guy. So maybe that's why I was ultimately so disappointed in "In a Lonely Place", because we ALMOST had bad guy Bogart back! Had they gone the route that apparently the novel took, Bogart would've been revealed to be the killer and I would've loved that. But gracious no, we can't have our beloved Humphrey revealed to be a killer!! Why that'd be like serving a grilled cheese sandwich, hold the cheese!

Okay enough Bogart bashing. I have four (that I can think of) Bogart movies left and I'm determined to find SOMETHING appealing in at least one of them. What I really should've done was watch them all as part of a "Bogart Week", then maybe he'd have grown on me, but by now it's too late for that. As for the rest of the picture (sans Bogart), I just wasn't THAT impressed. It was okay I guess, but, as far as I'm concerned it wasn't anything worth writing home about and it all seemed pretty plain if you ask me. They failed to draw any real suspense out of me and shame on them for not capitalizing on Mildred (the murder victim) screaming "Help", near the beginning of the film. I was almost sure that they'd elude to that and it was something simple that could've added some real frustrating (in a good way) and suspenseful moments for the audience. It was barely a film-noir and even though it IS classified as noir, it's a sad excuse for one. Gloria Grahame was pretty good in it, but then there's also "The Big Heat", which she's also in, provides better performances and is a FAR better example of a fantastic 50s noir. Case closed.

RATING: 5.5/10  Well Mr. Ray, not a good start. But, hey I'm an open-minded fellow and he has three more chances to impress me, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. Next up for "Ray Week": "Johnny Guitar".

MOVIES WATCHED: 630
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 371

March 9, 2013  5:11pm

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