353. Le Trou/The Hole (1959)

Running Time: 132 minutes
Directed By: Jacques Becker
Written By: Jean Aurel, Jacques Becker, Jose Giovanni, from novel by Jose Giovanni
Main Cast: Marc Michel, Jean Keraudy, Philippe Leroy, Michel Constantin, Raymond Meunier

THE GREATEST ESCAPE MOVIE EVER? YES!

"Poor Gaspard"

When I sat down to watch a movie last night, I had no idea, beforehand, that I was going to be watching what will probably end up being the #1 spot of my next TOP 20. Two hours later it was a no brainer and I was left with yet another reason to be thankful for embarking on this 1001 journey.

It's a prison break movie ladies and gents, so that pretty much tells you the just of the plot right there. But, not wanting to be short, I'll fill in a few more details. The film open with Gaspard (Michel) being transferred out of his cell (due to needed repairs) and into a cell with four other inmates: Roland (Keraudy), Manu (Leroy), Geo (Constantin) and Monseigneur (Meunier). At first they're acting a little weird, an unexplainable type of weird, but regardless, they welcome him into their "home". Later, we find out what the weirdness was all about, as the four original cell mates are planning an escape and with the arrival of Gaspard, the four fought with the decision to either cancel their plans or let him in on the plot. They decide to let Gaspard in on the plot and he's all for the plan to bust out. So, the five get to work, with Roland (who's escaped three times before) and Manu as the ring leaders. First, they bust through the floor of their cell, using a piece of the bed frame, which leads them into an underground, sort of cellar. From there, they make their way through passageways and hallways and eventually come upon a sewer system, where a thick, impenetrable concrete wall stands between them and freedom. Eventually it becomes clear that in order to get through the concrete wall, they'll have to dig a tunnel AROUND it, through ten feet of cement. So, each night, the men take shifts going down the hole in their cell, to the place where they have to dig and pounding away with a metal bar, inching closer and closer to freedom.

SPOILER ALERT! 

What a MAGNIFICENT movie!! I can tell you right now that I'm not going to be able to come up with enough good things to say about "Le Trou", so I'll spout about it for a little while and then we'll call it a day. Actually, before I get into the actual gushing, I want to address a plot related issue with this film. Today, right before I came to write the review, I went to do a little research (as I always do) and found that some people are a bit confused by the ending of this movie. Apparently, there are people who think the ending is ambiguous and that we actually never know whether or not Gaspard ratted on his cellmates or not. I did have to stop and put about a minute's worth of thought into it, but came to the conclusion that the ending, for me anyway, wasn't the least bit ambiguous. To me, it's obvious that Gaspard ratted his cellmates, if not only by the final utterance of Roland - "Poor Gaspard". Also, it's clear that when the guards raid the cell, Gaspard isn't stripped and lined up with the others and is instead motioned toward a different cell, where he'll wait a short time before being released (since his wife dropped the charges against him). So that's my two cents on the matter and never, not for a minute, did I think that maybe Gaspard didn't rat on his friends. Also, on the matter of Gaspard, it was clear throughout the film that he stood apart from the other four. You were never really rooting as much for him, as you were the four original members of this makeshift family. Becker masterfully separates the four from Gaspard and toys with our varied feelings about the two separate entities.

Can I be so bold, however, as to present a new idea to this already wonderful plot - an addition, if you will. I think you could've squeezed just a little more suspense out of this movie by having the men actually make their escape, only to be greeted by the authorities when they lifted the manhole cover. I don't know about you, but I was tossing and turning on Gaspard's loyalty, from the time he met with the warden all the way until the guards busted the boys. I wish Becker had strung me along just a little bit longer. Once the boys were almost out, I would've been sure that Gaspard was loyal and then...BAM! Busted! Also, take this idea into account. What if everything had happened just as it had, but we went just a little bit further. Followed Gaspard into his new cell, where the warden followed and said something to the effect of...

"Gaspard, thank you again for revealing to us the plot that your, now former, cellmates were trying to pull off. I want you to know that I intend to make your future at this prison a very relaxed one. If you ever need ANYTHING, feel free to request my presence personally."

"Why thank you director, but, of course, I'll only be here for a short time longer...well with my wife dropping the charges and all."

"Oh Gaspard, I'm so sorry to have to tell you, but, it seems your wife has been persuaded to change her mind on dropping the charges. It seems like your time here will be much longer than we discussed in my office" THE END...as Gaspard realizes that he could've been on the street, in that taxi by now. I think that would've been, to say the least, pretty heavy.

BUT, as it is, "Le Trou" is perfect and on second thought, maybe I wouldn't change a thing, because why mess with perfection. I thought about this movie all day today, kept replaying scenes in my mind, thinking about Roland's last words and seeing those guards reflected in that tiny mirror. "Le Trou" is the kind of movie that makes me want to amend my previous '10/10' ratings for "The Apartment", "Buffalo '66" and "Some Like It Hot", because clearly THIS is what a '10' picture looks like, feels like and is. If this isn't the #1 spot of my next TOP 20, then I can't wait to see the movie that I deem better than this, because I'll be damned if this wasn't the best movie I've seen in a LONG time! Perhaps...perhaps even better than anything I watched all last season. Now that's a bold statement.

RATING: 10/10  Am I blowing my wad right out of the gate this season? I'm officially ten films into this season and already I've had four tens, a nine, an eight and a seven and only one movie that I'd call "not good". All I have to say is keep 'em comin'!

MOVIES WATCHED: 611
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 390

February 7, 2013  4:07pm

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341. Some Like It Hot (1959)

Running Time: 122 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: I.A.L. Diamond, Billy Wilder
Main Cast: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, George Raft, Pat O'Brien
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: THE FINAL CHAPTER

"We're up the creek and you want to hock the paddle!" 

The week dedicated to Billy Wilder finally comes to a close, not with "The Apartment", as was originally intended, but with "Some Like It Hot", a movie that I'd NEVER seen before and one that I was heavily anticipating.

When Joe (Curtis) and Jerry (Lemmon), two struggling musicians, living in prohibition era Chicago, accidentally witness the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre, their lives are put in danger when the thugs responsible for the murders want to ensure there aren't any witnesses. Fearing for their lives, the two boys take a gig in Florida, playing in a hotel lounge with all expenses paid. The gig sounds pretty sweet, but there is one drawback - the act is an all girl band. So, one thing leads to another, Joe becomes Josephine, Jerry becomes Daphne (not Geraldine, as originally intended) and the all girl band have a brand new saxophone and bow fiddle player. Now, all the boys (bachelors, by the way) have to do is make sure their cover isn't blown and it's three weeks in Florida, where the mobsters will never find them. Of course, it's a screwball comedy, so they don't get off that easy. Enter the beautiful Sugar Kane (Monroe), the lead singer and ukulele player of the band and a girl both boys go ape for. First it's Jerry/Daphne who has eyes for Sugar, but he's sidetracked in Florida when an elderly millionaire falls for him....er...her. Joe, while spending quality time with Sugar, falls in love with her and after finding out what she looks for in men, dons another costume change, sports a Cary Grant voice and tries to win her heart, all the while changing back and forth between a female saxophonist and the millionaire, Shell Oil owner, Junior. Oh and just to add a little more excitement to the mix, it just so happens that during the three weeks the boys are in Florida, the hotel they're playing at holds a summit for all the mob bosses around the country.

I feel like a broken record here, but seriously....seriously tell me what's not to like about "Some Like It Hot"? No, I'll tell you. There's nothing to dislike about this movie. Nothing. Normally, when you watch comedies that are, lets say pre-1970s, the comedy is very different from more modern comedy. You can either adapt to it and still laugh at it or you're one of many who just can't get into "old movies" and you dislike it, citing it as "not as funny as the stuff they're doing today!". A lot of times when I watch older comedies, I can easily realize that they're of a very different brand, but can usually adapt and still have a good time. However, there are a lot of times when it's simply a different time and the jokes aren't funny anymore. In "Some Like It Hot", everything holds up well and this movie is just as funny in 2013, as I'm sure it was in 1959. It's edgy, it houses great comedic timing from both Curtis and Lemmon, it provides ridiculous situations that comedies have been relying on for decades and it's worlds better than your run of the mill, Judd Apatow curse-fest. In the recap yesterday, I took a quick look at "Superbad", a movie that I cited as being a little too crude for my tastes, but good for a few laughs. "Some Like It Hot" is good for dozens and dozens of laughs and gets it's point across on sheer comedy alone and doesn't have to resort to cheap tactics like cursing, menstruation jokes and fart jokes. As I've grown older, I've learned to appreciate the ones who could do it on comedy and comedy alone. Cursing isn't a talent folks - I can curse. What I can't do is make people laugh by holding a pair of maracas and gushing about the fact that Osgood just proposed!

As I watched "Some Like It Hot", I continually asked myself a question and I think it's a good question to ask yourself anytime you watch one of these "man dressing as a woman" comedies. Would this still be funny if they weren't in drag? If they were doing everything just as they're doing it, but they looked like Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis? The answer here is YES - easily yes! I mean, try to picture Jack Lemmon, his sensible, short haircut, in a suit (maybe the type of suit he wore to the Consolidated Insurance Company - maybe even his bowler hat), lying on a bed, gushing about Osgood's proposal and shaking those maracas. My God, I could laugh right now at the thought of that. Hey guys, it's a comedy for God's sake. It's not Tarkovsky, it's not Scorsese, it's not Bergman, it's just a damn funny movie and like I said in my "Grease" review, sometimes the best movies are the ones that just allow you to kick back and have a little fun and "Some Like It Hot" is just that kind of movie. Sometimes you want to be inspired, sometimes you want to be forced to think, sometimes you want to cry, but damn it, sometimes you just want to laugh and this movie is just what the doctor ordered for a good laugh!

RATING: 10/10  I was gonna' go '9', but who the hell am I kidding, this is a big fat '10' if there ever was one. I'm actually getting worried now that I've gone soft during my departure. Just look at the ratings since my return - only one negative review. Am I actually hoping for something bad to come along?

MOVIES WATCHED: 610
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 391

RANKING WILDER

Normally, I'd end a director tribute week by saying a few words about said director, but honestly, I have nothing particularly insightful or wise to say about Billy Wilder, so I'll just rank his films and give him a big thumbs up, as I enjoyed certain things about all of his films!

1. The Apartment 10/10
2. Some Like It Hot 10/10
3. Double Indemnity 7/10
4. The Lost Weekend 6.5/10
5. Sunset Blvd. 6/10
6. The Big Carnival/Ace in the Hole 4/10

February 6, 2013  1:36pm

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January 2013 RECAP

It's the first RECAP of 2013. Let's get to it!

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in January 2013
1) Double Indemnity (1944 - Billy Wilder) 7/10 - Good movie, but I'm not sure it'll have enough steam to make it all the way from #1 to the TOP 20 at the end of the season.
2) The Lost Weekend (1945 - Billy Wilder) 6.5/10 - Kind of the same situation. Not quite as good as the first Wilder offering, but still really good. I actually think this one has more potential to grow on me.
3) Buffalo '66 (1998 - Vincent Gallo) 10/10 - An early contender for one of the top spots of the TOP 20.
4) The Apartment (1960 - Billy Wilder) 10/10 - And another

NON-1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die - As seen in January 2013
1) Catfish (2010 - Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman) 8/10 - This was actually the first movie I watched after my movie break. The wife and I spotted this one somewhere and on a whim, decided to check it out. My wife and I actually met online and prior to meeting her, I was actually "catfished" myself...or at least I had heavy reason to believe so, without ever proving it. So, needless to say, this one hit close to home and was personally powerful for me. Nev Schulman was made to be filmed, as he has an incredibly likable personality. Someone needs to get together with someone else and do a fictional film based on an online "catfishing" experience. Big thumbs up here.

2) True Grit (2010 - Joel Coen) 5.5/10 - I own all of the Coen brothers films (actually I didn't intentionally set out to buy them all. I liked so many of them, that when I was done buying the ones I wanted, it was a no brainer to just buy the rest and complete the set), so when "True Grit" came out on DVD last year, I went and bought it and there it sat on my shelf, until earlier this month. I finally got the notion to stick it into the DVD player and what a freaking disappointment. It was as if Joel Coen (and Ethan, I guess) turned of his signature originality and flare to make a true Coen brothers film. The strangled attempt at humor was just cheap and the film followed basic movie standards, lacking the originality that I'm speaking of. Usually when I watch a Coen brothers flick, I know it's a Coen brothers flick because it doesn't look or feel like any other movie. Even if it's a basic story (take "Fargo" for instance - a simple murder/kidnapping investigation), it has SOMETHING that makes it stand out and feel like something special. This didn't have that and I was utterly and completely disappointed.

3) Superbad (2007 - Greg Mottola) 6.5/10 - A little too crude and lewd for my liking, but "Superbad" is good for at least a few laughs. The plot is simple, which I like - two teenagers on a "Lord of the Rings" like quest to obtain alcohol and get to one big senior party, before splitting up to go to college - and Jonah Hill & Michael Cera have good chemistry. People like to rag on Michael Cera for being a poor man's Jesse Eisenberg, but I happen to really like the kid and if his whole gimmick is that he's doing the "Jesse Eisenberg", then he's mastered it well enough to get by on it.

4) Misery (1990 - Rob Reiner) 10/10 - THE BOOK had four chances to include a really great and memorable Rob Reiner film and blew it all four times with it's failure to include "Misery", a modern classic adapted from a Stephen King novel. I don't really want to get into a whole spiel on this one, so lets just suffice it to say that I absolutely love this film. Keep your eyes peeled and your pacemaker checked for the scene where Paul sneaks out of his bedroom, only to have Annie return home, leading to one of, if not THE MOST suspenseful scene in all of cinema. James Caan and Kathy Bates (especially Bates) turn in career making performances, at a time when their careers were already made. Big Big Big Thumbs up and a definite MUST SEE!!

Well that about wraps 'er all up for January. Not a very eventful month, but February should be more fruitful, as I take on a full-time schedule as far as THE BOOK goes. Stay tuned...

February 5, 2012  8:31pm

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636. GREASE (1978)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Randal Kleiser
Written By: Bronte Woodard, Allan Carr, from musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey
Main Cast: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Jeff Conaway, Stockard Channing, Barry Pearl
Click here to view the trailer

GREASE IS THE WORD

"I got chills / They're multiplyin' / And I'm losing control / Cause the power you're supplying / It's electrifyin'."

Last night, I let my wife do the movie picking for me, as she was in the mood to watch one with me and after a quick trip to the DVD shelf, she came back with "Grease" - a personal favorite of hers. I'd seen "Grease" a few times in my day, but never really affixed a rating to it. This viewing was my chance to size it up, once and for all.

To be honest, there's really not much of a plot. You see...it's really not about the story, but more about the songs. However, I'm a stickler for relaying some sort of semblance of a plot, so I'll see what I can do. Danny Zuko (Travolta) meets Sandy Olsen (Newton-John) during summer vacation. The two fall in love and enjoy a pretty timid romance (in by ten o'clock, drinking lemonade...real rebel business for these two) at the beach, during the course of summer vacation. At the end of the summer, Sandy announces that she'll be returning to Australia and Danny will be becoming a Senior at Rydell High School, where he's the leader of the T-Birds gang. Upon his return to high school, Danny tells his fellow T-Birds about the "wild" summer he had, taking Sandy's cherry and all that jazz, leaving out the lemonade business. What Danny doesn't know at this point, is that Sandy had a change of plans and is actually AT Rydell High. When Danny finally runs into Sandy, he blows her off, so that he doesn't look like a lovelorn loser in front of his pals, including his best pal and T-Bird second Kenickie (Conaway) and Sandy is heartbroken. Later, Sandy begins dating a member of the football team and is accepted into the Pink Ladies, a female version of the T-Birds, headed up by Rizzo (Channing), who doesn't care for Sandy that much. When Danny becomes jealous over Sandy's new boyfriend, he gets her back with ease. They break up and get back together a few more times over the course of the film. Meanwhile, Kenickie buys a car that looks and runs like a heap of junk and plans to fix it up and race it at Thunder Road against the Scorpions, a rival gang.

SPOILER ALERT!

I'm just going to lay it right out on the table...I had a blast watching this. I mean, sure the plot is an absolute mess, but until I sat down and actually started to write this review, I didn't even realize what a barely there plot this one has. And, like I said, it really isn't about the plot. The plot is just there to give the actors a reason to sing their songs and it's the songs that make the movie. Literally EVERY song in the movie is listenable and the majority of them are so catchy you'll be shocked to realize that your snapping your fingers, tapping your toes and singing along with John and Olivia. I think my personal favorite and non-obvious choice for best song would have to be "Sandy" by Travolta, but seriously, who doesn't love "Summer Nights" and "You're the One That I Want"? In fact, watch "Grease" and then come and TRY to tell me that you didn't sing along, not once and I'll deem you the liar that you are! Even the song that I like the least, "Beauty School Dropout", is even pretty good and how can you dislike something being sung by Frankie Avalon, as he dances on a stage of white, oozing swag out the yin-yang.

It's funny, like I said, I'd seen "Grease" a bevy of times in my life, but I'd never really thought enough to give it a rating or even speak of it when talking about my favorite movies. If I'd had to peg a rating on it, prior to last night's watching, without re-watching it, I'd have pegged it for a '6' or so. However, it's more like a '9' and that's a credit to THE BOOK. Watching all these movies has allowed me to look at movies in a different light. Movies that I wouldn't have thought twice about before, after watching them in a row with all these other classics and sitting down to write a few words about them, I sometimes realize just how good certain things are...and sometimes, just how bad. So, in conclusion, forget the cheesy, barely there plot. You don't watch "Grease" for that. You watch "Grease" for the unforgettable songs, Travolta's never ending supply of cool and Olivia Newton-John's size -3 black leather pants. Great movie...end of story.

RATING: 9/10  Can't go all the way, just because, but who cares. It's great, I had fun and in the end, that's one of the reasons we all watch movies.

MOVIES WATCHED: 609
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 392

February 4, 2013  9:51pm

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333. The Defiant Ones (1958)

Running Time: 97 minutes
Directed By: Stanley Kramer
Written By: Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
Main Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel, Charles McGraw, Lon Chaney Jr.
Click here to view the trailer

A BLACK AND WHITE STORY

"That's a great way to live. You keep quiet all your life and the only time you open your mouth is when you're dyin'."

Man, I loved me some Tony Curtis in "Sweet Smell of Success" and so with the impending viewing of "Some Like It Hot", I figured why not make it a double feature of Tony Curtis and pop in "The Defiant Ones" as well. The wife and I actually owned "The Defiant Ones", but I had never seen it, as it had been one of her purchases, approximately a year or so ago.

The premise is pretty straight forward, so I'll TRY to keep it short and sweet and we can all get on with our lives. When a truck, transporting prisoners, rolls over the road during a rainstorm, no one is killed, but two convicts (who are chained at the wrist) escape. The cons are Johnny "Joker" Jackson (Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Poitier) - a white man and a black man, apparently something that would've never happened in a real life Southern chain gang. As you may have guessed, the racial tensions are ratcheted as high as they'll go and we flip back and forth between watching the convicts try to get further away and watching a posse of men form, who are out to recapture the two men. Joker and Cullen get a pretty good head start, but are slowed up when they're caught trying to steal food and find means to break the chain, during a stop at a small village. They're nearly lynched, but are cut loose by one of the villagers, a former member of the chain gang himself. Eventually they make their way to the farm of a single mother, where they manage to break the chains. The single mother kindles up a little romance with Joker, but can Joker bring himself to abandon Cullen?

If you wanted to poke at "The Defiant Ones", it'd be really easy to. I mean, the whole film is an obvious symbol for whites and blacks trying to coexist in the United States, at a time when a lot of whites either refused or were hesitant to make peace with the African American population. I've discovered that the one thing I hate, almost as much as racism, is movies that continually try and make it the basis of their plot. If you look back to my "Crash" review, you'll find a glowing rating, but as time went on, I realized that I very much dislike "Crash", because it comes off as too much of a sermon. Stop telling me how wrong racism is. Anyone with a brain in their head, who has the sense enough to choose your picture as their selected viewing, is probably already going to know that and I highly doubt any Clan members or white supremacists were holding a "Crash" ticket. But, we're not talking about "Crash" are we and thank God.

No, what we're talking about is "The Defiant Ones", a picture that I won't poke the stick at and one that, instead, I'll embrace and call a hell of a picture. It certainly doesn't come off as preachy and I can swallow the hokey symbolism angle, as long as theirs a good movie to back it all up and is there ever! Curtis and Poitier are fantastic, just as I'd suspected and the whole storyline is right up my alley. The film taps into a previously untapped market and that is the "buddy prisoner" film. It's lesser known than it's sister genre, the "buddy cop" film, but just as good and usually more edgy. I mean, come on folks, what more can I say? What's not to like about a couple of prisoner, one black and one white, chained at the wrists, trying to find a means to separate themselves, set in the South at a time when white men and black men weren't seen together?? It has gold written all over it and I loved it, and I think you will to, but like I said, just try to overlook the whole hokey symbolism thing.

RATING: 8/10  "Buffalo 66" and "The Apartment" have set the bar high already this season, so I can't go '10', but still damn good and it (hopefully) will find a spot on the TOP 20.

MOVIES WATCHED: 608
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 393

February 3, 2013  7:39pm

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229. Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Running Time: 110 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, D.M. Marshman Jr., from the story A Can of Beans by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder
Main Cast: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Jack Webb
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: CHAPTER V

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

Surprisingly, it looks like I'm actually going to wrap up "Wilder Week" in about one week - an anomaly that usually never happens. Today it's "Sunset Blvd." and you can expect "Some Like It Hot" on Monday or Tuesday.

On the run from a couple of debt collectors, down on his luck screenwriter Joe Gillis (Holden), pulls into the driveway of a Hollywood mansion. I guess you should know that our story takes place in California, but more specifically, the place where stars call home and even more specifically, Sunset Boulevard. When Gillis pulls into that driveway, he thinks that the mansion is abandoned and decides to stash his car away in the garage, where another old car with 1932 tags is parked, looking like an artifact from an age gone by. It isn't long before Gillis realizes that the house isn't abandoned and is actually occupied by two people: ex-silent film star Norma Desmond (Swanson) and her butler/chauffeur/assistant Max (von Stroheim). After their initial meeting, in which Desmond mistakes Gillis for an undertaker (who is expected - to bury her dead chimp), Desmond finds out that Joe is a screenwriter and propositions him to rewrite her script - an adaptation of Salome, which she intends to deliver to Cecil B. DeMille and star in it. Needing the extra dough and a place to hole up for a few days, Joe takes the job, but soon finds that he's being kept around as much more than a script doctor. It seems that Desmond is prepping Joe to be her next husband and is already treating him like her boy toy, buying him expensive clothers, jewelery and treating him like a trophy. It also needs to be noted that Norma Desmond is completely off her rocker and believe that she's still a somebody, when in fact, she's clearly a has-been, that no one really cares about anymore - an extinguished star. Meanwhile, Betty Schaefer (Olson), a reader at Paramount, has happened upon one of Joe's original scripts and wants to rewrite it and petition to have it shot, but Joe can't be found and seems to have fallen out of the loop.

What to say about "Sunset Blvd.", a picture that many people cherish and very few dislike. Well, I'll tell you one thing - this is the second time I'd seen "Sunset Blvd." and the first time I saw it, I was one of those few that disliked it. I can't quite remember my reasons, I'd probably chalk it up to not being in the right mood at the right time, but I remember jotting it down as a '1/10' and vowing never to watch it again...or something like that - it all sounds a lot more dramatic than it really is. However, thinking back, I knew my reaction was a little overboard, because I didn't dread watching it this time around, in fact, I was really excited to give this picture another shot. My tastes have changed so much that I rarely dread watching movies that I once wrote off as tripe. So last night, I watched it again and my final opinion is....that the "Sunset Blvd." is just pretty good. Allow me to explain, won't you?

There are certain aspects of "Sunset Blvd." that ARE must see and that ARE really well done. The fact that it's a film noir, but doesn't submit to the usual film noir requirements, is something I enjoyed. There are no detectives, insurance investigators or haggard ex-cops and the cigarette dragging is kept to a minimum. However, at the same time, the use of shadows is prevalent and the fact that the story is told in flashback form also works for me. I enjoyed that the film was really one big tribute to a Hollywood that didn't exist anymore. The film was produced in 1950, perhaps at a time when the tide in Hollywood was turning? New directors and actors on their way in and old ones being forced out? I don't know if 1950 brought those changes or not, but that's certainly one of the themes in "Sunset" and I found it all very fascinating. The whole eeriness of the picture is also fantastic and "Sunset" actually comes really close to being classified as a horror picture and had they pursued the thriller element a little more, I think I'd have taken to it a lot better. Plus, you have to remember that this film was shot in the late 40s and despite that, the film still covers some pretty risky topics, most notably the relationship between a younger man and an older woman.

The film reminded me that even the stars of yesteryear had their troubles. Sometimes I, and I think most others, tend to think that older stars were more classy and dignified and that when they watch "Extra" or "The Insider" today and hear scandalous stories, that it's just today's crop acting out. When doing some research for this film, I chased link after link and found some fascinating stories: Cecil B. DeMille was a notorious foot fetishist and Clara Bow apparently had all sorts of problems. And, of course, there's Norma Desmond, a murdering megalomaniac who can't let go of the past.

As far as my mediocre opinions on "Sunset Blvd.", I just couldn't get all the way lost in it for some reason. For one, I didn't like the subplot with Nancy Olson and found her to be a small fish, swimming with some very big and talented fish. In other words, I found her to be dreadful and would have much preferred to focus on the Holden/Swanson/von Stroheim stuff, exclusively. With Betty Schaefer left out of the mix, they would have had more time to focus on the insanity of Norma and the tense situations between her and Joe and this only would've added more terrifying, uncomfortable and gripping scenes.

RATING: 6.5/10  In all honesty, I can actually see myself warming up to this one, once I've had some time to mull it over. For now, we'll play it safe and I'd still call it a "must see", if only for the stellar performance of Swanson. Next up in "Wilder Week": "Some Like it Hot" - the conclusion...but not till, at least, Monday.

MOVIES WATCHED: 607
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 394

February 2, 2013  11:40am

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232. The Big Carnival (1951)

Running Time: 111 minutes
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Walter Newman, Lesser Samuels, Billy Wilder
Main Cast: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Richard Benedict, Porter Hall
Click here to view the trailer

WILDER WEEK: CHAPTER IV

"I can handle big news and little news. And if there's no news, I'll go out and bite a dog."

When I first bought THE BOOK, I went through it to see what I could find and what I wasn't going to be able to find and I made a list of all the movies that eluded me. For a while, "The Big Carnival" graced that list, because unknown to me, "The Big Carnival" is better known as "Ace in the Hole", a film that I'd actually seen prior to my 1001 journey.

Kirk Douglas is Charles "Chuck" Tatum, a big shot newspaper man, who may just be a legend in his own booze induced mind. When the film opens, we find Tatum in Albuquerque, swaggering into the office of Mr. Boot (Hall), editor of the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin, promising Mr. Boot a sure fire way to make $200 a week.

"You see Mr. Boot, I'm a $250 a week newspaper man. You can have me for $50."

Mr. Boot ultimately takes the plunge on Tatum, a newspaper man that has been bagged by every other major paper in the U.S. Fast forward one year and Tatum is miserable. He misses the big city buzz of New York and longs to be a big time newspaper man again, instead of jockeying the typewriter in Albuquerque. On their way to cover a rattlesnake hunt, Tatum and photographer Herbie (Arthur), happen upon a gas station/restaurant/trading post and come upon a woman inside praying. It turns out that the woman's son, Leo Minosa (Benedict), owner of the trading post, is trapped inside a cave collapse, just past the business. Tatum immediately sees the big story that's going to free him from Albuquerque. Tatum manipulates the whole affair, gets the sheriff in his back pocket and even convinces the rescue team to take a longer route to get to Leo, so that he can have more time with the story.

I have really mixed feelings on Kirk Douglas. For some reason, I like the guy. When he's on the screen, I can't help but take notice, fixated on his every move. But, the reason I'm baffled by all this, there's yet to be a Kirk Douglas movie that's really "WOWED" me. "The Big Sky" was tripe, "Spartacus" wasn't much better, "Paths of Glory" was really good, but fell short of great and "Out of the Past" was great because of Mitchum, not Douglas. Then you have this movie, which isn't that great either, yet here's Douglas again, spitting out quotable lines with every other sentence he delivers and commanding attention on the screen. Now is it just me, or does Douglas have this air of cockiness about him, the kind of attitude that maybe he thinks he's all that and a bag of chips, when he's really not THAT good. I just don't know about the guy and until I see something that really blows me away, starring Kirk, I think we're bound to have a love/hate relationship.

The movie itself just wasn't that interesting. I don't know what it is about newspaper movies, but I can never get into them. Sure "Citizen Kane" was good, but it wasn't the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL-TIME. I guess maybe it's because I can't understand the time period when newspapers were a bigger business - I just don't get it. In fact, there are only three good things about this movie, as far as I can surmise:

1) The fact that the only "good guy" in the whole picture is Leo Minosa and he's buried in a mountain. It's kind of a neat idea to have this really inspirational story on the surface, yet when you get closer, you realize that everyone close to the situation is corrupt and only looking out for their interests.

2) Kirk Douglas and his dozens of quotable lines, including, but not limited to:

Bad news sells best. 'Cause good news is no news.

I've done a lot of lying in my time. I've lied to men who wear belts. I've lied to men who wear suspenders. But I'd never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both belt and suspenders.

It's a good story today. Tomorrow, it'll be yesterday's news and they'll wrap a fish in it.

3) The Hut-Sut Song!

Everything else is easily passable and certainly not "must see", at least in this blogger's opinion.

RATING: 4.5/10  Kind of a different style review, but we'll go with it. I'm going to try and watch "The Bad and the Beautiful" soon, so I can maybe settle this relationship conflict with Kirk Douglas and make a decision once and for all: love or hate. Next up in "Wilder Week": "Sunset Blvd.".

MOVIES WATCHED: 606
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 395

February 1, 2013  3:12pm

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