What was the last movie you saw?

It's a Blake Edwards movie too but you know when I first saw this-I thought, ah Rooney is right for the role..and then I learned about all his marriages. My god. The wives he had...Martha Vickers? Elaine Devry?

They must have been arranged marriages. I do not believe Ava Gardner married him for normal reasons--supposedly she got a Hollywood contract because she stayed quiet about his adultery (if that part is even true). Riiight-she didn't marry him for a career.

He's kind of a Quasimodo figure in this film. And the woman is Esmeralda. He gets her at the end but not really.....

He's really good in a 1960 prison film as a ringleader of a break out. He sure was intense for a little guy.
 
They Made Me a Killer (1946)

Short version: The Poverty Row, black-and-white, 1940's version of The Fugitive.

Our hero, a car mechanic with a really nifty white automobile that can go 120 miles per hour, leaves Chicago after his kid brother gets killed in a car wreck. (You'd think that would make him want to stop driving so fast, but whatever.) He drives to California, where he meets a dame who acts like she wants to buy his car. She takes him to meet her boyfriend at the bank. Actually, they want to use the guy as an involuntary wheelman, forcing him to drive them away after they rob the joint, killing a guard and seriously wounding an innocent bystander in the process. (That doesn't seem to be the brightest heist plan in the world, but whatever.)

The guy deliberately wrecks the car, but the crooks get away and he's injured. The cops find him with the gun used during the robbery, so he's arrested. They take him to talk to the innocent bystander in the hospital, who can testify that he's innocent, but the fellow dies before he can talk.

In an amazing scene, the hero pushes the hospital bed over, with the dead man still in it, and escapes. He manages to elude the cops by putting on a surgical mask and robe and pretending to be a medical student observing an operation. In another unexpected scene, when a nurse spots him, he knocks her out with his fists and runs off.

Remarkably, he manages to convince the sweet schoolteacher sister of the deceased innocent bystander that he's not guilty, and she runs off with him to catch the bad guys. An unlikely clue leads him to a diner where the dame who got him in this mess works. The bad guys are hiding out there, along with the elderly woman running the place, who, interestingly, is also a member of the gang. As you can tell, this isn't the most plausible plot in the world, but the whole thing is an efficient little B movie, barely over an hour long.
 
REBerg said:
Cry Macho
Playing a grumpy, old man might have been a challenge to Clint Eastwood a half-century ago, but these days it seems that he's just being himself. As star, director and producer, he may be the reason that this film failed to realize its storyline potential.
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You always talk about these new releases, @REBerg. I gather you're a cinema-goer, aren't you?
dask said:
View attachment 82111
Exciting crime caper about the best getaway driver in the world discovering paying off a debt means different things to different people. Well plotted and beautifully filmed. No short cuts here.
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Edgar Wright's movies just hit different! I'm looking foward to Last Night in Soho.
 
Starlight (2007): an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel. It's pretty entertaining, and unusual to see a fantasy film that borrows from fairy tales rather than the standard Lord of the Rings/D&D setting. It's good fun and despite a few uneven bits works pretty well. 7/10.
 
Toby Frost said:
Starlight (2007): an adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novel. It's pretty entertaining, and unusual to see a fantasy film that borrows from fairy tales rather than the standard Lord of the Rings/D&D setting. It's good fun and despite a few uneven bits works pretty well. 7/10.
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They say this one's pretty underrated. I haven't watched it yet though.
 
Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. This is better than it sounds. Well produced with a reasonably intelligent script which, perhaps surprisingly, does not play it for laughs.
 
To Kill a Clown (1972)

If you went into this film without knowing anything about it, you might think it was some kind of hippieish comedy/drama/love story, given the young married couple we meet at the start and the soft rock song on the soundtrack. He's a ne'er-do-well sort, sort of an artist who also fooled around with mime and clowning (hence the title.) She's the breadwinner, we're told, although we never learn what she does. There's affection between the two, although also some tension due to his childish antics. They rent a beach home, and meet their neighbor/landlord, played by Alan Alda. He's a Vietnam veteran who walks with two crutches and has two Dobermans. Charming enough at first, he turns more sinister when the clownish guy drunkenly agrees to learn "focus" from him. At dawn the next day, Alda gets him up and subjects him to military discipline, forcing him to stand at attention, call him "sir," and obey his orders to do hard physical labor. The dogs are there to enforce things. Things degenerate to the point where the couple are prisoners in the beach house. Don't expect a happy ending. For a thriller, it's extremely slow until near the end. Interesting, if not compelling. Based on a story by Algis Budrys.
 
THE TAKING OF PELHAM One Two Three 1974 --- I haven't seen the two remakes but this would be hard to do now because a story with so much focus on character action and behavior would probably be seen as too boring for what is a hijacking film. Unless the actors were really compelling to watch. Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau both have moments where their faces get a lot of attention without them doing anything. A face speaks a thousand words, sometimes.
 
Web of the Spider (Nella stretta morsa del ragno, 1971)

Remake of the director's own black-and-white 1964 film Castle of Blood (Danza Macabra). As in the previous version, it starts with Edgar Allan Poe (Klaus Kinski, playing it way over the top) relating a horrible anecdote (obviously based on his short story "Berenice") in an English pub. A journalist who has been following Poe accepts a bet from an aristocrat who has been listening that he can stay a night in a haunted castle. After some wandering around, he finds the aristocrat's beautiful sister, and they quickly become lovers. A guy comes in and kills her, and they vanish. A Mad Scientist type shows up, and explains that the journalist has be witnessing the past. A long flashback/vision relates a love quadrangle that led to a triple murder, and our haunting. Most critics seem to prefer the earlier version. This one obviously has a bigger budget, with lush sets and costumes, and is beautifully filmed. That may not go along with the Gothic storyline, but both versions are worth watching.
 
Day of the Jackal (1974) - A taut thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat as it follows the lead up to the assassination of Charles De Gaulle. The pseudonymous Jackal and Inspector Lebel play cat and mouse in this superbly acted and directed movie. The Jackal is convincingly psychopathic - a genuine cool, calculating killer played by Edwad Fox. Derek Jacobi is unrecognisable as Caron.

It might be a little slow for modern tastes, but its mix of realistic violence (most of which happens off screen) and slow burning tension make this a great watch. The way it's shot in parts feels like a documentary.

Very much enjoyed it.
 
KGeo777 said:
THE TAKING OF PELHAM One Two Three 1974 --- I haven't seen the two remakes but this would be hard to do now because a story with so much focus on character action and behavior would probably be seen as too boring for what is a hijacking film. Unless the actors were really compelling to watch. Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau both have moments where their faces get a lot of attention without them doing anything. A face speaks a thousand words, sometimes.
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and that BRILLIANT music
one of the best 'sit down and shut up' opening titles tracks.
 
I saw Web of the Spider before the original.

What is it with the snake cutting? Both of those films have the same scene of a snake being cut in half. In close up. I get they want to illustrate the metaphysical idea but jeez...




I was thinking of The Day of the Jackal as I was watching Pelham--because that's another movie where not much happens in terms of action-and yet for me it is never boring--and it's over two hours. Not much music either in that one.

The remake goes into such ridiculous territory and it's never as interesting despite bigger names.
Bruce Willis is nowhere near as compelling as Edward Fox and I read that they felt if someone more famous has been in the role, it would have done better--but would it have been as compelling?

So much is based on just following the two opposing characters--the police guy is very mild in appearance and mannerism. I read the book not so long ago--the movie is very close except my favorite line is not in the book.

"I'm enthralled by combine harvesters. In fact I yearn to have one as a pet."
 
KGeo777 said:
I saw Web of the Spider before the original.

What is it with the snake cutting? Both of those films have the same scene of a snake being cut in half. In close up. I get they want to illustrate the metaphysical idea but jeez...




I was thinking of The Day of the Jackal as I was watching Pelham--because that's another movie where not much happens in terms of action-and yet for me it is never boring--and it's over two hours. Not much music either in that one.

The remake goes into such ridiculous territory and it's never as interesting despite bigger names.
Bruce Willis is nowhere near as compelling as Edward Fox and I read that they felt if someone more famous has been in the role, it would have done better--but would it have been as compelling?

So much is based on just following the two opposing characters--the police guy is very mild in appearance and mannerism. I read the book not so long ago--the movie is very close except my favorite line is not in the book.

"I'm enthralled by combine harvesters. In fact I yearn to have one as a pet."
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Such a great line. For a minor character she was brilliantly portrayed.I don't think she deserved her fate, but it really did drive home that the Jackal was a very bad man, indeed. Even so, I kinda wish he'd lived at the end for a sequel - such a great villain.

I love the little things in Jackal - buying at the market and all those colourful extras; the fight in the street before they abduct the guy with the briefcase. Fantastic.

I haven't seen the new version of Day of the Jackal, and I must admit I'm not inclined to watch it.

I love Pelham 123. In fact I'm going to have to give that a watch tonight.
 
House of the Living Dead (1974)

Gothic chiller most notable for being a UK/South Africa co-production. The setting is the Cape Colony during the Victorian era. Our young, beautiful, innocent, soon-to-be-screaming-a-lot heroine comes from England to marry one of two twin brothers. Their mother wants her to go away, lest her marriage produce more victims of the family tendency to madness. The other brother is confined in the attic after suffering an accident, where he conducts mad experiments in collecting the souls of animals (and, yes, later people) in glass jars, neatly labeled with fine penmanship. There's a local blind woman who is a witch of some sort, hints of voodoo-like magic among the "natives," folks getting killed by a "ghost horse," and other confusing stuff. It's all very sedate, until the wild climax at the end, where the actor playing both brothers gets to go way over the top. The South African setting leads to lots of brightly lit outdoor scenes, which goes oddly with the many traditional Gothic elements.
 
Goldginger 1965 - Finally got around to this spy comedy. Not much laughs to be had. The dubbing is really bad for the comedy duo--and much like their appearance in Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs, they get better as the movie progresses but there's no Vincent Price to distract us.
Interestingly though, agent 007 appears in this--I am surprised for once they actually used James Bond's identity instead of flashing an Ian Fleming cover.
 
Day of the Jackal and Pelham 123 are brilliant movies. Michael Lonsdale's role is so understated , he was such a wonderful actor. And Edward Fox plays his part so well too.

The movies , and use their slow pace to build up the tension brilliantly well. The remakes of both movies are awful and not worth bothering with.
 
BUCK PRIVATES (1941) A&C are selling neckties on the sidewalk without a license. In evading the cop, they end up signing on to the Army. Combo of gags and The Andrew Sisters' song & dance.
 
The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.
I re-watched that last year.
It's interesting that it came out well before Pearl Harbor but they were promoting military enlistment.

They present the fun times in the army with dancing and singing---it paints a different picture from the real thing.


There's a sequel I don't think I have seen.
 
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