Prince Valiant (1954)

As much as I like the Sunday comics as a kid, I never really was a Prince Valiant comic strip fan. I tended to read Peanuts and Doonesbury and later, The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes. But you couldn't help but notice cartoonist Hal Foster's colorful Prince Valiant in the comics section, usually with his sword drawn against a gargantuan lizard and a beautiful damsel behind him. Oh, and that page boy haircut he wore. If PRINCE VALIANT were made today, the studio wouldn't dare make Shia LeBouef or Channing Tatum wear that terrible haircut. But director Henry Hathaway and 20th Century Fox did make young Robert Wagner wear the signature page boy wig.  At least 20th Century Fox pulled out all the stops for their motion picture version of the comic strip, filming it in Technicolor and Cinemascope.

PRINCE VALIANT (1954) takes place in a weird time warp where Vikings and Knights of the Round Table live in the same time period. The film opens with Prince Valiant (Robert Wagner), his father King Aguar (Donald Crisp) and Queen mother (Mary Phillips) living in a remote castle in northern Britain, exiled from their homeland of Skandia, hiding from the Viking tyrant Sligon (Primo Carnera).  A friendly Viking ship carrying their friend Boltar (Victor McLaglen) lands to warn the family that Sligon is hunting for them. Fearing for his son's safety, King Aguar sends Valiant to King Arthur's court at Camelot to train with the Knights of the Round Table.

On his journey to Camelot, Valiant comes across the mysterious Black Knight with Sligon's Viking marauders. Valiant barely escapes with his life and soon crosses paths with the noble Sir Gawain (Sterling Hayden). Gawain likes Valiant's courageous demeanor and invites him back to Camelot to be his squire. Valiant is introduced to King Arthur (Brian Aherne) as well as many other knights including Sir Brack (James Mason), who also shows a keen interest in Prince Valiant.  Arthur agrees to let Gawain keep Valiant as his squire and Gawain begins to teach the young prince the fundamentals of becoming a knight.

But Valiant is headstrong and restless and soon embarks on a quest to find and capture the Black Knight on his own. He meets up with Sir Breck who's also searching for the Black Knight but they get separated. Valiant is ambushed and wounded by the Black Knight's archers but manages to ride to a nearby castle inhabited by King Luke (Barry Jones) and his two beautiful daughters, Princess Aleta (Janet Leigh) and Ilene (Debra Paget). Sir Breck arrives later to the castle and after Valiant recuperates, they all return to Camelot for a jousting tournament with Princess Aleta to wed the winning knight.

The remainder of PRINCE VALIANT is mostly action with an extended jousting tournament followed by Valiant being lured out of Camelot to rescue his imprisoned parents from Sligon's castle. Valiant and Aleta are captured but Valiant manages to escape his cell and assist the good Viking Boltar and his men as they lay siege on Sligon's castle and army. The film concludes with a well-staged sword fight to the death between Valiant and the traitorous Knight from the Round Table who has betrayed King Arthur and Camelot.

Just as PRINCE VALIANT has a strange mix of Arthurian and Viking mythology, the casting for the film is also a weird combination of American and English actors.  The American side is represented by the young Robert Wagner as Prince Valiant and Sterling Hayden as the comical Sir Gawain. Both seem a bit miscast, at least in dialect, for a film set in medieval England. At times, Hayden sounds like a cowboy in shining armour. But British actors James Mason as Sir Breck and Donald Crisp as King Aguar lend more realism in their portrayals.  And then there's the utter waste of the talented Victor McLaglen as Boltar. McLaglen, well known for his Irish character roles in John Ford's FORT APACHE (1948) and THE QUIET MAN (1952) both with John Wayne, is entirely obscured in Viking garb and thick beard as Valiant's Viking ally. The Viking costumes in general are a bit hokey. The Vikings in PRINCE VALIANT all seem like rejects for a Minnesota Vikings mascot audition.

Now, I often complain that today's films rely on too many close-ups of actors but if there was ever a film that screamed for more close-ups, PRINCE VALIANT is that film.  Perhaps because he was trying to be epic and grand, director Hathaway films much of the story in wide shots to fill up the Cinemascope screen. But he loses the intimacy between the audience and the characters.  We never get a good close up of the handsome Robert Wagner or the beautiful Janet Leigh. With all the knight head gear and Viking helmets and thick beards, it's hard to tell who's who at times. A few more close ups would have helped.

Wagner does an able job at the athletic part of playing Prince Valiant as he spends a lot of time climbing up and down ramparts and trees and leaping over tables and walls. But his performance is a bit stiff not uncommon for young actors in the 50's and 60's. Wagner's Valiant needs a bit more cockiness. Wagner will become better known in the 1960's and 70's playing slick, romantic leads in television shows like IT TAKES A THIEF and later HART TO HART. Janet Leigh is a wonderful choice as the Princess in distress Aleta. Leigh would star in another Viking themed film with her then husband Tony Curtis in Richard Fleischer's THE VIKINGS (1958). Besides the character of Aleta, Leigh played strong female characters in films such as Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960) and John Frankenheimer's THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962). As the villain, James Mason has a good time as the sneaky Sir Breck. He's always just a breadth away from catching Valiant or usurping Arthur's throne but his nefarious schemes are always disrupted. Even when he seemingly wins Aleta's hand in the jousting tournament, the last second entries of Valiant (disguised as Gawain) and then an injured Gawain thwart even Breck's wedding plans.

Director Hathaway does understand that a film filled with Knights and Vikings needs action and he stages some impressive action scenes including an exciting jousting tournament with knights somersaulting off of horses, the fiery attack on Sligon's fortress, and a fierce sword fight between Prince Valiant and Sir Breck.  Screenwriter Dudley Nichols makes sure to include humor throughout the film and my favorite subplot involves an injured Gawain mistakenly believing Princess Aleta loves him when in fact Aleta is in love with Prince Valiant and it's Aleta's sister Ilene who loves Gawain. Actor Sterling Hayden may not sound like a typical English knight but he hams it up nicely as the lovesick Gawain.

A pleasant surprise of PRINCE VALIANT are some nice special photographic effects and matte paintings of Camelot that enhance the grandeur of the film. 20th Century Fox also shot 2nd Unit footage of various real castles throughout the British Isles such as Alnwick Castle and Warwick Castle to give PRINCE VALIANT a more authentic look. However, most of the film was shot in Los Angeles. Having lived in southern California for several years, it's always fun to see movies that mix the Santa Monica mountains or the California coast with shots of actual English castles.  Edit it all together and it works.

We should be thankful that the filmmakers chose to make a live action version of PRINCE VALIANT rather than that other Viking comic strip Hagar the Horrible. PRINCE VALIANT is meant to be a big colorful spectacle and it achieves that with its production design and lavish sets. But it makes a bit of a spectacle of itself with a young hero with an awful haircut that we never quite wrap our arms around and embrace.

A Room With A View (1985)

It was my friend Pete who got me hooked on Italy. Pete was a huge Italy aficionado starting back in high school. He wasn't obsessed with Italy like Dennis Christopher in BREAKING AWAY (1979). Pete didn't wear an Italian bike jersey and speak Italian to his mother and father all the time. But he loved the country,the people, and the culture of Italy. And it rubbed off on me in many ways including cinematically.

If a film has an Italian location, I'll probably watch it. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN, THE TALENTED MR.RIPLEY, CLIFFHANGER, even the dull NINE I watch as much for the Italy locations as for the film itself.  Which brings me to A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1985), one of my favorite period films, partially set in Florence, Italy. I must have first seen A ROOM WITH A VIEW in college because when I made my itinerary for my backpacking trip after college, Florence, Italy was one of my destinations. Landmarks like the Duomo, the Giotto Tower, and the River Arno are all places I visited and can be seen in the film.

Based on the novel by E.M. Forster, A ROOM WITH A VIEW was produced by the filmmaking team known as Merchant/Ivory. This team consisted of producer Ishmail Merchant and director James Ivory. Merchant/Ivory were synonymous with classy period films in the 80's and 90's like HOWARD'S END (1992), THE REMAINS OF THE DAY (1993), and JEFFERSON IN PARIS (1995). There was really a third member of this team, screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala who wrote many of the screenplays for Merchant/Ivory films including HEAT AND DUST (1983; based on her novel), MR.AND MRS. BRIDGE (1990), and A ROOM WITH A VIEW.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW is really a film of two halves. The first half takes place in Florence, Italy and the second half in southern England. The film begins in Florence where Ms. Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) and her chaperon and annoying cousin Charlotte Bartlett (Maggie Smith) are staying at the Pensione Bertolini with several other colorful English tourists. Amongst the group are the eccentric Mr. Emerson (Denholm Elliott),a former newspaper journalist; his brooding romantic of a son George Emerson (Julian Sands); the jovial Reverend Mr. Beebe (Simon Callow) from Lucy's English village; and even a romance novelist Eleanor Lavish (Judy Dench).When Lucy and Charlotte don't get the room with a view of Florence they requested, Mr. Emerson and George offer the two women their room with a view. As Mr. Emerson puts it, "Women like looking at a view. Men don't."

One morning, Lucy goes for a walk on her own through Florence.  As she passes through the Piazza Santa Croce, she witnesses a fight between two men and one of them is stabbed. She faints but George, also strolling through the Piazza, comes to her aid. This act of violence seems to awaken Lucy to the physical sensations of life and to the keen interest George seems to have in her. Later, the English group joined by the Reverend Mr. Eager (Patrick Godfrey), Chaplain of the Anglican Church in Florence, take a horse and buggy ride to the Tuscan countryside for a picnic. While looking for the Reverend Beebe, Lucy encounters George in a beautiful meadow. George impulsively kisses Lucy to the horror of Charlotte, her meddling chaperon, who fears for Lucy's reputation. Charlotte insists they leave Florence immediately.
                                                                     

The film switches locations to southern England some months after the Italy trip where the pretentious and romantically awkward Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day-Lewis) announces to Lucy Honeychurch's mother Marion (Rosemary Leach) and Lucy's wild brother Freddy (Rupert Graves) that Lucy has accepted his proposal of marriage.  Cecil comes from a better class than the Honeychurch's. While Cecil might come from a better social standing, he's lacking in warmth and intimacy. But coincidence and fate begin to intrude as the Emerson's, through a chance encounter with Cecil at the London National Gallery, rent a cottage in Lucy's village. Once again, Lucy and George are near each other. Lucy lies and tries to tell everyone who will listen that she loves Cecil but in the end, Lucy gives in to her true feelings and breaks off her engagement to Cecil to marry George.

In my estimation,  A ROOM WITH A VIEW is the pinnacle film for the Merchant/Ivory/Jhabvala team and they never quite attained the same magic - both creatively and financially. A ROOM WITH A VIEW was like catching lightning in a bottle. The writing, the directing, the acting, the music (love Puccini's O mio babbino caro), and the locations all mesh in perfect harmony. The most famous scene in the film where George, Freddy, and Reverend Beebe are bathing naked in a local pond and are discovered by Lucy, Cecil, and Mrs. Honeychurch has to be one of the most naturally funny sequences I've ever seen. But almost every scene in this film has a funny moment that just adds to the overall charm of the film. Ivory uses a clever device in which he divides the film into chapters (just like the Forster book) with title cards like OFFICIALLY ENGAGED or LYING TO CECIL. Even this simple device gives the film a unique blending of the cinematic and the literary.

Merchant/Ivory's other two most famous adaptations HOWARD'S END (also based on an E.M. Forster novel) and THE REMAINS OF THE DAY are both well made and acted but they lack the humor, perfect casting, and exquisite scenery that A ROOM WITH A VIEW has. Most English costume films end with the heroine dying in the arms of her lover or the doomed lovers never being able to requite their love. A ROOM WITH A VIEW has a happy ending. Boy does get girl. Not everyone is miserable all the time. And everyone is happy in the end.

Each character is perfectly cast. Helena Bonham-Carter is luminous as the coming-of-age Lucy. We see her grow into an independent woman before our lives. Julian Sands is good looking and quirky as the free-spirited George Emerson. Daniel Day-Lewis takes the hardest role as the pompous Cecil Vyse and displays great comical flair yet makes Cecil sympathetic and even human in the end. Even the supporting roles are juicy and each player has his or her moment to shine. Simon Callow as the Reverend Beebe, Maggie Smith as dim Charlotte, Rupert Graves as the irascible Freddy Honeychurch, and Denholm Elliott as George's father give great life to their roles.

A ROOM WITH A VIEW was a launching point to stardom for several of these actors.  Helena Bonham-Carter went on to become queen of the costume dramas for awhile before marrying Tim Burton and starring in his films such as SWEENEY TODD (2007) and ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010).  I fell in love with Bonham-Carter in A ROOM WITH A VIEW and she's still one of my favorite actresses today. Daniel Day-Lewis would catapult from small independent films like A ROOM WITH A VIEW to large scale blockbusters like THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992) and THE GANGS OF NEW YORK (2002). Denholm Elliot as Mr. Emerson will always be remembered as Dr. Marcus Brody in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) but he solidified his status as a great character actor with A ROOM as did Maggie Smith as cousin Charlotte Bartlett who even my kids now know her for her portrayal of Professor Minverva McGonagall in the HARRY POTTER series.

The scenery of Italy and Florence is the last great character in A ROOM WITH A VIEW and what sets this film apart from Merchant/Ivory's other films. Italy represents romance and freedom and vitality. Whereas England is formality and manners and class structure, Italy is passion and sensuality and life. Other films have capitalized on this metaphor of Italy as romance and freedom, most notably ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953),  ENCHANTED APRIL (1992) and UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (2003).

After I saw ROOM, I could not wait to see what literary adaptations Merchant/Ivory would film next and I was positive it would be greater and more entertaining than ROOM.  But none of their subsequent films ever captured my movie heart like A ROOM WITH A VIEW.  A recent viewing delighted me with new things I never picked up on before even as I smiled at scenes I never get tired of. If I could travel to Florence with this cast of characters, I would in a heartbeat.  I would have tea with the Reverend Mr. Beebe. I would listen to Lucy Honeychurch play the piano. I would walk the streets of Florence with Eleanor Lavish. And at my pensione, I would ask for a room with a view.

Cat Ballou (1965)

All tough guy actors try their hand at comedy at some point in their careers. Arnold Schwarznegger tried it twice in TWINS (1988) and KINDERGARTEN COP (1990). Sylvester Stallone tried it unsuccessfully in RHINESTONE (1984). One of my favorite old tough guy actors is Lee Marvin. He tried it and won an Oscar.

It must have been fun for tough guy actor Lee Marvin to play a character like Kid Shelleen in the western CAT BALLOU (1965) that is atypical of the characters we normally think of Lee Marvin playing.  Usually, Lee Marvin played crooks and army sergeants and hired killers. In CAT BALLOU, Marvin gets to play a drunk gunslinger who must redeem himself and his legend when he's hired by Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) to kill the man who killed her father. Marvin almost always had a crew cut in his films but in BALLOU, he's got a tangled mess of blond locks and gets to make plenty of crazy faces. There was a hint that Marvin could play comedy way back in THE CAINE MUTINY (1954) when he played Meatball, a goofy sailor.

It's Marvin's star quality that gives weight to the film as most of the other actors (including a young Jane Fonda) are mostly unknowns. Marvin won a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in CAT BALLOU. Although he's very good as Shelleen and he was playing a character that was somewhat of a stretch for him, it made me wonder who was Marvin up against for Best Actor in 1965 (I looked it up and it was a weak group in 1965 - Richard Burton in THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD; Laurence Olivier in OTHELLO; Rod Steiger in THE PAWNBROKER; and Oskar Werner in SHIP OF FOOLS). In a different Academy Award year, Marvin might have won a Best Supporting Actor award but he was good enough in 1965.

I had never seen CAT BALLOU until last week and to prove how little I knew about the film, I had always assumed that Lee Marvin was Cat Ballou.  This is entirely wrong.  Jane Fonda plays Cat Ballou.  Cat short for Catherine. This misconception would be a harbinger for many other pleasant surprises about CAT BALLOU.

From the opening Columbia Pictures logo when the torch bearing woman turns into an animated gunfighter, director Elliott Silverstein makes it clear that CAT BALLOU is not going to be your conventional western. Singers Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye play the Shouters (similar to the Chorus in a Shakespeare play) and appear throughout the film singing The Ballad of Cat Ballou.

We are introduced to Catherine "Cat" Ballou (Jane Fonda) as she boards a train to return to her home town of Wolf City, Wyoming to become a school teacher. Even though she seems the model of decency and wholesomeness, there are hints that Cat has a wilder side to her. She hides a dime story western inside her respectable book. And, she assists handsome outlaw Clay Boone (Michael Callan) escape the local sheriff (Bruce Cabot) by hiding him in her berth when Boone's Uncle Jed (Dwayne Hickman) breaks his shackled nephew free during the ensuing train ride.

Cat arrives in Wolf City where she's picked up by her gruff but lovable father Frankie Ballou (John Marley) and his Sioux half-breed ranch hand Jackson Two-Bears (Tom Nardini). Cat soon discovers that the town is not very happy with her father. He won't sell his water rights to unscrupulous land developer Sir Harry Percival (Reginald Denny) so Percival has hired Tim Strawn (also played by Lee Marvin), dressed in black and wearing a metal sheath over his nose (bitten off in a fight, we're told), to terrorize Ballou and force them to leave. At the town's Harvest Dance, Cat runs into Boone and Jed, still on the lam, and recruits them to help her and her father. But neither man is good with a gun so Cat decides to hire the man she admires in her western novels, the famous gunslinger Kid Shelleen (Lee Marvin).

Shelleen arrives in town drunk as a skunk. Cat brings him back to the Ballou ranch to show off his marksman skills to her father but Shelleen fails miserably. But when Frankie Ballou is shot by Strawn, Cat, Shelleen, and the rest of her motley crew band together to defeat Percival and his hired guns. Cat and her gang ride up to Hole in the Wall to enlist Butch Cassidy (Arthur Honeycutt) and his gang of cutthroat outlaws but Butch is old and enjoying the peace and tranquility of retirement. Cat decides to hit Percival and Wolf City where it hurts the most by robbing a train delivering the town's payroll. In the end, Kid Shelleen rediscovers his pride and confronts his nemesis Strawn while Cat Ballou visits Percival, the man responsible for bringing about her father's death, in his private coach. Cat's encounter with Percival will bring her face to face with Wolf City's wrath and the hangman's noose.

Upon viewing the first few minutes of CAT BALLOU, I was not too impressed.  The tone of the film was confusing. Was it going to be a musical with Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye singing or a glorified TV western as the town was a familiar Hollywood back lot?  The script by Walter Newman and Frank Pierson based on the novel The Ballad of Cat Ballou by Roy Chanslor is very inventive with lots of twists to the western genre.

I've always liked westerns because of the landscape and locations and once Cat and her father get away from the western back lot town and reach their ranch (shot in Colorado), the film began to grow on me.  Director Silverstein stages a nice sequence at the Harvest  Dance where Cat flirts with Boone, sizes up Percival's gang, and watches over her father all during a square dance routine that breaks into a classic western fist fight with men, women, and children all duking it out.  Another fine scene is the train robbery which blends action and comedy perfectly. In fact, BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE WILD BUNCH (also 1969) both have train robbery sequences that owe a tip of the hat to CAT BALLOU.

BALLOU is really a coming out party for Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda. Both had played supporting roles in their careers up to this point.  For Marvin, he would become a leading man after his scene stealing, Academy Award winning performance as Kid Shelleen. For Fonda, it's her first leading  role and she is sexy, funny, and completely at ease whether square dancing or racing around on horseback as Cat Ballou. I was impressed with Fonda's shifting between dramatic and comedic scenes. Her Cat avenging her dead father reminded me of the recent TRUE GRIT (2010) and that young girl's quest for vengeance on the man who killed her father.

The supporting cast, although not well known, play the role of their lives in this film. My favorite is Tom Nardini as Jackson Two-Bears, the self-deprecating half breed. Nardini (who's probably Italian-Ameican) continues the Hollywood tradition at the time of Caucasian actors playing Indians in movie westerns. Nardini is flat out funny and has some of the film's best lines and funniest moments.

The careers of Michael Callan as Boone and Dwayne Hickman as Jed never reached the meteoric heights of Marvin and Fonda but both had prolific TV careers and I would say they both give the performances of their careers in CAT BALLOU. Callan starred in one of my favorite guilty pleasures MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) and it's a shame his good looks and charm didn't carry him farther.  Hickman is best known as Dobie Gillis from TV's THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS in the early 60's.

Director Silverstein misfires a couple of times with the film especially the anticipated shootout between Kid Shelleen and Tim Strawn which is very anti-climactic. Marvin played both characters and I wonder if they didn't have the budget to do a split screen with Marvin or they just ran out of time.  Silverstein, who directed many TV shows prior to this film would make only one other noteworthy film - A MAN CALLED HORSE in 1970.

But he struck gold with CAT BALLOU which brought together an unusual collection of actors that all blend together perfectly in this very original and funny western that mixes action, romance, comedy, and music into a unique film.

Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

Over the summer of 2010, I had lunch with my college roommate Chris in Los Angeles while on vacation. Chris is a huge John Cusack fan and I was ribbing him because I had just seen the worst John Cusack film ever -- the awful HOT TUB TIME MACHINE (2010).  Chris was incredulous.  He thought it was hilarious. I compared it to drinking vomit.  When we were in college in the 80's, you could always count on John Cusack's films being entertaining. Chris was a champion of Cusack's early films like BETTER OFF DEAD (1985) or ONE CRAZY SUMMER (1986).  I told him I was disappointed Cusack was in such a piece of crap like HOT TUB.  Chris recommended I check out GROSSE POINTE BLANK (1997) to get my faith in John Cusack back. I had not seen the film so I took Chris up on his suggestion.

In GROSSE POINTE BLANK, directed by George Armitage, Cusack plays Martin Blank, a 28 year old man having a bit of a job crisis.  Martin is a hit man.  People hire him to kill people.  But he's beginning to question if he's really meant for this profession.   He keeps crossing paths with another hit man Grocer (Dan Aykroyd) who wants to get all hit men to unionize because they keep competing for the same hits.  Martin's psychiatrist Dr. Oatman (Alan Arkin) doesn't want to see him as a patient anymore due to his line of work. When Martin messes up on his latest hit in Miami and has to kill the target a different way than instructed, his personal assistant Marcella (sister Joan Cusack) recommends he take a break.

Sorting through Martin's mail, Marcella finds an invitation for Martin's 10 Year High School reunion at Pointes High School in Michigan.  He has to make amends to his client for his screw up in Miami so his next assignment is scheduled for Detroit which is near Gross Pointe where he grew up. Martin decides to mix business with nostalgia. He'll attend his high school reunion and terminate his next target on the same weekend. Plus, it will give him a chance to revisit his high school girl friend Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver) who he stood up on prom night ten years ago and who he's been having dreams about of late.

But sometimes, home is not where the heart is. Debi, now a radio DJ is not exactly thrilled that Martin has returned. Martin goes to visit his old house only to discover it's been turned into an abomination called Ultimart.  He looks for solace from his mother (Barbara Harris) but she's in a psychiatric ward.  And Grocer, upset that Martin took his Detroit hit, has two government assassins (Hank Azaria and K. Todd Freeman) following him, ready to kill him when he attempts to make his next hit.

GROSSE POINTE is kind of the culmination of Cusack's earlier chasing the girl love story films like ONE CRAZY SUMMER or THE SURE THING (1985) intertwined with a darker type of character Cusack began exploring in THE GRIFTERS (1990).  Martin Blank reminded me of a grown up version of Cusack's Lloyd Dobler from SAY ANYTHING (1989) but without the giant boom box.

Hollywood loves the hired killer and Cusack brings his eclectic style on his take of a hit man. I sometimes wonder if there really are contract killers in the real world or are they just all fictitious movie characters? PULP FICTION (1995) had just come out and GROSSE POINTE BLANK definitely owes a nod to Tarantino.  Martin even wears black much like the John Travolta/Samuel L.Jackson killers in PULP FICTION. There's also the play on words GROSSE POINTE BLANK referencing the great John Boorman film POINT BLANK (1969) starring Lee Marvin as a criminal out for revenge on the friend who betrayed him.

I always liked the high school reunion as a device in a film to bring characters back together to face their pasts and reconcile their future. Martin runs into old high school friends who have become real estate agents, neighborhood security guards, or car salesmen. His friends don't know whether to believe that he really does kill people for living or if he's just trying to impress them after disappearing for a decade. Director Armitage and writers Tom Jankiewicz, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and Cusack capture the high school reunion perfectly with the banners, the high school picture name tags, and especially the music.  Martin Blank went to high school when I was in college but the music very much resonated with me: The Clash, the English Beat, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Siouxie and the Banshees are among the 80's artists whose music permeates the film.  Martin even finds his old locker and opens it.  His old home may have been torn down to become a mini-mart but there's no place like your old locker.

Minnie Driver as Debi Newberry is a strong counterpart to Martin and she more than holds her own with Cusack and his shifty eyes, nervous twitching, and throwaway one liners.  She is still hurting from being stood up on prom night and as vulnerable as Martin appears in trying to give up his old life and start fresh, Debi is not going to make it easy for him. Driver and Cusack have a real chemistry as they try to sort out their ten year separation.

GROSSE POINTE BLANK is also a reunion for John Cusack with his sister Joan Cusack as well as fellow Chicago friend Jeremy Piven who plays high school friend Paul Spericki.  John and Joan Cusack first appeared together in John Hughes' SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984). Cusack had attended Piven's parents theater workshop in Chicago before making it big.

Director George Armitage is a great choice as director for GROSSE POINTE BLANK.  Armitage directed one of my guilty pleasures, another thriller with dark humor MIAMI BLUES (1990) with Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Jason Leigh.  Armitage has a good handle on mixing action with humorous situations. Where else are you going to find a battle between Blank and a Basque killer (Benny Urquidez) amongst the hallways and lockers of Pointes High School during the reunion.

Roommate Chris, your suggestion was spot on after watching and liking GROSSE POINTE BLANK. I look forward to viewing some future John Cusack films as the actor does have one of the more diverse filmographies amongst today's actors. HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is hopefully a blip on his legacy.  John Cusack, you have renewed my faith in you. Just don't make another crappy movie again.

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

There are some actors that when I see them on television or a commercial, it surprises me that they're still alive.  You could swear that you've read their obituary.  Comedian Don Rickles (KELLY'S HEROES) .  Still alive.  Abe Vigoda (TV'S BARNEY MILLER). I just saw him in a SNICKERS commercial.  When Tony Curtis passed away in September at the age of 85, it caught me by surprise.  Wasn't he already deceased? Apparently not. I'd seen snippets of Tony Curtis movies throughout my life but only watched two completely. He was a movie star you never forgot.  He had the matinee idol looks.  The distinctive Brooklyn accent.  The perfectly coiffed hair. They don't make them like Tony Curtis anymore.

Curtis was mostly know for comedy roles in films like SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959) or OPERATION PETTICOAT (1959) or THE GREAT RACE (1965). But he could play dramatic too and one of his greatest performances is in the extraordinary under rated 1957 film SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS directed by Alexander Mackendrick.  Written by playwright Clifford Odets (GOLDEN BOY) and screen writer Ernest Lehman (NORTH BY NORTHWEST) and based on Lehman's novella, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is set around Broadway in New York.

Curtis plays Sidney Falco, a sycophantic press agent trying to climb the ladder to success. To smell success, he has to patronize the most powerful newspaper gossip columnist in NewYork -- J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster).  But Falco is in Hunsecker's dog house. Hunsecker's kid sister Susie (Susan Harrison) is in love with jazz guitarist Steve Dallas (ADAM 12's Martin Milner) and Hunsecker wants their relationship ended. Falco tried to break up their relationship once but failed . Not one to give up, Falco tries to smear Dallas's reputation, hoping to win Hunsecker's favor again so Hunsecker will write favorably about Falco's clients.  Falco first tries to paint Dallas as a dope smoker, feeding misinformation in a rival columnist's column about Dallas and later, planting marijuana on Dallas after his jazz quintet's show. Falco uses and discards any one to attain success - his receptionist, his cigarette girl friend, other press agents, even his own clients. But that sweet smell of success alludes Falco in the end as Hunsecker turns on him after Falco's smear campaign pushes Susie to an emotional brink and puts Falco in a compromising position.

Curtis plays Falco like someone who's seen the dark side of the entertainment business. Falco is a snake as he tries to steal clients or offer up his sometime girlfriend Rita (Barbara Nichols) to a rival columnist just so he can hurt Dallas's reputation and please Hunsecker.  Falco has sold his soul to the devil...or in this case J.J. Hunsecker.   "How can you like a man who makes you jump through burning hoops like a trained poodle?" someone asks Falco. But Falco's world has its highs and lows.  One moment he's on top of the world, buying his cronies drinks, the next instance he's walking around like he's expecting to get punched. He's always on the periphery, hanging in the shadows or sneaking into places through the back door.

When we first meet Hunsecker, he's holding court at a trendy New York restaurant with a Senator (William Forrest) from Washington and his blond female companion and her agent.  A trusty phone rests next to Hunsecker, his lifeline to the gossip flowing freely around the big city.  Press agents and public relations hacks try to get their clients into J. J.'s column. Hunsecker reminds everyone of their faults and failures: Falco, the Senator, even the blond's lowly agent. He thrives on their misery. Hunsecker is the genesis of TMZ, the New York Post, and the paparazzi all rolled into one. Hunsecker is based on the infamous Broadway columnist Walter Winchell.

Lancaster is excellent as Hunsecker, the supreme ruler of gossip.  He has spies everywhere, listening and watching for him: waiters, police detectives, and press agents. His penthouse suite overlooks the bustling streets of New York.  With his big round glasses, Hunsecker perches over the city like an omnipotent owl. Director Mackendrick often films Hunsecker from low angles to make him seem more powerful.  Hunsecker tries to control his sister like he controls the entertainment and high society community.  Susie is weak and emotionally fragile.  Hunsecker's relationship with her almost borders on incest. But she's also the only real thing in Hunsecker's twisted world.  He doesn't want to share her with any one  - especially Steve Dallas. Susie is his lifeline to the one genuine thing in his life. A semblance of family. Together, J.J. Hunsecker and Sidney Falco are like vampires. They're up all night, sleep most of the day, and drain the blood from most everyone who comes in contact with them. They loathe each other but they're intertwined by their lies and deception.

Martin Milner as Dallas and Susan Harrison as Susie are the only two decent characters in this film and their naieveness to the evils of the world are the one shining hope in this bleak world they inhabit. Besides a great cast and juicy, razor sharp dialogue, the other star of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is the city itself. Director Mackendrick and famed cinematographer James Wong Howe stage many scenes outside on the sidewalks, streets, and back alleys of New York City.  The film captures the hustle and bustle of a big city where it's a dog eat dog world. I was taken aback at how the men and women throughout the film are so modern looking. The men rarely wear hats. The women are exceptionally beautiful. The film doesn't feel like it's in 1957.  It could be today.

Cinematographer Howe's black and white photography is stunning. The black and whites and grays throughout the film enhance the mood and themes of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS. The photography at times almost has a documentary feel. Falco often withdraws into shadows. Howe films Hunsecker in silhouette several times, his glasses back lit as he surveys his domain. Whenever I tell my teenage kids to watch a black and white film, they roll their eyes. Color is the only type of film for today's film goers but for me, black and white is just like color.

According to imdb.com, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS was not a hit for director Mackendrick, who had made two successful comedies earlier in the decade - THE MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (1951) and THE LADYKILLERS (1955), both with Alec Guinness.  It's a shame that it took moviegoers and critics some time to appreciate SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS.  It would have been great to see what other topics Mackendrick might have taken on had he had his own sweet smell of success...or at least box office success.  SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS proved that Tony Curtis was more than just another pretty face.  He was a great actor as well.  Do yourself a favor and catch this gem of a film.

The Isle of Dead (1945)

One of my goals for the CRAZY FILM GUY blog was to go back and watch films I saw as a kid and see if my recollections are the same in 2010 as in 1973.  I remember staying over at my aunt's one late Saturday night many years ago and watching Boris Karloff in THE ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945) on the Portland late night horror show SINISTER CINEMA (see THE WOLF MAN essay, March 6, 2010,) . There's a terrifying scene I vividly remembered where a woman supposedly dead from the plague rises up off a stone crypt and strangles Karloff. I was so terrified during that sequence that I had a blanket half over my face for most it.

Flash forward to three weeks ago as I rewatched ISLE OF THE DEAD the week before Halloween. I must have had that blanket over my entire head during that terrifying scene when I was a boy as there is no such scene in the movie.  It was all just my imagination. This is not to say that a woman doesn't seemingly rise from the dead because she does and there are some creepy moments in the film but I was a bit disappointed to find that the first truly cinematic fright in my life was created in my adolescent memory.

 

THE ISLE OF THE DEAD directed by Mark Robson is one of several psychological thrillers made in the 1940's by producer Val Lewton. Lewton produced films rarely showed any true monster instead using atmosphere and sound and implying that there may be some supernatural forces at work. Other well known Val Lewton produced films include THE CAT PEOPLE (1942) and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943). A coup for this film is the casting of horror film legend Boris Karloff (minus his Frankenstein make-up) as a strict military commander. His presence gives ISLE some horror film credibility right away.

ISLE OF THE DEAD's plot is not your garden variety horror story. Set during the Greek Civil War in 1912, Boston Star newspaper reporter Oliver Davis (Marc Cramer) observes General Nikolas Pherides aka the Watchdog (Boris Karloff) bully another commanding officer into committing suicide for his failure to inspire his men into battle. Davis makes a wisecrack about Pherides wife only to be told by the general that his wife is dead. Feeling ashamed, Davis joins Pherides on a short boat trip to a Greek island to pay his respects to the dead wife. Upon arriving on the island, Davis and Pherides discover that her crypt has been desecrated and her body is gone. The two men also discover the island has some new visitors including an archaeologist named Albrecht (Jason Robards Sr.); Mr. St. Aubyn (Alan Napier) from the English Consulate and his invalid wife Mary St. Aubyn (Katherine Emery); Mrs. Aubyn's caretaker Thea (Ellen Drew); and the very superstitious peasant woman Madame Kyra (Helene Thimig).

Things begin to go awry when another guest, a salesman named Robbins (Skelton Knaggs) becomes ill and very quickly dies. A doctor is rushed to the island and the diagnosis is not good. The plague has found its way onto the isle. General Pherides orders a quarantine, forbidding the inhabitants from leaving the island as to not infect his troops back on the mainland. Madame Kyra blames the caretaker Thea for the bad luck that has befallen the island, even calling her a Vorvolaka, a nightmarish demon that punishes mortals for the Gods. The reporter Davis comes to Thea's defense but when St. Aubyn dies with Thea in his room, even Pherides believes Thea is evil. Meanwhile, Mrs. St. Aubyn's fear of premature burial comes true when she falls ill due to her condition and is "declared" dead.

Davis and Albrecht place Mrs. St. Aubyn's body in a nearby crypt.  But Mrs. St. Aubyn is not dead, just in some kind of trance. Buried alive, she claws her way out of her coffin and becomes possessed by Vorvolaka, seeking revenge on General Pherides and Madame Kyra for their ill treatment of her nurse Thea.

As stated at the beginning of this blog, there is no scene of Mrs. St. Aubyn rising out of her coffin like I thought I remembered in my youth. The best sequence in the film is Mrs. St. Aubyn screaming from within her tomb and clawing her way out. As I mentioned, sound and atmosphere play a huge part in Lewton's films. THE CAT PEOPLE has an amazing sound edit involving the sound of a bus when the heroine believes she is being followed by a large cat. In ISLE OF THE DEAD, Mrs. St. Aubyn's terrifying wailing from within her tomb, the creak of the coffin being lifted, the wind blowing through the crypt, and the shadows from the blowning trees all create a chilling moment.  When we finally see Mrs. St. Aubyn free from her imprisonment, she's racing around the island, her shroud-like gown blowing in the wind. She looks like a ghost.

In a way, ISLE OF THE DEAD is an early zombie movie. Mrs. St. Aubyn isn't out to eat flesh but she does return from the dead so to speak. Setting the film on an island is a nice touch, trapping the inhabitants, as the plague begins to infect each of them. ISLE OF THE DEAD is like an Agatha Christie mystery with the plague as the killer. That is until the spirit of the Vorvolaka takes over Mrs. St. Aubyn.

Boris Karloff is truly scary (especially with his curly perm haircut) as the delusional General Pherides. If it wasn't for the Vorvolaka, one would almost think of Karloff's General Pherides as a death like figure, presiding over the war and pestilence of war torn Greece. Karloff would star in two other Lewton produced films -  THE BODY SNATCHER (also 1945) and BEDLAM (1946).  The romantic leads Marc Cramer as the reporter Davis and Ellen Drew as Thea are fairly bland. It's the supporting cast that makes ISLE OF THE DEAD fun to watch.  Alan Napier (he would later play Alfred the butler on TV's BATMAN) brings some class to his role of St. Aubyn.  Katherine Emery as Mrs. St. Aubyn steals the film at the end.  Some thing about her jet black hair, arched eyebrows and high cheekbones, Emery resembles a vampire as the Vorvolaka takes her over. When she gets her hands on a pair of garden shears, watch out.

Although certainly B movies, Val Lewton's films gave birth to some future A list directors. ISLE OF THE DEAD director Mark Robson would go on to direct many big films including VON RYAN'S EXPRESS (1965) and EARTHQUAKE (1974).  Robert Wise, who would direct Lewton's THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944) and THE BODY SNATCHER (1945) is more well known for his films WEST SIDE STORY (1961) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965).

I cannot hide the disappointment that one of my earliest scares from a film was not quite the way I remembered it. It's a good example of why some one's favorite films from childhood, high school, any time in the past should always be revisited.  New things can be discovered from repeated viewings, new treasures unearthed, new feelings attained, and sometimes, legends created in one's mind debunked.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

In the Portland neighborhood I grew up in, a family with four sons lived below me in a cul-de-sac. I was in grade school. Three of the brothers were in middle school and one brother was in high school. They were like my big brothers and their interests influenced me. They collected baseball cards so I collected baseball cards. They were into butterflies so I was into butterflies.  They were old enough to go see movies that I couldn't see and I remember they were fond of comedies.  BLAZING SADDLES (1974) was one of those films they saw and talked about.  They would repeat funny lines from the film.  Having not seen the film, I could only try to visualize what they were talking about in my head. It never worked.  At some point, I was finally old enough to see BLAZING SADDLES and fully enjoy the humor that had tickled my older friends funny bones.

In the early 1970's, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks were the court jesters of the comedy genre. Their unique brand of comedy, in particular the film spoof, was widely popular.  Allen and Brooks were the best of the best. Woody Allen film spoofs were more intellectual.  He poked fun at the prison breakout genre with TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN (1969); the science fiction genre with SLEEPER (1973); and Russian literature in LOVE AND DEATH (1975).

Mel Brooks's humor was a bit more sophomoric and silly. Some of the jokes and gags in BLAZING SADDLES would make a fourth grader laugh today. Brooks's films are loving spoofs of more traditional Hollywood film genres.  HIGH ANXIETY (1977) makes fun of Hitchcock's films. YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) is a wink to the Universal Frankenstein films.  And of course, BLAZING SADDLES is a wet kiss to the western.  Brooks respects and honors these genres even as he has fun with them. What Brooks and his screen writers Norman Steinberg, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, and Alan Uger are really skewering in BLAZING SADDLES is racism.  The stupidity of racism.  Brooks doesn't hold back. Jews, blacks, and gays (and don't forget the Irish) - no minority is spared but the ultimate jab is at bigots and racists.  Brooks portrays them as idiots and buffoons. He exposes the absurdity of racism.

The westerns BLAZING SADDLES most resembles are the Michael Curtiz film DODGE CITY (1939), George Marshall's DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939), and Howard Hawk's RIO BRAVO (1959). The basic premise is the backbone of many a great western. The railroad's expansion out west hits a snag when the construction encounters quicksand along its path. For the railroad to continue, a detour is found but standing in the way is the town of Rock Ridge. Hedley (not Hedy that's Hedley) Lamarr (Harvey Korman), a crooked Attorney General working for the moronic Governor William J. Lepetomane (Mel Brooks) hires a bunch of outlaws to terrorize the citizens of Rock Ridge so that they will abandon their town.  Rock Ridge has no sheriff so Lamarr sends in who he believes will be the worst candidate for the job -- a black man named Bart (Clevon Little). The citizens of Rock Ridge resist at first -- mostly due to their bigotry but Sheriff Bart with the aid of the recently sober Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) outwits the gang of outlaws trying to drive them out of town.

It's a pretty basic plot but it's within that framework that Brooks weaves his comedy anarchy. Although set in the 19th century West, Brooks uses anachronisms for laughs.  A medieval executioner works next to Lamarr's office. Nazi soldiers and Hell's Angels motorcycle gang members make up some of the outlaw gang. In a wagon train flashback scene, a very Jewish Indian Chief (also Mel Brooks) allows Bart's black family to continue west. And in the film's greatest set piece, the big western fight scene between the citizens of Rock Ridge and the outlaws spills over from the Warner Brothers western back lot into a Busby Berkley musical set.  Reality is broken down literally as fighting cowboys crash through the wall of the sound stage and mix with male dancers in tuxedos and coat tails, much to the chagrin of the director (Dom Deluise). The past and the present get intertwined all for the sake of a good laugh (Monty Python's films and television show would also continue this comedy style).

BLAZING SADDLES tweaks all the familiar western stereotypes with black sheriff Bart (Clevon Little) and his Gucci riding bag or Lili Von Shtupp (Madeline Kahn), an Elmer Fudd sounding German cabaret singer that pays homage to Marlene Dietrich's character in DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. There's the quick drawing gunslinger turned recovering alcoholic and philosopher Jim aka the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder) and Mongo (Alex Karras), the bad guy's burly henchman who punches horses but is recruited over to the good side. Veteran Western character actors Slim Pickens and David Huddleston contribute to the Western realism and even Ben Johnson (THE WILD BUNCH) makes a cameo appearance. Gene Wilder, Dom Deluise, Madeline Kahn, and Harvey Korman would be part of the Mel Brooks repertoire appearing in future Mel Brooks films. For Wilder, I wish he and Brooks had made more films together. They reached their comedy zenith with YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (which Brooks and Wilder co-wrote together). Wilder would go it alone after YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and some of his films like THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVER (1977) or HAUNTED HONEYMOON (1986) never lit the comedy world on fire.

To me BLAZING SADDLES is the godfather of the raunchy comedy that would continue with such films as ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) and STRIPES (1981) all the way to AMERICAN PIE (1999) and now Judd Apatow's comedies like THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN (2005) and KNOCKED UP (2007).  The combination of gross out humor, nudity, and crude language has replaced the smart, sophisticated comedies of the past.

The lifespan of the film spoof has continued as well in part to BLAZING SADDLES. AIRPLANE (1980), HOT SHOTS (1991), and THE NAKED GUN (1988) series all owe their success to BLAZING SADDLES.  Across the pond, the Monty Python comedy troupe from England would follow soon afterward with their own irreverent takes on King Arthur and the biblical film. 

BLAZING SADDLES has held up pretty well over the years.  The film starts out a little slowly and some of the jokes and scenes don't quite get the laughs they intended but Brooks's BLAZING SADDLES was ahead of its time in sheer outrageousness, its fearlessness in tackling stereotypes and situations most films never dared. I would dare to say Mel Brooks was a leading pioneer in the type of modern comedy we see today.