Rollerball (1975) and Rollerball (2002)

Remember when you were a kid and you saw a commercial or advertisement in the newspaper for a movie that piqued your interest and you wanted to see it so badly and when you asked your parents, they gave you a resounding, "No!"?  That was me in 1975.  The two films that I wanted to see more than anything in the world were JAWS and ROLLERBALL. One was about a giant man eating shark terrorizing Martha's Vineyard. The other film was about a violent, futuristic sport that combined roller derby, football, and motocross. Looking back at my parents decision, I applaud them for their parental guidance. Today, most kids (mine included) have probably seen a bloody or violent film far worse than JAWS or ROLLERBALL. How times have changed. But oh, how it pained me to know it was playing in a movie theater near me and I was forbidden to see either film.

What's funny is that I had already seen a PG film a few years earlier when my grandmother took me to see THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972). How that got past my parents I'll never know (and the subject of a future CRAZYFILMGUY blog).  My mother must have had inside information about JAWS and ROLLERBALL (she probably read the reviews). The fact that I wanted to see films that didn't involve animated talking mice when I was 11 makes me proud. Even at an early age, I was reaching out to see different, interesting films. ROLLERBALL was R rated which also had something to do with my mother's decision. I did have a friend named John in fourth grade whose parents would let him see everything. I would have to go to John like a lost explorer seeking Buddha and have him describe the entire film back to me since I was not allowed to see it. John recounted JAWS to me as well as THE EIGER SANCTION and MARATHON MAN (two more films my parents wouldn't let me see) during lunch and recess.

But I don't think John ever saw ROLLERBALL (1975).  In fact, I don't know anyone who saw ROLLERBALL either in grade school, high school, college, or as an adult. Until I watched ROLLERBALL a few months ago, I still had never watched it.  The thrill of watching it as a kid had dissipated as girls and homework and later marriage and having kids took over. It was only seeing it advertised on MGM's Movie Channel recently did it rekindle that thrill to watch it when I was in fourth grade.  There's just something visceral about these athletes roller skating on a oval track with motorcycles, wearing thick gloves with spikes on them, bashing each other's bodies to try and put a steel ball into a magnetic goal.  If only ROLLERBALL had been made by a director with a better feel for action and visuals.  Instead, ROLLERBALL was made by director Norman Jewison.

Now Jewison is not a bad director having made the Academy Award winning IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967) and the critically praised MOONSTRUCK (1987). He brought two popular Broadway musicals to the screen: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971) and JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973). But ROLLERBALL just seems out of his league.  He probably wanted to direct something different after musicals and socially responsible dramas. If you've seen photographs of Norman Jewison, he's a distinguished, respectable looking man with white hair and glasses. He could be a doctor or accountant.  He's just not a sexy director like Kubrick or Coppola or DePalma. Yet Jewison worked with some of the most testosterone filled actors during his career: Steve McQueen (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR), Al Pacino (AND JUSTICE FOR ALL), and in ROLLERBALL, James Caan.

It is clear from the first frame of ROLLERBALL that director Jewison is inspired by Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1972). The violence at times is in super slow motion. Jewison even uses classic music, Bach's Toccata in D Fugue, played on an organ just as Kubrick used Beethoven and Rossini for his futuristic tale. But Jewison is no Kubrick. Although ROLLERBALL has some interesting ideas from an original screenplay by William Harrison based on his short story Roller Ball Murder and the action scenes are kinetic, the film lacks a visionary director to take it to another level.

ROLLERBALL takes place in a distant future, after the Computer Wars. Corporations are now running the world instead of countries.  There are no more wars. No poverty or sickness. Corporations make all the decisions. To replace war and give society something to watch, a violent, fast moving game called Rollerball entertains the masses and satisfies their lust for blood and violence. Rollerball has become the new gladiator sport.  Teams from around the world compete to become the world champion. Brutal injuries and even death are common place on the oval roller rink in the world of Rollerball.

The film opens with the Rollerball team from Houston led by the Michael Jordan of Rollerball Jonathan E (James Caan) squaring off against the team from Madrid. The Houston team is owned by the Energy Corporation, a group of businessmen in gray suits who appear to run not only the Rollerball league but the world along with other corporations. The executive in charge is Mr. Bartholomew (John Houseman). Houston defeats Madrid. Bartholomew and the suits praise Jonathan E and the team for their victory.  But all is not well at the Energy Corporation. 

Jonathan E is becoming too big a star, too much of an individual.  As Bartholomew reminds Jonathan, "No player is greater than the game itself." Jonathan is called into the gleaming corporate headquarters of the Energy Corporation. Bartholomew tells Jonathan that the executives wants Jonathan to retire. A big television special is being prepared to announce Jonathan's retirement after 10 years in the Rollerball rink. But Jonathan doesn't take the request well. The Energy Corporation has already taken away his wife Ella (Maud Adams) replacing her with different girlfriends (Barbara  Hensley and Barbara Trentham). But Jonathan wants to learn more about the past, how the Energy Corporation came into control after the Computer Wars. Jonathan refuses to retire.

Houston makes it to the semi-finals and travels to the Far East to play against Tokyo, a Rollerball team that incorporates (what else) karate and judo tactics.  The Corporation releases new rules for the semi-final match.  Limited substitutions and no penalties.  The Tokyo team gangs up on Jonathan's best friend and teammate Moonpie (John Beck). Moonpie is beaten mercilessly by the Tokyo players and falls into a coma, brain dead. Houston wins the match.

Instead of returning to Houston with the team, Jonathan flies to Geneva where all the world's history and information is kept on computers.  Books are no longer needed or available. Jonathan meets the Librarian (Ralph Richardson) to find answers about the Computer Wars and the Energy Corporation. The Librarian is a bit befuddled when Jonathan arrives as a computer glitch has misplaced all information about the 13th century. The Librarian asks the main computer Zero to answer Jonathan's questions but the computer just blinks silently (another nod by Jewison to HAL the Computer in Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY).

Jonathan returns to Houston.  The Corporation brings back Jonathan's wife Ella who pleads for Jonathan to quit Rollerball. She warns him the conglomerate is out to defeat him.  Houston plays New York in the finals and this time, there are no substitutions and no penalties.  The winner is to be the last man standing. It's Jonathan E versus the gray suits behind the glass corporate suites.

The world of ROLLERBALL both in the rink and the outside world is nicely rendered by writer Harrison and director Jewison. Most of the film is set in a futuristic Houston but the filmmakers make a clever choice by filming in Germany, using unfamiliar glass skyscrapers and domed buildings from Munich, Germany to represent Houston. It give the locale an unsettling, foreign look. It's not an America we're familiar with. Companies have replaced countries, making decisions on a global basis for the common good of all. Houston, Madrid, Tokyo, and New York are all run by executives hidden in their glass towers.

Corporate Executive Mr. Bartholomew is the voice for the filmmakers to explain this sterile, dystopian world and the origin of Rollerball. "The game was created to demonstrate the futility of individual effort." Individualism has been stifled in this futuristic society. Jonathan doesn't even have a last name. Just a letter. He had a wife but the Corporation took her away. Even sex appears to be banished or limited.  At the party to watch Jonathan's retirement special, men and women mingle in evening gowns and suits, a formal orgy but no one takes their clothes off. The guests just touch each other's hands, stare at each other, and take a pill that seems to make everyone mellow and obedient. Black, White, Asian -- they're all one in this strange, new world.

But Jonathan E is curious. He wants to be the best at Rollerball and he wants to know about the world that existed before the Energy Corporation. His non-conformist behavior has Bartholomew concerned. "...a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed." Even the National Anthem has lost its uniqueness. There are no individual anthems for each country. Just one Corporate Anthem that sounds like a funeral dirge or something from Communist Russia.

Besides borrowing some visuals and music ideas from Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, ROLLERBALL also seems inspired by the great Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451 (made into a movie by Francois Truffaut in 1966). In Fahrenheit 451, books are outlawed and if anyone is found in possession of a book, it is burned. In ROLLERBALL, Jonathan wants to read history books but books are now edited and transcribed for people, loaded into computers banks that few have access to. The Corporation controls what information is allowed to be digested by the masses.

ROLLERBALL is a nice edition to the Science Fiction genre of the early 1970's, films set in the not very distant future. Spaceships, alien creatures, and distant worlds were a distant memory in the first half of the decade. Maybe because of the budgets, studios were green lighting films that didn't have extravagant special effects. Instead, these Sci-Fi films wrestled with more earthly issues. Films like THE OMEGA MAN (1971) and SOYLENT GREEN (1973) dealt with plague and over population on Earth just a few years in future.  Even the PLANET OF THE APES series was earth bound as ape and humans co-mingled and battled each other.

ROLLERBALL fits into this group. ROLLERBALL'S world is ruled by global businessmen that want society to conform to their directives. They don't want individuals who will rock the boat. Jonathan's ranch, his horses, even his women are all provided by the Corporation. As Bartholomew says, "Corporate society takes care of everything. And all it asks of anyone, all it's ever asked of anyone ever, is not to interfere with management decisions." They want Jonathan E to be a good soldier. Their fear is that Jonathan will become bigger than the game. An individual who might have his own thoughts and ideas, that other people would follow. Maybe even try to overthrow the suits in their glass towers. But in 1977 George Lucas would release his space epic STAR WARS and usher in the return of spaceships, alien creatures, and fantastic distant worlds. Science Fiction never looked back.

James Caan is a good choice as Jonathan E, the king of  Rollerball.  Caan is athletic which the role demands with so much roller skating and physical action. People may forget that Caan played a real sports hero in the television drama BRIAN'S SONG (1971) portraying Chicago Bears football running back Brian Piccolo. John Beck as his sidekick Moonpie reminds me a bit of Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid with his matinee blond hair and moustache.  In fact, Jonathan E and Moonpie are in a way the futuristic version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the world of Rollerball. They are outsiders in this conformist society. All the other Rollerball players are just numbers but Jonathan and Moonpie are rebels, skating and maiming and winning to their own beat. Jonathan is laconic like a western hero and Caan plays him like a gunslinger. Jonathan's OK Corral is the final match against New York.

John Houseman is another nice casting decision as Mr. Bartholomew, the Energy Corporation executive. He's Rollerball's version of Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones. Bartholomew doesn't have an athletic bone in is body. He just follows the company line. Houseman's cool demeanor and business-like attitude as Bartholomew permeates the film. Houseman would gain greater fame as the commercial spokesman for Smith-Barney, a Wall Street brokerage with the slogan, "They earn money the old fashioned way. They earn it." The rest of the supporting cast is fine, nothing memorable. Moses Gunn plays Cleveland, Jonathan's personal trainer. Cleveland seems loyal to Jonathan but there's always an uneasy feeling that Cleveland is also spying on Jonathan. I found Pamela Hensley as one of Jonathan's girlfriends much more interesting than his wife played by Maud Adams (who would later be a Bond girl in OCTUPUSSY).

I knock director Jewison for his direction of ROLLERBALL but I'm not sure how much further another director could have taken the action scenes in 1975. But I would have liked to have seen a better visual explanation of the rules of the game. I think there could have been some more exciting stunts with the motorcycles and even some bloodier action. What a young Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese could have done with the ROLLERBALL action scenes and the way those two directors use a camera would have been interesting to see.  With all the recent remakes of films from the 70's like THE POSIDEON ADVENTURE or THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3, you would think someone would have wanted to remake a cult classic like ROLLERBALL right? 

Well someone did. John McTiernan, director of DIE HARD (1988) and THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990) remade ROLLERBALL in 2002 but cast younger actors, rap stars, and even a supermodel in the film. I give McTiernan and screenwriters Larry Ferguson and John Pogue credit for trying to go a different route with their ROLLERBALL remake. This ROLLERBALL tries to tap into the X-Games/skateboard culture while keeping some of the basic themes from the original.

Set slightly in the future (just 2005), Jonathan Cross (Chris Klein looking a lot like Keanu Reeves) is a former hockey player participating in extreme sports on the side.  Jonathan runs into an old friend Marcus Ridley (LL Cool J) who talks Cross into joining a traveling sports roadshow called Rollerball. Part ROAD WARRIOR, Part Cirque du Soleil, Rollerball is a fringe sport that is storming around the Russian breakaway states like Kazakstan. Team owner Alexis Petrovich (Jean Reno) and his smarmy hatchet man Sanjay (Naveen Andrews) broadcast the matches around the world, trying to increase their viewing audience and ratings. International teams battle one another and every team has its own play by play announcer.

The actual Rollerball game is pretty much the same except the teams wear intricate masks, helmets, and some even capes as they skate around a more elaborate track, trying to put the metal ball into an even higher goal. Motorcycles also play a role again. This ROLLERBALL is like a video game. Heavy metal bands perform just outside the stage. Jonathan proves himself to be one of the better players. Petrovich begins to manipulate the game, turning it into a bloodsport, more dangerous and violent.  As the game causes more injuries and spectacular crashes, global television ratings soar.

Jonathan secretly carries on a physical relationship with one of his female teammates, a  Russian woman named Aurora (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). A Mongolian team sabotages Aurora's motorcycle and Ridley rescues her from the burning bike, injuring himself in the process. Jonathan and Aurora bust Ridley out of the hospital and try to sneak across the border, fleeing Petrovich and his murderous game but their plan is foiled and Ridley is killed. Petrovich is close to closing a North American cable deal and he needs Cross to make it happen.

Jonathan and Petrovich play one another as Jonathan pretends to want to be a partner with Petrovich. Jonathan gets Aurora traded to another team to keep her out of harm's way. The owners of Rollerball led by Petrovich change the rules for the next match. No penalties and no fouls. The owners want players killed, all the better for ratings. Petrovich pays another team to kill Jonathan but he's not easy to kill. Jonathan turns the crowd against the violence and all the Rollerball teams unite to defeat their owners.

You have to hand it to director McTiernan for taking a novel approach to the original and not just copying Jewison's version. This newer ROLLERBALL seems less science fiction and more a critique on television ratings and creating fringe sports to market. I liked the different costumes and armor and masks the various teams wore. I was surprised the action scenes weren't more exciting. I always thought actor Chris Klein was a pretty dull actor but Klein is engaging as Jonathan Cross. LL Cool J and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos are credible as his teammates and friends.  But none of them has that star quality that James Caan brought to the original. Although this version isn't very Science Fiction like, that's what I miss. Rollerball is a game of the future. This ROLLERBALL is just a souped up roller derby/X-Games hybrid.

Sadly, the new ROLLERBALL goes to show how far director John McTiernan had fallen as one of the top directors in Hollywood. At one time, McTiernan was on top of the world as an action director with DIE HARD and RED OCTOBER. But then a couple of misfires with MEDICINE MAN and THE LAST ACTION HERO sent his career on the downslide. Currently, McTiernan is serving a 12 month prison sentence in South Dakota for wiretapping involving a former film partner.

Do yourself a favor and check out the original 1975 ROLLERBALL, an interesting Sci-Fi action film that transfers the ancient Romans bloody gladiator sports into the near future, where executive directors not emperors run the world and Rollerballers with spiked gloves not gladiators with swords fight to the death in front of a bloodthirsty audience.

Goldfinger (1964)

After two strong initial entries in the James Bond film series DR. NO (1962) and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), the Bond filmmakers hit gold (no pun intended) with the third installment of novelist Ian Fleming's series called GOLDFINGER (1964).  GOLDFINGER is my favorite Bond film and as I confided in my DR. NO blog, my high school friends and I would watch GOLDFINGER over and over again while my Mom brought in popcorn or tortilla chips with melted cheese over it. We would sit silently in our small TV room and dream of becoming James Bond.  My high school friends even broke into two fun, distinct groups (I'm not going to call them gangs because it was all fun) called BOND and SWAT who would pull pranks on one another.

GOLDFINGER set the gold standard (again, no pun intended) for Bond films afterward and none has ever matched GOLDFINGER in my estimation although the recent Bond entry SKYFALL (2012) came very close. I still give the nod to GOLDFINGER just slightly because it has a better villain (Goldfinger), a superb henchman (Oddjob), and one of the best names for a Bond girl ever (Pussy Galore).  SKYFALL even has a nice nostalgic nod to GOLDFINGER when Bond (Daniel Craig) pulls out the Aston Martin DB5 from storage to take M (Judi Dench) up to his ancestral home in Scotland.

GOLDFINGER had a new Bond director as Guy Hamilton replaced Terence Young and the film does not miss a beat. GOLDFINGER still has the fantastic Sean Connery as James Bond, looking more and more comfortable as 007. The film gives us more detail about M (Bernard Lee) revealing his petty jealousy of Bond's multitude of skills (bourbon, gold, women), some nice flirting with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), and the first great display of Bond gadgets by Q (Desmond Llewelyn) that would become a staple in future Bond flicks. GOLFINGER is written by the dependable Richard Maibaum (who co-wrote the first two films) and Paul Dehn.

Bond films usually open with the end of a mini-mission for Bond and GOLDFINGER starts with a bang (literally) in one of its cheekiest prologues (1977's THE SPY WHO LOVED ME might be the best prologue ever). James Bond (Sean Connery) emerges from the water in a wetsuit, placing plastic explosives on giant containers in some South American banana republic. He unzips his wetsuit to reveal a white dinner jacket (with carnation) underneath. He steps into a nearby club as the explosives detonate, destroying millions of dollars worth of heroin. Bond follows a belly dancer back to her room where he's attacked by a thug. Bond dispatches of the thug by electrocuting him in the bathtub. As Bond leaves, he shakes his head muttering, "Shocking, positively shocking." Door slams cut to horns blaring and Shirley Bassey's incredible rendition of the theme song Goldfinger.

We catch up with Bond vacationing in Miami where CIA Agent Felix Leiter (Cec Linder) finds him and relays that MI-6 (British Intelligence) would like Bond to keep an eye on one Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), a gold industrialist suspected of smuggling 20 million pounds of gold all over the world to inflate the price of gold. Goldfinger is at the same Miami hotel as 007. Bond catches a beautiful woman Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) spying on Goldfinger's gin rummy partner, helping Goldfinger to cheat. Bond crosses Goldfinger and steals the girl. Jill is famously killed by Goldfinger's driver/caddy/henchman Oddjob (Harold Sakata) by painting her entire body in gold paint, causing skin suffocation (the urban legend was that Eaton died from this which is entirely false. Eaton lives today at the age of 76).

Hell bent on revenge but reminded by M (Bernard Lee) that he needs to stick to the mission, Bond follows Goldfinger to Switzerland after meeting and beating Goldfinger in a not so friendly golf game in England. Bond encounters Jill Masterson's vengeful sister Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet), also following Goldfinger so she can kill him for her sister's murder. They follow Goldfinger to one of his factories where Bond discovers how Goldfinger smuggles the gold around the world. Even more suspicious, the factory is full of Chinese agents including Mr. Ling (THE PINK PANTHER'S Burt Kwouk), a Chinese scientist.

Goldfinger's men capture Bond and kill Tilly (those Masterson girls are very unlucky). Bond is about to be neutered by an industrial laser when he bluffs Goldfinger, bragging he overheard Goldfinger and Ling talking about "Operation Grand Slam". Goldfinger whisks Bond and the rest of his crew to his Kentucky stud farm. Bond becomes acquainted with Goldfinger's private pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). Goldfinger meets with several crime syndicates to thank them for smuggling different illegal items to his stud farm to be used for his fiendish plot. Then, he gasses them all to death. With almost all the loose ends tied up except for Bond, Goldfinger unveils his master plan. Goldfinger plans to break into Fort Knox, Kentucky (America's gold depository) and set off a small dirty (nuclear) bomb that will turn the United States gold supply radioactive for the next 58 years, crippling America's economy. It's up to James Bond to stop Goldfinger's nefarious plan but he's a bit tied up at the moment as Goldfinger has handcuffed Bond to the nuclear device.

The character Auric Goldfinger is one of the Bond films most interesting, complicated villains. Goldfinger must have been an only child in the Goldfinger family, the golden child (still no pun intended). Clearly, he was spoiled and he doesn't like to lose.  He cheats at gin rummy.  He cheats at golf. He double-crosses nearly everyone he does business with. No wonder the only person Goldfinger trusts is Oddjob, probably because Oddjob can't talk back to him. Goldfinger is not very good with women either.  He pays Jill Masterson to be seen with him.  When he learns Bond has bedded her instead of him, he has Jill killed, covered in gold. After Fort Knox is to become radioactive, Goldfinger asks Pussy Galore if she'll stick with him but Pussy turns him down. Goldfinger's pudgy appearance doesn't seem to win over the ladies. Goldfinger's thoroughbred horse ranch in Kentucky is even called Auric Stud but Goldfinger is no stud compared to Bond. He's jealous of Bond's sexual prowess with women and even aims an industrial laser at Bond's manhood. Gold is Goldfinger's only mistress.

GOLDFINGER opens up the Bond series, taking us for the first time to multiple locations. Miami, Switzerland, England, and Kentucky. Previously, they were usually set in just one location like Jamaica (DR. NO) or Turkey (FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE).  Even YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) is mostly set in Japan. Bond films would later become a travelogue whisking him to beautiful locations like Thailand, Egypt, and Brazil. When Roger Moore took over the reins from Sean Connery as Bond, multiple locations would become the norm for the series.

The gadgets of James Bond are multiplied in GOLDFINGER as Q unveils Bond's new car, an Aston Martin DB5 that has more than just power steering and anti-lock brakes. This car has a bulletproof shield, rotating license plates depending on which country 007 is in, smoke screen, oil slick, and the all important ejector seat for that unwanted passenger. As Bond and Q make their way to the vehicle, they enter the Q branch workshop where gadgets are tested. A man fires a machine gun at another man wearing what looks like a raincoat. A bulletproof raincoat. It seems to work but Q grumbles "It's not perfected yet." I'd hate to see the bad tests.

Casting for Bond films has always been interesting as the filmmakers often chose actors and actresses from all corners of the globe and with an international flavor. They also chose actors and actresses for their look even when they didn't always speak English the best.  Case in point is Gert Frobe who plays bad guy Auric Goldfinger.  Frobe, a German, also starred in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (1968). Frobe's English wasn't very good so most of his dialogue is dubbed by actor Michael Collins. Ursula Andress's voice would also be dubbed in DR. NO. But Frobe looks the part of Goldfinger, chubby with reddish hair and a penchant for wearing gold colored clothes. I can't imagine anyone else playing Goldfinger (and Orson Welles was even considered for the role).

For the role of Oddjob, wrestler Harold Sakata was chosen.  In Sakata's case, his character only grunts. But he's perfect as Goldfinger's henchman, thick and impenetrable using his bowler hat as a deadly boomerang. No one would top Oddjob until Richard Kiel came along as Jaws in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977). Shirley Eaton who plays the doomed Jill Masterson reminds me of a British Marilyn Monroe. She has those same arched eyebrows and blonde hair and sexy voice and volumptous curves as Marilyn. No Bond character made a greater impact in less time than Eaton did before she famously was painted in gold and killed by a jealous Goldfinger.

 One of the unsung heroes of the Bond series is film editor Peter Hunt.  Hunt was editor for the first three Bond films and would even direct ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969).  Hunt made the fight scenes in the Bond films look raw and brutal and unrehearsed like the train fight between Bond and Red Grant (Robert Shaw) in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.  But in GOLDFINGER, many of his edits are a thing of beauty, so smooth and almost unnoticeable. In the opening Miami scene, we cut from an aerial shot of a hotel pool and a diver jumping off a ten meter platform to an underground window inside the hotel as the diver enters the water. Many times editing is used to cover scenes that weren't properly staged or photographed but every single scene in GOLDFINGER flows perfectly and Peter Hunt's editing brings about the right amount of humor, suspense, and danger.

Director Guy Hamilton gets a lot of credit for GOLDFINGER'S success as well following in the footsteps of Terence Young who handled the first two Bond films.  Hamilton began as an assistant director and worked with director Carol Reed on the classic THE THIRD MAN (1949) and with director John Huston on THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951). Not many assistant directors move up to become directors which speaks volumes of Hamilton's ability and ambition. GOLDFINGER is probably the most serious of Hamilton's four Bond films he directed which isn't saying much as the film has loads of double entrendres and funny bits. But the film has its dark moments too. Revenge is a key motivator in the film. Both Bond and Tilly Masterson seek vengeance for the tragic murder of Jill Masterson. Revenge will have its consequences as Tilly learns. Director Hamilton's later Bond films are much more cheekier in tone with DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971) and LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Hamilton would become the first director to direct two different Bond's with Sean Connery and Roger Moore who debuted in LIVE AND LET DIE.

Director Hamilton handles all the Bond elements with equal aplomb -- great fight scenes (the final showdown between Oddjob and Bond is often overlooked), beautiful women (for me Shirley Eaton steals the film from the bigger female star Honor Blackman); and the perfect meglomaniacal villain in Goldfinger. The fact that GOLDFINGER has been spoofed in other films like DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE (1965) starring Vincent Price or the more recent GOLDMEMBER (2002), the third installment of the Austin Powers series with Mike Myers attests to GOLDFINGER's golden status (alright maybe this pun was intended).

GOLDFINGER just has so many different areas that rank it amongst the best of the Bond series. A great story, fantastic bad guys, a unique realistic plot that does not involve blowing up the world, and I barely even scratched upon one of the best opening theme songs of a Bond film (Shirley Bassey belting out Goldfinger) or the hallucinatory opening credits that would accompany the Bond theme song going forward.  If I had to award GOLDFINGER, I would give it a five gold stars (that's my last pun).



The Man from Laramie (1955)

I'm not sure who was the first creative person to come up with the idea but I've always liked when filmmakers and writers take a classic story and put it in a different era or century.  Director Amy Heckerling's CLUELESS (1995) spoofed Jane Austen's novel Emma with a Valley Girl like flavor to it. After two faithful adaptations of Choderlos de Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons (DANGEROUS LIAISONS and VALMONT), a high school version was released in 1999 called CRUEL INTENTIONS. Even movies can be transposed to other genres. Fred Zinnemann's western HIGH NOON (1952) was the inspiration for the Science Fiction thriller OUTLAND (1980). Shakespeare seems to be the most popular author to have his works borrowed or put in a different time period. We've seen Othello done as a high school basketball drama called O (2001). Richard III set in an alternate fascist England, still called RICHARD III (1995) starring Ian McKellen. Recently, director Joss Whedon who gave us the mega-block buster THE AVENGERS (2012) released a modern MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (2013) another version of Shakespeare's comedy filmed almost entirely at his house in Santa Monica.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE (1955) a Western directed by the underrated Anthony Mann is not necessarily Shakespeare on the Range but it does borrow liberally some characters and themes from Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear.  Cattle baron Alec Waggoman is clearly a Lear-like character, going blind, having dreams of being murdered, and trying to decide who in his family to hand his cattle ranch over to. But it's also a detective story as the lead character Will Lockhart (James Stewart) tries to solve the massacre of a Cavalry Patrol (including his younger brother) and the theft of a large cache of repeating rifles.

Director Mann and Jimmy Stewart made more films together than Stewart did with Hitchcock.  Stewart made eight films with Mann compared to just four with the Master of Suspense. Apparently Stewart had trouble finding film roles when he returned from World War II and Mann offered him WINCHESTER '57. The loyal Stewart stuck with Mann for seven more films. Director Mann's Westerns always had a psychological edge to them which set him apart from directors like Ford or Hawks. Just as John Ford's THE SEARCHERS (1956) is probably Ford's best Western which he gradually worked up to with great efforts like FORT APACHE and RIO GRANDE, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is considered Anthony Mann's best Western, showcasing all his themes that he had explored in earlier hits like WINCHESTER '57 (1950), BEND IN THE RIVER (1952), and THE NAKED SPUR (1953).

Like many of John Ford's best Westerns, THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is also based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Thomas T.  Flynn, adapted to the screen by Philip Yordan and Frank Burt. THE MAN FROM LARAMIE opens with Will Lockhart (James Stewart) and his sidekick Charley O'Leary (Wallace Ford) bringing a wagon train of supplies to the town of Coronado. Lockhart is the western version of a trucker, bringing supplies back and forth to towns throughout the West. Before they reach Coronado, Lockhart stops to investigate the burned remains of a U.S. Calvary wagon train known as the Massacre at Dutch Creek. Someone or group ambushed the Cavalry, murdered 12 soldiers including Lockhart's brother, and stole a crate of repeating rifles which seem to be falling into the hands of the Apache Indians. Lockhart wants to avenge his brother's death and find those responsible.

Lockhart will get more than he bargained for in Coronado.  The town and most of the surrounding land is owned by Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp), the patriarch of the Waggoman family and head of the Barb Ranch. Sensing his mortality, Alec has to decide whether to hand his ranch over to his adopted son Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy) the level headed, rational foreman of the Barb Ranch or to his blood son Dave Waggoman (Alex Nicol), a spoiled psychotic who's jealous of Vic and terrified he can't meet his father's expectations. Lockhart stumbles into this family feud when Alec's niece Barbara Waggoman (Cathy O'Donnell) sends Lockhart to the salt flats outside of town to pick up some salt to take back to Laramie. Dave and his men show up, claiming the salt flats are part of the Barb Ranch. Dave orders Lockhart's wagons burned and his mules shot. Dave has Lockhart lassoed and dragged around until Vic shows up and saves Lockhart. With his wagons destroyed and his mules dead, Lockhart pays his men and decides to stick around Coronado to find work.

Alec learns of Dave's hot headed actions and offers to pay for Lockhart's destroyed property. But he wants Lockwood to leave town. Lockwood takes the money but declines to depart Coronado. Lockwood hooks up with Kate Canady (Aline MacMahon), another rancher who runs the Half Moon Ranch. Kate needs a foreman, someone to help her against the mega Barb Ranch. Just when Lockhart's luck seems to be turning around, he gets arrested for the murder of local drunk and snitch Chris Boldt (Jack Elam) who had tried to kill Lockhart earlier in the evening.. Kate bails Lockhart out until the trial and hires him as her foreman.  Lockhart rides out to check on the Half Moon's cattle when he's shot at by Dave. Lockhart wounds Dave in the hand but Dave's men surround Lockhart and Dave returns the favor by putting a bullet point blank into Dave's hand - an eye for an eye.

Dave snaps and races up a nearby mountain where he uncovers the hidden wagon with the repeating rifles.  Dave's ready to sell the rest of the rifles to the Apaches and take over his father's ranch by force if necessary. Vic follows Dave and confronts him about the rifles. The CrazyFilmGuy will not reveal who else is involved with Dave and the stolen rifles and the massacre of the doomed Cavalry wagon train but Lockhart begins to unravel the mystery while dealing with the Waggoman family, Vic, and the Apaches who return to buy more repeating rifles.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE borrows liberally from Shakespeare's play King Lear with cattle baron Alec Waggoman as the tragic Lear. Like King Lear who struggles to decide how to divide his kingdom among his three daughters, Alec must contend with passing the Barb Ranch onto his hot-headed but weak biological son Dave Waggoman or the more reliable, loyal adopted son Vic Hansbro. Alec tussles with this decision, harshly criticizing both men one moment and urging them to prove their worth the next.  Alec's irrational behavior will drive both sons to take some drastic actions. Like Lear, Alec's eyesight begins to fail him. He misreads his ledger and by the end of the film, blindness has overtaken Alec.  Alec doesn't descend into madness like Lear but his emotions are at times bipolar. He tells Lockhart he's dreamt of his son Dave's death, believing a tall stranger will come into his home and kill Dave. Alec fears this stranger is Lockhart but it will be someone more surprising who will do harm to Dave.

In director Mann's westerns, the good and bad guys both have shades of grey to them.  Many of Mann's westerns have a violent or dishonorable character that still has a human side to them like Dutch Henry Brown in WINCHESTER '57 or Dave Waggoman in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE. In BEND IN THE RIVER, Stewart's McLyntock saves Arthur Kennedy's Emerson Cole early in the film and Cole repays the favor by helping McLyntock bring homesteaders over a mountain pass but the grudge they carry between them will eventually lead to a showdown.  In THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, every character has strengths and weaknesses and a psychological cross to bear.

Will Lockhart's our hero but he may be an AWOL Calvary scout, hunting for the men who murdered his brother. He is the man from Laramie, Fort Laramie, but he doesn't want to talk much about his past. He says he's a wanderer with no place but the present he calls home. Lockhart is dragged and punched and arrested and shot in the hand by Dave Waggoman but he's like a wounded dog, coming back again and again and dishing it out just as good or better than he takes it. As THE MAN FROM LARAMIE progresses, Lockhart begins to open up about his past, revealing he probably was a captain in the U.S. Army. His obsession with finding his brother's killer may lie in that he wasn't with the patrol when they were murdered, although this is never implied. When Lockhart finally confronts the man who led to his brother's death, he can't kill him. Instead, Lockhart lets him face the consequences himself which the Apaches help facilitate.

The Lear like Alec Waggoman carries the burden of knowing he left Half Moon rancher Kate at the altar to marry a fancy East Coast woman. That union bore his only real son Dave, who was spoiled by his rich mother and became the rotten son that Alec can't fully trust to give the ranch to.  Dave's jealously toward step brother Vic drives him to commit terrible atrocities such as shooting all of Lockhart's mules or selling rifles to the Apaches. Vic is most loyal to Alec yet he fears because he's not blood, Alec will give the ranch to Dave. Vic's insecurity will lead him to some bad decisions that will bring about his downfall.

James Stewart once again shows his versatility in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE.  Mann's Westerns are physical with lots of horse riding and wagon riding and fights in the dust and Stewart as Lockhart handles it like a real cowboy. Stewart once again exhibits that ability with his eyes to show fear and desperation when he's cornered or trapped or backed against a wall, evident from MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON all the way to VERTIGO.  I always think of Stewart as more of a comedic actor but after the war, drama became his forte and he looks as comfortable in cowboy boots as he does in  a tailored suit.

I'm beginning to add Arthur Kennedy to my list of favorite supporting actors.  His performance as Vic Hansbro, the adopted son of Alec Waggoman is complex and moving.  Vic is a tough, fair man who's wanted nothing but Alec's love but because he's not family, he's never quite received Alec's total loyalty. But like every male in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, Vic has a moment or two of weakness that will be his undoing. Kennedy played a more sneaky, opportunistic character in Mann's BEND IN THE RIVER also with Stewart. More recently I watched Kennedy as the alcoholic, abusive father in PEYTON PLACE (1957) and came away impressed with his ability to play complicated, tormented men.

Alex Nicol also makes the crazy son Dave Waggoman sympathetic at times as well. Dave could have been one dimensional but we feel for Dave who should be next in line for the Barb Ranch but his temper and lack of business sense bring him down. Rounding out the superb cast in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is the prolific Donald Crisp as cattle baron Alec Waggoman.  Crisp reportedly acted in over 170 films including many silent films before moving to talkies. Crisp plays Alec like a king trying to hold onto his kingdom as age and blindness begin to creep up on him. As tough as Crisp seems in LARAMIE, he would also star in family films like LASSIE COME HOME (1943) and NATIONAL VELVET (1944).

One surprise for me in THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is actress Cathy O'Donnell as Alec Waggoman's niece Barbara Waggoman and fiancee to Vic Hasbro. Early in the film, she's made up to look quite spinster like, a woman one would expect to see in the west. But as the film progresses, Barbara becomes more and more beautiful. She and Stewart have some nice scenes together, subtle flirting as they both know a relationship at this time would be imprudent. Their relationship is treated honestly and a forced upon romance that many filmmakers push is avoided. Look for the great character actor Jack Elam as the creepy snitch Chris Boldt. Elam was famous for his bulging eyes (a childhood injury left his left eye unmoving) and appeared in many westerns including Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968).



This touched up publicity photo makes THE MAN FROM LARAMIE look like it was filmed in Monument Valley when in reality it was made on location in New Mexico.

Director Anthony Mann began his career directing film noirs like T-MEN (1947) and RAW DEAL (1948).  The middle part of his career he moved to Westerns mostly with James Stewart although he also worked with Henry Fonda in THE TIN STAR (1957) and Gary Cooper in MAN OF THE WEST (1958).  The twilight of Mann's career saw him making historical epics including EL CID (1961) and THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) both over in Spain and with Sophia Loren. For his westerns, Mann chose new, fresh locations that audiences hadn't seen before. BEND IN THE RIVER was filmed around Mount Hood in Oregon. WINCHESTER '57 takes place in Tuscon, Arizona. THE NAKED SPUR was filmed in Durango, Colorado and THE MAN FROM LARAMIE uses the big wide open landscapes of New Mexico.  I think Mann purposefully stayed away from the familiar John Ford territory of Monument Valley, Utah.

THE MAN FROM LARAMIE is a great example of taking the western genre and twisting it to make it much more than cowboys and Indians. LARAMIE has elements of Shakespeare's King Lear and the detective genre as well as characters with deep psychological issues. Western fans expecting a Hopalong Cassidy or Tom Mix serial western will be disappointed by THE MAN FROM LARAMIE as it is a much deeper, complex film but still has its share of shootouts, cattle drives, and men on horses to satisfy any Western fan.

Notorious (1946)

Alfred Hitchcock loved one word titles. ROPE, MARNIE, TOPAZ, VERTIGO, PSYCHO, FRENZY, SPELLBOUND, SUSPICION. When I was researching Hitchcock as a child, browsing through the Encyclopedia Britannia at my school library, these film titles from his filmography seemed mysterious to me. There was another single word title that Hitchcock directed called NOTORIOUS. The name conjured up images of a wanted criminal. But when I first saw Hitchcock's NOTORIOUS (1946) as a teenager on late night TV, I was not able to juxtapose the title with the plot of the film. To me, it was an arbitrary, sensational title to hook a viewer.

NOTORIOUS refers to Ingrid Bergman's character Alicia Huberman who's father is declared a traitor for his role as a German sympathizer in post WWII America. Alicia is notorious for her reputation as a party girl, a woman of loose morals who drinks too much, who throws a party after her father is convicted for treason and sleeps around with other men. The plot is bold for 1946. The original screenplay is written by the great Ben Hecht who also wrote SCARFACE (1932), HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1940), and Hitchcock's previous film SPELLBOUND (1945).  Producer David Selznick loaned Hitchcock out to the RKO studio for NOTORIOUS and Hitch flourished without Selznick interfering with him.

NOTORIOUS is also the beginning of a thirteen year window where Hitchcock paired some of the great actors and actresses in cinema together in some of his best films.  Some may argue it began a year earlier with  Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman in SPELLBOUND (1945) but I think the Cary Grant/Ingrid Bergman duo is much sexier and NOTORIOUS a better film.  He would go on to team Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart with his iconic blond heroines Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, Doris Day, and Eve Marie Saint.

NOTORIOUS opens inside a Miami courtroom in 1946 as Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) watches her father convicted as a traitor. Alicia's the Paris Hilton of her day and this socialite throws a small party that night to drown her sadness in alcohol and music with a few friends.  One guest stays after everyone has left: the handsome stranger Devlin (Cary Grant). Devlin works for American Intelligence (perhaps OSS the precursor to the CIA). Devlin's boss Paul Prescott (Louis Calhern) wants to use Alicia to infiltrate a group of Germans (i.e. Nazis) hiding out in Rio de Janeiro who Alicia's father associated with. The Germans are up to no good and Prescott wants to find out what. Devlin and Alicia wait for the final orders and begin to fall in love until the assignment comes through. Alicia is to reconnect with an old flame Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), whose house in Rio the German are meeting at.

Devlin arranges for Alicia to accidentally run into Sebastian at a riding school in Rio. Sebastian is instantly smitten by Alicia again and a whirlwind romance begins. Sebastian invites Alicia to his ocean front mansion one night for dinner where she meets Sebastian's suspicious mother Madame Sebastian (Leopoldine Konstantin) and some well dressed Germans including 'Dr. Anderson' (Reinhold Schunzel), Eric Mathis (Ivan Triesault), and poor Emil Hupke (Eberhard Krumschmidt) who pays for making a scene about a certain wine bottle by disappearing later that night, never to be seen again. The next day at the horse races, Alicia reports to Devlin about the dinner guests and that she and Sebastian have consummated their relationship. Despite Sebastian's mother's protest, Sebastian and Alicia get married and Alicia moves into Sebastian's mansion.

As Alicia gets the lay of the house, she discovers that Sebastian has the keys to all the closets and doors. The cellar door in particular is off limits. Devlin suspects whatever the Germans are doing, the secret is hidden in the cellar. Alicia secretly takes the cellar key from Sebastian's key ring. Devlin asks Alicia to convince Sebastian to throw a big dinner party and invite him so he can go down into the cellar and investigate. With Sebastian distracted by guests, Devlin and Alicia sneak down to the wine cellar where they accidentally knock over a wine bottle and discover the mystery hidden inside: uranium ore. It is Dr. Anderson who is experimenting with the rare mineral. Later that evening, Sebastian discovers his wine cellar key is missing. The next morning he investigates the basement and finds glass shards. Sebastian reveals to his mother his worst fear.  Alicia is a spy.

Fearful Sebastian's error in judgment will be uncovered by the hyper suspicious Germans, Sebastian and his mother Madame Sebastian begin to slowly poison Alicia. Alicia becomes almost bed ridden. Even Dr. Anderson becomes concerned about Alicia's health. Devlin requests a transfer out of Rio, unable to watch the woman he loves Alicia with another man, regretting he's sent her to sleep with the enemy. But when Alicia misses several of their clandestine debriefings, Devlin grows concerned. Prescott recalls Alicia not feeling well on her last visit to him. Devlin begins to suspect Alicia's cover had been blown and drives up to Sebastian's mansion at night to see Alicia. He finds Alicia clinging to life. Devlin begins to take Alicia down the grand staircase to his waiting car but Sebastian and the Germans emerge from the dining room, their curiosity aroused by the commotion. Will Devlin and Alicia make it out alive?

Hitchcock is at the top of his game in NOTORIOUS, exploring familiar themes and motifs. Hitchcock introduces us to the mother/son relationship in NOTORIOUS that we've seen in other films, most notably in PSYCHO (1960). Alexander Sebastian is a man-child, a little boy in a tuxedo, playing Nazi games with his German expatriates. When he sees his former girlfriend Alicia, he develops a school boy crush on her all over again, his feelings for her clouding his better judgment. Sebastian gets jealous when he sees Alicia with Devlin, who he believes is a rival. Sebastian even acknowledges he's "behaving like a stupid schoolboy." He uses sex to make Alicia prove to him she's not interested in Devlin.  But when he discovers the woman he's sleeping with is an American agent, he comes running to his Mommy. Madame Sebastian is a good Nazi mother. She wants to see Sebastian climb the ladder of a new Fourth Reich. She knows Sebastian's mistake could cost them both their lives.  But she's devious and ruthless. They will remove Alicia by slowly poisoning her. "We are protected by the enormity of your stupidity," Madame Sebastian tells her son.

The MacGuffin (Hitchcock's term for a plot device that drives the story) returns for NOTORIOUS this time as the uranium hidden in the wine bottles. This is what sends  Devlin and Alicia to Brazil to investigate the Germans. In PSYCHO, the cellar hid the mummified Mrs. Bates. But in NOTORIOUS, the cellar hides a less gruesome mystery, yet still dangerous. Uranium is an element needed for nuclear bombs. Hitchcock was so ahead of his time with the uranium idea that he claimed the FBI  followed him for three months because of it. Once again, Hitchcock's villains are handsome, sophisticated, well-dressed, and urbane. Sebastian may be one of Hitchcock's most sympathetic bad guys. He treats Alicia well, fawns over her almost too much until he realizes he's betrayed. In the finale, as  Devlin helps Alicia escape, raising the suspicions of Mathis and the other Germans, Sebastian helps Devlin and Alicia to his car, begging them to take him with them but Devlin won't have it. The audience (including myself) almost roots for Sebastian to get away. But Devlin's a tough cookie. He leaves Sebastian to face his fate with his Nazi conspirators. If you're a Sebastian fan, one can only hope U.S. Intelligence will barge in soon before he gets killed. Sebastian would probably turn state's evidence against his German friends. We will never know.

When Hitchcock works with great writers like John Michael Hayes (REAR WINDOW), Ernest Lehman (NORTH BY NORTHWEST, FAMILY PLOT) or Thornton Wilder (SHADOW OF A DOUBT), he seems more assured as a director.  Working with writer Ben Hecht, Hitchcock is at the top of his game in NOTORIOUS. Story wise, Hitchcock and Hecht are masterful in laying out the story in pieces, never quite giving away everything all at once. Devlin is introduced in silhouette, his back to the camera at the party, making him mysterious. When Alicia is pulled over for speeding early in the film, Devlin shows the cop his I.D. We never see his identification but from the cop's reaction, we know Devlin is important. Sexual innuendos are prominent as we know Alicia has a reputation. "You can add Sebastian to my list of playmates," Alicia tells Devlin. Hitchcock is known for great set pieces like the crop duster chase in NORTH BY NORTHWEST or the shower murder in PSYCHO. The party scene in NOTORIOUS may be one of Hitchcock's most underrated suspense scenes. Devlin and Alicia need to sneak into the cellar but Alicia needs to keep Sebastian distracted. To make matters worse, the bar is running out of bottles of champagne which could send the bartender down to the cellar. Who would have thought a party running out of champagne would be so nerve wracking?

Camera wise, Hitchcock is innovative and creative, using amazing camerawork to propel the story not just show off. NOTORIOUS has Hitchcock's amazing crane shot at the party scene where the camera starts high above the hallway as Alicia and Sebastian greet arriving guests and cranes down to an extreme close up of  Alicia grasping the cellar key, waiting for Devlin to arrive so she can hand it to him, all in one fluid take. Hitchcock would use a similar crane shot in an earlier film called NUMBER SEVENTEEN (1932). Hitchcock brought over with him some of the Salvador Dali influences from his previous film SPELLBOUND for NOTORIOUS. He tilts the camera cockeyed to make the audience feel Alicia's drunkenness when Devlin checks on her early in the film.  Later, as the Sebastian's poison Alicia, Sebastian and his mother's twin images become sinister from Alicia's point of view, black and white shapes trying to kill her.

What elevates NOTORIOUS are the three lead actors: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. Grant had primarily done comedies or played romantic comedic roles (BRINGING UP BABY, MY FAVORITE WIFE) prior to working with Hitchcock on their first film together SUSPICION (1941). But NOTORIOUS may be one of Grant's best dramatic performances as American agent Devlin. He's torn between duty to his country and falling in love with woman he's recruited to infiltrate a den of Nazis in Rio. Devlin seems cold and manipulative, even striking a drunk Alicia when she gets out of hand. He's snide to Alicia when she does what she's asked: to sleep with Sebastian to win his loyalty. But Devlin's professionalism hides his true feelings for her. When the intelligence bureaucrat Walter Beardsley (Moroni Olsen), visiting Rio, makes a derogatory comment about Alicia's character, Devlin goes off on Beardsley. "Miss Huberman is first, last, and always not a lady. She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn't hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue." Grant solidifies himself as the quintessential leading man and perhaps the precursor to James Bond.

Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Huberman is a provocative performance, one of many Bergman would give. In CASABLANCA (1943) Bergman's Ilsa had a relationship with Bogart's Rick Blaine while she was still married (later we learn she thought her husband Victor Lazlo was dead. He's not). Bergman also played a barmaid/prostitute in DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (1941). In NOTORIOUS, she's a woman with a reputation, trying to find her identity, the daughter of a traitor who jumps at the chance to redeem herself by helping the US government even if it means sleeping with a man she doesn't love. Alicia doesn't seem to realize the danger she's in and if it wasn't for Devlin, the country she's trying to help might just let her die. I liked Bergman's performance more in the first half of the film as she and Grant toy with each other's affections, hurting each other with words, deeply in love but following their mission. In the second half of the film, I thought Bergman overplayed the nervousness a little too much. In real life, Bergman would be a bit notorious in her private life when she left her first husband and daughter and fell in love with Italian director Roberto Rossellini in 1949. Bergman would also make SPELLBOUND and UNDER CAPRICORN with Hitchcock but NOTORIOUS is her best film with Hitch. Director Stanley Donen (who would make a couple of Hitchcock like thrillers himself with CHARADE and ARABESQUE) would reunite Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman for the comedy/drama INDISCREET (1958).

Rounding out the superb cast is Claude Rains as Alexander Sebastian who receives about as much screen time as both Grant and Bergman in NOTORIOUS. Rains is perfect as Sebastian, the childish, petulant, and very jealous beau of Alicia. Sebastian is the villain of the film yet he's extremely sympathetic. He's not as good looking as Devlin yet he gets the girl ... temporarily. He's small in stature, like a little boy, which plays wonderfully when he sits at the foot of his mother's bed to tell her he has married an American spy. He behaves like a child when he sees Devlin and Alicia together at the horse track, behaving immaturely afterward. "I'd like to be convinced. Would you maybe care to convince me, Alicia, that Mr. Devlin means nothing to you?"  Rains and Bergman were part of the famous cast of CASABLANCA (1942). Rains proves once again what a fantastic supporting actor he is. I wish he had done more films with Hitchcock.

Two others key supporting actors to acknowledge in NOTORIOUS are Louis Calhern as Devlin's boss Captain Prescott and Leopoldine Konstantine as Alex's mother Madame Sebastian. Interestingly, both play parental roles although only one is an actual parent. Prescott is a father figure to Devlin, sending him out to woo Alicia and reel her in, reminding him that duty calls over feelings. Calhern does a great job with his eyes, no words, recognizing Devlin is in love with Alicia just by glancing at the champagne bottle Devlin leaves in his office after learning Alicia's role in the mission.

According to the Internet Movie Data Base, NOTORIOUS is the only American role the Austrian born Konstantine would play as Alex's domineering mother. She is scary in every scene she's in, her senses on full alert as Alicia weaves her way into her son Alex's life. She doesn't trust Alicia and as a Nazi on the run, who can blame her. She's like a black widow spider, watching her web of Germans as Dr. Andersen experiments with uranium to create something dangerous. But she's the good mother, doting yet reprimanding Alexander like a mother should and when she learns Alicia is a spy, she assists her son in slowly poisoning her daughter-in-law.

NOTORIOUS is the beginning of what I like to call Hitchcock's sophisticated section of filmmaking. Whether it was spies or murderers, his characters dressed to the nines, drank the best wines and champagne, and lived or traveled to exotic locations like Rio, New York, or the French Rivera. NOTORIOUS boasts Hitchcock at his most confident both with his filmmaking and with his actors and story.

Les Miserables (1935)

Miserable is the best way I can describe my experience the one and only time I saw the musical LES MISERABLES (English translation The Wretched) at the Schubert Theater back in 1989. I was living in Los Angeles at the time. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I were going to see the musical on a Saturday night.  I was taking the Assistant Director's test that morning to try to get into the Director's Guild. A friend of mine Lee was also taking the test. I picked him up and we drove down to USC to take the exam. I had a suit and dress shirt to change into later that night and instead of putting it in the trunk, I left it hanging full view in the backseat. When I returned from the test that afternoon, my suit was gone.  Either Lee or I forgot to lock one side of the car. It was too late to return to my apartment so I drove out to the San Fernando Valley with nothing to wear for the play. I ended up borrowing my future mother-in-law's only shirt with lapels that looked semi-masculine. The entire time during LES MISERABLES I moped about my wardrobe that I couldn't enjoy the musical.

What I do remember from that miserable night was that the musical LES MISERABLES was sad and downbeat. Just when you thought the good guy Valjean was going to enjoy life, his nemesis Inspector Javert would show up again, hounding him. The songs were depressing. I was depressed. Some stranger in Los Angeles was wearing my suit. So I was mildly excited when the recent movie version of the Musical LES MISERABLES (2012) came out to see what I missed while in my funk that night at the Schubert Theater.  Even with bigger stars (Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe) and a better understanding of French author Victor Hugo's sprawling story written in 1862, I still found LES MISERABLES the Musical depressing and not very uplifting. Now don't get me wrong. I love a good depressing film (like James Gray's 1994 gangster film LITTLE ODESSA or Robert DeNiro's 2006 CIA film THE GOOD SHEPHERD).  Maybe it was just the Musical LES MISERABLES was throwing me off.

So to give Hugo's story another chance, I decided to go back and watch a straight cinematic adaption of his story this time the 1935 version of LES MISERABLES. Studios were adapting all the classic novels into film in the 1930's. LOST HORIZON, GONE WITH THE WIND, GREAT EXPECTATIONS, ANNA KARENINA, and yes, LES MISERABLES. They may have had to steer clear of any controversial subject matter that was in these novels but I think the studios and film makers did a fantastic job of condensing these complex novels into entertaining fare. I'm glad I gave LES MISERABLES another chance. Directed by Richard Boleslawski and adapted by W.P. Lipscomb, this definitive version tells the literary story straightforward (with no singing), hitting all the dramatic points but with a more hopeful ending.

LES MISERABLES is Victor Hugo's manifesto on injustice, including France's prison system and the treatment of  convicts after serving their sentences. It begins in Faverolles, France in 1800 with Jean Valjean (Frederic March) getting sent to the galleys for ten years for stealing a loaf of bread for his hungry sister and her children. Joining Valjean on the ship is Inspector Rene Javert (Charles Laughton), a zealously obedient servant of the law. Valjean will endure brutality on the galleys, becoming a hard man when he's released ten years later. Unable to land a job or even find a place to sleep, Valjean find life unforgiving for an ex-convict. He finds shelter at the church of Bishop Bienvenu (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). With only 109 francs to his name, Valjean cannot resist stealing the Bishop's silver. The local authorities catch Valjean and bring him back to the church. However, the Bishop lies to the police, telling them he gave Valjean the silver and asks why Valjean didn't take the candlesticks as well. The Bishop makes Valjean promise him one thing. "Life is to give, not to take." This generosity will change Valjean's life and send him in a new direction.

We move forward several years and Valjean has a new identity and life as Monsieur Madeleine, a respected business man running a successful factory, employing many workers. The town loves him so much they make him mayor as well. But Valjean's past returns to haunt him when Javert shows up to his town as the new Inspector Police to the District bent on upholding the letter of the law. When Valjean lifts a cart off an injured man, Javert begins to suspect he's seen this mayor before. Unknown to Valjean, a young worker from his factory Fantine (Florence Eldridge, Mrs. Frederic March in real life) is let go from the factory because she's pregnant. Fantine gives birth to a girl, naming her Cosette. Fantine gives up Cosette to adoption but blames Valjean for getting her fired from her job and losing Cosette. Valjean promises to find Cosette and return her to Fantine.

Valjean travels to the inn Le Brave Sergeant and rescues little Cosette (Marilyn Knowlden) from greedy innkeeper Madame Thenardier (Jane Kerr). But Cosette's reunion with Fantine is short-lived as Fantine becomes ill and dies. With Javert once again in pursuit of prisoner 2906, Valjean and Cosette pack up and head for the outskirts of Paris. Valjean leaves Cosette with the sisters at a convent, making a donation so they may raise and educate her. Several years pass. Valjean works near the convent as a gardener, keeping an eye on the now grown up Cosette (Rochelle Hudson). After Cosette is confirmed, Valjean takes her from the convent and they move to the city. It's 1832. Cosette falls in love with a young student Marius (John Beal) who's part of a group of revolutionaries called the Students Society Law Reform protesting government injustice and inhuman treatment of prisoners. Marius's secretary Eponine (Frances Drake) is also in love with Marius.

Once again, Javert shows up in Paris, this time working with the French government investigating the student uprising. Javert follows Marius and sees him with Cosette. Javert plans to use Cosette as bait to arrest Marius. Valjean recognizes Javert spying on Cosette and makes arrangements for both of them to go to England. Cosette tries to get a letter to Marius with their plans but Eponine intercepts it. The students and soldiers begin fighting in the streets of Paris in what is known as the June Rebellion. Marius and his fellow students are trapped by the police in a blind alley. Valjean promises Cosette he'll rescue Marius. Javert follows him. The students grab Javert and prepare to hang him but Valjean stops them, saving Javert's life. This act of mercy destroys Javert who will jump off a bridge, destroyed by Valjean's act of kindness. Valjean carries a beaten Marius through the sewers of Paris to bring him back to his beloved Cosette.

Jean Valjean and Inspector Rene Javert are one of the great adversarial duos in literature rivaling Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Moriarty. This LES MISERABLES reveals plot points that I missed in the Musical and may not have been presented.  The biggest surprise comes early in the film when we learn Inspector Javert was turned down for a promotion previously because his mother was a tramp and his father a convict who died in prison. Javert was even born in prison. Javert's lip quivers as his superior reads Javert's file aloud.  This back story (which would make an incredible prequel all its own) explains Javert's obsession with Valjean.  Valjean reminds Javert of his father. And, just as Javert climbed out of the gutter to become a policeman, he despises Valjean for turning his pitiful life around as well to become a successful businessman and mayor, loved by the community. At LES MISERABLES finale, Valjean doesn't need to physically shoot Javert as he points a pistol at him. He kills him with kindness, by letting him live. It drives Javert to jump off a bridge to his death.

Eponine is by far my most favorite character in the LES MISERABLE universe. In the Musical (and I assume the novel), she's much more prominent. She's the daughter of the innkeepers the Thenardier's. But in this LES MISERABLES, she's almost a bit player yet I find her fascinating. In this version, she's not related to the Thenardier's at all or the film never shows us that connection. She is Marius's secretary and also in love with him.  But Marius ignores her. To Marius, she's just one of the guys. Eponine is the female version of Valjean. She's jealous of Cosette yet so in love with Marius, she takes up the movie's mantra "to give" by revealing to Marius that Cosette is still in Paris as the fighting grows between students and the soldiers. Eponine even takes a bullet for Marius, so that he can live to love his true love Cosette. She makes as great a sacrifice as Valjean does.

Just like their dynamic characters in the film, actors Frederic March (Valjean) and Charles Laughton (Javert) were at the top of their game in LES MISERABLES. March is the perfect choice as the tormented Valjean having played the equally anguished Dr. Jekyll (and Mr. Hyde) in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1932). March seemed to thrive in films where his characters underwent a transformation. In LES MISERABLES, he goes from barely recognizable in thick beard and scraggly long hair in the first act to a more refined, well-dressed businessman in the rest of the film. Laughton steals almost every scene in LES MISERABLE. Javert will always be Laughton's role in my opinion with his thick jowls and pursed lips and obsessive adherence to rules. "Right or wrong, the law is the law and it must be obeyed to the letter." As good as Geoffrey Rush and Russell Crowe might be as recent film Javert's, they've got nothing on Laughton.  Laughton would have an amazing run in the 30's playing larger than life characters like Dr. Moreau in THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (1932), Henry VIII in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY THE VIII (1933), Captain Bligh in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY (1935), and the Dutch painter Rembrandt in REMBRANDT (1936). Laughton would even play another noteworthy character from another Victor Hugo novel as Quasimodo, the deformed bell ringer in THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1939).

Although the rest of the cast in LES MISERABLES are exemplary, the two supporting actors that really stood out for me are Sir Cedric Hardwicke as Bishop Bienvenu and Frances Drake as Eponine, Marius's unrequited love. The Bishop is a droll, mischievous man who enjoys thumbing his nose at both the police and his own servants. Only because of the Bishop's kindness does Valjean get a second chance. Hardwicke plays the Bishop to perfection, giving him both humanity and humor. The dark-haired Frances Drake is far more interesting and beautiful as Eponine than either the characters of Fantine or Cosette.  Eponine seems to be Drake's one juicy dramatic role as she would play the female lead in several horror films of the 30's including THE INVISIBLE RAY (1936) and the minor horror classic MAD LOVE (1935) co-starring Peter Lorre. The one other notable actor to mention is the brief appearance of the young John Carradine as Enjolras, one of Marius's student friends. Carradine would go on to act in over 300 films and television shows. He is the father of actors Keith, David, and Robert Carradine. Although he has one brief scene in LES MISERABLES, he makes it count.

I had never heard of director Richard Boleslawski before watching his LES MISERABLES but he has a great grasp on Hugo's story, moving the story along at a good clip. His staging of the fight between students and the French soldiers is well-staged using 20th Century Fox's backlot as is Valjean's escape with the wounded Marius through the underground sewers of Paris. Director Boleslawski uses imagery to great effect in LES MISERABLES. He shows the two silver candlesticks often, reminding both Valjean and the audience that they represent Valjean's past and his promise to the Bishop to give to society and not take. The candlesticks become good luck for Valjean. Javert is represented by handcuffs, a symbol of justice. As Javert struggles to comprehend Valjean's acts of kindness toward him, one of the most powerful moments in the film is after Valjean has said goodbye to Cosette and Marius, he steps out of the apartment to turn himself in to Javert and lying on the street are Javert's empty handcuffs.

Director Boleslawski had the good fortune of having Gregg Toland (CITIZEN KANE, GRAPES OF WRATH) as his cinematographer on LES MISERABLES. Toland is a master with black and white photography. One reason I may not have known much about Polish born Boleslawski is that he died two years later in 1937 at the age of 47. He hadn't had the chance to direct many films. LES MISERABLES was definitely his most high visible project. Ironically, Toland would also die at an earlier age, only 44 years old in 1948, another talent who's flame went out too early.

Although Broadway Musical versions of novels or films can bring a new audience to an established story and turn a familiar story into something different, liberties are always taken with the original source. I much rather prefer LES MISERABLES the non-musical to LES MISERABLES, the Musical. The story was much clearer to me, the characters motivations made more sense, and I wasn't as saddened by the story because there weren't any depressing songs in this 1935 version. Now that I know the original story better, dare I try to watch the Musical LES MISERABLES one more time? Or should I go see THE LION KING or THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA instead?

Risky Business (1983)

Like the teenage protagonist Joel Goodson  (Tom Cruise) in RISKY BUSINESS (1983), I had high school friends who had good grades and were outstanding members of our high school class who would get a little risky when their parents went away for the week. One friend did doughnuts (or cookies as some have debated me) in our high school parking lot with his parent's Volvo before an Oregon Sheriff put a stop to his expression of freedom.  Another of my buddies took his Dad's Porsche 944 out with another friend for a spin before either of them had their driver's licenses (thankfully they did not put the Porsche into the Willamette River as Joel Goodson does with his father's Porsche in Chicago). And I recall an epic party with lots of teenagers at a barn behind yet another friend's house when his parents were gone.

RISKY BUSINESS came out at the perfect time in my life, right as high school was ending and college was about to begin, similar to Joel Goodson's senior year. I could relate to Joel's sexual frustration (what teenage boy couldn't) but even more so, I related to his fear of taking chances and failure. RISKY BUSINESS was a smart, dark teen comedy that was the polar opposite of raunchy teen comedies like MEATBALLS (1981) or PORKY'S (1982). Set in the same Chicago suburbs as John Hughes' comedies SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984) or THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985), RISKY BUSINESS was a high school world familiar to me. Preppy kids with visions of good schools and making money. Written and directed by first time director Paul Brickman, RISKY BUSINESS would be Brickman's one hit wonder. Brickman shows remarkable confidence in his directorial debut and it's a shame his directing career didn't flourish (don't fret, he's still writing screenplays like Clint Eastwood's 1999 TRUE CRIME).

Joel Goodson's (Tom Cruise) world in RISKY BUSINESS is Glencoe, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Joel is a typical senior in high school, playing poker with his buddies Barry (Bronson Pinchot), Miles (Curtis Armstrong), and Glenn (Raphael Sbarge) and trying to get good grades so he can get into an Ivy League college. Joel's parents (Nicholas Pryor and Janet Carroll) are going out of town for the week leaving the house all to Joel. Miles challenges Joel to take some chances with his parents away but Joel is not a risk taker. He doesn't want to jeopardize his future. Joel's world will turn upside down when Miles prank calls a sex ad, pretending to be Joel and giving out his address.

Miles prank call brings Jackie, a black transvestite (Bruce A. Young) the size of a linebacker to Joel's front door that night. Joel explains it's all a mistake and pays for Jackie's fare back. Before leaving, Jackie gives Joel the phone number for Lana. Lana is "what every white boy on the lake wants," Jackie tells him. The next evening, Joel does call Lana. Lana (Rebecca De Mornay) is a call girl, mysterious and sexy. Joel loses his innocence that night to Lana but that's only the beginning. Joel doesn't have enough money to pay Lana her $300 fee. When he returns from the bank with cash to pay her, Lana is missing and so is Joel's mother's prized glass egg.

So begins Joel's odyssey to reacquire the glass egg and return his life back to normal.  Joel will be chased by Lana's pimp Guido (Joe Pantoliano). Joel will accidentally put his father's Porsche into Lake Michigan. After Joel is suspended from school for threatening the school nurse for giving him a tardy slip and failing two exams, Joel teams up with Lana and her roommate Vicki (Shera Danese) to make some quick cash so he can repair his father's car.

With Barry handling the money, Joel doing the marketing, and Lana supplying the working girls, Joel turns his parent's house into a brothel for one night only, entertaining Joel's high school classmates (and even cousins from Skokie). Among the visitors is Bill Rutherford (Richard Masur), a recruiter from Princeton that Joel's father invited to interview Joel about attending the Ivy League school. The night is a success as Joel raises $8,000 dollars. He's able to get his father's Porsche out of the shop but when he returns home with the car, he discovers Guido has stolen all of his parent's belongings. Joel has only two hours to get all the furniture and glass egg back before his parents return from their vacation.

So why do I love RISKY BUSINESS? First and foremost, it has some of the best lines and dialogue in any coming of age film. These examples may not mean much to you (unless you've seen the film), but I find them clever and funny.

• "Who's the U-boat Commander?" asks the Auto Dealer as water and fish pour of Joel's father's 928 Porsche.
• "I don't think you should mix centuries," says Barry as they try to put Joel's mother's china back on its shelves.
• "I've got a Trig mid-term tomorrow and I'm being chased by Guido the Killer Pimp," groans Miles after Guido chases Joel, Lana, and himself.
• "Did you pack my mace?" Joel's mother asks Joel's father before they depart for their trip.

I crack up when Joel explains to Barry that "boffing" and fucking" are the same thing (who hasn't been confused by the multiple names for fornicating). Brickman's dialogue is witty and smart and mature. He perfectly captures the tenuous bridge from teenager to adult. Joel and his friends want to be adults. They play poker, smoke cigars, and have sex. But they are clumsy in their execution of adult rituals. They lack the knowledge and experience of an adult. RISKY BUSINESS is a mature comedy disguised as a teenage sex romp.

RISKY BUSINESS always reminded me of another influential film for me when I was in high school. Mike Nichols' THE GRADUATE (1967) starring Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock. Both films have young, naive protagonists (high school senior Goodson; college graduate Braddock) who face uncertain futures (will Goodson have good enough grades to go to Princeton?; what will Braddock do now that he's done with college? "Plastics" as one of Braddock's father's friends suggests?). Both will get involved in sexual politics (Goodson with the call girl Lana; Braddock with his father's best friend's wife Mrs. Robinson). Both RISKY BUSINESS and THE GRADUATE would catapult young actors Cruise and Hoffman to stardom. Both films used eclectic musical choices that take the film to a higher level (Tangerine Dream for RISKY; Simon and Garfunkle for GRADUATE). And both films capture feelings I had both in high school, college, and post college. "Can I make it to college?", "will I survive college", and "what do I do after college?" Hoffman and Cruise would even make an Oscar winning film together in RAIN MAN (1988).

At first glance RISKY BUSINESS could be mistaken for one of John Hughes teenage films only it's darker than anything Hughes could have made (although THE BREAKFAST CLUB hints at some dark moments). It's a class clash as the rich kids (Joel, Barry, Miles) from the lake collide with the tough reality from the city (Lana, Guido, Vicki). Lana is not the hooker with a heart of gold.  Lana has had a tough life, hit on by her step father. She's a blessing and a curse to Joel. She teaches Joel more than just sex, about life and free enterprise. But she also steals the egg and she may have double-crossed Joel after their business venture. After all, she owes Guido some money as well. Brickman's cinematographers (Reynaldo Villalobos and Bruce Surtees) shoot the film to match the movie's darker tone. Surtees shot many of Clint Eastwood's movies (DIRTY HARRY, PALE RIDER) and Eastwood favored low lighting too. Joel's suburban house, even his room is bathed in shadows . The suburbs aren't as bright and happy as we think. The city night scenes crackle in neon and blurry lights.

Music can make or break a film. Much of my fondness for RISKY BUSINESS is due to the German group Tangerine Dream's hypnotic electronic score. Yes, Brickman uses some popular music at key moments (Bob Seger,  Phil Collins, Muddy Waters) but he goes a different route with Tangerine Dream, music that's edgier and mournful, acknowledging Joel's transition from teenager to young adult, from high school to college.

Like Hughes early films, RISKY BUSINESS is set in the Chicago area. But director/writer Brickman's young characters don't wear the latest fashion trends like a Hughes character would (although Joel wearing Rayban sunglasses is the one exception). Brickman's teenage characters are preppy not alternative or Goth or punk. Hughes will borrow slightly from RISKY BUSINESS with another Hughes Chicago teenage comedy FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (1986). But instead of Ferris's parents going away, Ferris just skips school for the day with his two friends Sloane (Mia Sara) and Cameron (Alan Ruck). Cameron will also wreck his father's car echoing Joel's predicament with his father's Porsche. Even HOME ALONE (1990) written by Hughes, uses the RISKY BUSINESS idea of being alone but makes it more juvenile as Kevin McCallister's (Macaulay Culkin) parents accidentally leave him home alone when they go off to Paris.

As many times as I have seen RISKY BUSINESS, I never caught on to the metaphor in Joel Goodson's name until now. Joel is a good son.  He rakes the leaves up in his yard and drives his parents to the airport.  He's a member of the Future Enterprisers club. He gets good grades and dreams of going to Princeton, his father's alma mater. He thinks about sex with the babysitter but hasn't acted upon it. But when Joel's buddy Miles offers his philosophy of "What the Fuck" with Joel's parents gone for a week and the house to himself, the good son goes off course. He's got freedom now. He dances in his underwear around the house. He has sex with a call girl. He loses his mother's glass egg to said call girl. He gets chased by Guido the Killer Pimp. He puts his father's Porsche into Lake Michigan. Joel becomes a pimp for a night, providing sex to all his horny high school classmates. It turns out Miles was just bullshitting Joel when he gave the advice "What the Fuck." Miles didn't think Joel would take him seriously. Joel both benefits and pays the price for believing in "What the Fuck."

RISKY BUSINESS is the one and only time you will see Tom Cruise play the closest thing to a nerd. A good looking straight arrow. I was a huge Tom Cruise fan after RISKY BUSINESS. I loved how he alternated between awkwardness and confidence as Joel, the epitome of a teenager. Cruise was on the brink of super stardom. He played another high school character in the football film ALL THE RIGHT MOVES (1983) then a young hero in Ridley Scott's fantasy LEGEND (1985). I was still on the Cruise band wagon until Cruise's next film, Tony Scott's TOP GUN (1986) which would introduce us to the future prototype character for Cruise off and on going forward: the intense, selfish, cocky hero who undergoes a transformation to good, caring person. I fell off the Cruise bandwagon with TOP GUN. RISKY BUSINESS will always be his defining performance for me.

Writer/Director Brickman casting is impeccable. Besides selecting a relative unknown Cruise to play the lead Joel, he smartly surrounds Cruise with smart, less attractive geeks like Bronson Pinchot as Barry and Curtis Armstrong as Miles. Pinchot and Armstrong steal every scene they're in. Both are so convincing and dead on that they would be typecast for awhile with Armstrong following up RISKY BUSINESS by playing Booger Dawson, a more disgusting nerd in THE REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984). Pinchot would have a nice run as the Greek geek Balki on the ABC TV show PERFECT STRANGERS.

The wild card in RISKY BUSINESS'S success is Rebecca De Mornay. Like her fellow actors Bronson Pinchot and Curtis Armstrong, RISKY BUSINESS was De Mornay's first film role (besides a walk on in Francis Coppola's ONE FOR THE HEART). Lana is the key to the film. If the audience isn't attracted to Lana like Joel is, the film's core is gone. De Mornay's Lana can be sexy when fulfilling Joel's fantasies but in reality she's hard-edged and guarded, not willing to easily reveal her vulnerability. She's not Hollywood's version of a prostitute with the heart of gold. Her heart has been bruised. De Mornay's cold demeanor would get her cast as icy seductresses in other films like THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE (1992) and THE THREE MUSKETEERS (1993). For film trivia geeks with a quick eye, try to find Megan Mullally as one of the Call Girls in RISKY BUSINESS. Mullally would later co-star in the NBC TV comedy WILL AND GRACE. Cruise and De Mornay would date briefly after RISKY BUSINESS. I always liked that they were a couple off-screen.

RISKY BUSINESS would be a summer hit in 1983 with some iconic scenes that remain in Pop Culture's consciousness today. But for writer/director Paul Brickman, RISKY BUSINESS is his one hit wonder. He's only directed one film since RISKY and that was MEN DON'T LEAVE (1990) with Jessica Lange. I saw it when it came out specifically because Brickman was directing. It's a nice film but nothing spectacular except that Brickman launched the career of another young actor named Chris O'Donnell (SCENT OF A WOMAN, TV's CSI LOS ANGELES). If you listen to Brickman's commentary on the RISKY BUSINESS DVD, he sounds like a perfectionist. Perhaps he's not going to do another film until he has total control of the product, much like he did for RISKY (except for the ending). Or is it that RISKY BUSINESS was the best that he had and he didn't have an encore. Here's hoping Brickman has another film like RISKY BUSINESS in him.  He is a film auteur I'd like to hear from again.

RISKY BUSINESS elevated the teenage comedy genre with its surreal dream sequences, sophisticated sense of humor, and synthesizer music score that was unique for its time. RISKY BUSINESS resonated for me as I was Joel Goodson's age when I first saw RISKY, dealing with the same guilt and anxiety that teenagers struggle with. Although Tom Cruise would become a superstar thanks to RISKY, director Paul Brickman's career didn't follow Cruise's trajectory. My guess is Brickman is a script doctor now, touching and enhancing other writer's scripts before they go into production. Maybe one day Cruise and Brickman will team up to tell Joel Goodson's story today. Where did Joel end up? What happened to Lana? That would be something to see. As Joel says in the final narration, "Time of your life, eh kid?"