TEN TO WISH FOR Part Three

5.

PERMISSION TO KILL (1975: Dir. Cyril Frankel)

The spy film is my default genre whenever I am undecided about what to watch. There are only a handful of espionage movies that I do not own in one form or another, but at the top of my list is this cynical Seventies entry. Directed by Brit television veteran Cyril Frankel (The Baron, The Champions, Department S), Permission To Kill stars Dirk Bogarde as a chilly spymaster ruthlessly manipulating the lives of various men and women for government-sanctioned purposes as well as his own nefarious ends. Co-starring are Ava Gardner, one of Dirk's favourite leading ladies, Bekim Fehmiu, an unlikely Serbian sex symbol of the era, and future James Bond Timothy Dalton. I saw this film only once on VHS, and its final moments still linger in my memory nearly two decades later.

                                                                            6.

                                    LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR (1977: Dir. Richard Brooks)                                                                       

Richard Brooks was a major filmmaker having directed such classics as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  and In Cold Blood, so when he decided to adapt Judith Rossner's controversial bestselling novel about the dangerous nightlife of a sexually promiscuous single woman, it seemed like a natural fit, one that paid off both critically and financially. Diane Keaton, in one her most vulnerable performances, is joined by a flawless supporting cast including Richard Gere and Tom Berenger in their first major roles, and the always fascinating Tuesday Weld, whose unpredictable career choices rarely paid off with such commercial success as this. Special mention must also go to the cinematography of William A. Fraker, whose chiaroscuro lighting bathes the film in suitably ominous textures. Yet another Paramount casualty of neglect, rumoured to be tangled up in nearly insurmountable music rights issues.