“For those who came in late…” reads the text on
screen during the opening narration that relates the secret mythology of The
Phantom (1996). Created by Lee Falk for the newspaper comic strips in 1936,
The Phantom a.k.a. The Ghost Who Walks, is a purple clad hero who is the latest in
a long line of men raised to fight crime from his jungle base in the fictional African
country of Bangalla. Created after The Shadow and before Batman, the Phantom
was the bridge between the early reality-based pulp heroes and the fantasy comic
book heroes which were to dominate fandom in the ensuing decades. Directed with
a breezy panache by Australian Simon Wincer (Free Willy) and starring a
hunky tongue-in-cheek Billy Zane (Titanic), this Indiana Jones homage
delivers all the required action-adventure elements including a spunky heroine,
exotic locales, death defying stunts, the search for magical artifacts, and a show
stopping femme fatale that introduced Catherine Zeta Jones to the big screen. Slightly
let down by some lumpy plotting and a forgettable film score, this was the last
major attempt to poach on Spielberg and Lucas’ ground before they came back
with another sequel themselves. This year we will see Harrison Ford retire his
hat and whip under the direction of James Mangold (Logan) with a finale
that I hope lives up to the earlier films and their imitators.
From the pages of the old pulp magazines of the 1930s came 1994's The Shadow, one of the most original and mysterious fantasy characters ever brought to the silver screen.A reformed criminal who is redeemed and taught the
secrets of the mind by a Tibetan holy man, the Shadow is a one-of-a kind
anti-hero who manipulates and terrorizes both villains and friends alike to
serve his own ends as well as the scales of justice. Who better to embody such
a handsome and egotistical hero than Alec Baldwin at the height of his Hollywood
fame. Transformed by facial makeup partially hidden under a wide-brimmed slouch
hat and brandishing nickel-plates .45s under his dark cloak, Baldwin with his sonorous
deep voice personifies the duality of this deadly hero of the dark. John Lone (The
Last Emperor) makes for a deliciously evil antagonist while amusing
supporting performances are provided by Jonathan Winters and Tim Curry. Composer
Jerry Goldsmith provides a suitably menacing musical accompaniment to the sumptuous
art deco production design. Although Australian director Russell Mulcahy (Highlander)
was a good choice to visualize such an effects driven project, he fails to
bring the film’s contrived romance to life due to the miscasting of a stiff but
sensational looking Penelope Ann Miller. Screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic
Park) went onto much bigger success with Mission Impossible (1996)
and even wrote the unfairly despised penultimate sequel Indiana Jones andKingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). The idea to go back to the original
pulp origins of The Shadow seemed sure fire at the time but audiences were just
not ready for the off-beat humour Koepp brings to this fantastical tale of
vengeance.
Is there a more seminal film for the Eighties
generation than Raiders of the Lost Ark? Director Steven Spielberg and
producer George Lucas captured lightning in a bottle with this homage to the
cliffhanger serials of their youth. They continued to mine this profitable vein
for three subsequent sequels with mixed results. After the third and what was
presumed the last Indiana Jones film Indiana Jones and Last Crusade (1989),
Hollywood tried to find new stories with pulp characters who could substitute
for Harrison Ford’s indelible hero with a hat. None enjoyed the success of
their inspiration but each are entertaining in their own way.
1991 saw the film The Rocketeer, featuring Dave
Steven’s 1980s comic book hero who fought the Nazis with his golden helmet and
jetpack. Directed by Joe Johnston (Jumanji, Captain America) this
1930s era adventure captured much of the jokey fun and rip-roaring excitement
of the Indy trilogy but sadly failed to achieve classic status due to a
lackluster advertising campaign that needed a star as leading man to sell its outlandish
premise to a skeptical audience. Handsome Bill Campbell brings all the
necessary charm and energy to the role of the young pilot who becomes The
Rocketeer while sharing romantic on-screen chemistry with his girlfriend played
by a sparkling Jennifer Connelly. Former James Bond Timothy Dalton clearly relishes
his role as the swashbuckling Nazi villain who comes complete with a hulking henchman sporting a Rick Baker facial makeup inspired by 40s horror legend Rondo Hatton. Lavish costume and set design, together with charming pre-CGI special effects are
all propelled by James Horner’s majestic score making this feel-good franchise
seem like it couldn’t miss. Shockingly it failed at the box office and despite
various new adaptations long promised by Disney, over 30 years later Rocketeer
fans are still cheering for this unique hero to return to the skies.
After his Oscar winning role in David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Alec Guinness had finally become an international star without leaving Great Britain. The 1960s would be the decade where he capitalized on this success in big budget historical epics that would be some of the most popular films of his career. Just months before the release of his triumphant collaboration with Lean in Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Guinness would make his most unfairly overlooked costume picture. H.M.S. Defiant or Damn The Defiant! (in North America) was made during the 15 month shoot of Lawrence when Guinness had a two month hiatus. Set during the Napoleonic wars, his role as the humane Captain Crawford is a rare example of Guinness not relying upon heavy make-up or eccentricities to create a character. Guinness's own naval experience during WWII helped him to portray a totally believable and stalwart leader of his crew whose authority is challenged by sadistic first lieutenant Mr Scott-Padgett, played with effete self loathing by Dirk Bogarde. Their clash and the resultant effect this has upon Crawford's own son who is serving as midshipman under him is the stuff of great melodrama. Director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, You Only Live Twice) is that unique British breed of craftsman at home with both intimate drama and comedy as well as spectacular action. Here he demonstrates his talents by balancing the on-board tensions amongst the crew with rousing battle scenes of ships at sea,. Featuring breathtaking miniatures courtesy of special effects magician Howard Lyedecker (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV Series), these startlingly beautiful tableaux of naval warfare, as photographed in Cinemascope by Christopher Challis (Battle of the River Plate, Sink the Bismark), are like watching a painting by Turner come to life on screen. So successful are these sequences that a later film Bequest to the Nation aka The Nelson Affair (1973) recycled them in place of an inferior re-staging. Following this unpretentious endeavour, Guinness would have both his biggest failure of the decade in The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) and his biggest success to date in David Lean's Doctor Zhivago (1966), ironically in roles whose quality are inversely proportional to their fame. The 1970s would see his triumphs in a variety of different genres but the great film performances would continue to be in the box office disappointments rather than the blockbusters. (Blu-ray)
Father Brown a.k.a The Detective (1954: Dir. Robert Hamer)
Alec Guinness came to hate Star Wars (1977). Although his profit participation had provided him with financial security for the rest of his life, the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to obliterate his previous acting achievements in the eyes of younger viewers. Prior to working with George Lucas, director David Lean was the filmmaker most associated with Guinness but there was another writer-director with whom Guinness had enjoyed a successful partnership. In the post WWII British film industry of the 1940s, Robert Hamer was one of the bright young filmmakers to emerge from the editing room as a directing talent to be watched. Having garnered critical acclaim for a pair of crime melodramas Pink String and Sealing Wax (1946) and It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), Hamer co-wrote and directed Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) an icy black comedy about a ruthless aristocrat (Dennis Price) who murders his way into an inheritance. Guinness plays nine roles - both male and female - as each member of the wealthy D'Ascoyne family is done way with in witty fashion. This tour de force of characterization together with his unrecognizable performance as Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), helped cement Guinness in the public mind as a master of disguise. Hamer and Guinness re-united in 1954 for their greatest collaboration Father Brown, boringly re-titled The Detective for American release. Co-produced by Columbia Pictures, it is an amusing though deceptively spiritual adaptation of the first in the beloved G.K. Chesterton stories of a wily clerical investigator. Once again effecting a bold physical transformation, Guinness cheerfully embodies the heavy paunch and myopia of Father Brown while communicating his unique blend of detective skills combined with a congenial yet unshakeable moral authority. His French nemesis Flambeau is portrayed by the underrated Peter Finch, in a suave performance of criminal cunning that is both elegant and tragic in its palpable loneliness. Finch was not yet the star he would become by decade's end and here he proves every bit the equal of Guinness when sharing the screen. Father Brown enjoyed a fitful success and led to an immediate follow-up project for Hamer and Guinness, To Paris With Love (1955). Although his role as a Scottish Colonel gave Guinness the requisite opportunities for eccentric impersonation, this romantic comedy is unfortunately a light souffle of an entertainment that never adequately rises. Hamer's final film with Guinness proved more worthy. The Scapegoat (1959) is a moody filming of Daphne Du Maurier's novel of mistaken identity. Surprisingly, for a film about assuming the identity of another man, Guinness is at his most subtle and least mannered in both his physical and emotional personification. The film's lack of success is often blamed on its troubled production. Hamer, a tormented homosexual, struggled with chronic alcoholism and as a result he was often left unable to work. This caused particular conflict with Guinness, who as co-producer with Du Maurier had insisted on hiring Hamer for the job of director. In addition, Hamer came into conflict with financiers MGM who altered his director's cut by re-editing and re-scoring the film despite his protestations. Sadly, Hamer would make only one more film School for Scoundrels (1960) before dying at the young age of 52. Guinness however would continue to expand his impressive collection of masquerades. (DVD Region 2)
Tuesday, 12 April 2022
Liam Neeson saved me from the pandemic
While
living in uncertain times we yearn for heroes on the big screen and small
screens. In the past, actors such as
Errol Flynn, Sean Connery, Jean Paul Belmondo, Charles Bronson, and Arnold
Schwarzenegger have embodied the dependable men of action who audiences trust
for their evening of vicarious thrills. Starting with his surprise hit Taken
in 2008, Liam Neeson has emerged as this generation’s Clint Eastwood – a
taciturn and impressive physical threat to criminal corruption wherever it
festers. Even a worldwide pandemic has not deterred Neeson from his mission to
entertain. Since October of 2020, he has had an impressive 5 pictures in
release as of April 29, 2022. Here is a viewing guide to the man who saved me
from the pandemic.
Honest Thief (2020)
A
good start to Neeson’s cycle of Covid era films. Producer-writer-director Mark
Williams (creator of the tv series Ozark) has fashioned a compelling
moral tale about a successful non-violent bank robber who wishes to repay the stolen
money and face the legal consequences so he can marry the woman he loves. Naturally,
a ruthless pair of crooked cops get in the way of his plans, but Liam proves
equally deadly when pushed to defend himself. A small-scale thriller that
effectively balances its hard-boiled elements with the somewhat melodramatic
set up.
The Marksman (2021)
Neeson
has often flirted with Clint Eastwood style characters in the past, but this
script feels like it was originally intended for Dirty Harry himself, not least
because it is written and directed by longtime Eastwood associate Robert Lorenz
(The Trouble with the Curve). Mark Williams also produced this story of an
aging former US Marine Corps sniper who patrols the US-Mexican border reporting
on illegal immigrants to US Border Patrol where his step-daughter works. When
he kills a member of a drug cartel while protecting an orphaned Mexican boy he
is saddled with the uneasy task of dodging vengeful criminals as he drives the
boy to his only family in Chicago. Neeson is very believable as a lonely
widower - and dead shot- with a gruff demeanor yet kind heart that the audience
knows will win the boy’s trust. Coincidently, Clint Eastwood would direct and
star in a very similar film Cry Macho, released only 8 months later.
The Ice Road (2021)
The
most ambitious of Neeson’s recent action films and a frigid bookend to his
Scandi-noir remake Cold Pursuit (2019). Here Liam is part of a team of ice
truckers racing over a frozen lake to rescue trapped miners. A perfect example
of old fashioned high octane filmmaking, using minimal CGI and shot by Clint
Eastwood’s longtime cinematographer Tom Stern on authentically remote Lake Winnipeg
locations. Writer-director Jonathan Hensleigh (Armageddon, The
Punisher) knows which classic films to steal from (The Wages of Fear,
Sorceror), while proving that charismatic middle-aged actors like Neeson
and Laurence Fishburne can still sell the visceral suspense and emotional
extremes of the premise. Buckle up for the best truck thriller since Breakdown
(1997).
Liam
Neeson’s first movie shot during the pandemic casts him as an FBI agent who uncovers
a conspiracy while on the verge of retirement. A low concept but serviceable
potboiler successfully reuniting Neeson with filmmaker Mark Williams and his Michael
Collins (1996) co-star Aidian Quinn. Truly a test of Neeson’s watchability
even in B-movie material, with enough action and intrigue to provide a slow
night’s entertainment.
Memory (2022)
It was perhaps inevitable that Neeson would
eventually work with action director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, the
Mask of Zorro), and hopefully this upcoming thriller will fulfill the
promise of their anticipated collaboration. A remake of the Belgian film The
Memory of a Killer (2003) that tells the story of a freelance assassin
targeted by his client when he refuses to complete his assignment. The hook is that
the Neeson’s hitman character suffers from Alzheimer’s, so he can’t even trust
his own memory as he fights to stay one step ahead of his enemies. I will be
looking forward to this as my first Liam Neeson film at the cinema in over 2
years and even though he turns 70 in June, this is will hopefully not be the last
of his beloved action heroes.
Before Netflix and Turner Classic Movies,
there was Elwy Yost, Canada’s most famous film buff. For 25 years at TVOntario,
Elwy gave viewers an unparalleled access to classic Hollywood Cinema, brought
to you uncut and in the comfort of your own home. Watching classic films on TV
in the early 1970s was not always fun. Too many commercial breaks meant films
were edited for broadcast, print quality was often lacking and you couldn’t
always count on the correct title in the TV Guide being the same film that was
eventually shown. Starting in 1974, the TVO show Saturday Night at the
Movies (SNAM) with Elwy Yost changed all that by inaugurating a new era of
film appreciation that continues to this day. Elwy was a film buff who knew the
world of cinema needed proper presentation and scholarship to educate and
entertain a growing generation of cinephiles. SNAM was unique in North
American television programming. Audiences were provided with an engaging film
history lesson every week in a commercial free themed movie double bill
accompanied by introductions, commentary and interviews with the actors, filmmakers
and craftspeople who made them. Elwy’s experience as a high school teacher,
theatre actor, and on-air personality made him the perfect host. Unafraid to
embrace his youthful enthusiasm for talking film, Elwy connected with viewers
who were discovering the pure joy of movie genres such as Film Noir and Science
Fiction/Fantasy. His legacy lives on to this day, with many people in the film industry
and media education crediting him as a formative influence. My new TVO
documentary Magic Shadows, Elwy Yost: A Life in Movies (available at
TVO.org) is an affectionate tribute to this legendary TV presenter by detailing
his childhood influences, how he became Canada’s most famous on air movie presenter,
and the family whose love he cherished. 26 years ago I was thrilled to have Elwy
contribute the foreword to a book that I wrote and self-published entitled You
Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet: A Guide to 500 Unsung Films on Video. He was a warm
and generous man who taught me how the power of cinema influences our daily
lives. I am proud to salute the life and work of Elwy Yost.
Tuesday, 16 March 2021
Elegy for the Silver Screen
It has now been a year since we lost the dark sanctuary of the movie theatre. I am one those who crave the thrill of the BIG screen as the images and sound surround me with their overwhelming power. The unique social atmosphere of cinema-going over the years has been one of life’s great pleasures. The thrilling anticipation of the ticket booth, the smell of the popcorn, the dimly lit reverence of waiting in your seat for the trailers to begin. These are the rituals of a devoted movie lover. Rarely has the atmosphere of a working cinema been accurately captured on film.
The first great movie to do so was in 1957 with The Smallest Show on Earth. Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers (Born Free), star as a young couple who inherit a modest movie theatre and the unique characters who work there, including the always hilarious Peter Sellers (The Pink Panther) as the drunk projectionist. With its whimsical cast of British types, this charming comedy celebrates the transportive medium of film through the humour and humanity of the eccentric employees and their equally peculiar customers.
Starting in the 1950s in the U.S. and Canada, drive-in cinemas started to catch on with the public, particularly for families and teenagers. Currently, watching a movie isolated in your car has made a comeback due to the enforced closure of the multiplexes. In 1976 the film Drive-In perfectly recreated the heady and horny hijinks of being a teenager in Texas while watching a film from the backseat of you father’s automobile. The movie playing at this drive-in is a clever parody of the Airport, Towering Inferno and Jaws films but it’s the adolescent angst and sexual excitement of the drive-in theatre experience that was the legacy for generations of kids.
The 1980s was the flourishing era of the art house cinema, a uniquely urban theatre that programmed mostly foreign language films. Cinema Paradiso (1988) from Italy tells the poignant story of 8-year-old Salvatore (Salvatore Cascio), whose passion for movies, and friendship with his hometown cinema projectionist have a profound effect on his life and loves as he becomes an adult. Writer-Director Giuseppe Tornatore imbues this paean to movies with a breathtaking romanticism for the sacrament of film-going, where the local theatre doubles as the church, thus providing both religious and emotional nourishment to the town.
By the 1990s, cinema attendance was still on the rise largely due to the proliferation of action film stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Last Action Hero (1993), was an attempt to satirize this genre, creating a meta-fantasy where Arnold plays both himself and his on-screen alter ego Jack Slater. Beginning at a slightly rundown movie palace, we are introduced to teenage film fan Danny Madigan (Austin O’Brien) who is given a golden ticket by the elderly owner that miraculously hurls him right up onto the silver screen and into the films of Jack Slater. By physically entering the world of his hero, Danny fulfills his greatest desire to truly experience the magic of movies, including the hair-raising car chases, violent gunplay and daredevil stunts, that are loved by boys of his age. Opening in the summer opposite the seminal CGI special effects of Jurassic Park, The Last Action Hero was ironically a failure at the box office with the same 13-year-old boys represented by its young protagonist.
Digital projection became the industry standard by the early 2010s. Gradually, the event of film-going became less pleasurable, especially for older viewers unaccustomed to the barrage of car ads designed to distract impolite audiences as they chat or fiddle on their cell phones during the show. Many who no longer “go the movies” didn’t even miss them when they were forced to close last year. Being a hopeful cinephile, I expect that ardent fans who cherish the value of enjoying films in the darkness with strangers will soon return to cinemas with renewed optimism for their popularity and cultural importance.
Thursday, 26 November 2020
A Shane Black Christmas
Shane Black was once the highest paid screenwriter in Hollywood. Today he is just another writer-director for hire, having recently failed to rejuvenate the Predator franchise. For his devotees, he is admired for writing the most action-packed films ever set during the Holiday Season. As a cinema-goer, Black always enjoyed the disquieting notion of a suspense film that used the cheerfulness of Christmas as its contrasting canvas.
Starting with Lethal Weapon(1987), Black created the template for his Christmas movie formula. Take one psychologically damaged protagonist, pair him/her with a reluctant racially/sexually contrasting sidekick, add in some loathsome money-grubbing villains, then sprinkle liberally with humour and fetishistic gunplay while Christmas songs like Jingle Bell Rock play on the soundtrack. With this, his first produced screenplay, Black claimed the dubious honour of helping to turn Mel Gibson into a mega-star but, more importantly, it was responsible for igniting the explosion of modern action films by grounding them with such relatable contemporary issues as race and suicidal depression.
He followed it with The Last Boy Scout (1991), starring a post Die Hard Bruce Willis as a boozy detective trying to solve some murders connected to sports betting. This was Black’s first attempt at a hard boiled P.I. plot and although it’s slickly entertaining, the script’s male chauvinism belies the writer’s adolescent tastes.
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) is Black’s distaff take on the buddy action film and he couldn’t have had better casting than Geena Davis, as an amnesiac housewife/former spy opposite Sam Jackson’s lippy lowlife private eye. Featuring Black’s most well drawn female character, this is also his only authentically cold Christmas movie, with real snow courtesy of its many Ontario-filmed locations.
Black finally got his first chance to direct one of his scripts withKiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), a hip homage to the pulp mysteries he loved as a kid. Robert Downey Jr. stars in a role he was playing in real-life at the time, as a Hollywood actor and addict whose louche lifestyle lands him in an inheritance plot of murder, money, and sexual abuse. This was Black’s comeback project after many years and it remains his most personal statement about the excesses of the film business and how it nearly destroyed his own life and career.
Downey gave Black his second crack at writing and directing when he hired him to make Iron Man 3 (2013), a clever reworking of Black’s original character ideas for Lethal Weapon 2. Once again Black has Downey exploring the neurotic side of heroism as superhero Tony Stark grapples with near crippling PTSD. Paying his most mature tribute to the holidays yet, Black’s uses the Marvel mythology to make a compassionate statement on the family, by having children, female partners, and “brothers’’ all play a part in saving the world from corporate villainy.
Aware that fans now anticipated his Christmas obsession, Black featured an epilogue scene in his latest detective yarn set in the 1970s, The Nice Guys (2016), as his two heroes enjoyed a chummy chat at a Christmas tree decorated bar. It was an amusing coda to another of Shane Black’s uniquely festive oeuvre.
While HBO is currently mining the themes of free will and artificial intelligence in its TV series adaptation of Michael Crichton' s1973 film Westworld (see also my previous blog: http://usherontheaisle.blogspot.com/2008/02/cinemas-soothsayer.html), I recently chose to re-visit Crichton's biggest hit as a film-maker and his only major directorial effort that did he did not originate. Coma, the 1977 best selling thriller by Dr. Robin Cook was purchased for film by producer Martin Ehrlichman because he thought it could do for hospitals, what Jaws had done for beaches and deep water. To bring the novel to the screen he wisely chose Crichton, a former Harvard medical student who had written his own award-winning medical thrillers (A Case of Need, The Andromeda Strain) and was in the early stages of a parallel career directing for film and television. Crichton was uniquely qualified to both write and direct the project given his own medical experiences at Boston City Hospital, the inspiration for the hospital portrayed in the book. Like Cook, his friend and fellow author, he was also highly critical of the elitist staff and backroom politics he had witnessed there. This point of view is particularly amplified in both the novel and film by it's distinctly feminist heroine. French Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold was a perfect contemporary casting choice to play Dr. Susan Wheeler, a respected second year surgical resident at Boston Memorial Hospital, who uncovers a conspiracy to kill patients undergoing routine surgery. Bujold, despite her petite form, is an actress who exudes a strong independent nature in all of her roles. Here she expertly navigates the emotional minefield of a chauvinist hospital bureaucracy corrupted by greed and patriarchal power. Skeptics might think her character behaves recklessly, but the audience is with her all the way. Like those who saw the film during its original release, I found myself applauding Bujold's determined belief in her own intelligence as well as her admirably fearless physical courage during the film's numerous nail-biting suspense sequences. Solidly in support is a young Michael Douglas as her ambitious boyfriend and fellow doctor. Added marquee value is also provided by the venerable Richard Widmark, paternal and patronizing as the hospital's chief of surgery. Although Michael Crichton left medicine to become a writer, he continued his fascination with doctors, much later being the creator of the highly successful and critically acclaimed television series ER. Expertly photographed by ace cinematographer Victor J. Kemper (The Hospital, Dog Day Afternoon) and subtly scored by film composer Jerry Goldsmith (Chinatown, The Omen), Coma, on its fortieth anniversary, can be seen as Crichton's initial statement on the difficulties that women face in the medical establishment, a problem that still faces a profession largely founded by men of overrated self-importance. Blu-ray
Robert Mitchum famously turned down the role of Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, so it came as a surprise when he ended up in this low-rent ripoff of William Friedkin's classic cop thriller. The Amsterdam Kill is at the fag end of Mitchum's career as a leading man in cinema, with only two major starring roles yet to come: The Big Sleep (1978) and The Ambassador (1984). At 60 years old a now portly Bob is well cast as a washed-up DEA agent hired by an Asian drug lord who wants to retire by turning informant for the Feds. Directed by martial arts auteur Robert Clouse (Enter the Dragon), it was trashy films like this that undermined Mitchum's great legacy as a versatile performer. As with many of the roles during his autumnal period (Matilda, Agency, Breakthrough, Nightkill) Mitchum is obviously just picking up a paycheck, delivering a performance in what came to be derisively described as his sleepwalking style. Not to say that Mitchum isn't entertaining in pulp like this (he almost always is), but clearly Clouse is more confident staging action sequences than he is directing actors, a fact publicly declared by Bob himself when promoting the film. While acknowledging its narrative weaknesses, I have no difficulty defending my fondness for The Amsterdam Kill. After all, Robert Mitchum is front and centre for one of his last big-screen starring roles. I patiently await its much hoped for release on DVD or BLU-RAY, a precious late career opportunity to see the original King of Cool in action.
Without a doubt the most scarce film on my Mitchum list, Mister Moses is the joker in the deck and contains one of Bob's best light comic performances as a con man who helps re-locate an entire African village with the help of blonde bombshell Carroll Baker and an endearing elephant for transportation. British director Ronald Neame had originally envisioned a 24 year-old Julie Christie (Billy Liar) as Bob's leading lady but she was not yet deemed a big enough star, although that would soon be remedied with her next film Darling (1965). According to Neame, Mitchum was his usual professional self on set but did not refrain from some significant imbibing during his off hours while on the remote Kenyan locations. He also befriended the tribe of Masai warriors who were featured in the film, and enjoyed participating in many of their tribal rituals, although he didn't take to their diet of cattle blood and milk. The lively music is by John Barry who would come to be the film composer most associated with East Africa for his award-winning scores of Born Free (1966) and Out of Africa (1985). Unfortunately the availability of Mister Moses has been been sporadic at best over the years having never been released on any home video format. Due to its dated colonial attitudes it may never see the light of day and as such it remains my most sought after Mitchum movie.
Robert Mitchum had many talents, actor, writer, poet, musician, drinker, but perhaps the most surprising was vocal mimic. In films such as Foreign Intrigue (1956) and Fire Down Below (1957) he affected perfect French and Trinidadian accents - he even recorded his own Calypso album in authentic Caribbean patois. For The Night Fighters Bob tried out his Irish brogue for the first time - later put to fine use in David Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1971) - as an Irish Republican Army recruit who learns the hard way that love and violence can only lead to tragedy. The last of three films produced by his own company including Thunder Road (1958) and The Wonderful Country (1959), Mitchum hired his One Minute to Zero (1952) director Tay Garnett to helm this made-in Ireland production. The film's failure to connect with audiences put the kibosh on Bob's future as actor-producer. Regardless, the casting, direction, and design of the film lend it a remarkable authenticity let down only by the cliched storyline. A quality effort that doesn't deserve its obscurity.
One of a pair of troubled films that Bob made with Dick Fleischer (see also His Kind of Woman), Bandido was written by Earl Felton (20000 Leagues Under The Sea) and originally based on a story about Pancho Villa. Plagued by production delays, script re-writes, and Mitchum's false arrest on location in Mexico for marijuana possession, this widescreen Western is better than it has any right to be, no doubt largely attributable to the unflappable skill of Fleischer, a veteran of stylish low budget noirs (The Narrow Margin, Armored Car Robbery). This time Mitchum is selling his skills as a soldier of fortune south of the border and getting entangled in the Mexican Revolution, very similar to the role he would play many years later in Villa Rides (1968). Cast as Bob's object of desire, forgotten German beauty Ursula Thiess (Bengal Brigade) may be a lovely asset but it's the film's intense action and exotic locations that keep the audience engaged. A United Artists release that has shockingly never been officially available on any home video format.
Big Bob in 3 Dimensions! A rare foray by RKO into the 3-D craze of the Fifties resulted in this soleil noir which featured Jack Palance, fresh from Shane (1953), polishing his now well established villainous credentials. Still young at age 30 Bob's smoldering co-star Linda Darnell was already in a career down turn which would see her largely retreat to Television in a few short years. Mitchum may have been marking time as he finished this last film in his RKO contract with eccentric boss Howard Hughes, but cast as a depressed prize fighter one would never know, particularly given Bob's well-disguised acting professionalism. At the time there were few men who could pose a credible threat to Mitchum onscreen and Palance was one of them, which if nothing else, manages to rescue this potboiler from obscurity. Picturesque Mexican locations also help and the 3-D climax in dangling cable cars provides vertigo inducing thrills. A satisfying trip south of the border that should get a proper restoration on Blu-ray soon.
Even a century after his birth, Robert Mitchum remains one of cinema's all-time greatest stars. His uniquely hard-boiled screen persona effortlessly radiated both detachment and danger. A fluently instinctive performer, who was as comfortable playing lugubrious losers, as he was handsome heroes. He is an actor always worth watching, no matter how mediocre the production. My extensive collection of his films is an obsessive work-in-progress. The following are the most wanted and unavailable titles of his filmography still out of reach in North America on DVD or BLU-RAY:
THE LUSTY MEN (1952: Dir. Nicholas Ray)
Robert Mitchum did some surprisingly strong work in his early career under contract to Howard Hughes at RKO Studios. Having mostly collaborated with journeymen or rookie directors, Mitchum had yet to experience the dominant vision of true auteur, until he met Nicholas Ray. Ray was a filmmaker fascinated by the outsider. Obsessed with individualists, his cinematic legacy left us with some of the most memorable rebels of all-time (They Live By Night, In A Lonely Place, Rebel Without A Cause). Their first meeting came when director Josef Von Sternberg was fired from the film Macao (1952) and Ray was brought in to complete it. Demonstrating a largely hidden writing talent, Mitchum even collaborated on a revision of the largely nonsensical screenplay. Following that fruitful partnership they quickly went into production on The Lusty Men, a contemporary Western drama that contains the quintessential Mitchum protagonist. As broken down rodeo rider Jeff McCloud, Bob gets to play all the melancholy notes using his perfect physical instrument. With his broad barrel chest, brooding bedroom eyes, graceful gait, and laconic manner, Mitchum oozes animal magnetism from every pore. Mindful of his sexy leading man, Ray keeps all of the erotic undercurrents at a rolling boil as fiery Susan Hayward and folksy Arthur Kennedy spice up the story's tragic love triangle. One of Bob's best and a criminal omission on Blu-ray.
As he approached his 53rd year Charlton Heston was having one of the most commercially successful periods of his career, but even he must have known it was the spectacle of disaster that had lured audiences to Airport 1975, and Earthquake, rather than his aging star persona. It wasn't just his hairpiece that was getting less convincing, so were his days as a romantic lead. Realizing this, Heston embraced his middle age by segueing into mostly father figure and supporting character roles. 1976 would be the tipping point and a very busy year for him, having already starred in two films opposite James Coburn, the brutal Western The Last Hard Men, followed by the large cast WWII epic Midway. Continuing his connection with Universal Pictures, Heston accepted an offer to play the smaller yet pivotal role of the Los Angeles Police Captain dealing with a lone gunman at a championship football game in the LA Coliseum. Written and produced by the same team who had previously done the made-for-TV docudrama 21 Hours at Munich about the Israeli hostage incident at the 1972 Olympics, this was the third in a sniper film cycle following Targets (1968), and The Deadly Tower (1975), both inspired by the 1966 Charles Whitman shootings in Texas. Director Larry Peerce, whose New York Subway hostage thriller The Incident (1967) is a textbook example in low budget suspense film-making, expertly ratchets up the tension as a random collection of football fans inexorably march towards their tragic fate. Peerce wisely insisted, over studio protestations, that the killer remain both unknown and unknowable, mostly depicted as an anonymous series of fidgeting hands, point of view camera shots and obscured angles. This puts the audience in an exceptionally uncomfortable position, accentuating the anxiety of its chilling terrorist scenario. Composer Charles Fox doubles down on the dread with an eerie score that at times channels the oeuvre of Jerry Goldsmith, but appropriately when the violence erupts, the music becomes unnervingly absent save for the startling crack of a rifle being fired. The irresistibly intense John Cassavetes co-stars as the saturnine S.W.A.T. team leader whose appetite for deadly retribution contrasts with the more reasoned response of Heston's cop, an exchange given added irony by Chuck's future real-life appointment as president of the NRA. With its shocking R-rated bloodletting the film was a stand-out among the more family friendly horrors of most of its genre, perhaps being responsible for a cool reception at the box office. Audiences were just not interested in witnessing a bloodbath and mob panic that had no discernible entertainment value other than pure terror. Dismissed at the time as a fear-mongering exercise in cinematic ballyhoo, Two Minute Warning can be especially disconcerting for post 9-11 viewers whose commonplace experience with murderous rampages have only increased in the intervening decades.
BLU-RAY
"An Event" indeed. The one two punch of Airport 1975 and Earthquake would make 1974 the biggest box office year of Charlton Heston's career. Once again hitching his wagon to another of executive producer Jennings Lang's disaster film juggernauts, Heston, after a crucial amelioration of his character's infidelity in the shooting script, delivered his expected gravitas and physical prowess in the role of beleaguered engineer Stewart Graff. He is joined by a carefully chosen array of low wattage stars including: Ava Gardner, his middle-aged former co-star from 55 Days at Peking (1963), Quebecoise ingenue Genevieve Bujold (Anne of the Thousand Days), Canadian cowboy Lorne Greene (Bonanza), Soul cinema superstar Richard Roundtree (Shaft) and the ubiquitous George Kennedy (Airport). Lang and producer/director Mark Robson knew that spectacle was the main attraction for an audience gorged on destruction and carnage, so they decided to put cinema patrons right on the fault line itself. Their invention was the sound system "Sensurround" a low frequency extended-range bass noise generator that could simulate the vibrations of an actual earthquake. Newly installed in dozens of cinemas across North America, this unique sensory experience left audiences both shaken and stirred by a genuine visceral reaction to the terrifying tremors depicted on screen. The script, originally conceived by Mario The Godfather Puzo and revised by neophyte screenwriter George Fox, is cleverly constructed to take advantage of numerous picturesque Los Angeles locations while at the same time thriftily staging large scale physical effects within the safety zone of the studio backlot. The most unsung member of the creative team however was matte artist Albert Whitlock, a genius with a paint brush on glass. His background depictions of downtown LA convincingly reduced to ruins, gave the film an essential sense of scale and apocalyptic threat. Not since the 1950s, when 3D and Cinerama were the dominating cinema gimmicks, had Hollywood created such a mercenary thrill ride motion picture, blatantly sacrificing character, dialogue and plot on the altar of cataclysm. Sensurround was subsequently used by Universal Pictures for only three more films: Midway (1976) also starring Heston, Rollercoaster (1977), and Battlestar Galactica (1978), all to diminishing effect. Judged purely by its gross profits, Earthquake would be the peak of the disaster film cycle and Charlton Heston now its undisputed star attraction. Two more films would complete his quintet of catastrophe, but they would take the genre into new and different directions, not always where the public wished to follow. BLU-RAY
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