What Films did You Watch Last Week (22/04 - 28/04) CLOSED

Not seen your first time viewings and am not likely to. Tootsie and This Is England are both very fine films. I might bump Tootsie up a half a point – or maybe a whole point – but your ratings of these two movies are mine as well.

I saw:

Gun Crazy / Joseph H. Lewis (1950). King Brothers Productions / United Artists. Young Bart Tare (Russ Tamblyn) does love his guns, so much so that one night he smashes a shop window to steal one. Immediately nabbed by the law, he gets sent off to reform school in spite of good character appeals from his grown sister and school friends. We next see Bart all grown up (now played by John Dall, “Rope”) who is just out of the army. Going with his friends to a carnival side-show he gets into a shooting contest with a woman, Laurie Starr (Peggy Cummins) who loves guns as much as he does. This contest scene pushes the limits of the Production Code as sexual sparks fly. The two fall into a Mad Love that leads to Laurie goading Bart into a series of armed robberies in order to make the money she wants. Right from the opening titles – that play out over a pouring rain at night – we are in definite noir territory. Director Lewis stages several striking set pieces including a continuous take (with the camera in the back seat of a car) that takes us through several turns, stops in front of a bank, and stays there while Laurie distracts a cop until the robbery is over and then we drive with the fugitives as they make their getaway. Whatever it is one thinks must be present to call a film a true noir, all of them will be found in this defining work of the genre. The cinematographer is Russell Harlan (“To Kill A Mockingbird” “Red River”).

P.J. / John Guillermin (1968). Universal Pictures. We are first introduced to tyrannical fat-cat CEO William Orbison (Raymond Burr) as he tells a mysterious unseen person, “I need someone killed.” Next we meet the title character, P.J. Detweiler (George Peppard), a down on his luck private eye as we see in the opening credit sequence which ends with him being beaten up by his own client. Even though Detweiler keeps up a line of smart-ass patter, he is happy when Orbison hires him to protect Orbison’s mistress, Maureen (Gayle Hunnicutt) who has been receiving death threats. Suspects abound including Orbison’s wife (Coleen Gray) who Orbison torments by throwing his infidelity in her face and a gang of relatives who object to Maureen being made heir to his fortune. Raymond Burr cut his teeth as bad guys in movies before becoming America’s favorite TV defense lawyer (Perry Mason) from 1957-1966. Just a little while after this film he would again become a champion for justice in the TV series “Ironside” (1967), but, in between, he returned to his roots in this mystery thriller where he plays a truly loathsome character. The musical score by Neil Hefti is an oh-so-‘60s cool jazz score reminiscent of Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther” theme. P.J. eventually figures out who did what to whom but the viewing audience may have been a little ahead of him. Gayle Hunnicutt is stunning in this film as is Susan Saint James (shortly to star in “McMillan & Wife” on the small screen) in a brief role as a perpetually soused (and scantily clad) party girl who keeps throwing herself at P.J. I don’t think “P.J.” has had a home video release (it only has 197 votes at the database) but I remembered it from 1968. It is a new addition to the www.rarefilmm.com website and is available for free downloading. Recommended as a late 1960s artifact that also contains discotheques and go-go girls.



Susan Saint James doing the Limbo – how 1960s is that



Vox Lux / Brady Corbet (2018). In this film we can see Natalie Portman in a role unlike any other she has ever played, one that must have been taxing. The film begins in one of the early years of this century, opening with a nerve jangling school shooting which leaves one survivor from a high school classroom. This is Celeste (Raffey Cassidy). With her older sister, Celeste writes a song which she sings at a memorial service. The song goes viral and Celeste is approached by a scruffy but unnamed record producer (Jude Law) who throws Celeste into the show business mill of publicity, recordings, image shaping, and career management. Just about half-way through the film, we jump ahead about 15 to 20 years. Now Celeste is played by Portman, by then an experienced performer with a history of scandals and a life of touring, rehearsing, taking meetings, drinking and drugging. She has a teenage daughter (also played by Raffey Cassidy) with whom she is trying to establish a relationship. But this is not a typical backstage drama. The direction by Brady Corbet, Portman’s performance, the editing, the script – all seem designed to overwhelm the viewer and overload the senses. But not in a bad way. You know that however hyper and, maybe, out of control Celeste (and the movie itself) has become, it all goes back to her encounter with violence and her unaccounted survival. The film is an experience. Portman is brilliant.






Mary Queen of Scots / Josie Rourke (2018). Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was 6 days old. Raised in France, she married the heir to the French throne who, once crowned, promptly died. Mary then returned to her home country to mount the throne. This is where last year’s historical drama begins. Mary (Saoirse Ronan) faces opposition from many in her court who seriously object to being ruled by a woman. The head of the Church of Scotland, John Knox (David Tennant, heavily bearded and ranting wonderfully against Mary in his thick Scots brogue) denounces her to the country. Mary, though, believes herself to be the rightful monarch of England as well as Scotland – and she may have been right. In London, Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie) worries about her cousin’s ambition. Many reviewers thought this film to be too talkie with all the plotting and political maneuvering but I was caught up in the intricacies of the intrigues. As Mary finally loses the political battle to Elizabeth, so Ronan loses the acting battle to Robbie who is very strong even though a supporting player. As for the male actors, I have the same complaint as I lodged with Justin Kurzel’s 2015 film of “Macbeth,” that is, the men’s beards are all so heavy, large, and dark that it is sometimes tough to tell who is who. Even so, I enjoyed “Mary, Queen of Scots” more than the critical majority and I recommend it.