What classics did you see last week, August 8 to August 14?
Aug 14, 2021 17:43:48 GMT
teleadm, wmcclain, and 5 more like this
Post by timshelboy on Aug 14, 2021 17:43:48 GMT
Three rewatches
I'm imagining most won't need persuading on that one... the film that deluded so many into thinking marriage would be fun!
Our Richard Egan festival continues apace with
A rave from a board regular a week or so ago prompted me to have a third look - and boy it was fun! Bradenville, a small mining town is the site of the action and Stephen McNally, Lee Marvin and J Carroll Naish are our trio of robbers, arriving with a plan to hit the bank as it closes at noon on Saturday. They are all splendid in the parts - McNally as the leader, Marvin the trigger happy muscle and J Carroll Naish the brains (next to Marvin that is no great achievement). The real fun with this one though is the way that the random cross section of townsfolk caught up in the robbery prove to be not much better ethically, morally and in some cases criminally than our trio of hoods. The bank manager (Tommy Noonan) is a voyeur/incipient sex pest with the hots for new nurse in town Virginia Leith; Nursie Leith trawls the bars at night and picks up drunken but charming Richard Egan ... to discover when she gets him home he has a wife, Margaret Hayes ("he's a lush married to a tramp" Hayes exposits helpfully); Hayes is trying hard not to make time with local Golf Pro Brad Dexter; Sylvia Sidney is the lightfingered local librarian, bagging customers pocket books; and Ernest Borgnine an Amish farmer provoked to break his vows. Victor Mature a regular family guy unlucky enough to drive by at the wrong time.
Moments to treasure - Marvin's business with his inhaler, treading on a small child's hand, and roughing up Sylvia Sidney; McNally casing Borgnine's farm; Noonan inching past the object of his desire's embonpoint in the drugstore; a
and a burning barn finale.
I'm imagining this was a big crowdpleasing moment for 1955 audiences
Marvin's facial reaction as the spikes enter his back is worth the price of admission
and a great joke in the wrap up scenes with the survivors
Slick, compulsive soaper about 4 young couples on a new housing estate designed to showcase Fox's 1957 roster of young up and coming stars.
Ambitious Patricia Owens is frustrated because engineer hubbie Jeffrey Hunter won't seek promotion behind a desk; Joanne Woodward's brooding and slatternly ways are giving cop Cameron Mitchell a roving eye for what is next door; salesman Tony Randall can't take the pressure, is signing off on dodgy deals and hitting the bottle whilst Sheree North looks on patiently; Barbara Rush and Pat Hingle discuss the ethnic "problem"... should they support or object to their Japanese employee purchasing a house on the same estate. Everyone is on form but Cameron Mitchell really stood out for me this viewing (4th I think) and Martin Ritt is a strong director who can enhance the material. I found the Rush/Hingle storyline fascinating - from our woke 2021 perspective I guess they would be seen as racists... but this was only a decade after Hiroshima..... The only quibble I had was whether Hingle could bag a dish like Barbara Rush
(she was married to Jeff Hunter at the time, who is at least in her general league). I don't ever think I have seen him as a romantic lead before!
Only one new one I'd "Recommend"
Effective nerve shredder about group of holiday makers on an isolated beach... who discover they are ageing at an accelerated rate. To give much more away would be cruel. The twist/explanation is a
in the WATCHABLE/OF INTEREST category - sisters as rivals.... Setsuko is unhappily married and encounters and old flame... Mariko contrives to bring them together... but develops feelings for the guy herself.
You can forget about the rest, which range from mediocre to abysmal:
THE SUICIDE SQUAD - Margot Robbie rocks that Halloween Barbie thing but it is a soulless effort.
STINKER OF THE WEEK award goes to
Hitch must be spinning in his grave... 
I'm imagining most won't need persuading on that one... the film that deluded so many into thinking marriage would be fun!
Our Richard Egan festival continues apace with
A rave from a board regular a week or so ago prompted me to have a third look - and boy it was fun! Bradenville, a small mining town is the site of the action and Stephen McNally, Lee Marvin and J Carroll Naish are our trio of robbers, arriving with a plan to hit the bank as it closes at noon on Saturday. They are all splendid in the parts - McNally as the leader, Marvin the trigger happy muscle and J Carroll Naish the brains (next to Marvin that is no great achievement). The real fun with this one though is the way that the random cross section of townsfolk caught up in the robbery prove to be not much better ethically, morally and in some cases criminally than our trio of hoods. The bank manager (Tommy Noonan) is a voyeur/incipient sex pest with the hots for new nurse in town Virginia Leith; Nursie Leith trawls the bars at night and picks up drunken but charming Richard Egan ... to discover when she gets him home he has a wife, Margaret Hayes ("he's a lush married to a tramp" Hayes exposits helpfully); Hayes is trying hard not to make time with local Golf Pro Brad Dexter; Sylvia Sidney is the lightfingered local librarian, bagging customers pocket books; and Ernest Borgnine an Amish farmer provoked to break his vows. Victor Mature a regular family guy unlucky enough to drive by at the wrong time.
Moments to treasure - Marvin's business with his inhaler, treading on a small child's hand, and roughing up Sylvia Sidney; McNally casing Borgnine's farm; Noonan inching past the object of his desire's embonpoint in the drugstore; a
small child
hit by a stray bullet; a wonderful scene in an alley with the voyeur and the kleptomaniac each trying to extort the other party
and a burning barn finale.I'm imagining this was a big crowdpleasing moment for 1955 audiences
Marvin's facial reaction as the spikes enter his back is worth the price of admissionand a great joke in the wrap up scenes with the survivors
Our local sex pest Noonan is shot in the holdup but survives... to find himself cared for in hospital by the uniformed object of his desire... who admits she knows all about his peeping tommery......and doesn't mind! 
(presumably being a "its better to be looked over than overlooked kinda gal)
(presumably being a "its better to be looked over than overlooked kinda gal)Slick, compulsive soaper about 4 young couples on a new housing estate designed to showcase Fox's 1957 roster of young up and coming stars.
Ambitious Patricia Owens is frustrated because engineer hubbie Jeffrey Hunter won't seek promotion behind a desk; Joanne Woodward's brooding and slatternly ways are giving cop Cameron Mitchell a roving eye for what is next door; salesman Tony Randall can't take the pressure, is signing off on dodgy deals and hitting the bottle whilst Sheree North looks on patiently; Barbara Rush and Pat Hingle discuss the ethnic "problem"... should they support or object to their Japanese employee purchasing a house on the same estate. Everyone is on form but Cameron Mitchell really stood out for me this viewing (4th I think) and Martin Ritt is a strong director who can enhance the material. I found the Rush/Hingle storyline fascinating - from our woke 2021 perspective I guess they would be seen as racists... but this was only a decade after Hiroshima..... The only quibble I had was whether Hingle could bag a dish like Barbara Rush
(she was married to Jeff Hunter at the time, who is at least in her general league). I don't ever think I have seen him as a romantic lead before!Only one new one I'd "Recommend"
Effective nerve shredder about group of holiday makers on an isolated beach... who discover they are ageing at an accelerated rate. To give much more away would be cruel. The twist/explanation is aNEVER LET ME GO
variant..... and only too plausible for this viewer.in the WATCHABLE/OF INTEREST category - sisters as rivals.... Setsuko is unhappily married and encounters and old flame... Mariko contrives to bring them together... but develops feelings for the guy herself.
You can forget about the rest, which range from mediocre to abysmal:
THE SUICIDE SQUAD - Margot Robbie rocks that Halloween Barbie thing but it is a soulless effort.
STINKER OF THE WEEK award goes to
Hitch must be spinning in his grave... 