What classics did you see last week, August 8 to August 14?
Aug 15, 2021 14:50:11 GMT
mikef6 likes this
Post by jeffersoncody on Aug 15, 2021 14:50:11 GMT
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 admission
and 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)
PS. I recently saw Egan in Highway 301 (1950) - with Steve Cochran and Virginia Grey. It was a first time view and I really enjoyed it. Quite a tough crime movie with strong Warner production values.