spiderwort
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@spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 19, 2019 6:32:53 GMT
Martin Ritt was a wonderful director, who began his career with the Group Theater in the 1930s, then worked at the Actor's Studio before beginning his directing career in the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s. He made his feature film debut with Edge of the City (1957), starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. He had an ability to elicit remarkable performances from actors.
He directed 13 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Melvyn Douglas, Paul Newman, Patricia Neal (all for Hud), Richard Burton (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold), James Earl Jones, Jane Alexander (both for The Great White Hope), Paul Winfield, Cicely Tyson (both for Sounder), Geraldine Page (for Pete 'n' Tillie), Sally Field (for Norma Rae), Rip Torn, Alfre Woodard (both for Cross Creek), and James Garner (for Murphy's Romance). Of those, Neal, Douglas and Field won Oscars for their performances. To say that he was a superb actor's director is an understatement.
My personal favorites of his films are:
Hud, Sounder, Norma Rae, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Murphy's Romance, and The Front, starring Woody Allen and dealing with Ritt's personal experience with the Blacklist.
How about you?
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Post by OldAussie on Jan 19, 2019 6:40:35 GMT
Great director - favourites are -
Hombre THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD HUD The Long, Hot Summer Norma Rae
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biker1
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Post by biker1 on Jan 19, 2019 9:57:32 GMT
top 5.. the spy who came in from the cold hud the great white hope norma rae the long, hot summer
I find the other Ritt movies seen pretty average - the sound and the fury, paris blues, outrage, hombre, the molly maguires, sounder, the front, cross creek, murphy's romance, nuts. I remember liking the brotherhood - but I'd like to see it again, along with his debut, edge of the city and no down payment.
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Post by timshelboy on Jan 19, 2019 10:25:02 GMT
Yes - a major talent who enjoyed a good batting average - his partnerships with Newman especially notable: Seen all bar 3 I think. HUD is the keeper Of the rest - best to worst YES THE FRONT THE LONG HOT SUMMER yes HOMBRE NO DOWN PAYMENT PARIS BLUES THE SOUND AND THE FURY THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD NORMA RAE watchable FIVE BRANDED WOMEN(interesting WW2 drama about female collaborators redeeming themselves - outstanding cast - Moreau, Mangano, V Miles, Heflin etc) Avoid edited versions. THE OUTRAGE (an interesting near miss with Newman and Harvey making the most of the comedy episode in this Western RASHOMON) HEMINGWAY,S ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG MAN (handsome hodge podge of Hemingwaynia - good cast excepting Newman guest starrring as punch drunk boxer -h is worst performance imho - beautifully shot - but THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO had done it all far better a decade before) NUTS THE BROTHERHOOD CROSS CREEK STANLEY AND IRIS PETE N TILLE THE GREAT WHITE HOPE EDGE OF THE CITY no ( I have a fairly severe Sally Field allergy ) BLACK ORCHID MURPHYS ROMANCE BACK ROADS THE MOLLY MAGUIRES
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 19, 2019 14:07:21 GMT
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Post by Isapop on Jan 19, 2019 14:58:00 GMT
A consistently high quality filmography. Special shout out to the very underappreciated The Molly Maguires.
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spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 19, 2019 15:01:21 GMT
Can't believe I've never seen this one. I need to remedy that, as I've seen nearly all of his films. The first I remember seeing was Edge of the City (1957) on late night tv in the early sixties (when they did that sort of thing - the best film school education one could get) and being so impressed with his ability to work with actors. He didn't always have the best scripts throughout his career, but he always got excellent performances out of his actors. For that reason alone I made an effort to watch anything he directed.
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Post by kijii on Jan 19, 2019 15:09:56 GMT
I just finished seeing all his movies and added a couple new favorites:
(In no particular order) The Molly Maguires (1970) Stanley & Iris (1990) - An interesting movie with Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro as you have never seen them before. Sounder (1972) -Not new but still a favorite Casey's Shadow (1978) Murphy's Romance (1985) No Down Payment (1957) Cross Creek (1983) - Love the way Marjorie Rawlings tells her story about making it on her own by buying a Florida orange groove in order to made it financially cover her love for writing Conrack (1974) -This one sent me back to see all movies based on Pat Conroy novels and stories. Hombre (1967) - interesting new Western for me Nuts (1987)
I had no use for: Pete 'n' Tillie (1972) Back Roads (1981) The Outrage (1964) - a derivative of "Rashomon" and not a very good one at that. The Front (1976) - I understand why he made this, but it seemed a little too preachy to me
Others fall somewhere in the middle
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spiderwort
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@spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 19, 2019 15:11:10 GMT
Great director - favourites are - Hombre THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD HUD The Long, Hot Summer Norma Rae So interesting about HOMBRE, Aussie. For some reason I couldn't warm to it the only time I saw it, when it was first released. But given the love for it here, if it ever shows up on TCM I'll take another look. As I recall, the story was good. I can't for the life of me remember why I didn't take to it.
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spiderwort
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@spiderwort
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 19, 2019 15:20:38 GMT
Yes - a major talent who enjoyed a good batting average - his partnerships with Newman especially notable: HUD is the keeper. . . . . .( I have a fairly severe Sally Field allergy )
Agree with you about HUD, tim. That's the creme de le creme for me. One for the history books.
As for the Sally Field allergy, well, that's a mystery to me. Then again, to each his own.
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Post by teleadm on Jan 19, 2019 18:26:16 GMT
One of the great directors! The great Louis Armstrong in Ritt's Paris Blues 1961, for that scene alone, the movie is worth it. Edge of the City 1957, great hard hitting drama The Black Orchid 1958, ok drama, that screams for Anna Magnani Paris Blues 1961, if only for the above scene alone, Duke Ellington music and Louis Blowing Gabriel away! Hud 1963 a masterpiece of emotions not seen on the surface The Spy Who Came in from the Cold 1965. talkative but in the end too complicated, but a good alternative during the first Bond wave. Hombre 1967, great stagecoach hi-jack drama, with great character actors, Richard Boone, Frederic March and Martin Balsam. The Brotherhood 1968, tiresome gangster drama, one of the few Ritt klunkers, and I have wondered if his heart was in it. The Molly Maguires 1970, the movie is so beautifully shot (James Wong Howe) I nearly forgot to care about the plot The Front 1976, great biting satire on the Communist hunt of the 1950s, great late (Maybe last) role for the late Zero Mostel too! Casey's Shadow 1978, Racing horse drama that sounds shallow on the surface, but is refreshingly free from fake sentemantality, and a bravura semi-serious performance from Walter Matthau, one of his best. Norma Rae 1979, a powerhouse performace by Sally Field, a magnificent character-driven drama. Cross Creek 1983, a very nice movie about a writer I must admit had never heard about. Murphy's Romance 1985, One of the sweetest, most lovable American movies I've ever seen, carried along by the great James Garner and his charisma (along with Sally Fields), small town America has never looked this inviting! Solving problems without fist fights and guns! I've only commented movies I remember having seen! If you don't agree with my comments you are in a free world able to do so!
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Post by timshelboy on Jan 19, 2019 21:01:08 GMT
As for the Sally Field allergy, well, that's a mystery to me. Then again, to each his own. You like her! You really like her! We'll always have HUD though - difficult to think of many other movies where all the principal players gave such great performances....
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jan 20, 2019 3:16:26 GMT
With Hud and Hombre on his CV he has to get a thumbs up from me, The Outrage may not be a great film but it's hardly a disaster and has a lot of merit to it.
Enigmatic remake making waves in some cinephiles quarters.
Directed by Martin Ritt, The Outrage is a remake of the 1950 Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon, that in turn is based on stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, but Ritt has reformulated it in a Western setting. It stars Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Howard Da Silva & William Shatner. The story remains the same as four people give contradictory accounts of a rape and murder during the trial of Mexican bandit Juan Carrasco (Newman). The story is told within a flashback framework of three men waiting for a train at a rain soaked Southwestern station; a prospector (Da Silva), a con man (Robinson) and a preacher now struggling with his faith in humanity (Shatner). As each story is told the validity of each account comes under scrutiny, could it be there was a gross miscarriage of justice at the trial?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this remake of a well regarded classic was a commercial flop, with many front line critics particularly savage in their reviews. Which while acknowledging it's a long way away from style and tone of Kurosawa's movie, it's hardly the devil's spawn either. Solidly constructed by Ritt and potently shot in black & white by James Wong Howe (vistas however are in short supply), the story is strong enough to make for an interesting social conscious Oater. There's some misplaced humour in the final third, and a charge of overacting from the talented cast is fair enough (especially Bloom), but maybe, just maybe, Ritt and his team deserve a little leeway for trying a different approach? I mean at least it's not a shot for shot remake eh?
Certainly Newman could never be accused of not being bold or daring with his role selections, one only has to look at his Western films to see that. Especially the three he did with Ritt: Hud (1963), The Outrage (1964) & Hombre (1967), three very different roles, and each of a different ethnicity too. Throw in his intense turn as Billy The Kid in Arthur Penn's The Left Handed Gun, and it makes a mockery of those people who pop up from time to time proclaiming Newman had limited range! Is he miscast as Bandido Carrasco in The Outrage? No not really, he throws himself into the role and without prior knowledge of whose under the hat, it's not overtly evident it's the great blue eyed man performing. Sure a Mexican actor would have been better for the role, and definitely Rashomon wasn't in need of a remake. But for Western fans, and especially for fans of Newman, The Outrage still has enough to warrant spending money on a pie and a pint of beer to watch with it. Not particularly great, but not exactly bad either. 6.5/10
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