What classics did you see last week, August 8 to August 14?

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017).



Bad Moms (2016).



Gemini Man (2019).



Animals (2019).



Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).

Belle Starr / Irving Cummings (1941). Twentieth Century Fox. Technicolor. A historically bogus story of some real life people. Belle Starr was mostly an unknown in her lifetime but the dime novels of the late 19th century and the popular magazine The National Police Gazette regaled the reading public with fictional tales of her outlaw adventures. This is the first movie about her. It stars 21-year-old Gene Tierney with a magnolia-dripping su’thun accent as the title character. Born Belle Shirley in Missouri, she turned rogue after the Civil War, operating mainly in Texas and Oklahoma until her shooting death with is still unsolved. The movie would have it that she becomes radicalized during Reconstruction, especially when her brother comes home from the war in a reconciling mood and a former beau (Dana Andrews) shows up in a Yankee uniform as part of the occupying force. Then she meets Sam Starr (Randolph Scott), a charismatic leader of men who still wants to fight the war. She joins Sam and his men in the mountains and marries him. I get the feeling that this picture about the Reconstruction South and a hot headed Southern belle (named Belle) with a Mammy (Louise Beavers standing in for Hattie McDaniel) wants to ride on the coattails of GWTW, just two years earlier. There is an under score that just won’t go away by Alfred Newman utilizing traditional Deep South tunes (“Dixie”) and Stephen Foster melodies. There is also quite a bit of the casual racism and sympathy with the Confederate cause without a trace of irony that is typical of the era. I couldn’t really enjoy it much even with the presence of Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney. Also with Chill Wills as Blue Duck, another actual By God historical character.




Belle Starr



Nude On The Moon / Doris Wishman (1961). This is a hilariously awful “nudie-cutie” from the legendary Bad Movie Maker Doris Wishman. How bad is it? It is so bad it makes Coleman Francis and Ed Wood look like Stanley Kubrick. A young hunk inherits a fortune and decides to spend it on a rocket to the moon (what a prophesy!). He takes an older scientist along. They have no tech crew. We see them climbing up some scaffolding, but never see the rocket. Once inside and having taken off, they converse with each by speaking into radio microphones even though they are sitting shoulder to shoulder. Once they land…somewhere…they exit the rocket wearing the silliest space suits imaginable and go exploring. They find a lovely garden occupied by topless women and a couple of muscle beach guys. The older scientist ignores all this and goes about collecting botany samples while mostly naked women frolic around him. The young guy only has eyes for the Queen (and doesn’t seem to have any trouble making eye contact). There is absolutely no sound synchronization in this film. The only time the lips are not going in the opposite direction of the words supposedly coming out of them is when the speaker has his/her back to the camera. Other production values are also abysmal. There is no sex. No erotic charge at all. Not even a hint. As one sarcastic wag wrote, “This is a nudie for the entire family.” This movie is almost the definition of “so bad it’s funny.” For a good time, call Doris Wishman.






The French Connection / William Friedkin (1971). If, after the end of the classic era, a film maker wanted to make a modern version of a film noir they ran into the problem of filming in brightly lit color. One of the substitutes for darkness they came up with was urban grittiness. We still see it today in films like “Drive” (2011). “The French Connection” was one of the pioneers in this regard and some might say that no one has done it better. They accomplish this in their use of older New York City neighborhoods caught in the depths of winter. Two NYC cops working narcotics, Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (Gene Hackman) and Buddy “Cloudy” Russo (Roy Scheider), are working the streets rounding up low-level users and dealers. Sometime in the past they had royally messed up a large bust. When Doyle thinks he has wind of something big going down, his superior is reluctant to jump in. The movie is unrelenting as Doyle and Russo very slowly pick up the trail and methodically follow it. Though writer Ernest Tidyman won the Oscar for Best Writing Based On Other Material, his script was, as labeled by a member of the production crew, “a joke.” Most of the script was thrown. About 50% of the run time has no dialog at all. More than half of the existing dialog was improvised by the cast. Hackman greatly deserved his Academy Award (and should have won another in “The French Connection 2” four years later). Hackman gets excellent support from Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, and especially Spanish actor Fernando Rey as the French business man who will be seller of the narcotics. The scene when Doyle and police crew discover how the drugs are being smuggled into the country is exciting and will elicit a laugh or two. Also, the country learned what “rocker panels” are. Can’t close without mentioning the famous car chase and Popeye speeds through crowed city streets pursuing an elevated commuter train that has been hijacked by a hit man. Groundbreaking. Still being imitated. What cops and robbers thriller today doesn’t have a car chase? Important. Essential. Wildly engaging and entertaining.






The Late Show / Robert Benton (1977). Already a classic neo-noir (if there really is such a thing). Although set in contemporary 1970s Los Angeles, Art Carney plays Ira Wells, and elderly retired private investigator whose glory days were at least two decades ago, connecting with the noir years. He is hard of hearing, has a bad ulcer, and a bum leg from a long ago gunshot wound. As the movie opens, he gets a visit from his former partner Harry Regan (Howard Duff who gets a “and” credit) but Regan drops on the floor, fatally shot. Wells vows to find out who did it. Enter an old friend, Charlie Hatter (Bill Macy of “Maude”). Charlie introduces Margo Sterling (Lily Tomlin), a motor mouth former hippie girl aging into the emerging New Age culture. She wants Ira to find her cat. Ira considers this offer an insult until he learns that this was the case Regan was working on when he was killed. I won’t even try to cover the twisted tale that leads to a robbery of a major stamp collection, big business in selling stolen goods, and of course, plenty of juicy murders. Carney and Tomlin click as a team, each being the best they had been to that time and the rest of the cast is superior. In addition to Bill Macy there is Eugene Roche, Joanna Cassidy, and John Considine. A key movie of the Seventies. A must see.





Silverado / Lawrence Kasdan (1985). What Lawrence Kasdan did by succeeding in bringing a classic film noir to the screen (1981’s “Body Heat”), he attempted to do with the American western but with more mixed results. The script is not very tight. It is sprawling, if not slapdash. We first see Emmett (Scott Glenn) as he is being attacked by three men who he dispatches. Emmett then encounters Parden (Kevin Kline), the closed mouth loner, robbed and alone in the desert. Finally, after the two men stand up for Mal (Danny Glover), a black cowboy being bullied (and thrashing the bullies, busting up the saloon in the process), It was a pleasure to see John Cleese as the sheriff of the frontier town (“Came to the wrong town. I don't tolerate this sort of thing. It's hard on the peace, and it's hard on the furniture.”) After rescuing Emmett’s bother Jake (Kevin Costner in an early breakout role) from the jail, they move on to the title town to face Emmett’s enemies there. An old friend of Parden’s, Cobb (Brian Dennehy), is sheriff but in bed with Emmett’s foes. Linda Hunt is beyond great as the manager of Cobb’s saloon and who might find a soul mate in Parden. There’s lots and lots of gunplay and hard ridin’. Also with Rosanna Arquette, Jeff Goldblum, Lynn Whitfield, and Jeff Fahey.






Agatha And The Curse Of Ishtar / Sam Yates (2019). This 95-minute movie was filmed for the U.K.’s Channel 5 and has recently been released to PBS in the U.S. It is 1938 and Agatha Christie, still reeling from her divorce from Archibald Christie, accepts an invitation from near total strangers to visit them at an archeological site in Iraq. There, two things happen: murder raises its ugly head and she meets a young archeologist named Max who may be 13 years younger than she, but with whom she finds an affinity. Again, she finds that she is not only an expert in writing murder mysteries, but in solving them. Also, what she learns about emotion and romance enables her to write, under a non de plume, a series of dramatic melodramas. Ver-r-r-ry enjoyable.



Agatha And The Midnight Murders / Joe Stephenson (2020). The third and last (so far) of full feature film length TV mysteries with Agatha Christie in a fictional tale that utilizes her detective abilities. This one is by far the darkest, most disturbing of the three. Agatha is in London in 1940 during the time of the Blitz. She is there because she is broke: the Americans have stopped paying royalties and the Revenue people think she is cheating. So she is going to sell her latest manuscript, a novel that kills off Hercule Poirot, to a Chinese investor. But during negotiations at an almost deserted restaurant, an air raid siren goes off. A pushy cop enters to force all the customers into the cellar where, a ghost, it seems, is causing mischief and murder. Within a small confined space where movement is limited, things disappear and bodies start dropping. By the end, I was thinking that another “And Then There Were None” was underway. It doesn’t quite reach that limit but the deaths are many and Agatha herself has to pull of a pretty ruthless act to save her own life. With stand-out work from Helen Baxendale as Agatha, Alistair Petrie, Blake Harrison, and Elizabeth Tan. Excellent.

And this week’s selections for MASTERPIECE 50 are:
I REMEMBER NELSON (1982) A 4-part ITV Serial about Horacio Nelson, adapted by Hugh Whitmore (ELIZABETH R) and starring Kenneth Colley, Geraldine James, Tim Pigott-Smith, and Anna Massey. YouTube.
TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS (1980) Based on R. F. Deddlefeld’s novel, adapted by Andrew Davies. Acorn Media DVD.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Escape” The Olmecs under their master Minotor, attempt to harvest the children for their race’s longevity. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

STAND BY ME (1986) 35th Anniversary Rob Reiner’s coming of age story starring Whil Westin, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell. First saw this from RATED K (a Nickelodeon show where kids rate the films) showing scenes like the discussion of Goofy’s species.
Saw it on video a year later. Columbia Tristar BluRay.

TRANSFORMERS THE MOVIE (1986) 35th Anniversary The Animated series hits the big screen, introducing a new cast while killing off much of the original. Featuring the voices of Robert Stack, Peter Cullen, Judd Nelson, Chris Latta, Frank Welker, Leonard Nimoy, Corey Burton, Eric Idle, and in their final roles, Scatman Crothers and Orson Welles. Saw this in theaters and was rocked by the bloodbath. Optimus Prime’s death has to be the second most influential cartoon demise since Bambi’s mother. I would not see the film again until May 1995 on VHS. My last viewing was in a Tinseltown showing (to promote BUMBLEBEE) in 2018. Sony Wonder DVD.

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SLAYERS NEXT (1995) “The Temple in the Sand! The Secret of the Giga Slave!” 25th Anniversary The storyline resumes as the gang locate finally the Claire Bible, Lina has a nightmare about using the Giga Slave again, and a confrontation with Dragon lord Gaav. Japanese with English Subtitles. Software Sculptor DVD.

THE SCARLET LETTER (1926) 95th Anniversary MGM adaptation of Hawthorne’s novel, starring Lillian Gish, Lan Hanson, and Henry B Walthall. Cinema Collector presentation of a TCM broadcast.

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BIG HOUSE BLUES (1991) 30th Anniversary Ren and Stimpy make their debut in this theatrical short that played on several film festivals before the series broadcast on Nickelodeon the next day. Although the series’ intro and promos would benefit from its scenes, the short was broadcast once during the first year and be added to the second season. Paramount DVD.

SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO (1960) This month of August marks the centennial of the darkest time of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s life: on a vacation the 39 year old was struck with Polio. I am watching several films on the subject: first is this film adaptation of the Broadway play about FDR’s illness and return to politics. Starring Ralph Bellamy, Greer Garson, Shoemaker, and Hume Cronyn. Warner Archive DVD.

FDR (1994) “Fear Itself” Second episode of the five part documentary bio broadcast on PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE in 1994. Interviews by Geoffrey Ward, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Wiesen Cook, and Curtis Roosevelt. Dailymotion.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Mayas of the Sun.” The gang end up at a Mayan village ruled by a priest named Papakamiho, who has a special tie to Zia. Meanwhile Dr LaGuerra, Marinche, & Tetiola end up under Olmec captivity, where they reveal their finding of the Golden Condor. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

TRAPP FAMILY STORY (1991) “Christmas Carol” 30th Anniversary After three weeks, part 2 of the Anime’s Christmas story finally gets broadcast, also giving focus to Maria’s abusive childhood. Japanese with English Subtitles Bootleg DVD.

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Nicktoons, Nickelodeon’s first specially-produced cartoons. I remember viewing this triad that Sunday August 11 1991:

DOUG (1991) “Can’t Dance/ Gets Busted“. 30th Anniversary. Jim Jenkins’ day in the life story of Doug Funnie and his adolescent struggles with life. The first episode (although I remember USA Network having a proto version of Doug and his dog porkchop in one of their Logo promos) is more drawn in Jenkins’ drawing style while the second episode is more refined and the standard for the rest of the series. Bootleg DVD

RUGRATS (1991) “Tommy’s Birthday Party” 30th Anniversary The first episode (the only full length of the first season) , introducing Chuckie and Angelica and most of the other parents. Amazon Prime

THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW (1991) “Stimpy’s Big Break/The Big Snot” 30th Anniversary The grandpa of gross out Tv animation, set up like a 1950s TV cartoon. Of the three, this was the one I was interested in the most, noting the similar animation from THE NEW ADVENTURES OF MIGHTY MOUSE. Paramount DVD.

THE ROOSEVELTS: AN INTIMATE HISTORY (2014) “The Storm: 1920-1932” Ken Burns portrait of the Polio infliction, with new interviews by Goodwin, Cook, and Ward, who wrote the series this time (and who has an emotional moment empathizing FDR’s paralysis with his own, seeing it as terrifying). PBS DVD.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “Attack of the Olmecs” Gaspard and Gomez have turned out to have survived and aid the children in getting the Golden Condor back from the Olmecs, who are also besieging the Mayan village. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE (1941) 80th Anniversary MGM remake of the 1932 Mamoulian-March version, starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, and Lana Turner. First saw this in October 1988 in a colorized version (memory could be wrong, but I do recall the process making Tracy clothes like a leprechaun). Frank Waxman’s intro score was probably the first B&W film music I hummed to. It was the film that introduced me to Bergman and Tracy (the latter helped by my grandmother’s FILMS OF SPENCER TRACY book (which this film had an entry, although it was all Dr Jekyll scenes due to MGM withholding any revelations of Hyde’s appearance)). Warner DVD.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “The Reunion” Ziah reunites with her father, who then dies revealing the location of the Cities of Gold. He also reveals the city possesses a powerful machine that would spell disaster in the wrong hands. Cue the Olmecs who need the Macguffin to preserve their dying race. English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1986) “The Man With The Twisted Lip” 35th Anniversary MPI Video DVD.

ALADDIN AND THE KING OF THIEVES (1996) 25th Anniversary The Aladdin franchise comes to a close with Robin Williams returning as the Genie and almost completing the reprised voice cast (Lea Sologna and Douglas Searle still excepted). Also featuring John Rhys Davies as Aladdin’s long lost father (Davies had also hosted a making of docu of the first film back on 1992) and Jerry Orbach. When I learned about Williams’ return I was rather excited. Saw the film in August 1996. Something I noticed was the film’s animation being an alliance between Disney’s Japanese and Australian studios. In RETURN OF JAFAR, the first part was Australian and the second was Japanese. Here, the style keeps changing back and forth. Disney VHS.

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The Mysterious Cities of Gold (1982) “Revolt if the Mayas.” The many tribes besiege the Olmecs’ mountain home. The Swamp” English Dubbed. Fabulous DVD

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN (2014) “A Heart Filled With Comrades” English Dubbed. Viz Media DVD

DAVID AND BATHSHEBA (1951) Of the Biblical Epic genre of the 1950s snd 1960s, this Henry King film was among the most character driven. There were others (BEN-HUR and BARRABAS) but this film deemphasized the spectacle (only two fight scenes, a procession, and an exotic dance). Starring Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey, and Jayne Meadows. First saw a trailer of the film on American Movie Classics in 1991, then saw the film on the Family Channel in December 1991. FoxVideo DVD.

THE BIG COUNTRY (1958) William Wyler western with Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston, Charles Bickford, Chuck Connors, Jean Simmons, Carrol Baker, and Burl Ives. In view of my interest in REN & STIMPY I was surprised several lyrics from its “Happy Happy Joy Joy” song came from this film. TCM Broadcast

Saw Parts of:
BEVERLY HILLS 90210 (1991) “Play It Again, David” 30th Anniversary. Brandon befriends an abused child. Dailymotion.

Several films on FDR:
ELEANOR AND FRANKLIN (1976) “Episode Two” Eleanor (Jane Alexander) remembers Franklin’s Polio affliction in 1921. With Edward Hermann as FDR, Ed Flanders as Louis Howe, and Rosemary Murphy as Sara. HBO Video VHS

WARM SPRINGS (2003) HBO TV film about FDR (Kenneth Branagh) going to Warm Springs to deal with his Polio. With Cynthia Nixon as ER, Ray Palmer as Louis Howe, and Jane Alexander as Sara. YouTube.

She committed suicide. Read the mini bio on IMDB.

www.imdb.com/name/nm0185795/bio

Thank you, AB77.

In the Dark (2000) - 6/10. Decent Indie B/W SOV adaptation that was never released. On YouTube.

Larger than Life (1996) - 6/10. Typical morality laced road story, but Bill Murray’s dry wit bouncing off an elephant was amusingly different. Matthew McConaughey (in a small, but memorable role) really outdoes everyone here. Oh, it’s a sight.

Missing in Action (1984) - 6/10 re-watch. 80s Action fluff. M. Emmet Walsh was the life of the party. I prefer the second film.

Vampire Princess Miya (1988) - 7/10. A sober, melancholic OVA anime (of four episodes) that only scrapes the surface of its storytelling/world building, but the presentation of its mythology and themes over those few episodes are still unique and prominent to pull me in. An atmospheric sound design, haunting music cues and moments of moody, horror infused visuals made up for its shortcomings.



Also re-watched the first season of the 1990s children’s anthology show “Are You Afraid of the Dark?. Pure nostalgia. Started bumpy, but the episodes got better as the season gained momentum.