Did You Know...?

As well as talking about old movies, i also like take photographs. Here are a few i'm quite proud of...

A Window at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.

Some Chimneys, Cambridge

My Family

Blazing Saddles (1974)

Is Blazing Saddles a Western? I suppose thats the question that needs answering before a film like this can be discussed. 

I guess the short answer is Yes, it is a Western. Its set in the desert plains of America, there are Cowboys, Indians, guns, shoot outs, saloons and a town whereby everyone is called 'Johnson'. Aesthetically, it possesses everything that a film requires to be considered a Western, but why does it not feel like one?

The long (and correct) answer, is No. Blazing Saddles references some of the greatest Westerns ever made like Once Upon A Time in the West and High Noon and rather than being a spoof of these movies, it becomes more of a western satire. An  example of this would be when the newly appointed Sheriff rides gallantly across the desert on a horse to some triumphant, heroic music and he rides past a full brass band and conductor in the desert playing the music he's riding to. Brooks plays about like this quite a bit in Blazing Saddles and breaks the codes and conventions that films should follow and taking something that should be off screen and invisible to the protagonist and placing it so brazenly in the shot like this was new to audiences. How about the ending? Need i say anymore? If thats not messing about with conventions of cinema, then i don't know what is. Tarantino did the exact same thing a few years later with From Dusk Til Dawn, whereby what started out as a typically Pulp Fictionesque 'gangster movie' turned in to a gruesome vampire movie about halfway through. Just as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did in 1969, Blazing Saddles just has fun with the genre, so much so, it stops being of that genre and seemingly creates a super-genre of its own. Lets not forget that Blazing Saddles is as much a satire of Westerns as it is an allegory of the Civil Rights Movement, so brashly displayed in its language and liberal use of the word Nigger. Inter-racial relations was still considered to be taboo and the KKK were just ironing their hats at the time Blazing Saddles was made. Brooks was obviously poking fun at the absurdity of peoples distaste for African -American's during this time. 

Whatever Blazing Saddles is, its undeniably hilarious, clever, different, stupid, witty and did is say hilarious? Gene Wilder is the star for me as Jim AKA The Waco Kid, fastest hands in the world, and his first meeting with Sheriff Bart is unforgettably funny. Sheriff Bart is the towns first black Sheriff, although his presence there is purely to be hated by the townsfolk, as is the plot of drunken Governor Petomane (Brooks) and his crooked counterpart Hedley Lemarr. He hires Bart as the new Sheriff so the townsfolk abandon their town from fear and Lemarr can demolish it for his new railroad. However, after a shaky beginning, the townsfolk come round to the idea of Bart and he is accepted. Jim is hanging upside down in a jail cell when Bart first meets him and after gettig him down, they play a game of chess together. The dialogue in this part is as much stupid as it is genius, as Wilder is drunk, Bart is curious of his desire to be so drunk. We learn he was humiliated as The Waco Kid when he was challenged by a small child and his reputation was ruined, since then he turned to the bottle and hasn't crawled out since. All emotion is taken out of this moment by Wilders delivery of the story, you really can't help but snigger at his sad, depressed little state.. I promise, its funny. 

Along with Wilder, Brooks is equally as hilarious as Governor Petomane, who is also very drunk and very interested in women rather than the running of his state. Hence the influence of nasty Lemarr being so strong in his decision making. Finally, it would be rude not to mention the lady of this film, the beautiful, sexy, seductive singer Lili Von Shtupp hire by Lemarr to seduce Bart and corrupt him, but Bart's naturally smooth sexual capabilities sends Lili wild for him, thus thwarting Lemarrs plans. Played by Madeline Kahn, Lili is completely talentless as her song proves, but he long legs, tight little bottom and inability to pronounce her 'r's gives her a sexy but adorable edge. 

The films finale leaves me lost for words every time, as Lemarrs plans are consistently being ruined by Sheriff Bart, he hires a huge gang of thugs to attack the town and Bart has 24 hours to come up with a master plan. They build a fake town riddled with dynamite and try to find a way to slow the thugs down, so the construct a tollbooth whereby the thugs have to queue up and pay to cross into Rock Ridge, no one things t just ride around the tollbooth....but this only holds them off for so long and they ride into the fake Rock Ridge and explosions send the thugs flying. The townsfolk then attack the thugs and the rabble explodes through the walls of the Warner Brothers Studio right into a Musical being directed by Dom DeLuise. I'll stop there, but trust me when i say it is COMPLETE madness. 

Blazing Saddles is one of a kind and the madness of Brooks is ever present and channelled through Wilder's Waco Kid. A must watch for anyone, remember, its not a Western. 

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

November sees in the release of the highly anticipated film The Master. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson who has brought us such films as Magnolia and There Will Be Blood, The Master is set to be one of the films of the year. What’s so special about it? Probably the most exciting thing is that it has been shot on 70mm film and will be shown in this format, which means that the resolution will be higher, clearer and much crisper. To put it simply, it has been shot on a much larger piece of film within the camera than most other films, so its double the size and double the quality. For those of you who thought IMAX was the best picture quality you were going to see, think again!

This swiftly brings me on to today’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was famously, shot on 70mm, just like The Master, but way back in 1968. This didn’t stop it being a spectacular looking film which earned the film’s director, Stanley Kubrick, an Oscar for visual effects. What perhaps is most remarkable about 2001, is that audiences marvelled at what it was creating as a future world, showing huge space ships spinning through space, high tech gadgets, special anti-gravity shoes and futuristic furniture that no one had really seen before, as science fiction films were not particularly well established at the time. The visual effects were so breath takingly realistic and Stanley Kubrick created them without even using a computer. He used models and manipulation of the film cells to create his effects, an art which has long since bitten the dust. Before Man had even landed on the moon, Kubrick had made a convincing and technologically accurate film about space travel.

2001 starts off on Earth in prehistoric times where we watch a family of Apes or ‘hominids’ as they would rather be known, with the help of a tall, black oblong, learn how to use rocks and sticks as weapons to kill other animals for food, kick starting our rapid evolution into Man. We then hop forward a few thousand years to Dr Heywood Floyd who is travelling through space in a large, rotating vessel travelling to the moon. We learn that something has been discovered on the moon which is remarkably similar to the object that appeared before the hominids. A great amount of mystery surrounds this object – the monolith - which is assumed to be extra-terrestrial intelligence which is millions of years old and Dr Floyd and his team are sent to the moon to examine it, only to be deafened by a high pitched noise omitting from it. 18 months later Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, two young astronauts, are travelling on board the ‘Discovery’ – a spaceship bound for Jupiter sending them on a so called ‘training mission’. Little do they know, they are following up the discovery on the moon 18 months previous.  Their space ship is controlled by super computer HAL-9000 who has been programmed to behave and speak like a human, and to act as a friend to Bowman and Poole.  HAL suddenly starts behaving strangely and reporting that communication devices are broken when they are not. Things rapidly go from bad to worse when HAL completely turns on Bowman and Poole and tries to kill them. Bowman escapes in a small pod and travels through a psychedelic tunnel of lights and flies over strange foreign lands in a spiralling, trippy sequence that is quite un-nerving to watch. Eventually he is spat out of this vortex of light and he finds himself orbiting Jupiter, along with our old friend the Monolith. It’s about to get very strange now as Bowman lands in a baroque, French style bedroom. There are no windows, no doors and the floor is made out of light. Bowman goes through a series of stages in the room, when he lands he has aged slightly and when he is outside of his pod he has aged even more.

He hears a noise and investigates where he sees himself as an old man, eating dinner. He turns into his aged self and then sees himself on the verge of death lying in his bed. He then becomes this man and the monolith appears before him. He is transported through the monolith as a foetal baby where he is reborn as a master of the universe. I know this may sound like I am making it up, but I promise you this is what happens.

Kubrick and Clarke had a vision to create the ultimate science fiction movie and this one has it all. Its meaning is hard to decipher, especially of the end, but Kubrick didn’t want everyone to been spoon-fed meanings and philosophies. He left the whole thing completely open to interpretation and when asked about the meaning of 2001 he would skirt around the question without really giving an answer. It was a well known fact that Kubrick and Clarke had serious reservations about the possibility of man creating artificial intelligence, like HAL, and that we would never be able to fully understand what we create. So what do they do? They turn HAL completely evil for seemingly no reason at all, thus making their point.  

2001 is essentially a depiction of the evolution of Man from our most primitive form to our most intelligent, predicting what Man could be capable of doing in the year 2001. Throw in a murderous computer, a few reprises of Strauss’ Thus Spake Zarathustra and a horse painted like a zebra and you’ve got yourself something really quite special.

Paving the way for great science fiction movies of the future like Bladerunner, The Alien Trilogy and even Prometheus, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a ground-breaking piece of cinema that is replicated time and time again in modern culture. If I had a penny for every time I saw an inter-textual reference of 2001 in The Simpsons, I’d have enough to buy myself a Freddo bar.  Unfortunately, it’s not for everyone. It was poorly received when it was released and gained its fame from a cult following of 60’s youths who found it ‘trippy’ and has been splitting audiences for the past 44 years. I highly recommend it to science fiction fans, Kubrick fans and those of you who enjoy something a little bit different.

The nights are drawing in and the weekends are predominantly rainy, so why not give it a try? Snuggle up in the warm and prepare yourself for the ultimate Stanley Kubrick experience…

Breaking the Chain

Following on from my last post, here is a rather good movie poster, courtesy of Minimal Movie Posters, who have quite a vast back catalogue of simple and clever movie posters.

 

 

The Shining (1980)

If any of my wonderful, devoted readers know me in person you will no doubt be aware of my fondness for the work of Stanley Kubrick.  Having written my undergraduate dissertation on 2001: A Space Odyssey I opened up the monolithic door to the mysterious world of Kubrick, leading me to plunge myself into the depths of the Stanley Kubrick Archives in London and the secretive scribbling’s of Mr Kubrick himself. It’s definitely worth booking yourself in to visit, but I highly recommend knowing what you are looking for as it would appear Kubrick never EVER threw anything away…

Anyway, seeing as its Halloween, I thought what better opportunity to discuss a Kubrick classic – The Shining. Appropriately, I went to see the newly released extra-long version, which had an added twenty-four minutes that have never been seen by a UK audience. Even more exciting is the documentary Room 237 which hit our art-house cinema’s this week, an apparently exposing feature uncovering never before discussed secrets of The Shining. Exciting no? Undoubtedly, it’s a great horror movie and despite pissing Stephen King off, Kubrick has most definitely pleased audiences worldwide for the last 30 years with this sinister little tale.

Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as Jack and Wendy Torrance, the film is about a family of three who are hired to be the winter care-takers of The Overlook Hotel, a secluded retreat that is closed off in the winter due to the dangerous conditions on the road leading up to it. What better setting for a horror movie; a secluded, massive old mansion house where someone once went nuts and murdered their family. Quite. Jack, Wendy and their 5 year old son Danny, who has an imaginary friend called Tony who ‘lives in his mouth’ drive to the house to begin their seven month stint in the hotel. Not long after the Torrance family arrive do strange and spooky things start happening in the hotel, especially to Jack as the house starts taking a sinister turn on him. He starts to see apparitions of people who used to live and work in the hotel, including the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady, who murdered his family. Danny also experiences some strange things and becomes aware of his telepathy, dubbed ‘Shining’ by head-chef Dick Hallorann who shares Danny’s gift. An unfortunate event in the hallway leads Danny to see the twins of the previous caretaker who appear to him both in full form, and as a bloody heap, all they want to do is play, what’s so horrible about that? Watch and see my friends. An even more unfortunate event takes Danny to Room 237, to which we do not bear witness to but he manages to land himself some fairly sinister bruises around his neck. Jack’s mind begins to warp and seeing Danny’s bruises, he too ventures to Room 237 and becomes exposed to the horrors within. I shall say no more. He denies to Wendy that there’s anything in Room 237 and he becomes increasingly nuts, remember: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.  Eventually he completely turns on his wife and son and tries to kill them, after a few bumps on the head, a few hours in the larder and an axe through a door, we come to the films iconic finale in the hedge maze.

Even though the extra scenes I watched last night didn’t add anything new to the story, I still felt quite privileged to be watching them and you can’t help but wonder why he cut them out. There weren’t many scenes, but enough to make the film feel fresh. The anticipation of being shown something I’d never seen before in something I’d seen hundreds of times almost completely distracted my from the heavy nose breather sitting next to me. Cinema’s eh? Some scenes certainly did open a few doors to the sub-plots that were more prominent in King’s novel, especially Jack’s alcohol dependency and the abusive nature of his personality before he quit drinking. My favourite cut scene however was definitely when Wendy is weepily staggering around the hotel with a kitchen knife looking for Danny. She stumbles across a room filled with skeletons, some at a table, some sitting on sofas and one of them was even strangely standing up. It didn’t add much, story-wise, but its gave it this ghostly element that it didn’t have before. All the ghosts we have seen up to this point have looked like real people, as if stuck in the time when they died. This scene was spooky and made the sense of death in the hotel smell sweeter. However, it did feel quite out of place for this very reason, and perhaps Kubrick wanted to keep the ‘ghosts’ as apparitions of real people so as not to disjoint Jack too much from his past life.

The Shining took almost a year to film and Kubrick certainly put his actors through their paces, Jack Nicholson was physically exhausted and Shelley Duvall emotionally drained. Kubrick and Nicholson would often fall out, but it was Duvall that Kubrick made life hell for. He would push her to her limits physically and psychologically to the point where she would often break down in tears on set. Kubrick is seen in the ‘Making Of’ documentary telling the production crew not to give her any sympathy,  Duvall says that he treated her this way to help her become her character of Wendy, an unappreciated and bullied housewife, even though it was a horrible experience, she has no regrets for doing it. Be that as it may, it was hard work for everyone and Kubrick’s relentless need for perfection resulted in 148 takes of the scene where Hallorann is explaining to Danny what ‘shining’ is. A world record. He wouldn’t stop at anything, even Stephen Spielberg breathing down his neck didn’t stop him and Spielberg was forced to put off filming Raiders of the Lost Ark until Kubrick was finished.

But was it all worth it? Stephen King would probably say no, as he has a serious distaste Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel, he didn’t like the casting, the script, the sets or Stanley Kubrick himself. This lead the film to be officially released as “Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining” as it was so far removed from what King had envisioned for his adaptation, even the ending and body count was different to the novel…I think I prefer Kubrick’s ending though, sorry Stephen.

Nevertheless, it’s a blood curdling tale and houses some of the most iconic moments in horror cinema including its most famous and mimicked line ‘Heeere’s Jonny!’ A questionable source for this would be Jonny Cash, as he famously axed the door between his hotel room and that of his band mates, however there are many ideas for where Nicholson sprung this from. Lets not forget the brilliant exchange between Jack and Wendy on the stairs as she feebily swings a baseball bat at him as he tells her ‘I’m not gonna hurt ya, I’m just gonna bash your brains in. I’m gonna bash them right the fuck in’, I can’t help but laugh at the genius of Nicholson in this film, he encapsulates Dad gone mad brilliantly and even though terrifying in places, his facial expressions are undeniably humourous.

Impeccable writing, unrelenting direction and perfect acting, The Shining is Kubrick’s horror masterpiece, and a thoroughly entertaining watch. It has earned itself some of horrors most memorable moments and it will be cherished for ever.

And ever.

And ever…

Psycho (1960)

It’s Halloween! What better way to spend it than watching the glorious Psycho? Made in 1960, by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, it stars John Gavin, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles as three unfortunate souls who come face to face with the superbly creepy Mr Norman Bates, played by Anthony Perkins. Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch, Psycho is loosely based around the notorious grave robbing psychopath, Ed Gein, a man who had a bit of thing for using decayed body parts as ‘decorations’ in his home. We’ll leave it at that shall we?

The film opens on the beautiful Marion Crane who is discussing money matters with her soon to be divorced boyfriend Sam. They need a lot of money, pronto, as Sam is about to lose everything in his divorce proceedings. Marion is entrusted with $40’000 by her boss to pay in to the company bank account which she obviously steals and runs to California where Sam is waiting for her. In what is potentially one of the film’s most iconic scenes (aside from that incident in the shower) Marion driving depicts her satisfaction for stealing the money and her fear of getting caught perfectly. She nervously glances in her rear view mirror often enough to look suspicious, but she looks pleased with herself at the same time, creating an excellent ‘secretary gone wild’ feel about her. Her journey is interrupted by a huge rain storm and she is forced to pull in to the slightly off-the-beaten-track, Bates Motel. It’s here that she meets the superbly creepy Norman Bates and becomes aware of his illusive ‘Mother’. Norman tells her he doesn’t get many people coming his way, a typical thing for someone like Norman to divulge to a beautiful woman, and shyly invites her to supper. She begrudgingly accepts but after hearing an uncomfortable exchange between Norman and his Mother about Norman’s sexual intentions with Marion, she suggests he have her sectioned. Obviously, Norman doesn’t respond well to this and Marion awkwardly retires to her room where she decides to take a shower. Need I say anymore? I think we all know what happens to Marion in the shower.

So less than an hour in, the woman we all invested so much time in has been slashed, thus thickening the tasty plot that’s about to unravel before us. Not long after this hideous crime is committed and the evidence is plunged into a lake, Detective Arbogast is hired by Lila, Marion’s sister and Sam, Marion’s boyfriend to locate Marion and the missing $40’000. He traces Marion to the Bates Motel and questions Norman as to her whereabouts. Norman’s not the best at lying to Detectives and comes across edgy and suspicious, so Arbogast takes a room for the night to continue his investigation in the morning. He calls Lila while looking out at the house on the hill behind the motel and he spots a womanly figure standing in one of the windows. He tells Lila he will call her back and ventures up to the house to investigate. Not long after her arrives is he stabbed in the face and pushed down the stairs by a mysterious figure. Goodbye Detective Arbogast.

Lila and Sam end up phoning the local police when Arbogast doesn’t call her back, explaining about the woman in the window. The Deputy seems puzzled as he recalls the house behind the motel belonged to Norman and his Mother, but she had died 10 years ago. He brushes their story off thinking there’s nothing to be worrying about, cops eh? This leaves them no choice but to pose as husband and wife and stay at the Bates Motel together. It doesn’t take long for Lila to be drawn to the house where she tries to find her sister and the Detective. When Norman notices she’s gone, he knocks Sam to the ground and angrily runs up to the house to find her. I shall stop there for fear of ruining the ending, but let’s just say this; it’s not exactly a happy one.

Psycho is considered to be Hitchcock’s ultimate masterpiece, earning him a fortune at the box office as the studio didn’t want to associate themselves too much with what they thought was going to be a failure. Hitchcock succeeded in creating a suspenseful and highly successful horror film that terrified audiences, and even Janet Leigh into never having a shower again. By hiding so many elements of the story from the audience, and retaining the mystery surrounding the Mother character builds high levels of suspense. He never shows her face or body in full so we begin to question why Hitchcock is keeping her from us, what is so horrific about this woman that we’re not allowed to see her? *snigger snigger*

Hitchcock shrouded the production of his film in mystery to enhance the actual mystery within and to make absolutely sure that no one would find out the ending. He made production staff take an oath not to reveal the ending, and he even had a chair made up for ‘Mrs Bates’ so that nothing could be leaked or speculated upon. All this attention to detail, and willingness to protect his own movie made the ending all the more terrifying, giving it the ‘masterpiece’ status that it still has today. If only Gus Van Sant and Vince Vaughn hadn’t ruined it, I mean honestly…VINCE VAUGHN? As Norman Bates? It was never going to work.

Psycho is what horror movies are made of and fifty-two years on, it’s obviously quite dated. So my advice is this; watch it with friends on Halloween and have a good laugh, or watch it on your own at night in the dark and have nightmares.

Happy Halloween everybody!

Some Like it Hot (1959)

"Maybe those Dames aint Dames!!"

In 1959 Billy Wilder created a wildly hilarious comedy about two men on the run after witnessing the notorious Valentines Day Massacre. These two men, played flawlessly by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguised themselves as women and stowed away on a train full of female musicians. Upon joining the group as Cellist Daphne and Saxophonist Josephine, they meet Sugar, a softly spoken and elegant ukulele player, in the form of Marilyn Monroe.  The two men instantly fall about themselves and become besotted with her. They go to Florida and cavort in the sun, romp in the sand and play jazz music to rich people, all goes well until Daphne is targeted by serial womanizer Osgood Fielding III who attempts to woo ‘her’, meanwhile, Josephine returns to his original manly form and pretends to be a rich yachtsman in a bid to woo the ditsy Sugar. Soon enough though the past catches up on them and they become face to face with the men they had originally fled from. A hilarious and ridiculous tale of deceit, cross dressing, inappropriate bum pinching and a whole lotta laughs.

What was most amusing was that Daphne and Josephine were quite obviously two men dressed as women, and they miraculously managed to fool everyone they met.  Their voices sounded silly, their outfits were silly, but most of all their attempt to walk in heels was silliest of all. By avoiding slapstick comedy, Some Like It Hot got its laughs from witty writing and men dressed as women. Lemmon and Curtis were the biggest stars of the film, despite Monroe’s name being up in lights as the selling point for the movie (a decision, I’m sure, that was not made by Wilder). They bounce off each other in a way that makes their friendship completely believable in a totally unrealistic story world. Who can forget the infamous scene when Joe (Curtis) dons his disguise as a millionaire yachtsman and seduces Sugar on the yacht of actual millionaire Osgood who is simultaneously dating the supposedly seasick Daphne (Lemmon). The winning moment for me to this ridiculous situation is when Daphne returns to the hotel room engaged to Osgood, completely smitten and loved up with a diamond bracelet on his wrist. Its only when he repeats the words ‘Im a man, I’m a man, I’m a man” does he realize his mistake.

The films finale, in true Hollywood style, ends in a chase. The mobsters they were originally running from end up coming to the hotel where they are staying. Not fooled by their womanly disguises, they chase them out of the hotel and onto a small speedboat, driven by Osgood. Monroe comes tottering down the jetty and jumps in the boat after them, after discovering Josephine is the ‘millionaire yachtsman’ the two sink down and canoodle in the back of the boat. This leaves Osgood and Daphne, who are still engaged. After several ridiculous made up excuses for why they can’t get married Daphne ends up pulling off her wig and revealing Jerry underneath, declaring “I’m a man!” Prompting the films final and most famous lines from Osgood, “Well, Nobody’s perfect!”.

Three years after Some Like it Hot was released, Marilyn Monroe died, and this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of her death. As someone who isn’t particularly well versed on Marilyn Monroe, I thought it a fitting opportunity to write about her and one of her most famous roles. It seems Miss Monroe was a bit of a nightmare on a film set, notorious for being late and not knowing her lines. In the scene where Sugar comes into Daphne and Josephine’s hotel room looking for a bottle of Bourbon, the line was “Where’s the Bourbon?’ which took so long for her to get right that Billy Wilder actually had to write the line inside the drawer she was looking in while searching for the Bourbon.  Wilder told in an interview of how she would sometimes not even come out of her dressing room, causing huge delays in filming.

Her behavior aside, Marilyn Monroe was an absolute joy to watch as Sugar, she was charming, witty and charismatic. The scene on the train when the girls decide to have a little party in Daphne’s bunk was pure entertainment, which she played a massive part in creating. 

All in all, Some Like it Hot deserves the praise it received and Monroe deserved her Golden Globe. It is a great film, magnificently acted and beautifully scripted.  A perfect Sunday afternoon black and white to curl up on the sofa with.

Last Lines:

Osgood Fielding III – ‘Well, nobody’s perfect!’

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

1981 saw the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman II, it also welcomed the release of John Landis' An American Werewolf in London. A film about two young American travellers, David and Jack, who get attacked by a werewolf on the Yorkshire Moors. Jack dies, David lives, only to become stricken with the curse, whereby every full moon he himself becomes and werewolf. Haunted by the ghost of his travelling buddy, he suffers hardships when rediscovering the carnage he has caused the night before, learning that the only way to lift this curse, is to die.

A simple creature feature story, developed with humour and gore, thus falling into the hybrid genre of comedy and horror. It received, and played a part in creating, the Academy Award for Best Makeup, and received two Saturn awards, one of which for Best Horror Film. Not a great success at the time, but as with a lot of classic horror films, it gained itself a cult following, becoming a favourite amongst werewolf enthusiasts and horror film geeks.


The film is remembered for several amazing, unforgettable scenes. The first one being when David and Jack walk into 'The Slaughtered Lamb' only to be greeted by a gaggle of sullen faced Northerners, with an unwelcoming look in their eye. I personally, have had this experience, happily walking into a pub only to promptly walk back out again after the 'locals' make it very clear they don't know who I am, therefore do not want me to be drinking with them. Jack and David decided to enter the pub anyway, and the conversation that ensues only lands them in more trouble. There's the surreptitious pentangle symbol on the wall shrouded in candle light, the regular mention of the moon by the locals, and the landlady repeatedly shouting to the others in the pub that they can't allow the two boys to wonder off alone. 'Stick to the roads' they yell as David and Jack leave the pub feeling relieved and safe. The proceeding brutal werewolf attack only proves that this was a naive move to make.

Another scene is the transformation scene. I had never seen this film in full before today, and the only bit I had seen was when David turns into a werewolf for the first time. It stuck with me though, to a young girl of 10, seeing a mans hands stretch and crack, and his face elongate and develop fangs was something I wasn't going to be able to forget in a hurry. The thing to be remembered here is that this was done without CGI without special effects, it was all makeup and animatronics, a bold move and one that earned the film its only Oscar. It is a gut wrenching scene, and David's pained expression and (excuse the pun) howls of pain make it all the more unsettling. As far as transformation scenes go for me, its just got the edge on Michelle Pfeiffer becoming Catwoman in Batman Returns. Not only did this scene earn the film its Oscar, but also led to Michael Jackson hiring Landis and his makeup team on American Werewolf to do the makeup for his infamous Thriller video, which Landis directed.

The final part, for me, which earned the films such a memorable status was the music. Landis purposefully used songs with 'Moon' in the title, the strangest choice for me was Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising, not because the song had no relevance, but because it placement in the film was so odd. For such a fast paced song and progressive song, it was used over a very slow montage of David being bored in Alex Price's flat. However, the music is memorable, and perhaps this juxtaposition is what has aided it in being so.

An American Werewolf in London isn't an amazing film, its not even very well acted, but it achieves doing exactly what it set out to do. It scares you, it makes you feel a bit sick and it makes you question the paranormal. Throw a few laughs in and a bit of nudity and you've got a hit. David Naughton portrays the character of David excellently, albeit a little on the cheesy side, especially in the scenes with him and Nurse Price, whom he ends up shacking up with. A little unprofessional don't you think? Maybe not in the 80's. Mostly I enjoyed this creature feature, even more so because it made me laugh, it lost me a bit in the middle but I managed to pick it up again, not the most complex narrative in the world, but a solid piece of entertainment nevertheless.


Last lines

Alex Price - "I love you David"

The Italian Job (1969)

Recently, Michael Caine is known for playing the beloved and loyal Alfred in the recent Batman trilogy. A kind, gentle old man who just wants the best for Bruce Wayne and does everything in his power to make him happy. However, over 40 years ago he was known for playing the handsome, quick witted Charlie Croker in the 1969 film The Italian Job. Directed by Peter Collinson and starring Michael Caine, Benny Hill and Noel Coward comes a classic British gangster movie that avoids the typically violent stereotypes the genre holds. Outright it is a mobster movie, about a ‘job’ in Italy involving stealing $4 million worth of gold, but its much more than just that, it blends slapstick comedy and true British wit to create a hilarious account of a group of men attempting to outsmart Italian police and Mafia.

The story goes like this. A man called Roger is driving a very fancy Lamborghini around the Italian Alps to the tune of “On Days Like These” by Matt Monro. He looks very suave with a cigarette hanging from his mouth and sunglasses on. He them drives into a tunnel and crashes into a digger which then lifts his car up and throws it over the side of the road, and its tumbles down the mountainside like a discarded toy.  We learn that this man was going to be carrying out a job in Italy and the Mafia found out, thus being the ones that killed him. This job is then passed on to the fresh out of prison Charlie Croker, who undertakes it with a motley crew of fellow mobsters. They have to intervene a convoy of vehicles, one of which is carrying the $4 million worth of gold, they devise a plan of causing a traffic jam right around the time the England V Italy football match is happening, with the help of a bus, three souped up Mini’s and Camp Freddie they manage to pull it off. However, their celebrations in the bus go awry when the driver swerves and the bus ends up hanging half off the cliff. The balance being the men against the huge pile of gold. Left open for the possibility of a sequel, we don’t actually find out what happens next, all we hear is Michael Caine say ‘Hang on lads, I’ve got a great idea”.

As much as the story of The Italian Job is greatly executed and the writing is sharp and strong, I think that the real success of the film comes in the form of

Michael Caine’s, Charlie Croker. He is first introduced to us as he leaves prison. He makes passing remarks to guards as he leaves and his swagger demonstrates that his time in prison has not been of a bother to him at all. We are then shown Charlie’s lifestyle involving sports cars and lots of attractive women, the lifestyle of a notorious criminal. His authority is honored and adhered to, and his reputation isn’t exaggerated, he is an expert at what he does and he makes sure his mobsters know who is the boss. He’s a loveable character and when he is confronted by the Mafia bus upon arrival in Italy and his Aston Martin is pushed off a cliff, he doesn’t show sadness or anger, instead he smoothly tells the Mafia boss if anything happens to him, then every Italian living in England would suffer. Calmly he walks away, and you know that he isn’t afraid of anything, he’s Charlie Croker.  The definitive British Mobster.

It goes without saying that the rest of the cast, with the exception of Croker’s girlfriend Lorna played by Maggie Blye, were exceptional in supporting Caine. Benny Hill as the mad Professor Peach enabled you to laugh out loud and feel quite disgusted at the same time. His infatuation with large middle aged women and eating cigars made him an unforgettable character despite the small role he played.  Noel Coward was equally as impressive as Mr. Bridger, the big time Mobster lock up in prison. He speaks with perfect eloquence, is obsessed with The Queen and has high status amongst prisoners and civilians alike. If he ever needed to get out of prison to do some business, he would ‘arrange a funeral’ which would allow him his day release. Never lifting a finger and barely even raising his voice, he’s a man to be feared and his character is the perfect counterpoint to Caine’s Croker.  Little can be said however for Croker’s little madam Lorna, who’s character was annoying, badly acted and I couldn’t help but breathe a large sigh of relief when Croker packed her off to Geneva before the Job.

Nevertheless, The Italian Job was highly entertaining, and even though it was poorly received in the States and received only 1 award nomination it is widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest films. I shall refrain from talking about the travesty that was the remake, but let me say one thing, it certainly proved America’s distaste for the original seeing as they completely butchered it and slapped Mark Wahlberg’s face all over it.  

 

There’s much more to Michael Caine than a kindly old man, Alfie, Get Carter, and even more recently Harry Brown proves that he is a classic British actor and playing a London Mobster is definitely his forte. All the while, no matter how many people he kills, how many illegal abortions he oversees and how much gold he may steel, he has a cheeky twinkle in his eye and a spring in his step. The Italian Job is a fantastic film, carried by an amazing lead proving that you don’t need a driving license to triumph in a film about cars.

Final Line:

“Hang on Lads, I’ve got a great idea” – Charlie Croker.

The Third Man (1949)

- Contains Spoilers -

I love a good mystery film, Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps is my all time favourite film noir mystery. Up until now that is. Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a masterpiece in executing the perfect murder mystery story. 

Released in 1949 shortly after the Second World War, and alongside Samson and Delilah, Pinky and All The Kings Men, it was a competitive year for film. However, The Third Man won an Academy Award for best Cinematography and a BAFTA for best film.  Joseph L Mankiewicz scooped the Academy Award for best Director from Reed for All About Eve.

The opening credits familiarize us with the films theme tune. A quaint, Italian sounding melody plucked out on the strings of a zither, to which the credits literally roll over. We are then given a fast paced, narrated opening few shots explaining the history of Vienna, that Russians, Americans, British and the French occupied some parts.  This opener reminded me of Jason Reitman’s film Up In The Air, which employed a similar technique in quickly rallying through important information to get to the good stuff. It would be no surprise that an American Director like Reitman would be influenced so heavily by Reed, as the film is inspiring to any young director watching it at any age.

We are then introduced to our main character, Holly Martins, an American writer specialising in Westerns. We learn he is looking for a man called Harry Lime, whom we almost instantaneously discover has recently died by being hit by a car.  At his funeral we are shown the face of Anna Shmidt, a character we will later discover was Lime’s lover. Martin’s is unconvinced Lime’s death was as innocent as the police thought and takes its upon himself to solve the mystery of why he was murdered. Through talking to various witnesses, friends and the two men who dragged Lime’s body to the side of the road he discovers there was a mysterious Third Man at the scene of the crime. Some of his witnesses swear he was there, and others say there were only two men at the scene. This mystery develops and upon taking his evidence to the police, another sinister element of the story is unveiled. Lime was illegally stealing penicillin from the local hospitals with the help of Doctor Herbiger, watering it down and selling to people in need of it, helping with the penicillin shortage of the time. However, this act ended up killing hundreds of innocent people, including children, but Lime’s carried on with his dark medical work unconcerned for the safety of his users.

Lime was a wanted man, so his death would have seemed like an act of revenge form someone related to this crime. Case solved right? Not quite. Reed has another trick up his sleeve. Martins visits Anna at her home and meets her cat, who, she informs us, only ever liked Harry. The cat jumps out the window and strolls off into the night. We see it approach at a pair of very smart shoes worn by a smartly dressed man, shrouded in shadow. The cat starts purring and meowing at this stranger. Harry Lime.  He is alive, having replaced his body with that of Doctor Herbiger and disappearing into the sewers.  Cue the films incredible finale, a chase in the sewers between Lime, Martins and the Police. Completely soundtrack free, the tensions are created through shadows creeping and racing on the walls. An intense scene, demonstrating pure film noir style, culminating in Lime’s actual death.

The final scene of the film is at the funeral of Lime’s, like the beginning, we see Anna. Martins and Anna developed somewhat of a relationship while working together, however, Martins traded Anna’s freedom from the Russian occupied part of Vienna for his knowledge on the whereabouts of her lover Lime. So he wasn’t exactly in her good books as she walked down a long tree lined road, dead in the centre of it. Martins is waiting for her at the end and you think this is it, the happy, Hollywood ending. She’ll walk over to him, they’ll apologize to each other, kiss, make up and walk off into the sunset together. Wrong, she walks straight past him.

The Third Man is a fantastic film, and uses some interesting cinematic techniques in unraveling its complicated plot. One of which being that Martin’s doesn’t speak German so doesn’t understand what people are telling him. He relies on various people around him to translate, so him and we have to trust that what is being said is the truth as there are no subtitles for us. This adds to the constant guessing and doubting of the various suspects we meet along the way.  As do the jarring camera angles as some scenes are shot with a heavily tilted camera, unsettling the flow of the film, making you really pay attention to those scenes. In true Film Noir style, everyone is a suspect and Reed employs various methods to make us think this, placing people in odd situations, introducing characters by showing the slicing chicken with a gigantic knife and linking people together tenuously.  I didn’t think Lime would still be alive, however, the films most famous actor Orson Welles hadn’t been on screen yet, so I assumed he would be Lime but thought his scenes would be those of a flashback explaining the story in a Jonathon Creek kind of way.

Carol Reed and Graham Greene created an amazing world, complicated by lots of different characters and sub-stories linking into the main narrative, but they succeed in delivering this narrative in an easy to follow manner. You know who each person is when you see them, so you don’t spend the whole time trying to figure out what’s going on, you are guessing and working out who the third man is, just like Holly Martins.  Orson Welles delivers the character of Harry Limes with enviable ease and charm, making him almost likeable despite his child killing, penicillin offcut. The moment in the film, which emphasised the hidden evil lying within Harry Lime, was when he was on the Ferris wheel with Martins. He pointed to the people below and described them as dots. He asked Martins if he was offered $20’000 for each dot that just stopped, how many dots would he feel he could stop. He is insinuating that he got paid a lot of money for a dose of his illegal, murderous penicillin and instead of stopping when he found out it was killing people, he tried to see how many more people he could kill, thus how much more money he could make from it. A darkly scripted scene, disguised by a friendly Ferris wheel and a sunny day.

As mystery, film noir goes this has to be up there with the best of them. It is flawless, confident and stunning to watch. The narrative is carried by its main actors Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles and Alida Valli, each of which delivered their characters perfectly, allowing us to feel sympathy towards the right people and suspect others.  I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good mystery film without being pounded by the Hollywood half naked women, big guns, explosions and cringe-worthy one liners. The Third Man is executed simply with fine acting, a beautiful script and stunning camerawork. What else should you need?

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)

Being born in the 80's meant I missed out on the age of the Western. John Wayne, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood were just names to me, and the premise of Cowboys and Indians remained in my childhood stories. It wasn’t until recently I decided to quench my ignorance of such a beautiful genre and delve into the world of the Western, having grown tired of the small amount of Westerns my generation has to offer.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is no exception to the wonder this genre holds. Winning multiple awards and currently holding the record for the most BAFTA’s one by a single film, it is a perfect example of a feel good Western. Released in 1969 alongside Midnight Cowboy, True Grit and Easy Rider, amongst others, it was an interesting 42nd Academy Awards, with Midnight Cowboy winning best film and John Wayne finally getting his Oscar for True Grit. 

After an opening credit sequence showing an old film reel rattling through the story of Butch Cassidy, we are taken to a sepia toned blackjack game. The Sundance Kid is the main focus of the scene, and the camera stays firmly on him even though other people are talking and moving in and out of the frame. This prolonged focus allows us to analyse him, watch him and get to know his face as one of our protagonists. Its not until Butch, who we briefly saw enter the room, crouches down beside him does the camera shift focus and follow him around the room. Instantly, we know the other people in the room are not important and the only two worth our attention are Butch and The Sundance Kid. We are launched into a colourful passing of time as the two men galavant through the Western lands on their horses. These young, attractive ‘bandits’ love robbing trains and banks, but when the police start getting a bit to close for comfort the decide to flea to Bolivia with Spanish speaking Mrs. Sundance Kid, Etta, in tow. Upon arrival, they start robbing banks again to get cash and live a life of luxury but the law catches up on them again, resulting in their unfortunate demise.

A simple story, executed with style, Butch Cassidy uses photo and musical montages to propel the story, the most famous being when Butch romantically cycles around with Etta on his handle bars to B.J. Thomas’s ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head’.  The previous scene and this one define our characters perfectly, based on their relationships with Etta. Previously we see The Sundance Kid – her current partner – sinisterly telling her to take off her clothes while he wryly points a gun at her, even though a non threatening act, its an uneasy exchange between two lovers. His dark nature, sly attitude and short temper makes his counterpart look like a saint. Butch is quick witted, charming and handsome. If he wasn’t a criminal he would be the perfect man, as demonstrated in the bicycle scene with Etta, where she turns to him at the end and says "Do you ever wonder if i'd met you first, we'd be the ones to get involved?"

The characters of Butch and the Sundance Kid are constructed with precision, whereby bouncing each one off of the other develops their characteristics. These characters are what’s important, the story is neither here nor there, two criminals on the run with a pretty woman in tow. What makes the film so fantastic is the friendship Butch and The Sundance Kid share. We know nothing of their background, and neither do they. He was Butch’s number 1 in The Hole In The Wall Gang, and after the rest of the gang members were killed, Butch showed no remorse or sadness, because he only cares about The Sundance Kid. Their loyalty to one an other and their differing approaches to robbing banks – Butch with his sharp wit and cunning sensibilities and The Sundance Kid with his ruthless quick draw and remorseless attitude toward murder - makes them the perfect criminal duo.

Unfortunately, my generation doesn't have a great deal to offer in terms of a Western. The best one by far being The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) ,which in my opinion encompasses all that is required, generically, of a good Western. All be it a serious and threatening piece of cinema, it kept me thoroughly entertained for its 160 minute duration. Don’t get me wrong, No Country For Old Men (2007), There Will be Blood (2007) and True Grit (2010) are great films, but again, they are so serious, sometimes frightening. I am eagerly awaiting Tarantino’s latest conquest in the form of Django, I’m hopeful that he will inject some humor back into the genre.

Nevertheless, the classic Westerns of the 60's and 70's are entertainment enough for me, with Butch Cassidy paving the way for a comedic attitude towards Westerns which brings us to the hilarious Blazing Saddles (1974) the ultimate Western spoof movie, which draws from Butch Cassidy mainly in the form of The Waco Kid, played by Gene Wilder, who is "The fastest hands in the West", an obvious homage to the quick draw Sundance Kid of 5 years previous. 

Whether you like the Western genre of not, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, is a must watch for anyone. Having aged brilliantly, and still as witty and sharp as the day it was released, it is a timeless classic. Pure entertainment from start to finish, challenging standard cinematic methods of the time and delivering a menial narrative with great delight. There really is no one wonder it  has gone down in film history.

Credits
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)
Directed by George Roy Hill
Starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross.