The much-anticipated remake of the Henry Hathaway-helmed John Wayne film of 1969. I have heard that the Coen Brothers' adaptation followed the original book more closely than the Wayne film; I haven't had the pleasure of reading the novel, but I can happily report that the new film is very close to its cinematic forebear, both in precise lines of dialogue and overall story.
The female lead is younger here---she's only supposed to be 14---and there is some extra stuff in act two, and an extended coda at the film's end, which I can only assume were part of the novel.
...So if you've seen the original, there won't be much here that will surprise you---personally, I found the dialogue brilliant in the Wayne version, and the reading here is also very effective: hugely entertaining and frequently quite wry and funny.
Performances all round are excellent: The young lady who plays Maddie Ross is very good, Matt Damon in the Glen Campbell role of LeBoeuf (the Texas Ranger), Barry Pepper in Robert Duvall's role as "Lucky Ned" Pepper (ironic they share the same last name!), and Josh Brolin as "The Coward Tom Chaney" B-) Pepper and Brolin's parts are little more than cameos, but they make the most of their climactic scenes. But naturally it's the great Jeff Bridges who owns this version, just as the Duke owned the original. Bridges' Rooster Cogburn is just as funny, in his own way, as Wayne's---but Bridges comes off as a little more haunted, detached---and deadly dangerous. Clearly, Bridges loves working with the Coens, and they him.
The Coen Brothers need to do more westerns. The milieu suits them---and they treat the material with the reverence it deserves. The Loeffelholz boys---Loeff Jr and Loeff III---and I had just seen the original last week, and I'm glad we did. My sons give Wayne's version the slight ege...but I'm not 100% sure of that myself. I want to see it again. At 110 minutes, it is a perfect length for the story.
A very solid 4 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended.
Rooster: "I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?"
Pepper: "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."
Rooster: "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"
B-)
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Rooster: "I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?"
Pepper: "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."
Rooster: "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"
B-)
It's all there in the new one---that last line is my sons' favourite -{
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I had been snippy about Tyrone Power in The Black Swan, a pirate movie, so Alex recommended this. It's an excellent film, and Power is easily as good as Flynn, though too thick set in one dance scene. It's a knock-off of The Adventures of Robin Hood really, and this becomes more apparent as the film goes on, but is none the worse for that. You even have the fat irascible priest back and Basil Rathbone as a sword-wielding villainous type. Rathbone is such a watchable actor, and while he doesn't have great range exactly, he's wholly different when he's a goodie or a villain. We had one of his Homes movies on beforehand and although he looks just the same, he's different! His suspicious look takes on a whole different meaning when he's the bad guy, it's sort of snake like.
Otherwise the film is similar to The Scarlet Pimpernel in that our hero pretends to be fey and foppish to throw his family of the scent of what he gets up to undercover. The leading lady, Linda Parnell, is very watchable. The femme fetale type, her manner must have been filched by the actress who played Bibi, the predatory agent in the US sitcom Frasier. In fact, the peformances all round are wonderful.
There's a framed picture of Linda Darnel above my bookshelf. Shinga! :x
By the way, thanks to Barry and Napoleon for recommending Against All Flags.. It's a winner. I love when Errol lectures Maureen on the proper behaviour of society women. Kind of like My Fair Lady but without the singing.
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas star in this western from 1967. John Wayne is just out of jail, why he was in jail isn't clear, but apparently he managed to have his large property swindled from him and get falsely sent to jail by Mr. Pierce. To make Wayne even madder, Pierce has discovered gold on the property and is becoming a very rich man. To transport the gold from the mine, Pierce has built a "war wagon", a steel plated stage coach complete with Gatling gun. To get some revenge Wayne enlists the help of Lomax, a gun fighter and ladies man, played by Kirk Douglas, and three other individuals to steal a shipment of gold valued at $500,000.
I enjoyed the movie, as I do most John Wayne movies, it had a lot of typical western elements including a big bar room brawl, a rich guy who owns the local law enforcement, and Indians who are unhappy with the white man. Kirk Douglas adds a lot of charm to the film, I read that Director Burt Kennedy gave up half of his salary to have Douglas in the film, it was a wise move. The film is not without its faults, far too many shots of the war wagon and the outriders that accompany it roaring through dust and a script that makes the Native Americans out to be rather foolish people. But, the charm of Wayne and Douglas overcome those small issues making this an entertaining movie. Recommend.
I watched "The Alamo" with John Wayne last night. Having not seen the film for nearly six years now, I was quite surprised that it was actually longer than I remembered. When I saw John get his in the climatic battle however, I thought he hasn't learnt his lesson; He's still attracted to that pole! ) So some things never change.
Little Fockers. I was in no hurry to see this one, but Hardygirl wanted to see it, and what HG wants, HG gets. My poor lady ended up disappointed, and no wonder: this is a virtually laugh-free comedy that seems to have been written as various stars were signed up. "Hey--we got Laura Dern for a couple of scenes. I know--we'll have a sub-plot where they're going to enroll the kids in this elite private school, and Laura can be the principal!" "Harvey Keitel's up for a cameo--let's make him a contractor who's behind on finishing Greg's house. This is hilarious!" Babs Streisand is hardly in it and Dustin Hoffmann gets even less time--but their characters have no function in the plot at all. See this only if you've waited years to see Robert DeNiro make a pup-tent.
Superior Hammer film. Christopher Lee's Dracula isn't actually in this, but there's another character who is much the same - Baron Heimster or something, so it's no loss. Scary to see Martita 'Is she not pretty, Pip?' Hunt as one of the evil characters, though there are scrambled sympathies actually. Peter Cushing turns up, lending authority with his Van Helsig turn. That said, there's a bit of confusion here for me, as Cushing is very similiar to Basil Rathbone, who in turn was in Son of Frankenstein, and there's a climax at an old mill which is like that of the first Frankenstein movie. I was watching this one late at night. Some confusion over vampire lore; why does Cushing wait until night to go after them, when he could catch them unawares asleep during the day and just kill them? Also, a really ropey bat fluttering around - in defiance of ajb'er Alex, I would suggest redoing that with CGI, it would make it less laughable.
All the same, some very chilling moments in this and I enjoyed it a lot.
Just watch the Green Hornet, Quite enjoyed it. Although I never quite warmed to Seth Rogen at times he seems to be a little too slapstick.But the action sequences are first class.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Superior Hammer film. Christopher Lee's Dracula isn't actually in this, but there's another character who is much the same - Baron Heimster or something, so it's no loss. Scary to see Martita 'Is she not pretty, Pip?' Hunt as one of the evil characters, though there are scrambled sympathies actually. Peter Cushing turns up, lending authority with his Van Helsig turn. That said, there's a bit of confusion here for me, as Cushing is very similiar to Basil Rathbone, who in turn was in Son of Frankenstein, and there's a climax at an old mill which is like that of the first Frankenstein movie. I was watching this one late at night. Some confusion over vampire lore; why does Cushing wait until night to go after them, when he could catch them unawares asleep during the day and just kill them? Also, a really ropey bat fluttering around - in defiance of ajb'er Alex, I would suggest redoing that with CGI, it would make it less laughable.
All the same, some very chilling moments in this and I enjoyed it a lot.
Probably my favourite Hammer film. The little old lady who cackles at the young woman when she finds out that the Baron has been set free scared the s**t out of me when I was a kid Great old-school vampire fun, plot holes and all.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Just watch the Green Hornet, Quite enjoyed it. Although I never quite warmed to Seth Rogen at times he seems to be a little too slapstick.But the action sequences are first class.
The boys and I will probably be going to see this one today...I wish it had been treated more seriously, but my affection for the character (radio, 60s TV show and comic book) is such that I'll see it regardless. Review to follow...
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
all I have to say is that did NOT turn out like they made it seem in the trailers.
SO worth the watch $6.50 (matinée!!!), though.
Wow, interesting choice Pen..... and I always like it when you go see a movie, that turns out nothing like the trailers - and all the better for it....
I watched Casino Royale last night - the only thing missing were the Vespers (ran out of Smirnoff, and I always make one, or rather several..... when Bond orders one during the poker game) however, it's QoS tonight, and I've stocked up on the Vodka!
Can't wait -{
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
Wow, interesting choice Pen..... and I always like it when you go see a movie, that turns out nothing like the trailers - and all the better for it....
my room-mate/friend wanted to go see it a second time because she'd missed the first three minutes or something, and wanted to see them...so she dragged me along :P
good god...what a powerful movie. and of course, there was Vincent Cassel :x
good god...what a powerful movie. and of course, there was Vincent Cassel :x
I'm due to go see a movie with a friend in the next few weeks, and we are debating what to see...I'm for 'The Kings Speech' - and she wants to see '127 hours' (not my choice at all). But, I might just add this into the mix....
It doesn't open here till the 21st - but I really like Natalie Portman, and you know Vincent Cassel is not hard on the eye - thanks for the idea -{
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
"The Green Hornet"
Okay. Wow. What a mixed bag. As I've said previously, I'm a fan of ol' GH from the original radio show...the classic '60s TV show with Van Williams and Bruce Lee, and the more recent, all-too-brief run in comics. What a great concept for a character. What a great concept for a feature film...I find out there's one in the pipeline, and I'm thrilled. It was like I felt back in the '80s when I heard Batman was going to go big.
...And then Seth Rogen gets attached to it, in a big way. Co-wrote the script, co-produced it, etc. Damn.
My boys wanted to go see it...and in all truth, so did I---just to see where they went with it. We caught a 4:20 pm matinee showing today. And we had fun, to be sure.
It's an origin story, natch, with good action stuff (Bond veteran Vic Armstrong on 2nd unit/stunt coordinator duty---hope they hire him back for #23!!) and some great actors: Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos...and the brilliant Christoph (Inglourious Basterds) Waltz slumming as a Los Angeles crime czar who chews up the scenery in enjoyable fashion. Britt Reid (Rogen) inherits the Daily Sentinel, the last independent, family-owned newspaper in Los Angeles when
...his dad, played by Tom Wilkinson, dies suddenly.
He meets Kato (Jay Chou), an incredibly talented employee (mechanic, inventor, weapons expert, martial artist) of his father's, and the two of them hatch a booze-fueled plan to become crime fighters. As I said, it's a mixed bag: it seems the source material is treated, alternately, with reverence...and then it is casually shat upon, and then we're treated once again to something cool. Clearly Rogen is a fan of the character, and wanted to be Britt Reid...and he does have an isolated moment or two. I just wish someone like, say, Henry Cavill had been given this shot---and I'd gotten a shot at the script instead -{
Great iconic images: the principals in their masks, a truly awesome Black Beauty, gadgets, gunfire, etc---and then Rogen can't seem to resist being himself. Can't blame him, I guess; he's built a career on it! Cameron Diaz seems an afterthought here, except that her character manages to provide the brains in this one, where Britt Reid himself did back in the day X-(
Still and all...much of the plot works, at least until Act 3, when---as is too often the case---the wheels come off the wagon. People who don't know the character will probably enjoy it. My boys loved it. I had some fun with it, but was dogged throughout with thoughts of what might have been.
A marginal recommend, as IMO this Hornet beats no Hornet at all. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Watched a film called "The Big Man" that I recorded on the Freeview box a couple of nights back. Released in 1990, the film focusses on an out of work Scottish miner played by Liam Neeson who agrees to help an underworld boss fight his rival's big man. Also stars Billy Connolly as Neeson's arsehole of a friend. Really great film but leaves you glad that you're not involved in that type of fighting.
Watched 'Grand Duel', a 1972 spaghetti western starring Lee van Cleef. As I expected, the star basically had to carry the film. With spag westerns you have Sergio Leone at the top of the heap, then a big gap and then everybody else. This is a very low grade film, but I found it to be a perfectly good 90 minutes of entertainment. This film came late in the spaghetti western cycle of the 60s/70s, but it bears all the hallmarks of the classic early films. There is obviously a lot of influence from Leone, and also little references to other westerns - I noticed a nod to Stagecoach in particular. The first half of the film appears as pretty standard spaghetti fare, then in the second half we get a few interesting twists - a gay villain, and some very nice noirish flashback scenes. Another thing the film has going for it is a very good score by Luis Bacalov (which was used by Tarantino in Kill Bill 1). It lends the right atmosphere to the film, making us sure in no uncertain terms that we are in an Italian western.
An interesting Bond connection is Marc Mazza who plays one of the villains. He was seen in Moonraker as one of the technicians who get gassed in Drax's Venice lab. Amusingly, he seems to only have one expression - the same agonised grimace he wore when dying a horrible death in Venice. Every sentence he speaks seems to end with this expression!
Whilst not a classic, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys their westerns with a large helping of spaghetti...
Tried watching Nightmare On Elm Street remake, needless to say it was turned off halfway because it was considerably worse then the original (as expected)
Around the time of Hadrian's wall a small group of Romans led by Michael Fassbender are trapped behind enemy lines. They have good reason to worry, as their Pictish pursuers are led by by Olga Kurlyenko, a devil she wolf incarnate! She is also mute which lends to her aura.
This movie made me feel like headbutting somebody. Marshall should have directed the new Conan. The Brits know how to make great historical pictures. Watched it in blu-ray and those majestic snow covered mountains! Oh my.
You find some interesting movies, Alex. Anyway, the last flick I saw, courtesy Netflix, was Predators. Oh my. Is Adrien Brody hellbent on becoming the actor with the worst possible post-Oscar career? This is just a retread of the original Schwarzenegger flick, with nothing new, cliched characters, and dialogue by some hack who apparently thinks having people say the "f-word" as many times possible counts as wit and realism. As for Brody, he speaks throughout in a harsh whisper, less conjuring toughness than Clint Eastwood with a sore throat. This one doesn't even have laugh value to recommend it.
Near as I can figure, Leonardo DiCaprio is a corporate spy who has the ability to invade your dreams. In an attempt to clear some misdeed from his past, and return to his kids, he agrees to try and manipulate the dream of a corporate leaders son. To do this, he has to plant his thought in to the other guy's dream, something that has never been done. While he and his team are in the dream. they have to create another dream, and while in that one they have to create another one, this continues until they are about four layers deep into dreams and you don't know what is real and what isn't.
The film at times reminded me of The Matrix and at times it even has a little Bond feel straight from OHMSS. While watching the film I spent more time than usual trying to figure out what was going on, is it a dream or not, if it is a dream whose dream is it, what happened in the past that has Leonardo so confused and distraught. I usually don't care for films where you don't know what is real and what is a dream, but the story here is very compelling, the cinematography outstanding and the performances are so good that despite the confusion I felt at times, I still enjoyed the film.
A large and excellent cast includes Leonardo who is very good as usual, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Leonardo's partner, Marion Cottilard is mysterious and sexy as DiCaprio's wife, and Ellen Page is excellent as Araidne, a college student who agrees to help design the dreams and knows many of Leonardo's secrets. The set design, special effects and cinematography are all first rate and I would expect to see some Academy nominations in those categories.
I can recommend the film, but be prepared to be challenged.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
Near as I can figure, Leonardo DiCaprio is a corporate spy who has the ability to invade your dreams. In an attempt to clear some misdeed from his past, and return to his kids, he agrees to try and manipulate the dream of a corporate leaders son. To do this, he has to plant his thought in to the other guy's dream, something that has never been done. While he and his team are in the dream. they have to create another dream, and while in that one they have to create another one, this continues until they are about four layers deep into dreams and you don't know what is real and what isn't.
The film at times reminded me of The Matrix and at times it even has a little Bond feel straight from OHMSS. While watching the film I spent more time than usual trying to figure out what was going on, is it a dream or not, if it is a dream whose dream is it, what happened in the past that has Leonardo so confused and distraught. I usually don't care for films where you don't know what is real and what is a dream, but the story here is very compelling, the cinematography outstanding and the performances are so good that despite the confusion I felt at times, I still enjoyed the film.
A large and excellent cast includes Leonardo who is very good as usual, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Leonardo's partner, Marion Cottilard is mysterious and sexy as DiCaprio's wife, and Ellen Page is excellent as Araidne, a college student who agrees to help design the dreams and knows many of Leonardo's secrets. The set design, special effects and cinematography are all first rate and I would expect to see some Academy nominations in those categories.
I can recommend the film, but be prepared to be challenged.
I enjoyed it as well, Barry---my boys (finally) got a PS3 from Santa, and this one was the first Blu-Ray I've ever owned; a good choice as far as I'm concerned. Really, really good---immersive even as it confounds. Talk about a balancing act! Christopher Nolan is really painting with oils, it seems, whilst many of his commercial contemporaries are still trying to master watercolours B-)
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,707MI6 Agent
Near as I can figure, Leonardo DiCaprio is a corporate spy who has the ability to invade your dreams. In an attempt to clear some misdeed from his past, and return to his kids, he agrees to try and manipulate the dream of a corporate leaders son. To do this, he has to plant his thought in to the other guy's dream, something that has never been done. While he and his team are in the dream. they have to create another dream, and while in that one they have to create another one, this continues until they are about four layers deep into dreams and you don't know what is real and what isn't.
The film at times reminded me of The Matrix and at times it even has a little Bond feel straight from OHMSS. While watching the film I spent more time than usual trying to figure out what was going on, is it a dream or not, if it is a dream whose dream is it, what happened in the past that has Leonardo so confused and distraught. I usually don't care for films where you don't know what is real and what is a dream, but the story here is very compelling, the cinematography outstanding and the performances are so good that despite the confusion I felt at times, I still enjoyed the film.
A large and excellent cast includes Leonardo who is very good as usual, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Leonardo's partner, Marion Cottilard is mysterious and sexy as DiCaprio's wife, and Ellen Page is excellent as Araidne, a college student who agrees to help design the dreams and knows many of Leonardo's secrets. The set design, special effects and cinematography are all first rate and I would expect to see some Academy nominations in those categories.
I can recommend the film, but be prepared to be challenged.
This movie is quite confusing. May I suggest watching it again. This time though pay special attention to Dom Cobbs hand. Watch for his wedding ring. Sometimes he has it on, sometimes he doesn't. This might help you. It might not. Good luck.
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
I just watched the John Ford classic My Darling Clementine (1946).
An excellent telling of the Wyatt Earp legend, including the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. I have now seen three versions of this story - the others being Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993). Henry Fonda's portrayal is my favourite cinematic Wyatt thus far. I wish there was a way to combine Fonda's Earp with Val Kilmer's excellent Doc Holliday from Tombstone. As usual with John Ford we get a spectacular visual experience with Monument Valley scenery. The Wyatt Earp story is compelling as always and the craftmanship of the film was excellent. A first rate Western.
I also have the 1994 Lawrence Kasdan film, Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner, sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched. It will be interesting to see how this compares. I have heard very mixed reviews, so I look forward to making my own mind up!
All I can say is, it was an absolutely brilliant adaptation of the true story of His Majesty King George VI and his speech impediment, so he enlists a speech pathologist to help him overcome that problem. The interaction and the chemistry between Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth was just amazing. I loved every minute of this movie.
I just watched the John Ford classic My Darling Clementine (1946).
An excellent telling of the Wyatt Earp legend, including the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. I have now seen three versions of this story - the others being Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993). Henry Fonda's portrayal is my favourite cinematic Wyatt thus far. I wish there was a way to combine Fonda's Earp with Val Kilmer's excellent Doc Holliday from Tombstone. As usual with John Ford we get a spectacular visual experience with Monument Valley scenery. The Wyatt Earp story is compelling as always and the craftmanship of the film was excellent. A first rate Western.
I also have the 1994 Lawrence Kasdan film, Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner, sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched. It will be interesting to see how this compares. I have heard very mixed reviews, so I look forward to making my own mind up!
I've never seen the John Ford 'version' of the gunfight at the OK Corral. I'll have to check it out. Of the three others, I always list Kurt Russell's 93 film as my favorite. Growing and living in Tucson, and having visited nearby Tombstone many times, I always felt the '93 film seemed the most 'authentic' despite the fact that it seemed a bit melodramatic at moments. Much of the filming of Tombstone was done locally, which really makes the texture of the film much more accurate.
Kasdan's film is good too, but Earp's Tombstone days are really only a small part of the story. The film, as the title suggests, focuses on Earp's entire life, which in itself makes for a unique and enjoyable departure from the many other Wyatt Earp films out there. I remember an interview with Kasdan when the film was released. He said the film was so long (about 4 hours) that he talked about splitting it into two films, or risk having fewer showings per theater. Cooler heads prevailed and Kasdan chopped it down to a more manageable length (which, as I recall, was still clocking in at about three hours!)
I've never seen the John Ford 'version' of the gunfight at the OK Corral. I'll have to check it out. Of the three others, I always list Kurt Russell's 93 film as my favorite. Growing and living in Tucson, and having visited nearby Tombstone many times, I always felt the '93 film seemed the most 'authentic' despite the fact that it seemed a bit melodramatic at moments. Much of the filming of Tombstone was done locally, which really makes the texture of the film much more accurate.
Kasdan's film is good too, but Earp's Tombstone days are really only a small part of the story. The film, as the title suggests, focuses on Earp's entire life, which in itself makes for a unique and enjoyable departure from the many other Wyatt Earp films out there. I remember an interview with Kasdan when the film was released. He said the film was so long (about 4 hours) that he talked about splitting it into two films, or risk having fewer showings per theater. Cooler heads prevailed and Kasdan chopped it down to a more manageable length (which, as I recall, was still clocking in at about three hours!)
I also heard that they thought of making Wyatt Earp as a mini-series.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit your part of the world sometime Darenhat! I would love to visit some of the iconic Western locations such as Tombstone, and of course Monument Valley as well.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
The erudition of the Loeffelholz Boys continues, as---fueled by our mutual enjoyment of the Red Dead Redemption PS3 game they got for Christmas---we give a close look to classic westerns...focusing on the one and only John Wayne...
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
Sheer perfection from John Ford in 1962: The Duke, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, Edmund O'Brien, Lee Van Cleef, John Carradine, Strother Martin. The boys were blown away by the quality of the story.
"The Searchers"
More perfection from Ford in 1956: The Duke, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ken Curtis...and a very lovely young Natalie Wood. The boys are now officially in awe of the classic western...as well they ought to be.
[It's funny: we started out watching True Grit, the Henry Hathaway film from 1969...we're watching John Wayne get younger. I'm going to go deliberately backward from here, visiting the Cavalry trilogy in reverse, and then back to Stagecoach in 1939, and then Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail from 1930. Then we'll move forward again, picking up several we missed the first time through, like Red River, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Cowboys...and finally finish up with the Duke's swan song, The Shootist, from 1977 B-) ]
Last night, due to time constraints, we checked out
"High Noon"
An 85 minute-long classic from 1952 starring the great Gary Cooper and the smooooookin' hot Grace Kelly---along with Lloyd Bridge, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr. and Lee Van Cleef...the classic story of a stubbornly good man left with a tough job to do, nobody with enough stones to help him...and perhaps the greatest use of the 'ticking clock' motif in the history of film...
Yep. Havin' fun. My John Wayne impression, long-neglected, is getting better B-)
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Comments
Pepper: "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man."
Rooster: "Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!"
B-)
It's all there in the new one---that last line is my sons' favourite -{
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I had been snippy about Tyrone Power in The Black Swan, a pirate movie, so Alex recommended this. It's an excellent film, and Power is easily as good as Flynn, though too thick set in one dance scene. It's a knock-off of The Adventures of Robin Hood really, and this becomes more apparent as the film goes on, but is none the worse for that. You even have the fat irascible priest back and Basil Rathbone as a sword-wielding villainous type. Rathbone is such a watchable actor, and while he doesn't have great range exactly, he's wholly different when he's a goodie or a villain. We had one of his Homes movies on beforehand and although he looks just the same, he's different! His suspicious look takes on a whole different meaning when he's the bad guy, it's sort of snake like.
Otherwise the film is similar to The Scarlet Pimpernel in that our hero pretends to be fey and foppish to throw his family of the scent of what he gets up to undercover. The leading lady, Linda Parnell, is very watchable. The femme fetale type, her manner must have been filched by the actress who played Bibi, the predatory agent in the US sitcom Frasier. In fact, the peformances all round are wonderful.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
There's a framed picture of Linda Darnel above my bookshelf. Shinga! :x
By the way, thanks to Barry and Napoleon for recommending Against All Flags.. It's a winner. I love when Errol lectures Maureen on the proper behaviour of society women. Kind of like My Fair Lady but without the singing.
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas star in this western from 1967. John Wayne is just out of jail, why he was in jail isn't clear, but apparently he managed to have his large property swindled from him and get falsely sent to jail by Mr. Pierce. To make Wayne even madder, Pierce has discovered gold on the property and is becoming a very rich man. To transport the gold from the mine, Pierce has built a "war wagon", a steel plated stage coach complete with Gatling gun. To get some revenge Wayne enlists the help of Lomax, a gun fighter and ladies man, played by Kirk Douglas, and three other individuals to steal a shipment of gold valued at $500,000.
I enjoyed the movie, as I do most John Wayne movies, it had a lot of typical western elements including a big bar room brawl, a rich guy who owns the local law enforcement, and Indians who are unhappy with the white man. Kirk Douglas adds a lot of charm to the film, I read that Director Burt Kennedy gave up half of his salary to have Douglas in the film, it was a wise move. The film is not without its faults, far too many shots of the war wagon and the outriders that accompany it roaring through dust and a script that makes the Native Americans out to be rather foolish people. But, the charm of Wayne and Douglas overcome those small issues making this an entertaining movie. Recommend.
Superior Hammer film. Christopher Lee's Dracula isn't actually in this, but there's another character who is much the same - Baron Heimster or something, so it's no loss. Scary to see Martita 'Is she not pretty, Pip?' Hunt as one of the evil characters, though there are scrambled sympathies actually. Peter Cushing turns up, lending authority with his Van Helsig turn. That said, there's a bit of confusion here for me, as Cushing is very similiar to Basil Rathbone, who in turn was in Son of Frankenstein, and there's a climax at an old mill which is like that of the first Frankenstein movie. I was watching this one late at night. Some confusion over vampire lore; why does Cushing wait until night to go after them, when he could catch them unawares asleep during the day and just kill them? Also, a really ropey bat fluttering around - in defiance of ajb'er Alex, I would suggest redoing that with CGI, it would make it less laughable.
All the same, some very chilling moments in this and I enjoyed it a lot.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Probably my favourite Hammer film. The little old lady who cackles at the young woman when she finds out that the Baron has been set free scared the s**t out of me when I was a kid
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
The boys and I will probably be going to see this one today...I wish it had been treated more seriously, but my affection for the character (radio, 60s TV show and comic book) is such that I'll see it regardless. Review to follow...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
all I have to say is
SO worth the watch $6.50 (matinée!!!), though.
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Wow, interesting choice Pen..... and I always like it when you go see a movie, that turns out nothing like the trailers - and all the better for it....
I watched Casino Royale last night - the only thing missing were the Vespers (ran out of Smirnoff, and I always make one, or rather several..... when Bond orders one during the poker game) however, it's QoS tonight, and I've stocked up on the Vodka!
Can't wait -{
my room-mate/friend wanted to go see it a second time because she'd missed the first three minutes or something, and wanted to see them...so she dragged me along :P
good god...what a powerful movie. and of course, there was Vincent Cassel :x
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I'm due to go see a movie with a friend in the next few weeks, and we are debating what to see...I'm for 'The Kings Speech' - and she wants to see '127 hours' (not my choice at all). But, I might just add this into the mix....
It doesn't open here till the 21st - but I really like Natalie Portman, and you know Vincent Cassel is not hard on the eye - thanks for the idea -{
Okay. Wow. What a mixed bag. As I've said previously, I'm a fan of ol' GH from the original radio show...the classic '60s TV show with Van Williams and Bruce Lee, and the more recent, all-too-brief run in comics. What a great concept for a character. What a great concept for a feature film...I find out there's one in the pipeline, and I'm thrilled. It was like I felt back in the '80s when I heard Batman was going to go big.
...And then Seth Rogen gets attached to it, in a big way. Co-wrote the script, co-produced it, etc. Damn.
My boys wanted to go see it...and in all truth, so did I---just to see where they went with it. We caught a 4:20 pm matinee showing today. And we had fun, to be sure.
It's an origin story, natch, with good action stuff (Bond veteran Vic Armstrong on 2nd unit/stunt coordinator duty---hope they hire him back for #23!!) and some great actors: Tom Wilkinson, Edward James Olmos...and the brilliant Christoph (Inglourious Basterds) Waltz slumming as a Los Angeles crime czar who chews up the scenery in enjoyable fashion. Britt Reid (Rogen) inherits the Daily Sentinel, the last independent, family-owned newspaper in Los Angeles when
He meets Kato (Jay Chou), an incredibly talented employee (mechanic, inventor, weapons expert, martial artist) of his father's, and the two of them hatch a booze-fueled plan to become crime fighters. As I said, it's a mixed bag: it seems the source material is treated, alternately, with reverence...and then it is casually shat upon, and then we're treated once again to something cool. Clearly Rogen is a fan of the character, and wanted to be Britt Reid...and he does have an isolated moment or two. I just wish someone like, say, Henry Cavill had been given this shot---and I'd gotten a shot at the script instead -{
Great iconic images: the principals in their masks, a truly awesome Black Beauty, gadgets, gunfire, etc---and then Rogen can't seem to resist being himself. Can't blame him, I guess; he's built a career on it! Cameron Diaz seems an afterthought here, except that her character manages to provide the brains in this one, where Britt Reid himself did back in the day X-(
Still and all...much of the plot works, at least until Act 3, when---as is too often the case---the wheels come off the wagon. People who don't know the character will probably enjoy it. My boys loved it. I had some fun with it, but was dogged throughout with thoughts of what might have been.
A marginal recommend, as IMO this Hornet beats no Hornet at all. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Man
An interesting Bond connection is Marc Mazza who plays one of the villains. He was seen in Moonraker as one of the technicians who get gassed in Drax's Venice lab. Amusingly, he seems to only have one expression - the same agonised grimace he wore when dying a horrible death in Venice. Every sentence he speaks seems to end with this expression!
Whilst not a classic, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys their westerns with a large helping of spaghetti...
Around the time of Hadrian's wall a small group of Romans led by Michael Fassbender are trapped behind enemy lines. They have good reason to worry, as their Pictish pursuers are led by by Olga Kurlyenko, a devil she wolf incarnate! She is also mute which lends to her aura.
This movie made me feel like headbutting somebody. Marshall should have directed the new Conan. The Brits know how to make great historical pictures. Watched it in blu-ray and those majestic snow covered mountains! Oh my.
Near as I can figure, Leonardo DiCaprio is a corporate spy who has the ability to invade your dreams. In an attempt to clear some misdeed from his past, and return to his kids, he agrees to try and manipulate the dream of a corporate leaders son. To do this, he has to plant his thought in to the other guy's dream, something that has never been done. While he and his team are in the dream. they have to create another dream, and while in that one they have to create another one, this continues until they are about four layers deep into dreams and you don't know what is real and what isn't.
The film at times reminded me of The Matrix and at times it even has a little Bond feel straight from OHMSS. While watching the film I spent more time than usual trying to figure out what was going on, is it a dream or not, if it is a dream whose dream is it, what happened in the past that has Leonardo so confused and distraught. I usually don't care for films where you don't know what is real and what is a dream, but the story here is very compelling, the cinematography outstanding and the performances are so good that despite the confusion I felt at times, I still enjoyed the film.
A large and excellent cast includes Leonardo who is very good as usual, Joseph Gordon Levitt as Leonardo's partner, Marion Cottilard is mysterious and sexy as DiCaprio's wife, and Ellen Page is excellent as Araidne, a college student who agrees to help design the dreams and knows many of Leonardo's secrets. The set design, special effects and cinematography are all first rate and I would expect to see some Academy nominations in those categories.
I can recommend the film, but be prepared to be challenged.
I enjoyed it as well, Barry---my boys (finally) got a PS3 from Santa, and this one was the first Blu-Ray I've ever owned; a good choice as far as I'm concerned. Really, really good---immersive even as it confounds. Talk about a balancing act! Christopher Nolan is really painting with oils, it seems, whilst many of his commercial contemporaries are still trying to master watercolours B-)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
This movie is quite confusing. May I suggest watching it again. This time though pay special attention to Dom Cobbs hand. Watch for his wedding ring. Sometimes he has it on, sometimes he doesn't. This might help you. It might not. Good luck.
An excellent telling of the Wyatt Earp legend, including the famous gunfight at the OK Corral. I have now seen three versions of this story - the others being Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993). Henry Fonda's portrayal is my favourite cinematic Wyatt thus far. I wish there was a way to combine Fonda's Earp with Val Kilmer's excellent Doc Holliday from Tombstone. As usual with John Ford we get a spectacular visual experience with Monument Valley scenery. The Wyatt Earp story is compelling as always and the craftmanship of the film was excellent. A first rate Western.
I also have the 1994 Lawrence Kasdan film, Wyatt Earp starring Kevin Costner, sitting on my shelf waiting to be watched. It will be interesting to see how this compares. I have heard very mixed reviews, so I look forward to making my own mind up!
All I can say is, it was an absolutely brilliant adaptation of the true story of His Majesty King George VI and his speech impediment, so he enlists a speech pathologist to help him overcome that problem. The interaction and the chemistry between Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth was just amazing. I loved every minute of this movie.
I've never seen the John Ford 'version' of the gunfight at the OK Corral. I'll have to check it out. Of the three others, I always list Kurt Russell's 93 film as my favorite. Growing and living in Tucson, and having visited nearby Tombstone many times, I always felt the '93 film seemed the most 'authentic' despite the fact that it seemed a bit melodramatic at moments. Much of the filming of Tombstone was done locally, which really makes the texture of the film much more accurate.
Kasdan's film is good too, but Earp's Tombstone days are really only a small part of the story. The film, as the title suggests, focuses on Earp's entire life, which in itself makes for a unique and enjoyable departure from the many other Wyatt Earp films out there. I remember an interview with Kasdan when the film was released. He said the film was so long (about 4 hours) that he talked about splitting it into two films, or risk having fewer showings per theater. Cooler heads prevailed and Kasdan chopped it down to a more manageable length (which, as I recall, was still clocking in at about three hours!)
I also heard that they thought of making Wyatt Earp as a mini-series.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit your part of the world sometime Darenhat! I would love to visit some of the iconic Western locations such as Tombstone, and of course Monument Valley as well.
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"
Sheer perfection from John Ford in 1962: The Duke, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles, Edmund O'Brien, Lee Van Cleef, John Carradine, Strother Martin. The boys were blown away by the quality of the story.
"The Searchers"
More perfection from Ford in 1956: The Duke, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ken Curtis...and a very lovely young Natalie Wood. The boys are now officially in awe of the classic western...as well they ought to be.
[It's funny: we started out watching True Grit, the Henry Hathaway film from 1969...we're watching John Wayne get younger. I'm going to go deliberately backward from here, visiting the Cavalry trilogy in reverse, and then back to Stagecoach in 1939, and then Raoul Walsh's The Big Trail from 1930. Then we'll move forward again, picking up several we missed the first time through, like Red River, Rio Bravo, El Dorado, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Cowboys...and finally finish up with the Duke's swan song, The Shootist, from 1977 B-) ]
Last night, due to time constraints, we checked out
"High Noon"
An 85 minute-long classic from 1952 starring the great Gary Cooper and the smooooookin' hot Grace Kelly---along with Lloyd Bridge, Otto Kruger, Lon Chaney Jr. and Lee Van Cleef...the classic story of a stubbornly good man left with a tough job to do, nobody with enough stones to help him...and perhaps the greatest use of the 'ticking clock' motif in the history of film...
Yep. Havin' fun. My John Wayne impression, long-neglected, is getting better B-)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM