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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 3, 2018 13:22:04 GMT -5
Tis the season as they say so while sorting out the holiday wrapping to come and cooking for the week I watched 2 seasonal treasures: Holiday Inn and White Christmas. In Holiday Inn Astaire and Crosby make for an odd bit of friendship as Fred ol' boy is a bit of the smarmy jerk of a pal if you ask me. more worried over himself and his career than anything else when willing to "steal" away his partner's girlfriend for the sake of having a dance partner to continue his stardom. Even willing to do the very same thing to his "friend" Bing once more after drowning his misfortunes away and arriving drunk at the inn in need of his friend. Crosby is the stalwart and tired friend looking to enjoy his days and nights in only working the holiday seasons at this innovative hotel putting on shows to draw in customers who will stay at the inn celebrating and spending money. A truly entertaining movie full of Irving Berlin music and several spectacular dance numbers from Astaire. Particularly enjoy the Washington Birthday dance number with the period costuming and changing musical tempo's for the dancer's to adjust to whenever Astaire goes for the kiss. Astair'e patriotic 4th of July sequence created especially after the recent bombing of Peral Harbor is creative and fantastic. White Christmas is just gorgeous in every way from the colors and scenes to the numbers along with the couplings: Crosby and Kaye along with Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Danny Kaye tones down his clown crafting a friendly,enthusiastic and comical partner to Bing's more somber Captain Wallace. Both of the ladies are beautiful as sister's looking to make their way in show business and finally finding their match in Crosby and Kay. This one makes you long for dark snowy nights in the hills surrounded by friends in the glorious countryside with a roaring fire, music, merriment and drinks both warm and chilled! That the four find themselves helping Bing and Danny's former General turned inn owner for the holiday's gives a great reminder of the bonds of war and true friendship. Loads of Berlin tunes again and enthusiastic fun dance sequences (pity Astaire turned it down) this classic should be a must see for everyone. I picked these up, last year, for my wife. I had only ever seen bits and pieces of Holiday Inn. We got to the President's Day show and our jaws dropped: Bing, in blackface, doing minstrel stuff, with the black cook and her kids singing along from basckstage. No wonder they don't play it on tv anymore! It's funny, because our local PBS station used to broadcast Are You Being Served? nightly, as it was a popular Britcom. They would show the Christmas episodes during the Holidays. Then I got the boxed sets and discovered they had been skipping one of the holiday episodes. It has a finale which has Mr Granger in blackface and a black kid picking him to be the store Father Christmas. I also discovered there was a later episode missing, where they are preparing a birthday show, for Young Mr Grace. It has an entire minstrel number, at the end, with everyone in blackface! Now, I can understand the context of Holiday Inn, given what was considered acceptable (though still insulting, if you weren't white) in that period, vs the early 1980s, when the AYBS episode was shot, when it was very deliberately stated that it wasn't cool. AYBS was known for being somewhat stereotyped in its comedy (starting with Mr Humphries); but, I thought that was a step too far. Really, you could cut the blackface scenes from Holiday Inn and the film wouldn't be greatly affected, other than run time. It's not central to the plot and is just another musical number. I'm sure it was broadcast that way, in later years.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 3, 2018 13:33:53 GMT -5
I like most of Moore's Bonds, except View to a Kill, where he is way too long in the tooth (and the plot is rather mundane) and Moonraker, which just gets plain silly (though it has moments). The others I enjoy and think For Your Eyes Only is one of the best non-Connery Bonds. Still, I liked him better as the Saint, and as Ruffus Excalibur ffolkes, in the movie ffolkes (aka Northsea Hijack), with Tony Perkins, as a terrorist. He is a more roguish character and it fits his personality more. I still think George Lazenby gets a really undeserved rep and that OHMSS is one of the best Bond films, period, and he is good for the bulk of it, with only a few bad scenes (mostly when he is disguised as the geneologist). he was very good in the action sequences (far better than any of Moore's films) and was pretty good in the romantic scenes. he also has a bit of humanity to him. His inexperience shows in scenes early on (when he resigns) and in a few spots, here and there; but, for the bulk of the film, he is great. Dalton was singled out around that time; but, would have been too young. However, in OHMSS, he probably would have been better all around, given the greater experience and acting skill. I still want to see someone do Modesty Blaise right. The Joseph Losey film is pure camp, which is fine, for camp; but, terrible for a character like Modesty. Terrence Stamp was a good choice for Willie Garvin; but, the script lets him down. The tv movie is just bland and too low budget. That thing that Tarrantino produced is done too much on the cheap, with an aneorexic actress. If they had done it in the 90s, Sean Bean would have been perfect for Willie Garvin. Monica Belucci would have been an interesting choice for Modesty. I've always also loved the Michael Caine Harry Palmer spy films, based on the Len Deighton novels. They are the anti-Bonds, greatly aided by a wry sense of humor and Guy Doleman, as Col. Ross. They are intriguing and fun. I would have also enjoyed more Derek Flint films, with James Coburn, had they kept them more like Our Man Flint, and not like In Like Flint, the sequel. Yeah, I'm in the pro-Lazenby camp as well. He actually captures one aspect of the Bond of Fleming's books better than most others - a sort of dogged determination. I thought he had more or less the right look for the character as well, though some find him a little bland.
Dalton and in a different way Brosnan both seemed like they should make good Bonds on paper but for whatever reason I never found them convincing when they actually played the character on the screen. Brosnan perhaps still a bit too ostentatiously handsome and without the steely, piercing glance that helped Roger Moore come across as more than just a "pretty boy". Dalton was I thought better suited to the Errol Flynn type character he played in the Rocketeer.
I love Peter O'Donnell's Modesty Blaise books, and to a lesser extent the newspaper strip, but have not seen any of the screen adaptations. You'd think this would be the perfect time for the character to make a comeback, though I'm not sure who i'd want to see in the role among today's actresses. Tarantino is apparently a fan, which makes it all the more disappointing that he allowed his name to be associated with what was by all accounts a pretty feeble effort. If he wrote and directed a Blaise film himself I'd be more interested but I'm very much afraid he'd cast Uma Thurman or some other willowy American model type. I agree that Bellucci has the perfect look, assuming she could do the fight scenes and so on, though she doesn't really have the right accent.
Dalton and, especially, Brosnan were let down by the scripts. By this point, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are in charge of the series and the scripts are being done by committee, with far too many hands in the soup. Dalton got saddled with political correctness, with Bond being made (relatively) monogamous and other changes to the character. Also, Dalton was trying to portray the literary Bond; but he wasn't being given material that fit that approach. It wasn't as jokey as Moore; but, it also wasn't the hard hitting. he also got really weak villains: Joe Don Baker (and Jeroen Krabbe, to a lesser extent)? Really? Bond vs a minor arms dealer? Ugh! License to Kill was too much like a glorified Miami Vice episode. Drug dealers are a bit beneath Bond and it shouldn't have been so hard to exact revenge. Really, that should have been handled in the opening teaser, in my opinion. Brosnan got saddled with a stunt-heavy formula, weak villains, and too much product placement. Every film had the same formula; big opening stunt, comments about Bond being sexist from M, BMW and similar product placement from Q, big action middle, Bond tortured in third act, big explosions at the end. Brosnan was complaining about it by the end, wanting to do more serious stuff, like Casino Royale. I thought Goldeneye was his only really good one, though Tomorrow Never Dies is mostly good. Brosnan could look deadly, as demonstrated in The Fourth Protocol and The Long Good Friday; I just don't think the producers and their multiple screenwriters were capable of delivering that in a film. I can't stand the Craig films. They are devoid of anything fun and they are all relentless 9/11 metaphors. Bond is escapism. Leave that for 24. Guy Ritchie got it right with Man From UNCLE, which was total fun. Even Kingsman got it better, though it added a potty-mouth.
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Post by berkley on Dec 3, 2018 15:48:38 GMT -5
I like Craig as an actor, and he has great screen presence, but doesn't look like Bond to me, by any stretch of the imagination. His Bond films come across as more or less generic current-day action thrillers - apart from the lead actor, they could could just as well be Mission Impossible or Bourne or whatever. I usually go to see them anyway as they're still decent entertainment, but nothing special and don't feel like Bond movies. I haven't caught the last one yet, Spectre, and if I ever do get around to it, it'll be mainly because of Monica Bellucci.
The only good parts about the over-praised Casino Royale was where they stuck closer to the book than any Bond film had done for ages - probably since Connery. But they didn't go far enough with it to make it the real classic it could have been and the general tone was all wrong. There was far too much kowtowing to modern trends (Texas Hold'em poker? I mean, come on!) and recycling of old jokes (cunning linguist? I heard that one as a kid in the 70s).
It would be interesting if the next film reflected Brexit or the apparent unravelling of the geo-political status quo that's been in place more or less since WWII.
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Post by codystarbuck on Dec 4, 2018 0:40:07 GMT -5
I like Daniel Craig in things like The Layer Cake. It's not Craig's fault; it's the approach of the producers. SPECTRE bored me. It was more of the same old formula, with "surprises" you could see coming a mile away. Bond has to change with the times, if you want to make it contemporary; but, it's always been a fantasy world, even in the original novels. Fleming was writing about a modern knight, sent out to slay dragons and fight evil wizards (tm Greg Hatcher). The books had nothing to do with real espionage. The villains were pure pulp, the stories were violent, the liquor flowed freely, the cigarettes were many, and the women slid into bed quickly. The early films reflected that. They got broader, even under Connery. The Moore stuff was pure fantasy, though they lost that deadly quality that Connery could bring.
Bond needs to be about big, bad charismatic villains, spectacular battles, fast cars, stylish clothes, beautiful men and women, and monsters who get slain. No one goes to a Bond film for metaphor.
I'd almost prefer if they went the Man From UNCLE route and just made it a period franchise. It hasn't hurt Sherlock Holmes any.
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Post by beccabear67 on Dec 4, 2018 1:07:19 GMT -5
It's funny, because our local PBS station used to broadcast Are You Being Served? nightly, as it was a popular Britcom. They would show the Christmas episodes during the Holidays. Then I got the boxed sets and discovered they had been skipping one of the holiday episodes. It has a finale which has Mr Granger in blackface and a black kid picking him to be the store Father Christmas. I also discovered there was a later episode missing, where they are preparing a birthday show, for Young Mr Grace. It has an entire minstrel number, at the end, with everyone in blackface! Now, I can understand the context of Holiday Inn, given what was considered acceptable (though still insulting, if you weren't white) in that period, vs the early 1980s, when the AYBS episode was shot, when it was very deliberately stated that it wasn't cool. AYBS was known for being somewhat stereotyped in its comedy (starting with Mr Humphries); but, I thought that was a step too far. I saw those two Are You Being Served episodes, it may've been a Canadian station. The thing to remember is they were still airing a weekly thing in England on ITV called The Black & White Minstrel Show into the late '70s at least. It was sort of straight forward Lawrence Welk type musical numbers with a bunch of glamour gals and a bunch of guys in black face. I have no idea what Bob Marley might've thought about that show, but he lived in England while it was still airing. Probably thought, these white people up here really need some ganja! I've never really been able to get too interested in any James Bond other than I liked the first half of Dr. No (set in Jamaica to sort of dove-tail into the above), but when it gets to the part with Fu Manchu guy's hi-tech island and ruling the world... um, can we switch over to Zardoz? That was more fun to me. I did get dragged to a few Bond movies in the theater in my teens, and in turn I dragged others to things like Private Benjamin and The Incredible Shrinking Woman that they probably didn't enjoy much. I really don't remember a whole lot about them, they sort of blur into Cannonball Run and Smokey And The Bandit somehow... but I remember Moonraker being unintentially hilarious to me, especially with the Space Shuttles firing lasers at each other and all the space soldiers fighting too... great model work by Derek Meddings though (as a Gerry Anderson fan I can appreciate that now).
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Post by berkley on Dec 4, 2018 2:36:08 GMT -5
Moonraker was one of the craziest, most fantastic, least realistic of all the Roger Moore Bonds, which is really saying something. It was the first Bond film I saw at the theatre, though I had of course seen most of the earlier ones on tv. I remember it as being a lot of fun, in its own over-the-top way. It was almost dream-like in its unconcern with the ordinary demands of story-telling: one second Bond's in an office in London, the next he's dressed in Arabian robes riding a horse across the desert like Laurence of Arabia, with no transition and hardly even any explanation in between.
Interesting how you describe your reaction to Doctor No (which I still think is one of the best): I had a simlilar reaction to The Spy Who Loved Me, often rated the best of the Moores. I only saw it for the first time a couple years ago, when it played at a local cinema that was doing a Bond revival; somehow I had missed it all these years. Anyway, I thought the first half was great, definitely one of the best of Moore's Bonds, but the 2nd half and the big set-piece in the villain's headquarters at the end was a bit of a let-down. Also, big mistake to relegate Barbara Bach to a damsel in distress role for most of the latter part of the film, after she had been so impressive as Bnd's opposite number in the earlier scenes.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2018 9:26:26 GMT -5
Interesting how you describe your reaction to Doctor No (which I still think is one of the best): I had a simlilar reaction to The Spy Who Loved Me, often rated the best of the Moores. I only saw it for the first time a couple years ago, when it played at a local cinema that was doing a Bond revival; somehow I had missed it all these years. Anyway, I thought the first half was great, definitely one of the best of Moore's Bonds, but the 2nd half and the big set-piece in the villain's headquarters at the end was a bit of a let-down. Also, big mistake to relegate Barbara Bach to a damsel in distress role for most of the latter part of the film, after she had been so impressive as Bnd's opposite number in the earlier scenes. To me, Spy Who Loved Me is my favorite Moore movie, everything about it was top-notch. Great Henchman - Richard Kiel as Jaws Barbara Bach - Excellent Bond Girl and that Black Gown that she wore was superb Great One-Liner {Spoiler}{Great One Liner}Egyptian Builders - Said by 007, Moore
Great Song -- Nobody Does it Better Nobody does it better Makes me feel sad for the rest Nobody does it half as good as you Baby, you're the best I wasn't lookin' but somehow you found me It tried to hide from your love light But like heaven above me The spy who loved me Is keepin' all my secrets safe tonight And nobody does it better Though sometimes I wish someone could Nobody does it quite the way you do Why'd you have to be so good? The way that you hold me Whenever you hold me There's some kind of magic inside you That keeps me from runnin' But just keep it comin' How'd you learn to do the things you do? Oh, and nobody does it better Makes me feel sad for the rest Nobody does it half as good as you Baby, baby, darlin', you're the best Baby you're the best Darlin', you're the best Baby you're the best Great Opening Sequence And, many other things as well ...
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Post by brutalis on Dec 4, 2018 10:12:47 GMT -5
Discussing Bond films is almost like talking Politics. The only thing anybody can usually agree upon is to disagree. Bond is like anything else in life: your 1st Bond holds a special place and is nominally your best or favorite Bond. There are things to like and dislike in each version of Bond (including the books) but for the most part all have varying levels of enjoyment provided. Cherry pick what you like and leave the rest for others. Personally I have ALL the Bond movies on DVD as at even their worst they are still better than some other movies or series.
While Craig isn't at the top of the Bond list for me, his turn was very much needed to remove the staleness and camp/silliness the series had degenerated into from Moore on. Totally agree that Dalton and Brosnan were never given strong enough stories and oddly enough I think both could make better Bond movies now in their older ages. Bond seems to work better as an "elder" in the espionage realm where youth will only get you killed in your inexperience and recklessness, he has survived and evolved into the deadly killing machine you don't want to underestimate or confront.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 4, 2018 10:28:55 GMT -5
I can never decide between Dr. No and You Only Live Twice as my favorite Bond film.
But the worst Bond film - there is no contest. Moonraker is the worst Bond film. It should be official. All Bond fans should band together and vote Moonraker as "the official worst James Bond film."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2018 5:12:53 GMT -5
Brass Target (1978)I've not watched much movies this week because of the problem of hooking up my new Cable Box and I did managed to watch one Movie and that's Brass Target -- the alleged assassination of General George Patton and with a galaxy of stars this movie kind of failed flat and Sophia Loren did really do much and I just find George Kennedy is pretty pathetic as Patton. I did not care for this movie at all and I would barely give this movie an one star rating and I just find it too many scenes that really put your head in a tailspin of trying to keep them up. Max von Sydow as Shelley Martin Webber was a total waste of talent. John Cassavetes as Maj. Joe De Lucca was interesting at times and boring at times and that's pretty much sums it altogether here. This movie had 5 Colonels and that's an overkill of overkill here. Robert Vaughn as Col. Donald Rogers Patrick McGoohan as Col. Mike McCauley Bruce Davison as Col. Robert Dawson Edward Herrmann as Col. Walter Gilchrist Ed Bishop as Col. Stewart None of these actors are worth babbling about and I simply cared less about them. This is the first time that I seen this movie and I was bored to death ...
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Post by beccabear67 on Dec 8, 2018 13:42:32 GMT -5
Brass Target (1978)Patrick McGoohan as Col. Mike McCauley Ed Bishop as Col. Stewart I don't think I knew of this movie, probably not my kind of film, but I am a fan of McGoohan and Bishop, I might've watched it just for them.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 9, 2018 18:57:34 GMT -5
Last night, The Creature from the Black Lagoon was on Svengoolie! I saw it a bunch of times as a kid but I haven't seen it for a long time. I've been wanting to see it again for years. So it was very nice that it popped up on Sven. The design on the Creature is pretty awesome, and I love the way he moves. And Julie Addams is quite memorable. This morning, I watched Land of the Giants, as I do most Sunday mornings. Well, it was a gas gas gas! The little people ran into some more little people! They were Bruce Dern and Yvonne Craig! I could hardly believe my eyes! The highlight of my weekend viewing was the 1936 version of Three Godfathers. The most famous version of Three Godfathers is the one from 1948 with John Wayne. I've never seen that one. The 1936 version has Chester Morris, Walter Brennan and Lewis Stone. I was surprised to find out the John Wayne version was the fifth one! It was a very popular property. The book was published in 1913 and there were film versions in 1916, 1919, 1930, 1936 and 1948. I was very impressed with the 1936 version. ================================================================== And I also started my Christmas movie viewing. I watched the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol a few nights ago. This is my favorite Christmas movie! I almost always watch it at least twice during the holidays. And I also watched Krampus, which I've never seen before. THAT'S a Christmas movie!
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Post by brutalis on Dec 10, 2018 8:23:44 GMT -5
Wrapping Christmas gifts yesterday so put on a pair of classics to watch. Started off with Tyrone Power, Ceasar Romero, Jean Peters and Jay Silverheels (of Tonto fame) in the 1947 spectacular Captain from Castile. No real stretch here for Powers as he has just returned from war and easily falls into playing the handsome hero. The fun here is watching Romero chewing away the scenery as Cortes and a truly stunning and princely Silverheels as Coatl. Lee J.Cobb is really miscast as Juan Garcia. Gorgeous filming down in the wilds of Mexico and avoiding the barbaric practices Cortes actually committed the movie plays as standard swashbuckler and less historical accuracy. Still entertaining with splendid musical pieces from Alfred Newman.
Followed this up with 1941's Errol Flynn, Brenda Marshall, Ralph Bellamy, Alan Hale and William Frawley frolicsome Footsteps in the Dark. Flynn the debonair investment banker living a double life as detective novelist F. X. Pettijohn becomes involved in a real crime adventure. Hiding his duel identity from his wife and mother he becomes fascinated with a case Inspector Mason (Hale) and his partner (Frawley) who only know him as the writer Pettijohn) are working on. Flynn has inadvertently become a part of the case through his investment firm in knowing a dead man's identity and therefore "knowing" it is murder and not an accidental death. Flynn goes on to playful fun revealing clues the police have "missed" which he only knows due to have meeting the dead man prior to his death.
Flynn, Hale and Frawley all have fun with a wink and a nod and mild laughs. Not a great mystery in and of itself but the actors make it a pleasure to watch. Very clever, amusing and bright change of pace mystery with a tongue in cheek mode that is very entertaining. This could have and should have become a nice regular series of movies for Flynn and the Warner Bro's crew.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 10, 2018 13:57:27 GMT -5
I watched Whistling in the Dark this morning. Oh what a wonderful movie! This is not the one with Red Skelton. I saw the 1933 film titled Whistling in the Dark, with Ernest Truex, Una Merkel, Edward Arnold and Nat Pendleton. The Red Skelton one does not appear to be a remake as they have very different plots. (Although it's been a while since I saw the Red Skelton one, so maybe they are more similar then I remember.)
Ernest Truex is a mystery writer eloping with his girlfriend (wonderful Una Merkel) and their car breaks down next to a home that's the HQ of a bunch of thugs who have been told by the big boss to knock off a guy who won't pay protection. But they have to make it look like an accident.
Well, Ernest goes in to use the phone and the line for the tow truck is busy, so he's chatting with the gangsters and he starts talking about his work and how stupid criminals are, and when they ask if he could pull off a murder without getting caught, he modestly says "Of course!"
Because he's such a smart guy. Right?
So you can see where this is going.
Very amusing. I love this kind of stuff. Truex and Merkel are wonderful! I wish this had turned into a movie series!
You may remember Ernest Truex if you are a Twilight Zone fan. He's the little peddler in "What you need" episode.
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Post by Hoosier X on Dec 11, 2018 14:33:47 GMT -5
I saw Boy Meets Girl (1938) many years ago, and I though it was very funny, Hollywood making fun of itself and the way movies are made. I've been wanting to see it again for close to 20 years. And thanks to TCM, I watched it this morning. James Cagney and Pat O'Brien are wacky Hollywood screen writers. Frank McHugh is the agent for a cowboy actor (Dick Foran) who needs a hit. Ralph Bellamy is the somewhat dim producer. (There's a scene where he's asking for trumpets that slide and somebody suggests trombones, and he says "No! Trumpets that slide!") Cagney and O'Brien can't come up with an idea until Susie from the commissary brings the producer his lunch. She faints, and they find out she's pregnant, and the creative juices start flowing! They'll make Susie's baby a star with a bunch of westerns teaming the cowboy actor with a baby! The head of the studio likes the idea and it snowballs from there. My favorite scene is the trailer for "Golden Nugget," the second picture teaming Larry Toms with Baby Happy. It is pretty darn funny! There's a small role for Ronald Reagan as a radio announcer at the premiere for Errol Flynn's latest picture "The White Rajah." Highly recommended.
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