| The Bibliothecary Movie Archive 2006 My quest to watch 365 movies in one year ______________________________ _________________________ |
| April 23 - 29 Lonely Are the Brave (1962) The best Kirk Douglas movie. What's a real man to do in this crazy modern world? Mr. Corbett's Ghost (1987) A young colonial apprentice to an apothecary makes a pact with the devil, played by John Huston. Huston's last acting role and directed by his son, Danny. Atlantic City (1980) "Well now everything dies baby that's a fact But maybe everything that dies someday comes back Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty And meet me tonight in Atlantic City" Behold a Pale Horse (1964) Gregory Peck as a worn-out revolutionary still fighting twenty years after the Spanish Civil War. The Wild Bunch (1969) The ultimate guy-movie. Man, I love William Holden. Dutch: They'll be waitin' for us. Pike: I wouldn't have it any other way April 16 - 22 Hell Is for Heroes (1962) Steve McQueen gives hell to the nazis. Hamlet (1990) Zeffirelli's version looks great, but Gibson doesn't work for me. He's a good film actor, but he acts out all of his lines while he's saying them. The verse is so pregnant with meaning that his acting seems like overkill. But a great intro to Hamlet for my kids. They don't understand the verse, anyway, so Gibson's performance serves as good footnotes. Martin (1977) Creepy vampire flick from George Romero with a spectacular ending. King Rat (1965) George Segal as the William Holden character from Stalag 17. Go Tell the Spartans (1978) My favorite movie about the Vietnam War (you were expecting, First Blood?). The dialogue can be a little cheesy, but the performances are good and the whole Thermopylae subtext is perfect. Farewell, My Lovely (1975) Robert Mitchum as Philip Marlowe. Mitchum was too old by the time he got to finally play Marlowe and was just sleepwalking through his films. The rest of the crappy actors don't help much. But this film is a curiosity because crime novelist Jim Thompson has a cameo as Judge Grayle. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) Mike Hammer fights the bad guys to find the meaning of a Christina Rossetti poem: Remember me when no more day by day You tell me of a future which you plan Only remember me, you'll understand But if the darkness and corruption leave A vestige of the thoughts that once we had. April 9 - 15 A History of Violence (2005) Jekyll and Hyde in an ordinary American family. Great script. Great acting. And Philly plays a role. What's not to like? The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) The kids loved it, of course, but I thought it was shallow. I was kind of rooting for the witch. Jarhead (2005) A war movie in which the soldiers don't get to fight. Some good moments, especially the surreal desert at night with the oil wells burning, but overall, I was a little bored. A Soldier's Story (1984) An interesting take on Melville's Billy Budd, set in an African-American army barracks stateside during WWII. Stalag 17 (1952) I love William Holden. Especially when his character has no redeeming moral values. April 2 - 8 Hang 'Em High (1968) Not very good Eastwood outing. His first western after the great Sergio Leone films. This looks like some half-baked TV movie with a budget. Murder Rooms: the Dark Origins of Sherlock Holmes (2000) The pilot for a series of movies casting Dr Joseph Bell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as sleuths. Bell was the real-life inspiration for Doyle's Sherlock. Good stuff. The rest of the movies are being released on DVD this summer. March 26 - April 1 Les Visiteurs du Soir = The Devil's Envoys (1942) The devil sends two agents to foil lovers in medieval France. Made during the Nazi occupation of France, the political parallels are very interesting, although the performances are uneven. Black Rain (1989) I had remembered this as a very entertaining action flick that had been forgotten over the years. I was wrong. It's a relentlessly boring 80s action flick. Michael Douglass should forget about this one. Anchoress (1993) Strange account of a woman walled up in a Church so as to better serve the Virgin Mary statue inside. Shot in an arresting black and white with visual motifs throughout, especially soil. Some bizarre Lynchian (David, that is) moments and an excellent cast. 'Breaker' Morant (1980) Great war movie about soldiers facing trial over the murder of Boer guerillas. Very moving. The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Michael Mann's version of the story is a little too grand. The movie is beautiful and well-acted, but he could have used another hour or so to flesh out the issues. Lone Star (1996) John Sayles' mystery set in a Texas/Mexico border town, deftly juggles three plot lines and pays off big time for all three. I love this movie. "Forget the Alamo." March 19 - 25 Thomas Eakins: a Motion Portrait (1986) A mix of documentary and dramatization of Eakins. Begins with Eakins snubbing the Academy of Fine Arts for bestowing a gold medal on him. Good portrait of Eakins as the rebel painter shaking up the conventions of the highbrow art world. Brat = The Brother (1997) A Russian film about a small-time hitman in St. Petersburg's underworld. The horrible Russian pop music soundtrack nearly ruined it for me. Bleak House (2005) A triumph of a Dickens film. Eight hours long and I wished it were longer. I could have watched this one for weeks on end. Great performances especially the evil Mr. Tulkinghorn, the icy Lady Deadlock and a superb and funny Inspector Bucket. The Passenger (1975) Another Antonioni film. This one with Jack Nicholson (when he was still a great actor, not the funny caricaturist of recent years) as a journalist who assumes the identity of a dead arms dealer. The themes suggest a movie that should be dark, awash in shadows, but Antonioni films most of the scenes in the blinding sunshine of dirty streets and dusty landscapes. The Border (1982) With Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel as border patrolmen on the Texas/Mexico border. A great Ry Cooder soundtrack and a grim, relentless plot. Thank god it had a happy ending. I would have been pissed if there wasn't some resolution. March 12 - 18 Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) As funny as you'd expect it to be. But my kids loved it. Edgar Allan Poe: the Other Side of Violence (1961) This is from the Touch of Fame series with Dr. Herman Harvey, produced for a California TV station. This is the kind of film they used to show to students as a "teaching aid." Dr. Harvey sits in an easy chair, book open before him, cigarette in one hand, speaking in a careful, reassuring tone, narrating the life of Poe and the warped mind Poe must have had to write such ghastly stories. It does include a modern dress dramatization of "The Black Cat" that is curiously effective. Bartleby (1969) short film dramatization by Encyclopedia Britannica part of a series of short stories adaptations produced in collaboration with Clifton Fadiman. There is an accompanying guide by Charles Van Doren, but I haven't seen the guide. Spooky harpsichord music and well-acted. A young Barry Williams (Greg Brady) plays the office boy and calls Bartleby "a loony." Herman Melville, Damned in Paradise (1985) A 90 min documentary on the life of Melville. That's right, 90 minutes. How did they get the funding for this? But it is fantastic. John Huston narrates and F. Murray Abraham reads from Melville's texts as the camera pans about the historical places of Melville's world (the islands he visited, as well as his homes, ships and New York City) and literary critics provide interpretation. I considerably enjoyed this. Beautiful cinematography. Abraham's readings are exciting. A wonderful portrait of Melville's life. If you ever get the chance to see this, it's worth it (you might find it in a library). Blow-up (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni's film of a narcissistic fashion photographer who inadvertently captures a murder on film. A creepy and sensual look at the swinging Brit sixties. The Real World of Andrew Wyeth (1980) Another gem. Wyeth guides the viewer through his life and works. Extraordinarily revealing about the craft of painting, Wyeth sounds (to me) like a poet. I especially like it when he admits to a great fantasy to be invisible, so he can observe people without his presence affecting them. And I especially like his definition of painting as truth and memory. That doesn't sound like much out of context, but after watching the film, learning how Wyeth painstakingly creates his works, it rings very true. The Poet and the Con (1998) A self portrait of a poet whose uncle is a small-time mafia criminal. I might have liked it if the "poet" was actually any good. But his version of poetry consisted of sentences broken into clichéd phrases that sometimes pass for poetry in spoken word performance. Would have been interesting if his uncle's (and his own crimes) were mined in his poetry. March 5 - 11 The Conversation (1974) Probably Coppola's best (the movie he made in between the first two Godfather films) with Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert deeply troubled by the ramifications of his work. Caul's character is a cipher, a man who has systematically erased himself and now can't seem to find the moral center he needs. Hackman is soo good in this. Cutter's Way (1981) A drunk Vietnam vet (sans one leg and one eye) rages against the society that has ostracized him for his service, while trying to catch a murderer witnessed by his friend. The Grifters (1990) Everyone's on the grift. No one tells the truth. Who will survive? Brutal, smart and thrilling. The ending delivers a tremendous punch in the gut. Sahara (1943) A real gem of a war movie. Bogart drives a tank in the desert, picking up a British unit, a French soldier, an Brit native-African soldier, a couple of prisoners and fights those dastardly Nazis. Taut, exciting action scenes. Beautiful desert cinematography. Angel Face (1952) I was hoping for a film noir—Mitchum, murder, femme fatale—but what I got was a melodrama. Some good moments though, a couple great car crashes and a spectacular ending. February 26 - March 4 The Last Seduction (1994) Great noir thriller with Linda Fiorentino as the baddest femme fatale of screendom. The Crying Game (1992) "Girls will be boys and boys will be girls / It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola / La-la-la-la Lola" Champion (1949) I really liked this boxing flick with Kirk Douglas as a boxer willing to trample everyone in his life -- wife, brother, manager, mother -- to get respect, to have people call him, "Mr. Kelly." Douglas' clenched-teeth rage serves him well. The boxing sequences aren't very convincing, but the dialogue is great, especially when Kelly fires his manager who responds with, "You know what a "Golem" is? I think I knew all the time I was building one." February 19 - 25 Curious George (2006) We took the kids to the movies. Not bad. The music was very good (Jack Johnson, I think) and George was drawn to really pull at your heart strings. And of course, this is a Father/Baby movie, so I'm a sucker for it. Will Shakespeare (1978) See my blog posts for Feb 19 and 22. A BBC dramatization of the Bard's life with Time Curry in the lead role and an excellent supporting cast, including Ian McShane as Marlowe. Well worth tracking down if you like those Brit costume drama mini-series (and, Oh, I do). Badge 373 (1973) Robert Duvall as a tough NY City cop trying to solve the murder of his partner (and a prostitute). His character is based on Eddie Egan, the same cop that inspired The French Connection's Popeye Doyle. Egan also acts in this movie in a sizable part. Year of the Dragon (1985) Mickey Rourke stars and Michael Cimino directs when both were exciting filmmakers. Lots of shooting and blood while Rourke tries to bring down the Chinese mafia in NY City. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971) Vincent Price brings the ten biblical plagues of Exodus down upon the doctors who "killed" his wife. Garish (and campy) and very well-done. The Bat (1959) Vincent Price again, this time as an evil doctor. Agnes Moorehead as a mystery writer. A mansion with secret rooms. A serial killer called "The Bat." A million dollar bank robbery. should have been lots more fun than it was. Mostly, it was boring. I was sore tempted to use the fast-forward button. OK, I did use it for a couple of scenes. February 12 - 18 Little Caesar (1931) Edward G Robinson defines the movie gangster. The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) Kirk Douglas as a ruthless movie mogul, crushing those who work with him, but making brilliant movies. The Dick Powell segment is the most heart-breaking. The Lady Eve (1941) Barbara Stanwyck as a con woman taking Henry Fonda for the ride. Hilarious. February 5 – 11 The Lost World (2001) Mini-series of Conan Doyle's novel about Professor Challenger finding dinosaurs and a race of ape-men in South America. Bob Hoskins should have been perfectly cast as Challenger, but the egotism and brutality of the character have been watered down. The Sea Wolf (1941) The Ida Lupino/John Garfield romantic sub-plot was a little too melodramatic, however the rest of this movie is top notch. Wolf Larsen is a poor man's Ahab, but Edward G Robinson imbues him with solid, genuine fury, a desperate Lucifer railing against not god (like Ahab), but humanity. Robinson is one of the greatest film actors ever. I'm not exaggerating. He's more than just the gangster caricature that everyone knows. Watch him in just about any of his films and his energy either projects right out the screen or draws the viewer in, depending upon the character he plays. Any Number Can Win (1963) A French film, Melodie en sous-sol, which doesn't translate into the given English release title, but rather something like "Melody in the basement." Jean Gabin and Alain Delon rob a sea-side casino. A great heist film with a heartbreaking ending. January 29 – February 4 Sergeant Cribb- A Case of Spirits / Swing Swing Together (1980) Actually a television series of the Peter Lovesy mystery novels about a Victorian police detective. In Case of Spirits, Cribb has to find a stolen erotic painting while investigating spiritualists. Swing Swing Together is a murder mystery that takes its cue from Jerome K Jerome's Three Men and a Boat. And yes, there is a dog, too. The Vampire Bat (1933) Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray and Dwight Schultz in the grip of vampirism. Sergeant Cribb – Wobble to Death / Invitation to a Dynamite Murder (1980) In Wobble, Cribb investigates a death at a Pedestrian competition in which the competitors walk for a week straight. In Dynamite, Cribb goes undercover in an Irish terrorist organization. The Bad News Bears (1976) Another one I watched with my kids. Still a great movie about the expectations of life. What makes winners and losers. Rocky (1976) And yet another first for my girls. A movie I love and that still chokes me up at the end. Philly looks like a dump, but a beautiful one, just like Rocky. And as I write this, Stallone is in town filming Rocky VI. Sergeant Cribb – Mad Hatter's Holiday / The Detective Wore Silk Drawers (1980) The best of the Cribb tapes. In Mad Hatter's he stops a serial killer and in Detective he has to find a murderer amidst the illegal world of bare-knuckled boxing. January 22 - 28 Across the Pacific (1942) Bogart and Greenstreet battle Japanese spies in the Philippines at the start of WWII (literally the start, the movie ends with the Japanese planes heading to Pearl Harbor). They Won't Forget (1937) very interesting courtroom drama with Claude Rains whose imitation of a brash southern lawyer/politician is so bad, it's completely engaging. And the story is strange as well: A girl is murdered in a southern town and instead of pinning the crime on an innocent black man, the DA goes after a northern transplant teacher. The movie never resolves whether or not he did it (he is most likely innocent, but no other culprit is fingered). Also shocking is when the teacher is lynched and killed by a mob on the way to prison. This movie is so unconventional. Every time you expect the story to go one way, it goes another instead. The Big Heat (1953) a great noir, crime pic: the world is a relentlessly evil place with just a small gleam of hope. Evil = Lee Marvin throwing hot coffee in his girlfriend's face and burning another girl with a cigarette. You Only Live Once (1937) with Henry Fonda as a bad guy who tries to go straight, but no one will give him a chance, this movie answers the question, "if I shoot a priest who is trying to help me, where will I go when I die?" Answer: to heaven along with the priest. Strange Illusion (1945) opens with a character's nightmare and during the rest of the movie the young man wrestles with sanity as his bad dream comes true. Sounds better than it is. Poorly acted and conventional. This movie could have been something. Ransom! (1956) I never knew that the Ron Howard movie with Mel Gibson about the kidnapping of a rich man's son was a remake. The original is with Glenn Ford and is a much better movie in its sole focus on the parents' reaction to the events, no subplot featuring the kidnappers, no action, just a grieving mother and father and the shitty world in which they have to raise their child The Stranger (1946) Orson Welles as a Nazi in hiding, Edward G Robinson as the Nazi-hunter. Taut, well- acted and with those great Wellesian shots. The Karate Kid (1984) Wax on. Wax off. My girls saw it for the first time. The Woman in White (1997) pretty good Victorian-girl-in-danger movie, could have been better as a mini- series. I wrote a blog post about this on Saturday. January 15 - 21 The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) With Lionel Atwill. The impact of the thrilling conclusion is somewhat deadened due this movie being ripped off so many times. But Atwill is great as usual. Stamboul Quest (1934) WWI spy/romance with Myrna Loy (she's very hot). Four Brothers (2005) Revenge flick. Was hoping it would be more entertaining than it was. Lord of War (2005) Good black comedy, but the laughs end about halfway through and the movie gets a little preachy (War = Bad, Peace = Good). Mata Hari (1931) Another WWI spy yarn, this one with Greta Garbo in the lead role. It's not hard to see why she was so revered, seductive and curiously manly at the same time. January 8 - 14 Aventure Malgache (1944) Bon Voyage (1944) Two Alfred Hitchcock WWII propaganda film. He made two short films (half-hour each) to help the war effort, in particularly the French, the subject and language of each. However, the Brits decided not to use them. Not hard to see why. These are murky films about the price of loyalty. The Harder They Fall (1956) Bogart and the seedy side of boxing, this film tells a veiled account of how Primo Carnera came to be heavyweight champ. Former champ Max Baer plays a small role. Odds Against Tomorrow (1959) Good heist movie with a racial battle between Robert Ryan and Harry Belafonte Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) documentary on a great Western director who also led a thrilling life as a bull-fighter. HG Wells' War of the Worlds (2005) on the Sci-Fi channel. Yes, it was dumb. January 1 – 7 Codebreakers (2005) Dumb ESPN movie about West Point footballers cheating on school exams in the 1950s. The Immortal Battalion (1944) American edited version of Carol Reed's WWII morale booster, The Way Ahead. Still good, but I'd love to see the full Brit version. Espionage Agent (1939) A spy/romance melodrama with interesting parallels to today's Patriot Act laws, also stars one of my favorites, Joel McCrea. Frenzy (1972) Hitchcock tries to make a psycho-killer flick that will appeal to a hipper audience, but the sex, violence and psycho-babble are sometimes silly, sometimes distasteful King Kong (2005) Saw it on the big screen and loved it. Fat City (1972) Great John Huston boxing flick with Stacy Keach playing a washed up boxer, too drunk to make a comeback and a very young Jeff Bridges as the up-and-comer. The 49th Parallel (1941) Michael Powell movie about Nazis from a U-boat stranded in Canada in WWII. |