What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Worf]

"The Battle of the Bulge" - Awful history, wrong tanks, wrong units, wrong terrain wrong everything. The ONLY thing they got right was the title of the movie and a the fact that a battle took place. Despite it's shortcomings it's a rip roaring war flick with a great all star cast. Charles Bronson as "Major Wolinski" steals the show as a battle hardened R.A (Regular Army) vet who'd worked his way up the ranks. In one scene he delivers a speech on what should be done with post war Germany that's been cut in some versions of the film. Another bright spot is Telly Savalas as "Sgt. Guffy" a tanker and grifter who primarily want's only to not get killed and make as much money as he can. However German interference (i.e. blowing up his stash and girlfriend) turns him in a revenge seeking missile of deeeestrucshun! Robert Shaw also does a great turn as the blond haired blue eyed Aryan Poster Boy in charge of the Nazi armored spearhead. Whenever these three are on the screen... wowsers.

Worf

 

[Edward]

The dog was having a series of seizures with her epilepsy over the weekend (all fine for almost 24 hours now, so hopefully this round has now passed), so I needed something 'gentle' on the television. Chanced across It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood (2019), the Tom Hanks as Mr Rogers picture - though it's really a story about a cynical journalist who finds redemption after being inspired by Rogers, whom he interviewed. I'm a howling cynic on so many things myself, but sometimes it's nice to see something so utterly charming and gently positive as this. Also managed to be convincing, which is hard to pull off with that sort of thing imo. Now I'd like to read the essay which inspired it. (Roger's show was never, to my knowledge, shown here, but I've seen enough online clips to 'get' the context. I imagine it'd be enhanced by the nostalgia of having watched the show in childhood.)

 

[Fading Fast]

Beg, Borrow or Steal from 1937 with Frank Morgan, Florence Rice and Reginald Denny


Once you start to see these well-done B movies of Hollywood's Golden Era as 1960s-1990s TV shows before there were TV shows, you can enjoy reasonably entertaining, low-budget efforts like Beg, Borrow or Steal.

At just over an hour in runtime, a couple could pop out to see a newsreal, maybe a short and this movie as their entertainment for the evening, just like in the pre-Internet days when a couple might watch the news, a TV sitcom followed by a drama and then go to bed.

The actors in Beg, Borrow or Steal are mainly second-tier stars who you know, some by name, some just by face, but they feel familiar, similar to TV shows up through the 1990s. The plot is a by-the-numbers feel-good romcom that doesn't surprise, but does entertain. Think of The Rockford Files in the 1970s; you watched it because James Garner was likeable and the plot was easy and fun.

Here, Frank Morgan, most famous for his turn as the Wizard of Oz, is a charming rogue living in France. To "get by," he and his pals - the nicest rogues' gallery ever assembled - gamble (and cheat), scam a bit (at anything they can) and sell forged art (that they make).

It has a Tarantino feel without the menace as Morgan and his crew discuss their "business" and life problems as if being low-level crooks was just like any other line of work. Even amongst themselves, they lightly try to scam each other as, despite being true friends, it's just what they do. Their odd camaraderie is one of the most enjoyable parts of the movie.

When Morgan learns his daughter in America, Florence Rice (who looks a lot like 1990s star Bridget Fonda) is getting married, he boastfully offers up his non-existent chateau for her wedding assuming she'd never take him up on it. She does and it's all romcom hijinx, contretemps and cover-ups from there. Morgan scams the use of a chateau for a week and the wedding party is on.

The fun in this one is Morgan as a bubbling grifter with a kind heart who steals a bit to get by sans avarice and malice. Heck, you know he'd give, without hesitation, the proceeds from a forged-art sale, or his last dollar, to a buddy in need.

When he sees his daughter is engaged to a passionless man she respects but doesn't love, he quietly promotes her budding romance with the chateau's true owner who is a genuinely nice guy. You can guess the outcome from there.

Beg, Borrow or Steal is cute and silly with enough good scenes and lines to keep you entertained for its seventy-minute runtime, just like a good old-style TV show.

 

[Worf]

The dog was having a series of seizures with her epilepsy over the weekend (all fine for almost 24 hours now, so hopefully this round has now passed), so I needed something 'gentle' on the television. Chanced across It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood (2019), the Tom Hanks as Mr Rogers picture - though it's really a story about a cynical journalist who finds redemption after being inspired by Rogers, whom he interviewed. I'm a howling cynic on so many things myself, but sometimes it's nice to see something so utterly charming and gently positive as this. Also managed to be convincing, which is hard to pull off with that sort of thing imo. Now I'd like to read the essay which inspired it. (Roger's show was never, to my knowledge, shown here, but I've seen enough online clips to 'get' the context. I imagine it'd be enhanced by the nostalgia of having watched the show in childhood.)

You???!!!! A "howling cynic"???? Never....

Worf

 

[Harp]

^Worf:

If you haven't seen Ambush Bay, check it. A Second World War Marine Raider PBY insertion
Philippines, team destroyed save but one; dialogue and certain cast remind my old outfit.
Well worth time and effort.

 

[Worf]

^Worf:

If you haven't seen Ambush Bay, check it. A Second World War Marine Raider PBY insertion
Philippines, team destroyed save but one; dialogue and certain cast remind my old outfit.
Well worth time and effort.

Will look for it. The title seems familiar but I can't quite place it all.

Worf

 

[Edward]

Blood Vessel last night on Prime sub-channel, Shudder. This 2020 picture sees a disparate group of allied individuals in a lifeboat, presumably fleeing some unspecified ship-sinking. An English nurse, a Soviet solider, an Aussie, and a couple of Americans among them. Losing all hope and with no rations left, they run into a Nazi warship, which turns out to be deserted. Gradually they discover why... It's not exactly great art, but a fun romp all the same, firmly within the 'Weird War 2" genre combining historical WW2 and a touch of gothic horror occultism. Better than many of its genre bedfellows if you like this sort of thing.

 

[Fading Fast]

Side Street from 1950 with Farley Granger, Cathy O'Donnell, Paul Kelly, James Craig and Jean Hagen


Side Street is a solid noir driven by Farley Granger making one awful decision after another. His reasoning is so terrible, you almost don't care if this not-bad guy is killed - life is cheap in this one anyway - just for being so stupid.

Granger and Cathy O'Donnell are soon to be parents living with her parents in New York City because Granger's gas station failed. Sure, living with your in-laws, even though these seem like okay ones, isn't great, but Farley's need for money doesn't equal Jean Valjean's.

As a part-time letter carrier, Granger sees an opportunity to steal a few hundred dollars. It's important to note that the money wasn't lying in the open, but he had to, one, enter an unoccupied office, two, get the fire ax from the hallway, three, use the ax to open a locked file cabinet and, four, stuff the money in his bag and leave quickly.

You know you are stealing when you do all that. Oh, and when he got to the money in the file cabinet, he saw it was $30,000 and not the expected few hundred dollars. Well, Granger appears to think, in for a penny, in for a pound, which stupidly ignores the fact that stealing big money puts the crime on a whole other level.

The stolen money, we learn, was extorted from a businessman who was having an affair with a pretty, young blonde, Adele Jergens, who shows up dead after she passes the money to the extortion ring leaders. That murder lands with homicide, which effectively puts Granger in the crosshairs of an extensive police investigation.

Granger, with his wife about to enter labor, concocts a story for her about getting an advance on a new job upstate and, then, gives her a few hundred dollars. Following that, he asks the local bartender to hold a wrapped package for him (containing the $30,000 - dear God) and, then, hides out in New York City as he tries to decide what dumb thing to do next.

The rest of the movie is the police, led by Paul Kelly with Charles McGraw (a Lawrence Tierney doppelganger) and the crooks who extorted the money, led by psychotic James Craig and his shady lawyer Edmon Ryan, trying to find Granger and the money.

When he realizes he's in way over his head, Granger tries to give the money back. But since he stole money that had been obtain by extortion - money that is now linked to a murder investigation - nothing is simple. Plus, the bartender already stole the money from Granger.

In classic noir fashion, the police do their methodical crime-investigation thing at a measured pace, while the thugs do their usual threatening and killing thing at a frenzied pace.

With iconic New York City as a backdrop, including some incredible overhead blimp shots, Granger runs all over the place trying to unwind the unwindable.

Along the way, he gets beat up a few times and, then, connects with Craig's gun moll, Jean Hagen (playing nearly the same brainless and devoted-to-a-psychotic-crook girlfriend she does in Asphalt Jungle).

Granger also manages to visit his wife in the maternity ward, where they have the obligatory "we love our baby and each other" moment, before the climax, where he, the money, the thugs and the cops all intersect in a wonderfully filmed car-chase scene.

Side Street is a classic noir at the height of the classic-noir period. With smart, deliberate cops, violent, unhinged crooks, a few shady characters and a regular guy sucked into a criminal vortex, all taking place in a major metropolis, it checks many of noir's boxes.

You'll have to decide, though, how you feel about Granger's character as he didn't make a small mistake, like finding a little money and not returning it, instead he clearly committed a crime and, then, compounded it with more real crimes and several crimes of stupidity. Sure, he got unlucky along the way, but he wasn't an innocent bystander either.

That's the moral challenge to sort out as you watch Side Street. (Spoiler alert) Hollywood decided it needed a happy ending, so the narrator avers that Granger won't pay too big a price for his colossal stupidity and will soon be reunited with O'Donnell and the baby. You might think a different ending is in order.

 

[Harp]

Hollywood and the code within the Code. Spells stupid script.

...When I was in law school I did a one-year stretch behind the counter of a White Hen conveniencer.
The store was open 7-24hrs and my shift was the overnite pull-11.00-09.00. One evening I showed up
and everyone was talking about a robbery that afternoon, which came to fruition when the Chicago
cops started filling in for their free coffee and day-old rolls. The robber, a 19 year old living at home
asked his mom about using her car. He drove to the store and stuck it right up his ass. We normally
kept $500 inside the safe tucked below the front counter, then whatever was in the twin registers.
The kid got the tills-maybe $300, more or less. A child outside the store scratched his forearm with
a Bic pen, got the license #, showed his arm to Chicago Police. The kid is arrested later that afternoon.
His mother, learning her car was impounded, spilled the beans on her wayward son. He dished drugs.
The cops head back to the station and confront the kid, who rats on his street boss. A police snitch
was believed the leak, still anonymous, but CPD street sources learn that the street drug boss put
a hit contract out on the kid. All in a day's work. The kid is busted, still broke, and a hit has been sold
on his sorry young ass. But, his real problemo is his mom. She's pissed as punch and he ain't living
with her anymore, which in the fuller context....

 

[Fading Fast]

Dear Heart form 1964 with Glenn Ford, Geraldine Page and Angela Lansbury


Dear Heart is an odd movie. It has some of the grit of The Apartment, as we see middle-aged businessman Glenn Ford have a quick affair with a blonde hotel candy-counter girl, even though Ford himself just got engaged.

But it also has some romcom lightness as Ford, against his will, begins falling for kind-and-goofy Geraldine Page. Thrown into this mix is Ford getting to know his fiancee’s college-age son, where both are kinda looking for an instant father-son bond, but of course, that’s not how life works.

Ford is an executive who’s just been transferred to New York and is waiting for his fiancee, Angela Lansbury, to join him. The hotel he’s staying at is hosting a postmaster convention where the goal of most of the men and some of the women is to see whose bed they can wake up in the next morning.

Just-engaged Ford meets sweet-and-ditzy Page whom he kind of likes, but doesn't really have time for as he’s already trying to balance his fiancee, her son (the son’s wacky “beatnick” girlfriend) and the fast-and-loose blonde he's banging.

But there’s something about Page. You know she’s spent her life being a kind of square peg trying to fit into life’s harsh round holes, but she keeps at it with an enthusiasm that veers into kookiness. She's the one who buys the touristy nicknacks, picks up a plant to “decorate” her hotel room so that it feels more homey and keeps Ford’s leftover sandwich with her as she knows he’ll get hungry later.

Over the convention's few days, Ford's emotions bounce all over the place as he tries to convince himself he wants to get married, wants to be a father to a college-aged boy he’s just met and that he no longer wants to have affairs. Meanwhile, Page, seeing her fate in the older, single postmistresses who have clearly given up on finding love, fights off depression with a, sometimes, forced happiness.

All of Dear Heart's crosscurrents gives the movie an awkward balance that doesn't fully work as its transitions in tone and shifting degrees of levity are jarring. Also, the characters are somewhat inconsistent, but darn it if you aren't rooting for good things to happen for Page.

When Ford's fiancee, Lansbury, shows up, it's decision time for Ford. Mainly by implication, Lansbury tells Ford it's okay if he continues to have affairs, she just wants him to be discreet. Her real reason for marrying him is to get out of her small town and to live an easy life as the wife of a successful executive.

(Spoiler alert) Lansbury's jarring comments spark Ford to reconsider everything, especially when, later, he sees awkward but sincere Page carrying her stupid plant and souvenirs through the lobby as she's checking out. More in an emotional roll of the dice than out of strong conviction, Ford breaks off his engagement. Then, as he and Page walk away arm and arm at the end, we assume they'll get married.

Dear Heart ends on that romcom note despite its circuitous path to a conclusion. It's hard to recommend this uneven and, often, nonsensical effort, but it has its good parts, including Page’s moving performance. Plus, it's pretty good time travel to early 1960s New York City, with some cool scenes in, sadly, what was then, soon-to-become-demolished Penn Station.

 

[Harp]

^ I feel the same nostalgia for the old torn down now LaSalle Street Station
whenever I watch The Sting. I really get stung. And we're not talking lousy piss ant
yellow jackets either but big ass hornet swashbucklers armed with laser stingers
looking for a fight.

I understand Ford's fix. I do. Really. Yet a middle aged guy with his brains swinging
between his legs deserves a swift kick in the ass. And a father needs to set an example
for his son, all the more so when a young man has been fatherless. And the kid needs
some discipline and direction. Showing my age here but I have counseled more than
a few married youngsters with wives and kids who go all agape when a young woman
shows unexpected interest or even tenders a favor or two. The 'lot at stake dumbass talk '
usually takes hold. But a memorable deafness led to heartbreak and the kids suffer most.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

99 River Street (1953) with John Payne and Evelyn Keyes, directed by Phil Carlson, who directed Payne in Kansas City Confidential as well. Ex-boxer Payne now drives a cab, and his wife who married him on his way up the boxing ladder now makes home-life crummy by her misery over money matters around the house.
Evelyn Keyes is an acquaintance who gets mixed up in a manslaughter jam, and a jewelry theft parachutes itself into Payne's life. That set-up leads into a gritty, fast-moving ducking-the-cops-and-the-hoods noir that is worth a watch.
NB: Frank Faylen, who played Ernie the cab driver in It's a Wonderful Life, is the cab company dispatcher for Payne, whose character is named Ernie.

 

[Zombie_61]

Currently watching The Maltese Falcon (1941) again. Detectives Dundy and Polhaus just grilled Spade, O'Shaughnessy, and Cairo about what they're up to. I wonder what'll happen next...

 

[Edward]

Last night I watched Netflix's new Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The ninth entry in the franchise, this is the third film written as a direct sequel to the original, 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Review have - to put it mildly - not been kind. If you're not a fan of the genre, it won't appeal: it certainly follows many genre conventions. That said, it seems churlish, or at best ignorant, to me to criticise it for unoriginality given it is an entry into the very franchise that established so many of these conventions in the first place. Like calling George Romero's later zombie pictures "derivative" of The Walking Dead, or those critics who slammed the Judge Dredd films as derivative of Robocop (way to make yourself look really foolish there!).


The characters are certainly archetypes, but they feel real. The Austin hipsters who arrive in the Texan ghost-town they have bought intending to sell at a killing, in the process establishing an alternative community which has an "authentic" rural vibe are perfectly nailed. The redneck locals are nicely three dimensional, in particular the taciturn mechanic / contractor, who is given more depth than being a gun nut who hates outsiders. It's not exactly a character piece, but those who enjoy the genre will feel well at ease with who each is and what they represent. Leatherface is given more of a motivation here in a way which is nicely done; it creates a little sympathy with him without depriving him of being the monster he is in many ways. (This is where the 03 and 06 remake and prequel fell down a bit for me. Pleasant enough films, but I didn't really care for that period of horror where every monster had to have a backstory and was "misunderstood". Sometimes I like evil just to be evil.) There are a number of nice nods to the original film (not least Leatherface's final dance; much care has clearly gone into giving him the sense of being the same person as portrayed by the late Gunnar Hansen; this is probably the closest imitation I think of him in the franchise in the way he moves and acts; without labouring the point, they convey very well both his force and his childlike nature). Notably, though, this is also a sequel set in the now: whereas the kids in the original were very much victims seeking to get out, there's a sense here of them becoming the aggressors by the end. There's nowhere near the level of gore some reviewers suggested, albeit that we do see more on-screen than the long-shots and suggestion of the original 1974 picture. The final jump-scare is telegraphed a mile off for anyone who has ever seen a horror film before, but nicely played out all the same, and that closing shot before the credits (along with a post-credit scene) sets it up nicely for any future entries into the franchise.

Conclusion: It lacks the sheer intensity of the original, 1974 picture, which had a dark magic none of the following entries into the franchise have quite captured. Nonetheless, it is a respectable entry into the franchise. It won't convert anyone who didn't care for this particular period of vintage horror cinema, or its style, but it's a diverting enough piece for those who like it, and fun for those who like to see Leatherface on form.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Secret Bride from 1934 with Warren William, Barbara Stanwyck, Grant Mitchell and Glenda Farrell


At an hour in length, The Secret Bride is another 1930s wash-rinse-repeat movie (with A stars) that is pretty much the forerunner of the 1960s/1970s TV crime drama.

A district attorney, Warren William, elopes with the governor's daughter, Barbara Stanwyck, but before they can announce their marriage, the governor is accused of taking a bribe from a businessman he pardoned.

William and Stanwyck quickly decide to keep their marriage a secret as, otherwise, William would have to recuse himself from the investigation of his, now, father-in-law. Today, of course, we'd argue he should recuse himself immediately, but in this 1934 movie, good intentions trump everything else.

That's the "secret bride" angle, which, other than sounding good in the title, is not very important to the story: a story of a basic political frame-up that makes the governor look guilty, but - and you'll guess this early on - he isn't.

The rest of the movie is a crime-drama mystery as William, with an informal assist from Stanwyck, tries to find exculpating evidence for the governor even as the incriminating evidence against him mounts.

The political corruption story was a very popular 1930s plot. In The Secret Bride, as in most Warner Bros. efforts of that era, there are a lot of twists, deceptions, suicides, murders and police forensics (there's a neat state-of-the-art ballistics testing scene).

Just like today, publicly, we are all against conflicts of interest and playing fast and loose with the law. Yet when we see the good guys do it in a movie because they have to for justice to prevail, as William and Stanwyck do here, we're usually quite supportive.

(Spoiler alert) Also common in these 1930s crime-drama mysteries, all looks bleakest until a last minute deus ex machina saves the day. In The Secret Bride, the improbable solution comes in the form of Grant Mitchell, the nervous and diffident private secretary to the pardoned man. He provides exonerating evidence at the governor's impeachment hearing.

No one watched Mannix or The F.B.I. each week in the 1960s and 1970s to really, truly be surprised by the plot; one watched those shows to see a familiar story with actors one liked.

Warren William and Barbara Stanwyck were some of the 1930s actors the public liked to watch. In particular, William was his own brand in the early to mid 1930s playing roguish good and bad guys whom the public just enjoyed seeing on the screen.

Today, old movies like The Secret Bride are no better or worse than watching a rerun of a Mannix or The F.B.I. episode, with for us today, the added fun of time travel to the cars, clothes, architecture and norms of the 1930s.

 

[Harp]

William's character could be disbarred for witholding his marital state
and charged with interference of justice; accessory after the fact-and if I watched
this flick, betcha a false imprisonment, criminal conversation, inchoate assault,
bribery, subornation of perjury, and a lota other stuff too.
Watched Mannix, a private eye, Shotokan Karate stylist, with a cute secretary,
Peggy Fisher. Solved cases and got the babes. XCPT Peggy Sue. Nada, zip, zero there....
Still can't understand it.
Peter Gunn was also good, a real Shotokan karateka, very good combatives
with this hard style. Intelligent television.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

On Saturday it was the Movie Night get-together with The Palm Beach Story (1942) on the bill. If you have seen it, you know what the hubbub is about. If you haven't, settle in, hold on, and try to keep up with the plot, the hypersonic dialogue delivery, and the wacky jokes. We all enjoyed it immensely. Preston Sturges wrote and directed, Claudette Colbert and Joel McCrea top-lined, with about a zillion character actors, and crooner superstar Rudy Vallee playing the Ralph Bellamy part.

 

[Worf]

Errol Flynn David Niven double header. "The Charge of the Light Brigade" followed by "Dawn Patrol" - There was a time when Errol Flynn, despite his dashing moustache and matinee looks, was considered the action hero of his day. He played Cavalrymen, frontier sheriffs, hero of Queen/King and country and everything in-between. Hell he is still THE version of Robin Hood as far as I'm concerned. Both films show him at his finest. The former is complete rubbage as far as history is concerned. Much like "The Battle of the Bulge" the backstory of this film is so fictional as to beggar belief but there's one thing Dir. Michael Kurtiz can do is direct a battle and in The Charge he gives us two of the best.

In "Dawn Patrol" Flynn and Niven portray British fliers in WWI. Forced by their superior, played admirably by Basil Rathbone, to take kids up in "canvas coffins" against superior German fliers and planes. The cost and rigors of command are laid bare as military necessity leads to tragic loss of life all round. Both films show Flynn and Niven at their "smile in the face of danger" best.

Worf

 

[Harp]

^ Twelve O'Clock High and a PBS British series import, A Piece of Cake top my list.
Cake captures a RAF spitfire outfit flying prewar wooden propeller planes with guns
incorrectly haronized at a longer distance. If haven't seen, Cake should be available
and James Salter's The Hunters is a primer on combat psychology during Korea.
Salter flew Sabres in the Korean War. Also, Coram's Boyd offers a more telling in depth
fighter profile, excellent and well focused read.

 

[PrivateEye]

George Washington Slept Here - Jack Benny, Ann Sheridan 1942

Similar to "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House" (1948) and Tom Hanks' "The Money Pit" (1986) - and probably others. Light-hearted comedy about a Manhattan couple that buys a rundown country house in Pennsylvania and try to renovate it.

Love Jack Benny on the radio, just OK in movies. Some good one-liners, and a great little dig at Phil Harris in the dialogue. Ann Sheridan is worth the price of admission - particularly when it's free!