What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Acchimp]

The Green Knight is a film I managed to catch on showtime after seeing it on release. Interesting to try Arthurian Lore in such a mythological way, rather than the dramatic thrust many take with Arthur and Lancelot in a love triangle, but I think it makes it one of the most interesting and slept on films in 2021.

Dev Patel does a great job as Gawain, subtly showing internal strife and fear with a sense of stoicism covering it all. He’s great in Slumdog Millionaire, but here the drama isn’t as loud and catchy as the Bollywood style would require.

There’s just enough tension in the mysticism and magic of the actual Green Knight to push you through a slow start to some really beautiful locations and CGI myths made real, but don’t expect a thrill ride. There’s tons of symbolic imagery to dig through and allegorical temptations to the Christian soul that get creepy-sexy, but loyalty to the spirit of the text shines through. It’s no Once and Future King, but the slow and beautiful film deserves a watch if you’re in the mood for the old English kind of magic.

 

[Fading Fast]

Anatomy of a Murder from 1959 with James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, George C. Scott and Arthur O'Connell


While Anatomy of a Murder isn't a perfect movie, it's pretty darn close. A "country" lawyer, Jimmy Stewart, defends an Army lieutenant accused of killing the man whom he and his wife, Lee Remick, claim raped her.

Stewart is disadvantaged and outgunned at every step: his client, Ben Gazzara, can't pay him and is an arrogant manipulator; the client's wife, Remick, not helping her husband's case at all, is overtly sexual and flirty, even with Stewart; the prosecutorial team has brought in the big-gun prosecutor, George C. Scott, from Lansing (Michigan's Capital); whereas, Stewart's elderly law "partner," Arthur O'Connell, seems more interested in booze than legal precedents.

A good script about an engaging courtroom drama centers the story, but the real joy in this one is the characters. Stewart is the laid-back lawyer who'd rather fish than submit petitions. Likable Stewart is the attorney you wish truly existed - a good guy not looking to run up the holy grail of the legal profession today, billable hours, but who really cares about his client.

Stewart's hasn't-been-paid-since-God-knows-when office assistant (Stewart would pay her if he had money) Eve Arden is loyal because she believes in Stewart. She knows what he needs from her before he does, plus she's sarcastic as heck.

With all three - Stewart, Arden and regularly soused O'Connell - working out of Stewart's run-down house, it's a David versus Goliath story, especially when we meet the slick and cocky prosecutor George C. Scott.

Scott sees the courtroom as a chessboard where he's used to being several moves ahead of his competitor. Yet, almost every time he seems to have the "hayseed" Stewart checked, Stewart reminds us that the lawyer in the more-expensive suit isn't necessarily the smartest guy in the courtroom.

Stewart's biggest challenge, however, is his client, Gazzara, a thoroughly dislikable man who probably beats his wife and seems quite capable of shooting a man in cold blood with intent while not being the least bit insane if he believes the man raped his wife.

So when he and Stewart settle on an "irresistible impulse" defense (an offshoot of insanity), you want Stewart to win so that he can resurrect his career, not because you care about Gazzara. You almost want Stewart to win but Gazzara to still be found guilty. Unfortunately, that would exceed the structural limitations of verdicts.

The final piece of this puzzle is Gazarra's ridiculous cute and sexy wife, Lee Remick, who never lets us fully in on her game. Is she the mentally and physically abused wife who puts on a good front but lives in abject fear of her husband?

Or do she and Gazzara have some sick codependent relationship where she intentionally flirts with other men to goad her husband, with the resulting violence being part of their sexual connection? You'll probably ping back and forth a few times on that one.

Director Otto Preminger is in full command of his material here, smartly leaving almost everything grey about the case as it often is in real life, but still giving you a hero to root for in Stewart. Anatomy for a Murder is a long movie that flies by as every scene engages and every character comes alive.


N.B. The Motion Picture Production Code didn't die on one particular day; it slowly lost its grip. Prior to Anatomy for a Murder, rape, panties and semen where all words that had been used in movies before (mostly quiety and accompanied by giggles or tsk-tsking), but never before had all three figured so prominently and seriously in a movie as they do here.

 

[Acchimp]

Just watched the new The Batman(2022), and I really enjoyed the change of pace for a superhero movie. Director Matt Reeves takes several thematic and visual cues from David Fincher’s Se7en in the depiction of its criminally insane antagonist and I haven’t seen that in a superhero movie of all things, so the tone of the film fluctuated frequently.

The music is at times great for setting the mood and at other times distracting (or more often during a three hour viewing it induces a yawn), but despite the film’s loosening grip on my attention it always managed to fasten it quite quickly.

Robert Pattinson provides ample jawline for the role, but often underwhelms when outside of the bat suit. Surprisingly very entertaining in action sequences, the film suffers from a bloated plot in Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman subplot.
Despite this, her performance is the most animated of the film and the romantic scenes between her and Pattinson are some of the most interesting outside of the murder intrigue, but she felt shoehorned in quite often.

Ultimately the film is a strangely dark humored departure from the norm and that’s something I welcome. There’s no way DC can continue to balance these wildly differing tonalities in its cinematic universe, but I’ll be excited to see the big swings either way.

 

[Fading Fast]

Wild River from 1960 with Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet and Albert Salmi


I don't know how I missed this gem of a movie from director Eli Kazan all these years, but I'm kinda glad I did as it was a treat to experience it fresh recently.

Kazan packs a lot into a movie ostensibly about eminent domain. But Wild River is really also about love where, when and with whom you don't want to find it and the extant racism embedded in the South, at least as late as the 1930s.

Montgomery Clift is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) official sent to rural Tennessee to get a poor, proud, elderly woman to peacefully leave an island she owns that will soon be flooded by a TVA dam.

Because of eminent domain, the government has the legal right to force her to sell her land to it - all the neighbors have already sold - but she won't accept any price and the TVA doesn't want the negative publicity of forcefully removing her from the island.

Whatever thoughts you had about eminent domain will be challenged by this movie as we see Clift try to explain the situation to the woman as humanely as possible, while she, against stereotype and despite having little formal education, cogently, intelligently and, oftentimes, philosophically argues against him.

Clift is also trying to help the TVA clear much of the land it already bought, but it is short labor. However, when he suggests they hire black workers at the same pay as whites, the local white business community objects as that would undermine their economy as blacks are currently paid less than whites for the same work.

After the local leaders try to reason with Clift and then threaten him, one of the local employers, in a brilliantly done scary scene that takes place in Clift's claustrophobic hotel room, explains to Clift the "situation."

He tells Clift he had to pay one black worker four dollars more because of Clift's pay plan. This man then offers to "remove the old lady from the island" and send Clift plenty of black workers at the black wage rate to solve all the problems or he expects Clift to pay him the four dollars Clift "owns" him.

When Clift refuses to do any of those things, the man beats the four dollars out of him. Even so, the next day, Clift continues on the same path, but with the added confusion of beginning an affair with the elderly woman's granddaughter, Lee Remick.

Remick is a young widow with two kids who is close to being engaged to a local man she tells Clift she likes, but doesn't love, but hopes she will learn to love him over time. Clift and Remick have an immediate physical and emotional connection.

Now Clift has a holy mess on his hands. The local whites try again to bully him out of town and the old lady says "no" to leaving her land once more, all while Remick proposes marriage. It's a proposal Clift doesn't embrace as it's one thing to have a fling with a pretty, uneducated local girl; it's another thing to marry her and have an instant family with her two kids.

(Spoiler alert) After absorbing the blow of his rejection, Remick does two beautiful things to change Clift's mind. One, instead of getting offended by the rejection (a normal response) she argues effectively that she'd make him a good wife even if he doesn't see it now by pointing out his flaws and how she understands him. Then, two, when the bullying white man beats Clift up again, she jumps on the bully, gives it her all and ends up knocked out on the ground next to Clift.

(Spoiler alert) No man in his right mind wouldn't want to marry this woman now. Thankfully, Clift is in his right mind. After that, it is, sadly, Clift getting the Marshall to evict the elderly woman, but you can feel the respect she and Clift have for each other at this point.

In Wild River, Kazan delivers an incredibly powerful film using incredibly boring sounding subject matter - the TVA. Tucked inside his challenging eminent domain story is a harsh look at racism and a beautifully unconventional love story.

Wild River is one of those "little" movies that, after you see it, you can't believe isn't better known. The performances all around were impressive, but in this one, Clift and Remick did some of the best work of their careers.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Ronin (1998)

 

[Touchofevil]

Stumbled upon Sinatra in Tony Rome this morning. As many times as I have seen it, I still enjoy it. It is more the ”feel” of the movie than the actual acting or script (Though not bad) that makes this an entertaining Saturday morning watch.

 

[Worf]

View attachment 409039
Wild River from 1960 with Montgomery Clift, Lee Remick, Jo Van Fleet and Albert Salmi


I don't know how I missed this gem of a movie from director Eli Kazan all these years, but I'm kinda glad I did as it was a treat to experience it fresh recently.

Kazan packs a lot into a movie ostensibly about eminent domain. But Wild River is really also about love where, when and with whom you don't want to find it and the extant racism embedded in the South, at least as late as the 1930s.

Montgomery Clift is a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) official sent to rural Tennessee to get a poor, proud, elderly woman to peacefully leave an island she owns that will soon be flooded by a TVA dam.

Because of eminent domain, the government has the legal right to force her to sell her land to it - all the neighbors have already sold - but she won't accept any price and the TVA doesn't want the negative publicity of forcefully removing her from the island.

Whatever thoughts you had about eminent domain will be challenged by this movie as we see Clift try to explain the situation to the woman as humanely as possible, while she, against stereotype and despite having little formal education, cogently, intelligently and, oftentimes, philosophically argues against him.

Clift is also trying to help the TVA clear much of the land it already bought, but it is short labor. However, when he suggests they hire black workers at the same pay as whites, the local white business community objects as that would undermine their economy as blacks are currently paid less than whites for the same work.

After the local leaders try to reason with Clift and then threaten him, one of the local employers, in a brilliantly done scary scene that takes place in Clift's claustrophobic hotel room, explains to Clift the "situation."

He tells Clift he had to pay one black worker four dollars more because of Clift's pay plan. This man then offers to "remove the old lady from the island" and send Clift plenty of black workers at the black wage rate to solve all the problems or he expects Clift to pay him the four dollars Clift "owns" him.

When Clift refuses to do any of those things, the man beats the four dollars out of him. Even so, the next day, Clift continues on the same path, but with the added confusion of beginning an affair with the elderly woman's granddaughter, Lee Remick.

Remick is a young widow with two kids who is close to being engaged to a local man she tells Clift she likes, but doesn't love, but hopes she will learn to love him over time. Clift and Remick have an immediate physical and emotional connection.

Now Clift has a holy mess on his hands. The local whites try again to bully him out of town and the old lady says "no" to leaving her land once more, all while Remick proposes marriage. It's a proposal Clift doesn't embrace as it's one thing to have a fling with a pretty, uneducated local girl; it's another thing to marry her and have an instant family with her two kids.

(Spoiler alert) After absorbing the blow of his rejection, Remick does two beautiful things to change Clift's mind. One, instead of getting offended by the rejection (a normal response) she argues effectively that she'd make him a good wife even if he doesn't see it now by pointing out his flaws and how she understands him. Then, two, when the bullying white man beats Clift up again, she jumps on the bully, gives it her all and ends up knocked out on the ground next to Clift.

(Spoiler alert) No man in his right mind wouldn't want to marry this woman now. Thankfully, Clift is in his right mind. After that, it is, sadly, Clift getting the Marshall to evict the elderly woman, but you can feel the respect she and Clift have for each other at this point.

In Wild River, Kazan delivers an incredibly powerful film using incredibly boring sounding subject matter - the TVA. Tucked inside his challenging eminent domain story is a harsh look at racism and a beautifully unconventional love story.

Wild River is one of those "little" movies that, after you see it, you can't believe isn't better known. The performances all around were impressive, but in this one, Clift and Remick did some of the best work of their careers.

I saw this movie several years back and it floored me. As you know my family hails from the south. My Mom's people worked picking everything from cotton to watermelons and also worked in the log woods and had the missing fingers and toes to prove it. This movie is RUGGED. The "Old Lady" and her sons are... fascinating and frightening all at the same time. The final shot of the boys standing aimlessly on the front porch of their new home with no blacks to literally do their work for them is crushing. I'm not even sure if the people who "worked" for them on the island ever truly got paid? Great review and spot on! See it if you can.

Worf

 

[Bushman]

Robert Pattinson provides ample jawline for the role, but often underwhelms when outside of the bat suit.

I felt like that was done on purpose. As Batman, Bruce Wayne effectively becomes an entirely different person. Some portrayals of the character have gone so far as to say that Bruce Wayne died in that alleyway with his parents, leaving only a shell of a complete human being, which becomes a dark avenger at night.

 

[Acchimp]

I felt like that was done on purpose. As Batman, Bruce Wayne effectively becomes an entirely different person. Some portrayals of the character have gone so far as to say that Bruce Wayne died in that alleyway with his parents, leaving only a shell of a complete human being, which becomes a dark avenger at night.

I can see that. I do like those differences in alter-ego, like nerdy Peter Parker to snarky Spider-Man. The alternative is the wealthy playboy default, so I’m glad they went with this as it fits the tone. It’s just the runtime that makes his justified pain and angst seem like redundant rumination to a waiting audience.

 

[Fading Fast]

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer from 1947 with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins


This is why we have movie stars. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer would have been long forgotten if not for Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins. These talented actors take the movie's thin and inane script and create enjoyable characters who have so much charm that you forgive the picture its ample ridiculousness.

Cary Grant plays a successful artist brought up before a judge played by Myrna Loy owing to a tussle over some girls at a nightclub the prior evening. After being let off with a warning, Grant, later that day, gives a lecture on art at the high school where Loy's younger sister, ward and bobby-soxer Shirley Temple attends.

Temple develops an immediate crush on middle-aged Grant and approaches him, after the lecture, under the pretense that as editor and chief of the school paper she needs to interview him. Later that night, unbeknownst to Grant, she sneaks into his apartment where - after Temple is discovered missing at home - Loy and her date, an Assistant District Attorney, discover them. Oh boy.

The next day, Loy, the assistant DA and Loy's physician uncle played by Ray Collins hit on the eminently stupid plan to dismiss the charges against Grant if he'll agree to date Temple until her crush blows over. Loy and Collins are afraid, otherwise, the crush will become a life-altering obsession for Temple. Where are social services when you need them?

By today's standards, this is beyond creepy, but even in 1947, you can feel them trying to finesse away the ick factor, which they almost do owing to the completely innocent vibe of the movie and the talent of the stars.

From here, it plays out pretty much as expected with Grant feeling silly dating a teenager, while Loy and he develop feelings for each other that he encourages, while she attempts to deny them.

Upping the silliness factor there are a few screwball comedy routines like when Grant competes with the high school boys at picnic races. All along, though, Grant tries to bring Temple and her old high school boyfriend back together as a path out of this mess for him.

(Spoiler alert if you haven't already guessed what's going to happen) Ray Collins finally can't take the nonsense anymore and knocks some sense into both Temple (Grant's too old for you) and Loy (you're too old to let Grant get away), leading to a happy ending for all.

This only works because each star is incredibly talented and all three leads have great chemistry. Loy's Thin Man "I love this guy even though he is often an idiot" persona plays perfectly against Grant's blend of disarming handsomeness and self-deprecating humor.

But it's Temple's "mature beyond her years in some ways, yet still a goofy kid in others" personality that keeps this crazy love triangle from falling apart. Realizing the limits of the material, all three play it in a lighthearted way that almost lets the audience in on the joke.

The Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer works only if you forgive it its silly story and allow yourself to enjoy four stars who understand their craft so well they can make this nonsensical picture a fun and lighthearted romp.


N.B. Despite this being 1947, part of the Dark Ages, Shirley Temple's character - the editor and chief of the school's newspaper and a young lady who is clearly smarter than the silly high school boys who pursue her - is a surprisingly modern role model for young girls at that time.

 

[Monte]

Fashion in this film is an insane example of hats and suits.

 

[Worf]

View attachment 409798
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer from 1947 with Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins


This is why we have movie stars. The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer would have been long forgotten if not for Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Shirley Temple and Ray Collins. These talented actors take the movie's thin and inane script and create enjoyable characters who have so much charm that you forgive the picture its ample ridiculousness.

Cary Grant plays a successful artist brought up before a judge played by Myrna Loy owing to a tussle over some girls at a nightclub the prior evening. After being let off with a warning, Grant, later that day, gives a lecture on art at the high school where Loy's younger sister, ward and bobby-soxer Shirley Temple attends.

Temple develops an immediate crush on middle-aged Grant and approaches him, after the lecture, under the pretense that as editor and chief of the school paper she needs to interview him. Later that night, unbeknownst to Grant, she sneaks into his apartment where - after Temple is discovered missing at home - Loy and her date, an Assistant District Attorney, discover them. Oh boy.

The next day, Loy, the assistant DA and Loy's physician uncle played by Ray Collins hit on the eminently stupid plan to dismiss the charges against Grant if he'll agree to date Temple until her crush blows over. Loy and Collins are afraid, otherwise, the crush will become a life-altering obsession for Temple. Where are social services when you need them?

By today's standards, this is beyond creepy, but even in 1947, you can feel them trying to finesse away the ick factor, which they almost do owing to the completely innocent vibe of the movie and the talent of the stars.

From here, it plays out pretty much as expected with Grant feeling silly dating a teenager, while Loy and he develop feelings for each other that he encourages, while she attempts to deny them.

Upping the silliness factor there are a few screwball comedy routines like when Grant competes with the high school boys at picnic races. All along, though, Grant tries to bring Temple and her old high school boyfriend back together as a path out of this mess for him.

(Spoiler alert if you haven't already guessed what's going to happen) Ray Collins finally can't take the nonsense anymore and knocks some sense into both Temple (Grant's too old for you) and Loy (you're too old to let Grant get away), leading to a happy ending for all.

This only works because each star is incredibly talented and all three leads have great chemistry. Loy's Thin Man "I love this guy even though he is often an idiot" persona plays perfectly against Grant's blend of disarming handsomeness and self-deprecating humor.

But it's Temple's "mature beyond her years in some ways, yet still a goofy kid in others" personality that keeps this crazy love triangle from falling apart. Realizing the limits of the material, all three play it in a lighthearted way that almost lets the audience in on the joke.

The Bachelor and Bobby-Soxer works only if you forgive it its silly story and allow yourself to enjoy four stars who understand their craft so well they can make this nonsensical picture a fun and lighthearted romp.


N.B. Despite this being 1947, part of the Dark Ages, Shirley Temple's character - the editor and chief of the school's newspaper and a young lady who is clearly smarter than the silly high school boys who pursue her - is a surprisingly modern role model for young girls at that time.

"You remind me of a man.... "
Great movie... laugh out loud funny! Classic Grant and even Shirley Temple shines in it. The scene with the "cake" is a howl. One of my "stop and droppers".

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

Five Came Back from 1939 with Chester Morris, Lucille Ball, Alan Jenkins, Wendy Barrie and C. Aubrey Smith


Sometimes being a B movie works in a picture's favor. In Five Came Back, RKO put out a solid B movie that tells a good entertaining story without any extra flourishes or "artistic" aspirations. Its fast, straightforward approach keeps the action moving along and the audience engaged.

Two pilots, a steward and nine passengers leave on a flight from Los Angeles to Panama City. It's a Hollywood-created mix of people - a wealthy older couple, a gangster and his boss' toddler son, an eloping society couple, a formerly escaped death-row inmate and his captor and a young woman with a disreputable past.

They all play to type until the plane is forced to crash land in a jungle in Panama, with no real hope of rescue. Now it's a race for survival as they work to repair the plane before the "lurking out there" hostile natives attack.

Stripped of civilization's comforts and protection, real personalities and character come through and presumptions and prejudices are refuted. You don't care if a young woman has a "reputation" if she is more than pulling her weight keeping your makeshift camp running and the "gentleman" doesn't seem so superior when he becomes a selfish drunk now that his money can't protect him.

For some, the challenge is invigorating as the older couple finds renewed energy since their work and life experience is valuable again. The death-row inmate - who acknowledges he has nothing to lose - proves to be a man of courage and morals refreshingly not claiming (as is Hollywood's modern wont) that he is innocent of his crime.

Like the rest of them, he's in this life and death situation and all that matters is how he responds today. There is no past or future for any of them right now.

Amping up the tension as this fast-moving movie races to a climax, the natives kill two of the passengers. Another problem is the plane, now as repaired as it is ever going to be, only has enough fuel and lift capability to take five of the remaining nine back.

Being a B movie, it doesn't spend endless amounts of time on this moral conundrum as some overwrought efforts might. Instead, the group quickly and refreshingly amends the women-and-children-first tenet to one of children first (the one child, in this case) with the rest chosen by logic and reason.

Here, their shaky ad-hoc democracy plays out, not by voting on each person, but on, kinda sorta, voting in a leader to make the decisions and then abiding his call. It's a ninety-second lesson in direct versus indirect democracy.

(Spoiler alert) After that, the five get on the plane and go. With the plane disappearing over the horizon, the natives move in on those left behind as the credits start to roll.

It's B-movie entertainment at its best: fun, engaging, quick and with a brief moral challenge, but without much brouhaha or fuss about any of it. The small budget, obvious sets and rudimentary special effects only add to its kitchy appeal. Five Came Back is a better movie than RKO probably intended. It's what a "Sunday afternoon movie" should be.


N.B. Also rising above its humble B movie status is an outstanding cast that includes fading-but-talented star Chester Morris, a young Lucille Ball, ubiquitous character actor Alan Jenkins in one of his best rolls, pretty and engaging Wendy Barrie and amazingly versatile octogenarian C. Aubrey Smith who adds gravitas to any role or movie he's in.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Totally agree. A B pic, but a superior one. I watched it last year and definitely enjoyed it.

 

[Worf]

There have been several remakes of this film, but I think the one you reviewed is the first.

Worf

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Convicted (1950) with Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford, dir. Henry Levin. Ford gets a manslaughter rap that might be tainted by political string-pulling; Crawford is the DA who tries to get Ford off, but the law is the law. The bulk of the picture is Ford adjusting to life behind bars, hoping for a parole, and dealing with a brutal, power-hungry captain of the guards. Then, lo-and-behold, Crawford is appointed the new warden and he tries to help Ford, whom he knows was railroaded.
The pacing never falters, the character parts are solid, Crawford gets to play tough but compassionate, and Ford must move between bitterness and hope and cynical acceptance of his fate.

PS: We tried to watch Topkapi, the jewel heist flick, thinking if Jules Dassin directed it, it should be good, but it tried to be psychedelic and wild with too many looks right at the camera with some sort of toss-off line. We gave up after about 10 minutes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Cause for Alarm from 1951 with Loretta Young, Barry Sullivan, Bruce Cowling and Irving Bacon


Cause for Alarm is an outstanding seventy minute TV-style drama that would have been one of the best Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes ever had it been produced for that series. As a motion picture, it's darn good too, but its production quality and style feel like a TV show.

No matter, its tense story and an incredibly engaging performance by Loretta Young quickly draw you in and hold your attention as the plot almost sneaks up on you. It opens in a "typical" 1950s suburban home, at least typical for how TV portrayed 1950s suburban homes (think of the TV shows Father Knows Best or Leave it to Beaver).

Cause for Alarm begins with housewife Young nervously caring for a sick husband with a weak heart who is cranky and difficult. Yet all seems normal for the situation as it is not unusual to be frazzled having to tend to someone all the time. The home itself, the neighbors and the doctor who makes house calls all, too, seem right for the time and place

But the husband, Barry Sullivan, is up to something. He believes his wife and his doctor - all three were friends during and after the war - are having an affair and are plotting to kill him.

His passive-aggressive strategy begins when he writes a letter to the attorney general outlining his evidence (some circumstantial and some planted). Then, after he gets Young to mail the letter, he tells her of its contents so that she knows if he dies, she'll be suspected.

Here's where the plot sneaks up on you. The same day Young mails the letter and right after her husband reveals his plan to her, he dies of an apparent heart attack. In that one second, Young's typical and safe world is shattered as she goes from being a suburban housewife to a potential murder suspect.

Frantic that she'll be accused of just that, Young tries to chase down the mail carrier she gave the letter to earlier that day, as everything she did or does now looks suspicious to her spinning mind.

Her exasperating encounter with the talkative self-absorbed mailman is Tarantino like as the mailman drones on about rules and regs, while Young all but loses it on him knowing the letter he holds in his hand could determine her fate.

When he sends her to the Post Office supervisor to request the letter back, she first returns home only to unintentionally behave suspiciously to her neighbors and an aunt. This "regular" woman was not trained to be a meta-thinking manipulator.

She's a nice, innocent housewife stuck in an extraordinary situation with her default decency only making things worse as she doesn't know how to think deviously or lie with conviction. It's painful to watch this kind woman flail about.

The Post Office supervisor is pleasant enough, but his bureaucratic mindset, effectively, won't let the letter go. Back she returns to the house with her not-reported-to-the-police-yet dead husband still lying upstairs. The viewer knows she's innocent, but she has made herself look guilty if that letter is delivered.

Even to her friend, the family doctor who shows up in the afternoon to check on his, unbeknownst to him, dead patient, she starts spinning a web of unnecessary lies in her harrowed state trying to protect both of them. Despite knowing she's innocent, at this point, if you were on the jury, you'd vote to convict.

The "surprise" ending is gimmicky, but enjoyable in a TV mystery-story sort of way. Kudos to the writers and director Tay Garnett for leveraging a small budget, a small cast and a simple suburban setting into a pretty tense and entertaining seventy-minute movie.

Even bigger kudos is owed to Loretta Young who carries Cause for Alarm on her lithe shoulders showing a range of emotions she only rarely got to display in her other roles.

 

[Turnip]

„Kingsman - The Golden - Circle“

 

[Trenchfriend]

Blade Runner - FC, right now on my 17 year old Philips DVD-Player and 22 year old Schneider CRT-TV.

 

[Fading Fast]

Point Blank from 1967 with Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn and Carroll O'Connor


Early on, Point Blank's style, an of-the-moment psychedelic collage of rock music, drug culture and tie-dye, overshadows the story, but before the second half, the style calms down and the good story takes over.

Style issues notwithstanding, from beginning to end, this is Lee Marvin's movie playing a gangster shot and left for dead by his partner during an inside job to steal from the mob.

After that early scene, the rest of the movie is Marvin, literally, blasting his way up the mob's chain of command in search of his money - the cut from the job he was nearly killed over.

Marvin's good friend, John Vernon, is the one who double crossed him. Not only did Vernon steal Marvin's money and leave him for dead, he also stole his wife. That's cold.

Not surprisingly, Vernon is also the first one Marvin goes after for his money. When that doesn't work and he, kinda, accidentally kills Vernon, Marvin just keeps pushing higher into "the organization" (the mob) and killing anyone who doesn't give him his money.

Along the way, Marvin recruits (sorta) old friend Angie Dickinson for his get-the-money quest. In Point Blank, Dickinson always looks as if she's just had sex, but didn't have time to wash up.

Yet it works for her in this role in a I-get-what-this-woman-is-about way and it isn't baking cookies. Also helping Marvin, but from the shadows, is Keenan Wynn for reasons we don't learn until the last minute of the movie.

One of the enjoyable angles to all of this is Marvin almost innocently asking everyone to just give him his money. Like any mob pro, he doesn't kill for fun or psychosis, as you believe, if someone would just give him the damn money, he'd happily leave the organization he is slowly destroying alone.

With most of the organization's "leadership team" having already been killed by Marvin, in the movie's best sequence, Marvin meets up with the number two guy, Carroll O'Connor. Marvin, once again, tells O'Connor to just give him his money and he'll happily go away.

O'Connor, bemused, tells Marvin the mob no longer deals in large sums of physical cash, so effectively, it's not easy for O'Connor to get Marvin his money, unless he'll take a check. Despite a string of dead bodies, for a brief moment, the entire plot seems to pivot on a humdrum payment-processing challenge.

Of course, it's more duplicitous than that, which leads to the tensely enjoyable conclusion of O'Connor, theoretically, trying to get Marvin his money, while shadowing Keenan Wynn reappears to bring (maybe) some clarity to the loose ends of the story.

Point Blank has its style challenges, but from a present-day perspective, it's an amazing time capsule of mid-1960s Rat-Pack gangster-style cool on the cusp of giving way to the flower power counter culture. Plus, Lee Marvin delivers a career performance as the man who simply wants the money owed to him, but his collection efforts just keep getting more and more complicated.