Plimpton & Swanberg at the Roxie

I saw two films at the Roxie recently.

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself; documentary; directed by Tom Bean & Luke Poling; (2012) - Official Website

Drinking Buddies starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick & Ron Livingston; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2013) - Official Website

I recall watching Paper Lion (1968) on television around the time I was 10 years old.  Alan Alda played George Plimpton.  I was surprised that he could play a role other than Hawkeye Pierce so well.  I'd be very interested in seeing Paper Lion again to see how it holds up to a second viewing 30 years later.

For those who are unaware, the late George Plimpton had two careers.  He was the long-time editor-in-chief of The Paris Review.an influential literary journal.  Paper Lion was based on his other job - he would compete in professional sporting events and write about his experience.  Frequently he was on assignment for Sports Illustrated but he published several novels from his experiences.  Paper Lion was about his experiences at the Detroit Lion preseason training camp.  Not a particularly gifted athlete, Plimpton wrote from the perspective of an amateur and these works were quite popular evidenced by the fact that his association with Sports Illustrated lasted several years.  He called this "participatory journalism."

Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton As Himself sheds light on the man behind these stunts.  He was born to a prominent New York family.  He went to the ultra prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy before being expelled his senior year.  Despite this stain (the details weren't too clear), Plimpton was admitted to Harvard.  It was probably there that he met Robert F. Kennedy.  It turns out that Plimpton and the Kennedy family were great friends.  In fact, Plimpton's brother speculates Plimpton dated Jacqueline Kennedy (née Bouvier).  Plimpton was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when RFK was assassinated and is credited with helping to wrestle Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after the shooting.

It's clear that Plimpton led a fascinating life.  His parties in 1960s and 70s are famous and the photos show a Who's Who of literary greats of the era.

The film, like the man, is enjoyable and clever but seems to be superficial and a waste of talent.  Although his work at The Paris Review is discussed, most of the film focuses on his athletic endeavors and famous acquaintances.  I doubt that people unfamiliar with Plimpton would be interested in the film although I suspect that if forced, tricked or wandered into watching the film, most people would say they enjoyed it.

Earlier this year, I saw four films directed by Joe Swanberg at the Roxie.  Swanberg was in attendance.  I enjoyed those films and at the time, he mentioned his latest film starred Olivia Wilde.  Roxie programmer Mike Keegan chimed in that the film would play at the Roxie.  That film was Drinking Buddies and it opened at the Roxie the Friday before Labor Day.

Filmed in Swanberg's homebase of Chicago, Drinking Buddies follows two couples.  Olivia Wilde & Ron Livingston are Kate & Chris and the other couple is Jake Johnson & Anna Kendrick as Luke & Jill.  Kate & Luke are co-workers at a microbrewery.  They are close friends; actually they are closer than "close" they are comfortable and intimate (in a non-sexual way) with each other.  I'd be suspicious of them if I were Chris or Jill.

The two couples spend a weekend together and tensions develop.  Chris is attracted to Jill and the attraction between Kate & Luke has been established since the opening scene.  I thought they would switch partners but Swanberg takes the film in a different direction.    After the weekend getaway, Chris immediately breaks up with Kate.  It is alluded to that he makes tentative moves towards Jill but she isn't ready to move on.  Jill wants to get married and Luke is dragging his feet.  Trying to force a decision, Jill decides to take a trip to Costa Rica or somewhere.

This leave Kate & Luke alone for a week.  Kate doesn't seem to mourn her relationship with Chris.  The next day, she sleeps with one of her coworkers and this bother Luke.  Ostensibly it is because of various other reasons but you must suspect it bothers him that Kate slept with a co-worker not named Luke.

Ever the loyal & dependable friend, Luke helps Kate move from her apartment.  She hasn't even cleaned up her apartment much less prepared for a move.  If Luke was the irresponsible one in his relationship with Jill, he is the responsible one in his relationship with Kate.  I think this is very telling about him.

Anyway, Kate seems offended that Luke has not taken any opportunities to sleep with her while Jill is away and they have a fight.  When Jake returns home, he finds Jill has returned early from her trip.  It is deliberately left vague as to the reason for her return.  One interpretation is that she was actually meeting Chris and it didn't work out.  Regardless, the events during their separation seem to have renewed their relationship.  The film ends ambiguously with Jake and Kate at work, sharing food and seemingly poised to renew their oddly intimate friendship.

This film reminded me of my youth.  It explores the boundaries between various types of relationships young people of opposite genders have.  Kate & Jake have been cheating on their significant others but rather than sexual betrayal, they have engaged in emotional betrayal.  In some sense, they got from each other what they couldn't get from their respective partners.  Looked at rationally and politely, the two are simply friends but given a glimpse their partners are not afforded, it is clear Kate and Luke are more than friends.

You see these kinds of intergender relationships frequently in school.  At least, I did in college and high school.  As one ages, this kind of behavior seems juvenile and unhealthy.  It usually evolves into something else where the sexual act is consummated or banished or the two parties stop having contact with each other for various reason.  As the film ends, my first thought was that Kate should get a new job; preferably far from Chicago.

Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson are tremendous in their roles.  Childish and at times selfish, you get the sense both will turn out to be great spouses in five years time (Luke more than Kate).

Drinking Buddies rang true to life which I'm sure was Swanberg's goal.  Another spot-on detail which I recognized was the copious amounts of beer they drank.  Out of school, most young people can drink amazing amounts of beer...amazing to someone my age.  Older and allegedly wiser, I have to wonder how much of their relationship troubles would be solved by not being in a constant beer induced haze.

Olivia Wilde's fiancé Jason Sudekis (Saturday Night Live) has a small role in the film as Luke and Kate's boss.

Drinking Buddies has enhanced my opinion of Swanberg's work.

Almodovar & To at the 4 Star

I forgot to mention in this post that the screening of The Way, Way Back was my first visit to the Landmark Guild in Menlo Park.  In fact, I believe that was the first time I have ever stopped at an establishment in Menlo Park.  I've driven through a few times but never visited a business or residence in Menlo Park.  The Guild is an older, worn-down, no-frills theater which reminds me most of the recently departed Bridge Theater on Geary in the City.  The Bridge had an elevated mezzanine above the entrance to the auditorium.  The Guild is not split level.  It only has one level which was not very raked.  I remember thinking the slope of the cement floor was unusually flat for a movie theater.

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I'm So Excited! starring Javier Cámara, Cecilia Roth, Lola Dueñas & Raúl Arévalo; directed by Pedro Almodovar; Spanish with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website
Drug War starring Louis Koo & Sun Honglei; directed by Johnny To; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012) - Official Facebook

The Spanish title of I'm So Excited! is Los amantes pasajeros.

I saw both I'm So Excited! and Drug War at the 4 Star.

Many, many years ago (in the 1990s I'm certain), the Roxie had a Pedro Almodovar series.  I remember seeing Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! and Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón.  I went for many years without seeing an Almodovar film after that.  In 2011, the Castro ran a  multi-day series of his films.   Since seeing six of his film in that series, I consider myself a fan of his work.

It is with considerable disappointment that I say that I didn't enjoy I'm So Excited!.  The reason I appreciate and enjoy Almodovar's films is that he expertly mixes complicated narratives with melodrama and absurdist humor.  He is like a master chef making some complicated sauce with many ingredients.  Watching his artistry and skill as a director is part of the enjoyment of an Almodovar film.

I'm So Excited! is a lightweight sex comedy about an airplane whose landing gear is stuck while in flight.  The first class stewards are all gay men; one of the pilots is gay and the lover of the chief steward.  The co-pilot is bisexual.  Everyone in coach class is gassed unconscious so the only people aware of the impending crash landing are the stewards, pilots and first class passengers.

One by one, we learn their life stories - the high end prostitute, the disgraced banker, the assassin, the virgin, etc.  Almodovar throws all the balls in the air and I waited for him to juggle them but instead they just fell to the ground and rolled away.  I'm So Excited! is weighted too heavily towards the farcical and not enough towards the melodramatic.  It suffers in comparison to my favorite Almodovar films and that may be unfair to I'm So Excited!.  As the business phrase goes, "It is what it is."  How can it be anything other than what it is?  The film is what it is and as Popeye said, "I yam what I yam."  I'm a little loopy from to many consecutive days of posting.  I can only evaluate the film from what is becoming my embarrassingly large catalog of films seen.  By those standards, I'm So Excited! just doesn't make the cut.  I wonder how objective my standards are in this case.

Similar to Almodovar, it was a Johnny To series (at the PFA) which cemented my love of his films.  Since that 2008 series, I have seen several films directed and/or produced by To.  Also like Almodovar, To has a distinctive style such that a To film is immediately recognizable to the initiated.

Drug War is a slight departure in style to To's earlier works but I'm glad to say it is quite satisfying.  Sun Honglei is Zhang Lei, a police captain.  He arrest Timmy Choi (Louis Koo), a drug kingpin who wholesales crystal meth.  Facing a death sentence, Choi agrees to turn snitch for Zhang.  Choi is the middleman for a drug deal involving a crime syndicate and a smuggler with a fleet of ships.  Zhang pretends to be one when meeting the other and vice versa.  As the movie progresses, Zhang becomes suspicious that Choi may renege on his deal.

In typical To fashion, he introduces some colorful characters.  Zhang is a no-nonsense cop and Choi plays his cards close to his vest but there is a whole panopoly of memorable criminals.  Choi has two deaf mutes who work for him who are pretty handy with a gun and they have a stockpile of them.  HaHa's (the smuggler) name is indicative of his frequent and loud laughing with Zhang doing a spot on impersonation of Hao Ping who plays HaHa.  Choi's Uncle Bill is the front man for a crime syndicate including the always memorable Suet Lam.

The violence crescendos twice from what I can recall.  First, the two deaf and dumb guys shoot their way out of a warehouse while a SWAT team is raiding it.  The finale consists of an extended running gun battle which involves a school bus full of schoolchildren.  These two scenes leave no doubt that To has not forgotten which side his bread is buttered on.

As I mentioned Drug War is a slight departure from To's earlier action films.  Drug War tones down the stylized violence and invests more time in the details of the plot to the point that it feels like a procedural for the first hour.  The two scenes where Zhang assumes false identities and mannerism are quite a showcase for the actor's skills.  Rather than visibly emotional, Zhang and Koo play their characters as cool, close to the vest and in control of themselves despite the tremendous pressure they are under.  This makes Drug War more of a thriller than an action film.

Whereas I'm So Excited! seemed like a misfire or step backward for Almodovar, Drug War seemed to signal a slight change in direction for To (at least in his action films) which has barely slowed him down.

A Call to Action: The Films of Raoul Walsh

The PFA screened a Raoul Walsh retrospective in July and August.  I saw five of the films.

The Big Trail starring John Wayne & Marguerite Churchill; (1930)

They Died with Their Boots On starring Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland; (1942)

What Price Glory starring Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe & Dolores Del Rio; silent with intertiles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1926)

Wild Girl starring Joan Bennett; (1932)

Pursued starring Robert Mitchum; (1947)

All the films were directed by Walsh.

Prior to Wild Girl, Michael Fox interviewed film critic Dave Kehr.  Fox programs the Mechanics' Institute CinemaLit film series.  Dave Kehr writes a weekly column for the New York Times on recent DVD releases.  Kehr was autographing his latest book, When Movies Mattered.  He drew a large audience.  Former Balboa Theater operator and current Telluride Film Festival director Gary Meyer was present.  The audience had several comments and questions for him.

The previous paragraph reminds me of two items.  I've been a member of the Mechanics' Institute for several years and have yet to attend a CinemaLit screening.  Second, the Balboa's Kickstarter campaign for a digital projector in one of its auditoriums was successful...quite impressively too.  They met their goal with at least two weeks to go.  Other Kickstarter campaigns I follow reach their goals in the last days or hours of the their funding period.

Getting back to the films in the series - I'm not a big fan of Raoul Walsh's work.  He was extremely prolific so if you like films from Hollywood's Golden Age, you can likely find a Walsh film to like.  I've always had a soft spot for Gentleman Jim (1942) with Errol Flynn about heavyweight champion James J. Corbett.  Ward Bond is particularly memorable as John L. Sullivan.

At the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival in January 2009, I attended a lecture at the Castro Theater entitled Hollywood Speaks German by Stefan Droessler.  In a nutshell, at the dawn of the talkie era of films, technology hadn't advanced to allow dubbing or subtitling.  Knowing that their silent stars had built a worldwide fanbase, Hollywood decided to have their stars speak foreign languages in their films.  A film would have both an English language version and a foreign language version(s) with the actors speaking multiple languages.

For the biggest stars (such as Laurel and Hardy), you could not get by with different actors so the audience was treated to Laurel & Hardy speaking Spanish.  The less popular actors could be substituted with native language actors.  The Big Trail was one of these films.  Five versions were simultaneously filmed in English, Italian Spanish, German & French.  Walsh co-directed the German & Spanish versions.  The principal cast was completely different in each version.

I recalled that The Big Trail was a film with multiple casts although Kehr didn't mention this in his introduction.  He highlighted another production aspect which I was unaware of - two different film formats were used simultaneously.  35 mm and 70 mm cameras were used; frequently on the same take.  Since most movie theaters in 1930 did not have 70 mm projectors (same could be said every year since then), the 35 mm print was used for most screenings.  The two edits varied considerably.  The 35 mm edit was 108 minutes while the 70 mm edit was 122 minutes.  The PFA screened the 70 mm version although it was projected from a 35 mm print.

The Big Trail, typically referred to as a Western, does not comport with my image of a Western, particularly a John Wayne Western.  Likely set in the 1840s, Wayne plays Breck Coleman, a buckskinned clad trapper who agrees to lead a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon along the Oregon Trail.  He only agrees because he suspects the murderers of his friend are part of the wagon train.  He suspects Red (Tyrone Power, Sr.) and Lopez (Charles Stevens) of the murder.  Tyrone Power (the father of the actor most associated with that name) is quite memorable as the blustery Red Flack.  There is a riverboat gambler and girl who likes Breck but can't admit it due proprieties of the era.  There a multiple attempts on Breck's life before a slightly anti-climactic showdown filmed in the Giant Sequoias of Northern California.

As mentioned, there was a 70 mm camera which Walsh used extensively for exterior shots.  There are Conestoga wagons, a cattle herd and a great variety of landscapes as one would expect between Missouri and Oregon.  In the 70 mm version, Walsh clearly wanted to show the landscapes, dangers and difficulties encountered by the settlers.  I thought that got in the way of the story.  Of course, in 1930 the images must have been impressive.  In fact, in 2013 they are still impressive because you know they are CGI but I generally don't like films that allow the background to become the foreground no matter how impressive the background is.

John Wayne's performance was pretty wooden and awkward.  For those who criticize the Duke's acting ability, I would only that if you compare this film vs. his films from the 1950s, you see that his acting skills improved.

The Big Trail was an extremely expensive film to make due to the multiple cameras, multiple casts and multiple locations in five different states.  Considered a financial flop, the film nearly derailed Wayne's career.  It would be nine years of B films for him between The Big Trail and Stagecoach.

There is one rumor surrounding the filming of The Big Trail which I have long heard about and wished Kehr would have touched on (or that I had the courage to ask).  It's very scandalous.  The leading lady, Marguerite Churchill, was rumored to have been raped by Tyrone Power, Sr.  In a case of frontier justice, Walsh allegedly had Power beaten for the transgression.  Power would die about a year after The Big Trail was released.

From left to right:  Gaston Glass (La Piste des géants), Theo Shall (Die Große Fahrt), John Wayne (The Big Trail), Franco Corsaro (Il grande sentiero) and Jorge Lewis (La Gran jornada).

They Died With Their Boots On is a historically dubious biopic of George Armstrong Custer with Errol Flynn, a frequent leading man in Walsh's films.  Following Custer's army career from West Point to the Civil War to The Battle of Little Big Horn, TDWTBO is entertaining enough.  If it were a baseball game, it would be a 2-1 game with a bunch of singles but most men stranded on base.  Maybe that baseball analogy is too tortured but the sentiment I am trying to express is that I was underwhelmed by the film.  The most memorable part is the repeated use of the hard to dislike Garry Owen which according to the film, Custer adopted as the 7th Cavalry's regimental song.

What Price Glory (frequently listed as What Price Glory?) follows Sgts. Quirt (Edmund Lowe) and Flagg (Victor MacLagen), two US Marines.  They have a rivalry which stretches over many years and many continents (not to mention many films).  Frequently assigned to the same unit, they lock horns repeatedly over the same women.  As I recall, Lowe is the tough Marine while Flagg is more congenial, eventually getting a commission as an officer.

In WWI France, Quirt is assigned as the senior NCO in Flagg company.  Despite their differences in rank, they resume their hostilities over the control of the company and the affections of the innkeeper's daughter (Dolores del Rio).

The film is a standard issue "rivalry" comedy although there are some impressive battle scenes for 1926.  Like They Died With Their Boots On, What Price Glory was entertaining enough but leave a lasting impression on me.  Lowe & MacLagen would reprise their roles as Quirt and Flagg three more times in film (twice more directed by Walsh).  John Ford would remake What Price Glory with James Cagney and Dan Dailey in the lead roles.

Wild Girl was my favorite of the five Walsh films I saw.  Wild Girl was the first non-silent film adaptation of Bret Harte's Salomy Jane.  I think I recognized exterior locations in the woods which were used in The Big Trail.  Joan Bennett is the titular Wild Girl, a denim pant wearing tomboy whose beauty and curves are hard to overlook.  The audience knows it is in pre-Code territory due to Bennett swimming nude in a lake.  There are a lot of guys sniffing around Jane (including Ralph Bellamy) but frankly I can't remember the plot.  Jane rides around on a stage coach with a guy prone to bragging and making animal noise.  After a distasteful encounter, Jane enlists a stranger to town to kill the offender.  He almost gets lynched for his troubles.  Wild Girl is a showcase of Bennett's talent and beauty which is enough said.

In Pursued, Jeb (Robert Mitchum) is a young man who was orphaned at young age.  His parents' murder was so traumatic that he cannot remember witnessing it.  In fact, he cannot remember his life before coming into contact with his adoptive mother or foster parent.  Jeb has two step-siblings, brother Adam and sister Thor from whom more than sisterly affection is directed.  Eventually Jeb learns the truth about his past and those nightmares which have been dogging him.  Pursued is a film noir masquerading as a western - murder extramarital affairs, vaguely incestuous relationships, hot-heated men and women, etc.  Pursued has the atmosphere and psychological underpinnings of classic noir but the plot was too muddled for me enjoy this film.

 

Un Flic and Max et les Ferrailleurs

I saw two French crime capers from the 1970 at the Castro in August.

Un Flic starring Alain Delon, Catherine Deneuve & Richard Crenna; directed by Jean-Pierre Melville; French with subtitles; (1972)
Max et les Ferrailleurs starring Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider & Bernard Fresson; directed by Claude Sautet; French with subtitles; (1971)

Un flic translates to A Cop (flic is French slang for a policeman).  Un Flic also had an English title of Dirty Money.  Max et les ferrailleurs translates to Max and the junkmen.

I was surprised to see Richard Crenna speaking French in Un Flic.  I didn't realize who it was until close to the end.  I didn't pay attention to whether he was speaking it himself or it was dubbed.

Un Flic was director Jean-Pierre Melville's final film.  There are two periods of long silence in the film; each corresponding to a crime.  At the beginning, in a wind swept Normandy beach town, four men wait in a car.  They are down the street from a bank (BNP actually).  Patiently they watch and eventually one-by-one enter the bank.  The pull off a meticulously planned bank robbery except one of the bank workers has a gun.  The worker shoots one of the robbers before being shot to death himself.

The shooting of the robber throws a monkey wrench in the robbers carefully laid escape plan.  The robbers include Richard Crenna as the brains and Michael Conrad (Hill St. Blues).  Crenna decides they must split up and leave the wounded man because to be caught with him would lead to their arrest.

When the wounded man shows up at a hospital, it's the break that police detective Alain Delon has been waiting for.  He methodically closes in on the robbers with the help of a transvestite informant who I believe was played by a female actress.  Anyone Coleman (Delon) and Simon (Crenna) share the same girlfriend/mistress, Catherine Deneuve.  Coleman is a dedicated cop and is beginning to suspect Coleman and Simon suspects that Coleman is suspecting him of the crimes.

With the help of his informant, Coleman is aware that Simon is planning to steal some drugs from during a train ride.  The plan is overly elaborate and employ patently obvious miniatures.  A helicopter matches speed with the train, Crenna descends via a cable and winch, boards the train, spends a lot of time grooming himself, steals the drugs, changes back into his jumpsuit and is hoisted back up to the helicopter.  Between the original bank robbery and the train robbery, approximately one-third of the film elapses and with very little dialogue.

You would think this signals a minimalist approach and the plot is pretty flimsy.  However, Melville's attention to detail (even if the detail is a model helicopter) makes it seem that Un Flic was directed by someone with OCD.  The plot revolves around the love triangle formed by Delon, Deneuve and Crenna.  They seem to communicate their suspicions and feelings through eye movements and Coleman should be concerned at how cozy he is with a robbery suspect but the implied relationship between Coleman and Simon is the strongest in the film.  With the trannie informant and a separate case involving an man and an underage gay hustler, there is a noticeable homoerotic undertone throughout the film.  Coleman and Simon knowingly share the same woman so it is not a stretch to think of the triangle as a convenient proxy for a relationship between Coleman and Simon.

Melville only hints at this aspect of the film which was the most provocative.  Much of the film plays out like a procedural and motivation of the character is never truly examined.  They do what they do because that's what they do.  Criminals commit crimes and cops arrest criminals.  The icy blonde Deneuve remains detached and aloof throughout.  In fact, the most emotional scene in the film involves Coleman and his trannie informant whom he suspects of betraying him.  His anger seems out of character.  Methinks le flic doth protest too much.

Max et les Ferrailleurs also features a love triangle but the cop is tightly wound in this film.  Michel Piccoli is Max, a police detective stinging from a bust gone bad.  Hearing the ridicule and pity from other cops, Max needs to redeem himself.  A chance encounter with Abel Maresco (Bernard Fresson), an old army buddy gives Max the opportunity he is looking for.  Unaware that Max is a cop, Abel hints he may be involved in shady dealings.  Some investigation by Max reveals that Abel is part of a penny ante gang who steals scrap metal and construction supplies.  Their big score is a spool of cable.  They use the junkyard as cover for their criminal activities hence the title of the film.

Abel and his gang are very content.  They make enough to keep themselves in drink at the neighborhood bar.  They have low aspirations and have met them.  Abel also has smoking hot girlfriend is Lily (Romy Schneider).  The only downside from a boyfriend perspective is that Lily is a prostitute but that doesn't bother Abel.  He doesn't take any of her money nor does he judge her.

After doing some intelligence, Max decides the gang needs some higher goals then scavenging construction sites.  He poses as a small bank president and picks up Lily at a bar.  Uninterested in sex (at least outwardly towards Lily), he makes an ostentatious display of his money and ennui.  Eventually, he manipulates Lily into considering robbing his bank.  He plays upon Lily's ambitions for Abel and sows discontent between them.  After spoon feeding Lily all the information Abel will need to know to rob the bank, he waits with police backup near the bank on the appointed hour.

The robbers are arrested but Max's superiors decide to prosecute Lily as well.  Despite his reserved exterior, Max has fallen for Lily and his feeling towards her.  Those feelings and perhaps his sense guilty over the entrapment, lead to a very shocking ending.  Max shoots his fellow police officer rather than allow him to arrest Lily.

The best thing about Max et les Ferrailleurs is Romy Schneider.  Incredibly sexy, Schneider's Lily is a memorable character.  Intelligent enough to pick up the clues but not intelligent enough to sense the trap, her ambitions lead to her downfall.  Picolli's Max must drop the clues without being to obvious about his intentions and his true feelings.  The scenes between Schneider and Picolli are great.

Un Flic and Max et les Ferrailleur looked dated by their appearances and settings but that didn't distract me.  In fact, the two films have that 1970s aesthetics which is retro-cool in some circles.  Although Jean-Pierre Melville is the widely acknowledged auteur of these French policiers in the 1970s, Claude Sautet's Max et les Ferrailleur was the more satisfying film for me.  The two films were a tremendous double feature; one of the best I've seen at the Castro in recent memory.

The Nun's Story

In the program for the Summer 2013 series at the Stanford, they state that Audrey Hepburn films are the most popular in the history of the theater.  As I've grown older, I've come to appreciate her beauty and talent.  I remember reading once that Marilyn Monroe was a young man's sex symbol and Audrey Hepburn was an older man's sex symbol.  That's certainly true in my case.  At some point, I've aged out of Marilyn and find myself a huge Audrey Hepburn fan.

With that introduction, I should mention that Hepburn played a Catholic nun in last film I saw her in.

The Nun's Story starring Audrey Hepburn; with Peter Finch; directed by Fred Zinnemann; (1958)

Fred Zinnemann is a director whom I frequently overlook.  He helmed High Noon, From Here to Eternity and Oklahoma!.  His work in The Nun's Story is equally impressive.   Zinnemann was nominated for a Best Director Oscar, The Nun's Story was nominated for Best Picture and Hepburn was nominated for Best Actress.

Gabby Van Der Mal (Hepburn) is a young woman in Belgium during the late 1920s.  At the beginning of the film, she is engaged to be married but she calls off the engagement to join a convent of nursing nuns.  Gabby's father is a well-respected surgeon and she has learned medicine under his tutelage.  It's not made clear why Gabby joins the nunnery; even her father is a little perplexed by her choice.  She clearly appears self-conflicted.

The film shows quite a few details of life in the convent.  The first hour of the film (total runtime is 2.5 hours) shows the minutiae and trials during Sister Luke's (Gabby's religious order name) postulancy and novitiate (I had to look those words up).  Pride and disobedience are two her biggest problems.  Frankly, the film did not make clear why she joined the sisterhood.  Perhaps she could not have become a nurse without being a nun but given her qualifications and connections, I find that hard to believe.

Sister Luke's desire is to be assigned to the Belgian Congo to treat the natives.  Sister Luke must first learn patience.  After passing her class on tropical maladies (despite her Mother Superior's direct order to purposely fail the class), Sister Luke is assigned to treat patients in a mental asylum.  Little more than a jailer, she again disobeys orders by entering the cell one of the most dangerous patients by herself.  Despite this action, she is allowed to become to take final vows and is eventually assigned to the Congo.

Once again, she is disappointed.  Rather than be assigned to the hospital which treats natives, she is assigned to the hospital which treats white Europeans.  It is here where she meet Dr. Fortunati (Peter Finch, an Englishman with an Italian surname).  She has a love-hate relationship with Fortunati who takes a juvenile pleasure in pointing when she not living up to her vows.  Working as his surgical nurse, Sister Luke and Dr. Fortunati develop a strong bond.  When she is diagnosed with tuberculosis, the standard procedure would be to send the patient back to Europe for treatment.  Fortunati is unwilling to part with his extremely qualified nurse so he treats her on site.  She makes a full recovery but is later forced to return to Europe to accompany a patient.

Upon arrival, she is reassigned to a hospital in Belgium.  In part, it is because the storm clouds of WWII are visible but also to test her devotion.  She moves back in to the convent where she did her postulancy and novitiate.  Her primary responsibilities are at a local hospital where she becomes a favorite of the patients.

The Nazis invade and occupy Belgium but her superiors make clear that she must remain neutral as a nun.  At the hospital is a local nurse who is a member of the resistance.  When Sister Luke becomes aware of her activities, she has a hard time remaining neutral.  This leads to another crisis of faith within Sister Luke.  Having struggled with her faith for entire career as a nun and informed of her father and brother's deaths at the hands of the Nazis, Sister Luke makes the decision to leave the order and return to life as a layperson.  It is strongly implied she will join the resistance but the film ends with Sister Luke leaving the convent in the same civilian clothes she entered.

This must have been a difficult role to act and direct because much of the conflict occurs within Sister Luke.  She's not an emotional person to so for long stretches we have to infer the inner conflict.  I thought Hepburn did a nice job in this regard.  As portrayed in the film, every minute as a nun was filled with self-doubt and inner conflict for Sister Luke.  Even her friendship with Dr. Fortunati seems fraught with sexual tension.   We see that those around her are amazed by her strength but nothing can calm Sister Luke's restlessness.  It was clear to me that she was ill suited to being a nun.  Perhaps she wanted to do the work of a nun but she didn't have the inner qualities necessary to be a devoted nun.  This is clear from the beginning but the essence of the film is showing Sister Luke's realization of this inevitability.

Zinnemann paces the story in a very measured fashion much like a nun's patience.  It never drags but reveals itself in accretive manner.  Scene-by-scene we learn about Sister Luke as a person and question whether or not she has the makeup to be a nun.  Ironically, it is when she decides she cannot remain neutral against the Nazi occupiers that she realizes the sisterhood is not her calling in life.  That would seem the most morally defensible disobedience but it is the one that convinces that she cannot remain a nun.

I was profoundly affected by Hepburn's performance and the film.  I felt emotionally drained at the end when she walks out of the nunnery.

The scenes in the Congo were filmed on location.  Sister Luke foreshadowed Hepburn's extensive work with UNICEF in final decades of her life.

Typically, the Stanford screens double features but given the 2.5 hour length of The Nun's Story and the fact that it was a weeknight, they screen the film solo.  Despite this disincentive, the screening was well attended...true to the program guide's proclamation about Hepburn's popularity among the patrons.

Surfers, Psychopaths & Sexy Cyborgs

I spent most of a weekend at the Castro Theater in August watching three films.

Big Wednesday starring Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt & Gary Busey; directed by John Milius; (1978)
M starring Peter Lorre; directed by Fritz Lang; German with subtitles; (1931)
Metropolis starring Alfred Abel, Brigitte Helm & Gustav Fröhlich; directed by Fritz Lang; silent with intertitles; (1927)

Big Wednesday played on a Saturday night double bill with Apocalypse Now but I couldn't spare the time for both.  I saw M on Sunday afternoon with the intention of not seeing Metropolis again but once I was in the theater, I was hooked.  I was hoping for the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack but it was not.  I cannot recall the composer or performers of the soundtrack.

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The director of Big Wednesday, John Milius, was a prolific screenwriter in the 1970s.  Notable credits include Jeremiah Johnson, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean & Apocalypse Now. He also wrote the screenplay to Big Wednesday, a semi-autobiographical film for Milius.  Milius famously traded "points" or a percent of box office with his friends George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  Milius' film was Big Wednesday, Lucas' film was Star Wars and Spielberg's film was Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  If you haven't heard of Big Wednesday, you aren't alone as the film was a flop although it has become a cult classic among surfers.

Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt & Gary Busey are Matt, Jack & LeRoy "The Masochist," respectively.  They are three surfers in Southern California in early 1960s when the film starts.  Matt is the troubled one, Jack is the responsible one and LeRoy is the crazy one.

Although the characters go through life changes, the film seems more about societal changes that occurred between the JFK administration to the winding down of the Vietnam war in 1974.   The title refers to The Great Swell of 1974 during which legendary waves created ideal surfing conditions off the coast of Southern California.

Milius was an avid surfer so you would have expected the film to have a deeply personal feel.  The opposite seems true.  Milius seems to have set out to make an epic film and forgot to create characters we could care about.  There is one scene towards the end where Matt is invited to a screening of a surfing documentary in which footage of him appears.  Matt, Jack & LeRoy are longboard surfers.  By this point in the film, shortboard surfers like Gerry Lopez are popular.  Matt's footage is greeted by silence by the audience in the film.  This is set up as a minor tragedy but I couldn't tell the difference between them.

The film reminded me of Point Break except none of the three spouted Zen like aphorisms like Patrick Swayze's character.  However, all three characters in Big Wednesday took pleasure and maybe therapeutic value from surfing.  Surfing was a form of meditation to them.

The plot seemed formulaic but I don't know if that is because of all the films that have come after Big Wednesday or because Milius wrote & directed so many films.  There is the big fight scene where the house gets trashed, there is the fight scene in a Tijuana bar, there is an impressive scene where the protagonists try to get out of the draft by faking illnesses both mental and physical, etc.  The most memorable scenes are the surfing scenes which leads me to believe Vincent, Katt & Busey were actually quite accomplished surfers.

Milius, who would go on to direct Conan the Barbarian and the original Red Dawn, appears to have been too personally invested (emotionally not financially) in Big Wednesday for his own good.  A little more objectivity would have served the film better.  I cannot recommend this film and will not see it a second time but there are worse ways to spend a Saturday night than watching Big Wednesday at the Castro.

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I've long wanted to see Fritz Lang's M.  I'm quite certain I saw Joseph Losey's 1951 remake of M at the PFA in March 2010.  I cannot find the corresponding entry on this blog.

M is the story of a child murderer.  Interestingly, the killing is specified but the sexual abuse is only hinted at.  Losey's remake move the action to Los Angeles but Lang's original is set in Berlin with Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert, the killer.  Not just a killer but a serial killer and not just a serial killer but one who taunts the public with letters to the newspaper about his crimes.  This sends the city into a panic and the cops respond by pressuring organized crime.

Tired of being harassed by the police, the crime bosses react by setting up their own manhunt.  Beckert's downfall is caused by his incessant whistling of  Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King.  A blind beggar recalls someone whistling that song around the time one of the girls was murdered.  Beckert seems to whistle the tune when he is stalking young girls.  The beggar tips off a friend who organizes a posse to follow Beckert who is on foot.  One of them marks him with a chalk letter "M" on the back of his shoulder.

When Beckert realizes he is being followed, he takes refuge in an office building as work is letting off.  With their suspect trapped in the building, the crime bosses send an army of criminal to break into the building and methodically search for Beckert.  When they find him cowering in the attic, they drag him to an abandoned building to face a trial with the crime bosses as his judge, jury and likely executioners.  He is assigned a "defense council" and the questioning begins.

It's in the 2nd half of the film that Lorre begins to shine.  He is squared animal in the storage room of the building when the criminals close in on him.  Under trial for his life, he is still frightened but recognizing his situation he attempts to deflect blame and rationalize his actions.  It's only when the inevitability of the guilt becomes clear that Lorre breaks down and you see what a miserable person he is - tormented by his compulsion, grotesque by his actions and unpardonable by society's standards.  It's like that the final breakdown of Beckert launched Lorre's storied acting career.

Lorre is what makes M a classic film.  It is a career defining role for him.  Beckert is such a pathetic human being and Lorre shows all his shortcomings, perverted thoughts and cunning.

Watching the film, I recognized that Lang was filming in Germany in 1931, a few years before Hitler would become Chancellor and the Nazis would come to full power.  These characters and actors would confront even greater monster than Beckert in a few years.

The ending of M is very powerful.  The police bust up the proceedings before the verdict is announced.  The screen goes dark and the mother of one of the murdered girls says that nothing can bring her dead child back and that we need to protect our children.  M is still an excellent film to watch.  It was more powerful than Losey's 1951 remake.

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I believe this is the fourth time (if you count Moroder's version) I've seen Metropolis in the movie theater since I started this blog.  I can't add much to what I've said before.  Brigette Helm is more sexy each time and her performance more wanton.

In my opinion, the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack is still the gold standard for Metropolis.

Angel & Vice Squad

Cinefamily "is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of movie lovers devoted to finding and presenting interesting and unusual programs of exceptional, distinctive, weird and wonderful films."  Located in Los Angeles, Cinefamily screens programs in the old Silent Movie Theater.

In August, they brought up two 35mm prints of classic films from the 1980s.  Both films screened at the Roxie as a double feature.

Angel starring Donna Wilkes; with Cliff Gorman, Rory Calhoun & John Diehl; directed by Robert Vincent O'Neill; (1984)
Vice Squad starring Season Hubley, Wings Hauser & Gary Swanson; directed by Gary Sherman; (1982)

I've seen both of these films many times but I've never seen either in a movie theater.

The premise of Angel is that Molly (Donna Wilkes) is an honors student and "good girl" at the elite, private high school she attends.  At night, Molly becomes Angel, a streetwalker on Hollywood Blvd.  Her parents have abandoned her and she tells everyone her mother is an invalid who cannot be disturbed.  She pays the bills by hooking.  Molly/Angel has nicely compartmentalized her life and does not exhibit the emotional damage one would think from a 15 year old girl who has been streetwalking since age 12.

There is a serial killer on the loose.  John Diehl plays the killer with gusto.  He's not just a serial killer but a necrophiliac.  LAPD Lt. Andrews (Cliff Gorman) is investigating the killings and takes an interest in Angel who doesn't seem to belong out on the street.  When examined objectively, his interest and actions are suspect.  He follows Angel to her school.  When he confronts her at home, he discovers that she is minor living alone and supporting herself through streetwalking.  Rather than contacting Child Services and taking her off the street, he warns her to stay off the street despite her not having another means of income or a legal guardian.

Angel is one tough cookie though and she has her friends - Kit Carson, a silent film cowboy who does tricks & signs autographs, Mae, a tranny streetwalker who bears a resemblance to Rip Torn and Solly, her bull dyke lesbian landlady.

Angel's life comes crashing down when some schoolmates see her streetwalking.  They pick her up and are ready to gang rape her but she is packing heat due to the serial killer.  They piss their pants and run off but the damage is done.  They tell the whole school that Molly is a streetwalker.  Why the rest of the school is so quick to believe these jerks is an open question.  Humiliated and distraught, Molly returns home to discover Mae has been murdered in her apartment.  Angel ID'd the killer in a police lineup.  He escaped and no is stalking Angel and knows where she lives.

Molly becomes an avenging Angel at this point.  Taking a long-barreled handgun and hitting the streets, she stalks the killer.   A running gun battle ensues with Angel chasing the killer and Kit and Lt. Andrews chasing Angel.  In the end, Kit has exchanged his cap revolvers for the real thing and shoots the killer dead.

Angel wasn't quite a sleazy as I remember.  Considering she is an underage prostitute, I would have expected more of a pedophile angle.  Maybe that is because Donna Wilkes was 24 at the time of filming and made up like a streetwalker she looked well over 15.  John Diehl as the serial killer is very creepy.  Seeing the film 29 years after its release, I was most surprised at the portrayal of Angel.  She is a child prostitute, living a double life and has knowledge that both her parents abandoned her.  Today, that character would have to exhibit psychological damage from her circumstances.  Angel is resilient as all get-out and never seems to have down moment until her secret is revealed.  Friend and fellow streetwalker is murdered; no problem.  She discovers the mutilated body of another fellow streetwalker; no problem.  The killer she just identified in a police lineup grabs a gun, sees her and shoots his way out of a police station; no problem.  It's only when her secret is revealed that she begins to lose her composure.

No one performance really stood out except Diehl.  Susan Tyrell as Solly and Dick Shawn as Mae seemed designed to provide comedic relief.

Whatever is lost in hindsight review of the execution is made up for by the outrageousness of the plot.  In other words, it's impossible to make a film about a 15 year old streetwalker and necrophiliac serial killer that isn't exploitation.  My complaint is that from the viewpoint of 2013, this 1984 film wasn't exploitative enough.

After seeing Angel, I wondered if my memory was playing tricks with me.  Then I wondered how much I've changed from my teenage years that a film about an underage whore and corpse molesting killer isn't debased enough for my tastes.  I'm glad I stayed because Vice Squad reaffirmed my faith in 1980s exploitation films.

In Vice Squad, Season Hubley is Princess, a failed businesswoman with a daughter who has to walk the streets to make ends meet.  She doesn't dress like a streetwalker and she doesn't act like a streetwalker but that's not important.  When her friend (Nina Blackwood who become the original MTV VJs) is murdered by the pimp named Ramrod (Wings Hauser), Princess is caught up in a squeeze.  She is picked up by a vice squad cop and forced to wear a wire or be prosecuted for prostitution and risk losing custody of her daughter.

Princess gets Ramrod to incriminate himself on tape and he is arrested but unbeknownst to her, Ramrod escapes police custody and is hunting her down.  Most of the film takes place in this situation.  Princess is off seeing stranger and stranger clients while Ramrod is tracking her down and the cops are one step behind Ramrod.

Wings Hauser elevates Vice Squad to something sublime.  Ramrod (great name) is the most violent and maniacal street pimp I can recall seeing in the movies.  He's like a tornado tearing through the sleazy parts of LA.  He kills Nina Blackwood with a pimp stick (a bent wire hanger).  When Rerun from What's Happening! shows up as a fey sugar pimp, Ramrod kills him too. He drives off with an Asian hooker named Coco hanging halfway out of the passenger window and then dumps her in the garbage.  When he finally captures Princess, he doesn't kill her on the spot but takes her to an abandoned warehouse and starts in with pimp stick again until the cops bust in.  Vice Squad could be subtitled Ramrod on the Rampage.

There is a scene at the beginning of the film where two vice squad cops are on stakeout.  The less experienced partner recites the sex acts available on the streets and their slang names.  The fact that I knew all the words despite not having engaged in several of the acts leads me to believe that society is raunchier today than 30 years ago.  I also wonder if Vice Squad was an appropriate film for a teenage boy.  Everything I need to know about sex I learned from 1980s exploitation films...

I can imagine what Joe Bob Briggs said in his movie review of Vice Squad - four dead bodies, pimp stick fu, Drive-In Academy Award for Wings Hauser, Joe Bob says check it out.

I hope Cinefamily comes back to the Roxie again.

Speaking of exploitation films, I received an email from the Film on Film Foundation.  On October 1 and at the Roxie, they are presenting a double feature of Matt Cimber films:  The Witch Who Came From the Sea and Lady Cocoa.   I missed The Witch Who Came From the Sea earlier this year at the Roxie.  Unfortunately the FOFF double feature conflicts with an Elmore Leonard double feature at the Castro which includes 3:10 to Yuma (the Glenn Ford version), a film I am anxious to see.