Slick and sophisticated procedural with Steve McQueen as cool as could be and a somewhat repellent Faye Dunaway trying very hard to be incredibly desirable as she gets her comeuppance. Most memorable scene: a chess match in which Vicki distracts Crown by caressing a bishop, and the split-screen opening which borrowed the technique from Canada's Expo 67 "A Place to Stand". [2427]
Rod Serling and Michael Wilson also had a hand in the script. Compelling, original, witty, intelligent sci-fi story about an astronaut who crashes onto a distant planet to find it is ruled by apes, and humans are kept as slaves or prisoners and treated like animals. George Taylor shocks the ape world when he speaks (through a plot contrivance, he has lost his voice when captured). The apes in charge see this revelation as a threat to established order, religion, and political power, while two younger scientists, Zira and Cornelius, want to save him for further study. The dramatic ending has been redone so many times by now that, unfortunately, it can never seem as fresh or shocking to younger viewers as it was to audiences when first released. [2065]
Charlton Heston, Maurice Chevalier, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter
Well made and intriguing fantasy about Sinbad trying to restore a shrunken princess to normal size, with the usual out-sized adventures. The key to this film is the relationship between the principles, handled deftly by Kerwin Matthews and Kathryn Grant. [937]
KERWIN MATTHEWS, KATHRYN GRANT
Entertaining farce about Russian submarine run aground off Connecticut, and hilarious panic that ensues when population thinks they are being invaded. Charming and deft, not overly ambitious. Well-acted and filmed. Winters, Keith, Arkin are in especially fine form, before they all became self-parodies in later films. Romantic subplot features appealling actors, nicely counterpoint absurd paranoia of militia. [710]
Funny, memorable comedy by Neil Simon, works well within his limitations. Matthau and Lemmon are marvelous. [668]
Satirical look at American travelers on speedy tour of Europe. I had thought this was written by Woody Allen, but that could be "Don't Drink the Water". Mildly amusing. [564]
Tongue-in-cheek send up of Bond films, with Jean Paul Belmondo as the hero. I don't remember many details from this one, except that I found it funny and charming. [554]
Presley sacharine, but mildly entertaining. O'Connel is a homesteader encountering opposition when he decides to occupy State land or something in Florida. One of the least worst Presley films. [548]
Trivial, contrivance. Don't remember much about it except sentimental scene with Taka telling Ford that she was crying because she was happy. So. [490]
About what you'd expect from John Wayne. Silly propaganda piece about the famous battle between a large Mexican army under Santayana and the well-fortified stronghold. What history doesn't often like to record is how the U.S. acquired these territories from Mexico in the first place. Think of all the movies we could have made had the U.S. army simply gone straight on to Mexico City instead of stopping at the Rio Grande. [479]
Riveting submarine warfare film. One of the first films I ever saw that did not caricature the enemy. It was a battle between equals. Similar to some of Star Trek's battles between Kirk and the Klingon commander-- a simple game of wits. [466]
Need I say more? This one has Dwayne Hickman in it, and assorted character actors. [444]
Robert Morse tries to teach newly-wed Walter Matthau how to cheat, and necessity of cheating for a happy marriage. Impressive list of guest stars to depict the vignettes. Probably sexist, and probably severely dated. [424]
Moderately funny parody of Bob Hope's "Pale-face" (thus, a parody of a parody-- or is it a remake?). It is always interesting to see quirky comics like Knotts as the object of desire of a beautiful actress. [377]
Dumb, except for Pamela Tiffin's hot little body. James Darren is macho and stupid, as is Doug McClure. [335]
One of the weirdest, most off-kilter films ever made. It starts out as a Hollywood \"B\" picture, veers into surreal fantasy, then finishes as a dark, satirical parody of American suburban mall culture. Tuesday Weld plays a kittenish blond vamp who wants everything, and Roddy McDowell is her enthusiastic slave. She gets everything, but isn\'t sure if it\'s satisfying or not. A genuinely twisted film. [329]
Sex comedy about man living in New York during the summer and developing relationship with Monroe. But it's by Wilder so it must have been good. I probably didn't get half the humour when I saw it. [311]
Suspenseful, interesting drama about right-wing generals who seize control when liberal president begins to negotiate peaceful coexistence with Soviets. Great confrontation between March and Lancaster. Other credited writers: Fletcher Knebel, Charles W. Baily II. [309]
I remember this from a long time. I liked Lee Meriweather as the love interest, and the view of society as being composed of ignorant, impulsive swine. [236]
Dumb. [223]
I thought the world of this when I first saw it, because I didn't know anything about Chaplin. A very sad, very moving film at times, but also hostile and mean. Some very witty, very funny segments, but Van Dyke is no Chaplin, or even Keaton, and the idea of substituting Van Dyke's graceless pratfalls for Chaplin's lyrical performances is a stretch. On re-watching in 2023, I give Van Dyke more credit for a simulation of silent film comedians, especially since the film does not really admire Billy Bright-- it's not self-serving. He is shown to be egotistical, self-serving, a philanderer, and a drunk. He ends up alone, watching reruns of his old films on television, with an incredibly moving expression on his face, contemplating what was, what could have been, the mistakes, the failures-- all at once, with a mixture of sorrow and regret and fascination with how it all unfolded. Really, better than I had thought, because of that dark streak to it. Yet, filmed like a sitcom: all lights and wide apertures, with banal cinematography. As one reviewer summarized: worth watching once. Be it noted that in real life, Keaton embraced sound. [184]
Sometimes sizzling but compromised version of Tennessee Williams play about "mendacity". Newman, Taylor, and Ives are great, but Estelle Parsons is brilliant. The movie version deleted the strong homosexual element of Brick's character, which makes his relationship with Maggie somewhat bewildering, unless you read between the lines. Come to think of it... maybe it works better that way. Burl Ives is pompous and bombastic and entertainingly, shamelessly scene-stealing. Elizabeth Taylor steams and huffs and sizzles as best she can, if you like that sort of thing. [167]
BURL IVES, PAUL NEWMAN, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ESTELLE PARSONS
Interesting, amusing western set in Wolf City, Wyoming (but filmed in gorgeous Colorado) about an aging, alcoholic gunslinger hired to protect Frankie Ballou from a murderous town baron who wants his water rights. He is hired by his daughter, Cat, after the "outlaws" she hires turn out to be inept pretenders. Kid Shelleen turns out to be a drunk who fails at his one task and Cat is forced to take matters into her own hands. Marvin is magnificent and Fonda is pretty good in a comedic role; the others adequate. Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye add nice touch as roving "shouters" or minstrels. This film, and several others like it, indicated the decline of the western as a Hollywood standard: there is as much mockery as tribute in here, to the ethos of the western, the lonely gunslinger, the helpless virgin, the noble savage.... Even the wonderful music, Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye, seems to announce that this is a genre that can't be taken seriously anymore. Unbeknownst to everyone at the time, Nat King Cole was suffering from lung cancer during the shoot, while commuting from Lake Tahoe to the set everyday. He died before the film was released. [166]
Tense drama about a detective trying to protect a key witness for a congressional hearing, only to discover that someone within the force has betrayed him. Justly famous for the car chase filmed on the real streets of San Francisco-- though the streets are oddly empty! McQueen did his own stunt driving in a '65 Mustang fastback. Nice touch: the hit men, realizing they are being followed and about to make a break for it, carefully fasten their seat belts. Vaugh is wonderfully sinister as the politician; Bisset is voluptuous but I don't know anybody who can bring a movie to a grinding halt faster than her. [151]
JACQUELINE BISSET, STEVE MCQUEEN, ROBERT VAUGHN
Romantic, sometimes frigidly sentimental drama about passion between two otherwise reserved people who meet in a train station. [144]
Sprawling war epic. [111]
Stark, nasty western, with mythic over-tones. Violent and powerful, with an unforgettable musical score by Morricone. Wallach is a delight, Eastwood's reticence works, and Van Cleef is arch as the "bad". Thoroughly enjoyable. About three villains, mythologized in title, each searching for confederate treasure against and sometimes allied with each other. [106]
Superb reconstruction of Titanic tragedy, with a pretty good story thrown in for good measure. Webb is good, Stanwyck is Stanwyck, and supporting cast is above average. Not as detailed or impressive as "A Night to Remember", but worthy nonetheless. [63]
CLIFTON WEBB, BARBARA STANWYCK
Jack Lemmon as rebellious middle-class businessman. [62]
Exciting war-time adventure about bomber pilots. [51]
GREGORY PECK, DEAN JAGGER
Very funny satire of cold war politics. The U.S. develops a new bomb. The Duchy of Grand Fenwick, impoverished because of U.S. knock-offs of his exclusive wine brand, discovers that nations defeated by the U.S. in war invariably benefit from American post-war reconstruction. So they attack. They accidentally capture the new bomb, forcing the U.S. to surrender. [42]
Jean Seberg, Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford
Lesser Hitchock film about missile sites in Cuba. Not remarkable in any sense of the word. [34]
JOHN FORSYTHE, FREDERICK STAFFORD
Intriguing story of medieval Lord Chrysagon, Heston, falling in love with peasant maiden, Forsythe, and demanding an ancient (probably mythical) right of first deflowering, causing a war with the village ("droit de seigneur"). The woman, of course, falls in love with Heston. In the meantime, a young boy, accidentally taken in another battle, turns out to the son of a Frisian warlord, which draws the Frisians into battle on the side of the peasants. A third complication enters in the form of the Duke, the Warlord's overseer, who doesn't like the mess he's dredged up. The recreation of a medieval castle and the war action is fun and elaborate (and obviously practical instead of CGI), but Heston is a terrible, wooden actor-- I mean, really terrible-- and Forsythe basically stands around looking breathless most of time, and Farentino is gloriously miscast, but Richard Boone is fun as Chrysagon's loyal sidekick, Bors, and Guy Stockwell is actually kind of terrific as his brother Draco. Give it some credit for reasonably faithful recreations of war machinery including a trebuchet, but the battle scenes-- like the stage kiss Heston delivers to Forsythe-- are standard Hollywood pantomime, with the obligatory stunts. The play, upon which "The Warlord" is based only lasted four performances on Broadway (even with Joanne Woodward as the peasant girl). Yet Heston--this is his passion project-- was convinced it would be a great film. In fairness, the studio, apparently, insisted on the epic scale. "The Warlord" is a great object lesson in the film arts. 1) it has the superficial elements of a great Shakespearean play but none of the depth or poetry. 2) Heston 's acting is textbook awful. 3) Heston has a bit of the same kind of masochism displayed by other conservative Hollywood types like Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson, and their women have this sensual suffering look to them, mouth breathless parted, welcoming prospective pain or domination. Heston wanted Julie Christie for the role of Bronwyn and I know exactly why: she has that "make me suffer" look at her disposal when asked for it. [16]
, Charlton Heston, Boone Richard, Maurice Evans, Rosemary Forsyth, Guy Stockwell, James Farentino, Niall MacGinnis, Michael Conrad, Johnny Jensen, Guy Stockwell
All Contents Copyright © Bill Van Dyk 1985 All Rights Reserved
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