Most Wanted
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Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions

1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Holbrook's Crescendo

More than seven months after its debut last March at South by Southwest, I've finally seen Scott Teems' That Evening Sun, an exceptionally well-honed, low-budget regional drama with a lead performance by Hal Holbrook that feels lean, crafty and country-plain -- clearly in the same cut-the-b.s., less-is-more realm as Robert Duvall's performance in Tender Mercies or Billy Bob Thornton's in Sling Blade. By my sights Holbrook's work certainly deserves a Best Actor nomination.

I mean, if you can't stand up and salute an actor like Holbrook, 84 and going strong and delivering perhaps the most emotional and pugnacious and flavorful performance of his long screen career, who can or should you nominate? He was Oscar-nominated last year for his moving supporting performance in Into The Wild; there's clearly more where that came from.

Teems' script enhances considerably by pruning Holbrook's dialogue, that of a flinty old cuss named Abner Meecham, down to the bare essentials. Everything Holbrook says is a variation on a basic theme, to wit: "I'm an old man and I haven't much time left. This house and property are mine and my memories haunt it, and this is where I want to live until such time that my body gives out and my life ends. Because it's my right, dammit, and because a man is entitled to end his life the way he sees fit."

Teems' screenplay doesn't mince words or beat around the bush. And it's a pleasure to watch Holbrook trigger Meecham in an agreeably tough way, playing a tenacious old coot who's never less than honest or sensible or clear-headed with other characters, or with the audience for that matter. So yeah, I've fallen in line with the rest of the crowd, I'm afraid. That Evening Sun is a fulfilling low-key pleasure, and Holbrook rules.

I caught it last night at a Talking Movies screening at Florence Gould Hall at 55 East 59th Street. Jeffrey Lyons and Roberta Burrows introduced and then co-hosted a post-screening interview with Holbrook, Teems and costar Ray McKinnon. The above video is worth listening to for a passage in which Holbrook explains that his late father in law (i.e., the dad of his wife Dixie Carter) is/was pretty much the inspiration for the Meecham character.

I also loved a line about acting that Sidney Lumet passed along to Holbrook during the filming of The Group, to wit: "Audiences can read an actor's mind."

Here's an excellent interview piece with Holbrook by Variety critic and Moving Picture blogspot host Joe Leydon. It's called "After all these years, Hal Holbrook still doesn't know just how damn good he is. But he's learning."

Holbrook will attened an early-evening public screening tonight of That Evening Sun at Cinema 1. He will also submit to another q & a.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 6, 2009 at 4:51 AM

comment #1

Pynchon8 Author Profile Page says ...

Feel like it should have been him and not Bardem.

Posted by Pynchon8 Author Profile Page at November 6, 2009 7:23 AM

comment #2

reverent and free Author Profile Page says ...

In my dreams he'd be able to play Kurt Vonnegut in a movie..

Posted by reverent and free Author Profile Page at November 6, 2009 9:57 AM

comment #3

BurmaShave Author Profile Page says ...

I love Holbrook, but Bardem gave an iconic performance.

Posted by BurmaShave Author Profile Page at November 6, 2009 9:58 AM

comment #4

lipranzer Author Profile Page says ...

I saw this earlier today, the third movie of the day after THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS (I didn't hate it as much as others did, but it's definitely a disappointment given the talent involved) and PRECIOUS (too soap opera at times, but it's definitely a powerful movie, and I didn't find it as hard to watch as Jeff did). I read the short story right before seeing the movie (the full name of the story is "I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down," by William Gay. I've never read him before, but the book jacket compared him to Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor), and Teems sticks fairly close to the story (including a payoff involving a dog that I won't reveal). I thought Teems did a good job of filming it, and didn't indulge in the usual Southern cliches, but the story never really took off for me (also, except for Mia Wasikowska as the daughter of the man Holbrook is feuding with, and Barry Corbin as Holbrook's friend, the supporting cast is pretty much one-note). Holbrook is as good as advertised, however.

Posted by lipranzer Author Profile Page at November 6, 2009 5:50 PM

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