HE’s 24-hour Manhattan sojourn included (a) a last-minute urge to attend a Friday afernoon press screening of Sasquatch Sunset, (b) a subsequent decision to bypass Sasquatch and stick to the original plan of catching a restored version of Claude Sautet‘s Classe tous risques (’60) at the Film Forum, (c) a realization that Sautet’s film, a somber, low-key depiction of a criminal sociopath (Lino Ventura) grappling with betrayal within a demimonde of old pals, is too talky for its own good, (d) a 7 pm Angelika press screening of Carol Doda Topless at the Condor, which was followed by a discussion session with co-directors Marlo McKenzie and Jonathan Parker, and (e) the blustery, bone-chilling air causing a fair amount of discomfort and a firm conviction that the approach of spring really needs to get into gear.
[Originally posted on 9.6.20] I’ve been a sucker all my life for scenes of long-delayed revelation or confession that are nonetheless inaudible due to directorial strategy.
Two of my top three are YouTubed below. My third favorite is Leo G. Carroll‘s remarkably concise explanation to Cary Grant about the whole George Kaplan decoy scheme in North by Northwest. The all-but-deafening sound of nearby aircraft engines allows Carroll to explain all the whats, whys and wherefores in roughly ten or twelve seconds; otherwise a full-boat explanation would take at least…what, 45 or 50 seconds? A minute or two?
My favorite is the On The Waterfront moment in which Marlon Brando‘s Terry confesses to Eva Marie Saint‘s Edie that he was unwittingly complicit in her brother’s murder. Because it’s not just an admission but a plea for forgiveness with Terry insisting it wasn’t his idea to kill Joey or anyone else (“I swear to God, Edie!”), and that he thought “they was just gonna lean on him a little,” as he says to his brother Charlie (Rod Steiger) in the film’s second scene.
I’m mentioned the Mississippi Burning moment between Gene Hackman and Frances McDormand a couple of times before. It’s arguably the most powerful moment in this racially charged 1988 thriller, which is based on the infamous 1964 murder of three civil-rights workers. A third-act fantasy spin was the main criticism when it opened, but it emotionally satisfied and that’s what counts.
There’s also that Foreign Correspondent moment inside the Butch windmill when Joel McCrea can hear the murmur of bad-guy voices but not what’s being said. Others?
Cary Grant, Leo G. Carroll during the Chicago / Midway airport confession scene.
The fanboys are preemptively hating on Leslye Headland‘s The Acolyte, the forthcoming, eight-part Disney + Star Wars series, as another woke undermining of classic Star Wars mythology at the direction of Lucasfilm’s Kathy Kennedy.
I am persuaded that it’s female-centric and identity-driven, and is primarily about progressive instruction.
The series is a prequel, set at the end of the High Republic era and well before The Phantom Menace and the subsequent events of the other big Star Wars films.
It was allegedly pitched by Headland as Kill Bill meets Frozen. This equation means nothing to me as I was never a Kill Bill fan (most of it bored me) and I never even watched 2013″s Frozen ( I despise all Disney corporate animation) so what do I know? Nothing. But I trust the perceptions of the Critical Drinker…I know that much.
The first two episodes of The Acolyte will premiere on Disney+ on 6.4.24. The other six will be released weekly.
“And the real gap is the diploma divide, and the real future of the Democratic party and maybe democracy [itself] depends on Democrats figuring that out.”
Guardian “Explainer”, posted an hour ago: In a personal message issued on Friday evening, Kate Middleton (the Princess of Wales) said that following “major abdominal surgery” last January, tests found that cancer had been present. Which, of course, doesn’t necessarily spell doom.
However, the Guardian report also states that “Kensington Palace [has] said it would not be sharing any further medical information about the form or stage of cancer that was discovered.”
I know the uh-oh feeling. As in “uh-oh, am I stuck in cement or is this just, like, a phase?”
@producerpatrick So many entertainment workers are suffering right now. Hollywood isn’t all glitz & glamor, it’s thousands of tv & film professionals who are out of work and facing desperate situations. Sounding the Alarm @Karen Bass for L.A. Mayor @Gavin Newsom ♬ original sound – Producer Patrick
Before I took my first tentative stabs at small-time Hollywood journalism in ’77 and ’78, I was a timid, floundering wannabe…a “secret genius” living in Santa Monica, suffering from occasional nightmares and wondering where and what the hell.
Right around that time or more precisely in December of ’74, I was an audience member during a taping of Both Sides Now, a short-lived, Los Angeles-based impromptu debate show that was co-hosted by the conservative-minded George Putnam and the iconcoclastic Mort Sahl.
Sahl, whom I finally met and chatted with at the Beverly Glen shopping area in ’02, had been one of my all-time favorite comedians. He broke ground for an entire generation of hip, social-critique comics who began to punch through in the ’70s and ’80s (George Carlin, Bill Maher, etc.).
The Both Sides Now guest that night was screenwriter Robert Kaufman (Getting Straight, Love At First Bite). Kaufman’s latest screenwriting effort, the Richard Rush-directed Freebie and the Bean, had just opened that month. I wasn’t a fan of the chaotic action-comedy tone and so when the q & a portion began I stood up and expressed this opinion. Kaufman pushed back rather curtly, initially by calling me inarticulate.
The irony is that in early October of ‘82 Kaufman and Ted Kotcheff, who was then doing press interviews (or who had recently done them) for First Blood…I met Kaufman and Kotcheff at Joe Allen one night, and they were giving me a big rundown on the convoluted pre-production and production experience of Tootsie.
Kaufman had been one of the Tootsie writers (along with Don McGuire, Murray Schisgal, Elaine May, director Dick Richards) and the stories were fairly wild, or certainly seemed that way at the time. The anecdotes were hilarious…a window into a flavorful and frenzied development process.
In my subsequent, highly entertaining discussions with Kaufman about Tootsie I naturally never raised the eight-year-old topic of our mild little Freebie and the Bean contretemps…a mere blip on Kaufman’s mid ‘70s radar screen.
I talked to several creative participants about it, including cowriters Robert Kaufman, Murray Schisgal and director Sydney Pollack. At at the end of the writing process I was fairly sick of the whole saga.
But I never heard this particular story from Dustin Hoffman before today.
The one Tootsie element I didn’t care for (no offense) was Dave Grusin‘s music. Too peppy, too coy, too cute-sounding, And I wasn’t a huge fan of Teri Garr‘s performance. But I loved the supporting turns by Pollack (as Hoffman’s agent), Charles Durning, Jessica Lange, Doris Belack, Bill Murray and Dabney Coleman.
Tomorrow (Friday, 3.22) is a “roaming around Manhattan and catching movies” day, and attraction #1 is Claude Sautet‘s Classe tous risques, which roughly translates as “risk everywhere you turn”. The trailer makes me feel as if I’ve already seen it. Lino Ventura (born in 1919, nudging 40 when the film was shot) stars with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Sandra Milo supporting. Boilerplate: “A French career criminal on the run with his family returns to Paris with help from a new criminal acquaintance and confronts the members of his old gang.”
From Screen Daily‘s “Cannes 2024: What’s in the running?” (3.21.24), co-written by Mona Tabbara, Jeremy Kay, Elisebet Cabeza, Emilio Mayorga and Rebecca Leffler:
The filming of Megalopolis began in November 2022 and concluded in March 2023.
I want an unequivocal, unmitigated apology from everyone (and especially from HE commenter Dean Treadway) who argued with me about the spelling of Road House. Everywhere in the country it’s spelled “roadhouse” and the movie title is just wrong…a weird fabrication. And guess what? Road House itself agrees.
Jake Gyllenhaal: Can I ask a question? Jessica Williams: Sure. Gyllenhaal: Why is it called the Road House? Williams: Whadaya mean? Gyllenhaal: Isn’t roadhouse one word? Williams: Yeah. That’s the joke. It’s a roadhouse, but it’s called the Road…House. Get it? Gyllenhaal: Still unresolved. Williams: Well, I don’t know. My uncle had a unique sense of humor.