Metaphor for Gay Life in Homophobic ’50s

by

I don’t know for a dead cold fact that Grant Williams, star of The Incredible Shrinking Man (’57), was gay, but he almost certainly was. And in this context Shrinking Man becomes more than just a sci-fi drama about a guy getting smaller and smaller. It’s a film about a repressed ’50s guy feeling smaller and smaller due to the anguish of the closet — fear of being outed or found out, career anxiety, a general sense of isolation, constantly having to hide and skulk around.

The cat who almost kills Willams’ character…hell, choose any metaphor. The Los Angeles vice squad, homophobic agents and producers, Williams’ father, the general atmosphere of disapproval.

A West Hollywood resident, Williams never married or had any kind of ongoing relationship with anyone of either gender. (Or at least none that was ever written about.) Written on the Wind, The Incredible Shrinking Man and Susan Slade aside, the poor guy made almost nothing but B-level crap. He died of peritonitis in July ’85, at age 53.

Plodding Lawman Character

by

“Absence of Ray,” initially posted on 8.13.10: “In a wiser and more enterprising world, Michael Keaton would have made history as Ray Nicolette, the not terribly bright FBI agent he played in Jackie Brown and Out of Sight.

“He could played him in a stand-alone Ray Nicolette movie. Maybe two or three of them. I pushed for this [in the late ’90s] ago, and now the shot is gone. And too bad. The basic character elements were all there. Keaton would have killed.

“I was hoping at least for a Ray Nicolette HBO series. The adventures, disappointments and odd detours of an intellectually challenged FBI guy. Not an asshole per se but a guy who just doesn’t quite have what he needs (or ought to have) upstairs, and yet he keeps on plugging and, being a federal employee, never gets fired. It could have been great with the right producer and writers.

“The Nicolette character always struck me as distinctive and even novel in a quietly funny, ploddingly clunky way — a lawman who’s honest and does what he can to put the bad guys behind bars, but never quite manages to figure all the angles and is always behind the eight ball. We all screw up and miss the point every so often. Ray Nicolette is us. Well, now and then.”

No, I still haven’t seen Dopesick.

Read more

Trump-Friendly Bullshit Enabler

by

I see the face of the red-haired Mark Zuckerberg, 37, and I immediately wish I was seeing Jesse Eisenberg instead. Sometimes (this morning for instance) I’ll find myself muttering “fuck you, psychopath.” I don’t like the guy. I don’t like his tennisball haircut, his predatory eyes, his reputation as a lying, soul-less opportunistic prick.

Since 2018, Facebook algorithms have been serving evil ends. Frances Haugen: “Facebook is optimizing content that gets engagement, but its own research is showing that content that is hateful, divisive, polarizing…it’s easer to inspire people to [feel angry[ than it is to inspire other emotions.”

Very Broad, Very “Acted”

by

I have no problem with English-speaking actors playing Italians with theatrically emphasized Italian accents. As long as the accents sound more or less the same, fine. But boy, is Lady Gaga “acting” here or what? Lucretia MacEvil meets Lucrezia Borgia.

This is almost SNL-level…broad to the point of the actors essentially saying to the audience “we are acting here…you see that, right?” There’s nothing wrong with this approach either. The idea seems to be that with the apparent exception of Adam Driver‘s Maurizio Gucci, the Gucci family not only saw themselves as grand theatrical types but performed that way on a day-to-day basis.

Read more

Who Watches DVDs?

by

— From a just-posted (10.28) IndieWire piece titled “What’s The Future of Classic Film Appreciation?”

HE comment: Baker is correct, of course. HD renderings of the visual luster and needle-sharp detail in classic films have never been better. Why, then, is Baker saluted for owning “a vast DVD collection”? By 2021 standards 480p viewings are, no offense, a waste of time. I haven’t watched a DVD or an SD streamer since 2012 or thereabouts. (Okay, maybe once or twice.) Life is too short and HD remasterings look too good these days. Why watch something that you know is going to offer diminished visual values?

Funny Friendo

by

“I’m watching episode #8 of Impeachment, and there’s a moment when Colin Hanks reads the label of the fabled blue dress and says “size 12.” And I’m scoffing and thinking “there’s no way Beanie Feldstein is a size 12. She’s a 14 minimum, or a 16. Monica herself could be a 12…”

Noyce Tribute in Paris

by

The Cinematheque Francaise tribute to Phillip Noyce kicked off Wednesday night (10.27) and will run until Sunday, November 7. The after-event happened at L’auberge Aveyronnaise. Congrats and best wishes to Phillip, wife Vuyo Dasi, beautiful daughter Ayanda, colleagues & collaborators Jason Clarke and Svetlana Cvetko, et. al.

I wish I could’ve been there. I wish I was in Paris, period. I miss it.

All hail Newsfront (my first taste, way back in ’78), Heatwave, Dead Calm, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger (my personal favorite), The Saint, Rabbit-Proof Fence. The Quiet American (my second favorite), Catch a Fire, Salt, the under–rated Above Suspicion and Lakewood.

A big hoo-hah dinner at the Australian embassy is slated for Friday night. I’ll be missing that one also.

If You Were An Academy Member in ’71…

by

…and you were choosing one of the five nominees for the Best Picture Oscar, which would you go for and why? The fucking nominees were Patton, Airport, Five Easy Pieces, Love Story and M*A*S*H.

Hollywood Elsewhere would have definitely voted for Five Easy Pieces, which today is easily the sturdiest and most haunting of the five. Especially that manic goofy piano-playing on the back of the truck scene near Bakersfield, and also the rainy-foggy truck-stop finale (Jack left his jacket in the men’s room!).

Patton is also an excellent watch by today’s standards, and no one will argue against the idea of George C. Scott‘s magnificence as the proud and suffering general, and the ending (“All glory is fleeting”) is one of the best ever, but it seems a bit stodgy now.

My third favorite is M*A*S*H, which has great comic chops and a nice serving of zeitgeist-channelling anti-establishment attitude, but isn’t all that substantial at the end of the day.

Love Story and Airport were regarded as embarassments even back then, and nominating them for Best Picture…please.

In actuality Patton won. The Oscar telecast happened on 4.15.71.