From AFI:
"After helping to convict a man of murder, Sam Morgan is troubled, and he races through a blinding storm to the prison where the man, Frank Pierce, is scheduled to be executed at midnight. En route, he picks up a young woman named Ellie and gives her a lift to a nearby lodge. When he is unable to stop the execution, Sam returns to the lodge and joins Ellie for a drink. As the hour of execution nears, she tells him she is Pierce's wife. At midnight, a man named Martinez rushes into the lodge and confesses to the crime for which Pierce is being executed. The next day, after Martinez has been taken into custody by the police, Sam and Ellie go through the last of Pierce's belongings and find a key to a post office box in New Mexico. Certain the box contains money Pierce had stolen 2 years before, they decide to have the money sent to the lodge and divide it."
This neat little noir was released after 1958, which many see as the end of the classic era. It was made on a small budget and utilizes very few sets, making it seem more like a television production than a film (think of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"), but what I like about it is that we do get a turn from light to dark, and the reason is not what you might expect. Our portagonist becomes disgusted with the criminal justice system and seizes a ready opportunity. He decides that doing the right thing hasn't worked out in his life, so he's going to give the other side a try. Though not classic noir in its denouement, it's interesting to note that black-and-white work of this nature was still being made at this time (see: THE NAKED KISS).
Judgment: noir.
If you'd like to check it out, it's free on Hulu for another 6 weeks or so:
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Human Target 1.11
Chance is hired to protect the Princess of Wales from her murderous husband and his footman. The penultimate episode of last season, and the new season is only 16 days away.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Human Target 1.10
Chance has to infiltrate an Alaskan island to rescue a beautiful young doctor. Don't ask, just go with it.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Third Man (1949)
It's hard for me to admit this in public, and maybe, just maybe, it undercuts my status as...whatever. But, hey, we all have holes in our education, right? So, it is with much head-hanging and abashment that I admit I had never seen THE THIRD MAN. I don't know how it happened. I'm sure there have been dozens of opportunities, on TV, on VHS, on DVD, at the wonderful Dryden Theatre. It just...never happened. So here I am, a convert telling you, you HAVE to see this movie! Here's how AFI starts its entry on the film:
"In post-war Vienna, a city occupied by four Allied forces and sustained by a thriving black market,
American writer Holly Martins arrives, penniless, at the invitation of his old friend Harry Lime, who had offered him a job. Holly goes to Harry's apartment and is told by the porter that Harry was run over by a car and killed. He rushes to the cemetery, where he finds Harry's funeral in progress. As he leaves the gravesite, Holly is approached by a British officer, Major Calloway, who offers him a ride and buys him a drink. When Calloway tells him that Harry was a notorious racketeer, Holly drunkenly vows to prove him wrong. Later, at his hotel, Holly is approached by Crabbin, the head of a cultural institute, who mistakes him for a prestigious novelist and offers to pay for his stay in Vienna if he will speak at one of their meetings. Holly soon receives a call from "Baron" Kurtz, who identifies himself as a friend of Harry and arranges to meet Holly at a café. Kurtz describes Harry's accident and mentions that Harry's Rumanian friend Popescu was also present when Harry died. Holly inquires about the beautiful woman he saw at the funeral, and Kurtz replies that she was Harry's girl friend, Anna Schmidt, an actress at the Josefstadt Theatre. Holly calls on Anna after a performance, and she tells him that Harry's personal physician, Dr. Winkel, happened to show up at the scene of the accident, and that the man behind the wheel of the car was actually Harry's driver. Anna expresses her suspicion that Harry's death was not accidental, and accompanies Holly to Harry's apartment to question the porter. Contrary to Kurtz's account, the porter says that Harry was killed at once, adding that an unidentified third man was present and helped carry the body."
Of course, that's just the set-up. The script from Graham Greene is twisty and wonderful. Director Carol Reed was obviously influenced by Orson Welles' style, specifically THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, but (very possibly) takes it further. Not only does it have the canted angles and quick cuts of the former film, but shooting in war-torn Vienna lends an incredible reality to the Kafa-esque landscape through which our hero, Joseph Cotten, runs through. The crumbling cityscape suggests absent information and the broken steps ensure that no one has secure footing, even as our hero tries to put it all together. The entire film is scored by zither, lending a playful counterpoint to the deadly proceedings. I dropped the DVD in when I couldn't fall asleep and ended up watching the whole thing, finally falling asleep at about 3am. I couldn't stop watching. It's one of those films.
Oh, it's not noir, but it's good. The problem with classifying this film as noir, despite its formalist visuals, is the protagonist. Joseph Cotten is a loyal, bumbling hero, not an anti-hero, not a criminal himself. He doesn't find a new darkness in his soul, he is simply dropped into a dark world. He is out of his element, but still makes it through somehow, by virtue of his virtue, or sheer persistence and connection with capable people. He is much more akin to a Hitchcock hero, and Hitchcock is quoted almost visual-for-visual in one sequence in particular.
So, please, if you haven't already, run out and see this film. I think you'll thank me for it. Then come back and we'll discuss.
"In post-war Vienna, a city occupied by four Allied forces and sustained by a thriving black market,
American writer Holly Martins arrives, penniless, at the invitation of his old friend Harry Lime, who had offered him a job. Holly goes to Harry's apartment and is told by the porter that Harry was run over by a car and killed. He rushes to the cemetery, where he finds Harry's funeral in progress. As he leaves the gravesite, Holly is approached by a British officer, Major Calloway, who offers him a ride and buys him a drink. When Calloway tells him that Harry was a notorious racketeer, Holly drunkenly vows to prove him wrong. Later, at his hotel, Holly is approached by Crabbin, the head of a cultural institute, who mistakes him for a prestigious novelist and offers to pay for his stay in Vienna if he will speak at one of their meetings. Holly soon receives a call from "Baron" Kurtz, who identifies himself as a friend of Harry and arranges to meet Holly at a café. Kurtz describes Harry's accident and mentions that Harry's Rumanian friend Popescu was also present when Harry died. Holly inquires about the beautiful woman he saw at the funeral, and Kurtz replies that she was Harry's girl friend, Anna Schmidt, an actress at the Josefstadt Theatre. Holly calls on Anna after a performance, and she tells him that Harry's personal physician, Dr. Winkel, happened to show up at the scene of the accident, and that the man behind the wheel of the car was actually Harry's driver. Anna expresses her suspicion that Harry's death was not accidental, and accompanies Holly to Harry's apartment to question the porter. Contrary to Kurtz's account, the porter says that Harry was killed at once, adding that an unidentified third man was present and helped carry the body."Of course, that's just the set-up. The script from Graham Greene is twisty and wonderful. Director Carol Reed was obviously influenced by Orson Welles' style, specifically THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, but (very possibly) takes it further. Not only does it have the canted angles and quick cuts of the former film, but shooting in war-torn Vienna lends an incredible reality to the Kafa-esque landscape through which our hero, Joseph Cotten, runs through. The crumbling cityscape suggests absent information and the broken steps ensure that no one has secure footing, even as our hero tries to put it all together. The entire film is scored by zither, lending a playful counterpoint to the deadly proceedings. I dropped the DVD in when I couldn't fall asleep and ended up watching the whole thing, finally falling asleep at about 3am. I couldn't stop watching. It's one of those films.
Oh, it's not noir, but it's good. The problem with classifying this film as noir, despite its formalist visuals, is the protagonist. Joseph Cotten is a loyal, bumbling hero, not an anti-hero, not a criminal himself. He doesn't find a new darkness in his soul, he is simply dropped into a dark world. He is out of his element, but still makes it through somehow, by virtue of his virtue, or sheer persistence and connection with capable people. He is much more akin to a Hitchcock hero, and Hitchcock is quoted almost visual-for-visual in one sequence in particular.
So, please, if you haven't already, run out and see this film. I think you'll thank me for it. Then come back and we'll discuss.
Monday, September 6, 2010
No Country for Old Men (2007)
From AFI:
"In 1980, in west Texas, Anton Chigurh strangles the young deputy who arrested him. Using the authority provided by the deputy’s police car that he steals, Chigurh stops a man in a Ford and shoots him in the forehead with a stun gun attached by hose to a compressed air tank. Later, Chigurh decides by the flip of a coin whether or not to kill a proprietor of a gas station who has unintentionally annoyed him. In the Texas wilderness, Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss is hunting antelope when he discovers an area strewn with many corpses, marking the site of a drug deal that culminated in a shootout. Leaving behind a large quantity of heroin stashed in the back of the trunk, Llewelyn steals a suitcase filled with two million dollars, but feels unable to help the only survivor, who is critically wounded. However, during the night, in the trailer home he shares with his wife Carla Jean, guilt prompts Llewelyn to return to the site with a jug of water for the suffering man. There, he must run for his life from armed thugs associated with one of the parties in the failed drug exchange who have come to retrieve the goods. He barely escapes, but realizes afterward that he still can be found by the license plates on his truck, which he was forced to abandon. To ensure their safety, Llewelyn sends Carla Jean to her mother’s house and then takes a room at the Regal Motel in a different town."
I watched this film again recently, as a nod to one of my favorite podcasts, Filmspotting, since Adam and Matty both had it in their Top 3 of the Decade. The first time through, I hadn't been as impressed as most, although I didn't see it on the big screen, and it had already been overhyped to me. This time, I sat down and made sure I had no interruptions for a couple hours and really started to look at it.
The first thing I noticed was that I had the main character all wrong. Like I'm sure so many people had before, I thought that Josh Brolin was the main character. But on second look, it's Tommy Lee Jones's voice you hear first, setting down to tell us a story about Texas that represents his whole point of view. Much like LAURA, where Waldo Lydecker starts telling us about the night Laura died, the main character here is framing the story, but someone else is driving the action. Brolin is the poor sap in over his head, and Jones is the one that has to pick up the pieces and wonder about the state of the world we live in. In fact, he lays it out in voice-over before the action even starts: "The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, 'O.K., I'll be part of this world.'"
I think this is where the arguments for noir come in. This is a classic "cynical anti-hero" narrative, that guy that walks the line between light and dark. Jones's point is that, for every lawman that works nowadays, you have to walk that line, and do it willingly in order to do his job effectively. I'm not saying it's noir. Or even neo-noir. but when I figure out what noir is, and subsequently what neo-noir is, I'll let you know.
"In 1980, in west Texas, Anton Chigurh strangles the young deputy who arrested him. Using the authority provided by the deputy’s police car that he steals, Chigurh stops a man in a Ford and shoots him in the forehead with a stun gun attached by hose to a compressed air tank. Later, Chigurh decides by the flip of a coin whether or not to kill a proprietor of a gas station who has unintentionally annoyed him. In the Texas wilderness, Vietnam veteran Llewelyn Moss is hunting antelope when he discovers an area strewn with many corpses, marking the site of a drug deal that culminated in a shootout. Leaving behind a large quantity of heroin stashed in the back of the trunk, Llewelyn steals a suitcase filled with two million dollars, but feels unable to help the only survivor, who is critically wounded. However, during the night, in the trailer home he shares with his wife Carla Jean, guilt prompts Llewelyn to return to the site with a jug of water for the suffering man. There, he must run for his life from armed thugs associated with one of the parties in the failed drug exchange who have come to retrieve the goods. He barely escapes, but realizes afterward that he still can be found by the license plates on his truck, which he was forced to abandon. To ensure their safety, Llewelyn sends Carla Jean to her mother’s house and then takes a room at the Regal Motel in a different town."
I watched this film again recently, as a nod to one of my favorite podcasts, Filmspotting, since Adam and Matty both had it in their Top 3 of the Decade. The first time through, I hadn't been as impressed as most, although I didn't see it on the big screen, and it had already been overhyped to me. This time, I sat down and made sure I had no interruptions for a couple hours and really started to look at it.
The first thing I noticed was that I had the main character all wrong. Like I'm sure so many people had before, I thought that Josh Brolin was the main character. But on second look, it's Tommy Lee Jones's voice you hear first, setting down to tell us a story about Texas that represents his whole point of view. Much like LAURA, where Waldo Lydecker starts telling us about the night Laura died, the main character here is framing the story, but someone else is driving the action. Brolin is the poor sap in over his head, and Jones is the one that has to pick up the pieces and wonder about the state of the world we live in. In fact, he lays it out in voice-over before the action even starts: "The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, 'O.K., I'll be part of this world.'"
I think this is where the arguments for noir come in. This is a classic "cynical anti-hero" narrative, that guy that walks the line between light and dark. Jones's point is that, for every lawman that works nowadays, you have to walk that line, and do it willingly in order to do his job effectively. I'm not saying it's noir. Or even neo-noir. but when I figure out what noir is, and subsequently what neo-noir is, I'll let you know.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Human Target 1.9
Chance has a plan to win the greatest underground fighting championship in the world, save a boxer who wouldn't take a dive, screw a billionaire and rescue a cowed vamp in the process. Can he do it? This is Christopher Chance we're talking about here. Guesting Grace Park (BSG's Boomer, and the upcoming "Hawaii 5-0"), consider it BLOODSPORT meets THE STING.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Counterplot (1959)
Again, a convoluted plot, but here goes (from AFI):
"Brock Miller is hiding out near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as he has been framed for the murder of New York importer and gambler David Nibley. Manuel, a local shoeshine boy, is helping Brock by bringing food to the abandoned beach house where he is hiding, but displays an unhealthy interest in Brock's gun. When Connie, Brock's girl friend, arrives in San Juan from New York, Manuel is hostile toward her, as he thinks of himself as Brock's best friend and feels she is destroying their relationship. Connie, who has an engagement as a singer at a local club, asks a waiter for information on Brock's whereabouts. Manuel has deliberately failed to tell Brock that Connie is in town, but Brock finds out when he hears her on a radio broadcast from the club. Fritz Bergmann, a crooked lawyer, learns that Brock is on the island and arranges to have Connie meet Brock at his house. Brock then proposes a plan to Bergmann, which he claims would benefit them both. Brock phones Steve MacGregor, an insurance agent with the company that insured Nibley, whose partner, Ben Murdock, had insured him for $200,000. The insurance company will not pay off on the policy until Brock is convicted and he is determined to prove his innocence."
Forrest Tucker, who I remember mostly from "F-Troop," stars as Brock Miller, the Wrong Man. But he is locked away in hiding for the beginning part of the film, doing nothing. Then Fritz Bergmann comes in a more interesting, if poorly acted, character, but he does not drive the film either. Nor does the girl or even the boy. The film looks at all the angles of the caper, but the only character that actually goes through a change is the boy. Otherwise, all the pieces and archetypes are put into play to collide into each other until the inevitable finale. Now, I'm not saying that this approach can't work. Just look at CROSSFIRE (1947), one of my favorite noir; but that film is taking on American society as a whole, and this film just doesn't stand up.
Judgment: not noir
"Brock Miller is hiding out near San Juan, Puerto Rico, as he has been framed for the murder of New York importer and gambler David Nibley. Manuel, a local shoeshine boy, is helping Brock by bringing food to the abandoned beach house where he is hiding, but displays an unhealthy interest in Brock's gun. When Connie, Brock's girl friend, arrives in San Juan from New York, Manuel is hostile toward her, as he thinks of himself as Brock's best friend and feels she is destroying their relationship. Connie, who has an engagement as a singer at a local club, asks a waiter for information on Brock's whereabouts. Manuel has deliberately failed to tell Brock that Connie is in town, but Brock finds out when he hears her on a radio broadcast from the club. Fritz Bergmann, a crooked lawyer, learns that Brock is on the island and arranges to have Connie meet Brock at his house. Brock then proposes a plan to Bergmann, which he claims would benefit them both. Brock phones Steve MacGregor, an insurance agent with the company that insured Nibley, whose partner, Ben Murdock, had insured him for $200,000. The insurance company will not pay off on the policy until Brock is convicted and he is determined to prove his innocence."
Forrest Tucker, who I remember mostly from "F-Troop," stars as Brock Miller, the Wrong Man. But he is locked away in hiding for the beginning part of the film, doing nothing. Then Fritz Bergmann comes in a more interesting, if poorly acted, character, but he does not drive the film either. Nor does the girl or even the boy. The film looks at all the angles of the caper, but the only character that actually goes through a change is the boy. Otherwise, all the pieces and archetypes are put into play to collide into each other until the inevitable finale. Now, I'm not saying that this approach can't work. Just look at CROSSFIRE (1947), one of my favorite noir; but that film is taking on American society as a whole, and this film just doesn't stand up.
Judgment: not noir
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