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General => Movies and TV => Topic started by: Harmony on August 20, 2022, 11:26:17 AM
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Ok, for those who didn't see my post in the "What Shows Are You Currently Watching?" thread, I've started watching the entire filmography of Paul Newman. So I thought I'd make a post to share my observations as I go along. And it is more than just about PN, but about movies over the decades, co-stars, directors, and any other interesting factoids that may come up along the way. Please feel free to participate. I learn so much more about subjects I am interested in when others share their experiences as well. I realize many of you may be too young to really have known or enjoyed PN movies. Hopefully this thread might inspire some of you along the way.
So the first film was not the one I originally thought it would be (thanks IMDB for getting it wrong). PN's first film was The Silver Chalice (1954). And it very much had to me the feeling of an original Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren" mixed with a little "The Ten Commandments" which came out in 1956. PN reportedly hated his performance so much that when it was broadcast on television in 1966, he took out an ad asking people not to watch it. This of course only caused more people to watch it. LoL
Co-stars include Jack Palance, Lorne Green, EG Marshall, a very young Natalie Wood, and Strother Douglas Martin Jr (who went on to work many times with PN, most notably in Cool Hand Luke) and an uncredited cameo from young hunky Steven McQueen!
The story line is that Basil (PN) is an artist/sculptor who is sold by his father into Greek aristocracy and then sold into slavery when the adopted father dies. He is eventually tasked with making the silver chalice for the Holy Grail. There are sword battles and heaving breasts and the like but generally it feels campy and over-acted. I did appreciate the visual spectacle of it - the set designs were pretty impressive...almost bordering on what looked like computer generated at times even.
Newman won a Golden Globe for his performance in the "Most Promising Newcomer" category. I can't say it was all that great of a performance comparatively but I also don't see why he would be ashamed of it either. There was a scene that stood out to me with Helena (Virginia Mayo) going up and down the line of handsome Greeks that reminded me so much of the infamous Madeline Kahn's scene in History of the World Part 1 playing Empress Nympho. I just had to laugh and then wonder if Mel Brooks borrowed a little from this movie for that scene where she is choosing her escorts.
(https://i.imgur.com/2k5oXWI.jpg)
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I've never seen the film you're referring to, but maybe I should now.
I would put The Color of Money, Slapshot, The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid among my favorites of his.
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Paul Newman was to the 60s what Brando was to the 50s; he simply evolved the entire art form of motion picture acting, bringing it to new artistic heights of performance and realism. So much so that no one could really touch him at that time; he was THAT far ahead of the pack, ability-wise. His performances in the Hustler and Hud are absolutely searing, and hold up even today.
The fact that he was an extraordinarily beautiful man (no homo) doesn’t hurt, either.
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Well he sure makes a mean spaghetti sauce! 💪
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I would also add he seemed to age on screen just about as well as any actor I can think of, off the top of my head. I said elsewhere my favorite performance of his might be Nobody's Fool (quick math, he was 69). Next might be Road to Perdition (77). Seeing him age was natural; his portraying older men didn't seem awkward or jarring. It was just... him, playing the right role at the right age at the right time.
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Big admirer of his acting. He and Redford in Butch Cassidy = solid gold. The Sting as well. Each are quite high on many top movies of all time lists. Their chemistry was palpable/undeniable.
Ran across a movie called Hemingway's Adventure of a Young Man...made in 1962. He won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor....portraying a boxer who had taken too many shots to the head. When his character first showed up in the film, I didn't even know it was him for quite awhile. :corn
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We will get to all of the greats - don't worry. :heart
So last night on tap was PN's 2nd film (interestingly filmed prior to The Silver Chalice but released afterward), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956). The film was based on the autobiography of boxer, Rocky Graziano, who won the World Middleweight Championship in 1947 at age 28. Generally, boxing movies are not my favorite but I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Originally the part of Rocky was to be played by James Dean who died before filming. Fantastic cast - Sal Mineo, Pier Angeli, Robert Loggia (what a hottie), and another cameo by Steve McQueen!
It was directed by Robert Wise who also directed West Side Story (1961) and it was quite easy to see how Wise's techniques were honed on this film and then repurposed for WSS. Numerous scenes look like they were lifted out and placed into WSS, even dialogue at times. It was filmed in black and white, which surprised me a little as The Silver Chalice had been in color. But the B&W really added to the brooding and angry feel of PN's Rocky and also of the numerous street scenes in Brooklyn, NY circa 1940s. It won the Oscar for best cinematography and best art direction.
It is easy to see why this movie made PN a star. He did a fine job though I didn't believe for one second he was Italian, especially when acting along side of Rocky's father, played by Harold J. Stone. Newman's Rocky heralds an early version of Luke Jackson (Cool Hand Luke) and his scenes on the chain gang are strikingly similar. Personally, I found some of Newman's scenes over-acted, like he was over-compensating for the fact that he wasn't Italian enough. But there were moments when his talent shined through. Not knowing much about boxing, I didn't feel like his physique seemed developed enough to be a middleweight boxer. Seeing photos of the real Graziano shows he had much more muscle mass. I can't help but think if this movie were made just a decade or two later, Newman would've had to train and bulk up more for the role.
The story is very much the misunderstood bad boy turns to a life of crime after years of being humiliated and abused by his father. Hits rock bottom and discovers he's a scrapper who can make money with his fists and winds up winning the biggest prize of all. Wise's editing of the fights themselves are brilliant. I could see where Scorsese's Raging Bull and the Rocky Balboa series literally lifted frames from Wise which I choose to see more of a homage than a theft. LoL
If you like fight films and you haven't seen this one, I highly recommend it.
Edit to add - I have some vague nostalgia around memories of my grandparents getting very excited about major fights. There were a few scenes where people gathered around their radios listening to the fights with such intensity. And when Graziano wins, the people all stream out into the streets to celebrate together. It brought up inside of me the feeling of both awe and then loss that something like a local boy doing good can bring together a community like that. Where did that all go?
(https://i.imgur.com/obNuylE.jpg)
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Not knowing much about boxing, I didn't feel like his physique seemed developed enough to be a middleweight boxer. Seeing photos of the real Graziano shows he had much more muscle mass. I can't help but think if this movie were made just a decade or two later, Newman would've had to train and bulk up more for the role.
I agree Newman did not fit the part physically. But not SO far that it detracted greatly from the film....as it is more about the portrayal and the acting at that point.
If you look at Rocky for a comparison....similar thing. Rocky in real life was TRUE Heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner.....who was 6' 5" and around 240 pounds. Stallone was 5' 10" and 190 pounds.
Interesting to note, though..... Denzel Washington in Hurricane was quite a bit bigger than Rubin Carter.
In Raging Bull, however....Goldilocks! DeNiro was almost exactly the same size as Jake LaMotta. And he definitely had the muscle definition as well. So score one for Scorcese (no pun intended) there....he chose the actor who had the right size....and the acting chops.
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Thanks for that info, CCD! I agree that it was no detraction from the film, just musing that once DeNiro went all out for Raging Bull (with his weight fluctuation) that PN may have felt the need to do something similar with regard to his physique.
I had also forgotten about the movie Hurricane. I'm fairly certain I saw that movie but honestly cannot recall much about it. Love Denzel's acting. Might have to give that one another spin.
IIRC Russell Crowe also had a fight movie....don't think I ever saw that one.
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Not knowing much about boxing, I didn't feel like his physique seemed developed enough to be a middleweight boxer. Seeing photos of the real Graziano shows he had much more muscle mass. I can't help but think if this movie were made just a decade or two later, Newman would've had to train and bulk up more for the role.
I agree Newman did not fit the part physically. But not SO far that it detracted greatly from the film....as it is more about the portrayal and the acting at that point.
If you look at Rocky for a comparison....similar thing. Rocky in real life was TRUE Heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner.....who was 6' 5" and around 240 pounds. Stallone was 5' 10" and 190 pounds.
Interesting to note, though..... Denzel Washington in Hurricane was quite a bit bigger than Rubin Carter.
In Raging Bull, however....Goldilocks! DeNiro was almost exactly the same size as Jake LaMotta. And he definitely had the muscle definition as well. So score one for Scorcese (no pun intended) there....he chose the actor who had the right size....and the acting chops.
I just googled Sly, and yes, they said he is 5'10", but there are pictures where he looks anywhere from 5'6" to 6'0" depending who is around him. I always thought he was really short.
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Had a bit of a delay continuing the filmography due to vacation but that ended last night with PN's The Rack (1956) filmed back to back with Somebody Up There Likes Me. This tale was based on play written for television by Rod Serling. Serling was writer/producer/host of The Twilight Zone (59-64). The movie definitely had a play feel to it. Directed by Arnold Lavin who later went on to direct shows for television series The Rockford Files, Mannix, Hill Street Blues, etc.
The story is about a Korean POW, Capt Ed Hall Jr. (PN) returning home to his father, a retired colonel played by Walter Pidgeon. Once back home Hall is prosecuted for aiding and abetting the enemy while held in the prisoner camp for 2 years. He was mentally but not physically tortured. Prosecution witnesses from the camp, including a nice performance by Lee Marvin, testified to brutal physical torture while Hall - a decorated soldier who previously received a medal of valor - was kept in isolation and bombarded with mental abuse and ultimately broke upon learning of the death of his brother who was killed in action. I'm not sure, but the film may be one of the first ones that dealt with the subject of mental torture techniques like isolation and deprivation and touches slightly on the fall out we now think of as PTSD. Newman does a compelling job of telling the court about his torture and how his Chinese captors learned of what precisely it took to get him to cooperate with them.
The dialogue is sharp and smart. I easily picked up on how the writing would've been well served in a play format. Newman is definitely honing his acting chops here and while ultimately the film was not considered successful, I really rather enjoyed it. Great supporting cast also includes the beautiful Anne Francis and a young Cloris Leachman.
(https://i.imgur.com/2EjWrtc.jpg)
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IIRC Russell Crowe also had a fight movie....don't think I ever saw that one.
Cinderella Man. Excellent movie! Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti. Directed by Ron Howard.
Yes, you need to see it.
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The Helen Morgan Story (1957)
This review will be short. I've seen a lot of PN films but this was my first time seeing this one. This is now my least favorite PN film (so far). :laugh:
But not because of PN. It's an old-timey biopic about a real life torch singer/actress from Illinois in the 1920s who went on to garner some success on broadway and The Ziegfeld Follies then lost it all due to alcoholism and died of cirrhosis of the liver at age 41. In essence it is a musical though Newman doesn't sing anything. It is mainly Helen Morgan's story and PN is more in a supporting role. The screenplay is quite formulaic though Newman's role is not based on real life and is added for dramatic effect. He plays Morgan's long term love interest, Larry Maddux, the eternal bad boy who is more interested in rum running and making money in the seedier parts of speakeasies than he is being a boyfriend. A real love em and leave em type that crushes Helen's heart and gives her plenty of torch songs for her repertoire. The whole thing has a shmaltzy/soap opera feel to it. I cannot recommend it much beyond the nostalgia surrounding the costumes and set designs of the 20s and the historical references to roaring 20s and shattering crash of the Great Depression.
I will say this is the first time I've ever seen actress Ann Blyth who plays Morgan in anything. She didn't seem very convincing IMO and I couldn't help feel as though the role was meant for Judy Garland. Today I was reading up on the film and Ms. Blyth and discovered that the producers originally wanted Doris Day (!) to play the part but she turned it down so as not to tarnish her good girl image. Blyth had a fairly robust career in film and television and then quit everything to raise a family. She is remarkably still alive at age 94. I was going to give her props for her singing voice - apparently the soundtrack did better with sales than the movie - but come to find out that her vocals were dubbed.
Newman is definitely easy on the eyes in this one - the other redeeming factor for me haha - and one can see the beginnings in this film of his more notorious roles yet to come in The Hustler, Hud, and The Sting.
(https://i.imgur.com/WFsFDCP.jpg)
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I will say this is the first time I've ever seen actress Ann Blyth who plays Morgan in anything. She didn't seem very convincing IMO and I couldn't help feel as though the role was meant for Judy Garland. Today I was reading up on the film and Ms. Blyth and discovered that the producers originally wanted Doris Day (!) to play the part but she turned it down so as not to tarnish her good girl image. Blyth had a fairly robust career in film and television and then quit everything to raise a family. She is remarkably still alive at age 94. I was going to give her props for her singing voice - apparently the soundtrack did better with sales than the movie - but come to find out that her vocals were dubbed.
I actually remembered her from a couple of Wagon Train episodes (Western tv show from the 50's)....she had a certain kind of dignified demeanor that resonated. Yes, Garland would have been great. I could also see her daughter, Liza.....doing a remake in the 70's.
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I will say this is the first time I've ever seen actress Ann Blyth who plays Morgan in anything. She didn't seem very convincing IMO and I couldn't help feel as though the role was meant for Judy Garland. Today I was reading up on the film and Ms. Blyth and discovered that the producers originally wanted Doris Day (!) to play the part but she turned it down so as not to tarnish her good girl image. Blyth had a fairly robust career in film and television and then quit everything to raise a family. She is remarkably still alive at age 94. I was going to give her props for her singing voice - apparently the soundtrack did better with sales than the movie - but come to find out that her vocals were dubbed.
I actually remembered her from a couple of Wagon Train episodes (Western tv show from the 50's)....she had a certain kind of dignified demeanor that resonated. Yes, Garland would have been great. I could also see her daughter, Liza.....doing a remake in the 70's.
I could definitely see Liza in that role.
Next up is Until They Sail (1957). The film is black and white and set during WWII in New Zealand. Another film directed by Robert Wise, though instead of Newman being the lead, he is very much a supporting actor here. The film is based on a James A. Michener story and revolves around 4 sisters played by Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons, Piper Laurie, and the debut of Sandra Dee (who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer). The Leslie sisters live in Christchurch together after the death of their parents. When WWII begin, most of the men in the country are shipped off leaving these 4 youngish women to bemoan a life without men to court. Simmons is the only one married and over the course of the war, she becomes widowed and they also lose a brother. As the American marines arrive after the attack on Pearl Harbor, suddenly the prospect for finding male companionship looks up and eventually the oldest sister (Fontaine) falls for an American Captain but before they can wed, the Marines must investigate her to deem her fit for immigration to the US. Enter PN's role as the investigator. Interesting side note - Paul Newman served in WWII in the Pacific Theater. Initially he trained to be a pilot but had to drop out due to his colorblindness.
Newman plays Capt. Jack Harding, a divorced man with a drinking problem and a very pessimistic outlook on the marriages he must investigate for the military, which he sees as based on loneliness and not on love. He is attracted to Barbara Leslie (Simmons) newly widowed, but holds back out of cynicism that relationships will ultimately work out. He eventually is ordered to testify before a ?tribunal? around the murder of Barbara's sister (Laurie) at the hands of her POW husband when she tells him she wants a divorce. The sister had been having many affairs while her abusive husband was in the POW camp, and this unseemly behavior was used to justify the murder. This drives yet another wedge between Jack and Barbara.
This film felt a lot to me like From Here to Eternity, in fact, Burt Lancaster was initially desired for one of the male leads. Newman was fine though his role was smaller and it felt like at times he was just going through the motions. I wonder what it must have been like working with Wise as the lead in Somebody Up There Likes Me to suddenly having a supporting role? Hard to say - though I read he was paid a grand a week more than his typical salary while loaned out from his studio (Warner) to MGM. Maybe this was more for the bucks than for the work. Newman was divorcing his first wife - with whom he'd had 3 children during this period to be with Joanne Woodward whom he met in 1953. It could be that doing supporting roles was all he was able to concentrate on during what must have been a difficult time for all involved. Paul and Joanne's first film together, The Long, Hot Summer (1958) is also shooting during this time frame. So it could be that his attention and passion was elsewhere.
(https://i.imgur.com/JrlThZL.jpg)
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Very cool of you to take the time to write these reviews.....esp. with the comprehensive precis for each.
You mentioned Lancaster, a great actor who is probably not that well known by most younger people. Like Newman, he could play lead or support....in a host of different roles.
Excellent observation about Newman being distracted by Joanne and their first movie. Probably just as well it was a supporting role, then.
Keep them coming....enjoyable reading. If only I had the time to watch everything!
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I feel kinda dumb just echoing the love for The Sting and for Butch and Sundance, but I don't buy a lot of movies (actually none anymore) and those are two that I made sure to get.
But Paul Newman is amazing and I'll watch anything he's in. Also, seemed like a really cool guy in person. Newman's Own dressings were created to cash in on Newman's status as a movie star, but 100% of the profits always went to charities. What a cool guy.
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Very cool of you to take the time to write these reviews.....esp. with the comprehensive precis for each.
You mentioned Lancaster, a great actor who is probably not that well known by most younger people. Like Newman, he could play lead or support....in a host of different roles.
Excellent observation about Newman being distracted by Joanne and their first movie. Probably just as well it was a supporting role, then.
Keep them coming....enjoyable reading. If only I had the time to watch everything!
Hey CCD, thanks for the kind words. I wasn't sure if there was much (any?) interest in these little reviews but I'm enjoying watching the films and writing out my reaction. So thanks everyone, for your indulgence and for your participation. It makes it that much more fun for me. :heart
I feel kinda dumb just echoing the love for The Sting and for Butch and Sundance, but I don't buy a lot of movies (actually none anymore) and those are two that I made sure to get.
But Paul Newman is amazing and I'll watch anything he's in. Also, seemed like a really cool guy in person. Newman's Own dressings were created to cash in on Newman's status as a movie star, but 100% of the profits always went to charities. What a cool guy.
I agree with your observation. I think he was one of the coolest, even though he was a flawed individual like we all are. And we will definitely work our way up to his more popular movie roles.
In case you weren't sure what the germ of this thread was, it was after watching the wonderful series about him and his wife Joanne Woodward, The Last Movie Stars, on HBO Max. I highly recommend it. It is so well done. Here is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzchdq2rYyw
Also, I may not get to the next selection this weekend as I have some other things going on but I'm hoping to get it in tomorrow. We'll see how the day plays out. But if not this weekend, next weekend for sure.
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I'm reading these posts but not contributing much as I haven't seen these older films.
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I'm reading these posts but not contributing much as I haven't seen these older films.
Thanks, Chris. I have not seen many of these early films before myself, so I totally understand.
Next up is The Long, Hot Summer (1858). Paul Newman in the leading role of Ben Quick, opposite Orson Welles and Joanne Woodward (whom he married during production). Supporting cast includes Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury, Anthony Franciosa, and Richard Anderson. [aside] I wracked my brain trying to figure out where I'd seen Richard Anderson before - turns out he later went on to play Oscar Goldman - the boss of both the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman. :smiley:
TLHS is directed by Martin Ritt, who was blacklisted by the HUAC for being a suspected communist and supported himself for many years teaching acting at The Actors Studio, where PN and JW had been among his students. Ritt famously was known at the 'The Orson Tamer' after having to put up with Welles behavior on the set where their frequent conflicts had become legendary. Reportedly the entire cast was intimidated by Orson Welles.
The storyline is your typical American Southern Gothic story and based on a compilation of 3 Faulkner works. The characters were inspired by Tennessee Williams' play, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, which PN would go on to star in later this same year. Ben Quick is a drifter with a past, suspected for burning down barns in the south. He gets picked up hitchhiking by JW (Clara) and her sister-in-law, Remick (Eula) and taken to the town, Frenchman's Bend, Mississippi. Clara's father (Welles) is Will Varner, who owns just about everything in the town. While Will is away obtaining medical care, his son Jody, agrees to let Ben sharecrop on some land. After Will returns he becomes incensed that his son hired a notorious barn burner, but after meeting Ben, Will starts to see himself in the ambitious man and begins to set him up to take over the family in place of his son. This would be accomplished by marrying him off to Clara.
Clara has had a beau for many years and does not seem in any hurry to marry, yet by age 23 she is starting to be seen as a spinster. When she catches wind of her father's plan, she presses her beau to marry her but he is apparently too much of a mama's boy (is this 1958 talk for being homosexual?) to agree to the engagement. Clara is aware of Ben's reputation and while she is attracted to him, she is also repulsed by his past and his brazen attempts to win her over. After her brother attempts to kill their father by burning him alive in the family barn (he ultimately lets him and the animals out), the smell of smoke causes Ben to confess to Clara that it was his own father who burned barnes in the south, not him. This puts him in a different light in her eyes, and they predictably fall in love.
The production was shot on location in Louisiana and reportedly there were many delays due to weather. The pastoral shots and sweeping mansions complete with black servants evoke almost a more modern Gone With the Wind quality (pre war, obvs) to the film. Newman actually appears more muscular than he did in 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' and the use of color makes those baby blues impossible to ignore. I thought there would be more chemistry between PN and JW, though her role is played pretty uptight and proper. One thing I found very distracting was Orson Welles' make up. At times he almost appeared to be in brown face (for lack of a better term) like they were covering up for some skin condition he had (alcoholism?). Hard to say. I did read that he wore a prosthetic nose and due to the heat during filming, it would often slip out of place.
Overall, I enjoyed the film but it does not compare to Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (IMO). Newman did win best actor at Cannes Film Festival for this role.
(https://i.imgur.com/FuHhL62.png)
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Just a quick note - sorry for the pause. It was my sister's birthday last weekend and it's been a bit rough but I'm getting through with help from my friends and family. Hope to pick this back up tomorrow - at least that is the plan for now.
But I'd like to leave you all with this little article to enjoy. I'm starting to think maybe I should've chosen Joanne's films instead... :P
In the memoir, he describes returning to their new Beverly Hills home one night to discover that she had fixed up a room off the master bedroom with a double bed she bought from a thrift shop and a fresh coat of paint. “'I call it the Fuck Hut,' she said proudly. It had been done with such affection and delight. Even if my kids came over, we'd go into the Fuck Hut several nights a week and just be intimate and noisy and ribald,” Newman wrote.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/10/paul-newman-memoir-joanne-woodward-sexual-creature-marriage-heartthrob?utm_social-type=owned&mbid=social_twitter&utm_brand=vf&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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Great name.
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And now for the fans of westerns....The Left Handed Gun (1958). I'm not sure how many films have been made about Billy the Kid (50?), but this is one of them with PN in the lead role. This black and white film was the first film directed by Arthur Penn who later went on to direct many great films, including Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Little Big Man (1970). Penn had directed other versions of this particular story written by Gore Vidal and starring PN for television back in 1955, which is where I believe Gore Vidal and PN began their decades long friendship and collaborations. The movie was another production meant to star James Dean. I'm starting to wonder how much credit PN's career can go to Dean's death at this point.
I won't go into detail about the story line here as it is fairly well known. Newman did a fine job of acting though the real life Billy was killed at age 21 and Newman was in his early 30s here. There were scenes meant to show Billy's immaturity - he was portrayed as an illiterate who was eager to learn to read. And in one drunken scene enjoyed pantomiming directing a brass band while a penny music box plays Rally Round the Flag over and over. There were also some overt homo-erotic scenes between Billy and his pals that I found quite surprising given the year the movie was released. In my research after watching the film, I'm certainly not the only one who noticed it but this issue is never confirmed with regard to the film nor other historical writings about BtK. This may be some of what Gore Vidal added in his version of events - hard to know for certain. I was amused to learn that the real life Billy was thought to be a south paw due to one single photographic image that showed him with his holstered Colt revolver on his left side. Historians did not take into account that the ferrotype process produces reversed images, and there still seems to be some historians who maintain that he was ambidextrous.
Westerns are not my personal favorite genre of movie so others here may have more to add. I do see the groundwork being laid here for Butch Cassidy that won't be seen for another decade or so. 1958 was a busy year for PN both professionally and personally. This role did not seem much of a stretch for him, though having played the role years before, he may have just felt more comfortable in the character.
(https://i.imgur.com/yV2b1sU.jpg)
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I watched this one last weekend - Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958). This is arguably the film that got PN noticed. It was the 3rd highest grossing release of the year, likely due to the fact that the other main lead and star was Elizabeth Taylor. The film is based on 1955 Pulitzer-Price winning play by Tennessee Williams. The film was directed by Richard Brooks and for those familiar with the play, the film was very much altered to omit the homosexual story line completely, much to the chagrin of Williams and Newman. I can't help but wonder how much better the film could've been had the major factor of Brick's (PN) closeted homosexuality had been allowed to be shown, but alas the movie going public in 1958 would've likely required smelling salts at the notion.
The story encompasses a lot of ground - greed, self-delusion, sexism and sexual desire, deceit, and the looming reality of death. Brick Politt (PN) a raging alcoholic, and his sexy wife, Maggie the Cat (Taylor), have returned to the Politt family's Mississippi plantation to celebrate the patriarch, Big Daddy's (Burl Ives) 65th birthday. The film opens with a drunken Brick attempting to run hurdles at his old high school in the middle of the night. In an attempt to relive his glory days, he face plants and brakes his leg. Thus throughout the film, Brick is both apart from the festivities yet in the midst of the inner turmoil of the family dynamics. You see, Big Daddy is dying. He just had some tests and while the doctor is telling Big Daddy and Big Mama (Judith Anderson) that the tests were all good, the reality is the old man is going to die. Soon. And Brick and his brother are given the truth of the matter.
Now Brick's brother, Grooper, and his shrewish, fertile wife, Mae, and their brood of "no-neck monsters" have their sights set on the family wealth that is to be left to them upon Big Daddy's death. Maggie also has her eyes on the money, but not just for her own selfish greed but also for her husband who wants nothing more than to leave the plantation and his family for good and drown his sorrows in a bottle. She wants nothing more than to give Big Daddy grandchildren but you see that would mean actually having sex with her husband and he wants nothing to do with her. Her desperation for him only causes him to retreat further. Big Daddy definitely favors Brick and Maggie but is reluctant to leave the bulk of his wealth to a drunk and his infertile wife. Big Daddy is also definitely lusting after Maggie for himself, which makes for some interesting dynamics as Maggie is vying for the inheritance.
Of the movies I've watched, this is my favorite so far. As I said earlier, I would've loved to have watched Newman work through the original story line. I realize Brick's character is detached and miserable but I couldn't help but feel Newman holding back and it was a bit of a distraction. He was nominated for an Academy Award (lost to David Niven) but had he been given the entire role, I have to wonder if he would've ultimately gone on to win. We'll never know. I have to give a huge nod to Burl Ives as Big Daddy. He interestingly won the Academy Award this same year - but as best supporting actor for his role in the movie The Big Country, not COAHTR. He did a phenomenal job acting here. I am not much familiar with him as an actor, but his scenes in this film when he realized he was in fact dying of cancer and it would be an excruciatingly painful death were nothing less than riveting. And Elizabeth Taylor - I have to admit, I've never been a huge fan of hers. She was exquisitely beautiful, no doubt. But this film put her in a new light for me with regard to her acting and I'm now wondering if I hadn't sold her talent short all these years. Reportedly during filming her husband at the time (and also producer on the film), Mike Todd, died in a plane crash and she was supposed to have been on that plane but stayed back because of a mild illness. This was during the first week of filming. I can't even imagine. They had a 1 year old child together at the time.
If you like old movies and/or Paul Newman, this one is definitely not one to miss.
(https://i.imgur.com/dD40i8T.jpg)
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For as much of a film fan I like to believe I am, there are a ton of "how have you never seen this movie?" movies I've never seen. This is one of them.
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For as much of a film fan I like to believe I am, there are a ton of "how have you never seen this movie?" movies I've never seen. This is one of them.
I think many movie fans have a list of movies they know they should've seen but never have. You are not alone! Hud is one for me and I cannot wait to get to it.
For now we are at Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958 - PN's 4th movie release of the year). Based on a comic novel by Max Shulman and directed by Leo McCarey (Duck Soup, An Affair to Remember). Featuring PN, Joanne Woodward, Joan Collins, and Tuesday Weld. It is essentially a satire of late 50s suburbia in small town Putnam's Landing, Connecticut. Brief synopsis is (copied from Wikipedia) "public relations specialist Harry Bannerman (Paul Newman) is slowly going insane because his wife Grace (Joanne Woodward) insists on attending every local civic committee meeting. When the government selects the town for the site of a new missile base, Grace joins a committee to prevent it from being built.
Harry is made the liaison for the military, and Grace's activities cause him no end of trouble. Adding to the dilemma is Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins), whose efforts to get Harry for herself lead to dizzying recriminations and misunderstandings."
See cancel culture existed even in the 50s :lol
Overall, the film is firmly in the campy category. I enjoyed watching PN and JW together but nothing beat the scene with Newman and Collins getting drunk together (she trying to bed the very married Harry who must resist in the midst of his inebriated state) and Newman literally ending up swinging from a chandelier. It is interesting from a time-capsule perspective...in what life looked like inside suburban homes in the 50s and the very rigid sexual stereotypes. I enjoyed the set design, costumes, cars, etc. but have very little to recommend beyond that. Ok maybe the nod to sending the first chimpanzee into space at the end (that didn't actually happen until 1961). This movie had quite a few odd seemingly disparate nuggets of factoids from the late '50s. A time capsule, if you will, with no real depth of story line or characters. Reportedly the book was quite well received but as is often the case, just didn't seem to translate that well to the screen.
(https://i.imgur.com/pmPC2SY.jpg)
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I've only seen one of these three (CoaHTR, and that was a LONG time ago) but these reviews are excellent and kind of tempt me to go back and visit/revisit some of these.
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"A man's life...is the sum of all his actions, but his actions are sometimes the result of the hopes, dreams and desires of those who came before him. In that sense, my life began even before I was born."
The Young Philadelphians (1959) is an epic family/legal drama based on a 1956 novel, The Philadelphian, by Richard P. Powell. Directed by Vincent Sherman. The story set in 1924, as told in the book spans 3 generations. The movie essentially cut it down to one generation and still managed to be very long - run time 2 hrs 16 min - and I still cannot figure out the best way to write up this review! Newman plays Anthony "Tony" Judson Lawrence, an ambitious college student working his way through doing construction but with dreams of being a lawyer. One day on the job, one of the truck drivers on his worksite backs into a car driven by a socialite, Joan Dickinson (Barbara Rush). Of course they fall in love....I mean, who wouldn't looking at PN in a wife-beater undershirt, all sweaty from working out in the sun? :P
So much happens in the story line, I'm just going to post a link to an AFI wall of text that describes the unfolding of events. The synopsis alone reads like a novel: https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/53071
Takeaways - This was PN's only movie release in 1959.
The movie was a success and finished 2nd at the box office opening weekend behind Some Like it Hot
This film was the debut of actor Adam West (Batman) who was probably in the film for less than 3 minutes right in the beginning.
Robert Vaughn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor but lost to Hugh Griffith for Ben-Hur
Another notable actress in the film was Billie Burke. I didn't recognize her until she spoke. She played Glenda, the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz. This was one of her last films before her death in 1960, and she was delightful to watch.
Brian Keith is in a notable role here as Tony's "uncle" who is really his biological father, Mike Flanagan. I don't know if it was all those seasons of Family Affair (does anyone else remember that show?) or if it is because I absolutely LOVE the 80s movie, Sharky's Machine with Burt Reynolds, but he's one of those actors who always makes me feel good when I watch him on screen.
My personal opinion is that I feel like I should have enjoyed this film more than I did. I like dramas, I like courtroom dramas, and of course I love all things Paul Newman. The acting here was fine, and once again I found the set design, costumes, and peeks into that era of life to be interesting and worthwhile. I just found the storyline to be convoluted and it seemed to drag on. It is possible I just wasn't in the right headspace for this one and I'd enjoy it more with a rewatch.
(https://i.imgur.com/YB5vOCU.jpg)
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We did see 'Cat On A Hot Tin Roof' on stage a couple of years ago. It is next in our Netflix queue, whenever we watch whatever has been sitting here for a couple of weeks and gets returned. :D
I just looked at his filmography, and was surprised that I have seen sixteen of his films.
Thanks so much for the research and personal comments. It's not as easy as it looks...
'Well done!' :tup
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Thanks DA! I've gotten a bit behind here.
Next up is 'From the Terrace' (1960). Billed as a romantic drama - this is PN and JW's 3rd film together. Based on the novel by John O'Hara. Directed by Mark Robson (Peyton Place, Valley of the Dolls, Earthquake). The basic plot is estranged son, Alfred (PN), returns from the war to Philadelphia, marries into a prestigious family, and moves to New York to seek his fortune. There were many things I liked about the film but mostly is felt a bit soap opera-ish. It was a bit long at 2.5 hrs and I have to admit, I drifted off to sleep a bit at the end.
Synopsis from TCM
In Philadelphia in 1946, Alfred Eaton returns home from the war to find his mother Martha a wretched alcoholic, the victim of years of neglect and abuse from her husband Samuel, the owner of a prestigious iron and steel company. Samuel emotionally withdrew from his family thirteen years earlier after the death of his beloved son Billy, and still resents the fact that Billy died while Alfred lives. When Samuel begrudgingly offers Alfred a position in the family business, Alfred states that he is moving to New York to launch an aircraft business with his old friend Lex Porter.
While attending a party at the estate of Lex's wealthy uncle, Fritz Thornton, Arthur spots Mary St. John, the stunning daughter of a Main Line family. Mary, who is secretly engaged to Dr. Jim Roper, is sexually drawn to Alfred, and soon the two are embroiled in a tempestuous relationship. When Mary's snobbish parents object that Alfred's father is a nobody and his mother is a drunk, Mary defies them and continues to see Alfred. After Alfred asks his father for a loan to finance his share of the aircraft company, Samuel humiliates Alfred and begins to sob for the lost Billy. Furious, Alfred storms out in disgust, after which Samuel suffers a heart attack and is hospitalized. Believing that Samuel's ill health will place Alfred closer to the helm of the Eaton Steel company, Mr. St. John condones his daughter's engagement to Alfred. On the day of the wedding, Alfred receives word that his father has died. Certain that Samuel has timed his death to spite him, Alfred goes ahead with the ceremony.
With Thornton money, Lex and Alfred then fund the Nassau Aircraft Corporation, but when Lex shows more interest in perfecting aircraft designs than in selling planes, Alfred, hungry for riches, becomes impatient. One wintry day, Alfred and Mary are driving home from a party at the Thornton estate when they see a little boy fall through the thin ice of a frozen pond. After Alfred plunges into the icy waters to save the boy, the boy's grandfather, James Duncan MacHardie, the most famous financier in America, invites Alfred and Mary to dinner. MacHardie, a shrewd businessman, senses Alfred's drive and ambition, and when Alfred asserts that his goal in life is to earn more money than his father, MacHardie offers him a job in his investment firm. Obsessed by success, Alfred travels the country for MacHardie, leaving Mary alone for months at a time. Mary, lonely and self-pitying, begins to resent Alfred's constant absences.
When Creighton Duffy, MacHardie's son-in law, whose position in his father-in-law's business is threatened by Alfred's acumen, suggests that Alfred spend two months in rural Pennsylvania counseling investment to Ralph Benziger, a prosperous coal mine owner, Alfred finds his marriage to Mary irretrievably broken. After an ugly argument with Mary, Alfred goes to Pennsylvania, and one night, is invited to dinner at Benziger's, where he meets Benziger's compassionate, ingenious daughter Natalie. Overwhelmed by Natalie's sensitivity, Alfred impetuously invites her to a movie, but she refuses. Later that night, however, Natalie phones Alfred at his hotel room and arranges to meet him at a drive-in the following evening. After Alfred tells Natalie that her warmth and generosity has made him realize what a sham his marriage is, they kiss. Later, however, Natalie reconsiders and decides that they must end their relationship and they part, still loving each other.
Upon returning to New York, Alfred is immediately summoned to MacHardie's office, where MacHardie informs him that Mary is having an affair with Jim. After warning Alfred that he will not tolerate divorce within his firm, MacHardie assigns him to analyze the Nassau Aircraft Corp. as a possible investment. One night while leaving a party with Mary, Alfred unexpectedly encounters Natalie in front of the hotel. Sensing that Alfred and Natalie have been intimate, Mary vindictively calls Jim and makes a date with him. Later, Alfred meets Natalie and tells her that although he is estranged from Mary, his career prevents him from divorcing her. Duffy, who has become unethically involved with Nassau Aircraft and will reap a financial windfall if MacHardie invests in the company, threatens to blackmail Alfred unless he suppresses his report. One night, while Alfred and Natalie share a passionate embrace in her hotel room, photographers hired by Duffy burst in and snap a picture of their indiscretion. After Alfred considers giving into Duffy's blackmail, Natalie, uncertain if he is trying to save her reputation or his career, decides to leave him.
When Alfred returns home, Mary suggests that they share an open marriage and proclaims that she will never divorce him. After Mary seductively retires to her bedroom, the scandalous photos are delivered to Alfred. At a business meeting the next day, MacHardie ushers in Mary to celebrate Alfred's surprise promotion to partner. As Duffy smirks, Alfred denounces MacHardie's hypocrisy of placing success and social position above personal responsibility and happiness. Alfred then issues the uncensored report exposing Duffy's duplicity and walks out. When Mary runs after him, he accuses her of trying to revive their marriage solely to savor the prestige of being married to a partner in the MacHardie firm. With Mary screaming at him, Alfred drives off to reconcile with Natalie.
PN and JW are both stunningly gorgeous in this film. The scene where Alfred first spots Mary at a party while she is dancing with her fiance is intense for the sexual energy between them. I also found it quite interesting that Mary eventually suggests they have an open marriage. I wasn't around in the 50s but if I were to guess, I'd say open marriages were not a thing back then.
Other notable co-stars were Myrna Loy (she played Alfred's alcoholic mother and she did such a great job that my PTSD from my own grandmother flaired up, lol), Ina Balin, Leon Ames, George Grizzard, and a nubile Barbara Eden.
To me, this felt like the trouble with the film was the adaptation of the book to the screenplay. The acting was quite good. The set design, costumes, cinematography was everything you'd want from a "Hollywood Classic" and yet the story felt a bit lack-luster and done before.
(https://i.imgur.com/FKp8rlp.jpg)
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EXODUS
Released December 1960. Based on the Leon Uris novel released in 1958. Directed by Otto Preminger
This is a historical epic that focuses on the birth of Israel after World War II. It follows Ari Ben Canaan (PN), an Israeli resistance leader as he tries to help a group of 600 Jewish immigrants escape British-blocked Cypress for Palestine. Star studded cast - Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford, Sal Mineo (Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor), Lee J. Cobb, John Derek
This is a fantastic movie. It is a long movie (3 hrs 40 min) and it is a movie I would love to watch a few more times. I should probably read the book. There really is too much going on to give a synopsis here, like I said, it is epic in scope. Like Lawrence of Arabia or Ben-Hur or Spartacus. Filmed on location in Cyprus and Israel. It provides context about a situation I had never really given much thought about before - the Jewish refugees finding their way after the war, seeking their homeland. It also deals with the rampant anti-Semitism that was very much a normal way of life for the British forces tasked to contain them in a geopolitical quagmire. I'll post this very short clip to illustrate this point and also to showcase PN's acting chops. Remember, Newman is playing the lead Ari, in disguise here as a fellow British officer and yet very much a Jew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FtzmvAiMc
There was reportedly much tension on the set between Newman and Preminger and at times they were barely speaking to one another. Newman and Saint had worked together in the past but I never really felt much of a spark between them. As you might expect, Preminger called his film the most accurate depiction of events though the film has had more than its share of critical observations that it took liberties with the truth and was one-sided in its political leanings.
I know I will probably keep saying this, but this is my favorite PN movie so far. If you like sweeping epic historical dramas and have some time to kill, definitely check this one out.
(https://i.imgur.com/JD9oLV6.jpg)
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Wow, that sounds right up my alley, and I don't remember ever hearing of it before.
*Adds to list*
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"Fat man....you sure shoot a great game of pool."
"So do you, Fast Eddie."
The Hustler
1961
This is simply a must see film. I will come clean - I've many times watched Scorsese's The Color of Money - for which PN won his Oscar portraying Fast Eddie Felson - only 25 years later than he should have. But this was my first start-to-finish viewing of this film. And I'm an idiot for not seeing it before. Now I don't say this lightly. I loved The Color of Money and Scorsese is one of my all time favorite directors. But The Hustler is the film PN should've won for. He is astonishingly brilliant in it. The entire cast is brilliant - George C. Scott, Piper Laurie, Jackie Gleason - these are all actors who are arguably at the pinnacle of their careers. They command the viewer's attention and do not let up until the final credits role. The fantastic story is almost buried by the power of these performances. You don't have to be a fan of pool to enjoy this film. Though the pool scenes are tension-filled vignettes that truly showcase the skills of the players (actors). The story is almost universal and applicable to many sports themed productions.
For those who aren't familiar with the film, Fast Eddie Felson is a pool prodigy who sharks his way to meet and play against the legendary Minnesota Fats. After a grueling 25 hour match, Fats has taught Eddie some hard lessons about life and Eddie goes off to lick his wounds and regroup. He meets up with a lonely, mildly disabled, and alcoholic woman Sarah (Piper Laurie) who spends her sleepless nights in a bus station. She easily recognizes that he is every bit as broken as she is and, "too hungry." Yet their attraction to one another is too strong and they wind up living together as Eddie contrives to find Fats and beat him at his own game.
Enter Bert, George C. Scott, who tells Eddie he's a born loser but agrees to stake him in his quest to go up against Fats again. For 75% of the winnings. Eddie refuses and cockily goes off to hustle his way along again and in a seedy bar is discovered and beaten to the point of having both thumbs broken. As he nurses himself back, he once again meets with Bert and agrees to Bert's terms. Bert sets up a small but lucrative game between Eddie and a rich socialite looking for a game after the Kentucky Derby. But once the game begins Eddie discovers it is billiards, not pool, and Eddie loses so badly that Bert refuses to stake him further. Eddie's inner demon thus unleashed, he refuses to return to the hotel with Sarah who pleads with him to leave the "perverted, sick and twisted" world of gambling/pool behind. Bert eventually agrees to stake him at $1000 a game. Eddie comes back and winds up winning $12K and after collecting his $3K returns to the hotel to find Sarah has killed herself using heroin and slitting her wrists.
*Spoiler Alert*
Eddie puts up the $3K in the rematch with Fats again but this time on a single game. Eddie continues to win then, putting the balance up game after game and Fats eventually has to concede. Bert demands his cut and threatens to have him beaten but Eddie goads him by telling him he will heal from the beating and hunt him down and kill him. It is a riveting scene. Bert lets it go but only on the caveat that Eddie never plays pool for stakes again. And the 2 phenomenal players acknowledge each other's greatness and the film ends.
******
This film was nominated for a slew of awards. It won for Best Picture and Newman for Best Actor at the British Academy Film Awards. As for the Oscars, it won for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction, black and white. Why it didn't do better there I can only surmise the voters preferred West Side Story and Judgment at Nuremberg. Director Robert Rosen was rightfully nominated. He is another interesting director who pled the fifth during the HUAC investigations and refused to say whether he had ever been a communist or not. He was thus blacklisted and refused his passport. He was called to testify a 2nd time and named 57 people in order to get his blacklisting lifted so he could work again. I should also credit the writer here - the movie was based on a novel by Walter Tevis (The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Queen's Gambit).
At a cursory glance The Hustler is a film about a pool shark. But it really is about the obsession with winning at any cost.
Trivia: All the pool shots in the film are made by the actors themselves except for one - called a 'masse' shot where the cue balls sends 2 object balls into the same pocket. This shot was done by Willie Mosconi, who also served as technical advisor on the movie.
Newman had never held a pool cue before landing the role. He took out the dining table in his home and had a pool table put in its place to practice.
Newman and Gleason became friends but at one point during filming Newman challenged Gleason to play for $50. Gleason being a much better pool player, took advantage of winning every of the 15 shots after Newman broke. Newman payed off his debt the next day in pennies.
Weird musing I had while watching the scenes between Eddie and Sarah while Eddie's thumbs were casted - "How the hell can he wipe his ass like that?" :lol
As usual, this is now my favorite PN movie. :tup
(https://i.imgur.com/7oqjhKt.jpg)
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A classic I didn't get around to till my 30s. Appreciated the quality, but didn't enjoy as much as I had hoped. Built up too much in my head, perhaps. George C Scott is tough on other actors for me. When he is on the screen I am pretty oblivious as to anyone else in the scene.
Since you brought it up, I've never seen West Side Story, but it seems like the type of film Academy voters at the time would have liked. Judgment at Nuremberg is solid, and I recall Maximilian Schell was (and maybe still is) the lowest billed actor to receive an Oscar for best actor/actress. Enjoyable film, despite the subject matter.
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Missed on Exodus. When I moved in to my first place, I had no cable, so my mom would periodically buy me VHS tapes (and then DVDs) from the discount bin at her grocery store. Exodus was one of them. Remember liking this, without really having a good understanding of the historical context. A big takeaway was how weird it was seeing Lee J. Cobb not being a raging asshole, as he was so ingrained in my head as Juror #3.
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The Hustler is a great, great film.
I also read the novel on which it's based earlier this year. Also very good.
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Hello all - sorry I have neglected this thread though I have not neglected my movie watching! We actually had to watch the next 2 films out of order because it was tricky to find this next selection. It wasn't on any of the main streaming channels but my kid finally found it on Pluto TV (never heard of it before). And while I was thankful to find it and watch it, unfortunately there were ads to contend with. Oh well....I am posting them in order even though I watched them out of order!
Paris Blues
1961
Billed as a musical romantic drama, the film is another directed by Martin Ritt (Long Hot Summer) who goes on to work with Newman in about another half dozen movies yet to come. The synopsis is about 2 musicians, Ram Bowen (PN) and Eddie Cook (Sidney Poitier) who are expatriates living and working in Paris after WWII. Ram is studying classical music and having a casual affair with the nightclub's owner and his employer when he becomes aware of a famous musician coming into town, Wild Man Moore (Louis Armstrong). Ram goes to the train station to meet Moore and winds up running into 2 American schoolteachers who are visiting Paris for 2 weeks. He is initially flirtatious with Connie (Diahann Carroll) but her friend Lillian (Joanne Woodward) is instantly smitten with the dashing Ram. Ram invites them to the club that night to watch him perform and after the club closes for the evening the 2 couples pair off - Connie with Eddie who wander the streets of Paris until dawn, and Ram and Lillian who spend the night between the sheets.
The film brings to the forefront the racial tension that exists in America and Eddie's enjoyment of a much liberal Paris. Though Eddie falls in love with Connie, he does not want to give that up and yet Connie is very much confrontational about her belief that you cannot run away from racism but need to fight for things to be better. She ultimately convinces him to return to America with her. Lillian wants the same from Ram but Ram doesn't want to be a two-bit trombone player in some band in America when his career prospects look better in France. However Ram, who has been working on a score of music he is very passionate about, gets some critical feedback on the work from a would-be publisher and he starts to think about a life with Lillian and her children in America. He finally agrees to go with her but leaves her at the train station at the last minute.
The musical score is fantastic - composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The cameo performances by Louis Armstrong make the soundtrack the strongest piece of the film and the music was nominated for an Academy Award. PN was coached in playing the trombone for the roll by Billy Byers and much like in The Hustler, appears seamless in his ability to play the instrument. Poitier was likewise coached to play the saxophone by Paul Gonsalves but did not seem as convincing to me.
Rumor has it that Poitier was miserable during the filming of Paris Blues - not because of the script or working with PN, but because he and Diahann Carroll had begun a torrid love affair several years earlier while both were married with children and Poitier was filming on location with his family in tow. I'm certain that made for a lot of distractions and behind the scenes drama. TBH, I am a big fan of Poitier - In the Heat of the Night is one of my all time favorite films - but I was not impressed with his performance here. Diahann Carroll also seemed a bit lackluster though her beauty is undeniable. I really enjoyed the scenes between Newman and Woodward here. Both seemed relaxed and confident and passionate. Interestingly the early drafts of the script put the couples in interracial relationships but the studios did not think that would play well with audiences so that idea was nixed. In hindsight, I wonder if that would've made the movie better. I also was surprised that black and white was chosen for the film. I'm sure it was for dramatic effect but springtime in Paris should always be in color, IMO.
(https://i.imgur.com/IhgXaAj.jpg)
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....my kid finally found it on Pluto TV (never heard of it before).
If I am in need of something on TV that I can't devote my full attention to while I am doing some random tasks downstairs, I often turn on Pluto and can often find something.
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(https://i.imgur.com/dD40i8T.jpg)
Well, we finally watched this last night. Other than the so annoying 'no neck monsters' along with the kids playing the insufferable 'Dixie' (all removed from the stage presentation we saw a few years back), those were terrific performances by Newman, Taylor, and Ives (who performed the role on Broadway). Hell, even Dame Judith Anderson (my memories of her are from Star Trek III) as 'Big Mama' was interesting (Barbara Bel Geddes, Mama Ewing on 'Dallas', played the role on Broadway, and was nominated for a Tony Award, as was the play)
Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in ’55 for the story. Damn! :tup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_on_a_Hot_Tin_Roof
The wife found this recent write up about how the Hays Code allowed for the ruining of it (and other films up through '68)
https://filmdaze.net/homosexual-erasure-in-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof/?fbclid=IwAR1b39wZYRAZRLh9LRhjjLqG3B-0KMeMQjWDOrsuNkq1sHJsRnNqszUhEo8
Wish I could find the ’84 TV version with Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones, which revived the sexual innuendos which had been muted in the 1958 film.
Thanks for this thread. 'The Hustler' viewing will be soon. Also, It’ll give me an excuse to see ‘Cool Hand Luke’ later on for about the 50th time.
Meanwhile…..how often do you get two such gifted and gorgeous people on the screen at one time? 😉
(https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Brick-Maggie-film-adaptation-Cat-on-a.jpg)
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....my kid finally found it on Pluto TV (never heard of it before).
If I am in need of something on TV that I can't devote my full attention to while I am doing some random tasks downstairs, I often turn on Pluto and can often find something.
Every November I watch as many film noirs as I can. Pluto was a surprisingly good source this past year. I caught multiple really good and interesting films there.
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Dragon Attack - love your review of COAHTR. And you are right, 2 extremely beautiful people together on screen like that is mesmerizing. They don't make em like that any more. :heart
If you find the Lange/Jones version, let me know. I'd watch that in a heartbeat.
And thanks for the info on Pluto, you guys. Guess I need to do some more exploring there.
Sorry this thread has been on the back burner. I haven't forgotten it. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Sweet Bird of Youth has been viewed and I just need to write her up. I will get to that very soon. It was great. Of course! :D
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Sweet Bird of Youth
1962
Based on the 1959 play by Tennessee Williams, directed by Richard Brooks, SBoY features a stellar cast including PN, Geraldine Page, Shirley Knight, Ed Begley, and Rip Torn. Newman plays gigolo, Chance Wayne, who after trying his luck in Hollywood returns to his home town with a famous actress, Alexandra Del Lago, in tow (Page) who's career is on the wane. The opening shot is Chance driving a passed out Del Lago from Hollywood to St. Cloud, Mississippi, stopping only to buy her more booze along the way so she can remain unconscious. Once Chance is back, he reunites with his first and only true love, Heavenly Finley (Knight). But Heavenly's brother and father both hate him - father, Boss, actually convinced Chance to leave town to find his fortune never expecting him to return again. You see, Boss is the big man in town with political aspirations who uses Heavenly as a symbol of chastity and purity in his campaign. He can't have Chance around to spoil his precious daughter career. And the only thing Heavenly wants is Chance. Chance is unaware that just prior to him leaving town, she had become pregnant with his child and had an abortion.
Chance in his desperation to become a movie star in Hollywood has become the lover of Alexandra, who is trying to come to terms with her floundering career. Just prior to their flight from Hollywood together, she has shot a film which she feels most certainly will make her the laughing stock of LA and has drown her sorrows not only in alcohol but also in drugs. Chance in his ongoing desire for money and fame, secretly records Alexandra admitting her dependence on drugs, feeling he can use this to extort money from her. But before he can use the tape recording, she suddenly learns that her latest film has catapulted her career to new heights and she is once more in demand. She rejects Chance and goes to leave him there.
While Chance has been looking for ways to prove himself worthy of Heavenly, he and Heavenly have been meeting in secret trysts and rekindling their love, even though Heavenly has been forbidden from being with him for fear of harming her father's political aspirations. At a political rally, Boss's discarded mistress reveals Boss's ruthless tactics and Heavenly's abortion and all hell breaks loose. Alexandra becomes aware that Chance is in real danger and offers to take him with her, but he will not leave Heavenly again and thus Boss's thugs beat him badly, disfiguring his face permanently - which ends any aspirations he has to be an actor. Chance and Heavenly leave together to find their new normal and the credits role.
The film was up for several Academy Awards, but only Begley won for Best Supporting Actor.
The ending was quite different in the play than in the movie version. In the play, Chance was castrated by the group of thugs.
Trivia - the role of Chance was originally offered to Elvis Presley but Presley's manager turned it down, not wanting Elvis to portray a bad man.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Much like COAHTR, we have actors and actresses at the pinnacle of their careers acting the hell out of a damn fine story. Well worth the time, IMO.
Instead of the movie poster - I give you 2 images of SBOY. First is Chance and Alexandra. Second is Chance and Heavenly. Aren't they gorgeous?
(https://i.imgur.com/KcLAt1z.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/uHlyEqo.jpg)
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Geraldine Page has that classic look that isn't really my type, but man, she's smokin' here.
Shirley Knight is so hot, she could melt bricks.
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Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
1962
It is billed as an American "Adventure Film" and based on Ernest Hemingway's semi-autobiographical character, Nick Adams. Again directed by Martin Ritt, PN has only a very small, supporting role here. Nick Adams is played by Richard Beymer - a 19 year old eager to escape is domineering mother and weak-physician father setting out for New York from Michigan in 1917, in the hopes of becoming a writer. Along the way he stumbles across numerous interesting characters and eventually winds up driving an ambulance on the battlefield in WWI. The cast is pretty amazing here: Diane Baker, Jessica Tandy, Ricardo Montalban, Eli Wallach, Arthur Kennedy, Juano Hernandez, Susan Strasberg, and of course PN.
PN plays The Battler, a punch-drunk, e.g., head-injured, boxer now in his 50s and living as a hobo with his friend, Buggs. The Battler is Nick's first 'friend' while on his journey. He stumbles across him after being thrown off a train he had bummed a ride on. The Battler lives in the woods, pan-handling for food. He is pitiful and half-alive now - The Battler speaks roughly - sometimes mumbling incoherently, about his life. He searches pathetically for his thoughts and memories, makes useless swinging gestures in the air, and reflexively punches his fist into his palm. He is a man who seeming is barely in control of his mind or body.
(https://i.imgur.com/n5Eer4r.jpg)
The make up is really pretty awful. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said, "It is Paul Newman's very good fortune that he isn't recognizable for he is simply terrible." I don't know if I would go that far. I feel that the acting was fine but along with the make-up, it turns The Battler into a caricature. But it seems to be part and parcel of the entire movie. It is over-dramatized and Beymer's acting is weak, and nearly insipid. The supporting actors/actresses are fine but overall they cannot save the movie. I have to wonder if Hemingway himself would've been disgusted - he offed himself during the production of the film (though I don't think because of the film, lol). There definitely are some worthy parts of the film, but on the whole, I cannot recommend it. At nearly 2 1/2 hours running time, once it was over my spouse said, "I don't think we should include any more PN movies that he isn't the lead in." That pretty much says it all. :-\
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If you like his movies you should try his salad!
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If you like his movies you should try his salad!
Well since he's dead, I doubt he'll be making me a salad.
If you mean, his salad dressing well, yeah...it's been on the market for more than 40 years so I haven't met many people who haven't. But since we are in the Movies and TV section of the board, I can only hope you got lost somewhere in the thread here. Would it be too punny to say, "toss off"? :P :lol
Didn't get to Hud this weekend. Looking forward to this one next weekend.
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The Hustler
We watched this Sunday night. There is so much good/great going on, but it did suffer some with its length, not knowing what was going on at times with the long opening pool scene (who's winning and by how much), and, just what did Bert say to Sarah in Louisville, and where did she get the heroin?
That said, Newman, Laurie, and Scott are terrific, and Gleason is magnetic when on screen. The wiki write up was interesting in pointing out that 'Fats' never touches money, and the reasons behind it from Rossen's comments.
The wife found this additional review.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-hustler-1961?fbclid=IwAR3KSJtMc-PaaC46lVkBQ_zboABxKdEPA2cmBPh9bcp-h3PrU76Nwk1hpGA
We both finally read your recap yesterday. Well done! :tup
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0d/45/1c/0d451c888989892c4421ff3c09857e44--the-hustler-paul-newman.jpg)
Teacher Willie Mosconi with student
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Nice write up, DA! And please thank your wife for the link to that review. That was very well written by Roger Ebert.
Yeah...what did Bert say to Sarah to drive her over the edge? I bet there was much discussion on the set about that. Oh to be a fly on the wall.
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Hud
1963
"Little by little, the look of the country changes because of the men we admire."
An American Western based on the novel, 'Horseman, Pass By' by Larry McMurtry and directed by Martin Ritt. I have not read this novel but did enjoy reading 'Lonesome Dove' by this author which is arguably his most famous novel. The film starred PN, Melvyn Douglas, Patricia Neal, and Brandon deWilde (the kid from the movie Shane, all grown up here). Both Douglas and Neal won Academy Awards for their roles and cinematography (black and white) earned a statue for James Wong Howe.
In order to save me some time here, I'm going to copy the synopsis from TCM and then write down a few thoughts. I'm still processing the movie, mentally. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Hud Bannon, the selfish, self-centered son of veteran Texas cattleman Homer Bannon, is despised by his father, a man of staunch integrity whose philosophy of life is diametrically opposed to Hud's. Homer's bitterness in part rests on his son's responsibility for an auto accident 15 years earlier that resulted in the death of Hud's older brother; the brother's orphaned son, Lon, now 17 years old, is divided between adolescent adulation of Hud and loving respect for his grandfather. Also living on the ranch is Alma, an earthy housekeeper physically attracted to Hud but unwilling to yield to his boorish advances. One of Homer Bannon's cows is found dead, apparently from hoof-and mouth disease, and Hud suggests they sell the entire herd before a government inspector can order the cattle slaughtered; but Homer refuses and agrees to have his cows killed to protect other farmers. Hud regards the decision as proof of the old man's senility and takes steps to have his father declared mentally incompetent. Hud goes on a drunk and attempts to rape Alma, but Lon interrupts him, and Alma leaves the ranch the following day. Homer is then stricken by a fatal heart attack while riding on horseback around his deserted land. After the funeral, Lon, now fully aware of his uncle's despicable nature, decides to leave and make his own way in the world. Totally alone, Hud watches the boy depart, shrugs his shoulders, and opens a can of beer.
This film both kept my attention and repulsed me at the same time. I don't often get up and leave while watching a movie, but I did with the slaughter scene in this one. And that was not the only difficult part to watch. The cinematography was stunning and the mood of the film was like another character being portrayed all on its own. It goes without saying that the acting was superb. I'm a little bit unsure about Alma - the housekeeper. Her character perplexed me and I don't understand her motivations. On the obvious side, she's attracted to Hud and yet mature enough and smart enough to know to keep him at arms length. She can verbally spar with him and rebuff his advances like she's done it a thousand times. And yet, she teases young Lonnie with the knowledge that he is sexually attracted to her. And in a weird way she is both maternal toward him and sexual toward him. It felt like a giant "ick" to me.
But the scenes between the 3 main men, Hud - his father Homer and his nephew Lonnie, are a study in perfection. The tension is perfect. The character development is perfect. The dialogue is perfect. And the relationship between them ultimately flies in the face of the well-worn trope of "bad-guy-is-really-a-good-guy" payoff that so many films tend to fall back on. I will be thinking about this one for a long time.
And if I had unlimited power and money, I'd love to get this film remade and colorize only 2 part of the black and while film. The pink of the 1958 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible that Hud drives and the blue of Newman's eyes.
(https://i.imgur.com/6024NLi.jpg)
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Another classic I never saw. I did not know it's based on a Larry McMurtry story. I highly enjoyed reading Lonesome Dove.
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I haven't seen this one in a long time, but it's definitely fantastic.
I also didn't realize that it was based on a McMurtry novel.
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As I was watching Melvyn Douglas, I couldn't put my finger on what movie I'd seen him in before. It was driving me crazy. My brain kept saying 'Arthur' with Dudley Moore but I knew that was Sir John Gielgud. I finally had to Google it and turns out he was a main character in the Peter Sellers movie, 'Being There', which I was was a tiny bit obsessed with for a few years back in the day.
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Being There is an amazing movie. Yes, Melvyn Douglas was Benjamin Rand.
"I like to watch" -- heh heh
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Hud is a great movie.
The story behind "Minnesota Fats" (allegedly a fictitious character, but later embodied by a professional hustler and entertainer who claimed to be the inspiration for the character) is fascinating. I'm a big fan of Mosconi; I have a very well-worn "how to" book from him on pool.
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I've been tardy in this next post because....well....I absolutely hated this movie and I felt so let down by both PN and JW having anything to do with it. I honestly didn't think it would be possible for me to hate a PN movie and yet, here we are. So without further ado:
A New Kind of Love
1963
Billed as a romantic comedy, I knew going in it wouldn't be anything that was going to change my life or anything. I was prepared for it to be a light-hearted romp starring 2 actors I greatly admired who happened to be married in real life. Directed by Melville Shavelson, he began his career in the 30s working as a comedy writer for Bob Hope. I never thought Bob Hope was particularly funny so maybe it just isn't my sense of humor. I think the only other work of his that I've seen is the movie Houseboat that starred Cary Grant and Sophia Loren.
The story line goes like this - Newman plays a newspaper columnist, Steve Sherman, who gets sent to Paris to cover fashion after he unwittingly has an affair with the wife of his boss. On the plane, he runs into Samantha Blake (Woodward), who is going to Paris to copy expensive fashion to parlay into cheap knock-offs for the New York department store she works for. They do not hit it off. Samantha dresses and acts like a tomboy. She hates him because of his boorish behavior and constant drinking.
While in Paris, Samantha attends the St. Catherine's Day celebration - which I'd never heard of before but is apparently when all the single women party hardy and "pray" for husbands. This included a very strange performance by Maurice Chevalier (Thank Heavens for Little Girls from Gigi) *insert barf emoji*. After which Sam has a vision of St. Catherine advising her on how to attract potential husbands. Soon after, she is given a make over in a French salon and comes out looking very different. So different that when Sam runs into her at an outdoor cafe, he assumes she is a prostitute and does not recognize her. He thinks he can use the stories of this French prostitute to write his columns about and she in turn creates elaborate stories for him in order to keep his interest in her going. All the while they begin to fall in love with each other.
Steve thinks he can 'save' Sam from a life of prostitution and takes her to see a priest. She runs away screaming. Steve finally recognizes Sam from the plane and he sets up a scheme to trap her drawing her into a kiss and then pulling off her blonde wig. Of course they forgive one another and at the end of the film there is a 'fantasy' sequence showing Sam running away in a wedding gown with Steve in a football uniform running her down and carrying her to the wedding bed.
There was just so much I hated about this movie it is difficult to know where to begin. I know it is a different time but the way women were portrayed in films like these is literally physically nauseating to me. The men don't come across as much better. I kept thinking to myself, "I know this is supposed to be a light-hearted comedy so why do I feel so nauseated?" And why are the talents of these 2 superb actors being wasted on such a project? I mean....after the drama and intensity of Hud, I guess I can understand the need to do something light and something to enjoy with the spouse/family. I'm sure money was a factor as well - or maybe being under contract, IDK.
Here is a list of some other rom/coms that were out around this time:
That Touch of Mink - Cary Grant and Doris Day (1962)
Sunday in New York - Jane Fonda, Rod Taylor, Cliff Robertson (1963)
Boys Night Out - James Garner, Kim Novak (1962)
Charade - Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn (1963)
McClintock - John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara (1963)
Sex and the Single Girl - Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Lauren Bacall, Henry Fonda (1964)
I think I've seen McClintock but none of the others. Could they all be this bad?
I guess I'll close with one minor redeeming factoid - the costumes in A New Kind of Love were pretty cool and scored an Academy Award nomination for Edith Head.
(https://i.imgur.com/miUgTos.jpg)
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Ugh. This sounds bad.
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No one is good every time out.
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True. Although it sounds like Newman and Woodward were great as usual; it was just a bad script/dumb story.
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Well, it's been a hot minute. I actually watched this next film about a month ago and just didn't get it written up before we left on a vacation. I know it seems like that last movie set me off of my love for Paul Newman, but no. It hasn't. He's still near and dear to my :heart and talent aside, those baby blues would never lose their grip on me. LoL
The Prize
1963
Billed as a 'spy-romantic comedy' this was a little Hitchockesque with an impressive cast, including the alluring Elke Sommers. Set around the ceremony for Nobel Prize in Stockholm, PN plays American author, Andrew Craig, who is nominated for literature. As he is known for having a reputation with booze and ladies, he is assigned personal assistant, Inger (Sommer) to help keep him in check during his stay. What is not well known is that Craig has been experiencing writers block for some time and is paying the bills by publishing cheap crime novels under a pseudonym.
As other nominees arrive, Craig meets Dr. Max Stratman, played by Edward G. Robinson, who is the German-American nominated for the physics award. Always on the search for mystery, Craig soon becomes convinced that Stratman has been kidnapped and replaced by a double. As nobody believes him, it is up to him and Inger to solve the mystery. There is a particularly hilarious scene where Craig evades the kidnapper's henchmen by joining a conference of nudists. There are several sub-plots surrounding other Nobel Prize nominees that weave in and out of the story.
It was entertaining but not Earth shattering or anything. It is based on Irving Wallace's novel which reportedly was more involved in the geopolitical landscape of the cold war era. You can guess from that who the kidnappers are. Directed by Mark Robson, all in all it was just ok. Entertaining but easily forgotten.
(https://i.imgur.com/AW5B48H.jpg)
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What a Way to Go!
1964
This was oddly entertaining even though it wasn't very good. It really is a vehicle for Shirley MacLaine with a star-studded cast of supporting Hollywood legends along for the ride. Originally the role was meant for Marilyn Monroe who tragically died (or took her own life depending on who you believe) 2 years earlier. Shirley MacLaine plays Louisa Hopper Flint Anderson Benson - one last name for each of her 4 husbands: Dick VanDyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, and Gene Kelly. These four husbands all share something in common, aside from Louisa, and they died leaving her a VERY wealthy woman. The film opens with Louisa trying to give her fortune to the IRS because she doesn't want it. This lands her on the analyst's (Bob Cummings) couch where we learn about her life in a series of flashbacks and fantasy sequences.
I do not take psychedelics but this would be an excellent movie to watch while tripping. Just in case anyone is wondering. :laugh:
You see, all Louisa wanted was the simple life, even though her mother told her she ought to marry for money. She 86'd her first suitor, Leonard (Dean Martin), the town's resident wealthy department store owner and instead opted to marry Edgar (VanDyke) who barely had a pot to piss in except for a small store that could not compete. As their home begins to crumble around them for lack of money, Leonard shows up and humiliates Edgar which spurs Edgar on to become a success with his store and put Leonard out of business. Edgar in turn begins to neglect Louisa and ultimately dies from a stress heart attack.
Heartbroken, Louisa travels to Paris where she meets Larry Flint (no not that Larry Flint) (Newman) who is a taxi driver as well as a meager painter of abstract designs. He literally has a chimpanzee who paints canvases he tries to sell but to no avail. He has also invented a machine that paints on canvases to sound. Louisa can't help but be drawn to him and they ultimately marry. One evening she puts the machine on to paint while playing classical music and the machine makes a canvas that instantly makes Flint an artist in high demand and a darling of the art scene in Paris. In his effort to make bigger and bigger pieces he begins to use multiple machines at a time to paint and ultimately he gets caught in between them and is crushed to death.
Remember what I said about psychedelics? :biggrin:
Now wealthier than ever but depressed, Louisa returns to America but winds up missing her plane - literally running toward it as it takes off on the runway when infamous business tycoon, Rod Anderson Jr. (Mitchum), shows up in his private jet and offers to give her a ride. She initially isn't drawn toward him because of his wealth but winds up riding in the cockpit as he flies the plane and falls in love with his softer side. Thinking starting out with a wealthy man would bring her bad luck with husbands to an end, she decides to marry him and lives in the lap of luxury. (Edith Head is the costume designer here and some of MacLaine's costumes are jaw-droppingly gorgeous.) Fearful of Rod's demise, she convinces him to give up the wealthy lifestyle for farm life - think Green Acres. Unfortunately one evening he has a few drinks with the locals and winds up trying to milk a bull that kicks him in the head, continuing the streak of dead husbands for Louisa.
Having more money than God now, Louisa wanders the country and winds up in a small diner that is adjacent to a dinner theater. She meets Pinky Benson (Kelly) who has performed in the theater as a clown for over a decade. The owners of the club love Pinky's act because it doesn't distract them from eating and drinking. Not surprisingly, Pinky and Louisa fall in love and live together in Pinky's houseboat on the Hudson River. On Pinky's birthday, Louisa suggests that he perform his act without make up and clown costume and he winds up delighting the crowd to encore after encore. Not long after that Pinky is a famous Hollywood star with an ego the size of Texas. Pinky meets his end when his own excited fans trample him to death at a premiere.
So after listening to Louisa's tale of woe - and learning that the woman is not delusional and is actually a billionaire - the shrink declares that he is a simple man who is now in love with her. While doing so he accidentally presses a button that causes the psychiatric couch to elevate them both and he promptly falls off, leaving her stranded alone at the top. The office's janitor arrives to help her down and she discovers that the janitor is Leonard who lost everything to Edgar's success and now lives a simple life and credits Louisa and Thoreau for his transformation.
They marry and raise 4 children on a farm. One day while Leonard is out plowing, he strikes oil. Louisa fears the old curse has caught her again but they are both relieved to discover that he merely punctured an existing oil pipeline and they will not be getting rich. The end.
I came away from this film wondering why I liked it at all. I mean, it had potential. And Shirley MacLaine back in the day was fucking gorgeous - those legs go on FOREVER. The dance segments with her and Kelly show just what a fantastic dancer she was too. But I think overall it was just too campy for me. And except for Newman, they stick MacLaine with these much older actors which really was giving me the 'ick' feeling again. Supposedly Mitchum replaced Sinatra because Sinatra wanted too much money. Anyhoo - I'm glad I watched it but doubt I'd watch it again.
Unless I was on some good mushrooms. ;)
(https://i.imgur.com/HzJy77T.jpg)
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That sounds like a fun film if you have nothing better to do and happened to catch it on some movie channel. With mind-altering substances? Even better!
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The Outrage
1964
This is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's 'Rashomon' (1950)
This is a star-studded classic Hollywood western directed by Martin Ritt. Cast includes Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson, William Shatner, and Howard Da Silva. And of course, Paul Newman.
Essentially it is a retelling of a scandalous event by 3 travelers who meet up at a railway station on a dark and stormy night. The black and white film really set this up well - these scenes between Shatner (preacher), Robinson (con man), and Da Silva (prospector) are in and out of this otherwise deserted station during a downpour which must have been difficult to shoot, considering light and sound effects, and miserable for the actors involved.
Anyway the scandalous event the 3 discuss is the recent trial of Juan Carrasco (Newman), the regions most notorious outlaw and bandit, who was sentenced to death for murdering a southern gentleman and raping his wife. The trial is seen in a series of flashbacks from the vantage point of those involved, Carrasco, the wife (Bloom), and an 'old Indian' shaman who witnessed the crime(s). They all tell completely different stories about what happened which we see in 3 separate flashbacks.
Carrasco claimed he bound the husband and forced him to watch the rape of his wife and then killed the husband in a duel.
The wife claimed Carrasco raped her then fled and she killed her husband in a fit of rage when he accused her of having enticed Carrasco to have sex with her.
The Shaman testified that the husband killed himself because of the humiliation he suffered.
After the 3 stories have been retold and rehashed at the railway station, there is suddenly the cry of a baby and the men find that a child has been abandoned in the station along with a stash of gold left for the care of said child. Of course the con man tries to take the gold and an argument ensues. It is at this point we learn the prospector had also witnessed the crime(s) but did not come forward as he stole the bejeweled dagger that was left sticking out of the southern gentleman's chest.
The prospector's version of events were that Carrasco showed remorse after the rape and begged the wife to go away with him. As she saw herself a prize to be won between the 2 men she shames them into fighting over her and her husband accidentally fell onto the dagger and died.
After the prospector shares what he knew to be the truth, he offers to take the child in and raise him with his 5 other kids. And the preacher and the con man are left to go on their way. The preacher leaves feeling a somewhat renewed faith in humanity (though in my mind, this part didn't really make sense to me).
From a few things I've read online, this is one of Newman's favorite films, oddly enough. I'm not sure why because critically I believe his Mexican accent was soundly mocked, almost like a parody of an old Mexican bandit. I had a difficult time watching one of my favorite actors in the various reenactment of the rape scenes. And maybe that is what Newman likes about the performance - he gets to be the bad guy and not his more typical heart-throb, eye candy roles.
Overall the film was entertaining. I love me a young William Shatner who is very earnest in this movie and unlike Captain James T. Kirk. It makes me mindful of the idea that there are often very disparate versions of incidents/crimes/events and all of them can be plausible while not being the entire truth.
(https://i.imgur.com/TUcQcMk.jpg)
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Huh, that film doesn't sound familiar at all. I stopped reading your post in the event I get around to seeing it. Sounds intriguing. I love seeing Shatner pre-Star Trek.
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Lady L
1965
Again, I am reviewing this film a couple of weeks after viewing it, so I will rely on a plot recap from TCM:
Lady Lendale (Loren) is celebrating her 80th birthday at her castle in Yorkshire. In reminiscing to her biographer, Sir Percy, she recalls that many years before, while known as Louise, she left her job as a laundress in Corsica for employment in a Paris brothel. There she met the one love in her life--Armand (Newman), a thief and an anarchist. Together they went to Switzerland, where Armand became involved in a plot to assassinate Prince Otto (Ustinov) of Bavaria. While expecting Armand's child, Louise posed as a widowed countess in a hotel in Nice, where she tried to rob Lord Lendale (Niven). Though he knew all about her, Lord Lendale was so anxious to have a wife that he offered to save Armand from the police in return for Louise's hand. Since she had replaced the bomb that Armand planned to toss at Prince Otto with a dummy, Louise accepted the marriage offer. She later joined Armand in Italy and, for a while, supported his anarchist activities with her husband's money. Eventually she tired of his useless plans and went to England to assume her responsibilities as Lady Lendale. As she concludes her story, Lady L startles Sir Percy by telling him that she continues to see Armand and that all of her children are his; she married him in Switzerland, she says, and Lord Lendale consented to an arrangement whereby Armand remained both her husband and lover while posing as the family chauffeur.
I saw an amusing tag saying, "She's the only lady who ever got a boyfriend as a wedding present!"
This film was based on a novel by Romain Gary and directed by Peter Ustinov. The script went through numerous drafts and casting before Ustinov taking over the reins and it was produced by Carlo Ponti (War and Peace, Doctor Zhivago), who was married (at the time) to leading actress Sofia Loren. It was originally intended to be a melodrama but morphed into a kind of slapstick British-like romantic comedy. The film is set in the early 20th century and much of it filmed on location in Paris, the south of France, Switzerland, and at Castle Howard in England. Unfortunately for the film, it was reportedly edited badly and caused the film to ultimately be considered a flop.
I really didn't appreciate Paul Newman in this role. Even Loren seemed out of place at times, especially when playing the 80 year old version of Lady L. Her accent was particularly distracting even though her beauty was undeniable. Niven was perfectly cast but sadly was given limited screen time. It was interesting to see as to costumes, set design, etc. I can't say I would recommend this film nor wish to see it again. Newman is handsome and compelling to watch but even he was not enough to save the film for me.
(https://i.imgur.com/tcw51ld.jpg)
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Harper
1966
I'm going to cheat on the synopsis and copy from TCM. I actually watched this one about a month ago and I swear it was so convoluted in the story line that I honestly think I need to watch it again to get a full appreciation of it.
While his estranged wife is planning divorce proceedings, private investigator Lew Harper takes on a new case on the recommendation of a long-time friend, attorney Albert Graves. Harper is asked to investigate the disappearance of the millionaire husband of Elaine Sampson, a crippled and bitter woman. At the Sampson estate, Harper also meets Elaine's spoiled stepdaughter, Miranda, and the Sampson's handsome private pilot, Alan Taggert. While searching the missing man's Los Angeles hotel suite, Harper finds a photograph of one-time starlet, Fay Estabrook. He tracks down the now plump and alcoholic Fay, gets her drunk, and takes her home. He searches her apartment and intercepts a phone call which leads him to a bar where he meets Betty Fraley, a drug-addicted singer. After being beaten up for asking too many questions, Harper visits a mountaintop site which Sampson gave to Claude, a religious fanatic. Later, Mrs. Sampson receives a ransom note, and Harper drops off the money, but Betty Fraley doublecrosses the kidnapers and intercepts the money. Harper then accuses Taggert of planning the kidnaping with Betty. Taggert draws a gun on Harper, but he is shot by Graves, who makes a timely appearance. Harper goes to Betty's apartment and finds her being tortured for the ransom money by Fay's husband, Troy, who is in league with Claude in smuggling Mexicans across the border. After killing Troy, Harper forces Betty to take him to the abandoned oil tanker where Sampson is being held prisoner. There he and Graves find the body of the murdered millionaire. Betty attempts to escape, but she is killed when her car plummets from a cliff. As they return to the Sampson estate, Grave admits that he killed Sampson because of his hatred for the man and his love for young Miranda. He draws a gun on Harper but realizes that he cannot kill his friend.
This film was based on a well-known mystery novel from 1949 called, The Moving Target, by Ross Macdonald. Interestingly, the main character in the novel, Lew Archer, was renamed to Lew Harper, at PN's request as he wanted to keep the successful "H" movies - Hud, and The Hustler - going by titling the film Harper instead of keeping the name of the novel.
This is a star-studded cast with some damn great performances: Lauren Bacall (such a nice homage to The Big Sleep genre by including her here) as the wife of the missing millionaire, Robert Wagner (hunky private pilot), Julie Harris, Janet Leigh, and the incomparable Shelly Winters as Fay. The scenes between PN and Shelly Winters were definitely my favorites. The film opens up with a hungover Harper dunking his head into a sink full of ice water - a preview to The Sting another six years down the road. I loved the mid-60s LA vibe. This is Newman showing off his wise-cracking, gum-smacking, anti-hero acting chops to great effect.
Directed by Jack Smight (Airport 1975, Midway, Fast Break) the movie is fast paced but also feels out of control and disjointed at times. The plot line twists and turns and even with only a couple of glasses of wine on board, I had a bit of trouble keeping the thread moving through. The scenes at the religious guru's mountaintop home were incredibly surreal. It definitely could be that this is one of those films where reading the book first would've been very helpful. We will see PN again down the road reprise the role of Harper in The Drowning Pool in 1975.
(https://i.imgur.com/0h6vjlB.jpg)
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Hey, I've seen Harper, and the sequel, The Drowning Pool. Fun, fun films IMO.
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Edited to include my review of Lady L above.
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Torn Curtain
1966
Did you know that Paul Newman and Julie Andrews were in a cold-war spy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock? Yeah, me neither! :laugh:
Hitch had hatched the idea for this film years before seeing it through to fruition. He was inspired by the 1951 defection of British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union. He wondered what the defectors' families might do as a result of the defection. He was looking for a hit as it had been 5 years since the successful Psycho but the script had problems. This was around the time James Bond movies were doing very well, after all. However, the leading actors casted were not his first or second choices. Sadly the film, while technically successful, is not considered one of his better movies. I do think it had a lot to offer.
The basic plot is US rocket scientist/physicist, Michael Armstrong (PN), has traveled to Copenhagen for a conference along with his assistant/fiance, Sarah Sherman (JA) when he receives a cryptic message. He tells Sarah he's going to Stockholm but she discovers he is really traveling to East Berlin and so she follows him. Upon arriving, Sherman learns Armstrong is defecting and faces the realization that if she remains with him, she'll never see America again.
Armstrong visits a farmer and it is apparent that he is not, in fact, defecting but is pretending to defect in order to glean information about anti-missile systems. The farmer and his wife are assisting with his exit from East Berlin but Armstrong is followed by an appointed chaperone and discovers Armstrong is a double agent and while calling for police, Armstrong and the farmer's wife pretty gruesomely kills the chaperone. This was seriously a very compelling scene and perfectly shot, though the blood by today's standards was obviously fake. The intent was to show just what it takes to kill by hand. As Hitch said, "The whole idea was not only to show how difficult it is to kill a man, but to point up to the character what espionage entails: you're involved in killing!" The chaperone is ultimately buried on the grounds but a man who knew of his plans reports Armstrong as a suspect in his disappearance.
Armstrong meets with famous scientists the next day at Karl Marx University but the day is cut short because of questioning by the authorities. Sherman is also interrogated about her knowledge of American secrets around missile systems but she is allowed to flounce out without saying anything. She has decided by this point to defect with Armstrong. But it is later this day that Armstrong reveals the truth to her that he is indeed a double-agent for America and he asks her for her help.
Armstrong is finally allowed to meet with Professor Lindt and is able to trick Lindt's ego into exposing secrets. It comes over the loudspeaker that Armstrong and Sherman are wanted for questioning into the disappearance of the dead chaperone but they manage to escape with the help of the university clinic physician. The couple attempt to travel through East Berlin while being pursued by the Stasi in a decoy bus. They ultimately make it to a ballet performance where they hope to be smuggled out in the ballet troup's luggage. This plan is foiled but they manage to escape again by yelling fire in the crowded theater. They are ultimately ferried out over the Baltic to Sweden and make another escape when the prima ballerina figures out they are on board but points out the wrong hamper they were hiding in that is hoisted and shot at. They ultimately jump overboard and swim to the Swedish dock and to safety.
For all of its faults, I enjoyed this film. There were definitely very thrilling moments and classic Hitchcock shots/themes. There was absolutely no chemistry between Newman and Andrews though they reportedly got along well. Newman's acting seems a bit detached but this is vintage PN and that may have been his way of portraying the intellectual scientist/spy. Newman and Hitchcock tended to butt heads as Newman undoubtedly could see the problems with the script. I've read he would send pages to Hitch about changes which had to have pissed Hitch off that Newman would be so impertinent as to offer tips to the great Hitchcock.
Anyway, I'd love to know if anyone here has seen it and if so, what you thought.
(https://i.imgur.com/xvbRa6j.jpg)
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I have never heard of this film!