Paul Newman = God

[hefdaddy42]

The Hustler is a great, great film.

I also read the novel on which it's based earlier this year.  Also very good.

[Harmony]

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.

[Cool Chris]

....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.

[DragonAttack]

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!    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? 😉

[hefdaddy42]

....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.

[Harmony]

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. 

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! 

[Harmony]

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?

[Orbert]

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.

[Harmony]

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.



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.   

[YtseJam]

If you like his movies you should try his salad!

[Harmony]

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"?   

Didn't get to Hud this weekend.  Looking forward to this one next weekend.

[DragonAttack]

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!



Teacher Willie Mosconi with student

[Harmony]

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.

[Harmony]

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.

[Cool Chris]

Another classic I never saw. I did not know it's based on a Larry McMurtry story. I highly enjoyed reading Lonesome Dove.

[hefdaddy42]

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.

[Harmony]

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. 

[Orbert]

Being There is an amazing movie.  Yes, Melvyn Douglas was Benjamin Rand.

"I like to watch" -- heh heh

[Stadler]

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.