loydmooney-1 Reviews

Maverick: High Card Hangs (1958) Season 2, Episode 5

don't miss this one

[8/10 · 20 August 2008]

Criminal, folks that nobody has yet commented on this great episode. It's so good that it's better to not tell you much about it: let's just say it dwarfs The Sting in surprises. Jack Kelly is wonderful in it. Efram Zimbalest is nearly as, no, he IS as good, the only time I ever caught him when he wasn't so serious that he was deadening: and well, at the end you will feel as suckered and great as Hansel and Gretal following the trail of goodies to the witches shack.

The only warning, if you feel even getting close to somebody about to reveal much of the plot, that is until you have seen it, jump off that train fast. You can always catch it when it comes around again after you have enjoyed this baby.

The House of Fear (1945)

slight error in subtitles

[5/10 · 10 July 2008]

Don't know if anyone else spotted it, but at one point when Holmes tells Watson, come on lets have a ???? the subtitles say pint when its obviously PIPE.

Otherwise its standard stuff.

In fact I would rate it a little under

some of the other better known films.

The best is clearly Scarlet Claw.

One thing, a character actor that some

may not have picked up on is the Egnlish

Cyril Delavanti. He is the second victim.

Man in the Saddle (1951)

mighty fine de toth

[8/10 · 23 April 2008]

It seems that all the comments here are somewhat ordinary, and miss some of the fantastically extraordinary touches of de Toth. True the western drags in places, but there are moments that only a director of the quality of de Toth can create. His humor was always very sly, here no exception. For another instance look at the way he handles Gary Cooper in Springfield Rifle. But back to the case in point. Near the start Scott and Williams are about to leave and this 75 year old lady comes through the door carrying a bundle and says, excuse me gentlemen. Look at it carefully and you will see it is a fantastic grace note, and very funny. Then look at the way Scott is rolling a cigarette when Isham pulls up, talks over his shoulder etc. Also why does Clagg break a stick to get Ellen Drews attention coming up the hill? Its almost perverse and never explained. Then the end in as good a dust storm as was ever filmed short of the one in Treasure of Sierra Madre.

And saving the best for last, the fight scene between Scott and Clagg, is simply stupendous. Over quickly, very real, tense, the long roll down the hill, etc. It may be the best single fight ever on the screen.

These alone raise de Toth into a level reached by very few other directors of westerns. His subtlety is very great: in fact his sense of humor is still, for me, the very best. Nobody better.

His Girl Friday (1940)

over rated

[4/10 · 6 February 2007]

This is one of the most over rated films of all time. I love plenty of Hawks, and Russell is great here, but Grant is rather one notish. He is much better in Notorious, but here to me seems just without any range, his circus skills coming through and that's about all. The final scene is fantastic however, and is all Russell's. When she breaks down and starts to cry it is amazing.

As for the rest of the film, nope, sorry, not a single scene I would ever want to see again...well, not quite. The opening bit when she comes into the office is quite good, even though even there I find a little of Grant going a long way.

The Devil's General (1955)

astonishing

[10/10 · 2 February 2007]

This is a near perfect film. Very very very intelligent, flows like the Danube...to the gates of hell, with Jurgens at the helm in one of the most fantastic performances by any actor anywhere anytime.

Every moment of the thing is so polished and subtle that it shames most other actors I have ever seen.

The others here commenting on his performance and the movie have pretty much nailed it. However sometimes you come across a performance that is so good.......well, I rank it with that of James Cagney in White Heat, Louis Calhern in Asphalt Jungle, Claude Rains in Deception, and James Stewart's various high points in the Mann Westerns as the kind of acting that money cannot buy at any price. Just watch Jergens and behold.

Advance to the Rear (1964)

better than three stooges and laurel and hardy combined

[10/10 · 10 January 2007]

Be prepared for something that by almost any standard should not be even remotely good and find yourself laughing out loud in almost every place through it. Mad magazine run rampant, and far better than the likes of much overrated and obvious stuff like Blazing Saddles. Glenn Ford walks through it to superb effect. The entire thing looks like it was all done in one take and is all the better for it.

The James Bond movies were famous for their tongue in cheek humor, always stupidly it seemed to me: this one shows how tongue in cheek all the way back and down the throat works. Forget John Ford's sentimentality, Andre de Toth's subtleties, this is just flat out in your face fun. Never a western before or since like it. One of a kind always beats the rest.

Hangman's Knot (1952)

better Scott than none at all

[4/10 · 26 December 2006]

This one starts out superbly. The main problem is a kind of Hamlet-like attenuation of a situation that should have been over rather quickly: you never believe that it takes as long as it does to drive the main crew out of the house they are holed up in. Suspension of disbelief comes at a premium just as surely as with Hamlet taking upteem hours and days and weeks and months to get rid of the big old bad guy standing in his way......but then there would have been no play, or in this case an entirely different movie.

However, the beginning is as good as any Boetticher, all silent, signals as quiet as Comanche smoke while a few rebels are ambushing a Union gold shipment before finding out that it was all wasted effort, that the war has been over quite a while. No doubt a plot to be rescued for some world war two Nazi gold movie.

Scott never looked better in a slick black coat believing a rather soft center: it's Frank Faylen who is the greedy one who must pay the price in the end for wanting the gold for himself.

Until the rebel band get stuck between four walls, the film moves like a western should. Yellow Sky , a much better foray into lust for lost gold is a lot more believable, and should be seen for comparison what a great director can do with the magnetic little yellow bags. That said, this still should not be missed for the opening twenty or so minutes.

Carrington (1995)

bad but not inexplicably so

[3/10 · 25 December 2006]

Very few films send me here curious for reactions. This one did simply because I was wondering if anyone else had the feeling that the main male role was so noisome that how could anybody but a nut find him lovable. Well, that was not the case: most if not all accepted her love for him as something totally understandable. The guy was a jerk. Period. And ugly both inside and out, as well as full of empty comments on the ongoing scene and human dilemma. I kept watching only because of the remarkable performance by Thomson in the, and I do mean THE greatest masochist of all time. And some nice pictorals. That crazy house they lived in was really something. All said, purely my reaction: the guy was just too damned ugly, too not there for anybody with half a brain to want to hang around him long, much less half her life unless she was seriously stupid and sick.

Dallas (1950)

lunatic greatness

[6/10 · 10 December 2006]

Saying it all. Nothing like this western before or since, it being the vehicle for two western standbys, Cooper and John Twist, their near apotheosis. Neither were ever better, funnier, or more ...well Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Twist had many many westerns under his belt by this time, his dialog always outrageous, and Cooper more than once played comedy always to the hilt, about as over the top and with as little concern for anything but taking his shy grin to the near unbearable limit, and line after line of Twist gives every lanky bone in him a chance to strut his stuff...that's right boys, he cut the map of Kansas right through the old buffaloes hairrrrrrrr...or thats for you two love doves, the space of a lifetime, not for me, for me time's running out.......or you were the turpentine, but at least tha settles one thing, they were all in it in Georgia, dogs that ain't eat sheep don't run...... and on and on and on with such outrageous stuff. There was never a writer quite like Twist for the western, his name on anything in Hollywood guaranteed the stretching of the western tongue to heights all his own, and by the late forties and early fifties Cooper had carved out his own indelible persona...and this was their ultimate showcase. As for the plot, forget it, it's entirely lunatic, might have been borrowed from one of the Road pictures...but the lingo....ahhh.... just keep going blue-belly or Ill fry you for breakfast.

The Dam Busters (1955)

quietly relentless

[8/10 · 24 November 2006]

It is odd how most of the reviewers here either got caught up in the historical accuracy of the movie, or missed most of the almost unique parts of the film. One of the best actors who ever lived, Michael Redgrave got rather short shrift here, but that should be no surprise how terrifyingly he submerged his, well I started to say self, but perhaps he never had any real center other than getting up to disappear into a role. He is scary here how he becomes the obsessed near robot intent on developing something new to kill people with and, in the bargain, shorten the war.

He is very nearly subversive in this, and much quieter than say Jimmy Stewart in No Highway In The Sky, who plays a wacky professor in an almost look at my rabbit Harvey vein, none of that here thank you very much.

Counterpuntal is Todd, always smiling, except when his dog is run over, killed. Yet you never have the feeling that the smile is directed towards anything stupid or blind, nothing stereotypical here, just a cheery bloke, only too well aware of every flakridden danger facing him, 30 missions under him, the exact opposite of Redgrave....along with being the very willing tool of Redgrave.

One of the truly unusual, maybe even unique parts of the story is how long and straightforward the tale goes once the planes are in the air for the bombing run, minute over minute over dark water, nothing else, a little chatter over the phones, that's it. Never before or since have I ever felt what it would be like to be in one of those deadly things.

Simply great stuff.

This is what really wonderful movies used to be like, and even then seldom were.

First time out for me was yesterday watching it, but it wont be the last. It never strays once from its obsession to get rid of some deadly dams, not ever. One of the most relentless movies ever made.

Across the Wide Missouri (1951)

pretty bad Wellman

[3/10 · 4 November 2006]

Of all the directors ever to sit behind a camera Wellman could break your heart quicker than anyone. Even Ford. But this is one of his worst. Even he seemed to know it, probably from its jejune treatment, not much above a Bonanza or Big Valley.

Yet there is one moment, typical Wellman that comes out of nowhere to shatter you, the death of the Indian wife of Gable. She has gone to give her baby some water and WHAM is killed by an arrow instantly. No warning. Nada.

One of the most shocking, unprepared for deaths in all cinema. Particularly after investing a whole hour of love for the lady in what looked to be a sappy western. Of course the treatment of her afterwards is laden with Wellman's total indifference, apparently, to the film. Even so it is a reminder of the power he has always had at his best.

The Walking Hills (1949)

one of the best Sturges

[10/10 · 28 October 2006]

After a while Sturges got very overblown and flashy. This one kept him earlily reined in, even though earlily was not a word until now. The first and last of it is very good indeed. The poker game that starts things off is about as compact a character study, in its own way even nearly equal to the first bits of Bad Day At Black Rock, and in some ways even better because it is so understated. Randolph Scott at the table is supremely realistic here. The game is even played for penny ante stakes, almost nakedly drawing any and all in for the game, very late 40ish kind of device to gather everybody for the hunt. Too much so, in fact. This film could easily have dispensed with the Arthur Kennedy character and two or three others. The whole bunch is just too large and ridiculous, practically needing a parade permit. And the middle of the chase is way too long and marred by flashbacks. However the poker game and sandstorm are, well, just great. This is one of those films that is so flawed and so good in parts that it deserves a remake, though it would be hard to find the likes of somebody like Scott: you would have to search high and low for an unknown since there is nobody around in LA remotely with his western power. That done, even make it a period piece, cut out the absurdities and slackness, and it could make a very tight piece of business, shot in good ole Black and White.

A Man Alone (1955)

Hitchcock on the Bar X

[8/10 · 8 October 2006]

That's right, folks, perhaps the most Hitchcockian western ever made, this one. Right from the first frames, the eye is very keen: first a doll in the dust, then a peek inside the stagecoach and watching only from the knees to chest, the body of the little girl killed in a holdup. Then a very clean direction of Milland in this tale of a man falsely accused of murder and yes, On The Run. Saboteur in the West or any of the others he had the gun running from the mob etc. And finding the woman who believes him against the rest who are chasing him.

The only difference here is that Milland is a gunman, whereas Hitch usually used the blank hero, flawless and innocent, chaste and chased. Otherwise he fits the bill.

No western made was ever quite like this, more of a suspense film than rawhide. And very interesting. Too bad Milland was never interviewed about its peculiarities.

Many Rivers to Cross (1955)

heartwarming

[8/10 · 5 October 2006]

Played absolutely over the top, to the hilt, right down to the final scene. Perhaps the only false note in the entire film is where Taylor saves the child. Somehow its out of kilter with the rest of the antics in its pacing, otherwise this is always played for laughs, beginning to end.

As someone noted the two principles are way too old for the parts, unless everybody in those days just LOOKED worse for the wear early, which they did of course. It would have been better to have made this ten years earlier then most of it would not have seemed so outlandish, but still its a better comedy than most. The trick is taking it on its own terms and its pure D old fashioned fun.

Yet another example of MGMs notion of Disneyland.

The final scene of Parker moaning over Taylor to attract the Indians to the scene and kill them, very funny and neatly done, easily worth the price of the ticket, or what must have been for those that saw it in the theater.

L'Avventura (1960)

fantastic

[9/10 · 4 October 2006]

A landmark film. You could just let it go at that, but perhaps the best take on it beyond its obvious great eye, is it may still be the finest existentialist work ever. Period. Of course, thus dubbed, it is fated to be greeted with howls of laughter, right? A treatise on emptiness. And a rather boring one at that, at least according to those who find the stuff on the island compelling at the rest of it a letdown, comparatively.

Probably so. The latter half is not so neatly stitched together as the first, but none of that matters much with this kind of uniqueness. If you want stuff from Antonioni that is truly terrible look at his latter stuff, he made this movie over and over and over again and each one got worse, perhaps from his own boredom. Who knows.

This one was the one he was born to make. The countless exchanges are the finest existentialist toss away lines of all time, the compositions perfectly matching them.

And the eroticism has never been matched. Simply superb languorous kisses that go on and on: especially the one where Vitti does the whole thing for what seems an hour with her eyes open wide all through it, never before or since that kind of wonderment; in fact the entire movie is one of the pains of love, even Annas absence ascribable to a perhaps vanishing to escape Sandro.

But it is easy to see how many would junk this film as boring. It is in parts, but there has never been anything like it, the wonderful island, and the ambiguous search for Anna following.

Enough overall to put it as one of the twenty greatest films of all time. Antonioni did himself proud with this one.

The Black Dahlia (2006)

a messerpiece

[3/10 · 21 September 2006]

De Palmas best after Carrie, which ain't saying much. In fact right from the start you sense he is camera crazy, wheeling it hither and yon down this street and that to catch this wild fight that has virtually nada to do with an economic plot.

Somebody should tell all these guys that just because a camera has wheels, it is usually better left standing still, and no tracking shots over 10 feet, otherwise, excess and madness. Which this movie is, in spades. One shot that does work beautifully, had it fitted into the jigsaw puzzle better is the one that climbs up over the building past the crows to show a car driving away after the body is dumped, just before the gunfight. When you find out it really makes no sense down the line other than a convenient coincidence, well. But it is a striking shot.

The scene where the mother killer blows her brains out is wonderfully done with a few exceptions: even most of that is totally ridiculous, very convenient for the cop to be able to come through the window, find the head of the daughter on dad's lap and the whole crew there dutifully ready to pour out their guilt a la Perry Mason, I did it, no I did it, I plunged the knife through the heart before the poison took place, no I did it cause I had the kid of the ....well you get the point just about like The Black Dahlia did, right across your smiling mouth. That said, how Ma begins to rant away at the top of the stairs and her lungs like the mad mother in Long Days Journey into Night, could, and only mind you, could have been fantastic. Instead it is just more more lump of bad meat in this smelly stew.

As for the end, my god talk about copulating clichés, the long drawing out and shooting of Hillary Swank, embarrassing.

Harken back to the wonderful knives coming at the mother in Carrie: spectacular and horrifying and marvelous.

De Palma just is not up to the task of anything very real: fantasy with horror is is specialty, looks like. Certainly his Hitch fascination has always been his supreme weakness. Though here dunno exactly whom he is trying to go for. That whole business of Hillary donning a man's hat with a knife to kill the buddy of the main cop and then the cremation on the spot, that is beyond ludicrous.

Just a mess. From beginning to end. Have no idea what any of them were planning once the cameras started to roll. No, was gonna give this a five, but what's the matter with me. 3. That's the ticket.

The Verdict (1982)

cheating

[5/10 · 15 September 2006]

This movie cheats, probably as Mamet would like to but has not the skill to do with his favorite game, poker. It is a supremely inauthentic film, but with fabulous performances. First, if this woman is sent in as a spy, why in the world are they paying her off with a check. That would surely be cash and not traceable. Now the verdict of the story would still turn out to be the same, so what is it all about Alfie, the whole subplot. Also the fact that the critical mail arrives at five o clock in the morning(or so it seems} to remind Newman that the phone company is coming like the cavalry, well also convenient that its early mail over at the Rooney place too. Also and its a big one, even larger in fact than the rest, lawyers don't turn down that kind of money AND IF they do, the plaintiffs would yank him and ask for a continuance, AND if none of that applies, Newman waiting on Doctor Gruber to come back from the Bahamas, hells bells, he just fakes being sick as long as it takes to contact the Doctor...and while we are at it...IF the doc has really been corrupted then why go to the trouble to tell you how INcorruptable he is.

But that's Mamet. Very overrated writer with all this supposedly great...and highly inauthentic dialog. Still this movie does have some wonderful scenes by Newman and Jack Warden and James Mason. So. The Verdict? About a 5, no more.

Attack (1956)

a must see

[2/10 · 12 September 2006]

Oddly a movie that should be seen all the way through, is more than something of a mess, in the end a sloppy film, with very few really great scenes.....and yet. Truly one of those films that people often say, it could have been so much better.

Robert Aldrich is ALWAYS interesting. And for me has never made a great movie, with perhaps the exception of Ulzana's Raid,(and the end of Flight of Phoenix) just many many studded with fabulous stuff. This is another one. Its flaw, central one that is, is not how right from the start we know exactly how its is going to end. Palance is going to kill Albert. And even though he doesn't quite, he comes within a hair trigger of doing it and we essentially learn nothing new about either character after the first scene for the rest of the movie: Palance out for revenge and the steady overacting of a coward by Albert. No, what is really wrong with the movie is Albert's constant overacting, his cowardice should have oozed almost imperceptably from him, or at least as convincingly as one of the actors soon to be mentioned.

Even the end of this one cops out. Turning the killer of Albert into a hero. Though leaving it open that once word gets up the line that nothing is going to change, that Marvin will get his political banquet once he gets stateside.

Nevertheless, there is a undeniable honesty to the work, and, by the way, it should be mentioned here that the finest performance , or at least the equal of Palance's is that of Steven Garay, the German they bring in for questioning. What a great actor this man was. Never a false note in anything he ever did, including this: just look at how you FEEL his fear, something that Albert could have borrowed. And maybe the reason Albert just never convinced me is that he was so brave in real life: pulling Marines off the beach of Tarawa in his Higgins boat in all that fire deserve a hell of a lot more than a bronze star. Tarawa was one of the bloodiest battles humans ever fought. Maybe his courage was just too hard to hide here.

Cry of the City (1948)

almost too good

[8/10 · 7 September 2006]

The best Siodmak, period. But at least it is available on cable, via Cinemax, and maybe others. Others have pointed out its clichés, but they were barely that then. The main weakness of the film is the biggest cliché, of Conte desperately seeking Debra. It just is not set up right, other than that the thing is almost perfect. Five or six highlights are the shyster sneaking into the opening scene trying to set up an alibi for his not Conte client in an unusual but very believable McGuffin which sets most of the rest of the story in motion, other than the rather stupid one of Conte chasing after his gal friend. After that and the wonderfully handled escape of Conte from his hospital cell, the movie slides pretty much on grease, scene after scene quintessential late 40's New York noir, never looking better.

Grim and grimy, a dark, shabby hell.

In fact the rest so good, it almost requires no description: Just sit back and enjoy. Only the absolute end is fairly weak, the obligatory hookup with Contes galfriend, and should have ended with a closeup on Conte dead near the gutter with his knife out. Even so, when it is finally all over, few black and white noirs ever felt better. Certainly this one belongs in the top ten ever made.

The Killer Elite (1975)

no no no

[1/10 · 28 August 2006]

Another too bad the lowest they can go here is one. Otherwise this would get an easy zero. Truly one of the worst films I have ever seen. In fact were Peckenpah's name not on the thing I would never have guessed he did it. Actually one of the people in San Francisco I know was on the set a lot and from nearly sunup on he says that Sam was just plain snockered. It shows in spades. The laughing bit at the early part of the film is the ONLY thing in this entire mess worth a second look. Not even Gig Young is watchable. This is a true test of masochism. Had I been forced into the confines of a theatre to see it I would have jumped up screaming. And now I truly feel guilty having watched it all from the confines of a very comfortable couch that was just too nice to leave. What a mess, it seemed less written than made up as they went along. It's not only a bomb but a bmob spelled backwards. Yikes!!!!!

Unforgiven (1992)

less than meets the eye and even less the ear

[1/10 · 17 August 2006]

No, folks, we are still looking for a great western after The Wild Bunch. To slap this one in as one of the 250 greatest movies of all time, better the other way as one of the 5 or 6 most overrated movies ever made. Others here have said it with far more detail than I, since I kept fast forwarding through at least half of it. Worse there is not a single moment in the entire film I stopped for any good. What is beyond me, or wait, I think it just hit me why it was so popular, that is above the fact that it has Eastwood in it. It is NOT a western. Actually it is more a kind of Bad Lieutenant on horseback, except not even as good as that twisted morality play. Not that I liked any of Eastwoods other westerns, all derivative to the bone, which this was not, just a lotta nada. If proof was ever necessary that amnesia has set in over the western this one is it.

Irresistible (2006)

simply awful

[1/10 · 13 August 2006]

Zero. But you have to give a movie here at least a one. Truly ghastly this one. And if Susan had her hand in this, it just shows how truly dopey Hollywood is, no matter how far from home. There is no way this movie was ever, ever, ever salvageable. How do things like this get made, or even the first five minutes. At least with the Titanic, plenty were saved. This one< not just the orchestra went down with the ship, the entire crew, even the cute little babies. And to think that I wound up watching this right after 29 Palms, mirror images of rot and wretchedness. If you want to see one of the worst movies ever made by a crew of decent actors, run, do not walk for this one. It is staggeringly boring.

Rio Bravo (1959)

very good and simply awful

[2/10 · 12 August 2006]

Only a few here got how truly dreadful this film is most of the time. It is an embarrassing home movie western then. Occasionally it rises to Hawks greatness. About ten minutes worth. The rest is just a waste of time, the actors going through some kind of horrible amateur motions. Nothing like a bunch of people from the actors studio throwing on some costumes and being themselves, I guess. However, the person here who spotted just how good Martin is in this is right: it is a wonderful performance. As for the rest of the bunch, well, right its New York, actors studio. This is not a western folks. For that try Red River. The greatest western ever made. However, the scene where Martin makes the guy grab the coin out of the spittoon is fabulous, in fact nearly every scene Martin is in is very watchable.

Inside Man (2006)

don't bother

[2/10 · 8 August 2006]

Well, he doesn't have me fooled. This is not a thriller, it's a mishmash. The payoff is hardly worthy of a name, talk about mailed in performances, good thing I rented it and didn't have to fork over any big loot in a theater. In fact it is just this sort of movie that is ruining Hollywood: a camera swinging all the place, the better to disorient you, the F word instead of decent dialog, and with somebody like Lee always, always, always some insistent political correctness. OKay right from the start we knew Plummer needed something fetched from his safety deposit vault, something incriminating: all right. Stupid from the start. Why did he hang onto it. And if so why put in an unsafe place like a safety deposit vault, how about some vital rabbit hole on his country estate. This will definitely be my last Lee movie, and thank goodness there were not many before it. Fortunately I just got through seeing the Matador, as a reminder how good movies can get.

Vivre sa vie (1962)

huh?

[2/10 · 5 August 2006]

Not nearly as good as I had hoped for. The only scene that I would ever want to see again is her getting shot at the very FIN of the film. Everything about the rest of it is so arbitrary it looks like Godard was making it up as he went along, right from the ridiculous first scene where they talk to us from their backs, right down to the absurd attempts at symbolism with a pin ball machine played by both her future pimp and ex boyfriend.

Actually overall in his first four, five films Godard has always struck me as a man torn between Hollywood commercialism and Andy Warhol nihilism, sublime critic and artist manqué. Edmund Wilson was sort of that on this side of the Atlantic, unerringly eerie ear for the new great and strange, and pretty boring fiction writer.