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DVD Review: CROSSFIRE / Edward Dmytryk (1947)

November 15th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Let’s go bobbing for Roberts!

Crossfire (1947)
Directed by Edward Dmytryk
Written by John Paxton from Richard Brooks’ novel The Brick Foxhole
 Starring: Robert Young, Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum, George Cooper, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White and Steve Brodie
Running Time: 86 min.
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Rating: ★★★☆☆

With a star-powered trio of Roberts (Ryan, Mitchum and Young) sharing the one-sheet for a film noir produced by the studio that helped define the post-war style, Crossfire really should be a lot better than it is. Only one of the three same-named leads is put to good use. Robert Young’s Captain Finlay chews his pipe as he doggedly hunts down a brutal, anti-Semitic thrill-killer. In his office, Finlay appears trapped in a cage. At night, the window panes behind him mimic jail bars; even the bottom center pipe stems in their holder visually reinforce the air of incarceration. As Sgt. Peter Keeley, Robert Mitchum spends a lot of time in the background apparently waiting for the lunch bell to sound. He is wasted, and probably in more ways than one. Only Robert Ryan, in his first full-blown unveiling as a psycho-killer, rises to the occasion. Unbalanced Bob is not the only reason to see this picture, just the best.

The subject of Richard Brooks’ The Brick Foxhole was homosexuality, a public menace that privately made its way into board rooms and bungalows throughout Hollywood in the 40s. You could personally partake in so-called deviant sexual behavior, just don’t put it in the pictures.On the other hand, degrading someone on the basis of ethnicity or skin color had long been standard practice among studios. All this gay talk, and the filthy thoughts it would ultimately plant in audiences’ heads, had to go. Up the road, Fox was producing Gentleman’s Agreement,  a film aimed at blowing the lid off the heretofore taboo subject of anti-Semitism. The solution was simple: substitute Judaism for homosexuality! While blue noses would undoubtedly upturn at the thought of murder in the name of wanton sodomy, surely even the most censorious among us could find room in their heart to sanction murder based solely on religious affiliation.Quickly assembling their cast, the R.K.O. production helmed by Eddie Dmytryk, was pushed through in record time and the minor-major released their version to theatres a full three and a half months ahead of the competition.

We begin on action as Sgt. “Monty” Montgomery (Robert Ryan) shadowboxes a “Sammy” to his death. The only possible witness (and fall guy), Cpl. Arthur “Mitch” Mitchell (George Cooper) lies passed out in a drunken stupor and has to be carried through the door by Monty. Much to the surprise of Capt. Finlay, the next morning finds Monty returning to the crime scene and doing his best not to acknowledge the previous night’s activities. As soon as he’s in the presence of the law, Monty instantly shatters the cardinal rule of psychopaths by offering answers to questions he wasn’t asked.

A junior member of the staff spoke up and timidly asked whether this film was released before or after Kurosawa’s Rashomon. We all had a good laugh at his expense, but the point remains a valid one. Crossfire prefigures Rashomon in it’s use of contrary flashbacks. Both Monty and Mitch are given ample screen time to present their sides of the story. Monty’s narration squarely points the finger in Mitch’s direction (and predates Hitchcock’s Stage Fright with its use of a lying flashback), while the framed G.I.’s interpretation is clouded by drink. The good news is in each version we get to see Monty overreact when his hillbilly chum Leroy (William Phipps) spills a drink on Sammy’s girl.

Gloria Grahame, Jacqueline White, Robert Young and Paul Kelly.

There’s a moment in Blake Edwards’ S.O.B. where William Holden asks if he’s ever violated a close friendship with a lie. He did and his defense goes something like “the fact that I’m telling you that I lied proves that I’m not a liar.” This form of cockeyed logic has never been put to better use than in what ostensibly appears to be a  throwaway sequence featuring veteran character actor Paul Kelly. Kelly plays the part of Mr. Tremaine, a discharged soldier with a bum ticker. His young, estranged wife Ginny (Gloria Grahame) met Mitch at a local dance hall and is his sole alibi. As Mitch dries out in her (their?) apartment Mr. Tremaine, a quizzical Everyman with a world weary demeanor softened by a mischievous streak, returns unannounced to add a touch of surrealism to the day’s events. Tremaine is one of the most fascinating characters in all film noir. After every declarative statement, he pauses and confesses, “That’s a lie.” His contrary personal testimony, while in no direct relation to the murder, infuses the picture with more social relevance than either killer, victim or motive can supply. This oddball and strangely affecting scene is a standout that anticipates David Lynch by decades.

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New Photos Added: Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton, BLAZING SADDLES, Sexy Smokers, Robert Mitchum, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.

July 20th, 2008 by Scott Marks

Fraser Heston visiting Jack Hawkins and his father Charlton on the set of Ben-Hur.

Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles (1974) - New Gallery with 13 Images Added.

Paul Mazursky’s Blume in Love (1975) - New Gallery with 9 Images Added.

Humphrey Bogart - 2 New Photos Added.

Jamie Lee Curtis - 2 New Photos Added from John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980)

Buster Keaton’s The General (1927) - New Gallery with 26 Images Added

Grace Kelly - New Gallery with 99 Images Added

Continue reading New Photos Added: Grace Kelly, Buster Keaton, BLAZING SADDLES, Sexy Smokers, Robert Mitchum, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.

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Movie dads that won’t make father’s day

June 15th, 2008 by Scott Marks

1. The Butcher in Gaspar Noé’s I Stand Alone (1998)

Part of the reason I adore this movie is because I have always believed it to be a revisionist version of Taxi Driver only darker. This baby takes everything Travis has to give, pumps up realism — when The Butcher (Philippe Nahon) goes to a porn theater, you’ll witness more than some R-rating-friendly shadows dancing on the screen — and never stops moving towards its ghastly conclusion(s). Everybody steals from Scorsese, but few are capable of making it their own, thereby demonstrating an advanced state of cinematic enlightenment. Transplant Travis to Paris, have him hack meat instead of fares, give him a retarded daughter and ouila - out pops one of the vilest, most repugnant movies ever made (and my vote for feel-good picture of eternity!). After pulling a Joe Kennedy and throwing his daughter in a mental institution, The Butcher returns to Paris to find her. Alone in a hotel room with his daughter, the director provides his audience with two alternate conclusions: rape or murder. Rent the DVD and play along at home.

2. “The Lieutenant” in Abel Ferrara’s The Bad Lieutenant (1992)

If you haven’t already, go back and study the dialog during the opening car ride. We know nothing about “The Lieutenant” (Harvey Keitel) and Ferrara and screenwriter Nick St. John want to make a solid first impression. “The Lieutenant” and his two young sons (both sporting blazers that scream parochial school) make a hurried dash for the car. The boys whine that they were late because Aunt Wendy keeps hogging the bathroom. Turning on them as though they were refugees from Police Academy 5, Harvey barks,

“Hey — Listen to me. I’m the boss, not Aunt Wendy. When it’s your turn to use the bathroom, you tell Aunt Wendy to get the f–k out of the bathroom! What are you, men or mice?…Call me. I’ll throw her the f–l out!”

A few reels later he’s buck naked, smoking crack and crying like a baby. When was the last time you really saw your father?

3. Joey LaMotta in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull (1980)

Jake (Robert DeNiro) is by no means Judge Hardy, but the father of the year award goes to the younger LaMotta brother. Unfortunately there isn’t enough quality screen time devoted to Joey (Joe Pesci) and his kids, but the thirty seconds we do get to spend around the family dinner table is magic. Joey points a knife at his young son and threatens, “If I see you put your hand in the plate one more time I’m gonna’ stab you with this knife. You hear me?” We never learn if Joey, Jr. got the message for no sooner is his dad about to bludgeon the tot with a butter knife, Uncle Jake saves the day by bursting into the house and putting his brother’s head through a glass door. Every day is Father’s Day in the LaMotta household, ya’ son of a bitch!

4. Wade Hunnicutt in Vincente Minnelli’s Home From the Hill (1960)

There were two venal Minnelli patriarchs to choose from, neither of whom had Liz Taylor as their on-screen daughter. Arthur Kennedy is pure scum in Some Came Running. On the surface he’s Parkman, Indiana’s #1 son, but his heart pumps silt. As much as he sickens me (in a good way), he is no match for Mitchum in Home From the Hill. Minnelli asks us to accept George Hamilton in the role of Robert Mitchum’s son. (And I goof on spielberg’s inability to suspend disbelief!) It’s great to watch Mitchum belittle the ever-fledgling actor, but all roads lead to Bob’s heated moment of comeuppance. Eighty-seven minutes in, Hamilton enters dad’s study/arsenal to make it known that he’s hip to the fact that one of the ranch hands is his half brother. Cool Bob easily deflects the news. After all, he sewed some oats with a tramp that gave birth by the side of a ditch. Hamilton follows with the line of his career: “She must have been some pig to crawl into bed with you.” Thawing momentarily, Bob stammers, “We’ll just let that…We’ll just let that pass in the heat of the moment.” Flustered Mitchum seldom appears on the menu. When it does savor it!

5. Jasper Hadley in Douglas Sirk’s Written on the Wind (1956)

“A great man! A giant of a man!” To hear his family speak you’d half expect Glenn Langan to walk in the room with Jonas Salk in hand. (Which reminds me, look at the size of the gusher on that guy! Talk about being oil-well hung!) Instead of a titan, Douglas Sirk portrays Jasper Hadley (Robert Keith) as an emaciated mouse. The inheritors to his throne are an impotent lush (Robert Stack) and a slutty daughter (Dorothy Malone) that makes Mitchum’s “sand hill tacky” look like Amanda Bynes. Halfway through the picture Old Man Hadley’s ticker gives out forcing him to take a fatal plunge down the family’s grand staircase. If a puny man falls in the middle of a mansion, does anybody hear? Are the chances worsened if his harlot daughter is blasting a molten version of Temptation on her Victrola? In honor of the day, let us end with a bit of patroclinous trivia: Milquetoast Robert Keith is the real life sire of strapping TV father (and dad to both Hayley Mills), Brian “Uncle Bill” Keith. Hmmm…Does that mean a Hamilton can father a Mitchum?

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