Frank Sinatra

Bill Gates

David Bowie

Tupac Shakur

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jane Fonda, Billie Holiday, and Anna Nicole Smith after the jump:Billie Holiday

Janis Joplin

Jimi Hendrix

Steve McQueen

Anna Nicole Smith

Jane Fonda

Steve McQueen is probably one of the most well-known and best-loved screen icons of all time. Whether he’s jumping a fence on his motorbike or leading a Magnificent band of cowboys, everybody knows his face, his voice and his style.

Unfortunately for the movie community, that Steve McQueen died in 1980. However, 2008 saw a new Steve McQueen land on the map. As the director of bleak drama Hunger, McQueen showed that he could be as skilled behind the lens (and with a pen, as he also co-wrote the script) as his namesake was in front of it.

Based on the real-life hunger strike of Bobby Sands in 1981, Hunger follows the happenings in Northern Ireland prison HMS Maze in the weeks and months prior to Sands’ (SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW THE HISTORY) self-inflicted death from malnutrition. Sands, played brilliantly by recent QT Basterd Michael Fassbender, is an incarcerated IRA volunteer who, along with the other inmates, executes a number of strikes in order to try and gain political prisoner status (a notion which the Thatcher government strongly opposed). As well as Sands’ famous hunger strike, there were also no-wash protests and ‘blanket protests’ wherein the IRA-following inmates refused to wear prison clothes, both of which are also shown in often brutally frank fashion – the camera lingers on the wall of Gerry’s (Liam McMahon) cell which he has smeared with shit and we are shown a violent episode when the prisoners are forcibly washed by the guards. As well as Gerry and Bobby, we also follow the journeys of prison guard Ray Lohan (Stuart Graham) and new inmate Davey (Brian Milligan), and the tales are interwoven via a series of cuts and jumps.

To say that Hunger is an unusual movie is to do it somewhat of a disservice, but it’s safe to say that McQueen’s drama is light years from recent mainstream biopics like Ray or Capote. It is not a film which sets out to make a star of its lead (although Fassbender’s performance is so good it made him one anyway) or to glamourise a famous historical figure. For large parts of it, Hunger is ostensibly an arthouse mood piece, replete with lengthy stationary-camera shots and half hours without any real dialogue. The climactic conversation between Sands and Liam Cunningham’s Father Moran is 20 minutes long, yet for 15 of those minutes the camera never moves, simply documenting the powerful discussion that culminated in Sands’ decision to starve himself in the name of idealism.

The lack of dialogue, focus on death and obsession with, well, poo may leave you thinking that this is just another pretentious melodrama about a tortured soul in a cruel world yadda yadda yadda.

But if there’s one thing that Hunger is not, it’s up itself. While it does contain what some would deem hallmarks of quasi-fantastical pretension, it doesn’t ever stray into the unreal. The prison is grotty, grim and grey throughout, and you get the sense that there isn’t much dialogue because the inmates simply have nothing much to say. They are united by their common goals, are set upon their strikes, and thus can communicate without speech.

The silence is deafening at times, and the sound effects (of which I am a bit of a fan) are beautifully rendered – the scraping of a hard-bristled broom on the hallway floors lingers in the mind. McQueen also intersperses these silent montages with real life radio clips from Thatcher’s speeches to the House of Commons, which ensures that the film remains grounded in reality instead of teetering into overly stylised phantasmagoria.

McQueen has worked wonders on page and screen here, but perhaps his masterstroke was the casting of Michael Fassbender as the starving protagonist Sands. During the aforementioned discussion with Father Moran, the German-born actor not only delivers a pitch-perfect Belfast twang, but also exudes a physical and mental toughness which makes the man himself seem as unshakeable as his beliefs.

Gerry (left) and Davey contemplate their cell, literally surrounded by crap.

Just half an hour later we see a skeletal Sands lying on his prison hospital bed, a shadow of himself, dreaming of his youth as his adult life begins to ebb away. Fassbender not only clearly lost scary amounts of weight for these sequences, but also displays the unerring tenacity of Sands: trying to haul himself out of the bath despite not having eaten in months, and stoically refusing any and all food placed before him.

Fassbender’s tremendous turn aside, this is still a very good film full of melancholia, idealism and artistic potency in equal measure. It does suffer from occasionally slowing down a little bit too much, and some scenes could do with a small trim, but overall, Hunger is a wonderful picture. McQueen has not only called attention to Fassbender’s talents as an actor, but also his own as writer/director, and Steve McQueen is not a name that we should be (or most likely will be) forgetting anytime soon.

9/10 – A deeply troubling portrayal of a nation in a time in crisis, told through the frontline protesters who chose to risk their lives in the name of republicanism, anchored by the fantastic Fassbender and the mercurial McQueen. An incredibly bleak, but significant and poignant movie.

It’s been very quiet on this blog of late, I guess because I’ve been finishing coursework and whatnot, and because I’ve just had a bit of a block in terms of having anything to say. However, the opportunity arose last night, when I wrote a couple of reviews for Clash that were too late to be included in the magazine (the deadline was last Friday), so I thought I’d post them; not because the bands I reviewed are any good, but because they are spectacularly bad, so you might get some small amusement from reading someone slating them:

Sgt. Wolfbanger – Think Inside the Box.

S.A.C Records.

The quality of Sgt. Wolfbanger’s debut album is, sadly, easy to predict without a single listen; they’ve supported McFly. They have a song called “Ctrl Alt Retreat”. If you were to buy their album, you’d find the lyrics for this song printed inside, which include the rhyming dictionary fest, “now pull me from the mire, my eyes are pits of fire, never will I aspire, you’ve nothing to admire, not the type to inspire…” (it goes on like that, but I won’t bore you further). Whether or not these points put you off, there’s probably little purpose in reading the rest of this review; it’s a foregone conclusion. If this description sounds appealing to you so far, chances are you aren’t going to listen to reason. However, suffice to say, the music is the type of dull, uninspired and idiotic pop punk that you’d expect.

0.5/10 (for bravery).

Three tracks: If you want a laugh, listen to Take Me Away, which includes the line “when he buys you a drink, I hope you choke on it”.

Dig this? Dig Deeper: McFly, Busted, Noise Next Door.

Hadouken! – For the Masses.

Surface Noise Recordings.

In the press release for this album, Hadouken’s lead singer James Smith name checked the Prodigy, admitting that he feels Hadouken! are due some chart success as they are “cut from the same cloth.” Immediately, listening to this album, alarm bells began to ring in my head; it seemed like Hadouken! aren’t similar to the Prodigy; rather, they are actually trying to be the Prodigy, in the most cynical, shallow and brainless way possible; remember the part in Peep Show, where we hear the song Jeremy has been working on (“This is outrageous! This is contagious!”)? Well that’s kind of what this album sounds like, except that along with the dumb chanting about drumming drums and cracking craniums, shouted over the generic dance music, James Smith also seems to be aping Dizzee Rascal’s vocal style, to give the album the best chance of popular acceptance.

1/10.

Three tracks: It doesn’t matter, they all sound the same.

Dig this? Dig Deeper: The Prodigy?

As well as ripping into horribly unconsidered music, last night I watched Hunger, which was excellent, if not particularly Christmassy. It was very quiet and reflective, and the parts that were noisy seemed absolutely deafening, in sharp contrast to the silence of the rest of the film.

The quote from Thatcher at the beginning of the trailer is particularly interesting; I find it hard to believe people swallowed her bullshit so easily. Obviously I’m not advocating the bombings in London and elsewhere by the IRA, but how can she justify the Falklands War if she thinks there is no such violence as political violence, only criminal?

Anyways, check that fillum if you get the chance.

The Towering Inferno is a 1974 disaster film produced by Irwin Allen featuring an all-star cast led by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. The film was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson, and was directed by John Guillermin, with Allen himself directing the action sequences.

Trivia:

• Many bit players from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) also appear in this film
• Based on two novels: “The Tower” by Richard Martin Stern, and “The Glass Inferno” by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. After the success of The Poseidon Adventure (1972), disaster was hot property and Warner Brothers bought the rights to film “The Tower” for $390,000. Eight weeks later Irwin Allen (of 20th Century Fox) discovered “The Glass Inferno” and bought the rights for $400,000. To avoid two similar films competing at the box office the two studios joined forces and pooled their resources, each paying half the production costs. In return, 20th Century Fox got the US box office receipts and Warners the receipts from the rest of the world.
• Scriptwriter Stirling Silliphant combined the two novels to create one screenplay. The combined three words that make up the titles of the two novels were combined to give the name of the film, and the name of the building that is on fire (The Glass Tower).
• Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant took seven main figures from each novel and incorporated them into the screenplay, as well as the major climax of each novel: the lifeline rescue to an adjacent rooftop from “The Tower”, and the exploding water tanks from “The Glass Inferno”.
• At Steve McQueen’s insistence, he and co-star Paul Newman had to have exactly the same number of lines of dialogue in the script
• Irwin Allen originally wanted Steve McQueen to play the part of building architect Doug Roberts. McQueen however, fought for and got the role of fire chief O’Halloran. The role of Doug Roberts went to Paul Newman.
• Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were both paid the same: $1 million and 7.5% of box office each.
• Paul Newman’s and Steve McQueen’s names are staggered in the opening credits, closing credits, and on the posters so that, depending on which way you read it (top to bottom or left to right), both appear to get top billing. This is known as “diagonal billing”, This strategy was being worked on when Newman and McQueen almost co-starred together in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), but McQueen eventually dropped out of the project and was replaced by the lesser known Robert Redford.
• Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway left strict instructions that they should not be approached by visitors to the set. McQueen also refused to give any interviews. Paul Newman asked only that he not be “surprised”.
• This film marked the first ever joint production by two big-name movie companies; Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox.
• Principal photography was completed on Sept. 11th 1974.
• An instrumental version of the song “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure (1972) can be heard in the background in certain scenes.
• Desperate to capture a truly surprised reaction from the cast, Irwin Allen actually fired a handgun into the ceiling without warning the actors, who were understandably “surprised”. The trick worked and he got his shot.
• In an interview given years after the film was released, writer Stirling Silliphant said that he always sat under a sprinkler system head when visiting a building. He said he did that because he learned it from a fireman he interviewed while researching this project.
• Both novels were inspired by the construction of the World Trade Center in the early-1970s, and what could happen in fire in a skyscraper. In Richard Martin Stern’s novel, “The Tower”, the fictional 140-floor building was set next to the north tower of the World Trade Center. The climax of the novel was centered around a rescue mounted from the north tower of the World Trade Center.
• The role of Lisolette Mueller (as played by Jennifer Jones) was originally offered to Olivia de Havilland.
• Jennifer Jones’s final film to date (2008).
• Steve McQueen did most of his stunts for the film, including having 7,000 gallons of water dumped on him in the climactic final attempt to put out the fire.
• During filming an actual fire broke out on one of the sets and Steve McQueen found himself briefly helping real firemen put it out. One of the firemen, not recognizing McQueen, said to the actor, “My wife is not going to believe this.” To this McQueen replied, “Neither is mine.”
• The fancy “blinkenlights” computer which runs the Glass Tower is, in fact, composed of parts leftover from an obsolete Air Force system which, in the 1960s and ’70s, protected the US from Soviet bomber attack. The computer was named AN/FSQ-7, and about a dozen of them were installed around the US. Based on vacuum tube technology, the ‘Q-7 in action took up the whole first floor of a “bomb-proof” concrete blockhouse, and generated as much raw heat as five single-family houses. The whole system became obsolete when missiles replaced manned bombers as the main threat. In the film, only the main control and maintenance consoles are used. As an ironic afterthought, the only reliable source today of vacuum tubes is the former Soviet Union.
• Paul Newman did most of his own stunts, including climbing up and down the bent stairwell railing.
• Of the 57 sets built for the production, only eight remained standing when filming ended.
• The building used in the film was a series of miniatures and matte paintings. Only sections of the building were actually constructed for the actors and stunt people to perform their scenes. Exterior shots of the building were of San Francisco’s Hyatt Rejency with an additional 50 stories of matte paintings added.
• In the original script the role of the fire chief (known at the time as Mario Infantino) was considerably smaller. According to director John Guillermin, the role was offered to Ernest Borgnine with Steve McQueen playing the architect. McQueen later said, “If somebody of my caliber can play the architect, I’ll play the fire chief,” and Paul Newman was brought onto the project as the architect.
• According to Esther Williams in her memoirs, she was personally contacted by Irwin Allen and offered roles in both this film and The Poseidon Adventure (1972), but declined both.
• Irwin Allen directed all the action sequences in the film, including the climactic final explosions to put the fire out.
• The HH-1N helicopters are in the original paint scheme used by NAS Lemoore’s Search and Rescue Flight. Later on, they were painted Red and White. Up until the unit’s disbandment in 2004, the Flight was still pointing out it was their helicopters used in the movie.
• For years, during the 80’s and 90’s, this is the movie Swedish TV used to show on New Years Eve, just after midnight.
• The scenic elevator is actually one of two in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco. This elevator was used in numerous movies including Time After Time (1979).
• At first Irwin Allen did not want to use music at the first 5 minutes of the Helicopter Sequence. John Williams told Allen that he could come up with 5 minutes of music for the beginning. When Allen heard it, he agreed with Williams.
• The large sculpture that is part of the bar design in the Promenade Room was originally used in the Harmonia Gardens set in Hello, Dolly! (1969).
• The First Interstate Tower in downtown Los Angeles was completed the same year this film was released (1974). 14 years later, in May of 1988, the FI Tower experienced a real-life fire which burned out 4 1/2 floors , ruined many floors above with smoke and floors below with water, and closed the building for almost five months. The fire happened late at night, when only a few dozen people were in the building, and no crowds, traffic or other demands on water hampered firefighters. Only one death occurred, when someone used an over-ride key to force an elevator to the floor where the fire had started, and perished much as was shown happening to elevator riders in the film. The Los Angeles Herald ran side-by-side photos of the actual fire and the fire from The Towering Inferno on its front page the following day. The story of the real fire was told in the TV film Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor (1991) (TV).
• The upper 15 floors of The Glass Tower was built as a facade in the dirt parking lot of the 20th Century Fox Ranch in Malibu, California, including drapes for all the windows and an explosion hole at the outside elevator track. It remained standing in the same location for many years, even after the state of California bought the land and opened the ranch to the public.
• Natalie Wood turned down a leading role, citing the script as “mediocre”

When I was at primary school, some nuns came to visit one day and showed us the film this week’s classic scene comes from. True story. It was on a proper projector and everything, none of this new-fangled VCR or DVD nonsense.

The film is 1972’s What’s Up, Doc?, a screwball comedy produced, co-written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Conceived as an homage of sorts to classic American comedies from the 1930s, the film plays kind of like a cross between a Harold Lloyd film , a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon and the 1930 film Bringing Up Baby, its most obvious direct inspiration.

It stars Barbra Streisand, Ryan O’Neal and Madeleine Kahn as just three of the people caught up in a farcical, slapstick plot revolving around four identical tartan suitcases that get mixed up and the attempts by various individuals to either steal one or reclaim their own.

The big finale of the film is a brilliant car chase that takes place in the streets of San Francisco and which was designed as an elaborate spoof of the Steve McQueen car chase in Bullitt - but which is pretty impressive in its own right.

Enjoy!

Probably a little obvious to state, but then again cliches are such for a reason. With the re-emergence of brands like The Real McCoy’s,(they have a whole range including toys dedicated to Steve) and all things Retro Americana…….. You could be forgiven for thinking putting Steve in guru hall of fame is like putting a Tarrantino poster up in your student flat………… Naff ! (or for my older readers………. Betty Blue)

Well, I dont care and spurred on by my recent discovery of these images on lagaleriedelinstant.com, I’ve decided he makes number 2 on the list. He had it all the swagger, the charm and towards the end a hermit like outlook/attire which seems to be the inspiration behind many a bearded folk like wardrobe vibe…

And from François Gragnon………

Jean-Michel Basquiat, the subject of a new documentary by Tamra Davis. Julio Donoso/Corbis

Afrofuturists, art lovers and music devotees are all breathing a collective hell yeah! with last week’s announcements that flicks chronicling the lives of afrobeat legend Fela Kuti and radiant child painter Jean Michel Basquiat will be hitting the big screens in the future.

Linda Yablonsky over at the New York Times blog gives a first look at “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child an emotional“, walk down memory lane thumbs up, calling the flick a “shattering emotional experience.” Based on an extended interview director Tamra Davis conducted with Basquiat in 1998 the doc contains some of the last remaining footage of the troubled genius art star and is accompanied by interviews with several of the art world names and folks who were closest to him.

The premier was part of Miami’s Art Basel and included a Q&A with people close to the painter including Davis, Fab 5 Freddy and Jeffrey Deitch. In her piece Yablonsky recounts a statement by Far 5 that addresses something I always thought was interesting-the relationship between Basquiat and Julian Schnabel, his art world rival and director of the 1998, which I by the way, I thought was pretty brilliant.

“Julian making a film about Jean-Michel is like George Foreman making a film about Muhammad Ali”

By most accounts, the Davis peice is the most accurate depiction of the man to date and should hit studios around the middle of next year, after it premiers at Sundance in January.

And I’m curious to see how accurate of a depiction Steve McQueen pulls off with his just announced Fela Kuti film project. I’m a fan of McQueen’s video work and dude’s been kicking art world ass since winning the Turner back in ‘99, but his films usually take a more thoughtful, meditative look at their subjects.  He scored a big bag o’ kudos for his 1st feature earlier this year, the documentary Hunger, which follows the last days of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. It’ll be interesting to see how his minimalist style plays against Fela’s larger than life afrosurreal aura.

McQueen and co. won’t get to cranking until well into 2010, but the announcement continues a growing resurgence in The Black President’s popularity that started with 2003’s Fela Project traveling multimedia exhibit. There’s also Fela! the Broadway musical created by choreographer Bill T. Jones and afrobeat band Antibalas and earlier this year the Knitting Factory announced that they plan to re-release his musical catalog.

Of all the movies I’ve missed off this list through my own stupidity, the one I’m most annoyed about forgetting is Jonathan Glazer’s controversial Birth, also known as That Film Where Nicole Kidman Does The Creepy Bathtub Thing With A Kid. It’s one of those movies that generated a firestorm of controversy when it came out but also didn’t seem to appeal to anyone.

It came and went with just a lot of burbling complaint, and while Nicole Kidman’s career wasn’t harmed by it, it did make Jonathan Glazer vanish from sight, electing to return to his previous job directing videos and commercials. What’s most annoying about that controversy is that that scene is far less effective than the incredible scene where Kidman’s character has to process the possibility that the man she loved and has been grieving over for ten years may have been reborn. The camera captures her confusion, pain, and hope in a long close-up: along with the opening scene of Inglourious Basterds and the lengthy conversation in the middle of Steve McQueen’s superb Hunger, it’s one of the great long takes of the last ten years.

Of course the movie doomed itself by having a fascinating  central premise (what would you do if a person you loved had died and come back as someone else?) and a mystery at its core that was not really the final focus of the movie. Glazer and his co-writers Jean-Claude Carrière and Milo Addica are more interested in depicting the ways in which grief can destroy a mind and hope can make a person do crazy things, much as The Constant Gardener also does. I really like that movie, but Birth is even better. Glazer filmed it as if it were a modern-day fairy tale, but one in which the evil prince “wins”  in the end, and alongside the bravura close-up he creates some other memorable scenes including a meltdown from Danny Huston at a recital, a final shot of Kidman pretty much losing her grip on reality, and a stunningly beautiful opening in Central Park, all to the sound of Alexandre Desplat’s stunning score.

It’s one of the five best soundtracks of the decade. Speaking of movies set in New York and featuring creepy children intent on wrecking a family, praise is due George Ratliff’s beautifully judged thriller Joshua. Eschewing most dreary Bad Seed shock tactics (such as those employed by the moronic Orphan from earlier this year), Joshua shows how one smart, creepy kid can destroy lives just by playing upon people’s expectations of what children are like. Hott Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga are fantastic as the tortured parents whose lives are ruined by the son that has grown to hate them, and the whole thing burrows under your skin in a pleasantly unpleasant way. If I were to do this over again, it would definitely feature lower down in the list, but Birth would be in the top forty at least. Damn, I really loved that movie.

Here is the next fifteen entries on my best of list, though as you can see it’s become rather unfinished what with all the late entries. As before, there are no movies from 2009, etc.

60. Gomorrah

Matteo Garrone’s fractured narrative shows how crime affects all strata of life in Naples and Caserta, corrupting the inhabitants, robbing them of their autonomy, and even poisoning the ground they live on. As Girrone’s movie progresses, all hope of escape from the black cloud dwindles. A sobering experience, and an essential one.

59. City of God

As with Garrone’s crime epic, this shows how anarchic criminality can destroy every life it touches. While the Italian movie was paced with considered calm, Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund’s movie is a blur of energy unmatched by any other movie since Goodfellas. What could have been mere poverty-porn becomes profound, thrilling, and inspirational.

58. Primer

As with Mulholland Drive, this one left me behind. Shane Carruth’s time-travel movie has arguably the most labyrinthine plot in film history. On first viewing it challenges you for an hour before leaping off the deep end. Only after multiple viewings and consultations with complex flowcharts does it begin to make sense. The ultimate puzzle movie, and the equivalent of real intellectual benchpressing.

57. Inside Man

The heist movie to end all heist movies. Spike Lee creates a modern day Taking of Pelham 123, perfectly capturing the grouchy solidarity of New York with numerous entertaining asides and performances, all while leisurely touching on Lee’s trademark concerns about racial tension within that fractious melting-pot. A rare feel-good crime drama, and all the better for its genial air.

56. The Mist

Saved from obscurity by the enthusiasm of horror nerds across America, Frank Darabont’s timely horror classic works as a ghoulish B-Movie homage and disturbing time-lapse exploration of how ignorance and paranoia (embodied as the decade’s best villain, Mrs. Carmody) can tear us apart. Darabont’s previous films show how hope can set us free. Here he shows how despair can only lead to ruin.

55. A History of Violence

David Cronenberg and Josh Olsen took a weak graphic novel and turned it into a dissertation on the true nature of violence, separate from the sanitised movie version of violence, all while retaining the thrills and tension necessary to keep an audience riveted. Possibly the most intellectually satisfying suspense movie since Hitchcock’s prime.

54. Waltz With Bashir

Who would’ve thought that something as simple as Flash could be used to create something as profoundly moving as this? Ari Folman used hallucinogenic visuals to depict his distorted memory of the 1982 Lebanon War, and by proxy the entire country of Israel. The well-judged shift in format in the final five minutes is wrenching.

53. Pineapple Express

For anyone who loved the shaky action movies of the 80s and early 90s, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s pitch-perfect satire/mash note is manna from heaven, but what sends it over the top is James Franco’s performance as stoner Saul. His sincerity, heroism, and constant bewilderment are endlessly endearing.

52. Monsters Inc.

Unfairly treated as the poor cousin to Dreamworks’ Shrek at the time of release, time has proven that Pete Docter’s wildly imaginative adventure was the monster movie with brains and heart. Random remembrance of the final image triggered floods of tears even months after first viewing.

51. Casino Royale

Just when it seemed James Bond was finally ready for the skip, Martin Campbell returned to the franchise in time to save it. Tricksy plot construction, clearly edited action scenes, and excellent performances by the six lead actors add up to the best Bond movie since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and one of the most thrilling action movies of the decade.

50. Serenity

For those of us who love Joss Whedon’s work, this sequel to his cancelled show Firefly was an event not to be missed. Fortunately, it was worth celebrating. Whedon can be proud of his SF Western, achieving the miracle of introducing a large cast to newcomers while satisfying hardcore fans with answers, character arc resolutions, and high drama. It would have been higher if Whedon wasn’t such a beloved-character-killing meanie. ::pouts::

49. Paprika

Satoshi Kon’s dream fantasy offers the most startling visual onslaught in years, as well as one of the most endearing protagonists in modern SF. Even though countless cultural references will be wasted on the average Western viewer, it still offers an unforgettable, dizzying head-trip.

48. Hidden (Caché)

Michael Haneke’s rightly celebrated thriller deals with guilt, persecution, middle-class isolationism, racial politics, and the unthinking consequences of youthful behaviour with an icy intellectualism that nevertheless makes the heart pound. Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche are riveting, as always.

47. Idiocracy

A chaotic mess trapped under a terrible expository voice-over, Mike Judge’s dystopic satire has more than enough bite and uncomfortable humour to justify the compromise necessary to get it made. Possibly the angriest satire in living memory and one that is slowly accruing cultural cachet among nervous anthropologists observing modern society. Plus, I can attest to the fact that repeated viewings unearth a wealth of funny details.

46. Limbo

John Sayles’ meandering thriller starts off as a simple tale of frontier life, and gradually becomes darker, taking twists and turns that you could never see coming. Perhaps it’s the most aptly titled film of the decade, as Sayles expertly manipulates your expectations and offers the greatest, most exasperating and yet most profound open ending in years.

Right, another one done without the help of WordPress’ useless autosave function which got rid of a wodge of words earlier. More to come, hopefully tonight.

Guardian newpaper annoucing this Fela biopic. I enjoyed Hunger so this should be good. This could be seen as good for the Fela’s Wives project as it might not clash and might be a good story. I would also think that if the Fela’s Wives project can happen over the next 18 months then it will get in before any likely film and avoid over-exposure of the man/subject.

By Gert Thaler

SAN DIEGO–As time goes by.

Tick tock.  Tick tock.   Not just minutes, days.  Years.  And more years.

I have recovered nicely from a pneumonia bout which necessitated having full time semi-nursing household support and I was lucky enough to be blessed with a delightful 23 year old who cared for my every whim.  The closeness allowed us to become more than patient/caretaker, employer/employee.  Warm friendship seems a better expression.

We talk.  She cooks. I eat.  Born in New Delhi, India but educated in California, the daughter of a now retired New Delhi Policeman, she has matriculated and almost finished nursing school.  We compare our cultures since I know very little of her people and their beliefs, their foods, their family lifestyle.

In comparison, she has never known a Jewish woman.

So we do not lack for conversation.

I spend a good deal of my recuperating snuggled into a large easy chair with my time divided between reading my favorite author, Daniel Silva, through my Kindle, plus newspapers and magazines and crossing my bedroom to my computer which has just been moved for easier access,  plus a lot of time watching movies.

I have a tendency to favor older movies.  And thus, today’s story.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy and, more importantly, Sidney Poitier, was the featured movie and a film I have watched several times.

My friend was serving me a cold drink as the picture opened and I casually asked her if she had seen the movie lately.

“Lately?” she answered. “I’ve never heard of it.”

“Do you know who those three actors are on the screen?”

“No”.

“No!! Not even one of them?”

I restarted the conversation by explaining that this movie was an ice breaker for the theme of a love affair between a black man and a white woman, the black actor being a star and retaining that status for a long period of years and a man who commands great admiration.

Sitting down to join me she watched in fascination as the story unfolded until its ending.

I asked her what would happen if she should bring home someone other than a man of her own culture and she said it would be unacceptable.  No discussion.

We talked about acceptance in a Jewish home and inter-religious dating and marriage.  A Pandora’s box was opened.

We continued talking about the movie and its theme all of which filled the air with questions about who Hepburn and Tracy were and a review of their past work.

A couple of days later, I was feeling better so my friend Doreen Casuto took me out for a movie and dinner at which her 21 year old son, Simon, joined us.   I asked if he had seen Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and in return I got a blank look.  Only Spencer Tracy was no stranger to him, until I mentioned that Poitier was also the star of the “Mr. Tibbs” movies. He vaguely recalled the character.

I looked in my mirror.  Has so much time gone by that such screen gems are like clouds floating out in space?  Am I and others of my generation the only ones left as fans of the era of Gigi; Stella Dallas;  Mr. Deeds Goes to Town;  Auntie Mame;  and Bus Stop?

Most major stars of those movies have gone to movie star heaven. Maurice Chevalier, Barbara Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, Rosalind Russell, Clark Gable.  Marilyn Monroe, too, except that with continuous publicity today’s youngsters are aware of her image.

There’s some wonderful, well produced and well acted work on our screens today.  But yesterday’s features gave most everybody great pleasure.  I know it will be hard for any 20 something person to believe but when I was 21 years old it cost 35 cents to see a movie, we brought our own candy bars, and popcorn had yet to make an appearance.

Last week’s night out cost $10.50 for a movie.  I don’t eat popcorn but if I had it would have been an additional $4.00 plus more than $2 for a drink.  The refreshment counter line is almost as long as the one at the  box office.

My heart does flip flops when I read of the millions raked in at the box office these days for movies starring total strangers to me.

Maybe that is supposed to be the way things go.

Yesterday’s stars no longer light up the sky and the twinkle is left in the hands of newcomers, so if a 21-year-old asks me if I can name three of today’s hottest box office draws I may very well fail their test.  Will I have missed much?

I doubt it.  Other than Meryl Streep and a couple of others, there will never be another Hepburn, Stanwyck or Russell.  For sure gone are the guys like Tracy, Brando and Cooper.  And those who never got to know them on screen are for sure the losers.

Furthermore, please don’t get me started on Paul Newman or Steve McQueen.

*
Thaler is a longtime columnist of San Diego’s Jewish community.

The King of Cool in his faithful Baracuta G9 Harrington Jacket, naturally

I guess this is really about two casual items – a jacket and a book. Both concern the coolest man ever to have walked the planet, and easily the best dressed – Steve McQueen. There’s the arty Taschen photobook by William Claxton, full of iconic photographs of the effortlessly casual star, and what else would the King of Cool be wearing on the cover? Yep, his trusty Baracuta G9, collar up (never down, sweet  Jesus!) and showing that unmistakable tartan lining.

Modish, simple, no fuss, timeless. You cannot own a better item of clothing than this jacket. It’s not just about casual (although the Stone Island clones should buy this book and see how it should be done), it’s an everyman look.

Now the caveat: don’t buy copies, some are good, some awful, but the original is the best – and those that know will know, it’s that obvious, trust me.

Richard Sites, Jupiter resident & Realtor

When you hear a diagnosis from a Dr. that you have a disease, or ailment, what do you do?

1.  If you think it is not serious, just take your pills and go about your business.  If you hear that you only have bronchitis, would you get a second or third opinion?  Probably not.

2.  If it seems a little serious, what now?  Ask a friend what they think?  More likely you will Google the problem to try and add to your knowledge base.

3.  If it’s really serious, now what?  You would probably get a second opinion, maybe a third.  Even insurance companies know this is prudent and will pay for these 2nd & 3rd opinions.

4.  Keep going to doctors until you find one that says you don’t have a serious problem.  This is what Steve McQueen did.  He went to Mexico and got coffe enemas and his obit says he died in Mexico.  John Lennon did this too.  I once read that he denied that smoking could give him cancer.  Denial is certainly the easiest strategy.  Think how much easier things would have been on the Titanic if they just denied they were taking on water.  Or if Tiger Woods just denied everything.

I believe that in an attempt to get listings, real estate agents take a lightweight approach to the problem of correctly setting the price hoping for an uninformed buyer to stumble on the property and pay more for it than its worth, or take the listing and hope to get the price down.

HOPE IS NOT AN EFFECTIVE SELLING STRATEGY.

Isn’t there an old saying, “Give it to me straight, Doc”.

One of the symtoms of LRS is quoting high listing prices to console sellers.  This is like the doctor telling you that you will be fine, while saying to himself this guy’s gonna be dead in 6 months.  Agents also tell me they put homes in the newspaper because that’s what the sellers want to see.

Back to our Dr. analogy.  So, Doc says you have serious problem.  You say, “What should I do” and he/she replies, “We’ll do whatever you want”.  Don’t you want a professional consultant to tell you the truth??

Lady Gaga is known for her entertainment value and her like of extreme fashion. During MTV’s Music Video Awards the singer changed costumes many times in the evening. One was a translucent red lace dress while she donned a spiky garish crown that would send even Attila the Hun running across the fields of Mongolia in fright.

In her latest music video “Bad Romance”, Gaga struts around in Alexander McQueen’s 12-inch heels featured in his Plato’s Atlantic fashion show in October. Her song was featured during the extravaganza, so of course she would pay homage to the daring fashion designer.

What do you all think of her braving McQueen’s heels? Would you do it?

Ever notice how the default profession for artistic, but not completely cuckoo, characters in the movies is architect? As TCM’s Robert Osborne has observed, “With architects, you have an image of someone above reproach and not damaged, the way lawyers and judges and even doctors have been. There are very, very few professions that still have a ring of heroism about them, and architecture is one of the few that does. If an architect is portrayed going off the deep end, it’s always because he is so committed to what he’s doing that it’s an honorable thing. And it’s one of the last manly professions — you’re building something outdoors.”  The High’s current exhibition, John Portman, Art and Architecture, on view through April 18, has us thinking about the way the practice of architecture is shown on screen.  Here are a few noteworthy films to sample.

Strangers When We Meet

Strangers When We Meet

Made during the era when the Playboy lifestyle defined hip masculinity,  Strangers When We Meet stars Kirk Douglas as Larry, a self-employed architect with a bad case of the My Ways and Kim Novak as Maggie, an affection-starved housewife determined to honor her marriage vows. Larry’s wife thinks he should stick with safe projects sure to pad their bank account; Maggie’s husband is a withholding stick-in-the-mud who makes her feel like a tramp for wanting sex. When Larry spies the platinum-haired goddess disguised as a suburban mom at the school bus stop, he falls hard. Soon he’s inviting Maggie to visit the construction site of a signature house he’s building for a womanizing, best-selling author (Ernie Kovacs), and wooing her in dimly lit cocktail lounges. The film’s sexual politics hint at the feminist revolution to come, as well as the dawning of the Swinging Sixties, while the set design and costumes will delight fans of mid-century Modern style. Not satisfied with constructing a mere set, Columbia Pictures built a house in Bel Air that was renovated in 2003 and stands to this day.

The Black Cat

Apart from its blazing campiness, The Black Cat is worth watching for its stunning Bauhaus-inspired production design (as much a part of the action as the battling protagonists played by Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff). Director Edgar Ulmer, affectionately known as the King of the B’s (as in B movies) sets the action in the fortress-like home of a demonic architect (Karloff, in a role inspired by the Satanist Aleister Crowley), who has built his retreat on the graves of thousands of  Hungarian soldiers whose lives he intentionally sacrificed during World War I. The plot owes nothing to Poe, and the acting is absurdly over the top, but oh those chrome railings and shining expanses of curved white wall!

The Fountainhead

Any mention of architects on the screen has to include The Fountainhead (based on Ayn Rand’s novel), and no one has written about it more deliciously than Pauline Kael. In 5001 Nights at the Movies she rhapsodizes, “Can people who see this picture ever forget the sight of the silvery-blonde columnist Dominique (Patricia Neal) galloping up on her black horse and slashing her riding crop across the face of the tall, mocking stranger who has looked at her impertinently while he was using a pneumatic drill in the quarry? He’s the genius architect Howard Roark (Gary Cooper). . .  King Vidor directed this paean to the individualism of “superior” people, made in a sleek, hollow, Expressionist style that owes a lot to film noir. It’s an extravaganza of romantic, right-wing camp, with the hyper-articulate Roark standing in the wind on top of a phallic skyscraper, and the fierce, passionate Dominque rising in an open elevator to join him there.”

Steve McQueen’s directorial debut is a triumphant first picture that has such sure of itself directing and acting it is a great start to a promising career told through a remarkable tale of political sacrifice.
The film is based on events surrounding the hunger strike of Bobby Sands in protest of Ireland’s ongoing struggles with British government. The film is contained almost entirely to the prison all of these IRA prisoners are being held in and we get a look into their lives of non-conformity as well as a look at the life of a particular guard. In fact Bobby Sands doesn’t show up until half way through the film, but he will captivate you every moment on screen.
While we wait for Sands to show up, the film is just as compelling as we follow the path of a new prisoner who demands he be treated to the terms of “The Five Demands”, an prison guard enforcer who fears for his life every step outside of the prison, the cell life of a pair of inmates as they smuggle contraband, smear their feces along the walls, and live without beds in protest. The film captures the intensity of the prison with such ease and in such interesting ways; the director’s vision is incredible for a rookie director. Some might complain the film lingers too long, but I think the films setting of prison and the long dull hours of life on the inside compliment the film well, and McQueen never leaves a lingering shot without a dull image or something interesting going on. Simple and affective, I can’t wait to see what he does yet and with a budget.
McQueen’s ability to evoke moods and tension through simple mechanisms is equally impressive and he will get your blood going on more than one occasion. McQueen also tells us so much with so little, sometimes even no words at all. Giving us full realizations of a minor character in a brief sequence with little more than the actor’s facial work and an establishing shot here and there, it is remarkable.
McQueen also gets incredible work out of his actors, starting with Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands. From the physical endurance of the role to the expressing the man’s mind through words, Fassbender is remarkable and lets hope between this and Inglourious Basterds that he is on his way to bigger things. Liam Cunningham also deserves notice for going toe to toe with Fassbender in an absolutely amazing display of acting in a single take sequence of dialogue between Sands and a priest (Cunningham). The two seem so natural and speak so eloquently, it is a real marvel to watch, even if it might have carried on a tad to long. Stuart Graham who plays the main guard is also riveting on screen and quite great at creating this dual persona and conveying his feelings of not quite being down with his job with only his face to express it most of the time. The rest of the cast is almost courageous as Fassbender working with some disturbing and intense material and conveying so much with so little dialogue, there is nary a weak link in the group.
In the end, Hunger is one of the finest films to be released in the last year and will not be an experience you forget anytime soon. Based on a disturbing and remarkable true story, Bobby Sands life is engaging even if we only experience the final ones. Hunger has to be one of the finest prison films to ever be release and one of the finest directorial debuts of the decade. This little seen British/Irish gem needs to be seen by a far bigger audience and you should do yourself a favor and seek out this wonderful film about the power of sacrifice and standing up for what you believe in.
Hunger is an A

P.S. This film is currently available (12-1-09) on IFC on demand, check it out for free on your cable box in HD!

In meiner Reihe Acting Legends stelle ich jene Schauspielgrößen vor, die über die Jahre und Jahrzehnte ihres Schaffens zu, wie der Titel schon sagt, Legenden geworden sind. Von Filmfans gefeiert und verehrt, mit Preisen überhäuft und dank ihres einzigartigen Könnens unvergesslich. Im dritten Teil: der legendäre Steve McQueen

Ein Leben auf der Überholspur – eine vielverwendete Floskel, um sich dem Gedanken von Rebellentum, Unangepasstheit, oder auch Unvernunft und Rücksichtslosigkeit irgendwie annähern zu können. Ganz so, als wäre sie für Steve McQueen persönlich erdacht worden, denn dermaßen wortwörtlich bestritt kein zweiter Star Karriere und Privatleben mit durchgetretenem Gaspedal. Gegner auf Rennstrecken überholte er dabei ebenso, wie sämtliche Schauspielkollegen seiner Zeit, wurde unter anderem wegen der Vielzahl an höchstselbst durchgeführten Stunts zu einem der magnetisierendsten und kassenträchtigsten Darsteller der 1960er und 70er Jahre und zum Inbegriff der Coolness. Einer von der bequemen oder gar lammfrommen Sorte war McQueen nie, auf sein Mitwirken hätte dennoch kein Produzent oder Regisseur verzichten wollen, denn das, was der King of Cool auf dem Weg zum Ruhm einforderte, gab er mit voller Hingabe an Projekte und Rollen zurück. Und jede Figur, die es verdiente, konnt sich glücklich schätzen, von Steve McQueen gespielt zu werden.

»It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock.« (Vin, Die glorreichen Sieben)
Terrence Steven McQueen wuchs unter recht unbeständigen und problematischen Familienverhältnissen auf. Sein Vater William, als Stunt Pilot tätig, verließ seine alkoholkranke Frau Julia und den gemeinsamen Sohn, als dieser sechs Monate alt war. 1933 brachte die zur Erziehung ihres Kindes unfähige Julia Steve zu seinen Großeltern, die im Zuge der großen Depression zu seinem Großonkel Claude auf dessen Farm in Slater, Missouri zogen. Von einem Dreirrad, das ihm Claude zum vierten Geburtstag schenkte, sagte McQueen später, dass es sein Interesse am Rennfahren geweckt hätte. Seine Mutter nahm ihn später zu sich und ihrem neuen Ehemann, woraufhin McQueen sich einer Jugendgang anschloss, kleinere Verbrechen beging und schließlich wieder bei seinem Großonkel in Slater landete. Dieses Hin und Her vollzog sich ein weiteres Mal, nachdem McQueen gegen seinen nächsten Stiefvater rebellierte, der sich in Gewalttätigkeiten gegenüber ihm und seiner Mutter erging. Im Alter von vierzehn verließ McQueen Claudes Farm endgültig, schloss sich kurzzeitig einem Zirkus an und wurde in Los Angeles, nach der Rückkehr zu Mutter und Stiefvater, von der Polizei wegen Diebstahls verhaftet, Julia übergeben und von ihrem Ehemann verprügelt. Dieser konnte Julia schließlich übereden, McQueen in ein Heim für schwer erziehbare Jungen einweisen zu lassen. Nach anfänglichen Schwierigkeiten lebte McQueen sich dort gut ein und machte einen deutlichen Reifungsprozess durch. Im Anschluss an den Heimaufenthalt nahm er verschiedenste Jobs an und ging 1947 zum United States Marine Corps. Dort rettete er unter anderem fünf anderen Marines bei einem Einsatz in der Antarktis das Leben und wurde 1950 ehrenhaft entlassen.

»That’s what makes it rough – when they love you.« (Rocky Papasano, Verliebt in einen Fremden)
Zur Schauspielerei kam Steve McQueen 1952. Er studierte in New York am Sanford Meisner’s Neighborhood Playhouse und verdiente sich Geld mit Motorradrennen. Nach einigen Theaterauftritten, seinem Broadway-Debüt A Hatful of Rain (1955) und Komparsenrollen beim Film und Fernsehen erhielt er 1956 eine Rolle in Robert Wise‘ Somebody Up There Likes Me mit Paul Newman. Seine diversen Fernsehauftritte, besonders in The Defender (1957), machten den Manager Hilly Elkins auf McQueen aufmerksam und er wurde für Never Love a Stranger, den Grusel-Klassiker The Blob (beide 1958) und The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959) engagiert. Gesteigerte Aufmerksamkeit brachte ihm der TV-Pilot Trackdown (1958) und die daraus resultierende WildWest-Serie Wanted: Dead or Alive (’58 – ’61). Um seinen Ausstieg aus der Serie zu erzwingen, damit er für John Sturges‘ Western-Meisterwerk Die glorreichen Sieben (1960) vor die Kamera treten konnte, verursachte McQueen mit seiner ersten Ehefrau Neile Adams auf dem Beifahrersitz einen Unfall. Trotz des Streits mit Hauptdarsteller Yul Brynner ob seiner Geltungsbedürftigkeit brachte Die glorreichen Sieben für McQueen den Durchbruch, wobei er neben Brynner auch mit dem deutschen Co-Star Horst Buchholz aneckte, dem er dessen Rolle neidete. Nur zwei von vielen Beispielen, bei denen die Zusammenarbeit mit McQueen als bestenfalls schwierig bezeichnet wurde.

»Yeah, okay… wow.« (Jake Holman, Kanonenboot am Yangtse-Kiang)
Den ihm, besonders seiner eigenen Meinung nach, zustehenden Karrieresprung hatte Steve McQueen hingelegt und auch wenn ihm einige große Rollen aus unterschiedlichen Gründen durch die Lappen gingen (etwa in dem Rat Pack-Gegauner Ocean’s Eleven, 1960; oder Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1961), landete er mit dem hochkarätigen The Great Escape (1963) seinen nächsten Hit. Für seine Zusage machte er eine ausgedehnte Motorradjagd samt spektakulärem Sprung über eine Absperrung zur Bedingung, wobei er den Großteil der wilden Fahrt selbst bestritt. Spätestens jetzt war das Adjektiv „cool“ gleichzusetzen mit dem Namen McQueen. Mit der romantischen und fünffach Oscar-nominierten Dramödie Love with the Proper Stranger (1963) erweiterte er sein Spektrum und glänzte in einer sensibleren Rolle ebenso, wie zuvor als draufgängerischer Outlaw und Actionheld. Anschließend war er im Spieler-Drama The Cincinnatti Kid, dem Selbstjustiz-Western Nevada Smith und dem Kriegsdrama Kanonenboot am Yangtse-Kiang (alle 1966) zu sehen, für letzteren erhielt er (nach Love with the Proper Stranger) die zweite GoldenGlobe- und erste und einzige Oscar-Nominierung.

»Look, you work your side of the street, and I’ll work mine.« (Frank Bullitt, Bullitt)
Neben seiner unübertrefflichen Coolness und Leinwandpräsenz war Steve McQueen nicht die Art von Schauspieler, dem eine grenzenlose mimische und emotionale Vielfältigkeit zur Verfügung steht. McQueen ging vielmehr mit oft minimalistischer, aber nicht minder nachhaltiger Präzision zu Werke, woraus sich jene Mischung aus Gelassenheit und Konzentration ergibt, für die seine beiden nächsten Filme beispielhaft sind. Das Heist-Movie Thomas Crown ist nicht zu fassen und der Großstadt-Krimi Bullitt (beide 1968) zählen nicht nur cineastisch und darstellerisch zu McQueens Höhepunkten, mit seinem Status als Leading Man setzte er zudem Modetrends, ob als eleganter Gauner Thomas Crown, oder den Rollkragepulli in Kombination mit Sakko reaktivierender Cop Frank Bullitt. Accessoires wie Sonnenbrillen und der 1968er Ford Mustang, den McQueen in Bullitt in einer der besten Verfolgungsjagden der Filmgeschichte durch San Fransisco preschen lässt, wurden zu Verkaufsschlagern. Nach seiner wiederum mit einer GoldenGlobe-Nominierung bedachten Performance in der Romanverfilmung Der Gauner (1969), zollte McQueen seiner Rennsportleidenschaft mit Le Mans (1970) Tribut. Nachdem in den 1960ern ein gemeinsames Formel 1-Projekt mit Regisseur John Sturges gescheitert war, geht es im Film, basierend auf einer Idee McQueens, um das traditionsreiche 24-Stunden-Rennen von Le Mans, an dem er selbst gern teilgenommen hätte, was ihm jedoch nicht gestattet wurde. Beim 12-Stunden-Rennen von Sebring hingegen gewann McQueen gemeinsam mit seinem Teamkollegen Peter Revson in der 3-Liter-Klasse.

»Somestimes you have to say goodbye to the things you know and hello to the things you don’t.« (Boon Hogganbeck, Der Gauner)
Nach Sam Peckinpahs Western-Drama Junior Bonner (1972) ließen sich Neile Adams und McQueen scheiden, doch schon ein Jahr später ehelichte McQueen die Schauspielerin Ali MacGraw, mit der er gemeinsam im Action-Road Movie The Gataway (1972), ebenfalls inszeniert von Peckinpah, zu sehen war. Eine seiner besten Leistungen zeigte er an der Seite von Dustin Hoffman im autobiographischen Gefängnisdrama Papillon (1973), im boomenden Genre des Katastrophen-Thrillers landete er mit Flammendes Inferno (1974) einen weltweiten Hit. McQueen war in dieser Zeit zum bestbezahlten Schauspieler Hollywoods aufgestiegen – und zog sich einige Jahre fast völlig zurück. 1976 hatte er einen kleinen Gastauftritt in Lee Frosts Dixie Dynamite, ehe er ’78 in der Adaption eines norwegischen Theaterstücks, An Enemy of the People, mit Vollbart in ungewohnter Rolle auftrat. Der Scheidung von MacGraw folgten McQueens letzte beiden Filme, der Spätwestern Tom Horn und der Thriller The Hunter (beide 1980), während dessen Dreharbeiten ein Mesotheliom diagnostiziert wurde. Eine Form von Krebs, die Jahrzehnte nach wiederholtem Einatmen von Asbeststaubpartikeln auftritt, in McQueens Fall auf seine Zeit bei der Marine zurückzuführen.

»Hey you basterds, I’m still here.« (Henri Charrière, Papillon)
Im November 1980 in Mexico, zehn Monate nach seiner dritten Hochzeit mit dem Model Barbara Minty, starb Steve McQueen nach einer Operation an einem Herzinfarkt. Als einen der prägendsten und besten Schauspieler seiner Zeit hat man ihn bis heute nicht vergessen. Abgesehen vom unumstößlichen Erbe, das McQueen mit seinen Filmen hinterlassen hat, wird noch immer mit seinem Stil geworden, so etwa in einem 1997er Spot der Firma Ford, der einige Szenen aus Bullitt mit solchen eines neuen Fahrzeugmodelles kombinierte, wodurch der Eindruck entstand, McQueen führe dieses. Doch besonders sind es die tiefen, melancholischen Blicke, die mal bedachten, mal rastlosen Bewegungen McQueens, seine Risikobereitschaft, sein raubeiniger Charme und seine Unangepasstheit, die einem im Gedächtnis bleiben und mit deren Einsatz er zu einem jener ganz seltenen Schauspielern wurde, deren Anwesenheit allein einen Film bereits erlebenswert macht.
Mit Filmen und Leben auf der Überholspur, Ladys and Gentleman, Mr. Steve McQueen…

Bullitt; Freigegeben ab 16; US-Kinostart: 17.10.1968; dt. Kinostart: 3.01.1969; >hier gehts zum Trailer

Wenn der Hauptdarsteller eines Action-Thrillers sich über die volle Laufzeit mit zwei- und drei- und einigen fünf-Wort-Sätzen begnügt, legt der entsprechende Film entweder gesteigerten Wert auf den Actionanteil und opfert den gepflegten Dialog dem puren Krawall, was den eher physisch gelagerten Fähigkeiten des Akteurs in den meisten Fällen auch entgegen kommt. Oder aber es handelt sich um einen Darsteller, der seine Rolle mit genügend Schauspiel auszustatten weiß, einen, der weit genug imstande ist Mimik und Gestik einzusetzen, um auf große Reden verzichten zu können. Bullitt, dessen Schwerpunkt nun wirklich nicht im Bereich Action liegt, hat da mit dem King of Cool Steve McQueen genau den richtigen Star der letztgenannten Kategorie zu bieten.

Lieutenant Frank Bullitt arbeitet beim San Francisco Police Department und erhält von dem schmierigen Staatsanwalt Walter Chalmers den Auftrag, den Kronzeugen Johnny Ross ein Wochenende lang vor Übergriffen eines Mafiasyndikats aus Chicago zu schützen. Chalmers hofft durch Ross‘ Aussagen auf eine Beförderung. Doch bereits in der ersten Nacht gelingt es Attentätern, den wichtigen Zeugen und einen Kollegen Bullitts so schwer zu verwunden, dass Ross einige Stunden später im Krankenhaus stirbt. Um den Fall aufklären und die Mörder überführen zu können, hält Bullitt Ross‘ Tod geheim und macht sich auf die Jagd. Doch Chalmers, dem nur seine Karriere wichtig ist, sitzt dem Polizisten und seinen Vorgesetzten im Nacken…

Die Story von Bullitt ist keine, die um unnötig viele Ecken erzählt wird, sie wird schnell und einfach mit knappen Sätzen eingeleitet und geht so geradlinig vorwärts, dass Regisseur Peter Yates nur ein paar Knicke aufzufalten braucht, um das Gesamtbild zu präsenti ren. Diese straightness unterstützt gekonnt die Stärken des Films, die sich am deutlichsten im als oberste Maxime der Produktion ausgegebenen Realismus finden und im unterkühlt-einnehmenden Spiel Steve McQueens. Nach den vom Meister der Filmvorspänne Pablo Ferro gestalteten Opening Credits trifft man zunächst auf Johnny Ross und beobachtet ihn bei einigen Erledigungen, bevor mit seinem ersten Auftritt die Figur des Frank Bullitt klar ins Zentrum gerückt wird. Bullitt bleibt im Laufe der Handlung der einzige, wenigstens im Ansatz über ein vorgegbenes Schema hinaus beleuchtete Charakter, jeder andere stellt genaugenommen nur in verschiedener Form Hilfe, Hindernis oder Randerscheinung auf dem Weg zur Lösung des Falls dar. McQueens schweigsamer, von seiner Pflicht beseelter Cop genügt als Gerüst des Films jedoch voll und ganz und erreicht gerade durch den Konflikt, beziehungsweise die Auseinandersetzung und das Zusammenwirken mit den weiteren, sehr ihrem Zweck zugeordneten Personen den nötigen Grad an Glaubwürdigkeit. Bullitt erkennt die Welt, in der er sich bewegt und hat gelernt, ihr durch seine Zielstrebigkeit und Konzentration auf Augenhöhe zu begegnen, und so sehr er selbst auf eine wesentliche Eigenschaft beschränkt agiert, nämlich Integrität, ordnet er auch jeden anderen dem Merkmal zu, das für ihn entscheidend scheint.

Bullitt wird somit aus sehr subjektiver Sicht geschildert und der charismatische McQueen macht es einem nicht schwer, diesem Ansatz zu folgen. Nach erhaltenem Auftrag darf der Cop zunächst auch Privatmensch sein, verbringt den Abend mit seiner Freundin und wird nicht nur auf den toughest guy in town und ständige Ermittlungsarbeit reduziert, kann aber dennoch nicht einmal in den Armen der bezaubernden Jacqueline Bisset vom Beruf Abstand nehmen. Der Film gipfelt in einen ersten dramatischen Höhepunkt, als Kronzeuge Ross und Bullitts Partner Stanton in einem Hotelzimmer über den Haufen geschossen werden und die Cops vor einem Rätsel stehen, denn Ross selbst hat den Mördern die Tür geöffnet. Die einzelnen Sequenzen in Bullitt sind teils sehr ausgedehnt, nichts wird mal eben im Vorbeigehen abgehandelt und Yates führt seinen Helden mit Bedacht voran, wodurch besonders der längere Abschnitt im Krankenhaus, als Ross‘ Leben und damit Bullitts Fall auf der Kippe stehen, an Intensität gewinnt. McQueens meist auf leiseste Regungen heruntergefahrene Mimik portraitiert dabei ein ums andere Mal die angespannte Situation, ohne dass er seine kontrollierte Ruhe durchbricht.

Die scheinbar untrügliche Sicherheit McQueens bringt den Film auch ohne wilde Schießereien, Schlägereien und Explosionen immer wieder entscheidend voran, zudem sind die Hinweise über die wahren Hintergründe extrem clever eingestreut und geben dem Geschehen in den richtigen Abständen den Impuls in eine neue Richtung. Bullitt ist weder reißerisch, noch gehetzt inszeniert, viele kleine Nebenschauplätze bekommen ihren Platz; ohne im ersten Moment von größerer Bedeutung zu sein leistet doch alles seinen Beitrag zur Authentizität, füllt den Film mit einer unaufgeregten Echtheit, die ständiges herumtricksen zum Aufbau von Spannung unnötig macht. Die Spannung ist auf natürliche Weise einfach da und man folgt Bullitts Schritten interessiert und erwartungsvoll. Ganz ohne Action soll es dann aber doch nicht von statten gehen und so beherbergt Bullitt eine über zehnminütige Verfolgungsjagd zwischen einem 1968er Ford Mustang Fastback und einem Dodge Charger R/T, zunächst durch die verwinkelten Straßen San Franciscos, später über eine Landstraße. Länge und Umsetzung dieser Szene markierten nicht weniger als Filmgeschichte, denn die rasanten Manöver und brillianten Perspektivwechsel sorgen auch ohne ausufernde Crashorgien und übertriebene Stunts für ordentlich Adrenalinausschüttung, bei den Fahrern wie beim Zuschauer.

Nicht nur während der Verfolgungsjagd ist das Zusammenspiel von Kamera und Schnitt exzellent gelungen und macht sich als weiterer großer Vorzug von Bullitt verdingt. Kameramann William A. Fraker und Editor Frank P. Keller sorgen für stimmige, oftmals regelrecht mitreißende Perspektiven, etwa wenn über den Lauf einer Pistole hinweg auf Bullitt gezielt wird. Der jazzig-coole Soundtrack Lalo Schifrins ist ebenso großartig, wie sein dosierter und wirkungsvoller Einsatz. Einen immensen und (im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen Mechanismen, die Bullitt einführte) heute kaum noch gebräuchlichen Nutzen zieht Yates zudem aus der ausschließlichen Arbeit an Originalschauplätzen und mit echtem Personal. Ärzte und Krankenschwestern sind (abgesehen von Georg Stanford Brown als Dr. Willard) tatsächlich Ärzte und Krankenschwestern in einem echten Krankenhaus, genauso wie die Filmcrew für eine kurze Szene zwischen McQueen und Bisset in einem Architekturbüro filmte. Im Gesamten erzielt der Film dadurch einen sehr genuinen Effekt, was sich in der nicht unverhältnismäßigen, aber sehr direkten Gewaltdarstellung fortsetzt. Diese wird wiederum durch Bissets Figur in einigen moralischen Zwischentönen hinterfragt, als sie Bullitt angesichts der übel zugerichteten Leiche einer jungen Frau mit seiner Gefühlskälte und Abgebrühtheit konfrontiert. In Bezug darauf ist vor allem die Endszene, nachdem Bullitt zum ersten und einzigen Mal im Film Schüsse abgefeuert hat, von McQueen mit großer Bitterkeit versehen und bietet ein glänzend eingefangenes Schlussbild.

Bullitt ist ein ausgezeichneter Großstadtkrimi mit einem vortrefflich besetzten und gespielten Ermittler. Steve McQueen überzeugt in einer seiner berühmtesten Rollen als aufmerksamer Beobachter und grimig-entschlossener Mann der Tat. Ein wenig fehlt es dem Film zwar an einem ebenbürtigen Gegenspieler, doch der von Robert Vaughn mit selbstsüchtiger Verschlagenheit gespielte Staatsanwalt Chalmers erfüllt diesen Zweck, wenn er auch mehr Bullitts moralische Stabilität, denn sein kriminalistisches Vermögen fordert. Jacqueline Bisset bekommt wenige Szenen, verhilft ihrer Cathy darin aber zu mehr als bloß körperlicher Anwesenheit, als Bullitts loyaler Partner Delgetti gefällt Don Gordon. Die Story treibt in ruhigem Fluss voran, ganz und gar ohne langweilig oder monoton zu werden und die wenigen Action-Höhepunkte verdienen auch deshalb eben diese Bezeichnung. Der unbedingte Grad an Realismus macht Bullitt schließlich als einen der frühesten Vetreter seines Genres gleichzeitig zu einem der besten.




Bullitt in der imdb
Bullitt bei moviepilot
Trailer zu Bullitt bei YouTube

Il film La grande fuga, diretto da  John Sturges è basato sul libro-racconto del pilota australiano  Paul Brickhill, il cui aereo venne abbatuto in Tunisia nel marzo del 1943. Il racconto di Brickhill si incentra sulla detenzione nel campo di concentramento e sul seguente  tentativo di fuga tramite un tunnel scavato sotto il campo.

Il film mette in scena un interessante ritratto degli alleati nel dopoguerra, uniti insieme per battere il nemico comune ma allo stesso tempo profondamente diversi. Inglesi, scozzesi, australiani, americani. Tutti profondamente diversi, ma uniti per una battaglia comune, che in questo caso non è l’esercito nazista ma l’idea di libertà.

Struges è molto abile nel mettere in scena la fuga come aspirazione, un desiderio di libertà più che voglia di scappare.  E la libertà va coltivata, va scavata nel fondo della terra, come i tunnel che i detenuti trivellano nel sottosuolo per scappare dalla deportazione nazista. Il piano va organizzato perfettamente, prevedendo i pericoli, calcolando i rischi, chiedendo qualche sacrificio. E tutti i dettagli devono essere curati, dai documenti, ai vestiti, alla dizione. Struges costruisce il piano di fuga come un piano di lavorazione e le 250 persone che evadono sembrano il cast di un colossal americano. Si crea così un effetto di colossal nel colossal, un gioco di rimando, una reazione a catena.

E il flop o la riuscita del progetto sembrano essere secondari, rimane il gusto di averci provato.

Generale tedesco rivolto al capitano Hilts (Steve McQueen): Alla fine sembra che lei veda Berlino prima di me…

Roger Bartlett “X Uno”, leader dello squadrone ( Richard Attenborough): Si devono chiedere un sacco di cose strane nel mio lavoro…