God, I even wanted to throw that momma from the train!

When struggling mystery writer Owen (Danny DeVito) realizes that he and his teacher, Larry (Billy Crystal), are both slowly going crazy thanks to the women in their lives, he gets a great idea: He’ll kill Larry’s devious ex-wife if Larry offs Owen’s domineering, overbearing mother. Expect classic black comedy after Owen fulfills his end of the bargain — and Larry’s stuck without an alibi!

The film takes inspiration from the Hitchcock classic film Strangers On A Train, where the perfect murder is where 2 complete strangers exchange murder victims.

The film acts like a black comedy, but isn’t all that dark at points. Yeah, it talks about murder and death, which is a dark subject, but many of the other things that happen or joked about aren’t very dark.

With this film you would expect to have been hilarious, when really its only slightly funny. Some jokes seem forced, and some are just too obvious and not very funny after all. It doesn’t have that hilarious satirical look, and feel you would expect from a film of this nature.

Instead, we get a lot of these little whimsical tales, which I thought were the best parts of the film. DeVito does a great job at directing showing himself as this pathetic young kid, who still cannot seem to get any respect from his mama. At times, the film played as it was more cute than it was more dark.

The cast does an OK job as playing their respective parts. Crystal, who I admire, is all around the place screamin, yelling, and just going insane over nothing and doesn’t make any sense in this performance. DeVito does a great job at playing this child-like man who you actually do feel pity for. But the best here is Anne Ramsey who plays Momma. She is so ruthless, and cranky that it is actually where a lot of the comedic element for this film comes from.

Consensus: DeVito’s directorial debut is impressive with some funny moments and OK performances from the cast, but doesn’t have enough humor, and has Crystal acting as a madman for no reason.

5.5/10=Rental!!!

While Boston didn’t get it as bad as the rest of the East Coast, nine inches of snow fell on us from late Saturday night into early Sunday afternoon. This wouldn’t have been enough to dissuade us from jiu-jitsu (grr! we’re tough!), but since Watertown declared a snow emergency, we couldn’t have parked on the street our dojo sits on (we obey the law!).

That sounds like a mis-translated Shaw Brothers movie, actually: Tough Guys Who Obey All Laws. Starring Gordon Liu and Sun Chien; directed by Chang Cheh.

So I stayed inside all day Sunday and watched movies. Including and limited to:

Get Carter: Brutal and compelling, of a style that found frequent imitators through the 70s and 80s but retained little of the source’s art. A young Michael Caine (whom Matt W. told me I resembled once, back when my hair was curlier and my sideburns longer, plus I was carrying a shotgun and slapping around the proprietor of a Newcastle B&B; only now do I get it) plays Jack Carter, a London mob enforcer who goes north to investigate his brother’s death. He sinks waist-deep into a genuine mystery, popping pills and assembling clues until he uncovers the predictable, yet still galling, truth.

What puts Get Carter a head and shoulders above its imitators (including Tarantino) is its art. The cinematography is excellent: from the opening shot of Carter, backlit in an apartment window and staring over London with a drink in his hand, to the crane shot that follows him as he flees pursuers on foot and jumps into a waiting car, to the film’s tense climax. Midway through the film, a local youth group parades down a main street in full mufti. They play some stirring march in a kazoo chorus. The cookie-cutter rowhomes of the street they march on frame a massive factory and burbling smoke stacks at the bottom of a hill. ThinK Pittsburgh without the charm: it’s a beautiful juxtaposition.

Jack Carter is a psychopath. He lets the people who help him get beat up, robbed or even killed without much in the way of tears. He holds nothing sacred except family. And even that, we feel, is not out of some duty to the hearth but as a way of redeeming his past. “Frank wasn’t like that,” he yells at one point, shaking his listener by the shoulder. “I’m the villain in the family, remember?” Carter wants proof that the sadism he engages in is a choice, not in his blood. The fear that his family – his brother Frank and Frank’s daughter Doreen – might have fallen as far terrifies him. And like a terrified dog, he bites and never lets go.

Strangers on a Train: One of Hitchcock’s sharpest. Two men meet on a train ride from New York to D.C.: a handsome young tennis player, Guy Haines, and a rich, idle bachelor, Bruno Anthony. The two get to talking – Haines reluctantly – until it comes out that Guy wants to divorce his unfaithful wife, while Bruno chafes under his father’s thumb. Bruno suggests that two people who’d met by accident – like he and Guy – could swap murders and solve each other’s problems. Guy patronizingly agrees in order to get away from Bruno. But when he arrives in D.C. a day later, he discovers that his wife has been murdered …

All the usual elements are here: a man falsely accused. A woman uncovering a mystery. A maniac with a twisted relationship with his mother. Odd psychological contrivances. Races against the clock. Climactic battles in odd locales.

Example: In the film’s climax, Guy must win a tennis match as quickly as possible in order to hop a train to Connecticut. While avoiding the police who are tailing him. So he can catch Bruno planting evidence. But at the same time, through Hitchcock’s genius we find ourselves rooting for Bruno as well. We hope that nobody spots him, or that he doesn’t lose the crucial piece of evidence – because that would deflate Hitchcock’s meticulous ending into an anti-climax. Compare this to J.J. Abrams, whose idea of cranking up tension involves making everyone run (q.v. Star Trek, Mission Impossible 3).

Robert Walker as mama’s boy Bruno Anthony is the real gem here. He wavers between harmless eccentricity and casual brutality in a way that Anthony Perkins – to say nothing of Anthony Hopkins – must have mirrored. We find him fascinating in the way that a snake fascinates a rat. Sadly, Strangers on a Train was his last film. In August 1951, he suffered an acute allergic reaction to a dose of sodium amytal, administed by his psychiatrist for nerves. He died (like Brittany Murphy, who just passed this Sunday) at age 32.

Director – Dario Argento

Cast – Elio Germano, Chiara Conti, Elisabetta Rocchetti, Cristina Bondo, Ivan Morales, Edoardo Stoppa, Elena Maria Bellini, Horacio Jose Grigaitis

Release Year – 2005

Reviewed by John of the Dead

This is famed Italian horror/giallo director Dario Argento’s ode to Hitchcock, the acclaimed “master of suspense” and most common king of “Greatest Directors of All Time” lists. When I first heard of this film I was immediately attracted to the film’s title(YES, I do like Hitchcock) and the fact that this is a Dario Argento written/directed film, it was a must to see. Although I was not overly impressed with the film, I enjoyed it’s many shout outs to Hitchcock and found it to be an effective giallo for what it’s worth.

The film follows a college film student obsessed with the works of Hitchcock. One night, from his third story bedroom, he awakens to the sound of a murder taking place across the street. The victim is the mother of a beautiful girl he has become accustomed to watching as she changes and argues with her mother. Soon enough, he becomes enthralled in a web of suspicion as he takes it upon himself to figure out who killed her mother, and whether or not the girl had anything to do with it.

Sounds a little like Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” huh? Argento didn’t stop there, he included references to “Psycho”, “Vertigo”, “Dial M for Murder”, and “Strangers on a Train”, There are also many other references to Hitchcock’s other films not exactly done in technical film aspects, such as movie posters for some of Hitchcock’s other films in the background and whatnot. If you are a Hitchcock fan, then this is an interesting watch. Try and locate which scenes were references to the films I mentioned above and I may just treat you to a horror movie night! Of course, as long as you bring pizza, wings, beer, and a few bags of chips with ranch/French onion dip. Heh.

The story for the film is the typical giallo, with of course the feeling of “Rear Window” and “Dial M for Murder”(later on in the film). If you go in with an open mind, then the story should appeal to you, especially if you are new to the giallo scene. You won’t know what to expect, and that will heighten your experience. The suspense in this film is moderate, nothing too crazy, but enough to keep you interested. Argento’s direction is what really sells this film. Where the story lacked a bit, the direction was perfecto(heh, Italian speech works when reviewing giallos) and shows that Argento still has what it takes when it comes to parking his ass in the director’s chair. He always didn’t stray away from the gore in this film, which is always a nice touch to add. Be forewarned, there is not a lot of gore in this film, it is not that type of flick. Nonetheless, when there is gore it’s more than expected, and that always works for me.

My biggest gripe with this story(aside from it’s ridiculous introductory scene) is the acting. Maybe Argento had an extremely low budget to work with(but when has he NOT had a low budget?) and could only afford an actual college student to play the part of…the college student. The problems did not stop at  him though, they only began. There were way too many bad acting performances in here, and I felt it turned away many of it’s viewers. Hopefully Argento’s direction is enough to distract you from the “House of the Dead” quality acting.

Overall, this is a moderate watch that is sure to do enough to please Argento and Hitchcock fans, but unfortunately as epic as this movie comes off as(Argento & Hitchcock? Hell yeah!), it is not epic.

Rating: 6/10

Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder will never be mistaken as optimists.

In fact, their movies reflect the thoughts of famous crime writer
Raymond Chandler. The Big Sleep author was a fan of writers that “gave murder back to the people who committed the crime.”

He respected writers like Dashiell Hammett because they created a
world without hope and without elements of synthetic uplift. He probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the screenplay to Freedom Writers. But an era of film grew out these ideas and began to represent a darker image of the great depression: film noir.

The genre lasted roughly from 1940 and 1960 and was synonymous with murder, passion, revenge, sex, cigars and fedoras (think Humphrey
Bogart and not Jason Mraz).

Here are my top 10 favorite film noir pictures.

1. Double Indemnity (1944) — This might be the best fast-paced screenplay ever written. Chandler and Wilder wrote the script together, and even though they hated working with each other, they created a timeless piece. Fred McMurray delivers his lines with sexual arrogance that wasn’t seen in his family pictures prior to the film, Barbara Stanwyck is the perfect femme fatale and Edward G. Robinson is phenomenal. The unsubtle sexuality in this film is awesome, and it’s surprising that Wilder got away with the shot of McMurry and Stanwyck ready to get busy.

2. Strangers On A Train (1951) — This is my favorite Hitchcock picture. Robert Walker is very creepy and awesome. The homosexual undertones of his character probably went over everyone’s head in 1951. Farley Granger is very good, but not as good as in Rope — and some might argue his adult films in the late 70s. I’d give to much away if I gave plot details. This is a must-see.

3. Sunset Boulevard (1950) — I know, it’s boring to have two Wilder films in the top three, but what other movie starts with William Holden floating in a swimming pool? Exactly.
Aging Gloria Swanson is perfect for the role of a psychotic movie star who is … well, aging.
Also, it’s a great film for one liners like “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up,” and “I am big! It’s the pictures that got small.”

Raising Kane: Orson Welles is as bad as they come in the extremely underrated Touch Of Evil.

4. Touch Of Evil (1958) — Orson Welles at it again. This movie goes in about 20 different plot directions much like The Big Sleep, which makes it chaoticly cool. Janet Leigh is hot, which is somewhat awkward to say. Charlton Heston rocks a classic ’stache and plays a Mexican (I’m not making this up). Supposedly, there was a lot of tension between Heston and Welles behind the scenes.

5. The Maltese Falcon (1941) — This is just a movie where Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) walks around San Francisco and says cool things. It’s also a film where it’s as good as the book. Anyone who says otherwise is the type of person who wants Hooper to die at the end of Jaws. John Huston did a great job recreating Hammett’s novel.

6. Notorious (1946) — A classic Hitchock film where you see Cary Grant actually playing an unpleasant character. In fact, his character (T.R. Devlin) is kind of a dick. Personally, Ingrid Bergman has always annoyed me, but the movie is fantastic anyway. The Master of Suspense does is again.

7. The Big Sleep (1946) — This time Bogart walks around L.A. and says cool things. This is a great adaptation of Chandler’s novel by Howard Hawks. Bogart and Bacall have awesome chemistry here.

Here's Looking at You: Humphrey Bogart was a film noir icon

8. Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) — This is clichéd James Cagney here, but what else do you want from him? Don’t miss the ending of this one.

9. Out of the Past (1947) — This might be Robert Mitchum’s best role, and Jane Greer rivals Stanwyck for best noir femme fatale. The plot is Hitchcock, like where a gas-station owner has an extremely shady past. But if you think about it, isn’t that most gas-station workers?

10. The Killers (1946) — This classic noir flick is based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway which is perfect for the genre’s bleak view — mainly because Hemmingway shot himself. This is the screen debut of Burt Lancaster, who is a personal fave.

Quotes from Godard illustrated by his wife and early muse, my own style inspiration and personal patron saint, the lovely and talented* Anna Karina.

*Not sure if you’d noticed, but I only bill as “lovely and talented” those who take it off. Write that down.

All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun. (Journal entry, 5/16/91)

“Light me up!” Still of Anna Karina as Natacha van Braun from Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution / Alphaville (1965)

I don’t think you should feel about a movie. You should feel about a woman. You can’t kiss a movie.

Still with Jean-Paul Belmondo from Une femme est une femme / A Woman is a Woman (1961), previously highlighted with “Look, Ma, no gag reflex!” still here back in September.

“In films, we are trained by the American way of moviemaking to think we must understand and ‘get’ everything right away. But this is not possible. When you eat a potato, you don’t understand each atom of the potato!” (Interview with David Sherritt, The Christian Science Monitor, 8/3/94)

Une femme est une femme / A Woman is a Woman (1961)

Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self. (Critique called “What Is Cinema?” for Les Amis du Cinéma , 10/1/52, a work which advanced the auteur theory but also kind of ripped off Bazin, which is weird cause Bazin would’ve read it and was a big influence on Godard but this was done contemporaneously of Bazin himself working on something titled this, about this, so maybe the quote is misattributed? … or maybe there is more to it than I know with my tiny ken of French movie guys, maybe it was a done thing to borrow titles from one another, or perhaps it was a continuation of a dialogue they were already having both in person and via publications, or, finally, it could even have been an “understood” question which anyone might use as the title of a book or article … I am probably over-reading it.)

Hands down my favorite picture of Anna Karina

Beauty is composed of an eternal, invariable element whose quantity is extremely difficult to determine, and a relative element which might be, either by turns or all at once, period, fashion, moral, passion. (“Defense and Illustration of Classical Construction,” Cahiers du Cinéma, 9/15/52)

Cover or liner art for her album, a collaboration with the dread Serge G

The truth is that there is no terror untempered by some great moral idea. (“Strangers on a Train,” Cahiers du Cinéma 3/10/52 — Godard wrote extensively and insightfully in his early career about the movies of Hitchcock, one of my favorite and I think misunderstood directors; I’ll try to share some good nuggets from time to time)

Anna cahorts about topless as Anne in 1968’s The Magus, also starring Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek), Michael Caine, and Candace Bergen (Murphy Brown) — no one seems to like this movie but me. That’s okay, because I like it a lot.

Photography is truth. The cinema is truth twenty-four times per second. (Le petit soldad / The Little Soldier, 1963.)

With Jean-Paul Belmondo again, this time as Ferdinand and Marianne in the sort of romantic-tragi-comedy-crime-caper Pierrot le fou / Crazy Pete / Pierre Goes Wild (1965).

To be or not to be? That’s not really a question. (unsourced)

Screencap with subtitles from Une femme est une femme / A Woman is a Woman (1961).

Every time I talk about top 10 lists,  I always start with the  disclaimer that I know  how pointless they are.

And then I ask myself:  OK, if they are  so pointless, why do I have so much fun reading them and doing  them and sharing them?

No good answer, In fact, making lists is far from the only pointless thing I do.

Today, I am adding some new films and slightly changing the order.   It is not a 10 best list.  It is a list of my ten favorites. A  list of 10 best films  would be beyond nervy given how many films have a legitimate claim to inclusion.

But it seems perfectly fair to make a list of ten favorites since they are, in fact,  only my favorites.

My favorites have stayed the same for over a year.  But for the last few months I have been mulling over “No Country for Old Men”  and “The Lives of Others.” (Now I can really hear you saying: This guy need a life! Who has time to mull anything over?)

Seriously, I want to make some changes to my list.  But according to ground rules that some friends of mine and I set up many years ago in a UCLA dorm room, I have to remove one film for each one I add.  I posted my last 10 favorite about a year ago. Here is my new one along with a list of contenders.

Comments welcome. Lists welcome. Ridicule welcome.

My Ten Favorite Films as of November 15, 2009

1. Dekalog

2. Godfather 1/Godfather 2

3.  Salesman

4. The Lives of Others

5. Amarcord

6.  Goodfellas

7  No Country for Old Men

8  Fargo

9. Rear Window

10 Night and Fog

__________________________________

Other Contenders (not in order)

Midnight Cowboy

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Au Revoir les Enfants

Shop on Main Street  (1965)

It’s a Wonderful Life

Jeux interdits

Come and See

Smile

Atlantic City

Three Kings

Das Boot

The General

Paris, Texas

Shoah

Invaders from Mars

Strangers on a Train

The Graduate

The French Connection

Double Indemnity

Les Enfants du Paradis

Les Diaboliques

Psycho

Le Salaire de la peur

Sunset Boulevard

The Exiles

The Last Laugh

Hotel Terminus

Happiness

The Third Man

M

The Marriage of Maria Braun

Psycho - Marion Cotillard

Dial M For Murder – Charlize Theron

North By Northwest – Seth Rogen

Rear Window – Scarlet Johannson + Javier Bardem

Több a törés után!

(Rebecca - Keira Knightly, Jennifer Jason Leigh /Vertigo - Renee Zellweger /Strangers on a Train- Emile Hirsch, James McAvoy /The Birds – Jodie Foster / To Catch A Thief – Gywneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr. / Lifeboat -Tang Wei, Josh Brolin, Casey Affleck, Eva Marie Saint, Ben Foster, Omar Metwally, Julie Christie.)

Vanity Fair

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN av Alfred Hitchcock (1951)
Med Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Marion Lorne, Jonathan Hale

SPOILERVARNING

I recensionen av American Psycho skriver jag om psykopater på film. I Strangers on a Train återfinns ett av de få trovärdiga och mycket otäcka filmporträtten av en psykopat, ett porträtt mästerligt målat av Robert Walker och Alfred Hitchcock. Den moderna filmpsykopaten är gärna som Christian Bale i American Psycho eller Anthony Hopkins i filmerna om Hannibal Lecter – ett osannolikt vidrigt monstrum, slaskande i inälvor och bloddrypande hjärnor. Fast den bilden är nu inte särskilt rättvisande. Psykopati är mer utbredd än vad man i förstone kan tro och inte så få psykopater blir framgångsrika politiker och företagsledare, medan andra – en klar minoritet – blir något slags motbjudande brottslingar, dock mycket sällan så motbjudande som i American Psycho eller Hannibal Lecter-filmerna.

Så egentligen är den betydligt trovärdigare psykopaten i Strangers on a Train på sitt sätt mycket otäckare, för han har ett charmigt vinnande sätt och blir snabbt populär i sällskapslivet (ett mycket utpräglat drag hos flertalet psykopater) och förefaller alltså samtidigt som han är i total avsaknad av all empati vara traktens trevligaste och mest förekommande kille. Om man inte råkar vara bekant med honom och ofrivilligt dras in i hans planer.

Som så ofta hos Hitchcock är emellertid så gott som alla rollgestalter endimensionella staffagefigurer, eftersom deras enda funktion strängt taget är att likt spelbrickor i demonregissörens händer driva den hårt vävda intrigen framåt. Hitchcock visade sällan intresse för inträngande personporträtt, men desto större för ibland osannolika men alltid hypnotiskt fängslande intriger som gradvis, likt ett skruvstäd, kramas åt runt tittaren. Så även i Strangers on a Train, där man inte minst under upplösningen kan lägga märke till hur lite enskildas liv kan betyda när de underställs det övergripande syftet att driva en Hitchcock-intrig framåt – för hur sannolikt känns det, egentligen, att en polisman i ett försök att skjuta skurken i ryggen avsiktligt skulle skjuta rakt in bland folk, inklusive kvinnor och barn, på en fullsatt karusell på ett nöjesfält? Med följd att karuselloperatören träffas av kulan och avlider?

Ofta förekommande hos Alfred Hitchcock är också den oskyldige, hygglige, vanlige medborgaren som mot sin vilja dras in i en brottshärva han till en början inte behärskar men i slutändan, tvingad av omständigheterna, lyckas ta sig ur. Strangers on a Train är en av de bästa varianterna på temat och i synnerhet de första kanske femton minuterna kryper likt insekter in under huden på tittaren. Upplösningen är effektiv, men har man sett Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai innan man ser Strangers on a Train kommer den ofelbart att idémässigt om än inte i utförandet att framstå som en kopia i tredje karbongenomslaget. Vilket å andra sidan inte säger så hemskt mycket – det är och förblir för mycket begärt att ens en regissör av Alfred Hitchcocks obestridligen monumentala kaliber ska kunna matcha Orson Welles. Det går bara inte.

Strangers on a Train finns i en amerikansk och en brittisk version. Den förra är originalversionen och den senare, som är en annan klippning, skiljer sig såvitt jag vid en snabb kontroll kan bedöma inte från originalet på något avgörande sätt.

Kör hårt,
Bellis

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Release Year: 1951

Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock

Category: Mystery & Thriller

So my soiree into the world of film began on a rough note. My mistake…Blockbuster. If you are ever looking for a film that does not fall into the same category of…lets say Alien vs. Predator…take my advise and skip Blockbuster. It’s a fucking nightmare. I flipped through roughly 100 pages of The Book and couldn’t find a single title on the shelves. My search for Othello turned up nothing, but you should be relieved that they do carry O…you know, the fantastic high school reinvisioning with Julia Stiles, Josh Hartnett and Mekhi Phifer.

After searching and searching I stumbled upon one of the lesser known Alfred Hitchcock suspense films. With Strangers on a Train in hand I proceeded to check out. One a positive note, I did get a free rental due to my Blockbuster rewards card. I guess the trip wasn’t a total bust…pun totally intended. After catching up on Sunday’s episode of Mad Men (a fantastic television show if you have yet to watch), Matt and I turned down the lights, poured two dirty martinis and popped in Strangers.

If you know nothing of the plot, Strangers on a Train is about just that; two strangers who fatefully meet on a train to Metcalf…I’m guessing that’s somewhere in Jersey? Wasting no time Hitch dives right into the plot, a murder swap. Stranger A…Farley Granger wants a divorce from his whore of a wife. Stranger B…Robert Walker hates his father. B proposes the perfect crime. He’ll kill the whore wife, if Granger will kill daddy. Good old Farley, who is quite a hottie but lacks on the acting end, shrugs the idea off as a joke. Robert Walker holds true to his end of the deal though, and thus ensues a game of cat and mouse. Granger refuses to murder pops, and Walker threatens to frame him for the wife’s murder. I won’t give away too many clues, but everything hinges on a misplaced lighter…complete with a scene similar to one in Woody Allen’s Match Point.

Overall Strangers on a Train was OKAY. That’s right…just okay. In my opinion Farley Granger, while having the looks, came off as melodramatic and a bit…shall I say it…GAY. The whore wife and future fiance also fall prey to the overacting gene…fiance looks unbelievably like a young Joan Crawford. I’m not sure if these pitfalls were entirely the fault of the actors, or rather a byproduct of the dialogue?

All that being said, Robert Walker gives a knockout performance as the deranged Bruno. His relationship with his mother is rather Psychoesque, and was it just me or are there hints of homosexuality? His stalking of the protagonist Granger seemed just a little bit more involved than simple revenge. It wouldn’t be the first instance that Hitchcock dropped a little gay into the equation…Rebecca and Rope are both excellent examples of this. I also have to give a little love to Patricia Hitchcock, who plays younger sister Barbara. Her obsession with murder is so deranged and campy, I’m surprised she’s never appeared in a John Waters film. Does she remind anyone else of Drew Barrymore? Anyone???

The cinematography is also out of this world, which in my eyes is par for the course in a Hitchcock film. Some scenes to note are an unbelievably creepy stare down during a tennis match as well as the climactic ending, which leaves some Merry Go Rounders not so Merry. Trust me, I’m not giving anything away here, this film lays the foreboding on as thick as a drag queen’s concealer.

In conclusion, I’m glad I watched Strangers, but I would in no way consider it a MUST SEE film. If you are a Hitchcock fan, you’ll probably enjoy it. If not, my bet is that it will feel just a bit too campy…think What Ever Happened to Baby Jane camp. I’d wait until this one comes on TV…most likely on Turner Classic Movies, if you suscribe. If it does, and you have a few hours to spare…sit down, turn down the lights, and pour yourself a martini.

In the words of Hitchcock himself  “One of television’s great contributions is that it brought murder back into the home, where it belongs.” It would be appropriate of you to imagine the famous Hitchcock silhouette right now, complete with his Presents theme. Dum da dum da da dum da dum…

Films Down: 1

Films Remaining: 500

dear diary,

i saw him again today. he rides the same train i do sometimes; i think he’s a grad student. he has a girlfriend. they ride together often.  S is with me more often than not. he knows. i know.

it feels like i fall in love with every man i meet. it feels like i fall in love everyday. with anyone that shows me any sign of interest. anyone with a hint of a smile.

i’ve never trusted people – i need to know their motivations. every boy i’ve ever considered a friend has at one point in time let the cat out of the bag that he would – if I were up for it – fuck me sideways if he could. it breaks my heart time.

everytime i fall for one i feel it. that connection. the burning in your cheeks as your face flashes, the wobbly legs as i try to saunter by, pretending i don’t see him. i do. and he knows it. this one is funny because i’ve always felt that with him. i’ve always sensed his hint of a smile. but i wouldn’t even know where to begin with this one. knowing from the start doesn’t aid the process. maybe if i could figure out which bars he frequents i’d have more of a shot. liquor makes me stronger. it also makes me a whore.

today i looked up on the train and he was sitting in front of me. i didn’t notice at first. he didn’t get on when i did. i didn’t see him on the platform. and then there he was. he turned his head so i could see him. he wasn’t sitting next to a window. maybe he was just stretching the muscles in his neck. that’s what i want to believe anyway. i fall in love everyday. he got off where we always do. as the train came to a halt he looked my direction with intensity. i pretended to be VERY preoccupied with the zipper to my bag. i went my way. he went his. i didn’t stop thinking about him all day, even though i knew i should.

i left work with purpose tonight, thinking i just might run into him. i always get my hopes up. it never happens the way i planned. but today it did. i caught that secret smile as i saw him walk down the stairs. i walked past him shortly thereafter. we rode in the same car. we always do.

he used to live by me, so i never turned around today. i knew where he was getting off. i didn’t want to let on. letting on is already losing the battle. i’m afraid of what i might do if given the opportunity.

nothing ever happens with these boys, though. they fall in love with me. the smirk as i walk by. they talk about me in front of me like i can’t hear. their  gaze always lingers. the hands always shake. but nothing ever happens.

at the stop before mine i noticed a man looking at me through the windows of the train as he walked by. i realized it was him. i guess he’s not my neighbor anymore. i guess that’s for the best.

but i noticed because he was looking. i didn’t know who he was at the time. but he was looking. he was looking at me. i know that i’m right about him. i just don’t know what happens now.

- G

 Farley Granger, Robert Walker and Ruth Roman starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 thriller of Patricia Highsmith’s novel “Strangers on a Train.” The movie opened on July 4th at the Warner Theater (formerly The Strand) in New York.

Bosley Crowthers who over the span of his too long career managed to misread so many now classic films that he should be considered one of the worst critics ever be allowed to be published on the printed page.   Here is his laughable  New York Times  review.

Attached here is Roger Ebert’ s excellent review

Farley Granger and Robert Walker

Farley Granger, Ruth Roman and Robert Walker

Robert Walker and Fargley Granger

Ida Lupino visiting the set of  “Strangers on a Train”

not so merry-go-round...

PG?

Farley Granger, Robert Walker

Bruno: I’d like to talk with you some time, sir, and tell you about my idea for harnessing the life force.  It’ll make atomic power look like the horse and buggy.  I’m already developing my faculty for seeing millions of miles.  And senator, can you imagine being able to smell a flower on the planet Mars?  I’d like to, uh, have lunch with you some day soon, sir…tell you more about it.  I’ll see you…
Sen. Morton: Goodbye….don’t remember inviting that young man.  Who is he?
Anne: Friend of the Dorvilles.
Sen. Morton: …Unusual personality…

A tennis player, Guy (Granger), meets a strange man on a train who describes to him the perfect way to commit a murder.  He says that two strangers should swap murders so neither one can be tied to the other’s murder.  The man, Bruno (Walker), turns out to be quite mad, and thinks they had a deal to actually kill a person for each other.  Guy discovers that Bruno has murdered his estranged wife and now wants Guy to kill his father for him, or else he’ll implicate Guy in the murder of his wife.

This is another Hitchcock classic that I’d never seen.  It’s good, but not quite up there with Rear Window, Notorious, or Psycho.  It’s a little slow at times, and once again I wasn’t very impressed with Farley Granger in the lead role.  I didn’t really like him in Rope either.

Robert Walker, on the other hand, is very creepy as Bruno Anthony.  He seems like a nice enough, but annoying, guy to begin with, but as the movie progresses, we see more clearly that he’s basically just insane.  Some of it has to do with his overbearing father and overcaring mother not allowing him to grow up into a real adult, but not all of it can be blamed on them.

There were a few lulls here and there in this one.  For instance, the scene where Bruno is following Guy’s wife, Miriam, around an amusement park goes on far too long.  Also, the tennis scene was tedious as well.  I get that it was being used as a way to keep Guy from getting to a certain location before Bruno could, but I guess tennis just isn’t an effective tension builder.

Still, this is a good story, with some good tension, a few laughs (mostly courtesy of Patricia Hitchcock as Barbara Morton), and an effectively exciting ending.

10 – 1.1 for Granger’s one-note performance – 1.5 for some dull spots + .2 for Walker’s performance = 7.6

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Traduzido horrendamente para o português como Pacto Sinistro – com claras intenções lucrativas -, Strangers pode ser visto como a preparação de Hitchcock para a consagração definitiva em Psicose, por várias coisas. Num primeiro momento – o próprio título original corrobora essa dedução -, Hitchcock ensaia a troca de protagonistas imperceptível, apesar de isso não passar muito claro diante do segundo fator, que é uma das maiores cenas de suspense da década de 50 (pau-a-pau com os minutos finais de Vertigo) e, não seria exagero dizer, de toda a história cinematográfica: a do carrossel. Além disso, em Psicose, Hitchcock voltaria a filmar em preto-e-branco, para destacar a adrenalina nos momentos de ataque de Norman Bates e, mais claramente, para o seu desfecho de personagem antológico – e o que isso tem de comum com Strangers é que o P&B aqui também é ressaltado em momentos de suma importância para a narrativa. Guy Haines e Bruno Anthony são dois desconhecidos quaisquer que estão no mesmo vagão qualquer de um trem qualquer. Anthony, após puxar papo com o jovem tenista, demonstrando interesse em sua vida extra-curricular, conversa-lhe sobre a troca de crimes, o plano perfeito. Como é notável, acompanhando onze filmes da carreira de Hitch em menos de um ano, e para o espectador atento ao estilo dos filmes do diretor, o plano perfeito sempre é apresentado por Hitchcock e é conduzido como tal até o grand finale. Neste caso, o diretor obtem seu primeiro êxito ao colocar dois atores desconhecidos, mas de eficiência mutuamente ambidestra: Farley Granger (Guy) aparenta uma certa imaturidade, o que confere um nervosismo extra ao transcorrer do filme, mediante a sapiência ousada interpretada por Robert Walker (Bruno).

Nesse breve diálogo que os dois têm dentro do trem, também se repara em outra característica que traz a diferenciação deste para os demais filmes de Hitch: o emprego do humor sarcástico e sujo, com direito a uma cena em que Bruno “ensina” a duas senhoras a melhor maneira de fazer um assassínio, como um mágico exibicionista. Por aí, é possível obter uma breve interpretação de uma das personagens, porém, a análise que Hitchcock faz de ambas, em vários âmbitos, é o que permite flexionar o espectador para a adrenalina final. Sobre o encontro dos dois, vê-se uma crítica à publicidade das trocas românticas, bem como sua interpretação imaginária e coletiva muito desviada do que pode ser a realidade (no caso, o Senador, pai de Anne, não é tão responsável como se espera pela relação esperada de Guy); por outro lado, Anthony parece tão distante de seus pais – a mãe, louca, e o pai, viajante e incapaz de valorizar um momento – que a sua procura por trabalho é insatisfeita, afinal, se há algo que ele não quer é uma “felicidade” (muito menos um romance como o do protagonista benévolo), e, para disfarçar o tempo, ele viaja e procura pensar em mirabolantes planos – quase como se assistino a vários filmes de Hitchcock – até que consegue a chance de ser reconhecido por algo e por alguém, além de ter a chance de se ver livre da família impresente. Talvez a conclusão perfeita do plano não seja um alento para Anthony por tudo, enfim, ter dado certo, ou por obter essa “folga”, mas, sim, por ver sua idéia ilustrada na realidade e um homem que colaborou e mostrou algum serviço de correspondência. Eis que Hitchcock muda a protagonização para o lado de Guy, e passamos a ver o plano como algo realmente lunático (até então, era admirável e digno de torcida), num brilhante exercício narrativo: ter de ser vigiado dia e noite simplesmente por uma conversa num trem qualquer com um maluco qualquer, que não ousa parar para pensar se dá ou não prosseguimento a sua idéia. Na conversa que Guy tem com o Senador e Barbara, logo após o caso de homicídio, a situação cínica e verdadeira fica colocada bem como a fotografia do filme – num panorama preto-e-banco -: é engraçado como soa comum a suspeita policial, Hitch joga com o imaginário do espectador e tem um resultado perfeito.

É chegado o momento de decisão e os dois lados foram-nos expostos; assim é que Alfred cria a sua tensão eletrizante desde a cena da partida de tênis até o desfecho no mesmo parque de diversões, capaz de condenar qualquer um, por um mero capricho de um isqueiro. A cena do carrossel deve ter entrado para a galeria do cinema, pois nela há uma quase ininterrupta seqüência de giros e dois personagens lutando ao lado de crianças que pretendiam a diversão – e pensam estar obtendo quando a coisa não pára mais e ainda acelera. Além de ter os dois lados do crime em foco, há ainda essa terceira perspectiva, de quem saiu para um dia comum como outro qualquer. Em se tratando de filmes de Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train é um clássico capaz de trazer o que sua carreira foi mais hábil em apresentar, assim como demonstra um preparo prévio a obras futuras, principalmente Psicose. E se o sorriso de Norman Bates ilustra o final desse, a última fala de Anthony ganha ainda mais valor quando percebida essa relação.

3/4

Cassius Abreu