Written approximately 30 years after Marilyn’s untimely death at the age of 36, Strasberg is still able to write from a teenage perspective. She may have been in awe of the glamorous movie star, but she was mostly envious of the attention her father payed her. Even while in the throes of a passionate love affair with Broadway costar Richard Burton, Strasberg can’t help but complain how available her father made himself for Marilyn at all hours. Once Marilyn moved to New York and started taking private acting lessons with Lee, she used the Strasberg home as her refuge — before, during, and after her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.

Paula became a surrogate mother, but Lee was her barometer — she constantly sought his approval. Apparently everyone in his orbit felt the same way, including his daughter, who seems to have fought a lifelong battle with resisting but desiring his help and input in her own work. Marilyn managed to get his attention more than most. That is what Strasberg is most jealous of. She idolizes her father, but she doesn’t seem to want to truly understand him. When he does offer her praise she doesn’t believe him, and becomes even more insecure. She had more in common with Marilyn than she realized.

Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe and Susan Strasberg visit backstage (Cort Theatre) in 1956.

Strasberg may be unwilling or unable to personally criticize her father, but she does allow others to share their viewpoints:

Johnny Strasberg: “He [Lee] was really fascinated by her, but that’s like saying about someone who is so fascinated by animals they put them in a cage so they can study them. In that sense you could say he loved her. He did have this great generosity in his work, although usually he never considered the needs of anyone else before himself. His gift to Marilyn, his great gift, was that he took her seriously in her work, and even personally, too, up to a point. Marilyn was there more than anyone before had been. Lee adored her; at least he seemed to do anything to please her.”

Strasberg does share a story that shows just how brainwashed and dependent everyone became on Lee. She was offered the role of Allison in Peyton Place (to be filmed at Twentieth Century-Fox, Marilyn’s studio, and the same one that once fired Lee) for $150,000. It was a great part and a great sum — Marilyn hadn’t made that much per picture yet. She asked her father if she should take it. He said no. When the family objected, he then told her to ask for more money. The studio refused to pay more, but still wanted her at the original sum. She debated about whether she should take the part anyway, without his permission (she was 19 and already her earnings were helping support the family.) Strasberg ultimately turned it down, and regretted it, but also justified her decision by saying she was avenging her father’s previous firing at Fox. Lee was using both his daughter and Marilyn to try and avenge his wounded ego. Strasberg doesn’t seem to see how her early success on stage (at age 16, in The Diary of Anne Frank) may have threatened her father. She didn’t study with him (although her mother coached her.) She never seems to consider that he may have helped her behind-the-scenes. Marilyn and Me is almost better reading between the lines.

Marilyn congratulates Susan backstage at The Diary of Anne Frank on opening night

As much as the Strasbergs offered Marilyn a second home, they may not have been the best port in the storm, as they had their own problems, including a strange way of expressing and dealing with anger. Lee would rage so much he would sometimes get a nosebleed, scaring everyone. Paula would get hysterical and threaten suicide. Susan would hide in a closet, silently screaming. But none of this would have mattered to Marilyn, who had finally met someone who showed her some respect:

Marilyn, “The best thing that ever happened to me was when your father took me seriously. I’ve always wanted for people to see me, not the actress, the real person. Your daddy does. He treats me like a human being. … I worked with this woman in California for years [her first acting coach, Natasha Lytess]. She taught me, educated me, like your father, gave me books to read, but even she thought I was a dummy. He doesn’t, and the most important thing is, with your father for the first time I feel it’s okay to be me, the whole kit and caboodle, you know, the whole mess.”

Once Marilyn gathered the courage to attend classes at the Studio and to even do scenes, her confidence increased, if only temporarily. Strasberg ran the Studio as a place where actors could experiment, be free. People may have thought she was a joke when she said she wanted to play Lady Macbeth, but they might have reconsidered if they had known Lee’s ideas for her in the part. He envisioned Lady Macbeth as “a sensitive, driven, compulsive woman, who used her sexuality and power to get her husband to do these terrible things. It was a side Marilyn possessed, but that she had never shown in her work.”

Strasberg is never able to truly focus on Marilyn without dragging herself into the picture, as she does when telling about Marilyn recounting her horror story of being locked up in a psychiatric hospital ward by her New York shrink Dr. Marianne Kris: “‘I was always afraid I was crazy like my mother or that I’d get that crazy with age. You know women sometimes to go nuts then, but when I got in there with really crazy people, I realized I had problems, but I saw I wasn’t as bad as they were.’ She made it sound as if it hadn’t been that bad. Yet I had heard that it had been worse. Was she trying to protect me from how horrible life was, or didn’t she trust me? Who was she lying to? Me or herself? Why?” It’s not all about you, Susan.

With all of Strasberg’s competitive neuroses, she still comes across as likable, and as someone, who with all the envy, did care for Marilyn. ”[Marilyn] took ordinary black-and-white light and reflected it back to us in Technicolor, in epic proportions. Yet she kept it accessible. As famous as she was, she remained human.” Marilyn and Me is a very human book about the star and an entertaining read. Strasberg may have been jealous of her, loved her, but she never ceased to be amazed by Marilyn and her power. At the 1962 Golden Globes, when Marilyn attended to accept the World Film Favorite Award, “There was a room full of the biggest stars in the world, and when Marilyn walked in and made her way slowly to the table, her dress was so tight she could barely move; some people in the room stood on chairs, just to get a look at her, like kids. I’d never seen stars react to another star like that.” Strasberg’s judgements and impressions may not always be accurate, but they do offer a personal glimpse of a woman and a movie star who for most, still remains a mystery.

You can read more of my pop culture reviews on my blog, xoxoxo e

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Efrem Zimbalist Jr., star of The FBI

Last May the folks at the Warner Archive released an MOD (manufacture on demand) DVD set for The F.B.I. – The 1st Season, Part 1, and then followed it up quickly in August with their The F.B.I. – The 1st Season, Part 2 MOD set. Both titles, like many Warner Archive releases, were also made available from Amazon’s CreateSpace program, too.

The Warner Archive Collection team hasn’t announced this themselves, as it’s a bit earlier than they normally would do so. However, two new pre-order listings at Amazon.com show that MOD versions of “The F.B.I. – The 2nd Season, Part 1″ and “The F.B.I. – The 2nd Season, Part 2″ are in the works, with an availability date on both of them marked there for April 3rd.

Assuming this is all true (and the Web site has a good record of accuracy), that means a treasure trove of espionage-related episodes of the 1965-74 series will become available. They include Vendetta, where John Van Dreelan plays an ex-Nazi now spying for the Eastern Bloc; List For a Firing Squad, where The FBI and Eastern Bloc agents are after the same operative who has obtained a list of underground leaders in an unnamed Communist country; and The Assassin, where a very ordinary looking man turns out to be an assassin working for an Eastern country (and there’s a brief dig at James Bond).

Other highlights of the season include a two-part story, The Executioners, which was released by Warner Bros as a movie outside the U.S., with a guest cast that includes Walter Pidgeon, Robert Duvall, Susan Strasberg and Celeste Holm. (The FBI was a co-production of QM Productions and Warner Bros.)

UPDATE: On Feb. 7 Warner Archive made THIS TWEET about this post. It reads:

Rumors of Season Two of The FBI appearing at places like The HMSS Weblog – Oh Internet! http://bit.ly/xZOwa8

Not clear whether that’s a denial or a confirmation.

See the trailer here:

The diverse settings and imagery that comprise of Paul’s trip are quite memorable.   The first part of Paul’s trip is contained and monitored by his friend John.  Much of his hallucinations are set in medieval times and show him running away from hooded Death along the coast.  These sequences are intermixed with vibrant hallucinations of intimacy between Paul and his ex-wife, Sally.  Special lights flash over their bodies creating the effect on screen that their intertwined bodies are consumed in this free spirit culture.  However, Paul eventually escapes from John’s watch and ends up walking along the lit up Strip.  However, while it is clear that Paul feels great during his trip, Corman did not believe that he should create a pro-LSD film.  As a result, Corman pulled the horror imagery from his Edgar Allan Poe series to represent the come down of LSD.  A dark, isolated mansion strikes through Paul’s hallucinations and the terror of this image leaves a strong counter message.

Yet, the original intent of the film was to leave the message regarding LSD open-ended.  However the film that was released begins with a long warning about the negative consequences of LSD and ends with a shattered image of Paul.  These edits, added on after Corman handed over the film to AIP, suggest that the drug has destroyed Paul’s life.  In fact the original ending of the film was supposed to follow Paul as he walks from the bed to the deck and from there show him looking out on to the Santa Monica Bay.  This had all been taken in one very intricate shot and was meant to leave the impression that Paul had been reborn.  Whether his trip was a positive or negative experience was not answered.  Ultimately AIP edited the ending in a conservative manner without Corman’s knowledge…an act most likely due to the widespread controversy surrounding the drug at the time.

However, putting LSD aside, this film is made up of a groovy cast of characters that deserves mention.  The screenplay was written by the well-known Corman film school graduate, Jack Nicholson, who first started his career with Corman when he starred in Cry Baby Killer in 1958.  Additionally, Peter Fonda was cast to play Paul, the lead of the film.  Serving as the guide through Paul’s trip is his best friend John, played by Bruce Dern.  The supplier of the LSD, Max, is none other than the late Dennis Hopper.  And finally, Susan Strasberg played the heartbreaker, Sally, who divorces Paul, leading him to take this trip.  With such a talented cast and production crew working on this film, it is no surprise that this movie is still enjoyed by so many.

This is such a beautiful film, The sets, the lighting, the cinematography – everything is exquisite. While the story is very much of its time, the film remains timeless; a true classic.

First off, I’d like to say that William Holden gives one of his best dramatic performances in this film; he really does. However, my memory tends to focus on the fact that he is shirtless for about 80% of this film. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he is shirtless an awful lot. Shirtless William Holden is one of my favorite things in all of cinema history. Actually, Holden also starred in 1955 Best Picture nominee Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (and if the poster is to be believed, he’s shirtless through most of that film as well). Holden plays Hal Carter, a former college football star, who is now an unemployed drifter after a failed Hollywood acting career. The film covers a 24-hour period, starting on Labor Day (September 5, 1955). Hal has come by freight train to a Kansas town, intending to visit his fraternity buddy, Alan Benson (Cliff Robertson). During this 24 hours Hal shakes up this sleepy town and falls in love with one of its residents: Madge Owens (Kim Novak), whose mother (Betty Field) hopes she will marry Alan.

Kim Novak is as luminous as ever in this film. This is one of Novak’s earliest film performances and she’s already got a certain mysterious quality about her and such wonderful presence. She’s definitely more than just a pretty face. While the role of Madge is probably one of the weakest in the film, Novak elevates the character with her sublime performance.

Novak and Holden have amazing chemistry together. The two share a sensual dance together, to the song “Moonglow,” during the night’s festivities and though the setting is dark and cool nighttime, the atmosphere sizzles. I love the color composition of this scene, the lighting; it’s gorgeous. A little bit later in the film Holden’s character Hal tells Madge, “you make me feel patient.” It’s at this moment that all their sexual tension just kind of explodes and you know they’re bound to each other on a level neither of them fully understands.

Which brings us to Susan Strasberg as Madge’s little sister Millie. She’s an observer and she understands pretty much everyone in the story better than they understand themselves. Strasberg’s performance as Millie is one of my all-time favorite film performances. She is the daughter of famed acting instructors Lee and Paula Strasberg from New York’s Actors Studio. Strasberg is brilliant in this role, bringing a combination of playfulness, passion, angst and strength way beyond her 17 years.

Lastly, I wanted to talk about Rosalind Russell and Arthur O’Connell as middle-aged schoolteacher Rosemary and store owner Howard Bevens. Rosemary is a slightly bitter “old maid” who has been trying to get Howard to marry her for quite a while. She’s impatient and in one very explosive scene, she drunkenly forces Holden’s Hal to dance with her and in a fit of rage rips his shirt. She’s a hard character to like and an even harder character to watch. Russell never backs down, going to every uncomfortable place with such ease. O’Connell offers an interesting contrast to Russell’s Rosemary. He’s an older man and he’s set in his ways. Maybe he’s even given up a bit, which is why Rosemary has to be so violent in order to get his attention. O’Connell’s performance received the only Oscar nomination out of the whole cast.

If you’re interested in buying this film you can do so here at our Oscar Vault Monday shop.

In this blog I’m going to post snippets of videos in which I just make a short appearance ( a few seconds), let’s call it a catch all.    Keep checking this blog as I will be adding to it many times. 

First from the movie Operation Hardball with Jack Lemon and Mickey Rooney:

Friendly Persuasion with Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins.   Notice the extra playing a soldier in the shooting gallery to the right of Gary Cooper.   That’s Robert Fuller who became a very successful leading actor starting with Dr. Kelly Bracket in Emergency TV series.

Pork Chop Hill with Gregory Peck.  I’m feeding the chickens.  This was right at the beginning of the movie and the intent was to show our contempt and disrespect for the propaganda which was piped out over the loudspeakers.  I was upgraded to a silent bit for this (see my SEG blog  for explanation of silent bit).    The few seconds when I’m feeding the chickens also became part of the trailer for coming attractions.  

Couple of crosses in the movie Nobel Son:

I played the driver and man Friday in this SciFi TV movie called Yesterday’s Target. LeVar Burton And Daniel Baldwin are in the car with me.

The Cobweb.  I’m the usher.

Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer

If you happen to be famous, you may want to stay in bed today.

Who knows? Maybe it was the stress of having just made it through the holidays and knowing that there were less than 350 shopping days until the next Christmas that did these folks in. Whatever the case, the 21^st day of January has historically proven fatal to a large number of entertainers.

This dark trend began in 1895 when David Burbank died on this date. While not much of an entertainer himself, dentist and rancher Burbank owned the land that now houses the lots for Warner Bros., Walt Disney, and NBC.

The first film star to pass on this date was beautiful silent actress Alma Rubens (b. 1897) who died from complications from drug addiction in 1931. Canadian-born actress Marie Prevost (b. 1898) met a similar fate six years later due to alcoholism.

On this date in 1938, French magician and cinematic pioneer Georges Melies passed away in Paris. Twelve years later, British dystopian author George Orwell (born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903) died from tuberculosis.

In 1959, two Hollywood notables passed on the same day – one old, one young. The elder victim was epic film director Cecil B. DeMille (b. 1881) whose death overshadowed the news that day that thirty-one-year old ex-Our Gang member Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer had been shot during an argument over a hunting dog. The two were buried a few hundred feet apart in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Western actor Al “Fuzzy” St. John, who got his start in silent comedies with his uncle Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, died on this date in 1963. Actress Ann Sheridan (b. 1915) died four years later from cancer.

Death took a holiday until 1984 when the scythe again swung twice claiming the lives of actor and Olympian Johnny Weissmuller  and Soul singer Jackie Wilson.

Cecil B. DeMille

Actress Susan Strasberg died on this date in 1999, followed three years later by actress and singer Peggy Lee.

Other notables who passed on this date include baseball hall of famer Charlie Gehringer in 1993, Chicago television personality and original Ronald McDonald portrayer Ray Rayner in 2004, and Chi-Lites vocalist Robert “Squirrel” Lester in 2010.

January 21 was also the death date for two actors on the world stage. It was on this date in 1924 that communist leader Vladimir Lenin died in Russia. This happened exactly 131 years after King Louis XVI lost his head in 1793.

The image of this DVD looked like the cover of a cheesy romance novel.  There was Holden, his shirt ripped and all muscle and there was Novak, all beauty and innocence.  The girl can’t help but find this man attractive and this guy just can’t keep his shirt on for an hour.  Thus is the rough set up of Picnic.

William Holden plays Hal, a drifter who rides the rails into a small Kansas town looking for an old fraternity friend, Alan (Cliff Robertson).  He just so happens to turn up on Labor Day morning, where that evening this town will hold a huge celebration picnic.  He stumbles upon the yard of the Owen family.  There’s mama Owen (Betty Field), eldest beauty Madge (Kim Novak), younger tomboy Millie (Susan Strasberg) and a schoolteacher who rents a room, Rosemary (Rosalind Russell).  Madge is dating Alan, who’s wealthy and runs a mill with his father.  But that morning when Madge sees Hal all sweaty and shirtless in the neighbor’s yard- well, you can guess.

Anyway, in the afternoon just before the picnic, everything seems to be perfectly in order: Alan’s going to get Hal a job, Madge might let Alan get past first base and mama’s proud of her girls.  But when Rosemary’s boyfriend, Howard (Arthur O’Connell) starts passing around a bottle of whiskey, tensions rise, and reputations are ruined.

The dynamic between the sisters is intriguing and shocking, at least to a 21st century viewer.  You see, Millie spends her time reading and not primping herself and therefore is considered the ugly one.  She is ugly the same way Tina Fey is, as in not at all.  But this is the 1950s where women were just to be looked at.  If Millie likes to play basketball in blue jeans and read with glasses on, that is enough to dismiss her as a simply ugly girl.  What a shame.

So, we’ve got sisters of brains and beauty, each secretly longing for what the other has.  But only Millie can really voice this longing because it’s expected of her  Every girl should long to be pretty, right?  When Madge realizes she wants to be more than a beauty queen, well, I don’t think she has the intelligence to understand she wants instead.  So when Hal notices her, and he’s not like the other guys, maybe that makes her feel like she’s not like the other pretty girls.  I say Madge is just a dumb pretty girl in need of constant attention and validation.

But how much more attention could a girl want?  When she’s crowned Queen at the Picnic, they literally put her in the swan boat, with a huge bunch of roses and a paper crown and float her down the river where everyone waits and tosses rose pedals.  They even do a weird bow/chant thing that made me feel like they were worshiping this girl.  Yet, she’s seeking more attention.  She wants the bad boy.  Those pecks or something made her feel different and now she sees that as a way to be different and special.  “I’m so tired of just being told I’m pretty.”

What is the moral of this film?  Don’t be afraid to be different?  There’s more to life than being pretty?  Real satisfaction comes from doing things on your own?  I have no idea, but today I interpreted it as let your girls be “ugly” and smart so they can accomplish something in their lives without relying on their beauty like a crutch and then they will not run after trouble making guys in order to validate themselves.  What girl watched this movie in 1955 and wanted to be just like Madge?

By the end of this film, I honestly wondered what the rate of unmarried women committing suicide in the 1950s was.  In a world where intelligent women don’t have much merit and there were no boob jobs available, I wonder how many mothers really said this:

- “She’ll lose her chance when she’s young. She might as well throw all her prettiness away.”
– “I’m only 19.”
- “And next summer you’ll be 20, then 21. and then 40.”
– “You don’t have to be morbid.”

5. Scream of Fear (1961)

This movie, starring the amazingly beautiful Susan Strasberg, ranks in at number 5 on my super classy horror movies list.  Why?  Well, shit, I mean, it’s fucking classy, right?  It’s shot in some of the most stunning black-and-white photography I have ever seen.  And every character is engaging and engaged, which is more than you can ask from most movies.  Check it out, natch.

4. The Changeling (1980)

George C. Scott’s performance in this film is what really kicks it up a notch for me.  He’s a man with serious talent, and he came to The Changeling ready to give it all he had.  This is more than we can ask of most people in horror, it seems.  (Jesus, save us all from Platinum Dunes.)  Also, look out for the fucking magical score.  It will make you feel like drinking sherry with your pinky lifted off the glass.

3. Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

Zohra Lampert makes this movie.  Is it a lesbian vampire story?  I am never quite sure how to answer that question.  No matter, though, it is still a beautiful film that gives ample identity to each character.  This is something hard to come by, and it’s difficult to watch those final scenes because you actually like everyone in Jessica’s life.  Bummer, Jess, I would have believed you.

2. The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

Apparently, I am into this whole lesbian vampire thing.  Well, shit, who isn’t?  Everytime I watch Vincente Aranda’s Spanish film, I find myself completely entranced.  It’s a movie more than worth investigating and even more worth keeping in your private collection–if only to make your shelf less trashy.

1. Rosemary’s Baby (1967)

Roman Polanski’s film is, without a doubt, the classiest horror film ever made.  A lot of people argue with me and suggest there is comedy in this film.  I disagree!  In 1967, the whole “Hail Satan” thing would not have been FUNNY!  Sheesh, that’s like reading Poe and expecting it to be totally terrifying.

In all seriousness, Mia Farrow’s performance in this film is absolutely pitch perfect, and it’s because of this that I love her in spite of her very questionable personal life.  Bless you, Mia (for this and The Last Unicorn).

Okay, now you can fight me.  Go ahead.  I’ll take it to the mattresses for these movies.

I acquired this poster this year, and I can’t say that I had been looking for it. I’ve previously seen and owned another B2 design for this film, as well as the 2 panel (I have another 2 panel coming very soon). But this one — I had never even seen an image of before, so when it was offered to me I knew I had to pick it up.

Certainly the art on this Japanese poster fits with the film! A very cool and rare piece.

Japanese movie posters from posterdemic

1) the only Chuck Norris movie my mom let me watch as a kid (I think it’s the only Chuck Norris movie I’ve ever seen).

2) “the most homoerotic movie I’ve ever seen,” according to my wife.

3) somewhat interesting for the first forty-five minutes.

The Delta Force stars four Academy Award winners (Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, George Kennedy and two-time winner Shelley Winters), one Silver Berlin Bear winner (Hanna Schygulla) and one Academy Award nominee (Robert Vaughan). The only two who give good performances are Marvin and Balsam. Kennedy, Winters and Vaughan aren’t bad. Schygulla, in one of her only (I think) English language performances, is bad. Well, maybe not bad… but not any good at all. She does get one of Delta Force‘s more interesting scenes, a German flight attendant (sorry, bursar) who gets to pick out all the Jews on the plane. She doesn’t want to–being German and all (in a scene with some dialogue lifted out of a certain “Fawlty Towers” episode–John Cleese and Connie Booth should have sued)–but does it anyway. The kicker? She makes a mistake, calling up a Russian (Yehuda Efroni), who isn’t Jewish. This mistake kicks off Delta Force‘s most interesting scene–the Arab terrorists (Robert Forster, who, like Marvin, is enough of a professional not to look embarrassed, and David Menachem) make the German flight attendant call all the Jews on the plane up to first class, which has been emptied. Now, the plane’s got 144 passengers (Forster is nice enough to remind everyone as the sequence begins) and guess how many of them help the Jews? Keep in mind there are two terrorists with a gun and a grenade apiece, the plane’s in flight. Okay, just guess. Guess how many of the American Christians help the Jews being led to their deaths?

Do you need a hint? Think about the 1930s.

That’s right… zero. Not a one. They even keep their mouths shut. The Russian complains he isn’t a Jew. After all is said and done, when it won’t make any difference, Catholic priest Kennedy at least gets up and sits with the Jews in first class. There’s no explanation to why he isn’t disgusted by the display he’s witnessed from his fellow gentiles.

In the first forty-five minutes of Delta Force, there are quite a few of these disquieting moments. Menachem gets a couple scenes where he’s incredibly sympathetic to his hostages and–conversely–a couple scenes where he’s incredibly brutal to other hostages. Forster’s portrayed as completely evil, but then he too gets a couple scenes of strange humanity. These aren’t subtle displays of contradictory behavior, they’re as neon as they can get, but they’re very interesting.

The second half of the film, with Chuck Norris and William Wallace’s romantic getaway to scenic Lebanon–the script’s so incredibly stupid in the second half, it’s never clear whether or not the Lebanese government and military are actually endorsing the terrorists or if there’s some faction of the military supporting it or whatever… it’s idiotic.

Wait, what was I talking about?

Oh, the second half. There’s a couple interesting scenes when the film tries to make American audiences terrified of the Arabs. But it’s all so dumb–Norris rides around on a souped up motorcycle (he’s apparently insecure about something) and blows up the bad guys (who are some of the stupidest villains in movie history)–it’s almost impossible to remember the engaging first half. My wife couldn’t believe I’d watch the movie after having seen it before–the last time must have been when I was thirteen or so–and I told her the reason it seemed better in my memory (to be fair, the first half is fine) is because I used to see it on television, with commercials. It runs over two hours and to get it into a two hour slot, they would have had to cut more than a half hour… which probably came out of the lousy second half.

She didn’t believe me.

As jingoistic as Delta Force gets–the rescued hostages sing “America the Beautiful,” not the “The Star-Spangled Banner” or “This Land is Your Land,” certainly not in a Chuck Norris movie–it’s hard for the cartoon action scenes in the second half to erase the memory of the first half. The first half of the film is a metaphor for the Second World War. Of 138 people, only one would stand up with the Jews. Kennedy getting up there placates, but it’s really just like the thirties. The fine American Christians didn’t care what the Nazis were doing to the Jews.

It’s such a shocking scene, I wonder who wrote it.

As for the movie overall… my wife described Marvin’s performance perfectly. He keeps acting like he’s in a real movie and expecting his co-stars to respond in kind. When they don’t, there’s a flash of confusion on his face before he can reorient himself. Susan Strasberg isn’t in it enough. Bo Svenson is awful. Steve James is okay. Kim Delaney is lousy. Norris is, big shock, terrible. His love interest, Wallace, is terrible too.

It seems like Golan didn’t really know how to direct actors, so he just got solid professionals for the hostages–but then made big mistakes, like casting Natalie Roth as Strasberg’s kid. It’s Susan Strasberg acting opposite a kid who wouldn’t make it as a non-speaking extra in a commercial.

Golan’s direction’s lousy, but compared to action movies today, it’s fine. You can tell what’s going on.

Alan Silvestri’s score’s more appropriate for a sports movie (maybe a handicapped runner overcoming the odds and winning… the silver) but it’s okay.

The Delta Force probably plays better on TV with commercials.

CREDITS

Directed by Menahem Golan; written by James Bruner and Golan; director of photography, David Gurfinkel; edited by Alain Jakubowicz; music by Alan Silvestri; production designer, Luciano Spadoni; produced by Golan and Yoram Globus; released by Cannon Films.

Starring Chuck Norris (Maj. Scott McCoy), Lee Marvin (Col. Nick Alexander), Martin Balsam (Ben Kaplan), Joey Bishop (Harry Goldman), Robert Forster (Abdul), Lainie Kazan (Sylvia Goldman), George Kennedy (Father O’Malley), Hanna Schygulla (Ingrid), Susan Strasberg (Debra Levine), Bo Svenson (Capt. Campbell), Robert Vaughn (Gen. Woodbridge), Shelley Winters (Edie Kaplan), William Wallace (Pete Peterson), Charles Grant (Tom Hale), Steve James (Bobby) and Kim Delaney (Sister Mary).

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Excluding the context, how is it as a film?  Well, a failure I guess.  It’s like being at a party where you’re the only person who isn’t drunk.  There’s a lot of fun being had but you aren’t included and watching other people in an altered state isn’t exactly rewarding.  Peter Fonda (who undergoes the titular trip) sees things that scare him or make him feel euphoric or blow his mind, but we just see dwarves or mounted men in soft-focus.  If the aim of the film is to replicate the LSD experience- whether for educational reasons as the introductory titles claim, or to make a quick buck like any other exploitation film- then it fails miserably.  Except in the sense that LSD is a dissociative drug and I was anything but engaged.

What is interesting about The Trip is how it is almost a dry run for Easy Rider, lots of things that work well in that movie (the campfire scene, the counter-culture dialogue, the way the sunlight bleeds into the camera, the different film effects used, Fonda’s dissatisfaction with the career/marriage conformist life and Hopper’s monumental performance) are given a dry run here.  And for that, it is important.  So I forgive it for being a bit crap.  4/10

Tālā 1967.gada klasika, Rodžers Kormans piedāvā nevāji ilustrētu almanahu pēcskolas vecuma bērniem “Kā pareizi lietot LSD un apdolbīties bez kritiskām sekām”. Tā, kā eksperimentālā ceļā minēto vielu reāli sarijās visi, pat scenāristu (sic!) Džeku Nikolsonu ieskaitot, rezultātu var uzskatīt par visai adekvātu. Skatītājiem rodas vienreizēja iespēja sekot Pītera Fondas (cilvēks ar apskaužamu filmogrāfiju) ceļojumiem apziņas dzīlēs, lai arī tripo viņš nezkāpēc tikai vai nu par seksu vai arī čehu pasaku filmām ar Karelu Gotu galvenajā l. Vispār tur ir vairāk jautri, nekā skābi. Pārējie varoņi gan apgalvo – groovy.

Ja tādu filmu uzņemtu 2008.gadā, tad Fondas varonis noteikti finālā izkristu pa logu no piecpadsmitā stāva, un mēs noklausītos šausminošu statistiku, bet tolaik itin normāli pēc breina ekskursijas skaitījās pamosties kopā ar dūkulīti, kuru mīli un visus cilvēkus uz zemeslodes arī.

in 2008 martcore says
ceļotprieks

There’s not much going on in the film–it really is all about the fallout of buying new drapes for a psychiatric clinic–and it’s the characters keeping it moving. At the end, there needs to be a resolution and so–I assume it’s from the book, but it’s funny enough it might be a filmic innovation–things get resolved. Cinemascope dramas always resolve nicely at the end, part of the genre requirements. But The Cobweb‘s resolution is too easy. It’s too abbreviated. But at the last moment, in a very nicely timed scene, it pulls off a great close.

John Houseman produced the film, which might account for Mercury Theatre member Paul Stewart’s too small role, and maybe Houseman’s involvement accounts for some of the gentleness in the picture. The scenes with Widmark and his son playing chess or talking are some of the film’s most effective, because they’re–for the majority of the running time–the only real insight we get in to Widmark’s feelings. The rest of the time, until he and Bacall get inappropriate, he’s too busy worrying about his patients. Grahame’s really good in a difficult, unlikable role, and managing to keep the character sympathetic by the end of the film is a real achievement on Grahame’s part. Bacall’s good tog, but her character gets reduced into an “other woman” role (but she has a great exit). Other exceptional performances (they’re all good) are Charles Boyer and Lillian Gish. Boyer has a slightly more difficult role, but Gish is more impressive, maybe just because I’m unfamiliar with her work.

There’s a little bit too much going on in The Cobweb. There’s easily material for three films in here–Widmark and Grahame, Bacall’s character needs a whole picture, and John Kerr and Susan Strasberg’s mental patient romance deserves one too (Kerr’s real impressive and it’s he and Grahame who get the film off to its good start). It’s an imperfect Cinemascope drama, though a great example of one, but still a satisfying experience.

CREDITS

Directed by Vincente Minnelli; screenplay by John Paxton, from a novel by William Gibson; director of photography, George J. Fosley; edited by Harold F. Kress; music by Leonard Rosenman; produced by John Houseman; released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Starring Richard Widmark (Dr. McIver), Lauren Bacall (Meg Rinehart), Gloria Grahame (Karen McIver), Charles Boyer (Dr. Devanal), Lillian Gish (Victoria Inch), John Kerr (Steven Holte), Susan Strasberg (Sue Brett), Oscar Levant (Mr. Capp), Tommy Rettig (Mark), Paul Stewart (Dr. Wolff), Jarma Lewis (Lois Demuth), Adele Jergens (Miss Cobb), Edgar Stehli (Mr. Holcomb), Bert Freed (Ave Irwin) and Fay Wray (Edna Devanal).

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