Favourite movie stills .... an occasional series.

1950s: EAST OF EDEN: More on Dean, Richard Davalos and Julie Harris at labels ..... 

1960s: BLOW-UP - David and Vanessa and that perfectly 1960s studio space ...

1970s: NEW YORK NEW YORK, De Niro and Liza in Scorsese's powerhouse musical drama, a new A STAR IS BORN ...

1980s: BODY HEAT: Kathleen Turner's sizzling walk past dumb William Hurt in Lawrence Kasdan's sizzling modern noir.

Different choices, next time. 

October Trashfest

The IMDB Classic Film Board people are having their annual October challenge, seeing and reviewing the obscurer-the-better horror films for the Halloween season. I’ve rustled up my own October Trashfest, with some choice doozies:

Paul Schrader in 1982

CAT PEOPLE. The glossy 1982 remake from Paul Schrader (of DeWitt Bodeen’s story as filmed by Jacques Tourneur in 1942, a '40s classic) after his AMERICAN GIGOLO (which defined the early '80s), where he continues exploring his Calvinist background (he couldn't see any films until he was 18) and attitudes to sex and violence (as in his terrific script for TAXI DRIVER and early films HARDCORE and BLUE COLLAR, and his later LIGHT SLEEPER). Schrader certainly liked getting his attractive leads out of their clothes – as in GIGOLO and here, where leading lady Nastassja Kinski is starkers for the closing scenes …. I can’t imagine it being shown on TV uncut!

SPOILERS AHEAD:First thing, it looks terrific of course, shot by John Bailey (who lensed GIGOLO), and again Ferdinando Scarfiotti (1941-1994) is “visual consultant” (presumably like Hoyningen–Heune used to be for Cukor), the score is again by Giorgio Moroder, and David Bowie contributes that dynamic song “Putting Out Fire with Gasoline” – which leads us to the subject matter. Brother and long lost sister re-unite in suitably spooky New Orleans (OBSESSION, ANGEL HEART) – Irina (Kinski) though turns into a black panther when erotically aroused – brother Malcolm McDowell, who also transforms, wants her to sleep with him so they can protect each other, but she falls for a zoo director (John Heard). The copious amounts of nudity and the erotically charged story and the stunning visuals keep one watching, but the ending is problematic. We get a man tying a naked woman with rope to the four corners of a bed (which will be a turn-on for some people) before having sex with her – to save himself when she transforms into the panther! – and then the last scene has her as the panther in her cage at the zoo, as he looks at her wistfully and pets her and gives her treats, his pet captive. 

It seems it is her choice to be captured and sacrifice her freedom and he goes along with it, but will she turn back into human form again? There are gruesome scenes along the way, as well as Annette O’Toole’s topless swim in the pool, and some terrific special effects. Kinski (TESS), McDowell, Heard and Ruby Dee all do as their director requires and the Bowie song rounds it off nicely. Its certainly a fascinating, offbeat, cult movie that bears a rewatch. Interesting features on the dvd have interviews with Schrader (now married to Mary Beth Hurt) on set discussing Scarfiotti and the cast. Bowie of course went on to THE HUNGER with Deneuve, the next year in 1983, another stylish horror movie (as per my review Deneuve label).

THE KILLER NUN.  This is the real eurotrash treat, from 1979.

A demented nun sliding through morphine addiction into madness, whilst presiding over a regime of lesbianism, torture and death. Sister Gertrude is the head nurse/nun in a general hospital, whose increasingly psychotic behavior endangers the staff and patients around her.Or as the blurb says:

Legendary Swedish sex bomb Anita Ekberg (LA DOLCE VITA) stars as Sister Gertrude, a cruel nun who discovers depraved pleasure in a frenzy of drug addiction, sexual degradation and sadistic murder. Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro (ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN), Alida Valli as the mother superior, Lou Castel, Massimo Serato co-star in this notorious “Nunsploitation’ branded as obscene around the world and banned outright in Britain, but now available in a new restored transfer …

Well, yes, it’s a lot of fun, Trash Heaven in fact. Anita still has that Ekberg magnetism here (see label for my other reviews on her classics like SCREAMING MIMI or ZARAK), hilarious moments include her stamping on false teeth and having some hot girl on girl action. Directed by one Giulio Berruti.

THE NUN OF MONZA, 1969. “The Nun of Monza” by Mario Mazzuccheli was a respected Penguin paperback in the ‘60s which I remember enjoying reading. The film, by Epirando Visconti (a nephew of Luchino), finally turns up, a 1969 romp from that era of nun exploitation cinema. The story is based on real events emphasizing on the hypocrisy and abuse of power of the Catholic Church in 17th Century Italy. 
It all looks great of course, the buildings and the costumes. Anne Heywood is the Mother Superior who against her will has to give shelter to handsome Antonio Sabato who soon has those nuns all aflutter. Hardy Kruger is the priest who wants him protected. Soon though Sabato and Anne have a passionate affair resulting in a baby. Then they have to go on the run due to various plot twists and turns. It all ends with her being walled up alive for 10 years …. A fate worse than death, probably. Not as lurid as THE DEVILS it still packs a punch and looks great. Good score too by Ennio Morricone. 

RED RIDING HOOD, 2011. The classic fairly tale re-imagined for the TWILIGHT generation, as its director Catherine Hardwicke fashions a marvellous village and forest setting for more werewolf mischief … This time, Amanda Seyfried is Valerie (and she seems as vapid as she was in MAMMA MIA!) the girl torn between two men, the man she loves and the one her parents want her to marry. Gary Oldman on autopilot is Solomon, the werewolf hunter brought in to aid the villagers as it seems the wolf who prowls the forest is actually one of them in daylight hours … Julie Christie (right) is the grandma with her cottage in the woods who gives Valerie her scarlet cloak. I would not really bother with this, apart from Christie, who has some good moments. The ending though is rather a mystery as Riding Hood kills the werewolf (her own father!) but does not mind that the man she loves will also become one, as she takes grandma's place and waits for him. It has moments of campy fun but left a lot to be desired, some of it looks so murky one can hardly see what is going on – I was wishing I was back at Neil Jordan’s THE COMPANY OF WOLVES in 1984. 

I KILLED RASPUTIN. A rather tatty entry in the Rasputin stakes, this 1967 farrago is directed by actor Robert Hossein, who also appears. Hossein did some neat French thrillers I like a lot, but this one is not in those league. Peter McEnery is young Prince Yusupof , with Geraldine Chaplin as one of Rasputin’s devotees. Rasputin though is Gert Froebe – perfect as GOLDFINGER but all wrong here (Christopher Lee was a much more compelling Mad Monk for Hammer Films). Hossein’s father Andre did the music score. The real aged Prince Yusopov appears in person at the start, a few months before he died, which is the only fascinating thing here. We like Peter McEnery too, the first HAMLET I saw on stage about that time, in 1968, but wasted here. 

SERIAL MOM, 1994. Director John Waters puts a twist on the everyday mediocrity of suburban life in the hilarious satire SERIAL MOM. See Kathleen Turner like never before as Beverly Sutphin, the seemingly perfect homemaker who will stop at nothing to rid the neighbourhood of anyone failing to live up to her moral code. This is great fun but not quite in the same league as Waters’ HAIRSPRAY or indeed his earlier, wilder classics like FEMALE TROUBLE or PINK FLAMINGOS. Turner lets rip as people who do not recycle properly or who do not re-wind their rented video-cassettes get into a lot of trouble, as the body count piles up, even a leg of lamb can be a murder weapon! With Sam Waterston, and Waters regulars Ricki Lake, Mink Stole, Tracy Lords, Patricia Hearst and Suzanne Somers. Kitsch is the word! 

BEVERLY HILLS MADAM. I recorded this 1986 telemovie from a cable channel and foolished wiped it, I wish I had kept it now Its a kitschfest with all the requisite '80s glossy trappings and with those big hair and big shoulders, and Faye Dunaway cheerfully chomping the scenery as the Madam - hadn't she learned anything from MOMMIE DEAREST? - we are a long way from CHINATOWN here! A bordello catering to rich and wealthy clients, run by Lil Hutton (Faye) experiences a series of crises as one girl ends up pregnant, and another dead. As a subplot, a young woman, Julie Taylor, makes a trip to LA to surprise a friend, but never finds her. Julie is mugged, and seeks help from Lil. She sees how much the callgirls are making, and is tempted into the lifestyle. On her first "job" is hired by a rich father for his 18-year old virgin son as a birthday gift, and they fall in love. But the relationship comes to a quick end as soon as the son learns she is a "whore"; Julie breaks down and runs off after realizing prostitution is a cold and loveless occupation that cannot fulfill her emotional emptiness.This treat also features Louis Jourdan, Melody Anderson (those 80s names!), Donna Dixon, Terry Farrell and Robin Givens who sashay through this farrago, directed by Harvey Hart. 

LADY CHATTERLEY’S LOVER, 1981. Sylvia Kristel is the lonely young wife of a wealthy aristocrat in this tale of love, lust and forbidden fantasies as adapted from D.H. Lawrence’s famously erotic novel, featuring the tortuous conflict between duty and desire. Paralysed from the waist down due to a war injury, Sir Clifford Chatterley urges his wife Constance to take a lover to satisfy her physical needs, but when she begins an intense affair with a man of shockingly lower class – the virile and rugged gamekeeper Mellors – the unexpected stirring of passions will spell the end of their marriage ….. 
Shane Briant makes Chatterley a nasty bore, whereas Nicholas Clay is a perfect Mellors, totally at ease washing himself au natural. I suppose Kristel is adequate as Lady C, as directed by Just Jaeckin, and Ann Mitchell scores again as that devious nurse with it seems her own plans for the estate and Lord Chatterley. It’s a Golan/Globus production with better than usual production values. I wonder how it compares to the ’93 Ken Russell version? Can I be bothered to find out?

TOO HOT TO HANDLE, 1960. Sex bomb Midnight Franklin is the star at the Pink Flamingo nightclub in London’s wild Soho district. Midnight’s lover, club-owner Johnny Solo, carefully handpicks the exotic dancers from the scores of actresses, art students and young housewives that seek to join the well-paid Flamingo strippers. Johnny and the girls are not adverse to after-hours “deals” with the club’s wealthy clientele. The cash is rolling in and life is good. So good in fact that a rival club owner wants a piece of the pie and is prepared to use violence to get it. But Johnny is not one to back down from a fight, setting off a downward spiral of events that will explode in betrayal and murder! 

Delirious blurb – delirious movie. I had thought this was a cheapo effort not worth bothering with, but it proves a delicious cocktail of 1960 tropes among the Soho stripper set, tawdry but fun, like 1958's PASSPORT TO SHAME (revew at Diana Dors label) or EXPRESSO BONGO. It is directed by Terence Young (a few years before he moved on to James Bond and DR NO) and the cast all shine. Leo Genn is just right as Solo, while Jayne Mansfield is sweet and likeable as Midnight – this may have been the start of her slide from 20th Century Fox to cheapo movies, but she shines as the den mother to the strippers, and she has a nice scene with young Barbara Windsor (right, with her own assets to the fore, well they would have to be to compete with Jayne…) as 15 year old Ponytail. (Barbara is now one of our National Treasures here in the UK, so its amusing seeing her this early in her career in this context). Carl Boehm (PEEPING TOM that same year) is also to hand with nothing much to do, and Christopher Lee is actually rather sexy with that moustache as the devious club manager. Its all a lot of fun actually. 

Sunday with Seth and Zac, The Beatles and Here's Grace ... and Kathleen !

Frat-boy fun: I got some criticism recently for reviewing Seth Rogen’s THE GUILT TRIP when I have no interest or appreciation of what passes for modern comedy these days, but I was only interested in THE GUILT TRIP (a friend passed me on his dvd, I wouldn’t have bothered with it otherwise) as it was a Barbra Streisand film, and I had been obsessed with Barbra from a long time, since my teens in the early 60s to about the time of her A STAR IS BORN in 1976. It amuses me that people like Seth Rogen are movie stars now, part of our dumbed-down culture no doubt. At least Zac Efron, Seth’s co-star in BAD NEIGHBOURS, is easy on the eye (as Seth says "its like a gay man created him in a laboratory") – as he was in THE PAPERBOY, but if he persists in making movies like this his screen stardom may suddenly start to decline - Taylor Lautner anyone? (I was wrong here - the film is a huge hit!). Here in the UK though we do not get SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE so this new breed of comedians and writers are mainly unknown to us, until their movies arrive here – I hadn’t heard of Kristen Wiig or Melissa McCarthy for instance until BRIDESMAIDS, more gross-out comedy. 

 Our SUNDAY TIMES film critic, Camilla Long, does not mince her words – here’s some of what she says about BAD NEIGHBOURS!. Every so often a film comes along that feels more like an elaborate aversion experiment than an actual film. BAD NEIGHBOURS is such an appallingly moronic comedy that will make anyone with a working pair of ears and eyes never want to see a film again. Rogen plays exactly the same character he’s ever played: a stupid, lubricious, fat loser paired with a woman who wouldn’t look at him twice in real life (because of course all schlubby guys in these kind of movies deserve hot girls) … this is a horrifyingly dumb mess that makes ANIMAL HOUSE look like Antonioni.  Way to go, Camilla!. 

It was Nostalgia Time with that tv show celebrating the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles "conquering" America in 1964 when they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. This was THE NIGHT THAT CHANGED AMERICA, first broadcast in the States in February - it finally turned up here in the UK this May weekend! Cue a schmaltzfest of the great and good (thats you, Jeff Bridges) as, to our eyes here in Europe, a show of overkill re-worked those Beatles classics, with the two surviving Beatles, happily nodding along, along with Yoko and assorted Beatles wives and offspring. For me, Maroon 5 stole the show with a cracking "Ticket to Ride", and Ed Sheeran practically reduced one to tears with that simple and effective "In My Life" - what a lyric that is! particularly now after all these years. 
Steve Wonder did a neat "We Can Work It Out" while Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart over-egged the simple "Fool On The Hill", and Alicia Keys and John Legend tried to outsing each other on "Let It Be". It all finished with a predictable singalong to "Hey Jude". Good though to see Ringo celebrated along with Paul. Was it a good idea though for McCartney to finish with "I Saw Her Standing There"? Those opening lines "Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean" could sound rather creepy sung by someone in his 70s with dyed hair!. Its a swaggering young man's song indelibly sung by John Lennon, the first track on their first album. Maroon 5 would have been perfect for it. 
 
And the paper's "must have reissue" in their music section. A welcome nod to Grace Jones' NIGHTCLUBBING, which I loved on vinyl and is now on the iPod. This though is a new double CD pack with booklet, which I have ordered and will arrive tomorrow, with lots of remixes of those classics like "Pull Up To The Bumper". My late disk jockey friend Rory would have loved it. As The Times says: "The biggest seller of Grace Jones' career is reissued in multiple formats, its chief surprise being her previously unheard take on Gary Numan's "Me! I Disconnect From You". It remains one of pop's most prophetic albums, the crack band assembled by Sly and Robbie creating mongrel music whose diversity was, in 1981, years ahead of its time, and Jones herself, on a sequence of covers and originals, taking vocal detachment and androgyny to a whole new level". 
I finally got to see Grace live over a decade ago in 2002 to be exact, at al all day festival in South London. She was topping the bill, after Yoko Ono, and finally came on as dusk fell, after keeping us happy clubbers waiting for over 40 minutes - and then blew us all away. The most astounding performer I had seen live apart from Nina Simone! 
Good to see the albums like ISLAND LIFE, SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM and those COMPASS POINT SESSIONS and her recent new album HURRICANE of a few years ago still out there. I like INSIDE STORY from 1986 with "I'm not perfect, but I'm perfect for you", and every track on LIVING MY LIFE is sublime, from "My Jamaican Guy" to "The Apple Stretching" to "Cry Now, Laugh Later" and "Unlimited Capacity for Love".Grace still rules in her sixties - as she did with her hula-hoop at The Queen's Jubilee Concert a couple of years ago! I am amazed that I can like Grace as much as I do Joni or Aretha or Dusty or any of the great divas. Perhaps Grace is the uber-Diva. 

Kathleen Turner gives great interview, either in print or on TV. She is in town again for another play here - one I do not know, THE BAKERSFIELD MIST as a trailer park woman who buys a painting cheap and it may turn out to be a Jackson Pollock. Kathleen was wonderful on the Paul O'Grady Show, and in some press interviews. Her voice is so amazingly deep now, and she has great attitude and humour, after coping with health problems. 
I was blown away a year or two ago when finally catching her stunning debut in BODY HEAT from 1981. What a stunner that is. I could watch it over and over, as per my review, at Turner label. 

A is for Amour & Anouk, B is for BB, Body Heat & BBM, S is for The Servant (with Q&A!)

Miscellaneous items that caught my attention over the weekend:

A is for AMOUR. The dvd of Michael Haneke's Cannes prize-winner and arthouse crossover is out today, and I should have mine in today's post. Its not hard to understand its success - we all have to deal with ageing and death, and witness our parents' decline .... This was my film of the year last year (French, Trintignant labels), it is though a pitiless drama showing what ageing does to us. Watch it and weep ... event cinema is rarely this grim. We observe two highly intelligent people, deeply in love, as we clinically observe their end ... the devotion of the frail husband (Trintignant in his 80s) caring for his ailing wife will stay with you for days ... it reminds me so much of  my parents (though their situation was reversed). Haneke tops and tails the film just right.

A is also for Anouk: We were having an interesting discussion over at IMDB (The Internet Movie Database) on UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME - it is still a very well regarded French movie, maybe THE French movie for those who don't usually like French movies ? ! Lots of love too for Anouk Aimee and Jean-Louis Trintignant ... I have posted on it before here, at Anouk label - but I feel like watching it again now, particularly that "Samba Saravah" sequence. Sheer '60s glamour bliss ...

B is for Brigitte ... The French Institute here in London is currently running a mini-season on Brigitte Bardot at their Cine Lumiere cinema in Kensington. They are only showing a handful of BB films, but they remind us that she had developed into a considerable actress before her other passsions for animals and their welfare took hold, though unlike Sophia born the same year 1934, BB was never that dedicated to her career. She is certainly stunning in the iconic AND GOD CREATED WOMAN in 1956, left, where she is a new archtype, like the female James Dean!
See Bardot label for review of one of my favourites: HEAVEN FELL THAT NIGHT, that Vadim scorcher from 1958 with BB and Stephen Boyd both in their prime. - they were less so a decade later in that dreadful western SHALAKO where she seemed bored with it all and her '60s look was all wrong for this 1890s western ...

her last great outing was really in Malle's VIVA MARIA that international hit from 1966, where she is playful and fun and oh so glamorous with Malle and Moreau. She was lovely too as Helen's handmaiden in HELEN OF TROY in 1955 and with Bogarde in DOCTOR AT SEA ....  '50s glamour then!

We also revisited two favourites on tv over the weekend:

BODY HEAT from 1982, a discovery from last year with Kathleen Turner as one of the great femme fatales ... I love her first appearance as she walks past our dumb hero Ned Racine as the breeze ripples her white dress showing some thigh, you can feel the heat .... then theres that zingy dialogue. 80s glamour !  (review at Turner label).

Also, another wallow at BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - still one of the great movie dramas ... though I still think why couldn't they have run off to San Francisco or some other big city (like so many other small town/country boys did) and opened a jeans store - they could still be cowboys! - and not ruin so many lives and be more fulfilled themselves. Ang Lee's direction (so good to see him getting another best director award this year, though I am not so sure if I want to see his new one ...) and the performances remain superlative - that moment with Ledger locked into himself, eating his apple pie in the diner, is a heart-breaking moment I won't forget - let along that climax with his visit to Jack's parents, which speaks volumes. Interesting too how Jack Twist begins to meet other people (is this what leads to his murder?), as Ennis cannot see a future for them together, ... including that nicely judged scene with that other husband who casually but eagerly invites Jack to his weekend log cabin, for drinking and outdoor pursuits ... oh those cowboys!

This year is also the 50th anniversary of Losey's THE SERVANT, that ground-breaker from 1963, and the BFI has some screenings lined up. Its easy to forget quite how creepy and daring this was back then, the early '60s was still the era of Norman Wisdom comedies in England, and Bogarde's war movies like THE PASSWORD IS COURAGE and HMS DEFIANT. There was of course that British "New Wave" led by Tony Richardson with A TASTE OF HONEY, Schlesinger with A KIND OF LOVING, and Dirk's VICTIM but then it was back to fluff like DOCTOR IN DISTRESS ...  

THE SERVANT though changed all that, as scripted by Harold Pinter from Robin Maugham's novella. Set is that very Losey house - all those mirrors - (off Kings Road, Chelsea) with that score by John Dankworth and the terrific Cleo Laine song "All Gone", it focuses on Barrett taking over the house of indolent young master James Fox, and soon we have Vera (Sarah Miles) whom Barrett introduces as his sister, and Wendy Craig as the displaced girlfriend.  
1963 was just when things were starting to change as the '60s got underway, the year of the first Beatles album as pop and mod and fashion took off. Of course it was also the year of the Profumo scandal. With his outsider's eye Losey picked up on the absurdities of the British class system ... THE SERVANT continues to fascinate and remains a key Losey-Bogarde film, more on it at Losey, Bogarde, Miles, Fox labels. Hard to think that those '63 classics like THE BIRDS and HUD, LE FEU FOLLET and BAY OF ANGELS are also 50 years old .... they just don't feel like old movies! '60s decadence! plus '63's BILLY LIAR, CHARADE and THE LEOPARD as well ...

PS: I am now attending a screening of THE SERVANT with a Q&A afterwards by surviving cast members James Fox, Sarah Miles and Wendy Craig, at The Curzon, Mayfair on Sunday 24 March, 2.45pm. As I saw Bogarde and Losey in interview in 1970, I felt I had to be at this one too ... more on that next week! (and Sarah is a 'People We Like' on here ...).

Summer re-runs: let me feel your Body Heat

BODY HEAT - Ned Racine is a seedy small town lawyer in Florida. During a searing heatwave he's picked up by married Matty Walker. A passionate affair commences but it isn't long before they realise the only thing standing in their way is Matty's rich husband Edmund. A plot hatches to kill him but will they pull it off?

After his screenplays for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Lawrence Kasdan got to direct his first feature in 1981 - this torrid update on those '40s noirs.. BODY HEAT is a neo-noir full of the pleasures of hard-boiled dialogue, plot twists and old movies - DOUBLE INDEMNITY in particular. Kathleen Turner makes her film debut as the femme fatale who seduces sleazy lawyer William Hurt into murdering her husband ... and what a debut it is. The breeze riffling that white dress as she casually sways by as the mesmerised Hurt follows her to the beach. He says something, she replies "I'm a married woman" so he says "meaning what?" and she replies "Meaning I am not looking for company" .. but of course she is and how. Then there is that scene when she retreats indoors while he is outside as he gets the chair and breaks in, as she is egging him on.  Soon of course he is putty in her hands.   It is rather an appropriate movie to follow on from MISSISSIPPI MERMAID - see below.

BODY HEAT remains an '80s classic. Whats wonderful here is the colour and that great score by John Barry, and those throwaway lines like "Youre not very smart are you? I like that in a man....". There's reams of smart dialogue one could quote. In fact I want to run it again in case I missed any. Turner is astonishingly assured in her first role - she brings that other Turner to mind - Lana in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Hurt was one of the 80s great actors (KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN etc) but his career seems to have faltered after that. Kasdan went on to that other essential 80s item: THE BIG CHILL and others. I find a lot of 80s stuff has dated badly, but BODY HEAT is an exception. Mickey Rourke and Ted Danson and Richard Crenna are excellent support.

This sultry, sweaty update on DOUBLE INDEMNITY succeeds on every level - you can almost feel the heat coming off the screen.  Its another duplicitous woman seducing a lust-addled stud into killing her rich older husband ("He's out of town a lot" - "thats my favourite kind") then leaves him to slowly unravel .... It is fascinating to watch the plot twists unfold and the ending is just perfect, as our hero in jail gets the evidence which shows who Matty really is ... but one cannot comment too much on that, we don't want to spoil it if you have not seen it. The final scene on some foreign beach is a zinger too.  Turner also has that great voice - didn't she voice Jessica Rabbit?  I will be watching BODY HEAT again and soon. It will be even more enjoyable next time round.