RALPH MEEKER Double-Bill Sat Nov 15

[moira finnie]

While scurrying around preparing for a Unity Celebration here at Chez ChiO tonight (a big diverse nonpartisan ecumenical tent - why even a McCain supporter and a "None of the Above" supporter by the name of Bryce will be in attendance), the significance of the statement finally sank in. Exhibit 1 for why, my friend Moira, you must not abandon Ms. Stanwyck in Westerns:

Oh, you must want me to notice Harold J. Stone, no? One of the great unsung character actors of the post-studio era indeed. I'm particularly partial to that moment in Spartacus when Mr. Stone is one of the first to shout, "I am Spartacus!" He is surely followed only by that fine young thespian, so skilled in portraying morally lax henchman, Steve Ihnat.

You, uh, couldn't possibly want me to notice that eye-rolling scenery chewer spouting gospel truthiness in the background, could you? His name escapes me, though I sure do like seeing Stanwyck all gussied up like she was a schoolmarm or somethin'.

If I were that red-haired kid, (hey, I could have been that red haired kid, well, the girl version--in 1967), I'd be afraid, very afraid, if I didn't do my homework exactly the way that Missus Barkeley told me to do it! She might bring that whip she has back at the Barkeley spread to school someday.

All the best at your family hoedown. Please give my best to Mr & Mrs. Bryce!

[klondike]

Oh, you must want me to notice Harold J. Stone, no? One of the great unsung character actors of the post-studio era indeed. I'm particularly partial to that moment in Spartacus when Mr. Stone is one of the first to shout, "I am Spartacus!" . . .

Like, as in this immortal tribute by the beloved cause celebre of a certain Ms. Crawford?

[youtube][/youtube]

If I were that red-haired kid, (hey, I could have been that red haired kid, well, the girl version--in 1967), I'd be afraid, very afraid, if I didn't do my homework exactly the way that Missus Barkeley told me to do it! She might bring that whip she has back at the Barkeley spread to school someday.

Now, let us be specific, Moira, about which ranch implement you were most irrationally intimidated by: the whip, the quirt, or the crop?
{Evidently, as memory serves, Victoria Barkley had brandishment licenses for all three!}

[Dewey1960]

Ah, the power of MEEKER...the mere mention of his curiously ironic name inspires those here to ramble poetically on about...
Howard Koch, Timothy Carey, Kirk Douglas, Sam Fuller, Rod Steiger, Gene Evans, Broderick Crawford, Robert Ryan, Nat King Cole, Barbara Stanwyck, Orson Welles, Carl Dreyer, Jacques Tourneur, John Cassavetes, F. W. Murnau, Robert Bresson, Max Ophuls, Erich von Stroheim, Fritz Lang, Jean Luc Godard, Nick Ray, Anthony Mann, Eisenstein, Chaplin, Kubrick, Ozu, Barry Sullivan, Harold J. Stone, Steve Inhat, Seymour Cassell and Harvey Keitel.
Yes. It all comes down to Meeker.

[ChiO]

Dewey sez:

BIG HOUSE USA, a relatively obscure B film that is almost universally despised for its offhanded and disturbing physical and emotional violence.

That ain't the half of it! The opening credits brought a smile to my face -- Roy Roberts does that for me, plus Reed Hadley who was in two fine Fuller Westerns -- but that didn't last long. From the start with a closeup of a pistol being fired (homage to Fuller?) and a needle (a sure way to send me running out of the room), it doesn't let up.

The shock of the early demise and disposal of Janet Leigh in PSYCHO is nothing compared to the early demise and disposal here.

Not as sleazy as COP HATER, but one of the most harrowing and brutal and nasty movies I've seen for awhile. A fine demonstration of how the tone of film noir changed from the mid-forties to the mid-fifties.

[Dewey1960]

ChiO sez: A fine demonstration of how the tone of film noir changed from the mid-forties to the mid-fifties.
Remarkable, isn't it, how a film released in 1955 could communicate so many unhealthy points of view and modes of behavior. And your point is very well taken with regard to the tone of noir films in the 50s. Ten years earlier, a film like BIG HOUSE USA could never have been made, at least not the way it was by 1955. Clearly an example of how style became gradually replaced by tone in the evolution of film noir. BH-USA, brilliant and brutal as it is, seems devoid of any discernible visual style--it's downright bland in appearance as a matter of fact. It's amazing this thing even got past the Motion Picture Code in the first place; it's chock full of the types of offending notions that were still taboo in the mid-50s.

And then he thoughtfully quipped: The shock of the early demise and disposal of Janet Leigh in PSYCHO is nothing compared to the early demise and disposal here.
Boy, ain't it the truth! No way on earth would a scene like this occur in a so-called "respectable" Hollywood motion picture back then. Only in a tawdry, low-budget B movie, made while nobody in charge was looking, could this type of thing happen. And that is why B stands for Better, if not Best.

[Alan K.]

Here's a story that I archived about BIG HOUSE U.S.A.:

"George (son of Aubrey) Schenck recently told me about an incident that took place during the making of his dad's production, BIG HOUSE, U.S.A, where he got to see Bronson channel his inner Ward Cleaver.

The story goes that George and fellow rug rat Hawk (son of BIG HOUSE director Howard) Koch were riding in a limousine en route to a family gathering at the Colorado film location. Also in the limo were costars Broderick Crawford, William Talman, Lon Chaney Jr. and Charlie B. During the long haul from Denver to Canon City, the perpetually thirsty Crawford, Talman and Chaney felt the need to wet their whistles. This was much to the displeasure of the tee-totaling Bronson, who just sat there stone-faced while the Big House booze hounds drank themselves silly. At wit's end, Bronson finally took action. Grabbing the pass-around bottle, he tossed it out the window, admonishing his colleagues for their behavior: "There are kids in this car!"

The bad news: Crawford and company were dry for the remainder of the ride to the set.

The good news: Ralph Meeker was there to greet them with liquid reinforcements. "

[Alan K.]

It's amazing this thing even got past the Motion Picture Code in the first place; it's chock full of the types of offending notions that were still taboo in the mid-50s.

Perhaps, but remember that Code major domo, Joseph I. Breen finally hung up his blue pencil in 1954. With television entering adolescence and the studio system breaking up, Hollywood was a vastly different place then say, 1947.

During that year, Breen went toe-to-toe with producer Mark Hellinger over the brutality of the prison noir, BRUTE FORCE. How that worthy film earned an MPAA seal with selected scenes extant such as the beating of Sam Levene with a rubber hose and the Lancaster rampart body pitch of Hume Cronyn who was torn apart by a rioting mob of howling convicts was amazing.

I like BIG HOUSE USA, particularly for the all-time great cast of plug-uglies, but it is an indifferently crafted and written movie ( Higgins did much better work). I thought Willis Bouche, totally miscast as the Father and Roy Roberts, were wasted in pedestrian roles.