Bad Movies You Love

[JackFavell]

It IS true. And so eloquent.

[CineMaven]

Please tell these good folks that I have not bribed you.

[CineMaven]

It's Steve, he's tired...and talking about a movie recently aired on TCM:

[Sue Sue Applegate]

TO QUOTE CINEMAVEN:

Here is my realistic version of a biker chick:


Dominique-a-nique-a-nique-u-nique...


AS FOR CLAUDELLE ENGLISH...The minute Claudelle changes into the different dress and walks to the drugstore, her destiny was about to change. The adorable Diane McBain as Claudelle makes that "see change" when she asks for the red lipstick, and all the fellows (including Chad Everett) , start focusing their attention. When she lets everybody in the drugstore see her point to the red lipstick, and then asks for a chocolate soda with an extra scoop, I knew trouble was just down the dusty street.

The worst place a girl can make an announcement about what she intends to do with her very own lips is the town drugstore. I was just waiting for Barney Fife to walk in and start shakin' with embarrassment at such a public display.

And then she asks for that extra scoop. Uh-oh...

Just watch out for any woman who double dips!

[moirafinnie]

It all started with that ballerina spinning on the music box and the longing for the new red shoes...no, it wasn't Moira Shearer's tragedy, but Claudelle Inglish, which seemed to be paying homage at a few points to the Powell and Pressburger classic. Other than that, I was kind of disappointed in the central character's trip to strumpetdom. Couldn't she have had more fun being bad?

Small Spoiler Alert

And wait a minute! Who forgot to tell director Gordon Douglas and actors Arthur Kennedy, Constance Ford and Frank Overton that they were making a trash classic? By the end of the movie, they actually made me feel a bit of a pang for their situation. If only they could have stayed happily two-dimensional and remembered that they were in the same movie occupied by that "extra scoop of ice cream" bad girl Diane McBain? Darn those actors! The adults mentioned above kept breaking out of their stereotypes despite the script's insistence on regarding Ms. McBain as a lethal combination of Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe at the height of their sultriness. (I like McBain, but she was never my idea of hot tamale on screen, but maybe I am missing something?)

Once again the three supporting actors impressed the heck out of me with their ability to make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. I can't say the same for Claude Akins as Mr. Southern MoneyBags, though I think it was unjust of Claudelle to say he was "too old and too fat." Diane McBain deserved better too. Even if her character sold her virtue for a chance to get some red lipstick, a dress*, some silk stockings and some sack time with a bunch of backwoods romeos from Chad Everett to Will Hutchins (how could anyone corrupt him--much less run over him?! He was so cute, like a puppy in human form).

Please excuse me for asking one rude question that might be a bit of a spoiler. Did this girl ever have an assignation in a regular bedroom somewhere or was that one guy who came scratchin' at her bedroom window the only hookup she ever had under a roof? All the other times seemed to be in a car, a pickup, in the woods or a back room somewhere--unless I missed something (I admit that my attention wavered after Connie Ford came out of the house in the dark wearing one of Claudelle's dresses to go for a ride with one of her suitors).

*That dress that Claudelle whipped up from her "trousseau material" after Chad Everett wrote her that "Dear Jane" letter giving her the heave-ho was supposed to inflame the passions of every male in the county, but I kept thinking it looked like a classic Villager shirtwaist dress that my Mom had back in the '60s, like the ones shown in the vintage pattern below. No offense, but it just didn't seem to be the kind of outfit designed to bring out the beast in every male under 80.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Probably pattern #1 would be the "hearts aflutter" version, however, when your world is as small as Claudelle's, you might not have to embellish with fancy accessories.

Couldn't she see that Will Hutchins is the totally adorable one?

I don't know much about the film after the "chocolate soda and lipstick" scene. Unfortunately, my batteries flattened out right after that. And I've always wanted to see all of Claudelle English.

And who else but Chad Everett would have written that "Dear Jane" letter?

Moira, after your delightful "spoiler," I am even more sure of my determination to see the entire saga. As for not having a roof all her own, at least it seems she was always fairly flexible!

[moirafinnie]

Oh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees Will Hutchins appeal. I am so sorry that I can't record this for you on a DVD, Christy. Maybe one of our pals here has access to that ability? You ought to see this movie in its entirety, I think.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Thanks, Moira. What little I saw, I enjoyed.

[RedRiver]

SUGARFOOT! SUGARFOOT!
Easy lopin', cattle ropin' SUGARFOOT!

[Rita Hayworth]

*That dress that Claudelle whipped up from her "trousseau material" after Chad Everett wrote her that "Dear Jane" letter giving her the heave-ho was supposed to inflame the passions of every male in the county, but I kept thinking it looked like a classic Villager shirtwaist dress that my Mom had back in the '60s, like the ones shown in the vintage pattern below. No offense, but it just didn't seem to be the kind of outfit designed to bring out the beast in every male under 80.

My Mom made couple dresses out of this pattern ... Moira and they were quite popular back in those days. How, I know this ... because I was only one of two boys that took Home Economics in High School (in a class of 34 girls, 36 altogether) and as for an extra credit ... I helped my Mom making one of these dresses.

[moirafinnie]

Sorry for the late notice, but I think we might want to see the deliciously titled A Fever in the Blood (1961), which is being shown on TCM at 6pm (ET) today. Angie Dickinson, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Ray Danton, Don Ameche, and even Herbert Marshall are on hand for this Vincent Sherman flick about political ambition, murder, and of course, lots of secrets. And check out these posters!! It's almost as good as the one for The Sins of Rachel Cade (seen earlier in this thread). Hey, is it me, or after Rio Bravo, did Angie have to wait until Point Blank before she made a good movie?

[ChiO]

Hey, is it me, or after Rio Bravo, did Angie have to wait until Point Blank before she made a good movie?

Well....

My favorite Dickinson performance (and movie - but only by a leg over POINT BLANK) is THE KILLERS (Don Siegel, 1964), about in the middle of the period. But if one wants to contend that it was really a TV movie that ended up on the big screen, then I would agree.

Oh, how I wish TCM were showing CHINA GATE (Samuel Fuller, 1957) tomorrow night. That's #2 on my Dickinson performance list (but after POINT BLANK as a movie). Good ol' Lucky Legs. (Assignment: Compare and contrast Preston Sturges and Samuel Fuller character names.)

[moirafinnie]

I like Don Siegel's pre-Eastwood movies for the most part, but not in color and not with Ronald Reagan. For me, The Killers belongs to 1946, Robert Siodmak, Burt, Ava, and Woody Bredell's cinematography (oh yeah, and maybe that Hemingway guy and Mark Hellinger). I've tried to watch the '64 version, but it just doesn't sing to me. I guess I like seeing the world in stark black and white. Thanks for the assignment, teach, but I dun gradeated.

Angie is just fantastic in Point Blank.

[MissGoddess]

I really enjoyed Fever in the Blood! I'm only sorry I didn't record it so I could re-watch. Angie doesn't have much to do but she is excellent, I thought, and gave the role great feeling. And yes, she was just unbelievably beautiful. Efram even showed some emotion which is a big deal! But to me the best performance belonged to Don Ameche. I've never been a particular fan of his, I thought him affable but bland but he's just super as the wily politician with an Achilles heel (his wife)...horns and all he was surprisingly touching yet repellent too.

Is it me or did the last scene seem a mixture of ra-ra-ness and...creepiness? I guess I just have such a jaundiced view, I felt like Efram was walking into the lions den and if he ever emerged again, he'd be just like Callahan, only worse. Oh, and Jack Kelly was excellent, too. All these television super stars in one movie, together with studio era stars of the past made it rather interesting. Of them all, Carol O'Connor had the acting chops to have worked well in any era.

P.S. Imagine this movie had Rod Serling written the script and Frankenheimer directed. Wow!

[JackFavell]

How did I miss this one?