NOT NECESSARILY NOIR II @ The Roxie Nov 4 - 8

[Lzcutter]

We had a terrific time at the Roxie last night despite the pouring rain. Dewey served up Brainstorm, a sensationally weird little film produced and directed by William Conrad. The film stars Jeff Hunter as the hero who may or may not be faking going crazy due to his love for Anne Francis. Bad news for Hunter, Francis is married to a very old looking Dana Andrews who will let her go but she has to leave her young daughter behind.

Hunter works for Andrews' research company and saves Francis from a suicide attempt of death by leaving your car on the train tracks. She gets a hankering for Hunter though it takes him a bit to respond to all the moves she puts on him, including showing up with friends after hours at her husband's company. They are all pretty sauced and on a scavenger hunt. Hubby is out of town. They talk Hunter into joining them back at the house. This despite the fact that even his computer has warned Hunter that Francis is dangerous. Even spells it out for him right there on its screen in case Hunter has a hard time processing the information.

From there, the two fall in love and plot to kill Andrews so they can be together.

But, I guess having watched Double Indemnity and Postman Always Rings Twice, Hunter decides that it's best if he act crazy but not be able to fall back on an insanity defense. So, he starts acting all crazy like.

He should have watched more Hollywood movies about plotting against a lover's hubby because he ultimately discovers that Anne Francis isn't exactly pining away for him while he is serving out his sentence in the looney bin. She has moved on. Poor Jeff is left in the looney bin and proves to the audience he really is crazy.

Viveca Lindfors is terrific as the psychiatrist who Hunter feels is in love with him. Strother Martin excels at playing an inmate in the looney bin who gets on Hunter's bad side and even William Conrad does an homage to Hitchcock by showing up as an inmate in the looney bin.

The film has some wonderful cinematography and some great Wellesian touches with sound and visual transitions but it probably isn't enough.

The music score has some great jazz motifs and some hysterical rock and roll motifs that include a middle aged couple dancing that brought laughter from the audience. The score reminded both Marco and me of tv police dramas of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Maybe this is where various composers got the idea for all those music cues from?

Some great shots of Los Angeles including the Greystone mansion and the old International hotel down near LAX as well as Burbank Airport back in the day.

We look forward to Dewey returning to the Roxie in the Spring with another great line-up. I've got my fingers crossed for either (or both) American Hot Wax or The Outsiders.

I know it's an outside chance but a girl can dream......

[ChiO]

Nick Ray’s sensational 1954 Tru-Color western fandango, JOHNNY
GUITAR!! Is it a lesbian manifesto? A bitter condemnation of the
McCarthy hearings? A blueprint for Freudian psychology?

Yes. (And a marvelous inversion of gender.)

[CineMaven]

Today, those with a hearty taste for Mommie Dearest will have their ultimate fantasy as Not Necessarily Noir heads into Day Three with an incredible double dose of primo Joan Crawford. Up first is Nick Ray’s sensational 1954 Tru-Color western fandango, JOHNNY GUITAR!! Is it a lesbian manifesto? A bitter condemnation of the McCarthy hearings? A blueprint for Freudian psychology? Just what is it??

How 'bout a 'damn...good...western'?

[MikeBSG]

Here's something I just found out. "Johnny Guitar" and "Cat Ballou" are both based on novels by the same guy. (Roy Chanslor)

[Dewey1960]

Chansior was pretty prolific as a screenwriter all through the 30s and 40s
and virtually always in the realm of the Hollywood B film. Perhaps his most
notable screenplay was for Roy William Neill's 1946 adaptation of Woolrich's
BLACK ANGEL.
RE: JOHNNY GEETAR, Maven knowingly asserted: How 'bout a 'damn...good...western'?
How about maybe one of the two or three finest westerns ever made???
(Wasn't there a poll taken around here that refuted that over-statement?)
Anyway, just ask anyone who was at the Roxie last night and they'll most
likely tell you it's the greatest movie ever made. Period! But that's the
Roxie crowd for ya!
Hey Lynn, terrific recap of BRAINSTORM (Rainstorm was more like it, yes?)
Tonite we offer up a pair of ultra-sleazy girl gang pictures with plenty
o' Va-va-voom to spare! First up is ChiO fan-fave Timothy Farrell in
the 1954 roadshow shocker GIRL GANG!!

Sharing the bill is the obscure but great 1965 TEENAGE GANG DEBS!!
Everything the title promises and more!

[RedRiver]

ya done did dood it yet again.

Is that past, past, PAST tense?

the hero who may or may not be faking going crazy due to his love for Anne Francis.

He's not faking. I haven't been right since HONEY WEST!

[ChiO]

Charles Boyer, Schmoyer...Timothy Farrell is swave and tuff! I'm a respectable doctor even if I don't have a license?, indeed! THE VIOLENT YEARS meets JAIL BAIT. Class, Dewey, nothing but class.

[CineMaven]

RE: JOHNNY GEETAR, Maven knowingly asserted: How 'bout a 'damn...good...western'? How about maybe one of the two or three finest westerns ever made??? (Wasn't there a poll taken around here that refuted that over-statement?) Anyway, just ask anyone who was at the Roxie last night and they'll most likely tell you it's the greatest movie ever made. Period! But that's the Roxie crowd for ya!

Dewey, how was the crowd with "JOHNNY GUITAR"? Were they respectful? Were they laughing at it? Did they take it in the spirit the western was originally made, or was it a campfest? I'm curious.

He's not faking. I haven't been right since HONEY WEST!

You're not alone, Bub. A million man march that'd be.

[Dewey1960]

Maven, the crowd for JOHNNY GUITAR was incredibly reverential.
One of my favorite things about the Roxie is the level of coolness
and savvy of the people who come here. I’ve seen JOHNNY G. on
other big screens here in San Francisco and the results can be a little
dispiriting with lots of back-talking to the screen and unwanted running
commentaries. But the crowd at the Roxie on Sunday could not have
been more in tune with the film on the screen, stunned into silence for
most of its duration then swept up in a wave of spontaneous applause
and cheering at the end. I stayed for both shows and it was the same each
time. The co-feature, FEMALE ON THE BEACH, was treated with slightly
less respect. But it was never cruel. All in all, one of my most favorite
nights at the Roxie!
I wonder just how reverential the crowd will be tonight for our Edward
D. Wood onslaught! I can’t think of a single other director who is so
thoroughly misunderstood—even by those who love him.
The fun begins with Wood’s only true contribution to the film noir cycle.
JAIL BAIT

I think it was Prof. ChiO who cited this one as Wood’s masterpiece.
Who am I to argue?
GLEN OR GLENDA?

Pound for pound, the most deliriously wonderful film of all time. Hey!
A new poll! Your Most Wonderful Movie Ever!
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE

[ChiO]

What a glorious night this will be at the Roxie!

Spring request: THE SINISTER URGE and THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST.

[RedRiver]

David Steinberg said he liked GLEN OR GLENDA better than Tim Burton's ED WOOD!

[Dewey1960]

ChiO sez: Spring request: THE SINISTER URGE and THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST.
Rumor has it that a restoration of BRIDE AND THE BEAST is in the offing!!
Red sed: David Steinberg said he liked GLEN OR GLENDA better than Tim Burton's ED WOOD!
Who wouldn't?

[CineMaven]

Maven, the crowd for JOHNNY GUITAR was incredibly reverential. One of my favorite things about the Roxie is the level of coolness and savvy of the people who come here. I’ve seen JOHNNY G. on other big screens here in San Francisco and the results can be a little dispiriting with lots of back-talking to the screen and unwanted running commentaries. But the crowd at the Roxie on Sunday could not have been more in tune with the film on the screen, stunned into silence for most of its duration then swept up in a wave of spontaneous applause and cheering at the end.

Aaaaah! Sounds like my kind of crowd. Hi Dewey. Thanxx so much for telling me the tone of the audience at the Roxie. I hate the back-talking' for these ol' classics. I like them being revered. (Well...maybe "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE" would be the exception to the rule). Thanxxx again.

[ChiO]

Red sed: David Steinberg said he liked GLEN OR GLENDA better than Tim Burton's ED WOOD!
Who wouldn't?

Much to my chagrin, Sarah Jessica Parker. Along with Mr. Big, another poor choice by Ms. Parker (and I liked ED WOOD, but not more than GLEN OR GLENDA).

[RedRiver]

I like ED WOOD too. It's probably my favorite Tim Burton film.

Cinemaven,

It's simply SOOOO hip to sneer and jeer at movies from another era. The fact that the stories are great, the editing imaginative and the acting passionate is lost because the dialogue fails to employ the word, DUDE. A Chicago journalist wrote a column about a screening of HIGH NOON, ridiculed by the college audience. The man's heart was broken.