WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

Uh huh. sigh.

[moira finnie]

My brooding, handsome avatar is the dashing Raoul Walsh. I'd have loved to sit at his feet and listened to his stories.

Please forgive me if I missed something, but have you already read the new bio by Marilyn Ann Moss? If so, would you recommend it? I liked Walsh's own highly entertaining bio autobiography, but this new one has gotten some great reviews and Moss has a good reputation. Maybe I should ask Santa for this one? Thanks in advance for any guidance you may offer, JF.

[JackFavell]

Moira,

I am frustrated with the new bio so far, but I haven't come near to finishing it. I guess I feel very removed from Walsh in this book, I don't feel his personality much, which is odd for such a charismatic subject.

I find that Moss repeats herself a lot, especially when discussing her take on his psychology, and his relationships with his wives, which she goes back to again and again, but with little real information. I can't really fault her assumptions, but wish there were more anecdotes and real life experiences shown to back them up. There is little personal information, she dwells on the movie plots more than I would like. She will give a synopsis, then go back and flesh out the plots of the movies even more, which I personally don't need. Only then will she mention whatever events happened during filming, a little too curtly for my liking. Something astounding to my way of thinking will be mentioned, then dropped immediately. Friendships are talked about, but then that person will hardly be brought up again. Instead, she will try to flesh out her diagnosis of Walsh, within the context of the plot or characters of the movies he made. Again -this is not a bad thing if you have some action or events thrown in as well, but these are lacking. So far, William Randolph Heart has taken up the most space. I am just coming up to the Errol Flynn section of the book, so maybe we will get into some more relationship stuff and juice now. The book is simply too dry for my liking up to this point - a simple relating of Walsh's movies, his psyche, and an occasional anecdote thrown in for good measure. There is no action or movement which is weird from this very action oriented man! The Gloria Swanson section stands out as the best for me so far, because there was some actual information here that I didn't know.

I certainly wouldn't pay the kind of money I did for the book again, knowing what I know about it now. I'm not particularly impressed, and have my nose out of joint because I was expecting a bit more life in this bio. I have more questions than I did before, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I feel she drops the ball on certain happenings, just when things get interesting, in order to talk about Hal Wallis' memos, which couldn't be more ridiculous, or in order to summarize the plot of The Roaring Twenties more deeply. She also has some odd critiques of actors or certain movies that I disagree with, that she passes off as the final word.

[CineMaven]

I wonder why she bothered in the first place. Did she just take the money and run. Did she try to pad the book like a kid does with his school composition. I've felt more passion come out of may SSO or TCM Message Board posters' essays than you probably came across from her book.

I wonder why she bothered.

[moira finnie]

Thanks for the heads up, Jacks and Cine!

I loathe it when an author reiterates a plot line needlessly (many of Walsh's movie plots are embedded in my memory anyway thanks to early exposure to the Warner's library in childhood). It especially irks me when an author then neglects an exploration of the movie's theme, the filmmaker's intentions and the context of the period when it was made, without anecdotes about the time and the people. I just put a hold on a copy of the Raoul Walsh book from the library, which sounds as though it will be sufficient. I do hope that the portions of the book about Flynn and Cagney give the bio some life.

It's still a fine avatar, and clearly photographed prior to Raoul's encounter with that jackrabbit.

[JackFavell]

Yes, I couldn't resist the drama of the photo.

I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of the book, but I just felt that she's gliding over her subject, without much depth. She does go into the themes of his films, but I think most of the people here at the SSO could get much deeper and more significant things out of his films than she does. It's a real shame. Maybe it will be a better reading experience for others.

[MikeBSG]

Today I watched the recent Roman Polanski film "The Ghost Writer."

It left a real sour feeling. I have never read the novel it was based on, nor have I read much about the film itself. However, I found it extremely predictable. The film started with a variation on something Fritz Lang did in 1933, and for much of the film I felt I knew what would happen next, or I could identify which film had done it already. A lot here reminded me of "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant" for obvious reasons.

There was a time when "The Ghost Writer" actually felt alive, when Pierce Brosnan and Kim Cattrall were around. And then the movie sent them away for about an hour.

I used to think that the ending of Scorsese's "The Departed" was preposterous. "The Ghost Writer" changed my mind.

[charliechaplinfan]

Stanely Kubrick had a huge reputation over here a few years ago, then he made Eyes Wide Shut and that seemed to blow it for him. For me he's hit and miss, far from my favourite director but has made a few classics. I saw one for the first time The Killing wow I loved this movie but felt short changed when it ended because I'd love to have had more chance for Sterling Hayden to escape but realise that he probably did cut it off at the right time to leave his viewers wanting more. I loved the way he set up this crime with the voice overs, following all the different figures and culprits. Has Tarantino take lessons from this film, I think so, he made it his own and unique. I loved all the characters and wanted them all to get away with it, particularly Sterling Hayden, he seemed to have a good side to him, Elisha Cook as George and Timothy Carey as the shooter. What a plot, screenwriters take note, more movies like this movie please.

[CineMaven]

Hi Alison. Have you ever seen "THE ASPHALT JUNGLE" also starring Sterling Hayden? It's a John Huston masterpiece made in 1950, where masterfully interweaves the gang members' tales. "The Asphalt Jungle" is the granddaddy and probably the blueprint for all heist films ever made. It's wonderful.

[moira finnie]

I like Sterling Hayden on just about everything (even the crap he did for money and those goofy early movies he made with Madeleine Carroll aka Mrs. Hayden for a time), but my all time fave is probably Andre de Toth's corker, Crime Wave (1953), which I believe Kubrick studied diligently prior to making The Killing.

Wish Sterling had a chance to play Captain Ahab!

[JackFavell]

Thanks for the review of The Killing - I have it in my queue at Netflix but keep putting it off in favor of other movies.

Sterling Hayden is a weird creature, he seems not to be acting at all, and I find some of his lines to be almost funny because of this, and yet, in the end there is something underneath that studied nonchalance, a depth and lost puppy dog quality that is totally at odds with the outer character. I think it's his voice that carries the "I don't care" attitude mostly.

[RedRiver]

I like CRIME WAVE. Like THE KILLING. But my favorite Hayden vehicle is definitely ASPHALT JUNGLE. As Theresa said, it served as the pattern for all the caper films to follow.

THE GHOST WRITER was an odd little novel as well. Called THE GHOST, I believe, it's quiet and elegant. But not very exciting. The author, one Robert Harris, has that trait. ENIGMA is interesting WW2 fiction. Smartly written. But pretty darn slow. Harris' best work, by far, is the imaginative FATHERLAND. This one does stir up some heat!

A friend of mine tried to drag me to see EYES WIDE SHUT. Unsuccessfully, I might add. I can't criticize it. But that's OK. As long as I don't have to see it!

[ChiO]

Moira wrote:
but my all time fave is probably Andre de Toth's corker, Crime Wave

THE KILLING and CRIME WAVE are my two favorite Hayden performances as well.

Let me think...what performance, other that Hayden's, might both of those movies have that puts them in Noir Heaven?

I'll get back to you on that.

[Dewey1960]

Hayden was also phenomenal in Robert Altman's THE LONG GOODBYE, as this
scene so ably attests...
[youtube][/youtube]

[CineMaven]

Good clip, Dewey. Hayden is explosive and so natural. At first it looked like an improv exercise between Hayden and Henry Gibson. (Gibson was very good, by the way, the way he stood his ground and faced Hayden's expletived wrath). As I watched and listened to Hayden, I kind of thought I was watching a latter-day Jeff Bridges. Then I liked how Altman changed the camera's p.o.v. with the talk between Gould and Van Pallandt. Nice. Guess I'll have to look into "Crime Wave" too.