17th Five Films, 2007
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Monte Walsh (William Fraker) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. One of the questions after the film (co-star Mitchell Ryan was on hand) was related to the editing, since there were four of them credited in all. Apparently the studio wrested control of the film away from director William Fraker, resulting in a shorter, more jumbled cut. The pacing seemed less than skillful, and I felt a bit confused at the beginning, as the characters' actions seemed motivated by nothing more than the fact that they were playing parts in a western, but that kind of made sense as it became evident that this was a eulogy for the old West via Lee Marvin, the last cowboy standing. Jack Palance plays his partner, and the scene in which he gently breaks it to Marvin that he's going to be getting married and settling down is one of my favorites in any Western from any era. Also superb is the scene where Marvin, after the wedding, tames the grey horse which Mitchell Ryan's boastful bronco buster had no luck with. Before finally giving in, the horse destroys nearly every front storefront on the street, tossing Marvin from the saddle multiple times.
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The Killers (Don Siegel) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. Clu Gulager makes a strong case for his pretty minor character as Marvin's talkative sidekick. Also interesting to see Ronald Reagan's final acting role, 16 years before he became president. Overall, I recall enjoying the 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster, directed by Robert Siodmak, a lot more.
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The Professionals (Richard Brooks) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. I didn't find the story to be that terrific, but I did enjoy Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, and this film may contain some of the most beautiful color photography I've ever seen--almost certainly a new print.
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Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen) in Keene on DVD. Chepina thought she hadn't seen this when I picked it off the shelf at the video store then realized later that she probably had. The dialogue felt really dense (in that there was a lot of it, not that the writer was thickheaded) and there were a lot of good small roles: I particularly liked Max Von Sydow's misanthropic, demanding artist. Woody Allen's character is almost always my least favorite thing about his movies, but I did like the scenes depicting his hilarious quest for religion.
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The Magic Mirror (Manoel de Oliveira) at Anthology Film Archives. I've heard Oliveira's name a lot in magazines, online, etc. so I felt like I ought to check this film out, though as Nathan Lee points out in his Village Voice review, this is one of the least accessible films in recent memory. I incorrectly described this to Charles as boring; I can get into slow, "boring" movies, but this is full of talking that goes in circles, or nowhere. I didn't find a lot to get excited about visually, either.
Monte Walsh (William Fraker) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. One of the questions after the film (co-star Mitchell Ryan was on hand) was related to the editing, since there were four of them credited in all. Apparently the studio wrested control of the film away from director William Fraker, resulting in a shorter, more jumbled cut. The pacing seemed less than skillful, and I felt a bit confused at the beginning, as the characters' actions seemed motivated by nothing more than the fact that they were playing parts in a western, but that kind of made sense as it became evident that this was a eulogy for the old West via Lee Marvin, the last cowboy standing. Jack Palance plays his partner, and the scene in which he gently breaks it to Marvin that he's going to be getting married and settling down is one of my favorites in any Western from any era. Also superb is the scene where Marvin, after the wedding, tames the grey horse which Mitchell Ryan's boastful bronco buster had no luck with. Before finally giving in, the horse destroys nearly every front storefront on the street, tossing Marvin from the saddle multiple times.
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The Killers (Don Siegel) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. Clu Gulager makes a strong case for his pretty minor character as Marvin's talkative sidekick. Also interesting to see Ronald Reagan's final acting role, 16 years before he became president. Overall, I recall enjoying the 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster, directed by Robert Siodmak, a lot more.
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The Professionals (Richard Brooks) as part of the Lee Marvin retrospective at Walter Reade Theater. I didn't find the story to be that terrific, but I did enjoy Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, and this film may contain some of the most beautiful color photography I've ever seen--almost certainly a new print.
+ +
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Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen) in Keene on DVD. Chepina thought she hadn't seen this when I picked it off the shelf at the video store then realized later that she probably had. The dialogue felt really dense (in that there was a lot of it, not that the writer was thickheaded) and there were a lot of good small roles: I particularly liked Max Von Sydow's misanthropic, demanding artist. Woody Allen's character is almost always my least favorite thing about his movies, but I did like the scenes depicting his hilarious quest for religion.
+ + +
The Magic Mirror (Manoel de Oliveira) at Anthology Film Archives. I've heard Oliveira's name a lot in magazines, online, etc. so I felt like I ought to check this film out, though as Nathan Lee points out in his Village Voice review, this is one of the least accessible films in recent memory. I incorrectly described this to Charles as boring; I can get into slow, "boring" movies, but this is full of talking that goes in circles, or nowhere. I didn't find a lot to get excited about visually, either.
Posted on Thursday, May 31, 2007
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