Here's the clip for this week. There's nothing obscure about this one. Most movie lovers have probably seen it at some point so I expect it will be quick work today. Unless of course, it's been a while since you've seen it and you don't remember the scene, which is always possible too. Good luck.
55 comments:
THIS GUN FOR HIRE
Yeah, I figured this one would go really fast! That's it of course and we add another point to Bill's total. Congrats!
The whole thing had a very familiar vibe I couldn't pin down, and then I saw Laird Cregar, which gave it away.
Anyway, thanks!
No problem. Next week there is no Name that Movie as we will all be too busy discussing The Serpent's Egg but in two weeks I'm going to make it extremely difficult. So put on your Name that Movie thinking cap. You have bought a Name that Movie thinking cap right?
I would totally be in the lead by now if it weren't for the fact that I have class when this is posted.
At least that's what I tell myself...
I've thought of moving it to 11:30. Are you out of class then? And that way it's 8:30 west coast which might be a little better there too.
I did buy a Name That Movie thinking cap, but it broke, so now all I do is name trees.
I will admit I didn't know this one at all. Go, Bill, go!
I did buy a Name That Movie thinking cap, but it broke
Yeah the company I contracted those out to really sucked. I saved a few bucks but to what avail? Lesson learned. From now on it's only top of the line manufacturers, like this company named Jonesy's T-Shirt and Cap Emporium. They'll do 10,000 caps for only 250 bucks! Man, no way this is gonna backfire. No way!
Fox, it's a good little crime thriller. Alan Ladd plays a sadistic bastard, Veronic Lake is charming and Laird Cregar steals the whole movie. Robert Preston was miscast unfortunately. Such a dynamic actor but until The Music Man no one knew how to use him. Here he comes off as all wrong.
Yeah, I'm in between classes at 11:30 (as you can see) But I was just kidding about me getting everything because looking at all of the NTMs I would have gotten nary a one.
Krauthammer, you need to learn to use the internet to find the answers to the ones you don't know. That's how I've gotten about half of mine.
It's true. After about 30 minutes of no one getting it I start handing out very Googlable clues. I think I just invented that word.
Oh, and I thought This Gun for Hire was a decent movie, and I loved Cregar, but I really didn't think it was great, and I was all pumped for it at the time, too. Preston really is miscast in a weird way, because I don't remember thinking his performance was bad, but that he was just somehow not right for the character. Or maybe the character was not right for the movie.
And to be honest, Ladd felt a little off to me, as well. I mean, when did this turn into a movie about hobbits!?
but I really didn't think it was great
No, it wasn't which is why I used the "good little crime thriller" qualifier. It's not bad but yes, you do expect more. I liked Ladd though. I thought he was very good as a small violent bastard.
And Preston's character is both not really needed (the cops could have been secondary, no need for a relationship with Lake) and all wrong for him as an actor. He's not bad but he is all wrong for it.
Since we're not talking about much right now, and in hopes of maybe stirring up some talk, I watched couple of movies this weekend worth mentioning.
One was the French horror film Frontier(s), which was horrible (and what's with that parenthetical "s" at the end?). It was so tediously derivitive -- it even blatantly rips off Misery -- and I'm not sure this new wave of French horror and I have much of a future together. I'll still check out Martyrs, but after this film, High Tension and the odious Inside, things are looking bleak.
I also finally saw The Red Shoes, which I thought was terrific. Anton Walbrook's delivery of the word "Charming" at a crucial moment is what acting's all about, and Moira Shearer was also great, and, you know, really hot. I don't mean to be crude, but man did she have an ass on her. I wasn't as keen on Marius Goring -- a little less from him would have been nice -- but that's not a big deal in the long run.
I haven't liked every Powell/Pressburger I've seen, but God knows they were unique. I can't think of any other English language filmmaker from that era, working in the system, that was so out there.
I saw another movie that I really liked, but I plan on writing about that one, even though I'm feeling kind of sluggish in that regard at the moment.
I also finally saw The Red Shoes, which I thought was terrific. Anton Walbrook's delivery of the word "Charming" at a crucial moment is what acting's all about, and Moira Shearer was also great,
Sorry, I've been busy or I would have responded earlier. It's a great movie and the more I see of Anton Walbrook the more impressed I am. His performance in Queen of Spades was incredible and of course you already know about his performance in Blimp.
Powell and Pressburger are unique filmmakers, I agree. They didn't stay within any particular genre and yet, incredibly, maintained a consistent style with all of them that made them, in a way, a movie of the Powell/Pressburger genre, regardless of the subject matter.
Someday I'm going to have watch "The Red Shoes" again with an open mind and fresh eyes. I saw it as a very cynical college senior and remember rolling my eyes a lot and commenting at the end, "Why would someone as beautiful and talented as Moira Shearer throw herself off a balcony over a drip like Marius Goring?"
Then again, my favorite ballet movie is Robert Altman's "The Company," which is light years away from "The Red Shoes" in style and content. Maybe "The Red Shoes" will never be my cup of tea. (Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of other Powell/Pressburger films, like "Black Narcissus" and "Peeping Tom.")
Pat, I don't know how long it's been since you've seen it but for myself I can think of several examples where I was soooo smart in my college days through my twenties and derided classics that were too corny or sentimental or whatever and then I saw them again years later and the first thought that came to mind was, "Boy, I sure was stupid."
I can think of several examples where I was soooo smart in my college
Yeah, me too. I didn't like the couple of Powell/Pressburger films I saw back then, either. You should give The Red Shoes another look. And I also like The Company.
I last saw "The Red Shoes" in 1981 (when I was 21) and just like you say, I thought I was wayyyyy smarter than I actually was. And very cynical, too. I'm actually a lot less cynical now than I was then.
By contrast, I saw "Seven Beauties" in college and thought it was a masterpice. When I saw it again in 2007, I thoroughly hated it. And again, the change in perspective was all about having becoming less cynical over time.
I'm actually a lot less cynical now than I was then.
Isn't that funny how that happens? I think we all become more worldy and wise as we get older which is different than distrusting everything. When we're younger I think we confuse cynicism for wisdom or intelligence and put it on as a pose. I know I slathered the cynicism on with everything. And, yes, most of it was pose.
My youngest teenage son is practically consumed by cynical poses. My wife and I laugh it up when we talk about it. It really is inadvertantly hilarious.
When we're younger I think we confuse cynicism for wisdom or intelligence
Oh, indeed. That was me, too. For some people, it never goes away. There's a commenter on another blog (I hate the blog, and I hate this commenter) who I've gathered is not all that young, brought up the recent rescue of Cpt. Phillips from Somoli pirates, and this guy -- who is by no means right-wing, but is cynical to an absurd degree -- said that "if this was the kind of media fiction" that Obama was going to feed us, it was going to be a long four years. I don't even know what to say to that kind of thing.
Altman's The Company is such a wonderful movie. I don't think he harnesses the digital video to its ultimate ends, but I like the film's look very much. He was one of the first major film makers to really use it and use it well. The dance sequences are especially striking.
I think we confuse cynicism for wisdom or intelligence and put it on as a pose. I know I slathered the cynicism on with everything. And, yes, most of it was pose.
And that's what I can't fucking stand about a lot of my generation. They think it's a world view when it's really just a shallow kind of indoctrination. This 'cynicism' manifests itslef in a lot of the bad movies they like, too, and it transcends cynicsm into a kind of poseur nihilism. This is why my school will screen movie's by some of my generation's idiot nihilist film makers, but the movies of a humanist and optimist like Wes Anderson? As they say across the George Washington Bridge... Fuggedaboutit!
Rant completed. As you were.
I'm with you, Ryan, about your generation (and a fair chunk of mine, to be honest -- wait, are we technically part of the same generation?). But I really should stop right there, because I have work to do, and this topic honestly gets my blood boiling.
So forget I said anything.
Dude, what is with that Serpent's Egg countdown?? It's like watching sand drain through an hourglass, at the end of which a giant 2 ton weight is going to drop on my head.
One was the French horror film Frontier(s)
Bill, I reviewed this a while back, if you're interested in a second (if not so very different) opinion.
Fronteir(s) sucked eyeballs.
Odious is a good word for Inside.
Also, Fabrice Du Welz (who I guess is really only "French" b/c he's actually Belgium) has his latest film out now on DVD. It's called Vinyan and it's coming to my house tomorrow. I hated his first film Calvaire, but I knows some of yous weirdos enjoyed it. Anyways... that's just a heads up for those who are into the French Horror debate.
Lastly, I agree with Ryan and Bill and Greg on the unfortunate fashionable nature of cynicism these days.
We're still on the whole odious debacle, eh?
Ryan and Bill - It's not your generation, it's just that most haven't grown out of it yet. Every generation's like that. That's why with Ryan it's most of them, with Bill it's some and with mine it's the idiots who never grew up. And you're right Bill, I know some guys older than me that depressingly remind me of teenagers.
Bill, did you see the countdown on the TOERIFC site? IT'S AWESOME!!! And it's based on an 11:00 a.m. post time. If you want to post it at 10:00 a.m. instead let me know and I'll change it.
Fox, I never saw FRONTIER(S) so I'll have to read Arbo's and Bill's reviews of it.
"my school will screen movie's by some of my generation's idiot nihilist film makers, but the movies of a humanist and optimist like Wes Anderson?"
OK, this is weird, but over here Wes Anderson IS basically considered the film maker of my generation.
In fairness, Wes is simultaneously hip AND misunderstood. Though I envy you having peers with taste so refined!
Though I envy you having peers with taste so refined!I have pears that taste so fine.
That really blows my mind.
Am I the only one who thinks that banner is awesome? The eye that picked out that image must have one hell of a fine aesthetic behind it.
Fox, I never saw FRONTIER(S) so I'll have to read Arbo's and Bill's reviews of it.(What a jerk! I wrote a review of that a year ago and this putz doesn't even remember! I mean the things I have done for this man and he treats me like garbage!!!)
Ok, Greg. Sounds good!
We're still on the whole odious debacle, eh?Debacle?!? That was one of the coolest things anyone's ever said about Paul Greengrass ev-ER!
I'm surprised Woody Allen hasn't written a film called Odious Rex yet.
Fox has a blog now?
Fox has a blog now?YES! And I'm almost over 200 hits for the month of April! That paid gig is just around the corner... I just know it.
Fox - Arbo wrote a review too. I'm sure I read your review. I just don't remember reviews of movies I haven't seen unless they are glowing and really make me want to see it. That doesn't sound like the case here.
Fox has a blog now? - - -
...
Yeah, it's called Plow Information or Rototiller Data or something like that.
I didn't write a review of Frontier(s). I did, however, write a review of Otto Preminger's Whirlpool. You guys should check it out!
Yeah, come on guys, let's all go over to Bill's place! Woo! Yahoo! Blog!
Also, Greg, your Doomsday/Serpent's Egg counter is off. We're 6 days away.
I'm just as cynical as I used to be, but I've learned to channel it into useful action.
Hello, everyone. I'm over my bout of ennui and ready to make your lives hell again.
Bill, it's correct. It runs at at midnight, April 19th. At 12:01 the counter is finished. On the TOERIFC site the counter runs out at 11:00 a.m. but if you want to post at 10:00, I'll change it.
Marilyn! You're back! I'm so happy about that. And a healthy cynicism channeled well is something that is missing from youth. It's all cynicism and completely unchanneled.
I wasn't sure how long I'd be gone, but I figured I'd get a sign from within. A dream last night convinced me I'd worked out whatever was bothering me.
I'm glad your dream brought you back. It's always good to see you.
Although I haven't been posting here too long, Marilyn's insightful comments were very much missed. I was just stuck here with you lunatics.
Hello, everyone. I'm over my bout of ennui and ready to make your lives hell again.---
Just in time for TOERIFC!
Thanks, guys. I am glad I'll be up for The Serpent's Egg. I am looking forward to that.
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