Field Trip! The Sweet Smell of Success - 1957

Where have I been? Not that I actually have consistent readers awaiting my every entry with bated breath, but I was at the Austin Film Festival. Which was awesome. One of the events at the festival was a screening of the 1957 film Sweet Smell of Success with an introduction and discussion by Kenneth Turan, the film critic for the Los Angeles Times. So, it was back to the Drafthouse, the site of my Independence Day field trip.



Sweet Smell of Success starts Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, our decidedly homoerotic friend from Spartacus. Curtis plays a publicity agent called Sidney Falco. Burt Lancaster plays an all powerful newspaper columnist called J.J. Hunsecker. Hunsecker's little sister, Susan, is in love with a jazz musician called Steve Dallas. Seriously, how do these people think they can get by with these names? Doesn't Hunsecker and Falco seem like it should be a buddy cop show? J.J. wants Sidney to break up the romance between Susan and Steve or he's generally going to make Sidney's professional life suck. The film follows Sidney around New York as he wheels and deals to improve his own career and break up the romance. Sidney concocts a plan in which he'll smear Steve and then have J.J. stand up for him only to have Steve to go berserk because he knows J.J. was behind it and then Steve looks like the lunatic. No wonder this guy's name is Dallas because this whole thing pretty much looks like the plot of an episode of Dallas.

Anyway, Sue Ellen hires a private detective to get proof that J.R.-- wait, sorry about that. This whole thing goes down as planned and Steve goes off on J.J. mission accomplished, the lovers are divided. Yet this is not good enough for J.J. because when Steve insulted him, he didn't just insult him, he insulted his readers and thus America. Watch Glenn Beck much, do you, J.J.? So, he does what any man would do in the same situation: he has Sidney plant marijuana on him and has him beaten and arrested by corrupt cops. That's rational, right?

So, Sidney comes to the house and tries to keep Susan from killing herself, who has sort of set him up. Sidney stops her from jumping off the balcony and then Susan sort of lets J.J. think Sidney tried to rape her. She relents in the end and tells the truth, but not really before J.J. is going to set Sidney up to get Dallas-ed by the cops. Susan leaves home to be with Steve and leaves J.J. heartbroken and Sidney just broken.

The thing that everyone commented on in the discussion was the cinematography and how fresh the movie felt. It used actual locations in New York and that in itself lends the film a kind of awesome, "This must be what Mad Men felt like" kind of energy. It sort of had a strange reception history: not being recognized in its own time and later seen as a masterpiece. What struck me about the film was the phenomenon of violence, you didn't see the onscreen physical violence and it reminded me of something Martin Scorsese said about Age of Innocence: that it was the most violent film he'd ever made because people's hearts were being broken. I felt like that was the case here: we don't see Steve and Sidney getting beat down, but we do see people's hearts getting broken by the realities of the world.

By the way, I recommend The Breakfast Club if you're ever at the Drafthouse for the brunch menu.

Questions, comments, concerns? Why don't you post them?

Field Trip! Independence Day, 1996

Apparently, one of the signs you're getting old is when a movie you saw in the theater plays on Turner Classic. I had this happen to me recently when they showed The Last of the Mohicans. I've heard more of this from my parents. Anyway, Independence Day isn't playing on Turner Classic yet but wait for it.

The film is a symbol of a simpler time. Back in 1996 when Will Smith was just a TV actor and blowing up the White House wasn't actually something people were trying to do. It's reminiscent of the great disaster films of the 1970s and features a huge cast: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Vivica Fox, Randy Quaid, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner, that girl who plays Anne on Arrested Development and of course, Bill Pullman as the president, back when fake presidents were still only white guys. Roland Emmerich directed the film and came up with the idea while doing press for Stargate. He and his partner apparently wrote it during a month-long vacation in Mexico which pisses me off for a few reasons. The film was epic, the marketing was epic, the hype was epic, one of the first summer movies to have a Super Bowl commercial. If you didn't see it, I don't know where you were during the summer of 1996. This film was destined to become a Fourth of July ritual. Come on, I live in Texas. It's freaking a hundred degrees in July.

I remember when I first saw this movie. I was thirteen, I lived in a smallish town and could not freaking wait to see this movie. Some of you may recall it came out July 2nd. What I really remember besides how awesome I thought it was is that it took thirteen days for me to get to see it because every time my mom or dad went to buy tickets they were sold out. Thirteen days! That's like the Cuban Missile Crisis!

Why bring this up? I don't know if you have ever been obviously but Austin, Texas is home to one of the most magical places on Earth the Alamo Drafthouse, commonly known as the Drafthouse. The Drafthouse is a movie theater but that description hardly does it justice. It is a movie theater where you are served awesome food at your seat, not just popcorn, but I do think they make the best popcorn. It is also notable for its programming, not just movies but events like The Lord of the Rings feast which they are known for (you eat when the hobbits eat in all three films) and things like a Moulin Rouge singalong. They are also home to Master Pancake a performing troupe that mocks well known movies, with a running commentary during the film and a mid-film sketch. It is hilarious. Anyway, not too long ago Master Pancake mocked Independence Day as part of Fantastic Fest and their special guest was Bill Pullman! President Whitmore with the speech! I almost didn't get tickets but I prevailed. It was amazing and some of the best money I have spent. It reminded me of how I felt about that movie and how much I love that speech. I just read that apparently other countries don't quite care for the speech, they think it's jingoistic and apparently why the world hates us. It still gives me goosebumps. Take a look:



Sorry for any foreign readers, but remember when the aliens invade, we've got the weapons, okay? Anyway, the mid-movie sketch this time involved that famed speech. Luckily, someone else there made a video so I don't have to subject you to the crappy pictures I got off my cellphone and try to explain how freaking hilarious it was. The premise is that President Whitmore takes questions on the fight against the aliens and one is from Thomas Jefferson, who resents his usurping the Independence Day leitmotif in his speech. Thus, he delivers an alternate speech.



I guess if you thought the last speech was too pro-American you didn't much like this one either. I find it difficult to decide between the first and the second. Let me know if you remember anything about the time you saw Independence Day or the first time you saw a movie you saw in the theater on Turner Classic.

No, seriously which one of you is Spartacus? 1960

I have a certain level of fondness for the epic. It reminds me of a time when the studio system ruled and the moguls who ran Hollywood thought big. Like really big. I am sort of embarrassed to say that I hadn't seen Spartacus before. Actually, Gladiator is one of my all time favorite movies and I can see how that film owes a lot to this one. It reminds me of an episode of The Sopranos where Ralph Cifaretto is watching Spartacus after Chris Moltisanti recommends it because he is obsessed with Gladiator. Ralphie watches the pivotal battle at the ludus and says, "This is a great gladiator movie?! They didn't have flat tops in ancient Rome!" Then he killed his girlfriend later in that episode so that was really the high point.

Anyway, while I do concur that they probably did not have flat tops in ancient Rome I was surprised at how much the film had to offer. Spartacus is played by Kirk Douglas who I guess was doing this after Paul Newman got the part in Exodus. (Do I feel a need to bring up Paul Newman a lot? Yeah, but why not?) He leads a slave revolt and opposes the Roman general Crassus who I knew would win from the History Channel. Crassus is played very sympethetically by Laurence Olivier. Most of the time in these sword and sandals epics they just played the Romans like the root of all evil, not to say they were great, but just depict them as people doing the best they can like my other favorite HBO series Rome. Anyone else miss that show? He is helped by escaped slave Antoninus played by Tony Curtis in a bit of casting that just throws me off but works okay. He falls in love with Varinia played by Jean Simmons who you may remember from The Robe or maybe Guys and Dolls. I remember her as the chick who didn't lock down Paul Newman in the first thirty minutes of Until They Sail. (See, got in another one.) Also hot young Julius Caesar played by John Gavin. Seriously, hottest Julius Caesar ever.

This film was written by Dalton Trumbo who had been blacklisted by the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s. It was also directed by Stanley Kubrick so I find it hard to look at this film without imparting it with political meaning. For instance, Kubrick has repetitive scenes of gladiatorial training and Roman military power. Roman society was basically built on conquest, the essence of the military-industrial complex. They're all caught up in it, Romans and slaves alike, getting trampled just the same. I also loved the scenes depicting Roman political machinations which were so carefully crafted and not just treated as pieces of plot we had to get through.

Now, Stanley Kubrick did some great work. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell was going on in 2001, but you know, I respect him. Now, let's remember Eyes Wide Shut. Yeah... Or how about that he was the originator of AI but could never get it together because he could never find a robot he liked well enough to play the robot kid part? I'm saying, yes, the guy was probably crazy but he managed to work withing the studio system here and got an excellent result. What if we still had the studio system with moguls keeping crazy directors in line? Imagine a world where M. Night Shyamalan films still made sense. Imagine if the second two Matrix movies had not been ruined. Imagine the possibilities.

Even with all that, I think this clip from The Critic may still be my favorite clip from Spartacus.

My Own Prejudices: Pride and Prejudice, 1940

I think any girl from the ages of fourteen to twenty-five probably at some point traverses across the romantic literary terrain of Pride and Prejudice and quickly becomes infatuated. You read the book, you watch Colin Firth in that wet shirt and then you find out Jane Austen died alone and single and you get really depressed and have some ice cream. You also eventually develop your own prejudices about what constitutes a good Darcy just like there are debates about who makes the best Bond: some people like Sean Connery's suaveness, some people prefer Roger Moore's easy wit and then there's always some idiot that tries to persuade you Timothy Dalton was the best. So, for me Colin Firth is my Darcy. So, I was curious when I read that Colin Firth was first intimidated by the part because Laurence Olivier had done it. I don't know a lot about Laurence Olivier except that I couldn't make it through Othello because of the blackface. Okay, moving on.

The 1940 edition of Pride and Prejudice is directed by Robert Z. Leonard and seriously, Brave New World's Aldous Huxley is one of the writers. Seriously. Laurence Olivier stars as Mr. Darcy and Greer Garson is Elizabeth Bennet. Let's face it, we don't really care about any of the other characters. I'm sure Jane is nice and all but let's face it, we don't care. Darcy is somehow less of a jerk, which somehow makes him less appealing. I know everyone is going to end up in therapy because of that one. This Darcy kind of comes off like a wimp and I don't even want Elizabeth to end up with him. I just stopped caring. Also, I hate to sound like a bitch, but I think Greer Garson may just be too pretty to be Elizabeth Bennet. I know, awful, but to me Elizabeth Bennet is the romantic heroine of the bookworm girl. She's smart, she's not ugly, but Greer Garson is pretty enough to be a cinema star. (No offense, Jennifer Ehle. Any woman that gets to be the girlfriend of Colin Firth and James Purefoy is my hero. The latter is a reference to Bedrooms and Hallways, which has its own Jane Austen moment.) Meanwhile, there are some changes made that I hate. If you've seen the 2005 version, you know that they compressed some of the plot. Well, this movie is even shorter. So this version is even more compressed. No trip to Pemberley and the scandal with Lydia gets wrapped up in about the same five minutes that Jane and Bingley get together, then Elizabeth and Darcy get together. Also, the whole thing with Lady Catherine? Instead of her being an actual snob, Lady Catherine visits Elizabeth and treats her badly just to make sure she's not a gold digger. Really. I could have forgiven the random archery scene if we had not had that. I think we probably have some studio head of the Golden Age to blame for that one. "Yeah, but how do we know Elizabeth just doesn't like Darcy for his money?"

So, I didn't like this one. I'll go back to my miniseries on DVD. Meanwhile, a clip from Bedrooms and Hallways.

The VIPs, 1963: Actually, They're All Around

Sometimes I think of classic films as a portal into the past: a visual representation of how the world was or how they perceived the world should be. Case in point: The VIPs. Most of the film takes places in a London airport and a hotel by the airport. We see a world that doesn't exist anymore for a number of reasons: the de-glamourization of air travel, the decline of the British Empire and security restrictions following 9/11. The VIPs has multiple story lines that all coincide in the end so in that way it is like Love Actually or Crash. Let's go through some of the players.

Orson Welles is a film director accompanied by a ditzy Italian starlet who is trying to get out of the country before he owes a lot of money to the taxman. The Duchess of Brighton has to take a job in Florida to support the upkeep of her aging homestead. Margaret Rutherford won an Academy Award for the performance. Rod Taylor plays Les Mangrum, a businessman who needs to get to New York to make a bad check he wrote good. His secretary, Miss Mead, is played by Maggie Smith who somehow looks exactly like Maggie Smith as you know her today. I'm still trying to decide if Maggie Smith of today looks young or if the Maggie Smith of yesteryear looks old. Then, we have the main event or at least what gets bums in seats: Elizabeth Taylor plays Frances Andros who's leaving her husband Paul Andros to run away with Marc Champselle played by Louis Jourdan. This was 1963 about the time Cleopatra came out, so Burton and Taylor were still a seriously hot commodity. Oh, and there's a cameo by David Frost. Seriously.

We start out with the Reception Manager at the airport. And here is how the world is different: Reception Manager? Someone to meet you at the ticket counter and do all the crap people hate having to do when they fly? Does that even exist anymore? He's in charge of all our VIPs. We meet Paul and Frances Andros as Paul gives Frances a going away gift as she is on her way to a vacation in Jamaica. Or so she says... On the way in, they happen to bump into Marc Champselle. Frances pretends she doesn't like Marc but things change when Paul leaves because it turns out that the two are eloping together for reasons I don't understand. I really don't. Okay, he works a lot, but doesn't seem to be cheating. He buys nice gifts or his assistant does, come on, he hired the assistant. He thinks he's sending her on a very nice vacation and he came with her to the damn airport. I mean, come on, he didn't kill anybody. She stayed with Paul Newman when he was an alcoholic and sort of hung up on his dead friend. Of course he had those abs... Anyway, re: Paul Andros: Let's just buy a Dr. Phil relationship book and have a conversation, people! I know, when I'm neglected by a millionaire I'll feel differently, well, let's just see. I'm willing to find out for an Hermes Birkin tote. You know, for science.

The thing that delays all of their plans is the fog. Fog sets in. In London. London Fog. Who would have thought it? I love the symbolism of the fog, it's the thing that clouds everything, stops all action and leaves only thought about where they are, what they are doing and if they are where they want to be. Mangrum is worried his check will bounce. Orson wants his money. This is where Anthony Asquith really becomes the Hitchcock of the relationship drama. He uses every plot development to further the tension. See, Frances left a note for Paul telling him that she was leaving him for Marc, assuming that he would go to his board meeting and by the time he read it, she would be over the Atlantic. But if the flight is delayed by the fog, well, then we have a real problem. Frances decides to call home to tell the maid to tear up the note before Paul gets home, but Paul picks up the phone. Uh oh. Well, if the plane can just take off before Paul reads the note and gets to the airport. Well, that's not going to happen. After a false start into their planes, everyone is back in the lounge and guess who has managed to drive over. The way Asquith does the shot is incredible, stop on Taylor and Jourdan as they look up in shock and Burton simply steps into frame. Well, he read the note and he's not happy. Like he has a gun. I didn't know people could get guns in England. Did he have to say he was going to use it to pop a cap in a fox? What? This leads to a chase through the airport past the immigration terminal where Frances and Marc escape from Paul. Yeah, how would an all powerful businessman ever get past an immigration checkpoint? I don't know, buy a ticket? The news comes out that they're all stranded for the night and will be staying at the airport hotel. Instead of buying a ticket, Paul has Marc called over to a private airport office to show how all powerful he is. He offers Marc money to walk away. Yeah, this is pretty much a J.R. Ewing move right here, but I can't say that I blame him for being unhappy. Gun probably too far. Marc refuses, explains how unhappy Frances is and generally leaves Paul feeling like crap.
So, we all head to the hotel where Paul and Frances have an argument that really makes me wonder what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall in the Burton-Taylor household. She's unhappy and he decides to let her go, pretty much. Down in the lobby, a despondent Paul writes a letter and meets up with Maggie Smith who asks for the money Mangrum needs to stay out of jail. Paul recognizes Maggie is in love with Mangrum and gives her a blank check. Anyway, this makes our girl a hero and Paul gives his letter to the hotel manager to put it in the mail.

The next morning, the fog has cleared and all of our characters are here in the light of day. The hotel manager gives Frances the letter Paul gave him because he doesn't want to waste a stamp. Seriously, whatever happened to customer service? The guy just asked you to put a stamp on an envelope and drop it in the mail. This hotel sucks. Marc confiscates the letter to be read in New York and we resolve some of the other plot points, but why spoil everything? So, they happen to bump into Paul at the airport who has seriously deteriorated in the twenty four hours since his wife ditched him. Like remember Mark Antony after he lost the Battle of Actium? About to there, only no miniskirt, thank God. Frances tries to get him to go home, but he's clearly a broken man. She demands to see the later. Marc doesn't want to budge, but he relents. Turns out this is a suicide note. Paul's just done without Frances, which by the way, if you read a Richard Burton biography everyone tries to kill herself to hang on to Richard Burton. Seriously? Elizabeth Taylor, Sybil Burton, we can't act like grown women, we have to try to kill ourselves? What kind of message does that send? Anyway, Marc thinks this is a ruse. So, Frances decides even though she loves Marc she loves Paul enough to not want to see him kill himself. So, then we have something like a happy ending and you'll find that love actually is all around... Wait, wrong movie in a London airport.

Okay, so check out the trailer and check out Richard Burton. He was actually a very interesting guy apart from Elizabeth Taylor. Check out this trailer, it's crazy.