Add a little Marilyn to your Monday at the Culver Theater

October 7, 2024 by

In honor of MGM’s 100th anniversary, Culver City’s Culver Theater is running a classic film series on Monday nights: The Lion’s Roar: MGM at 100. On Monday, Oct.7, at 7 p.m., you can see the great Marilyn Monroe, looking particularly luminous, in one of her early roles. Watching “The Asphalt Jungle,” a riveting film noir about a failed heist, on the big screen allows you to fully appreciate Monroe’s magic as well as Harold Rosson’s terrific black-and-white cinematography. Rosson earned an Oscar nom for his work as did John Huston (for directing and co-writing with Ben Maddow) and supporting actor Sam Jaffe.

For more details, FNB has pulled a review from the archive (see below) and if you’re interested in more info on the founding of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, be sure to read Chris Yogerst’s excellent story in The Hollywood Reporter, published earlier this year.

The screening series at Culver Theater runs through Dec. 30.

 

Huston explores ‘Asphalt Jungle’ with an unflinching eye

The Asphalt Jungle/1950/MGM/112 min.

“The Asphalt Jungle” was a departure in that it humanized its villains.

“The Asphalt Jungle” was a departure in that it humanized its villains.

“The Asphalt Jungle” from 1950 by director John Huston is rightly considered a masterpiece. Excellent storytelling and an outstanding cast, including Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Jean Hagen and Marilyn Monroe, have helped it stand the test of time.

But its stark, unwavering realism is not for everyone. Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM, where Huston made the movie, had this to say about the flick: “That ‘Asphalt Pavement’ thing is full of nasty, ugly people doing nasty things. I wouldn’t walk across the room to see a thing like that.”

This small but pivotal role helped put Marilyn on the map.

This small but pivotal role helped put Marilyn on the map.

Um, did he not see luminous and fragile Monroe as mistress Angela Phinlay? Huston portrays a gang of thieves as flawed humans trying to make a living. “We all work for our vice,” explains menschlike mastermind Doc Erwin Riedenschneider (Jaffe). Recently released from jail, Doc has planned every detail of a $1 million jewel robbery and seeks to round up the best craftsmen he can find for one last heist.

A fat wallet means Doc can head to Mexico and court all the nubile girls he can handle. Dix Handley (Hayden), a tough guy with swagger to spare, hopes to pay his debts and return to his beloved horses in Kentucky. Getaway driver Gus Minissi (James Whitmore) is sick of running his dingy diner. Bookie ‘Cobby’ Cobb (Marc Lawrence) covets booze. Safecracker Louis Ciavelli (Anthony Caruso) has a wife and kid to support. Alonzo ‘Lon’ Emmerich (Calhern) is a wealthy but overspent lawyer who wants to be solvent again.

“You may not admire these people, but I think they’ll fascinate you,” says Huston in an archive clip included on the DVD. They pull it off, but what heist would be complete without a doublecross and crossing paths with the police?

In this macho, man’s-world movie, there is alas no femme fatale. But rest assured there are flawed women aplenty. Hagen plays the neurotic Doll, a struggling performer, and her vice is Dix. Monroe, as Lon’s barely legal girlfriend, orders mackerel for his breakfast, flips through travel magazines and is fond of saying, “Yipes!” Lon’s bed-ridden wife May (Dorothy Tree) wishes Lon were home more often. Teresa Celli plays dutiful wife Maria Ciavelli.

Said Huston of Marilyn: “She had no techniques. It was all the truth, it was only Marilyn.” (He later directed her in “The Misfits.”)

Said Huston of Marilyn: “She had no techniques. It was all the truth, it was only Marilyn.” (He later directed her in “The Misfits.”)

The actors complement each other deftly. Jaffe, both sage and seedy (when he lusts after pretty young things) is particularly entertaining; he nabbed an Oscar nom for best supporting actor. Helping his rich characterization is the fact that he gets some terrific lines, for instance: “Just when you think you can trust a cop, he goes legit.”

The movie is full of such dry asides. The whip-smart script, by Huston and Ben Maddow, also scored an Oscar nom. W.R. Burnett‘s novel provided the source material, though the book told its story from the police point of view; Huston and Maddow flipped the perspective. Huston was also nominated for best director; Harold Rosson for best B&W cinematography. (None won.)

“Asphalt Jungle” is the only noir I know of that’s set not in NYC, LA, Chicago or London, but in a smaller city in the Midwest, usually seen as the bedrock of integrity, and it’s fun to try to figure out exactly where this is happening.

The dark film was a departure for MGM—known for upbeat, lavish, escapist fare—but the studio’s production chief Dore Schary ushered in a period of social consciousness for the company, notes Drew Casper, film scholar and author of “Post-War Hollywood Cinema 1946-1962,” in his DVD commentary.

Rififi posterAs for the look of the film, Casper points out that in addition to elements of Expressionism (fractured frames and diagonals or horizontals blunting verticals to create tension), Huston’s experience filming war documentaries as well as the work of Italian Neo-realism (1945’s “Open City” by Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica’s “The Bicycle Thief” from 1948) also influenced his visuals.

In turn, Huston’s groundbreaking movie clearly had an impact on the great Jules Dassin, director of 1955’s “Rififi,” one of the best of all noirs. “Asphalt Jungle” was remade three times: “Badlanders” (1958), “Cairo” (1962), and “Cool Breeze” (1972). None is considered as good as the original.

Dry but never dull, “Jungle” is a straight-shooting portrait that undermines Hollywood’s often-moralizing and hypocritical gloss. “Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor,” as Lon so matter-of-factly puts it. Yipes!

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Laemmle Royal Theatre to host 30th anniversary screening of ‘The Last Seduction’ with special guest, director John Dahl

September 27, 2024 by

“Linda Fiorentino [is] the baddest of the bad women, the most full-blown yet utterly believable femme fatale to come along in years.”

— Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Critic Mick LaSalle was writing about “The Last Seduction” (1994, John Dahl) and if you’ve never seen it, you’d better have a damn good reason!

Angelenos can watch this unforgettable neo-noir on the big screen on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 7 pm, at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles. Director John Dahl will be the special guest. In honor of the event, part of Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics Series, we’re rerunning our “Last Seduction” review.

The Last Seduction/1994/ITC/110 min.

Years ago, I wrote a weekly column for the Chicago Tribune. I interviewed experts on ways women could work smart and climb the corporate ladder. Most of the time, no matter what the obstacle or dilemma was – job hunting, negotiating a raise, getting a promotion – the bottom line was: do your homework, highlight your achievements and ask for what you want.

In 1994’s “The Last Seduction” by director John Dahl and writer Steve Barancik, Linda Fiorentino as Bridget Gregory takes this advice to dazzling new heights. As the story unfolds, this career maven excels in not just one job, but several. In the opening scene, she’s a supervisor at a telemarketing sales firm in New York City, where she doesn’t ask, she demands. Then she needles her hapless sales guys mercilessly, calling them “maggots, eunuchs and bastards.”

At least they know where they stand. That pat-on-the-back stuff is way overrated.

Later she becomes Director of Lead Generation at an insurance company in a small town in New York state. Under her own steam (at night, of course, this being a noir) she researches prospects for a telemarketing murder business. Hey, it’s not like there isn’t a market.

And she launches an entrepreneurial venture in which she steals a boatload of cash from her husband, malleable Clay (Bill Pullman) and taps loyal-to-a-fault Mike, her lover/investment partner (Peter Berg), to help her. Neither of these dudes is much of a match for her – their chief virtue (besides being good looking) is that they are good at following orders, which is especially true in Mike’s case.

Bill Pullman and Linda Fiorentino play husband and wife.

When one of Mike’s friends asks him: “whadd’ya see in her?” he replies: “a new set of balls.” Her résumé also includes legs that never stop, bedroom eyes and a ready laugh, especially at the expense of doofuses or dumpy small-town mores. Just when you think an interfering man is going to impede her climb to the top, she flicks him away like a speck of lint from her sleek pinstripe suit.

Having done her due diligence, she’s hoping to close the deal in such a way that neither Clay nor Mike can claim a penny of the profit. Talk about multi-tasking. It’s understandable that so much juggling might make Bridget a little irritable from time to time.

Luckily, Mike is nothing if not supportive and just turns the other (butt) cheek when she calls him a rural Neanderthal. When he suggests they go on a date and chat sometime; she asks: “What for?”

When Mike (Peter Berg) suggests going on an actual date, Bridget (Linda Fiorentino) asks, “What for?”

To say that Fiorentino, a Philly native with a fiery intensity, nails the part is an understatement. She is one of the fiercest femmes fatales in all of neo-noir moviemaking. If I were a guy, I think seeing this performance would surely give me an uneasy night’s sleep. I would have loved to see Fiorentino work with Quentin Tarantino, but her career short-circuited fairly early. I have heard she was a tad hard to work with – shocker! Pullman, Berg and the rest of the cast more than hold their own, underplaying their parts and letting Fiorentino hold bitchy court.

Director Dahl is a neo-noir specialist (he also directed “Red Rock West,” “Kill Me Again” and “Rounders”) and the sharp, funny script is peppered with references to noir classics. For instance, Dahl tips his hat to “Double Indemnity” by having Bridget and Mike both work at an insurance company and, when Bridget calls the police to falsely accuse a guy of exposing himself (so she can make a getaway), she gives her name as “Mrs. Neff.”

I suppose that could be evidence of her truly tender heart – in her imagination, the doomed lovers Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson get married and live happily ever after. Yeah, right. But, if Bridget said it, you’d believe her.

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‘Speak No Evil’ tells a suspenseful, satirical tale

September 27, 2024 by

2024/1h 50m

“Speak No Evil” – a psychological thriller written and directed by James Watkins – begins its push-pull of nervous energy from the very first frame. After a mysterious, night-time opening shot, we’re introduced to an American family on vacation in sunny Italy. Louise Dalton (Mackenzie Davis), her husband Ben (Scoot McNairy) and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are trying to enjoy the trip, but can’t quite seem to relax, despite the scenic views and scrumptious food. For one thing, Louise and Ben disagree on a parenting issue. Ben wants Agnes, almost 12, to put away, once and for all, a stuffed rabbit named Hoppy, which she holds tight when she feels anxious. Louise feels it’s better not to make a big deal about it.

One day, while strolling around town, they encounter another family: friendly and charismatic Paddy (James McAvoy), easy-going Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and their sweet son Ant (Dan Hough), who is a few years younger than Agnes and has trouble communicating. Paddy instantly impresses Agnes by offering her a ride on his snazzy Vespa.

Later, as the two families share a meal, Ben and Louise reveal that they relocated to London for Ben’s career, but his job was downsized shortly after they moved. Louise works in PR; however, it’s been hard for her to build a new network of contacts. Paddy, a doctor, Ciara, a stay-at-home mom, and Ant live in England’s west country.

The two families meet in Italy. From left to right: Mackenzie Davis, Alix West Lefler, Scoot McNairy, Dan Hough, Aisling Franciosi and James McAvoy.

Once the holiday has ended and the Daltons are back in London, they’re at a loose end workwise and their marital problems are bubbling to the surface. When they receive a letter from Paddy inviting them (for the second time) to come for a visit, Ben and Louise hesitate – it’s a lot of time with new friends they hardly know. On the other hand, they’ve had a nice time together so far and Paddy’s charm makes it hard to say no. After all, what could go wrong?

Quite a lot, actually, with awkward moments starting almost as soon as they arrive at Paddy and Ciara’s rustic farmhouse. Red flags keep popping up and the extent to which Louise and Ben choose to ignore them allows “Speak No Evil” to be a dark comedy of manners as well as an excellent suspenser distinguished by superb storytelling. Though the third act plays out in familiar slasher-movie fashion, it’s preceded by interesting characters played by talented actors, a mood of quiet malice and stunning cinematography (shot in Croatia and Gloucester, England). McAvoy is completely convincing as the jovial alpha male with an undercurrent of hostility while McNairy makes beta male Ben relatable if not entirely likable. Mackenzie Davis is terrific as Louise, who can take charge when needed. Aisling Franciosi plays Ciara with a sweetness that slow-burns into edgy weirdness. Both child actors are excellent as well.

Also, director Watkins (“Eden Lake” 2008 and “The Woman in Black” 2012) deserves praise for the unhurried pacing. (That could be a nod to the Danish film of the same name from 2022 directed by Christian Tafdrup on which Watkins based his movie.) As the story unfolds little by little, layer by layer, we learn more about the cracks in Ben and Louise’s marriage, cringe at the uncomfortable exchanges between the couples, and see well beyond the surface of Paddy and Ciara’s cozy family life – especially when Paddy quotes Philip Larkin’s famous lines about parents and humiliates Ant while the kids are performing a dance they’ve rehearsed. Once the social niceties subside and the polite forbearance finally ends, Louise and Ben must trust each other 100% and work as allies – not to mention wield deadly weapons – to survive this idyllic country getaway, which has spiraled into chilling insanity.

“Speak No Evil” opened Sept. 13 and is playing in theaters nationwide.

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Courtroom drama dissects defiance of French far-left activist

September 21, 2024 by

2023 France/2024 US/1h 56m

“The Goldman Case” functions as a tense, often-tumultuous courtroom drama, which is based on a true story. At the same time, the film delves into a turbulent period of modern French history – the late 1960s and 1970s – grappling with political, cultural and social-justice issues as it renders an even-handed portrait of an intellectual/self-described revolutionary/criminal agitator.

That agitator is French far-left activist Pierre Goldman (Arieh Worthalter). His parents (both Polish) were members of a branch of the French Resistance in WW2; after the war, his mother returned to Poland and Pierre was raised primarily by his father in France. At 19, Pierre became a communist and over the next several years spent time in Cuba and Venezuela, where he was involved with guerrilleros. He was part of the Royal Bank of Canada robbery in Venezuela in 1969, but was not identified and returned to Paris.

He continued his criminal activities and was given a life sentence in 1974 after being convicted of a robbery in which two pharmacists were killed. He denied having committed that robbery (although he’d admitted to three other, earlier robberies and had received a 12-year jail sentence).

While in prison, he wrote a book about his case, “Souvenirs obscurs d’un juif polonais né en France” (“Obscure Memories of a Polish Jew Born in France,” 1975), which caught the attention of Simone Signoret, Jean-Paul Sartre and others, and Goldman became a cause célèbre.

Because of the publicity and emerging questions about the police work, Goldman is granted a retrial. In the courtroom, Goldman frequently disregards protocol and speaks out of turn – arguing his cause, criticizing the proceedings (angrily explaining, for example, why he sees character references as pointless) and asserting racism by the police. His outbursts spur cheers from his many supporters in attendance. Though the judges don’t sanction him (no “order in the court!”), his seeming bent on self-destruction frustrates his defense team.

As various witnesses testify and we learn more about Goldman, his family, his relationships and his mental health, we’re unsure from minute to minute as to his innocence or guilt regarding the murder charges. The rousing speeches from passionate lawyers on both sides and the sometimes-arcane idiosyncrasies of French legal proceedings add to the tension. Confining most of the action to the gloomy, harshly lit courtroom creates a pervasive sense of claustrophobia.

Ably directed by Cédric Kahn (he wrote the screenplay with Nathalie Hertzberg), the acting is solid throughout and it’s hard to take your eyes off Worthalter, who fully inhabits the fiery, ferocious Goldman and brings to life a character and a case that remain fascinating and disturbing long after the film ends.

“The Goldman Case” opened Sept. 13 in Los Angeles and is playing in select theaters nationwide.

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Sly, stylish “Strange Darling” takes us on a weird and wild ride

September 15, 2024 by

2023 Film Festivals/2024 Theatrical Release/1h 37m

In a summer that’s short on must-see movies, “Strange Darling” ranks as essential viewing for fans of neo-noir thriller/horror flicks. A riveting story of a serial killer on the loose in rural Oregon, the film has much to recommend it: compelling creepy characters; superb acting; first-rate visuals; gritty intensity; and taut pacing, clocking in at 96 minutes. But most memorably, “Strange Darling” upends our expectations of the genre in a strikingly original way.

Bookended by stark black and white photography, the film opens with a moody shot, introducing us to the two leads: the red-headed, doe-eyed Lady (Willa Fitzgerald) and the clean-cut, rugged Demon (Kyle Gallner) – two easy-on-the-eyes, mutually attracted strangers who are sitting in the Demon’s truck swigging booze late one night, deciding whether they will take their party to a room at the nearby Blue Angel hotel. She comments that violence is always a risk for a woman in this situation and asks him if he’s a serial killer. He says no. From there, the story unfolds in six non-linear chapters.

Chapter 3 “Can you please help me?” comes first (and the phrase pops up several times throughout the movie). The next morning, the Lady, pale and frail but wiry, is now a blonde and has changed into hideous red scrubs. Driving a red Pinto, she floors it frantically down a quiet road. The gun-toting Demon is in determined, coke-fueled pursuit, but she escapes into dense, sun-dappled woods and eventually pounds on the door of a rustic cabin, occupied by hippie/doomsdayers (with a penchant for butter-laden breakfasts) Genevieve (Barbara Hershey) and Frederick (Ed Begley Jr.), and they let her in.

Terrified, wounded, hungry and hungover, she feasts, like a feral animal, on what’s left of their hearty morning meal. But when Frederick suggests they call the cops, the Lady vehemently disagrees. (Later, we do meet two officers, well played by Steven Michael Quezada and Madisen Beaty, who fall into a figurative snare that’s constructed from gender stereotypes.)

To reveal more of the plot would ruin the movie, so suffice to say as writer/director JT Mollner skillfully puts the puzzle pieces together, holes are tightened and questions are answered. That is, except for the most perplexing, probably unanswerable, question: how do people become crazy enough to go on a bloody killing binge with zero remorse?

The Demon (Kyle Gallner) is on a mission in rural Oregon.

Watching this masterful work, you feel the influence of Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, David Lynch and Alfred Hitchcock. Mollner delivers a picture (his second) that’s bold, clever, sordid and sometimes darkly comic. Shot in 35 mm by cinematographer Giovanni Ribisi, “Strange Darling” is great-looking throughout – boasting rich color and arresting compositions. Composer Craig DeLeon’s score and original songs written and performed by Z Berg help to sustain the suspenseful mood.

Additionally, Mollner elicits terrific performances from the entire cast and especially from the captivating Fitzgerald as she pulls out all the stops playing a Lady you’ll never forget and Gallner, by turns sinister and phlegmatic; threatening and vulnerable.

Granted, “Strange Darling” won’t be everyone’s cup of blood. It’s a dark dive into the world of a serial killer, so if gore and graphic violence are a deal-breaker, you’ll want to give this a pass. (Also, if you’re looking for deep, thoughtful commentary on gender roles and sexual politics, look elsewhere.)

But for those who dig crime tales, sly, stylish “Strange Darling” takes us on a weird and wild ride.

“Strange Darling” opened Aug. 23 and is playing in theaters nationwide.

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Lighthouse Café’s jazz brunch brightens Sunday mornings

September 13, 2024 by

Femmes fatales are naturally nocturnal and enjoy night-time carousing almost as much as they love spending a hefty pile of cold, hard cash. But there are exceptions to that rule.

For example, the Sunday jazz brunch at the Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach provides plenty of reasons to be up early-ish on a weekend morning. The event, which runs from 10 am to 2 pm, features classic songs (think Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin) and attracts first-rate performers, such as vocalist Lia Booth and guitarist Miles Jensen.

Vocalist Lia Booth and guitarist Miles Jensen help the audience mellow out with excellent music.

Sporting Bettie Page bangs and retro specs, classically trained Booth makes each song her own with singular phrasing and Jensen gives a lithe grace to every chord he plays. Most of the songs are audience requests and patrons are encouraged to try to stump the versatile chanteuse.

While jotting down your requests, you can nosh on great brunch fare. Treat yourself to the irresistibly decadent fry up (eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and toast) or the more demure yogurt and fresh fruit. The raspberry daiquiri pairs remarkably well with both, or go for a savory note and sip a classic Bloody Mary.

If these walls could scat … jazz artists have played here since the place opened in 1949.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To be sure, performers Booth and Jensen follow in some mighty big footsteps. The Lighthouse Café celebrated its 75th anniversary this summer and has long been known as a ballast of bebop and a hot spot for cool jazz, showcasing legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Chet Baker.

In the early days, bassist/band leader/club manager Howard Rumsey put together a house band called the Lighthouse All-Stars, frequently playing with guest musicians. Many artists recorded at the café as well.

Current owner Josh Royal recently told the Daily Breeze he aims to keep the old-school vibe and maintain the café as a live music venue. Besides the brunch, the café hosts a jazz jam session on Monday nights. Royal and his partners took over in 2021. Previously, Paul Hennessey had owned the place for about 40 years.

The neon sign is a nod to the 2016 movie, “La La Land” and its iconic scenes that were shot at the Lighthouse café.

And Musicians aren’t the only ones who are drawn to the historic café. The Lighthouse earned a cinematic claim to fame when it was selected as a location for “La La Land” (2016, Damien Chazelle), starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling (pictured below), which won the best Picture Oscar in 2017. Filming took place over four days in late summer, 2015. There is a neon sign that pays tribute to the popular flick; it reads: “Here’s to the fools who dream.”

Ryan Gosling won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in “La La Land.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both interior and exterior scenes in “La La Land” were filmed at the café.

Vocalist Lia Booth and guitarist Miles Jensen will play on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 10 am to 2 pm. The Lighthouse Café is located at 30 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach, CA 90254. Ryan Gosling may or may not be in attendance.

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‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ is a flaky, flimsy fairy tale that’s still pretty entertaining

July 31, 2019 by

For Angelenos, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” by Quentin Tarantino, is required viewing if you 1) are too young to have any idea who Charlie Manson’s family was 2) love Brad Pitt 3) are craving cocktails and massive portions at Musso & Frank’s and feel the need to rationalize a visit to the restaurant.

The film is a heavy-handed homage to the slowly collapsing Studio System, in the year 1969, as well as a revisionist and rescue fantasy from a director who gorges on movie lore like some of us feast on popcorn. But as glossy looking (shot by Robert Richardson) and as crammed with period detail as it is, “Once Upon,” has a script that’s thin and unsatisfying; the film has very little tension or much humor to sustain its 2 hour and 41 minute running time. The place, slick and sultry and a bit sinister, is rendered with a sure eye; the mood is often flat.

The story revolves primarily around a macho TV actor named Rick Dalton (Leonardo Di Caprio) whose career is starting to wobble and his friendship with his stuntman and helper Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Rick is fond of easing his angst with booze; Cliff is a laconic cool guy, war veteran and mysterious widower – there are rumors that he might have been involved in his wife’s death. Rick happens to live on Cielo Drive, next door to director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) and his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).

In “Once Upon,” Rick plays the villain in “Lancer,” which was an actual Western show that aired on CBS for two seasons, starting in 1968 and starring actor James Stacy (played in “Once Upon” by Timothy Olyphant) and Wayne Maunder (Luke Perry).

Robbie is an ideal choice to play Tate; she exudes young energy and abundant promise. So, it would have been nice if Tarantino had given her more to do than being adorable, acquiescent and slightly vacant.

But hey she is a starlet, after all. We meet lots of stock players in this dark-side-of-the-dream scenario: Al Pacino as a glitzy producer, looking to snag film roles for Rick in Italian movies; Lorenza Izzo as the 2-D, temperamental wife Rick meets while making an Italian movie; and Julia Butters as a precocious child actor (is there any other kind?) and co-star of Rick’s Italian movie. As Tarantino melds reality with fantasy, we also spy Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis), Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond), Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and others.

The other major plotline, awkwardly lumped in, comes from the fact that cult leader Charlie Manson and his murderous followers also had tangential and tenuous (but 100% real) connections to Tinseltown. Manson once aspired to a music career and mistakenly believed that producer Terry Melcher lived in the Tate-Polanksi residence on Cielo Drive. Also, the Manson “family” lived at Spahn Ranch, which was a filming location for the Jane Russell movie “The Outlaw” and some episodes of the TV show “Bonanza.”

By chance, Cliff picks up a hitchhiking Mansonite named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley, of TV’s “The Leftovers” and “Fosse/Verdon”), drives her to the ranch and stops in for a visit. Apparently, Rick and Cliff once worked there and Cliff remembers George Spahn, who in 1969 was 80 years old and blind.

Long-legged and lithe Pussycat bites her lip repeatedly as part of her seduction but Cliff decides she’s too young for him and takes a pass, on her and the Manson cult. Pussycat might be based in part on Kathryn Lutesinger, who briefly followed Manson but later turned against him. Dakota Fanning and Austin Butler play (real-life) Manson followers and criminals Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and Tex Watson. Damon Herriman plays Manson.

“Once Upon …” isn’t a bad movie but it’s not Tarantino at his finest. It’s well acted, especially Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth and Bruce Dern as George Spahn, and it’s all pretty enjoyable, it’s just not that interesting or weird or wild overall. Granted, the reimagining of the Manson Tate murders definitely provides a kooky ending – the problem is it also comes off as strained and random, more gimmick than grand finale.

Welcome to LA.

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Noir City Hollywood turns 20! Fest begins Friday

April 13, 2018 by

Tough smart wise-cracking private eyes in Bogey-style raincoats and crisp fedoras. Sleek sexy ladies with Bacall-type husky voices. Murderous gangsters and villains. Nosey cops. Dangerous thugs. Beautiful dames in slinky gowns who could eat you for lunch. Shadows draping over a rain-slickened midnight street. Booze. Guns. Jazz. And, over it all, the machinery of fate.

For 20 years, audiences in Hollywood and in other cities have thrilled to Noir City, the premier cinema festival devoted to what we call film noir – the movie genre that introduced us to a lot of the images above, and many more.

“The Blue Dahlia” (starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake) is Raymond Chandler’s only original screenplay.

Now, with the advent of the 20th annual Los Angeles Festival of Film Noir, they’ll be lining up again for the suspense-racked programs at Grauman’s/American Cinematheque Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, a classic venue for classic cinema and all the tricks, treats and tragedies of noir. Hosts Eddie Muller (the founder of Noir City, the film noir festival and the Film Noir Foundation) and Alan Rode (author of a splendid recent critical biography of noir master Michael Curtiz), with be there to guide us down the dark streets.

The fest runs for 10 days – April 13-April 22 – and features 20 films. Each program starts at 7:30 p.m. Here’s a look at highlights for the first part of the festival; stay tuned for more recommendations. You may have seen some of these gems before. So see them one more time. (At least) They’ll catch your breath and tingle your spine all over again.

FRIDAY, April 13 (Opening Night)
“The Blue Dahlia” (1946, George Marshall) An essential: Raymond Chandler’s only original screenplay, a tense look at three returning WWW2 vets (Alan Ladd, William Bendix and Hugh Beaumont), who fall into a post-war swamp of murder, infidelity, a “wrong man” and Veronica Lake’s peek-a-boo hairdo . Chandler, king of the noir writers (James Ellroy would disagree), was forced to use an ending here – and to finger a killer – that he hadn’t written and didn’t want. (You’ll be able to guess the killer that should have been almost instantly.) But the movie works anyway.

“I Love Trouble” (1948, S. Sylvan Simon)
A kind of Chandler pastiche: A smart-ass private-eye thriller, with detective Franchot Tone cracking wise amid the likes of Raymond Burr and John Ireland. The writer, Roy Huggins, later came up with TV’s “Rockford Files,” “77 Sunset Strip,” “The Fugitive” and (my favorite TV Western) “Maverick.”

SATURDAY, April 14
“L. A. Confidential” (1997, Curtis Hanson)
Three savvy L. A. cops (Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey), their tyrannical chief (James Cromwell), a sleazy scandal magi publisher (Danny De Vito) and a gorgeous hooker who’s been cut to resemble Veronica Lake (Kim Besieger) are all enmeshed in L. A. ’50s police and governmental super-corruption. Maybe the greatest of the (fairly) contemporary post-war neo-noirs, stunningly executed by director Hanson and scriptwriter Brian Helgoland. James Ellroy wrote the book and he’ll be there to talk about it and the movie, with Eddie.

SUNDAY, April 15
“Kiss Me Deadly” (1956, Robert Aldrich)
Mickey Spillane was the most popular American crime novel writer (for a while, the most popular American writer period) when director Robert Aldrich and writer A. I. Bestrides did this brilliant demolition job on the pop and political culture that fed one of the Mick’s most brutal and misogynistic and cold-blooded thrillers. Ralph Meeker is a perfect, vicious Mike Hammer, Albert Becker, Jack Elam, Jack Lambert and Strother Martin are perfectly nasty heavies, and yeah, that’s Cloris Leachman in the first scene, flagging down Hammer’s car in the nude. And that’s Nat King Cole crooning the romantic ballad under the reverse credit crawl.

“City of Fear” (1959, Irving Lerner)
Vince Edwards is a con on the loose, with a suitcase full of deadly radioactive poison. One of the best of the cheapo arty B’s, from one of Marty Scorsese’s favorite low-budget helmers, Irving Lerner.

MONDAY, April 16
“Dark City” (1950, William Dieterle)
A gang of bickering grifters, led by Charlton Heston (in his off-type movie star debut) get in hot water after a crooked card game. Stylish Dieterle direction and a great cast (Lizabeth Scott, Viveca Lindfors, Ed Begley, Dean Jagger, Jack Webb and Henry Morgan) make this one a winner.

“Armored Car Robbery” (1950, Richard Fleischer)
One of the best of the cheapo non-arty B’s, by crime thriller ace Richard Fleischer. Charles McGraw is the good bad guy, William Talman is the bad bad guy, Adele Jergens is the bad girl.

TUESDAY, April 17
“He Walked by Night” (1948, Alfred Werker)
Richard Basehart plays a brainy heist guy pursued by the LAPD (and Steve Brodie) in this stunningly shot (by John Alton) crime thriller. I’ve always thought Jack Webb (who plays a tech cop) got a lot of ideas for “Dragnet” from this movie – some of which was directed by the uncredited noir expert Anthony Mann.

“Down Three Dark Streets” (1954, Arnold Laven)
FBI agent Broderick Crawford opens three case files (about Ruth Roman, Martha Hyer and Marisa Pavan) on his late friend’s desk and proceeds to unravel the past.
Sounds interesting.

WEDNESDAY, April 18
“Dragnet” (1954, Jack Webb)
Jack Webb again, with his Joe Friday magnum opus … dum-da-dum-dum! The names were changed to protect the innocent – but some of the names they kept were Ben Alexander (Friday’s Man Friday) and the underrated Richard Boone as their superior. “Hill Street Blues” and “Law and Order” it ain’t, but in a way, it paved the way for them.

“Loophole” (1954, Harold D. Schuster)
The powers that “B.” Barry Sullivan is a bank worker wrongly accused of filching the assets with relentless investigator Charley McGraw on his trail. Dorothy Malone too.
See the rest of the Noir City schedule next week.

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The anti-Valentine: Happy birthday to the divine Miss N!

February 13, 2018 by

Vertigo/ 1958/Paramount Pictures /127 min.

Kim Novak turns 85 today – wow!

Kim Novak plays two parts, elegant Madeleine and brassy Judy.

On a cold morning several years ago, my colleague Joe from the art department bumped into me at Starbucks and said: “You look like Kim Novak in ‘Vertigo’ in that suit,” referring to my fitted gray jacket and skirt. I’d twisted my hair into the best chignon I could manage pre-coffee using the three hairpins I was able to find on my cluttered bathroom shelf.

I was relieved to put off a shampoo for another day, but never thought my impromptu bun had the added effect of contributing to a Hitchcock-blonde vibe.

Alfred Hitchcock was always extremely fastidious about his leading ladies’ wardrobes and for 1958’s “Vertigo” he and costume designer Edith Head agreed that a gray suit would lend a particularly eerie air to Novak’s character, Madeleine Elster. Though stylish, sophisticated and perfectly appointed, Madeleine seems to be struggling to hold onto her sanity.

Her worried husband Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) taps an old acquaintance and former police detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) to keep an eye on her. Gavin tells Scottie that Madeleine is tormented by family ghosts and that he’s afraid she’ll commit suicide.

Like Madeline, Scottie is a little delicate too, having recently been treated for his fear of heights, brought on by a nasty bout of vertigo. So, he’s taking it easy and hanging out with his upbeat buddy Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes). Reluctant at first, Scottie accepts Gavin’s assignment and, over time, becomes obsessed with saving Madeline, then falls in love with her.

But alas, Scottie can’t provide foolproof protection against her demons because he hasn’t completely conquered his vertigo. After Madeleine takes a fatal tumble, Scottie is inconsolable, until he encounters a shop clerk named Judy Barton (also played by Novak).

Judy bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost love, even if she’s less refined and has the wrong hair color. Scottie decides that’s where hair dye and haute couture come in and he sets his sights on transforming this new object of his affection into the spitting image of Madeleine. “It can’t mean that much to you,” Scottie growls at Judy when she balks at bleaching her hair. But the déjà vu does not go according to plan.

“Vertigo”’s surreal, sometimes unsettling exploration of two troubled minds bears Hitchcock’s distinctive stamps: intense but masked emotion, exquisite suspense, altered identity and disguises, and technical innovation – in this case, the use of forward zoom and reverse tracking to depict Scottie’s vertigo. Intense color and meticulous composition heighten our sense of Scottie’s anguish and frustration. Robert Burks, a longtime Hitchcock collaborator, was director of photography.

Though reviews were mixed upon its initial release (critics complained that the plot was far-fetched), “Vertigo” has since been acknowledged as a crowning cinematic achievement. In 2002, “Vertigo” landed the No. 2 spot on the Sight and Sound critics’ top 10 poll, second only to “Citizen Kane.” Leonard Maltin calls it: “A genuinely great motion picture that demands multiple viewings.”

Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak convey intense but masked emotion.

Stewart is captivating as the off-balance would-be lover, playing against his aw-shucks, all-American type. Scottie is relaxed and jovial one minute, desperate and disconnected the next.

Novak was at the peak of her stardom when she played this role. Though it’s easy to accuse her of being a little wooden, that was likely the exact effect, i.e. sexy sleepwalker, that Hitchcock intended.

Novak snagged the role because Hitch’s first choice, Vera Miles, was pregnant and in those days, that meant losing the part. Looking at her performance today, Novak kills it.

Bel Geddes turns in an outstanding performance as Scottie’s eminently likeable galpal Midge. (Twenty years later, Bel Geddes would play the matriarch Mrs. Ewing on the hit series “Dallas.”) Midge and Scottie are comfortable enough with each other to discuss a “cantilevered” bra, perhaps a riff on Howard Hughes’ real-life attempt to design a special bra for actress Jane Russell. Midge loves Scottie, but knows the feeling is not reciprocated.

Bernard Herrmann’s haunting score, according to imdb.com, was inspired by Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde,” which is also about doomed love. The script, by Samuel Taylor and Alec Coppel, is based on the book “d’Entre les Morts” by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, writers of the French noir novel “Diabolique.”

Although Hitchcock generally preferred studio shooting to filming on location, he also appreciated San Fran’s beauty and the city features prominently in “Vertigo” as he lets us linger near landmarks and enjoy the scenery. Hitchcock shows up as a pedestrian about 10 minutes into the flick.

For me, the only downside in “Vertigo” is that Novak’s character is much more of a damsel in distress than a cunning enchantress. Foster Hirsch, author of “Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir” puts it this way: “While the protagonist is conceived securely within a noir tradition, the film rewrites the femme fatale as a victim rather than a manipulator of male desire.”

That’s not a good thing in my book. Still, I’m so fond of Novak’s lovely suits and dresses that if I could find a “Vertigo”-esque cream-colored coat and black gloves and scarf, I’d be willing to look the other way on this one.

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‘Film Stars’ offers fine performances, but doesn’t do full justice to the multidimensional Gloria Grahame

December 15, 2017 by

“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” is Paul McGuigan’s film based on Peter Turner’s memoir of his relationship with actress Gloria Grahame, near the end of her life. (She died in New York City on Oct. 5, 1981; she was 57.)

Annette Bening gives a nuanced, highly sympathetic performance as the aging Grahame. Jamie Bell beautifully plays her young lover, Turner, a working-class actor from Liverpool. Julie Walters (as his mother) and Vanessa Redgrave (as Grahame’s mother) also shine in this often-moving, if somewhat predictable, story, scripted by Matt Greenhalgh.

The problem with the movie is that it ultimately becomes a fairly generic yarn about a May-December romance involving a Faded Film Star. The writer and director made the choice to film Turner’s book – rather than to use it as a starting point to illuminate the complicated person and happy-sad-doomed glamour girl that was Gloria Grahame. As a result, her unique identity is lost in the shuffle as we learn more of Turner’s life than we do of hers.

Grahame was a talented stage and film actress of the 1940s and ’50s, who is now often forgotten. For someone unfamiliar with the name, you are left with the impression that she was a Marilyn Monroe wannabe – sexy and blonde, zaftig and sweet. (Of course, that clichéd interpretation sells both women short.)

Both Grahame and Monroe were able to channel an assumed innocence and girlishness that made their characters memorable. Grahame’s breakthrough role was the flirtatious, small-town hottie Violet Bick in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946, Frank Capra).

Grahame was less otherworldly than the goddess Monroe (both women endured plastic surgery to perfect their faces) but she had a feline beauty, sharp-featured and streetwise, the ideal look for many a femme fatale in some of the finest film noir titles ever produced.

She earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nom for “Crossfire” (1947, Edward Dmytryk), held her own with Bogart in the exquisite “In a Lonely Place” (1950, Nicholas Ray, her husband at the time), gave Joan Crawford a run for her money in “Sudden Fear” (1952, David Miller) and tangled with Lee Marvin’s coffee-hurling sociopath in “The Big Heat” (1953, Fritz Lang).

Gloria Grahame was uniquely talented.

She had the vamps down cold and yet she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar playing a well bred Southern socialite/housewife in 1952’s “The Bad and the Beautiful,” directed by Vincente Minnelli.

Grahame had an unusually expressive face and a natural effervescence that is exciting to watch. She also had a slight lisp that renders her a bit goofy – less a celluloid confection and more a real person with flaws.

She was willing to take risks – but sometimes they backfired. Lacking singing and dancing chops, she struggled in “Oklahoma!” (1955, Fred Zinnemann). Oddly miscast in this classic musical, she was insecure; said to be difficult on set and uncooperative with the press.

And Grahame was eccentric, even by Hollywood standards, obstinate and scandalous in a singular way. Her fourth husband was her stepson, Anthony Ray, son of Nicholas Ray. (Jean Luc Godard once said of the famed but tortured director: “The cinema is Nicholas Ray.”)

Though she didn’t marry Anthony Ray until 1960 (he was in his early 20s, she was 36), there is some dispute about when exactly their sexual relationship started. Of her four marriages, theirs was the longest – they divorced in 1974.

To say the least, the unconventional marriage raised eyebrows, lowered her status as a bankable star, gave her ex-husbands grounds for custody disputes and made excellent fodder for the tabloid journalists and gossip columnists she’d already alienated. Grahame suffered a nervous breakdown but after her recovery she continued to work, turning to the stage and TV when movie offers became fewer and far between.

And, to the end, she craved male companionship, as evidenced by Turner’s account of her time in England. She always enjoyed the attention. As she said of her appeal: “It wasn’t the way I looked at a man, it was the thought behind it.”

Grahame is still much loved by movie buffs. And if the cinema is Nicholas Ray, then the cinema, especially film noir, is Gloria Grahame as well.

“Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” opens today in Los Angeles.

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