"High Noon" is not just a western. It's a story of ordinary, good people, refusing to stand up for what is right, who ultimately cause ruin for the good person who's doing the right thing. More specifically, it can be directly linked to the nasty business of Hollywood blacklisting in the 1940's and 50's. The blacklisting was a failure of Hollywood, or of the intellectuals involved, or perhaps society as a whole. The studios were complicit as was much of Hollywood; they allowed it to happen. When someone is doing the right thing and the "good people" don't join the fight, then almost anything can happen. This is exactly what took place in "High Noon", where a Marshall faces four gunmen alone or in Hollywood, where hundreds and hundreds of professionals had their lives diminished or ruined.
The screenplay was written by Carl Foreman who was blacklisted by HUAC before the movie was released. He fled to England and later worked on another movie on this list ("The Bridge on the River Kwai"). He was a member of the communist party in the late 30's so I guess he deserved it, right? He refused to name names and was therefore considered an 'uncooperative witness' so..."Buh Bye Now".
Back to the movie at hand. Gary Cooper is a prime example of what the hero in a western should be. He is standing alone against all odds and refusing to leave or run or back down, even when those around him are doing so. Refusing to give up and willing to die for ideals and nothing more. This probably relates all the way back to the birth of Christianity. Christ had the choice to leave or run or back down, but he didn't. If you have faith, you believe he was given the opportunity to back down in the Garden of Gethsemane but didn't. He stayed the course for higher ideals. Perhaps this is why the story resonates so strongly in western culture.
One of the first examples of revisionist Westerns, the movie made some departures from the romanticism of earlier westerns. Cooper was 50 when this movie was made and there were criticisms that he was too old to play the part. He was almost 30 years older than Grace Kelly who played his Quaker wife. He looked older than he was at times because they used little to no makeup, which helped to show the wrinkles and worry on his face. For most of the characters in the movie there is sweat and dirt, dust and grit. There isn't a lot of the violence of later revisionist movies but this is a very early example.
The film follows the real chronology of the events. There are some different cuts but it was released with a matching run time to the 85 minutes of the story between the wedding and the final departure from the town. "24" did that more than 50 years later as a real time narrative. These 85 minutes are spent while the Marshall tries to prepare for the return of Frank Miller from prison to be joined by three members of the old gang. Most hope there won't be trouble when Miller returns, but everyone knows there will be. No one is willing to stand up to the trouble.
Throughout "High Noon", clocks are used as an effective means to build the suspense. The movie follows the gradual disillusionment of Cooper as he watches everyone around him refuse to stand up. The judge who sentenced the returning murderer is first, his deputy Pell (Lloyd Bridges) is second and that sets up the realization this isn't going to go well for "Coop". His woman, friends, co-workers and fellow town members all can't or won't or hide to avoid the trouble. Side note (sorry, yes it's another one) Bridges was Grey Listed by HUAC and Cooper et. al. worked to get him on the film.
The movie is wonderful. I might have mentioned in another post that Grace Kelly is a knockout. Her film debut was a fine start and while the character is a little one dimensional she could stand there mute for most of the movie really. Cooper is the archetype for the strong silent type...well almost silent...and many of the character actors are superb. A really young Col. Potter of MASH fame (Harry Morgan) and an almost baby faced Jack Elam make appearances. One of Cooper's best friends is Thomas Mitchell who played the bumbling Uncle Billy in Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life". An interesting bit of trivia is this was the movie debut of both Kelly and Lee Van Cleef. Kelly wins this one since she has lines of dialog. Van Cleef doesn't have a one.
John Wayne hated the movie and thought it was extremely "Un-American" but ironically accepted the Oscar for Cooper's win of best actor for him since Gary wasn't able to attend. Wayne was credited with saying he would never regret helping to blacklist the screenwriter Foreman. Wayne and the director of yesterday's blog movie ("Bringing Up Baby") made "Rio Bravo" in response to "High Noon". They did see the talent of Dimitri Tiomkin, however, who did the scores for both movies. "Rio Bravo" then spawned "El Dorado" which was also a Hawkes/Duke collaboration.
Without any of the background and the political backdrop of the time, the movie should still be here. With that additional flavour, it most certainly should be here.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
True Grit - Justice is Done
When I first heard the brothers Coen (Ethan and Joel) were doing a remake of True Grit I was excited. I knew it would be at least a little revisionist and I like revisionist westerns. I always thought the story was good and I was pretty sure they would do it well. They did!
The cast is great. While one could argue no one could ever do the part after John Wayne did it, Jeff Bridges rasped his way through a great performance. The story is engaging and the characters complex and multi-dimensional. Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is tough while flawed, pragmatic, but with a higher sense of justice. As with many Coen brothers films there really isn't a hero. There are characters that may at one point be heroic and the next despicable. Rooster does that epic charge - reins in teeth and guns a blazin' against four outlaws however. Fantastic.
The gem in this movie, for me, was Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) with a remarkable performance of the character. The two scenes with Col. Stonehill (Dakin Matthews) are pure gold. The look of resignation, strike that, fear on Stonehill's face when he asks:
"Are we trading again?"
Brilliant!
Mattie is younger in this version and that works. She is headstrong to a fault and much like the modern US society is quite litigious (sorry but a little dig I couldn't resist). The Texas Ranger admits she's earned her spurs because she does show true grit. Willing to go one on one with any adult at 14 she is a formidable character. I suspect we'll see much more of Steinfeld in the future. This role earned her a nomination for supporting actress. I don't think anyone will beat out Melissa Leo for her role in "The Fighter" but we'll see.
Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf the Texas Ranger and has that same almost too clean sort of look as Glenn Campbell. As was said in the trailer for the original he plays "A Texas Ranger wearing britches a size too big". Barry Pepper plays "Lucky" Ned Pepper (I wonder if they almost didn't cast him because of the name collision). On a side note Barry Pepper was born in the small town of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada in which I lived for a few years. He has a rather interesting bio actually. Josh Brolin plays the villain Tom Chaney who was played by a much older Jeff Corey in the original. They all play the characters with their own interpretation. All of them are believable and all of them deserve credit.
If you've recently watched the 1969 version, or you have a great memory, you'll see, and hear, many similarities. More than a smidge of the dialog is the same. Some of the scenes are eerily familiar. Ethan and Joel went back to the source novel rather than to the Marguerite Roberts screenplay for inspiration. One can only assume the striking similarities in dialog and scenes are because both worked from the same source and the quality of that novel.
The cast is great. The direction great. The cinematography great (It earned Roger Deakins an Academy Award nomination to go with the one he got for his work on "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") The story great. The movie great. This could easily win Best Picture and I wouldn't argue much if it did. Justice done to both the novel and the 1969 classic. Well done!
I do have one question however. Did the directors decide that Wayne should be missing his left eye and Bridges his right? Or was that just actor's preference?
The cast is great. While one could argue no one could ever do the part after John Wayne did it, Jeff Bridges rasped his way through a great performance. The story is engaging and the characters complex and multi-dimensional. Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) is tough while flawed, pragmatic, but with a higher sense of justice. As with many Coen brothers films there really isn't a hero. There are characters that may at one point be heroic and the next despicable. Rooster does that epic charge - reins in teeth and guns a blazin' against four outlaws however. Fantastic.
The gem in this movie, for me, was Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) with a remarkable performance of the character. The two scenes with Col. Stonehill (Dakin Matthews) are pure gold. The look of resignation, strike that, fear on Stonehill's face when he asks:
"Are we trading again?"
Brilliant!
Mattie is younger in this version and that works. She is headstrong to a fault and much like the modern US society is quite litigious (sorry but a little dig I couldn't resist). The Texas Ranger admits she's earned her spurs because she does show true grit. Willing to go one on one with any adult at 14 she is a formidable character. I suspect we'll see much more of Steinfeld in the future. This role earned her a nomination for supporting actress. I don't think anyone will beat out Melissa Leo for her role in "The Fighter" but we'll see.
Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf the Texas Ranger and has that same almost too clean sort of look as Glenn Campbell. As was said in the trailer for the original he plays "A Texas Ranger wearing britches a size too big". Barry Pepper plays "Lucky" Ned Pepper (I wonder if they almost didn't cast him because of the name collision). On a side note Barry Pepper was born in the small town of Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada in which I lived for a few years. He has a rather interesting bio actually. Josh Brolin plays the villain Tom Chaney who was played by a much older Jeff Corey in the original. They all play the characters with their own interpretation. All of them are believable and all of them deserve credit.
If you've recently watched the 1969 version, or you have a great memory, you'll see, and hear, many similarities. More than a smidge of the dialog is the same. Some of the scenes are eerily familiar. Ethan and Joel went back to the source novel rather than to the Marguerite Roberts screenplay for inspiration. One can only assume the striking similarities in dialog and scenes are because both worked from the same source and the quality of that novel.
The cast is great. The direction great. The cinematography great (It earned Roger Deakins an Academy Award nomination to go with the one he got for his work on "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") The story great. The movie great. This could easily win Best Picture and I wouldn't argue much if it did. Justice done to both the novel and the 1969 classic. Well done!
I do have one question however. Did the directors decide that Wayne should be missing his left eye and Bridges his right? Or was that just actor's preference?
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Bringing Up Baby (1938) #88
So how is "Bringing Up Baby" related to Sicily and more specifically, Messina? Well the roots of screwball comedy lie in Shakespeare, and the most known example would be "Much Ado About Nothing" which takes place in the port of Messina.
See...simple. If I was really SMRT, I would have known that without doing any research but, sadly, that's not the case. Screwball comedies are one of the most enduring forms of comedy for film and the AFI list has at least one example ("Some Like it Hot"), if not two, ("Tootsie"). Seems a lot of folks consider screwball comedies as being associated with the 30's and 40's but not much since. I disagree. The form is still vibrant and many romantic comedies pay homage to the screwball roots.
This is first screwball comedy I've written about for this blog and it's great. Cary Grant is probably my favorite comedic actor of that period. His delivery is iconic and he was a marvelous performer. His athleticism is highlighted in this movie by his many falls, trips, and other run-ins with stationary objects. For me, he was just always cool even when he was picking himself up from some slapstick. Look for the shot where he motions like he's going to strangle Hepburn. Very similar in timing and effect to the scene in "The General" when Annabelle Lee starts cleaning up the engine compartment. I missed that similarity to Keaton, but it was mentioned on Peter Bogdonovich's commentary.
Katharine was then, is now, and forever will be a treasure. At the time of this film's release she was "box office poison" and didn't leave that behind until a couple of years later with the release of the film version of "The Philadelphia Story" (which also made the list and also stars Grant). After that she never looked back. She is the star of three movies on the AFI list. While Cary didn't manage a win for best actor in his career, Katharine picked up no less than four with twelve nominations.
The film follows the extremely square zoologist Dr. David Huxly's (Grant) misadventures at the hands of Susan Vance (Hepburn) as she pursues his affections. Throw in a little humor from the leopard that shows up in Vance's apartment, a fossil buried by a dog, a dash of mistaken identity, a little cross dressing, trying to keep an identity secret and finally, what some argue is the first use of the term gay to describe homosexuality in popular culture and you have an entertaining couple of hours. Cary Grant wandering out of the bathroom in the negligee and his hop as he says "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" is priceless. Whether the meaning was happy or homosexual is still up for debate. At this point we'll probably never know for sure.
Howard Hawkes said he made a mistake on the film because everyone was nuts. He wished there were more normal folks in the film but all of the characters were crazy. With later movies such as "His Girl Friday" as part of his more than 40 directorial credits, I think it's safe to say he learned his lesson. I also didn't know that Howard and Howard collaborated on the original "Scarface" in 1932 or that later he would direct Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe in "Monkey Business". He was a great director.
The supporting cast is marvelous with Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald and May Robinson. Whether it was Hepburn or the movie itself that hurt its box office performance isn't clear. Over the years the film has risen in the eyes of the public and the critics and climbed seven spots on the AFI list. A film made in 1938 that has my 17 year old son laughing out loud at places must have done something right.
See...simple. If I was really SMRT, I would have known that without doing any research but, sadly, that's not the case. Screwball comedies are one of the most enduring forms of comedy for film and the AFI list has at least one example ("Some Like it Hot"), if not two, ("Tootsie"). Seems a lot of folks consider screwball comedies as being associated with the 30's and 40's but not much since. I disagree. The form is still vibrant and many romantic comedies pay homage to the screwball roots.
This is first screwball comedy I've written about for this blog and it's great. Cary Grant is probably my favorite comedic actor of that period. His delivery is iconic and he was a marvelous performer. His athleticism is highlighted in this movie by his many falls, trips, and other run-ins with stationary objects. For me, he was just always cool even when he was picking himself up from some slapstick. Look for the shot where he motions like he's going to strangle Hepburn. Very similar in timing and effect to the scene in "The General" when Annabelle Lee starts cleaning up the engine compartment. I missed that similarity to Keaton, but it was mentioned on Peter Bogdonovich's commentary.
Katharine was then, is now, and forever will be a treasure. At the time of this film's release she was "box office poison" and didn't leave that behind until a couple of years later with the release of the film version of "The Philadelphia Story" (which also made the list and also stars Grant). After that she never looked back. She is the star of three movies on the AFI list. While Cary didn't manage a win for best actor in his career, Katharine picked up no less than four with twelve nominations.
The film follows the extremely square zoologist Dr. David Huxly's (Grant) misadventures at the hands of Susan Vance (Hepburn) as she pursues his affections. Throw in a little humor from the leopard that shows up in Vance's apartment, a fossil buried by a dog, a dash of mistaken identity, a little cross dressing, trying to keep an identity secret and finally, what some argue is the first use of the term gay to describe homosexuality in popular culture and you have an entertaining couple of hours. Cary Grant wandering out of the bathroom in the negligee and his hop as he says "Because I just went gay all of a sudden!" is priceless. Whether the meaning was happy or homosexual is still up for debate. At this point we'll probably never know for sure.
Howard Hawkes said he made a mistake on the film because everyone was nuts. He wished there were more normal folks in the film but all of the characters were crazy. With later movies such as "His Girl Friday" as part of his more than 40 directorial credits, I think it's safe to say he learned his lesson. I also didn't know that Howard and Howard collaborated on the original "Scarface" in 1932 or that later he would direct Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe in "Monkey Business". He was a great director.
The supporting cast is marvelous with Charles Ruggles, Barry Fitzgerald and May Robinson. Whether it was Hepburn or the movie itself that hurt its box office performance isn't clear. Over the years the film has risen in the eyes of the public and the critics and climbed seven spots on the AFI list. A film made in 1938 that has my 17 year old son laughing out loud at places must have done something right.
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