Monday 30 January 2017

Movie Review: Bright Leaf (1950)


A potent mix of business manoeuvring and romantic entanglements, Bright Leaf is a drama filled with fierce characters seeking fortunes and confronting flaws.

It's the 1890s, and Brant Royle (Gary Cooper) returns to Kingsmont, North Carolina to establish a tobacco business. Years earlier the Royles were driven off their land by the powerful tobacco mogul Major Singleton (Donald Crisp). Now Brant wants revenge, although he still lusts after the Major's feisty daughter Margaret (Patricia Neal). She has grown up to be as conniving as her father, and as interested in causing trouble. Meanwhile, businesswoman and brothel owner Sonia Kovac (Lauren Bacall) always loved Brant and is happy to see him back in town, but he never reciprocated her affection.

With financial help from Sonia, Brant teams up with inventor John Barton (Jeff Corey) and colourful promoter Chris "Dr. Monaco" Malley (Jack Carson). Using a production machine invented by Barton and Malley's promotional savvy, they corner the market by automating cigarette manufacturing and launching a catchy marketing campaign. With Brant on the ascendancy he makes his move on Margaret and tries to buy out the Major, but both business and romance are about to get a lot more complicated.

Directed by Michael Curtiz and possibly inspired by real events, Bright Leaf is a rich broth of corporate machinations, personal greed, cold revenge and hot romance. Clocking in at 110 minutes, the film is packed with grim emotion and multiple struggles for self-definition through destroying others rather than nurturing personal growth. Curtiz maintains interest by quickly cycling through the various threads of Brants life, and efficiently moving through the passing years.

Aesthetically Curtiz creates an enjoyable environment of a bustling town built on the tobacco industry before the product was associated with any health threats, with every frame populated by activity in all corners. From the prostitutes tempting their customers to the frenzied auctioneer selling the latest tobacco leaf bundles to the tycoons fretting over their business prospects, Bright Leaf is a dynamic experience.

The film is distinguished by colouring all the main characters an interesting shade of grey, and avoiding simplistic good and bad definitions. As Brant claws his way from a penniless man driven by revenge to the top of the tobacco heap, the lines of distinction between him and the Major begin to blur. Brant is blinded by a mission to reclaim his family's heritage, destroy the Major, and conquer the Singleton estate and Margaret as two ultimate prizes. His focus blinds him to the victims he creates along the way, and they are all ready to help bring him down when his turn comes.

Margaret Singleton and Sonia Kovac stand out as women true to their intentions, but at diametrically opposite ends of the spectrum. Margaret is her father's daughter from her first introduction, a fact that makes her irresistible to Brant. She plays his need to subjugate her for all its worth. Meanwhile Sonia remains true to her genuine love for Brant, her heart persisting in the belief that someday he will awaken to what she has to offer, while her head says otherwise.

Gary Cooper is freed from his typical good-guy persona and presents a dour, single-minded man. His aggressive intensity creates a hard shell at the heart of the film. Patricia Neal is all conniving sass, and Lauren Bacall conveys the struggle between passion and pragmatism. Donald Crisp, Jeff Corey and Jack Carson add plenty of animation to the other supporting roles.

Engaging and entertaining, Bright Leaf glows with the heat of sweltering determination colliding with human failings.






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Sunday 29 January 2017

Movie Review: Sundown (1941)


A World War Two adventure drama set in colonized Africa, Sundown carries the exotic feel of faraway military exploits but is hampered by low-budget production values and stiff performances.

In a remote military outpost in British East Africa, commander William Crawford (Bruce Cabot) is trying to keep the peace while protecting Allied interests from the creeping dangers of the global war. Rumours of guns being smuggled into the hands of a local aggressive tribe cause anxiety. Major Coombes (George Sanders) arrives to increase a sense of readiness. Also in and around the base are Italian prisoner turned cook Pallini (Joseph Calleia), Dutch geoscientist Jan Kuypens (Carl Esmond) and local big game hunter Dewey (Harry Carey).

The arrival of exotic and mysterious local leader Zia (Gene Tierney) signals the start of real trouble, as the suddenly well-armed tribesman Abdi Hammud (Marc Lawrence) threatens to lead his men in armed attacks against the outpost. Both Crawford and Coombes are infatuated by the alluring Zia, but they also have to find out who is supplying the guns and how to put a stop to the smuggling.

Directed by Henry Hathaway, Sundown features an early role for Gene Tierney, with support from a decent cast including an uncredited Woody Strode in his debut. Despite the confused mix of African tribalism infused with Arab shadings interacting with British colonialism in a California Mojave desert pretending to be East Africa, the story does carry potential as a sweaty action drama set in a forgotten outpost as the dark clouds of war move closer.

With Crawford's base accessible mainly by air, the film boasts an impressive number of scenes featuring assorted small planes taking off and landing in unforgiving terrain.

But otherwise this is a case of ambition exceeding talent and resources, with the film's good intentions hampered by cardboard execution. The screenplay (co-written by Charles G. Booth and Barré Lyndon) is a stiff exercise in emotionless line delivery. The story, simple as it may sound, is bungled and tripped up by incomprehensible events, including characters wandering in a trance into battle and some horribly inefficient use of firepower.

The action scenes border on amateurish, the acting is second rate at best, there are too many characters hanging around the base and none of them display any subtlety. The Italian Pallini emerges with the most animation, Joseph Calleia displaying admirable commitment, but while he emotes the others stand and stare, waiting for their next line.

And when it comes to Ms. Tierney, standing and staring is what the film does. Hathaway insists on long lingering close-ups every time she makes an entrance, applying a freezing agent in time and space to allow the camera to get its fill.

Sundown demonstrate how conceivably tasty ingredients in the jungle can be wasted in a rudimentary jumble.






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Saturday 28 January 2017

Movie Review: The Last Detail (1973)


A slice-of-life drama about fleeting friendships and the oppressive responsibilities of military life in a civilian context, The Last Detail is an unforgettable low-key road trip.

At the U.S. Naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, Signalman Billy "Badass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and Gunner's Mate Richard "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) are given a new assignment: escort 18 year old prisoner Seaman Larry Meadows (Randy Quaid) by train and bus to Portsmouth Naval Prison. Meadows has been convicted of attempting to steal $40 from a charity jar, and sentenced to a ridiculous seven years because he targeted the favourite charity of the naval base commander's wife.

Badass and Mule hatch a plan to make the most of the trip to break the dull monotony of life on the base. They plot to deliver Meadows to Portsmouth as quickly as possible and then spend a week living it up. But Badass starts to feel sorry for the goofy, oversized kleptomaniac Meadows, and decides to give the kid a good time to make up for what he will lose while serving his sentence. Badass and Mule prolong their stay in New York and then Boston, and introduce Meadows to alcohol and women, while helping him build up his assertiveness.

Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Robert Towne, The Last Detail is an understated piece of quintessential 1970s film making. The story of a prison escort detail triggering a road trip cannot be any simpler. The layered theme of psychological confinement holding back all three men emerges slowly, and finally takes over the film with unusual potency.

Stylistically Ashby bathes the film in harsh tones, browns, yellows and whites dominating many of the scenes to represent the unmistakably bleak outlook for all three me. From nondescript cheap motel rooms to characterless diners, the film crawls along an uninspired America surviving through one day just to get to the next similarly joyless day.

And traversing this terrain is one man in handcuffs and two men just as confined in their careers. Meadows cannot help his kleptomania and will be paying the price behind bars for a long time. Badass and Mule are prisoners of their own making. Lifers in the Navy, now stuck inside a military machine but on land and away from any war, their prospects are more grim than anything Meadows faces: at least he gets variety in locale and a release to look forward to. They get nothing except more of the same.

The road trip is a brief escape for all three men, Meadows getting his first introduction to drinking, chanting with hippies, whoring and generally being purposelessly loose. Badass and Mule enjoy the freedom of breaking some rules away from the eyes of authority and doing good by being bad. The three men form a bond of friendship anchored by sailing outside the lines.

Jack Nicholson dominates the film as the anti-authoritarian man reluctantly resigned to a life under the thumb of authority, but seeking every opportunity to bend the rules. Otis Young allows Mule to be a counterbalance, a sailor more invested in the daily regulations of his career but gradually allowing his resistance to crumble. Randy Quaid delivers one of his finest career performances as the clueless Meadows, a man-sized boy with his fate already in the hands of others. Carol Kane, Nancy Allen and Gilda Radner appear in small early career supporting roles.

The Last Detail momentarily challenges all the small details in the inconsequential lives of three men, but the vast emptiness of soul confinement is an overpowering, if quiet, force.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Friday 27 January 2017

The Movies Of Warren Oates






















All movies starring Warren Oates and reviewed on the Ace Black Blog are linked below:

Ride The High Country (1962)





Major Dundee (1965)





In The Heat Of The Night (1967)





The Wild Bunch (1969)





Badlands (1973)





1941 (1979)





Stripes (1981)





Blue Thunder (1983)





All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.
The Index of Movie Stars is here.


Thursday 26 January 2017

Movie Review: Live By Night (2016)


A crime drama, Live By Night carries plenty of style but also too much plot. The story of an Irish gangster carving his way through a life of crime is scattered and fails to build effective momentum.

In Boston of the 1920s, war veteran turned independent gangster Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck) falls in love with Emma Gould (Sienna Miller). She's the floozy of gang lord Albert White (Robert Glenister), who is embroiled in a turf war with rival mobster Maso Pescatore (Remo Girone). Coughlin is of Irish descent, and the son of respected police captain Thomas (Brendan Gleeson). Joe is eventually betrayed and almost killed by White, but survives. After a stint in prison Joe joins Maso's gang and with his loyal sidekick Dion (Chris Messina) relocates to Ybor City, an immigrant dominated, crime infested neighbourhood of Tampa, Florida.

Joe establishes an alliance with the local Cuban gang and builds an impressive crime empire capitalizing on the illegal rum trade. He also falls in love and eventually marries Graciela (Zoe Soldana), the sister of a Cuban crime lord. Joe maintains an uneasy understanding with Ybor's Sheriff Irving Figgis (Chris Cooper), but their relationship sours when Irving's dim witted brother-in-law R.D. Pruitt (Matthew Maher), a member of the Ku Klux Klan, tries to muscle in on Joe's profits. Meanwhile, Joe tries to expand into the casino business, but there are more unexpected troubles in the form of Irving's daughter Loretta (Elle Fanning).

An adaptation of the Dennis Lehane book written for the screen and directed by Affleck, Live By Night has a lot going on and nothing going on. The drama motors on from Boston to Tampa, featuring a dizzying number of gangsters hissing at each other, but the film never grabs hold of a compelling narrative arc. This is the story of Joe Coughlin and he is the one constant, but Affleck plays the central character as a laid back soft spoken type, his obvious narration droning on as he disappears into the set. It's a problem when the assorted villains who enter and exit every other scene are much more colourful than the presumed protagonist.

The film is a demonstration of more is less. A dedicated focus on fewer story lines may have improved control of the material. Instead the overflow of plot and characters eventually overtakes the film, and plenty of seemingly important conversations and incidents start to happen off-screen. Joe's father appears magically at the right time and in the right place to intervene in a murder-in-progress. Joe seems to take over Ybor City in a remarkable hurry, and wins Graciela's heart even quicker. After a long build up, the resolution of the KKK problem is rushed. Major chunks of Loretta's story are summarily dealt with in a few words. Late in the film two adversaries become allies with barely an explanation. And even critical battlefield tactics are botched, Affleck choosing to talk about rather than demonstrate Coughlin's ability to influence goons in battle.

Affleck does have an eye for creating beautiful settings, and the film is awash in vivid colours and plenty of artistry. The camerawork is fluid, capturing bustling neighbourhoods and idyllic landscapes. And some of the climactic showdowns with the head baddies are well constructed.

A large cast supports Affleck's docile take on Coughlin. By far the most memorable is Elle Fanning as the enigmatic Loretta. In just a few scenes she demonstrates what intense charisma can accomplish, and the film would have hugely benefited from investing more in her story.

Live By Night may suggest an adventurous lifestyle, but this is a fragmented, surprisingly dull and ultimately unsatisfying experience.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.


Wednesday 25 January 2017

Movie Review: The Major And The Minor (1942)


A bland one-trick comedy, The Major And The Minor suffers from a ridiculous premise, a lack of wit and phony execution.

Frustrated with a series of dead-end jobs in New York City, Susan Applegate (Ginger Rogers) gives up on life in the big city and decides to return to her simpler roots in Iowa. Short of money for the adult train fare, Susan pretends to be 12 years old and buys a discounted child's ticket. On board the train she plays a cat and mouse game with the conductors to avoid detection. She finally hides in the compartment of Major Philip Kirby (Ray Milland), who is returning to his military academy where his smothering fiancée Pamela Hill (Rita Johnson) awaits.

Philip falls for the child trick and takes Susan under his wing, housing her at the academy for a few days after train trouble delays her trip. She finds herself having to carry on pretending to be 12 years old, surrounded by lustful adolescent cadets. Pamela's younger sister Lucy (Diana Lynn) immediately sees through Susan's disguise, but more trouble awaits when Philip and Susan start to develop genuine feelings for each other.

The first Hollywood film directed by Billy Wilder, The Major And The Minor has seedlings of ideas that would grow into better films in the future, notably the adults-in-disguise theme of Some Like It Hot. But in and of itself, The Major And The Minor is a flimsy and forgettable effort that has aged exceptionally poorly. There is very little that is funny about 31 year old Ginger Rogers unconvincingly pretending to be 12 for almost the entire duration of the film, and it's made worse with all the other adults in the story somehow falling for the lame deception.

The film would be more tolerable if it stumbled onto some moments of cleverness or romance, but it does not. The script (co-written by Wilder) is hampered by poor pacing, repetitiveness and scenes prolonged well past their useful length, and the narrative is filled with generally unappealing characters behaving poorly. It's difficult to remember a knock-out scene or even one sharp exchange of dialogue. OK, there is one:

Train conductor, suspicious that Susan is not who she says she is: If you're Swedish, suppose you say something in Swedish.
Susan: I vant to be alone.

The romance never has an opportunity to gain traction, because Philip believes that Susan is 12. The adult affection he starts to develop for her is fundamental for the film and yet can only be icky. Susan is left to engage in a battle of surreptitious wills with the possessive Pamela, and starts to demonstrate the emotional maturity of a 12 year old by using juvenile antics to get between Philip and his chosen fiancée.

The Major And The Minor is an inauspicious US debut for Wilder, neither major nor minor, just annoyingly discordant.






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Tuesday 24 January 2017

Movie Review: Marriage Italian Style (1964)


An Italian celebration of complex relationships, Marriage Italian Style bravely navigates the hazards of a long-term love reaching a moment of truth after years of persisting outside societal norms.

In Italy, fervent Filumena (Sophia Loren) causes a stir when she faints and appears to be near death. Her long time companion, respected businessman Domenico (Marcello Mastroianni) rushes to be by her side. With a doctor confirming that Filumena's prospects for recovery are looking grim, Domenico goes ahead and marries her, believing she has only hours to live.

It's all a ruse. Filumena is fine, and orchestrated the drama to finally tie the knot with Domenico. The couple had met and fallen in love years earlier during World War Two, when Filumena was working at a brothel. They maintained an illicit relationship, with Domenico supporting Filumena and even taking her into his house on the pretense of caring for his mother. But he never took the step to propose and make the relationship respectable. Now Filumena forces the issue, and has a few more surprises in store for Domenico.

An earthy exploration of power dynamics between men and women directed by Vittorio De Sica, Marriage Italian Style benefits from a vibrant Sophia Loren performance representing womanhood engaged in the eternal fight for respect. Landing somewhere between deadly serious drama and derisive comedy, the film maintains a tone that demands attention while poking fun at a society adhering to superficial rules of paternalism.

At the heart of the film is the contest between men and women to control the heart of the community. Domenico may think he is the master of his household, his various romantic affairs and his business, but his vulnerability is exposed as soon as Filumena decides to make a stand. Once she refuses to be taken for granted and springs her masterful offspring mystery, Domenico is helpless. On the surface he may control the present, but she controls the psychological future, and he will have to treat her with renewed respect, if she believes she deserves it.

Loren has a lot to do in Marriage Italian Style, and she does it well. Filumena transitions from a frightened waif through to a life-loving woman in full bloom and finally to a mother demanding her place be recognized, and Loren convinces at every turn. Her vivacious spirit is matched by Mastroianni's entitled restraint, and the two make for an appealing couple engaged in a life long private romance filled with genuine love and plenty of loud bickering. De Sica directs with an eye towards an Italy in transition, emerging from the war a battered nation creating ripe grounds for a rapid evolution towards a modern and more egalitarian society.

Marriage Italian Style sometimes succumbs to the coarse theatricality of a film eager to report on a clever skirmish between the sexes, but it is a nevertheless enjoyable romp, brimming with heartfelt passion.






All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Monday 23 January 2017

Saturday 21 January 2017

Movie Review: Mr. Brooks (2007)


An intriguing psychological crime thriller, Mr. Brooks has layered depth but also too much plot and some questionable character behaviours.

In Portland, Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is a seemingly respectable businessman, married to Emma (Marg Helgenberger) and with a daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) in college. But Brooks is actually a methodical serial murderer known as the thumbprint killer. His evil alter ego Marshall (William Hurt) has just reappeared, egging Brooks to resume the killings. Brooks yields and goes ahead with the double murder of a young couple, but their neighbour Graves Baffert (Dane Cook) captures photographs of the crime in progress. Baffert adopts the name Mr. Smith and blackmails Brooks into accepting him as a protégé.

Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore) is tough as nails, independently wealthy, dealing with a nasty divorce and intent on investigating Brooks' latest crime scene all while evading a violent recently released criminal bent on revenge. As Tracy closes in on Brooks, Mr. Smith demands to be involved in the next killing, while Brooks' daughter Jane starts to reveal shocking secrets of her own.

Directed by Bruce A. Evans, Mr. Brooks delves into the mind of a killer battling against his own demons. The interaction between good and evil within one damaged intellect is cleverly personified by the ominously laid back presence of Marshall, a character only seen and heard by Brooks but instrumental to his being. The film is taut and dark despite suffering from sprawl.

Mr. Brooks packs in enough plot for about three movies. Tracy's divorce sub-plot and her stalking by a maniacal murderer provide plenty of distractions, while over at the Brooks household, daughter Jane comes up with some really big surprises every time she appears on screen. It's a potpourri of evil intentions, all justified and at least loosely connected to the central emotional themes. Evans maintains decent control and Mr. Brooks can never be accused of standing still or shortchanging the main characters.

But the film's core drama is the tension in Brooks' head as personified by Marshall, and the scenes between Costner and Hurt are a class above everything else going on in the film. The many side-quests are much more routine and start to get in the way. And unfortunately, the character of Mr. Smith is by far the weakest thing going on in Mr. Brooks. Despite the incriminating photographs, Mr. Smith's desire to participate in murder is less than convincing and he never comes close to being a match for the Brooks / Marshall combo. They always appear to be a couple of laps ahead of the hapless amateur photographer, depriving the film of tension.

Occasionally Mr. Brooks slips into unnecessarily gory violence, creating disharmony with the more welcome emphasis on psychological turmoil Brooks and Tracy are suffering through.

Kevin Costner and William Hurt are a joy to watch together, the two veterans smoothly playing off each other in the tight confines of the psyche. Demi Moore stays within herself and is all grim determination, while Dane Cook simply cannot keep up with the talent around him.

Mr. Brooks is a mind trip to the land of mental disturbia, cluttered by plenty of more conventional diversions.






All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.