Movie Review: Dangerous Mission (1954)

A stiff crime drama, Dangerous Mission features a decent cast and scenic locations but also a stolid script and inane action.

After witnessing a gangland hit Louise Graham (Piper Laurie) flees to Montana's Glacier National Park and a job as a hotel gift shop clerk. The bad guys uncover her new location and dispatch a hit-man. Ex-Marine Matt Hallett (Victor Mature) arrives at the park and checks into the hotel, where his handgun attracts the attention of Chief Ranger Joe Parker (William Bendix). 

Matt locates Louise but finds tourist Paul Adams (Vincent Price) already trying to win her attention. To mingle with the locals Matt befriends Louise's colleague Mary (Betta St. John), whose father Katoonai (Steve Darrell) is a fugitive wanted for murder. Louise has to sort out friend from foe and her life is soon in danger.

An RKO production filmed in Technicolor and 3D, Dangerous Mission is a mismatch of technology, locations, tone and budget. Producer Irwin Allen cuts his teeth on some non-sequitur disaster scenes, somehow throwing in a rock avalanche, a crackling electric cable, a forest fire and a glacier hazard course into what started as a Hitchcockian-noir combo. The natural catastrophes don't add relevance to the plot but allow director Louis King to burn a few of the already sparse 75 minutes of running time. 

The core plot is an unconvincing hodgepodge of woman-in-danger, a bland romantic triangle, attempted villainy, and a stupifyingly extraneous indigenous-fugitive-on-the-run sub-plot. The script by Charles Bennett, W. R. Burnett and Horace McCoy works overtime to trip itself up, and runs out of tricks as soon as the predictable switch between the presumed assassin and protector characters plays out with knowing inelegance.

The principal cast members are all better than this material, but are drawn down to the level of arthritic dialogue, plastic acting and ridiculous character decisions. And so after various tepid encounters a cop drags his star witness (complete in heels and a dressy outfit) into a dangerous pursuit across rugged terrain and exposes her to gunfire and deadly ice crevices. And of course they kiss triumphantly despite an accumulation of dead bodies strewn across the landscape.

The Glacier National Park scenery is appealing and King does a reasonable job combining on-location with studio shots, but Dangerous Mission remains dangerously bad.



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Movie Review: The Mississippi Gambler (1953)

A drama and romance set among the rich and adventurous in mid-1800s New Orleans, The Mississippi Gambler has no shortage of plot and is gorgeous to look at, but is also undermined by overflowing soapiness.

Mark Fallon (Tyrone Power) hails from a respected New York family but decides to seek a life of adventure as a professional riverboat gambler on the Mississippi River. He strikes a friendship with Kansas John Polly (John McIntire), and on their first sailing they meet the brother and sister duo of Angelique and Laurent Dureau (Piper Laurie and John Baer). Mark is immediately smitten with Angelique, but she is standoffish. Laurent is a weasel and covers his gambling losses with his sister's precious necklace.

In New Orleans Mark befriends Redmond Dureau (Paul Cavanagh), Angelique's father, and meets banker George Elwood (Ron Randell), who is trying to win her heart. Mark also helps Ann Conant (Julie Adams) when her brother commits suicide after incurring big gambling losses. Ann falls in love with Mark, Laurent falls in love with Ann, but Mark only has eyes for Angelique, as a series of high profile and self-inflicted tragedies strike the Dureau family.

A sprawling story featuring overlapping love triangles, multiple duels and tense poker table showdowns, The Mississippi Gambler moves quickly from one episode to the next. The overabundance of dramatic incidents combined with lavish sets, vivid colours and elegant wardrobes ensure the film is never slow or boring, but leave little room for reflection or character development.

If Mark Fallon left New York to find adventure, he is not disappointed. Director Rudolph Maté keeps the mood light and the pace fast by wedging an on-board ambush, two old fashioned duels-at-sunrise, a corporate bankruptcy, a suicide, an attempted murder, a business start-up venture and a couple of friendly fencing sessions in between all the romantic pursuits.

But the emotional core of the film is somewhat distant, as the central romance between Mark and Angelique sits on ice as he expresses his belief in a love she repeatedly rebuffs. As he waits for her heart to thaw, Ann develops a serious crush on Mark, the bland George adopts a slow and steady approach to win Angelique's hand in marriage if not her heart in love, and Laurent wastes no opportunity to make a fool of himself.

Mark and Redmond bond over a shared passion for adventurism, a common code of gentlemanly chivalrous living and an expertise in fencing, writer Seton I. Miller finding a way to salute Tyrone Power's swashbuckling past. The friendship between the two men unexpectedly emerges as the film's warmest element.

Tyrone Power easily represents the morally pure Mark Fallon in a role that suffers from a lack of any flaw. The supporting cast adequately portrays the high society of New Orleans, but all the characters are firmly defined in one non-evolving dimension. The Mississippi Gambler shuffles cards with admirable expertise, but deals with a flurry rather than deliberate focus.

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Movie Review: The Hustler (1961)

A grim drama about life and loss, The Hustler is extraordinarily bleak. The story of pool shark Eddie Felson discovering himself in a bottom-feeding world offers pessimism layered with hopelessness, Eddie consigned to finding empty victories only when people he cares about lose badly, in a net-zero game.

"Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) is an expert pool hustler, scouring scuzzy pool halls in small towns with his partner Charlie (Myron McCormick), duping other players out of small money. Determined to prove he is the best, Eddie arrives in the town of Ames to take on the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), an undefeated master at pool. In a marathon 25 hour duel watched by expert gambler Bert Gordon (George C. Scott),  Eddie will experience highs and lows.

Bert: Eddie, you're a born loser.

Eddie shacks up with Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), a lonely woman he picks up at the bus station. She walks with a limp and claims to be a "college student", but her behaviour suggests other pursuits. Regardless, she falls deeply in love with Eddie. Meanwhile, Bert offers to manage Eddie in return for a cut. With an eye on securing a rematch with Minnesota Fats, Eddie reluctantly agrees, but becoming a winner will come at a cost.

Eddie (to Bert): Maybe I'm not such a high-class piece of property right now. But that twenty-five percent slice of somethin' big is better than a hundred percent slice of nothin'.

The Hustler is a tragedy where victories are shallow and fleeting, and losses are devastating and leave permanent psychological scars. Four characters surround Eddie Felson, and his destiny is intertwined with theirs. Charlie is his small-time partner, satisfied with modest victories and often providing an ignored voice of reason. Minnesota Fats is the theoretical standard that Eddie measures himself against, an undefeated gentleman legend who has to be bested. Sarah is a potential soul mate, and Bert represents the win-at-all-costs dark side.

Paul Newman gives one of his career-defining performances as Eddie Felson, a man battling his inner demons just as much as his pool table opponents. Abrupt with Charlie, taking full advantage of Sarah, and using Bert to climb back out of the sewer, Eddie will eventually become aware of the human misery in his wake, but not before most of the damage is done.

George C. Scott, Piper Laurie, Jackie Gleason and Myron McCormick lend unforgettable support, while Murray Hamilton gets a small but effective role as the rich target of Eddie's first collaboration with Bert. Newman, Gleason, Scott and Laurie all received Academy Award acting nominations.

Filmed entirely in New York, and in austere black and white befitting the unforgiving world of desperate men gambling through a smoky haze, The Hustler is an enthralling classic. Director Robert Rossen also co-wrote the screenplay, and is most interested in the many different ways men find to spectacularly fail at life. Cocky, dismissive, cold-hearted, insulting, selfish, disingenuous and dishonest, Eddie will find all the different paths to misery, some on his own and others with Bert's help. By the time he achieves what he thought he was after, his life echoes within the vacuum of a deserted soul, and worst of all, he realizes it.

Eddie: Fat man, you shoot a great game of pool.
Minnesota Fats: So do you, Fast Eddie.

The Hustler charges to a spectacular Pyrrhic victory, a pool table psychologically surrounded by a clutch of victims, none of them able to applaud.



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Movie Review: Carrie (1976)

A chilling horror film that is both a psychological and physical terror ride, Carrie combines the worst nightmares of any young girl: awkward puberty, bullying by the meanest of classmates, parental religious terrorism, and prom night turning into torment. That Carrie White discovers a way to extract a brutal revenge on all who abuse her through telekinesis just makes Brian De Palma's task of creating a frightfest so much more fun.

Based on the Stephen King novel, the movie opens with withdrawn and friendless high schooler Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) discovering her first period in the gym shower, and being traumatized when her mean classmates, including Chris (Nancy Allen) and Sue (Amy Irving) throw tampons at her. As the gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) tries to make amends and help Carrie out of her shell, Carrie begins to discover that she has the telekinetic power to physically move objects through mind control. Carrie's real problem is her uncompromisingly stern mother Margaret (Piper Laurie), a sexually repressed religious zealot who abuses her daughter.

Sue feels some regret at the mistreatment of Carrie, and to make amends, convinces her popular boyfriend Tommy (William Katt) to ask Carrie out to the prom. But Chris is much more intent to continue the bullying, and plots with her boyfriend Billy (John Travolta) a most humiliating climax to Carrie's prom night. Carrie enjoys most of her evening with Tommy, the one and only successful social event in her life, but when Chris turns the prom from dream to nightmare, Carrie unleashes her telekinetic power to extract a most violent revenge.

Sissy Spacek was 26 years old when she portrayed high school student Carrie White, and her performance is unforgettably disturbing. Acting with haunted eyes, a frail physique, and long, uncared-for hair, Spacek's sheer presence foretells disturbing obscurity and impending doom in equal measures. Spacek is matched by an unhinged, over-the-top performance from Piper Laurie as Carrie's mother Margaret, a religious fundamentalist who embraces all the most twisted interpretations of sin and guilt associated with sexuality and dumps them on her daughter. The scenes of Margaret terrorizing Carrie with her religious dogma are more disturbing than all the blood that De Palma throws onto the screen.

And De Palma is the third star of the movie, using slow motion, camera rotation, and point-of-view shots to great effect. He boosts the impact of the horror sequences by juxtaposing them with tranquil scenes, or by deliciously prolonging the set-up prior to unleashing the inevitable shocks.

Carrie's secondary characters are brought to life by a lively group of actors, many of whom achieved varying degrees of fame. This was John Travolta's last film prior to shooting into superstardom with Saturday Night Fever, while Nancy Allen, Amy Irving , P.J. Soles and William Katt would go to on build modestly interesting movie profiles. Betty Buckley had an excellent stage, screen and television career, and Priscilla Pointer (Irving's real-life mother) was most famous for a role on TV's Dallas.

Many hidden meanings can be layered into Carrie's story, from her entire experience being a metaphor for the sacrifices of womanhood, to the societal damage caused by religious extremism and the equating of sexuality with sin. The hints of subtext bubbling below the surface provide an added edge of enjoyment to the unfolding tragedy.

Carrie is a classic horror film, compact, on-target, unsettling and unforgettable.

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