The Usual Choices
Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton)
A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester)
My Fair Lady (George Cukor)
Zulu (Cy Endfield)
But how about...
The Best Man (Franklin Schaffner)
Hell, who wouldn't vote for Henry Fonda as president (or Martin Sheen or Michael Douglas or Morgan Freeman or Harrison Ford or Jeff Bridges)? As much as this film tries to get down-and-dirty (and succeeds to get a little sleazy), it will always be overtaken by how disgusting the real political scene is. Still, as a tour through the muck, this is riveting and revealing. Henry outshines Cliff (who never seems to really be in the running) by simply doing less, and support acts Lee Tracy, Ann Sothern and Shelley Berman (!) add strength. Up there with Advise and Consent as one of the great US politics films.
...and what about...
The Train (John Frankenheimer)
A classic dixie-stew of a movie (dixie-stew; an Australianism; def. a whole made up of many disparate parts). It's a war film + a heist film + an action film. It poses a moral dilemma: Is a work of Art more important than a single human life? It sets up a tense character study of two equally intelligent, determined men: Burt Lancaster (the good partisan) Vs Paul Scofield (the cultured Nazi). It has scenes of the French being heroic and self-sacrificing for the greater good, and the Nazis being real bastards and being satisfyingly paid back for it. But most impressively, it's got trains that need to have switches thrown, signals wagged and timetables followed! And the engines puff out black smoke and have a whistle!! And there's a really big crash!!!
...not to mention...
King & Country (Joseph Losey)
I saw this for the first time when I was 15. I was all Michael Dransfield, anti-authority and acne then, and this film threw my head back. B&W mud; Larry Adler harmonica; the darkest of humour; rats inside a horse carcass; grim as buggery. At that age, it was Dirk Bogarde's self-loathing lawyer which appealed to my sense of the dramatic; now it's Tom Courtenay's simple bootmaker that puts something in my eye (an amazing performance incidentally). A movie of many superlatives: more affecting than All Quiet on the Western Front; more confronting than Paths of Glory; more peace-loving than Oh! What a Lovely War. Maybe even the greatest war (therefore, anti-war) movie ever made.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Kiss Me, Stupid (Billy Wilder)
Well, there you go. I just thought it wasn't very funny.
My Top 10 Films of 1964
 |
| "I know I'm late. Problems at work. I'm sorry. I should have rung you. Is the dinner ruined?" |
#02 A King & Country (Losey)
#03 A Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick)
#04 A The Train (Frankenheimer)
#05 A- The Best Man (Schaffner)
#06 A- Nothing But a Man (Roemer)
#07 A- Father Goose (Nelson)
#08 A- The Killers (Siegel)
#09 A- Zulu (Endfield)
#10 A- Fail-Safe (Lumet)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- Children of the Damned (Leader)
#12 A- Seven Days in May (Frankenheimer)
#13 A- The Pawnbroker (Lumet)
#14 B+ Murder Most Foul (Pollock)
#15 B+ The Night of the Iguana (Huston)
#16 B+ Devil Doll (Shonteff)
#17 B+ A Shot in the Dark (Edwards)
#18 B+ Goldfinger (Hamilton)
#19 B+ The Comedy Man (Rakoff)
#20 B+ The Americanization of Emily (Hiller)
#21 B+ Dead Ringer (Henreid)
#22 B+ First Men in the Moon (Juran)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B Zorba the Greek [sorry...my life just didn't get affirmed]
> B The Pumpkin Eater [sex can be so vulgar and uncouth]
> B 7 Faces of Dr Lao [great make-up; great acting by Tony; stupid story]
> B Cheyenne Autumn [John Ford's final Western that is epic in intention only]
> B Robinson Crusoe on Mars [I enjoyed it right up until he had company]
> B Carry On Cleo ["infamy...infamy...they've all got it in for me..."]
> B- Mary Poppins [for small children and the mentally-questionable]
> B- Marnie [a psychological-mystery by Hitchcock that's not Hitchcockian]
> B- Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte [Bette Davis as the victim...doesn't play]
> B- The Chalk Garden [it could have so easily been made as a Hitchcockian thriller rather than a psych-soapie]
> B- Tomb of Ligeia [Corman-Does-Poe for the last time...and he & Vincent brood more than they scare]
> B- My Fair Lady [there is a 1938 non-singing version of this called Pygmalion which is much better]
> B- The Gorgon [run-of-the-mill Hammer horror, starring Medusa]
> B- Man's Favourite Sport? [aka Failing to Bring Back Baby]
> B- Nobody Waved Goodbye [bloody kids...they break your heart, steal your car and play the banjo...]
> B- Man in the Middle [unjust court-martial story that is nowhere near as gripping as it should be]
> C Crooks in Cloisters [a Carry On movie in all but name...and sex jokes...and actors who are funny]
> C The Fall of the Roman Empire [another Stephen Boyd ancient epic]
> C Murder Ahoy! [the formula fails]
> D Emil and the Detectives [boring Disney version of a classic kid's novel; read a Famous Five book instead]
> D Kiss Me, Stupid [A Personal Unmentionable]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1964 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Act of Murder (Bridges); Becket (Glenville); The Black Torment (Hartford-Davis); The Carpetbaggers (Dmytryk); The Evil of Frankenstein (Francis); Fate is the Hunter (Nelson); Girl With Green Eyes (Davis); Guns at Batasi (Guillermin); A Jolly Bad Fellow (Chaffey); Lady in a Cage (Grauman); Lilith (Rossen); The Masque of the Red Death (Corman); The Moon-Spinners (Neilson); The Naked Kiss (Fuller); Nightmare (Francis); The Night Walker (Castle); Nothing But the Best (Donner); One Potato, Two Potato (Peerce); The Strangler (Topper); The Thin Red Line (Marton); The Time Travelers (Melchior); Topkapi (Dassin); Where Love Has Gone (Dmytryk); Witchcraft (Sharp); Woman of Straw (Dearden); The World of Henry Orient (Hill)
Best Performances of 1964
Richard Attenborough in Guns at Batasi
Anne Bancroft in The Pumpkin Eater
Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady
Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek
George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove
Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove
Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker
Peter Ustinov in Topkapi
But how about...
Cary Grant in Father Goose
A cliche I know, but he makes it look so bloody easy. Cary Grant can somehow be both the comedian and his own straight man at the same time. By the time he made FG (another bud in the Taming of the Shrew, The Beachcomber, The African Queen, Heaven Knows Mr Allison family tree), he had put the acting mistakes of Topper and Arsenic & Old Lace far behind him and was an expert at his crafty art. A lightweight rom-com, Cary makes FG sheer fun via moments where you just want to applaud his timing, vocal inflection or facial expression. If he could turn something this fluffy into a personal acting showcase, then he really was the master; the greatest of them all.
...and what about...
Margaret Rutherford in Murder Most Foul
As one of her rare leading characters, the 4-time / 1-and-only Miss Marple hits her highlight in the series with this performance. From knitting in the jury box to reciting The Shooting of Dan McGrew, Margaret wobbles her wattle in pure determination to bag the killer before the well-intentioned-but-bumbling police even know what's going on. Another one of those highly-unlikely serial detectives, Ms Rutherford perpetuated the common design: eccentric charm and great reasoning will help to divert the audience away from what really is a rather gruesome murder, and turn it all into an enjoyable parlour game. Columbo read the blueprint.
...not to mention...
Lee Marvin & Clu Gulager in The Killers
While I've never been a big fan of movies which glamorize career-criminals, I just can't deny the charisma these guys ooze. With Clu clearly suffering from ADHD (he just cannot sit still and stop touching things) and Lee having absolutely zero comprehension of the word "no", they push through their victims like a two-man purgative (check out the respect they show for the blind...and for ladies, dames and dolls), singularly focussed on their goal of money, money, money. Great shades, great threads, great threats, great beatings. Why are these vicious, cold-blooded, ruthless bastard contract killers so damned COOL?
...and one personal unmentionable...
Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady
I know that many critics have commented on this performance, but it really is an eternal movie mystery. The role of Eliza Doolittle seemed to be perfect for Audrey, but somehow it was a dud. Her guttersnipe utterances were wrong; her sophisticated lady was unconvincing (!); and that trilling voice coming out of her mouth during the musical numbers just didn't mesh. Even the classic "arse" line was done poorly. As much as it pains me to say, (gulp) Julie Andrews would've been far better than Audrey Hepburn in this role. But, for the life of me, I don't know why. Can anyone enlighten me?
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1964
 |
| "Well...if this topographical map is right, we should be flying over some mighty interesting country soon." |
#02 Tom Courtenay (King & Country)
#03 Lee Marvin & Clu Gulager (The Killers)
#04 Cary Grant (Father Goose)
#05 Rod Steiger (The Pawnbroker)
#06 Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove)
#07 Paul Scofield (The Train)
#08 Ivan Dixon (Nothing But a Man)
#09 Margaret Rutherford (Murder Most Foul)
#10 Bette Davis (Dead Ringer)
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Lee Tracy (The Best Man)
#12 Dirk Bogarde (King & Country)
#13 Cecil Parker (The Comedy Man)
#14 Ava Gardner (The Night of the Iguana)
#15 Michael Caine (Zulu)
#16 Richard Burton (The Night of the Iguana)
#17 Sean Connery (Goldfinger)
#18 Julie Andrews (The Americanization of Emily)
#19 Tony Randall (7 Faces of Dr. Lao)
#20 Kenneth More (The Comedy Man)
#21 Anne Bancroft (The Pumpkin Eater)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady [only Lou Reed could talk-sing well]
> Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek [Ham Alert]
> George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove [I don't care what the masses say: it's OTT]
> Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins [I am shocked to discover that the Dick isn't really a Cockney]
> Kim Stanley in Seance on a Wet Afternoon [the most unaffecting and mannered actress involved in the most unappealing and mannered plot]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1964 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: A Hard Day's Night (Richard Lester)
SILVER: Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
BRONZE: King & Country (Joseph Losey)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Tom Courtenay (King & Country)
SILVER: Cary Grant (Father Goose)
BRONZE: Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Margaret Rutherford (Murder Most Foul)
SILVER: Bette Davis (Dead Ringer)
BRONZE: Julie Andrews (The Americanization of Emily)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Paul Scofield (The Train)
SILVER: Michael Caine (Zulu)
BRONZE: Lee Tracy (The Best Man)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Ava Gardner (The Night of the Iguana)
SILVER: Ann Sothern (The Best Man)
BRONZE: Edith Evans (The Chalk Garden)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Lee Marvin & Clu Gulager (The Killers)
SILVER: The Beatles (A Hard Day's Night)
BRONZE: The "Carry On" Team (Carry On Cleo)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Sue Lyon (The Night of the Iguana)
SILVER: TBA
BRONZE: TBA
The Alternate Razzies for 1964 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Kiss Me, Stupid (Billy Wilder)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Dick Van Dyke (Mary Poppins)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Kim Stanley (Seance on a Wet Afternoon)
