The Usual Choices
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn)
The Graduate (Mike Nichols)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Stanley Kramer)
In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)
Point Blank (John Boorman)
But how about...
In Cold Blood (Richard Brooks)
I'm not a fan of True Crime movies...the writer / director / actors have to fill in too many unknown areas to fill out the story for so-called dramatic purposes. I almost always prefer the documentary telling, which usually turns out to be far more chilling than a feature film. This movie, based on the 1959 Kansas Clutter Family murders, has had an especial hold on storytellers: Truman Capote turned it into a 1966 novel + there was a 1996 TV mini-series + a 2005 film titled Capote (which was good) + a 2006 film titled Infamous (which was better). As this film makes clear, the fascination of the ghastly story is the relationship between the killing couple: an echo of Leopold & Loeb, complete with jazzy sex undercurrents. While this film uses the overused Dragnet / Naked City police procedural structure, it remains a stark look at how arrogance & failure can lead to evil, if you've found the right company.
...and what about...
Quatermass and the Pit / Five Million Years to Earth (Roy Ward Baker)
This is one of the most intelligent sci-fi movies I've ever seen, but at no point is it pretentious or smartypants. A spaceship is unearthed in the London Underground, containing insectoid creatures and surrounded by the skeletons of ape-like beings. The script ties in the occult, Darwinism, telekinesis, dormant memory, control-obsessed politicians, fundamental physics and species annihilation. The masterstroke was making the premise (we are the product of breeding with astral visitors...the original intelligent design) seem both perfectly feasible and decidedly horrific...the invasion has already happened and we are it. The acting is serviceable in that dependable British way and, while the special effects are a little dubious (the insect guys are definitely on the naff side), a lot has been done with what was undoubtedly a miniscule budget. Be entertained while you think.
...not to mention...
Frankenstein Created Woman (Terence Fisher)
I've always considered most of the Hammer Horror movies to be more like Grimmest Fairy Tales than actual Horror per se. This one is the most bonkers of all those I've seen, and also the most downright fascinating. For example, how's this for bizarre: Doc Frankenstein is bored with stitching bodies and transplanting brains, so perfects a method of switching souls (yep, souls) from one corpse to another, then reanimating it...an opportunity strikes...he takes the soul from a wrongly-guillotined fella and sticks it into the body of his self-drowned girlfriend...and now she/he wants revenge...(!!!). Curiously, the soul is perceived by the Doc to be in the torso, not in the head (so much for all that cryogenic head-freezing then...ha-ha). This flick is quite original in premise, admirably brazen and an enjoyable romp along with one truly nutty professor. All it needed to make it an all-time genre classic was Una O'Connor, screeching in the background.
...and one personal unmentionable...
The Night of the Generals (Anatole Litvak)
This movie is based on the book which just happens to be the first adult novel I read by choice (after years of school-enforced classics which nearly turned me off reading). Looking back, the novel was ordinary, but it was far better than what it was turned into. Way overlong, punctured by woeful acting (when Omar Shariff gives the standout performance, you know there is something supremely wrong) and dialogue that hurts, this story of a Nazi serial killer (which has gotta be the ultimate tautology) is a leaden clinker. Filmed in greys with red splotches, the story drags its feet through the muck, vainly attempting to wind up while the war is winding down. Flashing back and forwards, it fails to build any tension because you know from the outset who the monster is: Peter O'Toole in patented sweaty tremble mode, blonde, blue-eyed and as looney as a toon, worrying about his fingernails while he incinerates Poland. Let's face it...it's hard to stay focussed on a single death when the backdrop is the Warsaw Ghetto.
My Top 10 Films of 1967
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| "We need to come to this Benny Hill Bird Sanctuary more often Angie. I can see a booby, a shag, a cockatoo and a pair of blue tits." |
#02 A- Cool Hand Luke (Rosenberg)
#03 A- Point Blank (Boorman)
#04 A- Bonnie and Clyde (Penn)
#05 A- Two for the Road (Donen)
#06 A- The Whisperers (Forbes)
#07 A- Quatermass and the Pit / Five Million Years to Earth (Baker)
#08 A- Hombre (Ritt)
#09 A- Our Mother's House (Clayton)
#10 A- In Cold Blood (Brooks)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (Kramer)
#12 B+ Frankenstein Created Woman (Fisher)
#13 B+ To Sir, With Love (Clavell)
#14 B+ The Graduate (Nichols)
#15 B+ The Incident (Peerce)
#16 B+ The Taming of the Shrew (Zeffirelli)
#17 B+ You Only Live Twice (Gilbert)
#18 B+ Tony Rome (Douglas)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B El Dorado [another shot at Rio Bravo minus a few of that classic's good bits]
> B The Dirty Dozen [a terrific Movie For Blokes, but the slaughter at the chateau is repellent]
> B Reflections in a Golden Eye [interesting Arty repressed sex story which languishes more than it lingers]
> B Who's Minding the Mint? [silly & amusing, but hilarious it ain't]
> B Far from the Madding Crowd [this is a Thomas Hardy Rural Life story without enough fatalism or cowshit]
> B Spider Baby [amusing schlock-horror which unsurprisingly became a cult film and a stage musical]
> B The St. Valentine's Day Massacre [wants to be a docudrama but is a colour episode of The Untouchables instead]
> B- In Like Flint [a pale imitation of Bond that doesn't understand the difference between cheesecake and sexiness]
> B- Barefoot in the Park [aka Love, 1967 American Style]
> B- Bedazzled [a comedy of cruelty that is heavier than it should be]
> B- Accident [my, the Idle Rich really are soulless, loathsome sleazebags, aren't they?]
> B- The Flim-Flam Man [just another lovable con-artist story]
> B- Tobruk [bog-standard WWII film which is closer to fiction than to history]
> C The Fox [Arty repressed sex story which languishes]
> C The Comedians [if the mucky love affair had been cut out, the political drama may have had a chance]
> C Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon [the adventure is removed in favour of laughs...but there aren't any]
> C The President's Analyst [a too-groovy political satire that even the Grateful Dead turned down]
> C Night of the Big Heat [The Orkneys are invaded by heat-loving aliens! Quick! Save the whisky!]
> C I'll Never Forget What's 'Isname [more a character autopsy than a decent story]
> C Torture Garden [Horror compendium with 3 bland stories and 1 totally nutty one that you gotta see...once]
> D The Night of the Generals [A Personal Unmentionable]
> E Waterhole #3 [a Western comedy that wants you to laugh at rape, incest and Roger Miller]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1967 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Beach Red (Wilde); Charlie Bubbles (Finney); A Countess from Hong Kong (Chaplin); A Covenant With Death (Johnson); David Holzman’s Diary (McBride); Divorce American Style (Yorkin); Doctor Dolittle (Fleischer); Don’t Make Waves (Mackendrick); The Double Man (Schaffner); Dutchman (Harvey); The Fearless Vampire Killers (Polanski); Funnyman (Korty); Games (Harrington); A Guide for the Married Man (Kelly); The Honey Pot (Mankiewicz); Hour of the Gun (Sturges); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Swift); Hurry Sundown (Preminger); The Karate Killers (Shear); Marat/Sade (Brook); Poor Cow (Loach); Robbery (Yates); The Shuttered Room (Greene); Ulysses (Strick); Up the Down Staircase (Mulligan); Valley of the Dolls (Robson); Wait Until Dark (Young); Warning Shot (Kulik); The Way West (McLaglen); Who’s That Knocking at My Door (Scorsese)
Best Performances of 1967
Anne Bancroft in The Graduate
Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde
George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke
Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde
Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate
Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night
But how about...
The Children in Our Mother's House
As a primary school teaching veteran, I can vouch for the difficulty of organizing children to give a performance that isn't too painfully crap. Truth be told, I would focus on the two or three I had deliberately placed in the key roles (because they showed promise and would do what they were told) and all the rest were pretty much treated like extras / cattle. So here's to Director Jack Clayton who has teased out 7 beautiful performances in this ultimately sad tale. While the kids flirt with creepiness, you will end up being wholly on their side (despite what they finally are driven to do). The fact that they don't look like each other neatly becomes part of the plot and their behaviour is clearly a product of their upbringing, their curiosity and their simple dreams. They are innocents trying to survive an all-the-adults'-fault tragedy.
...and what about...
Diane Cilento in Hombre
An underrated Western loaded with a sharp acting ensemble, Hombre nevertheless features a single standout performance, given by an actress from Mooloolaba, Queensland. Diane plays a no-nonsense, seen-them-all & slept-with-them, I-know-the-ways-of-the-world woman who just wants to finally, after all this time, settle down and lead a life of children & gossip. But no matter how hard she tries to be hard, Diane just cannot ditch her fundamental decency: a belief in people needing to be helped, regardless of their history. Second in line to the Joan Greenwood throne (complete with rounded vowels and pigeon-coo timbre), Diane is wholly convincing as a lady at home amongst the dust and the petticoats. Basically used like the good angel on your shoulder, she is the soul of the story.
...not to mention...
Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton in The Taming of the Shrew
My grandmother put me onto this (Q: Nan, do you like any Shakespeare? A: I like that movie one with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and I can't usually stand either of them.) And Ella was right. Whereas Richard severely outshone Liz in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Liz was far more gorgeous than Richard in Cleopatra, in this film they are a true match, primarily because the roles are perfect for them. Liz is at her blobby, devour-everything-around-her unsubtle best and Richard is loud, show-offy and fully loaded with ornate lines which demand enunciation. Together, they romp through one of the most increasingly-non-PC rom-coms ever written, clearly having an absolute ball. Amusingly, the aggressive physical comedy suits them and they hurl insults and fruit at each other like a vaudeville double act. Out of 11 films, this is the only Burton/Taylor joint performance which is a whole lot of fun.
...and one personal unmentionable...
George Segal in The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Some people can play psychos, and some people can't. George very very can't. In this Untouchables-style gangster flick, he is called upon to be menacing and savage, and clearly chooses and channels Jimmy Cagney in The Public Enemy as his performance precedent. Hell, he even shoves food (in this case, a large ham sandwich) into his moll's kisser. But the all-out brawl between the two lovers is more like George's rehearsal for The Owl and the Pussycat...I swear I see George break into grins during it. His entrance is similarly anemic: he and his partner stride into a beer joint, threaten the owner (because he's not buying their brand of beer, naturally) smashes the place up and empties the kegs...just like Jimmy did. But George is so obviously self-amused (play-acting) that it's a wonder someone just doesn't kick him in the bum and say "go on...get outta here". A case of an actor discovering and displaying his limitations.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1967
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| Every man's medical nightmare: a rectal exam that begins with a wind-up. |
#02 The children in Our Mother's House
#03 Sidney Poitier in In the Heat of the Night
#04 Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke
#05 Diane Cilento in Hombre
#06 Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton in The Taming of the Shrew
#07 Mildred Natwick in Barefoot in the Park
#08 Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde
#09 Lee Marvin in Point Blank
#10 Audrey Hepburn in Two for the Road
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Brian Keith in Reflections in a Golden Eye
#12 Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love
#13 Alec Guinness in The Comedians
#14 James Caan in El Dorado
#15 The cast of The Incident
#16 Gene Hackman in Bonnie and Clyde
#17 Robert Blake & Scott Wilson in In Cold Blood
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night [yep, Mr Shouty strikes again]
> Spencer Tracy & Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [cry along with Kate as Spence speaks]
> George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke [merely a boofhead with no nuance]
> Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde [I know it's intentional but she severely gets on my nerves]
> Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate [I believe that he's a nerd; I don't believe that he has a sex drive]
> Anne Bancroft in The Graduate [why would she want him that much?]
> Katharine Ross in The Graduate [why would she want him at all?]
> Cecil Kellaway in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [along with Edmund Gwenn and Barry Fitzgerald, Cecil is a longtime member of the Pixie Twinklers Club]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1967 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison)
SILVER: Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg)
BRONZE: Point Blank (John Boorman)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night)
SILVER: Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke)
BRONZE: Lee Marvin (Point Blank)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Edith Evans (The Whisperers)
SILVER: Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde)
BRONZE: Audrey Hepburn (Two for the Road)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Brian Keith (Reflections in a Golden Eye)
SILVER: Alec Guinness (The Comedians)
BRONZE: James Caan (El Dorado)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Diane Cilento (Hombre)
SILVER: Mildred Natwick (Barefoot in the Park)
BRONZE: Julie Harris (Reflections in a Golden Eye)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton (The Taming of the Shrew)
SILVER: Tony Musante & Martin Sheen & Beau Bridges & Ed McMahon & Diana Van der Vlis & Victor Arnold & Donna Mills & Jack Gilford & Thelma Ritter & Robert Bannard & Jan Sterling & Mike Kellin & Brock Peters & Ruby Dee & Gary Merrill & Robert Fields (The Incident)
BRONZE: Robert Blake & Scott Wilson (In Cold Blood)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Margaret Brooks & Pamela Franklin & Louis Sheldon Williams & John Gugolka & Mark Lester & Sarah Nicholls & Gustav Henry (Our Mother's House)
SILVER: TBA
BRONZE: TBA
The Alternate Razzies for 1967 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Waterhole #3 (Blake Edwards)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
George Segal (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Estelle Parsons (Bonnie and Clyde)
