Cape Fear (1962) J. Lee Thompson

    Max Cady is one of the cinema’s most terrifying villains and no one personifies evil more than Robert Mitchum in this 1962 work. I am a big fan of Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro however,  the 1992 remake while a fine film in of itself is not in the same class as the original film. “Cape Fear” was adapted by screenwriter James R. Webb from John D. MacDonald’s 1958 novel, “The Executioners” and was directed by J. Lee Thompson.

    After serving eight years in prison, Max Cady is released and comes to a small North Carolina town to find Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), a lawyer he holds responsible for his guilty verdict and incarnation. From the first moment Cady appears on screen, he unleashes an assault of vicious menace that flows throughout the entire film. He quickly confronts Sam in his car letting him know he is back in town and out for revenge. He begins to follow Sam, making veiled threats against Sam’s wife and daughter and soon poison’s the Bowden’s dog. Sam attempts to  diffuse the situation when he asks police chief Mark Dutton( Martin Balsam) to intercede and find any excuse to arrest and or run Cady out of town.  However, Cady knows his rights, they cannot arrest him for vagrancy; he has money in the bank.  When that fails Sam hires three thugs to beat Cady up, then he hires a private detective (Telly Savalas). All attempts to convince Cady to leave are in vain. Cady’s one mistake may have been when he seduces and physically assaults a young woman (Barrie Chase) he picks up. However, his sheer terror frightened the girl to such an extent she is too scared to press charges and just wants to get out of town.

    Cady is brazen, face to face with Bowden he insinuates how he will ravish his wife nad daughter. One of the most terrifying scenes occurs when Cady confronts Peggy Bowden (Polly Bergen), Sam’s wife, in the family boat where he cracks a raw egg in his hands and rubs it all over Peggy’s chest. The scene fades leaving you with the impression he is about to rape her. Bergen’s horrified look during the egg smearing is one of total shock and apparently real. The egg cracking and rubbing it across her neck and chest was not in the script and fully unexpected. Director Thompson and Mitchum planned the situation without letting Bergen in on the change in plans. From what I have read, Bergen was a bundle of nerves for a couple of days after filming this scene. The final confrontation is a brutal excruciating confrontation between the two men in the murky waters of Cape Fear.

    The film oozes violent sexual tension right from the beginning. When we first meet Cady, he eyes every woman that walks by like a lion in heat. Mitchum’s sleepy eyes and slow matter just reek with innuendo. Every threat he makes against Bowden’s wife and daughter are overflowing with sexual intimidation. When he eyes the young woman up in the bar, he informs her she got one hour to dump the guy she’s with.  For 1962, this film spill over with sexual tension.

    “Cape Fear” is filled with great performances but it is Robert Mitchum who walks away with the honors. He is just plain scary, and unlike DeNiro’s Max Cady, comes across as a real person and thus his menace is particularly terrifying.  It is a masterful performance, made to look so easy by Mitchum’s “I don’t give a damn” style. Gregory Peck is dogged as the protector of his family, though here he is not quite as righteous as Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, another lawyer he portrayed that same year.  Director Thompson and Gregory Peck, who owned the rights to the book, had to convince Mitchum to accept the role, which he originally turned down. Interestingly, Haley Mills was considered for the role of Nancy, the daughter, but was still under contract to Disney who refused to let her do it. 

    An enormous part of the films success is Bernard Herrmann’s excitingly tense score, which contributes so much to the on edge atmosphere of the film, along with Sam Leavitt’s graphic black and white cinematography. Thompson’s direction is quickly paced with no wasted time moving the film along at an ever nerve wracking pace. 

    In 1992, when Martin Scorsese remade “Cape Fear” he stated that in the original film the Bowden family was too one note, too good and Cady pure evil. In his remake, Scorsese made the Bowden’s victims of martial infidelity and the daughter was no longer the sweet little girl but a rebellious sexy adventuress who is seduced and attracted to the disturbed Cady. He also turned Cady into a bible-frenzied fanatic of doomsday proportions.  The two films make interesting bookends.

Wait Until Dark (1967) Terence Young

Warner Brothers purchased the film rights to “Wait Until Dark” early on with Jack Warner set to star Audrey Hepburn in the lead role of the blind heroine, Susy Hendrix.  Hepburn wanted Warner’s to announce as soon as possible that she would be starring.  She wanted to avoid accusations similar to what occurred when she took the role of Liza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” and was accused of stealing the role from  Julie Andrews. In the play, film and stage actress Lee Remick was starring and was a big enough star to have headlined the film. What Audrey wanted known is that from the beginning Warner’s had no intention of having Lee star in the film version

The hit play opened in early February of 1966 at the Ethel Barrymore Theater with Remick and with Robert Duvall, as Harry Roat Jr. It was directed by Arthur Penn who would soon go on to film “Bonnie and Clyde. “Written by Frederick Knott whose first hit play was “Dial M For Murder”, “Wait Until Dark” was Knott’s successful return to Broadway, a woman in peril thriller in the  ”Sorry, Wrong Number ” mode.

Produced by Mel  Ferrer, Hepburn’s husband, the film version opened up  on October 26th 1967 at Radio City Music Hall, just in time for Halloween. The film sets up Susy (Hepburn), a young  woman recently blinded in a car accident, against a team of three criminals led by a diabolical Harry Roat Jr. (Alan Arkin). The men are determined to get their hands on a heroin filled doll that has made its way to Susy’s apartment.

 How the doll got to the Greenwich Village apartment Susy shares with her photographer husband Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) and its disappearance and reappearance takes time to explain as does the convoluted  deception by the criminals including  Roat Jr. dressing up disguised as other people in an attempt to get the doll back from the blind Susy.

The biggest question the film, and the play, leave your with is why did Roat Jr. have to wear disguises when his intended target is blind?  Despite this glitch in the plot and a slow build up, in the third act the film provides an intense finale that will still make viewers tense and jumpy.  I am not going to give anything away here so if you have not seen the film don’t worry.

This was the first suspense thriller for Ms. Hepburn whose career was filled with gentler works like “Charade”, “The Nun’s Story”, “Sabrina” and “Roman Holiday.” She does well in this career change of pace and  received her fourth  Academy Award nomination for her efforts. Also, in the cast are Richard Crenna and Jack Weston as Roat Jr.’s  partners in the evil scheme. Directed by Terence Young, best known for directing the first two James bond films “Dr. No” and “From Russia With Love” and later on the fourth, “Thunder ball.”  Young was good friends with Hepburn and her husband Mel Ferrer and they fought for him to direct the film. Jack Warner was looking to get Carol Reed to direct.

Like Lee Remick did for her stage performance, Hepburn  studied and did much research on the blind, first in Lausanne and then in New York at the Manhattan Lighthouse for the Blind. Alan Arkin got the role of the criminal Harry Roat Jr. after Warner’s was turned down by numerous stars  including George C. Scott. Arkin had just made a name for himself a year earlier in Norman Jewison’s  ”The Russian Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.”

Hepburn wanted to make the film in Europe where she felt comfortable, and while the film is set in New York most of the film involved interior shooting that could have been done anywhere. A few exterior shots of Greenwich Village could have been made in New York and the rest of the film completed anywhere. Jack Warner refused insisting that the interiors be filmed in California. While Warner won that battle he lost the tea at four war. Audrey insisted on a stipulation that they break for tea every day in the afternoon, a British tradition, and was backed up by the Brit director Mr. Young. Jack Warner steamed but the crew had their daily break tea.

Warner Brothers studio used a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock and William Castle ballyhoo when they announced in the coming attractions for the movie that during the final eight minutes of the film the theater lights will be darkened to the legal limits to intensify the action on screen.  

In 1998, the play was revived on Broadway with Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino in the roles of Susy and Harry Roat Jr. Changes made to the original play and movie, like the apartment was now on the Lower East Side instead of Greenwich Village, apparently did not add any gloss to the play. It closed after 97 performances.

The Arrangement (1969) Elia Kazan

   “The Arrangement” opened to mostly terrible reviews in  November of 1969. Vincent Canby of the New York Times said, “The Arrangement” is Elia Kazan’s most romantic movie. It may also be his worst…”  Later on Canby in the same review he says,  “The Arrangement” reeks with slightly absurd movie chic but, unlike Douglas Sirk’s “Written on the Wind” or Vincente Minnelli’s “Two Weeks in Another Town,” it’s not only not much fun, but it’s a mess of borrowed styles.”  Harsh words and while I am not going to claim that “The Arrangement” is a lost masterpiece or even a satisfying film that has grown better with time, the film is not the mess Mr. Canby seemed to think it was.

    Based on Kazan’s successful novel (it was on the New York Times bestseller list for 37 weeks)  which ran over 500 pages and had to be condensed down to a film slightly over two hours. It is the story of Evangelos Arness, a man who spent his life selling out, he even changed his name to Eddie Anderson. Eddie is a successful advertising executive  married to Florence (Deborah Kerr), they live in a large house with servants. The marriage is affable, they seem to have it all, she seems content, Eddie we find out is not.

    On his way to work Eddie cracks up, both figuratively and literally when he lets go of the wheel of his sports car and crashes into a truck in the next lane. Not able to not willing to speak he remains silent during his recovery drifting in and out of painful recollections of his childhood with a father who intimidated and dominated him and his mother. These memories are intermixed with visions of his affair with Gwen (Faye Dunaway), a sexy bright independent office associate who finds it painful that Eddie has sold out and how much he must hurt him to imagine what he could have been.

    When Eddie physically recovers, his sanity is still in question. His father is taken ill, Eddie goes to New York to stay with the dying man but their time together only brings back the memories of his anguished childhood. He meets up with Gwen, who now has a child, she claims to not know who the father is. Gwen is living with another man, Charles, who asks nothing from her, even when she has affairs with other men, he is there for her.

    Florence comes to New York, only to find Eddie back with Gwen (she literally finds them in bed together). Convinced that he is still unbalanced she make arrangements with the way too friendly family lawyer, Arthur (Hume Cronyn) to have him hospitalized. Eddie, who after a lifetime of being what everyone else wants only wants to be himself even if that means staying in a mental hospital. Gwen comes to get him out and they agree to make another go at a life together. When his father dies, at the cemetery Eddie is there with Gwen, Florence stands close to the family lawyer, her arm in his. They all seem to be okay with the arrangement.

    Kazan wanted Marlon Brando for the role of Eddie, but Brando was reluctant to take on the role. Weather it was a fear of working with the man he did some of his greatest work with or it was too soon after the assassination of Martin Luther King, which Brando claimed, he turned Kazan down.  The alternative choice was Kirk Douglas, which probably hurt the film. Nothing against Douglas but Brando would have brought a sensitivity and depth that Douglas lacks. Faye Dunaway, who first worked with Kazan in a Lincoln Center production of Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall”, gives a perfectly pitched  performance as Gwen, a woman working in a man’s world, intelligent enough to rebel with wit and strength. She seems to have little respect for the men she worked with or for.

    A criticism at the time of its release is the film was too choppy and Kazan could not find the key to slim down the massive book into a two hour cohesive film. What works for me is Dunaway’s performance, and by the way, she never looked better, plus a couple of other interesting scenes, one between Eddie and Florence at the boathouse and the scenes with Eddie and his father, Sam. “The Arrangement” is a hard film to recommend. It is slow in spots and I’ m sure some will find it disjointed and dull but if you look, you still see Kazan’s touch, the outsiders, in both Eddie and Gwen, a theme that he has used over the course of his brilliant career.

Last Summer (1969) Frank Perry

  

As a adolescent, acceptance into your peer group is always an undeniable desire, rejection from the group scars you for life. Few films broach this topic as compelling and intelligently as “Last Summer.”  Based on a novel by Evan Hunter (The Blackboard Jungle), “Last Summer” is the story of three middle class teenagers who spend a summer on Fire Island with their parents, though the parents are never seen. Sandy (Barbara Hershey), a beautiful dark longhaired girl is highly intelligent and while she expresses a sexual confidence her actual experience is limited. The two boys, Peter (Richard Thomas) and Dan (Bruce Davison) are sexually less sure of themselves; they talk a lot about getting laid, would Sandy be willing, when should they make a move.

    The three form close-knit circles of friendship. When they first meet, Sandy is on the beach nursing a wounded seagull. They remove a hook and the three nurse and rehabilitate the injured bird back to health. They spend the summer swimming, drinking beer on the beach, smoke pot and bonding. The threesome go on a date to the movies on the mainland where the boys work up the nerve to feel up Sandy, sharing a breast each. The look on Sandy’s face tells you she’s excited. Outside the theater she tells the boys how sexy they made her feel. They run into some local punks and are chased, barely escaping their reach by catching the ferry back to the island.

     Into their tight circle comes Rhoda (Catherine Burns), a short plump lonely girl who practically forces her way into their company. She really does not fit in but they let her hang out with them, mostly because they take spiteful pleasure in taunting and mocking her. One afternoon, the boys discover Sandy has killed the seagull after the wild bird bit her. Admonishing her for lying, Peter begins to spend time with Rhoda teaching her how to swim.

    Sandy instigates a decision to push the reluctant and inexperienced Rhoda to go on a computer matched date that Sandy initiated as a kick to “trick the computer” with a shy Puerto Rican man named Anibal (Ernesto Gonzalez). At a bar, after a night of drinking and dancing, they run into the same bullies who they escaped from a few nights earlier at the movies. They run off again abandoning the inebriated Anibal who is beaten up by the three punks. Rhoda, the only one reluctant to leave the scene, is dragged away by the others. Later she berates Peter for his behavior which only makes him run take with Sandy and Dan.   

    On a hot summer’s day, the three go into the woods to cool off from the burning sun, Rhoda tags along. Annoyed that she followed, Sandy removes the top of her bikini swimsuit and badgers Rhoda to do the same. Disgusted by Sandy’s unashamed behavior Rhoda attempts to leave however, Sandy pushes the boys to stop her. Sandy’s desire to destroy Rhoda results in a brutal scene that will bind the three forever.

     Sandy, Dan and Peter, lack a moral compass. Everything they do is just for kicks, not seeing any problem; heck all they were doing was having a few laughs. They didn’t mean for the Puerto Rican guy to get beat up; the whole date thing was just an attempt by Sandy to screw up the computer-dating model. This callous treatment is seen throughout the film, Rhoda, is similarly treated, like the wounded seagull, at first she is somewhat accepted into the group and then disregarded always at the mercy of the callous indifference of Sandy.

       The four leads are all portrayed so well that it is challenging to select a standout though, Catherine Burns as Rhoda, has a touching monologue sadly describing the circumstances of her mother’s death that is extremely moving. Burns received an Academy Award nomination for her role. Richard Thomas was still a few years away from his career making role of John-Boy in “The Waltons”, and fans who associate Thomas only with that role may be a bit shocked seeing him here as one of the two callous immature teen boys. Of the two, Thomas’ Peter at times shows a sensitivity the others lack, yet his strong bond with Sandy and Dan draws him to side with them in the film’s final heinous conclusion. Bruce Davison adds a strong and convincing dimension as the cocky, sex minded Dan. The two boys are well matched and come across as realistic buddies. One of the film’s strongest features is the authenticity of the way the characters talk, like real teenagers. Barbara Hershey was the best known of the four actors, having already starred in the TV series “The Monroes” a few years earlier. As Sandy, she uses her beauty and brains to sexually tease the horny boys as well as manipulate them. A combination of heartless cruelty and teenage seduction, she’s a dangerous adolescent mix, at one point killing the rescued seagull, then turning the boys against Rhoda.

    There are few adults in their lives with who they can connect. When we do see an adult it turns out to Sandy’s mothers’ boyfriend who she confesses, as a “major truth” to the boys, attempted to molest her. The boys talk about uncaring parents who are too busy with their own lives to have much concern for their kids.

    ”Last Summer” was directed and  written by the husband and wife team of Frank and Eleanor Perry. Eleanor adapted the screenplay from  Evan Hunter’s novel. During the 1960’s the Perry’s worked on the fringes of Hollywood, other films included “David and Lisa”, “Ladybug, Ladybug”, “Trilogy”, “The Swimmer” and Diary of a Mad Housewife.”  Overall, their career together, they separated in 1970, was an interesting mix of flawed successes and misfires.  “Last Summer” fits right in as a flawed (technically, I noticed some mismatching shots in some scenes) though engrossing lifelike middle class story about the growing pains of adolescence.

    A reoccurring theme in the Perry’s work is the battle between the sensitive individual dealing the more callous tougher personalities met in life.  Here it is Rhoda versus Sandy. In “Diary of a Mad Housewife”, your have Carrie Snodgrass’ meek wife finding her independence faced against an obnoxious husband and a sexiest callous lover.

   Add “Last Summer” to the list of films unavailable for DVD. The film was released on VHS video many years ago (Key Video), however it has since remained an elusive work to the home video market, as has “Dairy of a Mad Housewife”, another that has only seen a VHS release. I found a used VHS tape some years ago at a video store  specializing in used videos. The film was released with an R rating though it was originally given an X until scenes from the explicit ending were toned down. Be careful if you find the film on TV. Apparently, there are some PG versions floating around that will ruin the premise.  Overall, “Last Summer” is an effective though disturbing look at youth with too many empty summer hours to fill with experimentation, sexual awakening, the desire to fit in, and the cruelty of just growing up. Then again, isn’t that what adolescence is all about.

The Rise and Fall of “Legs” Diamond (1960) Boetticher

    In 1957, Allied Artists released a low budget gangster film called “Al Capone” starring Rod Stieger. The film was an immediate hit raking in over one million dollars, (big bucks back then for a low-budget film). The film is notable for starting a new cycle of gangster films, that included “Pretty Boy Floyd” with Leif Erickson, “Machine Gun Kelly” with Charles Bronson, “The Purple Gang” with Barry Sullivan and a young Robert Blake, “King of the Roaring Twenties” with David Jansen, “Mad Dog Coll” with Vincent Gardenia, “Portrait of a Mobster” with Vic Morrow, and even a hit TV series, “The Untouchables.”   Included in this rash of works was Budd Boetticher’s “The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond.” 

    Boetticher’s film came out in 1960 and represents one of the better films from this short-lived cycle. Ray Danton stars as the flamboyant and brash Jack “Legs” Diamond who starts out as a petty thief and works his way up the criminal ladder killing anyone who stands in his way. In some ways, it is a typical American success story. The film also starred Karen Steele, probably best remembered today for her roles in three of Boetticher’s westerns co-starring  Randolph Scott.  She also may be remembered as Ernest Borgnine’s sister -in-law in “Marty.”

    While the film claims to be a true representation, there is plenty fiction to spread around. We meet Legs and his sickly brother, Eddie (Warren Oates) as two small time thieves who quickly muscle their way into the big time mob scene in New York. Danton plays Diamond as a dark vicious power hungry sharpie that lets no one stand in his way including his sick brother who he abandons because of two incidents where he almost got him killed.

   Legs, working for Arnold Rothstein (Robert Lowry) learns the ropes including how to sleep with Arnie’s girlfriend, Monica (Elaine Stewart). When Rothstein, who is said to be responsible for fixing the 1918 World Series, finds out about this indiscretion, he retaliates by having Legs busted for drug smuggling. After Legs learns all he needs to know, Rothstein, king of the roaring 20’s is shot dead, presumably by Diamond.  Rothstein’s empire is split up but Legs decides its time to begin shaking down the remaining gang leaders, including Leo Bremer (Jessie White), taking a 25%  percent cut of their pie. His philosophy is take from thieves, they can’t go running to the police. If they didn’t like it, he killed them. In the process, his ego becomes so big, and because he survived several attempts on his life, Legs developed a feeling of invincibility. “No one can kill me!”, he says.  Diamond by the way was known as the Clay Pigeon for his ability to survive the several attempts on his life. After arriving back in America from a trip to Europe with his wife, Alice (Steele) he finds the world and the underworld has changed. There is now a syndicate of mob leaders from around the country, headed up by Lucky Luciano, who here is only known as The Chairman. They have organized. Legs, and his ego, are not impressed, he tells them that this is good for him, now he will only have to make one collection instead of going around collecting from each of them. First astonished at his voracity, they then laugh. Legs does not know it but his days are getting short.

     Boetticher keeps the film going at a nice swift pace, and Danton’s performance is entertaining. He portrays Diamond with ice-cold ambition, smart, charming and always well dressed. Similar to Craig Stevens character in “Buchanan Rides Alone”, both men seem to have the assets that could have made them successful in the honest world, yet both chose to be corrupt. Karen Steele plays Jack’s beautiful, if not too bright wife, Alice. Bremer, who I believe is suppose to be a fictionalized version of Dutch Schultz, only because he utters the line “Ain’t there nobody who can shoot this guy dead, so he don’t bounce back?” a  line the Dutchman supposedly said in real life. A young Dyan Cannon made her film debut as Dixie, and Simon Oakwood is the Lieutenant who is constantly on Diamond’s trail.

    Diamond is finally killed after his wife walks out on him. Drunk he calls up former girlfriend Monica telling her to come over. After making love to Diamond, she leaves him passed out on his bed, making sure to take his guns with her on the way out. In the street, she drops off the pistols with two hit men waiting in a car, who now make their way up to Diamond’s apartment and shoot him dead. They continue to shoot enough times to make sure he stays dead. While this is fairly accurate as far as how the real Diamond was killed the shooting actually happened in a hotel in Albany, New York and not at his apartment in the city.    

    Boetticher is best remembered today, and deservedly so, for his fine low budget westerns with Randolph Scott, though he made plenty of films in other genres like “The Killer is Loose.”  “The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond” was part of a double bill, opening along with “The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery” in February 1960. It was generally met with good reviews. Since then the film has remained somewhat in the background of Boetticher’s career. It was released on VHS years ago however, it is yet to get a proper DVD release.

    Jack “Legs” Diamond was the subject of William Kennedy novel “Legs” (part of his Albany series) and in 1988 a Broadway musical starring Peter Allen, as Diamond, became one of the biggest flops in history of the musical theater.  The musical opened on December 26th to horrendous reviews. I mention this because my wife and I were in the audience to see this disaster on the evening of December 31^st. The shows life was a lot shorter than Diamond’s, it closed after 64 performances.

Repulsion (1965) Roman Polanski

With the recent Criterion Collection release of Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” I thought it would be a good time to post my orginal review written for Halo-17.

       Repulsion is absolutely one of my favorite films. I was stunned the first time I watched it back in 1965 at some small now long forgotten art house in NYC.  I had never seen a horror film like this before (I had yet to see Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho). At the time, I was only in my middle teens and I know for sure much of it went over my head. Still the film was memorizing.

    Polanski draws us, the audience, quickly into Carol’s splintered deteriorating mind. Sexually repressed, surrounded by boorish men, “abandoned” by her sister who goes off on a weekend of lovemaking with her lover, Carol spirals downward into total psychosis. Polanski film’s explores the dark side of the mind, unfamiliar to some of us but an unwanted companion to others. He brilliantly uses wide-angle lens, harsh lighting and sound to create Carol’s nightmarish decent into a catatonic world.

    It is a harrowing journey and in the end we never find out what is the basis of Carol’s sickness, only a hint is provided, with the final shot, a family photo, Carol as a child, suggesting there may have been sexual abuse.  

Charade (1963) Stanley Donen

“Charade” is a light Hitchcockian thriller with two of the most charming stars to ever grace the screen. A lively screenplay, a catchy title song that you cannot get out of your head and a superb cast of supporting actors, most of who would soon go on to become stars in the late 1960’s and beyond.  Directed with a light touch by Stanley Donen, best known for his wonderful musicals with Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain, On the Town and It’s Always Fair Weather) and without Gene Kelly (Funny Girl, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Pajama Game) glides elegantly and smoothly into the world of The Master of Suspense. Donen actually complained about the comparison to Hitch, claiming that Sir Alfred did not have a monopoly on this kind of film. While he is right about that, there no denying the similarities. First, you have the main character Reggie (Hepburn) being accused of something, she knows nothing about (the whereabouts of stolen money). Then we have a script filled with dark humor, another Hitchcock trademark and finally Miss Hepburn’s co-star, Cary Grant, a Hitchcock alumnus with an outstanding record.

    Audrey Hepburn is Reggie Lampert, a UN Interpreter, whose husband is murdered and tossed off a moving train right at the start of the movie. His only possession is a small travel bag that the police will return to her. Just prior to learning of  her husband’s death, whom she was planning to divorce, she meets the charming Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) at a ski resort. They are attracted to each other. At the funeral palor where her husband’s body is on view, an assortment of odd strangers appear, each one substantiating personally that he is dead; one even sticks the deceased with a pin to ensure he is really dead. 

Soon after, Reggie is requested to come to the U.S. Embassy where she meets Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), a CIA agent who informs her that her husband was involved in a robbery during World War II, stealing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, belonging to the government. Hamilton shows Reggie a photo of three men who were in the Army with her husband and were part of the gang that pilfered the dough. Reggie recognizes the men; they are the same three strangers who came to her husband’s funeral. Bartholomew wants the government money back though Reggie insists she does not have it nor know where it is.  Peter Joshua reappears willing to help Reggie anyway he can to find the money, which he eventually admits he wants for himself. He also informs her that his name is really Alexander Dyle. Soon bodies are dropping like the proverbial fly. Reggie and Peter/Dyle fall in love as they continue to search for the missing money. I won’t reveal the ending but suffice it to say most of the characters are not who they say they are, maybe.

   The film is filled with twist and turns, and plenty of sophisticated and sometimes ghoulish humor, courtesy of screenwriter Peter Stone. Grant is in familiar territory having covered this type of film with Sir Alfred many times before (North by Northwest, Rebecca, and Notorious). He is charming as ever, even if he is looking a touch older. Grant was concerned about the romantic angle of the script due to the age difference between Hepburn and himself. He requested changes in the script, specifically that they make Hepburn’s character the aggressor in their relationship. Hepburn always seemed to be involved with older men in many of her films (Cooper, Bogart, and Astaire) and it always looked a bit uncomfortable except with Grant who is able to carry it off unlike the others. Despite their age difference, Grant and Hepburn have a magical chemistry working between them. They are perfectly matched. Hepburn is beautiful and sophisticatedly sexy as one could be. There are no two actors today who glow with  the appeal, the sophistication, the style these two stars radiate. They had faces then and charisma. 

The film’s list of supporting actors is nearly a who’s who of future celluloid stars. Walter Matthau, who already had a long career in supporting roles would soon break out, win an Academy Award for his role as Whiplash Willie in Billy Wilder’s “The Fortune Cookie” and become the oddest of leading man. Here he is perfect as the underhanded “CIA Agent.”  Like Matthau, James Coburn had been slowly building a resume of wonderful character parts, one of which is in this film, and he would soon reach stardom with the “Our Man Flint” films. The great George Kennedy would soon become best known for his role as “Dragline” in the classic “Cool Hand Luke.”   The cast also includes the wonderful character actor Ned Glass best known for his role as Sgt Pendleton in “The Phil Silvers Show” (aka Sgt. Bilko). Finally and certainly not least is Henry Mancini’s wonderful score and title song, which is eerily played throughout the film and an integral part of the film’s success.

    “Charade” was Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas attraction in December of 1963 opening to mixed reviews though the public came in droves. In 2002, Jonathan Demme, made a valiant attempt to remake this light classic called, “The Truth About Charlie.” Unfortunately, Mark Wahlberg is a long distance away from Cary Grant and though the beautiful Thaddie Newton comes somewhat closer to capturing the elf like sophistication of Hepburn, the film remains okay to watch but it is “Charade” you will come back to watch again and again. 

You may notice on IMDB, they say the screenplay is based on a story (The Unsuspecting Wife) credited to Peter Stone and Marc Behm. If you check out the photo of the paperback above it states, “A novel by Peter Stone.”  On the inside of the book, it reads that it is dedicated to suspense writer Marc Behm. So what goes on here? Stone is a playwright and a screenwriter and he is not known to have ever written a novel. The “novel” is a novelization of the screenplay and “The Unsuspecting Wife” was a short story by Stone that originally appeared in Redbook magazine. The most likely scenario of the credit to Behm is he wrote the novelization based on Stone’s screenplay thus, the dedication to give Behm credit.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) John Ford

    “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” was John Ford’s final great work, though he continued to work and made a few more films; none had the intensity nor reached the level of art his previous films achieved. The film is based on a short story by western author Dorothy M. Johnson, who also wrote “A Man Called Horse” and “The Hanging Tree”, both of which were adapted to the screen.

    The story begins with the return of Ransom “Rance” Stoddard (James Stewart) a well-known and respected senator, of an unnamed western state who along with his wife, Hallie (Vera Miles) comes back to the town of Shinbone for the funeral of small time ranch owner Tom Doniphon (John Wayne). The town’s newspaper editor is curious to know why the famed senator renown for being “The Man Who Killed Liberty Valance” (Lee Marvin) would make the long trip from Washington to pay his respects to this local unknown. Stoddard tells him the story ….

    Rance is a young attorney who believes in law and order though he refuses to carry a gun. On his way to the town of Shinbone, he is attacked and beaten during a stagecoach robbery by the outlaw Liberty Valance and his gang.  Rance is found by rancher Tom Doniphon and taken to the home of some friends who take care of the tenderfoot and nurse him back to health. Doniphon believes that in these parts “a man needs a gun.” Despite their philosophical differences, the two men become friends and rivals for the young and beautiful Hallie (Vera Miles). Valance continues to terrorize the town and Rance until one day the tenderfoot lawyer is forced into a showdown with the gunfighter. Though wounded during the gunfight, Rance shoots and kills Valance. Hallie’s true feelings come out for Rance driving Doniphon off in a drunken rage. Rance finds himself a hero as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He is selected to be a delegate as the territory applies for statehood. Feeling unworthy and guilty for becoming a hero based on killing a man, Doniphon reveals to him what really happened. Rance, relieved to know he is not riding on the coattails of a dead man, becomes the delegate, goes on to marry Hallie, and become the State’s first Governor and a three time Senator. While the death of Liberty Valance triggered a brilliant career for Rance Stoddard, for Tom Doniphon it led to a life of drinking, loneliness, and alienation.

    After the Senator finishes telling his story to the paper’s editor and the truth about how Valance was killed, the editor tears up his notes and throws them into the stove to burn. Stoddard asks him why isn’t he going to use the story.  The editor replies, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend!” 

   When I recently compiled my list of the best films of the 1960’s for the Wonders in the Dark blog, I inexplicitly did not include this John Ford masterpiece. This is one reason I hate making lists and I should be horsewhipped the same way Liberty Valance horsewhips James Stewart in the film for this omission. “Liberty Valance” is a classic western that stands up against the best of John Ford’s work. It is a work of an elder statement taking a darker, morose look at a period in America he had glorified in earlier times.  It is a turning point in the history of the American west, Statehood was on the horizon; the law and civilization were coming. Tom Doniphon knew his days were over and that Stoddard and his breed represented the future.

    John Wayne is an actor that I have always had mixed feelings about. When used correctly, mostly by Ford, his persona and the role merge into a “perfect storm” as they do in “The Searchers”, “Rio Bravo” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”. Wayne was never much of a real actor though he played ‘John Wayne’ better than anyone could. Moreover, rarely has a Wayne character displayed the vulnerability that he does here.  I always enjoyed James Stewart as an actor more than Wayne, however here I find his character, Rance Stoddard, a bit annoying, somewhat stubborn and naïve. While Wayne and Stewart are the stars of the film, it is Lee Marvin’s menacing performance that ‘stirs the drink.’ Marvin has portrayed many violent and evil characters in his wonderful career but Liberty Valance has to be at or near the top. He is brutal, intimidating and just plain evil. Reese (Lee Van Cleef), one of his gang members, twice has to stop him from whipping his victims to death. Vera Miles is the woman in the middle, in love with Doniphon, and as the film goes on, she develops a growing fondness for Stoddard and marries him. At the end of the film as they ride the railroad back to Washington, Ford subtly tells us, though she has been married to Stoddard for many decades her true love is left behind in a wooden box. “Liberty Valance” is not just Wayne, Stewart and Marvin, the film is rich in terrific performances with character actors like Edmond O’Brien as the newspaper editor, Andy Devine as the cowardly sheriff, Lee Van Cleef and Strother Martin as Valance’s two thugs in crime. The wonderful Woody Strode as Pompey. Also in the cast are John Carradine and Denver Pyle. All these colorful characters make the film interesting, giving it depth and making up for the less than expected gunplay you would assume to see in a western. The film is also filled with rich black and white photography courtesy of cinematographer William Clothier who had photographed many western, “The Horse Soldiers”, “The Comancheros” and “McLintock.” Other works include “Merrill’s Marauders” and “Donavan’s Reef.”   

    Finally, this is the film where John Wayne imitators latched on to the phrase “pilgrim.” Doniphon constantly refers to Stoddard by that name.

Experiment in Terror (1962) Blake Edwards

    Blake Edwards is best known for the “Pink Panther” series and later on for a few hits in the 1980’s like “SOB”, “10” and “Victor, Victoria.” Edwards’ career however, started back to the 1940’s where he began as an actor, though not achieving much success at it. Looking at his credits in IMDB, I noticed he did appear in quite a few well known films like “The Best Years of Our Lives”, “They Were Expendable” and “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.” The roles were very small and if you blink your eyes, well, as they say, you would miss him.

    In the late forties Edward produced, co-produced and co-wrote two low budget westerns, “Panhandle” and “Stampede.” His last film as an actor was a 1948 flick called “Leather Gloves” whose only significance is that it was co-directed by Richard Quine. Edwards and Quine would go on to work on many projects together as co-writers or writer and director or any combination thereof. Their films include “Drive a Crooked Road”, “Operation Madball”, “My Sister Eileen”, “He Laughed Last” and “The Notorious Landlady.” Edwards work as a director began in the early 1950’s with Four Star Playhouse, a TV anthology series. His first feature film, “Bring Your Smile Along” was written by Edwards and Quine. His first significant film was “Mr. Corey” starring Tony Curtis and Martha Hyer. Though he continued to make films, Edwards big break came in 1958 with the private eyes series “Peter Gunn.” With its jazzy hip Henry Mancini theme song and noir like atmosphere, “Peter Gunn”, which only ran for two seasons, has long since developed a following. Edwards revived the character twice since then, in the 1967 feature film “Gunn” with Craig Stevens reviving his role as Gunn and again in 1989 with the made for TV film “Peter Gunn” with Pete Strauss in the lead role.

    Edwards’ first big screen hits were two military comedies, “The Perfect Furlough” with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh and “Operation Petticoat” with Curtis again and Cary Grant. This was followed by “Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 and then in 1962 Edwards stepped back into the world of noir with “Experiment in Terror” starring Glenn Ford, not as a hip P.I. but as a straight and very square FBI agent. “Experiment in Terror” is based on a novel called “Operation Terror” written by the husband and wife team of Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon. They always signed their works as The Gordons. A few of their other novels have been adapted to the screen, most notably “Undercover Cat” which Disney turned into “That Darn Cat!” 

 

    Kelly Sherwood (Lee Remick) is a beautiful young bank teller who is accosted in her garage one night by an unseen asthmatic psycho (Ross Martin) who threatens to kill her and her teenage sister Toby (Stephanie Powers) if she does not steal $100,000 from the bank where she works. Kelly contacts the FBI however; the psychotic madman seems to know every step Kelly makes. FBI agent John Ripley (Glenn Ford) attempts to protect Kelly and her sister while trying to hunt down the psychopath though he has no leads to go on. Ripley working with a local police informant eventually identifies the man as Red Lynch (Ross Martin), a criminal who already has two murders to his credit. Soon after, in order to ensure Kelly goes through with the robbery Lynch kidnaps id sister Toby. It all comes to a climatic boil at the San Francisco Giant’s Candlestick Park in a game with the Dodgers. The film’s suspenseful ending is classic and one the more famous in cinema.

    “Experiment in Terror has a lot going for it, a menacing score from Henry Mancini, excellent noir like cinematography from Philip Lathrop especially in the beginning, which is one of the most menacing openings of any on film on celluloid. A wonderful performance from the beautiful and intelligent Lee Remick while Ross Martin is truly creepy as the sick Red Lynch and Glenn Ford gives it his stoic best. On the minus side, the film is a bit too long. Chopping off about 15 minutes would have tightened up the pace. Edwards though is known for his extended scenes, liking the action to play out. While this worked well in “The Pink Panther” series where it gave Peter Sellers plenty of space and time, here it feels like the pacing drags the film a bit. There is also a subplot involving an earlier victim of Lynch’s who comes to Ripley’s office saying a “friend” of hers is in trouble and would Ripley help. Soon after, Ripley and his partner go to the woman’s apartment, where they find her hanging upside down between a series of mannequins. I can see why Edwards would want to keep this scene in the film. While the scene is eerie and visually stunning, the entire sequence could have been removed without any damage to the overall story. Other than the fact that this woman was an earlier victim of Lynch’s the only connection between her and Kelly Sherwood is a mysterious note containing the name Sherwood. It remains unclear how the dead woman knew Kelly’s name.  As mentioned Glenn Ford’s character is stoic, straight laced. There is no sign of any personal life nor does he ever show any interest in Kelly as a woman other than the fact that she is a victim that he has to protect. He comes across as a “just the facts” lawman as Sgt. Joe Friday used to say. Then again, no one in the film seems to have much of a love life except for teenage Toby who hangs out with her friends and has a boyfriend. While we never see or here anything about Ripley’s private life, Kelly, whose personal life we do see also seems to be lacking any sort of real relationship with a man, other than the psychopath Red Lynch, in her life. One co-worker who asks her out to dinner is quickly shrugged off with a “call me tomorrow.” True, Kelly does have other things on her mind right now than dinner with a man. You would think though that a drop dead beautiful woman like that would certainly show some signs of a man in her life now or at least in the past. Ross Martin as Red Lynch gives us a menacing vision of a cold psychotic evil criminal who has no problem with killing his victims if they threaten his life or his plans. Yet, there are two scenes in the films where Lynch, the cold-blooded killer, displays he has a heart or at least some feelings. First with his girlfriend, Lisa Soong (Anita Loo) whose son’s hip replacement operation Lynch pays for. The second incident is after kidnapping Toby, he tells her to remove her clothes. After stripping down to a bra and a half-slip, (he mails her outer garments to Kelly to prove he abducted her), Lynch begins to move toward her. Frightened she backs away, he keeps coming however, seeing how frightened she is he suddenly backs down, showing a momentary sign of sympathy, reducing the tension of a sexual attack. While this doesn’t make Lynch “a nice guy” it does provide some dimension to the role that otherwise would be lacking.  Martin, of course, in a few years would become better know as Artumus Gordon in the 1ate 1960’a hit TV Western “The Wild Wild West.”

    “Experiment in Terror” starts off as a sharp noir like thriller, all deep blacks and menacing lighting with extreme close ups of Lynch terrorizing Kelly, this sequence generates such an intense mood that manages to last throughout the rest of the film. While not a great film, Experiment in Terror” is certainly a worthy one to look out for.

The Americanization of Emily (1964) Arthur Hiller

  Here is a link to my latest article on Halo-17, “The Americanization of Emily” This is one of my all time favorite films. Released in October 1964, the same year as “Dr. Strangelove”, “Emily” is an underrated work that is even more relavent today that ever. The screenplay was written by the great Paddy Chayefsky who works include “Network”, “Marty”, “The Hospital” and “Middle of the Night.”  Here’s a link to a review I wrote on “Middle of the Night” over at Obscure Classics“.