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Month: July 2007

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

Two Weeks in Another Town (1962)

“I don’t want your charity — if I’m through as an actor, I’m through!”

Synopsis:
Washed-up Hollywood actor Jack Andrus (Kirk Douglas) is given a chance by director Maurice Kruger (Edward G. Robinson) to coordinate the dubbing on his latest Italian melodrama, starring young hotshot Davie Drew (George Hamilton). When Kruger falls ill, Andrus — who has fallen in love with Hamilton’s girlfriend (Daliah Lavi) — takes over directing duties.

Genres:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Claire Trevor Films
  • Cyd Charisse Films
  • Edward G. Robinson Films
  • George Hamilton Films
  • George Macready Films
  • Kirk Douglas Films
  • Movie Directors
  • Has-Beens
  • Hollywood
  • Vincente Minnelli Films

Review:
There’s not much redeeming value in this overblown melodrama by director Vincente Minnelli, based on a novel by Irwin Shaw. The normally reliable cast of A-list actors fail to adequately develop their characters (Claire Trevor is particularly shrill and one-note as Kruger’s controlling wife):

… and the narrative covers ground trodden many times before. A major disappointment.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Daliah Lavi’s appealing performance as Douglas’s Italian love interest

Must See?
No. Though this film is inexplicably lauded by many (and was voted by Godard as one of the best films of 1963!), it’s not must-see viewing.

Links:

Wayward Bus, The (1957)

Wayward Bus, The (1957)

“Nothing ever happens in a 50-mile bus ride to be jealous of.”

Synopsis:
A bus driver (Rick Jason) married to a neurotic alcoholic (Joan Collins) takes a group of passengers — including a buxomy blonde (Jayne Mansfield) and a salesman (Dan Dailey) — on a dangerous ride.

Genres:

  • Dan Dailey Films
  • Ensemble Film
  • Jayne Mansfield Films
  • Joan Collins Films
  • Road Trip

Review:
This adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel suffers from a cliched script, and characters we never care about or believe in. Handsome Rick Jason glowers his way through each of his scenes:

while Jayne Mansfield is wasted in a stereotypical role as an “adult performer” who wants nothing more than to get married and have a refrigerator and electric stove of her own (even if it means settling for a toothy-grinned nebbish like Dailey).

The film’s main strengths are its exciting action sequences, most notably when “Sweetheart” (the eponymous bus) attempts to cross a rickety bridge in pouring rain.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • The exciting bridge sequence

Must See?
No. Although Peary lists this as a Sleeper in the back of his book, it’s not worth seeking out.

Links:

Welcome to Hard Times (1967)

Welcome to Hard Times (1967)

“We’ve got a well and a cemetery; that’s a beginning.”

Synopsis:
When a rogue gunman (Aldo Ray) terrorizes the settlement of Hard Times, a local Irish woman (Janice Rule) mocks Mayor Will Blue (Henry Fonda) for his cowardice. Meanwhile, a wagonful of prostitutes (led by Keenan Wynn) sets up a thriving business.

Genres:

  • Aldo Ray Films
  • Cowardice
  • Elisha Cook Jr. Films
  • Henry Fonda Films
  • Janice Rule Films
  • Keenan Wynn Films
  • Lon Chaney, Jr. Films
  • Prostitutes
  • Warren Oates Films
  • Westerns

Review:
This disappointing western by director Burt Kennedy — perhaps best known for helming Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) — is a bust on every count. The dialogue is lame (“You’re a fool, Blue; you always were a fool”), the acting is almost uniformly poor (Rule’s accent is particularly awful), and the screenplay — based on a novel by E.L. Doctorow — is full of cliches, including a token Asian prostitute (Kalen Liu) who never speaks. It’s not clear to me why Peary lists this clunker in the back of his book.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Harry Stradling Jr.’s cinematography
  • Warren Oates’ as “Deputy Jenks”

Must See?
No.

Links: