Cul-de-sac (1966)

Cul-de-sac (1966)

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“Well, here we are — in the shit.”

Synopsis:
Two wounded gangsters (Lionel Stander and Jack MacGowan) seek refuge at the remote castle of a newly married couple (Donald Pleasence and Francoise Dorleac).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Black Comedy
  • Catalysts
  • Donald Pleasence Films
  • Gangsters
  • Hostages
  • Jacqueline Bisset Films
  • Marital Problems
  • Masculinity
  • Roman Polanski Films

Review:
This unusual black comedy — Roman Polanski’s follow-up to Repulsion (1965) — stars American character actor Lionel Stander, a young Donald Pleasence, and Catherine Deneuve’s ill-fated sister, Francoise Dorleac (who died in an automobile accident the following year). Like Repulsion, Cul-de-sac clearly shows Polanski’s genius for hitting hard where we’re most vulnerable — he spares nothing in his depiction of a weak-willed man (Pleasence) who is literally emasculated at every turn, from his wife’s insistence that he dress up in her nightgown, to his inability to protect his own home (his “castle”) from invading gangsters.

For the first 15 minutes of the movie, we don’t know who any of these characters are, or how they’ve ended up at such a remote location. Yet this simply makes the bizarre imagery (bug-eyed MacGowan stuck in a car surrounded by high tide; Pleasence opening his refrigerator door to find nothing but cartons upon cartons of eggs) that much more intriguing. Eventually we succumb to the movie’s odd logic, and recognize that Stander’s gravelly gangster is a catalyst who will force Pleasence to confront his own insecurities, and disrupt the couple’s tenuous status quo. Cul-de-sac ultimately isn’t for every taste, and will be most satisfying for those who enjoy their cup of humor bitterly dark. Yet it’s finely photographed, well-acted, and possesses countless memorable scenes. Regardless of how much you actually enjoy it, this unique film is guaranteed to stick in your mind long after it’s over.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Donald Pleasence as the cuckolded male hostage
  • Gruff-voiced Lionel Stander as the no-nonsense gangster
  • Countless memorable, truly bizarre images
  • A darkly comedic look at machismo, emasculation, and marital insecurity
  • Effective use of an isolated, windswept locale
  • Gilbert Taylor’s cinematography
  • Krzysztof Komeda’s jazzy score

Must See?
Yes, as one of Polanski’s quirkiest films. Peary votes for it as the best movie of 1966 in his Alternate Oscars book (with no runners-up), and lists it as both a Cult Movie and a Personal Recommendation in his GFTFF.

Categories

  • Important Director

Links:

Girls Town/The Innocent and the Damned (1959)

Girls Town/The Innocent and the Damned (1959)

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“There’s no such thing as a bad girl — not really bad. But sometimes when a group of you get together, you act just like the lemming: reckless and suicidal for no reason!”

Synopsis:
After being falsely implicated in the death of a classmate she was dating, 16-year-old Silver (Mamie Van Doren) is sent to a boarding school — Girls Town — run by sanctimonious nuns. When Silver finds out her younger sister (Elinor Donahue) is in trouble, she enlists the help of teen heartthrob Jimmy Parlow (Paul Anka).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Falsely Accused
  • Juvenile Delinquents
  • Mamie Van Doren Films
  • Nuns

Review:
This infamously bad exploitation flick by producer Albert Zugsmith is a veritable showcase of 1950s cliches: horny teens make out, cat fights erupt between territorial girls:

and foolhardy punks play “chicken” in their cars. 27-year-old Van Doren — who nearly busts the seams of her tight clothing:

— fared much better playing someone closer to her age in Sex Kittens Go to College (1960); here, she’s stuck mouthing rebellious jargon as though reading from a 1950s dictionary of slang. Strategic appearances by musical favorites Mel Torme and Paul Anka are worthless: weak-chinned Torme is utterly miscast as a tough guy:

and Anka (whose singing is lame) is insipid.

Only recommended for diehard Mamie Van Doren devotees, or fans of truly bad juvenile delinquent flicks.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • An abundance of campy ’50s slang:

    “Can I use your Alexander Graham?”

Must See?
Yes, simply for its status as a cult favorite. Peary lists it in the back of his book as a Camp Classic, and it was lampooned by MST3K in 1994.

Categories

  • Cult Movie

Links:

All the Right Moves (1983)

All the Right Moves (1983)

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“Scholarship here, no scholarship here. Who the hell gave you that power?”

Synopsis:
A high school football star (Tom Cruise) hoping for a college scholarship clashes with his coach (Craig Nelson) and gets kicked off the team.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Coming of Age
  • Dick Miller Films
  • Football
  • High School
  • Mining Towns
  • Teenagers
  • Tom Cruise Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
1983 was a busy year for young Tom Cruise; he starred in no less than four feature films, including Losin’ It, The Outsiders, Risky Business, and All the Right Moves, a “sadly underrated ‘youth film’ set in a poor Pennsylvania mining town.” Ostensibly about football, All the Right Moves is actually a poignant coming-of-age fable: its protagonist, Steff (Cruise), faces a life-altering challenge, and must learn to renegotiate his relationships with his girlfriend, his coach, his parents, and himself. Cruise does a fine job as Steff, but it’s Lea Thompson who truly shines here; it’s too bad her character’s story isn’t given equal weight.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Tom Cruise as the young football star itching for a ticket away from home
  • Lea Thompson’s “mature and appealing” performance as Cruise’s musician girlfriend
  • Craig Nelson as Cruise’s coach

Must See?
No, but it’s worth watching.

Links:

Age D’Or, L’ (1930)

Age D’Or, L’ (1930)

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“The impossible force that thrusts two people together, the impossibility of their ever becoming one.”

Synopsis:
A sexually voracious young couple (Gaston Modot and Lya Lys) are constantly interrupted as they try to make love.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Black Comedy
  • Experimental Films
  • Luis Bunuel Films
  • Sexual Repression
  • Surrealism

Response to Peary’s Review:
Perhaps the definitive surrealist classic, L’Age D’Or is, as Peary notes, a “devilishly hilarious affront to bourgeois society, clericalism, and morality, as well as to movie-audience complacency.” In his review, Peary — like most others (see links below) — lists many of the strange vignettes which make up this infamous film’s loosely woven plot; but the power of Bunuel and Dali’s “story” (their final collaboration together) ultimately lies in its visual impact, and thus these scenes should be seen rather than described one more time here. Bizarre imagery aside, when watching L’Age D’Or one is bearing witness to an essential piece of cinematic history: during the first few weeks of the movie’s release, outraged members of the League of Patriots and the Anti-Semitic League threw ink at the screen, while incensed patrons destroyed Surrealist art in the foyer; French censors eventually burned all existing prints, and the film was “denied a major U.S. release for 50 years.”

Note: While Peary doesn’t list Un Chien Andalou (1929) in his Guide for the Film Fanatic, this short film — Bunuel and Dali’s first together — is an equally important piece of cinematic history, and should also be seen by all film fanatics. Along with L’Age D’Or, it may very well be the epitome of early subversive cinema.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Many truly bizarre, darkly comedic images
  • The opening “scorpio sequence”

Must See?
Yes. This surreal classic must be seen to be appreciated, and merits multiple viewings.

Categories

  • Controversial Film
  • Historically Relevant
  • Important Director

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

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“Now it isn’t that I don’t like you, Susan, because, after all, in moments of quiet, I’m strangely drawn toward you, but — well, there haven’t been any quiet moments.”

Synopsis:
When a wacky heiress (Katharine Hepburn) falls for a nerdy paleontologist (Cary Grant), she does everything in her power to keep him at her side.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Barry Fitzgerald Films
  • Cary Grant Films
  • Comedy
  • Heiresses
  • Howard Hawks Films
  • Katharine Hepburn Films
  • Living Nightmare
  • Mistaken Identities
  • Romantic Comedy
  • Scientists

Response to Peary’s Review:
Howard Hawks’ “zany, lightning-paced screwball comedy” received a scathing review from The New York Times upon its release, where it was panned as simply one predictable comedic gag after the other: “After the first five minutes of the Music Hall’s new show—we needed those five to orient ourselves—we were content to play the game called ‘the cliche expert goes to the movies’ and we are not at all proud to report that we scored 100 percent.” Indeed, …Baby bombed at the box office, Hawks was fired from his next production, and Hepburn was forced to buy out her contract. Nowadays, however, Bringing Up Baby is recognized as a true classic of 1930s cinema, with hilarious dialogue, countless well-executed pratfalls, and excellent comedic performances by both Grant and Hepburn (who is accurately described by DVD Savant as “a female cross between Bugs Bunny and Groucho Marx”). As Peary notes, however, “your enjoyment of the film may depend on how long you can tolerate” watching Hepburn mischievously causing one problem after the other for Grant; indeed, in order to fully appreciate Bringing Up Baby, you must give yourself over to its inspired lunacy, and rest assured that everything will turn out — as it should — just fine in the end.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Katharine Hepburn’s marvelously loopy performance (her first comedic role) as the screwball heiress; as noted by DVD Savant, she “makes the script play like her own improvisation”
  • Cary Grant as the put-upon, bespectacled scientist who wants nothing more than to retrieve his “intercostal clavicle” and get married at 3:00
  • Charles Ruggles as “big game hunter” Major Horace Applegate
  • Hepburn limping gaily after losing the heel of one shoe, chanting, “I was born on the side of the hill… ”
  • Countless hilarious lines and rejoinders:

    “There is a leopard on your roof and it’s my leopard and I have to get it and to get it I have to sing.”

Must See?
Yes. This classic comedy should be seen at least once by all film fanatics.

Categories

  • Genuine Classic
  • Historically Relevant
  • Important Director
  • Noteworthy Performance(s)

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

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“Thank you ever so.”

Synopsis:
Showgirl Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) becomes engaged to a wealthy nebbish (Tommy Noonan), then takes a cross-Atlantic trip with her man-loving friend Dorothy (Jane Russell). On the way, Lorelei flirts with the owner of a diamond mine (Charles Coburn) and is trailed by a private detective (Elliott Reid), who falls in love with Dorothy.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • At Sea
  • Charles Coburn Films
  • Detectives and Private Eyes
  • Dumb Blondes
  • Friendship
  • Golddiggers
  • Howard Hawks Films
  • Jane Russell Films
  • Marilyn Monroe Films
  • Musicals
  • Showgirls

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell “give delightful, supercharged performances” in this classic musical comedy — which, despite bland male romantic leads and a lackluster second half, remains an enjoyable diversion. Monroe performs what may be her most famous musical number ever (the oft-mimicked “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”), and Russell — in one of her best roles — gets to perform a showstopper of her own (“Ain’t There Anyone Here for Love?”) while surrounded by scantily-clad Olympic athletes.

In addition, the script contains countless zingy lines (“The chaperone’s job is to make sure nobody else has any fun; but nobody chaperones the chaperone — that’s why I’m so right for this job!” reasons Russell), and a surprising feminist subtext. As Peary notes, Monroe and Russell’s loyal friendship is remarkably strong for a pre-1970s film, and Monroe (who is “only dumb when men want her to be”) gets to make the eminently reasonable point that “men are attracted only to women with good looks, yet resent women who are attracted to men with money.” Lorelei may be a gold-digger, but she recognizes the way the world works, and — much like Monroe herself — is more than willing to trade her “wares” in return for what she wants out of life.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Marilyn Monroe, perfectly cast in an iconic “dumb blonde” role
  • Jane Russell as Monroe’s loyal, man-crazed friend
  • Several colorful, energetic musical sequences, including one of the most famous in cinematic history: “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”
  • The surprise appearance of “Mr.” Henry Spofford III (and valet)
  • Charles Coburn as “Piggy”
  • Countless memorable lines and double entendres:

    “Those girls couldn’t drown…”
    “I like a man who can run faster than I can.”
    “I just LOVE finding new places to wear diamonds!”

Must See?
Yes. Every film fanatic should see Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at least once. Discussed at length in Peary’s Cult Movies 3.

Categories

  • Genuine Classic
  • Important Director
  • Noteworthy Performance(s)

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

Quick Millions (1931)

Quick Millions (1931)

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“Racketeering is just getting what the other guy’s got — in a nice way.”

Synopsis:
An ambitious trucker (Spencer Tracy) rises to power and becomes notorious racketeer “Bugs Raymond”.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Gangsters
  • George Raft Films
  • Rise-and-Fall
  • Social Climbers
  • Spencer Tracy Films

Review:
Long out of circulation (though it shows up occasionally on television), Quick Millions is primarily known today as the feature debut of Rowland Brown, notorious director of Blood Money (1933). Unlike its more famous counterpart, however, Quick Millions is a disappointment: it possesses only a few moments of inspired direction, and suffers from a cliched, instantly forgettable plot. Ultimately, Quick Millions is only recommended for diehard fans of early gangsters flicks, and/or those curious to see Spencer Tracy in his first “legitimate” leading role.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Spencer Tracy as the “guy with a one-ton brain who’s too nervous to steal and too lazy to work”
  • George Raft soft-shoeing to “Frankie and Johnny” at a party

Must See?
No, though it’s a must for Spencer Tracy fans.

Links:

North by Northwest (1959)

North by Northwest (1959)

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“Now you listen to me — I’m an advertising man, not a red herring!”

Synopsis:
Successful advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is kidnapped by spies (led by James Mason) who think he is a U.S. secret agent named George Kaplan. When the police don’t believe his story, Thornhill accepts the help of a mysterious blonde (Eva Marie Saint) he meets on a train — but can she be trusted?

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Cary Grant Films
  • Eva Marie Saint Films
  • Hitchcock Films
  • James Mason Films
  • Living Nightmare
  • Martin Landau Films
  • Mistaken Identities
  • “No One Believes Me!”
  • Spies

Response to Peary’s Review:
North by Northwest, one of Hitchcock’s “most enjoyable pictures”, features “outstanding performances, technical brilliance, a great deal of humor, terrific locations for suspense scenes, [and] one of Bernard Herrmann’s finest scores.” As Peary notes, even at 136 minutes, Hitchcock “keeps the picture moving” without a single dull moment, as “his characters move quickly from one locale to another”, and new plot developments continue to crop up.

North by Northwest may be the perfect movie to show new film fanatics who aren’t yet familiar with Hitchcock’s oeuvre. Not only is it consistently great fun, but it deals with some of Hitch’s favorite themes: false accusations, mistaken identities, and “everyday” men who are forced into situations where they must rise to the occasion and help those in need. The remarkably risque romance between Grant and Saint (those endless kisses in the train compartment!) is classic Hitchcock as well: it develops logically out of the proceedings, and serves as the perfect motivation for Grant’s final heroic actions. Scene after scene in North by Northwest is both memorable and humorous — and, though we suspect that everything will turn out okay in the end (it has to!), we’re never really sure how; that was Hitchcock’s genius.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Cary Grant — pitch perfect in the lead role as a man who finds himself thrust into a nightmarish situation beyond his control
  • Eva Marie Saint as Grant’s mysterious love interest
  • James Mason as Phillip Van Damm, cold-hearted head of the spy ring
  • Martin Landau in a bit role as Van Damm’s right-hand-man
  • Jessie Royce — only one year older than Grant in real life — as his mother
  • Grant getting himself strategically thrown out of an auction
  • Grant entering the bedroom of a strange woman, who immediately falls for him
  • Grant running for his life from a lethal cropduster
  • The final climactic scene on Mt. Rushmore
  • Bernard Herrmann’s riveting score

Must See?
Absolutely. This remains one of Hitchcock’s most entertaining movies, and merits repeat viewing by all film fanatics.

Categories

  • Genuine Classic
  • Important Director

(Listed in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die)

Links:

Lineup, The (1958)

Lineup, The (1958)

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“Sounds like the usual M.O.: tourists — reputable travelers — being used as innocent smugglers.”

Synopsis:
Police detectives investigate a heroin-smuggling scheme in San Francisco.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Car Chase
  • Criminal Investigation
  • Don Siegel Films
  • Drug Dealers
  • Eli Wallach Films
  • Police
  • Richard Jaeckel Films

Review:
Don Siegel’s little-seen crime drama remains a taut, gritty thriller which deserves wider viewing. After a rather creaky beginning (in which the nature of the crime — surreptitious smuggling of heroin in unsuspecting passengers’ luggage — is established), things quickly become exciting, as we watch two psychopathic “middlemen” (Eli Wallach and Robert Keith) slyly rounding up their bounty at any cost. More often than not, this involves killing the passenger, if or when he discovers that something is awry — a task done with cold-hearted smoothness by Wallach, while creepy Keith waits nearby ready to document the poor sucker’s “final words” in his notebook. Siegel handles his multiple action scenes with finesse, and makes good use of on-location shooting in San Francisco; indeed, many locales no longer exist, thus making this an invaluable time-capsule glimpse of The City in the late 1950s.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Eli Wallach as “Dancer”, the psychopathic middleman
  • Robert Keith as Dancer’s less violent — but equally tenacious — partner
  • Richard Jaeckel as the duo’s cocky young getaway driver
  • Creatively shot murder sequences
  • Excellent use of San Francisco locales
  • A truly exciting final car chase

Must See?
No, but fans of Siegel’s work will undoubtedly want to seek it out.

Links:

Non-Stop New York (1937)

Non-Stop New York (1937)

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“She’s the only person alive who knows that we were in that apartment last night.”

Synopsis:
A British actress (Anna Lee) tries to get back to New York in time to save an innocent man from being put to death.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Actors and Actresses
  • Airplanes and Pilots
  • Anna Lee Films
  • Falsely Accused
  • Mistaken Identities

Review:
At only 69 minutes, Robert Stevenson’s Hitchcockian thriller zips along at a fast pace, allowing us just enough time to ogle the fantastic set designs in the film’s luxury “non-stop” aircraft. Viewing this airplane-cum-cruise ship, it’s impossible not to salivate — if only cross-country flying was actually this plush! (Especially enviable is the heroine’s ability to step outside the plane and feel the wind blowing across her face…) The story itself is slight yet enjoyable, with Anna Lee’s radiant smile lighting up the screen, and hulking Francis Sullivan a suitably menacing mobster.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Anna Lee as the plucky actress determined to save a falsely accused man from dying
  • Francis Sullivan as the sinister mobster
  • A fascinating glimpse of an early (likely science-fictional) luxury aircraft

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended. Listed as a Sleeper in the back of Peary’s book.

Links: