You're right about the color and young Shirley MacLaine, Hal. I watched it yesterday and hadn't erased it yet, so I went back & looked at Forsythe's sketch and you were right about that as well!
Harry is definitely not a classic like so many other Hitch films, but it does have, I think, the only pairing of the two ubiquitous 1950-60s Mildreds (Natwick & Dunnock) in the same cast.
Last edited by progeezer; 02-20-2018 at 08:56 PM.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I think that movie has a real charm to it. It was my fave Hitch movie for a year or two. And yeah, Mildred Natwick (not familiar w/M Dunnock) is so good in it. As is Edmund Gwenn. My fave Natwick role was as Jane Fonda's mother in Barefoot in the Park, another charming little movie.Originally Posted by progeezer
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
What do you Hitch fans think of Family Plot? I thought it was a good little film.... I think it tends to get overlooked because it is less of a suspense/thriller than his usual output.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
I really like it - I saw it in a theater when it first came out. The scene where Bruce Dern is driving with no breaks is great!
I've only ever seen it once and never felt a need to see it again. <shrugs>
The late era Hitch movie that I think often gets overlooked is Frenzy. Not a great one, exactly, but the best he made post-Psycho.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
That's a very good one, IMO, though I need to see it again. Screenplay by Anthony Shaffer who wrote the stage play Sleuth (probably the screenplay too). Sleuth is fun, but flawed.
In Harry, Mildred Dunnock played "Wiggie", Royal Dano's mother & general store proprietor (I'll always remember Royal Dano as Abe Lincoln). Dunnock was a stage actress who was the original Linda Loman to Lee J. Cobb's original Willie in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" in 1949. Her films include The Pick-Up Artist, The Spiral Staircase. Youngblood Hawke, Behold A Pale Horse, Sweet Bird Of Youth, Butterfield 8, The Nun's Story, Elvis's mom in Love Me Tender, Carroll Baker's aunt in Baby Doll & Viva Zapata.
This has been a Geezer IMBD.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
I'm not sure I've even heard of it.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
You're joking, right?Or not? I actually don't like Sleuth that much myself, but it's ok.
BTW, Scott, I forgot to mention that I always considered the zenith of Hitch's career to be from Rear Window through The Birds (I might have included Dial M for Murder but after looking it up, I have no idea if I've ever seen it; I have a tendency to confuse it with Sorry, Wrong Number). I know he made some great movies earlier but there were also quite a few average ones, too.
No. But then, that movie was released when I was just a kid so I never became aware of it. I'm a geezer but I'm not an old fucking geezer like some others around here.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Be still, my childBTW, Scott, I forgot to mention that I always considered the zenith of Hitch's career to be from Rear Window through The Birds (I might have included Dial M for Murder but after looking it up, I have no idea if I've ever seen it; I have a tendency to confuse it with Sorry, Wrong Number). I know he made some great movies earlier but there were also quite a few average ones, too.
No. But then, that movie was released when I was just a kid so I never became aware of it. I'm a geezer but I'm not an old fucking geezer like some others around here.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Frenzy is this stupefying mix of the repugnant, the ironic and the humorous.
Some of Hitchcock's highest and lowest moments.
Serial rapist/strangler frames buddy for horrific crimes.
Yet the humor comes at such weird times and in such strange ways.
The potato truck. You don't want to laugh, it's so uncomfortable. But, you must! Classic Hitch.
The inspector's eccentric wife, culinary and otherwise.
I love Frenzy.
Perhaps finding the happy medium is harder than we know.
Finally had some time to watch a couple of movies. The color one; Logan Lucky. Hiest movie with a comic touch. Channing Tatum (??) , Daniel Craig , Hillary Swank and more. Fun movie, more character devolpment than the norm for this type of flic. I enjoyed it. A fun ride, Craig is good. Tatum better than I've seen him lately.
Logan Lucky was good and funny.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
Hal, Dr., what are the two of you doing in this place? I'm ashamed. Come back to where it's dark and seedy. Don't let Geezer whisper sweet nothings into your ears about this place. COME HOME!!
The older I get, the better I was.
You got it, Gramps.Be still, my child
That's right! She made margaritas, too, didn't she? lol
What an odd, funny little segment.
Hal, Dr., what are the two of you doing in this place? I'm ashamed. Come back to where it's dark and seedy. Don't let Geezer whisper sweet nothings into your ears about this place. COME HOME!!
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Ah, the misguided cynicism of youth........
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Honest Trailers torches Justice League
I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who like country music, denigrate means 'put down.'- Bob Newhart
Happy Death Day - This was a lot more fun than I was expecting. A Groundhog Day type time-loop, in which a murder victim must solve her own murder.
We're trying to build a monument to show that we were here
It won't be visible through the air
And there won't be any shade to cool the monument to prove that we were here. - Gene Parsons, 1973
I was reminded today of a documentary I saw about 20 years ago called The Celluloid Closet. Basically, it's about the covert portrayal of gays & lesbians in movies. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
Anyone else seen this?
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
I know this one, watched it again a few months back. Pretty much the best doc on the subject that's out there.
I can remember that it seems not that long ago that gay people in movies and TV were either figures of fun, often portrayed as predatory, or worse still deviants and killers that always had to die at the end of the movie.
Which reminds me, I watched the movie Partners, with John Hurt and Ryan O'Neal a while back. Made in 1982 and largely forgotten, it was a story of a straight cop that had to go undercover and pose as a gay man living with John Hurt to seek out a serial killer. Obviously it was kind of inspired by Cruising, and its fair to say its a real curiosity. But it was nowhere near as bad as I had expected actually, fairly watchable.
I only clicked on it because I thought it was going to be something more interesting...
There was also one with almost the same premise starring DeNiro and Seymore Hoffman. Wasn't bad IIRC.
If you're talking about Flawless, I wouldn't say that's even a similar premise.
Interviewer of reprobate ne'er-do-well musicians of the long-haired rock n' roll persuasion at: www.velvetthunder.co.uk and former scribe at Classic Rock Society. Only vaguely aware of anything other than music.
*** Join me in the Garden of Delights for 3 hours of tune-spinning... every Saturday at 5pm EST on Deep Nuggets radio! www.deepnuggets.com ***
The Nickel Ride (1974)
Very good under the radar noir-ish crime drama starring Jason Miller, who was father Karras in the Exorcist.
Small-time criminal Cooper manages several warehouses in Los Angeles that the mob use to stash their stolen goods. Known as "the key man" for the key chain he always keeps on his person that can unlock all the warehouses, Cooper is assigned by the local syndicate to negotiate a deal for a new warehouse because the mob has run out of storage space. However, Cooper's superior Carl gets nervous and decides to have cocky cowboy button man Turner keep an eye on Cooper.
Miller delivers a terrific morose & brooding performance.
Great supporting cast here also: Bo Hopkins, Linda Haynes and John Hillerman.
no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone
Jason Miller also wrote the play "That Championship Season" (1972) and also wrote the screenplay & directed the subsequent movie (released 1999) w/Robert Mitchum (shot before his death in 1997), Martin Sheen, Paul Sorvino & a few other familiar names.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
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