3 Movies. . The Sweet Smell of Success (1957). Burt Lancaster again, and again weirdly protective of
3 Movies. . The Sweet Smell of Success (1957). Burt Lancaster again, and again weirdly protective of his sister–and Tony Curtis of Tony from West Side Story fame. It’s not a lovable movie, but it was quite good. It’s similar to Citizen Kane in that it’s about a powerful newspaper man, a columnist, who throws his weight around and wants to get rid of the guy his sister is dating. If the movie had anyone other than the guy who plays this Steve Dallas character, I probably would have tired of the movie mid-way, brilliant dialogue or not. His no-nonsense goodness cuts through the gibberish of Lancaster and Curtis’s utterly vile characters. The movie ends with comeuppance for them, and freedom for the couple. It feels like an odd movie until you read about the real life story’s it’s based on, which the movie imitates closely. One of the weird early signals the movie gives you is that Tony Curtis’s character did something “really dirty” for Lancaster’s Hunsecker before the movie starts. That and comments from various side characters who comment on his eyelashes and movie star looks. Subtle back then? Or was the film revenge-rumoring against Walter Winchell, the real life Hunsecker? I guess weed was the Worst Drug in this era, because that’s what they plant on Steve to get him arrested/beat up. One of Ebert’s Great Movies. . The Barefoot Contessa (1954) is Bogart and Ava Gardner vehicle. It is also an odd movie. It swerves around the Witty Dialogue route, although it’s good–but this is not a banter movie, purely. It’s about a Spanish dancer who gets swept up by Hollywood and made an international success. The movie is very focused on how other characters perceive and treat Maria, so much so that when we “meet” her character at the beginning two scenes, we don’t see her at all, only people reacting to her. It’s a femme fatale where the fatale is not her doing, but those around her whom she trusts. She meets this Italian Count, and the movie gets quite odd here. It seems to me that the story wants to be Daphne du Maurier, with secrets everywhere. Anyways, she marries the count. Fairy tale wedding (Continues in comments)… (at Nashville, Tennessee) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBoF-c-p2lF/?igshid=iipxqku90zr7 -- source link
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