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it stars Oliver Reed as the vicious leader of a gang of street toughs who go around England singing "black leather , black leather, smash, smash smash..." ..before assaulting and robbing American tourists.
Reed is apparently a closeted homosexual AND sexually attracted to his sister - and who wouldn't be? she's played by the beauteous Shirley Field.
the last part of the film features Reed et. al hiding out in a fall-out shelter with a group of genetically engineered children who are being trained to repopulate the world after WWIII???!!
SPOILER ALERT!
EVERYBODY but the government goons die at the end
think A CLOCKWORK ORANGE , mixed with DR. STRANGELOVE. add a pinch of ON THE BEACH and LORD OF THE FLIES.
stir in a little QUADROPHENIA and WEST SIDE STORY and SCARFACE.
can you guess this bizarro flic?
brm
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I love THE DAMNED. As Heath says, it doesn't quite work, but as a bizarre oddity (especially within the traditional Hammer Studios expectations) I think it's rather special. And it gets better with each viewing. I can't even begin to tell those who haven't seen it what it's all about - I'm still figuring it out myself - but its haunting qualities have been burned into my brain since I first saw it on TV at the age of 10.
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Posted: |
Jul 23, 2012 - 6:50 AM
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By: |
Rollin Hand
(Member)
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The Damned is, like Frankenheimer's Seconds, one of those films which has a really interesting premise, and lots of good talent on board, yet for some reason doesn't quite work. It should, but it doesn't.
I don't agree with you concerning the case of "Seconds" which is Frankenheimer's masterpiece
and the last one of a political trilogy started with "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven Days In May". "Seconds" is an intimistic study and an existential huit-clos that deals with many poignant themes: social determinism, impossible individual fulfilment, the loss of integrity and identity, the fear of the unknown. Political-wise, the film denounces the invisible power of a corporation that manages people and bodies like merchandises. It's almost a distorted mirror image of our time.
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Posted: |
Jul 23, 2012 - 7:13 AM
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By: |
Heath
(Member)
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The Damned is, like Frankenheimer's Seconds, one of those films which has a really interesting premise, and lots of good talent on board, yet for some reason doesn't quite work. It should, but it doesn't.
I don't agree with you concerning the case of "Seconds" which is Frankenheimer's masterpiece
and the last one of a political trilogy started with "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Seven Days In May". "Seconds" is an intimistic study and an existential huit-clos that deals with many poignant themes: social determinism, impossible individual fulfilment, the loss of integrity and identity, the fear of the unknown. Political-wise, the film denounces the invisible power of a corporation that manages people and bodies like merchandises. It's almost a distorted mirror image of our time.
Yes. Like I said, it has a really interesting premise and was made with the best intentions. But it still doesn't quite work. Couple of reasons. Hudson is good, but I don't buy him in the part. It might just be his physical presence. The transformation from diminutive John Randolph to big ol' Rock is too radical, and feels gimmicky for the sake of it. I realise it's not meant to be taken too literally - it's an allegorical piece after all - but for me the "rebirth" crosses the line into silliness. Also, all of the beach community stuff is a bit tedious, and occasionally unintentionally hilarious. "Crush those grapes!". Oh dear. Anyway, brilliant first and third acts, but a dodgy second act.
Sometimes it's the fate of otherwise ambitious and intelligent films to fall into relative obscurity. They do so for a reason. Joseph Losey, for one, made more than his fair share of such movies. Nevertheless, I'm glad he tried. Good man.
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I saw (THESE ARE) THE DAMNED on Scottish Televison on Friday October 1st 1971, as part of that channel's "Don't Watch Alone" series of horror movies. I'd just turned ten years old. The amazing thing is that I went around whistling "Black Leather Rock" for the next forty years (not continuously). I never saw that film again since I was ten (it never turned up on MY telly anyway), and I began to doubt my own childhood memory of the song - who wouldn't after forty years? Then, last year, it appeared on YouTube and hearing "Black Leather Rock" exactly as I had recalled it during all that time actually sent a shiver up my spine. Not because it's a great song, but because it kind of proved that in some ways a child's memory is infallible. I think we only really start "reinterpreting" the truth with age.
Anyway, picked up the DVD last year too (it's a wonderfully photographed film) and have immersed myself in it more than once. If I can quote from Marcus Hearn's notes, I think many of us will agree that....
"....THE DAMNED's most conspicuous shortcoming is that it only succeeds in uniting its disparate elements, and genres, on a thematic level. The narrative fails to adequately reconcile the fragments from the script's earlier drafts, and offers only false respite from its relentlessly nihalistic tone. But if the film is a failure, it is the most disturbing and ceaselessly fascinating failure in Hammer's history."
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Oh, and I'd add that it's far from being "the strangest film ever". But I can see why some people might use that expression in an informal chat - "Hey, shall we watch a DVD? I've got THE DAMNED. You don't know it? Wow, it's like the strangest film ever!!" At least it's "genuinely" strange in that it's almost strange by default. It's not a conscious exercise in surrealism or anything. It's just that because of its troubled shooting it came out that way, and I think that's part of the reason I love it so much.
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I remember this odd little film because of the song "Black Leather Rock". My friends and I used to sing it all the time after seeing the movie on late night TV back in college. .
Mark, no offense , but please don't bring your 'friends' around to my place anymore
ahahahahahhahahah!!!!!!!!
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....
"....THE DAMNED's most conspicuous shortcoming is that it only succeeds in uniting its disparate elements, and genres, on a thematic level. "
Right. the 'link' is the threadbare one of parental care and responsibilty.
But that is completely lost in the fractured plot.
It seems obvious that Losey (?) had two movies he wanted to produce but was unable to
for whatever reason. So, he simply joined the two compltely seperate films - one about youth gang violence, the other a cautionary science fiction tale about nuclear armageddon..
No way it could work, but atleast its technically well made and impresses with its ]scope b & w LOCATION photography
and Shirley Field is just stunning. too bad she turned down THUNDERBALL (not that Auger is a slouch in the looks dept)
brm
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thanks for the nominations for films that are "stranger" than this one.
I will make sure to avoid them at all cost
LOL:!
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Mr. Marshall, found something for 'ya. Look in the music forum about 'Teddy Boys'.
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Mr. Marshall, found something for 'ya. Look in the music forum about 'Teddy Boys'.
appreciate it, but it really belongs in the non-film forum
bruce
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If you think that's weird, I urge you to see Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE or any number of smaller arthouse films. French New Wave films, for example.
pass
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