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For those of us of a “certain age”, the summer of 1989 was the Last Hurrah of childhood., even if that childhood was already long dead.
Oof. Summer 1989 found me frying fries at a fast food joint, still heartbroken after my relationship with Diane went bye-bye. My big movie event that summer was the new De Palma - Casualties of War - loads of laughs that one. I didn't even bother with Indiana Jones garbage. (Until that is a couple of years later when I discovered this nifty newsletter called "Film Score Monthly" which got me back into movie music and "fun" films for awhile in the 1990s.)
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P.S. Diane probably weighs 350lbs and wishes she hadn’t dumped your Malick-worshiping azz. wink
Thanx, I needed that. 
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Don’t make me go full “Dan Ackroyd-as-Jimmy-Carter”, Mark! I grow weary of talking FSMers down from ledges!
But enough. What Star Wars film did [name of FSMer] watch?
I consider myself more a nobleman - a duke or dauphin, say - who suffered a momentary bout of melancholy whilst peering into the forest gloaming from atop his castle battlements. "Ay yes, that Diane was certainly The One - and may we meet again in a far, far better place than this moth-eaten tapestry we refer to as life."
On the topic of Star Wars - I shall now proceed over to the Nerd war thread to blow people's minds with my opinion of that particular subject.
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COCKLESHELL HEROES
1955
I do love me a 50s ww2 film, and this is another classic. Jose Ferrer and Trevor Howard play royal marines officers who lead a group of canoe commandoes 70 miles up river, avoiding the Germans, to blow up enemy shipping. Plenty of the usual faces too, Victor Madden, David Lodge, Percy Herbert and even Christopher Lee. But an unlikely pairing as executive producers...Irving Allen and Albert R Broccoli!!
7.9 out of 10
*nb In the 70s Spike Milligan had a zany comedy series called Q6 (subsequently Q7 etc) and Lodge (2nd from right) was one of the actors used for the sketches. The running gag in it was whenever Spike introduced Lodge, he would say "David Lodge, actor, one time Cockleshell Hero..." and whenever i think of this film, i think of that.
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*nb In the 70s Spike Milligan had a zany comedy series called Q6 (subsequently Q7 etc) and Lodge (2nd from right) was one of the actors used for the sketches. The running gag in it was whenever Spike introduced Lodge, he would say "David Lodge, actor, one time Cockleshell Hero..." and whenever i think of this film, i think of that.
Whenever Lodge turns up in a film, any film, my dad always says ' he was in cockleshell heroes' without fail.
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Posted: |
Nov 17, 2020 - 3:16 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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BLIND ADVENTURE (1933) – 7/10
“Richard Bruce” (Robert Armstrong), a vacationing rich American, takes off in a London fog to find "real English life" and wanders into a stranger's house to ask for directions back to his hotel. There he discovers a bloodied body in a chair. Startled, Richard runs into the street and bumps into passerby “Gerald Fairfax” (Tyrell Davis). To Richard's surprise, when he returns to the house with Gerald, the body is gone and has been replaced by the very alive “Major Thorne” (Henry Stephenson), who with his wife and niece, “Rose Thorne” (Helen Mack), deny any mischief. Convinced that he is crazy, Rose, a Canadian who has just met her relatives for the first time, entertains Richard while they wait for the police.
So begins a humorous mystery in the best tradition of Nick and Nora Charles, as Richard and Rose try to unravel the story behind what Richard thinks he saw. They get involved with an undercover Scotland Yard agent (Ralph Bellamy), a would-be house burglar (Roland Young), and a blackmail plot. Helen Mack is the find of the film. She’s the comic foil to Robert Armstrong’s straight man. Robert Benchley provided some of the spritely dialogue.
Director Ernest B. Schoedsack (who did some uncredited work on KING KONG, which starred Robert Armstrong) would later in the year pair up Armstrong and Mack again for SON OF KONG.
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Roman J Israel Esq. 8/10. With Denzel Washington and Colin Farrell. Good story, good acting and not much action. Really enjoyed this one, Denzel is is on fine form as the title character. The surprise, for me was Colin Farrell. His was a lesser part but he came through, shinning. Didn't notice the music much, by JNH until near the end.
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Posted: |
Nov 20, 2020 - 12:41 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE GANGSTER (1947) – 7/10
In this film, Barry Sullivan finds out that the life of a small-time gangster is a lonely one, particularly when the representative of a bigger syndicate (Sheldon Leonard) arrives in town to consolidate all of the city’s rackets. What these rackets consist of is never made clear, because the Production Code wouldn’t allow any mention of prostitution in the film.
One by one, the pieces of Sullivan’s little fiefdom start to fall away. His bookkeeper (Akim Tamiroff) is pressured into turning over a list of his locations to Leonard. He becomes paranoid that his girlfriend (Belita) is two-timing him. The check-out girl (Joan Lorring) at the soda fountain that serves as his legitimate cover, quits in disgust at his activities. Leonard gives him an ultimatum: take a job as a collector for him or leave town. This is a good character study of a minor lowlife, which builds a little sympathy for him as forces beyond his control begin to rock his comfortable life.
This was an early film sporting the Allied Artists moniker. Belita was a British Olympic ice-skating queen, who, with this picture, became Allied’s highest paid performer, even though this was her only role for them. She held out for top billing too, but that ended up going to Sullivan.
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Posted: |
Nov 20, 2020 - 3:22 AM
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By: |
MusicMad
(Member)
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The Godfather: Part II (1974) ... 6+/10
I so wanted to enjoy this film and I acknowledge that splitting the film into two with several days between may have harmed my appreciation ... or, perhaps, the second half is nowhere near as good? I shall probably receive some grief for the low rating. I'm aware that some rate it higher than Part I.
It's a film of two parts and not just pre/post intermission: we see Michael's hold on the family in the late 1950s / early 1960s wane and, interspersed, the background to his father's rise to power in the 1920s (and 1930s?) culminating with Michael's bombshell statement that he's joined the Marines.
And the problem here is that these are two distinct stories with only that last scene linking them. It's not as though we see Michael growing through his early years to become the family outsider ... there's nothing to indicate why. Instead we're treated to lots of period setting (Sicily and New York) with Robert De Niro (perfectly cast) going through the motions in a feather-light script. Question: how did they fill the rest of the back of the cigarette pack because the script for that half of the film was nothing beyond Immigrant takes control by killing local mobster and then returns home to murder the Mafia Don who murdered his father, etc.
As for Michael's story, I lost the plot of just who was who and just who was doing what; and why Frankie Pentangeli should take his own life? Was this to protect his brother or simply because he didn't want to spend time incarcerated? As I stated, having left a gap of a few days maybe I'd forgotten something relevant from the first half. I felt the Cuba storyline was vague and I'm left with the feeling that it was all filler ... the story was about power corrupting Michael so that by the end he has nothing.
Lots of big scenes, interesting characters well played (though for ages I thought someone other than Diane Keaton was portraying Kay, her role was so redundant until the final act) and excellent period settings. But at its heart, it was 200+ minutes which left me wanting so much more.
At least the music, much of it from Part I - with the addition of the wonderful A New Carpet - kept me involved.
I saw the film on a poor TV broadcast many years ago, and this DVD from 2000/01 was significantly better. But I'm not sure I'll bother again.
Mitch
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.... " I shall probably receive some grief for the low rating. I'm aware that some rate it higher than Part I.."
Who on earth would pull you up on a paltry score for what is a rare 9+ genuine classic??!! Lol
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.... " I shall probably receive some grief for the low rating. I'm aware that some rate it higher than Part I.."
Who on earth would pull you up on a paltry score for what is a rare 9+ genuine classic??!! Lol
Now if he said he preferred pt.3, well.,....
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Now if he said he preferred pt.3, well.,....
Dont you start! 
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IN WHICH WE SERVE
1942
Remarkable ww2 film given it was made in 1942, but not really a surprise given it was directed by master craftsmen Noel Coward and David Lean. The story of Hms Torrin and its crew, from being built, commissioned and in action, told through back reflections in the minds of the sailors adrift on a dinghy after the ship is bombed. Stellar British cast of Coward, John Mills, james Donald, Celia Johnson and a very young Richard Attenborough.
7.8 out of 10.
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Posted: |
Nov 20, 2020 - 7:37 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE BALLAD OF LUCY WHIPPLE (2001) – 8/10
This made-for-television production is a strong family film about a newly widowed Massachusetts woman (Glenn Close) who sets out upon a new life with her three children (Jena Malone, Michael Welch, and Celeste Leary) in a small California mining town. She answers an ad placed by saloon owner Bruce McGill to run the town’s new boarding house.
This film, based upon a young adult novel by Karen Cushman, squeezes a lot of incident into its 100 minutes. Fourteen-year-old “Lucy” (Malone) is the oldest child and is bitter that her mother has dragged her across country so soon after the death of her beloved father. Between arguments, however, she is distracted by the town’s denizens. These include Robert Pastorelli as an itinerant preacher, Meat Loaf as a teller of tall tales, Wilford Brimley as a sheriff, Chloe Webb as a store clerk and part-time prostitute, Olivia Burnette as a young girl living on her own in the nearby woods; and Neblis Francois as a run-away slave. Then there is that strangely androgynous cowboy named Buck.
There is plenty of hardship and violence on this new American frontier, and the town is rocked by suicide, murder, and tragic accidental death. As directed by Jeremy Kagan, this is a handsome-looking and absorbing production, filmed in Utah. Bruce Broughton’s score was released by Intrada at the time of the film’s airing on CBS.
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