campbell-russell-a Reviews

The Last of the Knucklemen (1979)

Work, Drink, Fight, Whore, Gamble, Sleep...

[8/10 · 30 June 2014]

Whilst it is not a classic, it holds its own as a genuinely Australian film in the same vein as "Sunday too Far Away". It was obviously made on a shoestring budget but that somehow lent the film an authentic feel. It has just the right amount of rough edges. But it is the actors who make the film worth watching. The cast is a roster of Aussie talent who were mostly seen on T.V. Consequently, there are no "stars" and therefore a real sense of ensemble and camaraderie - possibly aided by the fact that they were feeling alienated by shooting in the genuine outback mining town of Andamooka.

Every character has their own moment of revelation but Michael Duffield as Methuselah is the most authentic. The character recalls Old Garth in "Sunday Too Far Away" and perhaps Candy in "Of Mice and Men" as he is the constant reminder to the younger members of the crew of the loneliness and humiliation that is in store for them should they remain wildcat miners. Duffield's "soft ride home" speech is one of moments that lift the film into another realm. The dream of living the last part of his life at ease and with a sense of autonomy is made all the more enticing after we see the life Methuselah has lived as a miner. However, he has to choose his moment to leave and be sure that the "time is right" because once he goes out the door there is no coming back.

The soundtrack to the film is one thing that makes it truly unique. The theme music by the New Harlem Jazz Band uses a strange garbled vocal that sounds like someone with a hangover trying to sing a lyric that he can't quite remember. He gorillas the lyric out of the way with the guttural sounds as if he can't be bothered making the effort to remember.

At the conclusion, as Pansy and Tarzan fight endlessly on in the endless desert of central Australia to the theme music that has no beginning or end, there is sense that we have visited a place that will never and could never be any different. If you visit the mining towns of Andamooka or Coober Pedy even today you will find that "The Last of the Knucklemen" is not far from the truth - then or now.

Born to Be Bad (1934)

Watch the courtroom scene - someone else did.

[7/10 · 22 June 2014]

I found Born to be Bad quite interesting and entertaining but it was the courtroom scene that rang bells with me. A young brat has been hit by a truck whilst skating in a dangerous manner and a shyster lawyer attempts to take the truck's owner who happens to be rich for all he can. The boy recounts his injuries and is transparently led by the lawyer through a series of claims concerning his inability to play, learn and otherwise enjoy life since the accident. Does this sound a lot like a Simpsons episode to anyone else? It gets better. When the boy's claims are exposed through film evidence as fabrications, his flustered lawyer objects and I quote: "This is immaterial, irrelevant ...inconsequential and has no bearing on the case." Does this sound a bit like Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld? This is not a criticism of The Simpsons or Seinfeld but it is indicative of how little life and comedy has really changed over the years. Bogus litigation and shyster lawyers have always been and will always remain good for a laugh.

Badlands (1973)

There's a meaning there but the meaning there doesn't really mean a thing!

[10/10 · 22 June 2014]

There is always the question on everyone's lips after a young white male goes on a killing spree. Why? Badlands answers this question with a hollow inconclusiveness that leaves us with a sense of impotence and despair in the face of seemingly unmotivated violence. It would be easy to get angry with Kit and Holly but it will do no good. They are beyond our anger and outside our standards of behavior.

And everyone is looking for answers – even Holly. Hidden amongst her seemingly naïve ramblings are clues as to why she tags along with Kit and to some degree what motivates Kit. I don't think that there is a better description of feeling abandoned and without purpose than Holly's when she says she felt like she was left sitting in the bath after the water is gone. Hasn't every teenager felt this feeling at one stage or another?

I have taught so many girls like Holly who get pregnant to boys like Kit just because it gives them a mission. I have taught boys like Kit who don't go out on killing sprees but do finish in jail because crime and punishment fills the void. No, I am not a bleeding heart. In fact the opposite, because I know that you find "sympathy" in the dictionary between "shit" and "suicide".

Kit and Holly become a temporary world unto themselves and vainly try to build worlds in which they can live. They aren't so different from most children in that respect. So what goes so horribly wrong with Kit and Holly that does not with most teenagers? Is it that Kit is just another psychopath and Holly another none-to-bright, moonstruck teenage girl?

Badlands does not pretend to provide the definitive answer but it does, if we are willing, take us into the alternative world of Kit and Holly. This is the genius of the film. As I have said, I have taught many students who were on the knife-edge as teenagers and, without being too immodest, helped them find purpose. If you don't provide a human being with a purpose, they will surely find alternatives – and some of them may involve crime and violence.

Hitler filled the void felt by an entire country with righteous anger not so unlike Kit's and sent it on a killing spree. Badlands – feel the meaningless void in the concluding shots and voice-over and then hear its resonant echo down the corridors to Columbine and Sandy Hook.

Shane (1953)

"Shane" - a timely message from George

[10/10 · 25 May 2014]

Shortly after I borrowed a copy of "Shane" from the library and watched it for the umpteenth time, came the news of another mass shooting from the U.S.A. – California to be exact. George Stevens message about guns has fallen on deaf ears for too long. Stevens had covered World War Two as film-maker and knew the reality of guns. He was disturbed by how they were being depicted in films – particularly Westerns. Guns were being glorified and their impact on the human body trivialized.

In "Shane" the six-shooter is shown to be a brutal and cowardly instrument of death that even the good guy Shane cannot logically defend by claiming it to be a "tool like any other" that is "as good or bad as the man using it". Jean Arthur's character, Marian, replies that everyone would be better off if there "wasn't a single gun in the valley" and adds the rider – "even yours". Marian knows that it is the gun culture that is dangerous and that arguments about good guys and bad guys miss the point.

Stevens does a great job of re-sensitizing his audience to the brutal nature of the handgun by emphasizing its sound. The film's soundtrack is kept at rather low levels until Shane demonstrates his ability with his gun and then the gunshots leap out at us. Whilst Little Joey is thrilled, the adult Marian and hopefully the adults in the audience are left shocked by the noise. The sound, of course, has been exaggerated but it is as if Stevens is doing this in order to emphasize how the popgun effects of previous westerns have minimized the effects of guns. I don't think that there is a more brutal depiction of a gun murder than that of "Stonewall" Torrey by Jack Palance as the smirking assassin, Jack Wilson. Again, it is probable that a bullet could not throw a man backwards as violently as was Torry but I am pretty sure that Stevens was emphasizing how the balletic fall forward deaths of many westerns of the time had only served to desensitize the audience to the brutality of the weapon.

I,like little Joey, played gunfights in the backyard with toy guns with (caps were generally unavailable) vocally-produced sound effects of "pow-pow" or "kish". We dramatically clutched our chests and fell forwards, counted to ten and then jumped up and returned to the fun. We had been brought up on the fantasy and unreality of T.V. and film westerns. "Shane" was the first film to make me do a rethink about the romanticism of guns. Torrey's death seemed real as did the whole film. The clothes were clothes (homemade or store-bought), not costumes from a Hollywood costume company, and the faces were those of people who may have really lived in the north west of the U.S.A. in the 1880/90's. Jean Arthur is the prettiest woman in the film but even she had a thick-set body of a pioneer woman. She was in her 50's at the time and I am sure that Stevens didn't want a glamorous actress (by modern day standards) to give a hint of unreality to the film. As Shane leaves, he tells Little Joey to go home and tell his mother that there are no more guns in the valley. I am sure he meant six-guns that are designed to kill people. For those who want to argue about the necessity of guns for pioneers, there was still a rifle at the Starrett homestead but it wasn't kept loaded. It was there to provide meat or as protection but it was not the same as the guns Shane or Wilson carried. I hope Joey grew up "strong and straight" as Shane wished and that he grew up to know the difference between fantasy and reality. I thank George Stevens for helping me to realize the difference between the two.

Oh, by the way, I am not naive enough to think that anything I have written could change minds. If watching "Shane" doesn't make you do a rethink then nothing will change you. And it was made by a real life American who risked his life filming war and was steeped in the realities of pioneer western life as well as that of the Native Americans. But don't go listening to George. What would he know?

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

It Never Dates and Never Will.

[10/10 · 19 April 2014]

This is without doubt one of the best films ever made. Its greatness can be gauged by the fact that it has never lost its punch even though it is set at the height of the Cold War. What keeps it so fresh?

Firstly, there is the performances of everyone in the cast. Sellers is astonishing and the rest of the cast also seems to have been inspired by the prospect of creating a masterpiece. George C. Scott was reportedly angry with Kubrick because he used Scott's over-the-top takes rather than his straighter ones but I think Stanley's instincts and understanding of the overall dynamics of the film led him to make the right decision. Scott's performance as the highly dangerous buffoon, Buck Turgidson, is unforgettable. Turgidson was apparently based upon a U.S. Air Force colonel, Curtis Lemay, and is a comment upon people who decide the fate of millions by relying on statistics. Slim Pickens replaced Sellers as Major Kong and this is indicative of how circumstances beyond even the control of the director can capture lightning in a bottle. Sellers had not relished playing the fourth role of Kong possibly because it required a Texan accent. After Sellers broke his leg after falling from the bomb, Kubrick sent for Pickens because he needed a real life Texan not just an actor who could pretend to be one. Pickens rides the bomb to its target like a rodeo rider whooping and waving his cowboy hat as only he could do it. He is the embodiment of a generation of "cowboy" generals and politicians and no doubt a percentage of the general public who seemingly relished the thought of ending the world in an orgasm of dimwitted enthusiasm for destruction of Ruskies and evil empires.

Perhaps what makes Dr. Strangelove most memorable and enduring is Ken Adam's sets – in particular, the war room. Adam was master of producing slightly ahead of their time sets and ones that isolated the subjects. They were little worlds which distanced their occupants and the audience from the rest of the world. Under the huge ring/dome of light the generals play a game of poker with the world at stake.

I would suggest that it is the script, written or improvised, that keeps people coming back to this film. The one line that jars with me is the one most people like to quote: "You can't fight in here; this is the war room." I find it the one obvious gag line in a film that never relies on gags. It relies upon most of the characters delivering the lines with a deep sense of belief. It is Major Kong's sense of duty and destiny that makes his line "…this is it; nuclear combat, toe to toe with the Ruskies" at once funny and frightening. It is the mentality of those involved that needed to be seen in the light of comedy in order to see the enormity of the danger. It is this fine balance of dark comedy that is struck and maintained with no let up that is at the core of this masterpiece.

Harum Scarum (1965)

Oh Elvis, Where Art Thou?

[1/10 · 31 March 2014]

Honestly, how could anyone say that they liked this film? How could anyone say that most of the songs were even vaguely acceptable? Whilst the Beatles were doing "Help" Elvis was doing this! I watch this film with a profound sense of despair for the thrilling rock and roller who was turned into a bland automaton - from Heartbreak Hotel to pap. From a young firebrand to a pantomime character in lime green baggy pants. Colonel Parker knew he had a cash cow that would provide milk irrespective of the quality of the film or the music. Harum Scarum is incontrovertible proof that Parker had no respect for Elvis the person or the artist.

Strangely, this film provided Elvis with two female co-stars who had genuine star quality - Fran Jeffries and Mary Ann Mobley. Only Ann Margret in Viva Las Vegas gave him the sexual competition that Fran and Ann provided. Without them, this film would have been utterly devoid of class. If only Fran Jeffries had been provided with a few dance routines, the film may have had a redeeming feature.

Lastly, I am always struck by the fact that this impossibly handsome and healthy man would within a few years become a bloated parody of himself. Where did he go? Were films like Harum Scarum a sinister foreshadowing of a lost personality or am I reading too much into it? Did I really discern hints of self-loathing in his performance in this film? Had the Elvis who had always wanted to be movie star and who admired James Dean finally realized that his mentor and promoter had sold his dream for a handful of gold? Was Elvis the loneliest man on Earth? He certainly looked like it in this film.

Naked City: Beyond This Place There Be Dragons (1963) Season 4, Episode 19

Frank Gorshin - A Real Talent

[9/10 · 17 March 2014]

This episode of Naked City highlights my theory that time and place produce certain type of face and voice never to be seen or heard again. Frank Gorshin who always reminded me of Richard Widmark was symbolic of a time when actors were often all-rounders - interesting people with backgrounds of hard graft. Gorshin uses his knowledge of life and produces a genuinely moving portrait of a small time hustler and part time stool-pigeon who has inevitably painted himself into a corner and is now desperately fighting against his fate.

Gorshin did do a brilliant (astonishing!) routine prior to the debut performance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Perhaps it highlighted how things were about to change - Gorshin's sophistication to youthful energy and simplicity. Out with the old and in with the new.

The Addams Family: The Addams Family Tree (1964) Season 1, Episode 5

Imagination - the key to humour of The Addams Family

[10/10 · 2 March 2014]

This episode proves that by engaging the imagination rather than using special effects, the TV Addams Family was so much funnier than film version. Wednesday has punched Harold Pomeroy in the eye for calling her family kooks. Mr. Pomeroy claims that it must have been when Harold's back was turned. Gomez questions how this could happen when Morticia reminds him of Cousin Curdle and Gomez nods his understanding of the possibility. Aunt Blemish is mistaken for a barn and Grandpa Slurp for two people when the Addams goes through their family's photo album. Gomez comments on Slurp's buckteeth and receding chin, "He always was a handsome devil!" We don't need to see the images; it would ruin the effect. Thing appears mysteriously from his trapdoor and we can only wonder at what if anything lies beneath. In the film version, thing is a disembodied hand and scuttles across floors. There is nothing left to the imagination and the humour is lost.Lastly, humour is in the delivery of a line. When Cecil Pomeroy hears the angry snarl from above and wonders what it is, Morticia informs him that it is Fang, Pugsley's jaguar who Pugsley has taken Harold to ride. Cecil cannot believe his ears having thought that Pugsley had taken Harold to have a ride in a model car toy Jag.

"Pugsley's jag...?" he gets it and imagines what might be happening upstairs. "You mean that your child is having my son ride a wild animal?" Morticia reassures him,"Don't worry. When Fang makes that noise, nobody rides him." Morticia emphasises the THAT with a delicious sense of malevolence.

Car 54, Where Are You?: Today I Am a Man (1962) Season 1, Episode 24

My vote for the funniest TV show moment ever.

[10/10 · 2 March 2014]

This is an episode that had my brothers and me on the floor laughing and talking about it for years to come. The twist at the end was so unexpected and brilliantly played by Sybil Lamb. She had said so little except for "Yes, momma; yes poppa" and her face has been frozen in an uncomprehending stare. Her sudden transformation into a raving gun moll willing to kill or die for her man - Muldoon - whom she and her parents mistake for a desperate criminal on the run comes out of nowhere. Added to the fun is the reactions of her parents particularly Howard Freeman as the nervous father. Of course, what makes a show genuinely funny is how the characters we have come to know get caught up in situations that only they could get into. Fred Gwynne's performance as the likable socially awkward Muldoon had to be much more layered, charming and genuinely funny than his playing of Herman Munster. Gwynne was a real talent as was the rest of the cast in "Car 54 Where are You?"

The Devil's Playground (1976)

Schepisi's First and Perhaps Best - He Really Knew His Material

[10/10 · 18 February 2014]

One of my best friends at university had attended a Catholic brothers' seminary and like Fitz in "The Devil's Playground" had been dismissed from it due to his increasing interest in the opposite sex. Like Tom, he was confronted with letters sent to him from a girl he had met on a camp that the brothers had read and found disturbing. When my friend saw "The Devil's Playground" back in 1976, he commented that the film was realistic except for the fact that many of the lines spoken in the film would have remained in the minds of the brothers and the boys but never spoken.

The film itself is a masterpiece. The casting is perfection from that of the brothers down to the most minor characters. Watch for Danee Lindsay as Lynette. She has very few minutes on screen but her charm and warmth jumps off the screen at you. When she steals a kiss from Tom, she steals one from the audience. This is no sexually precocious 13 year old. This is a genuine 1950's Australian lass right down to her crooked front tooth that somehow adds to her appeal. How sad when Tom's innocently affectionate letters to her are used as evidence of something almost distasteful and to be discontinued lest Tom jeopardize his vocation. Tom Keneally as Father Marshall is equally effective. Again a small role that hits a home run. He is a cheerful and good man but this only makes his terrifying speech prior to the three day retreat even more disturbing. His depiction of hell, its terrors and its time span have remained with me – an atheist – throughout my life. If it remains with me, I can only guess at the effect it had on boys like those in the film.

The cinematography and the score add to the pervasiveness of the unease. There are very few shocks – just a sense of something being off kilter. Here is a struggle against an inexorable psychological enemy not some visible monster that jumps out of the shadows. Tom Allen, the young protagonist, struggles to remain positive about becoming a brother in the face of fanaticism, sadism, overly strict prohibitions and the onset of puberty with its embarrassments and confusion. When he finally runs away, there is a true sense of relief for him and for us as we have become involved in his struggle. What a wonderful performance by the young Simon Burke.

The struggles of all the brothers are presented in a balanced manner. Each of them is likably human and each, with the exception of Brother Francine, struggles with their belief in the rules and regulations they enforce. Even Brother Francine, as played by Arthur Dignam, plays a beautifully solemn piano piece which seems to reflect a sensitive side to an ostensibly repellent character. His fanaticism is indicative of his fear that any doubt might bring about a complete breakdown of his beliefs. And once he does doubt, the floodgates do open and all is lost.

Having taught teenagers for over 30 years, I have come to understand how much childhood stays with us throughout the rest of our lives. It makes me wonder whether Tom would ever be truly free from guilt. "Give me a boy until he is seven, and he is mine for life." What a terrible boast to make but an accurate observation of how enduring is childhood indoctrination.

Citizen Kane (1941)

A cold and lonely lovely work of art?

[8/10 · 10 February 2014]

It is easy to see why some people wonder how Citizen Kane appears first or at least in the top five on all-time great movie lists. It lacks so many things that we like about movies. It has very little action and there are few if any characters that are likable or for whom we feel anything. There is nobody we worry about or cheer for. The storyline is also minimal and the final revelation prosaic rather than genuinely meaningful. The word "Rosebud" was a McGuffin and just a rather contrived excuse for doing a fragmented biographical piece on a newspaper tycoon. The film has been lauded for its cinematography, innovative direction, stylization and perhaps its soundtrack both in terms of music and sound effects. However, for many it becomes a case of the director packing too many tricks into a film rather than using them only when they truly add to the meaning or impact of certain scenes. Hitchcock loved having a subjective camera search for its protagonists as in the start of "Psycho" but Hitch knew when to say when with his cinematography techniques. Lastly, I can understand that some would say that by the constant over-rating "Kane" over the past seven decades, it has led to a blindly uncontested acceptance of its greatness. Few would dare to call the Mona Lisa an over-rated painting of a renaissance woman who just wouldn't say cheese.Perhaps the thing that is most unappealing to some is the lack of warmth or charm. Is it just too clinical? Is it the product of a mind that had little or no real empathy with the rest of the human race - somewhat like Kane who campaigned for the rights of the people without the slightest hint of understanding their point of view?

Now for the nevertheless. Nevertheless, I can understand why some people still see "Kane" as a landmark film that should be acknowledged as a turning point in film making. It does have scenes that remain astonishing even by today's standards. It is a demanding film which requires adult concentration much as symphonic music needs us to fully engage with it. It is not a pop song. And there is no doubt that those who like "Kane" do really like it and are not just playing at being aficionados. There is something that touches those who like or even love "Kane" that is personal and perhaps difficult to define.

I just wonder whether in fifty years' time, after the 20th century people like me are gone and perhaps the myth and mystique surrounding "Citizen Kane" has faded, will it still be considered anywhere near the top ten all-time great movies. Will its rather mysterious hold on many people persist? I am pretty sure that few in the 1940's on first viewing would have predicted that it would still be considered top five in 2014.

Unforgiven (1992)

Eastwood's Masterpiece in Ambiguity and Regret

[10/10 · 9 February 2014]

For all those who believe in karma, "Unforgiven" is not for you. It is a film that depicts the world as being a place in which who you are and what you do bring about consequences that are in no way commensurate. Delilah, the young and inexperienced prostitute, indiscreetly giggles at the size - or lack of it - of a client's penis.She has her face brutally slashed by an enraged cowhand and this injustice sets off the train of further over-reactions and injustices. The client's companion who has caused Delilah no harm and who displays true remorse and a genuine willingness to make amends by offering her his best pony, is gut shot and dies in dread and agony whilst pleading for water. Ned, who finally cannot bring himself to murder for money, is brutally tortured and his corpse displayed as a warning to other would-be assassins. Little Bill, incomparably played by Gene Hackman, obviously believes that by portraying himself as a public avenger and as an upholder of mainstream attitudes, values and morality he will be somehow cosmically protected. He protests,"I was building a house" as if pleading his case to a more just and higher court as he contemplates what he considers is an unjust death. He builds a house not only as a place to stay but as a bulwark against the bad men such as assassins and the merely dissolute drifters and teamsters who he has been called upon to deal with in the western towns as they transitioned from wild and lawless to relatively civilized. Bill wants to be part of the transition but he has been part of the wildness for too long and his righteous tirades cannot completely mask the sadistic pleasure he takes as he brutally beats real or potential wrong doers. In fact, Bill's righteous talk always seems like he is protesting too much. Bill's inability as a carpenter is symbolic of his inability to make it back from the dark side. He says that he wants to sit on his porch and watch the sunset as he smokes his pipe and drinks his coffee and we believe him. He does not want to deal with bad men anymore and is slow to respond when called upon but, like an addict, when he becomes involved he cannot resist one more kick than necessary. William Munny is another who is trying to transition from the wild west to civilization. He has done the worst of crimes, killing women and children and murdering men without due cause. Do we cheer him as hero because he is now murdering in the name of giving his children a better future? The reflective theme music as the epilogue is printed over a silhouette of Munny's final farewell to the wife who changed his evil and dissolute ways leaves us at odds with how to feel about what has happened throughout the film. Are we pleased that Munny went to San Fransisco and prospered in dry goods?

Munny regrets his past and everything that has happened in the film is a source of regret. Delilah was a nice enough young girl in a regrettable situation. Even the "Schofield Kid" is a nice enough if insecure and none –too-bright boy who finds that he will now have to live with the regret of taking another young man's life. Ned has been brought out of a relatively contented life to suffer a brutal death. None really deserve their fate. Life is just not as simple as deserve and that is what makes it interesting. "Unforgiven" is lifted above many of Eastwood's attempts at making morality plays out of westerns because in this film morality is examined in the light of a genuinely unjust and ambiguous world. Eastwood finally hit the jackpot and created art as well as an interesting story and rewarding character study. And he was finally supplied with a catchphrase that went beyond the glib and sardonic when he informs Little Bill : "Deserve has nothing to do with it." Munny can say this with authority because few if any people he has killed have really deserved it.

Route 66: Fifty Miles from Home (1963) Season 3, Episode 23

A Prescient Script

[8/10 · 4 February 2014]

It was only 1963 and the writers had anticipated the problems that would be faced by many young Vietnam War vets. The problem faced by vets in all wars of returning to their country and fitting back into its everyday life is acknowledged in this episode but there is the added problem faced by Linc of finding a reason for why he fought in the war. Linc's attempt to explain what he experienced to his mother and what it all meant was a precursor of what was to come for the next eight years. A war with no discernible purpose and traumatized vets returning to a divided society. Linc rejects his hero's welcome but soon the vets had to cope with no welcome at all. Linc Case was indeed a prototype of the lost generation of Vietnam vets that are still to be found all these years later.

Days of Wine and Roses (1962)

Blake's Best - He understood addiction and it really shows.

[10/10 · 4 February 2014]

I would nominate "Days of Wine and Roses" as being one of the finest films ever made. It is a haunting depiction of addiction - a journey from the joys of finding true love to the desperation and degradation of alcoholism. It is a study of co-dependency which is the most dangerous form of addiction as first one, Joe Clay, and then his wife seduce each other into binging in scenes that are almost unbearable as you anticipate the inevitable. You are shown how good their lives could have been as they enjoy a roll in the hay after a period of abstinence and then the seduction of Kirsten as Joe does a symbolically mock strip tease to reveal the smuggled bottles of booze taped to his legs. The thunderstorm rages as the pair lose control. Lemmon transforms Joe into a simian creature as he goes on the hunt for the bottle he has hidden in Kirsten's father's greenhouse. He swings and falls from the tree outside the window and shambles towards the greenhouse with ape-like limbs.His confident anticipation of finding the bottle is turned to frustration and then wild desperation as he initially cannot find the pot that contains the bottle. When he has been reduced to a degraded beast, writhing in mud and making noises that are at once pitiful and irksome, Joe finds the bottle and greedily sucks from it. It is a scene that should have won Lemmon two Oscars.

Equally shocking is the scene in which Joe finds Kirsten in a fleabag motel after she has binged with a series of men with whom she has traded sex for booze and drinking companionship. To see such a sweet and beautiful person transformed into a degraded and sexually manipulative hag is one of the most heartbreaking scenes put on film. I have detailed two scenes but every other scene is as brilliantly thought-provoking and unforgettable in its staging.

And Edwards does not allow the audience the easy solution of love being the final answer."Isn't love, love?" pleads Joe when trying to grasp how Kirsten has abandoned him for a binge. He is reminded by his A.A. mentor played by Jack Klugman that the bottle to an alcoholic is god and its power supersedes even love. The flashing bar sign that repeatedly reflects on Joe's face as Kirsten walks away from her two great loves, Joe and her own daughter, is the final reminder that there is no such thing as an end to addiction, just the ongoing battle to be fought. Watch this film and you will never forget it.

Get Smart: Washington 4, Indians 3 (1965) Season 1, Episode 6

Let Her Rip, Red Cloud

[10/10 · 3 February 2014]

This was an inspired episode with not a moment wasted. There is satire on rampant military zeal with generals considering round the clock bombing of their own country. Perhaps this reflected the overkill involved in the massive escalation in bombing of North Vietnam at that time. There is a satirical spin on the general lack of consciousness of Native American land rights struggle with the Chief and the generals jumping to the conclusion that it was India rather than the American Indians threatening to attack. Nothing articulated the Red Indians (Native American) grievances better than when Max attempts to talk Red Cloud out of launching a giant arrow against Washington. Max starts by recalling the days when the "noble redman" roamed the land and hunted the buffalo and then came the settlers and then the soldiers ... Forget the past. Think of the present with your nice tiny reservations ... Think about the future; that's what's important. When Max added up the history of the white's treatment of Red Cloud and his ancestors there was only one thing left to say. "Let her rip, Red Cloud." There were great sight gags and the breaking down of stereotypes with two braves bemused by what was obviously an electric surveillance snake and White Cloud as an extremely sexy and sexually aggressive hippie chick Indian fiancé for the "topawasi" (Max). She (Adele Palacios) and Wailing Wanda - one of the Groovy Guru's agents - get my vote as the sexiest women of the series. All this and more (eg.99's overt pining for Max)in just 20 minutes! And how could Max not have fallen for 99 in her black androgynous cowboy/cowgirl outfit?

The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)

A Lesson in Poor Film Making

[1/10 · 29 January 2014]

I sometimes like to watch films that just don't work because it shows you why other films work so well. Ninety percent of a good film is due to casting. "The Stranger Wore a Gun" is badly miscast. Scott was a straight-forward actor and here he is asked to deal with complications that are beyond his range. Macready was a great villain but not a western villain. He was too silky in voice and manner. He was a gentleman villain whose evil was best expressed over a Chateaubriand and a fine red - not a whiskey. Alfonso Bedoya could act but here he is given the role of a stereotypical buffoon. In "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" he was a deadly dangerous buffoon but not a clown as in this film. The script is so poor that even fine actors like Earnest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are uninteresting. If they can't lend color to a script, then you know it is a stinker. The story is an odd one. This is not always death to a film but in this case it seems that no one really knew the point of telling the story. Was it supposed to be entertaining? Did it have some moral or human truths to tell? If so, they were lost on me.It seems incredible that the experienced cast and crew made such a film but it is indicative of the fact that films, no matter who makes them, have elements that are beyond the control of their makers. No wonder directors are often so worried about how their test audience will respond to their film. And if you go for art, you run the risk of making junk. If you go for a B grader, you at least get a watchable Saturday afternoon potboiler. I think "The Stranger" went for something more than a matinée western that was the stock in trade of Randolph Scott and finished up with something that was neither fish nor fowl.

The Wicker Man (1973)

A journey of the mind.

[10/10 · 23 January 2014]

When Sgt. Howie leaves for Summerisle, we are taken with him on a journey of the mind back to rituals and attitudes that were rooted in the reverence and supplication of nature. Howie steadfastly resists the temptation to immerse himself in the sensual and sometimes sexual abandonment of the locals but I am sure that most viewers, no matter whether they are religious or not,find it difficult not to be seduced - at least a little. This is part of the brilliance of the film. The music is beguiling - perhaps the best soundtrack in any film. The acting is utterly convincing. The rites are performed with such belief and passion. The final ideological duel between Howie as he sings a psalm in opposition to the locals as they swing back and forth whilst singing "Summer is A'Coming In" as the wicker-man burns is perhaps the most striking and thought-provoking conclusion to any film. The film is a mixture of mystery/horror/thriller but ultimately a challenge to any person who wishes to look back from whence we came with our beliefs and rituals.

The Last Picture Show (1971)

Hats Off to Larry

[20 January 2014]

Whilst Peter Bogdanovitch won almost universal praise and a life-long reputation for his direction of "The Last Picture Show", I think it was Larry McMurtry's novel that is sometimes overlooked as being the key factor in making Bogdanovitch look better than he really was. If you read the novel, almost every piece of dialogue and direction is included. There are only two noticeable additions or deletions. Of course, some will say that any film based upon a novel will owe much to the writer, but, in this case, it is so much. I am not knocking Bogdanovitch, although his very modest record since making T.L.P.S. might lead one to think that he got lucky with it. He was lucky but didn't seem to know it and this led to an inflated belief in his own genius and a string of flops. The film is a classic and it is somewhat irrelevant who is chiefly responsible for its success. Film making is a collaborative art form and sometimes it simply catches lightning in a bottle - "Picture Show" certainly does that. But you can't work magic from nothing. In my opinion, McMurtry provided Bogdanovitch with as much as any director might need in creating an American cinema classic.

Pinocchio (1940)

Pinochio - A Disney Masterpiece of Shakespearean Proportions

[10/10 · 10 November 2013]

I am glad to have lived long enough to even start to really appreciate this animated film. Of course, "Snow White" was seen as the turning point in animation between stick figures with ears traced around nickles and dimes and characters that reflected truly lifelike creations; between complete story lines and short skits. This is true but "Pinochio" raised the bar with its animation to a level that still astonishes me even though computer animation should have desensitized me to its virtuosity. To have made "Pinochio" manually is a testament to the ingenuity of the human mind and the dexterity of the human hand. It is also a testament to the fact that true craftsmen are never satisfied by merely creating something that pleases an audience; they need to satisfy the urge to create something that identifies them as unique. Samuel Johnson said of Shakespeare that he need not have created such masterpieces written in iambic pentameter to have satisfied his audience. Look at every scene in Pinochio and you see craft and sophisticated thought beyond what an audience might require. There are visual puns, there is detail that only by stopping the frame that one can appreciate and there is attention to acting skills invested in each character. Any director of a live film can point a camera at actors performing and get some added interest by accident but, in animation,everything is intentional.Nothing in the background has not been scrupulously considered and meticulously drawn. In live action, each scene can be covered from various angles and then cut. Look at how Pinochio, "Honest" John and Gideon are seen from above as they gambol off to meet the coach for "Pleasure Island". It has to be drawn that way. How many hours of watching live actors and translating it into animation must that have taken? Did they really need to do it? No. But I am sure that the animators considered it a great challenge to their craft. Thanks to them all for making "Pinochio" and for enriching my understanding of what human beings can achieve.

Bye Bye Birdie (1963)

1963 - Bye Bye Birdie is the "Woodstock" of its Day.

[10 November 2013]

If nothing else, BBB put the exclamation mark on 50's popular teen culture just as Woodstock did with the hippie culture of the 60's. It is often said that 1962 was the last year of the 50's and very few single years signposted radical change in culture as did 1963. Many of these changes are unconsciously "documented" in BBB. Anne Margaret's type of star quality was superseded by women who were more "real". Bobby Rydel and all the other Bobbys were swept away by The Beatles and Stones. The T.V. driven world of fame with Ed Sullivan as its chief arbiter was temporarily usurped by the teenagers themselves.(Don't worry Ed, shows like XFactor prove that T.V. is back in power when it comes to star making) Ed soldiered on for a while as he even introduced bands like the Doors to a T.V.audience but his days of absolute control were over. The Doors sang the lyric "higher" and The Stones "let's spend the night together" and Ed could do nothing but look on as the power shifted. But at the moment of B.B.B., Ed Sullivan was king. Teen idols had the teenage girls swooning. Parents may have been a bit worried at times but their kids turned out all right in the end. America was a Garden of Eden peopled by Adam and Eves like AM and Bobby Rydel. Bye, Bye Birdie indeed!

M*A*S*H: Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler (1975) Season 4, Episode 9

Funny and Sad - M.A.S.H.

[10/10 · 15 September 2013]

This is my favorite M.A.S.H. episode. Alan Fudge's performance as Captain Arnold Chandler is utterly convincing and very moving. This episode also contains turns from my two favorite cameo characters, psychiatrist, Sidney Freedman and Army Intelligence spook, Colonel Flagg. In fact every character was given something to do. Gary Burghoff as Radar asks for his Teddy Bear to be blessed by the gently deluded Chandler and pulls off a poignant moment. There is sadness, absurdity and insight that made the best of M.A.S.H. more than just a comedy. As is evident in this episode, comedy is sometimes the least important element in what makes M.A.S.H. worth watching.

Experiment in Terror (1962)

Great complexity within a simple plot - The Asthmatic Personality

[20 August 2013]

I saw this as a child and immediately understood the storyline. That's how simply the story unfolds. However, like most very fine films, it has taken a lifetime to fully grasp the nuances that a film maker like Blake Edwards brought to it. Take, for instance, the seemingly unnecessary episode in which Ripley interviews the Asian woman who Lynch, a chronic asthmatic and an apparently psychotic loner, extortionist and murderer, helps by funding her disabled son's operations through his illegal schemes. As a chronic asthmatic, I now understand what Edwards was getting at. The asthma does alienate you from the world. For some reason it does make you reckless in your own life and sometimes with your treatment of others but sometimes almost overly caring when it comes to helping others - especially those who are also suffering. It is this strange dichotomy that Edwards explores in order to make the seemingly simple more complex. Lynch needed to be liked even if only by himself. He needed to feel good about himself. Perhaps it is the constant discomfort of asthma that finds relief through an act of kindness. He likes Asian women - different, alienated people? He doesn't rape or molest Toby after he makes her take her clothes off - the clothes being visual proof to Kelly that he had kidnapped her sister. This would be beneath his"ethics" and not be in keeping with his overall purpose. As Starling finally says of Lector in "Silence of the Lambs", he won't come after her because "he would consider it rude". I hope this does not sound like "intellectual" rubbish or amateur psychology. The film is great whether you see what I have come to see in it or not.

Fargo (1996)

Ordinary Good Defeats Ordinary Evil

[10/10 · 19 August 2013]

Evil as depicted in films such as "Fargo" and "Badlands" is much more disturbing than in films in which evil geniuses or devilish fiends systematically carry out their plans. In "Fargo" unintelligent evil is matched against seemingly ordinary good people as embodied by Frances McDormand and good wins hands down. And it's not just a case of good defeats evil by catching and punishing it. That's the genius of this film. Enjoying the ordinary life shines through in Margie's relationship with her husband and the film does not patronize their homespun but genuine affection. Margie's comment to the dimwitted murderer about it being a beautiful day and ruining it over "a little bit of money" rings true because of the regrettably ridiculous tangle of folly caused by greed and insensitivity that has preceded it. Margie's final comment to her husband that they are "doing pretty good" is perfectly in keeping with the tale and its tone. Brutality has been beaten by simple human decency but with no overt sentimentality or grandly moral speechifying.

This is a depiction of humankind at their worst and their best. It is a roller-coaster ride and possibly the best film ever made. And the score is just brilliant.

Sunday Too Far Away (1975)

Authenticity - Well Bugger Me

[10/10 · 7 April 2013]

I am glad that I can sometimes revisit Australia as it once was through films like "Sunday Too Far Away" and "Newsfront". At the time of their making, we still had the faces and voices that rang true to the 50's - 60's prior to the influence of television that forever changed the way we talk and even the way we walk. Jack Thompson and the rest of the male cast moved in the way Australian men and, in particular, shearers moved. Compare this with the cast of "Kokoda". As my mother commented, Australian men of the 1940's just didn't look so muscular or move with such rigidity. They were a Depression generation - wiry with a casual slouch born of being raised on lean rabbits and fish and hardships that knocked pretentiousness sideways.

However, "Sunday Too Far Away" is far more than a sentimental journey. It is a view of life that is at once tragic and humorous. It also has genuinely touching moments when seemingly hard and practical men display their concern for each other in an understated manner that is indicative of their rejection of overt displays of sentimentality. They all know that they are probably going to end up like old Garth if they remain shearers. "That's shearing for you, Foley" says Garth as he muses about the fact that he has hardly seen his wife and son for over 30 years. Garth's death is symbolic for all the shearers and their indignation at the undertaker not providing "the proper vehicle" to bear his body on his final journey reflects their insistence upon their dignity as shearers. As in the strike action, "it wasn't so much about the money as the bloody insult."

But I intellectualize too much. I love this film for many reasons but most of all because it could have been made for people like me in mind. It is about yarns that my uncles told and characters who were like my father who had been a "rousie" on a shearing floor after leaving school at the end of year eight even though he had been the dux! Times were such that work was valued above all else - life was work.

In the 1980's, I once rented a farmhouse when I taught in rural Australia. One of the conditions of my tenancy was that shearers would share the house in the shearing season. These shearers were tough, smelled of lanolin no matter how they washed and ate mountains of food all cooked up in a giant iron skillet. And they argued about everything - who was a gun and who was not, which cocky had treated them the worst, which type of sheep were the easiest to shear. However, when I asked them about the authenticity of "Sunday Too Far Away", they always agreed that it was the best evocation of the life of a shearer they had ever seen - praise indeed for the film.(Not that they would have used the word "evocation")

Road to Utopia (1945)

Utopia - It was at the time

[9/10 · 27 March 2013]

This is my favourite "Road" picture because it is genuinely funny from start to finish. Hope and Crosby were at their peak and the makers of comedy films knew how to entertain. Dorothy Lamour was beautiful, talented and sang songs like "Personality" with a wonderfully playful sexuality.

It was a shame that Bob Hope in his later years accepted scripts that were so beneath his talent. Perhaps his type of humour had become out of date but it is great to see what he could do with material found in "Road to Utopia". Of course, Bing helped make Hope funny in the "Road" pictures.Once the dynamic between the pair was established in the minds of the audience, Bing and Bob could make you laugh with a gag, look or physical reaction.