Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

A Woman's Vengeance (1948) - 6/10. From IMDb: "When Henry Maurier's (Charles Boyer) wife Emily (Rachel Kempson) dies suddenly, suspicion falls on him in. . . . Maurier is an unhappily married womanizer; his wife Emily is a neurotic invalid. Her good friend Janet (Jessica Tandy) visits at Maurier's urging to cheer Emily up. . . . After lunch with Janet and Emily, Henry leaves to meet his girlfriend (Ann Blyth); Emily retires to her room and dies. The maid (Mildred Natwick) suspects Henry, goes to the police, and the body is exhumed. Emily was poisoned! Henry is arrested, charged with murder, found guilty, and sentenced to death." Also in the cast is Cedric Hardwicke, in the pivotal role as Dr. Libbard, the character who is both the author's mouthpiece and the one who solves the murder. The whole thing is rather play-like, but the chat is pretty good. It is derived from "The Gioconda Smile", a story by Aldous Huxley that the author himself adapted for the screenplay. The movie is a good example of Hollywood using its English colony of actors to simulate a British film. The film has been remade several times, often for TV.

[dave jenkins]

They Only Kill Their Masters (1972) - 5/10. In an alternate reality, Jim Rockford (James Garner) is Abel Marsh, the chief of police in a small seaside California town investigating a murder. Production values are strictly from 70s TV, and although this is an MGM film, several scenes look like they were shot on the Universal back lot (Rockford was made at Universal). Katherine Ross is in the picture, but most everybody else (Hal Holbrook, Harry Guardino, Arthur O'Connel) seems to be on loan from future television shows. June Allyson, Edmond O'Brien, Ann Rutherford and a host of other has-beens make cameos.  The score, not written by Mike Post, nevertheless has a Rockford feel.

[dave jenkins]

Three Bad Sisters (1956) - 3/10. A very cheap production without stars. One point for each of the sisters, though, every one a honey. The story is about three heiresses and the attempt by one to ace the others out of their inheritance. There's a guy in the middle. There is (despite the title) a good sister (Sara Shane), a bat-shit crazy sister (Kathleen Hughes), and a nympho sister (Marla English). The name Marla English seemed familiar so I checked IMDb: she didn't have much of a career, but she's the broad in Shield For Murder. She has a great line in this. Although she doesn't seem particularly young, in the film she is apparently supposed to be jailbait. When she comes on to the hero the guy says, "Home for the summer?" She answers, "I'm home permanently. I graduated magna cum laude from Embraceable U." That one probably had whiskers on it even in 1956, but it left me in stitches.

Murder is My Beat (1955) - 5/10. A cop goes after a murder suspect who turns out to be Barbara Payton. Good work if you can get it. There's some clever police work in this, some great dialog too. The murder occurred in LA, but the girl has taken it on the lam to Merced, CA, the "Gateway to Yosemite." The cop tells his boss what's up and the following repartee ensues:

Suspect as hot as you think?
Looks good.
What are you gonna do?
Bring her back.
That sure you can find her?
Just take a little diggin. Merced--where can she hang out around there? Short on dough and a face that would stand out in heaven. Lead pipe cinch.
OK. All yours. Run it down, wrap it up, mark it "paid" and take the bows.
Thanks.

Now yer talkin!

[dave jenkins]

Rogue Cop (1954) - 4/10. Robert Taylor is a dirty cop who "goes rogue" when his bosses kill his kid brother (Steve Forrest). Anne Francis and Janet Leigh are on hand to pretty things up, but the plotting is pretty stupid. The mob boss is played by George Raft. There isn't much to enjoy in this picture, but watching Raft getting cowboyed at the end is diverting.

[noodles_leone]

Escape from New York - I'm not rating it because I'm afraid of TH/10
First viewing in decades. Like, literally 20 years. I cannot believe I get to write things like that now.
Well, for what it is, it is good. But I'm not a fan of the campy Carpenter (or campy anything, for that matter) so I spent most of the movie seeing the great action flick that could have been made on this premise. It totally deserves the influence it had on pop culture though, and I'm gonna steal a lot from that film (and learn even more from its failures).

[dave jenkins]

Lord Love a Duck (1966) - 2/10. An attempt at trenchant satire. It fails dismally. With Roddy and Tuesday, plus Lola, Harvey, and Max/Casey.

[T.H.]

Escape from New York - I'm not rating it because I'm afraid of TH/10
First viewing in decades. Like, literally 20 years. I cannot believe I get to write things like that now.
Well, for what it is, it is good. But I'm not a fan of the campy Carpenter (or campy anything, for that matter) so I spent most of the movie seeing the great action flick that could have been made on this premise. It totally deserves the influence it had on pop culture though, and I'm gonna steal a lot from that film (and learn even more from its failures).

After reading this very snobby and very off base review, I should watch some Alfonso Cuaron films and tear them to pieces, but I couldn't inflict that kind of pain on myself -- well besides a hangover.

Rogue Cop (1954) - 4/10. Robert Taylor is a dirty cop who "goes rogue" when his bosses kill his kid brother (Steve Forrest). Anne Francis and Janet Leigh are on hand to pretty things up, but the plotting is pretty stupid. The mob boss is played by George Raft. There isn't much to enjoy in this picture, but watching Raft getting cowboyed at the end is diverting.

If you haven't seen Shield for Murder (1954), I'd recommend that. It has the feel of an early Don Siegel movie but wasn't directed by him. It's basically the Bad Lieutenant of the 50s. Lean, mean and to the point with a great performance from Edmond O'Brien.

Edit: after a quick search you have seen it.

[noodles_leone]

After reading this very snobby and very off base review, I should watch some Alfonso Cuaron films and tear them to pieces, but I couldn't inflict that kind of pain on myself -- well besides a hangover.

See? I knew you'd be MEAN. Leave Alfonso alone!

[dave jenkins]

If you haven't seen Shield for Murder (1954), I'd recommend that. It has the feel of an early Don Siegel movie but wasn't directed by him. It's basically the Bad Lieutenant of the 50s. Lean, mean and to the point with a great performance from Edmond O'Brien.

Edit: after a quick search you have seen it.

Yeah, Shield for Murder is a much better film than Rogue Cop. We agree again!

[T.H.]

See? I knew you'd be MEAN.

Noodles is right.

Yeah, Shield for Murder is a much better film than Rogue Cop. We agree again!

Jenkins is right.

[drinkanddestroy]

Blue Jay (2016) 7.5/10 (Netflix streaming)

Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson bump into each other 20 years after they were high school sweethearts, and start reminiscing. This is a movie that takes place over the course of  a single day/night, and just about the entire thing is the two of them talking, hardly any other people are seen in the movie. This story does not sound original at all, but it is still done well. The movie is in black and white - an odd choice for a film taking place in the present day. Dupass and Paulson are really good. Dupass wrote the screenplay as well.

[drinkanddestroy]

Atlantic City (1980) Director: Louis Malle, Writer: John Guare, Stars: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, and Atlantic City.

Lancaster as a ex small time gangster, now numbers runner, who thinks he used to be something big becomes mesmerized by Saradon, who is learning to be a croupier. Her ex husband turns up with cocaine he has stolen from the Mafia. Sarandon's performance is one of her best, and iconic Lancaster brings a lot of cinematic memory. Haven't see this since 1980 - 8/10

I just saw this. I agree with the rating. Really good movie. (I also vaguely remember reading many years ago (probably in the NY Post's Page Six or something about Sarandon having the best bust in  the business or something. By the time I started watching her she was probably way past that; this movie is the youngest I've ever seen her, and based on a few fleeting moments, that description may well be accurate.)

Somehow Lancaster's character here reminds me somewhat of an aging Noodles-If we could see Noodles's life "in the asshole of the world" it would probably look something like that. And there's the crumbling Atlantic City, hoping for a revitalization. And the woman who came to AC decades earlier for a Betty Grable look-alike contest and never left. Good movie all aroud.

I really liked Roger Ebert's review (though I don't agree with him that it is a "Great Movie") https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-atlantic-city-1980

[drinkanddestroy]

Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) 7/10

De Niro made this before Mean Streets or Godfather II so this is the earliest of his movies that are even somewhat well-known. Not that BTDS is considered anything notable, but I'd certainly heard of it, unlike earlier films I see on his IMDB filmography https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000134/#actor

Michael Moriarty is good as the star pitcher of the fictional New York Mammoths baseball team, and close friend of his teammate De Niro, a dimwitted catcher from Georgia playing with a terminal illness. But De Niro's Southern accent is awful. (I also thought that Moriarty's narration really doesn't do much). The movie mostly uses the original Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium. Most shots are closeups of the field (probably done purposely because they didn't want to show too much of a real stadium, to keep it generic) but there are a couple of terrific shots of Yankee Stadium in the rain-delay sequence (and a brief shot of the warning track in the credits sequence. There aren't many good shots of the original Yankee Stadium in color, so this was great for me to see. List of ballpark shots available here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bang_the_Drum_Slowly_(film)#Production

Vincent Gardenia plays the manager, and his scenes are hilarious. In the scene where Gardenia is trying to speak to the team while the Hispanic ballplayer's interpreter is interpreting loudly and distractingly, I was laughing so hard my chest was hurting. Gardenia as Oscar-nominated for best Supporting Actor, and deservedly so.

[dave jenkins]

this movie is the youngest I've ever seen her

WHAT??? You've never seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show?? How many years you've been posting here, and you've yet to achieve full film literacy?? Quit your day job, and get to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dave jenkins]

Uh, does anyone else find an incongruity between these two quotes?

Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) 7/10

Not that BTDS is considered anything notable

Vincent Gardenia plays the manager, and his scenes are hilarious. In the scene where Gardenia is trying to speak to the team while the Hispanic ballplayer's interpreter is interpreting loudly and distractingly, I was laughing so hard my chest was hurting. Gardenia as Oscar-nominated for best Supporting Actor, and deservedly so.