like the sharks, mad with their own blood, chewin' away at their own selves

In the retro mood again. Average score: 7.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - "In New York City, a criminal gang led by the ruthless 'Mr. Blue' (Robert Shaw) hijacks a subway car and threatens to start shooting one passenger per minute unless they receive a million dollars in cash from the city within an hour. On the other end of the line, crusty veteran transit policeman Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau) has his hands full dealing with the mayor's office and his hotheaded fellow cops, while also trying to deliver the ransom before the deadline expires."
length: 1 hour, 44 minutes

source: streamed on PlutoTV
I watched it because: I'd seen it before but not since I saw the remake (not reviewed), and I wanted something action-packed
IMDB: 7.6/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 98% Audience: 88%
my IMDB: 8/10

notable quote: "'Will you go back and mind the passengers, please? I do not want Mr. Brown and Mr. Grey left alone with them.'

    'Don't you trust them?'

    'I trust Mr. Brown, I do not trust Mr. Grey. I think he's an enormous, arrogant pain in the ass who could turn out to be trouble. I also think that he is mad. Why do you think they threw him out of the Mafia?'

    'Oh, terrific.'"

MPAA rating: R

directed by: Joseph Sargent

my notes: this is an outstanding film. Oddly characterized as a dark comedy, it is incredibly tense (wonderful directing and editing), brilliantly acted (notably Walter Matthau, Jerry Stiller, and especially Robert Shaw), and perfectly paced. It ought to be an example in theater and acting classes, for how to portray tension without grimness (Matthau's Zachary Garber), intelligence without just being smug (Stiller's Rico Patrone), and menace without overacting (Shaw's Blue). And the final scene...superb, prehaps the best in cinema.

overall:  recommended

Bell Book and Candle (1958) - "In the late 1950s, Gillian Holroyd (Kim Novak) is a modern-day witch living in New York City's Greenwich Village. When she encounters charming publisher Shepherd Henderson (James Stewart), she decides to make him hers by casting a love spell. Gillian takes added pleasure in doing so because Henderson is engaged to her old college rival (Janice Rule). However, Gillian finds herself actually falling for Shepherd, which poses a problem: She will lose her powers if she falls in love."

length: 1 hour, 46 minutes

source: streamed on TubiTV
I watched it because: it was on my watchlist
IMDB: 6.8/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 76% Audience: 66%
my IMDB: 5/10

notable quote: "'Are you trying to say you're... jilting me?'

    ''W-well, that's a very heavy word, Merle. It's a very heavy word. Let's just say that we're... uncoupling."

MPAA rating: Approved (TV-PG)

directed by: Richard Quine

my notes: it's not terrible, exactly, but it's a mess. Jimmy Stewart was clearly too old for this role; he turned 50 during the filming, and was playing a sort of young gent-about-town. In stark contrast, Kim Novak was 25. It's cringe-inducing. Novak's eyebrows just about stole the show (overall the makeup is terrible), the story itself is unnecessarily convoluted, the acting is hit or miss, and ultimately I realized that the only part of it I really like is the cat.

Academy Award nominee:
• Best Art Direction - Set Decoration—Cary Odell, Louis Diage
• Best Costume Design—Jean Louis

overall: not recommended

 

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) - "In early 20th-century Vienna, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) is about to leave the city because he faces a duel that he wants no part of. However, before he can do so, he gets an anonymous love letter that changes his life. Though Stefan is moved by what he reads, he doesn't realize that it was written by Lisa Berndle (Joan Fontaine), a young woman he has known but disregarded for most of his life. When he finally figures out who his admirer is, it may be too late to prevent a tragedy."
length: 1 hour, 27 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: I found it on an alternative best-list
IMDB: 7.9/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 100% Audience: 85%
my IMDB: 8/10

notable quote: "'What do you do when you've climbed a mountain?'

    'You come back down.'"

MPAA rating: Approved

directed by: Max Ophüls

my notes: sad, sad, sad. Excellent performances from Jourdan (this was my first of his films) and especially Fontaine, who is able to lose herself and her glamour into a character remarkably. I also loved John, the mute butler, played by Art Smith. However, I never need to see this again! It broke my heart.

overall:  recommended

The Lady from Shanghai (1947) - "Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles) comes to the aid of a woman being mugged and is subsequently enchanted by her beauty and enigmatic story as he escorts her to her destination. Soon after the event, O'Hara finds employment aboard a yacht owned by the brilliant, unethical, and disabled trial lawyer Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane)—the husband to O'Hara's mystery woman, Elsa (Rita Hayworth). O'Hara senses a setup when Arthur's shifty associate Grisby (Glenn Anders) joins the pleasure cruise and both men seem to facilitate relations between O'Hara and Elsa. Unwilling to abandon Elsa, O'Hare ensnares himself in a complex murder and fraud scheme in which none of the participants are what they appear to be. Something resembling the truth is revealed in the celebrated 'hall of mirrors' showdown."
length: 1 hour, 27 minutes

source: I borrowed the DVD from the public library
I watched it because: it appears on a best movies of all time list
IMDB: 7.5/10  -  Rotten Tomatoes: Tomatometer: 86% Audience: 84%
my IMDB: 7/10

notable quote: "Once, off the hump of Brazil, I saw the ocean so darkened with blood it was black, and the sun fainting away over the lip of the sky. We'd put in at Fortaleza, and a few of us had lines out for a bit o' idle fishin'. It was me had the first strike. A shark, it was. Then there was another, and another shark again... 'til all about, the sea was made of sharks, and more sharks, still, and no water at all. My shark had torn himself from the hook, and the scent, or maybe the stain, it was, and him bleeding his life away, drove the rest of them mad. Then the beasts got to eatin' each other. In their frenzy, they ate at themselves. You could feel the lust of murder like a wind stinging your eyes, and you could smell the death, reeking up out of the sea. I never saw anything worse... until this little picnic tonight. And you know, there wasn't one of them sharks in the whole crazy pack that survived."

MPAA rating: Approved (TV-PG?!)

directed by: Welles

my notes: atmospheric, tense, and beautiful. Welles was an excellent director, if strange and apparently impossible to work with. This film is way better to watch (with your eyes) than to listen to, despite a pretty good script and a few decent actors. The bad guys are easy to pick out because they "talk like bad guys." Still, there's some anti-hero and double-crossing going on, which keeps it interesting. It's worth seeing.

overall:  recommended

 

[the title quotation is from The Lady from Shanghai]