It's been a long time since an update here and I apologize. Spring Break for schools in this area runs a full week and two days so today is the first day back. I've got plenty so say, which I'm working on, but for now it's probably best to just get out whatever unedited, unformed thoughts on movies I have in my head to break the long silence.*A couple of weeks ago my wife and youngest went to see Mon Oncle at the AFI and I maintain that not only does Jacques Tati work on the big screen (and with a cheerful audience) where he may be slightly mystifying on the small screen, but he triumphs. The film was a delight, yes, but visually Tati is a brilliant observer lacking in all sentiment. It was my wife who noted, "There's not one close-up in this movie." There is not and as she also noted, during the wagon ride scene, it's in close-up that sentiment works its magic. Without it we are only observers to the scene, and the scene thus carries only delight and no goopiness. What a terrific movie! If you ever get the chance to see it on the big screen I highly recommend it.
*My wife and I were watching Keys to the Kingdom the other night on TCM and both remarked that Gregory Peck's relentless solemnity made him perfect for roles like this, and perhaps not much else. He had a great, deep and resonating voice, one made for missionary priests and righteous lawyers (To Kill a Mockingbird) but I don't care for him much outside those limitations.
*Also while watching Keys to the Kingdom we received an alert from the Associated Press' International Duh Division: Thomas Mitchell is one of the best character actors that ever lived.
*Some of those old ABC Mysteries (Columbo, McCloud, McMillan and Wife) were pretty good. We watched some on Netflix Instant and had a great trip down memory lane in the process.
*We also watched some Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Not as good as I remember but one of the ones we watched, Our Cook's a Treasure, with Everett Sloane and Beulah Bondi, was terrific.
*Hell, we watched a lot of classic tv quite frankly. Maybe Spring Break put us in a nostalgic mood but we also watched Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Rockford Files.
As to the first, it's about as hit or miss as they come and it was quite clear the network was just throwing shit together to hook in the horror/supernatural crowd. The lizard man in The Sentry doesn't even resemble a man in a Halloween costume, he resembles a man in a second-hand, discounted, retrieved-from-the-dumpster Halloween costume. The Trevi Collection, however, about a witch trying to take over the world of fashion, was fairly decent and achieved low levels of creepiness with the mannequins coming to life.
As to the second, it's too bad James Garner couldn't have stayed young forever and had one new show after another throughout the decades. The Rockford Files may be an average detective show, and is, but Garner's charisma makes each episode worth watching. And the opening credits, with the still photos fading one into the other, just may make a special tv version of "Opening Credits I Love."
Finally, Dennis Cozzalio has chosen poorly. Maury Chaykin responds:
32 comments:
Nobody brings it like Maury Chaykin. Weird to think that in a few short years he would be Nero Wolfe.
When I saw Dances with Wolves in 1990 in its initial run I almost exclaimed out loud, "Hey, it's Maury Chaykin!" when he shows up as the crazy depot officer. The rest of the movie held nothing for me.
Who doesn't love Maury Chaykin? Nobody doesn't.
I also love James Garner, or as I call him, "Jim Garner", because he and I are buds. But I saw THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS a little while ago, and it's pretty thin, but it has him, and Hal Holbrook, and you get a brief glimpse of Katherine Ross's ass. So I thought it was pretty good.
"Nobody doesn't" - What a magical phrase.
Garner and Holbrook could make anything watchable. You know, in Capricorn One there's all this crazy-ass conspiracy shit going down and cheesy set-ups and bad O.J. Simpson line deliveries. But there's Hal Holbrook and Eliot Gould and Sam Waterston and so somehow, it all seems okay, and really watchable! If Jim Garner had been the lead instead of James, er, Jim Brolin it might have been the best movie of the seventies. Or at the least the week it was released in.
Defcon 4, essential viewing, Chaykinwise.
I've never seen CAPRICORN ONE. I've also never seen MAROONED, but my dad used to know Martin Caidin, the guy who wrote the book MAROONED based on, so how about that?
I remember nothing about Defcon 4 and I saw it at least three times on cable. It's mixed up in my head with Night of the Comet, which I also viewed multiple times and also have almost no recollection of. Ha, loss of long term memory is fun!
Bill, I really do like Capricorn One even if its plotting is absurd and its dialogue far too concerned with cheesy one-liners. Fuck it, it's entertaining! Also, Karen Black, Telly Savalas and a wisecracking David Doyle. It's a wonderworks!
Full confession: I have the Special Edition DVD of Capricorn One. Yes, children, it's now okay to laugh and point at the old drooling fool in the corner.
Oh, I want to see CAPRICORN ONE. Why wouldn't I? I just haven't yet.
If you lived closer you could take a day off and we could watch it together. I'd even supply the popcorn.
I would love to do that, Greg. What's strangely difficult about it all is that my family is so close to you, it's hard to divide up the time when we make a trip up there. But one day soon I'll have to take some extra time off...just for YOU!
I like Capricorn One, too, though I haven't clapped eyes on it in over 30 years.
But one day soon I'll have to take some extra time off...just for YOU!
For l'il ole me?! Well, well, well, what a day that'll be! Let's set the date for after the oldest makes her way to college in the fall. Then the house will be ours! See, she's pretty much here all the goddamn time as her senior year amounts to about 17 minutes of class time each day and 17 hours of lazing about. September it is!
Arbo, you come too and we'll make miniature quiches and petifores!
As we're 'fessing up to Capricorn One love, how about The Final Countdown?
I love The Final Countdown. Saw it with my brother when it came out and loved it. Seen it quite a few times and yes, own it. Time paradoxes rule!
The scariest thing about "The Trevi Collection" to me was the final freak-out... and that's what's great about it, it's just acting. Kudos to the always sexy but also talented Lara Parker.
Also, a great exchange between Kolchak and a cop, about a guy who fell to his death.
Cop: He wasn't much of a photographer.
Kolchak: He wasn't much of a skydiver either.
I'm more of a Final Conflict guy.
Yeah, Darren McGavin was great with a lot of the deadpan wisecracks he had in that show, especially in his narration. We both got a kick out of the final freakout too and the run to the sidewalk where he accuses her blue-drenched self in public.
And speaking of The Omen with The Final Conflict, I've for some reason wanted to see Omen 2 again for the longest time. I've got a hankering for the Whore of Babylon, I do!
I know what you mean about wishing Garner would stay young forever, but aging Garner is pretty great, too. I love him in BARBARIANS AT THE GATE and MURPHY'S ROMANCE. And THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY is a reminder that youthful Garner could also be great on the big screen, when given the right part.
I have a weird relationship with "The Rockford Files". I love it and you're right Garner totally makes it work... although, c'mon Noah Beery, man!
You called it an "average detective show", which - Garner aside - it usually is. Of course, leaving Garner aside is in itself a pretty big aside because 45 minutes of him sitting and explaining what he had for breakfast would probably be better than the average show... I know I'd watch.
But the writing could, on occasion, be fantastic. Oddly, it's rarely when you can tell they were shooting for something big and important - and also rarely when they were shooting for flat-out funny - but there are episodes and moments that still would have stood out without Garner.
As it happens, Garner makes even the lamest episodes totally watchable.
I get a nostalgic tug o'the heart watching Rockford because it's set where I live... and yet how quickly that turns to heartache with the realization that those shows were almost 40 years ago and that so much of LA and its environs have changed since then. It's like watching home movies of your family and realizing, wow, they're all gone now.
Brian, Jim Garner is really a cinematic treasure and I hope he gets honored as such while still alive. I'm talking something like Kennedy Center Honors, although I suppose an honorary Oscar would work just as well. But really, he's so good and yet, somehow, didn't make a big impact on movie history - and he should have.
Neil, Noah Beery was great too. You raise an interesting point though. Maybe I shouldn't call it average because the show IS him and he's not average. Also, it's far superior to detective shows on today.
On a technical note, I like going through all the opening credits and listening to the different messages on the answering machine. Then I pretty much hum the theme song all day, and today's been no different.
Arbo, I don't live there and love the look and somehow get nostalgic for it anyway. The reason I get nostalgic for it is because every show in the seventies took place there. They all have the Southern California arid, scrub brush countrysides and dry, sunny L.A. streets. And I mean all of them. Hell, even M*A*S*H which takes place in Korea has the clearly recognizable Southern California countryside. Nowadays shows either do more location shooting, or CGI it, but not as many have that look and feel anymore. I miss it.
But Capricorn One has both of Barbra Streisand's husbands in the same film! The mind boggles.
And James Garner shows off his ass in Space Cowboys.
But Capricorn One has both of Barbra Streisand's husbands in the same film! The mind boggles.
What doesn't Capricorn One have?! By the way, saw it in the theatre with my Dad. He liked it a lot too.
And I almost forgot: David Huddleston is great in the opening launch scene.
I just realized that, back in the moment, I saw Capricorn One two or three times... On the big screen.
(those were times of re-releases, repertory cinemas and cine-forums!)
Gloria, the seventies was the time for paranoid thrillers (Marathon Man, Three Days of the Condor, Parallax View) and Capricorn One fit right in but gave it a kind of sci-fi edge as well. Glad you liked it too.
I missed Playtime when it showed at the MOMA last summer - I'll never, ever forgive myself for that.
Welcome back, Greg, your dreams were your ticket out.
Ryan, I'd love to see Playtime on the big screen. What a visual wonder that would be.
And thanks for the welcome back. It's that same old place that I laughed about.
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