Showing posts with label 1963. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1963. Show all posts
Perseus (Richard Harrison), an "honorary" son of Hercules, becomes embroiled in a war between two kingdoms, Seriglos and Argos. The ranks of the soldiers from the former kingdom, where Princess Andromeda (Anna Ranalli) holds court, have been depleted by a man-eating dragon that emerges from a lake, and many more have fallen victim to a Medusa in a valley whose gaze turns men into stone statues. Perseus must first manage to conquer the dragon, then decides to free all of the soldiers turned to stone by taking on the nearly impossible task of killing the hideous gorgon. Apparently there were a number of Italian mythological flicks made that, at least in their American versions, featured assorted "Sons of Hercules" and this is one of them. Carlo Rambaldi worked on the monsters: a mechanical dragon with limited movement which nevertheless doesn't look too terrible; and the Medusa, who resembles a tree with one yellow glowing eye and many hair-like stalks. Richard Harrison was an American muscle man hired to star in many Italian epics of this nature; he is still working in films at seventy-nine. The settings and music are effective and the film is modestly entertaining, although not in the league of the original Clash of the Titans, which also features Perseus and Medusa. De Martino also directed Kirk Douglas in The Chosen.
Verdict: Fun Italian spectacle. **1/2.
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| Stefanie Powers, Patrick Wayne, and John Wayne |
G. W. McLintock (John Wayne) is a wealthy cattle baron in a homestead awaiting statehood. His snooty estranged wife, Katherine (Maureen O'Hara), comes back into his life when their daughter, Becky (Stefanie Powers), comes home from college and Katherine is horrified to think that she may live with her hard-drinking father and his cronies. Katherine also isn't too crazy about the fact that G.W. has hired a pretty new live-in cook, Louise (Yvonne De Carlo), the mother of handsome new employee Dev (Patrick Wayne), who likes Becky but finds her a little spoiled like her mother. Meanwhile Becky dallies with nerdy Matt (Jerry Van Dyke) while Dev simmers. Will the situation with the battling McLintocks finally boil over or will true love win out in the end? McLintock! is way too long, but it has some funny sequences -- a mud slide and a drunken bit with a staircase -- although the gags are repeated too much and nothing is exactly on the level of the stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera. Still McLintock! is basically amiable and entertaining, even if it has a very sixties sensibility and a subtext of sissies threatening to ruin the world [as opposed to big, tough John Wayne]. Wayne, already starting his trend toward ossification, is okay, Powers is quite good, O'Hara is very strong as the insufferable but uncompromising Katherine and gives one of her more memorable performances, De Carlo is fun, and Patrick Wayne proves no great actor but is acceptable. An interesting aspect of the picture -- when you consider that Wayne starred in several cliffhanger serials early in his career -- is that two of Wayne's enemies are played by other serial stars, Gordon Jones (The Green Hornet) and Robert Lowery (Batman and Robin). A sub-plot has to do with a contingent of Comanche Indians who are to be taken to a fort for what they see as charity when they only want the freedom to live and die as men. Although the movie seems to be pro-Indian, the social statements don't really fit comfortably into the piece as a whole. Mari Blanchard has a small role as a saloon gal/hooker who comes afoul of Katherine.
Verdict: Not exactly a classic but one of Wayne's more palatable latter-day movies. **1/2.
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| Oliver Reed, Alexander Davion and Sheila Burrell |
"Money doesn't matter as long as we have each other." -- Francoise
"You're more stupid than I gave you credit for." -- Simon
A wealthy couple, the Ashbys, were killed in a plane crash eleven years ago. Three years later, one of their children, Tony, committed suicide at 15. Now eight years have gone by since then and the survivors include emotionally disturbed Eleanor (Janette Scott), who hears her dead brother singing in the night; her brother Simon (Oliver Reed), who drinks copiously and is primarily concerned with the inheritance that will come his way in a couple of weeks; and their strange and stern Aunt Harriet (Sheila Burrell) whose face is an inscrutable mask. Another member of the household is Francoise (Liliane Brousse of Maniac), who is Eleanor's nurse. Out of nowhere there's suddenly a new/old arrival, a handsome man (Alexander Davion) who claims that he's Tony and that he only faked his death by drowning years ago [the body was never recovered]. Is this man for real, or is he an impostor after the family fortune? And who is that masked figure who goes about attacking people with a meat hook? Paranoiac is another post-Psycho British thriller with an unusual plot and absorbing script by Jimmy Sangster that, unfortunately, offers up some rather absurd developments as things proceed. [One amusing aspect is how more than one person notes how the adult Tony refuses a drink and remembers that "yes, Tony never drank." At 15 one would hope so!] There is one excellent sequence in which Eleanor nearly goes over a cliff in her car when the brakes fail, and in general Francis' direction is quite good. Paranoiac boasts good performances from the entire cast, although Reed does go a little over the top in a couple of sequences. Alexander Davion makes an extremely appealing leading man. The film also has an effective score by Elisabeth Lutyens [The Psychopath] and attractive photography by Arthur Grant [The Terror of the Tongs].
Verdict: Silly at times but entertaining. **1/2.
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| Lansbury, Fonda and Finch amidst scenic Grecian splendor |
"Murray and I already call each other by our first names. It happens fast in America." -- Christine
"I hear everything does." -- Sybil
Murray Logan (Peter Finch) is married to a bitter woman, Sybil (Angela Lansbury), who was scarred in the car accident in which their son was killed. Murray becomes friendly with Christine (Jane Fonda), the wife of his old friend Sam Bonner (Steven Hill); both men are in the publishing business. Sam treats Christine, who has major medical problems, as if she were a fragile child, and this is threatening their marriage. Christine gets the idea that the two couples should go off to Greece and have a great vacation. Surprisingly, Sybil agrees, but at the last minute Sam can't make it. Will the attraction that Murray and Christine feel for each other move up a notch when they're in Greece? What do you think? In the Cool of the Day could be dismissed -- and probably was -- as a soap opera or travelogue or both, but it's actually not a bad movie, in large part due to the interesting characters and the performances of the ladies; Fonda is simply outstanding and Lansbury, although she has a less sympathetic role, is also excellent. Finch was a fine actor but he doesn't have that much chemistry with Fonda (luckily she makes up for this) and at times seems completely disinterested in the proceedings. Constance Cummings is Christine's mother and Alexander Knox plays Sam's father, Frederick. If you don't care for the story you can always enjoy Peter Newbrook's photography of Athens and Delphi, as well as Francis Chagrin's flavorful musical score. It's hard for movies like this, based on novels where the author can describe the internal feelings of the characters, to work, but this is quite effective at times.
Verdict: Very interesting picture with a wonderful lead performance from Fonda. ***.
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| Nina Foch and Katherine Crawford in "End of the World, Baby" |
KRAFT SUSPENSE THEATRE aka Suspense Theatre. Season 1. 1963.
Kraft Suspense Theatre was the anthology series that began each week with stylized, Dali-esque drawings of running, furtive figures while intense, dramatic music blared. The first two episodes, "The Case Against Paul Ryker," were quite good and were later spliced together and presented in movie houses as Sergeant Ryker. The third episode, "End of the World, Baby," had a mother and daughter (Nina Foch and Katherine Crawford) both involved with the same gigolo (Gig Young), and was mediocre if well-acted. I've seen most but not all of the first season episodes and generally the series was not in the league of, say, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but there were some episodes that were quite memorable. In "One Step Down" Ida Lupino wants to find out who her dead husband's lover was, unaware that it's somebody she already knows (Gena Rowlands). Tourists Julie Harris, Julie Adams and Virginia Gregg get involved with a Latin hustler (Robert Loggia) in "The Robrioz Ring." "Are There Any More Out There Like You?" stars Robert Ryan and features Katherine Ross and Great Old Movies' favorite Jay Novello in a powerful story of a man whose disaffected daughter and friends are involved in a deadly hit and run. "The Threatening Eye," directed by Ida Lupino, is a truly excellent tale of a businessman (Jack Klugman) whose life is turned upside down by a sociopathic fellow employee (Annie Farge) whose motives at first seem hidden. "A Hero for Our Times" stars Lloyd Bridges as a philandering husband who witnesses a murder during an assignation and wonders how he can tell what he knows without compromising himself or his lover. While many other episodes were all but ruined by really stupid endings, they were almost always extremely well-acted.
Verdict: Some gems among the junk. **1/2.
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| Lee Marvin lashes out as Sergeant Ryker |
The theatrical release Sergeant Ryker was actually the first two episodes of [Kraft] Suspense Theatre from 1963 -- "The Case Against Paul Ryker" -- joined together and released as a movie five years later by Universal; it was not remade. Sergeant Ryker (Lee Marvin) has been convicted of treason because no one will believe his story of carrying out a secret mission for a military official who is now dead and can't back up what Ryker says. The prosecutor, Captain David Young (Bradford Dillman), wonders if Ryker had a fair trial, and also begins to question his guilt after he meets Ryker's wife, Ann (Vera Miles), who thoroughly supports him even if she's no longer in love with him. Young makes such a pest of himself trying to dig up evidence that will confirm Ryker's story that an outraged General Bailey (Lloyd Nolan) orders his court-martial, but not before Young, the man who convicted Stryker, defends him in his new trial. Complicating matters is the fact that Young and Ann Stryker are falling in love ... Sergeant Ryker is suspenseful, has some intriguing twists and turns, and is well-acted, with Miles and Nolan making the best impression. Dillman is vivid and striking, even if he does overact in some scenes, and Marvin, while not perfect casting, has some very strong moments as well. Murray Hamilton of Jaws gives a typically slimy and obvious performance as another captain and an associate of Young's.
Verdict: Fairly strong television drama turned into a pretty good movie. ***.