"Laura Five-O"

1944: Cop Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) is gah-gah for Laura Hunt.

1971: Cop Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) is coo-coo for Mrs. Mondrago.

Remember the TV show Hawaii Five-O? There's a fourth season episode, Highest Castle, Deepest Grave, which is a nod to Otto Preminger's Laura. In the Five-O story, cop Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) takes on a ten-year-old missing persons case when the skeletons of two people are found in a cave. McGarrett discovers that the wife and alleged lover of millionaire industrialist Mondrago (Herbert Lom) have been missing for ten years. When McGarrett goes to the industrialist's home, the tough cop becomes mesmerized by the painting of Mondrago's missing wife, whose daughter Sirone (France Nuyen) just happens to uncannily resemble!

I won't reveal the ending, but there's a lot to like about this episode. "Highest Castle, Deepest Grave" is also noteworthy for the appearance of 1940s character actor Jeff Corey, who plays the artist who painted that Laura-esque portrait. He gives a tremendous performance and is another example of those Golden Age actors being able to steal any scene they're in! Corey is really good in this! There's also a lush, romantic, love theme by Morton Stevens for McGarrett's feelings towards the woman in the portrait. Classic movie fans will get a kick out of the homage to Laura and old Hollywood, as I certainly did. After watching the show, I went and put on my Laura DVD...

"Ever See Laura?"

An Enduring Sex Appeal

In 1997, I was at a Borders book store looking to buy a copy of The Best Years of Our Lives (on VHS!) and as I was perusing the video section, there were two girls also browsing. They were no more than 14 years old. One of them was in the classic movie section when she saw the cover for A Streetcar Named Desire with Marlon Brando on the cover. The girl said to her friend, “Wow, he’s hot!” I was pleased that a nearly fifty-year-old picture of Brando could still elicit that reaction, even if the man himself was by 1997 the size of a streetcar. Anyway, I said to myself, “Now if only they’d give the movie a chance.”

Fast forward (keeping the VHS theme) ahead twelve years to last week at my job. A few colleagues and I were discussing movies—a conversation I instigated, naturally—and somehow Raquel Welch got mentioned. I boldly declared that if she were a young star today, that she would be the world’s biggest star. I expected silence or resistance to my claim, but instead I received universal agreement! Stories were told about how so and so’s father thought she was great back in ‘68 and that Raquel still looked amazing. Another victory! Unfortunately, I couldn’t think to myself “Now if they’d only watch One Million Years B.C.", as that would defeat my purpose in getting people into watching old movies!

It’s not surprising that young women today (or twelve years ago) would find someone like Brando attractive. He was the embodiment of youth, was “dangerous”, and was completely different than any movie star before him. Those girls didn’t know that, but the sex appeal was still in evidence and it got a favorable reaction. Maybe it’s because 1950s icons like James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley have been marketed and advertised so intensely that their look has become the norm for what defines sexy. After all, the youth culture took root in the 1950s and movie stars like Brando, Dean, and Monroe as well as rockers like Elvis left all that was popular before it in the trash heap, for better or worse. Raquel Welch was in her heyday during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and is remembered by a generation, especially Vietnam War veterans (this includes my own father) for her appearances with Bob Hope in those USO tours. Her cavewoman bikini outfit is iconic for its camp value but more so for its sex appeal. We as classic movie lovers should be thankful it isn’t all forgotten. The media believes that the general public can only handle a few things at once and so our collective memory is strictly short term. Yet the instances where old movie stars still resonate are causes for celebration because in a world where anything older gets forgotten so quickly, I have to be happy that at least a few things from a time I spend a lot of time immersed in can still have a powerful effect on a largely indifferent and unknowing general public.

Okay, sermon over-- I’ve got a date to watch Raquel in 100 Rifles.

37C-22 1/2-35 1/2: Raquel Welch in her 1960s prime.

Movie Quick Takes

I’m not usually one to review movies on a regular basis, but I’ve been catching up on some films I’ve wanted to see and one that I hadn’t watched in twenty-five years. Here are some capsule reviews of some movies I’ve seen over the past few weeks. I rank them on a 1 to 10 scale, with ten being the highest.

From Hell (2001) 6.5/10 I liked this quite a bit, even if Heather Graham is entirely too beautiful to be an 1880s "unfortunate." Funny, I never gave her a thought until I saw her all "Retroed up" in Victorian-era costume and she's quite a looker! Ian Holm is one of the world's great actors and he proves that again here. The depiction of drug abuse is also well chronicled. They sure used some serious drugs in the 19th Century! And the boomers thought that *they* invented substance abuse... I would have liked to have known more about the Inspector Abberline (Johnny Depp) character, though.

Tulsa (1949) 3.5/10 Finally got Turner Classic Movies back after an eighteen month hiatus(!) and this was the first movie I watched. It held my interest only because Susan Hayward is in it, and she is the best thing about this by-the-numbers tale. In fact, in The Films of Susan Hayward book, there’s a still from this movie of an oil-splattered Hayward and yet she still looks ravishing! Unfortunately, the print of this film was just ravaged and must be public domain because the one TCM aired was washed out and damaged.

Lilies of the Field (1963) 5.5/10 Hard to believe I'd never seen this movie before and while it's a pleasant diversion, with Jerry Goldsmith's score eminently listenable (it's fun to hear the Hour of the Gun similarities), the movie is no masterwork. Sidney Poitier should not have won Best Actor over Albert Finney that year. Oh well. Sidney's overdubbed "singing" (it obviously wasn't him) didn't endear me to the film, either.

A Patch of Blue (1965) 7/10 Much better Poitier here, with an assuredness and relaxed characterization that shows what a great screen actor this guy is. This has a great performance by Shelley Winters (Best Supporting Actress) and Elizabeth Hartman acquits herself nicely, considering she had to share the screen with those titans. A gem of a Jerry Goldsmith score. The variation of the theme when the two are making beaded necklaces is absolutely charming.

The Mechanic (1972) 7.5/10 The Mechanic is warmly nostalgic! The fact that a movie about assassins qualifies as “warm nostalgia” says just how up in the clouds I was as a kid...I guess you could say, as they do in the movie, that "I lived in my mind." I watched it when I was 13 one Saturday afternoon and was completely fascinated by it. Now, having seen it recently, I appreciate it on a whole new level. There's a scene that never left my memory all these years: when Bishop (Charles Bronson) takes McKenna (Jan-Michael Vincent) to a martial arts exhibition and discusses the concept of the "old master" and the "new master." I'd forgotten which film that came from; it turned out to be this one. I think I may be becoming obsessed with this movie, mainly because the Bronson character is sophisticated, philosophical, and a man of taste! He listens to Beethoven while plotting his next hit and admires paintings by Bosch in his Mulholland Drive home. Yes, Charles Bronson: Man of Taste. It's an interesting take on action movies. The two principals have a teacher-student relationship and I like the old master imparting his wisdom on the talented newcomer. The movie boasts a knockout of a music score, an edgy, prickly, avante-garde effort by the “other” Jerry, Jerry Fielding (1922-1980). I just paid big bucks for three CDs of his that I foolishly passed on when they were first announced. I’m dumb like that.

How Does an Obsession Begin?

This questionnaire originated over at Classic Hollywood Nerd, though the title is stolen from Movie Viewing Girl's blog. I've never been accused of NOT being a scavenger...Anyway, seeing as I could use a break from some of the long-winded stuff I’m working on, I submit for your approval:

Who was the actor/actress that you were first interested in?

Steve McQueen. While most kids my age were marveling over Star Wars and Harrison Ford, I was pretending I was McQueen’s Captain Hilts character from The Great Escape while pedaling my bike as fast as I could. My childhood “Holy Trilogy” of McQueen adventure epics were The Great Escape, The Sand Pebbles, and Papillon. That hasn’t changed! My close friends and I worshipped this guy’s movies! McQueen turned out to be a not-so nice human being, but I “judge the art, not the artist.”

Childhood Icon: Steve McQueen could do no wrong. I'm still looking for that color of sweatshirt.

How old were you when you really began watching old movies?

Five.

What was the first old movie that caught your interest?

One of the "Universal Monster movies": Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and the Abbott & Costello variations thereof. With Frankenstein being my all-time favorite. I reminisce about it here.

Who is currently your favorite actor?

I'm not tellin'!

Second place in this favorite actor category would be a revolving door policy of various 1960s actors. As Trixie once told me, “Your love of 1930s women is only overridden by your love of 1960s tough guys.” So true, but Steve McQueen, Lee Marvin, James Coburn, Burt Lancaster, Charles Bronson, and Clint Eastwood---are all jockeying for second place to ---. It's interesting to note that I haven't written about him yet...

Who is currently your favorite actress?

I guess when all is said and done I’ll take Katharine Hepburn. Any dame who can go toe-to-toe with the best actors of their respective generations (Spencer Tracy and Peter O’Toole) has got to be my favorite.

What is your favorite old movie and why?

I’m not tellin’—yet. A lengthy blog entry is in progress. Stay tuned.

How many old movies do you own? How many old movies do you have recorded/on the dvr?

Not as many as I’d like. A lot less than everyone else who's answering this! I also have a lot of 1960s-70s TV shows that compete for my attention. I don’t have a Tivo/DV-R recorder…

If you could go back in time and visit any actor/actress, who would it be?

I’d love to play poker and drink tequila late into the night in a tent in the middle of the desert with John Wayne, John Ford, Ward Bond, and the other stock cast members on the set of one of Ford's cavalry epics. Oh, the ripe conversations they must have had!

Who is one actor/actress that you want to know more about?

I’m usually disappointed when I read too much about a beloved movie star. But I’ll say Robert Ryan.

What film could you watch over and over again?

Impossible to pick just one, but if I had to live my life in a movie, it’d be as Nick Charles in a never-ending Thin Man film.

What is your favorite Hitchcock film?

B&W: Strangers on a Train
Color: North by Northwest

Who is your favorite director?

I don't think I really have one. Today, I’ll say George Cukor---but tomorrow it might be…Richard Brooks, Leo McCarey, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, John Ford, Howard Hawks...it's impossible to choose a single director.