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Jane Russell: More Than Just a Brunette Among 'Blondes'

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 28th 2011 11:59PM
Filed under: Features
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Let's get this out in the open: Jane Russell had breasts. The actress, who passed away yesterday at the age of 89, famously debuted in 'The Outlaw,' a movie whose notorious reputation exceeded its actual content by tenfold. The original poster revealed too much of Russell's cleavage to please the Production Code Administration, which kept the film out of theaters for years. (Completed in 1941, it received a brief, limited release in 1943 and did not receive national release until 1950.)

As a bookend, she became famous to a generation of young men through her bra commercials in the 70s and 80s. Perhaps it's no wonder, then, that the first reports of her death provoked a ripple of cheap jokes on Twitter, as though the only reason that she should be remembered is because she was a woman and she had a full figure.

But such a stand betrays a woeful ignorance of both cinema history and her place in it. And it diminishes her attributes as a screen personality and star, a woman who was always warm and vivacious and strong.
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Actors We Miss: Steve McQueen

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 25th 2011 6:00PM
Filed under: Features, Cinematical
The Getaway

Actors We Miss is a weekly column that celebrates the career of a notable star who's passed off the scene. Look for it every Friday night.
"Punch it, baby!"
As with any smart, modern-day helping of motorized mayhem, 'Drive Angry 3D,' which stars Nicolas Cage and opens wide today, pays tribute to the great car chase pictures in history. That includes the hill-jumping, fender-bending, pedestrian-frightening thrill ride through the streets of San Francisco in 'Bullitt'... and there any comparisons between the new (Cage) and the old (Steve McQueen) must stop.

For one thing, McQueen did his own driving in 'Bullitt' and he was never angry. He was always cool under pressure; when he lost his temper on screen, it was apparent in the tightening of his facial features and the straightening of his posture. More often, he communicated disappointment with others or frustration with himself, rather then boiling anger. He exercised self-control; his emotions flowed most often from his eyes.

He cut a great, supremely focused, figure on two or four wheels, stealing away from Nazis in 'The Great Escape,' chasing killers in 'Bullitt,' enduring 24 hours in a race car in 'Le Mans,' riding motorcycles for sheer pleasure in 'On Any Sunday.' Even when he wasn't behind the wheel, he controlled the vehicle, as in 'The Getaway,' where, sitting in the passenger seat as his wife Ali MacGraw drives, urges her to "punch it, baby!" during a frenzied flight from the authorities.

After the jump: His early iconic roles; man in a three-piece suit; "forgotten" flicks; films with Sam Peckinpah; McQueen vs. Newman; the McQueen legacy; plus video clips!
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Best in Blu-ray: 'Sweet Smell,' 'Get Low,' 'All-Star Superman,' '48 Hrs.'

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 22nd 2011 1:35PM
Filed under: Features, Columns, Cinematical, Blu-ray DVDs
Sweet Smell of Success

Best in Blu-ray sifts through the week's new releases, recommending titles for both the Blu-ray veteran and newbie, and reporting on the most intriguing rental. Look for it every Tuesday.

For Blu-ray Vets:

'Sweet Smell of Success'

What It's About: A powerful entertainment columnist abuses the weakness of a desperate press agent to break up his sister's romance. With Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.

New Features: Audio commentary by film scholar James Naremore, 46-minute documentary on director Alexander Mackendrick, 22-minute feature on cinematographer James Wong Howe, video interviews with Neil Gabler on Walter Winchell and James Mangold on Mackendrick

Transfer/Audio: "Looks highly remarkable - a magnificent transfer," according to Gary Tooze at DVD Beaver.

Replay Value: As corrosive and cynical as it is, 'Sweet Smell' rewards multiple viewings. For one thing, it affords the opportunity to appreciate the acid-laced dialogue in the script by Ernest Lehman, a one-time press agent himself who knew a thing or two about the dynamics of power and persuasion, as well as the gorgeous black-and-white photography.

More than one viewing also allows you to soak in the brutal performances by Burt Lancaster as the cold, manipulative, merciless columnist and Tony Curtis as the self-loathing press agent, as well as the eternal questions the film raises: What price ambition? Does power always corrupt? What place, if any, does morality have in the marketplace?

Further reading: Our own David Ehrlich reviewed the film in his Criterion Corner a few days ago.
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'Brotherhood' Examines the Dark Side of Fraternities

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 17th 2011 2:35PM
Filed under: Movie News, Cinematical
Brotherhood

It ain't 'Old School.' Rather than celebrate the oft-demeaning, sometimes out-of-control pledge rituals of college fraternities, indie thriller 'Brotherhood' begins with screaming, shouting and sheer panic. We're shoved blindfolded into a van along with three young pledges, who are facing the dark side of an insanely intense initiation. One by one, the pledges are given a gun and told to rob a convenience store. Very quickly, the prank goes horribly wrong, and the frat brothers careen from one crisis to the next, testing the limits of brotherly bonding as they desperately try to dodge the authorities.

'Brotherhood' won Audience Awards at SXSW and the Dallas International Film Festival last year and will be available via Video On Demand systems nationwide starting on Friday. It opens theatrically in Dallas on Friday (it was filmed nearby in Arlington) and in Los Angeles next week. The cast includes Jon Foster as the bullying frat leader (pictured above, left), Trevor Morgan as a conscience-stricken pledge (pictured above, right), Lou Taylor Pucci as a very trusting pledge, and Arlen Escarpeta as a convenience store clerk who gets caught up in the madness.

Director Will Canon, who also wrote the script with Doug Simon, insists that he doesn't have anything against fraternities. He's had friends who loved the experience and others who had the opposite reaction. "It just depends on the people," he says. Pucci relates that a lot of his friends have gone through similar experiences as those depicted in the film; one was branded by his fraternity.
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Best in Blu-ray: 'Last Tango,' 'President's Men,' 'Network,' 'Rain Man,' 'Summer Wars'

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 15th 2011 9:20AM
Filed under: Features, Columns, Cinematical, Blu-ray DVDs
Last Tango in Paris

Best in Blu-ray sifts through the week's new releases, recommending titles for both the Blu-ray veteran and newbie, and reporting on the most intriguing rental. Look for it every Tuesday.

For Blu-ray Vets:

'Last Tango in Paris'

What It's About: A man, a woman, an empty apartment and a stick of butter. With Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

New Features: None; only a trailer is included.

Transfer/Audio: "The film is more akin to loss and pain and the image is meant to reflect the emotional response," says Gary Tooze at DVD Beaver. "This Blu-ray exports the film's painterly qualities as strongly as possible." Jeffrey Wells wrote at Hollywood Elsewhere, "I loved the look of this disc. I've never seen 'Tango' look better."

Replay Value: Limited. On a superficial level, 'Last Tango' is neither romantic nor sexy; the characters are unhappy and desperate, the visuals dark and gloomy. On closer examination, it's still not what anyone would call "an easy watch." It puts you through an emotional wringer, and you tend to come out feeling battered and torn.

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times recently observed, "What's striking about the film, beyond that it was an American (X-rated and then R) hit, beyond Brando's beauty and Ms. Schneider's too-tender youth, is its blissfully un-self-conscious sexism, its celebration of maudlin masculinity and warmed-over crazy chick clichés."
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Best in Blu-ray: 'Amarcord,' 'Thelma & Louise,' 'River Runs,' 'Repo Chick'

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 8th 2011 7:00PM
Filed under: Columns, Cinematical, Blu-ray DVDs
Amarcord

Best in Blu-ray sifts through the week's new releases, recommending titles for both the Blu-ray veteran and newbie, and reporting on the coolest special feature and most intriguing rental. Look for it every Tuesday.

For Blu-ray Vets:

'Amarcord'

What It's About: Federico Fellini's Academy Award-winning film refracts his childhood through a lifetime of experience, spinning a yarn about a year in the life of a small town.

New Features: Extras from the 2006 Criterion Collection DVD edition are carried over to their new Blu-ray version, along with the 66-page booklet, which includes an essay by film scholar Sam Rohdie and Fellini's essay on his home town.

Transfer/Audio: "Any distracting artifacts prevalent on the SD transfers are eliminated," says Gary W. Tooze of DVD Beaver. "Overall, I expect this is as good as Fellini's 'Amarcord' will ever look for your home theater indulgence."

Replay Value: In his original 1974 review, Roger Ebert placed 'Amarcord' in the context of Fellini's career, feeling that it marked his return to "the very top of his form. ... A totally accessible film. It deals directly, hilariously, and sometimes poignantly with the good people of this small town." More recently, Jeffrey M. Anderson at Combustible Celluloid observed: "Ultimately, what's so surprising about this film is just how loose and effortlessly enjoyable it is, despite all its ideas and images. It's one of the director's very best."

If you've never seen 'Amarcord,' now is the time to catch up and marvel. And if you have seen it, the Blu-ray looks like a splendid upgrade.
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Best in Blu-ray: 'All About Eve,' 'Pleasantville,' 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Monsters'

By Peter Martin (Subscribe to Peter Martin's posts), Posted Feb 1st 2011 4:00PM
Filed under: Features, Columns, Cinematical, Blu-ray DVDs
All About Eve

'Best in Blu-ray' sifts through the week's new releases, recommending titles for both the Blu-ray veteran and newbie, and reporting on the coolest special feature and most intriguing rental. Look for it every Tuesday.

For Blu-ray Vets:

'All About Eve'

What It's About: Hiding in a cloak of innocence, ambitious Eve (Anne Baxter) sets her sights on possessing all that Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) holds dear.

New Features: Promotions for Davis and Baxter, plus a "26-page Digibook with essays and photo case," per DVD Beaver. Nearly all of the special features from the 2-disc special edition on DVD are carried over, save for the restoration comparison.

Transfer/Audio: "Looks fabulous," says DVD Beaver. "Very film-like ... I was expecting it to improve beyond the DVDs, but not this much. I think many fans will swoon."

Replay Value: Backstage theatrical dramas are a tough sell for some, so what if we called the script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also directed, the 1950 version of Quentin Tarantino, only without the profanity and meta-cultural references?

That doesn't quite cut it, because 'All About Eve' is more daring, in that its "heroine" is not terribly likable and its "villain" seems so sweet and natural. (And the man who saves the day is a critic played by George Sanders.) The dialogue slashes through all the characters; it's terribly well-written and terribly well-spoken. Somehow the superficial nature and pretenses of the theater -- and by extension, the world of cinema -- is shattered by someone who's standing nearby to pick up the pieces. So, yes, multiple replays are rewarded.
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