daryl42 Reviews

The Rockford Files: Irving the Explainer (1977) Season 4, Episode 8

How did they fit all this into 49 minutes

[8/10 · 26 July 2021]

I don't usually review things here but I watched this last night and at the end I was completely slack jawed, probably the strangest television episode I've ever seen.

As others have commented, it has EVERYTHING. A Phd student in logic, two(!) deathbed confessions, two sets of people chasing Rockford including an Olympic wrestler!

I did realize as I was watching it that it was a parody of a cliched Hollywood mystery (a la Maltese Falcon) but also of some of the complicated Rockford episodes where he has a girl in trouble and we find the mob and FBI both chasing him. But what makes it work for me is that it is not played as a joke, it is played completely seriously. Just step back and watch some of the scenes as Rockford and his Phd student run through the whole scenario or as the French policemen explain (or try to explain) the whole thing. They must have laughed themselves silly making this episode.

And directed by James Coburn. This is weird but I admire the courage to make it.

Easy to Wed (1946)

Lucy can't hold a candle

[9 May 2003]

Lucy obviously had her talents (though I'm not much of a fan of her television stuff) and she has a few good scenes here. But watching her do the big blow up speech at the end word for word the same as Jean Harlow, we see she had nowhere near the talent as Harlow. Harlow did that scene with such humanity and timing. This had none of that.

I almost never see the reason for remakes, very few are anywhere near as good as the original and this is a great example. Watch the original, much better.

The Gay Bride (1934)

nice little film

[5 February 2003]

Carole Lombard is great, it's somewhat forgotten how good she was at delivering the one liners. She gets off some good ones as the golddigging chorus line girl who marries a gangster. The fact that the life expectancy of a gangster is short only complicates her plans. The film goes a off the rails when she falls for one of them. It would have been more fun to watch her carry on as she had but she is still worth watching. Zazu Pitts in a funny supporting role.

Lady for a Day (1933)

Pierre

[24 January 2003]

All the women are going into the bedroom to fix up the bag lady, hairdressers, manicurists, etc. One man is with the bunch. As he goes in, the head guy says "Hey, he can't go in there." The moll says "Oh, he's OK". The guys looks over, shrugs and says, the word dripping from his lips "Pierre". One of the funniest scenes in movies and one of my favorite one line deliveries.

Otherwise, a funny, sweet film. Seems more naive than the remake which makes it work better.

The Badlanders (1958)

Not a bad caper western

[19 November 2002]

Toward the end, there is a scene that I recognized almost word for word from a similar scene in The Asphalt Jungle, then I realized that the whole thing is a close approximation. The family man safe cracker is the family man "powder monkey", the heavy Borgine is the thug Sterling Hayden (with their girlfriends of questionable repute), the financiers with their bought lawmen and molls are the same, the caper is similar. This one is a bit more lightweight than the former.

Maybe it would have worked better as a noir in B&W but not a bad film.

Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl (1999 TV Movie)

Good documentary, but read David Stenn's book

[27 May 2002]

This is a good look at Clara. It is a very brief overview of her life, particularly her private life. Too bad there are very few people left who knew her, the interviews are sparse and not totally satisfying. I would have liked to hear more from her son (and wonder why her other son wasn't interviewed).

David Stenn's book covers her life in much more detail. I appreciate the opportunity to see rare footage and clips from unavailable films, but to understand the story of her life, read the book.

There are many tragic lives and many sad stories in Hollywood. Clara Bow, in my estimation, is one of the saddest stories in Hollywood, a truly tragic life. We can be grateful that she was able to give us a few years of marvelous films.

Saratoga (1937)

Mostly trivia

[23 May 2002]

Not a great movie, it doesn't have the expected chemistry between Gable and Harlow, but many bits of trivia connected with it. It was released as I understand it after public pressure for another look at her. It ended up being her most financially successful film. I think that the cigar scene is one of her best, most understated comic moments.

I don't know of another film finished after its star's death like this. For that alone it is a curiosity. The added footage is very obvious, comical yet macabre. And the ongoing bit about her being sick is equally macabre.

As for the trivia, you have one of Lionel Barrymore's last ambulatory roles; longtime MGM contractee Walter Pidgeon in his first MGM role; Hattie McDaniel singing; The Wizard of Oz having breakfast with the Wicked Witch of the West; and Clark Gable playing probably the only nice bookie in the history of the movies (sort of nice, to Harlow's father at least).

For Harlow at her best, go with Personal Property, Red Dust or Bombshell, but watch this for the trivia.

Legends of the Fall (1994)

a Brad Pitt vanity project

[21 December 2001]

A Brad Pitt vanity project. That is the most important thing to understand about this film. It ALL revolves around BP and how pretty he is.

I saw this film in the theatre when it came out and wouldn't dare waste my time watching it again, so I'm surely rusty on some of the details. I can't review specific passages. Hell, the damn thing went on so long, I'm not sure I can even remember much of the plot (BP grows up, BP saves his brother in the war, BP get hot for his brother's wife, BP goes to sea, BP marries an injun, BP.... whatever).

I knew this was going to be a long ride a few minutes into it. Julia Ormand gets off the train, meets the boys and the father. She says, oh where's so and so (BP), and someone says "here he comes (or something)" and BP comes riding up in slow motion (at least I remember it as SM), long hair flowing, looking pretty as a picture.

The other thing I remember about this film is that when BP went off to sea on his big adventure (to find his soul or whatever it was), he finally returns looking just as pretty as when he left. He doesn't look a day older or day more mature. He doesn't act as if he found anything that he was looking for.

The he marries the Indian. Of course against all advice and propriety, he couldn't do it if it didn't. And we see coming from the next county the big scene allowing BP to emote (glad to see from another reviewer that someone got a laugh out of it except me, my audience was all chicks, sobbing was heard all around).

This was a project that BP chose for himself to make him look good, lots of shirtless scenes, bigger than life posing and the opportunity to portray a character that got eaten by a bear. What more can a pretty boy actor ask for?

I'm afraid I was rude to the people around me when I saw this, I hooted, snickered, laughed at the whole thing.

Suspicion (1941)

The ending spoils a great Hitchcock

[19 December 2001]

I saw this years ago and always remembered it as not a very good Hitchcock film. Seeing it again, I see that it is actually a very good film that has the wrong ending. Anyone who thinks it is the correct ending must look at all of Hitch's other films to see that that is not the way he ends his films. What I would like for an ending would be either a Notorious type ending, maybe the mystery writer saving her or "Shadow of a Doubt" ending, fighting over the cliff. Actually, as I think of it, it could be a "Saboteur" or "Northwest", hanging over the white cliffs of Dover or something. In Truffaut's interview with Hitchcock he says that he wanted a scene of Cary Grant bringing a glass of poisoned milk to Joan as she is writing to her mother saying that she knows he is a killer. Apparently, that milk scene was intended to be the final scene. A lesser Hitchcock, but only because the ending is wrong. Otherwise, it could be up there with Notorious.

Julia Misbehaves (1948)

not bad, not good

[6/10 · 21 February 2000]

Greer long wanted to do a comedy and finally got her chance. This one misfires frequently, the jokes just don't quite hit and the ending is really lacking.

But there are reasons to see this one. Greer doing the acrobat number is worth the price of admission; getting over on Nigel Bruce is lots of fun; some witty scenes with Ceasar Romero are probably the best in the film.

Not her best, not her worst. But she looks beautiful in this one.