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trudyr_1999
Reviews
Monk: Mr. Monk Takes a Vacation (2002)
Love the movie references
My favorite things about this episode: the film noir-ish jazz playing when Monk and Bronwyn have a toothpick (since they can't have cigarettes, of course), and the fact that Bronwyn keeps making references to crime movies she's seen as a basis for her detective work. "You do have nonfictional police experience, don't you?" Adrian asks. I may not be quoting verbatim, but you get the idea. Polly Draper's excellent, as is the guy who plays the hotel manager, Graham Harley. And Tony, Bitty, and Max Morrow as Benjy all deliver the goods as usual. I also love that Monk believes Benjy and supports him all the way.
Monk: Mr. Monk and the Employee of the Month (2004)
Nice insights into Monk
This is one of the best episodes for showing Monk's humanity, and it even allows him to display a sense of humor--there were some episodes where he couldn't get or tell a joke, but he's pretty witty here. In this one, his OCD is present but not exaggerated, and Joe Christie's comments show what Monk was like before the tragedy. Monk also shows compassion for Joe, who's a great character played by the fine actor Enrico Colantoni--I remember him fondly as Veronica Mars' father, Keith. The Randy subplot is hilarious, and Leland and Sharona get their moments to shine. And the two slacker employees at Mega-Mart add a lot to the comedy.
Monk: Mr. Monk Goes to the Asylum (2002)
Something of an homage to Hitchcock
I love this episode! I'm sure the writers got the idea from Hitchcock's Spellbound (and Mel Brooks's wonderful Hitchcock homage/parody, High Anxiety), but I don't mind that a bit. It isn't stealing if it's a tribute. Tony Shalhoub aces it as always, and the writing emphasizes Monk's sweetness and strength--more so than some other episodes do. Despite his fears, he comes through in the clutch, and he actually shows appreciation for Sharona! Kevin Nealon is a welcome guest star as another ex-cop with problems, and Ken Cheeseman and Dennis Boutsikaris are excellent in support. I came to the series with the later episodes, so I've seen more of Natalie than Sharona--I like Natalie a lot, but Sharona's grown on me. So I won't choose between the two of them. Bitty Schram's performance as Sharona is particularly good here. It would be nice to have seen Leland and Randy, but we have plenty of other episodes with them! Hitting "yes" on spoilers just in case.
Monk: Mr. Monk and the Other Detective (2005)
Jason Alexander is in his element
No one does a lying weasel better than Jason Alexander--one of his famous lines as George Costanza is "It's not a lie if you byou believe it." He did a great job as a George-like character, Marty Eels--a weasel, but you feel sorry for him. The Monk cast was great as usual. Tony Shalhoub did his usual good job of showing Adrian's insecurity, but then he was a big enough man to show some compassion to Eels at the end.
Kisses for My President (1964)
Just how offensive is this movie?
I had heard about this movie for years and even knew how it ended, but I decided I should finally see it for myself--it was on TCM this past weekend. As a feminist, I was prepared to be offended, but parts of the movie pleasantly surprised me. President Leslie McCloud, well played by Polly Bergen, is a strong, smart woman more than capable of handling the duties of president. And Eli Wallach is very funny as the Castro-like dictator seeking aid for his country. Today the casting of a non-Latino actor in the role wouldn't go over, but Wallach, a gifted character actor, does a good job. The character is a bit stereotypical, but hey, he's a dictator-- we're not supposed to like him. Fred MacMurray's performance is OK--I prefer him cast against type, as in Double Indemnity and The Apartment--but his "first gentleman" character is such a bumbler, until he redeems himself in the congressional hearing, that it's hard to believe he was ever a successful businessman. And Edward Andrews, like Wallach a fine character actor, is excellent as the smarmy senator who had run against McCloud. But the movie finally does a cop-out on the idea of a woman president--she has to resign because she's pregnant! So for most of the film, the script takes the idea of a woman president seriously, and shows Leslie McCloud to be a serious, intelligent, competent one, but in the end biology dictates her destiny. So yes, we needed the women's movement and still do--even in 2016, a lot of Americans wouldn't vote for a woman for president, and don't tell me sexism had nothing to do with it. One more problem: Even though the movie was made at the height of the civil rights movement, the only black character who gets notable screen time is the White House butler.
The Last Convertible (1979)
Deviates from the novel too much
I've been paging through the book recently–something I do every few years. I read it when it first came out, and it's been a favorite of mine ever since! I remember being really excited to see the miniseries and then being very disappointed in it. I guess it would be enjoyable if you hadn't read the book. I clicked "spoiler alert" just to be on the safe side, but I'll try not to be too specific in my criticisms. I'll just say so many things were changed, unnecessarily, from the novel. I know a movie or TV adaptation can't include everything that's in a book. But to change characters radically (and not for the better), add characters and subplots that weren't in the book, and have an ending that, to my mind, undercut a major premise of the book–that's just not acceptable. David O. Selznick, when he was making Gone With the Wind, told the screenwriters (there were lots of them!) that readers of a beloved book will forgive things being left out of a movie, but not things being added. He was very wise about that. There are a few book-into-film adaptations where adding some things works (Field of Dreams, in my opinion), but these are rare exceptions.
The Happy Ending (1969)
Time for the women's movement
I had to stay up late to do some work at my computer the other night, so I watched this on TCM, often my default channel. Jean Simmons was a wonderful actress who got a whole lot of projects not worthy of her talents, and the movie featured a lot of other good performers--John Forsythe, Teresa Wright, Nanette Fabray, Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges. (Singer Bobby Darin, billed here as "Robert," was decent in some movies but laughable and largely unrecognizable here as a gigolo.) And Richard Brooks made some good movies, both as director and writer. But despite all the talent involved, the film was quite frustrating. All the women are obsessed with keeping their looks so they keep their husbands, and none of them seem to be able to imagine having a career--I mean, I know feminism was considered rather radical at the time, but these women certainly needed it! Seeing them kvetch at the spa, I yelled at the TV, "Go to a NOW meeting!" (Or at least do some volunteer work to get a clue about people outside your social class.) And the unmarried woman, Shirley Jones, has not supported herself with a job but made a life as a kept woman. Granted, the professional opportunities for women were limited, but there were some...I don't think this is exactly an accurate picture of the time (I lived through it, although I was just a kid). Anyway, I got frustrated with all the whiny rich women, and also with the fact that, like a lot of movies in the 1960s, this one was trying to be somewhat "hip" but just not succeeding. Sort of the hip '60s filtered through old-Hollywood conventionality...and I love old Hollywood, but by the late '60s a new sensibility was needed. Anyway, at least Simmons got out of her rut at the end...but then, my sister, who watched most of the movie with me, thought the character really had nothing to complain about. So, two different views, but both of us had our frustrations. I do love the Michel Legrand song, so that was a plus--and I found this worth watching just to see where it went wrong!
Bell Book and Candle (1958)
A delightful and forward-looking comedy
I recently saw this movie again at a tribute to Kim Novak (with Ms. Novak herself attending, making it even better!), and I find I enjoy it more with each viewing. Something that especially struck me this time was what a modern, independent woman Gillian is--OK, she's a witch, but still...running her own business and having relationships on her own terms, pretty good for 1958! And there's the implication that her relationship with Shep is not entirely chaste--Aunt Queenie tells him that while witches aren't supposed to fall in love, "hot blood" is allowed, as she thinks he realizes! And in a wonderful line that I'm amazed made it past the censors, when Shep tells Merle that Gil is a witch, Merle replies that Shep doesn't know how to spell.
Also, the costumes by Jean Louis are absolutely fabulous, and the use of color in them is particularly interesting. Through most of the film, Gillian is dressed in black, red, or some combination thereof--her gorgeous dark red velvet backless dress for Christmas Eve; her dancing dress in black with red roses on the skirt, with matching rose-printed scarf and shoes (I covet this outfit); or her Village bohemian look of red sweater, black slacks, and bare feet with red-painted toenails. Then, at the end of the movie, she's in a white dress lined in yellow--perhaps to signal the change in her nature? (Hope she retained the independent streak!) And Shep is almost always dressed in gray (needing Gillian to bring color into his life?) and his secretary in gray or black.
Most of all, the film's about witty dialogue and terrific performances, but all these other factors make it even more delightful. Last, an interesting side note: Janice Rule, who played Merle, originated the role of Madge Owens in "Picnic" on Broadway--the role played so well by Kim Novak on film.
Divorce American Style (1967)
Ridiculously unrealistic
This movie is extremely dated and was undoubtedly unrealistic upon release, no matter how hip the filmmakers thought they were being. Husbands impoverished by alimony and child support while their ex-wives live in the lap of luxury? Please. Post-divorce, women were (and are) the ones most likely to have financial struggles, due to the continuing inequities in society, but they have also proved themselves much less dependent than the women in this movie, going to heroic heights in trying to support themselves and their children. Of course, this movie never acknowledges that maybe a divorced woman could get a job! Actually, for all its melodrama (which is enjoyable in itself), 1945's Mildred Pierce is more realistic in this regard--after Mildred and her husband split up, she goes to work as a waitress and then (you go, girl!) opens her own restaurant. At least filmmakers Lear and Yorkin dealt more intelligently with social issues a few years later in All in the Family. This movie does have an excellent cast, down to the supporting players, but they deserve better. Sitcom great Dick Van Dyke never had much luck with movies, and Jean Simmons, a wonderful actress, made few films that were worthy of her talents. Debbie Reynolds and Jason Robards, happily, were in many better movies.
The Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
An entertaining movie with a few problems
I found this film very entertaining, if implausible--the excellent performances by Jagger (what a presence!), Garcia, Coburn, Williams, Margulies, and Huston helped me suspend my disbelief. One thing bothered me, though: The writer and director didn't seem to recognize that in the past 30 years, the feminist movement has changed a few people's lives; it's no longer solely the man's responsibility to support the family, and women certainly have career ambitions of their own! Margulies's character was portrayed as having a job, but having none of the grand ambitions of her husband; Williams's character apparently was once a journalist, having met Tobias while interviewing him, but she gave that up to become a rich man's wife. So I fault the film for, in some scenes, putting forth a retrograde view of gender roles--although the male prostitution angle kind of turns these roles on their head, so that was entertainingly subversive.
T.R. Baskin (1971)
A comedy-drama with the ring of truth.
This film is in some ways a guilty pleasure--it's occasionally hokey--but I like it because it reminds me of the wonder I felt on my first few visits to Chicago (I'm a small-town girl too). I eventually moved there, staying more than a decade
before moving on to L.A.; my experience was, on the whole, much more positive than T.R.'s, but I can relate to her and to what she's going through. That's a good deal of this movie's appeal--the characters and the situations all have the ring of truth. Kudos to writer Peter Hyams and director Herbert Ross. T.R. may be lonely and lacking in direction, but she's also intelligent, feisty, and nobody's fool, and it's easy to understand how she feels as she tries to build an independent life and find personal and professional satisfaction. Candice Bergen's delivery of her lines is sometimes a bit stilted, but her performance is largely praiseworthy; so are those of the supporting cast, especially Marcia Rodd, James Caan, Peter Boyle, and Howard Platt (very convincing as a real jerk). The filmmakers also make good use of the Chicago setting, with shots of Carson's State Street store, the el, and other landmarks, and the movie's full of early-'70s atmosphere--the clothes, the music, the singles bars, and the fact that the modern women's
movement had a lot of work to do.
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
One of the best of the noirs!
This is a well-written, well-acted, thoroughly absorbing film noir. The always-great Barbara Stanwyck is at her sultriest as Martha, and Van Heflin is incredibly sexy and masculine as Sam. Watching this movie, you wouldn't think Kirk Douglas, who plays the weak-willed, alcoholic Walter, would soon become a bigger star than Heflin and play the tough, romantic hero parts like Sam Masterson. Douglas excelled at those parts, as he did with a very different type of part in this movie, but I can't help thinking that if Heflin had gotten more of those roles, he would have been just as big a star. Husky-voiced Lizabeth Scott rounds out the star foursome nicely as Toni, a wrong-side-of-the-tracks girl who's been burned by trusting the wrong men. This movie, more than most of its era, trades in shades of gray; the "bad" characters, Martha and Walter, have reasons for the evil they do, while the "good" characters, Sam and Toni, are no angels--he's a decorated war hero, but he makes his living by gambling and once killed a man in self-defense, while she just got out of jail. This complexity adds to the film's interest. The film also provides a believable depiction of small-town life; it's realistic, no Bedford Falls. The flashback portraying several of the characters as teenagers has the spark of reality as well. Highly recommended.