Director Dissection with Seanc and Rauldc

This one was a pretty uneven watch for me. At times I thought it was fantastic and at times I thought it was pretty shallow and rather unengaging. Mostly when I was unengaged is when we are seeing the blossoming romance. Everything involving the dam and the taking over of the land was well done and thematically resonate for me. There is a very interesting tug of war between progress and stepping on people's freedoms. There are no easy answers and both sides of the argument are given a fair shake. Not only are they given a fair shake, but I would say both sides make very compelling arguments and come off as very sympathetic.

Montgomery does a good job. I never love him but find that I usually settle into his characters pretty well. Probably could say the same for Remick, although I think I like her a bit more than him overall. The problem is their romance. It seems to derail what is otherwise very compelling and adult problems with a dough eyed high school type romance. This becomes even more apparent to me when the relationship between Montgomery and Remick's current boyfriend becomes way more compelling to me then the romance I am supposed to care about.

This film had a little of a hometown feel for me which was rather cool as well. TVA is the biggest energy company in our area and I know a couple guys that work for them. Although this is a fictitious town the movie was filmed in Bradley County which is only about 40 minutes north of where I live. A very small thing to latch onto, but it is always kind of cool to feel like a story is taking place in your neck of the woods. Especially when you are used to living in small places.

Overall I enjoyed this a bit more than Gentleman's Agreement, but it is in the lower tier of the Kazan films I have seen so far.

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I enjoyed it a bit more than you, but yes it's tier 2.

I'll do my wrap up tomorrow night Sean.

I really enjoyed our time with Kazan. I have now seen 7: Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, East Of Eden, A Face In The Crowd, The Wild River, and A Gentleman's Agreement. That's a pretty good lineup folks. I like them all to varying degrees, really love the top three, and feel the next two on the list could become greats in my mind as well. I don't know that I see big time auteurism in these films, but that is probably not fair to Kazan who simply tells great stories. That's what I clung to the most through his films. He picked projects that were great thematically. I also think he does a tremendous job casting. If anyone thinks casting Brando, Dean, Peck, and Malden are no brainers, you have a fair point. However consider how great Andy Griffith is in A Face In The Crowd and how against type he is in that film. Add that to the fact that he was never really a film star and I think it is pretty evident Kazan knew exactly what he was doing casting his characters and probably had a lot to do with how great Brando and Malden came to be. Great director and one it is going to be very hard not to mention when talking about my favorites.

Best Film: Streetcar Named Desire

Best Male Performance: Wanted to go a different route because it is so obvious, and there are so many great male performances in his films. However, I'm lying to myself if I don't say Brando/ Streetcar

Best Female Performance: Another tough choice but Dorothy Maguire/Tree In Brooklyn

Best Cinematography: I have mentioned in a couple reviews that I don't always find his cinematography exceptional, which usually mans flashy I guess. I really like his use of shadow and space though. Saying all that East Of Eden stands out for some very cool shots and that swing scene.

Best Supporting Performance: Gotta be Malden/On The Waterfront. There are some female supporting performances that are really good but Malden is a cut above.

Best Screenplay: On The Waterfront and A Tree Grows In Brooklyn are great scripts but one of the top five scripts ever for me is A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Scene: Wow this is tough as well. I really love that stroll in the park with Brando and Saint in On The Waterfront

Wild River (1960)

There's many scenes in Wild River that I love, and some scenes that don't work for me. By far my favorite story element was the old ladies homestead, that was about to be flooded. I like the way her home was set on an island and when Montgomery Clift goes there it's like we're transported to another world. I guess that's called world building, and it's something I look for in films. It's like visiting another place that seems to have it's own set of rules, apart from the norm. And that appeals to me.

Jo Van Fleet as the old cantankerous matriarchal, creates one helluva powerful character. She's both fiercely stubborn and proud and yet there's a sensitive side there too. I can understand why she does what she does. In some ways she's like Stanley in Streetcar, with her duality.

I thought the secondary story of the black sharecroppers and their plight and view on the world was interesting and added a lot. However I don't think the town's bully who beats up Clift, was that necessary to the story. My least favorite scene is when the angry towns folks surround Lee Remick's cabin and overturn the car. The whole confrontation with the crowd seemed contrived to create drama and not organic to the storyline.

Monty Clift is a favorite actor of mine and I think he had the right personality to play the reluctant city man, who has to kick these country folk out of their homes. I liked the scene where he gets drunk and goes to the homestead to confront Jo Van Cleft. I don't think Clift had any chemistry with Lee Remick. I read that Kazan couldn't get the love-seduction scene in the cabin to come out right. So Kazan had Remick instigate the romantic seduction scene, with Clift being pensive about it.

I liked Lee Remick in this and I liked her story of an outsider living under the thumb of the old lady. I thought her character's coming of age was done well.

I'm glad you guys like the movie to some degree.

This has been great, guys! I'm glad I could join in on the fun Elia Kazan is probably my favorite director and I learned so much more about him by participating in the Directors Dissection.

I enjoyed revisiting the films and watching the DVD interviews with Kazan.


Best Film: This is hard! So many great films, East of Eden

Personal Favorite Film: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I love the bitter sweet sentimentally of the film.

Best Male Performance: Tie...James Dean in East of Eden and Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront

Best Female Performance: Jo Van Fleet in Wild River

Best Cinematography: Sea of Grass, had a lot of nice shots.

Best Supporting Performance: Peggy Ann Garner in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Best Screenplay: Tie: On the Waterfront, Face in the Crowd

Best Scene: East of Eden when Cal tries to give his father the money he's earned and his father rebukes him.

Yes, this was a great dissection guys! I think we completed it at a really good pace too which really helped things flow smoothly!

Kazan certainly has a chance to be a top 10 director for me.

These are the right films I've seen from him:
A Face in the Crowd
Splendor in the Grass
Streetcar Named Desire
East of Eden
Wild River
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
On the Waterfront
Gentleman's Agreement

Best Film: On the Waterfront

Best Male Performance: By a nose, I would probably say Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. But James Dean in East of Eden is very, very close.

Best Female Performance: Eva Marie Saint easily

Best Cinematography: A Streetcar Named Desire

Best Supporting Performance: well, I already picked Saint so it would cheating to pick her again. So I'm picking Peggy Ann Gardner here in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Best Screenplay: let's go with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Still very happy I picked this film for the dissection.

Best Scene: On the Waterfront ending scene.

I probably won't watch a Kazan anytime soon again, but I must get to Baby Doll and Panic in the Streets soon!

Up next will be a double billing: Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton!

An invite has been sent out for another Mofo to dissect with Sean and I!

My three picks for this dissection will be:

The General

The Cameraman

The Kid

The General is one of my favorite Silents and the other two are two that I have needed to get to for awhile now!

+1 for Buster Keaton. I'll pop in once in a while.

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I've only seen one from both; The General and City Lights. Might watch a few of them.

Spanking the Monkey is good. And it won't make you blind or your palms hairy. Strong indie debut for Russell. I like it much more than Three Kings. Much.

Took me a couple years to respond, but I responded anyway.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Still haven't seen Spanking the Monkey

It appears I am taking the tact that if it shows up on Netflix I will check it out byt I probably won't be seeking it out. Didn't watch Accidental Love either. Guess I'm not a real fan boy.

I have been waiting for Cob to respond till we get the next directors rolling. If he doesn't respond by tomorrow I will start. People can joun in anytime anyway of course. If anyone is really interested in doing all the watches with us and putting forward three films, let us know.

I'm gonna try and watch a few of them, i can't promise i'll be able to get to any of them nevermind them all tho or i'd join you guys.

Are you announcing your 3 picks Sean?

Yeah, I will say I'm choosing Modern Times, Limelight, and Steamboat Bill Jr.

I will say I'm going to start today!

What have you seen Sean?

City Lights, The Kid, Gold Rush, Great Dictator, Sherlock Jr., and The General. Pretty sure that's it. You seen a bunch?