Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

No, I might get to it tonight. Now you have me nervous though. I'll let you know when I watch it.

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Sorry for the late reply Sean. Pay no attention to my movie dislikes, it does have it's own vibe, just wasn't my type of movie that's all. You might enjoy it.

Well Citizen I got about 45 minutes into The Trial. I probably would have finished but was interrupted by one of my boys. Now I don't know if I will finish because I really wasn't enjoying it. Extremely abstract plots like this can work on me for a short time but after a while I just get bored. Perkins is great in it though and Welles is doing some interesting stuff with perspective. That can't sustain me for two hours though.

I told Raul last night I was getting some strong Eraserhead vibes. He didn't like that because he likes Eraserhead. I hate it though. However just like The Trial it kept my interest for a few minutes. Eventually you have to move on from being so damn opaque though.

Sean, you summed up The Trial perfectly. I was interested at first but then I just got frustrated with it. Orson was really interested in experimental film making so not all of his efforts are great ones. I've never seen Eraserhead, maybe sometime I will.

If you want to see a great documentary on Orson that shows snippets of his many later film projects, check out:

Orson Welles: One-man band (1995), "an 88 minute documentary about Welles's unfinished projects."

"I have always been more interested in experiment, than in accomplishment." Orson Welles

Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Writers: Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison
Genre: Drama, Film Noir


Premise (spoiler free): Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) is an unscrupulous, two-faced press agent, he will lie, beg, cheat or promise anything to get ahead in the world. His business is promoting clients names by getting them into the newspaper column of the famous Broadway columnist, J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster). J.J. is an egoistically man who's even more unethical than Falco. J.J. wields great power and can make or break a person's life with his newspaper column. J.J. forces Sidney to do a dirty job for him...breaking up his younger sisters romance with a jazz musician...by any means possible.

Review: I love this film! The dialogue snaps and sparkles with clever-tudes. Every word spoken either drives the plot forward, or expands the characters and their story. The dialogue is fast paced, yet nothing is superfluous. Every word has it's place and every action, every scene is designed to fill in the details. The film is powered by two fine actors both at odds with each other and yet both similar in their utter lack of morals. As the story unfolds we're swept up in this amazing world of power and greed, ballyhoo and empty promises.

Burt Lancaster is amazing as J.J. Hunsecker, the power driven columnist. He's cold, cruel, intelligent and full of self importance. Lancaster really brings this role to life.


But it's Tony Curtis who gives new meaning to dimension in his portrayal of a sleazy operator who calls himself a publicity agent. He's a man who wears many faces and can work every angle. I can't image a better actor for this role than Tony Curtis. Despite how low his character goes and what he's willing to do to the people around him....he's still likable.


The Sweet Smell of Success cinematographer is the celebrated James Wong Howe. Each camera shot is composed to enhance the story. The cinematography never gets in the way of the film. The music score is hot jazz, deep, moody and dangerous. It sets the feel of the movie from the very start of the title credits.

I've seen only a few films that I would deem flawless.
The Sweet Smell of Success is one of them.




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I liked Sweet Smell of Success too. Maybe not as much as you did, but it's a very good movie.

I'm noticing that every time I watch a movie with Tony Curtis that I haven't seen before, I like him more and more.

Tony Curtis is very dynamic. I haven't seen too many movies of his. I seen the one with Jack Lemmon, Some Like it Hot? I seen him in a Harry Houdini movie as a kid that left an impression! What have you seen him in?

This was the second time I watched The Sweet Smell of Success, I even liked it more this time.

I always remembered him from the Harry Houdini movie. I think it may have been the first movie with him that I saw, so it left an impression on me too.

I saw Some Like it Hot a long time ago, but I don't remember much about it. I'll probably re-watch it again soon.

I recently saw him in Who Was That Lady?, The Rat Race, Captain Newman, M.D., Goodbye Charlie, and Sex and the Single Girl.

I looked those up, most look like comedies. I will have to watch some of them.

I've only seen him in a few :
Operation Petticoat, Some Like It Hot, The Defiant Ones ( I think?), Spartacus and Houdini.

I saw Spartacus, but it wasn't really my type of movie.

Boeing Boeing is on my 1965 watchlist, but I don't really like Jerry Lewis, so I don't have high hopes for the movie.

Watch The Boston Strangler.

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Thanks Honeykid, never heard of it. I see it has Henry Fonda too, he's always good.

I looked it up, and it stars Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. I'll give it a try.

Let me know if the movie is really dark. Because I don't think my wife will like the film, but if you're OK with it, she probably will be too.

It may be a while before I have time to watch it, but I'll let you know.

That's OK, I have a back log of like a zillion movies to watch anyway.

BTW I watched The Worlds Fastest Indian, I liked it! My wife really liked it too. It's a neat movie and I'm glad you mentioned it.

The World's Fastest Indian (2005)

Director: Roger Donaldson
Writer: Roger Donaldson
Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Diane Ladd, Iain Rea
Genre: Biography Drama

Premise (spoiler free): A heart warming biography of a New Zealand man, Burt Munru (Anthony Hopkins) and his life long dream of setting a land speed record on his 1920 Indian Scout. A motorcycle that he modified on a shoe string budget for high speed racing, over many years.

Review: Don't think this is a 'racing' movie it's not. It's based on a real and very colorful person Burt Munru, aptly played by Anthony Hopkins. Most of the film shows Burt trying to get his home made racing motorcycle from a small New Zealand town, to the dry salt lake beds of Bonneville Flats. The film takes place in 1962.

When I watched this movie I thought for sure the character was made more lively for the movies. After watching it, I seen a documentary on the real Burt Munru and was impressed with just how much of the real man ends up in the film. Many of the colorful sayings spoken by Anthony Hopkins were said word for word by the real Burt Munru. Burt really was this gun-ho.

The movie shows us a panacea of scenes from 1962. We go from a small quaint town in New Zealand, to the colorful Sunset strip of Hollywood, to tiny road side diners and finally ending up at Bonneville for Speed Week.

If you love true to life, colorful characters and road trips, you'll love this movie. If you want to see some vintage 1960s racing at Bonneville, it's here to. If you want to see a rewarding, well made film, The World's Fastest Indian, might just be the ticket.

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The Set-Up (1949)

Director: Robert Wise
Writer: Art Cohn
Cast: Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias
Genre: Film Noir Sports Drama

Premise (spoiler free): A down and out aging boxer, Stoker (Robert Ryan) refuses to give up on his boxing career. His wife Julie (Audrey Totter) fears for his health and wants him to quit. A corrupt gambler bets heavily that Stoker will be knocked out in the next match and pays Stoker's boxing manager Tiny (George Tobias) to make sure the match is fixed. Tiny has such little faith in Stoker's boxing ability he doesn't even bother to tell the boxer to take a dive.

Review: Everything that I covered in the premise takes place in the first few minutes on the film. The Set-Up uniquely takes place in real time and covers 73 minutes from just before the boxing match to the minutes following the outcome. At the start of the movie a clock shows 9:05PM, at the end of the movie the same clock shows 10:16PM, (the other 2 minutes are for screen credits.)

The Set-Up is an early film noir directed by Robert Wise. What makes this film special is it's starkness. What you see is almost docudrama style and well done. The films focuses on just one event...the set-up in the boxing ring and it's final outcome.

Boxing fans should like this movie, but it offers much more than boxing. Robert Ryan takes what could be a two dimensional character and gives him soul. We see that Stoker is hopeful and we see that he knows he's one of the down and out boxers, with little hope. Audrey Totter also deserves credit for keeping her portrayal real. The scene with her standing at the freeway overpass, shows her skill as an actress. But that scene and others should also be credited to Robert Wise who understood the maxim 'less is more'.

The Set-Up is not a well known film noir but it should be.

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I doubt anyone has seen my next upcoming review. But as I'm trying to review everything I watch, it's coming up....

Das blaue Licht 'The Blue Light' (1932)

Director: Leni Riefenstahl
Writers: Béla Balázs,Leni Riefenstahl
Cast: Leni Riefenstahl, Mathias Wieman
Language: German


At one time Leni Riefenstahl was considered the world's greatest woman director. That was before her association with members of the Nazi party lead to her being blacklisted. The Blue Light was her first film and it's easy to see why she was so well respected as a director/cinematographer. Her attention to artistic cinematography and details gives the film an ethereal quality.

Leni insisted on shooting on location, high in the Dolomite mountains. The climbing scenes in the movie were done on location and are real. The stunts are breath taking. Much of the appeal of this film is in it's naturalistic beauty of the scenery and how it's presented on film.

The Blue Light is shot essential like a silent film with very little dialogue. The soundtrack was not recorded on location but was synced back at the studio. The music score for the movie fits seamlessly with the romantic-tragic tale of Junta a mountain girl who knows the secret of the blue light which shines from the mountain top during the full moon. The superstitious villagers are afraid of Junta and the blue light, they consider her an outcast and drive her away.

There are two version of this, a silent film version with poor video quality and the original German language film which has better video quality.

The Blue Light certainly has a place in film history. The story is compelling. The music score and especially the cinematography is amazing. Leni pioneered many cinema techniques. Her use of special lighting, lens filters, diffusion mist and creative angles are legendary.

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