Director Dissection with Seanc and Rauldc

I feel like a slacker here, but no worries I won't let you guys down

Take your time. This went pretty quickly.

__________________
Letterboxd

This was really bad for me. The narration, and the writing overall just made this film a drag. When the writing is this bad nothing else rings true for me and that was the case here. From the first meeting in the first scene of the film's two protagonists I knew I was in trouble. I believe this film wanted to be as humorous as it is adventurous but it just didn't hit me that way. The comedy is not broad, it is a character driven film but because the humor doesn't work, the rest doesn't either.

After watching a film I almost always go to letterboxd to see what the users there think about it. I ran across the following review from one of the smartest Mofos I have had the pleasure of interacting with, and one I wish would come back to us. Bluedeed said of the film, "Is there any other director for which violence is such a unifying action between men? Violence, unlike so many other films, constructs the utopia rather than destroys it. The sense of physical understanding that comes with violence creates an intimate link between men." This is proof to me that if you are intelligent enough, which Bluedeed certainly is, you can make any film sound like a masterpiece because I really don't think this film is saying anything profound about masculinity or violence. If it is asserting those things in the subtext it needed to do a much better job in the text to make it resonate. The violence is just laughable here, like an episode of Bonanza. People are constantly hitting each other but there are never any consequences to those actions at all.

Very frustrating film to watch for me. This was my last watch for this round and my tenth Hawks overall. He is certainly a mixed bag for me but a director I am glad to have explored a bit. I will do my rankings and ratings after you guys are done.

To Have And Have Not (1944)

I just read both of your guys write-ups and you know what? I agree with both of you. I really liked this one, I'd give it a +

Like Raul said, I too thought Bogie and Bacall were magic on the screen...so was Eddie (Walter Brennan), I really like him in general and here he had a lot of heart...and that was important as it made me care about his character. I loved the dialogue in this movie, it's so rich. We really spend a lot of time hanging out with Harry, Slim and Eddie and not a lot of movies dedicate so much time to casual conversation. It's like the characters are our personal friends and we're along for the ride.

But like Sean said, there's not much tension, it's a cake walk for Boogie and I think that's because the writers William Faulkner-the great American novelist and Jules Furthman, put their focus on developing Bogie, Bacall and Brennan's characters, and not on scene development or plot tension. The story itself isn't that exciting but for me that's OK, as I like movies that are low key and light on tension. I was happy to hang out in this 'other world' of Martinique.

Once again Howard Hawks makes great looking sets! I loved the boat at the dock and the city. That looked so real to me, I don't know if it was but it sure looked good.

My favorite scene was after the French wife faints during the bullet removal and Boogie picks her up in his arms and carries her out of the room. When he's out of sight of the others, he pauses and looks at her in his arms, and you know what he's thinking.....Then, in comes Bacall and says in her insulate tone,
"What are you trying to do, guess her weight?"

Ha, I love that, it was so human of her to say that. And that's why the interaction between Bogie and Bacall works so well here.

Attachments

 

I did see The Big Sky Wednesday. I'll get a write up soon. It's a bummer Sean didn't like it.

I tried to watch that last night, but the video quality was so bad that at times I couldn't even make out the actors faces. I'll try another copy of it.

Was it the one the auroravid one? I thought that copy was fine, the vidto one was terrible though. If it was the auroravid one i can send another.

I tried the aurora one last night. At least I'm almost positive that was it, though I will double check it. But I also got the other now. I'll watch it one way or another!

Nah you're right actually. I only looked at the start of it and it looked fine but i skipped ahead and it's bad, the vidto one is even worse. If the other one doesn't work i can find a few others.

I'll give the other one a go tonight, it's a bigger file so maybe it will look better.

The Big Sky (1952)

I wasn't a big fan of this one. Though it does do a lot of things right...which I'll get to, but first my dislikes.

I really hated the character of Boone (Dewey Martin), he rubbed me the wrong way. I don't know if it was more the actor's fault? or how the part was written? But whatever the reason, Boone stunk up the movie. I even hated his hair! Which looked like Frankie Avalon from a surf movie.

The opening scene with the happy-go-lucky fist fight between Boone and Jim (Kirk Douglas) was daft!...And the film lost me right there. I don't believe a rough and tumble fur trapper like Kirk Douglas finds it amusing to be smashed in the jaw, then gets up with a smile on his face, only to be smashed again, and still smiles about it?

Then seconds later it's hugs for everyone, like fighting is such a manly, male bonding sport. Same thing happened in the jail too. No motivation for a fight, no consequences. That's the same stupid idea that John Ford throws into some of his movies, which keeps me from being a big fan of his.

Liked: Once again Howard Hawks puts great effort into building a world that looks real. Hot damn! that was a real boat going down the river and those mountains were the Tetons. Very impressive outdoor cinematography.

Also to the movies credit the Indians were portrayed pretty fairly, well except the toothless & crazy Poordevil, that was a lame Indian caricature...but mostly the encounters with the Blackfoot and the Crow were well done and the Indians were presented as people and not moving targets, like so many other films do.

Couldn't agree more Citizen.

Not even a little bit. I saw some Friedkin comparisons on Letterboxd. I don't think it had enough atmosphere to deserve those comparisons.

I'll review The Big Sky tomorrow but I will say I did enjoy it, so at least one of the 3 of us did.

Interesting. Wonder if there is something to the Ford connection Citizen mentioned. I have yet to connect with a Ford film and I know you mostly love jim.

The Big Sky



It did almost seem like a Ford film, which was obviously something that struck me and enticed me to liking the film. The biggest thing for me was that I liked Kirk Douglas' character. I also enjoy Arthur Hunnicuts acting. I really liked the setting of the film. The films cinematography wasn't crisp though, so yes that was a downfall. The story was actually one that was pretty engaging for me, I'm always a sucker for these Western adventurous films, so that was mainly to he expected. I think I might even like it more a second time around, or with a proper crisper picture if Criterion we're to ever release it.



That's a wrap. I'll do my Hawks rankings when I get home from the Wisconsin Dells later.

Howard Hawks

The guy is definitely was a talented director, even if his filmography so far has been a tad uneven. I'm not sure I completely dislike anything he made yet I don't think he has anything that would potentially crack a favorites of all time list for me. Here's the ten I've seen ranked:

1. The Big Sleep
2. To Have and Have Not
3. Bringing Up Baby
4. Barbary Coast
5. The Big Sky
6. Red River
7. His Girl Friday
8. Only Angels Have Wings
9. Scarface
10. Monkey Business

The first six are at least for me. The top 3 are what I consider very good films.

I'm glad I did this round of Director Dissection with Howard Hawks...as I've seen a lot of his films but never really thought about his volume of work in critical terms.

I can see he's a director who takes great pride in making very realistic outdoor sets. I was blown away by the exterior sets in Only Angels Have Wings, Scarface, To Have and Have Not, Barbary Coast, Bringing Up Baby...and The Big Sky being filmed on location is special. All of the 6 Hawk's films that we watched how very high production values and realistic world building. For me that's what I'll remember of Hawks.

I'd rate them like this:

The Big Sleep (1946)
Red River (1948)
Sergeant York (1941)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Ball of Fire (1941)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Ceiling Zero (1936)
Barbary Coast (1935)
Twentieth Century (1934)
Scarface (1932)
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Land of the Pharaohs (1955)
I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
Monkey Business (1952)
The Outlaw (1943)
Air Force (1943)
Hatari! (1962)
The Big Sky (1952)
The Thing from Another World (1951)

Sargeant York and Ball of Fire will probably be the next two on my Hawks radar.