Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Director: Penny Marshall
Writers: Beverly D'Onofrio (book), Morgan Ward (screenplay)
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Brittany Murphy, Steve Zahn, Adam Garcia
Genre: Biography, Comedy-Drama

This rather luke warm film about free love is based on the mildly successful 1958 play of the same name, by Leslie Stevens. Not having the luxury of seeing the play I can only guess it was much steamier than this rather tepid (even for 1961) film.

In the late 1950s so called adult themed sex movies became popular. Of course nothing was shown and nothing usually happened but just the idea that something forbidden could happen was enough to drive people to the theaters. Some of these films were very successful like Some Like It Hot (1959), but the Marriage-Go-Round suffers from what is literally a one act play.


I found myself getting bored quite quickly with the cat and mouse game between Julie Newmar a Swedish student who wishes to have a baby by an intelligent older professor, James Mason. The problem is, James Mason is already married and his wife played by Susan Hayworth isn't amused by the idea. BUT the catch is, she doesn't want to turn the young Swedish woman out of her house as she's the daughter of a friend....So for the next 98 minutes I watch as the professor tried to avoid the catty advances of the tall beauty. And that would have been interesting for one act, but it just couldn't sustain my interest for that long.

Not a bad movie and it's the only film I've seen of Julie Newmar who does an excellent job here. All the actors are up to par, but the script reworked from the stage play doesn't translate well to the big screen.

Renowned director Robert Zemeckis makes his directorial debut with a comedy based on actual events that took place back in 1964 during the Beatles British Invasion. Zemeckis was an unproven commodity at the start of his impressive career, a career which includes such smash hits as: Back to the Future I,II,III, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forest Gump, Castaway and Contact....His first feature film is no slump either!


I like how the six teenagers had different reasons for seeing the Beatles. Wendie Jo Sperber is so in love with the Beatles that she passes out when she see them! While Susan Kendall Newman (Paul Nemwman's daughter in one of her only two film credits, is a girl who hates the Beatles and wants to picket the show. Anyway I thought it was cool how all the kids had a different reaction to the Beatles.


The funniest part is when the teens split up and a couple of them make it into the Beatles hotel and one of them, Nancy Allen ends up in the Beatles room where she literally goes orgasmic over Beatle paraphernalia. It's a weird scene and supposedly a nod to Polythene Pam of the Beatle's song.

There's many nice touches to the film that helps build the world of Beatlemania. One of the coolest things is the actual Ed Sullivan Show performance by the Beatles. The viewer feels like they have a front row set for the history making event. We never see their faces either. Either they're a very long ways away or monitors hide their faces. This works well, as it allows us to think that we're seeing the real Fab Four!


Not an easy movie to find, but well worth watching.

++

The Good Die Young (1954)
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Writers: Vernon Harris & Lewis Gilbert (screenplay), Richard Macaulay (based on book)
Cast: Laurence Harvey, Gloria Grahame, Richard Basehart, Joan Collins, John Ireland
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller




Only The Good Die Young is a British crime-thriller-drama based on a book of the same name. It's more like a Hitchcock thriller-drama than a film noir. What's interesting about the movie is it starts off with four men in a stolen car, armed with guns and about to commit a serious crime...Then the film flashes back and we get four separate stories about these men and what drove them to commit larceny.


There's a lot of big name actors some of them American in this British film and the actresses get a substantial amount of screen time too.

Richard Basehart is an an American veteran who flies over to London to bring back his wife, played by a very young Joan Collins.


John Ireland is an American Air Force sergeant stationed in London and married to a cheating wife who's an inspiring actress, played with grit by Gloria Grahame. I believe she was suppose to be British.

We also get a story of a has been boxer and his wife. He decides to return from boxing after losing a hand. When his hard earned money goes missing...like the others he needs quick cash.

Finally we get a snobby, leech of a man who's the ring leader. His own father played by Robert Morley disowns for his appalling behavior.

I wish I could say this was a great movie, but at only 1 hour 40 minutes there's not enough time to tell four back stories with any degree of detail while telling the story of the robbery and following chase. Still worth seeing for the novelty of it.

Director: John Frankenheimer
Writers: Franklin Coen & Frank Davis (screen play)
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
Genre: War-Thriller



I thought Burt Lancaster was well suited for the role, he had just enough grit, with a lot of weariness in his face to be believable. By far one of the most visual impressive scenes is when he's high on a hill side running to catch the train so he can blow the tracks up. He must be a couple of hundred up on this very steep hillside when he does this running sliding scene all the way down? Damn impressive and that's really Burt Lancaster doing the stunt. Before acting he had worked in a circus as an acrobat.


French actress Jeanne Moreau was a nice addition as the local hotel owner who puts up Burt Lancaster in her hotel. Later she had a decision to make does she tell the Nazi's the truth about Lancaster sabotage or does she provide an alibi to save his neck?


Oh did I mention the real train crashes they staged for the movie! Impressive! you won't see that in a modern CG movie. The Train has it all.