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High Noon (1952)


I watched this once a long, long time ago and remember being less than impressed.

Gary Cooper is the very recently married and retiring Marshal Kane. In his final hours in town he learns that a killer that he helped convict had his sentence commuted and is on his way back to town with his posse to exact some revenge. Kane's Quaker wife doesn't want any part of this so they leave town. Shortly into their journey Kane decides he must stay. The new Marshal isn't expected until the next day, leaving the town unprotected and the Miller gang would simply hunt Kane down until they find him anyway. Might as well deal with it now.

The rest of the film deals with Kane trying to organize a posse of his own and everyone in town has a reason to NOT help Kane. Some are afraid, some actually want Miller back (or the money he brings) and some are just upset with Kane for personal reasons (Lloyd! "If I can't choose my company then I'M NOT GOING TO DRINK HERE ANYMORE!").

I enjoyed this much more than my initial viewing. It does have a little of that wooden acting, especially among the supporting cast, that older films are known for but it isn't a dealbreaker. Cooper does fine work as the fearful yet resolute Kane. You can see the desperation building on him from scene to scene. Grace Kelly isn't asked to do much, so she doesn't until she does but the real highlight was Katy Jurado as Kane's former lover Helen Ramirez. Thats was a good role and she kind of steals her scenes in my opinion. The finale was one of the aspects that bothered me back when I first watched this but I didn't mind it this time. It was well done and provided a satisfying conclusion.

Overall I enjoyed High Noon. I'm not going to get into any of the deeper themes of the film other than to say the more things change the more they stay the same...or something like that.





High Noon (1952)

High Noon...A classic tale of one man, alone and against the odds. It's also a potent allegorical message about the dangers of knuckling under to bullies. At the time High Noon was made those bullies were the right wingers on a communist witch hunt using the the power of the Congressional House of Un-American Activities Committee to harass, intimated and destroy the careers of alleged communist sympathizers...especially those working in Hollywood. The power that the committee wielded was frightful and if one dared to stand up for their accused friends, they too could end up in front of the committee. The writer of High Noon would be accused of communist ties and would be force to flee the country before High Noon even hit the theaters. To me, this back story of why the film was written is all important. This will figure very high on my voting list.

Here's my old review:

High Noon (1952)
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writers: Carl Foreman(screenplay)
Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell
Genre: Western
Length: 85 minutes

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than that picture says it all....One man alone, facing his destiny. He could have left town and been safely miles away, but out of a sense of duty he stays. The town's people won't help him, even friends find a way to shun him.

This is an idea film, it's not character driven, not dialogue driven....it's scene driven. And damn this has some fine, tight editing. There's nothing wasted, all fat is trimmed off the film. We don't know much about the characters and we don't need to.

It's the real time pacing that takes us from scene to scene as the Marshall tries to find help in a town that has forsaken him. This is brilliant film making, done succinct.

Gary Cooper is the ultimate minimalist actor. He says little and what he does say is emotionally controlled...but look at his eyes and you can see he's in the moment, he's a good actor.

Grace Kelley...a lot of people are enamored with Grace, I'm not a big fan of hers. Here she's cast perfectly as the young principled wife...a Quaker who abhors violence. Like the town's folk, she's not willing to stand by her husband, but instead gives him an ultimatum. In a way she's cast as a secondary antagonist. This look on her face says it all:



The town of Hadleyville looks great and very realistic. Hadleyville really exist, only it's a real ghost town called Columbia in Northern California.

High Noon has been described as a western for people who don't like westerns. I don't know about that but, it's certainly a one of a kind, classic film.

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Blood Simple



This was the movie I was talking about when I said there was one other nomination that I considered a favorite besides my own. I'm up and down with Coen films loving this, Lebowski, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men, disliking Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, and O Brother Where Art Thou, and being lukewarm on Miller's Crossing and True Grit. I've seen Blood Simple several times but it's been about 10 years since the last time.

Slow paced but never boring, it has a very reasonable running time that keeps me riveted from the first scene to the last. Atmosphere that's off the charts with a story well suited for my taste. Great performances from the four main characters of what is a very small cast. It remains one of my favorite noirs.

+



Women will be your undoing, Pépé



Blood Simple

Marty: I got a job for you.
Private Detective Visser: Uh, well, if the pay's right, and it's legal, I'll do it.
Marty: It's not strictly legal.
Private Detective Visser: [Thinks for a second] Well, if the pay's right, I'll do it.

VERY IMPORTANT MINDSET for maximum appreciation/enjoyment:
This is not "quirky" characters Coen Brothers, this is "no nonsense" noir Miller's Crossing Coen Brothers

Why so important?
Glad you asked.
From Raising Arizonia to Fargo and on, I've enjoyed the dark humor that is a major ingrediant to a Coen's film. No matter how violent it may get, there is a certain kind of character eccentricity that permeates.
That was where my head was at and when I realized, very much into the film that (and I do mean VERY MUCH into the film) that I was watching Miller's Crossing Coen's: and then the very long adjustment that took well into the third act --- well. . . Just don't do that when you watch this, should you be unfamiliar with it.

Saying that, I'll say this: I do not have a lesser appreciation to this film - I am very much a Coen fan.
With a corrected alignment of perspective, this is a credit to the Eighties Noir. Involving a cheating pair that includes a hillbilly Texan beauty that would go on to be a regular of Coen Films, Frances McDormand,

her sleazeball, vengeful husband, Dan Hedaya and his even sleazier hired detective, M. Emmet Walsh.
All of whom are excellent at their particular brand of "bad person doing very bad things".

This being their first full feature film we see the genesis of the Coen style of camera movement. One in particular that sticks out for me was a shot looking down the length of the strip joint bar. Half way down is a passed out customer. At the very end, the two characters/destination of the camera. As opposed to simply rising the camera slightly at it's original position to get a straight travel line to it's destination, the camera moves forward, scarcely over the bar. Riding over the customer like a visual speed bump.
Made me smile, that.

There is every possibility I'll rewatch this, knowing full well my enjoyment will be at the correct level, and very glad to have gotten to see one I have not, from their collection.
Very much obliged.
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I've not seen Blood Simple, but most of the Coen Bros films I've seen I either liked or loved, with one exception.
This is what I've seen:

Hail, Caesar!
+
The Man Who Wasn't There

The Big Lebowski

Barton Fink

Miller's Crossing

True Grit ( I didn't care for it, but don't remember much about it)
The Hudsucker Proxy (Didn't review it but I remember liking it)



Blood Simple will be my first Coen Brothers movie so I’m looking forward to it.



I’ve enjoyed, and indeed even loved, most of their work, but I must be one of the few people alive who didn’t like Fargo.
Fargo is one I have to see as I hear about it all the time.

Have you seen many of the Coen bros films?



The trick is not minding
I’ve enjoyed, and indeed even loved, most of their work, but I must be one of the few people alive who didn’t like Fargo.
Fargo is one I have to see as I hear about it all the time.

Have you seen many of the Coen bros films?
I have. Missing their early 80’s stuff this, such as Blood Simple and Raising Arizona.
Hoping to remedy that at some point



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I'm glad a few people finally watched Blood Simple. because I have some questions about the movie.


WARNING: "SPOILERS about the movie "Blood Simple."!!!!" spoilers below
1) Why didn't Visser kill Abby and Ray when Marty hired him to kill them? He could have killed them and also killed Marty, but he just faked the photo of them dead.

2) Why did Abby have a nightmare about Ray coming back from the dead and having left her gun behind, if she didn't even know that he was dead yet?

3) Why did Visser try to kill Abby and Ray at the end of the movie?

4) How did the gun have a bullet in it for Abby to shoot Visser, if it was empty when Marty tried to shoot Ray earlier?
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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I'm glad a few people finally watched Blood Simple. because I have some questions about the movie.


WARNING: "SPOILERS about the movie "Blood Simple."!!!!" spoilers below
1) Why didn't Visser kill Abby and Ray when Marty hired him to kill them? He could have killed them and also killed Marty, but he just faked the photo of them dead.

2) Why did Abby have a nightmare about Ray coming back from the dead and having left her gun behind, if she didn't even know that he was dead yet?

3) Why did Visser try to kill Abby and Ray at the end of the movie?

4) How did the gun have a bullet in it for Abby to shoot Visser, if it was empty when Marty tried to shoot Ray earlier?
WARNING: "I give it a shot," spoilers below
1) Why didn't Visser kill Abby and Ray when Marty hired him to kill them? He could have killed them and also killed Marty, but he just faked the photo of them dead. He severely did not trust Marty and KNEW Marty would use him as the fall guy. Killing Marty would put it on Abby and Ray since they were having an affair and he'd get the money, free and clear and never have to worry about Marty betraying and/or killing him. Or have the two deaths linked to him. It was tidy and less work.

2) Why did Abby have a nightmare about Ray coming back from the dead and having left her gun behind, if she didn't even know that he was dead yet? I wondered about that one as well.

3) Why did Visser try to kill Abby and Ray at the end of the movie? He figured out they knew, with the photo that Marty kept in the safe, his lighter that got left behind. They could implicate him, so they had to go.

4) How did the gun have a bullet in it for Abby to shoot Visser, if it was empty when Marty tried to shoot Ray earlier? Could be she reloaded it, having, most likely, more bullets for her gun and we never see it. But it does leave you wondering if you don't see it.

For me, while I don't have a question about it, it was the utter stupidity of Ray at the bar after Marty is shot and left for dead. Which, admittedly, is a common thing in Eighties noir, but still.
Putting his prints ALL over the gun, using his own jacket to wipe up blood only to make a bigger mess, driving into a field, leaving perfect tire tracks for cops to trace back to him AND close enough to a house that the folks living there would see something the very next day, never mind ALL the evidence on him, in his car. . . I was getting more and more agitated at him for all of it as I watched. When he was driving away from the field, I was muttering, "Why bother? Just drive over to the Police Station and honk the horn, you dumb@ss."



I'm one of the biggest Brando fans on MoFo but I think so too.
We need more Brando in the HoFs I've pretty much enjoyed and been impressed with most of his films. Which ones have you seen? and your thoughts or ratings on them?





Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017)
Imdb

Date Watched: 10/19/19
Cinema or Home: Home
Reason For Watching: 20th MoFo Hall of Fame, nominated by neiba
Rewatch: No.


Phantom Thread features beautiful sets and locations, gorgeous costumes, striking cinematography, and fine performances. It has a lot going for it and is very well crafted. The trouble is that I don't care.

And this generally seems to be the case for my experiences with the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. His characters are perhaps too believable: They're unlikable and they surround themselves with people who are equally so. And when one character wrongs another, I feel absolutely nothing. Which is exactly what happens here. Lewis's Reynolds is a man-child who surrounds himself with women and whose very livelihood is dependent upon them, yet he clearly detests them. Kripes's Alma lets him walk all over her while doing everything she can to possess him. They're both horrible people who deserve each other.

Still there's enough positive here that I'd be lying if I said I hated it, yet not enough positive for me to truthfully say I liked it.


-



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
WARNING: "I give it a shot," spoilers below
1) Why didn't Visser kill Abby and Ray when Marty hired him to kill them? He could have killed them and also killed Marty, but he just faked the photo of them dead. He severely did not trust Marty and KNEW Marty would use him as the fall guy. Killing Marty would put it on Abby and Ray since they were having an affair and he'd get the money, free and clear and never have to worry about Marty betraying and/or killing him. Or have the two deaths linked to him. It was tidy and less work.

2) Why did Abby have a nightmare about Ray coming back from the dead and having left her gun behind, if she didn't even know that he was dead yet? I wondered about that one as well.

3) Why did Visser try to kill Abby and Ray at the end of the movie? He figured out they knew, with the photo that Marty kept in the safe, his lighter that got left behind. They could implicate him, so they had to go.

4) How did the gun have a bullet in it for Abby to shoot Visser, if it was empty when Marty tried to shoot Ray earlier? Could be she reloaded it, having, most likely, more bullets for her gun and we never see it. But it does leave you wondering if you don't see it.

For me, while I don't have a question about it, it was the utter stupidity of Ray at the bar after Marty is shot and left for dead. Which, admittedly, is a common thing in Eighties noir, but still.
Putting his prints ALL over the gun, using his own jacket to wipe up blood only to make a bigger mess, driving into a field, leaving perfect tire tracks for cops to trace back to him AND close enough to a house that the folks living there would see something the very next day, never mind ALL the evidence on him, in his car. . . I was getting more and more agitated at him for all of it as I watched. When he was driving away from the field, I was muttering, "Why bother? Just drive over to the Police Station and honk the horn, you dumb@ss."

Thanks for the help.

WARNING: "SPOILERS for "Blood Simple."!!!!" spoilers below
1) That makes sense. I guess I didn't think about him setting up someone else for Marty's murder, so the police weren't looking for him. I probably should have realized it when he used Abby's gun.

2) I'm glad that I'm not the only one who picked up on that. I thought that I missed something.

3) I knew Ray found the photo, but I didn't realize that he found the lighter too. Without the lighter, I thought that Ray didn't know who took the photo, so that's why I didn't put together that Ray could implicate him.

4) I didn't see her reload it, but I guess she could have done it off-screen at some point.


I noticed all the stupid stuff that Ray did too, but I don't think we saw even one cop during the whole movie, so maybe that's why he thought he could still get away with it.