30th Hall of Fame

I'm generally into films which leave a huge emotional impact on me, whether that be due to cinematography, aesthetic choices, compelling characters, or having an emotive feel.

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I don't know that everyone will finish before March 7th.....anyways I do plan to watch Dog Day Afternoon on March 6th so don't fret on me.

I'm feeling the pressure. I have 5-ish days to watch four films, and one of those is freakin' Lawrence of Arabia I barely have time to watch one a day, if at all, but I'll push through. Again, it's been just 3 years maybe since I last saw Lawrence, so maybe I can get away with writing something for it, but we'll see.

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Counting today there's 6 days left to watch the movie. The deadline is at 12 midnight March 7th but any ballots that come in by the morning of the 8th will be OK. I hope to start tallying the results on the 8th, depending on my work. Happy watching

Valley of the Dolls (1967)

This is a film of it's time...which is a shame because had the film been made 10 years later or 10 years earlier it might have been a classic. Valley of the Dolls tells the story of drug abuse in Hollywood in the 1960's...it covers Patty Duke's rise and fall thanks mostly to the use of the drugs. The film shows flashes of Douglas Sirk style plotting (though forgoing subtly) mixed with cheesecake soft core sexuality. While the two elements are not bad it would have been better had the film been made later. Frankly I prefer the Roger Ebert Russ Meyer sequel Beyond the Valley of the Dolls for it's horror influences and better use of sexuality.

The issues I had with the film were two fold. Patty Duke really isn't a good singer, this is a musical and what is serviceable for the time comes out as sharp and out of tune today. I would have turned down the volume but the sound mixing is so awful that the score drowns out the dialogue. And this is from The Criterion Collection disc so it's not a rip.

I can understand why someone would love this film, visually it's spectacular and styled in a way that one would enjoy it. But that style comes at a cost. I also found Patty Duke's performance to be over the top...many would say camp but I would say it was just bad...a huge misfire. The film got an Oscar nomination for it's music and I get that. It has good songs they just aren't well executed ones. At the end of the day I wouldn't recommend this film. It has some very strong visual aspects to it but it's just not at a level I would call good.


Also I would have much rather follow Sharon Tate working through the French New Wave. And it's never a good sign when you are more attached to the B-plot than the A one.


C-

Counting today there's 6 days left, the deadline is March 7th midnight.

Take a look at these numbers and see if they are correct.
@beelzebubble 3 more movies
@edarsenal 6 more movies
@rauldc14 1 more movie
@Siddon 2 more movies
@Thief 4 more movies

*I know Thief & Raul just posted about their remaining movies.

Yep. I plan to start either Valley of the Dolls or Dog Day Afternoon right now.

Are you counting Lawrence of Arabia as one of my movies?

Yes.

If you've already seen LoA and I assume you have then just write a brief review. A paragraph or two will do.

Just don't mistakenly watch the seldom seen Valley of the Dogs.

Went with Dog Day Afternoon. It's in the bag already, but I'll keep an eye on that

Dead Men's Letters (1986)

When I nominated a film from the 80's I picked one as a stark contrast to the boring modern cop TV shows and car chase films. This one on the other hand is burdened by following hundreds of better made post-apocalyptic films. This isn't a bad film it's just a dated one. The nuclear apocalypse has occurred and the survivors are living in bunkers.

It's a film that's mostly style over substance, using different color filters for the time periods during the nuclear winter is clever. The film also has great set design (though shouldn't the dead bodies have been decayed a bit). While you don't have to have a great plot this one just kinda meanders around for it's run time. It's makes a short film feel 2 or 3 times longer than it should. I couldn't connect or even remember much of the characters a day after watching it...which is the fundamental problems with films like this. It's great to look at, the visuals are striking but it feels more like a novelty than a fully realized piece of work.

C

I'm halfway through Valley of the Dolls right now.

To Live and Die in LA (1985)


William Friedkin won an Oscar for his police procedural The French Connection. In the film Popeye Doyle is a bad guy of sorts who assaults witnesses, shoots suspects in the back and fails to get the bad guy in the end. At the time the deconstruction of the genre was a revolution for its time. As time went on Friedkin made good films even a classic (The Exorcist) but he ended up in a slump. They had already done a sequel and spinoff of The French Connection so Friedkin did something great film makers ofter do...he tried to tell the same story in a different way.


In this film the focus is the cat and mouse game between Chance and Masters. Chance's partner is murdered three days from retirement, Masters has his mule busted and feels the walls coming in on him. At first the film is a cliche something that you'd see in hundreds if not thousands of pulpy noirs. But as the film goes on you start to see differences between this film and others of it's sort.

The story moves from setting to setting, opening up this world of Los Angeles. You see Masters not as psychopath but rather a calm pragmatic murderer. His competiticy is then contrasted with Chance who is a drunk, a fool, and kind of a rapist. And the black and white story starts to get color and nuance. Both are cogs in a wheel, Masters using his art to run his business, Chance operating as a cop who plays by his own rules.

Now we know in the future that the LA law enforcement is ripe with corruption and that the cops are bad guys. But that is part of what makes this time period piece work so well. This is also the lost art of the midbudget film. Where the cast isn't filled with stars but rather up and coming actors and character workers. The effects are also practical, everything is lived in. When you see a thrilling car chase the cars actually move like real cars. Something that the CGI world we live in has gotten rid of. And unlike other films of the time that bought 80's rock tracks Friedken chose to use Wango Tango to basically score the film which they did an incredible job.

Naturally the film has one of the great plot twists in noir history and concludes on an interesting note that careful viewers can see as a villains origin story. Other films from this era were more popular (Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, Cobra) but to me this is the thinking mans and cinephiles 80's cop film.

A

What Freidkin does in the film is similar to what George RR Martin does in Game of Thrones were the first watch the characters seem flat but if you decide to revisit the film you'll see that almost everyone in this film has an angle/character arc.


One of the little things he does which is genius is how the authority figures are placed. The Lieutenant is a by the book middle man who lives in a little hole of an office. He wears a cheap little outfit and carries around paperwork and really doesn't care about any of the cases. That is then contrasted with the DA who has a huge office and a nice suit but he's still a dick...when Chance goes to him about changing Turturo's deal he makes it clear that if anything goes wrong it's on Chance. And then the rule of three kicks in with Dean Stockwell who is wealthier than the others and is at the center of the crime. He's the one trying to get the 50K they stole in the diamond heist from a different angle.

I'm a bit against the wall. I had to record an interview today, so I couldn't see anything. I'll try to watch Ship of Fools tomorrow, but I seriously doubt I can sneak in all 4 hours of Lawrence of Arabia the day after. Most probably, I'll write something about it since I've already seen it, but I was looking forward to rewatch it.

EDIT: I just realized I have a review up on Letterboxd, so I will probably end up putting that up.

Thief, I can extend the HoF for you, how much more time do you need?

Same question for @edarsenal
Would it help if I gave more time for you to finish?

I could use a minor extension for Dog Day. Was gonna watch today but I think tomorrow is more realistic.