Hidden Treasures - Week of June 1st
Here’s the latest installment of Hidden Treasures. Also, you still have a chance to contribute your own Hidden Treasure for this month’s guest posting. For more information, click here
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Peter Bogdanovich once asked Alfred Hitchcock why he decided to direct 1954’s Dial M for Murder, a thriller based on a successful stage play written by Frederick Knott. The reply that he offered was pure Hitchcock. “When the Batteries are running dry”, he told Bogdanovich, “Take a hit play and shoot it”. Retired tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) has uncovered details of an affair that his wife, Margot (Grace Kelly), had one year earlier with an American named Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Fearing that he will be tossed aside, and thus cut off from his wife’s vast fortune, Wendice devises a plan in which Margot will be murdered by a complete stranger. In order to set his plan in motion, Wendice blackmails a former college associate, the shady Charles Swan (Anthony Dawson), and coerces him into killing Margot on his behalf. When things go very wrong, however, Wendice quickly falls back on plan ‘B’, the success of which relies on his ability to convince a nosy Inspector named Hubbard (John Williams) that Margot herself may be guilty of murder. Ray Milland is so devilishly calculating as Wendice, so deliciously brilliant, that I was actually convinced his character had planned the perfect murder. In fact, about 20 minutes of Dial M for Murder is dedicated to Wendice setting his diabolical plot in motion, first blackmailing Swan to carry out the killing, then explaining in full detail exactly how he wants his unwilling accomplice to pull it off. Despite the fact that this lengthy sequence is filled with dialogue, Hitchcock also manages to keep us visually stimulated as well, lifting the camera high above the apartment setting as Wendice plots, as if we were suddenly looking down through the ceiling at a floor plan of the entire residence. Dial M for Murder has been unfairly relegated to the level of a ‘minor’ Hitchcock work, a film that the director himself, with tongue firmly in cheek, said he “could have phoned in”. It is a tribute to the great master that, even when on cruise control, he still manages to thrill his audience so completely.
Used Cars (1980)
There’s an old joke that asks how you can tell when a used car salesman is lying. The answer? When his lips are moving. Used Cars, Robert Zemeckis’ bawdy, outrageous comedy about the used car business, succeeds in proving time and again, and always in hilarious fashion, that this joke’s punch line is 100% accurate. Salesman Rudy Russo (Kurt Russell) believes that his various skills, which include an ability to lie his way out of any situation, are being wasted selling used cars. So, Rudy decides it’s time to pursue his true dream: running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, the application fee to run for office is $10,000, and Rudy’s a bit short of cash at the moment. His boss, Luke Fuchs (Jack Warden), agrees to help Rudy by fronting him the application money. Shortly after making this promise, however, Luke turns up dead, a tragedy indirectly caused by Luke’s manipulative twin brother, Roy (also played by Jack Warden), who owns the competing car lot just across the street. By getting rid of Luke, Roy hopes to inherit his brother’s worthless lot, which he believes may become more lucrative once the new highway is finally constructed. Faced with the possibility of losing their jobs, and hoping to throw a monkey wrench into Roy’s inheritance plans, Rudy and his co-workers hide Luke’s body, telling everyone their boss is alive and well and vacationing in Florida. Things become much more complicated, however, when Roy’s estranged daughter, Barbara (Deborah Harmon), turns up out of the blue, asking Rudy how she can get in touch with her ‘vacationing’ father. The humor of Used Cars is, at times, both cruel and coarse. Kurt Russell is at his slimy best as Rudy, whose dishonest tendencies are established in the film’s very first scene, where we watch him turn back the mileage on a new arrival, then place a “like new” sign on the windshield. Jack Warden is also excellent in a dual role, playing both the honest but sickly Luke, and his mean and nasty brother, Roy. As a crook, Roy may just be Rudy’s equal. When the bribe money he’s been paying to the Mayor fails to bring about results, Roy laments, “In the old days, when you bought a politician, the son of a bitch stayed bought!” With such treachery and dishonesty to support it, every single scene in Used Cars carries with it the promise of being more shocking, more hilarious than the last. If you ever once considered becoming a used car salesman, then I strongly suggest you spend some time watching Used Cars before you do so. Then, if you still want to sell cars, well…I hope to hell I never meet up with you!
The Lion in Winter (1968)
Mention Peter O’Toole, and I think King Henry II. Mention Katherine Hepburn, and I think Eleanor of Aquitaine. These two powerhouse performers have managed 20 Academy Award nominations between them, and yet, for me, their work in this film stands above all others. This is the regard in which I hold Anthony Harvey’s 1968 classic, The Lion in Winter. It is like a cauldron, seething over with one marvelous performance after another. The setting is Christmas, 1183. England’s King Henry II (O’Toole) has decided to release his estranged wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Hepburn), from her castle prison in Salisbury so that she may be with him for the Holidays. Joining them both for the festivities are Henry and Eleanor’s three surviving sons, Richard (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle) and John (Nigel Terry). However, Henry also has an ulterior motive for bringing them all together; he must decide which of his sons will succeed him as king. Eleanor is pushing for Richard to succeed, while Henry has been priming young John for the crown. As old wounds reopen and old arguments reignite, Henry and Eleanor continue to plot against one another, much like they’ve been doing for years. Nearly every line of dialogue delivered in The Lion in Winter is sharp and memorable. O’Toole, bellowing and abusive, gets the ball rolling early. “I’ve snapped and plotted my whole life”, he confesses towards the beginning of the film, adding, “There’s no other way to be a king, alive, and 50 all at once”. Thanks to O’Toole, Henry II becomes a strong man, perhaps even the perfect king…despite the fact that he’s far from being the perfect father, and farther still from the perfect husband. Shortly after Hepburn’s Eleanor makes her grand entrance, the sharp tongues really start to wag. “How nice of you to let me out of jail”, she says with a sarcastic smile as Henry greets her. “It’s only for the Holidays”, he quickly reassures her. Truth be told, Hepburn matches O’Toole barb for barb, jab for jab throughout the entire film, never once backing down. “You’ve led too many civil wars against me”, Henry says to his wife shortly after her arrival. “I damn near won the last one”, the queen retorts with a grin and a giggle. As the bickering king and queen who made as much history as they saw, O’Toole and Hepburn are absolutely superb.
Comment by Kurt — May 29, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
And I just watched Dial M for Murder about a month ago. WOW is that a great movie. I remember seeing “A Perfect Murder” (remake with Michael Douglas and Paltrow) back in high school. At the time I didn’t realize it was a remake. Shame on me. Hitchcock’s version is way better. Obviously.
Comment by Andrew James — May 29, 2008 @ 8:54 pm
Comment by Dave — May 30, 2008 @ 1:59 am
Comment by Dave Becker — May 30, 2008 @ 3:10 am
Comment by leeny — May 30, 2008 @ 9:17 am
Henrik, Dreyer was a great Danish filmmaker, have you seen any of his work? I’m all in now, Ordet, Gertrud, whatever I can find.
Comment by rot — May 30, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
Michael is very good as well. I haven’t seen as much Dreyer as I probably should.
Comment by Henrik — May 30, 2008 @ 9:00 pm
Apparently Von Trier made a film of one of Dreyer’s unfinished projects, did you happen to catch that?
Comment by rot — May 30, 2008 @ 9:13 pm
Ordet is not ’strange’. It’s not David Lynch. It’s particular.
Comment by Henrik — May 30, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
– more of my thoughts on this fabulous doc are in the “Movies We Watched” section, several of which will come to front page on Sunday…during the biweekly update…
Comment by Kurt Halfyard — May 30, 2008 @ 10:01 pm
Comment by Dave — May 30, 2008 @ 11:54 pm
Comment by Henrik — May 31, 2008 @ 1:46 am
Agreed. Tokyo Story and Floating Weeds are amazing.
Comment by Dave — May 31, 2008 @ 3:30 am
Comment by Henrik — May 31, 2008 @ 6:00 am
Comment by Kurt — May 31, 2008 @ 6:40 am
Comment by Dave Becker — May 31, 2008 @ 6:51 am
I will check out Fast Cheap and out of Control… I find it surprising that Criterion has made no efforts to add Morris to the canon.
Comment by rot — May 31, 2008 @ 10:55 am
So I can forgive the occassional Alphaville.
Comment by rot — May 31, 2008 @ 10:59 am
One thing worth noting, Robert Richardson was the cinematographer on that film. Definitely shows with the blooming key lit animal sculpting.
Comment by Jay C. — May 31, 2008 @ 11:26 am
Comment by Mercurie — May 31, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
Comment by Kurt — June 2, 2008 @ 6:06 am