Somebody Up There Likes Me

I really don't know why I have a penchant for boxing movies even though I don't watch the actual sport. Maybe it has something to do with the lower violence factor. I really don't know.

Anyway, Somebody Up There Likes Me has Paul Newman as Rocky Graziano, the famous boxer. A lot of people know that James Dean was signed on to play Graziano. Then came the car crash and Newman got his big break. I have to admit I can't picture anyone but Newman as Graziano.

A lot of people also call Somebody Up There Likes Me Newman's true debut (if everyone will just forget the misstep that was The Silver Chalice) and for good reasons too. He practically throws himself into the role. He speaks with an authentic-sounding New York accent (sexy), doesn't take guff from anyone (sexier) and is in robust shape (sexiest). Is it Method acting? Nope, just some damn fine acting.

Robert Wise may be better known for his Oscar-winning musicals West Side Story and The Sound of Music, but he should be noted for Somebody Up There Likes Me just as much. It's not on the same level as Raging Bull, but it's just as excellent.

My Rating: *****

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

I like watching movies that feature notable actors and actresses in their big breaks. It's always amusing to see how they started out.

In the case of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, the actor is Albert Finney. He plays Arthur Seaton, a young man bored with his weekly routine and tries to liven it up on the weekend with alcohol and women.

Now it sounds quite common, but Arthur has found himself torn between two women. One is older and married, the other is young and sensible.

I was already familiar with Finney from Murder on the Orient Express, Big Fish and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. But one of his earlier works? I had nothing in that field. And I gotta say, he was quite the looker back in the day.

Finney's performance aside, there's not really much else about Saturday Night and Sunday Morning that's memorable. It's actually a pretty depressing movie. It's still good but barely.

My Rating: ****

Counterfeit Casting: Montgomery Clift

Andrew requested this one on Twitter after being (ahem) "unamused" by the choices for my last two posts. I had difficulty choosing three ideals actors but all in all, it wasn't bad. Who could portray the troubled talent that was Montgomery Clift?

CANDIDATE #1: Ryan Gosling

YES
I'm cheating a little bit since I've only seen Gosling in Half Nelson, but I'm convinced enough that he's right for this role since I know how Gosling can play a person with some serious demons. Plus, he has a sensitive nature to him much like Clift.
NO
I personally can't think of any.

CANDIDATE #2: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

YES
Gordon-Levitt, like Clift, has a sensitive nature to him as shown with his work in (500) Days of Summer. He also can handle heavy roles too like in Brick and Mysterious Skin.
NO
I don't think Gordon-Levitt is experienced enough to portray a famous actor with more than a few issues.

CANDIDATE #3: Leonardo DiCaprio

YES
This one I'm just winging here. We know by now that DiCaprio can play someone that has personal demons (The Aviator, Shutter Island), so it would make sense to have him as Clift.
NO
Though he might be an ideal choice to some, not so to me. I like DiCaprio, but I don't think he's suitable for the part. I actually think he's a little too old for the part.

Who would you have as Clift?

BOOK VS MOVIE: Orpheus Descending/The Fugitive Kind

The most notable plays of Tennessee Williams are A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie. Williams has written works not as well known as these plays, but some are well-written.

One of the plays in question is Orpheus Descending, which was adapted into a movie by Sidney Lumet under the title The Fugitive Kind. They're about a drifter arriving in a new town and rumors start to spread about him and a general store owner's wife.

Now Orpheus Descending isn't as great as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or A Streetcar Named Desire, but it's pretty good. Although, some moments felt a little flat actually.

Marlon Brando and Anna Magnani, the two stars of The Fugitive Kind, were no strangers to Williams' work. After all, their big breaks as actors were thanks to Williams (Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire on stage, Magnani in The Rose Tattoo on screen).

I have to get something off my chest about Brando's work. There are tints of Stanley Kowalski in Brando's role of Val Xavier. One similarity between the two parts is that both men exude enough raw sexuality to make a woman weak in the knees, something Brando was quite skilled at back in the day.

The play wasn't great and neither was the movie. But I thought that The Fugitive Kind was better structured than Orpheus Descending. Can you really go wrong with Lumet to begin with?

What's worth checking out?: I'd go with the movie.

A View from the Bridge

Arthur Miller is noted for expressing familial strain in his plays. Such a theme is expressed in The Crucible, Death of a Salesman and All My Sons.

Eddie Carbone has a steady life at home with his wife Beatrice and niece Catherine. But problems arise when Beatrice's cousins, illegal immigrants from Italy, arrive and one of them starts to romance Catherine.

It isn't mentioned, but it's clear that Eddie has an unhealthy liking towards Catherine. He finds that Catherine growing up is a threat to him and he'll be willing to keep Catherine to himself.

The themes in A View from the Bridge mirror those in Death of a Salesman. Both focus on a family trying to comprehend the mental state of the patriarch. The events throughout both plays lead to the fall of the patriarch.

A View from the Bridge is one of Miller's best plays and for good reason too. It shows the often painful realities of life at home. A must-read.

My Rating: *****

The Wrong Man

It's always sad seeing people getting wrongly convicted for crimes they had no involvement in, especially when the evidence actually clears them of all charges rather than convicts them.

The Wrong Man chronicles the living hell that bassist Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda) went through to prove he didn't rob an insurance company. As he tries to prove his innocence, his wife Rose (Vera Miles) slowly starts to succumb from the strain of the ordeal.

You think that The Wrong Man would be ranked among Hitchcock's greats since it covers a common theme in his movies: mistaken identity. That theme was previously used in The 39 Steps and would later be famously used in Vertigo and North by Northwest.

The Wrong Man is based on real events, much like Hitchcock's Rope. The movie has an almost documentary feel to it. It doesn't have the typical Hitchcock aura to it, but I don't mind. It's nice not having your nerves frayed to oblivion when it's over.

This is somewhat an ironic, almost foreboding even, role for Fonda since he'd be trying to prove someone else's innocence in 12 Angry Men the following year. Miles, once we visibly see her psyche starting to crack, almost makes Norman Bates look legally sane. The Wrong Man gets the highest marks from yours truly.

My Rating: *****

Harper

As if you didn't know already, Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors. Charming, attractive, talented, looks great shirtless, basically traits I look for in some of the actors I like.

In Harper, he plays the title character of private investigator Lew Harper. He is hired by Elaine Sampson (Lauren Bacall) to locate her missing husband.

I found it amusing that four of the major actors in Harper (Newman, Bacall, Robert Wagner, Janet Leigh) were halves of prolific Hollywood marriages. Just throwing that out there.

As I pointed out on my review of How to Steal a Million a few days ago, there were only a few smart comedies from the 1960's. And yes, Harper is one of them. Knowing Newman's sense of humor, it made the movie quite enjoyable.

Knowing that it's a mystery, you would expect thrills in every scene. But the thrills are watered down, which is actually a good thing. It has you focusing on the case more than action. Worth seeing? Oh yeah.

My Rating: ****1/2

Le Notti Bianche

Many people claim they fall in love at first sight, but how many actually try to pursue that love?

Mario (Marcello Mastroianni) longs for companionship. Natalia (Maria Schell) longs for her lover to return to her. Their paths cross and a courtship blooms.

One aspect of Le Notti Bianche I liked was the camera shots used. Long shots were used to established a sense of Mario's loneliness while medium shots were used once Mario met Natalia. That, in my opinion, is excellent cinematography at work.

As I watched the movie, I kept thinking that I had seen some parts of Le Notti Bianche in another movie. I found out that Two Lovers, a movie I admire deeply, was a loose remake of Le Notti Bianche. Once I thought it over, I realized that several scenes in Two Lovers mirrored those in Le Notti Bianche.

That doesn't mean I liked Le Notti Bianche less. It's devastatingly beautiful. Mastroianni, who I've only seen in Fellini movies, is slowly becoming one of my favorite foreign actors. Luchino Visconti is officially a director I seriously need to catch up on.

My Rating: ****1/2

How to Steal a Million

During the 1960's, there were a number of light comedies released. Most of them were just silly, but several were clever.

Take for example How to Steal a Million. Starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole, this crime caper comedy is smart and funny. Hepburn enlists O'Toole to help her steal a forged Cellini sculpture in order to avoid an authenticity test.

Hepburn, of course, oozes elegance and style. She is honestly one of the most glamorous leading ladies I have watched. She also has excellent comedic timing, as also shown in Charade.

I already knew that O'Toole has a sense of humor after watching The Ruling Class. Like Hepburn, he too oozes elegance and style. Oh, and to appease the masses, he is gorgeous. *sigh* Those eyes...

To sum things up, I was very entertained by How to Steal a Million. It's almost like a follow-up to Charade although it's not as great as Charade. Anyway, it's a very cute movie.

My Rating: ****

Separate Tables

You know how most star-studded movies are either a glamorous mess or pitch perfect? Well, Separate Tables is the latter.

The cast of Separate Tables includes David Niven as an alleged war hero, Deborah Kerr as a woman dominated by her mother, Wendy Hiller as the lonely hotel manageress, and Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth as  a couple meeting years after their divorce.

Niven and Hiller were the two Oscar winners of the whole cast. Both play people who want to escape the truths of their lives, truths they never want to face. They play their roles quite well, but I wouldn't say they rightfully earned their Oscars.

Out of all the performances, I was particularly fond of Kerr's work. I usually see her in roles where she's the independent woman. But seeing her as a woman afraid to break out of her shell had me quite impressed.

Separate Tables is good, but I wouldn't call it the year's best. (That goes to either The Defiant Ones or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.) The performances are very good, as mentioned before. The movie's not great, but it's quite good.

My Rating: ****1/2