'THE GOOD SISTER'.....UNRELIABLE SIBLINGS, DARK SECRETS AND LIBRARY QUERKINESS.......

 The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth (2021)    Welcome once again to the world of domestic thrillers, where nobody's what they seem and probably every narrator involved is misleading you......sometimes they're going this without a clue, or sometimes they're doing it out of pure malignant intent. 

            The fun of reading books like this comes from trying to figure out who's really doing what and why.

             This book didn't seem that much like a thriller through its first third - more like a comfy-cozy unlikely romance between two lovable oddballs. Our duo consists of Fern, a sweet, vulnerable autistic librarian and Rocco, a kindred nerd who's a millionaire tech genius living off the grid a la "Normadland".

              ( For an extra cuteness factor, Fern dubs Rocco "Wally" since he resembles the European version of the "Where's Waldo" guy)

               Don't worry thriller fans, there's darkness afoot here in Fern's joined-at-the-hip relationship with her fraternal twin Rose, who's spent a lifetime (if you believe Rose's journal entries) protecting Fern from the poisonous psychological abuse of their monstrous mother.)  Mom's currently living out her remaining years in a nursing home after a brain damaging drug overdose.

              Rose's helicoptering control over Fern comes from the terrible, terrible thing Fern did when the sisters were children.......and per our policy, we've arrived at the point where we refuse to go into any more plot details or twists 'n turns.....for fear of spoiling all the juicy fun of discovering it all for yourselves.......

               We will tell you that "The Good Sister" delivers a fully loaded package of sharp wit, suspense aplenty and all sorts of Big Reveal surprises in its final chapters. (and even a few heartrending moments that might cause you to dab an eye.....)

                It made us do what every good thriller should do.......made us stop what we were doing, skipped the TV watching and settle down to swish those pages fast to find out how things will turn out. 

                 And that makes this book a 4 star (****) experience for sure.  BQ says put it on the top of you 'coolest summertime reads' list.

'PAJAMA PARTY'......THE 'BEACH PARTY' CROWD STAYS POOLSIDE....

 Pajama Party (1964)   Actors, filmmakers and technical crew members must have loved working for American International.....

           Because AIP would usually roll a full list of credits at the beginning of each of their cheaply made quickies......and then roll 'em all over again at the movie's end. 

            We sincerely doubt  this policy came from AIP's great love for all the people who toiled on their movies. More likely, it was an easy-peasy way to further pad out the running times of their films, which even with all those credits, rarely went over 85 minutes. 

             While surf 'n sand antics are minimal here, you can consider this movie another official entry in AIP's popular (and now both beloved and mocked) 'Beach Party' series.......in which perpetually fun lovin', singin' and dancin' teens crossed paths with ancient comedians left over from vaudeville as well as a low-comedy spoof of a 'Wild One' motorcycle gang.

             Unlike Roger Corman's AIP films, which provided a host of  young future filmmaking superstars to gain entry into studio productions, the 'Beach Party' movies were written and directed by aging, C-level warhorse writers and directors.  

             Which is why these films look like they were created by people who never had any actual contact with teenagers in their lives.......and whose sense of humor never progressed past 1930's slapstick. 

              Though usually fronted by Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon as romantic sweeties, Avalon here is relegated to a minor cameo role as a Martian overlord seeking to invade earth with the help of his aide, played by insult comic Don Rickles.

               Yes, you correctly heard the word 'Martian' right. The Red Planet invaders dispatch Gogo' one of their minions (Tommy Kirk, another Disney refugee). Gogo's tasked with  paving the way for a Martian army to enter the earth beamed down into a clothes closet ( a la "The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe")  We've no idea why Gogo first appears dressed up like a doorman at a swanky apartment building......

               What follows next is the usual Beach Party pageant of bikini girls and their guys twistin' the night away, much diving into pools, the usual dumb hijinks from ancient villains (Jesse White, Buster Keaton, the songs that sound composed by coma patients,  and the required appearance of the relentlessly unfunny Harvey Lembeck as chopper hood Eric Von Zipper. 

                The amount of fun you can extract from this movie depends on how much nostalgic affection you hold in your heart for this particular genre and its participants,  Since the humor quotient here never rises above third grade level (or that of Jody McCrae's resident village idiot character), small children might find some amusement in this stuff, like a live action version of a Nickelodeaon cartoon show.

                For BQ, we did get a major kick out of the some of the dance numbers, which feature a young Terri Garr and a young Toni Basil furiously twitching themselves into a frenzy......and some all too brief appearances by that sultry brunette Susan Hart, who'd soon marry AIP boss James H. Nicholson.  You've gotta love a gal whose hip thrusts set off a prop volcano to erupt.....

                 That memorable trio is the only reason we'll boogie up 2 stars (**) for this minor entry in the Beach Party canon......then again, they were all minor entries.

               

              

'THE CRIMSON KIMONO'.....FULLER'S PULP FRICTION BEWTEEN ASIAN AND CAUSACIAN.....

The Crimson Kimono (1959)    Leave it to writer-director Sam Fuller, cinema's favorite pulp fictioneer to dive head first into racial bigotry directed at Asian Americans. 

               Anyone expecting a quiet thoughtful think-piece drama (a la Stanley Kramer, for instance) obviously never saw a Sam Fuller movie......

                Fuller, a former tabloid crime reporter and battle-hardened World War 2 combat veteran, excelled in making fast, cheap, luridly violent movies that always grabbed you by the throat in the first few minutes.

                 "The Crimson Kimono"s no exception, kicking off with a panicked stripper running down a Los Angeles red light district just before she's shot dead in the street. 

                  Hot on the case are two young detectives, a whitebread stud (Glen Corbett) and a Japanese American (James Shigeta). Not just cop partners, they're also roommates with a fierce bond of having fought side by side in the Korean war.

                   Their investigation leads them through the Asian community and to a beautiful artist (Victoria Shaw) who's able to draw them a portrait of their prime suspect.  That task not only puts her in the cross hairs of the killer, it lands her in the middle of a problematic romantic triangle with our dynamic detective duo - who both fall hard for her.

                   To make matters more complicated and drive a wedge in the partners' once unbreakable friendship, genuine true love breaks out between Shigeta and Shaw.  And Shigeta well knows that an Asian-Caucasian coupling in the late 1950's would be subject to the unspoken but always prevalent  bigotry that permeated American society.

                   And that's what Fuller targets here - the film doesn't hurl around a lot of racial slurs in its scenes and dialogue. But the look on Corbett's face when Shigeta reveals his love for a white woman is all Shigeta needs to see......that expression of perplexed disapproval speaks volumes and wounds him to his very core.

                   All of these issues play out in Sam Fuller's inimitable style - short, terse, direct-to-the-point scenes, sometimes punctuated by some startling bit of violence.  This includes a vivid, pure-Fuller sequence that shows the partners' bond ripped asunder when they face each other as combatants in a Kendo competition, wielding Japanese wooden swords. 

                   First and foremost though, Fuller's a B-movie entertainer and he brings things to gaudy conclusion with the killer chased through an Asian neighborhood parade.  The guy's motive turns out as  ridiculously simple but provides Corbett with a moral lesson and gives the film a corny but satisfying Hollywood conclusion....(it is still the 1950's, after all.....)

                    'Fast and furious' may make everyone today think of those huge dopey car movies, but those adjectives apply perfectly to the pulp pop art of Sam Fuller.  If you haven't seen his films, try this one as entry into his work......you'll soon want to see them all. 4 stars (****)

                   

'I'LL TAKE SWEDEN.....WE'LL TAKE A NAP

 I'll Take Sweden (1965)   We were only a few minutes into watching this gruesomely unwatchable, unfunny Bob Hope comedy when we started to imagine all the more productive things we could pursue in the 97 minutes it took for this wretched film to unspool. 

            Folding a load of laundry, for example. Working on our screenplay,  Hosing down the driveway. Taking out the trash. 

             Or even taking a long afternoon nap. 

             Any of these choices would have been preferable to enduring "I'll Take Sweden"

             This is bottom of the barrel tripe on multiple levels, an excruciating foolhardy attempt to blend a wheezing, exhausted mid 1960's Bob Hope comedy with the "swingin" generation of youthful performers.....represented in this movie by the always overbearing teen idol Frankie Avalon and Hollywood's most genuinely gifted starlet, Tuesday Weld. 

              Considering Weld's enormous potential for great roles and future superstardom (which she never truly fulfilled), it's practically a tragedy to see her mired in the muck of this movie.  And her casting here doesn't even make sense, since she was already aging out of her signature roles of jailbait teenyboppers,

               Here, she's the hard-partying, free spirited daughter of Bob Hope, who once again stands around in a business suit with one frozen expression on his face as he mirthlessly rattles off the lamest wisecracks ever written for any comedian.

               Hope's out to prevent Weld from marrying  an unemployed non-entity (Avalon, of course) who zooms around on a motorcycle, lives in a dilapidated trailer and sings instantly forgettable songs.

               Taking a job in his company's Sweden branch, Hope spirits Weld away to that country, where he himself finds love with a woman semi-close to his advancing age (Dina Merril)......but then he's forced to thwart a horny young Swedish would-be seducer (Jeremy Slate) who's got Weld's virginity clearly in his sights. 

               Other than stock footage of Lufthansa planes in flight, there's not a single sign of Sweden in "I'll Take Sweden".....only cheap, backlot sets left over from situation comedies.  There's also no sign of anything even remotely resembling humor in a film billing itself as a comedy. 

                The one and only thing that amused us........the lighting director's strenuous efforts to throw a deliberate shadow over Bob Hope's rapidly receding hairline.  Now that's hilarious.......

                There's nothing more to say........and if we continue, we're bound to regret the amount of time we spent writing this review even more than the precious 97 minutes of our life we sacrificed to view the film. 

                 An easy call, this one. A 100 per cent AFH, an ABOMINATION FROM HELL.  A nothing movie designed for nobody.  Even if you're a fan of Bob Hope back in his prime, this one's hopeless.

              

          

'WHEN THE STARS GO DARK'......ONCE AGAIN, A DAMAGED SEARCHER OF ABDUCTED CHILDREN.....

 When The Stars Go Dark by Paula McClain (2021)     We felt the same aura of Deja Vu reading this as we experienced while plowing through Ashley Audrain's sociopath-child drama "The Push" a few weeks ago.....(see the post of 5/13/21).

            Simply.....we've read this story before. Multiple times.

            Paula McClain may or may not have been aware of the dozens of thrillers that deal with a severely traumatized law enforcement officer (or sometimes an independent freelancer) who specializes in rescuing kidnapped kids from their odious predators. 

             We assume she felt that with her primary talent for historical literary fiction, she'd bring some gravitas, deeper psychological probing,  more depth of character and documentary-like feel to this genre, along with the thrills that readers expect in this kind of story.

              And just as Audrey Audrain bent the the killer-kid genre to her will, turning it into a heartrending tragic drama, McLain brings all those literary fiction strengths to this novel set in 1993, centering around Anna Hart, a missing persons detective barely recovered from her own horrendous personal tragedy.  

              Hart, also a survivor of an equally terrible childhood, seeks down-time solace in  her home town of Mendecino on the Northern California coast,  She finds the town rocked by the disappearance of a  15 year old girl, the daughter of a movie star actress. And other girls from neighboring communities have been taken as well, including the real life Polly Klaas of Petaluma, the 12 year old abducted at knifepoint from a slumber party at her house.

               Volunteering to assist in the Mendecino investigation sends Hart down a tortuously slow investigative path, littered with obstacles like the girl's strange, uncooperative parents, a slew of blind alley clues and suspects and the ghosts and sad memories of her childhood. 

              Sorry to report, all of this heaviness and internal angst makes for a slow, uninvolving read and we frequently put the book down whenever our interest and patience wore out.  Which it did. Often. 

              By the time McClain remembers to end the story, the abductor reveal and showdown come off as unsurprising, perfunctory and hastily slapped together in the last few chapters. That's when we let out a long sigh and wondered if this book was at all worth the time spent reading it.  

              We've pointed out before in other reviews that literary fiction authors who take the plunge into thriller territory are choosing to walk a thin tightrope over a deep canyon.........thinking they can hold their readers' attention as they layer up the chills with their seriousness of purpose and profound insights into the human condition. 

               It's a tough balancing act and many are not up to that task. And neither is "When The Start Go Dark"   2 stars (**).  

'THE BACHELOR PARTY'.....IT'S MY PADDY AND I'LL CRY IF I WANT TO.....

 The Bachelor Party (1957).......came from the same producing and creative team that gave American cinema the iconic poignant slice-of-life "Marty" two years earlier -  the Hecht-Hill-Lancaster company, director Delbert Mann and most importantly, playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky

            Once again, Chayefsky returned us to struggling-to-make-ends-meet lower middle classes of New York City.......but rather than the blue collar folk of "Marty", Chayefsky turned his attention to the white collar crowd, a group of low-level pencil-pushers barely making enough of a living to support their families. 

             Unlike Marty the butcher's optimistic  search for companionship and love, "The Bachelor Party" concentrates on men already beaten down by their roads not taken, their dreams deferred or dashed altogether, and their settling for lives far removed from their initial hopes and dreams.

             Are we having fun yet?

              If you think this sounds overwhelmingly depressing.....well, you're right. We hate to even tabulate the litany of woes and mid-life angst overtaking these four guys as they step out for a night of bachelor party fun on behalf of the fifth member of their group, Arnold Craig (Phillip Abbot).....who's secretly a virgin traumatized and panicked by women in general.

             What a recipe for an all night bash.....there's Charlie (Don Murray) exhausted from trying to better his prospects with accounting night school and worried over his wife's pregnancy and shouldering the responsibility of fatherhood ......then there's Walter,(E.G. Marshall) a severe asthma sufferer who needs to uproot his family to Arizona to breathe air that won't kill him....also Ken( Larry Blyden), a sad sack family man who's come deal with his lowered expectations.

             Bossing and bullying the guys into party mode is Eddie (Jack Warden), the aggressive, obnoxious alpha male bachelor of the bunch, who uses his bluster and bravado to conceal the lonely emptiness of his own life. (he's not that far removed from Warden's equally brutish juror in "12 Angry Men")

              Meanwhile, as the boys carouse through the streets and bars, Charlie's wife, (Patricia Smith) uneasy about her hubby's attitude, sips tea with her morose sister-in-law (Nancy Marchand).....who proceeds to unload her tales of her philandering husband and collapsing marriage.  Oh joy, unconfined.......

               Who's ready for an a good time all nighter?   Big surprise ......not this crew.

               We wish we could tell you that Paddy Chayefsky gives these guys reams and reams of memorable dialogue to work out their problems and dazzle us with insights.

               Doesn't happen. All of the lines between these characters are deliberately realistic and mundane.  So you won't hear any Chayefsky-ian verbal showstoppers as the boys (and we viewers along with them) sink into ever deeper depression and self revelation.

               Chayefsky's golden talent for memorable writing does briefly come alive when the boys encounter a quirky Greenwich Village bohemian (Carolyn Jones) at a crowded party they crash. Jones launches into a dazzling, hilarious stream-of-consciousness monologue that only lasts a few minutes, but earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination.  (the only nom the film got)

                All of this non-stop misery finally leads to a  hasty, last minute love-conquers-all reconciliation between Charlie and his wife. (which even Chayefsky and Delbert Mann later revealed their dissatisfaction about)

                 Though performed by a uniformly superb ensemble of actors,  we can't honestly include this film among Paddy Chayefsky's other stellar achievements, such "Marty", "The Americanization Of Emily", "Network" and "The Hospital" . It's slow, obvious and its sudden Hollywood-ized final scene looks and plays like it was deliberately tacked on.......so audiences wouldn't leave the theatre having lost the will to live. 

                   For the cast, including Carolyn Jones brief stab at pumping some life into it, 2 stars (**)  

FRIDAY MADNESS WRAP-UP......COMING SOON - TWILIGHT FOR THE TRUMP MOB.....

            Even in the midst of national and global madness, BQ can always extract a few nuggets of good news......such as....

Multiple investigations closing in on Baby Orange........and Michael Cohen, Baby's former mob shyster, thinks his ex-boss will flip on the family members, throwing Ivanka and Jared under the bus to keep himself out of jail......

               Pardon us while he pop a cork and laugh hysterically in glee......we can now dream of a future day when Trump family get-togethers will depend on visiting ours at New York state penitentiaries....

.

Ted Cruz tweets he prefers the Russian military over the 'woke and emasculated' U.S. military.....this spineless worm and professional traitor never misses an opportunity to prove that, just like Trump, he has no measurable depth to which he won't sink.  At least this toad never has to drop far to hit the very bottom......it's where he lives.

Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy thwart a Jan. 6th commission.......entirely understandable. The horde of Trumpanzees storming the Capitol were friendly tourists, hoping to snap a few photos for the family album, ask for some autographs and.....oh we almost forget....hang Mike Pence and kill some police. Nothing to see here.....let's all move along and forget it ever happened.....who needs democracy anyway....

Josh Hawley becomes the one and only senator who votes against the Hate Crimes act......again understandable. He knows for a fact that every Asian-American secretly contributed money to the Wuhan Lab's effort to perfect the Kung Flu.  It's true......he heard it first hand from Donald Trump....so the Asians had it comin'.......

'SKIRTS AHOY!'.......SEMI-EMPOWERED MILITARY WOMEN SING AND DANCE (WHAT ELSE?)

 Skirts Ahoy (1952)   As we sat down to watch this extremely minor-league MGM musical, we wondered if we'd find anything in it worth blogging about........

             The songs?  Nah.....strictly third tier. You could easily forget these songs while you're still listening to them.

              The dances?   With two terrific exception (which we'll get to shortly), the choreography's the usual one-two-three kick stuff. 

               The storyline?  The usual tropes of a standard Hollywood military comedy, only this time dealing with women who join the Navy WAVES.

                So.....what did we find interesting.....

                Let's start with the trio of women at the film's center......there's the gloriously muscular swimming goddess Esther Williams as a wealthy debutante who flees her wedding to joins the Navy to see the world. Then there's the sweet 'n shy girl-next-door Joan Evans playing an apple pie cutie who flees a looming conventional 1950's life as a housewife-doormat. And finally there Vivian Blaine, playing the same wisecracking streetwise New Yorker she perfected in "Guys and Dolls".

                 Williams, of course, gets to frolic acrobatically in the training camp swimming pool. Blaine chimes in with her patented whiny-voice Broadway character.......

                  It's the Joan Evans character that intrigued us .Early on, she falls into a deep, deep homesickness depression. Then, after spending the first third of the film pouting like a toddler who's had her toys taken away, she suddenly makes a startling, decades-spanning leap into 21st century womanhood. 

                    In a scene that sounds like it could've been written yesterday, Joan gives her simpering, overly possessive fiance the old heave-ho, declaring herself as a woman who knows her own mind and who will take her own journey, wherever it leads her. 

                    We couldn't believe we were hearing this in a 1952 film.

                    That out of place sequence doesn't last long though. Before you know it, the three girls are belting out a song that basically says a girl without  a guy is an abhorrent freak of nature and needs stamping out at once.........

                       Oh yes, the two musical numbers we loved.  In true vaudeville tradition, MGM sends in its cute 'n cuddly Junior Varsity team, Bobby Van and Debbie Reynolds dancing their feet off as if they've just inhaled an entire meth lab. 

                       The real showstopper, (and the only reason we didn't regret spending time with this movie), is a powerhouse, mass march-and-dance number executed by an entire company of WAVES.  It's the most electrifying fun to watch.

                        And that's why we we'll salute out 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2).  Mainly for hardcore Esther Williams fans and MGM musical completists.  Those folks should want to climb aboard.....

'RAFFERTY AND THE GOLD DUST TWINS'......HITTIN' THE ROAD IN THE 70'S.....

Rafferty And The Gold Dust Twins (1975) ....is a another prime example of a major studio movie that could  only exist in the 1970's......as the studio system rapidly collapsed and and no inmates running the asylum had any clue as to what kind of movies to make.......or whom to make them for.

             This chaotic situation became a goldmine for emerging young screenwriters and directors. Literally any off-the-wall story idea could end up with a studio greenlight.

              Which brings us to this tiny little character-driven, hit-the-road movie......(road trip movies were a surefire way for fledgling scripters to test their dialogue chops, get their foot in the door and attract big name actors who saw these movies as a potential backdoor entry into better roles and who knows.....maybe even an award or two.

               Hence we see Alan Arkin, at the pinnacle of his leading role career, as Rafferty, a burned out, disaffected Army veteran, living out a sad, lonely life in an alcoholic haze.

               His dead end job giving Motor Vehicle Bureau driving tests gets interrupted when he's carjacked by 'Mac', a freewheeling would-be country singer (Sally Kellerman) and her companion, 'Frisbee' a 15 year old streetwise orphanage escapee (Mackenzie Phillips)  

                The kidnapping naturally evolves into a typical road trip companionship for the odd trio, with various up-and-down adventures along the way.....(none of which we'll bother to detail here.....)   If you've seen any other 1970's road movies, you can almost guess the events ahead of time, right up to the bittersweet but satisfying ending.

                Arkin goes right to the unhappy core of his character, the smoky-voiced Kellerman perfectly captures the elusiveness of a girl who's practically a temporary mirage and Phillips more or less repeats her "American Graffiti" character, the hard-as-nails but deeply vulnerable teen.

                 Nothing special or spectacular to report here, but nobody watched these 70's road movies for special effects or spectacle. 

                  We watched them for the actors, their characters and stories. And that's why movie buff's look back on the 70's as a golden age for filmmakers.......when it was all about telling good tales........ 3 stars (***)

                 

'TELL METHAT YOU LOVE ME, JUNIE MOON'.....A BAND OF MISFITS.....CRUISIN' ON OTTO-PILOT

 Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970......51 years later, this movie's storyline could easily end up as a weekly network or streaming 'dramedy'......

              Imagine, if you will, a lovable but severely damaged, dysfunctional trio consisting of a disfigured young girl (Liza Minelli), a witty acerbic gay paraplegic (Robert Moore) and a lost soul manic-depressive epileptic. (Ken Howard). 

              Released from their long term hospital stays, this oddball triumvirate scrapes together enough welfare money to establish their own family unit, leasing a house from an eccentric dowager (Kay Thompson)   The nasty guy next door  resents them but they're quickly befriended by the kindly neighborhood fishmonger (James Coco).

             Then the gang throws caution to the wind and vacations at a plush holiday resort hotel, which leads of all sorts of life changing complications and revelations.

             You'd think a film director faced with such a storyline would opt to relentlessly pluck your heartstrings like a symphony viola section and squeeze your tear ducts until you begged for mercy.

              But this strange little offbeat item, brimming with pathos, tragedy and hopefulness, came from, of all people, the tyrannical impresario producer-director Otto Preminger, the famous purveyor of epic all star dramas like "Exodus", "The Cardinal", "Advise and Consent" and "In Harm's Way".

              Preminger may have gravitated to the small scale, more intimate 'Junie Moon' after the wheels came off his Epic Movie Machine with the disastrous 1967 Southern-Fried melodrama "Hurry Sundown" (see our 6/20/17 post on that jumbo gobbler).

             Otto was never much of a heartstring plucker and the film and 'Junie Moon's  actors are directed in his usual blunt, obvious style with everybody delivering their lines loud enough for the audience in the cheap seats to hear. 

               The director still loved envelope pushing whenever he could get away with it (and he always did).....(Minelli's backstory flashback, where her psycho date horribly disfigures her with battery acid, rivals, if not exceeds any horror movie of the period....)

              One thing Preminger never skimped on was filling his films with superb talent and the cast members here do uniformly excellent work......Minelli pours on her wounded-waif character that she perfected in  1969's "The Sterile Cuckoo", Robert Moore gifts the film with a comedic, abrasive turn as the paraplegic. (Moore moved on to direct Broadway plays and films himself)  And Ken Howard knows how to break your heart as the painfully sensitive epileptic.

              How you view this film....well, depends on what mood you're in. You might find it crude, corny, overacted and overdone altogether.  Of it might charm you completely, even if it does look like a film whose director yelled and screamed at his actors......

             Count us among the latter. 3 stars (***). Sadly for Preminger, it stands as his last watchable movie, since he subsequently went on to direct a woeful string of disasters  ("Skidoo", "Rosebud" both of which we promise to cover in the upcoming posts!)

  

FDR WE THERE YET? WORHSIPPING ROOSEVELT IN "SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO".....

 Sunrise At Campobello (1960)......may have arrived in time to kick off a new decade, but it stayed firmly rooted in the structure and attitude of 1940's biographical movies.......

                By that we mean the film treated its subject with such fictionalized, glamourized   puffed up piety, you'd think the filmmakers spent all their time on their knees in worhipful prayer to whomever the film was about. 

                 The result  - Hollywood biographies almost always ended up looking like a sainthood plea for the lionized object of their affection. 

                  One time MGM studio chief and producer-writer Dore Schary based his movie on his own hit Broadway play, a glowing depiction of Franklin Roosevelt and his family before he became America's favorite Uncle-Grandfather and 4 term U.S. President. 

                  We don't begrudge Schary's enormous admiration for Roosevelt as a pivotal, monumental figure in U.S. history.....(how could we, since like millions of other Americans we enjoy the monthly monetary benefits of Roosevelt's 'New Deal' Social Security....)

                 But since the film never ceases bowing in its respectful, loving tribute-mode, sitting through its still-life, 2 and a half hour running time becomes a punishment of coma inducing boredom.

                  Ralph Bellamy, after spending a long Hollywood career stuck in the thankless roles of rejected suitors in romances, truly rose to the occasion with his pitch-perfect reproduction of Roosevelt's inescapable charisma, iron willed resolve and enormous love for his large boisterous family. 

                  While  Bellamy's like a  newsreel come to life, we don't know what to make of Greer Garson's overdone, over-theatrical portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt,(complete with overbite and frooty-tooty sing-song voice) which never rises above the level of a political cartoon caricature. 

                   The only other actor who makes any impression in this stately pageant of a movie is Hume Cronyn, making the most of his  showy moments as Louis Howe, Roosevelt's cranky but fiercely loyal friend and advisor.  

                   Every so often, to provide a modicum of dramatic tension, Ann Shoemaker shows up playing Roosevelt's imperious mother, depicted here, much to the displeasure of the real surviving Roosevelt family members, as a meddling, controlling harpy.

                   Throughout its endless, slowly paced running time, we could pluck out a few individual scenes that shined, such as Bellamy's valiant struggle with the Polio that paralyzed his legs and his wry byplay with Cronyn..  But the film's occupies the bulk of its time in a reverential haze....mostly, .it's too busy building a statue of Roosevelt rather than taking the time to depict him as a flesh and blood human being.

                  By the time the film slowed to a near dead crawl toward the end (with an excruciatingly dull backroom palaver with New York politician Al Smith), we could only watch it with our eyes half open. 

                   Like a few other classic films,  it took us a lifetime to catch up with a viewing of "Sunrise At Campobello" (we'd always missed seeing it somehow). Now that we've finally seen it once.......that's more than enough.  2 stars (**).

                    

                  

FRIDAY MADNESS WRAP-UP......THE GOP FASCIST CULT GROWS SCARIER.....

               We want to get this crapola off our chest today, so we don't have to think about any of it...at least for the weekend.....before it starts all over again. 

                  Trump's blog......you can smell the flop sweat on Baby Orange as his tiny fingers type his usual tripe. Almost as if he realizes his MAGA Trumpanzees don't like to read more than two or three simple sentences......

                   Ellen DeGeneres ends her talk show......using the old 'time to move to new challenges' spin, which beats saying, "Once you all found out what an asshole I really am, you killed my ratings...."

                   The GOP goes full Rev.Jim Jones Kool-Aid cult.......They finally threw out the shreds of their sanity, along with their moral compass. They don't even have to pretend to be an actual political party anymore......they're more like Ernst Blofeld's army of jump-suited minions in a James Bond movie.....too brainless to realize their Fuhrer considers them expendable......

                   Liz Cheney..,,,La Liz relentlessly pushed Baby O's agenda through Congress until she watched him and his goons try to establish a Fourth Reich in America. So that was a bridge too far for her?  Come one now, Lizzie......did you really believe the Orange Virus would help you go to war to bring democracy to more unwilling foreign countries?   Dictator-For-Life of this country was his only goal...... 

                    The GOP Ministry Of Untruth says January 6 was like a "tourist visit"........so presumably, they next time they take the family to the beach, they'll find the nearest cops and attempt to beat them to death........

'THE PUSH'....A POSTPARTUM MOM AND HER BAD SEED......

The Push by Ashley Audrain (2021)   First thing we should mention.......we're grateful to the publisher of this novel for not mis-labeling it and wrongly marketing it as a thriller., even though thriller tropes appear in it from time to time.

             It is exactly what it's touted as - a disturbing psychological drama.

             Readers may mistake it for a thriller initially, since it covers the same well worn ground that dozens of books, films and TV shows have dealt with - a parent coping with the horrendous revelation that their child may be a murderous sociopath. 

            You can trace such plots back to its ancestor,  the 1954 William March novel "The Bad Seed" and the subsequent hit Broadway play and film adapted from it.

             While "The Bad Seed" play and film were pitched at the high hysteria level of a horror tale, author Ashley Audrain has way more on her mind than goosing an audience with the scary spectacle of homicidal child. 

               She digs deep into the tortured,,bedeviled mind of Blythe Connor whose inability to establish the bonds of motherhood with her baby girl Violet gnaws at her.  Blythe can't comprehend what or who's to blame - her own failure to properly love and nurture her daughter......or maybe there's something terribly wrong with Violet, a fundamental piece of humanity in her that's missing, which sets her apart from other children.       

             Cleverly, that's the very same question a reader will ask as the novel proceeds on its sad path, filled with tragic, heartbreaking moments and events. (Which per our policy we'll not talk about here. You need to immerse yourself in this story yourselves.....)

               "The Push" is a gripping read alright........but we're not entirely sure what to make of the book's last sentence,  where Audrain delivers what she no doubt thought of as one last kick in the teeth.

                 Depending on how you feel about the rest of the book, it may strike you as expected and inevitable or a facile, cheap ploy to garner the kind of attention the book wasn't seeking in the first place.

                 It's a deeply unsettling story, so prepare yourselves for a strange journey into this peculiar heart of darkness inhabited by a mother and her daughter.  A creepy place to be.....4 stars (****)

               

TWILIGHT OF THE GOLDEN GLOBES?

              

                 Let us now say a few passing words in the memory of the rapidly crumbling Hollywood Foreign Press Association and their much-ridiculed but unintentionally entertaining awards show, The Golden Globes.......

                   Superstars like Tom Cruise and Scarlet Johannsen are bailing out on the Globes and NBC drop-kicked the Globes off the network for 2022, giving them a year to clean up their act......

                   What's funny and ironic about all this is what finally led to the Globes' undoing........

                   It wasn't the fact the HFPA consisted of a motley crew of corrupt bottom feeders who weren't above selling their distinguished "awards" to the highest bidder.

                    Just ask the woeful, untalented starlet-for-10-minutes Pia Zadora, who got her "New Star Of The Year" Globe courtesy of her check-writing wealthy husband. 

                    This kind of low-rent crap went on for decades, but no one minded too much. After all, the ceremony functioned as a breezy bright kickoff to the start of awards season, with liquored-up celebs schmoozing each other at the banquet tables.

                    It took Ricky Gervais's corrosive turns as the show's host to put the Globes in true perspective.....a jokey, drunken bash for Hollywood to indulge in all their self-satisfied preening.....and pretend to laugh as Gervais took them to task for it.......

                    But  none of the Globes scandals and Gervais's verbal grenades made a dent in them over the years.

                    What it took was the army of Social Justice Warriors and Hollywood's opportunistic wokesters to point out the Globes, incredible as it may seem, managed to maintain themselves as an all white organization. 

                    So there the Globes sit, in the deep doo-doo and if they manage to slap together an awards show next year, they'll be lucky if they can convince the Home Shopping Network to set aside a half hour for them. 

                       We're tempted to say 'good riddance'.......but we'll miss the inebriated acceptance speeches and hosts' monologues that trash the event itself. Farewell to a Guilty Pleasure......

FAREWELL TO 'THE SABOTEUR'....R.I.P. NORMAN LLOYD

Norman Lloyd (1914-2021)

 His place in cinematic history lives forever in every movie buff's memory.......

             As Frank Fry, the weasel-like Nazi agent who torches an American arms factory and blows up an American ship in New York harbor........smirking in satisfaction until he's cornered - on the torch of the Statue Of Liberty.

               From that height, in Alfred Hitchcock's "Saboteur", Frank Fry, played by young actor Norman Lloyd, plunges to his death.....his wailing scream and agonized face caught in a startling special effects shot. 

               Fry died, but Norman Lloyd lived on until passing a few days ago.....at age 106. We should all be so blessed as to lead a live so long and so creatively brilliant.

                You could say that after his spectacular demise in "Saboteur", Lloyd had nowhere to go but up....and that he did. 

               He spent a long rich lifetime, through two centuries as a prolific and constantly working producer, director and actor. in films, "In Her Shoes",  "Spellbound") TV series ("St. Elsewhere") and numerous stage productions. 

                 During his long association with Hitchcock, Lloyd served as the producer of  the director's two long running TV series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour"

                 Rest In Piece to a true Renaissance man of all the performing arts. An amazingly artistic life, so well lived.

'FALLING'.....FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS, IT'S GONNA BE A LETHAL FLIGHT.......

Falling by T.J. Newman (release date   7/6/21   Now here's something we haven't done yet......give all you wonderful BQ visitors the coming attraction scoop on one of the upcoming hottest reads of the summer. Mark that July date on your calendars, 'cause you you want to hit the bookstore and grab this one as soon as it's on the shelves......

               Our vast thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy of what we think will be the all time best beach-iest Beach Book of this or any other summer. (or any other season, in fact)

           We're exhausted as we write this......from gobbling the book up in one sitting which stretched into the way too early hours of the morning.  "Falling" reminded us of every single Bruce Willis-Harrison Ford-Arnold Schwarzenegger-Sylvester Stallone high octane, non-stop action thriller that ruled the 1990's. 

             You will definitely want to tighten up your seat belts and make sure your tray's in the upright position for this one.......and make sure to pay attention to the flight attendant's little safety procedure demonstration too.

               The premise here is damn near irresistible,  The pilot of a fully packed jet passenger plane in mid-flight finds himself offered a horrific choice by a terrorist who's taken his wife and children hostage at their home -either deliberately crash the plane or his whole family dies at the terrorist's hands. 

                 While the family-in-peril suspense heats up on the ground level, on the plane an unlikely trio of Scooby-gang flight attendants desperately try to save the plane and defend its passengers.... one of whom may well be an on board terrorist accomplice. 

                 We would not dare spoil 'the onslaught of shocking twists, surprises and reversals of fortune that spill out as this wild tale races to its conclusion.  This book had us tearing through the pages so fast, it probably generated a breeze.  If we weren't afraid of smearing up the Kindle, we would've read this while munching through one of those giant movie theater tubs of buttered popcorn, the kind you need to take out a second mortgage on to buy. (We'll just have to wait for the film version to indulge in that particular pleasure....)

              To say it more simply, "Falling" is unquestionably a 5(*****) star theme-park, upside-down rollercoaster thrill ride that you do not want to miss, a most definite FIND OF FINDS.

                  We can't even remember when we had this much pure, unadulterated fun from a reading experience...... and we can only wonder about T.J. Newman, the former bookseller and flight attendant who  wrote it.......what in the hell can she do for an encore after this?   We can hardly wait.

'THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH'.....DEMILLE AT THE DA CIRCUS......

 The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)    Funny how this movie's Oscar for Best Film still pisses off cinephiles.......

                They can't wrap their heads around the idea that back in the day, movies were a true national pastime, with millions of folks crowding into theaters to watch crowd-pleasing Hollywood fare. 

                  The mass audience expected thrills, laughs, romance, action, spectacle, even a few scares. Unlike today, the movies functioned as a big tent and who better to play the ringmaster than producer-director Cecil B. DeMille, one of the first directors to promote himself as a brand name.

                  And DeMille's brand was spectacle.......big stories, big events, big explosive action and the biggest stars. The Bible often served as his frequent go-to source for thrills 'n chills ("Samson And Delialah", "The Ten Commandments").........but speaking of a big tent, this Impresario of The Impressive found a rare contemporary subject for his mythic storytelling in "The Greatest Show On Earth".

                    The circus!  And why not?

                    Filled with death defying acrobats, wild animals, and non-stop pageantry, the Ringling Brothers circus and Cecil B. DeMille were made for each other. 

                     As if the circus itself wasn't enough, DeMille and his three screenwriters threw in romantic triangles, gangsters, a kindly doctor on the run for mercy killing his wife, and a 3rd act catastrophic train wreck that looks just as eye-popping today as it did to moviegoers 69 years ago.

                    Did it deserve a Best Picture Oscar?  Probably not, if we're comparing it against some of its competitors....."The Quiet Man" and "High Noon".  But if they'd held a People's Choice or MTV movie awards way back then, "The Greatest Show" would've scooped up all the prizes.

                     And how does it hold up?  About as well as can be expected. Newcomer Charlton Heston tears through the movie with single-minded, taciturn ferocity as the circus manager......even when half a train falls on him, he's still barking orders to get the show on the road.

                      Come to think of it, Heston's performance here lays out the template for many of his future roles to come......the unbending, uncompromising, steel-plated authoritarian. Whether he's wrangling trapeze artists or parting the Red Sea, you better believe it's Chuck's way or the highway.

                      The other major performance here comes from a beloved actor rendered almost unrecognizable - James Stewart, in clown make-up for the entire 153 minute running time, playing the fugitive doctor.

                      We dearly loved watching the adorable and later tragic Gloria Grahame doing her own stunts in and around (and on top of) the herd of elephants.  But we winced through the usual overdone acting antics of Betty Hutton, for whom they invented the phrase "a little of her goes a long way...."

                      With travelling circuses long gone and mass appeal feature films now few and far between (just look at last year's nominees), "The Greatest Show On Earth" struck us as both an artifact of its era and an example of the kind of film fast disappearing.......the big tent event that brought all of us back into the movie theater. 

                     For those 2 and a half hours spent watching it, it was fun while it lasted. 3 stars (***)