I Just Watched...

[jamesjazzguitar]

I like UNTIL THEY SAIL. It stars some of my favorite female actors as sisters: Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons (love her!), Piper Laurie (I always associate her with her role as Carrie's mother in CARRIE) and Sandra Dee. I know Sandra Dee and her movies were often dismissed as "fluff" on the TCM boards, but I love her and enjoy her movies a lot. UNTIL WE SAIL was her first movie. She was only 15 years old when the movie was released, and she's as fantastic as the youngest of the Leslie sisters. That a kid from New Jersey was able to convincingly convey complex emotions of a New Zealand girl and hold her own with Joan Fontaine and Jean Simmons is astounding.

Sandra Dee's character refers to the serious older played by Joan Fontaine as "Iceberg Annie." One of my favorite moments in the movie is when Sandra Dee's character tells Jean Simmons's character that Iceberg Annie is "necking her head off" with an American soldier.


[/quote]

I'm a fan of Sandra Dee. Until They Sail has a very good cast.

[HoldenIsHere]

Bronxgirl and Speedy, My Cousin Rachel is shown on FXM.. if you get FXM it's On Demand now, probably will be there for at least a week.

Thanks Lav! Or I guess I should call you Kay now. I don't have FXM unfortunately. But I do see that I can rent this movie on Amazon Prime. I'll have to check it out. It looks like this film was remade in 2017.

When I was wanting to see BLUE DENIM, our buddy Arturo from the TCM message board told me when it being shown on FXM. But I didn't have FXM.
Waaaah!

I finally ended up borrowing it from my library through inter-library loan. And TCM did eventually air it a couple of years ago.

[TikiSoo]

Catching up on 80's movies...suggested by TCM's schedule. Last night I saw NIGHT SHIFT 1982, promising as I see Henry Winkler and Shelly Long are the leads. But then I audibly groaned when I saw Ron Howard is the Director. While I love Ron Howard, I generally really dislike his movies. They strike me as corny sensationalistic a la Schpielberg but less deftly edited with often stilted performances. It could just be Howard uses that loser Tom Hanks too often.

The premise revolves around cute milquetoast Winkler who works in a NYC Morgue getting pushed to the overnight shift working with his boss's nephew, a wild & crazy guy played by Micheal Keaton. Keaton was very young, rude and spastic, I'm sure guys delighted in this role but I found him annoying over-the-top. Shelly Long was a feisty call girl living next door to Winkler & I believe this was right before being cast in CHEERS.
Keaton hatches a scheme to use the Morgue as a party spot/hook up for the local call girls, after Long was robbed by a client. Hilarity & romance ensues...well kind of.
The whole thing is predictable and only help up by the talent & performances of all involved. There was one slapstick scene that actually made me laugh, but on the whole it was pretty entertaining.

What REALLY stood out was the super schlocky 80's music. Movies of this time period seem to push the music to the front of many scenes and it just doesn't hold up. I mean, I like it in an Ed Wood "so bad it's funny" way, but didn't filmmakers realize it might take away from the story?
OTOH, I enjoyed the 80's hooker fashion. And Henry Winkler is a treasure.

[Bronxgirl48]

Bronxgirl and Speedy, My Cousin Rachel is shown on FXM.. if you get FXM it's On Demand now, probably will be there for at least a week.

Thank you, Kay. I get Fox Movie Channel. MY COUSIN RACHEL is regularly on rotation there (along with THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, Frank Sinatra as THE DETECTIVE, and other delights) which is where I always catch it.

[HoldenIsHere]

GREMLINS (1984)
Directed by Joe Dante
Screenplay by Chris Columbus

I've seen this movie a few times in its entirety, and some scenes I have watched many, many times (notably the scenes with Mrs. Deagle).
Some people consider this comedy horror film a Christmas movie because it's set during the Christmas season, but I am not one of those people.
The story takes place in the fictitious Kingston Falls (probably in New York State), which is a small town that's very similar to Bedford Falls NY, the setting of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, which is a Christmas movie. One of the characters in GREMLINS is seen watching IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE on television early in the movie.

High school student Billy Peltzer (played by Zach Galligan), an aspiring cartoonist who works pert-time at a local bank, receives a cute, furry creature as a Christmas present from his inventor father. The father purchased the creature (a mogwai) secretly from the grandson of a Chinatown antique store owner for $200. The store owner (played by Keye Luke) had refused to sell it. The Peltzers call the mogwai "Gizmo." The sweet and cuddly Gizmo eventually spawns other mogwai who metamorphose into more aggressive and troublemaking creatures, the titular gremlins who terrorize Kingston Falls.

My favorite scenes are the ones featuring the character of Mrs. Deagle (wonderfully brought to life by Polly Holliday). The richest person in town, Mrs. Deagle takes pleasure in foreclosing on the less fortunate residents and (a la Miss Gulch from THE WIZARD OF OZ) wants to exterminate Billy's pet dog. I have watched the scene where the gremlins torment Mrs. Deagle and the one where she visits Billy at the bank so many times that I know the dialogue by heart.

Another favorite part is Billy's mother's battle with the gremlins. Quick-thinking Mrs. Peltzer (played by Frances Lee McCain, who was Kevin Bacon's mother in FOOTLOOSE), uses the weapons at her disposal --- a mixer, bug spray and a microwave.
With a number of violent sequences (like Mrs. Peltzer's battle), GREMLINS was one of the movies that led to the creation of the PG-13 rating.

On my most recent viewing, I realized for the first time that the dragon in Billy's drawing has the head of Mrs. Deagle!

[CinemaInternational]

I've been on a film spree for the last 24 hours (don't worry, I'll write up some of the others in a later post), but I feel like I have to do a whole post to just deal with the bewildering enigma known as Myra Breckinridge (1970).

I looked at the old boards, now suspended in time, and saw posts showing that many of you could not make it though, and that the ones who did found it to be among the worst films they had ever seen. It's not a good film, although I have seen worse. So much of it feels misconceived and so many details seem off.

It's the story of Myra (Raquel Welch), formerly Myron (Rex Reed) before a life-altering surgery, who comes to Hollywood with the dark intentions of ruining the financial state of lecherous relative John Huston and to destroy what little remains of the All-American ethos by raping a cowboy type (Roger Herren) and seducing his girl (Farrah Fawcett), seemingly the last two old-fashioned types in this transitioning Hollywood. Or so it seems....But is everything really the way is seems, especially when it appears that Reed and Welsh are actually talking and interacting with each other?

There are a lot of issues to unfold here. First of all it beggers belief that Rex Reed could become Raquel Welch via surgery, since they bear absolutely no resemblance in facial shape or features. Then you have the weird, Freudian use of what were clips from a more innocent era, now given a risqué now dimension; this rarely works and feels very tacky often. The story itself does not hold together, with Welsh, Huston, and Mae West all seemingly in their own separate orbits, rarely meeting on screen. Huston goes too broad in his performance. The lengthy rape scene of Herren is a major mistake; it is seemingly meant to be outrageous dark comedy, but its grim, disturbing, and bears all sorts of bad memories of a certain section of Deliverance. We hear Myra extolling the virtues of films made up through the end of WWII (even a Tarzan cheapie), and lamenting anything after that point, but we see posters in Myra's apartment for such late 50s titles as Oh Men Oh Women and Hilda Crane, to say nothing of all the Marilyn Monroe pictures. Almost every scene feels tonally off, so much of it ends up just laying there. The ending is one of those infuriating ones that leave you questioning everything that just happened.

But, something has to be said for a film brave enough to be filled with such unsympathetic characters and to tell a story that maintains a nasty, astringent kick to this day, maybe even undimmed in that department. Raquel Welch is actually pretty good here, Farrah Fawcett is touching, the costume design is very strong, and then there is the one thing that lifts it up a few levels, and that is Mae West as a lusty talent agent (who cozies up at one point to Tom Selleck). This was her first film in close to 30 years, and she made it when she was 77. Her role is not very large (maybe about 10 to 12 minutes) , her voice is noticeably frailer than it was in her glory days, and the director shamefully cuts away from most of her song number, but she walks off with the film anyway. She is undimmed in her star power, her one-liners bluer than ever. Almost every single one of her lines (which she wrote herself) brings down the house. In the midst of an alarming film, she gives a delightful performance and she is the one thing in the film that isn't somewhat curdled underneath. She still had it in spades, and she didn't let anything around her get her down. A true star like her never could dim.

[TikiSoo]

On my most recent viewing, I realized for the first time that the dragon in Billy's drawing has the head of Mrs. Deagle!

It's always fun when you discover something you missed in earlier viewings of a fave movie.
I saw GREMLINS in the theater and didn't like it at all. Tried watching it a few more times..meh.

I think it may have something to do with "childhood" movies. I watched the animated SNOW QUEEN '57 and GAY PUREE '62 multiple times as a child on TV and still love them to this day despite their faults.

Almost every scene feels tonally off, so much of it ends up just laying there. The ending is one of those infuriating ones that leave you questioning everything that just happened.
But, something has to be said for a film brave enough to be filled with such unsympathetic characters and to tell a story that maintains a nasty, astringent kick to this day, maybe even undimmed in that department. Raquel Welch is actually pretty good here, Farrah Fawcett is touching, the costume design is very strong, and then there is the one thing that lifts it up a few levels, and that is Mae West as a lusty talent agent

Thanks CI, as usual you bring some very good points to why this movie is worth revisiting, like a "glass half full" attitude. Many were embarrassed for Mae West when this movie came out & your comments redeem her.
I just finished reading a book about the Hotel Marmont and the rotating showgirl/Raquel Welch was mentioned.

[HoldenIsHere]

On my most recent viewing, I realized for the first time that the dragon in Billy's drawing has the head of Mrs. Deagle!

It's always fun when you discover something you missed in earlier viewings of a fave movie.
I saw GREMLINS in the theater and didn't like it at all. Tried watching it a few more times..meh.

I think it may have something to do with "childhood" movies. I watched the animated SNOW QUEEN '57 and GAY PUREE '62 multiple times as a child on TV and still love them to this day despite their faults.

TikiSoo, you make a good point about movies we loved from childhood.
I have never seen GREMLINS at a theater, but I would love to.
My introduction to the movie was a pan-and-scan VHS.

I love the song "Gremlins . . . Mega Madness" from the movie.
If the song reminds anyone of "Maniac" from FLASHDANCE, well, both songs were written by Michael Sembello.

[speedracer5]

Hey speedracer, I've always liked the "I Just Watched" topic. You never knew what film would pop up next, and that is part of the fun. I'm still laughing at Masha's description of Chapter Two, and I wanted to chime in with all the recommendations for My Cousin Rachel. In addition to being an entertaining film, it's the one where the young, good-looking, pre-Lizzified Richard Burton is in almost every scene and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Thanks Kingrat! I'm glad you moved over here with the rest of us TCM Forum refugees!

[speedracer5]

I like UNTIL THEY SAIL. It stars some of my favorite female actors as sisters: Joan Fontaine, Jean Simmons (love her!), Piper Laurie (I always associate her with her role as Carrie's mother in CARRIE) and Sandra Dee. I know Sandra Dee and her movies were often dismissed as "fluff" on the TCM boards, but I love her and enjoy her movies a lot. UNTIL WE SAIL was her first movie. She was only 15 years old when the movie was released, and she's as fantastic as the youngest of the Leslie sisters. That a kid from New Jersey was able to convincingly convey complex emotions of a New Zealand girl and hold her own with Joan Fontaine and Jean Simmons is astounding.

Sandra Dee's character refers to the serious older played by Joan Fontaine as "Iceberg Annie." One of my favorite moments in the movie is when Sandra Dee's character tells Jean Simmons's character that Iceberg Annie is "necking her head off" with an American soldier.



I'm a fan of Sandra Dee. Until They Sail has a very good cast.

I like Sandra Dee too. She's one of my favorites. I love Gidget. That is one of my favorite films and it doesn't hurt that Moondoggie is super hot too. It always astounds me that Cliff Robertson in Picnic is the same Cliff Robertson in Gidget. In Picnic, he was a whiny b---- but he's awesome as The Big Kahuna in Gidget. Dee is also really great as Jimmy Stewart's "dish" of a daughter in Take Her, She's Mine. I also love her in A Summer Place. A Summer Place is one of my favorites because that movie has EVERYTHING. It's amazing to me that Dee made Gidget and A Summer Place in the same year. And, she was married to the awesome Bobby Darin. They made a few cute films together, I really enjoy That Funny Feeling.

[CinemaInternational]

Assorted notes.....

The Adventurers (1970) feels like prime material for the bad films you love thread. It's the saga of a young man played by Bekhim Fehmiu, who hails from a (fictional) South American country where revololution, rape, murder, explosions, and genocide are nearly daily occurrences. Not exactly a garden spot, he soon becomes part of the jet set, splitting his time between continents, cavorting with women (Candice Begen, Leigh Taylor-Young, and Olivia De Havilland [!]), and trying to liberate his nation. The violence is extremely callously depicted, the film is very long (3 hours), it encompasses nearly every soap opera cliche or social taboo imaginable, and the dialogue feels like the type of stuff you'd see printed in comic book bubbles. But the whole thing is put together in a way that it bumps along from one element to another without getting dull; it's trashy but it's entertaining and it never really stops for a minute.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) had no connections to the famous story filmed in 1967. Rather, like Myra Breckinridge, it was an attempt by 20th Century Fox to go as wild as possible, in this case by hiring exploitation director Russ Meyer. Meyer, along with writer Roger Ebert, crafted an outrageous spoof of the "perils of show business" sagas, replete with much sex and nudity. Everything in here is tounge in cheek, and not to be taken seriously. At least half the time, it is extremely funny, but toward the end, it tries to turn its jaundiced eye into the darker waters of spoofing abortion and the Manson massacre, and those two extremely dark topics stop the movie cold. There is no way you can joke about those things. Still, better and funnier than I expected.

The Banshees of Inerishin (2022) is one of this year's likely big Oscar contenders. It is a saga of two friends on a rural Irish island in 1923 (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) who have a falling-out that gets progressively worse. It ends up suggesting a lower-key rural Irush version of The War of the Roses, although it doesn't go quite that far (but far enough to include an accidental animal death and property damage). Farrell plays a lonely man, something of a sadsack, who is left blindsided when Gleeson drops the friendship because he doesn't want to waste any more time of his life talking about trivial things. Farrell wants to continue the friendship, but Gleeson says that if Farrell even attempt it, he will start chopping off some of his own fingers. Gleeson exits the film with only five fingers. The film itself is better than the director's last one (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), is handsomely filmed, and has several vibrant performances that are of award quality (Farrell especially is exceptional), but it is still somewhat underbaked. A subplot involving an extremely troubled young man (Barry Keoghan) is never fully developed and ends far too abruptly without any real understanding of why it ends the way it does. The leads still feel slightly shortchanged in the plotting department, and things needed at least a few more minutes to be developed fully. Still, not bad for a modern-day film.

The Big Bounce (1969) is that rarity of the cinema: Hippie-noir. The clash of styles between a 40s type plot and late 60s style provides some interest. It's very simply set up as Ryan O'Neal drifts into a relationship with the mistress of his boss (then-wife Leigh Taylor-Young) whose Miss America looks, skinny dipping habit and bright clothes belie her dark heart. O'Neal is too bland in the lead (he needed a Kubrick or a Bogdanovich, or the rigors of a twice-weekly TV drama to wake him up), but Taylor-Young is very good as the youthful and immature femme fatale still prone to the type of tirades little girls have when her deadly plans don't line up to expectations. Lee Grant has a small but effective role as a troubled divorcee. All in all, not a bad blend of styles.

Let Us Be Gay (1930) begins with a prologue where Norma Shearer plays a plain- Jane who loses her husband to divorce, before heading off to a main part where she, significantly more glamourous, tries to win him back with the help of doyenne Marie Dressler. Its a typical early -talkie drawing room comedy, witty and crisp, sparked by two actresses at the height of their star power. It's great fun.

The divorce theme continues with Divorce American Style (1967), which finds Debbie Reynolds and Dick Van Dyke on the rocks as the film opens. As the film progresses, they try to go their separate ways, attempt to date again with Van Johnson and Jean Simmons, but still find themselves drawn to each other all over again. It has a strong script by Norman Lear, and the performances are fine across the board, including one of Debbie Reynolds' very best roles. Worth a look.

A Dandy in Aspic (1968) has opening credits that feature a marionette dummy whose strings become hopelessly tangled. Its a metaphor for the film itself, which is ultimately too confusing and hemmed-in for its own good. Lawrence Harvey (who also took over directing when Anthony Mann died) plays a double agent, secretly working for the Russians while seemingly working for the British. But his double-dealing soon has consequences as he is ultimately told to put a hit.... on himself. Harvey's performance is fine, Mia Farrow is good in a cryptic supporting role who may or may not be a simple love interest, but the film's cut and dry style is uninvolving and the overly complex plot makes it hard to follow and understand.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) feels like an early 90s time capsule even from the cast alone. The role of the heroine is played by Annabella Sciorra, whose career and life would soon be brought low by Harvey Weinstein. The villainess is played by Rebecca De Mornay, whose final hit it was. Ironically, the biggest star in the film today is Julianne Moore, who gets the the thankless role of the ill-fated best friend who learns the psycho's secret before anyone else does. Still, as a thriller goes, its effective, with De Mornay chillingly effective as she seeks to destroy Sciorra's life after becoming a nanny to her children. Sciorra had been a client of a gynecologist who took physical advantage of his patients; when she sued, he commited suicide. You can guess who he was married to. It's predictable, but director Curtis Hanson (later of LA Confidential) was a professional at staging suspense scenes and getting rich performances from his cast members.

The Killing of Sister George (1968) was originally banned in many cities, for this melodrama involving the world crashing in on a lesbian soap opera actress as she is about to be dropped from the show featured an incongruous lesbian rape/seduction scene that is far at odds with the rest of the film's content. Otherwise, the film is rather old-fashioned with Beryl Reid (as the lead) and Susannah York feel more like sisters, mother and daughter, or platonic roommates rather than lovers. But I guess director Robert Aldrich didn't think that the film was shocking enough and staged that scene with Coral Browne and York that doesn't fit the rest. Browne's role really is a thankless one with her face always photographed in an unflattering way reminiscent of silent screen villains. Still, otherwise, its an absorbing story, Reid gives a bravura performance, and York also does a strong, capable job.
The Terminator (1984) is probably one of the best known of action films, yet I found myself preferring the more expensive, glossier sequel that I had viewed about a year ago. This one had Arnold Schwarzenegger as the emotionless robotic killer out to get Linda Hamilton, while fellow timetraveler Michael Biehn is willing to sacrifice himself in order to protect her. Visually, it is striking, but I missed the glossier, more empathetic feel of the sequel.

[HoldenIsHere]

I feel like I have to do a whole post to just deal with the bewildering enigma known as Myra Breckinridge (1970).

there is the one thing that lifts it up a few levels, and that is Mae West as a lusty talent agent (who cozies up at one point to Tom Selleck). This was her first film in close to 30 years, and she made it when she was 77. Her role is not very large (maybe about 10 to 12 minutes) , her voice is noticeably frailer than it was in her glory days, and the director shamefully cuts away from most of her song number, but she walks off with the film anyway. She is undimmed in her star power, her one-liners bluer than ever. Almost every single one of her lines (which she wrote herself) brings down the house. In the midst of an alarming film, she gives a delightful performance and she is the one thing in the film that isn't somewhat curdled underneath. She still had it in spades, and she didn't let anything around her get her down. A true star like her never could dim.

I have never seen MYRA BRECKENBRIDGE although I would like to one day. It's not so much that I've been avoiding the movie as much as it has (in the past at least) not been readily available for viewing.
I am a huge fan of Mae West. She is one performer who truly deserves to be called a legend. Beyond acting and singing, she was a playwright and a screenwriter. My favorite of her movies is I'M NO ANGEL, for which she received sole writing credit: "Story, Screenplay and All Dialogue." Her character's cross-examination of witnesses in that movie's courtroom scene is one of the greatest comic sequences captured on film.

The first time I heard the movie MYRA BRECKENRIDGE referenced was on the "Bess, You Is My Daughter Now" episode of THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. In that episode's tag, Rhoda tells Mary in jest that Phyllis is taking her elementary school age daughter to see the movie. I didn't yet know anything about MYRA BRECKENBRIDGE, but I could tell from the Rhoda-Mary exchange that it was not a kid's movie.

[TikiSoo]

Assorted notes.....
The Big Bounce (1969) All in all, not a bad blend of styles.

Let Us Be Gay (1930) It's great fun.

The divorce theme continues with Divorce American Style (1967)

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) feels like an early 90s time capsule even from the cast alone. (snipped) It's predictable, but director Curtis Hanson (later of LA Confidential) was a professional at staging suspense scenes and getting rich performances from his cast members.

The Terminator (1984) is probably one of the best known of action films, yet I found myself preferring the more expensive, glossier sequel that I had viewed about a year ago.

WOW, you sure see a lot of movies, don't you?
Your well thought out comments are really helpful-you describe movies well without revealing, leaving much for the viewer to discover.

Never heard of The Big Bounce, thanks for bringing it up.

I have always heard about Divorce American Style but assumed it was the source material for insipid spin off Love American Style & avoided it. Thanks for letting me know it's worth while- ANY new chance to see Dick Van Dyke is worth seeking.

Same with Hand That Rocks The Cradle which I assumed was a lame exploitative thriller in the same vein as Basic Instinct-a movie I completely avoided because of "the" scene, the only one anyone ever mentions. I'll give it it a try mostly for Rebecca DeMornay.

Last night I watched Rich In Love '92 based on another member's post in this thread (the TCM board). It was excellent- so glad it was written about-I would have never discovered it myself!

[CinemaInternational]

Assorted notes.....
The Big Bounce (1969) All in all, not a bad blend of styles.

Let Us Be Gay (1930) It's great fun.

The divorce theme continues with Divorce American Style (1967)

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) feels like an early 90s time capsule even from the cast alone. (snipped) It's predictable, but director Curtis Hanson (later of LA Confidential) was a professional at staging suspense scenes and getting rich performances from his cast members.

The Terminator (1984) is probably one of the best known of action films, yet I found myself preferring the more expensive, glossier sequel that I had viewed about a year ago.

WOW, you sure see a lot of movies, don't you?
Your well thought out comments are really helpful-you describe movies well without revealing, leaving much for the viewer to discover.

Never heard of The Big Bounce, thanks for bringing it up.

I have always heard about Divorce American Style but assumed it was the source material for insipid spin off Love American Style & avoided it. Thanks for letting me know it's worth while- ANY new chance to see Dick Van Dyke is worth seeking.

Same with Hand That Rocks The Cradle which I assumed was a lame exploitative thriller in the same vein as Basic Instinct-a movie I completely avoided because of "the" scene, the only one anyone ever mentions. I'll give it it a try mostly for Rebecca DeMornay.

Last night I watched Rich In Love '92 based on another member's post in this thread (the TCM board). It was excellent- so glad it was written about-I would have never discovered it myself!

Hand That Rocks the Cradle does have one of those tiresome Fatal Attraction-style endings, and an unnecessary and grotesque early scene showing Sciorra's assault by the pervy doctor, but that's over relatively quickly, though not quickly enough. The rest is decidedly more toned down and more cerebral that the overheated Basic Instinct, and De mornay does deliver in spades. Not sure if its the right film for you though, because I know you detest screen violence.

That was me who had recommended Rich in Love back on the TCM boards. Glad that you too found it to be an utterly lovely film. It's one of several little gems from 1992 that is sadly overlooked. I'd also recommend Used People, Falling from Grace, Leaving Normal, Diggstown, Mr. Saturday Night, Gas Food lodging, This is My Life, and Love Field as other 1992 films that slipped below the radar, but are worth a glance.