Hearts of the West

Despite the fact that I saw Hearts of the West on Turner Classic Movies, I would probably categorize it as a modern film. Well, maybe. It's from 1975 so it's kind of on the edge of "classic film" and not-so-classic film. I think modern films can be classic, but only if they demonstrate a timelessness that will allow them to be watched fifty or sixty years from now and understood and enjoyed. Well, that was quite a ramble, so let's get into the film.

Cavaet: I was working on something else when I was watching(-ish) this film, so the plot is a little fuzzy to me. But I have to say, I found this movie entertaining mostly for its time period and actors, so the plot was a little less relevant. But it was still good, just that I don't remember everything that happened. I also did not take notes, as I try to do during V-Jo movies.

Hearts of the West stars a young, young Jeff Bridges as Lewis Tater, a young man trying to write Western novels. He comes out to Hollywood and ends up working as a cowboy in a serial film. Lewis meets Howard Pike (Andy Griffith), another "cowboy," who ends up giving him career advice. The career advice includes reading Lewis's Western novel and then stealing it and submitting it to a publisher. Despite the conflicts, Lewis ends up with the girl (Blythe Danner) and the film ends with him leaving in an ambulence. (Seriously, I don't know why, but it looked cool. Perhaps I will watch this one again.)

My favorite part of Hearts of the West was the Western film-making atmosphere. It reminded me of one of my favorite books -- Miranda Goes to Hollywood: Adventures in the Land of Palm Trees, Cowboys, and Moving Pictures by Jane Kendall. The book is all about the adventures of a young girl in Hollywood (it's a sequel to Miranda and the Movies, a truly beautiful book with a fun story about early movie-making) and mostly about her adventures as a cowgirl. (Eventually, I'll write up a review of both books for this blog -- they're not books about movies per se, but they're close enough for my standards.) I really enjoy movies about movies, especially if they are well done and entertaining. And movies about old film-making are awesome.

FILE UNDER: Modern Films

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

I have a tremendous backlog of films that I started on this past weekend.

Yes, I know that I have like five Van Johnson movies to watch, including Plymouth Adventure, a story of the pilgrims and the very first Thanksgiving. But this movie was totally worth skipping V-Jo over.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is Alfred Hitchcock's lone foray into screwball comedy. It's a pretty entertaining piece of fluff, and at ninty-five minutes, I would definitely watch it again.

The titular Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Robert Montgomery and Carole Lombard) find out that they are not really married at the beginning of the film. From this problem, the plot springs forth, because, you see, David has told his bride that if he had to do it all over again -- referring to marrying her -- he wouldn't. Oh, David, it's called a polite lie!

Ann finds out that she isn't properly married and leaves David after he doesn't remarry her. She eventually gets engaged to a lovely Southern gentleman, despite the fact that his family doesn't quite approve of her. However, there's one problem: Ann is still in love with David.

And David continues to pop up in the same places and Ann and her fiancee. He even tries to make Ann jealous by pretending to be with a society lady instead of the low-class broad his friend Chuck (Jack Carson) has set him up with.

In the end, David cons Ann into thinking that he has fallen deadly ill at a ski lodge. She cares for him until she realizes that he's been pulling a fast one on her. She tries to leave David, but after a confrontation with her fiancee's family and a realization that she still loves David, Ann decides to stay with him and all ends happily.

As I said before, I really enjoyed Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Robert Montgomery is oddly attractive, despite his round face. And Carole Lombard is a superb comedian and managed to make her role pretty funny. I would definitely think about watching it again.

FILE UNDER: Classic Films

Harold Lloyd and the '50

Continuing in the same vein as my post yesterday, I found an interesting article online about another semi-famous silent film comedian, Harold Lloyd. The New York Times published an article entitled "Harold Lloyd's Adventures on the Lens's Other Side" which reviewed a book published by his granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd.

And the book is not what you would expect the mild-mannered but adventuresome Lloyd to be the author of -- it's called Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3D! and features photographs of starlets -- and some more famous stars like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, albeit fully clothed -- in the nude.

Apparently, Lloyd has never quite gotten the credit that he deserves for his films of the 1920s -- Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton have usurped him with their artistry, although Lloyd outgrossed both of them. (As a sidenote, I have to say that box-office gross didn't really mean that much back then. It seems like only now has the public become obsessed with how movies did financially. And finally, just because a lot of people see a movie, that doesn't make it good. There are lots of examples nowadays of this phenomenom, say Titanic for example.) According to the article, Suzanne Lloyd feels like film scholars know about Lloyd, but the book will help introduce him to a larger audience. She also says, "My grandfather was a star, someone who had a creative edge and liked to push it. He did stunts that scared the hell out of people, and the nude photography was just one more instance of pushing on the edges of what was being done."

I don't think that I would run out to buy the book, but I have seen a couple Lloyd pictures and they are entertaining. I think the world would probably be a better place if more people knew about silent comedians.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton had a new documentary by Kevin Brownlow (author of The Parade's Gone By..., a book which I own but haven't managed to finish reading yet.) on TCM last night, So Funny It Hurt!. The documentary is all about Keaton's years at MGM and his downfall from great silent films like Sherlock Jr. and The General to schlocky movies co-starring Jimmy Durante. I didn't watch So Funny It Hurts! because I really like Buster's silent films and I've read quite a few biographies on him (including a really awesome one called Buster Keaton Remembered co-authored by his second wife Eleanor).

However, there was a really interesting article entitled "Deadpan Alley" on Slate about the documentary that made me think about catching it when it reruns on December 19. The parts the intrigued me:

"In a filmed interview from the '60s, the older Buster bemoans the Marx Brothers' lack of on-set preparation, remembering that "When we made movies, we ate, slept and breathed 'em." There's also a rare clip of Keaton delivering lines in painfully phonetic Spanish; before the days of dubbing, films were simply remade several times in different languages for the international market. In a scene from one of Buster's early shorts, Coney Island, the famously stone-faced comedian can be seen laughing heartily after whacking Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle in the head with a mallet."

It sounds pretty interesting, and perhaps worth spending 38 minutes on.

FILE UNDER: News and Notes

How to Steal a Million

I haven't written a review in like, forever. But I will rectify that right now by writing about one of my favorite films, How to Steal a Million.

How to Steal a Million is coming out on DVD on Tuesday (!) and I am really, really excited for it. I caught the film while I was in high school (back when AMC was commercial free and actually worth watching). It's an entertaining caper/romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole.

The film opens at an art auction where a Cezanne painting from the fabeled Bonnet collection is being sold. Nicole Bonnet (Hepburn) is driving in her tiny convertible to her Parisian home and hears about the sale on the radio. Her father (Hugh Griffith) is not a famed art collector, but rather a brilliant forger of the masters.

And one of their masterpieces, a statue purported to have been done by Celinni, is going to be exhibited in an art museum. Nicole worries, but because it is so much easier to detect fraud, but her father pooh-poohs her worries. The evening that the statue is exhibited in the museum, Nicole finds a burglar in their house! It's Simon Dermott (O'Toole, a burglar I would like to find in my house) and he's actually pulling something out of the faux Van Gogh. Simon and Nicole have a meet-cute interaction which leads to her shooting him by accident, Nicole driving his car back to the Ritz in her nightie, black rubber boots, and a pink coat thrown over it all, and Simon giving Nicole a good-night kiss before gently placing her in a taxi to go home.

The next morning Nicole and Bonnet find out that there needs to be a technical examination of the Celinni Venus before a million-dollar insurance policy can go into force. This is not a good thing for them, and Nicole decides to be proactive and contact Simon about stealing the Venus back. They meet at the Ritz Bar, and Nicole's outfit of a lace cocktail dress complete with lace mask and silver eye shadow has to be seen to be believed.

Simon decides to take the job and they wander around Paris while he tries to solve the problem of thwarting the security around the statue. The plan he comes up with is brilliant and utterly implausible in the computerized era. It must also be seen to be believed, but it involves a lot of time spent in a tiny broom closet. Eventually Simon gets it out of Nicole that the statue is a fake and reveals that he is going through with this crazy scheme because he loves her.

Every girl would love to be trapped in a closet with him!

The film wraps up quite nicely from there, with only a hint of intrigue with Nicole's fiancee, David Leland (Eli Wallach) and his acquisition of the Cellini Venus.

It's quite a nice little film, a nice companion to Charade, which has a similar story line. But honestly, I have to say that the real reason to see this film is for Peter O'Toole. He's so pretty. It's those eyes!

FILE UNDER: Classic Films