Vivacious Lady (1938) and Vicki (1953)! Both very good with Vivacious Lady having an exceptionally strong performance from Ginger Rogers.
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âClash of the Titansâ (1981)âŚThe final film of stop-motion maestro, Ray Harryhausen. Also, itâs one of his very best.
Followed by âPapillonâ (celebrating its 50th anniversary). Filmed in 1973, it boasts excellent performances from the âKing of Coolâ, Steve McQueen, and Dustin Hoffman.
âHey, you bastardsâŚIâm still here!â
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I walk past the High Level Bridge from the film every day. Or as I call it âThe Get Carter Bridgeâ.
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One of the many perks of working in/near Newcastle city centre! Lunch breaks can be rather adventurous.
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Watched the new Arrow 4K of Blood and Black Lace. Absolutely gorgeous with the HDR!
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I watched The Emperor Jones (1933) starring Paul Robeson today!
A great showcase for Paul Robesonâs acting abilities âThe Emperor Jonesâ (1933) feels like âMacbethâ transported to the Caribbean especially during the final 16 minutes of the film having Robesonâs character slowly going mad and seeing ghosts in a truly incredible solo acting performance!
This movie offers a great meaty role for Paul Robeson that largely drives the film to its conclusion
and the rest of this movie is pretty fantastic for the most part once it gets going!
One of my favorite discoveries/new to me watches this year! I really should watch more of the handful of films Paul Robeson was in!
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I rewatched Dirty Harry. Although it´s obviously no masterpiece, I do really enjoy the film. There have been people that feel that the film is very right-wing in that it not only accepts, but also promotes the approach taken by Harry Callahan, but I don´t think so. Of course, they do kind of make fun of the police´s âsofterâ approaches to the Scorpio situation, but I always felt that the film had a bit of a neutral position in that regard. It esentially presents two ways of going about the situations the police face: the rather ineffective but lawful and safe version adopted by most of the cops, and the one Dirty Harry uses, being highly effective, but also against the law and possibly causing more trouble to the citizens than is necesary. What do you guys think? Does the film have a clear stance on which method it accepts/condones or is it more neutral, simply presenting them as facts?
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The character of Harry Callahan is the personification of what most people feel inside when they see an unpunished injustice. I donât think right wing or left wing comes into it unless one deals strictly in stereotypesâŚwhich is a problem with society today and another discussion all together.
I believe that when most people see some sleazy piece of shit walk away unprosecuted for a crime that the thought crosses their minds that people of that ilk should just simply be put down as they donât now, nor will they ever, serve any benefit to society. Harry is simply the personification of that baser instinct that most people harbor. He does what most fear to do, not because they are afraid of committing the act itself but because they fear the repercussions that will ultimately accompany the act. Harry doesnât possess that fear which allows those people to live vicariously through him.
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Well, behind all that also lies the potential problem of committing a crime to fight a crime âfor the greater goodâ. This is especially tricky because the greater good can be a very subjective thing. And of course it opens all kinds of doors for abuse of power.
I do agree, however, that I canât imagine even extreme left wing people would want Scorpio to walk free. 
Imho Dirty Harry is an extremely well crafted cop action thriller. Don Siegel was a masterful director for this kind of thing. It doesnât come as a surprise that DH went on to become a template for an avalanche of other films, in the US, in Italy, and elsewhere.
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I can imagine. That film makes great use of colours
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I agree with both of your opinions. One of the key scenes in the film in when they´re at the stadium. We really want Harry to put a bullet in Scorpio, a reas POS who´s wimpering on the ground. But at what cost? What happens when the police, the people tasked with enforcing the laws, not follow the law they´re supposed to enforce?
Also, despite him being called âDirtyâ and seemingly not caring about anyone, I feel like even the tough Callahan cares about people. He was the only one willing to help the guy on the roof despite talking a little rough to him (which he did to convince him to get down) and he seems genuinely concerned about Chico´s life (whom he called a spic). So I think that Harry was really human.
A truly excellent film and great to rewatch it. I haven´t seen any of the sequels, but I am turned off by the fact that Siegel didn´t direct them.
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Regarding, âDirty Harryâ, I wonder if it was ever intended to be as controversial - I mean if it were set in the 1880s wild west, would we even be discussing the violence from the main protagonist?
I agree with the previous comments about living vicariously through Clintâs character ⌠wouldnât we all like to stand on âScorpioâsâ wound and torture the bastard ??? It may not be very âNOWâ to say or admit this ⌠but as humans, I think we have natural responses in these cases, which have nothing to do with current social trends.
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How very true, my friend. Iâve thought this for years; which is why I think the âHarryâ films are more relevant today than ever before. In effect, we are now being âtoldâ to ignore our basic natural/survival instincts, or face the consequences if we injure someone who is trying to rob, maim, or do us injury.
So often the victim becomes the offender, simply by defending their basic right to be safe in their own home, or to walk home safe without being attacked for no other reason apart from sheer fâŚing evil.
The old argument of 'being under the influence of alcohol doesnât cut it with me; neither does âthe offender has a tough and deprived upbringingâ bullshâŚt.
Unfortunately, if we fail to fit in with âwokenessâ, (which is another word for Political Correctness) for example, we are branded with a âphobiaâ, or the perpetrator of a âHate Crimeâ, simply because we have a mind of our own.
Speaking of which, why does any self-proclaimed democratic/tolerant country NEED political correctness?
Just a thoughtâŚand one which I donât think the general public ask themselves as they daily accept more and more idiocies that simply do not make sense.
Harry Callahan had a mind of his own, worked outside the box, and got resultsâŚbut guess what? It tarnished the âlookâ of the San Fran Police DepartmentâŚ
ButâŚThatâs why Iâve always liked âDirty HarryââŚhe was doing in 1971 what a lot of people would like to do, especially nowâŚin this âAlice in Wonderlandâ upside down/nothing makes sense world.
By the way, Iâm not condoning violence or anarchy of any kind. I hate violence of any kind. Iâll leave that to the mindless yobs/assholes, who only feel safe when they are tanked up on drugs or alcohol, or running in packs like wolves or rats.
As for anarchy, with a capital âAâ, posing âdemocraticallyâ in the form of âSave this, that, and the otherâ protestersâŚtry justifying your cause to the everyday folk that have been deprived, most cruelly, of visiting a loved one, holding the hand of a dying relative, been stuck in a funeral procession, simply wanted to go to work or do some good as an unpaid volunteerâŚwhile you sit in the middle of a road dressed like a fâŚing tangerine, with a smirk on your face.
Stop scaring the up and coming generation into thinking that the World is going to endâŚ
Bottom line: Sometimes, you need to use first grade manure to bring down the lower grade shit in societyâŚ
Harry Callahan, from âMagnum Forceâ (1973):
âBriggs, I hate the damn system, but until someone comes along with changes that make sense, Iâll stick with it.â
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Very well said, T.
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Well spoken!
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Dirty Harry is essentially anti-statist in tone which makes it implicitly right-wing in the specific American context in that it plays into the somewhat romantic view of government as serving the people and oneâs ability to reject that in the event the authorities cease to serve the people.
The concept harks all the way back to the founding fathers and the second amendment with the constitutionalist types championing minarchism as the paragon of American excellence, endorsing the second amendment and so forth.
Harryâs decision to defy stateâs tacit monopoly on violence might be seen as his repudiation of the social contract, going back to the state of nature so that justice may be served. This depiction accords with the aforementioned quasi-revolutionary streak and the emblematically American distrust of government.
Harryâs revolt might also be deemed as a commentary on the increase of lawlessness and systemic dysfunction in the 1970s, whereas his distaste for both the ethnic as well as religious minorities could be a depiction of the WASP reaction to the rapidly transforming cultural landscape of the 1970s with the hippie influences seeping into the public life at large and whatnot.
Nevertheless, the oft-levelled criticism of Dirty Harry being a âfascistâ film is patently ludicrous in light of fascismâs evidently statist backbone and the fact that Harryâs rebellion is clearly individualist in nature, therefore the motion picture is about as fascist as it is communist to raise taxes for the very rich; he does not set out to dismantle the law enforcement so as to erect some novel edifice of the justice system, he merely goes beyond the bounds established by the law so as to eradicate unequivocally antisocial elements of society. Be that as it may, the certain lenience shown towards vigilantism combined with filmâs popularity must have dismayed some people because Magnum Force is a total inversion of the first installment. This is also why it is hard for me to take some of these sequels seriously, Magnum Force is so overzealous in its opposition to vigilantism that it almost feels like a propaganda piece.
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âThe Rookieâ 1990
Not Clintâs finest moment, either as star or director.
It really is dreadful, and I found it painful to sit through.
The dialogue is laughable, to the point of âpooping your pants awfulââŚ
He even gets tied up and screwed by one of the baddiesâŚeeek! 
Love Clint at his bestâŚbut this ainât it. He tries, bless him, and exhibits more facial ticks than Iâve ever seen before in an Eastwood film. I donât mind a few Eastwood mannerisms; but here, it looks as if heâs allergic to Charlie Sheen!
Picked this up on bluray the other day for 99pâŚI was curious to know if the years had been kind to it - they havenât, unfortunately.
Sad to think that this came from the same talent that directed âThe Outlaw Josey Walesâ and âUnforgivenââŚ
Still, it is ClintâŚ
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After watching the phenomenal Oppenheimer earlier this week, the wife and I decided to re-visit some old Christopher Nolan today.
We began with Memento and I will have to say that this film doesnât get nearly the acclaim that it deserves.
This film reinvents the art of storytelling and forces the viewer to actually think without being led every step of the way. Guy Pearceâs performance is excellent and the movie is chock full of memorable characters. It definitely ranks as one of Nolanâs best.
We also watched Insomnia and while it is not on the level of Memento, it is still a film well worth seeing.
Although this film is a re-make (I have to watch the Norwegian original at some point), the performances of Al Pacino (as usual), Robbin Williams, and Hillary Swank are all excellent. In Memento, the viewer is forced into living Pearceâs complete and total confusion but in this film, we are forced to share Pacinoâs total exhaustion.
Nolan is unmatched at immersing the viewer into the lives of his characters. All in all, an afternoon well spent.
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