“The Racket” (1951) is directed by… well, quite a few different pairs of hands actually. John Cromwell gets the credit, but he had uncredited directing help from Nicholas Ray and Mel Ferrer. It’s hardly surprising actually when you look at who owned RKO when the film was made. None other than Howard Hughes, who had a panache for taking directors off movies at the drop of the hat. In fact, “Vendetta” from 1950, went through six directors! This constant reshuffling in the director’s chair probably accounts for the differing feel to the picture. The beginning, quite bland and unmemorable mutates into a very good middle section before ending predictably. It would be interesting to see who did what on the motion picture.
The screenplay is by William Wister Haines and W.R. Burnett (author of “Little Caesar”), and based on a play of the same name by Bartlett Cormack, which was also the basis for the 1928 film “The Racket”, directed by Lewis Milestone. It is about McQuigg (Robert Mitchum), the only honest police captain on the force, and his loyal patrolman, Johnson (William Talman). Together, they take on the violent Nick Scanlon (Robert Ryan), who is backed by The Syndicate. Together, they plan to elect Welch (Ray Collins), the crooked prosecutor running for judge.
Mitchum and Ryan are very good, as usual, but there is certainly an added intensity when they share the screen, and Lizabeth Scott, Ray Collins and William Conrad all contribute, good solid performances. The photography, by George E. Diskant, is very nice indeed, full of shadows and darkness. In fact, with a slightly less routing screenplay and just one director, this could have turned out to be something special. Still, as it is, it is good enough and a lot better than its reputation.
Yeah, I thought so… Thing with that film is that it’s not violent or gory or brutal at all. It’s completely based on suspense. You need some skill to make an effective low-budget film that’s totally based on suspense. And skill is not a word I would easily use for modern directors.
Black Swan - This is one film where I’m glad I heard spoilers about it before watching it otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered going anywhere near it. The majority of the film moves at quite a slow pace but doesn’t get boring and the last 20 minutes or so are fantastic.
1961, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea… For a brief time director/writer/producer, Irwin Allen, somehow nudged Roger Corman aside to become ‘master of the sci-fi/disaster epics’ during the 60’s. -Generally centered around watery-themes. This film is a big-budget ‘minor’ effort, that I went to see primarily because of Peter Lorre, who was taking a break from Corman/Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe projects. It was overall disappointing as it seemed to be filmed entirely on one set (the bridge of the ‘modern’ submarine; Seaview). Earth was passing-through one of the asteroid-belts, which we pass-through today with barely a telecommunication-warning. In the movie, the sky catches fire… and Lorre, Admiral Nelson (Walter Pigeon), and Captain Crane (Robert Sterling) devise a plan to fire a missile into the belt, to start a chain-reaction burnout. -While saboteurs try stopping them, blah blah blah… But the underwater special-effects were stunning, and save the film, to me. And apparently, to 20th Century Fox executives, resulting in
the VTTBOTS TV-show (1964-68), which became a sci-fi aquatic dreamworld of aliens, ghosts, cold war hijinx, techno, cryptozoologic beasts, mad scientists, robots, etc… as well as the introduction of the Flying Sub. The casting of the-ever-intense Richard Basehart as Nelson, was a genius move. Dave Hedison (the CIA bureau-op from a lot of the 007-films) was also a brilliant choice, as Crane. Sure, the series hasn’t aged well, but Irwin Allen’s creative zeal is present in every scene. Oh, 'n The Seaview? No vessel has been filmed with more attention-to-detail except for Gene Roddenbury/Star Trek’s Enterprise.
This is one of the rare instances where the television-series blows-away the film it was based on.
i am watching Robinson Crusoe on Mars, i found this movie in the book 100 SF movies you must see
and then i found it on YT - well, these user friendly books about have to see movies - a lot of them you really have to not
nevertheless, this is a nice movie so far about astronaut abandoned on red planet with quite good music, enjoyable scenes (spoiler, there are Martians on Mars), and great surroundings
so i watched Thor, and it showed up as a good comics/action flick - directed surprisingly by Kenneth Branagh
but can´t say it was different from other recent action flicks - but of course it had some resemlance to shakespeare stuff
i expected also some godesses alongside gods, sigh, but in this part it was total disappointment - no godesses at all, just Natalie Portman
and Asgard (no Valhalla ;D ) looked fantastic (but little overdesigned)
Hero’s Island - Enjoyable enough film about a family who are left an island in a will but some people don’t want them there which leads to murder but a stranger is washed ashore tied to some debris who helps them. Great cast with James Mason, Warren Oates, Kate Manx, Rip Torn, Neville Brand and Harry Dean Stanton (credited as Dean Stanton). This is the sort of film that could be shown on a sunday afternoon really (with maybe a little bit of extra violence) but don’t let that put you off.
Student Bodies - Just alright, I liked it a hell of a lot more last time I saw it. I was about 14 or so maybe though. A bit of trivia I never knew, this was actually directed by Michael Ritchie.
Never seen the other film that’s with it so hope that’s better.
The last film noir I watched was The Thief (1952) and is directed by Russell Rouse, who co-wrote the classic D.O.A (1950), and stars Ray Milland. Its main point of interest, and to be brutally honest, the only reason this film is remembered and watched is that this film noir contains not one line of dialogue. It has many sound effects and background noises but no one actually speaks. Before viewing, I did worry that this might become annoying and an overextended gimmick. However, it never does and it is handled extremely well.
The plot is quite sophisticated for a film that relies on no dialogue. Written by Clarence Greene and Rouse, it has a nuclear physicist (Milland) working in Washington D.C. who spies for an unnamed foreign country. However, the pressure is great and he is unsure where is true allegiances are.
Milland is very good in a role that is all about body language and facial expression. The real highlight though, is the superlative cinematography by the great Sam Leavitt, who also shot, amongst others, Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Crimson Kimono (1959) and Major Dundee (1965). Full of pools of darkness and high contrast location shooting, this is a beauty to behold and reason enough to watch it.
The direction, acting and photography all combine to make this one film noir not to miss.
i watched fresh new documentary by William Shatner - The Captains,
about Star Trek captains including all five (okay, six) major roles played by Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula
and of course by mighty Shatner himself
a must-see material for a trekkie
Watched it this evening and thought it was pretty good. Anthony Quinn is a hard nosed ambassador who wants rid of drug baron James Mason and calls in Hitman Michael Caine to do the job but as expected nothing goes to plan. Good score by Roy Budd too.
Also starring Marcel Bozzuffi
Although this isn’t up there with the very best it’s still a solid film and I recommend it to people who like these kinds of 70’s movies.
It’s a British and French co-production.
I watched the U.S. Mgm Archive dvd. Nice looking print.
You can tell watching the credits that the title had been changed from The Marseilles Contract to The Destructors on the print because it paused during the credits.
[quote=“ION BRITTON, post:5675, topic:1923”]Have watched a fullscreen print of a greek tape, not bad, nowhere near the best Michael Caine films though.[/quote]I used to have that tape till a while back. Not one of his best your right but I still think it’s pretty good and warrants a watch though.
I’d just watched Caine in The Ipcress File last weekend… I think it’s the 1st of his 5 (?) Harry Palmer films. -A British Army-operative instead of the Navy’s James Bond. Plus Connery’s kid, Jason, is Caine’s sidekick in the last-2 Palmer’s. I almost started a Bond vs. Palmer thread a few months ago.
Terra Nova 2011 (pilot, on US-television). Weak… unexciting and predictable. It tried to be Jurassic Park, the Mad Max series, and maybe Swiss Family Robinson all at-once. Ridiculous. It looked desperate to find an audience… instead of just trying some good old-fashioned storytelling. There’s just too much going-on, including censorboards… as none of the ‘bad’ dinosaurs are killed. So the realism-factor is extinct. If I were writer/director, I’d at least develop sonic weapons, like police use now for riot-control. I mean we’re talking the 22nd Century. The film’s weapons looked like 1414, circa Henry V. And the film never explains the time fracture. Time just doesn’t ‘rip’… Whudda waste…
