The Patriot Game

I'm looking forward to the release of this movie on DVD. According to the wikipedia entry, one of the characters is based on Ernie O'Malley.

When Akira Met George

For extreme film geeks: this bit of apocrypha will either give you a chuckle or leave you sratching your head in puzzlement.

Leigh Brackett

I'm a long-time science fiction fan, so I'm not unfamiliar with the name of Leigh Brackett. But I have to confess I've never read any of her work, and I was completely unaware that she wrote for the movies, let alone for some of my favorite movies. Unaware anyway, until I read Queen of the Martian Mysteries: An Appreciation of Leigh Brackett. Here's an excerpt about Brackett and Howard Hughes:

It was a tribute to Howard Hawks that he wasn't phased by the famous revelation that the guy he had hired for The Big Sleep was actually a gal in a gingham dress. Hawks was as famous for his regard for strong women as he was for his
exploitation of weaker ones. And Leigh's steady integrity impressed him. She stayed on the picture. There are many who believe she materially helped make it the classic it became. She worked with Hawks and Wayne on movies like Hatari! (about which she had some hilarious stories) and Rio Lobo, as well as the classic Rio Bravo and she also wrote for television.

A little bit more about Brackett and Hughes:

Only once, with The Empire Strikes Back, did she ever script a science fantasy tale. In a sense she had the privilege of self-imitation, just as she had when doing Eldorado, which she knew was a rehash of Rio Bravo. At one point she had suggested to Hawks that he simply change the names of her previous script and save himself some money.

Considering that Empire is easily the best of the Star Wars films, it's a shame she didn't write the screenplays for all of them. Consider this:

But, of course, Leigh was also influential in Hollywood. Her contribution to Star Wars wasn't limited to the script she did for The Empire Strikes Back. When I saw the first Star Wars movie I was disappointed. I had expected something as good as Brackett. What I got was a dilute of Brackett and the Brackett style. Han Solo's origins lie, it seems to me, in those tough, semi-piratical spacers who took the interplanetary work nobody else would do. I suspect they all looked a bit like Bogart in Leigh's mind! Which says something for Bogart, I'd say, since Leigh got to know him when she was working with Faulkner on the The Big Sleep. She and Bogie enjoyed each other's company. They were the same kind of tough-talking romantics. Her spacegoing heroes were not a million miles away from the seagoing Bogart of Key Largo.

First - how fucking cool is it to find a line, a connection between a Bogie character and Han Solo? Is this not why the internet was invented, to delight geeks worldwide?

Ok, anyways... Harrison Ford's Han Solo is clearly the star of The Empire Strikes Back. I have no idea if this was intentional or not, but like Eli Wallach's Tuco in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Han Solo in TESB is a secondary or supporting character who leaps to the forefront and dominates the picture . Not only does he have the best lines in the film (again like Tuco) but he seems to be more fully realized. Luke Skywalker and The Man With No Name are archtypes (or cardboard cutouts depending on your taste in movies) - great fun to watch but a bit one-dimensional. Han Solo and Tuco seem like real people, however odd it may be to apply the term 'real' to movie characters. Luke is a whiny farm boy on your standard Joe Campbell hero quest; The Man With No Name is a mysterious stranger, with no past to speak of*, who laconically shoots a whole bunch of people. Han and Tuco, in contrast, have personality. They have a past, sometimes only hinted at, that the viewer can imagine occurring off screen before the film starts, and a future too. Don't you wonder what Tuco got up to after 'Blondie' rode off and left him in the graveyard? You know just know what Eastwood's character did - shoot some more people. But what kind of trouble did Tuco get into? What kind of scams did he think up? You wonder because you think of him as real. And you get mad when Lucas changed the Cantina scene to have Greedo shoot first because goddamit you know Han Solo, you know there's no freakin' way he'd let Greedo get the drop on him like that.

*I think the reason that Unforgiven and The Outlaw Josey Wales are my favorite Eastwood films are because they seem to me to round-out the Man With No Name character that made Eastwood famous.

The Internet is a Circle

From a column on James Bond and spies in general comes this tidbit...

The first modern spies were indeed identified with Empire. They were those who played the “Great Game” for imperial stakes on the North West Frontier of India. But they were real people, some of them coming to ends that even Largo, Rosa Klebb and the cat-eating Oddjob might have hesitated to inflict. It was the spies of the Indian Political Service, in direct descent from Sleeman and Malcolm, the infiltrators and destroyers of the Thuggi gangs who infested the north Indian roads, who gave rise to the first great modern spy story — Kipling’s Kim, published in the last gasp of the Victorian era.

...which sounded to me like the kernel of a story far more fascinating than any Bond movie or novel. The kind of story that would make for a ripping historical novel, an engrossing non-fiction read, or a movie. And wouldn't you know, a little digging turned up The Deceivers, a 1988 film (based on a novel) about the infiltration of the Thuggee cult - starring Pierce Brosnan, who as everyone their dog is aware, took a turn as Bond.

This wikipedia entry lists several books on films on the Thuggee. I intend to track some of them down, as it really does sound like a fascinating episode of history.

Happy (Belated) Anniversary

As the Llamas noted, yesterday was the anniversary of the 1977 premiere of Star Wars. To mark this august occasion I present to you (with the help of www.youtube.com, my new favorite time waster), some very special tributes to Lucas' epic.

Solo: The Movie

Troops

Han Solo: Zero from Outer Space

George Lucas in Love

Shatner Sings!

Slither in the Sky

There are three reason I will most assuredly be seeing the film Snakes On A Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, this coming August.

First, and obviously, there is the title, a title so striking it has created an internet phenomenon, a title so ridiculous it crosses over into the realm of genius. A movie titled Snakes On A Plan is a like a sign saying 'Free Beer' - I am compelled to investigate.

Second, there's the whole idea behind the film. If you asked me to conjure up the most horrifying scenarios I could think of, sharing space with several hundred snakes on a metal tube hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour would certainly place near the top of the list. * Again, I am compelled to investigate.

And third, let us consider the dialogue. Snakes On A Plane promises to be a gold mine of quotes. Some searching has turned up the following:

"Enough is enough. I've had it with these snakes."

Remember the movie Batman - the real old one, with Adam West? Along with Spinal Tap this movie has some of the 'best' dialogue ever written. ("They may be drinkers, Robin, but they're still human beings.") There's one scene where Batman where Batman races about Gotham City for several minutes, desperately trying to get rid of the ticking bomb in his hands. Finally he tosses the bomb into the ocean - it explodes - and he turns to the camera and says:

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."

Now for years "some days you just can't get rid of a bomb" has been my personal verbal shorthand, for those kind of shit happens days where everything goes wrong. But I now I think that line may have been replaced.
*The only way I think it could be worse is if you were trapped naked on the plane with all those snakes. Truly horrifying.

Six on Screen

I've come across this twice so far today, so I figured I ought to hop on the bandwagon. Feel free to follow suit.

1. Earliest Film Related Memory
Going to see Candleshoe in the theater, which left little impression on me as I can't recall a thing about the film beyond the title and Joy Foster's presence. On the other hand, for some reason I have a vivid memory of the preview of Gray Lady Down that showed that day.

2. A Favorite Line from a Movie
Just one? That makes this a little difficult, but for old time's sake I'll go with I have a bad feeling about this. From Star Wars. Of course.

3. Jobs You Would Do If You Could Work in the Biz
I don't know if this job exists, but I'd like to the 'sound track guy' i.e. the guy in charge of deciding which songs will be used in a movie.

Also, I have no idea what the 'best boy' or the 'gaffer' does, but I kinda like the titles. Who wouldn't want a business wth gaffer emeritus emblazoned on it?

4. Three Directors I Like
That's easy: Sam Peckinpah, John Woo, and Ridley Scott.

5. Screenwriter I Love
For lack of a better answer I'll say Tarantino, but on the whole I don't pay much attention to screenwriters. Sorry, screenwriters.

6. A Movie I'd like to Re-Make or a Property I would Like to Adapt for Film
Let's see, for a re-make I'll go with Zulu. Yes, it'd be a touch sell in these PC times, but it's a great (and true) story. And the battle scenes could be greatly improved with today's technology.

To Have And Have Not

Last night I saw To Have And Have Not at the Brattle. It wasn't the first time I've seen this film, but it was the first time I'd seen it on the big screen. In a balcony no less - I love the fact that the Brattle has balcony seats.

Anyhoo, To Have And Have Not is definitely my favorite Bogart flick. Easily. Yes, I know there's Casablanca which is also a superlative film. I wouldn't - and couldn't really - argue with anyone who chose Casablanca as their favorite or 'the best' Bogart film. When two films are both that great I think it just comes down to a matter of personal preference. And I prefer Lauren Bacall over Ingrid Bergman.

I love this exchange between Bacall (as Slim) and Bogart (as Steve): she is one step ahead of him the entire time - completely self-possessed:
Slim: You're sore, aren't ya?
Steve: Why should I be?
Slim: I didn't behave very well, did I?
Steve: You did all right. You got the bottle, didn't you?
Slim: You're sore, aren't ya?
Steve: Now look, get this straight. I don't care...
Slim: I know, I know. You don't give a 'whoop' what I do, but when I do it, you get sore. After all, you told me to, you know.
Steve: I told you?
Slim: You said 'go ahead,' didn't ya?
Steve: Oh yeah, that's right, I-I guess I did. You were pretty good at it too.
Slim: Thanks! Would you rather I wouldn't?
Steve: Wouldn't what?
Slim: Do things like that.
Steve: Why ask me?
Slim: I'd like to know.
Steve: Well, of all the screwy...
Slim: All right, all right, I won't do it anymore.
Steve: Look, I didn't ask you...
Slim: I know you didn't. Don't worry. I'm not giving up anything I care about.

Of course the dialogue is not quite the same lying all flat up here on your monitor, not even close. Seeing it on the big screen was a delight.