Peckinpah: Pausal Steps

Ken Russell: Unreal-Reality

Altered States

All Stood Still: microcosmicmacrocosm

Theatre of Blood: Inevitable Truth

It was observed in conversation around 1982-83 that at least half of the cast of the 1973 horror thriller "Theatre of Blood" were dead. On closer examination it proved there was actually a quarter of the cast dead, two of which had died in the year of filming. Given that it was an elderly cast of mainly British acting stalwarts it is no surprise that 38 years after it's initial release three quarters are now dead.

Actor --Year of Death -- Age --Age in Movie

Jack Hawkins -- 1973 -- 62 -- 62

Dennis Price -- 1973 -- 58 -- 58

Arthur Lowe -- 1982 -- 66 -- 57

Robert Coote -- 1982 -- 73 -- 64

Diana Dors -- 1984 -- 52 -- 41

Ian Hendry -- 1984 -- 53 -- 42

Harry Andrews -- 1989 -- 77 -- 61

Coral Browne -- 1991 -- 77 -- 60

Robert Morley -- 1992 -- 84 -- 65

Vincent Price -- 1993 -- 82 -- 62

Michael Hordern -- 1995 -- 83 -- 62

Joan Hickson -- 1998 -- 92 -- 67

Eric Sykes -- 2012 -- 89 -- 50

Milo O Shea -- 2013 -- 86 -- 47

Diana Rigg -- Alive -- 75 -- 35

Madeline Smith -- Alive -- 63 -- 24

Brando's Slim Approach

Michelangelo Antonioni's Event Horizon of Negation

Antonioni's three English-speaking movies completed between 1966 and 1975 demonstrate the versatility of the artist at work and without any consideration for criticism or censure. Beginning with "Blow-up" he achieves the positive non-story as it unfolds upon both viewer and critic and both are meant to be puzzled by the absence of meaning. A Wonderlandesque sense of unaccomplishment but still one that we are expected to have felt lifted us somewhat out of the depths of the lives we lead, to mystery, suspense and finally realisation of meaning in its actual meaningless. Do not all viewers pick the tennis ball up at the end and surrender to the absurdity Antonioni is proposing. He has played a trick with our sensibilities by first squeezing them through the rack of arrogance and then mashing them in the certainty of ignorance. Attempting to stretch this sequence of philosophical calibrations in "Zabriskie Point" Antonioni hones the blade even more subtle, to the point where the criticism this film received parcels out the meaning one is intended to observe. Again, we are shown the 'tennis ball' but this time it becomes a reality in the mind of the heroine, and we placate our views that such a scenario is possible, if unlikely, and the course of the film will leave most suitably puzzled. But it is "Blow-up" again, with the key motifs of rebellion, boredom, sex and meaning being played over again to encompass the jaundiced view that we do not achieve our full potential.
With "The Passenger" Antonioni realises the perfection in the utter negation of any semblance to a core truth as seen by the observer. As the Nicholson character ponders taking on the role of the dead 'mystery-man' we follow and sense the inevitable conclusion to his actions. And we are left to ask what difference does it make? The dead man in the hotel room is finalised in the Nicholson character, Locke, but truly already dead is that character who is a man adrift in a world he finds no meaning. His death, or too be correct, the death of his-self becomes the logical extension to both meaning and sense. And Antonioni brings us full circle with the roll of the 'tennis ball' but the problem is by then most have taken their eye of the ball. Pity.

The sublimity of Sergio Leone: On "Once Upon A Time In The West"

The Brilliance of White Heat

Raoul Walsh's 1949 film "White Heat" is regarded as one of the greatest gangster films of cinema. What truly drives the movie to its classic status, and raises it above the ordinary cops & robbers movie is the central performance by James Cagney as Cody Jarrett. This is no ordinary performance and one needs to take into account the way the subconscious works in the human being, especially in respect to creativity and the process of construction. Jarrett is fundamentally a reconfiguration of Cagney's earlier show-stopper Tom Powers in "Public Enemy", 1931, which detailed the rise and fall of a small-time hood during the Depression. Powers is more of a familiar type of villain, and has redeemable features, with the added pathos of a 'good' Ma, awaiting his arrival back home at the end of the movie. Jarrett departs from the amoral Powers in many ways though, primarily through story and background.

We learn a little throughout the film about his background. There is a strain of insanity that runs in the family. His father ended up kicking and screaming in the mental house. To gain the attention of his Ma, he use to fake headaches and gradually the headaches became real, brought on by moments of doubt and pressure. His wife, played by Virginia Mayo, was once a prostitute whom he appears to have rescued from that kind of lifestyle, but she wants order and the good things of the world, and it is evident there is no true love for her husband just a domicile need to be wanted. When Jarrett ends up in prison she turns her attentions to "Big" Ed, played by Steve Cochran, in a ploy to maintain her level of maintenance and equality with others. One senses her fears of slipping back into the sleazy chaos she sprang from. We even learn about a brother, but he is just mentioned in passing, as if there is a big family secret about him.

The driving impetus of Jarret is his Ma, played by Margaret Wycherly. Most critics see in her portrayal the reasons for Jarrett's psychosis and criminality but closer examination to the script and to the unconscious urgings of the writers reveal a deeper depth and life to this seemingly frail old woman. Her face depicts one who has lived through hard times. It is evident that she has had to make a go of it on her own, bringing up her children the best way she can, by not relying on any others. The hospitalization of her husband is a clue to her stoicism and it is generally viewed as a control device over her son but this is far from the truth. It is true Jarrett loves and idolises his Ma, and rarely queries any of her suggestions. In turn she protects him from his enemies, and when she hears of the plot to be rid of Jarrett she takes action of her own. This is the true indicator of her love for her son. She is a proud woman and sees society at large as the attack on her family, first with the insanity and incarceration of her husband and then with the missing brother. Having only Jarrett left in her old age she treats him with loving care and devotion to the point one may infer that she suffers from a shared insanity, that is tantamount to their very existence.

***

Walsh presents the film in a peculiar style. From the opening train robbery, which is reminiscent of the old west, to the high-tech chemical plant we are meant to subconsciously rediscover something of the truth behind the reality of the characters. Jarrett is an everyman type, and though clearly without conscience and having awful sociopath tendencies it is obvious he is not going to fit to type. To his Ma he is the devoted son, the one who is going to make it to the 'top of the world' looking down on his friends and foes alike. She is Agrippina to Cagney's Nero. To his wife he is the breadwinner, the husband and from a scene later on the wife-beater. She can play games with him but not where his mother is concerned. To his gang he is the Boss. The Big-I-Am. They follow like obedient sheep, except for "Big" Ed who dreams of usurping his boss and stealing his wife. This Othello-like structure is deliberate and Shakespeare's influences rages over several of the character relationships in varying ways.

***

To the undercover policeman Fallon, played by Edmond O'Brien, Jarrett is the target, to be protected, cajoled, and duped into revealing truths about his criminal activities. First Fallon becomes a replacement for Ma during a spell of headaches whilst in prison. Initially one is led to believe that Jarrett sees Fallon as a younger brother, calling him 'kid' at any given opportunity but the role is more like that of father and son, and this induces in the viewer the realisation that for such a family man there is an absence of family. Jarrett's seedless marriage with ex-prostitute Verna has floundered and created a family of a different kind, one that moves underground. When Jarrett realises the betrayal of Fallon at the end is he really that surprised? It is almost as if it is an answer to his existential wanderings and robberies. Never trust anyone.

***

Jarrett represents the kind of career criminal that lives a life on the newspapers, either through lack of conviction, escape or sheer audacity. When he learns, and here there is something Freudian about the message, that his Ma was shot in the back by "Big" Ed he metamorphoses into something else - and there appears an weariness about his rambling old gangster, he becomes his father but without chains. "Big" Ed was ribbed about his 'big' plans and 'big' this-and-that and there is unsubtly an indication here about Jarrett's impotence which can never be given full reign whilst Ma is about. So when he believes, and recall it is actually Verna who gets the old lady in the back, "Big" Ed got her in the back, it is not the death of his Ma that sends him over the precipice of clear reason but the horror of usurpation by a younger and fitter man, so much that when he plugs "Big" Ed in the back he does not wallow in victory but smirks to Verna as if to say, there I can do it to. What punishment he retains for Verna is left to our imaginations but she becomes docile and affectionate.

***

Finally in reliving the 'wooden horse of Troy' story to his gang we go full circle as the father now passes on his wisdom to his 'family'. Walsh has delivered us of the mythos of misunderstanding and we head to the highly advanced chemical factory for the final scene. Here the intricate pipes and tubes, stairwells and huge gas vats seem to represent the convoluted and twisted mind of the master criminal. Reaching the top of a gas tank we are left to ponder the nature of this callous but slightly sentimental individual.

***

In the opening five minutes of the movie we see Jarrett cold-bloodily murder two railway employees. His disregard for human life is hammered home to us relentlessly but still we find ourselves gawking at this crazy apparition of a madman, who could easily be related to us. Fallon, the undercover officer who has no home life to speak of is never judgemental but strictly professional, in many ways as cold and detached as his target. When he pumps two sniper bullets into the raving Jarret he murmurs "What's keeping him up?" and we must ask a similar question. We want to see him go out in a ball of flames, a blaze of glory but why?

***

As Jarrett descends or ascends into omnipotence he begins to talk in the third person about "Cody Jarrett" how he answers with a gun and so on. It becomes clear that his absolute genius for self-determination has become such a dynamic impetus he transcends the meaning of the film and as he deliberately shoots the valves of the gas pipes, knowing the result, he cries out to his Ma about having accomplished her dream for him. The policeman's glib aside does not resonant but only brings us back to reality whereas Jarret has assailed infamy and notoriety, beating the odds stacked against him, albeit in an insane way. His apocalypse of revelatory experience cannot be realised on this earth but must be construed with the total destruction of all around him. Truly Jarrett is the pearl that causes the oyster pain.

***

Cagney's sublime and well-mannered portrayal would not be equalled in parts until Dennis Hopper's gang leader-husband-mother obsessed Frank Boothe rants and raves around a life of meaningless violence. I suspect Lynch gave a nod to the film for in the raid on Frank's place there are scenes of gas canisters and breaking glass, very similar of Walsh's police assault on the Chemical buildings.

The Loneliness of Desolation: Cinema and Revelation

The Pursuit of Perfection

Eliza Dushku is nearing her thirtieth year and has been in the film and television industry since the age of ten. Her range of roles have limited her to a set menu and it has been noticed how she appears to always be in a wife-beater in several roles but this is actually an illusion. Her real thrust into recognition was as the "bad girl" vampire slayer Faith in Buffy - the Vampire Slayer. Whilst Buffy was the good heroic all clean girl, Faith was portrayed as off-centre and positively charged with sexual energy. This capping and diminishing of Miss Dushku's acting talents have affected her roles as an actress.

*

Obviously an attractive woman, Miss Dushku has been blessed with the looks most men would kill for. From the smouldering threat of the black widow to the doe-eyed pouting want of the nymphet she has cornered a certain appeal to the idea of what men want. From all appearances she appears to be an actress full of genuine charm and personality. Divorcing the screen image from the reality is often a problem with the paying public. They automatically type their "heroes" into the roles they think they should operate in.

*

With Miss Dushku, her fan base is broad and varied enough to keep the serious cranks at a low ebb. On closer examination one realises that she is not the perfection that is portrayed as flawed sex goddess. Unblemished she may be a talisman but stencilled on her hip, the words "lead kindly light" by Newman, reveal her to be very much of this world and mortal. It is ever an understanding that the image perceived is rarely the one understood, and this is often the way when a stranger meets a stranger. Over time an opinion is formed of each and this may lead to greater depth of understanding, but until one or the other perceives the tattoo beneath the skin, the idolization of the image will continue and forever ruin any true hope of assimilation.

*

The film actor/actress is forced to submit to a stereotype to achieve greater potential market payback. Miss Dushku is typical of the media and its perverse habit of not truly getting the most out of the female actors. They may be depicted as strong (bitches) but they must also possess one of two qualities - wickedness or loyalty. This subjugation and distortion of the woman is where the sink that is the film world began and it sucks in all the dregs. I look at Miss Dushku, and though I observe an attractive young woman, in reality I see a product stamped and bar coded according to order. Shame.

Jack Nicholson - MasterClass

Five Easy Pieces - 1970 - Bobby Dupea
The King of Marvin Gardens - 1972 - David Staebler
The Last Detail - 1973 - Billy "BadAss" Buddusky
Chinatown - 1974 - J.J.Gittes
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest - 1975 - R.P.McMurphy
The Passenger - 1975 - David Locke

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Between 1970 and 1975 Jack Nicholson completed 13 movies, one of which he directed. Most of the films are top quality but I have singled out the above for special mention. As an art form acting is often considered to be a bit below par but when we are greeted with virtuoso performers like Nicholson, Brando or De Niro it is hard not to credit the skill achieved in conveying both a sense of narrative depiction and realistic flavour.

*

From Brando's sublime performance in 'Last Tango in Paris' to De Niro's Travis Bickle in 'Taxi Driver' the art of portrayal came of age in these years and the definer of these characteristics on a level few of the others achieved with regularity is Nicholson. His subtle portrayal of Bobby Dupea is usually rated as a crystallizing moment in cinematic flow. That is not the only film though where Nicholson manages to rise above the pretensions of a "bogus" profession. The nuances he employs in 'The King of Marvin Gardens' and Polanski's 'Chinatown' are always going to appreciated by an audience who enjoy the tightness of a good script and characterization.

*

What I really wanted to detail was the seeming inconsistency in one or two scenes where the perception of the narrative is open to question and is as a direct result of interplay between director and actor in accord with the script. There is a scene in 'The Last Detail' where the sailors are drinking coffee and it is so obviously cold. Because of set-ups the actors are not acting but the stress on Nicholson's features with regard to the dialogue is as real as you are ever going to get in celluloid. People say De Niro's famous Bickle "mirror" monologue is when the viewer is being asked to see beyond the actor and see that the actor (De Niro) looking into the mirror, threatening apocalyptic violence, has become character (Bickle) in motion. The same could conceivably be said of Billy Buddusky's depiction. Nicholson leads us on a trip where we are infected with the casualness of the character to the extent a lot of viewers have said they too feel the cold and the frustration behind Nicholson's eyes. The actor has ceased to act and has become the autonomous character, with the life of its own.

*

The other scene is in 'One flew over the cuckoo's nest'. Towards the end Nicholson is sitting on a bed and we are treated to a few seconds (they feel like a lifetime) where McMurphy is seen thinking to himself. The eyes stray into a daydream and he shakes himself out of his reverie with a knowing laugh as if he was enjoying a private joke. This scene is pivotal in understand Nicholson's approach to the character and indeed to our assumptions about the nature of the film. On the initial viewing one believes this subtle scene shows a certain abnormality in the subject so as to confer our suspicions that perhaps he is actually mad, or that the electro treatment has caused damage. This may not be the case for we all have done what is depicted by Nicholson. Day dream and laugh to ourselves for losing ourselves. The intention may be to convey to the viewer the subjectivity of McMurphy's condition but it actually conveys to us the nature of our own prejudiced views in relation to the subject of mental illness.

*

After these films Nicholson has gone on to greater parts from 'The Postman always rings twice' to 'The Shining' and 'Batman' but he never attained such a concentrated degree of acting in such a short space of time. This is acting of the highest order and any study of the art should begin with a careful evaluation of Nicholson's six films.

The Cinema Show : Reflection & Comment

Scrooge (KS)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
Bambi
On The Buses

Carry on at your convenience

The Jungle Book

Old Yellow

Carry on Aboard
Flight of the Doves
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Steptoe and Son
Love Thy Neighbour
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (CP)
The Aristocats
The Ten Commandments (H)
House on Nightmare Park /One Million Years BC (KS)
Live and Let Die (KS)
Digby-The Biggest Dog in the World/Nothwest Frontier

Diamonds on Wheels (KS)
Gold /Diamonds are Forever (KS)
Shout at the Devil (KS)
The Man with the Golden Gun (KS)
At the Earth’s Core (KS)
Dr Who and the Daleks /Dalek Invasion Earth 2150 (BP)

Shout at the Devil (KS)

The Gumball Rally (HH)
A Bridge too Far (KS)
Star Wars
The Spy who Loved Me (KS)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (KS)

The Rescuers

The Island of Dr Moreau (Hen)
Candleshoe (KS)
Dumbo (SC)
The China Syndrome (SC)
The Black Hole (SC)
Warlords of Atlantis (HH)
Moonraker (SC)
Pete’s Dragon (SC)
Superman (ER)
Murder by Decree (HH)
Zulu Dawn (HH)

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (HH)

The Lady Vanishes (SC)

Porridge (HH)
Animal House

Life of Brian (HH)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (ER)
Airplane! (HH)

Clash of the Titans (HH)

Saturn 3/Killer Fish (HH)
Excalibur (HH)

When Time ran out (HH)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (HH)

The Empire Strikes Back
The Wall (GG)
Blue Velvet (BP)
Full Metal Jacket (HH)
Bright Lights, Big City (LS)

Dirty Rotten Scroundrels (KP)

Shag (LS)

The Dead Pool (PB)
Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (PB)

Internal Affairs (PB)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (HH)
Batman (HH)
Cape Fear (HH)
Batman Returns (HH)
Dracula (PB)
A Clockwork Orange (SC)

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KS - Kilburn State/HH - Hampstead Heath/SC - Swiss Cottage

PB - Putney Bridge/LS - Leicester Square/KP - Kensington Park

CP - Craven Park/H - Harlesden/Hen - Hendon

GG - Golders Green/ER - Edgware Road/BP - Belsize Park

Dennis Hopper 1936 - 2010

After having read Alexander Walker's review of "Blue Velvet" for "The Evening Standard" in 1986 I was compelled to go and see David Lynch's praised surreal film about the underside of an American small town. It was not just Walker's reference to Lynch's obsession with the Bobby Vinton song of the same name but the description of the villain, Frank Booth, played by Dennis Hopper that persuaded me I had to see this distilled acting performances that was getting all the rave reviews. I had actually stopped going to the cinema having found it jaded and grotty. I saw Blue Velvet at a Hampstead theatre in London on a late Saturday night and literally fell in love with Frank Booth and the whole Lynch franchise.

I knew of Hopper from other films principally his directorial debut "Easy Rider" but after seeing this movie I sought out all his movies. From "Rebel without a cause" through to the tedious "Sons of Katie Elder" and onto the sublimity that is "Out of the Blue" I found that Hopper had led an interesting life making movies. The drugs and drinks of the late sixties had helped him to
fuse for himself an idealized vision of the film industry that culminated in the brilliant and allusive "The Last Movie" - an exercise in true art-house experimentation that just gets better with every viewing. After that movie the studios decided they could not take chances with the maverick director whose behaviour was described as erratic and dangerous. After memorable appearances in Wim Wenders' "The American Friend" and Coppola's "Apocalypse Now" he completed directing the extraordinary and disturbing "Out of the Blue".

Although acclaimed for his role as the alcoholic father in "Rumblefish" Hopper struggled with his drink/drug problems and checked into a rehabilitation clinic in a final effort to save his sanity. With his role as Frank Booth he reestablished himself as both an actor and an artist and had a further twenty years in the industry albeit not always in top quality material. But his own "Colours" and his scene stealing terrorist in "Speed" remain highlights of celluloid. Both a passionate and ironic man Hopper will be remembered for several roles but for me, sitting in that cinema one April night, as Kyle MacLachlan sends a love letter into Frank's brains and as the curtains drew it is blue velvet that I still see through my tears...