Movies Watched -- Saboteur (1942)

109 minute running time so about ten minutes too long. Weird Hitchcock movie from 1942, pro-American propaganda during wartime … I was disturbed that they made the saboteurs either members of high society or smirking Jews (like Norm Perlmutter who played the main bad guy). Quirky story in many ways (the blind man, the circus sideshow performers, Statue of Liberty torch scene, etc.) … it’s interesting for historical reasons, and good-looking WASPs prevail, so…. John Farr recommended it, but I’m not sure it makes my Top 500 list.

“… the competence of totalitarian nations is much higher than ours. They get things done.“

Movies Watched -- Thief (1981)

124 minute running time so a half hour too long … Michael Mann’s debut movie … he re-made a variation of this as “Heat” 15 years later. The trouble with Michael Mann is that he lingers too much on shots and scenes, which make his movies way too long … he needs an aggressive editor. There were MANY great scenes in “Heat,” but the movie as a whole suffered from being too long and having the unnecessary romance stories added in there. Awful early 1980s soundtrack in “Thief” by “Tangerine Dream,” more like a nightmare. Remember the music in The Terminator? Like that but just endless.

James Cann and his Bronx accent plays a Chicagoan and a thief… Tuesday Weld plays the girl … fat Jim Belushi is in it too… it wasn’t very good, I mean I like the idea that crime doesn’t pay nor does getting mixed up with the mob, but this was unnecessarily violent and just sort of lousy, though John Farr liked it, but I say give it a miss.

I'll put your ____ wife on the street to be ______ in the ___ by _______ and ______ _____..

No Maybes

Layla Boe … I dig the track … helps that she’s stunningly beautiful … German dad probably, but I wonder where her mom is from:

Waltz in C sharp minor, Opus 64 No. 2

Such a beautiful version it brings tears to my eyes… I think she’s 23 here … wish the camera had stayed on her face throughout since you can see that her understanding comes directly from the soul, can’t get any deeper than that:

Pale Beside Deuteronomy

My kind of smartass Gen Xer … exactly my age … great song.

Movies Watched -- Mildred Pierce (1945)

109 minute running time…. Joan Crawford is beautiful and talented, no doubt about it (won an Oscar for this part after all) … I read this book (by James M. Cain) when I was a kid and liked it … I was less thrilled with the movie, but I can see why many, including Farr, consider it a classic. Not worthy of my Top 500, green go rating though.

This is moral blackmail, sir.

Movies Watched -- Bad Seed (1956)

129 minute running time so a half hour too long … stage play made into a movie … kind of dumb … 1950s middle class fears, I guess … weird ending, complying with the code? End it with an Act of God. Not recommended, though Farr liked it.

They don't put little girls in the electric chair. [esp. Cindy Brady]

Some Old Man in the Sky

Did I embed this song before? Can’t remember. Spaced it, dude. Great song. Fairy tales of space and time.

Movies Watched -- The Gold Rush (1925)

69 minute running time … version from 1950s with added narration from Chaplin, which I could have done without, might have preferred it as a silent picture, but this is classic Chaplin, cute stuff … sweet smart comedy … like all of his work, it’s a must see, green go. Farr also a fan of the Little Tramp.

Cliffhanger

Movies Watched -- Husbands (1970)

142 minute running time so at least an hour too long … self-indulgent Cassavetes, I couldn’t get into it at all. Unbearable even on fast forward. Vincent Canby correctly wasn’t thrilled with it. Definitely not a John Farr recommendation (heterosexual buddy movie after all), so I don’t know why it was in the queue, but it was a waste of a borrow.

See: John Cassavetes Made Awful Movies

John Hamm, er, Cassavetes