The Big Screen in the Sky: Gene Wilder

One of the greatest comic actors has passed. Gene Wilder was a rare type of comic actor- he was an actor first. Starting with his appearance in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Wilder created characters who took the world very seriously- too seriously. Whether he is the by-the-books accountant in The Producers (1967) who loses it cradling his baby blanket, or Dr. Frankenstein realizing that his ancestor was right and that you can use science to create life in Young Frankenstein (1974), or a mysterious chocolate magnate who is annoyed with children in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)- Wilder delighted with his explosions of joy and frustration- finding comedy in the character and not the joke. His hilarious performances based on big emotional displays are purgatives expelling the poisons of everyday life. If you couldn't be a Wilder character, you could at least laugh at them.
Wilder was 83.

Happy Double Birthday Sean Connery and Tim Burton

One is known for playing the world's greatest spy, and the other for directing dark kitsch. So it may come as no surprise to you that Sean Connery has never appeared in a Tim Burton movie.
On this celebration of their birthdays (86 and 58 respectively)- let's pretend the two had a long and prolific partnership making movies together.

Imagine these Burton/Connery classics:





Goldscissorfinger (1964)

007 (Connery) goes up against his most lethal enemy yet. Wealthy goth financier (Johnny Depp with a German accent and one sharp golden digit) Goldscissorfinger is determined to corner the chocolate market and hatches a plot to put the town of Hershey, Pennsylvania asleep and steal its stockpile of solid chocolate bars. With the help of sweet Bond girl Cocoa Galore (Diahann Carroll), Britain's most famous spy takes on Goldscissorfinger and his henchman Oddbod (who can  take off his bodyparts and throw them with deadly accuracy).
"Do you expect me to talk?"
"No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to get a cavity."
It's sugar-coated excitement!

Zardoz (1974)

This strange John Boorman sci-fi cult hit is one of the great weird films of the Seventies. Its vision of the future is part tribal, part groovy vest convention, part LSD trip. So it's easy to imagine Burton's twisted sense of design applied to this bizarre story of how savage Zed (Connery) encounters a protected village of immortals and challenges the cultural divisions of the future.

Picture the great stone face of Zardoz in Burton's hands. It would become a Hawaiian tiki mug that munches up food and dispenses ray guns. Connery's infamous costume in the hands of frequent Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood can only be improved, and her re-imagination of The Eternals get-ups would make Charlotte Rampling more than just a translucent scarf model. Zardoz was mainly an experiment in style- and no one knows more about cinematic styling than Burton.



Pee-Wee's Scotch Adventure (1985)

When Pee-Wee's (Paul Reubens) bicycle is stolen by neighborhood meanie Francis (Mark Holton) and sent to Scotland to get a new plaid seat, Pee Wee has to cross the Atlantic and search for his beloved two-wheeler amongst the heather-covered hills. Adventures include a run-in with Bagpipe Seamus (Connery sporting musical pipes and a kilt) and famous loch monster Nessie who has to convince Pee Wee not to swim with his shoes on.

Will Pee Wee rescue his bike? Will Scotland leave England and join the EU? All this and a cameo by Johnny Depp playing Donald Trump trying to outsmart gophers on his golfcourse.


Batman (1989)

When Burton first announced he was making Batman, the only question more likely to cause geek conniption fits than, "Who is playing Batman?" was, "Who is playing The Joker?" The list of possible Jokers was starry and interesting: Harrison Ford, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, Tom Selleck (imagine the makeup needed to cover that mustache), and Pierce Brosnan. The role ultimately went to Jack Nicholson, who I think did a fantastic job playing the mad qualities of this twisted psycho- but there are those who found the stunt-casting unbearable. You can't please all the fanboys.

But what about Sean Connery? Imagine that mad Scottish growl on lines like "Wait'll they get a lood o' me." or "Where does he get those woonderful tooys?" or "Yoo evr dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" Connery's physical presence would certainly be more intimidating than Nicholson's, but maybe he couldn't master the Joker's signature comic book cackle. Oh well.

Connery would go on to play a comic-book-esque villain in the TV-to-big screen outting The Avengers (1998). Sir August de Wynter tries to use a weather machine to wreak havoc on Mother England. And he did it without any clown white.

Sean Attacks! (1996)

An all-star cast faces an alien invasion when Martians attack Earth with an army of clones of Sean Connery characters. Will the forces of Earth be a match for Bonds; Dr. Joneses; Irish cops; various kings, princes and knights; Russian sub commanders; and "There can only be one" immortal swordsmen? It's all the Connery you can handle in this hirsute, sci-fi spoof.

While Mr. Connery has been in retirement since 2003's comic book-to-screen misfire League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which might have benefited from Burton's talents), Burton's latest cinematic exploration of the strange and unusual, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children opens at the end of next month.

One place where Connery and Burton have appeared together was this year's Father's Day post with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Big Fish (2003) getting some fatherly props. Check it out!

Top 10 - 21st Century Films

My invitation to take part in the BBC's survey of film experts' top picks for best films of the 21st Century so far must have gotten lost in the mail, so I thought I'd share with my readers my top picks:

1. Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

2. Inglourious Basterds (2009)

3. Far From Heaven (2002)

4. Dancer in the Dark (2000)

5. Weekend (2011)

6. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

7. The Tree of Life (2011)

8. Big Fish (2003)
9. Up (2009)

10. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Those are mine. Show me yours.

Film Forum's Return of the Double Features

Double features. These wonderful cinematic dinosaurs roamed the earth back before megaplexes hit and caused the great extinction. In order to sell as much of their film product as possible to exhibitors, the studios would often sell their top movies along with other B movies to force theaters to show both. This meant movie audiences often would see two movies back-to-back- the double feature! Moviegoers could sit back and eat popcorn, mello-rolls, drink original Original Coke, heavy pet, and watch two movies for the price of one.

As time went on the studios were legally prevented from these block booking tactics, and television ate into movie screening time. Most people no longer went and sat in the movie theater for a whole day anymore. So theaters moved towards showing one A-level movie over and over (on however many screens they had) to maximize the audience. Double features were relegated to drive-in movie theaters and second-run houses that specialized in film festivals- making the double feature a rare connoisseur's delight. Well, for the next 3 1/2 weeks, New York's Film Forum is showing a Double Feature Festival, hooking-up movies like a cinematic Grindr.

Here are my recommendations that are guaranteed to double your fun:

Friday 8/19
Vertigo (1958) & Rear Window (1954)

Two well-known Hitchcock classics. Personally I would show Rear Window first because Vertigo feels a little long- but no matter. Seeing both of these on the big screen is a must. Vertigo because it's an effective psychological use of color and image and Rear Window because it's a wonderful use of camera perspective... and because they both star the lovable Jimmy Stewart.

Monday, 8/22
Sunrise (1927) & Nosferatu (1922)

The silent film era was uniquely able to innovate storytelling through the use of images and F.W. Murnau was masterful at it. His Oscar-Winning romantic drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is beautiful and touching to look at, and its vision of The City makes me want to move to this crazy, magical place.

Earlier, Murnau went for the dark side of the film image with his Dracula (1931) progenitor, Nosferatu. Some people love Bela Lugosi's Dracula, but I put my money on Max Schreck's Count Orlok. Creeparific.


Friday 8/26
Psycho (1960) & Repulsion (1965)

Let's go crazy! Whether it's the shower scene or Mama Bates in the basement, Psycho is one of Hitchcock's best shockfests. Anthony Perkins' portrayal of Norman Bates became iconic, creeping around the edges of "normalcy", hiding his true proclivities away in that famous hotel.

In Repulsion, poor Carol (Catherine Deneuve) also has a problem relating to other people, but for her, hiding away in her sister's apartment doesn't help. It intensifies her madness until the walls are reaching out to her. Literally. Polanski's impressive first English-speaking film is terrific and hints at ideas he would explore later in his horror classic Rosemary's Baby (1968). This film duo may give you nightmares. I'm just sayin'...

Sunday, 8/28
Singin' in the Rain (1952) & The Band Wagon (1953)

Two musicals made a year apart covering two eras of the movies.
Singin' has Gene Kelly & Co. dancing through the birth of the talkies, and Band Wagon has Fred Astaire dancing through the end of his character's movie musical career.

Directors Stanley Donen and Vincente Minnelli both excelled at filming musicals: Donen and Kelly's athletic dancing perfectly capture the excitement of the beginning of the sound era when musicals could finally take flight; and Minnelli's sensitive filming style and Astaire's graceful movements make us empathize with endings as well as beginnings. And both feature the excellent writing of Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the unparalleled hoofing of Cyd Charisse.

Monday, 8/29
The Bicycle Thief (1948) & Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Two movies- two important bikes. Bicycle Thief is pure Italian neo-realism and Pee Wee pure '80's escapism. Two great tastes that taste great together.

On a persnickety side note, I prefer the title Bicycle Thieves to the oft-used The Bicycle Thief. It represents the central relationship of the film of the father and his son better than the singular version. But that's just me.


Friday, 9/2
Ed Wood (1994) & Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

First watch the touchingly wacky Tim Burton-directed bio-pic of the infamous B-movie director and then watch one of Wood's best-worst films. Look for Bela Lugosi's stand-in through most of the latter.


Saturday, 9/3
Badlands (1973) & Days of Heaven (1978)

If it's possible to overdose on too much breathtaking natural cinematography, these two might just kill you. Terrence Malick's two movies about couples who break the law are very different in tone- but oh-so gorgeous to see on the big screen. As usual, Malick's visuals link man and nature and our baser instincts.

Sunday, 9/4
City Lights (1931) & Modern Times (1936)

Hands down these are my two favorite Chaplin films. City Lights in particular is such a beautiful blend of comedy and touching romance, that I dare you not to cry at the end. I dare you!
You can cry at the end of Modern Times too if you like- it's just not required- especially since the song playing at the end is "Smile."

Thursday, 9/8
The Maltese Falcon (1941) & The Thin Man (1934)

Dashiell Hammett is known as one of the fathers of the modern crime novel- so it's natural that his work would be the basis for some of Hollywood's best film noirs. The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man take two different approaches to his material, however. Falcon is a dyed-in-the-wool crime movie with a conflicted hero, shadowy criminals, and twists and turns.

Thin Man takes a more urbane and comical look at the crime story with Nick and Nora Charles (the sublime William Powell and Myrna Loy) bantering and drinking their way through the first of a series of hit films. So whether you like your men thin or fat (Sydney Greenstreet in Falcon is a rotund masterpiece), these two crime-classics are the stuff that dreams are made of.

Friday, 9/9
Notorious (1946) & His Girl Friday (1940)

If I were forced to choose the two best Cary Grant movies out of his long Hollywood career, I could not settle on just two. So Film Forum made the task easier by selecting the two best Cary Grant movies written by Broadway playwright and screenplay doctor extraordinaire Ben Hecht. Notorious pairs Grant with Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's tale of a party-girl who marries a suspected German spy (the very suspectable Claude Rains) in order to catch him in the act of espionage. Is she doing it for love of country, or for love of Grant? Just don't drink the coffee.

In His Girl Friday Grant and Rosalind Russell verbally rat-a-tat Hecht's sharp dialogue like a couple of fencing pros, creating one of the smartest romance films of the Forties. Grant and Hecht also worked on Gunga Din (1939) and Monkey Business (1952) but that's for another double feature.

Sunday 9/11
Laura (1944) & Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Gene Tierney was one of the most beautiful leading ladies of the Forties and these two movies show her off at her best. In Laura she is the beguiling girl in the painting at the center of one of the best murder mysteries ever made, and in Leave Her to Heaven, she is the woman who will do anything to keep her man- even if it means giving Darryl Hickman a swimming lesson. Whether in black and white or blazing Technicolor, Tierney was gorgeous- and if you like Vincent Price, he's in both movies too.

Tuesday, 9/13
Double Indemnity (1944) & Mildred Pierce (1945)

Hollywood loved making movies out of James M. Cain's novels, and these are two of his best. Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck headline the Billy Wilder noir classic Double Indemnity as a couple who can't keep their hands off each other. That spells trouble for Babs' husband.

Mildred Pierce came along a year later and because Cain's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice were such successful murder novels, director Michael Curtiz decided to turn Mildred Pierce into a noir film too- even though the murder that opens the movie never happens in Cain's book.

Mildred Pierce the movie is an exquisite blend of noir and women's film and Joan Crawford's performance was career-defining- even if she'd already had a hugely successful career for almost twenty years before she made Mildred. If you wanted to add a third Cain marital murder movie, Lana Turner and John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) should finish off the night nicely. But that might be overkill.

So those are the Film Forum's choices. What's your dream double-feature?

The Big Screen in the Sky: Arthur Hiller

Director Arthur Hiller has passed away at age 92. After an extensive career in television Hiller transitioned to movies with the Julie Andrews and James Garner rom-com-dram The Americanization of Emily (1964). But it is the Seventies where Hiller really hit the mark with Neil Simon classics The Out of Towners (1970) and Plaza Suite (1971), the box office smash romantic drama Love Story (1970), the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor buddy comedy Silver Streak (1976), and the cult comedy hit The In-Laws (1979). By the Eighties Hiller's output waned with movies like Teachers (1984) and Outrageous Fortune (1987) standing out of a crowd of misfires like the re-pairing of Wilder as a deaf man and Pryor as a blind man in See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).

Hiller was really good at capturing distinct characters and pairing them with their opposites to create comic situations, always bringing the two together at the end. He was nominated for one Oscar for Love Story and in 2002 won the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Serpentine, Arthur! Serpentine!

Love, European Style

I love getting good movie recommendations from friends- and boy did one of my bosses come up with a lu-lu!

My boss' office is decorated with some delightful framed lobby cards from a movie I was not familiar with- Two for the Road (1967). Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney grin and kiss in what appears to be a romantic European road movie directed by Stanley Donen. And one look at the trailer reinforced that this would be a charming affair between a pair of silly lovebirds. Two is so much more than that.

As Two begins we see jaded couple Mark and Joanna (Finney and Hepburn) sniping at each other over the details of the next leg of their trip. Their gorgeous Mercedes pulls up to an airplane and they transfer their bags and their cigarettes to the main cabin. In between heated puffs on their ciggies (the cigarette girl/stewardess has more if they need them) the two continue to bicker sounding like they are on the verge of a divorce. Where did the two ooey-gooey in love people on the poster go? How did these two seemingly mismatched people get together in the first place? The flashbacks reveal all.

Throughout the rest of the film the action bounces back-and-forth between the couple's past and present and it's done in a non-linear fashion- juxtaposing incidents between different timeframes, and using matching shots of cars and match-on-action shots to flow so quickly between the past and the present that it takes a moment to realize that we've moved forward or back in time.

Mark and Joanna's lovestruck first trip hitchhiking in France quickly becomes the married couple driving through the countryside arguing about how little time Mark has for Joanna and their baby, and then back to newlyweds in a riotous shared roadtrip with another couple. It's seamless and fascinating in how it depicts the changes in the relationship without the use of a traditional timeline.

Whereas most romance films build linearly to tell the story of a marriage, Donen mixes all the moments (good and bad) up, simulating our actual memories- relying on the moment to determine what specific memory our minds go to. It is a technique that shows piecemeal the totality of emotions wrapped-up in this struggling marriage. The fragments of time fall into place until the puzzle that is this relationship is finished. It has a sense of immediacy and uncertainty- a detour from the tried and true Hollywood romance narrative.

Hepburn, in particular, has never felt more "in the moment" to me. She smiled, laughed, and goofed throughout her long career as the iconic gamine, but it often felt stiff and staged. There are moments here, too, where her lightheartedness seems forced- but for the most part, this older Hepburn seems more open and relaxed.

Perhaps that's because it's rumored she fell in love and had an affair with her co-star. One moment in particular where she looks at Finney contains such electricity and tenderness, it's easy to imagine that their film roles had slid into reality. Whatever the cause, Hepburn glows in Two and gets to wear some of the ill-est Sixties plastic couture.

Finney seems rather cold and not-as-charming- almost as if he was tired of re-creating his appealing ne'er-do-well Tom Jones (1963) character. But he looks great in a swimsuit and does a helluva Bogey impersonation. The scenes with William Daniels and Eleanor Bron as an anal, Freud-obsessed couple with a child-in-charge are priceless. Add an appearance by a young Jacqueline Bisset and a groovy soundtrack by Henry Mancini and you have a cinematic trip well worth taking.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Huston!

They don't make 'em like John Huston anymore. The writer/director/actor was legendary for his hard-drinking, womanizing, and caution-thrown-to-the-wind lifestyle that resembled one of the characters from his movies. But the man knew how to make a movie and in particular, was masterful at leading actors to Oscars. Fifteen actors were nominated under his direction, and four of them won- including his father Walter and daughter Anjelica.

His style evolved over the years- but always maintained a certain grittiness- a desire to show the rougher side of the human soul. With nine nominations and two Oscar wins, Huston was well-regarded during his own lifetime and his The Maltese Falcon (1941) is considered the archetype for film noir- even if that designation is arguable.

So in honor of what would be Mr. Huston's 110th birthday, here are my Top 5 Hustons (minus Maltese Falcon which my faithful readers will recall I previously opined on.)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Based on a novel by B. Traven, Treasure stars Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston as a trio of down-on-their luck Americans in Mexico who tramp into the mountains to mine some easy gold. But nothing goes quite as planned and soon bandits, thirst, and good old fashioned greed tear the group apart proving that what glitters might be gold, but gold ultimately sucks.

Huston made the choice to film on location in Mexico- something that gave studio boss Jack Warner agita. But the stark look of the Mexican wilderness is perfect for the dark themes of the film, the hot sun scorching the humanity of these characters while at the same time acting as a visual metaphor for the wasted desolation left after greed burns everything else away.

Huston wanted his actors to be more realistic, so  he convinced his father to do the role of Howard without his false teeth. The dedication to gritty realness makes this film stand-out from other studio product of the time- and it made an impact with critics and the Oscars. Treasure took home three golden statues- two for John as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and one for his old pa.

Walter accepted the award saying, "Many, many years ago, I brought up a boy and I said to him, 'Son, if you ever become a writer, try to write a good part for your old man sometime'. Well, by cracky, that's what he did!" This shared golden moment between a son and his father would not happen again. Walter Huston died a year later, and John never won another Oscar.

Look out for the childhood cameo of future Baretta star and accused murderer, Robert Blake as a Mexican lottery ticket vendor. So much for realistic casting...






Key Largo (1948)

The first time I watched Key Largo, I thought, "Here we go again. Bogey and Bacall." But on repeated viewings, I've come to realize that while Humphrey and Lauren are the stars, it's the character actors around them that shine. Ex-soldier Frank McCloud (Bogart doing his reliable world-weary routine) goes to see his old Army pal's widow Nora (the beguiling Lauren Bacall) who runs a Key Largo hotel with her wheelchair-bound father (Lionel Barrymore grumping it up).

If the visit from the best friend of your dead husband isn't enough, Nora has to house a vicious gangster (Edward G. Robinson at his sadistic best) while a hurricane threatens to blow them all away. The ending feels eerily like the movie that Bogey and Bacall met on (To Have and Have Not (1944)), and that may be because Huston used the ending for that movie that Howard Hawks didn't shoot back in '44.

What really makes this film unique are the performances from recognizable stars playing washed-up versions of their typical screen personae. Robinson as an aging mobster who may be losing his grip, Oscar-winner Claire Trevor playing his drunken moll who has to sing for her drinks, and the always crotchety Barrymore who, if he could, would get out of his chair and do something! But you can't Lionel, you can't get out of that chair.

Unlike Treasure, Key Largo was shot almost entirely on the Warner's lot. Huston returned to the manufactured world of noir with shadows, shutters, and fog hiding faces, secrets, and desires. Where Treasure exposes greed in the hot Mexican sun, Key Largo hides it in the dark of a Florida hurricane.

Key Largo is a heck of a lot of fun, even if you have to watch Edward G. Robinson take a bath.

The African Queen (1951)

There aren't alot of movies whose shoots are worthy of a book being written about them. Certainly Gone with the Wind (1939), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Cleopatra (1963), and Apocalypse Now (1979) have spawned books, documentaries, and hours of "Making Of" segments. In 1987 Katherine Hepburn wrote a book titled The Making of "The African Queen": or how I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Almost Lost My Mind. It's a perfect illustration of the madness that Huston seemed to thrive on when making his films.

The African Queen takes place in WWI German East Africa where an uptight missionary named Rose (Hepburn, of course) finds herself marooned after Germans burn down the village she was living in and kill her brother. Crude mailboat captain Charlie Allnut (Bogart again) rescues this damsel in distress and soon finds that his plans to just get the heck out of Africa have been commandeered by his feisty passenger. Rose intends to strike a blow for Mother England and take The African Queen down the river to blow up a German battleship. A war of wills and a fight against nature bring these two opposites together as they steam towards their fate down the dark river.

Huston was determined to get as much of the real Africa into this film as possible. So much so that he hauled the cast, the boat, and the unwieldy Technicolor cameras to Uganda and the Congo. The very thought sounds nightmarish- and apparently it was. The entire crew was struck with dysentery- with the exception of Huston and Bogart.

It seems the two were spared because rather than drink the affected water, the two drank whiskey and gin. Everyone else had to suffer through vomiting and diarrhea and in one instance a black mamba in the outhouse. Scenes were shot on the actual river rapids nearly killing Hepburn when the boiler almost fell on her, and the ship itself sank twice.

Dragging bulky equipment through the wilderness, torrential rains, wild animals, and frayed nerves all worked to put an end to The African Queen. But the intrepid moviemakers soldiered on, and in the end they wound-up with a hit film that earned Bogart his only Oscar, and Hepburn and Huston more nominations. Huston received another gift during the shoot- a telegram delivered by a barefoot runner announced his wife had given birth to his daughter Anjelica in America.

The Misfits (1961)

The Misfits is often overshadowed by it's tragic place in film history as the last film made by both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. While not well-received at the time, the film (especially when viewed on the big screen) is a stunning black-and-white picture that marries Huston's love of stark nature and conflicted character in a tragic tale of inevitable change.

Roslyn (Monroe) is in Reno getting a quickie divorce from a husband who "just wasn't there." Along the way she runs into toe-truck driver Guido (Eli Wallach) who convinces her and her new friend Isabelle (the always enjoyable Thelma Ritter) to join him and his mustangin' friend Gay (a not gay Clark Gable) at his unfinished house out in the Nevada desert. When they rope Perce (a much gay-er Montgomery Clift) into their group, the collection of lost souls is complete.

Like African Queen, the production history for Misfits was fraught with trouble. Monroe's marriage to Misfits author Arthur Miller was visibly falling apart, and her reliance on sleeping pills caused her to be late or not to show up at all- which angered her co-stars and her director. Huston took to gambling (as one in Nevada does) and soon his gambling debts became a liability to the production, as did his heavy drinking. Gable was frustrated with the situation and blithely said, "Working with Marilyn Monroe on The Misfits nearly gave me a heart attack." Gable died of a heart attack ten days after shooting finished.

Despite all the drama off-camera, the performances and visuals of this film are striking. Monroe has never seemed so ethereal- her blond hair and pale skin filmed up against the white desert- making her seem a part of nature. The familiar musical comedienne is nowhere to be found here. She is open and vulnerable in a way that she had never been filmed before.

Gable's performance is equally impressive in that he digs deep into a sense of despair that seems a contradiction to his normally strong, masculine screen persona. His eyes project the exhaustion and fear of a man who sees the world changing around him- into a world he no longer wants to be part of.

The Misfits feels very modern to me- and looks very much like many of the more independent features that would be coming out in the ensuing decade when the Hollywood studio machine broke down. Huston's stark black-and-white use of the Western terrain coupled with a more open, realistic acting style is an example of the changes happening in filmmaking, but they were ideas that Huston had been playing with all along.

Annie (1982)

Poor Annie. Nobody wants her. No matter how hard she tries- nobody seems to like her. And yes, I'm talking about the movie and not the redhead. I know there are alot of people out there who hate the movie version of the 1977 Broadway musical and feel about "Tomorrow" much the same way as Kathleen Turner does in Serial Mom (1994). But look at the cast! Carol Burnett, Albert Finney, Ann Reinking, Tim Curry, Bernadette Peters, and Geoffrey Holder! Edward Herrman plays FDR for God's sake! How can you not want to watch those people? And to think that this musical starring a bunch of little girls was directed by a drunken 76-year-old who hadn't really directed a musical before (unless you count the couple of dancing sequences and Zsa Zsa numbers in Moulin Rouge (1952)- How could you not want to see that?

I get that Huston is an odd choice. The producers chose him because they said he was an "outsider." Annie's insufferably chipper song-and-dance numbers could use some of that old Huston roughness. And we get that with the superb Burnett as she chugs bathtub gin, woozily spinning and clunking through her apartment bitching about "Little Girls", making out with her radio to the sound of Huston's voice.

Hannigan garners our sympathy for having to take care of these squealing moppets- even if they are underprivileged orphans. She's a wasted character that Huston knew just how to film.

The Oscar-nominated set design for the orphanage and Miss Hannigan's apartment is dingy and cheap- evoking a Depression era reality that reminds us that while Annie may seem like a sugar high hallucination, the rest of the world at that time was not fully dressed with a smile.

Even though it was critically savaged Annie garnered enough kiddie viewers to become one of the Top 10 movies of 1982- a feat Huston hadn't achieved in over a decade. Huston would direct three more films before he rode off into the sunset- Under the Volcano (1984), Prizzi's Honor (1985), and The Dead (1987) and each of them garnered Oscar nods. Not a bad way to go.


What are your favorite John Huston flicks?