The Big Screen in the Sky: RIP Albert Finney

A sad start to this Friday with the news that actor Albert Finney has passed. He seemed tailor-made to play a rebellious Brit at a time when youth culture exploded. But that sparkling deviltry never left his roles even as he aged in a film career that spanned almost sixty years. Finney earned five Oscar noms (never won- Geesh!) and a knighthood that he summarily rejected- a very Tom Jones thing to do. Finney was 82.






Lance's Werthwhile Finney Picks:

Tom Jones (1963)- This is the movie that shot Finney to international stardom and his first Oscar nomination. And why not? He's hot as hell in it- in a naughty British sort of way. I once dated a guy who looked like a young Albert Finney. I have very good taste in men.

Two for the Road (1967)- Finney and Hepburn make the perfect imperfect couple in this swingin' Stanley Donan dram-com.

Murder on the Orient Express (1974)- In a cast crowded with stars like Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave et al., Finney's Poirot takes a backseat to none of them and earns another Oscar nom.

Under the Volcano (1984)- This character piece earned Finney his fourth Oscar nom as a drunk bureaucrat who is headed for the end- but doing it his way.

Erin Brockovich (2000)- While Julia Roberts (and her rack) may have been the focus of this popular little woman vs. the big guy flick, Finney is a wonderfully gruff counterbalance to the Roberts charm. It was the last time he would be announced as an Oscar nominee.

Big Fish (2003)- As the inveterate storyteller in Tim Burton's father-son masterwork, Finney's charm puts over every one of his tall tales, even the most un-swallowable of them.

Skyfall (2012)- He's an old groundskeeper with a shotgun who helped raised James Bond. What more could you want?

Buh-Bye 2016!

I don't think I'm overstating it when I say that 2016 was a super-huge dick this year. When 2016 wasn't chopping down what felt like an inordinate amount of classic film notables like Alan Rickman, Marni Nixon, Haskell Wexler, Gene Wilder, and the double-whammy of Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, it was busily shooting up nightclubs, and saddling us with the tacky, infantile reign of one Donald J. Trump.

Like many of you, I often find solace from the cold, hard world in the flickering of an old movie, so to insure that you start 2017 off right, here are my Top 5 Films I Saw in 2016:



The Boys in the Band (1970)

For years I had been hearing about this movie. Whether lauded or reviled, Boys is seen as a landmark in gay film history. Adapted from the stageplay, it chronicles the goings-on in a New York apartment when a group of gay friends gather together to celebrate a birthday. Like an all-gay Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, booze and pot cause the party to spiral out-of-control, and when an old friend of the host's shows up, secrets (and the host) come out.

This may not sound like much of a plot now, but in 1970, gay issues were just starting to be discussed in national forums. The Stonewall Riots of 1968 ignited a public movement and gays and lesbians were not going to be quiet anymore. Boys works so well because while that spirit of revolution is evident in the film, the underbelly of shame and masculine overcompensation are still there- reminding us that coming out of the closet is only the first step in a long march to equality and acceptance from others and ourselves.

While some have been critical of the gay stereotypes and the fetishization of gay life as tragedy portrayed in the film, (director William Friedkin would court gay controversy again in his movie Cruising (1980)), I was surprised how timely this film felt. Issues of femininity, self-loathing, and how to define gay couples are still active debates in our culture.

I've heard scathing ripostes about looks and love like the ones between Michael and Donald at many a party from people who weren't even alive when the film came out. This movie could be made today, and with a cast that would include Matt Bomer, Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Chris Colfer, Tituss Burgess and Drew Droege, people would go see it.

The only thing absent is the haunting presence of AIDS, which wouldn't make national headlines for another ten years. Five of the original cast members would succumb to the dreaded disease, however- a bitter reminder how AIDS would shape the gay community for decades to come.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)

When Tilda Swinton isn't in a fight with Maragret Cho about Asian invisibility in Hollywood, she is one of the most interesting actresses in film today. Like a more punk version of Cate Blanchett, Swinton adds beautiful complexity to her roles making us feel the emotional immediacy of her characters' dilemmas. Swinton's dilemma in Kevin is gut-wrenching and everytime some jackass commits some heinous act of barbarity in the world, I think of this film and Swinton's desperate, empty gaze.

I wrote about Kevin after recuperating from the flu, but I've never recovered from this movie.

Repulsion (1965)

If you're thinking of staying in alone this New Year's, read my review of Repulsion and get out of your apartment before the walls start sprouting arms. Roman Polanski is a master of psychological horror, and Repulsion set the stage for his later masterwork on women losing it in apartments, Rosemary's Baby (1968).

Two for the Road (1967)

New Year's is all about the passage of time, and no film handles time and our memory of it quite like Two for the Road. Many people like this movie for its refreshing leads Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn, but I was really taken away by director Stanley Donen's editing, which made the concept of life seem so fleeting and circular. It's important in these times to remember a life is more than just this moment- so instead of dreading Trump's next tweet, read my review of Two for the Road.

Madame Satan (1930)

This New Year's I hope you have a great party full of friends and wine and little nibbly bits- but I guarantee no matter how fabulous your party, it won't compare with the dirigible masquerade party in Cecil B. DeMille's Madame Satan. I can't stop thinking of the sheer decadence and visual over-stimulation of the last half of this movie. It's like an Adrian costume collection disaster movie. What better way to ring out the old than by pushing it out of a blimp?

To all my Lance's Werthwhile readers, I wish you the most movie-filled 2017!

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.