ROD TAYLOR
Rod Taylor was a ruggedly handsome Aussie who made some good movies in the 50's, 60's and 70's. He had been quietly retired for some time when Quentin Tarantino talked him into portraying Winston Churchill in the richly-imagined Inglorious Basterds (2009). Brad Pitt, Christopher Waltz and Diane Kruger star in Tarantino's bloody what-if fairy tale. Taylor manages the part of the legendary Winston with aplomb.
Mr. Taylor's first appearance in an American film is in the interesting A Catered Affair (1956). Bette Davis is a social climbing housewife married to a cab driver (Ernest Borgnine). She wants a huge, expensive wedding for her daughter (Debbie Reynolds) and fiance (Rod Taylor). It's pretty obvious this isn't going to work- nobody but Mama wants such a big affair and it will just about bankrupt the family. It all turns out okay, but getting there is all the fun in this one.
Separate Tables (1958) is one of my favorite little-known movies. A disparate group of people at a residential hotel in England daily enact little dramas among themselves. David Niven is heart-breakingly wonderful as a disgraced Army officer. Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr and Wendy Hiller are some of the guests. Rod Taylor is also a guest. He agreed to the smallish part because he greatly admired this production. Niven and Hiller won Oscars for this very underrated and seldom seen film.
Rod Taylor has the leading role in Alfred Hitchcock's terrifying The Birds (1963). This marked the first appearance of Hitchcock favorite Tippi Hedren, and also featured Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette and some very angry seagulls. When you see a bunch of birds swirling around, do you ever think "What if they attacked us"? This movie makes that awful premise come dreadfully true.
Fate Is The Hunter (1964) is about an airliner crash that killed everyone but the pilot (yep, Rod Taylor) and one flight attendant. He is accused of drinking on the job and causing the crash. Investigations ensue. Outcome? My lips are sealed- you'll have to watch for yourself.
The Time Machine (1960) is a sci-fi thriller based on H.G. Wells' far-sighted 1895 novel. Rod Taylor has the lead as George Wells, who builds a machine that can transport one forward or backward in time. At one point he selects the year 802,701 and lands in the middle of a civil war. Yvette Mimieux, Alan Young and Sebastian Cabot add to the story. There was a decent remake of this film in 2002.
Rod Taylor may also be seen as a NASA engineer in The Glass Bottom Boat (1966), and as the manager of Hotel (1967).
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD and for streaming. Factoring in lack of interest by littlies, all are for grown-ups.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
ANITA ECKBERG
Boy, talk about 15 minutes of fame! Anita Eckberg's soaking wet appearance in the fountain in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) quickly became the camera shot seen round the world. It turns out that it was freezing cold and that co-star Marcello Mastroiani was drunk, but so what! The film exemplified the sleazier aspects of "The Sweet Life" of a certain class of Italians (and other countries?)
Ms. Eckberg got her start as Miss Sweden in the 50's. That led to a modeling contract and on to the movies. She didn't really have the body to be a model, but she sure had a body for the movies! She could act a little bit and that was enough.
Her first American appearance was as eye candy in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy Artists And Models (1955), Martin is an artist and Lewis is his zany (of course!) roomate. To me the Martin & Lewis shtick doesn't wear vert well, but you might disagree. Anyway, don't blink or you'll miss Anita.
Hollywood struggled mightily to bring Tolstoy's titanic War And Peace (1956) to the screen. It was hoped it would make sense at under four hours (it's 208 minutes). A partial success, really not bad. Ms. Eckberg as Helene actually has a few lines in this one and certainly moves things along. They brought in Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn for the heavy lifting. Big chunks of he novel never make it to the screen- but the whole thing would probably run seven or eight hours.
Then in 1960 Anita Eckberg's place in cinematic history became assured from her role in La Dolce Vita (1960). Though a little heavy-handed by today's standards, this is still a pretty good movie with a good story and some very interesting camera shots.
Boccaccio 70 (1962) is a film of four unrelated segments about Italian life, supposedly in the stille of the painter Boccaccio. Anita Eckbeg's part is the best one. She appears as herself, beginning with a billboard picture of her with the slogan "drink more milk". For fairly obvious reasons, this invokes the outrage of a prudish citizen. He begins to hallucinate about the whole thing and she appears to him in one of his dreams.
Think of Four For Texas (1963) as a pre-Rat-Pack western comedy. Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Charles Bronson lead rival gangs all after the same big shipment of gold. Anita Eckberg and Ursula Andress are along to give you something to look at, though their names are prominently featured in ads, no doubt to draw in the male segment of fandom.
That's about it for Ms. Eckberg's American films. She went on to have a career in Italian B-movies and made her home there until her death at 83. All of the films in this blog are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for grown-ups.
Boy, talk about 15 minutes of fame! Anita Eckberg's soaking wet appearance in the fountain in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) quickly became the camera shot seen round the world. It turns out that it was freezing cold and that co-star Marcello Mastroiani was drunk, but so what! The film exemplified the sleazier aspects of "The Sweet Life" of a certain class of Italians (and other countries?)
Ms. Eckberg got her start as Miss Sweden in the 50's. That led to a modeling contract and on to the movies. She didn't really have the body to be a model, but she sure had a body for the movies! She could act a little bit and that was enough.
Her first American appearance was as eye candy in the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis comedy Artists And Models (1955), Martin is an artist and Lewis is his zany (of course!) roomate. To me the Martin & Lewis shtick doesn't wear vert well, but you might disagree. Anyway, don't blink or you'll miss Anita.
Hollywood struggled mightily to bring Tolstoy's titanic War And Peace (1956) to the screen. It was hoped it would make sense at under four hours (it's 208 minutes). A partial success, really not bad. Ms. Eckberg as Helene actually has a few lines in this one and certainly moves things along. They brought in Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn for the heavy lifting. Big chunks of he novel never make it to the screen- but the whole thing would probably run seven or eight hours.
Then in 1960 Anita Eckberg's place in cinematic history became assured from her role in La Dolce Vita (1960). Though a little heavy-handed by today's standards, this is still a pretty good movie with a good story and some very interesting camera shots.
Boccaccio 70 (1962) is a film of four unrelated segments about Italian life, supposedly in the stille of the painter Boccaccio. Anita Eckbeg's part is the best one. She appears as herself, beginning with a billboard picture of her with the slogan "drink more milk". For fairly obvious reasons, this invokes the outrage of a prudish citizen. He begins to hallucinate about the whole thing and she appears to him in one of his dreams.
Think of Four For Texas (1963) as a pre-Rat-Pack western comedy. Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Charles Bronson lead rival gangs all after the same big shipment of gold. Anita Eckberg and Ursula Andress are along to give you something to look at, though their names are prominently featured in ads, no doubt to draw in the male segment of fandom.
That's about it for Ms. Eckberg's American films. She went on to have a career in Italian B-movies and made her home there until her death at 83. All of the films in this blog are available on DVD and for streaming. All are for grown-ups.
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