HOWARD KEEL
He was a great big handsome man with a great big glorious voice . When he was 66 years old, and hadn’t made a movie in 17 years, he was summoned to appear as Clayton Farlow in the mega-popular prime-time soap, Dallas. He stayed for 17 years, and this is the role for which many fans remember him.
But I remember Howard Keel, who died recently at 85, as the star of lots of wonderful MGM musicals. The 50's were the Golden Age of the movie musical, and he was in a bunch of the best ones.
As Frank Butler to Betty Hutton’s Calamity Jane, Howard Keel burst on the movie musical scene in Annie Get Your Gun (1950). The role needs a strong man with a strong voice and Mr. Keel filled the bill nicely. The song “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” includes many skills, the main one being sharpshooting. What fun!
The 1951 version of Show Boat is the best of several, and Howard Keel is on board with Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner (no, she didn’t really sing), Marge and Gower Champion and of course, William Warfield. Mr. Warfield’s “Old Man River” almost steals the show, but there are plenty of Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein songs to go around.
Kiss Me Kate (1953) is Cole Porter’s musical version of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. Katherine Grayson is the strong-minded Kate and Howard Keel the equally determined husband. Grayson and Keel play actors married to each other whose on and off-stage lives intertwine. Also on board for wonderful dancing are Ann Miller and Bob Fosse.
Keel teamed with songbird and big star Doris Day in Calamity Jane (1953). She is Jane and he is Wild Bill Hickock. She owned a saloon and became the love of his life. If you Google Calamity Jane you’ll notice she wasn’t quite as pretty as Ms. Day! Only one good song- Secret Love- but that alone made Ms. Day wealthy.
Howard Keel’s favorite film was the rambunctious Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). The songs are fairly forgettable and the plot is hopelessly sexist, but there is a dance scene at a picnic that is one of the best ever put on film.
Kismet (1955) is the Arabian nights tale whisked from the Broadway stage to the silver screen, and brought us “Stranger In Paradise” and “Baubles, Bangles and Beads”. Ann Blyth is the lovely foil for Howard Keel’s roguish leading man.
All of these MGM movies have Technicolor that has never been bettered to this day. All are available on DVD. All are fine for all ages. And all are fun!
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Sunday, July 19, 2020
JOEL SCHUMACHER
He’s hardly a household word, but maybe he should be. Director Joel
Schumacher, who died recently at 80, has a sterling resume’ of fine films. The
Academy did not apparently know of his existence, but you will if you read this.
St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) set a high bar for coming of age films about a group.
Emilio Estevez. Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson and Ally
Sheedy were pretty much unknown before this film. Mr. Schumacher got the most out of them and the story, which he co-wrote. 35 years later, it still rings true.
Falling Down (1993) is a strange little film that attempts to be a cautionary tale for our times. Michael Douglas plays William Foster, a basically normal guy who gets pushed and pushed and pushed and finally pushes back. He does so more and more violently as time goes on and more people annoy him. Douglas, always good, is perhaps near his best in this one. Director Schumacher has you believing it.
Mr. Schumacher directed two John Grisham stories. The Client (1994) stars Susan Sarandon as a lawyer trying to save a young boy who has seen something he shouldn’t have and there are very bad people wanting him dead. Good suspense in this one. A Time To Kill (1996) is one of Grisham’s best and also one of Schumacher’s. A young African-American girl is abducted and savagely raped in rural Mississippi. Her father (Samuel L. Jackson) waits for the defendants to attend their trial and guns them down in the courthouse. He gets a young untried lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) to defend him. An incredible cast also featuring Chris Cooper, Patrick McGoohan, Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd and Donald Southerland brings this one home.
Phone Booth (2002) is an accomplished thriller revolving around the last phone booth in the city. Colin Farrell appears as Stuart Shepard, a sleazy publicist. He enters the phone booth and answers its ring to be told he will be killed if he leaves the booth unless he confesses his misdoings to those he has wronged. The suspense ramps up really well considering the limited location and the ending is a double surprise.
Mr. Schumacher’s Phantom Of The Opera (2004) gets all it can out of a fairly ridiculous plot that has somehow hung on for years. The music is very good and the principals do what they can. Gerard Butler is the phantom and Emmy Rossum the haunted Christine. Mr. Butler’s singing is, well, on key.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
He’s hardly a household word, but maybe he should be. Director Joel
Schumacher, who died recently at 80, has a sterling resume’ of fine films. The
Academy did not apparently know of his existence, but you will if you read this.
St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) set a high bar for coming of age films about a group.
Emilio Estevez. Rob Lowe, Mare Winningham, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson and Ally
Sheedy were pretty much unknown before this film. Mr. Schumacher got the most out of them and the story, which he co-wrote. 35 years later, it still rings true.
Falling Down (1993) is a strange little film that attempts to be a cautionary tale for our times. Michael Douglas plays William Foster, a basically normal guy who gets pushed and pushed and pushed and finally pushes back. He does so more and more violently as time goes on and more people annoy him. Douglas, always good, is perhaps near his best in this one. Director Schumacher has you believing it.
Mr. Schumacher directed two John Grisham stories. The Client (1994) stars Susan Sarandon as a lawyer trying to save a young boy who has seen something he shouldn’t have and there are very bad people wanting him dead. Good suspense in this one. A Time To Kill (1996) is one of Grisham’s best and also one of Schumacher’s. A young African-American girl is abducted and savagely raped in rural Mississippi. Her father (Samuel L. Jackson) waits for the defendants to attend their trial and guns them down in the courthouse. He gets a young untried lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) to defend him. An incredible cast also featuring Chris Cooper, Patrick McGoohan, Kevin Spacey, Ashley Judd and Donald Southerland brings this one home.
Phone Booth (2002) is an accomplished thriller revolving around the last phone booth in the city. Colin Farrell appears as Stuart Shepard, a sleazy publicist. He enters the phone booth and answers its ring to be told he will be killed if he leaves the booth unless he confesses his misdoings to those he has wronged. The suspense ramps up really well considering the limited location and the ending is a double surprise.
Mr. Schumacher’s Phantom Of The Opera (2004) gets all it can out of a fairly ridiculous plot that has somehow hung on for years. The music is very good and the principals do what they can. Gerard Butler is the phantom and Emmy Rossum the haunted Christine. Mr. Butler’s singing is, well, on key.
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are for grown-ups.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
FREDERIC MARCH
Movie fans who only remember the late Frederic March (1897-1975) from Inherit The Wind (1960), where he played a pompous bible-thumping William Jennings Bryan, might want to look further. Sternly handsome and with great range, Mr. March had a distinguished film and stage career which peaked in the 30's and 40's.
Frederic March’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) is one of the best of a slew of attempts at the famous Robert Lewis Stevenson tale of double identity. Mr. March mines the nuances of the story extremely well and won his first Oscar for it. If it’s not quite up to the 1920 John Barrymore silent, it’s close.
Mr. March is at his romantic best as Robert Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), a fine edition of the affecting love story between poets Browning and his eventual wife, Elizabeth Barrett (Norma Shearer). Charles Laughton as the imperious father is also excellent, but this is ultimately March’s movie.
Playing opposite Greta Garbo was always a challenge, but Mr. March was up to it in Anna Karenina (1935). He is the dashing, irresponsible Levin; Garbo the smitten, doomed Anna and Basil Rathbone the cold and hateful husband. This version is by far the best of the four made so far.
In Les Miserables (1935) Mr. March is the relentless, merciless Inspector Javert who chases Jean Valjean (Charles Laughton) across the years to enact the full vengeance of the law in revolution-torn France. This stirring version is superior to others and the principals are uniformly excellent. The 2012 version, based on the Broadway musical, has good music.
Frederic March is the has-been actor and Janet Gaynor the meteoric actress in the 1937 version of A Star Is Born. It is the compelling story of the hopeless marriage of two Hollywood actors rushing in opposite career directions. Mr. March was nominated for the Oscar but lost to Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous. The Judy Garland-James Mason edition of this film, made in 1954, is almost as good. And the Bradley Cooper-Madonna version from 2018 though nominated for a truckload of Oscars only won for a couple of minor tech categories.
Mr. March won his final Oscar for William Wyler’s monumental The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946). It is the perfectly pitched story of the GIs returning from World War II to civilian life, and claimed seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. Frederic March is a businessman who finds that the home folks just don’t get it, and his somewhat irascible character is convincing and moving.
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for kids 10 and up.
Movie fans who only remember the late Frederic March (1897-1975) from Inherit The Wind (1960), where he played a pompous bible-thumping William Jennings Bryan, might want to look further. Sternly handsome and with great range, Mr. March had a distinguished film and stage career which peaked in the 30's and 40's.
Frederic March’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) is one of the best of a slew of attempts at the famous Robert Lewis Stevenson tale of double identity. Mr. March mines the nuances of the story extremely well and won his first Oscar for it. If it’s not quite up to the 1920 John Barrymore silent, it’s close.
Mr. March is at his romantic best as Robert Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), a fine edition of the affecting love story between poets Browning and his eventual wife, Elizabeth Barrett (Norma Shearer). Charles Laughton as the imperious father is also excellent, but this is ultimately March’s movie.
Playing opposite Greta Garbo was always a challenge, but Mr. March was up to it in Anna Karenina (1935). He is the dashing, irresponsible Levin; Garbo the smitten, doomed Anna and Basil Rathbone the cold and hateful husband. This version is by far the best of the four made so far.
In Les Miserables (1935) Mr. March is the relentless, merciless Inspector Javert who chases Jean Valjean (Charles Laughton) across the years to enact the full vengeance of the law in revolution-torn France. This stirring version is superior to others and the principals are uniformly excellent. The 2012 version, based on the Broadway musical, has good music.
Frederic March is the has-been actor and Janet Gaynor the meteoric actress in the 1937 version of A Star Is Born. It is the compelling story of the hopeless marriage of two Hollywood actors rushing in opposite career directions. Mr. March was nominated for the Oscar but lost to Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous. The Judy Garland-James Mason edition of this film, made in 1954, is almost as good. And the Bradley Cooper-Madonna version from 2018 though nominated for a truckload of Oscars only won for a couple of minor tech categories.
Mr. March won his final Oscar for William Wyler’s monumental The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946). It is the perfectly pitched story of the GIs returning from World War II to civilian life, and claimed seven Academy Awards including Best Picture. Frederic March is a businessman who finds that the home folks just don’t get it, and his somewhat irascible character is convincing and moving.
All of the movies in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for kids 10 and up.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
IAN HOLM
Ian Holm ,who worked right up to his death at 88, was one of those character actors whose face you can’t come up with- until you see him in a movie and think “Oh, yeah- that guy.” A reader requested a column on him, and with over 136 acting credits there is plenty to choose from, so here goes:
Most recently you would find Ian Holm appearing in most of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies as Bilbo Baggins.
In Alien (1979) Holm is cast as Ash, a really bad guy who tries to scuttle the mission along with the human crew. Fortunately, though maybe not so much for him, he is decapitated and turns out to be an android!
In Robin And Marian (1976) Holm is the hated King John, who hunted the noble Robin Hood like a dog and who was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn shine as the title characters, middle-aged lovers, still charming.
In Chariots Of Fire (1981) one of the two British runners who are the movie’s heroes is Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross). In 1919 he breaks with tradition and hires a professional trainer. And that trainer is Sam Mussabini, played adeptly by Ian Holm. Later his protégé makes headlines by refusing to compete on the Jewish sabbath.
In Kenneth Branagh’s marvelous adaption of Shakespeare’s Henry V (1989) Mr. Holm is Captain Fluellen, the right hand man of the fighting king. I think this version is only a hair behind the 1944 Henry V with Olivier.
Franco Zeffirelli’s splendid adaptation of Hamlet (1990) has Ian Holm as the foolish and doomed Polonious. He is surrounded by a stellar cast including Mel Gibson as the title character, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield and Helena Bonham Carter.
Playing the part of a rather quackish physician is no problem for Ian Holm, and he is such as Dr. Willis in The Madness Of King George (1994). His idea of curing the king’s craziness is to strap him into a tight vest whenever he misbehaves. Right...
Ian Holm is the dastardly Pascal in Big Night (1996). Brothers Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are trying to succeed with a new Italian restaurant. Pascal tell them he will have a famous opera star appear there at a certain time, on the Big Night. I will just say that Pascal is a competitor and doesn’t play fair.
Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Herafter (1997) involves a horrific school bus accident in which many children are killed. Many of the parents are recruited by attorney Mitchell Stevens to file a class action lawsuit. That lawyer is played by none other than Ian Holm, and this is one of his best roles. I’ll reveal no more!
Joe Gould was a semi-famous gadfly in New York in the1920's and after. He compiled an “oral history” of characters he encountered and many people were intrigued by this opus. One of them was Joseph Mitchell, who put together this story and this movie. Joe Gould’s Secret (2000) is the result and Mr. Holm plays the title character. What is the secret? My lips are sealed!
Ian Holm can also be seen as the somewhat evil Gideon Largeman in Garden State (2004), and as the quirky Professor Fitz in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (2004).
All of these movies are available on DVD. All of them are adult films.
Ian Holm ,who worked right up to his death at 88, was one of those character actors whose face you can’t come up with- until you see him in a movie and think “Oh, yeah- that guy.” A reader requested a column on him, and with over 136 acting credits there is plenty to choose from, so here goes:
Most recently you would find Ian Holm appearing in most of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies as Bilbo Baggins.
In Alien (1979) Holm is cast as Ash, a really bad guy who tries to scuttle the mission along with the human crew. Fortunately, though maybe not so much for him, he is decapitated and turns out to be an android!
In Robin And Marian (1976) Holm is the hated King John, who hunted the noble Robin Hood like a dog and who was forced to sign the Magna Carta. Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn shine as the title characters, middle-aged lovers, still charming.
In Chariots Of Fire (1981) one of the two British runners who are the movie’s heroes is Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross). In 1919 he breaks with tradition and hires a professional trainer. And that trainer is Sam Mussabini, played adeptly by Ian Holm. Later his protégé makes headlines by refusing to compete on the Jewish sabbath.
In Kenneth Branagh’s marvelous adaption of Shakespeare’s Henry V (1989) Mr. Holm is Captain Fluellen, the right hand man of the fighting king. I think this version is only a hair behind the 1944 Henry V with Olivier.
Franco Zeffirelli’s splendid adaptation of Hamlet (1990) has Ian Holm as the foolish and doomed Polonious. He is surrounded by a stellar cast including Mel Gibson as the title character, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield and Helena Bonham Carter.
Playing the part of a rather quackish physician is no problem for Ian Holm, and he is such as Dr. Willis in The Madness Of King George (1994). His idea of curing the king’s craziness is to strap him into a tight vest whenever he misbehaves. Right...
Ian Holm is the dastardly Pascal in Big Night (1996). Brothers Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci) are trying to succeed with a new Italian restaurant. Pascal tell them he will have a famous opera star appear there at a certain time, on the Big Night. I will just say that Pascal is a competitor and doesn’t play fair.
Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Herafter (1997) involves a horrific school bus accident in which many children are killed. Many of the parents are recruited by attorney Mitchell Stevens to file a class action lawsuit. That lawyer is played by none other than Ian Holm, and this is one of his best roles. I’ll reveal no more!
Joe Gould was a semi-famous gadfly in New York in the1920's and after. He compiled an “oral history” of characters he encountered and many people were intrigued by this opus. One of them was Joseph Mitchell, who put together this story and this movie. Joe Gould’s Secret (2000) is the result and Mr. Holm plays the title character. What is the secret? My lips are sealed!
Ian Holm can also be seen as the somewhat evil Gideon Largeman in Garden State (2004), and as the quirky Professor Fitz in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator (2004).
All of these movies are available on DVD. All of them are adult films.
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