Rich and Famous (1981)

Richard Brody, in the 16 December 2013 issue of The New Yorker, wrote an essay on the films of George Cukor. I watched A star is born, but could not abide watching it all (his own greatest artistic achievement and also that of Judy Garland, its star.). I watched Rich and Famous, and did finish it.

Brody: An esteemed raconteur, Cukor started to write his autobiography, but his lifelong reticence got in the way, and he made his last film, “Rich and Famous” (1981), as if to explain: it’s a deceptively chirpy comedy starring Candice Bergen as a young society matron in Malibu who launches her literary career—and destroys her private life—by writing a tell-all novel.

 MRQE.com offers this synopsis: Two women find their friendship tested when one rises from obscurity to success in this glossy remake of Old Acquaintance. Liz Hamilton (Jacqueline Bisset) and Merry Noel (Candice Bergen) are close friends who met while they were freshmen at Smith College in the 1950s. Liz has become a highly respected novelist, while Merry wed Doug Blake (David Selby) and raised a family. While Merry is happy, she can't help but envy Liz for her glamorous career as an author. Merry decides to write a novel of her own, and with Liz's help, the book soon finds a publisher. While Merry's trashy potboiler earns few positive reviews, it's a massive best-seller, and Merry's fame and wealth soon outstrips that of Liz, leading to jealousy between the old friends and problems in Merry's marriage. Rich and Famous was the final picture directed by Hollywood legend George Cukor; the guest list at the party sequences include such literary and cinematic notables as Christopher Isherwood, Ray Bradbury, Paul Morrissey, and Roger Vadim

I wondered what Ebert thought of it. It contains scenes that make you want to squirm because of their awkwardness and awfulness, and yet you don't want to look away and you're not bored. The movie has the courage to go to extremes, and some of those extremes may not be art but are certainly unforgettable.
The movie forges ahead through tempestuous fights and tearful reconciliations, while Bergen's alcoholic ex-husband makes a pass at Bisset, and Bergen tries to bribe all of New York to win the book prize. I was not (and am not) sure what this movie was trying to tell me about the two characters -- perhaps that if you stay in touch with someone for twenty years, you can be absolutely sure that at the end of that time you still will be in touch.
Insights into human nature don't seem to be the point of the movie, anyway. It's a slick, trashy, entertaining melodrama, with too many dumb scenes to qualify as successful. A film critic for one of the national newsweeklies said, in reviewing this film, that he has a friend who has a rule: He only attends movies that are in color and are about rich people. I deplore the attitude behind that statement, but in a crazy way, I absolutely understand it.

More than once, during shouting matches, I thought it would do well as a stage play.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops's review: Rich and Famous -- Screen version of the John Van Druten play about two very different women (Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset), both writers, who preserve a friendship for more than two decades despite the strains caused by emulation and jealousy. Directed by George Cukor, the glossy soap opera pays more attention to its glamorous locations than to the human dimension of its story. The sole redeeming feature is good acting by the principals. General air of vapid amorality and two graphic sexual sequences. (O) (R) ( 1981 )
O: morally offensive

Vincent Canby's review in the Times: SOMEWHERE inside ''Rich and Famous,'' George Cukor's splashy, elongated new comedy, there is the material for a possibly brilliant two-character one-act play.

Liberal Arts

Very good film. No special effects. No wanton sex. Very cerebral (characters read books!). In other words, a mature film —which, of course, had terrible box office. Ebert quite liked it, as did I.

Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts" is an almost unreasonable pleasure about a jaded New Yorker who returns to his alma mater in Ohio and finds that his heart would like to stay there. It's the kind of film that appeals powerfully to me; to others, maybe not so much. There is a part of me that will forever want to be walking under autumn leaves, carrying a briefcase containing the works of Shakespeare and Yeats and a portable chess set. I will pass an old tree under which once on a summer night I lay on the grass with a fragrant young woman and we quoted e.e. cummings back and forth.

The  entire review is worth quoting, really.

"Liberal Arts" has been criticized in some quarters as a sitcom, in part because Radnor stars in a famous one, "How I Met Your Mother." Those who see it that way are well-guarded. God forbid that they would ever "fall for anything." I strive to leave myself vulnerable.
There is a word to explain why this particular film so appealed to me. Reader, that word is "escapism." If you understand why I used the word "reader" in just that way, you are possibly an ideal viewer for this movie.

Merci beaucoup .

Greenberg (2010)

Ebert liked it (This is an intriguing film, shifting directions, considering Greenberg's impossibility in one light and then another. If he's stuck like this at 40, is he stuck for good? What Ben Stiller does with the role is fascinating. We can't stand Greenberg. But we begin to care about him. Without ever overtly evoking sympathy, Stiller inspires identification. You don't have to like the hero of a movie. But you have to understand him — better than he does himself, in some cases). I'm not so sure.

A. O. Scott liked it, too. I am not so sure.

Finding Forrester (2000)

Fondly remembered, I went looking for it. Watched. Liked it; watched it twice. Ebert gave it three stars.
Ebert: The movie contains at least two insights into writing that are right on target. The first is William's advice to Jamal that he give up waiting for inspiration and just start writing. My own way of phrasing this rule is: The Muse visits during composition, not before. The other accurate insight is a subtle one. An early shot pans across the books next to Jamal's bed, and we see that his reading tastes are wide, good and various. All of the books are battered, except one, the paperback of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, which looks brand new and has no creases on its spine. That's the book everyone buys but nobody reads.

Both Connery and Brown are superb in their acting. 

Definitely, maybe (2008)

An old favorite that holds up nicely.

Great opening sequence. Kevin Kline shines in a small role ("be a man; drink." "Are you comfortable?" a nurse asks him as he lies in a hospital bed after a heart attack. "I make a living," he answers, continuing, "give us a smile, sweetheart, I've been waiting all my ife to use that line."). And Maya ("What's the boy word for 'slut'?"). The five main characters are good. Quite enjoyable. Still.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Again coming out of my writing, this time considering Bruce Weiss and Nora Ortiz, and dancing, this film popped into my consciousness. Still a great dela of fun. Travolta was magnificent.

The extra man (2010)

Wanting a film to watch, unable to find anything much, on Friday I searched for Kevin Kline films, and found this one.

Louis Ives (Paul Dano) heads to New York City following an embarrassing incident that forces him to leave his job. He rents a room in the apartment of Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), a penniless, wildly eccentric playwright. Additionally, he accepts a position with an environmental magazine, where he encounters green-obsessed co-worker Mary (Katie Holmes). But it’s Louis’ new home life with Henry that really sparks his imagination. Developing a mentor/apprentice relationship, Henry exposes Louis to the duties of an “extra man,” a social escort for wealthy widows.

Enjoyable. Good. Interesting. Yet ... uneven. Still, I enjoyed watching it. Stephen Holden in the Times puts it well.

John C. Reilly's character does not work at all. Katie Holmes's character could have been more developed. Dano and Kline are wonderful.

Water for Elephants (2011)

Cute, had its weaknesses, but it worked, for me.

The life and times of Hank Greenberg

A few weeks ago a Peninsula patron asked me for a biography of Hank Greenberg. Intrigued, I asked him if he was doing research about the original Hammering Hank; he said it was purely personal interest. I remarked that Greenberg, among many other things, had mentored Ralph Kiner early on in his career. How could that be, the man wondered, as Kiner played in Pittsburgh and Greenberg in Detroit. I said that Greenberg had wound up in Pittsburgh.

That was one of the many details of his life that the film covered. His birth in New York, his Jewish heritage and religion, his prowess on the ballfield of James Monroe High school, in Bronx, NY; the Detroit scout's promise to get young Hank a scholarship to Princeton; the virulent anti-Semitism he had to handle in the majors; his success on the field; his enlistment in the Army (depriving his baseball career of three prime years). All those and many more were covered in great detail.

A wonderful documentary of a genuine American baseball hero (well, great; even he didn't see himself as a hero).

Searching for music, I found this book, and while I was not sure if I would read it, I did, and rather enjoyed it.

Kastin, David. (2011. Nica's dream: the life and legend of the jazz baroness.  New York: W. W. Norton.

Next stop, Greenwich Village

Just a few days ago, I saw an item on Twitter, from Time.com (I believe), in its 'reading for lunchtime' feature, Wes Anderson's favorite New York films. This is one of those films.

It has a 6.9 rating in IMDb.com: An aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953.

Critics give it 80% in Rotten Tomatoes, the audience 66% (there is not accounting for taste, is there?).

Larry Lipinski is a Brooklyn Jew, 22 years old, and is moving out of his parents's home, to grow up, to be with his liberated girlfriend, to pursue acting. (In a voiceover, which I watched a bit of, Paul Mazursky says that Larry is partly him.) It is 1953. The Rosenbergs are on the brink of being executed. Yet Larry and his friends, while politically aware, are more interested in other matters: sex, the meaning of life, whether to go to Mexico or not, and suicide.

Chris Walken plays Robert, a handosme ladies man whose libido is only matched in size by his ego. Jeff Goldblum plays a small but discernible role as a pushy, loud actor. Bill Murray has a small speakign part in a bar. Vincent Schiavelli is a party guest who drinks and laughs.

Shelley Winters overplays the Jewish mother who can't let go of her boy, can't stop meddling, and can't (or won't) see how she is hurting the very ones she loves. Yet, in her overplaying, Winters does super work. Antonio Fargas does nice work as an openly gay black man (remember, the 1976 movie was portraying 1953), and Lou Jacobi shines as the juice bar shopowner where Larry gets a job while he waits for his big break.

Larry and his friends go to a coffeehouse, to hang out and philosophize. I recognized it immediately, or so I thought, though the street outside seemed not to fit. But a shot confirmed that it was Cafe Reggio.

Ebert gave it 3 stars. I liked it, too.

Switch

Weak script. Didn't laugh for the first twenty minutes, even though I could tell I'd been prompted to laugh. Finally did laugh, and did enjoy the film, but it was as weak as near-beer. The acting is good. Thomas Robinson, who plays the kid Sebastian, is wonderful. But ...

A woman approaching middle age yet still childless decides to get pregnant by artificial insemination, only to discover that the donor she chose may not be the father of her child in this comedy starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Wally Mars (Bateman) is a dyed-in-the-wool pessimist. Hopelessly neurotic and unrepentantly narcissistic, he gets no joy out of life except for the time he spends with his best friend Kassie (Jennifer Aniston). However, despite the fact that Wally pines to be more than just friends with Kassie, she isn't convinced they'd make a good couple. When Kassie announces to Wally that she's found the perfect sperm donor, he's crestfallen; as far as he's concerned, the ideal candidate is standing right in front of her. Later, Kassie selects handsome stranger Roland (Patrick Wilson) to provide the seed. Things get complicated when Kassie's best friend Debbie (Juliette Lewis) throws an "insemination party" to commemorate the big event, and Wally intercepts Roland's special delivery, drunkenly replacing it with his own before blacking out. Pregnant and content, Kassie leaves the city for Minnesota, where she gives birth to a healthy baby boy. Flash-forward seven years, and Kassie returns to New York with her son, Sebastian (Thomas Robinson), who shares an uncanny number of physical and psychological traits with embittered bachelor Wally. Before long Wally and Sebastian have become good friends, and Wally becomes convinced that the boy is his biological son. His ideal family is finally within reach, and if he can just figure out a means of breaking the news to Kassie gently, perhaps she'll find it in her heart to forgive him, and recognize that he'll make the perfect father for Sebastian. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Yards

I’d seen a one-column-wide item about it in the 19& 26 December 2011 issue of the New Yorker magazine. Richard Brody wrote that dierctor James Gray “returned to his native Queens” to film “a blend of operatic drama and documentary veracity.” he states there was “an ending imposed on the film by the producers, with grave results for the film and Gray’s career.”

Not sure how far back the ending in question goes, but I can guess that the very last scene might be it.


Wahlberg plays Leo, who has just come out of prison, serving a couple of year for car theft. He got caught, friends of his did not, and he did not give them up. Street credibility plays an important role in their lives. Phoenix is his best friend, Willie, who is having a serious romance with Leo's cousin, Erica (Theron, who looks great in her Goth colors, dark nail polish, heavy black eye makeup, leather wristband). Caan plays Erica's father, a corrupt owner of a subway car repair company, neck deep in payoffs and sweetheart deals. Steve Lawrence play sthe Queens borough president.


Good acting, and a good story well told.

Rent

Fun to see it again. Could not help comparing it to the stage version we saw off-Brodway last week.

Frozen River

Takes place in the days before Christmas near a little-known border crossing on the Mohawk reservation between New York State and Quebec. Here, the lure of fast money from smuggling presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be earning minimum wage. Two women - one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances - are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River. Ray and Lila - and a New York State Trooper as opponent in an evolving cat-and-mouse game.

 Nice acting, gritty story. Seeking to save enough money to buy a double-wide trailer, Ray stumbles upon the smuggling of human being across the Mohawk reservation as a way to skirt the law. Chinese, and Pakistanis are put into the trunk of her car, she is given half of the money on the Canadian side, and gets the other half when she delivers the human cargo. A sort of loyalty develops between the two women,both of whom are single mothers and don't have great prospects in life, as they accumulate enough money to reach for a piece of a dream.

I make a living

After watching To Kill a Mockingbird, produced by Alan J. Pakula, I decided to look for other films in which he was involved. One was Up the down staircase. Searching on that title led me to this wonder of humanity: When Bel Kaufman sits you down on her sofa and asks, “Are you comfortable?” the right answer, she reminds you, requires a Yiddish inflection, a shrug and the words, “I make a living.” Kevin Kline's character in Definitely Maybe  (Professor Hampton Roth) uses the same line.

Ms. Kaufman’s hard work and the watchful eye of a demanding father led to a master’s degree in literature from Columbia and teaching jobs at a series of public high schools. Her 20-year odyssey became the springboard out of her grandfather’s shadow. In 1965, she published “Up the Down Staircase,” a novel about a new teacher very much like Ms. Kaufman who struggles to keep up her spirits in a school crowded with more than a few hopeful but ornery students and where memo-happy principals issue rules like not walking “up the down staircase.”

Groovy, man

Groovy? I don't know. Nothing that I have seen quite captures what I remember as the spirit of the 60s. Maybe it is my memory that is at fault. These days, it would be no surprise.

The movie seems kinda hokey and cliché-ridden, but the actor who played Michael Lang was spot-on. Fun, anyway.

Violin maker

Marchese, John. (2007). The violin maker: finding a centuries-old tradition in a Brooklyn workshop. New York: Harper Collins.

A trumpet player follows the crafting of a violin by Sam Zygmuntowicz,a renowned violin maker whose praises had been sung by Isaac Stern, among others. The violin is being made for Eugene Drucker, a violinist with the Emerson Quartet, a finicky and difficult-to-please client. Along the way Marchese traces the history of luthiers since the times of Amati, Stradivari, and Guarnieri, all from Cremona, considered to be the best violin makers of all time.

Easy to follow, even fun to read, it ids an interesting look into an old craft still practiced widely.

The Catcher Was a Spy

Dawidoff, Nicholas. (1994). The catcher was a spy : the mysterious life of Moe Berg. New York : Pantheon Books.


New York-born (March 2, 1902), Newark-bred, Moe was the youngest of three children. Precocious, he had his father's facility for languages. After attending NYU for a year, he went to Princeton, and graduated (in the top 10% of 211 students) in 1923. He was, and perhaps remains, Princeton's best baseball player.

Signed by the Brooklyn Robins upon graduation, Moe played in 49 games, and had 138 plate appearances. At the end of the season, having made some money, he travelled to Paris. 1924 and 1925 he played in the minors, then joined the White Sox. Never a starter, he lasted in the buig leagues until 1939 as a player, his last 5 years in Boston, then coached. He was considered an excellent catcher, and some pitcher preferred him over other catchers.
Then came WW2. Through contacts, Moe was recruited by the OSS, and sent to Europe. His assignment was to help figure out if Germany was developing an atom bomb. His facility with languages, his proclivity for secrecy, and his charm, all combined to make him an effective operative. He was ssigned to figure out of Germany's leading phycisist, Werner Heisenberg, had the necessary resources for building the bomb. He didn't.

Once the war ended Truman disbanded the OSS, and the CIA retained about 10% of its operatives; Berg was not one of those. For the third part of his life, Moe defined his own existence, even if a shabby one at times.

Fascinating is an overused word (I'm guilty as charged), but Moe Berg was a fascinating individual. It would be difficult to botch such a book, and Dawidoff did a very nice job of it.

Dawidoff writes that a good piece on MB was written by Ira Berkow in the NY Times, 24 June 1972: The Catcher Was Highly Mysterious

The US vs. John Lennon

Surprisingly engaging after all these years. One of the talking heads was G. Gordon Liddy, an done of the great revelations, to me, he made was just how obsessed Tricky Dickie Nixon was with Lennon. Recent (in the past ten days, or so) releases of Nixon tapes continue to show just what an idiot and a criminal he was – yes, he was a crook.