The Happy Thieves

If you've made it this far, maybe you can go a little further. Oh, Shawshank Redemption quotes! Anyways, I've been reviewing a fair share of heist/caper movies recently thanks to Turner Classic Movie's heist marathons. Only a couple more, I swear. Here we go with the relatively unknown 1961 heist flick, The Happy Thieves.

Jimmy Bourne (Rex Harrison) is an art thief, and a really good one at that. Pulling a long recon to steal a painting at a Spanish villa, Jimmy pulls off the job successfully. He gets away unnoticed, handing the rolled-up painting to his partner (and future wife), Eve (Rita Hayworth). Getting it through customs though, Eve loses the tube, forcing Jimmy and his forging art painting partner Jean (Joseph Wiseman), to improvise. It doesn't take long before the truth comes out. A visitor at the Spanish villa, Dr. Munoz (Gregoire Aslan), has pictures that can blackmail Jimmy, Jean and Eve....unless they pull off another art heist for him. Munoz wants the crew to take a Goya painting from the Prado Museum in Madrid. The problem? The painting is large, really large, and won't make for an easy job. The alternative is simple; jail.

Watch enough movies from any genre, and you will become familiar with it and all its conventions, cliches and stereotypes. If you like that genre enough to keep coming back to the well, that's a good thing. Not every heist movie is an extremely dark, cynical story, but the best and more memorable usually are. The job is usually the easiest part with the fallout following the job usually producing more fireworks. From director George Marshall, 'Happy' falls in between unfortunately. Everything from the music to the characters reflects a light, positive, even goofy tone. At the opposite end of the spectrum are some very dark, very surprising twists. If the story had picked one or the other, it could have been significantly better. Don't waver back and forth. Pick a route.

Through the light and the dark, I was most drawn to the casting. Harrison, Hayworth and Wiseman as a small team of crooks pulling an art heist? Count me in. These are three very respectable actors. I don't mean that heist movies don't attract good actors, but seeing actors of this caliber is pretty cool. Harrison as Jimmy is the quiet, gentlemanly thief, always composed, always ready with a contingency plan. Hayworth is okay as Eve, but the character gets on the shrill, worrisome side almost immediately. I didn't buy the chemistry between Harrison and Hayworth either. My favorite part was Wiseman as Jean, an accomplished painter who paints duplicates for Jimmy, usually fighting off his own nerves (some untimely throwing up too) in the process at the job gets closer, or unfortunately...during the job.

Also joining the cast is Aslan, doing what he does best as a menacing, intimidating villain, favoring a walking cane with a rifle in it. Alida Valli plays Duchess Blanca, a well-off, mysterious European woman with her hand in everything. Virgilio Teixeira has a fun and small but key supporting part as Cayetano, a Spanish bullfighter who may be an unknowing participant in Jimmy's job. Also look for George Rigaud, Britt Ekland, Peter Illing and Gerard Tichy in smaller parts.

I did like a lot about this movie. Marshall films in black and white, shooting on-location in Madrid and in Paris. That B&W look gives 'Happy' a throwback, retro visual look. It's a beautiful end product. I also liked the musical score from composer Mario Nascimbene, a mixture of light-hearted music and soft whistling. It leans more toward the light, positive side of the story. When the story turns to the dark, the score doesn't necessarily keep up in the tone department, but I liked the score just the same.

So back and forth between light and dark, the highlight of this heist flick is the actual heist at the Prado Museum. We know how Jimmy and Jean will pull the job, using Jean's forged duplicate to get their hands on Goya's The Second of May 1808. It's a straightforward, pretty simple job that takes advantage of a diversion outside the museum to distract the guards, but like the parts of the movie that do work, it has a certain charm to the developing caper. The bad part? The diversion Jimmy utilizes ends up involving murder, but he doesn't seem bothered by that in the least. When the character background reflects that he's an up-and-up English gentleman only to show no worry about a friend being murdered struck me as odd and out of place. I liked parts of 'Happy' enough, but not enough to really recommend this one fully.  Give it a try at Youtube at the link below.

The Happy Thieves (1961): ** 1/2 /****

The Double Man

The movie world of secret agents, espionage and government conspiracies is a tricky one. Thanks to wave after wave of movies set in that world, as a viewer, we've seen everything. With that genre more than most, a movie has to tread that ever so thin line between hard-edged, goofy and plain old spoof. That's 1967's The Double Man, an espionage movie that tries to be hard-edged but ends up falling far short.

Working as a high-up CIA analyst, Dan Slater (Yul Brynner) receives some startling news. His son has been killed in a skiing accident in the Swiss Alps. Dropping everything, Slater heads to Switzerland to investigate, not quite believing that his son -- an accomplished skier -- would die in the way described. He finds that the police have basically shrugged it off, claiming accident, but even a quick look shows Slater that something else was going on. He tries to find one of the witnesses, Gina (Britt Ekland), who saw his son moments before his death, but Slater has no idea what's in store for him.

Airing on Turner Classic Movies recently as part of a Brynner tribute night, I recorded 'Double' mostly because I'd never heard a thing about it. Some 40-plus years later, this is an almost completely forgotten 1960s spy thriller. It's easy to see why....it just isn't very good. The twist is that Russian agents (Anton Diffring, George Mikell <----both looking odd without their German uniforms, and Brandon Brady) have exact body doubles ready for Slater and several other high-up CIA agents. Intelligence security in the U.S. will be a joke after this infiltration. Could it happen? Not the point. In execution, it comes across as a big joke, bordering on the spoof aspect.

So we're off to a good start. The premise -- while at least remotely possible -- is flawed because there's never a sense of urgency. It's revealed in the opening scene about the Russians' plan to infiltrate American intelligence, but then it takes over an hour for the attempts at the switches to actually come about. In the meantime, Slater skis around Switzerland, pursuing Ekland's Gina for questions, drinking, flirting with Moira Lister, and dodging the inept agents following him. Nothing screams out 'SPOOF!' but it nonetheless has that feel. Lloyd Nolan as Edwards, Slater's supervisor, screams all his lines and then disappears at the halfway point. Also worthy of some pokes and prods is a bizarre jazzy, big band score to the spy thriller. What aids a chase across the Swiss Alps? Not a club band of horns and trombones in a score reminiscent of a bad 1970s TV cop show.

Any positives to take away from this one? Yes, and not surprisingly, it's star Yul Brynner. It's not a great performance -- maybe not even a really good one -- but Brynner always was watchable on-screen. It is a more subdued part than I would think with a secret agent father seemingly not too pissed about his son's death. Curious? Yes, but I wanted some rage...something else. Still, it's Yul Brynner, I like him, and he's playing a secret agent. Thumbs up. Just 25 years old and still somewhat new to movies, Ekland is....well....she's gorgeous. Her character is eye candy and really nothing else. It is a serviceable part, one necessary to keep the story going. On the positive, Ekland was perfectly cast as eye candy even if a possible relationship with Slater seems forced. The Russian agents are all right, Diffring and Mikell both familiar faces as Nazis/Germans in countless 1960s WWII movies. Clive Revill is good as Wheatley, the on-location agent who comes under Slater's wrath.

Spy/espionage thrillers are right in my wheelhouse. I'll give them all a try. This one is just too dull to be even remotely interesting. Long, extended shots of people skiing or chasing each other across Switzerland does in fact look good (it's a beautiful country), but in terms of entertainment it falls short. The finale over the last 30 minutes or so makes up for it to a point, but the ending tries too hard. A twist gets thrown our way in this Franklin J. Schaffner directed thriller -- which I think I kept up with -- that allows/forces us to make our own conclusions. On the whole, it falls short despite Brynner's efforts, Ekland's looks and an exciting finale.

The Double Man <---TCM clips (1967): **/****

After the Fox

The years following World War II changed the way many countries made movies, and nowhere was that more evident than in war-torn Italy.  A whole genre of films devoted to dealing and discussing how a country moves on following such a world-shattering event emerged called Italian neorealism. If you want a cliff note's version of the genre, they're usually artsy movies that border on the existential with images, stories and characters that force the viewer to make up their own minds and interpret something. There's the part of me that avoids these movies because they sound pretentious and overbearing, all the while knowing there has to be something to these well-received films.

So what does that intro to a review have to do with anything? Well, I didn't actually watch an Italian neorealist film (not yet at least). Instead I watched an Italian comedy that spoofed the genre with star Peter Sellers impersonating a director that sounds suspiciously a lot like famous Italian director Federico Fellini, 1966's After the Fox. This isn't an obvious spoof like Airplane! or The Naked Gun series, but it certainly pokes fun at these art-house movies that are held in such high regard.  Not a hilarious movie, but still a funny one with Sellers dominating the movie like so few can.

Serving a sentence in an Italian mountaintop prison, infamous master thief Aldo Vanucci (Sellers) hears his younger sister, Gina (Britt Ekland), is in trouble and promptly breaks out of prison as easy as snapping his fingers.  When he quickly realizes there's nothing he can do to help his aspiring actress of a sister, Aldo decides to take part in a dangerous job of helping transport 300 gold bars from Egypt into Italy. Every police and detective agency in Europe knows the gold is coming so how can Aldo and his "gang" help get the gold into the country? He develops a plan where he'll pose as an Italian filmmaker filming a movie in a small coastal village about what else? A ship carrying bars of gold landing in Italy after a successful heist of course. The plan seems ludicrous, but could it somehow work?

Growing up watching movies, I was never a huge fan of Peter Sellers.  Aware of him, yes, but I never sought out his movies.  The original Pink Panther didn't hit me right, but I'd like to give it another try at some point.  One criticism I've had of Sellers is that he seems to play the same niche role.  Like Eddie Murphy has done over the last 15 or 20 years, Sellers would play two or three roles in a single movie, and something that I can't explain always bugged me about that.  We get it, you're talented. Now back off.  As I see more of him though, it's easy to see why he's got such a strong fan following.  Regardless of the role, the man is extremely funny.  His deliveries are impeccable, that perfect mix of subtle laughs and more obvious physical, slapstick humor.

Nowhere is that more evident than the second half of After the Fox when Sellers' Aldo unleashes his plan to get the gold into Italy.  He dupes an entire town, a police chief, and even an American actor (Victor Mature poking fun at himself) to star in this "film." The only problem is the timing doesn't work out quite to plan so Aldo -- renaming himself Federico Fabrizi -- has to actually stage scenes to buy himself some time.  So with no script and no real movie at all (with an entire village watching all the time), Aldo improvises and comes up with a neorealistic film about two lost loves (Mature and Ekland) finding each other in this other-worldly depiction of love.  This is Sellers at his best, big and loud, screaming and directing like a nut.  These are the inspired scenes that produce the biggest laughs.

With Sellers posing like a madman as he "directs" his movie all in hopes of actually pulling off this heist, it's Victor Mature as past his prime American actor Tony Powell who steals the movie.  Looking to legitimize his fake film, Sellers somehow convinces Mature's Powell to take part in this innovative new project.  Martin Balsam as Mature's questioning, worrying agent is priceless as well.  So hard up for work and desperately looking to get back into the limelight, Powell goes for it hook, line and sinker. Every request, every command Aldo makes, Powell goes for it, enthusiastically replying 'Beautiful!' before immediately complying.  Mature is playing a variation on himself by this point in his career and nails the part.  It's a bit of a dig without being mean or cruel, but because he commits so forcefully to this wacky movie you can't help but laugh.

All told, I liked this movie but didn't love it.  Director Vittorio De Sica takes his time getting the story where it needs to be so that first hour takes a little while to develop. Sellers helps things along and keeps them moving thankfully.  For the rest of the cast, Ekland doesn't look Italian even with brown hair instead of her usual blonde, but she makes the most of a smaller part.  Akim Tamiroff is the stupidly evil plotter of the gold heist always ready with a double-cross with the beautiful Maria Grazia Buccella as his eye candy. Paolo Stoppa, Tino Buazzelli, and Mac Ronay are very funny as Aldo's inept gang too. A funny movie in the vein of a light-hearted spoof, worthwhile for Sellers and Mature.

After the Fox <---trailer (1966): ***/****   

The Wicker Man (1973)

When a movie has been remade, a question presents itself. Which one do you watch first? Just a few weeks ago, I wrote a review of the remake of Flight of the Phoenix which I very much enjoyed, and then saw the original. I guess I got lucky there. Keeping it simple, think of it this way. In most cases, a movie is remade because the original is VERY GOOD and someone wants to capitalize on it with a new audience. It's the rare remake that tries to put a new spin on an awful movie.

This whole review is basically an exception to the rule. My senior year at IU the campus movie channel aired the 2006 version of The Wicker Man starring Nicolas Cage. Without giving away anything, let me say this. It is an awful, aaaaaaaawful movie...and I love it. It's played seriously but comes across as so unintentionally funny that I recommend it whenever I can. I'm not talking a chuckle here and there, I mean laugh out loud till you cry funny. Of course, the one problem is that the original, 1973's The Wicker Man, is a bit of a cult classic and held in high regard as a good movie.

So there's my problem. As epically bad (and therefore enjoyable) as Cage's remake is, it is almost a scene for scene redo with a few variations on the setting and background. The kicker is the ending which provides a huge twist and could have been a real shocker of a conclusion if it wasn't so damn funny. Well, last week TCM Underground aired the 1973 original and I taped it. It is a much better film and even treating everything deathly seriously, it is not a funny movie thankfully. But knowing the twist and where the story is going, it does lose some of the luster. So what to take away here? Almost always watch the original and then the remake. Anyways, on to the review.

A sergeant on the police force in England, Neil Howie (Edward Woodward), receives a letter from someone on the tiny coastal island of Summerisle. It asks for his help in finding a missing girl, Rowan Morrison, who disappeared completely in the past weeks. So off Howie goes to investigate, but he quickly finds everything is not as it seems (how often can you say that in a horror/thriller movie?). The island is run by Lord Summerisle (master of British horror Christopher Lee), whose family has cultivated a way to grow fruit by praying to all sorts of pagan gods. Howie, a devout Christian, is taken aback, but even more than that, he's confused. He gets the run around from the people of Summerisle, some say Rowan's dead, others have never heard of her. Can Howie figure out what's going on?

It depends on the movie whether I'll reveal the big twist in a review, and this is one I will not be telling. For one, it's a really good twist that comes completely out of left field. I can't think of even one hint or clue that's given like so many movies do nowadays. It's even a little shocking in the revelation as the doomsday scenario washes over the characters. Credit goes to Woodward for his part as Howie, a pompous, devoutly religious man, who scoffs at everything he seens on the island having to do with paganism. He's in just about every scene, and it's a performance that carries the movie.

As Lord Summerisle, Christopher Lee is the perfect choice to play the part. He gets to be eccentric, extravagant and basically everything you'd ever think of in your desire for a cult leader. But because it is Lee, it is never a laughable effort. It's Christopher Lee so he must be on to something. Diane Cilento plays Rose, the schoolteacher who tells the children all they'll need to know about their pagan religion, and Britt Ekland makes a memorable appearance as Willow, the innkeeper's daughter who tries to seduce Howie. In a very 70s scene, Ekland sings a Scottish folk song to Howie from another room while dancing naked. Next door, Howie tries to keep it together.

Director Robin Hardy filmed the movie in Scotland, and the movie benefits greatly from the on-location shooting. The old Scottish streets and houses, the green countryside all help build a sense of doom that something horrible is coming. It all looks too nice, too perfect, but you just know that something is building. The ending is worthwhile and makes the sometime slow pacing even more nervewracking. Check this one out, and then go see the awful remake. If possible, it'll be even funnier. The trailer has some semi-SPOILERS, I'd recommend going into this movie blind though.

The Wicker Man <----trailer (1973): ** 1/2 /****

Netflix review #4: The Man With The Golden Gun

I've seen all the Connery Bond movies, the last two obviously with Daniel Craig, and bits and pieces of the Roger Moore entries, but I never really sat down and watched one straight through. I was never a huge fan of Moore, but thought as a fan of the series I should watch all of the movies. I watched Moore's first movie, Live and Let Die, a few weeks back and got The Man With The Golden Gun in the mail yesterday.

Reading reviews, TMWTGG seems to take a lot of heat for being pretty cheesy so I was surprised by how much I liked it. Moore seems to have figured out how to play 007 more so as compared to LaLD. His one-liners are there, but they're not overdone. We get it, you're clever, stop with the cheesiness. The action scenes are well-handled, and he's more believable as it looks like he did most of his own stunts. When it comes to the ladies, Moore was never in question. Just two movies in and with the snap of a finger, he's got the Bond women waiting.

Horror movie master Christopher Lee is the villain here, the man with the golden gun, Francisco Scaramanga, the world's deadliest assassin who charges a $1 million per kill. The hit man supposedly sends a golden bullet to MI6 with "007" imprinted on it. So Bond has a master assassin on his tail, but there's a glitch, no one knows what he looks like. In an odd twist, even for this series, the only way to identify Scaramanga is that he has an extra nipple. There's a subplot here too about capturing solar energy, but it isn't as good as the two men going head to head.

In the Bond girls department, this one gets high points with Britt Ekland and Maud Adams starring. Ekland plays Mary Goodnight, a fellow agent working as Bond's liasion of sorts who plays hard to get with him. In a memorable ending, Ekland runs around the last 30 minutes or so in a bikini. In her first Bond movie, she would return as a different character in Octopussy, Adams is Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress who sees a way to safety through 007. Both women are up there as two of the more beautifuly Bond women.

One more bit of interesting casting, a pre-Fantasy Island Herve Villechaise as Nick-Nack, Scaramanga's deadly little assistant who we're never quite sure what his motives are. Clifton James also returns as Sheriff JW Pepper from Live and Let Die in an unnecessary return. Convenient that a Louisiana sheriff is visiting Thailand the same time as Bond, isn't it?

When it comes to action, I thought "Golden Gun" was top-notch including an exciting boat chase and a chase through Hong Kong with a good pay-off as a car does a corkscrew over a river. The scene's marred by a cartoonish slide noise, but the stunt's impressive no matter how you look at it.

Other things worth mentioning, or maybe not mentioning, the theme by Lulu is forgettable and painfully unsubtle, even for a Bond song, and the movie at 125 minutes can be a little talky. But otherwise, it's worthwile. Not a classic Bond movie, but better than the clunkers. This was director Guy Hamilton's fourth and final 007 movie, a good end for the director of the classic Goldfinger.

The DVD has the movie in its widescreen presentation, the Hong Kong and Thailand locations look great, and two different commentary tracks.

The Man With The Golden Gun (1974): ***/****