Viva Maria!

Other than the name recognition, I know little about French actress and all-around beauty Brigitte Bardot.  I've seen her in only one movie -- 1968 Euro-western Shalako -- and nothing else. All I do know about her? Not to sound sexist, but it's her looks.  She wasn't in a ton of movies to begin with before retiring from the movie business in 1973, and more than that, she wasn't in many American-made movies.  Hurting her cause is that Netflix doesn't think I'll enjoy some of her more existential works in French films.  But there's got to be something to her, and I'll take what I can get so that's why I looked into 1965's Viva Maria! 

I went in to this movie with one minor misconception.  Call it miscommunication, or just my head making a transition where there wasn't a transition.  I read that it was a Euro-western with touches of a spaghetti western, but neither really applies.  It is one of the more off-the-wall movies I've watched in recent memory with a surreal edge to the story, and a general feeling of the absurd, the crazy.  Viva Maria is neither good nor bad. It's just weird.  Plus, Bardot and co-star Jeanne Moreau performing a handful of stripteases is never a bad thing.

It's 1908 in the tiny Central American country of San Miguel, and Maria 1 (Bardot) is fending for herself after her father, an Irish revolutionist, is killed trying to sabotage a bridge. On the run, she latches on with a traveling stage show touring the country, joining another Maria 2 (Moreau) in an act that has them singing and dancing for the audience.  The act is a bust until Maria 1's clothes start ripping on-stage, and a hit is born.  Audiences come out to see them in droves.  But on one stop, the Marias and the stage show/circus end up mixed up in a revolution.  Both women end up at the front of the charge, leading the population of San Miguel in a desperate effort to overthrow the dictator and the ruling families.

If you can think of a movie that does a bigger 180 than this one, you're better than me.  Take out the obvious bonus of Bardot and Moreau performing stripteases through the first hour, and we're talking one of the most incredibly dull movies I've ever seen.  Long, uncut shots of the stage show caravan are thankfully interrupted by the duo on-stage.  Then when you think the story is going one way, BAM, they get involved and end up leading a revolution?  Yeah, I can't say I saw that one coming.  In a weird way, it does work just because it is all so bizarre.  At other times, I just shook my head that I was sticking with this movie.

The very beautiful Bardot and Moreau are the main reasons to see this oddity of a flick.  No question about it, Bardot is easy on the eyes, but as an actress (here at least), she's stiff and not always very convincing.  Maybe her character is supposed to be a tad awkward, but it's a little much at times.  Still, no matter what I thought of her acting the image of Bardot with her strawberry blonde hair and gorgeous eyes blasting away at waves of soldiers with a machine gun is worth watching.  It just is. No explanation needed, and I won't be providing one.  Of the few movies I've seen of Moreau, she's always been a sort of plain Jane, her looks dulled down.  Boy, was I wrong.  She's beautiful, and shows off some comedic and her always on-point dramatic ability.  Watch their first striptease HERE if curious.

Throwing so many elements into one movie, Viva Maria certainly has the potential to be good.  Claudio Brook is a scene-stealer as Rodolfo, ringleader of the stage show circus obsessed with building a curved rifle that can fire around corners.  Seeing his circus in a large scale battle is hilarious too with a strongman, acrobats, and a magician all helping the cause. The action scenes in the movie's second half are something else too, highlighted by a running battle with Bardot gunning for a hidden artillery battery and the finale, the attempted overthrow of the dictator in a scene reminiscent of the end of 1954's Vera Cruz.  Composer Georges Delerue's score is a highlight too, memorable without being over-powerful, especially the main theme.

For the positive, there's also the negatives.  I'll start with George Hamilton as Flores, a revolutionary caught up in the fighting who falls for Moreau's Maria.  Did he get blackmailed into this bizarre part? It's the tone of the second half of the movie that feels so odd, like an existential, surreal dream on LSD.  Sight gags galore around every corner, and a sense of humor that falls flat.  A group of monks/priests prepare for torture straight out of the Spanish Inquisition, and I'm wondering again, "What the hell am I watching?!?" I just don't know what to make of this movie. When it's not weird, it's slow and even boring at times. When it's full of action, it's everywhere.  A mess of a movie, one I'll give a slightly positive recommendation.

Viva Maria! <---trailer (1965): ** 1/2 /****

Touchez Pas Au Grisbi

During the Great Depression when families had very little money, going to the movies provided a cheap alternative to more expensive field trips. And above all else, some genres appealed to audiences more, especially gangster flicks with stars like James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson among fan favorites. Their popularity waned, but the damage – in a good way – was done. A generation of young directors were influenced heavily by these films, and then grew up to make their own personal gangster films.

This influence was especially noticeable in French films, more specifically French New Wave, starting in the late 1940s and continuing on into the 50s and 60s. These were usually darker stories heavy on style that tended to live in the underworld of crooks, criminals, and gangsters. Of course, these weren’t low level thugs who looked one step above a homeless person. These gangsters were well to do, wearing a suit and a fedora, dropping huge amounts of cash wherever they went with a woman always on their arms, and a cool jazz soundtrack playing as a soundtrack.

What is so surprising with so many of these movies is that the gangsters – typically villains in most American movies – end up being the sympathetic figure amidst all the violence and chaos. They’re on the wrong side of law, but somehow it’s easy to look past their profession. In Jacques Becker’s 1954 gangster flick Touchez Pas au Grisbi, Jean Gabin is Max, a slightly past his prime gangster looking to get out of the business. That’s a storyline that is as old as movies itself, but Becker’s movie is an underrated and forgotten classic.

A respected and well-liked gangster, Max is hoping to get out of the business as he sees all the young men taking over. With his long-time partner in crime, Riton (Rene Dary), Max has pulled off one last heist that netted the duo $50 million in gold bars. But in trying to impress his younger girlfriend, Josy (Jeanne Moreau), Riton spills their secret, and it’s not long before Josy tells her new boyfriend, a ruthless mobster, Angelo (Lino Ventura), who quickly forms a plan to get his hands on the gold. Now instead of looking to put his criminal past behind him, Max is forced to fend off Angelo’s deadly attacks if he wants to hang on to his gold.

These French gangster movies are heavy on style but never at the expense of the story. That’s not to say the stories are overly complicated (‘Touchez’ is based on a French novel), but there also aren’t twists and turns in the plot around every corner. Becker films in black and white, giving the Parisian night both eerie and intimidating while also creating an incredibly visual experience. There’s something appealing about the simplicity of the story. Of course, it is a product of the times, and these French New Wave gangster movies aren’t exactly known for their happy endings. This isn’t as downbeat as say Le Samourai or Breathless, but its close.

Stepping into that anti-hero role that is so familiar to the crime genre – and many others for that matter, like westerns – Gabin delivers an amazingly understated but still powerfully effective performance as Max. He’s a veteran of the underworld, and there’s little he hasn’t seen. Max is loyal to his friend and partner Riton, even when it would be more logical to cut him loose and work on his own. Everyone seems to like Max who is devoutly loyal to his friends, even rival Angelo who goes after his gold only because it’s a business, not because he’s got anything against him. I haven’t seen Gabin in other movies, but this was quite an introduction. It’s also an obvious influence on Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai with Alain Delon playing a similar character in tone and demeanor.

Max is a pretty even-keeled guy unless you push him too far. Watching Angelo’s deception provides some tense moments as Max figures things out, and when Riton is kidnapped, Max decides things have gone too far. Working with a local high-ranking gangster (Paul Frankeur) and an up and coming youngster (Michel Jourdan), Max arranges a pick-up, a trade straight up with the gold and Riton. It’s a great sequence, and the one scene with some heavy-duty action. The scene unfolds in the dead of night on a country road with a startling finish that has its fair share of irony with the idea that crime don’t pay. It’s a good kicker to the story that is heavy on style with some strong acting. Don’t be scared by the subtitles, the Frenchies know how to make a gangster movie like nobody’s business.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi <----trailer (1954): *** 1/2 /****

The Train

It's rare that you find a movie that's just the perfect blend of action, drama, story and character. And to find it in a war movie which usually concentrates on one or two of those things? Even better. Director John Frankenheimer accomplished that, making maybe the perfect war movie, 1964's The Train, a tale of French resistance fighters in WWII in the days leading up to the fall of Paris.

In another casting choice that might seem odd, Burt Lancaster stars as Paul Labiche, a French railroad supervisor who is also a member of a small group of resistance that started the war with 18 members, but is now down to just three. An art museum curator, Mademoiselle Villard (Suzanne Flon) comes to him with a plea. The retreating Germans have boxed hundreds of famous paintings, Renoirs, Gaugins, Picassos, Van Goghs, and are putting them on a train heading deep into the Third Reich. Villard desperately requests Labiche and his men, Didont (Albert Remy) and Pesquet (Charles Millot), slow the train up enough that the advancing Allies can overtake it before it gets into Germany. Going up against a driven German colonel, Von Waldheim (Paul Schofield), who appreciates the beauty of the art, can the Resistance pull the job off?

I'm struggling to come up with many examples of war movies that so seamlessly blend a message with so many incredible action sequences, but The Train does it beautifully. Labiche and his men unwillingly join in on the plan to halt the train, all the while questioning if it's worth it. They're told the paintings are the 'heritage of France' but is the collection worth their lives? It's this question that haunts Labiche as the bodies start to pile up. What makes it more effective for these characters? They believe in the idea of the paintings. Didont admits never seeing any of them previously and tells Labiche when they complete their mission, 'we should have a look at the paintings.' He believes their mission is a necessary one, even if he and the others might not understand why.

As hundreds of Frenchmen along the rail line help the cause and the Germans begin to retaliate, Labiche meets Christine (Jeanne Moreau), a hotel owner still struggling with the loss of her husband. It's Christine who helps him realize the futility of what they're doing. Is it worth it to die for a painting? Some think so. But I found myself asking is Labiche continuing with his effort because he believes in his mission, or because he has to continue for the cost that's already been paid? It's that question that drives Lancaster's character, one of his best performances from a distinguished career.

Now onto the ridiculously good action sequences, and remember no CGI in 1964 for Frankenheimer. So many movies can be good, but that doesn't mean they're entertaining to watch. As a director, Frankenheimer has a flair for shooting action, even making tracking shots of characters walking through a trainyard or a busy German HQ memorable. SPOILERS if you're going to watch this clip, but imagine this scene made today in 2009. I'm thinking cheesey, ridiculous looking CGI trains. Frankenheimer crashes 3 trains at some pretty good speeds! But that's just the start, check these out too, a Spitfire chases Labiche in a locomotive, and an Allied bombing mission on Labiche's rail yard, in Spanish but it's for the visual.

Leading an otherwise mostly French cast, Lancaster does double duty for his part. He's the one who wavers in his decision to help the effort to stop the train. It seems ridiculous to him to work to save art when he could be doing any number of things to help the war effort. Looking at the action aspect of the movie, Lancaster, a stunt man before he was an actor, goes back to his roots as you could see in the bombing mission clip, 1:14-1:32. No cuts where a stunt man jumps in, Lancaster slides down that 25-foot ladder, lands smoothly, and boards a fast-moving train. I don't know what else to say. That's just badass.

As his opposite in the cat and mouse game to save the train, Schofield as von Waldheim matches Lancaster, no easy feat, in every scene. Expected to think of the paintings as degenerate art, Waldheim sees what a treasure the collection really is. But even then, he has to convince the High Command that the paintings are worth something, not just on a cultural level. He becomes obsessed with getting his train into Germany and meets his match in perseverance in Labiche.

The supporting cast is equally strong, especially Moreau as Christine and Remy and Millot as Lancaster's resistance partners. Michel Simon gives a memorable if short turn as Papa Boule, a veteran engineer who's convinced by others the importance of the train and starts the slowing-up effort. Regulard contributor to WWII movies as the requisite tough German officer Wolfgang Preiss plays Major Herren, an officer trying to help Waldheim even if he may think his superior has lost it.

Well, I've done my fair share of rambling about this movie, but it's really one of my favorites. The Train does everything right from beginning to end with a great story, developed characters that change over the course of the movie, impressively staged action, and some great French shooting locations. If you've missed this in the past, definitely check it out.