Spartacus

I've been in Spartacus mode for about six months now. This spring I watched the entire run of Starz's Spartacus, I caught up with Howard Fast's novel Spartacus, found a couple non-fiction books about the famous slave turned gladiator at the library and then bought the TV miniseries that aired about 10 years ago. So what is there left? Naturally I tried to save the best for last, catching up recently with one of Hollywood's great historical epics, 1960's Spartacus.

It's the 70s B.C. in Rome when a Thracian slave named Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) is bought from a Libyan mine and sold to a gladiator school in Capua, Italy, several days ride from the city of Rome.  The popularity of gladiators is growing ever stronger, Spartacus thrust into training to become hopefully one of the best. He shows promise but also resents the life, the hatred beginning to grow at Rome's brutal, cruel insistence on slaves and slavery itself. Months into his training, Spartacus incites a brutal takeover, his fellow gladiators joining him in a bloody attack that gives them power and allows them to escape. At first content to be a roving band of marauding bandits, Spartacus organizes his fellow escaped gladiators into an army. They can be more than bandits. They can be an army. An army that with growth and training could challenge Rome itself. His name grows, his army increases with each passing day. In Rome, a powerful Senator and businessman, Marcus Crassus (Laurence Olivier), watches the effect the gladiator slave general has and braces for a reply...if it's not too late.

Wowza, what a good movie, the definition of a historical epic that dominated Hollywood through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. A somewhat checkered production had some issues, a 30-year old Stanley Kubrick replacing Anthony Mann just a week or so into filming. Oddly enough, it is a movie that Kubrick doesn't consider one of his own, not including it in the canon of his films. It is an epic, a smart, well-written, beautifully shot movie with an impressive cast. Composer Alex North turns in a perfect score, large in scale but also very emotional in the quieter moments. I was always a fan of the score, but it really resonated with me on the most recent viewing. There isn't a weakness here, author Howard Fast's novel come to life in truly epic form.

One of the biggest stars working in Hollywood at the time, Kirk Douglas was firmly behind this movie, helping ramrod it right into production and is listed as executive producer. I've always thought this is one of his strongest, if underappreciated, performances. As slave turned gladiator turned general, Douglas is Spartacus. He has several effective so-called "bigger scenes" but the more effective moments are the quiet ones. When he touches the hand of the woman he loves, the rage in his eyes as he's addressed by his superiors, the pride when his army stands up for him, this is an actor doing his absolute best. He brings a real-life character to life, and it's easy to see why so many followed him against Rome. Douglas is charismatic and welcoming from beginning to end. He's furious and full of hate at the Roman system that enlists hundreds of thousands of slaves. Ultimately, he's pushed too far, and his response is something that shakes the world. Just a great performance from a Hollywood legend.

What this flick is able to do so well is to blend so many different moving pieces together. It is an epic with a true ensemble cast, all of the assembled talent given a chance to shine. In one of the best love stories I can think of, Douglas has a great chemistry with Jean Simmons, playing Varinia, a slave from Brittania who becomes Spartacus' wife, friend and confidant. They just work. They're perfect together. There's one of the great actors of all-time, Laurence Olivier, relishing the part of Crassus, a criminally smooth, brilliant manipulator who yearns for power in all forms. There's Tony Curtis in one of his best roles, here as Antoninus, an educated slave who escapes from Olivier's Crassus and joins Spartacus' army. Opposites in most ways, the uneducated leader and the younger, educated fighter become very close, a father-son, brotherly relationship. There's Charles Laughton as Gracchus, the Roman senator with a long, distinguished career behind him, now opposing Crassus, and John Gavin as Caesar, the young and upcoming senator, both giving Rome's perspective as Spartacus' revolt grows and grows. Oh, and there's a scene-stealing Peter Ustinov as Batiatus, the owner of the gladiatoral school that Spartacus escapes from, an Oscar-winning part for Ustinov.

Oh, but there's more. Herbert Lom plays Tigranes, an oily pirate negotiating with Spartacus to get his army out of Italy. As for the gladiators turned army command, look for an underused John Ireland as Crixus with Harold J. Stone and Nick Dennis also standing out from the crowd with smaller supporting parts. One of three performances in 1960 that helped make him more than a physical presence, Woody Strode plays Draba, an experienced gladiator worn down by the constant killing in the arena. A small part but a key one to propel the story forward. And last but not least, gravelly-voiced Charles McGraw as Marcellus, the brutal gladiator instructor, a man tasked with turning slaves into killing machines intended for the gladiator ring. Strength from top to bottom, not a weak link in one of the great casts ever put together.

This is a thinking man's epic, not a true sword and sandal epic. The script from blacklisted author/writer Dalton Trumbo is a gem, giving a window into the politics of the time. The story moves amongst the ensemble from the gladiator school in Capua, to the streets and halls of the Roman Senate, to Spartacus' base at Mount Vesuvius to his camps moving across Italy. Trumbo's script is an idea-script, one about freedom and corruption, living life to its fullest even if the means seem impossible. We see the inner-workings of the Roman senate, of Spartacus' inner circle. You get a feeling of what the times were like in ancient Rome. Just a beautifully written script, Douglas saying "Screw it" to the blacklist that prevented Trumbo from writing for years.

'Spartacus' has moments both big and small here, both working seamlessly. The arena fight between Spartacus and Draba is a gem. Not drawn out but incredibly intense, including a great twist near its conclusion. The revolt in the school is quick and hard-hitting, the tension finally boiling to an unbearable point. As the rebellion grows -- the real-life history was called the Third Servile War -- Spartacus realizes the fight can be as big as his army wants it to be. The entire movie is a treat to watch, but I've always found the second half the film's strongest, especially when the tide turns against the slave army. Maybe the most iconic scene, "I'm Spartacus!," has become a punchline in pop culture, but in context, it is one of the most beautifully constructed, emotionally perfect scenes ever, the camera lingering on Douglas as an ideal conclusion. Watch it HERE with obvious spoilers. The same for a late scene between Spartacus and Antoninus discussing the impact of what they've done, Spartacus willing to Crassus "He'll come back and he'll be millions." Too many great moments to mention.

This isn't an action-heavy movie so beware going in if you're expecting 3 hours of battle scenes. Supposedly more battle scenes were filmed but never used, all in hopes of making the one major battle late in the film far more effective. It is, but this is not a movie interested in the scope and scale of battle. This is a story about the people. We see scenes with literally thousands of extras, but the camera zooms in on the faces, people we see popping up throughout the second half of the movie. Old and young, mothers and fathers, teenagers, kids, thin and fat. The moment where Spartacus walks through his camp on the eve of battle is perfect, the former slave truly realizing the scope of what his army has accomplished. The post-battle scene is that much more gut-wrenching as is the finale itself.

Just a classic. Enjoy it.

Spartacus (1960): ****/****

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies

When I think of the big roadshow epics of the late 1950s and into the 1960s, I typically think of historical epics, big period pieces with casts of thousands. There were the comedies out there too though, like the classic 1963 road epic It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, 1965's The Great Race and on a slightly smaller scale, 1965's Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. By 1969, the big road epic comedy had played out its course....almost. A quasi-sequel to 'Machine,' here's 1969's Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies.

It's the 1920s and the Monte Carlo Rally, a race across Europe ending in Monte Carlo, is fast approaching. Racers from all over the world are heading to several different starting points around Europe hoping to win the prestigious race. Among them? Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas), an Englishman with a mean, devious streak up his back, looking to save his father's car company. His opposition and co-owner courtesy of a shrewd poker move? Fun-loving, kooky American, Chester Schofield (Tony Curtis), who has some big ideas about what to do with the far-more traditional English cars. The two men agree to race for it all, whoever beats the other in the Rally takes complete control of the company. But with racers from all over the world coming to compete, this will be one crazy race.

Dubbed Monte Carlo or Bust! for international audiences, 'Jalopies' is a sequel to 1965's air adventure, director Ken Annakin returning while also writing the screenplay with Jack Davies. It features an animated credit sequence, a title song sung by Jimmy Durante, and goes for that same stylish effect that previous road comedy epics went for. At 122 minutes, it's relatively short compared to its predecessors, Annakin forced to cut anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes depending on the market (and the source). What's left? A movie that's unfortunately a little lackluster in just about all accounts. It's not as funny as it wants to be, not as stylish and entertaining as it should have been. It's not bad, but it's not good either.

While it isn't my most original critique, all I can say here is that 'Jalopies' simply tries too hard for its laughs. The sped-up physical comedy sequences -- cars, drivers and spectators moving at ridiculously fast speeds -- are goofy for their own sake. Funny here and there, tedious when used time after time. The same for the BIG sequences, like two drivers navigating an iced-over lake full of hockey players. How many times can we see a car sliding/drifting and people jumping out of the way before you just want to turn it off? Well, I don't know the answer there because I lost track, and for the sake of the review, I finished the movie out, hoping at some point it would get better. It didn't really, a big disappoint because I enjoyed the other three previously mentioned road epics so much. They can't all be winners I guess. 

The cast is good and bad, some undone by uninteresting characters, others by the over-reliance on the physical humor, and some by a script that gives them little to do. A star of The Great Race, I liked Curtis as American racer Schofield (favoring 'Zowee!' as one of his go-to phrases) who commits to the goofiness but never really overdoes it. He's given a driving partner of sorts, Susan Hampshire's Betty, who may or may not be trying to slow him down. As his English counterpart, Thomas is good as Cuthbert (Thomas played Cuthbert's father in 'Machines'), the definition of an Englishman, this one so desperately trying to stop Schofield -- and all the other racers for that matter. Also returning is Eric Sykes as Perkins, Cuthbert's much-maligned and blackmailed assistant. This rivalry is the only one that was really appealing to me, the rest falling short here and there.

One of the other positives is Peter Cook (Major Dawlish) and Dudley Moore (Lt. Barrington), two British army officers driving together, Dawlish unleashing all his new-fangled inventions with every opportunity. Their very British demeanor provides some good laughs. Who else to look out for? Another star from 'Machines' but in a different part, Gert Frobe plays a convict look-a-like recruited to race as a famous racer (with Peer Schmidt as his partner)...and smuggle some diamonds for an underused Jack Hawkins (playing a sinister Count). There's also two Italian police officers (Lando Buzzanca and Walter Chiari), one looking for glory, one looking not to get married to an ugly woman, and a female racing team that includes Mireille Darc, Marie Dubois and Nicoletta Machiavelli who I don't believe are ever identified by name. They look pretty. That's their requirement for being there. Also, Bourvil plays the champagne-guzzling race organizer.

When 'Jalopies' gets down to it, there are some entertaining racing sequences. We see 1920s-era cars -- not exactly sleek racing cars -- bombing across Europe (with some great on-location shooting across the continent), especially the finale as the remaining racers gun it into Monte Carlo. There's just too little of it, and far too much use of miniatures and green screen work for a whole lot of sequences. In the end, a disappointment. If you want to be funny, just tap the brakes some and let it happen.

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969): **/****

Some Like It Hot

Some movies are just perfect. That's it. They just are. Ridiculously spot-on casting, great direction and writing, and a story and style that have more than withstood the test of time. In 2000, it was even voted the greatest American comedy of all-time. I'm not alone in this stance, but it's one of my favorites, 1959's Some Like It Hot.

Working in 1929 Chicago, down on their luck musicians Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) are looking for any kind of work.....any. Picking up a car to drive to Champaign, they accidentally witness a gangland massacre, gangster Spats Colombo (George Raft) and his crew knocking off seven rival gangsters. The only problem? They were spotted, and now they're desperately on the run. With no money, they resort to the only option available.....posing as female musicians leaving Chicago for Miami with an all-female band. There's no way the ridiculous plan could work, could it? Joe/Geraldine and Jerry/Daphne pass their first test and blend in with the band. Both fall right away for Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe), a ukelele-playing singer in the group. Uh-oh, let the hijinks begin, and Spats and his mobsters are still looking for them.

There is chemistry among actors, and then there's chemistry: Some Like It Hot style. I feel comfortable comparing Curtis and Lemmon to Paul Newman in Robert Redford in Butch and Sundance, my high point for on-screen chemistry in a buddy relationship. Other cast pairings were mentioned as director Billy Wilder put his movie together (Curtis and Frank Sinatra as one), but it's hard to imagine any other duo working quite this well. Obviously, you can attribute some to a lot of that success to the script written by Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, but the actors have to turn that great script into great performances at some point. What I love about their parts is that both men are given their chance to play straight man and comedian in interchangeable parts. That's the beauty of the.....oh, yes.....cross-dressing.

From other films like Tootsie (very good) to White Chicks (end of the world bad) to TV shows like Bosom Buddies, cross-dressing is nothing new in a film/TV medium. What is it that's so funny about men dressing up as women? That's a question left best unanswered. The moral of the story is simple; it is funny, very funny when handled correctly. According to Curtis interviews, both he and Lemmon went through extensive "lady training" to be believable women because to a point, if we don't believe the duo as women, the movie is going to struggle. Yes, they look ridiculous in their wigs, dresses, heels and stockings, but somehow and some way, they make it work. Curtis as saxophone-playing Josephine plays it straight, quite and demure, always pursing "her" lips while Lemmon as lively bull fiddle-wielding Daphne (instead of Geraldine) gets to live it up in a showier, more physical part. It's a match made in heaven, and one that makes the movie the fondly remembered classic it is.

More than just the chemistry between Curtis and Lemmon is the chemistry consistently on display across the entire cast. Monroe could do drama and comedy, but I don't know if she was ever better than she was here as Sugar Kane, the goofy, somewhat ditzy blonde who just wants to find her true love. Shallow side note; she looks stunningly beautiful here, Wilder dressing her up in as risque fashion as possible (her intro especially has become an iconic scene). Her comedic timing is pretty perfect whether it be with Curtis or Lemmon. Both "female musicians" fall for Sugar immediately. Curtis' Joe poses as a young bajillionaire -- coke bottle glasses and all, ridiculous and spot-on Cary Grant voice impression along for the ride -- in hopes of wooing her while Lemmon's Jerry works from the inside of sorts, unfortunately becoming Sugar's fast friend and confidant. The triangle-like relationship (square-like I suppose even) is a gem to watch, just three actors having fun on-screen, and it shows from the start. 

In terms of screen-time, those three dominate the movie, but in smaller parts the supporting cast help brings the movie up another notch. Building off his reputation as a long-time tough guy, Raft plays it straight throughout as the tough as nails Spats Colombo -- always up to something -- with Mike Mazurki and Harry Wilson playing his dim-witted, machine-gun wielding associates. Pat O'Brien makes a quick but memorable appearance as Detective Mulligan, the cop tailing Spats. Nehemiah Persoff makes a cameo as Little Bonapart, a mafioso trying to clear up the problem Spats created. Joan Shawlee plays Sweet Sue, the conductor of her all-female band, Sweet Sue and Her Society Syncopators, with Dave Barry as Beinstock, the maligned band manager. The best part goes to Joe E. Brown as Osgood Fielding III, a horndog of a millionaire who's got the hots for Daphne, including one of the most famous closing lines to a movie ever.

As a director, Billy Wilder had his fair share of gems, but this has always been my personal favorite. Whether it be his script with Diamond or his directing, it's a flawless film. It runs 122 minutes, but it never drags, and I can't come up with a wasted or unnecessary scene. Curtis said he and Lemmon had to do little to no improvising because the script didn't need it. The lines are perfect as is. He made a wise choice filming in black and white too, giving it that authentic, throwback feel that gives a sense of 1920s Chicago and Miami. 'Hot' filmed in California (standing in for Miami) at the beautiful Hotel del Coronado, an unreal looking building that feels like it would be on scenic Miami Beach. And last, the score from composer Adolph Deutsch, a jazzy score that will put a smile on your face at its first note. The scenes of Joe and Jerry running from mobsters is given that comedic touch courtesy of Deutsch's score, which you can sample HERE.

The defining factor in a comedy being truly classic is the quotability, that memorable scene or line that lingers long after the movie is over. It's Curtis' running bit doing his Cary Grant impression, "piloting" a motorboat backwards because he can't put it in drive. It's Lemmon -- as Daphne -- trying to move in on Sugar only to have his train car berth taken over by the female band for a drinking and tickling party, doing a tango (with a straight face) with Brown's Osgood and later celebrating their engagement with a maraca dance. That's just a sampling, 'Hot' never goes long without a laugh. It's beyond a classic, and not just one of the best comedies around, but one of Hollywood's all-time great movies.

Some Like It Hot (1959): ****/****

The Vikings

In the age of the epic in the 1950s and 1960s, there wasn't a historical era not covered by Hollywood ranging from ancient times in Ben-Hur and Spartacus to more modern times like Around the World in 80 Days and Lawrence of the Arabia. Not quite on the scale of those movies but just as entertaining, 1958's The Vikings is an underrated epic that is as much fun now as it was over 50 years ago.

Leading a raid on an English camp, Viking warrior/chief Ragnar (Ernest Borgnine) rapes the English queen who secretly gives birth to a son nine months later. Almost 20 years pass and Ragnar is still leading his Viking warriors, his son, Einar (Kirk Douglas), at his side. Neither are aware that the son,  Erik (Tony Curtis),  has been among them for the last 20 years, living as a slave to the Vikings, unaware he is Ragnar's son and Einar's half-brother. Erik has an intense rivalry with Einar -- each one wanting to kill the other -- and it is ratcheted up even further when Ragnar's warriors kidnap the young woman, Morgana (Janet Leigh), promised to the king in marriage. Both men fall in love with her as the Vikings prepare a surprise attack on the King's castle.

The appeal of many epics is the scale. They aren't always fun movies, just big movies. From director Richard Fleischer, this is an exception. At 116 minutes, it isn't as long as so many 3-plus hour epics, but it is fun, entertaining and still manages to present an impressive scale of the time of the Vikings. It was filmed in the fjords of Norway while also visiting Germany, France and Croatia, the locations providing an accurate and stunningly beautiful backdrop for the adventure story. The music is especially memorable from composer Mario Nascimbene, including the main theme (listen HERE) that you'll be whistling for days. What's so fun about it all is Fleischer and his cast and crew committing to being accurate as possible. The sets look like actual Viking villages. Three Viking warships were built from actual blueprints of Vikings ships, and the shots of these ships, packed with warriors, making their way up the sun-lit fjords is a stunning visual. The movie shows the day-to-day lives of these people. We see some of their rituals, their beliefs, their parties, and it feels authentic from the very start.

Working together for the first time -- they'd reunite two years later in another epic, 1960s's Spartacus -- Douglas and Curtis are great leads, the half-brothers who are unaware they're related. Douglas isn't a villain, but he clearly isn't the good guy either, his Einar an anti-hero if he's anything. It's a big, showy part for Douglas, the type of role he excelled at. Curtis gets the less-interesting character, but his intense part as Erik is still worthwhile. Mrs. Tony Curtis -- Janet Leigh -- is the eye candy, the beautiful Morgana who finds herself in a love triangle and must choose who she truly loves. If you're going to do a love triangle, do it right like 'Vikings' did here. Life and death, an intense rivalry where the stakes are high, not just a happy winner and a mopey loser. Also be careful not to poke your eyes out with Janet Leigh's pointiest of bras.

My favorite character though is from Ernest Borgnine as Viking chief Ragnar. It's funny that he's cast as Douglas' father because in real-life he's actually two months younger than his movie "son." Just like Douglas is perfectly cast as Einar, so is Borgnine. Heavily bearded and spouting his love for the Viking god Odin, Ragnar is an exaggerated, scene-stealing part for Borgnine. I can't think of a better duo to play these larger-than-life ancient heroes. For a topper, Ragnar's death scene is one of the all-time greats, a man literally laughing death in the face. Also look for James Donald as Egbert, an English lord secretly working with the Vikings, and familiar epic bad guy Frank Thring as Aella, the weakly English king, and Eileen Way as Kitala, the Viking medicine woman who is in touch with all the Viking gods.

From the time I first saw this movie as a kid, it was the action sequences that stuck with me. I remembered Douglas' Einar running across the rigid oars of the Viking ships as they returned to the village, but the high point is the finale, a Viking assault on Aella's heavily guarded castle on the English coast (actually Fort-la-Latte in France). A real castle, it is a gorgeous setting for the attack in all its scale, seemingly hundreds of Vikings bursting through the gates and scaling the walls. Einar's entrance to the castle -- climbing up a ladder of thrown axes into the raised drawbridge -- stands out, Douglas doing some of his own stunts. It concludes with an epic showdown at the top of one of the castle's towers, Einar dueling with Erik. Both Douglas and Curtis handled much -- if not all -- of their stunts, making the dangerous fight scene a couple hundred feet up even more impressive. Action galore, the ending is a whopper of a climax.

Part of the appeal here is of childhood memories, but it stands the test of time. It isn't remembered as well as many other historical epics, but it's just as fun and probably more entertaining than many more. Big story, memorable theme, great cast, and can you really go wrong with those bloodthirsty, fun-loving Vikings? I submit that you cannot. The movie is available to watch at Youtube, but it's 111 minutes while the DVD runs 116 minutes so something's missing.

The Vikings <---trailer (1958): *** 1/2 /****

You Can't Win 'Em All

Because I'm not the laziest guy around, I'm not going to write the same exact intro for a review...even though I definitely could here.  The transition from the 1960s to the 1970s hit some actors harder than others, and talented individuals found themselves in a situation where they had to reinvent themselves.  I've covered the topic before with Rock Hudson and Audie Murphy among others, but the common denominator seemed to be to go to Europe or television to find work.  Add recently passed Tony Curtis to the list. 

Now I don't know how much Curtis' drinking and drug problems had to do with the detour his career went through in the late 1960s, but something certainly changed for the actor.  Solid, worthwhile roles don't just dry up for no reason at all.  So in the 1960s, Curtis tried both of the previously mentioned alternatives; he tried some TV work including working with Roger Moore in The Persuaders while also going to Europe for some roles, including 1970's underrated and forgotten You Can't Win 'Em All. I watched this a couple years ago and caught up with it this week as part of TCM's tribute to Curtis.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but I really like the movie.  It's a little different, a little weird, but always entertaining.

It's 1922 in Turkey and American Adam Dyer (Curtis) is rescued from his tiny, sinking fishing boat in the Mediterranean Sea by Jeff Corey (Charles Bronson), a fellow American with eyes on riches. The two like-minded individuals team up, and with Corey's crew of mercenaries (mostly WWI vets looking for $) get caught up in the Turkish Civil War. Adam and Jeff aren't picky about ideals or principles, just who's willing to pay more.  They side with the Sultan of Turkey, undertaking a mission to transport some very important people out of the country before it can destabilize any more.  The mercenaries will be well paid for their talents, but something just doesn't add up.  The odds are stacked against them, and it seems that more is going on than meets the eye.  Caught up in a bloody revolution though, can Adam, Jeff and Co. escape unscathed and with money and riches to boot?

Having watched this flick twice now, I couldn't explain why the story seemed so familiar.  Well, reading some reviews over at IMDB helped that out like a train running me over.  Directed by Peter Collinson, 'Win 'Em All' is basically a straight remake of  1954's Vera Cruz starring Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster.  Instead of post-Civil War Mexico, we're treated to post WWI Turkey with basically the same story, plot elements and characters.  No complaints from me because I'm a big fan of Vera Cruz, but just enough is handled differently to set it apart that it an exciting, action-paced comedy buddy pic.  It's not as dark as VC and knows it, reveling in the double crosses and backstabbings.

Working together for the first and only time unfortunately, Curtis and Bronson seem like an unlikely pair to cast as mercenaries ready to turn on the other at the drop of a hat.  Their acting styles don't compare much, but somehow and some way it works.  You know from the moment they're introduced that they may be partners, but they won't be very trusting partners.  Each uses the other to their benefit, and they seem to know the arrangement.  Adam and Jeff are always attempting to one-up the other right up until the very end, and thankfully 'Win 'Em All' doesn't go down the dark road Vera Cruz did in dealing with this rivalry.  Their dialogue is great with plenty of snappy back and forths with some great one-liners, and the chemistry works perfectly.  An unlikely pair, yes, but sometimes the unexpected produces the best results.

Having watched enough European-made movies, you see similar locations pop up in Italy, Spain, France and any number of other countries.  And even in the fullscreen format TCM aired the movie in, you get a great sense of the beauty of Turkey where all of the movie was filmed.  It's a funny thing, but you know what Turkey actually looks like? Turkey.  This isn't an attempt to make the American west look like 1920s Turkey.  The whole movie was filmed in country, and the locations are beyond gorgeous.  Whether it is riding through a rocky, mountainous desert area or resting in a tiny village, this was a great visual movie.  The endless scenes of a column of horsemen riding across the country could have been tedious, but there's enough to look at to keep you interested.

Now on to the fun stuff, the action, and there's plenty.  For a lower budget movie, no expense was spared when the action hits the screen.  Adam and Jeff's crew are outfitted with machine guns (always a good start) so as they traverse their way through the revolution they leave a trail of bodies in their wake.  The requisite barroom brawl kicks things off, and then you can add an assault on an armored train, an artillery barrage on a besieged town, and a doozy of a finale on a boat about to be overwhelmed by the Turkish army.  It's a good jumping off point for an action comedy that has that right tongue in cheek tone without overdoing it and with a solid cast to boot.  Very hard to find, but keep your eye out for it on TCM from time to time.  Can't wait that long?  Start with Part 1 of 11 courtesy of Youtube with a similar looking print to the one I watched. 

You Can't Win 'Em All (1970): ***/****

Sex and the Single Girl

One of my all-time favorite actors, Hollywood legend Tony Curtis died September 29 from a heart attack in Las Vegas.  Someone I've always thought of as an underrated actor, Curtis did it all in his career, and I've reviewed a fair share of his movies in the last two years.  He could do a screwball romantic comedy while also pulling off an epic historical period piece at the same time.  Comedy, drama, action, and anything in between, Curtis was an underrated, very versatile actor who I'll always like.  But of all his movies, he may most be remembered for his comedies where his natural charm translated well.  Everyone knows about Some Like it Hot, but add 1964's Sex and the Single Girl to the list of interesting flicks to check out.

Screwball comedies are pretty hit or miss typically for me, but I give most the benefit of the doubt depending on the talent involved.  The talent here made it worthwhile and caught my eye from the start.  The premise is not surprisingly pretty ridiculous with some digs at sex, affairs and some necessary miscommunication and confusion as to who everyone is.  It is 1964 so it can be pretty tame although gasp, 'virgin' is said once but never again.  Pretty scandalous stuff, right? But despite a really stupid ending that pushed my limits, I still liked the flick almost in spite of itself, even as stupid as it is at times.

A managing editor for Dirt magazine (think TMZ but dirtier and in print), Bob Weston (Curtis) is the best at what he does; trashing celebrities with blatant lies that readers eat up.  His next target? Dr. Helen Brown (Natalie Wood), a sex and relationship therapist who has gained fame from her best-selling book about how a single woman should live her life. Unfortunately for Bob, there's no easy way to prove that the very pretty Dr. Brown is living what she preaches.  Has she even been in a serious relationship with a man?  He finds his way in though, posing as his neighbor (Henry Fonda) who after 10 years of marriage is constantly fighting with his wife (Lauren Bacall). But in looking to reveal her as a fraud (surprise, surprise), Bob falls for her hard.  Can he still win her over, admitting what he's been trying to do?

Like a lot of the 1960s screwball comedies I've seen, there's something a little off, a little disturbing with the story.  Weston is basically trying to figure out if Helen is a virgin, and he's going to lie, cheat and steal his way into finding out the truth, at one point even resorting to just getting her drunk.  The 1960s weren't as classy as I figured I guess.  Thankfully, Weston develops actual feelings for her before he drunkenly takes advantage of her.  The whole thing seems tame at times and oddly inappropriate at others.  It never goes too far though because a movie where Tony Curtis takes advantage of Natalie Wood just doesn't seem quite right.

Finding that nice middle ground, director Richard Quine allows his actors to do their thing in getting the most laughs possible out of the story. Curtis treads that fine line between being a completely disgusting chauvinist and an overly charming ladies man.  I've always thought of Wood as more cute than out of this world hot, but she really turns it on here.  Maybe its the innocence of her character, but she's great in the part and looks gorgeous.  In the 1960s, few actresses had as much comedic talent (dramatic talent too), and with Curtis you've got quite a pair together.  Their scenes together are dialogue heavy, but it's great seeing them go back and forth with some really snappy exchanges.

Now as perfect as Curtis and Wood are together, I was surprised by the names I saw in the opening credits, especially considering I was just about to watch a screwball comedy.  Henry Fonda and Lauren Bacall, really?  The joke was on me I guess because they create the perfect subplot that at times is funnier than the main plot.  Fonda is a hosiery salesman who looks at womens' legs for a living, and Bacall as his wife objects thinking he's just a pervert who likes looking at women's legs.  They fight constantly, and Curtis' Weston has a source for information that he can turn around and pose as a husband in a troubled marriage.  For two actors like Fonda and Bacall who typically stuck with drama, it's great to see them branch out.  Are they great parts?  No, not at all, but seeing talent like that work in a comedy is always worthwhile.

Because they can't all be winners, we have the third and final act of 'Sex and the Single Girl.'  With mistaken identity that I Love Lucy would have been jealous of, all these different people cross paths and start chasing each other on the expressway outside Los Angeles in a variety of different cars.  Look for Larry Storch in a laughably bad part as a motorcycle cop caught up in the craziness. The humor leading up to all this wasn't exactly high-brow, but this chase reminded me of the lowest kind of slapstick, almost like a chase you'd see in The Monkees or maybe Scooby Doo.  The movie limps into the finish line because of the ending, but I'll still give it a mild recommendation.

Sex and the Single Girl <---TCM trailer (1964): ** 1/2 /****

Who Was That Lady?

In the age of the 24 hours new cycle, TMZ and tabloids everywhere, a lot is made when movie star couples work together in a movie.  Think of the debacle of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in Gigli as a worst possible scenario.  As long as there's been movies there have been movie couples, it's just that they are in the news more than ever before.  Supply and demand I guess.  One such couple, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, worked together twice in two very different movies.

The first I can find is 1958's The Vikings, a historical epic where a Viking tribe attacks England with Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine starring along with Curtis and Leigh.  Fast forward two years and we've got 1960's Who Was That Lady?, a screwball comedy if there ever was one.  With a plotline that most sitcoms would be jealous of, this is a comedy that in all honesty is a truly bad movie.  But thanks to the three stars, the quick pace and the surprisingly funny moments the story produces, it's a truly bad movie that's at least worth checking out.

One day visiting her husband, Dave (Curtis), at work, Ann (Leigh) walks in on a foreign exchange student kissing her husband in his laboratory.  She storms out, demanding he move out of the apartment and getting ready to sign divorce papers.  Claiming the student kissed him -- not the other way around -- Dave tries to come up with a plan, any plan, that will convince his wife he's telling the truth.  He turns to his best friend Mike (Dean Martin), a TV mystery writer, to come up with something. Their solution? Tell Ann that Dave is an FBI agent, and that it was all part of a mission.  Somehow, some way, she buys it, and it looks like Dave is sitting pretty.  That is, until an FBI agent (James Whitmore) and his supervisor (John McIntire) get involved with reports of a rogue agent floating around.   

More than the average comedy, the beauty of the screwball comedy is that nothing, not one thing, has to be based in reality at all.  That is the only reason they're even somewhat enjoyable to watch.  A wife actually buying that explanation that her husband is a FBI agent? Sure, it's a movie.  Actual FBI agents going along with the ploy once they figure out what's going on?  You bet.  It's the type of story (a thin one at that) that keeps getting worse and worse as a simple lie turns into something much, much worse.  Think of a 30-minute episode of I Love Lucy with a crazy story, add about 75 minutes, a bigger budget, a ridiculous story, and a good cast and you've got this movie.

Now as stupid as the proceedings really are, I laughed. I enjoyed the movie. Go figure.  The cast is what sells it for me mostly because of the quick, witty dialogue, the fast pacing, and the chemistry among the group.  Curtis and Martin together are a comedic dream, at times over the top and other times improvising golden lines left and right.  At a certain point, you feel bad for Leigh's character because really, could anyone be that gullible?  But she sells it so well as she gets wrapped up in it all that Ann is as funny as anyone.  Whitmore and McIntire steal every scene they are in as an agent and his supervisor trying to figure out what's going on while also preventing the breakup of a young married couple.  Also look for Simon Oakland and Larry Storch as two Russian agents, bumbling agents of course.

Because the cast plays so well off each other, the lines that would otherwise fall flat end up producing some honestly funny laughs.  From Curtis to McIntire and everyone in between, the cast commits to these ridiculous, darn right stupid parts.  And as dumb as it is? I laughed more than I would have expected.  On the stupidity charts, it just gets dumber and dumber as the story escalates.  My favorite bit was the finale as Curtis and Martin, believing they're in a Russian sub, try to sink the sub not realizing they're in the basement of the Empire State Building.  Singing God Bless America as they await their "deaths" while delivering a crippling blow to Russia, it's all too much and in a good way. There's an extended bit in a Chinese restaurant that keeps going and going, building to one climax after another.  That's the movie.  It keeps building and building until the end. 

That's the whole movie in a nutshell.  Absolutely nuts, over the top, not an ounce of reality, and a movie that's the better for it.  Curtis and Leigh, Martin and Curtis, Whitmore and anyone, they work together like a finely tuned machine to make a really stupid storyline entertaining to watch and interesting from start to finish. Couldn't find a trailer, but TCM does have a clip available through their website.

Who Was That Lady?<-----TCM clip (1960): ***/****

Kings Go Forth

In the midst of a world conflict that threatens the fate of the free world, it seems odd that personal conflicts and prejudices could play a part.  Take WWII where Allied forces did everything they could to stop Adolf Hitler from taking over the world.  Soldiers from countries all over the world worked together to accomplish this mission.  But what about a soldier-to-soldier basis?  They were united in their efforts, but that doesn't mean they thought alike.  They still had differences and prejudices that almost certainly made an impact on their lives.

It sounds stupid, but what about racist soldiers?  Wrapped in a worldwide conflict, some surely still found times to criticize or ridicule blacks, Hispanics, and any number of other ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.  Just because you're defeating Hitler doesn't mean you still can't have some fun, right?  I meant that sarcastically if you didn't pick that up.  That is the basic premise of 1958's Kings Go Forth where personal prejudices end up playing a large part in the relationships of two soldiers and a young French girl in the months following the D-Day invasion in 1944.

Working with an advanced observation unit positioned ahead of the lines, Lt. Sam Loggins (Frank Sinatra) is used to working in dangerous situations, doing his best to get his men through the war unscathed. The casualties continue to mount though with a new radioman, Cpl. Britt Harris (Tony Curtis) assigned to Loggins' squad who starts to stir things up.  While on leave in Nice, Sam meets a young French girl, Monique (Natalie Wood) who he instantly clicks with.  As the war wages onward, their relationship grows, but two things stand in their way.  Monique has a secret she's worried about sharing with Sam, and smooth, suave ladies man Britt shows up just in time to possibly steal her away from Sam.

The story description does come off as a bit too much like a soap opera, but it's not as painfully obvious while watching.  Sinatra, Curtis and Wood have a good chemistry together in making this love triangle (maybe the laziest plot device ever) not only entertaining, but believable.  It's fairly clear from early on in the movie that Sinatra and Curtis are going to butt heads, it is only a matter of time until we find out why and how.  I should also point out this is a love story set in WWII, not the other way around.  Don't go in expecting epic battle scenes with hundreds of extras.  What little action there is in the movie is saved for the end when Sam and Britt undertake a dangerous mission in a German-held Italian town.

Director Delmer Daves is hamstrung a bit by 1950s censors but gets away with a fair amount in his storytelling.  Parts are subtle so pay attention because you're not going to be hit over the head with any obvious reveals.  The secret Monique is so worried about is that her father was black so she thinks no American is going to want any part of her.  Sinatra's Sam seems more bothered about it while Curtis' Britt doesn't seem fazed in the least.  Of course, that would be too obvious an ending so don't think I gave anything a way.  These elements make the soap opera-esque story more worthwhile and not just three lonely individuals trying to find happiness in war.  If that was the case, I might have turned the movie off halfway through.

Telling this story, Daves wisely focuses on his three main characters with a few supporting parts worth mentioning.  Sinatra didn't have the greatest range as an actor, but when he found the right part he typically knocked it out of the park.  His Sam Loggins is a good example of what he can do with that right part.  Curtis gets to play against type to a bit, putting a harsher spin on his typical lovable rogue who you still like.  He's not a straight bad guy, but if there is a villainous character here, it is him.  It is fun though seeing two performers like Sinatra and Curtis work together with some meatier roles.  Other than her French accent, Wood is excellent as Monique.  The 20-year old actress looks beautiful and makes Monique sympathetic in her trials as she grows up, trying to figure out what she wants in life while dealing with this cloud over her head she has no control over. Leora Dana has a good if small part as Monique's mother while Karl Swenson is good as Sinatra's commanding officer.

Other things worth mentioning include the camerawork and the filming locations.  Daves shoots the movie in black and white, a good choice that makes the story and setting more sparse, more basic emotion.  With color, I don't know if the movie works as well.  With a few notable exceptions, the movie was also shot in France and Italy including some great shots of the French Riviera.  A beautiful movie to look at, and with a good story on top of it.  See this unheralded WWII love story for the acting thing, especially the three stars. 

Kings Go Forth <----trailer (1958): ***/****

Don't Make Waves

When it comes to movies, I can B.S. my way through a lot of different films, westerns, war, action, adventure, and comedy to sound remotely intelligent. Then there's those genres that I've never really had much of an interest in and typically avoid the bubonic plague, stuff like musicals, horror, musicals, torture porn, and even musicals. One I've always been aware of but had no real interest in investing any time was a staple of the 60s (so I hear) was the beach/surfing movie. My previous knowledge extended to a Family Guy spoof so really involved as you can see.

Not having ever sought out a beach movie, I stumbled across one on TCM last night called 'Don't Make Waves' released in 1967. The listing sounded stupid enough -- a swimming-pool salesman gets mixed up with beauty queens and bodybuilders when he falls in love -- and the cast didn't sound half bad so I gave it a shot. That's not fair I guess, the two leads sounded interesting, Tony Curtis who I wouldn't typically associate with a light-hearted beach movie, and Italian beauty Claudia Cardinale, an actress I often associate with darker, more serious movies. So with little expectations, I jumped right in.

Traveling to California in his beaten-up, broken down VW Bug, Carlo Cofield (Curtis) pulls over at a hillside rest stop overlooking the Pacific for lunch, only to have his car roll down the mountain and blow up when a woman's car's bumper hooks his and carries it away. The woman, Laura Califatti (Cardinale) offers to bring Carlo to her apartment while she finds the insurance papers. Of course, she can't find the papers so he stays over that night and is woken up by some incessant knocking at the door. Laura opens the door for Rod Preston (Robert Webber in top form a-hole mode), the married man she's having an affair with.

Rod wastes little time kicking the half-naked Carlo out of the apartment, forcing him to sleep on the beach. He wakes up early the next morning and decides to go for a swim, only to be knocked out by a surfboard belonging to a bikini-clad skydiver, Malibu (Sharon Tate). Waking up to see her, Carlo is quickly head over heels and decides he's got to break Malibu and her bodybuilding boyfriend, Harry (David Draper), up so he can swoop in. Carlo's best option? Blackmail Rod into giving him a job with his swimming pool company and begin to woo Malibu. That enough for you? I just wrote two whole paragraphs about the plot in a beach movie, and I'm pooped.

That's just skimming the surface of what's going on in this always entertaining and often ridiculous 97-minute beach movie. Director Alexander Mackendrick made some good movies in his short career, Sweet Smell of Success and The Ladykillers among others, but this one is all over the place. The first 30 minutes are a good start that provides some actual laughs, but once Carlo's plan goes into action the story goes all over the place. Famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen makes an odd appearance without his dummy as an astrologist going by the name Madame Lavinia, and then Joanna Barnes pops in here and there for a few scenes as Rod's ignored wife.

There are some genuinely funny scenes, but the story bounces around so much it's hard to remember them. Everything leads up to an uniquely bizarre ending as the various storylines come together to be resolved, in where else? A seaside house about to slide down the hill end over end into the ocean. Let's face it, you get some good thinking done in a situation like that. With all this craziness going on, it would have been nice for even a little background. Curtis' Carlo goes from down on his luck dupe to a sophisticated con man in the matter of a scene or two, no explanation given. What gives?

As for what pulled me in, Curtis and Cardinale are good leads. I've always been a fan of Curtis as a comedic actor, and he doesn't disappoint here. Cardinale is drop dead gorgeous, and this is one of the few early movies where she wasn't dubbed so you get to hear her heavily accented English. Mackendrick also displays Cardinale in various stages of undress throughout, but one-ups himself with Sharon Tate. Almost always in a bikini, Tate gets an extremely subtle trampoline jumping scene that goes on for nearly two minutes. Before her career was tragically cut short when she was murdered by the Mansons, Tate clearly made an impact judging just by the amount of fan videos put up on Youtube for her part as Malibu.

Now with all this said, complaints, bitching, criticisms, I was entertained from start to finish. It's a stupid movie with so much going on that a fair share of things gets lost along the way. Come on now, there's Tony Curtis, Claudia Cardinale, gorgeous southern California locations, body builders, bikini-wearing skydivers, Edgar Bergen 'playing' a girl, and Jim Backus playing himself. How can you lose? Scary thought, this was based on a book which I might just have to check out. If curious at all about this odd little gem, here's Part 1 of 10 at Youtube with the Byrds singing the theme.

Don't Make Waves <----trailer (1967): ** 1/2 /****

Taras Bulba

Known for an ability to play both comedic roles, like Some Like it Hot, and dramatic roles, think The Defiant Ones, Tony Curtis can handle a wide variety of roles. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Curtis had key parts in three movies from a different genre, the studio epic, in The Vikings, Spartacus, and Taras Bulba. If you're a movie fan like me, you recognize the first two movies and ask 'huh?' at the third one. An epic story set in 16th Century Poland and Ukraine, Taras Bulba is an underappreciated spectacle movie.

After helping their Polish neighbors defeat a common enemy, a large force of Cossacks is betrayed by their Polish allies. What is left of the force spreads to the four corners of their territory with plans of biding their time until they are once again a power to be dealt with. Flash forward 20 years later when Cossack warrior Taras Bulba (Yul Brynner) somewhat unwillingly sends his sons, Andrei (Curtis) and Ostap (Perry Lopez), to Kiev to learn the Polish culture and way of life. Met with resistance right away by the natives, Andre and Ostap settle in, Andrei especially who falls in love with a Polish princess Natalia (Christine Kaufmann). But their love sends ripples through Kiev and Natalia's brother is killed by the brothers.

Forced to run, Andre and Ostap return home with all they've learned of their treacherous enemies, the Poles. It's not long before the Polish aristocracy calls for a Cossack army to help in an invasion of the Baltic Sea, but Andrei convinces Taras that the Poles are the enemy to be dealt with. So starts a conflict between warring nations as Andrei just hopes to be reunited with his lost love.

Based on a novel by Nikolai Gogol, Taras Bulba deals with a time in history that is rarely dealt with in movies, but with the huge successes of epic movies it was only a matter of time before a movie came along. What I know about Polish/Ukrainian history in the 1500s would take as long for me to explain as a good, long blink so I'm not sure of the accuracy of the movie in relation to that history. But with a movie like this, accuracy shouldn't be your main concern, especially with Taras Bulba, because it's so damn entertaining right from the get-go.

As the father-son relationship, Brynner and Curtis (only 5 years younger than Brynner in real life) carry the movie. Brynner's Taras is fiercely patriotic and proud of his Cossack heritage. He wants what is best for his people and his family, sometimes in that order. Brynner's sheer physical presence makes this role stand out. It's easy to see why thousands of warriors would want to follow him. Curtis is not pushed to the background though, staying at the forefront of the story. His Romeo and Juliet-like love story with Natalia comes across as real and not nearly so forced as so many other epic movie love stories. The script also doesn't go for the easy ending, but it works more because it feels more real, more authentic to the characters and their makeup.

The fun of Taras Bulba though is the spectacle of it all, the sheer monstrosity of certain scenes. Director J. Lee Thompson clearly did not skimp on money here when it came to sets, costuming, and extras. Scenes of Cossack riders joining up on the road are a sight to see with literally hundreds, and maybe thousands in certain shots, of stuntmen/riders onscreen at the same time. I've made no bones hiding my distaste for overusing CGI because of scenes like that. Nothing fake about it, just hundreds of riders moving in formation.

The same goes for the battle scenes that are mostly saved for the last hour or so of the movie. Here's the first assault as the Cossack army attacks a walled Polish city. With the cannons going off in the background, extras on foot hauling ass for the safety of the castle and the large masses of riders wearing out horses behind them, it's just a fun, adrenaline-pumping scene to watch. Aided by Franz Waxman's score, these are the scenes epic movies were made for, like the chariot race in Ben-Hur or the climactic battle in Spartacus.

Just a fun movie overall that blends strong casting, especially Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner, with all that's positive about a big screen epic story including a worthwhile love story. Buy it cheap at Amazon, or look for it again on TCM in the coming months. Fans of historical period pieces won't be disappointed.

Taras Bulba (1962): ***/****