Sure, drug addiction isn’t a laughing matter at all, but Otto Preminger’s 1955 classic The Man With the Golden Arm manages to be more hilarious each time I see it for a few reasons. Although it’s packing in a classic Elmer Bernstein score, a great Saul Bass title sequence, Preminger’s strong direction, some powerful performances from Frank (One Take) Sinatra, Kim Novak, and a bunch of very familiar faces, the simple fact is the film hasn’t aged well at all (but that’s a good thing).
What may have been seen as a deathly serious subject for a cautionary tale almost 60 years ago can now be enjoyed as a nearly non-stop riot of scenery chewing performance art with two of the funniest demises in a “serious” film. Granted, if you’re in a totally unfunny mood, the film still has its story and dramatic pacing to keep you hooked in. On the other hand, it’s hard not to get in a laugh at the film’s expense in a few spots…
Wow. It’s REALLY too bad these aren’t mass produced, as I can see a load of hard core Blade Runner fans wanting to get their paws on the entire set of these spectacularly detailed dolls… er, action figures… er, works of art. Scott Pettersen, a huge fan of the film and a ridiculously talented sculptor has made possibly the best looking non-licensed collectibles I’ve ever seen, so I’m speechless and you should check out his site yourself and wear a drool cup while visiting, as there’s a load of other wonderful goodies there (and some of it is for sale). The man’s got T-A-L-E-N-T… although an owl with that Rachel figure in her office suit would have been wickedly cool to see.
… but a song AND the crazy dance number to go with it? Yeah, it happens to the best of us (meaning me), so I’m sharing this clip and hope it happens to YOU (and sooner than later at that). For those of you who know “Me Ole Bamboo” from 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, feel free to sing along, but don’t even try that cane dancing in this video because you know you’ll break something (in your body and wherever you’re watching this). Memo to the kids: Dick Van Dyke was 44 when he did this (ouch), it took 27 takes and from what I understand, being a beat behind the other (much younger dancers) at the beginning made this routine even tougher. Hell, I have trouble getting the heck out of bed some mornings, but this may help in making me leap up instead of drag out. OK, get to it with the stretches, people – I want you all doing this bit in your sleep within the week. If anything, it’ll take care of that “restless leg” thing once and for all…
OK, I usually don’t do this, but I got the idea to try something new for fun. I’ve been seeing a load of deals on movies in assorted size collections and box sets and I’m considering picking up a bunch of them over time. However, for the purposes of this post, I’ll pick two and let you vote on them in the comments section. I’ll most likely get both (the prices are too stupidly low to pass up – as in under five dollars each), but you’ll be able to help me decide which one to spring for first. And no, I don’t stream or torrent (I don’t do the eye patch stuff and my hard drives are packed to the gills with Steam/gog.com/Desura/assorted indie games anyway), so no need to tell me I can get all these for free somewhere.
Your (well, MY) choices are:
OR
Ready, FIGHT!
I’m thinking Hitch will win this one handily by sheer size alone (ba-dum-bum!), but you never know. And nope – you don’t win a prize for affecting my buying decision. However, I will give you a hearty Kane clap as thanks in advance:
Hey…That’s got to count for SOMETHING these days, right?
If you’ve never seen this Robert Aldrich-produced and directed film noir masterpiece, drop what you’re doing (well, unless you’re operating heavy machinery or in the middle of something where dropping anything will cause a major or minor disaster) and go look this one up. You’re guaranteed to say something like “What the…” at least two or three (or a dozen) times while watching this one, trust me. Mike Hammer is supposed to be a hard as nails private eye, but in this flick, he spends about a quarter of the film either getting chased, beaten up, shot at and otherwise maimed by assorted people who want him out of the picture he’s supposed to be starring in.
Deviating quite dramatically from the Mickey Spillane novel, this one’s a blazing hot mix of a downward spiral into a particularly dark hell for private eye Mike Hammer (masterfully played by Ralph Meeker), who has so many brushes with death here that the film ends up having a nasty comic edge thanks to the level of violence on display. No one here escapes unscathed, as everyone either wants Hammer dead or disabled (or both) and the few people on his side tend to drop like flies or come pretty close to it. The film also offers up a big twist at the end that turns it into a sort of wild sci-fi flick, but I won’t spoil that surprise other than to say it’s a big reason the film is so insanely brilliant…
Well, I actually got some stuff done today that didn’t revolve around me wanting to strangle my computer or anyone in the vicinity, so I’m happy and feel like celebrating for a bit. Er, this is all the warden will allow, though… so take it or leave it, folks. Whee! And hey – Keep those hands to yourself, mister – that’s 30 days in solitary if you get too frisky, grrr!
I was going to do Saturday Night Fever as a longer Random Film of the Week post, but my brain is still in the freezer after last week. Still, it’s on MSG later this evening and even with stupid commercials breaking up the action every few minutes I’m still going to watch it once again for my favorite scene.
Yeah, it’s yours, too – go on, admit it.
Watching that dance sequence above always cracks me up to no end while I’m blown away by Travolta basically turning himself into a human special effect and stuntman in a really surprising film that’s well worth seeing in its entirety if you’ve never done so. You’ll want to go with the R-rated version, as it’s more raw and effective that the later PG edit whipped out later by the studio to draw in even larger crowds. Granted, it still has a bunch of loose ends that never get resolved (I’d like to think that Tony’s brother left the priesthood then got called back to do an exorcism in a later film or something), but as a capsule of 1970’s era Brooklyn and the disco age, it’s a pretty outstanding movie that still holds up as a classic.
Sometimes you have no choice in the matter, folks. But hey, at least you can take your mind off your troubles while you’re trying to learn some new moves (and try to get your own pet to cooperate in the process). The great Eleanor Powell makes it look too easy (as usual), but don’t let that keep you from trying a few steps yourself. Er,just make sure you move all the breakables out of the way – you have enough stuff on your plate to worry about stomping on a broken plate in your bare feet. Sundays at the ER are often pretty lousy, I hear…
Is there a way out? Maybe so
But you’re too occupied to know
So turn that crank and spin that wheel
The pain? You’re not supposed to feel
And when that quitting time bell rings
Your aching body squeaks and sings
And back home then to eat and snore
Then Tuesday’s come – you’re back for more!
I hadn’t even thought about Ivan Tors until a weird dream a few weeks back and again today when I was in the shower and for some reason, images from “gog” popped into my head. More precisely, one of the two robots spinning around with its arms out, damaged yet still quite dangerous. Yeah, I think of oddball stuff in the shower – don’t you? No, not THAT kind of stuff… this is a family show! OK, not ALL the time, but you get the point (jab, jab!)…
Anyway, before you ask a second time (and haven’t yet looked to the left at that poster – it helps to read this site while fully awake most of the time), “gog” was the third film in Tors’ really outstanding Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) trilogy of “hard” science fiction films:
1953’s The Magnetic Monster and 1954’s Riders to the Starsmade up the first two chapters and all three make up one of the most intelligent set of sci-fi flicks of the 1950’s. Tors himself was dedicated to making “realistic” genre films and all three succeed today despite many dated elements. That said, one does need to give films such as this a bit of a “pass” in terms of complaining about their cheesier or not so accurate aspects as they were predating and predicting many things science was still figuring out. I also give them a special hall pass gold star because audiences of the time got three films in two years that didn’t insult their intelligence and probably ended up as interesting for adults as it was for the kids who probably thought this was another raygun and robot quickie.
While I’ll most likely do a separate Random Film of the Week post on all three in the future, I’m going to go on ahead and recommend these (in order, of course!) if you’ve never seen them before. I think those of you with an eye for detail and an ear for good stories well told will get a kick out of this trilogy. Given that remaking them is probably never going to happen (although, it would be amazing to see these as period pieces rather than updated into today’s world), you may as well take these in as they’re meant to be seen and smile at the things that make you think a little more than you’d usually care to in a “B” movie…
Sure, drug addiction isn’t a laughing matter at all, but Otto Preminger’s 1955 classic The Man With the Golden Arm manages to be more hilarious each time I see it for a few reasons. Although it’s packing in a classic Elmer Bernstein score, a great Saul Bass title sequence, Preminger’s strong direction, some powerful performances from Frank (One Take) Sinatra, Kim Novak, and a bunch of very familiar faces, the simple fact is the film hasn’t aged well at all (but that’s a good thing). 
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 