Friday, April 9, 2010

Straw Dogs (1971)


What is it about violence that is so appealing to us? We built arenas to watch gladiators battle each other to the death, we have boxing and UFC to satisfy our bloodlust in a more sporting manner, and every time there is a fight at high school we all come running. The visceral, explosive nature of violence is attractive, let's be honest. It is something on the primal level that reacts in us; if you've ever been in a fight then you know what I'm talking about: The surge of adrenalin and ecstasy, the muscle-shaking fear and elation after it's over. Violence is quite powerful indeed.

No one recognized this better than Sam Peckinpah. In the 60's and 70's, Peckinpah directed many films with themes of violence as a rite of passage, masculinity, and honor. In fact, his films were so centralized around patriarchal figures that he was oft-accused of being a misogynist. Yet movies like The Wild Bunch, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, and Straw Dogs are not so much "anti-women" as they are "pro-men". Peckinpah was a hard man that lived a hard life. He grew up in Fresno, where he frequently skipped school to brand and trap cattle and practice shooting on his grandfather's farm. His behavior had him put in military school, and he later joined the Marines and was sent to China following World War II. His career was plagued with alcoholism and drug addiction, and he was notoriously known to be quite difficult to work with. All of this becomes painfully apparent when viewing his films, as is the mark of any great director. Straw Dogs, to me, is easily the most remarkable of his works and the apex of this legendary director's career.
We are first introduced to the mouse-ish mathematician David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) and his lovely young wife Amy (Susan George). In an attempt to settle down, they move to Amy's home village in the UK. Tensions start to mount very quickly soon after. As David enter a local pub to buy cigarettes, the locals make it abundantly clear he is not welcome with their yellow-toothed sneers and passive aggressive behavior. David has just recently received a grant for his work, and spends much of his time in a self-imposed exile in his study, much to the frustration of Amy. It's evident that their marriage is a little rockier than it seemed, and David's cold demeanor and distance just wedges them further apart. So much so in fact, that Amy begins acting coquettishly towards the local men who've been doing repairs on the couples new home. The audience is unsure of Amy's sincerity, but the men's is painfully obvious. Besides guzzling bottle after bottle of booze, their favorite past-time is lusting after David's young bride; one of them even going so far as stealing her panties.
Further complicating matters is the fact that one of these men, Charlie Venner (Del Henney), used to be Amy's lover. This awkward situation goes on for awhile, until one night David opens up his closet to reveal his pet cat
hung by the light chain. Amy is convinced it was the workmen, who claims they did it to prove they could get into his bedroom. Amy urges him to confront them, but his meek and timid ways make it impossible for him to broach the subject. Amy is infuriated by David's inability to stand up to them, and even calls him a "coward". In an attempt to win their friendship, David agrees to go hunting with the workmen, only to leave him stranded there. While David is hunting, Charlie goes back to David's house where Amy is alone. Immediately he starts grabbing her and kissing her, refusing to comply with her screams of "No!" and "Stop!". He slaps her a few times and then throws her down onto the couch and begins raping her. This scene is the single source of all controversy surrounding this movie, for the simple fact that at the beginning of the rape, she is obviously horrified and frightened, visibly crying and fighting Charlie; but after a while, she appears to start to enjoy it, running her hands up and down his face and kissing him tenderly. I'm not going to tell you how this scene will make you feel or how you should interpret it, I'm only going to tell you what I thought. Amy and Charlie are old lovers, and as anyone knows, most of the time those feelings never really disappear entirely. As much as she is disgusted by him, some part of her seems to be attracted to the wild feral aspect of Charlie, which is in stark contrast to the milquetoast, effeminate David, not to mention her dormant feelings for Charlie have also been stirred up by this encounter. I think debasement and criticism of this film on this scene alone is foolish, because as we all know, some of the most revered art is indeed the most controversial. Films that evoke ire and scandal are good. They allow us to take a look into the mirror of society and see where we stand, and it's always interesting from a sociological perspective to see what people consider taboo. Bottom line : It's a movie, get over it.
During the rape however, one of the other workmen intrude and hold a shotgun to Charlie, demanding that he get a turn with Amy. Charlie is reluctant, but holds down Amy and lets him have his way with her, much to Amy's horror. Meanwhile, in the woods, David manages to finally shoot a duck. When he picks it up and studies it however, his guilt is obvious and he gently places it back in the bushes. David finally comes home to find Amy in bed, and she breaths not a word of the rapes, though she experiences haunting flashbacks. Later, at a church social, the sight of the rapists prove too much for Amy and the couple leave early. The foggy conditions cause David to accidentally hit the village idiot Henry Niles (David Warner). What they don't know is that it seems Mr. Niles has a penchant for young girls, and earlier that night, accidentally strangled the daughter of one of the locals. David calls the pub for help, and soon an enraged mob composed of the girls' father and the workmen head over to David's house to get Niles. David refuses to give Niles to them, knowing full well they would kill him if he did. He kicks them out, and the local magistrate soon arrives to defuse the situation. However, the drunken mob accidentally shoot him in the chest with a shotgun. The men agree that they have crossed the point of no return, and they must get Niles by any means necessary. They soon start taunting David and Amy, throwing rocks at their house and breaking their windows. David does his best to stay calm, but Amy relentlessly insists they give him Niles, as she reveals she could care less if he lives or dies. David is staunch however, declaring "This is my house!" and refusing to let them in or Niles out. He begins preparing for the inevitable confrontation by setting a large foothold mantrap by a window and cooking two pots of oil on the stove. When one man stick his hand through a window David ties it with wire and sticks a knife to his neck, viciously saying "You make one move you son of bitch...I'll slit your throat." While he is freeing himself, David flees to another window and throws the boiling oil into three men's faces, temporarily stopping them. When the girl's father finally gains entrance, David misdirects the man's shotgun barrel, causing him to blow his foot off. When another one of the drunken maniacs enters after him, David beats him to death with a fire poker. As soon as he finishes with him, yet another man appears from behind with a switchblade, but David manages to overpower and kill him as well.
Charlie comes out holding a shotgun to David, and just as it seems he is about to kill him, Amy begins screaming upstairs, causing both David and Charlie to come running after her. The other workmen is trying to rape Amy, tearing off all her clothes and demanding Charlie at knife point to kill David so they can rape her again.
Charlie shoots the man in the chest, and David grabs the gun and they start fighting. They tumble down the stairs where David clamps the mantrap around Charlie's neck, crushing it and killing him, much to Amy's vocal protest. An exhausted David looks around, incredulously stating, "Jesus...I got 'em all..". No sooner does he say this when another man lunges and attacks him. As his back is being crushed, David pleads with Amy to grab the gun and shoot him, which she reluctantly does. David grabs Niles form upstairs, takes one last look at the carnage around him, and sets off in his car with Niles.
It is quite enthralling to see David's transformation from boyish nerd into homicidal predator, and even more so the role reversal that takes place between David and Amy. Her bossy, assertive nature has all but vanished at the end of the film, she seems almost catatonic even. Meanwhile, David has never seemed happier. Is this a commentary on the aggressive nature of man, or merely circumstance? Was David pushed into this by Amy's emasculation of him and societies perceptions about what makes a man? Is society to blame, or is it something innate or instinctual that drives men to be more naturally violent than women? These are just many questions posed by the film, and ones which I am unsure of the answer. Even more intriguing is that perphaps this bloody denouement would be better understood had David had knowledge of the rapes, but he remains blissfully unaware throughout. Peckinpah himself stated that Straw Dogs is simply an exploration of violence, not an endorsement. He believes that David is the true villain, not the workmen, as the ensuing violence was the result of his own subconsciously deliberate provocation. He believes that the murderous, menacing David is his true self. Yet that is just one man's interpretation, and the thematic ambiguity of this film is one of it's most exciting aspects. It's something that has stayed in my mind long after viewing, and to me that is certainly the mark of a superb film. Take care not to write it off as mindless violence, this is deep, engrossing stuff that has to be seen to be truly appreciated.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Rebel Without A Cause (1955)




I swear I'm not intending to devote this entire blog to reviewing already revered movies, it just so happens that I always have a mouthful to spew after watching the classics. What can I say? I promise next time I'll review something trashy/obscure...maybe Jean Rollins or Paul Naschy....but for now....

I'll be the first to admit that I flat out HATE the 1950's. The clothes, the music, the underlying racism and homophobia(James Dean himself actually dodged the draft by registering as a homosexual, then considered a "mental disorder"). The entire atmosphere reeked of a sickly-sweet attempt to cover up, to censor, to repress. All this of course culminating in the subsequent cultural explosion in the 60's, which is in my opinion the most creative and original period of all film-making.
James Dean is Jim Stark, the iconic misunderstood youth. We're first introduced to Jim as he lies stone-drunk in the street, playing with a toy monkey(?). His arrest for public drunkenness leads to a highly volatile argument between Jim and his parents("You're tearing me apart!!!"), and it becomes quite clear that Jim is totally unable to communicate with them. Jim starts his first day at his new high school, meeting Plato (Sal Mineo), a frail, friend-less child with no one to look up to, and Judy (Natalie Wood), who belongs to local bully Buzz Gunderson (Corey Allen). A routine trip to a nearby planetarium is disturbed when Buzz and his gang decide to slash Jim's tires, because, well isn't that what teenagers do? Jim calmly tries to defuse the situation, but is eventually enraged into a pseudo-serious switchblade fight when he is repeatedly taunted with "chicken!".
Having beaten Buzz, he is challenged to a game of "Chickie Run" to prove...well....whatever. A cut-up Jim returns home to have a heart-to-heart with dear old dad and finds him scrubbing up spilled food, wearing a frilly apron. Jim is visibly disgusted at his father, so much that he grabs him by the collar and tries unsuccessfully to scold him but unable to find the words. The poignancy of this scene will always stick with me, because not only can it be seen as an example of Jim's disconnect with his father, but also as a reaffirmation of the importance of separate gender roles, another reason why I'm none too fond of 50's-era cinema. After a brief conversation with dad, Jim runs out to meet Buzz on the edge of a nearby cliff. Several kids are in attendance, among them Judy and Plato, who looks up to Jim as a sort-of father figure and hero. Buzz and Jim are to drive side by side to the edge of a cliff, and the first one to jump out before the car goes over is a chicken. Jim jumps out first. Unbeknown to the rest of the audience, Buzz's leather jacket is caught on the door handle, making him unable to leap out and he plummets to his death(He couldn't hit the brakes..?). Horrified, Jim flees home to confront his parents. When he tells them he intends to turn himself in, they vehemently persuade him to keep it a secret. Jim is disturbed deeply by this, and runs off with Judy to an abandoned mansion Plato showed them earlier. Buzz's goons are hot on Jim's trail however, as they believe he ratted them out to the police. After harassing Plato, the gang threaten Jim's parents by tying a live chicken up in their doorway and taunting them from their lawn.
Plato grabs a pistol and goes to the abandoned mansion to warn Jim. The three actually are having a jolly good time, gallivanting around and acting like idiots. It is here where Jim and Judy share a romantic kiss and Judy professes her love for him. While they're upstairs, Plato naps downstairs. His slumber is shattered however when three thugs rush in with chains and chase him. Plato grabs his gun and shoots one in the chest, then wildly shoots at Jim and even a cop as he approaches. Clearly off his rocker, he runs and hides in the observatory from earlier. Jim and Judy follow him inside as the police surround them, and Jim tries gently to persuade Plato to give him the gun. When he finally does so, Jim silently removes the magazine from the gun and hands it back to Plato without him knowing. Just as they are all walking out, situation over, the cops turn all their lights on Plato causing him to freak out and run, and the cops shoot him dead. A distraught Jim is comforted by his dad, who pledges to be reliable and trusting in his son from now on. Jim's parents look at each other and smile inappropriately, Jim puts his arm around Judy and the movie draws to a bittersweet close.
All in all, I have really mixed feelings about this movie. It will forever remain in James Dean's shadow, his fatal car crash a month before the premiere practically cemented its legacy. This basically guarantees that the movie will be overrated , because the viewing public will be emotionally linked to the character and will praise it ad nauseam, regardless of the actual merits of the film itself(i.e. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight). This might be blasphemous to some, but frankly I didn't care for James Dean here. There were actually quite a few moments where I rolled my eyes, he was THAT unconvincing at times. This is not to say I don't think he was talented whatsoever mind you, but consider this: James Dean was only in 7 movies in his short 24 years. Of those 7, 4 were uncredited roles as an extra. He had leading roles in only 3, and only East of Eden was released during his lifetime. Yet he is consistently ranked among the top male actors of all time in polls and surveys. That is one hell of an impression, and one can only imagine the further heights he would have reached had he spun a few more times around the sun. While not altogether extraordinary, Dean's performance is arguably the only one really worth mentioning, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood seem woefully expendable, though Wood was nominated for best supporting actress and further went on to have a very successful career before her drowning accident in 1981.
Ultimately, Rebel Without A Cause never really takes it's themes and ideas far enough. All three main characters have issues with their parents, but these issues are merely touched upon instead of fleshed out properly. Perhaps if we actually learned the background behind Plato's parents, the frantic final act would make more sense than it does now. I feel like a tremendous opportunity was missed for a genuine, touching, socially relevant drama, instead of the half-hearted teenage drama/action/romance hybrid it is. Definitely worth seeing, but certainly not required viewing.

For your viewing pleasure, I have included the original theatrical trailer. Enjoy!

Monday, February 8, 2010

White Heat (1949)


I must confess I'm a bit embarrassed to say that up until a few weeks ago, I had never even HEARD of James Cagney, let alone seen one of his movies. In fact, although I regard myself as somewhat of a cinephile, the "classic" Hollywood period(Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, etc.) is one in which I am most ruefully uneducated. As a big noir fan, I sat down to watch The Maltese Falcon with unrivaled enthusiasm and gaiety, but after wards I found myself saying, "So...that was it?"
My point is that I'm not one to let a single actor's contribution influence my choice to watch a movie, nor would his absence have any detrimental effect on my ability to enjoy said movie. That is of course, unless your name is James Cagney. Think of a movie in your head right now, your favorite one. One you've seen dozens of times and know inside and out. Got it? Now...imagine that same movie...but with this guy in it-------------------------------------------------------->
Suddenly seems a whole lot better, huh? Back before Bruce Lee, Bruce Willis, or Bruce Campbell were even BORN, Cagney was bootlegging bathtub vodka and smackin' dames with grapefruit. He was the first believable gangster, and the best. Bringing with him a fiery temper and machine-gun style of speaking, he was able to delicately balance the uncontrollably violent(and oftentimes misogynistic) characters he portrayed with a subtle sympathetic element, and we learn that even the baddest of the bad have a soft spot. Cagney's first gangster role was in 1931's The Public Enemy, after it was critically and commercially acclaimed, a bevy of similar roles fell to his feet. By the end of the decade, Cagney was heartily sick of portraying wise-guys, and instead focused on lighter roles such as Yankee Doodle Dandy and Strawberry Blonde. It wasn't until 1949 when he would dust off his old revolver and scheme up another caper, and none are more involving or exciting than White Heat directed by Raoul Walsh, who also directed another personal favorite Cagney gangster film The Roaring Twenties. Cagney is Cody Jarrett, a deranged psychopath with an unhealthy obsession with his mother. Think Norman Bates obsession. Okay...maybe not, but she's still the only person that he cares about. Everyone else he treats with blissful disregard, including his neglected wife Verna. After Jarrett and his gang knock over a train that leaves 4 dead, the cops find a fingerprint on a pack of cigarettes that belong to one of Jarretts' men. Not willing to face the gas chamber for the robbery, Jarrett instead takes credit for another robbery that occurred at the same time, knowing he'll only do a short stint in the pen and can't be blamed for the train heist. This perfect plan is quickly unraveled when the cops, wise to Jarrett's scheme, place undercover agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien) in a cell with the unstable momma's boy. Further complicating things is mutinous henchman "Big Ed" Somers (Steve Cochran), who plans on bumping Cody off while he's in the big house, as well as moving in on his wife. After an assassination attempt is foiled by Fallon(under the name Vic Pardo), Jarrett begins to trust and even like him. Through his ever faithful Ma, Cody learns of Big Ed's treacherous plot. She insists that he must be stopped before Cody is killed and vows to take care of him herself, despite Cody's rampant pleas that she not. This idea worries him and he conspires with Pardo to break out, but he's too late. He learns from another inmate that his Ma is dead.Let's just say he doesn't take the news very well. It would be fair to say he proceeds to lose his fucking MIND - weeping like a baby, writhing on top of a dinner table, screeching like a banshee and punching out 4 cops before he is finally dragged away kicking and screaming. This scene is really a showcase of Cagney's acting chops, as with most other actors it very easily could have come off as hammy or corny but here it clearly depicts a grief-stricken, unstable man and genuinely makes you afraid of what he may be capable of.

We learn from Big Ed that it was actually Verna who shot Jarrett's mom in the back(damn!). Jarrett takes hostages and escapes with Pardo. He arrives at the house to kill Big Ed, but catches Verna trying to sneak away first. While Cody is crushing Verna's windpipe with his forearm(see poster), she manages to convince him that it was Ed who killed Ma and not her. Jarrett catches an unsuspecting Ed and plugs him twice as he tries to run away.
The gang together again, they immediately begin their next heist. This time they plan to rob a chemical plant by using a gas truck as a Trojan horse so they can sneak inside. Through the use of a tracking device planted by Fallon, the cops are able to track the trucks location en route to the plant. They hop out and begin to open up the safe when member of the gang recognizes Fallon as a cop who put him away years ago. The truth is revealed when the gang hears sirens outside and sees they're surrounded. Jarrett taunts their efforts at negotiation by shooting back at them. Fallon is able to escape before he is shot by Jarrett, and a massive gunfight ensues. One by one each of Jarrett's men are shot down until only him and one other remain(who he proceeds to shoot himself when he attempts to surrender). Climbing to the top of a massive gas storage tank, Cody is cornered on all sides. Fallon takes a rifle and shoots Cody. He doesn't go down. He shoots him again. He's still standing. He shoots him a third time which finally drops him to his knees. Knowing there's no way out, he shoots the gas tanker himself and famously declares, "Made it Ma! Top of the world!!" before the tanker is engulfed in a tremendous explosion.


For me, it's easy to see why White Heat is so highly regarded. Not only is it a marvelous example of one of cinema's greatest actors in his prime, it boasts an original script with a fresh character, yet still retains the same things that made me fall in love with the genre: quotable, snappy dialogue, archetypal grizzled criminals and a brisk pace with plenty of twists and double-crosses. Try as I might, I genuinely cannot think of one gripe I have with this movie, it's not only an outstanding achievement for gangster/noir films, it stands as an example of just how truly enjoyable movies can be.