Kick-Back Friday: September 2009 Archives

The Well

(1951): A black girl's disappearance ignites a race war when a white man (Henry Morgan) is suspected of kidnapping her. The movie, however, returns quickly (and naively) to racial harmony, when it's discovered that the girl has fallen 60 feet down a forgotten well. Her suspected kidnapper then plays a major role in her attempted rescue.

Although the primary-speaking roles belong to white actors, the film is notable for employing a considerable number of black actors—including Maidie Norman—who didn't have to pretend they were domestic help for a change.

Major HT to KTG.

A Lonely Place (1950): Humphrey Bogart is Dixon Steele, a hot-headed screenwriter suspected of murdering a coat-check girl. The main thread of the story, however, becomes Steele's volatile love affair with his neighbor and alibi (Gloria Grahame).

Duplicity (2009): Who's setting up whommmmm in this lust-love affair between an ex-CIA agent with racehorse legs* (Julia Roberts) and an impossibly hot ex-MI6 agent (Clive Owen)?

Absurdity is the foundation of the ridiculously self-important world of corporate spying between 2 rival conglomerates, each headed up by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson—and neither of whommmmm gets enough screen time for my taste. Giamatti, in particular, is absolutely flawless when rallying his shareholders.

P.S. Skip the self-congratulatory commentary** with writer/director Tony Gilroy.

* Phrase blatently stolen from somebody.

** Despite the fact that Gilroy denies the commentary is self-congratulatory.

To Die For

(1995): A very wicked satire from director Gus Van Sant and screenwriter Buck Owens Henry (jeez, what was I thinking?); loosely based on the sad life of Pamela Smart, who recruited her teenage lover to murder her husband in 1990.

Nicole Kidman, as the Smart-ish character, is outstanding in many a truth-y, cringe-worthy scene. Case in point: Her aborted seduction of a cable-access news producer, played by Wayne Knight. But the high school kids—depicted by then-unknowns Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, and Alison Folland—are the undisputed models of verisimilitude in this flick.