July was a crazy month. I was very busy with the day job and it included travel as well as some major transitions. The dust is only now beginning to settle and I'm able to catch my breath. On the film side of things, I still watched plenty of movies but I allowed time for re-watches - either because I had shiny new copies of beloved favorites or I was exhausted enough that only the familiar appealed. The worst casualty of this month was my theatrical attendance which has a solitary entry down below. Fortunately, I still saw many great movies, was still excited by some new-to-me movies, and I'm very energized about some local programming over the next couple of months.
This has always been a fairly eclectic space as far as film choices go. I think early on I had a lot more horror/cult entries, but there's always been some arthouse stuff as well as a smattering of new releases. Looking over what I watched in July, it's essentially all crime films. It has become the most essential part of my viewing week after week. It's a malleable genre with a lot of different facets and I can't imagine tiring of it anytime soon but I apologize to anyone who looks into this blog on occasion hoping for some real weirdo underground stuff. October will come sooner than later and I have a lot of things I'd like to watch and write about then. For now, here's to crime!
Hunter Will Get You (1976) - Far from Belmondo's best but a tribute to his impeccable onscreen charisma as well as an absolutely smoking Michel Colombier soundtrack. It blends the heist genre with a bit of international law enforcement intrigue that moves Hunter beyond a standard police procedural. Bruno Cremer manages a convincingly ruthless portrayal of the sociopathic killer that Belmondo is pursuing even if his character has some unfortunate queer villain characterization. Writer/director Philippe Labro also helmed Without Apparent Motive (1971) which is similarly decent. Both films have compelling casts, great location footage, and killer tunes. Certainly worth a look if you're a fan of French crime films of the era.
The Big Heat (1953) - I'm not the world's biggest themed marathon enthusiast but every so often I stumble into one of my own making. This year I found myself with lots of movies and plenty of free time on Independence Day. The result was my first (and possibly last) 4th of Ju-Lee Marvinthon wherein I watched a bunch of Lee Marvin movies in a row. It was a mix of revisits and new-to-me films and they were all great. I don't know if I need to say a lot about The Big Heat as it's hardly unknown but I will say that it knocked me flat with how intense it is. So many classic period noirs ('53 is a little later, I suppose) suffer from a brand of moral shrillness but Fritz Lang's hardboiled rager positively immolates anything of the sort. The criminals are predictably irredeemable but Heat differentiates itself with a scathing depiction of law enforcement and municipal corruption. Women are subject to the absolute worst Heat can dish out including some gasp inducing violence - but they also get to inhabit real characters on the screen. Gloria Grahame as Marvin's long suffering moll is nothing short of spectacular in this. Possibly one of the best performances I've seen all year. I appreciate Glenn Ford's take-no-shit toughness, but Grahame has all the best lines and adds some genuine pathos to the finale. Marvin's sadistic gangster is pretty smarmy even for a guy known for his villains. My understanding is the source novel is based on the author's experiences in Philadelphia but the film goes with a fictional city. Lang's vision is a dark one so it's no mystery why the kept the locale vague.
Violent Saturday (1955) - Shot largely on location in an Arizona mountain town - Richard Fleischer's daylight heist thriller really surprised me. The opening consists of an extended introduction to the town's inhabitants and reveals a complex web of interpersonal connections and melodramas. It results in a bit of a slow burn even if (per the title) the action ratchets up once the robbery goes down. It's a terrific looking scope, color film and has a splendid cast of actors - Victor Mature, Marvin (of course), Virginia Leath, J. Carrol Naish, and improbably Ernest Borgnine as an Amish farmer. The finale goes on too long and ends up kind of flat but everything building up to actual heist is excellent. When the bank job finally goes off it's white knuckle tension through to the denouement. Marvin again is a particularly cruel criminal which largely defined his career until The Dirty Dozen.
The Killers (1964) - This Don Siegel 60s noir was originally intended for television but wound up being far too hot for the small screen. Taking the kernel of Hemmingway's short story and expanding it through time and geography while being supported by an absolutely knockout cast. Marvin plays a hard, but professional hitman who's partner is the deliriously entertaining Clu Gulager. Gulager's fidgety health obsessed killer is chilling in a remarkably playful way. He's like a kid who pulls the legs off of spiders for fun. John Cassavetes is roughly the protagonist - a doomed race car driver who falls for the wiles of Angie Dickinson who acts as femme fatale. Killers was the last screen role for Ronald Reagan and the only villainous role of his career. It's a little surreal to watch him in this kind of part, but I think it really works. If you're a fan of the era there are all manner of interesting connections between this and other films. Marvin and Dickinson would be reunited in Point Blank and honestly Killers has such a similar 60s vibe that you could believe it's rooted in Richard Stark's fiction just as easily as born from Hemmingway. The budget limitations show around the edges but Siegel was made for this kind of material and the cast is so much fun that I hardly noticed. Did I mention you get to see Cassavetes punch Ronnie in the face? That has to be worth the price of admission alone.
Nice Guy (2012) - Every so often I'm compelled to try and dig up some 21st Century genre film because I know there are some gems out there that flew under my radar. Either they only ever did the festival circuit or they got dumped on some streamer without much recognition. Pascal Bergamin's and Cavan Clerkin's Nice Guy isn't exactly an unheralded masterpiece, but it's a solid, super low budget crime thriller that's worth your 89 minutes. Largely bound to interior settings - drab apartments and not entirely convincing strip clubs - and I wish they could have leaned into more location footage to liven up the look of the film a bit. Still, the plot definitely held my interest and each sequence of nighttime exterior shots does add a little grit to the proceedings. Probably not outrageous enough to become a cult favorite but the climax is definitely memorable and surprisingly grim.
Trouble Man (1972) - Absurdly entertaining but plenty hard when it needs to be. Trouble Man has been on my watchlist for a while but I was struggling to find a version that a) didn't look like crap and b) didn't have the music replaced/updated for copyright reasons. Terrific cast with crackling dialogue - Robert Hooks' Mr. T fights, shoots, and jives as well as any 70s protagonist but also has some great sequences of shoe leather detective work, espionage, and essentially a penthouse siege that had me thinking about Richard Stark/Parker. Some tremendous action and that Marvin Gaye score is superb. I believe Ivan Dixon's The Spook Who Sat by the Door is getting a restoration this year and I'm just hoping a lot more attention can be heaped on this uniquely talented actor/director.
The Nickel Ride (1974) - Character driven slow burn noir that focuses on the mundanity of a life of crime early on and then descends into bleak 70s paranoia. It has a tremendous mood and comparisons to Eddie Coyle are apt as far as atmosphere goes. Coyle is punctuated by action driven heist sequences though and Nickel Ride is much more content to remain a character piece. There are a handful of scenes that dig into Cooper's grit and Jason Miller cornered the market on world weariness. Still, a little more viciousness would have turned the tension up a notch and would make Ride a stone cold crime classic in my book. I'm so enamored of the era and the genre that I'd pick up a nice restoration if available (I think this only made it to dvd) but it's definitely worth a watch.
The Crime is Mine (2023) - I was really hoping this one might land at the local French film festival this year as seeing it on a big screen with an audience seemed like the right way to do it. Instead, I watched it on a bumpy plane ride. Not ideal! Still, this is a handsome and breezy caper romp with some fun nods even if it never becomes anything of substance. It is very silly at times and maybe too slight for some people - but there are worse ways to spend your time than admiring the costumes and enjoying a libation of your choice. Undoubtedly, Isabelle Huppert runs off with the whole damn show when she appears and I do like this films appreciation for early French silents. The lightest of light entertainments but maybe you need something to watch with your mom.
Heat (1986) - Weirdly, I also re-watched Michael Mann's Heat in July but I'm glad to have finally gotten around Dick Richards' and Burt Reynolds' Las Vegas set neo-noir. I've always heard mixed things about this one and I think it's fair to say that it is uneven. It has a strikingly melancholy vibe but then mixes in some goofy humor that didn't always land with me. Still, I was invested in following these Vegas oddballs around and when the action does kick in - it has a seriously visceral, almost exploitation movie feel to it. Reynolds' ex-soldier, Nick, disdains the use of firearms so he becomes a lethal MacGyver of violence when the need arises. It was also nice to see another role from Karen Young who absolutely floored me when I watched Handgun/Deep in the Heart earlier this year. It seems like Reynolds really struggled to get out from underneath his more comedic persona but I have to admit digging what I've been seeing from him.
P.J. (1968) - Another 60s crime scorcher featuring George Peppard. P.J. is a product of its time and hardly anything I'd call enlightened. However, it's still a ripper of a P.I. story with great music and surprisingly hard hitting violence towards the end. Peppard rides the line between smartass and hard luck case deftly and Raymond Burr is about as fine a heavy as you're going to get. The story begins in a typically noir NYC setting but then detours for a spell to a Caribbean island under British rule. The politics on display aren't amazing, but the exploitative nature of white people and their money is certainly noted. This interlude lends P.J. more of a jet-setting feel which works well with the international cast and differentiates it a bit from the dozens of city-bound mysteries from the same time. John Guillerman was largely a journeyman but he managed some smart British neo-noirs before he started tackling 70s disaster movies and P.J. is akin to the former. There's an early brawling sequence that works well in establishing Peppard's character and also features one of my favorites: "Judo" Gene LeBell. Maybe close to a comfort food watch for me, but I really enjoyed this one.
Theatrical Screenings!
Razorback (1984) - Sadly the lone entry for theatrical screenings in July. I'm still really happy we made it out for everyone's favorite killer boar movie. I forget just how weird Razorback really is but it's an absolute joy to see it play on the big screen in all its 1980s music video styled glory. The narrative rambles in some odd directions which tends to make it polarizing even though I think everyone is largely in favor of the look and practical effects. Wildly it sounds like the source novel is even more of a mess and the filmmakers actually trimmed down the story to make it more comprehensible. Either way, I still dig this pig.
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