Lincoln Center Tribute to William Holden

From July 2 until July 15, the Walter Reade Theater at New York's Lincoln Center will run a film tribute to actor film tribute to actor William Holden. The roster of films is impressive and rightly displays the essence of an actor who, though an eventual Best Actor Oscar winner, I believe, was considered as a second tier leading man during most of his career. But, Holden was a magnificent actor who, though very attractive as a younger man in a matinee idol sense, showed layers of emotion not found in most male film stars of his generation. He was not afraid to show the psychological underpinnings of the men he portrayed. Whether he was the hungry screenwriter using a dangerous demented silent screen star to his advantage, a cynical prisoner of war, a western outlaw whose glory days were over, or an aged bitter television executive, Holden was always ready to show the weakness and pain in these men ... never afraid to show the scars that most good-looking male stars would cringe from exposing on screen. You could always see the sadness and the loss of faith ... the readiness to challenge authority. He was great when he got angry. I can't think of another American actor that could spit out an angry tirade with an almost non-inhaling vocalization like Holden.

I encountered him in most of his older roles, while I was growing up. I saw him in westerns and war films and he starred in several Billy Wilder gems in his younger and older days. He even was believable as a man of intellect with horn-rimmed glasses in Born Yesterday and The Towering Inferno. He always impressed me with his presence. In fact, for some reason, I loved films about older men trying to cope with changing times ... their melancholy and anger and his acting lit the fuse of that interest. He was one of the actors that went with the times and aged like a fine bottled Scotch in his roles. And it is best to describe him as a bottle of Scotch; irascible, hard-hitting, yet ready to provide comfort and a feeling of safety like a shot after a hard day of being toyed with Life. He was not a fine bottle of wine. It's strange I use that alcohol metaphor, it was known he was an alcoholic and, sadly, died due to an accidental fall due to his drinking.

I notice two westerns and a war film of his are not in this roster. One is The Revengers and the other Blake Edwards' The Wild Rovers. The war film being The Devil's Brigade. All these films, actually quite mediocre, impressed me as a young lad. He was so impressive in the roles. He was grizzled, sad, scary, heroic, bitter, but you knew you could depend on him like a Father figure.

I want to see these films again. And the film tribute described on this YouTube presentation from the Film Society at Lincoln Center makes me want to scratch this cinematic itch.

Frame of Mind 12

THE PRESIDENT'S ANALYST (1967)

directed by Theodore J. Flicker

cinematography by William A. Fraker

Cyd Charisse (1921-2008)

One of the most limber dancers of the MGM musicals passed away today at age 87. Here she is in one of my favorite fantasy dance numbers from the film THE BAND WAGON. Her dancing partner is Fred Astaire. The number is Dancing in the Dark.

Beautiful Looking Car at Bargain Basement Price

I recently purchased some films that have a singular relation to each other ... driving, automobiles and the open road. They vary in genre, but they all have this singular theme. I hope to have an odd type of drive-in road movie festival this Summer and watch as many as I can ... and, recently, I saw some scenes from a bizarre Summer B-Horror film from 1977 entitled THE CAR! It is like JAWS on wheels. Some evil entity is driving this big tank-like limo and terrorizing a small town in the mid-west or somewhere . It's nutty, but the clips were beautiful to look at. Observe this one shot of a country road. I believe, in the distance, you can see the cloud of dust signaling the approach of THE CAR!!

The film was directed by Elliot Silverstein; the same man who directed Lee Marvin to an Oscar win in Cat Ballou. Amazing. And the beautiful sky and gleam of THE CAR's Satan black exterior was photographed by Gerald Hirschfeld. And look at this shot (below) of the film's hero and star James Brolin. If you didn't know it, you'd think it was his son Josh. Looks like he's about to investigate the driver of ... THE CAR! Boy, there is nothing like these Summer thrill rides that were tossed into theatres and drive-ins in those hot months. Pure junk that made you smile and forget every damn thing that plagued you ... especially if you were a teenager ... or younger.

I'm certainly looking forward to watching THE CAR this Summer. It's the open road for me ... filled with criminals, motor cycle cops, men in search of Mexican heads, existential pursuits with people with no real names, kidnappers, and demonic automobiles ... oh, and vacationers beset by Devil worshippers. Feel free to join me.

Different Way to See

The Criterion Collection, a superior dvd production company, not only sells films under their banner, but, also, other items such as caps, shirts, mugs and posters. A new poster, they have alerted subscribers of their newsletter regarding, is of the Jean-Luc Godard film Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live). Here is what it looks like:

It is stark and beautiful, much like the film. It is an important film to me ... it literally changed the way I look at movies. I saw it on one of my annual New Year's Eve Movie Marathons. A friend insisted I see it and threw it in the dvd player. We watched it on a projection tv in a dim large family room eating pizza and drinking red wine after watching Noi, an Icelandic film. It captivated me from the first frames of dialogue wherein the star and a co-star talked to each other at a bar with their backs to the camera for about 10 minutes, I think. Totally original. That opening would never be attempted in the conventional Hollywood picture. I had never seen a Godard film before ... and it started the cascade of a New Wave waterfall that I gladly plunged into headfirst.

The Raftman's Razor (2004)

This was found through my wanderings on the internet.
A short film by Keith Bearden.
It is a wonderful little movie about ...
well, think about what it means to you.
All I know is that it evokes memories from my youth
and reflects, a bit, my musings on life.

Frame of Mind 11

A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977)

directed by Richard Attenborough

cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth