I found a few more films to throw into the mix, so this festival is going to last longer than I originally planned. Yay!
—–
Tuesday 10-6-9
I didn’t watch anything. I had to work an almost-full day. Support Raven Theatre!
—–
Wednesday 10-7-9
Madame X (1966)
Directed by David Lowell Rich. Screenplay by Jean Holloway from a play by Alexandre Bisson. Starring Lana Turner, Ricardo Montalban, John Forsythe, Burgess Meredith, Keir Dullea and Constance Bennett.
Turner has an affair with Montalban. Montalban dies during one of her visits. Turner leaves to protects her husband and son. Many years later, after she’s become a boozy tramp, she kills a man who tries to blackmail her and is caught. At the trial, her defense attorney is… her own son! An overblown potboiler of a movie full of plot holes and conveniences and scenery-chewing performances. It was just campy enough to be enjoyable.
3 out of 5 stars.
—–
Thursday 10-8-9
Bob Le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler) (1956)
Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Screenplay by Jean-Pierre Melville and Auguste Le Breton. Starring Roger Duchesne, Andre Garet and Isabelle Corey.
Bob plans for one last heist, and we all know how those one last heist plans go, don’t we? A little softer than one might expect. IMDb Trivia says this film was a major influence on the movie The Transporter, so bonus points for that.
3 out of 5 stars.
—–
Friday 10-9-9
Two movies today:
—
The Good Thief (2002)
Written & Directed by Neil Jordan. Starring Nick Nolte, Tcheky Karyo and Nutsa Kukhianidze.
A remake of yesterday’s film, Bob Le Flambeur, with an extra heist and heroin addiction thrown into the mix. It was fine, not awful and not spectacular. Maybe the irony of the ending would’ve worked better if I hadn’t just seen the original.
2.5 out of 5 stars.
—
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Directed by Bob Rafelson. Screenplay by David Mamet from the novel by James M. Cain. Starring Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange and John Colicos.
A love triangle with murderous results. The 4th movie version of Cain’s classic novel. This is one of those movies that I’ve seen bits and pieces of over the years, but I’ve never actually watched the whole thing. I think the intense sex scenes bog it down a little bit, it seems a little long for an adaptation of such a tight novel.
3 out of 5 stars.
—–