THE NAKED PREY (1966) Safari, not so good

If you’re squeamish about animal hunting – especially if the animal is a man – THE NAKED PREY may not be the prey-fect movie for you. But if you can make it through several pretty graphic scenes to the end, you’ll be rewarded by an entertaining lesson on how to survive in the wild and what “will to live” really means. A group on safari runs into a reclusive African tribe who seems friendly enough. But when aan arrogant member of the party refuses to gift the chieftain, the men are seized and killed, one by one, each in a different, creative and horrifying way. (Hint: you may never want to think about meat turning slowly on a rotisserie again.) One man (Cornell Wilde, who also directed), the safari guide who had tried to talk the others into giving the gifts, is spared from death but stripped of clothes and weapons, set free to run, and then pursued like an animal by a party of relentless tribal warriors. Trust me, it’s a jungle out there.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1946)Bittersweet parting

This exquisitely crafted British classic was directed by the great David Lean and based on Noel Coward’s 1935 half-hour one-act stage play “Still Life.” It’s one of filmdom’s great romantic tear-jerkers. Simply told and emotionally honest, BRIEF ENCOUNTER is a peek into the quiet desperation involved in a brief extramarital love affair between two married, middle-class Brits who meet in the refreshment tea room of a railway station and continue to see each other over seven weekly meetings. Laura (Celia Johnson) is a wife and mother hungry for escape from her humdrum life and sterile marriage; Alec (Trevor Howard) is a kind young doctor. The  passion between them is obvious, yet the film maintains chaste minimalism throughout – a credit to the writing, direction and British sensibilities of the time. You’ll want a box of tissues nearby for the ending.

VANILLA SKY (2001) Dream or reality – which is the nightmare?

VANILLA SKY, directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz, is the American remake of the Spanish film OPEN YOUR EYES (1997); and while I prefer the earlier, slightly less complex version, I think this one does it justice. What can’t do justice to this part mystery, part love story, part sci-fi multi-layered film is a synopsis. All I’ll say is that’s its about a young man named David (Cruise) who has wealth, good looks and a gorgeous f**k buddy (Cameron Diaz) who adores him. But just when he thinks he’s found true love with an enigmatic dancer named Sofia (Cruz, same role as in the original), he’s in a car accident that leaves his face horribly disfigured and loses his dream life … or is all just a dream? After several viewings, I’m still trying to figure it all out. Cruz is wonderful in both films, though I think she’s better in the Spanish-language version. And here’s something I never thought I’d say: Cruise is terrific. His persona fits the role of David perfectly. My only quibble is that I think director Crowe, in his zeal to top the Spanish version, added unnecessary plot points and symbolic elements. I get the feeling he’s saying, “Look how clever I am,” which comes across even in his commentary track.

Two Woodyisms from MANHATTAN (1979)

Isaac Davis (Allen): “Why is life worth living? It’s a very good question. Um… Well, there are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh… Like what… okay… um… For me, uh… ooh… I would say… what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing… uh… um… and Wilie Mays… and um… the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony… and um… Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues… um… Swedish movies, naturally… Sentimental Education by Flaubert… uh… Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra… um… those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne… uh… the crabs at Sam Wo’s… uh… Tracy’s face…”
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Female Party Guest: “I finally had an orgasm, and my doctor said it was the wrong kind.”
Isaac: You had the wrong kind? I’ve never had the wrong kind, ever. My worst one was right on the money.”

WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954)Christmas in Vermont with old friends

WW II vets Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye form a song and dance team. Ten years later, convinced that success has turned his partner into a workaholic, Kaye finangles an introduction to singing sisters Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. When the girls travel to a Vermont lodge to perform a Christmas show, the boys follow, only to discover that their former C.O. is the owner of the picture postcard-perfect property which, due to a dearth of snow and guests, is foundering. A series of romantic mix-ups follows as the performers try to help the General. Of course all ends well with everybody singing the title song. WHITE CHRISTMAS brims with great stars and songs and dance routines, not to mention old-fashioned holiday spirit. For me, it’s an annual reunion with screen friends long gone, and a reminder of the unabashedly sentimental and romantic Hollywood musicals from my youth.

NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY (1951)Stressed-out scientist stresses metal stress

Most of the cast of this little-known gem is British, as are the look and feel of the film, but the lead actor is Jimmy Stewart. Aeronautical engineer Theodore Honey is the quintessential absent-minded professor: eccentric, forgetful, brilliant – a sober version of Stewart’s Elwood P. Dowd, character in HARVEY. Honey’s math shows that the passenger aircraft Reindeer, manufactured by his employers, has a deadly structural design flaw that manifests itself without warning after a certain number of flying hours. Of course, nobody believes him despite the recent, unexplained crash of one of the planes. En route to the crash site to gather evidence, Honey discovers that he is aboard a Reindeer which is rapidly approaching the predicted deadline. He warns the crew and several passengers, but after a safe landing, Honey is ridiculed by almost everyone. Then, moments later, the tail of the Reindeer Honey has been testing falls off and proves him a hero. Mixed in with the suspenseful will-it-or-won’t-it-crash moments, NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY is filled with others of gentle humor and tremendous warmth.

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941)Choose your soul benefactor wisely

Jabez Stone (James Craig) is a hard-working New England farmer with an adoring wife struggling to make an honest living. But a streak of bad luck tempts him to bargain with Scratch (Walter Huston), aka the Devil, and in return for seven years of good fortune, Jabez mortgages his soul. Time passes and Jabez prospers. But days away from the deadline, after he has gained a fortune yet lost his friends, wife and self-respect, he repents and enlists legal counsel from the one man who might save him in the trial for his soul: the legendary orator and politician Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold). Despite a rigged jury, unsympathetic judge and the wiliest of prosecutors, the Devil himself, Jabez wins and gets to keep his soul, albeit barely. As for Scratch, he’s momentarily defeated but ever the optimist, and in the final scene, he warns us as he points a bony finger directly at the camera that his quest foor new souls never ends, so we’d better keep a tight hold on ours. Directed with great flair by William Dieterle, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER brings Stephen Vincent Benét’s classic short story to life with inspired, noirish visuals, an evocative Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and an indelible performance by the great Huston as the diabolical, yet humorously impish, Scratch.
Jabez Stone sells his soul

THE OUTLAW (1943) Lusty, busty Western

THE OUTLAW, produced and directed by that billionaire who flew planes and wound up a hermit, Howard Hughes, is an odd take by an odd (and first-time) director on the legendary relationship of Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) and Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) in which the two gunfighters evolve from outlaw enemies, to outlaw pals, to almost father and son, and finally, to a parting of ways over a woman played by buxom newcomer Jane Russell. (She was so buxom, in fact) that Hughes designed a special bra for her to skirt censorship.) This is another Huston gem and likely the strangest Western you’ll ever see. The direction is strange, the story is strange, the dialog is strange, the acting is strange, and the relationships among the characters, really strange. But all that strangeness is fascinating and fun to watch, if occasionally tedious due to the leisurely pacing.

S.O.B., 10, THAT’S LIFEThree guys go a little nuts in La-La Land

These three Blake Edwards-directed movies, though decades old, are repeatedly watchable. 10 is about a hugely successful song writer (Dudley Moore) consumed with middle age angst who temporarily abandons his level-headed, longtime love (Julie Andrews) to pursue to amazing lengths the perfect woman of his fantasies (Bo Derek). Alas, in the flesh, Bo turns out to be totally Bo-ring. The wildly farcical S.O.B.(Standard Operating Bullshit) is about a hugely successful film director (Richard Mulligan) whose monumental box office flop drives him to four unsuccessful (and very funny) suicide attempts. In a burst of creativity, he figures out how to re-edit the nursery rhymish film starring his ex-wife (Julie Andrews) into a soft porno in which she bares her boobs for the first time in her career. (Scuttlebutt at the time was the film was Edwards’ F.U. to Hollywood for typecasting Andrews, his real-life wife, as a perennial virgin, and there are many “in” references to this throughout,) THAT’S LIFE! is about a hugely successful architect (Jack Lemmon) whose middle-age hypochondria blinds him to his wife’s (Andrews) truly serious medical crisis. As was Lemmon’s specialty, he makes laugh and cry, sometimes in the same scene. What these films have in common, besides their wealthy, successful main characters, is a peek at Hollywood navel gazing by a director who knew where all the lint was buried, blurry lines between comedy and pathos, and wonderful acting by A-list actors including Lemmon, William Holden, Robert Preston, Robert Webber and others, plus a host of lesser-knowns with small parts who enrich every scene. Rent one, rent all.

Orson Welles: The Commercial Years

Listen to the Great Orson Welles, reduced in later years to voicing badly written commercials about peas and prairie-fed chopped beef, mouthing off to his British directors during a recording session