Graeme Higginson
25Feb12
Clumsy and poorly thought-out? I couldn't agree less. The story is sharp and the camerawork is as good as can be expected from a young Italian filmmaker with supposedly limited resources.
Pulpwino: Filmography
If you aren't moved deeply by this film then you probably don't have a soul. Unforgetable.
The synopsis says Marty was reminded of Dr. Caligari (which I noticed, too) but Oldboy seemed kinda similar, too. Who cares, really: the movie was well-crafted and enjoyable.
A lot of shouting..........a relevant topic, but certainly boring and redundant in stretches.
A little too clumsy and not well-thought out, plotwise, but a fine directorial debut; especially loved the sequence with the wandering G.I.
Those sons of bitches never filmed the rest of this film! Don't tell me it wouldn't have been every bit as good because the son of a bitch who directed this movie was a directorial genius! DAMMIT!
Beautiful, man, just beautiful; offbeat & odd, for sure, but then again life is like that for some.
About time, too, dammit. Haven't seen this since the re-premier at the Castro in Frisco; time for another viewing.
Would I be amiss in thinking that this film is a modern, italo-neorealist take on the Camorra?
A good neorealist film but a little too much sap and melodrama (even for a film that deals with i bambini!).
Some excellent sequences courtesy of a great director, but not as good as the later Siodmak films. (Maybe the lack of charisma and emotional depth from the actors was to blame?) Or perhaps the screenplay/plot had too many holes........anyways, whatever it was it certainly wasn't Siodmak's fault.
Bunker Hill, L.A.: I wish you still looked like the scenes found in this film!
There's a Korean DVD floating around that is missing about 30 minutes or so: avoid it!
Some of Fuller's movies are such guilty pleasures, I have to admit! This one is riddled with flaws, but dammitt..........who else would film like this in the States back in '61?
So many masterpieces by Billy, but this one, for my dough, is his very finest.
Oh my, Ann Savage--what a performance from hell! And the dialogue is unforgettable..............one of the best noirs ever made; it succintly expresses what the genre/style is all about (especially the closing words by Tom Neal in the final sequence).
Classic quote: 'You like cigars? You like cigars, food.......fat women? 'How do you know I like fat women?' I can tell by looking in your eyes--its psychology!'
Tommy Udo, you no good creep: how dare you keep Vic Mature from the straight and narrow!
Beaver's dad in a Mann film noir?
So glad I could finally see this film at the NoirCity Festival in San Francisco last Friday; hopefully we'll get a dvd soon!
So Russian, so flawed, yet so brilliant!
This is a superb film on many levels, and if it has to be praised on one level only it would have to be its depiction of what horrific consequences political and racial ideology has upon the human soul and mind, and how a rigidly observed adherence to those ideas can depriive someone of their reason and humanity. Just consider the Goebbels, who kill their children because they're afraid of a world without Nazism.
Some very fine acting makes this film rise, but I'm afraid the writing and direction aren't able to lift it any further. The film is peppered with some good humor and it does offer an excellent critique of a greedy, selfish, empty and downright immoral corporate culture (a la Michael Clayton) but the ending left me somewhat flat. Perhaps that was the intended purpose, and if so it would fit with most of the rest of the film but for some reason I was left wanting a little more. Anyways, a good movie overall.
This film is more of a critique of evolution than a real, in-depth exploration of intelligent design. It starts off well, but digresses far too much and by the end of the film I couldn't help but think that Ben doens't object to Darwinism because he feels the physical facts or evidence are lacking for it; rather, he's uncomfortable with some of the moral and ethical implications that can be deduced from the theory (or, in the case of the Nazis--who he references--flat out abuse).
Not quite the level of Raw Deal due to the sterile narration, but there's still some amazing sequences and the photography by Mann is, as always, masterful. A fine cast, too.....
A near perfect noir; the only thing that doesn't quite work for me is the relationship between John Garfield's and Mary Windsor's characters. Moreover, Windsor doesn't quite match the rest of the actors in the film. Besides that, a force of fantastic noir.
For the most part, this film straight up stinks.
My, another beauitful and thoughtfully moving film from Ozu; he's getting to be a favorite.
Add the Pusher Triilogy!
His noirs are among the Hollywood bestest.
