Starring the always solid Gregory Peck & Eva Marie Saint, this movie could have been Part II of The Searchers if John Wayne & handsome Jeffrey Hunter hadn't rescued Natalie Wood.
Yeah because in The Stalking Moon (Robert Mulligan; 1968) super cool army scout Gregory Peck decides to give Eva Marie Saint and her child a (horse) lift.
But Eva was found living in an Indian tribe and she has a mixed-race son, so after the army..."dispersed" the tribe, she's completely lost. And what Greg doesn't know is that the father of the child is a super Indian that wants to recover his son at any cost.
Seriously, the movie poster is not kidding, he's like a ninja merged with a samurai mixed with Harry Potter using the invisibility cape: you just are able to follow his blood trail. He even killed a poor innocent horse (the one of the lift). And he's coming after Gregory and company.
The not-horror-films that present enemies as a powerful, omnipotent, nightmarish force always fascinate me. Remember the bad guys sent to kill Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid? After being chased and chased by some dark figures on horses, a worried Paul Newman asks Robert Redford "Who are those guys?".
Not knowing who's the enemy, but the range of his rage (cacophony!) is one of the things that makes The Stalking Moonso engaging. The movie never loses tension and it's very well developed: even in the final confrontation you don't really know how the movie is going to end.
The other, engaging aspect is, of course, the question I asked in this film too: will poor Eva Marie Saint be able to start a new life and be happy? With Gregory? Yeah, because he decided to protect her and invited her to live in his ranch.
There are great secondary characters like a neat mixed-race scout (Robert Forster) that admires Greg and tries to help him. The scenery is also very beautiful when they reach the ranch (cacophony!)...before that it was just dust and sun. Mountains, pines and lovely streams suggest that Greg, Eva and the kid could be very happy there if they hadn't such an enemy following them.
Now the moral question: who is right in this movie and who's wrong? My dad thought the Indian had all the rights to take his kid back; but I thought the child was the product of a kidnapping, so the guy couldn't possibly have any "rights".
What do you think? Have you seen this movie? If you haven't, don't believe in Imdb ratings, but my film review: The Stalking Moon is awesome, a real classic in my books :)
...minus 5 minutes at the beginning were some soldiers talk about the plans showing maps (zzz).
Well, the evening hadn't started very well because I had chosen to seeLes Vacances de Monsieur Hulot and it seems that I'm not mature enough to see that kind of plot-less comedy (neither my dad or my brother). So we were almost falling asleep and decided to change the film and I picked 36 hours (1965; George Seaton), a movie I hadn't seen before.
And it was very, very entertaining. Unexpectedly entertaining. James Garner plays Major Jefferson Pike, a guy who knows all the details about the D-day, due to occur in 6 days. But, oh, the Germans capture him and develop a great plan by German Major/Doctor Rod Taylor: when James wakes up, they will make him believe that years have passed and USA and Germany are great friends and he's suffering from amnesia. They have 36 HOURS to make him talk about that old plan of "yesteryear".
Eva Marie Saint plays a woman that is playing a nurse that's supposed to be James Garner's wife in this fake picture. Get it? Eva's character has her own scars and that's always interesting: "will she finally help our hero and maybe have an opportunity to be happy? With James Garner? Will she? Uh? UH? But James, why are you slapping her? Aww, now they're looking into each other eyes...". Etc, that sort of things. (Boys, I know you like romance in thriller movies, too, so don't roll eyes at me. Ask Hitchcock.)
Then you learn that every character in the movie has their own reasons to do what they're doing: some are trying to leave the past behind, others don't have another choice, others want fame and glory, etc. And while you're realizing that, James Garner is realizing that's he's been fooled and there's tension and you root for him and want him to escape (with Eva Marie Saint) and BOOM, you're having a blast watching a movie (maybe boom is not the best onomatopoeia).
There are great secondary characters: Werner Peters plays an SS officer that doesn't like wasting time playing pretend tea parties and wants to torture Garner, plain and simple. He's so stupid and brutal and at the same time has more power than Rod Taylor. That's a bad combination. Also good and solid was John Barner as a funny German soldier that helps our protagonists, contributing with a few comic relief parts.
I liked the ending, it wasn't completely cheesy but it had a cheesy component (if you have seen this or saw it after you read my super review: the tear! It was necessary, but a bit forced). So we could say it was che.
If you want, watch this trailer: they repeat "36 hours" like 36 times and tell the whole film, but makes you want to see it:
Have a great week! See ya @ The Loving Lucy Blogathon :)
PS - THANKS TO EVERYONE who participated in the last When I say, you say game, you rock, I'll make a photo result post soon!
Five brand new mini reviews from me to you... 1. Romance in Manhattan (1935; Stephen Roberts)
GREAT (and kind of unknown) Ginger Rogers movie. Shows the reality of a nice illegal immigrant (Francis Lederer) that arrives to America full of hopes and dreams. But when his money is stolen, the only way he finds to stay in the country is living in the rooftop of an equally nice and very understanding girl (you know who) and her little brother.
It was surprising to see Ginger in this kind of role, I mean, her mom Lela being sooooooo conservative and all. I liked the characters and I liked the interesting situations they showed, like how was the life of a kid selling newspapers in the streets or how people struggled to earn bucks during the Depression. I also loved the funny bits:
AVERAGE Ginger Rogers movie. It's a remake of Grand Hotel only with less brilliant performances, mood, dialogue, stories, etc.
In the 40s Ginger made great movies like Kitty Foyle and I'll be seeing you, but also very mediocre films like Tender Comrade (review), Lady in the Dark (review) and Once Upon a Honeymoon (review).
I don't like the way she plays adult women in some movies, assuming somehow always the same lordly, insipid expression. I don't know, if she was playing a movie star, I guess she could have done more than playing the stereotype.
The script doesn't help a lot, the stories are uninteresting, even when they tried to make them tragic (like an ill soldier that is supposed to die, played by a very healthy looking Van Johnson and the girl that falls in love with him, played by Lana Turner). Forgettable movie.
Like Joey would say of the "shepherd's pie" that Rachel tried to prepare but according to Ross smelled "like feet"...I LIKED IT! Well, this is a very unknown film, people over Imdb give it a 6.9 but I would give it a 7.4. That's a great difference.
When the movie starts, it's raining cats and dogs at night, you can see the power lines and some lightnings. And you think "hey, I have never thought about this, but how do the guys at the power company manage to fix these things during the storms? And how did they in those times, with less equipment and technology?" and then [onomatopoeia for surprise] you notice the movie is about that! Well, kind of.
Edward G. Robinson is a hard worker, tough and he's always trying to get "chicks" (he's no very lucky). George Raft is his best friend. They risk their lives trying to fix the wires and stuff. Then Marlene Dietrich arrives to their lives and messes all up. Well, not because she wanted to, but because Edward really falls in love and asks her to marry him. George Raft hates the girl because he thinks she's a cheater, thief, bad woman, etc.
But Marlene surprises them all with her choices and behavior. At least at the beginning. Eve Arden has also a part in this movie, but very little, although she has a few funny lines.
I liked this movie because it shows things how they are: the characters try to change, to take the right decisions, but that's not always enough; they try to make their best to please the rest and be happy, but that doesn't depend only on them. The leads are great in their roles, Edward being a bit naive; Raft being a protective friend; and Marlene portraying a woman that tries to settle down. The ending could have been better, but I liked it anyway. Great drama.
There are some musicals that understand that the music and dance sequences should fit the action and seem natural. And some don't. Tea for two has this problem. The story isn't good either: during the Depression a rich girl wants to give a lot of money to an ex boyfriend (that everybody describe as a con man) to make a musical show. But the girl's uncle, S. Z. Sakall lost a lot of money and only can offer a bet: if she doesn't say "yes" during the whole weekend, she will be allowed to finance the show.
So, you think that Doris Day's character is stupid because she want to give the money to such a man.
AND make up with him when they have no chemistry and she's really in love with a talented guy. And then things go beyond stupidity when she decides to invite the whole cast to rehearse at her house.
AND then people randomly sings/dance.
AND Doris randomly sings/dances with the guy she's in love with, but the rendition of one of my favorite songs, Tea for two, is not really memorable.
AND there's a woman that offends Doris but stays to sleep at her mansion because Doris has no personality whatsoever and only sings and smiles.
AND then you don't give a **** about the success of the show or the bet or anything.
AND to make things worse this WHOLE STORY IS BEING TOLD IN FLASHBACK BECAUSE S.Z.SAKALL THOUGHT IT WAS A GREAT STORY TO TELL TO HIS GRANDNIECE AND GRANDNEPHEW. My God. The only person that seemed sane was Eve Arden with her sharp remarks, but her character is lost in the movie.
Saw this one on TCM. It caught my attention because the cast included Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin (the bad guy from Wait Until Dark and Little Miss Sunshine's grandpa), Brian Keith and Carl Reiner. It was hilarious! A Russian submarine runs around off New England. They are very confused and don't have hostile intentions...but the villagers don't get it. Everyone start panicking and the fun begins :)
I liked everybody's performances, Arkin's was so great as the Russian Lt.Rozanov, with his accent and imperturbability; the whole Whittaker family was fun: Carl playing a whining dad, Eva always making serious remarks and the kid being so sarcastic and a real pain in the ass. And then we have the whole town, some old women that go in a crazy sidecar ride spreading the news, the stupid major, the uncoordinated police, etc etc.
I liked the tone of the movie: if they laughed about the Russians, the also laughed about the Americans. You could see that they were all human beings facing their fears and they even included a bit of romance between an American girl and a handsome Russian I wish run aground over here (the actor was John Phillip Law). Here's the trailer:
