Ok, so here I am again gloating. I got 6 of the 8 categories correct, not as good as last years 7 of 8 but not too bad. I thought I was in some deep shit when Waltz won Supporting Actor because no one, I mean no one, picked him to win. It was suppose to be between DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones. So that little surprise set me up early for some shockers that, to be honest, never materialized. Looking back, I think Tarantino winning for Original Screenplay was something I had overlooked. I didn't take into account how much the Academy feared a win for Mark Boal. For his acceptance speech could have been a real lollapalooza about political suppression and smear campaigns that Oscar didn't want to deal with. Has Hollywood and more specifically the Academy of Arts & Sciences gotten that gutless? Remember these moments :
And poignant moments like this :
The only Oscar Cary Grant, above, would ever get, four years after he made his last film
Charlie Chaplin, above, receives a Lifetime Achievement Oscar twenty years after being exiled from America for being an "undesirable" Communist sympathizer. This closed the Oscar show in 1972.
Stanley Donen, above, giving one of the best acceptance speeches ever for his Lifetime award.
I remember when I saw these events as they happened and every year I tune in to the Oscars hoping there will be a memorable moment like these. But I gotta tell you, the last ten years or so have been pretty bland. And the fact that the Academy has regulated the special Lifetime Achievement, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian and Irving Thalberg Award to a separate time and place and then show just bits from that ceremony, robs the Oscars of it's heart, it's history and, yes, it's sentimentality. My first thought when Jennifer Lawrence got stuck on her dress and fell was " OMG poor thing ". I also immediately after that said to myself, "yes! Awesome". Because something unscripted happened and it was something memorable, however humiliating for her { I'm sure she is over it by now }.
JLaw's "oh shit!" moment.
As for the show and it's entertainment value, I kind of liked it. Yes it ran too long, the musical tributes were bogus {if one is going to honor musicals in movies why limit it to the past ten years? And who gives a shit about a Chicago cast reunion, like it's some kind of West Side Story or Sound of Music reunion?} But I liked Seth MacFarlane, thought his jokes were generally funny and in bad taste {if you're funny, taste goes out the window} and after the first fifteen minutes or so, it's all awards and little humor anyway.
I'd like nominate, on second thought declare, Quentin Tarantino the winner as "Worst Dressed Male", the dude may be able to write some snappy dialogue but he needs a fashion guru. But I didn't watch the red carpet nonsense cuz I don't care who anyone is wearing. I'm over with all the ladies dressing up like it's prom night at the local high school. It's plain boring and no one really cares if you wear Valentino or Versace or whoever. The "interviews" are lame as well. I say, do away with the red carpet altogether.
So, as far as Oscar is concerned, that's all from Tinseltown this year. Only the Tinsel is wearing a bit thin. Maybe next year will give us all some real surprises.
This Sunday, Feb. 24th, are the Oscar's and as anyone who knows me can tell you, I always watch the show. They may not mean much to me anymore, but Oscar is the only award show I have to see. Maybe it's because I remember when I thought winning an Oscar really meant something. Well, I was young and naive and I now realize winning an Oscar doesn't mean a damn thing, except to the folks who win one. Last year my Oscar predictions were pretty awesome. Of the top 8 catagories I got 7 of them right. This year I may not do as well. Little more of a crapshoot in some of the races. I won't give a rundown of all the nominees so if you wanna know who they are, Google it. But here are my predictions. Are you ready? Here we go:
Best Picture - Argo
Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor - Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Best Director - Ang Lee, Life Of Pi
Best Original Screenplay - Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Adapted Screenplay - Chris Terrio, Argo
My picks and I'm sticking with them. These are the ones I think will win. I don't want all of them to win, but I think they will. Some are tough calls. DeNiro has stiff competition from Tommy Lee Jones and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. All the Supporting Actors have won an Oscar before, but I think Bobby D may have the edge. Silver Linings is a most enjoyable film and DeNiro, a great actor, has spent far too long in the wilderness making a lot of crappy movies and giving uninspired performances. I think Oscar will welcome him back home. The Adapted screenplay vote for Argo is mostly based on the fact that Affleck failed to get a Director nom, despite his winning the DGA. There is no way Argo can take Best Pic and not take Screenplay. Best Director is the toughest call. Will Spielberg beat out Ang Lee? Maybe. Lincoln is predictable, stately and unimaginative but Spielberg is Spielberg and may be tough to beat. If little Stevie beats out Ang Lee it won't be by much as I feel they are neck and neck going down the stretch. I would love to see David O.Russell win for Silver Linings, but I don't think it's gonna happen so my bet is on Lee for Life of Pi. For Supporting Actress I would prefer to see Amy Adams over Anne Hathaway. I liked Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings but would like to see someone else get Best Actress. Lawrence is only 22 and has time on her side to win for a different movie. But I feel she will win, she's the flavor of the month, the new Julia Roberts and Hollywood loves a golden girl, the fairy tale princess. If she wins she will have no where to go but down. Unlike their male counterparts, Actresses have a history of winning young. Males, not so much { no male under 29 has ever won Best Actor }. 28 women under the age of 30 have won Best Actress, so Lawrence seems to have age on her side as well. The shoo-ins are DD-Lewis for Best Actor and Hathaway and Argo for Picture. So enjoy the show and check back a day or two after the awards and we will review how I did or didn't do.
I cannot honestly say when I saw my first Hitchcock film, but I know it was sometime in the1970's when I was in my teens. I wasn't aware of the " Hitchcock Blonde " as an icon of not only cinema but culture in general, but there was one thing this young man knew : these women were both cool and hot and slightly dangerous. If one was to dally in their yard, one had better bring his " A " game.
Tippi in Marnie, 1964
The ones that got to me the most were, I suppose, the one's I saw first, and I started with some of Hitch's best : Psycho, Notorious, North By Northwest, The Birds, Marnie. Saw them on TV in the 70's, sometimes in primetime, like Psycho on KABC channel 7, but I do remember seeing Marnie, for the first timeon Movie Til' Dawn on Channel 5 out of Los Angeles, probably at about 3 in the morning. With commercials. However, in those days of youth I was more resilient than this old carcass is today and didn't have trouble finishing up the movie about 5:30am. Also, I worked the night shift at Taco Bell then, which made it easier to stay up to til the wee hours of the morn. I can also remember catching up with some of the lesser known films in Sir Alfred's canon : I Confess, which The Master made in 1952, I caught up with on KCOP-13 [ one of LA's least predigious local stations ] one night. It starred Anne Baxter fresh from All About Eve in 1950 and, most important to this misunderstood youth, Montgomery Clift as a priest, who takes the confession of a man who has just committed murder but, because of the vows to his faith, cannot reveal to the police who the killer is and, therefore, becomes a suspect himself. The forgotten Mr & Mrs. Smith [ not the one with Brangelina ] with Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery, a lightweight comedy [ Hitch's only out and out non-suspense American film ] that is not without it's pleasures.
Grace gives Cary her best " Come hither ". To Catch a Thief, 1955
All thru my Hitch education, there were 5 films I had never seen and these were reputed to be among some of his best : 1948's Rope, the first of four Hitch made with James Stewart. 1954's Rear Window also with Jimmy, but this time with the supreme Hitchcock leading lady Grace Kelly. Hitch's 1956 remake [ the original coming out of his English period in 1934 ] of The Man Who Knew To Much with Doris Day giving one of her best performances. Vertigo, Hitch's darkest tale of obsessive desire, from 1958 with Kim Novak and James Stewart and, finally, the black comedy The Trouble With Harry, with Shirley MacLaine in her film debut, from 1956. All 5 of these films had been held back from release for, I don't know -10 or 15 years - so that when Universal Pictures decided to have a major re-release in 1984, it was a big deal. The result of which, these movies now completely restored, were seen by a new generation [ like moi ] for the first time. And on the big screen in theaters all around the country. Just like they were meant to be seen years ago when they had first been made.
Alfred, with Doris Day, on location in London. The Man Who Knew Too Much, 1956
I didn't get the chance to view all five in a theater when these movies were back in circulation. But I was able to catch up with three of the five: Rear Window and Vertigo with my wife at the time at home in Santa Barbara at the Riviera theater and The Man Who Knew Too Much, whichI saw on my own in a Costa Mesa multi-plex [ I was there on business, don't ask ]. I have to admit that, at the time, most of Vertigo eluded me. I found the first half to be a compelling story of a man falling in love with the woman he is hired to follow, but for most of the second half I found myself thinking, " No way could this guy not know that this girl is the same one he followed in the first part of the movie. No way! " The second half seemed silly and impractical. I did, however, find Vertigo's tragic ending emotionally satisfying, moving and dark. More than dark. The ending is black as pitch. Now, having grown older [ wiser? ] I understand Stewart's obsessive desire for a woman he possesses briefly, only to ultimately lose her forever. Having watched Vertigo many, many times since, I find the whole film an experience unlike few I have ever seen. It has become one of The Master's movies I revisit on a yearly basis, usually when I find myself feeling melancholy and fragile, much like Jimmy Stewart in the movie. It is a great film to watch when one is a little lost in life. And Kim Novak as the object of Stewart's lust and obsession is ethereal. Maybe more than any blonde in a Hitchcock film, Novak encapsulates [ or rather Hitch captures within her ? ] the elusive, sad, lonely, sexy, mercurial presence that Hitchcock had been trying to catch and bottle for over 25 years. One can completely understand Stewart being caught in her sway. Vertigo is also well known for the Hitchcock gaze. Hitch's camera loved nothing more than to gaze upon his leading ladies by the male who is fixated on her. So many of his films do this and we, the audience, become conspirators in Hitchcock's little game of voyeurism.
A blonde like no other. Kim Novak, Vertigo 1958
Hitchcock blondes always put up with alot on screen [ and off ? ]. From Joan Fontaine in Rebecca and Suspicion, Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound and Notorious, Grace Kelly in Dial M For Murder, Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much, up to his last film Family Plot with Barbara Harris, Hitch put his blonde heroines thru a nail-biting ringer. The blonde in his films were also sexy, playful, suspicious and withholding and she usually had the upper hand in his films, maybe that is why Hitch put her though so much and treated her, at least at first, roughly, before he became totally beastly towards her. Beginning with Madeline Carroll in 1935's The 39 Steps, Hitch presented a woman who instantly distrusts her male counterpart, in this case Robert Donat in a familar Hitchcock conceit : the man falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit who must then try to prove his innocence, not just with the authorities but more importantly, to the blondewho initially neither trusts nor believes him. This was one of Hitch's favorite theme's played out again and again in Saboteur, Spellbound, To Catch A Thief, The Wrong Man, North By Northwest, Frenzy.
Stewart, Kelly and Alfred at work on Rear Window, 1954.
Inevitably, the older Hitch got the more frustrated he became and the object of his fixation would come to a bloody gruesome end, as one can see from the YouTube clips above. In Donald Spoto's celebrated biography The Dark Side of Genius, the author suggests Hitch was a very sexually frustrated man, locked into a loveless marriage to a woman he respected and did indeed love [ in fact couldn't live without her ] but who held no romance for him, one in which his sexual longings and desires remained dormant. Someone once said Hitch cast Jimmy Stewart in the roles in which he saw himself and cast Cary Grant in roles in which he wished to be seen. If one looks at these two actors and the roles they play, Stewart from Rope in 1948 to Vertigo in 1958 and Grant in 1941's Suspicion to 1959's North By Northwest the theory makes an enormous amount of sense. Grant being pursued by the likes of Eva Marie Saint in North By Northwest and Grace Kelly in To Catch A Thief, sexually available and wanted and Stewart being limited and hesitant his affection for Grace Kelly in Rear Window and his lust and pursuit of Kim Novak in Vertigo, unable to fully explore and share his obsession for the beautiful apparition that has so entranced him and consequently has him completely frozen with fear.
The blonde bookworm : Eva Marie Saint, North By Northwest, 1959
Another thing to remember is that Hitchcock totally shaped and created each of his blondes to his exact specifications. From the hair shape and color and length of it, to the color and design of her dress, type of shoes and so on. Notice in some of the pictures I've posted, that a lot of these ladies look an awful lot alike. Doris Day and Kim Novak wear practically the same outfit. The hair on many of these women are also similar. Sir Alfred have a very definite type of woman he liked. Not only that but, obviously in his direction of them: " Turn your head this way", " Oh no, my dear. Your leg must reach this height " or " I want you to look at him like he is a roast beef sandwich. " In his movies, unlike his life, Hitch had complete control over not only his characters, but more importantly, his women.
Hitchcock's obscure object of desire: Tippi Hedren, The Birds, 1963
Recently there have been two films that deal with Hitchcock and his obsessions with blondes. Hitchcock, with Anthony Hopkins as the Master of Suspense and his making of Psycho, for theatrical release and HBO's The Girl with Toby Jones as Hitch and Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren about the making of The Birds, in which Sir Alfred supposedly forsook all his decorum and compose in the thrall of Miss Hedren's beauty, and lost himself completely, making unseemly advances toward her. Believe it or not. I for one do not discount Hitchcock's losing his control for a much younger blonde woman whom he plucked out of obscurity, tries to make into a star and feels that the least she should do is show him her appreciation. This theory seems consistent with his character. If you don't believe me watch his films.
Alfred, Tippi and friend. Doing publicity for The Birds
My favorite Hitchcock Heroines { or victim }:
Joan Fontaine in Rebecca - 1940, and Suspicion - 1941
Ingrid Bergman - Notorious - 1946
Alida Valli in The Paradine Case - 1947
Laura Elliott in Strangers on a Train -1951
Grace Kelly in Rear Window - 1954, and To Catch a Thief - 1955
Janet Leigh in Psycho - 1960
Tippi Hedren in The Birds - 1963, and Marnie - 1964
Joan Chandler in Rope - 1948
Priscilla Lane in Saboteur - 1942
The forgotten blonde : Priscilla Lane in Saboteur, 1942
On January 18, 1904 Archibald Leach was born in Bristol, England. Young Archie would eventually grow up and morph into Cary Grant, " The Man From Dream City " to quote critic Pauline Kael. Archie's life would go through a metamorphosis, growing from the young, callow Archie Leach [ could there ever be a name so incongruous with the public persona? ] into the suave [ so fuckin' suave ] Cary Grant, who himself modeled his persona after Noel Coward [ NO one, I'm convinced is original ]. The road was long, arduous, with many detours. From Bristol to New York City and finally to Hollywood where Archie would have a long [ 1932-1966 ] career as the romantic leading man not only his time, but possibly all-time. Cary Grant, with Archie Leach never far from sight, wouldn't always enjoy the ride.
Roz Russell learns never trust your ex. Left to right, Ralph Bellamy, Grant and Roz in His Girl Friday, 1940
The man from Bristol was full of neurosis. From the time he was a child Archie felt he was not loved or belonged anywhere. At the age nine his father told him his mother had gone away on a " long holiday ", Archie thought his mum had died, when in fact she had been placed in a mental institution. It was not until he was 31 that Archie, now Cary Grant to the world at large, would learn that his mother was alive. Whatever obstacle Archie had to climb, Cary learned to do it with style.
A delightful turn on the dance floor as Ingrid Bergman watches, Indiscreet, 1958
Along with Fred Astaire, Grant brought a style and elegance to Hollywood's golden age that, in today's cinema, is sorely lacking . Grant also brought a sense of fun to his roles. Whether poking fun at Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, egging on Victor MacLaglen in George Stevens' Gunga Din or lying and betraying Rosalind Russell in Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday, Grant had a twinkle in his eyes that said " I'm having fun, aren't you ? ". Yes, we were. From 1937 on though 1943 or maybe 1944 no one Hollywood personality made more popular, entertaining movies than Grant, movies that are still popular today. These were the years Grant consolidated his stardom after nearly six years as supporting player, second and romantic lead in roughly two dozen bland snooze-fests. From 1932 to 1936 Grant appeared in movies with titles like Sinners in the Sun, Hot Saturday, Kiss and Make-Up, Ladies Should Listen; etc. All forgettable, though Grant did make a couple that have gone down thru the ages as classics or close to it : the Mae West ribald, innuendo-filled She Done Him Wrong and the Dietrich-Sternberg epic to mother love Blonde Venus, in which Marlene sings " Hot Voodoo " in an ape suit. Other than that the early to mid 30's was a pretty barren time for Grant, although being under contract to Paramount Pictures he did pull down a handsome salary. But the scripts were weak, and so was Grant. He felt he was better and had more to offer than the average romantic leading men like George Brent, David Manners or Patrick Knowles.
Somewhere in this cemetery set is Archie Leach's tombstone: With Priscilla Lane in Capra's Arsenic & Old Lace, 1944
In 1936 Grant played a supporting part in the Katharine Hepburn gender bending dramady Sylvia Scarlett with George Cukor directing. It's a strange film, even seen today, and one can only wonder what depression era audiences thought of it in 1936. Grant plays a cockney con man named Jimmy Monkley with alot of Cary Grant, or Archie Leach, thrown in for good measure. Sylvia Scarlett's director George Cukor said that it was the first time Grant " felt the ground under his feet " as a performer. Consequently Grant's Monkley, with his cockney accent and side glances, is charming yet dangerous and a precursor to many of Grant's character's to come, especially the Hitchcock films Grant would soon be appearing in. From Sylvia Scarlett on, Grant took control of his future as well. Not satisfied with the weak material Paramount was offering Grant decided to free-lance, a bold move in the studio controlled 30's Hollywood. Grant did protect himself by signing non-exclusive contracts with both RKO and Harry Cohn's Columbia Pictures. But as a non-exclusive, Grant could and did make movies for other studios such as MGM and Warners.
Hitch & Cary : Two of the most famous profiles in movie history.
Cary Grant had several key collaborators in his career. On the director side there was Hitchcock with 4 films [ Suspicion-1941, Notorious-1946, To Catch a Thief-1955, North By Northwest-1959 ], 3 films with George Stevens [ Gunga Din-1939, Penny Serenade-1941, Talk of the Town-1942 ], 4 films with Leo McCarey [ The Awful Truth-1937, My Favorite Wife-1940 as producer only, Once Upon a Honeymoon-1942, An Affair To Remember-1957 ], George Cukor with 3 [ Sylvia Scarlett-1936, Holiday-1938, Philadelphia Story-1940 ], Howard Hawks with a whopping 5 films [ Bringing Up Baby-1938, Only Angels Have Wings-1939, His Girl Friday-1940, I Was a Male War Bride-1949, Monkey Business-1952 ] and the Stanley Donen 4 [ Kiss Them For Me-1957, Indiscreet-1958, The Grass is Greener-1960, Charade-1963 ].
Cukor makes his point during filming of The Philadelphia Story, 1940
Of course Grant's performing wasn't contained in a bottle, he had some legendary co-stars with whom he'd bounce off from time to time. Not to take anything away from James Stewart, Ronald Colman, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, David Niven and some others, but Grant usually flourished when he was the sole male lead and the other male was usually Ralph Bellamy or Rudy Vallee or Barry Fitzgerald. Grant, who performed along side nearly all the leading ladies of his time, would be the center of attention to the leading female in the picture. Grant's leading ladies were some of the best and most beautiful the movies had to offer and a big reason some of his films still are popular and resonate with today critic's and film buffs. Irene Dunne made 3 with him [ The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife, Penny Serenade ], Katharine Hepburn with 4 movies [ Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, Sylvia Scarlett, Philadelphia Story ] were his most frequent co-stars of the late 30's early 40's period among others such as Jean Arthur [ Only Angels Have Wings, Talk of the Town ], Rosalind Russell [ His Girl Friday ], Ingrid Bergman twice [ Notorious, Indiscreet ], Sophia Loren [ Pride & The Passion, Houseboat ], Grace Kelly [ To Catch a Thief ], Ginger Rogers two times [ Once Upon a Honeymoon, Monkey Business ], up through the 1960's with Doris Day [ That Touch of Mink ], Leslie Caron [ Father Goose ] and most memorably with Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's Charade in 1963.
One may not know it to view the above clip, but Charade is a thriller in the Hitchcock tradition but with added emphasis on romance and comedy as much as thrills. It may be the best Hitchcock suspense flick Sir Alfred never made.
At his ambiguous best in Hitchcock's Suspicion
One of the things that made Grant unique as a performer was his willingness to appear crabby and unlikeable. Some of these examples are His Girl Friday in which Grant plays not only Roz Russell's former newspaper editor but her ex-husband as well, who is trying everything he can think of to prevent Russell's elopement with Ralph Bellamy, including getting Bellamy and his mother thrown in jail. In 1943's Mr. Lucky, a real personal fave of mine, Grant plays a shady gambler who trades identity with a dead Greek to get out of the draft [ this in the middle of America's most patriotic moment, the Second World War ] and proceeding to lie to the head of a war relief organization to let him run the charity casino to help raise funds, but Grant intends to keep the money raised to fund his gambling ship. In Hitchcock's underrated Suspicion, Grant plays a playboy who falls for Joan Fontaine's bookish Lina. Grant's character Johnnie is a no good charming cad who cannot keep down a job and is always coming up with get-rich-quick schemes. And if that isn't enough, Johnnie gives Lina good reason to think he may be trying to kill her. Notorious, Grant's next for Hitch in 1946, was a dark tale of espionage with that consummate actor of skill and ease, Claude Rains and beautiful Ingrid Bergman. In it Grant and Ingrid play American spies down in Rio to investigate on the lam Nazi war criminals who may have some secret formula involving a metal ore or something. Anyway the plot doesn't matter as much as the two leads. Bergman and Grant had rarely been better [ that's saying something ! ] as the spy-crossed lovers, with Grant's jealousy and sour feelings for Ingrid and the way their relationship wilted in the warmth of the South American climate, almost resulting in Bergman's death. However, Grant comes to his senses just in time. The film is among the best on Sir Alfred, Cary and Miss Bergman's resume, of whom the latter would soon have a tremendous fall from grace and lean times professionally in the years between 1950 and 1955, due to her relationship with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.
Through his long run in Hollywood, Cary received two Oscar noms for Best Actor, 1941's Penny Serenade and None But The Lonely Heart in 1944 and never won a competitive Oscar. Finally in 1970, Grant was presented an Oscar, four years after the release of his last film Walk, Don't Run, for his lifetime achievement in films. It was long overdue. Grant, like many of the actors and directors of that glorious age of American cinema [ Stanwyck, Jean Arthur, Irene Dunne, Dietrich, Kirk Douglas, Garbo, Gardner, Mitchum, Eddie Robinson, I could go on but will stop ], was taken for granted for making an extremely difficult situation and character look spontaneous and natural, no matter how many times one had rehearsed it. Grant didn't take roles that would extend his range, except on rare occasions and both of his Oscar nominated turns represent a different Grant than audiences expected at the time. When an actor brakes out of their well-oiled comfort-zone, it can result in an Oscar or at least a nomination which can almost be as good for a career. It is interesting to think of how his career would have differed if Grant had taken one or all of this next batch [ probably not much ], but to think of him in Billy Wilder's Sabrina, in the role Bogie played in that 1954 film or imagine his impact in Wilder's Love in the Afternoon, as an aging playboy-exec-ugly American business man ready to pounce on any available tail he can find, only to be caught up in Audrey Hepburn fever circa 1957, is to regard a different Grant than the one who had carefully planned his career since his brake from the exclusive contracts so prevalent in the time of studio controlled Hollywood. The topper to all these roles refused by Grant is the part of the alcoholic, fading fast movie star Norman Maine in the Judy Garland, Cukor directed, remake of A Star Is Born in 1954. According to Patrick McGilligan's definitive biography, Cukor had a reading of the script at his home, just to give Cary a feel for the role, although Grant was familiar with the 1937 original with Fredric March in the part slated for Grant. Cukor went on and on about how wonderful Grant would have been in the role of Norman, based on his incredible reading and interpretation of the Maine character. But Cary turned the part down. Of these three movies that never were for Grant, A Star is Born is the one I wished he had taken. I am sure Grant would have been no less astounding than James Mason was in that magnificent opus of Hollywood career, love and loss.
So fuckin' suave!
.
When Grant died suddenly in November 1986 it was kind of a stunner. Yeah the guy was 82, but Grant, even after he quit the movies, still had a charisma and style that was totally his own. Though by this time Grant was completely white haired he still embodied the male animal at his best, sometimes silly, dark, dangerous, sly, mischievous, elusive and romantic. As hard as the comedians tried to mimic him, Grant remained an original, a man who invented a character for himself to play not only on screen, but off as well, and then eventually merged with that concept for himself, which is a riff on Grant's own assessment of himself in the 1970's. He is my favorite movie star from the age 1930 to about 1960/63. That image refuses to grow old. So is the man who invented it.
Sources : Cary Grant by Jerry Vermilye
George Cukor : A Double Life by Parick McGilligan
Wikipedia
In March of 1972 The Godfather had it's world premiere in New York City. It's making was long, at times painful and fraught with difficulties. Starting with the source, the book written by Mario Puzo and published in 1969 was an instant best seller. The term " Godfather " was a relatively new one. Per wikipedia, in 1963 mobster Joe Valachi gave testimony before a congressional hearing [ not unlike the one portrayed in Part II ] using the word " Godfather " to describe the head of a crime " family ". The words Cosa Nostra , consiglieri and others were mentioned in english for the first time in Puzo's book.
Vito and his son's
Paramount Pictures, who bought the book with the thought of making a quick $2 million dollar modern adaptation, had been in financial difficulty [ as had all of the majors studios in the late 60's ], though in the last couple of years, under production head Robert Evans, they had released some major successes: Rosemary's Baby, Franco Zeiffirelli's Romeo & Juliet, The Odd Couple, True Grit and others, the studio was also besieged by big budget losers such as : Paint Your Wagon, Darling Lili, Waterloo, Catch 22 and more. So the idea of making a quickie, almost exploitation film of the Godfather was tantalizing indeed.
Writer/director Richard Brooks [ Blackboard Jungle, Brothers Karamazov, Elmer Gantry ] was the first man offered the job. Brooks passed on it. After that practically a whose who of Hollywood A-list directors were offered it: Elia Kazan, Arthur Penn, Fred Zinnemann, Peter Yates and others all said no thanks. Production Chief Evans, feeling the story needed authenticity, asked Coppola to direct because Evans wanted the" smell of spaghetti ", he felt only an Italian could bring to the picture. Only problem is that Coppola also turned Paramount and Evans down. Though in desperate need of funds at the time and with a young family to support, Coppola did not want to make a film that would glamorize the dark side of his Italian heritage.Eventually, Coppola agreed to make the film but with one stipulation : It would be the story of a family. A family who's business happens to be organized crime. He also talked Evans and Paramount to up the budget somewhat and make the film in the period the novel takes place, 1945-1955.
Brothers
The production of The Godfather was battle all the way. The studio and Evans wanting their say in script, casting and cutting. Coppola, getting inspired by the potential of the project, had his own very definite ideas of how he wanted the film to be. Evans wanted big names in the cast [ or at least established ones ] while Coppola wanted actors whom he thought best for the part, generally unknowns which also would help keep the budget down. For Don Vito Corleone, Coppola wanted Marlon Brando. There was never another serious contender for it after Brando agreed to do a make-up/screen test and it was shown to the Evans and the Paramount brass. Burt Lancaster wanted to play The Don and he lobbied hard for the part. Laurence Olivier was mentioned. There were good reasons the studio didn't want Brando. The last film he made at Paramount, the only Brando directed film One-Eyed Jacks, ran way over schedule and over budget and ended up losing money. Brando's subsequent 9 or 10 films since Jacks had all lost money with the seriously over budget [ by anywhere from $10-20 million, depending on the source ] 1962 epic remake of Mutiny on the Bounty. Naturally the studio execs felt Brando, despite his talent, wasn't worth the trouble. But in the end Coppola had his way and Brando was the Don, though he was paid peanuts for the part, only $50,000. Today it's impossible to imagine another actor playing the role. As for the other parts, the biggest obstacle was the casting of Al Pacino as Michael, the Don's favorite, youngest son. All the execs and Gulf & Western [ they owed Paramount ] Chairman Charles Bluhdorn said no to Pacino. They felt he was to short. Evans said they didn't want " a runt " playing Michael. Execs threw out names like Ryan O' Neal, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford. An unknown Robert DeNiro was tested for the part. Coppola held firm on Pacino, who had only appeared in a 2 films up to that point in his career the most recent being 1971's Panic in Needle Park, and eventually got his way. Besides the casting of Don Vito, the casting of Michael was a key to the film's success. It made Pacino a star and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
Michael's revenge
As the filming got underway on March 29, 1971, Coppola was besieged on all sides of the production; stories have come down though the years of Coppola feeling insecure of his job, surrounded by a crew who didn't believe he had the stuff to get the job on the screen, hearing rumors that he would be replaced any day by Elia Kazan, who had directed Brando memorably in A Streetcar Named Desire and On The Waterfront back in the 50's. Legend has it that Brando went to Evans, said he thought Coppola was doing fine, if the studio would just leave him alone, stay off his back and let him do his job. The original Godfather film editor told Evans that the restaurant scene, where Michael guns down gang rival Sollozzo and police chief McCluskey, " wouldn't cut " and that Coppola had " no idea about continuity ". Rather than fire Coppola, Evans had veteran editor Peter Zinner look as the footage. Zinner thought it looked fine, so Evans fired the first editor and hired Zinner to replace him.
Coppola and Brando at work
The production also encountered protests from the Italian American Civil Rights League [ founded by Joe Colombo head of one of the Five Families of New York ]. The organization didn't want the words mafia and Cosa Nostra used in the film. And according to the film's producer Al Ruddy's assistant, the filmmakers started to receive threats, parked cars in front of houses getting shot with bullets, as a warning not to proceed with the filming. That kinda thing.
" Look how they massacred my boy "
During filming, the cast who idolized Brando, bonded around each other, practically taking on the aspects of a real family, with Brando and Coppola as the heads. There were Italian dinners with pasta, wine, bread, attended by the entire cast. Brando, who didn't cotton to all the reverential treatment, was a notorious practical joker. In the scene in which Vito comes home from hospital on a stretcher after being gunned down by a rival gang and had to be lifted by some real life teamsters up the stairs, Brando put extra weights under the blankets so the big, beefy teamsters were left huffing and puffing and couldn't figure out why the 190 pound Brando was so heavy to carry. The real clowns of the bunch were Robert Duvall and James Caan, each of whom took to " mooning " each other. When Brando caught sight of this he too joined in on the fun at one point " mooning " Caan and Duvall from his limo on the way home from location one day.
" I never wanted this for you ". Michael and his father talk business
Post production was another battle between Evans and Coppola. Coppola's first cut ran about 2 1/2 hours. Evans wanted more [ rare for a studio head; they usually want movies to run 2 hours or less. Reason being: more show times per day ]. According to Evans, Coppola cut out the guts of the films. Per Coppola, the extra half hour he added were only cuts Evans had originally insisted on. Whatever the truth, the picture was the winner. 175 minutes long when released, The Godfather was a huge hit. I mean huge. The release pattern was unusual, opening in only 6 theaters in New York City, with a Los Angeles opening the next week. The film opened on 323 screens on March 29,1972, still a low theater count even then. It earned over $86 million in film rentals [ rentals is the amount of money returned to the studio whereas gross, which is what is reported after every weekend in today's world, is the total income it takes from the theaters. A movie's gross is approximately double the rental amount ] which if translated to 2012 dollars amounts to over $472 million dollars. And if we double that as the film's gross then The Godfather made almost $1 billion dollars. Tremendous, especially for a serious movie. The film is speckled sub-titles to boot! The Godfather is dark not only in theme but literally. Gordon Willis' photography is thick with shadows and blacks, the film also has a luster and sheen that is intoxicating. The acting in the film is top of the line from the leads to the smallest part.The movie has some of the best known lines ever:" Leave the gun. Take the cannoli." " A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man." " I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse ". " Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." Never tell anyone outside the family what you're thinking again." The Godfather is about as far as one can get to today's blockbusters, yet it saved Paramount Pictures and the industry in general which had been in the doldrums for at least the last 10 to 12 years, the last 5 or 6 being particularly rough as many studios were taken over by conglomerates like Gulf & Western. Some like MGM and Fox sold off major portions, if not all, of their backlots. Century City was once 20th Century-Fox' back lot. The Godfather was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning just 3. The awards it did win were big ones: Best Adapted Screenplay by Puzo & Coppola, Best Actor Marlon Brando [ who infamously refused the award by sending up an American Indian girl named Sasheen Littlefeather, to protest Native Americans portrayals in Hollywood movies. Talk about biting the hand ] and Best Picture. The other big winner that Oscar night was Bob Fosse's Cabaret which won 7 awards including Fosse for Best Director over Coppola. By the time the Oscars were presented a slight backlash over the film had begun. Some critics and Hollywood veterans were not crazy over the violence in the film and some felt The Godfather, with all that money, was overrated, hence the light haul on Hollywood's biggest night of the year.
The film's reputation over the years, however, has soared coming in 21st this year in the Sight & Sound 2012 magazine poll [ Hitchcock's Vertigo was # 1 ]. It ranked 2nd in American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies [ 10th anniversary edition. Welles' Citizen Kane being # 1 ] And the film has had magnificent influence. Films about the mafia became a sub-genre all it's own. Such films as The Don is Dead,Black Caesar, Crazy Joe, The Valachi Papers, Mean Streets all came fast on the heels of the film's success. Martin Scorsese has made a career with gangster films. And of course, Coppola's own Godfather II in 1974. The Godfather, like Vito's three sons in the film, has three different chapters. Godfather II is also an acknowledged classic, but 1990's Godfather III is generally thought of as a bastard child, not worthy of the first two films. I feel differently about that, but I'm not going into that now. Another post, hopefully next year will address that subject. So Happy New Year everyone. I'm gonna spend it with " The Family ".
Sources : The Godfather Wars- Vanity Fair magazine
BFI film classics: The Godfather by Jon Lewis
Wikipedia
A force of nature. The last goddess. The barefoot contessa. Whatever name one chooses to apply, crush of the week Ava Gardner was one the greatest sex symbols of the 20th century.
Resting during filming of 1956's Bhowani Junction
Ava Gardner, born December 24, 1922 in Smithfield, North Carolina was from a family of dirt poor cotton and tobacco farmers. How she came to Hollywood is kismet. Fate. Visiting older sister Beatrice [ Bappie, to family and friends ] in New York City, Bappie's husband Larry Tarr, who was a photographer, took her portrait. So pleased with the results, Tarr put the picture in the window of his studio on 5th Avenue. A Loews Theater employee saw the picture went inside the Tarr studio and impressed with the girl in the picture said " somebody should send that picture to MGM " or words to that effect [Loews Inc; was and still is a movie theater company and in 1924 founder Marcus Loew started a movie company called MGM. The rest is history ] Tarr did just that and MGM sent for Gardner, who had since went back home to North Carolina, to be interviewed and screen tested. In the test Gardner didn't do much, walked around a bit, arranged some flowers etc. She did not speak because her southern accent made it near impossible to understand a word Ava said. On screen, she was magical and highly photogenic. Somehow MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer saw the test, thought Ava magnificent and sent for her. She was offered the standard studio contract and was given speech and acting lessons. She arrived in Hollywood with sister Bappie on August 23, 1941. Her life was about to change forever. She was 18.
At the bullfights. Doesn't she look like she could just eat you alive?
6 months after arriving at the fabled studio, Ava Gardner married #1 box office star and perennial teenager Mickey Rooney. Born in 1920, Rooney had been a big box office name when he portrayed Andy Hardy in the 1937 film A Family Affair and 1939's Babes In Arms, one of 9 films Rooney would make with Judy Garland. The union was a bust and they divorced in 1943 as Rooney would rather gamble and chase after other women rather than be domestic with the gorgeous Gardner. Ava was growing up fast. As for her career at MGM, Gardner was cast in a series of small and bit parts in several movies, many uncredited, more like extra work: Shadow of the Thin Man, Babes on Broadway, Calling Dr. Gillespie, This Time For Keeps and so on. Ava's first credited film was on loan out in the Poverty Row quickie Ghosts on the Loose starring Bela Lugosi and the East Side Kids, in 1943. It would take Ava a long time to develop and feel natural in front of the camera.
Beautiful
Meanwhile, Ava had a life to live and she was learning to live it up to the fullest. In 1945, Ava married band leader Artie Shaw becoming the 5th of his 8 wives. They divorced in 1946, yet Shaw had a tremendous influence in regard to her social and educational life. Going out to nightclubs and drinking with the likes of Lana Turner or Ann Sheridan was also one of Ava's frequent activities. Gardner found she had quite a capacity for alcohol. At first it helped to calm her nerves at the studio or ease her in social situations, premieres. Sometimes the effect had a tendency to turn the shy, southern country girl into a fiery, man-eating, angry, paranoid, at times violent, woman. It was a Jekyll and Hyde personality that many friends and co-workers would comment on and it would get worse with age.
Publicity for The Killers, 1946
1946 brought big changes to Ava. At MGM Gardner's career had pretty much ground to a halt. She's been at the studio for nearly 5 years with not a lot to show for it. So when indy producer Seymour Nebenzal borrowed her to play opposite George Raft and Victor McLaglen the studio said yes. A noir B-picture, Whistle Stop was her biggest part to date. Based on a book by Maritta Wolff in which the main characters were brother and sister who had an incestuous relationship, Whistle Stop had to be changed considerably for the screen as industry censors wouldn't allow such stuff in the 1940's, however the fact that Mary, Gardner's character, had supported herself as a prostitute, before returning to her small town home after living in the big city, was more or less retained. The film was a precursor to her real break, the noir classic The Killers, based on an Ernest Hemingway short story. In it Ava played Kitty, the girlfriend of the swede a muscular, not -to-bright boxer played by Burt Lancaster, in his film debut. Ava's casting was the direct result of Killers producer Mark Hellinger viewing Whistle Stop and realizing he had his femme fatale, the girl for whom men would do anything to be with. With direction by noir specialist Robert Siodmak [ Phantom Lady, Criss-Cross, Spiral Staircase ], moody, shadowy camera work by Elwood Bredell and a terrific score by Miklos Rosza [ Spellbound, Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend ], and a screenplay by newcomer Richard Brooks [ with an uncredited assist from John Huston ] The Killers was an instant hit when released on August 28, 1946 and has strong reputation to this day as a prime example of classic film noir.
Looking like one of the most dangerous women in the world
Around the time of The Killers, Ava met and became friends with billionaire Howard Hughes. The two have been linked romantically thru the years yet Ava always maintained they were only friends, not lovers. In the films she made at this time it seems MGM still wasn't quite sure what to do with their new star. Since she was now a star thanks to The Killers, a film far from the MGM tradition, Mayer and Company decided cast her in : The Hucksters her first with " The King " Clark Gable, East Side, West Side, The Bribe with Robert Taylor, The Great Sinner along side Gregory Peck. In these films from 1947-1951 Ava was usually the other woman or the second lead to the main actress. They also loaned her out again this tim to indy producer Albert Lewin for Pandora and the Flying Dutchman looking transplendent in color with James Mason and with Robert Mitchum in My Forbidden Past. She was also partying hard, staying out late, drinking and carousing til all hours of the night.And she was never alone. In 1949, she fell hard for the biggest singer the country had ever seen at that time, bobby sox idol and movie star Frank Sinatra. The love affair was doomed from the start: Catholic, married, family man Frank and hot headed, free spirit Ava were not a match made in heaven. There was a long, scandalous two year affair before they finally tied the knot on November 7, 1951.
With Frank in what Ava described as that " sad picture ". The morning after their wedding, 1951
1951 was significant for Ava in the movies too as she starred in Showboat Arthur Freed's production of the classic Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical. Though not known for her singing ability, Ava recorded all of her own songs for the movie but the MGM higher-ups thought her voice not strong and professional enough. Outtakes exist that prove Ava could handle the songs fine, but they were dubbed over by a professional singer. Ava became bitter over the issue and it was one of the things that drove a wedge between her and the studio. However, Ava is wonderful as Julie the half white/half black star of Captain Andy's river boat show.
Spending some down time with Frank and friends
However the marriage to Sinatra was showing strain. His career was in disarray which added tension to the couple. Add the fact that both were extremely jealous types, their domestic bliss interrupted with fights, the work that separated them and the union was bound to snap under the pressure. In 1953 Ava, with Frank along for the ride, went to Africa to begin filming Mogambo the remake of 1932's Red Dust, with Gable recreating his role from the earlier film and Grace Kelly as the married woman he falls for. Ava played 'Honey Bear' Kelly a stranded showgirl trying to make the best of the situation but also falling for Gable. The John Ford directed film was one of the top ten moneymaking films of year with Ava pulling down her one and only Oscar nomination for Best Actress [ she lost to Audrey Hepburn ].
With Frank at a Stevenson rally in the early 50's
Despite the professional success, Ava and Frank's marriage was over. Later in 1953 they formally separated, though the divorce wasn't final until 1957. Sinatra would marry twice more [ in 1966 when Sinatra wed Mia Farrow, her hair recently cut ultra-short and with a figure reed-thin, Ava quipped that she always knew Frank would end up in bed with a boy ]. Ava would never marry again. They were the love of each others lives, but they couldn't live together. Gardner could never love again, not like that. As she once said, " I don't trust love anymore. It has led me astray."
With Errol Flynn in The Sun Also Rises, 1957
Being playful
In 1954 Ava was off to Spain to film Joseph L. Mankiewicz' Barefoot Contessa opposite a pal of Sinatra's Humphrey Bogart. Ava was at the very top of her profession, finding that once she reached the peak, there was no where to go but down. Contessa was hit, although just barely as most critics found it a bit on the talkie side. For the remainder of the 50's Gardner went from one movie to another in one country after another. George Cukor's Bhowani Junction in 1956, The Sun Also Rises from 1957, On The Beach in 1959, all filmed in European or exotic locales. In the late 50's Ava settled in Spain. She loved bullfights and the spanish custom's and way of life. As the 50's turned into the 60's her appearance was changing. The years of booze, cigarettes and late nights, along with just the natural process of aging, were beginning to take a toll on her looks, yet just slightly. She was still being offered starring parts in big budget productions but she didn't care anymore. She never considered herself an "Actress " and she had grown distant and bitter about her job and profession. Taking the money and then causing trouble on set like in 1963's 55 Days at Peking with Charlton Heston. In one instance a script conference turned ugly when Ava started commenting on the " fucking script " and lousy dialogue. Heston snuck away after Ava went on for nearly an hour. In his diary he commented " A macabre evening ". Then things got worse. Ava objected to cameramen taking candids on set, though it was their job to do so for publicity. The movie's writer Phillip Yordan who years ago had penned Ava's 1946 film Whistle Stop, felt she " really didn't want to work ". There were rumors of drinking before noon. Director Nicholas Ray had a heart attack and had to be replaced. And at 40 Ava was starting to worry about something she had never given a second thought about: her looks. Or her specifically, her face. The production finally wrapped, limped into release and did ok, but was never the blockbuster it was suppose to be. Luckily Ava still had friends and some of those friends thought she still had it. John Huston had known Ava since their work on The Killers back in 1946 and gave her a good terrific part in a good film, Night of the Iguana based on Tennessee Williams play. Filming took place in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon in the cast. Elizabeth Taylor was also on the scene, her affair with Burton still front page news and the world's press was on the scene, taking bets who would kill whom first. Prankster that he was, Huston presented each of his lead's with gold plated derringers on first day of filming. He also gave each one five bullets with the others name on them. No one was killed but the movie was a hit and a good presentation of the Williams play. Ava got strong notices and may have given the performance of her career. It is my favorite performance of hers.
With Paul Newman on set of Judge Roy Bean
Despite the threats to quit the movies Ava was semi-active until 1986. She did disaster movies like Earthquake, went horror with The Sentinel, cameos in Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean and Mayerling. The last 5 or 6 years she was on television with mini-series, TV movies and some guest spots on Falcon Crest, a popular nighttime soap along the lines of the mega-ratings magnet Dallas. She made occasional headlines like the time she had a stormy affair with George C. Scott [ including physical fights and threatened suicide attempts by the unstable Scott ] in the mid-60's during the making of The Bible, again under the direction of Huston. But her real impact as a sex symbol and movie star was from 1946 to 1964. Though only 42 when she was in Iguana, after that her best movies were behind her. Hollywood can be a cruel town and when an actress is at a certain age or loses it's money making power Hollywood can cut her loose faster than a shooting star falling from the sky. And the world had moved on. On to the 60's, other actress' ready to claim the title Goddess. Ava never asked for the fame and glory she was given, it was offered to her and she took it without knowing the personal sacrifice she was making until it was too late. She died at her London home on January 25, 1990. She was only 67.
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