Showing posts with label Dan Duryea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dan Duryea. Show all posts

Sunday, September 25, 2016

WINCHESTER '73 (1950)

Between 1950 and 1955 James Stewart and director Anthony Mann made five westerns together, this first pairing finds Jimmy Stewart and his buddy Millard Mitchell on the trail of Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally)...a sidewindin', bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker that really pissed off Stewart, but we don't know why.

In the opening scene they catch up with him in Dodge City, but since there's no guns allowed in the city limits, they can't kill each other.  Instead they compete in a shooting contest judged by Wyatt Earp! Grand prize: a highly-coveted "one-in-a-thousand" Winchester Model 1873 rifle. Stewart wins the gun only to have Brown and his men jump him, steal the rifle and skedaddle it out of town. From here on the story splits in two: one, the story of the rifle (and it's quickly changing owners) and the other, Stewart and Mitchell tracking down Brown.

WINCHESTER '73 is a great western and one of the coolest things about it is it's outstanding cast.  Besides the two leads of Stewart and McNally you have Millard Mitchell, Shelley Winters, Will Geer, Rock Hudson, John McIntire, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, James Millican, Jay C. Flippen, Charles Drake, John Alexander, Tony Curtis, Abner Biberman, James Best, Steve Brodie and more!  I mean, the whole time you're watching the film you're thinking to yourself "Holy crap!  That's Teddy from ARSENIC AND OLD LACE! Charge!!!" or "Hey, there's Rosco from "The Dukes of Hazzard".  It's a joy seeing so many familiar faces, even if sometimes it's just in the background.

Strong direction, legendary cast, impressive acting (I especially liked Shelley Winters), clever script, quick pace, beautiful scenery and cinematography.  If you're a fan of Jimmy Stewart or just good movies then you can't go wrong with WINCHESTER '73.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

THE BURGLAR (1957)

It's never a good sign when a film sits unreleased for years until one of the actors becomes famous.  But that's exactly what happened with THE BURGLAR.  It was made in 1955 and then sat unreleased until 1957 after Jayne Mansfield found mainstream success with THE GIRL CAN'T HELP IT.  And it's kinda easy to see why it sat for two years:

First off, those promises in the posters are total bullshit.  "You'll be tense with suspense and limp from excitement!"  It's more like I was limp from not giving a fuck.  "They set up a luscious blonde as bait for the robbery of the century!"  What the fuck are you talking about?  Yes, the criminals sent in Jayne Mansfield to case(!) the house.  That's it.  Later on, Dan Duryea went in and stole one necklace worth $150,000.  That's hardly the "robbery of the century".  "An army of police...and the underworld hot on the scent of the beautiful burglar mixed up in the robbery of the decade!"  Well, now you've already reduced it from the robbery of the century to the robbery of the decade.  And...it was only the cops on their trail and not the underworld at all!  Plus, Mansfield was not the burglar.  She stayed at home during the one and only burglary.

As far as the lame story goes...A burglar (Dan Duryea) successfully steals a "priceless" necklace (which is immediately valued at $150,000), but due to all kinds of amateur mistakes made on his part, he soon finds that the necklace is more trouble than it's worth.  His biggest mistake is not pulling the robbery alone or maybe with just one person to case the the joint.  Instead, he uses his step-sister (Mansfield), who's secretly in love with him(!!!), to go in and scout the location.  Alright, that's fine.  But then later that same night he parks directly out front of the mansion and then he and his two(!!) partners go onto the property while he does 100% of the work!  The other two don't do shit.  Being that it's an very upscale neighborhood, the police start investigating the car and from there on it the whole plan goes to hell.  He does manage to steal the necklace, but since doesn't even have a buyer lined up, he decides it's best if they all four simply hang out in their rented house until...I'm not sure what.  This ends up being a horrible plan (duh!) due to the fact that 1) they're still in the area of the robbery and 2) all three of his partners instantly start to go stir crazy!  Including his step-sister who still wants some of Dan Duryea's delicious ding-dong!

THE BURGLAR is not a bad film, just one that should have never been made.  Uninspired script, lame overacting by the entire cast, uneven photography that's boring most of the time and then kinda cool for brief moments, slow as molasses pace, unlikable characters, dumb decisions nonstop.  On the other hand, Jayne Mansfield is very attractive and probably turns in the best performance of the entire movie.  I normally like Dan Duryea, but goddamn his character was dumb.

I would say "Skip it.", but it was good for a laugh.