TV Bites: Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud)

THE SNACK:
Miles Davis' South Side Chicago Chili Mack


A version of this post can be found at The Criterion Collection website
Finally we arrive at the long-delayed (also procastinated) second half of the Paris, France double bill. And what a treat it is. With this movie, you get two wonderful things at the same time. First, the movie itself, but also you have one of the most wonderful soundtracks ever created for a film. Miles Davis (no relation to my new kitten) was intrigued to make an improvised recording for the film's soundtrack, but the outcome of that experiment would change not just his musical direction and influence the direction of jazz music in general. (More about this in the Background & Context section.)

And independent of the soundtrack, Elevator to the Gallows changed the cinema landscape, as well. The brilliant cinematography, the editing, the low budget simplicity of it.... The film was released merely moments before the first wave of the French New Wave films came out (though there is a lot of debate as to whether Malle was a member of this group, an honorary member, or not one at all). If Malle is not a card-carrying member of the New Wave (and he himself will argue that he isn't), he nevertheless set the stage for it and busted the doors open so that Truffaut and Goddard could saunter through. Malle's film is the bridge between the French films of the 1950's (Robert Bresson, Jean-Pierre Melville, and others) and the New Wave.

Otherwise, I hope the new year is doing you well. I just sent the Chef du Cinema book proposal out to an agent. Let's hope for the best. I'll be back shortly with the second half of the "good/bad" double bill.

The Class: Chinatown

THE MENU:
Shrimp & Watercress Steamed Wontons w/Orange-Soy Dipping Sauce
Chinese Seaweed & Pork Soup
Soy, Honey & Coriander Grilled Tuna w/Jasmine Rice
Orange-Ginger Chinese Broccoli
Chinese Toffee Apples w/Ice Cream



Well, I'm back from Montreal and having a great time with my 4-month old kitten, Miles. And this is part one of a Chinese dim sum double bill.

When I was living in Los Angeles - over 15 years ago now - almost any wannabe or successful screenwriter (and more significantly any screenwriting teacher) would say without hesitation that Chinatown was the perfect screenplay. In fact, the Writers Guild of America named it the third greatest screenplay ever in a survey in 2005 of its members. (And two of those top three - Chinatown and The Godfather were produced by Robert Evans And, just to keep it all connected, Chinatown scribe Robert Towne also did some polishing on the script of The Godfather.) Even today, almost 35 years since its release, Chinatown is still considered to be one of the great screenplays ever.

But what usually isn't mentioned in these praises is that the screenplay went through a very difficult birth process. Even though Towne gets full credit as the author of the script, director Roman Polanski's incredible input is rarely considered by writers and their teachers. Yes, it suits our writers' egos (which is the butt of many jokes - "How many screenwriters does it take to screw in a light bulb?" Answer: "Why does it 'have' to be changed?"), but I wish they'd teach this to writers on the first day of school. That's just the way it is, kids. Hopefully I'll not mangle this quote too much (because it was in one of several Charlie Rose interviews he did and I'm not going to listen to all of them to find it), but I once heard writer Richard Price describe what being a Hollywood screenwriter is like: "Screenwriting is like the Pony Express and the screenwriter is the horse. If the horse goes lame, you shoot it and get another one. Because the idea is to get the thing out to Los Angeles." Even Towne himself, who has script doctored many others' work, has said, "'Doctoring' is kind of misleading because all scripts are rewritten. Every script has to be rewritten;, it's just a question of whether or not it's going to be rewritten well."

TV Bites: The Hit

THE SNACK:
Terence Stamp's Scotch Pancakes w/Bramble Jelly


A version of this post appears at the Criterion Collection website

This is the fourth movie I've featured that was released in 1984, which like previous multi-film posts, I have no idea why this year is rearing its head so often. And it's my second Criterion post of films from 1984. The four are: Broadway Danny Rose, Paris, Texas, Blood Simple, and now The Hit. I'll leave this to my biographers to work out someday.

I have enjoyed this movie so much over the years. It not only grows, but continues to blossom, with every viewing. It's all so very Zen.

Since I first saw The Hit, I have been convinced that it was a third version of Ernest Hemingway's The Killers. (The first two versions - are availabe in a lovely box set by Criterion, hint hint.) In the first version (starring Burt Lancaster), the killers are in and out, and the story of why the man died without a fight is left to an investigator. In the second (starring Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes & Ronald Reagan), the killers go on an adventure to figure out why the man they just shot didn't put up a fight. This would be the third, in which the killers explore the subject with the victim before they kill him. In researching the film for this post, I found several other folks who feel the same way. (One fellow noted: "If Jean-Paul Sartre had adapted Hemingway’s The Killers, [such a movie] might play like this."

Now, about a decade ago, a dear friend of mine in London happened to mention to me he was going to interview Stephen Frears the following day. I begged him to ask Frears the one question I'd always wanted answered - was The Hit inspired by The Killers? The next day, I got my answer. Frears told my friend "Absolutely not." But, I still don't believe it and you won't convince me otherwise. But even if it wasn't conscious, even if Frears and Prince were unaware of, nor seen either version of the The Killers, it is still in my mind a further exploration of that story.

TV Bites: The Maltese Falcon

THE SNACK:
Sam Spade's Lamb Chops



Hey, it's part two of my Humphrey Bogart double bill. Now while To Have and Have Not was filmed after The Maltese Falcon, I wound up doing this one second. No real reason other than the John Huston books were checked out of the library last month, but not the ones on Hawks. Does that clear up that mystery for you?

This was the big transition role for Bogart. He was no longer a bad guy, he was the hero. And he even got to kiss a girl, albeit a psychopathic one, but still. Strangely, I wound up not talking much about Bogart below and instead wound up focusing more on Huston and all of Mary Astor's stories. I hope you won't hold that against me.

Now please indulge me as I rant a bit. You'll read a lot online that people consider this to be the first Film Noir film. I don't particularly think so. It is clearly an antecedent, but I wouldn't call it the first Noir. I mean, you might as well say Fritz Lang's M is the first, no? Some people say it was Stranger on the Third Floor. (Note: M, Stranger, and The Falcon all feature Peter Lorre, if you didn't notice that.) Others might even say it was Citizen Kane. But this is just cinemagraphic masturbation as far as I'm concerned. Film Noir is a style that evolved and to pick the first film which incorporated all of its elements.... well, friends.... you'll first have to decide what exactly are those elements, which are always up for discussion and disagreement, as well. So there.

The Class: A Fish Called Wanda

THE MEAL:
Beer-Battered Fish & Chips
Creamy Coleslaw
Homemade Tarter Sauce and Ketchup
Jamie Lee Curtis' Favorite Lemon Cake w/Ice Cream



Well, I lied. This is not part two of a Hitchcock double bill. Well, not really lied... it's coming in December. But today I just saw some rare Hitchcock home movies as part of some screenings during the AMIA film archivist convention that's been here in town for the last few days. My old pal Steve Parr, aka Oddball Film, is staying with me. Good times catching up, but also opportunities to see some rare films from various film archives around the world. Steve had some great footage including an incredible interview by some local tv reporter in the early 1960's with Andy Warhol and someone's home movie of the Jefferson Airplane at the Filmmore West. I also saw some amazing home movies from Douglas Fairbanks, John Barrymore, and film shot at a costume party given by William Randolph Hearst at his Santa Monica home. The last film featured shots of people like Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, and Carole Lombard all in costume.

But by far the home movies of Alfred Hitchcock, circa late 20's or early 30's, narrated by his daughter Patricia, were quite the sight. A young Hitchcock riding a bicycle, playing tennis, and one really weird sequence which I'm not really capable of trying to communicate, but it was a bit, well, interesting.

TV Bites: Mean Streets

THE SNACK:
Zeppole



Got some crazy chest cold/flu thing the last few days which hit me hard. Lots of sleeping, eating lots of Thai soups, catching up on work, and planning my schedule for Fantastic Fest next week. The best part of Fantastic Fest is that my buddy and director Eugenio Mira will be my house guest for the duration. If you're unfamiliar with Eugenio's work, one of the coolest things he's ever done is actually in front of the camera. In the upcoming film, Red Lights, he got to play a young Robert De Niro! Check it out! That's mighty awesome, in my book. So how appropriate and coincidental that this is the film I chose for this edition....

Tomorrow, the 15th of September is the first day of the Feast of San Gennaro. And there's only ONE movie to watch, and only ONE food to eat to celebrate. So let's get to it....

TV Bites: Blood Simple

THE SNACK:
Sugar Snap Pea and Cheese Curd Salad



If it wasn't so damn hot outside, I'd still be heating up as I've been in computer hell the last few weeks now, since returning from Montreal. My computer overheated in my bag because it didn't shut down all the way when I rushed to put it away before landing as the airplane steward was tapping his foot and standing over me. Say la vee, as they'd say up there in Quebec. Then I thought it had come with an extended warranty, which it didn't, so I sent it in anyways to Sony, but they wanted more to fix it than I could buy a refurbished model with a 3-year warranty, so I had them send it back. Ah, the disposable society we live in. Meanwhile, I bought a little Acer netbook that was on sale at Target, which worked for four days - just enough time to get it working right and loaded with software - for the hard drive to get burned. And of course, because of the sale, they're all out of replacement units, so I had to wait another day for a delivery to get that replaced. So, I've been working as much as I can on an old desktop but I'm taking it all in stride, mostly because it's too damn hot to go outside anyways, so dealing with all this has at least kept me physically cool, which helps to keep me mentally cool.

The Class: Charade

THE MEAL:
Audrey's Kippered Herring Salad on Roasted Potatoes
Italian Tossed Salad w/Audrey's Vinaigrette Dressing
Audrey's Spaghetti Pomodoro
Rosemary, Garlic & Sea Salt Focaccia
Fresh Vanilla Ice Cream w/Maple Swirl (her favorite dessert)



Once again I really want to thank everyone for coming. And the staff at Central Market who did a great job getting everything made and served. I hope everyone had as good of a time as I did tonight.

TV Bites: Get Shorty

THE SNACK:
Jalapeño Jack Cheese Omelette w/"Slightly-Browned" Shallots



Well I made it through the upper respiratory infection and watched a really great documentary on Robert & Richard Sherman that's streamable on Netflix. It's making me think about wanting to do Mary Poppins here.

Meanwhile, since I figured I already referenced Get Shorty in the recent post on Rio Bravo (and to tie it all together, Elmore Leonard wrote the script for High Noon II!), why not just do it as the next TV Bites. So here we are.

TV Bites: Shoot the Piano Player (Tirez sur le pianiste)

THE SNACK:
Un Sandwich de Poulet, Pomme et Brie
(Roast Chicken, Apple & Brie Sandwich)



It's TV Bites time and this time around I'm doing two French movies back to back. But not just two movies directed by two great French directors. Both movies, 21 years apart, were adapted from pulp novels written by American authors. Both movies' locations are transposed to different locations. Both to different eras than when they were written. Both are done with a jazz score. Both are available in Criterion DVD editions. And both movies, I love dearly. Oh yeah, and both movies are rarely, if ever, broadcast on any American cable channel. Any guesses on the 2nd?

TV Bites: Wait Until Dark

THE SNACK:
Audrey Hepburn's Raisin Bran Muffins



So, I bet you all thought I was going feature Roman Holiday for my Hepburn Month. You know Hepburn-Hepburn, Holiday-Roman Holiday, obvious-obvious. But really to be quite honest, I can’t stand Roman Holiday. Just don’t get Gregory Peck at all. But the real genesis for planning this double Hepburn bill was that I was looking at TCM’s schedule for late September and when I saw it listed, I immediately thought, “Gee, I haven’t seen Wait Until Dark in years." I then proceeded to search around to see if Audrey Hepburn had any recipes of her own and, lo and behold, I found a mess of them.