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jromanbaker
Reviews
Méfiez-vous, fillettes! (1957)
Excellent French Thriller
Yves Allegret is noted for a handful of fine films and this one should fall into that category of excellence. Perhaps due to its controversy in France in 1957 it has somehow disappeared. Robert Hossein has just got out of prison and he wants to be top man of a ring of gangsters. He murders both one of the top men who has replaced him and his wife and Antonella Lualdi ( excellent in her role ) sees him disappear from the scene of the crime. She tells the wrong man, one of the gangsters waiting for Hossein, that she could recognise him. She is mugged, bundled into a waiting car and held hostage in a Paris brothel. Alain Saury who plays her wastrel of a husband returns to their apartment and finding her gone is instrumental in attempting to bring the gang down. This is typical James Hadley Chase territory and the film is based on his novel ' Miss Callahan Comes to Grief ' which was initially banned in the UK as this version of his novel was initially banned in France. There is a lot of brutality in the film, and perhaps Lualdi's graphic attempt at suicide was the cause of the controversy. I can see no other. It is a relatively short film that does not let up in pace, and uses its underworld Paris of the 1950's very realistically. It is also at times deeply moving and the childish nature of the gangsters is shown by Hossein's love of train sets, and like a child he loves to play with them. No spoilers but the toy train symbolically shows how life in this gangster world reaches its terminus, and Allegret shows this brilliantly. Shown on television to my knowledge the film has not been released on DVD, It is not too late to rectify that.
Closer (2004)
Late in the Day
In my opinion, looking at it from a 2024 perspective this slick and sometimes cruel and comedic film has dated badly. The internet was in its adolescent days and Mike Nichols seems to concentrate on the posh apartments and chic eating places with stereotypical views of an affluent London without even a glancing view of people less well off. I have not seen or read Patrick Marber's play on which it is based and I wonder how it was staged, moving as it does from one elegant place to another. The story is about the attempts of bedding and trying to love involving four characters, two men and two women. Julia Roberts is good as Anna and Nathalie Portman is good as Alice, and both of them hop, skip and jump over the lives of two Alpha Males played by Clive Owen ( the best actor in my opinion in the film ) and Jude Law. No spoilers but the plot twists and turns, just enough to hurt each of the four's narcissistic ego's. To sum up I did not care about any of them nor about the gross selfishness of the era they lived in. One scene with Nathalie Portman doing a striptease act in a striptease club for Clive Owen showed a nasty glimpse of female abuse and came nearer to the reality of life, but sadly I found the rest superficial and pretentious.
Inseln (2018)
Fragment of a Bigger Story
Reasonably well acted this film shows bullying and how one of the youths in a school gym stops the fight. Later on we see he desires the bullied youth and kisses him. There is a rejection, and the hurt youth who initiates the kiss runs from the locker room. The gym master comes in seeing the kissed youth's distress and kindly reminds him that we are all islands and that we connect with words. No more spoilers and I wanted to know more, and the frustration of many short films is that we see only a fragment of a wider story. Well made it seemed to tease its audience by giving a short lesson from the gym master how to live one's isolated life. Interesting, and interesting enough for me to want to review it. Finally it left me hungry for more.
Yabu no naka no kuroneko (1968)
Disturbingly Beautiful
Kaneto Shindo's films are in my opinion less well known than other great Japanese film directors such as Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and Ozu. Thematically ' Kuroneko ' is in some ways similar to his film ' Onibaba ' which was made before this one. The abuse and revenge taken by women who are abused is the link between them. In this film two women are abused and left to die in a burning house by a group of marauding warriors. In revenge they return to kill off any Samurai warriors who pass by their wreck of a house which by supernatural means becomes palatial. No more spoilers except to say that the warrior who is sent to destroy these ' evil ' spirits is related to them. A son to one, a wife to the other. Despite the elements of the supernatural and horrifying scenes the core of the film is concerned with passionate love and Shindo depicts these scenes with a great deal of tenderness. The one part of the film I did not fully understand was the ending, and after two viewings I am still perplexed. A film of stillness ( the falling snow in a bamboo forest one example ) and the breaking of that stillness comes as a shock. A fine film equal to the very best of Japanese cinema.
Skin (1995)
Look on in Anger
I saw Sarah Kane walk out of an Amsterdam Theatre and in my opinion anger fuelled her work. And rightly so. ' Blasted ' exploded on the stage showing the horrors of war both in our personal lives as well as in the world itself. This short film in short, sharp scenes captures her vision of life, and being film it encapsulates a lot of extremist behaviour that so outraged certain critics, What appealed most to me was the drab setting of humiliation between the black and white woman. She gives him dog food to eat. Etches her name bloodily in his back. This is not ' real ' life as most of us know it, and in my opinion should not be seen as such. It shows Skinhead war against the blacks, and then an attempt of sexuality between the two. Both direction and acting excellent, but it is pure Sarah Kane and her imaginative vision of the brutality of the world around her. Essential viewing and it is on YouTube.
Beat Girl (1960)
Straight Camp
If you are in the mood for utter nonsense and we all have such moods, then this is the film to watch. In the UK where the film is set it is on Blu-ray and well restored. Gillian Hills plays a kind of English Bardot, but sadly she pouts just a bit too much, and was more brittle in her acting. The story is rich father brings home a French bride and Gillian Hills character is not pleased. The bride has a shady past and Hills wants to let father know about it. End of spoilers. There are lots of cellar coffee bars, boring stretches of women taking off their clothes and a touch of violence adds to the brew. Blandly filmed by Edmond T. Greville who worked on Abel Gance's famous film ' Napoleon ' and he made a few other films in France of moderate interest and a very good one called in the UK ' Passionnelle. ' Adam Faith is good to watch, and there are brief shots of Oliver Reed. It is straight Camp and should be enjoyed as such.
Poil de carotte (1932)
Banned in the UK until 1957
This is in my opinion one of the greatest French films, and yet the censors of the time in the UK banned it from being seen. And still in the UK it has not been available to see, and sadly I believe this is a great loss. Both of the lead actors were executed by the Nazis during WW2 and this adds an added poignance to the film. The essence of the film for me is how the red-headed boy contemplates and attempts suicide because he can no longer endure the frustrated wrath of his mother, and how his loving but weak father is unable to intervene and finally literally takes the rope from around his son's neck. The scenes of the child's despair still pack a punch at the audience, and my only wish is that this film should be restored by the BFI. If any film deserves it it is this Duvivier version of Jules Renard's novel from 1932.
Challengers (2024)
More Questions Than Answers
Ambiguity runs riot in this chic advertisement of a film, and pointless though it may be there are in my opinion more questions than answers about a) the meaning why of this threesome and b) why it had so much variations of music to uphold its structure. Right from the start a blast of Purcell's ' Sound the Trumpet ' that seemed to pound the viewer into submission that they are going to see a great film.
After that we have the story which is divided up into various time zones. Not as confusing as some viewers have felt it to be. Zendaya ( who reminded me of Claudia Cardinale in looks and fine acting ability ) loves tennis and can only respond to men who also love tennis. She meets two men played excellently by Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist. She wants to see them play opposite each other and it takes thirteen years to happen. Both men are in my opinion just a little bit more than friends, especially at the beginning in an hotel scene where she invites them to stop kissing her but each other. AND WHAT A KISS!!! Tongues playing the piano together and making very erotic music. The best male on male kiss I have seen on film, and this is a mainstream film. Independent Gay/Queer films have not succeeded as well; hot on sexuality but not on this even more erotic scale. End of spoilers and the film is probably, and I do mean probably too chic for its own good, and the disco music keeps up the pace with the tennis playing. My biggest question is does the music drive the film to its wonderful frenzied ending or is it the game of love/erotic tennis that made me compulsively watch ? Fine visuals, arty semi-melodrama add to the brew. But then what should one expect from Luca Guadagnino, who know ' style ' inside out ? I have given it a mean seven when it may deserve a higher score, but I will definitely see it again to try to unravel why it is so frustratingly ambiguous.
Passer les champs (2015)
Do not cross the fields
This is a reasonably well acted short film about two handsome brothers living with their parents in the French countryside. The youngest is gay, the older one straight but they are very close and protective. Having an enquiring mind I wondered how ' straight ' the elder brother was but I chastised myself for naughty thoughts. The younger needs what is coyly called affection, and being seventeen he longs to make an online connection with a man ' around ' thirty. Of course of his own volition he meets the ' ageing ' predatory man in a sort of hotel and well, use your imagination. He calls his brother, who rushes to get the nasty wolf who has been very bad indeed. Hysterical shouting follows, and end of spoilers. All this seemed like a warning film from the 1950's about how teenagers must not, and definitely not go with predators. The ending seemed to lack something. I just wondered if older brother would hover over him for life!! Beautifully filmed though this film is and handsome though the two brothers were I just wondered why they were so good looking ? Couldn't they have been more ' ordinary ' as most people are ? Good looks become too much of a cliched look in gay genre films.
A Room with a View (2007)
Badly Conceived, Indifferently Acted
For anyone out there with an old copy of ' Room with a View ' there is an appendix written by Forster himself imagining the loves of the two lovers in his book. George may well have died in his bed, but definitely not in the way that is presented here. James Ivory cannot be surpassed in his adaptation of the book and on top of that in my opinion the acting was much better. I liked Rafe Spall as George and he was right in showing up the class distinctions in the story and his real father in life Timothy Spall almost reached the heights of Denholm Elliot. That is not to say that Ivory was perfect; Daniel Day-Lewis in my opinion miscast and I have no idea why in both films both actors have to act in such stereotyped ways. Is it wrong to compare the two films ? I think it is when such a totally misconceived ending was tagged on to this film; over passionate when Forster and Ivory were reticent and absolutely absurd when Florence itself becomes clouded with intimations of war to of all the music available the weepy strains of what I think was Verdi's ' La Traviata. ' Not satisfied with that a return to Florence and a minor character comes in and takes over. In my opinion this version failed utterly.
La fille aux yeux d'or (1961)
The Ambiguous Nature of Eroticism
Two films come to mind on seeing ' La Fille Aux Yeux D'or ' and one is Astruc's ' Le Rideau Cramoisi ' and Melville's ' Les Enfants Terribles. ' Along with Albicocco's arguably finest film they all have a cruel and rather perverse ( using this last word in its positive sense ) view of sexuality, and to the extreme ways of admitting to and denying love. Desire rules and in this film there is a group of men in a secret club capturing women by any means to satisfy their erotic needs. In one scene one of them played superbly by Paul Guers wears an animal mask as if to devour his prey. As well as trying to satisfy his cold needs he has a bizarre relationship with Francoise Prevost ( one of France's greatest actors ) who plays a bisexual fashion photographer. Both of them desire the girl with golden eyes played to the ambiguous hilt by Marie Laforet. Of the three protagonists I found her acting less interesting than the other two. She seems to desire both Guers and Prevost, and the outcome is inevitably complex and tragic. End of spoilers. I have no idea why this masterpiece of French Cinema has been so ' lost ' and was only available as a supplement to the DVD of Albicocco's ' Le Grand Meulnes. ' It can now be fortunately seen on YouTube with English Subtitles. Made in 1961 it shows a fashionable Paris crowd and filmed in black and white it superbly evokes that era of troubled times. Everything for pleasure and love a passport word for sexual needs; the downside being that real emotions creep in and destroy the erotic pleasure. A film well worth seeing for its visual beauty but also for Paul Guers ( what a great Valmont he could have been ) and for Francoise Prevost at her very best.
Four Girls in Town (1957)
Who was Rita Holloway ?
Rita Holloway, the temperamental actor, always seen from behind wants a 50% cut for being the lead in a film made by a film studio. The film is being made by Universal Studios in the mid-1950's and the producers fight against her wishes and look for a woman to replace her. End of logic. The studio travels around Europe bringing Marianne Koch from Austria; Elsa Martinelli from Italy; Gia Scala from France and only Julie Adams from America. Why they go so far afield is never really explained and George Nader has to find the right actor for the part. The casting couch is hilariously not mentioned despite the fact that each woman has an ardent admirer. One of the failed choices goes off to Las Vegas for the fun of it with Grant Williams an actor in reality who was being gently pushed out of Universal Studios himself. No more spoilers. ' Four Girls in Town ' starts with a great film score composed by Alex North, and it sets off the momentum which does not let up. This is a ' lost ' film to be found on YouTube and it is not in its original Cinemascope. Despite the sad fact that few people know much about these actors in 2024 it should be restored. In its own way it is examining Hollywood practices of the time and most of the acting is very good. Sydney Chaplin and Marianne Koch are exceptionally fine in their roles, and Elsa Martinelli is a joy to watch. Even the words ' The End ' are hilariously placed, and when it comes down to it it is all about Rita Holloway. A fun film with serious aspects; not least the loss in Hollywood of most of its actors.
Lady Chatterley (2006)
Uninvolving
I have to admit that I could not get to the end of this screen version of D. H. Lawrence's second version ' John Thomas and Lady Jane ' and for those who do not know it John Thomas signifies the male genitalia and Lady Jane the female genitalia. This of course poses lots of questions on how to film ' Lady Chatterley's Lover ' in any of its three versions without falling into very explicit sexuality and so far this has not been achieved on screen. Three or perhaps it was four of the scenario's sexual scenes are in my opinion, in this French version as dull as ditch water. I also found the film very, very slow and although I like slow cinema ( Ozu and Bresson ) come to mind, I find this film did not again in my opinion justify its slowness. The countryside has been filmed to death and inevitably we see a lot of it. The one brief scene of miners in inclement weather did work, but that was followed by a lot of talk and a lot of taking time over every detail. The acting was good, but uninspiring. Perhaps one day the uninhibited ' Lady Chatterley's Lover ' will be made as Lawrence dared to write it, and until then I believe it should be left to the reader to make his or her imaginative version.
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
Underrated Grant Williams
Crystals from outer space become giant monoliths once they touch water, and when humans touch them they are turned to stone. No spoilers but this could have been an absurd scenario, but thanks to Jack Arnold's scenario it is riveting to watch. Grant Williams plays the lead in trying to stop the monoliths destruction, and he gives an excellent performance. Sadly he was always cast in minor films when he could have become one of the finest actors and in my opinion far more interesting than others who had A pictures and it is ironic he was cast in ' Written on the Wind ' in a minor role. His one big A feature. Such is the roulette wheel of Hollywood's decision making. Lola Albright stars with him but is used for decoration when she proved to be a fine actor in ' Cold Wind in August. ' A film well worth watching on all levels.
Bad for Each Other (1953)
Fine Social Drama
Giving out free medicine in an American film is rare to see, and I am not even sure I have ever seen that gesture of equality before in what is a medical USA drams. The story is simple; Charlton Heston in one of his rare good roles takes on the ethical problem of discarding his uniform and taking on the medical job ( which he was trained for ) to get money from the rich who want excellent treatment. Irving Rapper surveys this greedy landscape quite objectively and he is far away from the Bette Davis melodrama syndrome. But there are two places in town in this film; one for the rich and one for the miners who risk their lives every day providing for them. Lizabeth Scott pays the bad for each other love interest and Arthur Franz is excellent as a young doctor who believes all people are equal. No spoilers but the ending is good for the film. Well worth seeing.
Sea Wife (1957)
Quite simply a bad film
Going through old 1950's Cinemascope films I realised I had not seen this one. The great Roberto Rossellini was supposed to direct, but wisely withdrew. I cannot imagine he could have been interested in the first place but director's have their whims. Admittedly the bombing of a shop full of escaping people showed clearly the atrocities of war, and seeing children crying in despair gruelling to watch. But then we switch to the unlikely scenario of Richard Burton at his most surly, and Joan Collins had the unfortunate role of being a nun and torn between Burton and holy orders. No spoilers but I think she made the right decision, and the film moves to its climax and finally the film ends. The war scenes tragically relevant, but the rest seemed to me to wallow in the worst of melodrama. There is also the inevitable desert island but it offers no enlightenment on character or situation that take place there. I dread to think it was a popular film in 1957 and that is for others to find out.
Revolutionary Road (2008)
Brilliant Cast, Brilliant Film
There is a sort of hyper-reality to this film; Edward Hopper comes to mind as if the characters are stranded in a desert of their own making. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio give perfect performances as a once happy couple, and how life carries on and on and that nothing will ever ' happen ' to them again. Winslet comes up with the frantic idea that they must give up their lives in America and the ironically named ' Revolutionary Road ' that they live in to go and live in Paris. They have two children which are barely seen and a kind of horrific reality sets in when she becomes pregnant. No spoilers but the trap of so-called real life closes in and we the viewers get a glimpse of marital hell that I have rarely seen on screen before. Based on a great novel by Richard Yates it is a film that has to be seen, and I just wonder why I missed it in 2008, but am grateful to have caught up with it. Kathy Bates is also in the film and she kind of closes it with a terrible silence that is almost as terrible as the dropping of an atonic bomb. My one criticism is about the two sex scenes which lacked passion or authenticity. Against the hyper-realism of the rest of the film they were too brief ( a matter of seconds ? ) and dull. Sadly many directors are happy with emotional violence between couples, but almost totally fail with the life giving pleasure of sexuality.
Tension at Table Rock (1956)
A Major Masterpiece
If desert islands had the ability to show films. And I was stranded on one of them this film would definitely come with me. Beautifully filmed, acted to perfection it is not in my opinion appreciated enough for those film critics who should know better. It has excellent dialogue, and in a saloon bar a woman accosts Richard Egan and says ' I have the time ' and Egan replies ' no, you haven't ' and the whole atmosphere of the film is a fight against what I call a pessimism of the spirit. As for the plot Egan has shot a friend in the back, and he is haunted within himself and by those around him. He befriends a child played by Ben Chapin and cannot defend his father being murdered by professional killers. Reaching a town where the child has relatives; a saddened woman played by Dorothy Malone and her ' supposed ' cowardly husband played excellently by the great Cameron Mitchell, he adopts a new life. Both he and Egan are haunted in their own ways, and this makes for a dark, psychological Western. No spoilers to what happens but it is a major masterpiece of film making and should have a bigger following than it has. It also has a wonderful score by Dmitri Tiomkin.
Greta (2018)
A Truly Disgusting Film
I am not a great film of torture films. This is one of them. It involves incarceration, burial alive and other forms of an extreme violent nature. I cannot believe that Isabelle Huppert got involved and it makes ' The Piano Teacher ' perhaps one of her greatest films look like fun, despite the violence that that film had. A woman of a certain age leaves bags on metro seats for kind young women to pick up and return to the address of the woman inside. Huppert plays the woman, who turns out to be Hungarian instead of the French woman people think she is. Huppert plays the one good scene in the film in a restaurant where she hisses out Hungarian words and ' Nosferatu ' came to mind in a camp way. So far so bearable but what eventually follows is psychologically very, very disturbing. No spoilers but it is a film in my opinion not worthy of Huppert or anyone in the cast, and should not be watched by anyone who has disturbances of the mind. Whole heartedly not recommended.
Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
A Great Elegy For a Lost Time
I certainly do not agree that this is in any way a minor Merchant-Ivory film. It can only be considered that if we over value his films that are based on authors such as Henry James or E. M. Forster. With ' Jane Austen in Manhattan ' he clearly realised that there was little substance in a 12 year olds play, however famous the author was. He cleverly puts the spotlight on Manhattan in the last year of the 1970's and the experimental theatre that was taking place at the time. In doing this he shows us a very different Manhattan than today when Lofts were used for artistic purposes and not chic over priced places to live in. He shows us the streets of Manhattan, and there is very little glamour in what he shows. Cleverly he depicts two rivals played by Anne Baxter ( in one of her finest roles, and sadly her last ) and Robert Powell. They both want to put on this trivial play in very different ways and the film becomes an elegy for a lost New York when people could be playful with themselves, unaware of the cold wind of the future when a lot of the fun of living there would succumb to a terrible epidemic which would wipe out so many people; people who loved creativity for itself and not just in monetary terms. Watching it in 2024 is like seeing another world, another way of existing. Visually it is less polished perhaps than films like ' A Room With A view ' but in many subtle ways it is more profound. The acting is excellent and fresh, and the characters fully rounded with their schemes and their light hearted change of partners. Baxter has two scenes when she reflects on theatre and life, and recalling her performance in ' All About Eve ' and bearing it in mind a perceptive viewer can see and hear that very same Eve Harrington, willing to fight for what she wants. To sum up this film is a great film and its time capsule is brilliantly conveyed.
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Killing Off The Homosexual
Some may question the ending of this art house Western ( set in the wrong country, and it shows ) but I do not. The repressed homosexual who was once in a possible sexual relationship with a man who has died must be killed off. It happens so often in mainstream or high profiled art house films this death of the homosexual that some brave critic of note should write about it, but they don't. But back to the film in question; it is a bleak tale of mother love worthy of Norman Bates in ' Psycho ' and the whole cast acts equally bleakly, and in my opinion pretentiously. Cumberbatch is an anguished man who takes it out on everyone, and no doubt in grief for his dead could have been lover. Dunst plays a widow who falls in love with his spruced up brother and somehow she descends into alcoholism, and she does it very well being the best actor in the dreary scenario. She has a son who is truly nasty, but no one seems to notice his methodical cruelty. He cuts up animals and hugs a rabbit before killing it. Quite a boy!! But as he loves his mother he will do anything to save her. From himself ? Cumberbatch tries to get his act together, and has male physique magazines stashed away ,and we certainly cannot tolerate that, and inevitably there is an exit door for him. The scenery which acts better than the humans is a Montana set in 1925 and we all know it is filmed in New Zealand. To sum up I felt numb with depression watching it and longed for Rory Calhoun to rush in and yell at them all for faking Western mythology. But sadly he is dead. To sum up I think most of the actors were miscast ( except Dunst ) and I did not like the tease of male nudity in such a basically heteronormative film. Naked cowboys splashing in water did not make up for the inevitable killing off and a return to so-called normality. The film has been acclaimed heavily as a masterpiece. Perhaps I have looked at it through the wrong end of the telescope.
Brotherly Love (2017)
Good Intentions
I liked this film for its positive intentions, but I disliked the direction of the film and in my opinion Anthony J Caruso should have left it to someone else. And to be absolutely honest I found a lot to be desired in the acting in general. The Catholic ' brothers ' got on my nerves, and especially the stereotyped banter that seemed to go on forever. It did not come from an elderly generation alone, but among the young characters. One ridiculous scene was when one young man did not know of a reference to Bette Davis, and was gently taunted at for not doing so. Why should he have ? In my opinion ( as the film came out in 2017 ) the director should have known that a young generation of viewers had moved away from the ( to me ) internalised homophobia of the past. On the positive side I also felt the film meant well, and I have to say that I speeded up the duration of its relatively long running time towards the end. No spoilers but I glimpsed a gay marriage and despite my former reservations I felt the good intentions of making this rather badly made film.
Arrête avec tes mensonges (2022)
Not One Flaw
I could not find one flaw in this film. How is it that the French have made so many masterly films revolving around homosexuality ? And in a way that is truly adult and involving ? ' Theo and Hugo ' ' Sauvage ' ' Presque Rien ' and believe me the list could go on. I just hope in our troubled times films of such quality will not dry up. But to return to ' Arrete Toi Avec Tes Mensonges ' ( why didn't they just call it ' Stop Your Lies ? ) I have admired Philippe Bresson's books for a long time, and it has taken me a while to dare approach this film based on his book. I feared disappointment. Autobiographical it tells the truth, and it is basically about an elderly man's return to a provincial French town that he came from. And here the present and the past faultlessly interweave. At the age of 17 he fell in love with a youth of his age group who could not truly admit to his sexual orientation. Life parts them, and society and its prejudices and internalised homophobia has a large responsibility for that, and in the 1980's there was a lot of homophobia around. No spoilers except to say the elderly man finds out what has truly happened to the youth he loved, and still does. The film itself is finely directed and I cannot single out one of the cast above another. In my opinion a faultless cast in a faultless film. I cried. I cried seeing how much people have to lie to themselves, and are they cowards to do so ? The end of the film gives an answer to this and I wholly endorsed the ending. A film everyone should see.
On the Waterfront (1954)
No Idea Why
I have seen this film several times. And each time I wonder why this is arguably Marlon Brando's best performance. I would rate his greatest to be the lesser known ' The Men ' and ' A Streetcar Named Desire. ' As for the film itself it is basically about a young man who is brave enough to question the violence and murder of a young man thrown to his death off a rooftop. No spoilers except that it is also about giving testimony against others. Elia Kazan directed, arguably exonerating himself from doing the same thing and the film has its sanctimonious moments about goodness. That I do not buy this approach is perhaps my fault. Eva Marie Saint ( whom I normally admire ) gives a dull rendering of the murdered man's sister. Visually it is drab and no better than a hundred other ' thrillers ' for that is what it is. Finally I feel that it is Marlon Brando playing Marlon Brando.
Horizons West (1952)
Almost unremitting violence
I am not a thick skinned Western Film lover ( I like more softer edges ) and because of this - dare I say? - sensitivity I deplore the consistent man on man violence in this short and bitter tale of returning Confederates to Texas. It starts off gently enough with three men considering what ' defeat ' means to them, and two are brothers played well by Robert Ryan and Rock Hudson. Hudson wants to return to being a Rancher and Ryan, who basically hates himself and others, wants to be rich and literally stinking rich and pay back at life for making him bitter. Violent scene after violent scene shows how he goes about it, combating equally violent men as himself. No spoilers but the film falls into concentrating on him and his attempt to ' get there. ' Julia Adams is his love interest and she is also as money seeking as him. A fine actor she has few scenes and Rock Hudson falls into the side lines. A brutal film for those who like brutality, and my only recommendation is that it is all well directed, has fine Technicolour and there is not one bad frame in the film. But is this enough ? For some it will be.