FILM FRENZY

Ben Affleck in The Town (Photos: Warner)

By Matt Brunson

(This feature is part of a rotating series that digs into the past and uncovers a movie as follows: Two-Star Tuesday for a movie that earns either two or two-and-a-half stars; One-Star Wednesday for a movie that earns either one or one-and-a-half stars; Three-Star Thursday for a movie that earns either three or three-and-a-half stars; and Four-Star Friday for a movie that earns four stars.)

Those movie fans who still prefer physical media to streaming (and long may we live and prosper) will be interested to learn that the Warner Archive 17th Anniversary Sale is now underway. Folks can head to www.moviezyng.com to check out the hundreds of Blu-rays that are included in the “4 for $54” sale. Over 600 titles are eligible, including over 100 that have never before been part of previous sales. Simply pick four Blus for $54 and apply the code “ARCHIVE 17” at checkout to receive the sale price (plus a new lower shipping cost). If four is too limiting, film fanatics can purchase additional movies for $13.50 apiece. The sale runs through Tuesday, March 31.

With over 600 titles on tap, it’s probably appropriate to apply the adage that there’s something for everyone. Below are four of the many available flicks, all of which rank highly with me and deserve any attention they can get.

MURDER, MY SWEET (1944)
★★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Edward Dmytryk
STARS Dick Powell, Claire Trevor

Dick Powell, heretofore known as a jovial hoofer in splashy musicals, pulled off a complete career about-face with his concrete-tough performance in this film noir gem. Adapted from Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, it finds the actor cast as private detective Philip Marlowe (the same gumshoe played by Humphrey Bogart two years later in The Big Sleep). Into Marlowe’s office walks the hulking Moose Malloy (Mike Mazurki), who demands that the P.I. locate his long-missing girlfriend, a nightclub employee named Velma Valento. Marlowe takes the case, which is immediately followed by another assignment that involves an icy blonde (Claire Trevor), her seemingly innocent stepdaughter (Anne Shirley), and a missing necklace. Sure enough, both cases will eventually intersect, but not before director Edward Dmytryk employs the genre’s requisite shadows to spellbinding effect and scripter John Paxton treats us to some savory snatches of dialogue in the best noir tradition. “You’d slit your own throat for six bits plus tax” has always been a particular favorite, although not to be outdone is Marlowe’s description of a broken-down alcoholic (Esther Howard): “She was a middle-aged lady with a face like a bucket of mud… She was a gal who’d take a drink, even if she had to knock you down to get the bottle.”

HOUSE OF WAX (1953)
★★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Andre de Toth
STARS Vincent Price, Phyllis Kirk

Far too many movies originally released in 3-D have relied on the novelty of the gimmick to cover up what would otherwise be a completely disposable motion picture, but what’s unique about this Top 10 box office smash — #6 for its year, nestled between Disney’s Peter Pan and Marilyn’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes — is that on its own two-dimensional terms, it’s a heckuva lot of fun. Vincent Price came into his own as a horror icon with this picture — he stars as Henry Jarrod, a kindly artist who prefers his wax figures to promote beauty and history rather than murders and exploitation. That’s not good enough for his partner (Roy Roberts), who realizes he can make a quick buck by burning the museum down and collecting on the insurance. Jarrod is caught in the blaze, but rather than perishing, he escapes disfigured and deranged. He subsequently sets up another museum, but the fact that his Joan of Arc creation looks exactly like a recently murdered woman (Carolyn Jones) rouses the suspicions of her roommate Sue (Phyllis Kirk). There are of course concessions to the 3-D format — check out that paddleball man! — but even without them, this is a chiller of the first order, with one of the highlights being Jarrod’s pursuit of Sue through empty, nocturnal streets. That’s Charles Bronson (then still billed as Charles Buchinsky) as Jarrod’s mute assistant. It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that it’s best to skip the atrocious 2005 remake featuring Paris Hilton.

S.O.B. (1981)
★★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Blake Edwards
STARS Julie Andrews, William Holden

Writer-director Blake Edwards’ outrageous and underrated S.O.B. may never be held in the same regard as Sunset Boulevard or The Player, but as a searing satire about the underbelly of the Hollywood lifestyle, it still ranks as one of the best. Julie Andrews (Edwards’ wife from 1969 until his death in 2010) and William Holden head an all-star cast that gamely throws itself into the vicious story of Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan), a producer who decides the only way to turn his mega-flop into a mega-hit is by juicing it up with softcore porn sequences — and having Sally Miles (Andrews), the wholesome leading lady, bare her breasts for the camera. Edwards, who had been working in the movie business for decades and knew it inside and out, delivers a hilarious picture that’s dripping with cynicism and venom, and he assembled a terrific ensemble that includes Holden (in his final film appearance, passing away later in ’81) as a sympathizing director, Robert Webber as a nervous press agent, and two then-hot TV stars, Dallas’ Larry Hagman and M*A*S*H’s Loretta Swit, as, respectively, a studio toadie and a gossip columnist. Best of all, though, is Robert Preston, whose performance as Dr. Irving Finegarten, a sardonic doctor who’s never caught off-guard, remains one of my favorite comic turns in all of filmdom. (When asked if Sally is well enough to perform after receiving a shot, he replies, “Is Batman a transvestite? Who knows?”) Preston deservedly received Best Supporting Actor honors from the National Society of Film Critics, but the Academy failed to follow suit — the group did, however, nominate him, Andrews, and (as scripter) Edwards for their next collaboration, the following year’s Victor/Victoria.

THE TOWN (2010)
★★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Ben Affleck
STARS Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall

A crackling drama with a fine sense of both spatial relationships (thank director Ben Affleck) and character relationships (thank scripter Ben Affleck), this adaptation (co-written by Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard) of Chuck Hogan’s novel Prince of Thieves is set in a section of Boston which produces more than its fair share of bank robbers. One of these heist-happy fellows is Doug MacRay (Affleck again), who leads his three accomplices (the most volatile played by Jeremy Renner) on a caper that results in the masked bandits briefly taking a hostage, bank employee Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall). Electing to keep tabs on Claire to ensure she doesn’t get too chummy with the FBI agent (Jon Hamm) on the case and reveal anything that might incriminate the gang, Doug strikes up a friendship with the unsuspecting woman, a camaraderie that quickly turns into love. A genre flick like this can’t avoid all the clichés, but it manages to sidestep some of the biggest ones; at any rate, it’s the little moments that make this stand out. Affleck’s work is completely self-assured: The film can quickly shift from funny to frightening, and it plays out in ways not entirely expected. Renner earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his work, but the nod should have gone to Pete Postlethwaite, chilling as a neighborhood kingpin whose wiry frame and low voice belie his demonic disposition. Tragically, Postlethwaite passed away from cancer a few months after the film’s debut, at the age of 64.