THE HUSTLER (1961), SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961),

1961

 

Jackie Gleason and Paul Newman in The Hustler

Robert Rossen's The Hustler, based on Walter Tevis's book, is a  showcase for Paul Newman as a pool hustler trying to harness and exploit his talent for the game. The highlights of the film are Newman (as Fast Eddie) playing against the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). But there is much else to recommend this film. One is Eddie's relationship with a troubled woman played by Piper Laurie, an unconventional but believable girlfriend for Eddie. Also effective is George C. Scott as Bert the conniving gambler. It's a nice piece with the black and white photography enhancing the feel of the musty pool room. Newman revived his Fast Eddie role years later in The Color of Money in which he won the Oscar he probably should have won for The Hustler.

From the clearly influenced by department: Later in 1961, The Twilight Zone produced one of it's classic episodes called A Game of Pool in which pool hustler Jesse Cardiff (Jack Klugman) played a game against pool legend Fats Brown (Jonathan Winters).

Klugman and Winters prepare to play A Game of Pool

The legend of Minnesota Fats: Growing up in the 70's, I saw a famous pool player named Minnesota Fats on television shows like The Wide World of Sports and in commercials. I was also aware of the movie The Hustler which featured Fast Eddie Felson playing the legendary Fats. I simply assumed the movie was based on the real life pool player. What I didn't know was that is was actually the other way around! The man I saw was actually a pool player named Rudolph Wanderone who changed his name to Minnesota Fats after the movie came out! He was never the pool player that Willie Mosconi was, but it shows what adopting a catchy moniker can do for your enduring legend.

The hustler formerly known as

Rudolph Wanderone

Calling Maxwell Smart: I was also thinking about the game below form the early 70's-Skittle Pool from Aurora. The object of the game was to sling a little pool ball on a little pendulum and try to knock the balls in the hole of what is sort of like a real but shrunken pool table.It wasn't really much of a game, but I loved the commercial. Don Adams came into a room of tough guys with his Skittle Pool game and declares, "I came to play Wisconsin Skinny" and proceeds to challenge him to a game. "You a hustler?" "No, a salesman." "What do you sell?" "Skittle Pool!" Adams wins the match, but ends up with a black eye and some missing teeth...sometimes the commercial is just better than the game.

Skittle Pool: An indoor outdoor game

Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass might be the most famous American film from the 60's that I had never seen before. A coming of age film set in the late 20's, it features Warren Beatty as a football player who falls in love with Natalie Wood, a girl from the other side of the tracks. The plot of the film doesn't lapse into soap opera as much as it might, due largely to the Oscar winning screenplay by William Inge. The film put Beatty on the map, but it is Natalie Wood as the good girl who has to contend with rejection from the man she loves, a near-rape, a suicide attempt and a descent into madness is the one who really shines here the most. Also of note, is Barbara Loden as Beatty's hard partying sister.

 

 Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty in Splendor in the Grass

--------------

Here are a few other movies I've seen released in 1961 that didn't quite have the right stuff to

make the 1001 list...

The Guns of Navarone

1. Guns of Navarone-Actually, the most famous American movie from the 60's I've never seen, might be this film instead of Splendor in the Grass. The 1001 book does not include The Guns of Navarone, but I really thought it was something I needed to add to my viewing resume. It is the story of a team of commandos hired to thwart German intelligence by destroying two German superguns on the Island of Navarone. The mission is dangerous and most, if not all, are likely to survive...Yet, they do survive, getting through scrape after scrape. I do understand in an action film you can't have your main characters being knocked off too early, but one scene where they destroy a German ship and the crew in hand to hand combat may be an exciting scene, but it is one they seem to accomplish a bit too easily.

The film Guns reminds me the most of is The Dirty Dozen, only it's more like The Dirty Half Dozen, with a couple of hard scrabble female fighters they pick up along the way. I do realize The Dirty Dozen came after The Guns of Navarone, but my perception is what it is. The big name cast is headed by Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven. Would it make my book? I think so. It should certainly make any list of top 100 action films.

2. The Absent-Minded Professor- Certainly a long time since I've seen this Fred MacMurray Disney vehicle where Fred invents a strange substance called flubber. Not to be confused with the sequel Son of Flubber or the remake Flubber with Robin Williams. It's also not to be confused with MacMurray's other Disney vehicle, The Shaggy Dog. A sequel to that film was made in the 70's called The Shaggy D. A. with Dean Jones and the original was remade in 2006 with Tim Allen...I digress.

3.  Babes in Toyland- Another Disney film, this one based on the Victor Herbert operetta starring Annette Funicello, Ray Bolger and Ed Wynn. I had a conversation with my brother once when he referred to this film as the original Babes and Toyland and I told him that the original was made in 1934 under the title of March of the Wooden Soldiers with Laurel and Hardy. He scoffed. To see who's right, check Wikipedia...that's all I'm saying.

4. The Children's Hour-William Wyler's take on the Lillian Hellman play about two teachers plagued by rumors of lesbianism. The film stars Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine...this might be worth a revisit.

My prized Town Without Pity poster

5. Town Without Pity-More people are probably more familiar with the title song by Gene Pitney than the movie itself. The above picture is a poster I picked up at a used book store. If you can't love a poster of a giant, angry, red-faced Kirk Douglas, you are no real movie fan!

6. The Pit and the Pendulum-Another of those American International Poe pictures with Vincent Price. Despite the low budgets, I think these films hold up well.

7. Yojimbo-Another excellent Akira Kurosawa Samurai flick starring Toshiro Mifune. This one was remade by Sergio Leone as a Western in A Fistful of Dollars.

The judges deliberate in Judgement at Nuremburg

8. Judgement at Nuremberg- Stanley Kramer's emotionally jarring version of the Nazi Nuremberg trials starring Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster and Maxamillain Schell. My favorite exchange from the film...

Ernst Janning: Judge Haywood... the reason I asked you to come: Those people, those millions of people... I never knew it would come to that. You *must* believe it, *You must* believe it!
Judge Dan Haywood: Herr Janning, it "came to that" the *first time* you sentenced a man to death you *knew* to be innocent.

9.  A Raisin in the Sun-The definitive film version of the Lorraine Hansberry play about the struggles of a black Chicago family on Chicago's South side.

10.Bloodlust, The Beast of Yucca Flats,Hercules and the Captive Women, Hamlet-Some classic Mystery Science Theater episodes were where I saw a handful of 1961 movies. Bloodlust, a low-budget version of The Most Dangerous Game, The Beast of Yucca Flats, featuring B-movie filmmaker Coleman Francis and starring Tor Johnson, Hercules and the Captive Women, a Hercules movie with no Steve Reeves!, Hamlet, yes even the bard gets the MST treatment in this low budget German TV version with Maxamillian Schell as the Dane.

B-movie legend Tor Johnson in The Beast of Yucca Flats

That's all for 1961..nothing else to see here.

FIRES WERE STARTED (1943, GREAT BRITAIN), HENRY V (1944, GREAT BRITAIN), WHISKEY GALORE! (1949, GREAT BRITAIN), PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (1951, GREAT BRITAIN),

THIS WEEK'S MOVIES

The real life firemen of Fires Were Stated

Fires Were Started is a film shot during World War II about the lives of firemen during that time. It is filmed with real firemen and has a definite neo-realistic feel to it. I have to admit, is probably more historically significant than a great film. Still, I did enjoy many of the scenes where the fireman (and the women who get them where they need to go) are seen off duty where they sing, drink and show their humanity before we see them in action. 

Laurence Olivier in the color enhanced Henry V

I think it's interesting that the 1001 book includes Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944) over his more famous and Oscar winner Hamlet from three years later. The film has beautiful color and costumes, a distinctive style, skilled acting and creative storytelling. One of the most interesting aspects of the piece is how the beginning is depicted as a performance at the Globe Theater in 1600 before seamlessly morphing into something more cinematic. 

The villagers hiding the contraband in Whiskey Galore!

Whiskey Galore! is a slight but charming comedy from Ealing studios and director Alexander Mackendrick. The plot involves the residents of a small island that have taken the alcoholic contents off of a shipwrecked boat and spend much of their time hiding it from the authorities who would take it away from them. Cheers!

Ava and Mason in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is a fantasy drama about a woman (Ava Gardner) who gets everyone to fall for her before she forces them all to give up something of value for her. She then meets a mysterious boatman who might be the centuries old Flying Dutchman who may turn out to finally be her match. 

I was recently reading James Kaplan's biography of Frank Sinatra (Sinatra: The Voice). The sections on Frank's marriage to Ava Gardner might be the highlight of the book. Stunningly beautiful and hedonistic to boot, her personal life might be more interesting to look at more than almost anything she did on the screen.

ORPHEE (1950), DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST (1951, FRANCE), HILL 24 WILL NOT ANSWER (1955, ISRAEL)

THIS WEEK'S MOVIES

An otherworldly journey for Orphee

Only three movies added this week to the 1001 till. The first one is Orphee, from director Jean Cocteau whose most famous film is the 1946 Beauty and the Beast. Orphee has that same otherworldly wistfulness that Beauty and the Beast  also possesses. Orphee is set in modern day (1950) France, but clearly has its roots in a spiritual realm that is timeless.The flow of Orphee leads us into a series of misdirections that include a trip to the underworld and the a tribunal where love itself is on trial. The special effects of the film are by necessity antiquated, yet charming in their own way. Enchantments abounds.

 

Taking notes in The Diary of a Country Priest

More on the morose side is Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, based on the novel by George Bernanos. The subtle filmmaking style of Robert Bresson is really on display here. A young priest  is assigned to a parish where the community he serves doesn't seem to care for him too much. This communal rejection is shown in very covert ways for the most part, but overt just isn't the way Bresson films work. The priest in the film is also in extremely poor health and much of the film is his dealing with the issues of faith, forgiveness, human frailty and grace. Bresson films aren't for everyone as you can look at them as being so understated that at times there seems like nothing is going on. On the other hand, I think that is what gives his films these strength.

Hill 24 Doesn't Answer

Hill 24 Doesn't Answer is an interesting edition to the 1001 list. It's an Israeli film that tells about a group of soldiers that defend a strategic hill in the fight for the independence of Israel in 1948. Much of the story is told in flashbacks detailing the background of the main players. This film had a different feel to it than many films dealing with war, part of that might be because of the combination of  it being a distinctly Israeli story told by Israeli filmmakers. Might make an interesting double feature with the Palestinian film Paradise Now.

Hill 24 wasn't that easy to find. The version I found was in segments on YouTube and it came with Hebrew subtitles (didn't help) and French subtitles (didn't help) and English closed captioned subtitles that got the dialogue on the screen wrong more often than got it right. I don't know what the line was in the screen shot I took above except I'm pretty sure it wasn't "yes or no now pick up pretty."

ARTISTS AND MODELS (1955), SALT OF THE EARTH (1954), GUN CRAZY (1950)

THIS WEEK'S MOVIES

Martin and Lewis in the massage scene from Artists and Models 

The 1950's comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis featured Dean as the suave crooner who romances the ladies and Jerry as the goodhearted goofball who specializes in slapstick comedy. After the team broke up in the late 50's, Dean and Jerry were equally successful on their own, but that's another story. I think there should be a Dean and Jerry movie on the 1001 list and I suppose Artists and Models is as good as any.

The plot involves Dean as a struggling painter and Jerry as a struggling children's author who has an obsession with a comic called Vultureman. The movie features a lot of mistaken identity. Part of that is the mysterious Bat Girl whose secret identity turns out to be a secretary played by Shirley MacLaine. Successful artist Dorothy Malone has a thing for Dean...but doesn't want Dean to know...There's also the twist about Jerry reciting the Vulture's storyline in his dreams, and well, forget the plot. The important parts of the film are the gags. The most successful is the fact that Jerry has to go down several flights of stairs every time he has to answer the phone in their apartment. There also is a massage scene where people in the room continue to pile on and get tangled up and is pretty funny, too.

At War With the Army, That's My Boy and Money from Home are other movies of the team I've seen.

The women decide to join the picket line Salt of the Earth

This is the second time I've seen Salt of the Earth. It is a movie to be seen for it's historical importance as well as it's storyline. The story is about poor Mexican mine workers picketing for better wages. When many of the workers are jailed or become cognizant of the fact that they are no good to their families on the picket lines, their wives take over the picketing. At that point,  the movie begins to take on a bit of a feminist bent. My favorite scene in the movie is the Union meeting where the women bring up the idea of taking over the picketing and eventually convince most of their husbands to go along with it.

In the tradition of neo-realism, the majority of the performers in the film are non-professional actors (Will Geer is an exception.) Salt of the Earth was blacklisted for years.because of its union ties and use of blacklisted performers. Despite not being seen for years, the film eventually gained an underground cult following. The first time I had heard about it was in Danny Peary's Alternate Oscar book where he dubs Salt of the Earth the Best Picture of 1954. Of course, it is also in the 1001 movies book. It's definitely in my book, too.  

The lovely but deadly Peggy Cummings in Gun Crazy

The 1949 United Artist film noir Gun Crazy has a lot going for it. It's the story about a young sharpshooter named Bart who has a thing against killing despite his talent. He gets involved with a female sharpshooter named Laurie  who has no such reservations. Laurie leads Bart into a life of crime, in the tradition of other film noirs such as Double Indemnity and Detour. The story is brisk and fast (86 minutes). The leads of the affable John Nall and the deadly Peggy Cummings are solid. I also liked many of director Joseph H. Lewis's touches, primarily the shots from the back seats of Bart and Laurie's getaway car at the end of each robbery. I'm certainly a noir fan and I'll add Gun Crazy to my list of favorites of the genre.