cult film freak: lauren bacall

Showing posts with label lauren bacall. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 11/03/2023 / No comments / dorothy malone , film noir or melodrama , gumshoe , howard hawks , humphrey bogart , lauren bacall , martha vickers , mystery , raymond chandler

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s2066/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="2066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SLEEP — following his breakthrough in HIGH SIERRA followed by THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA — was to not only sustain his snowballing stardom, but to make him a ravaging sex symbol...Because every woman here wants him... needs him, even... from a sexy librarian, a sexier bookstore employee (Dorothy Malone)... and even a hot female cab driver gets his number, literally, for a possible nighttime tryst...

dorothy malone, film noir or melodrama, gumshoe, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, martha vickers, mystery, raymond chandler

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2 One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SL...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s1086/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="1086" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how to whistle and leaves the room, there's a closeup on American charter boat captain Harry 'Steve' Morgan played by Humphrey Bogart, where he practically looks into the camera while doing a wolf-whistle, giving a knowing grin that seems more like a contrived promotion for the lovely newcomer than part of an action thriller, very loosely based on the novel... originally a magazine serial in pulp fiction style... by Ernest Hemingway...However there are a few faithful elements, like the initial fishing trip with irate customer Walter Sande and Bogart's rummy sidekick Walter Brennan, who needs a drink every minute... only this being a movie, the score Mickey Mouses in a dated fashion (mirroring exact character movements), especially with Brennan who, despite being a pathetic lush, is the supposed comic relief in a picture with comedy as one of the genres...

action, adventure, british film noir/melodrama, ernest hemingway, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan, world war II

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s1558/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sense of
 CASABLANCA deja vu with the same basic premise: tough and independent 
Humphrey Bogart helps a group of foreign patriots for money, meeting 
within a smoky piano bar, and eventually comes
 around to the cause... Only the characters are based on the
Ernest Hemingway novel, changing the location from Cuba to France as 
Bogart's Harry Morgan, a boat-for-hire fishing guide, gets reluctantly 
involved in 
smuggling two important people with the help of sultry siren Lauren
 Bacall and his alcoholic shipmate Eddy (Walter
 Brennan) as most of the film eventually narrows into one setting: although this 
hotel has a tavern area and many rooms, each providing Bogart ample time
 to outwit the local authorities whilst falling for Bacall and keeping 
his rummy sidekick alive.

adventure, film noir or melodrama, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sen...

DON SIEGEL DIRECTS JOHN WAYNE'S FINAL FILM 'THE SHOOTIST'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBZmfvcl4Ud5k2Z43gzBsfrFvI2g0fOXN2PpbQJhw1ed7lMVmb-aNIFjEhwAIcobYkvZ7uAckiPuhCH56hUuLO-pJIiDpKiVsN7R78OYsa4wYTyqoaErnMOqige4lATtRMEzVNGO-Eb5iO29L2lIhyArQgiahecjt3Fj0_HR-x1K-89WLu4JnNWg2Zg/s1945/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-20%20at%202.33.27%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1945" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeBZmfvcl4Ud5k2Z43gzBsfrFvI2g0fOXN2PpbQJhw1ed7lMVmb-aNIFjEhwAIcobYkvZ7uAckiPuhCH56hUuLO-pJIiDpKiVsN7R78OYsa4wYTyqoaErnMOqige4lATtRMEzVNGO-Eb5iO29L2lIhyArQgiahecjt3Fj0_HR-x1K-89WLu4JnNWg2Zg/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202022-06-20%20at%202.33.27%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE SHOOTIST Stars: John Wayne, Hugh O'Brien Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Don Siegel's THE SHOOTIST seems perfectly suited as John Wayne's final movie since it's about the final week of an infamous gunslinger dying of cancer (given the news by a doctor played by James Stewart); yet there was a string of slightly younger actors considered before a surprisingly healthy-looking Wayne took the now legendary role...Where his acting is solid, true, even mellow despite the fact he's about to die while almost getting killed at the same time, contrasting with a horribly-miscast Ron Howard as the whiny son of Lauren Bacall, running a bed-and-breakfast where Wayne's holed-up, getting sporadic THIS IS YOUR LIFE drop-ins from various character-actors...

don siegel, exploitation, harry morgan, hugh o'brian, james stewart, john wayne, lauren bacall, richard boone, ron howard, seventies, western

DON SIEGEL DIRECTS JOHN WAYNE'S FINAL FILM 'THE SHOOTIST'

Title: THE SHOOTIST Stars: John Wayne, Hugh O'Brien Year: 1976 Rating: ***1/2 Don Siegel's THE SHOOTIST seems perfectly suited as Jo...

DIRECTOR SIDNEY LUMET'S 'MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS'

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2WzOmNDyK-f8MUHa5bc97Ay84EkFKQl84_BdS47IxjPMK5LVc-GIvB4ccsvrWjZEQMLylD6VHOhHfXx0u1buQkhY66UXLLgyD6YHmf-MleW_DGbaOS9E2xMz_9VJ4h-kcoaWCDY5aKML1ZxFORwVCbkNTavrwB9saSoasxM0SpM5fLZYj9PkVFHfQHA=s1814" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1814" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh2WzOmNDyK-f8MUHa5bc97Ay84EkFKQl84_BdS47IxjPMK5LVc-GIvB4ccsvrWjZEQMLylD6VHOhHfXx0u1buQkhY66UXLLgyD6YHmf-MleW_DGbaOS9E2xMz_9VJ4h-kcoaWCDY5aKML1ZxFORwVCbkNTavrwB9saSoasxM0SpM5fLZYj9PkVFHfQHA=w400-h224" width="400"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: Murder on the Orient Express Year: 1974 Rating: *1/2 </td></tr></tbody></table>Finishing up reviews of the EMI-backed British productions of <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/agatha%20christie">Agatha Christie adaptations</a> is the first, and somehow most popular, in Sidney Lumet's MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS starring the otherwise splendid actor Albert Finney... Who, as quirky/offbeat Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, looks as if Charlie Chaplin gained weight after eating pies thrown on a stiff face caked with so much distracting makeup he's hardly able to speak... and with a horribly fake-sounding accent... Meanwhile the 1970's all-star-cast.. ranging from murdered enigmatic "businessman" Richard Widmark with humble aid Anthony Perkins, two veteran actresses Lauren Bacall and Ingrid Bergman, token muscular-handsome fella Sean Connery paired with beautiful young Jacqueline Bissett and Poirot's right-hand-man Martin Balsam... merely fill space within an otherwise stylishly antique setting but the plot, like the titular train, is all dressed up with nowhere to go, slowly.