The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

Although it can be daunting to have an ever-growing “to watch” list, with every main movie title reminding me of at least three or four other movies I have still to get around to, I love any time when the film conversation flows around certain genres or topics in a way that leads to me being encouraged to check out something considered a classic by many. And that is how I came to belatedly watching The Asphalt Jungle recently.

It’s a simple tale. A group of people are put together to commit a robbery, but the job is endangered by the potential for misfortune and treachery. People start to suffer, but the moral core of the film means that viewers will be expecting a downbeat finale from the very opening scenes.

Based on a novel by W. R. Burnett, this is a screenplay co-written by Ben Maddow and director John Huston that nicely blends the prep and execution of the crime with moments showing us some more background of some of the key players. Huston keeps things paced perfectly, and benefits from an excellent cast.

Sterling Hayden is the nominal lead, Dix Handley, and he tries hard to keep a cool head, even as others start to panic. Sam Jaffe is the man with the expertise required to pull off the robbery, allowing himself to trust in the men who make up the brawn surrounding his brain. James Whitmore and Anthony Caruso play Gus and Ciavelli, respectively, the other two men making up the core team. Everyone does good work, but Hayden and Jaffe stand out, helped by the fact that we get to spend a bit more time with their characters. There’s also a great selection of supporting players, allowing us to enjoy great performances from Louis Calhern and Jean Hagen, the former as slippery and untrustworthy as the latter is sweet and dependable. I could reel off many other names, each deserving a mention for their part in making this a consistently gripping tale, but you should just see them all for yourself. Oh, and Marilyn Monroe shines in one main scene (the merest hint of what was to come with her star ascending).

It goes without saying that Huston is a great director for this material, and those familiar with any of his films will know what to expect here. The Asphalt Jungle shows a number of people who end up stuck between a rock and a hard place, some holding on to their own moral code while others are willing to make bigger sacrifices if it gets them an escape route, and it may well have you rooting for one or two people that you wouldn’t normally root for. 

A classic, but most people know that already.

9/10

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The Dunwich Horror (1970)

There are a number of times in my adult life when I have rewatched a film I haven’t seen in decades, only to realise that it wasn’t the film I was thinking of. It happened again with The Dunwich Horror, a film I always used to confuse with The Devonsville Terror. I realised my confusion back when I finally rewatched The Devonsville Terror, but that meant that I was eager to revisit The Dunwich Horror. And I don’t think many people have been eager to revisit this.

Dean Stockwell plays Wilbur Whately, a young man who wants to borrow a copy of the infamous Necronomicon and chant some words that will unnerve anyone who has already heard of the mighty Yog-Sothoth. He charms young Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee), a woman who returns with him to his home, soon getting a sense of how local people feel about his family name, and unwittingly being prepared to play an important part in a ritual that Whately has been planning for some time.

Working from the source material by H. P. Lovecraft, three people worked on this script, including a writing debut from Curtis Hanson (credited as Curtis Lee Hanson), but nobody can really do enough to turn it into a satisfying horror movie. Instead, it all rests on the dark charm of Stockwell (which works) and the exchanges between the rest of the cast (which doesn’t). Director Daniel Haller doesn’t seem to know how to make things more cinematic (it’s unsurprising to find that he only did a handful of movies before spending most of his career directing episodes for a wide variety of TV shows), and many scenes waver between being dull and being laughable.

Stockwell almost makes it all worthwhile though. His strange and enjoyable performance allows him to prove what fantastic screen presence he has. It is a shame that nobody else can come close to him, with Dee particularly bland, her casting more damaging to the film because she brings no energy to it. Ed Begley and Lloyd Bochner and wiser elders, hopefully due to figure things out and save Nancy before it’s too late, and Sam Jaffe is fairly enjoyable in the role of Old Whately, a combination of grumpy grandfather and “Crazy Ralph”. I wish that Donna Baccala (playing Nancy’s friend, Elizabeth) had more screentime, because she makes a much better impression with her few scenes than Dee makes at any time. Unfortunately, she disappears all too soon.

Lovecraft, like many other horror writers, has been translated from page to screen with greatly varying degrees of success, but some people will always enjoy seeing any attempt to film his work. The Dunwich Horror still has just enough in it to make it of interest to those who know the source material, and deserves to be watched by anyone who likes Stockwell, but I am not sure how many people would try to class it as a good movie. It isn’t one. But it does have an odd charm that will endear it to some.

4/10

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Sci-Fi September: The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)

One of my favourite sci-fi movies of all time, The Day The Earth Stood Still is a film that I have loved ever since discovering it when I was still a young boy. Watching it as an adult, it seems strange to me that I liked it so much in my youth. Not because the film is bad, oh no, but because it doesn't have the usual mix of easy distractions that would have appealed to the younger me. This is a film paced perfectly for people thinking about how they would react to the situation being depicted, yet it still manages to entertain while providing plenty of food for thought.

Michael Rennie plays Klaatu, a spaceman who pays a visit to Earth one day. Not a sneaky, undercover visit, but one that's hard to miss. He lands his spaceship, walks out with his trusty robot (Gort) beside him, and announces his plans to meet with the major leaders of the world. After some initial nervousness from the main people that he speaks to, Klaatu decides to go incognito for a while, getting himself lodgings while he sets out to find one of the more intelligent human beings on the planet (Professor Jacob Barnhardt, played by Sam Jaffe). And he also has to figure out how to make a statement to the world that will display some awesome power without being viewed as an act of aggression.

Directed by Robert Wise, a man responsible for a number of classic movies in a number of different genres, this remains both a prime example of standard sci-fi from the 1950s and also something quite unique. It has a flying saucer, a big robot, and even the essential "take me to your leader" request from the main alien. Yet it also has a main alien who is completely humanoid in appearance, and also coming to see us in peace, and there's a lack of any tension and/or sheer terror that would appear in so many other outings from this decade.

Michael Rennie may not be the most charismatic leading man, but he's pretty perfect for this role. Slightly cold, just a little bit stiff in his delivery, but completely non-threatening to anyone he encounters, he really anchors the whole movie. Patricia Neal is a pleasant female lead, and Billy Gray is lively and entertaining (in the role of her son, a young boy who helps Klaatu find his way around). Jaffe plays Professor Barnhardt exactly as a professor should be played, and is another highlight in a film packed full of them.

Based on a story by Harry Bates, the script by Edmund H. North allows everything to move along briskly without ever feeling as if it omits anything for the sake of patronising viewers. Of course, Gort has become a bit of an icon, a favoured creation among lovers of the genre, but he doesn't feel as if he's there JUST to widen the appeal of the material (although maybe that's exactly why he was there - I've not read the original short story so can't say).

Last, I just have to mention the great score by Bernard Herrmann (especially as I was guilty of forgetting to compliment the fantastic, electronic score in Forbidden Planet - by Louis and Bebe Barron). Herrmann makes some great use of theremins in his wonderful score, a unique instrument that seems designed particularly for use in sci-fi movies, and the whole thing is a treat for fans of great soundtracks.

All of these words written about one of my favourite movies when all I really should have said was: absolute classic.

10/10

http://www.amazon.com/Day-Earth-Stood-Still/dp/B00005JKFR/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1410813998&sr=1-1&keywords=the+day+the+earth+stood+still+1951