The Clock (1945)

A serviceman (Robert Walker) in New York on a 48 hour leave bumbles into a young woman (Judy Garland) and coerces her into showing him around town. Despite her better judgement and a total lack of chemistry, he monopolizes all of her free time. Will love bloom?

Robert Walker is better known, to me at least, for his performance in Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (Criss Cross), whose premiere he barely lived long enough to see. His hyper-innocent lost puppy dog character in The Clock was reminiscent of his upbeat psychopath on the Train.

Judy is a Hollywood legend, one I have yet to fully appreciate. Despite her legend status she appeared in only 34 feature films, nine with Mickey Rooney. I have a couple of her better films on my life list (this is the second of her films I have seen) but a movie-a-day calendar recommended The Clock. Primarily a singer, this is one of only three films where she does not sing. I’m not sure if that would have saved it. Like her co-star, Judy’s life was cut short by a toxic lifestyle. Our two leads would live to the ripe old age of 79, combined.

Prolific character actor James Gleason has a memorable scene with his real-life wife. A veteran of 135 films over thirty years, he has appeared in four films I’ve seen prior. Keenan Wynn had an amusing scene as a drunk. He has popped up in many movies.

I’m just going to come out and say it. Judy wasn’t much of an actress. She was charming and cute, but I don’t see any reason why her Alice would fall in love with Walker’s Joe. In fact there were more than enough red flags. If your relationship begins anything like how this film depicts, run. Fast.

The Clock is a somewhat amusing non-com romance that some will be charmed with, but not me. It drags in parts, lacks an emotional hook, and the leads have no chemistry. Maybe that’s because Judy was screwing the director. AMRU 2.5.

Chinatown (1974)

Private Investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by a woman to find out if her husband is having an affair. Husband is Mulwray, a big-wig at the drought stricken Los Angeles water department and is seeing a young blonde. The scandal goes public, lawsuits are filed, and shenanigans come to light about the water department and things become complex.

If you don’t like films where you don’t know what’s going on, Chinatown is not for you. Everyone has secrets and nothing is as it seems. Diane Ladd had a small role. You know, Laura Dern’s mom. There are a few pieces of trivia I’d like to include here but it would reveal details best revealed by watching. I won’t do it to this caliber of film, leaving me with less to say.

Chinatown is neo-noir, a modern interpretation of the 40’s and 50’s film style. It is set in the late 1930’s and follows many of the same conventions but with a more modern sensibility. Code-banned topics are dealt with using code-banned language. Nicholson’s Jake is present in every scene.

Many lesser films use the obfuscation game to make their films seem complex or deep. But Chinatown is a masterpiece. All the pieces fit together in the end, the performances are exceptional, and the cinematography is spectacular. It demands a second viewing and I look forward to that. Too bad the director is a child molester. AMRU 4.5.

“But, Mrs. Mulwray, I goddamn near lost my nose. And I like it. I like breathing through it. And I still think you're hiding something.”

Up In Smoke (1978)

Pedro (Cheech Marin) and Stoner Man (Tommy Chong) go on adventures trying to score some pot that culminates with them unknowingly driving a van made of weed from Tijuana to Los Angeles. Stoner antics ensue.

Cheech and Chong had been working together for ten years before somehow convincing a studio to let them make a film. Once finished, the studio had no idea how to market it, so the boys made comic strips and left them around making it feel like an underground film.

The Altmanesque direction style was no accident. Director Lou Adler was a fan of Robert Altman’s style and much of the dialog is ‘layered’ almost to the point of obfuscation. Lots of stars had small roles like Strother Martin, Edie Adams, Tom Skerritt, and blink-and-you’ll-miss-them Ellen Barkin and Harry Dean Stanton. Stacy Keach played the comedically authoritarian narc.

The granddaddy of the Stoner Comedy genre, Up In Smoke can be amusing at times but sadly it does not hold up. The gags lack any real creativity and the layered dialog makes it hard to understand. I was a fan of their comedy albums back in the day so I was happy to watch, but it doesn’t earn anything past AMRU 2.5. They boys made seven films together in as many years and IMDb and Metacritic both agree, this was the best of them.

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

A famous hunter (Joel McCray) is on yet another adventure when his ship crashes into a reef and sinks. He is the only survivor. He finds a creepy mansion owned by a strange man who is also hosting guests who were shipwrecked earlier that week. Something of an epidemic.

Turns out our host is an avid hunting fan but he’s grown bored with regular hunting. He wants to hunt The Most Dangerous Game, and would love to go on a hunt for our hero Bob. With Bob. He wants to hunt with Bob. Yea, that’s what I meant.

The most famous adaptation of the popular short story, we see Hollywood shoe horn a love interest into an adventure story, because why not. Fay Wray and screen brother Robert Armstrong were already on location filming King Kong, so let’s go make another film during the downtime. Some of the same set pieces are recognizable like the log Kong shakes Fay’s rescuers off to their deaths.

Our villain is played by character actor Leslie Banks. He suffered a facial injury during the Great War and used it to his advantage, playing menacing characters to the end. With McCray acting like the handsome piece of wood that was the custom of the day and Wray doing little more than screaming, Banks’ Zaroff was by far the most interesting character. Armstrong played a drunken buffoon. I don’t think it was until James Bond that the stock Hero character was allowed to be at all clever.

Not a super memorable film. It was short and served its purpose. I appreciate that they kept some of the anti-hunting theme from the source material. Zarloff was interesting but we pretty much know how it would all pan out. AMRU 3.

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)

A handsome young fop has his portrait done then wishes on a creepy cat statue that the portrait would age while he stays young. This actually happens so he tries to keep it a secret. Also, he starts behaving like a dick.

Everyone’s favorite cad George Sanders’ selfish and cynical outlook influences the young Gray to do as he pleases, consequences be damned. As such he has the best lines. Angela Lansbury is adorable as Dorian’s first love. She was nominated for an Oscar. It’s unsettling for me to think of Jessica Fletcher as hot. Donna Reed plays his new love and the only character who visibly ages. Rat Packer Peter Lawford had a small role.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an interesting thriller. There is violence and an element of the supernatural, but it doesn’t quite read horror to me. It is in actuality a period melodrama with elevated language, well appointed sets, and little action. It’s not until the second act that the portrait starts to do its work that things get dark, though it never becomes a truly dark film.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a well made and interesting character study, and a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel. All of Oscar Wilde’s wit is present in Sanders’ Lord Wotton, who is a delight to listen to. This is also the only adaptation of merit, at least so far. AMRU 3.5.

“If I could get back my youth, I'd do anything in the world except get up early, take exercise or be respectable.”

The Omen (1976)

Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) is a rich diplomat whose wife lost a child at birth. Not wanting to disappoint her he is pressured into getting a replacement baby by some rando priest, and doesn’t tell her. Born at exactly the same time, too: June 6 at 6 AM. Wonder what that means. Things are fine until the boy turns five and bad stuff starts to happen.

Much like the other two great Demon horror films of the era, The Omen is a well acted, well written, slow burn that avoids the cheesy pitfalls common with the genre. A big difference with The Exorcist is the lack of horror effects. Little gore and no devil iconography. One could question if this was happening all in his mind. I have yet to see Rosemary’s Baby.

Gregory Peck’s son had killed himself prior to casting and the role of the grieving, conflicted parent appealed to him. Plus being married to Lee Remick is pretty sweet.

Smart, well acted horror films are a rarity with even some of the more popular ones being cliche laden exploitation films. The Omen is a great movie that also happens to be a horror film. It didn’t change cinema quite like how The Exorcist did, a slightly better film, but perhaps it would have had the former not existed. AMRU 4. I have to say I had a similar reaction to going to church as a boy.

“Look at me, Damien! It's all for you!”