Hud (1963)

An aging rancher (Melvyn Douglas) runs a cattle ranch while dealing with his ne'er-do-well son (Paul Newman) and raising his orphaned grandson. When his herd is threatened, old grudges and family secrets are revealed.

Young Lonnie idolizes his reckless uncle and doesn’t understand gramps hostility towards him. It is mentioned in the IMDb blurb, so I suppose it’s not really a spoiler. In the second act it is revealed that Hud drove the car in the accident that killed his brother, Lonnie’s father. Ironically Brandon De Wilde (Lonnie) also died in a car accident at 30, leaving a young child. And so it goes.

Paul lost the Oscar for best actor but Grandpa Melvyn won best supporting actor and Patricia Neal won best actress. Douglas and Neal also appeared together eighteen years later in Ghost Story. That would prove to be Douglas’ last screen appearance, premiering four months after his death.

Yvette Vickers was here. She played a hussy in Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and played a hussy here. She plays a very good hussy. She appeared in only fifteen films and this is my fourth. I’ll likely see a fifth.

Every bit a western, it establishes early that it is set in the present day by panning to a truck. Hud is a slow burn character study. Based on the book Horsemen, pass by, details therein would have made it unfilmable in 1963. That said, Hud is a fascinating and unconventional story. AMRU 4.

Torn Curtain (1966)

Professor Armstrong (Paul Newman) is going on a secret mission, but unfortunately his fiancee (Julie Andrews) decides to tag along. He tries to ditch her, but she follows him into East Berlin. Golly, I wonder how this will all play out.

Getting through the rest of Hitchcock’s CV is going to be a slog. This is film 28 out of I believe 53 and one of his least interesting. Think North by Northwest if nothing about the plot was engaging and the stars had no chemistry. Which is very sad because I really like Newman and Andrews. Remember, this is just one year removed from her being irresistibly charming in The Sound of Music. They felt out of place in a Hitchcock film and didn’t have much to do.

Also, some of the techniques accepted in earlier films, like extensive use of rear screen projection, seemed conspicuously dated for 1966. Furthermore, the script is devoid of the humor so common in earlier films. Everything just fell flat.

Torn Curtain is like a well crafted slice of dry toast. No matter how perfectly it is toasted, it’s still toast. AMRU 2.

Born Yesterday (1950)

A millionaire thug visits Washington DC to make a shady deal with a crooked congressman. He worries that his dumb showgirl girlfriend (Judy Holliday) will embarrass him and screw things up, so he hires the pest reporter (William Holden) teach her something. Will love … yes, love will bloom.

Judy Holliday appeared in the Broadway version of the story but studio execs weren’t interested in taking a chance on an unproven commodity. But Katherine Hepburn beefed up her role in Adam’s Rib (basically the same character) to demonstrate that she could handle it. It worked, she got the role, and won the Oscar, Marisa Tomei style.

A very surprising element is how racy the script is by 1950’s standards. In the first scene between Holliday and Holden’s Billie and Paul she asks if he is a gigolo. Later she outright propositions him. Stage adaptations seemed to be able to get away with this sort of thing. See The Moon is Blue. Seriously, it’s pretty good.

Here again we have the trope where a smart person throws a couple books and big words at a dummy and transforms them into a deep thinker. We suspend our disbelief because despite Billie’s amusingly poor diction, we sense that she is smarter than that. Also, unlike My Fair Lady, the romance is plausible.

Born Yesterday is smart and witty, and the principles give excellent performances. I wanted to like it more than I did, and I don’t know what stopped me. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. Maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe it was the clunky conclusion. I may watch it again, if for no reason than to see if it grows on me. As for now, AMRU 3.5.

“Are you one of these talkers - or would you be interested in a little action?”

The Blue Gardenia (1953)

Pretty Norah (Anne Baxter) gets a Dear Jane letter from her serviceman boyfriend and impulsively takes the date offer from notorious womanizer Harry (Raymond Burr). He proceeds to get her drunk, take her back to his bachelor pad, and get all handsy. She struggles, whacks him with a fireplace poker, then goes home. When he is found dead, the police and press search for a mystery woman.

Anne Baxter is great as the frightened and remorseful Norah, and Richard Conte is the ace reporter that maybe she can trust. Ann Southern is her older, more world weary friend. Despite Ann’s long and storied film career, this is the first time we’ve met. Early on she appeared in vehicles for name-brand male comedians but would later earn her reputation in the ten ‘Maisie’ films between 1939 and 1947. We shall meet again.

Singing the title song is musician Nat ‘King’ Cole playing musician Nat ‘King’ Cole. Cub reporter Al is played by Richard Erdman who is best remembered as that guy who reviews snack foods on youtube.

The Blue Gardenia isn’t much of a mystery and may fall technically short of the Film Noir definition, but it is a very good watch, and most of the credit goes to the adorable Anne Baxter. Not the important or innovative work of director Fritz Lang’s early career, but like I said. It’s a good watch. AMRU 3.5.