Strange Bargain (1949)

An assistant bookkeeper, struggling to provide for his family, gets a peculiar offer from his boss. One might say, a Strange Bargain. The boss, despite living a lavish lifestyle, is absolutely broke. Not wanting his family to abandon the lifestyle they've come accustomed to, he decides to commit suicide. He offers ten grand to good man Sam to make it look like murder, you know, because of the insurance. A young Harry Morgan is the hot shot investigator.

While there is mystery here, we know Sam’s exact role in the operation. Involved but not guilty of any real crime, he decides to lie to the investigators and act as guilty as humanly possible. Colonel Potter takes notice.

I suppose we call this film noir, but it lacks much of the attitude we come to expect, ambiguity in particular, but it is what it is. On an interesting side note, Harry Morgan would reprise his role thirty eight years later for an episode of Murder, She Wrote, although I understand the story details differ. Its available on Prime, and I'm curious.

Strange Bargain is an entertaining, but ultimately forgettable film. For much of the film we just worry that a good man doesn’t get in trouble for his role in insurance fraud. Or accidentally accused of murder. Morgan, impressively charismatic in his role, would have made for a better protagonist. And better movies have better protagonists. AMRU 3.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)

After yet another cold war informant is executed, a British operative (Richard Burton) goes on one last mission. He offers carefully crafted information for sale to the East that will incriminate his adversary. Not everything goes to plan.

First Richard Burton film, like, ever. Haven’t seen his sometimes wife for the blog yet and I expected to get a two for one with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, still on my DVR. Burton wanted Taylor to play his love interest but Claire Bloom was cast instead.

Slow, plodding, and dreary, the story is surprisingly engaging. Burton played a borderline drunk, which must have been quite a stretch for him, what with him being a roaring drunk. Filming would occasionally be interrupted by his and Taylor’s drunken behavior. The character’s age was changed from 50 to 39, Burton’s age at the time, but he looked every bit of 50, and more. He would die at fifty eight.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a compelling if confounding story. Its tone is quite different from most movies of the day and the viewer is tossed in many directions. Also, Burton barely emoted at all. It will stand up to a second viewing. I still have one puzzle about the ending to solve. AMRU 4.

“Fiedler's a Jew, of course, and Mundt's quite the other thing.”

2023 Retrospective

Once again, here is my year-end wrap-up to lament the films I felt like watching versus the films I should have watched. Nevertheless, I feel I’ve managed to see some good stuff within my pile of forgettables. This will be a long one.

My favorite film of the year may have been The Sweet Smell of Success (1957), with honorable mentions to It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), Mildred Pierce (1945), and Paper Moon (1973). Mad World was a surprise even though I loved the film as a kid. Despite its length, it’s a real pleasure to watch and never drags. Oh, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) is the only other true comedy with an intermission, but they used it comedically.

Ingagi (1930) was the worst film for so many reasons.

Of the 44 films I watched in 2023 for my blog, two were best pictures, two were silent, and only one was foreign language. So much for ticking off those boxes. And speaking of arbitrary lists, I never managed to see a single Hitchcock film. I lost a couple when my DVR went south, but that’s not a real excuse. I think I have two harder to find ones on there now.

I watched one each of Buster Keaton, Preston Sturges, and James Bond. Maybe I will get back to the 007 series, maybe not. I’d like to finish off the William Castle films, but they are a little difficult to find. I have one on my DVR.

I saw 27 other films this past year. These are films that were either rewatches or outside of the blog scope. I’ve tried to keep the description brief. Here they are in the order I watched them:

Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
Nick Offerman is a record store owner with a smart daughter, dead wife, and issues. Very watchable, pretty forgettable. 3 / 5.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
I watched before the ceremony and thought it would never win Best Picture because the Academy doesn’t reward artistic merit. I was delightfully surprised. 4 / 5.

Half Nelson (2006)
Ryan Gosling is a white teacher in an inner city school and tries to help an at-risk student, but needs more help himself. An interesting deconstruction of the white savior trope, but an unpleasant watch. 2 ½ / 5.

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982)
Aristocrat masquerades as a gay man to hide his revolutionary heroics. Think a French Zorro: the Gay Blade. Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen are in supporting roles. Made for TV. 3 / 5.

A Man Called Ove (2015)
Interesting character study of a grumpy old man dealing with, well, some stuff. Smart and very enjoyable. There is a Tom Hanks remake I may see someday. 3 ½ / 5.

Pinocchio (2022)
I don’t care much for animated films, but I am heartened that Pinocchio won the Oscar. It was amazing and a far cry from the commercial, emotionally manipulative crap that usually wins. Don’t get me wrong, Coco was fine, but it adhered to all the genre’s tropes. 4 / 5.

The Naked Gun (1988) - Rewatch
Loved the Naked Gun series back in the day, and the Police Squad! series that spawned it, but I don’t think it holds up. It was fun to reminisce, but that’s all. 3 ½ / 5.

Some Like it Hot (1959) - Rewatch
Probably my favorite classic Hollywood comedy. The comedy holds up, has a smart script, good story, and Marilyn at her finest. 4 ½ / 5.

Practical Magic (1998) - Rewatch
Star power, fine performances, interesting setting, lack-luster rom-com. Not a bad watch, but should have been more. 3 / 5.

Dial M for Murder (1954) - Rewatch
Seldom does a crime/caper film make such perfect sense from the criminal’s perspective. It’s an underappreciated Hitchcock, and the second best film he made that year. 4 / 5.

Words and Pictures (2013)
Silly competition between high school art and literature teachers. Very good elements and some excellent performances (Juliette Binoche), but the premise is silly and they failed to stick the landing. It should have been better. 3 / 5.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - Rewatch
Rewatched with a group, many of which had not seen it. The film really benefits from a second viewing and with a crowd. I noticed a lot I missed the first time. “Joy? Why are you dressed all stupid?”

Sunset Boulevard (1950) - Rewatch
This film should be on permanent rotation. I notice something new each time I watch it. 4 ½ / 5.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Visually impressive but perhaps a bit too much. Maybe the most effective anti-drug film I’ve ever seen, but if there was a larger narrative, I missed it. 3 ½ / 5.

The Hangover (2009)
Mildly amusing crass comedy. Somewhat smarter than I expected. Heather Graham is adorable. 3 ½ / 5.

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
By the numbers “Good genius faces adversity”, this time detailing the real life story of Srinivasa Ramanujan. 3 / 5.

Renfield (2023)
Action horror with Nick Cage and Nicholas Hoult in the title role. Excellent action sequences, fun script, campy performances, visually fascinating, it was a pleasure to watch. Comic gore at its best. It failed to make half its budget back. 3 ½ / 5.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) - Rewatch
Really, an underrated Rom-Com. I return to it frequently. It very much mirrors my wedding, except my wife is the pretty one. 4 / 5.

Cinema Paradiso (1988) - Rewatch
A love letter to and an obituary of traditional movie theaters. Strong Italian neorealism vibe and a lot going on. 4 / 5.

To Be or Not To Be (1942) - Rewatch
Wonderful film. Definitely one of the thirty or forty films on my top ten list. 4 ½ / 5.

The Uninvited (1944) - Rewatch
I think I liked it even more this viewing. However, Roderick’s pursuit of young Stella felt a little creepy. 4 / 5.

Ransom for a Dead Man (1971)
The second Columbo made-for-TV feature length film. Pretty forgettable. 3 / 5.

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021)
Mockumentary about a tchotchke trinket dealing with loss of family. I wasn’t as charmed as much as I expected. 3 / 5.

The Man who Invented Christmas (2017)
Biopic about Charles Dickens while he is creating A Christmas Carol. Pleasant watch and apparently fairly historical. 3 ½ / 5.

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)
2 / 5. Nuff said.

Barbie (2023)
Good film. Perhaps not a #GreatFilm, but definitely had good stuff in there. I felt it dragged a bit in the third act. 3 ½ / 5.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
Absurd, consequence-free action sequences are a bit exhausting, and seeing a de-aged Indi on top of a moving train gave me Polar Express vibes. Still, better than Crystal Skull. 3 / 5.

If it seems that my films from late July through August follow a theme, it’s because I went on my first ever trip into the Pacific time zone. August isn’t the greatest time to be in the desert, but that’s when the conference was. But my mid-year Vegas film binge encouraged me to watch another Bond film and my first Elvis flick. Neither were terrible. I won’t see another, unless the situation demands it.

Which brings me to the Arbitrary List part of the show. Stanley Kubrick directed only thirteen films, two outside of the blog’s scope. I’ve covered six of the eleven, and four of the five remaining are well over two hours long. Hey, TCM: please rerun Killer’s Kiss (1955). My DVR promises not to eat it this time.

William Castle directed fifty six features, but it’s his gimmick horror starting in the late 50’s that interest me. It’s a hard list to define, but I could stand to see four or five more. They are hard to watch, without paying Amazon four bucks for a poor quality public domain copy or slogging to the local library and to deal with scratchy discs. A more concise list is Buster Keaton silent comedies. There are twelve and I have four left. They are much more accessible.

Preston Sturges directed only thirteen films and I am unsure why so few. He started a little late and died at sixty, but thirteen is still a pretty small number. I have seven more to go.

No predictions for 2024. I guess I will continue to watch what I watch. I need to see more foreign films, but I say that every year. I also want to see more films Oscar nominated for the current year, but it is what it is. Barbie isn’t going to win best picture.