An oddly structured movie, pure horror for its opening and closing sequences, but really a gritty thriller all through the lengthy middle section. For that reason, a movie that was a surprise hit upon release hasn’t always been a favorite of horror fans in years since. But I find both aspects of the movie equally compelling, even if they don’t quite fit together. During the thriller mid-section, Fred Walton makes highly atmospheric use of downtown L.A. locations, and he scores…
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My Bloody Valentine 1981
As vintage slashers go, one of the more ambitiously conceived and handsomely produced titles, with the mining-town setting convincingly sketched in, and a script that develops its characters without stinting on the shocks. But the execution is rather clunky, and the cast stretched thin by the greater demands placed on them. Still, an unusually absorbing experience by its subgenre's standards, with some unforgettable images resulting from the mining setting and miners-outfit costume for the killer.
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Hold Back the Dawn 1941
Excellent mix of comedy and melodrama from a Wilder/Brackett script and directed by Mitchell Leisen, one of the lesser-known masters of Golden Age Hollywood. More of an earnest social message than Wilder usually allowed himself, maybe because this was pre-Red Scare. There's also an ingenious framing device, not unlike DOUBLE INDEMNITY and SUNSET BOULEVARD, but especially intriguing here for how quasi-"meta" it is. DeHavilland and Boyer are also a little looser in their performances than you'd expect from what is ultimately, essentially, a traditional love story.
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The Day of the Jackal 1973
A childhood favorite--it's been in the back of my mind to rewatch this ever since I read of Steven Spielberg claiming its influence on MUNICH (so, obviously, for a while.) It clearly is that in the vintage and the locations, which are beautifully captured by Jewish European emigre Fred Zinnemann--I wonder how he felt about this extensive return tour of the Continent? Another possible influence--or at least point of comparison--is NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, in the procedural, show-the-scenes-other-movies-leave-out approach…