Canon City (Crane Wilbur, 1948)
Jul
31
grub
A close-up of two prisoners' hands. One is handling grub with a spoon from a stainless steel soup bowl. DP: John Alton.
Dillinger è morto [Dillinger Is Dead] (Marco Ferreri, 1969)
Pow!
Industrial designer Glauco (Michel Piccoli) arrives home after a long long, tedious day. His wife Ginette (Anita Pallenberg) – in bed high on painkillers – cooked dinner but the dish is bland and long cold, and the maid (Annie Girardot) is already sleeping. Glauco decides to cook himself a gourmet meal. Looking for ingredients he finds a 1934 newspaper reporting the dead of Chicago gangster John Dillinger with inside of it a rusty 1930s revolver. Fascinated, he meticulously restores the handgun while preparing his meal.
Dillinger è morto is a story of food and alienation. Piccoli's Glauco, bored of his successful career, bored of his beautiful wife, bored of his beautiful house, finds sudden vigour in the act of preparing food and restoring an item that shouldn't be where it is and with that, essentially recreates John Dillinger's escape from Crown Point.
John Dillinger posing with a Tommy gun and the hand-carved wooden gun that he used to escape inescapable Crown Point jail on March 3, 1934. Crudely carved into the dupe's barrel are the words COLT 38.
#Bales2023FilmChallenge #MarcoFerreri #MichelPiccoli #AnitaPallenberg #AnnieGirardot #TeoUsuelli #MarioVulpiani #Italy #drama #crime #satire #food #1960s ★★★★☆
“The reality is that we do not wash our own laundry; it just gets dirtier.”
Serpico (Sidney Lumet, 1973)
Jul
30
National Whistleblower Day
The cover of the Austrian film magazine “Neues Filmprogramm”. A red-filtered lobby card of Frank Serpico (Al Pacino) and his partner (F. Murray Abraham, uncredited) during police proceedings. DP: Arthur J. Ornitz.
In the late 1960s, Frank Serpico worked as a plainclothes cop for the #NYPD. He spoke out when he uncovered systematic, widespread #corruption within the force, but his findings were ignored. In 1970, Serpico cowrote a page 1 article for the New York Times about the problem, which led to the instalment of the Commission to Investigate Alleged Police Corruption aka the Knapp Commission.
– Frank Serpico
The following year during a drug-related arrest attempt, he was shot in the face under shady circumstances. This is where Sidney Lumet's Serpico, based on Peter Maas and Frank Serpico's book of the same name, starts.
“Ah, well, if you love somebody, shoot!”
La ragazza con la pistola [The Girl with a Pistol] (Mario Monicelli, 1968)
Jul
28
Assunta Patanè (Monica Vitti) seated between two dinner tables on a long, padded bench. She's clutching her purse and appears to be waiting for something. On the table to her right a sugar bowl and a branded ashtray. DP: Carlo Di Palma.
– Dr. Tom Osborne
“Ich werde mich entschlossen verirren.”
Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter [The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick] (Wim Wenders, 1972)
Jul
28
National Soccer Day
Trainer, reserve players and goalkeeper Bloch on the bench after the latter has been removed from the match. Bloch (Arthur Brauss) has his upper body turned away from the others' and sits with only half of his backside on the bench. DP: Robby Müller.
A lot of #soccer there's not, in Wim Wenders' Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter. What we do have happens almost right at the start. After a foul, the titular goalkeeper Bloch (Arthur Brauss) is removed from the match. Frustrated he leaves and finds himself roaming the streets of #Vienna where he picks up boxoffice girl Gloria (Erika Pluhar). In the morning he kills her and travels to the countryside, waiting for the police to arrest him.
– Peter Handke
Die Angst is an early, perfect example of Junger Deutscher Film (”New German Cinema”). Its cinematic thanks to Robby Müller's observant eye and Peter Handke's precise language, both describing scenes and performers as if observed through a fourth wall.
A very slow burning road movie, a Taxi Driver in reverse if you will, that does without the neurotic showmanship of its Hollywood counterpart.
Swirlee (James Lorinz, 1989)
Jul
23
National Vanilla Ice Cream Day
Newspaper clipping. Mr Softy's roommate (David Caruso) and Mr Softy (James Lorinz), a man with a softee for/as a head, pose for a picture.
– He's got a calendar in there.
– What day is it?
– It's a broad in a cowboy hat.
– Scooby doo bi doo ba ba.
Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1959/1960)
Jul
21
Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) “watching TV”. Ann Carlyle (Kate Manx) stripping for her husband is on. DP: Ted D. McCord.
Date watched, not the date in the movie. The quote was too good to leave it off this blog.
“You know how much coffee I've had today? 17 cups. The Brazilians ought to give me a medal.”
The Sniper (Edward Dmytryk, 1952)
Jul
21
chow mein
Dr. James G. Kent (Richard Kiley) discussing the case during lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After scratching his temple with his chopsticks, he attempts to eat his noodles with the utensils' grip. DP: Burnett Guffey.
– ER doctor
“I'm looking for the Hitchcock residence.”
Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1960)
Jul
20
lemonade
A blonde lady (Kate Manx) holds a wicker ray with a pitcher of lemonade and several glasses. Her anxious look contrast with the carefree promise of summer sky and cool drinks. DP: Ted D. McCord.
– Duke
“We'll eat Chinese. OK?”
La piscine [The Swimming Pool] (Jacques Deray, 1969)
Jul
13
“Chinese food”
The two couples (Delon and Schneider, and Ronet and Birkin) awkwardly share dinner. There's wine in red glasses and the food, plated on rustic French dinnerware, is handled with chopsticks. DP: Jean-Jacques Tarbès.
