The Man Who Fell to Earth begins as an alien (played by otherworldly pop star David Bowie in his film debut) tries to trade electronic patents for money to rescue his family on a distant planet and it ends as the hopeless creature slides into alcoholism. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) amplify the theme.īad Timing examines the ultimate in self-destructive, obsessive relationships, between a control freak (Art Garfunkel) and a bewildered free spirit (Theresa Russell, who later married Roeg). The articulate extras in the Criterion editions of Performance, Don't Look Now and (in the father's opening breakdown) Yes, Christmas already.ĭirector Nicolas Roeg is fascinated by psychological disintegration and intrigue, as he proved with the films Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), a visually lovely $50-million movie with an inert, often cloying story ("Oh, don't be elf-conscious") and leaden pace despite the best efforts of Dudley Moore as an elf (a role for which he got $5-million) and John Lithgow as a greedy toy maker. Oldboy, a sterling (and gruesome, and ingenious) example of the new wave of South Korean horror films, this one about a fellow imprisoned for 15 years by forces unknown and then given five days to find out who was behind it all and a reissue of Saint Ralph, about a boy trying to compete in the Boston Marathon in hopes a miracle will revive his mother "And he said, 'Whaddya mean?Īrrested Development Season 2 has 18 episodes of the great dysfunctional-family comedy in which sane Michael tries to keep his wacky family from flying apart. Shivering in the cold, she told Wayne the clay resembled bird droppings. In one of several extras, Maureen O'Hara recalls that she and Wayne were caked for the close-ups with bentonite, a foul substitute for mud. It starts on a hill, winds up in a pool of mud and sucks in everyone in the film. The Taming of the Shrew) but has one of cinema's more memorable brawls. ![]() ![]() McLintock! (1963), one of several new John Wayne titles, is a western comedy that will put off some with its chauvinism (a variation on Kingdom of Heaven, Ridley Scott's epic tale of Orlando Bloom in the Crusades, includes the welcome option of a feature-length written commentary explaining the history and deciphering all that Latin ("crusade" derives ultimately from Dramatically, it worked and Hitchcock's clear aim was a patriotic call to the Allies to band together and not weaken in the face of Nazi tyranny. Zanuck had worried even before filming began that the German "is the strong man over too long a period of time." But it was a bum rap. ![]() The film, shot and released in wartime from a script based by Jo Swerling on a scenario by John Steinbeck, was attacked after its release for making the Germans too strong and the Allies too weak. A handful of British and American survivors (William Bendix, Hume Cronyn) of a ship sunk by the Nazis battle their class prejudices and find their mettle tested when they rescue a German (Walter Slezak) who survived a subsequent attack on the U-boat that sank them. Lifeboat redresses that balance, though an assistant director did have to approach Hitchcock during filming and ask whether it might not be possible to persuade Miss Bankhead to put on some underwear. The star, Tallulah Bankhead, was revered more for her work on stage than for her film roles, and is remembered now for her odd behaviour - appearing nude to welcome guests to her parties - than for her smoky, veddy British voice and stylish delivery of a line. Lifeboat, out on DVD next Tuesday, he restricted his set to a 40-foot boat, albeit one sliced in half for ease of filming in the studio. Alfred Hitchcock relished a technical challenge.
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