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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1m

Cary Grant and James Cagney would have made an interesting pairing in a film. Playing their Ceiling Zero and Only Angels Have Wings characters. Like the inevitable F1/Days of Thunder, Pitt and Cruise team-up...

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 47m

But that fit with a character who couldn't not fly, and his heroism is almost remembered by Hawks. I think the film probably needed to linger a little bit in the margins to be quite the classic Only Angels Have Wings is, but it is a hell of a 90 minutes. Hawks made wonderful films.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 49m

Dizzy Davis may sound like an Australian leg-spinner, but Cagney makes him real. A tough pilot who falls quickly for women, a maverick who can be trusted. It is a stock type. But in Cagney's hands, it doesn't feel like it. The final sequence, with the wing de-icer, seemed abrupt and futile.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 53m

Cagney is brilliant in the film, with his Clark Gable moustache and penchant for trying to sleep with every woman on screen and off. However, I thought it was O'Brien who stole the film. The occasional crack in his voice, the stiff upper lip, the effortless command of his men.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 55m

The dialogue is how Hawks liked it to be, fast and overlapping. I guess it is obvious that it was adapted from a stageplay, but watching James Cagney and Pat O'Brien crowd around a radio listening to Tex (Stuart Erwin) try and fly through fog is pure cinema.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 58m

"So long, baby, don't be mad at me. I wish I could..."

Ceiling Zero is a great film. I guess I hadn't understood how similar to Only Angels Have Wings it is, but they share a superficial plot, similar structures, and the mixture of comedy melodrama. Like only Howard Hawks could make 'em.

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 6h

Tonight's film

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Reposted by Wilson

Chris @staggerlee42.bsky.social · 3h

‘On days of low winter light the federal courthouse can take on a sinister look, a setting for a story best not told at bedtime, the jagged profile of an evil castle against pale light reflected off the Lake, bell tower, archways, gargoyles, haunted shadows, Halloween all year long.’ #BookSky💙📚

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Reposted by Wilson

Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 3h

There is s famous, much ridiculed clip in Cobra (George P. Cosmatos, 1986) of Lt. Marion "Cobra" Cobretti (Sylvester Stallone) eating pizza with scissors (see below). Well… 1/2

youtu.be/5SxN_U2H0Xc?...

Cobra Eats Pizza

YouTube video by juntajuleil

youtu.be

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Reposted by Wilson

Richard Wells @slipperyjack.bsky.social · 5h

Following my 60s/70s Amicus thread, here’s another exciting thread with some of my favourite segments from other anthology horror flicks. A mix of old favourites and newer discoveries...

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 6h

Tonight's film

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

Tonight's film

I assume the most horrifying thing I will find out from this 1970s TV movie is where Tom Selleck's moustache has gone.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

I have the same bluray, I should dig it out and put it on my to-watch pile.

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Reposted by Wilson

Chris @staggerlee42.bsky.social · 1d

Like you, I am due a re-watch. Deserves far more love than it gets…

The film ‘Blue Black Permanent’ by Margaret Tait.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

If Mickey Spillane hadn't been obsessed with writing entertaining fascist Mike Hammer novels, he could have written a wrong-man-novel like this - swimsuit model, a fortysomething woman photographer, unpleasant misogyny, and a man whose solution to most scenarios is violence and problems are women.

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

I liked it. It isn't plotted with much (any) suspense, but I found myself really taken with the tone and atmosphere. The twist is comically obvious but maintains its willingness to be quite unpleasant all the way to the end.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

Roger Corman's first story credit on a film. It has similarities to the much loved (maybe overrated?) Ida Lupino film The Hitch-Hiker. But, with an easy and pleasing look. 1950s cars, sunshine, murders with a strap. Everything you'd want.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

I misheard the name of the killer the first time it was mentioned and nearly choked on my tea when I heard it as the "strap-on killer".

That would be a different era, but it wouldn't not work as the plot here...

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

The film doesn't feel like it has to fit much into its 70 minutes. You'd maybe call it a two-act film, if that. But it is really compelling. The twist may be obvious from about 15 minutes in (the real identity of the strap killer), but I had a great time all the way to the underwater Salton Sea end.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

He's a Korean war veteran and appears to have a temper, and a .45. Played by Conte means he is hard to like but easy to understand. Bennett is good value as the photographer. Hendrix looks the part, and I think it is fair to say both Conte AND Bennett think so.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

The 70 minutes involves Conte, Joan Bennett, and Wanda Hendrix driving along dusty roads, stopping in joints that sell burgers that give you heartburn, and stopping at motels for swimsuit photography. It is sun-burnt noir, with a sweating Conte accused of a murder he didn't commit.

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

Richard Conte has a spat with Mary Beth Hughes a bar. He accidentally calls her old. She is 35, this is 1950s crime fiction, and the audience knows Conte is right. Almost immediately, Conte is picked up for her murder. During his escape, he is picked up by a photographer and her model.

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

This afternoon's film

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

Plus, Roger Corman's first credit as a writer.

I picked it because I saw this still 5 or so years ago, and I have been meaning to see it since...I can't wait to see what contrivance gets me to this:

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 1d

This afternoon's film

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Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 2d

Regis Toomey. Almost everything wrong with Shopworn is Regis Toomey's fault.

Wilson @wilsonjettone.bsky.social · 2d

YouTube commentators are better than 99% of professional film critics and 100% American professional film critics.

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