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Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
Tennessee Williams tale of homosexuality, Southern aristocracy and madness
Suddenly, Last Summer is a dark tale involving a New Orleans matriarch whose twisted relationship with her only son results in his murder. The matriarch is willing to spend millions in order to rewrite her son's history, and those millions are earmarked to go toward lobotomizing her niece, who knows the truth.
The dysfunctional relationship between Violet Venable (Katharine Hepburn) and her late son Sebastian is apparent during her initial consultation with a neurosurgeon, played by Montgomery Clift. She speaks of Sebastian in the present tense, and it becomes obvious that Sebastian, rather than her late husband, was her primary love interest.
Elizabeth Taylor portrays Catherine, Ms. Venable's niece, who was with Sebastian when he was killed. Catherine is well aware of Sebastian's sexual preferences and her statements to that effect provide the impetus for Violet to insist on ensuring her silence. She first has her admitted to a private sanitarium that has a "no visitors" policy; then she contacts Dr. Cukrowicz and insists that Catherine needs a lobotomy in order to be "at peace." In the end, Cukrowicz puts the pieces of Catherine's alleged "hallucinations" together, injects her with truth serum and allows her to tell the story of Sebastian's death, hinting that the reason he was killed was because of his sexual involvement with one or more of the young men he used Catherine to attract.
Freudian imagery abounds throughout this movie, which is something that may be lost on modern audiences and may well offend those who are gay. The Freudian concept that homosexuals are made, not born, by being in the presence of an overbearing, controlling female is reinforced in several scenes: Violet maintains a Venus flytrap that she pampers in a glass house while feeding it live flies; Violet describes a journey to the Galapagos Islands during which "flesh eating birds" attack newly hatched sea turtles and devour them. Violet embodies the devouring female archetype, and the fact that she followed Sebastian to Asia when he decided to become a Buddhist monk instead of remaining with her dying husband makes this even more clear.
Overall, the movie is well made, although Clift's character tends to be more subdued than would be expected and it's difficult to make Taylor's character less than glamorous. It makes no judgments toward homosexuality; rather, it depicts how the denial of reality can destroy those who insist on whitewashing the truth.
Wild Boys of the Road (1933)
What stands out is the grinding poverty contrasted with camaraderie
I watched Wild Boys of the Road expecting to see something hokey - instead, I saw a heart-wrenching depiction of the poverty and homelessness that was common during the Great Depression.
Realistic in its portrayal of life for transients seeking better lives, Wild Boys follows a gang of teens who take to riding freight cars when their parents are plunged into economic turmoil. Continually battling railroad police, smarmy characters eager to take advantage of the desperate, hunger and the elements, protagonists Eddie and Tommy ride the rails, being rousted from towns by local law enforcement at every stop. They form a bond with a third rider, Grace, who initially intends to stay with an aunt in Chicago but continues to travel with the boys when the aunt turns out to be a madame and her "house" is raided by the vice squad. The rape of one of the girl riders and subsequent street- corner justice administered by the boys and the scene in which Tommy's leg is severed by a passing train are powerful.
There actually is a happy ending to this movie, and the speech Eddie gives to the judge once he, Tommy and Grace are arrested is both notable and relevant today. Roosevelt's New Deal stimulus spending had just begun, and Eddie asks the judge, "..the government gives help to the breweries, it gives help to the farmers, it gives help to the bankers....when will anyone help us?" I've heard the same question asked in 2008.
Town Without Pity (1961)
A movie with no "good guys"
This movie had to be radical for its time. In the early '60s, the military was still respected. In Town Without Pity, however, three of the four GIs were depicted as brutes, the fourth (Robert Blake's character) outright insane. In addition, while television portrayed teenage girls along the lines of Gidget and our own movies used Annette Funicello as the prototypical teenager, this movie was pretty overt in discussions of teenage sexual activity (it's revealed that Karin, the plaintiff, was swimming nude and had gone away for a weekend with her boyfriend Karl, an act unknown to her father).
Altogether, the issue of a rape trial was covered realistically - until recently, the past behavior of the plaintiff was used against her and the general attitude was that "she was asking for it." Kirk Douglas' attempts to avoid such defamatory cross-examination is done with tact, but is thwarted by Karin's father, who is completely oblivious to his daughter's behavior. In the end, Karin's reputation is destroyed in the courtroom and is further held against her by the rest of the town. Her parents receive anonymous notes containing salacious material, and Karin is constantly mocked when she appears in public. After a guilty verdict is pronounced against the four GIs, Karin attempts to leave town with her boyfriend and start a new life, but is driven to suicide when Karl's mother has the police intervene, insisting that her son shouldn't be attached in any way to that "sex-mad girl."
The courtroom scenes are not peppery and flamboyant as would be expected in a legal drama and the behavior of Blake's character is inexplicable, but overall, the writing is excellent and the film is coherent and holds interest.
Rockin' in the Rockies (1945)
Not a typical Three Stooges movie
If you are looking for a comedy that has a substantial plot, this one isn't it.
If you are looking for a movie that features the Three Stooges doing their usual performance and patter, this one isn't it.
Rockin' In the Rockies is a typical Columbia House movie that showcases Columbia Records musical talent and offers a little bit of a plot as an excuse. In what can be described as a glorified MTV video, Moe Howard plays a would-be prospector (more of a con artist) who partners with Larry and Curly, two vagrants who wander into town and need jobs before the Sheriff throws them into jail. Enter Mary Beth Hughes and Gladys Blake as two failed saloon singers determined to leave the west for New York. Moe falls for Mary Beth and invites the girls back to the ranch. The singing group, the Hoosier Hotshots, play ranch hands and the Cappy Barra Boys and Spade Cooley make appearances as well.
Although the Three Stooges were an odd choice for casting (apparently Cary Grant wasn't available), Moe does a surprisingly good job as a character actor in this movie. Mary Beth Hughes is his primary comic foil, adding a hint of "war between the sexes" element to what is pretty much one of Columbia Picture's signature "screwball comedies." The movie will disappoint Stooge fans who expect the familiar routines and writing of either Felix Adler or Jules White, and those who despise country-western music will faint, but overall the movie qualifies as a pleasant serving of chewing gum for the mind.