Friday, April 24, 2015

Herstory: 'She's Beautiful When She's Angry'


By BRAD WEISMANN

She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry
2014, 92 min.
Dir: Mary Dore
Prod: Pamela Tanner Boll, Abigail Disney, Mary Dore, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Elizabeth Driehaus, Nancy Kennedy
Scr: N/A
Phot: Svetlana Cvetko
Ed: Nancy Kennedy, Kate Taverna

It’s great to see a dynamite film history on the topic of women’s liberation, not least because . . . well, how come someone hasn’t done this before?

Director Mary Dore sculpts a narrative that seems concise and expansive at the same time, a documentary that breathes. It helps that it is populated by many of the prime movers of the Second Wave of the movement: Brown and Millet, Ceballos and Brownmiller, and more, who rehash the culture war they waged against sexual discrimination.

The period covered, from roughly the publishing of Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” in 1963 through Roe v. Wade in 1973, is richly documented in contemporary media as well, and Dore adds powerful segments from the front lines – some of the faces from which contrast vividly with their present-day selves, creating an illuminating counterpoint. The founding editors of “Our Bodies, Ourselves,” then and now, resemble nothing so much as a bunch of genial, witty, and genteel revolutionaries.

Archive footage brings back vivid memories of the modest, aproned housewife archetype, her suffocating lack of choice and independence and resources driving her nuts. Society was programmed to mimic the Space Age nuclear family, whether it had resonance or not. (Ellen Willis’s daughter Nona notes perceptively that sexual prejudice today is more subtle and pervasive, more difficult to name and battle. This mirrors the kind of struggle African Americans faced in the North during the Civil Rights movement, where prejudice was more covert.)

The constellation of challenges facing women in America: perpetual lack of basic health and child-care services, the condescension, the sheer ever-present physical danger, the return of female objectification, the marginalization of gay and African American women, and a hundred other vital ideas are spilled out here in an adroit mix of testimony, quotation, vintage film, and reenactment. What makes “She’s Beautiful” work is the unbuttoned, free-swinging truthfulness that all the film’s protagonists possess so serenely. Disputes, desertions, factions, ideological wars, are all on the table here, which gives the history a texture of complexity, a dynamic that demonstrates that it’s all still playing out, in process.

The screening I attended was enlivened by the appearance of activist, author, educator, and editor Marilyn Webb. Webb, who featured prominently in the film, was a co-founder of the SDS, pioneered in the women’s studies movement, and published the first feminist newspaper. Her notorious booing by male members of the peace movement in Berkeley signaled the fact that chauvinism didn’t adhere to political leaning. “And it was my debut speech!” she recalled.

Webb reinforced the idea that it is vital and valid for individual action to every level of society in order to transform it. While emphasizing the gains made in the ‘60s and ‘70s, she reiterated warnings about fighting “backsliding” – the erosion of rights that continues across the country.

And, like an empowered audience, the discussion continued, and a contact list was spontaneously passed around.

Well played, “She’s Beautiful.” We were already organizing.

Friday, April 17, 2015

'Inglourious' cinema: the guide to men-on-a-mission films



First published at Dscriber.com on Aug. 21, 2009

Let's go kill us some Nazis!

Quentin Tarentino's new film, "Inglourious Basterds," opened Friday. At 12:01 a.m., to be precise. I was there, in spirit at least, ready for action with the fanboys. (Remember, fanboys grow up to become aficionado-men.)

What is it about men-on-a-mission films that's so seductive? Is it the thrill of watching the execution of a cunning plan? The fascinations of watching specialists in death-dealing and espionage assemble? The barely-suppressed homosexual subtext?

All of the above. Aggression and male bonding go hand-in-hand, and men seeking escape relish a film full of violence and explosions, without those pesky female characters that slow things down with "relationships" and "dialogue" -- unless of course they are villainous seductresses or shapely allies.

Tarentino's affection for the subgenre is no secret. The men-on-a-mission subgenre is perilously close to the "caper/heist" subgenre -- one that the director already examined in "Reservoir Dogs" in 1992, and glancingly referenced with a feminist twist in "Pulp Fiction" -- Uma Thurman's character talks about the TV pilot "Fox Force Five."

Both categories deal primarily with codes of masculinity and honor, but in this case, the protagonists aren't criminals subverting a corrupt and vulnerable system, but a group of cynical pros and/or a "rag-tag bunch of misfits" that go above and beyond the call of duty -- in order to kick ass.

The roots of the movement spring from several sources. First, there are the patriotic, propagandistic World War II-era dramas such as "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" (1943, Dir: Delmer Davies), "Sahara" (1943, Dir: Zoltan Korda) and "Objective Burma!" (1945, Dir: Raoul Walsh) that outlined heroic struggles against the enemies of freedom, emphasizing bravery, teamwork and sacrifice.


Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" from 1954 is another key development. Its tale of compassionate mercenaries who aid a poor village in repelling bandits inspired John Sturges' classic Western adaptation, 1960's "The Magnificent Seven" -- which cleaned up at the box office and spawned three increasingly inept sequels of its own.


The third stream of influence issues straight from Howard Hawks, the Golden Age directing genius who was notably a "man's man" and promulgated the tight-lipped tough-guy buddy ethos in films such as "Only Angels Have Wings" (1936). Disgusted by Fred Zinneman's 1952 "High Noon," in which Gary Cooper seeks help from townsfolk who won't lift a finger to help him face a bad man out for revenge. Hawks determined to make his own statement.

According to Grant Tracey in Images Journal, "Hawks disliked the film intensely and felt that Cooper acted inappropriately: a professional never asks amateurs for help, a professional is 'good enough' to do the job himself, or with the aid of fellow right-thinking professionals."

Hawks' "Rio Bravo" (1959) does precisely that, with John Wayne's sheriff scorning offers of assistance from "amateurs" against the bad guys. The film proved so successful that it spawned two Hawks-helmed remakes: "El Dorado" in 1966 and "Rio Lobo" in 1970.

Then came Alistair MacLean. The prolific Scottish thriller novelist wrote the template for the men-on-a-mission saga with "The Guns of Navarone" in 1957. Its adaptation onto celluloid four years later under the direction of J. Lee Thompson put all the elements together, triggering an avalanche of similar projects, most set during World War II.

So raise your glass to the following selections. For better or worse, they typify the film fantasy of a violent job well done:

Operation Crossbow (1965) Dir: Michael Anderson. With George Peppard, Tom Courtenay, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Paul Henreid. Those damned Germans are building rockets in Peenemunde -- they've got to be stopped!

Bad Guy: Anthony Quayle.

Babe: Sophia Loren.

Quote: "If you can just get inside that research site, then you will have made great leaps and bounds towards the target."

The Heroes of Telemark (1965) Dir: Anthony Mann. With Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave. Those damned Germans are making "heavy water," essential for atom-bomb production, in Norway -- they've got to be stopped!

Bad Guy: Anton Diffring (one of the all-time great Evil Nazis).

Babe: Ulla Jacobsson.

Quote: "Don't you ever make the mistake by underrating the Germans. By any means."

The Professionals (1966) Dir: Richard Brooks. With Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Ralph Bellamy. When Mexican bandits kidnap a rancher's wife, a team of experts are sent south to get her back.

Bad Guy: Jack Palance.

Babe: Claudia Cardinale.

Quote: "So what else is on your mind besides hundred-proof women, 90-proof whiskey, and 14-carat gold?"

The Dirty Dozen (1967) Dir: Robert Aldrich. With Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Clint Walker, Trini Lopez. Twelve condemned Army criminals are given the chance for a pardon if they survive a secret mission to parachute behind enemy lines and kill most of the German High Command.

Bad Guy: Robert Ryan (and he's supposed to be on our side!)

Babe: Dora Reisser.

Quote: "Killin' generals could get to be a habit with me."

Where Eagles Dare (1968) Dir: Brian G. Hutton. With Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Michael Hordern. In another MacLean adaptation, commandos must parachute behind enemy lines to rescue an American general -- or is he?

Bad Guy: Derren Nesbitt (and isn't that Anton Diffring back there?)

Babes: Mary Ure, Ingrid Pitt.

Quote: "Broadsword calling Danny Boy, Broadsword calling Danny Boy, over."

Ice Station Zebra (1968) Dir: John Sturges. With Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Jim Brown, Patrick McGoohan. ANOTHER MacLean adaptation, this one set during the Cold War. A submarine mission to rescue injured scientists at the North Pole is a cover for the retrieval of a spy satellite.

Bad Guy: Alf Kjellin as Col. Ostrovsky.

Babe: Not one woman in the entire film.

Quote: "The incident is close-ed."

Play Dirty (1968) Dir: Andre de Toth. With Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews. Leery petroleum exec must join British mission to destroy German oil supplies in North Africa.

Bad Guy: Richard Harris, who got fired from the production early on.

Babe: Vivian Pickles as "German Nurse."

Quote: "Sometimes you need to learn that playing by the rules gets you nowhere."

The Devil's Brigade (1968) Dir: Andrew McLaglen. With William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards, Claude Akins, Richard Jaeckel, Harry Carey Jr., Carroll O'Connor, Michael Rennie, Dana Andrews. Americans and Canadians gotta get along in order to take impregnable Nazi fortress in Italy.

Bad Guy: Paul Busch.

Babe: Gretchen Wyler.

Quote: "Faith moves mountains. It doesn't take them."

Five for Hell (1969) Dir: Giancarlo Parolini (as Frank Kramer). With . . . um, never mind. Nutty G.I.s have to steal secret plans from Nazis -- behind enemy lines, of course.
Bad Guy: Klaus Kinski.

Babe: Margaret Lee.

Quote: "Certo, Fraulein."


Kelly's Heroes (1970) Dir: Brian G. Hutton. With Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Carroll O'Connor, Harry Dean Stanton, Gavin MacLeod, Stuart Margolin. The perfect, one-time-only intersection of mission film, caper flick and dark counterculture comedy -- complete with hippie tank unit. Watch for the spaghetti-western parody sequence at the end.

Bad Guy: Karl-Otto Alberty.

Babe: None visible.

Quote: "We got our own ammunition, it's filled with paint. When we fire it, it makes... pretty pictures."


Too Late the Hero (1970) Dir: Robert Aldrich. With Cliff Robertson, Michael Caine, Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen, Harry Andrews. An attempt to recreate the success of "Dirty Dozen" with the Japanese instead of the Germans as the target.

Bad Guy: Ken Takakura.

Babe: Nope, sorry.

Quote: "Sometimes I feel like I should just give up the ghost and be done with it!"


Raid on Rommel (1971) Dir: Henry Hathaway. With Richard Burton and not much else. Commando raid on Tobruk goes awry, and officer must utilize misfit medical unit instead.
Bad Guy: Wolfgang Preiss.

Babe: Danielle De Metz.

Quote: "I don't care whether you pay her off in lollipops or cut out her tongue with a dull knife. She's your responsibility."

The Eagle Has Landed (1976) Dir: John Sturges. With Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Anthony Quayle, Jean Marsh. This time, it's the Germans who play dress-up and try foolhardy attempt to kidnap Winston Churchill.

Bad Guy: Donald Pleasance -- as Heinrich Himmler!

Babe: Jenny Agutter.

Quote: "My God, you're a German!"


Inglorious Bastards (1978) Dir: Enzo G. Castellani. With Bo Svenson, Fred Williams, Ian Bannen. The inspiration for Tarentino is an awful low-budget "Dirty Dozen" knockoff, complete with bad miniature work and naked machine-gun-toting SS women.

Bad Guys: Numerous, and constantly leaping about in death throes.

Babe: Debra Berger.

Quote: "How's it going there, Colonel?" repeated 8,000 times as said officer tries to steal gizmo from V-2 prototype.


The Wild Geese (1978) Dir: Andrew McLaglen. With Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Roger Moore, Hardy Kruger. Mercenaries must rescue imprisoned African leader -- their job becomes much tougher when they are betrayed.

Bad Guy: Stewart Granger (and he's supposed to be on their side! Sounds familiar?)

Babe: Rosalind Lloyd.

Quote: "Good luck to you, you Godless murderers."


Force 10 from Navarone (1978) Dir: Guy Hamilton. With Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, Edward Fox, Carl Weathers. The "Navarone" gang are back together, fighting the Germans in Yugoslavia.

Bad Guy: Franco Nero.

Babe: Barbara Bach.

Quote: "You're Nicolai . . . you're the man who blew us in Greece!"

The Dogs of War (1980) Dir: John Irvin. With Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely. Mercenaries are paid to depose African dictator so that a pro-West one can take his place.

Bad Guy: Illario Bisi-Pedro.

Babe: JoBeth Williams

Quote: "Everybody comes with me, goes home."

Attack Force Z (1982) Dir: Tim Burstall. With John Phillip Law, Sam Neill, Mel Gibson. Aussie commandos must rescue plane-crash victims from Japanese -- as well as defector with secret that could end the war.

Babe: Sylvia Chang.

Saving Private Ryan (1998) Dir: Steven Spielberg. With Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel, Matt Damon. D-Day squad must find and bring home the last surviving brother of fallen soldiers.

Bad Guy: Joerg Stadler.

Babe: Nah.

Quote: "James, earn this . . . earn it."

Black Hawk Down (2001) Dir: Ridley Scott. With Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, Sam Shepard. Somalia, 1993. A plan to kidnap warlord's lieutenants leads to a disastrous firefight in Mogadishu.

Bad Guy: The entire population of Mogadishu, evidently.

Babe: Nix.

Quote: "Nobody asks to be a hero, it just sometimes turns out that way."


Tuesday, April 14, 2015

‘Ben’ vs. ‘Ten’ – and the winner is . . .

By BRAD WEISMANN

When we first conceived of an epic double-feature showdown of Charlton Heston’s religious masterpieces, “Ben-Hur” and “The Ten Commandments,” the indifference was contagious.

However, for those not a-nod, our first-year-ever results are in.

Due to being the kind of people who used to faithfully crowd in front of the screen every spring for “The Wizard of Oz” on CBS, we grew up watching and memorizing and acting out “The Ten Commandments” as Passovers flew by. (Here’s a much longer piece about Cecil B. DeMille’s final throe of splendid excess.) Screening “Ben-Hur” as well was tough, but we made it. A few of us made it. By golly.

By category:

CHARIOTS. Both have tons of them. “Ben” wins on this one, of course, due to the chariot race – although I LOVE Pharaoh’s special Chariot Hat. Want one.


RAW CHUCK. He gets all slavey and half-nekkid and greased up in both films. “Ben” wins again; in that state Moses just gets to suffer a while, then kill Baka the master builder, but Ben-Hur gets to row for three years without a sabbatical, choke a guard, save a bunch of poor starving rower-bro’s, AND hit a guy in the head with a chain.


ACTING. The subtleties of the Method are not to be found among either set of thespians in these flicks. The flat affect of melodrama infects “Ten,” and “Ben”’s voluptuous, shadowy torments seem more like poses for Caravaggio than acted scenes. However, “Ben” features Hugh Griffith as perhaps film history’s only Welsh Arab, and takes the prize in this category on that strength alone. Plus, there are no metrics to measure Anne Baxter’s drag-queen fury as Nefertiri in “Ten” versus Haya Hayareet’s heartfelt and intelligent, but nearly incomprehensible, Esther in “Ben.”


THE MARTHA SCOTT FACTOR: She plays Chuckles's mom in both films. Even though she drags her leprous carcass through most of “Ben,” and doesn’t even make to intermission in “Ten,” her suffering as Yochabel (“My lips might deny him, Great One, but my eyes never could”) is much more up-front and affecting.

WHO’S MORE EVIL? I am with Yul Brynner every step of the way in his carefully pitched portrayal of Pharaoh. But Stephen Boyd is pretty much evil incarnate as Messala. This is how evil he is – Jesus is Ben-Hur’s buddy, and gives him the strength to go on – SO HE CAN KILL MESSALA. Even Jesus thinks Messala is a dick. Points go to “Ben.”

RELIGIOUS FRENZY: Wyler went for broke on the Crucifixion. (As he himself so humbly said, "It took a Jew to make a good movie about Christ.") There is an incredible throwaway move in "Ben" that I'm unable to find a visual referent for currently -- when the camera pans down and a reversed reflection of Christ on the Cross is caught in a muddy puddle, for one agonizing moment . . . I still pee my pants a little when I see it. However, can you beat the Burning Bush and the Parting of the Red Sea? Nah. “Ten,” again.

TIEBREAKER: WHO’S YOUR BUDDY? Like we said, Jesus is Ben-Hur’s buddy, and through him Judah gets it all – revenge, healing, forgiveness, his hidden fortune. . nice. HOWEVER, points and match to Moses! He is Jesus’s Dad’s golfing buddy, his sidekick, his buen amigo. Jesus saves, but God kills nations. Double high five, Moses.