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One other element I love about the film is John WIlliam's score. Right in the middle of his peak era: between Star Wars films, after Superman and before Indy- this score tends to get overlooked, but I think it's great.
Very entertaining. John Badham has done some good movies (War games, Blue Thunder!) And you're right about John Williams score, very memorable!
Did you notice a lot of Bond personnel in the credits, including Maurice Binder as visual consultant?
Tom Pevsner was associate producer as well. Albert Whitlock did the wonderful matte paintings.
I should retract slightly what I said about the color timing.
The various VHS releases in the early- mid '80's all looked a bit different. The 1984 MCA Home Video edition specifically had that warm golden hue. The earlier copies had a slight blue tint about them. The titles had different font colors as well. Some were presented as black as on the Blu-ray/DVD and others used white credits.
I saw this film on a double bill around 1985 in the cinema and do remember the colors being quite rich.
Also from '84 onward, some of the music was re-scored for home video. Specifically music played on a phonograph turntable during a party sequence.
Its’ good to know that I’m not the only fan of “In a Lonely Place”, since it contains one of my all-time favorite lines of movie dialogue: “I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.”
Bogart, as always, gives a great performance, and I’ve always thought that Gloria Grahame (if she had been born in 1933 or 1943, instead of 1923), would have made a good Bond girl. She’s sassy and sweet, in equal measures. Oddly, I remember her most for the smaller TV roles she took in the 1960s/1970s, in things like the “Outer Limits” and “Rich Man, Poor Man”, rather than her movie hayday.
Anyway, current Hollywood observation, using a quote from the movie: “So it stunk. Everybody makes flops except you. You haven't had one, because you've made and remade the same picture for the last twenty years. You know what you are? You're a popcorn salesman.”
THUNDER ROAD (1958)
Mitch is bring chased in his souped up Aston Martin...............well it's not an Aston Martin, a Ford Coup.............but it's cool anyway.
He has an oil slick and all kinds of Q stuff.
Cigarette in mouth looking the business.
Elvis was going to play Mitchum's younger brother but the Colonel had other ideas. So Mitch enlisted his son Jim to play the younger brother.
The mother character knocks Jim out of his seat when he dis-respects the traditional dinner grace with "Good food, good meat. It's getting late let's eat".
I've seen some reference books classify this film as a noir. Plenty of night scenes, ambiguous morality in characters, on location filming (North Carolina) and of course, Mitchum.
I'd say more of a crime drama adventure than noir, mainly because it's so late in the '50's. Too early for a neo noir.
I love the rural setting. Makes me think of the kind of environment my Grandpa grew up in.
I usually bought my Lee Dracula's there and other Hammer horrors.
My buddy decided to rent their copy of THUNDER ROAD. He told me the hero had a Bondian car and it was cool, etc etc. He was really trying to sell me on this film (which at the time I'd never heard of).
The VHS tape had cool artwork as I recall. He took it home and watched it while I went about my life.
Six years later I got on a Mitchum kick, started seeking out all of his movies and bought a copy of THUNDER ROAD. I remember calling my buddy that night and saying "You were right. This is great!!!!!"
This definitely ranks in my top 10 Robert Mitchum movies.
I can watch it several times per year.
Big Gloria Grahame fan as well thanks to this movie. I still need to see the film Barbara did about her a couple years ago.
Just about my favorite 1990's film. Been years since I've watched this.
I'm at the Al Pacino/ Jonathan Pryce restaurant bit.
Pacino does this monologue superbly.
Pretty damn funny.
He winks over at Ed Harris who's facial reaction says "a**hole".
Great stuff.
I'm saying Pacino's lines along with him. LOL
I can't do his voice worth s**t.
I can do Jack Lemmon's, Alec Baldwin's, & Alan Arkin's pretty well.
The Harris/Arkin scenes are great.
I love the almost noir style in which this was shot. The jazz score helps immensely.
Great film.
I really wish I had seen this in the cinema. I saw many films that year. No idea how this one slipped though my fingers.
I love this bit when Al walks into the office after it's been robbed.
Kevin Spacey is great here. LOL
Jack Lemmon is great here.
PUT ME ON THE CADILLAC BOARD!
The bit after Harris is questioned by the cop is great.
Let me buy you a pack of gum I'll show you how to chew it.
WILL YOU GO TO LUNCH!!!!
I'm actually amazed I don't own it :O
Finally got the Blu-ray. This is great. Way better than my old Warner Bros DVD.
The sound is huge. Damn I wish the Bond Blu-rays sounded this good.
Compared to this they all sound like rubbish crap.
Harker has been bitten and is about to search the castle for Dracula's coffin.
Christopher Lee is my hero.
The contrast is deeper than the old DVD.
Harker effs up and stakes Valerie Gaunt awakening Lee.
Harker is no more.
Here we go- Peter Cushing. My favorite Van Helsing.
Again I reiterate how huge the sound is on this Blu-ray. Every detail is present.
I'd be willing to bet this is pretty close to the way the film looked in the cinema. The colors really pop.
The framing is better here as well. The Warner Bros DVD was cropped a bit close.
Damn it looks good.
Controversial opinion: I think the BFI should restore all the Bonds and re-release them on Blu-ray.
Lowery did a substandard job, IMO. Especially in regards to the sound.
Damn. Lucy's blue nightgown is vibrant.
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) today. Watching it now.
I'm at the scene where Clint is planting the dead bodies in the cemetery.
I really dig Clint's leather vest. He looks great in this film.
Catch is this is the 1999 MGM/UA Home Video DVD. Contains both a full screen transfer and widescreen. The widescreen is non anamorphic which sucks, so I will be upgrading eventually. Non anamorphic DVD's look like s**t on a 16x9 set.
So I've opted to view the pan and scan transfer. I actually like this transfer. When I was a kid one of our local TV stations would have an Eastwood Week each May. I vividly remember the line up when I was in 4th grade: M-W was the Dollars Trilogy, Thursday was HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and Friday was HANG EM HIGH.
I'm pretty sure I stayed up for this film and definitely FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE. Then Friday I watched HANG EM HIGH.
For some reason I skipped THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY that year. Well, it was a school week after all and I got to watch three of the films.
This pan and scan transfer reminds me of how the movie looked on that television station.
Marianne Koch is great. She could have been a Bond girl.
Damn, he's getting destroyed.
He takes a beating in the second film as well.
I should really just get a Blu-ray box set of these films. I haven't seen THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY in ages.
Aw, Man!
Clint really got effed up here. Now he torches the place. YES!
Now Clint's buddy is getting his a$$ kicked.
I love this bit: he hides in one of the coffins.
It's probably been 15 years or more since I last watched this film.
I wonder of there's a Blu-ray of the theatrical cut of THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY available? Most copies I've seen are the restored version.
In honor of Christopher Reeve's birthday today I'm picking what many feel is his worst outing as the Man of Steel.
I'm a fan myself as I sometimes enjoy low budget Cannon action flicks.
It's obvious Chris here is wearing a wig. He could have called Connery, asked to borrow the NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN toupee and it would look more natural.
Still he looks great, IMO.
The kid that writes to Superman requesting he get rid of all the world's nuclear missiles before SPECTRE gets to them reminds me of my middle schools years. He looks and acts just like some of the kids in my class.
Superman and Lois fly around the world.
The effects here are less impressive than Thol Simonson's visuals for the classic 1953 'Around the World With Superman". George Reeves helps restore a blind child's sight then flies her around the world and re-unites her with her father.
Superman and the kid go to the United Nations building in Manhattan.
Actually an industrial park in England. Reeve apparently thought this location substituting contributed to the films overall cheapness. I think it's great.
Gene Hackman returns as Luthor. Jon Cryer as his brat nephew. Cryer also reminds me of some of the kids I knew back in the '80's.
Luthor is sporting a nice double breasted suit. It's purple. The Joker would be proud.