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In this 1963 flick, Peter Sellers stars as a Cockney gangster in London named Pearly Gates, posing as a French couturier during the day, while sending his gang out to commit carefully-planned lucrative burglaries. Suddenly he and other London underworld greats have to deal with a three-man Australian troupe who pose as police, stop and "arrest" the burglars and thieves and get away with their loot, being well-informed of when the capers were going to take place (it turns out that Pearly had been telling his girlfriend a few details too many). The joint London underworld teams up with Scotland Yard to set a trap for the Aussies, but this does not exactly go as planned.
The movie is largely funny, though the dialogue is overall not really as funny as most Ealing comedies or some of the Pink Panther films. Sellers is great (while being Sellers, of course), not only switching from Cockney to a French accent (Clouseau, anyone?), but also dubbing the voice of Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow who plays a German safecracker flown in for the final job. Lionel Jeffries overdoes it for my taste, as the somewhat stuck-up but mostly incompetent police inspector. And in the last act, the entire movie sort of slides into slapstick chaos, foreshadowing CR'67 to some extent, and with an ending that left me with the feeling that the screenwriters ran out of ideas.
Further on the bright side, there are some beautiful cars involved, most of all a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT and a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTE (Sellers' own, in fact). But that didn't suffice to make it a really satisfying movie for me.
'Two Way Stretch' was of a similar ilk, made 3 years earlier. It also starred Sellers, Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins, and a host of British Stars! Set in a prison. It was considered the basis for the T.V. series 'Porridge'!
The Mouse that Roared is another Sellers gem. Being There is a poignant late film by Sellers that is a must watch.
Must admit I like all of them. My favourites of his are actually his third and fourth ones.
On another note, I watched Red Sparrow the other day, and I must say I quite liked it.
I agree regarding "The Party". And I don't care if it's no longer PC, especially since Sellers' brown-faced pseudo-Indian character is the only likable person in the entire film, save his girl crush. Hilarious. "Birdy num-num...". "We have a saying in India..." I start laughing even thinking about it.
Afterwards, I watched The Equalizer 3. Denzel is one of my all time favourite actors. He is such a professional; such talent and BIG SCREEN charisma, but man, he couldn’t save this film (which sometimes bordered on being a Saw knock-off with some of the graphic and “creative” kills).
It felt as if Dakota Fanning was struggling with the material, and some of her line deliveries were dead on arrival.
I sincerely hope that this series has a lie down.
I don't care about what's PC today -- is anything even acceptable anymore? -- the film is bloody hilarious and arguably my favorite Blake Edwards film ever. Yes, "birdy num-num" and Sellers' delivery alone make this chaotic party worth every minute of our time.
I didn't know where else to put this so I'll put it here. It's pretty remarkable
Wylie Co. VFX
@wyliecovfx
For this particular sequence in The Killer, Eric Barba, Peter Mavromates and David Fincher approached us with an extremely difficult task, to create close up, photoreal digi-double shots of Michael Fassbender riding a scooter.
https://x.com/wyliecovfx/status/1727089615197397006?s=20
It's amazing that when we watch a simple sequence of a man riding a scooter, behind the scenes there were thousands of micro-decisions that went into what was forty-five seconds of screen time.
Just bizarre, almost cynical approach to filmmaking. Do everything in a room with computers, don't need the actor (who could have input on the scene, though here it is just riding a scooter, but still), like this could be a dangerous route in the wrong hands and maybe it's better left secret to those who've mastered it, like Fincher.
But still, so expensive for what?
I thought the shots looked beautiful, and had no clue it was digitally created.
My feeling is, if it adds or elevates to the image the director is trying to capture, and it doesn't take the viewer out of the film, then go for it. It's like any other "movie magic" tricks the art of film has used since its inception.
My criticism of many films recently is an over reliance on CGI, and the films suffer due to this type of laziness.
But Fincher is like an elite chef who knows that his creations need a pinch of this, and a splash of that to enhance the flavor of his pictures.
Fair enough, in the hands of Fincher especially. I do understand the nuance of this approach. I think maybe, whether he knows it or not, Fincher is schooling everyone on the artistic process: yes my way is expensive, but it gives me the most control, and yes it's for an otherwise straightforward sequence and not a super hero battle, but why does my scene deserve any less respect, craft, and control than that scene would? I get it.
If I were to ever direct (definitely not on my bucket list!!), I'd have thought that simple scene is a couple of hours work with a second unit, like you were saying.
But this meticulous mad man, is indeed schooling other filmmakers. It also shows his passion to catch every single image as perfectly as is humanly (and digitally) possible (he's also renowned for taking a gazillion takes).
And yes, especially in Fincher's hands, it's like a pinch of salt. In other, less refined hands, it would be slops of processed cheese and tons of sugary sauces on top.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves I was not expecting to like this film as much as I did, one of the most enjoyable movies I have watched this year. Hilarious and inventive the way fantasy films should be made, the action was pretty awesome and one scene oh my lord I nearly died laughing
PP
Shotindark
Return?......the-one-with-Cathy-Schell,still-havent-seen-it.....Schell-laughed-her-butt-off-during-filming
'76.......Dreyfuss-has-gone-totally-mad-at-this-point
Revenge-of-PP (final Sellers PP......cool-seeing-city HK & Presleys-hawaiian bodyguard Parkr-as-badguy
Mean Streets is terrific. Young De Niro is on fire. Keitel has his usual quiet, intense gravitas. Love it so much...
De Niro is terrific, but Keitel was my favorite part yes. He has cat-like eyes and face that always makes him look sharp. I will have to get the new 4K Criterion edition soon. It’s at least my favorite of Scorsese’s first four easily, but then Taxi Driver takes it to the next level for him IMO.
Have you seen his Bad Lieutenant??
I haven’t! Worth seeing?
Watched for Kim Basinger, stayed for the film.
Great flick.
Shoot, I do love ugly and powerful so I’ll have to see it! I tell you what - I came to this site to join fellow Bond fans, and stayed for for just movie fans in general! We’ve got great collective tastes around here ;)
I agree @FoxRox , lol! When you get around to Bad Lieutenant, please tag me because I'd like to hear your thoughts!!
Thank you, I’ll do that. It feels good to know my thoughts are wanted and appreciated :)