This week on The Movie Gourmet – don’t miss Turner Classic Movies’ presentation of Chimes at Midnight tonight, and I’m also recommending another TCM selection that airs later this week (see below).
We’re in that annual late- August/early September doldrums when we just don’t have good choices in brick-and-mortar cinemas. The one wonderful new film, Fremont, is still in a few arthouses and the masterpieces Oppenheimer and Barbie are still on theater screens. But Scrapper, Between Two Worlds, Afire and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have all slipped from theaters, and Past Lives is barely lingering on a screen or two. However, note that Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Barbie and Fremont: are all on my Best Movies of 2023 – So Far; you might check out that list because several other of those films are already streaming.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Fremont: self-discovery and a fortune cookie. In theaters.
- Oppenheimer: creator of a monster controlled by others. In theaters.
- Barbie: a marriage of the intelligent and the silly. In theaters.
- The League: untold stories. Amazon.
- Past Lives: a profound and refreshing romance. In theaters.
- Theater Camp: show people in the making. In theaters.
- Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed: leading man in the closet. HBO Max.
- No Hard Feelings: an amusement with Jennifer Lawrence. Amazon, Vudu YouTube.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The Stopover: PTSD takes more than an umbrella drink…Amazon, AppleTV.
- Land Ho!: rowdy geezer roadtrip to Iceland. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Beast: finally unleashed … and untethered. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: gentleness from ferocity. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- The Imposter: a jaw dropper. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Secret in Their Eyes: Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- NUTS!: the rise and fall of a testicular empire. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On September 12, Turner Classic Movies presents the seminal 1960s neo-noir Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin. Marvin stars as Walker, a heist man who is shot and left for dead by his partner Reese (John Vernon, Animal House’s Dean Wormer), who absconded with Walker’s share of the loot and Walker’s wife. When Walker recovers, he is hellbent on revenge, aided by his sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson).
It turns out that Walker needs to trace the money through a cavalcade of Mr. Bigs (Lloyd Bochner, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor). There’s a great set piece where Walker invades a highrise penthouse, despite the heavily guarded elevator being the only entrance. Point Blank ends in a thrilling nighttime finale at Fort Point.
Walker is a very uncomplicated character, all he wants is to kill Reese and reclaim his $93,000. Anyone in Walker’s situation would be pissed off, but Lee Marvin plays Walker in a constant state of cold rage. Lee Marvin’s unique charisma animates this relentless killing machine.
Marvin, just coming off The Dirty Dozen and having won an Oscar for Cat Ballou, was at the peak of his stardom. Marvin’s other contribution to the film was handpicking the then unheralded John Boorman to direct; (this was five years before Boorman’s masterpiece Deliverance). Boorman intentionally delivered a morally bleak story in the most deserted of locations: empty parking lots, the Los Angeles River channel. and San Francisco’s two icons of abandonment – Alcatraz and Fort Point.
If you’re wondering why Angie Dickinson was a movie star, Point Blank is for you. Angie was ballsy, sexy and always unashamedly very direct, and she rocked midcentury fashion. (She plays one unforgettable scene in a dress with bold horizontal stripes in the colors of Denny’s restaurants.)
Watch for James B. Sikking as the professional sniper; Sikking became well-known as the supercilious SWAT team commander Lt. Howard Hunter in Hill Street Blues. Future horror icon Sid Haig pops up as the security guard in the penthouse lobby.
