This week on The Movie Gourmet – my Cinequest coverage has been continuing, and it’s all linked at my CINEQUEST 2024 page. ICYMI, here’s The Movie Gourmet’s 2024 Oscar Dinner.
CURRENT MOVIES
- Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- American Fiction: this can’t be happening. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube,
- The Taste of Things: two passions: culinary and romantic. In arthouse theaters.
- Golden Years: when dreams diverge. In arthouse theaters.
- Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. AppleTV (subscription), Amazon.
- The Holdovers: three souls must evolve beyond their losses. Amazon.
- Poor Things: brazen, dazzling, feminist and very funny. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Dream Scenario: but it can’t be my fault, can it? Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Zone of Interest: next door to the unthinkable. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Maestro: not what she bargained for. Netflix.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Summer of Soul (…O When the Revolution Could Not Be televised): concert with context. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Ma Belle, My Beauty: a simmering romantic reunion. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. redbox, KinoNow.
- Charley Varrick: his wits vs. the mob. Netflix, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Driveways: authentic, brilliant, heartfelt. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Lucky: Harry Dean Stanton and the meaning of life Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- They Shall Not Grow Old: technology transforms film and ressurects a generation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- He Walked by Night: nerd hunt. Amazon, Vudu.
- Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On March 18, Turner Classic Movies presents the classic film noir The Big Combo for its ruthless villain, his henchmen, plenty of dramatic shadows and some sly naughtiness by the filmmakers. In his most flamboyant performance, Richard Conte plays mob boss Mr. Brown. Cornel Wilde (also the film’s producer) plays Lieutenant Diamond, a cop with two obsessions, to bring down the crime lord and to take his woman, Susan (Wilde’s real-life wife Jean Wallace). Mr. Brown is supremely confident, with good reason, and so arrogant that he only addresses Diamond, standing two feet away, through Brown’s own lackey. Brown and his henchmen ((Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman)) are also cruelly ruthless, carrying out the usual beatings and murders, and also torture by hearing aid and by boozeboarding.
Director Joseph Lewis and his collaborators did successfully slip some things past the censors. Conte’s Mr. Brown reminds Susan of how he pleases her. And the henchmen are a couple, as Holliman confirmed decades later to Eddie Muller.
Lewis and the great cinematographer John Alton delivered one of the most iconic final shots in noir.
