The Dark Horse

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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THE WHISTLERS

We’re still watching our movies at home, so here are plenty of choices. Of the recently released, I am still recommending The Whistlers.

I also wrote about The Dark Horse, an extremely cynical and hilarious comment on American politics from 88 yer ago (and still timely), If you missed it yesterday on TCM, at least watch the clip in my post.

ON VIDEO

In the absorbing crime thriller The Whistlers, a shady cop and a mysterious woman are walking a tightrope of treachery. The Whistlers, was a hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but COVID-19 impaired its 2020 theatrical release in the US. You can stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

And here’s one that I KNOW you haven’t seen – the droll comedy Radio Dreams. This indie set in the Bay Area explores the ambivalence of the immigrant experience through the portrait of a flamboyant misfit, a man who rides the roller coaster of megalomania and despair. Radio Dreams is available to stream from Amazon, iTunes and kanopy.

RADIO DREAMS

Other recent streaming recommendations:

ON TV

Lon Chaney in THE UNKNOWN

On April 29, Turner Classic Movies airs The Unknown, a Lon Chaney silent, and I think that Chaney’s charisma is worth sampling. And as a fun experience, not a “this is good for you” experience.

REMEMBRANCE

The actor Brian Dennehy stood a bear-like 6’3”and could have filled his career by playing menacing heavies (and he had his share of those). But Dennehy had uncommon range, as evidenced by his most well-remembered roles – Rambo’s nemesis in First Blood and the alien in Cocoon. My favorite Dennehy movie roles were the crooked sheriff in Silverado and Harrison Ford’s morally complicated boss in Presumed Innocent. Dennehy was even a bigger star on stage – he won Tony Awards for his Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and his James in Long Day’s Journey into Night (the role Ralph Richardson played in the movie).

Brian Dennehy

THE DARK HORSE: cynical politics from 88 years ago

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Guy Kibbee and Warren William in THE DARK HORSE

On April 23, Turner Classic Movies plays the great political comedy The Dark Horse (1932).  If you think that political handlers, dumb candidates, spin and sex scandals are creations of contemporary politics, you need to see this gem from 88 years ago.  A political party resolves its convention stalemate by nominating an obscure party regular (the gleefully dim Guy Kibbee) as its gubernatorial candidate.  It happens that the dark horse is not merely a cipher, but is a vacuous buffoon who is challenged by the task of removing his own shoes.  His own campaign manager describes him thus:

He’s the dumbest human being I ever saw. Every time he opens his mouth he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.

That equally ruthless and amoral campaign manager, brilliantly played by Warren William (the “King of Pre-Code”), presages modern political handlers with his skill, cynicism and shameless insincerity. He teaches his dimwitted candidate to answer every question with “Yes…and, then again, no.”  William’s campaign manager is such a scoundrel that he must first get sprung from jail (by Bette Davis in one of her very first movie roles).  There’s spin, staged photo opportunities and even crisis management, when the candidate is about to blunder into a potentially campaign killer of a sex scandal.  And it’s still very, very funny today.

Here’s a sample:

Movies to See Right Now

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Jumpy the dog and Ethan Hawke in IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE
Jumpy the dog and Ethan Hawke in IN A VALLEY OF VIOLENCE

We’re at the beginning of a very promising Fall movie season .

  • Mascots is the latest mockumentary from Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and it’s very funny. Mascots is playing in very few theaters, but it’s streaming on Netflix Instant, too.
  • John Travolta, Ethan Hawke and Jumpy the dog sparkle in the spaghetti western In a Valley of Violence.
  • The highly original documentary Tower retells the story of a famous mass shooting without dwelling on the shooter.  Only at the Landmark Shattuck in Berkeley.
  • The indie drama Men Go to Battle is an insightful tale of two brothers that exceptionally illustrates the QUIET of pre-electric and pre-motorized North America. Men Go to Battle is available to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • If you are entertained by the epically disgusting, you can catch the horror comedy The Greasy Strangler before it hits the midnight cult movie circuit. The Greasy Strangler can be streamed from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The end of the thriller The Girl on the Train (starring Emily Blunt) is indeed thrilling. But the 82 minutes before the Big Plot Twist is murky, confusing and boring.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is Our Kind of Traitor, a robust globe-trotting thriller, enlivened by a lusty Stellan Skarsgård and played out in a series of stunning set pieces. Our Kind of Traitor is available to rent on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and to stream from Amazon Instant, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

On Halloween Eve, Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a campy Vincent Price horror classic from 1959, The Tingler. It has a scary premise – a parasite embedding itself in people’s spine and feeding on them – unaware until they feel a tingle AND THEN IT MAY BE TOO LATE! When finally revealed, the grown parasite is VERY scary-looking. Conveniently, the infested can weaken the parasite by screaming.

Vincent Price and his co-star in THE TINGLER
Vincent Price and his co-star in THE TINGLER

And on November 3, TCM plays the great political comedy The Dark Horse (1932). If you think that political handlers, dumb candidates, spin and sex scandals are creations of contemporary politics, you need to see this gem from 84 years ago.

Guy Kibbee and Warren William in THE DARK HORSE
Guy Kibbee and Warren William in THE DARK HORSE

Movies to See Right Now

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'71
’71

This week’s opener is Mr. Holmes; Ian McKellen is superb as the aged Sherlock Holmes, re-opening his final case.

If you haven’t seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to see the CAN’T MISS coming of age masterpiece Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Besides Me and Earl, two more of my Best Movies of 2015 – So Far are playing in theaters:

Don’t miss Fabrice Luchini in the delightfully dark comedy Gemma Bovery. The coming of age comedy Dope is a nice little movie that trashes stereotypes. Alicia Vikander’s strong performance carries the anti-war memoir Testament of Youth. This summer’s animated Pixar blockbuster Inside Out is very smart, but a little preachy, often very sad and underwhelming. The Melissa McCarthy spy spoof Spy is a very funny diversion. Mad Max: Fury Road is a rock ’em sock ’em action tour de force but ultimately empty-headed and empty-hearted.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the year’s best thriller so far – ’71, a harrowing tale set in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. ’71 is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming on Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

Don’t forget that Turner Classic Movies is filling each June and July Friday with film noir in its Summer of Darkness series, hosted by Film Noir Foundation president Eddie Muller – the Czar of Noir. The series schedule includes several favorites of my Overlooked Noir. Tonight features next Friday, look out for 99 River Street.

Saturday night, Saturday, July 18, TCM is presenting THREE of the greatest films about politics: The Dark Horse, The Last Hurrah and The Candidate. On the 21st, TCM brings us that classic suspense Western 3:10 to Yuma, along with Peeping Tom – still one of the very best serial killer movies after 50 years.

On July 24, Turner Classic Movies will show the groundbreaking French noir Elevator to the Gallows. It’s a groundbreaking film with so many outstanding elements that I’ll be writing about it next week. But set your DVR now.

Marcel Ronet in ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS
Marcel Ronet in ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS

2012 in the Movies: most fun at the movies

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William Friedkin's KILLER JOE

1.  This year I attended over ten screenings that were followed by Q & As with the filmmaker.  My favorite was the rip-snorting Killer Joe, followed by an hour with one of the great raconteurs, director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist).

2.  Sitting with other film geeks at the San Francisco International Film Festival, only to be surprised and delighted by the hilarious Norwegian comic thriller Headhunters.

3.  Watching the three-hour director’s cut of Margaret with The Wife and our friend Paula.

4.  Watching Bill W. (about the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous) in an audience that contained over 200 AA members,

5.  Enjoying the  classic Italian comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street for the first time.

6.  Discovering the political satire The Dark Horse and the workplace drama Employees Entrance from the early 1930s, both starring  Warren William, the King of Pre-Code.

7.  Revisiting classics like M, the 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Exorcist and finding that they all hold up well today.

Coming up on TV: Warren William, the King of Pre-Code

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Warren William with Loretta Young in EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE

I’ve recently discovered the actor Warren William, whose movies from the early 30s remain fresh today.  On August 30, Turner Classic Movies will be broadcasting sixteen Warren William movies.  Although he is not well-known today, William was “King of the Pre-Code”, starring in 25 movies between 1931 and 1934, many with the sexual frankness and moral ambiguity that was to be erased by the Production Code.  His leading ladies included the likes of Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Ann Dvorak and Claudette Colbert.

With his striking features (including a prominent and noble nose) and his deep and cultured voice, William was a natural for the newfangled talkies.  William excelled in the Pre-Code movies because he could play deliciously shameless scoundrels who would use their wit and position to exploit everyone else, especially for sex, power and money.  His characters are fun to watch because they take such delight in their own depravity.  But in 1934, the new Production Code meant that movies could no longer allow his characters to have sex and otherwise behave badly and get away with it.

My recommendation among TCM’s offerings this week is the 1933 Employees Entrance.  William plays a department store manager who is viciously ruthless with his competitors and suppliers.  He abuses his own employees and is indifferent to the resultant suicide attempts.  He uses his position to have sex with a young employee (Loretta Young), even after she marries someone else.  And he keeps a floozy on the payroll to distract another executive (his putative supervisor) from meddling in the business.  And for all 75 minutes of Employees Entrance, William’s joyously despicable character is richly enjoying himself.  If you’re looking for the triumph of Good over Evil, this isn’t your movie.

One of my favorite movies is 1932’s hilarious political comedy The Dark Horse, in which William plays an equally ruthless and amoral campaign manager.  He is such a scoundrel that he must first get sprung from jail to teach his dimwitted candidate to answer every question with “Yes…and, then again, no.”  He describes his own candidate (the gleefully dim Guy Kibbee) thus:  “He’s the dumbest human being I ever saw. Every time he opens his mouth he subtracts from the sum total of human knowledge.”  (Unfortunately, TCM is not showing The Dark Horse this week.)

Ever the sexually predatory cad on the screen, the real life William led a quiet life and was married to the same woman for twenty-five years until his death.