Well, dear readers, there are certain filmmakers who simply fall out of the public’s consciousness, despite a legacy of great films and a career spanning decades. If you say to people today, do you love the films of Martin Ritt, they would just look at you like so much fish. Maybe if you said “Hud” they MIGHT have heard of that one, but he’s all but been forgotten. I have recently seen not one but two Martin Ritt films, both from the 1970s and both great movies and funnily both on Twilight Time Blu-rays. The first was The Front, which is better today than it was back then, and the second, which I watched last night, was Conrack. Given how successful many of his films were, it’s rather shocking to find that his only Academy Award nomination was for Hud. When you consider that he also directed such classics as The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Norma Rae, it’s even more shocking. He was the kind of director that really doesn’t exist anymore – an actor’s director who was also a real filmmaker, who really knew how to shoot movies. My first Martin Ritt film would have been The Long, Hot Summer back when it first came out – I remember seeing it at the Stadium Theatre and I especially liked it because I was a big Jimmie Rodgers fan and he sang the title song. I saw Paris Blues when it came out and enjoyed it – especially the incredible music.
I actually missed Hud when it came out and didn’t see it until about twenty years later. But I saw and liked The Outrage, loved The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, and even enjoyed Hombre. The Molly Maguires, which was a big flop, plays better now than it did then – it’s beautifully made. Well, you get the idea – I just like the man’s work – a lot. I believe Conrack is, in fact, the third Ritt Twilight Time release (they also did The Sound and the Fury), and I’m hoping it won’t be their last. As with Hud, I missed Conrack when it came out in 1974, and I continued to miss it all the way up until yesterday. I didn’t even really know what it was about until Nick Redman told me it was based on a Pat Conroy book called The Water is Wide. Well, it’s a winner – a really wonderful film, beautifully and simply directed by Ritt, with lovely camerawork from John Alonzo. Jon Voight is wonderful as Conroy, a teacher with some unorthodox methods of getting to his students, something that, of course, could not happen in today’s PC times. The kids are perfectly cast, too, and Hume Cronyn should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his wonderful performance. The script by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank is a beauty – they, in fact, wrote eight of Ritt’s films. I have no history with this film, but to my eyes the transfer looks terrific and just as a 1974 film should look, with accurate color, excellent detail and contrast. Sound is mono, as the film always was, and the score, while not long, is also a beauty – John Williams. Sad to say that the music-only elements are lost, which is why it’s never had a CD release. In any case, this comes highly recommended by the likes of me.
Yesterday was certainly a Saturday, that much I’m sure of. I was up at nine but stayed in bed until eleven, just for the halibut. Then I got up, answered e-mails, had a couple of telephonic conversations, and then went and had some chicken tenders and some tap tap tapioca pudding. Then I picked up a couple of small packages, then came home, where I relaxed and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Yesterday, I finished the final four episodes of The Bridge II. It’s such a well-done show and the writing is really top-notch. The structure of this one was really interesting, as everything is basically solved at the end of episode ten, and from there on it’s a cat-and-mouse game to the end of the final episode. And that final episode is not just standard thriller wrap-up 101 – it’s got real depth and character revelations for the leading lady and I learned about a real disease I knew nothing about called Munchhausen. Sofia Helin is just amazing as Saga Noren and Kim Bodnia is equally great as her Danish cop partner. Then ending is completely unexpected and open-ended, both in terms of the current plot that was wrapped up, and what happens to Bodnia’s character. I then watched the trailer for the American version and that three minutes was more than I could stomach. The Bridge I and II is now available on DVD here in the US – I recommend it for those who like their thrillers dark and interesting, and for one of the most unique female characters in the history of television.
After that, I watched Conrack, then started a Swedish movie, part of a series of films called Crimes of Passion, all based on the crime novels of Swedish writer Maria Lang. I watched about thirty minutes of it, and so far I’m not liking it very much. It’s a period mystery, and it stars Ola Rapace as a police detective. Then I just played on the computer, took a hot shower and that was that.
Today, I shall do a little work on the computer, then I’m seeing a two o’clock matiness at the Colony Theater in the Bank of Bur. After that, I’ll get something to eat, come home, and watch the rest of the Swedish thing, then watch Fever Pitch.
Tomorrow, I have a lot of stuff to do and then I’m attending a St. Patrick’s Day dinner at Barry Pearl and his ever-lovin’ Cindy’s home environment. I’m told there will be corned beef and cabbage, not necessarily in that order. Tuesday is bunches of stuff, Wednesday a work session with Sandy and Lanny, Thursday a big production meeting for Li’l Abner, Friday another Sandy and Lanny session – I think I also am seeing a couple of shows, too.
And a big happy haineshisway.com birthday wish to the darling daughter. Hope it’s a happy and fun one.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, see a show, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which the new day shall be mine.