To explain: The Year of Creative Engagement (#yoce) is an attempt to document my creative journey in 2014. By putting greater stock in accountability and output, while also showing what new work I’m reading or listening to, I hope to have a richer, engaged experience.
There’s a few movies to go over so I’ll get started.
Welcome to the horror movie trio! I suppose that’s fitting given it’s Halloween month. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) is mostly known – back then, and now – as a vehicle to showcase the formidable talents of aging stars, and cult favourites, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. The way they play off each other with evident (and apparently real) venom is fun to watch. The movie tracks along in regular thriller fashion and I was a little ho-hum until the third act, which veers off expected course and made me sit up and pay attention. Davis’ makeup is hideous – Crawford, four years Davis’ senior in real life, looks years younger – to match the hideousness of her character. Supporting them in a creepy performance is Victor Buono, who was Oscar nominated for his performance (as was Davis). I recognised him from the 1960s TV version of Batman (he played King Tut!).
Night of the Living Dead (1968) was quite slow and I ended up fast forwarding parts, however I feel by saying that I’m doing the movie a disservice. I ought to stress that if you’re sitting down to watch it for scares and gore, that’s just not going to happen. However, if you’re interested in watching a movie that is interested in tackling with social issues such as race, then this has more in store than you might first imagine. Add to that mix a genuinely surprising ending and you can still see why it’s still referenced today as one of the horror ‘greats’.
Rosemary’s Baby (also 1968) is quite remarkable. Mia Farrow was served with divorce papers on the set by Frank Sinatra because he didn’t approve of her acting after they had been married, and you have to wonder how much that shock was channelled into her performance. She is wonderful, as is the whole case, including Ruth Gordon – one of the satanic neighbours – who won an Oscar for her role. She was the last actor to win an Oscar for a horror part, before Silence of the Lambs came along in 1991. That’s quite a while. I have read the book (while pregnant – silly me!) and am uncertain as to whether they tweaked one plot point (I won’t say what – spoilers), but I guess that just means I’ll have to re-read to check!
On the Beach (1959) is actually a leftover from my last update that I forgot to include. I love the book (I devoted a whole post to it) and wondered how I’d react to the movie. It was hard to watch 1950s Melbourne about to suffer the apocalypse, I have to say. As the streets get emptier and emptier, until there’s no one left, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would look like today, especially when local landmarks such as the State Library, that still exist, are featured.
The biggest assest of Cool Hand Luke (1967) is definitely Paul Newman. The script is uneven (although it gave us the immortal line “What we have here is a failure to communicate”) and feels like it really hasn’t settled on what it really wants to impart to the audience, but Newman takes his role and makes it his own. Even Adam and the kids sat down and watched the end with me – that doesn’t happen often.
Chinatown (1974) is another film directed by Polanski (as was Rosemary’s Baby) and is regularly featured in those ‘Top 50 Films of All Time’ lists, and I’ve always been curious about it. So I was surprised, when it was over, to sit there and think “What was all the fuss about?” Maybe I missed something.
A plus: five out of these six are on my 1001 movie challenge, and so are now crossed out!
Have you seen any of these movies? Tell me what you thought!
