Tag: Romance
Criss Cross (1949)
Tagline: The savage drama of an amazing double double-cross!
This meaty film noir is a follow-up to The Killers (1946). It reteams German director Robert Siodmak with star Burt Lancaster (age 35 here), who once again finds himself in a deadly love triangle. Lancaster, cast against type as a loser, Steve Thompson, a man who returns to his native LA after a year of wandering about the country. He doesn’t call up his ex-wife, Anna (Yvonne De Carlo), but they bump into each other. Steve still “has her in his blood,” much to the dismay of his mother. Maybe it was bad luck? Or fate?
She’s all right, she’s just young. -Steve
Hah! Some ways, she knows more than Einstein. -Mrs. Thompson
Anna and Steve rekindle their relationship for a time, but then she sneaks off to marry gangster Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea), who operates out of a local bar/nightclub. Steve almost can’t believe his ears when the sympathetic bartender breaks the news. Does Anna only care about money?
This is also the film debut (not credited) of Tony Curtis, who dances in the rhumba scene. Later, Curtis and Lancaster would costar in Trapeze and Sweet Smell of Success.
I should have been a better friend. I shoulda stopped you. I shoulda grabbed you by the neck, I shoulda kicked your teeth in. I’m sorry Steve. -Pete
This film is unusual for the genre, because Steve is not a loner, with no one to look out for his well-being. He has a loving family- mother, jovial little brother, and future sister-in-law. He has a good friend in Lt. Pete Ramirez, a cop he’s known since childhood. The many minor characters lend flavor to this film.
In time, he draws himself into Slim’s sphere, proposing an armored car heist. This heist involves a elderly co-worker who’s seeing his widowed mother. The main action scene was very well-done, as it looked quite modern.
Love… love! You’ve got to watch out for yourself! -Anna
He [Siodmark] fragments the narrative through flashbacks, counterposing the hopes of Lancaster’s return home with the desperation into which he has fallen. He also slows down for virtuosic sequences that only a great director could bring off: a long scene when the heist is being plotted, with the bored DeCarlo smoking cigarettes (“It passes the time”) while the railway criss-crosses the window behind her; and an equally long one in the hospital, involving a cranked-up bed, a tilted mirror on the bureau, and a visitor in the corridor- a good Samaritan who turns out to be his worst nightmare. -IMDB review excerpt
Anna is not like a typical femme fatale, as she’s not the planner. Steve takes agency in the robbery, though he never wanted anyone to be killed, if possible. He thinks naively, as he “wasn’t born into this” (Pete comments). He cared about love, not the money. The last quarter of the film is atmospheric, intense, and very well done. Anyone can become a fool for love, even Lancaster. Look at how young/sad/lost Steve looks when he sees Anna in the club (dancing carelessly) after so long. This is a fine performance, layered yet accessible.
The Killers (1946) starring Burt Lancaster & Ava Gardner
This film noir is based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It was Burt Lancaster’s first film role (at age 32). I thought he looked/acted much younger. There is that openness and vulnerability in his eyes that fans will recognize. Even battered and bruised, he has potential. Lancaster plays Ole Andresen (known to most as “The Swede”), a quiet gas station attendant in Brentwood, New Jersey.
We learn that there’s much more to The Swede than meets the eye, thanks to an insurance investigator, Jim Riordan (played by noted character actor Edmond O’Brien). He later went on to play Big Daddy in The Long Hot Summer (starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward). The movie gains momentum after a murder by two strangers to the small town. Riordan comes to deal with the $2,500 insurance policy left behind by the deceased. He eventually teams up with one of Ole’s oldest friends from Philly, Lt. Sam Lubinsky, to get to the crux of the matter. The femme fatale of the story is Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), the girlfriend of a well-known hood in Atlantic City.
Most people seem to think I’m the kind of guy who shaves with a blowtorch. Actually I’m bookish and worrisome. –Burt Lancaster
If you liked this movie, you’ll love Out of the Past (1947), starring Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, and Jane Greer. BOTH Mitchum and Lancaster were able to show the masculine man’s sensitive side. But maybe Mitchum had a BIT more danger and unpredictability? They’re both fabulous actors who used their presence and physicality to enhance their roles (think Denzel Washington). After all, it takes more than height and looks to make a leading man!
Profile of Ayesha Mattu (editor of Salaam, Love)
Related Articles: Ayesha’s Amazon.com page Ayesha’s writing at Love, InshAllah blog HuffPo debate on “Hot Muslim Men” calendar When 9/11 changed her travel plans, she met him
LOTR: The Two Towers – Extended Edition (2002)
The two towers refer to Saruman’s (Isengard) and Sauron’s (Barad-Dur) strongholds. The fellowship has gone its separate ways, so there is much more to see in this film. Saruman’s army is getting bigger each day. We see how Uruk-hai are being bred (gross); Treebeard (voiced by John Rhys-Davies, who also plays Gimli) thinks they are orcs crossed w/ men.
Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) travel with Gollum (Andy Serkis), a creature that they can’t fully trust. Gollum says that he can’t be far from the ring, and calls Frodo “master.” He had the ring for 500 years, so is in its power (as Galadriel explained in FOTR).
One of the best things about the EE- Sean Bean! We get to learn more about Boromir, his younger brother Faramir (David Wenham), and their father Denethor (John Noble). Faramir offered to go to the council of Elrond at Rivendell, but his father refused him.
Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas meet Eomer (Karl Urban) and the horsemen loyal to him. He’s in despair, after losing his cousin (Theodred) in battle and being banished from Edoras by Grima. Théoden (Bernard Hill) is under Saruman’s spell, so he can’t function as king. I love the Rohan musical theme!
The White Wizard that everyone seems to fear turns out to be a good guy- Gandalf!
Merry and Pip first see him (in Fangorn Forest). We see the ingenuity of these two hobbits. After escaping from Saruman’s forces, Pip leaves a trail which Aragorn follows. Merry realizes that the Ents (tree herders) can help in the battle for Middle Earth.
The CGI effects on Théoden were very cool! He comes back to his old self in a few moments. But his only son is dead, and he laments this in a nice scene with Gandalf. The young are not supposed to die while “the old linger on.”
My favorite character in this film is Eowyn (Mirando Otto). She is caring, can handle a sword (will see just how well later), and develops a friendship w/ Aragorn. Does she love him? Or does she want to fight beside him as an equal? Maybe both! In the EE, we learn that Eowyn can’t cook very well. Aragorn grows to admire Eowyn.
Gimli is quite funny in this film, though he continues to fight very well (as in FOTR). He and Legolas are more friendly here, but have an ongoing rivalry. We learn that dwarf women also have beards.
Frodo and Sam learn that Boromir is dead from Faramir, captain of Gondor. Faramir is another of my faves in the LOTR films- he’s the reluctant warrior who’s a deep thinker. He sets the hobbits free after realizing the destructive power of the one ring, and the importance of the quest.
Elrond (Hugo Weaving) convinces Arwen (Liv Tyler) to leave Rivendell and travel to The Undying Lands. In a somewhat eerie sequence, he speaks of her future life should she marry Aragorn (a mortal man). I think this is a bit longer in the EE.
The toughest stuff to shoot was the battle at Helm’s Deep, the cast and crew explain on disc 4 of the EE. The elves, lead by Haldir (Craig Parker), come to fight beside the men/boys of Rohan. Then a new day comes, and Gandalf, Eomer, and his men ride in to defeat the Uruk-hai army.
Knightleyemma 