This was my first foray into the Marx Brothers, and it took me almost 90% of this film to kind of appreciate what was being done. First of all...I never realized that Groucho's moustache was painted on. That made me laugh. However, this film was a nonsensical barrage of bad puns and double entendres. "We should have a standing army! Why? We will save on chairs" is probably the most clever pun in the film...so you can imagine how rapid fire, vaudvillian wordplay can get annoying. The famous "man in the mirror" bit is inspired, but I imagined it a bit more flawless. The final battle sequences are actually very funny...but when the film was over...I felt a bit underwhelmed. The Marx Brothers are comedic royalty in the history of cinema...but I much preferred the genius of Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL when I saw that a few weeks ago.
If you type "Audition" into Google Images, you will get back a bunch of shots of a pretty little Asian girl holding sinister objects and preparing to torture. This film has been heralded because of said torture scene...and in ways it is utterly brilliant. However, this film is more or less a bit sappy and melodramatic. I know that is kind of the point so as to slap you in the face with those disturbing finale scenes, but I found myself bored, then intrigued, the horrified, then disappointed. Act 1 is a man "auditioning" women for a new wife, in the guise of a new tv show and courting this cutie. Act 2 is showing weird quirks of the girl and makes you a bit uncomfortable. Act 3 is perverse, disgusting outrageousness....and never really explained or understood. Wasn't great.
This film ruined Michael Powell's career, a career that even Martin Scorsese admired. It is a bit subversive and perverse, the story about a truly disturbed man who films women at the moment of their death, and worships the films and his camera in ways that are totally unnatural. I think the history behind the film is that people were incredibly uncomfortable when they were called out to being just like the killer in the film, enjoying themselves as they are shown fear and death through a video camera, but I see the film just as a dark, interesting work. I didn't quite feel the sort of sociological impact this film is said to have had, historically. But I did enjoy it.
I was pretty disappointed in this movie, because I love me some badass Eastwood. That iconic "Do you feel lucky, punk?" line really fell flat. It seems that all the parodies I have seen in my life of that line have all delivered the line with more gusto. When you really sit back and think about this film, it is really VERY simple...and Harry Callahan is a pretty lousy cop. How can he be mad at the system when HE is the one that screwed up. Vigilante justice is one thing...but I wasn't quite on board with "Dirty Harry"s methods. They weren't exciting enough to reach any kind of iconic status.
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These are Kevin's viewings out of the above Steven Jay Schneider tome Archives
May 2012
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