@larycrews.bsky.social
Retired writer and broadcast journalist with 44 years of computer expertise. Former actor in theater, TV and one movie. (Insidious 2011). Eight published books. Content provider for Bluesky. Living with his college-educated cat, Stanford in Reno NV.
Drama about the rise and fall of a corrupt southern governor who promises his way to power. Broderick Crawford portrays Willie Stark, who, once he is elected, finds that his vanity and power lust prove to be his downfall.
All the King's Men
1949 ‧ Noir/Drama ‧ 1h 50m
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The defiance of the man who has made himself a king by knavery and the force of power is being played today in real time by President Trump.
But in the film, Doctor Shepperd Strudwick, the sensitive doctor shoots down the king at the at the height of his triumph.
The most compelling of the femme players is Mercedes McCambridge, the ironic, cynical and completely disillusioned secretary and mistress to the great man. Hers is the more colorful character and she registers strongly.
The dramatic impact of mob scenes contrast with equally potent intimate scenes as the story is unfolded and over them all is spread just enough of the documentary technique to make them vividly alive. Crawford’s exhortations of his followers is true-life spellbinding.
The story is told through the eyes of John Ireland, newspaperman.
He falls for Crawford’s line after seeing him pushed around by organized politics. Ireland’s work is good, clarifying the narrative so carefully developed by Rossen’s handling.
Springing up from the soil to make himself a great man by using the follow-the-leader instinct of the more common voter,
Broderick Crawford does a standout performance. Given a meaty part, his histrionic bent wraps it up for a personal success adding much to the worthwhile aspects of the drama.
Robert Rossen produced and directed from his own script based upon the Pulitzer Prize novel All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren.
Rossen’s three-way function compels attention, telling the drama with all the punch of a March of Time sharpening realism without lessening motion picture values.
The rise and fall of a political messiah is given graphic celluloid treatment. It is a picture to stir talk and controversy and a film that vividly impresses, with dramatic sureness, the chicanery of politics as have been practiced in the past and may crop up again.
All the King’s Men (1949) is a drama about the rise and fall of a corrupt southern governor who promises his way to power.
Broderick Crawford portrays Willie Stark, who, once he is elected, finds that his vanity and power lust prove to be his downfall.
The Truman Show
PG 1998 ‧ Comedy/Sci-fi ‧ 1h 43m
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As The Truman Show tells us because we can engineer genetics, because we can telecast real lives, of course we must, right?
But are these good things to do?
The irony is that the people who finally answer that question will be the very ones produced by the process.
I enjoyed The Truman Show on its levels of comedy and drama; I liked Truman because he was a good man, honest, and easy to sympathize with.
But the underlying ideas made the movie more than just entertainment. It brings into focus the new values that technology is forcing on humanity.
Carrey is a surprisingly good choice to play Truman.
This is a well-planned performance; Carrey is on the right note as a guy raised to be liked and likable, who decides his life requires more risk and hardship.
Ed Harris also finds the right notes as Christof, the TV Svengali.
Truman must gradually realize the truth of his environment and try to escape from it. It’s clever the way he’s kept on his island by implanted traumas. We’re invited to think about the implications. About a world in which modern communications make celebrity possible, and inhuman.
Truman’s world is controlled by a TV producer named Christof (Ed Harris), whose control room is high in the artificial dome that provides the sky and horizon.
He discusses his programming on talk shows and dismisses the protests of those who believe Truman is the victim of a cruel deception.
Lauren (Natascha McElhone), the only woman he ever really loved, allegedly moved away with her family.
The actress who played her (named Sylvia) developed real feeling and pity for Truman and felt he should know the truth about his existence.
Meryl, on the other hand, is a reliable pro.
Truman works as a sales executive at an insurance company, is happily married to Meryl (Laura Linney), and doesn’t find it suspicious that she describes household products in the language of TV commercials.
He is happy, in a way, but an uneasiness gnaws away at him.
Seaside is a planned community on the Gulf Coast near Tampa. It looks like a nice place to live.
Certainly Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) doesn’t know anything else.
You accept the world you’re given we accept almost everything in our lives without examining it very closely.
The Truman Show (1998) is about a central character, who doesn’t suspect that he’s living his entire life on live television. Yes, he lives in an improbably ideal world in which neighbors greet each other over white picket fences, and Ozzie and Harriet are real people.
Yeah.
The Killing
1956 ‧ Noir/Crime ‧ 1h 20m
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The prize in The Killing will be $2 million, the day’s expected total receipts at the track. This heist is worth a lot of planning, and Johnny has gone the distance. In his mind his plan is superb. All it depends upon is everybody doing exactly what is required of them, exactly when and where.
The writing and editing are the keys to how this film works. Sterling Hayden was a significant screen presence with his tough guy face and his pouting lower lip. His gravel voice lays out instructions and requirements in a flat, factual manner; his gang members take them at face value.
Filmed in San Mateo and Venice, Calif and at the Bay Meadows Racetrack, the movie has the look and feel of glorious 1950s black and white film noir. On a budget of $230,000, Kubrick uses a lot of actual locations.
George Peatty (Elisha Cook), a weakling racetrack cashier; Val Cannon (Vince Edwards), Sherry’s actual lover; Mike O’Reilly (Joe Sawyer), the racetrack bartender; Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey), a rifle sharpshooter; and Leo the Loan shark (Jay Adler).
There’s a large cast, made easy to follow because of typecasting. There are Fay (Coleen Gray), Johnny’s girl; Marvin Unger (Jay C. Flippen), putting up the cost of the operation; Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia), a crooked cop; Sherry Peaty (Marie Windsor), a gold-digging floozy.