River of No Return (1954)

Intro. 

Do you ever have those days that are so long and so tiring that all you want is to curl up with a good book or lose yourself in a good movie?  That's the way I felt the other day.  I came home and collapsed and flipped through some saved movies until I came to River of No Return.  Ironically, I had just finished the book You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You by Robert Randisi.  It's the latest entry in his Rat Pack fanfiction murder mystery series.  I hate to say it, but  I am completely hooked on these books.  This one had Marilyn Monroe being stalked and Dean Martin hires the hero, Eddie Gianelli, to protect her.  Anyway, in the book, Marilyn tells Eddie she feels as safe with him as she did with Robert Mitchum when they were shooting River of No Return in the Canadian Rockies.  Of course, my thought was "I'd feel safe with Robert Mitchum too!"  Which meant, when I needed a good film to watch after my exhausting day, I had to pick this one.

Overview
Matt Calder (Mitchum) plays a farmer reunited with his young son Mark (Tommy Rettig) in a new, gold-hungry mining town.  The two make it back to their riverside farm and try to get used to each other again when a raft with two people on board gets into trouble near their house.  Matt helps the couple reach land only to find that the man is a gambler, Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun) who has won a gold mine in a poker game.  His wife Kay (Marilyn Monroe), who immediately doesn't get along with stoic, conservative Matt,  bonds quickly with curious, good-natured and innocent Mark.  As Harry lacks any rafting skills, he cannot go any further down the river to the main town to file his new claim.  He instead holds up Matt and steals his only rifle and only horse, leaving the father and son defenseless against the Native Americans, who have already started burning houses nearby.  Kay stays behind to care for Matt, who has been knocked unconscious by Harry.  After Harry leaves, Matt awakens and takes Mark and Kay onto the raft, narrowly missing an attack from the Native Americans.  They watch helplessly as their home is burned and Matt vows to kill Harry.  From there the threesome travel through the roughest parts of the river called "River of No Return," nearly drowning, fighting chills and fever, eating what little they can find or catch and generally trying to get along with each other but failing.  We find out that Harry and Kay aren't married yet and that the reason Matt was away from Mark and his mother was that he was in jail for shooting a man in the back.  Mark overhears this, causing another problem in this already troubled group.  Matt and Kay continue to hold some contempt for each other, and no sooner does it start to ease then Matt tries to force himself on Kay.  He gets interrupted by an attack from a mountain lion, but the damage is done.  At long last the trio survive the worst rapids and make it safely to the town.  Matt allows Kay to see Harry first, to talk to him and try and stop the two men from a fight.  Harry pushes Kay aside and goes after Matt, only to be shot and killed.  I won't give it all away, but it's one of the best ending scenes I've seen...well, right up until the last two minutes.

Highlights

One of the things that this movie does well is how the characters are formed.  Just when you think Matt is an alright, square kind of guy he goes and tries to rape Kay.  What?  I know, I was yelling at him the whole time.  But it keeps his character interesting, and his anger is clearly still just below the surface.  The other thing that works is the dialogue.  I was just talking about this film earlier and said that it's frustrating because the characters talk about things that don't matter and don't talk about things that do matter.  We're left wondering about Matt's dead wife.  Does he blame himself for her death?  Does he think Kay looks like her and that's why he has trouble with her?  Those are questions that should be answered by the acting, not the telling, which I think both Mitchum and Monroe do very well.  And the ending - I won't give anything away, but how it all comes full circle is pretty wonderful.  Not to mention pretty daring for the time too.

A Few Complaints

I've read a few mixed reviews on this film, and I have to say I have a few mixed feelings too.  The aspects I liked also bothered me a bit too.  For example, I loved the dynamic ending, but I felt that after the killing of Harry the film should have ended with Kay in the saloon singing the title song.  Instead there is a minute or two after her song that are too simple, too neat and too Hollywood.  I think they put it in to appease some viewers who probably had an issue with the way the shooting happened.  Or perhaps it was just to go with conventions of the day.  It would be interesting to see it now  in a remake, although no one today could probably convey that same inner turmoil and complexity Mitchum did.  And no one can even come close to being Marilyn Monroe.

And finally, just to appease my fangirl nature, I have to say that I was at first disappointed that Robert Mitchum doesn't get to sing in this film.  Marilyn Monroe does as a saloon entertainer and also as a sort of mother for Mark.  I know it would have been out of character for Matt to join Kay in singing, but part of me wished he had, even if only for the closing credits.

Review
What's great about this movie is that these are not average, well-adjusted people.  They are broken, weary and just trying to survive the elements and each other.  They don't form this perfect, happy little family.  It's a rare Western drama that is subtle and deep just as much as it is sweeping and dramatic.  Although there are some problems with plot and sometimes even with the characters (not to mention those awful last two minutes), I feel that this is a fine movie and I recommend it.  It was perfect to unwind and enjoy such a great leading man and leading lady in a fairly good and well-rounded film.

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Intro.

I've been looking for Westerns with women in strong leading roles, so when I read the summary of Johnny Guitar, I knew it was a film I had to see.  The write-up called it a "cult classic" of director Nicolas Ray, and starred Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge as feuding businesswomen in the old West.  With supporting actors like Ward Bond, Ernest Borgnine and John Carradine, I was sure it would be a real treat.

Overview

Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) has been hired by saloon-keeper Vienna (Joan Crawford) to come out to her establishment in the middle of nowhere Arizona.  On his way, he witnesses four men hold up a stagecoach.  He no sooner gets to the saloon when a posse comes in with a dead body - the man killed in the holdup.  The dead man's sister happens to be Emma Smalls, who owns the bank and practically all of the town.  She also has a deep hatred for Vienna, and demands Vienna to give them the men who robbed the stage.  As it turns out, Vienna is friends with four "outsiders" - cowboys who aren't quite criminals but also aren't quite the upstanding-citizen type.  These cowboys, led by The Dancing Kid (Scott Brady), are the prime suspects, but Vienna won't turn them over.  Unfortunately the Kid and his group come into the saloon at that point and a real stare-down leads to a lot of hot tempers, drawn guns and a lot of yelling (the yelling is mostly from the always fantastic Ward Bond who plays Emma's friend and ranch-owner McIvers).  McIvers finally gives Vienna and her crew 24 hours to clear out and the dispute fizzles out.  Vienna decides to send her crew away, lets the Kid and his gang (who really didn't rob the stage) get off to their hide-out and waits for the posse to come for her.  She isn't leaving.  Apparently, neither is her saloon-singer Johnny, who we learn is not only a former gunslinger, but her former lover.  Johnny is clearly still in love with Vienna, but she has yet to forgive him for leaving her five years ago.  The Kid and his gang decide to rob the town bank during the dead man's funeral, and as Vienna is in the bank at the time (and left unharmed), she is accused of being their leader.  Emma leads the town posse after the boys and then after Vienna.  It all ends with a lot of action, including arson, fistfights, a hanging, a shoot-out and a final showdown between the two women.

Highlights & Other Points

First of all, I have to point out the supporting cast.  Ernest Borgnine was great as the trouble-making selfish cowboy Bart.  You both hated and liked him.  I also liked seeing Ward Bond, even if his character was rather one-dimensional and not on nearly long enough.  Some other familiar faces included Frank Ferguson as the Marshal and Paul Fix as Eddie.  And of course there is the scene-stealer, John Carradine.  His death scene is wonderful as he utters that it's the first time everyone paid attention to him.  I also read on IMDb that Joan Crawford had originally wanted Claire Trevor in the role of Emma Smalls.  I kind of wish she had, as it would've been wonderful to see her and John Carradine together again.

I've read several reviews for this film on the Turner Classic Movies website, and I'm not too sure what to think.  Some people seem to love this film while others despise it.  There are a few areas that need to be pointed out - first the color.  There is color EVERYWHERE in this film.  And not just a variety of colors, but big, bold, outstanding colors.  I did notice though that it depended on the people - Joan Crawford is the larger than life saloon-keeper, already a rarity because she is a woman in such a position.  Her attitude is as bold as her wardrobe; also, she doesn't start wearing dresses until after she and Johnny get back together.  On the other side are the townspeople lead by Emma and McIvers.  After the bank robbery, which triggers a lot of fast moving action, the posse is all dressed alike in their funeral clothes, sort of like a dark, somber army.   

Aside from the clothes, the most noticeable feature of this film is the acting.  It feels too forced, too over-the-top.  In fact, as I watched I couldn't help but feel like this was a stage play and the actors needed to do everything possible to make their emotions palpable.  There is very little subtlety here.  I'm not sure if it is intentional or not, but in many ways the movie reminded me of a melodrama.  It was most evident in the scenes between Johnny and Vienna, who go to emotional extremes over their lost-then-rekindled romance.  I can't help but wonder if the obvious issues the two main women have with relationships might be a result of going against the standard genre rules (I mean, women toting guns?  Leading a posse? Running a town?).  The saving grace was that each time Vienna and Johnny got a bit too carried away, some action happened that changed the plot.  Still, it is hard to look past the feel and style of the film, although I did read that the over-stylized nature and over-dramatic plot both inspired Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West.  Sounds like another review waiting to happen!

Review

I think if you watch Johnny Guitar knowing that it is Western Melodrama, you might be more open to it.  It's not the worst film I've seen, but also not the best.  What it lacks in acting, movement and overdone love scenes it makes up for in action, plot and leading ladies.  And honestly, any Western with two such strong female leads is so rare, it's worth watching at least once.

Fun fact: Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge fought not only on-screen, but off-screen as well.  According to some reports, Joan Crawford even took all of Mercedes' wardrobe and threw them out along an Arizona highway!  Good thing those guns on set weren't loaded for real!  Read more at TCM.com. 

Sarah and the Squirrel (1982)

Intro.

Turner Classic Movies defines a "classic" film as one that is at least 30 years old.  I have held to this standard for the films I've reviewed so far, but this one has to be an exception.  A little while ago, one of my friends told me that she had grown up watching a film called Sarah and the Squirrel and loved it - Sarah was a young girl living in the woods where she befriended a cute little squirrel.  It wasn't until years later that my friend re-watched her childhood classic only to discover that Sarah was actually in the woods hiding from German soldiers who had taken her family to a concentration camp.  Myself and a few of our other friends did not believe her, but we found the film and decided we had to see it for ourselves.

Overview

The film opens in live action, with Mia Farrow acting as a narrator.  She says that the story of Sarah is true, and that the film is dedicated to children the world over who are affected by war.  It's a grim opening to be sure, and soon leads us to images (both animated and real) of a town being bombed.  Sarah's mother, father and grandmother take her to the woods where they dig an underground bunker and cover it with a pile of logs and leaves.  The family hides in the bunker until the grandmother gets sick.  When Sarah's father goes to get medicine for her (or at least, that's what we think happens to him as he disappears), Sarah goes out to collect berries.  She comes back only to see her mother and grandmother being forced into a truck by soldiers.  They tell her to find her father and stay hidden, which she tries to do.  Time passes and Sarah befriends some of the forest creatures, including a cute (although somewhat gigantic) squirrel.  She witnesses a failed attempt by resistance fighters to destroy a key railroad bridge, so she then goes to great lengths to destroy the bridge herself.  Her reasoning - no bridge, no supplies, no guns, no war!  While Sarah miraculously succeeds at destroying the bridge, she is still left alone in the woods and forced to run away from soldiers with a scent-hound.  There is no real ending, just Sarah alone with her woodland creature friends.

Points to Consider

I mean no offense to my friend's good childhood memories, but I didn't like this film very much, and I agree that the PG-13 rating should be followed (or at least a PG one!).  While most of the film is sort of slow and mellow with some great classical music (Vivaldi!), you can't overlook the real-life clips of bombings and tanks and the horrors of seeing people within the labor camps (at one point Sarah witnesses her school-teacher on the brink of death).  It begs the question - at what age do we start teaching children about war and the Holocaust?  I did a little research last night, and found that most lesson plans focused on middle-school aged children, though a few websites had K-6 lesson plans as well.  I'm not sure when this film would be shown, as it is at once both very juvenile and very adult.  It has some definite problems trying to figure out what its intended audience should be.

Mia Farrow opens the film by saying that it is not only Sarah's story, but a testament to all children in all wars.  That, I believe, is what the film does well.  If anything, viewers can understand just how sad, lonely and frightened Sarah is.  Her dream sequence especially shows us that she only wants life to go back to normal, where everything feels almost like a fairy tale.  Instead, the friendly animals are scared away by birds (that look like bombers) which land and turn into hideous black demon-like creatures who set the peaceful woods on fire.  It turns out those creatures are actually soldiers who grab Sarah and end her entire world.  I thought it was really interesting how the film is about the Nazis in Poland, but there are no real identifying characteristics.  The soldiers lack any Nazi insignia, in fact the soldiers we see all look pretty standard and hard to identify.  Likewise, there are several different accents used by the townspeople (which is most likely due to a problem with production, as it was a low-budget picture), and when Sarah dreams, she envisions a wilderness filled with animals from around the world.*  I don't remember if they are ever referred to as Germans, though I may not remember.  I only remember Sarah calling them soldiers.

Finally, there is a definite child-like logic that Sarah has - if she can collapse the bridge, just one bridge, she will stop the war.  For to her, the war is only what she sees in her village.  And however improbable or impossible that objective is, Sarah must accomplish it, not only for herself, but for all those children she represents.  That was my favorite part of the film, even in spite of its obvious plot-failures.  There is something to be said about her determination against a seemingly impossible task.  It's a fitting climax for the film, though it leaves the ending sort of lacking.  We never find out what happens to Sarah.  Perhaps it's better that way, as a happy reunion with her father would have been too unrealistic while her being captured and sent to a camp is too realistic.  

Review

Due to the clear confusion of what the intended audience should be as well as the other problems with low-budget films, Sarah and the Squirrel was not impressive.  It was, however, an interesting perspective on how we  teach children about the Holocaust as well as an entertaining look at the kind of movies we watched as kids.  All in all, I do have to give credit to the producers as this is a good story to tell and an important (although poorly executed) mission to show the effects of war on children.


*This sentence may be my mistake though, as I just checked and, believe it or not, there are Polish Bison and Moose!  See for yourself here.

The Harvey Girls (1946)

Intro.

This past week the sun finally came out and it felt like spring for the first time this year. And although last month was supposed to be dedicated to musicals, this is the time I really feel like singing.  So a few days ago I watched a film that had been recommended by a friend of mine - The Harvey Girls.  It was bright, enjoyable and perfect for this time of year (or any time, really).

Overview

The Harvey Girls is based on the line of restaurants founded by Fred Harvey in the 1870s which grew along the quickly expanding railroad line, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe.  The all-female wait staff was known for good looks, good manners and good food and brought a sense of civilization to the West.  These are the girls that Susan Bradley (Judy Garland) meets on a train bound for Sandrock, where she is to meet her mail-order husband.  After quite a breath-taking entrance to the town (hence the Oscar-winning song, "On the Atchison, Tokpeka and the Santa Fe"), Susan meets her intended husband Hartsey (Chill Wills) and the two realize that it isn't going to work out.  The main reason is that Hartsey had local dance-hall owner Ned Trent (John Hodiak) write those beautiful, tender letters to Susan.  Susan joins The Harvey Girls and soon their restaurant becomes a big rival to the dance hall, leading to a lot of confrontations, hold-ups and dance-offs between the Harvey Girls and the saloon girls, led by none other than Angela Lansbury.  Susan and Ned also have their own face-off, but in a sort of Pride and Prejudice way, as Susan realizes what Ned's intentions really are.  It all wraps up with the classic "this town isn't big enough for the two of us" scene where the train has to take the losers to the next town down the line.

Highlights

The music in this film is fantastic - proof that the Oscar for Best Song was richly deserved.  I also really enjoyed the color and choreography of all the dance numbers.  All the care and hard work shows in such a polished film.  Not only is Judy Garland outstanding in her singing and acting, but her co-stars shine as well. It's great to see her reunite with Ray Bolger (who has a great dance number!), and wonderful to watch her sparring with Angela Lansbury (who, believe it or not, makes a great mean-girl-turned-sympathetic-rival).  We also get some good humor from Chill Wills and Virginia O'Brien, as well as an early role for the graceful dancer Cyd Charisse.

I think what really got to me about this film was how great it was to see such strong female leads.  In typical Westerns, it's usually the men that do all the fighting, but here it's the women (okay, so some of the men set fire to the restaurant, but that's not direct confrontation).  Part of it goes back to the unusual pairing of the Western and Musical genres - something so traditionally masculine and something so traditionally feminine.  Here the male lead, Ned, is much more subdued and poetic while Judy Garland is the one throwing punches.  It's pretty neat to see such an unusual switch, but that's another topic for another day. 

Review
In Westerns, both women and music have long been regarded as signs of progress and civilization, and the Harvey Girls bring both to the little town of Sandrock.  Not only that, but they also bring great songs, dances, food and a lot of heart.  The Harvey Girls is a great film that anyone can enjoy, and I recommend it as a must-see Musical.

P.S. The story of Fred Harvery is pretty neat - you can read more here at the Kansas State Historical Society.