Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.

Review #1174: Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine.

Cast: 
Vincent Price (Dr. Goldfoot), Frankie Avalon (Craig Gamble), Dwayne Hickman (Todd Armstrong), Susan Hart (Diane), Jack Mullaney (Igor), Fred Clark (D.J. Pevney), Patti Chandler (Robot), Mary Hughes (Robot), Salli Sachse (Robot), Luree Holmes (Robot), Sue Hamilton (Robot), Laura Nicholson (Robot), and Marianne Gaba (Robot) Directed by Norman Taurog (#421 - Palm Springs Weekend and #523 - It Happened at the World's Fair)

Review: 
Admittedly, I suppose the basic proposition of "James Bond meets a beach party" must have sounded pretty enticing to turn into a movie, particularly if you have Vincent Price to inject some classiness (or ridiculousness, perhaps) into the whole affair. This was made on a budget of over a million dollars by American International Pictures, who could make and release films of various kinds, such as horror or beach party movies, and I suppose there really must've been something about the latter genre that was big for the 1960s, so what better way to build on that by combining/spoofing it with another thing big for the decade - spy films. James H. Nicholson (co-founder of the studio) helped write the story, while Elwood Ullman and Robert Kaufman helped do the screenplay. Reportedly, the original intent of the film was to have songs integrated throughout the film, for which Vincent Price was looking forward to sing. However, this did not come to pass, which disappointed him. Actually, I imagine it would've been pretty interesting to hear, but Samuel Z. Arkoff (AIP co-founder) thought he sounded too "fey" - wrap your head around that.

The end product is a movie that has a bunch of cheap gags and okay acting, with Price being the only one who really seems to shine with some sort of energy. I can't say that I disliked my experience with the movie, but I didn't find this movie to have enough in terms of successful humor and gags to really make this a worthwhile film to recommend. Price is entertaining, playing this ridiculous role with a fine sense of humor, and he is the only thing to really keep the film from derailing too much into lame gags. He can't elevate the movie into anything really good, but he does save the experience from being bland at least. Avalon and Hickman are okay, but they aren't too particularly interesting to follow along with, with the bumbling and stumbling only going so far before the film seems to grow tired. I couldn't help but think of Our Man Flint (1966), which also served as a spoof of the Bond film while being pretty silly, but somehow that film ends up working much better with its gags and spy hero. At least the song in the beginning by The Supremes is charming, complete with claymation designed by Art Clokey. The sequence at the end involving the streetcar in San Francisco is pretty interesting at least. There isn't really a terrible performance, but the movie simply doesn't have enough consistent energy to make its thin plot and gags work completely. Upon release, the movie was mildly successful, most notably doing well in Italy, which inspired a sequel called Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs that was released the following year. If one is looking for something that is simply silly without needing too much investment, perhaps this will fit right up the alley.

Happy Boxing Day, folks.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

White Heat.

Review #907: White Heat.

Cast:
James Cagney (Arthur "Cody" Jarrett), Virginia Mayo (Verna Jarrett), Edmond O'Brien (Hank Fallon / Vic Pardo), Margaret Wycherly ("Ma" Jarrett), Steve Cochran ("Big Ed" Somers), Ford Rainey (Zuckie Hommel), John Archer (Philip Evans), Wally Cassell ("Cotton" Valletti), Fred Clark (Daniel "The Trader" Winston), Ian MacDonald ("Bo" Creel), and Paul Guilfoyle (Roy Parker) Directed by Raoul Walsh (#399 - The Thief of Bagdad (1924))

Review:
This review has been in the making for a long time, if you can believe that. Ever since I bought the film from my local Blockbuster over two years ago, this movie has been on the backburner of things I wanted to cover, but its time hadn't quite aligned with me, until now. When it comes to film noirs and gangster movies, White Heat certainly does not disappoint, being one of the seminal movies of its time. Cagney is a good chunk of why the movie works so well, portraying the instability of this villain without any sort of fakery nor too much overblown nature to him. The scene with him on his screen mother Wycherly's lap is also a good scene in showing the strange nature and dynamic of the two that plays off well with a movie that doesn't play to easiest gangster types. The scene where he reacts to a death personal to him is also quite exceptional in how he conveys the agony of that moment without stock elements in any way. Mayo does a fine job as the femme fatale, having good chemistry with Cagney along with being respectable with her charms. O'Brien is quite exceptional in his role by managing to size up well with Cagney without being overwrought with too much hero hokeyness. The rest of the cast does a good job in their roles, serving their purposes with the right kind of competency. The cinematography is good, having the right balances of color (for a black-and-white film) and picture. This is a movie with the right kind of tension and action, where even though you know how movies of the time might roll you still manage to really invest in how the movie plays itself out, owing to its great cast, all starting with James Cagney. I highly recommend this movie.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

Sunset Boulevard.

Review #809: Sunset Boulevard.

Cast
William Holden (Joe Gillis), Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond), Erich von Stroheim (Max von Mayerling), Nancy Olson (Betty Schaefer), Fred Clark (Sheldrake), Lloyd Gough (Morino), Jack Webb (Artie Green), and Cecil B. DeMille. Directed by Billy Wilder (#106 - Some Like It Hot, #194 - Ace in the Hole, #422 - The Fortune Cookie, and #641 - The Apartment)

Review
The inventive (if not quirky) device of narration by our freshly dead main character certainly sets the tone for what is at all counts a fairly well-made movie that was later added to the National Film Registry as a film noir. Nostalgia is something that we all encounter at least once in our lives, whether it be for a different past time or for our own past. Sunset Boulevard certainly expresses nostalgia in the form of Swanson's character, from her private movie theater that shows her silent movies to playing bridge with a few "waxworks" (played by three silent film stars of the era: Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, and H. B. Warner). The transition from the silent era to sound led to new horizons but also the decline of a good deal of the silent stars that had graced the screen and the hearts of moviegoers as well. The cinematography by John F. Seitz is excellent, making the movie look very well shot, particularly the final scene, with Swanson seemingly fading into the glitz of the camera. There's a certain sort of allure that Swanson brings to her character that makes her irresistible to watch on screen - her banter with Holden is especially entertaining. Von Stroheim is also wonderful to watch in his attempts at appeasing this husk of a star, with all of the desperation and pity in full display. Holden does a good job at telling this yarn, with enough quips along the way. One of my favorite lines is about how people don't really know the writing it takes to make a movie, assuming that the actors make it up as they go along. There's a certain mythic quality to these actors of yesteryear that is hard to explain at times but is always present, with a presence as large as Norma Desmond. Sure, one could figure out who killed who soon enough, but it's the spectacle that gives the movie breath. It's a movie with much to remember, from the main trio to the dialogue ("I'm ready for my close-up" being one of them) that makes for a fine thing to watch.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.