From the Terrace (1960)

The Outrage (1964)

“There was a trial.”

 “What happened?”

“A man was murdered.”

“Just one? A slow day!”

            The Outrage is not your typical Paul Newman film. He is not the gorgeous blue eyed All American man. He plays a Mexican bandit in the 1870s! I am sure I just turned your stomach at the thought or maybe made you scratch your head. Trust me when I say The Outrage was actually a very interesting film and Paul Newman did a great job.

            The film is told through flashbacks from several different characters.

            A Preacher (William Shatner) is leaving his church and his town. He is at a train station with a snake oil salesman/con man (Edward G. Robinson), and a miner. The con man asks the Preacher why he is leaving his church and his people. The Preacher replies it is because of a murder trial. He is upset that people swore to tell the truth on the Bible and they lied. He had thought he had struck it rich with souls to save when he came into the town. The con man asks the Preacher who committed the murder. The Preacher tells him the murderer was a man named Juan Carrasca (Paul Newman).

            We are shown the Preacher’s flashback to the trial. Juan has been handcuffed to a log in the ground in the middle of the town square. The night before he had burned down the jail so now the trial is being held in front of the whole town. The sheriff recalls how he found Juan lying in under a tree, Juan did not even put up a fight. As the sheriff tells his story Juan draws a hangman. Juan tells why he did not put up a fight. He says he had drank from the stream that had a bug in it and made it him sick. He also says the sheriff had pistol whipped him. Juan saw the newly married couple he was supposed to have attacked while he was on the road and he only tried to sell them a trinket. He did tie the husband up and then roughed up the wife when she came looking for husband. According to Juan the wife started to threaten him with a knife. Juan did not mean to kill the husband. He disgraced the wife and she wanted her husband to at least fight for her honor. The two men fight. The husband trips and falls on the knife.

            The wife managed to get away. The sheriff found her out of her mind from what she had witnessed. The Preacher says that the wife was not at all how Juan had described her. He described the wife as being worldly and sensual. The Preacher says she was homely and timid. The wife testified that Juan had let them be when he was done with her. The husband would not speak to her because of what happened. She had the knife in her hands from when she cut her husband free from the rope. She got so up she stabbed her husband.

            The Preacher cannot understand why the wife confessed to a murder she did not commit. Then he realizes they never got testimony from an Indian shaman who channeled the husband’s soul. Apparently the shaman was able to see what the husband saw before he died. The shaman saw that Juan was actually nice to the wife when her husband was never nice to her. She had wanted Juan to kill her husband. Juan got mad at her for even suggesting something like that and lets the husband go. The shaman sees the husband kill himself after his wife said.

            The story and the flashbacks go back and forth. The story unfolds in a way that I would not want to spoil it for you.

            The cast was actually really good. Paul Newman as I said was not your typical All American gorgeous actor.  If you had no idea that Newman was in the film you never would have known it was him. He went so deep into his character he became the character of Juan Carrasco. Edward G. Robinson was perfect as the talkative, slimy con man. William Shatner is not the greatest of actors he always seems so weird but in this film he was great. He was acting. Laurence Harvey played the husband. Harvey is mostly gagged for the entire story he does not have many lines.   

            The Outrage would have been a total mess had it been made by another director. Martin Ritt did a fantastic job. He got some of the best close up, and camera angles that I have seen in a film. Ritt’s direction is reason alone to watch The Outrage. Oh and so are the flashbacks. There are flashbacks within flashbacks. They are not confusing they make the story that much more enjoyable to watch. 

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

“I ain’t living with you I’m living in the same cage with you.”

            Tennessee Williams’ plays are not some of my favorites. Most likely due to when I took a theater class in college the whacked out teacher I had made up find a Tennessee Williams play, pick a monologue, and act it. I remember not having very good luck finding a decent part I liked because I did not like any of the stories. I cannot remember which dialogue I picked nor the play I got rid of the book I bought. I especially did not like sitting through A Street Car Named Desire but I think it was because Marlon Brando gets on my nerves so bad. I wanted to watch Cat on a Hot Tin Roof because I needed to watch something different even though it was based off the Tennessee Williams play and Elizabeth Taylor who I cannot for the life of me stand was the main actress. Well, I must say I was pleasantly surprised with this film, I actually liked the story AND Elizabeth Taylor’s acting.

            Maggie (Taylor) and her husband Brick (Paul Newman) are not happy in their marriage. They are visiting his family home for his father’s birthday. Brick refuses any advance Maggie tries to make he tells her he is disgusted with her. Maggie is very upset with Brick because he has been drinking a lot. The night before he drunkenly went to his old high school track field and broke his ankle trying to jump hurdles. Maggie is also on edge because Brick’s father Big Daddy (Burl Ives) is dying and she is afraid with Brick’s drinking they will be left nothing and Brick’s brother Gooper and his annoying wife Mae with their six “no-necked monsters” will get everything.

            Maggie drives in her own car to meet Big Daddy and Big Momma (Judith Anderson) at the airport. Big Daddy went to a well known hospital to have exploratory surgery to see what was wrong with him. Big Daddy and Momma get off the plane and tell everyone he is going to live there is nothing wrong with him there is no cancer. Instead of driving home with Gooper and his brats he wants to drive home with Maggie whom he really likes.

            Brick refuses to come downstairs to the party he just sits up in the room and drinks. To make matters worse for him the family doctor came up to speak to him about Big Daddy, his father is not alright he is dying but the doctor did not tell him. Maggie comes up sometime later to bring Brick food and she sees him packing his things to go home to New Orleans. They have an argument and she makes things not any better when she brings up Brick’s best friend Skipper who died. Brick thinks Maggie slept with the friend which is why the friend killed himself. One of Gooper’s kids bursts into the room and starts making noises. Maggie flips out on the kid but the kid says she is just angry because she cannot have any kids. This makes her miserable since she cannot stand Gooper and Mae and the fact that they talk about she and Brick not having any kids yet. Maggie tells Brick that there is nothing wrong with that they can have kids but he responds that that will be a bit hard considering he cannot stand to be with her. During this time Brick tells Maggie about Big Daddy.

            Brick has enough of Maggie and goes downstairs to get more alcohol. Big Daddy walks into the living room where Brick is. He begins by saying he is sick and tired of people sneaking around getting into other business and reaches around the corner of the door and pulls Mae out and tells her to get out and mind her own business. Big Daddy wants to know why Brick started drinking and calls Maggie down. Brick blames her for killing his friend he says that she got him drunk and slept with him. Maggie says yes that had been her plan because she was mad and jealous that Skipper was getting in the way of their marriage that he came before she did. Her plan was to sleep with him to drive a wedge between Skipper and Brick but then she backed out because she would have driven a wedge between her and Brick instead. The truth is that Skipper killed himself because he had called Brick and Brick hung up on him and Skipper could not take that from his best friend. After that Brick has had enough he leaves in his pajamas during a storm to his car to drive back to New Orleans. Big Daddy follows, Brick just wants to be left alone to leave and he accidentally slips and tells his father that he is not well.

            Big Daddy runs to the basement to hide from everyone and to get his head around what he has just heard. Brick goes to his room to change. Big Momma is awfully upset and scared over the news. She yells for Brick and says in front of Gooper that Brick is her only son and needs him. Brick comes downstairs and hears Mae bashing him and Maggie defending him. Mae is an awful pain even her husband tells her to shut up. Maggie almost smacks her. Brick goes down to the basement to his father. They talk about things in their life and air their grievances. Brick tells his father that he, Gooper, and Big Momma wanted in life was to be loved by him and he never did.

            The talk really helped both father and son. They go back upstairs new people with different outlooks. To shut everyone up Maggie tells them she is having Brick’s baby even though it is not true. Brick, Big Daddy, and even Gooper back her up but Mae has a fit and knows Maggie is lying. Gooper tells his wife to just shut up. Brick calls Maggie upstairs and they make up.

            This is one film I have seen with Elizabeth Taylor where I thought her acting was fantastic. I sat there going “damn you Liz Taylor you’re actually really good in this film.” Really I loved every scene she was in when she was not in a scene I looked forward to the next one with her in it. The entire cast was just flawless. Paul Newman was hot as hell he was so gorgeous. He was wonderful as this moody depressed person. With Burl Ives it was so odd to hear him so mean since I am so used to hearing him sing Christmas songs and voice the snowman in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Ives was excellent he played the same role in the stage play so he knew the material and what to do with the character. Judith Anderson was amazing. I am so used to her as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca and Anne Treadwell in Laura where she was these dark characters with twisted motives and here she was this sad unloved woman. I was floored with her acting she was great I will look at her much differently now in the two aforementioned films.

            Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was a film I was not expecting to like at all but I found myself enjoying it and the performances. The story was not too bad but having read or seen Tennessee Williams’ stories before it is a typical storyline from him. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a stage play and you can clearly see in the film from the limited number of sets, the staginess, and all the dialogue that is definitely originates from the stage but I did not find it unbearable like some stage-to-screen films. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a classic film I highly suggest seeing to everyone. 

The Sting (1973)

I was watching a show the other night (anyone ever hear or watch the show Medical Investigation before it was canceled?) and one of the characters mentioned The Sting. My brother has had this movie on DVD for years and he was always telling me that the movie was so good. I decided to watch something different today so I picked out The Sting. I am a HUGE fan of the show Leverage and love stories about con men so I was very excited to see that the movie was about con men and their running a scheme to get even. As the promos for Leverage say “Don’t get mad, get even” and that is exactly what Johnny and Harry do.

            Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) and his partner Luther are running a scheme on someone when the movie opens. After they get their money Luther tells Johnny that he wants out of what they do. Later on Luther is killed because the people they stole from tracked where their money went to when Johnny spent it all.

            To get back at the mob boss Doyle Lonnegan Johnny goes to a veteran con man named Harry Gondorff (Paul Newman) who knew Luther as well. Harry gathers all his regular conmen and they get to work scamming the mob boss. The boss does not go anywhere without his goons and he does not regularly gamble or bet. They catch him on a train where he likes to play a game of poker with men who have money. Harry manages to get in on the game and he wins by cheating. He had his girlfriend Billie (Eileen Brennan) steal Lonnegan’s wallet so he would have to do business with him. After the game Johnny goes to Lonnegan pretending to double cross Harry that he wants to get out on his own and needs the boss’s help to do so.

            From there the conmen set up a warehouse to look like a horse betting lounge and Lonnegan buys the bait. Using a machine they get the finished races and tell Lonnegan which winning horse to bet for. The mob boss gets himself in pretty deep with the con and in the end loses a lot of money.

            I really liked the movie. It was very clever and the story was excellent. The cast was great everyone was perfect in their roles. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were a great team. At fifty-three Newman was still incredibly handsome (those blue eyes of his were incredible!). he had one of the funniest lines in the movie: Harry pretends to go to the card game with Lonnegan drunk so he barges in the room where the game is and he apologizes by saying “Sorry I’m. I was taking a crap” haha (Yes, I am really a little kid when it comes to toilet humor. This cannot be helped I have three younger brothers).

              There are many actors that you will recognize from all kinds of movies. The only person I felt that was miss cast was Eileen Brennan. She had a great attitude there was one scene in the movie that I would die to use if I ever made a movie or show but there is something about her I find unsettling and not that great.

            Famed costume designer Edith Head won an Academy Award for her work. As always with Edith Head her costumes were stunning. The suits that the men wear were gorgeous.

            The Sting is a fun movie to watch. The story keeps you on your toes and there are a lot of twists and turns. I will say there are some parts that drag a bit but other than those scenes The Sting is quite flawless and deserved to win for best picture, best direction, and best screenplay.