Febbre sulla città

Unless you love small-town soap opera or are a big fan of Ann-Margret, the only reason to recommend this film is to see Michael Parks emulate James Dean. Perhaps Parks isn't quite as intense or as fidgety as Dean, but the facial expressions, mannerisms, stance, etc. are all spot-on for this Dean fan. I had never really noticed Parks in anything before seeing this, and I haven't seen someone play James Dean this well since James Franco in the TNT "James Dean" (2001) biopic.

Kim Darby, somehow looking older than she did in "Star Trek" or "True Grit" plays a high school version of Barbara Bel Geddes' Midge from "Vertigo."

Writer William Inge took his name off the credits for this Ann-Margret/Michael Parks dud about serviceman returning home to family and friends, only to find everything has changed while he's been away. The screenplay, now credited to Walter Gage, hints at provocative themes (an older gentleman whom Parks sees about a job actually comes on to him, eyebrow-raising for 1965!), but the characters don't make much sense. Ann-Margret does everything she can to bring life to the proverbial ex-girlfriend role, but her Laurel is an unconvincing, mercurial concoction--you cannot get a grip on this woman--and A-M has no choice but to fall back on her patented sultriness. A slight, watchable movie with bad editing and drab cinematography, however it's a curious attempt at modernizing a "Picnic"-like scenario. *1/2 from ****

I have watched this classic and contemporary film at least three (3) times over the past fifty-two (52) years. I will most certainly watch it again when the Criterion Collection eventually come to realize how important this film is to the North American culture of the second half of the last century. I am quite sure the Criterion Collection will eventually release this beautiful contemporary film on an extended Blu Ray format fully restored with extras that will include historical interviews with Director Harvey Hart and many of the key actors in this Peyton Place kind of small town atmosphere.

Michael Parks and his chiseled good looks plays the returning home from over seas navy seaman Bus Riley. Bus displays his own unique moody yet still charming persona that emulated the likes of James Dean and a younger Marlon Brando. Bus Riley's solemn temperament matched wildly and sexually against the 24 year old married vixen Laurel played by Ann-Margret. Director Harvey Hart brings to the screen the warmth and loving charm of the three (3) family members who Bus Riley lives with who are his mother played by Jocelyn Brando (the older sister of Marlon Brando), and his two sisters the younger Gussie, (played so lovingly and filled with innocence by Kim Darby) who is filled with life and yet still empty of any jealousy towards either brother Bus or older sister Paula, played by the attractive Mimsy Farmer.

There are many lonely ladies in this Peyton Place sort of town, one of which happens to be the divorced mother of Judy who who lays around on her couch watching romantic movies, and drinking herself into a state of stupor. Then one day the young and rather naive Bus Riley knocks on her door to sell her one of his new "top secret atomic" vacuum cleaner which he quickly gets her to sign a contract for in exchange for providing her a handsome young shoulder to cry on. But Bus does have a conscience and when he discovers that this lonely lady is Judy's mother who is her mothers sole caregiver and housekeeper and he recognizes Judy as his own sister Gussie's best friend, he quickly finds a way to dissolve the just signed contract and save Judy's drunkard mother from going further into debt.

The film is about young love, old love, personal financial gain, parental disdain, deception, heart break, the sexual revolution, it even touches on homosexuality which was a taboo topic in 1965. The Riley family has its own share of despair as we wonder why Bus's father is not in the picture, nor present in the household. Bus just returning from a three (3) year overseas tour serving in the U.S. Navy appears to have left abruptly after breaking up with his younger seventeen (17) year old virginal girlfriend Laurel, only to discover upon his return home to find out she has married a very wealthy but much older man.

There are many good actors in this film and multiple story lines. I believe that Ann-Margret's and Michael Park's performances were worthy of at least an Academy Award nomination for best actress and best actor respectively. This film moves along seamlessly from the opening scene to the last scene where the Riley's kitchen door closes behind us, the audience. It is a film filled with regrets, but more importantly it is also a film filled with compassion, awakenings, second chances and redemption.

I love this picture and therefore I give Bus Riley's Back In Town a perfect 10/10 rating. I trust the Criterion Collection has this beautifully directed and acted 1965 film on their short list for a new restored release before the end of this quarter century.

There's a lot to like about this film, even though it's slight and, too often, dramatically crude. The director, Harvey Hart, went on to do mostly television in his career and that's a little surprising, because he frames scenes in very thoughtful, compelling ways. The story doesn't have quite the depth or psychological complexity to support all those hysterical camera angles, (he had to have been influenced by Elia Kazan's classic "East of Eden" - which interestingly, he later went on to direct the TV movie remake of) but it keeps the movie from getting boring - which it all too easily could have become.

The best thing about the film is the cast. Michael Parks. Ann-Margret. Kim Darby. Janet Margolin. They're all bright, young, attractive, appealing (and in Ann-Margaret's case scorchingly sexy) - you don't mind spending an hour and a half with these people. It's particularly interesting to watch Parks in one of his few fully fleshed out roles. He was often criticised for being a 2nd rate James Dean imitator, but there's very little of that here. As in "The Happening" which he would appear in a couple years later, he shows a real talent for physical, self-mocking comedy - sort of lampooning the expectations of his Dean-like appearance. In fact, you get the feeling he's struggling to shed all that "sensitive young rebel" baggage, and is much more comfortable just being a clown.

Parks unfortunately slogged and mumbled his way through a lot of wretched movies throughout his career but here he IS an actor. There is one key exchange which illustrates this perfectly. He walks into a bar after a disillusioning encounter with a Mortician friend he thought was going to give him a job, no strings attached and has the following conversation with the bartender: "Bus, you look like you just got back from a funeral." "I did." "Whose?" "Mine, I guess." Not especially original dialogue, but Parks is able to put a spin on that last line which makes it sound fresh and, more importantly, real.

For a film that never quite comes together, (and in fact falls apart in the 2nd half) it boasts an unusually high number of memorable scenes: Parks' early morning, exhilarating embrace of his kid sister (Darby) his first day back; A-M deliberately running her expensive car into his new convertible so that he'll have to notice her; and my favorite - Parks walking out on her in some club, and A-M following him slowly in her car as he mills through the deserted streets of his hometown. The two of them really connect in some of their early scenes together (they're as good as anything between Beatty and Wood in "Splendor in the Grass") so it's really disappointing when the decision is made to reduce A-M from a 3 dimensional character to 2 dimensional as the story unfolds. The relationship simply isn't explored in a satisfactory or believable way.

Nevertheless it's fascinating watching this curiosity, through the miracle of video, that's been virtually buried for 35 years.

Bus Riley comes home to find that the girl he loves has married a wealthy, older man. Now he must make a new life for himself. The critics, at the time panned this one, badly. It's a good story and the acting is superb, it is not Parks' fault that he looks so much like James Dean! During the story Riley is given career choices and the choice of right and wrong concerning his former love(played so sexily by Ann Margaret). This is a simple story of how he deals with these choices. Parks' performance hints at brilliance, had he been given better roles in the future.