meeker-1
Joined May 2004
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meeker-1's rating
There really should be a deluxe DVD box-set of films with "The Big" in their titles -- preferably "The Big" followed by one more word.
Naturally, you would have to have Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep" from 1946 and Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat" from 1953.
If I wanted to attract hate mail, I could probably also insist on including two David Nelson circus films, particularly 1959's "The Big Circus," but also the rather overlooked "The Big Show" from 1961.
From 1955 alone you could come up with Robert Aldrich's "The Big Knife" and Joseph H. Lewis' s "The Big Combo."
"The Big Combo" is an unusually good film noir with more of the chiaroscuro lighting effects than you get in some other more famous noir classics and way more than you get in the archetypal David Nelson circus film.
You also get a gay couple -- very unusual for a 1955 Hollywood film! Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman play two thugs named Fante and Mingo, who work for bigger thug Richard Conte. Some classic Hollywood films, as reported in Vito Russo's "The Celluloid Closet," have some fairly specific gay content, but some of them only have the reputation and not much content. However, it's really there in "The Big Combo." Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman live together, slay together, and apparently love each other. Watch the basement hideout scene near the climax. They caress each other! It's the most believable relationship in a very brutal and fascinating movie.
Naturally, you would have to have Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep" from 1946 and Fritz Lang's "The Big Heat" from 1953.
If I wanted to attract hate mail, I could probably also insist on including two David Nelson circus films, particularly 1959's "The Big Circus," but also the rather overlooked "The Big Show" from 1961.
From 1955 alone you could come up with Robert Aldrich's "The Big Knife" and Joseph H. Lewis' s "The Big Combo."
"The Big Combo" is an unusually good film noir with more of the chiaroscuro lighting effects than you get in some other more famous noir classics and way more than you get in the archetypal David Nelson circus film.
You also get a gay couple -- very unusual for a 1955 Hollywood film! Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman play two thugs named Fante and Mingo, who work for bigger thug Richard Conte. Some classic Hollywood films, as reported in Vito Russo's "The Celluloid Closet," have some fairly specific gay content, but some of them only have the reputation and not much content. However, it's really there in "The Big Combo." Lee Van Cleef and Earl Holliman live together, slay together, and apparently love each other. Watch the basement hideout scene near the climax. They caress each other! It's the most believable relationship in a very brutal and fascinating movie.
Although the cast may have been assembled from somebody's nightmare, it's still one of the great ensemble casts in film history.
Mamie Van Doren's name heading ANY cast means a good time will be had by all -- well maybe not ALL, but at least by those discerning cineastes who knew after the 1960 Academy Awards were handed out that 1959's "Girls Town" was robbed by "Ben-Hur." After all, what's a silly chariot race compared to Mamie chewing gum and talking back to nuns? And in "Girls Town" you get so much more: Gloria Talbott, Elinor "Princess" Donahue, Gigi Perreau, Paul Anka, Maggie Hayes, Sheilah Graham, The Platters, Cathy Crosby, Ray Anthony, Charles Chaplin Jr., Harold Lloyd Jr., and so help us, Mel Torme . . . Mel Torme!!!??? Oh yeah, you also get this plot, which has something or other to do with 30-year-old high school kids (like Mamie) getting in trouble with the law and getting sent to the title institution. There's also a nifty drag race -- in a cement riverbed! This film showed up 20 years after "Gone With the Wind" and features just as much excitement and talent. It helps if you've had a lobotomy prior to viewing the film.
Mamie Van Doren's name heading ANY cast means a good time will be had by all -- well maybe not ALL, but at least by those discerning cineastes who knew after the 1960 Academy Awards were handed out that 1959's "Girls Town" was robbed by "Ben-Hur." After all, what's a silly chariot race compared to Mamie chewing gum and talking back to nuns? And in "Girls Town" you get so much more: Gloria Talbott, Elinor "Princess" Donahue, Gigi Perreau, Paul Anka, Maggie Hayes, Sheilah Graham, The Platters, Cathy Crosby, Ray Anthony, Charles Chaplin Jr., Harold Lloyd Jr., and so help us, Mel Torme . . . Mel Torme!!!??? Oh yeah, you also get this plot, which has something or other to do with 30-year-old high school kids (like Mamie) getting in trouble with the law and getting sent to the title institution. There's also a nifty drag race -- in a cement riverbed! This film showed up 20 years after "Gone With the Wind" and features just as much excitement and talent. It helps if you've had a lobotomy prior to viewing the film.