Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

This 1967 spy thriller was the third in as many years in the franchise starring Michael Caine as Harry Palmer. Whereas the two previous films were anchored closer to le Carré's dour reality than to Fleming's sex-and-gadgets fantasy world, this one veers very much towards the latter.  But it  lacks the stunts and budget to compete with the Bond films, and in fact at times (especially the opening credits) seems more like a spoof.  For whatever reason it was a commercial and critical flop, and killed the franchise. Who is to blame?   Is it the screenwriter John McGrath, a playwright who used his plays to promote socialism?   Judging from his short Wikipedia entry this might have been the only screenplay he wrote. Or is it the director,  Ken Russell, not anyone's first choice to direct a gritty espionage thriller?  At this early stage in his career he had worked mainly in TV, but was recommended  for this assignment by Caine himself, who lat...

This 1961 Western is the only film directed by Marlon Brando.  It had a notoriously troubled production history, going way over budget after Brando, as producer and star, had the chutzpah to dispense with Stanley Kubrick as director.   Given also that the studio re-edited the 5-hour cut Brando initially produced   one might be forgiven for thinking this must be a disaster.  It certainly was a commercial flop, and heralded a decade when Brando's career went on a seemingly terminal decline. In fact what we have is an above-average Western which has a lot going for it: a very good cast, a compelling and unpredictable revenge narrative, an unusual setting (Monterey), a great score - and it is a delight for the eyes. And there is Brando of course, magnetic as always, and still just about young enough to play a brooding romantic hero. The narrative is also surprisingly coherent so whoever did the re-edit did a swell job. There are two main relationships at the heart o...

By rights this star-studded epic should make for painful viewing - 146 minutes of white people congratulating themselves for overcoming adversity in order to create the paradise on earth that is modern day America. Slavery doesn't get a mention despite the Civil War featuring slam bang in the middle of the period covered, roughly the 1830s to the 1870s. And although it is acknowledged that the Native Americans might have just the teensy weeniest grounds for complaint, the view of the film, as voiced by one of the more unpleasant characters, seems to be that they were at fault for not learning to adapt. Three different directors contribute different sections of the film, but none of them manage to stamp any individual style on the material, so you don't notice the joins. But if you can put these issues, along with the rather bland voice-over commentary, to the back of your mind there are some pleasures to be had, and the commercial success of the film is not completely unwarrant...