Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

This 1977 Scorsese flop is described in Wikipedia as a 'romantic comedy musical'.   I must have been watching a different film. The only attempts at comedy come in the early scenes in which saxophone player Jimmy (De Niro) is pestering singer Francine (Liza Minnelli) because he wants to get her into bed (or failing that the back of a cab), or is trying to get out of paying his hotel bills.   If De Niro possessed the comic timing and charm of Cary Grant maybe these scenes wouldn't seem so laboured and maybe I wouldn't be thinking she should give him a good slap, a thought that persisted throughout the next two hours. There's no romance, or chemistry, between the two but I'm not sure that Scorsese is even trying for this.  But then again what was he aiming for? I think I read somewhere that he wanted it in part to be a tribute to old MGM musicals, but there's scarcely any of that as far as I could see, save for a musical-within-a-musical near the end, which an...

Like a lot of people (other than maybe the critics) I didn't much care for this Scorsese-De Niro collaboration when it was first released.  Given that its reputation in the 40-odd years since has been on an upward trajectory,  I decided to give it a rewatch. But whilst I can admire it I still don't like it much.  It's main merit is its prescience back in 1982 about where our celebrity-obsessed culture was heading. And the performances are all fine. I especially enjoyed that of Jerry Lewis as comedian Jerry Langford although I wouldn't have minded his character being a bit meaner. De Niro is very good at making his character Rupert Pupkin (an aspiring comedian) quite creepy but not totally unsympathetic.  But as a black satire it’s not that funny and not that black either, it's all a bit restrained.  Bob Fosse considered directing it for a while, and it's fascinating to speculate what his version would have looked like.   Rather livelier I would guess....

Martin Scorsese's previous film 'The Irishman' was both very long and quite dull.   So for a while I resisted seeing this 206-minute epic, especially since I found the trailer rather offputting.  Eventually though the favourable critical response overcame my objections, and I am glad to be able to report that this is a pretty impressive effort from the veteran director (I'm sure that's a relief to him.) It's an adaptation of the non-fiction book of the same title which recounts how in 1920s Oklahoma there were a series of murders of Osage Native Americans after oil was discovered on their tribal land. The main villain of the piece is a local rancher and bigwig, King Hale, here played by Robert De Niro.  We sense straight away that he might be a bad 'un despite his outwardly benevolent attitude to the Osage, and that he might use his rather malleable and somewhat simpleminded nephew Ernest (played by Leonardo Dicaprio) to further his schemes. One of these sch...

This could be considered the third of Scorsese's 'Mafia trilogy', after 'Mean Streets' and 'Goodfellas', and is often compared unfavourably to the latter, being viewed as an inferior retread of the same thematic material.  This is fair enough up to a point, but this is a quality film if viewed as a standalone piece of work. The comparison with 'Goodfellas' is inevitable given their similarities.  Both feature De Niro and Pesci, the latter in particular playing the same dangerously unstable character, ending in much the same fate.  Again there is a voiceover commentary, as we look back at how De Niro's period in charge of a Las Vegas casino waxes and wanes. I couldn't get that interested in the fortunes of said casino and certainly felt a sense of d éjà  vu as we run through the mechanics of how the mob makes money out of the casino. Fortunately a couple of things elevate the film. Firstly, there is, as to be expected, the brilliant editing wh...

The opening credits sequence of this film, a remake of the 1962 original, is terrific, combining the visual design of Saul and Elaine Bass with the music of Bernard Herrmann. Hitchcock masterpieces such as 'Vertigo' and 'Psycho' used the same collaborators, but sadly Scorsese is no Hitchcock, and for me the film goes downhill once the action begins. One has to question how committed to this remake Scorsese was, given that he only did it so that the studio would back the film he really wanted to make, 'The Last Temptation of Christ'. The basic plot is that Max (played by De Niro), is recently out of prison and seeking revenge on his lawyer, Sam, (a surprisingly svelte Nick Nolte) who failed to defend him properly.   Also in Cady's sights are Sam's wife (Jessica Lange) and teenage daughter.  Max is a violent rapist, so it's pretty obvious what form of revenge he has in mind. Apparently Scorsese liked the idea of making the family dysfunctional, so Sam ...

My memory of this Scorsese film was one of mild disappointment but I couldn’t say why - was it something about the Edith Wharton story or was it how it was put on the screen? Either way, on this rewatch I was far from being disappointed.   In fact I was completely gripped by the unfolding scandalous relationship between the betrothed Newland (Daniel Day-Lewis, excellent as always) and the Countess Olenska. The latter is played by Michelle Pfeiffer, one of my favourite actresses, giving one of her finest performances. Slowly but inexorably the polite society surrounding Newland and the Countess manages to kill their burgeoning romance, and leads him having to submit himself to a dull marriage to May (Winona Ryder).   It's all very sad which is maybe why I didn't remember the film fondly. Then at the end we flash forward several decades, to a conclusion where the aging Newland could meet the Countess, but he declines the opportunity.   I don't understand why,...