Jimson Weed and coffee don't mix

THE BURNING HILLS (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A western starring a largely stoic Tab Hunter as a stalwart cowboy hero and Natalie Wood as a strong-willed, half Mexican, half English woman is an unusual combination. Of course, if you expect the usual prerequisites of the average western from the 50's or earlier, you've got them in 1956's "The Burning Hills." There are elongated fistfights, myriad shootouts, an adept half-Native American tracker who can spot hoof prints and their formation like nobody's business ("and a jackrabbit in a hundred miles of brush"), and more and more of the same.

Natalie Wood's role has pizzazz and a lot of heart as Maria Colton, who does all the work around the farmhouse while her younger brother is a tad cowardly and her drunk uncle lays around all day sleeping (Stereotypes alert, for those keeping track). It must be that jimson weed that makes one lazy, which we learn from this film is not a good combination with coffee because it might keep you awake? It is supposed to be a hallucinogen and poisonous but I was confused by the effect it ends up having. Yeah, they try that on some anonymous villainous ranch hands (Claude Akins being the most memorable) and the effects are less than stellar. Back to Maria's character, she initially thinks that our hero (Tab Hunter replacing John Wayne) is a bad white man after she finds him unconscious. Slowly they develop an affection for each other and she shelters him until the villains come into play. Hunter is Trace Jordan, who seeks revenge for his brother's death at the hands of some ranch hands hired by a Mr. Sutton (Skip Homeier, a hell of a good performance from a character that, well, disappears a little too soon). He wants to own the entire valley and kill all settlers who want a piece of it. Of course, this is a common subplot in any western.

For a while, "The Burning Hills" (based loosely on a Louis L'Amour novel) sets its spurs in action and Hunter, more handsome than anything else, dominates the screen - you can't help but look at him. Ditto Natalie Wood as the no-holds-barred Maria who fires a pistol in the air at fairly close range nearly shooting the villains in the face! Of course, by the end of the flick, Hunter takes center stage in a fistfight over rocky waters that goes on for an eternity and she sits in her horse concerned. What happened to the fearless Maria we see in the beginning? One noteworthy moment is after she fires the pistol, the ranch hands get close to her as if they are ready to attack her. They don't but it is a nice touch of tension and a hint of the violence to come.

It is a watchable enough flick with one too many lulls (miscegenation is only hinted at yet never really discussed) yet for Natalie Wood and Tab Hunter film fans, it is worth a view (they both fared better in "The Girl He Left Behind" released shortly after "The Burning Hills"). 

Southern Gothic Played to the tune of 1000 Trumpets

ALL THE FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS (1960)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A Southern Gothic drama that allegedly (using that word very loosely) mirrors the life of Chet Baker, except the guy in this movie is called Chad Bixby, a jazz trumpeter. "All the Fine Young Cannibals" (a title better suited as a sequel to "Rebel Without a Cause") is trashy, overcooked, non-caloric melodrama and only mildly diverting. It is 112 minutes too long with characters who barely elicit more than a singular dimension. It needed the hand of a director like Elia Kazan who did a marvelous Southern, decadent soaper called "Baby Doll" a few years earlier.

Robert Wagner, wholly miscast, is Chad, the guy who can't hold a job and is forbidden from dating Salome (Natalie Wood), a teenager who has to care for her siblings. Chad's father, a minister of a Texan town, had just passed on but Chad himself doesn't seem to have any goals in life and no money. Therefore, Salome splits (and she is pregnant with Chad's baby) and goes East where she meets a wealthy Yale college student, Tony (a stunning, suave George Hamilton) - eventually, they get married and live out in New York. Wouldn't you know that Chad becomes a famous, rich trumpeter thanks to the guiding hand of a forlorn blues singer (Pearl Bailey) and begins performing in NYC clubs!

Everything in this silly, melodramatic soaper has exclamation marks all over it and it has about as much subtlety as stabbing a fork in your eye. Wagner is not believable as a Southerner or as a sad sack of a trumpet player (never mind that Chet Baker was a heroin user, not just someone who imbibed alcohol). Natalie Wood is not allowed to muster much more than tears - watch her role as a far more independent woman (who elicits more than tears) two years earlier in "Marjorie Morningstar," an underrated romantic drama. There is also Tony's wild, racist, suicidal sister (enthusiastically played by Susan Kohner) who moves in with Tony and Salome, and eventually marries Chad. It is George Hamilton who walks away with this movie with ease, playing a romantic player who is ready to settle down. You know you are in trouble in a movie like this when you can't decide which romantic partners should be together with whom.

Footnote: Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood gave superior performances in a TV remake of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" back in 1976. Oh, and for some odd reason, the title of this film became the name of that 80's British pop band. 

Peeping Tom at Lover's Loop

A CRY IN THE NIGHT (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

If it wasn't for the peculiar casting of this lightweight B-movie, it might have been forgotten and placed in the annals of junk food cinema. But when watching the flat, monotonous "A Cry in the Night," it is of interest because of stars like Raymond Burr, Edmond O'Brien and Natalie Wood who pepper the screen with grains of fascination.

Raymond Burr (in one of the most uncharacteristic roles of his career) plays Harold, a momma's boy, a childlike 32 year-old man who hangs out at Lover's Loop watching couples making out in cars. Every night after work, he becomes a peeping tom while holding his lunch box. The objective is not clear other than the fact that he suffers from arrested development and has never kissed a girl. When he catches Elizabeth (Natalie Wood)  necking with Owen (Richard Anderson), Harold decides to kidnap her after giving Owen a concussion. Only dilemma is that Elizabeth is the daughter of a police captain (Edmond O'Brien), unbeknownst to the kidnapper. Harold takes her to an abandoned brick yard, though what he plans to do with her involves nothing more than friendship. Harold needs a friend, badly! In his life, his only friend is his mother whom he brings a slice of apricot pie to every day.

"A Cry in the Night" isn't even dirty pulpy fun - it is too flatly staged and boring to rate as a middle-of-the-road thriller. Natalie Wood is completely wasted and unmemorable as Elizabeth, which is shocking considering how she often burns up the screen with her presence. Edmond O'Brien is one-note as the hollering captain though he has two solid moments - one where he confronts his older daughter who feels he is too intrusive in her love life, and the spine-tingling moment he discovers Harold's true tragic nature.

Raymond Burr steals the show, showcasing a man with a boyish and unhealthy attachment to his mother. His scenes get to us emotionally in the same way Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates did a few years later in "Psycho." The rest of the movie is disposable.

Natalie Wood proving 4-H is a good thing

THE GREEN PROMISE (1949)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 As with most of the films in her career, Natalie Wood stands out. In "The Green Promise," she is the youngest, wide-eyed daughter who wants to have lambs on the farm. She is so eager, so enthused, so full of joy over the prospect that you just want to give her the precious lambs because you know they are in good hands. "The Green Promise" is a charming, inoffensive if slightly undernourished tale yet it is Natalie who lends the film its humanity.

Walter Brennan is Matthews, the stubborn widowed patriarch of the family who doesn't know when he has a good thing going. The family has just sold off their last farm and now he's got a new one to tend to. Matthews has a son and three daughters, the eldest of the bunch being Deborah (Marguerite Chapman) who has to maintain the house. Matthews wants to run the farm his way, desiring no help from a perfectly pleasant agricultural county agent, David Barkley (Robert Paige). Of course, David has got his eye on Deborah. Meanwhile, the youngest of Matthews's daughters, Susan Anastasia Matthews (Natalie Wood), has her eye on getting two lambs (something which her father rejects). After her father gets sick leaving Deborah to run the farm herself, the resourceful Susan secures a bank loan and buys the lambs!

"The Green Promise" is not only perceptive of the rigors of holding on to a farm, there is also a sequence during a thunderstorm with Susan trying to cross a bridge to save her lambs (reportedly, sweet little Natalie broke her wrist in this sequence) while the mud slides into the homestead - that is the one suspenseful scene that works well enough to inspire sympathy for Susan's cause. The rest of the movie functions as a promo for the 4-H agricultural program, its sole purpose of educating young men and women in how to raise animals in a farm and other such agricultural practices (the film was executive-produced by wealthy Texas oilman Glenn McCarthy who wanted a "family picture" because there were so few of them). When we are not learning about 4-H clubs, we have a few scenes of Matthews' having a family meeting to vote on certain matters, with the children usually agreeing with their stubborn father so as to not upset him.

As I said, "The Green Promise" is a perfectly adequate family picture though there are not enough insights into Matthews' behavior or Deborah's frustrations with her father and her sweet relationship with David Barkley. After the film is over and ends on a tidy note, it is really sprightly Natalie Wood whom we remember best. Her ambitious character, Susan, wants to rise above it all and make a difference, all in the name of 4-H. We cheer for her, and jeer her father who should know better. 

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Beatles World

HELP! (1965)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

In one word, "Help!" is chaos. It is cartoonish, highly amped up, sheer manic chaos with great Beatles tunes. It is an affront to cohesive narrative, comprehensive plot or any tangible story - it is more tomfoolery coupled with an anarchic spirit than their previous film, "A Hard Day's Night." In many ways, it may be more authentic to the Beatles, at that time, than the classic "A Hard Day's Night." 

The story, oh scratch that, the idea of this movie is there is a sacrificial ring belonging to some religious Hindu cult (my guess is that it is based on the Thuggees) yet the woman that is about to be sacrificed to the goddess Kali is missing the ring. Somehow this giant red ring is on the finger of Ringo Starr's hand! The Beatles, living in a London row home, try to remove the ring with the help of specialists but somehow it is impenetrable. The last thing anyone wants is for Ringo to be sacrificed because, you know, whoever wears the ring bears the mark of a sacrificial victim.

That is the basic plot thread, the MacGuffin of the film. Beyond that the movie is full of hilarious sight gags including how many doors lead to the Beatles's residence. Even their residence is funny in terms of visual art decoration - most of the Beatles sleep on beds yet John Lennon sleeps in a bed that has been carved out of the floor! Tomfoolery abounds in this movie, from pratfalls involving skis; a pub that has a trap door leading to a basement with a tiger present; the cult's High Priest Clang (Leo McKern, in possibly the most memorable scene-chewing performance) various attempts, along with his cohorts, to get the ring including his head poking out of manholes; Eleanor Bron as the attractive Ahme wearing a diverse array of colorful outfits who sometimes warns Ringo of impending danger (her first name was the inspiration for the band's "Eleanor Rigby" song); a Tom Thumb-sized Paul McCartney in an ashtray, and some destruction of paintings using corkscrews at Buckingham Palace. Oh, did I forgot to mention the use of the James Bond theme and the inclusion of some loopy scientists? 

Either you can get into the right frame of mind with "Help!" or not. When I was a tot, the sight of Ringo relentlessly showered in red paint and the slapstick ski chase shenanigans almost made me sick (I am guessing the color red did it). Now, they are just plain goofy gags made by a team of filmmakers (led by director Richard Lester who helmed the previous Beatles movie) who were stoned and threw everything into the mix without much thought or reason. You don't have to understand it (just like the Monkees' "Head"), just sit and enjoy this most enjoyable "Ticket to Ride" rollercoaster. 

That's what makes it rough - when they love you.

LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Fluctuating between realism and occasional comical innuendos, Robert Mulligan's "Love With the Proper Stranger" is a slightly off-balance though compelling, forceful romantic drama with comedic and penetratingly dark overtones. It only seems like it ends with a sunny disposition but don't be completely fooled.

Effervescent Natalie Wood plays a Macy's salesgirl named Angie Rossini, who discovers she's been impregnated by a jazz, banjo-playing musician, Rocky Papasano (Steve McQueen, a little miscast playing an Italian-American). Angie confronts him at a union hall though it takes him a moment to recognize her. She wants to have an abortion, in those days a back alley abortion, and Rocky tries to financially help her with the decision despite just barely remembering their coital rendezvous. Rocky lives with a stripper named Barbie (Edie Adams) and gets thrown out when he asks her about a special kind of doctor for a "lady friend." The actual scene of a run-down building where Rocky and Angie are supposed to meet with the supposed doctor sticks out because when she can't go through with it and throws a crying fit, you feel her agony and shame in your bones. Rocky feels sorry for her, takes her to Barbie's apartment (oh, the nerve) and begins to develop feelings for sweet, angelic Angie.

Natalie Wood (Oscar-nominated for this film) does an excellent job of portraying a naive, clumsy, winsome young woman who is trying to find her place in the frantic city of New York. Her Italian-American family, which includes her watchful brothers (Herschel Bernardi and Harvey Lembeck) and her traditionalist mother, want Angie to settle down with a perfectly agreeable restaurant owner (a perfect Tom Bosley in his film debut) who is unsure of how to woo a woman. Angie recognizes his niceties but is more deeply attracted to Rocky and eggs him on, testing the waters to see if he is in love or just wants to settle down with her out of responsibility. Steve McQueen doesn't exactly convince me he is Italian, let alone a New Yorker, yet his charisma sells it and he has ample opportunity to show a character who is a bit of a goof, equally as naive as Angie, yet determined to make the relationship work.

Though the tone veers a little from highly dramatic to downright comical at times (the dinner sequence with Bosley preparing a meal and the climactic dinner date with Rocky towards the end), nothing in "Love With the Proper Stranger" feels too out of whack. There are scenes of Angie and Rocky not saying a word to each other, yet their body language says it all. Wood and McQueen don't seem like a real fit and lack chemistry yet purposely so, I think, to show how love can grow without realizing it. That is the special charm at the heart of "Love With the Proper Stranger." The movie is mostly about Angie finding her place in the midst of a chaotic life where all the male characters know what is best for her, never contemplating for a moment that she knows what is good for her. Angie moves out of her brothers' apartment and gets her own place, decorated with her own special touch (she also has a mini-bar though she forgets that scotch and tonic don't go together). Rocky wants to be with her and is attracted to her yet he can't help himself by trying to control her, paying compliments that are awkwardly delivered. It is Angie and Rocky's eventual, though at first unacknowledged, need for each other that marks "Love with the Proper Stranger" as an affecting, bristling romantic drama. There are fireworks at the end for this unusual couple though I am sensing more chaos will follow. You know, real life.

Cal in a fetal position

EAST OF EDEN (1955)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Of all the 50's Method actors who emerged from the Actors Studio, well, it is difficult to separate Marlon Brando from the lot, he practically burned the screen and left it in flames in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Having said that, the eternal rebel James Dean (who had a brief stay at the Actor's Studio) burned the silver screen with his phosphorescent presence yet he did it with more intimacy, more of an emerging brooding sense of despair and isolation. Dean had always exuded an uncertainty, a slight inability to connect to others though did he ever try. As the gloomy Cal Trask in "East of Eden," James Dean is the show, the centerpiece of the action, the one we gravitate to.

Early on in "East of Eden," Cal discovers that his mother is living right outside of the town of Salinas, California running a brothel (his father had told the family that she died). Cal is dismayed by his Bible-thumping father, Adam (Raymond Massey), and by his lies. Deep down within his soul, Cal knows he can succeed and prove he has mobility, without the aid of religious overtures. He amasses a lot of money from growing beans during the days of World War I yet Cal's father wants nothing to do with it despite gaining from the loss of his own lettuce operation. Only Cal's brother, Aron (Richard Davalos), is the one son that Adam admires though why is never clear. Cal sees himself as the bad son, and Aron is simply good. Aron will enlist in the Army and possibly marry Abra (Julie Harris) but where does that leave Cal? All Cal can do is react through violence, whether he hits his own brother (in one truly powerful scene after a Ferris Wheel kiss with Abra) or throw ice while dismantling a ramp at the ice house. Cal has tremendous guilt over his actions and tries to drink away his sorrows, and Abra is around the corner to soothe him despite understandable objections from Aron.

If "East of Eden" falters, it is in the sibling relationship between Cal and Aron and their unmistakable rivalry over winning a woman and their own father's approval. Richard Davalos convinces during his hauntingly drunken laugh while leaving for the Army but, otherwise, I could not get a handle on his character - somehow he comes across as a straight-arrow pretty boy who slowly becomes aloof (this may be the intention but a stronger actor might have worked to build the tension). Better handled is Cal's relationship with his father, Adam, whether it is Cal crying like a wounded animal that the father won't accept the profits from beans or the final scene where a sickly Adam finally admits his love for his "bad" son. That final scene is heartbreaking and comforting - Cal might just finally be able to move on to the next stage of maturity and responsibility.

Also stunning is Julie Harris as the demure, sympathetic woman Abra who is caught in the crossfire between these three men. She sparkles in her scenes with James Dean, and is especially romantic in the Ferris Wheel where she wants to commit to him despite knowing she is devoted to Aron. Also of major significance is Jo Van Fleet in the critical role of Cal and Aron's mother who keeps her emotions in check - there is not a sentimental bone in her performance as Kate/Cathy, a character who can be equal parts frustrating in her strict demeanor and her vulnerable side triggered by Cal. She can be difficult to like yet it is a towering performance that deservedly got her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

"East of Eden" is not a great film, not even by the standards of director Elia Kazan, but it is often riveting and richly layered in certain sections. The use of Cinemascope to show the beautiful, almost majestic look of the small town, the expansive farmlands, and the rocky formations with the crashing waves all seem so much more grand and inviting than the characters themselves (which is precisely the idea). It is finally James Dean who evokes more than what is called for in John Steinbeck's novel (this adaptation chops off a lot from the book). Nothing evokes Cal's torment better than him crying on top of a train car, covering up his emotions and nestled in a fetal position. The critics said that Dean was just imitating Brando. The tremendous pull of that scene, and many more, says otherwise.