Happy Halloween:

October 31 - Halloween

 

On this day in movie history - Barfly (1987):

Barfly

directed by Barbet Schroeder

written by Charles Bukowski

was released in the United States on October 16, 1987.

Music by Jack Baran.

Cast:

Mickey Rourke, Faye Dunaway, Alice Krige, Jack Nance, J.C. Quinn, Frank Stallone, Sandy Martin, Roberta Bassin, Gloria LeRoy, Joe Unger, Harry Cohn, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Joe Rice, Julie ‘Sunny’ Pearson, Donald L. Norden, Wil Albert, Hal Shafer, Zeke Manners, Pearl Shear, Rik Colitti, Michael Collins, Ronald G. Joseph, Damon Hines, Lahmard J. Tate, Gary Carlos Cervantes, Peter Conti, Vance Colvig Jr., Stacey Pickren, Leonard Termo, Gary Cox, Fritz Feld, Albert Henderson, Sandy Rose, Madalyn Carol, George Marshall Ruge, Debby Lynn Ross, Charles Bukowski, John Forker.

On this day in movie history - Spielberg (2017):

Spielberg

a documentary on director Steven Spielberg,

directed by Susan Lacy,

was released at the New York Film Festival in the United States on October 5, 2017.

Cast:

Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Butler, John Williams, David Edelstein, Michael Phillips, Nancy Spielberg, Anne Spielberg, Janet Maslin, Sue Spielberg, Leah Adler, Arnold Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Sid Sheinberg, James Brolin, David Geffen, Roger Ernest, Steven Bochco, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Vilmos Zsigmond, Brian De Palma, Tony Kushner, Bob Balaban, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Melissa Mathison, Leonardo DiCaprio, A.O. Scott, Kathleen Kennedy, Harrison Ford, Tom Stoppard, Walter F. Parkes, Oprah Winfrey, J. Hoberman, Frank Marshall, Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Janusz Kaminski, Michael Kahn, Annette Insdorf, Dennis Muren, David Koepp, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Rick Carter, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Meyer, Laurie MacDonald, Cate Blanchett, Holly Hunter, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Dustin Hoffman, Lawrence Kasdan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Todd McCarthy, Tom Cruise, Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Adam Somner, Joanna Johnston, Alan Alda, Karen Allen, William Atherton, Richard Attenborough, Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Ed Bradley, Tom Brokaw, Jessica Capshaw, Kate Capshaw, Dana Carvey, Bill Clinton, Sean Connery, Joan Crawford, Hugh Downs, Denholm Elliott, Peter Falk, Paul Freeman, Teri Garr, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Cary Guffey, Goldie Hawn, Alfred Hitchcock, Norman Howell, Amy Irving, Ben Johnson, Wayne Knight, Shia LaBeouf, Marcia Lucas, K.C. Martel, Mike Myers, George Negus, Al Pacino, Fievel Posner, Dan Rather, John Rhys-Davies, Terry Richards, Oliver Robins, Mark Rylance, Roy Scheider, Gene Shalit, Robert Shaw, Dinah Shore, Tom Snyder, Rebecca Spielberg, Sasha Spielberg, Theo Spielberg, David Strathairn, Henry Thomas, François Truffaut, Dennis Weaver, Robert Young, Margaret Avery, Ruby Barnhill, Marlon Brando, Edward Burns, John Candy, David Costabile, Melinda Dillon, Dakota Fanning, Morgan Freeman, Adam Goldberg, Alec Guinness, Mark Hamill, Hal Holbrook, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Byron Jennings, Tommy Lee Jones, Charlie Korsmo, Ronald Lacey, Maurice LaMarche, Lee Majors, Joseph Mazzello, Samantha Morton, Sam Neill, Frances O'Connor, Kevin J. O'Connor, Peter O'Toole, Haley Joel Osment, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Ariana Richards, Miranda Richardson, Pat Roach, Geoffrey Rush, Amy Ryan, Omar Sharif, Martin Short, Tom Sizemore, Robert Stack, Christopher Walken, Dee Wallace, Robin Williams.

On this day in movie history - The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh (2014):

The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh

documentary directed by Marilyn Ann Moss,

written by Joel Bender and Marilyn Ann Moss,

was released at the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland on September 30, 2014.
Music by Imre Czomba.

Cast:

Peter Bogdanovich, Johnny Crear, Dorisa Day, Illeana Douglas, Richard Erdman, Sidney J. Furie, John Gallagher, John A. Gallagher, Tab Hunter, C. Courtney Joyner, Norman Klein, Jack Larson, Paul Lynch, Leonard Maltin, Lee Marvin, Alan K. Rode, Jane Russell, Anthony Slide.

The Stunt Man (1980) – through the looking glass …

Sam! Rewrite the opening reel! Crush the little bastard in the first act!

– Peter O'Toole, as Eli Cross.

 
I love movies, so a movie that also involves the movie-making process in the plot, is a definite draw.

The Stunt Man (1980) was directed by Richard Rush, released in the United States on June 27, 1980, and adapted from the novel of the same title, by Paul Brodeur, published in 1970.

The story is a combination of genres: action, drama, crime, and offbeat comedy.

Cameron (Steve Railsback), is a wanted man, a fugitive on the run from the police and FBI, for a crime that remains unspecified until later in the story.

Narrowly evading capture at a roadside diner, he stumbles onto a movie set, where a World War I battle scene is being filmed on the beach.

He merges with the crowd, as we hear an excerpt from Dusty Springfield’s song Bits and Pieces, tipping us off that the fugitive and viewer are now “in a world where nothing is what it seems”.

Cameron’s next attempt to put distance between himself and the pursuing law results in the death of the movie stuntman, Burt (Michael Railsback).

As Cameron runs again, he’s seen by the movie director, Eli Cross (Peter O’Toole), hovering next to the bridge in his chopper.

Burt’s death puts them both in a dangerous situation: if the police discover Burt’s death, they will close down the movie set and Eli will be arrested.

Cameron will also be caught.

They strike up an uneasy pact: Eli will provide Cameron refuge and sanctuary within the movie set, so long as Cameron takes Burt’s place as the stunt man.

Cameron accepts because he has no other choice.

Local police chief, Jake (Alex Rocco), is hanging around constantly looking for Eli to make a slip.

Cameron has an intimate relationship with Nina Franklin (Barbara Hershey), the lead actress on the movie.

There is a revealing moment to the almost surreal atmosphere and collective make-believe mindset of the world Cameron finds himself embroiled in.

As he carries Nina out of the water, and she makes believe that she is being rescued, Cameron remarks that it’s just like in the movies.

Nina replies: “I am the movies.”

The romance between Cameron and Nina sparks jealousy in Eli; he was once in a brief relationship with Nina, adding more tension to the suspicion he and Cameron have for each other.

There are several impressive set pieces to this movie.

In particular Cameron’s first stunt involving a jump between two high buildings.

Not a job for anyone suffering from vertigo.

The stunt includes a rooftop chase and a fall into an enemy occupied brothel.

Stunt men run, tumble over each other, and fall from the roof, in a long and skillfully filmed scene achieved in a pre-CGI age.

Cameron got more than he bargained for.

Already feeling trapped and afraid that his cover will be blown, Cameron’s paranoia is compounded with fear that the director may be psychotic, unconcerned about safety, and will stop at nothing to get his movie completed – even if it means Cameron will also die during a perilous stunt.

Or maybe it’s Eli’s way of getting rid of Cameron, so he could have a second chance of being with Nina.

Cameron refuses to divulge what his crime is, and Eli uses this during an argument with Nina, when he expresses remorse about losing her:

“Jesus Christ, woman! Can’t you see the man is reeking with blood?!”

Steve Railsback is effectively nervous and twitchy as Cameron, a fish out of water, feeling cornered and paranoid.

It’s easy to empathize and share his bewilderment, as the stunts he performs become increasingly dangerous.

There are moments that surprise the viewer as much as they do Cameron, as stunts are replayed from a different angle, revealing the cameras and crew, and the movie-effects tricks.

But this is easily Peter O’Toole’s movie.

In a role that seems written specifically for him, he commands every scene, just as his character, Eli Cross, commands the movie set.

The best lines are reserved for Eli, as he uses his fast-talking skills of persuasion on Cameron:

“Did you not know that King Kong the first was just three-foot-six-inches tall?

He only came up to Fay Wray’s belly button.

If God could do the tricks that we can do, He’d be a happy man!”

Eli is tyrannical, grandiose, and hilarious.

He can be comical and cruel, particularly in his manipulation of Nina, using an embarrassing incident during the showing of dailies to evoke a genuine reaction of shame he can capture in a scene.

Dominic Carmen Frontiere’s music score is both majestic and light-hearted, adding a fun and at times epic feel to the events.

The scene with Eli Cross arriving on set, stepping off the chopper, makes him seem like a giant walking the earth.

In Eli’s mind, as the director, he is a giant among men, and the movie set is his world, a realm he rules, with everyone there to follow and serve as he commands.

When not hovering over them in his chopper, he’s above them on his camera crane, or standing on bridges, a king overseeing his kingdom.

The director as dictator, or maybe even a demon – as the poster art suggests:

The stunts and action scenes are impressive.

The script, by Lawrence B. Marcus, is intelligent and humorous.

The uneasy partnership between Cameron and Cross is well developed, with smart and funny interchanges between Eli and his crew, particularly his lead actor, Raymond Bailey (Adam Roarke), assistant, Ace (Philip Bruns), hair stylist, Denise (Sharon Farrell) and long-suffering writer, Sam (Allen Garfield).

On a trivia note: the clip of the final stunt, when the Duesenberg car hits the water, was included in the opening credit montage of the TV show, The Fall Guy (1981-86), starring Lee Majors.

Keep watching after the end credits roll, to hear Eli Cross’ final hilarious declaration.

Among my other “movies about making movies” favorites are:

Hooper (1978), Blow Out (1981), The Hard Way (1991), Ed Wood (1994), Adaptation (2002), and The Disaster Artist (2017).

I also recommend director Richard Rush’s earlier hilariously off-beat action comedy: Freebie and the Bean (1974), starring James Caan, Alan Arkin, Loretta Swit, Valerie Harper, Alex Rocco, Mike Kellin, and Paul Koslo.

One of the best in the cop buddy movie genre.

Similarly, Freebie and the Bean didn’t do well on its release, but has since gained much-deserved admiration.

The Stunt Man is a movie within a movie, a story within a story, fiction within fiction.

Superbly shot, entertaining and unforgettable.

A multi-layered story that improves with repeat viewings, and a must-see for any movie-buff who, like me, loves movies.

Eli Cross perfectly sums up the movie world to Cameron and the viewer, as if Eli is both director and usher, standing outside the cinema auditorium, beckoning us all into his world:

“That door is the looking glass … and inside it is Wonderland.”