The Horse Soldiers

This 2K restoration is kinda odd? I mean, it’s very dark. Very contrastey.

Oh, so this movie is gonna focus on the soldiers, I guess?

I think I bought this because it was on the Hazel Flagg list, but the account is gone, so I’m not sure any more…

Well, this isn’t what I thought it was gonna be at all!

This is fun! But I guess it’s a kind of early deconstruction of these kinds of movies? It’s sort of poking fun at the pompous set-up these films usually had?

It does feel like… Not that Ford’s sympathies are on the slave-owners’ side, but he portrays them like noble savages, while the army of the United States (represented by John Wayne) is an industrial force that just steamrolls over these yokels.

It adds humour, but it’s also a bit skeezy.

I think this is the United States army committing war crimes by destroying civil infrastructure? (Making the rails all bendy.)

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Never knew Ford was such a commie pinko!

He’s like Hegseth! I didn’t know that this was so current!

This movie rather bombed:

The film opened at number one in the United States but was ultimately a commercial failure, due largely to Wayne’s and Holden’s high salaries and the complex participation of multiple production companies. The response of audiences and critics was “lackluster”

Oh no! Well, that’s actually shocking — some yokels randomly just up and shot Lukey!

(The opposing force.)

Right:

Lukey’s dialog was originally written in “Negro” dialect that Althea Gibson, the former Wimbledon and U.S. National tennis champion who was cast in the role, found offensive. She informed Ford that she would not deliver her lines as written. Though Ford was notorious for his intolerance of actors’ demands, he agreed to modify the script.

It’s an odd movie for sure. It’s obvious that Ford’s main point here is to deflate the myths surrounding the American civil war, and poke some fun at some war film conventions. But you end up with a movie that’s hard to love — things are tongue in cheek, but not actually all that funny?

And the ending is just weird, but there’s a reason for that:

During filming of the climactic battle scene, veteran stuntman Fred Kennedy suffered a broken neck while performing a horse fall and died. “Ford was completely devastated,” wrote biographer Joseph Malham. “[He] felt a deep responsibility for the lives of the men who served under him.” The film was scripted to end with the triumphant arrival of Marlowe’s forces in Baton Rouge, but Ford “simply lost interest” after Kennedy’s death. He ended the film with Marlowe’s farewell to Hannah Hunter before crossing and blowing up the bridge.

Okidoke.

But I quite liked the movie — it’s entertaining. It’s interesting. It’s well shot.

The Horse Soldiers. John Ford. 1959. ⚃

Avec amour et acharnement

It’s striking how few movies have been made that are just, like, set during covid? And just use face masks as if it’s the most natural thing? That was reality for a couple of years, but it seems a bit memory holed…

The movie is pretty odd — it seems so static. We got the setup in the first few minutes, and after that basically nothing has “happened”. Instead the go over the same thing over and over again…

The film was made very quickly, and I wonder whether the dialogue is partially improvised? It has that feel.

You know… sometimes when you’re watching movies and you go “but why should I be interested in these people?” Which is really any movie — all movies are about these people who you don’t really have an innate interest in, but… then you are! Movies have to overcome that hurdle. That’s the magic of movies.

And this kinda doesn’t? These people just… aren’t… that interesting? So the movie is failing there.

But I like the way it’s filmed.

Some of the problem is definitely with these actors — Juliette Binoche is great, but the rest are just sort of there.

Love this shot.

I don’t think this movie quite works? But there’s quite a few striking shots and some good scenes.

Both Sides of the Blade. Claire Denis. 2022. ⚂

Looking For Mr. Goodbar

What an odd way to start a movie. We get three and a half minutes of the above… but with about 20 seconds worth of excerpts for various songs. Not even artfully mixed together, but just faded in and then faded out.

Very strange.

Anyway, I’m watching this because Hazel Flagg mentioned it… but it’s certainly a name I’ve seen a gazillion times before. It became, like, a zeitgeisty thing, right? But like with many 70s movies, I’ve never seen it before.

Oh, the 70s.

Heh heh, that’s some set.

Does this count as a “New Hollywood” movie? I mean, it looks like one (i.e., more naturalish lighting and more grainy etc), but:

Richard Brooks certainly is a veteran director (and this is on the tail end of his career)… (And he never did anything substantial after this movie, so whatever was left of his career was tanked by this movie.)

*gasp*

Sex n drugs n porn!

The mix of fantasy and reality is a lot of fun.

Hey! Richard Gere!

Right, this is like his second movie…

I like this movie… but it is a bit of a mess. It’s like it tries to cram All The Issues into one movie: You’ve got abortions, Catholicism, orgies, racism, deaf children, drugs, feminism, poverty… every new scene is an opportunity to cover a new Issue…

That is whatsisface, right? But… how… I thought he was younger? Or is it his older brother or something?

I’m constantly interpreting scenes as being obviously fantasy… but then they turn out not to be. I guess that’s something done on purpose, but… these are some pretty absurd scenes.