MY WAY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY PAUL ANKA

MY WAY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Paul Anka with David Dalton. St. Martin's Press; 2013.

Seeing Anka in some low-budget films early in his career, I remembered how my sister had been a big fan of his, and recalled some of his early hits which he both wrote and performed ("Diana;" "Put Your Head On My Shoulder;" "Puppy Love"). My curiosity sparked, I decided to give Anka's memoir a try. Although he's hardly the most riveting figure, there was enough interesting material about the music industry back in the day, and how it's changed, to keep me reading -- at least at first. Aggressive and talented, the 15-year-old Canadian Lebanese teen successfully promoted himself into a career in New York and elsewhere. Anka writes how the "British Invasion" of the Beatles and others wiped out most of the other teen idols of the period, and Anka had to reinvent himself as a Las Vegas club act and write songs for singers other than himself (Sinatra's "My Way" is the most famous, although Anka only contributed lyrics to a French melody). The early sections of the book, in which Anka tells of interacting with performers he spent a lot of time with while on the road in buses and hotels, are more interesting than the rehashed stuff of the later chapters, in which Anka tries to make himself a mini-member of the Rat Pack. Frankly, the stories about Sinatra and the gang and all the mobsters simply seem recycled from other books. If we're to believe Anka, every famous person he encountered became a close friend. The most jaw-dropping moment occurs when Anka writes of ending his 38-year marriage to his first wife because "getting divorced from Anne was just something I had to do for myself." Huh! Quite a few pages later Anka writes how in his sixties he got involved with a much younger personal trainer whom he married and who apparently took him to the cleaners. While I wouldn't exactly call the book a "tell-all," there is some material about Sammy Davis Jr..'s  bisexuality (already mentioned in more than one previous book) and an anecdote about Angie Dickinson giving her husband Burt Bacharach a blow job while she was driving in their car, something Dickinson probably didn't need to see in print. Lest you think this makes My Way a fascinating read, be advised that for much of its length the book is just tedious name-dropping. The material is so badly organized, jumping around in time and back and forth from subject to subject (such as Sinatra), that it's as if the co-author just took Anka's stream of consciousness ramblings and absolutely made no attempt to make them coherent. Things are repeated -- and even contradicted -- throughout the book. Despite this, the book received some startlingly good reviews, such as an embarrassing one from the Huffington Post. Anka clearly did not know Donald Trump would become president, or he would have played him up even more in the book.

Verdict: Some people should not write their life stories. **.

A FEVER IN THE BLOOD

Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Jack Kelly

A FEVER IN THE BLOOD (1961). Director: Vincent Sherman.

"I'm only allowed a minute so I'm going to change the habit of a lifetime and be brief."

When a woman is suffocated in her home, her estranged husband (Rhodes Reason of Voodoo Island) is arrested and put on trial. He is almost a supernumerary in a three-way battle for governor between Callahan (Jack Kelly), the D.A. prosecuting the case; Hoffman (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), the judge assigned to the trial; and Senator Alex Simon (Don Ameche), who wants to give up his seat for personal reasons. The audience knows who the real killer is from the first, but Callahan seems determined to win this case -- and his chance at a governorship -- no matter who is convicted. Then Senator Simon offers Hoffman a bribe if he'll declare a mistrial, postponing Callahan's chances for a prosecutorial and political victory. A Fever in the Blood features a few Warner Brothers contract players who are sometimes effective and sometimes not. Zimbalist isn't bad, but aside from playing Stu Bailey in 77 Sunset Strip, he's a trifle bland, as usual, and strictly a small screen personality. Jack Kelly [Drive a Crooked Road], also a TV regular, is surprisingly good as Callahan, as is Don Ameche [Guest Wife], who manages to overcome his miscasting. Angie Dickinson scores as Simon's wife, who is really in love with Hoffman (she has a very good scene with Zimbalist early in the film), and there are also notable performances from Herbert Mashall as the defendant's father, Carroll O'Connor as a publisher, Ray Danton as defense counsel, and Robert Colbert as the murdered woman's gardener and lover. If there's any problem with the movie it's that with this excellent plot the movie should have had a lot more tension and excitement, but it merely plays out in standard fashion while managing to hold the attention. Ernest Gold's Herrmann-like score is effective.

Verdict: Not bad, but perhaps its temperature should have been raised. **1/2.

POINT BLANK

Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin, Carroll O'Connor

POINT BLANK (1967). Director: John Boorman.

"How'd we get into this mess?"

Walker  (Lee Marvin of The Big Heat) was betrayed by his associate, Reese (John Vernon) and his wife (Sharon Acker of The New Perry Mason) during a heist. Now Walker is on the loose and wants revenge on Reese, who is now trying to make time with his sister-in-law, Chris (Angie Dickinson). As part of his revenge Walker will take on top executives in the mafia-like group called the Organization. Point Blank is based on "The Hunter," the first of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake's Parker novels but it's much more confusing and less entertaining than the novel. In the early sections of the film the direction and editing are pretentious in that certain sixties style that was supposed to pass for being "cinematic" but only looks stupid. Parker/Walker is a stoic no-nonsense character but Lee Marvin still sort of walks through the movie, and Dickinson is badly miscast [the scene with Marvin and Dickinson in bed together has to be seen to be believed]. Vernon strikes a better note, as do Lloyd Bochner [The Night Walker] and Carroll O'Connor as other criminal bigwigs. Keenan Wynn plays an odd role and this is one of the rare times that the actor is unpersuasive. Transplanting the story from New York to L.A. doesn't help, although there are some interesting locations for the action.

Verdict: Some good scenes, but too illogical and silly at times. **1/2.

ROME ADVENTURE

Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue

ROME ADVENTURE (1962). Director: Delmer Daves.

"What if something happened to you?" -- Mrs. Bell

"Mother -- what if nothing did?" -- Prudence

Prudence Bell (Suzanne Pleshette of A Rage to Live) decides to resign from her position in a fashionable girls school because she gave a student a too lustily "romantic" novel to read and the old hen board disapprove. Looking for romance herself, she travels to Italy and gets a room in a pensione, where she meets Don (Troy Donahue), who's just been jilted by the wealthy Lyda Kent (Angie Dickinson). On the rebound, Don travels all over Italy with Prudence, as the two fall in love to the strains of Max Steiner's pretty score and all the attractive scenery. But then, who pops back up but Lyda ... Rome Adventure has a few good moments and performances but it's not a very good movie. Pleshette is a good actress, but there's something so unpleasantly aggressive, almost tough, about her that you can understand how she managed to get that tom cat Donahue to the alter (albeit it took two years and the marriage only lasted eight months); she hasn't a trace of vulnerability. As for Donahue, he's slightly better in this than, say, My Blood Runs Cold, perhaps because he was developing some romantic feelings for Pleshette, but anyway you look at it he's no actor. Rosanno Brazzi is the handsome older man whose kisses don't bring out bells in Prudence; Constance Ford -- in a typical Constance Ford movie role -- is the wise older woman who employs Prudence in a book shop; Hampton Fancher is the charmingly shy Albert, an American boy who has a big crush on Prudence; Pamela Austin is a young lady who has a brief flirtation with Albert; Gertrude Flynn is her chaperone; and even Al Hirt shows up playing himself at one point, only to have his haughty model-like date wind up making out with a sexy Italian stallion; all of them are fine. The two best scenes have Prudence and Lyda sparring with each other during dinner with Don and Albert; and a very nice scene between Albert and Prudence on a train. A singer who comes out with "Al di la" in a restaurant deserves his applause, but it's ridiculous when dozens of people start clapping after Don -- remember this is Troy Donahue -- finishes up a poorly delivered speech from Romeo and Juliet [admittedly, Don is no more an actor than Troy is]. As for Brazzi, he had more time to romance Katharine Hepburn (in Venice) in Summertime. Chad Everett is listed in the cast and in the opening credits, but his scenes must have been left on the cutting room floor.

Verdict: Pretty things to look at and listen to but don't expect more. **1/2.

MIKE HAMMER Season 1 (1958)

Hammer (Darren McGavin) watches a zesty cat-fight

MIKE HAMMER Season 1 (1958).

I don't know what purists might think but to me Darren McGavin (Kolchak, the Night Stalker) seems like perfect casting as Mickey Spillane's New York private eye, Mike Hammer. There were forty half-hour episodes in the first season of this show, and they rarely dipped below a "B" level in quality and some were much better. In addition to McGavin, the only other regular on the show was Bart Burns [a real-life WW2 hero] as Captain Pat Chambers, and in his low-key way he's also quite good. Among the more memorable episodes, "The Broken Frame" with Dick Van Patten asks if an executed man was really innocent; "Look at the Old Man Go" with Angie Dickinson starts out as the tale of an old father smitten with a young babe but turns out to be something a bit different; the sick family drama "My Son and Heir" with Douglas Dick, Barbara Turner and Virginia Gregg deals with the death of a rich son's girlfriend and twisted relationships; and the very suspenseful "Old Folks at Home Blues" has Hammer helping a bewildered Ruta Lee find her missing husband in the Bowery and discovering a startling plot. Other interesting guest-stars on the show, many of whom made more than one appearance, include Doris Dowling, Doris Singleton (Carolyn Appleby of I Love Lucy), Kipp Hamilton (War of the Gargantuas), Gloria Talbott, Nita Talbot, Joan Taylor, Robert Clarke, Jeanne Cooper, Grace Whitney (Star Trek), Terry Becker (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), Barbara Bain, Yvette Vickers, Robert Vaughn, Paula Raymond, and Joan Marshall/Jean Arless of Homicidal fame. Boris Sagal directed the show adroitly and certainly kept things moving. The show could be quite violent at times, and the girl-happy Hammer could be a bully, even with witnesses, but that's one of the things that makes his tough character interesting. The show had plenty of good, well-orchestrated fist fights and at least one zesty cat-fight (between Doris Dowling and Doris Singleton) in "Lead Ache."

NOTE: Two years before this series aired, a Mike Hammer pilot was filmed with Brian Keith in the title role. Keith [who was the son of actor Robert Keith and the stepson of Peggy Entwhistle, who jumped off the Hollywood sign] did other TV series, but he didn't play Hammer, possibly because of other commitments. Keith is very good in the role, not necessarily better than McGavin, but different, and perhaps a bit gruffer. The pilot's story has Hammer pursuing a mobster after a newsboy and several other people are shot and killed outside a nightclub.

Verdict: Very entertaining crime drama with a solid lead performance. ***.

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW

Rock Hudson with co-eds

PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW (1971). Director: Roger Vadim.

In a California high school, a horny 17-year-old named Ponce (John David Carson), student manager for the football team, finds the body of a pretty female student in a bathroom. The football coach, and assistant principal "Tiger" McDrew (Rock Hudson), although married, is sleeping with many of the high school girls, and even encourages the new teacher Betty Smith (Angie Dickinson) to make nice with the virginal, always excited Ponce -- the two begin an affair. Soon there are more murders, with Capt Surcher (Telly Savalas) leading the investigation. Roddy McDowall is the principal, weird Susan Tolsky is his secretary, Keenan Wynn is the police chief, and William Campbell (Dementia 13) is another cop. Not being a far-out black comedy or farce, Pretty Maids is just one of those strange, bad movies that seems to exist only in its own unreal universe. There is absolutely no suspense, and the identity of the killer certainly comes as no surprise. Hudson, Dickinson and Carson all give good enough performances, but the movie is superficial and uninspired and not even especially entertaining. Director Vadim could have directed this in his sleep. Carson also appeared in Empire of the Ants.

Verdict: Even a "mad slasher" movie is more fun than this! *1/2.