PICNIC

An iconic image from Picnic by James Wong Howe

PICNIC (1956). Director: Joshua Logan. NOTE: Logan also directed the stage play. This review gives away some important plot points.

Hal Carter (William Holden) is a drifter and failed, wannabee actor who winds up in Kansas where he looks up an old buddy named Alan (Cliff Robertson), hoping to find work. Alan's father gives Hal a job, but things are complicated at the Labor Day picnic when Hal and Alan's fiancee, Madge (Kim Novak), find themselves attracted to one another. Alan is furious, but Madge's mother (Betty Field) is horrified at the fate in store for her daughter if she runs off with Hal. Meanwhile Madge's younger sister, Millie (Susan Strasberg), is suffering growing pains, and their border, spinster schoolteacher Rosemary (Rosalind Russell), is having a crisis of her own.

William Holden and Kim Novak

Picnic is based on the Pulitzer prize-winning stage play by William Inge, and screenwriter Daniel Taradash has intelligently opened up the drama without apparently losing much of the original's meat. Both of the two leads, Holden and Novak, are too old for their roles -- Novak was twenty-three and Holden thirty-eight looking older -- and Holden is really not the right type for Hal at all, but he still manages to give quite a good performance, as does Novak, whom I've always believed could be quite accomplished with the right role and director. Betty Field and Susan Strasberg score as mother and younger daughter, and Rosalind Russell, while she tends to overplay in some sequences, has a terrific moment when she's begging her steady beau, Howard (Arthur O'Connell, carried over from the stage version), to marry her. Cliff Robertson gives one of his best performances as Alan, a nice guy who is treated badly even as he treats Hal badly out of jealousy. There are also nice turns by Verna Felton (the tough maid on I Love Lucy) as a very sympathetic neighbor who takes to Hal right off the bat, and Reta Shaw and Phyllis Newman in smaller roles.

William Holden

Just as straight writers composed stories that revolved around female objects of desire, some gay writers did the same thing with male figures as the centerpiece. Tennessee Williams comes to mind with his "Orpheus Descending," which debuted on the stage four years after Picnic (although Williams' first version, "Band of Angels," dates back to 1940. Meanwhile "Orpheus" was filmed as The Fugitive Kind with Marlon Brando three years after Picnic hit screens.) Both Picnic and Fugitive Kind deal with sexy bad boys and drifters who burst into town and inflame passions among women; the plays and movies were too soon before Stonewall to deal upfront with any gay influences. This is not to say that the characters were all meant to be male.

Rosalind Russell and William Holden

However, both plays have more on their minds than just virile rough trade. Picnic is basically a study of small-town desperation and loneliness; the film has persistent undercurrents of both. It is made clear that Hal is just as lonely in his own way as Rosemary is, culminating in a painful sequence when Rosemary humiliates Hal after he, in her mind, rejects her advances. The film also looks at the pain of growing older and the anguished jealousy it can engender when a middle-aged person is confronted by someone with youth and promise and more overt attractiveness and sensuality.

Cliff Robertson and William Holden

Picnic has many memorable sequences. There is the amusing montage of scenes at the picnic, with crying babies, cute dogs, and silly games, and -- in contrast -- the sort of sexy slow dance that Hal and Madge do together on the bandstand. James Wong Howe's cinematography is outstanding, and George Duning has contributed a sensitive score. Picnic has to be considered an anti-romantic film. Playwright Inge probably meant the ending to indicate that Madge is giving full range to her feelings and taking a chance on life and love and perhaps getting away from a stifling small-town environment, but in the bittersweet conclusion she's also going off with a man she has known for only one day. (Paging Dr. Phil!) And does anyone really think the relationship between Rosemary and Howard will work?

The play starred Ralph Meeker as Hal, Paul Newman as Alan, Janice Rule as Madge, Eileen Heckart as Rosemary, and Arthur O'Connell as Howard. Aron Copeland's beautiful opera The Tender Land, which debuted around the same time as the stage version of Picnic, also dealt with a young woman who falls in love overnight with a drifter and wants to run away with him.

Verdict: Despite some problems, this is an excellent picture. ***1/2. 

THE OUTRAGE

Paul Newman

THE OUTRAGE (1964). Director: Martin Ritt.

In the late 19th century in the southwest, three men take refuge from a rain storm at a train depot: A priest (William Shatner), a prospector (Howard Da Silva) and a con man (Edward G. Robinson), with the first two telling the third the conflicting stories they heard at a murder trial. The trial centers on the notorious bandit Carrasco (Paul Newman), who is accused of raping a southern woman (Claire Bloom) and murdering her wealthy husband (Laurence Harvey). The bandit, the wife, the dead man (via an Indian medium) and then the prospector all tell their stories, but trying to figure out which is the correct one will drive you crazy. The Outrage is an interesting remake of the much more famous Japanese film Rashomon, and while it's generally a good picture (it helps if you're unfamiliar with the original), it's also a mixed bag. On the plus side is a charismatic and quite adept performance from Paul Newman, who's much better in what is essentially a character part than you might expect. Newman is on top of things in every scene. The next best performance is from Edward G. Robinson, whose expert acting skills are on marvelous display in his winning performance as the not very likable con artist. Although Claire Bloom [Three Into Two Won't Go] could be accused of being a little stagy and overly theatrical at times, she's playing many different interpretations of the same person and playing them well, with near-perfect line readings. Howard Da Silva scores as the prospector, and Laurence Harvey is fine in an underwritten part in which he is tied up and gagged for most of the running time. Shatner tends to overact a bit as he did as Captain Kirk -- he always seems to think he's doing Shakespeare -- but he's effective enough in the part.  James Wong Howe's cinematography is typically outstanding. While Alex North's score has some lovely things in it, it also seems inappropriate at times given the subject matter, but then again, The Outrage has several sequences that border on black comedy (which in of itself is inappropriate). Still, whatever its flaws, The Outrage is absorbing, good to look at, and features several excellent performances. Whether it has the kind of attitude towards rape that you might find today on, say, Law and Order:Special Victims Unit, is debatable. Martin Ritt directed Paul Newman in Hud the previous year.

NOTE: Apparently I had already reviewed this film on Great Old Movies eight years ago.  I liked it a little better this time around, and think it might even have more emotional impact than the original.

Verdict: Newman gives a striking performance in an unusual role for him. ***. 

HUD

Three generations: Paul Newman, Melvyn Douglas, Brandon De Wilde

HUD (1963). Director: Martin Ritt.

"You live just for yourself, and that makes you not fit to live with." -- Homer regarding Hud.

Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) has been a cattle rancher all of his life, but a crisis develops when he learns that his stock may have hoof and mouth disease and could have to be destroyed. His surviving son, Hud (Paul Newman) is an immoral cad who suggests they sell off the cattle to an unsuspecting buyer. Hud's young nephew, Lon (Brandon De Wilde), looks up to his uncle in a way, but his values are more in line with his grandfather's. Hud has always assumed his father hated him because he blamed him for his brother's death, but it runs deeper than that. As stubborn as his son is irresponsible, Homer is bound to butt heads with Hud. Then there's the housekeeper, Alma (Patricia Neal) -- an underwritten role --  and the sexual tension that exists between her and Hud. All these factors will come to a boil ... Hud is an interesting picture that casts a certain spell, but one suspects it is due less to the story and actors than to the superb cinematography of James Wong Howe, who seems to imbue every shot with added resonance. Hud is also well-directed by Martin Ritt, although he is perhaps less successful in getting his cast to completely cross over that fourth wall that leads to total veracity -- the emoting is technically proficient but all on the surface. This is not to say that the acting is bad -- Newman, Douglas, and Neal all won Oscars (as did Howe and Ritt, the two most deserving) -- but Newman is miscast despite the fact that he manages to work up some effective swagger for an actor who was never that good at swaggering. One has to remember that these aren't the most communicative or openly emotional of people, so there really aren't any dramatic fireworks as such, But the strikingly moody film, a study of a dying way of life and all that it implies, has its own quiet power and is well worth watching. Yvette Vickers [Attack of the Giant Leeches] gets one line as a married woman who dallies with Hud in a coffee shop sequence, and John Ashley [Frankenstein's Daughter] is a cowboy. I have not read the Larry McMurtry novel this is based on, but I have a feeling the film is a rather sanitized version. Amoral characters like Hud are very, very commonplace today in movies and on television. Martin Ritt also worked with Newman and Howe on The Outrage.

Verdict: One imagines that Hud eventually turned into J. R. Ewing. ***1/2.

JENNIFER (1953)

Ida Lupino

JENNIFER (1953). Director: Joel Newton.

In this strange suspense film, Agnes Langsley (Ida Lupino) gets a job as caretaker at an abandoned estate because, for some reason, she wants to be alone. In spite of this she meets and keeps company with Jim Hollis (Howard Duff), who owns the general store in the town near the estate. When Agnes learns that the last caretaker, a young woman named Jennifer who was the cousin of the house's current owner, simply vanished one afternoon, she's intrigued enough to investigate, but seems more obsessed than merely curious. There are vague hints of the supernatural or something weird going on, especially in the ending, but nothing much is made of it. One supposes this is why Lupino plays the role like she's compelled for some reason to seek out the truth about Jennifer -- it's a strange performance, frankly, but not a bad one -- and the mystery of who Agnes is and why she's buried herself away is never quite resolved. (There's also the fact that Agnes never actually seems to do anything in her role as caretaker.) One could argue that the mystery over Jennifer isn't, either. Still, this is fairly absorbing, not badly acted, and has some creepy sequences, such as a search for Jennifer's body underground. The movie does get across the impression that there's something just out of sight, and the obtuse conclusion is borderline chilling. Robert Nichols plays Hollis' clerk, Orin, Mary Shipp is Agnes' employer, Lorna, and singer Matt Dennis plays himself in a lounge sequence. He sings and also composed the memorable tune, "Angel Eyes." James Wong Howe was the director of photography and also co-directed The Invisible Avenger. Lupino [The Bigamist] and Duff [Spaceways] got married two years before this film was made, and didn't divorce until 1984.

Verdict: Oddly compelling sort of mystery. **1/2 out of 4.

MY REPUTATION

MY REPUTATION (1946). Director: Curtis Bernhardt.

Released in 1946, My Reputation was made -- and takes place -- three years earlier. Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck) has just lost her husband after a long illness, and doesn't quite know how to handle the emptiness she's left with. She has two young boys, a difficult if somewhat wise old mother (Lucile Watson) and some good friends, including Ginna Abbott (Eve Arden), but the loneliness she feels can be crushing. On a holiday with Ginna and her husband Cary (John Ridgely), she accidentally meets Major Scott Landis (George Brent) and the two begin a decidedly unconventional romance... and soon gossipy tongues are wagging. This has a superb, sophisticated, literate script by Catherine Turney, and features another of Stanwyck's sterling star performances. The supporting cast -- Arden, Watson, Esther Dale as the housekeeper, Jerome Cowan as a lecherous married friend, Scotty Beckett as one of her boys and others -- are swell, and George Brent, if not on Stanwyck's level, strikes the right note throughout. This is a lovely, beautifully-made movie with a moving ending. Max Steiner's score is one of his best, and cinematographer James Wong Howe ensured that Stanwyck looks luminescent.

Verdict: Another great Stanwyck picture. ****.

THE INVISIBLE AVENGER

THE INVISIBLE AVENGER (1958). Directed by James Wong Howe and John Sledge.

Richard Derr plays the famous Shadow, aka Lamont Cranston, in this pretty much lost curiosity which was one of the few films (co-) directed by famous cinematographer James Wong Howe. The story line has The Shadow getting involved with South American revolutionaries, an exiled King, and his evil lookalike brother, as well as various hoodlums. Reportedly this was originally the pilot for a possible Shadow TV series which received a theatrical release instead, and on the production level it does resemble a TV show. Throughout much of the movie Cranston is accompanied by a man named Jogendra (Mark Daniels), who is his teacher (even though Daniels doesn't seem much older than Derr). The Shadow is able to hypnotize people into thinking he's disappeared, effectively making himself an "invisible" avenger. There's some eerie music and a fair amount of atmosphere, but this is largely forgettable. It's unlikely that the resultant TV series would have amounted to much.

Verdict: Make like a shadow and disappear. *1/2.