2024 release. High Polish Blue. Deep Carve. Crystal affixed.
Movies Watched -- Going Places (1974)
In French. 118 minute running time so 18 minutes too long. The French title of this is “Les Valseuses” which is slang for “the balls.” This was a strange one, lots of vulgar sexual stuff and nudity, lots of criminality, but it’s also really hilarious and totally absurd, you could tell they had fun making it … young Gerard Depardieu strutting around in his tight pants … definitely not a Hollywood movie … Clockwork Orange must have inspired them and this movie in turn probably inspired Tarantino … I can’t recommend it like John Farr did (“a roguishly erotic, almost nihilistic buddy film”), but I’m glad I saw it and give it a solid yellow rating. I’ve got to check out more of Bertrand Blier’s work.
The back of the DVD case has a blurb from Pauline Kael: “an explosively funny erotic farce — both a celebration and a satire of men’s daydreams.”
Touching something dirty always brings good luck.
Movies Watched -- Chinatown (1974)
130 minute running time … normally I’d say it’s 30 minutes too long, but will make an exception for Chinatown because it’s one of the best movies of all time … I’ve seen it many times … it’s interesting that Towne wanted a happy ending and it was Polanski who insisted that it ends the way it does… Jack Nicholson was a great actor and this was probably his best role of all time. This is a John Farr reco and of course I second it. Green-go!
Just find the girl.
Best Thriller / Mystery Movies of the 1980s
These are the best thriller / mystery movies of the 1980s according to John Farr. I’ve arranged them chronologically below:
English-language movies:
Dressed to Kill (1980)
The Shining (1980)
Body Heat (1981)
Prince of the City (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Thief (1981)
Missing (1982)
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
The Long Good Friday (1982)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Scarface (1983)
Silkwood (1983)
The King of Comedy (1983)
A Soldier’s Story (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
Blood Simple (1985)
Dance with a Stranger (1985)
Runaway Train (1985)
Witness (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Mona Lisa (1986)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
House of Games (1987)
The Untouchables (1987)
Dead Ringers (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
The Accused (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Sea of Love (1989)
Foreign-language movies:
The Last Metro (1980) (French)
L'Argent (1983) (French)
Cop Au Vin (1984) (French)
The Official Story (1985) (Spanish)
Scene of the Crime (1986) (French)
A Short Film About Killing (1987) (Polish)
Story of Women (1988) (French)
The Vanishing (1988) (Dutch)
The Killer (1989) (Cantonese)
The Seventh Continent (1989) (German)
Movies Watched -- 3 Days of the Condor (1975)
117 minute running time so around 20 minutes too long … Robert Redford running around the streets of mid-1970s Manhattan, Faye Dunaway and her amazing cheekbones … prominent shots of the World Trade Center, both outside and inside … an old Ford Bronco … his pea coat … the computers and telecom equipment shots … Max von Sydow as bad guy with bad mustache … a CIA within the CIA and paranoia and post-60s conspiracy stuff … this is John Farr reco but it only gets a yellow rating from me, mostly as a period piece.
This whole damn thing was about oil!
Movies Watched -- Just Another Love Story (2008)
In Danish. 104 minutes so just about the right length. The Danes know how to make good movies (and TV), they understand how to tell a story … this is a legit mystery / thriller and good ones are hard to come by, so I’ll give it a green-go … might be hard to find, I had to BUY a copy. This was a John Farr recommendation, and I second it.
Thank you, Sebastian. For being so wonderfully courteous, kind, ordinary, and normal.
Movies Watched -- I Only Want You To Love Me (1976)
In German. 104 minute running time so around the right length. I loved this movie, it was fall-down funny, and it’s mainly because the star, Vitus Zeplichal, is so good. It’s hard to overestimate how much Fassbinder loathes German culture, he’s just scathing… but in a funny, loving way, if you know what I mean. I think I finally understand Fassbinder. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul was a lot less entertaining than this movie. I thank John Farr for this excellent recommendation and I second it. Green-go!
Movies Watched -- One Fine Morning (2022)
In French. 112 minute running time so at least 12 minutes too long. There was no story here, no arc. It’s just Lea Seydoux and her nice tits and her Twiggy haircut taking public transport in Paris and shuttling her father around to various old folks’ homes while seducing a married guy … I don’t care, I don’t know why John Farr recommended this. Red rating.
Movies Watched -- Don't Look Now (1973)
110 minute running time so at least ten minutes too long, but this was so terrible that there would be no saving it. What an awful recommendation from John Farr (“an arty, eerie entry for those seeking something different”). Wrong. Scrawny Julie Christy is beautiful and Venice is an interesting city, but this was just no good. Red rating.
Best Thriller / Mystery Movies of the 1970s
These are the best thriller / mystery movies of the 1970s according to John Farr. I’ve arranged them chronologically below:
English-language movies:
10 Rillington Place (1971)
Duel (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
Klute (1971)
Straw Dogs (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Walkabout (1971)
Deliverance (1972)
Frenzy (1972)
Images (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Badlands (1973)
Charley Varrick (1973)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)
Serpico (1973)
The Day of the Jackal (1973)
The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
The Offence (1973)
The Sting (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Missiles of October (1974)
The Parallax View (1974)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
The Yakuza (1974)
Thieves Like Us (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Night Moves (1975)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All The President's Men (1976)
Helter Skelter (1976)
I Only Want You To Love Me (1976)
Marathon Man (1976)
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1977)
The Duellists (1977)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Mad Max (1979)
Scum (1979)
The China Syndrome (1979)
The Great Train Robbery (1979)
The Onion Field (1979)
Foreign-language movies:
La Rupture (1970) (French)
Le Cercle Rouge (1970) (French)
The Conformist (1970) (Italian)
Le Boucher (1971) (French)
Max and the Junkmen (1971) (French)
La Bonne Annee (1973) (French)
Going Places (1974) (French)
Rabid Dogs (1974) (Italian)
The Clockmaker of St. Paul (1974) (French)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) (French)
The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) (German)
I Only Want You To Love Me (1976) (German)
Mr. Klein (1976) (German)
Violette (1978) (French)
Buffet Froid (1979) (French)
Vengeance Is Mine (1979) (Japanese)