Weekly Report from the N.T.A.B. Division of Media Review
The Offer/The Survivor/Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness/Michael Curtiz
Director’s Note: Administration has decreed, in their infinite wisdom, that we are to quote, “fire everything in the chamber” as a distraction technique to cover up for the fact that they didn’t put out their newsletter last Friday. Knowing all of this, we apologize in advance for the length of this missive.
The Offer (Paramount Plus)
This limited series chronicles the making of The Godfather, one of the inarguably best movies ever made, and all of the shenanigans and happy accidents that went into making it. That’s really all the synopsis you need, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you why you should watch this.
First off, it’s a period piece, set in in the early 1970s, and it’s a peel-back-the-curtain style story about the last dying gasp of the studio system in Hollywood, and moreover, it’s based on real events. That alone would be enough for me, who loves all of these things, but let’s go ahead and tip you off to all of the unapologetic tributes, bordering on pastiche, to Martin Scorsese’s cinematic playbook, right up to and including a needle drop onto “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” from the Rolling Stone’s Sticky Fingers. In this case, however, it’s a feature and not a bug. It’s pretty impossible to do any movie set in the 1970s, especially one set in New York, and not crib from Mean Streets and I think they just went ahead and leaned into it.
Second, the cast is phenomenal. I am not a Miles Teller fan, at all, but I love him as Al Ruddy opposite Matthew Goode’s Bob Evans in this film. Dan Fogler’s Francis Ford Coppola imitation is also pretty accurate. Giovanni Ribisi plays gangster Joe Colombo, a part he could pull off in his sleep. Everyone here is having a ball, and you can tell.
Finally, it’s both a tell-all and a love note to movie making back in the day, as we see over and over again how close everyone is to losing their job. It’s the age-old struggle of art versus commerce, and gut-checks versus cashier’s checks. I’m a bit surprised more people aren’t talking about The Offer. Try the first three episodes and see if you’re not fascinated with what happens next.
The Survivor (HBO Max)
This HBO biopic follows the life and brief boxing career of Harry Haft, a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz, as his publicity riders frequently claimed. This is only ostensibly a boxing movie in that the sport itself is not being used as an extended metaphor for life, like in so many sports films. This is more of a “horror of war” story, and what you do to survive it, as the film’s title clearly indicates. The first half of the movie juxtaposes his search for someone he lost with his desire to box Rocky Marciano and it feels very different in contrast with the life he builds for himself afterward.
Barry Levinson isn’t normally a director I associate with not being able to pick a lane, but this movie goes back and forth over the median a lot. Haft isn’t a particularly likeable person,: quite the opposite, in fact. And I know we’re supposed to feel sorry for him because that’s the set-up for the movie, but I don’t. I admire him, for what he survived, but the way he treats people trying to help him—friends, family, even strangers—is abrasive, capricious, and fleeting, This would be understandable if this tied into his backstory in some way (he treats others as he was treated), but it doesn’t. It just comes off as stand-offish and ungrateful. Even when he gets his happily ever after, it’s not.
Thankfully, the movie goes out on a high note, but I don’t think the title cards at the end of the movie are as strong as Levinson thinks. The Survivor isn’t a bad movie. It’s well-shot, beautifully acted, and is well paced and edited. As historical boxing pictures go, it’s a little light. For a more balanced and less happy ending for the plight of the Jewish people who survived World War II, it succeeds at that level. Go into it looking for what it takes to stay alive, and the movie will deliver on that premise.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Disney/Marvel)
Ex-Sorcerer Supreme Steven Strange has a weird dream and from there, gets into the theory of the Multiverse, which is all of these layered realities bifurcating out from bold choices made in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as we’ve seen in WandaVision, What If...?, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
This may be the most “insider baseball” of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe projects to date. You absolutely must be caught up on the MCU properties, right up to and including stuff on Disney Plus if you want to fully “get it,” Mister Burton. Talk about pulling out all of the stops! Talk about deep cuts in the Mighty Marvel Manner! Talk about the groundwork they are already laying for the big story down the road in another ten years!
I’m glad Sam Raimi directed this for a couple of reasons: his Darkman movie was great. His first two Spider-Man films were game-changers. He gets horror, and comedy, and the juxtaposition of both in a story. He’s a veteran genre director who is, I think, perfect for telling a Doctor Strange story with tentacle monsters and zombies and dark magic and still making you care about stuff.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness does a lot of heavy lifting, perhaps the most of any Marvel movie since Guardians of the Galaxy, in terms of what they introduce to their newfound (meaning, not the folks who’ve been reading comics since the age of six) cinematic audience.
I liked the movie, though it’s knocking some long-time fans off of the bandwagon. I don’t know if it’s the directional shift in tone from single character stories to this layer cake approach, of if it’s too many ingredients in one cinematic recipe, or what. I was personally entertained, even when I thought the film was a bit precious in one or two places.
NTAB Directorial Culture Exchange Update: Michael Curtiz
Another legendary director on our random list, courtesy of me, because one cannot overstate the importance of films like Casablanca, or The Adventures of Robin Hood, or the guy who kept composer Max Steiner jumping through hoops, or any of the other classics Curtiz directed. Janice was impressed with the range of movies Curtiz directed, but she quickly settled on a film she’d never seen.
King Creole (1957) was Elvis’ fourth and final movie before he went into the Army. Based on the book A Stone For Danny Fisher by Harold Robbins, they converted the boxer into a nightclub singer and viola! Elvis in New Orleans! Elvis, playing a 19-year-old high school senior, is about to graduate when he gets into a scrape at his day job and is late to school because he had to help a drunk Carolyn Jones home. Then he gets into a fight, doesn’t graduate, and decides to go it alone.
In other words, it’s an Elvis movie. But that’s not damning with faint praise, as it’s widely considered to be the best movie Elvis ever made, one wherein he delivers an actual acting performance. It’s an all-star cast in the film, including Walter Matthau as the big bad guy and Vic Morrow as the young punk named Shark. He probably gave himself that nickname.
Curtiz had experience with musicals and high charisma actors and knew where to put the focus. He made Elvis look good. The music is a lot of fun, as well, even if most of it is garnished in Creole/Louisiana/New Orleans vernacular. He also worked with Elvis to get a meaningful performance out of him. It’s a shame Elvis never got to do that again. If you only watch three Elvis movies, they should be Jailhouse Rock, Viva Las Vegas, and King Creole. If you can only watch one of the above, make it King Creole.
In the spirit of fair play, I chose a Curtiz movie I’d never seen before, Flamingo Road (1949), starring Joan Crawford and Sydney Greenstreet. The movie was based on the play of the same name, which was taken from the novel of the same name. Greenstreet plays a slimy county sheriff with political ambitions who takes a disliking to a carnival girl (Joan Crawford, at the very edge of her age that would allow her to pull of being a carnival girl) who stays in town when her outfit scrams to avoid getting arrested. What follows is a battle of wills, with Crawford trying to do her best to just live her life, and Greenstreet doing everything he can to chase her off. At some point in the movie, Crawford’s spine stiffens and she decides he’s not going to push her around anymore. I can’t remember if it was before or after her stint in the county jail, but Janice was quick to note that all of the women prisoners had high heels on. Classy joint.
This movie is beautifully shot and well-acted—it’s a melodrama, but the performances never rise to those histrionic heights—which is, to me, a remarkable achievement. I tend to pull the ripcord on camp and melodrama as soon as I get a whiff of it, but Flamingo Road kept me engaged right up to the very end. It’s not a happy movie, not by a damn sight, but if you’re wanting a film in the From Here to Eternity kind of wheelhouse, Flamingo Road might just scratch that itch for you.
'You absolutely must be caught up on the MCU properties, right up to and including stuff on Disney Plus if you want to fully “get it,” Mister Burton.'
Two things.
1. Nice callback to "Big Trouble in Little China."
2. I was already not going to Marvel movies any more but you encapsulated why. I simply cannot do both movies and TV shows. It's too much just to keep following the story. And it's the exact reason why I stopped buying Marvel comicbooks back in the day. They wanted me to buy 6 titles every month to get a single story. So I bought none instead. History may not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
I never really think of directors that much. I always figured, if you're watching HOW the director did something, you're not watching the story, and that's a problem. I checked out Curtiz on imdb and found he directed my favorite of the Philo Vance movies with William Powell, "The Kennel Murder Case." The shtick with Vance was using "psychology" to figure out whodunnit, which frankly is never that interesting to me, but that entry in the series kept things moving. It's out of copyright and a poor copy is on Y**Tube if you're interested.
I'm not that familiar with Elvis films, but I do think Flaming Star is a good film so might argue it's his best