Brute Force

Hume Cronyn and Burt Lancaster 

Jules Dassin's Brute Force, from 1947, is an obvious, yet undeniably powerful prison drama. Richard Brooks' script, set almost entirely at a mythical prison on a isolated peninsula, was inspired by a bloody 1946 uprising at Alcatraz that resulted from a failed escape attempt. Brooks and Dassin use the film to indict the US Corrections system as a punitive dead end that offers no chance for rehabilitation. One could make much the same case now, but Brooks socially conscious script gives Dassin the opportunity to indulge in what would become his chief artistic vice. over statement.

The film's hero is played by Burt Lancaster, an actor given to undynamic over statement. No better example of this is when Lancaster takes a bullet towards the climax of the film. Now receiving a bullet wound is painful, but Lancaster seems to savor it because it gives him an actorly moment to underline his character's nobility. Anyway, Lancaster leads the lumpen proletariat in the cell blocks to escape the tyranny of the bulls presided over by Hume Cronyn's Captain Munsey. Lancaster's cell is a commie cell with token white collar thief Whit Bissell as a weak kneed Willie. The social democrat wing of this Popular Front rebellion is led by the always dependable Charles Bickford. Cronyn is supposed to represent the fascistic tendencies of American authoritarianism or something. He is a veritable SS Gruppenführer who tortures his charges while listening to Wagner, as one does I suppose. "Kindness is weakness" Munsey tells the pixilated doctor (Art Smith) who serves as the film's conscious and futilely tries to debate Munsey about his belief in the Uber mensch.

The proletariat revolts in Brute Force

Dassin's set-ups, particularly those within the cell, are over contrived and work against the realistic tone of the film. However, the scenes of violence in the film really have an palpable impact and that is due to Dassin's commitment to the kino fist of social realism. Dassin is more interested in progressive messaging than ambivalence and, thus, there is a trade-off. Part of what works in Brute Force is due to Brook's well constructed script. The film moves logically from fascist repression to proletarian rebellion. The wordless opening sequence which establishes the prison setting is a good example. As William H. Daniels camera prowls its heavily guarded perimeter, Brooks and Dassin establish the prison as a mechanism designed for enslavement. 

A few moments of relief leaven the somber and overdetermined material. The excellent calypso singer Sir Lancelot is on hand to offer some light comic relief and mournful lyricism. There are four flashbacks involving the girls the prisoners left behind. These are pretty terrible, the nadir being a cancer ridden, wheelchair bound Ann Blyth making goo-goo eyes at Lancaster. Whether as writer or director, Brooks' forte was not the depiction of romance. Even his best films (The Last Hunt, The Professionals, Looking for Mr. Goodbar) lack a convincing romance. Brute Force does boast some good acting on its periphery, from Jay C. Flippen, Richard Gaines, Frank Puglia, and Sam Levene offering effective bits. Brute Force contains the film debut of Howard Duff who smoothly transitioned from radio work.
             

Bring Her Back

Sally Hawkins

Danny and Michael Philippou's Bring Her Back is the creepiest horror film I've seen in some time, a worthy successor to the brothers' Talk to Me. As in that film, the brothers' success with the juvenile members of the cast is variable. but Sally Hawkins gives a ravening performance as a grieving mother who will stop at nothing to be reunited with her dead daughter. Hawkins plays Laura, a retired therapist who adopts two orphans who have recently lost their father. Twelve years old Piper, who is legally blind, is doted on by Laura, but she treats older teen Andy with disdain. By the time we see Laura dumping her own urine on Andy while he sleeps to make him think he is a bedwetter, we are hip to the fact that something inside Laura doesn't jibe with her happy go lucky facade. That and a remaining child who seems to be catatonic creates a properly sinister atmosphere. The audience waits for Laura to go full bore bonkers and Hawkins and the brothers don't disappoint.

I wasn't fully satisfied with the back story that underpins this flick, but if you are dealing with occult cannibalism then you really cannot produce something that makes rational sense. Like almost all horror, Bring Her Back deals with irrational, unconscious fears. I do wonder if the brothers will ever leave the horror genre and their preferred theme of juvenile trauma. Bring Her Back is a good film on its own terms, but, like Talk to Me, does not transcend its genre. Those with squeamish stomachs should skip this unless they want to indulge in some lunch liberation.           

The Best of Diane Keaton

1946-2025

             It's kind of true, you do disappear off the planet if you are a middle-aged

           woman, but that has advantages as well.

     1)   Annie Hall                              Woody Allen                                        1977

     2)   Mrs. Soffel                           Gillian Armstrong                                   1984

     3)   Shoot the Moon                      Alan Parker                                        1982

     4)   Looking for Mr. Goodbar    Richard Brooks                                     1977

     5)   Baby Boom                             Charles Shyer                                    1987

     6)   Love and Death                      Woody Allen                                       1975

     7)   Sleeper                                    Woody Allen                                       1973

     8)   Something's Gotta Give       Nancy Meyers                                      2003

     9)   The Godfather                 Francis Ford Coppola                                1972

    10)  The Little Drummer Girl     George Roy Hill                                      1984

The persona of Annie Hall was so linked to Diane Keaton's image that it served to detract from public appreciation of Keaton as a actress. Certainly, she was a superior comic actor to Woody Allen. Her years with Allen in which she served principally as a muse and a sounding board for his kvetches, opened up possibilities for Keaton as a dramatic performer. These challenges she largely met, though I'm not sure she really nailed the mercurial Louise Bryant in Reds. For that matter, I think she displayed more sexual chemistry with Sam Shepard and Keanu Reeves than she ever did with Jack Nicholson. 

It is difficult to convey what a fashion icon Keaton became in the 1970s. What was most impressive was that Keaton's status was not the result of any public relations campaign, but stemmed from her own quirky individuality and taste. She was grating to some, as was fellow WASP princess Katharine Hepburn back in the day, but I find her adorkable. Challenging roles became hard to find for her this century, but she had many interests outside of acting. I also treasure her appearances in Lovers and Other Strangers, Play it Again, Sam, Manhattan, Interiors, Radio Days, Father of the Bride, Town & Country, Book Club, The Godfather 2 and 3, and The Young Pope.