Nightmare Alley (1947)

Plot: An amoral Tyrone Power rises from carnival barker to nightclub performer and becomes involved with a black-mailing pychiatrist.

This is widely considered Powers greatest performance, and I can't disagree. Power's is excellent as the ambitious con-man who tries to rise too far, too fast. In fact, everyone gives an excellent performance. The movie is perfectly cast, with Helen Walker as the standout supporting actor.

Nightmare Alley is an extremely well-done movie, and I wish I had enjoyed it more. The camera work is lush and its made with great craftsmanship. Unfortunately, I dislike Carnivals, mind readers, and magic shows. And the middle part of the movie dragged for me. The film was 110 minutes, and ten minutes in the middle could've been cut. However, it ends with a bang.

And I'm dubious about the Film-noir label. Its more of melodrama. The only crimes are fraudulent cons involving speaking to the dead. Can you really have film noir without murder, detectives, or a femme-fatale?

Best Scene: Helen gives Stan $150 instead of $150,00. When he gets angry, she convinces him he's going crazy.

Best Quote: I think you're a perfectly normal human being. Selfish and ruthless when you want something - generous and kindly when you've got it.

Agee's Review:

It would be unbearably brutal if it was played for all the humor, cynicism, and social observation impicit in it, It would be unbearably mawkish if it were played too solemnly. The movie makers have steered a middle course, now and then crudely but on the whole with tact, skill and power. They have seldom forgotten that the original novel they were adapting is essentially intelligent trash, and they have never forgotten that on the screen pretty exciting things can be made of trash. From top to bottom of the cast, the playing is good. Joan Blondell, as the fading carnival queen, is excellent and Tyrone Power – who asked to be cast in the picture – steps into a new class as an actor".

About Willliam Grehsam, the Author of the Original Novel:   

Gresham's life could have been the subject of a movie. Gresham had a life long battle with alcoholism, and was a communist from the late 30s (serving in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade)  till the mid 40s. He spent years in pyschoanalysis , then converted to Chrisitianity, and when that didn't take,  moved on to Ron Hubbarb's dianetics, and then to yoga/Hinduism. Grisham's pattern seems to have been falling for some "belief",  losing his "faith", and attacking it later.  His only consistency was his lifelong obession with carnivals and magic shows.  He died at 53 of mouth cancer (no doubt caused by a lifetime of drinking/smoking).  But he was honest about his talent:

I have no illusions about myself as an ‘author’—I am a hack writer who approaches writing as a trade like cabinet making. I have taught many classes in short story writing; the students probably learned very little but I always learned a lot, listening to myself sound off on how short fiction should be put together.

Hill Street Blues - Season 3

 Well, Police Story is looking better and better the more  “TV Cop shows” I watch. Hill Street Blues is awful. Incredibly the soap opera quotient exceeds that of NY PD Blue. And:

•  Characters were dull.
•  Too many characters and subplots.
•  Too much Talk, talk, talk.
•  The lead actor is good but charmless.
•  Dennis Franz is excellent but has limited screen time.
•  Everyone else is bland or mediocre. James Skiing in particular, is laugh-out loud terrible
•  Kiel Martin’s face looks like 30 miles of bad road.

Here’s what I’ve concluded. Unless you have some great writing, I don’t want to watch a TV show about characters/actors I don’t like or find boring. You’re a flawed character with issues? Do not care. You’re dark and gritty?  Do not care.  You're a groundbreaking character? Do not care. You’re a strong woman, a black authority figure, a Gay who's the first of his kind on TV?  Do not care. You're stark and realistic? Do not care.

Be likable. Be interesting. Or be gone.

NY PD Blue - Season 3

I like Dennis Franz, so I was looking forward to watching it. But, damn what a Soap Opera. And Franz, while good at being aggressive and tough,  has little charm and a limited acting range.  He doesn't wear well as the lead character.  There are several differences between this show and "Police Story":

• A lot more swearing
• A lot more sex crimes being investigated
• The Criminals are more repellent
• The actors are much less charismatic.  And much less likable

Sorry, I need more than "dark and gritty".  I need characters I care about.  And I didn't give a damn about these people. 

X-files - Season 1

X-files was fairly popular SF TV show - back in the 90s. And it was nominated for a ton of Emmy's. The show has two FBI agents "Scully" and "Mulder" investigating UFOs, alien abductions and conspiracies, the paranormal and various strange occurances.

Unfortunately, I didn't like the two stars of the show, and found their characters bland. And since they ARE the show, it was a tough slog. That's how old TV shows were. If you didn't lke the "stars" there was no point in watching them dominate 24 episodes a season.

Police Story - TV Series - Season 2

This was a real disappointment, 22 Episodes and only 6 or so were good. You can't blame the Guest Stars: Bill Shatner, Lloyd Bridges, Jim Backus, Don Meredith, Neville Brand, Robert Culp, Don Murray, etc.

The problem is the show is too realistic.  The focus is on the cops, not the villians. It shows how frustrating, stressful, and difficult a cop's job can be.  And that's not what I want to watch for 50 minutes.  And we get a new leading man every episode. And as you'd expect,  there's not a lot of humor.

And Good God, those awful 70s cars, clothes, and hairstyles.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Plot: In the small town of Santa Mira, a Doctor discovers his friends and neighbors are being replaced by emotionless aliens.
Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Diane Wynter, Carolyn Jones

SF Classic that has been remade many times. The original is still the best, since the camera work, acting, casting, and direction are very good, and at 80 minutes the story moves and never lets up. However, the set design, score, and special effects are at a B movie level. Producer/Director Don Siegel didn't have the budget to do better.

The film manages to cram a lot of plot into very little time. Like the 1978 version, the film neatly divides into three acts:

Act I -  We meet the main characters and find out that people are changing and no one knows why
Act II - Dr. Bennell and Jack Belicec find a pod person and try  to warn the authorities about the dangerous pods.

Act II -  Dr. Bennell and Becky Driscoll try to escape Santa Mira and warn the rest of America, while the police and pods chase after them.

The superiority of the 1956 version over the 1978 version 

1) The casting. Kevin McCarthy and Diane Wynter are much more attractive, and likable pair.

2)  Act I is much shorter,   We find the first Pod person at the 20 minute mark.  The '78 takes 40 minutes.

3)  The need for Dr. Bennell to escape and warn America,  is much more engaging. The pods have only taken over a small town, they can still be stopped.

4)  Seeing people's relatives, friends, and neighbors being turned into Pods is more impactful than seeing Big city strangers as is done in the 78 version.

5)  Dr. Bennell isn't a  Rambo,  he injects two men with knockout drugs, and hides in an old mine. That's it.

Best Scene:    Bennell kisses Becky and realizes she's turned Pod.

Best Quote:

Bennell : This is the oddest thing I've ever heard of. Let's hope we don't catch it. I'd hate to wake up some morning and find out that you weren't you.

Becky: I'm not the high school kid you used to romance, so how can you tell?

Bennell : You really want to know?

Becky : Yes

[Miles kisses Becky] 

Bennell: Mmmm, you're Becky Driscoll, all right!

Becky: Is this an example of your bedside manner, doctor?

Bennell : No, ma'am. That comes later.

Kauffman : Love, desire, ambition, faith - without them, life's so simple, believe me.

Bennell : I don't want any part of it.

Kauffman : You're forgetting something, Miles.

Bennell : What's that?

Kauffman : You have no choice.

Star Trek TNG - Ensign Ro

I had planned to write my usual brief reviews of TNG episodes, but I disliked "Ensign Ro" so much I decided to write more. Here's why I disliked it:

A Precursor to Dark and Gritty Star Trek
The episode is a teeing up the DS9 Franchise. Depending on who you read, Ensign Ro was supposed to be Sikso's Bajorian 2nd in Command  aka "Kira" played by Nana Visitor. This is our introduction to her, and Bajorians in general. Here they aren't a recently occupied planet, instead the Cardassians have forced them off Bajor and they exist in refugee camps and as "roaming nomads". But this episode introduces a lot of negative elements and thinly disguised 20th century politics we get on DS9:

Terrorism: The Bajorians have supposedly wiped out a Federation colony to attract attention to their cause

Cardassian atrocity porn: We listen to Ensign Ro tell us that as a child she was forced to watch her father be tortured to death - despite begging for mercy.

Double-dealing and lies: The Cardassians convince the Admiral  Kennelly that the Bajorians are terrorists. But *pysch* it was actually a false flag attack by the Cardassians. The Admiral then lies to Picard and tells him to negotiate and help the Bajorians, but *psych* his actual plan is to let the Cardassians destroy the Bajorians. The Admiral tells Picard Ensign Ro is under his command but *pysch*, he's secretely telling Ensign Ro what to do.Picard then lies to Admiral and pretends to allow the Cardassians to destroy the Bajorians on their ship but *pysch* its all a fake. The ship was empty.

Self-righteous victimhood: The Bajorians constantly throw their tragic fate in Picard's face, and demand why the Federation stood by and "let it happen".

Stupid/Dishonorable Star Fleet Command - Once again, the higher-ups are shown to be not just liars and stupid, but amoral in their convoluted plans.  Admiral Kennelly amorally uses Picard and Ro as his pawns to implement his secret plan to kill the terrorists. But he's too dumb to understand he's being used by the Cardassians.  So, we have the Cardassians using Star fleet command and the Command in turn using its subordinates in an immoral action.  

Obnoxious Ethnic Pride:  Because the Bajorians are "victims", Ensign Ro feels she has  the right to constantly remind everyone (1) that she's proud to be  Bajorian,  dammit, (2) she's not going to "assimilate" and (3)  that she's a VICTIM.  And (4) the Federation didn't help Bajor enough. Example: Ro tells Picard that Bajorians have their last name first. And he'd better understand that. 

Picard acts like a total cuck and accepts this.  He then tells us that "the Bajorians were philosphers and artists when humans hadn't learned to walk errect." Later, he whines that Bajorians are tired of sympathy and promises. The subtext is we're all supposed to accept this obnoxious behavior because we OWE the Bajorians.  We LET THEM DOWN.  How precisely, the Federation did this is skipped over.  The TNG writers only give us one side.  

They leave out the obvious comeback that the Universe is a big place  with lots of victims and the Federation can't help everyone, and there's no logical reason why Group X being oppressed by say the Romulans is less worthy of Federation help then the Bajorians. Further, The Federation doesn't exist to run around the Universe helping Non-Federation peoples.  And what did Bajor ever do for the Federation? And who did they ever help?  All the moral obligation goes one-way.

Again, does this remind you of some real-life 21st Century attitudes?  It should.

The Strong woman Trope

Ro basically acts like a man with Tits.  She's aggressive, obnoxious, curt, and insubordinate. Despite her record of disobeying orders and getting 7 people killed, Picard just thinks she wonderful and offers her a job on the Enterprise!  We're supposed to accept all this because she's a STRONG Women.  And we are supposed to like that because uh... its something we're supposed to like.  Except I didn't.  I like my strong women to be believable WOMEN. And not fakes.

Summary:  Another over-rated TNG episode due to politics.  The amazing thing is TNG fans LOVE Ensign Ro.  I was astounded the writers created a character who killed 7 fellow crewmembers by arrogantly disobeying orders, and we're supposed to feel sorry FOR HER.  

Not only that, but instead of being humbled by her deadly error in judgment, she's cocky and arrogant!  She agrees to stay with Star Fleet because "Starfleet has a lot to learn from me",  y'mean like how to disobey orders, get 7 people killed, but somehow not get courtmaritaled but praised for not doing much of anything? That really is a strong woman.