1961
Directed by Marlon Brando
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Before I started this journey, I either pictured Marlon Brando with cotton balls in his cheeks or wearing a white t-shirt and yelling Stella. It came as a great shock for me then to see him singing and dancing in Guys and Dolls. Now, with this film, I had to once again shift gears and picture Marlon Brando, the director. Adjusting mental image….Okay we are good.
This is a pretty classic revenge tale. We have Rio, who goes to jail for robbing banks (which is a perfectly legitimate reason). However, he is pissed that his friend betrayed and didn't go too. While Marlon Brando is on the path of revenge, he manages to make time to pull a Woody Allen. Gross.
Let's get with what I liked first. The opening scene is one of the most badass moments in the history of cinema. I myself have never eaten fruit with that much charisma. Additionally, because it is Brando, the acting is amazing. As for his directing, while the shots weren't John Ford fantastic, they were quite beautiful.
However, I found that the plot tended to lag a bit, particularly in the middle. Of course, this may be because I am not a huge western fan, but I think they could have afforded to cut out a few scenes.
Unfortunately, this review is short and sweet because I have dinner reservations. Good, not great.
RATING: ***--
Interesting Facts:
Brando shot six times the amount of footage than is usually filmed.
Original cut was five hours long.
Have you seen Twin Peaks? I'm watching the original two series at the moment, which is mostly pretty good. You surely know what there's a lot of mysticism and creepy elements of the unknown involved. If you haven't seen it, you may not know that a lot of the plot revolves around a dodgy gentleman's club called One-Eyed Jack's.
ReplyDeleteSo, last night I was watching another episode with my hand casually stretched out fiddling with my copy of 1,001 Movies on the edge of the sofa. Suddenly - *THUD* - I accidentally knocked it onto the floor. As I reached down to pick it up I saw that, of over a thousand films fate could have chosen, the book was lying open at the page of a film I'd never heard of called . . . One-Eyed Jacks! Spooky!!!
I tried to watch Twin Peaks once I think and didn't get into it. The List Gods are watching over you.
DeleteI watched the first season of Twin Peaks late at night in a hospital. Creepy as hell.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing mysterious about One-Eyed Jacks, the movie. In fact, I thought it was rather boring.
I hope you're doing all right!
DeleteBack when I was seventeen I had a kidney illness that kept me in hospital for weeks. I felt fine and it was super boring to be trapped in a hospital, so I took to watching television half the nights.
DeleteOh man. I have never been able to rewatch any movie I saw in the hospital. Negative associations. But the selection is never great anyway.
DeleteThe only time I watched TV in a hospital the nurses came and told me to turn it off as the light from the screen would disturb other patients. To be fair, it was 3am.
DeleteAnd now, years later, I have actually got as far as watching One-Eyed Jacks and visit this page to see what's being said and find that not only is none of the chat about the movie but that it's all my fault!
ReplyDeleteFunny that your review covers both the cotton balls and the fruit as they were the only thing I was going to mention. With his cheeks stuffed with banana he looked exactly like Vito Corleone!