1. I retired to the Vizio room today. I've missed watching movies. I've also missed surfing the offerings of the Criterion Channel. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the vast number of Criterion collections currently available, quite a bit of time reading summaries of movies, short and feature length, that I didn't know anything about.
The Criterion channel offers an ongoing feature called, "Adventures in Movie Going". Its premise is to present an interview with persons well-known in the movie world who talks about movies that have had a lasting impact on them.
First, I listened to Adam Arkin interview his father, Alan Arkin. Alan Arkin reached back as many as 80+ years and talked about the power of Lost Horizon and Of Mice and Men. He opened my eyes to Alec Guiness in The Horse's Mouth and reminded me of a movie from the late 80s that I've never seen, Running on Empty. In his discussion of these and other movies, Arkin disclosed his personal reasons for loving these movies, but also let us in on how he values complexity in movies, movies that peer into the grayness rather than present clearcut visions of good and evil. Adam Arkin is every bit the sharp thinker that his father is. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their discussion and enjoyed having movies I've never seen, and in some cases, never heard of, brought to my attention.
Second, I listened to Alicia Malone interview Edgar Wright. I've only watched one of the many movies he's directed. I haven't seen Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, but one afternoon about nine years ago, Mark Stern and I went to a matinee showing of The World's End, a movie I wasn't quite prepared for as I watched it, but that I enjoyed more and more as it settled into my mind over time.
I've never seen any of the movies Edgar Wright discussed, but his enthusiasm for these movies piqued my curiosity. I've never seen Bergman's Persona. I've never seen, nor I had I heard of, Sapphire, Beat Girl, Black Narcissus, or The Earrings of Madame de . . . among others. It was fun to see clips from these movies, listen to Wright pinpoint their genius and their impact and influence on him, and to listen to him refer repeatedly, off the cuff, to how he has devoted much of his life to viewing and enjoying a wide range of movies.
2. Well, it came time to quit listening to people talk about movies and to actually watch a movie and a half myself. Right now the Criterion Channel features a small collection of Glenda Jackson movies. I wasn't really in the mood for watching the sexual complexity of Sunday Bloody Sunday nor did I feel like entering into the excesses of Ken Russell's The Music Lovers, but watching Hopscotch felt just right.
I don't entirely trust this memory, but I think I saw Hopscotch sometime in 1980 or 1981 with Terry and Nancy Turner and my first wife. I remember it as part of a double feature with Starting Over (Burt Reynolds, Candice Bergman, Jill Clayburgh).
That memory might be off, but not my memory of finding Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson a smashing pair in Hopscotch, nor is my memory of laughing out loud many times during this movie.
Now, 40+ years later, would I enjoy this movie again?
YES!
(Whoops! I just looked back in this blog. I watched Hopscotch on 08/22/2014. But I forgot. It was as if it had been 40+ years.)
I had a great time tonight. Walter Matthau plays a CIA agent, Miles Kendig, who has been removed from the field and assigned an office job. I'll say little more than this: the change of job is unacceptable to Kendig and for the rest of the movie he exacts revenge upon his superiors, drawing upon all of his many years of experience as a spy. Glenda Jackson plays Isobel von Schonenbert, an ex-spy and a wealthy widow. Kendig and she are longtime lovers. She is integral to the variety of ways Kendig exacts his revenge and frustrates the CIA brain trust.
The ease, comfort, and mutual enjoyment between Jackson and Matthau was fun. Jackson's Isobel von Schonenberg is brilliant, acerbic, playful, and cultured. Matthau plays the brilliant Kendig and the number of pranks he pulls off effortlessly, almost casually it seems, and it's a great pleasure to watch how these two characters enjoy one another and turn a movie that is any many ways a spy thriller into one that is sophisticated and sexy. It's a brilliant comedy.
3. I then turned my attention to Glenda Jackson's portrayal of the poet Stevie Smith in the 1978 movie, Stevie. I remember going to this movie at the Magic Lantern in Spokane some time between 1982-84 and thinking, at the time, that it was a perfect example of why I love small, independent, art house movies so much.
I only got half way through Stevie tonight before deciding to hit the hay, but I'll finish it and reflect more on it -- and my love of movies like this one -- in my next 3BTs blog post.
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