Film clips - takeaways from recent movie watching (and match the text to the pictures)

The Silent Partner (Daryl Duke 1978). As yes, the early heyday of Hollywood North, where all of Toronto was in a tizzy that Hollywood was making movies (for tax reasons) up in Hogtown. The media couldn’t get enough of the fact stars like Elliot Gould and Chris Plummer deigned to descend on the Big Smoke for the shoots. But this movie, made in the Eaton Centre (!), is just a bit cheesy.

A New Leaf (Elaine May 1971). Embarrassed to say I’d never seen a movie by or with Elaine May, the famous comedian and director. This film was a hoot, with Walter Matthau – master of personas – donning a misanthrope Richie Rich demeanor as he marries the incredibly diffident and clumsy May, all in an attempt to reboot his wealth. Absurdist supreme.

The In-laws (Arthur Hiller 1979). I will never miss a film with Alan Arkin, or Peter Falk for that matter. Here they team as the unlikely brothers-in-law who engage in an international spy plot. Arkin’s deadpan innocence is ensnared in Falk’s mastermind craziness. There are hints of Woody Allen’s Bananas (1971). 

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three: (Joseph Sargent 1974). I’d never seen the whole thing. Yes, a thriller. But I didn’t expect the comedy that peppers the plot, most of which is of the New York “Bronx Cheer” sort as bumbling city officials and cops try to track down the unlikely subway hijackers. Walter Matthau, again, as the top transit cop, is the only one on the ball. And now I know what “one two three” means.

A Quiet Place in the Country (Elio Petri 1968). Wow. Here’s a horror story about the art world. Franco Nero, a famed modern artist named Leonardo, buys a house in the country to clear his creative block. But strange things happen when his canvasses overturn. Vanessa Redgrave also stars as his saner enabler. A great modernist score by Italian master Ennio Morricone.

Metropolitan (Whit Stillman, 1990). Preppies live! This must be the last film where people in their Twenties sit around in each other’s (luxury) apartments talking philosophy and the way of the world, all the while wearing tuxedos and evening dresses. Grunge, unfortunately, was just around the corner. 

Golden Eighties (Chantel Akerman, 1986). My first reaction was to click this off when the staff of a hair salon in a shopping mall broke into song. Then I clicked it back on and let myself be lulled into this very different and sweet musical about love and consumer culture all dressed up in the bright colours and frizzy hairstyles of the 1980s.

What Happened Was (Tom Noonan 1994). Tom Noonan is one of my favorite actors/directors and here he is with Karen Sillas in his stage play remake about a dinner date where two people can’t connect. A probing psychological drama it’s anything but comedy.