After tackling two contemporary classics (The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre), a few other popular works (In This Our Life, We Were Strangers, Key Largo), and three war documentaries (Report from the Aleutians, Battle of San Pietro, Let There Be Light), in 1951, Huston delved into America’s literary past and adapted Stephen...
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This is one of those films that makes me happy about doing a retrospective on John Huston. Just when I think it’s going to get boring, I stumble on a movie like The Asphalt Jungle, and it blows me away. The Asphalt Jungle, for a cinemaphile today, is a study in influence—not what it...
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The Expendables is a prime example of a “because they can” movie: Why do they have a moment where Jason Statham takes on five guys at a basketball court for roughing up his girlfriend? Why do they have Terry Crews marching down a hallway eviscerating an army of South American militants? Why do they...
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This episode is just as difficult to recap than last week’s, and it’s largely due to the same reasons. I still don’t understand the significance of the Yankee code nor the running theme of Grant being among the worst US presidents. Maybe that’s the point, but if we’re supposed to figure the codes out...
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I have a strong dislike for the fanboy subculture. It’s a personal preference, nothing more. We all have movies we “love” and will ardently defend with relish as we withstand an onslaught of attacks from friends who are just as happy to sling them. But there’s a point when you see someone screaming at...
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While I’ve been waiting to get my hands on We Were Strangers for the next John Huston installment (entering into the more obscure Huston films), Shannon suggested I check out AMC’s new conspiracy series Rubicon. The prospect of Miranda Richardson in what I originally thought was going to be another sword-and-sandals series (read, I...
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Huston doesn’t give much time to Key Largo in his autobiography, save for sharing his dissatisfaction with Warner Brothers in the late 1940s and some epic stories of his gambling debts. Offhandedly he mentions that it was nominated for Best Picture and Claire Trevor won the award for Best Supporting Actress. What small part...
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After The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre is probably Huston’s most famous film—the two may vie for the title of best known. It’s a great movie in the sense that The Godfather and Casablanca are great movies: memorable characters, rich in themes, steep in action, imminently watchable. The kind of “old” movie...
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Harvey Pekar, author of American Splendor is dead. I always imagined Pekar as one of those Wonders of the World, an immovable force, railing against the idiocies of the world; he’d would always be there, ready and willing to look the darkness of life up its claws and not be afraid of what he...
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First off, let me admit that I jumped the gun getting to Huston’s war documentaries before covering 1942’s Across the Pacific. But I’m kind of glad I did, because it provides a nice break between Let There Be Light and Treasure of the Sierra Madre—two very intense films. Pacific is much lighter and a...
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