Fathers and Sons

This capture, courtesy of DVDBeaver, shows Wallach and Keith, and another of my favorite tough guys, Richard Jaeckel (looking quite youthful) as the wheelman

Was just finally looking at Don Siegel's crackling The Lineup (1958) yesterday, via that Columbia Noir boxset that came out a few years back.  I was most impressed by the striking compositions of d.p. Hal Mohr, Siegel's ingenious use of practical San Francisco locations, such as the then-under construction Embarcadero Freeway, and the writing and unique interplay of the two killers played by Eli Wallach and Robert Keith.  Wallach does all the killing while the older, ostensibly more refined Keith provides hitman "coaching," and perversely asks Wallach for the victim's last words after each murder for use in an eventual book of some kind, the details of which are sketchy.

Keith takes aim at Aldo Ray

Watching these two, I was reminded of the oddball relationship of the two killers in Jacques Tourneur's Nightfall (from Volume 2) released the year prior, also by Columbia.  In that film, one of those killers--the primary adversary to hero Aldo Ray--is played by Keith's son Brian.  He is an unusually verbose, intelligent, and philosophical hitman, partnered with a much thicker, more hot-headed goon, portrayed by Rudy Bond.  Bond's Red is reminiscent, in his viciousness and stupidity, of George Kennedy's Red from the much later Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

The tagline refers to The Lineup's origins as a television program

A contract player at Columbia at this time, Brian Keith acted in a few of the studio's notable noir efforts, in addition to Nightfall, including Phil Karlson's Tight Spot (with an equally great alternate title--Dead Pigeon) and Karlson's 5 Against the House.  He worked in character roles up until his death in '97, a favorite of mine being Papa in Sharky's Machine.  The elder Keith was quite good in a much quieter part--mute, in fact--as the catatonic "the Colonel" in Anthony Mann's superlative Korean War pic Men in War (also with Aldo Ray).

Anyway, these are both great late-era noir entries, Nightfall and The Lineup, and I like that they are connected by the under-recognized Keith pere and fils.

Il Grande Caldo

Just watched Lang's The Big Heat for the first time in years, via the gorgeous new Blu-ray from Twilight Time.  I have the DVD that came with one of the Columbia noir box sets, but my only previous viewings came via VHS, TCM, and, possibly, a 35mm screening at Film Forum...it's not like me to forget if I saw something on 35mm, but I have seen a good many films of this ilk at Film Forum, or one of the other NY rep venues over the years, and they can often blur together.  Anyway...the film was better, much better, than I remembered it being and the black and white Blu-ray image is stunning.  Yes, the Twilight Time discs are pricey and slim on features, but this one is worth it.  It's a safe bet that the classic Sony titles, with restoration handled by Grover Crisp (SVP for Asset Management, Film Restoration, and Digital Mastering), are going to look spectacular.  Big Heat is no exception.

But, that's not the main reason for this post...that would be to point your attention to this rather attractive reissue Italian poster from '68 (the film was originally released in '53):

 

Attractive...but, inaccurate.  Aside from the fact that Lee Marvin was originally billed fifth and here he is billed just underneath star Glenn Ford, you will note Marvin sporting a full white head of hair, wearing a suit, and packing heat, as he did in the previous year's Point Blank or '64's The Killers.  Of course, at the time of filming Big Heat, Marvin was still shy of 30 and his hair hadn't yet gone to its more familiar lighter shade.  You can see evidence of that below via this Beaver capture from the new Blu-ray:

In addition, Glenn Ford is depicted in handcuffs in the Italian poster.  Never mind that Ford is a cop in Big Heat who never even pulls out a pair of cuffs in the course of the entire film.  Nope, when I see that image, I think of Ford as the slippery Ben Wade in Delmer Daves' 3:10 to Yuma from '57.  In that film, Ford is hand-cuffed for nearly the entire running time, as he's led to justice by a desperate Van Heflin.

The only image in the Italian poster that seems to be truly out of the movie being advertised is that of the burning car.  All that said, I'd still love to have this hybrid Bigheatkillerspointblank3:10toyuma locandina on my wall.

Trailer Not on the DVD: Charley Varrick (1973, Don Siegel)

I sure do love this trailer's emphasis on the film's secondary title: "The Last of the Independents." While the Region 1 (non-widescreen) DVD does not include a trailer, some foreign DVDs of this film do appear to contain a trailer, though I'm not sure if it's this particular one. I have a British DVD (widescreen), but it includes only production stills as an extra feature:

Siegel's Loose!

Drabble became The Black Windmill. It can be found on pressed DVD in the UK. The First Deadly Sin was filmed several years after this announcement by Filmways, with direction by Brian G. Hutton and Frank Sinatra in the lead role. I don't think Paradise Mountain was ever filmed. Telefon was the subject of an amusing anecdote I read about in a Siegel biography. Siegel wanted Bronson--sans mustache--for the starring role. Bronson resisted, saying, "No mustache. No Bronson." Bronson won.

Una 44 Magnum