To Find a Man (1972, Buzz Kulik)

When she discovers she is pregnant, 16-year-old Rosalind (Pamela Sue Martin) returns home to New York from boarding school and asks her childhood friend Andy (Darren O'Connor) to help her obtain an abortion.  Made just prior to Roe v. Wade, Buzz Kulik's 1972 coming-of-age-film To Find a Man offers an illuminating look into the process of getting an abortion in New York City before the landmark Supreme Court decision, while also providing some nice showcases to Hollywood veterans Lloyd Bridges, Tom Bosley, and Tom Ewell. O'Connor, who who had only a couple more acting gigs before studying law, is excellent as Andy, the brainy kid next door, a little goofy, yes, but not lacking in confidence.  He hasn't put the moves on Rosalind, but it's not because he's an awkward nerd who's afraid of girls.  It seems that it's just not his major pre-occupation, as it is for his slovenly schoolmate Pete (a chubby, long-haired, pot-smoking Miles Chapin). Rosalind is beautiful, but spoiled and not very bright, or as her father (Lloyd Bridges) puts it so delicately after a few drinks, "She's got most of her brains in her tits."  Despite director Kulik's television pedigree, a tv movie this is not!  That said, as was so often the case in the early days of the ratings system, it received a GP (later PG) rating, in spite of its having a fair share of adult language and content. 

Martin matches O'Connor with her performance and in contrast to her character's aforementioned shortcomings, she is not mean-spirited and she remains a sweet and likable presence throughout; in short, she's more complex than my description makes her sound.  The young stars' fine work culminates with the film's pitch-perfect ending in a wintry Central Park.

For fans of Glynnis O'Connor, it's a trip to see some of the same mannerisms and vocal inflections in the person of Darren O'Connor. 

Until it showed up recently on streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon, To Find a Man was sadly lost for all intents and purposes. Part of an underrated wave of teen pictures of the 1970s, of which I'd also include Jeremy (starring Darren's younger sister Glynnis), To Find a Man is moving and affecting without being overly sentimental or cloying.  It has many of the best qualities of the films of this era--progressive in its ideas, shot and performed in a docu-realist fashion, and frank while also maintaining a layer of ambiguity.  It is not saddled with the irony and myriad pop culture references of so many of the teen films of the '80s nor does it wrap everything up in a shiny bow.

Working from a novel by S.J. Wilson, veteran scribe Arnold Schulman was an appropriate choice to write the film adaptation, as he had earlier written (and been Oscar-nominated for) the original screenplay for Love With the Proper Stranger, a film which had dared to take on much of the same material nearly ten years earlier. '70s stalwarts, David Shire and Andrew Laszlo were on hand for scoring and cinematography duties respectively.  Shire's score is appropriately melancholy, but also jaunty and hummable in parts. Laszlo covers some of the same "dirty old New York" turf that he would return to in The Warriors.

Chemistry of another kind.

While the "New Hollywood" was largely the domain of young men both in front of and behind the camera, To Find a Man is refreshing in that it offers audiences a chance to see old-timers like Bridges, rather than his boys Beau and Jeff, outside of the confines of the studio era.  The work of Bosley, Bridges, and Ewell opposite young O'Connor is the highlight of the film for me, with each moving the narrative in unexpected directions.  Bridges and Ewell are particularly moving and I found myself re-watching their scenes a second time, and shedding a tear or two, as they both perhaps see something of their younger selves, or something they wished they still had, in the boy verging on manhood.  

A fine post-Sea Hunt, pre-Hot Shots performance is given by Bridges pere.

It's just one of many fine films of the era that have slipped through the cracks in terms of availability and by the fact that they haven't been written into the popular narrative of what one unfortunate written account dubbed "easy riders, raging bulls."  I guess, though, that it is the nature of such narratives to simplify and narrow the criteria so that it all can ultimately fit nicely into an hour-long made-for-IFC Channel talking head piece.

"Well, what the hell is this?!  In order to get an abortion here, you gotta make an appointment before you're pregnant!"

....anyway, have a look at Larry Karaszewski's informative "Trailers From Hell" piece on the film and rent / download the feature before it's taken down.  Thanks, Larry...where in the hell did you unearth that trailer anyway?!

It wouldn't be a "dirty old New York" movie without a little mugging.

Kulik returned to New York to shoot Columbia's Shamus the next year, including scenes on the grounds of the future, first-ever Brooklyn Whole Foods in Gowanus!

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City, Part IV

Part IV.  Baseball, punk vs. disco, Travolta vs. Gere, Blaxploitation, teen romance, goofball cops, crooked cops, fake cops, Gordon Parks movies, Gordon Parks Jr. movies, Joe Spinell, and a whole lot more...

Dirty Old New York aka Fun City, Part IV from Jonathan Hertzberg on Vimeo.

Fifth and final installment (for sure, this time) to follow.

The opening logo card is the 1976 Columbia Pictures logo (with Suzanne Ciani theme music).

If At First You Don't Succeed

1979 Avco Embassy theatrical one-sheet.

1979 Columbia Pictures theatrical one-sheet.

For as few films as he has in his filmography, William Richert, sometimes dubbed "Wild Bill" Richert, must have some kind of record for most films with checkered production histories, alternate versions, multiple title changes, and theatrical re-releases.  His first and most well-known film as director, the star-studded conspiracy thriller Winter Kills, went through years of start and stop production and bankruptcy.  One of its producers was killed by the mafia for failing to pay up on his debts and another was later sentenced to 40 years for marijuana smuggling.  During one of the aforementioned production stoppages, Richert took some of his Winter Kills cast, including stars Jeff Bridges and Belinda Bauer, and crew to Germany to shoot another film, Success, the sale proceeds of which could be used to finance the completion of Winter Kills.  The tactic worked, though Success, too, went through multiple iterations and spotty to non-existent releases in theaters and, later, home video.

Newspaper ad for February 1983 NY theatrical release.

Newspaper ad for January 1982 NY theatrical release.

1983 Invisible Studio theatrical one-sheet.

Newspaper ad for Spring 1983 NY theatrical release.

Also known as The American Success Company and Good As Gold, it had some sporadic theatrical releases in the U.S. under various titles, and with different edits, and I don't believe it ever officially bowed on home video in the States.  I had the good fortune to see it a few years ago, in a dodgy video copy, unfortunately, at a screening at the Walter Reade attended by Richert.  It's an appealingly left-of-center, screwball-esque comedy / thriller deserving of far more visibility than it's been afforded over the years.  Along with Somebody Killed Her Husband, it's one of the most elusive of Jeff Bridges starring vehicles.

As you can see from the accompanying newspaper listings and one-sheets, Success and Winter Kills appeared at various times, whether sanctioned by studio or Richert, with different campaigns and title treatments.

Newspaper ad for Spring 1983 NY theatrical release.

Richert's subsequent feature A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (aka Aren't You Even Gonna Kiss Me Goodbye) also met with well-publicized studio interference, resulting in two different versions, one endorsed by the studio / producers and one by the filmmaker.

Newspaper ad for January 1982 NY theatrical release.

Burt Goes to Whole Foods

What I discovered on my quest to find a location from Shamus, is as sure a sign as any that gentrification is inevitable just about everywhere, no matter the aesthetic qualities of the place, or lack thereof.  In Shamus, Burt Reynolds goes to Gowanus (an industrial section of Brooklyn named for the body of water that cuts through it) to investigate a warehouse owned by the film's villains.  Using Google Maps, I found the exact location, one which I've actually driven and walked by countless times over the years.  The warehouse that Burt breaks into has been demolished (when, I'm not certain) and is now a construction site where a Whole Foods (the first in the whole of Brooklyn, somewhat amazingly) is going up.  They'll never make Gowanus pretty, but if the mob scenes around Trader Joe's and other Whole Foods outposts in NYC are any indication, it will now be a destination.

Shamus is nothing special as a film, but it is one of the few films of its period to shoot in this part of Brooklyn and, of particular importance, provides visual documentation of a place that is on its way to permanently changing in appearance and character, something that could probably be said for just about any spot in this city.

Burt goes to Whole Foods.

Former college football star Burt Reynolds, as Shamus, displays his physical gifts, leaping away from pursuers after breaking into a warehouse (seen in the background) that would eventually give way to a Whole Foods Market.

Trailer Not on the DVD: Shamus (1972, Buzz Kulik)

Burt's Dirty New York

Shamus.  Burt.  Gowanus.  Kentile sign.

Long before it became a beloved symbol of pre-gentrified Brooklyn, the Kentile Floors sign (and the company which it touted) were simply part of the landscape of an unglamorous, industrial section of Brooklyn, just the type of location used by Hollywood productions shooting in "Dirty New York," as was the case with 1972's Shamus, a mostly routine detective yarn with Southerner Burt Reynolds pretending to be a Brooklyn Philip Marlowe, even including a riff on the bookstore salesgirl scene from The Big Sleep.  Burt does plenty of running and leaping throughout the picture, showing off his formidable physical prowess, which is ultimately the best part of his performance.

Dirty Old New York Taxi

This is one installment of a planned multi-part video project devoted to depictions of New York on film from the late '60s to early '80s--mostly '70s--"Fun City" years from the time of Lindsay to Koch.  Music is Bernard Herrmann's "Thank God for the Rain" from the Taxi Driver soundtrack.  For more of these types of images, check out Dirty Old 1970s New York City.

Lombard and Laughton: '32 - '33

Fell in love with Carole Lombard when I saw Virtue (made on a loan-out to Columbia) and White Woman on a double bill at Film Forum, in the summer before 9/11, during one of their many pre-Code retrospectives.  Unfortunately, '33's White Woman didn't make the cut in 2013's ode to that year at the same venue.  Virtue finally came out on DVD recently, but White Woman remains m.i.a. on any home media format.  With megalomaniacal Charles Laughton once again controlling a jungle empire, it would pair pretty well with the previous year's Island of Lost Souls.

Rubber Duck and Carrol Jo

Trailer Not on the DVD: Heavy Metal (1981, Gerald Potterton)

The original 1981 red band trailer has recently been uploaded to TCM's site to coincide with an airing on the channel, I would imagine.  It's voiced by the great Percy Rodrigues and has some eye-catching early '80s, post-Superman title graphics and animations.  I just love the way Rodrigues says "Heavy.  Metal."  It's a shame Sony wouldn't--or couldn't--put this on the Blu-ray in HD.

The only other trailer I've seen for the film, which appeared on VHS cassettes of American Pop and can now be seen on YouTube, is from the 1996 theatrical reissue and home video debut marketing campaign, i.e. "Louder and Nastier Than Ever!".

This one really earns its red band as you will see...

Here's a trailer for a forthcoming retrospective doc, Heavy Metal Revisited, which looks very impressive and which is, most appropriately, produced for CTV by Montreal-based Bunbury Films.  Heavy Metal was, of course, a production of Canadian Ivan Reitman and its production offices were based in Montreal.

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.