Three Obsessions: Hulk, Tallulah, Angie

Some long overdue obsessions. A lot of DVDs released but for me, it's all about the Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector's Edition -- which is getting even more coverage due to the Eastwood/Lee feud -- did they plan this? As always, you can read all my DVD and Theatrical reviews at Strange Impersonation and check out whatever else I'm thinking at Pretty Poison.

As for now, Three Obsessions:

1. Hulk  No, not that Hulk -- not the one with Edward Norton opening this weekend. I'm talking Ang Lee’s Hulk. A movie I revere with loneliness, this criminally underrated, unfairly maligned comic book picture managed to be serious and seriously fun. Musing on that green, mean Marvel comic fighting machine, Lee took a repressed Eric Bana and turned him into a frightening vision of male rage haunted by paternal alienation (via a crazed Nick Nolte). Shooting with exaggerated close-ups and with a keen eye for nature (something Lee's expert at -- check The Ice Storm and Brokeback Mountain) Lee purposefully created a CGI Hulk that ran through cement, sand and dirt with the agility of Shrek (Hulk trips around a lot). Lee made one of the first truly artistic comic book adaptations -- Shakespearean, really. Mark my words  -- Hulk will be better appreciated through the years. And...if you watch me tonight gabbing on the STARZ documentary Comic Books Unbound (8 PM PST and 10 PM ET), I will be praising it to the holy high heavens. Unless they cut that part. They probably did.

2. Lifeboat   Forget Lost. Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944) is one of his earlist forays in a certain kind of claustrophobic experimental filmmaking (Polanski must have studied this picture). A masterful example of confined tension, the picture opens with a handful of people climbing aboard a lifeboat (after their ship has been torpedoed by a German U-Boat). When a German is pulled on board the group’s cramped little boat, they have to work with the enemy while keeping a wary eye on the fellow. An excellent study of understandable fear, mob mentality and those who resist it, the picture is both cinematically exquisite and psychogically intriguing. And who can forget a stand-out, brilliant Tallulah Bankhead? She's lost at sea in her damn mink coat, no less. Perfect.

3. The Killers  Though Robert Siodmak's 1946 version of Ernest Hemingway's The Killers is superior, I love Don Siegel's 1964 The Killers. I love the cars, the Cassavetes,  the Clu Gulager (oh, how I love him in this movie), the cool Lee (that's the endlessly cool Lee Marvin), the cruel Reagan (as in future president Ronald, and a man with a great head of hair), the kind Claude Akins, the cretinous Norman Fell (as in future "fairy" teasing landlord Mr. Roper) and the comely, comely Angie Dickinson.

Having just watched the picture on the big screen (and meeting the charming Miss Dickinson -- a thrill) while presenting at the Palm Springs Noir Festival, I'm still thinking about Siegel's fast moving auto-erotic slap fest. And Angie gets slapped -- a lot. But according to her, Reagan would forever apologize for the smack -- he was a nice guy. That being said, he sure knows how to lay one on her. And is it just me or is it kind of hot that JFK slept with Angie while RWR slapped her? Maybe it's just me.

Comments

[COOP]

Yeah, I really liked the Ang Lee HULK too. I never quite understood the fierce hatred of it. Nick Nolte LITERALLY chews the scenery in the climactic last scene!

[Steve-O]

I'll agree with you about the Hulk being under-rated. Time will fix that... I guess it wasn't fun enough for movie goers. I was blown away by it.

Although I'm not a fan of The Killers with Marvin (give me Point Blank any day) I do think Angie was insanely hot back in the day...

She had a face that actually got better with age - compare her in 1950s Rio Bravo to Police Woman in the 70s. And I'm not even going to talk about her behind and legs...

[Stealth]

You are definitely not alone on Lee's Hulk.

[Chad]

I'm with you on everything else. The Killers is one of my favorite movies and I watched way too many Police Woman re-runs because of Angie Dickinson.

But Ang Lee's Hulk?!?!? Are you serious?

[hanspfall]

Two by Angie:

Dressed to kill, De Palma. A mature woman in the museum. A erotic an deathly dance.

Rio Bravo, Hawks. Feathers is her name. A woman in a world of men.

thanks

[Felix]

Nope, you're definitely not alone. "Hulk" is a masterpiece, it's a film I gave four stars to when I reviewed it, and continue defending it against people who bash it just because it's stylish to do so. I know a lot of people hate it because they thought it was boring, long, etc, but there are others who bash "Hulk" just because it's in vogue, and I continue to argue its quality to this day against other movie geeks. "Hulk" is disgustingly under appreciated, underrated, and sadly bashed for the fact that it took a campy character and turned him into a very complex and unique symbol on repression of trauma, and a manifestation of violence lurking in a man whose own emotions have become foreign to him. It's a fantastic film.

[Wingless Wonder]

I was disappointed by Ang Lee's interpretive vision of "The Hulk". I remember the original Marvel creation by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Kirby. Ang Lee unnecessarily bogged the movie down with a psychological back story. This movie could have been made about masculine rage without any mention of Nick Nolte's portrayal of Bruce Banner's father at all. The movie was beautiful to look at, the action scenes were excellent, and the acting was good. The overly complex story had me bored while watching at the theater. Look at "Spider-Man 2" for how a Marvel super hero movie SHOULD be made.

[Damon]

Ang Lee's Hulk is bliss.

[Felix]

Nah, they didn't include your defense of "Hulk." That's a shame. The movie needs its public advocates.

[Alan K. Rode]

Kim,

You forgot to mention that white pants suit that Angie wore to great effect in THE KILLERS

[Katel]

I love these gals. Lifeboat is one of my favorite Hitchcock films. I find it almost unbearably tense to watch. Also, Tallulah used to go Comando on the set and everytime she got on the boat she would lift her dress so the cast could see her stuff. Hume Cronam complained often but Hitchcock did not care.