High and Low

High and Low is a 1963 Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. I have a DVD, but you can watch it on HBO Max.

trailer:

Deep Focus Review opens with this:

A work of structural and thematic brilliance, Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low... considers a social and class divide present in postwar Japan, engaging its subject through that most Western of subgenres: the kidnapping thriller. The separation of classes and polarity of wealth become the impetus of a mesmerizing and noirish procedural, which—through the course of a tense negotiation, breathless ransom payoff, and subsequent manhunt—equalizes the film’s two divergent central characters: a wealthy shoe company executive who lives atop a hill, and a lowly kidnapper who lives in the slums at the hill’s base. High and Low dissects its characters through a diptych construction, involving its audience in a wealth of human drama to contemplate Kurosawa’s most prevalent, lingering questions about humanity and the factors that prevent us from relating to one another.

Slant Magazine says, "High and Low dedicates itself to the art of the rigorous pursuit, both of truth, revenge, and redemption" and "Not only does High and Low successfully bridge competing vantage points and motivations, it establishes an evocative discourse on class by demystifying classic genre conventions." Criterion says, "Kurosawa moves effortlessly from compelling race-against-time thriller to exacting social commentary, creating a diabolical treatise on contemporary Japanese society."

Empire Online gives it a positive review and closes by noting the "outstanding performances and stunning cinematography" Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 95%.

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is an award-winning 1976 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, and Peter Boyle. I picked up a used DVD for cheap years ago but am just now getting around to watching it. It's considered one of the most culturally significant and inspirational film of its time. You can watch it at Paramount+ or with a free 7-day trial of Showtime.

trailer:

The Guardian gives it 5 out of 5 stars. Spirituality and Practice says it's "A compelling and unsettling film exploring many of the fears, aches, and dislocations of contemporary urban life. " Roger Ebert gives it a full 4 stars and calls it a great movie and "a brilliant nightmare". Empire Online gives it 5 out of 5 stars and closes with this: "The blend of Schrader's script, Scorsese's direction and De Niro's performance is both riveting and unnerving. A film that will stay with you forever." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 96%.

A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 dystopian crime film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the Anthony Burgess novel. Wikipedia says, "It employs disturbing, violent images to comment on psychiatry, juvenile delinquency, youth gangs, and other social, political, and economic subjects in a dystopian near-future Britain." To be honest, I've had this DVD for decades and kept putting it off because I had heard how disturbing it was. Maybe back when it was released... but now its ability to shock has diminished, at least for me. You can watch it on Netflix or HBO Max.

trailer:

Roger Ebert opens by saying,

Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" is an ideological mess, a paranoid right-wing fantasy masquerading As an Orwellian warning. It pretends to oppose the police state and forced mind control, but all it really does is celebrate the nastiness of its hero, Alex.

Slant Magazine says

It’s Kubrick’s most prescient work, more astute and unsparing than any of his other films (and he had more where that came from) in putting the bleakest parts of human behavior under the microscope and laughing in disgust.

FilmSite has an article that includes a lengthy plot description. Empire Online calls it one of Kubrick's best. Rotten Tomatoes has an audience score of 93%.

A Man Called Horse

A Man Called Horse is a 1970 western starring Richard Harris and Dame Judith Anderson. Iron Eyes Cody is also in this movie. It's readily available to watch free, including here on Tubi.

via Daily Motion:

Spirituality and Practice concludes a positive review with this: "This fascinating film deserves many viewings to fully absorb its many insights." Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 86%.

Leavin' Memphis, Frisco Bound

Leavin' Memphis, Frisco Bound:

by Jesse Fuller.

The Green Knight (2021)

The Green Knight is a 2021 film based on the King Arthur story of Sir Gawain. I was disappointed with the liberties they took with the tale. I watched it on Showtime as part of a 7-day free trial.

trailer:

The New Yorker concludes,

Lowery revises a legend, in style and in substance, in order to evoke a way of telling different stories, and of telling stories differently. He takes the risk of perpetuating a deluded gospel of evil, or of seeming to do so, in a daring effort to dramatize a world in desperate need of artistic redemption.

Rolling Stone gives it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars and says, "it revises the material freely, leaning into a revisionism that amounts to a daring act of interpretation". Roger Ebert's site calls it "one of the most memorable films of the year, a fascinating swirl of masculinity, temptation, heroism, and religion". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 89%.

image above from Rotten Tomatoes

Please post a drink reference to your own blog and join the T Stands for Tuesday gathering. I'm still on a staycation, but I'll be back for T next Tuesday.

Cast a Dark Shadow

Cast a Dark Shadow is a 1955 black and white suspense film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Dirk Bogarde and Margaret Lockwood. I watched it on Tubi. It's also available via YouTube:

DVD Talk calls it "a pretty entertaining old school noirish thriller". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 83%.

The Heiress

The Heiress is an award-winning 1949 drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Olivia de Havilland, Montgomery Clift, and Ralph Richardson. It's an adaptation of a stage play which was in turn adapted from the Henry James novel Washington Square.

via Internet Archive:

 

 

Film Site has a lengthy plot description and says, "The top-line, prestige production was directed by William Wyler, a master of romantic period dramas, who had already brought bona-fide classics of literature and the stage to the screen". Criterion has an article. Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 100%.

The Young One

The Young One (released as White Trash in the United States and Island of Shame in the United Kingdom) is a 1960 English-language Mexican drama film directed and co-written by Luis Buñuel. Inspired by the story "Travelin' Man" by Peter Matthiessen, the film deals with issues such as racism and statutory rape by depicting the interactions between two men and a teenage girl on a private island game preserve.

via Daily Motion:

Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 100%. Slant Magazine gives it 4 out of 4 stars and says, "Not a single frame is wasted in The Young One and every image conveys the forcible weight of its maker’s appalled moral and social viewpoint".

Hell's Crossroads

Hell's Crossroads is a 1957 western film. It is Robert Vaughn's first credited film. He died on this date in 2016 at the age of 83. If you keep track of these things there's a Christmas scene in this one.

TCM has an overview.

Mastermind 42

from a scene from the Mastermind episode from the first season of Henning Mankell's Wallander.

The Merry Adventures of Robinhood

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown in Nottinghamshire is an 1883 novel by the American illustrator and writer Howard Pyle, who died on this date in 1911 at the age of 58. Pyle compiled the traditional Robin Hood ballads as a series of episodes of a coherent narrative. For his characters' dialog, Pyle adapted the late Middle English of the ballads into a dialect suitable for children. The novel is notable for taking the subject of Robin Hood, which had been increasingly popular through the 19th century, in a new direction that influenced later writers, artists, and filmmakers through the next century.

You can read the book online here or here or listen to the Librivox recording at this link.

It begins,

How Robin Hood Came to Be an Outlaw

IN MERRY ENGLAND in the time of old, when good King Henry the Second ruled the land, there lived within the green glades of Sherwood Forest, near Nottingham Town, a famous outlaw whose name was Robin Hood. No archer ever lived that could speed a gray goose shaft with such skill and cunning as his, nor were there ever such yeomen as the sevenscore merry men that roamed with him through the greenwood shades. Right merrily they dwelled within the depths of Sherwood Forest, suffering neither care nor want, but passing the time in merry games of archery or bouts of cudgel play, living upon the King's venison, washed down with draughts of ale of October brewing.

Not only Robin himself but all the band were outlaws and dwelled apart from other men, yet they were beloved by the country people round about, for no one ever came to jolly Robin for help in time of need and went away again with an empty fist.

And now I will tell how it came about that Robin Hood fell afoul of the law.

When Robin was a youth of eighteen, stout of sinew and bold of heart, the Sheriff of Nottingham proclaimed a shooting match and offered a prize of a butt of ale to whosoever should shoot the best shaft in Nottinghamshire. "Now," quoth Robin, "will I go too, for fain would I draw a string for the bright eyes of my lass and a butt of good October brewing." So up he got and took his good stout yew bow and a score or more of broad clothyard arrows, and started off from Locksley Town through Sherwood Forest to Nottingham.

It was at the dawn of day in the merry Maytime, when hedgerows are green and flowers bedeck the meadows; daisies pied and yellow cuckoo buds and fair primroses all along the briery hedges; when apple buds blossom and sweet birds sing, the lark at dawn of day, the throstle cock and cuckoo; when lads and lasses look upon each other with sweet thoughts; when busy housewives spread their linen to bleach upon the bright green grass. Sweet was the greenwood as he walked along its paths, and bright the green and rustling leaves, amid which the little birds sang with might and main: and blithely Robin whistled as he trudged along, thinking of Maid Marian and her bright eyes, for at such times a youth's thoughts are wont to turn pleasantly upon the lass that he loves the best.

As thus he walked along with a brisk step and a merry whistle, he came suddenly upon some foresters seated beneath a great oak tree. Fifteen there were in all, making themselves merry with feasting and drinking as they sat around a huge pasty, to which each man helped himself, thrusting his hands into the pie, and washing down that which they ate with great horns of ale which they drew all foaming from a barrel that stood nigh. Each man was clad in Lincoln green, and a fine show they made, seated upon the sward beneath that fair, spreading tree. Then one of them, with his mouth full, called out to Robin, "Hulloa, where goest thou, little lad, with thy one-penny bow and thy farthing shafts?"

Then Robin grew angry, for no stripling likes to be taunted with his green years.

"Now," quoth he, "my bow and eke mine arrows are as good as shine; and moreover, I go to the shooting match at Nottingham Town, which same has been proclaimed by our good Sheriff of Nottinghamshire; there I will shoot with other stout yeomen, for a prize has been offered of a fine butt of ale."

Then one who held a horn of ale in his hand said, "Ho! listen to the lad! Why, boy, thy mother's milk is yet scarce dry upon thy lips, and yet thou pratest of standing up with good stout men at Nottingham butts, thou who art scarce able to draw one string of a two-stone bow."

"I'll hold the best of you twenty marks," quoth bold Robin, "that I hit the clout at threescore rods, by the good help of Our Lady fair."

At this all laughed aloud, and one said, "Well boasted, thou fair infant, well boasted! And well thou knowest that no target is nigh to make good thy wager."

And another cried, "He will be taking ale with his milk next."

At this Robin grew right mad. "Hark ye," said he, "yonder, at the glade's end, I see a herd of deer, even more than threescore rods distant. I'll hold you twenty marks that, by leave of Our Lady, I cause the best hart among them to die."

"Now done!" cried he who had spoken first. "And here are twenty marks. I wager that thou causest no beast to die, with or without the aid of Our Lady."

Then Robin took his good yew bow in his hand, and placing the tip at his instep, he strung it right deftly; then he nocked a broad clothyard arrow and, raising the bow, drew the gray goose feather to his ear; the next moment the bowstring rang and the arrow sped down the glade as a sparrowhawk skims in a northern wind. High leaped the noblest hart of all the herd, only to fall dead, reddening the green path with his heart's blood.

"Ha!" cried Robin, "how likest thou that shot, good fellow? I wot the wager were mine, an it were three hundred pounds."

Then all the foresters were filled with rage, and he who had spoken the first and had lost the wager was more angry than all.

"Nay," cried he, "the wager is none of thine, and get thee gone, straightway, or, by all the saints of heaven, I'll baste thy sides until thou wilt ne'er be able to walk again." "Knowest thou not," said another, "that thou hast killed the King's deer, and, by the laws of our gracious lord and sovereign King Harry, thine ears should be shaven close to thy head?"

"Catch him!" cried a third.

"Nay," said a fourth, "let him e'en go because of his tender years."

Never a word said Robin Hood, but he looked at the foresters with a grim face; then, turning on his heel, strode away from them down the forest glade. But his heart was bitterly angry, for his blood was hot and youthful and prone to boil.

Now, well would it have been for him who had first spoken had he left Robin Hood alone; but his anger was hot, both because the youth had gotten the better of him and because of the deep draughts of ale that he had been quaffing. So, of a sudden, without any warning, he sprang to his feet, and seized upon his bow and fitted it to a shaft. "Ay," cried he, "and I'll hurry thee anon." And he sent the arrow whistling after Robin.

It was well for Robin Hood that that same forester's head was spinning with ale, or else he would never have taken another step. As it was, the arrow whistled within three inches of his head. Then he turned around and quickly drew his own bow, and sent an arrow back in return.

"Ye said I was no archer," cried he aloud, "but say so now again!"

The shaft flew straight; the archer fell forward with a cry, and lay on his face upon the ground, his arrows rattling about him from out of his quiver, the gray goose shaft wet with his; heart's blood. Then, before the others could gather their wits about them, Robin Hood was gone into the depths of the greenwood. Some started after him, but not with much heart, for each feared to suffer the death of his fellow; so presently they all came and lifted the dead man up and bore him away to Nottingham Town.

Meanwhile Robin Hood ran through the greenwood. Gone was all the joy and brightness from everything, for his heart was sick within him, and it was borne in upon his soul that he had slain a man.

"Alas!" cried he, "thou hast found me an archer that will make thy wife to wring! I would that thou hadst ne'er said one word to me, or that I had never passed thy way, or e'en that my right forefinger had been stricken off ere that this had happened! In haste I smote, but grieve I sore at leisure!" And then, even in his trouble, he remembered the old saw that "What is done is done; and the egg cracked cannot be cured."

And so he came to dwell in the greenwood that was to be his home for many a year to come, never again to see the happy days with the lads and lasses of sweet Locksley Town; for he was outlawed, not only because he had killed a man, but also because he had poached upon the King's deer, and two hundred pounds were set upon his head, as a reward for whoever would bring him to the court of the King.

Now the Sheriff of Nottingham swore that he himself would bring this knave Robin Hood to justice, and for two reasons: first, because he wanted the two hundred pounds, and next, because the forester that Robin Hood had killed was of kin to him.

But Robin Hood lay hidden in Sherwood Forest for one year, and in that time there gathered around him many others like himself, cast out from other folk for this cause and for that. Some had shot deer in hungry wintertime, when they could get no other food, and had been seen in the act by the foresters, but had escaped, thus saving their ears; some had been turned out of their inheritance, that their farms might be added to the King's lands in Sherwood Forest; some had been despoiled by a great baron or a rich abbot or a powerful esquire—all, for one cause or another, had come to Sherwood to escape wrong and oppression.

Since I Met You Baby

Since I Met You Baby:

by Ivory Joe Hunter, who died in Memphis, TN, on this date in 1974 of complications due to lung cancer. He was billed as The Baron of the Boogie and also known as The Happiest Man Alive. His musical output ranged from R and B to blues, boogie-woogie, and country music, and Hunter made a name in all of those genres. Uniquely, he was honored at both the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Grand Ole Opry.

*******

I'm on vacation (kind of a staycation, actually) and won't be participating in T Stands for Tuesday this week.

Cut Throats Nine

Cut Throats Nine is a 1972 spaghetti western. I watched it on Tubi.

trailer:

The Spaghetti Western Database says, "it works better as a survival movie than as a western".

Mr. Creak (2015)

Mr. Creak is a 2015 horror short film. from IMDb: "Returning to her childhood home after many years, Penelope is tormented by a monster that she thought had vanished long ago."

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean is a 1972 comedy western directed by John Huston and starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, Tab Hunter, John Huston, Stacy Keach, Roddy McDowell, Anthony Perkins, Victoria Principal, Anthony Zerbe, Ava Gardner, Ned Beatty, and Michael Sarrazin. Just look at that cast! I watched it on HBO Max.

trailer:

Rotten Tomatoes has a critics consensus score of 89%. Roger Ebert is not a fan. Empire Online calls it "underrated". DVD Talk opens its review with this: "A memorably bizarre melding of screenwriter John Milius's macho mythologizing and director John Huston's impish desire to tell a ripping yarn, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) is one of the weirdest westerns to come out of a Hollywood studio."

What's on Your Mind?

What's on Your Mind:

recorded in Memphis at Ardent Records by the Greyhounds

Trollhunter

Trollhunter is an award-winning 2010 Norwegian dark fantasy film. I watched it on Amazon Prime, but I had the DVD I found cheap in the used section of the video store back when we had video stores. I've given the DVD away.

Empire Online has a positive review. IndieWire gives it an "A". Rotten Tomatoes has a critics concensus score of 81%. Common Sense Media calls it a fun monster movie.

Identity

Identity is a 2003 loose adaptation (or perhaps "a film inspired by" might be a better way to describe it) of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I watched it on Netflix.

trailer:

Reviews were generally positive but not glowing. I think it's fascinating to see how Agatha Christie's work continues to inspire, and I'm always up for seeing a new adaptation.

Bar Maria Rosa

Bar Maria Rosa (1966):

by Ola Billgren, a Swedish artist who died November 4, 2001.

Please post something drink-related on your own blog and join me for the T Stands for Tuesday blogger gathering hosted by Bleubeard and Elizabeth.