Capsule Film Reviews - 3/14/14

A few thoughts on some movies recently watched or re-watched:

Each Dawn I Die (1939) - This Jimmy Cagney vehicle is intended as an exposé of prison conditions, and is particularly damning toward solitary confinement. Which, sadly, makes the subject matter as relevant as ever 75 years later. Unfortunately, adherence to the Code means that the prison conditions are far too antiseptic and the messaging is too muddled for it to be effective as a message movie. Yet Cagney is Cagney, and his charisma and intensity are enough to sustain the picture and make it worth a viewing, if perhaps not move it to the top of Cagney's oeuvre. Screened via Warner Archive Instant.

Mackintosh Man (1973) - Mackintosh Man also features some prison time, although it presents it so pleasantly that one wonders why Paul Newman is so anxious to break out of it. Alas, the whole point is breaking out of it. It is hard to explain the plot of this one without giving away spoilers, as the first act of the film is developed in a way to leave open questions about what is going on. We find out about mid-way through with some heavy exposition but once we do, and once Newman and co-star Dominique Sanda head to Malta, the movie loses all steam and plays out rather wanly. The presence of Newman, director John Huston, and writer Walter Hill will tempt more than a few people, but this is a thoroughly middling effort for everyone involved. It's entertaining enough that you wouldn't mind if it just happened to be on your TV, but there's little here to recommend spending much effort to seek it out. On a different note, the trailer is kind of amusing with the way the narrator keeps repeating the title of the movie as if it actually means something important (it doesn't). Screened via Warner Archive Instant.

Villain (1971) - Richard Burton plays a sadistic crimelord whose only soft spots are his mother and his reluctant lover/punching bag, played by Ian McShane. Burton has become the focus of a special police unit, but rather than lying low, the gangster decides to pull off a payroll heist. Things do not go well. This dreary movie has little to recommend it. McShane does his best but his role is too small and the relationship between McShane and Burton too under-explored. It seems added in almost for shock value, but 40 some odd years later the shock value isn't there any longer. What commentary does this movie make? What's the point? It's little more than a character study, but the character being studied isn't all that interesting, and there's simply no nuance or depth. It might have been shocking in 1971 to build a film around a character so repellent, but now it bores. This gangster movie was released the same year as Get Carter, and Villain suffers by the comparison. Stick with Mike Hodges' classic Get Carter or perhaps try Bob Le Flambeur, which has a completely different tone but is far more interesting as a character study of a criminal trying to pull off a big job while under scrutiny of the police. Screened via Warner Archive Instant.