The Card Counter (2021), The Sting (1973), and Atlantic City (1980)

The Card Counter is a new movie with Oscar Isaac as an ex-military gambler who travels around to card games and teams up with Tiffany Haddish; I like both actors so this was really a fun movie to watch. 

More reviews of the film from other bloggers here:

• Cinemascope: The Card Counter [2021] (cliched-monologues.blogspot.com)
• Filmhounds review here

There's plenty of card games in the film, and afterwards, I felt like rewatching The Sting, which is one of my favorite movies and rewatch it from time to time. The plot is so detailed and each time I rewatch I pick up on some new things I missed the last time.  I love how the characters pull off the cons in the movie. And also love the music, sets (some scenes filmed in Chicago), and costumes as well. 

I wondered why I enjoy this movie so much. The two main leads are criminals, liars, and thieves. But there's a likability about them; their personalities really connect with me. Even though they are so conniving, Paul Newman's behavior and mannerisms make me laugh. I like how the gang all cares about each other's families, especially when Luther (Robert Earl Jones) gets killed, and how they come together to avenge his death. 

I also was curious about The Sting II so I rented it from Netflix to give it a try. It's horrible. I couldn't even finish watching the whole movie, it's so bad. What were they thinking when they made this movie?  The dialogue (by the same writer as the first movie, unbelievably) is atrocious, and features some homophobic slurs by Karl Malden, presumably an attempt to make his character more loathsome. He must have needed the paycheck. This has got to be the worst comedy sequels of the 80s. It makes Caddyshack II look way better in comparison. 

And finally, to close out my gambling-themed movie kick, I tried watching Atlantic City (1980) with Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, but I didn't like it so not much to say about it. 

All Fall Down (1962)

This is a movie I wanted to watch for a long while mainly to see an early performance by Beatty (3rd movie) and the other performances. It has a great cast with Angela Lansbury, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint and Brandon de Wilde (the main character, though not top-billed).

It's an OK movie. Not exceptional, but still has good performances. 

deWilde plays a teenager (age 16) and plays the part pretty well--he's naive, idolizes his older brother (Beatty), and then slowly becomes disillusioned as the movie progresses. 

I know what it's like to idolize a relative like that, and then realize he's not so perfect and not right all the time, so I liked that aspect of the film. I also think Lansbury does a great job showing how overbearing and manipulative her character is. 

Lansbury and Malden play characters with differing political and religious opinions (he's liberal, she's conservative....he's a socialist and she's capitalist....she's a churchgoer, he's not....). I found alot of their interactions to be really interesting. In one sequence, Malen invites some homeless men over for a Christmas dinner. Lansbury wants them out of the house so she pays each of them ten dollars to get out.

There's an interesting scene where deWilde chops up some vegetables and mixes them together in a blender to make a healthy smoothie; I can't remember the last time a character in a film did that so that was a cool part. 

I read somewhere that when this movie was being filmed in 1961, Beatty's first two movies had not yet been released (Splendor in the Grass & Roman Spring of Ms Stone). He had only been known for television work, for dating Natalie Wood, and for being Shirley Maclaine's brother.

I liked the scenes with the two brothers together; I felt convinced that they were related and that deWilde idolized him. In the movie, deWilde is constantly writing in his journal, and I wondered if that indicated he would be a writer in the future, and if the writer of the original novel - James Leo Herlihy - based the character on himself. 

After watching this movie I was intrigued by the entire making-of process.  I wondered how faithful it was to the original book, and was curious about John Houseman producing it and that whole process.

If only DVD commentaries and special features were around in 1962.

Regarding the title, I think it should be called "Berry-Berry", since everyone says it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.  

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Based on a Tennessee Williams play, this searing drama is a multiple Oscar winner. It is most memorable fro the Oscar-winning turn by Vivien Leigh, as the fragile Blanche Dubois. Who could forget Marlon Brando, in one of his greatest roles. Kim Hunter as his wife and Karl Malden as Blanche's naive suitor complete the picture. Intense and tremendously moving.

Oscar Flashback: 60th Annual Awards Ceremony (1988) with Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine and more

It was a memorable Oscar show 22 years ago at the milestone 60th annual ceremony. The Academy invited lots of Hollywood royalty to the LA Shrine Auditorium that hot April day in 1988: Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, and Audrey Hepburn, just to name a few. There was supposed to be a huge "year by year" salute toward the end, kind of like how they did it for the 70th and 75th Oscars show, but the whole segment flopped, which I'll explain further in a minute.

Among the legends who were invited: Olivia deHavilland and Joan Fontaine. Yep. That's right: Joan and Olivia! Did the famously feuding sisters get along? Did they speak? Hmmm... What really happened that night?



Well, for one, they both arrived separately.

According to the book, "Inside Oscar" by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona:

Rebecca's Joan Fontaine managed to arrive on time without the help of the Academy's escort-who never materialized-but her sister wasn't so lucky. Olivia had to hop out of her car and hike 10 blocks in order to be there to hand out an award. Robert Osborne recounted that "She and others were all dressed to the nines, hurrying off to a ga-ga glmaour event while rushing past taco stands, donut shops, and gawking onlookers, the latter munching on hot dogs and cradling babies, surprised at the unexpected passerby. Sigh!

Recently, I acquired a copy of the entire taped broadcast, and was able to watch it again (I remember watching it live back in 1988, but I didn't know who all the celebrities were back then). Screenshots of the best moments from the show are below below.





Totally '80s moment: Patrick Swayze appeared with his Dirty Dancing co-star Jennifer Grey to present an award.











PS. I heard that the long anticipated Wall Street sequel is coming out soon.









Below: This was one of the most bizarre stunts of the evening. Some guy dressed as Robocop pretended to shoot another robot on stage who started to attack Pee Wee Herman. We then see Pee Wee jumping up 50 feet in the air (on wires) and "hanging" from the rafters, while Robo saves the day. Another totally 80s moment.



Below: Liza and Dudley present the Best Song nominees. Before each preformed song, they sang some old fashioned tunes devoted to the art and craft of-songwriting. These ditties (with Dudley on piano) just didn't seem to fit with the more modern, up-tempo rock songs that were preformed, but it was nice to see them back together again!



Below: Ahh, a time when hit songs that people actually liked and could hum along to were nominated for Best Song:




While I was doing research on the 60th ceremony, I found some photographs taken by photographer Alan Light, who, back in '88 was lucky enough to score a ticket from a friend to the event; he took awesome pictures on the red carpet and even got some photos with some of the stars (photos used with permission). Check them out:







According to the book "Inside Oscar" by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona:

The Academy, for the milestone "60th Anniversary" ceremony, was planning a grand segment meant to air toward the end of the program.

It was supposed to be a salute to all 60 of the past Oscar winning years. Supposedly, the Academy invited at least one cast member from an Oscar winning film from each year (1927-1987), and they would appear on stage and on camera for a brief moment as each year and film would be introduced one by one.

But the "Year by Year" segment flopped. Shortly before air time, legendary silent/20s/30s actress Anita Page (age 77) was so overcome with heat exhaustion that she collapsed as she approached the red carpet. She was rushed to a local hospital and treated.



Thankfully, Ms Page was OK after awhile, but her absence left a void in the "Year by Year" presentation. Apparently she was the only person there to represent the year 1928 (The Broadway Melody) So the producers of the show scrapped the segment at the last minute.

As a consolation, the director made sure the cameras picked up a few glimpses of some of the recognizable stars throughout the night, so viewers were able to at least see Mercedes McCambridge (All The King's Men, 1949), Celeste Holm (All About Eve, 1950), Charlton Heston (Ben Hur, 1959), and Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity, 1953), even for just a few seconds.

Other legends were there in the audience, such as Roddy McDowall (How Green Was My Valley, 1941) and Robert Stack (Written on the Wind, 1956), but sadly, they didn't get any screen time, not even a reaction shot. I'm sure there were more stars present, but I just don't know who.

Below are some cool reaction shots that the director picked up on camera. Sadly, the ones who did make it on camera didn't get a credit, but I've provided the names myself!




Above: The leading man from the first Picture winner Wings (1927).









Above: Ms. Fontaine is not amused with Chevy Chase's unfunny monologue.

According to the aforementioned book Inside Oscar, Joan became a little impatient towards the end of the ceremony, and was wondering when it was time for her appearance onstage. Reportedly she was sitting very close to Roddy McDowell, and at one point turned to him as asked, "When do we go on?" "Later Later" he assured Rebecca's second Mrs. deWinter.

Apparently a number of the stars were never told that the segment was cancelled, nor that Anita Page was hospitalized.

Joan wasn't asked to present (either that or she refused), but her sister was invited to present the Oscar for Art Direction and she accepted. Olivia's appearance was within the first hour of the ceremony, right after Olympia Dukakis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress Moonstruck.






Olivia walked onstage to "Tara's Theme". There was a standing ovation. The television cameras didn't get a shot of Joan; so viewers couldn't tell if she was standing or sitting during the ovation.






Olivia presented the award for Best Art Direction; the winners were the team from The Last Emperor.



Below: Towards the end of the evening, Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck took to the stage to present the writing awards. There was another standing ovation for them.



Below: Paul Newman presented Cher with her Oscar for Moonstruck.



It's too bad the "Oscar-Year-by-Year" segment flopped. It might have been cool. The Academy tried again for the the 70th and 75th ceremonies, but they invited all Oscar recipients of acting awards, and it didn't matter what year they represented. They were introduced alphabetically.

Postscript:

No, there was no reunion between Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine that night. It's possible that the last time the two sisters were in the same building together. According to the book "Inside Oscar", Joan was upset about the segment being cancelled, and that she didn't receive any screen time other than one split-second reaction shot. She reportedly vowed to never return to another Oscars ceremony which explains her absence from the 70th and 75th anniversary tributes.

However, at the end of the evening, all of the night's Oscar winners, presenters, performers, and legends were invited to come up to the stage to basically just stand there and wave while the credits rolled. With all the credits scrolling up, you could hardly make out who was on stage. Enjoy one more photo from Alan Light from inside the auditorium at the end of the show: