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The Big Clock
Film Noir
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The Big Clock (1948)
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Tfitoby wrote: "The most recent film noir from our adventure is the John Farrow adaptation of The Big Clock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040160/ which was also adapted as the 1987 Kevin Costner (yawn) movie No Way..."Just added the film to my Netflix queue. Looks interesting, and it's got to be better than the Costner version.
are you saying i should remove the kevin costner version from my quickflix queue?
Tfitoby wrote: "are you saying i should remove the kevin costner version from my quickflix queue?"Well, if you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself to watch it. I mean, a bad movie is better than no movie at all. And although, for example, I thought the remake of the original Day of the Jackal, the Bruce Willis film Jackal, was a piece of #$#)%, I'm glad I watched it. Just made me appreciate the original all the more!
I would totally watch the Costner film. I'm no Costner fan but Gene Hackman is always an effective baddie and Sean Young was gorgeous.
Oh. Sean young. Incredible in blade runner
Tfitoby wrote: "Oh. Sean young. Incredible in blade runner"Blade Runner. Now that's an awesome film and a great book, too.
Yeah, I saw this film as one of the "you might like" suggestions so I added it at the top of my queue on netflix. I'll watch it once I'm through with (cough..cough..) Tower Heist. Agree with you guys about The Blade Runner (and Sean Young). Great film. I saw it on instant viewing on Netflix awhile back.
David, I remember seeing The Jackal when it came out at the movies....and I pretty much had the same reaction as you. (Does anyone remember that Jack Black actually makes an appearance in this film?)
Franky wrote: "Yeah, I saw this film as one of the "you might like" suggestions so I added it at the top of my queue on netflix. I'll watch it once I'm through with (cough..cough..) Tower Heist. Agree with you ..."
I didn't remember Jack Black's appearance. Does he play the arms dealer who gets his hand blown off? I saw Jackal years ago, by the way, when I was posted to the embassy in a remote East African country. Somehow we had copies of both Jackal and Day of the Jackal in the video library. With not a lot else to do, I started a challenge for all the officers to take both films home and watch them back to back. Then, after we'd all seen them, we had an evaluation party over beer (yes, one of those local brewery concoctions that are rumored everywhere in Africa to contain fomaldehyde). The vote was a universal thumbs up for Day of the Jackal and thumbs down for Jackal.
Personally, I think Bruce Willis and Richard Gere were competing to see who could give the worst performance. IMO Gere won.
David wrote: "Franky wrote: "Yeah, I saw this film as one of the "you might like" suggestions so I added it at the top of my queue on netflix. I'll watch it once I'm through with (cough..cough..) Tower Heist. ..."
David,
Yes, he is the arms dealer....which is an ironic job title. For some reason, I remember that scene vividly, maybe because it was so disturbing and weird.
Luckily for me, my friend worked at the movies at the time, so I got a "sneak peek" of The Jackal for free and didn't have to cough up $5.
Franky wrote: "David wrote: "Franky wrote: "Yeah, I saw this film as one of the "you might like" suggestions so I added it at the top of my queue on netflix. I'll watch it once I'm through with (cough..cough..) T..."Franky,
So we both saw it without paying! Awesome.
David
Just watched The Big Clock on netflix. I guess I wasn't that impressed. The plot seemed a little convoluted to me, but it still had some great moments of suspense. A little too hokey in dialogue and plot at times, but I'm probably in the minority on this opinion.
Franky wrote: "Just watched The Big Clock on netflix. I guess I wasn't that impressed. The plot seemed a little convoluted to me, but it still had some great moments of suspense. A little too hokey in dialogue an..."i think you're completely accurate in your review franky, it's just that's what it's supposed to be like i think.
Tfitoby, Still, it's a treat to watch these old films. At least there is an effort on the directors part to pay attention to mood, something seriously lacking in today's films.
Interesting to see Laughton in this role of villain.
Just watched The Big Clock. Eerie because I remember having seen this film decades ago because of the clock, but I remembered almost nothing else about it. Yes, the plot has a few twists that require a lot of suspension of disbelief, but Milland is always fun in these roles, Laughton's performance was interesting, and I loved Harry Morgan as the silent masseuse/gun-toting thug.My wife pointed out that the film poster shows Milland toting a semi-automatic pistol, however, and he never actually holds a gun in the film, plus all the guns used in the film are revolvers. But she's an editor and can't help it.
David wrote: "Just watched The Big Clock. Eerie because I remember having seen this film decades ago because of the clock, but I remembered almost nothing else about it. Yes, the plot has a few twists that req..."Absolutely brilliant spot from your wife.
We had many questions over how that clock worked. Is it possible or does that verge into science fiction territory?
I almost forgot about Harry Morgan's role. Wow, different to see him playing a silent thug. His character definitely was on edge, like he was about to snap at any moment.
Pulp Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
The Big Clock (other topics)A Gun for Sale (other topics)
I haven't read the book yet but just a look at the synopsis on GR tells me that the movie was remarkably light in comparison to the source material. Infact I felt it was a lot closer in style to the Hitchcock classic North by North West.
If I were reviewing it for my noir blog I'd probably struggle to fit it in to the criteria we agreed to look assess all films by BUT it was good fun, intricately plotted and featured Charles Laughton as an excellently eccentric bad guy (among a few other quite strange characters actually) that was reminiscent of the bad guy from Graham Greene's A Gun for Sale.