Midnight Oil:Movies and More

“In and Out” (1997) starring Kevin Kline, Tom Selleck and Joan Cusack is all about the influence of Hollywood on the lives of everyday people living in ordinary places. But isn’t it about a gay high school teacher coming out of the closet? But I thought it was about an unassuming English teacher “being outed” by his former pupil who happened to make a chance remark about his former teacher’s sexual orientation while receiving an Academy Award. It is all rather confusing. Some people, like Tom Selleck’s character, bigwig reporter Peter Malloy, seem to have perfect clarity about these things. But as for Mr. Howard Brackett himself (Kevin Kline), his fiancée (Joan Cusack), his parents, his friends and pretty much the rest of the world, it all comes as a big surprise.

Naturally enough, neither Mr. Brackett nor his fiancée of quite some time were at all suspicious as they carried on with their extraordinarily commonplace lives. And quite naturally, everything and everyone is thrown into a tizzy once the big “revelation” has been announced on national television. From there on in, everything gets re-examined, re-decided and recast simply on the say-so of the newly minted Hollywood star (played by Matt Dillon). The aftershock comes with quite hilarious results, naturally enough. But naturally I wonder who has the bigger problem – Howard Brackett with his questions about his sexual orientation or the rest of us who appear to be so disposed as to believe anything we hear (as long as it is salacious and announced on national television). Fortunately for all concerned, “In and Out”  is a comedy and the  explorations of the vagaries of human nature remain  lighthearted and are often treated in a quite funny manner.

 >> Real Life Story: DJ was a young man who was confused about a lot of things in life. Eventually he banged into some hard realities that led to deep life change.

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

Don't miss the entire dance sequence in Howard's "Real Men Don't Dance" routine. Catch the trailer for "In and Out" (1997).



“The Anderson Tapes” (1971) starring Sean Connery  is a bit of a retro trip with a great twist in conclusion that almost makes it worth staying up for the ending. Sean Connery’s character, Duke Anderson, is all about proving that he is still at the top of his larceny game after he gets out of the slammer. He engineers a complicated heist involving several luxury apartments made more complicated by multi-layered surveillance systems.

I don’t know how things will turn out in the remake of the movie scheduled for release later in 2010. They will surely have updated surveillance equipment to replace the old reel to reel tapes that were “state of the art” in 1971. Connery, while playing Duke Anderson, doesn’t get to play with all of the super spy toys that were a part of the James Bond franchise of the same era. These days you can go down to the local electronics super store and buy yourself some of the gadgets that only Bond and the boys could have way back when. I don’t know that I’ll be paying money to go and see the remake of “The Anderson Tapes” in the theatre, but at least I can say that I’ve seen the original and, yes, I do know what happens at the end of that version! 

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

>>Real Life Story: David found he had to stay on top in a world of petty crimes fueled by a drug addiction. It had to end somewhere. And then things got better.

See the original trailer for "The Anderson Tapes" (1971). View also three film clips with co-stars Dyan Cannon, Christopher Walken and Alan King.





In “The Spy Who Came In From The Cold” (1965), John le Carré’s influential novel of cold war espionage comes to life with Richard Burton playing the central character.  Alec Leamas is a far cry from the super suave super-spy, James Bond. There’s none of the gadgetry and high gloss finish for the ordinary agent Leamas who gets to visit such exotic destinations as a forest hut, a cement cell and an austere courtroom in nowhere town, East Germany thanks to his exciting chosen profession as a spy. The enduring points of interest from the film (and the novel) do not come from glamourous locations, steamy sex scenes or fantastic special effects that accompany the adrenalin pumping pursuits of the secret agent. This black and white film features things that are a little more low key (not to mention low budget).  Complex dialogue, interesting character development and moral dilemma sustain one’s attention and actually leave one with something to think about after it’s all over. Move Mr. Bond. No matter what worthy actor they get to play the eternally youthful 007, he won’t be a match for Burton’s rather gritty Alec Leamas à la le Carré. 

See a very interesting SNAM “Interview” that includes material on John le Carré’s spy novels.  “The Deadly Affair" (1966), screened on the same evening on Saturday Night at the Movies is also reviewed on Midnight Oil.

You can try listening to the original novel on audiobook.

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

>>Real Life Story: Priscilla escaped oppression while living in an Eastern block country under Communist rule.

See the trailer for "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965)

“The Lady from Shanghai” (1947) stars Rita Hayworth as Elsa Bannister and Orson Welles as Micahel O’Hara. Welles does it all as principle actor, writer and director of the movie. It is an interesting film from more than one angle (à la crazy fun house mirrors of the climax scene). Hayworth and Welles were in the final phases of their off-screen relationship at the time of filming, Welles reported that he did the film simply as a way of  financing other projects in jeopardy, and the complicated plot of the original Sherwood King novel is just, well, hard to follow. But then, Michael O’Hara’s Irish brogue is rather hard to follow and even harder to swallow at times.

Rita Hayworth’s character is the rather too obvious femme fatale who spices up the exotic scenery and even indulges us with a musical number and a spectacular cliff diving scene for the benefit of box office sales. It’s film noir with more than the usual twist at the end with a visually discombobulating fun house scene that is all “Orson”. It can be fun, if you just relax and get into the genre and the period of Hollywood film making.

>>More to see: Looking for more out of life?

>>Real Life Story: Katie and Nathan realized that they were driving each other into someone else’s arms. See the real life turnaround in their marriage. 

Orson Welles as Michael O’Hara gives us his rendition of the poetic Irish soul in this famous “shark scene on video clip. See below a re-cut, remixed video trailer for “The Lady From Shanghai” (1947)