Richard Fleischer

[tavernier]

Where can we get our hands on it? This hasn't been around since I was a teenager (well, almost.)

Make your travel plans now for Brooklyn, boys and girls:

BAMCINEMATEK SPECIAL SERIES

Cinemachat with Elliott Stein, June 14
Film critic and historian Elliott Stein curates this film and discussion series.

Mandingo (1975) 127min
Jun 14 at 7:30pm*
*Cinemachat with Elliott Stein
Directed by Richard Fleischer
With James Mason
This controversial screen version of Kyle Onstott's notorious best-seller about the sins of the pre-Civil War South has been called "something like Uncle Tom's Cabin rewritten for Playboy magazine." On the other hand, critic David Pirie believed that "Fleischer utilizes the real sexuality and violence behind slavery to mount a compelling slice of American Gothic." Andy Warhol hailed it as "My favorite bad movie of the year." Whatever you think of Mandingo, you won't be bored. Cinemachat with Elliott Stein follows the screening.

[HerrSchreck]

Oh FUCK Brooklyn, I'll be in goddam Paris!!!

Besides, you already did that with Brooklyn in your old NYC days, no? And is pretty much the itinerary for Paris?

man-DING-o! (ringing of egg-timer..) Werent the original HUNGRY MAN frozen dinners modeled in tribute to those old days of yours, Dave?

[tavernier]

NY Times review of 3 Richard Fleischer films on DVD

[Gordon]

Kinowelt, in Germany, released a DVD in 2004. It isn't available from Amazon.de, though. I have read that it is the 118-minute version, apparently. Having not seen the film, I have no idea what was cut for that version. Anamorphic 1.85:1 and English mono.



After the big roles dried up, a destitute James Mason had to sell his beloved victorian footstool.

Or: In the blaxploitation remake of Bigger Than Life, Ed Avery was even tougher on Richie.

[Miguel]

There's talk of a Swedish dvd over at Mobius

[davida2]

If anyone is really eager to view Mandingo -- though I personally wouldn't recommend it -- Paramount did release it on VHS, and if anyone still owns a VCR, you can purchase them used and cheap at both Amazon and Amazon UK. I presume that the bootleg DVDs are taken from the VHS tapes. If so, then they are all probably pan and scan, since that's how I remember it from when I watched it on VHS several years ago.

Ick. This was an HBO staple if memory serves, early 1980s. Was this one supposed to be taken seriously by anyone when it was released? I just remember thinking it was ... a nasty, nasty movie. Oh well. "'Uncle Tom's Cabin' if written for 'Playboy'"?!? More in the neighborhood of 'Hustler'.

Torax3 = Kurosawa gets tossed out in favor of Fukasaku, a credible filmmaker, but what were those clowns in L.A. thinking?

[Gregory]

I can't hope to add anything here to the ample literature on Mandingo but I highly recommend reading Andrew Britton's writings on it in Movie (vol. 22), which were further elaborated by Robin Wood in his "Vindication of an Abused Masterpiece" article in Sexual Politics and Narrative Film. Jean Pierre Coursodon and Jonathan Rosenbaum have also championed the film. I can't really understand why so many cinephiles have overlooked this film's excellent qualities, mainly its rich ideological themes and mise-en-scene. Obviously, in many cases, the reputation a film develops early on prejudice people against it thereafter.

[kinjitsu]

Torax3 = Kurosawa gets tossed out in favor of Fukasaku, a credible filmmaker, but what were those clowns in L.A. thinking?

There was a major falling out between Kurosawa and Fox execs over production costs and script and it took Fox three months to finally replace Kurosawa, although it was hardly that simple and something of a complicated scandal ensued. According to Stuart Galbraith, Fukasaku was primarily responsible for the action sequences (process and second-unit photography), while Toshio Masuda filmed most of the dramatic sequences Kurosawa was to shoot.

[HerrSchreck]

I've just seen TEN RILLINGTON PLACE (the wonderful R2 Sony Columbia disc from the UK) for the first time, and for god's sake... this movie wiped me the fuck out. Incredible handling of the material. It's got to be among the two or three finest true-crime movies ever made. The whole cast and crew is absolutely unbelievable-- screenwriting breathtaking, particularly notable for the Evans character-- and makes it impossible to know who's more devastating, Hurt or Attenborough. Having no prior inkling of the true story itself while settling down to watch, I was just demolished by how the thing played out-- completely unprepared for this. I expected a good movie, a very good movie. But I didn't expect this. I recall being impressed with IN COLD BLOOD going into all the actual locations where the crimes took place, but this is another depth altogether. I was already haunted by the claustrophobia of the postwar decay (or gothic victoriana-- for want of a better term for the old factory era flat) of the set itself... before I realized that they actually shot this fucker right in Christie's house on the real 10 Rillington (just prior to it's being demolished), Attenborough got down digging the same pits in the same garden, pulled up the floorboards in the same room. Stuck his victims behind the same pantry and wallpapered the same spot over. They even went to the very Thames embankment at Putney where Christie was apprehended.

A searing, brilliant example of what a stellar combination of utterly intelligent men can produce.. men with the discipline to allow the material to speak for itself. The material is so beautifully distilled, and Fleischer is so relentlessly adept at producing incredibly pure images which speak such authentic volumes, stylization becomes completely uneccessary and in fact a pollution. A very intelligent form of filmmaking that is incredibly refreshing to see when executed with such purity... as the relentless filmschooling of the industry, and the increased self-awareness of the mutual self-awareness of directors competing industrially & financially with one another (due to the increase in budgets, salaries, titles, and marketing) is turning contemporary features into Heavyhanded Central

One thing Fleischer-related is that I keep seeing a DVD of MANDINGO here in R1 in a particular store, but I can't find it anywhere on-line. I'm going to check the distributor/label, and report back tomorrow.

[Gregory]

Did you find out anything about that Mandingo DVD, Schreck? (I thought you might've forgotten to follow up.)

[akaten]

A searing, brilliant example of what a stellar combination of utterly intelligent men can produce.. men with the discipline to allow the material to speak for itself. The material is so beautifully distilled, and Fleischer is so relentlessly adept at producing incredibly pure images which speak such authentic volumes, stylization becomes completely uneccessary and in fact a pollution. A very intelligent form of filmmaking that is incredibly refreshing to see when executed with such purity... as the relentless filmschooling of the industry, and the increased self-awareness of the mutual self-awareness of directors competing industrially & financially with one another (due to the increase in budgets, salaries, titles, and marketing) is turning contemporary features into Heavyhanded Central

Best film analysis I've read in a while, spot on.

Had a chance to see a little known film by Richard Fleischer entitled The Last Run (on TCM UK), I believe initially John Huston began direction but he fell out with George C Scott.

Anyway I'm not going to argue it is a great film, far from it becomes rather aimless at times sadly, but the typically cynical script by Alan Sharp and the economical directing style make for an intriging film, no doubt helped by what I feel is a deeply personal and heartfelt performance from Scott, in part due to the casting of both his ex and current wives in the film.

Really would like to see The New Centurians, shame these films are so hard to come by.

[HerrSchreck]

Did you find out anything about that Mandingo DVD, Schreck? (I thought you might've forgotten to follow up.)

Sorry. I have to go back in there-- just by happenstance I havent been in that store for a couple weeks. If it's available I'll write down what it is, maybe buy it.. was watching NARROW MARGIN (Charles McGraw is the man... speaking of IN COLD BLOOD above, jesus do I love him in that film) again last night, and could use some Fliescher-widening in my collection.

[Floyd]

I must say I just watched The Narrow Margin and was totally overwhelmed. Some of the shots are just beautiful to look at and admire. Fleischer clearly makes situations for these shot ideas he has but that did not bother me much when I was able to just look at what he does with just the placement of the camera and lighting. Marie Windsor radiates. Great, great film.

[King Prendergast]

There is a movement afoot to critically resurrect Fleischer from the "strained seriousness" dustbin- witness the recent retrospective articles in Film Comment and the New York Times. I just came back from the film forum having seen Violet Saturday and I was very impressed. Add that film to Narrow Margin, The Vikings, and Mandingo and that makes a strong enough career in my opinion.

[Person]

I wouldn't mind seeing Fleischer's Crack in the Mirror (1960) starring Orson Welles. An original script by Daryl F. Zanuck. Shot in black and white scope. Welles' final courtroom speech is said to be a belter.

Being a huge Lee Marvin fan, I'd also like to see The Spikes Gang (1974).

I saw Blind Terror (1971) recently. It's a pretty good thriller. Good casting of Mia Farrow as a blind woman who is being stalked in her home. Of course, such a story had already been told four years earlier, but it's well done - the scene with Mia walking across the kitchen floor strewn with broken glass had me in right old flap. My hero, Gerry Fisher was the cinematographer, but this one doesn't show off his genius with lamps, unfortunately.

[zombeaner]

Without any forethought, in the last few weeks I've watched:

10 Rillington Place
Mandingo
Soylent Green
Boston Strangler
and Tora Tora Tora

I'm on an unintentional Richard Fleischer kick.

[King Prendergast]

In a pretty amazing coup for online content Hulu has Violent Saturday available to view. A great RF film that you can't see in any other format.

[Dr.Soberin]

Nobody a fan of 'Follow me Quietly'? It's available on Region 2 DVD as part of the RKO Montparnasse collection, with removable French subtitles ('Version Originale').

Imaginative little B movie who's influence is felt in many a later serial killer thriller. At 60 minutes duration, you could fit it, Narrow Margin (71 minutes) and Armored Car Robbery (67 minutes) into Ben-Hur's running time. Nuff said.

You don't have to be a believer in Richard Fleischer the auteur to find these movies worthwhile. Incidentally, the French also have a box set in the same collection featuring 'Narrow Margin', 'Armored Car Robbery' (William Talman and Steve Brodie are the robbers, Charles McGraw is the cop. Who are you to resist, eh?) and 'Child of Divorce'.

Hoorah for the French.

[HarryLong]

As it hadn't been noted here, MANDINGO is now available in the USA...

[Gregory]

The thread for it.
An amazing film.

[HarryLong]

A thank you to whoever made my post a link!
(I have no clue how to do that. I believe Domino Harvey gave instructions on it somewhere, but I didn't quite grasp the process.)

[Gregory]

_______
The first ______ is where you would paste the URL. The second is where you type whatever text you want to show in the post. (When you're actually doing this, you wouldn't include these underscore marks, of course.)

[HarryLong]

I'll save the instructions this time.

[repeat]

I noticed that Violent Saturday is coming out in Italy next month (Amazon) on a label called "30 Holding" - anyone familiar with them? The interesting question of course is if it will be anamorphic - it does say "Cinemascope" on the cover, but it's probably unwise to infer anything from that, as the whole packaging looks kind of dodgy...