Haggai
01-26-2010, 01:34 PM
It was a tribute day to the previous century's number one sex symbol at the festival. Eddie introduced THE ASPHALT JUNGLE as having "the finest cast of actors ever assembled for a crime film," an assertion I would certainly agree with. The audience applauded classic lines including "If you want fresh air, don't look for it in this town!" and Sterling Hayden's brilliantly icy delivery of "Why don't ya quit cryin' and get me some bourbon." Hayden even got cheers for his menacing stares that didn't need any dialogue backing them up. Marilyn won some appreciative laughs with "Haven't you bothered me enough, you big banana head!" and looked spectacular in her two sequences. To quote her from later in the movie, when she shows up on the gigantic Castro screen in that tight-fitting pantsuit in her first scene, about all you can say is "Yipes!"
The nightcap was a fine print of NIAGARA in all its Technicolor gloss. Henry Hathaway's veteran sense of dramatics works wonders with the Marilyn-noir plotline, as she schemes with an unnamed(!) young lover to bump off dour husband Joseph Cotten--at least I don't think they ever say the name of the lover. Who needs any sort of name or identity for the paramour when you know exactly what they're up to? Anyway, the secret rendezvous at the waterfall, the gag with the bell tower playing their song, the stunning discovery of the wrong body at the hospital, the contrasting views of the ringing and silent bells, the bird's eye view of the final murder--it's all brilliant stuff, really on par with Hitchcock at his best.
I just don't know why the entire other plot had to be included, particularly the silly and uninteresting husband and boss characters. As much as I like Jean Peters, there's never much reason to care about her character. Maybe they thought they needed the final suspense sequence on the falls to justify the location, but I don't know why the whole film couldn't have focused on the Marilyn-Cotten-other man triangle. It could have been a stone-cold classic if the unnecessary character stuff wasn't there. In any event, the crowd enjoyed the full technicolor treatment for Marilyn, as well as the stunning views of the falls, which all looked particularly great on the big screen.
The nightcap was a fine print of NIAGARA in all its Technicolor gloss. Henry Hathaway's veteran sense of dramatics works wonders with the Marilyn-noir plotline, as she schemes with an unnamed(!) young lover to bump off dour husband Joseph Cotten--at least I don't think they ever say the name of the lover. Who needs any sort of name or identity for the paramour when you know exactly what they're up to? Anyway, the secret rendezvous at the waterfall, the gag with the bell tower playing their song, the stunning discovery of the wrong body at the hospital, the contrasting views of the ringing and silent bells, the bird's eye view of the final murder--it's all brilliant stuff, really on par with Hitchcock at his best.
I just don't know why the entire other plot had to be included, particularly the silly and uninteresting husband and boss characters. As much as I like Jean Peters, there's never much reason to care about her character. Maybe they thought they needed the final suspense sequence on the falls to justify the location, but I don't know why the whole film couldn't have focused on the Marilyn-Cotten-other man triangle. It could have been a stone-cold classic if the unnecessary character stuff wasn't there. In any event, the crowd enjoyed the full technicolor treatment for Marilyn, as well as the stunning views of the falls, which all looked particularly great on the big screen.