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I'm good with it. Cannon. Charles Bronson. A product of the times. Very 80s. Wikipedia is a good read on this--partially filmed in London, to reduce production costs. I want to say it's a slicker production, improved from the previous two. It's fun to compare to the Bond film of 1985 as the benchmark. Pretty colorful on screen, I'll say.
I like how Paul Kersey is wrongly arrested at the start and doesn't voice a word of protest--not unlike Bond in Quantum of Solace being accused of killing all his contacts, still he doesn't stop to defend himself once. More important to get into the mix, stir things up.
Also contrasts with Once Were Warriors, a much more realistic approach to social ills, violence, assault of women. And I do appreciate this re-watch anticipating the upcoming Willis film. A Bruce.
Wikipedia.
I'm gonna watch it.
School For Scoundrels (Robert Hamer, 1960) is on Amazon for US 1.99 rental. I'm on it.
Some info on the cars from Wikipedia:
The "Swiftmobile" was in fact based upon a 1928 4½ litre Open four-seater Bentley, with a custom two-seat open body. The car, minus the body, was sold by the studio in 1961 for £50, and re-sold (with new body) at an auction in 2003 for £110,000. The Austin-Healey 100-six used in the film was passed in at auction in the 1970s at around £30,000. The car driven by Terry-Thomas, called a "new Bellini", is in fact a disguised Aston Martin DB3S.
The car Palfrey then gets to buy after the Swiftmobile is an Austin-Healey 100-6.
Ok, so my pick is School For Scoundrels, a an excellent British comedy from 1959. Directed by Robert Hamer, and staring Ian Carmichael, Janet Scott, Terry Thomas & Alistair Sim in the primary roles. The film is based on a series of mock self help books by Stephen Potter (remember this name, we'll come back to it in a bit), each one revolving around a different subject such as: Lifemanship, One-Upmanship and Supermanship among others. School For Scoundrels takes the gist of a number of the books and rolls them together.
As the film begins we are introduced to our perennial hapless doormat of a protagonist, Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael). He runs a company inherited by his uncle, but even his own staff show him little respect. When he, literally, runs into the radiant April Smith (Janette Scott - why didn't she become a bigger name, even in British cinema?), Palfrey strikes up a conversation and even find the confidence to ask April out for a meal. When they get to the restaurant, it is that that Palfrey encounter an acquaintance, Raymond Delauney (Terry-Thomas), a consummate rotter/scoundrel/shower) . After being stiffed with a bill, and an embarrassing tennis match later, Palfrey decides it is time to fight fire with fire, so enrolls at the School Of Lifemanship run by S. Potter (Alistair Sim). Armed with all of the tricks to put ones opponent at a disadvantage and the tables turned, Carmichael gets to play a more assertive character, and T-T gets to dismantle his cad image.
This film features Terry-Thomas' self styled cad image played to impossible perfection. I'll say it again, impossible perfection. By this time, he had been playing the cad, on and off, almost entirely on, for a number of years, he could have done it asleep and still play it to perfection. The scene in the restaurant, where Delauney shows off his knowledge of fine wines and foods, that isn't acting, that is experience. If EON included an ordering the wine scene as part of the Bond audition, then Terry-Thomas would have been cast as Bond.
That's a tough one. If I can just go with the whole film, then: Delauney's introduction at the restuarant ("Oh to be in England now that April's here"), the Tennis match (better yet, make that both of them), Dunstan & Dudley (again both scenes), the scenes at the School For Lifemanship (I always wonder if I could use those techniques myself). And of course, the ending, which begs the question, we have seen what Delauney was like before, just what on earth will he be like when he graduates (there is no way that he won't graduate) from the School For Lifemanship?
There are books that the screenplay was adapted from ,called if I remember correctly
Life manship and One upmanship by Stephen Potter
Correct. The character played by Alistair Sim was named after the author of the books, S.Potter.
I’ve been running behind since Death Wish 3, how many do I need to catch up with?
Most of us seem to be behind by a few or more films, so if those like @Agent_99, @Strog or @GoldenGun want me to put this thread/group on hold for a while-maybe a month or so-for us all to get on the same page, I'd be willing.
I knew this would be an issue, especially with me, as we've all got our lives and commitments. When I made this thread I didn't expect my family to get a new dog, for instance, and he's since taken up most of my time and attention for the past two months, an obvious hindrance to running a thread day to day.
I love cinema and would love to discuss these films, but I think it's also important to be mindful of peoples' schedules so that everyone can watch the movies and have something to share. I know we all have interest, but time and energy is another thing. I'm a big Polanski fan and have had Knife in the Water on my watch list for a while, so I do want to jump back in with this one.
Anyone who still wants to participate in this thread can happily provide some feedback on how I can best proceed here with this. Do we need to lengthen the time to watch the films, for instance? I know some movies are hard to track down, especially if they are in another language or obscure movies made in a non-western country, which makes it doubly hard to actually watch particular ones.