The Case Against Brooklyn (1958)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Case Against Brooklyn (1958) – P. Wendkos

Based on a true story, Darren McGavin plays the rookie cop who is assigned to go undercover to expose a bookie ring that has protection from a group of corrupt cops (who receive a pay-off).  It starts out Dragnet-style as a police procedural, seemingly narrated by the Chief of Police or District Attorney.  But at a certain point, the narration is left behind and we stick with Private Pete Harris (McGavin) as he tries to get evidence against the local “horse shop” and to find out who the kingpin is. The interesting twist is that Harris is not really a nice guy.  When he needs to get some information out of a widow whose husband has committed suicide after being roughed up by the bookies for big debts, he doesn’t hesitate to romance her, even telling is partner that he would “go all the way” if he had to.  His wife wouldn’t need to know – although, of course, later she finds out, when the widow suspects Pete is not all he suggests he is (an out-of-town businessman) and looks him up in the phone book (he is using his real name!) to find his home address. At any rate, after his partner is killed and things go even more sour on the case, Pete turns in his badge and goes rogue (something Jackie Chan has also done on a few occasions) -- yes, it is a cliché and this late noir is full of them (including stealing some plot twists from Lang’s The Big Heat, 1953).  It all plays out a bit like a TV drama but with added violence (for the time).  However, with no real sympathetic characters, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.  As noir should.    

Argentina, 1985 (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Argentina, 1985 (2022) – S. Mitre

Whenever I see Argentinian star Ricardo Darín (such as in Nine Queens, 2000; The Aura, 2005; The Secret in Their Eyes, 2009; or Farhadi’s Everybody Knows, 2018), I’m always impressed. This film, which won the 2023 Golden Globe for Best Non-English Language Picture, casts him as the public prosecutor, Julio Strassera, who is charged with trying the case against the military dictators (in the Trial of the Juntas) who took over Argentina (from Isabel Perón) in a 1976 coup and ruled the country until democratic elections resumed in 1983. During the Juntas’ reign, they carried out a “dirty war” of “disappearances”, torture, and murder against those suspected of opposing them (many young people).  Despite the stated policy of the new government (of President Raúl Alfonsín) to hold the Juntas accountable, Strassera doubts that the prosecution will be allowed to win or, if they do, that anything more than token punishments would be meted out by the federal judges who will provide the ruling and sentencing. The film portrays him as an underdog and this is reinforced when he can only gather a team of inexperienced young lawyers to support him. Even as they gather the horrific evidence by interviewing surviving victims and their families, the film begins hitting the notes of the feel-good drama. The courtroom scenes give voice to those who have been violated and it feels like a real win for social justice when Strassera delivers his closing arguments (“Never Again!”). The fact that only a small number of the Juntas are given life sentences is the only downbeat note here (and in fact, according to Wikipedia, they were pardoned in the 1990s – and then had their convictions reinstated a decade after that). So, what could have been a more nuanced and subtle examination of the issues at play turned into something a bit more Hollywood (albeit in Spanish) – I would have given the Golden Globe to Decision to Leave (Park Chan-Wook). Nevertheless, this sort of history lesson, about the need to stay vigilant against fascism, is always welcome.

 

Woman on the Run (1950)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Woman on the Run (1950) – N. Foster

Above average noir, recently restored with the assistance of Eddie Muller’s Film Noir Foundation and streaming everywhere (it seems). We open as Frank Johnson is walking his dog in San Francisco late at night. He hears loud voices from a car parked on a road on the hill above and then a man falls out of the car and shots ring out. The killer sees Frank and fires two shots at him which miss.  The killer flees in his car and Frank rushes up to find the dead man and shouts to his neighbours at their windows to call the police.  When the police arrive, they tell Frank that he must identify the killer in a line-up and then testify to a grand jury investigating the mob about what he saw (the victim was about to give state’s evidence). Frank doesn’t much like this and at the first opportunity he high-tails it out of there.  So, the police turn to his wife, Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), who it seems doesn’t much like Frank, for assistance to find him.  When he does call, she warns him off.  However, she is convinced by money offered by an eager but cynical newspaperman, Legget (Dennis O’Keefe), to search for Frank. The rest of the movie involves the hunt for Frank with both the police, the gang, and Eleanor all chasing up clues that he’s left behind. Along the way, there is some great location shooting in SF, she learns that she’s still in love, and the film concludes at the beach with some scary rollercoaster scenes. There’s a twist or two and both O’Keefe and Sheridan sparkle.   

 

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022) – P. McKay & J. D. Payne

The pull of J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy universe is strong and so, when we accidentally signed up for a free trial of Amazon Prime, the kids urged me to let them watch the new series based on the old books. Having read and loved the books as a child (and enjoyed the spectacle of the movies), I acquiesced. Across eight episodes, this first series (of a promised five) weaves together numerous plot strands to begin telling the story of how the One Ring (that Bilbo found and Frodo destroyed) and its (eventually) subsidiary rings (3 for the elves, 7 for the dwarves, 9 for the humans) were forged in the Second Age of Middle Earth (thousands of years before The Hobbit). Galadriel (later Cate Blanchett, now Morfydd Clark) is part of this story, although we first meet her during a quest to find out if and where the vanquished evil minions of defeated Morgoth, including right-hand man Sauron, have fled… if they have survived at all.  But of course, they have and soon orcs are pillaging in the human-controlled territory of the Southlands (in which we meet a number of characters, both human and elf). Will they receive assistance? Perhaps the other human colony on the island of Numenor can be called on for help? We follow a number of other players there, especially after Galadriel finds her way there alongside the lost king of the Southlands, Halbrand (Charlie Vickers). Elsewhere, high elf Elrond (later Hugo Weaving, now Robert Aramayo) negotiates with Prince Durin IV (Owain Arthur) of the dwarves to secure the necessary force to build the forge and metal (mithril) to make the rings. Finally, we do see hobbits, er, harfoots, a migratory subspecies who stumble upon a giant who appears to have fallen from the sky inside a meteorite. I may have forgotten a subplot or two (and the many different human characters did become a bit of a blur when I was too distracted) but I think we’ve caught the main thrust of the story so far. Given that this is projected to be the most expensive TV series ever made (thanks to Jeff Bezos’s deep pockets), it does look impressive (with more real special effects than CGI, I’m told). But is the pull of J. R. R. Tolkien strong enough to get us to sign up for Amazon Prime to watch any future series? A shock twist at the end of series one has already encouraged my son to ask how much a single month of Prime might cost…