Montgomery Clift

Monty

“Failure and its accompanying misery is for the artist his most vital source of creative energy.” Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift in New York City, 1948. Photograph by (c) Karl Bissinger. fotofolio.com postcard.

Photo by Ida Wyman

   How much deconstruction can one man stand? I don't know. Let's find out. Mid century heart throb? Gay icon? Beautiful loser? Call him what you will. Monty put himself out there. He was nothing, if not conflicted about his sexuality. At a time when people were being black balled and black mailed due to their sexuality, he exuded a nonchalance about the whole thing. Maybe he was gay, maybe he was bisexual, maybe he was straight. Perhaps, (gasp) he didn't care.
     Yet at the end of the day, he had to go to bed with himself and he did care. His self flagellation with pills, alcohol and psychoanalysis proved that he did.  I mean, what gay man wouldn't have given his right nut to have Elizabeth Taylor (Bessie Mae) as his enabler? 
   Today, it's difficult for some people to understand the self loathing and contempt that gay men felt for themselves 'back in the day'.  Now we have Gay Pride, and Broadway shows like Angels In America, and The Boys In The Band to tell our story.
   Back then, Monty had nothing.  As a result his death has been deemed 'The slowest suicide in Hollywood'. That's the saddest thing of all.

Matt (Montgomery Clift) - You're going to wind up branding every rump in Texas except mine.

Thomas (John Wayne) - Hand me that iron.

Publicity photo from 'A Place In The Sun'

“Then, there on the screen I saw Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor. An American Tragedy, a film I'd seen at least twice, not that it was all that great, but still it was very good" - Truman Capote

"He's the only person I know in worse shape than I am." Marilyn Monroe

The Misfits

Monty at Paestum, an old Greek colony south of Naples. Photo by Kevin McCarthy. From Patricia Bosworth's Montgomery Clift: A Biography.

Reference Links:

CMG

LA Times

You Must Remember This Podcast #20 Liz and Monty

Here's The Thing Podcast Patricia Bosworth

Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Tennessee Williams. Sublime.

Return To Brokeback Mountain

Love Is A Force Of Nature

By Preston Sinclair

Ennis! Quit yer hammerin' and get in here! - Jack Twist

     This is how it all gets started. Baby, it's cold outside, alcohol is involved, one thing leads to another and boom you're in love. I watch Brokeback Mountain every year during the late winter, early spring here in Northern New York. Somehow I can relate to movies which involve cold weather and snow storms. This story always warms the cockles of my heart.
     I remember driving an hour with a friend to Syracuse NY to the nearest cinema that would screen this ground breaking movie. As we stood in line I looked around me and saw nervous guys with salt and pepper gautees wearing leather bomber jackets standing next to their girlfriends who flaunted their auburn Jennifer Anniston haircuts and brown lipstick.  I thought to myself,'OMG, this is a chick flick."

He was a friend of mine. -Willie Nelson

     While it could easily have been watered down into a bromance flick in order to get it made by the studios, the story remains intact as a love story between two men. In Annie Proulx's short story she writes, 'There were only two of them on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air...' Little did they know Joe Aguirre was watching through his binoculars while they were 'stemmin' the rose.'  In one pivotal scene after Jack and Ennis have learned that they have to leave the mountain, unable to cope or communicate their feelings, they decide the only thing that they know how to do is wrestle around and beat the crap out of each other.  A classic example of the theme man vs man.
     Brokeback Mountain is based on the short story from Annie Proulx's anthology Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Larry McMurty and Dianna Ossana pain stakingly and with much love translated every sentence into the finished screenplay which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 78th Annual Academy Awards.

(C) Universal 

     Director Ang Lee brilliantly marries the gorgeous cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto to the haunting original score by Gustavo Santaolalla to create this classic film.  The images by Rodrigo Prieto look like Ansel Adams photographs in color.  There's a nice homage to the film The Misfits in the scene where Ennis and Alma are at the drive-in involving Marilyn Monroe character and Montgomery Clift character.  The Misfits is a classic film directed by John Huston in black and white about the last days of the cowboys in the early sixties.
    Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack beautifully supports the theme of loneliness and longing between Jack and Ennis, while at the same time advancing the story. In a key scene, Mary McBride seems to channel Patsy Cline as she croons  'No One Can Love You Like Me,' while Jack Twist and Lureen hook up on the dance floor.  Can I just say right now how much I love Patsy Cline.

RIP buddy

    This movie probably wouldn't have been made without Heath Ledger.  His lean 6' 2" cave chested frame fit Annie Proulx's description perfectly. Ang Lee said that he had thought about Heath Ledger as Ennis for several years prior to the producton of the movie. It's Ennis's hoarse choked voice that brings the arc of the story to it's natural conclusion when he whispers,"Jack, I swear."
     Today, I'm able to proudly say that Brokeback Mountain is one of my favorite movies of all time.  Not everyone has seen it yet, but I'm still hoping to change that.

References:

Slate: Men In Love

Out: 10 Years On  
IMDB: Brokeback Mountain
CinemaQueer: Go Tell It On The Mountain 

Swiss Army Man

Why Do We Have To Die Before We Can Live?

By Preston Sinclair

"I have so many questions about everything you just said."

                             Manny

     If you like to watch films that include discussions about flatulence,masturbation and erections then you might just like 'Swiss Army Man'. I use the word 'might' because sometimes this film is just TMI.

     Swiss Army Man, directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for which they won Best Director at The Sundance Film Festival,is a joyous romp through lush green fern filled forests. Consider it an experiment in magical thinking (think Life Of Pi without all the CGI).  There are plenty of practical stunts to keep us engaged in the action, yet they don't take us out of the moment. It's only later that we wonder, 'Wow, how did they do that?' There's an excellent documentary about the behind the scenes making of Swiss Army Man in the Special Features section of the DVD.

   This isn't a film for the faint of heart. It's kind of a bro-mance road trip in a wooden bus.  The story turns what could have been a vulgar frat boy gag sideways as it delves into the realm of existentialism and asks the hard questions, 'What am I doing here? Why am I still here?'

  Manny (Daniel Radcliffe) earnestly asks questions like, 'If you're hiding your farts from me, what else are you hiding?' Hank(Paul Dano) turns out to be more duplicitous and self serving in his answers. Hank soon realizes that he has a captive audience in Manny who has no memory of anything before he died.  As a result, Hank tries to create an alternative history that is more to his liking up to the time he tried to commit suicide.

  There's a certain beauty and simplicity about Swiss Army Man which is engaging in a compulsive sort of way. Yet, if you try to hang on to it too long it begins to smell like a rotting corpse. Eventually, you have to let it go, which is what Hank should have done with Manny.

Reference links:

IMDB  

Breakfast At Tiffany's: Book vs Movie

Hello!? You People Are Crushing Me

By Preston Sinclair

 

   Orangey, the animal actor who plays the role of Cat in the film adaptation of Truman Capote's novella Breakfast At Tiffany's, chews up the scenery in a way that would make even Meryl Streep proud.

    Holly Golightly vapidly purrs, 'Poor slob, poor slob without a name,' as she tickles Cat's head.  Holly Golightly has been forever glamorized and romanticized by the movie starring Audrey Hepburn.  She plays it cool as a mid-century modern glamour puss. Really, she's kind of a bitch. I mean, who wouldn't name their own cat?  If you think the scene where Holly kicks Cat out of the cab is heart wrenching in the movie. It's even more brutal in the book. When they go back to look for him, he's gone. Smart cat.

     Speaking of pets, let's dish about kept men like Paul Varjak, played by George Peppard. Talk about the Pillsbury Dough Boy, this movie was made back in the day before you needed six pack abs to be sexy. He reminds me of a Golden Retriever puppy, always smiling and drooling in an eager to please way. As the narrator of the book he's more of a crisp cool hipster wanna-be.
    

Holly throws shade {c} LA Times

One problem I have with this movie is that the character played by Patricia Niel doesn't even appear in Capote's novella.  This sub plot in the movie just doesn't jive,man. It's almost like she was written in as a 'beard' for Varjak.

    While we don't know for a fact that Paul is gay, his sexual preference is at best ambiguous. Capote's dialog and innuendo in the novella imply that he is. Paul does profess a certain plutonic love for Holly. Actually, it's more of an obsession.
    As a result, Holly's moral recrimination of Paul in the movie rings hollow and false to me when she says 'You have four seconds to leave, I'll give you two...' It's as if she's saying that,'It's worse to be a gigolo, or gay, than to be a whore like me.'
     The opening line of Capote's short novel is, "I am always drawn back to places where I have lived..." This sense of nostalgia permeates the story and it translates well in the film thanks to Blake Edward's deft direction.  The scenes of New York City are beautiful and haunting at the same time.
     This is what makes Breakfast At Tiffany's such a gem.

Reference Links:

Orangey: IMDB