John Frankenheimer on Blu-ray

[SeanJoyce]

A master of the action film and perhaps THE statesman of the political thriller, Frankenheimer had one of the greatest decades for any director with his astounding run in the 60s. His unsung collaborative relationship with Burt Lancaster is a high point for either man.

A few bullet-points for me:

The Train is a practically flawless piece of war/action craftsmanship. Every beat and every measure is perfectly synchronized, like a trusty grandfather clock that's never failed to chime the correct time. I love the juxtaposition between Lancaster's resilient freedom fighter and Scofield's determined SS officer, and their opposing reasons for savings these priceless pieces of French art. The following year's Von Ryan's Express was also a cracking train-set WWII yarn, but it's swallowed up by this tentacled beast.

Seven Days in May is my personal favorite film from him; just an absolute corker of political suspense intrigue. It's probably the best-cast thriller of all time, and the climactic verbal showdown between March's proud president and Lancaster's insidious general is one of the most scintillating examples of screen acting and scripted dialogue.

Black Sunday is yet another gem of geopolitical thrills, led by a triumvirate of excellent performances: the always-fantastic Robert Shaw as a world-weary Israeli commando, Marthe Keller as an impassioned (German-born) Middle Eastern terrorist and, best of all, Bruce Dern as a damaged and unhinged Vietnam veteran caught between them. I think it's Dern's best performance, and the film is one of my most-wanted in the HD format. Like most of Frankenheimer's other films, it hasn't dated (effects notwithstanding) and is actually more relevant in today's combustible climate.

An uneven but talented guy, I'd love to hear what people have to say about his films!

[lilboyblu]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

(I can't find the UK release of The Manchurian Candidate, so if anybody could help me out it'd be much appreciated!)

UK Manchurian Candidate.


This is a US release.



This is the UK release.


To see all John Frankenheimer Blu-rays worldwide, go here: https://www.blu-ray.com/John-Franken.../67153/#Bluray, and then click the All countries in the search bar at the top of the page.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

[Show spoiler]UK Manchurian Candidate.


This is a US release.



This is the UK release.


All John Frankenheimer Blu-rays worldwide: https://www.blu-ray.com/John-Franken.../67153/#Bluray

Looks better, cheers!

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Black Sunday is yet another gem of geopolitical thrills, led by a triumvirate of excellent performances: the always-fantastic Robert Shaw as a world-weary Israeli commando, pre-Marathon Man Marthe Keller as an impassioned (German-born) Middle Eastern terrorist and, best of all, Bruce Dern as a damaged and unhinged Vietnam veteran caught between them. I think it's Dern's best performance, and the film is one of my most-wanted in the HD format. Like most of Frankenheimer's other films, it hasn't dated (effects notwithstanding) and is actually more relevant in today's combustible climate.

Frankenheimer is one of my favorite directors, and BLACK SUNDAY is in my top 5 favorite films ever.

It's brilliantly and boldly plotted, because Thomas Harris (in what was, for decades, his only non-Hannibal Lecter novel) had the inspired realization that a protagonist needs an active goal. Trying to stop something from happening is not an active goal. Thus, the terrorists are structurally the protagonists of the film, and the Mossad agent tasked with stopping them functions as the antagonist. Harris and the filmmakers both really embraced that, and we see huge portions of the film solely from the POV of the terrorists. It's like Hitchcock said in some interview once, as long as a villain has a goal, the audience will subconsciously root for them, even if they're evil and we know they want to do bad things.

It has by FAR the most nuanced understanding of international terrorism of any popular film ever made. I made a friend of mine who's a journalist in the Middle East watch it, and he was dubious, because he thinks all films handling terrorism get everything wrong, but afterwards he agreed with me about this one.

Keller is MAGNIFICENT in it. (One correction, she made this after Marathon Man, not before).

One of my favorite scenes in all of cinema is the MASSIVE monologue Bruce Dern has when he breaks down, it goes for pages and pages and he delivers it with some of the greatest screen acting I've ever seen - "I was looking at the shadow more than I was looking at my own wife and kids!"

But Keller's reactions to all this are just as brilliant, and how she handles him, everything about it is just staggering.

I find it to be a fascinatingly feminist piece. Margaret Atwood (the author of The Handmaid's Tale) once said (to paraphrase) that the lazy definition of feminism is just putting one-dimensional saintly women in the foreground of a piece. Real feminism is showing that women can be as complicated as men, but also as smart and even devious. Dahlia Iyad is possibly my favorite female character in all of cinema, because we completely understand her psychology, she makes complete sense as a complex, nuanced character, even though she's doing something monstrous, and she's also trying to do it as a woman, in a world where that isn't easy.

And that's not to mention the two best scenes of exposition I've ever seen in any film - there's Robert Shaw in the hospital, arms behind his head to show his Auschwitz tattoo, as he rattles off the names of his wife who died at Auschwitz and sons, who died in the Israeli army in 1967 and 1971, but says his daughter lives "In Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Israel." The pride with which he says that is ALL you need to understand his character completely.

And then there's the scene where the Egyptian embassy guy reads him Dahlia's bio of suffering and misery, and then shows him her photo and says "Here's her photo. Take a good look at it. After all, in a way, she's your creation." Genius. Genius. Genius.

There's John Williams's score, easily in his top ten. I once went to a retrospective screening series before a concert he gave in Washington, and my understanding was that he was involved in choosing the films they showed, and Black Sunday was one.

Then there's the fact that about 1/4 of the film takes place AT A REAL SUPER BOWL, WITH A REAL GOODYEAR BLIMP. You could never even imagine making this today. And only John Frankenheimer, with his background in live TV, could have shot the entire act three of a huge film like this film in ONE SINGLE DAY. (I know, I know, there are lots of inserts he picked up later, but the bulk of act three was filmed in a single day, with no chance for second takes.)

The entire film is just magnificent on every level.

I've probably watched it fifty times, and I'm in awe every time I see it.

Thus, this hangs on my wall:

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

[Show spoiler]Frankenheimer is one of my favorite directors, and BLACK SUNDAY is in my top 5 favorite films ever.

It's brilliantly and boldly plotted, because Thomas Harris (in what was, for decades, his only non-Hannibal Lecter novel) had the inspired realization that a protagonist needs an active goal. Trying to stop something from happening is not an active goal. Thus, the terrorists are structurally the protagonists of the film, and the Mossad agent tasked with stopping them functions as the antagonist. Harris and the filmmakers both really embraced that, and we see huge portions of the film solely from the POV of the terrorists. It's like Hitchcock said in some interview once, as long as a villain has a goal, the audience will subconsciously root for them, even if they're evil and we know they want to do bad things.

It has by FAR the most nuanced understanding of international terrorism of any popular film ever made. I made a friend of mine who's a journalist in the Middle East watch it, and he was dubious, because he thinks all films handling terrorism get everything wrong, but afterwards he agreed with me about this one.

Keller is MAGNIFICENT in it. (One correction, she made this after Marathon Man, not before).

One of my favorite scenes in all of cinema is the MASSIVE monologue Bruce Dern has when he breaks down, it goes for pages and pages and he delivers it with some of the greatest screen acting I've ever seen - "I was looking at the shadow more than I was looking at my own wife and kids!"

But Keller's reactions to all this are just as brilliant, and how she handles him, everything about it is just staggering.

I find it to be a fascinatingly feminist piece. Margaret Atwood (the author of The Handmaid's Tale) once said (to paraphrase) that the lazy definition of feminism is just putting one-dimensional saintly women in the foreground of a piece. Real feminism is showing that women can be as complicated as men, but also as smart and even devious. Dahlia Iyad is possibly my favorite female character in all of cinema, because we completely understand her psychology, she makes complete sense as a complex, nuanced character, even though she's doing something monstrous, and she's also trying to do it as a woman, in a world where that isn't easy.

And that's not to mention the two best scenes of exposition I've ever seen in any film - there's Robert Shaw in the hospital, arms behind his head to show his Auschwitz tattoo, as he rattles off the names of his wife who died at Auschwitz and sons, who died in the Israeli army in 1967 and 1971, but says his daughter lives "In Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Israel." The pride with which he says that is ALL you need to understand his character completely.

And then there's the scene where the Egyptian embassy guy reads him Dahlia's bio of suffering and misery, and then shows him her photo and says "Here's her photo. Take a good look at it. After all, in a way, she's your creation." Genius. Genius. Genius.

There's John Williams's score, easily in his top ten. I once went to a retrospective screening series before a concert he gave in Washington, and my understanding was that he was involved in choosing the films they showed, and Black Sunday was one.

Then there's the fact that about 1/4 of the film takes place AT A REAL SUPER BOWL, WITH A REAL GOODYEAR BLIMP. You could never even imagine making this today. And only John Frankenheimer, with his background in live TV, could have shot the entire act three of a huge film like this film in ONE SINGLE DAY. (I know, I know, there are lots of inserts he picked up later, but the bulk of act three was filmed in a single day, with no chance for second takes.)

The entire film is just magnificent on every level.

I've probably watched it fifty times, and I'm in awe every time I see it.

Thus, this hangs on my wall:

Really great post; this is a movie that's needed a larger audience for a while now.

I agree with all you wrote, and always marvel at the technical craftsmanship of the (live) Superbowl scenes, blimp effects be damned. I had no idea it was all filmed in one day, which is nearly impossible to fathom. The unfortunate marketing of these scenes made the movie look like every other "disaster" movie that was all the vogue that decade (and indeed, this would be a pretty sufficient double bill with Two-Minute Warning), as opposed to the smart and engrossing thriller it is.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Steven Keats as Shaw's fierce lieutenant. He didn't make a ton of movies, but he never failed to make an impression on me.

Always great to encounter another fan, the Blu-ray release will be a cause for celebration

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I agree with all you wrote, and always marvel at the technical craftsmanship of the (live) Superbowl scenes, blimp effects be damned. I had no idea it was all filmed in one day, which is nearly impossible to fathom.

There are two books of interviews with Frankenheimer that are essential to understand how he worked. They both, bizarrely, were written by men who followed Frankenheimer for years and interviewed him regularly, and each has a chapter on each film. I have no earthly idea why the two men didn't merge their efforts into one book. Frankenheimer told them each unique info, so you really need both:


https://www.amazon.com/John-Frankenh...dp/1880756099/


https://www.amazon.com/Films-Franken...dp/0934223475/

Be VERY careful, there is an earlier 1969 edition of the Pratley book that only covers his first few films. You want the 1998 edition, which covers almost his whole career.

As for Black Sunday. He talks about the filming in both.

The lion's share of act three was all filmed in one day at the real Super Bowl X.

Frankenheimer was friends with the head of Goodyear, from having made Grand Prix, and Paramount head Robert Evans, who was personally producing the film, was friends with the head of the NFL, so they got unprecedented permission to film at a real Super Bowl with a real Goodyear blimp.

The exception is the final portion, with the blimp

[Show spoiler]crashing into the stadium

. That would obviously have been unsafe to film that day, so they came back later, and filled a portion of the stadium with thousands of extras provided by the United Way charity, in exchange for Frankenheimer directing a PSA for them, narrated by Robert Shaw.

But all the most spectacular footage in act three is totally real, there are very few effects used. Frankenheimer said he was able to accomplish this because he actually knew many of the CBS crew filming the game, from his live television days, and he was able to disguise a lot of his motion picture crew as CBS crew, so they could be in the shots and yet not stand out.

A documentary on the logistics of making this would be AMAZING on a future BD. It's a tragedy Frankenheimer never recorded a commentary before he passed, his commentaries are uniformly the best I've ever heard.

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

The unfortunate marketing of these scenes made the movie look like every other "disaster" movie that was all the vogue that decade (and indeed, this would be a pretty sufficient double bill with Two-Minute Warning), as opposed to the smart and engrossing thriller it is.

Yep, it's heartbreaking that this film never found an audience, and still hasn't. I work in the film industry and mention it to almost everyone I meet, haha, and uniformly, nobody has ever even heard of it. Tragic.

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I'd also like to give a shout out to Richard Jordan as Shaw's fierce second-in-command. He didn't make a ton of movies, but he never failed to make an impression on me.

I believe you're actually thinking of Steven Keats:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Keats

Richard Jordan is not in Black Sunday.

I actually find Keats to be the one weak link. My understanding is that he was a stage actor first, and his performance is too big and theatrical for me. I also find his Israeli accent to be over the top and forced, unlike Shaw's which feels lived-in and natural.

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Always great to encounter another fan, the Blu-ray release will be a cause for celebration

Same here! I still hold out hope for a BD of this, the Paramount floodgates really haven't been open for long, so I still think there's a good chance before physical media totally vanishes.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by James Luckard

I believe you're actually thinking of Steven Keats

Thank you for the mountain of information, as well as the book recommendations...I can easily foresee myself picking up one, or both. It indeed is funny that the two writers didn't just pile their research together.

And you're right, I was thinking of Keats; I confused him with Jordan because they were both in The Friends of Eddie Coyle together (Keats is actually the namesake of Tarantino's future Jackie Brown there!)

Actually, with nothing on the docket tonight I think I'll revisit Black Sunday after too many years.

Cheers

[James Luckard]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Thank you for the mountain of information, as well as the book recommendations...

It's always dangerous to get me started talking about this particular movie, haha, a friend made that mistake just last week and got a five minute dissertation on why he HAD to watch it before we talked again, haha.

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Actually, with nothing on the docket tonight I think I'll revisit Black Sunday after too many years.

Cheers

Sounds like a great plan!