Miscellaneous Musings - Firefox, Liston, Peanuts Arbor Day, and Levy/Candy

Whether it be the tragic life and death of Sonny Liston (his hardships and fall into criminality is heartbreaking), Natasha Gregson Wagner’s HBO narrated portrait of her mother (Natalie Wood), the Laurel and Hardy team of unlikely heroes (Candy and Levy) as security guards going after a kingpin (Robert Loggia) looking to use union dues to beef up his own criminal enterprise, Eastwood assuming a number of identities within the Soviet Union to steal a Mach 5-6 super jet, Horatio Caine and his CSI: Miami team investigating a death within the world of reality television, or Carlson’s scientist pursuing information on a ship that crashed on earth with alien visitors looking to make repairs (but trying to keep themselves hidden from human interest through an avalanche concealment), not to mention, Charlie Brown and the gang playing baseball on Arbor Day, I had a nice little Mother’s Day weekend.

“Pariah: The Lives and Deaths of Sonny Liston” (2019) covers so much (and still leaves enough mystery to wonder despite figures in the world of boxing and mob history offering their educated guess and/or assessments) about the man, including his awful childhood of abuse (his father used him as a mule and his mom left him for St. Louis, with him soon to follow), growing up on the streets doing what he could to survive (robbing stores), landing in prison, and how boxing helped him to fight out of poverty (and landed him into the world of the mob). There is plenty of conjecture on if Sonny threw fights or allowed a “fix” so the mob made lots of money, staying seated in a match against Ali (and dropped from what looked like an errant punch from Ali in a rematch), his string of impressive victories (hard punches that dropped foes one after another) to the championship no one wanted him to win (against the beloved Patterson), his downfall after Ali, his eventual move from the unappreciative cities of St. Louis (where it was remarked that the sheriff held a gun to his head and told him to leave) and Philadelphia (where no one seemed interested in his championship victory), relocation to Vegas (where he finds friends and enemies in the underworld), and his eventual death (probably from either heroin overdose or murder to keep his mouth shut about the drug world he found himself in voluntarily), which a cop described as horrific (decomp and bloat). Sonny seemed cursed from the start, and without acceptance, often on the wrong side of the law and not as vocally involved in the Civil Rights movement (mentioned because of when Liston was prominent in boxing), while there is also some interesting history on Cassius Clay, Islam, and Malcolm X. Covers a lot of Liston’s life, with experts in boxing, “boxing fixing”, reporters, one of the police that found him, etc. Very informative and depressing. 4/5

Natalie Wood’s death is often so concentrated on that her great career and the folks she touched in her life can be unfortunately overshadowed. Her daughters, Robert Redford (he credits her for his start in Hollywood), “RJ” (Robert Wagner, her husband), Richard Gregson (Natalie’s second husband,right before his death, besought by Parkinson’s), Wagner’s stepson (from a previous marriage), and others in the industry who knew her give testimony on Wood. Covered is a rather eye-raising account of Wood (when she a teenager) in an affair with the much older director Nicholas Ray (“Rebel Without a Cause”), the “hysterical” narcissistic mother always starving for attention (perhaps the relationship worming its way into her performances), rise from child stardom to adult superstardom (“Miracle on 34^th Street” to “Rebel Without a Cause” to “Splendor in the Grass” to “West Side Story” to “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice”), the two marriages to Wagner, raising children in the 70s, and the eventual account (from Wagner to his stepdaughter, Natasha, in a very candid and emotional interview) of her death near Catalina Island. Although the supermarket trash magazines still to this day frame Wagner as a killer, this documentary might just finally put that to rest. Natasha even comments on the supposed urban legend of Natalie’s fear of water (asking who wouldn’t be uncomfortable in dark water, as she swam all the time), having a real gut-wrenching recollection of the experience that fateful night on the boat, including his glasses of wine and spat with Walkin over Natalie’s career. There is plenty of interview clips with Wood discussing her marriages with her husbands, discussion about her affair and brief romance with Warren Beatty, her courtship and first marriage to Wagner, the separation between Wood and Wagner as Wood’s career was on the rise, Wood’s numerous links to different men trying to find love until reuniting with Wagner, and the process of managing stardom and family. Lots of footage from performances, glamour shots, articulated thoughts about Wood’s career, and the open feelings about her as a person, with her loss emphasized. If you love or are fascinated by Wood, “Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind” (2020) could very well satiate fans and those curious. Natasha Gregson Wagner as the voice of this really supports the doc’s authenticity and perhaps sheds enough light to stave off doubts into what happened to Wood. 4/5

I sort of learned my lesson from last week when I dedicated an entire blog review to “Once Upon a Crime” (1992) perhaps not to devote so much time to a lesser-than John Candy comedy (featuring a cast of funny faces). “Armed and Dangerous” (1986) is a comedy I used to watch ALL THE TIME in the late 80s and all throughout the 90s, often catching it when it would reappear on cable. Candy is a framed uniform cop who loses his job thanks to a pair of crooked plain clothes badges (Stroud and Burgos), while a rather lousy attorney (Eugene Levy) is asked to quit his profession by a judge due to how bad at his job he is! Both Candy and Levy find jobs as security guards for Kenneth McMillan’s company, funded by Loggia (who uses this as leverage to organize warehouse thefts through two nasty thugs (Brion James and Jonathan Banks, both of whom made a good living in the 80s as villainous heavies)), eventually set up for the murder of a union manager (James Tolkan, quite a memorable face in a ton of films in the late 70s and 80s), needing to stop an armored truck heist set up by Loggia (including help from the very cops who set up Candy for a crime they committed). Just a marvelous cast of characters including a favorite of mine, Larry Hankin (as a dimbulb bum who lucks into the security guard job), Larry Flash Jenkins (as another braindead bum, having trouble filling out his application), Tony Burton (as a reformed thief that was often a good source of info for Candy) as a fisherman willing to take money from Levy, Kramarov as immigrant Olaf (often partnered with Hankin as quite a naïve, lovable pair of dopes), Tommy Lister (as the muscled guard Candy loves to provoke and make funny facial expressions of), bosomy Judy Landers as a ditzy blond (surprised?) that accompanies Candy to a Loggia party, Meg Ryan as McMillan’s daughter (a prestardom role) and Levy’s romantic interest, with small parts for the likes of David Hess (holding a missile launcher meant for Candy), Bruce Kirby as Candy’s former boss at the police department, Nicholas Worth as a customer in wig and dress at an adult store (who Candy takes as a disguise to slip past the cops who framed him), and Steve Railsback as a very enthusiastic trucker who is willing to drive over traffic to help Candy get to Levy and Ryan’s armored truck in time. There’s a lot of exchanged gunfire and explosions, Candy in pilot leather coat, hat, and scarf on a dying motorbike, Levy rolling his eyes at Candy while trying to figure out why he keeps getting shot at, James and Banks intimidating people, Loggia bossing folks around while threatening them constantly, Levy and Candy assigned to guard garbage and toxic waste, Candy punching out female bodybuilders, Candy punching and biting guard dogs, Candy and Levy’s visit to an adult novelties store (including a peepshow room as a hiding place with plenty of pursuits for quarters) where they lure customers (seemingly frequent visitors interested in playtime) into the back to take their “wardrobe”, and the finale where Ryan and Levy try to keep their armored truck (with all the union dues) from being attacked with plentiful downtown chases and car wreckage. This is a guilty pleasure, even if Ramis wanted his name off the film and yet those involved in its release would have none of it. Candy up in a tree trying to save a little girl’s kitten and Levy involved in saving the day help bring some charm to this comedy, that was critically devalued with a cult fanbase of those like me who grew up with it. 3/5

Clint Eastwood’s “Firefox” (1982) is a bit long to me, I will agree with the majority often complaining about that, and does seem to really care about how Mitchell Gant will journey into the Soviet Union under disguises arranged for him by those opposing the KGB (including scientists assigned to the project of a super jet that can avoid radar detection and move really fucking fast), but I didn’t dislike this nearly as much as all the critics who seemed to shit all over it back when it was released. I found his train station sequence especially riveting as he must find a way to get past checkposts, even punching and choking to death a KGB agent in the bathroom. And the cast (such as Freddie Jones as the brains of the project to get Eastwood in and out of the Soviet Union, quite a character with how he emphasizes his delivery to make a point, Nigel Hawthorne as a scientist realizing he’ll more than likely be killed if Eastwood is successful, Stefan Schnabel as the First Secretary demanding that Lowitsch’s cerebral General outsmart Eastwood with plenty of bark and frustration, Kenneth Colley (of Star Wars) as a Russian Colonel trying to find the infiltrator within his midst, and especially Warren Clarke as Eastwood’s inside man dedicated to getting him to the base even if doing so means he’ll die) is solid top to bottom. I didn’t think the Cold War story—Eastwood clearly cares a lot about—was necessarily as bad as others felt, as much as, it takes up so much time pacing can be a bit of a slog if you are entering the film expecting real action and adventure. When he gets into the experimental craft and escapes the warehouse, hoping to evade the Russian pursuit to stop him from getting the jet back to his American superiors, I think the tension picks up. I do think the sacrifice of action for the Cold War story and infiltration of the Soviet Union espionage plot might work against it for many (just look at how tough critics and some audiences were of it), but I didn’t find it as much a bore as others. And I liked Eastwood in it, although he doesn’t really alter his acting style too much. The English accent all the way through as the Soviets fail to even call Eastwood out on it is a bit questionable, but minor gripe. I think if this had been a 100 minute movie, with some of the middle trimmed, “Firefox” could have been perhaps saved some of the critical savagery. 3/5

Carlson is an astronomer known for his interest in the stars, with Rush a schoolteacher who adores him. The sheriff (Charles Drake) of an Arizona town Carlson flees for a home in the desert (where Joshua trees are common place along with misshapen boulders and lots of dust) thinks Rush shouldn’t be with him, especially when a “meteor” crashes into a mountain, and the astronomer claims is actually a ship from outer space. “It Came from Outer Space” (1953) actually features aliens not wanting to harm humans or even be seen by them but Carlson does see them so eventually others will as well. The aliens (blobs with a protruding eye) can take the forms of humans they “snatch”, needing their “shell” so they can walk among others in town and take from stores electrical supplies needed to repair their ship in order to embark on a mission halted by faulty equipment. But Drake and others threaten these repair plans while Carlson attempts to secure their trust and convince them not to use violence or destroy themselves with a “death ray”. The aliens in their truest form will be considered laughable, but I think the story itself is refreshing. Based on a Bradbury story, directed by the great Jack Arnold, with a very serious Carlson (of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”, a big favorite of mine from Universal as the monster movies were on their way down) in the lead; the film isn’t stupid and the change of how the aliens are presented is different than what you often see in the 50s, a decade that often considered those from outer space as dangerous. The Theremin score gets the work to stress out viewers wondering if the aliens can be trusted, especially when humans (like Russell Johnson’s electrician and Joe Sawyer, Johnson’s boss) are scooped up, surrounded by fog and this “hand”. When in human form, the flesh is pallid and their tone is cold and monotone, so you can tell when the aliens are in control. I have liked this little sci-fi movie ever since I first saw it, and when Turner Classics shows it I almost always watch it again. I have probably watched this almost as much as “Forbidden Planet”. 4/5

“It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown!” (1974) was one special I missed back in April because that month in 2020 was fucking hell thanks to the pandemic. It hasn’t went away, far from it, but I was in a much better place psychologically, not quite the mental wreck I was the second and third week of April when the tanking economy led to 40 people being dumped from my company (a small fraction of the millions that are out of work, hoping unemployment checks will eventually arrive to help them pay bills), good friends and workers through no fault of their own called while at home. Anyway, I was reminded of Arbor Day through Facebook and I had never knew about this Peanuts cartoon special until I picked up the Easter special DVD, which included this as a bonus. I watched this with my son late Saturday night, the two of us quite entertained by this. Chuck just wants to win one game, the big opening season baseball game against Peppermint Patty’s team, but Sally, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock all contribute to building a huge garden, with roses and a big tree on the pitcher’s mound at the baseball park! Sally has a book report to prepare for specifically about Arbor Day, so Linus leads her to the library (with Snoopy and Woodstock tagging along) where she can’t help but swoon for him while he gives out a dread of “Good grief” as he runs for his life with her following in pursuit. Snoopy, meanwhile, entertains himself with a book on dog behavior while Woodstock looks on puzzled. Snoopy is so entered, he copies pages from the book while laughing aloud, eventually making a copy of Woodstock when his eyes are closed. Poor Woodstock…it seems like Snoopy continues to dump water on him. Like when planting seeds to harvest on the field, Woodstock is often trounced in the wet. Patty holds Chuck’s hand at the end, making him blush, the two with one of those brief, cutesy moments. Schroeder gets caught in a problem when he promises to kiss Lucy if she hits a homerun and does…when she decides not to because Schroeder’s puckered lips dissatisfied her, I couldn’t help but smile. Chuck still doesn’t win, because, despite being up a run with one more out, all of a sudden thunderclouds arrive and rain floods the field! Schroeder is off the hook and Chuck, despite still not getting that elusive victory, held Patty’s hand. Oh, and Sally did well on her book report about Arbor Day. There is even Linus’ brother, on the back of his mother’s bike, letting us know about the activities of the day—and there are plenty as his mom is quite the busy woman with her PTAs, shopping, etc.—gets some shine in this special. I thought this often over-looked special (I didn’t know about it and I’m sure others might not as well) was a lot of fun, and getting kids to plant trees isn’t a bad message. I thought the mix of baseball and gardening is a hoot, but if I had watched this in April, it would have reminded me of what is currently missing at the moment thanks to this fucking pandemic. 4/5

In the CSI: Miami episode, "Reality Kills" the Horatio Caine team must investigate the murder of a reality television star actually killed with an ice spike from a frozen ice sculpture of the Statue of Liberty! That discovery is quite a doozy. Involved are fake Jersey accents, a new drug that puts a kid in a coma, outsiders as suspects who turn out to be red herring such as the brother of the coma victim punching out the bad boy cast member for selling pills at a club and an animal rights activist with a pellet gun, spray tan residue used as the smoking gun, pregnancy of the victim and marriage revealing a reason for motive, one of the cast studying to be a priest despite playing the role of a partying sex stud, and the killer actually revealed as a MIT grad with huge debt. Lots of surprises,  foot race chases frenetically shot, Caine quipping threats, reality show jabs, etc. 3/5