Comments on: Hurts So Good

By: The Mick536

The Mick536 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:43:17 +0000

No film critic did it better than Agee. A nut for sure, but without him who would Walker Evans be? Just another photographer, eh. Many Are Called which he wrote the intro to shows the subway in the late 40′s, before graffitti. In Praise of Famous men which he wrote after spending a month with the people whose lives he deatais does as much as Lewis and Clark or the photos of Ansel Adams to show Americans their land. As Woody said, this land is your land, this land is my land, from california to the rio grande.

By: matt b

matt b — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:40:08 +0000

There’s nothing wrong with noticeable style, especially when there’s substance to back it up. Welles’ style is in your face, but it’s motivated by the story and characters, it’s not just goofing around for its own sake.
If only we’d ever get to see Huston starring in his friend Orson’s unfinished film “The Other Side of the Wind.”

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:03:00 +0000

Also, it has to be remembered that Huston was the third guy to try and film “The Maltese Falcon.” To think that “Citizen Kane” came out the same year, in 1941. Those two movies are at the opposite ends of the stylistic spectrum, but both are great. For my money, “Maltese Falcon” is terrific because you don’t notice the style. There is no waste, Huston’s camera shows you exactly what it wants to move the story forward.

If you like Huston, please try and track down “Agee on Film” for Agee’s great essay on the man, “Undirectable Director.”

By: The Mick536

The Mick536 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:43:14 +0000

Am I correct in saying that Houston did not so much adapt Maltese Falcon from the novel as he did copy the Hammett text word for word?

My Houston favorites are: Chinatown (color) and Treasure of Sierra Madre (black and white).

Fat City book and movie are both brilliant works. Need to revisit both, although I have read he book in the near past.

I also heartily recommend Only In America for Bridges fans and aging hippie baby boomers.

By: matt b

matt b — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:53:47 +0000

Alex, it’s really amazing when you look at the diversity of the types of authors he adapted: Malcolm Lowry, Rudyard Kipling, Tennesee Williams, B. Traven, Carson McCullers, Melville, et al, in addition to the ones we already mentioned. As you mentioned, he had started as a screenwriter and I’m sure his father was a pretty literate guy.

Aside from The Maltese Falcon, which turned me on to “old” movies at a young age (Thanks “Million Dollar Movie”) my favorite Huston film is probably The Man Who Would Be King, although I do have a strong affinity for Heaven Knows Mr. Allison.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:44:56 +0000

DIdn’t know that. But am not surprised. Huston after all is the subject of “White Hunter/Black Heart” a merciless characterization. I can’t imagine he was anything but a son of a bitch.

I enjoy his autobiography too and he’s got some nice stuff in there about his camera, editing and filming technique.

By: Dockside Courtesies

Dockside Courtesies — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:40:09 +0000

Nice take on an excellent film. Huston at his best was indeed a superb visual stylist, brilliantly creative in his low-key way. In the early 80s, I went to a screening of Fat City that Susan Tyrrell attended (she won an Oscar for her performance as Keach’s girlfriend). In comments afterwards she mentioned that Huston had sexually assaulted her during the making of the film, and that this had had a devastating effect on her life. She describes the incident on pages 3-4 of this article: http://www.laweekly.com/2000-11-09/news/my-so-called-rotten-life/3

It would seem that for all his charm and talent, Huston was not very far from the character he played in Chinatown. Is it a flaw in my character that despite this backstory, I still find Fat City to be a rather brilliant piece of filmmaking?

Along similar lines, I might mention that Huston’s autobiography is an excellent and very entertaining book.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:15:42 +0000

Matt, that’s a great call, because you are right, Huston was especially great at adapting books. Maybe because he also started as a script writer. I never did see “Wiseblood” but now it’s on the list.

By: Jehosephat

Jehosephat — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:54:13 +0000

Nice Post. I’ve never seen the movie or read the book, but I’m intrigued. I’ll have to check out the book first, though I love Keach and Bridges–Give me The Long Riders and The Big Lebowski any day!

I posted a short story to my blog recently that is relevant. It’s a short bit of fiction that I thought you might like. If you’re so inclined, check it out at http://jonathandanz.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/after-the-golden-times/

By: The Hawk

The Hawk — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:04:27 +0000

I saw this a while back and really liked it, though strangely I don’t remember anything about it, except that I liked it.

By: matt b

matt b — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:35:39 +0000

I haven’t watched the film in years, although I love it. I can never shake that opening sequence of a hungover Keach slowly getting out of flophouse bed to the strains of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The NIght.”

It’s a good year for Huston — Criterion recently issued a DVD of his adaptation of Flannery O’Connor’s great novel “Wise Blood.” It’s one of Huston’s most underrated and underrappreciated films. Great work from Brad Dourif, Harry Dean Stanton & Ned Beatty.

I once asked a great English teacher of mine why it was that so many adaptations of great novels utterly failed as movies, while Huston could adapt writers as diverse as O’Connor, Hammett, Joyce and Richard Condon. His reply, “Because John Huston knew how to READ.”