Ted KotcheffReseñas

D (Bad).

A formerly wealthy couple try to keep up appearances. I gave up after 30 minutes. I tell myself I'll give any movie 30 minutes before noping out, but this was a painful 30 minutes to get through.

(Dec. 2023)½

Un ragazzo ebreo di Montreal ha l'ossessione atavica di diventare ricco per potersi comprare un pezzo di terra. Riuscirà nell'intento facendo la felicità del padre, un tassista malridotto dall'alcol, ma dovrà diventare una carogna e perderà la ragazza che l'amava. (fonte: Mymovies)

2022 movie #179. 1965. After marrying the boss' daughter (Simmons) and having an affair with a beautiful TV star (Blackman), Englishman (Harvey) still doesn't have what he wants, acceptance by the upper class. Good acting by the leads in this story of class in 1960's England.

Two idiots don't tell anyone that a party's host is dead.

3/4 (Good)

It takes a while to get going - about a half hour before Bernie even dies. I almost gave up on it before it got to the jokes. But it eventually builds up to some excellent physical comedy. It's weird that I happened to watch this on the same day as a Laurel & Hardy movie, because this is 100% a Laurel & Hardy movie.

(Jul. 2021)½

Paul Fein is a veteran police detective whose son Eddie is also a cop. Paul is assigned to investigate the murder of a prominent businessman, and he soon learns that the field of suspects has been narrowed down to two—the victim’s sexually freewheeling wife Anna, and Paul’s wild-child daughter Jackie. Neither Paul nor Eddie believe that Jackie could have committed the murder, and soon Paul is using himself as a decoy in a bid to find out more about what Anna does and doesn’t know about her husband’s death.(fonte: imdb)

The story of a Jewish writer, from his life as a young boy in Montreal to his more complicated grown-up life. (fonte: imdb)

The younger son of a working-class Jewish family in Montreal, Duddy Kravitz yearns to make a name for himself in society. This film chronicles his short and dubious rise to power, as well as his changing relationships with family and friends. Along the way the film explores the themes of anti-semitism and the responsibilities which come with adulthood. (fonte: imdb)

Based on the novel by Kenneth Cook, with a screenplay by Evan Jones and directed by Canadian Ted Kotcheff, this is a disturbing, slow-paced meditation on the veneer of civilisation and how barbarity lies buried just below the surface. John Grant (Gary Bond) is a young indentured teacher working in a small town deep in the Australian outback. When the school breaks for Christmas he travels to Bundayabba (the "Yabba") to catch a flight back to Sydney and his girlfriend. He pops into a pub for a quick pint but quickly finds himself sucked into a session, where he loses all his money gambling. Descending into drunkenness with the locals, including the alcoholic Doc Tydon (Donald Pleasance), Grant rapidly descends into degenerate depravity.

"Wake in Fright" is a strange, baffling film directed with an almost documentary eye by Ted Kotcheff. The film works on a deep psychological level, with Kotcheff managing to make absolutely everything look uncomfortable - the heat, the isolation, the locations and the people. There is a tangible feeling that anything might happen and that anything might go wrong at any moment; no doubt assisted by the non-stop boozing that happens throughout. The dialogue is sparse and the hyperbolic macho, mateyness has a feel of menace; indeed much of it has an underlying feel of gay panic (which becomes disturbingly overt at one stage) The vast vistas are astounding and brilliantly captured by cinematographer Brian West, while the music by John Scott adds a dislocating background thrum. The lead actors are very good - Gary Bond cleverly handles John's rapid descent (with some sharp editing helping us get inside his head) while Donald Pleasance is brilliant as the drink-sodden, philosophical doctor. There are points in the film, however, where Pleasance appears to be having too much fun and getting a little too deeply into the spirit of the thing. The rest of the cast have a real authentic feel about them that adds to strange atmosphere of the film.

Although hugely thoughtful and "enjoyable" (if that's the correct word) "Wake in Fright" is a film that is difficult to know exactly what to make of it all on a first viewing. More than one watch appears essential to get into all the nuances of this strange, disturbing film.

Small town cops give a Vietnam vet a hard time, and he fights back.

But don't talk to me about the sequels. It's like the people who made those things never even saw this movie.

Concept: B
Story: A
Characters: A
Dialog: D
Pacing: A
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: B

Enjoyment: A plus

GPA: 3.2/4

(Apr. 2010)

Adversity

Action

92 minutos

93 minutos