The Web Haunt of Ryan K Lindsay

I love old flicks. Well, obviously only the good ones, but there is a distinct feeling when you watch an old flick, anything from the 60’s or below. You get a vibe like history is taking place, I love it. I used to watch the old midday movies when I was a kid, and back then you got quality midday movies fresh out of the way back machine. You could score some Hitchcock for sure on a Saturday arvo. Nowadays you only get crappy movies from the 90’s because to these kids, those things are olde school. I miss having a bit of Elvis on the screens, or Jimmy Stewart popping in.

I can remember watching The Man Who Knew Too Much with my mum when I was a youngling. It was awesome, from there I sampled lots of Hitch quality, The Birds, Vertigo, my favourite is Rear Window. I eventually saw Psycho and realised it kind of deserved all of its hype.

I can remember watching The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and say what you want but that is one damn fine movie. John Wayne had it in him from time to time, and that was one of those times.

The stories were simple, the acting was good, but a lasting memory is always the sound. I love the scores of old movies, the sounds when they were “driving”. You put on an old flick and your ears know what you are watching before anything else. I have been listening to the Investigating Film Noir podcast and I love how they use old source sounds as their intros and fades. It just transports me right back to being in my lounge with a bit of food, the sun shining outside and getting a free matinee on the tube.

Recently, I woke up early on a public holiday and watched a very old flick. Ossessione by Luchino Visconti is some very early noir, loosely and it seems illegally adapted from James M. Cain’s novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice. It starts with a car slowly traveling down the road as we look out the split windscreen, the music is just great, sounds like someone wound it up and off it goes. We see tramp, not hussy but hobo, Gino get off and look for a meal in a local diner. He manages to seduce the lady of the house in minutes and then gets kicked out by the husband. In a turn of events, the husband then gets him back to help fix the car, and the water pump. He says of Gino, and this sums it all up for me:
“He took one look and sized up everything.”
How true, indeed. So Gino gets hubby out of the house to fetch parts and quickly nails his missus. From there we get intrigue, scandal, and all of the other good noir tropes. I like the fact that the film doesn’t skimp on the ending. It’s brutal and sad and a not a high note to be found. Fade to sadness. I was impressed with the film, and the actors did a pretty good job. It’s nice to see a virulent man with wickedly hairy shoulders get the sexy lead, well as sexy as a tramp can be.

This is the sort of flick they should be playing on weekends, and weekdays at 12noon. Granted, this flick was in Italian, so maybe not this exact one (though I don’t really see why not) but old classics like this. Anatomy Of A Murder, Paint Your Wagon, Pillow Talk, bring them all back. Or else lose them to a generation forever.

My God, I’ve turned into Bill Collins and that Ivan dude in one massive tumble. Man, I’d love to see those guys introducing flicks to me on my holidays. I’m officially becoming old.

Posted on November 9th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under: movies