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Showing results for tags 'Anthony Quayle'.
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I'd seen clips from the early Woody Allen comedy, "Everything You Always Wanted To Know about Sex* (*But Were Afraid To Ask)," and when I was in elementary school, heard little "secrets" about this racy movie, which consists of seven semi-short segments - each unrelated to the others, but all related to questions about sex (which remain pertinent to this day). I was expecting virtually nothing from this film, but it delivered more than anticipated. Very few things are "ha-ha funny," but much of it is clever, and it has aged surprisingly well. In terms of recommending it, I'd say that if you like "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Sleeper," you'll probably enjoy this. Actors include Gene Wilder (in an outrageous role that will make you cringe if you're seeing this on a first date), Burt Reynolds, Woody Allen, John Carradine, Lou Jacobi, Louise Lasser, Regis Philbin (!), Anthony Quayle, and Tony Randall. If you look at our small list of 1971-1972 Films in the Film Index, you'll see that this movie fits right in with its time.
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- Comedy
- 1972
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Tagged with:
- Comedy
- 1972
- Everything You Wanted To Know about Sex
- Woody Allen
- Charles H. Joffe
- David Reuben
- John Carradine
- Lou Jacobi
- Louise Lasser
- Anthony Quayle
- Tony Randall
- Lynn Redgrave
- Burt Reynolds
- Gene Wilder
- Mundell Lowe
- David M. Walsh
- Eric Albertson
- Jack Rollins–Charles H. Joffe Productions
- Brodsky/Gould Productions
- United Artists
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*** SPOILER ALERT *** After watching the indescribably wonderful documentary, "Hitchcock/Truffaut," last night, I leapt into the film "The Wrong Man," which is the one film by Alfred Hitchcock about which then-critic Jean-Luc Godard wrote his longest-ever piece of criticism - Both Godard and François Truffaut, pioneers of the "French New Wave" of Directors, were then working as critics for the legendary French publication, "Cahiers du Cinéma." so this film fits right in with the Hitchcock/Truffaut documentary, and was mentioned in it as well. This is the only Hitchcock film where Hitchcock himself came out and addressed the audience at the beginning, assuring them that it was a true story, and that the facts that went into the tale were just as fantastic as most of what he's written about as fiction in the past. "The Wrong Man" stars Henry Fonda as a respectable, but struggling musician in New York City, Manny Balestrero, and his wife, Rose, played by Vera Miles. Rose has an impacted set of wisdom teeth, which can only be fixed to the tune of $300, which is money the two don't have - the next day, Manny goes into the bank and asks to borrow on Rose's insurance policy, but three female tellers are certain that he is the same man who came in recently and robbed the bank - they pacified him, and told him to come back in with his wife, while putting the authorities on full alert. In a scene which came shortly afterwards, I was certain I recognized the lady who played Manny's mother, Esther Minciotti, and sure enough, Minciotti had played the wonderfully endearing role as Marty's (Ernest Bourgnine's) mother in the 1955 Academy Award-winner for Best Picture, "Marty." If you watch the Hitchcock/Truffaut documentary first, you'll remember very well the scene in which Manny first gets thrown into his jail cell. He looks around - not at the locked door - but at all different angles, and it gives the viewer a real sense of being locked up. This is his very first experience in jail, and his fear is palpable. Halfway through this movie, I am awestruck at how realistic it is - there's no fluffing anything up; it's as if we're watching a real story unfold (which we are). I'm a little surprised that Manny is so stoic about everything, but he seems completely shell-shocked to this point - almost like he's unable to get hold of his facilities. Hitchcock *really* takes his time setting this plot up - Manny doesn't even meet his attorney, Frank O'Connor (a real attorney, played by Anthony Quayle), until about two-thirds of the film is over. Fortunately, O'Connor - seemingly a decent man - accepts the case. Some interesting notes: Shortly after meeting with O'Connor, Manny and Rose run into two giggly girls living at an apartment: One of them is a twelve-year-old Tuesday Weld (of "Looking for Mr, Goodbar"), and the other is an eleven-year-old Bonnie Franklin (of "One Day at a Time"). It's noteworthy how many known actors and actresses are in this film - when Rose has a mental breakdown, she sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Bannay, and it's none other than Werner Klemperer - Colonel Klink on "Hogan's Heroes." During Manny's trial, one of the jurors is Barney Martin (Jerry Seinfeld's father on "Seinfeld"), and finally, Harry Dean Stanton (Brett in "Alien") plays a Department of Corrections employee, though I couldn't find him when I looked. I believe none of the people mentioned in this paragraph are credited, and for some, it's the debut film of their career. This is about the closest thing to being a "non-fiction" film I've seen without actually being one - it's "based on a true story," and is so faithful to it that it doesn't seem right labeling it a "crime movie" or a "suspense movie." It's clear that Hitchcock took great pains to stay as true to the base story as he possibly could have, so I'm going to go ahead and label this movie "non-fiction" even though that may not be technically correct. A magnificent film. Apr 17, 2013 - "History of Film Criticism: Godard on 'The Wrong Man'" on torontofilmreview.blogspot.com
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- Drama
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- Drama
- Non-Fiction
- 1956
- The Wrong Man
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Maxwell Anderson
- Angus MacPhail
- True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero
- Henry Fonda
- Vera Miles
- Anthony Quayle
- Werner Klemperer
- Esther Minciotti
- Tuesday Weld
- Bonnie Franklin
- Barney Martin
- Harry Dean Stanton
- Bernard Herrmann
- Robert Burks
- George Tomasini
- Warner Bros.