richard-seelbach Reviews

My Cousin from Warsaw (1931)

German pre-code

[7/10 · 16 December 2018]

Undeservedly unknown naughty and sexy little Weimar German equivalent to U.S. pre-code movies of the time about gender ratio...totally lightweight, flippant and politically incorrect! The cast is throughout in a good mood and in spacious art deco sets. No real classic but definitely a discovery worth the try!

Cruising (1980)

Keyword: Uncertainty

[10/10 · 14 December 2007]

When 'Cruising' came out in 1980, it terrified audiences and critics. Terror often turns to aggressiveness in reaction. Mainstream people didn't like the 'nasty topic', mainstream gays didn't like being reduced to a 'nasty topic' and critics, I think, didn't like to handle such a topic. All that is and has to be history now. Now that 'Cruising' finally came out on DVD, most people simply have to admit that it is a great movie by a great director. What is very unusual about this American film is that it deals with uncertainty. That, I think, is the keyword for 'Cruising'. It's not interest in the crime and/or the background it has taken place in, Friedkin's interest lies for the most part in exploring the meaning of uncertainty. Pacino's (who has deserved a price for his courage alone) character step by step looses a good deal of his certainties throughout the movie and tolerates it, which at least by a great group of viewers must be perceived as degenerate. However, that attitude is at least interesting and rare in a U.S. movie! 'Cruising' could have only been made in the seventies during the so-called 'New American Cinema' movement when times were liberal and 'innocent' enough for a film with an almost (for the official U.S.) 'unamerican' message: 'Don't become a victim of your uncertainties by avoiding them'. Unfortunately these times (at least for the climate that made this movie possible) were then nearly over and certainly are now.

Windows (1980)

Put that on DVD !

[8/10 · 10 December 2007]

I don't know much about the history of this movie which nevertheless seems to be interesting. I've read nearly all the comments on IMDb about it (on a rainy Sunday) which, with a few exceptions, sound all alike. I'm 37, so I didn't have the chance to watch it in a theater. I'm unfortunately not able to find out anything about the original aspect ratio of it. A video (VHS) (with aspect ratio 1.33 : 1) edition came out in Germany in 1987 and it's not hard to track down these days. I bought it a week ago together with Friedkin's 'Cruising' from that same year and watched them as double features with friends (all around my age). First I have to say (for both movies): Neither my friends nor me (all being not 'politically correct' but very sensitive about offensive perspectives, words or actions going out from filmmakers concerning their attitude about the subject of the particular movie) found anything projectedly homophobic in those movies! Talking about 'Windows' I'm not quite sure that Elisabeth Ashley's character is a lesbian at all. She seems to be more like a split personality with psychotic parts. There may be lesbian undertones but the topic in itself is not exploited (negatively or machoesque or in any other way) here! I'm sure there were no 'bad' intentions (not from Gordon Willis and not from Mister Friedkin, concerning the other 'case')even if considering that times were pretty different in 1979/1980. As you can see from the title windows are used as key visuals in this movie. Much of it is seen (in both directions) through them, very often the city and the (then intact) skyline of New York (which is photographed so hauntingly beautiful that sometimes it seems to stand in the middle of the room with the actors). So naturally a voyeur's view is achieved, which stresses the (as I see it) purpose of the movie: A comment about dysfunctional social life in modern big cities used as background for a moody thriller. Talia Shire (as Emily Hollander) is stuttering and having a divorce, everybody seems to have an analyst and even Elisabeth Ashly's character is almost painfully lonely and more of a victim than anything else. Being a very important and successful director of photography Gordon Willis nonetheless relies a bit too much on his strong, dark and sometimes (seen from today) beautifully old-fashioned photography and his obvious love for New York. The script is not the strongest, at least seen in a badly dubbed German version. 'Windows' is not a classic, but I'd recommend it if todays films sometimes appear to be a bit too hasty and fast-cut to some of you. I don't really understand the negative fuss, even when it came from a young and perhaps a bit too careful (again seen from today) gay movement, that's been made around it for the last 27 years and that even killed the career of Mr. Willis as a director. He was hassled so much by the reactions on the movie that he said a couple of years ago that 'Windows' would be the biggest mistake in his entire life! As one conclusion I think especially the people at Warner's should take all this into consideration (rewatch and rethink!), give absolution and perhaps a 'sorry' to Mr. Willis (he's not the youngest anymore!!!) and put it out on DVD.