Monday, December 04, 2006
COOL WAR
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Billy Wilder's
with Jimmy Cagney as a Coca Cola executive trying to get product behind the iron curtain. I cannot imagine why Coke lent their name and their facilities for filming this great mockery of corporate greed and stupidity.
The film was made instantly obsolete by the erection of the Berlin Wall during its filming and was not a commercial success. Not only were the Reds not funny anymore but the premise changed overnight.
That will tell you how perishable topical humor can be in a fast moving world.
Never mind that many of the fast paced jokes are old standards dressed in Cold War trappings, it still takes someone in their 60's to get it. We understand the history and the wall is far enough behind us to be of no consequence to the humor.
Nevertheless, based on a play by Molnar (they do not say which one), this is a very fast paced farce with barely a moment to stop and think about what is going on. It might appeal to the 'younger crowd' even though it is based on yesteryears news.
I had trouble getting into it and didn't like the ingenue very much but I caught up with it in the second half.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Cagney is a great actor to watch. He did everything and we will see many of his films in this series.
In this film he is nearing the end of his career but holds every scene. He is a force of nature.
Rocking on his heels and gesticulating in his peculiar way he just barely escapes parodying himself. Red Buttons, in a very small part, even does a Cagney impression. Cagney, himself, wields a grapefruit to shove into someone's face.
He was quite a dude.
