Monday, September 22, 2008
DIRTY TRICKS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis in a nasty tangle of gossip columnists.
This is a classic, rated a very high 8.2 at IMDb.
Screenplay by Clifford Odets. Photography by James Wong Howe. Film noir.
I figure that Burt Lancaster is in more 'best films' than any other actor. He hardly seems to miss a beat.
And Tony Curtis, who is often dismissed as a lightweight and wasn't, is equal to the master as the two try to out-nasty one another.
I remember Walter Winchell who inspired this story. It is very thinly veiled. He was a master of the gossip column and a professional 'patriot' flag waver.
These kind of weasels still exist and I imagine that the gossip trade is still as nasty. We certainly have an abundance of the fake flag wavers.
So it is not dated at all.
This is a very good movie. I would definitely not mind seeing it again. I just wouldn't put it on the very top list of must-repeats. It is too nasty for that. I do feel a bit soiled. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
