Two Mules for Sister Sara (1969)

Overshadowed somewhat by the first in my series of larger scale essay's, please excuse the delay in the publication of this brief piece.

a road movie of sorts, shirley maclaine and clint eastwood star is this 1969 flick from frequent eastwood collaborator don siegel. the film is an entertaining couple of hours, but is ultimately a rather forgetful piece of work from relatively early on in eastwoods career. the film has its moments, namely in a wonderfully charming scene involving the demolition of a bridge, which could be seen as the emotional cruxis point of the film. its at this moment whereby eastwood is at his most affable, leading to some explanation as to how the events proceed as they do.

1969 was a great year for american cinema, but to me two mules for sister sara doesnt really reflect the change that was occuring within the industry at the time. the camerawork is occasionally effective, and the subject borderline-taboo, but its hardly cutting edge 40 years on.

while the film is perfectly appropriate late night fare, it misses the mark when it comes to being anything remarkable.

the trouble with harry (1955)

hitchcock's semi-parable tells the story of a group of individuals faced dealing with the body of a dead man (the eponymous harry). in a manner not disimiliar to that of the average slapstick comedy, the film unfolds to open up a mystery out of something initially seemed rather blase. as a situation based comedy/melodrama the film is very successful, if not slightly underwhelming compared to similiar period hitchcock.

performance wise, as the film is centred so closely around its key roles its no surprise to learn that each are fairly strong, if not standout. edmund gwenn as the fraudulant retired captain shines with charm, after initially coming across as a tad over the top. john forsythe as the thoughtful young artist is a worthy hitchcock leading man, with shirley maclaine being somewhat adorable as his love interest.

the film is full to the brim with hitchcock's usual wit to the end (the final frame of the film declaring harry's fate with the usual panache), and while its far from the greatest film of his ouvre, it definately makes for a strong black comedy.