Tonight movie was called "Counterpoint" (1967), which I found in the library system after doing a search on Charlton Heston. Just when you think you've seen all the big-budget WW2 studio pics of the 1960s, here comes ol' Chuck starring as - of all things - the famous and temperamental conductor of a world-class American orchestra, who just so happen to be touring war torn Europe on behalf of the USO. They are touring to entertain the troops, and as noncombatant artists, they expect to be able to travel unmolested. After all, the Geneva Convention states as much. The only problem with this scenario is that Maximilian Schell is Heston's co-star, and if anyone ever played a Nazi to the hilt, it is him. I think Schell was a very underrated actor, and from what I read, he was a pretty big star in his day. At any rate, all you have to do is watch him, in any movie, to see how great he was, and in "Counterpoint" he is more than a match for Maestro Heston.
The orchestra is en route to another USO-sponsored concert, when they are diverted by German spies posing as American soldiers. Such things actually happened. The Germans had soldiers who had lived in the US as children, and could do, say, a Southern accent with no problem. So Heston and his musicians are tricked, and soon they are pulled over by German soldiers and captured, and taken to a castle, where General Schell and his evil henchmen have set up headquarters.
General Schell has a standing order to execute all prisoners (Geneva Convention notwithstanding) because the Nazis are running out of resources and can't afford the expense, at this point in the war, of extra mouths to feed.
But - and here's the part that hooked me - General Schell is not only a classical music fan, but he is aware of Maestro Heston, and had seen him conduct in years past, before the war.
Shades of "The Pianist"! I wonder if Polanski had ever seen this film....
Anyhow, we have all seen The Cliche of The Evil But Cultured Nazi, but here - perhaps because Schell gives his character some depth - we are shown the complexity of his motivations. He is a Nazi, by choice and by force of Hitler's Germany, but he is also a Man Of Culture who feels some Hero Worship of another sort, from one of his musical heroes, who is suddenly his captive. He worships this man, but now he has power over him. And he has a subordinate Colonel who could not care less about music, who is fanatical about Hitler and who wants to execute the musicians as soon as possible, as per the orders from High Command.
Schell is caught between a rock and a hard place. He knows he has to follow through with the executions, but first - he demands a concert from the orchestra.
And therein lies the plot : A Nazi General vs. a Famous Conductor and His Orchestra.
Now c'mon - you know you never expected to see a movie with a story like that. I've seen a couple dozen WW2 movies in which Evil Nazis go up against all kinds of foes (usually Americans, English, French or Russians), but I have never before seen them battle a symphony orchestra and it's conductor.
Heston is a General in his own right; a General Of The Arts, and Schell - as a Cultured Nazi - respects him as such. The movie is mostly about the star power of the two big-league actors, though several sub-plots keep the interwoven storyline moving along. One has to to with a Beautiful Woman, the wife of the First Violinist, who was formerly involved with Heston, and whose beauty has now attracted the interest of Maximilian Schell. This coincides with an Escape Plot, planned by two American Soldiers who happen to have been captured with the orchestra, and been mistaken as fellow musicians.
So there you have it! There is a Ton Of Stuff going on in this movie, which was shot in wide-freakin'-screen Technicolor. Boy, could they ever shoot some Widescreen Pictures in the 1960s, the era of the Cinerama Dome and other such specialised theaters.
I can't quite give it the kind of Gigantic Five Star Humongous Titanic Thumbs Up that I have given a few recent pictures, but only because the direction does not quite play to the strengths of the script. Or maybe I've got it backwards. Maybe the screenwriter did not tighten things quite enough. Or maybe the producers, who really call the shots, wanted a face-off between the two Stars, Heston and Schell.
It was the 60s, and it was Big Budget, and it was the final years for this kind of War Film : very Studio, very Staged.
But because they had some really great actors and a lot of money and great sets, they pulled it off.
So rather than give it a rave review, which would indicate a movie that has blown me away on an emotional level, I simply give it a Strong Thumbs Up.....
Because......well hey - Classical Music against The Nazis. You won't see that in any other movie except "The Pianist". And I'll bet a nickel that Polanski saw this flick beforehand. :) ////
Hot Beyond Measure today. 111 degrees but felt hotter because of the humidity. No hike, though, because it was Golden Agers Tuesday. Instead, I just read my books during breaks : "Van Halen", "Grim Sleeper" and Peter Levenda's "Sinister Forces- A Warm Gun" (Book Two in the series). I am at the point in the book where he is examining the case of Mark David Chapman. That guy was convicted without a trial, and after reading about his life and his activities in the years and months leading up to his evil deed, I have no doubt whatsoever - knowing the CIA as I do - that he was a brainwashed and programmed Manchurian Candidate, worked on for a long time and then sent out to kill John Lennon, who was only an artist who was trying to make people happy, and to make them think.
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