Last night's movie was "Crosstrap"(1962), a hostage drama that begins with aspiring writer "Geoff" (Gary Cockrell) and "Sally" (Jill Adams) driving out to the English countryside to stay in a rented cottage. Geoff plans to finish his first novel there. Their dirt road ends, and they have to walk half a mile to the cottage, through woods and over a plowed field. Once there, they unlock the door and seem to be all set, until Sally finds a body in the bathtub. No sooner does she finish screaming, than a big lug comes out of the bedroom. He's got a gun and is part of a jewelry theft gang run by "Duke" (Laurence Payne), a suave, cold and calculating gent. Handsome, too. He's got a Spanish girlfriend with him, named "Rina" (Zena Marshall). Duke starts eyeing Sally and hot blooded Rina tells him, "I'll kill you if I ever catch you with another woman". Duke has a partner named "Joe" (Robert Cawdron), who warns him about intruders outside in the woods. The jewel thieves are being preyed upon by former cohorts, who know about their heist, worth 125 thousand pounds, and plan to take it from them by force. Now Geoff the writer and Sally his gal are in a double-trouble jam. First they walked into a hostage situation, and now their captors are in jeopardy from the other, even more deadly, gangsters outside in the woods.
Its a cross trap, and Geoff tries fighting his way out, figuring it's do or die. For his trouble he gets bound and gagged, but then Duke leaves him alone to ingratiate himself with Sally in an attempt at inducing Stockholm Syndrome. In turn, Geoff is now being watched by Duke's girl Rina, and from there, an interesting theme develops. The innocent Geoff and Sally have been split apart by the evil crime couple, and a new set of couples are paired, consisting of a criminal and a hostage in each. Will antagonistic passions develop? Remember, in the Patty Hearst case, Steven Weed (her pre-kidnap boyfriend) got the raw end of the deal. Patty indeed developed Stockholm Syndrome for Willie Wolfe and the SLA (at least temporarily), and when she was freed, she never saw Steven Weed again. Could the same thing happen in the movie? It's the Old Switcheroo at work.
The bad guys from the woods are closing in, so Duke sends Sally out there as bait, to get them to fire and give away their positions. Duke's partner Joe has already been shot dead while outside keeping watch. Sally is let go to run, but she runs in the opposite direction to get away. Duke chases after her, risking a bullet, but he's mad for Sally by now: Stockholm Syndrome in reverse.
The Woods Bad Guys now have the upper hand, and Rina and Geoff are still inside the cottage. Other things happen in the meantime. Sally gets hold of Duke's gun when he screws up by setting it aside, figuring she's too wimpy to pick it up and shoot him. Now she's about to, but has to keep thinking her way out of his attempts to gaslight or sweet-talk her down. "C'mon Sally, you know you can't fire that thing".
The Woods Bad Guys don't care about any of this stuff. They just want the jewels, and they are laser focused.
Duke has a plane coming for him and the rest of his gang to get away. By now, Joe is dead, so only Duke, the big lug and Rina are left. But now Duke wants to take Sally with them. It's a Bambi in the Headlights thing, he wants her because she's an innocent. The escape plane lands, and it looks like Duke and the gang will get away, with Sally. But then Rina comes running after the taxiing plane, some stock footage aviation footage is inserted, and that's all I can tell you.
It all sounds good on paper , but for some reason, the filmmakers added a shuffle-beat jazzbo score, which makes the tension feel slightly comic, or lackadaisical at best. With a better director, "Crosstrap" could've been a classic, with it's Bad Guys in the Woods Hostage Scenes. It definitely gets Two Big Thumbs Up, but easily could've been Two Huge. The picture is razor sharp. ////
The previous night we had a very funny happenstance comedy, "Strictly for the Birds"(1964), starring a very funny actor named Tony Tanner. I hadn't heard of him; IMDB says he worked mostly in theater where he was also an award winning director. He is hugely talented, and in the movie he plays "Terry Blessing", a 29-year-old bloke who lives in a Cockney boarding house with his sister and her layabout husband. Sis brings him breakfast (mushrooms on toast), just to get him to wake up. When he does, he has a hunch it's gonna be his lucky day. Terry in an eternal optimist, and when he looks out his window and a pigeon splats him in the eye, he takes it as a sign that the day couldn't possibly get better.
Everyone in his building is struggling. The girls in the flat next to his have had their electricity turned off. They ask Terry to take half the bill money down to the payment office on his way to work. A gentleman who earns a paltry living as a one-man-band bumps into him as he makes his way down the stairs.
In the lobby, a bill collector asks him, "Excuse me, but does a Terry Blessing live 'ere?" He worms his way outta that one by claiming he's an inspector and the building has yellow fever. The bill collector high tails it but will return later at a different location.
Terry works at a magazine shop. The owner, a "Mr. Mendoza" (Bernard Goldman), is a frustrated-but-tolerant type with a big cigar. Terry gives him fits cause he's rarely on time, or always off running an errand for someone, or chancing his luck with the horses or the lottery. Mr. Mendoza puts up with Terry's antics because it's that kind of whimsical, ironic British working-class movie. Terry's hunch about an awesome day starts gaining traction when he hits the jackpot on a slot machine, giving him enough Veddy Brrrittish quarters to bet the ponies, where he wins big, too. Then he heads to a casino, intent on continuing his run of luck. A buxom blonde tags along, hoping to attach to his karma. Even Terry can't believe his extra good fortune in landing such a bird, but that's when his luck starts to run out. She was (of course) only waiting to get him back to her apartment, where she conks him on the head, and she and her older, devious boyfriend take all of his winnings and run.
Along the way, throughout his amazing day, Terry has acquired an orphan boy/street urchin. No one knows where the kid came from. He looks clean enough, however. He's about nine, and like the blonde babe, he just attached himself to Terry. Now he calls him Dad. Terry tries pawning him off on the One-Man Band guy, but ultimately has to take him home because the kid's getting hungry. Mr. Mendoza shakes his head bemusedly: "When will you be back, Terry? And for how long? Will you stay at least one hour next time, without running off?"
The genre here is of the British "upbeat in the face of East End tenement-living, "I'm all right, Jack, have you seen the weather? It's gonna be a great day after all" variety. Think of the Artful Dodger in "Oliver". Two Big Thumbs Up with a very high recommendation. Tony Tanner steals the show, but the other actors count for 50% of the laughs in this madcap, Beatlemania-era comedy, a minor classic. The picture is razor sharp. ////
I have nothing to say about 1989 tonight. This past month has taken so much out of me that I'm dog tired and my stomach is tied up in knots. That doesn't mean I'm done writing about it, because the very act of doing so helps me put the puzzle pieces together, and I must say that, in just the last couple of weeks, I have learned more about the structure behind what happened than I knew for all of the past 25 years. The whole thing has been almost pulled out of the water by now, and for that reason alone, I cannot and will not let it go. When I do write about it (and in the blog it's more like I'm taking notes for my book), I will try not to write with anger, but just with facts, however atrocious they may be. Just last night, I learned something enormous that has vexed me since 1997. So yeah, we're pulling it out of the water now, like we're landing the biggest fish of all-time. There's no more chance it's gonna get away from us, as long as we remain diligent, so let's keep at it.
And that's all I know. My blogging music is "Nightingales and Bombers" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, my late night is Handel's Alcina Opera. I hope you had a nice Saturday and I send you Tons of Love as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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