By David in TN Eddie Muller continues his run of poor selections for TCM Film Noir of the Week. This week it’s The Glass Wall (1953), which has never been considered a film noir. It stars Gloria Grahame, whom Eddie has a crush on. The plot has an illegal alien from Italy on the run in New York City, evading the evil agents from the Eisenhower government trying to deport him.
An obscure film never in the noir canon, nor highly rated. Eddie will probably claim it’s “topical.”
On Friday night at 11:45 p.m. ET, TCM shows John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday (1977), with Robert Shaw as an Israeli anti-terrorist agent, and Bruce Dern as the Crazy Vietnam Veteran character so loved by Hollywood.
The story was inspired by the 1972 Munich Massacre. Dern joins up with Black September terrorists who plan to use a Goodyear Blimp to blow up at a Super Bowl, killing 80,000 people.
Black Sunday was one phase of the 1970s’ disaster movie cycle.
Friday, October 1, 2021 at 12:13:00 A.M. EDT
"the Crazy Vietnam Veteran character so loved by Hollywood."
ReplyDeleteMake the GI look bad by portraying them as crazy. Commit atrocity in Nam. All officers and especially general officers stupid and callous too.
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight and 10 am ET is John Boulting's Brighton Rock (1948) with Richard Attenborough and Carol Marsh, based on Graham Greene's 1938 novel.
ReplyDeleteA British crime film with Attenborough as a violent gangster, Marsh his wife.
Eddie Muller continues with another film not of the Noir canon. I haven't seen it.
Earlier Saturday Night at 10 pm ET, TCM shows Richard Fleischer's Armored Car Robbery (1950) with Charles McGraw, William Talman, and Adele Jergens.
Film Noir Guide: "McGraw and Talman give standout performances in this nearly heist noir, which was released the same day as its more famous noir cousin, The Asphalt Jungle. Talman, a vicious killer, is the brains behind the planned heist of an armored car during its stop at Chicago's Wrigley Field (David In TN, actually Los Angeles' Wrigley Field). Douglas Fowley, Steve Brodie and Gene Evans are his accomplices. Things go wrong (as they inevitably do in a noir heist) and one of the gang is wounded in a shoot-out with police detective McGraw and his partner, who is killed by Talman. The robbers get away, but there's dissension over the split and (surprise!) Talman winds up with all of the dough. In an attempt to trap the cop killer, McGraw and his new partner (Don McGuire) stake out Fowley's stripper wife (Jergens), who is also Talman's lover. A guaranteed no-snoozer."
Richard Fleischer packed a lot of action and plot in a 67-minute film.