John Huston's Century
This week marks the birthday of legendary director John Huston. In the eighty outsize years he actually had on this earth, he seems to have lived several lives and lifetimes. Those who remember him best for his occasional acting forays, most memorably as Noah Cross in "Chinatown", should also explore Huston's memorable work behind the camera.
The tall, gangly son of noted actor Walter Huston, John started as a screenwriter, and by his early twenties was already scripting such high-profile Warner Brothers' pictures as William Wyler's "Jezebel" (1938), starring Bette Davis. Then, on the set of Raoul Walsh's scorching "High Sierra" (1941) which he also penned, Huston would encounter Humphrey Bogart, a seasoned Warners supporting player who, with the younger man's help, would soon make a late bid for stardom.
By this point, John had earned a chance in the director's chair, and the feature he'd helm was a re-make of Dashiell Hammett's best-seller, "The Maltese Falcon". After Warners star George Raft foolishly turned down the starring role of private detective Sam Spade, Bogie was tapped with Huston's enthusiastic support. The film became an enormous success, with a cool, assured Bogie playing opposite Mary Astor's Brigid O'Shaughnessy, a shifty femme fatale who needs help finding a jewel-encrusted statue of a falcon. Some other nefarious types want the same item, including "The Fat Man" (Sydney Greenstreet, a distinguished sixty-year old British stage actor in his film debut). Spade is locked in tight since the case also resulted in his partner's murder. "Falcon" stands as the first definitive private eye film, with its assortment of unsavory characters vying for that big score in a treacherous urban landscape.
Henceforth Huston would direct (and sometimes write) most all his movies, achieving a career high with twin 1948 triumphs that once again featured Bogart: "The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" and "Key Largo".
"Treasure" concerns three down-on-their luck Americans in Mexico (Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Huston), who pool their meager resources and set off to search for gold. Once they locate it, they must decide how best to protect it, and before long the seeds of distrust take root. A savage human drama with liberal doses of humor, suspense and action, ultimately "Treasure" remains a stark, striking meditation on the nature of greed. Not only did John win a Best Director Oscar for this, but his father, Walter, also took home a statuette for his inspired performance.
In "Largo", as a huge tropical storm develops, WWII vet Frank McCloud (Bogart) visits a hotel in the titular Florida coastal town to pay his respects to Nora (Lauren Bacall), the widow of a deceased war buddy. Run by Nora's father-in-law James (Lionel Barrymore), the place is harboring some sinister urban types-namely, the infamous mobster Johnny Rocco (Edward G. Robinson) who's slipped back into the country and quietly taken control of the establishment. But with sturdy Frank around, a showdown feels inevitable. Based on Maxwell Anderson's play, the tingling "Largo" features taut direction and indelible turns from stolid good guy Bogart and from Robinson, returning to tried-and-true gangster mode as the menacing Rocco. While the supporting cast is equally fine (especially Oscar-winner Claire Trevor as a drunken moll), it's Rocco's sadistic, savage power that occupies center stage.
Two years later, Huston scored again in what remains one of the finest noir films on record: "The Asphalt Jungle". A vivid chronicle of the planning, execution and aftermath of a daring jewel robbery, "Jungle" revolves around the suave Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern), a respectable married businessman who in fact is both extremely crooked and in desperate need of cash. He masterminds a heist, drawing out the more skilled denizens of the city's criminal element. This riveting, tense mood piece is loaded with furtive underworld figures ably played by the likes of Sam Jaffe, James Whitmore and a young Sterling Hayden. And Calhern was never better. Also look for an early Marilyn Monroe appearance as Alonzo's child-like mistress.
Incredibly, Huston's best-known feature still hasn't enjoyed a proper domestic DVD release: "The African Queen" (1951), the story of a dishevelled, alcoholic skipper and female missionary thrown together by circumstance in the wilds of Africa circa World War One. Originally intended as a vehicle for Bette Davis years before, this first-time pairing of Bogart and Katharine Hepburn worked a charm, netting the aging actor his first and only Oscar. By all accounts, the location shoot was as fascinating as the movie itself. For instance, reportedly Hepburn was so peeved by Huston and Bogart's heavy drinking on-set that she restricted herself to water, causing a severe bout of dysentery, much to the delight of the boozers.
"Queen" was swiftly followed by the colorful, atmospheric "Moulin Rouge" (1952). In late nineteenth century Paris, frustrated by a childhood injury that deformed his legs, well-heeled painter Toulouse-Lautrec (Jose Ferrer) immerses himself in the bawdy world of Montmartre's lively show club, "Le Moulin Rouge", quaffing cognac and observing can-can acts while refining his art. One night, he meets Marie, a prostitute trying to ditch a policeman, and the two begin a tumultuous relationship. This engrossing biopic is drenched in vivid hues lifted from the artist's own palette. Shot mostly from the waist up, but acting on his knees, Ferrer is remarkable as Lautrec, whose infirmity cripples his self-esteem but also informs his flagrant art. Zsa Zsa Gabor, as entertainer Jane Avril, is captivating, while Georges Auric's now-classic score gives "Rouge" a melancholy cast. The flamboyant opening sequence ranks as one of Huston's finest set pieces.
By this point, it appeared that most everything John Huston touched would turn to cinematic gold. It may be the writer/director began to believe this himself, and got complacent. Certainly with success he could and did indulge in more real-life adventures; he was in fact a renowned sportsman and hunter.
Regardless, the ensuing twenty years would yield only a few good Huston outings ( notably 1957's war drama "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison"), and far too many releases unworthy of his talent ( "The Barbarian and The Geisha", "The Bible", "Reflections In A Golden Eye", "Sinful Davey", and "The Kremlin Letter", to name a few).
Thankfully, three films from the 1970s saw the director return to his old form: "Fat City" (1972), "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), and "Wise Blood" (1979), the last just released on DVD by the Criterion Collection.
In "City", Huston presents a spare, bleak portrait of humanity on the skids in the world of small-town boxing. In Stockton, California, Tully (Stacy Keach), a once-promising fighter past his prime, is torn between subsisting as a migrant worker and giving the ring one last shot. As he works through this, he befriends Ernie (Jeff Bridges) a younger fighter who reminds him of his former hopeful self, and Oma (Susan Tyrrell), a sloppy drunk in whom Tully finds a kindred lost soul. Not easy or pleasant to watch, the film's impact sneaks up on you, as Huston's spot-on evocation of this down-and-out world eventually creeps under your skin. The acting bar is set high, with Keach believably tragic in the central role, and Tyrrell stealing the picture (and nabbing an Oscar nod) as the bitter, broken down Oma. Though by Hollywood standards a "small picture", "Fat City" still scores a knock-out.
Next, in "The Man Who Would Be King", adapted from a Rudyard Kipling tale, British sergeants Daniel Dravot (Sean Connery) and Peachy Carnehan (Michael Caine) are tired of soldiering in late nineteenth century Colonial India, and it seems their ungrateful country has tired of them too. They suddenly find themselves without prospects in a far-away land, and resolve to travel to remote Kafiristan in search of fabled treasure. Once there, the two make the natives believe Danny is a god, and at once, all manner of luxuries get bestowed on them. All too easily, it seems, their mission is accomplished, so as long as the populace never learns their king is actually mortal. Huston had wanted to do this project for years (originally with Gable and Bogart), but it's hard to think of better casting for the two rogue adventurers than Connery and Caine, whose real-life friendship helped spark a palpable on-screen chemistry. Here Huston crafts a grand combination of humor and suspense, culminating in a stunning climax.
In the brilliant, offbeat "Wise Blood", an ill-tempered war veteran (Brad Dourif), haunted by memories of his grandfather, a fire-and-brimstone revivalist (Huston), is consumed by his ambivalence for God and those who claim to speak in his name. Street evangelicals of every stripe are legion in his hometown, but he is most offended by the cynical sidewalk salesmanship of a blind prophet (Harry Dean Stanton) So he starts his own sect, claiming Jesus is a fraud, and that mankind doesn't need to be redeemed. Young Dourif anchors this film with a memorable turn playing a man at war with faith. He is helped, of course, by a terrific cast including Stanton and Ned Beatty as an oily con man. Dark, twisted, and perversely funny at times, "Wise Blood", based on a book by Flannery O'Connor, takes square aim at old-style belief but not at the underlying impulse that leads people to long for personal salvation.
Characteristically, John Huston never retired. For his often hilarious "Prizzi's Honor" (1985), with Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner portraying two competing mob assassins who fall in love , he'd become the first and only person to direct both a parent and a child to respective Oscars (daughter Angelica deservedly won for "Prizzi").
Fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, the director died of emphysema shortly after completing his reverential screen adaptation of James Joyce's "The Dead" (1987), another family affair featuring a script by son Tony, and starring Angelica.
It would serve as a fitting swan-song to an amazing life and career.
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Thanks for reminding us of the many brilliant movies by this legendary director. One advantage of a washed out summer is watching movies without the guilt of missing a sunny day!
The Maltese Falcon is my favorite movie of all time. Not surprisingly, you failed to mention The Night of the Iguana. It is considered a bit of a clunker, but, if you disregard some of its stagier elements, it is a sweet and deeply affecting film. I watched it a few days ago. As always, I was in tears for the last half hour. It is a beautiful movie.
You missed my "favorite" John Huston film: White Hunter, Black Heart. Neither Hitchcock nor Huston would have been a nice person to share a lifeboat with, but I'm not sure Hitchcock ever killed anyone for the fun of it.
AS usual Mr. Farr, wonderful reading. I so enjoy your columns.
Thoes were the days of great movies and intense actors.
Thanks for sharing.
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and thanks for reading...
please spead the word to your like-minded friends,
appreciate your kind words.
I'm always pleased to read the praises of "The Man Who Would Be King." But I believe Robert Osborne said on TCM that Huston had hoped in the '30s to cast Bogart with Claude Rains.
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whoa- I'd never heard that one...
You overlooked The Misfits (1961), the last complete film for both Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe. It may be Gable's best work.
With the great Thelma Ritter, the ultimate character actor.
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I always love thelma...her best?
rear window.
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Her best role: rear window!
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The Misfits was more interesting as a behind the scenes production versus what actaully shows up on screen...often termed a noble failure.
And, I believe the last film for Monty Cliff as well.
Oh, how I miss them all.
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he made "freud" after this...
Great column, John! My father always loved "The Maltese Falcon," "Treasure," & "High Sierra" and would always call me to join him when they were on TV. I'm sure I dragged my feet. Only now do I fully appreciate these gems and find myself calling my own children to come and watch with me. Something magical always happened when Bogie & Huston joined forces.
My personal favorites are "Jezebel" (Oh, to watch Bette descend that staircase! The quintessential steel magnolia.) and Huston's swan song, "The Dead." I especially love the scene where Anjelica pauses on the stairwell (I must have something for staircases!) Her face subtly changes to one of longing and heart ache as the soft music transports her back in time. It lingered with me for a very long while.
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anjelica is a hugely expressive actress.
loved her in "prizzi" and "the grifters".
Yes, wish we saw more of Anjelica! She was simply amazing in The Grifters, as was John Cusack, another wonderful talent.
John Huston. You've got to love a guy with that much talent. It's amazing that people don't mention him in the same breath as other, more often referenced, film makers (like Hitchcock). I knew a fellow who was an Episcopal priest who always put me in mind of huston, from the same tall frame, whitish hair and full beard, to the booming voice. It was as if he was a double. And it was fun to talk with him (he also worked in theater), and imagine I was talking to Huston himself. Just look at the list mentioned here. How many movies are essentials that have Huston’s name behind them.
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he was fabulous- and that voice.
I'm convinced daniel day lewis was imitating him in "there will be blood'.
Yes, that voice! I thought his film "The Bible" was just so-so, but if ever there was a human being who could play God convincingly, it was Huston! A real giant of cinema.
I think Huston was never rated with Hitchcock because he didn't fit neatly into auteurist critics' preconceived notions of what a great director should be; there was no apparent "personal vision" running through his work--he was too much the old-school studio director, cheerfully hopping from genre to genre: western, mystery, epic, literary adaptation, biopic, musical, social satire, war picture. Each film was distinctly different in tone and subject from the one before.
To me, it's what made Huston such a great director-- he directed "Freud" and also co-directed "Casino Royale"; "Beat the Devil" but also "The Bible" (didn't see the movie, loved the book); he makes the weird, unsentimental "Wise Blood," and follows it up with the film version of "Annie"; he goes from "African Queen" with Bogart and Hepburn to "Victory" with Stallone and Pele.
Pity the poor hack film critic trying to force Huston career into the auteurist cookie cutter! It's easier to write yet another monograph on the unifying themes of Ford or Renoir (using the word "oeuvre" as often as possible).
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huston would definitely have resisted such categorization.
he liked to tell sotories, and he did so with flair,
Thank God Raft turned down the Falcon role. He was a decent "tough guy" actor but no Bogart. The other thing that made Falcon such a success is that Huston stuck to the book religiously. The book is short with lots of dialog and ideal for a movie. There had actually been two awful movies made from it before Huston's. In the previous versions the director abandoned most of the book, changing charecters and re-writing dialog. Huston had his secretary do a literal transcription of the book into a script as a first draft and he liked it so much he essentially used it just as is. If you read the book it maps almost perfectly to the movie and preserving all of Hammett's great dialog makes all the difference. BTW, one other interesting note about the book is that 3 of the 4 lead male characters are gay. Its obvious that Cairo is but the fat man and his gunman are as well. The term "gunsel" that Spade uses to refer to the gunman, although most people think it means just hood, actually refers to a criminal who is gay. The relation between the gunsel and the fat man is obviously "friends with benefits" if you look closely at the slang and the dialog. Hammett had been a detective before he became a writer and used his knowledge of criminal culture and slang to make his fiction so believable.
Another interesting "Maltese Falcon" tidbit is that it's the greatest remake ever made. The story was filmed twice before Huston got to it. His version is so superior that most people don't even think of it as a remake.
One of the previous adaptations starred Bettie Davis as the femme fatalle but in spite of that it was still terrible. I've never seen either one but I've seen trailers for both and they look just awful.
Huston was an outstanding director. MY favorite is The Man Who Would Be King. Seen it many times. Caine and Connery are excellent.
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almost got made twenty years before with gable and tracy...
Wow! I can't imagine anyone but Caine and Connery in this great film, but that certainly would have been an interesting pairing. Huston certainly knew how to cast his films, using the best talent available.
"Moulon Rouge". Zsa Zsa's only memorable role , even if she had her singing voice dubbed and that scene where Lautrec sees his past and the people who completed it while he's lying in bed--just brilliant.
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yes, it was sister eva in "gigi".
Bette Davis is linked to Huston in a lot of ways, but she never acted in a film directed by Huston. Starting with "Jezebel", then on to "The African Queen" and also "The Night of the Iguana"; she orginated Ava Gardner's role in that film in the stage play on broadway. No mention of that film? Gardner was superb though. Davis got away with it, as so many older actresses on broadway have done playing younger roles but on the big screen, she would have looked too old.
Huston also had a flair for publicizing his films even before they were finshed. I remember that Life Magazine article and the pics of him handing out pistols to Ava Garnder and Elizabeth Taylor who was assumed to watch her husband Richard Burton very carefully on the set allededly because of Gardner. No replay of the Taylor/Burton affair on that set as happened on the set of "Cleopatra" for Taylor. LOL
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never felt "iguana" was one of his best.
Maybe not one of Huston's best but you just can't take your eyes of jaded Ava Gardner in this film, as if she was playing herself. I loved her performance in Iguana.
I was reading an article about Davis and it mentioned Iguana on Broadway and how she put the move on a younger actor who was not interested. Really, that was Williams' last big play, although I saw a production of Out Cry around 1980 in South Florida and it was superb. Sort of a play within a play. I also liked, sort of, Reflections in a Golden Eye.
I'm a fan of the author, Ray Bradbury, and I love the story Ray tells of the year he spent in Ireland struggling to write the screenplay for Huston's version of Melville's Moby Dick.
According to Ray, Huston loved to play practical jokes on the young author, and was always messing with his head.
At night when the wind would howl through the trees of the dark misty Irish countryside, Huston would spook Ray saying the wind was a Banshee spirit. Huston would try to get Ray to go outside into the night to investigate, but Ray refused, fearing Huston would have someone out there ready to scare the dickens out of him.
Later Ray wrote a short story called 'The Banshee,' and got his revenge on Huston. The young author in the story, tells the famous director about a beautiful woman he's seen on the grounds outside in the misty night, luring the director into the killing arms of the Banshee.
Huston was certainly one of the greats, no doubt, and apparently a real character off screen.
By the way, John, awhile back you and I were joking about remakes, and saying we'd have to put a hitman out for anyone who'd dare do a remake of Harvey. Apparently, Speilberg is planning this atrocity. Are you ready for the cuddly plush Harvey action figure dolls? Ugh!
I have to disagree a bit about Bradbury. I've never liked his fiction much and that was before he made nasty comments about Moore's movie. But I share your outrage about Spielberg messing with Harvey. What a great little movie that was with Jimmy Stewart. I can just imagine the cutesy, cudly, focus grouped Spielberg version staring Tom Hanks, Ugh!!
I hadn't heard about Bradbury dissing Moore. Which film?
I understand when someone says they're not a fan of Bradbury. He has a style that really offers little middle ground. You either love it (as I do) or hate it.
I don't really know anything about him personally or his politics. I just love his books.
On the Harvey remake, I agree about the focus group. I'm wondering how Speilberg is going to work some precocious kid into the script? You just know he's going to do it, and the inevitable CGI rabbit will have to be just the type of rabbit your four year old will want to own.
"Prizzi's Honor" was hilarious and that line Angelica Huston says to Jack Nicolson, "So uh ...you wanna do it?" LOL So memorable. Bette Davis would have been perfect for Hepburn's part in "The African Queen" if she had looked younger at the time and "The Man Who Would Be King" is one of my favorite films.
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davis could have still carried off the part i think.
I also highly recommend his autobiography, An Open Book. Candid, literate, funny.
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I'll lay my hands on it...thanks.
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