The Unforgiven (1960)

The neighbors of a frontier family turn on them when it is suspected that their adopted daughter was stolen from the local Kiowa tribe.

Large-scale, star-cast, epic Western with a blatant anti-racist message is ambitious but somehow misses the point it wants to make.

Halliwell*: "Good-looking, expensive but muddled racist Western, hard to enjoy."

Maltin***: "Gish and Bickford are outstanding in stellar-cast story, with rousing Indian attack climax."

Chinatown (1974)

A private detective investigating an adultery case stumbles on to a scheme of murder that has something to do with water.

Seminal neo-noir thriller, the plot spiraling into ever more darker depths, an instant classic and for both director and its star probably their greatest efforts so far.

What can I add: I'll be rewatching this movie very often!

Halliwell****: "Teasing, complex mystery that uses the conventions of detective stories to explore civic and personal corruption, in the style of Raymond Chandler, but adding a more modern perspective. It is eminently watchable, with effective individual scenes and performances and photography that is lovingly composed though tending to suggest period by use of an orange filter."

Maltin****: "Bizarre, fascinating mystery in the Hammett-Chandler tradition..."

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.
Brillant, feverish, excellently played adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play, though at times a bit flamboyant.

Wise Blood (1979)

A Southerner--young, poor, ambitious but uneducated--determines to become something in the world and decides that the best way to do that is to become a preacher and start up his own church.

Quite loyal adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's novel with some good performances which brings the grotesqueness of plot and characters with full power.

New Stuff: Wise Blood

Since I'm currently reading the novel, I decided to watch this adaptation again. I was quite impressed the first time I saw it in 1979/1980...

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

A private detective takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and their quest for a priceless statuette.

A breakthrough masterpiece for the Noir genre, its director and its star.

In This Our Life (1942)

A young woman dumps her fiancée and runs off with her sister's husband and causes trouble wherever she goes.

Superb melodrama with two great stars doing their thing (good sister - bad sister): Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis!

Across the Pacific (1942)

A U.S. officer court-martialed in disgrace leaves the country and gets a job offer in central America with a stop off in Panama and is involved in an espionage adventure.

A fun yarn with some of the stars from the Maltese Falcon rejoining in this pic. A bit of pre WWII propaganda, but all done in good mood.

Fat City (1972)

Another John Huston movie I had failed so far failed to watch, but now finally have. Great performances, especially Susan Tyrell, and great faded color photography. The downbeat story was slightly lost on me, though, since I've seen worse fates depicted on screen before.