…a film I related to, based on my own experiences. Jane Alexander, Kotto, Hamilton, Freeman, Keith, Ness and all, giving stellar performances in this important film on corruption in prisons.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Prime Suspect, Final Act…
In her final act, Tennison crosses the line, escalating an already heated situation. A young black man is being blamed for having sexual relations with a white girl, then killing her. He's been pursued by the police, injured himself trying to escape and now is face to face with his tormentor, while the real killer is free and leading Tennison down a dead end street. Jane has been chewed out by her boss for her drinking. She wakes up on a sobering morning unable to recall the night before, is finally forced to confront her drinking problem, and her father has passed away. She is making mistake after mistake in the course of events leading up to her confrontation with Curtis who calls her a bitch and on whom she unleashes her rage, leading to the death of a fellow officer.
Curtis and Jane are very much alike, it is only their labels, positions in life, and the forces that work to maintain that position that prevent them from seeing each other for who they really are or for having any feelings of empathy toward each other. We at first think Curtis is going to be a good guy and offers to give Jane a glass of water but walks away. Jane is no different than Curtis in that she is being haunted by her past, Curtis is haunted by a dead girl and hunted by the police.
Why is Otley the one who gets shot instead of Jane, this isn't the first time Jane has fowled up and she killed her own unborn child? Isn't there a transference or some projective identification going on between Jane, Curtis and Otley? Jane is suicidal, drinking herself into stupors at every chance? I see upper class chauvinism all over this film.
Is this really entertaining or is it showing us who we really are? Is it any different than watching the gladiators in Rome. Why do I like them? Is it really about eking out the truth and getting the real bad guy, despite your faults and failures or is it about the sado-masochism lurking around every corner waiting to come out of hiding to get us, that keeps us looking for ways to cope? Maybe Agatha Christie would have said it better.
One of the best crime films I’ve seen, superbly acted. You hardly know they are acting. The directing is much better in this film than in earlier episodes.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
This film is one of those fact based films that gets turned into a myth by film makers…
…I did view this film and understand perfectly what it is dramatizing as I have experienced it myself. Therefore one can conclude some films do intend educating the public. The subjects of the film lose sight of their reality hunt, with a surprise ending inserted into their reality, that would shock most viewers unfamiliar with sci-fi crime films. Because of the shock effect, viewers would hardly entertain any other reality about this film, thus their truth is lost.
There are sleeping issues in this film.
Taylor and Rorke, who I am familiar with from I dream of Jeanie, are very good in this film but Stanwyck makes several obvious flub ups I attribute to misdirection. One case in which it is obvious the director tells her to look up at the camera at the wrong time and she seems to have jumped the gun when responding to Hudson’s character in the film. It also appeared there was intent on selling the public on electric percolators, so the sleeper might have been viewing an ad for an electric percolator which may have attributed to Stanwyck’s error. These ads were popular in the 60’s with a woman dressed in a full skirt, tight fitting blouse and glaring look and wide smile. If I had not experienced this for myself in my sleep and during my waking hours, I would never have deduced this information from this film.
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