LES DIABOLIQUES FILMS. 4 EDITIoN a precocious teenage malcontent, son of an upright bourgeois, she the Cast: Simone Signoret(Nicole): vera Clouzot( Christina); Paul an whose husband is off at the front in World War 1. Meurisse( Michel); Charles Vanel (Fichet); Jean brochard Plantiveau) Autant-Lara evinces sympathy for their questionable moral position Noel Roquevert(M. Herboux): Georges Chamarat(Dr. Loisy); Jac by rendering the action through a series of flashbacks from the boy? ques Varennes(Professor Bridoux); Michel Serrault(M. Raymond) point of view. The war is over and the town celebrates the return of its veterans, but he must hide in the room of their forbidden love and go Awards: Prix Louis Delluc(france), 1955: New York Film Critics through the anguish of recalling that love. This flashback structure Award for Best Foreign Film(shared with Umberto D), 1955 ether with the doomed love of the couple, reminded critics of Le jour se leve, and made the public see Gerard Philipe as the heir of Jean Gabin. But the limpid express of the prewar realism had been complicated after the war. Philipe's gestures were calculated to display his passion and anguish, whereas Gabin had moved and spoken instinctively, without the hesitation of either good taste or Books. intelligence, hallmarks of the postwar style. The same holds true for the direction. While Carne and prevert had devised a number of highly charged objects, Autant-Lara multiplies effects wherever he Lacassin. francis and others. Le Proces Clouzot. Paris. 1964 can. The incessant play of reflections in mirrors and by the ferry Pilard, Philippe, H. G. Clouzot, Paris, 1969 insists on the significance of the drama. but does so from the outside. Armes, Roy, French Cinema Since 1946, Volume 1: The great Tradition. New York. 1976 bed of the couple's lovemaking demands to be noticed as a figure Sandre, Didier, Simone Signoret, Paris, 1981 supplied by an extermal narrator, especially since it begins on a crack Bocquet, Jose-Louis, Henri-Georges Clouzot cineaste, with Marc ling fire and ends on dying embers. This is more than a metaphor fo Godin. Sevres. 199 passion, it is a poetic display that lifts an ordinary drama into telling David, Catherine, Simone Signoret, New York, 199 Altogether Le diable au corps stuns its audience with the cocki Articles. ness of its presentation as well as with the audacity of its subject natter. This is its conquest as well as its loss for in only a few years Brunelin, Andre G, in Cinema(Paris), November 1954 the New Wave critics, led by Truffaut, would clamor for the downfall of psychological realism and of the paternalistic, elitist narration that Brule. Claude. * Clouzot est-il vraiment diable?"' in Cine-Reyue preaches a liberal morality. If Radiguet, the novelist, likewise con- (Pais,1955. demned a suffocating society, he did so from within, from the ew york Times. 22 November 1955 perceptions and language of his hero. Autant-Lara has used Radiguet's Frenchmans Horror, in Newsweek (New York ), 28 Novem- ber 1955 rebelliouness, has packaged it approvingly, but has made of it a mature, stylish film. Radiguet, legend has it, put everything of Goulder, Stanley, The Necrophilist, in Films and Filming (lon. himself into this novel and then died. The movie pays tribute to his Tennant, Sylvia, Henri-Georges Clouzot, "in Film(ondon),March- effort and his views, but is just another very good movie. April 1956 Forestier, J, and G. P Richer, "H G Clouzot, L'homme diabolique -Dudley Andrew du cinema francais, " in Lettres francaises(Paris), July 1960 Schrader, Paul, "An Interview with Henri-Georges Clouzot Cinema(Beverly Hills), no. 4, 1969 Lacourbe, Roland, ""Henri-Georges Clouzot, in Anthologie du LES DIABOLIQUES cinema 10. Paris, 1979 villers, M, in Cinematographe(Paris), March 1984 Pulleine, Tim, in Films and Filming(London), December 1985. France. 1954 Brown, G,""Suspicion, in Village Voice(New York), 25 Octo- Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot Herpe, Noel, "" Les films criminels de Clouzot, in Positif(Paris), Production: Filmsonor (Paris); black and white, 35mm; running Hottell, Ruth A, "The Diabolic Dialogic, in Literature/Film Quar time: 110 minutes. Released 1954. Filmed in france terly(Salisbury ) vol. 24, no. 3, 1996 Special Issue, Avanl-Scene du Cinema(Paris), June 1997 Producer: Louis de Masure: screenplay: Henri-Georges Clouzot, ome Geronimi. Rene masson and Frederic Grendel. from novel Celle qui n'etait plus by boileau and Narcejac; photography Armand Thirard: editor: Madeleine Gug; sound: William-Robert Henri-Georges Clouzot is a key member of the generation of Sivel; production designer: Leon Barsacq: music: Georges van Parys. filmmakers who emerged during the Occupation and dominated
LES DIABOLIQUES FILMS, 4th EDITION 320 a precocious teenage malcontent, son of an upright bourgeois, she the older woman whose husband is off at the front in World War I. Autant-Lara evinces sympathy for their questionable moral position by rendering the action through a series of flashbacks from the boy’s point of view. The war is over and the town celebrates the return of its veterans, but he must hide in the room of their forbidden love and go through the anguish of recalling that love. This flashback structure, together with the doomed love of the couple, reminded critics of Le jour se lève, and made the public see Gérard Philipe as the heir of Jean Gabin. But the limpid expressiveness of the prewar realism had been complicated after the war. Philipe’s gestures were calculated to display his passion and anguish, whereas Gabin had moved and spoken instinctively, without the hesitation of either good taste or intelligence, hallmarks of the postwar style. The same holds true for the direction. While Carné and Prévert had devised a number of highly charged objects, Autant-Lara multiplies effects wherever he can. The incessant play of reflections in mirrors and by the ferry insists on the significance of the drama, but does so from the outside. Similarly the famous 360-degree camera movement that circles the bed of the couple’s lovemaking demands to be noticed as a figure supplied by an external narrator, especially since it begins on a crackling fire and ends on dying embers. This is more than a metaphor for passion, it is a poetic display that lifts an ordinary drama into telling significance. Altogether Le diable au corps stuns its audience with the cockiness of its presentation as well as with the audacity of its subject matter. This is its conquest as well as its loss; for in only a few years the New Wave critics, led by Truffaut, would clamor for the downfall of psychological realism and of the paternalistic, elitist narration that preaches a liberal morality. If Radiguet, the novelist, likewise condemned a suffocating society, he did so from within, from the perceptions and language of his hero. Autant-Lara has used Radiguet’s rebelliouness, has packaged it approvingly, but has made of it a mature, stylish film. Radiguet, legend has it, put everything of himself into this novel and then died. The movie pays tribute to his effort and his views, but is just another very good movie. —Dudley Andrew LES DIABOLIQUES France, 1954 Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot Production: Filmsonor (Paris); black and white, 35mm; running time: 110 minutes. Released 1954. Filmed in France. Producer: Louis de Masure; screenplay: Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jérôme Géronimi, René Masson, and Frédéric Grendel, from the novel Celle qui n’était plus by Boileau and Narcejac; photography: Armand Thirard; editor: Madeleine Gug; sound: William-Robert Sivel; production designer: Léon Barsacq; music: Georges van Parys. Cast: Simone Signoret (Nicole); Véra Clouzot (Christina); Paul Meurisse (Michel); Charles Vanel (Fichet); Jean Brochard (Plantiveau); Noël Roquevert (M. Herboux); Georges Chamarat (Dr. Loisy); Jacques Varennes (Professor Bridoux); Michel Serrault (M. Raymond). Awards: Prix Louis Delluc (France), 1955; New York Film Critics Award for Best Foreign Film (shared with Umberto D), 1955. Publications Books: Lacassin, Francis, and others, Le Procès Clouzot, Paris, 1964. Pilard, Philippe, H. G. Clouzot, Paris, 1969. Armes, Roy, French Cinema Since 1946, Volume 1: The Great Tradition, New York, 1976. Sandre, Didier, Simone Signoret, Paris, 1981. Bocquet, José-Louis, Henri-Georges Clouzot cinéaste, with Marc Godin, Sèvres, 1993. David, Catherine, Simone Signoret, New York, 1995. Articles: Brunelin, Andre G., in Cinéma (Paris), November 1954. Brulé, Claude, ‘‘Clouzot est-il vraiment diable?’’ in Ciné-Revue (Paris), 1955. New York Times, 22 November 1955. ‘‘Frenchman’s Horror,’’ in Newsweek (New York), 28 November 1955. Goulder, Stanley, ‘‘The Necrophilist,’’ in Films and Filming (London), December 1955. Tennant, Sylvia, ‘‘Henri-Georges Clouzot,’’ in Film (London), MarchApril 1956. Forestier, J., and G. P. Richer, ‘‘H. G. Clouzot, L’homme diabolique du cinéma français,’’ in Lettres Françaises (Paris), July 1960. Schrader, Paul, ‘‘An Interview with Henri-Georges Clouzot,’’ in Cinema (Beverly Hills), no. 4, 1969. Lacourbe, Roland, ‘‘Henri-Georges Clouzot,’’ in Anthologie du cinéma 10, Paris, 1979. Devillers, M., in Cinématographe (Paris), March 1984. Pulleine, Tim, in Films and Filming (London), December 1985. Brown, G., ‘‘Suspicion,’’ in Village Voice (New York), 25 October 1994. Herpe, Noël, ‘‘Les films criminels de Clouzot,’’ in Positif (Paris), January 1996. Hottell, Ruth A., ‘‘The Diabolic Dialogic,’’ in Literature/Film Quarterly (Salisbury), vol. 24, no. 3, 1996. ‘‘Special Issue,’’ Avant-Scène du Cinéma (Paris), June 1997. *** Henri-Georges Clouzot is a key member of the generation of filmmakers who emerged during the Occupation and dominated
FILMS. 4th EDItION DIRTY HARRY French cinema for a dozen years or so after the war. Les diaboliques is DIARY OF A LOST GIRL not a masterpiece to rank with such earlier Clouzot films as Le corbeau or Le salaire de la peur, but its particular contradictions See TAGEBUCH EINEr verelorenen allow the principal aspects of what was later to be dubbed the tradition of quality"to be clearly observed. The political events of these years-the war in Indo-China leading to the fall of Dien Bien Phu, and the beginning of the Algerian DIE LEGENDE VON SUNDE revolution which was to lead to eight years of savage fighting an nd UND STRAFE eventually bring down the Fourth Republic-are ignored, and Clouzot, like so many of his contemporaries, offers a studio reconstruction of See SodoM UNd gomorrha the world which is meticulously realist in detail, but essentially timeless. Les diaboliques is set in one of Clouzot's favorite locations-a shabby, rundown provincial school-and the tensions here between a bullying headmaster, his ailing wife and forceful mistress are DIRTY HARRY methodically set up. The craftsmanship involved in the creation of this world is enormous, and nothing is allowed to stand between the director and his conception of his film. Before 1939 actors had been UsA.1971 the monstres sacres of French cinema and every aspect of a film was subordinate to their will. but Clouzot was from the first renowned for Director: Don Siegel the harsh treatment he meted out to his actors. If the story that he served bad fish to the actors in Les diaboliques and made them eat it so Production: Warner Bros, Malpaso: Technicolor, Panavision; run- as to capture an authentic sense of disgust is probably apocryphal ning time: 101 minutes. Released December 1971 certainly conveys perfectly his essential attitude The 1940s and early 1950s was also a time of the totally scripted him in which the diversity and contradictions of lite were reduced to play: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner: assistant a rich counterpoint of incident as well as the creation of multiple director: Robert Rubin; photography: Bruce Surtees: editor: Carl ironies, there was no space for gaps within the plot which would Pingitore; sound: William Randall; art director: Dale Hennesy; unfold with all the precision of a watch mechanism In works like Le music: Lalo Schifrin corbeau and quai des Orfevres, Clouzot had shown himself to be a master of the thriller structure, with all the subtle manipulation of Cast: Clint Eastwood (Harry Callahan): Harry Guardino(L. Bressler): udience responses which that implies. But as so often in other Reni Santoni( Chico); John Vernon(The Mayor): Andy Robinson aspects of his work, Clouzot seems to have been driven by a desire to (Killer); John Larch(Chief); John Mitchum(De Georgio): Mae take the creation of suspense to extreme limits. For him. as for his Mercer(Mrs. RusselL); Lyn Edgington(Norma); Ruth Kobart(Bus contemporary, Alfred Hitchcock, whom he much admired, there Driver): Woodrow Parfey (Mr. Jaffe): Josef Sommer (Rothko); could be no half measures In Les diaboliques Clouzot is tempted into William Paterson(Bannerman); James Nolan(Liquor Proprietor) a display of his own narrative skills, and the logic of the film, which Maurice S; Argent( Sid Kleinman): Jo de Winter(Miss Willis): Craig as plotted its first murder with brutal precision, is slowly taken apart. G. Kelly(Sgt Reineke) Inexplicable things start to happen, and the spectators confidence in his own perceptions, in the truth of what he has seen and heard, is undermined. The contradictions are resolved in a virtuoso passage of Publications plot twisting in the final reel, but this very ingenuity destroys the psychological realism on which the films opening is constructed. Les diaboliques is exhilarating at first viewing, and proved to be both Books commercially successful and controversial on its first release. For most critics,however, the contrivance of the ending renders a second Kaminsky, Stuart M, Don Siegel: Director, New York, 1974 ewing meaningless, since it underlines the film s remoteness from Douglas. Peter. Clint Eastwood. Movin'On Chicago 1974 a livid reality and even makes Clouzot's deeply felt black vision seem Kaminsky, Stuart M, Clint Eastwood, New York, 1974 trite and superficial gan. Patrick, Clint Eastwood: The Man behind the Mask, New -Roy Armes American Anti-Hero A Criti cal Appraisal of the Worlds Top Box-Office Star and His Films Lovell, Alan, Don Siegel: American Cinema, New York, 1977. DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST Ferrari, Philippe, Clint Eastwood, Paris, 1980. Smijewsky, Boris, The Films of Clint Eastwood, Secaucus, N See JOURNAL D'UN CURE DE CAMPAGNE Jersey, 1982
FILMS, 4 DIRTY HARRY th EDITION 321 French cinema for a dozen years or so after the war. Les diaboliques is not a masterpiece to rank with such earlier Clouzot films as Le corbeau or Le salaire de la peur, but its particular contradictions allow the principal aspects of what was later to be dubbed the ‘‘tradition of quality’’ to be clearly observed. The political events of these years—the war in Indo-China leading to the fall of Dien Bien Phu, and the beginning of the Algerian revolution which was to lead to eight years of savage fighting and eventually bring down the Fourth Republic—are ignored, and Clouzot, like so many of his contemporaries, offers a studio reconstruction of the world which is meticulously realist in detail, but essentially timeless. Les diaboliques is set in one of Clouzot’s favorite locations—a shabby, rundown provincial school—and the tensions here between a bullying headmaster, his ailing wife and forceful mistress are methodically set up. The craftsmanship involved in the creation of this world is enormous, and nothing is allowed to stand between the director and his conception of his film. Before 1939 actors had been the monstres sacrés of French cinema and every aspect of a film was subordinate to their will. But Clouzot was from the first renowned for the harsh treatment he meted out to his actors. If the story that he served bad fish to the actors in Les diaboliques and made them eat it so as to capture an authentic sense of disgust is probably apocryphal, it certainly conveys perfectly his essential attitude. The 1940s and early 1950s was also a time of the totally scripted film in which the diversity and contradictions of life were reduced to a single narrative line relentlessly followed. Though there might be a rich counterpoint of incident as well as the creation of multiple ironies, there was no space for gaps within the plot which would unfold with all the precision of a watch mechanism. In works like Le corbeau and Quai des Orfèvres, Clouzot had shown himself to be a master of the thriller structure, with all the subtle manipulation of audience responses which that implies. But as so often in other aspects of his work, Clouzot seems to have been driven by a desire to take the creation of suspense to extreme limits. For him, as for his contemporary, Alfred Hitchcock, whom he much admired, there could be no half measures. In Les diaboliques Clouzot is tempted into a display of his own narrative skills, and the logic of the film, which has plotted its first murder with brutal precision, is slowly taken apart. Inexplicable things start to happen, and the spectator’s confidence in his own perceptions, in the truth of what he has seen and heard, is undermined. The contradictions are resolved in a virtuoso passage of plot twisting in the final reel, but this very ingenuity destroys the psychological realism on which the film’s opening is constructed. Les diaboliques is exhilarating at first viewing, and proved to be both commercially successful and controversial on its first release. For most critics, however, the contrivance of the ending renders a second viewing meaningless, since it underlines the film’s remoteness from a livid reality and even makes Clouzot’s deeply felt black vision seem trite and superficial. —Roy Armes DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST See JOURNAL D’UN CURE DE CAMPAGNE DIARY OF A LOST GIRL See TAGEBUCH EINER VERELORENEN DIE LEGENDE VON SÜNDE UND STRAFE See SODOM UND GOMORRHA DIRTY HARRY USA, 1971 Director: Don Siegel Production: Warner Bros., Malpaso; Technicolor, Panavision; running time: 101 minutes. Released December 1971. Executive producer: Robert Daley; producer: Don Siegel; screenplay: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner; assistant director: Robert Rubin; photography: Bruce Surtees; editor: Carl Pingitore; sound: William Randall; art director: Dale Hennesy; music: Lalo Schifrin. Cast: Clint Eastwood (Harry Callahan); Harry Guardino (Lt. Bressler); Reni Santoni (Chico); John Vernon (The Mayor); Andy Robinson (Killer); John Larch (Chief); John Mitchum (De Georgio); Mae Mercer (Mrs. Russell); Lyn Edgington (Norma); Ruth Kobart (Bus Driver); Woodrow Parfey (Mr. Jaffe); Josef Sommer (Rothko); William Paterson (Bannerman); James Nolan (Liquor Proprietor); Maurice S.; Argent (Sid Kleinman); Jo de Winter (Miss Willis); Craig G. Kelly (Sgt. Reineke). Publications Books: Kaminsky, Stuart M., Don Siegel: Director, New York, 1974. Douglas, Peter, Clint Eastwood: Movin’ On, Chicago, 1974. Kaminsky, Stuart M., Clint Eastwood, New York, 1974. Agan, Patrick, Clint Eastwood: The Man behind the Mask, New York, 1975. Downing, David, Clint Eastwood, All-American Anti-Hero: A Critical Appraisal of the World’s Top Box-Office Star and His Films, London, 1977. Lovell, Alan, Don Siegel: American Cinema, New York, 1977. Ferrari, Philippe, Clint Eastwood, Paris, 1980. Smijewsky, Boris, The Films of Clint Eastwood, Secaucus, New Jersey, 1982
DIRTY HARRY FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Kapsis, Robert E, Clint Eastwood: Interviews, Jackson, 1999 Fenwick, H, Dirty Harry Comes Clean, in Radio Times(London), Schickel, Richard, Clint Eastwood: A Biography, New York, 1999 26 November 1988 Sarris, Andrew, ""Don Siegel: the Pro, in Film Comment(New Articles. York), vol. 27, no. 5, September-October 1991 Hampton, H,""Sympathy for the Devil: In the Cinematic Snipers Variety(New York), 22 December 1971 Nest, in Film Comment(New York), November-December 1993 Grenier, Richard,"Clint Eastwood Goes PC(Politically Correct) Milne, Tom, in Sight and Sound (London), Spring 1972 Movies, in Commentary, vol. 97, no 3, March 1994 Velvet Light Trap(Madison, Wisconsin), Spring 1972 Combs, Richard, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), May 1972. Be Disappointed,, in Radio Times(London), 9 September 1995 Films and Filming (London), June 1972. Persellin, K,"Ariadne's Thread, in Spectator (Los Angeles), Shadoian, J, ""Dirty Harry: A Defense, in Western Humanities Review(Salt Lake City), Spring 1974 Rabinowitz, Paula, "Screen Memories, 'in Wide Angle(baltimore) Friedman, Bruce Jay, "Could Dirty Harry Take Rooster Cogburn? October 1996 Velvet Light Trap(Madison, Wisconsin), Fall 1976 Bell, Philip, in Australian Journal of Screen Theory(Kensington, New South Wales), no 5-6, 1979 Alpert, Robert, " Clint Eastwood Plays Dumb Cop, in Jump Cut I know what you're thinking, says Harry Callahan, Inspector Berkeley), May 1979 71 of the San Francisco police, to the bank robber hes just shot. " Did listener (London), 14 February 1985 he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell the truth, in all this
DIRTY HARRY FILMS, 4th EDITION 322 Dirty Harry Kapsis, Robert E., Clint Eastwood: Interviews, Jackson, 1999. Schickel, Richard, Clint Eastwood: A Biography, New York, 1999. Articles: Variety (New York), 22 December 1971. Milne, Tom, in Sight and Sound (London), Spring 1972. Velvet Light Trap (Madison, Wisconsin), Spring 1972. Combs, Richard, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), May 1972. Films and Filming (London), June 1972. Shadoian, J., ‘‘Dirty Harry: A Defense,’’ in Western Humanities Review (Salt Lake City), Spring 1974. Friedman, Bruce Jay, ‘‘Could Dirty Harry Take Rooster Cogburn?’’ in Esquire (New York), September 1976. Velvet Light Trap (Madison, Wisconsin), Fall 1976. Bell, Philip, in Australian Journal of Screen Theory (Kensington, New South Wales), no. 5–6, 1979. Alpert, Robert, ‘‘Clint Eastwood Plays Dumb Cop,’’ in Jump Cut (Berkeley), May 1979. Listener (London), 14 February 1985. Fenwick, H., ‘‘Dirty Harry Comes Clean,’’ in Radio Times (London), 26 November 1988. Sarris, Andrew, ‘‘Don Siegel: the Pro,’’ in Film Comment (New York), vol. 27, no. 5, September-October 1991. Hampton, H., ‘‘Sympathy for the Devil: In the Cinematic Sniper’s Nest,’’ in Film Comment (New York), November-December 1993. Grenier, Richard, ‘‘Clint Eastwood Goes PC (Politically Correct) Movies,’’ in Commentary, vol. 97, no. 3, March 1994. Duncan, Andrew, ‘‘‘If People Really Found Out About Me They’d Be Disappointed’,’’ in Radio Times (London), 9 September 1995. Persellin, K., ‘‘Ariadne’s Thread,’’ in Spectator (Los Angeles), no. 2, 1995. Rabinowitz, Paula, ‘‘Screen Memories,’’ in Wide Angle (Baltimore), October 1996. *** ‘‘I know what you’re thinking,’’ says Harry Callahan, Inspector 71 of the San Francisco police, to the bank robber he’s just shot. ‘‘Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell the truth, in all this
FILMS. 4th EDItION DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES xcitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a. 44 magnum, angel-a role for which the satanic Scorpio challenges him. (The first the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head word heard in the film is Callahan s expletive when he finds Scorpio's clean off, youve got to ask yourself one question. 'Do I feel lucky? extortion note-"Jesus. ) The film thereafter is filled with Christian The humourless smile widens. Well, do you, punk? imagery. The square where Scorpio sets up his second killing is For many, this speech is the most memorable thing about Dirty dominated by a church, and Callahan stakes it out from a rooftop Harry. But while the film seems destined to be Siegels masterpiec where a revolving neon sign announces " Jesus Saves. For the it would be an error to confuse Callahan's challenge with the payoff of the ransom, Scorpio chooses a hilltop park dominated by director's own ethic. A gibe in The Line Up(1958) is closer to his a gigantic cross concerns."Ordinary people of your class, says the killer Dancer, Critics, especially The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, thought Dirty you dont understand the criminals need for violence Harry fascistic. Others blamed it for the Death wish/Walking Tall What Siegel illustrates in his work is the implicit contract that vigilante films which followed, ignoring the fact that, without excep tion, they lacked Dirty Harry's moral and psychological dimensions. exists between criminals and society. We need criminals to act out our To classify Harry Callahan as just another right-wing hard-hat was to own fantasies of violence. Siegel finds proof of this symbiosis in our miss the point of the film as surely as those who call him"Dirt legal system, an imperfect tool which we ourselves sabotage. His Harry miss the irony of his nickname. Given the spread of urban Ims mock its structures. The police force of Madigan is corrupt. Rior violence and the resulting change in public opinion in favour of law in Cell Block 1I and Escape from Alcatraz attack the prison system. and order, vigilantes, gun control, and the death penalty, it must be Coogan's Bluff, like Dirty Harry, parodies sociology, legal proce acknowledged that, while they did not create the New York, Wash dure, and especially the concept of rehabilitation. ington and los angeles of the 1980s, Siegel and his writers antici- Siegels special subject is killers, whichever side of the law they pated them with a special prescience. may work on. But his murderers and vigilantes are creatures of the imagination. In them, he encourages us to see mirrored our own urges John baxter for violence and anarchy. When they die, it is, in effect, for our sins. ones In and m nad. They ki vith most real-life murderers, who usually kill loved passion, Siegel's murderers are loners, conscienceless profit, as a profession, or for fun. And THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE Robinsons Scorpio in Dirty Harry is his most malevolent creation BOURGEOISIE leering, anonymous, malign. We'd assume his weaponry had its See LE CHARME DISCRET DE LA BOURGEOISIE enesis in Vietnam were it not for his twisted peace symbol belt buckle: evil has no pedigree, just as Scorpio has no biography Scorpio preys on innocence: a girl swimming in a penthouse pool, a 10-year-old boy, a teenager he rapes and buries alive. Other target DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES are a priest, an exaggeratedly effeminate homosexual, a much-robbed liquor store owner, and finally a bus filled with schoolchildren. All UK,1988 that stands between Scorpio and these, the helpless, is Harry Callahan- Dirty" Harry, because he draws every dirty job, but equally dirty Director: Terence Davies because he does not flinch from violence in doing them Harrys methods are endorsed when he tracks the wounded killer Production: British Film Institute, in association with Channel 4/ to a football stadium. Ignoring gibbering appeals for a lawyer and ZDF; Metrocolor; running time: 84 minutes. Released 1988 a doctor, he grinds a heel into the bleeding leg until Scorpio reveals the location of the buried girl. Bruce Surtees's camera pulls back in Producer: Jennifer Howarth; screenplay: Terence Davies; assistant a vertiginous helicopter shot, losing hunter and prey in night-time directors: Andy Powell, Glyn Purcell, Marc Munden, Matthew mist and the glare of the floodlights. This nightmare image dissolves Evans: photography: William Diver, Patrick Duval; camera opera- tor: Harriet Cox. editor: William Diver: collaborative editors: into a blue dawn above the Golden Gate bridge as a nude corpse is Geraldine Creed, Toby Benton; sound editor: Alex Mackie; sound hauled out of her grave and carried away. Birdsong shows natu indifferent to her death, as is the sleeping city. Only Callahan care Harry has flouted every legal procedure, so the murderer goes free. Wirtz, lan Turner; art directors: Miki van Zwanenberg, Jocelyn and hijacks a school bus. Taking justice into his own hands, Callahan James: stunt coordinator: Alf joint Cast: Freda Dowie(Mother): Pete Postlethwaite(Father): Angela horror movie monster, flings his police badge after it. Thus Dirty Hary's first and last images are of this badge. The film Sally Davies(Eileen as a child); Nathan Walsh(Tony as a child) Susan Flanagan(Maisie as a child); Michael Starke(Dave); Vincent perimposed over a list of the dead, dissolves into the silenced barrel Maguire(George); Antonia Mallen(Rose): Debi Jones(Micky):Chris of Scorpio's rife, fair warning of a significant visual subtext. Darwin (Red): Marie Jelliman (ingles); Andrew Schofield (Les ); Neutral behind dark glasses, Callahan initially appears almost Anny Dyson(Granny); Jean Boht(Aumty Nell); Alan Bird(Baptism disdainful of his duty. Over the credits, he climbs a building to find the Priest): Pauline Quirke(Doreen): Matthew Long(Mr. Spaull): Fran- Place where scorpio hot trom, the thst ot m y scrn ts in the ime. pr ces Dell (Margie): Carl Chase (Uncle Ted): Roy Ford (Wedding
FILMS, 4 DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES th EDITION 323 excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question. ‘Do I feel lucky?’’’ The humourless smile widens. ‘‘Well, do you, punk?’’ For many, this speech is the most memorable thing about Dirty Harry. But while the film seems destined to be Siegel’s masterpiece, it would be an error to confuse Callahan’s challenge with the director’s own ethic. A gibe in The Line Up (1958) is closer to his concerns. ‘‘Ordinary people of your class,’’ says the killer Dancer, ‘‘you don’t understand the criminal’s need for violence.’’ What Siegel illustrates in his work is the implicit contract that exists between criminals and society. We need criminals to act out our own fantasies of violence. Siegel finds proof of this symbiosis in our legal system, an imperfect tool which we ourselves sabotage. His films mock its structures. The police force of Madigan is corrupt. Riot in Cell Block 11 and Escape from Alcatraz attack the prison system. Coogan’s Bluff, like Dirty Harry, parodies sociology, legal procedure, and especially the concept of rehabilitation. Siegel’s special subject is killers, whichever side of the law they may work on. But his murderers and vigilantes are creatures of the imagination. In them, he encourages us to see mirrored our own urges for violence and anarchy. When they die, it is, in effect, for our sins. By contrast with most real-life murderers, who usually kill loved ones in the heat of passion, Siegel’s murderers are loners, conscienceless and mad. They kill for profit, as a profession, or for fun. Andy Robinson’s Scorpio in Dirty Harry is his most malevolent creation, leering, anonymous, malign. We’d assume his weaponry had its genesis in Vietnam were it not for his twisted peace symbol belt buckle: evil has no pedigree, just as Scorpio has no biography. Scorpio preys on innocence; a girl swimming in a penthouse pool, a 10-year-old boy, a teenager he rapes and buries alive. Other targets are a priest, an exaggeratedly effeminate homosexual, a much-robbed liquor store owner, and finally a bus filled with schoolchildren. All that stands between Scorpio and these, the helpless, is Harry Callahan— ‘‘Dirty’’ Harry, because he draws every dirty job, but equally dirty because he does not flinch from violence in doing them. Harry’s methods are endorsed when he tracks the wounded killer to a football stadium. Ignoring gibbering appeals for a lawyer and a doctor, he grinds a heel into the bleeding leg until Scorpio reveals the location of the buried girl. Bruce Surtees’s camera pulls back in a vertiginous helicopter shot, losing hunter and prey in night-time mist and the glare of the floodlights. This nightmare image dissolves into a blue dawn above the Golden Gate bridge as a nude corpse is hauled out of her grave and carried away. Birdsong shows nature indifferent to her death, as is the sleeping city. Only Callahan cares. Harry has flouted every legal procedure, so the murderer goes free, and hijacks a school bus. Taking justice into his own hands, Callahan kills Scorpio, and, as the body sinks into a sump like a slaughtered horror movie monster, flings his police badge after it. Thus Dirty Harry’s first and last images are of this badge. The film opens on a marble honour roll of dead cops. A gold inspector’s star, superimposed over a list of the dead, dissolves into the silenced barrel of Scorpio’s rifle, fair warning of a significant visual subtext. Neutral behind dark glasses, Callahan initially appears almost disdainful of his duty. Over the credits, he climbs a building to find the place where Scorpio shot from, the first of many ascents in the film. From that moment, he appears in charge of the city, its avenging angel—a role for which the satanic Scorpio challenges him. (The first word heard in the film is Callahan’s expletive when he finds Scorpio’s extortion note—‘‘Jesus.’’) The film thereafter is filled with Christian imagery. The square where Scorpio sets up his second killing is dominated by a church, and Callahan stakes it out from a rooftop where a revolving neon sign announces ‘‘Jesus Saves.’’ For the payoff of the ransom, Scorpio chooses a hilltop park dominated by a gigantic cross. Critics, especially The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael, thought Dirty Harry fascistic. Others blamed it for the Death Wish/Walking Tall vigilante films which followed, ignoring the fact that, without exception, they lacked Dirty Harry’s moral and psychological dimensions. To classify Harry Callahan as just another right-wing hard-hat was to miss the point of the film as surely as those who call him ‘‘Dirty’’ Harry miss the irony of his nickname. Given the spread of urban violence and the resulting change in public opinion in favour of law and order, vigilantes, gun control, and the death penalty, it must be acknowledged that, while they did not create the New York, Washington and Los Angeles of the 1980s, Siegel and his writers anticipated them with a special prescience. —John Baxter THE DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE See LE CHARME DISCRET DE LA BOURGEOISIE DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES UK, 1988 Director: Terence Davies Production: British Film Institute, in association with Channel 4/ ZDF; Metrocolor; running time: 84 minutes. Released 1988. Producer: Jennifer Howarth; screenplay: Terence Davies; assistant directors: Andy Powell, Glyn Purcell, Marc Munden, Matthew Evans; photography: William Diver, Patrick Duval; camera operator: Harriet Cox; editor: William Diver; collaborative editors: Geraldine Creed, Toby Benton; sound editor: Alex Mackie; sound recordists: Moya Burns, Colin Nicolson; sound re-recordists: Aad Wirtz, Ian Turner; art directors: Miki van Zwanenberg, Jocelyn James; stunt coordinator: Alf Joint. Cast: Freda Dowie (Mother); Pete Postlethwaite (Father); Angela Walsh (Eileen); Dean Williams (Tony); Lorraine Ashbourne (Maisie); Sally Davies (Eileen as a child); Nathan Walsh (Tony as a child); Susan Flanagan (Maisie as a child); Michael Starke (Dave); Vincent Maguire (George); Antonia Mallen (Rose); Debi Jones (Micky); Chris Darwin (Red); Marie Jelliman (Jingles); Andrew Schofield (Les); Anny Dyson (Granny); Jean Boht (Aunty Nell); Alan Bird (Baptismal Priest); Pauline Quirke (Doreen); Matthew Long (Mr. Spaull); Frances Dell (Margie); Carl Chase (Uncle Ted); Roy Ford (Wedding Priest)
DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES FILMS. 4 EDITIoN Distant Voices. Still Lives Awards: International Critics Prize. Cannes Film Festival. 1988. Interview with Terence Davies in City Limits (London). 13 Octo- ber 1988 Listener(London), 13 October 1988 Publications Valladolid. in Film(London), December 1988 In Film Kino(Oslo ), no 4A, 1989. Lochen, K, ""Stemmer fra fortiden, in Film& Kino(Oslo), no 5, 1989 Cargin, P,""Diver on Distant Voices, in Film (London), Janu ary 1989 Friedman, Lester, editor, Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Carr, Jay, "Davies'Dark Pool of Memories, "in Boston Globe, 13 Thatcherism, Minneapolis, 1993 Winston, Wheeler, editor, Re-viewing British Cinema, 1900-1902. Billson, A,"The Long and Short of It, in Village Voice(New Essays and Interviews, Albany, 1994 ork), 15 Au Kerr, P "Sound Movie, in Village Voice(New York), 15 Articles. August 1989. Turroni, G,""Cuginanze ovvero territori contigui, in Filmcritica London). November 1985. (Rome), November 1989. P, ""Voices from the Past, " in Stills(London ) March 1986. Lavery, D, ""Functional and Dysfunctional Autobiography: Hope Wilson, David, in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1988. and Glory and Distant Voices, Still Lives, in Film Criticism Film Comment(New York), September-October 1988 (Meadville, Pennsylvania), no. 1, 1990 Barker, Adam, in Monthly Film Bulletin(London), October 1988 Iversen, J,"Man kan ikke forklare magi, kan man vel? in Z Floyd, Nigel,"A Pebble in the Pool and Ships like Magic, in Filmtidsskrift(Oslo), no 4, 1990. Monthly Film Bulletin(London), October 1988 Wahlstedt, T, ""Minnets orelse mot centrum, in Chaplin(Stock Interview with Terence Davies in Time Out (London), 5 Octo- holm),no.4,1990. Quart, Leonard, in Cineaste(New York), vol. 28, no 3, 1990 324
DISTANT VOICES, STILL LIVES FILMS, 4th EDITION 324 Distant Voices, Still Lives Awards: International Critics Prize, Cannes Film Festival, 1988. Publications Books: Friedman, Lester, editor, Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism, Minneapolis, 1993. Winston, Wheeler, editor, Re-viewing British Cinema, 1900–1902: Essays and Interviews, Albany, 1994. Articles: Stills (London), November 1985. Wyeth, P., ‘‘Voices from the Past,’’ in Stills (London), March 1986. Wilson, David, in Sight and Sound (London), Autumn 1988. Film Comment (New York), September-October 1988. Barker, Adam, in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), October 1988. Floyd, Nigel, ‘‘A Pebble in the Pool and Ships like Magic,’’ in Monthly Film Bulletin (London), October 1988. Interview with Terence Davies in Time Out (London), 5 October 1988. Interview with Terence Davies in City Limits (London), 13 October 1988. Listener (London), 13 October 1988. ‘‘Valladolid,’’ in Film (London), December 1988. In Film & Kino (Oslo), no. 4A, 1989. Lochen, K., ‘‘Stemmer fra fortiden,’’ in Film & Kino (Oslo), no. 5, 1989. Cargin, P., ‘‘Diver on Distant Voices,’’ in Film (London), January 1989. Carr, Jay, ‘‘Davies’ Dark Pool of Memories,’’ in Boston Globe, 13 August 1989. Billson, A., ‘‘The Long and Short of It,’’ in Village Voice (New York), 15 August 1989. Kerr, P., ‘‘Sound Movie,’’ in Village Voice (New York), 15 August 1989. Turroni, G., ‘‘Cuginanze, ovvero territori contigui,’’ in Filmcritica (Rome), November 1989. Lavery, D., ‘‘Functional and Dysfunctional Autobiography: Hope and Glory and Distant Voices, Still Lives,’’ in Film Criticism (Meadville, Pennsylvania), no. 1, 1990. Iversen, J., ‘‘Man kan ikke forklare magi, kan man vel?’’ in Z Filmtidsskrift (Oslo), no. 4, 1990. Wahlstedt, T., ‘‘Minnets rorelse mot centrum,’’ in Chaplin (Stockholm), no. 4, 1990. Quart, Leonard, in Cineaste (New York), vol. 28, no. 3, 1990