If the handsomest American-born movie star ever was Montgomery Clift, the handsomest French star was Alain Delon, who died on August 18 at the age of 88. Plein Soleil aside, Delon’s cinematic oeuvre is a bushel of riches. But Alain Delon had more than physical beauty. As with Montgomery Clift, his acting was a thing of admirable subtlety and sensitivity. Born in 1935, he appeared during his long career in over eighty films. In paying tribute to him here, I will focus on what was probably his most celebrated performance — namely, his starring role in Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), René Clément’s 1960 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley. I first saw Plein Soleil years ago, but not until after I’d seen Anthony Minghella’s 1999 American adaptation, which uses Highsmith’s title, several times. I’m a great admirer of the latter version, in which Matt Damon plays the seemingly earnest, wet-behind-the-ears, and down-at-his-heels American twentysomething Tom Ripley. Ripley’s been paid generously by a rich shipbuilder, Herbert Greenleaf (James Rebhorn), to travel to Italy and bring home Greenleaf’s spoiled, glamorous, egocentric son Dickie (Jude Law), who’s been living the life of a rich expatriate loafer with his equally rich girlfriend, Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow), an aspiring writer, in the fictional coastal town of Mongibello. Tom and Dickie strike up a friendship, which affords Tom a taste of a lifestyle he’s never known, but Dickie, a fickle and shallow soul, eventually tires of him, and Tom is left facing a return to penury back in the States. The plot is much the same in Plein Soleil, but with some minor changes: in Minghella’s version, Tom never knew Dickie before coming to Italy, but becomes obsessed with, and even enamored of, him; in Clément’s version, the Dickie character is named Philippe (Maurice Ronet), and was a boyhood friend of Tom, who admits that when they were teenagers “I worshiped the ground that you walked on.”(READ MORE from Bruce Bawer: A Modern Colossus: Donald Trump) Tom further explains to Marge (Marie Laforêt) that Philippe’s father disapproved of their friendship: “I wasn’t distinguished enough.” In Minghella’s film, it makes total sense when the awkward, insecure Matt Damon becomes smitten with the dashing, self-assured Jude Law; in Clément’s film, however, Delon is so beautiful that he threatens to throw off the whole balance of the picture. How can Philippe look down on this god? And how can Tom be so desperately eager for Philippe’s, or anyone’s, approval and affection? In real life, guys and girls alike would be lining up to polish his shoes. In both films, Tom kills his friend on a small boat and moves to Rome, where he proceeds to assume Greenleaf’s identity and, eventually, finds it necessary to dispatch Greenleaf’s obnoxious friend Freddy Miles, another rich American expat. Minghella’s film has more major characters and plot twists, is more expensively produced, and (as one might expect from a 1999 Hollywood movie vis-à-vis a French film from 1960) moves a lot faster; but one of the signal virtues of Clément’s film is precisely its more unhurried, deliberate pace, which permits us to spend more time closely attending to Tom’s every move so that, even more than Matt Damon (who is excellent in Ripley), Delon draws us into his character as we follow every step of his macabre but inspired scheme. Indeed, the chief difference between the two films is that while Minghella’s is a riot of excellent characterizations (not just by Damon, Law, and Paltrow but also by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cate Blanchett, Jack Davenport, Rebhorn, and Philip Baker Hall), Clément’s movie is, in essence, a tightly focused portrait of Tom, played with depth and nuance by the magnificent Delon, and full of small, telling realistic touches of the sort that shed light on our antihero but that have no place these days, alas, in a big-budget Hollywood picture. In fact, it’s great to have both movies, each of which is splendid of its kind. If you wanted to teach a course in the difference between big-budget Hollywood star vehicles and prime examples of the French nouvelle vague, indeed, you could do worse than to screen these two adaptations of Highsmith’s story back to back. And I strongly suspect that after watching both of them, what would linger in your memory is not the plot that Minghella has concocted, which is arguably even more ingenious than Highsmith’s original, and which keeps Damon constantly on the move, or even that film’s gorgeous music and cinematography but, first, Delon’s portrait of a lonely and enigmatic, if plainly psychopathic, young man who spends much of his screen time sitting, smoking, and contemplating. And second, the ending of Clément’s film, which is even more stunning than that of Minghella’s, and which delivers a staggering hammer blow to Delon at what he believes to be his culminating moment of triumph. Plein Soleil aside, Delon’s cinematic oeuvre is a bushel of riches. What’s particularly striking is Rocco and His Brothers, a Luchino Visconti film, released in the same year as Plein Soleil, that tells the story of a struggling southern Italian family that has relocated to Milan. It’s frankly remarkable to see the same young actor, in the course of the same year, exude a dark, complex, and inscrutable menace in one film and a genuine sweetness and innocence in another. (READ MORE: Snow White and the Witches of Hollywoke) Delon’s later films include Visconti’s epic The Leopard (1963), based on the Lampedusa novel; Anthony Asquith’s The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), and Clément’s Is Paris Burning? (1966), the internationally successful account of the 1944 liberation of Paris. One thing I learned about Delon from his obituaries that I didn’t know before was that throughout his life he loved dogs and cats and put a lot of his money and effort into helping animals. To me, that’s the kind of thing that really makes a person beautiful, whether he’s 28 or 88. May his work endure and his memory be blessed. The post Remembering the Enchanting Alain Delon appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

John P. Rossi’s article in The American Spectator about the 1947 John Wayne film The Angel and the Badman brought to mind another little known Wayne film gem: Trouble Along the Way (1953), which starred Wayne as “Steve Williams,” a former big-time college football coach who is hired by a small, financially struggling Catholic college (St. Anthony’s) to coach its football team and raise money so the college can avoid closure. And as John Rossi said about The Angel and the Badman, it is the Duke at his very best. It is also the story of a divorced father’s love for his 11-year-old daughter Carole, played by Sherry Jackson, who idolizes him but is caught up in a custody battle with William’s ex-wife Ann (played brilliantly by actress Marie Windsor). The film was directed by Michael Curtiz and also starred Charles Coburn, as Father Burke, the elderly rector of the college, and the beautiful Donna Reed, who plays custody caseworker Alice Singleton, who is charged with determining whether Wayne is a fit father to have partial custody of his daughter. This was a very different role for Wayne, who usually played the tough guy in westerns and war movies. In Trouble Along the Way he is a football coach willing to bend and sometimes break the rules to field a winning football team — which is why he was kicked-out of big-time college football in the first place. Father Burke suggests to Wayne that if he can build a successful football program, the college can earn enough money to remain open. Wayne needs the work and accepts the challenge. He and his daughter are given a small apartment inside the college’s bell tower — the bell’s loud ring often wakes them up. Coach Williams soon learns that the current players on the football team are too small, too slow, and too poorly equipped to win games. Wayne hires some of his old assistant coaches and comes up with a plan to recruit new players — players who will also financially profit from joining the team. When Father Burke observes at mass the new incoming class of students, he is amazed at their solid physical appearance. Wayne also orders top-notch equipment and builds the team into a college powerhouse. There is a scene when Wayne and other school officials are on stage when Father Burke announces their football schedule and opponents — to include such football powerhouses as Notre Dame — Wayne faints in his chair. The small college stuns the football world by winning game after game. (The film’s football scenes were filmed at the Polo Grounds in New York City). But soon, Wayne’s ex-wife hires a private detective who gathers information to allege that Wayne has engaged again in recruiting violations. The ex-wife also brings suit in court to gain full custody of Carole — she does this not because she wants the child around, but to spite Wayne. Donna Reed enters the picture to determine whether Wayne should keep custody of his daughter. She is concerned that the daughter is a tomboy who knows all about football but very little about being a young lady. But she also sees the strong love between Carole and her father. Donna Reed also starts falling in love with Wayne. She eventually discovers that Carole’s mother doesn’t love the child and that Wayne loves Carole more than anything else, even more than football. At the custody proceeding in court, Reed testifies that Wayne should keep partial custody of the child. On cross examination by the ex-wife’s lawyer, Reed is asked, “Do you love Mr. Williams?” Wayne, with a grin on his face, asks the judge to remind the witness that she is under oath. Reed admits that she has fallen in love with Wayne. Father Burke has no other option but to fire Wayne as coach. He also decides to retire as rector of the college, but St. Anthony’s remains open with its losing football team. In his farewell speech, Father Burke takes the blame for what happened to Wayne and publicly apologizes to him, who only did what he was asked to do. Trouble Along the Way is part comedy, part drama, but in essence is about a father’s beautiful love for his daughter. And as John Rossi said about The Angel and the Badman, it is the Duke at his very best. READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa: Trump, Not Harris, Has ‘Strategic Realism’ in Spades Boston Red Sox and MLB Impose Communist Struggle Session on Player A Witness Emerges From Another Communist Gulag The post Another Little Known Great John Wayne Film appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.

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by J.B. Shurk, All News Pipeline: I saw a t-shirt design shortly after Kween Kamala selected Chinese Communist Party stooge Tim Walz to join her on the vote-free Dim-Dem ticket.  It showed the pernicious pair standing in front of a city on fire with this campaign slogan: Harris/Walz — Mostly Peaceful.  Boy did the anonymous creator get that […]

I MAY BE SHOWING MY AGE HERE, BUT I REMEMBER A TIMEWHEN WE FOUGHT COMMUNISTS INSTEAD OF ELECTING THEM. Join: https://t.co/S22mwCpu8N pic.twitter.com/C3zTSGGslM — Mel Gibson ?? News (@MelGibsonNew) August 19, 2024

The Queen guitarist has reacted after complaints to the BBC about his film, scheduled to be broadcast this week

CHAPTER 31: Marxism, Gnosticism, and Transgenderism Space Is No Longer the Final Frontier—Reality Is Globalism is a replacement ideology that seeks to reorder the world into one singular, planetary Unistate, ruled by the globalist elite. The globalist war on nation-states cannot succeed without collapsing the United States of America. The long-term strategic attack plan moves […] The post CHAPTER 31: Marxism, Gnosticism, and Transgenderism appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.