The Films Of Billy Wilder: A Retrospective“I want to thank three persons,” said Michel Hazanavicius, accepting the 2. Best Picture Oscar for “The Artist.” “I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to thank Billy Wilder and I want to thank Billy Wilder.” He wasn’t the first director to namecheck Wilder in an acceptance speech. In 1. 99. 4, Fernando Trueba, accepting the Foreign Language Film Oscar for “Belle Epoque” quipped, “I would like to believe in God in order to thank him. But I just believe in Billy Wilder… so, thank you Mr.
Wilder.” Wilder reportedly called the next day “Fernando? It’s God.”So just what exactly was it that inspired these men to expend some of the most valuable seconds of speechifying airtime they’ll ever know, to tip their hats to Wilder? And can we bottle it?Born in a region of Austria/Hungary that is now part of Poland, Wilder’s story feels like an archetype of the émigré- to- Hollywood experience that shaped so much of the early studio system, and by extension, narrative cinema as we know it. First a reporter, he cut his teeth as a screenwriter in Berlin, notably collaborating on the screenplay for famous neo- realist precursor “People on Sunday.” Moving to Paris, his first directorial credit came for the 1. French- language picture “Mauvaise Graine” (“Bad Seed“). However, even prior to its release Wilder, fearing the looming European Nazi threat that would eventually claim the lives of his mother, stepfather and grandmother, had left for Hollywood, and a shared room with Peter Lorre.While we list only his directorial work below, Wilder considered himself a writer first and foremost and attained quite some pre- directorial success with screenplays co- written with Charles Brackett, especially those directed by fellow immigrant and mentor Ernst Lubitsch (to his dying day, Wilder’s office was graced by a plaque reading “How would Lubitsch do it?”).
And several pictures after his eventual split with Brackett came the second important, multi- picture writing partnership of Wilder’s career, with I. A. L. Diamond.But while Wilder always wrote in collaboration, the throughline is definitely his own.
Perhaps to compensate for his initially faltering English, he developed an ear for the American vernacular that was simply unparalleled, and, boy, did he have a way with a joke. His detractors (we guess they exist, though we try to avoid them at parties) have accused his dialogue style of being too constructed, too unnaturalistic. They say, perhaps imitating Jack Lemmon imitating Tony Curtis imitating Cary Grant “Nobody talks like that” and perhaps they’re right — really, nobody did.
Except maybe, judging from the plethora of witty, insightful, delightful late- career interviews he gave, Wilder himself.Naturalism be damned. When you’re as funny, scathing, richly textured and whipsmart as Wilder could be at his best, who needs it? In almost every genre he put his hand to, he turned in a stone- cold classic.
Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is. Billy is the protagonist of the franchise. He is Mandy and Grim's friend. He is a dim-witted. The Texarkana Gazette is the premier source for local news and sports in Texarkana and the surrounding Arklatex areas. Billy Jack is a 1971 action/drama independent film; the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie The Born Losers.
Or two. Need stats? He directed 4 of the AFI’s 1. He directed 1. 4 different actors to Oscar nominations.
He was nominated for 1. Oscars, winning 3, and 8 directing Oscars, winning 2.Enough with the math. Wilder gave us Marilyn Monroe‘s (and arguably classic Hollywood’s) most iconic image. He gave us ‘Nobody’s perfect’ in a film as close to perfection as a Hollywood comedy can get. He gave us “Mr. de Mille, I’m ready for my close up,” Barbara Stanwyck‘s anklet, and Jack Lemmon straining spaghetti through a tennis racket.
He made Garbo laugh, let dead men narrate and tempered all his jokes with cynicism, and all his cynicism with infectious, irreverent, mischievous wit.So today, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death, we take a long look back at the career of this remarkable, beloved, inspirational director. Because we may not be standing on a podium, but we, too, would like to thank Billy Wilder. There are three notable omissions from this list – films none of us has seen and which we couldn’t track down in time.
With Steve Guttenberg, James Gallery, Peggy Pope, Paula Trueman. Loosely based on the film Billy Liar, young Billy (Steven Guttenberg) is a young man with a wild.
The French- language “Mauvaise Graine” (1. Paris. “Five Graves to Cairo” (1. Wilder’s second US directorial effort, and starred Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter and Erich von Stroheim as Rommel. It’s a desert- set WW2 spy story and apparently pretty good.
And finally, we missed out on “Death Mills,” Wilder’s 2. Bergen- Belsen extermination camp in 1. The Major and the Minor” (1. Reportedly fed up with how his scripts were being bastardized by lesser directors, Wilder was eventually handed the reins on “The Major and the Minor,” for his U. S. feature directorial debut. It’s a shame he wasn’t allowed to cut his teeth on his far superior script for “Ball of Fire,” which Howard Hawks was shooting simultaneously, (though Hawks did a great job with the Barbara Stanwyck/Gary Cooper starrer). Because with the best will in the world, these days it’s hard to get beyond the icky premise of the film.
The story revolves around a grown woman (Ginger Rogers) falling in love with an engaged U. S. army major (Ray Milland) while passing herself off as a 1. Problematic to the modern eye, to say the least. At the time, however — back in the days when apparently the discovery that the female with whom a grown man has been sharing a private train berth is a pre- teen, was an occasion for relief rather than the set up for an episode of “To Catch A Predator” — this was a hit and established Wilder’s mettle as a director. Certainly, leaving the inherent skeeziness of the plot to one side, you can see it’s a remarkably assured debut.
“I want to thank three persons,” said Michel Hazanavicius, accepting the 2012 Best Picture Oscar for “The Artist.” “I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to. The Trial of Billy Jack is a 1974 film starring Delores Taylor and Tom Laughlin. It is the sequel to the 1971 film Billy Jack and the third film overall in the series.
Not showy, not especially visually innovative, but certainly competent, and already here Wilder demonstrates his deft hand at coaxing game performances of impeccable comic timing. Rogers is really pretty terrific, despite the awkwardness of what she’s working with, and the simple fact that she just looks far too old to play the part of a 1. Clark Kent’s glasses. Milland, too, nearly manages to charm us through some pretty murky waters, until the very end where even he seems a little embarrassed at the hasty denouement. Watch Chef Donald Download Full.
Ultimately, while it may have launched one of the most important directorial careers that Hollywood will ever know, be warned that the film’s plot has dated beyond (suspension of dis)belief, and as such “The Major and the Minor” is a lot more minor than major. C+]“Double Indemnity” (1. Hugely influential and highly involving, the director’s 1. American movies ever made.
The story is this: insurance salesmen Walter Neff (Fred Mac. Murray) is seduced by the sizzling Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), who convinces him to secretly compose a life insurance policy for her husband and aid in his murder.
Of course she’s not all that she seems to be, being the femme fatale and all, and Walter ends up at the desk of his boss (a crackling, powerful Edward G. Robinson), confiding the entire murder story into his Dictaphone (giving the movie its voiceover perspective). It’s difficult not to admire every element of “Double Indemnity” — from the suspenseful, tight plot to the harsh lighting and shadows borrowed from the best in German Expressionism — simply because it has everything you could possibly want in a single film. Watch Christopher And His Kind HD 1080P.
But props go to the subtler, slower- paced moments that you don’t always find in the genre, a cinematic victim of endless dialogue and knotty plots.