Š-DR- MONTE WALSH p7

17/07/2014 09:07 par tellurikwaves

à gauche :Jeanne Moreau : Martine Bernard

Š-DR-MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971) p6

17/07/2014 06:16 par tellurikwaves

La critique de Roger Ebert

"Monte Walsh" is as lovely a Western as I've seen in a long time. Like a lot of recent Westerns, it's about the end of the old West. "Monte," a friend says to Lee Marvin, "do you realize how many cowpunchers there were out here 10 years ago? Well there's a hell of a lot less now. And no jobs for them." And so Monte Walsh, 50ish, thinks in a rather disorganized way of getting into some other line of work and maybe even getting married.

The thing that helps make up his mind for him is when his best friend Chet (Jack Palance) gives up cowpunching, moves into town and marries the "hardware widow." Chet's wedding starts Monte thinking about marrying the town whore (Jeanne Moreau), who has never taken a penny from him and who clearly loves him. Times have been hard for her, too. Prostitution, she observes, is a profession of diminishing returns, and she has had to move to a railroad town nearby.

With the consolidation of all the ranches into one big spread managed by some financial wizards from back East, jobs for cowboys have become scarce. And thus, inevitably, there has been less call for her services. Monte rides over to the railroad town and asks her what she thinks about the idea of getting married. Moreau, in a moment of luminous acting, thinks it over and then smiles and says "I like it" in a way that can't be described. Then she reflects: "Of course marriage is a common ambition in my profession."

But not in Monte's. "Cowboys don't get married," he observes to Chet. So he toys with the idea of stunt-riding for a Wild West show, but the thought of all those concrete cities without any open spaces is too much for him. And so he is faced, toward the end of the movie, with a very lonely desperation. This may be the first three-handkerchief Western.

There have been, I mentioned, several movies recently about the passing of the old West. They seem to be inspired by different kinds of motives. Some hands in Hollywood seem to believe that the Western itself is dead, that since you can't seriously peddle the old good guy-bad guy plots, you have to dismantle them and bury them.

"The Wild Bunch" and "The Professionals," each in its own way, were about the shortage of work for gunslingers. They suggested that violence had gone out of style in the West, that a gun on the hip was no longer required in polite society. "The Wild Bunch" seemed to seek death almost suicidally in the last half of that great movie: they'd lived by the gun and they had to die by it, ironically, because they knew no other way to make a living.

"Monte Walsh" is set at the same psychological moment in the West, but it takes a quieter and, on the whole, more thoughtful approach. There's a fair amount of gunplay, yes, and Marvin has a well-staged action scene where he tries to tame a bronco and succeeds in destroying half a town. But mostly the movie sticks close to ordinary life: to the camaraderie of the bunkhouse and the range, to the everyday life of the working cowboy and to the shy and beautiful love between the cowboy and the prostitute.

The movie is rough but it is almost always tender. The performances are extraordinary. Marvin has very seldom been better; he leaves in the toughness of his usual screen character, but he also reveals a lot of depth. He's often directed wastefully; directors want him for his presence and authority, but don't really seem to want a performance from him. And he obliges, usually for lots of bread ("Paint Your Wagon" was a sad example). This time, he acts.

Miss Moreau and Palance both seem to relate to him especially well. Given their roles of lover and best buddy, there was a danger of clichés. But you never get that feeling; the scenes seem real. You're reminded once again what a good actor Palance is, and how seldom he gets the opportunity to prove it. A lot of the credit for the movie's taste and emotional depth probably belongs to William Fraker, a talented cinematographer who was directing for the first time. Most first directors choose projects they wanted to make long before they got the opportunity.

Fraker, whose credits include "Rosemary's Baby," photographed "Paint Your Wagon" and must have been thinking all during that unfortunate movie about how he'd direct Marvin, if he got the chance. He did, and "Monte Walsh" was worth waiting for.

Š-DR-MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971) p5

17/07/2014 06:06 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971) p4

17/07/2014 05:51 par tellurikwaves

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Š-DR-MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971) p3

17/07/2014 05:46 par tellurikwaves

Jack Palance : Chet Rollins & Lee Marvin : Monte Walsh

Š-DR- MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971) p2

17/07/2014 05:40 par tellurikwaves

Résumé
Un cowboy vieillissant,réalise que l'Ouest qu'il a connu et aîmé,n'existera bientôt plus,et qu'il n'y aura plus de place pour lui,ne connaissant que ce métier et n'ayant pas le goût pour autre chose.

*

Fiche technique
Titre français : Monte Walsh
Réalisation : William A. Fraker
Scénario : David Zelag Goodman et Lukas Heller
d'après le roman de Jack Schaefer
Photographie : David M. Walsh
Musique : John Barry
Production : Hal Landers et Bobby Roberts
Pays d'origine : États-Unis
Format : Couleurs - 2,35:1 - Mono
Genre : western
Date de sortie : 1970

Š-DR-MONTE WALSH de W.A.Fraker (1971)

17/07/2014 05:21 par tellurikwaves

Monte Walsh est un film américain réalisé par William A. Fraker, sorti en 1970.

Cast
Lee Marvin : Monte Walsh
Jeanne Moreau : Martine Bernard
Jack Palance : Chet Rollins
Mitch Ryan : Shorty Austin
Jim Davis : Cal Brennan
G.D. Spradlin : Hal Henderson
John Hudkins : Sonny Jacobs
Raymond Guth : Sunfish Perkins
John McKee : Petey Williams
Michael Conrad : Dally Johnson
Tom Heaton : Sugar Wyman
Bo Hopkins : Jumpin' Joe Joslin
John McLiam : Fightin' Joe Hooker
Matt Clark : Rufus Brady
Eric Christmas : Col. Wilson
Jack Colvin : Card cheat
Richard Farnsworth : Cowboy

Š-DR-L'AFFAIRE FAREWELL de Christian Carion (2009) fin

16/07/2014 05:13 par tellurikwaves

Bibliographie
Éric Raynaud et Sergueï Kostine, Adieu Farewell, Robert Laffont, 2009.

Š-DR- L'AFFAIRE FAREWELL p20

16/07/2014 05:07 par tellurikwaves

"Farewell"
9/10
Author: Cambridge Film Festival from United Kingdom
28 September 2010

FAREWELL is an elegant depiction of Cold War espionage based on true events that proved catalytic to the demise of the Soviet Union. Pierre Froment (Guillame Canet), a French businessman who is 'above suspicion' due to his amateur status, is compelled to deliver high level intelligence from reckless, disillusioned KGB veteran Sergei Grigoriev (Emir Kusturica) to Reagan's cabinet via François Mitterrand, thereby crippling Soviet intelligence.

Whilst Froment and Grigoriev convincingly resemble weary bureaucrats, scenes in the White House lack credibility - perhaps an attempt at satire by Carion, they are nevertheless rendered redundant by the sombre refinement of the film. Cultural boundaries between East and West deliver brief comic reprieve, and signal the imminent disintegration of an already stagnant regime.

Suffused with nostalgia, we observe Brezhnev-era Moscow cast in the lurid yellow light of street-lamps, or bleached white by lens flare, with an effortless attention to detail - Muscovites stand in endless queues on street corners as Soviet vehicles roam empty boulevards flanked by Socialist realist statues.

Subterranean scenes add a noir aesthetic, reflecting the shades of deception throughout - in the words of Grigoriev; "I live in lies and solitude".Kusturica gives a shatteringly affecting performance, conveying Grigoriev's wistful patriotism and hope for his son's future with a rare eloquence. Carion creates real suspense and accommodates subtle plot twists, but there are no cheap thrills here- the film defies the brash conventions of its genre . Understated, fluid camera-work and dedicated performances deliver a film of classic style and depth. 5 out of 5

Cambridge Film Festival Daily

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11 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
 
The Very Moving Emir Kusturica
9/10
Author: film_ophile from boston mass. usa
10 July 2010

We just returned from seeing this film as part of the Annual French Film Festival at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, 7/10/10. In the U.S., we have an expression sometimes used to express one's admiration for a certain talented actor/actress who is riveting to watch on screen.I will use this expression here w/ regards to the lead actor, " I could watch Emir Kusturica read the phone book".

It is his performance more than any other single factor, that causes me to think very highly of this film.It is a rare thing to watch a film about a real life hero without seeing a film that is also maudlin,clichéd or too simplistic. But in "Farewell" I felt that the story was compelling and the screenplay was well written,economical, completely believable and well acted.There were no unnecessary scenes and the whole thing mostly made sense, as sad as that sense was.The cinematography was crummy, but you can't have everything.

Besides,I was so mesmerized by K's performance that I didn't really care that much about the cinematography, because my eyes were always focused in on him.As I exited the theater I felt like I had just been hit by a truck, and I am still feeling this film.

Š-DR-L'AFFAIRE FAREWELL de Christian Carion (2009) p19

16/07/2014 04:59 par tellurikwaves

One of the best movies ever made!
10/10
Author: dgurtin from United Kingdom
2 May 2011

From the brilliant cinematography of the opening scene, this movie declares itself as a masterpiece. I watched it at the edge my seat till the end, laughing and crying for Emir Kusturica's Sergei, a bear of a man and hating my beloved Willem Defoe's blood curdling CIA chief Finn. Guillaume Canet as Pierre Froment is also very good, maddeningly naive and equally lovable; in fact movie is full of living and breathing real characters, although unfortunately all women are slightly shadowy compared to men.

I loved the exquisite detail to the period with clothes, hair, glasses and atmosphere, particularly in Moscow. The story was grippingly interesting and every single scene, every bit of dialogue believable. I feel enriched for having watched L'affaire Farewell, Merci Christian Carion.