*The Bogey-man Cometh*
An evening in honour of the great Bogey-man, kicking off with 1946 noir classic, The Big Sleep. Private Investigator Philip Marlowe takes on a blackmail case set in a backdrop of a seedy, searingly hot, stormy and debauched L.A. populated by murderers, mobsters, debt-ridden party girls and callous good-time Charlies. Humph and Bacall's sizzling off-screen chemistry is clearly apparent on-screen. Bogey is electric, managing to exude a kind of shabby uber-cool sex appeal with style, charm and wit. Based on a Raymond Chandler novel, the film was directed by the great Howard Hawks with a screen play co-written by William Faulkner. With such delicious lines as 'Get up angel, you look like a pekinese' what's not to love?!
Then on to my personal fave Woody Allen film, Play it Again Sam from 1972, Woody's homage to the great man himself! Woody stars as Alan Felix, an unlucky-in-love film critic who, deserted by his wife, develops Bogey's Marlowe persona as an alter-ego to mentor him and improve his confidence with women, to great comic effect. Cue a great number of romantic disasters and misguided, cheesy chat-up lines like 'I love the rain. It washes memories off the sidewalk of life'.A rare San Francisco set film for Woody (lots of lovely shots of trolleys and thrift stores) with a fabulous supporting cast; Diane Keaton has never been more adorable and Tony Roberts puts in a great comic performance as assured, dead-pan work-obsessed executive, Dick. This is also one of Woody's best performances as a scriptwriter and actor; he exudes a very natural charm. However, the film was directed by Herbert Ross (perhaps this enabled Woody to concentrate more on his own acting performance?). There are great slapstick moments and the film hangs together very well with a good linear narrative as opposed to a series of unrelated amusing comic sketches, which sometimes Woody is guilty of in other films. Perhaps this is in part due to the film having been based on a successful play by Woody.
