The Producers, Bowfinger and Young Frankenstein

On Sunday I attended the fifth film night, my first, at Pete and Maggie Patson's house in Bath. You meet up at the pub at lunchtime, back to the house and watch a film, snack, watch another film, eat a gorgeous three-course meal provided by the lovely Maggie and watch a final film. And drink a lot of wine. The food and wine flowed to such an extent that most of us dozed off through a good portion of Young Frankenstein so I will not say any more about it than it was good to see Peter Boyle and Marty Feldman again.

I enjoyed The Producers more than I expected. It's a long time since I have seen it and I only remember it for Springtime For Hitler so it was good to see the actual build up towards the show. Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder were Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder - which is not a criticism.

Bowfinger was very funny and quite clever. Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy were Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, but it was particularly good to see the latter sending himself up.

Hero

Just finished watching Hero - which I have just found out is also known as Ying Xiong - absolutely amazing. A Chinese martial arts film, it has such stunning use of colour, movement, scenery, music (Itzhak Perlman on violin!), and I could follow the story. Amazing. I particularly liked the games of go (called "chess" in the subtitles) being played in the rain and the Qin archers. A feast for the eyes and ears. Got all excited when I thought it had an English cinematographer - Christopher Doyle - only to find he's Australian. Directed and produced by Yimou Zhang, who also directed and produced House Of Flying Arrows. Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung - lovers Broken Sword and Flying Snow in Hero - were the central characters in In The Mood For Love, which Christopher Doyle was also co-cinematographer on. (Film4)

NYPD Blue - Last two episodes

Yesterday I watched the above - penultimate was a bit on the slow side but the last was superb. Everything on the face of it going wrong for Andy on his first day commanding the squad. It was good that he didn't "use" his knowledge about Bale (finding his credit card on a guy who rips off homosexuals) or maybe I missed that episode - unlikely. Also good that they ran Esai Morales and Charlotte Ross's names and pictures in the opening titles - but disappointing that they didn't show up! And good that Andy Sipowicz was in the final shot before it faded to black. A classic.

Welcome to Hard Times

On Tuesday I watched Welcome to Hard Times, which is an actual western, and had quite a similar feel to Bad Day at Black Rock. Both were set in little communities with little more than a saloon, a jail and a store along with a few houses. Black Rock was about a village with a secret - a group of villagers had killed a Japanese farmer in retaliation for Pearl Harbour - whereas Hard Times is about a village which can't cope when it's terrorised by a stranger. Directed initially I believe for TV by Burt Kennedy. Henry Fonda, Keenan Wynn, Warren Oates and loads of ace character actors such as Elisha Cook, Royal Dano, Aldo Ray, Lon Chaney and Denver Pyle. Worth watching for all those cameo appearances. (TCM)

Bad Day at Black Rock

Set in 1945 but had that western feel to it, probably because it was set in the middle of nowhere - "First time the train has stopped here for four years." All about fear of strangers. Spencer Tracy, Lee Marvin, Walter Brennan. Directed by John Sturges. Excellent. (TCM)