John Huston

[Willets Point]

My local indy movie theater is doing a big run of John Huston films on the centennial of his birth. I realize I haven't seen any of this director's films. Anyone have any reccomendations of Huston movies not to miss? Do you have a Huston filmography Vic?

Thanks!

[Willets Point]

These are the options by the way:

The Maltese Falcon
The Asphalt Jungle
Night of the Iguana
Reflections in a Golden Eye
The List of Adrian Messenger
Beat the Devil
The Man Who Would Be King
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Misfits
Moby Dick
The Red Badge of Courage (I think I saw this one in school)
Fat City
Under the Volcano

[Benjamin Grimm]

My favorite one from that list is Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

[Guest sharpie]

The Man Who Would Be King and The Maltese Falcon are also terrific movies. No, Prizzi's Honor (his last film)?

[Frayed Knot]

I'd vote for Sierra Madre to start off also.
Huston directs his father Walter in it.
He also appears in it himself (uncredited) as the American in a white suit getting his shoes shined as Bogart is asking for a handout, just before the Mexican kid who sold Bogie a lottery ticket tells him that he's the winner.
That kid gows up to be the wife-murdering Robert Blake.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Maltese Falcon

Wunnerful.

Night of the Iguana

Cool, but comically overwrought acting.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Classic, but takes a lot of plot detours.

The Misfits

Any film that kills Clark Gable is worth seeing.

Moby Dick

The Red Badge of Courage (I think I saw this one in school)

I think I might have also.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Edgy DC wrote: Any film that kills Clark Gable is worth seeing.

You don't like Clark Gable?

He's not my favorite (Bogart is) and I probably like Tracy, Cagney, Stewart, and Cooper better than Gable too, but I don't dislike him at all.

It's also occurred to me that it would be great if he could be brought back to life to play Tony Stark in the 2008 Iron Man movie. (I don't think that's in the plans, though.)

[Guest Edgy DC]

No, I expressed that poorly. Any film that cost a cultural icon his life is worth seeing.

[Vic Sage]

John Huston was a Hollywood legend, with a career as an actor, writer and director that spanned over 50 years. A boxer, artist, tough guy, liberal activist, hunter, oft-married eccentric and rebel, he lived a large life and made some great movies.

1930s: actor, script-doctor, screenwriter
He started his career in Hollywood as an actor and a writer during the 1930s.

The Storm (1930) (actor,dialogue)
A House Divided (1931) (screenplay)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) (additional dialogue)
Law and Order (1932) (adaptation and dialogue)
Death Drives Through (1935) (story)
It Happened in Paris (1935) (screenplay)
Jezebel (1938) (screenplay)
The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) (screenplay)
Juarez (1939) (screenplay)
Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940) (screenplay) - Oscar Nomination
High Sierra (1941) (screenplay)
Sergeant York (1941) (screenplay) - Oscar Nomination

Golden Age: 1940s-50s

breaking through:
After 2 of his screenplays earned him Oscar nominations, the Warner brothers decided to give him a shot behind the camera, with MALTESE FALCON, and he was off and running.

The Maltese Falcon (1941) (writer & director)- Oscar Nomination (screenplay)
In This Our Life (1942) (director)
Across the Pacific (1942) (director)

The War Years
As a Lt. in the signal corps, Huston turned out important documentaries to support the war effort

Winning Your Wings (1942) (director)
Report from the Aleutians (1943) (writer & director;uncredited)
Dark Waters (1944) (screenplay;uncredited)
Know Your Enemy: Japan (1945) (screenplay)
San Pietro (1945) (producer,writer & director;uncredited)
Let There Be Light (1946) (writer & director)

Peak:
Upon his return to Hollywood, he reestablished himself as a force, winning 2 oscars for SIERRA MADRE, and reeling a series of a terrific films. It is during this period, too, that he spearheaded efforts to undermine the HUAC blacklists, and ultimately took up residence and citizenship in Ireland.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) (actor,writer & director) - 2 Oscars
Key Largo (1948) (writer & director)
We Were Strangers (1949) (writer & director)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) (writer & director) - 2 Oscar nominations
The Red Badge of Courage (1951) (actor,writer & director)
The African Queen (1951) (writer & director)- 2 Oscar nominations
Moulin Rouge (1952) (producer,uncredited)(writer & director) - 2 Oscar nominations

Fall from Grace:

1950s
After 10 films in 10 years (plus 6 more for the Army), most of which were widely acclaimed and commercially successful, Huston finally hit a bump in the road with his bizarre spoof, BEAT THE DEVIL, which bombed. While his films of this period are interesting, some taking on social issues no one else would deal with, they are not of the caliber of his earlier work.

Beat the Devil (1953) (producer, writer & director)
Moby Dick (1956) (producer, writer & director)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) (writer & director) - Oscar Nomination (screenplay)
The Barbarian and the Geisha (1958) (director)
The Roots of Heaven (1958) (director)

1960s
Huston continued making solid if unspectacular films through the early sixties, but there began to be more misses than hits, and the era ends with some spectacularly bad films. During the 60s, in fact, he became more noted as an actor than a filmmaker, starting with his Oscar in a supporting role in THE CARDINAL (1963).

The Unforgiven (1960) (director)
The Misfits (1961) (actor,director)
Freud (1962) (actor,director)
The List of Adrian Messenger (1963) (actor,director)
The Night of the Iguana (1964) (producer, writer & director)
The Bible (1966) (actor,director)
Casino Royale (1967) (actor,director)
Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967) (producer & director)
Sinful Davey (1969) (director)
A Walk with Love and Death (1969) (actor,director)
The Kremlin Letter (1970) (producer;uncredited) (actor,writer & director)

Revival

Comeback: 1970s
After a decade in the wilderness, Huston moved to Mexico where he met one of his many wives, and revived his filmmaking career with a string of fascinating, entertaining movies, including his brilliant Kipling-esque adventure tale, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING.

Fat City (1972) (producer & director)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) (actor,director)
The MacKintosh Man (1973) (director)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) (writer & director)- Oscar Nomination (screenplay)
Wise Blood (1979) (actor,director)

nadir:
perhaps his years in Mexico muddled his brain, because Huston then went on to make perhaps the worst 3 films of his career.

Phobia (1980) (director)
Victory (1981) (director)
Annie (1982) (director)

last hurrah:
But, as he was dying from emphasyma, he managed to make 3 more excellent films 2 lyrical,l quiet contemplations of death and a black comedy for his daughter that brought him his last Oscar nomination. He was working on a film (MR. NORTH) with his son, director Danny Huston, when he died.

Under the Volcano (1984) (director)
Prizzi's Honor (1985) (director) - Oscar Nomination
The Dead (1987) (director)

Houston's top dozen:
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Key Largo (1948)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The African Queen (1951)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Fat City (1972)
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Under the Volcano (1984)
Prizzi's Honor (1985)
The Dead (1987)

[Vic Sage]

of the ones being shown, i've bolded the "must-see"s:

The Maltese Falcon - great
The Asphalt Jungle - great
Night of the Iguana - dated, but worth seeing
Reflections in a Golden Eye - awful
The List of Adrian Messenger - awful
Beat the Devil - awful
The Man Who Would Be King - 1 of his bets
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean - great
Treasure of the Sierra Madre -great
The Misfits - strange, but worth seeing
Moby Dick - mediocre
The Red Badge of Courage - overrated
Fat City - really good
Under the Volcano - slow, but interesting

[Benjamin Grimm]

Moby Dick couldn't hold my interest. It wasn't as tough to sit through as the novel was, but I bailed on it before the first hour was up.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Judging from what I've seen, he had the honorable, if sometimes artistically unwieldy (see my passing complaint about Sierra Madre), habit of doing adaptations that are really loyal to their source material.

Authors and screenwriters Peter Viertel (Black Hunter, White Heart) and Ray Bradbury (Green Shadows, White Whale, obviously referencing the title of the former) each wrote books about working with Huston, and encountering his genius and madness.

[Willets Point]

Thanks everyone, that's pretty awesome.

I saw Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison a long time ago and I remember liking but remember little of it.

In City Slickers II Billy Crystal does a dance on finding the gold based on an old movie and I believe it was Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Is that correct?

[Frayed Knot]

In City Slickers II Billy Crystal does a dance on finding the gold based on an old movie and I believe it was Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Is that correct?

At one point, the Walter Huston character does a bit of a jig as he explains to his two rookie goldmining companions that they're sitting on a big find.
I never saw 'City Slickers' but I assume that's what you're alluding to.

[seawolf17]

"I want my two dollars!"

Oh wait, that was John Cusack.

[RealityChuck]

The must-see films on the list are:

The Maltese Falcon
Beat the Devil (not that great a film, but you still shouldn't miss it)
The Man Who Would Be King
Treasure of the Sierra Madre

[Vic Sage]

BEAT THE DEVIL is sort of a love-it-or-hate-it kind of movie. Its a satire of Bogie's earlier films, but without any real laughs It seems made up on the spot because it basically was. There's no real plot, just alot of fun supporting characters throwing off bon mots, some of which were improvised and others were written by Truman Capote, brought it after they threw out the script after filming began, to write some witty lines.

Bogie had a car accident during filming, knocking out some of his teeth, which prevented him from being able to speak clearly. Huston had to bring in an impersonator to dub some of his lines during post-production. If that reminds anyone of Ed Wood's replacement of the dead Bela Lugosi during PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, then your sort of getting the picture here.

still, with so many good actors acting goofy, its not entirely without its charms. But i'd be loathe to actually recommend it to anybody, and its status as "flop turned cult classic" does mark the beginning of the downturn in Huston's career.