1968 - DUFFY, journey back to the swinging 60's

A couple of actors that would probably be identified as charter members of the swinging 60's, Susannah York and especially James Coburn show up in one of those elaborate heist films that were kind of the rage for a while.  

The swinging 60's, particularly swinging 60's London probably only existed in the minds of entertainment reporters and TV and movie executives.  The era was frequently marked by a contempt for all things and members of the establishment, especially the older generation. Never mind that this group of 20 and 30 somethings were going to eventually age out and join their elders.

 Duffy has Coburn at his most zany, living in a hipster pad in Tangiers that is decorated with lots of weird artwork and stuff.  Duffy gets involved with a couple of brothers who want to rip off a bunch of money from their father played by the always reliable actor James Mason who in a lot of ways is really the most interesting character in the film.

 

Susannah York is one of the "birds" slang for a woman, of the brothers.  York was always a likable performer and exuded an appealing English sex appeal.  She turns up in a lot of films during the 60's and if you needed an English "hottie" you would hire her.

 The big caper takes place on Mason's yacht and it's reasonably clever the way they get the money off the boat.  The film has one of those twist endings that were popular.  I write it a lot in my posts but this is basically a decent time killer of a film.

Written by Donald Cammell and Harry Joe Brown Jr., the running time is 101 minutes.

1962 - IN THE FRENCH STYLE, a showpiece for actor Jean Seberg

Irwin Shaw took two of his short stories and turned them into a script for Jean Seberg.  The film is about the life and loves of Seberg as she lives in Paris from age 19 until age 24.  Seberg gets to play a teenager who matures into a young woman.  She becomes more sophisticated as she gets involved with several men and becomes a "woman of the world," as they say.

Seberg is best remembered in the film world for working with Godard on Breathless.  She started her career being discovered and abused by Otto Preminger in Saint Joan.  She had a tragic life and committed suicide at the age of 40

The director was Robert Parrish who had begun his career as a child actor and editor for John Ford.  Parrish was probably a better editor than a director since most of his films are not really anything special.  Parrish was a good story teller and has book on John Ford is one of the definitive portrayals of that director.

In The French Style is not without interest.  It's not really anything special but the story is kind of fascinating as we watch the Seberg character mature throughout the film as she journey's to her personal self discovery.

105 minutes.