Thursday, September 3, 2020

Thursday Movie Picks #321: Domestic Thrillers






This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. This week's theme is Domestic Thrillers, which made me think of several movies right off the bat. However, I had a feeling I'd already used them in a previous challenge, and it turns out I was right, to a point. I had wanted to use Frank Sinatra's 1954 movie Suddenly, and when I searched the blog, it turns out that the theme for Thursday Movie Picks #221 back in October 2018 was Home Invasions. So another of my thoughts, He Ran All the Way, was also out. So I had to do a little more thinking, but it still wasn't all that difficult to come up with three movies:

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Drifter John Garfield winds up at a diner/service station owned by Cecil Kellaway and his young, hot wife Lana Turner. Turner, being dissatisfied with her marriage to Kellaway, immediately starts putting the moves on Garfield who is unsurprisingly attracted to her and eventually goes along with her plan to bump off Kellaway. If it weren't for the Production Code, you'd think they might be able to get away with murder....

Rope (1948). John Dall and Farley Granger play a pair of recent college graduate classmates (and obvious, but never stated, gay lovers) who took too much to heart one of their professors' (James Stewart) theories about the superiority of some men. So they strangle another of their classmates, stuff the body in a large chest, and then in a fit of hubris put a tablecloth over that and serve a buffet dinner off of the chest at a party they hold with Stewart and the dead guy's girlfriend among those in attendance.

Body Heat (1981). William Hurt plays a small-town Florida lawyer who meets Kathleen Turner, a bored wife who married into wealth. They have sex and she convinces him to take part in a scheme in which will result in his killing her husband (Richard Crenna) in a way that will supposedly make it look like a botched arson. Turner, however, was "stupid" enough to leave all sorts of clues that the authorities will discover. Ted Danson does surprisingly well as a prosecuting attorney.

3 comments:

joel65913 said...

Rope is a great catch though as Hitchcock films go it's not among my favorites. Good film but stagy by necessity.

Kathleen Turner owns Body Heat. William Hurt is fine but Turner pushes everyone else to the side and takes center stage.

I detested the remake of Postman Always Rings Twice but this one radiates the heat between Garfield and Lana. It's one example of where the Production Code benefited the story, the filmmakers need to sublimate the more erotic elements into suggestion turned up the heat of the story.

I went with a Hitchcock too along with another classic and one that I really enjoyed but isn't mentioned enough.

Rear Window (1954)-Photo-journalist “Jeff” Jeffries, wheelchair bound because of a badly broken leg combats the boredom of being confined to his apartment by watching the activities of his neighbors though his rear window. Late one night he thinks he witnesses one of them, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), murder his wife but initially has trouble convincing anyone of the fact. Slowly with the help of his acerbic nurse Stella (Thelma Ritter) and fashion model girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) he starts to put the pieces together but when Thorwald begins to suspect Jeff knows something the tables are dangerously turned.

Deceived (1991)-Art restorer Adrienne (Goldie Hawn) and museum curator Jack Saunders (John Heard) have a seemingly perfect life living in their restored New York City loft with their daughter Mary. But that life is thrown into turmoil when Jack’s boss dies under questionable circumstances. Jack starts acting strangely then suddenly leaves town purportedly on business raising Adrienne’s suspicions. Before he returns he is apparently killed in a car crash but when Adrienne files for his death benefits it turns out “Jack Saunders” died in a plane crash 20 years ago. So who was the man she married? As she searches for answers the truth becomes increasingly dark and very perilous.

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)-Young Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move into a New York City apartment building of sinister repute. When their odd new neighbors, Roman and Minnie Castavet (Sidney Blackmer & Ruth Gordon) become overly familiar Rosemary tries to back away but Guy, suddenly successful, welcomes them. Rosemary, now pregnant, becomes increasingly isolated and the diabolical truth of the matter is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth. One of Roman Polanski’s best films permeated with a sense of dread.

Brittani Burnham said...

I haven't seen any of your picks but Rope is next on my Hitchcock list so hopefully I enjoy that.

Birgit said...

So you know how often I was ready to watch Rope only for something to get I. The way?! I still have to see that one and your last pick too. I love The Postman Always wins twice and, thankfully, never saw the remake. This is an excellent choice with guilt paying off in the end.