Poll

What's your favorite film by Henry Hathaway?

Now and Forever
0 (0%)
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
2 (13.3%)
Peter Ibbetson
0 (0%)
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
0 (0%)
Go West Young Man
0 (0%)
Souls at Sea
0 (0%)
Spawn of the North
0 (0%)
The Real Glory
0 (0%)
Johnny Apollo
0 (0%)
Brigham Young
0 (0%)
The Shepherd of the Hills
0 (0%)
Sundown
0 (0%)
China Girl
1 (6.7%)
A Lady Takes a Chance
0 (0%)
Wing and a Prayer
0 (0%)
The House on 92nd Street
0 (0%)
The Dark Corner
0 (0%)
13 Rue Madeleine
0 (0%)
Kiss of Death
1 (6.7%)
Call Northside 777
0 (0%)
Down to the Sea in Ships
0 (0%)
The Black Rose
0 (0%)
You're in the Navy Now
0 (0%)
Fourteen Hours
0 (0%)
Rawhide
1 (6.7%)
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel
1 (6.7%)
Diplomatic Courier
0 (0%)
Niagara
0 (0%)
White Witch Doctor
0 (0%)
Prince Valiant
0 (0%)
Garden of Evil
0 (0%)
The Racers
0 (0%)
23 Paces to Baker Street
0 (0%)
Legend of the Lost
0 (0%)
From Hell to Texas
0 (0%)
Seven Thieves
0 (0%)
North to Alaska
0 (0%)
How the West Was Won
0 (0%)
Circus World
0 (0%)
The Sons of Katie Elder
0 (0%)
Nevada Smith
1 (6.7%)
5 Card Stud
0 (0%)
True Grit
3 (20%)
Raid on Rommel
0 (0%)
Shoot Out
0 (0%)
other (specify)
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
4 (26.7%)
don't like any
1 (6.7%)

Total Members Voted: 14

Author Topic: Hathaway, Henry  (Read 3499 times)

pixote

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Re: Director's Best: Henry Hathaway
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2014, 12:24:47 AM »
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Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Director's Best: Henry Hathaway
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2014, 12:37:42 AM »
All 3 of these are good, with True Grit standing noticeably above the other 2
True Grit
Prince Valiant
The Desert Fox: The Story Of Rommel

I may have seen
How the West was Won
We're in the Navy Now

oldkid

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Re: Director's Best: Henry Hathaway
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2015, 07:45:27 PM »
True Grit 4/5
Call Northside 777 3/5
How the West Was Won 3/5
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jascook

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2016, 02:58:08 AM »
True Grit: 8/10
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Corndog

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #14 on: March 29, 2016, 03:25:43 PM »
1. True Grit (2.5)
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

1SO

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2017, 08:25:28 PM »
Souls at Sea (1937)
* * * - Good
Gary Cooper is a known slave trader secretly operating to destroy the industry. Even his good friend George Raft is unaware of his true intentions. Things get complicated - think The Departed - and as the film opens Cooper is on trial for multiple homicides. The bulk of the film is solid seafaring adventure building to a climax that reminded me of Titanic... in a good way. Lots of familiar faces, like Harry Carey, Porter Hall and Robert Cummings.

1SO

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #16 on: March 03, 2019, 10:49:51 PM »
Updated Rankings

Go West Young Man (1936)
★ ★
[NOTE: I wrote this before My Little Chickadee but they share similar thoughts on Mae West.]

I find Mae West’s schtick very limited. The same delivery, the eyes always rolling up on the punchline. Some of it’s funny, and I loved learning she’s the sole credited writer on many of her films, but it’s like watching a SNL character at feature length. This was mostly a slog and a waste of Warren William (cast against type as a moral beacon), Randolph Scott and Lyle Talbot. Hathaway is strictly a director for hire.


The Desert Fox (1951)
★ ★
A mess of a script, hitting only selected highlights of German General Rommel’s involvement in the attempt to assassinate Hitler. James Mason is excellent, but for the first half he only gets occasional chances to act while a narrator and heaps of stock war footage cancel out any interest that should be building. The actor playing Hitler isn’t up to the challenge.
 

Diplomatic Courier (1952)
★ ★ ½
Espionage Noir with Tyrone Power searching for valuable information with enemies on all sides. Trust no one, except for the always dependable Karl Malden. Patricia Neal (newly added to my Classic Hollywood Movie Stars Marathon) isn’t up to her usual high standard and Hathaway’s direction is like Hitchcock with no memorable shots or suspense. (In other words, blah.)


Nevada Smith (1966)
★ ★ ★ – Okay
Solid if unoriginal revenge film with Steve McQueen going after three character actors who killed his parents. (Karl Malden, Martin Landau and Arthur Kennedy). Hits all the familiar beats of tracking down the bad guys while learning to be an expert gunman. Unsatisfying ending saying that life is more than revenge after two hours of nothing but. My favorite McQueen performance because for once he drops his thick layer of cool.


Shoot Out (1971)
★ ½
Gregory Peck gets out of jail and goes looking for the man who shot him in the back. He’s saddled with a kid and the film is saddled with some of the most annoying villains ever in a Western. They’re terribly written and then cast with people who just yell everything. Among them is Susan Tyrell, one of the worst actresses ever, and she’s the best of this bunch. Peck is excellent, but what’s the point. Kind of annoys me how much the film looks and feels like Hathaway’s True Grit. (This also has the same Producer and Screenwriter.)

Knocked Out Loaded

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #17 on: July 28, 2019, 03:03:02 PM »
Rawhide, 35˚
Extraordinary (81-100˚) | Very good (61-80˚) | Good (41-60˚) | Fair (21-40˚) | Poor (0-20˚)

1SO

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Re: Hathaway, Henry
« Reply #18 on: February 05, 2021, 08:43:40 PM »

The Shepherd of the Hills (1941)
"The bigger the man, the deeper the imprint.
And when he's in love, he suffers knowing it's a dead end."


Better for a film to take a big swing then to not even try. There have been FIVE adaptations of Harold Bell Wright’s novel, and none carry the star power and production value of this largely forgotten attempt. A wilderness Western even more beautiful to look at than Canyon Passage,

John Wayne has star billing, but the real lead is Harry Carey followed by Betty Field (Blues in the Night) giving a tomboy performance so method, it’s like 70s Jodie Foster went back in time. The incredible cast includes Beulah Bondi, Samuel S. Hinds, Marc Lawrence, and of course Marjorie Main, John Qualen and Ward Bond. (This has the rare deep cut of the unavoidable faces of Olin Howard and Tom Fadden sharing the screen.)

There are moments that seem like studio concessions to help sell the film. Gunshots begin our story and around the middle Wayne and Bond get into a brief fight. The bulk of the story is told through the great actor’s faces and hillbilly dialogue so thickly regionalized the brain has to do a Shakespeare-like translation to figure out what’s being said. I took this off the DVD subtitles…

"Well, the last I recollect, we was speakin' of notions. You get to whisperin' to yourself... when there ain't a single word to say. Bees bumblin' at ya, you get all tongue-tied, start smilin' sidewise, and you see plumb fancy with your eyes shut tight."
RATING: ★ ★ ½
« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 08:47:33 PM by 1SO »