Desmond. Brubeck.

Myrna Loy Wishes You A Happy New 1927!

In my typical, damn-the-archiving way, I had already taken down my previous post, "For Your Consideration: Myrna Loy" before James Wolcott was kind enough to link to it. So, here's the post again, just in case a stray Oscar voter finds their way here and wants to take me up on this:

As Oscar voters scratch their heads trying to find 10 movies worth nominating for Best Picture, here's a modest proposal from your blockhead correspondent: A Best Supporting Actress nomination for Myrna Loy in Public Enemies. In the Michael Mann film, one of the year's best, bank robber John Dillinger meets his end at the Biograph theater after watching the Gable-Loy-Powell gangsta flick, Manhattan Melodrama. While Myrna is not really in the film, and I'm sure there are rules against such a nomination, her presence is crucial to the emotional texture of the finale. It's those dazzling closeup images of Loy on screen that make Dillinger (Johnny Depp) feel even more acutely the loss of his beloved Billie (Marion Cotillard). As he watches Loy, he sees Billie and knows he's lost what matters most to him. Dillinger quietly smirks at Clark Gable's Hollywood impersonation of a gangster. But not at Loy. She burns right through the screen for him. She speaks to him. She breaks his heart. When Dillinger leaves that theater, he's already been shot down. Not by Melvin Purvis' boys, but by Myrna Loy. It's a brief, but spellbinding, performance, and one that definitely "supports" the film.

By the way, I totally agree with Wolcott's comment on Miami Vice and Gong Li. Every time I watch that movie, I have an urge to find a cigarette boat and gun down to Havana for mojitos and, well, post-mojitos. And I'm a lot closer to Cuba, geographically speaking, than most of you.

Movie 'Tracks: "In Cold Blood"

Mel's The Man

Is there anything Mel Torme can't do? He sings, he scats, he co-wrote "The Christmas Song" and here he throws down a killer beat on Duke's "Cotton Tail." Wait for the drum-clarinet duel in the middle.

Elementary, But Still Pleasurable, My Dear Watson

As much as it surprises me to say so, my favorite Christmas movie is Sherlock Holmes. I've loved the Conan Doyle stories and Roy William Neill movies since I was a kid, but with all the commercial hype and the ludicrous tie-in of Holmes selling go-go taquitos at 7-Eleven, I was skeptical. The plot is a weak Da Vinci Code rehash, and there are times when director Guy Ritchie doesn't seem to know quite where to place the camera. Still, the game is mostly afoot. The pacing is brisk, but not Bourne brisk, there is a witty gay subtext between Holmes and Watson, and I enjoyed the CGI-aided set design that recreated 1800s London. I kept thinking to myself as I watched it, "This is not bad. Guy Ritchie. Who figured?" But the biggest surprise for me was Jude Law as Dr. Watson. He's always struck me as a bland, recessive actor, but he steals the movie from Robert Downey Jr. and his bag of ironic tics. Law is strong, forceful, jaunty and alive on screen, and nothing like the old bumbler in the Basil Rathbone movies (with all respect and apologies to Nigel Bruce). In fact, he makes our favorite bloodhound look a tad boorish. Well played, Guy Ritchie and Jude Law, well played. Bring on the sequel. I'll bring the taquitos.

Casting Couch: "The Paul Lynde Story"

Is it me, or is Christoph Waltz just the right inglourious basterd to play the famous center square?

Low Country For Tommy Lee Jones

Dave Robicheaux: In the ancient world, people placed heavy stones on the graves of the dead so their souls would not wander and inflict the living. I always thought this was simply the practice of superstitious and primitive people. But I was about to learn that the dead can hover on the edge of our vision with the density and luminosity of mist, and their claim on the earth can be as legitimate and tenacious as our own.

Ed Tom Bell: There was this boy I sent to the 'lectric chair at Huntsville Hill here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killt a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. "Be there in about fifteen minutes." I don't know what to make of that. I sure don't. The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world."

(Movie stills: IN THE ELECTRIC MIST; NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN)

Bruce Springsteen's Noir City

Hey, Eddie, can you lend me a few bucks
And tonight can you get us a ride
Gotta make it through the tunnel
Got a meeting with a man on the other side

Hey Eddie, this guy, he's the real thing
So if you want to come along
You gotta promise you won't say anything
'Cause this guy don't dance
And the word's been passed this is our last chance

We gotta stay cool tonight, Eddie
'Cause man, we got ourselves out on that line
And if we blow this one
They ain't gonna be looking for just me this time

And all we gotta do is hold up our end
Here stuff this in your pocket
It'll look like you're carrying a friend
And remember, just don't smile
Change your shirt, 'cause tonight we got style

Well Cherry says she's gonna walk
'Cause she found out I took her radio and hocked it
But Eddie, man, she don't understand
That two grand's practically sitting here in my pocket

And tonight's gonna be everything that I said
And when I walk through that door
I'm just gonna throw that money on the bed
She'll see this time I wasn't just talking
Then I'm gonna go out walking

— Bruce Springsteen, Meeting Across The River

(Movie stills: 99 RIVER STREET. This great, Phil Karlson-directed noir is now playing on hulu, with, as they say, limited commercial interruptions. Tolerate them. This movie is worth it.)