RIP John Barry

by Tony Dayoub

British John Barry was a distinctive Oscar-winning composer who contributed greatly to the style of the contemporary spy film with his themes for the Bond series. He brought a lush romanticism at odds with the violence depicted onscreen which helped shape 007, the secret agent which men everywhere wished they could be. But this aural opulence also benefited action/adventure movies, historical epics, and of course romantic melodramas like the first film whose theme I highlight below, Somewhere in Time (1980).

ROCFF Day 2: Free Panel and Free Matinee Showing of Rear Window

Last night proved to be an interesting evening. The opening of the Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival got off to a shaky start with an ill-conceived performance of Bala Sarasvati's CORE Concert Dance Company dedicated to Goldfinger (1964). Not your usual film festival fare, and in my opinion, let's keep it that way. But things soon improved with a special treat, a screening of the recent Pixar short, Presto (2008). Why movies no longer begin with cartoon shorts is a mystery to me. After a screening of Goldfinger, director Guy Hamilton regaled the crowd with anecdotes about his career, including his long stint as assistant director to Carol Reed (The Third Man), or as he referred to his mentor, "his cinematic father". He even pulled out some stories I hadn't heard about the making of Goldfinger. For instance, plenty of aerial footage from the sequence where Pussy Galore's Flying Circus flew over Fort Knox had to be excised because of the male stunt pilots refusing to wear blond wigs. Hamilton laughed, saying in some of the closer passes, one could even see the gruff pilots smoking cigars. On the docket today is a free panel discussion at 10:30 a.m. titled Film Festival Fare: Independent Filmmaking & Its Influence on Hollywood. While I doubt they'll be discussing "mumblecore" it should still prove interesting. The films today: King Kong (1933) at 1:30 p.m.; Rear Window (1954), a special free matinee showing at 4:30 p.m.; and Funny Girl (1968) at 8:30 p.m. I'll be back later with some thoughts on Rear Window. The Panel Discussion and Rear Window are both free events at the 5th Annual Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival. All events take place at the Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas Street, Athens, GA 30601, (706) 208-0900 or (800) 918-6393.

ROCFF Movie Review: Goldfinger (1964)

This is the film where it all came together. James Bond, Ian Fleming's Agent 007 on of the British Secret Service, had already become cinema's first action hero, appearing in two earlier films. But Goldfinger was the film that launched the film icon into the stratosphere. What were the elements that finally gelled to rocket the movie into blockbuster classic status? Sean Connery - The athletic grace that the handsome actor brought to Bond's stride served as a perfect counterpoint to Connery's own working-class background, the roughness of which seemed to spring out in the Bond film's fight scenes. As I've said before, this quality of a "gorilla in a tuxedo" - an animal harnessed by the Secret Service, educated in the social skills necessary to pass unnoticed in upper-class circles - seemed to produce the most popular incarnation of the character. Connery had himself been taken under the wing of director Terence Young (Dr. No), who even sent him to his personal tailor when preparing the first film in the series. Current Bond actor, Daniel Craig, has no doubt achieved a measure of his popularity by emulating Connery's performance, shadings of which had all but disappeared in the actors portraying the character in the interim. In Goldfinger, Connery has finally relaxed into the character's skin and quite devilishly starts letting more of the humor shine through in his sarcastic quips, such as his retort to a villain he has just electrocuted, "Shocking! Positively shocking!" Teaser and Opening Credit Sequence - What has now become a Bond tradition began here. This is the first film where the film opens with Bond on a short unrelated mission before launching into the credits and the story proper. Here, the mission involves Connery snorkeling into an unnamed Latin country, stripping out of his wet suit down to the white-jacket tuxedo (first appearance) underneath, a scene to which James Cameron paid homage in True Lies (1994). After completing his task, the film launches into John Barry's theme (lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley) as sung by pop star Shirley Bassey. This would be the first of many times that a singer of Bassey's stature would be recruited to sing the theme song. It would also be the first time that the central image in the titles would be a scantily clad woman abstracted in some artistic way, here painted gold and having images from the film projected onto her body. The Perfect Villains - Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) and his henchman, Oddjob (Harold Sakata) are the quintessential Bond villains. Goldfinger would be the first in a long line of blond Aryans that would scheme to somehow take over the world, in this case by sinking the global economy, a once make-believe threat that now seems more timely with each passing day. And the mysterious mute Oddjob represents Bond through a funhouse mirror - a gargantuan ape in a tux of his own with a propensity for using a secret weapon 007 would feel right at home with, a bowler hat with a razor-edged brim. These two would serve as the template for future Bond villains like Mr. Big and Tee-Hee (Live and Let Die), or Karl Stromberg and Jaws (The Spy Who Loved Me). The Beautiful Women - Despite Shirley Eaton's short appearance as Jill Masterson, she is arguably one of the most famous Bond women. This because of her iconic death scene in which Bond finds her suffocated from being covered completely in gold paint. Honor Blackman is a bit more problematic as Pussy Galore. First, there is the condescending name given to her because of her (subtly implied) lesbian orientation. Then there is the fact that Bond is able to seduce her (some would say by force) into falling in love with him, leaving her preference for women behind. It is to Blackman's credit that the role is elevated by her both her physical and intellectual strengths. Blackman was already quite adept in judo, and known to fans from her time on The Avengers (1962-1964). Her dignity in the role makes some of the more lascivious aspects of the character a little more palatable. Gadgets - Aston Martin DB5 anyone? With an ejector seat, no less? The ultimate Bond gadget makes its debut here, for better - providing some nice over-the-top action in the short term - or for worse - laying the foundation for increasingly preposterous gadgets in the longer term of the franchise. The good news is that gadget scenes mean we get to see some of the interesting banter between the cranky Q (Desmond Llewelyn) - who resents the mistreatment his weapons are subjected to - and Bond, some of the most amusing scenes in all of the movies. Locations - Fort Knox, London, Miami Beach, Switzerland. This is the first of the Bond films to include such extensive globe-trotting, and the visuals associated with that are all the more exciting. Can you believe that Connery never set foot poolside at the Fontainebleau Hotel, featured so prominently at the start of the film? You'd never know it from director Guy Hamilton's effective use of background plates shot by him and a skeleton crew. The Bond Dream Team: Ken Adam, John Barry, Peter Hunt, Ted Moore and Richard Maibaum - It wasn't the first time all of them had worked on the same Bond film, but it was the best time, each achieving the peak of their craft in the Bond series. Production Designer Adam gave us a fantastic but not unimaginable extrapolation of what the inside of Fort Knox looked like. Composer Barry finally found the brassy, swing style of music that characterized Connery's swaggering take on Bond. Editor Hunt tightly edited the action setpieces designed for the 110-minute film, avoiding the self-important bloat that would begin to creep into subsequent films in the series. Cinematographer Moore bestowed a shimmering golden luminosity (like gold reflecting on water in Jill's death scene) on the film as a constant reminder of the megalomaniac that lay behind the evil plot at the heart of the movie. And screenwriter Maibaum (along with Paul Dehn in this outing) enlivened Fleming's original story by contrasting the very British secret agent against the rough-and-tumble American setting of much of the film, Kentucky. Guy Hamilton - One of the prime directors behind Bond's most successful outings, Hamilton contributes a cheeky brand of Brit humor in clever setpieces such as the one where Goldfinger trains a laser on Bond, all tied up, as the beam heads toward his nether regions. Hamilton humanizes the superhero, and may be the forerunner of the modern action film director: efficient, stylish, and not above slipping a trademark witticism into the mouth of his protagonist now and then. Goldfinger is the opening night film at the 5th Annual Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival. It screens tonight at 8:30 p.m. where Mr. Osborne and co-host Fred Willard will discuss the film prior to the screening with their guest, director Guy Hamilton. All films screen at the Classic Center, 300 N. Thomas Street, Athens, GA 30601, (706) 208-0900 or (800) 918-6393. This article was written with the invaluable assistance of the Bloomsbury Movie Guide 2: Adrian Turner on Goldfinger.

The 5th Annual Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival (ROCFF) Opens Tonight with Goldfinger

I'm off to Athens this morning to cover Robert Osborne's Classic Film Fest. Seeing as these are well-worn classics that most of you are familiar with, my posts will take the form of shorter dispatches with my thoughts on each film, what it is like to see them in a theater (since many - but sadly not all- are from before my time), special announcements concerning any guests, and anything I think you movie buffs might be interested in. This will be a fun one for me to cover since my blog has recently taken a turn towards a covering older films. You'll hear from me soon.

TCM's Robert Osborne Hosts 5th Annual Classic Film Festival in Athens

For the fifth straight year, locals and visiting cinephiles will be treated to Hollywood classics on the big screen when Robert Osborne’s Classic Film Festival comes to town. The event will be held March 19-22, 2009 at The Classic Center in downtown Athens, Georgia. Robert Osborne, the primetime host of Turner Classic Movies and a columnist for The Hollywood Reporter, has picked eight classic films that he says, "represent the breadth and variety of classic cinema from the 1930s to the 1980s." The 2009 festival selections are: Goldfinger (1964), King Kong (1933), Rear Window (1954), Funny Girl (1968), Sunset Boulevard (1950), For Your Consideration (2006), The Godfather (1972), and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Nate Kohn, festival executive producer and professor of telecommunications in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, is thrilled by the list. "Robert is the world's foremost authority on the Academy Awards, and he worked hard to put together this dynamic program. His commitment to the success of our festival is something we're very proud of." This year Robert Osborne will share his hosting duties with acclaimed actor and former film festival guest, Fred Willard, who will host the Saturday and Sunday films. Willard's work includes a part in every movie directed by Christopher Guest, including 2009 festival selection For Your Consideration. Festival director Pamela Kohn is looking forward to this year’s format. "We are fortunate to have Fred Willard joining us this year,” she said. “He enjoyed the festival so much as a guest in 2007, and he is excited to come back in this expanded role.” Past festivals have brought guests such as Jane Powell, Louise Fletcher, Maximilian Schell, Pia Lindstrom, Patricia Neal, Parker Posey and Mickey Rooney to Athens to discuss their films with Osborne on stage after the screenings. Kohn hopes that the upcoming festival will feature guests of similar stature. For the three-and-a-half day festival, the 2,000-seat Classic Center theatre will be transformed into a world-class movie palace with the installation of a 60-foot motion picture screen and state-of-the-art 35 mm projection and sound systems. Most prints will be pristine archival 35 mm prints from many of the major studios. "It's an exciting adventure to see these films the way they were meant to be seen," explained Osborne. "The big screen gives a different dimension and vitality to them." In addition to the film showings, the festival will feature a panel discussion hosted by Osborne, which is free and open to the public. Panelists will include University of Georgia scholars, festival guests, artists, critics and others. The panel topic this year is “Film Festival Fare: Independent Filmmaking and its Influence on Hollywood.” All films, with the exception of the free Friday matinee showing of Rear Window, will require a paid ticket for admission. In celebration of the festival's 5th-year anniversary, children 12 and under will receive a special ticket price of $5 for E.T. Passes and tickets for individual films are available at The Classic Center box office, online, or by calling (800) 918-6393. Prices are $60 for a pass to all films and panel discussions or $45 with valid student identification. A limited number of passes that include the festival's Saturday brunch will be available for $90 to the general public and $75 with valid student or UGA Alumni Association identification. Individual film tickets are $10, or $8 for students and alumni association members. Robert Osborne's Classic Film Festival is an annual non-profit event of the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. For more information, please visit http://www.robertosbornefilmfestival.com/. Please note that films on the list are subject to change.