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Road House (Fox Film Noir) 
Actors : Ida Lupino, Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm, Richard Widmark, Charles Flynn
Director : Jean Negulesco
Studio : 20th Century Fox
by 20th Century Fox
Release Date : 2008-09-02
Publisher : 20th Century Fox
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 0024543528609
UPC : 024543528609
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 20 reviews)
List Price : $14.98
Our Price : $7.58
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Description |
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Ida Lupino is a singer working at Richard Widmark's club. When she falls for Cornel Wilde, Widmark goes berserk. |
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Americancivilwar.com |
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Road House has acquired a cult as a prime film noir. Certainly the title location is archetypal, a lounge and bowling alley up toward the Canadian border, and Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark make the most of flavorful roles that would qualify them as exemplary noir denizens even if they hadn't established that elsewhere. He's the second-generation owner of the place who's never been obliged to grow up. She's a somewhat shopworn dame he's brought back from Chicago to play the piano and sing. He--Jefty's the name, by the way--decides to marry her, and is unhinged enough not to realize he needs to ask first. She, meanwhile, has been rubbing Jefty's sobersides right-hand man (Cornel Wilde) the wrong way, and both of them are getting to like it. Fairly psychotic vengeance ensues. This was director Jean Negulesco's first film for Fox, pretty much coinciding with his career peak of Johnny Belinda, a Warner Bros. picture that would bring him an Oscar nomination. Yet Road House is a frustratingly mixed bag. The writing boasts expert three-cushion dialogue--which Lupino delivers deftly--but the script is poorly structured overall. (Screenwriter-producer Edward Chodorov was appropriating material from another crazy-young-fellow movie he'd worked on, MGM's 1942 Rage in Heaven.) Cinematographer Joseph (Laura) LaShelle's lighting and setups are characteristically artful and glossy, but he's obliged to make too many studio "exteriors" look good--a standard cheat in that era, but more irksome than usual because the ostensible location cries out for legitimacy (couldn't they have gone to Lake Arrowhead at least?). Totally on the plus side, however, Ida really does sing and, for the first time in her career, is not dubbed; as Celeste Holm's character notes in admiration and envy, "She does more without a voice than anyone I ever heard." Musical highlights: "One for My Baby" and "Again." --Richard T. Jameson |
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JEAN NEGULESCO, OPUS 9 |
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**** 1948. Directed by Jean Negulesco. When Lily Stevens is hired by Jefty to sing in his bar/bowling, everybody knows that Lily will soon be his mistress. But she's rather attracted by Jefty's friend and employee Pete Morgan. Jefty will imagine an ingenious scheme to get his revenge. ROAD HOUSE is a film I've always enjoyed very much for years. I particularly like the first part of the movie until Pete Morgan's trial. Ida Lupino clearly overshadows Cornel Wilde, Celeste Holm and Richard Widmark then with her hoarse voice and her sexy wardrobe. I also like a lot the bowling lesson given to her by Cornel Wilde. The last part of ROAD HOUSE is more outdated and the final game hunting reminded me at times of The Most Dangerous Game - Criterion Collection. But, all in all, I highly recommend ROAD HOUSE, a film that will defintively stay in ma library. |
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Great movie, great commentary! |
Let me first say that this is an extremely enjoyable film. Ida Lupino is perfect as the hard-bitten nightclub singer, and dominates the early part of the film. But it's watching Richard Widmark's character Jeffty's smoldering jealousy slowly build, finally erupting into full-fledged psychosis at the end of the film that makes this a movie worth re-watching, and owning.
But the reason I'm writing this review is as a kind of counter-weight to a prissy pseudo-intellectual response to the commentary another viewer has posted. Eddie Muller and Kim Morgan know and give a lot of insightful back-story on the production of Road House, and the life and careers of the cast and crew. The problem this Stellhorn character seems to be having is simple: they're actually watching and enjoying the film! And yes, they'll be telling a story about Widmark or Lupino, and stop to say something like, "Oh, look at THAT!"
To me, the biggest sin one can commit while doing a commentary is simply not watching the movie. And, unfortunately, noir has been subjected to an endless parade of academics sitting there and reading from their long-winded notes, and just never looking up at the screen. They're more interested in their own Theories and Opinions about why the film is important to "the noir cycle" than they are in the movie. I suspect most of them would never have become interested in the films themselves in the first place if the French hadn't legitimized them.
Noir Directors and actors are notoriously cynical about these critics and their pet theories. More often than not, these critics were busilly taking notes the first time they saw the films. There are a number of levels to most noirs, and Road House is no exception. Far from creepy, Muller is just enjoying Lupino's performance on exactly the level that it was meant to be taken on. And both he and Kim Morgan are not above savoring the deliciousness of the film's innuendo.
In fact, I would say Eddie Muller's excellent 1998 book, Dark City, The Lost World of Film Noir spearheaded a renewed interest in these films that is much more legitimate than the dissecting the genre was subjected to in the late 60s and 70s. A lot of pompous windbags achieved tenure by unsuccessfully trying to emasculate what has always been an intelligently made, but essentially visceral genre. I highly recommend both the commentary and the documentary on this disc to anyone who is actually capable of enjoying the film itself.
And I also recommend Eddie Muller's books, especially these two...
Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
Art of Noir: The Posters And Graphics From The Classic Era Of Film Noir
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Road House |
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I love the older movies. This one is what I refer to as a Fifty Dollar Budget Movie |
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I loved Ida Lupino |
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I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Ida Lupino was a revelation of inner strength and beauty. What would this movie be without Richard Widmark? For that matter, what would many movies be without him? Can we say boring together. Richard Widmark is always priceless. The consummate bad guy that you just love to hate. I could watch this movie over and over and over. |
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Excellent Film Noir |
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Wonderful Film Noir movie. Four great performances from Ida Lupine, Richard Widmark, Cornel Wilde and Celeste Holm |
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