The Sterile Cuckoo - "Sometimes you have to get away from the noise, you know?"

Japanese One Sheet




I saw The Sterile Cuckoo in Lincolnton, NC with my mother and sisters when I was 12 years old. I don't think my mother knew what she was getting into, but it's a film I wouldn't hesitate to show any 12 year old -- Hell, a ten year old for that matter. Never released on DVD, it'll pop up on TCM every now and then, but a high quality, uncut version was recently added to You Tube in nine parts.

Producer - Director Alan J Pakula (Klute, Sophie's Choice, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Love With a Proper Stranger) captured the '60s I remember as a kid. Not just the look but the feeling. Those days of care free bliss interrupted by seconds of teeth gnashing anxiety. I suspect screenwriter Alvin Sargent had much to do with that.

You know you're in for something different when Liza Minnelli as Pookie Adams tells Jerry Payne (Wendell Burton), "Some people guzzle God like He was a keg of beer." Tim McIntire as Jerry's roomie, Charlie, nails overweight beer drinking and ersatz sexual success that, despite 10 minutes of total screen time, is one of the most amazing performances ever. Ever! Or, maybe I have too much in common with Charlie.

No one is attacked. No one means any harm. But hurt is everywhere. If Christmas movies and forced cheerfulness of a happy holiday get you down...check this film out. It's as truthful as you can get this time of year...when you need to get away from the noise.

A Woman's Movie: Gun Crazy

It even looks foreign

Annie Laurie Starr is a carnie sharp - shooter who has a love for pulling the trigger when flesh and blood is standing in front of it. Actress Peggy Cummins had the Fay Dunaway beret thing going twenty years before Bonnie and Clyde. John Dall is her boyfriend Barton Tare. He's had a thing for the iron since he was a kid but can't bear the thought of shooting another human. They make a great couple.

Dall didn't have much of a career as an actor but he's great in this and like Orson Welles said, "You only need one." It's the only noir film I've seen that looks bright and clean thanks to plenty of day exteriors. The whole 40's hand painted tie and boxed double breasted suit look is also gone while the picture presents an almost French - Ivy aesthetic. Made in 1949, it could easily pass for 1959. Hell, maybe even 1969. Beautiful photography rounds out the production and convinces me a lot of people in the film business couldn't wait to rip it off.

The picture, except for a slow opening, moves like a semi jacketed 150 grain .357 and there's no rest. Annie moves just as fast and poor Bart seems overwhelmed by it all. Still, he always insists on driving and to that I can relate.