Siegel. Don Siegel was a Hollywood journeyman who made B-pictures in the late 1940’s and 1950’s, had to resort to television work in the 1960’s, then had a resurgence with Clint Eastwood in the 1970’s highlighted by Dirty Harry in 1971 (what a year he had with The Beguiled the same year!). Siegel’s work in B-pictures is impressive (prison films, sci-fi including Body Snatchers back in an era when sci-fi wasn’t held in the esteem it is in the 21st century (look at the auteurs working now in sci-fi)). Like many Hollywood artists/journeyman Siegel was championed by the Cahiers du Cinema French writers and critics. 10 archiveable films is impressive for anyone and that, along with Dirty Harry (which has just three undeniably strong cinematic moments) are the strengths of Siegel’s resume. The weaknesses would be the lack of another film that lands in the top 100 of its respective decade (though both Body Snatchers and The Beguiled are close).
Best film: Dirty Harry
- The opening shot- a pragmatically chosen zoom shot (yes it’s 1971 and zooms are abound but this is a sniper shot of the killer)
- In that opening shot the wonderful jazz score is given full showcase as well- it’s from the guy who did Cool Hand Luke and The Mission ImpossibleTV show score
- Accused, famously, by Pauline Kael of being a facist right wing film. This is really a negative review and criticism that is outside of the film world though- it has no bearing on the quality of the film from an artistic evaluation standpoint
- I’ve seen the film a half dozen times and am not completely sure what the make of all the Christian imagery—it’s certainly a visual motif but I need to dig in further
- Certainly Clint borrows from John Wayne in so many ways (there’s a little James Bond in here as well)- Clint even says “that’ll be the day” once
- Another stunning shot is the helicopter shot as they pull back from the football stadium as Clint tortures the Andrew Robinson killer character
- A third standout sequence sis the night shot of Clint at the crime scene in front of the golden gate bridge. Gorgeous
- One thing I don’t love is the repeating of the famous line at the end
total archiveable films: 10
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 0
top 100 films of the decade: 1 (Dirty Harry)
most overrated: Charley Varrick falls between 1001-2000 on the TSPDT consensus list and is Siegel’s fourth ranked film- I didn’t get to it until #8 here below.
most underrated : Escape From Alcatraz is underrated. Invasion of Body Snatchers and Dirty Harry are the two films that landed on the TSPDT top 1000 (#606 and #748 respectively)—Beguiled isn’t doing too terribly either—it’s on the 1001-2000 list and Siegel’s third ranked film- same for me—but Escape From Alcatraz is nowhere to be found on the top 2000 and that’s a miss.
gem I want to spotlight : The Beguiled
- Many similarities in the artistic form with both Siegel’s Dirty Harry also from 1971) and Eastwood’s Outlaw Josey Wales in 1976. All three are shot by Bruce Surtees (Lenny 1974) – like Dirty Harry and many other great films this was scored by Lalo Schifrin.
- Beautiful war photo montage over title sequence to start the film—song is sung hauntingly by Eastwood himself and it’s from “The Dove She Is a Pretty Bird.”—lines include “…don’t join no army”—quite a statement again in 1971
- Faded color directly after black and white photo title sequence to blend in that slowly changes to color
- Elizabeth Hartman (Patch of Blue) is perfect as the wispy and fragile Edwina
- It’s strong stuff from Clint as well- he’s best when he’s going toe to toe with Page who was an 8 time nominee- no idea, and it’s a shame, how The Beguiled wasn’t nom #9 for her
- Multiple voice-overs—which is really just Siegel going with the inner thoughts of the various characters to reveal key thoughts at key times—I don’t like this at all—and it wasn’t needed. These actors were good enough without that ploy
- Jo Ann Harris is also perfectly cast as the sexy harlot
- Gorgeous Spanish moss here but not lingered on like Sofia Coppola’s film or Django for example
- Nihilism—not unlike the work for Kurosawa in a dog eat dog world or like Polanski’s Cul-de-Sac were there are no redeeming characters—flashback at a key time shows even Eastwood to be a liar
- Gorgeous surrealism montage sequence of client with Page and Hartman in bed to organ music
- Well-directed and acted gothic southern horror, A dark film
- Fringe top 10 of 1971
- Highly Recommend
stylistic innovations/traits:
- Noir, crime, prison, sci-fi films
- masculinity, violence- even before pairing up with Eastwood
- So if Clint Eastwood is John Wayne—then Leone is John Ford and that makes Siegel Howard Hawks if you follow me—4 of the 10 archiveable films below are with Cilnt—3 of the best 4— sort of fittingly that after Hawks and Ford were gone it was Siegel who directed The Shootist for Wayne. Wayne’s last film and fitting (it’s a good film) swan song
- Composed but utilitarian direction for the most part (especially beyond Siegel’s top three films)– crisp, clean compositions—Escape From Alcatraz isn’t exceptional—just strong craftsmanship, Eastwood in the lead, impressive narrative and experience behind the camera
- Certainly an influence on Eastwood the auteur himself—more so than Leone
- I mention it above talking about his best work but it’s worth mentioning again just how well directed Dirty Harry is—the opening has a dazzling camera zoom, the helicopter crane-simulation shot in the football field, and the shot of Clint’s back in front of the golden gate bride—jaw-droppingly beautiful—I wonder if Michael Mann had it in mind when he made a similar shot of De Niro in Heat.
top 10
- Dirty Harry
- Invasion of Body Snatchers
- The Beguiled
- Escape From Alcatraz
- Riot in Cell Block 11
- The Shootist
- The Big Steal
- Charley Varrick
- Baby Face Nelson
- Two Mules for Sister Sara
By year and grades
| 1949- The Big Steal | R |
| 1954- Riot in Cell Block 11 | R |
| 1956- Invasion of Body Snatchers | HR |
| 1957- Baby Face Nelson | |
| 1970- Two Mules For Sister Sara | R |
| 1971- Dirty Harry | HR/MS |
| 1971- The Beguiled | HR |
| 1973- Charley Varrick | R |
| 1976- The Shootist | R |
| 1979- Escape from Alcatraz | R/HR |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
can you please take a look at this playlist on youtube i began. it is called best scenes in film history filled with sme i consider the best and some my favorite relatively all in order. thank you.
@ m- of course- happy to take a look
Have you seen his 1964 film The Killers with Lee Marvin?
@Zane- I have not, I have it ready to go– just kind of wondering whether I should watch it after the original or not
@Drake I watched them back-to-back (also, Tarkovsky short). But I think you will be fine if you watch only Don Siegel version.
Hope you enjoy it. I liked it even more than Siodmak’s. The low budget definitely shows, but it is really well directed, and Lee Marvin was terrific.
@Mad Mike- ok cool, I mean I’ve seen Siodmak’s version (and think highly of it)- was just deciding between watching that again before this version.