By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Annette Bening delivers a powerhouse performance as sultry Gloria Grahame in “Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool.” Yet to fully appreciate it, you should know a bit about who this enigmatic actress was.
Back in 1940s and ‘50s film noir, Grahame starred in “Crossfire,” “Sudden Fear,” “The Big Heat,” “In a Lonely Place” and “The Bad and the Beautiful,” for which she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Fans also remember her from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Greatest Show on Earth” and “Oklahoma!”
Obsessed with her appearance, Grahame underwent extensive plastic surgery, habitually fixing nonexistent flaws. Her volatile temperament alienated even the most admiring directors, and she courted scandalous gossip with four disastrous marriages — one to the son of an ex-husband.
The day after divorcing actor Stanley Clements, she married director Nicholas Ray. That ended disastrously after Ray found Gloria in bed with Tony, his 13-year-old son by a previous marriage. She then married and divorced producer Cy Howard before marrying her stepson, 23-year-old Tony Ray.
In 1979, Gloria was onstage in England when she met Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), a British actor who was 28 years younger. Peter became besotted with her, and she spent the last days of her life at his family’s home in Liverpool. Gloria Grahame died from recurring breast cancer in 1981 at age 57.
This is their love story. Just theirs — with only occasional flashbacks. Too bad there weren’t more.
Inspired by Turner’s memoir, adapted by Matt Greenhalgh and directed by Paul McGuigan, it was propelled into production by James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, who has known Turner for more than 40 years.
Not only is Annette Bening riveting but Jamie Bell gets his first meaty role since “Billy Elliot.” Their “Saturday Night Fever” disco seduction sequence is terrific. And they’re given stalwart support from Julie Walters and Vanessa Redgrave.
If you’re curious to know more about the real Gloria Grahame, I highly recommend Vincent Curcio’s 1989 biography “Suicide Blonde.” (Curcio used to manage Lucille Lortel’s White Barn Theater.)
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool” is a subtly poignant 7, another Tinseltown tragedy.
“12 Strong” is a contemporary war picture celebrating the brave soldiers who fought against Al Qaeda -without probing too deeply into the political justification or disillusioning aftermath of their heroic efforts.
Green Beret Operational Detachment Alpha 595 consists of a 12-member U.S. Special Forces squad sent into mountainous northern Afghanistan shortly after 9/11. Their mission is to take the Taliban stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif within three weeks — before the winter snow hits.
Led by Capt. Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth), Chief Warrant Officer Cal Spencer (Michael Shannon) and Sgt. First Class Sam Diller (Michael Pena), they’re told that Afghanistan is the “graveyard of empires.”
Accompanied by tribal warriors under Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum (Navid Negahban) — who later became Afghanistan’s Vice-President — they ride on horseback across 40 miles of Taliban-controlled territory, liberating small villages along the way and calling in B-52 airstrikes when necessary.
The evasive military tactics and calculated maneuvers are made clear — with New Mexico’s terrain subbing for the harsh landscape of Afghanistan.
The only philosophical insight into the ongoing struggle occurs when the American contingent, known as Task Force Dagger, learns: “You will be cowards if you leave and you will be enemies if you stay.”
Utilizing Doug Stanton’s based-on-real-events book “Horse Soldiers” (2009), it’s generically and somewhat redundantly adapted by Ted Tally & Peter Craig and directed with mucho machismo as a debut feature by Nicolai Fuglsig, a Danish photojournalist who served as a war correspondent in Kosovo.
FYI: Capt. Mitch Nelson is based on real-life Green Beret Mark Nutsch, and Chris Hemsworth’s real-life wife, Elsa Pataky, plays Nelson’s wife.
On the Granger Gauge, “12 Strong” is a ferocious 5, filled with fiery action, procedural frustration and inevitable anguish.
“Fifty Shades Freed,” the final episode of the inexplicably successful, soft-core porn franchise, opens with billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) dazzling his bride, Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), with an ostentatious display of his staggering wealth: his jet, his yacht, his chef, etc.
“This is yours?” she gasps. “No, ours,” he smoothly replies.
Yet their gilded honeymoon in Paris and the Cote d’Azur is marred by a relic that Anastasia brings to their union — namely, her desire to continue working in book publishing. “You can’t keep me in a cage,” she tells her domineering husband.
Then there’s the threat posed by Ana’s former boss, smarmy Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson), who lost his job and is out for revenge — along with Ana’s ire at Christian’s architect (Arielle Kebbel) — initiating fist fights, car chases and kidnapping.
Plus, Ana’s desire to get pregnant clashes with Christian’s selfish wish to keep her affectionate attention totally for himself. Just think of the dilemma of trying to keep a curious toddler away from the ‘forbidden’ Red Room with its handcuffs, whips, chains, butt plugs and nipple clamps!
While the predictable plot plods on, cue a strange nocturnal interlude when Ana and Christian, sleepless in Seattle, meander into the kitchen and devour each other, along with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Based on the pulpy, S&M novels by British author E.L. James (aka Erika Mitchell), this installment is again adapted by her husband Niall Leonard and directed by James Foley, who propels the protagonists through glossy musical montages to an improbable happily-ever-after. Fortunately, there are no plans to film James’ fourth novel which tells the same flimsy fairy tale from Christian Grey’s perspective.
On the Granger Gauge, “Fifty Shades Freed” is a tiresome 2, particularly ill-timed with the focus on female empowerment in #MeToo and #Time’sUp.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
