Peter Fonda

  • Jezebel (1938)

    Jezebel (1938)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2020) It took me a while to get interested in Jezebel—the film does itself no favour with an extended setup that doesn’t get to the topic at hand. Still, it does have Bette Davis as a manipulative Louisiana belle and Peter Fonda as her fiancé… until he has enough of her antics and storms away back to the northeast. There should everyone remain, except for the Yellow Fever to strike 1852 New Orleans, bringing Fonda’s character back into her life and giving her one last chance at redemption. The recreation of New Orleans is sumptuous enough within the limits of 1930s filmmaking, and the portrait of a time when duels were seen as perfectly acceptable is alien enough. By the end of the film, however, it all clicks together even if it ends on a strikingly inconclusive note. There is at the very least Davis (who’s always at her best when she’s playing morally ambiguous characters) and Fonda, as stalwart as ever. Costumes and sets are fine enough to send us back in time, and that’s about the best that the film could aim for.  I do wish Jezebel’s first half had been more gripping—I had to start the film three times before getting into it. But now that I’ve seen it, I’m happy I did.

  • Fail-Safe (1964)

    Fail-Safe (1964)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2018) If ever the news have you down, if ever you start despairing for humanity, if even the nights are dark and the days even darker, then have a look at Fail-Safe and be comforted by the fact that we all made it out of the Cold War and its overhanging threat of a nuclear holocaust. A nightmare put on film by director John Frankenheimer, Fail-Safe is one of 1964’s three delayed reactions to the Cuba crisis executed as thrillers. Unlike Seven Days in May, it’s very much centred on the possibility of nuclear exchange between the USA and the USSR. Unlike Dr. Strangelove, it’s not a comedy. Really not a comedy. From the first few unsettling images to the last heartbreaking freeze-frames, Fail-Safe is unrelenting in its fatalistic grimness. It follows an implacable logic in which the worst traits of men, machines and systems all lead to the death of millions. Hope is dangled then taken away and even the usually jovial Walter Matthau here plays completely against type as an implacable academician coolly assessing the logic of mutually assured destruction. Peter Fonda is also quite good as The President facing down a catastrophic scenario in which an out-of-control American bomber mistakenly believe it must bomb Moscow. Asphyxiating and merciless, Fail-Safe is shot is stark black-and-white with very few musical cues, its naturalistic approach making everything feel even worse. Such a situation may not be particularly credible today, but it’s sobering to watch the film and realize that it reflected a real possibility back in 1964. We may have our own issues today, but I’ll take them over the threat of all-consuming nuclear war.