#brianne murphy

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Blood Sabbath (1972)

My rating: 4/10

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Man Beast (1956)

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Blood Sabbath (Brianne Murphy, 1972)

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What would auteur theory have to say about Jerry Warren? Listen and find out! Jerry Warren produces, writes and directs MAN BEAST (1956) starring Tom Maruzzi, Virginia Maynor and Brianne Murphy.

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 16:58; Discussion 24:46; Ranking 39:05

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Blood Sabbath (1972)

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2018) - #82: Fatso (1980) - dir. Anne Bancroft (52 Films by Women 2018: #23)

Man, do I love Anne Bancroft. For her first (and unfortunately last) effort as a writer-director, she hired a bunch of other awesome women to work with her behind the camera: most notably, trailblazer Brianne Murphy was hired as the cinematographer, making her the first ever female DP of an American major studio film (as well as the first woman to join the American Society of Cinematographers), but Patricia Norris also served as costume designer, Linda DeScenna was the set decorator, Vivian McAteer was in charge of hair styling and several more women were employed as production assistants. Despite Bancroft’s credentials as an Academy Award-winning actress with a nearly thirty-year-long career at that point, the cards were probably stacked against her to succeed as a filmmaker; reading Roger Ebert’s one-star review made me wonder how many critics unfairly compared her debut with the handful of successful comedies made by her husband, Mel Brooks. Fatso is not a perfect film, but it displays enough creative energy and quirky charm to mourn the lack of a directorial follow-up from Bancroft.

The film tells the story of Dominick DiNapoli (Dom DeLuise), a Manhattanite who runs a gift card shop with his excitable sister, Antoinette (Bancroft). They live in the same house with many other members of their extended Italian family, including their brother, Frankie (Ron Carey), who is Dom’s closest confidante. Dom has spent his entire life struggling with his weight, a situation initiated by his mother, who derived joy from feeding him every possible pizza, cake and midnight snack. The death of Dom’s beloved (and obese) cousin Salvatore is a depressing wake-up call, though, so Dom decides to try and shed some pounds to make himself healthier and happier.

With help from one of his regular customers, Mrs. Goodman (Estelle Reiner), Dom joins a Chubby Checkers group and, after beginning to lose some weight, he becomes confident enough to ask a pretty store clerk from the neighborhood, Lydia (Candice Azzara), out on a date. This aspect of the plot is much less interesting than the parts that concern the DiNapoli family, which is owed mainly to the fact that Anne Bancroft and Ron Carey are more dynamic performers than Candice Azzara, whose blonde, half-Italian/half-Polish love interest is barely has a discernible personality. (What I wouldn’t have given for more scenes with Bancroft’s Antoinette alternating between manic yelling and weeping, all sights to behold from a wonderful actress who clearly knew how to write and direct to her own strengths. And given the essential background of the story and characters, I assume that Bancroft drew on her own upbringing as an Italian-American New Yorker.) Dom DeLuise does a nice, occasionally subtle job of playing a sweet, likeable fellow who constantly battles his impulses towards sugar and carbs, and Fatso’s ultimate message about accepting different body types without judgment or shame is a good one, although in general the film’s third act meanders before reaching its resolution in the last few minutes.

I recently wrote a review of another writer-director debut by a veteran actress, Heather Graham’s Half Magic, and I suggested that Graham’s directorial abilities (who is currently close to the same age Anne Bancroft was when she made Fatso) might improve with more experience. In Graham’s case, Half Magic was a good but often flawed run out of the starting gate, but Bancroft’s film shows real cinematic flair. Tonally, the dark comedy reminded me a bit of Elaine May’s The Heartbreak Kid (1972), although Fatso has issues with pacing and therefore would have benefited from tighter editing. Still, there is something inspired about the first ten minutes of Bancroft’s dramedy, which take place at a funeral filled with screams and cries that stretch tragedy into amusingly surreal humor.

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Dyanne Thorne in Blood Sabbath (1972)