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Reviews
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
Dixon's dark side
A Turkish Bath sequence in a film noir located in New York in the 50's, that must be a hint at something ! Something that curiously, in all the previous comments, no one has pointed out , but seems to me essential to the understanding of this movie
the Turkish Baths sequence: a back street at night, the entrance of a sleazy sauna, and Scalise wrapped in a sheet, getting his thighs massaged. Steve, the masseur is of the young rough boxer ( Beefcake!) type , and another guy, a bodyguard? finishes dressing up. Dixon obviously hates what he sees there and gets rough right away. We know he has a reputation for roughing up suspects. Good cop but getting out of control easy. Why is it that he hates them so much ?
Could it be that he hates himself. This part of himself he inherited from his father ? That dark side that could lead him right at the end of the sidewalk, into the gutter ? What if that dark side lurked within a "closet" ? Remember : whenever Dixon meets Scalise ( 3 times), the guy is lying on a bed, and he only has men around him for company ( the irony of the " Girls" poster pinned up on the wall near his bed !).
Scalise acts funny: affected manners, cranking his neck arrogantly, defiant, shoving his inhalator ( poppers ?) into his nostrils each time he talks to Dixon. Dixon, with a vengeance, is bent on pinning down Scalise who seems not to understand : "I never saw a man so full of hate as you. I consider it almost humorous the way you came after me alone. " Four years jumping at me as if I was somebody special! Why? "
Because Scalise is someone special indeed : he is the direct inheritor of Dixon's father : " Your father liked me", "Your father set me up in business". He stands as Dixon's criminal brother, his dark side incarnate. And to top it all, he prefers the company of men. Dixon knows it well :" Who killed him (Paine)? You or one of your playmates?" Playmates ! Notice how each time they meet, Dixon manhandles Scalise: he picks the address-book out of his jacket, slaps his face, punches him. Scalise : "I warn you not to touch me! " . Dixon's homophobia is obvious. Or put it different : his unexpressed homosexuality . Dixon, aka Dixon's kid, is the son of a thief. In reaction to this, he decided to become a cop, a good one, but there is something of the criminal in him, a dark side: he is a violent copper, a murderer, a liar. Besides, he is not married, brings "a dizzy blonde" to his familiar eat-out place every now and then, but nothing else. The waitress scoffing says that he doesn't know how to make love to a woman. Dixon has a deep feeling of guilt and hates himself for those reasons." A hood and a mobster like his old man. Blood will tell". Finally, in order to achieve redemption, Dixon decides to sacrifice himself : if he gets his alter ego Scalise to kill him, he will free himself from the guilt and free the girl and her father too.
The end of the movie brings us back to the opening sequence : Scalise is pushed in the gutter and Dixon deserves the right to walk the sidewalk and wins the love of the dame. He is straight at last.
The unspoken theme of the movie could very well be that of a man who in order to cover his repressed feelings, wants to experience a woman's love ( Jean Douchet)
(These notes owe a lot to the film commentary by Jean Douchet in the French DVD edited by CarlottaI
La chanson du maçon (2002)
a delightful comedy
Just a great simple story of two people who fall in love, with the help of some "old" friends. Princess meets Sheperd, thanks to the complicity of 3 aging gay men who live together in a run-down house. Princess - a smart self-centered Parisian executive woman inherits the house and its tenants. One is a grieving cook ( his partner, the owner of the house has just died) , the two others form a couple of music hall artists still dreaming of a come back . The house and the people living in it are about to fall apart, but Princess takes pity of them ( she sees herself as Snowwhite rescuing sentimental Dwarfs) and falls for the house. Then comes Sheperd or rather the Mason of the title, a good-looking blond whose feline figure appeals immensely to the 3 seniors, however princess doesn't share their feelings : her authority conflicts with his own. So the three men are going to pool their artistic resources to get Snow White and handsome Mason to fall in love. And here comes into efficient action the old Maurice Chevalier hit: The Song of the Mason. This movie, screened as an homage to Jean- Pierre Cassel, a talented comedian who recently passed away, was a welcome alternative to the final debate between the 2 candidates to the french presidency. It breathes joy of like and tolerance.