Turner Classic Movies

Very nice humor. I suppose the first still refers to Han Solo shooting the bounty hunter, Greedo. The sequencing joke was quite apt. Yoda can be very easy to parody. I thought duct tape was gray on both sides. I suppose that would average out as being equivalent to having a dark side and a light side. I think the pirate droid should be "Arrr2-D2". The drawn-out "arrr" sufficiently differentiates it from R2D2, and is basically the standard pirate stereotype.

That's Han Solo, not Hans Solo.  Fortunately it doesn't affect the limerick.  Meanwhile, I'll try to come up with my own limerick.

Luke wanted to leave nowheresville,
And found doing so brought quite a thrill.
He learned how to fight
With a sword made of light,
Before a triumph that came from his will.

From far, far away and ago so long
Where dark and the light were both very strong
There was a young mister
Who was fond of his sister
Any more would have been so Sithly wrong

I may have seen Gambit. I forget. I'm not sure. But it's got Michael Caine. No reason I couldn't watch it again. I can rent it for $3.99 from Amazon Prime Video. I’d really like to watch this.

I found a source for the movie. Don’t ask.

I’m nineteen minutes into it. Within the first fourteen minutes it’s practically a Star Trek convention. First you have John Abbott who played an excellent role in “Errand of Mercy” as the Organian, Ayelborne. To me, that’s one of the most high-brow and memorable guest performances.

Then you Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mud. Finally, one of the most memorable villains in Star Trek lore is Arnold Moss as Anton Karidian in “The Conscience of the King.” He’s sort of a reformed villain in that one. His nutty daughter is the true one. Throw in a little Pink Panther with Herbert Lom, and you’ve got the makings of an interesting cast.

Shirley MacLaine was quite the looker in her day. There’s not a lot of laughs so far. But they’re just setting things up. And I'm pretty sure I've never seen this one....or it was so long ago, I've forgotten.

I finished Gambit. I watched a widescreen Blu-ray version of it. The story itself drifts above mediocre for most of the time. This is a comedy but it’s not “ha-ha” funny. It’s like a Shakespearean comedy — “comedy” being that the body count is simply lower than usual and there’s a fat man named “Falstaff.”

But it’s not meant to be “ha-ha” funny. I’m not sure what you’d call this style but it’s definitely infused with British understatement (although this is an American film). Michael Caine is in his element here.

The “ha-ha” funny is potentially the contrast between how Caine imagines the heist will go and how it actually goes. But this isn’t Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal in “What’s Up Doc” where the hijinks shove us through the picture at a caffeinated 150%, whether or not we feel like hijinks.

They do play it for some small laughs early-on as none of the players do what Caine expected them to do. And then this aspect is shelved. And rather than Caine playing a Clouseau and things progressively fall apart as he attempts to hold it all together, this turns into a rather competent (and generally interesting) heist movie with just a touch of “What’s Up Doc” and just a touch of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly in “To Catch a Thief.”

In fact, one isn’t sure where the writers want to go with this picture. What we do know is that it is exquisitely shot and directed in an eloquent fashion that is an art lost to today’s directors. There’s the old joke of a million monkeys typing on typewriters in an attempt to produce a Shakespearean play. That is a good description of today’s Hollywood.

Gambit, on the other hand, is not made by monkeys. Visually, it is an absolute feast and worth watching just to observe skilled and mature movie-makers at work.

Caine is competent playing Michael Caine. Shirley MacLaine is charming as his hired help. They, along with Herbert Lom, enliven an otherwise pedestrian script. Lom, in particular, is brilliant in the contrast between how Caine first imagines how Lom will react to his plot and then the actual Lom who is not so naive and doesn’t react as expected. When you think of Lom playing Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, you get an idea of how good this guy actually was.

There are some good scenes in this, the best being the meeting (spoiler alert somewhat) at the end where Lom and MacLaine have a little conversation about getting the stolen goods back. Had the movie ended with that theme, it would have been the better for it. But they shoe-horn in this twist of an ending that definitely feels patched-on and deflates a good deal of meaning from what has gone before.

Another good scene is when we see MacClaine appear in a long white dress. She has dark, long hair. She’s stunning. And at this point, you would be right to expect that some sexual tension would unexpectedly happen between MacLaine and the guy she is helping to fleece (Lom) thus adding complications to the plot.

But they don’t go there. And as I said, the plot remains somewhat thin throughout. But moment to moment, it is quite watchable for a variety of reasons — star power, directorial prowess, superb art direction, and exquisite cinematography.

I think it was the 1945 version that I saw again just last year. There's a 1973 made-for-TV version that stars Shane Briant and his hair.



That photo is from Straight On Till Morning, but I couldn't resist. I think we've got a Prell girl there. Very nice hair indeed.

"Are you a boy, or are you a girl?  With your long, long hair, you look like a girl.  You may be a boy, you look like a girl."