Is My Face Red?: Movies about Writing

Pre-Code time! Spoilers ahead.

William Poster (Ricardo Cortez) is a successful and infamous gossip columnist constantly being sued for what the secrets he prints about the wealthy and the celebrities within the city. He feels they’ve lived scandalous lives without repercussions long enough. He also tries to get charities started for the forgotten famous, older women who are destitute and used to be the toast of the town. Poster’s fiancee Peggy (Helen Twelvetrees) acts as his inside man, using her status as a stage star to get the dirt on everyone else. She informs him of the beautiful heiress Mildred Huntington (Jill Esmond) is escaping from her recently broken engagement by taking a cruise to Europe.

Poster tracks down Mildred on the ship (after peeking lots of first class windows to see if there’s any other stories he can dig up) and they start an affair back in New York. Meanwhile, Poster and Peggy are witnesses to a murder in a speakeasy and threatened by the Italian bartender/murderer. Being the idiot he is, Poster prints the story of the murder. A terrified Peggy objects, saying that “something terrible might happen.” Poster tells her, “If it does, I’ll print it.” In her nervousness, Peggy’s engagement ring slips off. Poster takes it in order to have the stone reset.

In the midst of the death threats and giving his girl anxiety, Poster continues his affair with Mildred. Then she finds Peggy’s engagement ring and assumes it’s for her. Poster doesn’t argue and let’s her have the ring. WHAT A CAD! Peggy sees Mildred wearing her ring and reads in the paper that they are engaged. Also, Mildred realizes that he’s only with her to get secrets on all of her friends to print in his paper. Mildred breaks off the engagement and Peggy goes to Poster’s rival paper with the story of his two-timing.

While Poster and his rival newspaper man Maloney are getting drunk off bootleg liquor that Poster keeps in his water cooler, he talks about his regret over Peggy and how he doesn’t blame her for leaving. Maloney had once said to him that he never wanted to be as famous as Poster because he wanted to keep some integrity. As Maloney leaves, the Italian bartender shows up and shoots Poster. Peggy, who was in the building talking to the switchboard operator, gets him in time and his life is saved. Fittingly, Maloney scoops Poster on the story of his own shooting.

This is a movie about what is the ethical code of a writer. Writers can have sympathy and imagination, but not always empathy.

Only Murders in the Building (Adaptation): Movies about Writing

If you haven’t seen this show - Wait, why haven’t you watched this show?!

You disappoint me. Well, spoilers ahead.

Only Murders in the Building is a cozy murder mystery about three friends in a historic New York Apartment building attempting to solve crimes around while creating podcast content. The friends are made-up of Oliver (Martin Short), a former director of Broadway cheese, Charles (Steve Martin), an out-of-work actor who used to star in his own cop television series, and Mabel (Selena Gomez), a young woman with many talents who hasn’t really figured out her life yet. In season 4, the trio are simultaneously being observed by actors about to play them in a big-budget film and attempting to solve the murder of Charles’s oldest friend and stunt double Sazz (played by Jane Lynch). All caught up. Great.

In this episode, Hollywood writer Marshall P. Pope (Jin Ha) gets to narrate in an opening where we learn that his persona is a creation he think will bring him success. His monologue asks the question of “What make a writer a real writer?” while he adjusts a fake beard and mustache. Apparently, the first step to being a “real writer” is the look. If that’s the case, I suppose I should only write fiction where people are attacked by curly hair and can’t reach high shelves. Either way, I refuse to wear that tweed jacket he puts on. Marshall boasts that he can “quote David Foster Wallace and Ace Ventura”, which really to me is more of a question of whether he’s actually READ any David Foster Wallace . . . I haven’t, but I also don’t claim that I can quote him. Then he says something truthful. “It comes down to what’s on the page.” He worries that he’s a fraud. Fake facial hair probably doesn’t help.

Marshall keeps saying he wrote his screenplay based on how he envisioned the three main characters based on the podcast, yet his nervous speaking to them. He’s terrified of rewrites and is revealed when he’s named as a suspect. He’d rather be a murder suspect than be forced to rework dialogue. He is simultaneous praised by Charles for a “thumping brain” line and criticized by Oliver for a Tinkerbell metaphor. Still, he insists that imposter syndrome can be beaten through more work at your craft.

And for those of you who have seen this season I want to add more to this blog, shhh! Spoilers!

Isn't She Great: Movies about Writing

This isn’t the best movie, but it stars Bette Middler and Nathan Lane, therefore I’m in.

Middler plays Jacqueline Susann, a woman desperate for fame and constantly failing at it. She works in Broadway, radio, and even wrote her own play, but every attempt was a flop. Then she meets Irving Mansfield (Lane), an agent with a crush on her. In the movie they meet later in life, but in reality they married in the lat 1930s. He used his job to get her spots on television and help her write a series of humorous anecdotes about their dog. However, when their son is diagnosed as autistic, Jackie falls into depression after they are forced to put him in an institution (don’t judge people from the that time -there was no Americans with Disabilities Act yet).

Looking to give her a new opportunity for fame, Irving suggests Jackie write a novel. She and her friend, Flo (Stockard Channing as an amalgam of friends in Susann’s life) start listing all of their scandalous experiences and gossip. At first, no publishing house will touch what they consider to be a nearly “pornographic” and crude book. In case you are unaware, the Valley of the Dolls is about three women dealing with fame, love affairs, and drugs in the 1940s and 50s. It finally falls into the laps of a publishing house needing a big break, run by John Cleese, Amanda Peet, and David Hyde Pierce. Pierce as editor Michael Hastings tries to convince the hyperactive Jackie that her novel needs major rewrites. Instead, she wins him over with her personality and convinces him that the book needs to stay rough to keep the characters realistic. Meanwhile, Irving stars a word-of-mouth campaign to sell the book before it’s even published. All of this takes place while Jackie is secretly battling cancer.

After the book is out, the couple uses their natural talents to shmooze booksellers into carrying Valley of the Dolls on their shelves or even featuring it in windows. Jackie appears on talk shows and signings. She even gets insulted by Truman Capote on public TV. The novel becomes a bestseller (that’s not a spoiler, that’s really what happened) and changes their lives. Oh, also they go to the adaptation of the movie and, like all authors who get a movie, Jackie is not a fan.

I looked it up - pink typewriters were totally available back then!

Feud (part 2): Movies about Writing

“The secret of of immortality, for you, Truman, is to write. Keep writing.”

I feel like they honestly could’ve ended this series at episode four with Truman taking in Kate as a sort of pseudo daughter, Slim retracting her claws a little, and the last moments between Babe and Truman on the street. But that’s not enough drama. Still, the relationship between Kate and Truman was interesting. He gives her writing advice like “eavesdrop” and she tries to keep him on track/off the sauce. CZ continues to be one of the only Swans still friends with him as the 70s continue and she also tries to encourage his writing. Truman says that his career is now just being a personality, not a writer.

Meanwhile, the Swans deal with the changing times and the social stigma with being an aging woman. C.Z. and Babe have an interesting conversation about how much they owe to gay men for being their “walkers” and all I could think of was when I used to go to gay bars on Halloween so I wouldn’t get hit on. When Babe dies, the show does do a good job of showing how grief and loss can effect people in small ways.

Truman starts to hallucinate Babe after her death and remembers when he read Breakfast at Tiffany’s to her before publication. She guessed who Holly Golightly was based on and he promised never to write about her. He wanted to make the end of Answered Prayers just about her. The last few episodes are just about him trying to stay clean despite public scandals and his loneliness as Jack and the last of his friends go on to healthier relationships. Jack, who was a writer in his own right, stated that worried how everyone would bother him to put together the unfinished bits of Answered Prayers if Capote died without finishing it.

In the last year of his life, Feud shows Capote’s downward spiral through attempting to write out an ending to Answered Prayers where he attempts to apologize by giving each Swan a better ending than reality did.

The scene in which he dies in Joanne’s house is made to look like the end of this life revolved around what happened with the Swans, even given Truman some final words about Babe, even though I thought his final words were “It’s me, Buddy” suggesting that he was hallucinating his favorite aunt. Maybe he said both. I don’t know. I wasn’t there.

This is not really about Capote’s full life. There’s really no mention of his aunts who raised him, his friendship with Harper Lee, or, other than the ghost of his mom, his actual time living in New York as a youth. I know this isn’t a biography, but I feel like it’s rather one-dimensional to say he was only the way he was because of his mother. Then again, maybe that was on purpose in order to reflect on how he made his own friends seem one-dimensional in the unfinished Answered Prayers.

Feud (The Secret Inner Lives of Swans): Movies about Writing

Episode five of the second season of Feud, Capote vs. The Swans, is getting it’s own short blog because . . . James Baldwin!

Following the printing of the article that released the first chapters of Answered Prayers and the start of Truman’s falling out with the Swans, fellow author James Baldwin (played by Chris Chalk who does a pretty good version of Baldwin’s voice) comes to talk to him. Did these two men hang out following Truman’s depression over what he had done? No. Baldwin was living in France by then. But I still like the depiction of Baldwin so I’m going to write about it, damn it!

When Truman asks why “Jimmy” has come to his rescue, Baldwin says, “I have noticed that most minorities, Blacks, thank God, Asians, women, Jewish folk, they all have a community to turn to in their time of need. The homo, not so much. Not yet. You, me, Gore, Tenn, we are the only Gay American Men of Letters pretty much. I'm not counting Frank O'Hara and Ginsburg because they are just poets.” Ha! Take that Alan Ginsburg! By the way, I copied and pasted that speech from IMDB.com because it was taking me too long to type out using the subtitles on my TV.

This is the first episode where we see the Swans with a little less indiscretion, explained through many metaphors by two award winning authors. Truman tells Jimmy about affairs the women had, ways they tortured their husbands, and, racism/classism they all try to hide. In return, Jimmy points out how aggressive swans in reality are and tells him to eff them. They discuss how the women’s love of the arts are superficial. That they are horrible mothers who do not understand children as human beings. How they were cruel to Ann Woodward, adding to the poor woman’s social pariah status. What drives them is vanity and small thinking. Baldwin tries to make Capote look at his actions from the artistic point of view and remember that the “worse has already happened”. The pair discuss their lives as writers and criticism, how they can bring each other down in order to educate and make each other better.

The episode concludes with Baldwin scolding Truman. He berates him for wasting himself after “In Cold Blood” and that he needs to continue using his life to be creative. James declares, “Goddamn it, Mr. Capote! Your work isn’t even half done. You have miles to go.” He encourages Truman to finish his book about the Swans since they have already given him up. James Baldwin is telling Truman Capote that losing the women as his friends is blessing in disguise. It’s a great speech about exposing the 1% as only writers like them can. The fictional vignette ends with Capote eating a swan without alcohol. No alcohol until he finishes the book.

Feud (part 1): Movies about Writing

“Never let a writer have the last word”. This line sums up the entire season of Feud: Capote vs The Swans. It is instantly made clear from just the opening credits (which are lovely by the way), that Capote is in the wrong.

Despite this being 8 episodes long, I’m going to keep this and following blog fairly short. The first four episodes of this season on Feud are about the falling out between Truman (Tom Hollander) and his Fifth Avenue Swans, the women who were his cattiest and closest friends (after Harper Lee who he rarely spoke to after she won accolades for To Kill a Mockingbird). The series also deals with Truman’s on-again off-again romance with Jack (Joe Mantello) abusive relationship with John O’Shea (Russell Tovey), his illness from alcoholism, and being haunted by his want-to-be socialite mother played by Jessica Lange.

Let’s talk about the Swans themselves (because this is a fantastic cast):

Naomi Watts plays Babe Paley, a strong woman whose TV producer husband constantly cheats until she’s diagnosed with cancer and her finally steps up. Treat Williams plays her husband. She and Truman were the closest before the group of women cut him out. She is portrayed as missing him the most.

Diane Lane plays Slim Kieth, a woman with more bite to her than Babe but is very loyal to the people she trusts. She is ruthless when it comes to protecting Babe from Truman.

Chloe Sevigny plays C.Z. Guest, a socialite with a talent for gardening and the most reluctant to cut Truman out of their lives.

Calista Flockhart plays Lee Radziwill, a Jackie Kennedy’s sister who is the epitome of “old money” in her views and reactions.

Molly Ringwald plays Joanne Carson, a model and wife of Johnny Carson who is not effected by Truman’s actions as she lives in California and is no longer part of the core group.

Demi Moore plays Ann Woodward, who was not really a friend of Capote’s but is portrayed as such in the show along with the betrayal she felt as his accusations that she purposely killed her husband.

This teleplay is not so much as a historical record as it is a dramatization of what the writers thought Truman and the Swans could have been thinking or feeling during their feud (they did the same thing with season 1 which about about the filming of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane). There are some cool history events thrown in like the famous documentary about Truman by the Maysles Brothers (which shows Truman in all of his pretentious glory) and the filming of his scenes on Murder by Death. By the way, the documentary is free on youtube and it’s only 30 minutes long. Of course, the version of the documentary in the TV show is nothing like the real documentary.

The first four episodes are about introducing the characters, their relationships, and Truman’s betrayal. He writes about their personal lives in his new book Answered Prayers and several chapters are printed in a magazine as a preview. Despite changing the names, the characters are clearly the Swans, confirming rumors about their lives. The article causes Ann Woodward to take her own life. Slim and Lee declare that they are cutting the two-faced Truman out of their lives. Babe agrees, but almost reluctantly as Truman was her rock every time something went wrong. Also, Jack keeps going to her, begging that she help him get Truman away from the abusive John O’Shea. C.Z. and Joanne are still hanging out with Truman despite Slim’s threats towards them.

The first four episodes really make the Swans the victims. Don’t get me wrong. Capote did a horrible thing writing about them without their permission and doing so in such an obvious way that feels like he was out to hurt them. And his own interactions with other men are not shown on screen as anything loving. Just harsh and slimy. I know homosexuality in this time was illegal, but I feels like the director is using it to make Truman seems like deviant. His relationship with Jack is somewhat loving so they never show the pair having sex which proves that they are only using the sex scenes further Truman in the villain role.

Meanwhile, Slim, Lee, C.Z., and Babe are meant to be seen as witty, pleasant, fashionable, and the rich people everyone should wan to be. Granted, you don’t see them mixing with anyone outside of their social circle besides waiters and servants who they are kind to because that is the way you are supposed to think of them. However, it isn’t until episode four that the audience gets to see how the women are not the loving group of friends they pretend to be. The show uses rumors are personal lives to show the cracks in the united front, which to me feels a little like what Truman did. Still, Ryan Murphy was never a best friend of these women so I guess he can do what he wants?

The other part of the first four episodes is how everyone except Slim attempts to convince her to leave Truman alone. Babe is dying, Joanne and C.Z. are worried about Truman as he tries to get sober, and Lee insists that the drama needs to end when Slim plans on suing the odd little man. I did like how after returning home from rehab and checks his book while sober, calling it “the demon” and groaning at how bad it is. I should probably remind everyone that he never finished this book. He also gets a protege in O’Shea’s daughter Kerry (played by Ella Beatty). She changes her name to Kate Harrington and she really did become a model as well as Capote’s assistant for several years.

Murder by Death: JUST BECAUSE!

This is written by Neil Simon NOT Truman Capote, but I love it and I’m writing about it because it’s my blog. Also, understand this is no where near as fantastic as Clue, but still fun.

Murder by Death is a parody of the popular detective genre of the 1920s. Six sleuths who each make-fun of a popular character are invited to a dinner and death at the house of Lionel Twain (played by Truman Capote). The cast is huge and the jokes are silly. Peter Sellers plays Sidney Wang, a version of Charlie Chan. Peter Falk practices his later Columbo character as Sam Diamond, not Spade. Nick and Nora Charles become Dick and Dora Charleston played by David Niven and Maggie Smith respectively. Milo Perrier takes Hercule Poirot’s place and portrayed by James Coco. Lastly, Ms. Marple . . . I mean, Jessica Marbles is acted out by one of my favorites, Elsa Lanchester. Eileen Brennan, Estelle Winwood, James Cromwell, and Richard Narita play the detectives’ various companions. The cast is rounded out by Alec Guinness and Nancy Walker as Twain’s unusual servants.

Twain promises a substantial sum to the detective who solves the evening’s murder first. I don’t want to give away the mystery or many of the jokes. Here are a few specifics I want to gush about.

1. Diamond’s “doll” creates a dossier on Twain before they arrive. He asks her where she got the information and she said, “I called him up and asked him.”

2. Wang (who is played by a white guy which I think was meant to be a joke at all the white guys who played Charlie Chan . . . But I really wish there had been more jokes about him not actually being Chinese) has an adopted son who he makes do everything including standing in the way of danger.

3. The Charlestons have a dog named Myron and Dora is always carrying a martini glass, even when she’s in a car.

4. Perrier has a chauffeur that appears to be his boyfriend, but he treats him terribly. Every time something happens to the chauffeur, Perrier says to ignore him. “He just wants attention.” There is also a running gag about Perrier’s relationship to food. For example, he spits out wine and the others think it was poisoned. “Bad year,” he explains.

5. Mrs. Marbles pushes around her nurse in a wheelchair and has a long standing friendship with Diamond. It’s funny to think of a world where the very English small town Miss Marple hung out with the quick tempered, fowl mouth Spade.

6. All of the detectives try to out-detect each other.

7. The screaming doorbell was a soundbite of Fay Wray.

8. Twain’s insistence that Wang use proper articles and pronouns. “It. IT is confusing!”

9. Twain’s monologue about mystery books: “You've tricked and fooled your readers for years. You've tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You've introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You've withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now, the tables are turned. Millions of angry mystery readers are now getting their revenge. When the world learns I've outsmarted you, they'll be selling your $1.95 books for twelve cents.You've tricked and fooled your readers for years. You've tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. You've introduced characters in the last five pages that were never in the book before. You've withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now, the tables are turned. Millions of angry mystery readers are now getting their revenge. When the world learns I've outsmarted you, they'll be selling your $1.95 books for twelve cents.”

54, Children on their Birthdays, The Innocents, and Beat the Devil: Movies about Writing

These are films that either feature Capote or were written by him. This will be fairly short, despite that it will be about 4 different movies.

54

Remember this movie? Don’t worry about it if you don’t. It’s just okay. I’ve heard that the director’s cut was a better film that gave a more realistic portrayal of the swinging 70s club (apparently Harvey Weinstein demanded the cuts). I regret that I couldn’t find the director’s cut streaming for free as it also has a gross cameo cut out. Ryan Phillippe plays Shane, a bartender with disco fever hired by the club’s owner Steve Rubell (a real person played by Mike Myers). The movie also includes Salma Hayek, Breckin Meyer, Neve Campbell, and a brief scene of Mark Ruffalo as additional young people with celebrity status or trying to obtain celebrity status. The part I want to talk about is in the first ten minutes. Steve stops the music at Studio 54 and calls for Truman Capote (played by Louis Negin in an appropriately ham way). To celebrate Truman’s facelift, Steve has a boy dressed as a golden cupid descend from the ceiling and hand him a mirror. Capote jokingly reaches for the boy and then dances with a man not wearing a shirt. Capote is not the only older person at the disco trying to re-capture their youth through anonymous sexual encounters. The part that made me laugh was Shane confessing he had no clue who Truman was. Of course, Shane doesn’t know any media personalities (not Andy Warhol or Erroll Flynn or half of the people he meets), except Grace Kelly because his mother named his sisters after her.

Real Capote at the real Studio 54

Phillippe at the fake Studio 54

Children on their Birthdays

I’ve read this story by Capote which is yet another one based loosely on childhood experiences. It’s Billy Bob’s 13th Billy Bob (played by Joe Pichler who tragically went missing as an adult, this was his last film). He, his mother (hey, it’s Laura Palmer . . . I mean, Sheryl Lee), and best friend Preacher (look at baby Jesse Plemons) meet a precocious girl named Lily Jane Bobbit (Tania Raymonde). The girls in town hate Lily Jane and the boys all start to compete for her affections. Billy Bob is also upset that his mother is finding love with town mechanic and lawman Speedy (Christopher McDonald) even though his father has been dead for years. He also feels intense shame when he doesn’t stop Preacher from picking on a little Black girl named Rosalba Cat (Brazhal Brewer) and both his mom and Lily Jane see. Unlike the Lily Jane of the story, this Lily Jane comes down from her high horse for the sake of another girl in need of a hero. However, her longing for a life on the stage is the same as in the story. A con man (Tom Arnold) comes to town and convinces Lily Jane that he could make her a star.

I won’t give away the entire plot, but unlike Capote’s other stories of childhood, this one is less about him as a child and more about observations of people through a child’s eyes. However the movie is kinder all around. It makes Lily Jane kinder and more a of child. It makes the interactions between the children and adults more like a coming-of-a-story than a tragedy. And (spoiler alert) it completely changes the ending.

The Innocents

I used to hate this movie as a child because I was literally haunted by the novella The Turn of the Screw. Every time I’d find a Victorian ghost story on TV, it would turn out to be an adaptation of Turn of the Screw. After several years of escaping the story, I finally went back and reread it then re-watched some of those adaptations I was so dogged by. And this is the best version (not counting the Netflix min-series since it does combine a lot of stories). I’m not sure if it was Capote’s idea as the screenwriter or the director’s to make you wonder whether the ghosts were real just like in the original book, but this is the movie where it works the best.

Beat the Devil

This is an odd film that I feel like you need to watch multiple times to get the entire plot. Long story short, Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobrigida, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morley, and Peter Lorre star in this story about uranium, land deals, and taking advantage of naive British people (somebody had to). The reason I am including this is not that it’s about writing, but that, despite being based on a book, Capote had to work on the screenplay as they were filming. This probably accounts for plot holes and disjointed scenes. Still, Bogart and Lorre - I’m in. Capote was also all in because he got to hang out with the entire cast.

Infamous: Movie about Writing

I confess this is not as good of a film as Capote, but there are some interesting changes. Where the movie Capote is a more subdued look at Truman Capote’s relationship with Perry Smith, one of the Clutter family killers he writes about within In Cold Blood, Infamous is more a film about Capote himself, publicly, privately, and during his investigation for his “true crime fiction”.

Toby Jones does a fantastic Capote impression which starts with just the sassy, silly nature that made him popular in wealthy circles, then starts to melt into those moments of depression and self-realization. His Swans, a group of wealthy women he adored until he eventually betrayed their secrets and they dumped him, are included and played by Hope Davis, Sigourney Weaver, Juliet Stevenson, and Isabella Rossellini. The movie delves a little into his relationship with these wealthy socialites. You see a large difference between how the Swans react to Capote versus how Nelle “Harper” Lee (Sandra Bullock) and Jack Dunphy (John Benjamin Hickey) behave with him. While the Swans encourage his bad behavior, Nelle and Jack try to make him more likable to the masses or just a better person overall. I especially liked a scene in a diner where Nelle reminds Truman repeatedly to say thank you to a waitress. That having been said, they do not try to change who he is either. The movie does mention both the fame of To Kill a Mockingbird, Nelle attempting to write a second book, and how Jack is struggling with his own novel.

Still, the main plot revolves around Capote writing In Cold Blood. He and Nelle go to the small town in Kansas (where everyone keeps calling him “ma’am”) and instantly get the cold shoulder from Agent Alvin Dewey (Jeff Daniels). However Mrs. Dewey doesn’t like that he and Nelle are alone in town at Christmas, so she invites them to dinner. Nelle brings a fruit cake and Truman responds, “And she doesn’t mean me.” He wins Dewey over by telling stories of his time working in Hollywood on Beat the Devil (it’s an odd film, but I still recommend it). This gives him an in to several other families in town who finally speak to him about the Clutters and give him a start to his book.

The movie points out how Truman doesn’t take notes, instead using a memory technique. Nelle proves to be both a better researcher and a voice of reason to Truman as he starts to work out his idea for a “true crime novel”, pointing out that these were real people and he should stick to the facts. He points out that To Kill a Mockingbird was an embellishment on the truth, which is funny since so many of his short stories do the same thing.

The second act is his meeting the killers, Dick Hickey (Lee Pace! Oh, how I love him) and Perry Smith (is that Daniel Craig with black hair? He didn’t have to be the blonde Bond). Nelle suggests that Truman use the same tactics he uses to get his Swans to dish the dirt. Truman and Perry begin to build a relationship and he sends him a copy of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Perry states that the stories lack kindness, which I found super interesting, a statement that rattles Truman. Perry is portrayed as more violent towards Truman than in the film Capote where there is more empathy between the two men right away. There is also a scene where the two men make out which would have never happened in a jail where others could have seen them. The film also changes the actions of the murders, claiming that Dick shot the wife and daughter. As far as we know, in reality Perry killed them all.

The third act of the movie is much more about the preparations for publishing the book and Truman’s attempt to make it sound “kinder”. He struggles with the idea that the men being hanged gives his book the correct and satisfying ending, however, it means Perry still swings. Capote lies that Perry apologized before death. After all, that is a kinder ending for his book. The whole movie ends with Nelle stating how writing something meaningful can take a little piece of a writer’s life away, yet all people want to know afterwards is “what’s next?”. The camera pans in on Truman attempting to write Answered Prayers, a novel he would never finish about his Swans.

In Cold Blood: Movies about Writing

This isn’t actually about writing, but I couldn’t do blog about Capote without re-watching the critically acclaimed movie based upon his most famous work. But since this film isn’t actually about being a writer or the process of writing, I’ll keep this short.

Capote called In Cold Blood the first nonfiction novel, which I think was just his way of admitting that he embellished the truth. Technically, that’s just historic fiction, however Capote is dead and difficult to argue with at this time.

If you don’t already know, In Cold Blood was the case of two young men, Dick Hickok and Perry Smith, brutally killing a family of four during a botched robbery attempt. The Clutters are presented as an average farm family with chores, hopes, friends, and a community who had no issues with them. Capote actually interviewed Smith extensively for his book (see blogs about the movies Capote and Infamous). This film pulls no punches as Agent Alvin Dewey (John Forsythe) and a team of cops hunt for the killers who reveal more of their backstories in an attempt to understand why they committed the crimes. Still, Perry even confesses that none of it makes sense. He never knew exactly why he murdered the Clutters.

Grass Harp: Movies about Writing

I read the novella before watching the movie so I could nitpick, but I won’t.

This is yet another Capote tale based upon the aunts/cousins he lived with in the south, however, this time the story is more fictionalized. And the cast is stacked!

Edward Furlong (in a time after Terminator 2, but hopefully before the substance abuse) plays Colin, the nephew and narrator who lives with his older cousins. Aunt Dolly (Piper Laurie) is another version of Capote’s sweet and somewhat eccentric cousin Sook. Dolly makes a herbal remedy popular in their small town. Her sister Verena (Sissy Spacek) has controlled Dolly and Colin’s lives for years. When she brings home a snake oil salesman (holy crap - it’s Jack Lemmon) who wants to buy Dolly’s medical recipe, it drives Dolly, Colin and the servant/friend Catherine (Nell Carter) literally up a tree. They are soon joined by other people done with society - a judge (Walter Mathau), the coolest teen in town (Sean Patrick Flanery- one of my first crushes), and a family of traveling evangelists led by Mary Steenburgen. The people of the town start to take sides on whether they think the tree dwellers have lost their minds or if they deserve a break from the world. By the way, the townspeople include Joe Don Baker, Charles During, Scott Wilson, and FREAKING Roddy McDowell. Did they just send out a casting call for all character actors who weren’t busy that month?

The movie tries to add more backstory, showing Colin’s life before he lives with his Aunt Dolly and Aunt Verena. There is a little more of his talk about daydreaming, stories he’d make up, and Colin’s enjoyment of thinking up adventures he and his Aunt Dolly would never have. No major spoilers here, but I will say that later, Colin leaves for the city in order to get experience as a writer. The Judge gifts him a fancy notebook to get him started and Colin takes the Judge to listen to the “grass harp”, voices “inside his head” and the loudest voice is Dolly’s.

Capote Related Films I Couldn't Find: Movies about Writing

Going back to the Capote them for a few weeks. Before I jump back into full movies, here are two things I couldn’t find anywhere (not streaming or in the used media store . . . at least not without signing up for subscriptions I can’t afford).

Life on Mars (A Simple Secret of the Note in Us All):

Life on Mars was a British crime drama about a 2006 cop who ends up in 1973. If you never saw it, it had an excellent soundtrack. Since it was successful, the U.S. of course had to copy it. Episode 12 was about, “While investigating the murder of a newspaper columnist, Sam crosses paths with a dangerous killer from one of his cases in the future and is convinced that he is guilty of this crime.” according to imdb.com. I don’t know how Truman Capote fits into this, but I can imagine he was thrown into the episode just to make a witty, biting remark.

Other Voices, Other Rooms:

Couldn’t find this movie, but I’ve seen the trailer and read the novella. The trailer was not well edited and I kept getting bored in the 2 minutes and 40 second span. The book is a coming-of-age story loosely based on Capote’s childhood including a strained relationship with an ill father, an older gay relative who influences the young main character’s views, and a tomboy best friend who is obviously based on Harper Lee. The book had things I did not enjoy (the part at the fair), so I probably would not have enjoyed seeing that part played out on screen.

Trilogy:

According to rarefilmm.com, “Three Truman Capote stories are presented in this anthology: In “Miriam,” a heartbroken nanny is told she isn’t needed to care for a new child. In “Among the Paths to Eden,” a lonely old woman visits a cemetery and meets a widower placing flowers on his late wife’s grave. In “A Christmas Memory,” a boy and his aunt prepare for Christmas by making fruitcakes for their family in small-town, pre–World War II Alabama.” Apparently, this has been on TCM, but I’ve never seen it. This suggests they play it very rarely. Of course, now that I say that it’ll probably be on tomorrow.

One Christmas:

This is another story based on Capote’s childhood with his beloved Aunt Sook and his estranged father. Apparently Henry Winkler and Katherine Hepburn are in it. Honestly, I did find it. I didn’t want to pay money for it. And who watches a Christmas movie in June?

Phoenix Fan Fusion

That’s right! It’s that time of year again. I know the economy is tough right now, but you should treat yourself . . . to plush and books at our table. See you there!

Not going to be at the convention? Check out our shop!

Sex and the Single Girl: Movies about Writing

You need to suspend a lot of beliefs about feminism and doctor/patient confidentiality for this one. If you are a fan of Some Like It Hot, it’s worth a watch for the Jack Lemmon jokes. By the way, this screenplay was by Joseph Heller. Spoilers ahead.

Bob Weston (Tony Curtis) works for Stop magazine. Stop was family magazine started by his boss’s grandmother and his boss has turned it into best selling yellow journalism. The chief is played by one of my favorite character actors, Edward Everett Horton. That has no importance to this blog, I just like pointing it out. The chief praises Bob for being the most vulgar writer on his staff. He plans on exposing a psychologist who specializing sexuality and relationships for modern women, as a fraud and a virgin. Natalie Wood plays Dr. Helen Gurley Brown, a fictionalized version of a real person who wrote a real book called Sex and the Single Girl. That’s where the comparison ends. The real Brown went on to be editor for Cosmo magazine and I found several nasty quotes from Betty Friedan on her.

Helen’s bestseller (based on the real bestseller the movie takes it’s name from) is causing men to feel uncomfortable about how much independence it encourages in unmarried women. Even Helen’s co-workers, a group of older male psychologists who are among the men afraid of what her book will do to society even though it has been good for their practice. All of the secretaries in her office want signed copies.

Bob borrows the life of his next door neighbor, Frank, in order to become a patient in Helen’s office. Frank (Henry Fonda) owns a successful stocking company whose marriage to Sylvia (Lauren Bacall) is on the rocks due to her jealous nature. Bob tells Frank’s tale to Helen and adds to the woes by claiming to be “inadequate”. Little blue bill hasn’t been invented yet.

Helen is weirdly naive about seduction and how alcohol works except when it comes to her coworker played by Mel Ferrer. She has no trouble knowing when he’s hitting on her but maybe that’s because he says things like he became a psychiatrist to hear “dirty stories”. Anyway, the pair realize they are falling in love, so Helen goes to Sylvia and encourages her to save her marriage. This makes the real Frank very happy. However, it’s fake Frank aka Bob who panics when his chief accuses him of growing soft and has his casual girlfriend, Gretchen, pretend to be Sylvia. I rather like Gretchen as a character, which is why she is a secondary character who gets a tacked on happy ending.

When Gretchen is unable, Frank asks his secretary to go, not knowing that Helen is meeting with the real Sylvia at the same time. Three “Sylvias” show up at Helen’s office and she thinks he has multiple wives. She hears hoofbeats and thinks zebras. Anyway, the real Sylvia reveals who fake Frank is and Helen realizes that Bob is using her for his filthy tabloid article. At the same time, Bob is quitting his magazine job for Helen’s sake.

Shenanigans ensure with a car chase and a who’s who of character actors that takes way too long. Followed by a happily ever after with pretzels.

Back to the topic of writers. Helen claims her book is scientific, which can’t be true if it’s a bestseller. I can name all the science best sellers on one hand And most of them are about physics and space. No, I am not including the Kinsey report in this list. As for Bob, he seems to be very proud of being a writer yet only in the sense that he loves being a peddler of sleaze. I mean, all professions have their reprobates.

Blessed Event: Movies about Writing

OMG! Gossip time! Well, 1930s gossip so I guess blow your wig for the low down of this off the cob movie.

Alvin Roberts (vaguely based on famed gossip columnist Walter Winchell) has put his newspaper on the map by printing private information about the wealthy and elite. Most notably he reports on scandalous pregnancies, referring to them as “blessed events”. Despite people suing the paper and lining up to complain, the editor loves what this has done for circulation and encourages Alvin to continue. Alvin becomes a celebrity in his own right with people blowing up the phones to sue him and young journalists admire him.

Al gets most of his dirt through trickery and observation, all skills his crush, fellow journalist Gladys, find disgusting. For example, a radio singer named Dorothy begs him not to print a story about her and he uses her begging to get the story out of her, promises not to print it, then PRINTS IT ANYWAY (he feels guilty later, but it’s not like he prints a retraction and refuses to speak to her). Gladys warns him that one of these days his stories will get him hurt and she’s correct. He crosses paths with both a gangster and a crooner, both of whom threaten his life and livelihood. Turns out that Dorothy’s boyfriend is the gangster who is ready kill Al for exposing her secret. Al also has a weird vendetta against the crooner (a man named Bunny Harmon who is played by Dick Powell) which the gangster uses to lure Al to a convenient killing spot. I won’t give away the ending but as this is a movie from 1932, I’m sure you cats will figure it out.

Alvin doesn’t appear to be the best writer. He set up clipped little passages that remind me of telegraph messages. He also doesn’t know how to type, at one point expressing he needs the x key to “x out” a misspelled word. Then again, the ability to type is being lost left and right these days, so maybe he was just a glimpse at the future of America. He’s willing to put himself in danger and ruin lives for the slop he writes. He’s proud that something he created is so talked of. The movie also addresses how gossip effects women in trouble more than the men who put them there. Nothing changes.

Side note: There’s a joke in here about how television will never take off. Ha!

The Petrified Forest: Movies about Writing

Time for some 1930s melodrama!

Leslie Howard plays Alan Squier, a writer “looking for something to believe in” by hitchhiking across America. This is after his novel only sold 600 copies and landed him in a disastrous marriage. He arrives at an Arizona gas station and befriends the owner’s grown daughter, Gabrielle, (Bette Davis) who desperately wants to move to France where her mother lives and learn to paint. Their meeting coincides with the arrival of dangerous bank robber, Duke Mantee (Humphry Bogart) who holds up the car of wealthy couple.

Despite Duke’s menacing appearance, Alan attempts to calmly out-talk the killer and henchmen. “I’m eternally right, but what good does it do me.” Duke isn’t without morals, something Alan observes as a study of human character. Alan also thrills at ideas of immortality and that his published work would be appreciated after his death. He uses these ideas to poke at Duke about his own love life.

As I live in Arizona, I did enjoy little details in the film like a sign for “Apache Beer”, a real brewing company from Phoenix. There are also interesting historical observations to be made about the Great Depression, the role of women in society, individualism, and 1930s race relations. There’s an especially intriguing conversation when a Black man who chauffeurs for the rich couple meets a Black member of Duke’s gang. The gang member asks the chauffeur if he’s never heard of the “great liberation” and I wince thinking of how civil rights failed back then.

Back to this being a blog about writing. Alan has many observations that are intellectual and not always useful. He compares himself to the petrified wood and charm Gabrielle with what he keeps telling her is useless information. A true writer, if you’ve ever seen one. His philosophical views and lack of true motivation lead to his heroic ending - becoming more like a fictional character than an author who created them.

Boy Meets Girl: Movies about Writing

James Cagney and Pat O’Brien play Law and Benson, two screenwriters in the studio system with writer’s block. Instead, they hook up a records playing back typewriter sounds while they gallivant around the lots pretending to be disgruntled chorus members and ruining takes of pictures. However, now they are being bullied by a cowboy actor named Larry Toms to write his final contract picture. Toms is not happy with any of this because He didn’t used to need a script, “people came to see his face alone”. Law declares that he used be a novelist and nearly won the Pulitzer Prize, but now is “writing dialogue for a horse”. Cagney so rarely got to be clever and a comedian that this a delightful change.

Law and Benson have amazing energy. They are like a pair of Groundlings improv. performers who just can’t stop. They are wind-up toys with literary skills. They are the cleverest men in the room . . . or at least they think so. Never mind that they have been fired from multiple lots for pranks and shenanigans. The only thing that is serious about them is Mrs. Benson, an unseen character who spends her husband’s money to replace a void from him working all of the time.

Their boss, C. Elliot Friday, tells them he needs something well written. Not “Kipling who’s a good storyteller”, but more of the “greatness” of “Proust”. I should point out that this is the same man who mentions that the wives should start learning languages because it “gives them something to do”. So he’s pompous and sexist. Still, Law and Benson point out that movies have the same great American story: “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.”

Enter Susie (Marie Wilson), a young woman who works in the studio commissary and happens to be pregnant. Gasp. Benson and Law are the only ones who instantly want her taken care of and ask to be godfathers. They come up with Toms’s movie story where he’s a cowboy who finds a baby (played by Susie’s baby Happy so she’ll have money for his upbringing) and falls for the mother. Toms objects because babies are scene stealers. Still, the studio head approves and the movie goes forward after Happy is born. Furthermore, Happy is such a hit that he gets a multi-picture deal and Susie goes back to high school.

Spoilers ahead:

Susie is sweet on an English extra Rodney Bowman (Bruce Lester), but Larry Toms starts flirting hoping that Susie married him. Unbeknownst to Susie (but known-est to us), but Toms really just wants legal control over Happy’s career so he doesn’t have to do cowboy-baby films anymore.

Law and Benson want to save Happy and Susie from Toms clutches . . . and so they can keep making money off Happy. They hire Bowman to pretend to be Happy’s father at a movie premiere where - ACK!!! Ronald Reagan! Make the bad man go away!

And as Reagan is always a bad omen, After his scene, things go belly-up for our main characters. Bowman reveals the truth. A measles ridden Happy is fired due to scandal. Benson and Law are fired. Benson’s wife leaves him and Law plans on going to Vermont to write about “real” people He states that it’s going be so real, he won’t even use a typewriter. He’s going to handwrite everything in pencil. Ug. Pencil.

Still, before Benson and Law depart, they ask a friend to send a telegram from London claiming to be a Studio owner wanting to buy the studio they worked for, but only if Happy is on a long term contract. However, Bowman (who it turns out is the younger son of a lord) wants to marry Susie and raise Happy in England. Benson points out that this was realism - “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.” The good news is that they get their jobs at the studio back. The bad news is that Benson’s wife doesn’t come back so I’m not sure if he really learned a lesson about putting work first.

The Animal Kingdom: Movies about Writing

This is more about creativity than purely writing. Tom (Leslie Howard) is a publisher and is the black sheep of his wealthy family. After years of living in sin with a fashion icon and artist, Daisy (Ann Harding), Tom is settling down with socialite Cecelia (Myrna Loy). Cecelia is manipulative, slowly convincing Tom to give up his old life and friends. Her own friends find Tom and his ilk unusual. Publishers must “hobnob” with weirdos (meaning other creatives). She also tries to keep him away from Daisy, despite his desire to keep her in his life as a friend. Cecelia also convinces Tom to print a trash novel that does well, but embarrasses him as it’s not the sort of lofty title he usually publishes. His former friends along with Daisy pity how he’s clearly miserable meeting with Cecelia’s expectations for him as a husband. It’s evident how his wife thinks these artists and authors are immoral. She slowly and quietly takes away so many of Tom’s mental outlets and happy moments, he doesn’t even notice.

It’s Daisy who critiques him as he talks art with her. Their words are meant to be helpful, two people who with similar brains who know how to sandwich the poor reviews with the important little triumphs. Their circle of friends have similar views, that being around other creatives is healthy for their collective well-being. Tom and Daisy’s group are “scandalous” and rough in the eyes of the swells of society, who dismiss their talents as mere amusements. One of Cecelia’s friends comments that Tom’s author friend will “use them all for characters in a book” and he grumbles, “Oh, that’s a very good idea.” It’s a movie about substance and artistry versus what makes money. Granted, that’s not practical or realistic. However, I don’t think this movie was going for reality. There are too many starving artists living in nice apartments and large roomed houses at the start of the Great Depression for reality to be a priority.

Through My Window: Movies about Writing

Sorry. Can’t give details about this one. My mother sometimes reads this blog.

What I can say is that Raquel has a huge crush on her rich neighbor Ares - so huge that she basically writes fan fiction about him all the time. He hacks into her computer and reads some of what she writes. You’d think she’d be embarrassed, but basically states she only wants to be a part of his life if he’s all in. Insert lots of typical “wealthy family objects to poor girlfriend” drama mixed with commitment issues and you’ve pretty much got this movie (yes, I’m skipping over the many - ahem - intimate moments).

When it comes to her writing, Raquel is not 100% confident about allowing others to read it, believing that her father’s excellent novel failed when he attempted to get a publisher. Ares keeps telling her that she has talent (even though her topic always seems to be their relationship), however she’s convinced that if her dad couldn’t get published, then neither could she. Eventually, her mother tells her that her father was never rejected because he was too afraid to ever try. In the end, Raquel turns her year of dating Ares into a book that people applaud at a reading. So whether or not the couple stays together - at least she got a good story out of it.

The Smiling Ghost: Movies about Writing

Here’s another one about a journalist (although she’s one of four leads in this story). Lucky Downing (Wayne Morris) is an out-of-work engineer who take a job pretending to be a wealthy woman’s fiancee for a month. The woman in question is Elinor Bentley Fairchild (Alexis Smith) who comes from an eccentric wealthy family and Lucky likes her instantly. What Lucky and his “valet” Clarence (Willie Best) aren’t aware of is that Elinor’s last three engagements ended in tragedy, each man dying or meeting a terrible fate in bizarre circumstances. The only living former fiancee, Paul Myon, asks a local reporter who has been following the strange events, Lil Barstow (Brenda Marshall), to warn the latest engaged man of the “smiling ghost” and that Elinor is cursed. Also, there’s a weird old man in the house who wants to add Clarence to his collection of shrunken heads. Do you have all that? Good. Let’s talk about writing and journalism.

Even though her first thought is of her newspaper, Lil does act like a decent person as well as a reporter. She warns Lucky about the fact that he’s being used as a “guinea pig” to lure out a killer, but still wants her story. When he decides to stay because of some fake tears from Elinor, Lucky becomes Lil’s girl Friday as she investigates the murders (and attempted murders). They make a deal that she will not print a word of what is going on until she had Elinor’s permission. Of course, Elinor doesn’t know they’ve made this agreement. Lil is also respectful of Paul Myron who is trapped in an iron lung and convinced that the ghost of fiancee #1 is behind everything. She’s logical and calm in the face of danger even as she starts to enjoy Lucky’s company. The only time she slips from her journalistic integrity is when Elinor declares she really wants to marry Lucky.

Spoilers!

Elinor insults Lil by calling her stories sappy and “hysterical”, yet allows Lil to come to the ceremony so she can finish her article (and rub it in Lil’s face that Elinor won Lucky). Lucky isn’t aware that Lil likes him as he’s too busy saving Clarence from the crazy man who wants his head. As the wedding begins, Lil excuses herself to a different room with a typewriter where the “smiling ghost” kidnaps her. Clarence accidentally find a secret passage the “ghost” has been using to get around the house and Lucky follows it to a tied up Lil. The “ghost” threatens them and Lil figures out that the killer is actually Paul Myron in a mask. Elinor had dumped him after his paralyzing car accident. When he healed (not paralyzed after all), he determined to both punish Elinor and make sure no other man could have her. And he would’ve gotten away with is to if it’s wasn’t for those meddling kids. Also, it turns out that the crazy man only wanted to use Clarence to make a model of his head, not actually kill him.

I assume Lil will remain a reporter after she and Lucky marry as, by the end of movie, he still doesn’t have a job.