Dennis Hopper played normal person shock!

C

Carlos R

New member
This may be the only time in his career that Dennis Hopper played someone who wasn't barking.
In Curtis Harrington's 1961 "Night Tide" he plays a lonely sailor who falls in love with a girl who may or may not be a mermaid.
Although the copy I have is pretty bad, it's obvious that this movie is a cut above the usual 60s horror dross: weird location, atmospheric b & w photography and a haunting score.
Pace and performances are a bit uneven and some of the dialogue is tin-eared but still a memorable little movie.:cool:
 
Thanks to Alex Cox's Moviedrome, the sight of Dennis Hopper running through a train with his knob out in Tracks was implanted in my consciousness as a teenager and has steadfastly refused to leave it ever since :(

Curtis Harrington's an under-rated director; besides the unfortunately rarely shown Baby Jane pastiche What's The Matter With Helen?, his 1977 drive-in flick Ruby, set in a decaying old backwooRAB drive-in and starring Piper Laurie freshly mad from Carrie, is very much in the dream-like vein as you ascribe to Night Tide (silly imposed ending aside).
 
Curtis Harrington made some very odd movies but spent most of his career directing episodes of third rate tv series.
 
He frequently directed Dynasty at the peak of its popularity; hardly third-rate, and there are some flourishes of cinematism amongst those episodes.

God knows what else he put his name to within the TV industry though, given that must have been about the pinnacle.
 
I don't doubt Dynasty was popular, so is Eastenders, so is drug abuse, but they, and Aaron Spelling's vacuous output are all equally worthless.
 
Given that it's the producer, particularly in the US, who controls things, leaving aside the input from sponsors, networks etc., that's pretty much the case.
I yield to no one in my admiration of good US tv but even the top notch stuff isn't really dependent on who directed a particular episode. Look at The Wire and it's evident the David Simon's control was so total that it's impossible (and irrelevant) to tell who directed an individual episode, ditto BSG, Damages, The Shield etc. and it doesn't really matter, as long as they're competent.
The 80s shoulder-pad soaps were aiming pretty low and presumably hit the target but they're still just glossy junk.
 
Back
Top