I always found Robert Aldrich frustrating. Never understood how he could make films as good as Kiss Me Deadly, Attack!, The Flight Of The Phoenix and Ulzana’s Raid, and also just as (in two words) vulgar and crass as 4 For Texas, The Dirty Dozen and The Choirboys. Couldn’t he tell the difference?
Until I saw Alfred Molina’s performance as him in Feud. Of course he knew the difference between good stuff and bad stuff!. He also knew he had to do bad stuff sometimes just to stay in business, pay the bills.
Why could I never see that before? Aldrich was a hero because he sometimes had to do crap. He didn’t just do the good stuff and die hungry as a result. That’d be too easy! Opting out…
That’s the key to understanding Hollywood. It took me years to realise… the good stuff and the bad stuff. The Bad And The Beautiful…
I thought Feud was brilliant, just for that. Even if Jessica Lange’s done weird things to her face…
(I remember liking his last film, All The Marbles/The California Dolls (1981), though all I can think of is Peter Falk and women wrestling… I also remember Hustle (1975) with Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve – a cast made in heaven!)
Stroke of luck 