Latino Images in Film ~ The Garment Jungle (1957)

The Garment Jungle (1957) is an industry-specific film noir focuses on the shady dealings in NYC's garment business circa mid-1950s. Walter Mitchell (Lee J. Cobb) of Roxton Fashions has a major dispute with his business partner over the formation of a union to protect the company's workers, many of whom are Latinos. Shortly thereafter the business partner dies in a freak elevator "accident". Mitchell has been paying gangsters to help protect his business from the union but is too busy to realize that they have killed his partner and best friend. Mitchell's son Alan (Kerwin Matthews) becomes part of his father's business right at the moment when the tension between the union and the workers, the executives and the thugs is about to get out of control. Alan meets worker Tulio, a frustrated union leader desperate for change even if it means neglecting his wife Theresa (Gia Scala) and child. When Tulio is killed by the gangsters, Alan is determined to make his deluded father see what's really going on and to cut the company's ties with the gangsters for good.

The screenplay was inspired by an expose written by Lester Velie and published in the July 1955 issue of Readers Digest called "Gangsters in the Dress Business". The Hispanic workers at the garment factory and represented in the film are overworked, underpaid and fed up with it. When they try to fight back, they are oppressed with extreme violence. In real life, a union worker was killed by gangsters and the footage of the funeral is used in the film. The exploitation of Hispanic workers is still an ongoing problem today so this film could definitely open up the opportunity to have some round table discussions.

This is a film in which the execution is poor yet the cultural concept is interesting enough it makes it worth viewing. The acting is so-so and the story is weighed down by poorly written dialogue and weak romantic sub-plots. I was a bit disturbed by the widow Theresa being passed off to a new man before the first husband was even dead. It's not something that happens in the story per-say but as the audience member you know that it's coming. I also found the inclusion of racism a little forced. It's as though someone said "hey we need some derrogatory terms thrown at these Latino characters, let's say ''spic bum' a few times, that should do it!" Otherwise, culturally this film is representative of a volatile time in American history and serves well as a vehicle of looking at the present through the past.

Level of Brown Face: 1 out of 5 shades. Italian is Hispanic enough in this film...

TCM Latino Images in Film Line-Up for Tuesday May 12th

Tortilla Flat (1942)
... And Now Miguel (1943)
The Milagro Beanfield War (1988)
Salt of the Earth (1954)
The Garment Jungle (1957)

Vote for the Dairy Barn!

American Express-Partners in Preservation program is giving grants to historical Massachusetts landmarks that need funding for the preservation of these sites. Out of 700 applicants, they chose 25 and they are asking that you the public vote for which you think most deserves funding. The winner will be guaranteed a grant. Others will be reviewed by committees to decide whether they should get some of the funding.

So why am I writing about this? Because my high school's Dairy Barn is one of the 25 contenders. I attended Norfolk County Agricultural High School from 1994-1998. I was an Environmental Science major but had a special place in my heart for the Dairy cows and the Dairy Barn. The barn was built in 1919 and has been instrumental in teaching students about farm management. However, due to detoriation the barn no longer houses dairy cows and students are not allowed in. This gorgeous barn is now used only for the storage of hay.

I spent many many hours in this Dairy barn. I got to see a cow give birth, I got to feed the cows, milk them and even bond with them. In my Junior year, I selected a special Guernsey cow named Gemma to be my cow for the Spring show. I would go to the school on Saturday mornings to train with her and groom her. I clipped her, bathed her, cleaned her ears and nose, scrubbed her, shined her hooves and got her all gussied up for the show. Together we won 3 ribbons! I have so many special memories of her and they all tie together with that barn.

So I'm asking you, please vote for my high school's barn. Register on the website and you can vote for it once a day until May 17th. The more votes it gets, the better chance it will receive some funding. Unlike the other sites, the barn is used for educational purposes and does not get any outside funding from admission fees. So it really really does need your votes!

VOTE!!!

That's me at 16 showing Gemma the Guernsey cow at the 1997 Spring Show.

Here is Gemma and I again and you can see the Dairy barn and silo in the background.

My friends Kevin and Lisa outside the dairy barn. 5/3/09

Here I am petting Crystal the Guernsey. She's Gemma's great-grandaughter! 5/3/09

and have a Happy Mother's Day!

TCM Latino Images in Film Giveaway

I'm very blessed to be able to do another TCM related giveaway, this time in conjunction with their Latino Images in Film festival. This festival is by far my favorite and very close to my heart since I am a Latina who loves classic films. I really hope that you'll take the time to watch some of the films in the festival and really think about the representation of Latinos in these movies.

I will be giving away some Latino Images in Film themed composition notebooks to the winners of this contest.

How to Enter:

1) Check out the TCM's Latino Images in Film line-up and the TCM Originals video clips.

2) Add a comment on this post about which film in the line-up you want to see and why or have seen and what you thought of it. Or tell me something interesting you learned watching the video clips.

3) Bloggers, add a link or write an entry on your blog about TCM Latino Images in Film festival. If you are on Twitter, tweet about it to your followers.

4) Entries must be in by midnight Sunday May 24th. You can also e-mail the entries to Quellelove at Gmail dot com.

Winners will be announced Tuesday May 26th. They will be chosen at random. This contest is open to everyone. If you chose not to participate, you can always enter TCM's contest on their website for the same prize. You do however have a better chance of winning a notebook here!

Latino Images in Film ~ Border Incident (1949)

Border Incident (1949) is a gripping noir about the illegal smuggling of braceros (Mexican workers) into the US. Ricardo Montalban stars as Pablo Rodriguez, a Mexican undercover agent who is posing as a paisano/bracero in order to infiltrate a band of devious smugglers. Pablo befriends bracero Juan Garcia (James Mitchell) and the two form a close bond. As Pablo and Juan get smuggled across the border, American agent Jack Bearnes (George Murphy) who is posing as a dealer in forged immigration papers. However, the network of bandits are violent and determined to get their way and things get to get complicated and ugly really quickly.

I have to say, this was a very uncomfortable film to watch. It's very violent, not in terms of gore but with torture and murder. Plus there is also a pit of death where the illegal braceros are thrown in to die once they are no longer needed (yikes!). Some folks don't think it's technically a noir but it's got all the elements of a noir just in an atypical setting. This films merits I think lie in the performances of Ricardo Montalban and James Mitchell. They are our heroes and we root for them all the way.

You mean, you can make a film about Latinos with Latino actors?! No!!! The Mexican characters in this film are mostly played by Latinos, which makes a welcome change from Caucasian actors with olive complexions (or extra make-up). The only exception is James Mitchell, who I don't think is actually Hispanic but I could be wrong. The theme of illegal immigration and the exploitation of Mexican workers makes this film incredibly relevant today. The situations in the story are disturbingly real and I think this is a good movie for sparking some political discussions.

Level of Brown Face: 1 out of 5 Shades.

TCM Latino Images in Film Line-Up for Tuesday May 7th

Bordertown (1935)
Border Incident (1949)
Right Cross (1950)
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
Revenue Agent (1950)

Latino Images in Film ~ The Mark of Zorro (1920)

In The Mark of Zorro (1920), Douglas Fairbanks Sr. plays the title role of Zorro, a masked crusader out to defend and fight for the interests of the oppressed. In his world, this is everyone who is subject to the law (governor, soldiers, sargeants, etc) which is corrupt. By day, he is a soft, jaded rich boy with a delicate education from Spain, the motherland, but whenever the oppressed people of his community needs him, he transforms into the masked Zorro, a genuine hero full of masculine bravado and good intent. No one knows Zorro's true identity, not even his love interest Lolita who he is wooing as both versions of himself. Can he save his townspeople from oppresion and win the heart of Lolita? Zorro can do anything!

This silent classic was produced by Douglas Fairnbanks' production company and was the first feature film release of United Artists, which Fairbanks started with Chaplin and his wife Pickford among others. This was the first in a series of swashbuckling movies that Fairbanks did, which made him vastly popular. Fans of his son Douglas Fairbanks Jr. might remember him mocking his father's performance in the film Our Dancing Daughters. In the cast is also Noah Beery, brother of Wallace Beery and Walt Whitman, although no relation to the poet (darn!).

I thoroughly enjoyed this silent film. Fairbanks was quite acrobatic and his stunts were enjoyable to watch. The representation of Mexican/Spanish people in the film I thought was done very respectfully. What I found interesting is that although the main division is between the townspeople and the law, there is a cultural division between the light-skinned noble Spanish blood which is higher in ranking than the dark-skinned natives. As I am fascinated with early Dominican culture, these kind of cultural divisions always fascinate me.

Level of Brown Face: 2 out of 5 shades

Oh my! Those pants are rather tight, aren't they Mr. Fairbanks?

TCM Latino Images in Film Line-Up for Tuesday May 5th

Ramona (1910)

The Mark of Zorro (1920)

Old San Francisco (1927)

Big Stakes (1922)

In Old Arizona (1929)

The Gay Desperado (1936)

People En Español ~ Latinos Channeling Classic Film Stars

What seems like absolute perfect timing for TCM's Latino Images in Film, People En Español magazine came out with their annual issue Los 50 Mas Bellos de 2009 (50 Most Beautiful of 2009). In the current issue, the feature a handful of Hispanic celebrities dressed as classic film stars in their iconic roles. This kind of reinvisioning the past with contemporary stars is not new, in fact Vanity Fair does this all of the time (see my previous post about last year's March-Hitchcock issue). However, I was surprised to see People En Español participate. Pleasantly surprised. They are loose interpretations by all means but I'm glad they at least exist! Please make sure you check out the website or pick up a copy of the magazine. However, just to warn you that it really is in en Español!

Men's Gallery

Women's Gallery

TCM's Latino Images in Film Festival

After successful runs with their Asian Images in Film, Screened Out: Gay Images in Film and African-American Images in Film, Turner Classic Movies is giving my people their due with Latino Images in Film festival for the month of May. I have been super excited about this festival since I heard about it a few months ago on the TCM message boards. On Tuesday and Thursdays, TCM will air 5 films that deal touch upon Latino culture and issues. They also have a snazzy new site devoted to the festival (check it out here).

Why am I excited about this? Because I'm a Latina. I'm first generation American and my mother is 100% full-blooded Hispanic from the Dominican Republic. I am fluent in Spanish, I eat my arroz con habichuelas and have the cadera to prove it. What does it mean to be a Latina? For me it means maintaining the culture, learning about my heritage and embracing that Latina fire and passion that runs through my veins.

Classic films are predominantly Caucasian but it has been surprising to find out over the years how many films either have Latino characters or showcase Latino actors. With TCM's list of films for their festival, I have discovered even more!

In honor of Latino Images in Film, I'll be doing a month long series on this blog. For the first three weeks I'll be posting a review of one film on Mondays and Wednesdays before it airs the next day and will also include the following day's full schedule. I'll be reviewing a total of 6 films and all of them happen to be available on DVD just in case you don't have TCM. I hope this will encourage you to watch the films or at least be aware of the films that are out there. For the last week, I tentatively have planned a Latino Images in Film contest.

Each review will contain a summary, background information and what I think about the representation of Latinos in the film. I'll also include a rating level of "Brown Face". Brown face is what I call the Hispanic equivalent to Black face. This is when they take Caucasian actors and put some dark make-up on them to make them look more ethnic. They also used Mediterannean and olive-skinned European actors to look Latino and I also consider this a form of Brown face. I'll point out along the way the level of brown face in each film.

Disclaimer - I'm doing this purely because I want to and not because I was asked to.

I hope you'll enjoy the series!

Pamela Tiffin ~ One, Two, Three (1961)

I associate Billy Wilder with intelligent comedies that may or may not invovle cross-dressing. He had an amazing way of exploring serious issues with humor and after watching the Cold War comedy One, Two, Three (1961), Wilder is becoming one of my favorite directors of all-time.

While I am writing about this film for my Pamela Tiffin series, I would be remiss to not point out that this is James Cagney's film through and through. He was a pint-sized fireball of... fire and he steals the show! His energy is off the charts and the theme music, Sabre Dance by Khachaturyan (click to play), matches his vitality. This film is also filled with a diverse selection of lively characters all with charming idiosyncracies that keep us holding our stomachs as we burst out laughing.

Cagney plays MacNamara is the head of Berlin's Coca-Cola factory who has his sights on a big position in London. His employees are all Gestapo-trained Germans who click their heels and stand up at attention much to MacNamara's very American dismay. His wife Phylis is a wise-cracking dame fed up with life in Berlin and MacNamara is also courting hot bilingual secretary Ingeborg (and is using her as bait to woo potential Russian business). MacNamara's boss in Atlanta, Georgia sends his daughter to stay with the MacNamaras in Berlin. This is when things get hilariously complicated and MacNamara finds himself in a jam when the daughter marries a Russian communist.

Pamela Tiffin's character Scarlett Hazeltine is really superb. Tiffin is in prime form as the ditzy hot-blooded Southern belle who rebels against her parents by falling in love with any boy in sight. After being engaged 3 times, her parents send her off to Europe which in her case is like putting fox in a chicken coop. Scarlett has a charming Southern accent, says "marvy" whenever she can and thinks it's cute that she secretly married a Russian communist. I love how Scarlett gets so excited that her man is an anti-American propaganda spouting subversive. Wonderful!

Scarlett: Tell him about the wedding rings...
Otto: Forged from the steel of a brave cannon that fought in Stalingrad.

I leave you now with the film's homage to Cagney's most iconic image. See if you can guess what I'm referring to.

MacNamara: How would you like a little fruit for dessert?

Pamela Tiffin ~ Harper (1966)

This is the first in a short series about '60s actress Pamela Tiffin, with whom I have a developing fascination.

Harper (1966) is cool. Cool is the best word I can use to describe it. This adjective can be applied to the story, Paul Newman, Pamela Tiffin, the set decor, the designs, the clothes, the cars and the locales. Lew Harper (Paul Newman) is a cool private detective who has been having some bad luck lately. His wife Susan (Janet Leigh) wants nothing to do with him and business as a detective has been kind of slow. His lawyer-friend Albert Graves (Arthur Hill) gets him a juicy job searching for Richard Sampson, the missing husband of an invalid millionairess (Lauren Bacall). Harper sets out to look for the drunk millionaire along with playboy pilot Alan (Robert Wagner) and Sampson's hot daughter Miranda (Pamela Tiffin). Harper encounters a medly of strange characters along the way, including Julie Harris as an addict and Shelley Winters as an out of work entertainer, and finds out the sordid details of Sampson's life and the people in it.

Pamela Tiffin's role as Miranda is vastly different from the ditzy brunette roles of the other films I've seen of hers. Miranda Sampson is a bitter and jaded rich girl. She's had a difficult relationship with her father who had an obsession with money, women and booze. Her daddy issues prevent her from having healthy relationships with men. Lawyer Albert Graves is in love with her but she keeps him at arms length only until she needs him. Cool detective Lew Harper is new and exciting and she keeps chasing him even though he rejects her advances everytime. Then there is playboy Alan. Their relationship is purely physical, a way for both of them to pass the time in their otherwise boring lives.

Like most jaded rich characters, Miranda enjoys pushing boundaries and testing people. There is a numbness that comes with privilege and Miranda is desperate for something, anything that will awaken her senses. Driving fast cars and toying with people are among her hobbies. Her step-mother is a constant target of a barrage of insults which are fired right back at her. Miranda needles Harper about his impending divorce and he delivers the great line You've got a way of starting conversations that end conversations.

Pamela Tiffin also tests the limit of gravity by dancing to some cheesy '60s music on a diving board. Now I leave you with some pictures from the film of this breathtakingly beautiful actress. Enjoy...

The Killers (1946) @ the Brattle

I finally got an opportunity to take my mother to The Brattle Theatre yesterday. They had a 1 pm screening of the classic film noir The Killers (1946) and not only did it work for both of our schedules, neither of us had seen this gem and getting to watch it on the big screen was a treat.

For every 1 classic film I watch, my mother watches 3. She's just the consumate consumer of old movies and she gave up Mexican telenovelas permanently to catch flicks on Turner Classic Movies. We both approach classic films in different ways. My mother watches, enjoys, discards and moves on to the next film. I, however, pore over minute details, do research and try to stretch out the film experience as much as I can. I think we both get different things out of classic films but bond over our mutual love for them.

So on Saturday I took my mom to Harvard Square, where we had a quick lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and picked up coffee and macaroons at a new coffee joint. We headed over to the theater to pick up our tickets.

I directed my mom up to my favorite seats in the theater (balcony, last row, far right corner) and we did some pre-show bonding as she snacked on some popcorn.

When the lights dimmed, we were in for a treat. The Killers (1946) is an engrossing and suspenseful film noir. Burt Lancaster plays Swede, a former boxer and con artist who is killed by two hit men. Insurance investigator James Riordan (Edmond O'Brien) traces the complex trail of clues to piece together the events that led up to Swede's murder. Swede had been caught up with femme fatale Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner) and various other con artists in a heist that went terribly wrong, in the way that heists do in film noirs. I highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Mom's reaction to the movie in her own words: It was good. Very suspenseful. It was interesting that they start with the murder and worked backwards.

After the film, we headed back to my car which required a subway trip outbound (parking in Harvard Square is a nightmare!). Funny enough, I saw my favorite T guy at the station. I introduced him to my mom and he was gracious enough to let us through for free! Come to find out, he's a big film fan and watches old movies on AMC and TCM! Us classic film fans are everywhere I guess.

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If you live in the Boston area, make sure you check out The Brattle Theater if you haven't already done so. Here are some upcoming showings that film noir enthusiasts will want to see.

The Killers (1946) - 4 showings today Sunday April 18th

Criss Cross (1949) - 2 showings Tuesday April 21st

Phantom Lady (1944) - 2 showings Tuesday April 21st

The File on Thelma Jordan (1950) - 3 showings Thursday April 23rd