I do have an Acorn subscription, and I can confirm Monsieur Spade is available there. (Which is great, because I don't have AMC+ and I was not willing to get one just for this.) I'd been meaning to try this one, so I guess I'll jump in after tomorrow. (Mine isn't really a Super Bowl household, but we are an All Creatures Great and Small household, so that takes precedence.)
Little known fact (unless you listen to "Fresh Air" obsessively): when directing on set, Barry Levinson likes to sit on an apple box that has wheels on the bottom and a horse saddle on the top, so he can sit there -- often wearing a cowboy hat -- in mobile comfort, unchained to the usual high director's chair. Whether he does this to lighten the mood on set or simply to indulge a youthful fantasy of being Hopalong Cassidy remains a mystery. I never got to work on one of his projects, which was my loss, not his -- but does Barry wear that cowboy when executive producing?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm a couple of episodes into Monseur Spade, and pretty much liking it. Not loving, but liking enough to keep watching. I agree with your notes on the show, but one nigglingly bothersome thing plants a small burr under my own figurative saddle. It's twenty-plus years later in the (ahem) languid south of France, as far from the fast pace of San Francisco as one can get and still drink good wine, but the cadence of the dialog -- at least from the mouth of Spade -- feels a bit too fast. There's never a pause or gap after another character says something leading or provocative -- Owen's Spade instantly comes back with his line. I don't expect -- or want -- a long, thoughtful take-a-drag-on-the-cigarette-then-blow-the-smoke-out before his every response, but Spade's rat-a-tat-tat comebacks feel a bit off to me. Still, a small complaint on an otherwise interesting show that I'll keep watching.
I finally finished "Fargo," and will now have to backtrack to read all you had to say about it -- but I loved the show. If you didn't listen to Noah Hawley on that link I sent last time, you should -- he's an interesting guy. Got to the end of "True Detective Part Three" as well, and liked it a lot. Mahershala Ali (and yes, I had to look that up to spell his name right) is riveting on camera -- so where the hell has he been since TD3 wrapped? That man needs to be on screen ... I can see him doing roles that would have featured Lance Riddick had fate not taken him from us too damned soon.
Still working my way through "Band of Brothers," and although a great show brilliantly done, it's hard to watch. "BoB" is probably the most realistic depiction of WW2 to ever appear on the small screen, but war is horrendously ugly, which makes this a painful show to experience. It also fills me with awe and respect for the men who did it for real ... it's jaw-dropping.
It's funny I was just talking about the beginning credits in the last post and how you learn so much from a show, and now you were listing them and it made me chuckle. I need to try this show too.
Around December, I finally got to reading a book that had been among my stacks for an embarrassingly long time. The book, Alistair Horne's "A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962," is a masterpiece. Read the book for its own sake, but what a happy coincidence to be about two-thirds through the book and watching "Monsieur Spade." The violent turmoil that was France between the time Spade shows up with the girl and where the story picks up years later is all laid out in Horne's book. There's something ruefully funny about knowing the trouble Spade got himself out of in San Francisco in "The Maltese Falcon," and where he now finds himself. Like the wise man said, he jumped out of the jelly and into the jam.
I was hoping you'd catch on to this - it seemed to appear out of the blue to me and is a nice surprise. Enjoying the location and interesting conflicts around Algerian independence. Clive Owen is excellent.
Also liking Monsieur Spade - I appreciated the sometimes not-so-subtle references to Brigid O'Shaughnessy to remind us of Spade's ability to fall for the "wrong type," and plant the extra seed of doubt about Brigid's daughter. But this comment is because as I was reading the Two Episode Test I kept flashing on Candice Bergen's face - and it took me a second to figure out why. Tim's commentary kept returning to the production of Tom Fontana and Scott Frank who Tim referred to in the text of the review several times as "Frank and Fontana." Of course, Frank Fontana was Joe Regulbuto's character's name in Murphy Brown - a mystery - unrelated to Monsieur Spade - is solved! (A quick search revealed that neither Frank nor Fontana had any connection to Murphy Brown, so it was just a happy coincidence).
I'm really enjoying it. It took me most of the first episode to get Bogart out of my head, but then I realized Owen is great in this role and it's been a luxurious treat each week.
Hi Tim…I’m interested to see what you continue to think of Monsieur Spade. I feel like the show declined after the first two episodes and I may have lost interest with it. It may also be that I’m not in the right mindset to watch the series right now and will revisit it in the future.
I do have an Acorn subscription, and I can confirm Monsieur Spade is available there. (Which is great, because I don't have AMC+ and I was not willing to get one just for this.) I'd been meaning to try this one, so I guess I'll jump in after tomorrow. (Mine isn't really a Super Bowl household, but we are an All Creatures Great and Small household, so that takes precedence.)
Another of the Tim-Goodman-recommended shows that the downtrodden Aussies can’t easily watch! It’ll come soon enough. Thanks for the heads up.
Little known fact (unless you listen to "Fresh Air" obsessively): when directing on set, Barry Levinson likes to sit on an apple box that has wheels on the bottom and a horse saddle on the top, so he can sit there -- often wearing a cowboy hat -- in mobile comfort, unchained to the usual high director's chair. Whether he does this to lighten the mood on set or simply to indulge a youthful fantasy of being Hopalong Cassidy remains a mystery. I never got to work on one of his projects, which was my loss, not his -- but does Barry wear that cowboy when executive producing?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I'm a couple of episodes into Monseur Spade, and pretty much liking it. Not loving, but liking enough to keep watching. I agree with your notes on the show, but one nigglingly bothersome thing plants a small burr under my own figurative saddle. It's twenty-plus years later in the (ahem) languid south of France, as far from the fast pace of San Francisco as one can get and still drink good wine, but the cadence of the dialog -- at least from the mouth of Spade -- feels a bit too fast. There's never a pause or gap after another character says something leading or provocative -- Owen's Spade instantly comes back with his line. I don't expect -- or want -- a long, thoughtful take-a-drag-on-the-cigarette-then-blow-the-smoke-out before his every response, but Spade's rat-a-tat-tat comebacks feel a bit off to me. Still, a small complaint on an otherwise interesting show that I'll keep watching.
I finally finished "Fargo," and will now have to backtrack to read all you had to say about it -- but I loved the show. If you didn't listen to Noah Hawley on that link I sent last time, you should -- he's an interesting guy. Got to the end of "True Detective Part Three" as well, and liked it a lot. Mahershala Ali (and yes, I had to look that up to spell his name right) is riveting on camera -- so where the hell has he been since TD3 wrapped? That man needs to be on screen ... I can see him doing roles that would have featured Lance Riddick had fate not taken him from us too damned soon.
Still working my way through "Band of Brothers," and although a great show brilliantly done, it's hard to watch. "BoB" is probably the most realistic depiction of WW2 to ever appear on the small screen, but war is horrendously ugly, which makes this a painful show to experience. It also fills me with awe and respect for the men who did it for real ... it's jaw-dropping.
So, onward into mist, and all the best!
It's funny I was just talking about the beginning credits in the last post and how you learn so much from a show, and now you were listing them and it made me chuckle. I need to try this show too.
Around December, I finally got to reading a book that had been among my stacks for an embarrassingly long time. The book, Alistair Horne's "A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962," is a masterpiece. Read the book for its own sake, but what a happy coincidence to be about two-thirds through the book and watching "Monsieur Spade." The violent turmoil that was France between the time Spade shows up with the girl and where the story picks up years later is all laid out in Horne's book. There's something ruefully funny about knowing the trouble Spade got himself out of in San Francisco in "The Maltese Falcon," and where he now finds himself. Like the wise man said, he jumped out of the jelly and into the jam.
I was hoping you'd catch on to this - it seemed to appear out of the blue to me and is a nice surprise. Enjoying the location and interesting conflicts around Algerian independence. Clive Owen is excellent.
Also liking Monsieur Spade - I appreciated the sometimes not-so-subtle references to Brigid O'Shaughnessy to remind us of Spade's ability to fall for the "wrong type," and plant the extra seed of doubt about Brigid's daughter. But this comment is because as I was reading the Two Episode Test I kept flashing on Candice Bergen's face - and it took me a second to figure out why. Tim's commentary kept returning to the production of Tom Fontana and Scott Frank who Tim referred to in the text of the review several times as "Frank and Fontana." Of course, Frank Fontana was Joe Regulbuto's character's name in Murphy Brown - a mystery - unrelated to Monsieur Spade - is solved! (A quick search revealed that neither Frank nor Fontana had any connection to Murphy Brown, so it was just a happy coincidence).
I'm really enjoying it. It took me most of the first episode to get Bogart out of my head, but then I realized Owen is great in this role and it's been a luxurious treat each week.
Hi Tim…I’m interested to see what you continue to think of Monsieur Spade. I feel like the show declined after the first two episodes and I may have lost interest with it. It may also be that I’m not in the right mindset to watch the series right now and will revisit it in the future.
And I do indeed watch it on Acorn.