Johnny Cool

Johnny Cool is available for free viewing on Amazon Prime, and it's worth every penny. There is so much to to take in, it might not be possible if you weren't there, but I'll try to explain.First, the time period. On the cusp of rock and roll. Johnny Cool's theme is Sammy singing a jazzy stream of conciousness that's cool, man. If you can dig it. But in the movie, there's a party scene with folks doing the twist. Men still wear hats, but Johnny doesn't because he's cool.Anyway, the cast. Sammy, of course, and Joey Bishop is sublime as a used car salesman. Frank's not in the movie and that might be because he didn't want to put any noses out of joint. Speaking of bent noses, the chick is Elizabeth Montgomery! She's an odd fit, and Allison Hayes or Mamie Van Doren would have been better. But being a fine actress, she's able to deliver stuff like "Johnny, I want you...now!"Now, some folks have reviewed Johnny Cool as it if it was Masterpiece Theatre but my guess is, even in it's day, it was a bit "cheap." Oh--the cast. Henry Silva as an Italian mobster. Jim Backus (yes, the voice of) as an Italian mobster. Telly Sevalas as an Italian mobster. Mort Sahl as an Italian mobster. Steve Allen as an Italian--ok, I made that up, he's not in the movie. Neither are Whit Bissell or Wally Cox but pretty much everyone else, is. Even Richard Anderson, who is reliably dull. (It's produced by Peter Lawford so the only members of the Rat Pack who weren't involved were the actual Italians.)The plot? It's about a gangster who gets even with a bunch of guys who didn't do anything to him. Money was spent on this, because there are scenes in old Penn Station one day and the next, Silva lobs a suitcase full of TNT into a swimming pool in in southern CA. And of course, there's Vegas.None of the violence is very violent; Johnny simply goes about his business, bumping guys off, doing as little acting as possible. But the guys getting whacked do lots of acting. Mort Sahl, god bless him, has a tough time not laughing while getting executed. Just so you know, the ending is a blah 1960s ending that makes you wonder if they ran out of money.While I wait for the Criterion Collection to discover Johnny Cool, I'm going to watch it again. The only other movie I can think of with familar faces in such suprising roles is A Face In the Crowd. Maybe there's a movie with Dick Van Dyke as a serial killer but if there isn't, Johnny Cool may be as close as you can get.

I first saw this film on British television around 1968 when, of course, it still seemed quite fresh with its shockingly violent anti-hero. Violent anti-heroes were very much in fashion then (eg Clint Eastwood in the 'Dollars' films). It was also quite surprising then to see Elizabeth Montgomery (famous at the time for her cute comedy role as Samantha in Bewitched) playing in such a hard-edged movie. For many years Johnny Cool seemed to be unavailable. There were internet rumours that disputes over ownership of the movie rights prevented its distribution. Not having seen it in over 40 years I remembered it as being as sharp a gangster movie as Point Blank with which it shares some similarities. Point Blank has aged well but Johnny Cool looks a little dated now. The advert for the film (included on the DVD) is a curio in itself. It looks quaint, almost amateurish, with Silva looking less than deadly in his rather ill-advised trilby hat. Strange to see William Asher proselytizing the story as though Johnny Cool were a new kind of hero in a new kind of movie. Sammy Davis Junior's title song sounds very corny these days and his acting is barely adequate.The abrupt and unexpected ending to the story intrigued me. I wanted to know what the author, John McPartland, originally had in mind so I bought the novel 'The Kingdom of Johnny Cool'. The movie actually follows the book quite closely but what is missing (inevitably) is a deeper insight into the background and motivation of the characters. McPartland is excellent at filling out these details with a few brief lines. The film makers have changed some characters without apparent reason. For example, Oby Hinds, in the book an exceptionally brutal gangland thug, is depicted in the movie as just a fat greedy Las Vegas casino owner. Elizabeth Montgomery's character, Dare Guiness, has her destiny and her motivation re-interpreted, playing down the sexual element. Also missing from the film (but very important in the book) is a clear depiction of the nature of the crime syndicate Johnny Cool is trying to take over.All in all, an interesting obscure curio and a remarkable film in its day.

Spoilers included for a proper review:Elizabeth Montgomery carries this amazing piece of film history. She gets some great lines in and in the end takes control of her life, and righting the wrongs she managed to get herself into while taking awalk near the edge. Henry Silva is convincingly brutal as Johnny Cool as his dispenses a particularly code of justice within its element. But for that to truly make sense, we must listen for Dare as she says the bold for the day, "Intelligence is not confined to men!" Later, dare must clean up the mess she makes by setting Johnny up for capture by his foes who are arguably the slightly less evil. She realizes before this while telling "Suzy, Do you have any idea what goes o out there? While you couldn't. Underworld. I always thought it was a word for the movies. It is not. It exists. Right below. The Monsters." We do not learn how she recovers as she departs with the police.This is a dark film in the end about making the best from a bad hand And, there may very well be no winners, just survivors. If you needed a slice of 1963 that is not nostalgic, Johnny Cool is an interesting trip.

Le produit m'a été livré dans le délai prévu. La qualité mentionnée était exacte. Je suis très satisfait et je recommande fortement ce vendeur. Excellent sur toute la ligne !

Very good cast and story line for an older movie, and Henry Silva was always great as the villain!

Awesome movie.

It was good, but it didn't impress me.

this is not as good as I remember telly savalas with hair no way just your basic violent thriller not much happening