Female heroes stars of ’60s comic book films
Everybody raise the roof — Gal Gadot and “Wonder Woman” proved that a comic book blockbuster can feature a female superhero as its central character.
Except that had already been proved in the late 1960s, which saw no fewer than five female action films, most based on comic book characters, largely clean up at the worldwide box office.
That cycle was started when Italian actress Monica Vitti, known for her brooding films with Michelangelo Antonioni (“L’Aventurra,” “L’Eclisse”), exquisitely took up the mantle of popular British comic strip heroine “Modesty Blaise” (1966), a pop art masterpiece (or train wreck, take your pick), which makes up a double feature with Jane Fonda’s turn as “Barbarella” (1968), based on a French comic strip, on Thursday, May 17, at the Castro Theatre.
The success of “Modesty Blaise,” in which Vitti’s title character is a world-class thief hired by the British Secret Service for a top secret mission, spurred several femalecentric spy films. There were three in 1967 alone — “Fathom,” with Raquel Welch as Fathom Harvill, an American skydiver who gets caught up in an atomic spy plot; “Caprice,” with Doris Day as an industrial cosmetics designer involved in corporate espionage; and the virtually lost “Come Spy With Me,” with model-actress Andrea Dromm as an agent thwarting a plot to assassinate world leaders.
(“Come Spy With Me” is the only box-office bomb of the bunch, and it sent Dromm, who hated the Hollywood scene anyway, into the real estate business. Her only other credits: a memorable turn in “The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!” and a small role in the first “Star Trek” episode ever shot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”)
But back to “Modesty Blaise,” which really is a piece of work. It might be the best example of style over substance, and the whole thing is played for ironic laughs. Consider the art house credentials behind this film: besides Vitti: director Joseph Losey, known for his collaborations with Harold Pinter (“The Servant,” “Accident”); Terence Stamp, fresh off his disturbing turn in William Wyler’s “The Collector,” which won him a best actor award at Cannes; and Dirk Bogarde, the onetime matinee idol who had grown into an adventurous, risktaking actor.
Bogarde is Gabriel, a criminal mastermind who is after a shipment of diamonds that Modesty has been assigned to protect. He has a blond wig, drinks water out of a large glass with a fish swimming in it, and barely hides his homosexuality (Bogarde, of course, was in the closet). He’s eccentric, but he’s also cunning, so Modesty turns to her old pal Willie Garvin (Stamp) to help her on the mission.
Modesty, meanwhile, is a quick-change fashion plate with smarts. She’s used to being in charge. When the Cockney-accented hedonist Willie tries to figure out their next move while they fly in pursuit of Gabriel (they drink cocktails and smoke cigarettes as they fly Modesty’s plane), Modesty says, “Let me do the figuring, Willie.”
A film deeply rooted in the Swinging Sixties, it has mod fashion, Technicolor brightness, non sequiturs, exotic locations, lots of beautiful people and a sense of living in the moment. In other words, it has a lot in common with another film from 1966: Antonioni’s “Blow-Up.” (Both have mimes.)
Yes, very different movies. A profound art film versus a silly adventure comedy. Whereas “Blow-Up” rails against the artificiality of the Swinging Sixties, “Modesty Blaise” revels in it.
So a message to today’s DC and Marvel universes: With Margot Robbie making a “Suicide Squad” sequel centered around her character Harley Quinn, plus “Wonder Woman 2,” that will make three female comic book action hero movies in the current cycle. You have a ways to go to catch up to the ’60s.
Thursday, May 17. “Barbarella” (1968), 7 p.m.; “Modesty Blaise” 8:50 p.m. $13. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., S.F. 415-621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com
Beginnings: Black Female Cinema (1977-81): This rare screening of four 16mm short films is a crucial part of American film history. Julie Dash’s “Diary of an African Nun,” adapted from a short story by Alice Walker, anticipates her later classic “Daughters of the Dust”; Fronza Woods’ “Killing Time,” about a would-be suicide who is delayed because she can’t find the right outfit to wear, was praised by New Yorker critic Richard Brody as one of the best short films ever; Woods’ “Fannie’s Film” is about a 65-year-old cleaning woman and her hopes and dreams; and Monona Wai’s “Grey Area” is about an African American female reporter for a TV station who must compromise her political principles to keep her job. The program runs 78 minutes. 5 p.m. Saturday, May 19, 6:45 p.m. Sunday, May 20. $11. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., S.F. 415-867-1083. www.roxie.com
“Oldboy”: Hard to believe the coolest South Korean movie ever made is turning 15 this year. Park Chan-wook’s grand prize-winner at Cannes — probably thanks to jury president Quentin Tarantino — is about a man, inexplicably imprisoned in a room for 15 years, who is suddenly released and has five days to find his captor. Choi Min-sik is brilliant in the lead, and Park’s action choreography is aces. 9:15 p.m. Thursday, May 17. $10. New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St., Oakland. 510-6587900. www.thenewparkway.com
“Secret Ingredients”: The pesticides and GMOs in our food supply are directly linked to cancer, allergies, autism, miscarriages and other chronic conditions. “So many diseases and disorders in the United States have increased since the introduction of GMOs and Roundup in the 1990s,” says Jeffrey M. Smith, the founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology and co-director of this documentary. Smith and co-director Amy Hart plan to present their film in person and discuss it afterward. 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 17. $15. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael. 415-454-1222.