In Images, Robert Altman, 1973.
An obituary is here.
Richardson’s Tom Jones and Pollacks’ They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? will be most frequently cited; my own York favorites were/are Neame’s Tunes of Glory, Parrish’s Duffy, Aldrich’s The Killing Of Sister George, Skolimowski’s The Shout. Particularly Skolimowksi’s The Shout, wherein, for my then-18-year-old money, as it were, she really set the screen ablaze, as the kids today are fond of saying. A very gutsy performer whose heyday came during an era when being a gutsy performer was kind of taken for granted. And for all that she still distinguished herself very much. I also liked her in the Superman films, but I never really thought of those as Susannah York pictures, if you know what I mean.
Oh no!!!
Just got in drunk and seen this. I love THE SHOUT. A really good, under-rated film, that she was great in. And I’ve been meaning to re-view Altman’s IMAGES for ages. She was also terrific in WE’LL MEET AGAIN, a UK TV series. And it was lovely to see her in FRANKLYN. The only lovely thing about FRANKLYN. Bad bad news.
Oh, sad news. Glenn, another film in which she set the screen, or at least me, ablaze was THE SILENT PARTNER, a tightly plotted, tough little movie with Elliot Gould and Christopher Plummer, written by Curtis Hanson, directed by Daryl “PAYDAY” Duke. Always our back-up at New Video – “No, we’re all out of SOPHIE’S CHOICE, but may I recommend THE SILENT PARTNER?” The customers usually came back satisfied and pleasantly surprised.
I thought she was pretty cool in SEBASTIAN when I first saw the film on late night tv as a kid. Along with Kent Jones I have been a fan of THE SILENT PARTNER since its release and puzzled over its obscurity. Very few thrillers have delivered the goods before or since. Ms. York is wonderful in the film—always so game and compassionate in dealing with aberrant behavior on screen—drama or comedy—(vis a vis Gould, Coburn, Bogarde, Auberjonois, ect.)
As always your memorials are appreciated Glenn.
@ Kent: Hear, hear, on “Partner,” which I saw at a drive in during its brief initial U.S. release. Its pleasures are many and include an early movie appearance by the late, great John Candy. The film was Canadian-produced if I recall correctly.
Funny, I was going to mention THE SILENT PARTNER and then I come in here and that’s all everyone is talking about.
A few years ago at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood I saw a screening of THE TOUCH and afterwards Elliott Gould appeared for a conversation with Curtis Hanson. At one point for no reason in the middle of it he said, “We made a movie together, THE SILENT PARTNER!” and there was some applause. It was nice to know that other people had seen it.
I think I’ll watch it tonight in tribute to Susannah York.
Images’ psychology is just a little too pat, and its ending is a just a little too Rod Serling. And that’s the end of my complaint list. Beautifully shot, genuinely creepy, anchored and carried along very well by York’s performance. RIP.
Definitely a wonderful performance in The Shout, one of my all-time favorite movies.
She’s also wonderful in John Huston’s FREUD, a difficult film to see today, and one that deserves resurrection. Some of its visual probing into the psychologies of Freud’s patients are uncannily lysergic for the time.
Very sad about this. York has the difficult job in Freud of embodying all manner of symptoms and ideas – if you want pat psychology, this is the film. But, although she had a horrible time making it, she’s wonderful. Always remember a strange moment where she stumbles over her words and then TOUCHES HER NOSE as if it’s a magic button that’ll rearrange her thoughts in the right order. What an amazing, odd moment.
“If you want pat psychology, this is the film.”
What, not ‘Marnie’?
You couldn’t come up with a better picture?
The Susannah York film I love is also a Peter O’Toole film – Brotherly Love, a.k.a. Country Dance. O’Toole plays an alcoholic minor laird who loves his married sister (York) a little too much. It’s an unusual film, a tragi-comedy that at times has you laughing at O’Toole’s mad antics, but underneath is such pain and despair for both siblings that the laughter by the end turns into tears. I really wish this one would get a proper DVD release, though I think the best we can hope for at this point is that it turns up on the supposedly forthcoming MGM DVD-on-Demand program that is going to be offered through 21st Century-Fox. (I thought this program was supposed to start immediately but I can’t find anything on Amazon.)
BROTHERLY LOVE might yet come from the Warner Archive.
“Pat psychology…as in MARNIE” – most films that deal with “psychology” at the level of a case study or the therapeutic process wind up being either a little pat or very pat. That includes a recent, much discussed film about a ballerina. In the case of MARNIE and FREUD, the virtues lie outside of the psychological “breakthroughs.” In the case of the ballerina movie, the virtues lie outside of the film itself, in my humble opinion.
With Images it’s not to the level of a case study, but somewhat in that realm. Doesn’t come anywhere close to spoiling the film, though.
Yeah, that pic looks kind of like a hollow chocolate Susannah York (which sounds like a million dollar idea to me!).
THE SILENT PARTNER is a perennial fave of mine, too, having stumbled upon it on HBO a few times back in the day, and later stumbling upon a VHS at a video store. Hope to stumble upon it again soon.
She’s pretty great in THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY?, though one can’t help but wonder how it would’ve turned out if screenwriter James Poe had been allowed to cast future wife Barbara Steele in the part, as he wanted.
York is also truly fine in THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE, and you haven’t lived till you’ve seen her, in a baby doll nightie, being badgered by Beryl Reid into eating a cigar butt! Yikes.
The cover to the 2007 DVD release of THE SILENT PARTNER has one “Suzanne York” as its star.
R.I.P.