Film: Julie (1956)Stars: Doris Day, Louis Jourdan
Director: Andrew L. Stone
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Original Screenplay, Original Song-"Julie")
Snap Judgment Rating: 1/5 stars
One of the things that I've noticed about Oscar is that he sometimes deems to endorse some really odd and occasionally atrocious films. Click is an Oscar-nominated film, even if Once Upon a Time in the West is not. Norbit, Oscar nominee-Mean Streets, again, not so much. Unfortunately, Julie is the sort of film that belongs in the "Oscar nominee-really?" category. Julie's a thriller, so I am required to say spoilers ahead, even though I think it should be implied.
Starring the eternally lovely Doris Day and the handsome Louis Jourdan as a recently married couple who are on their honeymoon, the film starts out so suddenly that you sort of wonder if the DVD accidentally got edited incorrectly and you've missed the first fifteen minutes. Day is fighting with Jourdan, and suddenly Jourdan pounds on the accelerator, and Day is forced to make more sharp (and ludicrously accurate) turns than Mario Andretti did in his entire career.
The film continues on high, high adrenaline, and you quickly learn that Jourdan killed Day's first husband, and that for some reason he has decided she must die as well. We get no background into what drove him to kill her husband outside of jealousy (had he pined for her for years? We'll never know), and we also don't learn what drove Day so quickly to get over her husband and marry Jourdan. What does happen is a case of constant bumps in the night, crank calls, dark alley trailings, and finally and most ridiculously, a showdown between Jourdan and Day, who is forced to land a plane with absolutely no training whatsoever. There's occasionally some "it's so bad it's good" moments, particularly surrounding an incredibly hammy Jourdan, but as a whole this is a largely forgettable and heavy-handed melodrama.
1956 has never been my favorite Oscar vintage, but it's hard to believe that the Academy couldn't have found a better Original Screenplay. The song is slightly more forgiving, though it only plays over the credits and if you listen to the lyrics, makes little sense in the course of the film, as the song is about being in love with a man who is dangerous, and the movie spends absolutely no time on the "in love" portion of the two leads' tale.
What about you-have you seen Julie? Was it is "so bad it's good" or just "so bad it's terrible?" Would you mind terribly if the debonair Louis Jourdan was stalking you? And what original screenplays should the Academy have chosen in 1956?
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