cutterccbaxter Reviews

Doomsday Machine (1976)

Keep Reaching For The Stars

[5 May 2024]

Doomsday Machine challenges the conventional stylistic and narrative conventions of the typical Hollywood production and is ultimately an artistic triumph of sublime, subversive and often subtle experimental filmmaking.

For example, the hypocrisy of continuity in mainstream movies is relentlessly exposed as a cliched contrivance. The lack of continuity in Doomsday Machine forces a more dynamic and less passive cinematic experience. Having been conditioned and indoctrinated by consistent continuity, bourgeois audiences will undoubtedly feel liberated by the haphazard continuity so brilliantly deployed in the movie.

The conclusion of Doomsday Machine also mocks the often obvious and stereotypical endings of most Hollywood productions. Do endings really need to be coherent and make sense? After all, life is often confusing and vague, so why shouldn't movies be that way too?

My main takeaway from Doomsday Machine was this: If I'm going to be lost in space, it might as well be with Ruta Lee.

Slap Shot (1977)

The House Of Newman

[22 April 2024]

The best hockey movie ever made (and should never be remade) is Slap Shot. The second best hockey movie ever made is The Boy Who Drank Too Much starring Lance Kerwin and Scott Baio. The third best hockey movie ever made is Miracle On Ice starring Karl Malden and Steve Guttenberg.

I grew up in Minnesota. There was an affluent neighborhood in my hometown and rumor had it Paul Newman owned a house in it.

It was 1978 and I was in junior high school when I first heard the rumor. As a 15 year old I found the rumor to be credible.

In Slap Shot, Reggie, the character played by Newman, is off to (the state of hockey) Minnesota at the end of the film. If the fictional Reggie was going to the land of 10,000 hockey rinks, why wouldn't Newman go there too? Minnesota native and film director George Roy Hill probably helped him pick out the house. I bet even the guys who played the Hanson brothers, who also hailed from Minnesota, went house hunting with Newman. Newman hadn't worked with the Cohen brothers yet, otherwise I'm sure they would have offered some real estate advice too.

Newman had done some auto racing at the Brainerd International Raceway, so that was another reason why he would want a house in Minnesota.

Apparently over the years a lot of people heard about Paul Newman's house and would knock on the door hoping to say "Howdy" to Paul.

As it turned out Paul didn't own or live in the house. The people who did live in the "Newman" house got tired of being bothered. They tracked down Paul at a racetrack and asked him to hold a sign they made. The plan was to take a photo of Paul with the sign and then they would turn the photo into a poster placing it in front of their home.

Paul graciously agreed to have his photo taken with the sign. I saw the photo and read the story about the house Paul Newman didn't own in the local newspaper. In the photo Paul has a big grin on his face and the sign says: I DON'T LIVE HERE.

Every time I watch Slap Shot or buy a jar of Paul's spaghetti sauce, I think of the house he didn't live in.

High School Confidential! (1958)

Dark Period In American History

[18 April 2024]

The 1950s was the decade that America started to decline. Teenagers embraced Rock and Roll (a musical genre conceived by the Soviet Union to weaken the moral fabric of the country). Teens also began taking illegal drugs (a practice once exclusive to jazz musicians and Robert Mitchum) and driving vehicles at excessive speeds. Even pool parties reflected the unraveling of an orderly nation with the kids jumping off diving boards in a reckless manner. Plus, there was a lack of proper adult supervision at the pool parties. Even more disturbing was the improper use of the English language for purposes of communication. Teen slang was incomprehensible to everyone except teens.

In High School Confidential we see law enforcement going to great lengths to curb teen drug use. Surely if the drugs are eliminated the kids will stop listening to rock music and digging beat poetry. Surely they will drop the crazy jargon that saturates their dialogue and speak genuine English.

Thankfully sex, drugs and rock & roll are remnants of a decadent past, as once again America is righteous and pure in spirit. But if you want to see how lacking in virtue America once was, watch High School Confidential.

The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)

Personal Feelings Have No Place In Science

[17 April 2024]

The beginning of The Quatermass Xperiment has a young couple's farm field tryst rudely interrupted by a rocket ship's abrupt return to Earth. They have to save a roll in the hay for another day.

I like how the scene is executed without the audience ever seeing the rocket ship until post crash.

Unless the rocket featured airbags, I am pretty sure the crew would be dead. But one of them is still alive, while the others are missing!

The Quatermass Xperiment clips along nicely until we get a monster on the brink of taking over the world hanging from the rafters of Westminster Abbey.

But Mr. Quatermass as played by Brian Donlevy is really the true monster in the film. He's a science first, ask questions later kind of guy, and in SF flicks, that's about as scary as they come.

The Deadly Game (1954)

Burning Bridges

[16 April 2024]

Lloyd Bridges plays a character who likes to record music featuring castanets on a reel to reel in The Deadly Game. While in Spain - the castanets capital of the world - he meets an old war buddy (Tony) who runs a successful photography/blackmail/industrial espionage business. Tony's occupation isn't without its risks and he ends up dead after stealing some kind of formula from Big Pharma.

I'm not sure if I got the plot right but it doesn't really matter because we know Lloyd, with the help of local law enforcement, will catch the bad guys and end up with the cute brunette.

Lloyd gets knocked out early on the film. Having the hero get conked on the noggin' seems to be an on going theme in these Lippert/Hammer productions. It's my understanding that Lippert (an American) insisted on having an American play the lead in their joint ventures. Hammer must have said: "Okay fine, as long as they get hit on the head in each film."

Paid to Kill (1954)

Killing Me Softly

[13 April 2024]

I like how the killer tried three different methods to try and knock off Dane Clark in Paid To Kill. First, he tried a gun. Well, that didn't work, so then he attempted hit and run. Missed! How about a bomb in a desk drawer? Despite a decent blast, Dane and his ever devoted secretary escaped unscathed. I wonder if their hearing wouldn't have been compromised? The explosion was loud. If they did end up with poor hearing they could have joined Charles Hawtrey and the Deaf-Aids.

I didn't trust Dane's wife from the get go. The photo of her on his desk was featured too prominently for her not to be a bad apple. She didn't let me down.

My favorite scene was the one with the suspicious looking guy behind a tree. The actor did an excellent job of looking suspicious while standing behind a tree.

Finally, I have a feeling Dan Clark stood on his fair share of apple boxes during his career.

The Sand Pebbles (1966)

China Crisis

[9 April 2024]

Candice Bergen is sure attractive in The Sand Pebbles. Boy, would I like to get her on a slow boat to China. I wouldn't even mind being in a speedboat to Japan with her. Steve McQueen gets to be in a rowboat with her.

I'm glad she didn't die in the end since pretty much all the other characters did (happily Captain Stubing and Minnesota's James Hong didn't either). The 1960s were great at killing off movie stars in movies. I would have liked to have seen Paul Newman and Robert Redford help McQueen shoot his way out of the Forbidden City at the end even though they all would have died.

I wish more movie stars would get knocked off in movies made today. There are way too many Tom Cruise movies where he is still standing at the end.

I loved Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Sand Pebbles. If I ever got Candice Bergen on a slow boat to China, I'd play it on my boom box.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

Malaria In The Court

[8 April 2024]

The son of Alice Cooper plays Billy Mitchell, a career military man, who purposely seeks a court martial in order to bring attention to military air power deficiencies in post Great War America. His defense lawyer is played by a guy who looks a lot like Ralph Bellamy.

The initial prosecuting attorney is played by Fred Clark, who had one of the greatest bald heads in character actor history. When the Army realizes they don't have an open and shut case, they recruit a method actor (Rod Steiger) to win the case.

It's easy to find faults with The Court-Martial Of Billy Mitchell but I found it an engaging film. I kept expecting Agnes Moorehead to show up and turn Jack Lord, who is married to Elizabeth Montgomery in the movie, into a chimp. Sadly, Lord dies in a blimp accident. The good news is that Elizabeth Montgomery looks great in black.

I was wondering: Did the Japanese get wind of Billy Mitchell's prediction that they would bomb Pearl Harbor, and think: "Great idea, we ought to try it sometime!"

Edderkoppen (2000)

Sex, Drugs And Jazz Club

[7 April 2024]

Pretty much knew who was pulling the strings from the get go. Maybe that doesn't matter because according to the string puller, there were others pulling his strings. So our journalist hero did a lot of work for nothing. At least Woodward and Bernstein got a President to resign.

I don't know why Bjarne wanted to get mixed up with the corrupt cop's daughter. She was an actress and, quite frankly, they are often flaky.

The project manager at the office was cute, although I can understand why Bjarne avoided her because she seemed kind of needy.

I liked the scarves in The Spider. The one time I was in Copenhagen it was summer and none of the locals were sporting scarves. This mini series shows that the Danish look rather dashing wearing scarves.

Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper (1974)

Alice Cooper Goes To Hollywood

[6 April 2024]

I just read Dennis Dunaway's book and he wasn't thrilled with this movie. The band wasn't asked for any creative input and they are pretty much reduced to lurking in the shadows during their performance. Obviously Alice is the star but more shots of the rest of the band members would have made that part of the film more visually dynamic.

He didn't care for The Monkees-like approach to the tone of the film with the (painfully long) comedic interludes between the concert footage. Speaking of The Monkees, too bad the Alice movie isn't as inspired as their feature film, Head. Imagine the Alice Cooper Group going on a series of surreal romps with their brand of the macabre added to the mix.

I first watched Good To See You Again, Alice Cooper when it was released on DVD by Shout Factory. It didn't leave much of an impression on me then, nor did it on a second viewing. The band had a lot of talent and wrote some great songs, so the movie feels like a missed opportunity.

Cry Vengeance (1954)

Ketchikan If You Can

[1 April 2024]

The movie poster has a totem pole, so that's cool. And the reason there is a totem pole is that the brunt of the story takes place in Alaska, which is cool. There are no indigenous peoples in Cry Vengeance, just their totem poles.

I liked the movie because the bad guy fell off a dam near the end. He took quite a tumble. Pretty sure he didn't survive.

The bad guy was played by Skip Homeier. His character was kind of interesting and yet, kind of stupid too. He wore glasses. Not a lot of bad guys wear glasses, so that was kind of interesting. He wasn't exactly a mastermind criminal. He was pressing his luck if he thought he could frame the good guy (Mark Stevens) twice in the same movie. That made him stupid, as far as I was concerned.

I thought Mark Steven's did an excellent job of directing himself. I could almost hear him say, "Give me more anger, Mark. Give me more anger." He was pissed off up until the end.

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Go Ahead and Kiss Me, Duckie!

[18 March 2024]

Billy Wilder is my favorite screenwriter/director in the history of moving pictures. Witness For The Prosecution isn't top tier Wilder but it is entertaining and has thematic elements found in his great films.

More often than not he has a ruthless callous character or two driving the story.

Thanks to Agatha Christie's plot we think we know who has the cold heart until the twist ending. There is plenty of drama in Witness with a decent mixture of Wilder humor that another director may not have incorporated.

Tyrone Powers was too old for The Sun Also Rises and he's too old for his part in Witness, but he does a nice job of sweating during his trial. Sadly, in real life, he maybe should have had a nurse like Elsa Lanchester attending to him.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Death Surf (1978) Season 2, Episode 20

Maryann Maryann Maryann

[16 March 2024]

Frank and Joe are in the Aloha state again, and as usual there's trouble in paradise.

Frank acts like he is Dana Andrews in the movie Laura and he becomes obsessed with a dead woman, only (unnecessary spoiler alert) she is very much alive! Can't say I blame Frankie for his attraction to the alleged dead woman. She was a hottie and she played a Les Paul guitar while singing soft rock tunes. And boy, she sure was good at faking her death.

Joe finds a love interest too. She is very attracted to him and comes on strong in the rental Thing at the end, fulfilling the fantasies of millions of Tiger Beat subscribers every where.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Voodoo Doll: Part 1 (1978) Season 2, Episode 17

Spellbound In The Big Easy

[13 March 2024]

The Skipper on Gilligan's Island was always freaked out by voodoo. I don't think there's voodoo in the South Pacific but that's where he claimed where he picked up his voodoo phobia. As I was watching this episode of The Hardy Boys set in New Orleans, I can't say as I blame the Skipper for his fear of voodoo. There's freaky stuff going on. Not that there isn't always freaky stuff going on during any given Mardi Gras.

Frank and Joe open a coffin. The coffin squeaks. Has there ever been a coffin opened in a movie or TV show that hasn't squeaked?

There's nothing in the coffin because this is a Hardy Boys episode and a rotting corpse would be most unlikely.

Frank and Joe encounter Nancy Drew. They start singing It's a Small World After All. They actually didn't know it was Nancy right away because she was wearing a mask. When her mask was removed I thought: "That's not Nancy Drew! She doesn't resemble Bonita Granville in the slightest." The new Nancy Drew is cute but she doesn't have much screen presence.

Ray Milland and his mid-Atlantic accent are in this first of two parts episode. You know he's the bad guy because in typical Hardy Boys fashion there's nobody else to be the bad guy. Although the episode ends with him supposedly dead, you know he's not really dead because he's the bad guy and it's a two part episode.

Fun to see and hear Bobby Troup perform in Voodoo Doll, part one.

Screaming Mimi (1958)

I Wake Up Screaming For Mimi

[11 March 2024]

For some reason I kept admiring how well Anita Ekberg turned her head in Screaming Mimi. Her head turns caused her big mane of hair to magically sweep across the screen. She may have had the acting range of a plate of lutefisk but the movement of her hair more than made up for her lack of thespian skills. I can see why some of the fellows in the movie tended to fall for her to varying degrees. Harry Townes really took a fall (out a window) for her. He was great in the movie, by the way. So we're the dancing waiters. I wish they had more scenes. They really earned their 20 percent tips.

Screaming Mimi made me wish more movies started out with lunatics trying to stab the heroine. Just think how intriguing The Sound Of Music would be if a crazy guy suddenly appeared and tried to slash up Julie Andrew's while she was singing on the mountain. The film didn't take the attack lightly either. It showed that having a maniac attack you while trying to take a post ocean swim shower can really mess with your head.

The Brady Bunch: Her Sister's Shadow (1971) Season 3, Episode 10

At Least Jan Is Good At Math

[10 March 2024]

I liked how the faculty judges at Jan Brady's school appeared to take their Pom-Pom judging duties very seriously in Her Sister's Shadow. It was obvious that not just anyone was allowed to make the Pom-pom squad, so Jan shouldn't have felt too disappointed when she didn't make the cut.

To assuage her fragile ego she could have claimed the tryout was rigged. She could have told everyone that if it hadn't been rigged, the judges would have picked her in a unanimous landslide. But we know Jan has way too much character and integrity to resort to such shenanigans.

At any rate, I wonder if Jan would have found true happiness as a Pom-Pom girl? Her second place showing for her essay reveals an individual capable of profound and deep thinking. Perhaps I am being unfair, but I don't associate scholarly ambitions with the Pom-Pom squad. I think Jan was lucky that she didn't get swept up into the shallow and intellectually un-stimulating Pom-Pom world.

Green Acres: The Saucer Season (1967) Season 2, Episode 25

A Saucerful Of Secrets

[9 March 2024]

This episode puts to rest any doubts one might have about aliens visiting Earth via interstellar spacecraft. If Eb Dawson claims to have seen aliens in flying saucers, well, that is good enough for me. I don't need a government report confirming or denying the origins of U. F. Os.

I think The Saucer Season makes good use of Johann Strauss II's "The Blue Danube." It is perhaps more effective than Kubrick's use of it in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Also, there's nothing like using potato chip crunches to embellish the rhythm of the composition.

I appreciate a scarecrow that is willing to fetch lunch and not simply collect a paycheck standing in a cornfield.

Interesting how skeptical Mr. Douglas is until he actually encounters what appears to be an alien. Plus, he ends up bleep, bleep, bleeping just like Eb.

Funny stuff.

Born to Kill (1947)

Lawrence: A Study In Tierney

[8 March 2024]

Lawrence Tyranny plays a bad guy in Born To Kill. I'm sure he had the potential to be a good guy, but he was saddled with anger management issues. He tended to kill people whenever he lost his cool. Despite being a killer and a jerk with no sense of humor, the ladies in the movie found Tyranny simply irresistible. Claire Trevor in particular had a thing for him and she wasn't too bothered by his psychopathic tendencies. Somebody should have warned her about the Hays Code because there was no way she was going to be allowed to live beyond the final reel given her lack of moral scruples.

Anyway, it may seem odd, but it was a lot of fun to see Lawrence Tyranny scowl his way through Born To Kill.

A Tattered Web (1971 TV Movie)

Dad, The Bad Cop

[6 March 2024]

Lloyd Bridges plays an uptight cop in A Tattered Web. He's so uptight his idea of a good time is to harass his son in-law's mistress (Anne Helm). But at least he apparently does his harassing when he is off duty.

His obsession with bothering Anne Helm is so manic that he misses singing "For She's A Jolly Good Fellow" at his daughter's (Sallie Shockley) birthday party. As if this weren't bad enough, he later accidentally kills Anne Helm, which allows Minneapolis, Minnesota's James Hong to have a brief scene as a coroner.

Lloyd goes to a lot of trouble to avoid becoming entangled with the justice system, even framing a booze addled Broderick Crawford. Crawford's acting is so good it seems like he's trying to be the first actor to win an Oscar for a Made For TV movie. Eventually Lloyd's guilty conscious gets to him on the edge of a California coastline cliff. We the viewer hope Lloyd will take advantage of the cliff and fall off of it. Instead, he expresses anguish over his crime and ends up with messy hair. As the story winds down, faith in law enforcement is restored and Lloyd promises to be a better dad, even if he has to do it from behind bars.

This Woman Is Dangerous (1952)

Lacks Vision

[4 March 2024]

The best place to go blind is in a movie because there is always a brilliant eye surgeon who can restore your vision and you won't even need to wear corrective lenses afterwards. Joan had to wear sunglasses for awhile, but given her movie star status this hardly seemed like a major inconvenience since movie stars wear sunglasses all the time.

I missed the first 15 minutes of This Woman Is Dangerous. I'm assuming Joan was at her most dangerous during this part of the film because she didn't seem too threatening for the rest of the movie. I kept yelling at the screen: "Come on, Joan, get dangerous!" I think if I saw This Woman Is Dangerous at my local movie theater back in 1952, I would have asked for my fifty cents back.

Murder Once Removed (1971 TV Movie)

"Book 'Em, Charlie!"

[3 March 2024]

John Forsythe is a doctor who practices both medicine and murder in Murder Once Removed. I like movies where no one can be trusted. I didn't even trust Happy the dog. I was just waiting for him to bite Reta Shaw.

I don't know about you, but if I were Richard Kiley I would have switched doctors. Of course, maybe John Forsythe was the only doctor in town who was in-network under his health insurance plan.

I'm a law and order kind of guy, so I was pleased that all the bad apples in this movie ended up behind bars, or at least the ending implied a judicially satisfying ending. I wouldn't be surprised if a good lawyer would have gotten Barbra Bain off. And then she would have had an affair with him as well as the judge.

Classe Tous Risques (1960)

There's No Business like Risky Business Except Maybe Show Business

[1 March 2024]

I'm a sucker for man-on-the-run movies. There's a built in tension that hangs over every scene as the audience wonders if the man (or woman) on the run might be apprehended.

I liked how Classe Tous Risques used all sorts of modes of transportation as a means to escape in the first act. It had cars, a motorcycle, a bus and a boat. I was almost expecting the fleeing gangsters to gleefully (they appeared to be enjoying themselves-it's nice to see people enjoying their chosen occupation) hijack a dirigible.

Speaking of enjoying themselves. I think the secret to Jean-Paul Belmondo's acting was his bemused attitude. Whether kissing the love interest or punching out an antagonist, he seemed to have a twinkle in his eyes.

Ice Station Zebra (1968)

Under Thin Ice

[29 February 2024]

I was in a Howard Hughes mood tonight and decided to watch Ice Station Zebra.

Rock Hudson kinda annoyed me from the get go. He was smoking a cigarette in a pub at the start of the movie. When he steps outside he tosses the butt on the ground. Litterbug!

Although I have ridden the submarine ride at Disneyland, I don't consider myself a submarine expert. I enjoyed watching the submarine try and pop through the ice. It seemed like once they got to the surface Patrick McGoohan would have plenty of ice cubes for his adult beverage.

With McHale's Navy and Ice Station Zebra it seems like Ernest Borgnine got more than enough maritime cinematic experience to prepare him for The Poseidon Adventure. I was thinking the movie needed another character as a possible bad guy candidate. Jim Brown was too pissed off to be a legitimate contender as a bad guy.

There's something soothing if not comforting about Ice Station Zebra. It might be the most relaxing espionage film ever made. I can see why Howard Hughes used to enjoy watching it late into the night.

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries: Sole Survivor (1978) Season 2, Episode 16

Spies Like Us

[28 February 2024]

The concept of this story is similar to the James Garner film "36 Hours." In that flick the Nazis try to get Garner to reveal the details to D-Day by making him think the war is over and he is in an allied hospital.

Later James Garner apparently punched Glen A Larson for pilfering plot ideas. Don't know if "36 Hours" was on his mind when he socked Larson but it is an interesting coincidence.

I heard on the radio last week that James Hong celebrated his 95th birthday. I was hoping he was a double agent in Sole Survivor because he is from Minneapolis and I am from Minneapolis, and Minneapolis only produces good guys. Unfortunately he was a bad guy making me wonder if he isn't really from St. Paul.

Never Let Go (1960)

Keep The Faith

[26 February 2024]

Never Let Go is a tightly plotted movie. It wastes no time launching the story. Seems like car theft is epidemic in the states right now. From the people I know who have had their autos stolen it is an exasperating experience. Auto theft victim Richard Todd does an excellent job of emoting exasperation. Peter Sellers is about as despicable as a bad guy can get on the silver screen. And he seems to do most of his villainous acting via his teeth.

The John Barry score is a lot of fun. Plenty of bongo pounding going on with the brass section periodically punctuating the drama on screen. Far out dad!

When Richard Todd got his car back, hopefully he liked the new paint job.

Did you know Jim Nabors and Adam Faith were both film cutters before they became famous performers? Film editors, by the way, are usually the most talented people on any movie production. They are also the best looking, smartest and are completely humble about their attributes. Just thought you should know.