Yeah I guess my favorite part was when he made a huge mind-boggling deal about how when he stood up his seat cushion fell off, like it couldn't have just stuck to his fat ass. Maybe not the worst pretentious paranormal pseudomentary I've seen but it's in there.
Reviews
25 Reviews
Prime Time
(1977)
After Decades, Still Not Ready for Prime Time
3 April 2013
To say the sketch revue American RASPBERRY (1977) is more offensive than it is funny is a little like saying water is drier than it is scratchy, and I'm sure actors like Harris Yulin and George Furth can't believe they accepted a paycheck for doing it either. Hell, Warren Oates is probably still scratching his head.
Other than the Emily Prager tampon parody lifted (with credit) from National Lampoon, nothing in here raises a chuckle. You can go out of your way trying to shock and the filmmakers here certainly did, but there's one big problem: none of it is funny. (And certainly none of it is that shocking, even for 1977, when I doubt the term "political incorrectness" had even been invented yet.) For one of the thing, none of the ideas are terribly original (hey, look, commercial parodies), for example the Charles Whitman Invitational isn't much different from the Spider Savitch Open sketch on SNL. And, again, they simply aren't funny, especially when drawn out to tedious length. Look! It's chickens on a plane, because they're Puerto Ricans! Look! It's like Charlie's Angels, only everybody's fat! Yeah, we got the point in the first thirty seconds. Also, while admittedly I have lived only to see Laurie Zimmer strip naked, the comedy value of killing women in laundromats is limited.
Even Kinky Friedman can't save this deadening parade of witlessness.
What I wonder is: Did this actually play in theaters? And were any left standing afterwards? (On the other hand, if this is your cup of tea, apparently some of the 12-year-olds who found this hysterical grew up to produce 2007's UNIVERSAL REMOTE. Enjoy!)
Other than the Emily Prager tampon parody lifted (with credit) from National Lampoon, nothing in here raises a chuckle. You can go out of your way trying to shock and the filmmakers here certainly did, but there's one big problem: none of it is funny. (And certainly none of it is that shocking, even for 1977, when I doubt the term "political incorrectness" had even been invented yet.) For one of the thing, none of the ideas are terribly original (hey, look, commercial parodies), for example the Charles Whitman Invitational isn't much different from the Spider Savitch Open sketch on SNL. And, again, they simply aren't funny, especially when drawn out to tedious length. Look! It's chickens on a plane, because they're Puerto Ricans! Look! It's like Charlie's Angels, only everybody's fat! Yeah, we got the point in the first thirty seconds. Also, while admittedly I have lived only to see Laurie Zimmer strip naked, the comedy value of killing women in laundromats is limited.
Even Kinky Friedman can't save this deadening parade of witlessness.
What I wonder is: Did this actually play in theaters? And were any left standing afterwards? (On the other hand, if this is your cup of tea, apparently some of the 12-year-olds who found this hysterical grew up to produce 2007's UNIVERSAL REMOTE. Enjoy!)
Shui ling long
(1977)
Foreign Exchange
5 March 2013
Hey, am I the only one here who's seen this? When I was in college a Taiwanese student got a print of this from his embassy and one of our film professors screened it in his Gangster Films class. A fun if rather generic martial arts action film, in which, as seems to be the convention, a woman fighter is taken by everyone she meets to be a man for no reason our Western eyes can discern (must be the hat or something). The warring gangs were certainly different from the ones we'd been seeing in American films from the 1930's. According to our instructors, the popularity of martial arts films in Taiwan were due in part to a prohibition against films depicting firearms!
Big Bad Mama
(1974)
Drive-In Classic Fails To Disappoint On Some Levels
28 December 2012
I met director Steve Carver when he came to town to shoot "Lone Wolf McQuade," and I'm something of a fan, but even with screenwriter Bill Norton aboard, this lacks the wit and cool characters that enliven his Chuck Norris movies or even "Steel." Dialog is particularly lacking, in some scenes even leaving Tom Skerritt with nothing to do but mutter incoherently, or a game Shatner mugging as if he's about to say something but either gets cut off or thinks better of it. The two actors do their best, Skerritt all steely-eyed intensity and Shatner oozing lily-livered Southern charm, as do Royal Dano as a flustered preacher and a shockingly young-looking Noble Willingham as a lecherous bootlegging "uncle." As for the actresses, they certainly deliver the goods, and frequently, especially Angie Dickinson. Yowzah. If you're worried, Angie gets progressively more naked as the plot moves along. Look close for a young and quickly unadorned Sally Kirkland.
Plotwise? Angie, rural 1932-vintage single mom, saddled with two unmanageable daughters (one way too naive and one way too not so), after extricating one daughter from a hasty wedding, dips her toe into crime (bootlegging and DAV-smoker-jacking), then gets mired in it after hooking up with bank robber Skerritt. An encounter with down-and-out Southern gent Shatner seals their fate, as he proves to be their little gang's weakest link. Along the way, much blood, clothing and inhibitions will be shed.
Considering the budget and shooting time, the action is boisterous enough but haphazard and disjointed, with a lot of repetitive car chases featuring Dick Miller and a sidekick (representing the entirety of the FBI) in hot pursuit, miraculously always one step behind our anti-heroine and her mob. One shudders to see how many vintage autos run up dirt ramps and flip over. Even if you know that the Hollywood hills don't actually look a lot like East Texas (the geography of where our characters are supposed to be at any moment in the plot isn't always made abundantly clear), the small-town locations and antique cars do an impressive job of keeping the movie in its Depression-era period.
Look quickly for second-unit director Paul Bartel as a party guest, following in the footsteps of Francis Coppola in "The Young Racers."
Plotwise? Angie, rural 1932-vintage single mom, saddled with two unmanageable daughters (one way too naive and one way too not so), after extricating one daughter from a hasty wedding, dips her toe into crime (bootlegging and DAV-smoker-jacking), then gets mired in it after hooking up with bank robber Skerritt. An encounter with down-and-out Southern gent Shatner seals their fate, as he proves to be their little gang's weakest link. Along the way, much blood, clothing and inhibitions will be shed.
Considering the budget and shooting time, the action is boisterous enough but haphazard and disjointed, with a lot of repetitive car chases featuring Dick Miller and a sidekick (representing the entirety of the FBI) in hot pursuit, miraculously always one step behind our anti-heroine and her mob. One shudders to see how many vintage autos run up dirt ramps and flip over. Even if you know that the Hollywood hills don't actually look a lot like East Texas (the geography of where our characters are supposed to be at any moment in the plot isn't always made abundantly clear), the small-town locations and antique cars do an impressive job of keeping the movie in its Depression-era period.
Look quickly for second-unit director Paul Bartel as a party guest, following in the footsteps of Francis Coppola in "The Young Racers."
Deathsport
(1978)
The Pyrotechnics Guy Is The Real Star
28 December 2012
For sure, the camera pays as loving attention to the impressive slow-motion explosions as it does to Claudia Jennings' nude form. More so, in fact, and more's the pity. The explosives credit is given to Roger George, who took advantage of every possible excuse to send fireballs roaring into the sky, so if that was you, Roger, we salute you!
Otherwise, well, you know you're in trouble when the movie opens with David Carradine riding on horseback in a fur cape and a loincloth, a scene which left me asking myself, "If I had a hand blaster that would vaporize people, would I really bother carrying around a heavy-ass sword?" The answer is, probably, because Range Guides think swords are awesome cool just like everybody else.
For most of its brief running time the movie is an unexceptional assemblage of awkward action scenes...for example, when the good guys battle the bad guys on motorcycles, it's rarely clear which stunt guy getting blasted is supposed to represent which actor...and cheesy dialog, although the late great Richard Lynch must have thought it ironic to mutter the lines "A man is a candle...He must set himself afire to create a life."
That the movie credits two directors might explain why the final duel, which is set up with a sweeping 360-degree tracking shot, has a sense of style and grandeur which the rest of the movie is sorely lacking, clearly inspired by someone watching a lot of samurai and Wuxia films. Suddenly we realize that wow, this really IS what we were waiting for the whole time, just as David Carradine was waiting for a chance to finally show his stuff.
Otherwise, well, you know you're in trouble when the movie opens with David Carradine riding on horseback in a fur cape and a loincloth, a scene which left me asking myself, "If I had a hand blaster that would vaporize people, would I really bother carrying around a heavy-ass sword?" The answer is, probably, because Range Guides think swords are awesome cool just like everybody else.
For most of its brief running time the movie is an unexceptional assemblage of awkward action scenes...for example, when the good guys battle the bad guys on motorcycles, it's rarely clear which stunt guy getting blasted is supposed to represent which actor...and cheesy dialog, although the late great Richard Lynch must have thought it ironic to mutter the lines "A man is a candle...He must set himself afire to create a life."
That the movie credits two directors might explain why the final duel, which is set up with a sweeping 360-degree tracking shot, has a sense of style and grandeur which the rest of the movie is sorely lacking, clearly inspired by someone watching a lot of samurai and Wuxia films. Suddenly we realize that wow, this really IS what we were waiting for the whole time, just as David Carradine was waiting for a chance to finally show his stuff.
The Lord Protector
(1996)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Screen
11 February 2009
Okay, I haven't actually seen this film. But once upon a time I got a phone call from someone representing the producer of "Witchboard" and "Season of Fear" looking for investors for a proposed movie to be called "Lord Protector." They told me they had already lined up Charlton Heston to narrate, and were offering roles to F. Murray Abraham and Michael Rooker. They mailed me a prospectus and everything, but in the end I passed. I wonder if I would have made good on my investment? I really should try to find this and see how the movie turned out. I'd probably be a lot more interested if they'd really ended up with Michael Rooker.
Vantage Point
(2008)
What could possibly go wrong?
21 January 2009
Warning: Spoilers
If you turn your brain off, this is an intriguing little thriller that builds suspense by keeping you guessing, with a high-adrenaline chase at the end. As soon as your brain kicks in, though, you'll be wondering about the following plot points (spoilers galore):
1. Terrorists entrust the most critical part of their incredibly complex scheme to an outsider they've blackmailed into it by holding his brother hostage. Considering all that they're asking the guy to do, this seems a little far-fetched, when there's no reason one of their own team couldn't do this themselves, unless they just plain ran out of terrorists. Maybe they could have used the TV cameraman who's also one of their moles, since his role doesn't seem that critical.(As long as we're at it: Let's kill the hostage before our plan is executed!)
2. On the other hand, there is a good reason for the female terrorist to romance a local cop: Because they assume he can get her bag through security when she asks him to bring it for her. Of course, this asks us to believe that the cop never notices that his girlfriend (I assume) is consorting with terrorists, even though he seems almost insanely jealous when he does spot her talking to some dude in the plaza (another problem with involving the random guy from point #1). Also, he'll never peek inside her bag or notice that he's carrying a bag full of explosives.
3. No one in the Secret Service ever notices that one of the president's men is colluding with the terrorists in an incredibly complex plan which will require his involvement to the point of abandoning his duties and switching clothes to play a major role in their getaway, so we can assume they had to be in fairly regular contact. (On the other hand, we in the audience start to smell something fishy about him as soon as the plan starts going down.) Assuming in the first place that a terrorist mole could infiltrate the Secret Service and be assigned to the president's detail, since we never really get to know what turned the agent, if he was in fact a loyal servant from the start. This is the kind of plot device that always makes a lot more sense in the scriptwriter's mind than in the discerning viewer's.
4. A lone gunman can always take out the president's entire secret service detail, except for the guys who run down the stairs without noticing one of their colleagues has just been shot one landing up.
5. Even distracted as they are by the news and an explosion downstairs, you might expect the president and his aides to be alarmed by a gun battle breaking out in the hallway outside their room.
6. Several times during the car chase Dennis Quaid's car seems to encounter obstacles that would translate into a wreck with serious damage, yet it emerges unscathed each time until it's finally sidelined by an 18-wheeler.
Unlike some other posters, the bad guys swerving to avoid hitting a little girl in the middle of the street didn't faze me as much, perhaps because it might just be an instinctive move, perhaps because if you've ever actually hit someone with your vehicle, you'd know it could do serious damage to your vehicle, perhaps even to the point of disabling it.
I'll still give it a five for keeping me intrigued about what was really going on (I kept waiting for them to explain the off-stage explosion that turns everyone's heads), then really annoying me when the big reveal proved the plot behind the gimmick was full of holes.
1. Terrorists entrust the most critical part of their incredibly complex scheme to an outsider they've blackmailed into it by holding his brother hostage. Considering all that they're asking the guy to do, this seems a little far-fetched, when there's no reason one of their own team couldn't do this themselves, unless they just plain ran out of terrorists. Maybe they could have used the TV cameraman who's also one of their moles, since his role doesn't seem that critical.(As long as we're at it: Let's kill the hostage before our plan is executed!)
2. On the other hand, there is a good reason for the female terrorist to romance a local cop: Because they assume he can get her bag through security when she asks him to bring it for her. Of course, this asks us to believe that the cop never notices that his girlfriend (I assume) is consorting with terrorists, even though he seems almost insanely jealous when he does spot her talking to some dude in the plaza (another problem with involving the random guy from point #1). Also, he'll never peek inside her bag or notice that he's carrying a bag full of explosives.
3. No one in the Secret Service ever notices that one of the president's men is colluding with the terrorists in an incredibly complex plan which will require his involvement to the point of abandoning his duties and switching clothes to play a major role in their getaway, so we can assume they had to be in fairly regular contact. (On the other hand, we in the audience start to smell something fishy about him as soon as the plan starts going down.) Assuming in the first place that a terrorist mole could infiltrate the Secret Service and be assigned to the president's detail, since we never really get to know what turned the agent, if he was in fact a loyal servant from the start. This is the kind of plot device that always makes a lot more sense in the scriptwriter's mind than in the discerning viewer's.
4. A lone gunman can always take out the president's entire secret service detail, except for the guys who run down the stairs without noticing one of their colleagues has just been shot one landing up.
5. Even distracted as they are by the news and an explosion downstairs, you might expect the president and his aides to be alarmed by a gun battle breaking out in the hallway outside their room.
6. Several times during the car chase Dennis Quaid's car seems to encounter obstacles that would translate into a wreck with serious damage, yet it emerges unscathed each time until it's finally sidelined by an 18-wheeler.
Unlike some other posters, the bad guys swerving to avoid hitting a little girl in the middle of the street didn't faze me as much, perhaps because it might just be an instinctive move, perhaps because if you've ever actually hit someone with your vehicle, you'd know it could do serious damage to your vehicle, perhaps even to the point of disabling it.
I'll still give it a five for keeping me intrigued about what was really going on (I kept waiting for them to explain the off-stage explosion that turns everyone's heads), then really annoying me when the big reveal proved the plot behind the gimmick was full of holes.
Love and Death
(1975)
Woody Pays Tribute
9 September 2007
It's his homage to the Russian novel. It's his homage to Bergman. It's his homage to the Soviet cinema of Eisenstein. But above all, this is Woody Allen's homage to his idol, Bob Hope (believe it or not). Except for the philosophical debates, imagine Bob Hope speaking the lines of the cowardly Boris and you'll see how everything fits. ("What is this, Slap Boris Day?")
When I first saw this movie in the theaters, the old Transamerica-style United Artists logo came alive on the screen to the opening flourish of Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije Suite." It's a little stylistic grace I've come to miss as a succession of logos have replaced the original in the versions on television, cable and video. But it's still a movie I'll watch any time it comes around. And because of it I still love Prokofiev!
When I first saw this movie in the theaters, the old Transamerica-style United Artists logo came alive on the screen to the opening flourish of Prokofiev's "Lieutenant Kije Suite." It's a little stylistic grace I've come to miss as a succession of logos have replaced the original in the versions on television, cable and video. But it's still a movie I'll watch any time it comes around. And because of it I still love Prokofiev!
Underclassman
(2005)
Are Writers Too Lazy To Sue These Days, or What?
31 March 2007
I see Nick Cannon shares a story credit on "Underclassman." I guess this means one day in his childhood he must have stayed home from kindergarten and caught "Plain Clothes" on cable. Has no one else noticed the premise (cop goes undercover in a high school to catch a killer) is lifted straight from that movie? At least that movie was fairly clever and got some comic mileage from Arliss Howard trying to pass as a teenager. I hear loose talk of plot points and dialogue lifted from "Point Break" as well.
Are writers and their lawyers too lazy to sue over flagrant plagiarism anymore? Why isn't Peter Benchley's estate trying to horn in on "Into the Blue"? Maybe the whole "Blue Lagoon" vs. "Paradise" outcome years ago was too discouraging, or Dick Lupoff's unfortunate experience of his story "12:01 P.M." being turned into an Oscar-nominated short film on Showtime and yet still apparently miraculously missing the notice of the writers of the curiously similar "Groundhog Day." There was a time you saw remakes acknowledge their sources. Ah, what innocent times those were. We were all so naive then.
Are writers and their lawyers too lazy to sue over flagrant plagiarism anymore? Why isn't Peter Benchley's estate trying to horn in on "Into the Blue"? Maybe the whole "Blue Lagoon" vs. "Paradise" outcome years ago was too discouraging, or Dick Lupoff's unfortunate experience of his story "12:01 P.M." being turned into an Oscar-nominated short film on Showtime and yet still apparently miraculously missing the notice of the writers of the curiously similar "Groundhog Day." There was a time you saw remakes acknowledge their sources. Ah, what innocent times those were. We were all so naive then.
"We get our kicks at the House of Shock!"
13 March 2006
The Ghouls, who backed up Morgus on his theme song "Morgus the Magnificent," included none other than fellow New Orleans institutions Dr. John and Frankie Ford (of "Sea Cruise" fame), so at least he has that going for him. Just keep that cheery thought in mind as you suffer through this. Morgus has been off the air since Katrina hit, but said in a posting to his online fan site that he's hoping to return to the airwaves. Fortunately, his leather-clad fetish-boy assistant Chopsley made it safely through the storm as well. The New Orleans laboratory is described as miraculously intact, and he's working on an invention which will present such a catastrophe from ever happening again. Sleep well, America!
Johnny Handsome
(1989)
Things That Make You Go Hmmmm
9 November 2005
Hey...isn't this really a remake of "A Woman's Face" with Joan Crawford? (Itself a remake of an earlier Ingrid Bergman face.) And thus the novel it's based on, too, I guess. Think about it: In "A Woman's Face" Joan Crawford is a horribly scarred criminal given a new lease on life by a kindly doctor who offers to repair her face. Hmmmm. Anyway, for fans of Mickey Rourke who can't see enough of his face getting wrecked, here you are. (Hey, Mickey's been making a comeback lately. You go, Mick.) Good support from Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, the always reliable Lance Henriksen, and an especially evil Ellen Barkin. These days the New Orleans settings should be even more nostalgic than ever.
Nighthawks
(1981)
Pour a drink for Bruce Malmuth
1 July 2005
I was happy to see Premiere magazine remember this flick when they ranked the 100 Best Thrillers of All Time, and after reading today that its director has passed on, I can only hope more people will give it a first or second look. Time has of course given it extra relevance, but there are three reasons for checking this one out:
1. As hinted above, in the post-9/11 world, its theme of terrorists plotting an attack in New York City seems eerily prophetic.
2. Sylvester Stallone gives an uncharacteristically muted performance that comes off as extremely effective.
3. That ending? They got me. They totally got me.
Director Bruce Malmuth's work here was competent enough to make one wonder just a little if he didn't deserve better projects than he got after this.
1. As hinted above, in the post-9/11 world, its theme of terrorists plotting an attack in New York City seems eerily prophetic.
2. Sylvester Stallone gives an uncharacteristically muted performance that comes off as extremely effective.
3. That ending? They got me. They totally got me.
Director Bruce Malmuth's work here was competent enough to make one wonder just a little if he didn't deserve better projects than he got after this.
U Turn
(1997)
Because They're....Unimaginative?
12 April 2005
On the first viewing, this struck me as an overwrought film noir with the tragic overtones slathered on heavily. On second and further viewings, it struck me that seen as an extremely dark comedy, it's hilarious. The so-called comic relief becomes the entire point. Now every time the horns of "Ring of Fire" announce Powers Boothe striding in to the rescue, I'm ready to bust a gut. The supporting players become either Sean Penn's comic foils or high-strung straight men. Speaking of which, this movie really marked Jon Voight's transition from washed-up blonde leading man to a truly quirky and interesting character actor. My only complaint is that a theme from Ennio Morricone's score kept running through my head before I could remember this is the movie where I heard it.
Ladybug Ladybug
(1963)
Paranoia Strikes Deep
28 March 2005
In response to mib_one...My father was stationed at an Air Force base in Florida during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 (not that long before this movie was released), and families there did stockpile canned goods in their cellars, at the very least, in the expectation that a nuclear missile attack might indeed be imminent. The possibility of a nuclear strike was omnipresent if barely acknowledged, exactly as it is depicted throughout this film. I thought William Daniels was especially good at not overtly revealing more than his frustration at not being able to get through to anyone on the phone. (According to the credits all this was inspired by an actual incident, although I wish I could find more details about that.) Apparently TIME Magazine didn't think much of this movie either. But to me it's a gem of an encapsulated moment in time, when Cold War paranoia was at its peak, and everyone had to face the possibility that they actually might not make it to adulthood, or even next Saturday.
The Thing Called Love
(1993)
The Man Who Wasn't There
2 March 2005
Director Peter Bogdanovich, still trying to get his career back on its feet, served up this fairly entertaining look at newcomers struggling to make it in the country music industry in Nashville. Despite the presence of talented actors Samantha Mathis, Sandra Bullock and Dermot Mulroney in the leads, this laid a colossal egg at the box office. The blame may be the high expectations for River Phoenix, who seemed to sleepwalk through much of his role. There was one scene where he was sitting at a bar and you might as well have been looking right through him for all the presence he displayed; for some reason I was reminded uncomfortably of Jan-Michael Vincent.
The Werewolf
(1956)
Twist of Fate
3 January 2005
Ever since Lon Chaney played Lawrence Talbot, werewolves have been depicted as pawns of a cruel destiny, doomed to a bad end, and this Fifties twist on the theme is no exception. That sense of our poor protagonist as a helpless victim of forces beyond his control is what sticks with me from this movie: The burden of guilt falls squarely on the shoulders of the sinister government scientists who devise this atomic-age curse, and their victim's innocence provides no redemption for him. Not sure how much of this was intentional on the part of the writers and director (Fred F. Sears, not far from helming the unfortunate shipwreck of "The Giant Claw"), but I find it superior to the rank and file of Fifties-era drive-in horror films.
The Racket
(1928)
Prototypical gangster epic
15 December 2004
Like TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS and THE MATING CALL, this film has now been restored by UNLV (which found the prints of these films once thought lost in an archive of producer Howard Hughes' possessions) in cooperation with Flicker Alley.
Lewis Milestone, who had just directed TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS for Hughes, brought much of the same sense of friendly rivalry between the two leads to this picture, as well as the same co-star, Louis Wolheim. All the elements of many a subsequent gangster picture are here: The close personal relationship between the antagonists (gang boss Wolheim and cop Thomas Meighan); the kid brother whom the gangster wants to shelter from the rackets (George E. Stone, soon to appear in LITTLE CAESAR and many another gangster flick), but who runs afoul of a tough little chanteuse (Marie Prevost). Mob bosses cavorting in lavish nightclubs, overwrought gangland funerals, crooked politicians, a wet-behind-the-ears reporter with two old pros as a chorus: it's all here.
Enough of the action takes place in a run-down precinct house to belie the story's stage origins, but there's plenty of action, including a shootout between two rival gangs, to keep things hopping.
Lewis Milestone, who had just directed TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS for Hughes, brought much of the same sense of friendly rivalry between the two leads to this picture, as well as the same co-star, Louis Wolheim. All the elements of many a subsequent gangster picture are here: The close personal relationship between the antagonists (gang boss Wolheim and cop Thomas Meighan); the kid brother whom the gangster wants to shelter from the rackets (George E. Stone, soon to appear in LITTLE CAESAR and many another gangster flick), but who runs afoul of a tough little chanteuse (Marie Prevost). Mob bosses cavorting in lavish nightclubs, overwrought gangland funerals, crooked politicians, a wet-behind-the-ears reporter with two old pros as a chorus: it's all here.
Enough of the action takes place in a run-down precinct house to belie the story's stage origins, but there's plenty of action, including a shootout between two rival gangs, to keep things hopping.
Kiss Me Deadly
(1955)
The Ultimate McGuffin
4 October 2003
Midway through the proceedings, at the Hollywood Athletic Club, Mike Hammer throws some bills on the counter to influence the clerk. When that effort is sneeringly rebuffed, he delivers a crackling slap to the guy's face instead. That's the world Hammer moves in: One or the other of these two is bound to deliver the goods.
Pauline Kael described Ralph Meeker's Hammer as "Brando with a cheap glaze of playboy glamor," and it's amazing how like the young Brando he does indeed look. His Hammer is more than merely brutal: Check out the gleeful grin on his face while he slams someone's fingers in a drawer. In fact I'd wager there's more cheerful sadism and naked sexual yearning in this film than in any other title from 1955. Too bad Hammer, just like the goons in this film, always seem to be too busy to bother with "the dames." What, you might miss out on a hand of gin rummy?
The performances may grate at times, but you have to accept that, like everything else in the movie, some are just intentionally off-kilter, or you'll never be able to enjoy the ride. I actually thought Gaby Rodgers was somewhat effective in her part: a little bit left-of-normal, and especially in her last scene there's something absolutely feline about her. And check out Jack Elam's reaction after Hammer has dispatched his partner: Like so much of the action, we couldn't quite make out what happened but you can tell whatever it was it scared this guy sh**less.
Note how the brilliant Ernest Laszlo's camera angles often give the impression that someone is spying on the protagonists from somewhere hidden.
It's not just the credits rolling down from the sky that makes the opening credits unusual, and establish this movies unsettling tone: The "theme song" (by Nat King Cole, no less) playing on the car radio is nearly drowned out by Cloris Leachman's uninterrupted sobbing.
Overblown? Violent? Sexist? Senseless? Sure! Just remember there may be more going on than meets the eye.
Pauline Kael described Ralph Meeker's Hammer as "Brando with a cheap glaze of playboy glamor," and it's amazing how like the young Brando he does indeed look. His Hammer is more than merely brutal: Check out the gleeful grin on his face while he slams someone's fingers in a drawer. In fact I'd wager there's more cheerful sadism and naked sexual yearning in this film than in any other title from 1955. Too bad Hammer, just like the goons in this film, always seem to be too busy to bother with "the dames." What, you might miss out on a hand of gin rummy?
The performances may grate at times, but you have to accept that, like everything else in the movie, some are just intentionally off-kilter, or you'll never be able to enjoy the ride. I actually thought Gaby Rodgers was somewhat effective in her part: a little bit left-of-normal, and especially in her last scene there's something absolutely feline about her. And check out Jack Elam's reaction after Hammer has dispatched his partner: Like so much of the action, we couldn't quite make out what happened but you can tell whatever it was it scared this guy sh**less.
Note how the brilliant Ernest Laszlo's camera angles often give the impression that someone is spying on the protagonists from somewhere hidden.
It's not just the credits rolling down from the sky that makes the opening credits unusual, and establish this movies unsettling tone: The "theme song" (by Nat King Cole, no less) playing on the car radio is nearly drowned out by Cloris Leachman's uninterrupted sobbing.
Overblown? Violent? Sexist? Senseless? Sure! Just remember there may be more going on than meets the eye.
Dark Passage
(1947)
Escape Clause
21 June 2003
Like "The Lady in the Lake," this starts off as a subjective POV film seen through escaped convict Bogey's eyes (and with a craftier excuse than Montgomery's film: we're never allowed a good look at the hero's face until after plastic surgery has turned it into Bogey's). Early on, you may notice "Bogey" is a little awkward unbuttoning a shirt, no doubt because one guy's left hand is working from one side of the camera, and another guy's right hand from the other. (Talk about saving money on the actor's salary: You never really need the star on set for any of these scenes...)
But even after the POV camera angles are discarded, this flick has plenty of arcane camera angles, noirish shadows, and vintage San Francisco locations going for it. No one except Bogey and Bacall has more than a few minutes of screen time (Bruce Bennett appears for exactly one scene, and even the villain who dun it doesn't stick around for long), but plenty of shady characters pop in and out to keep things interesting.
I've always felt the ending was a letdown; that, having painted himself into a corner, the author weaseled out of it by allowing the hero to run off to South America...
Still, more interesting and certainly more hard-boiled than most of Daves' work.
But even after the POV camera angles are discarded, this flick has plenty of arcane camera angles, noirish shadows, and vintage San Francisco locations going for it. No one except Bogey and Bacall has more than a few minutes of screen time (Bruce Bennett appears for exactly one scene, and even the villain who dun it doesn't stick around for long), but plenty of shady characters pop in and out to keep things interesting.
I've always felt the ending was a letdown; that, having painted himself into a corner, the author weaseled out of it by allowing the hero to run off to South America...
Still, more interesting and certainly more hard-boiled than most of Daves' work.
Iron Horsemen
(1994)
Finland Bikers Go America
27 May 2003
Odd satire of 1960s biker flicks was produced by Aki Kaurismäki, so not too surprisingly it features an appearance by Jim Jarmusch (as a semimythical biker) and Kaurismäki himself (as a guy in a Cadillac looking for Reno). Gould plays a hapless dropout who runs afoul of a cannibalistic biker gang before throwing in his lot with a gorgeous bank-robbing Castroite. In between, much hilarity and mayhem ensues. Not otherwise distinguished but does a pretty good job evoking the films of the era, buoyed by a soundtrack featuring the likes of Davie Allan and the Arrows.
The Purple Heart
(1944)
That Fine Attention to Detail
22 February 2003
From the beginning I was impressed with Lewis Milestone's direction. The film opens in a darkened courtroom (although the emblem of the rising sun can be discerned on the far wall). A man in uniform enters and switches on the lights. Another man enters with a pitcher of water and begins preparing for the ritual of the judges' entrance. The first man begins opening the window blinds. This leisurely accumulation of detail gives these moments a documentary feel that lends verisimilitude to the events that follow. Even when the American heroes respond to their captors with caustic patriotic speeches, there's still an aura of realism that makes it hard to classify this movie along with the cruder propaganda efforts of the times.
The Musketeer
(2001)
Do filmmakers never tire of rewriting Dumas?
4 September 2002
If you ever wondered what a version of "The Three Musketeers" would be like if written by someone who had never read the Dumas novel but had instead only seen the Charlie Sheen rendition, here it is. (It is, indeed, curious how the plot divergences early in the story are so eerily similar to the classic Oliver Platt version.) Also noteworthy: How the fight scenes always take place in shadows to disguise the use of fight/stunt doubles, yet the hero's face is always superbly lighted in the close-ups. At least there's the dialogue, which crackles like a bowl of soggy Rice Krispies.
Rawhead Rex
(1986)
Worse Than Barker's Bite
9 March 2002
Clive Barker's script has some nice touches, such as the jigsaw puzzle of clues that must be deciphered to find the monster's weakness, but poor direction defeats his purposes. In addition, some leads are planted in the film and never followed up on, suggesting some of the story was lost in the editing, or else the filmmakers simply jettisoned those plot points that never struck them as important.
Courage of Lassie
(1946)
Lassie, WWII Psycho Vet
23 February 2002
How can you not like a movie in which Lassie is inducted into the army and comes out warped into a serial killer? Like so many MGM stars during wartime Lassie found himself pressed into morale-building patriotic duty. When Frank Morgan tells Elizabeth Taylor he has a son in the Philippines, it's almost a foregone conclusion that Lassie (who goes by a variety of aliases here) will find his way to some kind of military heroism. The truly bizarre twist is that, pushed past the breaking point by his desperate Army masters to lead them to the rescue of a trapped patrol, he comes out with a grudge against the world, and winds up, essentially, on trial for murder. Ultimately, Morgan's courtroom summation turns this odd story into a surprisingly moving allegory for the situation of returning combat vets. (And I'd leap off a moving train, too, if I had little Liz Taylor waiting for me at home.)
Crucible of Horror
(1971)
Bears a passing resemblance
21 January 2002
Those with long memories might notice this film borrows more than a little from DIABOLIQUE, if not necessarily in a good way. Despite a nasty caning and attempted murder this is more about psychological torment than physical violence; the lasting impression is that typical English family life is enough to drive anyone to murder or bonkers, in that order. One of the seemingly endless string of potboilers that Michael Gough used to liven up, back in the day.
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