davidalexander-63068 Reviews

The Victim (1972 TV Movie)

A MYSTERY ENDING

[9/10 · 13 September 2023]

So who killed Susan? Will someone please tell me who the murderer was, because I'm left all in the dark! The ending of the movie sheds no light on it at all! Are we meant to be left forever in the dark so we can make our own assumptions as to who murdered Susan? Did the husband do it because of the looming divorce or did the house maid do it because Susan had fired her? Or were they both in on it together? In which case the husband would get to keep the house and the old bag would continue as his housekeeper? Your guess is as good as mine. Apart from all that there are some very suspenseful moments in the film, the acting and direction superb.

Pancho Villa (1972)

STICK TO YOUR GUNS

[3/10 · 11 September 2023]

Just what was the reason for three top action stars of the early days of television teaming up for this bland, inane piece of comedic nonsense? Clint Walker (Cheyenne), Telly Savalas (Kojak) and Chuck Connors (The Rifleman) all gave us so many hours of enjoyment back then cleaning up the wild west and the city streets with their own tough brand of law and order. So what compelled them to take a part in this would-be-if-it-could-be comedy about Pancho Villa? God only knows! None of the three is a natural comedian and even the script might attempt to be funny but somehow misses the mark. Maybe the three stars just wanted to show off their acting talents in some other way than we were used to, ie, to try their hand at comedy. Sad to say, none of them have the scope of Jack Lemmon or Cary Grant who could go from comedy to drama with ease (actually, I wonder how Jack Lemmon or Cary Grant would have gone in a western! Not too well, methinks). Boys, know your limitations. Stick to the roles that you excelled in and leave the comedy to others, ok?

The Raging Tide (1951)

HE'S "SHIPPING OUT"

[8/10 · 7 August 2023]

A good little bit of escapism here as gangster Richard Conte stows away on a fishng boat to escape from a police cordon only to discover that he loves the life of a fisherman. It's a topline cast with Richard Conte, Charles Bickford, Shelley Winters, Stephen McNally and John McIntyre. We'll forget about the other guy who plays Bickford's son who is just plain lousy as an actor. Just three things I'd like to comment on. Bickford's Swedish accent, civil rights violations and the special effects. Firstly, much has been said from ither reviewers about Bickford's poor Swedish accent. Well, accents are accents and can vary from person to person. Who says he has to have a perfect Swedish accent? He's a sailor and may have spent some time in Ireland or Rome and had his accent corrupted before making his way back to San Francisco, right?. Secondly, Conte cannot get into his girlfriend's building when she is not home. The main door is locked and the premises protected by intercom security. But the policeman detective McNally simply opens the door and walks in, not just to the apartment block but into her apartment itself through an unlocked door. Surely an invasion of civil liberties. I just hope this is something that never catches on in our western democracies. I know they can stop you in the street anytime they like and search you (also an invasion of civil liberties in my opinion), but not just to walk in to your home and start giving you the third degree. When she tells him she's 23 he says "You're pretty old for 23, aren't you?" Not onky a violator of civil rights and police orocedure , he's also a rude cop! The third thing I'd like to comment on is the storm sequence near the end of the movie where Conte drowns in saving the life of the (lousy actor) son. . What a great piece of special effects this was! I wish I had been there on the set to see just how they did this! Did they turn the fire hoses on the actors to create the effect of the rain and bucketing seas? Did they do it in just one take or did it require several takes to get it just right. Can you see the director saying to the drenched actors, "We'll have to do that again, Richard, Charles, you guys are not wet enough!"

Highway Dragnet (1954)

ESCAPE FROM REALITY

[4/10 · 31 July 2023]

I must admit I never took too much notice of Richard Conte in the past. For some reason he slipped in under my radar and I never paid him much attention. Then recently I stumbled across one of his movies, then another and another. The Big Combo, House Of Strangers, Cry Of The City and New York Confidential all won me over. They were very good movies and thoroughly enjoyable and realistic. Then I tuned into this one. Once again Richard Conte put in a top notch performance , but is horribly let down by a lousy, at times, implausible script and a substandard supporting cast. He is a fugitve on the run accused of the murder of a bar room pickup in a Las Vegas motel. He hits the Arizona desert and beguiles these two sheilas in a car which he is soon driving (whoever would let a hitchhiker take over the controls if their car like this?) Sounds like all the ingredients for a topline drama, doesn't it? Not so! Badly written with many faults and implausibilities and lousy acting on the part of these two females, it should have been better than it is. Firstly, why didn't the cops take more effort to check out his alibi before charging him? (false arrest?) Secondly, one guy (Conte) manages to overpower three cops and disarm them before escaping from custody (really?) Then he runs outside , jumps into a police car and he's away (huh? Did the cops leave the keys in the ignition?) Then, out in the desert, the women's trashed up car is overheating, so he takes the radiator cap off to add more water (Yeah?) It's a wonder he didn't finish up with first degree burns and a face like a boiled tomato. If you must open up a hot radiator at least protect yourself by firstly throwing a blanket over it. As for the two "co-stars", the least said the better. They don't even express alarm, anger, stress or excitement amid all the mayhem, even when their car is being systematically reduced to a wreck on wheels !

Columbo: Swan Song (1974) Season 3, Episode 7

IMPLAUSIBLE PLOT

[7/10 · 5 July 2023]

Here we have another highly improbable murder plot. I'll simplify matters. The would-be murderer piloting the small Cessna aeroolane has his wife and girl in the plane with him. He manages to sedate them with sleeping pills he has put in their coffee. He then puts on a parachute (homemade or otherwise) and jumps out as the plane, now pilotless, carries on to its inevitable crash somewhere in the forested mountain. The pilot, now safe on the ground, then has to hot-foot it across the heavily forested terrain to the crash site before any rescuers arrive to make it appear he himself was on the plane when it went down. Oh, give us a break! The pilotless plane could have travelled miles before it crashed to earth, that is, unless he had out it in a nose-dive which he didn't do. And he is supposed to have found the crash site in the night. You can't see a thing at night when surrounded by trees! But for the sake of the plot he does manage to make it back to the burning wreck just before help arrives! The plot is full if what-ifs. What if his parachute had become entangled in the trees or he accidentally landed on the roof of a farmhouse or if he simply ran out of stamina in his cross country hike back to the plane. Or if he had not been able, in the dark, to find somewhere to hide his parachute (in this case a hollowed out log)! You would only need for one of these things to go wrong before your whole plot would leave you high and dry. Not something I personally would risk. Easier to throw a hair dryer in the bathtub!

Columbo: Try and Catch Me (1977) Season 7, Episode 1

NOT SO SAFE!

[4/10 · 2 July 2023]

What is the brand of the walk-in safe that is the focal point of the murder in this episode? What walk-in safe manufacturer would put a safe on the market without proper safeguards in the case of the door accidentally shutting while a person was inside. Or, as in this case, the door deliberately being slammed shut to lock the person inside to die if suffocation! Surely there would be a telephone inside, or an alarm that could be activated, or even a door handle which, when turned, would open the offending door and allow the trapped person to walk free. And what was all the business with the car keys? Wouldn't most people put their car keys back into their pocket instead of putting them down onto a table somewhere? The episode is saved a bit by the interesting role played by Ruth Gordon as the old crime writer seeking revenge against the husband of her neice she blames for her neice's disappearance (ie murder) in a boating tragedy. And just one more thing--- before she locked him in the safe did she check to make sure he himself didn't have a pen and notepad on him in order to write out in detail what had happened and thus incriminate her. Or a mobile phone to call the cops?

The Young Land (1959)

TRIAL AND ERROR

[6/10 · 5 December 2022]

A pontificating judge and a pacifist sheriff who does not even wear a gun form the basis for the moralising undertone of this otherwise passable western. All we need is a sermonising minister and an anti-gun crusader and you'd have the total liberal mix. Boys, this is the wild west (ok, California in 1848 just after the annexation from Mexico). The gun is still the law. Kill or be killed is the doctrine. The character played by Dennis Hopper has a gunfight with a Mexican (oh, those racist undertones again!) Was it self-defence or murder? Obviously, he is faster on the draw but a lousy shot. He wounds the Mexican - twice! Then he approaches the downed figure and puts a third slug into him, killing him. Obviously, the first two shots were fired in self-defence, but the third one constituted cold-blooded murder. The trial is presided over by a liberal judge from the east who is a total stranger to the ways of the west. Sometimes you feel like shouting, "For God's sake. Judge, get out of the way and let the two sides shoot it out! Good acting by Dennis Hopper as the gun-happy gunslinger helps to rescue the movie from pedestrian irrelevance. And Festus is there too (Ken Curtus from Gunsmoke fame). I almost expected to see Marshall Dillon to come striding into the film at any moment!

Vengeance (1976)

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

[8/10 · 27 November 2022]

In watching this movie one question comes readily to mind: what man in his right mind would take his family (a wife, teenage daughter and young son ) into the American wilderness (or wild west) alone and without proper protection? It is hardly a walk in the park on Sunday afternoon, is it?. It is why the wagon trains were able to fight off all kinds of setbacks and marauding gangs and hostile Indians- because they had the strength of numbers and were well armed and fortified. That was not the case of this little family. Set upon by this gang of outlaws they had no hope. The woman gets raped and then the husband gets shot dead and the woman then gets shot dead. The girl, hiding in the wagon, gets taken, later to be sold off. The boy, away from the camp at the time, then embarks on a vendetta of revenge , trailing the gang and bumping the members off one at a time with some rather ingenious methods. It is with regret that the ring leader, Lee Van Cleef, meets his end with a couple of quick bullet shots instead by some more prolonged and agonising method. I enjoyed this movie, despite what the other reviewers thought of it. And the question keeps coming back - are any of us properly protected or ready to defend ourselves when set upon by a gang of savages, troublemakers, etc, whether it be a home invasion, street assault, etc. Be prepared!

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)

JUST WALK RIGHT IN, MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!

[1/10 · 25 November 2022]

How do you gain entry to the home of a drug syndicate tsar, especially when he lives in a penthouse apartment way up there off street level? Well, you simply make your way up to the top floor and pick the lock on his front door (well, the only door)! So easy! Huh! Wouldn't a drug baron have his place set up like Fort Knox with alarms, movement detectors, cameras, guards, etc? I'm afraid they lost me right here. Not to mention the ease with which Paul Kersey was able to infiltrate the main operations of the drug syndicates. And the bugs he planted in the home phones of the drug barons were so big they would make as much noise as a baby's rattle! But I guess they worked, because he was able to be right there for the shootout between the rival gangs. Another thing, Paul Kersey must be a master of the rabbit killer punch to the back of the neck because he is able to lay out quite big beefy guys with ease. I think the script writers lost the plot.

Showdown at Boot Hill (1958)

HE DID IT TOUGH

[8/10 · 20 November 2022]

Here's a worthwhile western starring Charles Bronson in a very early lead role well before the Death Wish series established him as a superstar. Actually, Bronson had been honing his image as a tough guy all through the 50s in all those TV westerns and Alfred Hitchcock Presents shows as well as supporting roles in a clutch of movies. I remember seeing him in The House of Wax as a body snatcher with Vincent Price. But his name appears in the credits not as Charles Bronson but Charles Buchinsky, his real name. It is said he adopted the Bronson surname from a street near the Paramount Studios (look it up, you'll find it). I love working my way through all his TV roles where he made guest appearances. You'll see him in an episode of Rawhide with Clint Eastwood, for instance. And he had his own show, Man With A Camera, well worth watching. Man, he was a busy , busy boy! In mentioning The House Of Wax with Vincent Price, he made another movie with Vincent Price called Master Of The World. I'm not a sci-fi fan so maybe I should not comment on this one, but I consider it a shocker. What Charles Bronson was doing appearing in this load of twaddle, or for that matter , that master of suspense Vincent Price , is beyond me!

The Quiet Gun (1957)

MORE TWISTS THAN A CROCODILE TAIL

[8/10 · 16 November 2022]

Just when the storyline threatens to become routine, it will take a sudden turn, and snap back into life. A top cast with Forrest Tucker and Jim Davis, too. Did the Indian girlfriend ever think that by interferring and helping to free him that she was wrecking the only chance he had of being taken back , facing a fair trial, and clearing his name? Meddlesome female! As for the townspeople, none of them are worth going to bat for in my opinion- the sheriff should have just thrown his badge into the dirt at their feet! It doesn't matter that it is black and white. Who needs colour when you have an absorbing plot?

Kraft Suspense Theatre: The Action of the Tiger (1964) Season 1, Episode 16

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

[5/10 · 19 September 2022]

Good to see Kojak, aka Telly Savalas, with hair in this little wartime drama. But it is hard to imagine how the escaping prisoner from the German prison camp, Peter Brown, manages to look so clean-shaven after days on the run. Maybe he sneaked into a barber shop when we weren't watching! And as for a touch of realism, Peter must have a knockout punch equal to that of George Foreman- a couple of punches to Telly Savalas and he is out cold. Likewise the German soldier, bang, bang, and he's out like a light, if you'll pardon the cliche. Can't the writer or director see the flaws here and make the necessary changes to make it believable?

Kraft Theatre: A Long Time Till Dawn (1953) Season 7, Episode 11

SON UPSTAGES FATHER

[8/10 · 12 September 2022]

Good to see James Dean in an early television role, even before his big screen roles came along. He was showing great class as an actor even then. Sorry the same cannot be said for his father played by Ted Osborne, his acting ability is embarrassing to say the least, I thought maybe he came from the stage, but I was wrong, he came from radio. And the final scene from this otherwise good tv drama written by Rod Serling has a group of townspeople standing there among the police for the final shootout, including a little girl. I would have thought that a negotiated surrender would have been attempted first. Then when that failed make sure there are no little girls and their mums standing in the line of fire!

Shoot to Kill (1988)

UNREAL

[6/10 · 5 September 2022]

So the FBI and the cops have the villian dead to rights. The house is surrounded , they have it floodlit. There is no escape for the culprit. Yet because he has taken one lone hostage, they provide him with a car and a virtual escape strategy. Is this normal police procedure? Likewise thse high-speed police pursuit through busy city streets (wouldn't they have called it off before innocent bystanders or motorists were killed?) And the shootouts in crowded streets and onboard passenger ships. The crook by this time had already pushed a few mountain trekkers to their deaths over a cliff. Yet there's the lone FBI agent pursuing him across America to the Canadian border and into the wilderness. Doesn't the FBI have agents all across the States who can take up the pursuit with a single phone call? Sure there's action aplenty in this film- more shots are fired than in any old spaghetti western!!

The Quick and the Dead (1987 TV Movie)

BEST OF THE WEST

[10/10 · 9 June 2022]

I stumbled across this western gem while searching for the other movie of the same name starring Gene Hackman. I was taken in by the opening scenes and was kept gripped by the storyline, the scenery and cinematography, and the acting through to the final scenes. Based on one of the many western paperbacks by Louis L'Armour, I'm gonna now grab me a copy and have a read!

Lepke (1975)

TONY A HIT AS HITMAN LEPKE

[8/10 · 10 November 2021]

Tony Curtis would have to be one of the most versatile actors ever. From light comedies, to romantic parts, to heavy drama- he handles them all with ease and distinction. From The Boston Strangler and The Eyes Of Father Tomascino to Some Like It Hot... I'm working my way through his whole filmography. Likewise in this role as the mobster and hit man, he's just superb! I sometimes wonder how he would have been in the Marlon Brando role in On The Waterfront. I think he would have been great in that, too!

Hy.

Destroyer (1943)

TOUGH GUY NO MORE

[4/10 · 5 November 2021]

Edward G Robinson made his reputation as a tough guy on the screen , a hard nut who never took a backward step. It was a role we loved. No-one could issue orders and make demands and threats quite like Edward G Robinson. So it was very disconcerting to see him reduced to a simpering sycophant bowing to the captain's every command ("yes sir, no sir") while indulging in this strange love affair with a ship. Oh. My God! Why did he ever accept this role?

Reduced to a simpering sycophant.

Black Tuesday (1954)

A HARD ACT TO FOLLIW

[8/10 · 29 October 2021]

Edward G Robinson would never have made it as a romantic comedy lead, but he sure makes up for it as the arch villian-gangster- criminal as in this great little film noir!

Body and Soul (1947)

A TOUGH NUT

[8/10 · 12 July 2021]

Another cliche-ridden boxing movie with a storyline that's been done to death (sorry about the cliche). John Garfield in another tough-guy role playong John Garfield as only John Garfield can, and Lily Palmer badly miscast as his girlfriend. The story is ponderous and the ending predictable. Far better boxing movies have been made. Try Requium For A Heavyweight.

Buffalo Rider (1976)

REVENGE OF THE BUFFALO

[10/10 · 17 May 2021]

I only just unearthed this little gem after all this time. And what an interesting and enthralling movie it is! Animal lover Buffalo Jones is the antithesis of the mercenary buffalo hunters who ruthlessly slaughtered the giant buffalo herds for their hides in the late 1800s. One day he comes across an injured young buffalo and not only nurses it back to health but befriends it, domesticates it and tames it and even breaks it into saddle. The highlight of the movie comes when Jones goes after the gang of three buffalo hunters who murdered his friends' brother and wife. There's no messing around when he rides his buffalo Samson into the bar and turns it upside down and shoots two of them dead on the spot. The third one he catches up with in the open and Samson runs him down like a combine harvester as he tries to run for it. Does Samson know these three were not only murderers but buffalo hunters who, along with thousands of others, were responsible for the decimation of herds of his kin and brethren? I like to think so. Poetic justice!

Bbuffalo and not only nurses.

Massacre at Grand Canyon (1964)

WESTERN CLICHE

[5/10 · 7 May 2021]

The Italians should stick to doing what they do best - making spaghetti. Forget the Spaghetti Westerns. Leave the westerns to the Americans.

As for some of the fight scenes, they were like scenes from the ballet. And James Mitchum is no match for his old man.

The Dark Corner (1946)

TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS

[7/10 · 6 April 2021]

The Dark Corner is not your typical private dick flick in the sense that it takes our hero a full fifteen minutes into the movie to make a play for his new secretary and it's a full fifty-five minutes into the movie before there's even a murder! All that said and done it is a good movie helped by some excellent camera angles by director Henry Hathaway and a musical score by Eddie Heywood. Just two critical points though: Firstly, if you want to bump off your wife's lover surely there must be some easier and more direct way of doing it than the cumbersome and round-about means employed here. Secondly, in trying to get the low-down on the fat man in the white suit they surmise that he has put it into.a dry cleaner's ( maybe he would have junked it or washed it himself?). Then they go searching fir the dry cleaner's- and find it !!!! Echoes of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca keot sounding in my head - "Of all the dry cleaners in all of New York, they walk into mine!!" Why didn't the script writers just have them find a label with his name and address on it in his luggage? It would have been far more plausible!

Murder RX (2020)

A BLOT ON THE PLOT

[4/10 · 8 February 2021]

This is a movie for the girls, starring the girls and even written by a girl. The acting is so bad it is almost cringe-worthy, with no exceptions. And the girl who plays Lacey, I hate to say it in case I sound mean, but she really does need a good hair stylist, or is that meant as part of the movie- it's what happens to your hair when you pop too many pills! And what with the drug dealer pursuing Lacey? She makes it safely to her home only to open the door to him- weird!!!

Intruders (1992)

SPACED OUT MUMBO JUMBO

[5/10 · 5 February 2021]

Hard to believe there are actually backers who put up good money to produce this nonsense. Well there must be an audience for it. I personally will bow out after the first episode. Does it really run for another three episodes? I preferred Richard Crenna in Our Miss Brooks and The Real McCoys.

Scream of the Wolf (1974 TV Movie)

WHERE THERE'S A WOLF THERE'S A WAY

[6/10 · 3 February 2021]

Forget the obvious corny storyline, there are some genuinely scary scenes in this horror flick