elitefinance Reviews

State of Mind (1994)

Whoever had the idea or whatever it may be,still got some classic names.

[15 February 2006]

I don't know who had the idea of making this film? or why? but,I discovered that the film contains quite a few classic names i.e. Fred Williamson,Paul Naschy and Darryl Hannah,s only brother Don Hannah and all that in Belgium? to my knowledge this doesn't happen to often,whoever convinced those actors to come over must be a good pr. I am not familiar with the director nor the writer but,this could have been a much better film in all aspects.I did a long career study on Fred Williamson(The Hammer)and I am very familiar with all the feature films he has done in the past but,there was one film lacking(not mentioned on his CV)and now I know it is State of Mind.When checking the credits for this film, I noticed the name of the amazing Sydney Ling as casting director.Whoever convinced him to participate in this adventure is a question-mark for me but,I am almost sure that he convinced the actors to come over to Belgium.Having studied the many careers of Sydney Ling, he remains the greatest dealmaker and negotiator as well.Why would these guys do a film like this in Belgium and to please who?

L.F.Berman.

Al oeste de Río Grande (1983)

an interesting piece of work from Zabalza.

[7/10 · 9 February 2006]

Al oeste de rio grande a.k.a. West of rio grande is a most interesting movie made by the late Jose Maria Zabalza.I watched the film four times as part of a spaghetti western study of those made in Spain and Italy.Al oeste de rio grande tells the real story of the wild west and in fact is a mix between the classic American style and that of the Spaghetti.Explaned in a simple way,so that even children understand part of that history.The editing may not be a real masterpiece and,can be quite confusing at times,one has to understand the Zabalza philosophy.Hightlights: You must love those scenes between Sydney Ling and Aldo Sambrell,they are really fighting here,rough,tough and the hardway.The actions scenes here are quite unique.Its amazing to see the energetic Sydney Ling taking on a great quantity of gringos and indians.The headhunters couple played by John Holland and Julie La Rousse is also quite amusing.The most amazing scene of this film,is at the end when actors,Aldo Sambrell,John Holland and Julie La Rousse are hanging Sydney Ling onto a funeralcoach which is pulled by four horses and are pulling Sydney Ling over some very rough roads.All this is real,without any stand-inn and without any real tricking(this has never been done before,its really artisanal)So,yes its an interesting piece of work from Zabalza.