BY LEE PFEIFFER

Mill Creek Entertainment has released a DVD of two Dean Martin romantic comedies from the 1960s, "Who Was That Lady?" and "How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life. 

Of the two features, "Who's That Lady?" is the far superior entry. Based on Norman Krasna's play "Who Was That Lady I Saw You With?", the modestly-budgeted B&W production offered an undemanding role for Martin, who was coming off acclaimed dramatic performances in "The Young Lions" and "Some Came Running" following his breakup with Jerry Lewis. Tony Curtis gets top billing in the film playing David Wilson, a chemistry professor at Columbia University in New York City. Before the credits finish unspooling, we see him caught in a compromising situation when his wife Ann (Janet Leigh) catches him in the act smooching with one of his students. She storms out and makes preparations to file for divorce. David pleads with her to reconsider but she won't hear of it. In desperation, David turns to his best friend Mike Haney (Dean Martin), a charismatic bachelor and serial womanizer. He also happens to be a screenwriter for CBS television and possesses a fertile imagination. Mike hatches an audacious scheme to get David off the hook. He gets a pistol from the CBS prop department as well as a custom-made faux F.B.I. identification card made with David's photo on it. The two men then tell Ann that both of them have been secretly moonlighting as F.B.I. agents for years and that the girl David was kissing was a suspected spy who he had been ordered to flirt with in order to win her confidence. Ann is initially skeptical but the appearance of the gun and I.D. card changes her mind. Suddenly, she is greatly impressed with her husband, who she now regards as a macho man. However, the lie turns into a giant headache when a real F.B.I. agent (James Whitmore) gets a tip that David has a phony ID from the agency. Adding to David's woes is Mike's insistence that they play upon Ann's gullibility by going out on more "missions" that involve seductive women. The house of cards eventually comes crashing down in a frenzied climax set in the bowels of the Empire State Building where David and Mike are mistaken by Soviet spies as real agents and kidnapped.

"Who Was That Lady?" is a pleasant time-killer that relies primarily on the deft comedic performances of the three leads, each of whom delivers the goods. There's great chemistry between Curtis, Martin and Leigh (the real-life Mrs. Curtis at the time) and the film boasts an impressive supporting cast aside from the always-impressive Whitmore. John McIntire is there along with Simon Oakland and Larry Storch as the commies. Barbara Nichols and Joi Lansing add some laughs as a couple of busty, bubble-headed Marilyn Monroe-type who Mike earmarks as dates for him and David- a plan that ends disastrously. The film, directed by George Sidney, is best in the first half when the action and characters are set in the real world. However, the film delves into slapstick elements that prove to be more distracting than amusing. Still, "Who's That Lady?" is a generally funny effort, even if it's an undistinguished one- and you get to hear Dino croon the catchy title song. 

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

Sam Fuller is one of these iconic directors that independent film makers like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodrigues idolize for being a maverick who frequently got away with making movies his own way, even if the studios that employed him didn’t always like it. But even though he preferred to make hard hitting, semi-expose movies like “Shock Corridor” and “The Naked Kiss,” Fuller also knew which side of the bread was buttered and could make a movie that both he and his studio bosses knew could be a commercial success. “Hell and High Water” (1954), released by 20th Century Fox, is one of those. Made at the height of the Cold War, it capitalized on America’s fear of the atom bomb, the Red Menace, and catered to the belief that private individuals can sometime be more effective than government at solving the world’s problems.

A group of such individuals, scientists from around the world, want to investigate suspicious activities on an island in the North Atlantic by the Chinese communists (though their nationality is never mentioned). They hire former submarine commander Capt. Adam Jones (Richard Widmark) to take them to the island in a rebuilt Japanese sub (the kind that Captain Jones calls “a sewer pipe”). The scientists suspect that the island is being used as the site for the building of an atom bomb and are scheming to start WW III. Fuller had a hand in writing the screenplay as well as directing and so Capt. Jones is your typical Fuller hero. He’s tough, he’s brash, he’s honest, and he’s cynical. He agrees to take the idealistic scientists to their destination but only because they’ll pay him 50 G’s to do it.

He assembles some of his old crew, including Gene Evans (a Fuller regular), and Cameron Mitchell, the sub’s sonar man. The lead scientist in charge of the expedition is Professor Montel (Victor Franken), who is fond of saying: “Every man has his own reason for living, and his own price for dying.” Just for the sake of spicing things up a bit, the old professor brings along an assistant-- a sexy young French female scientist played by Bella Darvi. Darvi’s personal story is both interesting and tragic. She was discovered in Monaco by Darryl Zanuck and his wife Virginia. Mrs. Zanuck thought she had star potential and even created Bella’s screen name. Darvi is a combination of Darryl and Virginia. She made only three Hollywood movies before a sex scandal involving Zanuck broke out, causing Virginia Zanuck to split. Darvi’s career never really took off and after the scandal she returned to Europe where she eventually committed suicide at age 42.

But to return to our story, of course, the presence of a woman on board a salvaged Japanese sub manned by a bunch of horny, sweaty guys is a totally believable thing and isn’t going to cause any sort of plot complication. But then believability isn’t a word you’d associate with “Hell and High Water.” Especially not when the sub encounters another submarine, (Chinese? I guess, who knows for sure) demanding to know what the hell they’re doing there. What follows is the usual cat and mouse sequence you find in most submarine movies. After a torpedo is fired at them, they dive for the bottom. The torpedoes on Jones’s sub don’t work because they didn’t have time to get them in working order before they started out. They stay there trying to not make any noise so they don’t get pinged by sonar. The other sub lands a few hundred yards away and they try to outwait each other. Finally, Jones and his men have had enough and the captain orders the ship to make a break for it. He’s got a new plan. He rams the “sewer pipe” into the other sub and sinks it. Hooray, the good guys win. But wait. This is supposed to be a peaceful scientific expedition. What about all the Chinese sailors (or whatever they are) killed on the other sub? Wouldn’t that be like an international incident? Wouldn’t that actually be an act of war itself that might lead to WWIII, just the very think they were trying to prevent?

BY JOHN M. WHALEN

“Junior Bonner,” (1972) may not be director Sam Peckinpah’s greatest film, but in many ways it’s one of his most honest. There are no outlaws with guns blazing in a suicidal battle with the Mexican army (“The Wild Bunch”) . No down and out tough guys scrounging their lives away in Mexican dives on a quest to get the head of a dead man worth $1 million (“Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”). No CIA contractors skulking around San Francisco’s Suisan Bay with telescopic rifles (“The Killer Elite”). None of that. Instead “Junior Bonner” is the story of a modern day, every day rodeo cowboy fighting an honorable and impossible battle against the forces that are changing the people and the land that he knew—changing them for the worse.

Steve McQueen, in one of his most realistic, understated performances, plays the Arizona cowboy who’s been riding the rodeo circuit a little too long, and he knows it. He’s the son of former rodeo star Ace Bonner, and he returns to his Prescott, Ariz., home in time for the town’s annual Fourth of July rodeo festival. At the last stop on the circuit he got “throwed” by a bull named Sunshine and his goal is to have a rematch with Sunshine in front of his home town crowd. In a way he’s fulfilling one of the precepts of the Peckinpah canon laid down in “Ride the High Country,” in which Joel McCrea, as an aging former lawman, says “All I want to do is enter my house justified.”

Peckinpah rather brilliantly presents the theme of changing times in the early scenes of the film, when JR drives his big old white Cadillac convertible and horse-carrying trailer to his father’s home and finds it is now a tumble-down shack about to be demolished by a wrecking crew. The land it is on is being bulldozed into a gravel pit. After going inside the house and finding nothing but an old picture in a busted frame of Ace in his heyday, he drives out to the pit and asks if they know where Ace is. “Never heard of him,” they tell him. And, in a scene reminiscent of “The Grapes of Wrath,” when he tries to drive out of the pit he gets into a head-to-head confrontation with a bulldozer operator who won’t let him pass. For a minute it looks like JR might take him, but instead he’s forced to back up.

We next meet JR’s young brother, Curly (Joe Don Baker), a real estate developer who’s selling off his father’s land to build a trailer park. When JR finds out he only paid $15,000 for four sections of land, he’s not too happy about it. And when Curly offers to bring him into the business because he doesn’t want his older brother to “end up like the old man,” JR does what any good Peckinpah cowboy would do. He knocks him through a picture window.

The film features two veterans playing JR’s parents, Robert Preston as Ace and Ida Lupino as Elvira Bonner. Ace in his old age, is something of a clown, a dreamer and the town drunk. His current ambition is to go to Australia to punch cows. Elvira is the disillusioned wife and mother who knows the best days of their lives are over and is just trying to hold on to what’s left. Preston had just the right amount of charm and personality to make Ace a convincing character and Lupino, who had been working steadily in TV after years as a successful actress and director, is both touching and beautiful in her return to the big screen. Also on hand are Ben Johnson as Buck Roan, the man who runs the rodeo, as well as familiar faces such as Bill McKinney (“Deliverance”) and Don “Red” Barry (in westerns too numerous to mention).

Peckinpah filmed the movie on location during the actual Prescott Rodeo event, utilizing the local color and many non-actors, giving the picture an authenticity that can’t be duplicated on studio sets. It’s that direct simplicity that makes “Junior Bonner” work. In the end, it’s the story of people coming to terms with the truth of who they are and facing the consequences without compromise.

BY TIM GREAVES

Released in 1977, Scalpel is one of only two films bearing the director credit John Grissmer. A decade apart, the other is 1987’s marginally less satisfying Blood Rage. Which isn’t to suggest that Scalpel itself is particularly good, because it’s not. It is, however, the better of the pair.

Plastic surgeon Dr Phillip Reynolds (Robert Lansing) is in a bit of a quandary. His wife is some while dead and his father-in-law, who despised him, has just passed away bequeathing a fortune to Reynolds’ daughter Heather (Judith Chapman). The problem is that Heather disappeared after witnessing Reynolds committing a dreadful crime and she hasn’t been seen for over a year. And Reynolds wants that money! A solution presents itself when he’s out driving one night and almost runs over Jane, a stripper who’s been savagely beaten up and is laid unconscious in the road. Whisking Jane off to the hospital where he works, Reynolds hatches a scheme to refashion her smashed face to replicate that of the missing Heather. As she recovers he makes her a proposal: successfully pass herself off as Heather until the cash is signed over and they will split it down the middle. It sounds perfect. But with $5 million at stake there’s trouble ahead and Reynolds’ cunning plan is about to be derailed by an unexpected arrival...

Also circulating under the title False Face – which arguably has less exploitation value plastered across a marquee than Scalpel, but is technically more pertinent – John Grissmer’s debut film is a bit of an oddity. Although on first run it feels mired in a pervasive grubbiness, when you step back and analyse it that’s more down to the sickly yellow glaze that bedecks the entire movie (the artistic intent of cinematographer Edward Lachman) than anything particularly disturbing content-wise. In fact, a fleeting flash of nudity and a splash or two of graphic bloodshed aside, Scalpel could almost pass as a TV production. This impression is enforced by the headlining presence of prolific actor Robert Lansing, whose work on television (in a fistful of made-for-TV movies, but mostly in episodes of a myriad of series) outweighed his big screen appearances 14 to 1. Nevertheless, he’s on excellent form here as the nutty surgeon with as much of a fixation on his daughter – the manifestation of incestuous desire may be fairly tame but it’s scarcely subtle – as he has on lining his pockets with ill-gotten millions. Judith Chapman meanwhile is every bit his equal in the contrasting roles of Jane and Heather and there’s some very efficient split screen work served up on those occasions that she’s called upon to share the screen with herself.

Director Grissmer also penned the script, based on an original story by Joseph Weintraub, and if it’s not exactly thrill-a-minute stuff it certainly manages to keep one engaged enough through a number of (mostly predictable) twists, although for my money it badly fumbles the ball in the penultimate act with a daft sequence in which one of the main characters descends into gibbering madness.

Provided you don’t go in expecting to be wowed, you shouldn’t come away too disappointed. But the bottom line is that it’s always pleasing to see a movie brought back from the brink of obscurity – for every naysayer there’s always going to be someone else rejoicing – and for that reason alone Scalpel is well worth a look.

In this instance it’s the ever reliable Arrow Video breathing new life into the borderline obscure and the package they’ve put together for Scalpel is very decent indeed. There are two versions of film to choose from, one faithfully retaining the original, rather off-putting yellowish-green hues of the aforementioned cinematography, the other being Arrow’s own newly tweaked version with the colour grading adjusted to attain a more naturalistic look; although staunch traditionalists will favour the former, the latter makes the film more palatable by far. Whichever you select, there’s the option to watch in the company of a commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith. 45-minutes’ worth of all-new interviews with director John Grissmer, DOP Edward Lachman and star Judith Chapman, a slideshow gallery of stills and artwork, plus a vintage trailer combine to constitute the bonus goodies. A reversible sleeve and collector’s booklet may be par for the course now with Arrow releases, but they’re never less than welcome.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Mill Creek Entertainment has released a Jerry Lewis triple feature consisting of "3 on a Couch" (1966), "Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River" (1968) and "Hook, Line and Sinker" (1969). The films represent a mixed bag as Lewis entered middle age and tried to blend a more mature screen presence with his traditional persona of a lovable goofball.

"3 on a Couch" is leaden farce directed by Lewis, that presents him as Christopher Pride, an aspiring artist who wins a contest sponsored by the French government that will afford him to spend a month in Paris to contribute to a high profile project that could greatly enhance his career. Christopher is understandably over the moon about the prospect and shares the good news with his fiancee, Elizabeth (Janet Leigh), who he wants to join him on the trip. However, Elizabeth has a problem: she is a psychiatrist who is overseeing three emotionally vulnerable young women who are trying to cope with romantic relationships that have ended in heartbreak for them. They are completely dependent on her to cure them of their fear and loathing of men and Elizabeth can't justify taking off for a month because they have become so dependent upon her as both a mother figure and a confidant. Frustrated, Christopher devises an outlandish strategy in conjunction with his best friend Ben (James Best). He decides to adopt disguises as three different men, each of whom will attempt to woo one of the vulnerable young women and therefore restore their faith in the male of the species, thus allowing them to sever the ties to Elizabeth's therapy sessions.  If you think it sounds absurd, wait until you see it all play out on screen. Christopher's alter egos consist of a fitness fanatic who will appeal to one of the patients who jogs and works out non-stop. Another is Ringo, a Texan who wears a ten-gallon hat and who perpetually chews on an unlit cigar while acting like a case of arrested development. The third persona is a fey, Truman Capote-type who lives with his protective sister (which also affords Lewis to play that role in drag.) The preposterous scenario doesn't hold up for a second, especially when each of the young women falls head over heels for these zany types, including the guy who appears to be gay. Go figure. The farce allows Lewis to indulge in his obsession with playing roles in various over-the-top disguises, none of which are the slightest bit amusing. The sight of Lewis in drag trying to shimmy out of stockings and corset is more disturbing than funny. The climax finds Christopher and Elizabeth being feted at a bon voyage party in her office as they prepare to sail for Paris. Predictably, all three young women decide to show up to see Elizabeth off, which ensures that Lewis has to frantically keep switching disguises to interact with each "girlfriend" so they don't catch on the ruse. The scene is ridiculous on several levels, the most obvious being that hundreds of people seem to be able to miraculously fit into this tiny office space. Lewis seems to have been inspired by the famed stateroom scene from "A Night at the Opera" but despite the frantic goings-on, the whole shebang falls flat as a pancake. Lewis plays it straight when in the role of the artist but chews the scenery mercilessly as the alter-egos. Likewise, James Best, who Lewis directs as though he is also on steroids. The three young women- Gila Golan, Leslie Parrish and Mary Ann Mobley- are reduced to air-headed females who define their entire lives by finding the right man. Only Janet Leigh retains her dignity and seems to be acting in a completely different film. The whole enterprise is excruciating throughout. 

"Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River" seems to afford more promise. For one, it's based on a source novel by Max Wilk, who also wrote the screenplay. The film was also shot in England, which gives a Lewis production a refreshing change of pace. The movie's highlight is its opening credits sequence in which a nattily-clad Lewis jauntily walks through the streets of London, thus affording some good views of the city while a sappy title song unspools. Lewis plays George Lester, a self-made rich guy, who encounters a pretty young woman during his walk. She's Pamela (Jacqueline Pearce), who is quickly wooed by George and ends up marrying him. We then see a montage of what married life is like for her as George squanders his money taking them to exotic locations around the world in hare-brained schemes designed to develop new products that ultimately end in failure. Pamela decides to file for divorce, claiming that George's obsession with his business has left her feeling lonely and neglected. She's also being wooed by her divorce attorney, Dudley (Nicholas Parsons), a swanky, Savile Row-type who wants to succeed George as her next husband. Distraught, George decides to please his wife and win her back by converting their beloved country manor house to a combination Chinese restaurant and swinging discotheque. She is appalled, even though the place becomes a sensation and allows George to earn some much-needed money. The rest of the film centers on George's frantic and incredible strategies to win back Pamela and thwart his rival Dudley at the same time. Suffice it to say that Lewis once again gets to dress in outrageous disguises but, as in "3 on a Couch", none are amusing. The promising pairing of Lewis with Terry-Thomas as a con man he enlists in his scheme also falls flat as the plot meanders and plays out boringly under the leaden direction of Jerry Paris, who fared far better as a sitcom director. The only bright spots are a fine performance by Jacqueline Pearce and the occasional appearances of two of England's best comedic actors, Bernard Cribbins and Patricia Routledge. "Goldfinger" beauty Margaret Nolan appears as a dental assistant but is given nothing funny or memorable to do.

BY TODD GARBARINI

The 1980s were a decade of many cultural phenomenon such as the teen angst film, the splatter horror film, the zombie films, and of course the teen sex comedy. Bob Clark’s Porky’s (1981) was a huge success both financially and artistically. To this day it’s still one of the funniest movies ever made. Many of today’s best-known actors cut their teeth in such fare: Tom Hanks attended an out-of-control Bachelor Party (1984) and even Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow checked into a Private Resort (1985). Stanley Donen, best known for directing Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Funny Face (1957), Charade (1963), and Arabesque (1966), followed up the boring and disastrous Saturn 3 (1980) with Blame It on Rio, a peculiar entry in his otherwise illustrious career. Jennifer (Michelle Johnson) is a pulchritudinous seventeen-year-old who lusts after her father Victor’s (Joseph Bologna) best friend Matthew (Michael Caine), a man roughly twenty-five years her senior (in reality there is a thirty-two year difference between Caine and Johnson). The situation can only be characterized as “creepy” and “inappropriate” since she has known him her whole life and refers to him as “Uncle Matthew”.

From the start we know that Matthew and his wife Karen (Valerie Harper) are estranged when Karen drops a bombshell that she’s going on vacation by herself which forces Matthew and their daughter Nikki (Demi Moore) to fly to Rio by themselves with Victor and Jennifer. Almost from the outset Jennifer is pining for Matthew, hitting the beach in nothing but a bikini bottom, her abundant assets in full display to the dismay of her father. Despite Matthew’s vehement protests, she insists that she loves him and only wants to be with him. Men her own age simply don’t appeal to her. It becomes obvious by the film’s end that Matthew is starting to fall for her (he’s still married to Karen), but one of the biggest problems with the film is its characterization of Jennifer. Ms. Johnson, who was hired by Mr. Donen following his discovery of her in W magazine, portrays Jennifer as she was written: immature and unstable. By the film’s end, Jennifer commits a truly awful act that is glossed over in the standard Hollywood fashion. It turns out that she may be a little more dangerous than Matthew ever would have imagined.

Rio, which opened on Friday, February 17, 1984 just after Valentine’s Day (yes, 34 years ago, Good Heavens), boasts a fairly provocative advertising campaign featuring a woman’s rear view donning a bikini and it became frequent viewing on cable television following its theatrical run. The film is a loose remake of the 1977 French film Un Moment D'égarement (In a Wild Moment) by Claude Berrie, made years before he made Jean de Flourette and Manon des Sources, which director Donen and his then-wife Yvette Mimieux had seen and decided to option for a remake. Ironically, it was made yet again in 2015 with Vincent Cassel and François Cluzet and directed by Jean-François Richet and retained the original titre français.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Time/Life has been releasing a treasure trove of golden oldies relating to classic TV series. The latest comprises of four episodes of "The Jackie Gleason Show" that have been unseen since their original air dates in 1968-69. Gleason had become an icon by the early 1950s. His variety show for CBS was a national sensation and it was on there that he introduced "The Honeymooners" as an occasional sketch of varying lengths. He would later turn the scenario into a classic stand-alone sitcom that lasted for thirty nine glorious episodes. Gleason had numerous incarnations of his variety series. By the mid-1960s, he was still as king at CBS, which also laid claim to Ed Sullivan's equally popular variety show. Gleason used his clout to relocate his show to Miami Beach ("The sun and fun capital of the world!", he would assure his audience every week.) Gleason's love affair with the city helped increase tourism and paved the way for a burgeoning film and TV industry there. He always assured his audience that they were the greatest in the world, and it's hard to argue with that. Even his lamest sketches and jokes on the variety show bring down the house. A one man show business powerhouse, Gleason also succeeded on the big screen, in stage productions and also as a composer and conductor of romantic tunes that saw his albums improbably sell millions. Gleason revived "The Honeymooners" in the latest incarnation of his variety series, albeit with the roles of the female characters were recast. Gone were the beloved Audrey Meadows who played Alice, the wife of Gleason's Ralph Kramden. So too was Joyce Randolph replaced as Trixie, wife of Ralph's best friend, Ed Norton (Art Carney). In their place were Sheila MacRae and Jane Kean. Again, the "Honeymooners" sketches would vary in length but were a key ingredient in maintaining Gleason's high ratings. 

The Time/Life release showcases "The Honeymooners" in three of the episodes. Gleason, like Howard Hawks, was unapologetic about recycling plots from his earlier works. Thus, one of the "Honeymooners" sketches is a loose remake of an episode from the 1950s in which Ralph mistakes a dog's dire health report from a veterinarian for his own diagnosis. The sketches are reasonably funny but the recasting of they key roles of the wives simply doesn't work very well, as we are so used to seeing Meadows and Randolph in these roles. Also, the cramped Kramden apartment looks cavernous on a Miami soundstage in color. The rest of the variety show episodes follow a pattern: Gleason is introduced and strolls on stage, dressed to the nines and looking like a million bucks. He chain smokes cigarettes as he jokes with the audience, then participates in bantering with his first guest. On these programs, Red Buttons appears in three of these opening acts with Gleason. Other guests include Frankie Avalon singing a kitschy version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", Milton Berle in a long, belabored comedy bit with Gleason that seems endless and unfunny,  Phil Silvers in a rare stand-up appearance, future "Brady Bunch" mom Florence Henderson, Edie Adams, Morey Amsterdam, Jan Murray, and, most amusingly, Nipsey Russell and an impossibly young George Carlin. The humor is clean and mainstream. Despite the tumultuous political situation going on during this period, there are just a few lightweight cracks about outgoing President Johnson and incoming President Nixon. The most politically incorrect jokes pertain to Gleason's penchant for self-deprecating remarks about his girth  Today, he wouldn't be allowed to refer to himself as fat, but would probably have to say he's "vertically challenged." The episodes don't have consistent running times because the famed June Taylor Dancers, who performed on every show, are nowhere to be found, presumably due to rights issues- although they are mentioned in every introduction. The quality of the episodes is very good and one is impressed to realize just how few commercials viewers were subjected to in the good old days. Today, a show seems to consist primarily of ads with a few breaks for entertainment content. Although much of the humor in this set is rather dated and predictable, it is admittedly irresistible to watch all these great talents at various stages of their careers. We don't have variety shows any more in the traditional sense and we certainly don't have anyone of the stature of Jackie Gleason, who was a true "Man for All Seasons". 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The late Joe Sarno was a pioneer in the "art" of producing, writing and directing New York sexploitation films. What set Sarno apart from many of his peers is that he attempted to bring a degree of integrity to his work by providing reasonably compelling story lines. This was especially true in the 1960s when the mainstreaming of adult films was becoming the norm in big cities, even as rural America was seemingly in a frenzy to do battle with the people who made them. Vinegar Syndrome has released a limited edition Blu-ray/DVD of one of Sarno's most ambitious projects, "Red Roses of Passion". Filmed in New York in late 1966, the film had a checkered theatrical release over the next couple of years. The B&W film is unusual for adult fare of the era because it delves into a plot that centers on the supernatural. Carla (Patricia McNair) is a rebellious young woman who is living with her cousin and aunt. She is bored to death by her aunt's conservative lifestyle and her cousin's plain vanilla boyfriend, who is always held up as the epitome of the responsible man to have in your life. Carla certainly wants a man in her life...seemingly any man but each time she sneaks a potential lover back to her room, her aunt thwarts her plans for an erotic evening. Carla's friend Enid convinces her to visit a fortune teller she has been frequenting, Martha. Carla complies and is suitably impressed when Martha is able to divulge personal information about Carla she could not possibly have known otherwise. Still, Martha is a strange one: humorless, dominating and demanding. Carla realizes that Martha is the mistress of the Cult of Pan, an erotic secret society that meets to engage in sex rites. A group of young women don see-through lingerie and indulge in all sorts of exotic rituals culminating in sipping "The Wine of Pan" and rubbing roses on each other. The combination of the two rituals brings the women to orgasmic pleasure before they offer themselves to "Pan"- who is, in reality, Martha's creepy brother who hides behind a curtain until it's time to preside over an orgy in which he is the only male. When no other women are around, Pan considers his own sister to be fair game. 

In a scenario worthy of a "Twilight Zone" episode, Carla asks Martha if she can do anything to mitigate her aunt and cousin's prudish behavior. Martha instructs her to put some drops of Pan's Wine into their tea, which she does. Soon, a mysterious messenger arrives delivering a single rose to her aunt, who immediately begins rubbing it all over her body in a sex-crazed frenzy. Her daughter is appalled- until she gets the urge to do the same. Before long, the women are bonafide nymphomaniacs. Worse, they compete with each other to seduce the delivery man, who is, in fact, Pan. At one point mom and daughter engage in a rolling cat fight, clad only in their bras and panties. Before long they are having threesomes with men and trawling the back alleys to have sex with any available male. The action spills over back into their home where orgies become regular occurrences in their living room, giving an all new meaning to what a shag rug really means. Carla, meanwhile, is suffering pangs of guilt. She tells Martha she never meant to ruin the women's lives and pleads to have the spell broken. Martha said she can do so- but only if Carla agrees to be one of Pan's sex slaves forever. 

After falling under Pan's spell, mother and daughter are compelled to compete with each other for lovers.

"Red Roses of Passion" isn't a hardcore sex film but it's content was pretty edgy for 1966- especially with scenes of mom and daughter both seducing the same lover (even "The Graduate"'s Benjamin didn't manage that with Mrs Robinson and her daughter at the same time.) The Satanic aspect of the script makes for a genuinely entertaining experience, thanks in no small part to the crisp cinematography of Anthony Lover (that's his real name. Honest.) One must view a film like this in context. Sarno had virtually no money, no professional actors and had to confine most of the shooting to interiors because the complications of filming on the streets of New York were too fraught with difficulties. Some of the performances are predictably amateurish but others are surprisingly effective. Sarno kills plenty of time by lingering too long on some of the rituals of the scantily clad women flaying each other with single stem roses but in the aggregate the movie is an impressive achievement. I should also mention that the music (not credited) also adds to the atmosphere with a strain that sounds similar to "The Third Man Theme" used sporadically to good effect. 

The only bonus feature is a video interview with Sarno biographer and friend Michael Bowen, who provides plenty of interesting detail about Sarno's prolific career and the early days of shooting adult films in New York. 

The Vinegar Syndrome transfer is excellent and it's too bad Sarno isn't around to enjoy seeing a first class presentation of his impressive "B" movie. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Athena Video has released "The Rise of the Nazi Party", a three disc DVD set comprised of all ten episodes from the acclaimed British documentary series that was telecast in the USA under the title "Nazis: Evolution of Evil". The fascination with Adolf Hitler and his criminal regime seems to only increase with time. While the documentaries cover well-worn turf, what makes this presentation notable is that the narrative concentrates on the inner workings of the Nazi party and the interaction between its key figures. The series uses dramatic recreations of major events interwoven with an abundance of actual newsreel footage and photographs. Clearly, a sizable sum had been spent on production values. The series interweaves contemporary footage of German locations with the historical films. While the notion is somewhat innovative,  the shifting between old and new scenes can be somewhat distracting. That's about the only gripe, however. "The Rise of the Nazi Party" is a fascinating look at how a group of misfits, scoundrels and sadists rose to dominate one of the world's great nations. The series begins with the aftermath of WWI and correctly points out that the greed of the victorious Allied nations ironically helped nurture the rise of right wing extremism practiced by Hitler. The Allies insisted that German pay reparations for the war and the notorious Treaty of Versailles placed such onerous financial burdens on the German people that it risked turning the entire nation into a Third World country. The staggering debt was seen as a cash cow, particularly by Britain and France, the Allied countries that had suffered the most from the conflict. (Incredibly, Germany only recently made the final payments on its war debt.) Because WWI was such a senseless conflict caused by so many vague factors, the German people resented having the entire blame placed on them. As the financial situation in Germany worsened, hyperinflation devalued the German mark to the point where a loaf of bread could cost millions. Simultaneously, as the documentary points out, the Germans suffered another indignity when France sent armed legions to Germany's industrial region to occupy the territory and appropriate the revenues from factories. It was amid such a period of crisis that Adolf Hitler first became known. A decorated hero in the war, Hitler resented the military brass that had signed the Treaty of Versailles and in some warped fashion believed that a cabal of influential Jews were behind the strategy. His inexplicable but rabid anti-Semitism would characterize the entire Nazi movement. Even in its dying days, Hitler had the Nazi regime allocate enormous resources to continue his attempts to exterminate an entire people. 

The documentary traces Hitler's first association with fringe groups who were calling for an overthrow of the weak Weimar Republic, a democratic government that had been imposed by the Allies but which had lost the confidence of the German people. Within a short time, the charismatic Hitler becomes the leader of the dissidents and moves to unite the fractions among them into the National Socialist Party. His first attempt to take the nation in a violent coup fails and he is imprisoned. However, behind bars he turns himself into a martyr to his cause by writing his influential memoir, Mein Kampf. When he emerges from jail, Hitler realizes the way to power is to bide his time and go through legal means. The Nazis grow in numbers and in strength but the everyday German doesn't believe they can ever win national offices. They were wrong. During the pivotal election cycle, the average German is lethargic and stays home from the polls while Hitler's fanatical followers turn out in droves. The Nazis become a major factor in the German political landscape. Ultimately, Hitler is appointed Chancellor under the aging but beloved President, von Hindenburg. Knowing that taking action against this national icon would backfire, he bides his time until von Hinderburg's death. He then appoints himself supreme leader of the nation, citing the need for a strong man with extraordinary powers to take on the many crisis facing Germany. The German reichstag all but votes themselves out of any meaningful power beyond being a body of "rubber-stampers" for Hitler's legislation. Within a short period of time, Hitler makes good on his promises. He authorizes massive public work projects that not only wipe out unemployment but also result in the nation having the most modern road system in the world. Worker's wages are raised and the average person's living standards rise appreciably. Hitler becomes a beloved icon. However, the dark side of this success is Hitler's calculated ability to split the population into "us" and "them", the latter being "undesirable" minorities, especially the Jews. He passes the Nuremberg Laws that effectively deprive German Jews of all civil rights- and it only gets worse from there. By rewarding Aryans with a good lifestyle, he correctly gambles that the average German won't do much to protest the persecution of the Jews. By the time he is committing wholesale genocide, many Germans are repulsed but are powerless to stop him. Hitler's obsession for expanding Germany's borders into Czechoslovakia and Austria are achieved without firing a shot, despite having blatantly violated the Treaty of Versailles. However, he miscalculates the Allies with his invasion of Poland, as evidenced by France and England declaring war. Hitler's fate is ultimately sealed when he makes the ill-advised decision to declare war on America in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He is now fighting an industrial giant with seemingly unlimited resources.  This factor, coupled with his betrayal of the Soviet Union, it is only a matter of time before Germany is defeated.

The documentary also explores Hitler's love life (or lack thereof) and his obsession with his half-niece, who ultimately committed suicide, possibly because of his dictatorial control over her life. The show also delves into the rise of Hitler's top right hand men: Himmler, Goering, Goebbels and others. Among them is Ernst Rohm, an early supporter of Hitler who built his private body guard, the Brownshirts, into a major military force that virtually equaled the German army. In a sign of the backbiting that would characterize the Nazi brass, Hitler is manipulated by others into believing that  Rohm is planning a coup. Thus, Hitler personally leads a raiding party on Rohm and his top men at a vacation resort where they are holding a conference. (It was actually a ruse for Rohm and his homosexual lovers to engage in sexual activities that Hitler felt were appalling for a true Aryan to participate in.) He orders his old friend to be executed. It would serve as a boiler plate for the inner rivalries and paranoia among his confidants that would dominate is reign as Fuhrer. (In the dying days of the Reich, both Himmler and Goering would betray Hitler by each presenting himself as the new Fuhrer and hoping to sue for peace.) 

The purpose of the series is not to present the history of WWII. Certain major elements are covered in detail: the Holocaust,  the disastrous invasion of the Soviet Union, the attempted assassinations against Hitler, the manipulation of Chamberlain at Munich, etc. However, other key events such as the invasion of Poland,  the Hitler/Stalin pact and the fall of France are barely mentioned. The episodes are mostly concerned with the psyche of the Nazi brass. All of it is set to the pitch perfect narration of Joseph Kloska, who provides the necessary tone of gravitas. (Inexcusably, none of the actors who are seen throughout the entire series merit even a mention in the end credits.) There are the usual "talking heads" who provide analysis of the subject matter and these scholars are particularly interesting throughout. The final episode, "Aftermath", is one of the most compelling as it explores the breakout of the Cold War in the immediate aftermath of Germany's defeat.  The Nuremberg Trials are covered in considerable detail and the episode bluntly addresses the decision by the United States to recruit notorious Nazi war criminals and whitewash their pasts in order to benefit from the technological knowledge these people had in the areas of science and espionage. (Wernher von Braun, who developed the first rocket technology, had the blood of thousands of slave laborers on his hands yet his indisputably built America's space program.)

The entire series is compelling throughout and will provide new perspectives for even the most devout WWII scholars. The set includes a booklet that features biographies of key Nazis along with a useful timeline of their rise and fall from power.

If there is a lesson to be learned from all of this, it's that when people in democracies are too lethargic to vote or become involved in the political process, the worst elements of society may one day seize power.  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

I initially saw "Cops and Robbers" on its theatrical release in 1973. Strangely, I retained no memories of the film whatsoever except a few bars of the catchy title theme song by Michel Legrand. I say "strangely" because, upon watching the film's Blu-ray debut through Kino Lorber Studio Classics, I found the movie to be terrifically entertaining. Perhaps it's because terrifically entertaining films were a dime a dozen back in the 1970s that this particular movie didn't resonate with me at the time. Nevertheless, watching it today, it has a great many pleasures, not the least of which is two leading actors who were not familiar faces at the time, thus allowing the viewer to not have any preconceptions about their mannerisms or previous roles. The film was shot in New York City during a long period of urban decay. Poverty and crime were rising and the infrastructure was crumbling as the city came perilously close to declaring bankruptcy. It's a far cry from today's New York but at the time one benefit of all this chaos was that it inspired filmmakers to take advantage of the somber landscape and use it as fodder for some memorable films. Michael Winner's "Death Wish" and Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" administered the cinematic coup de grace, painting a picture of Gotham as a foreboding urban jungle. This was always overstated, of course, as there was never a period in which New York was in danger of losing its reputation as the most exciting city on earth. However, the grime and grit certainly did much to tarnish its reputation for a good number of years.

Among the films that represented this era was the little-remembered "Cops and Robbers", which is an offbeat entry in the genre of "dirty cop" movies that became popular during the 1970s. The twist is that, unlike the exploits of larger-than-life cops such as Dirty Harry or Popeye Doyle, this film centers on the day-to-day frustrations of  two every day patrolmen - Tom (Cliff Gorman) and Joe (Joseph Bologna)- trying to cope with the frustrations of risking their lives for a salary of $43 a day. We watch as they car pool from their cramped suburban housing units to Manhattan, a daily trek of seemingly endless traffic jams that they must endure in the sweltering heat. (Yes, kiddies, most of us working class clods didn't have air conditioning in our cars in the 1970s.) Their familiar grind includes wrestling with mentally unstable people, watching fellow officers getting shot and having an ungrateful populace take them for granted. With wives and kids to provide for, they are at the end of their ropes. One day, Joe casually confesses to Tom that he recently walked into a liquor store in full uniform and held the place up at gunpoint. He only got a couple of hundred dollars, but was amazed at how easy it was to get away with- largely because everyone assumed the culprit was someone disguised as a New York City police officer. After all, although corruption was widespread even in this post-Serpico period, it was mostly carried out discreetly through payoffs and freebies. New York City cops did not commit overt robberies while on the job. Tom is initially appalled, but is also mesmerized by the prospect of using their positions of trust to carry out an even grander robbery: one that would put them on East Street for the rest of their lives. Using a disguise, Tom visits the domain of a local mob kingpin and discloses he and his partner are genuine members of the NYPD- and they want his help to work out a scam that will net both cops $1 million each. They are told to rob untraceable securities in the amount of $10 million, for which they will be paid a $2 million "commission". Tom and Joe create a daring plan to gain access to a major finance company on Wall Street on the very day that the Apollo 11 astronauts are receiving a ticker tape parade. Knowing the employees will be distracted, they enter the premises on the premise of checking out a minor matter. They bluff their way into the inner sanctum of the company president and hold him hostage while his secretary escorts Joe to a vault and gets the appropriate securities. As is the case in most good caper movies, things initially go well but unexpected snafus arise that threaten the cops' getaway. To say more would be to spoil the fun but suffice it to say that the climax of the movie finds them trying to collect the $2 million from the mob in the middle of Central Park- where both sides try to double-cross each other. The result is a wild car chase seems to doom not only the cops' getaway but the cops themselves.

Director Aram Avakian, working with producer Elliott Kastner, makes the most of the New York locations, eschewing studio sets for real places. This adds immeasurably to the realistic feel of the production. Both Joe Bologna and Cliff Gorman were exceptionally well cast and are completely convincing as urban cops. Bologna was starting to ride high on the heels of he and his wife Renee Taylor's success with "Lovers and Other Strangers" and "Made for Each Other". Gorman was primarily known for his acclaimed stage performance as Lenny Bruce but also won kudos for his role in William Friedkin's 1969 film production of "The Boys in the Band". He's so good in this film, you wonder why major stardom eluded him. There is also an abundance of good character actors including Dolph Sweet, Joe Spinell and Shepperd Strudwick. The witty screenplay is the work of Donald E. Westlake, a noted crime novelist who would later turn his script for the film into a successful book. Westlake only makes one creative misstep. It is essential in most crime movies that feature charismatic cads as anti-heroes that their victims are established as villains who don't deserve the sympathy of the viewer. From the classic caper flick "The Sting" to the long-running  British TV series "Hustle", the targets of the con men must always be deemed to be cads. In Westlake's screenplay, the victims of the errant cops are every day, working people. Joe's stickup of the liquor store (seen over the opening credits) terrorizes innocent people. Their protracted plan to rip off the Wall Street firm similarly puts non-criminals in harm's way (although Westlake throws in a twist that is designed to water down the victim's plight). Watching the film through a modern viewpoint, when police corruption is no longer considered to be an acceptable part of every day life, the movie's disturbing celebration of officers who are violating their sacred duty to protect the public seems more distasteful today than it did at the time of the film's release. Even viewed within the context of the era, we can certainly sympathize with the cops' frustrations, but their turning to crime makes a mockery of most police officers who resist taking that path. Nevertheless, if you can overlook the sociological factors and accept the film as pure entertainment, it works wonderfully well. 

The Kino Blu-ray is top quality and includes the original trailer as well as an interview with the late Joe Bologna, who provides some witty and interesting insights into the making of the movie. There is also a trailer for the similarly-themed crime caper comedy "Bank Shot" starring George C. Scott. (also available from Kino Lorber).  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has released a DVD of the acclaimed 2014 German documentary "From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses", based on the book by Siegfried Kracauer and directed and written by Rudiger Suchsland. The film traces cinematic achievements during Germany's brief fling with democracy between the two world wars. In the aftermath of the nation's disastrous defeat in WWI, the Weimar Republic was established, bringing democratic reforms to the country. It was a tumultuous period. Germany was virtually bankrupt after the war and the Allies, particularly France and England, soaked the nation with onerous damages that made it seem almost impossible for the country to ever recover. A dual-class system arose with those who were economically well-off and those who were the working class tradesmen and women who would toil for long hours often under inhumane conditions just to survive day-to-day. It was during this troubled era that German cinema rose to grand heights with a new generation of filmmakers who advanced the medium from being one of mere entertainment to being a reflection of social problems and values. For the first time, the impoverished lower classes were being championed. Ultimately, things began to turn around and a middle class emerged but fate was to intervene. A banking crisis and massive inflation, combined with the shock effects of the 1929 Great Depression, took its toll on the workers. Socialist and communist filmmakers made stirring movies that advocated a rising of the masses in protest, much as Russia had done in 1917. Meanwhile, the rich remained largely unaffected and Berlin became the center of a creative renaissance the likes of which modern Europe had never experienced. The city drew millions of visitors from around the world to revel in the new-found freedoms. Seemingly everyone was partying and there were major achievements in the theater and film. Progressive values were reflected in those films, as Germany was now a society in which females were suddenly liberated to live lifestyles that would have previously been considered Hedonistic. Homosexuality was out of the closet and gays and lesbians could live openly. The new freedoms would not last for long, however. The economic turbulence reflected by "the masses" would cause the population to veer to the hard right and National Socialism. The rise of Hitler would result in the repression of artistic freedoms and being gay meant imprisonment or death. The tumultuous era was chronicled by Christopher Isherwood in his "Berlin Stories", which, in turn, would form the basis of "Cabaret". 

Murnau's "Nosferatu".

Rudiger Suchsland's remarkable documentary (German language, English sub-titles) chronicles the rise and fall of the one brief shining moment in which such talents as Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, F.W. Murnau, Josef von Sternberg, Robert Siodmak and others revolutionized cinema and having it emerge as a major art form. The documentary affords us generous samples of the kinds of eye-popping visuals that are even more impressive today, given how primitive the tools were that these directors had to work with. Movies suddenly dealt with realistic issues, often in surrealistic ways. Some of the movies proved prescient regarding the fate that was in store for Germany. "Metropolis" chronicled the angry rise of oppressed masses in a futuristic society while "M"- ostensibly a crime thriller about the hunt for a serial killer of children- displayed brutish justice meted out by gangs who put the accused on trial in kangaroo courts. Not all cinematic fare was grim during this era, however. Hollywood-style musicals became popular and there emerged a new genre that was distinctly German: the "Mountain Films", natured-based stories that capitalized on the nation's vast beauty and the obsession with physical fitness. With the rise of National Socialism, many of the most talented German filmmakers saw the writing on the wall and emigrated to America, where they had long, fruitful careers. When Hitler assumed power, he engaged in the same tactics dictators and would-be dictators follow today: attacking and later controlling the free press and then turning the media over to propagandists who immediately quashed the great cinematic achievements of the Weimar era. Now films would reflect the state-run point of view and would be used to suppress and oppress society's "undesirables". The documentary only briefly covers the ascendancy of Hitler and his henchmen, instead concentrating on the movies made in the Weimar years. It's a remarkable film that serves not only as warning about the fragility of freedom and democracy, but also as a vehicle to experience these great works of art, most of which are fortunately available on home video. 

The Kino Lorber release has an excellent transfer and contains the trailer for the documentary.  

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BY HANK REINEKE

The Premature Burial (1962) is the third of Roger Corman’s eight film cycle of Technicolor extravaganzas loosely based on the writings of the legendary masters of literary mysteries Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. Corman had previously successfully partnered with Samuel J. Arkoff and James Nicholson of American International Pictures, the trio having mutually enjoyed a tidy profit on their relatively modest investment on two earlier Poe efforts, Fall of the House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961). Corman and the producers would eventually come to loggerheads regarding a fair and equitable split of the The Pit and the Pendulum box-office receipts – a not unforeseeable dispute as Arkoff, Nicholson and Corman were all notorious for their penny-pinching proclivities. In Corman’s recollection both Usher and Pendulum brought in nearly two million each in rentals on a “negative cost of some $200,000.” Corman was rankled by AIP’s tough contract clauses so, as a true independent filmmaker, decided to finance his third Poe adaptation through Pathé Lab who, in Corman’s own words, had “helped back some AIP productions and did their print work.”

This time around Hollywood’s most industrious maverick would lose his gambit. Upon learning of Corman’s brash decision to leave the fold, AIP chose to leverage some economic muscle. They contacted Pathé and threatened to pull all of the company’s subsequent lab work from them should the deal with Corman proceed. Arkoff and Nicholson then brazenly and effectively bought out Pathé’s interest in Corman’s new project, this time a liberal retelling of Poe’s short story of 1844, The Premature Burial.

The Premature Burial is a visually stunning film and a worthy successor to Corman’s two earlier efforts. There’s absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t be as all three films share several key behind-the-camera talents. The most notable returnee is Director of Photography Floyd Crosby, on hand for his third atmospheric rendering of a Poe film. This time around he works in perfect tandem with the Goth styling’s of set designer/art director Daniel Haller. There are also some fresh faces on set as well. Film editor Ronald Sinclair took the cutting reins from Anthony Carras on Poe film no. 3, with the lush orchestrations of Ronald Stein replacing the more avant-garde and jazzy styling of Les Baxter. Corman’s assistant director on this new project was a young and ambitious transplant from the east coast, Francis Ford Coppola.

The single most crucial element missing from The Premature Burial is, of course, the most obvious: Vincent Price. Stories vary on Price’s non-participation in the project. Corman recollects that, upon learning he was about to go rogue, “AIP, aware of my intentions, locked Vincent into an exclusive contract.” Other film historians discount this, noting that Price’s three film contract with AIP had already ended with The Pit and the Pendulum. Price and his wife took off for Europe in the spring of 1961 where he was to appear in two Italian peplums – a genre all the rage in 1961. Though Milland turns in a worthy, professional performance as the emotionally wrought and self-haunted Guy Carrell in The Premature Burial, he wasn’t able to capture the elegant, self-tortured mania that Vincent Price easily brought to similar roles. When The Premature Burial brought in only half the rentals following its release in the spring of 1962 – this extreme financial fall-off despite having enjoyed the same budget as the two earlier Poe adaptations - AIP wisely chose to bring Price back into the fold. The independent Price was happy to return as he was offered a long-term, non-exclusive contract by AIP, thereby allowing him to keep his options open.

BY FRED BLOSSER

Kino Lorber has released Mario Bava’s “Roy Colt and Winchester Jack” (1970) in a handsome, restored Blu-ray edition as part of its extensive “Mario Bava Collection.” The disc will please devotees of the late Italian director, whose wide range of genre work is evident in this and the fifteen other Blu-rays that Kino Lorber has released in its series, from the celebrated Gothic trappings of “Black Sunday” (1960) to the Bond-era burlesque of “Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs” (1966). Bava is revered by his enthusiasts as one of the pre-eminent directors of horror and giallo in the 1960s Italian cinema, but like other workaday filmmakers in the busy European studios of the time, he made pretty much every kind of picture there was to make, riding successive surges of popularity for horror, sword-and-toga epics, westerns, thrillers, and sex comedies. “Roy Colt and Winchester Jack” was the third of Bava’s three Italian Westerns -- a genre that paid the bills, but one that Bava wasn’t especially fond of, as Tim Lucas notes in his audio commentary for the Blu-ray. Of Bava’s approach to “Roy Colt,” Lucas relates: “On the first day of shooting, when he learned that no one was particularly enamored of the script, Bava threw his copy into the nearest mud puddle and said, ‘Screw it, let’s have fun instead’.”

In the film, Roy (Brett Halsey) and Jack (Charles Southwood) are leaders of an outlaw gang. The two partners split up when Roy decides to try his fortune on the right side of the law. Going straight, he pins on a sheriff’s badge and agrees to retrieve a cache of buried gold for Samuel (Giorgio Gargiullo), a devious banker. In the meantime, Jack continues to rob stages and saves a pretty Indian woman, Manila (Marilu Tolo), from bounty hunters after she kills her abusive husband. Manila encourages Jack’s romantic advances but shrewdly charges for her favors. Another outlaw, the Reverend (Teodoro Corra), follows the trail of Samuel’s gold, and the storyline eventually settles into a familiar Spaghetti Western pattern. The three rivals -- Roy, Jack, and the Reverend, with Manila as a fourth wild card -- alternately help and double-cross each other to reach the promised riches first.

Lucas‘ commentary suggests that “Roy Colt and Winchester Jack” began as a straightforward action script by Mario di Nardo, and then turned into a comedy when Bava suggested that he and the actors “have fun instead.” Bava’s decision to send up his material may have been partially influenced by the success of 1969’s “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” but it also coincided with a fundamental change in the genre itself. With the success of another 1970 Italian Western, Enzo Barboni’s “Trinity Is My Name,” the genre began to skew from violent, sometimes operatic stories of revenge and betrayal to lowbrow farces that were geared (it’s said) to the tastes of working-class audiences in the poorer sections of Italian cities and towns. The staple elements of these Spaghetti lampoons included slapstick brawls, rather cruel visual jokes ridiculing physical and mental infirmities, childish sexual innuendo, and infantile delight in gastric embarrassments. Dubbed prints of Barboni’s movie, its sequel, “Trinity Is Still My Name,” and other comedy Spaghettis traveled overseas to drive-ins and small-town theaters in the U.S., arguably preparing the way for Mel Brooks‘ wildly popular, fart-laden Western parody, “Blazing Saddles,” in 1974. “Roy Colt and Winchester Jack” incorporates the usual characteristics of the comedy Spaghettis, notably in a rudely gratuitous scene built around a gunslinger’s extreme facial and verbal tics. More sophisticated audiences are likely to squirm, but at that, thanks to Bava’s sure visual sense and a capable cast, his film is easier to bear than most Spaghetti farces. Pictures like “It Can Be Done, Amigo” (1972), “Life Is Tough, Eh Providence” (1972), “The Crazy Bunch” (1974), and “Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” (1975) are guaranteed to try the souls of all but the most dedicated genre fans.

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray edition of “Roy Colt and Winchester Jack” features a superlative 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative. Other extras include the original Italian voice track with English subtitles, a partial English track, and the aforementioned commentary by Tim Lucas with a wealth of information about the film, Bava, and Italian cinema in general.