Having been a film fanatic my entire life I was thrilled when, in June
1982, a new magazine burst onto the scene and quickly caught my attention.
Devoted exclusively to new and upcoming motion picture releases, Coming
Attractions cost $2.50 per issue and was published on a bi-monthly basis. It
didn’t last long, unfortunately, but I recall that a bit of an uproar occurred
over the cover of the March/April 1983 issue which featured a half-naked Valerie
Kaprisky in a promo for the Breathless remake. Seriously, back in the
day who complained about a beautiful naked woman on a magazine cover??
In one of the earlier issues, there was an article published
about an upcoming horror film entitled Trick or Treats starring David
Carradine. I don’t recall the film ever opening in my area and wondered whatever
happened to it until I saw it on the shelf as a VHS rental a few years later in
a local video store. Trick or Treats is not to be confused with the 1986
Dino De Laurentiis film Trick or Treat, directed by Charles Martin
Smith, or the 2007 Michael Dougherty-directed vignette film Trick r Treat.
It’s a strange concoction that cannot seem to make up its mind as to what it
wants to be. My guess is that it’s attempting to be serious but fails miserably
at it. It’s a mixture of horror and absurdist elements that almost play like a
Saturday Night Live sketch.
Filmed mostly in Neil Young’s house that his then-girlfriend, actress
Carrie Snodgress, lived in at the time on South Irving Boulevard in Los
Angeles, CA, the film opens in 1978 and Malcolm O'Keefe (Peter Jason) just
wants to read the morning paper, but his wife Joan (Carrie Snodgress) has other
plans. Out of nowhere, she has two burly men fight to get Malcolm into a strait
jacket while affording no explanation. Their antics are humorous and silly, and
we have no idea why it’s even happening. Apparently, he’s being carted off to a
mental institution where he stays until 1982 and plans his escape. None of this
is even remotely believable as it raises too many questions – is he really
insane? How did his wife arrange this? Why would anyone go along with it? Do
the doctors know? As he’s planning his escape, Joan is now with Richard (David
Carradine, the star of the film, who has less than ten minutes of screen time) and
has an eight-year-old son, Christopher (is he Malcolm’s son or Richard’s son
from a previous marriage? None of this is explained). Christopher (Christopher
O’Keefe) is a practical jokester, an aspiring magician and aficionado of Harry
Houdini. Joan and Richard decide to head to Vegas for a Halloween party and
call their babysitter, Linda (Jacqueline Giroux), requesting her services to
watch him and dole out candy to trick or treaters. Linda is an actress and is
torn between seeing her boyfriend Bret (Steve Railsback) in his acting debut in
Othello (I swear, I’m not making this up) or making the extra money. She
chooses the latter despite Bret’s insistence on her presence at the play. The boyfriend
doth protest too much. Richard tries to put the moves on Linda but is stopped
by Joan. Despite this, they leave for the Playground of the World, and this
gives Christopher all the time he needs to torture Linda by playing jokes on
her that she continually falls for: sticking his head into a fake guillotine
(remember this for the ending!), using a buzzer while shaking hands, pretending
to cut off his finger and even feigning drowning in the family swimming pool. After
so many instances of this, one must wonder how dim-witted Linda really is.
Things get really ridiculous when Malcolm escapes by
donning a nurse’s outfit – and everyone he meets treats him as though he’s female.
He’s a guy with a guy’s face and a guy’s voice! He makes
his way back to the house and hides in the attic. Another subplot featuring two
additional young women working on a film that Linda appears in comes out of
nowhere. One of the women, Andrea (the late Jillian Kesner), goes to the house
and spends a lot of time looking around very slowly just to pad out the running
time until the final showdown with Malcolm…
If you’re looking for a serious horror film, this one’s going to
be a disappointment. The credits even list Orson Welles as a “magical
consultantâ€. I can definitely see the influence of Citizen Kane (1941)
and Touch of Evil (1958) on this flick. Yikes! Mr. Welles put his
“magical consulting†to better use two years later in the pilot episode of
NBC-TV’s short-lived Scene of the Crime series which aired on Sunday,
September 30, 1984. In the second story of the pilot, called “The Babysitterâ€
and penned by Jeffrey Boam, the title character is left in charge of a
prepubescent girl whom she antagonizes while the girl’s parents go out for the
night. The girl gets her revenge in a very cool ending by making a wish to a
magician topper that appeared on her birthday cake. That episode was
better than this film. Mr. Welles should have put his full “magical†powers to
work and made Trick or Treats disappear. The film would have worked
better as an episode of Tales from the Darkside, which ran from
September 1984 to July 1988 in syndication, and without the camp. Christopher
constantly annoying Linda gets tiresome, though I give the film props for the
scene wherein Christopher sorts through his LP record collection which consist
of the soundtracks to Maniac (1980), The Howling (1981), and the BBC
Sound Effects No. 13 - Death & Horror album from 1977 that my friend
and I used to play in the early 1980s.
Trick or Treats debuted on DVD in November 2013 and has now been released in high
definition on Blu-ray by Code Red (probably the same transfer, though this time
it’s more colorful and clearer due to the high definition afforded in the Blu-ray
format) with the same audio commentary which runs the entire length of the film
and contains five people: Jackie Giroux, Peter Jason, Chris Graver and
Cameraman R. Michael Stringer, moderated by Sean Graver. The big problem with
the commentary is the audio quality – it’s poorly miked and begins with no
introductions at all. It’s also too low. I loved listening to it, but at times
I didn’t even know who was speaking. Commentaries as an extra are something
that I love on any disc, but if it sounds as though the people who are speaking
are on the other side of the room…hey, great title for an Orson Welles
movie!
There is an audio interview with actor Steve Railsback that adds
little value to the package.
There is something called “Katarina’s Bucketlist†mode wherein the
hostess talks about the cast and does an Elvira, Mistress of the Dark-inspired
schtick.
There are no trailers, interestingly.
The bottom line: I love a campy horror film, but if you’re going
to be silly, make sure that you market it that way. Don’t sell it as
something in the same vein (no pun intended, naturally) as John Carpenter’s Halloween
(1978). Otherwise, you might feel like Charlie Brown did on Halloween…you go
out for candy, but all you end up with is a rock.
The Evil Dead (1981,
Sam Raimi) is one of those film titles that can still conjure up images of
forbidden horrors, liable to corrupt and deprave anyone who dares to take a
peek at the screen. Its inclusion on the original “Video Nasties†list by the UK’s
Director of Public Prosecution back in the early 1980s brought it an undeserved
infamy and reputation which, despite winning its day in court, it retains to
this day. However, if you are brave enough to watch The Evil Dead, instead of developing homicidal urges, what you will
actually find is an imaginative, breathlessly entertaining ‘Cabin in the Woods’
horror film with deliberately over-the-top performances, stylised camerawork,
comedic timing and bravura special effects, all washed down with gallons of
fake blood.
Much
has been written about The Evil Dead since
its release forty years ago, most of which focuses on the stories around its
production or the furore caused by its release on an unsuspecting public. In
this piece of writing, film journalist Lloyd Haynes gathers the best stories
and weaves them together with his own analysis of the film. He connects it to
gothic literature through the theory of the ‘Bad Place’ motif, offering insight
into its broader cultural significance, and also discusses the way in which the
film’s hero, played by Bruce Campbell, conforms to the now familiar tropes of
the ‘Final Girl’, although surprisingly he fails to note the significance of
the character’s gender-neutral name Ashley in subtly underlining his
suitability to be the only survivor.
This
book also takes a look at the film’s two official sequels, the authorised
reboot in 2013 and the hugely entertaining TV series Ash vs Evil Dead (2015-2018), and considers films inspired by both
the original film and the franchise as a whole.
If you are looking for a
quick yet in-depth dive into the world of The
Evil Dead, this latest volume in the Devil’s Advocate series is the perfect
place to start.
Continuing
the examination of Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray releases of the W. C. Fields
catalog of classic comedies, we now look at The Bank Dick, easily one of
the actor/comedian’s greatest works.
Released
in 1940 (titled The Bank Detective in the U.K.), Fields was starting to
wind down, whether he knew it or not. Alcoholism was taking its toll, and it
wouldn’t be long before his amazing run in cinema since the silent era would soon
come to an end. He still had some surprises in his pockets, though, and The
Bank Dick was one of them.
Written by Fields (as Mahatma Kane
Jeeves—“my hat, my cane, Jeeves!â€), the picture contains an abundance of the
actor’s funniest lines and comebacks. He is also surrounded by numerous other
wacky character actors, creating a theatre of the absurd that culminates in one
of the craziest car chases put on film. Director Edward Cline was no slouch
when it came to comedy—he had collaborated with Buster Keaton in the 1920s, as
well as with Fields, most recently on the Fields/Mae West co-starrer, My
Little Chickadee. Cline’s control of the action and the anything-can-happen
antics of his star is impressive. It’s no wonder that Cline and Fields were a
good team.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release looks
appropriately grainy but with a sheen that previous DVD releases were without.
The feature comes with an audio commentary by the knowledgeable film historian
Michael Schlesinger, who always gives good gab. The theatrical trailer, along
with other Kino Lorber titles, completes the presentation.
The Bank Dick is priceless comedy. It’s one of the two or three titles
that belong in a time capsule sporting the identifying label: “This was
W. C. Fields.†Highly recommended.
Send-ups
of classic horror films are nothing new. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello starred in
the granddaddy of horror comedies, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,
in 1948 after the original working script The Brain of Frankenstein had
its title changed. They later took on the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and Boris Karloff himself. Mel Brooks danced his way into the cinema history
books by making his own comic version of the fabled Mary Shelley classic of a
deranged scientist fabricating a man made from body parts and even had the guts
to shoot the film in black and white on the original soundstages that James
Whale used just over forty years earlier: Young Frankenstein (1974) was
the result. The lesser-known Texas-lensed Student Bodies (1981) from
Woody Allen collaborator Mickey Rose did an admirable job of poking fun at the
slasher movie subgenre that plagued American movie theaters through most of the
early to mid-1980’s and is still humorous today, even after the Scary Movie
franchise.
I
was introduced to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in September 1982 in Fangoria
Magazine (issue #22) from their “Horror-Host Series†by Dan Farren. Having begun
as a horror hostess in September 1981 on Southern California’s KHJ-TV’s Movie
Macabre weekend show, Elvira (in reality red-haired actress Cassandra
Peterson) slowly made her way into syndicated television markets and became a
huge sensation, turning verbally ragging on silly horror and science fiction B
movies into an art form. The schtick-laden show ran 137 episodes over five
years. Well-endowed with impossible-to-not-see cleavage, a huge mane of dark
hair and deep red lipstick, Elvira eventually starred in her own film, the 1988
outing Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. While many other Elvira outings
occurred in the form of short films and TV-movies, Ms. Petersen reprised her
role in Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2002), a loving parody of the Vincent
Price/Edgar Allan Poe/Roger Corman thrillers of the 1960’s that she and the
filmmakers saw in their youth.
It
is the year 1851 and the setting is the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. Elvira
and her maid Zou Zou (Mary Jo Smith) are forced out of their room by an
innkeeper who does his best Jack Torrance impression from The Shining to
rid the premises of these freeloaders. On their way to a can-can show they are
due to perform in Paris, they encounter Dr. Bradley Bradley (Scott Atkinson) –
no relation to Humbert Humbert – who invites them into his coach to stay the
night at Castle Hellsubus. Upon arrival, they meet Lady Emma Hellsubus (Mary
Scheer), Count Vladimere Hellsubus (Richard O’Brien) and Lady Roxana (Heather Hopper), Lady Emma and
Count Vladimere’s daughter.
It turns out that Elvira bears more than a striking resemblance to Count
Vladimere Hellsubus’s deceased wife, Elura (not to be confused with the capromorelin
oral solution indicated for the management of weight loss in cats with chronic
kidney disease of the same name. Whew!)
While
investigating the castle, Elvira stumbles into the room of Adrian (Gabi
Andronache in a role originally intended for Fabio who declined), a
deliberately poorly dubbed hunk with mismatched lips and dialog in a direct nod
to Italian horror films. Elvira gives the folks an example of her can-can show
and later Count Vladimere thinks Elura is alive after seeing her in the hallway
and blames it on a hallucination.
There
are several laugh out-loud moments, one involving an empty knight suit, a
throw-away line about the Village People, a visual zoom a la Jaws (1975),
and other modern-day film references. Even the Academy Awards aren’t
off-limits. The ageless Ms. Peterson is endearing in her Elvira get-up and
obviously the title is a comic play on her famous, always-on-display assets.
This is a film played for laughs and it is amusing and fun. The real stars,
however, are the beautiful and opulent sets fashioned by the Romanian crew modeled
primarily after The Pit and The Pendulum (1961) and The Haunted
Palace (1963). I was even reminded of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s The
House That Screamed (1969). The beautiful lighting is also reminiscent of
cinematographer Luciano Tovoli’s colorful work on Dario Argento’s Suspiria
(1977) and Romano Albani’s lighting schemes in Suspiria’s follow-up, Inferno
(1980).
Elvira
does a fun song number and Richard O’Brien at times looks like Reggie Nalder as
Mr. Barlow in Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot (1979).
Elvira’s
Haunted Hills was
originally released on DVD in October 2002 and again in October 2011 in a
“Specially Enhanced Editionâ€. The bonus features are all ported over from the
previous DVD incarnations:
The
Blu-ray consists of a restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera
negative and it looks stunning in 1080p. The original DVDs did not grasp the
image so well and were often murky and dark. This transfer is bright, colorful
and clear and the sets look amazing.
There
is an introduction by Elvira, Mistress of The Dark which is comical and runs
4:40.
There
is an audio commentary with Cassandra Peterson, Mary Scheer, Mary Jo Smith and
Scott Atkinson, and Director Sam Irvin who all have terrific fun commenting on
the action and memories of filming on a shoestring.
Transylvania or Bust
Featurette – this cutely-titled High Definition piece from 2011 runs just over
28 minutes and includes Mary Jo Smith, Mary Scheer, Scott Atkinson and others discussing
their experiences not just making the film, but the misadventures entailed in
getting to the locations, which were more scary than what ends up in onscreen!
The Making of Elvira’s Haunted Hills is
Standard Definition, runs 22 minutes and features interviews with much of the
cast and crew, but best of all it contains behind-the-scenes footage shot
during principal photography.
Elvira in Romania
Featurette – this is a cute Standard Definition interview with a Romanian
television crew and Elvira
and runs about 46 minutes. There are also test shots and Elvira mingling with
locals.
Interview
with Co-Star Richard O’Brien
runs 6:08 and is an onscreen interview that was shot during filming.
Trailers – two trailers for Elvira’s Haunted
Hills
Outtakes – this runs 54 seconds and my only
complaint is I would have liked to have seen more of it.
For
a few glorious weeks, every time a James Bond film is released, for those fans
of a certain age, it becomes Christmas 1965 when a plethora of Bond-related tie-ins
once again flood the market.In 1965 it
was a Thunderball merchandise tsunami with toys, clothing, diving
equipment and men’s jewelry…In 2021
it’s No Time to Die’s turn.In
keeping with the film’s many nods to 007’s cinematic past, Bond is back
drinking his beverage of choice from Dr. No – Smirnoff Vodka, an historic
brand dating back to 1863 and one of the world’s most popular vodkas.
As
a serious Bond collector, I’ve seen many a corporate 007 gift – from model
vehicles (BMW and Caterpillar) and leather satchels (MGM) to all manner of
007-branded clothing… but nothing beats
the stunning Martini-maker briefcase Smirnoff created.
The
custom case (embossed with the Smirnoff and NTTD logos) contains everything a
thirsty secret-agent (or Bond fan) could want – a crystal martini glass,
measuring jigger, olive spears, a lemon shaver and, of course, a bottle of
Smirnoff, all elegantly encased in red velvet.If there is a more lavish piece of Bond promotion, I’d love to see
it.Kudos to Smirnoff’s marketing agency
for this brilliant promotional tool.
Always
a fashion icon, whatever Bond wears is now carefully studied and snapped up by
trendy consumers and fans.Recently the
fabled American bootmaker Danner joined in by supplying pairs of their Tanicus
all-weather boots to the production – in Bond black, of course.
(Photo: MGM/Danjaq)
On
September 16th, they put the boot on sale via their website.The result was a digital stampede.So many orders came in that their website froze
and they had to add additional servers.I know because I was caught up in the footwear frenzy.Did I need an exotic new pair of boots in
sunny Southern California?No. Do I
do any mountaineering or exploring at all?Um… no, but the boots looked rugged, were priced right ($180 a pair) and
came in a custom No Time to Die
box as cool as the boots themselves.I
managed to grab a pair – which also included a unique 007 leather keychain, but
it was as nail-biting as buying Rolling Stones seats during an online ticket
drop.Danner’s entire stock sold out in
under 20 minutes.“This was a
record-breaking launch for us,†said a member of their online team.For more on Danner’s line of footwear go
to:www.Danner.com
Are
there more Bond tie-in products out there?Of course.Anyone know somebody
at Heineken?
During
the years that I spent in elementary school, watching movies on television was
an exciting prospect. Considering that for me there was no other way to see
films other than theatrically, viewing movies on television was something that
I looked forward to regardless of the film being shown. In 1979, my best friend
at the time was one of only a handful of people I knew who had cable
television, in his case HBO. He told me about a great many films that I was not
even aware of: Don Coscarelli’s Kenny & Company (1976), Frank
Simon’s The Chicken Chronicles (1977), Sidney J. Furie’s The Boys in
Company C (1978), and Enzo G. Castellari’s The Inglorious Bastards
(1978). I always hoped that some of these films would make their way to
television. Some did, some did not. His recollection and explanation to me of
what he saw in these films made me regard him as quite the raconteur. These
films seemed to make a big impression on him and listening to his enthusiasm
for them made a big impression on me.
The Inglorious Bastards
also made an impression on film director Quentin Tarantino, who worked at Video
Archives in Manhattan Beach, CA for a number of years while in his twenties
during the VHS and Beta home video viewing boom. He saw the film on television
several times while living in Los Angeles and later the film, to my surprise,
was released on home video under the titles of Deadly Mission and,
unbelievably, G.I. Bro. He was hired by the video store’s owner as he
was already a scholar of cinema and could discuss and recommend movies to the
paying customers. His enthusiasm for this film led him to adopt the title to
his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, a two-and-a-half-hour World War II
film that he spent at least six years thinking about and writing. It’s his sixth
film as a director and he is still in command of his powers.
Inglourious Basterds,
a brilliantly entertaining revisionist view of how we wish the war in Europe
ended, is separated into five chapters. Chapter One, subtitled “Once Upon a
Time in Nazi-occupied Franceâ€, is one of the most intense sequences that I have
ever seen in a film. At just over 20 minutes, it is a lesson in bravura
filmmaking. In 1941, a farmer, Perrier La Padite (Denis Menochet), is cutting
wood and his wife is hanging up the family clothing when her mood changes – she
hears the distant sound of a motorcycle. She knows that it can only be Germans.
As the family prepares for the inevitable interrogation, we know from their
body language that something is amiss. Although several German soldiers arrive only
one of them, Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz, in an Oscar-winning performance), approaches. He is complimentary
and ingratiating towards Perrier and plays a verbal game with him to ascertain
if his family is hiding Jews, an assumption that he already knows to be true.
How the director handles this scene cinematically illustrates why he is one of
cinema’s best filmmakers. The tension that he builds and the measured sentences
that Landa uses to get the information that he wants is first-rate dialog. When
the massacre of the hidden Jews in the floorboards occurs, one girl, Shosanna Dreyfus
(Melanie Laurent), survives and runs off under Landa’s laughter and admiration.
Chapter Two, “The Inglourious
Basterdsâ€, takes place in 1944 and concerns Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt,
and his name is a play on actor Aldo Ray, who appeared in many war films) who oversees
a group of men who capture and scalp Nazis. Sergeant Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth),
aka “The Bear Jewâ€, is part of this group designed to turn the tables and
instill fear in the Germans. This sequence is a joy to watch as it gives the
Nazis a taste of their own medicine.
In Chapter Three, “A German Night in
Parisâ€, we are reacquainted with Shosanna under the assumed name of Emmanuelle
Mimieux. She now owns a cinema and is harassed by Fredrick Zoller (Daniel
Bruhl) who is smitten with her and, like other Germans, won’t take no for an
answer. Later, Zoller attempts to interest Mimieux and is again rebuffed. At a
restaurant gathering with Joseph Goebbels, Mimieux is strong-armed to permit a
Nazi propaganda film, Nation’s Pride, to be shown with all head Nazis in
attendance including, amazingly, Adolf Hitler. Sure enough, Landa comes into
the picture, and Mimieux does her best to answer his persistent questions about
her theatre, trying to gauge if Landa knows her real identity. This sequence,
like Chapter One, is extraordinary as the dialog is constantly masking what is
going on beneath the surface, and the audience is never sure what might happen
next. Unpredictability is just one of Mr. Tarantino’s many talents.
Chapter Four, “Operation Kinoâ€, is
similar to Chapters One and Three in that much is going on, however the
probability of things going very badly is always imminent. A mixture of
undercover agents and Germans ends the scene in a bloodbath that sets the stage
for the film’s finale.
Chapter Five, “Revenge of the Giant
Faceâ€, is an extraordinary ending to the Nazi’s evil and their ultimate
comeuppance as the cinema is packed with Hitler, Goebbels, Heydrich and many of
the architects of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Giant Face
alluded to belongs to Shosanna who, along with her lover and theater co-worker
Marcel, carry out the plan to kill the Nazis by locking the escape routes and
igniting a pile of combustible nitrate film stock located behind the screen.
The cinema comes crashing down in a conflagration that causes deaths of the
Nazis. The Basterds get their machine gun kicks by shooting as many enemies as
possible. The ending is surprising, but ultimately satisfying.
Mr. Tarantino burst onto the film scene
in 1992 with his debut film Reservoir Dogs. I saw it in New York, and I
knew that I was in the hands of a truly gifted storyteller. His follow-up, Pulp
Fiction, took the 1994 Cannes Film Festival by storm and won the Palme
D’Or, and he snagged an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (and again in 2013
for Django Unchained). His subsequent films have not disappointed, and the
dialog is often just a vehicle for something more tension-filled or sinister. Other
times, it’s completely innocuous. The back-and-forth storytelling, jumping
ahead at times, makes the action at hand that much more interesting. Inglourious
Basterds is a linear narrative and despite there being a myriad of
characters, the three major ones are Raine, Landa, and Dreyfus/Mimieux and the
film pretty much revolves around them and their motives: Raine wants to kill
Nazis, Landa wants to be evil, and Dreyfus/Mimieux wants to be invisible. His
salute to war movies and cinema in general is everywhere – just setting a good
portion of the action in a theatre is a labor of love. Eli Roth’s character is
named Antonio Margheriti, named after the late filmmaker from Italy. So, the
references are everywhere. At 2½ hours, the film is fascinating and flies by.
He even throws in the obligatory “Wilhelm Scream†for good measure.
The film is now available in a new Universal
2-disc release which comes with a standard 1080p Blu-ray, a 4K Ultra High
Definition Blu-ray, and a digital copy. If you have a 4K player and 4K TV, that
is the one to go for as the picture is glorious, no pun intended. The extras
are plentiful, though I would have loved a commentary track, and they include:
Extended & Alternate Scenes
(HD, 11:31) – This section has three scenes: Lunch with Goebbels,
extended version in one take; La Louisiane Card Game, extended version,
and Nation’s Pride Begins, alternate version.
Roundtable Discussion with Quentin
Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Film Critic Elvis Mitchell
(HD, 30:45) – This is a funny and informative interview, with the surprising
revelation that Brad Pitt received the script and shot the film six weeks
later.
The
New York Times Talks (HD,
1:08:07) – This is a just-shy-of 70-minute dialog between the director and New
York Times Magazine Editor-at-Large Lynn Hirschberg. As usual, the director is
enthusiastic about all-things cinema and speaks with a great deal of energy
about the film and his desire to make films without regard to the morality of
his characters.
Nation’s Pride:
Full Feature (HD, 6:10) – This is the film that the Nazi’s watch in the cinema,
and The Making of Nation’s Pride (HD, 4:00) is self-explanatory. It’s
very cool to see Bo Svenson appear in Nation’s Pride since he was in the 1978
version of The Inglorious Bastards. It would have been great if a
restored version of that film had been included as well!
The
Original Inglorious Bastards(HD,
7:38) – This is a look at the director of the original film, Enzo G.
Castellari, and his cameo in the Tarantino film.
A Conversation with Rod Taylor
(HD, 6:43) and Rod Taylor On Victoria Bitter (HD, 3:19) – The late actor
Rod Taylor, whom many will recall from the The Time Machine (1960) and The
Birds (1963), is virtually unrecognizable in these mini interviews. He
talks about the director’s enthusiasm for film, and a funny story about
Victoria Bitter, the Australian beer.
Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel
(HD, 2:41) – This is a humorous collection of slate shots and the funny on-set
comments in between takes.
Hi Sallys
(HD, 2:09) – This is a bittersweet piece as it pays homage to Mr. Tarantino’s longtime
editor, Sally Menke, who tragically passed away at the age of 56 in 2010 due to
dehydration while hiking in hot weather conditions.
Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis
Mitchell (HD, 10:59) – This is very interesting as Mr. Mitchell talks
about the history and meaning behind the beautiful posters that can been seen
in the cinema in the film.
Inglorious Basterds Poster Gallery
(HD)
Trailers
(HD, 7:34) – Teaser, Domestic, International, and Japanese trailers for the
film.
The
year 1934 was a good one for comic actor W. C. Fields (whose real name was
William Claude Dukenfield). Fields made six pictures in 1934, and by the time
that It’s a Gift appeared in November, he had made sixteen sound movies
(and he had been making silents prior to the sound era).
Kino
Lorber has begun releasing new Blu-ray restorations of many of Fields’ better
films from the 1930s, which was the decade in which he prospered the most. Today,
Cinema Retro looks at two key new releases, with likely more reviews to
come as we receive them.
It’s
a Gift,
directed by Norman McLeod (who was also responsible for the Marx Brothers’ Monkey
Business and Horse Feathers in 1931 and 1932, respectively), is
easily one of W. C. Fields’ most beloved and acclaimed pictures. It showcases
Fields at his best and before alcoholism began to derail his career. In fact,
Fields is in shape and rather slim here and in the other title from 1934 that
we’re examining, The Old Fashioned Way. Remarkably, he was already 54
when these two films were released by Paramount Pictures, the studio that often
pushed the envelope when it came to comedy.
In
Gift, Fields (Harold Bissonette) is a grocer married to the
forever-nagging Amelia (Kathleen Howard). She insists that Harold pretentiously
pronounce their last name as “Bisso-nay.†They have two children, an older
daughter and a bratty pre-teen (Jean Rouverol and Tommy Bupp, respectively).
Harold has dreams of buying an orange grove in California and moving from their
cramped and squalid housing in whatever state they’re in. Neighbors in the same
building include the Dunk family, a member of which is Baby Elwood (Baby LeRoy,
in his third and final appearance with Fields). When Howard finally buys his
orange grove, the family does move—only to find that the track of land is a
barren plot. Amelia and the kids threaten to leave him until a stroke of luck
intervenes.
True,
there isn’t much of a plot here, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a Gift is
a gem for its series of gags, sketches, and routines that Fields perfected over
the years in vaudeville, and they are on full display here. One extended
sequence involves Howard attempting to take an afternoon nap on his front porch
swing—but he is constantly disturbed by noises from the various neighbors, visitors
from the street, and other external stimuli. The results are hilarious. All the
set-pieces, such as when Howard must deal with a blind man in the grocery store,
are equally funny, and they emphasize why W. C. Fields is remembered today as
one of the great genius comics of his day.
The
Old Fashioned Way,
directed by William Beaudine, was released four months earlier than It’s a
Gift. It is lesser Fields, but it still has its moments of fun. Of
particular interest is Fields’ juggling demonstration, a rare moment of the man
showing off this talent on film. Back in the vaudeville days, Fields was not
only a comedian and vocalist, but also an accomplished juggler. His act here
with balls and cigar boxes is simply amazing, and funny, too.
Fields
plays “The Great McGonigle,†a theatrical troupe impresario and actor in the
1890s who is constantly in trouble for not paying his bills. He leads his
company out of every town before the law catches up with him. His troupe
includes his daughter, Betty (Judith Allen), as well as familiar Fields co-star
and foil, Mr. Gump (Tammany Young). Baby LeRoy makes his second appearance in a
Fields movie as the child of the rich society woman, Cleopatra Pepperday (Jan
Duggan). Pepperday desperately wants to join the McGonigle troupe and perform,
even though she is terribly untalented—but McGonigle is not averse to promising
her a role in exchange for funding. A romantic subplot involving Betty and
actor/singer Wally (Joe Morrison) and Wally’s father (Oscar Apfel) intermingles
with McGonigle’s conning of boarding house proprietors, theater managers, and
sheriffs.
Both
Kino Lorber titles, available separately, look quite good in their high
definition restorations, and each come with optional English subtitles for the
hearing impaired. Audio commentaries by film historian James L. Neibaur, author
of The W. C. Fields Films, accompany both features, along with the
theatrical trailers for these and other Kino Fields releases.
For
fans of W. C. Fields, classic cinema comedy, and old Hollywood, It’s a Gift and
The Old Fashioned Way serve up grand entertainment.
The
decade of the 1950s is the Golden Age of science fiction movies. Prior to that,
the genre was mostly ignored on film in favor of horror. Of course, the two
genres often overlapped, especially in the 50s, when audiences were worried
about nuclear war, UFOs, alien invasions, and the dangers of radioactivity. We
got pictures with giant bugs, flying saucers, amphibious creatures, Martian
invaders, and mole people. With few exceptions, most of the science fiction
fare from the period is godawful but usually fun for a drive-in movie
experience or late-night “creature feature†material on television.
The
exceptions have proven to stand the test of time and are considered classics
today—The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Thing from Another
World (1951), The War of the Worlds (1953), Invasion of the Body
Snatchers (1956), Forbidden Planet (1956), among others.
The
Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) is one of these gems. Conceived and written by the
great Richard Matheson, the movie was brought to the screen by Jack Arnold, one
of the more under-appreciated filmmakers of his day. While Arnold specialized
in “creature features†in the fifties (he brought us The Creature from the
Black Lagoon in 1954 and Tarantula in ’55, for example), he went on
to be a successful hard-working craftsman for dozens of popular television
shows in the 60s and 70s.
Matheson
wrote the initial story and simultaneously penned a novel (The Shrinking Man)
published in 1956. He sold the rights to Universal on the condition that he be
hired to write the screenplay. Matheson’s script followed the structure of his
novel, which used flashbacks to tell Scott Carey’s story. Arnold and the studio
preferred that the story be told linearly, so Richard Alan Simmons got the job
to re-write the screenplay as such. Both Matheson and Simmons share screenplay
credit, while Matheson receives story credit.
The
tale is well-known. Scott Carey (Grant Williams) is in a loving marriage with
Louise (Randy Stuart). One day they are out on a boat. While Louise is below
deck, a strange mist envelops Scott. As time passes, Scott notices that his
clothes no longer fit him—he’s becoming smaller. Doctors are befuddled. Scott
shrinks some more. Eventually this affects the marriage and Scott questions his
manhood. He becomes a media curiosity, and he continues to diminish in size.
Ultimately, he is alone in his house and must first battle the family cat, and
later, in a climactic sequence, a tarantula. And still, he continues to grow
smaller…
The
Incredible Shrinking Man is one of the most thoughtful, mind-bending, and
existential science fiction films ever made—and it was certainly a milestone of
the period. Its cosmic ending, which studio executives wanted to change to a
happier one, was kept intact by director Arnold—and this is what elevates Shrinking
Man to a BIG picture.
The
visual effects, while crude by today’s standards, were cleverly done in
1956-57. Arnold utilized split screens, rear screen projections, oversized sets
and furniture, and trick photography to achieve the illusion of Scott’s
condition against an enlarging hostile world around him. As Arnold states in a
wonderful vintage 1983 interview that is a supplement accompanying the film,
the secret to this and all the director’s work was “preparation.†He was a
believer in storyboards, and he created these to fully imagine the picture
prior to shooting a frame of film. Much like the outline some authors pen prior
to drafting a novel, Arnold’s storyboards allowed him to try out different
ideas and erase them if they didn’t work.
The
Criterion Collection presents an outstanding package for Shrinking Man.
The film is a 4K digital restoration that looks amazingly fresh. It comes with
an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. There is an optional and informative audio
commentary by genre-film historian Tom Weaver and horror-music expert David
Schecter.
Supplements
abound. A new featurette on the film’s visual effects hosted by FX experts
Craig Barron and Ben Burtt is a lot of fun. A very entertaining conversation
about the film between filmmaker Joe Dante and comedian/writer Dana Gould is
fabulous. A remembrance on the film with Richard Christian Matheson (Richard
Matheson’s son) is also superb. Of particular interest to film buffs might be
the previously mentioned footage from 1983 of Jack Arnold interviewed about the
film. Also of great significance is a “director’s cut†of a 2021 documentary
about Arnold, Auteur on the Campus: Jack Arnold at Universal. And if all
that weren’t enough, we get two 8mm home video short presentations of the film that
circulated in the 1960s, a feature on missing musical cues, a vintage teaser
narrated by none other than Orson Welles, and the theatrical trailer. The
booklet contains an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien.
The
Incredible Shrinking Man is a must-have, buy-today, excellent release from
Criterion. For fans of 1950s science fiction, Richard Matheson, Jack Arnold,
and giant spiders. Sublime!
Mark Cerulli with Jerry Juroe at the "Bond in Motion" exhibition in London, 2018.
(Photo: Mark Cerulli. All rights reserved.)
BY MARK CERULLI
While
not a marquee name like Broccoli, Connery or Moore, Charles “Jerry†Juroe was
an integral part of the James Bond movie phenomenon for three decades.On September 30th, he passed away quietly
at his home in Southern Spain with his daughter Kim by his side. Jerry was 98.
A
publicity man through and through, Jerry started out at Paramount Pictures in
the 1940s, but his new career was interrupted by World War II. As a graduate of
the Castle Hill Military Academy in Tennessee, he was immediately called up and
was part of the D-Day Invasion -service that, 75 years later, would earn him
France’s prestigious Legion d’Honneur, presented by President Emmanuel Macron,
no less.Jerry also saw action in
Germany and Czechoslovakia before transferring to the Army’s Office of Special
Services.There he escorted movie stars
on USO appearances while also arranging entertainment for the troops.Although he held positions in Hollywood and
was the publicist for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Jerry loved Europe and
preferred to live there – especially after meeting lovely British actress Lynn
Tracy, who became his wife of 42 years until her death in 2001.During his stint as a publicist for Arthur P.
Jacobs, Jerry handled press for The Prince and the Showgirl, working
with the mercurial Marilyn Monroe.Running
European publicity for United Artists, Jerry worked with The Beatles on A
Hard Day’s Night and Help.The job also put him in the orbit of a rising young producer named
Albert “Cubby†Broccoli.At UA, Jerry
handled publicity chores on Dr. No, accompanying Sean Connery on his
first press tour.He worked on all of
Connery’s films through the 1967 epic, You Only Live Twice.He left UA for several years but was invited
back into Bondage by Cubby himself for The Man with The Golden Gun, joining
the EON fold permanently from Moonraker through Licence to Kill.(Jerry came back briefly for the 1994
announcement of Pierce Brosnan as the new 007.)
I
was fortunate enough to know Jerry for 40 years, meeting him as a college
student spending a semester in London.I
wrote a gushing letter to EON, which Jerry answered then invited me out to
Pinewood.That was the start of a
beautiful friendship.He also was fond
of my wife, a fellow marketing exec, pulling me aside to say, “You got the best
part of that deal.â€Pure Jerry.
Jerry Juroe (far left) on the "Moonraker" publicity tour, 1979.
(Photo courtesy of Jerry Juroe estate.)
He
was fond of cruise ships and came to New York to take one of the last
“crossings†of the QE2.While there, he
handed me the manuscript of his autobiography which Ian Fleming Foundation
co-founder and close friend Doug Redenius and I were able to get published in
2018 as Bond, The Beatles and My Year With Marilyn (McFarland
Books).EON graciously invited us to
lunch then sponsored a book-signing at the London Bond in Motion exhibit. A
number of 00 alumni came for one of Jerry’s last hurrahs – John Glen, Gitte Lee
(Sir Christopher’s widow), Jenny Hanley, Valerie Leon, Peter Lamont, Deborah
Moore, Carole Ashby, Margaret Nolan, Steven Saltzman, Anthony Waye, former EON
publicity & marketing honchos Anne Bennett and John Parkinson, EON Chief Archivist
Meg Simmonds and many more. Also on hand
were authors Ajay Chowdhury and Matthew Field, CR’s Dave Worrall, From Sweden with
Love’s Anders Frejdh, bullet-catcher Mark O’Connell, French Bond expert Laurent
Perriot – even Titanic star Billy Zane. Speeches were made, glasses were
raised and warm embraces were exchanged. It was a beautiful night.
Jerry’s
passing severs one of the very last connections to Hollywood’s Golden Age and
his contribution to Bond’s success can’t be understated. As 5x Bond director John Glen put it, “Jerry
was very much a part of the James Bond phenomenon. He took great care of all
aspects of publicity, particularly looking after the actors which could be a
trying task at times.â€
“Sad
indeed, but a full life well lived and lived well,†said actress Jenny Hanley
(OHMSS).
My
last conversation with Jerry was just days ago.I asked how he was feeling and he answered with a weary, “I’m still here.â€Indeed he was and he always will be.
Thank
you, Jerry.
If you want to read more about Jerry Juroe's remarkable life and career, order his autobiography.
Director
William Friedkin’s The French Connection, which won Oscars for Best
Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing
at the 1972 Academy Awards ceremony, celebrates its 50th Anniversary
today as it opened in New York City on Thursday, October 7, 1971. On Saturday,
October 7, 1961, exactly ten years earlier to the day, both New York Detective
First Grade Edward Egan and his partner, then Detective Second Grade Salvatore
Grosso, unwittingly stumbled upon what is described in author Robin Moore’s
1969 account of the case as one that would “obsess them night and day for the
next four-and-a-half months and would not end for a year-and-a-half.â€
New York
Gene
Hackman portrayed Mr. Egan and Roy Scheider co-starred as Mr. Grosso, referring
to each other by the sobriquets “Popeye†and “Cloudyâ€, respectively. Acclaimed
by critics and audiences alike for its gritty realism, its cat-and-mouse chase
between Popeye and the mastermind behind the imported heroin (played by
Fernando Rey), the film is best-known for its gripping and inexorable chase
between a 1971 Pontiac LeMans and a subway train.
The
film later opened in Los Angeles on November 3rd in Los Angeles and
on November 17th in Central Jersey.
New Jersey
Issue
#50 of Cinema Retro features this writer’s interviews with William Friedkin,
actor Tony Lo Bianco, and former New York Police Detective Randy Jurgensen who
worked on the actual case. Copies are available at CinemaRetro.com.
At
long last, the Warner Archive has blessed Marx Brothers fans with a high
definition Blu-ray release of one of the comedy team’s most beloved pictures, A
Night at the Opera (1935).
Many
film historians and critics cite A Night at the Opera (directed by Sam Wood) as the brothers’ “finestâ€
movie, and it has even been named by Groucho Marx as such. While it is
certainly one of their best, this reviewer quibbles with that
pronouncement. The film’s reputation is a result of the success it had at the
box office and with the public’s perception upon release. It was a “reboot†of
sorts for the Marx Brothers, as they had moved to a new studio (the prestigious
MGM) and were overseen by the young genius studio maverick, Irving Thalberg.
Under Thalberg’s guidance, the brothers’ films became more commercial. His goal
had been to make their pictures play as well in Middle America as they had in
New York or Los Angeles.
The
Marx Brothers’ film career can easily be divided into two distinct periods. The
first chapter consists of the five excellent pre-Code entries made at
Paramount. Most aficionados of the brothers hold these anarchic, surreal, and
zany comedies (they include Animal Crackers, Horse Feathers, and Duck
Soup)in the highest regard. Unfortunately, 1933’s Duck Soup was
not a box office hit because the comedy had become too political for the times
(although its stock grew tremendously as the decades went on, and today Soup
is generally considered, certainly by this reviewer, as the team’s “finestâ€â€”or
certainly “favoriteâ€). The team found themselves without a studio. Zeppo, the
team’s “straight man,†dropped out of the act, and he would be replaced by a
succession of Zeppo-types to serve his function. This left only Groucho, Harpo,
and Chico in place.
Enter
Thalberg. Over a poker game with Chico, Thalberg discussed bringing the Marx
Brothers to MGM. He envisioned making their comedy more “friendly†and
emphasizing more story. The result found the three (instead of four)
Marx Brothers becoming lovable—but crazily funny—matchmakers to two young
lovers (in this case, played by Allan Jones, this movie’s Zeppo clone, and
Kitty Carlisle), despite obstacles by defined bad guys.
This
formula was a success, and it continued in 1937’s A Day at the Races (the
brothers’ most profitable film) and three more at MGM, which grew progressively
weaker in quality. By 1941, the blueprint had played itself out and MGM dropped
the team. (The brothers made two more inferior films in the late 1940s for
different studios, a time which could be considered a forgettable third period
in their cinematic journey.)
All
that said, A Night at the Opera is easily the most successful and
funniest of the MGM pictures. Groucho is “Otis B. Driftwood,†a theatrical
manager of sorts, who wants to invest Mrs. Claypool’s money (she is played, of
course, by the wonderful Margaret Dumont) in the New York opera scene, which is
run by pompous Herman Gottlieb (Sig Ruman). Chico is “Fiorello,†another
manager of sorts, who represents his friend Ricardo (Jones), who happens to be
an extremely talented singer. Ricardo is in love with Rosa (Carlisle), also an
opera singer. She is set to co-star with sleazy Lassparri (Walter Woolf King),
who is cruel to his personal assistant, Tomasso (Harpo). Thus, the plot
involves subverting Lassparri and Gottlieb, and installing Ricardo and Rosa in
the opera. It takes the three Marx Brothers to make this happen.
The
script was written by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind, who had worked with
the brothers several times in the past. Even though Groucho and Chico were
known to improvise dialogue, the film contains many of their best bits. For
example, the “contract scene,†in which Driftwood and Fiorello hash out the
terms to sign Ricardo to the opera, is classic stuff. When they don’t agree on
a specific clause in the contract, they simply physically tear it off the
paper. When Fiorello gets down to the bottom, the clause which states that if
either party is “not in sound mind,†then the contract is void. “That’s the
sanity clause,†Driftwood explains. Fiorello isn’t having it. “Oh no, you can’t
fool me. There ain’t no Sanity Clause!†And
then there is the brilliant ocean liner stateroomscene, the cinematic
equivalent of stuffing the most people possible into a phone booth.
Groucho
and Chico do seem to have all the best stuff. Harpo is always splendid, but
here too much of his physical comedy is dependent on outrageous stunts
(performed by doubles and stuntmen, or visual photographic effects), such as
climbing up a vertical theatrical backdrop like a lizard. Harpo Marx’s
antics should never be performed by stuntmen or faked with technical trickery.
This is probably this reviewer’s biggest complaint about A Night at the
Opera, and the one thing that prevents it from overtaking the likes of Duck
Soup, Horse Feathers, Animal Crackers, and Monkey Business
as the quintessential Marx Brothers movie. At least Opera features two
superb musical solos by Chico (on piano) and Harpo (on harp), as well as a
couple of lavish, MGM-style musical numbers by Jones, Carlisle, and a multitude
of extras.
Warner
Archive’s new high-definition transfer is a vast improvement over the previous
DVD release. The few splices/missing frames in the film are still evident
(nothing to be done about those), but the picture quality is superb. All the supplements
are ported over from the DVD release, including the audio commentary by film
critic Leonard Maltin, as well as an entertaining documentary on the brothers
(featuring the likes of Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Dom DeLuise, and others), a
1961 television excerpt of Groucho being interviewed by Hy Gardner, and two
vintage 1930s MGM shorts (Robert Benchley’s “How to Sleep†and the musical
documentary “Sunday Night at the Trocaderoâ€). A third vintage short, “Los
Angeles: Wonder City of the West†is new to this Blu-ray release. The
theatrical trailer rounds out the package.
A
Night at the Opera is
a welcome addition to the home video collection of any Marx Brothers fan.
Despite the minor quibbles, this is classic, side-splitting, Hollywood comedy.
The
excellent boutique label Arrow Video has issued a superb 2-disk Limited Edition
Blu-ray package of Ridley Scott’s 1985 film, Legend (released in the
U.S. in 1986).
Like
another recent terrific Arrow Video release, David Lynch’s Dune, Scott’s
Legend was a troubled production that experienced studio interference
and a problematic worldwide release, received mixed to negative reviews from
critics and audiences alike, and was relegated to the barrel of “expensive
Hollywood failures†for decades—and yet it has a cult following of devoted fans.
Perhaps
the most notorious reputation Legend has is that it existed in different
cuts. Scott’s original cut was roughly 125 minutes, but the studio felt the
picture needed shortening. It was trimmed to 113 minutes, which was ultimately Scott’s
preferred cut. The picture’s music was composed and conducted by the great
Jerry Goldsmith, who had overlain the fantasy with a classically orchestral
score. The studio still felt that the movie ran too long, so further cuts were
demanded, much to Scott’s chagrin. This “European cut,†at around 95 minutes,
was released in the UK in late 1985. Reception wasn’t great, so the studio
delayed the North American release to make a drastic change. Over Scott’s objections,
they replaced Goldsmith’s score with a newly-commissioned one by the
progressive electronic band, Tangerine Dream. A few minutes more were cut, and
the U.S. release, at roughly 90 minutes, was released in spring 1986 with the
new score. This time the reception was even worse.
Ridley
Scott always maintained that his original cut of the film—with Goldsmith’s
score—was the way Legend should be seen. Thus, in 2002, Legend received
a re-release of Scott’s Director’s Cut of 113 minutes with Goldsmith’s score
restored. This version was re-appraised and earned a more positive rating from
critics and viewers. Interestingly, Scott has more Director’s Cuts of his films
that are different from their theatrical releases than any other filmmaker, as
pointed out in one of the disk’s supplements!
Legend
is
hard-fantasy, but it owes more to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or
Disney’s Fantasia than it does to, say, Tolkien’s The Lord of the
Rings. Yes, there are fairies, goblins, elves, and dwarves in both visions
of a fantasyland, but Legend has a more classical, old-myth feel. While
Scott’s Director’s Cut is indeed a vast improvement over the shorter versions
(European and U.S.), the picture still has flaws that prevent it from being the
masterwork that Scott perhaps hoped it would be. That said, there is much to
admire in Legend.
Visually,
Legend is scrumptious, gorgeous, and fascinating. The production designs
by Assheton Gordon and especially the makeup designs by Rob Bottin are
extraordinary. The pastoral atmosphere and the moods evoked by the picture are
effective and magical.
The
acting? A young Tom Cruise plays Jack, a sort of Jack-in-the-Green fellow who
is at one with the forest and its creatures. He fancies Princess Lili (Mia
Sara), who is precocious and sets all the conflict of the story in motion by a
careless act. (Oddly, all references to Lili being a princess are deleted from
the U.S. theatrical release.) Tim Curry is magnificent behind all the makeup as
the Prince of Darkness, a truly delicious villain. David Bennent (of The Tin
Drum fame) is believable as an elf named Gump, although his voice is dubbed
by Alice Playton.
The
story is straightforward. Darkness wants to eliminate all light in the world by
destroying the two unicorns in the forest, so he sends a troupe of goblins out
to do the dirty deed, just as Jack is introducing the animals to Lili. One
unicorn horn is hacked off and stolen, and the world is plunged into a deep
freeze. Lili is eventually captured by Darkness (he has the hots for her, too),
so it’s up to Jack, the elves, and a pair of dwarves to rescue her, retrieve
the unicorn horn, and stop Darkness from accomplishing his goal.
It
all works well enough, although the voices used for the goblins are
ridiculously comical and are a detriment to the action. Once the action moves
to Darkness’ realm, the picture picks up and becomes quite suspenseful. In the
end, though, Legend just doesn’t reach the lofty target to which it aspired.
One of the problems is that is seemed not to know what audience for whom it was
aimed. Children? Adults? Teenagers? The studio arbitrarily decided it was the
latter, which was one of the reasons the Tangerine Dream score replaced
Goldsmith’s.
And
what of the scores? The Tangerine Dream score is actually quite good—the band had
already done several movie scores and were quite adept at it. It works with the
theatrical version well enough. Nevertheless, the Jerry Goldsmith is far
superior and fits the movie much better. This is classical fantasy, so a
classical score is more appropriate.
The
new Arrow Video Limited Edition 2-Disk package contains the U.S. theatrical
release (with the Tangerine Dream score) and Scott’s Director’s Cut (with Jerry
Goldsmith’s score), both beautifully restored in 2K. They both have DTS-HD MA
2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround audio, and optional English subtitles for the
hearing impaired. The theatrical cut has an audio commentary by Paul M. Sammon
(author of Ridley Scott: The Making of His Movies). The Director’s Cut
features an audio commentary by Scott himself. There are isolated music and
effects tracks for the theatrical release.
Supplements
abound. New featurettes include a documentary on the film featuring interviews
with several key crew members and cast member Annabelle Lanyon (who plays Oona
the sprite); an excellent two-part documentary on the two scores; a featurette
examining the various versions of the film; and a two-part featurette on the
movie’s creatures. Vintage supplements include a 2003 documentary on Ridley
Scott; a 2002 documentary on the making of the film; original promotional
featurettes; deleted scenes; alternate scenes; storyboard galleries; two drafts
of the screenplay (!) by William Hjortsberg; alternate footage from the
overseas release; trailers, TV spots, and image galleries. The package also
contains a wonderfully illustrated booklet with writing on the film by Nicholas
Clement, Kat Ellinger, and Simon Ward, plus archive materials and more. There’s
a two-sided poster with new artwork by Neil Davies and the original by John
Alvin, a pack of glossy full-color photographs by Annie Leibovitz, and
double-sided postcards that are lobby card reproductions. The jewel case comes
with a reversible sleeve of both artworks.
Legend
is
likely of interest to fans of Ridley Scott, Tom Cruise, and the fantasy genre,
but it is especially informative and revelatory in terms of Hollywood history
and how studios and artists often clash in the realization of a marketable
vision. Hats off to Arrow Video!
Film director Jonathan Mostow began his career in film shortly
after graduating college in the mid-1980’s as a television writer and director for
segments on Fright Show in 1985, Beverly Hills Body Snatchers in
1989, and the TV-movie Flight of Black Angel in 1991. While working as
the executive producer of the Michael Douglas suspenser The Game (1997),
Mr. Mostow was also looking to adapt Stephen King’s short story “Trucks†into a
film. Although it had already been shot in late 1985 by Mr. King (in a
directing capacity) as Maximum Overdrive (1986), there was interest to
do another film version of it – until all involved were told that they could
not use Stephen King’s name with the project. This proved to be fortuitous as
most of the locations had not only been scouted but also secured for filming, although
there was no film to be shot. Mr. Mostow took the locations and fashioned a
story about a couple driving across the country to start a new life when
unexpectedly their life takes a huge wrong turn. The result is Breakdown,
a nail-biting suspense thriller that is Mr. Mostow’s feature film debut as a
director, which is now available on Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures Home
Entertainment. I spoke with Mr. Mostow recently about the film and the new
Blu-ray.
Todd Garbarini: Thank you for having gotten Breakdown made.
I can safely say that this is the most intense motion picture that I have ever
seen. I initially did not want to see it based on the theatrical trailer
because it looked “run-of-the-millâ€, however I found myself at the Glendale 9
Drive-In in June 1997 while in Arizona on business, and Breakdown was the
only title, aside from Jim Carrey’s Liar, Liar, that appealed to me. I
love Kurt Russell and the film completely blew me away. I was not prepared for the
movie at all, and I don't know how you made it the way you did, but I'm
grateful because I think it's extraordinary. It's a film that possesses a level
of emotional tension that I have rarely, if ever, experienced in a
feature film and it also has one of the best movie scores I’ve ever heard.
Would it be fair to say that Steven Spielberg's Duel was an influence on
the film?
Jonathan
Mostow: I'm sure that it was. First off, thank you for the super kind words.
I'm going to guess that since you saw this at a drive-in, you heard the audio
from inside a car?
TG: No, actually I was sitting on the hood of the car, and
the movie was so full of tension and suspense that I honestly thought that my
sweaty palms would pull the paint off the car! The audio was actually very,
very good. The drive-in no longer had those small, tinny speakers. The audio
instead was pumped through the FM radio band, and there were many cars all
around me that were doing that. I didn't even have to listen through my Ford
Taurus station wagon rental car (laughs), and I heard all the music and
dialogue perfectly.
JM: Oh that’s good, because I'm really a stickler about good
sound.
TG: I am, too.
JM: I want to cringe when I hear about drive-ins because I thought
it probably would have sounded terrible! I want to address something that
you said earlier when we began speaking, and that's how you pretty much didn't
want to see Breakdown as a result of the trailer. I will never forget
when I was a young filmmaker at the time because it was my first studio film
and we had just had a test screening that had gone really well. The way that it
works is that they have a test screening and afterwards they ask questions of
the audience. So, the whole audience was still inside the theater, filling out
the questionnaire, and in the lobby a group of the senior executives from the
studio were milling around and asking each other how they were going to market
the movie. I happened to overhear them, and they sort of intimated that this
would be a good movie for the drive-in crowd, so-to-speak. Especially in the
South, they felt that the South would somehow like it more. Since I was a young
filmmaker at the time, I didn't feel that it was really my place to walk up to
the top people of the studio and tell them their business, but I really wanted
to tell them that this is not the crowd that this film was designed for.
I saw the film as really a nightmare for yuppies. This is a nightmare for the
metrosexual, educated, polo-shirt wearing, white collar middle-aged Everyman. That's
who this is a nightmare for and that's who you should be selling this to.
The marketing campaign, in
a way, I believe sent a different message to the audience than what I was intending
about the film and the result was what you said earlier about not wanting
to see it initially, and how the film ultimately surprised you and you came to
like the film a lot more than you initially thought you would.
TG: I must admit, that doesn’t
happen to me often.
JM: I have heard that reaction
from so many people, and Kurt (Russell) heard that from so many
people. The question was, “Why didn't you think you would enjoy it?â€, and the answer
was, “The way that it was originally sold was that the ad campaign set up
certain expectations that were not the expectations that I would have set
up had I been designing the ad campaign.†I have to say that the
studio (Paramount) did a fantastic job with this brand-new Blu-ray transfer. It
looks gorgeous. For so many years, people have been asking me why they couldn't
find this movie on Blu-ray.
TG: Yes, I was one of those…
JM: And I would have to explain to them that it wasn't available
on Blu-ray. I was thrilled when the studio got in touch with me last year and
they told me that they were going to do this movie right, that they would do a
whole new transfer. I went in and sort of supervised it and signed off on what
they did. I was just thrilled with it. Now, to answer your question about Duel,
I'm a little older than you, and I grew up watching TV movies. Duel was
originally a made-for-TV movie, and it did receive a theatrical release later
on. But there were lots of these TV movies at the time, where a couple is
driving somewhere, they're pulled over for a speeding ticket, or there is a
corrupt cop who ends up imprisoning them and embezzling them for money, or the
wife disappears, etc.
TG: Yes, Dying Room Only with Dabney Coleman and Cloris
Leachman was one of the more famous films of that ilk.
JM: Right, and all these horrible things happen. I don't even
remember the names of most of these movies, but I'm thinking of an aggregate of
that, plus the types of themes that you would see in an Alfred Hitchcock
movie, they were all kind of rattling around in my brain. So, when I had an
idea for this, even though this is a quote-unquote “original ideaâ€, and
arguably no ideas are original because everything's been pretty much done in
cinema, because we are all creatures of the culture that we grew up in, I
thought it should be a road movie.
TG: The climax of the film looked like a real nightmare to shoot.
Did it take a long time to shoot that?
JM: Yeah, we actually spent a couple of weeks on that. That was
one of the few things that we shot that was in the Los Angeles area. The rest
of the film was shot in Utah, Nevada, and all over the place.
JM: We shot everything for real in this movie. Nowadays, if you're
going to shoot a car chase, most of it is digital. I have always been a
believer in the idea that even though you can do things digitally, and back
then the digital technology was still sort of in its infancy, it was kind of
cost-prohibitive, too – to make something visceral, you should really go out of
the way and do it for real. The only thing that was truly digital was in
certain cases during the climax when the Peterbilt cab is going over the bridge
and dangling, that was a real truck. But naturally, it was suspended by
construction cranes and we had to digitally remove all of them, the wiring
holding up the cab, etc. If you scratch beneath the surface, of any movie, what
you have is a director who's basically a child playing with a big electric
train set. It's never easy of course, but it was also super fun.
TG: I became a fan of Basil Poledouris after I heard his magnificent
score to John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian which I saw it when it opened
in May 1982. Was he your first choice to score this phone?
JM: Well, Basil had been suggested to me and we had ended up
bringing in a composer I had worked with previously, Richard Marvin, and he did
some of the music as well, and the net result of what we ended up with was a score
that neither one of them would have done on their own. In a lot of cases, where
we recorded a big score with a large orchestra, I went up just taking out the
orchestra completely and leaving in just a kind of percussion track or
something. Scoring the movie itself was an unusual process and everybody was
happy with it at the end. However, the initial issue that I was having with Basil’s
score was that he was capturing the emotion but not capturing enough of the
suspense. That being said, I don't believe that it was a score that anybody
would have devised on the outside.
TG: I think that the score works perfectly. Especially towards the
climax, the end of the film, you have Jeffrey struggling to get to his wife,
and the intercutting between Jeffrey and the kidnappers, that whole sequence is
just incredible. The tension that you built during that sequence was
magnificent.
JM: Well, you should appreciate this story. One night, we were
working very late in Basil’s studio which was in Venice (California). This was
a very dangerous area back then. It was about two in the morning, and he tells
me that he has to go down the street and get some cigarettes. He asked me if I
wanted anything from the corner store. On the one hand I told him no thank you,
but on the other hand, in my head, I'm thinking, “Are you crazy?! You're going
to go to a corner store at two in the morning?†I wouldn't walk out in that
neighborhood at two in the morning even if I had armed escorts. It was at that
moment that I realized that Basil had no personal fear. He was the sort of the
opposite of me. I’m a fairly anxious person and that's how I was throughout
most of the making of this movie, dealing with my own anxiety. What I realized
at that moment was that Basil was connecting with the sadness. Kurt's
character, Jeffrey Taylor, had this feeling of having lost his wife and didn’t
know where she was or even how to find her. He was also facing potentially
losing his wife forever. Basil was capturing that beautifully, but the problem
was I wasn't feeling the anxiety. So that's why I brought in Richard so
he could just nail the anxiety that I really needed for the movie. In the end, the
score ended up being what I really needed, which was a hybrid between the
sadness and the anxiety. That's why I think the score worked so well for the
film. If these composers had done the scores on their own, I don't think that
they would have achieved the effect that I was looking for. It just had to be a
partnership.
TG: Do you have an all-time favorite movie?
JM: No, because it varies. There are movies that you love
tremendously when you are young, and I'm sure that you have probably
experienced this yourself, and then you look at them maybe 15 or 20 years later
and they just don't hold up for you anymore. I remember watching Barbra
Streisand getting a Lifetime Achievement Award, and she said something that has
always stuck with me. She said that it was great to get these awards, it's
great to be recognized for your work, but the real test is if 30 years from now,
which of these films will stand up? Which of these films will still work? And
that's what's amazing to me when I go back and I look at certain films that
were made, you know, 20 or 30 years ago, and they hold up, that's always, to
me, the miracle. Some films hold up and some films simply don't.
TG: I agree. In 1979, I saw two films that I loved very much: Moonraker
and The Black Hole. Both films have really wonderful film scores by the
late great John Barry. But the former is James Bond in outer space and the latter
was really beautiful to look at, but had very little in the way of action. I
really loved both films when I first saw them, but watching them many years
later, I found the former to be puerile and insipid and the latter to be plodding
and boring. And it killed me that I felt that way. One film from that era that
stands the test of time for me is George Miller's The Road Warrior which
was, is, and I think always will be, the best action film that I've ever seen.
I never tire of that film. There are some problems with it, when they overcrank
or undercrank the action and it just looks like a Mack Sennett comedy for a few
seconds, I don't agree with that, they should have left it alone. The
Shining is another one. That film terrified me when I first saw it and it's
still the most beautiful horror film that I've ever seen. What are some of the
other films that you've seen that have influenced your career?
JM: When I was a child, my father took me to see Alfred
Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. We saw it at this old repertory movie
theater near where we lived, and this film plays a little bit like sort of a
light comedy. But to an eight-year-old kid like me, I found the film to be
totally gripping. The idea in that film is that this woman suddenly disappears
10 minutes into the movie. And the audience is wondering where the hell did she
go? I believe that that notion stayed in my subconscious all these years and in
a way, Breakdown was my way of exercising that out of my subconscious.
So, Breakdown is the film that kind of launched my career. Even though
that is one of Hitchcock's lesser works, for me personally, it had a great
influence. That's also a hard question to answer, because truthfully, I didn't
see a great many movies growing up. By the time I had gotten to college, I
don't believe I had seen more than 15 or 20 movies.
TG: What films did you initially not like, then you watched them
again later on and had a different experience and ended up really liking them?
JM: I have to be honest, there are very few films that I've seen
multiple times. Once I've seen a film, that's it. I've seen it. I remember
seeing an interview one time with a filmmaker, and it came out in the interview
that once he was done with the film he never sees it again. And I hadn't
directed any movie prior to seeing that interview. And I remember thinking how
crazy that was! I thought to myself if I'd directed a movie, I would watch it
every week! Sure enough, I found that once I finished the film, I've never gone
back to watch it again. Ever! Breakdown, of course, is the exception
because I watched it with Kurt Russell while we did the commentary for it. You
see it more than once when you're traveling around the world, doing press
screenings and that sort of thing. But psychologically for me, I'm just done.
And I move on. I have seen Goodfellas a few times. That's one that comes
to mind. Other movies that I've seen before, I might catch a few scenes of it
here or there on television. But I generally don't watch it again all the way
through. I tend to not be a big repeat viewer.
In closing, I just really appreciate that Paramount is releasing
this movie on Blu-ray with our commentary track and all the extras. There are
some really interesting interviews on it. We're actually including the
alternate opening to the film on this disc. This is something that has never
been shown to the public before.
TG: For me, that is worth the price of admission alone. Thank you
very much for speaking with me, it’s been a pleasure.
In
Jonathan Mostow’s Breakdown (1997), Jeffrey and Amy Taylor (Kurt Russell
and Kathleen Quinlan) seem like a normal and nice middle-aged couple moving
from New England to San Diego to hopefully start a new life from a past we are
not privy to, though it’s one fraught with financial issues. On the way, Jeffrey
nearly sideswipes a dirty brown Ford F150 while reaching for his thermos and
suffers invective from the driver (M.C. Gainey). A minor confrontation ensues
later when both men refuel at the same gas station. Words are exchanged. Upon
leaving, the Taylor’s new Grand Cherokee soon malfunctions, and they are
temporarily stranded as the F150 blows past them. Fortunately, an 18-wheeler soon
stops to help. The truck’s driver, Red Barr (the fine character actor J.T.
Walsh in his penultimate screen performance), gives Amy a ride to Belle’s
Diner to
call for help – except that she never makes it.
If
you recall Steven Spielberg’s 1971 television film Duel, Dennis Weaver
portrayed David Mann, an Everyman traveling to a sales account when his life
suddenly changes after passing a huge oil truck. Incensed by this perceived
breach of road etiquette, the truck driver chases and taunts Mann throughout
the rest of the film. Duel is arguably the granddaddy of road rage
movies, making riveting cinema out of a cat-and-mouse game that holds the
audience’s attention the entire time. Likewise, Breakdown holds the
equivalent mantle as it pertains to missing persons thrillers. As a horror film
fan of forty years, there is little that I have seen that gets under my skin,
George Sluizer’s icy 1988 Dutch/French character study Spoorloos, known
in the States as The Vanishing, being a notable exception. Mr.
Russell and Mr. Walsh have shared the screen multiples times together,
specifically in Robert Towne’s Tequila Sunrise (1989), Ron Howard’s Backdraft
(1991), and Stuart Baird’s Executive Decision (1994). Here they pair up
again in a frightening game that begins when, following unsuccessful attempts to glean info from the
patrons and owner of Belle’s Diner (a terrific turn by character actor Jack
McGee), Jeffrey catches sight of Red’s truck and pulls him over to the side of
the road. Jeffrey’s interrogation of Red regarding his wife’s whereabouts is
met by a perplexing display of gaslighting when Red claims he doesn’t even know
what Jeff is talking about. For a moment, we feel that perhaps this is even
Red’s twin and that there has been a complete mix-up. Following a search
of Red’s vehicle aided by a passing sheriff (Rex Linn), Jeffrey is, like Cary
Grant in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) as described by
Cliff Robertson in the 1973 documentary on Mr. Hitchcock, “a man alone –
innocent, defenseless…†He realizes that it’s up to him to find Amy – and he
has no idea who to trust or even where to begin. What follows is the most intense
nail-biting thriller I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to oversell the film, but I
will anyway. Jeffrey moves mountains to locate his wife and when he does, the
tension and anxiety could not be more powerful. One thing I noticed: Red has
white wings in his hair like the Paulie Walnuts character on The Sopranos.
The
ending of Breakdown has been shrugged off by some critics as being unworthy
of what comes before, and even “ludicrousâ€. I must respectfully disagree. By
the end of the film, what we are looking for is a massive payoff, and I believe
that we get it in spades. The “ludicrous†ending is, instead, tension-filled
and satisfying. Detractors never seem to offer an alternative. I am personally
thankful to Dino DeLaurentiis for making a go of it and letting Jonathan Mostow
direct this film. Everyone has to start somewhere, and this directorial debut
is remarkable.
In
the days of VHS and laserdisc prior to large-screen televisions, Breakdown
is a film that I owned on the latter format in a letterboxed edition. In 1998,
the film suffered the indignity of a rather lackluster transfer on DVD when it
was window-boxed and lacked 16 x 9 anamorphic enhancement, rendering the DVD
nearly unwatchable. The new Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment
is part of “Paramount Presents†which is described as a line of Blu-ray
releases for collectors and fans showcasing movies that have generally not made
it to Blu-ray before. Breakdown is number 26 in the list of
titles of
films showcased on Blu-ray in these new special editions. The new transfer is a
revelation.
In
addition to the new transfer, the Blu-ray contains the following extras:
A
feature-length audio commentary with the director and Kurt Russell. If you have
ever heard any of the previous commentaries that Mr. Russell has been involved
with, specifically with director John Carpenter on Escape from New York
(1981) and The Thing (1982), you know that he is one of the most
entertaining people to listen to. He also has a phenomenal laugh and chuckles
through most of the film, even making fun of Jeffrey! Hilarious. They speak
about Dino DeLaurentiis; having gotten cinematographer Doug Milsom who worked on
four films with Stanley Kubrick; Mr. Russell imitating Dennis Weaver in Duel
(“You can’t catch me on the grade!â€); the director discussing how he wrote a
role for Morgan Freeman as a character whose wife was kidnapped and teams up
with Jeffrey, the idea later wisely written out of the script; Roger Ebert
criticized the bank scene, but the commentary states that they were rushed to
get it done on the location but I think it works just fine. Overall, a truly
fun and entertaining listen and easily the best extra.
Newly
commissioned alternative artwork.
The
musical score is isolated on one of the audio tracks, a great feature that I
wish more companies would provide.
Filmmaker
Focus - Jonathan Mostow
(10:45) – This piece is a spotlight on the director that highlights much of
what was said during the commentary.
Victory
is Hers: Kathleen Quinlan on Breakdown
(4:22) – I was so happy to see Kathleen Quinlan included in this edition and
she discusses some of her experiences making the film.
A
Brilliant Partnership: Martha De Laurentiis on Breakdown (8:18) – This is a piece dedicated to
one of the producers of the film. Mrs. De Laurentiis worked with her late
husband, Dino, on the film and this is a look at their partnership.
Alternate
Opening with optional Jonathan Mostow commentary (11:00) – Along with the film’s commentary,
this is a very cool piece to see, as its inclusion changes the whole mood of
the film. The credits run slowly over the opening and the sequence establishes
Jeffrey as all-thumbs – lightyears removed from the Snake Plissken Mr. Russell
played fifteen years earlier. It was the correct decision to remove this
footage, though I feel badly for the other actors in the scene to have been
excised from such a terrific film!
Rounding
out the extras are trailers for Breakdown, Kiss the Girls, and Hard
Rain.
There
are two Blu-rays of this film available, one from the Australian company Via
Vision’s Imprint line and the Paramount Presents disc. Both Blu-rays are worth
owning for die-hard fans of the film as they each contain completely different
extras, but if you have to choose just one, I recommend the Paramount disc as
it contains the director/actor commentary and the excised alternate opening.
