"RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVE"
BY LEE PFEIFFER
The Warner Archive has released the 1967 drama Chubasco as a burn-to-order title. The film represents exactly the type of title that is appropriate for the Archive treatment: although it boasts well-known stars, it's doubtful the film has enough commercial clout to ever merit a traditional DVD release. The story itself is a minor affair, a B movie masquerading as an A title. However, the film does have some minor significance as it represents Jones's feature film debut. The studio obviously had great hopes for the young thespian, as it afforded him a starring role despite the fact that this marked the first time audiences had seen him on the big screen. Jones plays the titular character, Chubasco, which may sound like an ingredient for a Bloody Mary, but, in fact, is a Spanish word for a particularly fierce storm at see. Chubasco is an arrogant young man who is always in trouble with the law for minor crimes. A judge offers him a choice: either follow in the tradition of his late father and live a disciplined life by serving on a tuna fishing vessel or go to jail. Chubasco reluctantly chooses the former, but he immediately clashes with the ship captain and crew members. All of this is happening while he is embroiled in a romance with Susan Strasberg that has Romeo and Juliet overtones. (Her dominating father refuses to allow the couple to be together).
The land-based sequences boast chintzy sets that give the film the
look of a TV movie, perhaps not coincidentally, as the director Allen H.
Miner was best known for his work on popular television series.
However, the sequences at sea are quite exciting, as Chubasco learns to
re-evaluate what he values through the dangerous profession he finds
himself in. The scenes may not rival anything seen in an episode of The Deadliest Catch, but
they do liven the story line beyond the hokey romantic subplot. The
primary reason to see the movie is the inspired cast, which includes
reliable stalwarts such as Simon Oakland, Richard Egan, Edward Binns,
Preston Foster and Ann Sothern (typically cast as a lovable madam).
Jones's career would burn brightly but briefly in the years following
this movie. His acting style, consciously or not, suggested another
James Dean or Brando wannabe. However, he had charisma to spare, as
evidenced by his excellent performance in Wild in the Streets. Ironically, it was after his most high profile role in David Lean's Ryan's Daughter that he dropped out of the industry altogether. (He made a brief return to the screen in 1996 in the little-seen movie Mad Dog Time.) Jones was a fine talent who could have had a long career in the film industry but he fell victim to his own excesses and eccentricities. "Chubasco" gives us a taste of what might have been.
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