Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City:
Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now will celebrate its
40th Anniversary at the Festival with a screening of a new, never-before-seen
restored version of the film, entitled Apocalypse Now: Final Cut. Remastered
from the original negative in 4K Ultra HD, the film will be brought to life
with Dolby Vision® and Dolby Atmos®, delivering spectacular colors and
highlights that are up to 40 times brighter and blacks that are 10 times
darker, and Dolby Atmos, producing moving audio that flows all around you with
breathtaking realism. The Beacon Theatre will also be outfitted for this
exclusive occasion with Meyer Sound VLFC (Very Low Frequency Control), a
ground-breaking loudspeaker system engineered to output audio frequencies below
the limits of human hearing, giving the audience a truly visceral experience.
Nominated for eight Academy Awards®, Francis Ford Coppola’s stunning vision of
the heart of darkness in all of us remains a classic and compelling Vietnam War
epic. Martin Sheen stars as Army Captain Willard, a troubled man sent on a
dangerous and mesmerizing odyssey into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade
American Colonel named Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who has succumbed to the horrors
of war and barricaded himself in a remote outpost.
After the Screening: An evening with Francis Ford Coppola who will reflect on
the film and discuss its elaborate restoration. Drama, Special
Events
About the Director(s)
Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most acclaimed
filmmakers of our time; a five-time Academy Award-winning director, writer, and
producer of such films as Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II,
American Graffiti, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, and Bram Stoker's Dracula.
As the founder of American Zoetrope, he initiated and nourished the careers of
talents such as George Lucas, Carroll Ballard, John Milius, Sofia Coppola, and
actors Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, James Caan, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus,
Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon, and Diane Lane.
As a writer, director, producer, and technological pioneer, Francis Coppola has
created a body of work that has helped to shape contemporary American cinema.
The 6th Socially Relevant Film
Festival kicked off at the Cinema Village theater on 12th Street in New York
City last Monday night in fine fashion. Literally. "The Merger" is a
wonderfully sweet and ultimately moralistic comedy from Down Under that centers
around the sport of Australian Rules Football, or "Footy."
It's set in the fictional, rural
village of Bodgy Creek Australia - a town in trouble. A population decrease,
caused by the "greenie-led" closure of the timber mill, has left the
footy team short handed. so much so that their only choices are to either merge
with another team or fold.
"What's a merger?" asks
young Neil Barlow (played by the charismatic 11 year-old (Rafferty Grierson),
grandson to the club manager "Bull" Barlow."That's where one shit team joins with
another shit team to make a slightly less shit team," a player responds.
The Bodgy Creek Roosters are a shit team right now.
When town pariah, former AFL star
Troy Carrington (played by writer Damian Callinan) comes up with a solution to
raise funds, save the team and rebuild the clubhouse - he becomes head of the
team. His problems are two-fold: he's unpopular and referred to as "Town
Killer" for having led the "greenie" protest and it requires the
assistance of the town's refugee population. This is where the film's humanity
and morality come to the forefront.
Originally a one-man theatre show
by Damian Callinan that snowballed throughout Australia from the rural areas to
the big cities that held a mirror up to society's foibles, frailties and
contradictions, not just in Australia but everywhere it seems in these times.
Eventually, film director Mark Grentell saw the show. Having worked with Callinan
on "Backyard Ashes" the two got together to
put together this gem of a film. It's a bit of a rough gem. Then again, so is
Australia.
Fayssal Bazzi's portrayal of the Syrian
refugee, Sayyid, is standout. I cried so much, I laughed. Kate Mulvany, as
widowed daughter-in-law of Bull Barlow and mother of Neil is another gleaming
facet of this rough gem - and if you're interested in podcasts;
Callinhan has been making them about the Bodgy Creek Roosters since 2016:
www.bodgycreekfootballclubpodcast.com/
Popular Mechanics has assembled the stories behind what have become the most sought-after and expensive "Star Wars" collectibles in the world. If they keep going up in value, we suspect their combined worth will exceed the budget of the original film! Click here to read.
Nicholas Ray’s “The True Story of Jesse James” (1957), now
available on a Twilight Time limited edition Blu-ray, is one of those movies
that really depresses me whenever I see it. It’s a reminder how life sometimes
just seems to go out of its way to be unfair... and it’s got nothing to do with
Jesse James at all. It’s about James
Dean.
Ray had just finished directing Dean in “Rebel Without a
Cause,” and the word is that if Dean hadn’t wiped himself out in a Porsche
Spyder down in Bakersfield, Ray would have cast him in “True Story’s” title
role. It would have been perfect casting. Dean, an actor who could reach down
into the cauldron of seething emotion that smoldered deep inside him, would
have electrified the screen with a Jesse James that nobody’d ever forget.
Instead, what we got was a bland, lifeless performance by Robert Wagner as
Jesse, aided and abetted by Jeffrey Hunter, another fifties pretty boy, as
Jesse’s brother Frank. Hunter at least was capable of an occasional angry scowl,
but Wagner’s magazine cover good looks never changes expression once during the
entire 92 minutes of the film. “The True Story of Jesse James,” is an
opportunity lost, a muffed chance at what could have been a classic American
Western.
That’s not to say it’s not an interesting movie. Nicholas
Ray never made an uninteresting film. Ray’s approach to the outlaw’s story is
definitely his own. The script by Walter Newman (“The Man with the Golden Arm”
1955) is a rewrite of the screenplay written by Nunnally Johnson for the
earlier “Jesse James” (1939) film, which was directed by Henry King and starred
Tyrone Power as Jesse and Henry Fonda as Frank. Johnson’s script made the
argument that it was the encroachment of the railroad and the way it grabbed
the land of Missouri farmers that caused the James boys to turn outlaw. The
story shows how the James’ fight with the railroad escalated, with the powerful
railroad executives, crooked lawyers and corrupt judges pushing Jesse and his
friends into a corner, forcing them to turn to violence. The James brothers and
their pals, the Youngers, the Fords, and the Millers, moved up from robbing
trains to banks, culminating in the disastrous robbery of the Northfield,
Minnesota National Bank, which basically ended the outlaws’ careers.
“The True Story of Jesse James,” tells a different story,
and tells it in a different way. In Ray’s version it wasn’t the railroad that
was responsible, it was the fact that the James boys fought for the Confederacy
but lived in an area of Missouri surrounded by Yankee sympathizers. Their
neighbors hated them for riding with Quantrill’s Raiders, and persecuted them,
siding with Union soldiers when they came to arrest Frank. Arkew (Chubby
Johnson), one of the neighbors, whips Jesse with his belt to make him tell
where Frank is hiding. Jesse refuses to tell and promises him “someday” he’ll
settle the score. It’s a pretty bland threat coming from Wagner, and it almost
forces you to imagine how Dean would have played it. Later in the story, it is
a crucial plot element, when just on the eve of being granted amnesty by the
governor, Jess runs into Arkew, and kills him, ruining the chance for a
peaceful outcome. That scene would have been colossal in Dean’s hands, but lacks
the impact it should have had.
Newman’s screenplay doesn’t stop at blaming the war for
Jesse’s activities, it tries to go deeper. A newspaper editor refuses to write
up an obituary in advance because he says first he has to know what made Jesse
the man he was. Preacher Jethro Bailey (John Carradine, who played Bob Ford in
the earlier film) blames the devil for what he became. But Zee, Jesse’s wife
(Hope Lange) disagrees, saying he was a “sweet, gentle boy” who was pushed into
outlawry by the haters all around him and his family.
Not only are the causes of Jesse’s behavior explained
differently, the way Jesse’s life is examined is different as well. In the
earlier film, the story is told chronologically. But “The True Story of Jesse
James” begins at the end with the Northfield bank robbery and tries to put the
puzzle of James’s personality together through flashbacks. This
socio/psychoanalytical approach is one that Ray could have used successfully
with Dean in the title role, portraying Jesse as another one of his rebel-without-a-cause
characters. But Wagner lacked the depth to be able to come to grips with the
demands the part called for, and it appears that Ray simply gave up trying to
get more out of him. The film lacks the energy of most of Ray’s other films, with
many scenes consisting of stretches of dialogue that go on far too long. And,
for whatever reason, Ray actually re-used footage from the earlier movie. The
train robbery with the silhouetted figure of Jesse running over the top of the
cars, and the scene during the Northfield raid where Jesse and Frank ride their
horses through a storefront window were both clipped from the earlier film. Had
Ray lost enthusiasm for the movie by the time it came to shoot those scenes? We
may never know.
Twilight Time presents “The True Story of Jesse James,”
in its original 2.35:1 Cinemascope aspect ratio in a very sharp 1080 p high
definition transfer. The film was shot with Twentieth Century Fox’s Color by De
Luxe and looks great. All of Fox’s Cinemascope films had terrific stereo
soundtracks, and Twilight Time has transferred it in optional 5.1 DTS HD, or
2.0 DTS. The 3,000 unit limited edition comes with a separate audio track for
Leigh Harline’s music score. There’s also some Fox Movietone newsreel footage as
well as the theatrical trailer. Twilight Times’ Julie Kirgo provides an
informative essay along with some stills in an 8-page booklet.
Sometimes life is unfair. We didn’t get to see James Dean
in what could have been one of his greatest roles, but at least we have
Twilight Time preserving the kind of films that remind of us of when we were
young and what it was like to be a rebel.
One of those "guilty pleasure" James Bond spoofs from the 1960s was "Salt & Pepper" starring one-time Rat Packers Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford in a London-based "mod" adventure. The film was awful but you had to admire the Jack Davis artwork used on the soundtrack album with score by John Dankworth.
The success of Larry Cohen’s 1973 Blaxploitation classic,
Black Caesar, was so immediately
evident that producer Samuel Z. Arkoff, then head of American International
Pictures, put the sequel wheels in motion almost instantly. The follow-up, Hell Up in Harlem, was released just 10
months later, still in 1973. Such a hasty turnaround certainly makes its mark
on the completed picture, with a frenetic tempo, chaotic storyline, and haphazard
construction that all seems to mirror its own pace of production. Yet even in
the face of this slapdash development, the film itself is thoroughly
entertaining, if not quite living up to its predecessor.
Reprising his role as Tommy Gibbs, the shrewd criminal
entrepreneur who worked his way up through the underworld ranks in Black Caesar, Fred Williamson starts off
the sequel in dire straits. As seen in the earlier film, Tommy had proudly
flaunted an aggressive charm, with a sly sense of humor that worked in tandem
with his brazen confidence. He knew where he wanted to go in life and was assuredly
willing to do whatever it took to get there, be it learning Italian so as to
ingratiate, impress, and ultimately usurp the more ethnically traditional
mobsters in the city, or simply to do the dirty deeds necessary to establish
his prominence—if there was territory he wanted, his fierce ambition secured
it. Before long, Tommy assumed a swaggering spot center stage on the streets,
branching out from low-level misdemeanors to criminal enterprises with broad
ramifications. Needless to say, he also made more than a few enemies in the
process, and his brutal track record catches up with him. As Black Caesar ends, Tommy has been shot,
mugged, and left for dead outside the dilapidated apartment building he used to
call home.
These final minutes are recapped during the opening
credits of Hell Up in Harlem, now
available on Blu-ray from Olive Films. We also see that Tommy’s nascent archenemy,
District Attorney DiAngelo (Gerald Gordon), had set up the hit, with a little
help from Tommy’s scorned ex, Helen, played by Gloria Hendry. In this manic
opening, with its looming threat of death, Tommy appears slightly more
vulnerable than he had in Black Caesar,
or would again in Hell Up in Harlem (after
Arkoff saw the instant potential of Black
Caesar, he recalled and quickly altered certain prints of the film,
adjusting what was supposed to have been Tommy’s fatal dénouement). It gives
him a tinge of fallibility, but there is little doubt he will be back on top in
no time. The depleted hero still has a few friends left, and most importantly,
he is still in possession of vital ledgers detailing the rampant misdeeds of
several high-ranking city officials. Aside from using this information to
essentially erase the transgressions and conflicts of Black Caesar, holding the books as leverage to set things right, Tommy
plans to crack down on the city’s drug trade and, with Jennifer (Margaret
Avery), his generally inconsequential new love interest, he hopes to move into
a life of legitimacy. All of this is easier said than done, of course, and Tommy
is soon embroiled in police conspiracy and in-house treachery: his
overly-ambitious enforcer, Zach (Tony King), has been scheming since the
beginning, and is none too pleased when Tommy’s father re-enters the picture to
assume a more prominent role.
There are many ways to approach reviewing a movie like
“Crazy Six.” You could join all the disgusted and angry user reviews on IMDb
and call it the worst freaking movie you’ve ever seen. It’s got an incoherent
script, if there was any at all. The art nouveau cinematography only further
distracts from any sense the story might have made. There’s no continuity, with
scenes following each other without any narrative logic and actors all seeming
confused and dazed (as opposed to dazed and confused), standing around on the
set as if they weren’t sure where to stand, and even less certain what their
dialogue was.
Or you could discuss the career of the film’s director,
Albert Pyun, a B-movie director who has been called today’s Ed Wood, and who is
most famous for using the sets and costumes from a Spiderman movie that never
got made and a canceled “Masters of the Universe” movie, to cobble together the
hit sci-fi film “Cyborg,” (1989) which made Jean Claude Van Damme a superstar. He
is considered in some circles a creative, edgy director with films like “The
Sword and the Sorcerer” (1982), and “Radioactive Dreams” (1985). He also
directed a pretty decent “Captain America” (1990), with Matt Salinger, J.D.s
kid. (BTW where are all those books J.D wrote but were never published?) But Pyun eventually wound up as one of those
guys making movies for the direct-to-video market. By 1997, he was directing
schlock like “Crazy Six.”
Another way to review “Crazy Six” would be to focus on the
cast. With names like T, Lowe, van Peebles, and Reynolds appearing on the
poster for the film, you might expect one or two good performances, at least.
Unfortunately, the actors look as though they were shipped out to Prague or
wherever in Eastern Europe this was filmed, and shoved off the bus onto the
grimy streets of “Crimeland,” (which is what the written out prologue calls the
place at the start of the movie), looking like they just escaped from a way-off
Broadway production of Pirandello’s Four
Characters in Search of a Better Agent.
After the fall of communism, the prologue explains, rival
gangs took over this part of Eastern Europe now known as “Crimeland.” Ice-T is
the head of one of the gangs, Mario is head of another, and Rob Lowe another
(although his character is stoned out of his mind most of the film.) By the
way, Lowe’s character is called “Crazy Six,” he says, because he was the sixth
child in his family and he’s, well, nuts, I guess. Crazy has a sexy blonde
girlfriend (Ivana Milicivic), who sings in a nightclub and, I swear, every shot
she’s in, all through the picture, she’s smoking a cigarette. There are
literally dozens of close ups of her sucking on a ciggie, smoke lit up
dramatically all around her, as if they were shooting a bootleg Marlboro
commercial. It’s the first movie that ever made me feel like I was having an
asthma attack.
Van Peebles plays Dirty Mao. He and his gang all wear
wide-brimmed black fedoras and black suits. Dirty Mao carries a Chihuahua, and
talks with a fake French accent. Ice T is Raul, a Spanish gangster, who has
little dialogue. Maybe T didn’t want to fake a Spanish accent. He mostly stands
leaning against walls, with a really pissed off (more than usual) look on his
face, as though he’s contemplating walking off the set any second.
The local Crimeland
police are at a loss battling these laughable crime lords, but lucky for them
they have the help of an expatriate American detective on the force named
Dakota, played by Burt Reynolds, wearing what looks like the same cowboy hat he
wore in “Hooper,” along with a trench coat. While Van Peebles and Ice-T seemed
to have no clue that they were actually in a movie, and Lowe played a character
stoned on drugs in every scene, only Reynolds actually attempts to play a
character. Of course, he’s playing himself, as he always did, but he at least
gets some laughs out of it. At the end of the film he ends up with Dirty Mao’s
Chihuahua. Somebody asks him whose dog is that? He says. “Meet my new partner,
Killer.”
Actually, there really is no way to review “Crazy Six,”
because there’s nothing there to review. This movie is strictly for Pyun fans
who want a complete collection of his work, or fans of Burt Reynold, for the
same reason. While everybody looks miserable in “Crazy Six”— and it certainly
is without a doubt the nadir of Reynolds’ career— don’t feel too bad for him.
He probably got a good check and a trip to Europe out of it. Hollywood. It’s a
tough town. Everything’s a gamble and you never know when you’ll hit the
jackpot. The same year he made this turkey, he made “Boogie Nights,” and found
his career suddenly revived.
“Crazy Six” has been released on Blu-ray by the MVD Marquis
Collection.Picture and sound are
excellent. A 2.40:1 aspect ratio was used and the sound is PCM Stereo. The only
extras are some trailers for other MVD releases. Unless you’re a masochist, or
a true Burt Reynolds fan, don’t waste your money. Maybe it’ll show up on cable.
The
Criterion Collection has released its fourth entry in a group of Harold Lloyd
silent classics, titles considered to be his very best work—and The Kid Brother could very well be at
the top of the heap as the definitive Lloyd feature film. While Safety Last! (1923) contains the iconic
sequence of Lloyd ascending a skyscraper and hanging on to the arm of a giant
clock, there is much to be said about The
Kid Brother’s storytelling, the depth of its characters, and Lloyd’s
ability to make us laugh at peril. This time, instead of great heights or
speeding cars, the threat comes from villains who want nothing more than to
break poor Harold’s neck.
The
setting is a rural town at the cusp of the changeover between “western times”
and the modern age. Cars exist, but most people are still riding horses. Sheriff
Hickory is a masculine and hearty leader in the town, and he has two strapping,
tough sons who help him in all endeavors. And then there is Harold, his
youngest, who is the more “sensitive,” one, the guy who wears glasses (the trademark
Harold Lloyd “Glasses” character). The boys’ mother is no longer on the scene,
so Dad and the two eldest sons do most of the “manly” stuff, while it’s up to
Harold to be the Mom (laundry, cooking, etc.).
Enter
a traveling medicine show on a wagon, the star of which is the dancer, Mary
(Jobyna Ralston). Harold and Mary become smitten with each other, but there are
several forces out to prevent the couple from being together. First, the
strongman (a superb bad guy played by Constantine Romanoff) and the show’s
proprietor have some dastardly plans that will affect the whole town. Secondly,
Harold’s childhood nemesis, the town bully, is constantly a thorn in his side.
Finally, our protagonist’s own family is a roadblock, as Harold strives to not
only defeat the odds against him but also prove to his father that he is as
good a son as his brothers.
In
short, Harold the Milquetoast must become Harold the Hero. How he does this forms
an extremely satisfying silent movie experience full of inventive sight gags,
colorful characters, and a suspenseful climax involving the ingenious
cat-and-mouse battle with the strongman aboard a derelict freighter.
Criterion’s
new 4K digital restoration looks amazing; it’s as if the 92-year-old picture
had been shot recently. There are two musical scores from which to choose while
viewing—a 1989 orchestral score by Carl Davis, or an alternate Wurlitzer organ
score performed by Gaylord Carter that approximates the type of accompaniment
that would have been done in 1927. (One can easily toggle between the scores
with your remote’s audio button in order to choose the one you like best!)
There is also an optional audio commentary from 2005 featuring filmmaker and
Lloyd archivist Richard Correll, film historian Annette D’Agostino Lloyd (no
relation), and Lloyd’s granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd.
The Kid Brother release contains many
more supplements than did Criterion’s other Lloyd titles. The highlight is the
new conversation between Suzanne Lloyd and author Cari Beauchamp about Lloyd’s
three main leading ladies—Bebe Daniels, Mildred Davis (who became Lloyd’s wife,
Suzanne’s grandmother), and Jobyna Ralston. A new video essay examines the
“Anatomy of a Gag” by focusing on the sequence aboard the derelict fighter, and
especially spotlighting the talented little monkey, Josephine, who has the
distinction of appearing in films with not only Lloyd, but Chaplin, Keaton, and
Laurel and Hardy as well! An interesting video essay covers the film’s
locations around L.A. and Hollywood and what those places are like today. Lloyd
himself appears in a Dutch TV interview from 1962—he always comes off as
charming and friendly. Suzanne Lloyd also gives us a tour of Greenacres, the
Lloyd estate. Two rare Lloyd shorts are restored and presented—Over the Fence (1917), the first
“Glasses” picture, and That’s Him
(1918), along with features on the restorations and the creation of the musical
scores on the Wurlitzer organ, engagingly tutored by composer Nathan Barr and
organist Mark Herman. There’s a behind-the-scenes still gallery, and an essay
by critic Carrie Rickey in the package booklet.
The Kid Brother is a first-class
release from Criterion, and a must-have by fans of Harold Lloyd and/or silent
cinema.
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the character of Batman, director Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy ("Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises") will be shown in a marathon session in Los Angeles on March 30 with Nolan participating in a Q&A. The interview session will be filmed and shown with the trilogy at select theaters across North America on April 13 and 20. All screenings will be in IMAX 70mm. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, March 13 at 9:00 AM EST. Click here for details.
Joe Dante's "Trailers from Hell" web site presents contemporary film editor Mark Goldblatt's tribute to the 1969 James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Goldblatt provides an insightful and very appreciative analysis of the film and correctly points out that, contrary to popular belief, George Lazenby's only Bond film was indeed a boxoffice success.
From a 1935 edition of The Hollywood Reporter comes this advice column from Laurel and Hardy about how one can go about becoming a successful comedian. As you might suspect, their advice is of fairly limited practical value! Click here to read.
"The High Cost of Loving" is yet another worthy film that has been plucked from obscurity by the Warner Archive. The 1958 comedy offered a rare starring role to Jose Ferrer as well as an opportunity for him to direct a feature film. Ferrer plays Jim Fry, a 15 year veteran of working diligently in the purchasing department for a mid-size company. He is frustrated with the corporate red tape that inhibits productivity but is overall happy in his work as well as with his home life. Why not? He's in his late 40's and his wife Ginny (Gena Rowlands in her big screen debut) is a ravishing blonde beauty twenty years younger than him (though the poster for the film simply ignores this and refers to them as the "young couple".) The film opens on an amusing note that will be familiar to many working couples. We see Jim and Ginny go through their morning workday rituals in an almost robotic fashion, barely saying a word to each other as they each perform their unspoken duties. He gets breakfast ready, she serves him orange juice in the shower. They both sit silently at the table, each taking a quick read of sections from the newspaper. They both climb into their vehicles and pull out of the garage in tandem before, each en route to their jobs. Ginny, against the fashion of the day, has her own career working at a small company. Jim still considers himself a rising star in his own company, a conceit that is reinforced by the news that his employer is being taken over by a much larger corporation. Warned that this often results in layoffs, Jim feels he is immune. He also isn't sympathetic to those who might lose their jobs, attributing it to social Darwinism and "the law of the jungle".
Jim's smug attitude goes into a nosedive when he discovers that virtually all of his fellow executives have been summoned to a forthcoming luncheon as a get-acquainted meeting with the new brass. The problem is that he didn't receive the invitation. Assuming it must have been a mistake, he pretends he did receive it and joins in all the backslapping among his colleagues who view this as a way to make a good impression on the new bosses and rise the corporate ladder. As the days pass, it becomes apparent an invitation isn't in the cards for him. His concern turns to paranoia as he tries to analyze why all his years of devoted service have resulted in him being bypassed. He becomes obsessed to the point that he barely acknowledges Ginny's news that she is pregnant, something that both have been hoping for quite some time. (Although the film hints at sexual activity, the prudish norms of the time in the film industry relegates both husband and wife to separate beds.) To bolster his spirits, Jim's best friend from the office, Steve Heyward (Bobby Troupe) arranges for he and his wife Syd (Joanne Gilbert) to go to dinner with Jim and Ginny. However, the evening is ruined by Syd's incessant chatter about the importance of the corporate luncheon, which she doesn't realize Jim has not been invited to. The script plays out predictably with Jim interpreting every action (or inaction) of his new bosses as a sign that he is about to be fired. He looks up an old business contact in hopes of getting a new job but not only are there none open, but he is warned that in terms of his age, he might be considered "over the hill" in the corporate world. Now enraged, Jim plans to have a showdown with the brass and tell him what he thinks of them, unaware that his snub from the luncheon was due to a bureaucratic mistake that they intend to rectify.
"The High Cost of Loving" is a modest production shot in B&W on a fairly low budget (most of the scenes are studio interiors). However, the movie signifies that paranoia about one's place in their jobs is not a new phenomenon and that discrimination based on age in the corporate world is also a long-standing concern. There is also plenty of sexism that never gets addressed. When she announces she is pregnant, Jim orders Ginny to quit her job ASAP. The corporate world is made up entirely of men in management positions and bosses refer to keeping an eye out for good "men" they can promote. All of the women in the office are clearly in secretarial positions. Ferrer gives a wonderful performance (did he ever not?) and has a deft hand at the comedic elements of the script. He never allows the characters to depend on slapstick or one-liners to get a quick laugh. They all talk the way real people would in the circumstances. There is also a great deal of pathos involved as Jim comes to a life lesson that no one should define the worth of their character on the basis of a specific job. The film boasts a wonderful supporting cast with Rowlands displaying the star qualities that would serve her well in the years to come. There are also some fun appearances by TV sitcom stars of the future including Jim Backus ("Gilligan's Island"), Werner Klemperer ("Hogan's Heroes"), Edward Platt ("Get Smart") and uncredited appearances by Nancy Kulp ("The Beverly Hillbillies") and Richard Deacon ("The Dick Van Dyke Show" and the only character in the film allowed to go a bit over the top.)
The film is not only delightful but unexpectedly poignant. The DVD includes the original trailer.
“The Revolt of the Slaves” (1960), now available on a
spectacular-looking Blu-ray from Kino-Lorber, tells the familiar story of a
beautiful Roman woman of high birth (Rhonda Fleming), who falls in love with a Christian
slave (Lang Jeffries) during the period when Emperor Maximian (Dario Moreno)
was busy feeding said Christians to the lions.It’s based on a 19th Century novel by Nicholas Patrick
Wiseman called “Fabiola,” and, although the liner notes say Fleming plays
Fabiola, in the English language version of the movie, which was written by Hollywood
veteran Daniel Mainwaring (“Invasion of the Body Snatchers”), they call her
Claudia. Maybe Mainwaring just didn’t like a weird name like Fabiola (or maybe
Fleming didn’t think it was sexy enough). Who knows? But the fact is, the whole movie is pretty weird that way.
It’s an Italian-Spanish-German production done in a style that is a crazy mix of
a Steve Reeves sword and sandal peplum (minus
Hercules), and the religious spectacles of the early 1950s, like “Quo Vadis,” “The
Robe” and “Demetrius and the Gladiators.” Director Nunzio Malasomma (“15
Scaffolds for a Murderer,” The White Devil”) has a real flair for juggling the
two styles—for example cutting from the reverential tone of a scene depicting
faithful Christians down in the catacombs praying, to a shocking close-up of a Christian
getting an arrow right in the bread basket. In a bizarre touch, the arrow is
fired by an African mercenary clad in over-the-shoulder leopard skins—one of
the emperor’s private security force hired because he doesn't trust the Roman Praetorian
Guard. “I’m not going to be done in by my own men, like Nero was,” he says. It
may or may not be historically accurate, but it’s a nice touch.
The plot of “The Revolt
of the Slaves” is pretty simple. The idea seemed to be to hustle the cast and
fifty or sixty extras around from one set to another for 104 minutes until they
all finally end up in the arena where they will face various means of
execution. The movie seems to have been influenced mainly by 20th
Century Fox’s “Demetrius and the Gladiators,” which starred Victor Mature and
Susan Hayward and featured a stand-out performance by Jay Robinson as Caligula.
(Remember Robinson standing over the dead Christian he had just killed, holding
the Robe he believed had magical powers, commanding him to rise? “Rise
Christian! Rise! Why won’t he rise?”) “Revolt” suffers quite a bit in comparison with
“Demetrius,” however. Rhonda Fleming,
who did a good job as Claudia/Fabiola, never became as big a star as Susan
Hayward, and Lang Jeffries as Vibio, her love interest in the film (and in real
life), was definitely no Victor Mature. But there is one performer in “Revolt”
who stand out almost as much as Robinson did in “Demetrius.” Serge Gainsbourg
plays Corvino, head of the emperor’s secret police. Physically, he resembles
Robinson, and plays Corvino as a hawk-nosed, sniveling, nasty little cutthroat
who keeps a pit of hungry dogs in his house and he’s always throwing somebody
or other into it. The unknown actor who dubbed his English dialogue almost
seems to be channeling Robinson’s nasal speaking voice. Director Malasomma
gives us our first glimpse of Corvino in a characteristically eccentric scene
with Corvino tied down on a torture rack, writhing and screaming “Stop! Stop!
It hurts!” as a big guy turns the crank. The torturer guy stops and says: “You
wanted to see if it worked.” “It works,” Corvino says, getting up, rubbing the
soreness out of his limbs. “I can’t understand why he didn’t talk.” “He’s a
Christian. The more you make a Christian suffer, the better they like it.”
It’s Corvino who sets the wheels of the plot in motion
when he spies on Claudia/Fabiola’s cousin, Agnese (Wandissa Guida) at a secret
meeting of Christians in the catacombs and reports it to the emperor. Corvino lies
and tells the emperor that Claudia and her whole family are Christians and
Claudia soon finds herself locked up with Vibio and Agnese in the emperor’s
dungeon and learns her father’s been killed. Vibio chisels out a stone in the wall of the dungeon to
let water from the sewer on the other side pour into the dungeon. There’s a
trap door in the ceiling and when the water rises they’ll float up and climb
out through the trap door. A nice clean getaway. Once they’re out, they’re on
the run. However, Claudia/Fabiola goes back to the emperor and denounces
Christianity. She’s freed, but when she finds out the emperor has gone bonkers
and is sending every Christian in Rome to the arena and that Vibio has gone there
to rescue them, she tries to help but ends up in the arena herself.
Woven into the story are a couple of real-life martyrs of
the early church, St. Sebastian (Ettore Manni) and St. Agnes of Rome.
Sebastian’s death was particularly gruesome and this film version is historically
accurate. The emperor ordered him to be tied to a tree and shot with arrows in
every part of his body except his heart, so that he would suffer great
long-lasting pain. He lives through it briefly, as a human pin cushion, but is
killed later in the emperor’s palace, when he goes to plead mercy for the
Christians. Agnese, Claudia/Fabiola’s niece, is actually a fictionalized
version of St. Agnes. In the movie she was in love with Sebastian, but in
reality the two never met. It wouldn’t have mattered if they did, since Agnes
was 12 years old when she was martyred. In the movie she dies in the arena by a
spear tossed by one of the African mercenaries.
Like most Italian epics there is action and spectacle
aplenty in “The Revolt of the Slaves”, especially during the final 20 minutes when
all the Christian extras are herded into the arena and dozens of Roman extras
up in the cheap seats start screaming for their blood. The film could have
redeemed itself with a decent ending even halfway close to reality, but instead
Malasomma went for a totally make-believe finish that you can’t help laughing out
loud at.
“The Revolt of the Slaves” is a colorful spectacle that comes
pretty close to matching the size and splendor of those earlier Christian
persecution movies. The costumes and sets (especially the throne room of the emperor’s
palace) are large scale, a visual treat in high def. Kino-Lorber’s 1080 p
transfer of the 2.40:1 image brings it all to vibrant life. The original trailer is included along with trailers for other Kino Lorber releases: "The Vikings", "David and Bathsheba", "Kings of the Sun" and "Those Redheads from Seattle". Even if it leaves a
lot to be desired in the script department, the movie is fun to watch, partly
for the way it looks, but mainly for Gainsbourg doing his Jay Robinson impression.
If you enjoy weird spectacle and colorful action, “The Revolt of the Slaves” is for
you.
Jan-Michael Vincent, the one-time heart throb star of films and television in the 1970s and 1980s, has passed away at age 74. He was born in Denver but had the look of a hunky surfer dude. In the late 1960s he began to get noticed in Hollywood, landing supporting roles in films such as "The Undefeated" opposite John Wayne and Rock Hudson. It was his starring role in the acclaimed 1970 TV movie "Tribes" that won him enthusiastic critical notices as a young recruit in conflict with his drill instructor. Soon, Vincent was a major star with top billing in films like "Buster and Billie" , "The World's Greatest Athlete", "Baby Blue Marine", "Vigilante Force" and "White Line Fever". He also co-starred with Burt Reynolds in the 1978 hit "Hooper". Other prominent roles include his memorable performance opposite Charles Bronson in the 1972 crime thriller "The Mechanic" and an all-star cast in Richard Brooks' 1975 western "Bite the Bullet". He won acclaim for his role in John Milius's 1978 surfer drama "Big Wednesday." In the early 1980s, his TV show "Airwolf" was a hit and Vincent became the highest paid actor on television. However, his personal demons got the better of him. His addiction to alcohol and drugs soon made his reputation decline. Deemed to be unreliable and arrogant, Vincent was relegated to brief roles in forgettable films. His health deteriorated and he suffered from the aftereffects of two serious car crashes. In 2012 he had a leg amputated. In recent years he had lived in relative seclusion with his third wife as he attempted to deal with his health problems. For more click here.
Joe Dante's "Trailers from Hell" is bottled in Bond again with director Brian Trenchard-Smith analyzing the second 007 blockbuster, "From Russia with Love" and providing some interesting anecdotes within a very abbreviated time frame. By the way, are we the only ones who ever noticed a major curiosity about the "FRWL" trailer? Every major participant is credited by name on screen except for the film's star, Sean Connery. That wasn't the only blooper associated with the film: actress Martine Beswick was a victim of a careless mistake in the opening credits and was listed as "Martin Beswick". Director Terence Young felt badly about the error and made it up to Beswick by providing her with a far bigger role in the fourth Bond film, "Thunderball".
For decades Bob Hope was one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. In the 1940s and 1950s, his films were regarded as sure-fire moneymakers. Studios loved Hope productions. They were generally filmed on modest budgets and returned major profits. By the late 1960s, Hope was still very much in-demand on American television. His TV specials for NBC always topped the ratings and Hope was a ubiquitous presence on TV chat shows. He even had a semi-permanent gig as the most beloved of all hosts for the annual Oscars broadcast. However, his status in the motion picture industry had diminished substantially. Hope's style of old-fashioned family films was becoming outdated in an era that saw new freedoms in on-screen sex and violence. When biker movies were depicting gang bangs and Bob and Carol were under the same sheets with Ted and Alice, Hope's sitcom-like comedies seemed as though they were from distant past. One of his more promising feature films was the 1969 production, "How to Commit Marriage", one of many sex-oriented comedies that were all the rage in the mid-to-late 1960s. (i.e. "The Secret Life of an American Wife", Divorce American Style", "A Guide for the Married Man", "The Tiger Makes Out", "How to Save a Marriage (and Ruin Your Life)", "Marriage on the Rocks".) In an attempt to remain relevant to modern audiences, this was the most adult-themed of Hope's big screen comedies.
Hope plays Frank Benson, a wealthy L.A. real estate agent who seems to have an idyllic life with his wife of many years, Elaine (Jane Wyman). However, their relationship is fracturing and the two spend most of their time together griping about the other and trading cruel insults. They agree to get a divorce and file the necessary paperwork. However, before they can be officially divorced, they receive a surprise visit from their teenage daughter Nancy (JoAnna Cameron), who returns from college with her new boyfriend David (Tim Matheson). He's a clean-cut type who is studying classical music and Nancy announces they intend to marry, largely because she has been so inspired by her parent's loving relationship. Frank and Elaine don't want Nancy to become disillusioned and decide to withhold the news about their pending divorce until after Nancy and David marry. However, there is a complication: David is the estranged son of Oliver Poe (Jackie Gleason), a rich promoter of rock 'n roll bands who resents Frank for selling him a Malibu mansion that was in a mudslide zone, thus resulting in Oliver losing his entire investment. He's an obnoxious boor and braggart with a sexy mistress (Tina Louise) and when he discovers the Bensons are secretly planning to divorce, he cruelly informs Nancy and David. Heartbroken and disillusioned, the young couple decides to eschew marriage and simply live together (still a shocking concept for a "nice" girl in 1969). Making matter worse, Oliver convinces the couple to quit college and join his latest band, The Comfortable Armchair, which is becoming all the rage. Distraught by the developments, Frank and Elaine begin to live in separate houses. Frank takes up with Lois Gray (Maureen Arthur), a voluptuous widow while Elaine begins dating Phil Fletcher (Leslie Nielsen), a suave rival of Frank's in the real estate trade. When both couples accidentally end up sitting beside each other at a Comfortable Armchair nightclub concert, they notice that Nancy is very obviously pregnant. They also discover that she and David have become disciples of a con-man posing as a guru named The Baba Ziba (Professor Irwin Corey). Oliver has bribed Baba Ziba to convince Nancy and David that it is in their spiritual interests to put their baby up for adoption. In reality, Oliver is motivated by his desire that the couple stay with the successful rock band and not become traditional parents.
John Payne was one of those “meat and potatoes” kind of
actors. Nothing fancy. No complicated method acting style. He just gave good,
solid, straight off-the-page performances in dozens of films and television
shows over a span of nearly 40 years. I think of him primarily as the guy trapped
and fighting for survival in old black and white film noirs of the 1950s--
films like “Kansas City Confidential,” “99 River Street,” and perhaps one of
the best noirs ever—“The Crooked Way.”
He made a number of interesting westerns however, including
“El Paso” (1949), the first of a several he made for the Pine-Thomas Productions
B-movie unit of Paramount. It was notable for the fact that it was the first
Pine-Thomas movie to have a decent budget-- $1 million. It was filmed partly in
El Paso, but mostly on the Iverson Ranch, which, film historian Toby Roan
explains in the audio commentary, was basically a western town built for the
studios to use for outdoor location shooting.
Another notable fact about “El Paso” is that it was
filmed in Cinecolor, a two strip process that was used by some studios because
it was cheaper than Technicolor. It wasn’t a very good process. Cinecolor
movies look mostly orange, with some dark blue and green. Kino Lorber transferred
“El Paso” to Blu-ray disc using a “brand new HD Master from a 4K scan of the 35
mm original 2-color negative and positive separations.” I have no idea what
that means, but that’s what is says on the box. Toby Roan swears that the image
you see on your TV is exactly the way Cinecolor movies looked back in the day.
“El Paso” was written and directed by Lewis R. Foster,
based on a story by J. Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater. It’s set just after the
Civil War, and Payne plays Clay Fletcher a Confederate Army Captain and a lawyer
who comes home to Charleston but isn’t quite ready to settle down yet. His
grandfather, a Judge (played by the saintly H. B. Warner, who played Jesus in
Cecil B. DeMille’s “King of Kings”) learns that his friend Judge Henry Jeffers
(Henry “Werewolf of London” Hull) is in some kind of trouble down in the El
Paso settlement. Clay jumps at the chance to go see what the problem is. Not
too unbelievable when we have already seen him fondly remembering that the
judge has a fine-looking daughter (Gail Russell) who he had a relationship with
before the war.
So Clay arrives in El Paso and finds the town is run by
land developer Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) who is slowly gobbling up all the
land owned by ranchers and farmers. His number one henchman is Sheriff La Farge
(Dick Foran), who is busy either scaring or killing off any land owner who
won’t sell. In El Paso the law is whatever Donner and LaFarge say it is,
because Judge Henry has become a broken down drunk, probably driven to alcohol
by his sense of impotence at doing anything to stop the bad guys. But now Clay
Fletcher has arrived and sparked by his interest in Susan, the Judge’s
daughter, he intends to bring law and order to El Paso, not by taking them on
at gunpoint, but by using the law.
Although Orson Welles is arguably the most analyzed
motion picture legend, public fascination with his legend and mystique
continues to thrive. This has only been enhanced by the recent release of The Other Side of the Wind, on which
Welles labored for fifteen years and which was ultimately completed by his
protégé, Peter Bogdanovich. We all know Welles was a larger-than-life figure,
both literally and figuratively as well as a man of great contradictions. He
could be charming and insulting, self-indulgent and generous and always lived
above his means even while scrounging for funding for his next film project. Welles was a moody genius who did not learn to play nice with studio executives. His insistence on bringing worthy but not particularly commercially viable films to the screen led to decades of artistic frustrations. To stay afloat and find financing for his projects, he appeared in many films simply because of the need of a paycheck. He later became known to many as more of a raconteur than as a working actor and director, though true cinema buffs never tire of analyzing his genius.
Among Welles's many skills was a talent for drawing. This remarkable book from Titan presents this rarely seen or examined side of him. He studied art briefly as a teenager and enough of what he learned
stayed with him over the course of his life. The book provides fascinating
sketches, doodles and paintings made by Welles, sometimes for professional use
(i.e costume designs) and others for personal pleasure.
The book has a minimum
of text and top production values, typical of a Titan title. There is also an
informative interview with his daughter Beatrice. Perhaps our favorite section
of the book is the chapter that presents Welles’s designs for Christmas cards
sent to friends and family. They are whimsical and intriguing, much like the
man himself.
Cinema Retro has released the following press release pertaining to the Region 2 UK edition:
Steven Spielberg is
one of the greatest and most influential directors of our time, his CV spanning
an incredible array of iconic and unforgettable films such as Jaws, Jurassic
Park and Schindler’s List to name but a few. To celebrate the 25th anniversary edition of
Schindler’s List, which is available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on
February 25th, we’re taking a look back at the history of Steven
Spielberg’s legendary cinematic work.
Jaws
(1975)
Dun Dun. Dun Dun. Dun
Dun Dun Dun Dun… JAWS. Spielberg’s first ever blockbuster movie released in the
summer of 1975 became one of the first ever movies to gross over $100 million.
Additionally, it was also one of the first movies to use animatronics
extensively and although to the modern eye it might appear robotic and fake, it
traumatised the audience of its time. Spielberg’s demands whilst directing Jaws
was that it had to be shot in the sea rather than a tank. In an interview he
stated “had we shot on the tank I don’t think Jaws would have been very
successful, because it would look really phony”. Although this did bring many
problems whilst shooting – to the point that Spielberg was almost fired because
he went over-schedule and budget – producers were so confident in his work that
they carried on and made one of the most famous films of our time.
ET
(1982)
E.T. phone home... a
story of a gentle alien stranded on earth and befriends a young boy called
Elliot. But where did this idea and vision come from? Spielberg expressed
whilst talking about E.T. that it didn’t just come to him in a flash, it was
several experiences from watching Peter Pan to witnessing meteor showers when
he was six. Spielberg explains that when shooting E.T. he aimed for reality;
although the narrative was a fantasy he believed that shots should appear as
realistic as possible. In the hope that everybody who saw the film would
believe that E.T could come into their lives. His technique and drive paid off,
as E.T. grossed $619 million worldwide.
Jurassic
Park (1993)
Jurassic Park is one
of largest film franchises; it made over $50 million on its opening weekend and
became one of the biggest grosser of all time. Unlike Jaws, Jurassic Park was
ahead of schedule whilst filming as Spielberg’s creative process was more
organised and visual. He states in an interview "Every single action
sequence on this movie was storyboarded almost two years before we ever shot
scenes”. Additionally, the dinosaurs themselves were a massive element in the
success of Jurassic Park. Most of the dinosaurs were shot life size with cabled
eyes, mouth and limbs including a 20ft T-Rex, as Spielberg wanted to shoot the
action sequences live.
Schindler’s
List (1993)
A more mature and
serious directing role for Spielberg was Schindler’s List, which he earned
nothing from as he used his earnings to set up the USC Shoah Foundation in
memory of those in the holocaust. Set during World War II the narrative follows
businessman Oskar Schindler who arranges to have his workers protected from the
SS so his factory doesn’t close down, but intern releases he is saving innocent
people’s lives. Schindler’s List had been on Spielberg’s desk for over a decade
before anything started moving, it was one of Spielberg’s favourite projects due
to its importance. Filming only lasted for 72 days with a small budget of $22
million which was roughly a third of the cost of Jurassic Park. Spielberg
excelled his directing ability during this project, as whilst recreating the
terror of Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp Spielberg was also over-seeing the
special effects for Jurassic Park. Schindler’s List made over $96million and 25
years on is still one of Spielberg’s most significant films.
SCHINDLER’S
LIST 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION IS AVAILABLE ON 4K ULRA HD, BLU-RAY
AND DVD ON FEBRUARY 25 2019
Marcello Mastroianni has a terrific role in the little-remembered 1968 comedy caper film "Diamonds for Breakfast" which doesn't appear to have enjoyed an American theatrical release. (In the U.K., it opened on as the bottom half of a double bill with a spaghetti western.) Mastroianni excelled at playing lovable rogues and here he is in his element as Grand Duke Nicholas Wladimirovitch, a descendant of the ill-fated Romanov family that was notoriously executed in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Nicky has the requisite swagger of someone descended from Russia's last czar but he has fallen on hard times. His charm, charisma and good looks ensure a bevy of willing women (especially in the new era of sexual liberation) but his finances are dwindling. While in London he discovers that the Soviet Union has agreed stage a museum display of the Romanov family jewels that were seized as property of the state after the czar was overthrown. Nicky decides that he must honor his family's legacy by stealing them back, although his motives seem to based less on principal than on securing his own financial situation. He concocts an audacious scheme to enlist a wacky artist, Bridget Rafferty (Rita Tushingham) and a team of gorgeous young women as his partners in crime. The first order of business is to convince Popov (Warren Mitchell), the high-strung Soviet representative who has duty of ensuring the safety of the jewels, to allow them to be utilized in a charitable event at a manor house (actually Blenheim Palace) where they will be modeled by Nicky's team of allies. Popov initially resists but ultimately is charmed by the pleas of the young women to relent. From there the film chronicles the elaborate enactment of the crime that involves too many elements and deceptions to analyze in detail. Suffice it to say that one of the most clever elements involves carrier pigeons to secure the heisted goods are brought to a designated location.
The film is directed at breakneck speed by Christopher Morahan and in that respect, it mirrors the type of production that had emerged in movies depicting the on-going "mod" crazy that was sweeping England in the late 1960s. Morahan is also not subtle in his handling of the humor, occasionally crossing over into slapstick with a Keystone Cops-inspired chase. The screenwriters also fall short. Although the actual caper scenes, which comprise the bulk of the film, are often clever, they are also somewhat ludicrous with the crooks relying on unpredictable instances of happenstance and good luck in order to achieve their goal. The man asset of the production is Mastroianni, who once again plays a handsome ladies man who also possesses all-to-human failings. He literally slips on a banana peel and makes other bumbling mistakes even though he's quite competent at finding gorgeous bed mates. Rita Tushingham is unfortunately relegated to a minor role once the other women become more prominent in the story. (Among them: Margaret Blye, Elaine Taylor and Francesca Tu.) Leonard Rossiter is amusing as a police inspector who is beguiled by the seductive models and Warren Mitchell is encouraged to chew the scenery as the angst-filled Soviet who knows his life probably depends upon getting back the stolen diamonds. The whole affair ends up with an ironic ending, as many of these comedic caper films do.
"Diamonds for Breakfast" is a mildly amusing farce with some good production values and some wonderful memories of the mod era with those sexy fashions and models who have the code number "007" written on their thighs. Mastroianni and some lush scenery provide the primary reasons for giving it a chance. The Kino Lorber transfer looks very good indeed and there is a generous trailer gallery of other Mastroianni and Tushingham films, though surprisingly, "Diamonds for Breakfast"'s trailer is not included.
Burt Lancaster fans can rejoice that his 1974 thriller "The Midnight Man" finally gets a home video release in America with Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release. Even better news is that this is a special edition with an informative commentary track. Lancaster co-wrote and co-directed (both with Roland Kibbee) the murder mystery that plays out like a TV movie-of-the-week from the era. That isn't meant as a knock, given how good so many of the TV crime productions were in the 1970s. The film is based on David Anthony's novel "The Midnight Lady and the Mourning Man" and, refreshingly, it has an offbeat quality about it due to its location filming in and around Clemson University in South Carolina, which was very much a sleepier locale than it is today. Lancaster is cast as Jim Slade, a once respected Chicago police officer who flew off the handle and shot his wife's lover (though it isn't clear if he killed him.) He's spent a lot of time in stir and when we first see him, he is arriving in a small southern town by bus to pick up the pieces of his life. He's broke with few prospects except a job offered to him by his old friend and police colleague Quartz (Cameron Mitchell), who is now retired from the police force and heading a security company that looks after the local university. Slade will be working in the seemingly boring job of night watchman on the midnight shift at the school, where crime isn't a major problem. However, his timing is right in terms of alleviating boredom. No sooner does Slade start the job than a psychiatric counselor for troubled students informs him that his office had been broken into and the only thing missing were several audio tapes in which students confessed the most troubling aspects of their lives. The highly confidential tapes had not been listened to but it becomes clear that one student in particular, Natalie (Catherine Bach) is particularly troubled. Slade befriends her and discovers she's an emotional wreck about the missing tape but she won't tell him what was so sensitive about the recording. When Natalie ends up dead in her dorm room, the local police captain, Casey (Harris Yulin) takes over the case and immediately arrests a local Peeping Tom who had an interest in the victim. Slade, however, voices his skepticism and starts his own ad-hoc investigation. Along the way he ends up romancing his parole officer, Linda Thorpe (Susan Clark), who has a big city mentality when it comes to sexual permissiveness.
"The Midnight Man" is a complex thriller with plenty of requisite false leads and red herrings. It's leisurely-paced and that's a good thing in the current era of shoot 'em up crime movies and TV series. There are some exciting action scenes in the film but it's primarily about following clues, which Slade doggedly does despite being targeted for murder and not being able to trust anyone, including Captain Casey, with whom he is in constant conflict. Lancaster provides one of his most low-key performances. Some critics said he was sleepwalking through the part but this isn't so. He's an ex-con with a lot to lose so it's appropriate that he would maintain a quiet, polite demeanor. Lancaster never gave a bad performance in his career and he's particularly good here. The film has a marvelous supporting cast and directors Lancaster and Kibbee use them well. It's great to see Lancaster teamed again with the ever-underrated Susan Clark after the two starred in "Valdez is Coming" a few years before. Clark has an important role here and she's excellent. So, too, is Cameron Mitchell as the only true friend Slade seems to have in an increasingly hostile and dangerous town. It's also good to see Robert Quarry in small, non-horror film (he's very good.) Lancaster's son Bill also has a supporting role and acquits himself well. The finale unloads an abundance of complex explanations in a voice-over by Lancaster as the mystery is solved. Your mind might end up reeling but if you stop and think about it all, the clues were provided throughout the film.
The Kino Lorber release has a typically fine transfer and the audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger and Nathaniel Thompson is highly engaging and their subdued manner fits with the mood of the film itself. They genuinely like the movie and provide an abundance of interesting facts and insights. There is a also a trailer gallery for other Lancaster films available through Kino Lorber. Highly recommended.
RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
“MURDER IN SOFT
FOCUS”
By Raymond Benson
Brian
De Palma’s crime thriller/horror flick, Dressed
to Kill, was a controversial release in 1980 for its depiction of violence
against women and its sexual content— nevertheless, it was a successful entry in
the director’s oeuvre during the most
fruitful period of his long career. The film was released in America with an
“R” rating—but only after De Palma, under protest, compromised with the ratings
board and agreed to cut some footage, re-edit a couple of sequences, and change
some lines of dialogue.
De
Palma’s preferred unrated version of the film was released on home video not
too long ago, but The Criterion Collection has seen fit to issue a new, 4K
digital restoration, supervised by the director, of what might have been an
“X”-rated picture back in the day. The results are gorgeous. De Palma’s
thrillers from the mid-seventies and early eighties tended to be shot with a soft
focus that emulated some of Hitchcock’s late work of the sixties and seventies.
This was intentional. De Palma himself admits in a new interview in the disc
supplements that he was in a “Hitchcock period.” The director on numerous
occasions paid homage to the master of suspense in more ways than just the
photographic style alone. For example, Dressed
to Kill contains cool blondes, kinky sex, shower scenes, cross-dressing
killers, the bumping off a protagonist early in the story, and a lush
orchestral score reminiscent of the way Hitch used Bernard Herrmann’s musical lyricism
to heighten tension.
The
story begins with Kate, a sexually frustrated Manhattan housewife (played by
Angie Dickinson), who is seeing therapist Dr. Elliott (Michael Caine) about her
marriage. Early in the picture there is a brilliantly-choreographed extended
sequence, set in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in which Kate plays
cat-and-mouse with and allows herself to be picked up by a strange man. Then
she gets into serious trouble inside an elevator. A blonde woman in a hat and sunglasses
(resembling Karen Black in Hitchcock’s Family
Plot) slashes her to death with a straight razor. We then learn that one of
Elliott’s patients—a disturbed transsexual—stole the razor from the doctor’s
office.
Enter
amateur sleuths Peter, Dickinson’s science-nerd son (played by Keith Gordon)
and Liz, a high class hooker who witnessed the murder (portrayed by Nancy Allen).
They team up to find the killer since the police (represented by a young Dennis
Franz) are having little success with the investigation. The movie then becomes
Allen’s picture. As related by the actress herself in a new interview in the
supplements, De Palma wrote the role for her—after all, she was married to the
director at the time. Allen delivers a performance that got nominated for a
Golden Globe for “Best New Star,” but also for a Razzie (Raspberry Awards) for
“Worst Actress.”
The
outcome of the story is no surprise, but that probably doesn’t matter. Dressed to Kill is all about an exercise
in style. De Palma is the real star
of the movie, and his presence is felt throughout. His signature close-ups,
tracking shots, soft focus, and carefully orchestrated techniques for
generating suspense, scream to the viewer that an auteur is at work. Maybe a little too loudly. But that doesn’t mean
Dressed to Kill isn’t entertaining.
It is. It’s just that it feels like we’ve seen it all before. Perhaps in a
Hitchcock picture.
The
supplements on the disc are extensive. New 2015 interviews include the
previously mentioned ones with De Palma (who is in discussion with
writer/director Noah Baumbach) and Allen, but also producer George Litto,
composer Pino Donaggio, shower-scene body double (and Penthouse Pet of the Year at the time) Victoria Lynn Johnson, and
poster photographic art director Stephen Sayadian. Also new to the release is a
profile of cinematographer Ralf Bode, featuring director Michael Apted.
Previously released extras include a 2001 documentary, The Making of Dressed to Kill, a 2001 interview with actor Keith
Gordon, and more than one feature about the different versions of the film and the
battle with the ratings board. There’s also a gallery of some of De Palma’s
storyboards. The booklet includes an essay by critic Michael Koresky.
Dressed to Kill is not De Palma’s
best work by a long shot, but it is representative of the director’s superb craftsmanship
at a time when he was at the height of his powers. If you’re looking for
something sexy, provocative, and gloriously violent to serve with your popcorn,
Kill will fit the bill.
In 1847 a boy was born in Mako, Hungary who
would grow up to change the world and challenge the President of the United
States. His name was Joseph Pulitzer. His father died when he was eleven. Seven
of his eight siblings died. The one that survived, his younger brother Albert,
would become one of his greatest competitors.
At seventeen years of age, in 1864, the
ambitious, multi-lingual Pulitzer left Hungary dreaming of becoming a soldier.
Recruited in Europe, Pulitzer enlisted in the Union Army and was assigned to a
German speaking regiment, The Lincoln Calvary.
Flat broke at the end of the Civil War he
made his way west. His first paying job was shoveling coal on a barge to St.
Louis. His next job required him to bury the bodies of cholera victims. In St.
Louis he tended ornery mules, of which he said: "The man who has not
cared for 60 mules doesn't know what work and troubles are."
At the Mercantile Library, over a chess
match, he met newspaper publisher Carl Schurz. Schurz was a leader in the
German revolution of 1848 and a Civil War general who eventually became a U.S.
Senator and then Secretary of the Interior under Rutherford B. Hayes. It was
Schurz who gave Joseph Pulitzer his first job in the newspaper business, at the
Westliche Post, a German language newspaper.
Pulitzer studied law. He shined as an
investigative reporter. He got elected to the Missouri State Assembly. He wrote
stories exposing St. Louis corruption. When attacked by an irate, corrupt
lobbyist who confronted Pulitzer in his hotel, Pulitzer pulled his pistol and
shot, grazing the lobbyist's calf. Instead of ending his political career, the
incident motivated the governor to appoint Pulitzer Police Commissioner of St.
Louis.
He sold his share of the Westliche Post for
five times what he paid for it and bought, at a bankruptcy auction, the failing
St. Louis Dispatch. He merged it with the Post and within three years the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch became the largest selling newspaper in St. Louis.
Called "sensationalist" by his
critics, Joseph Pulitzer recreated what newspapers were and would later become.
He wrote for his audience. He remembered what it was like to not read English
well and made sure stories were "short and smart and snappy. They
should have style and be readable."
Pulitzer published the names of'Tax Dodgers,' wealthy citizens who claimed
they had no money in the bank. He stood up for the ideals of democracy, for
fair treatment of the populace. His newspaper's circulation soared. The upshot?
He created financial independence and power for his newspaper.
The desire to reach a national audience drove
Pulitzer to purchase The New York World in 1883. The cost? An astounding
$400,000. "I sense a grand opportunity in New York. All the city needs
to set its capacious glands awash is a daily dose of tingling sensations as
plentiful as mushrooms." Joseph was now about to go into direct
competition with his younger brother, Albert, who was publishing The Morning
Journal. When Albert refused to merge the two papers, Joseph lured away three
of his best reporters.
Now called The World, Pulitzer took the paper
to new levels. Readership grew. The pages were full of energy and excitement.
The visual presentation of news also changed. Journalism was unrecognizable
from what had existed before.
The time was ripe in the America of the late
19th century for newspapers growth. The expansion of cities, especially New
York, caused the growth of the populace who commuted to work. And, what better
way to pass the time commuting on the trolley than to read the newspaper?
Pulitzer realized that what his audience
wanted more than NEWS was STORIES. Stories about life in New York. Things his
readers could identify with instead of just read. News was now about what
happened to ordinary people; people just like you. "Always fight for
progress and reform. Never tolerate injustice or corruption. Always oppose
privileged classes and public plunder. Never lack sympathy for the poor, never
be afraid to attack Rome. Always be drastically independent." Pulitzer
stuck up for those people who didn't have a champion.
He opposed the one penny toll for pedestrians
on the newly built Brooklyn Bridge. He railed against Congress when they were
uninterested in funding a pedestal for that new gift from France, The Statue of
Liberty. Pulitzer's The World took on
the challenge. "Unless the Statue of Liberty goes to the bottom of the
ocean it is safe to predict that it will eventually stand on an American
pedestal and be referred to for a very long time with more sentiment than we
can now dream of." The World's readership funded the pedestal.
Fate dealt a number of strange dichotomies to
Joseph Pulitzer. This man who served in the Union Army married a distant cousin
of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, Kate Davis.
In 1908 This former Police Commissioner of
St. Louis butted heads with another former Police Commissioner, President
Theodore Roosevelt, over the Panama Canal. The World called the Panama Canal
'An act of Colonial Aggression.' The paper wanted the Government to account for
the $40 million dollars Roosevelt ordered the U. S. pay to acquire the assets
of 'The New Panama Canal Company' and claimed the money went to line rich men's
pockets.
Roosevelt, who was in the last days of his
term, demanded that Congress sue Pulitzer for libel and threatened to put him
in jail saying; "It is a high national duty to bring to justice this
vilifier of the American People." Pulitzer fought the accusations as
an attack on freedom of the press and democracy itself.In 1911, just before Pulitzer passed away on
his yacht, the U. S. Supreme Court handed down their judgment.
Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People, produced for the PBS American Masters series, is a timely look at
what is and what isn't fake news and can be viewed as a moral for those in
power who feel they can push against the Constitutional guarantee of a free
press. It is a very well made, engrossing story about how a penniless Jew from
Hungary rose to become one of the most powerful men in the United States.
Written by Robert Seidman and Oren Rudavshy, directed by Rudavshy, all the bases
covered in this biodoc. Narrated by Adam Driver and featuring the voices of
Liev Schreiber as Joseph Pulitzer, Lauren Ambrose as Kate Davis, Rachel
Brosnahan as Nellie Bly and Tim Blake Nelson as Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the Peopleis as
informative and entertaining a documentary one could hope for.
Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People opens March 1 in New
York at the Quad Cinema and in Los Angeles on March 8 at the Laemmle
Theaters.
LQ
Jones is a legend. He’s been in some of the greatest American films ever made,
and his extensive filmography (consisting of well over 100 films) features a
virtual Who’s Who of American American cinema. He made his film debut in the
1955 Raoul Walsh war picture Battle Cry, credited with his birth name Justus E.
McQueen. The character he played was a young private named...LQ Jones. Soon, at
the behest of the studio, the young actor changed his name to that of the
character, and the rest is history.
LQ
Jones isn’t a household name, and that’s a shame, because it deserves to be.
Among knowledgeable cineastes he’s seen as a god among men, a gifted and
accomplished performer. He’s one of those character actors people instantly
recognize, as he’s been in films with the likes of Elvis Presley, Steve McQueen,
and Clint Eastwood and appears in such notable films as The Wild Bunch, Hang
‘Em High, and Casino. He’s even directed a couple of films, the most notable
being his 1975 adaptation of the Harlan Ellison novella A Boy and His Dog,
which he also wrote and produced. In addition to his 100-plus film credits,
he’s also worked extensively in television, having appeared in hundreds of
episodes of television series, including Gunsmoke, Rawhide, and Perry Mason.
I’ve
been writing about film for more than twenty years, and have interviewed at
least 300 notable people, but LQ Jones was a bucket list interview for me. I
did some research and tracked him down, contacting him in January 2019. I found
him to be pleasant and enjoyable to talk to, and we wound up doing this
interview by telephone. This interview was simultaneously one of the easiest
and most difficult I’ve ever done. It was easy because Jones is a natural born
storyteller with lots of credits to discuss, but difficult because there was
absolutely no way to cover all the important films and notable people he’s been
involved with. If I had another thousand hours to talk to him, I might have
come close to achieving this. As it was, I had to be selective about what I
asked and was very careful to just sit back and let Jones talk. He was
forthright, introspective, and funny, making for what I consider a terrific
interview.
How would you describe the L.Q. Jones acting
technique? Would you consider yourself a method actor?
I've
never really thought about it. Actors are born; hell, they're not made. We can
teach you technique, but we can't teach you to act. I've been this way ever
since I was born. I wish I had some training, but I haven't. I just do it. I do
what seems right to me. I watch other actors. I've been very lucky to have
worked with a lot of really good people. It would be a lie if I said I didn't
steal from them. You do. You learn, or you get out of the business. It was just
a God given gift. I've got a modicum of talent, and I've been able to use it.
When you first came
into the business, did any actors take you aside and give you any advice?
I
came to the business really strangely. No one talked to me about that, but
everyone was telling me what to do. I had 150 directors on the first picture!
The cameraman would say, “Is that where you're gonna stand, kid? If you wanna
be Stepin Fetchit, that's the place to stand. If you wanna be seen, you need to
get your ass over here! This is your key light. This is the light for this...
Pay attention to it.” The sound man said, “You're mumbling, for Christ's sake!
Speak up!” Every person on that picture was a director. You listen to them, or
you get out of the business. It's fairly easy.
Your birth name is
Justus McQueen, but you wound up taking the name LQ Jones from your character
in that film, Battle Cry. How did that happen?
I'd
never seen a motion picture camera before I showed up, and Raoul Walsh was the
director. Had it not been for Raoul, I would never have been in the business.
It was one of those things where the studio said, “If you don't mind, we'll
change your name.” And I said, “Hell, if you write it on checks, I don't care.
Whatever pleases you thrills me plumb to death.” I spoke to Leon Uris, who was
the man who wrote Battle Cry. He was having a little bit of trouble after the
novel came out. I told him what they said, and he said, “Hell yes, go ahead and
do it.” So I said fine. I said, “Let's do the old gimmick. I'll use it, and
then you sue me and we'll go to court and we'll both get a lot of publicity.”
So I changed my name, and he went off to write another novel, and I've never seen
him since. Everybody said, “Do it, do it, do it!” I'm sorry I did it. Would you
change your name from Justus McQueen to L.Q. Jones?
I suppose if it was
going to make me money, I'd change it to whatever they wanted.
You're
right! [Laughs.] It wasn't a bright move, but it was the way our business was
being done at that time. And you take advantage of every little bit you can.
Like I said, the old man smiled on me, and things worked. Everybody helps. When you finish a
picture—and I've done somewhere between 500 and 600 shows—you get the feeling
you'll never work again. You feel like everything is passing you by. But people
pitched in and they helped and it all worked out. The name change helped. Raoul
called other directors and said, “This kid can act.” And again, our business
was changing at that point and time. Everybody was getting out of motion
pictures, because they couldn't make any money. They were going to television.
I went just the opposite. Hell, for the first year or so I never even saw a television
show. I just did movies. What do you say? You wish there were a reason. You
wish that things would make sense. They don't. I had no right in the world
being in the picture. But everything worked at that particular moment.
Everybody got involved. I worked, and I guess it was seven or eight months
before I had a day off.
You credit Raoul
Walsh for your break into Hollywood. What did Walsh do?
Fess
Parker and I were roommates in college for about four years. He kept saying,
“You've got to come out here and get into this.” In the meantime, I'd moved
down and bought a ranch in Nicaragua. I was back for a party for Christmas, and
there was Fess again saying, “You've got to go.” So I drove out there. He then
drew me a map on the back of a shirt stuffing to show me how to get to Warner
Brothers to talk to them about doing the picture. Now it starts happening. You
say, how do these things happen? How did you do it? I found Warner Brothers,
that was no trouble. So I walked up, and when you get there, the first thing
you come to is the guard gate. I don't care who you are, if you haven't got a
meeting then that's the end of your trip.
When
I walked up, a little blonde with the tightest sweater you've ever seen in your
life was walking out the other side. So guess where his attention was? He
pushed the button and I walked in. So already things have started. I walked
into Hoyt Ballard's office, and Kathy, his secretary was down the hall getting
coffee, or that would have been the end of it. But I went in and sat on the
couch in his office. He came back in and we started talking, and he was trying
to figure out what the hell I was doing. He listened to my story and said, “Oh
yeah, kid. Sure, sure. I'll tell you what, give me a call this afternoon.”
Okay. So I go back to the apartment and Fess says, “What happened?” I told him
that was fun, but that was the end of that. He said, “No, you've got to call
him.” I said, “If you see someone at ten o'clock and he tells you to call him
in the afternoon, that's just a courteous goodbye.” And he said, “If he didn't
want you to call, he wouldn't have told you to.”
So
I called him back. Hoyt said, “I appreciate it, kid, but we've already tested
250 actors for the part. They're all pros and we know what they can do because
they've done it before. It's just not gonna work.” That was fun, but that was
the end of it. He hung up, and it was all over. So I called him back. He said,
“Aw shit. Come back and see me so I can get rid of you.” So I went back and he
takes me across the hall to Solly Baiano, who's the head of casting. He spends
the next fifteen minutes telling me why I can't see the director. The phone
rings, and it's Raoul Walsh. He asks what he's doing, and Solly says he can't
get rid of me. Raoul says, “Send him up and I'll throw his ass out!” So here we
go again.
I
go up and Solly goes into the office. They call me in, and I walk in. Here sits
a guy behind the desk and he's got one eye that's normal and the other is an
open hole and it's plugged up with a handkerchief. Then he's got the other end
of it in his mouth. Now, what the hell do you say to a person like that? I
stood there, and he just sat there. Neither of us said anything for four or
five minutes. He says, “How tall are you?” That was an odd question, but I said,
“I'm a little over six feet.” He says, “You're a liar. You're six feet. Can you
learn a lot of words?” I said yeah, and he says to Solly, “Give him a test.”
Now what am I gonna do? Solly shows me the test, so I show it to Fess. Fess is
a friend of Burt Kennedy. Does that name ring a bell?
Three of the cinema's most legendary stars - Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Peter Lorre- teamed for the 1962 comedy-horror anthology Tales of Terror. This is a rare original ad that ran in trade magazines at the time of release.
In “Goldstone” (2016), a Lightyear Blu-ray release, Aaron
Pedersen returns as Aborigine detective Jay Swann, first seen in the 2013 crime
drama Mystery Road. Only this time out, Jay is in lousy shape. He’s suffering
emotional trauma over the loss of his daughter, and first appears on screen
driving drunk on a long, long stretch of road out on the vast, vast Australian Outback.
After driving past a sign announcing that he’s entering the town of Goldstone,
which consists of half a dozen trailers and shacks, he’s pulled over by young
local cop Josh Waters (Alex Russell). Josh tosses him into a cell in the back
of the double-wide that serves as police headquarters, where he’s allowed to
sleep it off.
Josh is about the only law enforcement officer in
Goldstone, which until now that has suited the purposes of the powers that be in
Goldstone just fine. The powers that be, in this case are Furnace Creek, the
giant mining company that is exploiting the area’s resources and aboriginal
people; the corrupt lady mayor Maureen (Jacki Weaver), who keeps the lid on
everything in town; Johnny (David Wenham), the head of security out at the mine; and Josh. Josh is young, easy to get along with and
hasn’t really bothered to pay much attention to the corruption going on all
around him.
But when Jay swerves into town and finally sobers up and starts
asking questions about a missing person’s case he’s been sent to investigate,
everybody gets a little tense. It isn’t long before some Aussie bikers wake him
up with their version of “Good Morning, Goldstone!” by riddling his trailer
with bullet holes, while he’s sleeping in it. The missing person investigation
leads to Swann uncovering a human trafficking operation run by an Asian woman
who flies girls in and out to work at another double-wide called The Ranch,
where horny miners spend their leisure time and money. The missing girl had
been one of the girls working at The Ranch.
“Goldstone,” is a slow burn. Indigenous Australian director/writer
Ivan Sen plays his cards very close to the vest, imparting little bits and
pieces of character and plot in small doses, letting the audience only
gradually grasp the bigger picture of what’s happening in the story and the
town, which of course is a metaphor for Australia as a country, and the world
as a whole. He keeps the tension low-key but constant, and throws a bit of
twist in the mix when we learn Swann came from this region originally. He meets
Jimmy (David Gulpilil), an aboriginal old-timer who has seen a little too much
of what’s going on in Goldstone. Jimmy knew his father and takes him upriver by
canoe to a canyon where aboriginal markings on the walls of a narrow passage
tell Swann something about his own spiritual heritage.
“Goldstone” is not only about Swann’s possible rehabilitation
by getting closer to his roots, it’s also about Josh, finally realizing what he
has let happen to his town. By looking away, and letting himself be
smooth-talked by the lady mayor, who bribes him with homemade apple pies, and
Johnny the mining operation security chief who offers him a stack of dough,
he’s let the place become a mini-Sodom and Gomorrah.
“Mystery Road” won a number of film awards in Australia
and “Goldstone” has received mostly praise from the critics. Sen not only
wrote, directed and photographed it, he also did the music score. His script
for “Goldstone” is a good blend of noir and social consciousness, highlighting
the theme of racial discrimination and a search for identity, wrapped up in a
murder mystery. My only quibble with the film is that it doesn’t go far enough
into the characters so that we really care what happens to any of them. Swann
is the only character with any real depth, the others are mostly clichés. But even
Swann’s inner turmoil is given only surface treatment. Still, it’s an
entertaining film that deals with serious themes, which is more than can be
said for most movies today.
Lightyear did a tremendous job transferring “Goldstone’s”
2.35: 1 image to Blu-ray. Sen’s cinematography of the long, level stretches of
arid land in the Queensland area of Australia is awe-inspiring. John Ford might
have shot it better, but not by much. The disc comes with five featurettes,
including “The Corruption of Goldstone,” “Detective Jay Swann,” “The Indigenous
People of Australia,”
Alex Russell as Josh Waters,” “Ivan Sen,” and “Jacki Weaver as the Mayor.” The
sound is 5.1 Dolby Digital.
Leading up to this year's Oscars broadcast, it appeared that the Academy had conspired with ABC-TV to ensure that the show would be a debacle. The build up to the event was an almost comical textbook example of how to form a circular firing squad. First, AMPAS announced that there would a brand new category to honor the most popular movie of the year, a naked attempt to build sagging ratings that risked handing an award to even the dopiest film of the year as long as it had sold enough admissions tickets. Then the producers of the broadcast decided to chop away at the awards themselves, suggesting that certain categories be eliminated from being awarded live. If that wasn't enough, ABC was going to play Solomon and arbitrarily cut down the live performances of the five nominated songs to only two, and you can bet the surviving duo would be based entirely on ratings potential. The backlash from the industry and the public was severe and ultimately AMPAS and ABC backed down. The one dilemma the producers had was that the show lacked a host. Kevin Hart had been announced but when some controversial comments from his past surfaced, he removed himself from consideration. At this point, the producers opted to go with the best host of all: no one. Given how mediocre-to-awful hosts have been in recent years, this proved to be a wise decision. It can also be said that no matter how reluctantly AMPAS and ABC came to backing off some of their controversial initial plans, they ultimately salvaged the broadcast. The show was leaner than usual, clocking in a three hours and seventeen minutes. Most importantly, the lack of a hammy late night comic to host the ceremonies meant that we didn't have to agonize through awful, time-consuming comedy routines and elaborate sketches that took away emphasis on honoring the artists the show is supposed to be about.
Here are some random observations:
The show opened with the trio of Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler greeting the audience and beating to death quips about the show not having an official host. Their appearance was unfunny but thankfully brief enough to not inflict much harm.
The old theory that the Best Picture almost always is in synch with the Best Director seems to be a relic of the past. With increasing frequency, the Best Director does not see their film named as Best Picture, which is a bit bizarre but at least it adds a modicum of suspense to the broadcast. Last evening, Alfonso Curaon picked up the Oscar for direction but the Best Picture went to Green Book despite the fact that the film's director, Peter Farrelly wasn't even nominated. Go figure.
There were no big surprises aside from the fact that no one film dominated the awards. There was a "something for everyone" result from this but it would be hard to argue that any recipient wasn't deserving of the honor even if they weren't your first choice.
The broadcast opened with a couple of rocking numbers by the original members of Queen and lead singer Adam Lambert, who paid tribute to Freddie Mercury. The performances were sensational but seemed out of place on the Oscars because it felt like we were being patched into a standard rock concert. Admittedly, it was better than the usual misguided opening production numbers.
The abundance of people of color on the broadcast made it appear that the Academy was trying to compensate for decades of under-representing minorities by trying to atone for the slights in one event. In that regard, AMPAS probably did successfully deflect any criticism from a sociological point-of-view.
The inclusion of presenters not affiliated with the film industry smacked of gimmickry but I was moved by Congressman John Lewis, one of the last original icons of the Civil Rights Movement, who gave a poignant and tearful introduction to "Green Book".
It was an inspired idea to team "Wayne's World" stars Mike Myers and Dana Carvey to present an award, thus bringing back some fun memories.
The fashions ranged from glamorous to awful. It seemed that many of the actresses neglected to realize they might have to actually walk in some of these complex contraptions and my wife quipped that one pink number looked like a custom-designed Pepto Bismol bottle. But there weren't any over-the-top bizarre numbers on display probably because Cher didn't appear.
As usual, major star power was lacking. Older viewers, who comprise the prime audience, were probably left scratching their heads wondering who many of the presenters were. In days of old, legendary stars and directors routinely attended the ceremony but today most of the big names don't unless they are personally nominated. Fortunately, Barbra Streisand, Julia Roberts and Daniel Craig did add some genuine star power to the broadcast.
The annual "In Memoriam" segment was tastefully done, as usual, and featured Gustavo Dudamel conducting the L.A. Philharmonic. I've grown weary of trying to think of performers who are overlooked in this segment but at least this time the Academy president wisely acknowledged that the list was far from comprehensive.
The sets and production design for the show were truly impressive beginning with displays of giant Oscars comprised of thousands of roses. Additionally, the ability to change backdrops to suit specific themes and performers was handled very well and added some additional luster to the broadcast.
The show's musical highlight was the duet between Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper on "Shallow" from "A Star is Born", which justifiably took home the gold.
The most gracious acceptance speeches came from Best Actor Rami Malek for "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Best Actress Olivia Colman for "The Favourite", the latter almost apologizing to Glenn Close for winning what she believed should have been Close's Oscar. On the other side of the spectrum was Hannah Beachler's win for Production Design for "Black Panther". It's certainly reaffirming to see one of the few African American women in this field honored, but Beachler ate up the time (reading her speech from a mobile phone!) and thereby excluded her co-winner Jay Hart from being able to make his own remarks. It's all the more a pity because Hart, who has been nominated twice before, has waited decades for this moment.
Sentimental favorite Spike Lee was denied the Best Director Oscar many thought he would win but was jubilant to share the Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Predictably, Lee spouted some obscenities the minute he got to the microphone but if it was a ploy to set off a controversy, it fell flat as the censors were well-prepared to use the seven second delay mechanism to bleep him out. It was hard not be moved by Lee's genuine enthusiasm and attempt to invoke historical context to his win, but he, too, spoke so long that his co-winners were denied the opportunity to make their own remarks. Future nominees should take notice: if you are part of a team, make sure you speak first.
All told, AMPAS turned a lemon into lemonade by listening to critics and being rewarded with a smooth running broadcast that managed to emphasize the Academy's core mission: honoring the artists.
There will be an official 35th anniversary "Ghostbusters" fan convention held in Culver City, California on June 7-8. Many of the stars and crew, including director/producer Ivan Reitman, will be attendance. There will be meet and greets and a concert by Ray Parker Jr, who sand the famous title song. Click here for details and tickets.
Here's an ambitious article that seems specifically designed to set off plenty of on-line debating between movie fans: Vulture has analyzed and rated in order (subjectively, of course) every single Best Picture Oscar winner and has also provided a generous number of clips from the films. Some of their choices will undoubtedly make you irate while others might inspire you to reconsider the worth of some of the winners, for better or worse.
Stanley Donen, the legendary director of musicals and romantic comedies, has died at age 94. He started as a choreographer and dance director before being elevated to director status at MGM, where he brought to the screen some of cinema's greatest musicals. Among his achievements: "On the Town", "Royal Wedding", "Singin' in the Rain", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", "Kismet", "Funny Face" and "Damn Yankees". As the traditional musical genre started to decline, Donen concentrated on comedies such as "Once More with Feeling", "The Grass is Greener", "Two for the Road" and "Bedazzled". One of his biggest hits was the 1963 comedy thriller "Charade" starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, which can be described as the best Hitchcock movie not directed by Hitchcock. A similarly-themed spy thriller, "Arabesque" starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, was not as well received. Donen had other artistic misfires in the course of his career including the big budget 1975 comedy "Lucky Lady" and he also directed, produced and wrote the 1969 poignant comedy "Staircase" starring Richard Burton and Rex Harrison as an aging gay couple. The film was ahead of its time in its sympathetic portrayal of a homosexual relationship. Surprisingly, Donen was never nominated for a directing Oscar but the Academy awarded him a lifetime achievement honor in 1998. For more click here.
Robert Vaughn and Paul Newman in the 1974 blockbuster "The Towering Inferno", nominated for Best Picture.
BY LEE PFEIFFER
Movie fans have complained for many years that the Academy is increasingly focusing on nominating art house movies at the expense of blockbusters in the Best Picture Oscar category. The Washington Post investigates whether this is myth or reality and comes down on the side of the latter, providing charts and inflation-adjusted calculations to show that more than ever the Best Picture winners are generally not among the most popular with the public. But should they be? The Oscars are not supposed to be a popularity contest, though someone should tell the Academy that, given their botched lead up for plans for this year's telecast. Should a film get the Best Picture Oscar simply because it is a huge boxoffice success? The Academy was aware of its members honoring smaller art house films and in 2009 made the controversial decision to expand the nominations for Best Picture from five to up to ten. Purists said this was just a disingenuous way to include populist fare without really having to actually vote for it. But Oscar may be getting a raw deal. In the past, the Academy gave Best Picture Oscars to such popular successes as "The Greatest Show on Earth" and "Around the World in 80 Days" and nominated such blockbusters as "Jaws", "E.T.", "Star Wars" and "The Towering Inferno" even when the Best Picture category was relegated to only five films. Click here to read the article and form your own opinion.
“The
Adventures of Hajji Baba,” a 1954 Walter Wanger production for Allied Artists
Pictures and 20th Century Fox, has been issued by Twilight Time in a Blu-ray
limited edition of 3,000 units.At the
time of its theatrical release, the film was a commercially successful entry in
the popular 1950s formula of swashbuckling romances about the legendary Middle
East of Sinbad, Ali Baba, and the Arabian Nights.In today’s post-9/11 world, when the American
public is more aware of the region’s grim reality, the Arabian Nights genre
survives, just barely, in rare efforts like “Disney’s Aladdin” and the “Prince
of Persia” video-game franchise.
In
the 1954 movie, Hajji Baba (John Derek), a young Persian barber, sets out to
make his fortune in the wider world.Meanwhile, across town in the Caliph’s palace, spoiled Princess Fawzia
(Elaine Stewart) wants to marry an ambitious neighboring prince, Nur-el-Din
(Paul Picerni).Her father objects,
having heard about Nur-el-Din’s cruel temper.“Think of all the wives he’s had, and how he’s treated them,” he warns.“No one can hold him.” Undeterred, the
headstrong Fawzia disguises herself as a boy and sneaks out to meet the
prince’s emissary at a nearby oasis.There, she encounters Hajji, whom she mistakes for the courier.She offers him a valuable emerald ring for
help in evading her father’s pursuit.
As
the two proceed together across the desert, they’re captured by a gang of lady
bandits led by the red-haired Banah (Amanda Blake), and eventually they realize
that they’ve fallen in love with each other.Escaping from Banah, the pair fall into the hands of Nur-el-Din, who
exercises his prior claim on Fawzia’s affections.Surrounded and outnumbered by the prince’s
armed retinue, and believing that it’s Fawzia’s preference anyway, Hajji
relinquishes the princess to Nur-el-Din in exchange for the ring that had been
promised to him earlier.Irked, Fawzia
rides off with the prince, who secretly orders two of his soldiers to ride
back, kill Hajji, and retrieve the ring . . .
Critics
of the time were inclined to dismiss Arabian Nights escapism of this sort, as
modern reviewers do every time a new Dwayne Johnson or Mark Wahlberg action
picture debuts.In his New York times
review, Bosley Crowther suggested that the movie needed “someone in it like Bob
Hope to kid and lampoon the ostentation of its lush Oriental gewgawry.”But most middle-class audiences were less
exacting, and looked only for “The Adventures of Hajji Baba” to provide a
couple of hours’ relaxation from the grind of work and school.The kids could enjoy the widescreen swordplay
and horseback chases, Mom might think tingly thoughts about John Derek, and Pop
could ogle Amanda Blake, Elaine Stewart, and the numerous other starlets in the
cast in their skimpy harem girl costumes.That was about as racy as Hollywood products got in those days.Compared with the boxy, black-and-white image
that moviegoers were used to watching at home on TV, the film’s sumptuous
CinemaScope, Color by De Luxe photography was sensational stuff.
The
2.55:1 widescreen aspect and rich color are beautifully transferred on the
Twilight Time Blu-ray, a welcome upgrade from the pan-and-scan print of the
film that airs now and then on cable’s Fox Movie Channel.Modern viewers may be put off that the Arab
and Farsi characters are played by actors whose accents are more Parsippany,
New Jersey than Persia, but that was standard practice for the day, and even
today’s Millennials will have to admit, if they’re honest, that the
old-fashioned romance between Hajji and the willful Fawzia isn’t much more
contrived than the plot of the average confection today on the Hallmark Movie
Channel, or for that matter the tortuous complications on “reality” TV’s “The
Bachelor.”Fans of ‘50s lounge music are
likely to be amused by the title tune that wends its way through the soundtrack
-- music by Dimitri Tiomkin, lyrics by Ned Washington, arrangement by Nelson
Riddle, and vocal by Nat “King” Cole.The music and effects are isolated on an alternate audio track on the
Twilight Time disc.Other extras are the
original theatrical trailer, SDH subtitles, and an informative insert-booklet
by the reliable Julie Kirgo.The Blu-ray
is available HERE.
The
first question you are probably asking is “Do we need another book about Hammer
films?” Speaking as someone whose Hammer shelf is already groaning with the
weight of so many volumes on the company, the answer, as far as Hammer Complete
is concerned, is “Absolutely.” This book, coming in at nearly 1000 pages, is a
lifetime achievement for journalist Howard Maxford, and one that deserves
immense praise. Unlike other books which might focus specifically on the horror
films, or the posters, or the ups and downs of the company itself, here Maxford
has attempted to provide a complete encyclopedia of everything and everyone
connected to Hammer. From Temple Abady (who appeared in Never Look Back in
1952) and The Abominable Snowman (1957) to Murial Zillah (Danger List, 1957)
and Marc Zuber (The Satanic Rites of Dracula, 1974), no Hammer stone has been
left unturned or contributor ignored.
Unlike
many books of this type which are little more than a collection of facts
cribbed from Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database, Maxford has conducted
many interviews over the years with Hammer stars including Christopher Lee
himself, which means there is plenty of new and insightful material here
alongside his primary research and original reviews of the films themselves.
The entry on Lee is spread over six pages, where his career is discussed at
length including his well-known frustration with the decline in quality of the
Dracula films; of Scars of Dracula (1970) he complained, “I was a pantomime
villain. Everything was over the top, especially the giant bat whose
electrically motored wings flapped with slow deliberation as if it were doing
morning exercises.” Likewise, his frequent co-star Peter Cushing gets a
similarly lengthy entry, as do many of the other key players such as regular
character actor Michael Ripper, director Terence Fisher, producer James
Carreras, writer-director Jimmy Sangster and script supervisor Renee Glynne,
who first worked for the company in 1947 and was still present when they went to
Hong Kong to make The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and Shatter (both 1974).
Maxford
is fair in his assessment of the films themselves, discussing at length those
which have become legendary - the triumvirate of The Curse of
Frankenstein (1957) Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) in particular - as well
as being fair to those films often derided or ignored, including my personal
favourite; Slave Girls (also known as Prehistoric Women, 1968), made primarily
to reuse all those fur bikinis left over from One Million Years B.C. (1966).
It
may have a high price tag, but Hammer Complete is a huge, well-researched
reference book that no Hammer aficionado should be without.
It’s
probably fair to say that a great deal of music that surfaced from the Spaghetti
Western genre eventually merged to become something of a cliché. Clearly
inspired by the Morricone sound and style, many of the scores came to bear the
same signature traits and failed to obtain any real, individual identity. In
short, it became an elaborate mixing bowl in which the finished results were
served up as individual, but very familiar servings.
In
some respects, one could argue the same for Gianni Ferrio’s Un Dollaro Bucato
(One Silver Dollar) (1965). Also released as Blood for a Silver Dollar, producer
Bruno Turchetto was quick to jump on the whole ‘Dollar’ bandwagon. Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars had only been in the can for a year, so the genre was both
fresh and ripe for harvesting.
The
film’s soundtrack began life rather quietly; it was first released as a single
on the Fonit label in 1965 and featured the song ‘‘A Man... A Story’’ performed
by genre regular Fred Bongusto and was coupled with an instrumental version
performed by the Ferrio orchestra. The single was re-released in Japan by King
Records, where the film was received well. Philips also released it in Japan as
part of an EP containing A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and Django,
so the music was certainly keeping good company – and deservedly so.
Despite
the obvious influences, there’s certainly no denying, Un Dollaro Bucato remains
a terrific score. Ferrio’s music is fluid and doesn’t just root itself firmly within
the western genre. In fact, certain cues wouldn’t sound out of place in a spy
thriller - another genre that was finding its feet with the emerging Bond
franchise. Aside from the more regular, stylistic western cues, there’s plenty
of mystery and tension, and Ferrio makes great use of brass horns to build the
drama. So yes, Morricone inspired for sure, but there’s also a great deal more.
Silva
Screen Records have chosen well. Ferrio’s Un Dollaro Bucato remains a hugely
popular title. In more recent times, cues have found their way into Quentin
Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009), and been featured in the Red Dead
Revolver video game series. Silva Screen has created a stunning vinyl package
containing 21 beautifully produced tracks. It’s a stand out example, and obvious
that a great deal of thought has gone into this project. Not only does the
sleeve contain some creative, new artwork, but at the same time it maintains
the retro style reflective of the much loved 60s genre. Best of all perhaps is
the 12” platter, an eye catching piece pressed in a stylish silver & red
coloured vinyl, an element which ties in rather perfectly with the ‘silver’ and
‘blood ‘of the film’s alternative title. It’s a shimmering example of how vinyl
can (and should) be produced for the ongoing revival. Long may it continue to
shine!
The art of still photography has played an important role in the promotion of motion pictures since the inception of the medium. However, most photographers who capture the images on set labor in anonymity. It has only been in the last few decades that studios even identified the photographers of publicity photos by name on the press materials that are so widely distributed. As readers of Cinema Retro know, we have long promoted appreciation of the stills photographers and have showcased their work in our magazine. This is why we are quite excited by a new book, "Through Her Lens" (published by ACC Art Books) by Eva Sereny, who broke through a glass ceiling when she started capturing on set images in the 1960s in what was a male-dominated profession. Sereny had an exotic background: she was born of Hungarian parents in London, moved to Italy and took up photography before returning to London where, on a whim, she submitted some sample photos and ended up being hired by legendary publicist Gordon Arnell as a "Special Photographer" on the set of Mike Nichols' "Catch-22". In this capacity, Sereny differed from the unit stills photographer who was employed by the studio throughout the shoot. Instead, Sereny had independence and freedom to capture only those moments that intrigued her most. Her work revealed an astonishing intimacy whether it was photographing posed subjects or candid moments between takes. As Sereny's reputation grew, she gained greater access to interesting movie productions, though she still often had to contend with tempestuous stars. She initially annoyed Raquel Welch but years later the iconic star befriended her. On the set of "Last Tango in Paris", Marlon Brando forbade her from photographing him but ultimately relented and gave her complete artistic freedom to shoot him even when he was unawares.
Marlon Brando lights up director Bernardo Bertolucci on the set of "Last Tango in Paris".
Kate Capshaw, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford on the set of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade".
On "The Assassination of Trotsky", she had to tread carefully to photograph Elizabeth Taylor, who was visiting Richard Burton on the set. More pleasant was her experiences on the set of three Indiana Jones movies, including taking an iconic publicity photo of Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". There are craggy veterans such as John Huston and Richard Harris, hunky guys like Warren Beatty, Robert Redford and Michael Caine and elegant glamour symbols such as Audrey Hepburn, Barbara Bach and Jacqueline Bisset. (Bisset, along with Charlotte Rampling, provides a foreword for the book.) The volume is divided into chapters each dedicated to a film or a personality with Sereny providing anecdotes about her experience on the production. Other stars such as Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman are photographed in their private lives but no less remarkably than Sereny would have done on a film set. The book's large size, hardback format and superb reproductions of so many remarkable photos make this a "must" for retro movie lovers.
Last September, Time Life released the ultimate Robin Williams video set. Here is the official press release:
"You know that cartoon, that Tasmanian devil that comes
out and just spins --
he was that, but eloquent and hilarious."
-- Billy Crystal
"He was like something waiting to happen...a very
powerful anomaly."
-- Steve Martin
"Everybody else prepared, Robin was just a natural...
and he worked on every level."
-- Jay Leno
LEGENDARY COMEDIAN.
OSCAR®-WINNING ACTOR.
THIS SEPTEMBER, JOIN TIME LIFE FOR THE
DEFINITIVE DVD COLLECTION CELEBRATING
THE COMEDY CAREER OF A BELOVED ICON
ROBIN WILLIAMS: COMIC
GENIUS
Across 22 DVDs and 50+ Hours, the Electrifying Comic Lights
Up the Room in This Ultimate, One-of-a-Kind Compendium Spanning 40 Years
on TV, Including All Five HBO Stand-Up Specials Together for the Very
First Time, Never-Before-Released Performances and Backstage Footage, Talk Show
and Late Night Appearances, Rare Archival Clips, Brand New Interviews Featuring
Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Martin Short, Pam Dawber, Lewis
Black, and Zak Williams, a Collectible Memory Book Featuring Archival
Photos, Robin's Tour Notes, and More!
FAIRFAX, VA (September 25, 2018) - Robin Williams was a
generational talent, graced with comedic brilliance, rapid-fire improvisation,
and a deep well of warmth and compassion that translated to every role he
inhabited. From his breakout role in ABC's Mork & Mindy to his Academy
Award®-winning performance in Good Will Hunting, the iconic actor displayed an
inimitable artistry that made him beloved by millions. This September, join
Time Life, in conjunction with the Trustees of the Robin Williams Trust, in
celebrating the incomparable career of the singularly innovative actor with ROBIN
WILLIAMS: COMIC GENIUS.
Available exclusively at RobinWilliams.com
beginning September 25th, this definitive collection of Williams' comedy
highlights arrives as interest in his life and career increases in the wake of
HBO's critically acclaimed documentary, Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
from Emmy® Award-winning director Marina Zenovich and Oscar-winning producer
Alex Gibney, and Dave Itzkoff's biography Robin, a New York Times best-seller.
Celebrating the actor's memorable 40-year career, from his uproarious turn as
loveable alien Mork and his legendary HBO stand-up specials to his numerous
appearances on late night, this handsome, 22-disc collection, housed in deluxe
packaging includes:
All five HBO stand-up specials together for the very first
time, including Off the Wall (1978), An Evening with Robin Williams (1983), An
Evening at the MET (1986), Live on Broadway (2002) and Weapons of Self
Destruction (2009)
Never-before-released concert specials, including Robin's
full MGM Grand Garden stand-up from 2007 and the Montreal stop on his last
tour, a conversation on stage between Williams and comedian David Steinberg
Memorable talk show and late night TV appearances on The
Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah
Winfrey Show, The Graham Norton Show, Saturday Night Live and more
Rare, never-before-seen clips including early stand-up, raw
footage from HBO's promo shoots, a hilarious toast to Richard Pryor by Robin as
Mrs. Doubtfire, and more
Brand new interviews with close friends and family including
Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Jay Leno, Eric Idle, David Steinberg, Lewis Black
and Zak Williams
11 hilarious episodes of Mork & Mindy, including the
two-part pilot!
James Lipton's Emmy® Award-nominated 90-minute interview with
Robin on Inside the Actors Studio, plus deleted scenes
A comprehensive collection of Robin's USO shows around the
world
Original and newly created bonus features including
behind-the-scenes footage, local highlights from tour stops, promos and more.
Featurettes include: The Early Years, San Francisco: Where It All Started, Comic
Genius, and TV's Best Guest
Critically acclaimed 2018 HBO documentary, Robin Williams:
Come Inside My Mind from Emmy® Award-winning director Marina Zenovich and
Oscar-winning producer Alex Gibney.
"Robin Williams: Uncensored", a collectible
24-page, full-color memory book featuring rare, archival photos from
award-winning photographer Arthur Grace, reminiscences from friends and
colleagues, Robin's personal tour notes and more.
Uncensored, electric, intense and unfailingly hilarious,
Williams made it his life's work to make people laugh--whether he was holding
forth on culture, politics, the human body or drugs--with razor-sharp wit and
insight. As his long-time friend Billy Crystal said, "In the 40 odd years
he was in front of us, especially on television, he never let you down. He was
always funny, he always did something new." And, in unforgettable ways,
ROBIN WILLIAMS: COMIC GENIUS reveals and celebrates the wide range of his incredible
talents like never before.
The stars arrive in Honolulu to commence filming on the screen adaptation of James Jones' best-selling novel "From Here to Eternity". The resulting film would win Best Picture of 1953 at the Oscars and gain Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress wins for Frank Sinatra (whose career was saved by his role in the movie) and Donna Reed. (Left to right: Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, James Jones and director Fred Zinnemann.)
“The
Adventures of Robin Hood,” which aired on CBS from 1955 to 1959, was an early
example of a television series produced in the U.K. and imported by an American
network into U.S. living rooms with great success -- a forerunner of numerous
hit shows to follow from across the Atlantic, including “The Avengers,” “Secret
Agent/ Danger Man”, too many “PBS Masterpiece Theater” favorites to list, and
more recently “Downton Abbey.”It was
also an early example, replicated as well by “Downton Abbey,” of a popular TV
series leveraged into a big-screen theatrical movie.The year after “The Adventures of Robin Hood”
ended its U.S. network run, its producer Sidney Cole and star Richard Greene
created a feature-film version, “Sword of Sherwood Forest,” in partnership with
Hammer Studios, for release here through Columbia Pictures.Although supporting roles were recast, Greene
returned as Robin, and some principals from the series’ production crew were
reunited as well.Director of
Photography Ken Hodges returned, the screenplay was provided by Alan Hackney,
who had scripted many of the episodes of the series, and the director was
Terence Fisher, already a Hammer veteran, who had directed several series
episodes.Media historians tend to
characterize the TV and theatrical movie industries in the 1950s and early ‘60s
as bitter rivals for viewership, but the two industries in fact often enjoyed a
friendlier synergy of mutual convenience.In the case of “Sword of Sherwood Forest,” the popularity of the earlier
series provided theaters with a built-in audience for the movie.In turn, the film reminded fans to watch for
the syndicated reruns of the TV show, which continued to be broadcast on local
stations well into the 1970s.
In
the movie, which has been released on Blu-ray from Twilight Time in a limited
edition of 3,000 units, a well-dressed, badly wounded man flees into Sherwood
Forest, escaping from a posse led by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Peter
Cushing).Through Maid Marian (Sarah
Branch), the sheriff approaches Robin Hood with the offer of a pardon if he’ll
turn over the wounded fugitive, but Robin refuses.He knows, even if Marian has yet to learn,
although she quickly does, that the offer of clemency from his old enemy the
sheriff “isn’t worth the breath he uses to make the promise.”The fugitive eventually dies from his wound,
but not before passing along a brooch stamped with a mysterious emblem, and
mentioning the name of a town, Bawtry.Leaving Little John (Nigel Green) to lead the Merry Men in his absence,
Robin investigates with the help of Marian and Friar Tuck (Niall McGinnis). Gradually,
they uncover a plot involving the charming but secretive Earl of Newark
(Richard Pasco), his henchman the sheriff, an attempted land grab, a visit by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and plans to carry out a high-level assassination
if the land grab fails.
Kino Lober is releasing a number of value-priced Blu-ray double features with similarly-themed films. Among them is the combo of "Betsy's Wedding" and "Holy Matrimony". The first movie is a 1990 release starring and directed by Alan Alda, who had directed three previous feature films. Anyone who has been involved in planning a wedding knows that the old adage "The more the merrier!" rings hollow. In fact, the logistics of planning a wedding can become increasingly complicated and frustrating in direct correlation with the number of well-meaning people who decide to involve themselves. There's always the risk that the betrothed couple will be overwhelmed by logistics and that the wedding plans are catered to please everyone but them. Such is the case in "Betsy's Wedding". Alda is cast as Eddie Hopper, a successful real estate speculator who invests money in building homes that he hopes to sell for a quick profit. Lately, however, his instincts have been troublesome and his latest venture is proving to be a white elephant that is draining his savings. At the same time, his youngest daughter Betsy (Molly Ringwald) and her boyfriend Jake (Dylan Walsh) announce they intend to get married. Both are left-wing progressives who are also social activists who disdain blatant displays of wealth. They want a low-key civil ceremony with only a handful of guests. However, Eddie and his wife Lola (Madeline Kahn) argue that a much grander, traditional wedding is called for so as not to offend family members. Their resistance worn down, Betsy and Jake reluctant concede, which opens a Pandora's Box of bad luck for all involved. Eddie can't afford to put on the wedding he has lobbied for so he turns to his brother-in-law Oscar (Joe Pesci), a slimy business "tycoon" who, in reality, is also short of cash. Since he can't find the money to lend Eddie for the wedding, he introduces him to a local mob boss, Georgie (Burt Young), who puts up the funds but then integrates himself into Eddie's life and plans for the wedding. A parallel story line centers on Eddie and Lola's other daughter Connie (Ally Sheedy), a New York City police officer who is stuck in a perpetual mode of depression, shying away from people and bruised by the fact that her younger sister will marry before she does. She is elevated from the blues by Georgie's bodyguard Stevie Dee (Anthony Lapaglia), a slick mobster who sounds like Rocky Balboa on steroids but who curiously speaks to everyone with excessive politeness. Has is obsessed with Connie and slowly but surely succeeds in wooing her into coming out of her shell. As the wedding date nears, the pressure mounts on everyone. Eddie's business dealings with George almost get him assassinated in an attempted mob hit, Betsy and Jake are barely on speaking terms and on the wedding day and a torrential rain storm threatens to collapse the large tent structure the reception is being held in. Eddie receives solace from imaginary conversations with his dear, departed father (Joey Bishop).
"Besty's Wedding" was not well-received by critics or audiences back in the day and proved to be the final feature film to date directed by Alan Alda. Yet, I found it to be consistently funny and Alda excels as both actor and director, milking maximum laughs from an inspired cast. The scene-stealer is Lapaglia, one of the few cast members to receive kudos from reviewers. His sensitive tough guy routine is both amusing and endearing. The film isn't hilarious at any point but it's never less than entertaining, as you might imagine any movie that teams Joe Pesci and Burt Young would be.
"Holy Matrimony" was unceremoniously dumped by Disney into a handful of theaters in 1994 before being relegated to home video. It's total theatrical gross in North America was about $700,000. As with "Betsy's Wedding", it was directed by a popular actor, in this case Leonard Nimoy. Ironically, just as "Betsy's Wedding" represented Alda's last direction (to date) of a feature film, so too did "Holy Matrimony" mark Nimoy's last directorial effort on the big screen. The premise is hardly original, centering on a protagonist who seeks shelter in a religious community to evade pursuers. This plot device dates back to the 1940s with John Wayne in "Angel and the Badman" and its unacknowledged 1984 remake "Witness". Here we find Patricia Arquette as Havana, a sultry young woman from the other side of the tracks who is fed up with being exploited by performing provocative routines at a carnival tent located in a fairgrounds. She is paid a miserly wage by the owner who she comes to resent. She and her equally impoverished boyfriend Peter (Tate Donovan) rob the owner and flee in their car, but not before being identified. With the police searching for them, they cross into Canada and take refuge in an Amish-like religious colony where Peter was raised before leaving for the outside world. They pretend to want to immerse themselves in the rustic lifestyle but Havana's coarse nature and foul mouth make the elders suspicious of their motives. Peter hides the cache of stolen loot but before he can divulge its location to Havana, he is killed in an automobile accident. The colony elders view this as a way to get rid of Havana by informing her that customs dictate that she must marry Peter's brother, in this case twelve year-old Ezekiel (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). However, Havana- who needs to stay until she can locate the stash of hidden money- agrees to the arrangement, much to the shock of all involved- especially young Ezekiel who is appalled at having to be married at such a young age. The film deftly handles the possible distasteful elements of this reverse "Lolita" situation by making it clear that both husband and wife sleep in separate rooms. The one funny sex gag involves Ezekiel trying to impress his friends that he is satisfying his new wife only to have the scenario backfire much to his embarrassment when it is revealed he is actually in the bedroom alone.
Much of what follows is predictable. As with all movie plots in which the male and female protagonists start off hating each other, there is no doubt that Havana and Ezekiel will grow to respect and like each other, with Havana acting more like a big sister than a wife. Once the money is located, Havana is told to accompany Ezekiel back to the States to return the loot to its rightful owner. What follows is a road trip in which the two share plenty of personal thoughts and have to avoid a corrupt FBI agent (John Schuck), who is hot on their trail, determined to steal the money for himself. The story climaxes back at the state fair where Havana originally worked. She's now determined to return the stolen money, all the while trying to evade the police and the FBI guy who are hot on her trail. Director Nimoy capably blends both sentiment and comedy during the course of the film, though the movie's main attributes are the performances by Arquette and especially young Gordon-Levitt who shows star power even at this early stage of his career. There is also a very fine performance by Armin-Mueller Stahl as the elder of the religious community. Refreshingly, the film doesn't mock or humiliate the members of the religious colony. Rather, it is "fish-out-of-water" Havana who bears the brunt of most of the humor. While "Holy Matrimony" is nothing very special, it does seem to have suffered an undeserved fate by being released to only a small number of theaters. It is certainly on par with most mid-range comedies but apparently Disney felt it had very little boxoffice appeal.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray combo features very fine transfers of both films and includes their original trailers. Recommended.
The YouTube page "A Word on Entertainment" features host Rob Word's interview with actress Rosemary Forsyth, who recalls filming the under-rated 1965 film "The War Lord" starring Charlton Heston and Richard Boone.
RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST ARTICLES FROM CINEMA RETRO'S ARCHIVES
By Lee Pfeiffer
Sony has released the 1955 crime drama 5 Against the House as a burn-to-order DVD. The little-remembered film is interesting on a number of levels and boasts an impressive, eclectic cast. The low-budget flick depicts four young ex-G.I.s who fought in Korea who return to the States and enroll in college. Al (Guy Madison) is a straight-as-an-arrow type who is engaged to sultry nightclub singer Kay (Kim Novak). Ronnie (Kerwin Matthews) is a brainy upstart with delusions of grandeur and a superiority complex. Roy (Alvy Moore) is an affable joker who is very much a follower, not a leader. Brick (Brian Keith) is the most troubled of the group. He bares psychological problems from his combat experience and has a hair-trigger temper. The guys' only vices are taking an occasional trip to Reno, Nevada and engaging in some minor gambling and womanizing. However, Ronnie concocts an audacious plan to prove he can outwit the authorities and rob a casino. He suggest that the plan be put into operation with the intention of returning the money to the casino after the fact. Ronnie wants to build his ego, not his bank account. Roy and Brick sign on to the plan, but when Al balks, Brick's anger comes through. He threatens his friends with a gun and forces them to pull off the incredible scheme. The film, deftly directed by Phil Karlson, makes effective use of on location shooting in Reno at a place called Harold's Casino. The movie works best as a character study and the performances are all first-rate, with the exception of Madison, who is a bit of a stiff in the lead role. Novak is her usual sexy self and Keith, long-underrated for his dramatic capabilities, gives a powerful performance. The film is one of the earliest to take a sympathetic look at the emotional toll war takes on returning veterans. 5 Against the House is engaging throughout and although it is unremarkable in the long run, it represents the kind of overlooked gems that the burn-to-order DVD format is rescuing from complete obscurity.
An original trailer is included.
Click here to order from the Cinema Retro Movie Store.
If you’ve ever read one of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan
novels, you know that there has always been a big difference between Tarzan as
he is in the movies versus Tarzan in the books. For some reason Hollywood has
never really been able to get the character exactly right. As much fun as the
Johnny Weissmuller and Lex Barker Tarzan movies are, for example, they really
didn’t get close to Burroughs’ concept of the ape man. The real Tarzan didn’t
speak Pidgin English for one thing. He actually spoke fluent English and French.
He was as at home in an English Tea Room as the son of a British Lord, as he
was in the prehistoric land of Pal-ul-don. While the movies showed Tarzan as
protector of the animals, and friends with cute chimpanzees, in the books
Burroughs present a world where death usually came on four feet, although man
was often the most treacherous enemy. It was a jungle out there, and it was
survival of the fittest, baby.
In 2016, Warner Bros. attempted to restart the Tarzan
series with the $180 million “The Legend of Tarzan.” The film made double its
budget at the box office worldwide, but it didn’t excite audiences or studio
heads enough to continue with a sequel. So it looks like Tarzan will be on
sabbatical for a while. Part of the reason for the film’s failure was the
script’s presentation of Tarzan. They got the outer dimensions of the character
right, but included too many politically correct ideas that weakened the
Burroughs concept. For one thing, Tarzan lost too many fights, with both humans
and apes. You don’t get to be King of the Jungle by losing fights. But I think
it was the total reliance on CGI to create Tarzan’s Africa that was the main
reason for the film’s failure. Except for the occasional aerial footage shot
over the jungles of Gabon, the entire film was shot on sound stages in England.
The movie lacked the reality that a fantasy like Tarzan needs to be believable.
Which brings me to the subject of this review. In the
opinion of most true Tarzan fans there has only ever been one Tarzan film that
really captures what Tarzan is all about. It’s not perfect, but it’s probably
the closest they’ll ever get. In 1959, producer Sy Weintraub took over the
Tarzan franchise from Sol Lesser after it was moved to Paramount Pictures.
Weintraub injected the series with new energy and new ideas. He wanted to make
an “adult” Tarzan flick and he wanted to shoot on location in Kikuyu, Kenya.
He hired a top flight cast of British actors to play the
villains in the piece. Anthony Quayle, whose acting experience ranged from
potboilers to Shakespeare, was cast as the main villain, Slade, an escaped con
and old enemy of Tarzan. Next up, none other than 007 himself, Sean Connery, in
an early role as O’Bannion, a tough Irish gunman, who, being too young for the
Irish Rebellion, decides there are no causes worth fighting for because “They
don’t pay well.” Next is Nial MacGiniss as Kruger, a German diamond expert who
doesn’t want to be reminded of the old days of the Third Reich. Al Muloch plays
Dino, captain of the boat the gang is riding up river, who has a strange
attachment to a locket he wears around his neck. And finally, Italian actress
Scilla Gabel as Toni, Slade’s girl. There’s plenty of internal conflict and
tension among these five on board a small jungle boat as it makes its way up
river to a diamond mine.
The film starts with the theft of explosives from a
compound run by a doctor friend of Tarzan’s. The gang needs the gelignite to
excavate a diamond mine located upriver, just north of Tarzan’s tree house. It’s
interesting to note that the script by Berne Giler is based on a story written
by Les Crutchfield, a veteran writer who wrote 81 Gunsmoke radio scripts, and
was himself an explosives expert and a mining engineer before he started
writing. Explosives figure prominently in the plot.
I have to admit that I hadn't a clue as to what Intruder in the Dust was about until I viewed the DVD released through the Warner Archive. The film is a powerful indictment of the horrors of racism, filmed by MGM during a period when the American Civil Rights Movement was just beginning to heat up. We have a tendency to accuse Hollywood studios of relegating African-American actors to being mere window dressing in films of this era, or worse, casting them as comic relief in often degrading ways. However, this 1949 achievement should be much higher on the radar of retro movie lovers. While most studio productions steered clear of the problem of racism in the American South during the period when segregation was still law, this excellent film addresses the issue head-on. There were some talented people who brought the story to the screen in 1949. Esteemed director Clarence Brown was behind the camera and the screenplay was written by the great Ben Maddow, based on a novel by William Faulkner.
The film was shot on location in Oxford, Mississippi and centers on
the murder of a local white businessman who was shot in the back. The
prime suspect is Lucas (Juano Hernandez), a middle-aged black farmer who
has incurred the wrath of local bigots because he is proud and
independent and fails to take on the subserviant persona of the "good
Negro". Causing more resentment is the fact that Lucas owns his own
farm, a prime piece of land that invokes jealousy from less successful
local whites. Lucas maintains his calm demeanor even when he is jailed
and is awaiting the inevitable murder at the hands of a mob. His one
white friend comes to his aid: a teenager named Chick Mallison (Claude
Jarman Jr.). Chick convinces his uncle, lawyer John Stevens (David
Brian) to defend him. Stevens agrees because he doesn't want a murder
committed, but even he believes Lucas is guilty. He tells the seemingly
doomed man that he can't get a fair trial, that he doesn't believe he is
innocent and that he should have shown proper deference to the bigots
at all times. This attitude is what passed for enlightened thinking
during this period. Ultimately, Stevens becomes convinced that his
client is being framed and the plot turns to to who-dunnit as an oddball
group of progressives fights against time to find the real murderer
before Lucas is lynched or burned alive. The only whites in town who
will assist Stevens and Chick are an elderly woman (Elizabeth Patterson)
and the local sheriff (Will Geer), who has a condescending attitude
towards blacks but is courageous enough to stand up to the worst
elements of the population.
The first issue of Cinema Retro's 15th season (#43) has now been mailed to subscribers around the globe. Thanks to our loyal readers, the world's most unique film magazine is entering another exciting year with every issue packed with the kind of coverage of classic cinema that you've come to expect. (Issue #44 will ship in April/May and issue #45 ships in September/October.) Our kickoff issue for the new season features the following:
Tribute to the 50th anniversary of the James Bond classic "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" starring George Lazenby: a five-page photo feature packed with rare images, some never published before.
"Mackenna's Gold"- a look back fifty years on at the much-hyped big budget fiasco that has a fascinating back story.. This major article by Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer is the most comprehensive ever written about the troubled production that starred Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif,Telly Savalas and an all star cast.
Cai Ross provides an exclusive interview with director Peter Medak, who recalls the little-seen Peter Sellers pirate comedy "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" and relates the maddening experience of working with the volatile comedy genius.
Dawn Dabell covers the 1966 British coming-of-age comedy "The Family Way", which allowed Hayley Mills her first adult role in a scathing comedy about coming of age during the sexual revolution.
Brian Davdison looks back on the controversial "Assault", which is regarded as Britain's only true giallo.
Nick Anez analyzes director Robert Aldrich's bizarre-but-gripping Depression era crime drama "The Grissom Gang".
Gareth Owen examines the clues in the making of "Sleuth" starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine at Pinewood Studios
Brian Davidson pays tribute to actress Virginia Maskell, whose career and life were tragically short, but very impressive.
John V. Watson takes a nightmarish journey back to 1971 to examine the release of numerous high profile films that were extremely violent. Among them: "A Clockwork Orange", "Get Carter", "Villain", "Dirty Harry", "Straw Dogs" and "The Devils".
Plus Raymond Benson's "Cinema 101" column, Darren Allison's news about the latest soundtrack releases and our extensive reviews of new Blu-ray and DVD releases.
Help keep the dream of celebrating the greatest period in film history alive andin print format by subscribing or renewing today!
Finney with Audrey Hepburn in Stanley Donen's "Two for the Road".
BY LEE PFEIFFER
Albert Finney, who rose to fame and acclaim as one of Britain's generation of actors known as "Angry Young Men", has died at age 82. A chest infection was cited as cause of death. Finney was among an exciting new generation of British actors who burst upon the scene in the 1950s and 1960s, reaping critical praise for their realistic portrayals often of troubled men who were being constrained by socio-economic conditions that afflicted the lower income class in post-War Britain. His star-making role came in director Karl Reisz's "kitchen sink" classic, the 1960 film "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" which reflected the frustrations of the working class. Finney called upon his real life experiences growing up in Northwest England under somewhat spartan living conditions.
As a newly-minted star, he screen tested for director David Lean for the title role of "Lawrence of Arabia" but Finney didn't want to sign a five picture deal with the film's producer Sam Speigel. Peter O'Toole took the role and became a major name in international cinema. Finney was somewhat opaque compared to other young actors that emerged in the UK in the 1960s. He wasn't the publicity seeker that Richard Burton was, nor was he the hard-drinking, towel snapping joker Richard Harris was. He was thought by some critics to have not achieved his full promise on stage or screen, despite having been nominated for five Oscars and thirteen BAFTAs. (He won two of the latter.) Finney was a remote figure in a publicity-hungry industry. He rarely gave interviews and was often cynical about the shallowness of fame. He refused to attend any of the ceremonies at which he was nominated. Perhaps his best-loved role was in "Tom Jones", the 1963 screen adaptation of Henry Fielding's bawdy comedic novel. Yet, Finney's work on the big screen was spotty. He didn't work very frequently and sometimes chose projects that were not especially successful at the boxoffice. His more prominent films include "Murder on the Orient Express", "Erin Brockovich", "Two for the Road", "The Victors", "Scrooge", "Wolfen", "Shoot the Moon", "Annie", "Traffic", "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "The Bourne Legacy". He was off screen for a number of years while he waged a successful battle against cancer. His final role was a memorable one: as Kincade, the grumpy old farmer and boyhood friend of James Bond in the 2012 blockbuster "Skyfall". For more click here.
In the Hollywood Reporter, David Weiner interviews director Philip Kaufman about his brilliant, 1978 re-imagined interpretation of Don Siegel's classic 1956 sci-fi film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". Kaufman's version was every bit the equal to the original, although the films are substantially different. Kaufman reflects back on the making of the movie and its sad significance in today's society. Click here to read.
Ian Fleming’s rise from newspaper journalist to worldwide
best-selling author was not all jet-setting glamor. In the early 1960s,
with the Bond literary series well underway, Fleming was involved in a grueling
legal battle regarding his novel, Thunderball – which later became the
record-breaking 1965 EON film. The strain of the trial may well have
contributed to Fleming’s death the following year at the relatively young age
of 56…
Now the daughter of the original screenwriter, Jack Whittingham, has compiled a
unique chronology of the entire episode titled, appropriately enough, "The Thunderball Story". Sylvan Mason, an accomplished
writer and photographer in her own right, has produced a spiral-bound, limited
edition booklet of the behind-the-scenes battle that played out in British
courts in 1963 and gave producer Kevin McClory the right to remake the story,
eventually resulting in 1983’s Never Say Never Again.
Ms. Mason’s book reproduces a number of key documents and photographs,
including letters, a UK premiere ticket and headlines from newspapers of the
day. There is also a highly detailed timeline from 1959 to 2003,
encompassing all facets of the Thunderball story. All in all, it is a fascinating
look at one of the more obscure, but important aspects of the James Bond
Phenomenon – and given its limited edition status, once they’re gone, they’re
gone!
If you are a Bond collector, you can order a copy here:
In my review of Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release of the 1979 disaster film "Meteor", I observed that the disaster movie genre had peaked with the release of Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno" in 1974. Yet, that didn't stop studios from beating a dead horse in an attempt to squeeze some more juice out of the tried-and-true formula of gathering an all-star cast, then figuring out ways to drown, bury or incinerate the characters portrayed on screen. One of the more obscure attempts to keep the disaster film cycle relevant was "Avalanche", a movie produced by Roger Corman and directed and scripted by one of his proteges, Corey Allen, who would go on to establish a respectable career as a director of major television shows. When you approach a Corman production, you tend to give some special dispensation for certain cinematic sins that you wouldn't accord more mainstream productions. Corman, who happily embraces his legendary status as a man who made major profits from films with minor budgets, knew how to stretch the soup in the cinematic sense. Rarely armed with ample production funds, Corman cut corners whenever possible but still managed to retain a certain elegance to his productions. In 1978, he jumped on the fading disaster movie bandwagon with "Avalanche". He hired Rock Hudson as the leading man because Hudson, at this point in his career, realized that he was no longer a hot commodity as a boxoffice draw in feature films (although he did successfully transition to a popular presence on television.) Corman also cast Mia Farrow and respected supporting actor Robert Forster for additional name recognition. He secured permission to film at a major ski resort in Durango, Colorado and out-sourced the special effects work to a company called Excelsior!
The film follows the general formula of the disaster film genre in that the victims-to-be are gathered for a major social occasion, unaware that nature is working overtime to thwart their fun. Rock Hudson plays David Shelby, an arrogant developer who has invested his life savings to build a vacation paradise in the Rocky Mountains. He has disdain for local environmentalists who have warned him that his destruction of an an abundance of trees on his massive property has removed a natural barrier to the inevitable avalanches that will occur. Shelby is preoccupied with his grand opening festivities and is simultaneously trying to woo back his ex-wife Caroline (Mia Farrow), who is attending as his guest. He's also busy trying to entertain his sassy, wise-cracking mother, Florence (Jeanette Nolan), who is being shepherded around the resort by David's major domo Henry McDade (Steve Franken in a rare dramatic role.) Meanwhile, local environmental activist and nature photographer Nick Thorne (Robert Forster) becomes increasingly concerned about the massive buildup of snow on the mountain peaks that are directly in line with the resort. He attempts to alleviate some of the danger by strategically using a snow cannon to set off controlled mini avalanches. Intermingled with all of this are the expected subplots involving minor characters who are set up to be inevitable victims. Barry Primus is a TV sports announcer who is broadcasting from the grand opening and who must contend with the fact that his estranged wife Tina (Cathey Paine) is on premises and rubbing his nose in it by blatantly carrying on an affair with egotistical super star skier Bruce Scott (Rick Moses). Scott, in turn, is rubbing Tina's nose in it by blatantly sleeping with another woman, thus causing Tina to go ballistic and consider suicide. Meanwhile, David Shelby finds time to unwind by spending some quality time in a hot tub with with his naked secretary (thus allowing Roger Corman to slip in a bit of T&A). Although the story seems set up to have the disastrous avalanche occur during the opening night festivities, screenwriter Allen throws the audience a curve ball by avoiding that cliche and saving the action for the following afternoon when, amid a particularly vicious snow mobile race, a small plane piloted by one of Shelby's employees encounters bad weather and slams into a nearby mountain, thus triggering the avalanche. This is where the movie progresses beyond cliches and becomes unexpectedly enjoyable. All of the standard disaster movie shtick is present, as both lovable and loathsome characters meet predictable fates, but the film's limited production resources somehow work in its favor. We're well aware that we're watching a Corman production but somehow the inventiveness that is required to carry it all off is quite admirable. Certain plot points are introduced and inexplicably abandoned including an insinuation that Shelby has bribed local political officials to overlook his clear violation of environmental protection rules in order to build his resort. This was one of Rock Hudson's final films as an "above the title" leading man. He's grayer and a bit paunchier than we'd seen him during his heyday, but he still had star power to spare and made for a dashing leading man, whether its skinny dipping in the hot tub or personally leading rescue parties in acts of derring doo to extricate victims of the tragedy. The film's showpiece sequence is a climactic scene in which Shelby must rescue Caroline, who is dangling from wrecked bridge above a ravine. It's well-directed and genuinely suspenseful.
It' easy to pick apart a film like "Avalanche", as it squarely fits into the "guilty pleasure" category. However, the film does a lot with very little as opposed to other misfires in this genre that did very little with a lot (aka "The Swarm"). The Kino Lorber Blu-ray edition features the original trailer and a "making of" featurette in which Roger Corman extols the virtues of the film. He admits the effects were rather shoddy and recalls his outrage when he discovered the SFX company had added "red snow". Corman hit the roof and it was changed to a bluish substance that he admits still looks pretty phony. Robert Forster recalls that the "snow" was actually little pieces of plastic that were strewn by the hundreds of thousands over the scenic landscape. He remembers his dismay at the realization that none of these bits were biodegradable and many must still be contaminating the landscape of the Durango ski resort where the movie was filmed. Corman makes the claim that the film was actually a major financial success. He says his budget was only $1.7 million and that a TV sale for $2 million netted him an immediate $300,000 profit. The tale sounds a bit fanciful because it seems hard to believe that even in 1978 you could make a movie like this with three relatively big names for only $1.7 million. (Other sources give unsubstantiated estimates of the budget at around $6 million, which seems more plausible.) "Avalanche" is not near the top of the heap of disaster movies but it certainly doesn't rank at the bottom of the pack, either. The Kino Lorber release has an impressive transfer and the inclusion of those bonus extras make this title highly recommended for fans of this genre.
