BY FRED BLOSSER

In Michael Cimino’s “Year of the Dragon” (1985), now available in a handsome Blu-ray edition from the Warner Archive Collection, gang war threatens to erupt in New York’s Chinatown when the city’s elderly Triad kingpin is spectacularly murdered by a young Chinese thug. Police Captain Stanley White (Mickey Rourke) is brought in to crack down before more blood is spilled, as long as he doesn’t crack down too hard. As far as the NYPD and the neighborhood elders are concerned, things are fine the way they are in Chinatown under the Triad. All that’s needed is to bring the suddenly upstart youth gangs under control. But Stanley knows that the only way to really clean up Chinatown is to wipe out the underlying corruption of the Triad itself. To that end, he plunges into his assignment with a zeal that even Dirty Harry Callahan might find excessive. Stanley figures out that that the kingpin’s murder wasn’t a spontaneous act by a hopped-up teenager, but the opening move in a long game by Joey Tai (John Lone), the dead man’s urbane son-in-law, to seize control of the Triad’s billion-dollar drug trafficking business. Stanley harasses Joey, wiretaps his headquarters using a Catholic convent down the street as home base, inserts a rookie Chinese-American police officer undercover into the kitchen staff of Joey’s trendy restaurant, and pushes back when the department tries to move him off the case. Recognizing the power of the media while sneering at journalists as “vampires,” he cynically enlists an ambitious young female TV reporter to further his strategy. Stanley gives Tracy (Ariane) a scoop every time he digs up more evidence on Joey, she gives him the lead on the six o’clock news hour. When their business relationship becomes sexual as well, the situation strains Stanley’s already fragile marriage with his neglected wife Connie (Caroline Kava).

Michael Cimino’s moviemaking career had more ups and downs than this year’s Dow Jones, plummeting from the high of “The Deer Hunter” in 1978 to the critical and commercial fiasco of “Heaven’s Gate” in 1980. While “Year of the Dragon” didn’t represent a total rebound from the latter debacle, it put Cimino behind the camera again in the first of three respectably budgeted movies for the Dino De Laurentiis company. The partnership continued with “The Sicilian” (1987) and “The Desperate Hours” (1990), even though “Year of the Dragon,” based on a novel by Robert Daley, underperformed at the U.S. box office. It made only $18 million in ticket sales against its $24 million cost, and received a nomination for a Golden Raspberry Award as Worst Movie of the Year. Strictly speaking on the picture’s dramatic merit, this less than respectful reception is understandable. The script by Cimino and Oliver Stone overlooks or blithely dismisses some key points of basic logic. The racist, sexist, and insubordinate White is known to hate Asians, and he’s already rubbed the brass the wrong way in his career. “Nobody likes you, Stanley,” his colleague Lou Bukowski (Ray Barry) tells him, as if the NYPD assesses job performance by the criteria of a high school popularity contest. So why is this loose cannon unleashed on a politically and racially sensitive murder case? Some of the confusion suggests that Cimino may have written or filmed expository scenes that never made it into the final product, as when suddenly, late in the film, we learn that Lou isn’t just another of Stanley’s NYPD colleagues. He, Stanley, and Connie grew up together as friends in the same Polish-American neighborhood. He doesn’t resent Stanley just because he’s a by-the-book bureaucrat and Stanley is a rebellious maverick. He resents that Stanley turned his back on the old crowd when he changed his Polish name to “White,” and that he makes Connie miserable.

British kids had some cool collectibles that fans never got in the States: hardcover adventure books based on their favorite TV series and movies. These hardback "annuals" were all the rage in the 1950s and 1960s. The books featured original stories and artwork and some, such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E. , reproduced the Gold Key comic books that were sold in America. More elaborate annuals such as those based on the James Bond films offered full color photos as well. Illustrated here: two vintage adventure books based on Rawhide starring Eric Fleming and a young up-and-comer named Clint Eastwood.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Once upon a time, there was what is now considered to be a Golden Age of film criticism. Serving in that capacity was a well-regarded career and the standards were generally high. In the pre-internet age, when newspapers and magazines were in their heyday, readers voraciously followed the most influential film critics, whose endorsements of a film could elevate its popularity. Conversely, of course, a negative review might spell death at the boxoffice. Some of the more prominent critics were regarded as snooty and too upper crust to connect with the average reader. The ascension of critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel through their highly influential “At the Movies” syndicated TV series changed all of that. They were film scholars, to be sure, but they reviewed movies in a populist manner, often defending films that most critics chose to ignore or denounce. With the advent of the internet, today anyone can proclaim themselves to be a film critic. You just need a blog and- Presto!- you are a film critic. Of course, today’s definition of the profession encompasses the good, the bad and the ugly. Simply having an enthusiasm for movies doesn’t make one prolific in analyzing them.

One of the best of the “old world” film critics was British writer Philip French, who began writing film reviews in the early 1950s and went on to be a long-time contributor to The Times and The Observer. He passed away in 2015, still practicing his profession. French’s family has compiled a book of some of his most relevant and important reviews and published them under the title of “Notes from the Dream House: Selected Film Reviews 1963-2013”. The book, published by Carcanet Press, sets the right tone beginning with the cover, an illustration by Charles Addams of  the "Uncle Fester" character laughing at a movie that has everyone else in the audience sobbing. Like most of the major critics who came of age when French did, he displays an encyclopedic knowledge of the films and talents he passes judgment on. He also falls into the same trap as many of his peers by assuming the reader is well-versed in sometimes obscure names and film titles. However, he never comes across as pretentious and his prose is often wistful and amusing. It is interesting to read his observations about films that became famous or infamous and French also revisits certain movies for re-evaluation many years after their initial release. We find he championed obscure titles such as “Two Land Blacktop” and dared to defend such boxoffice disasters as Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate” and Hugh Hudson’s “Revolultion” (good for him!). He appreciates Attenborough’s “A Bridge Too Far” while most critics were immune to its many qualities. He devotes a very long review to extolling the merits of the 1999 Bond adventure “The World is Not Enough”. He also doesn’t have any sacred cows: despite being an admirer of Kubrick, he rightly points out that “The Shining” is “a polished, low-key horror picture of a rather conventional kind… we never became involved either intellectually or viscerally with the characters…Our pants flutter occasionally, but the film comes nowhere near scaring them off us.” In a 1982 re-evaluation of Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West”, he makes a mea culpa and admits that, upon seeing the film in its initial release in 1969, he did not recognize its greatness. He decried Robert Downey Jr.’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes as a contemporary action hero and was an early admirer of John Boorman’s “Point Blank”, which some critics simply denounced because of its violent content.

Breezing through the book is a delight. You can randomly drop in anywhere and read the reviews that appeal to you. But it should be noted that French’s observations are worth reading even if they pertain to film titles that don’t particularly interest you. His wry wit and poignant analysis make this book a “must” for retro movie lovers.

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“KEATON’S FIRST MASTERPIECE”

By Raymond Benson

Although Buster Keaton had starred in two feature films (and directed one of them), it wasn’t until the release of Our Hospitality in late 1923 that he established himself as a major force of cinema to rival the likes of Chaplin. Of course, he had already starred in and directed numerous shorts, all of which served to build his reputation—but it is this beautifully-rendered silent classic that is considered the auteur’s first masterpiece.

The story takes place in the early 1800s and draws upon a rural family feud like the Hatfields and McCoys—in this case the McKays and Canfields. When patriarch John McKay is killed by James Canfield (and vice versa), Mrs. McKay flees with little baby Willie McKay (played by Buster’s real-life infant son, Buster Keaton Jr.). Twenty years later, Willie inherits the old family estate in the south and returns to claim it, only vaguely aware of the feud that has existed for decades. On the way he meets Virginia (played by Keaton’s wife at the time, Natalie Talmadge), who happens to be a Canfield. Upon arrival at home, Willie continues to court Virginia, but her brothers won’t have it. The rest of the picture is a cats-and-mouse game of Willie avoiding being killed and at the same time wooing the woman he wants to marry.

There are many striking aspects about the picture. Keaton’s paid great attention to detail in the design and location shooting. Apparently, he took great pains to create realistic locomotives and tracks that depicted early train development in America (although he played with time period accuracy for the sake of more interesting visuals). The final act contains some spectacular and hair-raising stunt work by the star, including an incident of falling into rapids and almost drowning on camera. Mostly, though, the story is well-constructed, the characters have more depth than in the other silent comedies of the day, and, in the end, Our Hospitality is one of Keaton’s most satisfying movies.

Interestingly, it’s the only Keaton film to feature three generations of Keatons—Buster himself, his previously-mentioned son, and his father, Joe Keaton, as a train engineer.

Kino Classics presents a beautiful grey and sepia-toned 1920x1080p restoration with a 2.0 stereo soundtrack and a score composed and conducted by Robert Israel. A fascinating audio commentary by film historians Farran Smith Nehme and Imogen Sara Smith accompanies the feature. Supplements include a rare 1947 short, Un duel à mort (A Duel to the Death) starring Keaton; The Iron Mule, a short from 1925 that Keaton produced (uncredited) and features some of his locomotive creations; a featurette on the background of Our Hospitality with Serge Bromberg; and an excellent featurette on the scoring of the film, narrated by Robert Israel. The booklet contains an essay by Jeffrey Vance.

Our Hospitality is yet another superb release from Kino Classics, a highlight in the fabulous filmography of the inimitable Buster Keaton.

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BY MARK CERULLI

John Carpenter’s Halloween was supposed to be a one-off… a small, disposable horror movie that would give some young filmmakers a break and its backers a nice hit of cash should it succeed. But a one-off it was not. Instead it became an American classic, which until a few years ago, was the most successful indie movie of all time. It’s a story that cried out for a book – and now there is one: Halloween: The Changing Shape Of An Iconic Series by Ernie Magnotta.

This deeply researched, 378 page oversize paperback illustrates Magnotta’s enthusiasm for the films and the genre on every page. He goes through the franchise, film by film, examining the plots, the key sequences, the cinematography, the music and, of course, the characters and the actors who portray them. Even the changing face of Michael’s iconic mask is examined and discussed. Like all fans, Magnotta has strong opinions and isn’t afraid to share them. For example, he picks apart the rather confusing ending of Halloween 6, which this writer saw in the theaters and couldn’t quite get, either. He also looks at the various plot holes and inconsistencies that crop up over the long course of the series, which have caused die-hard Halloween fans no small amount of agida over the years. That said, the book is not a hatchet job by any means. It praises the great work done by directors, actors and cinematographers as well as the many inventive scares – crucial elements that helped make this one of horror’s most successful and beloved franchises.

The book contains over 200 color photos, as well as a number of posters and rare lobby cards. Magnotta also thoughtfully includes film reviews of each title, giving the reader a taste of how each movie was received during its initial release. With the, er, monster success of Blumhouse’s 2018 Halloween reboot, this franchise is far from dead – and Ernie Magnotta’s book is the perfect guide.

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A CINEMA RETRO EXCLUSIVE:

DIRECTOR JOHN STEVENSON (""KUNG FU PANDA", "SHERLOCK GNOMES") PAYS TRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL EFFECTS GENIUS

Stop motion animation is still the most magical of special effects techniques to me, because instinctively you know that real light is falling on a real object that is seemingly moving of its own volition. Computer Generated Imagery may be able to create more complex and fluid motion, but we instinctively know that what we are looking at does not exist in our world. There is still an arcane power in watching something you know you can touch move on its own. So films featuring stop motion animation were my great passion as a child.

Stop motion animation was the Rolls Royce of special effects techniques in the 1960s and early 1970s. If you were a young fantasy addict a new Ray Harryhausen film at the local ABC cinema was the equivalent of a new MCU film dropping today. Because Ray Harryhausen lived in London he sometimes appeared on British television with his models ( programmes such as “Screen Test” with Michael Rodd in 1970) where he would explain the principals of stop motion animation, which gave me a basic understanding of the technique at a young age. Stop motion animation could also be found in children’s television shows like “The Pogles” and “The Magic Roundabout”, commercials and even on “The Old Grey Whistle Test” where clips from Ladislas Starevitch’s films would sometimes accompany music tracks (courtesy of Phillip Jenkinson). It was a golden age if you were a fan of the technique, and Ray Harryhausen became my idol, representing everything that was magical about the movies for me. But I had yet to discover Karel Zeman.

I first encountered Karel Zeman’s work on a British children’s T.V show about movie special effects that showed extracts from a 15-minute Czech film called “The Magic World Of Karel Zeman” made in 1962. At the time I had no idea what I was looking at. The only part I remember clearly was a scene that showed some children climbing on the back of a dead Stegosaurus, then the camera tracked around to reveal that the Stegosaurus was a painting on a sheet of board close to the camera while the children stood on a wooden frame a long way in the distance. This was supposedly how they shot the scene from “Journey To The Beginning Of Time” (Many years later when I finally got to see the film I was amazed to discover that the film employed a life size prop, not a painting. I wondered if Karel Zeman was playing a joke by deliberately misleading the audience?) As a child I was fascinated by this short clip of film and wanted to know more about the movie and the person who made it, but Karel Zeman was elusive and it was difficult to find any information on him in the pre-internet 1960’s. It would be another thirty years before I was able to see his film.

Karel Zeman was Czech and began his film career in advertising and first worked in animation making an advertisement for soap. In 1943 he accepted a job offer at Zlin animation studio and in 1945 became director of the stop motion animation production group and made his first short film “A Christmas Dream” (“Vanocni Sen”) which combined animated puppets and live action. Zeman then created a series of puppet shorts featuring a character called Mr. Prokouk, which were very popular. In 1948 he made the beautiful short film “Inspiration”(“Inspirace”) using animated glass figures, and two years later directed the half hour film “King Lavra” (“Kra Lavra”) which went on to win a National Award. Karel Zeman’s first feature film “The Treasure Of Bird Island” (“Poklad Ptaciho Ostrova”) was completed in 1952 and used innovative techniques to evoke Persian art. Then in 1955 he made the first of his six feature films to use his unique combination of live action and animation techniques that would secure his place in movie history, the remarkable “Cesta Do Praveku”, or “Journey To the Beginning Of Time”.

JTTBOT tells the story of four children who venture back in time to discover the origins of life on Earth. On the way they encounter creatures from the Quaternary, the Tertiary, the Mezazoic, and Paleozoic eras. Uniquely and charmingly, no time is spent on a logical explanation for their trip. There are no fantastical devices here-no time machines, no boring into the center of the Earth, no discovery of lost plateaus or uncharted, mist shrouded islands. The boys want to go, so they go. They take a small boat and enter a mysterious cave tunnel and emerge in prehistory travelling further back in time as they follow the river to its source.

Apart from Karel Zeman’s most obvious accomplishments in creating myriad special effects sequences, his skill as a director is evident in his handling of the child actors, most of whom were not professionals. He elicits natural, unforced performances from his cast with none of the sentimentality or grating archness found in many American and British films featuring child actors from the same period. Zeman’s use of the camera is also very effective with many tracking shots taken on location or on studio sets closely following the children before an encounter with a prehistoric creature. These shots with the camera following just behind the children’s shoulders or tracking back in front of their faces puts the audience directly inside their experience and makes the build up to the reveal of the various creatures much more powerful. Compare these pre-effects sequences with similar scenes in American dinosaur films from the same period such as “Unknown Island” (1948) or “The Lost Continent” (1951) to see that Zeman’s direction is much more effective. Perhaps his least appreciated talent is as a writer. Apart from a few places where the film becomes too studiedly educational, most of the dialogue between the children flows naturally and believably. His abilities as a scriptwriter would become more apparent in his later works.

But the main reason anybody sees a film like this is to see the recreation of prehistoric life and it is here that Karel Zeman differentiates himself from Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen. These movie giants concentrated on one technique, stop motion animation combined with live action via miniature rear projection or travelling mattes, to create their illusions. They occasionally used giant props (King Kong’s hand or the Pteranodon’s feet from “1,000,000 Years B.C.”) to interact with the human actors, but all the creatures were primarily brought to life by stop motion animation (sometimes augmented by a mechanical head for close up’s like the King Kong bust, or the Ceratosaurs from “The Animal World”).

Karel Zeman is different from every other movie magician by fearlessly utilizing every FX and animation technique available to him at the time and often switching technique multiple times within a single scene. Examples are the mammoth, which is sometimes a stop motion creation and sometimes a mechanical puppet shot in camera on location with the children. The Phorusrhacos is a stop motion puppet, a hand puppet for close ups, and a paper cut-out for the running shots. The Brontosaurus is a combination of a mechanical head atop a painted flat body for the shots on land, and a hand puppet for the shots in water. The Uintatherium is combination of stop motion and close up’s using a mechanical head. Zeman is also fearless about using completely different techniques not commonly used in visual effects films, such as creating a herd of bounding antelope, giraffes and a Smilodon purely through paper cut out animation. An Edmontosaurus (called a Trachodon in the film) and an amphibian (possibly an Eryops) are brought to life as hand puppets. This willingness to use any technique to create the creatures means that the menagerie in “Journey To The Beginning Of Time” is much larger than in Willis O’Brien’s “King Kong” (9 stop motion creatures, King Kong, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, two legged lizard, Tyrannosaurus (probably), Elasmosaurus, Pteranodon, prehistoric vulture (possibly Merriam’s Teratorn), various birds) or Ray Harryhausen’s “1,000,000 Years B.C. (13 creatures including a photographically enlarged iguana, tarantula, and grasshopper, Allosaurus, Archelon, Brontosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Pteranodon and its two chicks, Rhamphorhynchus, Triceratops, and a live warthog). In “Journey To The Beginning Of Time” we see 30 creatures (Mammuthus primigenius, Coelodonta, Deinotherium, Honanotherium, Smilodon, Moropus, Uintatherium, Phorusrhacos, Helladotherium, Pteranodons, Styracosaurus, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Meganeura, Eryops, Trilobite, plus a giant boa constrictor, a swimming amphibian, a sea snake, flamingoes, antelopes, giraffes, crocodiles, a leopard, vultures, turtles, various animated birds and a large, real carp). Zeman also outdoes Harryhausen and O’Brien by having multiples of the same animal in shot instead of the one representative of each species that show up for their one sequence in “King Kong”, “Son Of Kong”, “I,000,000 Years B.C.” or “The Valley Of Gwangi”, usually to menace the heroes or get into a fight. JTTBOT has a flock of flamingoes, a flock of Pteranodons, herds of antelope, gazelle and giraffe, a congregation of crocodiles, two grazing Helladotherium and two battling Coelodonta. These brief scenes of herds of wildlife eating or galloping add immeasurably to the believability of Zeman’s prehistoric world and make it seem like life continues once the camera has moved on, rather than the line of solitary creatures waiting for their turn to be menacing in the O’Brien or Harryhausen films.

By Hank Reineke

There’s a long-standing Hollywood tradition of blending filmdom’s most bankable but seemingly disparate genres – horror and comedy – but a successful marriage of the two is a tricky business at best. The gold standard films of these hybrid would be, generationally, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Young Frankenstein (1974) or, I suppose, Ghostbusters (1984) should one choose to go “modern-contemporary.” Parodies of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would serve as a virtual cottage industry of horror-comedy fusion, these pastiches encompassing the silent era, animated shorts, features, and even pornographic films. Having already challenged the Frankenstein monster, Abbott and Costello would eventually take on other classic movie monsters, including Boris Karloff’s Mr. Hyde in an entertaining 1953 Universal Studios production. I like that one a lot.

Charles B. Griffith’s Dr. Heckyl & Mr. Hype (Cannon Group, 1980) is one of the odder entries. It’s difficult to exactly pinpoint this production’s various misfires, but Dr. Heckyl & Mr. Hype ultimately displays more madness than madcap charm. This brand new release on Blu-ray by Scorpion Releasing promotes the film as nothing less than a “Long Sought after Cult Classic,” and I guess it might be… but only if screened before an audience of undemanding and sleepy stoners attending a midnight movie. It’s a shame really as there’s a cadre of proven talent both behind and in front of the cameras. Director Charles B. Griffith cut his teeth in the movie business contributing playfully winking screenplays to low budget exploitation films for industry maverick Roger Corman. Some of the quickly tossed-off monochrome films he helped construct – most notably Bucket of Blood (1959) and Little Shoppe of Horrors (1960) – would go on to achieve acclaim as true pop culture classics.

It’s of interest that simultaneous to the 1960 release of Corman and Griffith’s Little Shoppe of Horrors to the U.S. drive-in circuit, a little know twenty-two year old British actor named Oliver Reed would appear, un-credited, in the Hammer Studios horror film The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (Terence Fisher, 1960). That Griffith and Reed work together some twenty-years on Dr. Heckyl & Mr. Hype would suggest – on some cosmic level, I suppose - a neat closing of the circle. But it’s sadly more akin to the tightening of a noose.

Griffith gets sole credit for the film’s screenplay – although a sub-title acknowledges his “Apologies to Robert Louis Stevenson,” the author of the classic 1886 novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.” Griffith’s script, for all its faults, does offer an interesting twist on the classic tale… even if that twist is only a variation of Jerry Lewis’s The Nutty Professor (1963). Oliver Reed’s Dr. Henry Heckyl is, unlike the prosperous physician of Stevenson’s creation, an eccentric podiatrist, one of three doctors (“Heckyl, Hinkle and Hoo”) operating out of San Texaco’s quirky Robert A. Coogan Memorial Clinic.

What’s different here is Dr. Heckyl, as he himself admits forthrightly, possesses a “Face that Spoils a Sunny Day.” Though nattily dressed, he is dreadful in appearance. His skin is of a green-gray pallor and spotted with skin lesions, festering sores and ulcerations. His nose is bulbous and serrated. His teeth are brown, razor-sharp and crooked, and a bird’s nest of a fright wig sits upon his hideous noggin. One of his eyes is completely red, the other completely green. He walks stoop-shouldered and slumbering through his sunny suburban neighborhood, frightening – or, at the very least - making everyone around him uncomfortable in his approach. Some look away from him in sympathy, some in obvious distaste.

BY TODD GARBARINI

The Annihilators is a Spring 1985-lensed action film with lots of action and zero excitement. Coming on the heels of Ted Kotcheff’s masterful 1982 Vietnam-themed film version of David Morrell’s 1972 novel, First Blood, which itself spawned several lifeless sequels including the latest and critically reviled Rambo: Last Blood a mere 37 years after the superior original. (One cannot help but think of the Rocky XXXVIII poster seen in 1982’s Airplane II: The Sequel, and even that film was inferior to its own original). The admittedly low-budget and bargain-basement Annihilators uses a familiar theme to string together several long-winded and ultimately soporific action set pieces that consist primarily of master shots with very little intercutting and close-ups, but not before we get a credit sequence which sets the appearance of onscreen names to the sound of machine gun fire. Clever! The 1980s were a time of teen sex comedies, Freddy Krueger nightmares, and action films. The superior examples of the latter, Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior (1981), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Escape From New York (1981) all paved the way for the less-than-stellar Invasion U.S.A. (1985) and The Delta Force (1986).

The Annihilators concerns townsfolk and proprietors who find themselves at the mercy of gangs and hoodlums, specifically The Scorpions, The Turks, and The Rollers. These gangs compete with each other by coercing the store owners into paying them protection money. If they’re late or light in the envelope, discipline is doled out with a knife or a bat. A wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran, already done an injustice by returning to a society that has no use for him following fighting in an unwinnable and unpopular war, is killed when coming to another’s rescue. The leader of The Rollers is Roy Boy Jagger (Paul Koslo) and I must say that I love that name. It reminds me of Ernest T. Baxter from “The Andy Griffith Show”, however Mr. Koslo infuses the former with exponentially more schoolyard bully menace than Howard Morris ever did with the latter in the town of Mayberry. Jagger instigates a rape and kills a female victim in an egregious scene that was initially censored by international film boards and should have remained that way.

The brotherhood that the vets have is a tight and lifelong bond because they have seen things that the average American cannot fathom. We know this because the film begins with an intro that takes place in the early 1970s that shamelessly uses stock footage shot during the Vietnam War interspersed with obvious staged scenes with actors. If you’re a member of the sleaze-film cognoscenti think of Antonio Margheriti’s Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) and you know exactly what I mean. Even the artificial explosions are unimpressive. The effort to infuse this sequence with camaraderie is admirable though ultimately lacking and is at times silly, especially when the rugged and late actor Christopher Stone, in a follow-up role to his work in The Howling (1981) and Cujo (1983), appears here as Bill, the assigned platoon leader who fires off rounds of ammo while sporting a very obvious 1985 hairstyle. Flash forward to that very year and it’s Bill who is called to town along with his confederates, two of whom are Garrett Floyd (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Ray Track (Gerrit Graham), to avenge their fallen brother following his funeral. They form factions and teach the laypeople how to fight. At the center of all of this is Lieutenant Hawkins (Jim Antonio) who has been brought in to keep the gangs in check. Naturally, it’s a losing battle, especially since the gunfire that erupts in the streets between the townsfolk and the thugs go on for minutes at a time with the cops riding in miraculously at the last minute. The unspoken rule of the police department seems to be to let these people fight it out in the streets and deal with it all later and take the credit. The whole affair looks more like an extended episode of The A-Team than a feature film. Even the truant kids look less like delinquents and more like a group that was told to run around the corner and act bad while knocking over some trash cans.

Forster in Tarantino's "Jackie Brown".

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Actor Robert Forster has passed away from brain cancer at age 78. Forster enjoyed a long career that included many major feature films as well appearances on popular television shows. He made his feature film debut in director John Huston's 1967 pyscho-sexual drama "Reflections in a Golden Eye". In the film, Forster played a hunky U.S. Army private with a penchant for taking nude nighttime horseback rides, a scenario that obsesses a secretly gay officer played by Marlon Brando. He would soon land a plum supporting role opposite Gregory Peck in the 1969 western thriller "The Stalking Moon". That same year, Forster had a rare leading role in director Haskell Wexler's controversial and acclaimed counter-culture drama "Medium Cool" that chronicled the riots at the `1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Stardom didn't follow, however, and Forster soon found himself laboring in supporting roles in mostly forgettable films. He would later admit that by the mid-1990s his career was virtually over. That's when Quentin Tarantino, a long-time admirer of his work, cast him in his 1997 film "Jackie Brown". The role of Max Cherry would earn Forster a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and revitalize his career. From that point on, Forster worked consistently in films and television including key roles in David Lynch's reboot of "Twin Peaks" and "Breaking Bad".  His latest project, the feature film "El Camino: Breaking Bad", has just been released. For more on his life and career, click here.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

By the time Burt Reynolds finally starred in the 1972 classic "Deliverance", he had been paying his dues in Hollywood for many years with varying degrees of success on television. His feature films, however, were strictly "B" grade. Saul David, who produced a 1970 film starring Reynolds titled "Skullduggery", bemoaned at the time that he should have been a major movie star but bad luck seemed to always interfere. Reynolds wisely cultivated an image as a hip, towel-snapping wiseguy through appearing on seemingly every American game and chat show. His appearances on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" merited "must-see TV" status. Ironically, "Deliverance" entirely abandoned this popular image of Reynolds and afforded him a dramatic role that he fulfilled with excellent results. But the success of the film made Reynolds anxious to prove he could sustain his boxoffice clout without the help of a strong co-star, in the case of of "Deliverance", Jon Voight. Reynolds chose wisely for his follow-up feature. "White Lightning" was developed under the working title "McClusky". The role of a hunky, charismatic southern good ol' boy fit Reynolds like a glove because it allowed him to incorporate his penchant for performing stunts with his flippant, wise-cracking TV persona.

Filmed in Arkansas, the movie finds Reynolds as "Gator" McClusky, a man doing prison time for running illegal moonshine. Gator still has another year to spend on the prison farm when he gets word that his younger brother has been murdered. (We see the scene play out over the opening credits in which two young men are brutally drowned in a swamp by the local sheriff, J.C. Connors (Ned Beatty) and his deputy.) Enraged and spoiling for revenge, Gator accepts a deal to work undercover for federal agents to expose Connors as the local Huey Long-type power broker in Bogan County. Indeed, the seemingly affable, understated Connors runs the entire county like a personal fiefdom, using extortion, shakedowns and outright murder to ensure his stature. He also gets a piece of the action from the very moonshiners he's supposed to prosecute. Gator feels uncomfortable working as a snitch but it's the only way to find out why his brother was killed and to bring Connors to justice. Using his considerable charm and his background as a guy from a small rural community, he finds himself quickly working for a moonshine ring headed by Big Bear (R.G. Armstrong), who is brutal in retribution against anyone who crosses him. Gator is assigned to deliver moonshine with a partner, Roy Boone (Bo Hopkins). They spend a lot of time together and become fast friends, even though Roy's hot-to-trot girlfriend Lou (Jennifer Billingsley) succeeds in seducing Gator, thus endangering his mission when Roy gets wind of the deception. When Gator learns the reason why his brother and his friend were murdered, he becomes even more vengeful, leading to a spectacular car chase involving Connors and his corrupt deputies. 

"White Lightning" was directed by Joseph Sargent, who was primarily known for his work in television. He fulfills the requirements of the film quite well, though the spectacular car chases and jaw-dropping action scenes were largely the work of legendary stutman/coordinator Hal Needham, who would go on to work on many films with Reynolds. The film is consistently lively but it also has moments of poignancy and drama. The supporting cast is terrific with Ned Beatty of "Deliverance" reuniting with Reynolds with good results. Beatty underplays the sense of menace attributable to his character. He also plays up his status as a pillar of the community, tossing off barbs about how hippies and big city liberals threaten "our values" and-worst of all- encourage "our coloreds to vote!". Meanwhile, he is heading up a vast criminal enterprise. Jennifer Billingsley is wonderful as the lovable air-headed seductress who will jump into bed with a man if there's a prospect of getting a new dress out of the bargain. There are also fine turns by Bo Hopkins, R.G. Armstrong and Diane Ladd (whose name in the opening and closing credits is misspelled as "Lad". Ouch!) The movie turned out to be a big hit for United Artists, aided in part by striking ad campaigns with the same weapon-as-phallic symbol design employed for Richard Roundtree's "Shaft's Big Score" the previous year coupled with another poster showing Reynolds behind the wheel of a speeding car. Sex and speed became hallmarks for promoting a Reynolds action movie.

Kino Lorber has reissued their 2019 Blu-ray edition, which is first-rate in all aspects, with a fine transfer and a 2014 interview with Burt Reynolds, who looks back fondly on the importance the movie had on proving he could be top-billed in a hit movie. The film initiated his association with rural-based comedies and action films and three years later, a successful sequel ("Gator") would be released. Reynolds also drops the interesting fact that this was to be Steven Spielberg's first feature film. However, Reynolds says the young TV director got cold feet about his ability to film on so many difficult locations, given that his background was largely working in studios. Reynolds praises his co-star Ned Beatty and reminds everyone that "White Lightning" was only his second film, having made his screen debut in "Deliverance".  He is also very complimentary towards Jennifer Billingsley and regrets that she never became a big star. Reynolds also discusses Hal Needham's zealousness for performing dangerous stunts and relates how one key scene in which a car shoots out over water to land on a moving barge almost went disastrously wrong. He says the film has a realistic atmosphere because of the screenplay by William W. Norton, who adapted many aspects of his own hard scrabble life. The only negative note Reynolds sounds is about Diane Ladd, who he cryptically says he did not like working with, although he doesn't go into detail as to why.The set includes a new feature not available on the previous Blu-ray release: a commentary track by film historian collaborators Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. As far as commentary tracks are concerned, the duo are always terrific and this outing is no exception. Their easy-going, laid-back and humorous style is appropriate for the tone of the film. They go into great detail about aspects of the and cast. I hadn't realized until listening to the track how on-the-mark they are in assessing Ned Beatty as an actor whose physical appearance varied dramatically depending upon the type of story he was cast in. Indeed, they are correct. The evil good ol' boy corrupt sheriff of "White Lightning" is light years away from the fish-out-water rape victim of "Deliverance" or the demagogic TV executive of "Network". The track is good enough to merit upgrading to this version of the Blu-ray even if you have the previous release.

The Blu-ray also includes the original trailer, which was very effective in playing up Reynolds' emerging star power. Highly recommended.

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Issue #47 (May, 2020)

Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.

Director John Stevenson's tribute to animation genius Karel Zeman

Tim Greaves enters "The House That Dripped Blood"

Ian Brown  interviews actress Isobel Black

Barnaby Page takes flight on "Capricorn One"

Lee Pfeiffer reappraises Victor Buono as "The Strangler" and Brian Keith in "The Mackenzie Break"

Candid on set photos from Sam Peckinpah's "Major Dundee"

Dave Worrall visits a Sergio Leone western film location- in America!

Christopher Russell reveals "Where Eagles Dare" film locations, then and now.

George Anna White analyzes the films and TV series of producer Lew Grade

Raymond Benson's Cinema 101 column

Gareth Owen's Pinewood Past column looks at the making of "Victor/Victoria"

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

The 1960s spawned a number of thrillers that were blatantly intended to emulate the style and content of Alfred Hitchcock's films. The best of the lot was Stanley Donen's "Charade" (1963) which can be described as the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock didn't direct. There were others of varying degrees of quality, all of which boasted one-word titles in the manner of many Hitchcock classics. Among them: "Arabaesque", "Masquerade" and "Mirage". Most, but not all, were breezy, lighthearted adventures that pitted a glamorous couple against exotic bad guys in equally exotic locations. Fitting snugly into this sub-genre was "Blindfold", a 1966 romp that paired Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale. The movie begins in Manhattan and focuses on Hudson as Dr. Bartholomew Snow, a revered psychiatrist to the rich who is also one of the city's most eligible bachelors, probably because he looks a lot like Rock Hudson. Snow has a comfortable life running a successful practice. His sole employee is his devoted secretary Smitty (an amusing Anne Seymour), an older woman who speaks to him more like a son than an employer. Smitty keeps a file on Snow's failed romantic relationships and constantly needles him about being a serial proposer. However, he always gets cold feet before he walks down the aisle and early in the film, we see him call off yet another engagement with a frustrated (but unseen) lover. One afternoon while enjoying a horseback ride in Central Park, Snow is approached by one General Prat (Jack Warden), who is affiliated with a top secret U.S. intelligence agency. He explains to Snow that one of his former patients, an esteemed government scientist named Arthur Vincenti (Alejandro Rey) has become the target of a crime syndicate that is looking to kidnap him and deliver him to a foreign power (presumably the Soviets) so that he can be forced to divulge important information. Pratt explains that Vincenti is under guard at a secret location that can't be divulged. He also tells Snow that Vincenti is in an emotionally fragile state and is babbling incoherently. He hopes that by seeing Snow once again, he will allow the doctor to treat him. Snow reluctantly agrees to help only to find that he can't be told where Vicenti is being held. To get there, he is taken on a plane to a remote area, then blindfolded and driven to the hideaway. Snow makes the trip on numerous occasions but finds that Vincenti is not responsive to his treatments.

Back in Manhattan, Snow is accosted by a beautiful, irate young woman, Vicky (Cardinale), who is Vicenti's sister. She believes that her brother has been kidnapped and that Snow is partly to blame. You can pretty much take it from there, as these types of films go. The two squabble and yell at each other and then become romantically involved. Before long, they learn that both Arthur and the General have been kidnapped. In order to save them, Snow must use his memory and sense perception to try to recreate the journey to the lost hideaway he had visited many times. This is only one of the more far-fetched elements of the script and it isn't very convincingly brought off. However, "Blindfold" is a lot of fun thanks to the charisma of Hudson and Cardinale, who have real chemistry together. Director Philip Dunne keeps the pace brisk but goes off course with a fight set inside a Central Park boat house that is played with enough slapstick to mirror an episode of "Batman". Still, the film gets better as it proceeds and the finale, which finds Hudson and Cardinale trying to penetrate a dangerous swamp to thwart the villains, is very well done. Dunne, who co-wrote the screenplay with W.H. Menger based on Lucille Fletcher's novel, blends action and comedy rather successfully and the film is aided by a fine turn by Guy Stockwell as a villain with a stutter. There are also funny supporting turns by Brad Dexter and Vito Scotti. Jack Warden, as usual, is in top form as the cigar-chomping general.

"Blindfold" doesn't approach "Charade" in terms of style or wit but it's never dull and one can do worse than to spend 102 minutes in the company of Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale.  The film has been released by Kino Lorber on Blu-ray. The transfer looks terrific but the only extras are the original trailer and trailers for other thrillers available from the company.

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BY DARREN ALLISON

It was perhaps inevitable that the well-respected Austrian label Cinepolit would make the leap into distributing Euro Cult movies, such is their love for all things exploitative and the fast-paced ‘70s scene. And true to their reputation of high quality records and CDs, Cineploit have cut no corners in producing their first four highly impressive Blu-ray media book releases.

La Polizia Ha Le Mani Legate (aka Killer Cop, 1975) (CP01) is certainly a fine way to launch Cineploit’s new catalogue of film releases. It’s a movie that comes from the very heart of the Italian poliziottesco genre. As Director, Luciano Ercoli had also made several giallo movies, and produced some Spaghetti Westerns. La Polizia Ha Le Mani Legate draws largely on the real life Piazza Fontana bombing which happened in Milan (where the film was shot) in 1969. As to be expected, there is plenty of over-acting from the Italian cast (Claudo Cassinelli, Franco Fabrizi), whilst Arthur Kennedy tries to maintain a calmer exterior. The action scenes are good, but it is also clear (especially in the bomb sequence) that the budget was largely restricted. The English audio track does throw up some funny translations and there’s plenty of those Seventies, slappy sound effects when the fists begin to fly! Naturally, whatever audio track you select (there is also an Italian and German track) there is always composer Stelvio Cipriani’s great score which helps it along its 97 minutes. The picture and audio quality are very good, yet, it still maintains that unique grindhouse ‘70s look: clean and sharp, with muted urban colours – just as it should be.

In fact, Stelvio Cipriani is featured heavily among the disc’s bonus features. For starters, we are treated to a 51 minute interview with the composer (Italian audio with a choice of subtitles). Cineploit have rather teasingly added ‘Part 1’ to the title of this interview, so hopefully there will be more to come. There is also a 13 minute interview with actress Valeria D'Obici (Falena) who also offers some interesting insights and there is a poster and photo gallery. However, perhaps best of all, Cineploit have also included composer Cipriani’s full soundtrack in a completely separate chapter. For me, this concept works far better than an isolated (and sometimes disjointed) track. Here you get a separate menu with basically the entire 10 tracks from the soundtrack album. The music is clean and delivered in clear 2 channel stereo with the option to select individual tracks or a ‘play all’ option. What a great way to include a soundtrack album as a bonus feature.

Of course, this is just the disc contents. Aside from this, the overall packaging is superb. Cineploit have never skimped on their commitment to quality. Their Blu-ray book covers are beautifully produced using their regular addition of UV spotting (a stand out, high gloss section). The book case contains an average of 26 pages; packed with information (this particular edition is all German text), posters, stills and Italian fotobusta reproductions. If that is not enough, Cineploit have also included a double sided (2 different designs) fold out poster measuring approx. 11”x15” and on gloss paper.

Overall, it’s a great package and one hell of a way of launching your Blu-ray catalogue.

Non Contate Su Di Noi (Don't count on us, 1978) (CP02) marks the worldwide premiere of an unseen and lost film. Set in 1970s Rome, a young musician meets by chance a beautiful girl in the middle of heroin withdrawal. He falls in love and tries to help her, discovering a shocking underworld of drugs, junkies and pushers. Sergio Nutis’s drug drama from the late Seventies is a shattering but also prosaic contemporary document of the drug scene in Rome. Predominately placed in the intellectual student scene, heroine dominates their daily routine. The film was shot using amateurs, most of who were connected to and heavily involved with the drug scene. The result is a completely authentic experience. The film was shot on original locations and provides a raw historical and social document of the circumstances at that particular time. Never before available on home video, this drugsploitation film is one of the first attempts to portray the heroin scene of the 1970s, pathing the way for movies such as Christiane F (1981), El Pico (1982) and Amore Tossico (1983). The film also features a memorable folk rock score by Maurizio Rota (leader of the band Alberomotore) and features songs by some of the most interesting names from the Italian indie music scene of the 1970s, including Alan Sorrenti and Canzoniere del Lazio.

Sadly, the movie’s destiny was rather short-lived. After a short run in a handful of Rome’s cinemas, and initial screenings at two festivals in Italy and Switzerland, the planned distribution company fell into bankruptcy and as a result, the film faded in obscurity. Thankfully, the movie’s brand-new 2K restoration by Cineteca Nazionale has made this underground classic available for all to enjoy.

The film is presented in its original Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio with the option of German and English subtitles. The disc also contains an interview with producer & actor Manfredi Marzano (11 min), an interview with friend of Sergio Nuti, Marco Tullio Giordano (7 min) and a deleted (censored) scene which basically saw actress Francesca Ferrari dropping to her knees during the shower sequence. There is also a photo gallery included. Cineploit’s overall packaging is again very impressive. The Blu-ray hardcover media book with partial UV Spot contains 24 pages including an essay (in German and English) by Udo Rotenberg (host of Deep Red Radio) and promotional material and stills from the movie. Sadly, there is no poster reproduction included with this release, which is probably due to the film’s very limited distribution.

BY HANK REINEKE

As best as I can determine, Curse III: Blood Sacrifice was never screened theatrically, at least not in the U.S. or England. It seems to have been unceremoniously trafficked directly to home video in 1990. The owners of the film chose to best capitalize on their investment by gamely resorting to placing full page advertisements in home-video industry trade publications, an attempt to get VHS retailers and rental stores to add the movie to their inventories. They boldly claimed in their promotional that the film was a genuine “Horror/Thriller in the tradition of The Serpent and the Rainbow,” a reference to Wes Craven’s and Universal Studio’s more celebrated voodoo film of 1988. And while Curse III bore no thematic – or even tangential - relationship to the earlier “Curse” films (The Curse (1987) and Curse II: The Bite (1989), the ad boasted to retailers they had sold over “60,000” copies of this semi-franchise’s first two films… so why not give this newest film – one featuring the great Christopher Lee (described in their broadside as the “Master of Suspense and Horror”) - a fair shot?

Scorpion Releasing’s new Blu Ray of Curse III: Blood Sacrifice is, technically, not the film’s first digital release. The film first appeared on laser disc in 1990, courtesy of RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video, and this was soon followed by a more consumer-friendly VHS release originally retailing for $59.95. It disappeared from shelves soon thereafter, though it was infrequently broadcast in the US under the film’s original title Panga and released in the Beta format in the UK under the amended title of Witchcraft. The film would thereafter languish in semi-obscurity until 2015 when MGM re-issued the film on a blandly packaged DVD as part of the studio’s Limited Edition Series.

In truth, I wouldn’t have been happy paying $59.50 for the video cassette of this title back in 1991. Having said that it’s not a terrible film by any means, but neither is it a lost classic. Curse III: Blood Sacrifice was first and only film to be directed by the British film editor Sean Barton. By the time his voodoo opus arrived on the shelves of Blockbuster and other home video rental chains, Barton had already enjoyed a decade-long career in the film industry. He was, perhaps, best remembered among fans of fantastic films as one of three co-editors that helped bring Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi to the big screen in 1983, but his résumé included work on an impressive number of theatrical features before that.

Curse III would not only serve as the vehicle marking Barton’s directorial debut, but also his first as co-screenwriter (having worked alongside South African scenarist John Hunt). Their screenplay was based on a story supplied by the Johannesburg-based actor and occasional writer Richard Haddon Haines. If the script’s storyline and characterizations are a bit thin, the film still manages to move along at a pace brisk enough to satisfy the more forgiving horror film devotees.

Carroll as the glamorous Dominique Deveraux in "Dynasty".

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Actress Diahann Carroll has passed away at age 84 from breast cancer. Carroll was the consummate performer, making her mark on stage, in recordings and In television and feature films. The Bronx native had a modest start in life before winning a television talent contest that ultimately led her to being cast in director Otto Preminger's film "Carmen Jones" in 1954. The mercurial Preminger was pleased with her work and cast her again in his 1959 big screen production of "Porgy and Bess", though Carroll's singing voice was dubbed in the film, an ironic decision considering she was known for her ability to impress audiences with her crooning. Carroll caught the attention of legendary composer Richard Rodgers, who wrote the Broadway production "No Strings" for her. The 1962 production saw Carroll winning a Tony award.

Carroll with Marc Copage in the landmark 1968 sitcom "Julia".

Carroll's most notable career achievement occurred when she was cast in the title role of the NBC sitcom "Julia" in 1968. She portrayed a widowed mother of a young son who was working as a nurse to a lovable but grumpy doctor played by Lloyd Nolan. The show aired during one of the most turbulent eras of the 20th century when racial tensions were high in America. Bill Cosby had broken the glass ceiling for black leading men with his Emmy-winning role in "I Spy" but Carroll's character was also a breakthrough, representing the first time television had depicted an African-American woman in a leading role as a sophisticated adult. She was smart, witty, hard-working and had plenty of sex appeal. The show was criticized for being too meek in regard to dealing with the racial issues of the day but there is no doubt that "Julia"'s status as a hit sitcom (it ran three seasons) went a long way to changing perceptions in white America about the characterization of black women. Carroll was nominated for an Emmy for the role and also won a Golden Globe. She periodically appeared in feature films including "Paris Blues", Preminger's "Hurry Sundown", "The Split" and the romantic comedy "Claudine", for which she received an Oscar nomination. She lobbied for and got a key role in the weekly prime time series "Dynasty" in the 1980s, fulfilling her dream of playing a glamorous "bad girl". For more on her life and career, click here for NY Times obituary.

“GENIUS AT LARGE”

By Raymond Benson

Apparently, the classic silent features of Buster Keaton are now in public domain, which explains why more than one DVD/Blu-ray company can do individual restorations and put them out for consumer consumption. For example, both Kino Video and Cohen Film Collection have released “new restoration” Blu-ray packages of Keaton’s films. Cohen sent Cinema Retro some review copies of theirs, so this review reflects this group’s presentations of these wonderful films that showcase a genius at large.

In all three volumes, the titles underwent 4K restorations and look marvelous, with audio options of 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital. The packaging on Volumes 2 and 3 indicate that the restorations were done by Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory in association with Cohen Film Collection—one can assume that Volume 1 is the same.

VOLUME 1 contains The General (1926) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), two of Keaton’s most celebrated works. Note that The General’s release date is often cited as 1927, when it was actually released in the U.S. Technically, though, its premiere was in Japan (!), of all places, in December 1926. IMDb designates the film’s release as 1926, while many American publications will say 1927.

The General (directed by Keaton and Clyde Bruckman), despite featuring a Civil War-era story in which the Confederates are the “good guys,” is an unequivocal comic masterpiece, often named Keaton’s best picture. Keaton is a train engineer named Johnnie, who is in love with Annabelle (Marion Mack) and a locomotive called the General. Much of the tale involves Johnnie hustling to get his locomotive back, as it has been snatched by the Union. Full of action and inventive comedy bits, The General might be Keaton’s most technically ambitious picture, and certainly his most expensive ($750,000, which was a huge sum back then). Surprisingly, the film was not a hit at the time of release, and it set back Keaton’s stock in the industry. It was only after years of film buff analysis that The General was rediscovered and awarded the reputation it holds today.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (directed by Charles Reisner) contains many of the fabulous stunts for which Keaton is known, such as when a house facade falls over and barely misses him since he was standing precisely where an open window was positioned. Keaton is William Canfield Jr., and his father “Steamboat Bill,” owns a luxury steamboat that is in competition with Jr.’s girlfriend’s father’s ship. The movie is a game of one-upmanship between the rivals, with the usual mis-matched romance and action hijinks. Some may consider this sacrilege, but I prefer Steamboat Bill, Jr. over The General!

Both films feature orchestral scores by Carl Davis. Supplements are two shorts seemingly excerpted from Peter Bogdanovich’s 2018 documentary, The Great Buster—“Reflections on The General” and “Buster Keaton: The Luminary”, plus trailers for both films. Oddly, the illustrated inner booklet contains the credits for Steamboat Bill, Jr. but leaves out The General.

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BY MARK MAWSTON

Sunday, 29 September saw the BFI in London celebrating "Bond Day", the annual worldwide homage to agent 007.  This year marks the 50th anniversary of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" as well as the 40th anniversary of "Moonraker" and the 20th for "The World is Not Enough". I'd been with Cinema Retro's cover guy for our latest issue, actor John Richardson, and we’d been looking at shots from when he’d auditioned for the role of Bond in "OHMSS" back in 1969. As John himself said “I wasn’t right for the role. I wasn’t the right build and the guy who did do it was far more suited to the role than me”. That “other fella” that John was referring to was George Lazenby who attended a post-screening Q&A of "OHMSS" with David Walliams. This event was worth the ticket price alone as it resulted in what the BFI called “The bluest interview” on its stage ever. The reason it was unforgettable were the stories that George shared from the filming of his first and only appearance as 007 (bar "Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and a couple of ads and guest spots in which he played a thinly-veiled 007-like character). Probably the most memorable was when George told of his first day on set when the crew had taped a German Sausage to his inside leg under his kilt in order to get a reaction from the girl who put her hand there up there in the film to write her room number on his inner thigh. George and the crew were expecting screams of fright but actress Angela Scoular was merely nonplussed and just asked “Aren’t you wearing underwear”? I think this says more for her long-time boyfriend Lesley Phillips than anything else!

George also discussed his time with Bruce Lee, as it was George who Bruce was dining with on the night he died. In a scene very similar to the one in Quentin Tarantino’s recent "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood", George regaled us with stories of his time with Bruce. He said the reason they became friends is that Bruce, just like in the Tarantino film, was always surrounded by groups of people and was discussing how long it would take to dispatch those standing around him at the time. He went round each person, from actors to stunt men to bodyguards with answers like “10 seconds, 30 seconds, one minute” until he got to George. He looked at Lazenby and said “I’m not sure how long it would take me to get you down, George. How long do you think”? George said he just looked at Bruce and said “As long as it takes you to catch me”. From that moment he and Bruce were friends. This memorable screening was followed by "Moonraker", which was just as well-received. The Q&A after this screening (which was a rare big screen showcase for Derek Meddings amazing special effects) included Martine Beswick, Carole Ashby, composer David Arnold, David Walliams and director John Glen. Again, some of the stories were quite ear-opening yet just as informative (and as blue!) as George’s had been. Humor has always been an important component of Bond, and I’m hoping there will be some of it on display in  Daniel Craig’s last outing "No Time to Die" which wrapped that day too, making September 29th, 2019 a Bond-tastic one for all fans of Agent 007.

(Photos copyright Mark Mawston. All rights reserved.) 

BY BARBARA IRVIN

It was the era of The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy. Family films were being replaced by more subversive, sophisticated movies. This did not mean audiences had entirely lost interest in wholesome entertainment. Nor did the stars themselves, especially those from past decades. One of them was Lucille Ball.

Although television took up much of her career, she appeared in four motion pictures during the 1960s. Perhaps the most successful of them was Yours, Mine and Ours, released in April of 1968. The project had been in development for several years. It was originally titled The Beardsley Story and then His, Hers and Theirs. The script was based on the book “Who Gets the Drumstick?” by Helen Eileen Beardsley, who chronicled her own real life experiences. Desilu had always been slated to produce the movie, since it was Ball's company.

When casting choices were being made, Lucille wanted her children to be in the film. They auditioned, each making a screen test. Unfortunately, the director, Melville Shavelson, did not think neither Lucie or Desi Jt. was right. They would get their chance to act alongside their mother in her next series, Here's Lucy.

With Ball as Helen North Beardsley, it was decided that Henry Honda would play opposite her. This marked the second time they worked together. In 1942, Lucille and Henry starred in The Big Street. With the major stars in place, it was time to focus on the supporting roles. Van Johnson would play Darrell, Frank’s navy buddy. Tim Matheson was cast as Mike, the eldest son of Fonda’s character. Louise, another child of Frank’s, was portrayed by Morgan Brittany.

As Helen and Frank, the chemistry between Ball and Fonda sparkled. Because of their previous working relationship, Lucille and Henry were comfortable around each other. Even when not filming, they openly displayed affection. Jane Fonda always said her father loved Lucy.

The plot starts out simply. Helen and Frank are widowed. Both lonely and dealing with the challenges of raising large families, they are set up by Darrell. Although they really like each other, the couple wonders if the difficulty of reading eighteen kids is too much. Their feelings for one another prevail, and they eventually marry. Before long, the Beardsleys find themselves expecting their first child together. At the same time, they are trying to unite the feuding, bitter children.

Production didn’t always run smoothly. Lucille, who was used to assuming executive duties, took control of the set, sometimes to the consternation of director Melville Shavelson. Then, there was the uncertainty of the star herself. There were times when Lucille questioned her ability to transform herself into Helen. One particular scene was especially difficult for her. It involved her going to Frank's house to meet his children for the first time. Still mourning the loss of their mother, the kids feel as though Helen is attempting to replace her. As a way of showing their disdain for Helen, the kids pour excessive amounts of alcohol into her drink. Helen becomes so intoxicated that she breaks into fits of laughter and then tears. Lucy did not think she could convincingly act so hysterically but in the end, came through with flying colors. Imagine one of the world's greatest stars experiencing doubts about switching back and forth between emotions.

One would have thought the scenes centering around Helen's pregnancy would have caused her anxiety. They must have meant something to Lucille, for she had longed to have more children. Several years earlier, when she was in the process of making recordings for her unfinished memoir, she mentioned her disappointment at no longer being able to have a baby. At fifty-seven, she looked younger than her age suggested. Regardless of Lucille's reproductive inability, she cradled the infant in the final minutes of the movie just like he had been one of her own.

If there were any tensions on the set, neither Henry nor Lucille allowed them to interfere with their performances. They sought advice from each other. She found relaxation in needlework. During his time away from the studio, Henry painted.

I first saw Yours, Mine and Ours in 1996. It had a profound impact on me. That was my introduction to the later work of Lucille Ball. Coincidentally, it was the first movie I ever watched that I would go on to consider a classic. A remake was filmed in 2004. It pales in contrast to the original. No one can play Helen and Frank the way Lucille and Henry did. That is why the 1968 version of Yours, Mine and Ours still remains- in the opinion of this writer- one of the funniest, most heartwarming movies ever made.

(Barbara Irvin has been featured in numerous publications, including The Beverly Hills Courier and Classic Images. This is her second article for Cinema Retro.)

(For Cinema Retro's previously published review of the Blu-ray release, click here)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Francis Ford Coppola was used to bucking the studio honchos in terms of fighting to bring his vision of a film to the big screen. There were epic battles behind the scenes on "The Godfather" but his experiences on the ill-fated production of "The Cotton Club" in 1984 broke down his will to resist. The movie, which was set in the legendary Harlem nightclub in the heyday of great artists such as Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, went far over-budget. There were constantly legal squabbles, shady characters that would have been at home in the film itself, a real-life murder and racist pressure from the studio to cut out footage of the African-American stars, Gregory and Maurice Hines, the famous brothers who gained reach fame with their tandem dance numbers. By the time the film opened, the knives were out for it. The movie became an expensive bomb and Coppola always felt a sense of guilt that he had compromised his own production and the contributions of the Hines brothers.  He financed a complete re-edit of the film, adding back key scenes and musical production numbers so that the movie finally resembles the film he originally envisioned. It will premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5 under the title "The Cotton Club Encore". Word-of-mouth is excellent and Coppola, who likes to amend some of his key films from an artistic standpoint, may finally see the acclaim for the production that he once envisioned. Click here to read more in Vanity Fair.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In the 1970s and 1980s  director  Brian De Palma had some high profile hits with Hitchcockian thrillers such as "Sisters", "Obsession", "Dressed to Kill", "Blow Out" and "Body Double". De Palma's defenders extolled the virtues of these films as clever homages to Hitchcock while detractors accused De Palma of using The Master's formulas to make a fast buck. In 1982 director Robert Benton jumped on the same bandwagon with his own Hitchcockian  project, "Still of the Night", which was shot under the title "Stab" before the marketing campaign had been re-evaluated. A few years earlier Benton had triumphed at the Oscars with "Kramer vs. Kramer", taking home the Best Director Oscar. That film also provided an important career boost for Meryl Streep, who also won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The two were reunited for this project which stands out on both of their credentials as an odd choice. Chances are that when you think of Streep's exalted status in the film community today, the thriller genre is unlikely to come to mind. (Though she did also appear in "The River Wild" and the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate".) Benton, who had directed relatively few films to date, was more accustomed to the genre and perhaps his involvement with this flawed production can be explained by the fact that the basis for the story (which he collaborated on with David Newman) was a real life experience that found him obsessed with a woman who simultaneously excited and frightened him. Certainly it's a sold premise for a thriller and through much of the movie Benton provides a compelling scenario complimented by two excellent actors: Streep and Roy Scheider. The film falls apart in the final act when it begins to resemble less of a homage to Hitchcock than an homage to De Palma's homages to Hitchcock- with a dose of "Play Misty for Me" thrown in (i.e knife wielding killer attacks protagonist on a balcony that overlooks the churning sea.) It's not that "Still of the Night" is bad (though Streep has gone on record as saying it is), it's simply that it hardly seems like it would ever have been compelling enough to attract two recent Oscar winners. 

The film opens in the office of New York City psychiatrist Sam Rice (Scheider). Like most cinematic headshrinkers, he appears to need psychiatric care more than his patients do. He's going through the miseries of a divorce and seems bored and depressed. The only significant female relationship he has is with his mother (Jessica Tandy, who perhaps not coincidentally starred in Hitchcock's "The Birds".) Sam's mundane daily routine takes a dramatic turn when he discovers that a long-time patient, businessman George Bynum (Josef Sommer) has been found stabbed to death in his car on a Manhattan street. From this point some key elements of the story are told in flashback sequences.  Sam remembers Bynum as a sexual predator who had been having an affair with one of his staff workers. Then he meets Brooke Reynolds (Streep), a gorgeous thirty-something blonde who seems both alluring and vulnerable. Bynum confesses that he is obsessed with her and cut off his previous affair in order to engage in one with Brooke. Shortly after Bynum's death, Sam is shocked when Brooke appears at his office, nervous, unsettled and chain-smoking. (Yes, you could smoke in an office in those days.) In the awkward conversation that follows she says the purpose of her visit is to return a wristwatch that Bynum had accidentally left at her apartment. She doesn't want to return it herself for fear of alerting Bynum's widow about the affair he was having with her. From minute one Sam is smitten and intrigued by this quirky, jittery- and stunningly beautiful- young woman. He also realizes that her cover story about the watch is thin. She actually wanted to meet him. Shortly thereafter Sam is visited by Detective Joe Vitucci (Joe Grifasi, channeling every personality cliche you can think of when it comes to a New York  City cop). He asks Sam if he can shed any light on who might be Bynum's killer. Sam informs him that anything he had discussed with Bynum would be protected under doctor/client privilege...but he also finds himself unable to inform Vitucci about Bynum's affair with Brooke. He realizes he is now obsessed with her, just as Bynum was. He strongly suspects that Brooke is Bynum's murderer but can't get her out of his mind. Like Bynum, he's simultaneously sexually stimulated and terrified of her. Nevertheless, he begins finding excuses to see her and his presence seems to have a calming effect on Brooke. The friendship goes to another stage when she responds to his kiss but Sam is too lacking in self-confidence to actually seduce her. Meanwhile he begins to experience some eerie occurrences. He believes someone is stalking him in the basement of his apartment building. As he follows the mysterious Brooke on a nighttime walk through Central Park (a chilling scenario for anyone in those days), he finds himself alone and so unnerved that when a man jumps out of the shadows to mug him, he is actually relieved to have another human being on the scene. Director Benton knows that a sure-fire way to ratchet up suspense is to put the protagonist in a creepy dark house or in an equally unnerving location. However he goes to the well with this plot device a little too often. For a man who lives in the heart of Manhattan, Sam seems to wind up repeatedly in eerie, isolated places. However, some of the sequences are genuinely suspenseful as in the scene in which Sam is in the laundry room of his apartment building, deep in the bowels of the basement. No one is around. There is total isolation when suddenly the lights in an adjoining room inexplicably go out. You can share his sense of increasing panic as he knows  someone is stalking him...but who and why? Refrehingly, Scheider portrays Sam as an everyday guy, not a tough-as-nails hero. He's vulnerable both physically and emotionally throughout.

The film's primary asset is its two stars, both of whom give intense and very convincing performances. There are also the usual plot twists and red herrings one would expect to find in a movie of this genre and Benton for the most part manages to wring some genuine suspense out of it even when he resorts to old gimmicks that include a dream sequence in which Bynum is menaced by an eerie little girl (are there any other kinds of little girls in dream sequences?) It's straight out of "The Shining"  but then again just about everything in "Still of the Night" seems recycled, even though it manages to be engrossing right up until the climax when Benton the screenwriter resorts to every time-worn cliche imaginable: an old dark house, a sacrificial lamb character, a vulnerable hero, a knife-wielding maniac...you get the picture. About all that is missing is John Carradine as a mad scientist. The weak ending feels like it was tossed together at the last minute and doesn't retain the suspense or logic that Benton has managed to build heretofore. Nonetheless, "Still of the Night" is still worth a look if only for the performances and those few genuinely spooky sequences.

The Blu-ray edition from Kino Lorber includes the original trailer and trailers for two other Roy Scheider films, "Last Embrace" and "52 Pick-Up."

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

"Dum-dee-dum dum. Dum-dee-dum dum dum."

Okay, that's as close as we can get to invoking the memory of one of the most famous TV themes songs of all time, from the long-running crime show "Dragnet". By the mid-1950s, the program was a national sensation. In  1954, the success of the series inspired star and producer Jack Webb to exploit the show's popularity by bringing it to the big screen. TV-to-cinema adaptations would become commonplace in the years to come with shows such as Walt Disney's Davy Crockett and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." converting episodes into feature films. However, in the case of the 1954 movie version of "Dragnet", Webb oversaw a completely new production shot in full color. In an era in which all TV programming was telecast in B&W, it was a real treat to see "Dragnet" in color on the big screen. Webb, who also directed the film, stuck to the basics and didn't stray far from the formula that had served him so well. The movie features the same trademark, clipped dialogue. Seemingly no one completes an entire sentence and virtually everyone smokes like a chimney. (Aside from Howard Hawks' "Hatari!", I have never seen so much smoking in one film.) Webb retains his bizarre  mannerisms that made him a television icon: he speaks with machine gun fire-like rapidity and walks like he has a diving board under his suit jacket. Both his manner of movement and speech seem to emulate  a robot, but you can't deny that the gimmick works: you can't take your eyes off him and he dominates every scene he is in (which is virtually all of them).

The movie opens with an effective sequence in which two hoods are walking through an empty field when a third hood comes out of nowhere and murders one of the men with a shotgun in a sequence that must have been considered rather brutal for the time. The murderer and the other man flee the scene and before you know it, Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday is on the scene with his Sancho Panza, Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander). They try to pick up leads but, frankly, within minutes I became rather confused about the relationship of three suspects they focus in on. Most of the labored script has Friday and Smith doggedly trying to build a case against the three hoods but the D.A. says the evidence is too circumstantial. They utilize a "hi tech" secret tape recorder in order to eavesdrop on the suspects. The scene is unintentionally amusing because the "micro recorder" is about the size of a lap top computer. They also enlist the assistance of a sexy police woman (Ann Robinson) who goes undercover to imply she'll go under the covers with one of the suspects. This notion of presenting a female police officer as brave, competent and equal to men is the one progressive factor in the dated screenplay. Friday's disdain for the niceties of the law is apparent. He doesn't consider the constitution to be a vital element of our society, but rather a necessary evil. Whenever he doesn't get his way, there is some eye-rolling, sighs and  cynical comments. (In his review of the film, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther specifically noted Friday's obvious "distaste for the Fifth Amendment" and concluded he "is not a nice policeman to anticipate as a hero on the screen.")  Most of the pedantic action consists of Friday and Smith tailing a suspect and harassing him day and night in a clear case of police brutality. But, hey, this was an era in which Sen. Joe McCarthy was considered a national hero for rooting out all the commies under all those beds, so Friday's tactics fit in well with the spirit of the day. The movie drags to a conclusion so limp and unsatisfying that I thought there was still another fifteen minutes of running time left. Nevertheless, taken as a museum piece, "Dragnet" is fun to watch, thanks to Webb's undeniable screen presence. The supporting cast includes Virginia Gregg as a dame from the other side of the tracks and Richard Boone as Webb's superior officer. (Young Dennis Weaver has a minor role, as well.) There is precious little humor in the film aside from some small talk between Webb and Alexander. Webb would considerably improve on this aspect of "Dragnet" when he brought the series back in 1967 with Harry Morgan well-cast as his humorous co-star. 

The film has been released as part of Universal's burn-to-order program. The transfer is very good with exceptionally impressive color qualities.  The movie would make a great double-feature with the 1987 comedy version of "Dragnet" featuring Dan Aykroyd's remarkable impersonation of Jack Webb. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER 

By 1969, Raquel Welch was at the peak of her cinematic career. Still a bit rough-around-the-edges as an actress, she nevertheless possessed a charming on-screen personality. Not surprisingly, that wasn't the aspect that movie studios chose to showcase when marketing her films. A prime example is Flareup, a 1969 thriller that heavily stressed images and clips of Welch gyrating in a sexy outfit as a go-go dancer. The fact that she is dressed in depressingly demure outfits except for this brief sequence represents something less than truth-in-advertising. Welch is Michele, a vivacious, independent minded Las Vegas strip club dancer whose best friend is murdered by her psychotic ex-husband Alan (Luke Askew). He gets away with the murder and kills another of his wife's friends, who he believes conspired to cause convince his ex to divorce him. Last on the list is Michele, who he relentless hunts. Although charismatic, Michele shows a distinct lack of common sense when it comes to self-protection. For reasons never explained, she turns down police protection and is immediately stalked by Alan. He trails her to Los Angeles, where her poor judgment flares up again (pardon the pun) when he pursues her in a high speed car chase. In the kind of logic made for "women-in-jeopardy" movies, Michele sails through the crowded streets of L.A. where she could seek help from hundreds of passersby, only to wind up in a remote and deserted section of Griffith Park where her would-be killer pursues her through a zoo. She later continues to show similar good sense by escaping from a guarded hospital room only to walk straight into the killer's next trap. 

Flareup epitomizes the guilty pleasure movie, from the faux Bond-like opening credits to some laughably bad acting. The film is directed in a clunky, erratic style by James Neilson, who doesn't miss an opportunity to use a zoom lens or a cliched situation. He does succeed, however, in making the most of impressive on-location shooting in both Vegas and L.A, which at least gives the movie a feeling of authenticity. Neilson also shoots topless go go girls at L.A's famed Losers Lounge,where "King Leer" himself, Russ Meyer, is said to have scouted for well-endowed "talent" for his own movies. James Stacy is the parking lot attendant who starts a love affair with Michele and, refreshingly, this is one movie that doesn't have the male play hero to rescue his girlfriend. Michele maybe lacking in good judgment but is brave and resourceful enough to take on the killer herself. The movie does have some genuine suspense and one particularly chilling sequence in which an elderly motorist realizes that the hitchhiker he has picked up is actually a cold blooded murderer. Here, director Neilson finally distinguishes himself in an extensive sequence that is quite haunting. 

The movie is good, passable fun and brings back some fond memories of the swinging Sixties. The region-free DVD from the Warner Archive contains an original trailer that emphasizes that Welch is now playing "herself", not a Mexican bandito or a cavegirl, a sly knock on her earlier films. The trailer, which is sexist enough to cause Gloria Steinem heart palpitations also presents Stacy with prominent billing- and spells his name wrong!  

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There was a lot more to the gentle giant Ted Cassidy than you may have known. He soared to fame in the mid-1960s with his immortal portrayal of Lurch on "The Addams Family" classic sitcom. However, as this short film informs us, Cassidy had also been quite the academic and was an over-achiever in school. His acting career extended far beyond "The Addams Family". He guest-starred on many classic television shows and went on to become a familiar face in feature films as well. Sadly, he passed away in 1979 at only 46 years of age, but he remains beloved by his baby boomer fans.

BY TIM GREAVES

Writer-director Michael Reeves passed away on February 11th 1969, aged just 25. He had helmed a mere three films in his short lifetime – all of them in various fields of exploitation cinema – the third and last of them, Witchfinder General, now widely acknowledged as a classic of 1960s British cinema. (The film was featured in ‘Cinema Retro’ Vol 2  No 5.)

As I was watching The Magnificent Obsession of Michael Reeves, the new documentary from filmmaker Dima Ballin, I found myself wondering, 50 years on from his death, just how far reaching among movie buffs at large Reeves and his films are. Although I can comprehend that mention of his name might draw a blank with many, it seems inconceivable to me that the title Witchfinder General would do so too. So I put it to the test. My daughter, who’s in her mid-20s and shares my passion for film – less mainstream fare in particular – said she’d heard of neither Reeves nor Witchfinder General. Although I couldn’t recall it being one I’d shown her myself, I was nevertheless surprised, it really wasn’t the response I’d expected. And if she – whose father (for better or worse) fed her a diet of classic screen terrors throughout her teenage years – was blithely unaware of the man and that revered film in particular, then the situation may be worse than I thought.

For her and anyone else who’s not heard of Reeves, Ballin’s film is essential viewing. For if the worth of any documentary about a filmmaker is gauged by its ability to fill the viewer with a desire to seek out the films discussed within, then The Magnificent Obsession of Michael Reeves is 24-carat gold. It provides a fascinating insight into both the man and his movies, with stories told not only by some of his admirers but by those who knew and worked with him too. Among the latter are actor Ian Ogilvy (who had starring roles in all three of Reeves’s films) and screenwriter Tom Baker.

Michael Reeves came from a privileged background insomuch as his mother was sufficiently well-heeled as to be able to bankroll his desire to make movies. Yet he was also something of a tragic figure, insular and blighted by mental health problems. Although his personal life is discussed in the documentary, the main focus is his films: Discussed at some length are Revenge of the Blood Beast (1966, aka The She Beast, starring Barbara Steele), The Sorcerers (1967, starring Boris Karloff and Catherine Lacey) and, of course, Witchfinder General (1968, aka The Conqueror Worm, starring Vincent Price). Just look at those names. His career may have been brief, but it can’t be said Reeves didn’t get to work with some of the greats.

Ian Ogilvy – Reeves’s close friend from a young age, even appearing some of his early home movies (of which tantalising glimpses are included here) – is particularly generous with his recollections, sharing many little nuggets I’d not heard before. For example, it is Reeves himself body-doubling Ogilvy in the car that’s about to explode at the climax of The Sorcerers, the actor having point blank refused to get in under concerns for his personal safety.

Witchfinder General was Reeves’s masterpiece, yet his lack of rapport with Vincent Price during shooting is well known. It didn’t help that the fledgling director constantly had to request that his seasoned leading man dial down his overly theatrical performance. How lovely then to learn that after seeing the finished film Price wrote to Reeves stating that his direction had been spot on and how he hoped they might work together again one day. Apparently Reeves carried that letter around with him always.

For fans of the director and his films, I can’t recommend this documentary highly enough. As for the less familiar, there’s a saying along the lines that you live on after your death until the last person who remembers you is gone. With that in mind, I just hope Dima Ballin’s outstanding film will also serve to introduce Michael Reeves to a new audience, a young audience that will help keep his memory alive for another 50 years. And many beyond.

Right, I’ve got to go and dig out my disc of Witchfinder General. I have a daughter to educate.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

"The Wilby Conspiracy" is primarily notable for the teaming of two big screen legends: Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine. The 1975 film itself aspires to be a bold indictment of South Africa's cruel apartheid regime which saw black residents of the country terrorized and humiliated by the white minority.  Most movies wouldn't go near the topic in the mid-1970s so the script, based on Peter Driscoll's novel, is to be commended for being ahead of the game in terms of raising awareness of the practices that would ultimately bring down the corrupt regime and see the seemingly impossible achievement of having one-time political prisoner Nelson Mandela elected as president. Yet, screenwriters Rod Amateau and Harold Nebenzal were obviously tasked with primarily delivering an action adventure "buddy" pic that starts off resembling Poiter's 1950s classic "The Defiant Ones" (the protagonists are even handcuffed together for a time.) Adding another note of nostalgia is that the film reunited Poitier with director Ralph Nelson, with whom he collaborated on "Lilies of the Field" and "Duel at Diablo".

The film opens with a courtroom scene in which a prisoner, Shack Twala (Poitier) is awaiting what is believed to be a predetermined sentence for political "crimes" that will see him sent back to prison. Twala is a prominent black activist who has gained international attention for his objections to social injustice. Much to the surprise of Twala and his lawyer, Rina Van Niekerk (Prunella Gee), Twala is absolved of the crime and is released as a free man. The good feelings don't last long, however. During the drive home, their car is stopped by police officers who harass Twala, who becomes enraged and fights back with the help of Rina's boyfriend, Jim Keogh (Caine), a mining executive who is largely apolitical. Now wanted by the law, the two men drop off Rina and flee to Johannesburg, a 900 mile journey. There, Twala hopes to unite with a fellow political activist who might be able to sneak them across the border into Botswana. They have plenty of close calls and are aggressively pursued by Major Horn (Nicol Williamson), a dreaded higher up in the nation's nefarious security forces that routinely employed torture. They also learn that there was an ulterior motive in the court case that saw the government drop charges against Twala. The plot gets increasingly burdened with secondary characters and the search for a large cache of stolen diamonds that went missing many years ago. Twala wants to recover them and deliver them to a man named Wilby (Joe de Graft), the head of the black resistance movement who resides freely in Botswana. The plan is to use the diamonds to finance Wilby's attempts to publicize and shame the apartheid regime. Along the way there are double crosses and people who turn out to be dubious allies to the men who are on the lam. Most amusing is Saeed Jaffrey as a timid dentist who nevertheless risks his life for the activists cause. He also employs a fellow conspirator, Persis (Persis Khambatta), who seems to have been primarily written into the film in order to shoehorn in a rather absurd and unconvincing sex scene between her and Twala. Caine is in top form as the meek man who turns into an action hero literally overnight and he has the movie's best one-liners. Poitier, while not wasted, is under-utilized and lacks any scenes of great dramatic power. Prunella Gee provides a fine, spirited performance but the scene stealer is Nicol Williamson, who presents a fascinating villain who is charismatic, yet cruel and totally dedicated to enshrining white supremacy in South Africa by whatever means he needs to employ. (Like his real life counterparts, he naturally considers himself to be a patriot.)

The film abounds with impressive action scenes though a couple come close to "jumping the shark" in terms of credibility. (Ironically, the most suspense was generated off screen when an errant camera crashed through a speeding car with Poitier and Caine in the front seats, almost killing them both.) The movie also has an adequate score by Lalo Schifrin, though the decision to open this action opus with a romantic love song over the credits is bewildering. Because South Africa was obviously not available as a film location, Kenya substituted nicely and director Nelson makes the most of the expansive landscapes. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios outside of London. There are quite a few "behind-the-cameras" talents from the James Bond films: Associate Producer Stanley Sopel, Sound Recordist Gordon K. McCallum, legendary stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, First Assistant Editor John Grover and and Stills Photographer George Whitear. Another trivia note: the film was produced by actor/director Helmut Dantine, who has a small role in the movie. So there's a lot of talent both on and off-screen and while the movie is certainly not a classic, it can be recommended as a fun and sometimes poignant action flick.

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of "The Wilby Conspiracy". The transfer is generally fine but not overwhelmingly impressive. The only bonus feature is a trailer gallery of other Caine and Poitier films available from KL.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

In the summer of 1977, New York City experienced a massive blackout that led to an explosion of crime as looters, muggers and other miscreants took to the streets to take advantage of the fact that the police were immediately over-stretched. I was traveling in Austria at the time while in college and in those pre-internet days had to watch appalling images of the chaos on television without knowing the full context of what was happening. It was a black eye for Gotham, the city that weathered the 1965 blackout in a civilized way. It wasn't long before a film capitalized on the incident, as evidenced by the Canadian production of "Blackout" which was released the following year. The modestly-budgeted film, directed by Eddy Matalon, uses some second unit footage of New York City to somewhat effectively mask the fact that most of the movie was shot in Montreal. The movie opens with a powerful storm bearing down on the city. Ultimately, there is a total blackout. It isn't long before crime starts to soar. Because of the limited budget, Matalon is forced to confine most of the action to an apartment building where various tenants are terrorized by an escaped group of murderous thugs led by the psychopath Christie (Robert Carradine). There is some suspense as the goons go through the building selecting their next victims, who include the standard characters who tended to pop up in disaster films. (i.e sexy single woman, a seriously ill man who attached to a respirator, a stereotypical elderly Jewish couple and a young mother who is going into labor at the height of the crisis. There's even a wedding celebration that is invaded by the gang.)  Among the recognizable victims are Belinda Montgomery, Jean-Pierre Aumont, June Allyson and Ray Milland. James Mitchum (billed here as "Jim") plays a harried New York City cop who stumbles onto the crime spree and who attempts to thwart the villains while at the same time looking after the victims in the pitch black apartments and hallways. Refreshingly, he's not a Dirty Harry superhero type. He makes misjudgments, gets captured twice and fires loads of shots without hitting his prey. For the most part, the performances are fine. Mitchum makes for a low-key good guy while Carradine provides a frightening portrait of a charismatic, soft-spoken killer. (Ten years earlier, Bruce Dern would have nabbed the part.) Milland also registers as a stuffy millionaire who doesn't flinch even in the face of death and June Allyson is sympathetic as a woman begging for her bedridden husband's life to be spared. "Blackout" is competently made when one considers the budget limitations but unlike similarly-themed disaster flicks, it isn't fun to watch. The screenplay is a smorgasbord of terrible, vicious things happening to sympathetic people. The only respite is a climactic car chase between Mitchum and Carradine that is set in a parking garage and is relatively well-staged.

Code Red has released "Blackout" as a special edition Blu-ray that has apparently restored some footage excised at one point from the theatrical cut. The film apparently has a cult following that will appreciate this even though the transfer leaves something to be desired with some action hard to discern because it's like staring into an ink well. The bonus extras include an enjoyable on camera interview with Robert Carradine and a feature length commentary with Belinda J. Montgomery. There is also a gallery of trailers and TV spots for this film and other Code Red releases. The company should be commended for presenting the film but they need to tighten quality control in regard to packaging. On the reverse of the sleeve, Jim Mitchum is listed as "Jim Mitchell" and the running time is incorrectly listed as 88 minutes. (I timed it at 92 minutes.) Also the company doesn't credit the film historians on the sleeve who conducted the commentary track with Montgomery. That's not an error but it is also not very thoughtful. Overall, a good presentation in terms of special features of a film that most retro movie lovers won't be familiar with.

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BY DARREN ALLISON

Cinema Retro has always prided itself on exploring the most diverse range of soundtrack genres. Not only do we cover the classics, but also the more obscure such as Production and Library music but also specialist labels such as All Score Media and Cineploit – a label which offers new soundtrack scores produced in a retro style and as homage to cult films of the past. At their heart, they are all projects devised to keep cult film music of the past very much alive and to the fore in the present day.

Rashomon – Ashcan copy – Filmmusic Vol. III (Cine 21) Release date 25th October 2019

Originally issued in 2011, Ashcan Copy is the third instalment in Rashomon's Film Music series of LPs. Cineploit Records is proud to present this re-release, and to introduce the record to a wider audience than the 150 lucky souls who snagged a copy of the ultra-limited initial release on Hlava Records. Active since 2009, Rashomon is the solo project of Matt Thompson, also of Cineploit mainstays Zoltan. This is his second release on the label under the Rashomon name, following 2014's LP/DVD extravaganza The Cameraman's Revenge: Film Music Vol. 4 – the final release in the Film Music series to date. The previous edition to this, 2009's The Finishing Line: Film Music Vol. 2, had focused on recreating the psychological mind-state of the wilder end of 1970s British public information films. By way of change Ashcan Copy is presented as an album of soundtrack cues from films that were, for one reason or another, never released. The films, hailing from Italy, Japan and the U.S. (among others) supposedly date from the 1950s to the 1970s and were (according to the extensive sleeve notes) exactingly sourced from film archives across Europe.

In reality, all the music is self-composed. The eight tracks include elements of noise, folk, psychedelia, prog and noir-jazz within their elaborate constructions, created with panoply of instrumentation including the atmospheric sounding Mellotron, zither, home-made percussion, Fender Rhodes, harmonium, Mini-Moog and more. Delicate and sensuous, heavy and oppressive – the record negotiates these musical contradictions while retaining a single-minded pursuit of strangeness and surprise.

Having finally found its spiritual place on soundtrack specialist label Cineploit, Ashcan Copy has finally come home. The album’s fabric is woven seamlessly throughout Cineploit’s core, signature sound. Running around 40 minutes, Ashcan Copy will take you on a dark, brooding journey - but it’s simply the nature of the beast. In context, the music would never sound out of place if set against some psychedelic piece of Giallo or (as in the album’s opening track) ‘Double Kill’ in a gritty slice of 70s Poliziotteschi . Cineploit excel in this particular area of subgenre film music. Freakish and fascinating, it hits the spot very nicely. The whole album has been completely remixed and includes a bonus new track. The whole package (while strictly limited) is again in line with Cineploit’s exceptional standards with an LP/CD set (180g Vinyl 300 coloured bone/red mix /200 black. housed in plastic outer sleeve) and the CD housed in a matching card gatefold sleeve.