Film Masters is a new classic film
restoration and distribution company formed by industry veteran and film
historian Phil Hopkins. The company launched on September 26th with an
impressive, region-free Blu-ray release. For decades, dating back to the humble
early beginnings of the home video cassette, these two public domain favourites
seemed to once flood the market. Often struck and scanned from poor quality
16mm prints, the process and distribution hardly helped the reputation of these
two low-budget slices of fifties science fiction. Of course, there’s no getting
away from the fact that The Giant Gila Monster (1959) and The Killer Shrews
(1959) were ever going to be regarded as stunning examples of quality science
fiction, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t be considered as
hugely entertaining and enjoyable vehicles.
Both films (directed by Ray Kellogg) were
originally released as a drive-in, double-bill feature in 1959. Bringing both
films together here, each with their own dedicated disc, not only makes perfect
sense, but offers a nice form of symmetry – giving the overall package
additional logic and weight. It’s a decision that also offers a degree of
‘worth’ for fans and collectors. Fans are an appreciative group of people, so
this collective form of package will only help Film Masters in gaining a healthy
reputation and a certain degree of loyalty.
Beginning with what appears to be the leading
feature, The Giant Gila Monster opens with a young couple, Pat (Grady Vaughn)
and Liz (Yolanda Salas), parked in a bleak, rural locale overlooking a ravine.
A giant Gila monster attacks the car, sending it into the ravine and killing
the couple. Later, several friends of the couple assist the local sheriff (Fred
Graham) in his search for the missing teens. Chase Winstead (Don Sullivan), a
young mechanic and hot rod racer, locates the crashed car in the ravine and
finds evidence of the giant lizard. However, it is only when the hungry reptile
attacks a train that the authorities realise they are dealing with a giant
venomous lizard. By this time, emboldened by its attacks and hungry for prey,
the creature attacks the town. It heads for the local dance hall, where the
town's teenagers are gathered for a hop.
Filmed near Dallas, Texas, the film was
budgeted at $175,000 and was produced by Dallas drive-in theatre chain owner
Gordon McLendon who wanted co-features for his main attractions. McLendon shot
the film back-to-back with The Killer Shrews. In exchange for providing the
special effects, Ray Kellogg was allowed to direct the film, while Curtis
allowed his lead Don Sullivan to pick and perform three songs. The reasoning
not only helped in padding out the action but also served in targeting the healthy
teenage market. Don Sullivan, a veteran of several low-budget monster movies,
proves to be confident in both his role and surroundings, while Lisa Simone (a
former French contestant for the 1957 Miss Universe contest) is arguably a
little more wooden and uncomfortable.
For the best part, Ray Kellogg’s special
effects work adequately well. With such a low budget, there was little
consideration for an established name such as Ray Harryhausen and his
stop-motion animation. So instead, a live Mexican beaded lizard was shot against
scaled-down model landscapes and sets. This technique wasn’t anything new, iguanas
and chameleons were also being used the very same year over at 20th
Century Fox for their adaptation of Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959). The Giant Gila Monster (naturally) was not afforded
the same budget, it was simply a locally made film that was marketed and sold
in a very clever way, making sure it received both nationwide and foreign
distribution. But above all, it remains hugely enjoyable and serves as a
reminder of far less serious times in terms of filmmaking on a shoestring.
As for the video’s quality, this new 4K scan
from original 35mm material, looks incredibly good. Sharpness, contrast and
sound are all highly impressive. Film Masters have provided a new level of
respect for this minor league classic, and the results have really raised its
once questionable profile. There is also an option of watching the film in
either a TV ratio (standard 1.33:1) or a theatrical version (1.85:1). I opted
for the theatrical version for reviewing which works perfectly well.
Film Masters have also provided some very
nice bonus features. Heading these is a full-length
audio commentary by Larry Strothe, James Gonis, Shawn Sheridan, and Matt
Weinhold from The Monster Party Podcast. As the name suggests, this is a light-hearted
overview but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable. The group offer a cheekily
mocking level of critique but never in with a cruel intension. The common
denominator is obviously a shared love for the film. The group manage to unearth
some excellent production detail and history, often quoting from original
source material such as pressbooks and publicity from its time of release.
There is also a restored and remastered
original theatrical trailer and a very enjoyable archival audio interview with
star Don Sullivan (1929- 2018). Asking the questions is author Bryan Senn, who
digs deep in extracting as much detail as possible. Sullivan appears happy to
answer anything he can recall, and the interview is relaxed and unhurried.
Despite the audio quality which occasionally wavers (the source sounds to be
via a telephone) it remains interesting throughout and offers a unique,
first-hand insight.
Next up is The Killer Shrews (1959), again
directed by Ray Kellogg and utilising most of the
same production crew. The story follows a group of researchers who are trapped
in their remote island compound overnight by a hurricane and find themselves
under siege by their abnormally large and venomous mutant test subjects, the
shrews. Captain Thorne Sherman and first mate Rook Griswold deliver supplies by
ship to a research compound on the remote island. The station inhabitants
(scientist Marlowe Craigis, his research assistant Radford Baines, Marlowe's
daughter Ann, her fiancé Jerry Farrel, and a servant Mario) give them a cold
welcome and direct them to unload the ship and leave immediately. Marlowe
explains he has been trying to isolate the genes responsible for growth and
metabolism in order to shrink humans to half their size so as to reduce the
impact of human overpopulation. He uses shrews as test animals due to their
short lifespan, allowing him to track results over multiple generations.
However, Marlowe's experiments have created a batch of mutant wolf-sized shrews
which have escaped. The group barricade themselves inside their compound every
evening before the sun sets due to the creatures' nocturnal feeding habits.
They have not contacted the coast guard so that they can complete their
research, predicting that the shrews will cannibalize each other once they have
consumed all other food on the island.
And so begins this really enjoyable little
romp. Catching up with this film once again reminded me of just how good this
film really is. In fact, I’ll come right out and say it – I still think this is
the superior film when compared to The Giant Gila
Monster. The whole concept of a group of people trapped in a secluded and
isolated locale is one that still proves effective. The film is often compared
to that of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead made some 9 years later in
1968. If you take that concept, replacing the zombies with wild, oversized,
very hungry shrews, then you get the general idea. Yes, one could argue that
(on paper) the whole idea sounds rather ludicrous. But the film has some really
creative and effective moments, especially for 1959. Considering that the ($123,000)
budget for The Killer Shrews was even tighter than that of The Giant Gila
Monster, the results are even more impressive.
Ray Kellogg makes exceptional good use of his
special effects background. OK, so the shrews were in actual fact large coonhound
dogs dressed up with long carpeted hair and Saber fangs. And close-up shots
were nothing more than mere hand puppets! But somehow, the effects still work.
Good use of sound effects also provides an eerie warning of the shrews’ imminent
arrival. Clever quick editing also adds to the film’s overall sense of tension
and drama. In fact, there are also some cleverly constructed jump shock moments
and some particularly gruesome scenes – not to mention a ludicrously ingenious
escape plan! So, The Killer Shrews has a great deal of positives in its favour
and is well worth a re-evaluation – especially in this sparkling new transfer.
As with The Giant Gila Monster, Film Masters have afforded The Killer Shrews with
another equally high-quality transfer. I thought it looked quite faultless
actually, a nice clean, crisp transfer with lovely deep black tones and contrast.
The audio again is also clear and sharp throughout its duration. Again, there
is an option to view in either 1.33:1 or in 1.85:1 aspect ratio.
The bonus features are very enjoyable,
consisting of another full-length audio commentary this time provided by author
Jason A. Ney. This commentary offers a more scholarly, academic approach which
is both informative and enjoyable in equal measure. Ray Kellogg – An Unsung Master
is a fascinating Ballyhoo motion pictures documentary exploring the life and
career of the director. And to round off the disc is a large collection of
original radio spots for each movie courtesy of Gary L. Prange. Inside there is
also a full colour, 22-page booklet with essays by Don Stradley and Jason A.
Ney.
Overall, Film Masters have delivered a very
impressive debut package. With the hope of producing similarly styled releases
on a monthly basis, there’s certainly a great deal more to look forward to and
their efforts should be applauded.
(Darren Allison is the Soundtracks Editor for Cinema Retro.)
Step
up, step up, don’t be shy! Come one, come all, to the fabulous and terrifying
sideshow!
Just
in time for Halloween, Cinema Retro enthusiastically welcomes The
Criterion Collection’s new 2-disk Blu-ray box set release, Tod Browning’s
Sideshow Shockers, which is a triple feature extravaganza containing a highly
anticipated high definition presentation of the classic and controversial 1932
pre-code horror film, Freaks, and two earlier rare silent films, The
Unknown (1927) and The Mystic (1925). All three have in common the
circus/carnival/sideshow milieu in their stories, and all have similar themes
focusing on the concept of “the other.” Interestingly, all three are more
relevant today than ever.
When
approaching this marvelous set of pictures, one must understand a little about
the director, Tod Browning. Thankfully, we have as a supplement the immensely
listenable and entertaining interview with acclaimed author and TV showrunner,
the erudite Megan Abbott, who gives us in thirty minutes a comprehensive
character study of Browning and comments about the three films. As Abbott
explains, Browning was someone who actually did “run away to join the
circus” as a young man, and he spent a great part of his life in that world. It
is no surprise, then, that many of his films deal with that universe and the
beings who inhabit it. Abbott’s presentation here is practically worth the
price of admission… except that we have a three-ring circus of significant and
wondrous motion pictures also in the box.
Freaks, of course, is the
main attraction, as it has never been released on Blu-ray in America or the UK
prior to now (Warner Brothers released a DVD years ago). Considered one of the
most unusual movies ever produced in Hollywood, as well as one that has been
banned in many territories, pulled from release, re-issued, chopped up, and
once held as an example of Tinsel Town’s depravity and exploitative nature, Freaks
is actually a masterpiece of cinema. (Is there anyone who has seen Freaks
who hasn’t ever recited the famous line, “Gooba gobba, gooble gobble, one
of us, one of us!”?)
The
story concerns Hans (Harry Earles), a little person who works in the sideshow
of a traveling circus. He is engaged to be married to another little person,
Frieda (Daisy Earles, in real life Harry’s sister), and he happens to have an
inheritance of some value. Cleopatra (Olga Baclanova) is, as Hans calls her, a
“big person.” She is a beautiful trapeze artist, and Hans has an unrealistic
crush on her, much to Frieda’s displeasure. Cleopatra’s beau, though, is
Hercules (Henry Victor), the strongman. Cleopatra and Hercules conspire to bilk
Hans out of his fortune, first by Cleopatra seducing Hans and getting him to
propose to her. After the marriage, they will poison him, and she will inherit
the money; then Cleo and Hercules can run away together and leave behind the
circus life. Friends of the sideshow people, clown Phroso and seal trainer
Venus (Wallace Ford and Leila Hyams), are a romantic couple (also “big
people”), try to look out for Hans’ interests, but fail. The other sideshow
personnel decide to get revenge for Hans, and the results are not pretty.
Browning,
who knew and worked with real sideshow performers, cast them in the movie.
Besides the several little people, there are a few individuals with microcephaly
(then known by the derogatory term “pinheads”), a “human skeleton,” conjoined
twins, a bearded lady, men and women without limbs, an “intersex” person, and
others. Back in the old days of circus sideshows, audiences paid money to view
these “freaks of nature” to be horrified and thrilled. Sadly, practically the
only way these individuals could make a living was by displaying themselves in
such a fashion.
When
Freaks was first released, the reaction from audiences was exactly what
it would have been at a circus sideshow—one of horror and revulsion. As a
result, MGM, the studio that released the picture, realized that they had a
bomb on their hands and pulled it from release. In the late 1940s, exploitation
film distributor Dwayne Esper bought the rights and re-exhibited it as an
exploitation film, which didn’t help the movie’s reputation. Freaks was
terribly misunderstood for decades and remained so until the 1960s, when the
era of youth rebellion and the collapse of the Production Code allowed for more
freedom of expression in art and from audiences. Once the long-haired young
people began referring to themselves as “freaks” and having “freak outs,”
suddenly a film entitled Freaks had new meaning. The movie was reissued
to play on college campuses and as a midnight movie in art houses—and it found
new life and support.
Browning’s
picture was never really meant to cause disgust in the audience. His intent was
for the audience to empathize and root for the “freaks.” This is a film
in which the actors with disabilities and “otherness” are the heroes, battling
for the dignity and respect they deserve from the conniving and evil “normal”
people who are criminals. Browning simply used the thriller genre as a means to
tell the story. But in 1932, audiences could not get past the sideshow aspect
of what they were looking at. They didn’t get it.
Thankfully,
now we do. Yes, Freaks is hailed as one of the great horror films,
but it is also a respectful look at congenital disabilities and a compassionate,
endearing examination of the human condition (which leads to the question—is it
really a horror film?).
Criterion’s
new 2K digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack) looks
gorgeous (except for the final one-minute epilogue, which, due to poor quality
source material, could not be improved). There is a new commentary by Browning
expert and film scholar David J. Skal (different from the one on the former
Warners DVD). Supplements pertaining to Freaks are all of those that
appeared on the Warners disk (an hour long documentary on the making of the
film, a look at the alternate endings, and the excised exploitation-release
prologue), plus a new video gallery of many stills and portraits from the film,
and the 2019 audio podcast of Kristen Lopez’s Ticklish Business.
The
Unknown
was a 1927 silent picture by Browning starring the great Lon Chaney in one of
his most acclaimed performances as a sideshow performer with no arms. His
pretzel-like feats in the film to achieve this illusion are masterful, but we
learn from the commentary and Megan Abbott’s interview that Chaney had help
from a real life sideshow stunt double. Nevertheless, Chaney is marvelous in
this tale about Alonzo, a criminal who is hiding from the law by strapping his
arms underneath a costume and pretending to be armless. He falls in love with
ring assistant Nanon (a young Joan Crawford). Strongman Malabar also loves
Nanon, but she rejects him because she has a phobia about hands touching
her—therefore she is partial to have a platonic relationship with Alonzo.
However, when Nanon finally decides to break free of her fear and marry
Malabar, Alonzo does something drastic—with tragic results.
For
a 1927 silent film with a new piano score by Philip Carli, The Unknown is
quite engaging, especially due to the terrific performances by the entire cast.
Why it’s called The Unknown is a head-scratcher, but the roughly
hour-long picture is riveting. It comes with a new introduction and commentary
by David J. Skal.
The
Mystic, from
1925, is apparently one of the rarest of Browning’s films. Running at 72
minutes, it’s the story of a sideshow fortune teller “mystic,” Zara (Aileen
Pringle), her father, the impresario Zazarack (Mitchell Lewis), and assistant
Anton (Robert Ober). Con man-criminal Michael Nash (Conway Tearle) recruits the
trio to come to America to swindle wealthy patrons. As noted by Abbott, the
plot is very similar to that of the 1947 film noir, Nightmare Alley…
but the visuals, storytelling, and acting are all surprisingly compelling for
this silent picture. The score, by Dean Hurley, vastly helps with the
movie’s allure. David J. Skal also provides an introduction to the film.
Criterion’s
packaging is superb, and the enclosed booklet comes with an essay by film
critic Farran Smith Nehme.
Tod
Browning’s Sideshow Shockers is highly recommended for fans of the
director, Freaks, silent movies, Lon Chaney, and the unique
sensibilities of pre-code Hollywood. Gooba gobba!
Frederick
Knott's suspense play "Wait Until Dark" premiered on Broadway on Feb. 2,
1966. Lee Remick played Susy Hendrix, a
young blind woman who becomes the target of a manipulative scheme orchestrated
by a sinisterly glib psychopath, Harry Roat Jr. from Scarsdale. Robert Duvall, in his Broadway debut, had the
pivotal supporting role of Roat. A movie
version opened on Oct. 26, 1967, starring Audrey Hepburn (in an Oscar-nominated
performance) as Susy and Alan Arkin as
Roat, produced by Mel Ferrer (Hepburn's husband at the time), directed by
Terence Young, and scored by Henry Mancini. A predecessor of today's popular, trickily plotted suspense movies like
"Gone Gir" (2014) and "The Girl on the Train" (2016), the film was a
commercial and critical success, ranking number sixteen in box-office returns
for the year. Movies
adapted from plays often feel stage-bound, but "Wait Until Dark"
avoids those constraints, thanks in no small part to Young's fine
pacing, sharp eye for detail, and sure grasp of character.
Bosley
Crowther's October 27, 1967, film review in the New York Times noted that the
Radio City Music Hall screening of "Wait Until Dark" included a stage show with
a ballet troupe, performing dogs, and the Rockettes. Fifty years later, going out to a movie,
you're lucky to get a good seat and decently lit projection for the price of
admission. Any live entertainment comes
courtesy of the patrons behind you who can't put away their smartphones for two
hours.
Knott's play was confined to one interior set, Susy's cramped Greenwich Village
apartment, which makes it a perennial favorite for little-theater and
high-school drama productions on limited budgets. The movie adds a new opening scene in which
Sus's husband Sam (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.), a freelance photographer, meets an
attractive young woman, Lisa, as they board a flight from Montreal. When they land at JFK, Lisa hands Sam a
child's doll and asks him to hold on to it for her temporarily. She says it's a present for the child of a
friend, she just learned that the friend and the little girl will be meeting
her at the airport, and she doesn't want to spoil the surprise; she'll call and
come by for it later. Unknown to the
obliging Sam, it's a phony story: Lisa is a drug mule, and narcotics are hidden
inside the doll.
Lisa
had planned to double-cross her accomplice Roat and split the money from
the
drug shipment with Mike (Richard Crenna) and Carlino (Jack Weston), her
partners in past criminal schemes. Roat
murders Lisa and enlists Mike and Carlino to help him find the doll in
Susy and
Sam's apartment. He lures Sam away with
a call promising a big photo assignment. In his absence, Mike poses as
an old Army friend of Sam's, and Carlino
impersonates a detective investigating Lisa's murder. In a bad guy/good
guy ploy, the phony Detective Sgt. Carlino insinuates that he suspects
Sam of Lisa's murder. Mike intervenes, offering his support to Susy
to gain her trust. To further disorient
Susy, Roat poses as two men who appear to lend credence to the con.Harry
Roat Sr., an an aggressive old man,
barges into the apartment, noisily claiming to be in search of evidence
that
Lisa, his daughter-in-law, carried on a clandestine affair with Sam.
Later, mild-mannered Harry Roat Jr. knocks
on the door and apologizes for his father's outburst. It's a nice
gimmick for Alan Arkin, who gets
to impersonate three characters with different costumes and
personalities. For audiences who watched the Broadway
production, it might also have provided an effective "Aha" moment when
they
realized that there was only one Roat, not three. But it's no surprise
for the movie audience,
since close-up camera angles make it clear immediately that the other
two are
also Arkin in heavy make-up.
The
new Blu-ray release of "Wait Until Dark" from the Warner Archive Collection
presents the movie in a 1080p print for high-def TV. It's a definite improvement in richness from
previous TV and home-video prints. The
tailor-made audience is likely to be those older viewers who saw the film on
the big screen in 1967, who may wonder if the movie's "gotcha"climax still
holds up. Suffice to say without
spoiling the scene for new viewers by going into details, it does. The film's stage origins are obvious in the dialogue-driven
plot set-up and in the constrained setting of one cramped apartment. The measured exposition may be a hurdle for
younger viewers used to a faster pace and visual shorthand, but the
concentration of character interplay in a closed space isn't necessarily a
problem, even for Millennials who have been conditioned to expect ADHD editing
and splashy FX in movies. It imposes a
sense of claustrophobia that subtly forces the audience to share Susy's
mounting fear of being hemmed in and trapped.
In "Take a Look in the Dark", an eight-minute special feature ported over to the
Blu-ray from a 2003 Warner Home Video DVD release, Alan Arkin notes that the
psychotic Roat, with his granny-frame sunglasses and urban-hipster patter, was
a break from the usual sneering, buttoned-down movie and TV villains of the
time. "By and large, the public had not
been exposed to that kind of person", he recalls. "But they began to have people like that live
next to them, or see them in the newspapers or on TV." Ironically, if Roat was unsettling to 1967
audiences, he and his flick knife may seem insufficiently scary for younger
viewers today, in the endless wake of movies and TV shows about flamboyantly
demented murderers since "The Silence of the Lambs" (1990) -- not to mention
the perpetrators of real-life mass murders that, numbingly, we seem to see
every night on CNN, network, and local news.
In
the special feature, Arkin and Ferrer also express fond appreciation of
Hepburn, who wanted to star in "Wait Until Dark" when she realized
that she was getting too old to continue playing demure ingenues, Ferrer
says. Once Susy starts to figure out the con in the last half-hour of
the movie and, isolated from help, summons the inner resources to fight
back, she begins to resemble today's omnipresent model of screen
feminism, the smart, ass-kicking action hero. Two supporting actresses
are unfamiliar by name and face: Samantha Jones as Lisa and Julie Harrod
as Susy's 14-year-old neighbor Gloria. Jones has a chilling scene in
which Lisa's corpse hangs in a makeshift body bag in Susy's closet, and
Susy, unaware, almost bumps into it. Both actresses are so good that
viewers will wonder why they didn't have more prominent careers. (I
don't know either.) One bit of casting may be distracting to viewers in
2017 in a way that it wasn't to audiences in 1967: as Carlino, the fine
character actor Jack Weston is almost a dead ringer for New Jersey Gov.
and failed 2016 Republican Presidential hopeful Chris Christie. (He's
now running again- Ed.)
Besides "Take a Look in the Dark", the Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray includes two trailers also repeated from the 2003 DVD.One,
titled the "warning trailer" ominously cautions that "during the last
eight minutes of this picture, the theater will be darkened to the legal
limit to heighten the terror of the breath-taking climax."As
a gimmick for luring curious masochists into the movie theater, it
doesn't quite rise to the truly inspired heights of William Castle's
"Emergo", "Percepto", or "Punishment Poll", but it's still a charming
bit of vintage Hollywood hucksterism.
Imprint, the Australian video label, is releasing a boxed set dedicated to the film of Marlon Brando. The discs are region-free. The edition is available for pre-order.
One of the greatest actors of all time, Marlon Brando,
brings six powerful performances to this Limited Edition boxset. Sayonara
(1957) The Fugitive Kind (1960) One-Eyed Jacks (1961) The Ugly American (1963)
Bedtime Story (1964) A Countess From Hong Kong (1967) Limited Edition 6-Disc
Hardbox. 1500 copies only. Cinema Retro's Lee Pfeiffer and contributing writers Paul Scrabo and Tony Latino provide commentary tracks for "A Countess from Hong Kong" and "Bedtime Story".
Click here to pre-order. (Prices are in Australian dollars.)
Don Knotts
came to fame with his trademark comedy style of portraying a meek, excessively
nervous character. He was Woody Allen before Woody Allen was Woody Allen.
Knotts honed his skills on Steve Allen's show in the 1950s, with his "man
on the street" Nervous Nellie routine sending audiences into fits of
laughter. He co-starred with fellow up-and-comer Andy Griffith in the hit
Broadway production of "No Time for Sergeants" and the subsequent
film version. When Griffith landed his own TV series in 1960 in which he played
the sheriff of fictional small town Mayberry, Knotts imposed upon him to write
a small, occasional part he could play as Barney Fife, Griffith's inept but
loyal sheriff. Griffith complied and the role made Knotts an icon of American
comedy, allowing him to win an astonishing five Emmys for playing the same
character. Five years into the series, Knotts was offered a multi-feature deal
by Lew Wasserman, the reigning mogul of Universal Pictures. Knotts took the
bait and enjoyed creative control over the films to a certain degree. He could
pretty much do what he wanted as long has he played the same nervous schlep audiences wanted to
see. The films had to be low-budget, shot quickly and enjoy modest profits from
rural audiences where Knotts' popularity skewed the highest. His first feature
film was The Ghost and Mr.
Chicken, released in 1966 and written by the same writing team from
the "The Andy Griffith Show". (Griffith actually co-wrote the script
but declined taking a writing credit.) The film astonished the industry,
rolling up big grosses in small markets where it proved to have remarkable
staying power. Similarly, his next film, The
Reluctant Astronaut also proved to be a big hit, as was his
1969 western spoof The
Shakiest Gun in the West. Within a few years, however,
changing audience tastes had rendered Knotts' brand of innocent, gentle humor
somewhat moot. By the late 1960s audiences were getting their laughs from the
new film freedoms. It was hard to find the antics of a middle-aged virgin much
fun when you could see Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice cavorting in the same
bed. Still, Knotts soldiered on, providing fare for the drive-in markets that
still wanted his films. In 1969 he made The
Love God?, a very funny and underrated film that tried to be more
contemporary by casting Knotts as an innocent ninny who is manipulated into
fronting what he thinks is a magazine for bird watchers but, in reality, is a
cover for a pornography empire. Knotts' traditional audience balked at the
relatively tame sex jokes and for his final film for Universal, How to Frame a Figg, he
reverted back to his old formula.
Released in
1971, Figg casts
Don Knotts as the titular character, Hollis Figg, a nondescript wimp who toils
as an overlooked accountant in a basement of city hall. The film is set in a
Mayberry-like small town environment but any other similarity ends there. In
Mayberry, only the visiting city slickers were ever corrupt. The citizenry may
have been comprised of goofballs and eccentrics, but they were all scrupulously
honest. In Figg's world, however, the top government officials are all con-men
and crooks. They are ruled by the town's beloved paternal father figure, Old
Charley Spaulding (Parker Fennelly), a decrepit character who hands out pennies
to everyone he encounters, with the heart-warming greeting "A shiny penny
for your future!" In fact, Old Charley has plenty of those pennies
stashed away. He and his hand-picked fellow crooks, including the mayor and
police chief, have been systemically ripping off the state by grossly inflating
the costs of local building projects and secretly pocketing the overages.
Concerned that the accountants might get wind of their activities, they
summarily fire them all except for Figg, who is deemed to be too naive to ever
catch on. They justify the firings by saying it's fiscally prudent and replace
the accountants with a gigantic computer that is supposed to be even more
efficient. Through a quirk of fate, Figg and his equally naive friend, Prentiss
(Frank Welker), the janitor for city hall, discover exactly what is going on.
Figg dutifully reports his findings to the mayor (Edward Andrews), who
convinces him to keep it secret while he launches his own investigation. Old
Charley, the mayor and their cohorts decide to make Figg the fall guy for the
corrupt practices. They give him a big promotion, a new red convertible and
even hire a private secretary for him. She's Glorianna (Yvonne Craig), a leggy
femme fatale who wears mini skirts and oozes sex. When her attempts to seduce
Figg leave him paralyzed with fear because of his allegiance to his new
girlfriend, the equally virginal waitress Ema Letha (Elaine Joyce), Glorianna
gets Figg drunk, takes some embarrassing photos of him and then proceeds to have
him sign a stream of incriminating documents that he has not bothered to read.
Before long, Figg is blamed for all the missing funds and faces a jail
sentence- unless he and the dim-witted Prentiss can figure out how to use the
computer to thwart the real crooks.
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount Home Video:
Celebrate the 40th anniversary of the heartfelt
drama TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, arriving for the first time on 4K Ultra
HD as part of the Paramount Presents line on November 14, 2023 from Paramount
Home Entertainment.
James L. Brooks produced, wrote the screenplay (based on
the novel by Larry McMurtry), and made his directorial debut with TERMS
OF ENDEARMENT, which ultimately earned 11 Academy Award® nominations and
won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Shirley
MacLaine), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson), and Best Writing,
Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Both critically acclaimed and a box-office
blockbuster, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT features a powerhouse cast
including Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, and
John Lithgow. Originally released on November 23, 1983, the enduring
classic follows the ups and downs of a mother-daughter relationship with
honesty, heart, and humor.
This Paramount Presents release includes the film in
sparkling 4K Ultra HD, with a transfer from the original camera negative
reviewed and approved by Brooks. The set includes a 4K Ultra HD Disc, a
Blu-ray Disc™, access to a Digital copy of the film, as well as a
brand-new Filmmaker Focus with James L. Brooks. In this newly
recorded interview, Brooks reflects on the challenges and excitement that came
with being a first-time director, including getting directing critiques from
Jack Nicholson. He also discusses the casting process and the film’s amazing
performances. The set also includes a legacy commentary with
director James L. Brooks, co-producer Penney Finkelman Cox, and production
designer Polly Platt, as well as the theatrical trailer.
Review: Clint Eastwood: The Iconic Filmmaker
and his Work, by Ian Nathan, White Lion Publishing; 1st edition (7 Sept. 2023),
Hardcover, 176 pages.
Clint Eastwood, one of the original stars to
emerge from the ‘cool’ era of the Sixties, continues to demand the status of
cultural icon on a worldwide basis. From the lone man with no name in the
‘Dollar’ movies to Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry franchise, bare
knuckle fighter Philo Beddoe to an ageing Korean War veteran in Gran Torino and
The Mule - his roles exemplified an undeniable screen magnetism and a masculine
sense of command.
Eastwood was born in 1930 at Saint Francis
Memorial Hospital in San Francisco. An introverted child (by his own
admission), a personality trait that probably surfaced due to an unsettled
childhood which saw him constantly travelling wherever his father’s work would
take him. He was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War
where he became a lifeguard at Fort Ord. On his return he made a few appearances
and given minor roles by director Jack Arnold in B pictures such as Revenge of
the Creature and Tarantula. His big break came as Rowdy Yates in the TV Saga Rawhide,
an hour-long western series which ran for over 7 years. It was during Rawhide
that Eastwood accepted an offer to travel to a remote region of Spain in order
to make a low-key western for a relatively unknown director, Sergio Leone. It
turned out to be a smart move on Eastwood’s part and one that would catapult
him to one of the leading lights of Hollywood.
Author and Film Critic Ian Nathan’s new book,
Clint Eastwood, The Iconic Filmmaker and his Work (part of the Iconic
Filmmakers Series) (ISBN-13?: ?978-0711283657),
explores, in detail, Eastwood’s phenomenal Hollywood career as actor, director,
producer and composer. As a leading actor in some of the biggest and most respected
films to hit the cinema screens, Nathan breaks his book down into several
linier chapters which makes for an easy-to-read timeline of events. But the
author has also been smart enough to include other important departures such as
his tenure as Mayor of Carmel and his move into directing. The transcendence
from major box office sensation of the Seventies into more personal film
projects of the Eighties and Nineties is smooth and seamless and never misses a
beat. The book charts his maturity, examining certain myths and more
challenging subjects as a filmmaker. The book explores Eastwood as he gradually
moved more behind the camera as opposed to in front of it while maintaining a
healthy respect from both fans and his peers.
I also like Nathan’s footer timeline.
Appearing at the bottom of certain pages, it works well as a nice guide which
keeps you on track during certain periods of his career. Of course, Eastwood’s
career is long and distinguished, often making editing a real nightmare of a
task. There’s a fine line between examining too deeply or not examining deep enough
– especially in a career spanning nearly 70 years (and counting). But Nathan
gets the balance just about right here. It covers all the important aspects of
a very rich and varied career, and with just the right weight in terms of
detail. I doubt if seasoned fans will find anything particularly new within its
176 pages, but they’ll certainly want to add it to their collection,
regardless. Anyone wishing to examine Eastwood’s career, perhaps for the first
time in book form, couldn’t really go far wrong with this as an entry point.
It’s also lavishly packaged. A solid hardback edition which is also housed
within a matching hardshell slipcase matching that of the book’s cover is as
appealing as they come – and a particularly nice touch - as well as serving as
a great form of protection.
Published by White Lion Publishing and
released on 7th September, 2023 – this book also contains a wealth of
impressive images, from rare posters, production shots and a wonderful
collection of stills ranging from the early Universal years right up to Eastwood’s
latest release, Cry Macho. Overall. it’s
a lavishly detailed publication which I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending. It’s
a book in which everyone involved should feel a genuine sense of pride and
accomplishment. Darren
Allison
Only a week after we congratulated David McCallum on his 90th birthday comes the sad news that he has passed away from natural causes in New York City, where he resided. I have nothing but wonderful memories of the time I spent with him. Like most boys who grew up in the spy rage of the 1960s, I became a big fan of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", though I had admired his work in "The Great Escape" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" even before then. His portrayal of Judas in the latter film was particularly haunting because he played him as a tragic and sympathetic figure. The success of "U.N.C.L.E." unexpectedly thrust David and his co-star Robert Vaughn into becoming international teenage idols. It was a distinction neither man had sought. At the height of the mania, David was to appear at Macy's in New York to promote his record album. The event was besieged by screaming teenage girls to such a degree that the police had to call the event off and hide David until the crowd had dissipated. The show ran from September, 1964 through January, 1968. Although David and Robert enjoyed their time on the series and were grateful for the fame and fortune they gained from it, both men were eager to move on. David worked steadily in feature films and in live theater. Many years later, he landed the role of pathologist "Ducky" Mallard on the hit CBS series "NCIS". As the years went by, David joked to me that he kept trying to quit the series due to his advanced years but the producers always found a way to keep him on board. He seemed to love every minute he worked on the series.
What many people don't know is that David, the son of an acclaimed conductor in his native Scotland, was also a talented musician, arranger and composer who had some acclaimed albums in the 1960s. In recent, years he tried his hand at writing novels and found success in that endeavor, as well. At one point, I reunited David with my good friend, actor Joe Sirola, who had played a villain on a couple of episodes of "U.N.C.L.E." It gave me great pleasure to see them reignite their friendship and David would show up at Joe's legendary summer party on the terrace of his New York penthouse. When Dave Worrall and I began publishing Cinema Retro 20 years ago, David was a contributor. He was always reluctant to talk about himself and his career, but after one interview session he said he found it "therapeutic" to recall so many wonderful times in the acting profession that he had not thought about in many years. A very special evening occurred in 20009 at The Players, the legendary club for the arts in New York City. I was hosting a black tie dinner in honor of Robert Vaughn. During the cocktail hour he said, "I only wish David could have been here." Shortly thereafter, David and his wife Katherine did show up, causing many sophisticated middle-aged women to gasp with delight. David had told me he couldn't make the event but at the last minute he found a way to attend. It was a wonderful evening, especially when David gave a marvelous and touching speech about his former co-star. Years later, it would pain me to have been the one to break the news to David that Robert had passed away.
(L to R:) Lee Pfeiffer, David McCallum, Robert Vaughn and Joe Sirola at The Players dinner for Vaughn in 2009.
(Photo: Tom Stroud)
David was first married to actress Jill Ireland and the couple had three children: Paul, Jason and Valentine. After they divorced, David met and married Katherine Carpenter in 1967. They had two children: Peter and Sophie. David adored his wife and family and always spoke of them with great pride.
While I mourn David's passing, I take solace from the fact that he did not suffer and was surrounded by laughter and love for most of his life. In an increasingly cynical age, David represented the vanishing attributes of graciousness and modesty. I had left him a phone message on his 90th birthday and had planned to get together with him soon. That won't happen but I can appreciate the time I spent with him over the years. He was a talented actor and musician, a good family man and a person who left his mark on the profession he loved. Thanks for the memories, David.
If something seems too good to be true, it's probably going to turn out to be too good to be true. Amazon Prime's streaming service has offered an exceptional library of new, original series and films as well as a treasure trove of retro movies that can be streamed commercial-free. That will come to an end in early 2024 when "ad-free" streaming will now command an additional monthly fee of $2.99 in the USA for customers who currently pay $14.99 a month. International customers will presumably be charged the approximate amount in local currency. There will be no increase in fees if you're willing to see classic movies interrupted by advertisements. If you're reading Cinema Retro, you're probably as snooty as we are about how we watch the movies we love. However, the truth is that the general public is very undemanding when it comes to movie viewing. That's how American cable TV channels can still find people who will sit through a telecast of censored versions of "Apocalypse Now" or "Jaws" along with many other classics with accompanying ads for everything from cars to hemorrhoid medicine. While it isn't our intention to carry water for Amazon, the increased price still seems reasonable for gaining access to so many films including plenty of titles that are not available on home video. For more, click here.
The
problem with McVicar (1980) as a
biopic is that the part of its subject’s life I most wanted to know about is
covered in a brief caption at the very end. A closing intertitle informs us, if
we didn’t already know, that John McVicar (1940-2022), a career criminal handed
consecutive prison sentences totalling 23 years, eventually left behind his
life of crime to gain a first-class honours degree while still behind bars and
become a successful journalist and author. Indeed, he co-wrote the screenplay,
based on his published memoir. But this fascinating turnabout is not part of
the film’s story, which ends in 1970 after he is put back inside following a
prison break and violent bank robbery.
What
we have instead is a conventional tale of porridge and solitary on the inside,
awkward family life on the outside. Although McVicar is competently played by
The Who front man Roger Daltrey (who co-produced the film and also performs
some songs on the soundtrack), there is little here to suggest that beneath the
hard-man surface lay an articulate intelligence with a sharp understanding of
the social causes of criminality. The script prefers to revel in the aggressive
bravado with which he taunts prison officers, instigates riots, tunnels out of
the shower block and risks re-arrest after escape. McVicar’s attempts to bond
with his young son are sentimental rather than sensitive, all the film’s energy
coming from its criminal elements.
Directed
by Tom Clegg, a specialist in TV crime shows who also made Sweeney 2 (1978), it has a surface authenticity slightly belied by
the high-definition transfer on Fabulous Films’ Region B Blu-ray, which makes
the photography look more glossy than it probably did on first release in
cinemas (where it achieved substantial commercial success, placing twelfth
among UK general releases of 1980). In the scenes set in Durham Prison, the
actors playing the screws try slightly too hard with their Geordie accents (all
‘bonnie lads’ and ‘kiddas’) but this makes for an effective clash with the
mainly cockney prisoners. Cheryl Campbell’s role as McVicar’s wife is
predictably thankless but Adam Faith (another pop star turned capable actor),
Billy Murray, Steven Berkoff and Ian Hendry all fulfil their generic
requirements admirably.
(Photo: Fabulous Films)
The
extras, on what has been dubbed ‘Break-out Edition’, are an informative
making-of, with contributions from the genial Daltrey, co-producer Bill
Curbishley and music composer-arranger Jeff Wayne, and a short interview by
actor Keith Allen (who is not in the film) with the real McVicar, recorded late
in his life. He tells a sad and fascinating tale, more interesting than
anything in the main feature.
(Sheldon Hall is the Copy Editor of Cinema Retro magazine.)
The first time that I heard of the name Nat Segaloff was in
1990 when I purchased his new book at the time, Hurricane Billy: The Stormy
Life and Films of William Friedkin. I eagerly read through it in no time as
The French Connection, Mr. Friedkin’s Oscar-winning film for Best
Picture and Best Director among others, is my favorite film. It was his fifth
feature as a director, and it put Mr. Friedkin on the map following the
disappointing box office performance of his first four films. However, the
critical praise and box office success of this real-life-inspired police drama
which contains two of cinema’s greatest action set pieces would not truly
prepare audiences for his follow-up film.
Mr. Friedkin’s The Exorcist, a film adaptation of the
best-selling 1971 William Peter Blatty novel of the same name, opened
theatrically on Wednesday, December 26, 1973 on no less than twenty seven
theater screens, one of which was the Cinema 57 which was part of the Sack Theatre
chain in Boston, MA. Mr. Segaloff was a publicist and was tasked with playing
door guard to a top-secret pre-arranged screening of the film on Christmas
morning to a handful of critics who were there to get their reviews in their
respective papers earlier than usual. This incident is recounted in his preface
to his latest book, The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear, the title of
which brings to the forefront the shocking revelation of just how many years
have transpired since Regan MacNeil’s head spun around. The film is something
that I had heard about for years prior to becoming a fan of scary cinema and I
was unsure how much of it was rumor or fact. I recall purchasing The
Exorcist on VHS in February 1986 seven months before I saw The French Connection.
It was in the oversized clamshell box by Warner Home Video and while I was
impressed with it, it did not scare me in the slightest. However, I have spoken
to other people who saw the film in their teenage years and refused to view it
ever again. A September 1996 viewing of the film to a sold-out screening at
Radio City Music Hall, introduced by both lead actress Ellen Burstyn and the
director in-person, solidified the film’s stature as a masterpiece in my mind.
The release of the film on DVD in a 25th anniversary edition whetted
the appetite of those who would see the film theatrically two years later when The
Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen was released which would include
changes and additional footage. The Blu-ray of the film in 2010
in the extended director’s cut was by no means the final word, as in 2013 a 40th anniversary
Blu-ray added a nice documentary and extended interviews with the author. Just
in time for the 50th anniversary, the film is now bowing in 4K UHD.
Following a foreword by John A. Russo of Night of the
Living Dead fame, Mr. Segaloff begins his book, which is comprised of
sixteen chapters and lasting just over three hundred pages in length, from the
correct presumption that the film is a misunderstood classic. He agrees with
the assessment by both Mr. Blatty and Mr. Friedkin that the film is many things
except the horror film that it is widely revered as since the time of its
release, though audiences have other opinions. We are treated to many interesting
tidbits: the hilarious story of how Mr. Friedkin met Mr. Blatty and how the
former’s honesty solidified a working relationship and lifelong friendship with
the latter, with Mr. Friedkin being the sole director that Mr. Blatty wanted
from the get-go; Warner Brothers’ initial reluctance to hire Mr. Friedkin until
the release of his brilliant The French Connection in 1971 garnered
sudden critical and financial success and changed the game completely; the
original 1949 real-life case of a young possessed Maryland boy; Mr. Blatty’s
writing of the novel; the making of the film; a multitude of issues that beset
the film’s production giving way to the supposed “curse” on the set; the
controversy surrounding the release of the film; in-depth looks at the much-maligned
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and the superior The Exorcist III
(1990), the latter both written and directed by Blatty; the prequels and
television series, and the little-known The Ninth Configuration. If
you’re even just a passing fan of the film, the book is a must read.
Mr. Segaloff was gracious enough to speak with me from his
home in Los Angeles by phone regarding the book. Unfortunately, the day I
contacted him about the interview was the same day that Mr. Friedkin had passed
away, a fact that I was unaware of until an hour later. Mr. Segaloff wanted to
press on with the interview, however, which amazed me as he knew Mr. Friedkin
for nearly fifty years.
Todd Garbarini: Where are you from originally?
Nat Segaloff: I was born in Washington, D.C., and
raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, which is a good long way from Cottage City,
Maryland, where that little boy was possessed in 1949. We were not possessed in
Silver Spring. Silver Spring was a very strange place. It was the nation’s
largest unincorporated city, about one hundred thousand people, and nobody
taking out the garbage.
I was able to leave and go to school in Boston, and there, I
not only ran the major movie program on campus, I also insinuated myself into
both the city’s professional film scene and the then-burgeoning underground
film scene. Of course, we’re talking the 1960’s.
When I graduated from college, I started doing publicity for
the film companies in town and, after a while, moved to New York to do it
there, then moved back to Boston and became a critic. All of that served as
fodder for the books I’ve written and for the people I’ve met because I’m a
kind of a demimonde. A lot of people remembered me from when I was a publicist,
but then when I became a reporter, they thought I was still a publicist, and
they trusted me. It’s a very odd combination, and I sometimes had to tell
people, “You know, I’m a reporter now.” I was able to keep close to a lot of
people that I’d met doing publicity, like Robert Altman, James Bridges, Paul Mazursky,
and John Milius.
TG: A lot of people I’ve spoken with who
work in the film industry didn’t go to the movies or even see films on
television until they were much older. Did you do the same thing, or did you
get into them later?
NS: Back when I was a pod, the only way to
see an old movie was on late-night television. I stayed up till one-thirty in
the morning to view The Jazz Singer on Washington television because
there was no way I was otherwise going to see it. There was no video, and you
couldn’t even rent a 16-millimeter print of it. Later, there were revival
theaters in Washington where I attended occasionally, but you still had to wait
for something to appear. Only when I went away to school and ran the film
program was I seeing movies every weekend, because I had to make sure people
weren’t smoking in the theater. That was my job. I was managing the campus
theater. I saw a lot of movies in class and in theaters, and it was wonderful.
Between that and being a critic, I must have spent thirty years watching a
couple of movies a week, and then I just burned out completely.
TG: As much as I love watching movies, I
don’t know that I would be able to do that! Do you have an all-time favorite
movie?
NS: The easy answer is Citizen Kane.
It certainly is the source of so much inspiration and technique for everybody
who makes movies. I don’t think it’s possible to cite one particular film.
Whatever pleases you at the time that you’re open to, it’s a film that becomes
your favorite. I also like His Girl Friday. No connection between those,
except they’re both about newspapers.
TG: Are you drawn to movies about reporters
and publicists?
NS: It turns out that I am drawn to
movies about reporters. Certainly, Sam Fuller’s Park Row is a movie that
makes me cry, not because it’s sad, but because it reminds me of the days when
I was writing for real newspapers. No, I don’t find myself glomming onto any
particular kind of film, be it science fiction, horror, drama, musical, or
anything else. I just like a good movie.
TG: So, you don’t consider yourself partial
to certain genres?
NS: I think that so many genres,
particularly horror or suspense films, seem to have a playbook, and I don’t
like films that go where you know they’re going to go. I remember something
Jonathan Demme said about the script for his film Something Wild. He
said you literally didn’t know from one page to the next what was going to
happen. I like to see that on the screen. I like films that have what I call an
“Oh, shit!” moment. The first one I remember was, of course, 2001: A Space
Odyssey, just before the intermission, when we realized that HAL was
reading the astronauts’ lips, and that was the moment where the whole audience sort
of exclaimed, “Oh, shit!” [laughs]. There are also other movies like A
Beautiful Mind with that kind of moment, or a movie that very few people
remember that Stephen Fears made called Dirty Pretty Things.
TG: Yes, that’s with Audrey Tautou from Amelie.
NS: Yes. I was watching it in a small
theater, and not only did we all say, “Oh, shit,” but we all stayed through the
credits and then stood up and congratulated each other after the movie for
seeing that film.
TG: You’ve written and published a good
number of books on The Towering Inferno, the Scarface films, the
Hollywood Code, John Milius, William Friedkin and Harlan Ellison. Your latest
book, The Exorcist Legacy: 50 Years of Fear, is quite an accomplishment.
It begins on Christmas Day in 1973. You were working for the Sack Cinema 57 on
Stuart Street in Boston.
NS: Yes. I was their publicity director in
1973 when The Exorcist was scheduled to be released on Wednesday,
December 26th. One of our critics, Stuart Byron, who knew the
industry really well, was able to inveigle William Friedkin to permit a
day-before screening so that the weekly papers, which catered to the young
audience, would be able to meet their deadlines. So, I hosted this greeting of The
Exorcist on Christmas morning.
For some reason, the critics had no problem leaving the
bosom of their families to come and see a movie about a little girl whose head
spins around. I didn’t see the movie that day. I was standing in the lobby
guarding the door so the people who weren’t invited couldn’t get in. Nobody got
sick. We didn’t know we were supposed to throw up. Of course, the Technicolor
yawns began the very next day.
TG: Did you have any inkling what that film
was like? Based upon the lobby cards, the marketing of the film by Warner
Brothers, did you have any idea what was going on behind those doors?
NS: I had no idea what was going to be
going on, “on this street in that house in a little girl’s bedroom.” [laughs]
I had read the book, of course. The only glimpse we had was a teaser trailer
that went 30 seconds with the narration I just did for you. It was simply a
shot of the poster of Max von Sydow standing outside of the house. That’s all
anybody knew. There were no pictures, nothing. In fact, there was an embargo on
anything from the film. I think it was either Time or Newsweek
who ended up sued by Warner Brothers because somebody sneaked into the theater
and got a picture of Regan in makeup and ran it. That was considered a breach
of copyright, a very secret thing. The audiences, as you know, would file out
ashen. The audiences waiting to get in would know that something weird was
going on in there, and it became an emotional rollercoaster for them.
TG: Now, I of course, didn’t live through
this. Was this a similar reaction like when Psycho came out? Psycho
had been a novel first, and then the film was released and it was all
hush-hush, “don’t give away the ending.”
NS: I wasn’t old enough to see Psycho
when it came out. I do know, of course, that Hitchcock specified that nobody be
allowed in once the film had started. That made a certain groundswell of public
opinion. The film that was closest to The Exorcist when I was that age
was Night of the Living Dead, which had a reputation for being gross,
scary, and horrifying. The fact that it was shown at midnight to a bunch of
kids who were probably high made additional impressions on people. A black and
white film with blurry pictures from an indie source in Pittsburgh was not the
same thing as a beautifully photographed color film from Warner Brothers.
Incidentally, John Russo, who co-wrote Night of the Living Dead, wrote
the forward to The Exorcist Legacy.
TG: What was your introduction to William
Friedkin’s work? Had you seen any of his previous films?
NS: I had seen The Birthday Party.
It was on a sneak preview where Walter
Reade’s Continental Releasing was trying to get a booking for it, and I
saw it in Boston. That wasn’t the film that I was there to see. The Birthday
Party was just stunning. Robert Shaw, Patrick Magee, I mean, just a
beautifully contained job. I’d also seen The Night They Raided Minsky’s,
and thought it was lovely, but I didn’t really realize it was a William
Friedkin film. I had missed Good Times with Sonny and Cher, which I’ve
seen since then. Then of course, The French Connection came out. I was
late seeing The Boys in the Band because I was in school at the time
when it played in theaters. I caught it later. The French Connection
naturally was the one that galvanized everybody. In fact, at the theater that
showed it in Boston, which is where I was working at the time, people would
come in early when they knew that the car chase was going to start, and they’d
see the chase and stay through to watch the film all through again so they
could get in and see the chase twice. We had to clear the theater. It was
remarkable with that on a huge screen. The vertigo was just phenomenal. It was
just a staggering effect because I don’t think anybody had ever mounted a
camera on the bumper of a car before Billy did it.
TG: That’s what blows me away about his
cinema. He did things that we had never seen before.
NS: Yes, including racing through the
streets of New York without permits. Randy Jurgensen will tell you one thing.
Sonny Grosso would tell another. Billy Friedkin would tell you something else. There’s
no agreement. From what I understand, and I trust Randy, is that they simply
ran the car. They didn’t have any siren on the car to warn people because, as
Randy said, if you put a siren on the car, people look at the car and they don’t
want people looking at the car. Billy sat in the back, Bill Hickman drove, and
they just tore ass through Brooklyn. If anybody stopped them, Randy said he’d
just flash his badge saying, “Fellow officer, let us go.” You could do that
then. You could get away with it.
TG: So much of what you could get away
with, you can’t do now because of small security cameras and the Internet.
NS: Yes. We’re living, as John Milius said,
under the booted foot of the lifeguard state.
TG: How did this book about The Exorcist
Legacy come about? When did you start thinking about it? Had it been
something gestating in your mind for some years? Had you started writing it a
long time ago in anticipation of the 50th anniversary?
NS: I could tell you my publicity line,
which is that I’ve been possessed by The Exorcist for 50 years, but in
fact, I’d acquired a wonderful new agent, Lee Sobel, at the end of 2020. We
were thinking what kind of books we could possibly sell. Anniversary books
seemed to work well. What film was having a 25th, a 40th, or a 50th
anniversary? We figured, well, with a year and a half or two of lead time, that
makes it 2023. I said, “The Exorcist is going to be 50.” Bang, he sold
it in a matter of days.
TG: Did you approach John Russo
specifically to do the forward?
NS: John Russo was approached by my editor,
James Abbate, who knows him and has worked with him. He very graciously did the
forward to the book.
TG: Yes, John is very nice. I go to horror
conventions that they have and most of the cast of my favorite horror films
come and speak about them. Night of the Living Dead was one of them. I
got to meet John there and talk with him at length about the films and all. I
just love the behind-the-scenes stories that you haven’t read and haven’t been
published. It gives you a real look into the film, a new appreciation, of the
movie, whatever that movie may be.
NS: There are some very good people out
there. The great thing about writers is that we tend to help each other.
Whenever I need an author’s query or information, it’s always the writers who
come through first, like yourself.
TG: As far as TheExorcist Legacy
is concerned, who was the first person you spoke to? Did you go straight to
Billy?
NS: I didn’t go to Billy at all for The
Exorcist Legacy. There was a reason for that, which is that I had all the
answers I needed back in 1988 to 1990 when I wrote his biography. In those
days, The Exorcist was merely a hit. It wasn’t a classic yet. The
stories, I believe, were closer to the source. I also had the good fortune to
speak to Ellen Burstyn, whom I adore, and who I believe is our finest American
actress of our generation.
TG: I agree, she’s phenomenal.
NS: She’s amazing. I had spoken to William
Peter Blatty at great length. We’d been friends and kept in touch over the
years. A lot of his material in the book is material that I could not publish
while he was alive. He was very frank about his relationship with film studios.
As he hand-wrote on the side of a transcript that I sent him for approval, as
you do, he said, “Nat, don’t print this. I’ve got enough problems.” He was a
warm, funny, and wonderful man.I’ve become friends with his oldest son,
Mike, since the book came out. In fact, I saw him at a signing the other day.
He happened to be in town. I’m very happy to keep up my connection with the
Blatty family.
TG: Oh, sure. Whom did you speak to at
great length for the book?
NS: I did it two years ago and it was with
Terry Donnelly, who was the first assistant director and unit manager. I had
worked on a film with Terry years ago. We picked up where we left off and he
was able to tell me about the behind-the-scenes facets. I spoke to Craig McKay,
who is a film editor. He cut TheSilence of the Lambs among other
films. He’s very good. He was a kid when he was starting out on The Exorcist,
there to pick up pieces. He had some wonderful stories. I did speak to Jeremy
Slater, who was the showrunner for the Exorcist television series, and
of course, David Gordon Green, who has a new Exorcist film coming out. I
had a lot of the material from when I wrote Hurricane Billy (Billy’s
biography). I was able to use that. What can I say, covering all these films,
two sequels, two prequels, and each of them was recut? It was a lot to write
about.
TG: How do you keep track in your head just
of all these different versions of these movies? As much as I love films, I
really find it so hard to be able to keep track of the director’s cut, or the
original cut, and this one runs this number of minutes, etc. I’ve always
admired Tim Lucas’s review of movies in Video Watchdog for that reason
because it’s encyclopedic, the amount of information that he has on all these
films and how he would do all the video comparisons. How did you find doing
that? Was that something that came easily to you because you had seen the film
so many times in different versions?
NS: Tim Lucas is one of the people in the
book, as is Mark Kermode. We’ve known each other for so many years that we don’t
even think about it. With the different versions of The Exorcist, which
I’m not very happy with, I guess, three of them, or maybe four, depending on if
you count one of them twice, I think the original is the best version, except
for a couple of scenes that are put in “The Version You’ve Never Seen,” so it’s
very hard. I would like to do my own fan edit, but I think I’ve watched The
Exorcist enough by now.
TG: Was there anybody you wanted to
interview for this book whom you weren’t able to interview because they either passed
away or you were unable to contact?
NS: Linda Blair.
TG: What was the first Billy Friedkin film
that you were on the set of?
NS: The Brink’s Job
in the summer of 1978. I was there for Evening Magazine, which was the
version of PM Magazine that was run on the stations that were owned by
Westinghouse.
TG: Oh, I remember PM Magazine. That’s
where I first saw Matt Lauer.
NS: Billy allowed our cameras on the set,
which is funny because he just kicked the publicity cameras for Paramount and Universal
off the set, and he let us on. We had wonderful footage of Peter Falk and the
cast. Dean Tavoularis had done a reconstruction of the Brink’s system as it was
in 1951 when the robbery took place. It was a magnificent set. There was an
incident where some local tough guys broke into the editing offices, took
footage, and wanted to hold it for ransom to shake down the production. As it
happened, I had the only footage of Brink’s and I was with a TV station, but I
couldn’t get my TV station to run their own footage because we had shot
non-union. That was Westinghouse. That’s why they’re not around anymore. Westinghouse
was the Pazuzu of television. I was also on the set of one of Billy’s films in
Montreal when I was writing the book (the 1988 TV-movie C.A.T. Squad: Python
Wolf). You don’t learn a whole lot on a set. William Goldman is right. The
most exciting day of your life is your first day on a movie set, and the most
boring day of your life is your second day on a movie set.
TG: I’ve seen a handful of films being shot.
It’s fairly boring, I must say.
NS: I will correct you on one thing. Billy
Friedkin didn’t allow chairs on his sets. You stand around.
TG: Christopher Nolan is like that. He
doesn’t allow them either.
NS: He’s right! James Cameron has a nail
gun (like in No Country for Old Men), and if anybody’s cell phone rings,
he nails it to a prop.
TG: Holy Jeez! Is there anything that I
haven’t covered that you wanted to say about the book?
NS: The book goes into not just the
original Exorcist, but the sequels and prequels. That’s something that
people don’t consider because nobody ever intended The Exorcist to be a
franchise. It became a franchise when Morgan Creek bought the rights from Bill
Blatty, and they are now trying to revive it, of course, with the October
release of The Exorcist:Believer.
TG: Have you seen that?
NS: No, I haven’t seen it yet. I’m looking
forward to it. I do know that I really like David Gordon Green, who was very
kind to me. He probably shouldn’t have been talking about the film. He did
because I had a year and a half lead time for the book, and it’s in there. I
was disappointed in the prequel, both Dominion, which was Paul Schrader’s
version, and Exorcist: The Beginning, which was Renny Harlin’s. Although
I think there’s a lot in Paul Schrader’s version, I’ve been saying the
difference between them is that Paul Schrader made a film where Renny Harlan
made a movie. I think that both films had trouble because people expect an
exorcism Exorcist movie and what they got was CGI. That’s not the same
thing. CGI is not the real thing. That’s what distinguishes The Exorcist;
what made The Exorcist work was that it was real. The things that
happened in front of the camera actually happened. Linda Blair really floated,
the bed really shook, doors really cracked, things really fell over. Curtains
really blew on closed windows. They didn’t happen because anybody was
possessed. They happened because Dick Smith created brilliant makeup and Marcel
Vercoutere had incredibly complicated mechanical effects, but they all happened
in front of the camera so that it looked real. That’s the documentary nature of
Billy’s filmmaking and why he believes in reality. That, I believe, will be his
ultimate legacy on film, which is that he made the movies look real. Of course,
now most of the movies look like fantasy. We’ve lost that.
TG: Yes. Steven Spielberg would agree with
that statement. He likes to see everything real in front of the camera. He does
realize that in today’s day and age, you do have to use computer graphics, and
that’s really came to fruition with Jurassic Park. Before that, he wondered
how they were going to make the dinosaurs run.
NS: It’s true. He tried stop motion, but he
didn’t want to make Jurassic Park until he could do it right. Not
everybody has that. They’ll say, “Well, the audience won’t know.” No, no, they know.
The audience doesn’t know what’s called the uncanny valley, but it is the
uncanny valley.
TG: I want to thank you very, very much for
taking the time to speak with me about the book.
NS: Thank you so much. I do want to say something about
Billy who, as you know, died just twenty-two days shy of his 88th birthday. He
was a friend for fifty years and an inspiration, not just for his films, but
for his personality: he didn’t cotton to bullshit which, of course, is the coin
of the realm in Hollywood. Billy was a very brave man because I can’t think of
many other directors, except maybe Brian De Palma, who let somebody write a
book about them while they were still working. He did that for me and launched
my career as a writer. I love him and I miss him. And thank you, Todd and
Cinema Retro, for giving me the chance to say that on the record.
Although I have a weak spot for Italian westerns of the 1960s and 1970s, most can be appropriately evaluated by paraphrasing Longfellow: "When they were good, they were very, very good, and when they were bad, they were horrid." "Blindman" is a curiosity from 1971 that I previously panned after viewing an allegedly "remastered" DVD edition that looked barely better than a VHS transfer. The film fits rather comfortably into the latter part of Longfellow's famous nursery rhyme. Although the movie has a devoted fan base, when I first reviewed it I call it "a pretty horrid experience and inexcusably amateurish in execution, given the well-seasoned people involved". The good news is that Abkco Films has released a truly remastered DVD version that considerably improves one's perception of the film. As the title implies, it's about...well, a blind man. He's played by Tony Anthony, who did rather well for himself as a sort of Clint Eastwood Lite character known as The Stranger in a series of Euro Westerns (Any similarity to Eastwood's Man With No Name must have been purely coincidental). Anthony went on to star in any number of lucrative, low-budget action films, the most notable being "Comin' At Ya!, a 3-D flick that has also built a loyal cult following. His co-star in "Blindman" is Ringo Starr. More about him later. The film was based on a Japanese movie titled "Zatoichi" about a blind samurai hero. As with "The Magnificent Seven", which was based on Kurasawa's "Seven Samurai", the story has been transplanted to the American west. When we first see the Blindman (whose name is never mentioned), he rides into a one-horse town and confronts his former partners. Seems they had a lucrative contract to deliver 50 mail order brides to some horny miners. However, a better offer was made from a Mexican bandito named Domingo (Lloyd Battista), who has exported them South 'O the Border to force them into prostitution. Blindman apparently has a sense of honor in terms of fulfilling the original contract. He manages to kill his former partners and sets off to Mexico to rescue the women, presumably so they can sold into another form of prostitution. At first the premise of this film intrigued me. How, after all, can you logically present a story about a blind gunslinger? The answer is you apparently can't. You could get away with it if the film was a satire, but there is surprisingly little overt humor in "Blindman". Yes, in true Eastwood fashion, the hero sometimes makes some snarky quips before, during and after dispatching his adversaries, but for the most part, the film takes itself far too seriously.
How does the Blindman find his way around? Well, he has his own "wonder horse" who seems more like a companion than a beast of burden. The hoofed hero is always at his disposal and seems to be able to do everything but read a map for him. Speaking of maps, Blindman gets to various destinations by running his finger over maps that engraved in leather...sort of a braille system. Given the fact that he has to navigate the state of Texas, then Mexico, one would think he would require maps the size of rolls of kitchen linoleum, but somehow he gets by with navigational tools that fit neatly into his pocket. When Blindman arrives in Mexico, he has numerous confrontations with the brutal Domingo and his army of thugs. He suffers the ritualistic beatings of any hero in the Italian western genre, but always manages to get the better hand by his deadly use of the rifle that he uses as a walking stick. Somehow the Blindman can use instinct and an uncanny hearing ability to gun down his would-be assassins with uncanny precision, though occasionally he does impose on some allies for advice. He also confronts Candy (Ringo Starr), Domingo's equally sadistic brother, who is keeping a captive woman as his mistress. What follows is a seemingly endless series of chases, confrontations and the obligatory imitation Morricone score, all of it under the pedestrian direction of Ferdinando Baldi, who has a revered reputation with some fans of the genre and does manage to set off some impressive explosions. (Amusingly, the concept of showing the "50" mail order brides must have taxed the limited budget so we only get to see them in small clusters.). There are a couple of sequences that stand out in terms of creativity. One involves the surprise slaughter of a barroom filled with Mexican soldiers. The other has a bit of suspense as the Blindman is served a food bowl that he doesn't realize contains a deadly snake. The finale of the film finds Blindman wrestling with Domingo, who has been blinded by a cigar! (Don't ask...) It's supposed to be a tense confrontation, but the sight of the two blind guys rolling around in the dirt looks like an outtake from a Monty Python sketch. The most intriguing aspect of the film is what led Ringo Starr into appearing in it. He had considerable on-screen charisma that he parlayed into a successful acting career. Here, however, his role is colorless and bland. He doesn't even play the main villain, but rather a supporting character who disappears from the story before the movie even reaches the one-hour mark. Starr supposedly was looking to jump-start his film career and worked with Tony Anthony to develop this production. While he acquits himself credibly, he might have at least given his character some memorable lines or characteristics.
The previously reviewed version of the film pointed out that the packaging had indicated the film had a running time of 105 minutes, which matches with the original timing cited on on the IMDB site. However, the screener we reviewed ran only 83 minutes and it looked like it had been edited with a meat cleaver. The ABCKO version is the actual 105 minute cut and the transfer is excellent, a vast improvement over the muddy mess we had previously reviewed. Seeing "Blindman" again under these conditions has allowed me to reevaluate my opinion of the film. While it certainly never rises to the standards of a Sergio Leone production, the movie's quirky premise and the amusing performance by Tony Anthony made the experience far more enjoyable the second time around.
(David and Cinema Retro Editor-in-Chief Lee Pfeiffer. Photo: Cinema Retro.)
We congratulate David McCallum on his milestone 90th birthday....and not showing any signs of slowing down! David has always been there for Cinema Retro, making numerous contributions over the last 20 years. Aside from his acting talents, David is also the epitome of a true gentleman.
In the wake of their success co-starring in John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, Warner
Brothers realized they had captured lightning in a bottle with the
teaming of Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. The studio quickly paired
the two character actors again in the Bogart films Casablanca and Passage to Marseilles. In 1944, Warners decided to give Greenstreet and Lorre what amounted to starring roles in the thriller The Mask of Dimitrios, based
on the Eric Ambler novel and set in pre-WWII Europe. (Lorre received
fourth billing in the film behind Greenstreet, Zachary Scott and Faye
Emerson, but in terms of screen time, he is the star of the movie.)
Lorre plays Cornelius Leyden, a mild mannered crime novelist who is
visiting Istanbul, where he becomes intrigued by the murder of a man
named Dimitrios, who was a local legend in terms of his criminal
activities. Dimitrios's body has washed ashore, as shows evidence that
he has been stabbed to death. Sensing a good story in the murder, Leyden
pursues the man's background and finds out he was known throughout
Europe for his audacious crimes. Leyden decides to track down those who
interacted with Dimitrios, including jilted partner and abandoned
girlfriends. All agree that he was a charismatic cad who worked his way
up from petty crimes in Istanbul to being an integral part of Europe's
pre-war espionage activities. Leyden is followed in his footsteps by
Peters (Sydney Greenstreet), an affable man of mystery who is also
obsessed with tracking down Dimitrios's acquaintances and activities
leading up to the man's death. After a rocky introduction at the point
of Peters' gun, the two men forge an alliance and travel through Turkey,
Yuguoslavia and finally Paris in their quest. Along the way, they
determine that Dimitrios is very much alive and well, having used
another man's murder as an opportunity to fake his own death. Peters is
determined to use that information to blackmail Dimitrios and thus
ensure acquiring enough money to afford a comfortable retirement.
Much of the story is told in flashbacks as various individuals relate
their experiences with Dimitrios to Leyden and Peters. As played by
Zachary Scott, Dimitrios lives up to his legend as handsome womanizer
and persuasive businessman, though each of his friends and partners ends
up being abruptly jilted in some manner, as Dimitrios moves on to his
next scam. (Jack Warner had high hopes for Scott becoming the studio's
next great leading man, but his interest in promoting Scott seemed to
wane and the actor never really acquired the stardom that his role in
this film would seem to have assured.) Leyden and Peters also meet
Irana, an entertainer in a squalid Istanbul cafe, who relates how
Dimitrios became her lover and ensured that her fortunes improved.
However, when she loaned him her savings, he abandoned her, never to be
heard from again. Although nursing a broken heart and bearing resentment
for the man on one level, she admits she still carries a torch and his
abandonment of her left her in a depressed state of mind that still
continues. (Apparently, once you've experienced Dimitrios, no other man
comes to close as a lover.) As Leyden and Peters close in on their prey,
the stakes become higher - and they realize their lives are very much
at risk.
The Mask of Dimitrios, ably directed by Jean Negulesco, is a joy to watch. It doesn't have the artistic pretensions of The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, but
it is a thoroughly entertaining movie. Lorre and Greenstreet's "Mutt
and Jeff" act continues to present them as essentially the same
character in film after film, but that doesn't in any way compromise the
delight of watching these two eccentric actors at the peak of their
careers. The supporting performances are also equally delightful and the
film bares all the rich artistic hallmarks of a WB release from the
era.
The Warner Archive has released the film on DVD. The
transfer is excellent. An original trailer is included that features
specially-filmed footage of Greenstreet and Lorre addressing the
audience. The DVD is region free but it's time for a Blu-ray release!
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Paramount:
Hailed as “the biggest and best action movie of the year” (Screen Rant), the edge-of-your-seat, non-stop thrill ride MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One
becomes available to buy on Digital for fans to watch at home starting
October 10, 2023. The blockbuster hit will debut on 4K Ultra HD
SteelBook™, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and DVD on October 31st.
“Tom
Cruise is at the top of his game” in “the best ‘Mission’ ever”
(KTLA-TV) that’s loaded with “next level action and thrills”
(Entertainment Weekly). Certified Fresh with a stellar 96% critic score* on Rotten Tomatoes,® MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One received widespread acclaim and a coveted “A” CinemaScore from fans.
Fans
who purchase the film on Digital can go deeper into the mission with
extensive, action-packed bonus content. Get an inside look at how Tom
Cruise and the filmmaking team pulled off multiple breathtaking stunts,
go behind-the-scenes of the exotic filming locations, delve into
spectacular footage not seen in theatres, learn about the intricacies of
the filmmaking process with director Christopher McQuarrie and editor
Eddie Hamilton, and more! Bonus content is detailed below:
Commentary by director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton—McQuarrie and Hamilton take viewers through each compelling scene with in-depth commentary.
Abu Dhabi—Explore
the exotic filming locations in the desert and at the international
airport and discover how each thrilling sequence was shot.
Rome—Take
a behind-the-scenes look at the thrilling car chase through Italy's
historic capital, as Tom Cruise's driving skills are pushed to the limit
while handcuffed to Hayley Atwell!
Venice—See
the breathtaking city of Venice as it's never been shown on film.
Plus, witness the cast's dedication and commitment to their training as
they prepare to get "Mission Ready."
Freefall—An
extended behind-the-scenes look at one of the biggest stunts in cinema
history. Watch never-before-seen footage of the rigorous training as
Tom launches a motorcycle off a cliff.
Speed Flying—Join
Tom and the crew as they explain the various training techniques
involved in pulling off the dangerous speed flying stunts in the film.
Train—See
how the climactic train sequence was captured on film. From building
an actual train from scratch to crashing it using practical effects, you
don't want to miss this!
Deleted Shots Montage—Director
Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton share some of the
breathtaking, never-before-seen footage that didn't make the final film.
Editorial Featurette: The Sevastopol—Director Christopher McQuarrie and editor Eddie Hamilton take viewers through the intense opening scene.
(Photo: Paramount)
Synopsis
Ethan
Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous
mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of
humanity before it falls into the wrong hands. With the fate of the
world at stake, a deadly race around the globe begins. Confronted by a
mysterious, all-powerful enemy, Ethan is forced to consider that nothing
can matter more than his mission - not even the lives of those he cares
about most.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE—DEAD RECKONING Part One is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, some language and suggestive material.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present
A TOM CRUISE Production TOM CRUISE “MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE”
HAYLEY ATWELL VING RHAMES SIMON PEGG REBECCA FERGUSON VANESSA KIRBY
and HENRY CZERNY Casting by MINDY MARIN, CSA
Music by LORNE BALFE Costume Designer JILL TAYLOR Film Editor EDDIE HAMILTON, ACE
Production Designer GARY FREEMAN Director of Photography FRASER TAGGART
Executive Producers DAVID ELLISON DANA GOLDBERG DON GRANGER
TOMMY GORMLEY CHRIS BROCK SUSAN E. NOVICK
Produced by TOM CRUISE CHRISTOPHER McQUARRIE
Based on the Television Series Created by BRUCE GELLER
"BLAST FROM THE PAST: FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES"
By Lee Pfeiffer
"Saturday Night Live" spawned many a memorable comic character, some of whom were exploited in feature films. While "The Coneheads" proved to be popular on the big screen, other TV-to-cinema transfers of iconic "SNL" pop culture figures proved to be duds. Al Franken's memorable incarnation of Stuart Smalley was the subject of "Stuart Saves His Family", a 1995 production directed by Harold Ramis that received some surprisingly favorable reviews but ended up with a North American boxoffice gross of less than $1 million. That ranks as a major success compared to "It's Pat: The Movie", released the prior year and starring Julia Sweeney as the androgynous character that proved to be a popular staple of "SNL" during this period. Pat was a visually unattractive figure with an obnoxious manner of speaking that repulsed his/her coworkers, who were constantly striving to discover whether Pat was a male or female. Inevitably, Pat would provide unintentionally ambiguous answers to leading questions that would only heighten the mystery and thwart those who were seeking to unveil Pat's genetic makeup. As the subject of five-minute comedy sketches the concept worked great and Sweeney's Pat became a popular staple of the show. Then Hollywood came knocking. Fox approached Sweeney to turn the concept into a feature film. Sweeney admitted she couldn't envision how Pat could remain interesting to viewers in any format other than TV skits. After putting some development money into the film, Fox agreed and backed off only to have Disney's Touchstone Pictures ride to the rescue and give the production the green light. The result was a disaster. The film was given some sporadic openings only to be pulled within a week due to complete rejection by audiences. The movie's boxoffice gross in North America stands at $61,000. Although modestly-budgeted, the movie still had cost more than $10 million to make. Time has not been kind to dear Pat, as it boasts a Rotten Tomatoes score of 0%. Now those brave souls at Kino Lorber have released a Blu-ray of "Pat: The Movie" and, consequently, it's time to revisit the film.
The plot (such as it is) opens with Pat alienating everyone in his/her orbit with obnoxious behavior. A local store owner gives Pat items for free just to expedite his/her departure. Pat tries various career moves but inevitably loses every job due to ineptness. Just when things seem hopeless, Pat finds love with Chris (Dave Foley in a role originated by Dana Carvey on "SNL"), another androgynous individual. The two set up house together and live as a normal couple, though both seem blissfully unaware that their sexuality is a mystery to those around them. Are they a straight couple? A gay couple? Two men? Two women? A subplot is introduced in which a hunky new neighbor, Kyle (Charles Rocket) and his wife Stacy (Julie Hayden) find their lives disrupted by Kyle's increasing obsession with Pat. He is sexually attracted to him/her, much to the alarm of Stacy, and that attraction turns into a psychological mania that finds Kyle dressing like Pat and even stroking a doll that resembles him/her. Meanwhile, the hapless Pat blunders into some successful career steps by making an appearance with a rock band that leads to him/ her becoming a media sensation. When he/she drops by a radio station to visit a friend, Kathy (Kathy Griffin), who hosts a popular romantic advice show, Pat unintentionally upstages her and gets the hosting gig. Pat's success has alienated Chris, who breaks up the relationship and decides to move abroad. The finale finds Pat coming to grips with his/her faults and making a mad dash to a cruise ship line to prevent Chris from leaving the country.
The animosity extended to "Pat: The Movie", which was directed by
Adam Bernstein, is a bit difficult to understand. It isn't very good, to
be sure, but it's amusing at times and never veers into the overtly
offensive gross-out humor that characterizes many of today's comedies.
One of the main problems with the film is that there are no sympathetic
characters. I don't recall Pat being an overt narcissist on the "SNL"
sketches but here the character is mean-spirited, self-centered and
devoid of any likable behavior. Kyle is even more repulsive and barely
looks up when his wife leaves him. Now this is an absurdist comedy, to
be sure, but the best comedies allow the audience to relate to the
protagonists on some level. Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey played klutzes
but they were klutzes you could cheer for. Not so with Sweeney's Pat.
Additionally, Sweeney's fears that the one-note concept could not be
sustained over the course of a feature film proved correct. Even with
the running time of 77 minutes, the movie plods. Still, there are some
genuine laughs, most of them centered on the traditional gag of those
around Pat becoming increasingly frustrated by their failure to
determine his/her sex. When Pat and Chris are presented with a gift of a
sexy corset, they both smile wryly and say "We'll enjoy this!"
There is also some genuine amusement in Pat's physical appearance, a
kind of grotesque version of Jerry Lewis's Prof. Kelp from "The Nutty
Professor". But the laughs are too few even for the abbreviated running
time. There also some annoyances that are due to simple sloppiness: when
Pat tries to escape a pursuer, she randomly enters a building only to
find the place is a night club hosting a packed, on-going, ear-splitting
rock concert taking place apparently in the middle of the afternoon. Such absurdities leave one to think that the film was slapped together quickly in order to make a fast buck.
Julia Sweeney tragically faced more challenges than the complete
failure of "It's Pat" with critics and the public. Around the time of
the film's release, her brother was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
After caring for him, she was diagnosed with cancer. Sweeney beat the
disease and made lemonade from the lemons life had handed her when she
wrote and starred in her acclaimed one-woman play, "God Said Hah!" which
chronicled her personal trials and tribulations through a comedic lens.
(The play would later be the basis for a documentary.) Her co-star
Charles Rocket fared worse, committing suicide in 2005. However, most of
those associated with the debacle of "It's Pat" found their careers
survived. Director Adam Bernstein went on to a highly successful career
in television. Dave Foley continues to work steadily in TV and films and
Kathy Griffin emerged as a popular standup comedienne and pundit on CNN
until her increasingly foul-mouthed rants backfired, topped by sending
around an image on social media depicting her holding the bloody,
severed head of President Trump. That stunt achieved the distinction of
being denounced by even the president's most ardent critics and Griffin
lost her CNN gig.
"It's Pat" opened and closed before the age of E mail and social
media had taken the world by storm. It's failure today would have been
the stuff of snarky jokes and cynical criticisms of all those involved.
However, because the film wasn't highly anticipated, it's failure
occurred without much notice or damage to anyone's personal reputation.
There's plenty of laughs left in dear Pat but they can mostly be found
in the original "SNL" skits. Ironically, with transgender issues now the topic of current debates, the film might have found a more receptive audience today.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray has an impressive transfer, a teaser trailer
for the film and a gallery of other comedies available through the
company.
The Matt Helm Movie Classics special edition is now sold out! Thanks to so many of our loyal readers for making this the fastest selling issue since we began publishing.
Here is a brief newsreel of the festivities taking place at the 1962 New York premiere of MGM's "Mutiny on the Bounty", a magnificent epic even though there were almost impossible obstacles to overcome in bringing it to the big screen. (See Cinema Retro's Movie Classics roadshow epics issue for full coverage). Despite causing controversies during filming, Marlon Brando was induced to attend the premiere, a practice he was usually adverse to. Note the theater marquee across the street showing John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate".
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Fabulous Films regarding the Region 2 Blu-ray and DVD releases of "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters", which are being released on 28 August.
One of Woody Allen’s best-loved films, Hannah and Her Sisters, won
three richly deserved Oscars and is considered a joy from start to
perfectly-judged finish.
The films ensemble
cast includes Max von Sydow, Carrie Fisher, Sir Michael Caine, Diane Wiest, Lloyd
Nolan (who died 4 months before the film's release), Mia Farrow and Daniel
Stern. Caine won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role while Wiest won
Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Allen won Best Screenplay (beating Crocodile
Dundee, My Beautiful Laundrette, Platoon and Salvador). Max von
Sydow and Barbara Hershey received a standing ovation from the crew after they
finished filming their characters' break-up scene.
The film has some
great one-liners, with a philosophical discussion about the nature of good and
evil getting shot down with “How should I know why there were Nazi’s, I don’t
even know how the can opener works”
Synopsis: Hannah (Mia Farrow) is a devoted wife, loving mother and successful
actress. She’s also the emotional backbone of the family, and her sisters Lee
(Barbara Hershey) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) depend on this stability while also
resenting it because they can’t help but compare Hannah’s seemingly perfect
life with theirs. But with her husband Elliott (Michael Caine) becoming
increasingly interested in Lee, it’s clear that Hannah might have problems of
her own.
Cast: Woody Allen, Michael
Caine, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Barbara Hershey, Lloyd Nolan, Maureen
O’Sullivan, Daniel Stern, Max von Sydow, Julie Kavner, Richard Jenkins, Fred
Melamed, Lewis Black, Joanna Gleason, John Turturro, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and
Dianne Wiest.
“One of (Woody)
Allen’s most enduring accomplishments” - BoxOffice
Nominated for two
Academy-Awards® Manhattan is a wry, touching and finely rendered portrait of
modern relationships set against the backdrop of urban alienation. Sumptuously
photographed in black and white (Allen’s first film in that format) and
accompanied by a magnificent Gershwin score which includes Rhapsody in Blue.
Released in 1979. Manhattan
won Best Film and Best Screenplay at the BAFTAs. Mariel Hemingway aged 16
years old earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards
for her performance. Woody Allen and Marshall Brinkman were nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. In 2001, the United States Library
of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Synopsis: Forty-two-year-old
Manhattan native Isaac Davis (Allen) has a job he hates, a seventeen-year-old
girlfriend, Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), whom he doesn’t love, and a lesbian
ex-wife, Jill (Meryl Streep), who’s writing a tell-all book about their
marriage...and whom he’d like to strangle. But when he meets his best friend’s
sexy intellectual mistress, Mary (Diane Keaton), Isaac falls head over heels in
lust! Leaving Tracy, bedding Mary and quitting his job are just the beginnings
of Isaac’s quest for romance and fulfilment . In a city where sex is as
intimate as a handshake - and the gateway to true love...is a revolving door.
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane
Keaton, Michael Murphy, Mariel Hemingway, Meryl Streep, Anne Byrne.
Please note: the U.S. office of Cinema Retro will be closed for vacation between August 21-September 7. You can place orders as you normally would and shipments will resume when we reopen. Thank you.
Here's a regrettably grainy but ultra-rare shot from the Cinema Retro archive, circa June 1966. It depicts a chance meeting of two major spy movie stars of that year, as Michael Caine bumped into George Segal on location in Berlin. Caine was reprising his Harry Palmer in Funeral in Berlin while Segal was shooting The Quiller Memorandum. Remember, every issue of our magazine edition is packed with rare photos and production ads you've never seen, so subscribe today!
Friedkin directing Gene Hackman in "The French Connection". (Photo: Cinema Retro Archives.)
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Turner Classic Movies.
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will celebrate the life and career of director William Friedkin
with a programming tribute this September and November. Friedkin, who
died August 7 at the age of 87, started his career by directing one of
the last episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. He went on to
be known as one of the iconic directors of New Hollywood in the 1970s
with such hits as The Exorcist (1973) and The French Connection (1971),
which won him the Academy Award® for Best Director. William Friedkin was
a great friend to Turner Classic Movies and he attended the TCM Classic
Film Festival several times, most recently in April 2023.
TCM Remembers William Friedkin Part 1 – Thursday, September 14 8:00 PM – The French Connection (1971) – Two New York narcotics cops set out to bust a French drug smuggling ring. 10:00 PM – To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) – A Secret Service agent becomes obsessed with tracking down a notorious and dangerous Los Angeles counterfeitor. 12:15 AM – The Boys in the Band (1970) – A gay birthday party turns into a night of soul-searching when the host's straight college roommate turns up by mistake.
TCM Remembers William Friedkin Part 2 – Sunday, November 26 8:00 PM – Friedkin Uncut (2018) – TCM Premiere – In
this documentary, William Friedkin is interviewed about his career,
alongside a number of his colleagues and industry admirers. 10:00 PM – The Exorcist (1973) – A priest battles to save a young girl possessed by demons.
A
few years ago, actress-turned-playwright Carol Hollenbeck had a Zoom meeting
with a theatre group and mentioned this fabulous red-carpet premiere in her
hometown for a movie she made in the sixties. About a month later, the group
met again on Zoom and one of the group members said to Carol, “By the way, I
found your movie.’ She quickly asked, “What movie?’ “Eden Cried,” he replied.
Carol was flabbergasted. That film had been lost for almost fifty years and from
her perspective it should have remained lost.
Carol
Hollenbeck was a starstruck teenager who had been fascinated with Hollywood
from a young age. She candidly admitted, “I didn’t want to become an actress. I
wanted to be a movie star.”
Arriving
in Hollywood in the early 1960s, she unfortunately suffered the pitfalls many
naïve young women fell victim to. However, using the stage name of Carole
Holland, she did have some small successes greatly aided by the fact that she
was a beautiful, shapely, baby doll blonde.
Carol’s
looks and poise no doubt helped her land a job as a showgirl in a stage
production of Irma La Douce, starring Juliet Prowse at the Riviera Hotel
in Las Vegas. Carol recalls, “Juliet was engaged to Frank Sinatra at the time.
She was very outspoken and yelled a lot.” She donned bikinis for a few of the
non-AIP beach movies such as The Girls on the Beach. And her adoration
of Jean Harlow gave her an indirect connection to Joseph E. Levine’s Harlow
starring Carroll Baker and a direct connection to Bill Sargent’s rival Harlow
starring Carol Lynley. She actually met with Sargent to discuss her
possibly playing the thirties sex bomb. Alas, it did not come to be. [Carol
discusses her Harlow experiences in my upcoming book Dueling Harlows: The Race
to Bring the Actress’s Life to the Silver Screen from McFarland and Co.]
What
did materialize was the female lead in the low-budget oddity, Eden Cried,
which was also known as In the Fall of ’55 …Eden Cried. It was shot
in 1965 but not shown until 1967—two years after Frankie and Annette had hung
up their surfboards. It was a sort of adult, soap opera-ish Beach Party,
set in Malibu supposedly during the mid-1950s (but everything from the costumes
to the beach scenes to dance moves scream 1960s), that showed what life was
like for teenage beach denizens off the sand. There is a fair amount of surfing
footage and scenes of young people partying on the shore.
To
alleviate all the histrionics, there is narration (that was not in the movie
when it premiered) provided by a Jack Nicholson sound-alike who makes a lot of amusing,
sardonic remarks about the characters and put-downs about Southern California
living in general. It is done in a way that evokes those dead serious 1950s
documentaries where they warned viewers about juvenile delinquency or impending
bomb threats or predatory homosexuals. It also connects scenes due to missing or
excised footage.
Carol
has some good dramatic moments as rich girl Lorraine Parker (a sexy blonde with
a big bouffant and a bad reputation) new to her high school. She falls for
rebellious senior Skip Galloway (Tom P. Pace), a surfer and grease monkey with
a bitchin’ hot rod. Pace, who was in his thirties at the time but looked
forty-five, is so miscast that it is off-putting seeing him romance the more age-appropriate
Carole or confiding to Larry Reimer as his best friend Rich or just hanging on
the sand with the teenage beach and surfing crowd. Lorraine and Skip have a
tumultuous, up-and down-relationship fueled by a drag race that ends in tragedy;
her disapproving father (Victor Izay); infidelity (tired of taking it slow,
Lorraine has sex with Rich); a suicide attempt (Lorraine downs some dolls after
Skip leaves her) that leads to a quickie marriage, and an unwanted pregnancy
that breaks the couple up. This is where the film abruptly ends without the
requisite happy ending. It also promises a sequel that never came to be—thankfully.
After
its 1967 premiere in Newburgh, Eden Cried was not released theatrically.
Unbeknownst to Carol, it surfaced in January of 1972 (it is speculated the
narration was added at this point) and was screened in a few theaters in Los
Angeles. Then in April, it popped up in Atlanta before falling back into
obscurity. In both cities, the nostalgia appeal for the fifties/early sixties
was highlighted in its print ads to draw audiences. This was just ahead of the Broadway
stage musical Grease and George Lucas’ film American Graffiti—both
of which became box office hits.
As
far as Carol knows, after being shown in Atlanta, Eden Cried was never
televised and remained a lost film until a few years ago when it surfaced on
DVD (from Video Screams). It has now become a cult curio especially for fans of
1960s drive-in movies. Carol recently appeared at a screening of the movie and
is planning on attending more of them.
Cinema
Retro: How were you
cast in Eden Cried?
Carol
Hollenbeck: I blocked
it out regarding how I was cast. I really do not know. However, if I was to
venture a guess, it was because of all the publicity I was getting at the time.
My press agent was grooming me to be the next Marilyn Monroe. The media dubbed
me “Hollywood’s Mystery Girl” because I was being photographed at discotheques
and movie premieres. My face turned up in many newspapers.
CR: Do you know what the title means?
CH: It comes from the lyrics to the
movie’s theme song [written by John Bambridge, Jr. and sung by Walter Rowen]. I
felt that the title meant young love gone wrong...
CR:
What did you think of
the ridiculous casting of Tom P. Pace as your seventeen-year-old boyfriend?
CH:
Tom was almost
thirty-five. But it is Hollywood’s mentality. I will tell you why. Everybody
knew he was too old. Somebody—probably one of the producers—said, ‘I want him.
I don’t care how old he looks, I want him.’ And that was it. He was not
physically right for the part, but they wanted him anyway. With me I was a few
years older than seventeen but I did have an appropriate California blonde
beach look. The public is fixated on that American blonde image. It has always
fascinated me about the blonde myth, the blonde fantasy—the Marilyn
Monroe-type.
CR: What do you recall about the film’s
director and screenwriter, Fred Johnson?
CH: Fred was very young. We were all
young—well except for Tom Pace. I think Fred did the best he could and was a
good writer.
CR: How did it come about that Eden
Cried had its premiere in your hometown of Newburgh, New York?
CH:
I believe someone
from Walter Reade Distributors thought of it.Eden Cried had its
premiere on June 10, 1967.They flew me
from Hollywood to New York. I was treated like a star. In Newburgh, they named
a street after me called “Carole Holland Way,” but it was only for two weeks. I
was so nervous that I didn’t go into the theater to watch it. My family and
friends knew it was not very good but did not come right out and say so. They
were nice about it.
CR: Do you know why it did not get a
national theatrical release at that time?
CH: It got caught up in some kind of
squabble between Walter Reade and the producers, so it ended up being shelved.
CR: What were your feelings like after
hearing that the film was never going to be seen?
CH: Even though the film was not great, I
thought I did a fairly decent job and it could have helped me get other roles.
But I did not stay in Hollywood long enough to promote myself and get the film
footage out, so people could see it. I just chose to dislike it and put it out
of my mind. So, when it got lost and nobody saw it, I didn’t care because I
didn’t believe it was going to take me anywhere. I walked around for many years
with shame for making this film. It didn’t seem to bring me any happiness.
CR: What did you do after leaving
Hollywood?
CJ: I moved to New York and continued
acting for a bit. I did commercials and had day parts on soap operas such as Love
Is a Many Splendored Thing and As the World Turns. I appeared in a
number of Off-Broadway plays and a few movies, most notably Tootsie
where I played an autograph hound in a scene with Jessica Lange. In the
nineties, I began writing for local newspapers and then the National
Enquirer. I then joined a women’s ensemble group and began playwrighting.
Two of my plays, Funky Fifties and The Lifters, were nominated
for the Samuel French Best One Act Plays Award.
CR: Did you ever try to find Eden
Cried?
CH: In 2017, we did a reading of my
play Hometown Premiere at the Ritz Theatre in Newburgh, where
the film premiered. The staff of the theatre searched for Eden Cried because
they wanted to use a clip of it in the staged reading, since the play was
loosely based on the film’s premiere. It could not be found. I thought
then, ‘Perhaps I should accept that I did the movie, but I won’t ever find it,’
CR: When Eden Cried finally
surfaced on DVD what was your reaction?
CH: It was being sold on DVD by
Sinister Cinema.com and I
purchased a copy. What they did to salvage the film, is they added a narration
that pokes fun of the sixties’ era. I really liked that. The film is so corny
that it’s funny. The narration gives the film a Mystery Science Theater touch.
CR: After watching fifty years later,
what surprised you the most?
CH: That I had so many costume changes.
CR: What are your feelings today toward
the movie today?
CH: I have done a 180-degree turnaround. It
is like a cult film. Now everything in my apartment is Eden Cried. The
framed movie poster is on my wall. There are twenty-four products with the Eden
Cried poster on it—t-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, hoodies, pillows, etc. When
I couldn’t find it, I was glad I couldn’t. But when I found it, I was glad I
did. I have embraced it and absolutely love it.
It’s
easy to lose track of time in the Bahamas – every day is sunny and beautiful
just like the day before it… and yet things DO change, especially in the almost
six decades since the EON film crew took the island by storm to shoot their
James Bond masterpiece, Thunderball.Back then it was a sleepy tropical island for the occasional cruise ship
and small numbers of tourists making the short hop from Miami. Aside from the port
city of Nassau, much of the island was undeveloped.
(Paula might be in there...)
Today
the Bahamas is a thriving tourist destination attracting almost one million
visitors annually.On most days, Nassau
hosts multiple cruise ships disgorging thousands of passengers who storm the
downtown shops and restaurants.Although
the Thunderball era is long gone, there are still remnants of it
throughout the island.With just a
couple of days, no way could I have done the deep dive that Simon Firth did in
his definitive Filming James Bond in the Bahamas, but I could visit some
of the key destinations still around after 58 years.
(Site of the original Cafe Martinique on the Atlantis property.)
Mention
James Bond and almost everyone you meet has a story – from encountering Sean
Connery to talking about Thunderball.“I used to work in that liquor store,” our airport driver said as we
rolled past a strip mall on the way to our hotel. “Mr. Connery would come in
and buy wine. He was always very nice.”As we passed a small plaza he pointed “And right there he’d have a
coffee and read a book most mornings.”It’s easy to see why Sir Sean settled in Nassau – the locals treated him
as just another resident, not the iconic film star he actually was.No autograph or photo requests, just the
famous Bahamian hospitality which gave him what all celebrities crave –
anonymity.
Still
bummed at missing the great fan-organized tours for one reason or another, this
was about as close as I was going to get…
LOVE
BEACH
In
Thunderball, the beach appeared remote and untouched, filled with palm
trees, most noticeably the one Bond spears Vargas to while delivering that
classic line, “I think he got the point.”
(Channeling Vargas on Love Beach.)
Today
Love Beach is still beautiful but now there are private homes where the lush
woods that Vargas strode through once were.I also read it took a hard hit from a hurricane some years back.The only easy access point is through a
surfside bar called Nirvana Beach which charges $5 per person for
admittance.I got the impression the
place was hopping at night, but during a weekday, there was hardly anyone.After a blazing hot walk on the beach trying
to find “THE” spot where the spear-gunning took place, I settled for a random
palm tree and my VERY patient wife took the obligatory photo before saying “I’m
f---ing melting here.”Further
exploration now out of the question, we made tracks back to the Nirvana bar for
a couple of ice-cold Kalik beers.I
mentioned that a Bond epic had been filmed at this lovely spot.“Oh, really?” was the female bartender’s
response, adding, “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself.” Ok, so perhaps not
everyone is a rabid fan…
DOWNTOWN
NASSAU
We
managed only a quick trip in to pick up some souvenirs and were lucky that only
one mammoth cruise ship was in port. I went over to Rawson Square which, in our
favorite film, Bond and Paula are seen walking across heading for Pinder’s
staging area.Along with a busy market,
an old government building – Churchill House – is clearly visible.Sadly, Churchill House is no more – a parking
lot now sits where it once stood.As
Joni Mitchell sang, “They paved over paradise and put up a parking lot.”
THE
SEAWALL
In
1965 this breakwater was off a sleepy beach road on Paradise Island.Here Bond infiltrates the Spectre dive team
as they suit up to move their stolen nuclear bombs. Today it’s an architectural
relic located on Cabbage Beach, now part of the massive, 154-acre Atlantis
Resort.Few if any of the guests
enjoying the beach even know it’s there!Bond aside, there are tons of things to do and see in Atlantis so buying
a day pass ($190 for adults, $95 for kids) might be worth it.Along with pools, rides, restaurants you can
also walk up to the sea wall.I reached
out to the resort a few weeks out from my trip and their PR department graciously
responded, allowing me a visit and assigning me a very personable guide named
Kool Aid who knew everything about the resort and had an impressive knowledge
of the island’s Bond locales.
We
walked from the hotel lobby through Atlantis’ underground aquarium which
boasted a variety of marine life – from huge groupers to moray eels, sharks and
more, all living in crystal-clear water pumped in from the nearby ocean.As part of “The Blue Project”, Atlantis also
operates a coral nursery where they grow this vital organism (on lengths of PVC
pipe) to replenish ailing reefs.As ocean
temperatures rise, programs like this will become more and more important so
good on the resort for stepping up.And
then we walked over a causeway to Cabbage Beach.Fifty-eight storm seasons had taken a toll on
the concrete, but the seawall was still there and looked much as it did in the
film.To say I took some photos
would be an understatement.
(CR’s Mark Cerulli with Atlantis PR rep Kool Aid - the breakwater is in the background.)
On
the way out, Kool Aid asked if I wanted to see the location of the ORIGINAL
Café Martinique.Why, yes… yes I
would!We went back through the
lobby and he pointed to a take-out pizza restaurant in a pink tower which is
where the legendary restaurant once operated.Again, it was difficult to picture the elegant and romantic Café from
the film in light of the area’s total transformation. Perhaps in a nod to the
island’s history, the resort did create another Café Martinique nearby.
On
my next to last day, I got to see (for me) the Crown Jewel of Bahamian Bond
locations –Palmyra…
LARGO’S
HOUSE
For
many years it’s been owned by a prominent Bahamian family and its local name is
“Rock Point.” Most islanders know it as “The Bond House.”The owners kindly allowed me access to the grounds.(Unoccupied for a number of years, the house
itself is firmly boarded up and there is a 24-hour guard.)Yes, it’s run down, but here it was easy to
picture it from the film – the balcony where Largo and Fiona shot clay targets is
different from 1965 but still hints at the home’s grandeur – and the ocean view
is mind-blowing.The basement doors that
Connery used to access Palmyra actually lead to the pool’s pump room - the swinging
doors themselves are long gone, but the structure is still there.
The
huge swimming pool where Bond escapes hungry sharks is intact but filled with
brackish water. Even this rabid Thunderball fanatic didn’t want to do a
lap in it – although I couldn’t resist wearing my Orlebar Brown Thunderball camp
shirt! I also noticed the pool’s cement cutout where the controls for the metal
grating used to trap Bond underwater once were.
The
circular Shark Pool where the Golden Grotto sharks were kept is still there,
but part of the outer wall has collapsed allowing ocean water to flow in and
out.Still, it would be a relatively
easy fix to restore. The estate also boasts a gorgeous private beach.The owner’s son said the family was talking
over various plans to rehabilitate the property and bring it back to its former
glory.The bones are all there – the
house appears to be structurally sound, and a coat of paint would make it look
as it did when Terence Young’s cameras were rolling.In this writer’s mind, there’s no reason it
couldn’t become another GoldenEye type destination – or the best 00 bar this
side of Duke’s!
(Casino Royale location - the former One & Only Resort.)
As
a bonus I managed to hit two more Bondian locations – The Four Seasons Resort Ocean
Club (formerly the One and Only Resort) seen in Casino Royale and
Solemar Restaurant – formerly known as Compass Point.This was a happy coincidence as we and our
friends just happened to go there for dinner.The restaurant was never in a Bond film but it was a favorite of Sean
and Micheline’s.Apparently, he used to like
their lamb chops so that’s what I had. Yesh, they were great!
(A lovely memento of Thunderball at the former One & Only Resort - now a Four Seasons.)
Many
kind thanks to Simon Firth and Jaime Ciaccia for location tips and
pointers.
(All photos copyright Mark Cerullli. All rights reserved.)
Those of us of a certain age can indulge in bragging rights because we saw "Jaws" when it first opened in theaters in June, 1975. I was a 19 year-old college student at the time and was serving as film critic for my campus newspaper. Ordinarily, I would have received an invitation from the studio to view the film in advance. But this was not the case with "Jaws". Perhaps the top echelon of critics were given this privilege, but Universal wanted to capitalize on the element of surprise and didn't want spoilers to leak out quickly. Thus, my girlfriend and I stood amidst the seemingly endless queue waiting for tickets on opening night. We were fortunate to get into the theater, as many disappointed patrons were turned away when the venue maxed out. To be clear, "Jaws" was not a sleeper hit; a little-heralded gem that surprised the industry by becoming a major success. Quite the contrary. Peter Benchley's bestselling novel was deemed to be the basis of a sure-fire major studio hit and Universal was optimistic from the start that the film would be a major moneymaker. However, no one could have predicted just how big of a hit the film would be, certainly not the average movie-goer who anticipated a fun flick with some genuine scares. From the first frames of the movie, I realized the film would be something special thanks to the largely untested 25 year-old director Steven Spielberg, who initially won some attention for his direction of "Duel", a 1971 American TV production in which Dennis Weaver is trapped in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious and murderous truck driver on a desert highway. By the the time the end credits of "Jaws" rolled on screen, I knew I had seen a genuine masterpiece. The societal impact of the film was astonishing. The next day we went to the beach on the Jersey Shore. It was packed but curiously, relatively few people were in the water. The news would later report that so many people had seen the film the first day that they were wary of sticking so much as a big toe into the ocean.
The "Jaws" phenomenon has persisted through the decades, surviving lousy sequels and a barrage of bargain basement imitations. In 2005, Cinema Retro was invited to the official "Jaws Fest" on Martha's Vineyard, a marvelous event that featured cast and crew members, an appearance by Peter Benchley and the town remade into the village of Amity, complete with the original signage used in the film. The highlight was a screening of the film on the beach preceded by a special filmed welcome from Steven Spielberg. Now the ultimate tribute to the film comes to Broadway in the form of the three-character play "The Shark is Broken", co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon. Unless you've been living in a cave, you've undoubtedly read that Shaw is the son of the late esteemed actor and playwright, Robert Shaw, who played the role of the Ahab-like shark fisherman Quint in the film. Ian (I will refer to him by his first name to avoid confusing references to his father) also plays his dad in the production. He's joined by Alex Brightman as Richard Dreyfuss and and Colin Donnell as Roy Scheider. The entire play takes place in the fishing boat Orca in which the three fictional heroes in the film set out to kill the renegade shark that has devoured swimmers in the town of Amity. Ian and Nixon delved into researching the production troubles encountered in the making of the film, which went far over schedule and over budget, stranding the cast and crew on the tony island. As the play unfolds, we see Shaw, Scheider and Dreyfuss expressing frustration at their plight. They are angry and bored and the shoot has no end in sight as director Spielberg (not seen in the play, but occasionally heard) grapples with the unforgiving weather and endless mechanical problems that prohibit the giant mechanical shark from operating properly, hence the title of the play. The three men drink, smoke and engage in mutual ball-busting insults, as men will inevitably do when a bottle is passed around. At times they are genuinely friendly but Shaw's alcoholism leads to a tension between him and Dreyfuss, who bears the brunt of his wrath. In this war between co-stars, the cool and calm Scheider tries to play the role of Switzerland and maintain a truce between the combatants. All of them fear that they are starring in a stinker that will damage their careers. The play is primarily a comedy but don't expect pratfalls and one-liners. The laughs evolve believably through the excellent script,which also provides some dramatic and emotional moments concerning Shaw's inability to deliver the most important dialogue because he is drunk.The scene concerns Quint's dramatic soliloquy about the horrors that befell the crew of the sunken U.S.S. Indianapolis, which was sunk in the Pacific during the final days of the WWII. The survivors languished in the water for days with many dying from predatory sharks. As in real life, the play depicts Shaw's self-recognition that he had compromised the emotional heart of the film and we watch him prepare to atone for his sin by doing the scene right on the second take. (Shaw's delivery of this speech in the film should have seen him nominated for an Oscar.)
Director Guy Masterson has a genuine feel for the characters. There are no over-the-top moments and Masterson handles both the humor and the considerable pathos with equal skill. I especially enjoyed the chuckles derived from Shaw reading about the on-going Watergate scandal that was unfolding in 1974 when "Jaws" was being filmed. Duncan Henderson's set design is a model of efficiency. The men may be confined to the Orca but the production never looks chintzy. Credit Nina Dunn's masterful rear screen ocean scenes, which add immeasurably in "opening up" the play. In an age of over-produced, over-priced and over-blown Broadway shows, "The Shark is Broken" is like a revelation. It boils theater down to the basics- and thankfully no one decided to ruin this film-to-stage adaptation by inserting some dreadful musical numbers, as has been the norm on Broadway. The historic Golden Theatre is the perfect venue for this production, as it's not-to-large and not-too-small. It allows the audience to experience the intimacy of the dialogue and the dilemma of the three characters.
The performances are nothing less than superb. Ian Shaw is the spitting image of his father and delivers his mannerisms with precision. It can't be easy playin an iconic actor in an iconic role, especially when he's your father. Alex Brightman is extremely funny as the much-put-upon Dreyfuss, channeling all of the nervous energy and insecurities one might expect of a Jewish guy from New York who finds himself stranded in Martha's Vineyard with an occasionally psychotic and drunken co-star determined to humiliate him. Colin Donnell has the least-flashy role as Roy Scheider, and he brings off perhaps the most challenging performance impeccably. Why the most challenging? Because not even a drunk at a cocktail party attempts to perform a Roy Scheider imitation. The actor never possessed the signature characteristics of his co-stars, yet Donnell is so good at recalling Scheider's understated mannerisms that we feel we're watching the late actor himself.
(Photo: Matthew Murphy)
"The Shark is Broken" arrives on Broadway following a sensational, acclaimed run on the West End. Now that the great white shark is on the Great White Way for limited 16-week run, it would seem that a similar reception is in store, if the thunderous ovation given by the audience at a sold-out preview performance this critic was invited to see on August 5th is any indication. I hope that the play's populist appeal doesn't result in it being denied much-deserved Tony nominations because it is worthy of official recognition. We've all been through a lot of grief lately: the pandemic, international tensions, inflation and the ugliest political environment the U.S. has seen in the last century. "The Shark is Broken" won't cure any of these problems, but I guarantee it will provide some temporary relief. Don't let it be the one that got away. It's the most enjoyable theatrical experience I've seen in quite some time.
(The play runs 95 minutes without an intermission.)
Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
ENTER THE DRAGON COMES TO 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAYTM AND DIGITAL.
TO CELEBRATE THE ICONIC FILM’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY, ENTER THE DRAGON WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST
TIME IN 4K RESOLUTION HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE (HDR)
Purchase the film on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital on 8/8/23
As part of the year-long
centennial celebration for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros.
Studio, the iconic martial arts film Enter the Dragon will be
available for purchase on 4K Ultra HD Disc and Digital this August.
Celebrating
the 50th anniversary of its 1973 release, on
August 8 Enter the Dragon will be available to purchase on Ultra
HD Blu-ray Disc from online and in-store at major retailers and available for
purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and
more. Enter the Dragon is considered one of the most
influential action films of
all time and is credited with bringing interest in the Asian martial
arts genre to mainstream Western cinema.
The
Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc includes both the theatrical
version of the film and the Special Edition of the film which features three
additional minutes of footage.
Directed
by Robert Clouse, Enter the Dragon stars Bruce Lee in his final
completed film role. Lee is widely regarded as one of the most influential
martial artists of all time and was a pop culture icon of the 20th
century. In addition to Lee, the film also stars John Saxon, Ahna Capri,
Bob Wall, Shih Kein, and introduces Jim Kelly. It was written by Michael
Allin and produced by Fred Weintraub, Paul Heller, and Raymond Chow with a
score by honorary Academy Award recipient Lalo Schifrin.
In 2004, the United States Library
of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National
Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant". In 1999, Bruce Lee was listed in Time
magazine’s “100 most influential people of the century.”
Enter the Dragonwill be
available on Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc for $24.99 ERP and includes an Ultra HD
Blu-ray disc with the theatrical version of the feature film in 4K with HDR,
the Special Edition version of the film in 4K with HDR, and a Digital download
of both versions of the film. Fans can also own Enter the Dragonin 4K
Ultra HD via purchase from select digital retailers beginning on
8/8/23.
About
the Film
Bruce Lee explodes onto the screen in the film that rocketed him
to international superstardom, Enter The Dragon. Lee plays a
martial arts expert determined to take down the ruthless gang leader, Han, who
was responsible for the death of his sister. Recruited by an intelligence
agency, he poses a student and attends a tournament at a remote island
fortress. His goal is to gather evidence that will prove Han’s involvement with
drug trafficking and prostitution. With one man focused on crime and the other
bent on revenge, the two engage in the now-classic fight-to-the-death finish.
They both enter a mirrored maze and deadly battle. Only one will exit.
Enter the DragonUltra HD
Blu-ray disc and Digital the following previously released special features:
·Introduction by Linda Lee Cadwell (run time: 2:17 minutes)
·Commentary by Paul Heller and Michael Allin (run time: 110
minutes)
Friedkin with Gene Hackman on location in New York City for "The French Connection", 1971.
(Photo: Cinema Retro Archive.)
By Lee Pfeiffer
William Friedkin, who reinvented the crime and horror film genres with "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist", has died in Los Angeles at age 87. Friedkin's first film was based on a personal obsession- to get a man incarcerated on Death Row exonerated. The 1962 documentary "The People vs. Paul Crump" was deemed a deciding factor in getting the innocent man released. The Chicago native first worked in the television industry before landing his first Hollywood feature film, directing the comedy "Good Times" starring Sonny and Cher in 1967. The film wasn't a hit but Friedkin was learning his craft. His diverse output included a screen adaptation of Harold Pinter's acclaimed, offbeat play "The Birthday Party" starring Robert Shaw and Donald Pleasence, the exuberant Prohibition era comedy "The Night They Raided Minsky's" and "The Boys in the Band", a daring screen version of the controversial play about the lives and relationships of gay men.
Friedkin's biggest break came when he was hired to direct "The French Connection" in 1971, an adaptation of the bestselling book that documented the biggest drug bust in U.S. history. Friedkin's passion for eschewing the trappings of conventional crime films paid off when he won the Oscar for directing. The film also won Best Picture and Best Actor for Gene Hackman in a star-making role. Friedkin's next film was also an adaptation of a bestseller- in this case William Peter Blatty's horror novel "The Exorcist". Friedkin resisted hiring popular leading actors of the day in place of casting reliable character actors and leads with little name recognition. His transformation of 12 year-old Linda Blair into a terrifying demon immediately became the stuff of horror film legend. However, the film won over critics and was nominated for numerous Oscars because Friedkin made the production a thinking person's horror film with interesting characters and believable reactions to the surrealistic events. Following the worldwide success of this second Friedkin blockbuster, Friedkin did not bring another film to the screen for four years. When he did, it was "Sorcerer", a lavish and grueling reinterpretation of French director Henri-Georges Clouzot's acclaimed 1953 adventure film "The Wages of Fear". The film seemed to be cursed. On location in the Dominican Republic, Friedkin had to face soaring budget costs due to natural disasters and other seemingly insurmountable problems. When the film opened, it flopped. Friedkin, in an interview about the film with this writer in Cinema Retro issue #29, said that studio executives threw him under the bus by implying the film had gone over-budget because Friedkin lacked self-control in terms of spending. Friedkin tried to set the record straight but the damage was done. His reputation had taken a hit and his next film, the comedy "The Brink's Job" was also a critical and financial disappointment. his 1980 crime thriller "Cruising" cast Al Pacino as a New York detective who goes under cover in Gotham's gay leather bar scene to find a serial killer. The film caused great controversy, with gay activists denouncing it even before filming had been completed. Critics assailed the film as vulgar and unsatisfying, but like "Sorcerer" it has been favorably re-evaluated in the ensuing years. Friedkin continued to work steadily but only the 1985 crime thriller "To Live and Die in L.A." gained any kind of attention and that was largely due to an extravagant car chase.
Over the following years, Friedkin would divide his time directing films and TV productions as well as live operas. He would never score another boxoffice hit but he appreciated the attention and accolades he received later in life that commemorated his body of work. He took satisfaction from the fact that his 2011 film "Killer Joe" starring Matthew McConaughey became a cult favorite for younger audiences. Friedkin is survived by his wife, producer and former studio head Sherry Lansing. His final film, a remake of "The Caine Mutiny", will premiere at this year's Venice Film Festival.
Friedkin with Cinema Retro's Todd Garbarini.
(Photo: Todd Garbarini)
Cinema Retro mourns the passing of this great filmmaker and we appreciate his contributions to our magazine. His last interview (with Todd Garbarini) appeared in issue #50 in which he discussed the 50th anniversary of "The French Connection".
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from the BFI concerning their new Region 2 Blu-ray of "Brannigan", which can be pre-ordered for 21 August release.
“The Duke is
in London, and London will never be the same!”
Veteran
Chicago detective Jim Brannigan (John Wayne, The
Searchers) is dispatched to London to bring back notorious gangster
Ben Larkin (John Vernon, Dirty
Harry), and is assured that the whole operation will run smoothly.
However, when things don’t go to plan, Brannigan finds himself in the
crosshairs of Larkin’s thugs. Reluctantly teaming up with by-the-book Commander
Swann of Scotland Yard (Richard Attenborough, The Great Escape), but determined to
recapture Larkin no matter what, Brannigan tears through London, leaving a
trail of destruction in his wake.
Boasting
incredible stunts, powerful punch-ups, dry dialogue and panoramic views of
1970s London shot by cinematographer Gerry Fisher (The Go-Between, Highlander), as well as a
superb supporting cast including Judy Geeson and Mel Ferrer, Brannigan still
stands tall as an explosive, action-packed, highly entertaining and peculiarly
British excursion for the legendary John Wayne.
Extras
Presented in High Definition
Audio commentary by Steve Mitchell and critic
Nathaniel Thompson (2017)
A Duke Out of Water (2023, 37 mins): reminiscences from the people
who made Brannigan
Frank Henson on Brannigan (2021, 4 mins): the veteran stuntman looks back
on doubling the Duke
Take It to the Bridge (1905-1956, 23 mins): historical glimpses of the
Thames, Tower Bridge and other Brannigan locations
A Policeman’s Lot (1896-1973, 35 mins): a copper’s clutch of films
concerning crimefighters and crooks, proceeding from the very earliest
days of cinema towards the Brannigan era
The Guardian Interview: Richard Attenborough (1983, 89 mins, audio only): the award-winning
actor and director, and John Wayne’s Brannigan co-star, reflects
upon his illustrious career
An extensive selection of location photographs,
featuring cast and crew
Original trailer
**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with
new essays by Johnny Mains and John Oliver, notes on the special features
and credits
Frank
Sinatra made his directorial debut with the World War II drama “None But the
Brave,” available on Blu-ray via the Warner Archive Collection. An American C-47
carrying Marines and a Navy Corpsman, crashes on a Pacific island in the Solomon
Islands chain. The island is occupied by a small force of Japanese soldiers who
have been stranded and forgotten. The C-47 radio is damaged in the crash and
the Americans have a limited supply of food, water and ammunition. The Japanese
control the only source of fresh water on the island, grow food, fish and have
built a boat.
The
Americans have a Navy corpsman and the Japanese have an injured soldier. The
Americans also have a hot-headed Marine Lieutenant itching to kill Japanese.
Fortunately, the senior ranking American is the cool-headed Army Air Corp pilot
of the downed C-47 and he keeps the Lieutenant and his men in check. The
Americans and Japanese form a temporary truce; food and water in exchange for
medical care for their injured soldier.
The
movie is part of a sub-genre of WWII movies about adversaries who become
stranded and must survive within enemy territory until rescued. “No Man is an
Island” (1963) and “Hell in the Pacific” (1968) are examples. While its
doubtful American and Japanese ever created such a truce, the concept does make
for interesting story telling. There have even been sci-fi versions of this
premise such as “Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964) and “Enemy Mine” (1985).
William Dafoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” is a clear literary source for this genre.
When
a typhoon hits the island, the Americans and Japanese have to work together to
save the fresh water pond. The Americans repair the radio and rescue is at hand,
bringing everyone to the brutal conclusion. The movie ends with a preachy
epitaph, “Nobody Ever Wins,” which comes out of nowhere and makes no sense.
Sinatra and the writers may have been making an early statement about the
Vietnam War at a time when American audiences were still eager to see WWII
action movies like “The Great Escape,” “The Dirty Dozen” and his own “Von
Ryan’s Express.” “None But the Brave” is a good WWII movie with a great cast,
but I think Sinatra may have picked the wrong war to send an anti-war message. Perhaps disillusioned, he never directed another film.
Sinatra
co-produced the movie and receives star billing in what is essentially a co-starring
role as Maloney, a cynical Navy chief who drinks too much. Clint Walker is at
his best as the Army C-47 pilot, Captain Dennis Bourke, who has a history with
Maloney. His Japanese counterpart is Lieutenant Kuroke played by Tatsuya Mihashi.
Tommy Sands is the hot-headed Marine, 2nd Lieutenant Blair in a performance that
is a bit over-the-top, and Takeshi Kato as his equallyhot headed Japanese
counterpart, Sergeant Tamura. Other familiar faces in the American cast include
Brad Dexter as Sergeant Bleeker and Tony Bill as Keller, the C-47 radio
operator. Hisao Dazai appears as Corporal Fujimoto and may be familiar to fans
of Godzilla movies, as he featured in several Toho monster movies. Laraine
Stephens, one of only two women in the movie, appears uncredited in a flashback
scene as Lorie.
Sinatra
gives his typical easy-going performance as Maloney and his direction is
equally easy-going, making use of the tropical location with Kaua'I, Hawaii,
filling in for the South Pacific island. The Japanese-American co-production
has a screenplay co-written by John Twist and Takeshi Kato and is based on a
story by Kikumaru Okuda. There’s unconvincing model work used in the plane
crash scene at the start of the movie with a model Japanese Zero shooting down
the C-47 and an American fighter. The main sets include the freshwater pond,
the C-47 hulk and the Japanese Army compound. I’m sure the cast and crew
enjoyed their time in Hawaii.
The
movie was released in February 1965 by Warner Bros. and clocks in at 106 minutes.
The Warner Archive region-free Blu-ray looks very good and sounds great, with an
early score by John Williams. The only extra on the disc is the trailer which is
interesting because it shows Sinatra acting as both director and star. The
English subtitle option is welcome, especially during the Japanese scenes. The
movie is not perfect, but it is an enjoyable afternoon movie recommended for Sinatra
fans and WWII military adventure.
Click here to order from the Cinema Retro Movie Store
Cinema Retro has received the following press release from The History Press:
Featuring a host of unpublished interviews, this is the first book to explore the greatest year in Hollywood's history - 1971
By anyone’s estimate 1971 was a great year for cinema. Has any other
year boasted such a mass of talented filmmakers plying their trade?
Polanski, Woody Allen, Spielberg, Kubrick, Peckinpah, Sergio Leone,
Robert Altman, George Lucas, Dario Argento, Nicolas Roeg and Ingmar
Bergman, among many others, were behind the camera, while the stars were
out in force, too. Clint Eastwood, Marlon Brando, Sean Connery, Michael
Caine, Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Gene Hackman, Paul Newman, Raquel Welch,
Dustin Hoffman, Robert de Niro, Jack Nicholson, Steve McQueen and Warren
Beatty all had films come out in 1971.
This remarkable artistic
flowering that came from the ‘New Hollywood’ of the '70s was just
beginning in 1971. The old guard was fading away and the new guard was
taking over. With a decline in box office attendances by the end of the
'60s, along with a genuine inability to come up with a reliable
barometer of box office success, studio heads gave unprecedented freedom
to younger filmmakers to lead the way. Featuring interviews with some
of Hollywood's biggest names, bestselling author Robert Sellers explores
this landmark year in Hollywood and in Britain, when this new age was
at its freshest, and where the transfer of power was felt most
exhilaratingly.
The Warner Archive has released a Blu-ray of the 1961 comedy Bachelor in Paradise which features the considerable star power of Bob Hope and Lana Turner. As with most Hope vehicles, this is a low-key affair that was designed to please his core base of fans. If the film doesn't break any new ground for Hope the actor, it at least provides plenty of yucks from his trademark wisecracks. Hope plays Adam Niles,an international playboy and best-selling author who has gotten rich by writing books about the sex lives of different nationalities and cultures. When devastating tax troubles force him to return to America, he reluctantly accepts an assignment to help offset his staggering debt to the government. Niles' publisher concocts a scheme whereby he will go undercover to research and write about the sex lives of Americans. He ends up moving to a suburban community known as Paradise, where he assumes an alias and goes about assessing the love lives of his neighbors. The presence of a single man among so many married couples causes an instant scandal, especially when Niles begins wooing neighborhood wives to his lectures about how to improve their sex lives. (This being 1961, it is unsurprising that his conclusions all revolve around what women can do to entice their men. No reciprocal protocols are expected). Before long, husbands are marching on Niles' home like the villagers storming Frankenstein's castle. His main ally is Paradise manager Rosemary Howard (Lana Turner) who puts her career on the line to defend Niles' right to live in the neighborhood, even as she rejects his heavy-handed attempts to seduce her.
Bachelor in Paradise, directed by Jack Arnold and boasting a
score by Henry Mancini, is a surprisingly racy premise for a Hope movie.
Released during an era when the terms "suburbs" still conjured up
images of wife-swapping and orgies, the movie looks positively quaint by
today's standards. Women prance around in house dresses as they
endlessly ponder what more than can do to please their hard-working
hubbies. Some of Hope's zingers still connect and his chemistry with
Turner is considerable. The movie also benefits from a terrific cast of
supporting actors including sexy Paula Prentiss, Jim Hutton, Janis Paige
(as the neighborhood nymphomaniac), Don Porter and the always wonderful
John McGiver. The film isn't a comedy classic but provides enough
genuine laughs to merit viewing. An original theatrical trailer is
included.
Click here to order from the Cinema Retro Movie Store
The 1961 MGM Western A Thunder of Drums has been released by the Warner Archive. The film was regarded as a standard oater in its day but has since built a loyal following who have been eager to have the movie available on the home video market. What sets A Thunder of Drums apart from many of the indistinguishable Westerns of the period is its downbeat storyline and intelligent script, which was clearly geared for adults as opposed to moppets. There's also the impressive cast: Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Charles Bronson, Arthur O'Connell, Richard Chamberlain and Slim Pickens among them.The film opens with a sequence that was very unsettling and shocking for its day: an Indian attack on a tranquil homestead. A little girl is forced to witness the gang rape and murders of her mother and teenage sister. The plot then shifts to the local fort where commandant Boone is overseeing an understaffed cavalry contingent that has to find and defeat the marauding tribe, which has already slaughtered numerous settlers and soldiers. The Indians are window dressing in the story: nameless, faceless adversaries who are not given any particular motivation for their savagery. (These was, remember, far less enlightened times and such conflicts were generally presented without nuance.)
George Hamilton is the by-the-book West Point graduate assigned to the fort as Boone's second-in-command. He gets a frosty reception from minute one. Boone tells him he doesn't meet the requirements of a seasoned officer who can survive in the hostile environment. The two men spend a good deal of their time in a psychological war of wills. Adding to Hamilton's discomfort is the discovery that his former lover, Luana Patten, is not only living at the remote outpost, but is engaged to one of his fellow officers. The two rekindle their own romance and this leads to scandalous and tragic results.
The film is based on a novel by popular Western writer James Warner Bellah and probably represents the career high water mark of director Joseph Newman, who was destined to toil for decades helming B movies. He gets vibrant performances from his cast. The ever-watchable Boone is in his predictably crusty mode, cynically second-guessing his officers and men, tossing out insults and sucking on an omnipresent stogie. Boone was so dominant in every role he played, one wonders why he never reached a higher status as a reliable box-office figure. Hamilton is in his standard pretty boy mode, but holds his own against macho men Boone and Charles Bronson, who is cast against type as a somewhat dim-witted character of low scruples. Singer Duane Eddy, who was a teenage pop star at the time, made his film debut here with a degree of fanfare, but it was obviously last minute stunt casting as Eddy is given virtually nothing to do except strum a few chords on his guitar. The film boasts some magnificent scenery and some rousing action sequences that are more realistic than those found in most Westerns of the time. A Thunder of Drums isn't art or even a great or important Western - but it is fine entertainment and the Warner Archive edition looks terrific. A Blu-ray edition is overdue! The only bonus feature is the original theatrical trailer is included (the one seen above is of inferior quality to the trailer featured on the disc, but it does give a good overview of the film).
CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM THE CINEMA RETRO MOVIE STORE
Birkin in the 1969 cult film "La Piscine". (Photo: Cinema Retro Archive.)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Actress and singer Jane Birkin has died at age 76. A cause of death did not accompany the announcement. Birkin was one of the "It Girls" of the mod period of the mid-to-late 1960s when censorship boundaries were removed and sexual behavior became celebrated rather than condemned. Because Birkin had been so closely associated with France, many people thought she was French by birth. Indeed, in commenting on her passing, President Macron referred to her as a "French icon". But Birkin was British by birth and came of age during an era of social rebellion that afforded her liberated attitudes to be celebrated in the arts. She first appeared in bit roles in "The Knack...and How to Use It", "The Idol",, "Kaleidoscope" and, more importantly, in a memorable nude scene in director Michelangelo Antonioni's bizarre but acclaimed 1966 "Blow-up". She also starred in the 1969 French film "La Piscine" with Alain Delon, which has become a popular cult film in recent years. She married British composer John Barry, whose own popularity was exploding due in no small part to his association with the James Bond films. The marriage didn't last and Birkin went to France to appear in a film. There she met and fell in love with songwriter and actor Serge Gainsbourg. Their relationship became the stuff of gossip columns after the couple recorded the smash hit, provocative record "Je t'aime...moi non plus". She and Gainsbourg stayed together for ten years. In addition to her concert appearances, Birkin was also known for inadvertently inspiring a top-end handbag design manufactured by Hermes, after an executive for the company overheard her complain that they needed to create a larger bag.
Richard
Loncraine’s The Haunting of Julia (aka Full Circle, 1977) is a chilling,
emotionally charged ghost story shot in London in 1976 with Canadian funding
which fell into a legal limbo and was destined to remain largely forgotten
until film historian and writer Simon Fitzjohn began researching the film for a
magazine article in 2016. The rabbit hole grew deeper and he became a man on a
mission to bring the film back to the public. The years of struggle paid off
and the film has now been restored and released around the world on Blu-ray and
UHD, so Cinema Retro sat down with him to find out how it all happened.
Cinema
Retro – How does it feel to finally be at the end
of this epic journey?
Simon
Fitzjohn - We had a screening at the BFI in London
recently which was a massive thrill. There was a good audience and we got quite
a few of the crew along as well as Richard Loncraine, the director. It was a
bit of a party, to be perfectly honest with you, a fantastic experience.
CR
– So how did this all start?
SF
- I read a BFI article at Halloween in 2016 called ‘Forgotten British Horror
Films of the 1970s,’ and I thought, “Right, okay, I'm pretty sure I'm just
going to tick everything off this list.” So I went through them all and it was
Pete Walker's Frightmare, things like that. And then there was Full Circle,
or The Haunting of Julia and this picture of Mia Farrow with her arms
out. I thought “I don't think I've seen that one.” I took it as a bit of an
affront really that I hadn't seen it. That was when I then found out that it
wasn't available commercially at all, no DVD release, however, there was a
version of it on YouTube as they'd shown it on the Sony Movie Channel in 2011.
So I watched it and I was floored by it. You know, I remember when it ended and
I just sat there in silence for about 15 minutes trying to sort of process it
and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this is just such a sad film. How has this film been
allowed to disappear?” You know, why is this not heralded as an amazing British
horror film?
CR
– You would think it would be better known, particularly because it starred Mia
Farrow.
SF
- Originally my idea was just to write about it, so the first person I reached
out to was Peter Fetterman, who was the producer on it, and he said, “Well, I'm
still friends with Richard Loncraine, I'll give him your number.” So I had a
call with Richard, who was quite bewildered, as he always is. When anybody says
they love the film, he hates it! He seems flabbergasted, because he doesn't
think it's a good film. I think a lot of that was down to all the pressures
from the external people when they were making it, certainly the Canadian side
of it, who wanted this Omen-style bloodbath, whereas Richard wanted this
more ambiguous, psychological film. Then he put me in touch with Peter Hannon,
who was the director of cinematography on it, and then we found out that Technicolor
had found the negative, so Richard and I thought, “Right, here we go!” We needed
to get that negative, get it restored and get it rereleased.
CR
- Were there rights issues? Is that one of the reasons why it had fallen out of
circulation?
SF
- Yes. It wasn't that the negative was missing. The last known owner of it was
a guy called Julian Mills who was the exec producer on the film. Technicolor
had documents for Full Circle with Julian Melzack at Albian Films, and he
obviously didn't care about the film because he never bothered to release it
himself, and then he died in early 2016. So we had to somehow jump through all
these hoops to prove that he hadn't passed the film on to anybody else before
he passed away, so that we could prove an ownership chain. It was about six
years of working with Technicolor, Companies House, solicitors, Julian Melzack's
daughter, all these people going round and round trying to find paperwork. It
was just exasperating, to be perfectly honest with you, and there were numerous
times where we just thought it wasn’t going to happen because we would answer a
question and then they would give us another obstacle and we would jump over
that, and then they'd give us another obstacle. There were times when I
flagged, but then I would get people messaging me on the Twitter account I had
(@full_julia), saying, “Keep going, keep going!” Eventually we were able to do
it.
CR
– Who funded the restoration?
SF
- It was Shout! Factory, but there were numerous people that worked together on
this. Shout! Factory sorted the restoration, but the BFI now keep the negative,
that was the deal. It was done at Silver Salt in London. Richard Loncraine was
involved in that as well.
CR
- You've also been heavily involved in the release, with a commentary track
(with the director) and some of the extra features for the BFI release.
SF
- It was great, because I'd always said right from the start that the key for
me was that the film was going to be back out there. It deserves to be talked about,
it deserves to be celebrated. But it was still really nice when the BFI came to
me straight away and said we want you front and centre on this because Richard
said, "Look, if you don't involve Simon, I'm not getting involved.” I was
able to help as well because I was in touch with so many people, so Tom Conti
was interviewed as was Samantha Gates, who plays Olivia in the film. I've been
reading some very positive comments about it in reviews. It was fun, it was a
great thrill.
CR
– There are rumours that something is missing from the film, specifically a
graphic tracheotomy scene, which of course is the tragic event at the beginning
of the film [Julia’s daughter is choking to death, and in a last desperate
attempt to save her she attempts a tracheotomy which fails and the daughter
dies]. What do you know about this?
SF
- There was this guy and he would constantly
message me on Twitter to ask, “Have you found the tracheotomy scene?” And he
was the one that apparently somehow added it to IMDb that this was missing, but
nobody has it because it doesn't exist. Why would they randomly have had this
blood- spurting tracheotomy? That was never the intention for the film. I've
read the BBFC censors report when they classified the film, and they referenced
the fact that there was no blood in it. They gave it an AA certificate because
it was so tame. So there was never anything filmed, but when they were filming
that scene Alfred Pariser, who was the Canadian producer on it, he wanted it to
be bloody so he had a cup of stage blood. When Mia stabbed Sophie Ward with the
knife, he threw the cup of blood over them. Mia Farrow just got up and ran out
screaming because she thought she had cut Sophie Ward's throat! But they
obviously didn't use that footage. They weren't interested in having anything
like that.
CR
– Fantastic. And your commentary track with Richard Loncraine is packed with
stories like that. Congratulations on what must feel like such a tremendous
achievement.
SF
– Thank you. And I ended up somehow randomly getting a Rondo Award too!
The
Haunting of Julia/ Full Circle is
available on Blu-ray and UHD in the States from Shout! Factory, in Australia
from Imprint, and on Blu-ray and UHD in the UK from the BFI. Each edition
shares some bonus features whilst also having some which are unique. The
Imprint release comes in a beautiful hardbox with a lenticular cover, a book
discussing the adaptation from Peter Straub’s novel Julia, and best of
all a CD with the full remastered Colin Towns soundtrack including some tracks
which were never used or included on the original vinyl release.
In this lighthearted but highly informative short, Turner Classic Movies recalls the rise and fall of the "B" movie, a genre which has regained popularity in recent years with retro movie buffs.
In this TCM segment, film critics analyze director Herbert Ross's classic, all-star murder mystery "The Last of Sheila" starring Raquel Welch, James Coburn, Dyan Cannon, James Mason and Richard Benjamin- with a screenplay by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins!.
Click here to order Blu-ray from the Cinema Retro Movie Store
Young Raquel in the 1966 sci-fi classic "Fantastic Voyage", one of the few films from this era that didn't require her to appear on screen in a bikini. (Photo: Cinema Retro Archive.)
Writing on the Turner Classic Movies web site, Jessica Pickens provides an informative look at Raquel Welch as both an actress and the real-life person behind the sex symbol image. Click here to view.
Arkin in the 1990 film "Havana".
(Photo: Cinema Retro Archive)
By Lee Pfeiffer
Alan Arkin, who improbably gained a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his first film role, has passed away at age 89. Arkin gained stardom in the film industry with the release of Norman Jewison's hit 1966 comedy "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming." in which he played the captain of a Soviet submarine that accidentally goes aground off the coast of New England and sets off a panic among the locals, who are convinced the Russians are invading. Two years later, Arkin earned another nomination for his dramatic role as a deaf mute in "The Heat is a Lonely Hunter". In 2006, he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Little Miss Sunshine". He was nominated in that category again for the 2012 film "Argo". Arkin was also nominated for Emmy Awards for his role opposite Michael Douglas in the acclaimed comedy series "The Kominsky Method."
Arkin was primarily known for his comedic talents, having honed them as a young man when he was with the legendary Second City comedy group that spawned many other major stars over the years. His prominent roles included playing the title role in "Inspector Clouseau", "Catch-22", "Popi", "Last of the Red Hot Lovers", "Freebie and the Bean", "The In-Laws", "Edward Scissorhands", "The Rocketeer", "Havana", "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution", "Simon" and the feature film version of "Get Smart". Arkin also occasionally played dramatic roles to great acclaim as in "Wait Until Dark" in which he was a murderer who terrified a blind woman played by Audrey Hepburn and in "Glengarry Glen Ross". Arkin's legacy will be defined by his diversity in the roles he played. He was regarded by his colleagues as the epitome of an industry professional. For more, click here.
(Forrest in "Apocalypse Now". Photo: Cinema Retro Archives.)
Actor Frederic Forrest has passed away at age 86. Forrest was a favorite character actor of director Francis Ford Coppola. He appeared in Coppola's "The Conversation", "Hammett", "One from the Heart" and "Tucker: The Man and His Dream". He also had a scene-stealing role as "Chef" in Coppola's 1979 masterpiece "Apocalypse Now" playing a reluctant soldier on a mission to find and assassinate Marlon Brando's mad Colonel Kurtz. Forrest rarely had leading roles but was widely respected in the industry. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his 1973 screen debut in "When the Legends Die" and was nominated for an Oscar for starring opposite Bette Midler in "The Rose". His other films include "The Two Jakes", "The Missouri Breaks" and "Falling Down". Upon hearing of his passing, Coppola said he found the news "heartbreaking". For more, click here.
Most rock 'n roll movies of the 1950s and 1060s were rightly regarded as disposable entertainment. With a few exceptions, they were low-budget attempts to cash in on the new fad before it might fade away. Elvis Presley's films were cinematic gold for a while but even they began to fade with the release of director Richard Lester's two Beatles films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", both of which brought innovation and style to the genre. The Monkees' feature film "Head" would also go boldly where no rock 'n roll flick would. "The Cool Ones", however, appears to have been made by people whose sensibilities were stuck in amber. Despite being released in an era when rock music was being defined by groups with a cutting edge, this musical comedy, released in 1967, has the hallmarks of similar films made a decade before. In short, it's a movie designed for hipsters but made by middle-aged squares.
The film centers on the adventures of Hallie Rodgers (Debbie Watson), a dancer seen on one of those "Shindig"-type TV series designed to appeal to teenagers by presenting musical groups performing their latest hits live on stage. Hallie feels she has true star power but the show's arrogant producer, played by Phil Harris, refuses to give her a chance to sing on the program. In an act of defiance on live TV, Hallie steals the microphone from guest performer Glen Campbell and belts out a song. As she is chased around the stage by production executives, she engages in wild mannerisms that the audience mistakes for a new dance. She's summarily fired but later learns she has gained a following and that her moves on stage are now the latest dance craze called "The Tantrum". (I'm not making this up, folks.) She then attempts to woo one-time teen idol Cliff Donner (Gil Peterson) to form a duo. Cliff has fallen on hard times and is currently performing in a failing nightclub run by avuncular British export Stanley Crumley (Robert Coote). The moody Gil is smitten with Hallie but is reluctant to try to regain his former stardom. Ultimately, he concedes when the sees the enthusiastic response from their duets, which help revive Stanley's nightclub. With Stanley as their manager, they set about promoting the act by performing The Tantrum in front of growing audiences. At this point, they are approached by Stanley's estranged brother Tony (Roddy McDowall), a legendary record producer who travels with his own posse and who enjoys a rabid fan base himself. Tony takes control of the act but his sheer narcissism and arrogance results in tension between Hallie and Gil, who break up and reunite more times than I can recount. The bizarre production gets even stranger with a closing act by Mrs. Miller, who was a sixtyish everyday woman whose cover version recording of Petula Clark's "Downtown" became a novelty hit that elevated her to temporary fame.
"The Cool Ones" is awful on every level, but it's so awful it has the virtue to keep the viewer glued to the screen to see if it becomes even more awful. The songs are mostly awful despite being the creations of notable talents Lee Hazlewood and Billy Strange, although the best of the lot, "This Town", would be a well-received recording by Frank Sinatra a couple of years later. The depiction of teenagers is awful, presenting them as brain-dead zombies who instinctively embrace every new song and dance move they experience on a TV show and instantly turn into raving mobs of fans. Young people are presented in an inoffensive, sanitized manner. No one smokes (cigarettes or anything else) and they're all satisfied sipping tonics and sodas in nightclubs. Cripes, to think this film was sandwiched between the release of "The Wild Angels" and the Woodstock festival....The direction by Gene Nelson (who displayed some talent in other films and TV series) is awful and so are the performances, with Debbie Watson overacting and Gil Peterson, who looks like a human Ken doll, underplaying with predictably boring results. They make for the least erotic couple seen on screen since the Ma and Pa Kettle series. But the scene-stealing awful performance is provided by Roddy McDowall, who chews the scenery and everything else in sight while presenting an over-the-top caricature of a fussy, demanding gay man. But since film producers felt that teenagers shouldn't know that gay people exist, a plot device is inserted in which we learn Tony's unseen girlfriend is pregnant, which sends him into an even greater hissy fit that only reinforces the gay stereotype. Only dear old Robert Coote emerges with some dignity intact. The film does have colors that jump out of the screen and it is fun to see location footage of old L.A., which is marvelously photographed by legendary cinematographer Floyd Crosby, whose achievements include "High Noon". This would be his final film. The dance numbers are also well-choreographed by Toni Basil, who would go on to have the hit record "Mickey" in the 1980s. In the end, however, the movie makes those Frankie and Annette beach pictures look like biting social commentaries on life in the 1960s. I expected young Mickey Rooney to show up on screen shouting, "Hey, kids- we can put the show on in the barn!!!" The film was released as the bottom attraction on double features. There was probably no damage to anyone's career because few people saw it.
In viewing "The Cool Ones", I came to the conclusion that I had to disagree with Huey Lewis and the News in that it isn't hip to be square. The film is available on DVD from the Warner Archive. It's a nice transfer and includes the original trailer. The DVD is region-free so that bad movie lovers everywhere can enjoy the film.
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Justly acclaimed as one of the greatest film noir movies ever made, director Don Siegel's 1958 thriller The Lineup has been reissued by Sony as part of their burn-to-order DVD collection. The DVD carries over the bonus extras from the film's initial release in a Sony noir boxed set from 2009. Siegel makes the most of his modest budget, eschewing studio sets for actual San Francisco locations that add immeasurably the authenticity of the story and the action sequences, which are among the most ambitious of the era. The film derived from a popular TV series of the same name and features the star of the show, Warner Anderson, as a San Francisco detective, Lt. Ben Guthrie. His sidekick, Inspector Al Quine was originally played in the show by Tom Tully but the part in the film is played by Emile Meyer, whose mug perfectly suits the style of the movie. The "Macguffin" of this caper movie is an ornate doll loaded with heroin that has been carried into the United States by an innocent tourist (Raymond Bailey, the future Mr. Drysdale of "The Beverly Hillbillies".). The doll ends up in the hands of an equally innocent little girl and her mother who were on the same cruise ship. However, this is just a necessary plot device to present a fascinating character study of a team of criminals who are assigned to fly from Miami to San Francisco to claim the doll and deliver the drugs to a mysterious crime lord. Things go awry from the first few frames of the movie when an attempt to steal the tourist's luggage goes wrong, resulting in the death of a crime syndicate courier who bungles the first attempt to get the doll. The resulting action follows the desperate attempts by the Miami crooks to secure the missing drugs. Their lives depend on it because if they fail, the mob will suspect they have double-crossed them and kept the heroin for themselves. The criminal team is among the most psychotic ever seen on film. Dancer (Eli Wallach) is the younger man being groomed by his older mentor, Julian (Robert Keith, father of Brian Keith) to be his heir apparent. The two men are outwardly charismatic and friendly, but as the story progresses, we realize they are merciless sadists who will stop at nothing to get what they want. When they kidnap the young girl and her mother, we get a glimpse at exactly how devoid of human emotions they are.
The caper story, expertly penned by the great Sterling Silliphant, follows the efforts of the detectives to get to the drugs first-- but the cops are mere window dressing, as Siegel is clearly saving the best scenes for his hit men. Wallach and Keith rival that great pairing of Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager as the creepy criminal team in Siegel's memorable 1964 remake of The Killers. On one level, Keith is acting as a father to a younger man who might be seen as an adopted son. However, it doesn't take much to see that Siegel has introduced a very clear homoerotic element to the story which becomes even more apparent when the pair end up in a "social club" and hotel that very obviously caters to homosexual men. In case there is still too much subtlety for the viewer, the place is named the Seaman's Club! (In one of the film's best remembered sequences, Wallach "offs" a would-be lover in a steam room.) The film is packed with inventive sequences that are still somewhat shocking today. It's rather amazing that some of these scenes were not diluted by squeamish studio executives. A helpless woman and her young child are kidnapped and menaced, a man in a wheelchair is thrown to his death and any number of innocent people are put in harm's way by the relentless criminal's quest to secure the missing dope. Most impressive is the climax of the film wherein Siegel films an exciting car chase that culminates on an unfinished stretch of freeway. It will have you on the edge of your seat (look for an amazing bit of stunt work in which a car is driven at high speed within feet of dropping off the end of the construction site.) All the earmarks are evident for what would become trademarks of Siegel's films: the story moves quickly, there isn't a wasted frame and the performances are terrific.
Sony's DVD boasts an excellent transfer and some very interesting extras, though the studio once again undermines the latter features by not even bothering to mention them on the packaging. There is an interview with Christopher Nolan, who discusses the influence of noir films on his own work. There is also a feature length commentary track hosted by Eddie Muller of Turner Classic Movies and The Film Noir Foundation and bestselling crime novelist James Ellroy, whose work includes L.A. Confidential. Muller is extremely informative, conveying fascinating information about the film and the San Francisco locations. However, Ellroy, who describes himself as "The White Knight of the Far Right" wears out his welcome pretty quickly. His efforts to come across as politically incorrect become blatantly pretentious, as he peppers his comments with expletives and makes homophobic jokes with regularity. Even Muller seems a bit taken off balance by him. Nevertheless, Sony deserves kudos for allowing Ellroy's controversial commentaries to remain intact. If you can put up with Ellroy, you'll get some great insights into the film and Siegel's methods of working.
The Lineup is American film noir at its best.
(This DVD is "all region", meaning it will play on any international system).
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Cinema Retro has received the following press release:
“A terrific read that puts the Fabs’ films into an
insightful and fact-filled context with a fresh perspective on just how
important the movies were to their lasting legacy.” —Dennis Elsas, legendary
WNEW FM and WFUV New York disc jockey and co-host of Fab Fourum on Sirius XM
“With Act Naturally: The Beatles on Film, Steve Matteo
provides readers with the definitive, go-to book for understanding the group’s
cinematic forays. Chockful of new information, Act Naturally is rife with
stories about the Fabs’ filmic excursions and key aspects of their unparalleled
contribution to music and celebrity culture.” —Kenneth Womack, author of John
Lennon 1980 and Fandom and the Beatles
“Steve Matteo is the perfect companion and tour guide in
navigating the Beatles’ fascinating dalliance with film, from the British New
Wave of Richard Lester’s A Hard Day’s Night to the atmospheric verité of
Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be. This is a most welcome—and long
overdue—exploration of an important but often overlooked facet of the Beatles’
saga.” —Mark Rozzo, author of Everybody Thought We Were Crazy and a founding
member of Bambi Kino
“Fans of the films of the Beatles have not been given a
book to revel in for many years. Steve Matteo has provided one: a deep-dive
look at the Beatles, their soundtrack music, and their films. The Beatles
remain the epitome of what a band can be. All-time greats. Matteo's history
swiftly and clearly follows their path, transporting the reader to swinging
’60s London and beyond. This book is every Beatles fan's ticket to ride.”
—Noah Charney, author of The Devil in the Gallery: How
Scandal, Shock, and Rivalry Shaped the Art World
“The Beatles are a gift that keeps on giving. Steve
Matteo’s book is a gift in itself. For those of us who will always love the
Beatles, Matteo’s book renews and expands this love of the songs and the four
guys we thought we knew.” —David Yaffe, author of Reckless Daughter: A Portrait
of Joni Mitchell
“Act Naturally is saturated with the author’s contagious
love for his subject. It’s a miraculous chronicle of how those precious films
came to be, their history from every imaginable angle, the characters—likely
and unlikely—who had a hand in the productions, and industry logistics. I am so
grateful to have been shuttled back to the 1960s, to swinging London, and to
the Beatles’ glorious films. I learned a lot, and anyone interested in films of
the ‘50s and ‘60s will get a huge charge out of this wonderful and meticulous
history.” —Maura Spiegel, author of Sidney Lumet: A Life and Professor of
English and Film at Columbia University
Backbeat Books is proud to announce the release of Act Naturally by Steve
Matteo. The five films the Beatles worked on during their time together (A Hard
Day’s Night, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine, Let It Be) all
represent key phases in the group’s career—some successful, some not. Subsequent
reissues of the films have provided a deeper understanding of the group with
the addition of bonus material, along with the recent release of Get Back on
DVD and Blu-ray. With Let It Be last available on VHS in 1981, the Get Back
series of Let It Be film footage by Peter Jackson, culled fifty-five hours of
raw footage, to piece together a companion documentary to the original Let It
Be film. The Beatles have never done anything like this before with any of
their films.
In this most up-to-date deep dive into the band's
cinematic output, author and longtime music journalist Steve Matteo follows the
fan frenzy around their films from the 1964 premiere of A Hard Day’s Night through
1970's Let It Be to the release of Get Back in late 2021. Their earlier films
parallel an unprecedented period in the artistic and commercial evolution of
British world cinema. Matteo explores the production process, original
theatrical film releases, subsequent VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray releases and bonus
material, along with the U.S. and U.K. soundtracks. The film legacy of the
Beatles is an exciting inside look at the group and their music-making process.
Steve Matteo is the author of the books Let It Be and Dylan
and contributed to the collection The Beatles in Context. He is a contributing
editor for The Vinyl District and has written for such publications as The New
York Times, The Los Angeles Times, New York magazine, Time Out New York, Rolling
Stone, Spin, Rock's Backpages, Elle, Interview, and Salon. He often appears on
radio in his capacity as a music journalist and author.
Since 1991, Backbeat Books have been favorites among passionate music fans and musicians.
Known for their depth, spirit, and authority, Backbeat offers a diverse range
of books - from biographies and memoirs, critical examinations and histories,
to authoritative volumes on musical instruments and instruction - covering all
areas of rock 'n' roll, jazz, and beyond.
Cinema Retro has received the following press announcement:
FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, in
all of its brilliant glory, arrives for the first time on 4K Ultra HD digital
and disc August 1, 2023 from Paramount Home Entertainment.
Writer/director John Hughes’ seminal comedy about a high
school student’s wild adventures in the Windy City during a single, magnificent
day off continues to be enjoyed, quoted, and revered. The enduring
classic captures the uproarious antics of Ferris and his friends as they relish
the freedom of being not quite grown up.
This remastered 4K Ultra HD release features Dolby
Vision™ and HDR-10, as well as Dolby Atmos® audio for a wonderfully immersive
and liberating experience*. The release also includes John Hughes’
original director’s commentary, which has not been available on disc since the
first DVD release in 1999, along with access to a digital copy of the film and
the following legacy bonus content:
Commentary with Director John
Hughes
Getting the Class Together: The Cast of Ferris Bueller's
Day Off
The Making of Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Who is Ferris Bueller?
The World According to Ben Stein
Vintage Ferris Bueller: The Lost Tapes
Matthew Broderick stars as the delightfully charming
Ferris who, with his girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) and best bud Cameron (Alan
Ruck), ditches school to enjoy one perfect day as a kid with no
responsibilities. In 2014, FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF was added to the
Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, which serves as a compendium of
films that have been judged to be culturally, aesthetically or historically
important.
*Dolby Atmos enabled devices are also required to
experience Dolby Atmos at home. To experience Dolby Vision on 4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc, a Dolby Vision enabled TV is required with a Dolby Vision enabled
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
*Dolby Atmos enabled devices
are also required to experience Dolby Atmos at home. To experience Dolby Vision
on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc, a Dolby Vision enabled TV is required with a Dolby
Vision enabled 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
Cinema Retro has received the following notification from Bondstars.com:
In this 70th year of the literary James Bond,
we are celebrating the written legacy of all things 007 at Pinewood Studios
with a very special event on October 29th in association with Ian Fleming
Publications.
The day will kick-off with morning coffee in
the John Barry Theatre and terrace – which faces the new ‘Sean Connery Stage’ –
followed by the first ever UK cinema screening of the original 1954 version of
Casino Royale, plus an exclusive and never-before-seen filmed interview with
Jimmy Bond himself, actor Barry Nelson discussing the production.
We’ll continue in the theatre …
With readings of extracts from books by Bond
actors throughout, as we introduce: Jon Turner to discuss his mentor Richard
Chopping’s designs for Fleming’s James Bond books and archive (which he
curates) as well as Ian Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett will discussing all
things Ian Fleming.
David Lowbridge-Ellis will then host
interviews and discussions with continuity authors Raymond Benson, Charlie
Higson, 00-series author Kim Sherwood, Young Bond author Steve Cole and
(pending filming commitments) Anthony Horowitz.
Lunch will follow and then we’ll move into
the Pinewood Picture Gallery for book signings, mingling, informal chat, some
memorabilia tables and a talk about Pinewood filming locations by author Dave
Worrall on the garden patio, before afternoon tea brings the day to a close.
There’ll also be a 24- page exclusive
commemorative souvenir brochure included.
The cost per ticket will be around £175.00 (excluding
a non-refundable booking fee if you pay by debit \ credit card).
Finally!
Chaplin fans can rejoice that The Criterion Collection has at last released the
long-awaited missing entry in their run of excellent Blu-ray and DVD
editions of the filmmake's feature films. For a while it appeared that The
Circus, one of the auteur's best and certainly, arguably, his funniest
picture, was forgotten, as it's been a few years since Criterion's last Chaplin
release. Now, here it is. (The only features that remain to be given the
Criterion treatment are A Woman of Paris from 1923, which didn't star
Chaplin, and A King in New York, from 1957, his last starring vehicle. A
Countess from Hong Kong, from 1967, perhaps doesn't count.)
The
Circus was
made just as Hollywood was beginning the transition from silents to talkies.
There were still plenty of silent pictures being produced in 1928, and the move
to sound wouldn't be seriously completed until 1930 (or, in some rural areas of
the country, 1931!). Ironically, Chaplin chose to make an additional silent
comedy in 1931, City Lights, and a semi-silent movie, Modern Times,
in 1936!
Charlie
is The Tramp, of course. Broke and penniless, he wanders near a traveling
circus and, while eluding the police who mistakenly suspect him of being a
pickpocket, accidentally finds himself in the Big Top ring in front of an
audience. They find his antics hilarious, and the cruel and greedy proprietor/ringmaster
(Al Ernest Garcia) hires him on the spot, mainly to take advantage of him. The
Tramp does not realize he's funny and how much he's worth! Then there's the
bareback rider (Merna Kennedy), with whom Charlie falls in love. He sets out to
protect her from the abuse inflicted by the boss.
That's
the story in a nutshell, but it's the collection of hilarious set pieces that
make this film a classic. The opening pickpocket/sideshow/fun house sequence is
inventive and clever. Charlie's introduction into the circus, and especially his
unwitting messing up of the magician's act, provides belly laughs. But the real
stroke of brilliance is the climax of the movie, when Charlie attempts a
tightrope act and is beleaguered by a group of monkeys that have gotten loose. One
of these primates, an impish cutie named Josephine, appeared in many movies of
the period. How her trainer got her to bite Charlie's nose without hurting him
is a marvel.
It's
interesting to note that The Circus practically disappeared for decades
until Chaplin dug it out again in the 1960s to provide the original score and
title song, restore the feature, and re-release it. It had a reputation of
being a lesser work, mainly because it had been made during a painful time in
Chaplin's personal life and he may have suppressed it. The truth is that the
film is underrated -terribly so. It's one of the genius's masterworks.
Criterion's
new 4K digital restoration of the 1969 re-release version (the only one we can
get, I presume) is beautifully presented with an uncompressed monaural
soundtrack. Chaplin's own original score, complete with a vocal title song
("Swing Little Girl", sung by Chaplin himself) sounds terrific. A new audio
commentary by Chaplin biographer Jeffrey Vance accompanies the feature.
Supplements
abound. New to the Criterion edition include a fascinating interview with
Chaplin's son Eugene (complete with home movies); a wonderful and eye-opening examination
of the visual effects and production design of the film with film scholar Craig
Barron ("In the Service of the Story"); footage of 1969 interviews on Chaplin's
Swiss estate; an audio interview from 1998 with musical associate Eric James; and
newly discovered outtakes of the Tramp and the Bareback Rider. There is also a nearly
half-hour documentary from 2003, "Chaplin Today: The Circus", that provides
insight into the troubled production; unused sequences with a new score by
Timothy Brock and related outtakes; excerpts from the recording session of "Swing Little Girl"; footage from the 1928 Hollywood premiere with appearances
by many celebrities; and re-release trailers. The package booklet sports an
essay by critic Pamela Hutchinson.
The
Circus demands
to be reevaluated and cherished as a treasure from one of cinema's most
important creative artists. This one's a must.
By the year 1972, the esteemed Billy Wilder was licking his wounds
over the boxoffice debacle that was "The Private Life of Sherlock
Holmes". Wilder's revisionist depiction of the legendary sleuth is
precisely what Holmes fan clamor for today, but to a generation that
defined the depiction of Holmes and Watson by the low-budget film series
starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, there was little enthusiasm to
see an all-too human Holmes with all-too-human failings. Wilder blamed
the poor reception for the film on the fact that the studio had
overridden his objections and made major cuts to the movie. Years ago,
some of the missing footage was discovered and the altered film was
accepted favorably by reviewers and retro movie lovers. Still, at the
time, Wilder was not used to suffering the humiliation of public
rejection of one of his movies. After all, he had given us classics such
as "Some Like It Hot", "The Apartment", "Sabrina", "Double Indemnity"
and "Stalag 17". Wilder was eager to return to his comedic roots and for
his next film, "Avanti!" and he enlisted long-time collaborator Jack
Lemmon to star and his esteemed writing partner I.A.L. Diamond to
co-author the script with him. The stars seemed be aligned for another
Wilder comedy hit, but it didn't work out that way, to put it mildly.
"Avanti!" was another critical and commercial failure and this time it really hurt.
Henceforth, the few films Wilder would direct would all be bombs,
marking an inglorious end to an otherwise glorious career. Yet,
"Avanti!" deserved a better fate. It's certainly Wilder in an inspired
mode even if the inspiration came from a flop Broadway comedy production
that he and Diamond kept the basic plot premise of but otherwise
rewrote.
Wilder and Lemmon had enjoyed such audience-pleasing hits as "Some
Like It Hot", "The Apartment", "Irma La Douce" and "The Fortune Cookie".
Lemmon is well-cast as Wendell Armbruster, Jr., the son of a titan of
American industry who has just died in an automobile accident in Italy
where he went every year for a month-long personal sabbatical to cleanse
his body and soul. Wendell is already in a state of nervous panic when
we first see him on board the flight to Italy. He has just a few days to
arrange to bring his father's body back to Washington, D.C. where a
high profile televised funeral will take place with the President and
other world dignitaries in attendance. (It's never explained why the
Armbruster family self-imposed such a tight deadline for retrieving the
body and staging the funeral.) Wendell idolized his father as the symbol
of American family values and conservative political doctrine; a robust
Republican who socialized with Henry Kissinger and who was devoted to
Wendell's mother. Upon arrival in the quaint coastal town where his
father died at his favorite small hotel, Wendell is greeted by the
manager, Carlo Carlucci (Clive Revill), an unflappable local "Mr.
Fix-It" with a penchant for reassuring words and an ability to move
mountains to carry out impossible tasks. However, Wendell is in for a
shock when he meets Pamela Piggott (Juliet Mills), a working class girl
from East London whose mother also died in the same car crash as Wendell Sr.
Turns out the two were lovers who met for the past ten years at the
hotel, where they were adored local legends. Thus begins a madcap farce
in which Wendell has to deal with the emotional revelation that his
father was an adulterer while at the same time keeping family members
and the public in the dark about the scandal. Pamela has a different
attitude. Unlike Wendell, she knew of the affair long ago and assures
Wendell that the two were madly in love and could fulfill their
fantasies through their annual reunion. Wendell also learns that his
ultra conservative father would join his lover for daily nude swim.
If the conventional wisdom in Hollywood is that comedies must run
under two hours, Wilder was happy to ignore it. "Avanti!" clocks in at
144 minutes. It's as though he was celebrating the leisurely Italian
lifestyle depicted in the film, a lifestyle that can be both
simultaneously maddening and idyllic. Do we have to tell you that
Wendell and Pamela lock horns only to become lovers themselves, even
going so far as to replicate the dear departed's daily nude swim in the
best-remembered scene from the movie? Despite the lengthy running time,
the film is never boring and the performances are all top-notch with
both Lemmon and Mills in fine form. However, the scene-stealer is Clive
Revill in a remarkably funny performance. You'll swear you're watching
an Italian actor instead of a native New Zealander who made his mark in
British film and stage productions. The movie is peppered with some
genuine Italian character actors, as Wendell becomes embroiled with a
local group of poverty-row mobsters. Wilder and Diamond also mix in an
amusing murder and blackmail plot. There is a late appearance by the
marvelous Edward Andrews as a U.S. State Department official who arrives
to resolve Wendell's problem of getting his father's body back home in
time for the funeral. For all the laughs, however, there is a poignancy
to the story, as Wendell learns to love and admire Pamela, who has
initially disparages because of her "weight problem." This is an
uncomfortable aspect of the movie not only because Juliet Mills most
decidedly did not have a "weight problem", but she endures (as women did
during this era) constant barbs and insults and even makes
self-deprecating jokes about her non-existent girth.
"Avanti!"
may not be classic Wilder, but it's very good Wilder and that's enough
to merit a "highly recommended" designation.The film is currently streaming on Screenpix, which is available to Amazon Prime subscribers for an additional fee of $2.99 a month.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER KINO LORBER BLU-RAY FROM AMAZON
The issue has just been mailed to all subscribers.
Highlights of issue #56 include:
Simon Lewis and Dave Worrall go behind the scenes of "A Bridge Too Far" in an 18-page "Film in Focus"- don't miss Dave's special report based on his experiences on the set!
Nicholas Anez explores the two versions of "The Cincinnati Kid" starring Steve McQueen.
John P. Harty revisits the trials and tribulations of bringing "55 Days at Peking" to the big screen.
Lee Pfeiffer revisits the infamous bomb "The Legend of the Lone Ranger"..was it really that bad?
Brian Davidson celebrates the sexy but-short-lived stewardess-ploitation films.
Tim Greaves recalls how Sophia Loren made a splash in her first Hollywood film, Boy on a Dolphin.
Cesare Mori grew up in an orphanage in the 1870s but
rose to power and influence through the military, then the police, and finally
as a Prefect in Mussolini’s Fascist Party. He was dispatched to Palermo in
Sicily in the mid-1920s with the specific task of destroying the power and
influence of the Mafia, who held a vicious and all-controlling stranglehold on
the island. The Mafia were responsible for hundreds of brutal murders every
year, bribed officials, and were a prime reason why so many lived in poverty.
Mori was a man on a mission, and would stop at nothing to break this criminal
organisation. He was extraordinarily successful. His reasoning was that it was
not enough to simply arrest people: The citizens of Sicily had to see that the
authorities could help them and that they no longer needed the Mafia for
protection.
Following his promotion to the senate, where
ultimately he fell afoul of Mussolini
after expressing concern over Italy’s relationship with Hitler, he wrote his
memoirs about the role he played in breaking the Mafia, and it was this that
inspired the 1977 production of The Iron
Prefect, starring Giuliano Gemma in the title role. Gemma was well-known to
audiences thanks to his role in such Spaghetti Westerns as A Pistol for Ringo (1965, Duccio Tessari) and Day of Anger (Tonino Valerii, 1967) and he would even appear in
Dario Argento’s Tenebrae a few years
later in 1982. Despite being around twenty years younger than the actual Mori,
he creates a believable, authoritative character, and one can see why the
Sicilian police were willing to follow his sometimes-unorthodox methods. The
film features Claudia Cardinale in a supporting role as the struggling mother
of a young boy whose father was an influential leader of the Mafia, but having
had enough, she wants to try and secure a better life for the boy away from
Sicily. It was ably directed on location by Pasquale Squitieri, who was himself
no stranger to the Western, and had also made other films about organised crime
and the Mafia, including Camorra
(1972) and The Climber (1975).
It’s an easy comparison to make, but one can’t help
but think of the Sicilian section of The
Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972), and this film makes an excellent
companion piece to that: Sicily is hot, dry and crumbling, where peasants are
armed with shotguns and the authorities are powerless to do anything about the
criminal gangs who brazenly murder entire families to maintain control, until Cesare
Mori arrives of course. The Iron Prefect
has been restored in 2K from the original negative and is available here from
new boutique label Radiance Films with new and archival extras. As Squitieri
and Gemma are sadly no longer with us, an archival interview with them both
recorded in 2009 provides fascinating insight, and there is also a new
interview with Squitieri’s biographer Domenico Monetti. My favourite bonus
feature here is an appreciation of Giulliano Gemma by writer, director and
western fan Alex Cox who goes into detail and brings wit and style to the piece.
If Alex Cox, host of the important Moviedrome
series of film screenings on British television in the late nineties, could
shoot videos like this for all of Radiance’s releases, I for one would be very
happy. The limited edition of The Iron
Prefect comes with a booklet featuring new writing by Italian cinema expert
Guido Bonsaver and an original article on the real-life Cesare Mori and his
Mafia raid as depicted within the film.
This is another excellent release from Radiance, who
have rapidly become a popular and collectible label with an eclectic mix of
world classic and cult cinema. Cinema
Retro recently interviewed founder Francesco Simeoni about the label. You can read it here.
You can order The Iron Prefect direct from Radiance by clicking here.
It's easy to look back on the Blaxploitation film craze of the 1970s
as a short-lived period that spawned some cinematic guilty pleasures.
However, time has been kind to the genre and if retro movie buffs view
some of the films that emerged during this era they will undoubtedly
find more artistry at work than was originally realized. Case in point:
"Truck Turner", a 1974 action flick released at the height of the
Blaxploitation phenomenon. I had never seen the film prior to its
release on the new Blu-ray special edition from Kino Lorber Studio
Classics. It's a violent, brutal film filled with ugly characters and
"heroes" who deserve that moniker only because they aren't quite as
abhorrent as the cutthroat antagonists they face. Yet, there is
something special about "Truck Turner". Amid the carnage and frequent,
extended action sequences, there is real talent at work here. Most of it
belongs to Jonathan Kaplan, the director who had recently emerged as
yet another promising protege of Roger Corman. In fact, Kaplan had just
recently completed filming another Blaxploitation film, "The Slams" with
Jim Brown, before being drafted into "Truck Turner". The idea of a
white, Jewish guy directing a Blaxploitation film may seem weird today
but at the time, most of the creative forces behind these movies were
white guys, an indication of just how few opportunities existed in
Hollywood for black filmmakers in the 1970s. The movies were also
largely financed by white studio executives who benefited the most
financially. Yet, it cannot be denied that the genre went a long way in
opening doors for a lot of talented black actors and musicians, who
often provided the scores for the films. Until the release of "Shaft" in
1971 (which was directed by a black filmmaker, Gordon Parks),
most of the action roles for black characters seemed to be hanging on
the durable shoulders of Sidney Poitier, Jim Brown, Harry Belafonte and
the great character actor Woody Strode. Suddenly, there were a great
number of opportunities for black actors and actresses to display their
talents on screen. The vehicles in which they toiled were often
low-budget potboilers, but it did increase their visibility and name
recognition. More importantly, black action characters became
commonplace henceforth.
"Truck Turner" has emerged as a genuine cult movie in the decades
since its initial release. The movie's oddball appeal begins with the
casting of the titular character, who is played by legendary soul
musician Isaac Hayes in his screen debut. While Laurence Olivier
probably never lost sleep over Hayes's decision to enter the movie
business, his casting was a stroke of genius on the part of the
executives at American International Pictures, which specialized in
exploitation films for the grindhouse and drive-in audiences. Hayes had
recently won the Academy Award for his funky "Theme From 'Shaft'" and
had an imposing and super-cool physical presence. He also proved to be a
natural in front of the camera. His emotional range was limited but he
exuded an arrogance and self-confidence that the role required. Turner
is a skip tracer/bounty hunter employed by a bail bond agency in the
slum area of Los Angeles. A stunning opening shot finds literally dozens
of such agency dotting the urban landscape- an indication of how out of
control crime was in the city during this period. Turner and his
partner Jerry (Alan Weeks) agree to take on an assignment to track down a
local notorious pimp and crime kingpin named 'Gator' Johnson (Paul
Harris), who has skipped bail, thus leaving the agency's owner Nate
Dinwiddle (Sam Laws) on the hook for the money. Turner and Jerry pursue
'Gator' in one of those requisite high octane car chases that were
seemingly mandatory in 70s action movies. This one is quite spectacular
and features some dazzling stunt driving. 'Gator' is ultimately killed
by Turner and this leads to the main plot, which concerns his lover,
Dorinda (Nichelle Nichols). She was 'Gator's partner in a lucrative
prostitution business. The two pimped out beautiful young women who they
keep as virtual prisoners on a large estate. Dorinda is the Captain
Bligh of madams, routinely abusing her stable of girls and demeaning
them at every opportunity. She is enraged by Turner's slaying of 'Gator'
and offers a bounty for his murder: half of her stake in the
prostitution ring. The offer draws more than a few professional
assassins to her doorstep, all of whom promise they can kill Turner.
However, the only one who seems to have the ability to do so is Harvard
Blue (Yaphet Kotto), a soft-spoken but vicious crime boss who would like
nothing more than to make easy money from a major pimping operation.
With a small army of assassins, he sets out to make good on his promise
to kill Turner.
Like most action movies of this genre, the plot points are
predictable. As with Charles Bronson's character in the "Death Wish"
films, virtually every person who befriends Turner comes to great
misfortune. This kind of predictable emotional manipulation is par for
the course when you're watching 70s crime films and doesn't overshadow
the fact that there is a great deal of style evident in "Truck Turner".
The dialogue is saucy and witty. For example, Dorinda describes one of
her "girls" as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" because "she's finger-lickin'
good!" and another as "Turnpike" because "you have to pay to get on and
pay to get off." If you think that's politically incorrect, consider
that every other line of dialogue has somebody calling somebody else a
nigger. Then there's the character of Truck Turner, who - like his
fellow cinematic tough ass crime fighters of the era ranging from Dirty
Harry to 'Popeye' Doyle to John Wayne's McQ- seems oblivious to the
fact that he is endangering an abundance of innocent people in his
obsession to get the bad guys. Turner engages in carjacking and
threatens the lives of people who he feels aren't cooperating fast
enough. He also has a sensitive side, though, as we see in his scenes
with the love of his life, Annie (Annazette Chase). She's recently
completed a jail term and only wants to settle down with Turner to live a
quiet, normal lifestyle. Good luck. When the contract is put out on
Turner, she becomes a potential victim and is terrorized by Harvard Blue
and his gang. The film concludes with some terrific action sequences,
the best of which has Hayes and Kotto going mano-a-mano inside the
corridors of a hospital. They chase and spray bullets at each other amid
terrified patients in wheelchairs and on gurneys and in one scene,
carry the shoot out into an operating room with doctors in the midst of
working on a patient! The finale, which centers on Kotto's last scene
in the movie, is shot with such style that it almost approaches being
(dare I use the term?) poetic. The supporting cast is first rate with
Alan Weeks scoring strongly as Robin to Turner's Batman. Annazette Chase
is excellent as the ever-patient object of Turner's desire and, of
course, Kotto is terrific, as usual, managing to steal scenes in his own
unique, low-key way. The most enjoyable performance comes from Nichelle
Nichols, who is 180 degrees from her "Star Trek" role. As the ultimate
villainess, she seems to be having a blast insulting and threatening
everyone in her line of vision. Her final confrontation with Turner
makes for a memorable screen moment, to say the least.
The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is up to the company's usual high standards
in all respects. Old Truck never looked better on screen and there are
some welcome bonus materials. Director Kaplan provides a witty and
highly informative audio commentary, relating how American International
was more interested in the soundtrack album they would be able to
market than the film itself. (Hayes provides the impressive score for
the film, including some "Shaft"-like themes.). He also said that he was
originally drawn to the project because he was told the film would star
either Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine or Robert Mitchum! Nevertheless, he
speaks with great affection for Hayes and his colleagues and points out
various character actors his used in the film including the ubiquitous
Dick Miller, James Millhollin, Scatman Crothers and even Matthew Beard,
who played "Stymie" in the Our Gang comedies. Another welcome bonus is
director Joe Dante,obviously an admirer of the film, in discussion at a
2008 screening of "Truck Turner" at the New Beverly Cinema in L.A. He's
joined by director Kaplan and stuntman Bob Minor. The reaction of the
audience indicates this film enjoys a loyal following. There is also a
segment from Dante's popular "Trailers From Hell" web site that features
director Ernest Dickerson introducing and narrating the original
trailer for the film. The trailer is also included in the Blu-ray, as
well as a double feature radio spot ad for "Truck Turner" and Pam Grier
as "Foxy Brown". In all, an irresistible release for all retro movie
lovers.