BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA

Writer/director/producer Russell Rouse may not be a household name, but his credits are pretty impressive. For instance, he co-wrote the 1949 film noir classic D.O.A. (and the 1988 remake). Russell also co-wrote and directed the 1956 western The Fastest Gun Alive which starred Glenn Ford. He was nominated for an Academy Award for co-writing the 1951 drama The Well, and in 1959 Rouse finally won the Oscar for co-writing the Pillow Talk screenplay. Recently, the 1967 heist film The Caper of the Golden Bulls, which was directed by Rouse, has been released on Blu-ray.

The Caper of the Golden Bulls concerns former bank robber Peter Churchman (Stephen Boyd) who is blackmailed by an old flame (Giovanna Ralli) into stealing priceless jewels from a bank in Spain. Along with his girlfriend (Yvette Mimieux) and his old crew, Churchman attempts to pull off the dangerous heist during the annual “Running of the Bulls” festival.

Filmed on location in Spain, The Caper of the Golden Bulls is an entertaining and well-done caper film which features fun performances from Boyd, Mimieux and Ralli as well as from many other talented and familiar faces (who all seem to be having a good time) such as Vito Scotti, Walter Slezak, Clifton James, Jay Novello, Henry Beckman, Leon Askin, J.G. Devlin, Arnold Moss and Noah Keen.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It’s a very watchable caper flick with a strong cast, an involving story, solid direction and beautiful locations. The cute film also benefits from a terrific musical score by the great Vic Mizzy and lovely cinematography by Academy Award nominee Harold E. Stine. I definitely recommend checking it out.

The Caper of the Golden Bulls has been released on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The film is presented in its original 1:85:1 aspect ratio, the 4K transfer looks great and the audio is clear. Special Features include an audio commentary by film historian Phillipa Berry and trailers for the films Topkapi, The Brink’s Job, Loophole, The Real McCoy, The Mercenary and The Neptune Factor.

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By Darren Allison

It’s always good to see one of our leading European labels continue to bring us some exciting scores from the 1970s.

José María Forqué's La Donna Della Calda Terra (CSC 037) (aka La Mujer De La Tierra Caliente or Fury, as it is sometimes referred to in English territories) was made in 1978. The movie was a product of the erotic cinema cycle which was still popular throughout the remaining years of the decade. The genre was popularised by films such as Emmanuelle (1974) and would lead to many spin- offs and sequels. La Donna Della Calda Terra starred Laura Gemser who was perhaps best known for her role in Black Emanuelle (1975). As so often with these budgeted European movies, a one-time Hollywood star (who had seen their better days) was hired for a week or two - providing them not only with a pay cheque, but also an all-expenses paid vacation abroad, and in this instance it was Stuart Whitman who took full advantage. The film tells the story of two unnamed characters (Gemser and Whitman) who, despite very different backgrounds, come together. She is a village girl with ambitions; he is a man whose wife has recently died. The two of them converse and get to know one another, and so a journey of discovery begins. Despite their different social backgrounds and a considerable age difference, the couple eventually begin an intimate relationship.

The music score for La Donna Della Calda Terra was composed by Carlo Savina, a composer whose filmography covers almost every genre of Italian cinema - from the 1950s through to the 1980s. His music here has an unusual distinction in that the score was heavily rethought during the editing and eventually the first half hour is left without music, except for the opening titles. Thus, Savina's score begins when the film changes up the narrative structure and instead of telling the stories on two parallel storylines, they start to intercut them more frequently in order to draw stronger parallels between both central characters. Whilst the general focus is more tailored towards Gemser's storyline, the switch to a hunting trip in the man's storyline helps to reframe the girl's next chapter in the film’s narrative. There’s a really nice mix of styles in Savina’s music. Yes, there is the obligatory funky disco beat that peppered a great deal of these productions from this era, but there is also a great deal more. There are some gentle, romantic cues provided by acoustic guitar, some slightly more suspenseful, atmospheric pieces that reflect the tension brought upon by the relationship and even some traditional Mexicana. But overall, La Donna Della Calda Terra is light, breezy and distinctly European in its flavour. Moreover, the score is elevated to an entirely higher level with the inclusion of some wonderful wordless vocals by Edda Dell'Orso both on the main titles and several other cues. Uniquely identifiable, she remains the ultimate, signature voice of European film scoring.

Chris' Soundtrack Corner has made this score available for essentially the first time. With literally half the score going unused in the beginning of the film, this soundtrack album offers the first opportunity to enjoy the composer's playful variations of catchy thematic material, sensual tropical exotica, and even some highly melodramatic mini masterpieces - all of which is presented in a beautifully produced package. The album benefits from a first class production by Christian Riedrich and mastering by Manmade Mastering. The CD is accompanied by a 12-page illustrated booklet designed by Tobias Kohlhaas and features exclusive (and exceptionally detailed) notes by Gergely Hubai, who explores both the making of the film and its score. Euro score fans will soak this up like a sponge.

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CSC’s second offering is the soundtrack to I Gabbiani Volano Basso (CSC 034) (aka Seagulls Fly Low), another film from 1978 and directed by Giorgio Cristallini (under the Americanised pseudonym of George Warner).

The movie was influenced by the number of Vietnam Vet dramas coming out of the United States in 1978 such as The Deer Hunter and Coming Home, and the Italian cinema didn't waste much time in capitalising on the commercial potential of these films.

Starring Italian actor Maurizio Merli, who was often typecast in tough cop roles, I Gabbiani Volano Basso tells the story of a Vietnam war veteran (Merli) who finds his post-war career in the private assassination business. After succeeding in a hit in Rome, using various aliases, the war vet gets into an altercation that leads to a wild chase involving the police, other killers, and a third shady business partner who wants to get the whole company for himself. While on the run, Merli's character hooks up with Isabelle (Nathalie Delon), the lonely owner of a Roman boutique shop who helps with his escape. But with the two other killers in tow, our hero must make an important decision between getting away safely while leaving Isabelle behind in danger, or making the ultimate sacrifice for the only woman who helped him selflessly.

The music for I Gabbiani Volano Basso was written by Roberto Pregadio, one of the few Italian Silver Age composers who also made a career as a television personality. In most of his film scoring collaborations, it was Pregadio's job to flesh out or transcribe the musical ideas of his co-composers who usually didn't have the necessary musical training to do so. Such was the case with I Gabbiani Volano Basso, where Pregadio is actually credited together with two members of the director's family, Paola and Carlo Cristallini, though only the latter is given credit. Besides the music that's in the film, the soundtrack also includes some major discoveries including music cues that were not originally heard in the finished film.

This release from Chris' Soundtrack Corner marks the premiere presentation of any of the music from I Gabbiani Volano Basso. Certain aspects of the recording indicate that the original production was prepared for the release of an eventual soundtrack album but the project did not materialise. One of these clues is that certain cues were recorded in shorter film versions as well as extended versions that would be more at home on a soundtrack or exploited on a later library LP, but neither saw the light of day. Among the differences preserved on the CD is "Title – versione disco", the record version of the opening music. This version is not only half a minute longer in comparison to the film version, but it's actually a different mix with a more prominent focus on the keyboard and the pop percussion, both of which appear in a lighter fashion in the movie. A great many of the tracks do follow an upbeat disco rhythm and electronic keyboard riffs, which provide an instant indicator of the film’s period setting. But it’s certainly not confined to a pulsating funk-filled timepiece, there are also a fair amount of more gentle, dreamlike moments that succeed in softening its harder edges and provide a welcome sense of calm and restfulness - so it’s a score that is nicely balanced. Its bonus tracks also include ‘Ricordi angoscianti’ - a traumatic and hectic cue which appears during a Vietnam flashback sequence shortly after Merli has completed his first hit in Rome. The album is superbly produced by Christian Riedrich and mastered by Manmade Mastering. The CD is accompanied by a 12-page illustrated booklet designed by Tobias Kohlhaas and featuring detailed, exclusive notes on the film and its score by Gergely Hubai.

Chris' Soundtrack Corner have managed to weave their magic again by taking two relatively obscure and seldom seen films by presenting their soundtracks with a new found sense of importance and respect. We can only be grateful that CSC is prepared and willing to take up the challenge in their quest for film music preservation.

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(Darren Allilson is the Soundtracks Editor for Cinema Retro.)

By Nicholas Anez

In 1981, United Artists released True Confessions, a Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler production directed by Ulu Grosbard. Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall star in the movie. It is about faith, hope, repentance and salvation. It is also about greed, corruption, pornography and murder.

The setting is Los Angeles of 1948. This is the City of Angels as conceived by John Gregory Dunne in his superb 1977 novel of the same title. Dunne was an accomplished novelist as well as a literary critic and a notable writer of non-fiction; his 1998 book, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen, is an invaluable account of the trials and tribulations of writing a screenplay in Hollywood. True Confessions is certainly his best novel and, together with Joan Didion (aka Mrs. Dunne), he adapted it to the screen. Didion was an equally fine novelist and was also known for her acerbic essays on California culture; in 1972, Didion and Dunne wrote the screenplay for Didion’s acclaimed 1970 novel Play It as It Lays. The screenplay for True Confessions naturally condenses the novel, which was 341 pages in its first edition, and eliminates many incidents as well as characters. Nevertheless, the movie still fully captures the essence of the novel. Actually, the screenplay improves upon the novel in one respect, possibly due to Didion’s involvement. Dunne seems to have written the novel in part as a form of therapy regarding his Irish-Catholic upbringing; by the novel’s midpoint, many of the characters seem to blend together as hopeless, cynical sinners. The movie is less critical of its main characters without softening the impact of the narrative. Significantly, the movie still captures Dunne’s insightful portrait of post-war Los Angeles. This is a city in which moral and spiritual decay flourish. And it is a city in which the excessively brutal murder of a young woman symbolizes the depravity that permeates every facet of its superficially glittering façade.

The film, like the novel, uses the factual Black Dahlia murder case of 1947 as a catalyst for the plot but it is primarily the story of the two Spellacy brothers and how their relationship becomes entwined with the murder of the woman whom the press calls “the virgin tramp.” Monsignor Desmond Spellacy (Robert De Niro) is an ambitious priest in the Catholic Church who hopes to rise someday to the position of cardinal even if it means neglecting his sacred vows. Detective Sergeant Tom Spellacy (Robert Duvall) is an embittered detective in the Los Angeles Police Department who is disgusted by the pervasive corruption and by the fact that he was once a part of it. Both Des and Tom are dealing with guilt which accounts in part for their strained relationship. Des has perhaps been repressing his guilt but as the story progresses it will come to the surface and he will have to confront it. Tom has lived with his guilt since he was a young vice cop and now sees an opportunity to expiate it. When the dissected body of Lois Fazenda is found in a vacant lot, it sets into motion a series of events that will involve both Tom and Des. Tom is in charge of investigating the murder while Des has a peripheral connection to the victim. Neither Tom nor Des initially realize it but the murder will propel them on a collision course.

This is a complex film and, as the story unfolds, it expands to include the compromises that individuals in the Los Angeles Police Department and in the Catholic Church must make to exist in a morally corrupt environment. Representative of this corruption is Jack Amsterdam (Charles Durning), a wealthy construction magnate and a respected member of the Catholic populace. Amsterdam also has a disreputable past of which both Tom and Des are aware. Nevertheless, Des has a history of awarding contracts for building projects within the diocese to Amsterdam in return for financial savings for the Church. It infuriates Tom that Des disregards Amsterdam’s unsavory past because of his wealth. However, Tom doesn’t know that Des is on the verge of terminating the Church’s association with Amsterdam. Des hopes to soften the jolt by awarding Amsterdam with a ceremony honoring him as Catholic Layman of the Year. Meanwhile, Tom’s investigation takes a surprising turn when Amsterdam’s name appears among the victim’s acquaintances. This increases his determination to solve the crime, regardless of how it may involve his brother.

Ulu Grosbard initially achieved fame as a Broadway theater director. He received two Tony nominations for Best Direction, in 1965 for Frank Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses and in 1977 for David Mamet’s American Buffalo. Regarding his film career, some critics accused him of lacking an individual style as well as an artistic approach to the medium of film that would distinguish his movies. This may be due in part to the fact that, though his film career spanned three decades, he only directed seven movies (compared to eight Broadway plays), all of which are different in style and genre. He began his Hollywood career as an assistant director in the early 1960s. His first directorial credit was the film version of The Subject Was Roses (1968), which proved that he was equally adept with film as he was with the stage. He followed this with an interesting but pretentious misfire, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971). However, his third film, Straight Time (1978), is another underrated gem. True Confessions followed and is undoubtedly his best film. He followed this with a modest romantic drama, Falling in Love (1984), also with De Niro.

Grosbard distinctly demonstrates cinematic expertise with True Confessions. He imbues the movie with a neo-noir atmosphere, though this may not be initially apparent from the film’s beginning. The movie opens in 1962 as the elderly Spellacy brothers reunite in a dilapidated church in the desert in Palm Springs. This will lead to the flashback to 1948 and the main narrative which begins with a wedding in an opulent church in Los Angeles. The stark difference between the rundown church in the desert and the multi-million dollar cathedral is readily apparent. Equally apparent is the difference between the humble appearance of the elderly desert priest and the luxuriously attired young city ecclesiastic, especially since they are the same person. The reason for this transformation, which the public and the press labeled his disgraceful downfall, is the heart of the story that follows.

Grosbard directs the film in a restrained manner, excluding any flamboyance which might distract from his emphasis on the characterizations of Des and Tom Spellacy. His direction includes several memorable sequences. The restaurant scene begins with Tom’s amusing response to an uppity maitre’d and ends with his angry confrontation with Amsterdam in front of an embarrassed Des. The Catholic Layman Award ceremony simmers with suppressed tension and climaxes with an even more violent altercation between Tom and Amsterdam. The confessional scene in which both Amsterdam and Tom furiously and unjustly lash out at Des instead of one another bristles with unbounded rage while eliciting sympathy for the beleaguered monsignor. And there are some quieter scenes which are notable for their sensitivity to the characters. The diner scene in which Desmond tries to express to Tom his regret for the course of his life reveals the latent tenderness between the brothers, an emotion which both are unable to express. The abandoned military base in which Tom discovers the sight of the murder is shocking in its underlying anguish for the savagely-murdered victim. Even more sorrowful is the scene in which Tom tries to console Lois Fazenda’s parents as they remember her innocent childhood full of hopes and dreams. Through scenes such as these, Grosbard gradually builds the emotional content of the story as well as the tension until the explosive penultimate scene outside the courthouse. The director received some criticism for the brevity of this scene, for not showing Amsterdam’s comeuppance and for not filming a more dynamic solution to the murder. But this would have distracted from his main theme which is why he returns to the desert church for the highly poignant finale.

By Darren Allison

Having starred in the popular sitcom series The Munsters from 1964 -1966, Herman (Fred Gwynne), Lily (Yvonne De Carlo), Grandpa (Al Lewis), Eddie (Butch Patrick) and Marilyn (Debbie Watson) hit the big screen in Munster, Go Home (1966).

Produced and co-written by series creators Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher (Leave It to Beaver), this satire of American suburban life features British comedians Terry-Thomas and Hermione Gingold, legendary horror star John Carradine and future Family Feud host Richard Dawson, who was then appearing on Hogan’s Heroes.

The Munsters achieved higher Nielsen ratings than the similarly macabre family of the time The Addams Family. In 1965 it was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series but lost to The Rogues starring David Niven which was cancelled after one season.

After 70 episodes, The Munsters was also cancelled after ratings dropped due to competition from the Batman TV Series. The film was produced immediately after the television series completed filming. It starred the original cast (Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick) apart from Marilyn, who was played by Debbie Watson, replacing Pat Priest from the series.

The movie was released in Technicolor, whereas the TV series was telecast in black & white. The hope was that the film would introduce the series to the world in advance of negotiating future syndication rights. The film was released in the United Kingdom at the end of December 1966 as support for the Norman Wisdom movie Press for Time (1966). The instrumental theme song, titled The Munsters' Theme, was composed by composer/arranger Jack Marshall and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1965.

The story sees Herman becoming Lord Munster after he inherits an estate from an English uncle. With Spot guarding 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Herman leaves his job at Gateman, Goodbury & Graves Morticians for Munster Hall in England. Whilst there, he uncovers a counterfeiting ring and upholds the family honour by driving his Drag-u-la special in the annual road race.

The move from the TV screen to the cinema screen is often a gamble. The transition is tricky, with the chief obstacle finding a story interesting enough to fill a 90-minute slot while at the same time sustaining the audience’s attention can be tough. However, the central problem with Munster, Go Home! is that it just really isn’t that funny. The shifting dimensions between TV and cinema so often adjust the overall dynamics. The absence and familiarity of a laughter track almost leaves a cold, empty feel to the movie. Whilst The Munsters (shot at Universal City) was never filmed in front of a live studio audience, it was overdubbed with ‘canned laughter’ or a laughter track, an element that at least helped cue up or support a punchline or a comedic line of dialogue. As a result, something just seems to be lost in the movie version. Even the support from Terry-Thomas as English ancestor Freddie Munster is really over-the-top and at times borders on embarrassing. At just 96- minutes, it’s all really hard work.

Nevertheless, it’s not all bad. On the technical side, the production values work very well. Creepy dungeons, gothic mansions et al – create the perfect setting and atmosphere to satisfy every horror kid’s dream. The film is also presented in its original theatrical 1.85:1 ratio. But the real winner here is the Technicolor photography; the process simply elevates everything on display. It’s a distinctly ‘groovy’ 60’s colour pallet with all of its vibrant lime greens, luminous pinks and rich reds’ really igniting the screen and it comes through as the film’s overall saving grace.

Considering the film (and the series it was based upon) was so culturally significant, the Blu-ray’s extras are decidedly thin, consisting of just a lone theatrical trailer. It’s a real pity that some film or horror historian couldn’t be found to sit in and provide some sort of commentary – especially as the whole franchise had loose connections and is distantly related to the whole Universal Horror cycle…

Munster, Go Home! is released on July 25th 2022 as a Region 2 Blu-ray and is available from www.fabulousfilms.com

(Darren Allison is the Soundtracks Editor for Cinema Retro)

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actor James Caan has passed away at age 82. No cause of death has been announced as of this writing. Caan's long career began on in stage productions and he eventually moved into making guest star appearances in prominent television programs in the 1960s before graduating into feature films. The Bronx native specialized in playing street-wise tough guys. In the 1964 thriller "Lady in Cage", he led a group of housebreaking young punks in terrorizing Olivia De Havilland as a woman who was trapped inside an elevator. Caan sometimes landed a leading role in films such as Robert Altman's "Countdown" and in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rain People", both of which co-starred Robert Duvall. He scored good notices in director Howard Hawks' "El Dorado" playing a gunslinger with bad aim to comedic effect opposite John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. He earned an Emmy nomination for his leading role in the highly rated TV movie "Brian's Song" and his career moved into high gear when Coppola was casting "The Godfather" in 1971. Originally, Caan was slated to play the role of Michael Corleone and fellow up-and-comer Al Pacino was auditioned to play the hot-headed Sonny Corleone, but wiser heads prevailed and the roles were reversed. Both actors received Oscar nominations and major stardom would follow. Caan's character was killed in the first "Godfather" film but he made a pivotal cameo in the final scene of "The Godfather Part II" in a flashback sequence. During the 1970s, Caan was a bankable leading man, appearing in major diverse films such as "Cinderella Liberty", "The Gambler", "Freebie and the Bean", "Rollerball", "Funny Lady", "A Bridge Too Far" and "Chapter Two". 

In the 1980s, the good roles and his boxoffice appeal diminished somewhat, despite a high profile leading role in director Michael Mann's "Thief". He starred in and directed "Hide in Plain Sight", a domestic drama that won good notices but did not score at the boxoffice. He also had a hit in the 1990 screen adaptation of Stephen King's thriller "Misery" but many of his roles were relegated to lower-budget productions and supporting roles and cameos. His talents were introduced to a new generation with his role as Will Ferrell's father in the 2003 comedy "Elf", which is now considered to be a Christmas classic. He returned to TV to star in the series "Vegas" and it was a success, running four seasons. Caan was back in the news quite a bit earlier this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Godfather". He is the father of actor Scott Caan and once made a guest appearance on his son's hit series "Hawaii Five-0". Caan occasionally expressed frustration that the good roles were often being denied him in his later years, but in fact, his legacy is intact as a highly respected actor who could excel at playing diverse characters in equally diverse films. 

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Photo: Todd Garbarini. All rights reserved.

BY TODD GARBARINI

The year 1976 was a phenomenal time for films that went into production. George Lucas’s space opera, Star Wars, began principal photography in March; Steven Spielberg, fresh off the success of Jaws, was given carte blanche to bring Close Encounters of the Third Kind to the screen and began shooting in May; and Dario Argento, who became emboldened by the financial success of his latest and arguably best film to date, Profundo Rosso (known in the U.S. as Deep Red), embarked upon Suspiria, a murder mystery involving a dance academy hiding in plain sight while doubling as a home to a coven of witches, which began filming in July. Suspiria is just one of a handful of films directed by Signor Argento over a fifty-plus year career, and it’s also being showcased in full-blown 4K Digital Cinema Projection as part of the sinisterly titled Beware of Dario Argento: A 20-Film Retrospective at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City now through June 29^th. You can see the full calendar at this link here. The one omission from the roster of titles is his 2009 thriller Giallo, starring Adrien Brody, which was stopped from being released due to the actor’s failure to be paid for his role until he successfully sued the producers.

Beginning on Friday, June 17^th, the first film shown in the retrospective was his debut outing, the phenomenal The Bird With the Crystal Plumage from 1970, lensed by straordinario cineasta Vittorio Storaro, on a double bill with his equally fine thriller Tenebre/Tenebrae from 1982. Bird is amazing in that it was the first film that he ever directed…ever. There were no interminable student films made prior to it. Somehow, following his years as a newspaper film critic and having contributed to the 1968 western Once Upon a Time in the West, he made a visually dazzling cinematic yarn loosely inspired by Fredric Brown’s 1949 novel The Screaming Mimi (itself made into the 1958 film of the same title by Gerd Oswald starring Anita Ekberg), though there are also some similarities to the creepy 1949 “Birdsong for a Murderer” episode of the Inner Sanctum radio drama that starred the late great Boris Karloff.

The standout in this series is clearly Suspiria, with its amazingly bright color palette and virtuoso camerawork. Also of note, at least for die-hard Argento completists, is his sole non-thriller/horror outing, the 1973 Italian comedy set during the Italian Revolution of 1848 called The Five Days (Le Cinque Giornate) shot by cinematographer Luigi Kuveiller who would go on to lens Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) (1975). While available on Youtube in Italian, this is an extremely rare presentation of the film with English subtitles – restored in 4K to boot. It’s also quite funny; not on the level of the Pink Panther films, but enough to elicit audible chuckles. The seldom-seen Inferno (1980), his beautiful follow-up to Suspiria, will also be shown, the sole title to be showcased in 35mm.

The Italian Maestro appeared in-person at several of the screenings over the weekend, most notably on Sunday in a Q & A session emceed by Argento expert Maitland McDonagh, the author of the excellent book Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento, originally published in 1991. Following the sold-out screening of his 1985 film Phenomena, a phantasmagorical fairytale/murder mystery that was presented to an audience of mostly younger fans who, judging by their applause and reactions to the film, were new to it. The plot of Phenomena has long been the subject of ridicule and derision by critics and fans alike since its initial release. The inevitable complaints about the film range from the bad dubbing and stiff performances. If the film’s title does not sound familiar, that could be attributed to the fact that Phenomena was severely cut by 34 minutes and retitled Creepers when it opened in the States on Friday, August 30, 1985. Fortunately, the 116-minute cut of the film was shown. Signor Argento responded through an interpreter to Ms. Donagh’s questions about the film.

Photo: Todd Garbarini. All rights reserved.

Maitland McDonagh: I've always thought that Phenomena was extraordinary because it's a story that is sort of both a cross between the operatic and the fairy tale. Dario, what were the origins of Phenomena?

Dario Argento: I was on vacation with my mother on a small island, and we were listening to Radio Monte Carlo. There was a person telling a story about how in Germany they had discovered that by examining insects, they could discover when a person had died. I was very struck by this and when I returned to Rome, I went to see an entomologist and asked him how this was possible. He told me, for example, that if somebody fired a gun off in a room full of insects, that the insects would die. He also explained that for a whole series of reasons, that it would be possible to identify a person’s exact date of death using insects, which is described in-depth in the film.

MM: The insects are one of the most remarkable parts of this film. Working with them must have been a great challenge. How did you work with your crew and your on-set insect experts to get the insects to almost be their own characters in their own right?

DA: For this movie, I needed thousands of flies. I rented a small theater and completely sealed it off. I put some fly larvae in there and every week I would throw some raw meat in the room. Eventually, after several weeks, they turned into a mass of flies that just went after the actor the way that we had intended and that’s how we shot the end of the film. The insects in the scenes with Donald Pleasence, who plays the entomologist, were all manipulated by insect handlers on the set and through editing.

MM: One of the things that really struck me after having viewed this film after many years, was that it tells the story of two abandoned females. First, there is Jennifer Corvino played by Jennifer Connelly, whose mother leaves the family on a Christmas morning, and her father is currently away shooting a movie in the Philippines, unable to be reached by telephone. The other female is Inga, the chimpanzee, who loses her friend, played wonderfully by Donald Pleasence. 

DA: Tanga, the chimpanzee who plays Inga in the film, suffered greatly from the loss of her friend (the Donald Pleasence character) halfway through shooting. She escaped from the set. We were working and shooting right near a large forest, and she went into that forest for almost three days. As you can well imagine, she became very hungry and so the forest rangers put out some food and they were able to lure her back out. Tanga was a remarkable creature; I would tell her what to do and she would simply do it. I recall that in the film there is a scene where she must break up the wooden slats on the shutters in order to get into her friend’s house. I showed her how to do it, and she did it exactly how I showed her. Jennifer Corvino is also a very sad character. Even though a lot of her classmates must think that she’s so lucky to have this famous father for an actor, she’s very much alone and off by herself. Because of this, she becomes prey to a very evil person. This is the story that I wanted to tell, the loneliness of a young girl. This was a girl that was my daughter’s age at the time. Jennifer Connelly was thirteen when she played this role, and she did it with a tremendous amount of elegance.

MM: I also love the way that you use the Swiss locations in the film, especially the trees and the wind. They really work well in conveying the mindset of the characters and the larger forces of nature that are at work.

DA: I have the character of the professor talk about the foehn, the wind in the Swiss Alps, with the link into the insects. At the very start of the film, where we see the trees and the wind, there is this little house set against this vast landscape. It looks like something right out of a fairy tale, sort of like a gingerbread house. This young Danish tourist who is accidentally abandoned by her tourist bus, is all alone in the midst of this panorama of forests, mountains and trees. There’s this awful thing that is about to happen. The girl who plays her is my first daughter, Fiore Argento. I really studied for this film very thoroughly. I put a lot of time and effort into it. I did my best to create this, as you so put it, operatic fairytale. I did it with great love, and I especially appreciate the wonderful performance by Jennifer Connelly and what she had to offer. She was thirteen years-old when we shot the film. This was her first big movie, and I was just dazzled by her beauty, her intelligence, and her grace.

Photo: Todd Garbarini. All rights reserved.

Dark Glasses

The evening was rounded out with the premiere of his new film Dark Glasses (Occhiali Neri), his first film in ten years, and while it fails to crack the Top Ten Best Argento Flicks list, it’s still worth seeing in a theater. It was shot in mid-2021 in Italian and has English subtitles. Written over twenty years ago and consigned to a drawer in 2002 after the financier went bankrupt and ended up in prison, Dark Glasses was resurrected by his daughter, actress Asia Argento, who stumbled across the script, read it, and urged him to make it. Described as a “tender thriller”, this is highly misleading as there is a fair amount of brutal violence and explicit gore, far more than anything seen in Profondo Rosso, Suspiria, Tenebrae, Phenomena, or even Opera – arguably the last truly great film he has made – the films often cited as his most violent and most censored. If I had to compare Dark Glasses to anything in his filmography of the past 35 years following Opera, it would be Sleepless (Non Ho Sonno) (2001).

Diana (Ilenia Pastorelli) is a matter-of-fact prostitute who finds herself blinded in an accident caused by a maniac out to kill women in her line of work. Her misfortune puts her in contact with a young orphaned Asian boy named Chin (Andrea Zhang) as well as a woman named Rita from the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Asia Argento, in a refreshingly realistic and subdued performance, with her own voice to boot!) who works with people to help them get on with their lives. There is also a seeing-eye dog who comes to the rescue to help our protagonists out of danger. While some of the plot points feel a little silly and predictable, the film possesses an extremely atmospheric score by Arnaud Rebotini. Missing from the film are the very directorial flourishes that fans have come to love and expect from the Maestro’s golden era, his genius method of cinematically propelling a story forward with astonishing set pieces: there are no cameras booring into brains or over buildings, or excessive jump-cuts, etc. The film boasts a decent performance from Ilenia Pastorelli and young Andrea Zhang whose characterization of Chin is ultimately sympathetic as the Mandarin youth the audience roots for. One of the director’s shortest films at just 90 minutes give or take, the lack of visual splendor may be a result of the director’s getting on in years – he is currently 81 – and unwillingness to perform time-consuming set-ups. Or it may be having to make a film on a smaller budget.

Once wonders what fate has befallen the director’s as-yet-unfilmed project, The Sandman, first announce in the fall of 2014. As of this writing, there is still no word on it, however in the meantime, Dark Glasses fits the bill as a bright spot in the director’s later filmography.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

I know I'm not only getting old, but I'm there already. That's apparent in the fact that I remember seeing the 1981 comedy "All Night Long" at an advanced critic's screening in New York. Back in those prehistoric days before the internet, you had to read trade industry publications to get the background story or buzz on forthcoming films. Sure, the general public was always aware that expensive epics were experiencing production problems, but everyday movie fans were generally unaware of the scuttlebutt on mid-range fare. Within industry circles, however, the word-of-mouth was negative about the film despite the fact that it starred Gene Hackman and Barbra Streisand, both then very much at the peak of their acting careers. The film had gone through some almost surrealistic production problems that involved high profile people and had come in massively over the original budget estimate. I recalled thinking the movie was kind of fun but had the staying power of cotton candy in that nothing about resonated even a few days after seeing it. For old time's sake, I decided to revisit it through Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release. My observations will follow, but first some preliminary facts. The movie was optioned by Fox originally but for reasons unknown (premonitions?), it was dropped. It was then shepherded to executives at Universal by Sue Mengers, the "Super Agent" talent representative who was as famous as the names on her legendary clients. Among them was Gene Hackman, who had taken a leave of absence from acting due due to making so many films back-to-back. Tired of playing in action films, Hackman was eager to star in this quirky romantic comedy that had been scripted by W.D. Richter, who had written the brilliant 1978 version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" as well as the Frank Langella version of "Dracula" and the popular crime drama "Brubaker" with Robert Redford. The film was to be a modestly-budgeted affair costing about $3 million. Up-and-coming actress Lisa Eichorn was cast as the female lead opposite Hackman. The director was Jean-Claude Tramont, a Belgian filmmaker who had reed-thin credits in the industry. This was to be Tramont's first Hollywood film and it was very much championed by Sue Mengers, who "coincidentally" happened to be his wife.   

So far, so good. However, shortly after filming began, for reasons no one could ever interpret, Hackman began acting in a frosty manner opposite Eichorn, who by all accounts, was giving a fine performance. Because of Hackman's aversion to starring opposite her, their love scenes were less-than-convincing. Since Hackman was the big name, Eichorn was summarily fired, though she was paid her salary of $250,000 in full. Then Mengers stepped forward with what seemed like an outlandish idea: have Barbra Streisand assume Eichorn's role. The idea of Streisand taking over for another actress in a film that was already in production seemed surrealistic, but Streisand agreed- in return for a $4 million paycheck, which said to be the highest salary ever paid to an actor. (In return, she didn't object to Hackman getting top billing, which presumably he had been contractually guaranteed.) As the change-over was taking place, other members of the cast and crew were also replaced, including the director photography. The original composer was the esteemed Georges Delerue, but his score was deemed to be unsatisfactory and Richard Hazard and Ira Newborn were brought on board as the composers of record. (Bizarrely, Delerue is listed in the final credits as "conductor"with his name misspelled as "George", a final indignity.) By the time filming resumed, the budget had blown up to $14 million, a staggering sum for a low-key comedy and a figure that approached half the production cost of "Apocalypse Now".

So what's it all about? Hackman plays George Dupler, a middle-aged L.A. executive who is counting on a big promotion. When he is bypassed, he breaks down and throws a chair through the window. Because of his seniority, management won't fire him but instead demotes him and assigns him to a new job they are sure will result in his resignation. George is to manage an all-night pharmacy/convenient store that is staffed by misfits and patronized by wacky eccentrics. These scenes should be the funniest in the film, but director Tramont overplays his hand and presents over-the-top characters that would generally be found in sitcom episodes. None of the labored sight gags work at all and they seem out of place given the fact that Tramont had indicated his goal was to make a European-style sophisticated romantic comedy. The film improves considerably when it cuts to the main plot points, which involve George learning that his 18 year-old son Freddie (Dennis Quaid) is having a secret affair with cougar Cheryl Gibbons (Barbra Streisand), who is a distant relative. She's married to Bob (Kevin Dobson), a brusque fireman who is the fourth cousin of George's wife Helen (Diane Ladd). Still with me? A chance encounter with Cheryl leads George to have an affair with her. When Helen finds out, fireworks ensue and George spontaneously packs a few things and storms out of the house to find a new abode. He sets up a new home in a cavernous loft that adjoins a class for aspiring painters. He and Cheryl resume their affair, while she simultaneously carries on with Freddie. (A "Yuck! Factor" enters the scenario when George asks Cheryl if he is better in bed than his son.) Screenwriter Richter seems to have been inspired by the plight of Benjamin in "The Graduate", in that Cheryl is not only bedding her lover but his parent as well.

The biggest flaw in the script is that none of the principals are remotely sympathetic. Cheryl is an intentional home-breaker, Freddie puts his lust before any other priority and George is willing to break up his marriage spontaneously with no apparent regrets. Not much to admire there. Richter seems to have realized this and introduces a late plot device designed to excuse George's affair, but it comes across as a last minute contrivance that came to Richter in the middle of the night. Despite all of that, "All Night Long" worked better for me this time than when I originally saw it. The film is flaky in concept and execution but Hackman is always in fine form and it's great to see Streisand in a secondary role that she can play in a subdued manner. (There's a funny bit in which the ditzy Cheryl attempts to sing and can't hit a note, an irony for a Streisand character.) The supporting cast is very good, too, with Kevin Dobson terrific as the hot-tempered cuckolded husband who ignites when he discovers his wife is bedding both George and his son and William Daniels, very amusing as the staid family lawyer who isn't as staid as he seems.

When the film was released, it garnered a few enthusiastic reviews including from the usually grumpy Pauline Kael, but the general consensus was negative. Screenwriter William Goldman, a longtime critic of Hollywood studios (he famous said of the town, "Nobody knows anything") held up "All Night Long" as a prime example of a simple project that began bloated by ineptness, nepotism and egos. The film bombed at the boxoffice and Goldman estimated that when marketing costs were factored in, it would have lost $20 million- and that was in 1981 dollars. Streisand was said to be livid over the marketing campaign poster which implied this would be a zany, madcap comedy, when in fact, it is much more subdued. After the film's failure, Streisand dropped Sue Mengers as her agent. As for Jean-Claude Tramont, his career came to a screeching halt, never to recover before his death in 1996. 

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray would seem to call out for a commentary track, but there is none. However, there is an excellent 20-minute recent video interview with W.D. Richter, who candidly describes the experience as an unhappy memory and details some of the factors that led to disaster.  He does speak well of Streisand and said there was no evidence of the diva-like demands she is known for. She didn't even insist on any script revisions. Richter also said that Tramont seemed nervous and uncertain in dealing with Streisand and Hackman. He ponders why the film hasn't caught on as a legendary flop, as it certainly would today in the age of social media. My guess is that everyone was still talking about "Heaven's Gate".

The Blu-ray also contains the trailer and a gallery of other KL titles with Hackman starring and two radio spots, one of which is absurd and refers to the film as the "Barbra Streisand picture" without even mentioning Hackman. Recommended, if only for Richter's wonderful interview.

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BY ERNIE MAGNOTTA

Ah, the early 1970s. If you were a monster movie fan, this was a fun time to be around. After all, creature features, which became popular with kids of the late 1950s and continued throughout the 60s, were still all the rage. Classic monster movies like Universal’s Son of Frankenstein (1939) starring horror icons Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, The Wolf Man (1941) starring the immortal Lon Chaney, Jr. and Hammer Films’ amazing and highly enjoyable Christopher Lee Dracula series were constantly playing on television. The late, great Forrest Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine was required reading for all 70s monster-kids, and Aurora plastics put out a wonderful line of glow-in-the-dark monster model kits which happily kept fans busy for hours. The local drive-ins and hard top theaters also rode the creature feature wave as, every week it seemed, movie houses were filled with outstanding, atmospheric delights starring horror kings Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Sir Lee. Monster enthusiasts couldn’t get enough.

Meanwhile, legendary film studio American International Pictures, who for almost two decades had specialized in producing fun, low-budget, youth-oriented films such as 1957’s I Was a Teenage Werewolf as well as the Beach Party, Edgar Allan Poe and Biker film cycles of the 1960s, decided to create a new creature feature. Most likely due to both the huge popularity of monster films and the Hammer vampire movies of the time, AIP created their own Dracula-like villain; a modern-day bloodsucker named Count Yorga. Benefitting from a solid script, above average direction and an amazing performance by star Robert Quarry (Dr. Phibes Rises Again) as Yorga, Count Yorga, Vampire (1970) did very well at the box office. It’s no surprise that AIP almost immediately started work on a sequel titled, appropriately enough, The Return of Count Yorga.

After crumbling to dust in Count Yorga, Vampire, the evil Count is resurrected when the world famous and supposedly supernatural Santa Ana Winds blow across an old cemetery. In no time, Yorga, his faithful servant, Brudah, and his horde of vampire brides put the bite on oblivious locals and cast a spell over little Billy, younger brother of the beautiful Cynthia who Yorga has developed deep feelings for. The undead fiend then kills Cynthia’s parents, turns her sister, Ellen, into a vampire bride and brings an unconscious Cynthia to his home where he plans to romance the lovely, young woman. Cynthia awakens and is told by Yorga that her parents were in an accident and that he will be caring for her until they are well. Meanwhile, Cynthia’s maid, Jennifer, who discovered the dead bodies, informs the police, but when they arrive, they find that the corpses have mysteriously disappeared. Cynthia’s fiancé, David, suspects that Yorga may be behind the grisly goings-on and, with the help of Lieutenant Madden, Sargent O’Connor and a frightened Reverend, he sneaks into Yorga’s lair in an attempt to rescue his beloved and stop the wicked Count for good.

Originally titled Yorga Returns, but changed to The Return of Count Yorga at the time of its release, the very entertaining sequel contains much of the fun, eerie atmosphere of the first movie and also uses most of the same cast and crew. The film was solidly directed by Bob Kelljan (Scream, Blacula, Scream) who helmed the original, and the engaging and creepy story was written by Kelljan and newcomer (to the Yorga series) Yvonne Wilder (Seems Like Old Times) who also shines in the role of mute maid, Jennifer. Kelljan keeps the film moving while, all along, building tension and dread; most notably in a terrific scene where Yorga sends his vampire brides to attack Cynthia’s family in their home one windy night. The talented director also keeps the film current (for 1971) by having the brides resemble zombies from the 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead as well as giving their terrifying home invasion sequence a definite Charles Manson feel.

Michael Macready (Terror House), who produced and starred in Count Yorga, Vampire, once again takes on producing chores and makes a cameo appearance as well. His dad, actor George Macready (Gilda), who narrated the first film, also appears in a brief, but humorous scene. Talented composer Bill Marx (son of Harpo) returns and contributes another atmospheric and extremely eerie score while the likeable Roger Perry (Harrigan and Son), who played the heroic lead in the first Yorga film, returns in a similar role as Cynthia’s concerned fiancé, David. Edward Walsh (Another 48 Hrs.) is also back as Brudah and he’s just as intimidating as he was the first time around. Last, but certainly not least, the late, great Robert Quarry returns to the role for which he will be forever remembered: Count Yorga. Quarry once again plays the bloodthirsty Count as suave, sophisticated, cultured and magnetic. For the first time ever, the lonely Yorga falls in love and Quarry really makes you believe that he is completely taken with Cynthia. In other scenes, you can sense his pain at feeling this new and powerful emotion. Of course Yorga is also an evil, undead fiend and Quarry doesn’t disappoint in that department either as his vampire can be convincingly cold and extremely ruthless. Also, for a movie that’s over 40 years-old, you wouldn’t expect the scares to still work. However, the frightening image of a crazed, bloodthirsty Quarry/Yorga running out of the darkness in slow motion, fangs bared and arms outstretched while chasing a terrified victim, is still the stuff of nightmares.

We have plenty of newcomers to the series and they’re all wonderful. The lovely, talented and Emmy-winning Mariette Hartley (Marnie) is perfect as the goodhearted Cynthia. Both Rudy De Luca (High Anxiety) and, in an early appearance, Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist) are believable, likeable and a bit humorous as the skeptical cops. Philip Frame (The Little Ark) is extremely creepy as young Tommy; Tom Toner (Splash) is a bit funny as the Reverend; Karen Houston/Ericson (Night of the Demons) does well as Ellen, Cynthia’s sister (especially in the scene where she vamps out), and David Lampson (Silence) is solid as Ellen’s faithful boyfriend, Jason. Helen Baron (Private Benjamin) and the highly recognizable Walter Brooke (The Graduate) are seen early on as Cynthia’s parents, Corrine Conley (Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer) skulks around as an old witch, and beloved character actor Michael Pataki (Grave of the Vampire) shows up briefly as a concerned boyfriend whose girl (Jesse Wells from Wizards) has been attacked by Yorga. B-movie aficionados of the 60s and 70s will be interested to know that the multi-talented Gary Kent, who appeared in many fun drive-in films such as Schoolgirls in Chains and Dracula vs. Frankenstein, was stunt coordinator on this film, and musician Marilynn Lovell, who provided music for Kelljan’s Scream, Blacula, Scream, Michael Macready’s Terror House and Quarry’s Deathmaster, sings the haunting tune “Think It Over.”

As already stated, the film is scary, atmospheric, well-directed and well-acted, but as much praise as it gets, I believe that it is still quite underrated. American International Pictures was all set to have Count Yorga rise from the grave once more, but, for whatever reason, a third film was, unfortunately, never made.

(Shout Factory’s Blu-ray special edition of the film is out of print but the movie is available for streaming rental or purchase on Amazon).

By Ernie Magnotta

Real-life crime and corruption seemed to grow in the United States during the late 1960s and victims felt that, in certain cases, the law couldn’t always protect them. Thus, by the early 70s, American cinemas saw the rise of the vigilante/revenge film. Amazingly entertaining and hard-hitting classics such as Tom Laughlin’s Billy Jack (1971) Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry (1971), Phil Karlson’s Walking Tall (1973) and Jack Hill’s Coffy (1973) blazed across movie screens. These films featured lone, individualistic heroes who, after seeing the innocent people of their communities (and sometimes their loved ones) either robbed, beaten, raped or killed, and the law either powerless to help or itself part of the problem, decide that enough is enough and proceed to take the imperfect law into their own hands. As entertaining as these movies were, they were also an outcry against the real-life crime and corruption that was polluting the streets at the time; not to mention the imperfect legal system. Also, by viewing the tough, but well-meaning heroes of these fantasy films ridding their communities of this dangerous and undesired element, audiences experienced a real catharsis.

Although many more vigilante/revenge movies would hit theater screens throughout the rest of the decade, the genre reached its height with the release of Michael Winner’s masterful, if controversial, Death Wish (1974) which starred the legendary Charles Bronson as a passive architect/family man who, after his wife and daughter are raped by muggers (which also causes his wife’s death), and the authorities are powerless to help, decides to hunt criminals by night on the dangerous urban streets of New York. Death Wish proved to be highly influential and, in the 1980s, the genre showed no signs of slowing down as urban-based vigilante/revenge films such as 1980’s underrated The Exterminator, 1982’s Fighting Back and 1983’s Vigilante exploded into theaters along with, among many others, three entertaining, but inferior Death Wish sequels. Smack dab in the middle of these two decades, a modest, solid little urban vigilante/revenge film called Defiance was released.

Directed by John Flynn (Rolling Thunder), Defiance, which was written by Thomas Michael Donnelly (Quicksilver), produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun) and released by American International Pictures, concerns a merchant seaman named Tommy (Jan-Michael Vincent, The Mechanic, Big Wednesday, Airwolf) who, while waiting for his next ship to sail, takes up residence on New York’s Lower East Side. While there, he romances pretty, young Marsha (Raging Bull’s Theresa Saldana) and befriends a boy (Fernando Lopez from Frankie and Johnny) and an old grocery shop owner named Abe (Academy Award winner (for Harry and Tonto) Art Carney). He also discovers that a violent street gang called the Souls is terrorizing the neighborhood and the entire police force’s hands are tied. After a series of brutal muggings, beatings and murders, Tommy decides to put a stop to the violence by taking on the gang himself. But does Tommy alone have what it takes to put an end to the madness?

Although a very well-done addition to the urban vigilante genre, Defiance differs somewhat from films like Death Wish and The Exterminator in that the main hero doesn’t kill any of the villains. He just fights back and, hopefully, brings them to justice. Director Flynn delivers a well-balanced combo of drama and suspense-thriller while giving the film a gritty, realistic feel which is helped along by the stark cinematography of the talented Ric Waite (48 Hrs.).

Jan-Michael Vincent is extremely convincing as Tommy. He plays the well-written character as quiet, but tough and also isn’t afraid to show that, at times, Tommy is scared. He also shows traits such as humor and heart which further humanizes the character. Overall, it’s an understated and very believable performance. The extremely likeable Theresa Saldana brings a nice touch of humor to her role and the late, great Art Carney is wholly convincing as an aging, kind, but fed up grocery store owner. We also have a terrific performance by Fernando Lopez as the kid; not to mention Rudy Ramos (The Enforcer) exuding icy evil as gang leader Angel Cruz who utters the immortal line, “Now, we’re gonna make the new dude slow bleed.”

The entertaining and engaging film is loaded with even more top-notch acting talent; mostly made up of familiar East Coast/Italian-American faces such as Academy Award nominee Danny Aiello (Do the Right Thing), former AWA Tag Team champion wrestler turned actor Lenny “Luca Brasi” Montana (The Godfather), legendary film and television actor Joseph Campanella (The St. Valentine's Day Massacre), The Sopranos’ Tony “Paulie Walnuts” Sirico and the highly recognizable Frank Pesce (Vigilante). What a freakin’ cast! My only question is where the hell was Joe Spinell? The movie also features well-known faces like Ernie F. Orsatti (The Car), Chino “Fats” Williams (Weird Science) and Santos Morales (Scarface) as well as very brief appearances by Fred Lincoln (The Last House on the Left) and Tony DiBenedetto (The Exterminator), and quite a few others whose faces are more familiar than their names.

Defiance has been released on a region one Blu-ray by Kino Lorber and is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. As is usually the case with KL, the beautiful HD transfer boasts sharp, crystal clear and colorful images as well as perfect sound. The disc also contains the original theatrical trailer along with the trailer for the 1976, Jan-Michael Vincent actioner Vigilante Force which is also available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. If you’re looking for a solid entry from the vigilante film heyday, the extremely underrated Defiance won’t disappoint.

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Cinema Retro has received the following press release from Liberty Hall Video:

ROBOCOP: THE SERIES

Release date: May 10

FORMATS:

Blu-ray box set - 5 discs, $59.95 (LIB-4028 / 089353402822)

TV series runtime: Approximately 17 hours

DVD box set - 5 discs, $49.95 (LIB-4024 / 089353402426)

TV series runtime: Approximately 17 hours

SYNOPSIS:

In 1994, after three films in the franchise, the popular sci-fi action character RoboCop debuted in his own television series. Produced by Canada's Skyvision Entertainment, RoboCop: The Series starred Richard Eden in the title role. An 89-minute pilot aired in two parts in March,followed by 21 one-hour episodes. Aimed at a younger audience, the series dialed back the graphic violence of the first two movies and displayed a tone similar in feel to RoboCop 3. Many of the events and plotlines seen in the films were discarded, with RoboCop: The Series acting as a reset for the once human, now cyborg police officer. The series' theme song, "A Future to This Life," was performed by rock legends Joe Walsh and Lita Ford. Additionally, the series included songs by the Band, Dave Edmunds, Nicky Hopkins, Iron Butterfly, KC and the Sunshine Band, and Todd Rundgren, among others.

DETAILS:

Both the Blu-ray and DVD box sets feature the pilot film, all 21 original episodes, and bonus features. For the DVD, audio is Dolby Digital stereo and the aspect ratio is 16:9 pillarboxed 4:3 (1.33:1) which matches the original broadcast aspect ratio. For the Blu-ray, audio is LPCM stereo and the aspect ratio is 16:9 (1.77:1). The picture has been modified from its original broadcast aspect ratio to fill a 16:9 aspect ratio. | Color | 1994 | Region Free

BONUS FEATURES:

'Behind the Scenes' featurette | Toy commercial | Photo gallery | Cast profiles for actors Richard Eden, Lisa Madigan, Andrea Roth, Sarah Campbell & David Gardner | 'From Cinema to the Small Screen' featurette | 'The Future of Law Enforcement: The History of RoboCop' featurette | 'Put Down Your Weapon: The Auto 9 Gun' featurette | 'The Car' featurette | 'The Suit' featurette

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

When Trappist Monk Ambrose (Marty Feldman) is told by Brother Thelonious (Alfred Hyde-White), the abbot of the monastery, that he must go out into the world to raise $5,000 to pay off the church’s landlord, he begs him not to make him go. Ambrose was left on the monastery’s doorstep as an infant and has never set foot out in the real world. Universal’s “In God We Trust” (1980) is the story of what happens when a totally innocent character confronts a corrupt world, including and especially those who commercialize and capitalize on religion. In another sense, it’s also the story of Marty Feldman, the British comedian with the bulging eyeballs who believed you could tell the truth and make jokes about society’s sacred cows and not pay a price for it.

Feldman co-wrote (with Chris Allen), starred in and directed “In God We Trust,” (the full title of which is actually, “In God We Trust; Give Me That Prime Time Religion.”) It was the first film of a five-picture deal Feldman made with Universal after having a hit with “The Last Remake of Beau Geste” (1977), and his breakthrough role as Igor, the bug-eyed hunchback in Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein.” “In God We Trust” is a scathing satire on the big business of organized religion as practiced by TV evangelists. The film is prophetic in terms of how it predated the TV evangelist scandals of the mid-80s. Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and others would go down in infamy soon after the film was released. (Although some infamy lasts longer than others. Jim Bakker is back on TV and Tammy is the subject of an Oscar-nominated film.) It also warned of the dangers of mixing church and state, something that has become part of American politics today.

The first person Brother Ambrose meets after he’s kicked out of the monastery is Reverend Sebastian Melmoth (Peter Boyle), a traveling minister who drives around in a church built on top of a truck. The reverend takes him to Los Angeles and sets up his stand selling Levitating Lazarus Dolls. “Step right up, sinners!” the reverend says. “Take a miracle home with you! Get your own Levitating Lazarus Doll! See him rise from the dead in the privacy of your own home!”

His next encounter is with a hooker with a heart of gold named Mary (Louise Lasser). She is, in fact, the first woman Ambrose ever met and he’s surprised when she tries to hide from cops by climbing up under his robe. When they stop at an outdoor lunch counter they have a fairly hilarious discussion about sex, in which he tells her he notices that girls are different from men. “You have legs and those bumpy bits.” He ends up staying in her apartment, sleeping on the sofa.

Next day he goes out to look for a job and is hired as a carpenter for P. Pilate Wholesale Religious Novelties, nailing little plastic Jesus figurines to wooden crucifixes. It’s not long until he has sex with Mary and goes into a church called The World Wide Church of Psychic Humiliation, and tries to confess his sins. But the priest’s hearing aid malfunctions and turns into a microphone blaring out Ambrose’s detailed confession to anyone in hearing distance. When he comes out of the church a crowd on the sidewalk gives him a big round of applause.

Ambrose next encounters TV evangelist Armageddon T. Thunderbird (Andy Kaufman), head of the Church of Divine Profit (CDP). The legendary Kaufman dressed in a White Elvis suit with a snow white bouffant hairdo piled on top of his head gives an amazing performance as a power mad preacher out to take over the world. He’s headquartered in a high rise office building that has a replica of the Capitol Dome on the roof. His private office is modeled after the White House Oval Office. There’s a side door that opens into a private room where Thunderbird converses with G.O.D., (General Operational Directorevator), a giant computer containing God himself (Richard Pryor).

The script contains some ruefully funny lines. When Ambrose tells world- weary hooker Mary that he thought the meek were supposed to inherit the earth, she tells him: “The meek may inherit the earth but not until the strong are finished with it. By that time, it won’t be worth having.”

Rev. Thunderbird gets to toss off one liners like: “You can fool some of the people all the time.” When he discovers Rev. Melmoth’s idea of a traveling church: “Mobile Churches!” he says. “Let’s run that up the crucifix and see who genuflects!” On the importance of money, he says: “It takes money to buy things. Who’s going to clothe you? J.C. or J.C. Penney?” He guilts his audience with: “God is in intensive care and who put him there? You did!”

Thunderbird builds a fleet of mobile churches, designed with familiar looking Golden Arches and a neon sign on top that keeps track of how many million souls are being saved every day. He dupes Ambrose into fronting the mobile church business by offering to pay off the monastery’s mortgage. Things seem to be going all Thunderbird’s way until Brother Ambrose has a private talk with G.O.D.

It’s hard to believe how critics back in 1980 dismissed “In God We Trust” as a total failure. Even Roger Ebert gave it one and a half stars and accused Feldman, among other things, of thinking that “characters will seem funny if you give them a funny name.” The movie deserved a better reception. That’s not to say it’s not without its flaws. A little more care could have been taken with continuity. Some scenes don’t seem to flow naturally into the next, and some of the comedy seems forced. But overall it’s a highly entertaining film that has something important to say.

Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray comes with an exceptional audio commentary by Feldman’s close friend, writer Alan Spencer, creator of the “Sledge Hammer” TV series (1986-1988). Spencer provides his explanation for “In God We Trust’s” failure at the box office. In one scene Thunderbird cites numerous three-letter conglomerates, starting with the Holy Trinity, including “ATT, RCA, GMC, ITT, IBM FBI, MCA, KKK . . . .“ Universal demanded that MCA, its parent company, be removed from the soundtrack. Feldman had the right of final cut in his contract and refused. According to Spencer, the studio cut Feldman’s legs out from under him by refusing to promote the film and compromised its distribution when it was released. On top of that they threw his five-movie deal out. Feldman was devastated. His next film, “Slapstick of Another Kind,” (1984) was a Jerry Lewis flop that Siskel and Ebert called the worst film of 1984. Feldman at least was spared hearing that. He died in 1982 of a heart attack in Mexico while on the set of “Yellowbeard” (1983), a pirate comedy starring Graham Chapman and Eric Idle. Mel Brooks took the high road and attributed his death to his habit of smoking five packs of cigarettes a day, drinking gallons of coffee and eating fried eggs every day.

The disc also includes a separate audio commentary by film historian and author Bryan Reesman. Reesman has a mile-a-minute style of delivery that sometimes is hard to keep up with but his commentary contains loads of information. There are a number of trailers included on the disc including a “Trailers from Hell” for “In God We Trust” with Alan Spencer.

This is an important Blu-ray release that hopefully will inspire a reevaluation of “In God We Trust.” Highly recommended.

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(Check out John M. Whalen's blog)

(Photo: Sachyn Mital)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Last evening, Cinema Retro was invited to attend the one-night only performance of "Broadway by the Year: From The Ziegfeld Follies to Moulin Rouge" at the historic Town Hall Theatre, a stone's throw from Times Square. The show is the brainchild of Scott Siegel, who writes, produces and directs each of these productions, which have extended back over twenty-one years. I was unfamiliar with the shows prior to attending but the official press releases describes them thusly:

"This unique, critically acclaimed series created, written, hosted, and directed by Scott Siegel is peppered with history-making events. Broadway by the Year introduced Stephanie J. Block to the New York City theater audience. And it was Broadway by the Year that starred Jessie Mueller in her first concert appearance in New York after she was first seen on Broadway in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Broadway by the Year pioneered the use of dance in a one-night only concert format and they have and continue to highlight the Broadway voice by introducing unplugged performances, using no microphones." The press release goes on to explain why Siegel has sought to pay homage to jukebox musicals: "In this second concert of the Broadway by the Year season, audience members will get a one-night-only history of jukebox musicals and musical revues. And the truth is, an extraordinary number of hit Broadway shows fit the description of these two kinds of shows. These oftentimes maligned genres have played an important role in the resurrection of songs, and styles from rock ’n’ roll (Jersey Boys, Beautiful, All Shook Up) to classical music (Kismet), and from country (Ring of Fire) to Rhythm & Blues (Black & Blue, After Midnight). And they have highlighted oftentimes forgotten composers, bringing their names back into the limelight, such as Eubie Blake with Eubie! and Fats Waller with Ain’t Misbehavin’."

Tony Danza and Joe Davidian. (Photo: Sachyn Mital)

I confess to being somewhat bewildered by Siegel's concept, which promised to present works associated with the old-time musical revues, some of which date back over a century, alongside the likes of jukebox productions inspired by the songs of Peter Allen, The Beatles and Bob Dylan, to name just a few. Theater purists have long sniffed at jukebox musicals, dismissing them as the low hanging fruit of theatrical productions because they rely on preexisting pop hits rather than original songs. However, audiences who are paying big bucks for a night out on Broadway want uplifting, toe-tapping musicals, critics be damned. Siegel and Musical Director Ross Patterson delivered the goods. The first act largely consisted of the vintage revue musical numbers, with songs from the likes of "The Ziegfeld Follies", "Show Boat", "Sondheim on Sondheim" and "The Band Wagon Revue".  After the intermission, the jukebox numbers were performed. It worked surprisingly well. In fact, this was one of the most impressive nights of live theater I've seen in many years. The audience seemed to agree, responding with thunderous ovations. The eclectic aspects of the production gave the show a lively, unpredictable air and it was all the more enjoyable seeing it presented in the marvelous Town Hall theater. The seasoned Broadway performers and up-and-coming talents were uniformly impressive. There was not a single weak link. Haley Swindal knocked "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" and "Losing My Mind" out of the park as well as provided a rousing rendition of "Cabaret" that gave Liza a run for her money. John Easterlin performed "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" and "The Girl on the Magazine Cover" sans microphone to replicate the way audiences originally experienced the songs. Douglas Ladiner provided a soulful version of The Beatles' "Yesterday" and a magnificent show-closer with "Forever Young". Melissa Errico provided impressive renditions of "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and "Confession". Tony Danza presented a Frank Sinatra tribute and provided amusing anecdotes about his late mother's obsession with Ol' Blu Eyes and his eventual introduction of his mom to her idol. Baritone Ryan Knowles, who sounds like the voice of God, rendered the most impressive versions I've ever heard of "Sixteen Tons" and the classic Depression era number "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime", as well as a fine version of Judy Collins' "Both Sides Now" . The audience was entranced by 18 year-old Anais Reno, who sang "Stardust" and Duke Ellington's "Caravan" with such passion that I can only say major stardom for her seems to be an inevitability. I must also mention the talents of Choreographer Danny Gardner and the female dance troupe who brought to mind the sheer enjoyment of seeing the Rockettes. It was also a special night for retro movie lovers, as many of these songs are associated with classic film musicals.  

Haley Swindal and the Broadwayby the Year Dance Troupe. (Photo: Sachyn Mital)

Scott Siegel preceded every performance by addressing the audience and providing some interesting insights into each musical number. He also came across as a considerate and gracious man, personally thanking every member of the cast, along with his longtime Musical Director Michael Lavine, the technical crew and even the house staff and management. He also had spearheaded a fundraising drive that made it possible for 200 theater students to attend the show gratis.

Gotham has suffered mightily since the onset of the pandemic. Business was down, deaths and crime skyrocketed and Broadway was closed for an extended period of time, with some shows destined to never resume or open at all. The city was teeming with people in Times Square last night and it was clear the mojo is coming back. Perhaps that's why the audience appreciated Scott Siegel's latest production of "Broadway by the Year". We all needed an uplifting theatrical experience and Siegel and his collaborators came through triumphantly. I have only one regret about attending the performance: I'm now aware that I missed twenty previous productions that will never be seen again. I suppose when something is this good, however, it's better late than never to discover it.

Anais Reno (Photo: Sachyn Mital)

(There will be two more productions of "Broadway by  the Year" coming to the Town Hall Theatre on June 26 and September 19. For more information about those shows, click here.)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

When it was announced that producer Elliott Kastner had succeeded in signing both Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson for the 1976 Western, "The Missouri Breaks", the project was viewed as a "can't miss" at the international box-office. This would be Brando's first film since his back-to-back triumphs in "The Godfather" and "Last Tango in Paris" and Nicholson had just won the Best Actor Oscar for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". The two Hollywood icons were actually neighbors who lived next door to each other, but they had never previously teamed for a film project. Kastner, whose prowess as a street-wise guy who used unorthodox methods to get films off the ground, had used a clever tactic to sign up both superstars: he told each man that the other had already committed to the project, when, in fact, neither had. With Brando and Nicholson aboard, Kastner hired a respected director, Arthur Penn, who had worked with Brando ten years before on "The Chase". He then chose an acclaimed novelist, Thomas McGuane, who had recently made his directorial debut with "92 in the Shade", to write the screenplay. What emerged from all these negotiations was seemingly a boxoffice blockbuster in the making. Alas, it was not to be. Upon its release, critics emphasized the "Miss" aspect "Can't Miss" of the "The Missouri Breaks", with most reviewers citing the opinion that the film was a long, slow slog interrupted up a hammy, over-the-top comic performance from Brando, who Penn apparently exercised little control over when it came to the actor's penchant for improvisation. 

The film opens with cattle baron David Braxton (John McLiam) "hosting" a lynching for a rapt audience of his ranch hands. Seems the intended victim has rustled some of his cattle and McLiam is determined to put an end to the thievery, which has reduced his overall business income by 7% per year- a statistic he never tires of griping about. McLiam's hardball tactics against the rustlers don't sit well with his otherwise adoring daughter Jane (Kathleen Lloyd), an independent-thinking young woman who has acted as her father's most trusted companion since her mother left him for another man years ago. The victim of the lynching was a member of a rustling gang headed by Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson), who befriends Braxton on the pretense that he wants to purchase a plot of land on his property to establish a small farm. In reality, he wants to utilize the land to temporarily house stolen horses which his gang has gone to Canada to obtain in a daring operation against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's stables. Meanwhile, Jane- who lives a life of relative isolation on her father's estate-is immediately smitten by the charismatic Tom Logan and when she insists that he become her first lover, he finds it impossible to resist. Thus, Logan is now in a romantic relationship with a girl who is the daughter of a man he is deceiving and stealing from. David Braxton goes all-out in his obsession with thwarting the rustlers. He hires Lee Clayton, a renowned "regulator", which is a polite term for bounty hunter. Clayton is an eccentric man with a bizarre personality who speaks in a heavy Irish brogue, but also at times utilizes other accents. He is at times charming and amusing and at other times fiery-tempered and unpredictable. Upon being introduced to Tom Logan by Braxton, Clayton immediately suspects he is not a farmer, but a rustler. The two men play a cat-and-mouse game, each one employing double-entendres in their conversations. When Logan's men return from Canada empty-handed after being thwarted by the Mounties, Clayton becomes an omnipresent figure, observing their every move from afar through binoculars. One by one, he systematically murders the members of the rustling gang, always preceding their horrendous deaths by chatting with the doomed men in disarmingly friendly tones. Clayton becomes so frightening a figure that even Braxton becomes intimidated by him and attempts to fire him, but Clayton says the money is irrelevant and that once he commits to a job, he sees it through. The stage is set for a mano-a-mano confrontation between Logan and Clayton that both men realize will see only one emerge alive.

Ad for London opening.

It's easy to see why "The Missouri Breaks" didn't catch on with audiences. Much of the film moves at a glacial pace, but McGuane's script is intelligent and the dialogue often witty. Brando's outrageous antics easily overshadow anyone else in the film, even though his appearances are fleeting and the lion's share of the screen time is dominated by Nicholson. Brando seems to be having a field day and there seems to be no limit to his improvisations. (At one point he is dressed as a Chinese peasant and in another he is inexplicably attired as a woman, complete with apron and bonnet.) He also has a penchant for making some uncomfortably romantic overtures to his horse. Thus, the character of Clayton proves to be a distraction from the otherwise somber, realistic tone of the film. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Brando's appearances are both amusing and somewhat mesmerizing, even if out of place. The movie boasts a first rate supporting cast that includes Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest and a young and slim Randy Quaid. Kathleen Lloyd holds her own against the considerable star power of Brando and Nicholson, which could not have been an easy feat. Alas, stardom was not to follow for her, though she still occasionally appears as a guest star in popular TV series. Where the movie disappoints the most is in its climax. The audience has been led to expect a memorable confrontation between Logan and Clayton, but when one of them gets the upper hand on the other, it's done very abruptly and rather unimaginatively, leaving the viewer feeling cheated. The movie boasts a low-key but appropriately atmospheric score by John Williams and impressive cinematography by Michael Butler. 

After "The Missouri Breaks", Brando seemed uninspired and went on automatic pilot in terms of his film roles. He was paid a relative fortune for what amounted to extended cameos in "Superman" and "Apocalypse Now", and while he was a significant physical presence in both films, no one made the case that he exerted himself dramatically. He would find occasional enthusiasm in certain roles (an Oscar-nominated turn in the little-seen  "A Dry White Season" and a hilarious performance recreating his Don Corleone role for "The Freshman"), but his enthusiasm seemed to diminish in direct proportion to his increase in weight. Sadly, he would never totally recapture the mojo he once enjoyed as a screen icon. Yet, time has been kind to "The Missouri Breaks". The film's literate script and direction are a reminder of an era in which such projects would be green-lit by major studios who appealed to the intellect of movie audiences. Today, the project would never have seen fruition no matter who starred in it.  

"The Missouri Breaks" is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and Kanopy.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has released the 1964 comedy "The Brass Bottle" on Blu-ray. The film appears to have been the inspiration for the hit TV series "I Dream of Jeannie" which starred Barbara Eden as the sultry title character. Some cinephiles argue that the film and TV series have nothing to do with one another, but it seems to me that if you make a movie with Barbara Eden and a genie from a brass bottle, than it's more than a coincidence that a TV series starring Eden featuring a genie and a brass bottle soon appears. It is true that Eden does appear as the female lead in the feature film, but in a very down-to-earth role as Sylvia, the fiancee of aspiring-but-unsuccessful architect Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall). Sorry, guys, no navel-gazing to be had here.The premise of the plot is as old as the pyramids: Harold comes into possession of a large, ancient urn through which he unwittingly frees an ancient genie named Fakrash (Burl Ives, who far less a feast for the eyes than Eden was in the TV series), who had been imprisoned in there for 3,000 years after offending a nobleman who had magical powers. Fakrash is so delighted to be free that he uses all his efforts to make improvements in Harold's life starting with magically persuading a top real estate developer to hire the unknown architect to design an entire suburban housing development. Harold is initially delighted but soon discovers that every time Fakrash makes an improvement to his life, there is a corresponding disaster to offset it. This extends to his love life, as well. In an attempt to win over Sylvia's grumpy parents who disapprove of him, Harold plans a dinner party at his house. Thanks to Fakrash, however, when the fuddy-duddy parents and Sylvia arrive, the place has been transformed into a bachelor pad, complete with dancing harem girls and a group of Arabic musicians. Also on hand is a "gift" from Fakrash, a sexually aggressive, beautiful slave girl named Tezra (Kamala Devri).  Appalled by the hedonistic atmosphere, Sylvia and her parents storm out. The remainder of the film involves Harold's desperate efforts to undo the "improvements" that Fakrash continues to enact on his behalf. Before long, Fakrash has turned his future father-in-law into a mule and also wreaked havoc on Harold's career. 

"The Brass Bottle", directed with workmanlike efficiency by Harry Keller, is a modestly-budgeted affair that was shot primarily on the Universal back lot. The few exterior sequences include some very obvious rear screen projection, thus giving the feature film the look of a standard sitcom from the era. The primary attribute of the production is the inspired cast. Tony Randall, who by this point in his career had carved a niche as one of Hollywood's leading supporting players, gets a rare opportunity to get first billing. Barbara Eden is largely relegated to window dressing as his long-suffering fiancee. The film clearly belongs to Burl Ives, who is genuinely amusing as the genie who tries to accustom himself to life in the 20th century. He begins the film wearing traditional ancient garb and ends clad in designer suits. Ives dominates every scene he is in as this marvelous character. The film also features two of the 1960's most popular on-screen grouches, the great Edward Andrews as Harold's would-be father-in-law and Parley Baer as Harold's prospective employer. Another reliable "grouch", Philip Ober appears as Harold's ill-tempered boss.  (Harold has nothing but ill-tempered people surrounding him.)  

The movie affords some mildly amusing moments and the "risque" elements are downright quaint by today's standards. When presented with a live-in, gorgeous mistress who will do anything he commands, Harold can only think of how to get rid of her- a premise that is slightly less believable than that of a genie appearing from a brass bottle. Then again, even as a pre-teen in the 1960s, I couldn't buy the notion that a beautiful female genie could live with a handsome, single man who she calls "Master" without any sexual scenarios arising.  Randall is always a delight and this rare showcase for him as a leading man, along with Ives' delightful performance, are the primary reason to watch this otherwise pleasant but undistinguished comedy.  

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray is a considerable upgrade from the previous release, a bare-bones DVD from Universal. The Blu-ray features a very good commentary track by Australian film historian Lee Gambin, who manages to have Barbara Eden join him via phone. She's a delight to listen to and has nothing but good things to say about working with Randall and Ives. Gambin also wisely has her recall her experiences filming "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" and "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm". As a sign of the times, it's the first commentary track I've heard in which Covid factors into the conversation. The release includes the original trailer and a gallery of other comedy trailers for films available from KL.

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When it opened in 1967, critics largely dismissed "The Trip" as another low-budget Roger Corman production that was attempting to tap into the youth market. Indeed it was. However, like many of Corman's films- ranging from horror films to biker movies- "The Trip", which aspired to explore the current fascination with LSD, is taken far more seriously among film scholars today than it was during its initial release. The movie was directed and produced by Corman, as usual for distribution by American-International, which was go-to studio for "B" movies that were often made on shoestring budgets but which reaped impressive profits. Jack Nicholson, still a couple of years away from "Easy Rider" stardom, wrote the screenplay. The film starred two other future "Easy Rider" pop culture icons, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, along with Susan Strasberg and Bruce Dern. Film journalist Selen Ozturk, writing for the popmatters.com web site, takes an in-depth look at the movie, which would go on to gross millions in profits. Click here to read.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

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

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

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

(The film is now streaming on Amazon Prime.)

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“YOU’LL TAKE IT AND LIKE IT”

By Raymond Benson

The late Peter Bogdanovich called it “the first great detective movie.” That statement is possibly arguable, but there is no question that the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon was the beginning of something new. Film historians will forever debate what the first film noir might have been, but Falcon is one of the contenders. The film presented a cynical, hard boiled detective in Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), utilized German expressionism in its cinematography and design (low camera angles, high contrasting black and white photography, shadows, and angular architecture), and a pessimistic tone. Falcon also truly launched Bogart into the A-list. Prior to this (and, some say, High Sierra, released the same year), Bogart usually played villains in crime pictures, third billed or ever further down the line.

The Maltese Falcon is of course based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel, originally serialized in 1929. Warner Brothers immediately bought the film rights, and an initial adaptation was made and released in 1931 (also called The Maltese Falcon). This version starred Ricardo Cortez as Spade and Bebe Daniels as Ruth Wonderly. The picture definitely can be termed “pre-Code,” as it is rather risqué and isn’t a very faithful adaptation of the novel. Warners remade the material five years later as Satan Met a Lady, starring Warren William as “Ted Shane” and none other than Bette Davis as “Valerie Purvis.” This version is played mostly for laughs and is even less faithful than the first.

Enter John Huston, who had been working in Hollywood in the late 1930s as a respected screenwriter. He wrote the script for High Sierra (1941, directed by Raoul Walsh), which starred Bogart. The two men became friends. Huston made it known that he wanted to write and direct. Legend has it that Orson Welles suggested that Huston try a faithful adaptation of The Maltese Falcon, since the material was crying out to be done properly. Huston apparently wrote the script and left it on Jack Warner’s desk. Then, on condition that no “stars” were cast and the budget remain ridiculously low, Huston got the job to make the film. At the time, Bogart was not a star. Co-star Mary Astor had been a big star in the silent era and early 30s, but some personal scandals had stymied her career by the 40s—so casting her was not expensive. The two other (now) big names in the movie, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, were also considered low risks. Lorre had been making cheap horror films and mysteries, Greenstreet, a stage actor, had never made a movie. The picture also brought us Elisha Cook, Jr., Gladys George, and Lee Patrick.

The story is typically complex with many twists and turns, and it is always surprising. It is about one of cinema’s greatest “MacGuffins,” a statue of a falcon that is allegedly made out of gold and covered in rare jewels—but to disguise it, someone covered it in black enamel. It seems everyone in the tale wants the thing, except for private investigator Sam Spade (Bogart). He gets involved in the hunt for the trophy when his partner, Miles Archer (Jerome Cowan) is murdered at a rendezvous set up by a new client, “Ruth Wonderly” (Astor). It turns out Wonderly’s real name is Brigid O’Shaughnessy (maybe), and she’s in league with some sinister characters to buy—or steal—the statue. The “fat man,” Kasper Gutman (Greenstreet) is the top villain here, and his sidekick, Joel Cairo (Lorre), provides icky support. All Spade really wants to do is find out who killed his partner and deliver that person to the police, but in doing so must become embroiled in the intrigue and puzzles surrounding the coveted Maltese Falcon.

Besides the acting and direction, Huston’s script contains memorable lines of dialogue. “When I slap you, you’ll take it and like it.” “Don’t be too sure I’m as crooked as I’m supposed to be.” And of course, “The stuff that dreams are made of.” The film received three Academy Award nominations—Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Greenstreet), but failed to win any of them.

The Warner Home Video Blu-ray edition of The Maltese Falcon was released over ten years ago, but its timeless appeal makes it appropriate to review. It is a marked improvement over the 2000 DVD release, which was bare bones. A further 2006 3-disk DVD release contained all of the extras ported over to this Blu-ray edition. The high definition transfer looks great and is without blemishes. The movie comes with an audio commentary (by Bogart biographer Eric Lax).

Supplements abound: There’s an interesting, nearly half-hour featurette on the history of the film; a collection of Bogart trailers narrated by the late Robert Osborne of TCM; a blooper reel of Warners pictures; makeup tests; a 1941 newsreel; an Oscar-nominated short (“The Gay Parisian”); two of the greatest Looney Tunes cartoons (Bugs Bunny in “Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt” and Porky Pig in “Meet John Doughboy”); trailers for Falcon and other Warners films of the era; and three audio-only radio adaptations, two of which feature the movie’s original stars and one with Edward G. Robinson). The only thing missing from the Blu-ray edition is the inclusion of the previous two Falcon feature adaptations, which were included in the 3-disk DVD set.

The Maltese Falcon is fabulous entertainment, a spectacular example of film noir, a showcase for Humphrey Bogart’s star power, and one of the great Hollywood films of the 1940s. Highly recommended.

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“IS YOU IN THERE, ZOMBIE?”

By Raymond Benson

There are a handful of Hollywood movies out there that successfully combined comedy with the horror genre. Surprisingly, truly good ones are few and far between. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) is perhaps the quintessential example of the genre mashup. It provided genuine thrills and some frights mixed in with hilarious comedic bits. A more recent one that comes to mind is of course the 1984 megahit, Ghostbusters. There is no question that this Bill Murray vehicle owes a great deal to the 1940 romp, The Ghost Breakers, considered one of Bob Hope’s most beloved early pictures.

Based on the 1909 stage play, The Ghost Breaker, by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard, the 1940 movie is actually a remake of previous adaptations. Both Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred E. Green made silent films of the play in 1914 and 1922, respectively, and both of these versions are considered lost. In turn, the 1940 The Ghost Breakers was remade by the same director, George Marshall, as Scared Stiff (1953), which starred Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and it is arguable that Marshall also helmed a very similar picture in 1945 entitled Murder, He Says, which starred Fred MacMurray.

After the success of The Cat and the Canary (1939), yet another good example of a Hollywood horror-comedy that starred Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, the pair was brought back a year later for The Ghost Breakers. Also starring Richard Carlson, Paul Lukas, a young Anthony Quinn, and African-American comic actor Willie Best, The Ghost Breakers was a popular hit that solidified Hope’s place as one of the coming decade’s great talents.

Mary Carter (Goddard) has inherited a spooky old mansion on an island off of Cuba, and she plans to sail from New York to the island to inspect the place. Other sinister forces—a foreigner named Parada (Lukas), the twin Mederos brothers (Quinn, in both roles), and others not named here for the sake of spoilers, also want the mansion because of a secret hidden within. Apparently it is also full of ghosts, or so the legends say. During a classic situational and comedic mix-up of mistaken identities, radio star Larry Lawrence (Hope) finds himself trapped in Mary’s steamer trunk that has been loaded onto the ship to Cuba. Larry’s loyal valet and friend, Alex (Best) stowaways to keep track of his boss. Once on the island, Larry assumes the role of a “ghost buster,” since he’s obviously fallen for Mary and wants to protect her from the bad guys. Throw in a handsome historian, Geoff (Carlson), and the cinematic stew has enough complications and plot twists to keep one entertained for the film’s brief 83 minutes.

Hope is terrific, and one can easily see the development of his coward-with-bravado character that he adapted for himself in pretty much all screen appearances, including the “Road” pictures with Bing Crosby. Goddard is also winning, a perfect comic and gorgeous foil for the tale. While the rest of the cast is admirable, one must single out the great Willie Best, an actor who unfortunately was misused by Hollywood—very typical in those days—to display a stereotype of the comic black man with bulging eyes and slow dialogue delivery. (“Is you in there, zombie?” he asks, knocking on a door.) That said, it is apparent that Best is brilliant in comic timing, handling the demeaning characterization with utmost professionalism. If The Ghost Breakers has a flaw, it is this. In today’s climate, Best’s Alex is wince-inducing, but one can still appreciate the man’s talent and competence.

Director Marshall keeps the picture moving at a brisk pace, and the creepy aspects—while certainly not scary today—are effective enough. Noble Johnson’s zombie is an interesting take on that relatively rare creature (for the time), three years prior to the Val Lewton masterpiece, I Walked with a Zombie.

Kino Lorber’s new 2K master looks quite good in high definition, despite the age of the material. There is an audio commentary by author and film historian Lee Gambin that fills in listeners on all the trivia behind the movie. The only supplement is a “Trailers from Hell” piece on the title by Larry Karaszewski, and the theatrical trailer for this and other Kino releases.

The Ghost Breakers is for fans of Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Hollywood horror-comedy, and those distinctive pre-war pictures that provided solid enjoyment in less than ninety minutes.

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RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES 

In honor of the esteemed actor Nehemiah Persoff, who recently passed away at age 102, we are running this interview originally conducted with Mr. Persoff in 2010 by the late writer Herb Shadrak. 

Nehemiah Persoff: From Jerusalem to Hollywood and Beyond

By Herb Shadrak

Born in Jerusalem in 1919, Nehemiah Persoff went on to become one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood. His face is familiar to millions of boomers across North America from his numerous guest appearances on just about every TV series that aired from the 1950s through the 1990s. Persoff’s name may have been unfamiliar to many of these TV viewers, but his face was instantly recognizable. Filmspot.com describes Persoff as a short, dark and stocky-framed actor who specialized in playing ethnic-type villains, although he frequently essayed sympathetic roles as well. (Witness his heartbreaking moments with Maria Schell in Voyage of the Damned.) Yet he excelled as gangland figures like Johnny Torrio, mentor to Al Capone in the 1959 biopic, or mobster Jake Greasy Thumbs Guzik, a recurring role on The Untouchables.

Persoff's childhood was poverty-stricken, but there was constant singing, dancing and music in his home. He was a very creative and imaginative youngster, who always visited the circus when it came to the Holy City. "There was a large field in Jerusalem where the circus used to set up", Persoff recalls. "It was a very small one-ring circus, but I loved it. Outside the circus was an Arab with a box on a stand with peepholes in it, and he had a small monkey on a chain with a hat. This was enough to make me stand there for hours watching. One day, the Arab let me look through the peepholes. There I saw a funny man with a derby and cane. He had a funny walk. It was Charlie Chaplin! Little did I know that 20 years later I would meet that man face-to-face!"

Persoff found himself drawn to the cinema at an early age. "Two outdoor movie houses were opened on Zion Square: one was called Eden", he said. "It had a circle of bulbs that would light up one after the other. I used to walk down there barefoot and watch the cinema from a post on the street. From that height I could see the top of the screen for free. I think the other outdoor movie house was called Aviv. For its grand opening they showed Ben-Hur with Ramon Novarro. There were pennants hung all over! I guess that was our version of a Hollywood opening.I find that at age 88 my mind goes back to my early childhood more and more. Jerusalem in the late twenties was a place like no other. I cannot imagine a 10-year-old more attached to his birthplace than I was. I was keenly aware of the love that people had for each other, the feeling that we were all tied to the same cause. The pioneers came with nothing but enthusiasm and a love for life and our native land. Their attitude was "to hell with worldly goods, that's not what's important in our lives."

And yet Persoff's father, a silversmith and painter, felt he had no career prospects in Palestine. So the young Persoff emigrated with his family to the United States in 1929, just in time for the Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression. Persoff spent several years working as an electrician on the New York subway system, gradually taking an interest in acting in the 1940's.

"When I started acting, I was working in the subway and there was a rule that subway workers were not allowed to have any other job" Persoff remembers. "So on the program of the play, I used the name Nick Perry. My reviews were great but no one knew it was me, so I got none of the glory. After that I always used ˜Nehemiah Persoff".

After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Persoff started seriously pursuing an acting career in the New York theatre. In 1947, Persoffs big break came along, one that would lead to steady work in films and television for the next 52 years.

"My friend (actor) Lou Gilbert told me that if I wanted to audition for the Actors Studio, he would arrange it. I jumped at the chance. Elia Kazan was one of the busiest directors around, and to study with him and be in his pool of actors was every actor's dream. I was in summer stock playing the lead role in George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple. I knew that Kazan was with the Group Theatre along with writer Clifford Odets. I thought of doing something from an Odets play but then reasoned that perhaps a more classic approach might work better for me, so I did a monologue from Shaw. Two weeks later, I received an invitation to come to the first meeting of the Actors Studio. I took my seat on a bench and slowly looked around. There were John Garfield, Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Montgomery Clift, Kim Hunter and Maureen Stapleton, among others. Kazan began to speak and told us his aim was to create a group of actors who work as he does, who speak his language, and that the people assembled in this room were the cream of the talent available. This was heady stuff for a nearly starving young actor. I studied with Lee Strasberg. He was brilliant and helped me find myself as an actor… I owe him much. Among other scenes, I did a Noel Coward piece with Kim Stanley"

After the Actors Studio, Persoff never looked back. His film credits include Kazan's On the Waterfront, The Harder They Fall (Humphrey Bogart's last film), Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, Never Steal Anything Small (with James Cagney), Rene Clement's This Angry Age (shot in Thailand), Green Mansions (with Audrey Hepburn and Anthony Perkins), The Hook (with Kirk Douglas), A Global Affair (with Bob Hope), Ray Danton's frightfest Psychic Killer, Barbra Streisand's Yentl and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ.

Persoff also guest starred on about 400 TV shows, including The Twilight Zone (playing a Nazi U-Boat captain in the classic episode "Judgment Night"!), Route 66, Ben Casey, Wagon Train, Rawhide, Mr. Novak, Burke's Law, Honey West, Dan August, The High Chapparal, The Big Valley, The Legend of Jesse James, The Wild Wild West, Gilligan's Island, Hawaii Five-O, Tarzan, It Takes a Thief, Land of the Giants and The Time Tunnel.

In the mid-1980s, Persoff began to pursue painting. Now retired from acting, he devotes full time to this avocation he has always loved.

Cinema Retro spoke to Persoff from his home in Cambria, California. (Continue to next page for interview)

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Like many boys who grew up in the 1960s, I was addicted to Mad magazine. It's sarcastic satires of politicians and pop culture figures were all the rage and the magazine was a showcase for some truly impressive writers and artists. Mad pushed the envelope in some regards but publisher William Gaines still maintained a family-friendly facade. In 1970 (I assure, that is A.D.), I entered high school a few months after another satire magazine, National Lampoon, published its premiere issue. The first issue I saw featured a striking cover by artist Frank Frazetta that spoofed those old jungle movies. It depicted a courageous white guy saving a scantily clad white woman from a hoard of African natives. It was titled "White Man's Wet Dream". I was hooked before I opened the magazine. National Lampoon became a "must-read" for young people of the era. Unlike Mad, there were no holds barred when it came to off-limits subjects. Anyone and anything was fair game for the team of talented writers and artists, many of whom would go on to notable careers. The sexual content was presented in a humorous manner but it broke barriers in terms of what was depicted. Even the official line of National Lampoon souvenirs were hawked by topless young women. The success of the Lampoon was such that, by 1978, the company entered the movie business. The first release, "National Lampoon's Animal House" made John Belushi into a big screen star and elevated John Landis from obscurity into one of the industry's hottest directors. The film was a sensation so it seemed inevitable that more Lampoon films would emerge- and they did, though none of them were related to the original movie. Chevy Chase starred in some of the popular "Vacation" movies that bore the banner of the Lampoon, but most of the other attempts to blend the magazine concepts to the big screen resulted in rather nondescript productions that had little theatrical exposure before going to home video. By 1998, the magazine itself had run out of steam and ceased publication after a glorious and influential run, although the company name is still actively linked to various TV, video and big screen projects.  

One of the more obscure feature films is "National Lampoon's Movie Madness", a 1982 collection of unrelated comedies stories linked by nothing other than the Lampoon name. As the old joke goes, "the movie wasn't released- it escaped!", as indicated on IMDB, which lists the film's theatrical gross as $63,000, which was probably due to tickets sold to just the people involved in making it. The movie marked the debut of director Bob Giraldi, who promptly left feature films to become one of the top music video directors in the industry. One segment of the film was directed by Henry Jaglom..yes, that Henry Jaglom, the acclaimed director of indie films who has developed a loyal international fan base. It's telling that while Jaglom continued making feature films, he has never worked for a major studio again. The mess of a feature film consists of three separate stories. In "Growing Yourself", Peter Riegert is Jason Cooper, a rich New York Yuppie with a wife (Candy Clark) and two small kids. One day, on a whim, he tells his wife that they should leave each other in order for both them to find the space to "grow". Without batting an eye, she promptly leaves. Jason adopts an increasingly bizarre lifestyle that includes turning his apartment into a jungle of sorts. He pursues unsuccessful relationships with women, including a 14 year-old temptress played by young Diane Lane. At one point, he gives away custody of one of his children to a stranger without batting an eye. When his wife returns later, she informs him that she has gone from housewife to running Union Carbide. The entire scenario is weird but occasionally amusing because the characters simply accept mind-boggling developments with barely a shrug - and Peter Riegert plays the smarmy, self-absorbed Jason with just the right touch.

The second tale is "Success Wanters" and features Ann Dusenberry as an aspiring stripper, Dominique, who makes the ill-fated decision to appear at a convention of executives for the butter industry. Within minutes, the horny, tuxedo-clad, cigar smoking middle-aged execs decide to gang rape her--- and use some handy sticks of butter as useful novelties. This was the early 1980s and group sexual abuse could still be shown to comedic effect, although fortunately, we aren't treated to seeing the dirty deed itself. Instead of going after the rapists legally, she decides to bring down the entire butter industry by making Americans more addicted to margarine (I'm not making this up, folks.) This she achieves by becoming the mistress of a margarine magnate (such people must exist) played by Robert Culp. While he's on his death bed, she gets him to sign his empire over to her and she wields her new powers to mortally wound the butter industry, a strategy that sees her seducing the President of the United States (Fred Willard) and the First Lady. Despite the outrageous scenario, the entire segment is more absurd than funny.

The last, and least, of the segments is "Municipalians",which finds young Robby Benson as a rookie L.A. cop partnered with a season veteran played by Richard Widmark. The entire scenario centers on us watching the hopelessly innocent, naive and perpetually smiling Benson become corrupted by the system and the dehumanizing crimes he's forced to deal with, all unfolding as Widmark sits in the squad car ignoring the violence around him as he counts the days until his retirement. Eventually, Benson becomes a raging lunatic himself. The segment had possibilities in terms of satirizing the cliched scenario of the young cop teamed with the grumpy veteran, but the result is awful in a mind-boggling way. Benson is game to try anything under Jaglom's misdirection but we can assume he was happy that virtually no one saw the film. Only Widmark emerges with his dignity intact. Jaglom later blamed the studio for compromising his segment but if they cut any footage, it was probably considered to be a humanitarian gesture.

Code Red has released "National Lampoon's Movie Madness" on Blu-ray to the joy of bad movie fans and the probable disgust of anyone still alive who was involved in it. The Zucker brothers had the right touch for these types of theatre of the absurd premises but directors Giraldi and Jaglom have heavy hands and are working with pretty awful scripts. The only saving grace is the abundance of veteran actors and up-and-comers who make appearances. They include Elisha Cook, Jr, Rhea Perlman,Tito Vandis (a rare performance that clicks), Joe Spinell, Olympia Dukakis, Dick Miller, Christopher Lloyd, Julie Kavner and even porn superstar Harry Reems. The only one who makes an impression is Henny Youngman, whose 30 seconds of rapid-fire old jokes makes you wish they would have simply used his stand-up act to close out the latter part of the film. From a sociological view, however, it's interesting how audience's tastes have changed over the ensuing years. At times it appears the primary reason for the film's existence was to exploit each of the actresses who appear topless at length in the first two segments, despite the fact that it certainly wasn't essential to the script. Giraldi's cameras linger on the undraped actresses who engage in small talk to justify the exploitation. For those viewers of a certain age, there may be pangs of nostalgia for an era in which no one was overly-concerned about such practices, but judged by today's industry standards, it would be largely unthinkable to film segments such as these.

The Code Red video looks reasonably good and the only bonus feature is a trailer. In viewing it, I came to the conclusion that the studio should have released only the trailer and called it a day. The movie poster artwork depicted on the sleeve seems to be an homage (or rip-off) of Jack Davis's iconic campaign for "Its' a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Sadly, the comedic analogies end there.

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Elvis in "Charro!", released the same year as "True Grit"- 1969.

BY LEE PFEIFFER 

When John Wayne was signed by producer Hal Wallis for the role of cantankerous marshal Rooster Cogburn in the film version of Charles Portis's bestseller "True Grit", there was immediate speculation as to who would be cast as the young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf. Wayne and Wallis agreed that Elvis Presley would be an ideal choice. In fact, Wayne had approached Elvis on several occasions over the years to appear on screen with him only to have the dictatorial Colonel Parker put the kabosh on any such dream teaming. Parker always insisted that Elvis get top billing, even when it was impractical. For example, in the mid-1950s when Elvis had just emerged as a music sensation, he had the opportunity to co-star with Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn in "The Rainmaker".  Yet, the Colonel insisted that Elvis get first billing despite the exalted status in the industry of Lancaster and Hepburn. The deal fell through, much to the dismay of Elvis who always wanted to stretch his acting abilities beyond the simplistic musicals that were his trademark on the big screen. Indeed, Parker told Wallis that the only way Elvis would appear in "True Grit" is if he got billing above John Wayne! Obviously, that wasn't going to happen and newly minted superstar Glen Campbell got the role opposite the Duke. He acquitted himself very well despite not having had any previous acting experience. The movie turned out to be a blockbuster that saw Wayne win the Best Actor Oscar and Campbell score a hit on the charts with the title song.  Bruised by the collapse of the "True Grit" possibility, Elvis starred in his own western, "Charro!". It was his way of finally exerting independence from the Colonel. In fact, it's the only feature film in which Elvis doesn't sing on screen, though he does warble the title song. "Charro!" wasn't a bad movie, but audiences stayed away and Elvis would soon give up movies forever to concentrate on his concert and recording career, though he did star in a couple of very good feature length documentaries.  As for his elusive pairing with John Wayne, the mind still reels at the possibilities that were never fulfilled.

For more, click here.

(This article has been corrected from an earlier version that stated "Charro!" was filmed in Europe. Reader Angel Rivera pointed out that it's a misconception that the movie was made in Europe, given the fact that it has the style of a spaghetti western. In fact, the movie was filmed entirely in the USA.)

Writing on the Literary Hub web site, Adam Scovell presents a fascinating look at how Henry James's classic 1898 novella "The Turn of the Screw" came to inspire numerous film and television adaptations that continue to the present day. Understandably, Scovell devotes a good deal of background information on director Jack Clayton's brilliant and unsettling 1961 feature film version, which is titled "The Innocents" and starred Deborah Kerr in an Oscar-worthy performance. (Don't be put off by the over-the-top aspects of the trailer, which emulated a William Castle "B" schlock horror flick.)  Click here to read.

Click here to order Criterion Blu-ray edition of "The Innocents" from Amazon.

Cinema Retro's 18th season begins with issue #52, which is now shipping  worldwide.

Highlights of this issue include:

• "The Sand Pebbles"- James Sherlock explores the trials and tribulations behind the filming of Robert Wise's epic film which gained Steve McQueen his only Oscar nomination.
• "Dr. Syn: Alias the Scarecrow"- Dave Worrall's in-depth history of the character in film and literature, concentrating on the evolution of the Walt Disney three-part TV episodes starring Patrick McGoohan which would later emerge as a feature film.
  
• "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure"- Nick Anez argues it's the best Tarzan film ever and his analysis might convince you to agree with him. Gordon Scott starred as the King of the Jungle and te gang of villains included young Sean Connery.
• "The Pink Panther"- John LeMay presents the fascinating history behind the first film to showcase Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
  
• "The Golden Lady"-  Tim Greaves shines the spotlight on the little-seen and little-remembered spy flick that featured a female James Bond-type character- with Desmond Llewelyn in the supporting cast!
  
• "The Bad News Bears"- Robert Leese celebrates the hit comedy with the unlikely teaming of Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal
• "The Crimson Kimono"- Lee Pfeiffer covers director Sam Fuller's controversial and underrated crime thriller that was packed with racial conflicts.
  
• Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Gareth Owen, Darren Allison and Brian Hannan.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless 1902 Sherlock Holmes novel "The Hound of the Baskervilles" is said to be the most often-filmed adaptation of a book. I don't know if that's true but it's quite clear that over the decades, the tale has indeed inspired many adaptations for the cinema and television. The 1939 classic introduced audiences to the teaming of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. The 1959 Hammer Films version was the first Holmes movie made in color and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in another highly impressive adaptation. By the1970s, revisionist versions of Holmes stories were all the rage in cinema and on television, as evidenced by films such as "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter ", "They Might Be Giants", "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" and "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes". Thus, the famed comic duo of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore opted to bring a satirical version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" to the big screen with a cast of highly respected British character actors that included Terry-Thomas, Joan Greenwood, Kenneth Williams, Hugh Griiffith and Roy Kinnear. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turned out. The first mistake was hiring Paul Morrissey to direct. Morrissey's track record in cinema consisted primarily of directing edgy, avant-garde cult films in conjunction with Andy Warhol. This would be his first foray into mainstream filmmaking. He also co-authored the script with Cook and Moore. Few could have predicted that the film would be  little-seen and much-reviled by those who had the misfortune of viewing it. If you're a fan of misguided, bad movies, your ship has come in with the new Blu-ray release.

On the surface, the script follows the basic plot of the novel. Sir Henry Baskerville (Kenneth Williams) is heir to a remote mansion house located just off the eerie and dangerous moors. However, it appears as though the previous male heirs met with foul fates due to their misdeeds- and some have fallen victim to a legendary murderous hound who stalks them. Holmes and Watson are enlisted to visit Baskerville Hall to protect Sir Henry while they investigate who has made attempts on his life. As in the novel, Holmes disappears from the mid-section of the story, leaving the sleuthing to Watson. As depicted by Cook and Moore, Holmes and Watson are two inept idiots who have gained reputations as great detectives largely through solving cases through the insights of others and by good fortune, when their blundering methods accidentally produce results. Both Cook and Moore play their characters with bizarre, undefined accents that are more annoying than amusing. Cook portrays Holmes as an effeminate fop and Moore's Watson is more Inspector Clouseau than Victorian era sleuth. Moore plays multiple roles in the film including a female character, which only reminded me that aside from "Some Like It Hot" and "The Birdcage", female impersonation tends to be more amusing in theory than execution on the silver screen. The movie lumbers from one unfunny bit to the next and the running time of 85 minutes begins to feel like a double feature of "Ben-Hur" and "Doctor Zhivago"; the cinematic equivalent of water torture as you wait for the next bad joke to drop. Making matters worse is the monotonous piano score "composed" by Dudley Moore which is annoying after several seconds yet is played throughout the entire film. It's like being trapped in a room for 85 minutes with a young piano student who only knows how to play "Chopsticks".

The high profile cast of esteemed character actors is largely wasted. Who would hire one of Britain's great clowns, Terry-Thomas, and cast him in a humorless role? The great Denholm Elliott suffers the indignation of having to carry around a puppy who pees all over everyone he meets (a gag that is repeated numerous times.). Similarly, Oscar winner Hugh Griffith's talents are also wasted but his role is mercifully brief. Kenneth Williams of the "Carry On" films plays Sir Henry with over-the-top stereotypical gay characteristics.The most sympathetic victim is Joan Greenwood, whose portrayal of an upper crust lady-of-the-manor sees her subjected to scenes that spoof "The Exorcist" - five years after that film was released and seemingly every conceivable rip-off of it had already been released. It's the equivalent of making a comedy today that tries to connect with viewers by spoofing "Saturday Night Fever". The exorcism scenes are elaborately staged, given the film's meager production budget, but they are as bizarre as they are grotesque and interminable. You simply have to see it to believe it. One hopes that Ms. Greenwood never saw the final film. Much of the blame for the pacing and erratic nature of the film must be placed squarely with director Morrissey, who is out of his element here. The scenarios are played out in a clunky manner and subtlety is not on the menu, as Morrissey employs a chainsaw instead of a scalpel. Because I'm an eternal optimist, I kept hoping that there would be at least one amusing moment delivered during the course of the film and-Voila!- the hope became a reality. It occurs in Spike Milligan's cameo as a constable who suffers a groin injury from the bumper of a car, causing him to utter a remark that actually woke me from my stupor for a few seconds to emit a genuine laugh. But the tradeoff was hardly worth it: ten seconds of amusement in return for 85 non-retrievable minutes of my diminishing life span. Fortunately for all involved, the movie was a bomb and, thus, the debacle was not witnessed by many. Consequently, everyone's reputation remained intact and Moore's clout rose appreciably after his acclaimed supporting role in the comedy thriller "Foul Play", which was released the same year and overshadowed "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Code Red has released "The Hound of the Baskervilles" on Blu-ray with a very nice transfer. It's fairly bare bones with only the original trailer included as a bonus. I have to salute the company for bringing out this title, as even bad movies should be preserved and made available for easy access. After all, this review is only one person's opinion. ('lest you suspect that I'm too high brow to enjoy low brow comedy, I consider the Three Stooges to be hilarious. So there.) There may be others who view the film and howl with laughter, but speaking personally, I found this "Hound" to be a real dog. 

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

When they say "They don't make 'em like that anymore", it might well be in reference to Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Tango in Paris", one of the most controversial films of all time. Released by United Artists, the movie was basically an art house niche market production that became a major sensation thanks to the presence of Marlon Brando, who had just made one of the great Hollywood comebacks of all-time with his towering performance in "The Godfather". However, it was the raw sexual content of the movie that resulted in people standing in line for hours to obtain tickets to what was, in reality, anything but a populist film. Prior to the movie's American release in 1973, the Italian government issued arrest warrants for Bertolucci, Brando and female lead Maria Schneider on charges of obscenity- which, of course, only increased the public's desire to see it. United Artists' head of production David V. Picker wisely mandated that the movie initially only played at a limited number of small cinemas, therefore ensuring media coverage of frustrated movie-goers who complained they couldn't obtain a ticket for love or money. Some critics called the movie a masterpiece while others derided it as pretentious, high class pornography disguised as a "message" movie. One aspect all critics agreed on was that Brando gave one of the great performances of his career as a middle-aged American ex-pat living in Paris who tries to cope with his wife's suicide by initiating a series of kinky and anonymous sexual encounters with a young woman. Brando earned a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Actor despite having insulted the Academy by refusing to pick up his "Godfather" Oscar due to his disgust with how Hollywood portrayed Native Americans in films.

"Last Tango" has had its reputation damaged due to the late Maria Schneider's accusations that both Brando and Bertolucci took advantage of her naivete when she starred in the film at the age of 19. Much of the movie was improvised including some last minute scenes of a sexual nature that caught her off guard and which she said she would later regret having filmed. One thing is certain, however, the movie is unique in concept and execution. With today's sterilized film productions, adult sexual situations and nudity have generally gone the way of the dodo bird. Love or loathe "Tango", it represents a time when a major studio could release an "X"-rated title and have it find critical acclaim.

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Actress Yvette Mimieux passed away on Tuesday from natural causes. She was 80 years old. Mimieux rose to fame starring opposite Rod Taylor in George Pal's 1960 screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' "The Time Machine". Prominent roles in major films soon followed and she won acclaim for her abilities primarily in dramas, although the1960 film "Where the Boys Are" combined comedy with tragedy and Mimieux's star rose further when the movie became a boxoffice hit with teenagers. In 1962, she teamed again with George Pal for his Cinerama classic "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm".  Other major films in which she starred included "The Light in the Piazza", "Toys in the Attic", "Diamond Head", "The Reward" and the Disney hit "Monkeys Go Home!". In 1968, she reunited with Rod Taylor for "Dark of the Sun" (aka "The Mercenaries"), a brutal but well-made adventure film centering on social unrest and revolution in the Congo.

Many of her films from this era were less-than-stellar, however, but she did score a major hit in 1972 starring opposite Charlton Heston in "Skyjacked". In 1976, she starred in the exploitation/sexploitation crime drama "Jackson County Jail", which has become a cult favorite from the era. Her last role in a major film was in Disney's 1979 sci-fi movie "The Black Hole". She had been active in television since 1959 and continued to appear in the medium while simultaneously starring in feature films. Her last screen credit was the TV movie "Lady Boss" in 1992, after which she retired from acting. She had been married three times including a 13 year union with director Stanley Donen. She had no children. The web site Deadline reports that no memorial services are planned, keeping true to her penchant for privacy in her personal life. For more, click here.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Sidney Poitier, a man who rose from humble beginnings to become one of the biggest boxoffice stars in Hollywood history, has passed away at age 94. He grew up in poverty in the
Bahamas and had to quit school at age 13 to do manual labor. As a young man, he immigrated to America with the hope of pursuing a career in acting. He auditioned for the American Negro Theater in New York but was initially rejected. Relegated to washing dishes in a restaurant, Poitier befriended an older Jewish man who taught him to read properly. Poitier attributed that training to his ultimately joining the theater company and launching his career on stage and screen. He first gained attention with a prominent supporting role in the 1955 film "Blackboard Jungle" in which he played one of a group of delinquent students who defy high school teacher Glenn Ford. From that point, he was launched into starring roles in films with racial overtones such as "No Way Out", "Edge of the City" and the 1958 classic "The Defiant Ones" in which he and Tony Curtis played escaped convicts who are handcuffed together, with Curtis portraying a racist.  Poitier was nominated for Best Actor, breaking racial barriers. In 1961, he had the starring role in the film version of "A Raisin in the Sun", giving a magnificent performance as an earnest but flawed young man determined to get his family out of poverty by any means necessary. Poitier had earned a Tony nomination for his performance in the 1959 Broadway production. A few years later he would defy the odds and win the Best Actor Oscar over favorite Paul Newman for "Hud", based on his performance in the low-budget, but highly popular comedy "Lilies of the Field" in which he played a drifter in the desert who helps German nuns build a small chapel. He became the first Black male actor to win an Academy Award.

Poiter's fame skyrocketed just as the civil rights movement was heading into high gear in America. He found himself in the uncomfortable position of being a reluctant symbol of his race, much as Jackie Robinson had been when baseball had been desegregated. Nevertheless, he was more than symbol. Stated simply, he made good movies. White audiences flocked to his films and in 1967 he was arguably the top boxoffice star in the world. In that pivotal year, a career highlight for Poitier, he starred in three massive hits: "In the Heat of the Night", "To Sir, With Love" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner". In director Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night", Poitier introduced the character of  Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective who is assigned against his will to help a racist sheriff solve a murder case in the deep South. Rod Steiger won an Oscar for his performance as a the sheriff but Poitier was not nominated for any of the three key roles he played in 1967. This probably had less to do with racial prejudices than the fact that he likely canceled himself out by splitting the votes of Academy members who wished to nominate him for different films.

Poitier found himself the unlikely target of criticism from activists and academics in the Black community who accused him of playing "Uncle Tom"-like roles in order to appeal to white audiences. Poitier bristled at the accusations and reminded his critics that he was carrying an unwanted burden. He also said that he had never- and would never- play a role that was demeaning to his race. Indeed, for a number of years, Poitier was the only bankable Black star in Hollywood. Football legend Jim Brown joined the ranks by the mid-1960s and many other actors would break down the barriers, but Poitier was largely on his own until audiences became more receptive to Black actors in leading roles.

Poitier continued to diversify his career by becoming a director, mostly of comedy films. He directed nine films including such hits as "Uptown Saturday Night", "Let's Do It Again" and "A Piece of the Action" in which he also co-starred with Bill Cosby, and "Stir Crazy", which teamed Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. In later years, Poitier seemed to lose interest in starring in films. He occasionally appeared onscreen in largely unmemorable films. He rejected starring roles in "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Driving Miss Daisy". His self-imposed retirement didn't diminish his popularity or reputation. In 1974, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. In 2002, he was awarded an honorary Oscar to commemorate his entire career and in 2009, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. For more about his remarkable life and career, click here.

BY TODD GARBARINI

One of my all-time favorite horror films is Richard Ciupka’s 1983 outing Curtains. Following nearly three consecutive decades of relative obscurity after a VHS release even among die-hard horror genre fans, Curtains finally made its DVD and Blu-ray debut in 2014, restored to its original grandeur. The film starred Samantha Eggar who I knew from William Wyler’s The Collector (1965) and David Cronenberg’s The Brood (1979). At the time that I first viewed the film in the summer of 1986, however, I was unfamiliar with much of the supporting female cast members. One of them was an actress named Anne Ditchburn, and it came to my attention that she had primarily been hired for the film due to her talent in ballet, which she performs in the film.

An earlier title that she co-starred in is the little seen but interesting Slow Dancing in the Big City (1978), a leisurely romantic drama starring Paul Sorvino. The film was directed by the late John Avildsen and was his follow-up to his 1976 surprise smash hit Rocky which starred Sylvester Stallone and won the 1977 Oscar for Best Picture. Slow Dancing was shot from September to November in 1977 and follows the exploits of two characters from completely disparate backgrounds. Lou Friedlander (Paul Sorvino) is a New York Daily News columnist who ingratiates himself into any and every situation that he can possibly write about because his paycheck depends upon it. Whether he is chatting up young children on the playground (an action that would get you jailed today), or meeting with creepy undesirables in a bar, Mr. Sorvino portrays Lou with an unusually spirited and enthusiastic air. Nothing bothers him: insults roll off his back and he perpetually smiles against even the most vituperative of threats. He genuinely cares about the people he writes about, including an elderly apartment dweller (Michael Gorrin from 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three) displaced following a fire, reminding him that he is a human being. He is well-known, and those who recognize his name are only too happy to tell him that they love his work. (The character of Lou was all-too-obviously based on legendary New York reporter Jimmy Breslin, a fact that many critics pointed out, much to Breslin’s disdain.)

It is not long before he crosses paths with Sarah Gantz (Anne Ditchburn), a stunningly beautiful and lithe ballet dancer ten years his junior who leaves the safety of her impatient boyfriend David’s (Nicolas Coster) opulent home for a tiny New York City walk-up apartment right next door to him. She is a workaholic and dances as much as she can, almost putting The Red Shoes’s (1948) Victoria Page to shame. For Sarah, dancing is all she knows, or even seems to care about. Specifically, she is training for a show that is due to open at Lincoln Center and becomes the target of the show’s director’s frustration as she makes considerable missteps in her beats and timing and begins to flail here and there. When pressed as to why she is fumbling, she brushes it off as being tired and unfocused. The truth comes out eventually when, at a fellow dancer’s urging, a visit to a doctor reveals that she suffers from fibro myositis, a muscle disorder that will not only require an operation but will also derail her plans for dancing in the future. The news is devastating, though she chooses to press on, thumbing her nose in the face of adversity.

Meanwhile, Lou is trying to get a young Spanish drummer out of poverty and into the big time by trying to convince him that his natural gift is something that he should pursue. This is a subplot that I feel could have been jettisoned and does not work as well as it should, though the director probably felt that it was necessary to make the ending more emotional. The focus should be more on Lou and Sarah’s budding romance similar to the teen drama Jeremy (1973), and the film could have easily lost about 20 minutes to make it tighter. There is an argument to be made that the movie is Rocky simply supplanted to the world of choreography and dancing. However, Mr. Sorvino is always charming when constantly looking at the bright side of things and attempting to raise Sarah’s spirits.

Kino Lorber has restored and released the film on Blu-ray. It begins with the era’s United Artists/Transamerica logo and the film is shot in a way that visually downplays the seediness that plagued New York City in the 1970s. (Owen Roizman made New York look far more sinister in William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971). The trademark landmarks of Lincoln Center and Broadway are recognizable to even out-of-towners. The film’s running time is 110 minutes, although the artwork states 84 minutes. This discrepancy could be based upon the fact that some sequences were reportedly added or extended following the film’s lukewarm reception upon its release on Friday, November 8, 1978 in an effort to flesh out the characters more and draw in the audience.

The extras are a bare minimum this time around, with on-camera interviews with actor Nicolas Coster at just under eight minutes and composer Bill Conti at around seven minutes. I would have loved a commentary with Paul Sorvino, and am not sure if an attempt was made to include his participation.There is also reversible sleeve artwork. 

The trailer is included, and it is a bit of a curiosity as it makes no mention of Mr. Avildsen’s success with Rocky.

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

One of the positive elements of the Blaxploitation film genre that exploded in the 1970s was the emergence of many hitherto unknown talents. Among them was Bahamian-born actor Calvin Lockhart, who immigrated to New York and immersed himself in theater, studying with the legendary Uta Hagen. Lockhart didn't find immediate success but hop-scotched between the U.S. and Europe, where he found more opportunities on stage and in film. By the time he returned to America, the Blaxploitation rage was in its early stages and Lockhart nailed down a key, scene-stealing role in director Ossie Davis's film version of "Cotton Comes to Harlem" in 1970. He also earned the starring role the same year in "Halls of Anger", playing a besieged inner city teacher who is trying to keep the lid on inter-racial tensions. Lockhart also starred in the crime thriller "Melinda", which- perhaps because of its bland title- is not as well-remembered as lesser entries in the Blaxplotation genre. Thus, it's good news that the film has been released on DVD by the Warner Archive. "Melinda" is impressive on any number of levels. Unlike most Blaxploitation movies, which were actually produced, written and directed by white filmmakers, this one was brought to the screen entirely by African-American talent: director Hugh A. Robertson, producer Pervis Atkins, screenwriter Lonnie Elder III and composers Jerry Butler and Jerry Peters. The movie also has an intense, realistic tone that affords Lockhart to give what is arguably the performance of his career. 

Lockhart plays Frankie J. Parker, the morning drive DJ on a popular L.A. soul music radio station. Frankie is a showman supreme. His combination of unapologetic narcissism combined with his snarky, biting sense of humor sets him apart from the competition- and makes him a local legend among black listeners.  Frankie is living the life. He makes a lot of money, drives a fancy sports car and has a bachelor pad apartment where he entertains a stream of beautiful young women. He's so in love with himself that he has the place adorned with posters and photos of himself and looks in the mirror every morning verbally express how damned good looking he is. One fateful day, however, Frankie's charmed life goes into a tailspin when he meets Melinda Lewis (Vonetta McKee), a sexy new arrival from Chicago who is very much a woman of mystery. When she resists Frankie's standard pick-up lines and shows she is wise to his well-worn methods of seduction, she becomes a challenge for him. He wines and dines her and shows her off at a high profile party aboard a yacht owned by his old friend Tank (Rockne Tarkington), a black athlete who has made good. On board, he has an unexpected encounter with a former lover, Terry Davis (Rosalind Cash), who makes it clear she still carries a grudge against Frankie because of his philandering ways. Later that evening, Frankie and Melinda return to his apartment where they finally get down to business- but she makes it clear that she is in control of the situation. Unbeknownst to either of them, the heated sounds of their love-making are being enjoyed by a shady character who has been following Melinda since she arrived in L.A. and who is know pleasuring himself outside the apartment door! The next morning, Frankie realizes that this time he is genuinely in love- and Melinda seems to reciprocate.

Frankie learns that "Melinda Lewis" is an alias and that his new lover is the former mistress of a ruthless Chicago mob boss, Mitch (Paul Stevens) who is desperate to track her down because she has deposited a cassette tape in a bank safe deposit box that implicates him in a high profile murder. Before long, the mob links Frankie to Melinda and thinks he in cahoots with her. He is framed for a ghastly murder and pummeled and beaten by cops before he finally makes bail. Realizing he has limited time to get to the bottom of what is going on and clear his name, Frankie finds he has to enlist the aid of estranged lover Terry Davis, who becomes the only friend he can trust. The two become amateur detectives trying to get access to the bank vault and the evidence that would give them leverage over Mitch and his gang of murderous goons who are now in L.A. Things go awry, however, when Frankie is framed for yet another sordid murder and Terry is kidnapped by Mitch and held for ransom under threat of death unless Frankie delivers the incriminating evidence against him. Frankie knows that if he does, he and Terry are as good as dead so he enlists some unusual allies- the fellow students of his karate academy. It helps when the Grand Master is real-life martial arts expert and future "Enter the Dragon" star Jim Kelly. In the film's only truly over-the-top sequence, Frankie and the karate students ambush the gangsters, Before you can sing "Everybody Was Kung Fu fighting", everybody is  Kung Fu fighting. The film culminates with Frankie and his allies laying siege to Mitch's mansion, where they find Terry locked in a glass gazebo surrounded by rattle snakes and other dangerous critters. 

Until its rather fanciful finale, "Melinda" is a realistic urban crime movie packed with interesting characters and intriguing mysteries that are revealed slowly. Like a Hitchcock film, it centers on a completely innocent man who is swept up in fantastic and deadly events beyond his comprehension. Lockhart gives an outstanding and commanding performance, turning from a carefree, narcissistic playboy to a man who is willing to do anything necessary simply to survive another few hours. He gets able support from both female leads, gorgeous Vonetta McKee as the mystery woman who affords Frankie an evening of sexual bliss that turns his life into a nightmare and Rosalind Cash, in full tough girl mode as she was the previous year opposite Charlton Heston in "The Omega Man". On the other extreme,  Paul Stevens makes for a suitably slimy villain. The direction by Hugh A. Robertson is quite impressive and he overcomes the relatively modest budget by capitalizing on the street locations which he uses to maximum atmosphere and effect. "Melinda" is a superior entry in the Blaxploitation film genre. Highly recommended.

The Warner Archive DVD includes the original theatrical trailer.  

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REVIEW – Naked City: The Complete Series

RLJ Entertainment / 6,063 minutes

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Naked City was like no other TV series before or since – Michel Moriarty, star of Law and Order, once told this reviewer.

Inspired by Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of the NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals and New York City itself often played as prominent a role in the dramas as the series regulars. Like the film it was based on, Naked City (1958- 1963) was shot almost entirely on location. The first season ran as a half-hour show under the title The Naked City, starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon—the same roles essayed by Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald in the film.

The Naked City also starred Harry Bellaver as Det. Frank Arcaro. When the series was expanded to an hour, the producers brought in handsome Paul Burke as Det. Adam Flint and gruff Horace McMahon as Lt. Mike Parker to replace Franciscus and McIntyre (with jovial Bellaver remaining in the cast). That's when the classic episodes of Naked City were produced... with a host of famous guest stars, ranging from silent movie actors like Conrad Nagel to newcomers Martin Sheen, Peter Fonda and Christopher Walken.

Naked City is so good and so unlike any other American crime drama or police procedural it's hard to believe it was produced in the United States, because the series definitely has a European look and sensibility. It's sort of operatic neorealism – Vittorio De Sica let loose with a camera in NYC. Not unlike De Sica's Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D., Naked City reflects a very existentialist and humanistic philosophy that occasionally moves the viewer to tears. The series regulars often become supporting players in the weekly dramas. The writing by Stirling Silliphant and others makes the more celebrated Paddy Chayevsky sound like an overbearing pontificator. Silliphant really humanizes his characters.... whether cops, criminals or ordinary New Yorkers.

Sadly, the image quality of Naked City: The Complete Series varies considerably. Several of the earlier episodes are in bad shape – dark and speckled. Framed in 1.33:1, most of the transfers look pretty good. Generally, image and sound quality are more than acceptable, although dialogue isn't always clear.

But this box set is the only way to see the entire landmark television series – unfamiliar to contemporary audiences because the series rarely went into syndication after its ABC run.

Watching 138 episodes of Naked City on 29 DVDs is quite a time commitment, but well worth the effort. The show (filmed in glorious black and white) is interesting from a historical standpoint: We see the magnificent old Penn Station (tragically demolished in 1963) and the Singer Building (the 47-story office tower – built in 1908 and torn down in 1968). In the early sixties, the New York City skyline was never more beautiful and balanced, before the intrusion of such massive structures as One World Trade Center and the Bank of America Tower. The Columbus Circle of the late fifties is almost unrecognizable, with the monument at the centre the only constant. We also see pre-gentrified Manhattan neighborhoods that looked quite grungy back in the day, especially in the winter.

Naked City attracted top-flight guest stars, including Luther Adler, Eddie Albert, Edward Asner, Martin Balsam, Barbara Barrie, Richard Basehart, Diahann Carroll, Lee J. Cobb, James Coburn, Richard Conte, Hume Cronyn, Robert Culp, Sandy Dennis, Bruce Dern, Bradford Dillman, Keir Dullea, Dan Duryea, Robert Duvall, Peter Falk, Nina Foch, Anthony Franciosa, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Kim Hunter, David Janssen, Jack Klugman, Shirley Knight, Diane Ladd, Piper Laurie, Joanne Linville, Robert Loggia, Jack Lord, Walter Matthau, Myron McCormick, Roddy McDowall, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, Vic Morrow, Robert Morse, Lois Nettleton, Leslie Nielsen, Carroll O'Connor, Susan Oliver, Nehemiah Persoff, Suzanne Pleshette, Claude Rains, Robert Redford, Ruth Roman, Mickey Rooney, Carol Rossen, Telly Savalas, George C. Scott, George Segal, William Shatner, Sylvia Sidney, Maureen Stapleton, Karen Steele, Akim Tamiroff, Rip Torn, Jon Voight, Eli Wallach, David Wayne, Tuesday Weld, Keenan Wynn and Dick York. George Maharis guest stars in a first-season episode that served as a pilot for Route 66. (Naked City and Route 66 were created and produced by Stirling Silliphant and Herbert B. Leonard.)

Gene Hackman

Christopher Walken

The only extra features are 12 minutes of commercials from 50+ years ago, including one in which Peter Lorre promotes a flexible watchband.

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BY JOHN M. WHALEN

We all know Roy Rogers, King of the Cowboys, as famous for his colorful fringed shirts and hand-tooled boots as he was for his ability with his fists, guitar and shooting iron. He was the epitome of Hollywood’s concept of a fantasy hero in a west that never was, as far from reality as director William Witney and writers like Sloan Nibley and Gerald Geraghty could make him. He made over 80 feature films basically playing himself, and became an icon that will live on beyond the memory of any of us. He stopped making feature films in 1952, but spent five more years turning out over 100 episodes of the Roy Rogers TV Show. He sort of retired after that, making occasional appearances on TV and at rodeo shows, but in 1975, at age 64, in what may have been an attempt at a comeback, he returned to movie making and turned out a film far removed from any of those he’d done before.

He said he wanted to make a movie in a modern setting with a more realistic character but one who lived by the same values he’d always upheld. The movie was called “Mackintosh and T.J,” and was a bold departure for Roy. No fancy shirts, no Trigger, the smartest horse in the movies, no more songs around the campfire with the Sons of the Pioneers. The title character, Mackintosh, is a 64-year-old former rodeo cowboy, a drifter, traveling the country in a broken down pickup truck, a loner looking for work of any kind wherever he can find it. He’s like Sam Peckinpah’s Junior Bonner (Steve McQueen), only older and with fewer options. He’s no longer able to work the rodeo circuit, but he’s not angry about it and doesn’t feel sorry for himself. He takes life as it comes and deals with it best he can, without bitterness or regret.

The action of the story begins when Mackintosh stops in the town of Dickens, Texas, pop. 300, to put water in his truck’s leaky radiator. He spots a 14-year-old boy being run out of town by a local cop. He later runs into him down the road in a market where a grocer is about to catch him trying to steal some apples. On an impulse he steps in, telling the grocer they’re together and pays for his groceries as well as the apples. Screenwriter Paul Savage doesn’t provide much background information at this point about Mackintosh to explain why he decides to protect the boy, but it’s apparent he sees something of himself in the lad. T.J. (Clay Obrien) tells him that he is on his own on his way to “see the Pacific Ocean.” Mackintosh offers to take him at least part of the way, if he wants a ride.

As they travel, we learn that T.J. has been pretty much on his own for most of his young life. He’s got a cocky attitude, and tells Macintosh he always pays his own way. He seems to have a pretty cynical view of life for a kid. Mackintosh tells him, “What you see depends on how you look at it.” When a truck honks at them while passing, T.J. tells Mackintosh he doesn’t like being passed by anybody. He wants to be number one. But Mackintosh tells him those who get there first usually spend a lot of time just waiting for the rest of us to catch up. “That’s what time does to you. Waters down the vinegar in your bite.”

They split up temporarily when Mackintosh’s truck has a breakdown in the middle of nowhere and T. J. accepts a ride from a passing stranger. They meet up a few days later in a bar, where Mackintosh stops for a steak, and is surprised to see T. J. working as a bus boy. “Making fifteen dollars washing a stack of dishes higher than your hat,” the boy tells him. There’s trouble when a tough, drunken cowboy named Cal (Luke Askew) accuses T.J. of stealing money he’d left on his table. When Cal tries to rough him up, and make him pull out his pockets to prove he didn’t take the money, Mackintosh steps in between them. He tells Cal to back off and asks T.J. if he didn’t take the money why doesn’t he prove it by doing what he asks.

“I don’t have to,” the boy says. “I told him I didn’t and that ought to be enough.” Cal grabs the boy but Mackintosh knocks him to the floor. The drunk pulls a switchblade, and the next thing you know Mack has a ketchup bottle in his hand and smashes it against the cowboy’s head!

Hold on a minute! Roy Rogers just got into a bar fight and smashed a drunk in the head with a ketchup bottle!!? What?? I told you this wasn’t your usual Roy Rogers movie. There are several other themes that are dealt with in “Mackintosh and T. J.” that must have raised the eyebrows of more than a few Roy Rogers fans back in 1975. The story also deals with Maggie (Joan Hackett) a battered wife. Mack’s concern for her turns her husband Luke (Billy Green Bush) into a jealous maniac, which becomes a plot element further on. Also in the mix is Coley (Andrew Robinson) one of the ranch hands where Mack and TJ find jobs. He’s a pervert, a Peeping Tom who gets his kicks climbing up the side of Maggie’s house at night and watching her undress. Robinson has played his share of weirdos in his career and is best known as the killer Scorpio in “Dirty Harry”. You take a jealous husband and a peeping Tom and throw Roy Rogers into the middle of it and you’ve got a set up for some real trouble.

Perhaps it’s the mix of these unusual story elements and casting choices that resulted in “Mackintosh and T.J.” never really being given decent distribution. It only played in a few theaters south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I doubt if many people reading this review have ever heard of this movie much less seen it. And actually it’s too bad. Because it’s a very good movie—one that should have been given a chance to find an audience. Rogers’ performance as Mackintosh is low key and solid, and you never doubt for a minute that he’s real. Clay O’Brien, who was only 14, grew up to be a ProRodeo Hall of Famer and had already starred in two John Wayne westerns, “The Cowboys,” (1972), and “Cahill: U.S. Marshall,” (1973). Askew and Green are the quintessential “gold ol’ boys” you’d find in any good western, and James Hampton (The Longest Yard) as Cotton is decidedly nasty as a ranch hand with a gossip’s tongue who spins the various plots elements together into a vicious web with Mackintosh caught in the middle. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the film is the appearance of Joan Hackett in the cast. Her part is not quite developed enough for her to do much with, but she adds a quiet dignity to the film.

Director Marvin Chomsky, best known for his work in television, particularly “Brotherhood of the Rose,” (1989) and “Holocaust,” (1978), made some excellent choices in the way he and director of photography Terry K. Meade shot “Mackintosh and T.J.” Filmed entirely on location around Guthrie, Texas and on the famous 6666 ranch, the camera really captured the wide expanse of the ranch and the surrounding country, while at the same time focusing in close on the characters and the drama that unfolds. Another plus is the soundtrack, written and played by Waylon Jennings with an assist on one tune by Willie Nelson.

MVD Entertainment Producer Steve Latshaw deserves credit for rescuing “Mackintosh and T.J.” from obscurity. The film is presented in a beautiful 4K restoration that does justice to the images as they were captured on film. The color is rich and textured. It’s a pleasure to watch.

“Mackintosh and T.J.” is a film worth seeing, and the Blu-ray disc, which is loaded with extras, including interviews with some of the cast members by C. Courtney Joiner, is a keeper. Too bad Roy never got to do another “realistic” western after this one. But at least it’s good that this one time we get to see the King of the Cowboys as he was in his later years. The same as he ever was. Highly recommended.

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BY TODD GARBARINI

Send-ups of classic horror films are nothing new. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello starred in the granddaddy of horror comedies, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, in 1948 after the original working script The Brain of Frankenstein had its title changed. They later took on the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Boris Karloff himself. Mel Brooks danced his way into the cinema history books by making his own comic version of the fabled Mary Shelley classic of a deranged scientist fabricating a man made from body parts and even had the guts to shoot the film in black and white on the original soundstages that James Whale used just over forty years earlier: Young Frankenstein (1974) was the result. The lesser-known Texas-lensed Student Bodies (1981) from Woody Allen collaborator Mickey Rose did an admirable job of poking fun at the slasher movie subgenre that plagued American movie theaters through most of the early to mid-1980’s and is still humorous today, even after the Scary Movie franchise.

I was introduced to Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in September 1982 in Fangoria Magazine (issue #22) from their “Horror-Host Series” by Dan Farren. Having begun as a horror hostess in September 1981 on Southern California’s KHJ-TV’s Movie Macabre weekend show, Elvira (in reality red-haired actress Cassandra Peterson) slowly made her way into syndicated television markets and became a huge sensation, turning verbally ragging on silly horror and science fiction B movies into an art form. The schtick-laden show ran 137 episodes over five years. Well-endowed with impossible-to-not-see cleavage, a huge mane of dark hair and deep red lipstick, Elvira eventually starred in her own film, the 1988 outing Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. While many other Elvira outings occurred in the form of short films and TV-movies, Ms. Petersen reprised her role in Elvira’s Haunted Hills (2002), a loving parody of the Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe/Roger Corman thrillers of the 1960’s that she and the filmmakers saw in their youth.

It is the year 1851 and the setting is the Romanian Carpathian Mountains. Elvira and her maid Zou Zou (Mary Jo Smith) are forced out of their room by an innkeeper who does his best Jack Torrance impression from The Shining to rid the premises of these freeloaders. On their way to a can-can show they are due to perform in Paris, they encounter Dr. Bradley Bradley (Scott Atkinson) – no relation to Humbert Humbert – who invites them into his coach to stay the night at Castle Hellsubus. Upon arrival, they meet Lady Emma Hellsubus (Mary Scheer), Count Vladimere Hellsubus (Richard O’Brien) and Lady Roxana (Heather Hopper), Lady Emma and Count Vladimere’s daughter. It turns out that Elvira bears more than a striking resemblance to Count Vladimere Hellsubus’s deceased wife, Elura (not to be confused with the capromorelin oral solution indicated for the management of weight loss in cats with chronic kidney disease of the same name. Whew!)

While investigating the castle, Elvira stumbles into the room of Adrian (Gabi Andronache in a role originally intended for Fabio who declined), a deliberately poorly dubbed hunk with mismatched lips and dialog in a direct nod to Italian horror films. Elvira gives the folks an example of her can-can show and later Count Vladimere thinks Elura is alive after seeing her in the hallway and blames it on a hallucination.

There are several laugh out-loud moments, one involving an empty knight suit, a throw-away line about the Village People, a visual zoom a la Jaws (1975), and other modern-day film references. Even the Academy Awards aren’t off-limits. The ageless Ms. Peterson is endearing in her Elvira get-up and obviously the title is a comic play on her famous, always-on-display assets. This is a film played for laughs and it is amusing and fun. The real stars, however, are the beautiful and opulent sets fashioned by the Romanian crew modeled primarily after The Pit and The Pendulum (1961) and The Haunted Palace (1963). I was even reminded of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador’s The House That Screamed (1969). The beautiful lighting is also reminiscent of cinematographer Luciano Tovoli’s colorful work on Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) and Romano Albani’s lighting schemes in Suspiria’s follow-up, Inferno (1980).

Elvira does a fun song number and Richard O’Brien at times looks like Reggie Nalder as Mr. Barlow in Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot (1979).

Elvira’s Haunted Hills was originally released on DVD in October 2002 and again in October 2011 in a “Specially Enhanced Edition”. The bonus features are all ported over from the previous DVD incarnations:

The Blu-ray consists of a restoration from a 4K scan of the original camera negative and it looks stunning in 1080p. The original DVDs did not grasp the image so well and were often murky and dark. This transfer is bright, colorful and clear and the sets look amazing.

There is an introduction by Elvira, Mistress of The Dark which is comical and runs 4:40.

There is an audio commentary with Cassandra Peterson, Mary Scheer, Mary Jo Smith and Scott Atkinson, and Director Sam Irvin who all have terrific fun commenting on the action and memories of filming on a shoestring.

Transylvania or Bust Featurette – this cutely-titled High Definition piece from 2011 runs just over 28 minutes and includes Mary Jo Smith, Mary Scheer, Scott Atkinson and others discussing their experiences not just making the film, but the misadventures entailed in getting to the locations, which were more scary than what ends up in onscreen!

The Making of Elvira’s Haunted Hills is Standard Definition, runs 22 minutes and features interviews with much of the cast and crew, but best of all it contains behind-the-scenes footage shot during principal photography.

Elvira in Romania Featurette – this is a cute Standard Definition interview with a Romanian television crew and Elvira and runs about 46 minutes. There are also test shots and Elvira mingling with locals.

Interview with Co-Star Richard O’Brien runs 6:08 and is an onscreen interview that was shot during filming.

Trailers – two trailers for Elvira’s Haunted Hills

Outtakes – this runs 54 seconds and my only complaint is I would have liked to have seen more of it.

Photo Gallery

Newly commissioned cover artwork

Highly recommended for Elvira completists.

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