Daughters of Darkness.

Review #2611: Daughters of Darkness.

Cast: 

Delphine Seyrig (Countess Elizabeth Bathory), John Karlen (Stefan Chilton), Danielle Ouimet (Valerie Chilton), Andrea Rau (Ilona), Paul Esser (Pierre), Georges Jamin (retired policeman), Joris Collet (butler), and Fons Rademakers (mother) Directed by Harry Kümel.

Review: 

"My films are about other films — that’s obvious. I’ve always watched an enormous number of movies, and I still do. These days, you can see everything online — especially old French cinema in beautiful quality. It’s a problem for film archives, of course, but wonderful for viewers. I don’t consciously pay homage to anyone, but I’m shaped by the filmmakers I admire: Joseph von Sternberg, John Ford, and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock — the Mozart of cinema."

Sure, what's horror without at least one arthouse scare? Yes, here's an international production between Belgium, France, and West Germany that ended up filmed in English. Harry Kumel (who had started directing features with Monsieur Hawarden [1968]) was approached by a group of producers who apparently wanted to make something "erotic, bloody, full of horror". Given that he was still in the midst of preparation for Malpertuis (1973), he had a good chance to take on the task, complete with being inspired by the supposed exploits of Elizabeth Báthory, a Hungarian countess that had been accused of torturing and killing several girls and women from 1590 to 1610 before she was convicted (alongside her servants) and eventually died in prison in 1614. Supposedly, she bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth, which, well, obviously was more folklore hokum than based on fact; of course, the lead character is also styled after Marlene Dietrich (for which Kümel once called her a "demagogue"), while Rau's is meant to be styled after Louise Brooks), so there's that. Interiors were done in Brussels, Belgium. Four writers ultimately received credit: Kümel, Pierre Drouot, Jean Ferry (who upon hearing it said it was "the great liberation!"), and Joseph Amiel. Apparently, Kümel still gets offers to talk about the movie every now and then and once stated that his French distributor "has to delete the film from YouTube almost every week", although he also noted that where the sincerity starts/ends is "intentionally ambiguous" (this was probably a reply to one certain critic that called the film the type to belong in what she called "psychological high Gothic").

Sure, the movie dances around the idea of someone being a vampire for quite a while in its 100-minute runtime. But it's a war of nerves within the dance of art and sleaze, and I suppose that's part of the interest for a movie that has plenty of womanly desire within the game of dominance. I guess you could call that bleak, or maybe there's something else lurking within the fringes of not just being the Dracula's Daughter of would-be vampire wooing. It's the horror of contradictions with a group of people that probably shows the horrors of what "love" seems to actually be more than anything. It dilly-dallies around a hotel with few people around while showing a couple that is most decidedly not waiting to assert their love or trying to go home as opposed to those castle-bound/village-bound vampire movies. It's a cold modern movie (well, 1971 modern) that I wish I could like more than I ended up doing, which is mostly because it does loiter a bit too much in actual execution besides some dances with the erotic (to be honest, it works more with Rau and her energy more than, well...). It all rides on Seyrig and her performance that basically glides across the proceedings with icy charm that can play head (or neck) games with the best of them, which is pretty unsettling to see with such easy targets. Rau doesn't say much, but she seems a bit less unsettled than Ouimet, that's for sure. Probably the one regret that stuck with Kümel was the casting of Karlen, who apparently was cast with photos that had been a few years old (at the time, the former Dark Shadows alum was in his late thirties - of course, Kümel wanted Malcolm McDowell, who was ten years younger). Granted, the fact that Karlen is playing the one male lead to a certain type of unpolishedness (well, for a character that has the twist that, well, doesn't actually want to call Mother...whoever that is). At least Ouimet and Karlen being unsettling together is mostly on purpose. The film rides on atmosphere and the occasional moods that come in color before eventually, finally, getting to what really is going to go on with creatures of the night that happen to leave a trail of bodies in their wake. Never boring, it's a mild success for those who like some curious choices for their vampire movies, that's for sure.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

The House That Dripped Blood.

Review #2606: The House That Dripped Blood.

Cast:

Framework story: John Bennett (Detective Inspector Holloway), John Bryans (A.J. Stoker), and John Malcolm (Sergeant Martin)

"Method For Murder": Denholm Elliott (Charles Hillyer), Joanna Dunham (Alice Hillyer), Tom Adams (Richard/Dominic), and Robert Lang (Dr. Andrews)

"Waxworks": Peter Cushing (Philip Grayson), Joss Ackland (Neville Rogers), and Wolfe Morris (Waxworks Proprietor)

"Sweets to the Sweet": Christopher Lee (John Reid), Nyree Dawn Porter (Ann Norton), Chloe Franks (Jane Reid), Hugh Manning (Mark), and Carleton Hobbs (Dr. Bailey)

"The Cloak": Jon Pertwee (Paul Henderson), Ingrid Pitt (Carla Lynde), Geoffrey Bayldon (Theo von Hartmann), Jonathan Lynn (Mr. Petrich)

Directed by Peter Duffell.

Review: 

Sure, let's march into the 1970s for Amicus to make their mark with anthology films. Apparently, it was reported that the movie was to have Freddie Francis to direct but it fell through due to prior commitments, which led to Peter Duffell. This was actually the feature film debut for Peter Duffell, who had gotten his start in 1961 with a number of shorts and episodes in television. He wound up spending most of his time in television (having rejected doing more films for Amicus due to not wanting to be typecast) but directed a few more times with England Made Me (1973), Inside Out (1975), and King of the Wind (1989). He wanted to go with "Death and the Maiden" as a title instead of, well, "The House That Dripped Blood" but ended up with the one insisted by producers because, duh (sure, there isn't actually blood in the movie, but, well...). Pertwee claimed in his memoir that the film was initially to be filmed as a comedy-horror piece but that the producer saw some of the rushes and insisted on the film being shot as is for horror. The movie was written by Robert Bloch, as adapted from his four short stories, although Russ Jones apparently delivered uncredited work on "Waxworks". Bloch wrote one more movie for Amicus with Asylum (1972).

It's an average anthology movie where you really only get some enjoyment out of certain stories because damn it, they really can only go so far with the pacing and violence, can they? Anyway, what's the framework of this 102-minute movie you say, well, here it goes: An old country house was rented out by an actor that happens to have mysteriously disappeared and a man from Scotland Yard comes to investigate only to be told about the history of the house (complete with the estate agent popping in for the latter setup) and the tenants that lived in the house beforehand (you might be wondering, why wouldn't the inspector just insist on getting the story of the guy who was missing *before* everyone else, well, who knows). The first story (lasting roughly 23 minutes) involves a hack writer (as played pretty well by Elliott) and his wife moving into the house that finds growing fear over trying to write a new novel about a crazed killer. The twist is the goofiest thing imaginable, but the monster is kind of interesting. The second story is basically the shortest at almost 20 minutes and probably disappoints me the most because it has Cushing and little else to show for with a story that involves a man that encounters a wax museum with a sculpture that happens to look like someone he formerly loved and the frenzied reactions that come with the two other people that also happen to be curious about the sculpture. A lonely Cushing is one thing to maybe drive something spooky, but it leads to nothing because, really, we are talking about a wax sculpture.

The third story, perhaps not surprisingly, is the longest at 24 minutes that has Lee play an oddball dad that kept his daughter away from school, socializing, or even dolls which naturally changes when a new tutor comes into the picture and a tantalizing secret is revealed. It's probably the only segment that would've made an interesting film in its own right, with an eerie Franks and a suitably composed Lee selling the payoff (which is necessary for a movie that shows a burning of a figure rather than, say, a body). The final story (roughly 20 minutes) is the one to wait for with some chuckles. Pertwee (in the middle between filming seasons of Doctor Who)* plays a stuffy star of horror movies (which, well, is basically him doing a riff on Christopher Lee, complete with saying that his favorite type of Dracula was Bela Lugosi at one point) that encounters an antique shop with "real" authenticity to it. Sure, the idea of a cloak being associated with maybe becoming a vampire is a bit corny, but I did like what I saw from Pertwee's hammy nature. All of this helps because the framework is pretty lame with the payoff from Bryans and his character that actually talks to the audience at the end about the house reflecting the personality of the person who lives in it (after getting the fate of the inspector encountering a vampire because....yeah). As a whole, it's a decent movie with some highlights that might make for a useful watch for those who love to see a few short stories try to get their due.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

*Yes, that's the Third Doctor. Did you know he did a novelty song? I Am The Doctor (Jon Pertwee)

Lust for a Vampire.

Review #2597: Lust for a Vampire.

Cast: 

Michael Johnson (Richard LeStrange), Yutte Stensgaard (Mircalla Herritzen/Carmilla Karnstein), Ralph Bates (Giles Barton), Barbara Jefford (Countess Herritzen), Suzanna Leigh (Janet Playfair), Helen Christie (Miss Simpson), Mike Raven (Count Karnstein; dubbed by Valentine Dyall), Harvey Hall (Inspector Heinrich), Michael Brennan (landlord), Pippa Steel (Susan Pelley), Judy Matheson (Amanda), David Healy (Raymond Pelley), Jonathan Cecil (Biggs), and Erik Chitty (Professor Herz) Directed by Jimmy Sangster (#2107 - The Horror of Frankenstein)

Review: 

You might remember The Vampire Lovers (1970) from Hammer that had the loosest of inspirations from 1872 novella Carmilla from Sheridan Le Fanu that dealt with Austrian castles, affection and obsession by a female vampire. Screenwriter Tudor Gates had co-adapted the film for Roy Ward Baker that had Ingrid Pitt, George Cole, Kate O'Mara and Pete Cushing that actually was a co-production with American International. The following year, in a co-production with EMI Films came this film, which had, well, um, at least Pippa Steel appeared in both movies? Apparently, Gates had written a script for Mario Bava that was about a girls school with a serial killer and he based it for what eventually was cobbled into this movie, which went from having ideas of Terence Fisher to direct (felled by injuries in a car accident) to Jimmy Sangster, complete with having to use a pop song. With a display of more sex and violence than, say, a film from the previous decade, how could one go wrong? Well, Sangster did not have fond memories of the film (in fairness, he wasn't big on his third and final film as a director with Fear in the Night [1972]) and one of the stars in Bates apparently later called it "one of the worst films ever made". Others have argued that the film belongs in the category of "camp". Released in January 1971, the final film of the "trilogy" in Twins of Evil was released nine months later.

Well, "lesbian" vampire is a bit of a stretch, mainly because of the sequence involving our two leads (as played with a damn song over it), but I suppose trying to lure people in with a bisexual vampire would possibly be more fit for the seedy underpages,* Set roughly four decades after the events of the last film in the 1830s, the vampires here are a bit more curious, what with their ability to walk in the daylight and being impervious to, say, fire. This all puddles in comparison to the sleaze factor (namely in a bit of nudity, not in serial lovemaking) that...can only go so far in holding up a pretty measly effort. That's not to say there isn't some fun in its 91-minute runtime, because there are ideas of a premise worth watching, it just so happens to be in a movie that doesn't have lead performances with anything particularly compelling to show. Bates playing the hooligan version of the creep at the fair isn't even worth more than one sentence. You've got a novelist trying to do research on vampires with "in-depth" studying and a boarding school student who totally isn't torn in their feasting life. To say nothing of burning castles, dopey school fears, and throwing people down the well. Johnson was mostly involved in TV roles with the occasional supporting role, and I can't really say that there is anything here beyond the bare minimum of British drywall target for romance. This was the penultimate performance for Stensgaard (who soon moved to the States that saw her work in a radio station, among other things), who has the unfortunate task of trying to be a conflicted vampire (sexual or otherwise) when there is just nothing for here to really grab onto. This isn't just saying "poor man's Ingrid Pitt", this is just a case of a movie that loiters around showing a bit of nudity and violence but has no enthusiasm to it (basically the equivalent of a joyless grab of the crotch) that basically springs down to the leads for little drama to say anything about for the inevitable conclusion. Raven (actually named Churton Fairman) was actually a British radio disc jockey before he actually wanted to try his hand at appearing in movies, with this being the first of four appearances (the others were I, Monster [1971], Crucible of Terror [1971], Disciple of Death [1972]). Naturally, he gets dubbed by regular TV/radio presence in Valentine Dyall, who provides a worthwhile hash voice that also seems amusing to also pair with a momentary shot of, well, Christopher Lee's eyes from one of the Dracula movies. In general, the movie plods along with goofy execution, a middling pace and in general just seems too tired to actually get it up in terms of excitement to make it worth anything other than for the curiosity of, well, being another Hammer movie. 

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

*I can see it now: "the Bisexual Vampire Hotline: are you ready to be sucked off or are you a sucker?"

Cisco Pike.

Review #2570: Cisco Pike.

Cast: 

Kris Kristofferson (Cisco Pike), Gene Hackman (Detective Leo Holland), Karen Black (Sue), Harry Dean Stanton (Jesse Dupre), Viva (Merna), Doug Sahm (Rex), Roscoe Lee Browne (Pawnshop Owner), Joy Bang (Lynn), Severn Darden (Lawyer), Antonio Fargas (Brother Buffalo), with Don Sturdy (Recording Engineer), and Allan Arbus (Sim Valensi) Directed by Bill L. Norton.

Review:  

My favoritism does ring strong for select folks, admittedly. How many people can beat Barbra Striesand at their own game in trying to be the big fish in terms of actual presence in a movie (I fondly still remember watching A Star is Born (1976) and being amazed its sheer mediocrity). The Brownsville-born nomad was prolific enough at Pomona College that there were ideas of him being a writer, complete with study at the University of Oxford. Instead, he ended up as a jack of all trades in odd jobs (okay there was stuff in the middle of that such as being in the Army), one of them being a janitor at Columbia Records as a wannabee songwriter. He did appear in his first film with the adventure from hell in The Last Movie (1971). Apparently, in the aftermath of drunkenly stumbling through being rejected for a part in Two-Lane Blacktop, he got offered the script for this film and decided against the advice of taking acting lessons for a character that he thought he related to. Inadvertently, this also is a chance to spotlight a forgotten filmmaker that had a brief flash in the sun. Bill L. Norton was the son of William W. Norton, who actually was a writer in Hollywood that ranged from television with The Big Valley to movies with White Lightning [1973]*. As for the younger Norton, he graduated from UCLA and went from writing stuff such as How to Succeed with Girls (1964) and (uncredited) camera operating on movies like The Fortune Cookie (1966). But when film producers looked for any type of "freethinkers" or "hippie" perspective in the wake of Easy Rider's success in 1969, Norton got his chance to be a director with a script (with one working title being "Dealer") that attracted producer Gerald Ayres and Columbia Pictures. Robert Towne was asked to look over the script, with his most noted contribution being the addition of Hackman's character, although he was left uncredited. Lumped in some circles to other counterculture movies such as Getting Straight [1970] and Making It [1971], the movie had its opening premiere in late 1971 before going into limited release in 1972 that resulted middling reviews and a lack of an audience. The next Norton movie was More American Graffiti (1979). While there were a few showings to theaters that still had a print, the movie wasn't available on home media such as VHS or DVD until a release in the latter format in 2006. 

I suppose it makes sense that Norton called it his rendition of La Dolce Vita but set in L.A." In the domain of the Venice neighborhood with things of yesteryear such as the Pacific Ocean Park (closed since 1967). You could consider how Kristofferson considered acting to be as one that could be "just understanding a character, and then being just as honest as you can possibly be" (as said in 1974), or, for what he thought about the movie over 50 years later, one where he mused about what exactly "gave me the audacity to think I could act." The movie coasts along with a lead character that basically is an anachronism going through a travelogue in a type of California (West L.A.) that either runs on the fumes of banality or, well, is curious enough to actually see all the way through its 95-minute runtime. Kristofferson is the drifter, the has-been, the elusive one, the guy in all of us that can't just be one thing without some smart aleck or oddball trying to get one over us (such as trying to not be a dealer). Hackman made the movie right before doing The French Connection (Cisco premiered shortly after Connection). His panicky oddness popping in every now and then (for what could generously be estimated as being less than 20 minutes) is a curious one to see when compared to the familiar comforts of the kooky Black (by this point a recent Academy Award nominee with Five Easy Pieces [1970]) or the splattering of support that comes with Viva or the withered Stanton. Any observation about the movie, positive or negative, basically can be responded to with "it depends, man". The songs from Kristofferson are delightful for those who roll with doing something for the sake of it that basically is the movie in a nutshell: you drift in and drift out and maybe figure something out by the time it all has come to pass (or not). I can't call it a great movie, but a drifting movie with likeable enough folks and music is more than enough to at least call it a possible gem for the curious.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

Next up: Fuck it, it's 20 years old: 8.18.06: SNAKES ON A PLANE

*Honestly, I have no bias against Streisand, I just...never got into watching her movies. Or her songs. I accidentally took nearly 15 years of Movie Night to actually get to a Jane Fonda movie, it isn't exactly a surprise that I've seen two Streisand movies in the span of 16 years.

*Mr. William W. Norton was a strange guy. He crapped on his contributions to movies (once stating that one would only know his films if their "I.Q" [was] low enough"), later moved to Ireland and got mad about Roman Catholic residents getting attacked to the point where he went back to the States to run guns to the Irish National Liberation Army. He got caught and served 19 months in prison. He moved to Central America only to get robbed and killed one of the robbers. He moved around before finally being smuggled back to America. He died in 2010 at the age of 85 while his son Bill still lives.

*Forgot to send a link: LIFE - Google Books

Red Sun (1971).

Review #2564: Red Sun.

Cast: 

Charles Bronson (Link Stuart), Ursula Andress (Cristina), Toshirō Mifune (Kuroda Jubei), Alain Delon (Gauche), Capucine (Pepita), Barta Barri (Paco), Lee Burton (Mace), Anthony Dawson (Hyatt), Gianni Medici (Miguel), George W. Lycan (Sheriff Stone), Luc Merenda (Chato), and Tetsu Nakamura (the Japanese Ambassador) Directed by Terence Young (#150 - Dr. No, #278 - From Russia with Love, #335 - Thunderball, #1763 - Inchon)

Review: 

Yes, there are some movies that do slip by the radar despite having a few big names around the sun. Apparently, the film had been in development since 1968, complete with Toshiro Mifune being tapped early but the idea of having Clint Eastwood as a co-star eventually fizzled. Instead, in perhaps amusing irony, you've got Charles Bronson (one of the stars of The Magnificent Seven, the remake of Seven Samurai) co-starring with Mifune. Laird Koenig wrote the story for the film before a handful of screenwriters came in with Denne Bart Petitclerc (in his first screenplay after writing for TV and fresh off the one season run of creating Then Came Bronson [1969-70]), William Roberts (coincidentally a writer on the Seven film), and Lawrence Roman for what became a French-Italian-Spain production (i.e. filming in Spain and plenty of worldly companies producing the venture, which actually was supposed to be a Warner Bros.-Seven Arts movie). It was the second of three movies that Young made back-to-back with Bronson (a favorite of making movies in Europe that he once stated were thought to be foreign by Americans and American by the Japanese) with Cold Sweat (1970) and The Valachi Papers (1972) being the others (each with varying levels of involvement from French-Italian companies). Incidentally, Mifune learned his lines phonetically, as he did for roles in English (which, well, he didn't know the language, and this isn't even getting into movies where he is dubbed like with Midway [1976]). It didn't exactly become a widely well-known hit, although Mifune's presence apparently got it a couple of attendance records in the run in Japan. Apparently, Quentin Tarantino noted his appreciation of the film on at least one occasion.

 

The term "Spaghetti Western" referred to Westerns produced in Europe that were mostly made in either Italy or Spain. Here lies the setting in 1870, a couple of years after the first Japanese ambassadors arrived in America and yet there are perilous times ahead on a journey through the West through railroads and outlaws. You get an "East meets West" type of buddy movie that makes for an unwieldy but serviceable time to sit through at least once. By the first 25 minutes of its 112-minute runtime, you get the setup that appeals to the most ridiculous of time limits: if the duo fails to recover a gold-handled tachi in one week for the ambassador, the bodyguard and the ambassador will actually commit harakiri (ritualistic suicide*). Heck, by the time 40 minutes are gone, you already got a brief goofy fight to make light of Bronson trying to "fight" Mifune. In that sense, Bronson probably benefits from a clash of macho-ness with Mifune where he seems to not aim for the usual dry self in the "shoot-and-slash" pace of action. Sure, he still is outdone by Mifune in the type of presence that comes with basically commanding the screen without having to say much, but I think you get the appeal that each bring in learning what really matters in "honor". Honestly, the film needed a bit more from Andress and others, because it really is a road film with Bronson & Mifune and Delon basically sucks out the rest of the energy even with the limited time basically being a mustache-twirler type of adversary. The sequence near the climax where they have to confront Comanches does veer into a few cliches, but at least the movie finds a way to close itself out with a mostly deserving finish (predictable, sure, but familiar fun is still fun). The landscape may seem familiar, and the carnage may be inevitable (dynamite, train robberies, and double-crosses), but that's part of the fun if you buy what Young and company is selling for flim-flam charm. As a whole, it isn't a great movie by any means, but it has a few entertaining moments with a dynamite enough duo with Bronson and Mifune leading the way to make it a curious recommendation for those who like oddball type of Westerns.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day!

Come one, come all, be ready for another month-long celebration in August on Movie Night with...Acknowledged in August Again

*Seppuku, harakiri, you get the idea.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

Review #2482: Godzilla vs. Hedorah.

Cast: 

Akira Yamauchi (Dr. Toru Yano), Hiroyuki Kawase (Ken Yano), Toshie Kimura (Toshie Yano), Keiko Mari (Miki Fujinomiya), Toshio Shiba (Yukio Keuchi), Yoshio Yoshida (Gohei, a fisherman), Haruo Suzuki (JSDF senior officer), Yoshio Katsube (JSDF engineer), Tadashi Okabe (a scholar), Wataru Ōmae (a policeman), Takuya Yuki (a communications officer), Yukihiko Gondo as a helicopter pilot), Haruo Nakazawa (teenager in the meadow), Kentaro Watanabe (TV news anchor), Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), Kenpachiro Satsuma (Hedorah) Directed by Yoshimitsu Banno.

Review: 

Apparently, the impetus for this film (the 11th in the series) started with an expo. With the Mitsubishi Pavillion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Toho participated and saw their eyes interested in an audio-visual exhibit of mirror reflections that was created by Yoshimitsu Banno. Banno was approached to make a Godzilla movie and he came up with an idea about a pollution monster in light of the fact that Japan's growing economy would create a huge problem of pollution. Banno had graduated from Tokyo University in 1955 and actually served as an assistant director on four Akira Kurosawa movies and this would be his one major effort as a director. Banno aimed for a small cast with 35 days to shoot. Tomoyuki Tanaka, who usually oversaw the films as a producer, was in the hospital for most of production and Banno used this so he could include a scene he didn't think would get approved otherwise: Godzilla using his atomic breath to fly. Animation was also used at certain points in the film. For the American edit released in 1972 by AIP, it was called "Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster" with its own song "Save the Earth" (as opposed to "Give Back the Sun"). The movie was a mild success with audiences, receiving a bit of critical scorn along with subsequent appreciation in some circles (Roger Ebert once said this was his favorite Godzilla movie). Teruyoshi Nakano, who provided the special effects for the film, stated that the comic scenes were likely added to lighten the tone of a film that he felt looking back "seems kind of cruel and heavy handed". Banno never got to do a Godzilla movie again, although he did receive an executive producer credit on a few of the 2010's Godzilla movies in America; Banno died at the age of 86 in 2017. Incidentally, Jun Fukuda returned to direct Godzilla vs. Gigan in 1972, which happened to deal with cockroach-like aliens going to Earth after their planet was destroyed...by pollution.

I have to admit, this is a pretty fun movie. Of course, anything is better than All Monsters Attack. Sure, it probably won't be for everyone with its pacing of 85 minutes full of tension and mayhem...amidst plenty of strange imagery and moments. Just to paraphrase: people get turned into skeletons when sprayed by the monster, one person hallucinates fish heads on people (right before the sludge arrives) building is shown falling down to complete silence, a kid goes on a roller coaster and sees Godzilla appear in silhouette that you can actually spot because...yes. I do appreciate the Hedorah design apparently also being able to shoot lasers because screw it, why not? It might be goofy looking, but it makes a suitable enough idea in being a symbol of what things could be with a lack of care for the Earth: sludge (consider how things look now). People coming together to try and deal with the monster at least this time around is not a collection of speeches in a boardroom, and the kid this time around is mostly just curious rather than being all the way involved like the last film. I fail to see the problem with the scene of Godzilla flying with his breath. After movies where he did a dance and had a goofy son, the flight is not exactly uncanny to actually see in, you know, a monster movie where Godzilla already gets smothered in one eye. Yamauchi and the others in the cast are pretty routine, which is a compliment in that one isn't rolling their eyes at the level of drama that is supposed to play out in a Japan that may be more economically sound but may also lose something much more important in its soul. Even the hippies get involved, with a... bonfire on a mountain. And hey, here's a film where the military does something: they come with a big electrode to try and dry out the sludge monster before Godzilla takes him to the cleaners (wonder how he gets that stuff off him later). As a whole, it is a weird little film, but as a movie trying to be conscious of the time it was made in, it is a pretty entertaining film to see realized that managed to make an impression to stick out from the previous efforts. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

29 years old today. Ha.

Links for people delivering better insight from the actual production: Smog Monster Director EXTRA / ゴジラ対ヘドラの監督〜EXTRA〜 (SciFi Japan TV #26)

or this: Cinefantastique Magazine: 1970-2002 : Cinefantastique : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Let's Scare Jessica to Death.

Review #2456: Let's Scare Jessica to Death.

Cast: 

Zohra Lampert (Jessica), Barton Heyman (Duncan), Kevin O'Connor (Woody), Gretchen Corbett (The Girl), Alan Manson (Sam Dorker), Mariclare Costello (Emily) Directed by John D. Hancock.

Review: 

"Well, I don’t want to make a parody, I’d like to make a genuinely scary movie. If you let me rewrite this, I’ll do it.’ And they did, and I rewrote it, and changed it 80 or 90 percent. ... I grew up on a fruit farm on weekends, so that’s the first thing I did was set it on a fruit farm, and that really got my juices going,"

In fairness, the title did stick out to me for quite a few months. Apparently, the original script for this film by Lee Kalcheim was different from the finished version, as evidenced by the title he put on it: "It Drinks Hippie Blood". When John D. Hancock was approached about being involved, he insisted on re-writing the screenplay that retained the slightest of elements (such as the mute girl) while taking influence from the classic novella The Turn of the Screw alongside The Haunting (1963) to go along with childhood memories of his father (who was a sprayer) and other things. This was the feature film debut for Hancock, who had started directing on Off-Broadway in the late 1960s before getting into film with the Academy Award-nominated short subject "Sticky My Fingers, Fleet My Feet", which caught the eye of certain people that happened to own a chain of theaters and needed someone to direct a script they had. The movie was made without a distributor in mind but Paramount Pictures bought it. Studio executive Frank Yablans was the one who gave the movie its final title, as the working title was apparently just "Jessica". They apparently went with a marketing campaign all about vampires and promo ideas such as write-in contests, ticket giveaways for hearse drivers, you get the idea. Apparently, Rod Serling and Stephen King were big proponents of the film. Hancock followed this film up with likely his most known film in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) and has directed a couple of movies* to go alongside theater-work in the years that followed.

I guess you can get with the movie on a level of allowing its strange charms to flow over you in ambiguity, particularly since calling it a vampire movie isn't really that fair when it comes to its varying levels of logic. Then I sigh, smirk at that title having seen the movie, and try my damndest to justify the fact that this is a really average movie to sit through. It is entirely possibly one could be unsettled by the events that occur with the movie, what with a strange drifter and an odd town that seems to not like new visitors that challenge the status quo. For me, since one knows there is something lurking in town (namely someone who decides to not kick out a drifter at first sight - hippie foolishness or just being nice - you decide), it only gets interesting when it actually shows something beyond mental unraveling, mainly because the only interesting performance is with Lampert. Of course, maybe it says something about my patience with supposed ambiguity, because I go with something being real from the jump. But Lampert does make an effective performance in vulnerability that might be relatable for those with lingering passions and doubts about who they are back in the world of the supposed stable people. Her doubts do spring sympathy because we care about who she is more than any of the other people in such a casual movie, particularly since the real threat is not too far removed from say, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). At any rate, there are a few interesting visuals to speak of, whether that involves a certain sequence with surprise or one that is more just odd to see with a glimpse at the townspeople. I just wish by the time it was over at 89 minutes that it had a bit more to its ending beyond what you get, which might as well be the equivalent of wondering if you pressed pause on the remote. As a whole, Let's Scare Jessica to Death is a low-key type of horror movie that may or may not find ways to unnerve you based on how you approach a movie that plays its tension to a string of unnerving casualness that may be fit for your timing.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

*You also might remember he was the one who supervised the ADR sessions for Wolfen (1981).

The Hired Hand.

Review #2414: The Hired Hand.

Cast: 

Peter Fonda (Harry Collings), Warren Oates (Arch Harris), Verna Bloom (Hannah Collings), Robert Pratt (Dan Griffen), Severn Darden (McVey), Rita Rogers (Mexican Woman), Ann Doran (Mrs. Sorenson), Ted Markland (Luke), Owen Orr (Mace), Al Hopson (Bartender), Megan Denver (Janey Collings), and Michael McClure (Plummer) Directed by Peter Fonda.

Review: 

“I’m sure they would have liked me to do another biker movie. But I wanted to try something different — something more like what my father might have done. I wanted to do a western, because it’s the genre where you can explore the mythologies of America. And, yeah, because of my own psychological links to the genre, because of the many my dad did. I felt I had to do this one because there were no clichés in this script, just western mythology.”

Hey, remember Easy Rider (1969)? That was the movie where Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda worked together on the counterculture movie-oh, sorry, was having a bit of deja vu. But hey, this movie is a directing debut, believe it or not. Fonda had directed exactly zero other things before this movie, no industrial stuff, no TV stuff. Universal gave money to Hopper and Fonda and plenty of privilege to make something for them that presumably would make oodles of money: Hopper went to Peru and Fonda went to New Mexico (okay he filmed a cameo for The Last Movie) and ended up making movies that, well, didn't exactly please the studio. Fonda was interested in the script, as written by Alan Sharp, a Scottish novelist that had gone from TV to film with The Last Run (1971). As it turned out, Sharp would be behind a handful of scripts of varying quality ranging from Night Moves (1975) to The Osterman Weekend (1983) to Rob Roy (1995). Fonda stated in later years that while he expected Easy Rider to make money, he didn't think about the idea of being an icon, and it was with The Hired Hand he wanted to "break that mold" (apparently, one instance of filming was briefly interrupted by a drive-in theater that nearby was playing, well, Easy Rider). At any rate, The Hired Hand was only shown for a few weeks in first-run engagement and Fonda contended that Universal wasn't behind the movie in general.* Apparently, the studio was going to do a billboard promoting the movie with Fonda in a cowboy hat and a billing of "That Easy Rider Rides Again!" that Fonda explicitly (read: preparing to blow it up) told them to take it down. Fonda directed just two more movies in his lifetime: The Idaho Transfer (1975) and Wanda Nevada (1979). The movie did live on in the drive-in circuit for a number of years and even being edited for TV (twenty minutes were actually put back in the movie, featuring Larry Hagman as a sheriff) before a DVD restoration happened in the 2000s, and the movie has a handful of admirers that include Martin Scorsese. Apparently, Fonda showed the movie to his father Henry late in his life, whereupon he stated, "Now, that’s my kind of western."

Admittedly, you can see where Universal probably wasn't big on the movie by the fact that it is a movie firmly about trying to settle oneself in the frontier rather than a slap-bang adventure. Anything that dwells on someone trying to move on from the dusty trail (and finding a reality that probably is a bit feminist, at least in some arguments) rather than duels in the desert has to sound like an art film to those without some sort of patience for a film that just soothes the soul of those who look (and hear) closer. Oh sure, the movie does feature a bit of action throughout its 93-minute runtime, but you will dwell more on the fact that some people really can't just go home again more than anything. The young (as seen in the opening sequence) might not understand what it means to rest, but the weary know all too well about knowing about the grass and how green it seems on the other side. It is funny to see a movie with three distinct presences that grace the screen with varying levels of sensitivity that you sometimes don't even see with experienced directors. Fonda and his understated nature come clear in a yearning that is striking when compared to what one sees with Oates and his natural instincts that does in fact also know what it means to care about certain folks and their feelings. Bloom has her own distinct interests that do not revolve around just letting old wounds go by the wayside. This is made clear in a sequence where she in fact says, yes, she had plenty of time to plow her field when her husband was away. A good chunk of the movie is driven by the very fact that the touch of a person like Bloom sounds more captivating than being on the road any longer but also that one has to earn one's trust and so on and so forth, since it all deals with responsibility in love and friendship. Granted, it isn't a movie to see a terrifying threat (Darden spends a chunk of it crippled, as one does when one's feet have bullets in them), but the resulting clash at the end probably makes for it quite well. The music was composed by Bruce Langhorne, the folk musician who apparently was the inspiration for the Bob Dylan song "Mr. Tambourine Man". Langhorne* did music here with the sitar, fiddle, and banjo and went on to do a handful more movies (ranging from the aforementioned Idaho movie to Melvin and Howard [1980]). Much like the landscape, it sure is a hell of a thing to experience. As a whole. what we have here is a sobering look on responsibility in the frontier for a "far out Western" that might be just up your alley for those looking for a sobering type of movie.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

*I like this one quote by Fonda: “They had no intention, I think, of getting behind it. They hated me and Hopper, but mostly me and Bert Schneider. Yeah, they thought we were trying to overthrow the system. I mean, how egotistical. Overthrow the government, yeah. But Hollywood? Jesus, no…”

*Langhorne, I should point out, did his music without the use of two (and a half) fingers, as he had suffered an accident as a youth. 

The Last Movie.

Review #2413: The Last Movie.

Cast: 

Dennis Hopper (Kansas), Stella Garcia (Maria), Don Gordon (Neville Robey), Julie Adams (Mrs. Anderson), Peter Fonda (The Young Sheriff), Sylvia Miles (The Script Clerk), Samuel Fuller (Sam), Dean Stockwell (Billy the Kid), Russ Tamblyn (Charlie Bowdre), Tomas Milian (The Priest), Toni Basil (Rose), Severn Darden (The Mayor), Roy Engel (Harry Anderson), Henry Jaglom (The Minister's Son), Warren Finnerty (The Banker), Michelle Phillips (The Banker's Daughter), Kris Kristofferson (The Minstrel Wrangler), Michael Anderson Jr (The Mayor's Son), and Rod Cameron (Pat Garrett) Directed by Dennis Hopper (#1430 - Easy Rider).

Review: 

“I'm trying to say our lives are fragmented. That some people care and some people don't care and some don't know how to care."

Hey, remember Easy Rider (1969)? That was the movie where Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda worked together on the counterculture movie to end all counterculture movies. The veracity of who wrote what with that movie (as also worked on by Terry Southern) is debatable, but what you saw with that movie was one directed by Hopper and starring him and Fonda that, well, yes, it was a hit. Hopper and Fonda would go into their own paths after the success of the movie because studios thought that they could replicate movies like that (cheap and "cool") for themselves. Paradoxically, the idea for what became The Last Movie came a number of years prior to Easy Rider, as Hopper, in the midst of finishing The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), came up with an idea during the wrap party under the influence of what else but pot that saw him come up with an idea about "making movies and the effect it has on people, and what they do when a movie company leaves town." Enter Stewart Stern. Hopper enlisted the services of the screenwriter (having done such scripts as Rebel Without a Cause [1955]), with each partaking in certain practices (namely blowing smoke down the snorkel of a scuba mask) that resulted in a script that would have a "far out" ending involving the culmination of a stuntman staying in a Latin American town and seeing the people react to a film company having shot a Western there. Long story short, the idea would go through several hands considered for producers and stars (Phil Spector was once thought to be involved as a producer alongside Jason Robards to star). The success of Easy Rider would make one think that the company led by Bert Schneider would back The Last Movie, but that was not to be. Instead, Universal Pictures dropped right in and even gave him final cut privileges as long as he did it on a tight budget. There are various roads that all seem to intersect with the making of the film, which started in Peru in 1970 and went through a road of drugs and other various substances behind the scenes (as captured in The American Dreamer, a documentary that followed Hopper around that at one point showed him carry a gun around), although the shoot itself was apparently not that chaotic. Funny thing about that script: Hopper basically junked it in favor of improvisation, not even bothering to shoot the ending (as noted by Stern, because Hopper asked him to come to New Mexico when he was editing it down). It eventually culminated in a disjointed print in 1971 (apparently, Alejandro Jodorowsky, director of films such as El Topo, had a hand in the editing process). The end result, after such strange sorrow, was a movie that barely made it into theaters and was essentially dropped by Universal with the energy of a wayward child being dumped onto a military school. Hopper (who took the movie on lecture tours as late as 1978) did not direct another movie until Out of the Blue (1980). The movie was not available on DVD for many years and a restoration of the movie only happened in 2018.*

Universal apparently had the belief that if you gave a couple of young directors a budget of $1 million, you would get something worthwhile. The result was the following: Douglas Trumbull made Silent Running, Monte Hellman made Two-Lane Blacktop, George Lucas made American Graffiti, Peter Fonda's The Hired Hand and the aforementioned Last Movie as made by Hopper. Honestly, the only way to view the movie is to just see it. You can't really get a great description of the movie that isn't just describing things that happen (such as "scene missing" or credits that pop up out of the blue). It wasn't exactly a critic favorite (Roger Ebert called it a "wasteland of cinematic wreckage"). It isn't even a movie you could watch for the acting, unless you want to see people improvise on the level just above dinner theater or to see the weird wacky weary world of one Dennis Hopper. It probably won't do many favors to those who thought Zabriskie Point (1970) was obtuse to watch. But it is quite the trip for 108 minutes to realize that reality and ritual can in fact collide for what you might call a new type of heaven or hell. One probably fades in and out about the same level as this movie does, complete with having an uncertain road close right from under one's skin. The whole movie could be called as one that gets under your skin: arrogant, free-wheeling, beautiful to look at (as shot by the famed László Kovács), rambling, pick any adjective you want. But there is something about it that is hard to resist when it comes to just calling it a mess. Hopper is a fascinating presence to be around even in the moments that might resemble a drifter on a stormy night. You'll see people come and go (yes, the director Samuel Fuller appears at one point alongside the film debut of the immeasurable Kristofferson) and that I suppose is just how it feels in our own lives to have people love and betray us in where they come and go (a chunk of this might sound like syrupy hokum, but life is bullshit enough before one goes around not saying what they think, don't you think?). Real or imagined, we live the life we make for ourselves and sometimes that can be a slice of heaven or a piece straight from hell. We see violence on TV and film and sometimes we just believe that it is something to slip by us with no muddling into our own lives but it does fester in us because that is just how things are as one of the supposed creatures of a certain power. It is a bit funny to see Universal foot the bill for such a weird movie. In truth, it took me a while to ponder what the hell I watched with this movie and the end result is that I found it to be a curious movie that exists in the realm of near-unrankability: you either will like it or you won't like it, but at least Hopper made something he could be proud of cultivating.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

*By sheer coincidence, that was the same year that The Other Side of the Wind (the movie where Hopper appeared in that was shot in the 1970s) came out.

Woman of Fire.

Review #2076: Woman of Fire.

Cast: 

Namkoong Won (Dong-shik), Youn Yuh-jung (Myeong-ja), Jeon Gye-hyeon (Jeong-suk), and Choi Mu-ryong (Detective Jo) Written and Directed by Kim Ki-young (#1596 - The Housemaid)

Review: 

"A carpenter builds homes relying on his talent and insight. A carpenter who is talented in handling wood builds a wooden house; one who’s good with bricks builds a brick house. It’s the same with me. Starting with ‘The Housemaid,’ and going through ‘Woman of Fire’ and ‘Insect Woman,’ the films that saw success were those about demon-like femme fatales who, for their own reasonings, destroy domestic peace. What is success? People flock to theaters because the films are well-made. So my calculation is that I’m proficient in this kind of genre."

I'm sure that those familiar enough with world cinema remember The Housemaid (1960), often called one of the best films made in the 20th century in the country of South Korea. Kim Ki-young directed/wrote/produced the film, but did you know that he returned to the subject matter? Let alone twice? Well, let's start with the basics, the original film involved a family that suffers upheaval with the arrival of a new lady (a femme fatale, if you will) into their domain that has a mutual pact for its climax after attempts to rid the woman's illicit child (miscarriage in the original, abortion in the remakes) prove fruitful. The wraparound aspect of the story is the one big change for this film (well, that, and being in color), which plays around with time for its depiction of the story, where the older film started on a discussion of a newspaper story involving a man falling in love with his maid and this film starting out in a police station with a dead husband and a dead woman. Eleven years after the release of this film (which is also referred to as Hwanyeo), he would direct Woman of Fire '82. It has been argued (and cited by Kim himself in the quote mentioned above) that Insect Woman (1972) touched upon similar themes with the aforementioned Housemaid, and it perhaps seems apt that it had its own similar feature with Beasts of Prey (1985). At any rate, by the time of his untimely death, he was a cult figure among filmgoers that saw a detailing of just who he was a filmmaker with what survived from his output and the directors that took influence from what they saw into their own films; Youn Yuh-jung, who made her debut in this film, cited Kim when accepting an Academy Award in 2021 as a "very genius director". The fact that his 1960 film was remade again in 2010 probably speaks truth to his enduring status more than anything.

This was released in the 1970s, which was actually a troubling time for the film industry in South Korea due to censorship pushes under the military regime that went for censorship and propaganda. It probably won't rank as being better than the original feature for those who find themselves trying to compare, but the fact that it is a lurid way to remake a film without retaining every little aspect probably makes it more of an achievement than what is on the surface. One has to let the film sift on its own without thinking of it as going from points A to B all the time, because it is more dedicated to showing unease in all of the ways that matter in desire. The dark and shadowy angles in the noir-like features of the original film are still fairly present in the colorful look of the manic and depraved feature displayed here that is never starved in hysteria. Namkoong serves as an ideal lead when it comes to being the one male among the disposables that are seen among the certain level of middle-class people that only like to get certain parts of their hands dirty, and this includes the hands that are restless towards pants. Youn is naturally the best part of the film as, well, the title character involving fiery womanhood that is always watchable in part because it isn't merely a film with clear-cut heroes, since that pool is muddled by all the dark desires shown by each of the key three (incidentally, each of them would appear in Insect Woman), as to see coming from people that must live with the memory of what they did and saw in Jeon. As a whole, the 100-minute runtime does prove satisfying in showing why Kim felt the need to look upon the world of domestic invasion through the lens of women from time to time, and it shows the need for understanding just what matters most in treading familiar ground without becoming just another ground to step over. Enjoying the lurid show and looking upon its tricks is what matters most here, which works out pretty well in the long run.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Next up: A normal time in Belgium with Man Bites Dog.

Duel.

Review #2000: Duel.

Cast: 

Dennis Weaver (David Mann), with Jacqueline Scott (Mrs. Mann), Carey Loftin (Truck Driver), Eddie Firestone (Café Owner), Lou Frizzell (Bus Driverdagger), Eugene Dynarski (Man in Café), Lucille Benson (Lady at Snakerama), Tim Herbert (Gas Station Attendant), and Charles Seel (Old Man) 

Directed by Steven Spielberg (#126 - Close Encounters of the Third Kind, #168 - Raiders of the Lost Ark, #169 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, #170 - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, #302 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, #351 - Schindler's List, #480 - Jaws, #563 - The Sugarland Express, #573 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, #642 - Jurassic Park, #958 - Always, #1068 - Ready Player One, #1305 - Catch Me If You Can, #1478 - The Color Purple, #1520 - Saving Private Ryan, and #1528 - A.I. Artificial Intelligence, #1560 - The Adventures of Tintin, #1843 -  The Lost World: Jurrassic Park)

Review: 

"I mean, I believe that stuff. I don't think you can be a filmmaker, a serious filmmaker making audience popcorn movies unless you believe the stories you're telling."

In roughly 2,000 movies seen over the past twelve years or so, the one constant presence among the 133 directors with at least four films spotlighted is Steven Spielberg. One always has to remember that Spielberg got his start as a director from a very young age. The Cincinnati native made his first film with Firelight (1964) at the age of 17. Of course, his most prominent work in the early era came with Amblin' (1968), a short film that was so successful that he was signed to a deal with Universal Studios because an executive in Sid Sheinberg liked it that much. Of course, he had an ambition to want to direct films, but he found that he really had to get work within television first before someone would want him to direct films. As such, he would direct episodes for six television shows alongside three television films. You might recognize him as a director on two firsts: the second segment of the pilot for Night Gallery ("Eyes") and the director of the first regular episode of Columbo ("Murder by the Book") in September of 1971. Duel was his first true television film, airing on November 13, 1971 (weeks before Spielberg turned 25).

The film was written by Richard Matheson, who adapted his own short story that originally had been published in the April 1971 edition of Playboy magazine (after failing to get it done on television or as a film with executives), with inspiration taken from a real-life incident where he was tailgated by a trucker on November 22, 1963; the story was written after he took a trip from home to Ventura to record what he saw. Matheson, as one might know, was a noted writer of fiction, film, and television, whether that involved The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) or episodes of the original The Twilight Zone. Spielberg's secretary Nona Tyson read the story and suggested it to Spielberg to try and lobby to make due to the plans already being set in motion by Universal. Spielberg showed a rough cut of his Columbo episode to help make a good impression to studio executives, which worked with the caveat of having just ten days to film. With a completion of 13 days with the use of five editors to make a Universal Television product ready for ABC's Movie of the Week, the film just made it to the finish line, helped by Spielberg and his skill in plotting out every camera shot he needed with an overhead map he commissioned that he had done of the area in California that would be for shooting (as opposed to doing it in a soundstage). Upon hearing the good ratings of the film (remember, this was 1971), Universal decided to give it a theatrical release, primarily in Europe and Australia (there apparently was a limited release in the United States, in 1983). When it came for a theatrical release, several scenes were shot later to make a 74-minute film into 90, which consists of: a scene involving a railroad crossing, one involving the lead dealing with a school bus and its driver, a scene on the phone with a character (Scott) in their only scene of the film, and an opening with a car backing out of a garage before it hits the open road (the TV one just shows it on the road already). Spielberg would make his formal debut in features with The Sugarland Express in 1974, and the rest is history.

The best films are the ones that adhere to their premises that you can tie down in a certain amount of sentences without having to strain in why it seems so interesting. This is especially apparent when you think about a movie about a man being terrorized on the road by a man in a truck whose face you never see. It really is a miracle movie, if you think about it. Can you imagine shooting a film like this in twelve days for television and then go on to find that it would be one that created demand for a theatrical release but also manage to be talked about after a half-century? Network Movie of the Weeks may be a thing of the past when it comes to must-see TV for most people, but one thing that has never gotten out of style is the thrill of a wonderful chase, and Spielberg excels handily here in a film that seems to lay all the stops for how he would make an even more captivating thriller of man and things around him with Jaws (1975). Both feature a creature that simply cannot be negotiated with and only lives to destroy anything vulnerable enough to its reach and both even feature the same rattle of sound. You haven't lived until you see a Peterbilt gasoline tanker truck look menacing in all of its dark brown glory. Believe it or not, Weaver was not the first choice. Gregory Peck, David Janssen, and Dustin Hoffman each were approached and turned down the role (Peck was approached with the idea as a theatrical film and not as a TV production), which opened the door for Weaver. He was perhaps best known for his roles as the secondary lead on Gunsmoke (1955-1964) and as the title lead in the 1970s police drama McCloud. Actually, it was his supporting role in Touch of Evil (1958) as a twitchy motel man that Spielberg found most interesting in intensity when it came to backing Weaver for the role. As such, he is allowed to roam at his own vulnerable pace, which either sees him look over his shoulder or try to compose himself with select dialogue. It isn't anything transcendent, but it is the kind of acting challenge that one in theory would love to have, since it involves someone trying their hardest to not turn the role into one that bounces off the wall in fear and instead find a clear balance. Spielberg excels when it comes to the visual storytelling that comes through in his shots that he wanted to make sure were not just comprised as close-ups with little to express, especially for a film that has to find tricks to make the speed of the car look as fast it seems to be going on screen while having multiple cameras running. This proves especially rewarding in the final sequence of man versus truck that sees one arrive at their final destination with glorious capturing by the cameras to make a worthy ending (thankfully, due to executive help, ABC's request to have an explosion at the end was not put in). As a whole, Duel is an achievement of worthwhile creativity for its filmmaker to make a simple premise into one of great tension that Alfred Hitchcock surely would have been proud of with a resourceful sense of timing and staging and one quality performance to make a highly memorable strike that makes a great first step into further curiosity. It takes it time in the best of ways that any young filmmaker would want to aspire for in their ambitions in satisfying the need to serve as a visual storyteller and entertain their audience with a solid foundation of craftsmanship for filmmaking.

Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.

And so here we are at last. It took 2,495 days from the very first review to get to #1000 on October 19, 2017. 2,009 days later, a new collection of 1,000 reviews is here, no doubt aided by the fact that I have managed to write at least ten reviews for a month in all but six months that have followed October 2017 (to say nothing of 2020, a massive undertaking in a strange year). I think they outrank the original 1,000 by a significant margin, and that counts even with the revised reviews (such as #1). 

I hope the last five years have seen interesting films be featured with a useful perspective, whether that involved trying to make theme months out of January or August, or with spotlighting black history in film with February or women history with March or with the march of horror films in October and November. With any luck, I hope the next 1,000 is just as worthy of curiosity for readers out there. Onward.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.

Review #1970: Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.

Cast: 

Melvin Van Peebles (Sweetback), Hubert Scales (Mu-Mu), Simon Chuckster ("Beetle"), John Dullaghan (Commissioner), with West Gale, Niva Rochelle, Rhetta Hughes (Old Girl Friend), Nick Ferrari, Ed Rue, and John Amos (Biker) Written and Directed by Melvin Van Peebles.

Review: 

“I made the picture because I was tired of taking the Man's crap and of having him define who we were to us. Sick and tired of watching the parade of jigaboos, valets and tap-dancing cooks on the big screen, I felt we had the right to define who we were ourselves. I am most proud of the fact that I decided to do something about it.”

Well, what can you expect from a movie that was written, co-produced, scored, edited, directed by one man in Melvin Van Peebles? The Chicago native studied in literature at Ohio Wesleyan University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in the mid 1950s. He served in the United States Air Force almost immediately after graduation, doing so for three years serving as a navigator and bombardier in the Strategic Air Command. Afterwards, he moved to San Francisco and worked as a cable car gripman, where a passenger suggested for him to be a filmmaker (he also wrote during this time). His short films didn't attract Hollywood, but it did attract French favor, and he spent a variety of years there writing before his first feature film came with The Story of a Three-Day Pass (1968), the story of an African American soldier stationed in France in an interracial relationship. The success of the film (made in France with French and English dialogue) inspired curiosity from Columbia Pictures, who hired him to direct a film for them with a script by Herman Raucher (the studio wanted to do the film, but only with a black director). Van Peebles did not enjoy the experience of what became Watermelon Man (1970) too much, considering that he wished to change the script from a satire of white liberal America to a black power movie. The movie was a hit, and Columbia offered Van Peebles a contract for three films. Van Peebles chose to do this film instead. A free spirit, Van Peebles directed seven films (one for television and one that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival before getting a video release) from 1968 to 2008; he also spent his time with work in the theater and trading on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. Van Peebles died at the age of 89 in 2021; his son Mario became an actor and director himself, and he made a film depicting the struggle of making Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song with the 2003 biodrama Baadasssss! Incidentally, Mario had played a younger version of the title character in the 1971 film and then he starred as his father in this film.

Technically, this is the first "blaxploitation" film, because it came out a few months before the release of Shaft. Both films ended up with their own type of cultural impact, with this film being cited as "required viewing" for members of the Black Panther Party (as decreed by its founder Huey Newton). The musical group Earth, Wind, and Fire was behind the music of this film, as composed by Van Peebles, who released the soundtrack months before the film to attract attention. I can't really call it the father of that genre, because Cotton Comes to Harlem was released a year before it, and Sweetback probably shares more similarities to Billy Jack (released the same year as this and self-distributed by its title star to roaring success) more than the other big 1971 hit Shaft, in that I feel it is more of an offbeat fable of what Van Peebles envisions empowerment to be. Think about it: both Billy Jack and Sweetback involve a lead character who speaks lightly, both involve characters spurred to action by seeing someone get assaulted (whether hippies or activists), both movies involve a family member being cast for things usually not done in movies (one had their wife play a character that goes through a sexual assault, the other casted their son as a younger version of the title character being depicted as having their way with a prostitute), and both have a lead trying to get their way across an oppressive authority that leads to some sort of moral victory (i.e. "The Man" doesn't kill them). A series of vignettes is either a series of loose connections with varying levels of filmmaking success or a series of vignettes that make a jumbled mess: it is up to the viewer to decide what the hell they are watching. It is a fragmented, odd, and incendiary movie that you have to figure out what edges work out best for 97 minutes. It is a movie where a man got gonorrhea from doing a sex scene and used it as a way to get compensation from the Directors Guild for being "hurt on the job" before needing a personal loan from a once-famous comedian to keep the movie rolling, which was shot in under three weeks. The camerawork is a mixture of hand-held shots, montages, split-screen effects that all goes for a film "dedicated to all the Brothers and Sisters who had enough of the Man". The most striking scene is probably the one that gets things started in loose plotting: our passive lead not being able to take it anymore when he sees (white) cops taking an activist out of the car to beat. Well, that or the scene where he argues for the activist to be taken by motorcycle rather than him because of the importance of the activist for the future. The cops taking things out on a random black man sleeping with a white woman regardless of how much he looks like Sweetback is also another striking scene whether for 1971 or 2023.

So yes, the movie is a success in terms of delivering perspective that isn't numbingly hypocritical, but that doesn't mean I have to call it a great classic. The Spook Who Sat by the Door, released three years later, crafted a far more interesting story of taking back the system in perspective (which incidentally was a movie suppressed by the studio behind it), but I digress. Granted, the criticisms of the film lie similar to ones made at films labeled part of the "blaxploitation" genre when it comes to presenting African Americans in stereotypes. But you know, there is one thing to mention when it comes to film and giving it a spotlight: if it is consistent enough for me, it is a winner all the way. The only one who should judge a film for themselves when it comes to spreading "ideas" is the viewer, not others trying to allege a moral high ground in authority (incidentally, this argument for worthwhile action films works just as well for horror films, since I guess ratings boards and family groups love to pair up). With that in mind, Melvin Van Peebles made a picaresque film that might as well pass for fable in the best way possible for what it means to him to be a Black man in America, one that doesn't stand passively when someone gets shelled, and one that finds the importance of not letting anything stand in the way of who they are. Whether thought of as a revolutionary classic or not, the world was left a better place with films such as this rather than left out in the cold. It might grow on you the more you watch it, but the impact is still there to talk about when it comes to Black cinema.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Next Time: Trouble Man (1972).

The Big Boss (1971).

Review #1873: The Big Boss.

Cast: 

Bruce Lee (Cheng Chao-an), Maria Yi (Chow Mei), James Tien (Hsu Chien), Marilyn Bautista (Miss Wuman), Han Ying-chieh (Hsiao Mi), Tony Liu (Hsaio Chiun), Lee Kwan (Ah Kun), Nora Miao (Drinkstand Owner), Shan Chin (Hua Sze), and Rhoma Irama (Xin Chang) Directed by Lo Wei and Wu Chia Hsiang.

Review: 

Bruce Lee was the man. It is hard to believe that it has almost been forty years since his sudden death at the age of 32, days before his biggest triumph. Lee was born in San Francisco to the son of a Cantonese opera star, who was travelling abroad because of his concert tour that took him away from Hong Kong. It was his father that showed him the power of film, since he appeared in a number of films as a child, even co-starring with his father in The Kid (1950). He trained under the famous instructor Yip Man in martial arts along with tai chi and boxing before his dabbling in street fights led to his parents suggesting he move to the United States. He completed his high school education in Seattle while becoming a teacher of martial arts, which he would do rather than continue his studies at the University of Washington (where he had studied drama), with his exhibition at a 1964 tournament in Long Beach being particularly noteworthy. His first key role in American media was as Kato in the TV series The Green Hornet, which ran from 1966 to 1967 as a showcase of his martial art skills that ultimately got him a handful of small parts over the next couple of years (such as karate advisor on The Wrecking Crew in 1969). When Lee struggled to get any of his ideas onto Hollywood, he decided to follow a suggestion to try his luck in the Hong Kong industry. Fortunately, his efforts in The Green Hornet had made the show quite popular. As such, he first received an offer from Shaw Brothers, but he decided to take the offer from Raymond Chow and his new company Golden Harvest, complete with filming in Thailand. The script was developed by Ni Kuang, a novelist behind over 300 film screenplays, but when Lo Wei stepped into the director's chair (after Wu Chia Hsiang was taken out after a few days), he re-wrote the script and thus got credit in the final print. Lo Wei directed over sixty movies (doing so until 1979) as a director with countless others written and produced, having shifted to directing after being an actor in his younger years of Hong Kong during the 1950s. The release of the movie proved better than anyone expected, as it set the box office record upon release in Hong Kong. Five months later, Lee and Lo returned for Fist of Fury, which was even more popular. Strangely enough, when it came to dubbing in America, the movie was retitled Fists of Fury while Fist of Fury was called The Chinese Connection - it also saw its final death scene trimmed to get an R rating, serving as one of the many edits made both in Hong Kong and America over the years. Five months later, Lee and Lo returned for Fist of Fury (1972), which was even more popular. Lee would star in one more Hong Kong film with The Way of the Dragon (1972) before his biggest hit would come with Enter the Dragon (1973), released days after his death as the first kung fu film by a major American studio (his work on the incomplete Game of Death, which he shot only the climax for, would be finished with stand-ins by Robert Clouse in 1978).

Strangely enough, when it came to dubbing in America, the movie was retitled Fists of Fury while Fist of Fury was called" The Chinese Connection" (to add onto the fun, Lo Wei would direct New Fist of Fury in 1976, and there were also two sequels to the original Fist of Fury that had Bruce Li as the star - but Bruceploitation is another story). The Big Boss also saw its final death scene trimmed to get an R rating, serving as one of the many edits made both in Hong Kong and America over the years (such as trimming fights); you can tell there are considerable cuts and changes made in and during production with how Tien is the first one to be shown fighting in the film, and he basically is one of the main folks followed for a good chunk of the first third of the film more so than Lee (Tien was an established presence in the film industry, of course). There are also numerous music scores, one of which that includes music cues from numerous films and music groups such as Pink Floyd (specifically, "Time", and yes, it was as weird to hear it in real time as it is to write about it). Told in a mix of Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai for 100 minutes, the movie is pretty decent for all of its brief ambitions of telling a semisolid story to setup its martial arts sequences, ones that don't see much of Lee...until nearly halfway through. When it does drop the pretenses and gets to business, it does prove quite enjoyable for the pleasure of seeing him charm the screen. Of course, the production was a tough one for him, with ankle sprains and miserable shooting conditions to go along with hesitancy at the suggestions done by Lo Wei (such as having a man be punched through a wooden wall and leaving an outline in the wood). Lo Wei seems to have known how to give the audience what they want in an action film: a charming lead who doesn't have to say too much with a quiet plot that can fall into the background for jumping and kicking without falling into outright parody. You have folks fighting with tools or in places that look like country clubs while outmanned (while drugs are hidden...in ice), how can you go wrong? Lee handles the path of eventual revenge with the timing that comes straight of an old-fashioned Western to go with his graceful fists of fury that makes him the most interesting presence in the whole film. Tien, before he gets killed off not even midway through the film, is at the very least someone who can help carry some of the building blocks for what would've probably been an "okay" movie if Lee wasn't there at all. Yi and the others and all okay in stock characterizations, but one is really here to see Lee kick a villain, so seeing Lee against Han proves quite serviceable for the climax. As a look upon maintaining the spirit of oneself in spite of temptation with a bunch of kicks and jumps, The Big Boss is a solid winner, one boosted by the lightning charisma of its main star that will prove just fine for anyone looking for some quality entertainment from across the world.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.