Cleopatra Jones.

Review #2511: Cleopatra Jones.

Cast: 

Tamara Dobson (Cleopatra Jones), Bernie Casey (Reuben Masters), Shelley Winters (Mommy), Brenda Sykes (Tiffany), Antonio Fargas ("Doodlebug" Simpkins), Bill McKinney (Officer Purdy), Dan Frazer (Captain Crawford), Stafford Morgan (Sergeant Kert), Mike Warren (Miller Anderson), Albert Popwell (Matthew Johnson), Caro Kenyatta (Melvin Johnson), and Esther Rolle (Mrs. Johnson) Directed by Jack Starrett.

Review: 

Okay, I guess I should have heard of this movie earlier with a title like that. But maybe it is apt to get around to a movie made for Warner Bros. that wanted to cash in on the blaxploitation craze that came around with movies such as Shaft (or, if one wants to go with the one that came out a bit earlier, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song [1971]....or earlier with Cotton Comes to Harlem [1970]). Max Julien wrote the story (he originally wanted to a spy movie for Columbia Pictures) and co-wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Keller while also producing the film with William Tennent. At the helm as director was Jack Starrett, the sometimes actor/sometimes director behind such movies as Run, Angel, Run! (1969) and Slaughter (1972). Apparently, Julien envisioned his long-term girlfriend Vonetta McGee for the role, but the considerable casting call from Warner Bros. led to the eventual pick of former 6'2 model Tamara Dobson. The Baltimore native actually started out as a beautician in her studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art prior to being discovered, as, well, a 6'2 person who could model that later saw her involved in commercials. Rated PG, Cleopatra Jones was a decent hit with audiences and inspired a sequel with Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold in 1975. Sadly, those were Dobson's only starring roles, with her other film appearances (Norman... Is That You? [1976], Chained Heat [1983]) being supporting roles before she eventually became a commercial property owner; she died in 2006 at the age of 59.*

With big hat brims and big fur robes (apparently, the fashion was done by Giorgio di Sant' Angelo) and choices that might as well have come from someone wanting to do a James Bond movie (right down to having a climax in a junkyard), how could you not like this movie? Hell, the Corvette Stingray is modified so our leading lady's hair is not impeded to go along with a "CLEO" license plate and karate chopping people. Not bad for a "Special Agent to the President" that had to deal with all of this mainly because she got a poppy field to be destroyed via airstrike (in the intro to the film), I suppose. You know, it may not be a great movie, but I love stuff like this every now and then: a movie that just cuts loose and throws any damn thing to the screen with commitment of entertainment that shows the best of both worlds in terms of "the times" (namely in ass-kicking in the name of community). Admittedly, Dobson is more interesting for the stuff around her/action set pieces than her acting, which is pretty green. The community part is more important anyway when you've got some charm displayed by the support around her, mostly in the sheer ridiculous nature that comes with Winters, who not only has big hair (hey, wigs were cool) but also has an interesting gender balance of male henchmen and, uh, female servants. At least when one goes for hammy (hey, Winters had two Academy Awards already, you can do anything), you get some entertainment value (PG rating or not, you still get scenes featuring people being shot or thrown to their deaths). Casey makes a solidly sensible pairing for the small time you get to see him with Dobson. You get some adequate slice of life from folks such as Fargas or the Popwell/Kenyatta connection or the varying levels of "how funky is this white cop?*" from others for a movie that doesn't strain in hokum for its 89-minute runtime, which is more than can be said for lesser action films. It might not hit all of its marks, but it will do just fine winning converts on a late-night watch around the bend.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Song of the day

*Interestingly, Dobson believed that the character of Jones was not so much a "women's libber" but instead saw her as a "very positive, strong lady who knows what she has to do" (in this case defending the neighborhood from drug pushers)

*No joke, the movie ends right as the police captain mildly raises his fist to say "right on!" 

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Review #2349: I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Cast: 

Keenen Ivory Wayans (Jack Spade), Bernie Casey (John Slade), Ja'net Dubois (Belle Brown-Spade), Isaac Hayes ("Hammer"), Jim Brown ("Slammer"), Antonio Fargas (Flyguy), Steve James (Joe "Kung Fu Joe"), John Vernon ("Mr. Big"), Dawnn Lewis (Cheryl Spade), Kadeem Hardison (Willie), Damon Wayans (Leonard), Kim Wayans (Nightclub Singer), Nadia Wayans (Bar Patron), Chris Rock (Rib Joint Customer), Anne-Marie Johnson ("Cherry"), and Eve Plumb (Kalinga's Wife) Written and Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Review: 

Nothing really stays out of style, particularly when it comes to silly movies making light of, well, "blaxploitation movies". This was the directorial debut of Keenen Wayans. The second of ten children that grew up in New York. He actually studied engineering on a scholarship at Tuskegee University but found that entertaining his friends at college made him more interested to pursue comedy and dropped out of school. He performed on the stage in both New York and Los Angeles; in collaboration with Robert Townsend, who had helped him learn about the comedy business, the two did Hollywood Shuffle (1987), each appearing in the film along with writing it. The resulting hit got Wayans money to make what became this film. Evidently, it was Eddie Murphy who came up with the original idea (including the title) that Wayans got permission to use for what became this film (which featured the film debuts of his brothers Marlon and Shawn) that eventually became a mild success with audiences. To put it mildly, this would be the first of a handful of movies involving the Wayans family, with several Wayans members being featured on television (In Living Color, most notably) and films, with Keenan directing five further movies, most notably doing the first two Scary Movie films.

 

Some movies are better at the hit-or-miss targeting than others, particularly one that starts with an introduction to "Any Ghetto, U.S.A." It plays with the stuff you would probably already know from previous movies of the decade before (why else cast faces as familiar as Brown?) to varying effect in how much one will chuckle at silly lines and sillier situations for the most evident of setups, whether that involves a certain music choice or an early scene seeing a character be swapped out for a white person when doing a stunt involving kicks. You get the pastiches and chuckle if you like thinking about the fact that people really did just think of the most absurd scenarios for inner city mayhem (I haven't had to see Super Fly [1972], but that apparently has a cocaine dealer who used karate, and the third Shaft movie sent the hero to Africa, just for example). Wayans at least is playing a wannabee hero (i.e. he plays a veteran...secretary) rather than just a bland hero to forget about, and he does relatively well in inspiring some chuckles. You've got your three familiar faces with Casey, Hayes, and Brown that each generate a chuckle in their general timing of just rolling with routine stuff, which mostly involves straight-faced play by Brown that probably works the best among the group, although Hayes comes pretty close with one scene opposite Rock about cheapskates in "oh, yes, that is damn funny". Vernon doesn't exactly have much to do for a role that requires sitting and gruff voicework, but since I happen to like Vernon and his workmanlike precision to hard-assery, I accept it. It might not exactly compare in actual sheer audacity seen in, say, Trouble Man (1972), but it'll still play anyway in throwing gags and people on just for the hell of it. In general, the 89-minute runtime has some silly charm and sillier execution that is funny in parts in rolling with familiar attitudes and just chuckling as if the one thing that matters is just rolling without worrying about stereotypes or whatever people claim to think about for certain comedies. Silly stuff really can just work for me if it at least seems committed to the hustle, basically. It proves an adequate little comedy you might find right up your alley in familiar smooth-talking chuckling vibes, so take that for what it is worth.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Another 48 Hrs.

Review #1728: Another 48 Hrs. 

Cast: 

Eddie Murphy (Reggie Hammond), Nick Nolte (Inspector Jack Cates), Brion James (Inspector Ben Kehoe), Kevin Tighe (Lieutenant Blake Wilson), Ed O'Ross (Inspector Frank Cruise), David Anthony Marshall (Willie Hickok), Andrew Divoff (Richard "Cherry" Ganz), Bernie Casey (Kirkland Smith), Brent Jennings (Tyrone Burroughs), Ted Markland (Malcolm Price), and Tisha Campbell (Amy Smith) Directed by Walter Hill (#1072 - 48 Hrs, #1091 - Last Man Standing, #1139 - Supernova, #1625 - The Long Riders)

Review: 

I'm sure you remember 48 Hrs (1982). That movie was the brainchild of one Lawrence Gordon, at least in the original idea, which somehow involved a kidnapped daughter of the Governor of Louisiana within a team-up of a mean cop and the cellmate of the kidnapper. Somehow, over the course of a decade, it evolved into what you saw on screen, with the result being that four writers were credited (Roger Spottiswoode, Walter Hill, Larry Gross, Steven E. de Souza) for a movie once described by Hill in pre-production as a "a shaggy dog story. Defiant Ones plus chuckles." While it wasn't exactly the first buddy cop movie ever made, it certainly was the one that helped to popularize the genre, and the credit for success can go to its main pair in Nolte and Murphy (making his film debut after years on Saturday Night Live), who certainly play off each other well enough in terms of tense interest that made a worthy action comedy. Despite fears from folks at Paramount Pictures to the viability of the movie (including threats that Hill would never work there again)...you already know it was a success, because who else would try to make a sequel eight years later? Well, it turns out it was Murphy who lit the match to do a sequel, as it was he (under the "name" of Fred Braughton) who wrote the initial story while later approaching Hill to do the sequel under the idea of wanting to get the spirit of the first one with "a lot of street energy and the hard edges of the original" (as quoted by Hill); it also might be a coincidence that he was near the end of his contract obligations with Paramount Pictures for films. John Fasano, Jeb Stuart, and Larry Gross were tasked with writing the screenplay. With a budget of $50 million, the movie made around three times its budget back at the box office, although it was felt to be a disappointment; Murphy and Paramount ended up not being happy with each other in regard to how each promoted the film.

Would you believe this film was a hack-job? Somehow, the original workprint was 145 minutes long, and even more strangely the original cut was 120 minutes long. Undeniably, that version might seem a bit long, but it also might seem a bit interesting...instead the film was cut again right before release to 95 minutes, apparently to make for a faster paced action comedy (Brion James was quoted as saying that most of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor). I do wonder what is more prevalent: sequels with the same star and director that end up just as good as the original or ones that prove to be a disappointment. This is one clearly on the latter side, one that hobbles all the way through in attempts at honing memories from what we saw the first time around without having the charm to back it up. Hill may be an interesting director, but this certainly is not his finest hour, unless one counts shooting a few decent action scenes a worthy distraction. Now, perhaps that is unfair, because it is the script that seems to have failed the movie most, one that is built on coincidences and clichés: outlaw bikers, guys going as "The Iceman", an Internal Affairs story that I'm sure you've heard before, and a sequence past the middle put there solely to explain what is going on. If one wanted to watch 48 Hrs again, they would simply do better just watching that movie instead of a sequel that just tries to coast on the fumes of before. Nolte and Murphy are fine here, but they seem privy to just going through the motions of what we saw from before, which involves grousing and charm under the idea of being loopier than before (of course, there's also a scene where one of them points out the clichés of a fight at a bar right before it happens, so...). The editing clearly has effected James, since one might not even remember he was in the last film too, and he only shows up from time to time before the clichés creep in; Marshall and Divoff have little to work with besides shooting and screaming, and it doesn't help matters if one has taken a guess as to who the real threat is early to go with Jennings seeming more interesting in a bemused state (i.e. one who wants to see a simple hitjob done right) with even less time. Tighe smirks through a thankless role, while Casey gets to grouse at Murphy and explain the plot at one point, so there's that. As a whole, one wonders why they even bothered to make this movie at all, since it seems more like an obligation rather than something done for fun and excitement. It is a very average movie that proves for disappointment for anyone looking for something fresh or interesting within the lines of a director and its lead stars that should know better. If one wants to see more of the same from what happened before with 48 Hrs, I guess this would work. Or, perhaps, one could just watch the first film instead. A decent duo and director do not, in the end, mean a good sequel.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored.

Review #1644: Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored.

Cast: 
Al Freeman Jr (Poppa), Phylicia Rashad (Ma Ponk), Leon (Uncle Melvin), Paula Kelly (Ma Pearl), Charles Earl Taylor Jr. (Cliff, age 5), Salli Richardson (Miss Alice), Anna Maria Horsford (Miss Annie), Bernie Casey (Mr. Walter), Isaac Hayes (Preacher Hurn), Willie Norwood Jr (Cliff, age 12), Karen Malina White (Mary), Damon Hines (Cliff, age 16), Taj Mahal (Mr. Will), Iona Morris (Nila Fontaine), Phill Lewis (Sammy / Narrator), Polly Bergen (Miss Maybry), and Richard Roundtree (Cleve) Produced and Directed by Tim Reid.

Review: 
People can make their name anywhere in the industry of entertainment, and they can certainly try to branch out to other fields when it means getting a story told to wider audiences. Virginia native Tim Reid had set up for wanting to get into show business despite having studied business and marketing at Norfolk State University. In 1968, he started working at DuPont in marketing, but it was also the year that he met a salesman in Tom Dreesen. At the same time, Reid worked the marketing job while also developing a comedy act with Dreesen, and the comedy act (named Tim & Tom) was the first biracial comedy duo. The duo struggled for five years on the nightclub act before breaking up, but Reid would eventually find a chance with television, with his first regular role coming in 1978 with WKRP in Cincinnati. Roles in shows such as Simon & Simon and Sister, Sister followed alongside developing his own production company and writing/directing for television. This was the first film that Reid would direct, and it was an adaptation of Clifton L. Taulbert's 1989 novel of the same name, which was his memoirs about his experiences growing up in the Mississippi Delta as a youth in the 1950s (Taulbert is known for his consultant work, and he would also cite his experiences for a book involving lessons learned from the "porch wisdom" of his community). This is to date the only mainstream film that Reid has directed, as his next two efforts with Asunder (1999) and For Real (2003) were mostly constrained to festival and video showings (as compared to this film, which had funding from Black Entertainment Television (BET).

What we have is a film for the small-town folks at heart in a time where kinship and community had to deal with prejudice and intolerance as a youth grows up to be shaped by what he sees and hears before having to make a choice for himself on what to do with that in mind. There is plenty to look at when it comes to its attempts at a period drama that involve dozens of speaking parts and episodic movement that goes with a warm attempt at reaching audience that certainly has a big heart to its craftsmanship. Whether that ends up working enough to justify its 115 minute run-time is up to the viewer, particularly if they are curious for a film that is looking for calm within tension in a small town that might seem right for a project on television or presented to an audience for educational purposes (when comparing it to fellow rural period piece in The Color Purple, this is more tame). For a first-time director, it is an okay effort, one that shows promise for what it shows in the margins in terms of warmth within a troubling time, but it seems a bit too loose near its end to make its lasting point (at least in narration) sing its high notes with clarity. In short, where one thinks the tense moments will arise for its climax seems to only seep in like a half-grown flower rather than one in full bloom, one with a few punches to land when it comes to clean-cut memory weaving. Admittedly, it is the story revolving around the townsfolk that may prove the more endearing more so than the trio of actors playing the youthful focus. Freeman, an actor near the end of a four decade career with focus on television (such as One Life to Live), reins interest in terms of dignified timing, one that is interesting to view with the young folks around him with something useful to say or to view, which is made clear in one sequence involving him teaching his youthful relative about adapting to the times in reading certain prejudicial signs (like how to spell colored) or a tense parade involving the Klan. Rashad (making her film debut after first breaking into acting through the stage) does just as well, warm but aware of the surroundings that makes one seem right at home with its sprinkle of coming-of-age trimmings. The three actors for Cliff do okay, mostly because one will eventually settle into its groove involving family life even with adversity (that, or find something that doesn't seem as much like a Hallmark greeting card) and a decent enough kid to grow into it. Honestly, it's the folks around him that would probably be more interesting to follow, such as a sometimes-used Casey or Hayes, or more specifically with the confident Roundtree. By the time it ends, you'll find yourself with a little bit of a smile, even if you would have hoped for something a bit more in its actual movements, where its episodic nature can only go so far for a film with a mix of seasoned cast and fresh faces to go with a director looking to tell a story to a bigger audience in his first effort. For better or worse, it's an okay time, light and charming in its small-town features to showcase its vision of the old days without being suffocated by itself.

Next Time: George Tillman Jr enters the stage with his biopic of the first African American master diver in the United States Navy with Men of Honor. 

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Never Say Never Again.

Review #595: Never Say Never Again.

Cast
Sean Connery (James Bond), Kim Basinger (Domino Petachi), Klaus Maria Brandauer (Maximillian Largo), Barbara Carrera (Fatima Blush), Bernie Casey (Felix Leiter), Max von Sydow (Ernst Stavro Blofeld), Edward Fox (M), Rowan Atkinson (Nigel Small-Fawcett), Gavan O'Herlihy (Jack Petachi), and Alec McCowen (Q) Directed by Irvin Kershner (#004 - RoboCop 2 and #114 - The Empire Strikes Back)

Review
Due to Kevin McClory's lawsuit over the rights of the novel Thunderball, he gained the filming rights of the novel, even after the movie was released, despite EON's attempts to stop it, and McClory would help produce a new version on the Thunderball story, with Lorenzo Semple, Jr (notable for developing the 1960's Batman TV show and Flash Gordon - #215) writing the screenplay. Connery was brought to play the role 12 years after he last played Bond in the spectacular disaster of a film Diamonds Are Forever (#280). The film was released 4 months after Octopussy (#360), the other Bond film from 1983. So which one is better? It's hard to discuss this movie. Of the six Bond films in the 1980's, this isn't the worst one, but it also isn't the best. Connery does good in his return to Bond, a little aged but a little more defined, and refined. The supporting cast isn't bad (though Atkinson is an exception), it's certainly better than Thunderball's cast, especially with Felix Leiter, who is more interesting to watch this time around. Basinger does well, she has at least some chemistry with Connery, and the dance scene is at least watchable. The villain is ever more interesting because he leaves an impression on you, though admittedly the scene where he plays against Bond in a video game is either an odd inclusion or just surprising, but then again the other Bond movie had Bond dress up as a clown, so pick your poison. The aquatic action isn't as annoying due to not there being as much of it, which is refreshing. The movie is actually pretty decent, not too bad, and it's a good way for Connery to have one last hurrah. There, I've reviewed all the Bond films, even the unofficial ones...for now.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Spies Like Us.

Review #513: Spies Like Us.

Cast
Chevy Chase (Emmett Fitz-Hume), Dan Aykroyd (Austin Millbarge), Steve Forrest (General Sline), Donna Dixon (Karen Boyer), Bruce Davison (Ruby), Bernie Casey (Colonel Rhombus), William Prince (Keyes), Tom Hatten (General Miegs), Frank Oz (Test Monitor), and Charles McKeown (Jerry Hadley) Directed by John Landis (#328 - Trading Places, #410 - Coming to America)

Review
Meant as a homage to the Road to... film series (that starred Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, who even makes a cameo), Chase and Aykroyd are paired up for the first time and they do okay, they certainly pair up well together, I suppose. The film around them...doesn't. It's a mediocre story with barely funny jokes that amount to a few laughs. Dixon does okay, and the rest of the cast is okay (Frank Oz being the more memorable for me even if he has only one scene), but the jokes are mediocre and why there are a few cameos along the way (Such as B. B. King, Ray Harryhausen and Terry Gilliam), the film still can't get past the mediocrity line, and it certainly pales in comparison to Trading Places or even Coming to America. The film is okay and while it may miss more then it hits, it at least tries, so I guess that makes sense.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.

Movie Night: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Review #021: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Cast
Keanu Reeves (Ted Logan), Alex Winter (Bill S. Preston Esq.), George Carlin (Rufus), Terry Camilleri (Napoleon Bonaparte), Dan Shor (Billy the Kid), Tony Steedman (Socrates), Rod Loomis (Sigmund Freud), Al Leong (Genghis Khan), Jane Wiedlin (Joan of Arc), Robert V. Barron (Abraham Lincoln), Clifford David (Ludwig van Beethoven), Hal Landon Jr. (Captain Jonathan "John" Logan), and Bernie Casey (Mr. Ryan) Directed by Stephen Herek.

Review
Although the film may seems like a cheap Back to the Future ripoff, it tries to have an orignal idea that makes it a little funny. The characters are decent, Now, the film has funny moments, and a plot that is decent and for anyone that like seeing weird things going on, and I'm glad I got this as a gift, and I'm sure you will too.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.