Mitchell.

Review #2383: Mitchell.

Cast: 

Joe Don Baker (Mitchell), Martin Balsam (James Arthur Cummings), John Saxon (Walter Deaney), Linda Evans (Greta), Merlin Olsen (Benton), Morgan Paull (Salvatore Mistretta), Harold J. Stone (Tony Gallano), Robert Phillips (Chief Albert Pallin), Buck Young (Det. Aldridge), Rayford Barnes (Det. Tyzack), and Jerry Hardin (Desk Sergeant) Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen (#1414 - McLintock!)

Review: 

Sure. You may notice a bit of familiarity with knowing the film was written by Ian Kennedy Martin. Well, okay, he created exactly one other notable thing with the TV series The Sweeney, but Martin actually is the brother of Troy Kennedy Martin, and it was Ian who came up with the original idea of a robbery film set near traffic that Troy liked enough to buy the rights to then make the screenplay that became The Italian Job (1969)*. The director was Andrew V. McLaglen, who you might remember as the director behind McLintock! (1963), but he made a wide variety of movies for hire, which mostly involved Westerns as is the case with Shenandoah (1965) and The Way West (1967) but also stuff like Fools' Parade (1971). McLagen actually directed into his seventies, closing with Eye of the Widow (1991) Apparently, the best version of the film came out on DVD (i.e. one that isn't just pan and scan) came out as late as 2013.

Honestly, the movie is funny to experience late at night. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a good movie, but if you watch the full version (so no, not the MST3K version that doesn't even bother to show the whole thing), you get a sense of a really, really, weird movie. Sure, on the level, it basically is a film that sounds destined for television on the level of say, Rockford Files Jr., but there is something really funny about the way the lead character is so abrasive to everything around him that you'll laugh at the idea the movie has a title sequence (where you get to see Baker with bulging eyes carrying an object that you will find out is a rock) and a song. One minute you see a hooker try to hook-up with our hero and later on he'll decide, no, the temptation is over and proceeds to bust her for weed. I especially like how the revenge the hooker gets is to simply write "BASTARD" on the windshield of his car (in the edit, it's just "JERK") - ooh, that'll show him. You could call him the Diet Dirty Harry, but really he might as well be the proto-Homer Simpson in folks who underestimate exactly what he is willing to do as a cop, but popping in and out of cars takes up a good chunk of the runtime before it eventually comes down to him being around in leading to the death of, say, seven bad guys. Mr. "Brute Force With a Badge" does shoot folks, don't get that twisted, he also gets chased around in a dune buggy sequence where the best way to get someone trapped in the buggy when they can't go up and just bash 'em with a rock a few times. He's also good enough with a dune buggy where the other guy can't even drive it right before it rolls over and just explodes. The acting, in comparison to the mayhem, is not exactly as exciting, but for a B-movie, it just, well, "is what it is". Baker is best remembered for Walking Tall (1973) and Charley Varrick (1973) more so than this movie and that is probably for the best, because this is a movie that does not suit him (the plaid suit in particular doesn't help). It almost sounds like the character is supposed to be a parody of the tough cop, at one point Baker tells a kid to go to hell after bickering with him. But alas, he just seems adrift when trying to be anything other than the formidable authority, because you can't help but chuckle. Sure, I like Saxon, and I suppose there is something to Balsam (yes, an Academy Award winner), but they are mostly going through the motions because you know it's only a matter of time (97 minutes) before the inevitable happens. This actually was the last film appearance by Olsen, the football player-turned-actor-turned-broadcaster/businessman, and it probably says something that he does more in the whole climax than Balsam does for probably the whole movie (seriously, the latter just stands there when the last fight happens, as if he was doing meditation). It's the kind of B-movie that you might find something to spot out there and chuckle at a movie at the strange qualities that come with cliches and old habits**. It isn't a big winner or big loser, but a palate cleanser with familiar names can't all be that bad.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.

*Fun coincidence: Troy wrote for a variety of television programs, ranging from Ian's The Sweeney to the BBC serial Edge of Darkness...which featured Baker as an authority figure. I should mention that Baker (who passed away just a few days ago) actually appeared on television as a cop with Eischied in 1979-80.

**Hey hey, a small role for Jerry Hardin, who I enjoyed seeing as Deep Throat in The X-Files

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Review #1425: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Cast: 
Jason Robards (Al Capone), George Segal (Peter Gusenberg), Ralph Meeker (George "Bugs" Moran), Jean Hale (Myrtle), Jan Merlin (Willie Marks), Clint Ritchie (Machine Gun Jack McGurn), David Canary (Frank Gusenberg), Harold J. Stone (Frank Nitti), Frank Silvera (Nick Sorello), Joseph Campanella (Albert Wienshank), Richard Bakalyan (John Scalise), Charles Dierkop (Salvanti), John Agar (Dion O'Bannion), Joseph Turkel (Jake Gusik), Bruce Dern (Johnny May), and Paul Frees (Narrator) Produced and Directed by Roger Corman (#368 - The Little Shop of Horrors, #684 - It Conquered the World, #852 - The Terror, #931 - Not of This Earth, #1007 - Attack of the Crab Monsters, #1039 - Five Guns West, #1042 - War of the Satellites, #1136 - Gas-s-s-s, #1147 - X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes, #1186 - A Bucket of Blood, and #1423 - The Wild Angels)

Review: 
"There comes a time when the public conscience needs jolting and in St Valentine's Day Massacre this is our intention. It is also certain that the movie will make money - crime is always box office."

As one would say, give people what they want and they will come see it in theaters. One can talk for ages about the ways that Roger Corman has served film well in making them fast, cheap and generally good that have served him well in a long-lasting career as producer and director. This is an unusual film in his lineup because of his collaboration with a major studio in 20th Century Fox, as opposed to his usual independent filmmaking. He had expressed an interest with making a film with a major studio, and he attracted the attention of Columbia Pictures. Cracks seemed to form almost immediately, as his submitted ideas (a biopic of Baron Von Ritchhofen, this film, and an adaptation of Only Lovers Left Alive) were considered too strange while their ideas seemed too ordinary to him, with Corman believing in giving the audience "something a little more complex artistically and intellectually. To show something you can't see on TV leads inevitably to unusual material." Perhaps predictably, he would never end up making a film for Columbia, leaving the production of A Time for Killing (1967) early on. However, he would be granted a chance with Fox, since I suppose one can't resist the urge to do business with a proven director for fast and effective moneymakers, with this being a particularly interesting year for evolving tastes (the first coming to mind being Bonnie and Clyde).

Corman would have to modify certain aspects of his plan to make the film with the studio, however. For one thing, he wanted Orson Welles to play the lead role with Robards as the character of Moran. However Fox felt that he was undirectable and could potentially try to take rein of the director's chair from Corman. Ideas to film in Chicago were soon shifted to the Fox backlot, and Corman even re-used sets from other movies. While given seven weeks and $2.5 million to make a film, he felt most comfortable with tighter budgets, although he generally felt more comfortable as producer than directing, with this being the sixth-to-last film that he directed. He strived to make an authentic and accurate gangster film, right down to the climax and having the bodies lie where they fell in the original crime photos. The portrayal of Capone by Robards was the third in a feature film (after the first by Rod Steiger in the eponymously titled film in 1959, which also had The Untouchables premiere on TV), and Corman would return to the subject as producer for Capone (1975). In that matter, this is a decent ensemble piece with careful plotting that shows its criminal underside without trouble to make a 100 minute tale resonate with a bit of shock value. It isn't one of Corman's greatest achievements, but it at least one with ambition and the tools to try and make things work out with its buildup to the massacre with gradual use of Frees as narrator to describe the characters and their actions. Robards and Meeker stand out the most in the cast. Although it might have proved more fruitful to have had Welles in the title role, Robards makes the most of it with scene-chewery that makes for well-seen bluster whenever the time is needed to raise voice. Meeker contrasts this with his own type of conniving spirit of conviction, while Segal, Stone and the others follow along in making for some interesting unsavory people to look at for a time that doesn't lead one to want some sort of authority opposition or some sort of comic relief. On the whole, this is a decent little movie from Roger Corman in something a bit different from his usual tactics of filmmaking that still retains his usual drive to make quality entertainment that lives up as a decent gem for its era.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

Review #1147: X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes.

Cast: 
Ray Milland (Dr. James Xavier), Diana Van der Vlis (Dr. Diane Fairfax), Harold J. Stone (Dr. Sam Brant), John Hoyt (Dr. Willard Benson), and Don Rickles (Crane) Directed by Roger Corman (#368 - The Little Shop of Horrors, #684 - It Conquered the World, #852 - The Terror, #931 - Not of This Earth, #1007 - Attack of the Crab Monsters, #1039 - Five Guns West, #1042 - War of the Satellites, and #1136 - Gas-s-s-s)

Review: 
Who else could make a movie about a scientist who invents eye-drops to increase the range of human vision to see things such as ultraviolet and x-ray wavelengths and uses it on himself than Roger Corman? X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes was made on a budget of under $300,000 in three weeks, with the vision effects (billed as "Spectarama") being done by John Howard. They were a combination of superimpositions, lens effects, and coloration, and they certainly leave an impact on the viewer upon first glance. For a movie that is just 79 minutes long, there is certainly an interesting film to behold in how weird and disturbing it can get within it's science fiction and horror roots, with a screenplay from Robert Dillon and Ray Russell (noted writer of material such as Mr. Sardonicus). Sure, it isn't a film with much of a body count or any big science fiction spectacles, but it makes up for it by having a compelling performance from Milland alongside a few standout moments from the small cast. He sticks out among the rest of the others in part because of how he slowly makes the main thread get more and more foreboding. Van der Vlis is decent in her moments on screen, having a fleeting but manageable presence on screen. Stone and Hoyt are decent counterparts for their fleeting moments on screen. Rickles, in a part not typical of his usual comedic forays on screen, does a pretty fine job with being unsettling with his avarice towards the situation presented to him. The movie is at its best when showcasing its crude but fairly effective X-ray shots, which only get more interesting as the film keeps going, with clever bits such as him using his powers to deal with a few hecklers of the carnival audience, played by Corman mainstays Jonathan Haze and Dick Miller. The climax has a few tense moments to it, especially when Milland shows his eyes, and the car chase is fairly riveting to build-up its resolution. While I do like where it ultimately ends up, I do find it to be a bit abrupt that doesn't give too much closure. Noted horror writer Stephen King claimed that there were rumors of a longer ending, involving out Milland crying out after the action he has done to himself and saying a few choice words, although Corman (who thought it was a better ending than the actual one) has denied that the ending was ever filmed. At any rate, X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes is a nimble and effective film that befits everything that make Corman's films interesting to encounter and watch.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

The Invisible Boy.

Review #1012: The Invisible Boy.

Cast: 
Richard Eyer (Timmie Merrinoe), Philip Abbott (Dr. Tom Merrinoe), Diane Brewster (Mary Merrinoe), Harold J. Stone (Gen. Swayne), Robert H. Harris (Prof. Frank Allerton), Dennis McCarthy (Col. Macklin), Alexander Lockwood (Arthur Kelvaney), John O'Malley (Prof. Baine), Robby the Robot (Robby), Gage Clarke (Dr. Bannerman) Directed by Herman Hoffman.

Review: 
Based on the short story by Edmund Cooper, The Invisible Boy is certainly an interesting science fiction film that has both wit and charm at times, being a strange little adventure that certainly wins over on its charm. It was the second appearance of Robby the Robot, who had previously appeared in Forbidden Planet (#199), with his character having been brought back from the future during a time travel experiment (not joking). Yes, the film has its tongue-in-cheek moments, but it is also a film that has scenes involving a supercomputer that goes berserk with power (which for the era was a pretty new thing) and then of course there is parts with the invisible boy. Eyer does an okay performance, though it may come off as a bit bratty, and he certainly isn't as interesting as Robby, although who can really say they are more interesting to watch on screen than him? In a film as oddly plotted and as oddly thought out, the Robot is one of the best parts of the film in part because of how interesting it is to watch the Robot move around, especially with that voice, which was delivered by Marvin Miller, although he was not given credit for the role. The parents (Abbott and Brewster) are decent, and they seem to be having a decent time. The rest of the supporting cast is nothing too special, but at least they serve their purposes well, whether it be for the plot or for some amusement. Made for a budget of $384,000, it certainly is a movie that has some cheap-looking moments, but the invisible effects are at least somewhat passable; aside from that, the biggest spectacle is the robot and the supercomputer, with the latter being somewhat amusing. While the film isn't anything too special, it has a strange charm to it because of amusingly entertaining it can get to with the narrative. At best, it is neat entertainment and even at its worst it serves as mostly harmless fare. Take it for what it's worth.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.